\ J « C-0 Ml THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM By OLIVIER GEORGES DESTREE Author of " Les Pre-Raphaelite "Notes sur V Art Decoratif" " La Peinture en Angleterre" &c. LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND NEW YORK, MACMILLAN AND CO. I8 95 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/renaissanceofscuOOdest LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES PAGE Psyche. Ivory Bust. By J. P. Dc Vigne Frontispiece The Robber of the Eagle's Nests. By Jef Lambeaux to face 42 Bas-relief commemorative of the foundation of the Solvay Institute. By Julien Dillens ,, 46 Industry. Part of an alto-rilievo. By Constantin Meunier ,, 70 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Immortality. Sepulchral figure. By P. de Vigne 27 Pax Vobiscum. Bronze bust. By C. Van der Stappen 28 The Builders of Cities. Group in plaster. By C. Van der Stappen ..... 30 Bust of the Comtesse de Merode. By T. Vincotte 31 Group for the Pediment of the Antwerp Museum. By T. Vin9otte 32 Bronze Statue of Cavelier de la Salle, at Chicago. By Jacques de Lalaing ... 33 Statue on the Monument at Evere to the English who fell at Waterloo. By Jacques de Lalaing . . 35 The Merry Song. By Jef Lambeaux 41 Cartoon for the bas-relief of the Passions of Humanity. By Jef Lambeaux . . 45 Medallion commemorative of the Godefroy gift to the town of Brussels. By J. Dillens ' , 47 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Sepulchral Figure. By J. Dillens j.§ Mother and Child. Group in plaster. By Jules Lagae 50 Expiation. Bronze Group. By Jules Lagae 51 The Kiss. By Jules Lagae 52 Happy. Marble Bust. By Victor Rousseau 58 Adolescents. By Jean Marie Gaspar 6c The Puddler. Bronze Statue. By C. Meunier 65. The Glebe. Sketch in bas-relief. By C. Meunier 68 Ivory Head of a Child. By Jules Lagae 73 Minerva. Bust in ivory and bronze. By J. Dillens 74. Allegretto. By J. Dillens 76 The author and publishers desire to thank the artists and photographers, who have given permission for reproductions of their works. List of books to which the writer has been indebted : Memoire* sur la Sculpture aux Pays Bas pendant les XV II et XV III siecles, by the Chev. Edmond Marchal. Hayen - y Brussels, 1877. La Sculpture et les chefs-a" ceuvre de P orfevrerie Beige, by the same. Hayen; Brussels, 1895. Histoire de la Sculpture, by G. J. Dodd. Patria Belgica (Part III.) La Dinanderie, by Alex. Pinchard. Patria Belgica. (Part HI.) Cinquante ans de Libert e, by Camille Lemonier. Weysenbruck ; Brussels. Les Artistes Beiges Contemporains, by E. L. de Taye. Castaigne ; Brussels. Biographical notices by Messrs. Jules Destree, Eugene Demolder, and E. Verhaerin. This monograph has been translated from the French by Miss Florence Simmonds. < THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM INTRODUCTION A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF BELGIAN SCULPTURE FROM THE ELEVENTH CENTURY TO 183O. "Car Flandre peut dormir, mais mourir jamais!" — Charles de Coster, Legende de Tie/ UylenspiegeL "Having eyes, they see not, and having ears, they hear not." The Scriptural phrase has a special application to those contemporary critics and thinkers who are never weary of lamenting the materialism, the want of artistic comprehension, which they declare to be the characteristics of our age. From the dawn of the century onwards, the decadence of art has been unceasingly bewailed ; and yet, throughout the century, one glorious artist has succeeded another ; undaunted by the scorn or in- difference of their contemporaries, they have created a series of master- pieces, which some hundred years hence will entitle our epoch to rank as another Golden Age of art and poetry. It is true that individual arts had a more sumptuous development under the blue skies of Greece, or in the stately palaces of the Italian Renaissance. Greek sculpture will never be equalled, I believe, nor will any school of painting ever rival that of the Italians. But to judge of the greatness of any particular epoch in the history of art, we must not take some specialised manifestation of that art. We must examine its knowledge and its activity in the aggregate ; and thus considered, this nineteenth century of ours is 6 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM singularly splendid, complete and luminous — grand enough, inspired enough, in all its multiple aspects, to bear comparison with the great eras of Phidias and of Michelangelo. The most striking characteristic of this century, perhaps, has been the diffusion of art and culture throughout all the great countries of Europe. Greece, at the zenith of the civilisation which has made her immortal, kept that civilisation jealously for herself ; the Renaissance, wider and fuller in its workings, shone alike upon Italy, Spain, France, England, Germany, and the Netherlands ; but the art of our own age has illuminated a vaster territory still ; it has penetrated the mysterious immensity of Russia, it has invaded America. In France, in Germany, in England, in Italy, in Russia, poets and artists have appeared, not as isolated phenomena, but in battalions. France, who in the person of her great national poet takes the lead in the modern movement, and is the acknowledged depositary of its culture, was not content to produce Hugo, the greatest singer of modern times ; she gave him as predecessors and followers a legion of glorious artists, among whom, to name but the greatest among the great, were poets such as Vigny, Lamartine, Musset, Gautier, Banville, Leconte de Lisle, and Baudelaire, and prose writers such as Chateaubriand, Balzac, Flaubert, Barbey d'Aurevilly, and Taine. Germany gave us Goethe, a star of the first magnitude ; and, as though to permit her to compete with France, the lives of Schiller and of Klopstock were pro- longed into the early years of this century. To these illustrious names must be added those of the romantic Uhland, and of the most tender and sensitive of German poets, Heinrich Heine. Italy was one of the first to participate in this revival ; at the dawn of the century she gave the world that dazzling pleiad of poets, Alfieri, Monti, Giusti, Foscoli, and Leopardi. England, in her turn, has produced more great lyric singers than in any previous century ; the very enumeration of their names, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Landor, Swinburne, Browning, Tennyson, Arnold, and Rossetti, evokes the memory of strains that might well have sufficed for the poetry of a whole century. Nor was this all ; Russia justly prides herself on the genius of Pouchkin, Gogal, Tutchew, and Lermontoff, while the name of Tolstoi, and his admirable works, have won a world-wide fame. In America, again, a whole school of bards compete with those of the mother-country. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 7 need only cite the typical names of Poe, Longfellow, and Walt Whit- man. When we consider that this dazzling band of immortals, and the colossal sum of their joint creations, represent but a part of the poetry of this century ; when we recall the majestic figures of Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, the protagonists of German music in our epoch, and remember that musicians, only less brilliant than these, have flourished in Italy, in France, in Belgium, in Denmark, and in Russia ; when, turning to France once more, we pass in review her painters of the beginning of the century, Prudhon, David, Ingres, Dela- croix, and the Romantics, Corot, Millet, and the school of Barbizon ; when in Belgium we find the school of Antwerp, with Leys and De Braekeleer, and in England, Turner, Blake, Crome, Constable, and the idealists known as the Pre-Raphaelites, can we feel anything short of admiring wonder for the achievements of an age which has been too long decried ? In this extraordinary outburst of modern art, sculpture alone seemed to have no share. Great personalities had arisen, who produced notable works ; but neither Canova in Italy, Carpeaux, Pradier, nor Barye in France, Thorwaldsen in Denmark, nor Flaxman in England, created any school ; and modern sculpture appeared to have neither definite tendency, nor strongly marked ideal. But during the second half of the century a sudden revival took place in Belgium, where sculpture has always been, as it were, a native art : and this movement has gradually taken form and developed, resulting in that brilliant Renaissance of sculpture which I am about to analyse, in the hope that it may win appreciation from the English public. Before, however, I embark on this examination of contemporary sculpture in Belgium, determining its general features and tendencies, I should like to explain why this Renaissance, the coping-stone of the art-fabric of the nineteenth century, should have manifested itself in Belgium rather than in any other country. To do this, I must give, not a history of sculpture in the Netherlands, which, however succinct, would take us too far afield, 1 and would be beyond the scope of my present undertaking, but a brief 1 This history has in fact been written already, and most exhaustively, by the Chevalier E. Marchal, Secretary of the Acad'emie de Belgique. See his Memoire sur la Sculpture aux Pays Bas. Brussels, 1877. 8 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM summary of that history, in which I shall try to show that from the begin- ning of the twelfth century, sculpture has been cultivated among us with no less success and continuity than painting, and that not only sculptors, but schools of sculpture, have followed one another in regular succession from the twelfth century to the present day. The history of painting in the Netherlands is familiar to every lover of art, but that of its sculpture is far more obscure. The works of our sculptors have been either scattered throughout the four quarters of Europe, or hidden in the churches of obscure little Walloon or Flemish villages unknown to Murray and Baedeker, which even tourists who are interested in art pass by without any suspicion of the masterpieces they conceal. But as the student examines the sculpture of the Netherlands in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, he is more and more struck by its development and its importance ; he is gradually led to understand how contemporary Belgian sculptors, guided by one or two powerful individualities, have been able to bring about so brilliant a Renaissance. These men appear as the direct heirs and true posterity of those famous Walloon and Flemish artists for whose services foreign Courts competed in the fifteenth century, and who bequeathed to their descendants — descendants affiliated to them through the Flemish sculptors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries — together with the craft itself, much of that technical mastery which comes from immemorial practice. This intuitive power seems in some measure to result from the mere fact of a long artistic lineage, and of birth in a country where an art has been uninterruptedly practised. Let us therefore make a hasty survey of the development of sculpture in the Netherlands. And, first, it is important to note the division of the country into two regions, inhabited by two perfectly distinct races. The language, the character, the manners, and the artistio ideals of these two races differ essentially. The North (Flanders, the province of Antwerp, Limburg, and North Brabant) is the home of the Fleming, pious, laborious, slow, yet energetic, his character showing the influence of his German neighbours ; in the south (Hainault, Namur, Liege, and Luxembourg), we find the Walloon, the friend of the French- man, whose language he speaks. He is of a more lively race, living under brighter skies and in a more varied landscape, a race that has the THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 9 cheerful character of its surroundings, whose sons are gay and light- hearted, graceful dreamers, whose art is founded on the charming caprices of their own imaginations, rather than on a patient and inflexible study of Nature. Of the two, the Flemings boast a more glorious past in the history of art, and in painting and sculpture more especially, the Flemings have produced greater and more famous masters. But the Walloons have played no inconsiderable part in the same history, and we must remember that it was by them and among them that art first prospered. It was in the Walloon abbeys that it was most successfully practised in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. Many of these abbeys were, in fact, academies, where painting, and sculpture in wood, stone, gold, silver, and bronze were systematically taught. I may instance the abbey of Lobbes, directed in the eleventh century by the monk Foulques, a famous carver in wood and stone, that of Vaulsort, in the province of Namur, that of Stavelot, directed by Poppon, who executed his own monument in the church of his abbey, and, finally, that of St. Trond, one of the most famous schools of the eleventh century. The most important monuments of the eleventh century are therefore to be found in the Walloon provinces. These are the porch of the College of St. Gertrude at Nivelles, sculptured with the history of Samson, and the porch of the beautiful cathedral at Tournai known as the Porte Mantille. The bas-reliefs on the weather-stained and lichen- covered gray stones of this doorway are the first memorable creations of our native sculpture ; they have a rude poetry which the magic patina laid on them by time has but enhanced, softening their characteristic harshness and barbaric extravagance. The beginning of the twelfth century is marked by works of more importance, which show a great technical advance on the above. These are the metal fonts cast by the Dinantais, Lambert Patras, in 11 12, for Hellin, canon of the cathedral of Liege. They are of copper, decorated in relief with scenes from the lives of St. John the Baptist, St. Peter, and St. John the Evangelist. I know of no work of the kind more fascinat- ing. They recall the reliefs executed a little later in Italy by Niccola Pisano, at the outset of his career. Lambert Patras' work, indeed, is characterised by a naive grace, a sense of beauty remarkable for its rejection of conventional forms, and a perfection of composition truly io THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM astonishing when we remember the date of its execution — qualities, in fact, which proclaim the humble metal worker of Dinant an artist far in advance of his epoch. Other fonts, cast for the church of Tirlemont, and now in the Royal Museum of the Pare du Cinquantenaire at Brussels, are of the same period, but are far inferior as works of art. The twelfth century was, indeed, an age of goldsmiths and workers in metal, rather than of sculptors in the modern sense. After Lambert Patras' fonts, the most famous and the most justly admired example of this initial period of sculpture is a piece of goldsmiths' work, the cover of an Evangelium, executed by Friar Hugues, a monk of the Abbey of Oignies. It has figured several times in art exhibitions, and has always excited the warmest admiration. From the ninth to the twelfth century, sculpture, as might be shown by a mere enumeration of those who practised it, was purely ecclesiastical in character. It was taught and executed in monasteries, and the majority of these monasteries, as also the greater number of the works still extant which they produced, are to be found in the Walloon pro- vinces. These works are nearly all designed for use in worship, and are to be found for the most part in churches of the Romanesque or Romano-Byzantine type. In the twelfth century, architecture adopted a new form ; art, in its turn, emerged from the monastery and threw off its dogmatic formulas, retaining, nevertheless, its religious character, and consecrating its first efforts to religion. As M. Dodd has pointed out,. Christian art then attained the most glorious stage of its faith. 1 It turned to the study of nature, and thus began its progress towards the apogee it reached in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The development of the communes gave a great impetus to this emanci- pation of sculpture from ecclesiastical control. The markets, belfries,, guild-halls, and town-halls which rose on every side, from the thir- teenth to the end of the sixteenth century, afforded a magnificent field for the fancy of those sculptors to whom their decoration was entrusted. Religious architecture, losing something of its grandeur and simplicity from the architectonic point of view, in passing from the Romanesque to- the Gothic style, took on a new importance from the sculptural side,, and began to rival the monuments of civil architecture in splendour and 1 Dodd, Histoire de la Sculpture. P atria Belgica, Part iii. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM u magnificence. Throughout the north those vast prayers in stone, fit symbols of the age's ardent faith, the great Gothic cathedrals, soared heavenward. And sculptors had to find, and found with ease, apparently, a myriad motives derived from a study of nature for the ornamentation of the capitals, windows, doors, pinnacles, and gables of these huge buildings. It would be beyond the scope of our present study to examine, even in the briefest and most summary fashion, the achievements of Netherlandish sculpture throughout the Gothic period. The student of an exhaustive work on the subject, such as M. Marchal's recent book, 1 is amazed at the prodigious activity of this epoch. A great number of the masterpieces produced were long unknown to the public and to artists, buried as they were in obscure Belgian villages. It is only of late, thanks to recent photographs and the plaster reproductions to be found in our museums, that we have begun to realise the importance and merit of our early sculpture. