ERARD DAVID 
 
 W. H. 
 
 JAMES WEALE 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/gerarddavidpaintOOweal 
 
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GERARD DAVID 
 
 PAINTER AND ILLUMINATOR 
 
 By 
 
 W. H. JAMES WEALE 
 
 Keeper of the National Art Library. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND 
 
 NEW YORK, MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1895 
 
 MD 
 
 67 3 
 D/7 
 U36 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PLATES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "S. Michael casting down Satan. Imperial Gallery, Vienna Frontispiece 
 
 The Mystic Marriage of S. Katherine. National Gallery to face 16 
 
 A Canon with his Patron Saints. National Gallery „ „ 18 
 
 The Madonna and Virgin Saints. Rouen Museum „ „ 32 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 The Judgement of Cambyses. Town Museum, Bruges 11 
 
 The Baptism of Christ. Museum of the Academy, Bruges 21 
 
 Exterior of the Shutters of the Picture of “The Baptism of Christ ” 25 
 
 The Virgin and Infant Saviour holding a bunch of grapes. 
 
 Mary Magdalene Cordier with her daughter and Patron Saint. 
 
 Altarpiece for the Gild of the Drie Sanctinnen, by an unknown artist. Brussels 
 
 Museum 29 
 
 Exterior of the Shutters of the picture of “ S. Michael” 37 
 
 S. Sebastian. 
 
 Female Saint with a Boy. 
 
 The Marriage Feast at Cana. Louvre 43 
 
 The Blessed Virgin and Infant Christ. Miniature from Triptych, by the wife of 
 
 Gerard David. Mr. Willett’s Collection 49 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Wings of Triptych, by the wife of Gerard David. Mr. Willett’s Collection . . 53 
 
 S. Katherine. 
 
 S. Barbara. 
 
 SS. Katherine, 0 Ecilia, Barbara, and other Virgin Saints. Grimani Breviary . . 57 
 
 S. Anthony. Grimani Breviary 59 
 
 S. John the Baptist. Grimani Breviary 61 
 
 S. Mary Magdalene. Grimani Breviary 63 
 
 S. Christopher. Grimani Breviary 65 
 
 S. Michael. Grimani Breviary 67 
 
 S. Francis of Assisi. Grimani Breviary 69 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE AND EARLY WORKS 
 
 The schools of painting that flourished in the Netherlands during 
 the fifteenth century produced a great number of artists of merit, — of 
 artists whose works, in all respects, bear comparison with those of their 
 contemporaries of other lands and, in some, are superior to any. Our 
 knowledge of these schools is still very incomplete, but it has been 
 considerably increased of late, and the names of Van Eyck, Hans 
 Memlinc, Peter Cristus, Roger Van der Weyden, and Dirk Bouts, almost 
 unknown fifty years ago, are now, thanks to the works of Kiigler, 
 Waagen, Cavalcaselle, Conway, and others, and to the reproductions of 
 the Arundel Society, tolerably familiar at least to that portion of the 
 public, happily ever-increasing, who take an interest in the arts of the 
 middle ages. 
 
 Of late years it has become the fashion to call these artists the Early 
 Flemish painters; an unfortunate misnomer, as the title of Netherlandish, 
 formerly in use, was far more correct. As a matter of fact all the great 
 painters of the fifteenth century came from that part of the Low 
 Countries situated on the right of the Scheldt. Many were Walloons ; 
 suffice it to mention now, Roger de la Pasture of Tournay, better known 
 as Van der Weyden, Simon Marmion of Valenciennes, John Gossaert of 
 Maubeuge, Joachim Patenir of Dinant, Henry Bles of Bouvignes, John 
 Prevost of Mons, and John Bellegambe of Douay ; but the greatest of 
 all came from Brabant, Holland, Guelders, and the banks of the Maas, 
 while Flanders, properly so called, hardly produced any artist of note. 
 
6 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 True, many of these painters settled in Flanders, but they did not 
 come thither to learn their art ; the records of the towns in which they 
 took up their abode show that they were already masters, who came to 
 practise, not to learn. Bruges and Ghent at that time offered great 
 facilities for the sale of works of art. Not only were there rich 
 merchants from every civilised country living in these towns, but the 
 concourse of strangers to the great annual fairs held therein was 
 enormous, and the sales of paintings and miniatures brought in very 
 considerable sums. To Bruges and Ghent then, many artists were 
 attracted; first John van Eyck, who was taken into the Duke of 
 Burgundy’s regular employ, Peter Cristus his pupil, Hans Memlinc, and 
 the artist to whose life and works the present monograph is devoted. 
 These great masters found in Bruges and Ghent assistants to grind and 
 mix their colours, but no pupils of whom they were able to make 
 painters — the real Fleming to this day has no eye for colour. But to 
 return to our immediate subject ; up to the year 1861, nothing whatever 
 was known of Gerard David. His name was not to be found in any 
 dictionary of artists nor in any modern work on Netherlandish art. 
 Guicciardini, in his Description of the Low Countries published in 1582, 
 gives a list of the leading artists then living and of their predecessors ; 
 amongst these he mentions : 
 
 “ Simon Beninc, an excellent illuminator in vermilion, as also Gerard, 
 known as among the best illuminators, and Lancelot, marvellous for his 
 skill in painting fires to the life and naturally, as in his picture of the 
 sack and burning of Troy; and these three were all natives of Bruges.” 
 
 This is the earliest mention of David that we have, and brief as the 
 passage is, it is incorrect, for not one of these three artists was born or bred 
 in Bruges. Simon Beninc was a native of Antwerp, and only came to settle 
 in Bruges after he had thoroughly learnt his art, and Lancelot Blondeel 
 was a native of Poperinghe, who settled in Bruges on his return from 
 Italy. Vasari in his chapter on artists of the Low Countries, says : “ That 
 you may know something of the miniaturists of these countries, people 
 say that the following were excellent artists : Marinus of Siressa, 
 
 Luke Hurembout of Ghent, Simon Beninck of Bruges, and Gerard.” 
 And the Flemish art-historian Van Mander, who had long lived at 
 Bruges, and whose History and Lives of Netherlandish and German 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 7 
 
 Painters was published at Alckmaer in 1604, says, “ There was formerly 
 another Gerard, of Bruges, as to whom I have no information, save 
 that Peter Pourbus was known to esteem him highly as an excellent 
 artist.” The last to mention him was Sanderus, who quotes Guicciardini, 
 Vasari and Van Mander, and adds that he had a pupil whose name was 
 Adrian Isebrant. 
 
 This is absolutely all that I have been able to find in books about 
 Gerard David. His memory had altogether died out in Bruges. His 
 pictures were attributed to others, notwithstanding that they have a 
 distinctive character of their own. It was reserved to me to restore the 
 name of this great artist to its proper place in the history of Low 
 Country art. My first discoveries were made in i860 and published 
 in the Catalogue of the Museum of the Academy of Bruges in August, 
 1861 ; they have since been considerably increased, and Gerard David’s 
 name has become well known in the art world, and his works sought 
 after so eagerly that picture-dealers have, with their usual unscrupulous- 
 ness, taken to ascribing to him works of very inferior character. Not 
 only that, but writers who ought to have known better have added 
 to the confusion by mixing him up with other painters bearing the 
 same Christian name. Thus Waagen in 1863 asserts his conviction that 
 Gerard David and Gerard Horebout are one and the same person ; 1 
 and Crowe tries to make out that Gerard, son of John David of 
 Oudewater, must be identical with Gerard of S. John’s of Harlem. 2 
 
 Gerard, son of John David, was born at Oudewater, a town in the 
 province of South Holland, early in the second half of the fifteenth 
 century. He came to Bruges at the end of 1483, or early in 1484. On 
 the 14th of January of that year he was admitted as master painter into 
 the Gild of Saints Luke and Eligius, and paid the usual entrance fee of 
 £ 6 . At that time he was most probably a bachelor ; at all events, he 
 had no children ; the register mentions this fact, because the sons of 
 members of the Gild, born after their fathers’ admission, only contributed 
 to the gild-burse, on their inscription as masters, half the sum paid by 
 strangers. 
 
 1 “ Je suis convaincu que ce personnage ne fait qu’un avec Gerard Horebout.” — 
 Manuel de I’Histoire de la Peinture , Bruxelles, 1863, tom. hi., p. 308. 
 
 2 The Early Flemish Painters, London, 1872, pp. 300, 301. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 It is not known who was Gerard’s master, nor where he learnt his 
 art, but it was most probably at Harlem. Albert of Oudewater, his 
 pupil Gerard of S. John’s of Leiden, and Dirk Bouts of Harlem were 
 all trained in that city, the painters of which, according to testimony 
 cited by Van Mander, surpassed in landscape painting all other Nether- 
 landish artists. At present we only know one authentic picture of 
 Albert’s, The Raising of Lazarus in the Berlin Museum ; this has an 
 architectural background ; two of Gerard of S. John’s, A Pieta and the 
 Burning of Saint John the Baptist's Bones by order of Julian the Apostate, 
 in the Vienna Gallery ; these are painted in a brownish tone, and are remark- 
 able for the great care with which the landscape backgrounds are painted. 
 Bouts’ paintings are numerous and well known ; the colour, laid on with 
 a full brush, is generally bright ; the landscapes are distinguished for 
 their beauty. David’s earlier pictures make it pretty clear that he must 
 have been trained, if not by either of the two last, at least by some 
 painter of the same school His later pictures show that he was influenced 
 by Hans Memlinc, who was at the height of his talent when Gerard 
 settled in Flanders. At this time Bruges was in full prosperity, but its 
 palmy days were coming to an end. On the 31st January, 1488, its 
 citizens broke out in revolt against Maximilian, whose person they 
 seized. They shut him up first in the Craenenburg on the market- 
 place, then on the 28th of February removed him to the mansion 
 built shortly before by John de Gros, where he remained in confinement 
 until the 16th of May. It was in this mansion that Gerard David 
 executed the first work of which I have found mention. To guard 
 against Maximilian’s escape strong gratings of wrought iron had been 
 placed before the windows of this mansion. Gerard was employed to 
 paint these in order to render them less apparent to the royal captive ; 
 for this work he received fy. ioj. Some days after Maximilian’s im- 
 prisonment, the deposed burgomaster, the judge Peter Lanchals, and 
 other members of the magistracy, accused of corruption and malversation, 
 were put to the torture, condemned to death, and executed. Gerard was 
 in the city, and may have witnessed some at least of the striking scenes 
 that were then enacted. From the new magistrates elected by the three 
 members of Flanders in the name of the King of France as suzerain of 
 Flanders, Gerard received a commission to paint for the justice-room in 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 9 
 
 the town-hall two panels that should recall to the sitting magistrates that 
 they must be honest and impartial. Instead, however, of painting the 
 history of Lanchals, Gerard took for his theme an analogous subject 
 originally recorded by Herodotus, but which he doubtless drew from the 
 then much better known works of Valerius Maximus. 
 
 The story runs as follows : — Sisamnes, one of the royal judges of 
 Egypt, having been bribed to give an unjust judgement, Cambyses, the 
 king, had him strangled and flayed, and had the chair on which he had 
 sat when pronouncing judgement covered with his skin. He then named 
 Sisamnes’ son judge in his father’s place, and recommended him to re- 
 member on whose seat he was placed to administer justice. 
 
 One of the two panels represents the corruption of the judge and the 
 judgement of Cambyses ; the other, the flaying of Sisamnes and the 
 administration of justice by his son. Each panel measures 5 ft. 1 1 in. in 
 height by 4 ft. 8 in. in breadth. In the first Cambyses, who, attended 
 by his court, has entered the hall of justice, is ordering the unjust judge 
 to be seized. His corruption is indicated in the background, where, at 
 the door of his dwelling, he is receiving a bag of money from a man. 
 Cambyses, the first finger of his right hand laid on the thumb of his left, 
 is apparently insisting on the truth of the accusation. Other judges and 
 persons of distinction stand around the king. The unjust judge, laid 
 hold of by a vulgar-looking man, has a terror-stricken countenance. He 
 wears a red, fur-lined robe over a black underdress ; in his right hand he 
 holds his head-cover of blue cloth, which he has taken off on the entrance 
 of the king ; his left rests on the arm of his seat. Behind him is 
 stretched a cloth of honour, of brown bordered with black, suspended by 
 straps to rings in the wall. To the right and left of the justice seat are 
 two oval medallions in camaieu with allegorical subjects, remarkable as 
 being the earliest instance of the occurrence, in Netherlandish pictures, of 
 pagan sculpture. The one represents Abundance seated on a chair of the 
 kind called 0 l<\>po$ in Greek ; behind her stands a column with a dog 
 reposing on its summit, and an inscription, not readable, on its face ; a 
 man, armed with a club, offers the woman an apple. I have not been 
 able to make out the exact subject intended to be portrayed. The 
 other medallion represents a man seated on a stone and bound to a tree 
 with his hands tied behind him ; on his left is Venus holding a violin and 
 
IO 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 a cupid presenting her a bow. Above the cloth of honour is the date 
 1498, and still higher a bracket on which are seated two amorini holding 
 two wreaths of foliage and fruit, the other ends of which are drawn to 
 the sides by two groups of amorini seated on the capitals of two 
 porphyry columns, from which shorter columns rise with amorini fight- 
 ing on their summits. On the wall above the garlands are escucheons 
 with the arms of Philip the Handsome and Joan of Aragon. 
 
 The scene is represented as taking place in an open gallery or portico 
 looking on to a square, which bears a general resemblance to the square 
 of S. John at Bruges, but with modifications in the details. 
 
