Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that describes them. In such cases, The List of Illustrations cites their original page numbers, however the hyperlinks will take the reader to the new position.

The author's spelling has been kept.

The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the Transcriber's Note will appear.

THE STANDARD GALLERIES

HOLLAND

JAN VERMEER
View of Delft

THE STANDARD GALLERIES

HOLLAND

BY

ESTHER SINGLETON

Author of "Dutch and Flemish Furniture, " "Great Pictures
Described by Great Writers, " etc., etc.

WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS

CHICAGO
A. C. MCCLURG & CO.
1908

Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1908

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England

All rights reserved

Published October 10, 1908

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.

Preface

When a tourist who, having mapped out his itinerary in accordance with the time at his disposal for a European trip, arrives at a city for seeing which he has allowed two or three days at the utmost, the first question he puts to a fellow traveller, the hotel clerk, or his Baedeker is, "What must I see?"

First, there is the city itself: its streets, bridges, canals, parks, and drives. Then there are famous churches, city halls, and other ancient buildings, including city gates and castles in the immediate neighborhood. Perhaps there is a palace, and most certainly one or more museums of art and antiquities. The tourist gazes his fill on architecture, stone and wood carving, exterior and interior; but above all he feels that he must make the best use of his opportunities of seeing the pictures, the fame of which has spread into all civilized countries. His time is short. He is therefore grateful for a guide that will direct him to the beauties and celebrities of the famous local picture-gallery, and point out to him the qualities of the paintings as well as tell him something of the art of the masters and of the school to which they belong. It is important first for him to know what he should see, and secondly what he should see in it beyond the bare facts he can gather from the catalogue.

On returning home with a few photographs of the canvases that have struck his fancy, he is also pleased to renew his acquaintance with the gallery in the pages of a modest work that does not go too deeply into art questions beyond the grasp of the ordinary layman. Such a guide and companion this book aims to be; it leads the tourist rapidly through the most important picture-galleries of Holland, and points out the pictures that all the world talks about; and gives some account of the Dutch masters, their qualities and characteristics as exemplified in their works, there and elsewhere. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, and confines itself almost exclusively to the consideration of the examples of native schools.

On going through a gallery the visitor, in accordance with his individual tastes, will frequently be halted by a picture whose fame has not reached him, but whose beauty appeals to him quite as much as the celebrities with which he is familiar from numberless reproductions, such as Potter's Bull, Rembrandt's Night Watch, or Snyder's Boar Hunt. The traveller is tempted to linger over the little pictures of the Little Masters, the charming interiors, marines, landscapes, and still life of the galaxy of painters of the seventeenth century. It is for this reason, therefore, that for illustrating the following pages I have selected many of the less familiar examples of the art of that period. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a sound art critic as well as a great painter—an unusual combination of qualities—described with fine appreciation the pleasure derived from the contemplation of the works of the Dutch school. He says:

"The most considerable of the Dutch school are Rembrandt, Teniers, Jan Steen, Ostade, Brouwer, Gerard Dow, Mieris, Metsu, and Terburg,—these excel in small conversations. For landscapes and cattle, Wouvermans, P. Potter, Berchem, and Ruysdael; and for buildings, Venderheyden. For sea-views, W. Vandervelde, jun., and Backhuysen. For dead game, Weenix and Hondekoeter. For flowers, De Heem, Vanhuysum, Rachael Roos, and Brueghel. These make the bulk of the Dutch school.

"I consider those painters as belonging to this school, who painted only small conversations, landscapes, etc. Though some of these were born in Flanders, their works are principally found in Holland—and to separate them from the Flemish school, which generally painted figures large as life, it appears to me more reasonable to class them with the Dutch painters, and to distinguish those two schools rather by their style and manner, than by the place where the artist happened to be born.

"Rembrandt may be considered as belonging to both or either, as he painted both large and small pictures.

"A clearness and brilliancy of coloring may be learned by examining the flower-pieces of De Heem, Huysum, and Mignon; and a short time employed in painting flowers would make no improper part of a painter's study. Rubens's pictures strongly remind one of a nosegay of flowers, where all the colors are bright, clear, and transparent.

"A market woman with a hare in her hand, a man blowing a trumpet, or a boy blowing bubbles, a view of the inside or outside of a church, are the subjects of some of their most valuable pictures; but there is still entertainment, even in such pictures—however uninteresting their subjects, there is some pleasure in the contemplation of the imitation. But to a painter they afford likewise instruction in his profession; here he may learn the art of coloring and composition, a skilful management of light and shade, and indeed all the mechanical parts of the art, as well as in any other school whatever.

"The same skill which is practised by Rubens and Titian in their large works, is here exhibited, though on a smaller scale. Painters should go to the Dutch school to learn the art of painting as they would go to a grammar school to learn languages. They must go to Italy to learn the higher branches of knowledge."

In attempting to be of some service to the art lover who has no leisure for extended and independent study, I have by no means relied entirely upon my own impressions and observation.

In describing the pictures, I have drawn largely on the writings of the best English, French, German, and Dutch art critics and historians,—Crowe, Reynolds, Blanc, Burger, Havard, Fromentin, Michel, Mainz, Wurtz, Bode, Bredius, and many others.

When so many authorities disagree with one another in the spelling of the names of the Dutch artists, I have endeavored to avoid all criticism by adopting the spelling used in the official catalogues of The Hague, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam galleries; and in a few instances these are not agreed.

For valuable aid in compiling this work, my thanks are due to Mr. Arthur Shadwell Martin.

E. S.

New York, August 1, 1908.

Galleries Included

Illustrations

The Hague Gallery

The Rijks Museum

The Stedelijk Museum, the Town Hall, Haarlem and the Boijmans Museum

The Standard Galleries
of Holland

THE HAGUE GALLERY

THE OLD MAURITSHUIS

Not far from the Binnenhof, on the Vijver, where the principal historic buildings of The Hague are grouped, stands the Mauritshuis, now the home of one of the most famous collections of paintings in Europe. Originally it was the palace of Prince John Maurice of Nassau, Governor of Brazil, who, on his return to his fatherland in the year 1644, found it completed and took up his residence there.

This splendor-loving prince had had this building erected to please his own tastes by the court architect of The Hague, Pieter Post, after the plans of Jacob van Campen, the designer of the Dam Palace in Amsterdam and other buildings; and for the decoration of the interior he had sent rare and costly woods from Brazil. Everything was heavily gilded and painted; and, in particular, a very artistic staircase attracted universal admiration. Brazilian landscapes painted by Frans Post, richly carved chimney-pieces, and exotic objects of every kind adorned the halls; but, alas! in 1704 all this magnificence was destroyed by a fire, and only the walls of the palace remain.

The Restored Building made into an Art Gallery.—The exterior of the building was restored just as it was originally; but the interior was finished in a much simpler style that does not in the least suggest the splendor of the past.

It was not until the year 1820 that the Mauritshuis was devoted by royal decree to its present use,—the sheltering of the royal picture collection, which was at that time combined with the Cabinet of Rarities, now in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam.

History of the Collection.—The collection has an interesting history as a whole; and the majority of the pictures have their own special history. The nucleus of the gallery formed the collection of the last Stadtholder of the Netherlands, William V. of Orange.

The Princes of Orange were art-collectors as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Although we do not know much regarding the art tastes of Prince Maurice of Orange, who died in 1625, yet we learn from a document that he employed Esais van de Velde as a court painter. On the other hand, we do know that his brother, Prince Frederick Hendrik, was a collector of fine taste and a Mæcenas. He employed a great number of important artists, among whom were Rembrandt, Honthorst, Dirck Bleker, Cornelis Vroom, Christiaen Couwenberch, Cornelisz Jacobsz Delff, Thomas Willeborts, Moses van Uyttenbrouck, Jacob Backer, Gonzales Coques, Frans Pietersz de Grebber, Dirck Dalens, Gerrit van Santen, Adriaen Hanneman, Nicholaes de Helt Stocade, and Dirck van der Lisse. Besides works by these artists, he acquired in Antwerp pictures by Rubens, Paulus de Vos, Adriaen van Utrecht, and others. To the Jesuit Father Soghers he even gave a golden palette made in The Hague by the goldsmith Hans Coenraet Brechtel. No wonder that his widow, Princess Amalia of Solms, following the ideas of her dead husband, employed Jordaens, Van Thulden, De Grebber, Casar van Everdingen, Honthorst, Lievens, Solomon de Bray, Pieter Soutman, and Cornelis Brisé to decorate the House in the Wood.