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries costly carved reliquaries began to appear, miniature churches, which the goldsmith-sculptors copied from the cathedrals, and covered with the same profusion of ornament they found on these — spires, arches, trefoils, belfries, pinnacles and rose-windows. A reredos over the altar also became usual in these two centuries, and churches were adorned with memorial brasses, and monuments dedicated to deceased princes, nobles, and ecclesiasts. The school most renowned for the production of such memorials in the early part of the fourteenth century was that of Tournai, of which Waagen speaks with the utmost enthusiasm, declaring that u in their reproduction of Nature, at once faithful and discriminating, the pre-eminence of these artists among contemporary European sculp- tors was as unquestionable as that of the Van Eycks among painters a little later." At about the same period, Dinant became famous as the home of those workers in copper, whose productions were known as dinanderie, or dinanterie, from the town in which they had established themselves. This art, practised as we have already seen, by Lambert Patras in the twelfth century, had developed to such an extent that the 1 La Sculpture et les chefs d^ceuvre de P Orfevrerie beige. Brussels. Printed by the Acadhnie de Belgique. 12 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM copper-founders, or coper es, as they were called, had by their trade with neighbouring countries, raised their town, of which they themselves formed one-third of the population, to the position of the third city in the state. Their own province soon became too restricted a field for their activity, and they established colonies and workshops in many Belgian towns, notably at Louvain, St. Trond, Mechlin and Brussels. Important as these schools of Tournai and Dinant undoubtedly were, I must pass them over to come to the school of Burgundy, and its famous head, Nicolas (in Flemish, Claus) Sluter, justly esteemed the greatest sculptor of his age. The rise of this school of Flemish sculptors in Burgundy is a familiar fact to all students of art history. The marriage of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, with the Countess Margaret, heiress of Flanders, attracted many Flemish artists to his court from Dinant, Hainault, Flanders, and Brabant. The most remarkable of them all, and one of the earliest, was this Claus Sluter. The Duke fortunately appreciated him at his just value ; for him Sluter executed the magnificent monument at Dijon, known as the Well of Moses, a statue of John the Baptist for the church of St. Etienne at Dijon, and finally, his masterpiece, the splendid tomb of Philip the Bold in the Carthusian church. Contemporary with Sluter at Dijon was Jacques de la Baerse, architect and wood-carver, a native of Termonde, who collaborated with the former, executing the architectural part of Philip the Bold's monu- ment, and also two reredoses for the Duke, the shutters of which were painted by Broederlam ; both are now in the Dijon Museum. Sluter had another collaborator in his work for the Duke's tomb, his nephew, Nicholas van de Werve, who worked under him so constantly that it is difficult to assign to each his share in the execution of the tomb. A more important matter for us is the fact that this monument, a recumbent figure in white marble on a vast sarcophagus, guarded by two angels who kneel in prayer at the head 1 is the most important work of sculpture of the late fourteenth century. Far in advance of its time, it is, indeed, completely modern in conception and execution. I have compared 3 The four sides of the tomb are surrounded by a gallery, formed of pointed arches, surmounted by pierced canopies of extraordinary richness and delicacy of execution. Forty statuettes of weeping monks and mourning squires people these miniature vaults. See Dodd, op. cit. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 13 Lambert Patras to Niccola Pisano ; Sluter and Van de Werve may be not inaptly compared to Donatello. The materials they had to work upon were less perfect than those the Florentine sculptor found ready to his hand ; but like the Italian, the two Flemish sculptors fixed and determined the modern forms of sculpture, and relying solely on nature, and on the inspiration of their own genius, they created types from which art might diverge in after times, but which it could never hope to surpass in beauty and in perfection. We now come to the golden age of Belgian sculpture, and it is hard to say which of the two centuries, the fifteenth or the sixteenth, pro- duced the greater number of masterpieces. Those of the sixteenth century have a wider celebrity, for many of them found homes in artistic centres more frequented than those in which earlier works were preserved. But can it be truly said that they were more beautiful than those reredoses of carved wood which Belgium still preserves in obscure villages ? These works, enriched with hundreds of figures, instinct with passionate fervour and piety, are still to be seen in the churches of Boendael and Auderghem, near Brussels, and of Herenthals, Leau, and Hackendover in Brabant, to mention only the most famous. It was- during this fifteenth century, too, that the town-halls of Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Louvain were built, and that sculpture, henceforth the sister art of architecture, peopled the niches of their facades with innumerable statues. If, as regards its sculpture, the fifteenth century may be called the age par excellence of the reredos and the town-hall, the sixteenth century may be said in like manner to be the age of princely monuments. The supreme works of the sculptors of the Flemish Renaissance were tombs. The Bruxellois, Pierre de Becker, raised the first of these great monu- ments in 1502. This was the graceful and charming memorial of Mary of Burgundy, in a chapel of the Church of Notre Dame at Bruges, the companion monument to which, the tomb of Charles the Bold, was- executed some twenty years later, by Jacques Jonghelinckx, of Antwerp, by command of Philip II. Another Anversois, the famous Corneille Floris, surnamed De Vriendt, was the sculptor of the mausoleum of Christian II., King of Denmark, in the cathedral of Roskilde, and of the tomb of Gustavus Vasa, erected at Upsala in 1560. Fine as these i 4 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM two works are, they are by no means his masterpieces. He executed some religious monuments which give him a still higher place as sculptor and as architect. One of these is the rich and dignified rood-screen of Tournai cathedral, erected in place of the one destroyed by the Iconoclasts in 1566 ; the other, a more graceful, a more fascinating work, his masterpiece indeed, is admired by all artists as the most perfect pro- duction of this particular genre. It is the shrine in the church of Leau, of which every museum of sculpture now possesses either a photograph, or a plaster model. After Pierre de Becker, Jonghelinckx and Corneille Floris, Louis van Boghen and Conrad Meyt may be mentioned, the one as architect, the other as sculptor. Their title to fame rests on the admirable tombs they executed in the sumptuous Gothic church of Brou at Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyons. The church was built by Louis van Boghen of Brussels for Margaret of Austria. It is the last remarkable monument of the Gothic style, and the whole of the interior decoration, the painted glass, the stalls, the tombs, were the work of Flemish artists. Recent research seems to prove this master sculptor, Conrad Meyt, a native of Worms. This is quite possible, but none the less may we account him a Flemish artist, as he was always accounted in his own times. Diirer, who often mentions him, calls him " the prince of Flemish sculptors," and in Italy he was known as Corrado Fiamingo. Whatever his birthplace, his art was purely Flemish, and the tombs of Philibert II., Duke of Savoy, Margaret of Bourbon, and Margaret of Austria, all three masterpieces of grace, elegance, and nobility, rank among the finest works of sculpture of the period. But even more beautiful than these is the magnificent tomb which Thorwaldsen pronounced the masterpiece of the genre, the monument to the Emperor Maximilian, by Alexander Colyns of Mechlin, in the church of Sainte Croix at Innsbruck. Never, indeed, was a nobler or more stately memorial raised to a great sovereign than this, with its proud retinue of twenty-three colossal bronze kings and queens. The tomb is placed in the middle of the church ; it consists of a massive square sarcophagus of black marble, upon which the Emperor kneels, his hands clasped in prayer. He wears the imperial mantle and diadem. At the four corners of the monument Colyns has placed statues of the THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 15 four theological virtues ; the tomb is unquestionably a grand and im- pressive conception, and the statues are at once simple and beautiful. But the master's genius did not find its most triumphant expression here. For this we must turn to the twenty-four bas-reliefs on the sides of the sarcophagus, representing the most important scenes in Maximilian's life. No sculptor, before or since, has shown such a mastery of the composition of a bas-relief, or such unerring skill in its execution. Never were battles, sieges, armies in motion, rendered in stone with such amazing verve and impetuosity. The most animated of the combats painted by Paolo Uccello, so famous for his perspective, have neither the irresistible movement, the learned modelling, nor the happy arrangement of the various planes displayed in Colyns's reliefs of the two Battles of Guinegate. These bas-reliefs, to which the sculptor devoted eight years of his life, are not only admirable in their knowledge of treatment, in their triumph over material, in their scientific composition, and har- monious arrangement. They are, above all, remarkable as inventions, as essays in selection of scene and subject. The Flemish sculptor sets a whole world, the world of the Middle Ages, in array, and makes it defile before us, and it is this final quality, added to all the rest, which makes his work, to my mind, the most important achievement of Flemish sculpture in the sixteenth century. The art of the sixteenth century was not confined to such memorials. One of the most remarkable works of the period was the famous fire- place of the Franc de Bruges, executed by Guyot de Beaugrant and Lancelot Blondeel in collaboration. The former carved all the black and white marble, while the latter is credited with the design. In the Walloon provinces also sculpture took on a new splendour. A Montois sculptor, Jacques du Broeucq, on whom Charles V. conferred the title of master-artist to the Emperor, carved the rood-screen of the church of Sainte Waudru at Mons ; it was, unfortunately, taken to pieces afterwards, and the various parts are now divided among several chapels. We can no longer judge of the work as a whole, but accord- ing to the chroniclers of the period it was considered equal to the finest French work ; a saying which has often been quoted places it in the same category : " the doors of Rheims, the nave of Amiens, the choir of Beauvais, and the doxal (or rood-screen) of Mons." Jacques du 1 6 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM Broeucq gathered round him a whole school of young sculptors, and had the signal honour of counting among his disciples the famous Giovanni da Bologna, who worked in his atelier up to his twentieth year. We are so accustomed to look upon the famous author of the Mercury and the Rape of the Sabines as an Italian artist, that I forbear to do more than mention his origin in passing. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had been the golden age of sculpture in the Netherlands. Not only do we find municipal buildings and cathedrals arising throughout Belgium, not only do we see these cathedrals adorned with reredos, tabernacle, rood-screen and monu- ment by native artists, but we hear of these same artists in all the great foreign centres. Prosper Merimee, in his Notes d" Auvergne says that Flemish artists were employed throughout France at this period on the ornamentation of churches. We have seen them so employed at Dijon, Rouen and Brou, and also in Germany, Bohemia, Denmark, and even so far afield as Sweden. We trace them in Spain : at Toledo, where Anequin des Egas constructed the rich facade of the cathedral, known as the Facade of the Lions ; at Burgos, where Philip of Burgundy built that dizzy cupola, for which Theophile Gautier expressed so strong an admiration ; at Seville, where two Flemish artists made the famous triangular candelabrum of the cathedral ; at Valladolid, at Valencia, and even at Granada, where there are two Flemish bas- reliefs in the cathedral, representing the defeat and conversion of the Moors. It was impossible that a manifestation of such brilliance should be long sustained. Every great period of artistic activity has been succeeded by one of decadence. This decadence, however, did not proclaim itself at once, and the seventeenth century witnessed the rise of a long series of artists, who gave an important development to wood-carving, as we see by the number of confessionals and pulpits produced at this period. The most generally admired works in this genre are the confessionals in the church of St. Jacques at Antwerp, and at Brussels, and the pulpit in the church of Ste. Gudule, carved by Henri Francois Verbruggen. In these works, however, as in nearly all others of the seventeenth century, we note a gradual dying down of that sacred fire which burnt in the veins of the fifteenth and sixteenth century sculptors. One man THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 17 dominated the whole art of the age from the height of his commanding genius — Rubens, a master who possessed every gift that makes for pre-eminence in painting, but whose sculpturesque perceptions were less unerring. His art is the triumph of colour, and following his natural predilections, he encouraged by his powerful influence the tendency to exalt colour in every form of art, even to the detriment of line, the quality so indispensable in sculpture. A striking exemplification of this influence is to be found in the works of Luc Faidherbe, the Malinois sculptor, who decorated all the churches built in the " Jesuit style," a style inspired by Rubens, and invented by members of the Society of Jesus of this period. His statues have that theatrical and pompous character to which the great Antwerp painter inclined, and which he himself transfigured by the splendour of his colour. They are altogether lacking in feeling, and have little merit beyond their decorative quality, and their fitness for the buildings for which they were designed. In this decorative genre, other Belgian artists of the period produced works of greater merit than those of Luc Faidherbe and his numerous scholars, and were largely employed on fountains, statues, and groups of figures at Marly, and Trianon, and in the gardens of the palace of Versailles, where the brothers Margy executed the much-admired Foun- tain of Latona. Before the decadence finally declared itself, Flemish sculpture blazed out into a last burst of radiance in the person of Francois Duquesnoy (born at Brussels in 1594, died at Leghorn in 1642). The ivories he carved at the beginning of his career secured him the patronage of the Archduke Albert, to whose notice he was recommended by Rubens. The Duke gave him the means of studying in Italy, where his passion for the antique found expression in the numerous copies he made of classic remains, which collectors still prize as of the highest value. But his natural gifts soon sought out original channels. His education completed, he revealed himself in works which have won universal fame. No artist has equalled him in the rendering of those heads of chubby, healthy, laughing children so frequent in his early compositions. The admira- tion they excited, and the success they obtained made many envious of the artist, who was known in Rome as II Fiamingo. Secure, however, in the friendship of Poussin, with whom he lived for some time, and B 1 8 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM in the protection of Cardinal Colonna, he was commissioned by Pope Urban VII. to carry out the ornamentation of the bronze baldacchino erected by the Pontiff over the high altar of St. Peter's : the main features of which are groups of children amongst garlands of foliage. This work, the motives of which are taken from Greek mythology (a source, I think, from which Duquesnoy was one of the first among Flemish artists to borrow), greatly increased the master's prestige ; but his detractors, eager to entangle him as it were in his own success, loudly asserted that if he excelled in the sculpture of children, this excellence marked the limits of his art, and that he was incapable of producing a great and serious work. He answered them by carving his St. Susanna, for the church of Loretto, and shortly afterwards, his colossal statue of St. Andrew, for St. Peter's, which established his claim to immortality. Little as we incline to the opinion of his detractors, and much as we appreciate his religious sculpture, we must confess a preference for his Cupids, children, and genii, and his mythological groups, all so instinct with the expression of his own graceful, playful, and charming individuality. It is to these he owes an original and distinguished place in the history of art. Duquesnoy is the connecting link between early and modern sculp- ture. He seems nearer to us than he really is ; but this illusion is a result of the great popularity enjoyed by the classic subjects he affected towards the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. This revival of classicism, due partly to the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii, partly to the creation of academies, partly to the influence of David, no inconsiderable factor for a time, was of immense benefit to Belgian sculpture, languishing in the conventional style introduced by Luc Faidherbe and