 The figures in this picture vary from 35 to 38 inches in height. 
 Cambyses wears a robe of dark blue and gold brocade, lined with fur, 
 and a mantle of blue velvet with ermine collar and trimmings, white 
 hose, sandals, and a red velvet cap bordered with fur and encircled with 
 a rich gold crown. Among the nineteen persons who form his suite is 
 an officer with a steel helmet, a coat of mail, cuirass, and a short sleeveless 
 mantle with a winged female figure terminating in arabesques. On the 
 lower edge of his mantle are some letters which, however, offer no sense, 
 and are only an imitation of the borders of the Italian reproductions of 
 Saracenic stuffs. On the helmet are reflected the church of Saint John 
 and other buildings. Behind this officer and on the extreme right of the 
 foreground is a man about thirty years of age, whose head only is seen. 
 This is the earliest portrait of the painter we have. In the immediate 
 front is a white hound with a gilt collar, and -a poodle shaved to the skin 
 with the exception of its head and legs. 
 
 On the second panel, in the square and not far from the portico in 
 which the previous scene was laid, is a long massive table on which 
 Sisamnes is stretched naked, his right leg and arm being fastened by 
 cords to the leg and cross-bar of the table. The arms are further secured 
 by iron staples placed under the pits. Four executioners are engaged in 
 flaying him, and the contracted features of his face show the acute pain 
 he is suffering. One of the executioners, in a blue blouse, confined at the 
 waist by a white scarf, and holding the knife in his mouth, is flaying the 
 left leg of the unhappy judge. Another is bisecting lengthways the skin 
 of his left arm, which an assistant is pulling straight by means of a cord 
 fastened round his waist. A third, at the head of the table, is laying 
 
The Judgement of Cambyses. Town Museum at Bruges. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 i3 
 
 open the breast, while the fourth is busy over the right arm. The king, 
 sceptre in hand, surrounded by his court, looks on at the execution of his 
 sentence. One of the ten noblemen who compose his suite has a goshawk 
 seated on his wrist. On the right of the immediate foreground is a 
 poodle scratching its ear. Under the table lie the judge’s clothes. On 
 the left background in the portico is seen the son of Sisamnes seated in 
 the place of justice with his father’s skin behind him, in lieu of a cloth 
 of honour ; around him are ten persons, one of whom is putting his 
 hand into his purse as if about to offer its contents to the judge, who 
 appears to refuse it. Above the building are two escucheons bearing the 
 arms of the counts of Flanders and of the town of Bruges. On the 
 right at the window of a neighbouring house is a woman looking down 
 at the scene being enacted in the place below. Beyond a wall in the 
 background is seen a park with trees in the shade of which reposes a stag. 
 The principal figures are 37 inches high; those in the background 1 2 inches. 
 
 These two panels are vigorously painted in a brownish tone with 
 wonderful finish. They are well composed, though the foreground of 
 the first picture is a little overcharged. The backgrounds are excellent, 
 and the form and foliage of the trees in the park faithfully rendered. 
 The figures are well drawn, most of the heads having a great deal of 
 character and the hands being admirably modelled. 
 
 The flaying of a man is doubtless by no means a pleasant thing 
 to look at, but it was not the painter who chose the subject. If however 
 we consider the end which the magistrates aimed at in having these 
 pictures painted, and the place in which they were to be hung, we cannot 
 hesitate in saying that Gerard executed perfectly the commission en- 
 trusted to him. For the two pictures he received £14 10s. ; £4 in 
 1488, £ 2 in 1490, and then after arbitration in 1498, £8 icxt., making 
 in all £14 ioj. The frames cost 9 j., and when the pictures were hung 
 3 s. 4 d. was given to Gerard’s assistants and workmen. These pictures 
 used to be attributed to Antony Claeissens and the date on the first of 
 them read 1598 ; by others they have been assigned to Bartholomew of 
 Milan, to John Gossaert of Maubeuge, and to Gerard Horebout of Ghent. 1 
 
 1 These two pictures were taken to Paris by the French in 1794, brought back to 
 Bruges in 1815, and placed in the Town Museum. Copies of both, originally in the 
 Town house at Nieuport, were in the Bernal collection ; a later copy, with variations, 
 of the Flaying of Sisamnes is still preserved in the Law Courts at Bruges. 
 
H 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 In a short time Gerard rose to honours in his craft ; he was a member 
 of its council in 1488, again in 1495-96 and 1498-99. In the year 
 1496 or shortly after, he married Cornelia, daughter of James Cnoop the 
 younger by his first wife Katherine. This James Cnoop was a goldsmith 
 and a native of Middleburg in Zeeland, who had settled at Bruges, and 
 was at that time dean of his craft. I shall have occasion to speak of 
 Cornelia later on. In 1501— 2 Gerard held the honourable position of 
 dean of his craft. 
 
 David appears to have been a pious and charitable man. In 1 508 
 he became a member of the confraternity of Our Lady of the Dry Tree 
 in the church of the Grey Friars. In 1509 he painted gratuitously the 
 altar-piece now at Rouen for the Carmelite nuns of Sion at Bruges, 
 and later on when these nuns were in need, he generously lent them £10 
 free of interest on condition that they should return it when requested to 
 do so ; this they did on 7th June 1 523 when Gerard was dangerously ill. 
 He died on the 13th of August following, and was buried in the church of 
 Our Lady beneath the tower ; his tombstone, which bore his arms and those 
 of his wife, disappeared when the church was repaved in the early part 
 of the present century. His only child, Barbara, was already married 
 when he died. His widow married again in 1529 and left Bruges. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 gerard david’s other paintings 
 
 About 1501, or perhaps a little earlier, Gerard was employed to 
 paint a picture for the altar of Saint Katherine in the chapel of S. 
 Anthony in the collegiate church of S. Donatian at Bruges. His 
 patron on this occasion was one of the canons, Richard de Visch van der 
 Capelle, who had held the office of cantor since 1463, and was highly 
 esteemed for his knowledge of canon law. He belonged to a dis- 
 tinguished Flemish family, which seems to have had considerable art 
 taste, and several of whose members were buried in this chapel, where he 
 himself was laid to rest in 15 11. 
 
 The scene of the picture is laid in a garden, on the terrace of which 
 the Madonna is seated on a metal faldstool covered with scarlet drapery. 
 Behind her, and between two columns of reddish marble, hangs a cloth of 
 honour of gold and dark blue brocade. She is attired in a plain dark 
 greenish-blue dress, gathered at the neck and lined at the wrists with 
 grey fur, and an ample blue mantle bordered with light gold embroidery. 
 A double band of pearls confines her long wavy hair, which falls in masses 
 over her shoulders, while above her head is suspended a rich jewel set 
 with precious stones and pearls. With interlaced hands she supports the 
 Infant Christ, who, enveloped from the waist downwards in fine cambric 
 drapery, is seated on her right knee. His left hand clasps a coral rosary 
 which is hanging from his right shoulder, and he turns, with right arm 
 outstretched, to give the mystic ring to S. Katherine, who leans forward 
 on bended knee to receive it. She is splendidly attired in a dress of 
 crimson and gold brocade, lined with ermine, and wears a richly jewelled 
 crown. On the ground, at her left, are the instruments of her martyrdom 
 — the broken wheel of torture with a sword passed through it. On her 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 16 
 
 right, in the foreground, kneels her votary, Richard de Visch van der 
 Capelle, in furred cassock and full-sleeved lawn surplice, with an almuce 
 over his left arm. On the pavement in front of him lies his cantor’s 
 staff, a fourteenth-century tau of silver gilt surmounted by a group 
 representing the Most Holy Trinity adored by a monk and a cardinal, 
 given to the church by Canon Nicholas de Bouchoute in 1337. 1 Beside 
 the staff are a Breviary with gold clasps and a blue velvet cover and a 
 black cap, while in the immediate foreground reposes a greyhound with a 
 collar composed of bells and an enamelled escucheon bearing the canon’s 
 arms : argent , semee of crosses treflees, at the feet fitched, two barbel 
 haurient addorsed, all sable , De Visch ; in chief an inescucheon or, 
 charged with a chevron gules , Van Axele. To the left of the Madonna 
 are seated S. Barbara and S. Mary Magdalene. The dress of the former, 
 of brown and gold brocade with a gold floral pattern, is cut square 
 showing an underbodice of cloth of gold embroidered with two peacocks 
 pecking at ornamental foliage issuing from a Renascence vase ; the sleeves 
 are large and of shot lilac and blue material. She wears a crimson cap 
 and an enamelled and jewelled crown bearing her emblematic tower in 
 front, and is meditating on the contents of a book in a green cover which 
 she holds in both hands. S. Mary Magdalene is clothed in a gold 
 embroidered habit shirt, a plum-coloured bodice, and a green dress with a 
 crimson girdle ; over these she wears a mantle of brown silk shot with a 
 plum tinge. She has a blue velvet hair-band on which is embroidered in 
 gold maria magdale, and a gauze veil, and holds her attribute, the 
 vase of precious ointment, on her lap. 
 
 Between the columns and throne are an iris, a tiger lily, and two white 
 lilies in flower ; beyond is a garden of roses separated by a barrier and 
 pathway from a vineyard enclosed by a brick wall. On the right an 
 angel is gathering a bunch of grapes, while from the pathway, a little to 
 the left of the centre, S. Anthony contemplates the scene ; in his right 
 hahd he holds a staff and bell, and his left rests on the barrier. Beyond 
 the wall to the right are some pretty bits of domestic architecture, which, 
 though not exactly like any buildings now remaining, remind one 
 immediately of Bruges. On the left are a palace and an unfinished 
 
 1 See, for a detailed description of this staff, Le Beffroi, tom. 1, p. 337. Bruges, 
 1863. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 i7 
 
 octagonal tower, bearing reference to the legend of S. Barbara. A squirrel 
 eating a nut on the transom of one of the windows of the house on the 
 right, a stork on the chimney top, and a bullfinch on the garden wall on 
 the left enliven the scene and are painted with great skill. 
 
 This altar-piece, executed between 1500 and 1511, is in every way a 
 remarkable picture, although unfortunately it has suffered a good deal 
 from restoration. The hands of the Madonna, the right shoulder of the 
 Child, the forehead and hand of S. Mary Magdalene and portions of 
 the background have all been retouched. The canon’s intelligent head 
 is admirably modelled and painted, and the figure of S. Katherine 
 executed with rare perfection. The jewellery, stuffs and draperies are 
 rendered with David’s usual skill, while the background, with its rich 
 vegetation, vigorously coloured trees, and picturesque buildings is hardly 
 surpassed by that of any of his other pictures. 
 
 This picture is now in the National GalJery (Oak; H. 41 in. B. 56! in.), 
 having been bequeathed to the nation by the late Mrs. Lyne Stephens. 
 It was previously at Paris, in the De Beurnonville collection, at the 
 dispersal of which in 1881 it fetched 54,100 francs. M. de Beurnonville 
 had purchased it at the sale of the collection of M. Edward O’ in the 
 catalogue of which it is described as having been painted by Hugo van 
 der Goes for the chapel of the Marchese Giustiniani. 
 
 In 1 501, a colleague of Richard van der Capelle and one of the executors 
 of his will, Canon Bernardin Salviati, son of a rich Florentine merchant 
 and of Christina van Rossem of Lebbeke, near Termonde, who was also 
 a notary and secretary of the chapter of S. Donatian, having obtained 
 leave to restore and embellish the altar of SS. John Baptist and Mary 
 Magdalene, commissioned Gerard David to paint the shutters of the 
 reredos. These shutters, together with those of several other altar 
 reredoses in the nave of the church, were, at the request of the 
 sacristan, who complained that they were always breaking the wax 
 candles, sold in a lot by order of the chapter in 1787 for an insignificant 
 sum of money. I have been unable to trace what became of the others, 
 but this one was, as we learn from the letters of Horace Walpole, 
 Earl of Orford, bought in 1792 by Mr. Thomas Barrett, of Lee Priory, 
 Kent, and it figures in the catalogue of that collection as “ a group of 
 Saints by John Gossaert of Maubeuge.” At the sale of the Lee Priory 
 
i8 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 collection in May, 1859, it was knocked down to the late Mr. William 
 Benoni White for 525 guineas. Sir J. C. Robinson, to whose intelligence 
 and zeal we are indebted for almost all that is good in the way of 
 mediaeval art in the South Kensington Museum, drew my attention to 
 the picture, which I at once recognised as being the right hand shutter 
 of the reredos of Salviati’s chantry altar. I tried hard, but in vain, to 
 persuade the late Sir Charles Eastlake to purchase it for the National 
 Gallery, but Mr. White would not part with it for less than £1000. 
 Oddly enough the latter, who bore the character of being a most 
 penurious and miserly man, by his last will and testament proved a 
 generous benefactor to the nation, and left this panel in July 1878 to the 
 National Gallery. 1 
 
 The canon is represented kneeling in the immediate foreground, his 
 head turned towards the left ; his brown hair is just commencing to 
 turn grey. Over a black cassock edged with brown fur, he wears a 
 plaited lawn surplice with a band of black embroidery at the upper end 
 of the sleeves ; an almuce of grey squirrel’s fur is thrown over his left 
 arm. He is accompanied by three saints. On the left, a little in 
 advance of the canon, and bending towards him, is S. Donatian, patron 
 of the church, in full pontifical vestments : red cassock, alb and amice 
 with apparels of black and gold brocade, dalmatic and cope of the 
 same brocade lined with blue ; the dalmatic, rounded at the lower part, 
 is edged with gold fringe ; the orfreys of the cope are embroidered with 
 branches of foliage and with roses composed of pearls, rubies and 
 sapphires. The circular morse of the cope is adorned with a statuette of 
 the Madonna, accompanied by two angels playing on musical instruments, 
 the whole under a canopy of tabernacle work. A mitre of cloth of 
 gold sprinkled with pearls and precious stones, and a pair of rose- 
 coloured gloves complete his costume. He has three rings, one set 
 with a ruby, another with a sapphire ; the third, a plain gold ring, he 
 wears on the fourth finger of the right hand, in which he holds with its 
 red-embroidered white veil an archiepiscopal cross, of silver parcel-gilt 
 and enamelled, supported by a staff adorned at its head with statuettes 
 of the Madonna and Saints in canopied niches. In the saint’s left hand 
 Gerard has placed the emblem by which he is distinguished : a wheel set 
 1 Oak ; H. 40! in. ; B. 36J in. 
 