At her death in 1675, she left a collection of two hundred and fifty pieces, which were divided among her four daughters. Some of these pictures are now in Dessau and Moscow, and others in Prussian castles.

William III., who gained the English throne, had a fine picture-gallery, of which the portrait-painter, Robert Duval was the director. The greater part of this collection was sold in Amsterdam in 1713; but a few of these pictures are still in The Hague Gallery. The latter, however, owes its importance and distinction to the collection of William V.

The Collection of William V. of Orange.—This prince purchased his treasures at the best auctions of the day, such as the Lomier, De la Court, Braamcamp, and Slingerlandt collections. A German painter, Tethardt Philip Christian Haag, was made the director of this gallery, which was established in the Buitenhof. When the French entered The Hague in 1795 these pictures were carried to Paris by the troops and placed in the Louvre. When Napoleon's lucky star set, the French had the grace to return the pictures that they had carried away as spoils from various countries; and on November 20, 1815, the one hundred and ten pictures belonging to the prince's collection were returned to The Hague amid the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and rejoicing of the people. Although a certain number remained in France, the chief gems were restored undamaged.

Growth of The Hague Gallery.—In 1817 the gallery contained only one hundred and twenty-three pictures. Gradually others were purchased; for example, in 1829, King William I. bought Rembrandt's Anatomy for 3200 gulden. Very few purchases were made from 1831 to 1874; but during the reign of the art-loving William III. the gallery was greatly augmented by both purchase and gift. The growth of the collection is principally the result of the great generosity of the Baron Victor de Stuers, who in 1874 issued an admirable catalogue (revised ed., 1895).

The Cabinet Pieces.—The nucleus of this collection, originally a "princely cabinet," consists of the cabinet pieces. Therefore we find here pictures (that were highly valued in their day) by Poelenburgh, Dou, Van Mieris, De Vois, Schalcken, Netscher, Van der Werff, P. van Dyck, Ostade, Jan Steen, Ter Borch, and Metsu. There were also four Rembrandts, two De Keijsers, three Potters, the beautiful Moro, and examples by Adriaen and Willem van de Velde. The modern additions, generally speaking, do not equal in interest the original collection. The most important are two portraits by Hals; a triptych, by Jacob Cornelisz van Ootsanen, a bequest; an Aert de Gelder, a gift, unfortunately much restored and spoilt by Houbraken; a signed still life, by Jan van Huysum; a portrait by Bol; a broad and spirited Begeyn; a Dusart; a strong, dark, and somewhat sunken view of The Hague by Jacob van Ruisdael; a beautiful Van Goyen; a head by Vermeer of Delft; a landscape by G. du Bois; a wonderful flower-piece by Abraham van Beyeren; several still-life pictures; and some portraits, among the latter Moreelse's portrait of himself.

Sir Joshua Reynolds's Visit to the Gallery.—Sir Joshua Reynolds left an account of his visit to the Prince of Orange's Gallery in 1781; and among the pictures that he especially admired are those that critics unite in extolling to-day. He calls attention to the Wouwermans, two Van de Veldes, the portraits of Rubens's two wives, Rembrandt's Portrait of a Young Man, a Conversation by Ter Borch (The Despatch it is now called), Van Dijck's Portrait of Simons the Painter, Teniers's Kitchen, two Ostades, a landscape by Rubens, Paul Potter's Vache qui se mire, the Inside of a Delft Church, by Hoogest (Houckgeest), Fruit, by De Heem, "done with the utmost perfection"; a Woman with a Candle, by Gerard Dow; a Woman writing, looking up and speaking to Another Woman, by Metsu; a picture of Dutch Gallantry by Mieris,—"a man pinching the ear of a dog which lies on his mistress's lap"; a Boy blowing Bubbles, also by Mieris, and The Flight into Egypt, by Van der Werff,—"one of his best."

The Vijver Lake.—But while we have been talking of the past history of the Mauritshuis and its treasures, we have failed to notice the Vijver, a pretty lake bordered with trees and dotted with islands, the haunt of swans and other waterfowl—descendants, perhaps, of Hondecoeter's and Weenix's models—that float upon its glassy surface, and cut through those quiet reflections of the long line of picturesque buildings, including the Mauritshuis. The long quay on the other side is the favorite and fashionable promenade of The Hague. We must note the Vijver, because it has been an attractive subject for Dutch painters of all periods; and the traveller will frequently see representations of it. One of the most recent is Klinkenberg's View of the Vijver at The Hague, which was presented to Boijman's Museum in 1876, by the Rotterdam Society for Promoting Art. The Mauritshuis is represented on the right. And now, having looked at this building from across the Vijver, we will pass to the entrance.

Paucity of Foreign Pictures in Dutch Galleries.—The Dutch galleries differ from many other great European galleries, such as the National Gallery, the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the big German galleries, by being devoted almost exclusively to works of the Dutch and Flemish masters. Pictures of foreign schools are insignificant in number and of very slight importance. The foreign pictures in the Mauritshuis can be dismissed in a few words.

Italian Pictures in the Mauritshuis.—The Italian pictures include:

Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Holy Family, by P. Berettini; Christ Blessing, by P. Bordone; Adoration of Magi, by C. Caliari; Virgin and Child, and Birth of Virgin, by L. Cambiaso; Temptation of Adam and Eve, by C. Cignani; Virgin, Child, and Saints, by M. Fogolino; Massacre of Innocents, by L. Mazzolini; Holy Family, by F. Santafede; Madonna, by G. B. Sassoferrato; Annunciation, by F. Solimena; Holy Family, and two Portraits, by Titian; Venus, Mistress of the World, by A. Turchi; an Italian Landscape, by F. Zuccherelli; Cupid (poor copy), by Guido Reni; Venus and Cupid (copy), by Raphael; two Male Portraits, by Piero de Cosimo; Female Portrait, by G. Palma; Female Portrait, by A. Allori; Landscape, by F. Lauri; two Landscapes with Pilgrims, Monks in a Grotto and Capuchins in a Grotto, by A. Magnasco; two Ruins, by L. Carlevaris; and Prometheus and Sisyphus, by L. Giordano.

Of unknown Italian artists of the sixteenth century, the subjects are:

God the Father and Holy Spirit, Landscape with Mary Magdalen, Landscape with St. Paul and the Hermit, Death of Abel, Venus, Dalilah, St. John the Evangelist, Ecce Homo, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and The Musicians.

Other Foreign Pictures in the Mauritshuis.—France is represented only by a portrait by J. A. Aved, A Group of Merchants by S. Bourdon, and two ideal landscapes by C. Vernet. The Spanish school is represented by a portrait by Velasquez, a Virgin and Child by Murillo, a Magdalen by M. Cereso, and a landscape and a portrait by unknown artists. The German artists are scarcely more numerous. There are two portraits by Holbein and three others of his school, three portraits by B. Beham, an Italian landscape by J. H. Roos, three portraits by J. F. A. Tischbein, and four Biblical and one mythological pictures by H. Rottenhamer. The subjects of these are: The Meeting of David and Abigail, St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch, The Rest in Egypt, Christ Delivering Souls from Purgatory, and The Fall of Phaeton. The meagre list of foreign works also includes two portraits by the Danish artist, J. G. Ziesenis.

Strength and Weakness of the Gallery.—The strength of The Hague Gallery lies mainly in its portraits, either single or in groups. Of these there are considerably more than a hundred; of genre pictures there are about seventy, and of landscape more than sixty. There are nearly fifty Biblical and religious subjects, and more than thirty taken from pagan mythology. The Gallery is weak in historical pictures, of which there are only seventeen. Only seven canvases represent the great marine painters; and the pictures of birds, flowers and fruits, and still life are comparatively few.

The student naturally turns first to the great pictures that have a world-wide reputation. The two most famous are undoubtedly Paul Potter's Bull and Rembrandt's Lesson in Anatomy.