the school of Mechlin. To it we owe the appearance of the graceful Flemish sculptor, Giiles Lambert Godecharles, the one original artist who flourished in Belgium at this period. Godecharles cannot be called a great master ; but he was a tender and charming artist. His works in the Brussels Museum, Charity and the Bather, are very pleasing, and full of a delicate sentiment. His most important undertaking, the bas-relief of Justice on the pediment of the national palace, was a task beyond his powers ; his group of children, very effectively placed among the straight, regular alleys of THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 19 the Park at Brussels, is altogether more satisfactory. I may also call attention to a charming bust by him in the sculpture gallery of the old museum at Brussels. It is the head of a woman, her hair dressed in Grecian fashion, whose smiling face has much sweetness and distinction. The art of Godecharles brings us to our own century, and we find little worthy of record during its first years, the incubatory period of modern Belgian sculpture. The classic revival, valuable as it was in principle, had had but slight practical results. The Greco-Roman statues of the decadence had become the chosen models in academies, rather than the masterpieces of the golden age, and the best-known sculptors of the day were content to imitate and reproduce them as exactly as possible. The spirit of antique sculpture was as completely lacking in their creations, as was the comprehension of the wonders of Greek art in the minds of academic professors and official sculptors. The tunic which covered the marble fell in correct folds, carefully spaced and arranged ; the peplum was minutely copied from that of some statue of the best period ; the sandals and the fibulae, the urn, or the column on which the pensive figure leant — all were Greek, severely Greek. But the spirit of Greece had no part in the creation, and the statue, as a rule, had neither life nor originality, save, indeed, such as it sometimes acquired from a glaring display of bad taste. The whole system was radically false and puerile, and it was im- possible that any new and vigorous art should have been built upon it. This truth was borne in upon a little group of young Belgian sculptors about the year 1850. They were further persuaded that a return to antique art could only be vital, in so far as it was based upon a close and conscientious study of Nature. Their works were at first rejected by Salons and Exhibitions, and despised by the public. This, however, was far from shaking their artistic conviction. Gradually, they formed, not one, but several schools, and finally, they succeeded in reviving that great art which had slumbered in Belgium for two centuries. I now propose to show who these artists were, what was the task they set themselves, what their characteristics and tendencies, and what they have actually achieved. b 2 CHAPTER I CONTEMPORARY BELGIAN SCULPTORS TRANSITION PERIOD THE " CLASSIC " SCULPTORS Every revival, if exhaustively studied, will be found to have been slowly and gradually accomplished by successive stages. One generation of artists often fails to effect the transformation, to change the character and tendencies of an art, and infuse into it a new life, taking it out of the conventional groove, and setting it in the right road ; directing it, in short, towards that ideal which has always been the same in its general lines, in all great artistic epochs. These successive phases, this gradual transformation, are to be found in the development of the Belgian revival of sculpture, and we shall note three distinct generations working to accomplish it. We have seen how Belgian sculpture had declined at the beginning of the century, and what were the causes that contributed to this decline : a mistaken academic tradition, selecting and insisting upon a slavish adherence to the models of the Graeco-Roman decadence ; the lack of artistic individuality, which enabled professors and official sculptors to keep, not only all channels of instruction, but all public exhibitions under their own control, and, under the fallacious pretext of respect and love for classic tradition, to exclude from the latter all but conventional works, whose only affinity with the great period of Grecian art lay in the choice of subject, and the titles with which they were pretentiously bedizened. It was against the coldness, the dryness, the lifelessness of this academic sculpture that the efforts of the Belgian artists of the initial period of our Renaissance (1830 to 1850 approximately) were mainly directed. These efforts were, it is true, timid, tentative, and THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 21 lacking in precision ; but they proclaimed a longing to return to nature, a desire, rather perhaps than a fixed intention, to throw off the fetters of formulas that had been accepted and followed out with servile submission. The term " modified naturalism," by which M. Camille Lemonier describes the art of this period is a happy one, and aptly characterises the works of this first epoch of transition and development. Submissive as yet to established methods and rules, artists hesitated to abandon them ; but they were already conscious of a truer and more vital conception of beauty ; and their chief merit lies herein, that in their more important works, they had evidently a healthier and more natural goal in view. Four names will suffice to characterise this period, those of G. Geefs, De Bay, Fraikin, and Simonis. Guillaume Geefs and De Bay are the least realistic, the least " modern " and the most academic of the four. Geefs' allegorical and mythological subjects have the unpleasant coldness, the deplorable triviality of invention, the bad taste which characterise the period of 1830. Sometimes, how- ever, he endeavours to escape towards a broader, truer, and less frigid art, and then he gives us decorative statues, the best of which is, perhaps, that of General Belliard, at Brussels. De Bay was a sculptor of a finer fibre. He was even more academic than Geefs, but he was also more of an artist. While submitting to conventional formulas, he managed to produce several graceful groups, which have a very sensible charm of invention and composition. The Natural Cradle ', in the Brussels Museum, is a gem from both points of view ; delightful in arrangement, and touching in conception, it is certainly far from deserving the neglect it has met with from historiographers of Belgian art. I cannot speak so favourably of the Captive Cupids, and Venuses, and other bourgeois creations of Fraikin : but it must be allowed, that, in spite of their over-refinement and affected sentiment, they are marked by a conscientious study of the human body, and a certain spark of life, qualities which differentiate his works in the Brussels Museum from those of his contemporaries. These qualities are more pronounced and more vigorous in the works of Simonis, who was unquestionably the most gifted and energetic among the sculptors of this period. There is some- thing more than promise in his statue of a Toung Girl in the Brussels Museum ; here we find the finest realisation of those naturalistic tenden- 22 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM cies we have mentioned ; the gray-veined white marble has life and feeling, and may well have served as a salutary example for succeeding artists. His Godefroid de Bouillon, in the Place Royale at Brussels, is more important. The figure, with the banner it unfurls so proudly, might serve as an emblem of the emancipation of sculpture ; it ensures its author a creditable place in the history of national art. Both in execution and conception this equestrian statue, remarkable alike for its freedom, its movement, its fine decorative qualities, and its fitness for the place it occupies, marks a serious advance on anything of the same period. Nothing better, nothing indeed so good, in the shape of monumental art was produced during the twenty years following (1850 to 1870), which constitute the second stage of development of our national sculpture. But though the artists of the new generation were inferior in this genre, lacking the decorative sense so strongly marked in Simonis, they showed a greater detachment from superannuated formulas, and their works have more of life and nature. Fassin's Acqua sola, Cattier's Dap hnis, Boure's Child with a Lizard, all three in the Brussels Museum, are characteristic examples of this period, and of its qualities and shortcomings. Their chief defect is the lack of inspiration. These three sculptors are not, indeed, masters, but they are conscientious and praiseworthy artists. They are hardly above the average, but they undoubtedly developed the qualities they dimly discerned in a few works by their predecessors, and gave them a definite form, boldly rejecting academic rules, and recognising no legitimate method of study but that of nature and the human body. We now come to the period of actual fruition, and the first thing that strikes us is its proximity to our own times. It is, indeed, somewhat astonishing to find on inquiry that all its most remarkable works have been produced within the last twenty-five years. We propose to study the various manifestations of the revival in detail, but it has certain general characteristics which we may at once point out. The tendencies of this revival, as of every other Renaissance in art, were above all things realistic and naturalistic. This is, indeed, the foundation and the basis of all artistic movements. In like manner, the course of all such movements is determined at the outset by the predilection of its leaders for some particular school, or indeed by THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 23 their aversion for some other. Among the Belgian sculptors, this aversion is very pronounced, and is inspired by their immediate predecessors, the devotees of that academic tradition which for more than a century arrested all development, and sterilised all effort. On this point, as upon that of the necessity of a conscientious study of Nature, our Belgian sculptors are, I may say, agreed. But we should find them less unanimous as to the school they prefer above all others, and if we were to consult them on this head, I fancy we should receive a great variety of answers. No doubt, if they were publicly interrogated they would reply, and with great propriety, that the study of Nature and of Greek art should take precedence of all other training. But though some would answer thus with full conviction, others would do so for fear of leading disciples astray ; and these, while acknowledging the supremacy of Greek art, would feel that they themselves were drawn to other forms more directly in har- mony with their own aims and aspirations. If, indeed, we take a rapid survey of the works of contemporary sculptors, we are struck by their diversity of aim ; broadly speaking, we find among them three distinct groups, each group marked by certain clearly defined characteristics, and sharply differentiated from the others either by the temperament of the sculptors who compose it, or by their racial qualities. This preliminary classification, which will, I think, make our study of the school simpler and more exact, gives us three groups, which I propose to take in the following order : — I. The " Classic " sculptors. II. The Flemish sculptors. III. The Walloon sculptors. In analysing each of the three, I shall point out what are the features common to its members. I hasten to add that there is yet another development of Belgian sculpture which cannot be included under any of these three heads. Constantin Meunier, the artist who escapes my classification, cannot certainly be ranked among the Flemings, still less among the Walloons, and least of all among the " Classics." As it is impossible to bring him into these groups, and as he is an artist of great power and originality, and the creator of a novel form of art, he must be studied alone ; a special section will therefore be devoted to him. 24 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM I will now examine each of these groups, its general character, and the works it has produced, and I wish first to remark that in my classification I have been guided solely by the ceuvre of the artists I shall pass in review and not by any biographical facts, such as their birth, or the studios in which they spent their apprenticeship. THE " CLASSIC " SCULPTORS '. MESSRS. PAUL DE VIGNE, CHARLES VAN DER STAPPEN, THOMAS VINCOTTE AND JACQUES DE LALAING. I have given this title to the sculptors of my first group, because, ^ although they have tried not to make a speciality of a particular category of subjects, their art is generally inspired by some classic theme. By classic, again, I do not refer solely to Greek art, but also to that of Italy, the influence of which is apparent at least in the early works of two among them, Messrs. Paul de Vigne and Thomas Vincotte. Every phase of art has been studied by the learned and cultivated members of this group, and if they have shown a preference for that of Greece and Italy, it is because they have made plastic perfection their ideal, and naturally no other exemplars furnish them with so perfect a form. But if their predilections incline them to Greek and Italian art, they have not neglected the study of other schools ; they are, as I have said, anxious not to specialise, and they have sought to be modern, even when preserving classic forms. I have begun my study of our sculptural Renaissance with these artists, because in the group to which they belong there are two sculptors who are not only slightly older than all their confreres, but who are looked upon to a certain extent as the leaders in the artistic revival. These are Messrs. Paul de Vigne and Charles van der Stappen. M. de Vigne is the elder of the two, I believe ; and we will begin our notices of the sculptors of his group with him. M. de Vigne's personality 1 is one of the most attractive and lofty 1 I borrow notes relating to the works of Messrs. De Vigne, Van der Stappen, Dillens and Meunier, from the biographies of Monsieur E. L. De Taye (Les Artistes Beiges Contemporains. Castaigne. Brussels). In the cases of the other sculptors, I have been obliged to catalogue their works from my personal recollections, and the list is therefore incomplete. Principal works of Paul de Vigne (born at Brussels, April 26, 1843): Fra Jngelico of THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 25 in contemporary Belgian art. He is the perfect type of the classic sculptor, in the wider sense I have adopted above. Of all contem- porary masters he, perhaps, has the purest style, and the most anxious desire for harmonious perfection. He has realised a poetic and ideal plastic type, which, modern as it is, is yet closely allied to the traditional beauty of Greek sculpture. His early works show the inspiration of Italian art, more especially that of Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But after several long sojourns in Rome and Paris, he underwent a change ; his genius sought its ideal in the age of Phidias and of Pericles, and to this ideal it has remained steadfast. It is interesting, I think, to hear the artist explain his own beliefs, and I therefore extract the following fragment of conversation, in which the sculptor fully expresses himself, from a book of M. de Taye's. 1 " I love to fix my eyes and my aspirations on the art of antiquity, because in this art I find the eloquent consecration of the purest and Fiesole ; statuette, Ghent, 1868. Bust of Professor Moke ; the property of the government ; Antwerp, 1870. Heliotrope ; marble statue, in the Ghent Museum. The Republic ; bronze bust. An Italian Girl; marble bust, Brussels, 1872. Portrait of M. Claries van Hutten, marble, Ghent, 1874. Domenica ; plaster statue. Pompeian Girl; bronze bust. Caryatids for the Conservatoire Royal, Brussels. Volumnia ; bronze bust, Brussels, 1875. Emmanuel Hiel ; bronze bust. Domenica; marble statue, in the Antwerp Museum. Antwerp, 1876. . Roman Woman ; bronze bust, Ghent, 1877. Bust of Wilson; bronze, Musee Communal, Brussels. Poverella ; marble statuette. Co?nmemorative Monu?nent, to the memory of the horticulturist, Louis van Houte, erected at Brussels, 1878. Psyche; bronze bust, in the Brussels Museum. Narcissus ; bronze bust, Paris, 1878. The Coronation of Art ; sketch for one of the groups of the facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts ; Brussels, 1880. The Muse of History; Brussels, 1881. Immortality; an allegory, executed in memory of Lievin de Winne ; in the Brussels Museum, 1883. The Triumph of Art ; group in bronze, on the facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels. The Wilson Monument; in the Musee Communal, Brussels; Antwerp, 1885. Monument to Breydel and De Koninck, at Bruges; Brussels, 1888. Bitterness ; Ghent, 1889. Head of a Man (study for the statue of Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde) ; Paris, 1889. Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde ; marble statue, in the Square du Sablon, Brussels, 1890. Commemorative Monument, erected at Courtrai, to the memory of Mgr. de Haerne. Funeral Monwnent of the advocate, Meddepenningen, bronze ; Communal Cemetery, Ghent. Funeral Monwnent of the Gevaert family ; Communal Cemetery, Evere. Sleep; a bronze medallion ; Brussels, 1893. Bust of Jules Philippot. Design for a commemorative monument to the memory of the Burgomaster Anspach (in collaboration with the architect Janlet). Psyche ; a bust in ivory. Head of a Man > a study; Brussels, 1894. 