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                 [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF VAN DYCK
                 _Prado Gallery, Madrid_]


                         Masterpieces of Art


                               VAN DYCK

                   A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES

                    AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER

                        WITH INTRODUCTION AND

                            INTERPRETATION



                                  BY

                           ESTELLE M. HURLL





                         BOSTON AND NEW YORK

                      HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

                    The Riverside Press Cambridge

                                 1902



             COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.

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PREFACE


The fame of Van Dyck's portraits has so far over-shadowed that of his
other works that his sacred pictures are for the most part unfamiliar
to the general public. The illustrations for this little book are
equally divided between portraits and subject-pieces, and it is hoped
that the selection may give the reader some adequate notion of the
scope of the painter's art.

ESTELLE M. HURLL.

NEW BEDFORD, MASS.,

March, 1902.

       *       *       *       *       *




CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES


Portrait of Van Dyck (DETAIL)          (_Frontispiece_)

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

INTRODUCTION

    I.  ON VAN DYCK'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST

   II.  ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE

  III.  HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION

   IV.  OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN VAN DYCK'S LIFE

    V.  LIST OF CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS

   VI.  NOTABLE ENGLISH PERSONS OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES I.

I. PORTRAIT OF ANNA WAKE

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

II. THE REST IN EGYPT

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

III. THE SO-CALLED PORTRAIT OF RICHARDOT AND HIS SON

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

IV. THE VISION OF ST. ANTHONY

Picture from Photograph by Fratelli Alinari

V. MADAME ANDREAS COLYNS DE NOLE AND HER DAUGHTER

Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl

VI. DAEDALUS AND ICARUS

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

VII. PORTRAIT OF CHARLES I.

By Sir Peter Lely after Van Dyck. Picture from Carbon Print by Braun,
Clement & Co.

VIII. THE MADONNA OF ST. ROSALIA

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

IX. CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES (DETAIL)

Picture from Photograph by D. Anderson

X. ST. MARTIN DIVIDING HIS CLOAK WITH A BEGGAR

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

XI. THE CRUCIFIXION

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

XII. JAMES STUART, DUKE OF LENNOX AND RICHMOND

Picture from Photograph of the original Painting

XIII. CHRIST AND THE PARALYTIC

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

XIV. PHILIP, LORD WHARTON

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

XV. THE LAMENTATION OVER CHRIST

Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clement & Co.

XVI. PORTRAIT OF VAN DYCK

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS

       *       *       *       *       *




INTRODUCTION


I. ON VAN DYCK'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST.

The student of Van Dyck's art naturally classifies the painter's works
into four groups, corresponding chronologically to the four successive
periods of his life. There was first the short period of his youth in
Antwerp, when Rubens was the dominating influence upon his work. The
portrait of Van der Geest, in the National Gallery, belongs to this
time.

Then followed the four years' residence in Italy, when he fell under
the spell of Titian. This was the period of the series of splendid
portraits of noble Italian families which are to this day the pride of
Genoa. Here too belong those lovely Madonna pictures which brought
back for a time the golden age of Venetian art.

Upon his return to Antwerp, the six succeeding years gave him the
opportunity to work out his own individuality. Some noble altar-pieces
were produced in these years. Pleasant reminiscences of Titian still
appear in such work, as in the often-used motif of baby angels; but in
the subjects of the Crucifixion and the Pieta, he stands quite apart.
These works are distinctly his own, and show genuine dramatic power.

During this Flemish period Van Dyck was appointed court painter by the
Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, Spanish Regent of the Netherlands.
In this capacity he painted a notable series of portraits, including
some of his most interesting works, which represent many of the most
distinguished personages of the time.

The last nine years of Van Dyck's life were passed in England, where
the family of Charles I. and the brilliant group of persons forming
his court were the subjects of his final series of portraits. There
were no altar-pieces in this period. At the beginning of his English
work Van Dyck produced certain portraits unsurpassed during his whole
life. The well-known Charles I., with an equerry, in the Louvre, is
perhaps the best of these. His works after this were uneven in
quality. His vitality was drained by social dissipations, and he lost
the ambition to grow. Some features of the portraits became
stereotyped, especially the hands. Yet from time to time he rose to a
high level.

A painter so easily moulded by his environment cannot justly take rank
among the world's foremost masters. A great creative mind Van Dyck
certainly had not, but, gifted assimilator that he was, he developed
many delightful qualities of his art. The combined results of his
borrowing and his own innate gifts make him a notable and indeed a
beloved figure in art history.

The leading note of his style is distinction. His men are all
noblemen, his women all great ladies, and his children all princes and
princesses. The same qualities of dignity and impressiveness are
carried into his best altar-pieces. Sentiment they have also in no
insignificant degree.

It is perhaps naming only another phase of distinction to say that his
figures are usually characterized by repose. The sense of motion which
so many of Reynolds's portraits convey is almost never expressed in
Van Dyck's work, nor would it be consistent with his other qualities.