Paul Potter's Bull.—The picture represents an enormous black and white bull standing on a hillock beneath two trees. Beneath the trees lie a cow, a sheep, and a lamb, and behind the trunks stand a ram and a shepherd. An immense meadow, on which cattle are grazing, stretches away to the dim horizon, where the buildings of a town are barely visible. In the broad expanse of sky a bird soars with outspread wings. The bull is proud and defiant, with silky hide and loose dewlap, and stands with firmly planted feet. His eye is savage. This picture has been the subject of much criticism: the figures of the man, the sheep, and the lamb have been condemned by most critics, while the ram's horns have been called "a splendid piece of sculpture," and the head of the cow "the gem of the whole work." The face of the cow is marvellous. The eyes, and the wet and dripping nose and mouth, rivet the spectator's gaze. He fancies he smells the grass-laden breath of the animal, and sees her jaw begin to move as she chews the cud. "No painter ever concentrated so much life and truthful expression in the face of a ruminant," remarks a critic. Strange, then, that the fawn-colored body and crumpled leg are hard and wooden.

The Bull was painted in 1647, when Paul Potter was but twenty-two years of age, and was living in Amsterdam and Haarlem. The picture was purchased in 1749 for 630 florins, and in 1795 was carried by the French to Paris and placed in the Louvre, where it was ranked as the fourth most valuable painting,—the others being Raphael's Transfiguration, Domenichino's Communion of St. Jerome, and Titian's Martyrdom of St. Peter. The Dutch government offered 60,000 florins to Napoleon for its restoration.

The Mirrored Cow.—A more beautiful picture, and greatly preferred by most critics to the Bull, is the Mirrored Cow, known generally by the French title, La Vache qui se mire. This was painted in 1648, and represents a beautiful landscape on a hot summer day. The meadows are flooded with sunshine; a limpid pool on the border of a forest is shown in the foreground, where cows, goats, and sheep are lying or standing under the shade of the trees. Two cows and a sheep stand in the water and are reflected there; one cow is drinking, and the other has her back to the spectator and is idly standing in the mud. Boys and men are swimming or playing on the banks, and two have evidently finished their bath. On the right is a farmhouse with some cows. One of these an old woman is milking, and a man stands by with his arm over the cow's back. In the middle distance a coach and six horses with lackeys is seen, and in the background the spires and towers of Rijswick are basking in the sunlight. The castle of Binkhorst is visible, and Delft lies on the horizon.

PAUL POTTER
La Vache qui se mire

Criticism of these two Pictures.—Burger very wittily said that La Vache qui se mire was a chef d'œuvre, and not a hors d'œuvre, like the Bull. And Sir Joshua Reynolds noted: "Cattle finely painted by Potter, remarkable for the strong reflection of one of them in the water: dated 1648." "How bright, how sunny is this landscape!" exclaims Dr. Bredius. "How splendidly are all these animals drawn and modelled! The whole composition is beautiful and full of charm." It is painted in the small size which Potter usually preferred, and is one of his greatest creations.

Other Pictures by Potter, his Father, and Van der Helst.—The third picture by Potter, painted four years later, is also ranked among his best works. Like the two others it represents cattle in a meadow.

A portrait of Paul Potter by Van der Helst, painted shortly before his death (January 27, 1654), hangs near his masterpieces. It is the only work by which Van der Helst is represented in The Hague Gallery.

A picture by Paul Potter's father, Pieter Symonsz Potter, Shepherds with their Troops, signed and dated 1638, is owned by the Mauritshuis, but a better work is his Straw-Cutter in the Rijks.

Rembrandt.—The Hague Gallery is particularly rich in works by Rembrandt (1606-69). The Rijks Museum is the place to study the great productions of his middle and last periods; but The Hague Gallery is strong in works of his first period, owning no less than five painted during the first ten years of his career.

The Anatomy Lesson.—First, let us look at the most important work of Rembrandt in this gallery, The Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulp (1632), which made Rembrandt the most sought-after painter of his time.

Rembrandt was barely settled in Amsterdam and had painted only a few pictures there when the famous Amsterdam surgeon, Dr. Nicholaes Tulp, gave him the order to represent him with his students at an operation for the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, to be hung on the walls of their dissecting room with other works of a similar nature, such as the great anatomy pictures by Aert Pietersz (1603), by Thomas de Keijser (1618), by Claes Elias (1625), two by Mierevelt (1617), and one by Vosmaer. Rembrandt's work overshadowed them all. There is a resemblance to Vosmaer's picture and also to that of De Keijser too striking to be accidental; but Rembrandt's work shows the master's genius in the style, the arrangement of the figures, and the illumination. Bode says:

"Instead of an accidental arrangement of single persons, a masterly rounded-out composition has been created, in the happiest way, and at the most important moment, when at a point in the lecture to the learned anatomists the interest is concentrated on the body. The circumstances and the way it is painted deprive the picture of all disgust. In contrast with his predecessors, Rembrandt has painted his doctors, not as if they were having their photographs taken and gazing at the spectator, but in the most natural way—some looking at the body and some at the lecturing Dr. Tulp, Tulp himself quiet, and explaining his subject with the greatest authority. The body is painted in a masterly manner and the portraits are beyond all praise."

Physicians portrayed in the Anatomy Lesson.—On a paper held by Hartman Harmansz, the names of the physicians are inscribed: his own; Matthijs Kalkoen, who is leaning forward; Jakob de Wit, almost in profile, with extended neck, looking with extreme attention, with his collar almost touching the head of the corpse; below him, Jakob Blok, with fixed glance and furrowed brow; above Blok, Frans van Loenen, the only one present not a Master of the Guild; and, finally, lower down in the foreground, Adriaan Slabbraan, with his back turned to the spectator, but his head in profile; and Jakob Koolveld, entirely in profile, the last on the left. All are bareheaded, robed in black with plated ruffs, with the exception of Harmansz, who wears an old-fashioned ruff.

This work remained in the Surgeons' Hall in Amsterdam until 1828, when King William I. bought it for 32,000 florins.

Sir Joshua Reynolds saw it in Amsterdam in 1781, and thus described it:

"To avoid making it an object disagreeable to look at, the figure is but just cut at the wrist. There are seven other portraits colored like nature itself, fresh and highly finished. One of the figures behind has a paper in his hand, on which are written the names of the rest; Rembrandt has also added his own name with the date, 1672. The dead body is perfectly well drawn (a little foreshortened), and seems to have been just washed. Nothing can be more truly the color of dead flesh. The legs and feet, which are nearest the eye, are in shadow; the principal light, which is on the body, is by that means preserved of a compact form. All these figures are dressed in black.

"Above stairs is another Rembrandt of the same kind of subject; Professor Deeman[1] standing by a dead body, which is so much foreshortened that the hands and the feet almost touch each other; the dead man lies on his back with his feet toward the spectator. There is something sublime in the character of the head, which reminds one of Michael Angelo; the whole is finely painted, the coloring much like Titian."

Rembrandt's first Important Work.—Critics are uncertain as to whether the Presentation in the Temple, also called Simeon in the Temple, was painted in Leyden or in Amsterdam, to which city Rembrandt removed in 1631, the date of this picture; but all agree that it is his first important work, far exceeding in certainty of composition and treatment the Simeon of 1628, Peter's Denial of 1628, and the Good Samaritan of 1631.

In the centre of a temple whose roof is supported by gigantic columns, the Virgin and St. Joseph make their offering and present the newborn child, who is in the arms of Simeon, to the Lord. They gaze tenderly at the infant. In front of the group stands the High Priest in a long violet robe, holding up his hands in ecstasy. The light is focussed on the faces of Mary, Simeon, and Jesus, and falls on the High Priest's back and hand. Behind the Virgin, who is dressed in light blue, are two rabbis; and in the background in the nave are several groups almost imperceptible in the shadows; and to the right in the chiaroscuro are a number of persons ascending and descending a flight of steps, at the top of which stands a priest. In the foreground on the right two old men are sitting on a bench, the arm of which bears the monogram "R. H.," and the date 1631. It is supposed that Rembrandt's sister was the model for Mary. Emile Michel says:

"The simple garb of the Virgin and St. Joseph and the squalor of the two beggars beside them emphasize the splendor of the High Priest and of Simeon, whose heavy cymar seems to be woven of gems and gold. The execution is a miracle of subtlety and skill. Note how supreme a colorist has been at work on the High Priest's cope! With what science is the violet carried through the lights and shadows, and with what truth are the tones observed and rendered, with what scrupulous care is the general harmony preserved in spite of the marvellous treatment of detail!"

Of this picture, so particularly remarkable for its artistic treatment and composition, Bode exclaims:

"How appropriately are the groups in the halls of the high fantastic vaults distributed! How masterly is the chief group in the middle distance! How complete in drawing and action is every single figure, though so minute! How powerfully is the light sprinkled over the chief figures before it slowly melts away into the mystic darkness of the broad nave whereby that peculiar mood of reverence—the holy calm of the place—results as the most happy effect of handling."