1 De Taye, Les Artistes Beiges Contemporains, op. cit. 26 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM loftiest of principles — that which teaches us to combine truth, in other words Nature, with the ideal, in other words, the highest manifestation of an individuality. In all art, but more especially in sculpture, we must show respect for . Nature, in order to avoid the conventional, the superficial, the unworthy. I certainly admire actuality in art, whose mission it is to interpret the tendencies of an epoch, but if by actuality we are to understand the development of the commonplace, of a genre unworthy the majesty of great art, I maintain that the standard of the age must inevitably be lowered. The artist must translate none but great ideas. It is his mission to speak to the soul while pleasing the eye. Art should express none but noble thoughts ; the principles of sculpture exclude vulgarity. The most dignified form of sculpture is the monumental form." Truth, nature, ideality ; all De Vigne's art is comprised in these three words. Among his numerous and varied works, we are inclined to give the first places to Immortality, a marble statue in the Brussels Museum, and to two bronze groups, one The Triumph of Art, on the facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts at Brussels, the other the monument in bronze to Breydel and De Koninck at Bruges. The first named is certainly his masterpiece so far. All the sculptor's qualities find their highest expression here. This charming allegory was conceived and executed in memory of M. de Vigne's friend, Lievin de Winne, the most gifted of modern Belgian portrait-painters. It represents a Muse, who points heavenward, leaning on a column to which a palette and a palm- branch are attached. The conception is of the simplest, but its charm is irresistible. Nothing more perfect in its way can be imagined than the exquisite purity of the youthful figure, the masterly line of the composi- tion, the noble tenderness of the face and of the consoling gesture. The T riumph of Art comes next to this masterpiece ; it too is ad- mirable for its happy composition and the graceful lines of its figures ; the Monument to Breydel and De Koninck, which dominates the Grande Place at Bruges is energetic, inspiring, and heroic in character, and commands a tribute of praise : but I confess that the very quintessence of De Vigne's poetic and idealistic art seems to me to lie in the slender grace of his Muse, and his own claim to Immortality may safely be allowed to rest on this conception. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 27 Among artists M. Charles van der Stappen is generally allowed the same title to be considered one of the founders of the modern school as M. de Vigne. His art is above all things decorative in character, and Brus- sels owes many fine monumental works to him. He has shown how greatly the beauty of archi- tecture may be en- hanced by appropri- ate decoration in his pediment for the Al- hambra theatre, the pediment to the left in the Conservatoire de Musique, repre- senting Orchestra- tion, his decorations of the Passage des Postes, and his caryatids for the house of the well- known architect De Curte. " To him belongs the honour," says M. Camille Le- monier in his bio- graphy of the artist, " of having raised monumental and de- corative art from the low level to which it had sunk, and of having made it the equal of imaginative art." His best works, indeed, are all of a decorative character. Itrimortality. Sepulchral Figure. By P. de Vigne. 28 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM They consist of the following : Orchestration, pediment for the Conserva- toire, a broadly conceived and harmonious arrangement of line and proportions, showing the great advance made by the sculptor, even Pax Vobiscum. Bronze bust. By C. Van der Stappen. upon the most gifted of his predecessors, Simonis (compare the Orchestration bas-relief with the latter's pediment of the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels) ; The Teaching of Art, a monumental group in bronze, decorating the principal facade of the Palais des THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 29 Beaux Arts ; a companion group to De Vigne's Triumph of Art ; William the Silent, a beautiful and very characteristic statuette in the Square du Petit Sablon ; a design for the decoration of the Botanic Gardens, a monumental work, to which all the Belgian sculptors will contribute, and of which the inception is due, I believe, to Van der Stappen ; finally, a work in a less important genre, though no less admirable in its charm, its vigour, and its imaginative qualities, his silver centrepiece for the municipality of Brussels. 1 Another characteristic of his art is the variety of the genres he has essayed at different times. He has tried his hand at everything — groups, statues, bas-reliefs, monumental works, and statuettes. He is one of the most accomplished craftsmen among Belgian sculptors, and knows every secret of his art. Some years ago he was appointed professor of 1 Principal works of Charles van der Stappen (born at Brussels, September, 1843) : The Faun's Toilette ; plaster statue, Brussels, 1869. Head of an Indian Woman; bronze. Head of a Faun; marble, Ghent, 1 871. The Charmer ; plaster statue, Brussels, 1872. Decoration of the Passage des Postes. Statues for the Alhambra Theatre, and Caryatids for the architect De Curte's house at Brussels; 1874. The Songstress; bronze medallion. Monument to the Memory of Alexandre Gendebien, at Brussels. Orchestration ; pediment in the court of the Conservatoire de Musique, Brussels. Dawn and Twilight ; decorative candelabra for the Comte de Flandre's palace; Brussels, 1875 or 1876 Monument to Baron Coppens, near Sheel ; Brussels, 1877. The Man with the Sword ; marble statue, in the Brussels Museum. David; statue in wax. A young Jewess; marble bust. La Pascuccia ; marble bust. The Teaching of Art ; sketch in plaster for the bronze group on the facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels ; Brussels, 1880, Florentine Girl ; bronze, Brussels, 1 88 1 . Bronze bust of Philipson ; Brussels, 1882. St. Michael, in the Gothic Hall of the Hotel de Ville, Brussels. Child with a Goat ; Brussels, 1884. Memorial Bust for the monument to Edouard Agneessens, in the cemetery of St. Josse-ten-noode ; Brussels, 1887. Man struck by lightning. William the Silent ; marble statue, in the Square du Petit Sablon, Brussels ; Brussels, 1888. The Sphinx ; bronze, Paris, 1889. St. George. The Octopus; bronze bas-relief, Brussels, 1889. Pax Vobiscum ; bust. Bronze Medallion of Henne, late Secretary to the Academie des Beaux Arts, Brussels. Silver Centre-piece, executed for the town of Brussels ; Central Group : St. Michael defending the banner of the city ; Minor Group : The V ows of Brussels ; Legend of the V eillee des Dames ; Translation of the Ashes of Ste. Gudule. Arthur Stevens; bust. The Legend of Orpheus (Happiness — Grief — Regret — Martyrdom — Immortality)-, Brussels, 1891. Ompdrailles ; bronze group, the property of the Government; Brussels, 1892. Design for decorations of the Jardin Botanique, Brussels ; executed in collaboration with Constantin Meunier (candelabra, statues, groups, and other decorative motives) ; Brussels, 1893. The Builders of Cities ; Brussels, 1894. 3o THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM sculpture at the Academie des Beaux Arts of Brussels ; there is now some question of making him president of the Academy, an appointment which would put the training of young Belgian artists and the direction of their first efforts into his hands. It would be difficult to find a better candidate for the post, and taking into account the happy influence he has exercised on contemporary art, the Government would be but dis- charging a debt of gratitude by his promotion. The most brilliant of his The Builders of Cities. Group in plaster. By C. Van der Stappen. pupils are M. Rousseau, whom we shall meet again among the Walloon sculptors, and Messrs. Guillaume Charlier and Samuel, who do not rightly belong to this group of classic sculptors, but whom I notice here as M. Van der Stappen's scholars. An emotional modern or the moderns, M. Guillaume Charlier's early works seem to have been inspired solely by M. Van der Stappen. His Prayer in the Brussels Museum is very refined in feeling, and more modern than the works by THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 31 which it is surrounded. In the style he has now adopted he seems to have been influenced to some extent by M. Constantin Meunier. The bas-reliefs of his monumental design Fishers, in which he records the principal phases of the lives of fisher-folk, are original and well conceived, and deserve attention. M. Samuel, an artist whose works at the exhibitions held by the " coming men " have been favourably received, and who at- tracted a good deal of notice at the Exhibi- tion of Ivories at Ant- werp and at the Cercle Artistique by his in- ventive talent and ima- ginative gifts, shows to great advantage in the monument he exe- cuted for the Com- mune of Ixelles to the memory of Charles de Coster, the author of the Legend of Tie I Uy lenspiegel. This monument, which has lately been set up by the ponds at Ixelles, pleases by its familiar character, by its ar- rangement, and by the original conception of the figures, all very expressive of the writer's creations. Chronologically, M. Thomas Vin^otte is the third among this group Bust of the Comtesse de M'erode. By T. Vin$otte. 32 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM of classic sculptors. Coming a few years after Messrs. De Vigne and Van der Stappen, with the former of whom he has great affinities, he profited by the acquirements of his predecessors, and has made them his own, adding to them at the same time a more modern and energetic character. The qualities he shares with M. de Vigne are a passion for form and line, a scrupulous, indeed almost a religious care for rhythm and balance, an aspiration after noble and concise forms, and a determination to let nothing go out of his studio that cannot claim to possess stable and enduring elements. 1 He has not that ideal grace which characterises the author of Immortality, but on the other hand, he Group for the Pedi?nent of the Antwerp Museum. By T. Vin$otte. is more vigorous and animated. It is this latent, restrained, and measured power, this sensation of intense life, chastened by a respect for 1 Principal works of M. Thomas Vincotte, with the approximate dates of their production : Giotto ; a marble statue, in the Brussels Museum, 1875. The Godecharles Monument, in the Park at Brussels. Music ; bas-relief on the principal facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts, 1882. The Horse-breaker ; bronze group, in the Avenue Louise at Brussels, 1885. Agneessens ; marble statue, on the Boulevard du Midi, Brussels ; 1890. Group of horses and Tritons, in bronze, for the park of the Chateau d'Ardenne, 1892, 1893. Sketch of a group for the pediment of the Antwerp Museum, 1894. The same, an enlargement, 1895. St. Cecilia ; a marble bust, 1895. In addition to these, he has produced a number of portrait busts, among them, those of the King and Queen of the Belgians, the Comtesse de Merode (reproduced), and the Comtesse de Lalaing. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 33 form and line, which gives individuality to M. Vincotte's art. His determination to express life in its most precise and striking form is the secret of his success in that long series of vigorous, elegant, and lifelike busts which have made his fame, and in the execution of which he seems Bronze Statue of Cavelier de la Salle, at Chicago. By Jacques de Lalaing. to me to have no rival. But though he finds the sculpture of busts a very interesting form of study, his favourite genre is monumental art ; sculpture for the facades or pediments of buildings, or better still, statues to be seen in the open air, standing out in bold relief against the verdure of parks and avenues. c 34 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM His principal works — for in this brief sketch I can mention only the most characteristic and important productions of each artist — are, to my mind, the bas-relief of Music on the facade of the Palais des Beaux Arts, a nervous and animated composition, admirable in design, and marked by great distinction in execution, one of the best, in fact, of modern bas- reliefs ; his dignified and dramatic Statue of Agneessens ; and the sketches (in two sizes) of the groups of Fame for the pediment of the Antwerp Museum. The first sketch for this group, which will gain greatly, I think, when executed on the proposed scale, and seen from below, is, in my opinion, the best and most characteristic of M. Vinootte's works. The horses are the most lifelike, the most decorative, and the most magnificent he has ever sculptured ; their impetuous movement is superb, their dash and ardour irresistible ; the general lines of the group are extremely happy, and I think all artists will share my admiration when they see these fiery steeds silhouetted against the blue sky over the entrance of the Antwerp Museum. I can glean few particulars concerning M. Jacques de Lalaing, the . last of this group of sculptors. 1 He is known both as painter and sculptor, though he is far from showing an equal aptitude for the two arts. The pictures I have seen by him proclaim an energetic sculptural temperament, and the most absolute lack of all pictorial gifts. I cannot admire his painting, and I know but little of his sculpture. But his monumental group in the cemetery at Evere, near Brussels, is quite sufficient to justify my respect for the artist. As it is the only example of his work I shall mention, I may be allowed, perhaps, to briefly describe it, and to express the great admiration I feel for it. The group, or rather the monument, is a tomb. It marks the resting- place of the English officers and soldiers killed in the battle of Waterloo. Rising from a grassy mound, surrounded by a low wall of red granite, it consists of a base formed of large blocks of the same granite, of a sarcophagus, upon which is sculptured a cross, and of a bronze pedestal, supporting a figure of England, who kneels with one knee upon it. On the bronze pedestal is the brief inscription : Patria Mortuorum memor. At 1 Robert Cavelier de la Salle, to whom a statue by M. Lalaing has been erected in the Park at Chicago, was a native of Rouen, who explored the Missisippi in the reign of Louis XIV. Statue on the Monument at Even to the English who fell at Waterloo. By Jacques de Lalaing. 36 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM the corners of the tomb are three couchant lions in bronze, and a full drapery thrown across the tomb and its pedestal partly conceals the various instruments of war, guns, flags, lances, helmets and plumed shakos, heaped together in skilful confusion. I have described this tomb at length, because it is one of the finest works of Belgian sculpture, and I should like to see it more widely known. It has a grandiose and heroic character unusual in modern art. All its details are broad and noble — the composition, the solemn and majestic figure, the lions, especially the wounded one who presses against the tomb, and seems almost to weep, so powerful is the tragic expression of suffering in his head. Those who sleep their last below, and dream of battles and of glory, should rest well. They died on the field of honour, and a soul heroic as their own has given them a monument that will perpetuate their memory, and command the homage of all who visit their tomb. CHAPTER II THE FLEMISH SCULPTORS : MESSRS. LAMBEAUX, JULIEN DILLENS, AND JULES LAGAE When the idea of a study on contemporary Belgian sculptors first occurred to me, one name rose at once in my mind, that of Jef Lam- beaux. This name, the most famous and the most popular in our modern school of sculpture, seemed to sum up its general tendencies, and to typify our national art. At the first glance, this opinion is plausible enough. Flemish art has nearly always predominated among us, and the personification of Flemish art might therefore fairly serve as the personification of national art. Lambeaux, however, is hardly a perfect prototype of the Flemish Renaissance ; he could not be considered representative of those artists whom I have included in the " Classic " group ; still less of those I call the Walloons, with whom he has nothing in common, whose aims, indeed, are directly opposed to his own. If his art be national, it is so only as regards Flanders ; with this reserva- tion, we may accept the term as characterising the three sculptors we are about to study. All three are Flemings, not only by temperament, but by birth, education, and inspiration. They make no pretensions to learning and culture ; their knowledge is confined to their art, which they find all- sufficing. They have the reward of this concentration, for no modern sculptors are greater masters of their craft. They know all its secrets ; every genre, every method of treatment, is familiar to them. 1 Their technical facility is, no doubt, due to the fact that in early life they 1 This same technical mastery distinguishes M. van der Stappen among the Classics, and, in a lesser degree, M. Rousseau among the Walloons ; but it is not a characteristic of either group, as it is of the Flemings. 