V C> anon tl/l? /lij Til <\)llt/lfj. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 '9 
 
 round with five lighted tapers. Immediately behind the canon is his 
 own personal patron, S. Bernardin of Siena, in the old grey habit of the 
 Friars Minor, extending his right hand as a token of protection over the 
 canon, and supporting with his left against his breast a book bound in 
 red, with gilt corners and clasps and a central medallion bearing the most 
 Holy Name of Jesus on a ground of blue enamel. 
 
 On the right, in the rear of the canon but slightly nearer the front 
 of the picture, stands S. Martin vested in a blue cassock, an alb with 
 red apparels, and a splendid cope of crimson velvet with broad orfreys 
 embroidered with figures of SS. Donatian, Bernardin, Martin, John 
 Baptist, and Mary Magdalene, doubtless the chantry priest’s best cope. 
 The morse, eight-lobed, has in its centre a figure of S. Martin cutting 
 his mantle in two, beneath a canopy surrounded by a hollow adorned 
 with pearls and escucheons. The hood of the cope, on which is 
 embroidered the Adoration of the Magi, is interesting from an archaeo- 
 logical point of view on account of its having a spilla of silver gilt, an 
 ornament of which I know no existing example, and which is rarely met 
 with in pictures, though often mentioned in inventories of the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries. The saint wears a violet skull-cap, a red mitre 
 with delicate sprays of gold and rich borders and cresting with stones 
 and pearls; white gloves with two rings, the one on the second, the 
 other on the third finger of his right hand, complete his costume. In 
 his left hand he holds a crozier adorned with blue enamel, the knop 
 formed by eight canopied niches with statuettes of Saints ; an angel 
 standing on a short column supports the crook in which is a seated 
 figure of Our Lady with the Infant Jesus who is stretching out His 
 hand to receive a lily from an angel kneeling before Him. The saint’s 
 right hand is raised in the act of blessing. A little behind S. Martin, 
 on the road issuing from the wood, is a lame beggar leaning on a staff 
 and hobbling towards the saint with his left hand extended for an alms. 
 This man, in a blue-grey tunic and two odd boots, has a bowl stuck 
 in his girdle, and a wallet suspended from his right shoulder by a strap 
 fastened across his breast. The landscape, in the rocky foreground of 
 which these figures are placed, is painted in a brownish tone ; in the 
 immediate background is a forest of large trees, and on the left in the 
 mid-distance, a castle with mountains beyond. 
 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 This picture, with the exception of some slight retouches in the faces 
 of S. Donatian and S. Bernardin, is in a nearly perfect state of preserva- 
 tion. The heads are fine and full of character; that of the donor is really 
 admirable both as regards modelling and colour, and is almost on a par 
 with Memlinc’s finest portraits. The jewellery and vestments are capi- 
 tally rendered, the crimson velvet cope being in its way a masterpiece. 
 The beggar is also an excellent study from nature painted from the 
 same model as the S. Anthony in the De Visch altarpiece. The trees 
 are highly and vigorously coloured, and the subdued light beneath their 
 thick foliage admirably rendered. 
 
 Among the persons named in the accounts of the treasurers of the 
 city of Bruges for the year 1498 as having been charged with the 
 valuation of the ‘Judgement of Cambyses and the Execution of Sisamnes 
 were James Spronc, a decorative painter, Jodoc de Smet, a painter, 
 John de Corte, and John des Trompes, at that time bailey of Ostend, 
 treasurer of Bruges and a citizen of note. The last mentioned was 
 probably struck with the talents displayed by Gerard and commissioned 
 him to paint the triptych known as ‘The Baptism of Christ, that being 
 the subject represented in the principal or central panel. In the fore- 
 ground our Lord is seen girt with a loin-cloth, standing in the Jordan, 
 the water of which comes up to His knees. His hands are joined in 
 prayer and His face wears an expression of deep recollection. The 
 Baptist kneeling on the bank to the left is pouring water out of the 
 hollow of his hand on the Saviour’s head. He wears a tunic of 
 camel’s skin confined at the waist by a scarf and over it a red mantle. 
 To the right kneels an angel in a cope of gold brocade edged with a 
 red fringe, and having an embroidered hood bordered with pearls and 
 precious stones, holding our Lord’s robe on his arms. The Holy 
 Spirit coming down as a dove from heaven in a glory of gold rays 
 hovers above Christ’s head, whilst high up in the sky is seen the 
 Eternal Father, surrounded by wingless angels, blessing His Son. 
 
 On the right shutter, on the grassy ground, kneels John des Trompes, 
 in a fur-lined robe, with his son Philip at his side ; his patron, S. John 
 the Evangelist, stands behind him in a grey robe and white mantle 
 thrown over the left shoulder, holding a chalice-shaped cup in his left 
 hand, and extending his right towards his client. 
 
The Baptism of Christ. Museum of the Academy, Bruges. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 2 3 
 
 On the left shutter the donor’s first wife, Elisabeth von der Meersch, 
 is seen kneeling with her four daughters Hedwigis, Anne, Joan, and Agnes, 
 protected by S. Elisabeth of Hungary. She wears a dress of black cloth 
 cut square at the neck, an underdress of black velvet, and a kerchief of 
 fine linen ; at her girdle hangs a chaplet of gold and silver filigree beads, 
 with a reliquary-cross adorned with pearls. The saint is attired in a 
 blue dress lined with grey fur, and confined at the waist by a red band ; 
 the dress, open in front, shows an under-bodice of black velvet. Over 
 these she wears a brown mantle ; with both hands she supports a book 
 on which are two crowns, a third is placed on her white head-kerchief ; 
 these symbolising her sanctity as virgin, wife, and widow. 
 
 The scene of this picture is laid in a splendid and highly-tinted 
 mountainous and rocky landscape, which is here a more important feature 
 than in any earlier representation of the subject. In the mid-distance, 
 on the right, is seen the Precursor, seated on a moss-grown rock, preaching 
 to a group of twenty-five persons ; two others are drawing near to listen. 
 On the left, in the shade beneath the trees, S. John is pointing out the 
 Messiah to three of his disciples, one of whom is leaving to follow Him. 
 In the background are rocks and a city, above and beyond which rises a 
 mountain crowned by a large castle. Nothing can well be finer than 
 this portion of the picture ; the trees, vigorously painted and finished 
 with wonderful minuteness, have evidently been studied individually 
 from nature, as though of many different kinds they each and all preserve 
 the character of their respective foliage and form. Between their trunks 
 we get glimpses of really distant landscape. The herbage, lilies, mallows, 
 violets, and other flowers in the immediate front have never been more 
 admirably reproduced by the art of the painter. The wavelets of the 
 water agitated by the wind in the broader part of the river, and, in the 
 less exposed inlet, th; concentric circles around the Saviour’s legs ex- 
 panding and intersecting each other until they break against the rocky 
 banks are another instance of careful observation. The transparency of 
 the water, the reflections of surrounding objects and the shadows on its 
 surface are faithfully rendered. The bedding of the rocks, too, is imitated 
 with perfect truth. The colouring of all this portion is so remarkably 
 bright and lovely that the faults of the composition are not at first 
 noticed. The principal group not only surcharges the foreground but is 
 
24 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 somewhat inharmonious in colour, this, however, being doubtless due to 
 overcleaning — the picture was in 1579 daubed with black distemper on 
 which were painted the Ten Commandments, and thus escaped being 
 destroyed or stolen by the Calvinist iconoclasts. The figures in the 
 middle distance, if examined separately, are short, stout, and wanting in 
 elegance, though making up picturesque and very natural groups. The 
 portraits of the donors and their patron saints, relieved by the sombre 
 lines of the forest background, are admirably painted ; the heads of the 
 angel, of the lady, and of the little boy are perfect miniatures ; the hands 
 are skilfully drawn and modelled. 
 
 John des Trompes’ first wife died on the 11th of March, 1502. I 
 have not been able to ascertain when he married his second, Mary 
 Magdalene Cordier, who died in July, 1509, after having had three 
 children : Isabella, John, and Anne. During her lifetime, probably in 
 1507, or early in 1508, David painted the exterior of the shutters 
 of this triptych. On the right is seen the Virgin Mother seated in an 
 open gallery or portico under a circular canopy suspended from the 
 vaulting, and furnished with green curtains. She wears a plain red 
 dress and mantle ; her dress loose and flowing, without any cincture, is 
 lined with grey fur, and cut open at the neck, so as to show a little linen 
 which serves to relieve the flesh tones. Her hair, falling in long wavy 
 masses over her shoulders, is kept in its place by a black velvet riband, 
 adorned with pearls and a jewel. She supports the Infant Jesus, clothed 
 in a long-sleeved white tunic, and seated on her knees, and holds His 
 right arm to keep Him from falling as He bends forward holding a 
 bunch of grapes towards Mary Magdalene Cordier, who, protected by her 
 patron saint, kneels before Him with her daughter Isabella. The lady 
 wears a black velvet vest and a long, full-sleeved brown dress, lined with 
 fur. From her cincture, formed by a white sash, hangs a chaplet of silver 
 and gold filigree beads with an oval medal of the Immaculate Virgin. She 
 has a kerchief of white lawn. The little girl, in black vest and grey 
 fur-lined dress, confined at the waist by a long brown-pink scarf with a 
 knotted fringe, has a white linen cap and a kerchief of velvet, embroidered 
 with gold. S. Mary Magdalene holds her pot of ointment, and is attired 
 in a violet dress lined with green, with a scarf round the waist. Her 
 chest is covered by fine-plaited cambric, bordered with gold embroidery. 
 
Exterior • v of the Shutters of the Picture of “ The Baptism of Christ." 
 The Tirgirt and Infant Saviour Mary Magdalene Ccrdier with her 
 
 holding a bunch of grapes. daughter and patron Saint. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 27 
 
 A head-band of black velvet, adorned with pearls and a large gold- 
 mounted ruby, and a turban of fine white linen complete her costume. 
 These figures are in a gallery or portico with large open arches, through 
 which is seen the courtyard of a mansion adorned with columns and 
 surrounded by lofty gables. 
 
 This triptych was given in 1520 by the heirs of John des Trompes 
 and his two first wives to the confraternity of lawyers, and was placed 
 over the altar of their chapel of S. Laurence in the lower church of 
 S. Basil. As I have already mentioned, it escaped the notice of the 
 Calvinists in 1579, but was carried off by the French in 1794 ; brought 
 back from Paris in 1815, it was placed in the Museum of the Academy, 
 where it is still preserved. 1 
 
 The next picture in order of date, and in my opinion David’s master- 
 piece, was presented by him in 1509 to the convent of the Carmelite 
 nuns of Sion at Bruges, and adorned the high altar of their church until 
 their convent was suppressed by the Emperor Joseph in 1783. 2 At the 
 sale of conventual property at Brussels in July, 1785, it was purchased 
 by a well-known picture dealer named Berthels for fifty-one florins, and 
 by him sold to a Mr. Miliotti, whose property was confiscated by the 
 French Republic. Later on the French Government gave it to the 
 museum of Rouen, of which it is still one of the chief treasures. 3 In the 
 arrangement of this altar-piece David followed that of a picture painted 
 for the Gild of the Drie Sanctinnen , SS. Mary Magdalene, Katherine and 
 Barbara, by an unknown artist in 1489, now in the museum at Brussels. 4 
 
 In the centre of David’s picture is the Madonna, seated on a metal 
 fald-stool covered with red drapery, which falls to the ground and is 
 stretched out beneath her feet. Her full flowing dress, unconfined by a 
 
 1 Oak ; H. 5 if in. ; B. centre, 39 in. ; shutters, 1 7 in. The documents relating 
 to this picture are printed in Le Beffroi, tom. 1, pp. 257-287, and 11, pp. 294-297. 
 Bruges, 1863-65. 
 
 2 The convent escaped being pillaged by the iconoclasts in 1579 owing to the inter- 
 vention of the brother of one of the nuns, the Calvinist James de Chantraines, friend 
 and host of thcirHeader, the infamous Colonel Henry Balfour. 
 
 3 Oak ; H. 47 in. ; B. 835 in. 
 
 4 Oak ; H. 41J in. ; B. 67 in. For a full description of this picture see The 
 Ecc/esio/ogist, p. 30. London, 1888. The figure of S. Mary Magdalene is, with the 
 exception of the arms, exactly the same as in the Entombment, ascribed to Roger van der 
 Weyden, in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 girdle, is of dark blue cloth lined with grey fur and cut low at the neck 
 to show an under-bodice of white linen ; she also wears a dark blue 
 mantle and a crown richly ornamented with pearls, rubies, and sapphires. 
 Her eyes are looking down, and her long fairish wavy hair falls over her 
 shoulders. With her right hand she supports the Infant Child, who, 
 clothed in a long-sleeved white tunic opening in front, is seated on her 
 knees and holds with both hands a bunch of grapes, the symbol of the 
 Eucharist, which the Madonna presents to Him. 
 