Lights and Coloring of the Picture.—Notwithstanding their smallness, the figures are most completely and expressively treated, so that in the half-lights the background shimmers here and there. The coloring equals that of the other pictures of this period; in the lights, greenish brown tones come to the aid of the local colors—blue, violet, and, very seldom, yellow (next to gray and brown, which are used only in a very modest way).

William de Poorter made a striking copy of this picture, which hangs in the Dresden Gallery.

Susanna.—The chief beauty of Susanna, which bears the signature "R. f. 1637," lies in the brilliant, warm coloring which bestows a rich effect on the somewhat ugly form of the crouching heroine. Bode, like Burger before him, thinks that he recognizes in the little head the likeness of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia. The flesh is wonderfully painted, the figure lifts itself splendidly out from the dark but transparent background. Moreover, the modelling of the body leaves nothing to be desired.

Susanna is represented as about to step into the bath and is alarmed by the presence of the two Elders, one of whom is seen lurking in the shrubbery. Burger notes:

"Placed by the side of the School of Anatomy and the Simeon, the merits of this work are too often overlooked. Yet Susanna, strongly relieved against a dark background, is one of the most interesting female figures ever painted by Rembrandt, being remarkably faithful to nature, though not of classic beauty."

Of this picture Sir Joshua Reynolds remarks, and many will agree with him:

"It appears very extraordinary that Rembrandt should have taken so much pains and have made at last so very ugly and ill-favored a figure; but his attention was principally directed to the coloring and effect, in which it must be acknowledged he has attained the highest degree of excellence."

Portraits of Rembrandt and Others.—The portraits are of Rembrandt, aged about twenty-two, painted about 1629; one of his mother, about 1628; one of a young woman, painted about 1635, supposed to be Saskia van Ulenborgh, whom Rembrandt married in 1634; a portrait of Rembrandt as an officer, about 1635, and one of an old man's head, supposed to be that of his brother Adriaen Harmensz van Rijn (1597-8-1654), painted in 1650.

REMBRANDT
Portrait of Himself as Officer

The portrait of himself is one of Rembrandt's earliest known pictures and was painted in Leyden between 1628 and 1629. It belongs to similar works that are now in Cassel, Gotha, Nuremberg, and in the possession of Count Esterhazy at Nordkirchen, etc., but is the most beautiful because of its perfect condition. Rembrandt, aged twenty-two or twenty-three, is dressed in a somewhat fanciful costume and wears a steel cuirass. The artistic way in which the light falls and the management of the chiaroscuro foretells what was destined to be Rembrandt's peculiarity of manner, which Sir Joshua Reynolds has so happily described as "of admitting but little light and giving to that little a wonderful brilliancy." Bode says: "Although the brush work is broad, the finish is strong. It stands out above all others of this period; we feel already in this youthful work the paw of the lion."

Rembrandt's Portraits of Himself.—The artist was not handsome; indeed he selected himself so often for a model only for the sake of making a study of light and shade, etc., and because he had not always any other casual model than himself at hand. As keen as the glance of his eyes is the painting of this picture,—sharp, broad, but not so heavily impasto as is the case a few years later.

At this period he painted many portraits of himself. The Wallace Collection in London alone possesses two of the master's self-studies, as does also the Berlin Picture-Gallery, all of which are contemporary with this picture. The date of this portrait is about 1634, when the artist was twenty-eight. It is familiar to every one. Sir Joshua Reynolds described it as "a portrait of a young man by Rembrandt, dressed in a black cap and feathers, the upper part of the face overshadowed; for coloring and force nothing can exceed it."

Homer reciting his Poems (1663) represents an old man in yellow robe. Part of the picture has suffered by having been cut.

REMBRANDT
Homer

Van Ravesteyn (1572-1657).—J. A. van Ravesteyn was in The Hague what Rembrandt was in Amsterdam, Hals in Haarlem, Mierevelt in Delft, Moreelse in Utrecht, and Cuijp in Dordrecht. We have to thank him for the beautiful Shooting Meetings in The Hague Gemeente Museum, and we also have to thank him for a series of fine portraits full of character of officers in the Mauritshuis. Although he had a dangerous rival in Mierevelt, who was employed principally by the Court of the Prince of Orange, yet Ravesteyn was the official painter of The Hague. When the marksmen wanted to have their portraits painted, or when the magistracy wanted to be immortalized, it was Ravesteyn's brush that had to undertake the work. He was not very highly paid, in common with all other Dutch artists of that period.

Van Ravesteyn's Masterpiece.—His great masterpiece, the splendid shooting picture of 1618, the most important one that had been painted up to that time in Holland, brought him only 500 gulden; but in freeing him from all guard duties and from beer and wine taxes, the rulers of The Hague showed that they wanted to honor their artist.

Portraits by Van Ravesteyn.—The portraits of this magnificent portrait-painter are noble in conception and full of life and character; and in his first period were brilliant in color. Indeed, the flesh tones of his first period are even too red in his male portraits. Yet the pictures which he painted before 1625-30 are stronger and more full of spirit than the later pictures, which are cooler and flatter in the tones and softer in the painting. There is a series of twenty-three portraits of officers who are unknown.

Pot's Schützenstück.—It was not until 1886 that the great Schützenstück, a Civic Guard picture in the Haarlem Museum, which had always been so greatly admired by critics, was discovered to be the long-lost picture painted by Pot (1585-1657) in 1630, which had been falsely attributed to Van der Helst. At the date when he painted the picture Pot was so famous that the historiographer, Ampzingh, had rhymed two years earlier, 1628, "then shall also Hendrik Pot rightfully wear his crown. We wonder what his busy hand is creating to-day." He calls the Allegory of the Death of William I., the great Prince of Orange, painted by Pot in 1620, and now unfortunately lost, "a very fine and artistically painted picture." We have no means of following his development, because his pictures are rare, and seldom dated. The Hague picture shows us a young gallant in bright green costume in the gay company of three sirens and an old woman whose calling is unmistakable. The young woman on his right is in violet; the one on the left, in pink; and the third, in yellow and blue. All this is in a strongly pronounced local color. The drawing is careful and good. This is far superior in all respects to a similar picture in the Berlin Gallery. The background of this picture is a fine gray. The details are convincingly and beautifully painted. The painting of the high lights reminds us of the Hals School. The picture was probably painted about 1630, and takes a commanding place among the contemporary pictures of this style. It was bought for 1300 gulden. A similar picture hangs in the National Gallery.

Two Portraits by Frans Hals.—"The Government was happily inspired," writes Mr. Bredius, "in 1881, when it bought for The Hague Gallery two portraits by the great Frans Hals [1580-1666], who had not been represented up till that time. Yet there were and still are dissatisfied people who maintain that the authorities ought to have tried to acquire a still better example of the art of the master, these pictures of his being too trifling and not worthy of the collection," etc. But people forgot that such an opportunity does not often occur, and then that the price is often so high that the slim purse of The Hague Gallery makes a purchase not to be thought of.

"The smaller and more beautiful of the pair, the male portrait, is quite capable of giving us a good idea of the virtuosity of the portrait-painting of Hals. How fine, how self-assertive, is the attitude of this twenty-nine-year-old patrician Haarlemite! How sympathetically the costume is painted! How well are the head and hands modelled and drawn! The portraits were painted in the year 1625."

The portraits here described are of Jacob Olycan and his wife, Aletta Hanemans.

Bode's Opinion of Hals's Pictures.—In his celebrated study of Hals of this period, Bode says:

"About the year 1625 the master had advanced to a style of impression and way of handling that in general remained stationary for about ten years. A gay, delightful humor laughs out at us from all these pictures: from the rich, full local colors, the clear blonde tones, playful easy handling, which quickly, in a few minutes with a few scattered strokes and sweeps of the brush and palette knife blade, brings the personality of the subject upon the canvas, and soon the conception is rendered to the smallest detail in lovely, delicate completeness."

Characteristics of Thomas de Keijser's Work.—Of all important painters who flourished in Amsterdam when Rembrandt settled there at the end of 1631, Thomas de Keijser (1596-1667) was by far the greatest. His portraits, particularly those of small dimensions, take high rank among those which the Dutch school in its glory produced. His work is distinguished by a masterly technique, a splendid characterization in portraiture, a powerful but brilliant selection of color, and a broad, heavy brush.