38 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM practised those humbler and more mechanical branches of their art which give great manual dexterity. Lambeaux in his youth carved figure- heads for ships ; Lagae also began life as a wood-carver, and Dil lens as a rough-hewer and decorator. In further contrast to the art of the " Classics," which, in their more important works at least, is allegorical and synthetic, the art of the Flemish sculptors is, as a rule, episodic and picturesque, an art of obser- vation and analysis, of impression and sentiment. Their first care is to make their work true and lifelike, and to this preoccupation they are inclined to sacrifice all others. Flemings by birth, they are so still more by temperament and inspiration. They are more closely allied to the great Flemish sculptors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries than any of the other groups, and follow their tradition more faithfully. We must note, however, that these modern Flemings, Dil lens and Lagae especially, are Italianised Flemings ; they have not only visited Italy, but have lived there, and their study of the Italian masters of the Renaissance has taught them the necessity of confining life and its exuberance within the limits of noble and harmonious forms. In the case of Lambeaux, a natural impetuosity of temperament leads sometimes to a neglect of that perfection of form all the greatest masters have accounted indispensable. But in spite of the strange mixture of defects and qualities which make up his artistic personality, he is un- doubtedly the most remarked among contemporary Belgian sculptors. To him we owe the most important and masterly achievement of modern art in Belgium. His masterpiece, the fountain at Antwerp, is one of those works whose immortality is assured ; it is already as integral a part of the city as Quentin Matsys' well, Rubens' pictures in the cathedral, or that cathedral itself, the spire of which dominates the town. To judge from the articles and studies devoted to Lambeaux both in Belgium and abroad, it would seem to be a difficult matter to judge of his art dispassionately. For some of his critics, he is the greatest sculptor of the age ; every work he has produced, from The Kiss onwards, has been a masterpiece. They put the Anversois sculptor on the same level as Michelangelo, Rubens, and Jordaens, with whom they constantly compare him. Others, to whom the violence, the exuberant life of his essentially Flemish style is antipathetic, look for THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 39 qualities in his art which are not to be found, and incontinently pronounce him a middling and ordinary sculptor. I will try to speak of him with more moderation and with greater justice, showing him as he is, an extraordinary mixture of faults and perfections, a mixture, moreover, in which perfections predominate, for has he not produced the Antwerp Fountain, and the Merry Song ? It may not be out of place to give a few biographical details, which explain his works to some extent, and throw light on his personality. The son of a workman, he was born at Antwerp, July 13, 1852. From a very early age, he showed a remarkable aptitude for drawing. At six years old, says one of his biographers, he drew strange beasts with a piece of chalk on the walls and pavements of Antwerp, which the passers-by would stop to wonder at. As soon as he could read and write, he was apprenticed to a carver of figure-heads for ships. Meanwhile, he also studied at the Academy schools, and in his leisure hours, made his first essays in sculpture. At sixteen, having completed his course at the Academy, he received his first official commission, two reliefs for the tympana of the Flemish theatre. He took part at the age of seventeen in the preliminary competition for the prix de Rome, which would have enabled him to finish his art education in Italy, and came out first three times, but, falling ill from fatigue and exhaustion, was unable to compete in the final examination. During this early stage of his career, he met with the sculptor Carpeaux's assistant at Antwerp, and to his counsels Lambeaux seems to have listened with respect. Having missed the prix de Rome, he found himself without means. In order to live, he had, perforce, to produce works at once, and works likely to please the taste of the Anversois merchants and stockbrokers. For his own part, he had an intense wish to be "modern"; his aspirations, and the exigencies of his patrons, combined to produce a whole series of works, The Accident, The Undertaker, The Acrobat, The Lucky Number, The " Sa Pater," &c, groups and statuettes which have little affinity with his works of to-day, and the whole merit of which lies in the picturesque and dexterous treatment of modern costume. After the execution of these early works, and the momentary success they brought him, came a long interval of neglect and poverty, when Lambeaux was at last forced to give up sculpture for a time and go 4Q THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM to Paris, where he earned his bread by painting as an assistant in a friend's studio. An extensive order for busts from a wax-work museum saved him from his critical position, and enabled him to return to sculpture. In 1880 he produced The Kiss, which I consider to be really his first group. The Kiss had a great and immediate success. It was bought by the Antwerp Museum, and Lambeaux, then twenty- eight years old, was sent to Italy by the town of Antwerp to complete his artistic education. At Florence he made acquaintance with the works of Giovanni da Bologna, for which he felt the most enthusiastic admira- tion, and here the idea of his fountain first occurred to him. The most salient and significant points in this perfunctory sketch of the artist's career are, I think, his lack of learning, his precocious and extraordinary gifts, a certain want of taste in his choice of subjects, and his enthusiastic admiration for Carpeaux and Giovanni da Bologna. This admiration was, in fact, the tardy awakening of Lambeaux's own temperament. It found its highest and happiest expression in the group he executed on his return from Florence, The Merry Song (La Folle Chanson). This group, a marvel of healthy vitality, represents an old satyr, whose huge carcase shakes with formidable laughter, as he listens to the merry song of a nymph. He has seated himself on the ground, overcome by his mirth, and lays one hand on his heaving body, while with the other he makes an effort — feeble enough, so helpless is he — to repulse a chubby child, who approaches to listen. His little eyes seem to glisten with moisture ; his face is puckered into a grimace of sensual satisfaction, as the young singer leans towards him to murmur the last words of the sprightly refrain in his ear. This seems to me the most perfect of Jef Lambeaux's groups. It has all his fine qualities, without any of the defects of his more recent works. It is instinct with that lusty Flemish health in the expression of which his only rivals are Rubens and Jordaens. It has that force, that intensity of life, which no contemporary sculptor can render as he does. Finely composed, and very pleasing in line, this group is bathed in warm and brilliant colour, and in a glowing light, which seems to be thrown off from the robust contours of the three figures. As I saw it not long ago, cast in a light-coloured bronze, which brought out its qualities of colour, and the firm precision of its lines, its most fitting home seemed to me, not one of the chilly galleries The Merry Song. By Jef Lam beaux. 42 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM to which our sculptors' works are generally consigned, but some luxurious reception room, its walls glowing with pictures by Rubens and Jordaens. The Fountain of Brabo, in front of the Hotel de Ville at Antwerp, is less perfect in composition perhaps, though superb in outline, and full of boldness and originality in conception. The myth which furnished its design tells how in the days of Cassar a cruel giant established himself on the shores of the Scheldt, near Antwerp, and stopped all passing merchants, demanding half their wares. He punished those who resisted or evaded his claims by cutting off their right hands. "Antwerp," says the legend, " might still have been groaning under his tyranny, had not Salvius Brabo, King of Tongres, husband of Swarma, Caesar's cousin, come to the rescue. He defied and slew the giant, and by way of reprisal, cut ofT his right hand." The Antwerp fountain shows Brabo after he has killed the monster. He hastens to the town to announce his triumph, and nearing the gates, raises the trophy of victory, the severed hand, to throw it in before him. A detailed description would give but a confused idea of the work. It must be seen in its picturesque setting in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville to ensure a proper appreciation of its fitness for the place it adorns, its ingenious and complicated composition, and the splendid vigour of the female figures, who, as personifications of the river Scheldt, bear on their stately shoulders the vessels and commerce of the city. Not the least among Lambeaux's titles to fame, to my mind, is the patriotic sympathy he displays in this gift to his native town of a monument so full of life, so appropriate to its tastes, so original and poetical in its glorification of the commercial progress and growing wealth of the community. I cannot speak so admiringly of Lambeaux's more recent works. His. group, Intoxication, lately exhibited at the Champ de Mars in Paris, strikes me as coarse and exaggerated. Here he no longer represents the healthy robustness of form characteristic of his own countrywomen ; the female figures are heavy, obese, almost bestial in their repulsive develop- ment. I am willing to admit that the group may be admired for its. composition and movement, and for that exuberance of life with which the Antwerp sculptor endows all his creations, but I shall never be per- suaded of its beauty. Neither Rubens nor Jordaens, who have been so* often quoted by the apologists of this work, would ever have created such THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 43 figures or admitted them into their pictures. It is a feminine type hitherto unknown to art, even to Lambeaux's own art. We can only hope that it may never be reproduced by its author. The colossal bas-reliefs of The Passions of Humanity are Lambeaux's most important work as regards its dimensions, and the immense amount of labour it represents. 1 In conception, it seems to me empty and theatrical, and the arrangement of the groups, which have little coherence as a whole, is none of the happiest. But that portion of the relief which deals with the Joys of Humanity is admirable, more especially the frenzied dance of the group of Bacchantes, or laughing girls, their faces radiant with mirth and pleasure, and the calmer group of Lovers, a graver, more thoughtful, more dignified conception than we find elsewhere in the sculptor's ceuvre. When an artist has given us both good and bad, it is my practice as a rule to pass over the bad, and to dwell only on the good. Jef Lambeaux has not only produced excellent work ; he is the author of the Antwerp Fountain, which I have already pronounced a masterpiece, and I am much inclined to place The Merry Song in the same category. I might, it is true, have been content to notice only these, and the finer portions of his bas-relief. But I have given my opinion of the Intoxication, and pointed out certain defects in the bas-relief in the hope that these friendly criticisms may bring home to the artist a perception of his tendency to licence of form, and exaggeration of movement. I would also warn him against the inflated panegyric of his admirers, journalists and aesthetes whose knowledge of Michelangelo is confined to his name, but who couple it and that of their idol with wearisome iteration, in spite of the essential incongruity of the two. The sculptor of The Merry Song and of the Antwerp Fountain has little indeed in common with the creator of the tombs of the Medici. The comparison of Lambeaux with Rubens and Jordaens is a legitimate one ; he may be considered comple- mentary to those two great personalities ; but we must not go farther for a parallel, and certainly not to Italy. Of all modern sculptors, Lambeaux is the most powerful and vital ; as far as Flanders is concerned, his art is 1 It measures 6 metres by II, and the reliefs are I metre 40 c. deep at their highest. A cast from this relief will be exhibited at the Institut des Beaux Arts ? Paris, this winter. ^4 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM truly national and representative. Let him be content with his un- doubted gifts ; let him try to moderate his form, and carry on the tradition of the great Flemish masters. The part is a sufficiently glorious one. He has proved it so in the past ; he may, if he wishes, prove it so in the future. 1 Taking his works as a whole, M. Julien Dillens is less vigorous than Jef Lambeaux ; but, on the other hand, his level of excellence is higher. If we look upon him in his true character, that of a decorative artist, we may perhaps accept him as the most perfect of modern Belgian sculptors. His personality is a highly attractive one, and we may study him with unmixed pleasure. Whichever of his decorative works we take, we find in it the same charm, the same coherence of detail, the same care for general effect, the same perfection. Nevertheless, we must choose some typical examples, and this is a matter of real difficulty ; for the more familiar we are with his works, the more perplexed we are as to their relative merits. I will take those which first suggest themselves to my mind, and endeavour to trace in them the more active principles of Julien Dillens' temperament. Foremost among them is the beautiful pediment of the Hospice des trois Allies at Uccle. Its execution is memorable in more ways than one, for it was the first monumental relief, in Belgium, at least, in which an attempt was made to grapple with the difficulties of modern costume. And yet it is as easy and natural as if figures had been commonly treated in this manner. In its noble and 1 In addition to the works above described, we may mention the numerous remark- able busts he has produced, among them the portraits of M. Buls, the Burgomaster of Brussels, M. Paul Janson, the late Jean Rousseau, Mdlle. Beernaert, and Madame van Bruyssel. The following is a list of his principal works, with their approximate dates of production : — First period. War ; a group in plaster, 1 871 . Bacchus; terra-cotta, 1872. Childre?i Dancing, The Buffoon, The Compulsory Bath, The Acrobat, The Undertaker, The Lucky Number, The Left Hand, all executed at Antwerp between 1875 anc ^ 1 §79- The Accident; a group, Antwerp. Blind; Ghent, 1880. Second period. The Kiss; bronze group, in the Antwerp Museum, 188 1. The Wrestlers ; marble group, Brussels, 1882. The Orgy ; group in plaster, Florence, 1882. The Merry Song; Antwerp, 1884. Brabo ; Antwerp, 1885. The Antwerp Fountain ; plaster, Ghent, 1886. Ibid. ; bronze, in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, Antwerp, 1887. Humanity. The Robber of the Eagle's Nest ; Brussels, 1890. Intoxication ; group in plaster, Brussels, 1890. Bas-relief of the Passions of Humanity, 1895. 5* is "as Si I >-l CJ- 46 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM touching simplicity it reminds me of the beautiful bas-relief on the hospital at Pistoja. I was passing through the Grand Place of Brussels the other day, and looking up at the King's Palace, I saw the gilded Lansquenets poised upon the dormer windows, unfurling their banners against the blue sky, blowing trumpets, playing fifes and drums with martial ardour. Would it be possible, I asked myself, to invest a somewhat hackneyed theme with more picturesque gaiety, or to imagine a more decorative costume than that of the warriors who guard the king's house night and day ? There could be but one answer, for Dillens is a consummate master of costume, ancient and modern, and more important still, he knows how to make the figures he creates wear their dresses gracefully, for the accomplished costumier is familiar, not only with the garb, but with the fashions and refine- ments of all ages. Some time ago I saw in his studio a little figure, a mere accessory, designed for the decoration of the mask oyer the curtain of a theatre. It was only the head of a young girl crowned with vine leaves. She looks straight in front of her, at the spectators, in fact, laying one finger upon her lips, to indicate, as one would see on the rising of the curtain, that the play is about to begin, and that there must be silence. The pretty fancy is most gracefully expressed, and when we remember that the mask is a detail no one may notice, save, perhaps, some artist, dreaming with upturned eyes, and that the little masterpiece is itself only an accessory, we shall have some idea of the care and finish he bestows on all his decorative work. Another happy inspiration of the same kind is his idea of a fountain for the ponds at Ixelles, a work which would give an artistic character to this cheerful corner of suburban Brussels. At the end of one of the ponds there is a mass of rock, and a grotto, erected at the time of the making of the ponds, by Blaton Aubert, the inventor of those hideous artificial rocks which still adorn many little gardens in Brussels. In itself, the erection is commonplace and uninteresting enough. To Dillens, however, it suggested a delightful decorative scheme, the model of which appeared a week or two later in his studio. On the summit of the rock he placed a magnificent Pegasus with large outspread wings pawing the air. On his back stands a heroic Perseus, his lance in one hand, in the other the mute and terrible head of the Gorgon. This THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 47 head he holds out to the monster below. Andromeda, meanwhile, has advanced to the mouth of the cave, and clasps her hands in terror at the sight of the dragon, foaming and raging in the waters. The design is charming in every detail. Negotiations have been opened between the Medallion commemorative of the Godefroy gift to the town of Brussels. By J. Dillens. artist and the municipality of Ixelles, and I sincerely hope that they may result in the carrying out of this happy conception. An innovator in all kinds of decorative work, Dillens was, I think, the first among us to execute bas-reliefs commemorating some current 48 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM event. As an example of what he has done in this genre, I may calf attention to the two bas-reliefs here reproduced. The first which represents an old man examining a human heart — commemorates the course of anatomical lectures given by Dr. Heger at the Institut Solvay, the second, the Godefroy bequest for the foundation of a technical school of joinery. These repro- ductions will give some idea of the extraordinary variety and fertility of his imagination. The suggestive quality of Dillens' art makes it easy to discuss him, and I have, indeed,, written this notice so rapidly, that I find I have omitted to mention the artist's principal work, the group of Justice in the Palais de Justice at Brussels. Descriptions of works of art are, however, of comparatively little value, and it will be sufficient to call the attention of the student to the work. This, indeed, has al- ready been done, and with more authority than I would venture to assume, by an international Jury of his confreres, which, on three separate occasions, awarded him a gold medal for his group. 