 On each side of the Virgin’s throne stands a lovely angel with out- 
 spread wings, clothed in a white alb ; one is playing a mandoline, the 
 other a viola. In the background, between the Virgin and the angel on 
 the right, is S. Fausta, holding a little saw and wearing a dark green 
 head-covering ; in a similar position on the left, S. Apollonia in a dark 
 green dress with grey-violet bodice, carrying a pair of pincers in her 
 right hand. 
 
 In the right foreground are seated four saints ; one next to the angel 
 with the mandoline has no emblem ; she wears a red dress bordered with 
 black, and a dark violet headdress, the lining of which is blue ; a light 
 white veil falls without folds to her eyebrows. In front of her is 
 S. Agnes, clothed in a green robe bordered with fur and cut square 
 at the neck, showing a dark underdress and a plaited white garment ; her 
 violet headdress is bordered with goffered gold passementerie. Her 
 emblematic lamb lies at her feet, and she turns with an interrogative air 
 to S. Katherine, seated on her right with a book in her hands. The 
 latter is superbly clothed in a dress of crimson and gold brocade, lined 
 and bordered with ermine, with sleeves of olive green velvet slashed to 
 show puffs of white linen. Around her neck is a gold chain with a jewel 
 composed of sapphires, rubies and pearls, and on her head an emblematic 
 crown of golden wheels surrounded by pearls and separated from each 
 other by precious stones. A little behind S. Katherine, and at the 
 extreme right of the panel, is S. Dorothea, holding a small basket full 
 of red roses, which she contemplates with an expression of charming 
 modesty. She wears a rather bright blue dress and a brownish black 
 under-robe. Her hair is confined by a band composed of three rows of 
 pearls. Behind her, in the background, the painter has introduced his own 
 portrait. His brown tunic is open and allows his plaited shirt to be 
 
Altarpiece for the Gild of the Drie Sanctinnen . , by an unknown artist. Brussels Museum . 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 3i 
 
 seen ; a lock of light brown hair falls over his forehead down to his 
 eyebrows. He appears here to be about forty-five years old, and has a 
 more refined air than in the drawing preserved in the library at Arras 1 ; 
 his complexion is sallow and his eyes are dark grey, nearly brown. 
 
 The left side of the picture is similarly occupied by four saints. 
 Nearest to the Madonna is S. Godeleva, reading attentively and wearing 
 an orange-red dress, having its sleeves lined with black velvet ; a long 
 scarf round her neck and a golden circlet on her head, set with three 
 blackish stones and adorned with pearls hanging like drops of water, are 
 symbolical of the manner of her martyrdom. Beside her is seated 
 S. Barbara turning over the leaves of a richly illuminated Book of Hours. 
 She is clothed in a green velvet dress cut square at the neck, showing a 
 little linen and a brownish black underdress. The sleeves, made of gold 
 damask, different to that which is used to border the dress, are short, but 
 beneath them are long full sleeves of a shot pale blue and pale rose 
 material. A square jewel composed of gold ornaments, five pearls, and a 
 ruby, is attached to a black cord round her neck. A golden girdle and a 
 crown, adorned in front with her emblematic tower in gold and pearls, 
 complete her attire. 
 
 ]n the background, between S. Godeleva and S. Barbara, is S. Cecilia 
 with her organ at her side. She wears a dark violet dress and a black 
 underdress ; her headgear, of the same colour as her dress, is embroidered 
 with gold. The extreme left is occupied by S. Lucy, holding two spark- 
 ling eyes in her hand. She wears a dress of brocade of two shades of 
 crimson open at the neck, showing a chemisette of fine cambric. The 
 full flowing sleeves are lined with green, and a broad green sash is knotted 
 round her waist. Her headdress, of deep violet velvet lined with blue, 
 is bordered with gold fringe. To the left of S. Lucy in the background 
 Cornelia Cnoop, the painter’s wife, stands with her hands joined in prayer. 
 She wears a brownish black dress bordered with narrow white fur and a 
 large white coif, which falls on each side of her face and over the back of 
 her head. Her eyes are brown. 
 
 The background of the picture is of a deep green nearly black. The 
 locality of the scene is only indicated by a pavement of white, yellow and 
 pale blue stones. The heads of the figures are very nearly a quarter life- 
 1 Reproduced in Le Beffroi, tom. 1, p. 223. 
 
32 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 size ; the flesh tints are as a rule white, the expressions sweet and 
 melancholy. The angels may be cited as amongst the most charming 
 figures realised by the early Netherlandish school, and the details are 
 without exception admirably finished. 
 
 The altar of Our Lady in the collegiate chapel of Grancey le 
 Chateau (Cote d’Or) was formerly adorned with a triptych by Gerard 
 David, now in the possession of Mme. de Denterghem of Astene (E. 
 Flanders ). 1 The interior of the three panels is occupied by a representa- 
 tion of the Assumption. In the centre is the open tomb in which the body 
 of the Blessed Virgin has been deposited. At the head of the tomb on 
 the right S. Peter, his right hand raised in the act of blessing, is reading 
 a prayer from a manuscript volume which S. John supports against 
 his right shoulder with one hand, while he stretches out the other to 
 grasp the holy water sprinkler handed to him by a third apostle standing 
 near the foot of the tomb ; a fourth, kneeling in front of S. John, 
 supports a metal vat. S. Peter, here represented as an aged man with 
 white hair, is clothed in white ; S. John, in greenish blue, is a portrait 
 of the artist, just a little older than in the picture at Rouen ; the 
 apostle, who is handing him the sprinkler, has a scarlet tunic and a 
 green mantle; the one holding the vat a dark green tunic, a claret- 
 coloured mantle thrown over his left shoulder, and a scarlet cap. A 
 fifth with long brown hair and beard, kneeling in the foreground to the 
 left, with the fingers of his right hand between the leaves of a half-closed 
 book is clad in a greenish blue tunic. On the right shutter are three 
 more ; one kneels in the foreground enveloped in a green mantle thrown 
 over his head; another, in scarlet tunic and mantle, is blowing the coals 
 in a silver thurible, the foot of which he holds with his right hand, 
 whilst he raises the cover and chains with his left ; the third, in dark 
 blue holds an open incense-boat and spoon. On the left shutter are the 
 other four apostles; one, in a purplish tunic with a green mantle thrown 
 over his left shoulder, carries an open book in which he is reading with 
 the help of eyeglasses held in his right hand ; two others are praying, 
 the one in a grey mantle, with his hands extended ; the other, in a green 
 tunic with a blue mantle which has fallen from his shoulders, has his 
 hands joined; the fourth, in green with a claret-coloured mantle stands 
 1 Oak ; H. 45 in. ; B. centre, 34 in. ; shatters, 14J in. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 33 
 
 with interlaced hands at the foot of a tree on the extreme left. One 
 half of the apostles are absorbed in the respective parts of the funeral 
 service they are engaged in ; the other six are gazing upwards at an 
 opening in the clouds which occupies the entire half of the central panel, 
 where in golden light the Virgin Mary, surrounded by seven most grace- 
 ful angels all in greenish blue girded albs, is soaring upwards through 
 the court of heaven to receive the crown which the Eternal Father 
 and her Divine Son are waiting to bestow on her, while a countless 
 number of angels are singing and playing on an immense variety of 
 musical instruments. 
 
 The background is occupied by a remarkably fine landscape ; in the 
 centre is a river opening out wider in the distance, on which are a number 
 of ships and boats; an island, in the half distance, covered with buildings 
 is connected by a bridge with a town on the bank, with hills, rocks, and 
 trees which extend across the left shutter. On the extreme right is a 
 castle-crowned rock with a winding road down which is advancing the 
 funeral procession, headed by S. John; two men who have attempted 
 to profane the bier are falling back over the precipice, their withered 
 hands remaining attached to the pall ; other figures further down are 
 looking on. In the immediate front are flowers and herbage and a 
 butterfly. 
 
 On the exterior of the shutters are figured S. Andrew and S. 
 Katherine in the foreground of a mountainous landscape, diversified 
 with numerous buildings, a palace with towers, a wood, and cottages. 
 S. Andrew, a middle-aged man with dark brown hair and beard, clad in 
 a purplish brown tunic and crimson mantle fastened over the right 
 shoulder, holds a closed book in his right hand, and with his left 
 supports a saltire cross. S. Katherine stands facing him, her right hand 
 resting on the handle of a sword, whilst she reads a book supported by 
 her left ; at her feet lies a broken wheel of torture. She wears a tight 
 fitting dress of crimson velvet cut square at the neck showing a cambric 
 habit shirt; over -her right shoulder is a grey mantle which she holds 
 up with her left hand. A jewelled headdress of goldsmiths’ work 
 with a long rose-coloured veil floating behind completes her costume. 
 
 In the red room of the Municipal Palace at Genoa is a triptych, 
 formerly attributed to Albert Diirer, which presents the greatest affinity 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 to the altar-piece at Rouen. The central panel (height, 5 ft. 2 in.; 
 breadth, 2 ft. 1 1 in.) is occupied by a figure of the Madonna seated on a 
 throne beneath a canopy, the green drapery of which is thrown round the 
 supporting columns. She wears a dark blue dress with fur-lined sleeves, 
 confined at the waist by a girdle and over it an ample flowing mantle of 
 the same colour bordered in gold embroidery with the anthem : “ Salve 
 (mater) misericordie : vita dulcedo et spes nostra. . . . o clemens o 
 dulcis Virgo Maria.” Her long wavy hair falls in masses over her 
 shoulders, and is kept in place by a band adorned with a jewel. Her face 
 wears an expression of deep thought, and her eyes, lowered, are fixed on 
 her Son, whom she supports with both hands. He is seated on her right 
 knee, clothed in a white linen tunic open at the throat, and holds in His 
 hands a bunch of grapes. 
 
 On the right panel is S. Jerome, represented as a man of from forty- 
 five to fifty years of age with a dark brown beard. He is habited as a 
 cardinal, and is standing reading from a book which he supports with his 
 right hand, while in his left he holds a fleur de lise cross. Behind him 
 on the pavement reposes a lion. On the left panel is a Benedictine saint, 
 holding in his right hand with its veil a crozier and carrying a closed book 
 in his left. Both the cross and the crozier are splendid specimens of 
 goldsmiths’ work. 
 
 The background is formed by a dado of masonry and by hangings 
 adorned with a variety of flowers, birds, and animals, painted with great 
 care and truth. The tone of the picture is rather sombre. 
 
 The Imperial Picture Gallery at Vienna possesses a triptych of un- 
 known date, the principal panel of which represents S. Michael driving 
 Satan and his rebel host down into the jaws of hell, while the shutters 
 are occupied by figures of saints. This picture, which was formerly in 
 the collection of M. Adamnovitz, passed about the year 1 840 into the 
 possession of M. Artaria of Vienna, and at the sale of his collection 
 on January 13th, 1887, was purchased for the gallery. The triptych is 
 in its original frame. 
 
 In the central compartment, which measures 66 inches by 53, is seen 
 the Archangel Michael who has just come down from heaven, his wings 
 being still outspread as he drives a host of demons into an abyss sur- 
 rounded by barren rocks, between which flames are shooting up. He 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 35 
 
 is clothed in a girdled white alb, shaded blue, a violet stole crossed 
 over his breast, and a large crimson mantle lined with .pale green, having 
 orfreys embroidered with figures of saints, and fastened by a gold morse 
 bearing a representation of the Ancient of Days between two adoring 
 angels. His left hand is armed with a silver buckler, on which is a red 
 cross set off from the grey ground by a white edge. In his right hand 
 he holds a cross with a long staff with which he confounds the rebel host. 
 The glory of the fallen angels has entirely disappeared, their wings have 
 no longer plumes but are like those of bats and dragons, their features 
 have become monstrous ; on two tails have sprouted — hands and feet 
 are changed into paws and hoofs, nails into claws. Lowest of all those 
 beneath the archangel’s feet is Lucifer himself, gnashing his teeth as he 
 looks upwards at the calm majestic figure of S. Michael. In the upper 
 part of the panel, through an opening in the clouds on the left, is seen 
 the Almighty surrounded by an aureole of light, vested in crimson and 
 crowned with a tiara ; He bears a sceptre in His left hand, while His 
 right is raised in the act of blessing. Three angels, clothed in white and 
 red and armed with long crosses, are driving a host of demons into the 
 abyss ; a fourth is flying down to their aid. The lower portion and 
 background of the panel are occupied by rocks ; on the left is a pool of 
 water in which demons are being engulfed. 
 
 The side panels measure 66 inches by 22. On the inside of each is 
 a saint seen in three-quarters profile. On the right, S. Jerome, who is 
 represented as a noble elderly cardinal with a brown beard just turning 
 grey. He wears a grey cassock and a scarlet robe bordered and lined 
 with white fur ; the hat is thrown back on to his shoulders and his hands 
 are covered with grey leather gloves ; he is bending slightly and reading 
 from an open book protected by a loose leather cover which he holds in 
 his right hand. In his left he carries a richly ornamented cross, the 
 base of which, resting on the top of the staff, is adorned with statuettes 
 in canopied niches supported by slender detached pillars. Behind the 
 saint is a lion in repose. 
 
 On the left panel is S. Anthony of Padua, clothed in the grey habit 
 of the Friars Minor, and holding in his right hand a long wooden cross, 
 which has for its sole ornament four knops composed of interlaced strips 
 of leather. With his left hand he supports an open book on which a 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 nude child is kneeling with hands joined, symbolising the lifting up of 
 the saint’s soul to God. The background of both panels is a con- 
 tinuation of that in the centre, but the barren rocks are replaced towards 
 the outer sides by wooded mountains with a river flowing at their base. 
 A scanty herbage embellishes the foreground. 
 