Description of a Portrait painted by him.—These qualities are found in the Portrait of a Man of Distinction, signed and dated 1631. The man, nearly life size, is seated before a table covered with a reddish Oriental carpet, and with his left hand is turning over the leaves of a book that rests upon a desk. He is not looking at the book, however, but at the spectator. His hair is gray and quite short, he wears a moustache, his eyes are full of fire, and his face is expressive. He has on a large black hat, and a white collar spreads out over his black silk doublet; his stockings are black silk, and his shoes are ornamented with rosettes. The right hand, which is superb, rests on his hip. The floor is paved with black and gray tiles and in the sober background, which serves to bring out the face, a library is indicated on the left.

Group of Four Burgomasters.—The portrait is painted on oak, as is also that of the Amsterdam Burgomasters Deliberating with Regard to the Visit of Marie de Médici to that city. This very small picture, in which the figures are only eight and a half inches high, was painted by De Keijser in 1638, when the widow of the French King Henri IV. visited Amsterdam.

"It is no small glory," says Blanc, "for De Keijser to have painted a picture which in value of execution may be placed between the Peace of Münster and the Syndics by Rembrandt."

Description of the Figures.—Here we find four burgomasters sitting around a table covered with a green cloth in an austere hall, whose gray walls are broken by niches containing statues. These four old men—Abraham Boom, Petrus Hasselaer, Albert Coenraet Burgh, and Antonie Oetgens van Waveren—are dressed in black and wear black felt hats unadorned with plumes. Their grave deliberations regarding the entertainment of the royal guest are interrupted by the entrance of the lawyer, Cornelis van Davelaer, who, hat in hand, salutes them with the greatest respect, as he announces the arrival of Marie de Médici.

Blanc's Opinion of the Picture.—Blanc, who greatly admires this picture, calls attention to the fact that no useless piece of furniture or accessory of any kind disturbs the solemnity of this little scene, which, on account of the simple manner in which it is conceived, is great, notwithstanding its size. He says:

"With the exception of Rembrandt, I do not know of a single Dutch painter, not even Van der Helst (who painted such great canvases), who would not have belittled his picture, either by elegance of touch and finish, or by the richness of the costumes and arms, or by the effect of a carpet variegated with a thousand shades. I imagine that Gerard Ter Borch, in spite of his habitual dignity, would have found some pretext for introducing into his composition a beautiful sword with a baudrick, a crossbow, or a chandelier; that Metsu would certainly have found some excuse for placing a richly chiselled silver aiguière or a golden goblet on the table; and I am sure that through the door by which the lawyer, Davelaer, enters, Pieter de Hooch would have let you see the antechamber of the Council, with its high chairs covered with Utrecht velvet, or a winding stairway, or a distant door opening into a garden or street. The attention would then have been somewhat distracted by the very striking accessories, or by the optical charm of the chiaroscuro. Here we find nothing of the kind; not a single concession to conventional treatment. By the gravity of their attitude, we see that these four citizens, chosen by a free people who sit here with covered heads, express in themselves the majesty of the United Provinces, and they consider themselves of equal rank with the Queen of France, whose arrival is being announced; you feel at once that they bring a plebeian pride to their magnificent reception of that princess who was, like them, originally from a republic of merchants. All the costumes being black,—that beautiful, warm, transparent, silky black peculiar to Velasquez and Anthonis Moro,—you only notice in this picture the hands and the heads. The heads have an expression that will remain engraven in the mind forever, for the painter has accented them so deeply, and brought into contrast both physical and moral features. Notwithstanding their individuality, they all have a certain grandeur. The peculiar trait of this master, however, is the neutral background, the exquisite sobriety of the tone of the wall, recalling the beautiful gray of the great Spanish painter; and from this stand out the black of the doublets and the white collars."

Blanc also calls attention to the splendid painting of the faces: the eyes sunken by age, the wrinkles of the skin, and the withered cheeks. Bredius writes:

"What character has the artist put into these heads! We feel at once that it must have been this kind of men who conducted Amsterdam to greatness and fame. What worth and dignity in the way they hold themselves! What self-confidence in the proud glance!"

Other Portraits in the Mauritshuis.—Of other notable portraits in the Mauritshuis there are three by Moreelse (one of himself); six by Honthorst, including one of a child gathering fruit, originally in the Castle of Honsholredijk; nine by Mierevelt (chiefly of various Princes of Orange); three by Ravesteyn, one a group; two by Moro, one of a goldsmith, the other supposed to be Prince William I. in his youth; three by Netscher; Ter Borch's of himself; two by Frans van Mieris; one by Cuijp, and other examples by Rubens and Van Dijck.

Ferdinand Bol's Pay for Portraits.—Of Rembrandt's numerous pupils, one of the most eminent in portraiture was Ferdinand Bol (1616-80), whose earliest signed work is dated 1642. In his earliest period he devoted himself chiefly to large pictures of Biblical subjects; but, like many other artists, he very soon found that there was a great deal more money to be made in portraiture. At that time, when photography was unknown, it was only natural that everybody who could afford it had his picture painted. From the burgomaster to the ordinary tailor or skipper—all wanted to have pictures of themselves and their families hanging on their own walls; and the purchaser could indulge himself in this natural vanity at comparatively small cost, for the demand naturally increased the supply; and there were only too many painters who were glad enough to serve their patrons. As the artists became famous their prices naturally increased; and some received higher pay than others who to-day have a greater reputation. Rembrandt probably received as much as anybody else for a time; but at the end of his life there was a greater demand for portraits by others, such as Maes, who were more pliant to the changing mode. Rembrandt received 500 gulden each for his famous portraits, whilst others were content with 150, 100, and even 30 or 40 gulden. Caspar Netscher, for instance, received only from 50 to 70 gulden for his elegantly finished pictures. The usual custom was for an artist to paint portraits for a living, meanwhile working and developing himself along the lines of his special genius. Thus we find several of the Little Masters practically relinquishing portraiture as soon as they had made a big reputation in genre, or other fields.

Bol's Work in Portraiture.—Bol was a portrait-painter exclusively; he married first in 1653, and a second time in 1669. Probably both wives belonged to rich and important families, for Bol was kept busy his whole life long and became wealthy, dying in 1680 in his beautiful house with its fine grounds and stables.

With him, as with so many other successful painters, his last pictures were not his best. In his earlier portraits he represents his sitters in beautiful chiaroscuro. The painting is broad and spirited; the color strong and brilliant. He painted so much in Rembrandt's style at first that many of Bol's pictures have been taken for those of his master; and later, when Bol's reputation had faded, unscrupulous dealers did not hesitate to change his signature on the canvases for that of Rembrandt. A celebrated instance of this practice is the so-called Portrait of Flinck and his Wife in Munich, which by many connoisseurs was long admired as Rembrandt's work; but, by Hauser's skill, the false Rembrandt signature was obliterated and the real one of Bol brought to light.

Bol's Portrait of De Ruyter's Son.—The Mauritshuis owns one of the best portraits by Bol, painted in his later period, that of the handsome twenty-year-old son of the great Admiral de Ruyter. This son, Engel de Ruyter, was born in 1649 and died in 1683. Bol painted him in the year 1669, as may be seen by the date on the picture. It is only quite recently that the pendant, a portrait of the great Admiral de Ruyter, has come to be regarded as a copy after Bol. The charming little marine in the picture is undoubtedly by the hand of Willem van de Velde the younger, and adds greatly to the interest of the painting because it is of itself a fine picture of that great master. In many of his later portraits, Bol is somewhat dull in his color and painted them too rapidly, besides giving to his flesh too strong a red-rose tint; but that cannot be said of him in this case, where he has done his very best. In particular, he has handled the rich costume with affectionate and masterful touch.

F. BOL
Admiral de Ruyter

Description of the Sitter.—The genial countenance, which displays none of the real martial type of his celebrated father, rises finely out of the red drapery. The bearing is elegant, though perhaps there is a little too much pose in it. The portrait is particularly interesting, because the sitter had a career of great promise which was cut short all too soon. Nine years after the portrait was painted, the youth had already risen to the rank of Vice-Admiral and had been created a Spanish count, having also refused the title of duke; but before he had attained thirty-four years of age, he died, not a hero's death like his father, as he had desired, but in his own luxurious dwelling in Amsterdam. However, he had already while very young fought valiantly beside his father in the Battle of Solebay.