1 ] Principal works of M. Julien Dillens. (born at Antwerp in 1849) : Bust of a Child; Antwerp, 1870. A Street Arab ; marble bust. Medallion Portrait of M. Nys d'Hardewyk; Brussels, 1872. Bust of the - late Henri Dillens ; Ghent, 1874. Echo; terra-cotta, Spa, 1875. An Enigma; Antwerp, 1876. Model of the bas-relief for the northern pediment of the Hospice des Trois Allies at Uccle ; Brussels, 1877. Bronze- Busts of De Pede and Rubens; in the Brussels Museum, 1879. Hermes; marble and. Sepulchral Figure. By J. Dillens. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 49 I have yet to discuss the art of M. Jules Lagae, the third sculptor of the Flemish group. Considerably younger than Julien Dillens and Jef Lambeaux (he was the pupil of the latter), Jules Lagae's work and his personality have combined to give him an honourable place beside the two masters we have been studying. In defining the general character of modern Flemish sculpture at the beginning of the present chapter I defined that of M. Jules Lagae. But if it be necessary to point out some more distinctive feature, I will say that his chief charm to me is the tender sentiment that inspires all his work. He has that worship of life which is common to all these sculptors, but with him the expression of that life is calm, healthy, and tranquil. The group of Mother and Child here reproduced is an excellent example of his delicate sentiment, and serene conception. The mother is the artist's young wife ; her baby, wearing a loose frock that falls in broad folds, stands on the ledge of a window or balcony, supported by her arms. Both are looking straight before them, probably at their friend the sculptor, who thus immortalises them in clay. The expression of both is charming, the mother's all love and sweetness, the child's full of a wondering curiosity as he gazes, with round astonished eyes, at the mysterious things before him. I also reproduce the group known as Expiation, because it is one of bronze. Etruria ; bronze bust, Brussels, 1880. Herkenbald, the Brutus of Brussels ; Antwerp, 1882. Justice ; group in plaster, Amsterdam, 1883. Model of the bas-relief for the southern pediment of the Hospice des Trois Allies at Uccle ; Brussels, 1884. A Kneeling Figure; bought by the Government; Antwerp, 1885. Statue of the J urisconsult, H. Metdepenningen, in the square of the Palais de Justice at Ghent. Bust of M. Bergman, 1887. Bust of Leon Frederic, 1888. Van Or/ey; marble statue in the Square du Petit Sablon, Brussels. The Lansquenets on the roof of the King's Palace at Brussels; Brussels, 1889. Jean de Nivelles; statue on the facade of the Palais de Justice at Nivelles. Marble statues of St. Louis and St. Victor at Epernay. Bust of Leon Herbo. Melancholy. Medallion Portrait of Ernest Slingeneyer ; Brussels, 1890. The Car of Peace; Brussels, 1891. Flandria. Germania. Minerva. St. Sebastian; Ghent, 1892. Allegretto; Antwerp, 1892. Genii; from the tomb of the Morelli family at Laeken. Marble busts of M. Rigaux's children. Monumental Art and Industrial Art ; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels. Design for the decoration of the Gothic facade of the Hotel de Ville at Ghent, 1893. Minerva; statuette in ivory and bronze, 1894. Statuette, in memory of the completion of the King's palace ; Brussels, 1894. Medallion, commemorative of the Godefroy bequest; Brussels, 1894. Bas- relief, commemorative of the foundation of the Institut Solvay ; Brussels, 1894. Design for a monumental fountain for the ponds at Ixelles ; Brussels, 1895. D So THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE. IN BELGIUM the best and most important of Lagae's works. The subject, a some- what too complicated theme in itself, to my mind, is taken from an old Flemish chronicle of the time of Charles the Good, which tells the story of " two parricides, who were driven out of their city, chained together by the neck, and sent to do penance in distant lands at the tombs Mother and Child. Group in plaster. By Jules Lagae. of the saints." The artist represents the two sufferers at the moment of return, old, exhausted, their limbs stiff and shrunken with toil and privation, their hair and beards wild and unkempt, caring for nothing, thinking of nothing, save perhaps of the terror of dying on the road. The feebler of the two lags a little behind ; worn out with his long THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 51 march, he presses his left hand painfully to his thigh, as if to help himself along, while with his right he seeks a momentary relief from Expiation. Bronze Group. By "Jules Lagae. the pressure of the horrible iron collar which has been eating into his flesh for years. 2 52 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM I have noted the obscurity of the subject. This is a defect, for all plastic work should carry its own explanation ; but the group is never- theless a fine creation, thoughtful, accomplished, and above all, vital. The Kiss. By Jules Lagae. There is, moreover, a pathos and pity in the conception, the outcome of those emotional and moral qualities which characterise nearly all Lagae's works. At the Salon at Ghent this year he exhibited a bust of St. John, THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 53 almost Florentine in its refinement and grace, and some heads of children, lovely as those of Duquesnoy. I have also seen a model in his studio, which shows we may shortly hope for a more serious and personal work, or to be more exact, for one more characteristic of his art. This is a design for a monumental group in honour of Flanders, the artist's birth- place. He represents his country as a young woman, draped in the mantle of Flanders, and seated on the broad back of a Flemish stallion, which paws the ground impatiently. In her arms she holds a child, the Future of Flanders, and lays the reins in his little hand, with joyful hope and confidence. As far as it is possible to judge at present, this group seems to me Jules Lagae's most powerful and original creation. The sculptor has now begun to work at it in life-size. May he retain all the vigorous life, the inspiration, the majesty of the model ! If he does this, he will have raised a noble monument to his country, and the city that owns it will possess a masterpiece truly characteristic of Flemish art. 1 1 Principal works of M. Jules Lagae (born at Roulers, 1862) : Abel; plaster, 1886. Silenus ; a statuette in bronze, 1886. The Kiss; terra-cotta bust, 1887. Medallion of Max Waller, 1889. Expiation ; group in bronze, in the Ghent Museum ; Florence, 1890. Mother and Child ; plaster group, Florence, 1891. St. John, Heads of Children, Bust of Guido Gezelle, 189^.. Flanders ; design for a monumental statue, 1891. CHAPTER III THE WALLOON SCULPTORS ; a MESSRS. ACH ILL E CHAIN A YE, JEAN-MARIE GASPAR, AND VICTOR ROUSSEAU In my introduction to this study I tried to bring out a fact hardly realised by the general public, namely, that the Belgian sculpture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was by no means exclusively Flemish, but that, on the contrary, its inception and first development took place in the Walloon provinces, and that the Walloon school, a very brilliant one down to the close of the sixteenth century, created an individual style. This school has revived again in the person of the three sculptors I am about to study. A later development, the art of this group is of a more modern character than that of other Belgian sculptors, and it is this modernity which distinguishes it most sharply from the " Classics," with whom its members have a good deal in common, as, for instance, their culture, and their worship of form. In the art of the Walloons, how- 1 Among the Walloon sculptors I ought perhaps to include M. Louis Devillez, whose St. George, Salome, Tie Sylvans, and various medallions, formerly exhibited in Brussels, had a very legitimate success. But it is now some years ago since these works appeared here ; and M. Devillez has settled in Paris, and rarely exhibits in Brussels. I have a distinct recollection, however, of the impression his refined and graceful work made upon my mind, and as M. Devillez seems to me, both by birth and temperament, to belong to this group of Walloons, I am anxious to say that it is lack of knowledge, and no want of respect for his art, which prevents my giving a fuller account of him. M. Mignon, also a Walloon by birth, is the author of a much admired work, which has been made very popular in Belgium by reproductions, The Man with the Bull. The general character of his art, however, scarcely entitles him to rank among the Walloon sculptors, in addition to which, I have never seen any other work by him possessing the masterly qualities of this first group, which, cast in bronze, now adorns a public place at Liege. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 55 ever, there is an element of youth entirely personal to themselves. Coming after the "Classics," they were not affected, like the latter, by the dying influences of the academic tradition. If their art shows traces of any influence from without, indeed, it is that of M. Paul de Vigne's early works in the Italian style. And here again, this is merely the bond of union between them and their artistic forefathers, the primitive Italians. It is the art of this school that they seem to admire above all others, and in modern times these young Walloons have certainly approached more closely than any other artists to the Florentine precursors of Michelangelo. They have, indeed, something of the exquisite freshness, grace, and purity of Mino da Fiesole, Desiderio da Settignano, Donatello (in his first manner), Rossellino, the Robbia, and Ghiberti. These are the masters they seem to acknowledge ; if they do not achieve the perfection of their prototypes, they at least approach it in their best works, and lest I should seem to exaggerate, I will at once call attention to the examples that justify my criticism. Works such as Chainaye's Peaceful Shore, Devillez's St. George, Gaspar's Adolescents, and the bust by Rousseau known as Happy, would be by no means out of place in a gallery of Florentine sculpture of the period I refer to, such as the Museo Nazionale at Florence. I do not, be it understood, claim equality with the Florentines for our Walloon artists. Indeed, I think comparisons between ancient and modern art should never be pushed too far. Ancient works, profiting often by the effects of time, and of the fame they have enjoyed for centuries, become, in many cases, " incomparable " ; all I assert is that this Walloon sculpture is of the same family — that it is a new branch, grafted on to the once glorious, and now almost withered tree of Florentine art. The grace, the freshness, the purity I have characterised as the ic notes " of this school, are found in a very marked degree in the works I have mentioned, which are, so far, the best it has produced. Its members are still young, and their art has not yet acquired that homogeneity and unity of aim which marks the older and more tradi- tional schools. One of its sculptors, indeed, M. Jean-Marie Gaspar, is somewhat difficult to classify, owing to the variety of tendencies discernible in his works. His beautiful group, Adolescents, and two 56 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM or three of his statuettes have the qualities I have described as distinctive of this school. But works he has executed before and since are less perfect and less immaterial, and on the other hand, more energetic and vigorous. They have little to connect them with the art of the Walloons, save their flexibility and elegance of line. The most mature of these sculptors is Achille Chainaye. The brother of the refined and tender poet of U Ame des Choses, and the friend of the composer, Erasme Raway, the two artists who have given the most perfect expression to the Walloon spirit in literature and in music, he seems to have come to complete the artistic renaissance of his race. He has so completed it, indeed, by the creation of a new type, delicate, graceful and poetic, the expression of an exquisite serenity of mind and tenderness of heart. If there be a modern artist with whom he has certain traits in common, and to whom we may compare him, it is the greatest of contemporary French painters, the author of the frescoes of Sainte Genevieve, of the Sacred Wood, dear to Art and the Muses, and of the Hemicycle in the Sorbonne. It is not only by his choice of titles (fTypha, the Flower of the Reeds, The Peaceful Shore, Fruitful Earth) that he shows his affinity with Puvis de Chavannes. The best of his works — all too few in number — have the soothing calm, the dreamy beauty, the ineffable serenity of the French master. I may take, as a typical instance, the fine group of young men known as The Peaceful Shore, which I saw again the other day in Lambeaux's studio. The exquisite harmony of the composition, the slender and precise grace of the forms, the ease and truth of the attitudes, and the dreamy and melancholy poetry that breathes from the whole, make up a masterpiece. Throughout this study I have sought to avoid exaggerated estimates of the works I have criti- cised. I have certainly not abused the term " masterpiece," for I am well aware that masterpieces are scarce, and I have been anxious not to belittle them by including among them works not of the highest quality. I do not use the word lightly here. My essay will have one merit, at least, in my eyes, if it draws attention to this group, a plaster cast of which — the only copy, I believe — is in M. Jef Lambeaux's studio at Brussels. Although Chainaye has given signal proof of his masterly qualities and poetic temperament in several other works, such as his Fruitful Earth, The Dumb Girl, and the delightful bust, San Giovannino, he is THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 57 but little known outside the world of artists. His first essays were greeted with sarcasms and ridicule which seem incomprehensible now, and were rejected by the Brussels Salon in 1884. Thus dis- couraged, he was forced for a time to abandon sculpture, and earn a living by his pen. He is now one of the most successful journalists in Belgium — a curious development, taking into account the dreamy melancholy of his art. With many of his friends, I hope that this avatar, brilliant as it is, will be but a passing one, and that the tardy admiration the public is beginning to show for his works, will induce the Liegeois sculptor to take up the chisel again, and give form to the poetic figures of his imagination. 1 Less gifted than M. Chainaye, M. Victor Rousseau is nevertheless an interesting and individual artist. His imagination is original and refined, and his early training as a decorator in plaster has given him great technical facility. His art is full of grace and delicacy, and would be altogether fascinating, were it simpler and more natural. M. Rousseau's passion for elegance sometimes betrays him into a sickliness and ex- aggeration of form that we should rejoice to see him renounce. He is at his best in the execution of his bas-reliefs, among which we may mention the Adolescents, lately exhibited in Brussels, a graceful and original work, the charming Legend of Orpheus, and the refined and delicate bust, Happy, here reproduced. M. Rousseau's profound knowledge of his craft, and his wonderful dexterity seem to mark him out as a decorative sculptor. His true path lies here, and we do not doubt that in this genre he will prove successful, and find the natural outlet for his gifts. A restless and anxious spirit, alternating between sweetness and violence, now idyllic, now tragic, nervous, vehement and impassioned, such is the gifted Jean-Marie Gaspar, the last sculptor of this group. His imagination is splendid, prolific, inexhaustible. I once saw one of his college . exercise-books (he began life by studying as an engineer), full of his first drawings. This astounding book — 1 Principal works of M. Achille Chainaye (born at Liege, August 26, 1862) : Typha, flower of the Reeds, The Archer, The Dumb Girl ; in plaster, exhibited at the Exposition des XX., 1884. The Peaceful Shore, Fruitful Earth, The Victor ; exhibited at the same, 1885. San Giovannino, bronze bust ; two bronze medallions ; exhibited at the same, 1886. Bust of Celestin Demblon. Medallion portraits of Erasme Razvay and Charles Goethals, 58 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM for so we must call it, when we remember that Gaspar had never had any academic training in drawing — contained, I remember, the germs of all his art, of all the works he has since produced. There Happy. Marble Bust. By Victcr Rousseau. were prancing and rearing horses, Titanic battles, fierce and tragic melees y Homeric struggles ; a chaste, delicious idyll ; then again, rapes, abduc- tions, frenzied combats, tigers creeping with deadly stealthiness upon an invisible prey. These last, which the astonished Lambeaux, scarcely THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 59 able to believe they were not copied from some Italian master, made him draw in his presence on the whitewashed walls of the studio, when Gaspar presented himself as a pupil, are marked by wonderful fire and vigour, combined with a remarkable elegance of form. Every line proclaims the