 On the exterior of the shutters are two saints, each of whom is 
 placed in a square-headed niche. S. Sebastian, on the right, is repre- 
 sented as a man of about thirty-five years of age, with a short beard and 
 curly brown hair. He wears a suit of steel armour, a neutral green 
 mantle thrown over his left shoulder, leaving his right arm free, and a 
 broad-brimmed beaver hat. With his left hand he holds a bow and in 
 his right three arrows. On the opposite shutter is a female saint with a 
 boy at her side, whose right hand she grasps as if to keep him by her, 
 whilst with slightly bent head she reads a book supported by her right 
 hand. She wears over a tight-fitting green dress a red robe girt with a 
 black leather belt fastened with a golden buckle ; a deep violet mantle 
 and a white headdress complete her costume. The boy, who appears to be 
 about five years old, wears a dark claret-coloured tunic and hose of un- 
 tanned leather, and carries three nails in his left hand. These are said to 
 represent SS. Julitta and Cyriacus, I know not on what ground, as I have 
 never seen the latter represented as here, and can find nothing in his life 
 to warrant such an emblem being given to him. 
 
 This triptych presents a very remarkable appearance ; the com- 
 position is harmonious, and the attitudes, especially that of the archangel, 
 whose calm expression contrasts admirably with the ugliness and rage of 
 the demons whom he is overthrowing, are full of dignity. Great taste 
 is shown in the arrangement of the draperies; the heads, especially those 
 of SS. Michael, Sebastian and Julitta, are noble and beautifully formed ; 
 the hands are modelled with the greatest care and the touch is free 
 but accurate. The colouring is warm, and the flesh tints incline a 
 little more to brown than they do in the triptych of The Baptism of 
 Christ. The water of the river in the left wing is painted in the same 
 manner as in that picture, but we do not here see such striking contrasts 
 in the colours of the dresses. The S. Jerome is painted from the same 
 model as in the triptych at Genoa, but with slight variations in the pose. 
 
 These are all the paintings that can at present with certainty be 
 
Exterior of tie Shutters of tie picture of “ 5 . Michael." 
 
 S. Sebastian. Female Saint with a Boy. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 39 
 
 assigned to Gerard David. We know so little about him and his pupils 
 that the greatest caution should be exercised before accepting as authentic 
 any of the other works attributed to him. The pictures above described 
 have without exception been assigned to other and even very different 
 masters, not only by dealers, but by experts and connoisseurs generally 
 recognised as competent critics. Moreover, even as regards the pictures 
 admittedly David’s there are points which need clearing up. It will have 
 been noticed that all his earlier pictures have landscape backgrounds ; 
 that these landscapes, evidently careful studies direct from nature, have 
 no resemblance to the flat land about Bruges, but represent well-wooded 
 mountainous and rocky country, watered by winding streams, such scenery, 
 in short, as is to be found in the district lying between the Rhine and the 
 Meuse. I pointed this out so long ago as 1 8 6 1 when describing the 
 triptych of The Baptism of Christ, before I had discovered that David had 
 anything to do with that picture. I then expressed the opinion that it 
 might possibly be the work of two hands, and that the two men at the 
 foot of the rocks in the mid-distance on the right panel might be 
 portraits ; and further on I noticed the resemblance between the landscape 
 in this and in a picture representing the Holy Family resting on the road 
 to Egypt in the Antwerp Museum (No. 73), and said that whoever was 
 the painter he certainly exercised a great influence on Joachim Patenir. 
 Later on I discovered that David went to Antwerp in 1515, was inscribed 
 as master-painter in the register of S. Luke’s gild, and that, curiously 
 enough, the next name in the roll was that of Joachim Patenir. The 
 latter artist stayed at Antwerp. David returned to Bruges, and from 
 that day until his death the backgrounds of his pictures are either plain 
 or architectural. It is therefore quite possible that Patenir may have 
 painted the landscapes in David’s earlier pictures. This surmise is 
 strengthened by the striking similarity between the details of some of 
 Patenir’s landscapes and the backgrounds of David’s pictures, as for 
 instance in the view of a town and island in the central panel of David’s 
 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and in Patenir’s landscape with the 
 martyrdom of S. Katherine in the Imperial Gallery at Vienna (1093). 
 It is also established that the principal figures in the landscapes painted 
 by Patenir after he settled in Antwerp, 1515, are by other masters. We 
 have moreover positive evidence that it had been the constant practice 
 
40 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 of the early Netherlandish artists to employ specialists to paint acces- 
 sories, such as stuffs, jewellery, animals, &c., and that the master-painter, 
 who received a commission, was only bound to design the composition, 
 and to paint with his own hand the nude portions of the figures, in which 
 there was the most art. In David’s pictures the landscape is still an 
 accessory, though in the triptych of the Baptism at least it almost equals, 
 the figures in importance. Patenir was the first to make the landscape 
 the dominant feature of a picture and to treat the figures as accessories. 
 On the other hand it is just possible that David was Patenir’s master, 
 and that in his later years he had no opportunity of travelling and paint- 
 ing landscapes such as he admired — the artists who settled in Bruges do 
 not seem to have ever cared for the flats of Flanders, but retained a love 
 for the hilly country beyond the Scheldt. This was the case with the 
 Van Eycks, the originators and founders of modern landscape painting, 
 with Gerard of S. John’s, Dirk Bouts, Roger van der Weyden, and Hans 
 Memlinc. I cannot recall a single exception. 
 
 The confraternity of the Holy Blood at Bruges possesses a triptych 1 
 which according to documents preserved in its archives is a work of 
 Gerard David. The three panels form one picture, the subject, composed 
 of a group of ten figures, being the Deposition. In the foreground of 
 the central panel the Body of Christ laid on a winding-sheet is supported 
 by Nicodemus, a man with a long white beard who occupies the extreme 
 right. In the centre, the Blessed Virgin with joined hands bends forward 
 over the body of her Divine Son ; S. John supports her with his right arm 
 and at the same time holds up the Saviour’s left arm. On the Virgin’s 
 right is Mary Salome and, at the extreme left, a man with a metal vase of 
 perfumes. S. Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas occupy the right panel, 
 the former carrying her vase of precious ointment, the cover of which 
 she is removing with her left hand. On the left panel are three persons, 
 the foremost of whom, S. Joseph of Arimathea, carries the crown of 
 thorns laid on a white cloth. In the background of the central paneljs 
 seen Mount Calvary with the Cross standing between the two crucified 
 thieves, a patibulary wheel, two soldiers, and a man carrying away a 
 ladder ; on the right wing is the city of Jerusalem and a distant land- 
 scape ; on the left, a mountain and trees. 
 
 1 Oak ; H. 40I in. ; B. centre, 27 J in. ; shutters, 12 \ in. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 4i 
 
 The Blessed Virgin is clothed in a blue robe lined with grey squirrel 
 fur, a large blue mantle and a white linen head kerchief. Nicodemus 
 has a sleeveless robe of crimson and gold velvet brocade, bordered and 
 lined with brown fur, full sleeves of shot taffeta silk, lilac and grey, and 
 a blue kerchief wrapped round a rose-coloured turban, the top of which 
 is adorned with gold embroidery. S. John wears a tunic and mantle of 
 red cloth ; a pen-case and a black leather wallet are attached to his belt. 
 Mary Salome has a green robe and a white turban-shaped headdress ; 
 the man on the left a green mantle with a stand-up collar and a conical 
 hat of black felt. S. Mary Magdalene is habited in a light blue close- 
 fitting sleeveless dress bordered with fur, girdled over her hips with a 
 rose and blue silk scarf ; her sleeves of rose-coloured cloth are slashed 
 to show the yellow lining. An ample olive green mantle envelops the 
 lower portion of her body. Her long hair, which falls in masses over 
 her shoulders, is confined by a narrow circlet fastened in front with a 
 rich jewel composed of rubies surrounded by pearls. A very elegant 
 headdress of red velvet bordered with goldsmiths’ work and covered by 
 a transparent gauze veil knotted on the top of her head, completes her 
 costume. Mary Cleophas wears a grey robe bordered with gold lace 
 and pearls and lined with white fur ; her headdress is of violet silk 
 covered with a network of gold cords and pearls ; attached to it by a 
 rich jewel is a transparent veil which falls over her shoulders. S. Joseph 
 of Arimathea has a robe of olive green lined and bordered with 
 fur ; false sleeves which fall from the elbows, show under-sleeves of 
 a superb gold and silver brocade ; the robe is fastened in front by 
 a gold brooch and confined at the waist by a leather belt covered with 
 gold plaques, to which is suspended a large purse. On his head is a 
 large flat cap of red velvet lined with brown fur. The man next him, 
 of a very pronounced Jewish type, has a forked beard, and wears a grey 
 cloth robe lined with red with a deep turn-down collar. 
 
 The composition of this triptych is very good ; its execution firm 
 and the colouring rich and powerful ; the types of the female figures are 
 better than those of the men ; S. Joseph of Arimathea however has 
 a noble head. The flesh tints are painted in a brownish tone. The 
 picture, restored in 1675, 1773 and 1827, is fairly well preserved ; 
 it seems to have been painted under the influence of Quentin Matsys, 
 
42 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 and therefore probably about the time of David’s sojourn in Antwerp. 
 Its attribution to him is contested, but 1 do not think that the opinions 
 of two or three modern critics warrant our rejection of the evidence in 
 its favour. I have seen several copies of this triptych. 
 
 In the Museum of the Louvre at Paris is a painting (Oak; H. 37^ in. ; 
 B. 50 in. ; figures, 24 in.) representing the Marriage feast at Cana, which 
 formerly adorned the altar of the confraternity of the Holy Blood 
 in the upper church of S. Basil at Bruges. The feast is represented 
 as taking place in a room separated from a public square by an open 
 colonnade. Against the wall in the background is hung tapestry 
 adorned with foliage, flowers and strawberries intermingled with birds 
 and hares, with a red border on which is embroidered in gold letters : 
 fili m ei date MANDA(tum). In front of this is seated the bride 
 dressed in a full-sleeved crimson robe and mantle lined with white 
 fur; the latter is fastened by a cord attached to two jewels. Her long 
 hair falls in wavy masses over her shoulders. A rich gold chain passed 
 twice round her neck, and a diadem adorned with precious stones set 
 on a purple coif complete her costume. On the bride’s left is her 
 mother, and on her right, another woman, next to whom is the Blessed 
 Virgin in a dark blue dress and white veil, and, at the return end of 
 the table, our Lord in a bluish grey tunic between two maidens. At 
 the opposite end is the chief steward of the feast with a woman at each 
 side of him. Facing the Virgin is seated a maiden ; on her right stands 
 the bridegroom who is carving a fowl. In the foreground are six 
 large brown stoneware water-pots, a waiter grasps the handle of one 
 of these with his left hand, and with his right lifts up a pewter tankard. 
 A little more to the left is a young man kneeling and holding up a 
 silver parcel-gilt beaker, the richly-chased cover of which he has 
 removed with his left hand. Our Lord, at the request of His Mother, 
 who is bending forward with joined hands, raises his hand to bless 
 the water. In the immediate foreground on the extreme right kneels 
 the donor, John van der Straeten, wearing the costume of the provost of 
 the confraternity, a scarlet tight-fitting tunic and a black robe lined 
 with sable and embroidered down the front with interlacing branches of 
 silver and drops of crimson blood ; behind him kneels his son Francis, 
 a fair-haired little boy. At the opposite extremity is his wife. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 43 
 
 Anne de la Bye, her hands joined in prayer ; she is clad in a black 
 velvet dress with very full sleeves lined with sable, and a white linen 
 headdress ; a silver rosary with a cross adorned with pearls hangs from 
 her girdle. On the right, outside the chamber is a Dominican friar 
 contemplating the scene through an opening between the columns. 
 Through the doerway, on his left, a lad is carrying in a pasty. In the 
 
 The Marriage Feast at Cana. Louvre. 
 
 background are seen the old palace of the Liberty of Bruges, the church 
 of S. Donatian and some of its dependent buildings, as seen from the 
 porch of S. Basil’s at the time this work was executed. The picture is 
 painted with great body of colour ; the attitude of the bride and the 
 general arrangement of the composition is like David’s work, but the 
 sharp contrasts of brilliant colours in the dresses exceed anything in 
 the pictures already described. A sketch for this picture submitted 
 
44 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 to the confraternity, was approved of at a meeting of that body held 
 on February 17th, 1519, and the contract with the painter was no doubt 
 concluded shortly afterwards, but the picture could not have been 
 finished until after David’s death, for the donor, who is here represented 
 as provost, was only elected to that office in May 1523, at which date 
 David was laid up with an illness which terminated fatally on the 13th 
 of August following. 1 There can, I think, be little doubt that the 
 work was completed by his pupil, Adrian Isenbrant, the initial of 
 whose Christian name is carved on the back of the stool on which the 
 maiden facing the Blessed Virgin is seated. 
 
 Adrian is the only painter known to have been a pupil of Gerard 
 David. He purchased the right of citizenship at Bruges in 1510. On 
 the 29th of November in that year he was admitted as master-painter 
 into the gild of SS. Luke and Eligius ; at that date, if married, he at 
 least had no children. He was a member of the council of his craft in 
 1516-17 and on several other occasions, the last being in 1547-48. He 
 is said to have excelled in painting the nude and as a portrait-painter. 
 Isenbrant was twice married ; his first wife was Mary, daughter of Peter 
 Grandeel ; his second, Clementina, only daughter of John de Haerne. 
 He died in July, 1551, and was buried in the churchyard of S. James at 
 Bruges. I know of no picture that can be attributed to him with 
 certainty. In 1539 a maidservant stole several pictures of his, one of 
 which, the portrait of a Spaniard, was valued at £10. 
 