A Picture by Salomon Koninck.—Another pupil of Rembrandt whom we shall see in the Rijks is G. van den Eeckhout. A picture formerly attributed to him, the Adoration of the Magi, is now known to be by Salomon Koninck (1618-88). One of the Magi in a red cloak is kneeling before the Infant Jesus and another on the right wears a golden mantle. The color is vigorous and the work shows the knowledge of chiaroscuro for which Rembrandt's school was so famous.

Two Pictures by Nicholas Maes.—Nicholas Maes (1632-93) is represented in the Mauritshuis by only two pictures,—one of them of questionable origin, moreover; and therefore the student must go to Amsterdam for varied examples of his work. The portrait here is that of the Grand Pensionary, Jakob Cats, an original replica of which hangs in the Budapesth gallery. Diana and Her Nymphs shows some of the qualities to be expected of one who worked in Rembrandt's studio for eighteen years; but it is now sometimes attributed to Vermeer of Delft. The signature, "N. M. 1650," is said to be false.

Maes's Work as a Portrait-Painter.—Maes was a pupil of Rembrandt and became a very successful portrait-painter by copying the master's style. He soon became rich by his talents, his wit, his polished manners, and by flattering his sitters. He charged high prices for his pictures; and he deserved his great reputation. The chiaroscuro of his paintings is very vigorous. If the shadows are not heavily massed as with Rembrandt, they are at least strongly accented; and, as the half-tones are very summary, the passage from light to dark is very brusque, and by this means the painter attains a powerful effect and strong relief.

His Visit to Jordaens at Antwerp.—Having become rich, and getting tired of everlastingly painting the rich burghers of Amsterdam and their wives, Maes thought he would like to go to see the works of the great artists of Antwerp, who at that time were so much talked about throughout Europe. Having been initiated into the high freemasonry of art by Rembrandt, he was cordially received by the Antwerp painters and soon recognized by them as a brother. Among others, he went to visit Jordaens and was shown into a room filled with pictures, which he examined while awaiting the appearance of the latter, who was watching his visitor through the keyhole. When he entered, Jordaens said: "I see plainly that you are a great connoisseur, or perhaps an able painter, for the best pictures in my gallery detained you longer than the others."

Maes simply replied, "I am a portrait-painter."

"In that case," replied Jordaens, "I sincerely pity you. So you also are one of those martyrs of painting who so richly deserve our commiseration!"

In fact, Maes's weariness at having to put up with the whims of human vanity probably had much to do with his turning to genre, by which he is now best known and for which he is most highly prized.

Maes's Pictures of Familiar Scenes.—The average art-lover, however, cares little for the portraiture of Maes, but prizes him as a painter of familiar scenes, like Pieter de Hooch. Although less varied and less supple, but not less robust than the latter, Maes was his equal in the power of his effects. The triviality of the subject which he often selects is relieved by the charm of an astonishingly vigorous and spirited execution. Burger says:

"On passing through a kitchen, perhaps, you see an old woman scraping carrots, having various kitchen utensils about her. If you have seen this humble interior in one of Maes's pictures, it will be impossible for you not to halt and spend some time in looking at it. The painting of Nicholas Maes is one of those that become encrusted in the memory. The light gleams in it, the canvas glows, the subject stands out, the eye runs over it, and if the figures were of natural size one would go forward to meet them, so strong is the impression, so solid is the tone, so palpable, and modelled in relief are the forms.

"In his little familiar scenes, Maes is not always insignificant or vulgar in his choice of subject. Most often, indeed, his composition is ingenious, witty, and piquant. In the first place, it is set in the most picturesque corner of the room; the painter likes to take up his position in a place whence he can see at once the house from top to bottom,—both the stairs descending to the cellar and those mounting to the first floor. Then the figures he brings into the scene usually have some malicious trick to play, some secret conversation to overhear, some theft to discover, or some infidelity to discover."

Samuel van Hoogstraaten.—It is singular how few pictures are known by Rembrandt's remarkable pupil, Samuel van Hoogstraaten (1625-78), a versatile painter of landscapes, portraits, marines, architecture, fruits, flowers, and, more particularly, interiors, in which he followed Pieter de Hooch. In his Lady in a Vestibule he has demonstrated his knowledge of perspective, of which he was very proud. The chief feature of the picture, however, is the beautiful chiaroscuro, for which he has to thank Rembrandt's teaching. The lady is walking in a portico of very fine architecture, and reading. With one hand she is holding up her straw-colored dress. This figure is only two feet high, while the spaniel that accompanies her is life size!

Effects of Rembrandt's Teaching on his Pupils.—Thirty of Rembrandt's pupils made great names for themselves by copying that great master in one or other of his manners. Some made a system of what with him was merely a mood or caprice. Not being able to follow him in the expression of the human soul, they made a specialty, some of portraiture, some of costume, some of chiaroscuro, some of genre, and some of landscape.

Philip Koninck's Landscapes.—Philip Koninck (1619-88) is almost the only pupil of Rembrandt who painted landscapes almost exclusively, and he listened to the teachings of his master with great docility. His principle was to regard nature from a little distance, so as to grasp the masses, rather than to enter into details. The Mauritshuis possesses a beautiful and characteristic specimen of his genius. In composition and treatment, it reminds us of Rembrandt's Landscape of the Three Trees.[2] Blanc says:

"Among the Dutch landscape painters perhaps there is not one, unless it is Van der Hagen, who would have dared to paint this monotonous plain, all the lines of which are horizontal, all the clumps and rows of trees of the same height, and in which the only objects in the foreground are a cottage half hidden among trees, and, a little farther on, a low sandy hill which does not rise beyond the level of the middle distance. The vast stretch of country is traversed by so many courses of water that it almost looks as if it were threatened with an inundation. The meadows are on a level with the sea; the distant villages look like flotillas at anchor, and the houses seem to be floating on the canals. The painter has placed his point of view so high that neither the sails of the windmills, nor the points of the belfries, nor the tops of the highest trees stand out against the sky. The picture is cut in half by the almost straight line of a horizon which gradually recedes until lost to view, and the towns we perceive in the distance, the rows of trees, the hamlets, and rivers all run parallel with this horizon. That is to say, that Philip Koninck (and this picture resembles all the others of his we know) is conceived entirely at variance with the ideas that are generally held regarding the picturesque."

Gilpin says:

"'The greatest enemies of the picturesque are the symmetry of the forms, the resemblance and parallelism of the lines, the polish of the surfaces, and the uniformity of the colors.'

"Very well! Here is a landscape by Koninck that fulfils all the conditions of the non-picturesque; and which, nevertheless, produces a certain impression of grandeur and sadness, solely by means of the canvas being furrowed into infinite depths, the gradations of the perspective being extremely well observed, and the uniformity of the ground being happily contrasted with a sky full of movement, a fine disorder of clouds which the breeze slowly drives before it as a shepherd does his flock."

Dutch Painters who imitated Italians.—Rembrandt, although he arose at a time when the influence of Italian art was supreme, never went to Rome; nevertheless, he owed a great deal to the studies of those artists who had been there. The Hague Gallery contains several pictures of this period; and these are sufficient to give us a very good idea of the qualities of Dutch art just before Rembrandt, in 1629, set up for himself in Amsterdam at the age of twenty-one.

Hendrik Goltzius.—An influential founder of a large school of painters who modelled themselves on the great Italians was Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1616). He started for Rome in 1590, and indulged to the full his intense admiration for Michelangelo, which led him to surpass that master in the extravagance of his designs. The works by his own hand he most valued were his eccentric imitations of the designs of Michelangelo. His portraits show exquisite finish, and are fine studies of character. The beauty and freedom of his execution make amends for his extravagance. In the Mauritshuis are three pictures painted shortly before he died—Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva.

His Academy at Haarlem.—On his return from Italy Mander, who was a great friend of Goltzius, induced him to open an academy at Haarlem, in combination with Mander and Cornelisz, and with the assistance of his old pupils, Matham, Müller, Sanraedam, and De Gheyn, as professors. As might be expected, Italian taste predominated in this academy, not solely on account of the personal preference of the founders, but because the Italian style had been popularized in the Low Countries by Lambert Lombard, and his pupils, Hubert Golz, Lambert Zutman, Dominic Lampson, William Key, and Frans Floris (1518-70). Of these the most famous was Floris, who also studied in Italy, and himself founded a large school. The Hague possesses in Venus and Adonis a charming example of his style.