The magic gift of charm none have understood better when the subject
offered the proper inspiration. We see this well illustrated in many
portraits of young noblemen, such as the Duke of Lennox and Richmond
and Lord Wharton.

Van Dyck's clever technique has preserved for us the many rich fabrics
of his period, and his pictures would be a delight were these details
their sole attraction. Heavy velvet, with the light playing
deliciously in the creases, lustrous satins, broken by folds into many
tints, delicate laces, elaborate embroideries, gleaming jewels--these
are the never-failing accessories of his compositions. Yet while he
loved rich draperies, he was also a careful student of the nude.
Examples of his work range from the supple and youthful torso of
Icarus to the huge muscular body of the beggar receiving St. Martin's
cloak. The modelling of the Saviour's body in the Crucifixion and the
Pieta shows both scientific knowledge and artistic handling.

Generally speaking, Van Dyck was little of a psychologist. His patrons
belonged to that social class in which reserve is a test of breeding
and thoughts and emotions are sedulously concealed. To penetrate the
mask of the face and interpret the character of his sitter was an
office he seldom took upon himself to perform. Yet he was capable of
profound character study, especially in the portrayal of men. Even in
so early a work as the so-called portrait of Richardot and his son, he
revealed decided talent in this direction, while the portrait of
Cardinal Bentivoglio, of the Italian period, and the portrait of
Wentworth, in the English period, are masterly studies of the men they
represent.

A common feature of his portraits is the averted glance of the
sitter's eyes. This fact is in itself a barrier to our intimate
knowledge of the subject, and also in a measure injures the sense of
vitality expressed in the work. It must be confessed that Van Dyck,
disciple though he was of Rubens and Titian, fell below these masters
in the art of imparting life to a figure.

In certain mechanical elements of his art Van Dyck was conspicuously
deficient. He seemed to have no ingenuity in devising poses for his
subjects. Sitting or standing, the attitude is usually more or less
artificial and constrained. The atmosphere of the studio is painfully
evident. Never by any accident did he seem to catch the sitter off
guard, so to speak, except in a few children's portraits. Here he
expressed a vivacity and charm which seemed impossible to him with
adult subjects.

In composition he is at his best in altar-pieces. In portrait groups,
as in the pictures of the children of Charles I., he apparently made
no effort to bring the separate figures into an harmonious unity. A
single figure, or half length, he placed on his canvas with unerring
sense of right proportion. Perhaps the best summary of Van Dyck's art
has been made by the English critic, Claude Phillips, in these words:
His was "not indeed one of the greatest creative individualities that
have dominated the world of art, but a talent as exquisite in
distinction, as true to itself in every successive phase, a technical
accomplishment as surprising of its kind in solidity, brilliancy, and
charm, as any that could be pointed to even in the seventeenth
century."


II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

It has been reserved for our own day to produce two superb works by
English writers on Van Dyck. The first to appear was that by Ernest
Law, "a storehouse of information," on the paintings by Van Dyck in
the Royal Collections. The second is the definitive biography by
Lionel Cust: "Anthony Van Dyck; An Historical Study of his Life and
Works." The author is the director of the English National Portrait
Gallery, and has had exceptional opportunities for the examination of
Van Dyck's paintings. His work has been done with great thoroughness
and care. The volume is richly illustrated with photogravures, and
contains complete lists of the painter's works arranged by periods.

For brief sketches of Van Dyck's life the student is referred to
general histories, of which Kugler's "Hand-book of the German,
Flemish, and Dutch School" (revised by Crowe), is of first importance.
Luebke's "History of Painting," and Woltman and Woerman's "History of
Painting," contain material on Van Dyck. A volume devoted to Van Dyck
is in the series of German monographs edited by H. Knackfuss, and may
be had in an English translation.

A critical appreciation of Van Dyck is given by Fromentin in his
valuable little book on "The Old Masters of Holland and Belgium."
Critical articles by Claude Phillips have appeared in "The Nineteenth
Century," November, 1899, and "The Art Journal" for March, 1900.


III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION.

Frontispiece. _Portrait of Van Dyck._ Detail of a portrait of Van Dyck
and John Digby, Earl of Bristol. Painted about 1640. Formerly in the
Isabel Farnese Collection in the palace of San Ildefonso; now in the
Prado Gallery, Madrid. _Cust_, p. 285.

1. _Portrait of Anna Wake_, inscribed: "AEtat suae 22, An 1628." Signed:
"Anton Van Dyck fecit." In the Royal Gallery at the Hague. Size: 3 ft.
8-1/2 in. by 3 ft. 2-1/2 in. _Cust_, pp. 58 and 261.

2. _The Rest in Egypt._ Painted in the Italian period for Frederick
Henry, Prince of Orange. One of several pictures of the same subject,
and generally considered the original, though the authenticity is
doubted by Signor Venturi. In the Pitti, Florence.