 Among the many early Netherlandish pictures in the Imperial Gallery 
 at Vienna are two half-length portraits of a young man and his wife 
 (H. 2 1 in. ; B. 8|- in. ; Heads, 5^in. and 5^ in.) attributed to Mark 
 Gerard ; these were formerly at Brussels in the possession of the 
 Archduke Leopold William of Austria. In the inventory of his 
 
 collection drawn up in 1659, and published in the Jahrbuch der Kunst- 
 historischen Sammlungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses , they are entered 
 as original works of Gerard of Bruges ; they are certainly not later 
 than 1520, and though I have not seen them for the last thirty years, I 
 have little doubt that they are by Gerard David. 
 
 In all probability many more of his pictures have escaped destruction. 
 
 1 See Le Beffroi, tom. in, pp. 344, 345. Bruges, 1870. There is a copy of this 
 picture in the Museum at Stockholm. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 45 
 
 We know that he painted for Bernardin Salviati a panel (H. 40J in. ; 
 B. 36^ in.) with the portrait of his mother kneeling, protected by three 
 saints (John the Baptist, Christina and Mary Magdalene ?) ; and another 
 (H. 25 in. ; B. 19 in.) for the Carmelite nuns of Sion at Bruges 
 representing their father confessor, Brother Isenbart de Bru, kneeling, 
 accompanied by S. Albert and S. Elisabeth. This panel, painted in 
 1518, is described in the catalogue of pictures from the suppressed 
 convents, sold in 1785 as highly finished ; it was nevertheless sold to a 
 dealer named Loose for tenpence. I know not what has become of 
 these two works. 
 
 The Hohenzollern collection at Sigmaringen contains two shutters 
 of a triptych (H. 30J in. ; B. 25^ in.), formerly in the Weyer collection, 
 representing the Annunciation ; the angel on the right panel, the Virgin 
 on the left. The scene is laid in a wainscotted room. Mary, in a greenish- 
 blue dress and mantle, kneels, her hands crossed on her breast, at a 
 carved prayer-desk, on which is an open book ; its cover and a rosary 
 lie on the pavement ; to the right is the emblematic lily in a fine 
 two-handled majolica vase, and in the background, a bedstead with lilac 
 curtains. On the other panel Gabriel, in girded alb and cope of crimson 
 and gold brocade, lined with shot silk, advances with a sceptre in his 
 left hand, and with his right uplifted as he delivers his message. This 
 is a very fine painting, highly finished ; the style of the figures and the 
 colouring are quite in the manner of Gerard’s later works. A replica 
 with variations in the colouring and the accessories (H. 16 in. B 
 12J in.) is in the Stadel Institute at Frankfort. 
 
 A panel (H. 31 in. ; B. 23 Jin.), in the possession of Count Arco 
 Valley, at Munich, representing the Madonna seated in a landscape sur- 
 rounded by five virgin saints (SS. Katherine and Barbara on her right ; 
 SS. Dorothy, Margaret and Agnes on the left), is attributed to Gerard ; 
 as are also a replica of it (without the angels holding a crown over the 
 B. Virgin) belonging to the Academy of S. Luke at Rome, and a similar 
 composition, with a sixth saint added on the right opposite S. Margaret, 
 in the Alte Pinacothek at Munich. These are all early sixteenth century 
 imitations of the right half of a lovely diptych (H. 10 in. ; B. 6J in.), 
 painted by Memlinc for John du Celier, formerly in the possession of 
 Mr. Gatteaux, now in the Louvre. Amongst other works by the same 
 
46 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 hand we may mention a triptych in the cathedral of Bruges, representing 
 the Presentation in the Temple, with the donors protected by SS. Philip 
 and John the Evangelist ; and in the Alte Pinacothek at Munich a 
 Repose during the Flight into Egypt and an Adoration of the Magi. 
 
 In the Gallery at Darmstadt is a painting on panel (H. 35I in. ; B. 
 1 4^ in.), formerly in the collection of the Duke of Orleans, representing 
 the Madonna enthroned between two groups of angels, four on the right, 
 singing, and three on the left, one playing the harp, another the organ, 
 of which the bellows are blown by the third. This picture, of which 
 there was a replica in the convent of the English Franciscan nuns at 
 Bruges (afterwards in the Van Houtten collection at Aachen), is the work 
 of a contemporary of David, but the types of the figures, with the excep- 
 tion of the two musical angels, are unlike those in his authentic pictures. 
 
 The Berlin Gallery exhibits as being by David, a picture (573) 
 formerly in the Solly collection, representing our Lord on the Cross with 
 the B. Virgin, S. John and the three Maries on the right, and the Cen- 
 turion and two soldiers on the left. It should most certainly be classed 
 as by an unknown master. It is needless to refer here to the many 
 other (more than forty) pictures in private hands which have been attri- 
 buted to David of late years, generally with very little reason. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MINIATURES. 
 
 Gerard David was not only a painter but also a miniaturist, and 
 as such at the head of one of the best, if not the best, school of miniature 
 painters flourishing at Bruges at the commencement of the sixteenth 
 century. Of his own work as a miniaturist we have two authenticated 
 specimens, the Preaching of John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ, 
 formerly in the Abbey of S. Mary of the Dunes, and now in the 
 Museum of the Academy at Bruges. In the first the Precursor is 
 represented standing on a hillock, holding a staff in his right hand and 
 raising his left to emphasise the exhortation he is addressing to a group 
 of persons seated around. A little in the background Christ is seen 
 walking towards a wood in the distance. In the second miniature, S. 
 John, kneeling on one knee on the rocky bank of the river, is pouring 
 water from the hollow of his hand on the head of Christ who stands in 
 the stream. In the heavens the Eternal Father is seen blessing His Son. 
 Deer are browsing beneath the trees, and swans are on the stream. 
 
 Of David’s wife’s work we have three splendid examples, also 
 formerly in the abbey of the Dunes and now in the possession of 
 Mr. Henry Willett, of Arnold House, Brighton, which when I first saw 
 them nearly forty years ago were in a sixteenth-century frame protected 
 by talc. 1 In the central picture the Blessed Virgin, seen full face and as 
 far as the knees, is seated in the immediate front on a bank overgrown 
 with herbage and flowers. She wears a bright deep blue dress with 
 loose sleeves lined with grey fur, showing at the wrists the tight sleeves 
 of a brown underdress lined with green, and a little linen ; a large red 
 
 1 They were then at Bruges in the possession of M. Louis Tangnes, and were 
 attributed to Hans Memlinc. At his sale on May 31st, 1870, they fetched 960 frs. 
 
48 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 mantle, thrown over her shoulders falls in graceful folds on each side. 
 Her light brown hair, confined by a band of black velvet, embroidered 
 with gold and bordered with pearls, falls in wavy tresses over her 
 shoulders, but is partly covered by a white neckerchief. With her 
 right arm and hand she supports the Infant Christ seated on her lap 
 with a linen cloth wrapped about Him. His left arm rests on His 
 Mother’s shoulder, while he clutches her neckerchief with his right 
 hand. He has a glory of rays around His head, but the Virgin’s is 
 encircled with a semi-transparent nimbus of brush-gold. Both Mother 
 and Child are of quite a different type to those in Gerard’s pictures, and 
 I do not remember to have met with them in any Bruges painting, so 
 that this may very probably be an original composition of his wife’s. 
 To the left of the Virgin is seen a pond at which a stag is slaking its 
 thirst in the shade of a couple of trees ; a little further off is a peacock, 
 perched on a trellis fence. The centre of the background is occupied 
 by a gabled mansion which shuts off the greater portion of the distant 
 view, but on the right beyond a wall and gateway, we get a glimpse of 
 upland landscape with a cottage at the side of a winding road leading up 
 to a castle on the summit. In the courtyard on the right of the mansion 
 is a richly carved stone Gothic fountain with four bronze statuettes, in 
 front of which is an angel, another stands on the doorsteps. The 
 buildings in this view represent, but freely, the old castle and country 
 house of Louis de Gruuthuuse, Earl of Winchester, at Oostcamp near 
 Bruges. 
 
 The right wing is occupied by a nearly full-length figure of S. Katherine 
 standing in the immediate foreground of a meadow. She wears a loose- 
 sleeved dress of cloth of gold lined with blue, adorned at the edges and 
 down the front with precious stones between two rows of pearls. Cut 
 square at the neck it shows the border of a crimson bodice, and a plaited 
 cambric habit-shirt edged with a narrow band of gold, coming up to the 
 throat. A light blue mantle lined with crimson cast over her shoulders, 
 is kept in its place by a gold cordon fastened to two jewelled buttons. 
 With her right arm pressed against her side she holds up the end of her 
 mantle and the skirt of her dress, while her hand rests on the pommel of 
 a sword, in the other hand she carries a book covered with red cloth on 
 which her eyes are fixed. Her long light brown hair falls loosely over 
 
The Blessed Virgin and Infant Christ. 
 
 Miniature from Triptych, by the wife of Gerard David. Mr. Henry Willett's Collection. 
 
 D 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 5 1 
 
 her shoulders and is kept off her face by a rich gold headdress with a 
 coronet set with precious stones. A wheel-shaped jewel is attached to a 
 cord round her neck, while the wheel of torture lies at her feet. In the 
 background are trees and a palatial castle in front of which the martyrdom 
 of the saint is taking place in the presence of a king and nobleman on 
 horseback with an attendant page and a couple of soldiers ; the saint, 
 blindfolded is kneeling on her mantle, and the executioner is raising his 
 sword to strike the fatal blow ; two angels hold the mantle and are 
 waiting to transport her body to Mount Sinai. On one of the chimney 
 tops of the palace are two storks. On the left wing S. Barbara stands 
 facing S. Katherine. She is clothed in a full-sleeved blue dress open in 
 front to the waist but laced with a gold cord across the bodice of a crimson 
 underdress cut square at the neck showing a white linen neckerchief. An 
 ample white mantle shaded with red and bordered with gold embroidery, 
 and a rich coronet of gold set with precious stones and pearls, and 
 adorned in front with a little tower complete her costume. Her long 
 brown hair falls in masses over her shoulders. In her right hand she 
 carries a small round tower of metal, and with her left holds up her 
 mantle. The meadow in which she stands is shut in by a hurdle fence 
 and two trees, a willow and a tall poplar. Beyond is a hilly landscape 
 with rocks on the left. In the further background are sheep and two 
 shepherds, one of whom is pointing to the rocks, down the road at the 
 foot of which the saint is being dragged by the hair by her cruel father, 
 who in the mid-distance is again represented in the act of beheading her. 
 
 At the foot of each of these miniatures there is an ornamental band ; 
 that below S. Katherine, coloured crimson, is occupied by two kneeling 
 angels, vested in albs, supporting an escucheon with the arms of the 
 abbot for whom it was painted ; the other is adorned with a red rose, a 
 pansy, a caterpillar, and a fly on a ground of brush gold. 
 
 The heads in all three miniatures are very beautiful, and the hands 
 well modelled. The figures of SS. Katherine and Barbara, which occur 
 again and again in Breviaries, Hours, and other devotional books, are 
 copied from Gerard David’s paintings. 
 
 Besides the above, there are a large number of very fine illuminated 
 manuscripts, executed in Bruges, some of the miniatures in which are 
 copied from Gerard’s designs. He was for more than a quarter of a 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 century the leading artist at Bruges, but inasmuch as the majority of the 
 miniaturists worked not from nature but from patterns, it is extremely 
 difficult, in the absence of documentary evidence, to say for certain by 
 whom any particular work was executed. 
 
 It is commonly supposed that many of the fine manuscripts executed 
 at this period were written in Italy and Spain, and sent to the Nether- 
 lands to be adorned by the illuminator and miniaturist. This is quite 
 contrary to fact. The fine vellum of which these books are composed 
 was a Netherlandish specialty, and so far at least as Bruges is concerned, 
 there were residing in the town French, North Italian, and Spanish pro- 
 fessional calligraphers who were constantly engaged in writing Missals, 
 Breviaries, and Books of Hours for exportation. There were also a 
 large number of illuminators whose business it was to paint the initial 
 letters and ornamental borders. There were also the miniaturists, a few 
 of whom were master-painters. It may be as well if I add here a list 
 of such of these as were working in Bruges in the first quarter of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 1. Didier de la Riviere, a native of Langres in the duchy of Bur- 
 gundy, who settled in Bruges and purchased the right of citizenship on 
 November 8th, 1475. He was admitted as an illuminator into the 
 gild of S. John in 1476, and as master-painter into that of SS. Luke 
 and Eligius on September 15th, 1506. He died in 1509. 1 
 
 2. Adrian de Raet, alias Vrelant, a pupil of the well-known minia- 
 turist William Vrelant, admitted into the gild of S. John in 1475* an< ^ 
 as master-painter into that of S. Luke on August 1 1 th, 1 5 1 1 . He died 
 in 1 534.2 
 
 3. Adrian Fabiaen, son of the painter John Fabiaen, admitted as 
 master-painter on July 17th, 1519* anc ^ ^ nto ^e S'^ S. John as 
 miniaturist in 1536, died in December, 1545. His wife joined the gild 
 as illuminator in 1533. 2 
 
 4. William Wallinc, son of the painter Michael Wallinc, admitted as 
 master-painter on October 28th, 1506* a °d into the gild of S. John as 
 miniaturist in 1527 ; he died in March, 1553. 3 
 
 1 See Le Beffroi, 11, 301. 
 
 2 He had a brother, Donatian, who was admitted as master-painter on January 30th,. 
 
 1510, and died in 1521. Their father died in 1520. 3 See Le Beffroi, hi, 231-235. 
 