The Italian Style followed by Cornelisz.—Cornelis Cornelisz (1562-1638) had never been to Italy, but his education and environment had given him Italian tendencies. We learn that even after he had attained proficiency he never dispensed with the model; nevertheless, he was neither a slavish imitator of nature, nor altogether a painter of style. He has two large pictures in The Hague Gallery that were painted about the time he joined Goltzius in the Haarlem academy. These are the Massacre of the Innocents (1591) and the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis (1593). The dominating idea of the artist in the Massacre of the Innocents, which covers a canvas 8-3/4 by 8-1/4 feet, is the wish to appear a great master of drawing by curves and modeling that exaggerate the relief of the muscles. There are more than two hundred figures which are almost all entirely nude. The executioners, and the infants in particular, show an attempt at noble form which rises above nothing more than affectation. There is an obvious striving after the genius of Michelangelo which, in the Dutch master, is merely pretentious imitation of what would be facile and superb in the great Florentine. There is not a single attitude nor a movement that is not contrasted; for instance, if the left arm is behind, the right leg is in front. In fact, the study of nature is completely subordinated to academic conventions. The color is far more natural than the drawing. The artist has been extremely successful in rendering the flesh tints of life as well as of death, and he has varied the nuances in accordance with sex and age, giving very faithfully the tenderness and freshness of the flesh tints of infancy, and the softness of the female form, the stronger tones of the executioners in action, and even the cadaverous hue of the bloodless corpses. As for the expressions of the faces, they are vulgar though energetic.

His Love of painting the Nude.—The love of Cornelisz for compositions thronged with nude figures in the most varied attitudes wherein he could exhibit all the resources of his learning and study of the works of Michelangelo is again shown in the large canvas, measuring 8 by 14 feet, entitled Banquet of the Gods of Olympus, or Marriage of Peleus and Thetis.

Gilles Coignet.—Cornelisz had received his tastes and instruction principally from Gilles Coignet (1540-99), who set out for Italy with another painter named Stello in 1555 and worked principally at Terni, between Loretto and Rome, for five years. He painted historical and mythological subjects of easel size, but was more successful in landscapes, and more particularly in candle-light subjects and moonlight. He took up his abode in Amsterdam in 1586. His influence on the Haarlem school was pronounced.

Elsheimer's Excellence in Chiaroscuro.—The Mauritshuis possesses two Italian Landscapes by Adam Elsheimer (Elshaimer or Elzheimer) (1574-1620), a German painter, whom the Italians call Adam Tedesco, who possessed great influence over his contemporaries, particularly the elder Teniers and Rembrandt, who followed out the same characteristics of chiaroscuro. Elsheimer delighted in the effects of moonlight and evening dusk; also in torchlight, conflagrations, and every other kind of artificial light,—all of which he represented with greater excellence than had ever been done before him. Visiting Italy, he became charmed with the country and settled in Rome, where his little pictures, usually painted on copper with microscopic and beautifully finished figures, had great success. Elsheimer was visited by all the artists of his country, including Poelemburg, who saw him in 1617. He was almost as great in chiaroscuro as Rembrandt; and his immense reputation did not diminish until after the eighteenth century.

Cornelis van Poelemburg.—A picture of Women Bathing, by Cornelis van Poelemburg (1586-1667), is a fine example of his style. He studied first under Bloemaert, but during a protracted visit to Italy he fell under the influence of Elsheimer; and on his return to his own country he became quite the rage as a painter of classic landscape. In Rome he had been fascinated by Raphael's pictures, and studied him with affectionate admiration. Poelemburg possessed a happy and tranquil nature.

His Attractive Landscapes.—"The little pictures that his imagination painted breathe a quiet happiness, and are imprinted with a suave poesy. They nearly always represent a countryside adorned with ancient ruins and frequented by demi-nude nymphs. His landscapes, enveloped in vapor which, while decreasing the dryness of the outlines and crudity of the tones, would soften the aspect of the most rugged spots, serve as a background for the whiteness of the goddesses who dance with fauns or repose in the shade of some abandoned monument. Sometimes, as though the vale that they dwell in were reserved for the gods, Poelemburg's nymphs do not fear to remove their light vesture and bathe in some open pool where only the painter may see them. But, most frequently, it is in the neighborhood of a grotto, at the foot of rocks perpetually washed by a spring of fresh water, that one likes to surprise them, nude, trembling, their bodies rendered whiter by the transparent veil of the atmosphere, playing with the water they are disturbing, swimming after one another and half-hidden by the current of their chaste fountains."

Dutch Artists who migrated to Rome.—Bartholomeus Breenborch (1599-1659) was another member of that band of artists who at the beginning of the seventeenth century deserted the banks of the Meuse for those of the Tiber, and exchanged the land that was to produce Rembrandt for the country of Raphael's birth. A few Dutch artists successfully resisted the lures of the Eternal City; but the majority of painters of that period followed the example of Elsheimer, Poelemburg, Karel Dujardin, Herman Swanevelt, Andreas and Jan Both, and others, and formed a little Dutch colony among the Seven Hills.

Breenborch compared with Poelemburg.—Breenborch devoted himself to history and landscape alternately. His historical subjects were chiefly Biblical and mythological. He was fond of painting classical landscapes with ruins; and the only artist who could excel him in painting charming little figures in a landscape was Van de Velde. The chief characteristic of Poelemburg, with whom Breenborch is so often compared, is grace. The only picture of this artist in The Hague Gallery, Mercury appearing to the Nymph Hersé, resembles Poelemburg both in subject and treatment.

Van der Ulft's Architectural Paintings.—Van der Ulft (1627-90), another artist of this school, was originally a painter on glass. Later, he turned to historical compositions of small dimensions; but his real talent lay in the representation of architectural monuments, and scenes inside city walls. It is strange that he never visited Italy, but formed himself by the study of the works of returning Roman art pilgrims and of engravings. His perspective is exact; his ancient ruins, triumphal arches, and statues are correctly placed in his pictures, and his architectural backgrounds, abounding in strong and golden grays, form an excellent frame for the little figures that animate his spirited paintings. He delighted to paint Roman processions. The Hague picture shows an army on the march in a landscape adorned with architectural remains.

Nicolas Moeyaert's Best Points.—A follower of Elsheimer, who later became a disciple of Rembrandt, was Nicolas Moeyaert (1630-?), who settled in Amsterdam in 1624 and joined the Painters' Guild in 1630. In some of his pictures he imitated Rembrandt very closely. He excelled in portraits, animals, landscapes, and historical and Biblical scenes. The Hague Gallery contains three: Mercury appearing to the Nymph Hersé; Triumph of Silenus, and a Biblical scene, also called the Visit of Antiochus to the Augur.

MOEYAERT
The Visit of Antiochus to the Augur

Description of one of his Pictures.—Antiochus, about to engage in a war, is consulting the augur. In the centre stands the king dressed in a long blue robe, with a white girdle and a purple cloak lined with fur; also a furred bonnet. He is talking to an old man, the augur, who has a long white beard. He is wrapped in a yellow cloak, is barefooted, and he is writing in a book. By him are some animals, including a dog and some rabbits, and on the right of Antiochus are two goats and a sheep. On a rock on the left is a group of ten persons; and in the centre of the picture between the two high rocks stand a tower and a temple. For pupils Moeyaert had Berchem, Van der Does, Salomon Koninck, and J. B. Weenix.

Pieters and Lastman.—Gerrit Pieters, the best pupil of C. Cornelisz, also went to Rome. He painted assemblies, genre, and small portraits; his success prevented him from devoting himself to historical painting, which he preferred. A pupil of his was Pieter Lastman (1583-1633), who also made a long sojourn in Italy under Elsheimer's influence. He groped about in different styles for a long time, devoting himself principally to Biblical subjects. He learned a good deal about light effects from Elsheimer; on his return he imparted what he knew to Rembrandt, who studied with him for a short time. Later, when his brilliant pupil grew famous, Lastman humbly followed his lead. Jan Lievens (1607-74), was another of his pupils. A picture by him, painted in 1622, when Rembrandt was still only fourteen years old, and therefore could not have influenced him, is in the Mauritshuis. It is called The Resurrection of Lazarus.

An artist who accompanied Lastman to Italy in 1605 was named Jan Pinas (f. 1608-21). He painted portraits, landscapes, and historical subjects.