master, and if the sculptor could reproduce them, just as he dashed them off on paper, he would unquestionably be the greatest sculptor of his time. But technical difficulties, against which he is ill equipped, having devoted himself to his art late in life, are a daily discouragement to him. The long toil of execution exasperates his eager temperament, and his mind, teeming with new ideas, and wearied with pursuit of a dream it sees clearly, yet cannot at once realise, too often abandons it at the moment when it is about to take definite shape. He has, however, happily overcome these daily difficulties, this drudgery of execution, so far as to produce several works of the greatest beauty. A brief enumeration of these will give some idea of the variety of mood and idea so characteristic of him. In 1889, while still in Lambeaux's studio, he executed the colossal group, The Abduction, two nude men, on plunging, infuriated horses, fighting for the possession of a woman, who struggles frantically in their arms. Magnificent in its fiery im- petuosity, full of life and passion, broadly and cleverly composed, this group, exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, was awarded a medal by the International Jury. Gaspar, then entirely unknown, was suddenly brought into notice, and received a warm tribute of admiration from his brother artists. But a series of painful incidents in his private history followed closely upon this first success. His art suffered, and it was not until 1892 that he was able to return to his work in earnest. Various sketches then appeared in his studio, delighting his friends, and firing the artist himself, who relies greatly on outside sympathy and encouragement in his struggle with rebellious matter. A Sappho, a Prometheus, a Hypnos almost Greek in its purity, were partly modelled, and then destroyed, by accident or negligence, disasters which seemed to trouble the sculptor little enough. He had other conceptions in his mind, and after long and arduous toil he successfully executed two of these. The first, a curious subject, is an Indian on Horseback ; a strange, nervous, muscular figure, about half the size of life, representing one of those unfortu- nate Redskins, who traversed America and travelled all over Europe, in the train of Buffalo Bill. Seen through the medium of Gaspar's 60 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM temperament, the " brave " combines the silent melancholy of the exile with the majestic calm of a Roman Emperor. The bizarre fascination of this statue makes it a work impossible to Adolescents. By Jean- Marie Gaspar. forget, but a group he executed at the same time, the chaste and exquisite Adolescents, is still more memorable. Two youthful creatures, scarcely more than children as yet, embrace each other with passionate tenderness. There is an ineffable purity in the kiss ! We feel that it is the first they THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 61 have exchanged, their awakening to a new life. The work seemed familiar to me when I first saw it ; I recognised it as the idyll I had noticed in the old exercise-book, but here the design had gained, instead of losing, in translation. Those who note the charming line of this group, the slender grace of the youthful bodies, the beauty of the attitudes, and the nobility and chastity of the conception, will agree with me that its author is one of the most remarkable of contemporary sculptors. He seems to have turned over several leaves of his book of studies since. Among his latest works is the study of a couchant tigress, rendered with that refined and nervous energy so characteristic of his work. The beast, soft, languid, with half-closed eyes, has yet an extra- ordinary suppleness and muscularity, that show her ready to dart out her claws, and spring, cruel and terrible, at the first approach of danger. Another study, of a Prowling Lion, is a royally magnificent conception, so lifelike that one almost hears the muffled thud of his mighty paws on the sand, and the formidable roar he is about to utter. A Panther, executed for the decoration of the Jardin Botanique at Brussels, sustains Gaspar's high reputation as a graceful and vigorous sculptor of wild beasts, whose only rival in this genre among the moderns is the great French master, Barye. In this brief analysis, I have tried to give some idea of Jean-Marie Gaspar's works, and of the character of his genius. I need not have mentioned his too frequent abandonment of magnificent designs, which he has either destroyed, or never carried further than the first sketch. If I have done so it has been in the hope that Gaspar, calling to mind these neglected creations, and seeing how vividly they are remembered by his friends, will take courage, and, strong in the unanimous admiration felt for him by the sculptors of his country, will draw from the clay forms as exquisite as those seen in his old book of studies, which his master Lambeaux ascribed to the gifted hand of some great Italian. 1 1 Principal works of M. Jean-Marie Gaspar (born at Arlon in 1864.) : The Abduction ; group in plaster, exhibited at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1889. Young Girl on a Rock; statuette, 1890. Figure for a Tomb, 1892. An Indian on Horseback ; exhibited at Scheveningen, 1893. The Adolescents ; group in plaster, afterwards carried out in marble ; Salon of Ghent, 1893. A Couchant Tigress ; A Lion; marble, 1894. A Panther; plaster, to be executed in bronze for the Jardin Botanique, Brussels, 1895. CHAPTER IV CONSTANTIN MEUNIER AND " SOCIALISTIC " ART Let me begin by declaring that I am no believer in " Socialistic " art. I use the term because certain clever writers, who make the mistake of trying to combine art and politics, see in Constantin Meunier's work the embodiment of the dreams and aspirations they cherish. Noting the introduction of the workman into art by Meunier, they believe a new epoch to have dawned, an epoch they distinguish as that of " Socialistic art." The supposed mission of this art is, I believe, to glorify labour, to set forth the passive sufferings of the working classes, and by representation of its miseries and misfortunes to forward and facilitate the reforms and ameliorations which these critics hope for. That the tender humanity of Meunier's art should benefit the workman and attract sympathy to him, seems to me no less natural than desirable. But to proclaim that these social problems must have henceforth a predominant importance, that they will, in fact, inspire and govern a new art, that of the coming century, is going too far indeed, and only enthusiasm could engender so erroneous a conception of aesthetics. Art can be no more socialistic than aristocratic or democratic. It is and must be the expression of Beauty ; it exists independently of all sociologic or political considerations. It is subject to laws which it cannot transgress and which it cannot change. It is therefore inexact to say that Constantin Meunier has created a " new art," which will be that of the twentieth century. That which he has created is a new type. He has introduced into art the workman, as Millet before him introduced into art the peasant. In both cases art was enriched, but its THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 63 nature was not changed. The artistic existence of the Peasant and the Workman is only possible because their creators have subjected them to all the laws of aesthetics. As may easily be imagined, Meunier had to reckon with violent hostility, both from the public and from artists, at the outset of his career. It is no easy matter to introduce a new type, and to compel its acceptance by artists and connoisseurs, accustomed to specified forms of a more or less conventional character. Meunier fortunately found sympathisers and defenders in certain writers of talent, Messrs. Jules Destree, Eugene Demolder, Verhaeren, and Mirbeau, who, in a variety of enthusiastic articles, undertook to interpret his art to the public, and contributed largely to his success. The studies of these writers, though marked by certain exaggerations which I cannot accept, make up, however, the most complete and suggestive picture of his genius. They have said all the good it was possible to say of his work, and I cannot give a better idea of the artist than by choosing extracts from their appreciations and so arranging them as to form a complete study. In a recent article, M. Jules Destree writes as follows : " It has been chiefly within the last ten years that Meunier has shown how robust and personal an artist he is. It has taken him half his lifetime to conquer himself, and recognise his own individuality. He began his apprentice- ship in the studio of the cold and official Fraikin, but soon renounced sculpture for painting. A sojourn at La Trappe bore fruit in a series of grave and austere studies of monks. An impressive picture in the Ghent Museum dates from this period. Another picture, now in the Brussels Museum, The Peasants' War, is a clever and spirited work. Somewhat later, on his return from Spain, whither he had been sent to copy a picture by the old Flemish master, Kempeneer, he showed us that picturesque land in an unhackneyed and interesting aspect. His Tobacco Factory is a work of great merit. But pictures such as this, though by no means mediocre, had little that was essentially new and distinctive. It was about the year 1877 that Meunier found his true vocation, suddenly recognising what were the aspects of life that moved him most deeply, and in the representation of which his victory was assured. It was in a factory that he first discovered the beauty of human effort in the struggle with iron and fire, the grandiose and sinister 64 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM character of certain phases of modern industry. It was then he painted the large canvases : A Casting in a Steel Factory, Miners Coming away from Work. " It is Meunier's glory that he went to the workman, as Millet had gone to the peasant, and that he understood and interpreted the suffering greatness of toil. In i860 Meunier was one of that group of independent painters, De Groux, Rops, Baron, Dubois, Boulanger, and Artan, who initiated the struggle for free art, which the associations known as " The XX " and " Free ^Esthetics " have continued. When in time the gallant band was scattered, Meunier needed all his courage to enable him to stand alone, in spite of ridicule and neglect, dedicating his art to the obscure and despised sons cf industry. In the world of artists there were none who suspected that there were unexplored domains in this direction. No academy, no professor, no ancient precedent had hinted at their existence, and so powerful is routine that no one could see the elements of beauty to which Meunier's art called attention. Alone, without the encouragement of that sympathy since accorded him, he went to the workshops. He was the first to see the beauty of modern industry, the poetry of the factory, with its fiery life, its roar of wheels and hammers, its incandescent flames shining in blackened and smoky sheds, with strange contrasts of light and shadow. He felt the tragic horror of machinery, mute, inexorable as Fate itself, remorseless grinder of men and conqueror of iron. He saw the sinister coal-fields, with their chimneys and mounds of refuse, their frowning, fantastic scaffold- ings in mysterious outline against the sky. No one had ever ex- pressed the poignant melancholy of an industrial landscape as he did. And against this sombre background, where only modern man appears in plastic beauty, Meunier set the workman, sublime in effort as an antique hero ! With the sympathetic insight of a great artist, he was' moved by the misery and sufferings of Nature's disinherited ones. A large compassion for the oppressed gives a profoundly human and touching character to all his works. " Somewhat tardily, a second transformation took place in Meunier's art. He returned suddenly to sculpture, after having deserted it for over a quarter of a century, and, having proved himself a great painter, went on to prove himself a great sculptor. His first essays were THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 65 slight and tentative ; trifles, a little figure modelled in wax in some interval of leisure, when he was impelled to express some haunting reality, that painting could only render imperfectly ; a half-naked puddler, seated in a weary attitude, his only garments a heavy leathern apron, a battered felt hat, and a pair of thick sabots. The statuette was exhibited at one of the Expositions des XX. at Brussels, and attracted The Puddler. Bronze Statue. By C. Meunier. much attention. The powerful torso, the herculean arms, the tragic depression of the face, were so lifelike, so intensely real, and yet so^full of a noble eurythmy of line, that the work was enthusiastically acclaimed. On the other hand, this sculpture was something so new, so entirely outside the pale of accepted ruks and conventions, that it gave rise to the most animated discussions. Since then, however, Meunier E 66 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM has persisted in this path, in which his art has found full and magnificent development." In his Impressions d 'Art, M. Eugene Demolder considers in his turn the modern character of Meunier's art, and thus expresses himself : 44 Constantin Meunier has made the modern workman his theme, setting him on very characteristic canvases, or modelling him in vigorous statues. His works are sad and gloomy, violent and tragic, like his models. 44 If he has not grasped the whole entity of the multiform modern proletariat, he has, at least, brought out its grandest aspects. He has discovered a tragic beauty in the serfs of civilisation, and has shown that pictures and statues may be inspired by a poetry other than that of classic marbles. Instead of dreaming over the harmonious lines of Apollos and Allegories, he turned his thoughtful, melancholy gaze on the noisy life around him, and found there a vein that had never before been worked. His art will endure, like that of all those who do not despise con- temporary things, and who understand that it is the artist's mission to express the essential character of the men, the facts, and the conditions of their own times. True artists are like spiritual flowers, whose rare blossoms fill the corner of earth where they unfold with perfume, but who need the sap they draw from the soil, and the caresses of the ambient light to bring to full perfection the colour of their brilliant corollas. Meunier is the true son of his epoch, and it is a reflection from this epoch which lights up his work." Turning from the social to the aesthetic aspects of Meunier' s art, M. Emile Verhaeven points out some of its characteristics : 44 Meunier has," he says, 44 no affinity with the men of the Renaissance. Those who insist on an artistic ancestry for him, must seek it among the Gothic sculptors. His rugged art is inspired by a deep, a profoundly human pathos. The figures of Christ on way- side crosses in Flanders are, perhaps, the statues he prefers to all others, and their rough sculptors the masters he most admires. His soul is drawn to these forgotten craftsmen. Like theirs, it is primitive and childlike, full of pity, grave, contemplative, sincere. 