Wings of Triptych, by the wife of Gerard David. Mr. Willett's Collection. 
 S. Katherine. S. Barbara. 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 55 
 
 5. Fabian de Maniere, admitted as master-painter on August 23rd, 
 1500, and into the gild of S. John as miniaturist in 1519. He died in 
 I 55 6 - 
 
 6. Simon Bynnynck, or Benninc, son of Alexander and Katherine 
 van der Goes, born at Antwerp, illuminator and miniaturist, visited 
 Bruges from time to time in 1508, 1512, and 1516; he settled there 
 definitely in 1518 and purchased the right of citizenship in 1519. 
 Francis of Holland (quoted by Raczynski, Les Arts en Portugal , p. 55) 
 writing about miniaturists, speaks of him thus : “ Master Simon was of all 
 the Flemings the most graceful colourist, and painted trees and distances 
 better than any other.” Guicciardini and Vasari also mention him among 
 the miniaturists of the first half of the sixteenth century. He died in 
 1 56 1. 1 His only authenticated works are a miniature of the Crucifixion 
 (H. 12 in., B. 7^ in.) in a Missal in the Archives at Dixmude, painted 
 by him in 1530, and the Genealogy of the Royal House of Portugal 
 eleven sheets of which are preserved in the British Museum (Add. MS. 
 1 2531), commenced in 1530 by order of the Infante Don Fernando; 
 these remained unfinished at the death of that prince in 1534. 
 
 These are the authors of the best miniatures produced in Bruges from 
 1500 to 1530; but as no authenticated work of any of them, except 
 David and his wife and Simon Benninc, has yet been identified, we must 
 be content to wait until further documents are unearthed. 
 
 One of the finest and best known books adorned with miniatures, 
 produced in Bruges during this period, is the so-called Grimani 
 Breviary now at Venice, which was executed for a regular canon, as 
 is proved by the inscription in the calendar of the feasts of S. Guarinus, 
 S. Bernard, and S. Ubaldus, on February 6th and May 15th and 16th ; 
 for although the first of these feasts was kept throughout the diocese of 
 Bologna, the second in several dioceses of the north of Italy, and the 
 third throughout Umbria, the regular canons alone kept all the three. - 
 The presence of a number of Franciscan saints tend to make one think 
 that the particular canon for whom the book was executed was affiliated 
 to the Order of S. Francis as a Tertiary. As to its date, I am very 
 
 1 See Le Beffroi, 11, 306-319, and in, 118-119. 
 
 2 The feast of S. Isidore, martyr, is here on April 1 6th, on which day it was kept, 
 I believe, only in the diocese of Venice. 
 
56 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 strongly inclined to put it at the commencement of the sixteenth century, 
 or, at earliest, quite at the close of the fifteenth : SS. Bernard, Peter, 
 and companions (March 19th) were canonised on August 6th, 1481 ; the 
 feast of S. Joseph (March 19th) was raised to the rank of a minor 
 double in 1490, and then for the Franciscans only, so that the writing 
 of the book cannot have been commenced until after that date. How 
 soon after it was commenced is a matter of opinion, but, as far as I can 
 judge from careful comparison of the photographs with other miniatures 
 and with paintings, I am convinced that these cannot have been executed 
 much before 1510. A few of the volumes illustrated by the same 
 miniaturists have retained their original stamped covers, and these are 
 all the work of sixteenth century Bruges binders. 
 
 The Grimani Breviary consists of 831 leaves of fine vellum. The 
 calendar takes up twenty-four pages. Twelve of these have full-page 
 miniatures, the other twelve being occupied by the calendar in two 
 columns enclosed within an architecturesque framework of bronze 
 adorned with single figures of the saints, or with groups representing the 
 mysteries commemorated during the month ; at the head are the signs 
 of the zodiac, and at the foot, a scene illustrating the occupations and 
 amusements of the season. The full-page miniatures present scenes of 
 a similar character. These are remarkably fine, but it must not be 
 supposed that they are original compositions, for such is not the case. 
 The choice of the subjects which illustrate the different months is coeval 
 with the introduction of pictorial calendars. The compositions date at 
 least from the commencement of the fifteenth century ; if for instance 
 the December miniature be compared with that in the Hours of John , 
 Duke of Berry , belonging to the Duke of Aumale (reproduced in the 
 Gazette des Beaux Arts, tom. xxix, p. 401, 1884), it will be seen that not 
 only is the general arrangement identical, but that the grouping of both 
 the huntsmen and the dogs is the same, as are also the various species 
 and colours of the latter ; the costumes vary, and the architecture in the 
 background is Netherlandish of the fifteenth instead of French of the 
 fourteenth ; the trees in the wood too are not growing so close together, 
 space having been made for additional members of the hunting party and 
 for two dogs. The representation, at the head of each miniature, of the 
 Almighty as the Ancient of Days (Daniel vn, 9, and Psalm xvm, 6), 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 SI 
 
 holding an orb and with his right hand raised in the act of blessing, 
 seated in a canopied chariot drawn by two winged horses, is also no new 
 
 SS. Katherine , Cecilia , Barbara , and other Virgin Saints. Grimani Breviary. 
 
 feature. The artists who executed the miniatures in the Duke of Berry' s 
 Hours are known ; Pol de Limbourg and his brothers, Netherlanders, 
 
GERARD DAVID 
 
 5 s 
 
 who may very likely have been recommended to the duke by his friend 
 Lubert Hautschilt, twenty-fourth abbot of S. Bartholomew’s, better 
 known as the Eeckhout, at Bruges, a house of canons regular of the 
 order of S. Augustin founded in the first half of the eleventh century 
 in a forest of oak trees — whence its common name — then just outside 
 the town. Hautschilt was a learned mathematician and astronomer ; in 
 139S he constructed a zodiac with figures of the planets adapted to a 
 globe, the whole kept in motion by clockwork. At the request of 
 Cardinal Peter d’Ailly, Bishop of Cambrai, he revised ( the memoir on 
 the reform of the calendar dedicated bv that prelate to John XXIII in 
 1 4 1 1 . He also rebuilt a great part of his abbey, and enriched its library 
 with numerous manuscripts. The duke made him a member of his 
 council, and kept up a constant correspondence with him, often pre- 
 senting him with ecclesiastical vessels and vestments ; the abbot on the 
 other hand sending the duke rare birds, vases and manuscripts ; he also 
 dedicated to him a translation of William de Guilleville’s Romant des 
 trois P Her inages ^ and had the presentation copy adorned with beautiful 
 miniatures. 1 It was in the abbey of the Eeckhout that the gild of 
 S. John had its chapel and held its meetings, and thus we have a con- 
 necting link between the miniatures in the two calendars ; the original 
 patterns, or copies of them, no doubt remained at Bruges. 
 
 The text of the Breviary is adorned with sixty-eight large and 
 eighteen small miniatures ; of the former fifteen occupy the entire page 
 the remainder have borders at the sides and foot ; twenty-four of these 
 are made up of little pictures ; twenty-five are adorned with cut flower 
 sprays, butterflies and insects, painted with the greatest care ; the other 
 four are divided into compartments containing jewellery either enamelled 
 or set with precious stones. The pages on which the smaller miniatures 
 occur also have similar borders. 
 
 Many of these miniatures contain figures copied from paintings by 
 David or other masters ; thus the group of Our Lady surrounded by jive 
 Virgin Saints (91) is a free copy of a picture now in the Academy of 
 S. Luke at Rome ; the landscape background is, however, far finer than 
 in that picture or in either of the replicas at Munich. The S. Barbara 
 (108) is copied from the same painting. The Holy Trinity (42) is so 
 1 See mv notice of this abbot in Lt FUndre, tome in, pp. 281-286. Bruges, 1869. 
 
S. Anthony. Grimani Breviary. 
 
6o 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 far as the figures are concerned an exact copy of a painting which thirty 
 years ago was at Bruges in private hands. The figures of the Apostles 
 assisting at the death of the B. Virgin (87) were certainly inspired by a 
 beautiful little picture in the National Gallery (N • 658), formerly attri- 
 buted to Martin Schongauer. The smaller miniatures in the borders are in 
 more than one instance {fg-, the interment scene at the foot of 58) repeti- 
 tions of similar compositions in a prayer-book executed c. 1460 for 
 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, now in the Bodleian (Douce 
 219,220). 
 
 We reproduce here seven miniatures, which are either original works 
 of Gerard’s, or copies from his designs. 
 
 1 . A Group of Virgin Saints ; the identity of the three foremost 
 only is fixed by characteristic emblems. S. Cecilia, in the centre, 
 holds a pair of silver organs in her right hand, and wears a blue 
 dress bordered round the neck with a bright red galloon, embroidered 
 with gold letters. Her hair, which falls over her shoulders, is con- 
 fined by a band of green velvet, adorned with a single row of pearls, 
 and fastened over the forehead with a jewel. On her right, S. Katherine, 
 her right hand resting on the pommel of a sword, is reading a book 
 supported on her left forearm. Her robe of cloth of gold has full sleeves 
 lined with white and yellow shot silk, and is bordered with a double row 
 of pearls ; over it she wears a light blue mantle, kept in place by a 
 cordon attached to two jewelled buttons. Her throat is protected by 
 a white chemisette. A blue headdress, on which is set a richly-jewelled 
 coronet, and a girdle with a jewelled fastening complete her costume. 
 On the left, S. Barbara, in a light-green dress, open in front, and laced 
 across the chest over a bodice of cloth of gold, has a rose-coloured mantle 
 bordered with gold-embroidered letters, and carries a little gold cylin- 
 drical tower. Her hair is confined by a richly-jewelled coronet. Of the 
 other virgins little more than their heads is seen ; all have nimbs of semi- 
 transparent brush gold. The background is of pure gold. The border, 
 iron grey, is adorned with cut roses and butterflies. 
 
 2. S. Anthony, clad in a monastic habit and rose-coloured skull-cap, 
 is represented walking at the side of a wood. In his left hand he carries 
 a book, whilst his right rests on a staff to which a bell is attached ; in 
 front of him is a pig. Devils are flying away through the air. In the 
 
S. John the Baptist. Grirnani Breviary. 
 
62 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 mid-distance is a river with islands, and beyond it a town. The border, 
 in brown heightened with gold, presents three scenes from the life of the 
 saint. At the foot, on the right, he is seen seated reading, undisturbed 
 by the wild beasts gathered around him ; on the left, he is tempted by 
 two women, one of whom, richly dressed, is offering him a golden goblet. 
 Higher up he is represented conversing with S. Paul the hermit. 
 
 3. S. John Baptist , represented in a wooded landscape advancing 
 towards the front along the grassy bank of a river ; on his right are 
 three disciples, two of whom are leaving him to follow Christ, who 
 is seen in the half distance walking away, his hands joined in prayer. 
 The Baptist is clothed in a garment of camel skin and a red mantle. 
 The disciple nearest to him has a red tunic, a blue cape, and an olive 
 green mantle ; his companion, a yellow tunic ; the third a grey tunic 
 and brown head cover. Our Lord is clothed in a blue tunic. On the 
 border two scenes are represented ; at the foot, on the right, S. John, 
 kneeling on one knee, is baptising Christ, who stands in the stream ; on 
 the left he is preaching to a crowd from a wooden pulpit set up at the 
 foot of tall trees. 
 
 4. S. Mary Magdalene . — The saint is represented seated at the foot of 
 a steep rock, on the summit of which are a few trees and bushes. Her 
 hands rest on a book which lies open on her knees. Her only garment 
 is an ample rose-coloured mantle, over which her long hair falls loosely. 
 At her side, on the ground, is her emblem, the vase of precious ointment. 
 Above her is the entrance to a grotto ; a stream gushing from the rocks 
 on the extreme right, flows across the foreground and winds its way 
 towards the sea in the distance. High up in the air six angels are seen 
 bearing the saint’s soul to heaven. At the edge of a wood, on the further 
 side of the stream, is a monk looking up in wonder. The landscape is 
 enlivened by the introduction of several animals. Out at sea is seen 
 a ship. 
 
 5. S. Christopher , represented as a man of gigantic stature, standing 
 in a river holding a pole in his right hand, and with his left arm trying 
 to lift the Infant Christ, who stands on the rocky bank with his arm 
 round the saint’s neck. Christopher has a blue tunic and a rose-coloured 
 mantle picked out with gold ; the Child, a light blue tunic. The rocks 
 and shrubs in the background on the left are painted with great skill and 
 
S. Mary Magdalene. Grimani Breviary. 
 
6 4 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 fidelity to nature, as is also the river on which are several ships ; beyond 
 it are buildings. The border of brush gold is divided by entwined stems 
 into oval compartments, tinted alternately green, pink, and blue, in each 
 of which is suspended a jewel. 
 
 6. S. Michael, a half-length figure with outstretched wings, seen full 
 face ; he is clad in girdled alb, amice, scarlet stole embroidered with 
 letters of gold, and a cope of crimson and gold velvet brocade, lined with 
 green silk and bordered with orfreys embroidered with figures of saints 
 in canopied niches between two rows of pearls ; the morse of gold 
 adorned with pearls bears a sculptured representation of the Eternal 
 Father seated on a throne. The archangel holds an uplifted sword, and 
 in his left hand bears a crystal staff - surmounted by a jewelled cross of 
 gold, from which floats a banner with a figure of S. Michael about 
 to smite Satan, on whose prostrate form he is standing. In the back- 
 ground are legions of angels. The border is adorned with strawberry 
 blossoms and fruit and butterflies, on a yellow ground heightened with 
 gold. 
 
 7. S. Francis of Assisi, clothed in an olive green habit, girt with a 
 knotted cord, is kneeling in the foreground in devout ecstasy before the 
 mystic seraph and receiving the stigmata, the rays passing to the saint’s 
 hands and feet and side being like golden threads of light ; a little further 
 off is Brother Leo, who has fallen asleep while sitting at the foot of a 
 rock, from which a small stream bursts out in the immediate front. In 
 the background are a couple of trees and a landscape view partly shut out 
 by rocks. The border is adorned with cut flowers, damask roses and 
 sweet peas, with butterflies on a light red ground. 
 