3. _The so-called Portrait of Richardot and his Son._ The identity of
the subject not established. Sometimes attributed to Rubens, but
accepted as Van Dyck's work by Cust. In the Louvre, Paris. Size: 3 ft.
7 in. by 2 ft. 5-1/2 in. _Cust_, pp. 76 and 134.

4. _The Vision of St. Anthony._ Painted in the Italian period.
Obtained by exchange in 1813 from the Musee National at Paris. In the
Brera Gallery, Milan. Size: 6 ft. 1 in. by 5 ft. 1/4 in. _Cust_, pp.
46 and 239.

5. _Madame Andreas Colyns de Nole and her Daughter._ Painted in
Antwerp in period from 1626 to 1632. Purchased in 1698 by the Elector
Max Emanuel of Bavaria. Munich Gallery. Size: 3 ft. 11-1/2 in. by 2
ft. 11-2/5 in. _Cust_, pp. 79 and 254.

6. _Daedalus and Icarus._ Painted about 1621 (?). Exhibited at Antwerp
in 1899. One of several paintings of the same subject. In the
collection of the Earl of Spencer, Althorp. _Cust_, pp. 61 and 241.

7. _Portrait of Charles I._ Supposed to be a copy by Sir Peter Lely
from the original, which was painted about 1636, and destroyed in the
fire at Whitehall in 1697. Not impossibly, however, the original
painting itself, given by the king to the Prince Palatine. In the
Dresden Gallery. Size: 4 ft. by 3 ft. 2 in. _Cust_, pp. 105 and 264.

8. _The Madonna of St. Rosalia._ Painted in 1629 for the Confraternity
of Celibates in the Hall of the Jesuits, Antwerp. On the suppression
of the order in 1776 it was purchased by the Empress Maria Theresa.
Now in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna. Size: 9 ft. 1 in. by 6 ft. 11 in.
_Cust_, p. 250.

9. _Charles, Prince of Wales._ Detail of a group of the three children
of Charles I., painted in 1635. Probably painted for the queen, and
presented by her to her sister Christina of Savoy. In the Royal
Gallery, Turin. _Cust_, pp. 110 and 266.

10. _St. Martin dividing his Cloak with a Beggar._ Painted in the
Italian period. Presented to the Church of Saventhem by Ferdinand de
Boisschot, Seigneur de Saventhem. Taken by the French to Paris in 1806
and returned in 1815. A copy of this picture is in the Imperial
Gallery, Vienna, but the original is in the church of Saventhem.
_Cust_, pp. 32 and 240.

11. _The Crucifixion._ Painted in 1628 for the church of St. Augustine
at Antwerp. Taken by the French to Paris in 1794 and restored in 1815.
Now in the Antwerp Museum. Size: 3 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 4 in. _Cust_,
pp. 61 and 248.

12. _James Stuart, Duke of Lennox and Richmond._ Painted about 1633.
Formerly belonged to Lord Methuen at Corsham. Now in the Marquand
collection at the Metropolitan Art Museum, New York. Size: 4 ft. 3/4
in. by 6 ft. 11-5/8 in. _Cust_, pp. 117-278.

13. _Christ and the Paralytic. Painted at Genoa._ In Buckingham
Palace. Size: 3 ft. 10-1/2 in. by 4 ft. 9 in. _Cust_, pp. 46 and 237.

14. _Philip, Lord Wharton._ Inscribed in the lower left corner with
the painter's name; in the lower right corner, "Philip, Lord Wharton,
1632, about y^e age of 19." Purchased from the Duke of Wharton's
collection in 1725 by Sir Robert Walpole, and thence it passed in 1779
to the collection of Catherine II. of Russia. In the Hermitage
Gallery, St. Petersburg. Size: 4 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 4 in. _Cust_, pp.
121 and 286.

15. _The Lamentation over Christ._ Painted about 1629 for the church
of the Beguinage at Antwerp. Now in the Antwerp Museum. Size: 9 ft. 11
in. by 7 ft. 4 in. _Cust_, pp. 66 and 248.


IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN VAN DYCK'S LIFE.

_Compiled from Lionel Cust's_ Anthony Van Dyck, _to which the
references to pages apply._

1599. Antoon Van Dyck born March 22, in the house "der Berendaus,"
Antwerp (p. 4).

1601. Removal of Van Dyck family to house number 46 in street De Stat
Gent (p. 4).

1607. Death of Van Dyck's mother (p. 4).

1609. Van Dyck among the apprentices of the painter Hendrick van Balen
(p. 6).

1613. Portrait of an old man (p. 7).

1618. Admitted to the freedom of the Guild of St. Luke, Antwerp,
February (p. 8). Entered Rubens' studio (p. 15).

1620. An order from the Jesuits for thirty-nine pictures designed by
Rubens and completed by Van Dyck (p. 14).

Visit to England and service for King James I. (p. 23), and return to
Antwerp (p. 24).

1621. Departure for Italy, Oct