44 Talking to Meunier, one is struck by his constant substitution of THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 67 the word 'character,' where one expects the word 4 beauty.' Form, according to him, must be, above all things, intense. It is not to be regulated by any fixed principles, by any care for cold correctness or absolute perfection. It is inductive, not deductive. It realises the type through the individual, and attains to synthesis slowly, by a process of wise elimination. It does not deduce every female statue from an ideal Venus of Milo, nor every male statue from an Apollo. The artist must not fear to exaggerate, if so he can express his idea more vividly. It is by following out this method that Meunier has achieved his ideal, giving aesthetic expression to the modern workman, just as the Greeks gave it to the wrestler and the athlete. They, too, founded this expression on a close study of nature and of life, rather than of the model and the pose. u Emotion, not theatrical, but silent and profound, is the natural out- come of a conception of art so patient and conscientious. It breathes from every work of Meunier's. Take, for instance, his Glebe, and his Fire-damp, and above all his Christ, that pitiful fragment of tortured flesh. . . . Another Flemish sculptor, George Minne, has much the same qualities of pity and sympathy. But whereas he manifests them in dream figures, primitive beings, or creatures of some sphere outside our knowledge, with such power that he seems to create a world of his own, Meunier keeps his eyes steadily fixed on the breathing, suffering life about him. The bowed backs, the toiling arms, the tragic faces he depicts are real and actual. He conceives and executes his figures almost simultaneously, neglecting detail, but seizing masses, and repro- ducing them to the life. He is sixty years old, and I know no art younger and more robust than his." Meunier has exhibited in Paris several times. The French art- critics have confirmed the judgment of his fellow-countrymen. From much that has been written on the same lines, we will take the following from a study by M. Octave Mirbeau to complete our picture of the master : " Constantin Meunier is a remarkable, a mighty artist, of whom we must speak with that respect and delight inspired by the creators of immortal works. There is something peculiarly touching in the career of this master, who is now enthroned on the purest and loftiest summits e 2 68 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM of art. A painter by training, he became a sculptor late in life, at an age when others begin to weary of their labours and to think of rest. He, however, embraced a new pursuit with all the ardour, the joy, and the enthusiasm of youth. It was, he told me one day, through the intermediary of the sculptor, Auguste Rodin, that this vocation, so long a mere potentiality, revealed itself to him. He did not know Rodin, The Glebe. Sketch in bas-relief. By C. Meunler. but he saw one or two works by the master, and a new light flashed into his soul. It kindled a fire which has burned steadily ever since. u Meunier accordingly set to work to learn the art of sculpture. His first essays showed him to be almost a master. He did not seek inspiration in cold mythologies and antiquated allegories ; he found it in and around him. A passionate student of nature, brought into close contact, in his busy native Belgium, with the world of labour, his ear and his heart always open to the cry of suffering humanity, he continued as sculptor the work he had begun as painter : the grand, the melancholy THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 69 epic of the mine. He was born and had grown up in that grim landscape, bounded by the black horizon of factories, under stifling skies, heavy with smoke that never lifts. From childhood he had trodden the soil beneath which thousands of human lives spend themselves in darkness and toil — the soil on which lies the curse of mothers and wives, a grave- yard of the living. He had seen the long files of austere, dejected workers descending day by day into the darkness ; he had noted the distorted grandeur of torsoes, whose nobility was not that of the ancient gods, and the beauty of gestures and attitudes of toil, majestic in their way as those of heroes with gleaming swords. He gave expression to his dream of pity, beauty, and horror, not by means of dramatic episodes and thrilling presentments, but by the calm and simple rendering of a specialised figure : the worker, wrestling with the monster, Work. This is why Meunier's art, which is beauty in its simplest form, achieves by means of beauty, and beauty alone, without the aid of literature or the trickery of symbolism, a strange intensity of human truth, a violent expression of social terrors. " Year by year, as Meunier's technical mastery became greater, his hand surer and more supple, his execution more precise, the works he pro- duced took on a greater breadth and amplitude, until at last they acquired that final accent, that stamp of immortality, which proclaims the master- piece. They culminated in the creation of an old horse, or rather the ghost of an old horse, in which the master gave expression to a whole epopee of human suffering. " How weary he is, this poor old colliery horse ! His hollow sides, barred by his bony ribs, speak of plentiful blows and scanty corn ! Yet he has worked hard, poor brute ! What heavy, eternal loads he has drawn through the darkness, under the oaths and lashes of the carter. He is still willing, but he can do no more. He knows nothing of frisks and frolics on the open roads, of grassy pastures, of sweet and flowery meadows, which make the skin sleek and satiny, of rest in a stable full of fresh litter, after a day of ploughing in the sunshine. It has always been night for him, in low galleries, the roof of which grazed his back as he toiled along ; night, broken only by alarming flashes as of death-stars, from lanterns, gleaming on blackened faces, rising out of the Plutonian dark- ness from time to time, like souls in torment — night, with its thousand 7o THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM panting breasts ! His legs are bent at the knees, and swollen at the fetlocks. With nerveless flanks, and flaccid hocks, he rests on his crumpled hoof, after the manner of tired beasts. His neck, with its scanty mane, his shoulders, marked by the collar, make almost a straight line with his stiffened hind-quarters, and passing along the spine, it divides at the meagre croup, into a double apophyge. His head hangs a little to one side, his ears droop, his jaw falls. His eye is dim, mournful and gentle, veiled as it were by a mist of darkness. Tears have left their channels on his skin. He is motionless ; not a muscle, not a hair stirs ; spent and helpless, he will only lie down to die. " One of the finest touches of observation in this study is the face Meunier has given to this old battered carcase of a horse. Its pathos is extraordinary. For the faces of old and suffering beasts are like those of old people, faces made up of misery and resignation, tragic faces, in which may be read, better than in a book, the injustice that presses on the hard lives of the poor. Such is the magic of the masterpiece, that, without any sentimentality or rhetoric, eloquent only by its form, this little bronze conjures up the whole life of the mine, the terrible mine, that grinds and devours so many of those human creatures, to whom society denies bread, as men denied this horse his provender. And thought travels with deep depression, not unmixed with anger, from tortured beast to martyred man, the victim of a guilty civilisation that protects only the prosperous. This old colliery horse sums up the whole- tragedy. " The quality in Meunier's art which most appeals to me, is its sim- plicity. It is never disfigured by violent or exaggerated gestures ; it ignores what is known as subject. The artist has a horror of loquacity and of anecdote, which belittle all they touch in art. The poignant emotion that takes possession of you, and troubles heart and brain as you look at his figures, is spontaneous ; it is not aroused by sur- roundings and accessories proper to the sentiment the master wishes to express, but from the completeness of the figure and the harmony of its action. By the most simple methods, and without much thought of composition, apparently, Meunier achieves the highest expression of which a work of art is capable, a quality which assures the immortality of his. masterpieces. THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM 71 " This quality is very striking in Grief, a study of a miner's wife, taken from the famous group, Fire-damp. It is a woman, bending forward to look at the dead body of her husband, killed by an explosion in the mine. Here we do not see the cause of her sorrow ; the woman only appears. She does not express her emotion by any gesture ; she neither tears her hair, nor wrings her hands. She stands quite quietly, leaning forward, her arms hanging by her side, her eyes fixed and mournful, in the motionless horror caused by the catastrophe. Yet it would be difficult to imagine a more heartrending suggestion of sorrow." The enthusiasm of his critics drew attention to his works ; success soon came to him, and each year witnessed fresh triumphs. Appointed Director of the Academy of Lou vain, he was commissioned by the town to execute the monument to Father Damien. The museum of Brussels bought his bronze statue of The Ruddier, and a few years later, the most famous of his groups, Fire-damp. Another of his statues, The Mower, adorns the Jardin Botanique at Brussels, and in Paris, where his reputation seems to be steadily increasing, the Luxembourg Museum has bought two of his finest bas-reliefs, The Glebe, in 1892, and in 1893, the bronze of Ruddlers at the Furnace. The Belgian Government has commissioned him, jointly with M. Charles van der Stappen, to design the monumental decorations for the Jardin Botanique at Brussels, and in a few years' time we may hope to see the completion of this important work, to which nearly all the sculptors of Belgium will have contributed. Whilst directing the general scheme of this work, Meunier dreams of another, hardly less imposing, which will be an entirely personal creation. His idea is to execute a colossal monument to Labour, for which he has already designed four bas-reliefs. One is to represent Industry, another Agriculture, a third Commerce, and a fourth Art. This would indeed be a work truly characteristic of his creative genius, and we earnestly hope that Meunier, himself a worker par excellence, may pay his great tribute to Work in the beautiful and grand form he has conceived. 1 1 Principal works of M. Constantin Meunier: A Puddler ; wax. A Dock Horse; Antwerp; wax, 1885. The Hammerman; Paris, 1886. Lassitude; Ghent, 1886. The Puddler; bronze statue, in the Brussels Museum, 1887. The Victim; fragment in plaster, bronzed, Brussels, 1887. A Dock-labourer ; statuette in bronze, in the Luxembourg Museum, Paris. The Hammerman. Ibid. The Glass-blower, 1 72 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM A Boulogne Fisherman; Paris, 1890. Fire-damp ; a group in bronze, in the Brussels Museum. The Drinking-trough, a decorative fragment; Brussels, 1890. Ecce Homo; statuette in bronze. An Old Colliery Horse; bronze, Antwerp, 1891. A Miner ; bronze, Ghent, 1892. The Mower; bronze, in the Jardin Botanique, Brussels. The Glebe ; in the Luxembourg Museum ; Paris, 1892. Statues for the facade of Notre Dame de la Chapelle ; Brussels, 1893. Monument dedicated by the town of Louvain to the memory of Father Damien ; Louvain, 1893. Puddlers at the Furnace ; bas-relief in bronze, in the Luxembourg Museum ; Paris, 1893. Design for the decoration of the Jardin Botanique, Brussels ; Brussels, 1893. The Prodigal Son; plaster group, 1894. Harvest; bas-relief in plaster, 1894. The Port ; bas-relief in plaster, 1895. Industry ; bas-relief, 1895. An exhibition of Constantin Meunier's works will be held in Paris this winter at Bing's, and possibly afterwards in London. CHAPTER V IVORY CARVING CONCLUSION This study of the magnificent development of Belgian sculpture during the last few years would be incomplete, if I omitted to add a Ivory Head of a Child. By Jules Lagae. brief reference to the revival of a branch of art, which, in modern times, has been mistakenly regarded as a mere accessory of sculpture. I refer to ivory carving, and chryselephantine sculpture. 74 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM Chryselephantine carving, which the Greeks practised, not as an art subordinate to sculpture proper, but as one requiring all the qualities necessary to monumental and decorative work, rapidly decayed after the Greek era, and barely survived the Byzantine epoch. The art of ivory carving was longer lived. In the middle ages it produced those delicate and elaborate works, full of faith and imagination, which we admire in museums. Somewhat neglected during the Renaissance, it enjoyed a brilliant period of revival in the seventeenth century, a revival due to the skill with which it was practised by three Belgian sculptors, Bossuit, Francois Duquesnoy, and Luc Faidherbe. Declining once more after their time, neglected by sculptors, and little appreciated by the public, the art seemed all but lost and forgotten, when special circumstances brought it once more into vogue in Belgium. The development of the commercial relations between Belgium and the Congo State resulted in the consignment of large quantities of ivory to Antwerp. Certain Belgian explorers, who had friends among our sculptors, presented them with pieces of ivory. These artists were ali agreed as to the excellence of the material for plastic purposes, finding it not only admirable in colour, but susceptible of an exquisite smoothness and polish. In 1894, accordingly, the administrators of the Congo State,, anxious to increase the interest of the Congolais department in the Antwerp Exhibition, adopted the wise and artistic expedient of offering blocks of ivory to Belgian sculptors, on condition that the works they executed in the material should be exhibited in the Congo section. The result surpassed all expectations. The importance of this new departure was still more fully realised when the various ivories were exhibited towards the end of the year at the " Cercle Artistique et Litteraire" at Brussels. In the Antwerp Exhibition they had been lost, to some extent, among the variety of exhibits by which they were surrounded. Some of our best sculptors, outrivalling one another in skill and science, achieved in this single exhibition a complete revival of an art that had been looked upon as extinct. M. Paul de Vigne, in his admirable bust of Psyche (reproduced at the beginning of this study), M. Vincotte, in his bust of Medusa, a wonderful study of cold cruelty and hatred, M. Lagae in his Head of a Child, graceful and bellina, as the Florentines Minerva. Bust in ivory and bronze. By J. Dillens. Allegretto. Ivory Statuette. By J. Dillens. 78 THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE IN BELGIUM would say, showed not only their accustomed mastery, but the perfection of ivory as a sculpturesque medium. Though less perfect than these, the contributions of Messrs. Samuel and Craco were of much interest, and attracted a good deal of notice. And, as might have been expected, seeing that here technical knowledge and manual perfection were specially necessary, M. Julien Dillens was facile princeps in the works which he sent to this exhibition, a Minerva, with a golden helmet, an Allegretto, two commemorative bas-reliefs, and the charming little figurine, presented to the architect Jamaer, in memory of the completion of the King's Palace. Messrs. Dillens and Vincotte showed in this exhibition what exquisite effects might be won by the combination of precious metals with ivory. This revival of chryselephantine sculpture seems to me the most interesting feature of the movement, and it is to this above all that I am anxious to call attention. It is much to be hoped that our sculptors, having attained to such perfection in works of small dimen- sions, may be encouraged by the State and by private collectors to undertake monumental and decorative works in this genre, which would enrich our museums and public buildings, and relieve the cold monotony which too often characterises them. I have now completed my study of the Renaissance of sculpture in Belgium. In these notices, which I have made as impartial as I could, I have discharged some small portion of the debt I owe our sculptors for the revelations of art and beauty their works have been to me. An idea which has occurred to me during the writing of this study may serve as a practical conclusion to my analysis. It is the duty of the Belgian Government to encourage, and make known in foreign lands, this Renaissance of a national art. This could hardly be done more efficaciously, I think, than by organising a general exhibition of Belgian sculpture in London, where its achievements are almost unknown. I heartily hope this idea may some day be carried out, for the results would be not only beneficial to Belgian sculptors, but to the future of all modern sculpture. INDEX Antwerp, 8, 13, 16, 17, 34, 39, 4.0, 74 Artan (painter), 64 Aubert, Blaton, 46 Auderghem, 13 Austria, Margaret of, 14 Baerse, Jacques de la, 12 Baron (painter), 64 Barye, 7, 61 Bay, De, 21 Beaugrant, Guyot de, 15 Becker, Pierre de, 13, 14 Blondeel, Lancelot, 15 Boendael, 13 Boghen, Louis van, 14 Bohemia, 16 Bologna, Giovanni da, 16, 40 Boulanger (painter), 64 Bourbon, Margaret of, 14 Boure (sculptor), 22 Brabant, 8, 12, 13 Broeucq, Jacques de, 15, 16 Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse), 14, 16 Bruges, 1 3, 26 Brussels, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30, 46, 48, 56, 57, 65, 71 Burgos, 16 Burgundy, 1 2 ,, Duke of, 1 2 „ Charles the Bold of, 13 ,, Margaret of, 1 2 ,, Mary of, 13 ,, Philip the Bold of, 12, 16 Canova, 7 Carpeaux, 7, 38, 39 Cattier (sculptor), 22 Chainaye, Achille, 55, 56 Charlier, Guillaume, 30 Chavannes, Puvis de, 56 Christiern II. (of Denmark), 13 Colonna, Cardinal, 18 Colyns, Alexander, 14, 15 Congo State, 74 Coster, Charles de, 5, 31 Craco (sculptor), 78 David, Jacques Louis, 18 Demolder, Eugene, 63, 66 Destree, Jules, 63 Devillez, Louis, 53, 54 (note) Dijon, 12 Dillens, Julien, 37, 44 — 49, 78 Dinant, 10 — 12, 16 Dodd, M., 10 Donatello, 13, 55 Duquesnoy, Francois, 17, 18, 53, Egas, Anequin des, 16 Evere (near Brussels), 34 Faidherbe, Luc, 17, 18, 74 Fassin (sculptor), 21 Fiesole, Mino da, 55 Flanders, 8, 12, 53, 66 Flaxman, 7 Florence, 25, 55 Floris, Corneille, 13, 14 Foulques (monk), 9 Fraikin (sculptor), 21, 63 Gaspar, Jean-Marie, 55, 57, 61 Geefs, G., 2 1 Germany, 16 Ghent, 1 3, 63 Ghiberti, 55 Godecharles, Gilles Lambert, 18 Granada, 16 Groux, De (painter), 64 Hackendover, 13 Hainault, 8, 12 8o Heerenthals, 13 Hcllin, Canon of Liege, 9 Hugues, Friar, 10 Inn5briick, 14 Ixdles, 46, 47 Jamaer (architect), 78 Jonghelinckx, Jacques, 13, 14. Jordaens, 38, 42 Lagae, Jules, 38, 49— 53, 74 Lalaing, Jacques de, 34 Lambeaux, Jef, 37 — 44, 56, 58, 61 Leau, 13, 14 Lemonier, Camille, 21, 27 Liege, 8, 9 Limburg, 8 Lobbes, Abbey of, 9 Loretto, 18 Louvain, 12, 13, 71 Luxembourg, 8 Marchal, E., 6 (note), 1 1 Margy (the brothers), 17 Marly, 17 Matsys, Quentin, 38 Maximilian, Emperor, 14, 15 Mechlin, 12, 18 Merimee, Prosper, 16 Meunier, Constantin, 23, 31, 62 — 72 Meyt, Conrad, 14 Michelangelo, 38, 43 Millet, Jean Francois, 62, 64 Mirbeau, Octave, 63, 67 Mons, 15 Namur, 8, 9 Nivelles, 9 Oignies, Abbey of, 10 Paris, 25, 40, 42, 71 Patras, Lambert, 9, 10, 11, 13 Philip II., 13 Pisano, Niccola, 9, 13 Pistoja, 46 Poppon (monk), 9 Pradier (sculptor), 7 INDEX Robbia, The, 55 Rodin, Auguste, 68 Rome, 25 Rops (painter), 64 Roskilde, 13 Rossellino, 53 Rouen, 16 Rousseau, Victor, 30, 55, 57 Rubens, 17, 38, 42 Saint Trond, 12 Samuel (sculptor), 30, 31, 78 Savoy, Duke of, 14 Settignano, Desiderio da, 55 Seville, 16 Simonis (sculptor), 21, 22, 28 Sluter, Claus, 12, 13 Spain, 16 Stappen, Charles van der, 24, 27 — 30,32 Stavelot, Abbey of, 9 Taye, M. de, 25 Termonde, 12 Thorvvaldsen, 7, 14 Tirlemont, 10 Toledo, 16 Tournai, 9, 1 1, 1 2, 14 Trianon, 17 Uccle, 44 Upsala, 13 Urban VII., 18 Valencia, 16 Valladolid, 16 Vasa, Gustavus, 1 3 Vaulsort, Abbey of, 9 Verbruggen, Henri Francois, 16 Verhaeren, Emile, 63, 65 Versailles, 17 Vigne, Paulde, 25—29, 32, 55, 74 Vincotte, Thomas, 24, 31 — 33, 78 Vriendt, De, see Floris. Waagen, Dr., 1 1 Werve, Nicholas van der, 12, 13 Winne, Lievin de, 26 Worms, 14 t %5~ BW5E GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 3 3125 0011 6 1427