 I would also draw the reader’s special attention to the three 
 following : — 
 
 8. The Visitation . — The scene is represented as taking place in an 
 enclosed garden. Mary, in blue dress and mantle, with a white linen 
 veil, has just entered by a gateway on the right. S. Elisabeth, who has 
 come out to meet her, is greeting her, while the aged Zachary, cap and 
 staff - in hand, stands a little way off - to the left. Elisabeth wears a robe 
 of crimson heightened with gold, bordered with white fur, over a tight- 
 fitting dress of cloth of gold. A linen headdress with a peach-coloured 
 veil and a golden girdle complete her costume. Zachary wears a blue 
 
S. Christopher. Grimani Breviary. 
 
S. Michael. Grimani Breviary. 
 
68 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 tunic girt with a leathern belt. In the background is a mansion, and 
 beyond it a hill with a castle, the same view as in the central piece 
 of Mr. Willett’s triptych. 
 
 9. S. Jerome , represented seated at the foot of a clump of trees read- 
 ing a book, which lies open on his knees. He is dressed as a cardinal 
 in a crimson cappa lined with sheepskin, and a violet skull-cap ; a lion 
 reposes at his side, and a cardinal’s hat and a skull lie on the ground 
 before him. In the background are trees, a cottage, and a church at the 
 foot of a steep rock. The border is adorned with white roses, butterflies, 
 a caterpillar, and a snail on a pink ground. 
 
 10. Our Lady and Child. — This is one of the most exquisite figures 
 in the whole book. The Virgin, seen to the knees, is seated facing the 
 spectator, supporting with both her hands her divine Son, who, with his 
 arms around her neck, is apparently about to give her a loving kiss. 
 Mary wears, over a tight-fitting dress of cloth of gold, a blue robe lined 
 with grey plush, and a red mantle bordered with gold embroidery. Her 
 hair, which falls in luxuriant masses over her shoulders, is confined by a 
 red riband embroidered with gold and bordered with pearls, fastened over 
 the forehead by a jewel set with precious stones. The Child is clothed 
 in a simple white tunic. The meadow in which the Virgin is seated is 
 thickly grown with herbage and white flowers. In the half-distance on 
 each side are trees ; at the foot of these on the left shepherds are keep- 
 ing watch over their sheep. Beyond the meadow is a winding road on 
 which is an ass followed by a peasant ; a wooded landscape occupies the 
 background. 
 
 In all these miniatures the Divine Persons, the Blessed Virgin, and 
 the angels have rays of gold around their heads, while the saints have 
 semi-transparent nimbs of brush gold. 
 
 The National Bavarian Museum at Munich possesses two Books of 
 Hours , adorned by miniaturists of the same school ; one, contemporary 
 with if not a little earlier than the Grimani Breviary , belonged to Joan 
 of Castile, the queen of Philip the Handsome, who married her in 1496 ; 
 the other is rather later. 
 
 Among the many fine manuscripts in the Imperial Library at Vienna 
 are two prayer-books, a Hortulus animae (2706) and a Book of Hours 
 (1588), bound by Louis Bloc of Bruges, both of which contain minia- 
 
S. Francis of Assisi. Grimani Breviary. 
 
70 
 
 GERARD DAVID 
 
 tures exactly like those in the Grimani Breviary. Another very fine 
 Book of Hours, dating from about 1515, which passed into the posses- 
 sion of Albert of Brandenburg and is now in private possession, contains 
 123 miniatures by the same artists, many of them exact repetitions of 
 those in the Breviary, while the portrait of St. Bernardin of Siena is 
 identical with that in the wing of the Salviati altar-piece. 1 
 
 A very fine Breviary written for Isabella, daughter of the Infante 
 Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, and wife of John II., King of Portugal, who 
 was a member of the third order of S. Francis. This book, which passed 
 at the end of the sixteenth century into the possession of the Archbishop 
 of Braga, contains over sixty large miniatures and a number of borders 
 by the same hands. It is now in private possession. 
 
 I should also mention here an exquisite little miniature representing 
 the Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles, 
 formerly in the collection of M. Guillon of Roermond, and now in that 
 of Mr. Alfred de Pass at Finchley. 
 
 A beautiful little Book of Hours , executed c. 1530 for the Abbey of 
 Messines in West Flanders, now in the British Museum, bound by Louis 
 Bloc of Bruges, and a prayer-book written by Anthony van Damme, 
 calligrapher of Bruges, in 1531, in private possession, contain miniatures 
 evidently copied from the same patterns but by other hands. 
 
 1 The Library at Cassel contains copies of many of these miniatures of somewhat 
 later date and inferior execution, bearing a cipher HB, assumed by some writers to be 
 that of Gerard Horenbault of Ghent ! ! 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aachen, 46 
 Adamnovitz, M., 34 
 Ailly, Peter d’ (Bishop of Cambray), 58 
 Albert of Brandenburg, 70 
 ,, ,, Oudewater, painter, 8 
 
 Alckmaer, 7 
 Antwerp, 6, 39, 42 
 ,, Museum, 39 
 Artaria, M., 34 
 
 “Assumption of the Virgin, The,” 32—34, 39 
 Aumale, Due d’, 56 
 
 Balfour, Col. Henry, 27 (note) 
 
 “ Baptism of Christ, The,” 20, 23. 24, 27, 36, 39, 
 47 
 
 Barrett, Thomas, 17 
 
 Bartholomew of Milan, 13 
 
 Bellegambe, John, painter, 5 
 
 Benninc, Simon, painter and illuminator, 6, 55 
 
 Berlin Museum, 8, 46 
 
 Bernal collection, 13 (note) 
 
 Berthels (picture dealer), 27 
 Beumonville collection, 17 
 Bles, Henry, painter, 5 
 Bloc, Louis, bookbinder, 68, 70 
 Blondeel, Lancelot, painter, 6 
 Bodleian Library, 60 
 Bologna, 55 
 
 “ Book of Hours of John, Duke of Bern’,” 36, 57 
 
 Bouchoute, Nicholas de, 16 
 
 Bouts, Dirk, painter, 5, 8, 40 
 
 Braga, Archbishop of, 70 
 
 British Museum, 55, 70 
 
 Bru, Isembart de, 45 
 
 Bruges, 6 — 8, 10, 14, 20, 27, 39, 40, 42 
 
 Bruges, 43, 47, 51, 52, 55, 68, 70 
 
 Bruges, (Academy), 46 
 
 ,, (Church of S. Basil), 42, 43 
 ,, (Church of S. Donatian), 15, 43 
 ,, (Abbey of the Eeckhout), 56 
 ,, (Law Courts), 13 (note) 
 
 Brussels, 27, 44 
 
 ,, (Museum), 27 
 Burgundy, 52 
 Burgundy, Duke of, 6, 60 
 Bynnynck, Simon, see Benninc 
 
 “ Canon and his patron Saints, A,” 18 — 20 
 Cassel (Library), 70 note 
 Cavalcaselle, 5 
 Claeissens, Antony, 13 
 Cnoop, Cornelia, 14, 31, 47, 35 
 
 Cnoop, James, 14 
 ,, Katherine, 14 
 Conway, W. M., 5 
 
 Cristus, Peter, painter and illuminator, 5, 6 
 Crowe, 7 
 
 David, Barbara, 14 
 
 David, Gerard, earliest mention of, 6 ; his birth 
 and parentage, 7 ; admitted as master in Gilds 
 of S. Luke and S. Eligius, 7 ; his probable 
 training at Harlem, 8 ; his first authenticated 
 works, 8, 9 ; his marriage with Cornelia Cnoop, 
 14 ; his pious benefactions, 14, 27 ; visits Ant- 
 werp, and is enrolled in the Gild of S. Luke, 
 39 ; his pupils, 44 ; his skill as a miniaturist, 47, 
 58, 60 ; his death and burial, 14 
 David, John, 7 
 Damme, Antony van, 70 
 Darmstadt Gallery, 46 
 De Chantraines, James, 27 (note) 
 
 De Corte, John, 20 
 
 De la Bye, Anne, 43 
 
 De la Pasture, see Van der Weyden 
 
 De la Riviere, Didier, painter and illuminator, 52 
 
 Denterghem, Mme. de, 32 
 
 “ Deposition, The ” (altarpiece), 40 — 42 
 
 De Raet, Adrian, painter and illuminator, 52 
 
 Des Trompes, John, 20, 23, 24, 27 
 
 De Visch, van der Capelle, Richard, 14, 1 7 
 
 Dixmude, 35 
 
 Du Celier, John, 45 
 
 Diirer, Albert, 33 
 
 Eastlake, Sir Charles, 18 
 “ Execution of Sisamnes, The,” 20 
 Eyck, John van, painter, 3, 6, 40 
 
 Fabiaen, Adrian, painter and miniaturist, 52 
 ,, Donatian, painter, 32 (note) 
 
 ,, John, painter, 52 
 Fernando (Infante of Spain), 55 
 Flanders, 5, 6, 8, 40 
 Florence (Uffizi), 27 (note) 
 
 France, 8 
 
 Francfort (Stiidel Institute), 45 
 Francis of Holland, 35 
 
 Gatteaux, M., 45 
 Gazette des Beaux Arts , 56 
 Genoa (Municipal Palace), 33, 36 
 Gerard, Mark, painter, 44 
 „ of Bruges, see David 
 
INDEX 
 
 72 
 
 Gerard, of S. John’s, 7, 8, 40 
 Ghent, 6 
 
 Giustiniani, The Marchese, 17 
 Goes, Hugo van der, painter, 17 
 Gossaert, John, painter, 13, 17 
 Grancey-le-Chateau (Cote d’Or), 32 
 Grandeel, Mary, 44 
 Grandeel Peter, 44 
 
 “Grimani Breviary, The,” 55 — 68, 70 
 Gros, John de, 8 
 Gruuthuuse, Louis de, 48 
 Guicciardini, 6, 7, 55 
 Guilleville, William de, 58 
 Guillon, M., 70 
 
 Haerne, Clementina de, 44 
 ,, John de, 44 
 Harlem, 7, 8 
 Hautschilt, Lubert, 58 
 
 Horebout, Gerard, painter and iiluminator, 7, 13 
 70 (note) 
 
 Houtten, Van, collection, 46 
 Hurembout, Luke, 6 
 
 Isabella of Portugal, 70 
 Isenbrant, Adrian, painter, 7, 44 
 Italy, 52 
 
 Joan of Castile, 10, 68 
 John XXIII., 58 
 
 “Judgement of Cambyses, The,” 9, 10, 13, 20 
 Kugler, 5 
 
 Lanchals, Peter, 8, 9 
 Lee Priory collection, 17 
 Leopold, William, Archduke, 44 
 Limbourg, Pol de, illuminator, 57 
 Loose (picture dealer), 45 
 Louvre, The, 42, 45 
 
 Mabuse, see Gossaert 
 
 Madonna with S. Jerome and a Benedictine,” 34 
 ,, with S. Katherine and other Saints,” 
 15-17 
 
 ,, with SS. Katherine, Dorothea, &c.,” 
 27. 28, 31, 32 
 Mander, Karel van, 6, 7, 8 
 Maniere, Fabian de, 55 
 Marinus of Siressa, 6 
 
 Marmion, Simon, painter and illuminator, 5 
 “ Marriage Feast at Cana, The,” (altar-piece), 42, 
 43. 44 
 
 Maximilian, 8 
 
 Memlinc, Hans, painter, 5, 8, 40, 45, 47 (note) 
 Messines, Abbey of, 70 
 Metsys, Quentin, painter, 42 
 
 Middelburg, 25 
 Miliotti, M., 27 
 Munich, 45, 46, 58 
 
 ,, (National Museum), 68 
 ,, (Pinacothek), 64 
 
 National Gallery, 17, 18, 60 
 Nieuport, 13 (note) 
 
 Oostcamp, 48 
 Oudewater, 7, 8 
 
 Paris, 13 (note), 17, 27 
 
 Pass, Mr. Alfred de, 70 
 
 Patenir, Joachim, painter, 5, 39, 40 
 
 Philip the Handsome, 10, 68 
 
 Pourbus, Peter, painter, 7 
 
 “ Preaching of John the Baptist, The,” 47 
 
 Prevost, John, painter, 5 
 
 Raczinsky, 55 
 Robinson, Sir J. C., 18 
 Rome (Academy of S. Luke), 45, 58 
 Rossem, Christina van, 17 
 Rouen, 14, 27, 32, 34 
 
 “Saint Michael overcoming Satan ” (altarpiece), 
 34—36 
 
 Salviati, Bernardin, 17, 18, 45 
 Sanderus, 7 
 
 Schongauer, M., painter, 60 
 Smet, Jodoc de, 20 
 Solly Collection, 46 
 Spain, 52 
 Spronc, James, 20 
 Stephens, Mrs. Lyne, 17 
 
 Tangnes, M. Louis, 47 (note) 
 
 Valley, Count Arco, 45 
 
 Van der Straeten, John, 42 
 
 Van der Weyden, Roger, painter, 5, 27 (note), 40 
 
 Vasari, 6, 7, 55 
 
 Venice, 55 
 
 Vienna Gallery, 8, 34, 39 
 ,, Library, 68 
 
 Vrelant, William, miniaturist, 52 
 , , see Raet 
 
 Waagen, 5, 7 
 
 Wallinc, Michael, painter, 52 
 
 ,, William, painter and illuminator, 52 
 Walpole, Horace, 17 
 Weyer Collection, 45 
 White, W. Benoni, 18 
 Willett, Mr. Henry, 46, 68 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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