Herman Swanevelt's Study of Nature.—Herman Swanevelt (Herman of Italy) (1600-55) was a pupil and imitator of Claude Lorraine in Rome, whither he went in 1624, and where his excessive application to study gained for him the name of "the Hermit" from the band of Dutch and German artists established in that city. Unlike Claude, with whom he used to walk in the environs of Rome, and who never sketched from nature, Swanevelt always had his pencil in his hand, taking note of all that he saw, studying the oaks and large plants, and copying the buildings, campaniles, and vine-wreathed arcades and ruins. He left nothing to his imagination. While Claude's landscapes speak of the Golden Age, Swanevelt's are actual reproductions of the country as he saw it. His buildings are not imaginary villas, temples, and palaces, but are the Roman ruins and the façades and cloisters that he knew. In his arrangement and composition he resembled Claude; and, like him, often placed in the corner of his picture wooded mountains or large trees, and sometimes even placed them in the very centre to make a striking contrast to the very light background.

Naturally rude and savage, Swanevelt contributed some of his character to his work. He liked bold mountains clothed with dark forests, deep ravines, solitary places, and torrents bounding from the rocks; and he understood how to mingle the heroic style with rural beauty.

Two Italian landscapes, one dated 1650, the other formerly attributed to Claude Lorraine, hang in the Mauritshuis.

J. van Swanenburch.—Rembrandt spent three years in the studio of J. van Swanenburch (d. 1638), who had finished his studies at Rome, and worked in Naples for a long time, returning to Holland in 1617.

Bloemaert, Founder of the School of Utrecht.—Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651) constitutes in many respects the link of transition with the succeeding epoch; for however his frequent mannerisms and gaudy coloring betray the tasteless period in which he was born, his later pictures show a power, taste, and broader touch. He painted a great number of religious and mythological subjects, portraits, landscapes, and animals. By reason of his talent and his long life (ninety-two years), he exercised great influence over the School of Utrecht, and may be regarded as its founder.

Some of his Pupils.—Among his principal pupils may be mentioned: J. and A. Both, the Honthorsts, J. B. Weenix, Knupfer, Cornelis van Poelemburg, and the father of Albert Cuijp. Two pictures painted in the prime of his life are in The Hague Gallery; they deserve attention if only for their size and the number of figures they contain. The subjects are: Hippomenes receiving the Prize (signed and dated 1626), and the Marriage of Peleus (signed and dated 1628). The latter was carried off by the French, but returned after 1815.

Description of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis.—"It is composed of fourteen large figures, half nude, representing the gods of Olympus celebrating the marriage of Thetis. Seated at table and distinguished by their divine attributes, the gods appear to be troubled at the sight of Discord, who descends from above, borne on a cloud, and throws down among them the golden apple destined for the most beautiful. In the foreground, with her back turned to the spectator, is shown the figure of Venus, who displays unveiled her divine shoulders, her voluptuous neck, and her incomparably beautiful body, which will carry off the prize, and which has no need of the girdle of beauty to render the goddess beloved. Elsewhere than in The Hague Gallery this mythological painting would perhaps not excite more remark than any other picture, but there, in the midst of a family, bourgeoise, and Protestant school, which avoids the nude and ignores academic conventions and style, a picture of this kind cannot fail strongly to attract attention. Abraham Bloemaert, like the famous Cornelis of Haarlem, has the air of an Italian who has gone astray in these northern regions. These noble contours and learned lines, this modelling of the flesh pursued with a certain pedanticism by the former, and with grace and facility by the latter, and finally these more or less violent foreshortenings,—those, for instance, offered by this picture in the figures of Discord and the Loves who scatter flowers or suspend from trees the curtain that decorates the place of banqueting,—all this is at variance with the jollity and naturalism of the Dutch; all this betrays the influence of a foreign style, an influence that reigned in Holland in the sixteenth century, disappeared at the arrival of Rembrandt, and did not return till the appearance of Gérard de Lairesse, more than a century later."[3]

Others who painted in the Italian Style.—Nicholas (or Claes) Berchem (1620-83), Karel Dujardin (1622-78), and Jan (or Johannes) Both (1610-52), painted in the Italian style. Berchem was a pupil of his father, Pieter Claes, and of J. B. Weenix, Moeyaert, Pieter de Grebber, and probably Jan van Goyen. Karel Dujardin was a pupil of Berchem. All three travelled in Italy; and all three are represented in The Hague Gallery. Berchem has an Italian Landscape and Figures; an Italian Landscape or Pastoral (dated 1648), with life-sized figures.

Berchem's Picture of a Boar-Hunt.—A Wild Boar Hunt, of the year 1659, shows that he could successfully treat an animated scene. Crowe says:

"It is a model of precision combined with elegance of execution; though at the same time that blue dark tone which, to the eye of a connoisseur, so much detracts from the value of his later works, already partially appears. This is more seen in a landscape dated 1661 in the same museum, though otherwise belonging to his more attractive works. But here also the conventional and monotonous treatment of his cattle begins to be visible.... But the most striking example of the master's deterioration is afforded us by one of his latest works, the Cavalry Engagement, in The Hague Museum, which is a very type of crude and discordant effect and hardness of detail."

His fourth picture is An Italian Quay, dated 1661.

Pictures by Dujardin, Jan Both, and Others.—Karel Dujardin, famous for his animals, portraits, and landscapes, can be well studied in a fine Italian landscape, called A Cascade in Italy, rich and warm in tone and dated 1673.

Johannes Both has two Italian landscapes, one of which glows with sunshine and is remarkable for breadth and delicacy.

Other pictures showing this Italian influence are The Ambuscade and an Italian landscape by Moucheron, with figures by J. Lingelbach; the Terrestrial Paradise by Jan Brueghel the Elder; and The Torrent, by Adam Pynacker.

Adam Pynacker and Jan Both compared.—Pynacker, though inferior to Jan Both in his Italian landscapes, surpasses him in variety. His tone is cooler than Both's, and he excels in painting early morning scenes. In addition to pastoral scenes, he loves rocky heights, mountain ranges, Italian harbors, bold bridges, and waterfalls.

Pynacker enlivened his landscapes with human figures and cattle, both of which he was able to draw and paint extremely well.

Albert Cuijp's Portrait of Sieur de Roovere.—The famous Albert Cuijp (1620-91) belongs to this group, being a pupil of his father, Jacob Gerritsz Cuijp, who was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert.

There is but one Cuijp in the Mauritshuis, Portrait of Sieur de Roovere directing the salmon fishery near Dordrecht, which need not detain us long, for we shall find more interesting examples of this master in the Rijks. Burger calls this A View in the Environs of Dordrecht, and says it is "a beautiful painting, but perhaps a little brusque." A gentleman wearing a black hat with red plumes and mounted on a bay horse, is seen on the left, to whom a fisherman in heavy boots is offering fish. On the right lies a spaniel. In the middle distance are some fishermen, a black horse, the other side of a canal, and a house. The two principal figures are about a foot high.

The Beginning of the School of Dutch Landscape.—Jan Hackaert (1629-99) forms a connecting link between those painters who represent Northern and those who represent Southern scenery. He travelled when young into Germany and Switzerland. The Hague has a good example of an Italian landscape with figures by Lingelbach; but better examples of his work are in the Rijks. This brings us to the beginning of the great school of Dutch landscape, when the painters began to take an interest in the scenery of their own country. Two great names are Jan van Goyen (1596-1666) and Jan Wijnants (1600-77), important not only because of their own productions, but because they were the first painters of Dutch landscape, and each had followers and pupils who attained great fame.

Jan van Goyen was a pupil of Esais van de Velde and the master of Salomon Ruisdael, who produced Jacob Ruisdael, who in turn produced Hobbema. Another famous pupil was Simon de Vlieger, who was also a follower of Willem van de Velde.

Jan Wijnants and his Followers.—Around Wijnants cluster Adriaen van de Velde, Wouwermans, Lingelbach, Barent Gael, Schellinkx, and Helt Stockade.

Characteristics of Van Goyen's Works.—Jan van Goyen was fortunate in being the son of an amateur of painting, who encouraged his talent. After studying with various artists of no special reputation, he travelled in France and on his return studied with Esais van de Velde. He is always simple in painting and manner. Ordinarily he selects tranquil river scenes on which merchant ships or fishing-boats are quietly sailing. You often see hamlets on piles, and, very frequently, the steeple of a church, standing out in picturesque contrast to the horizon line. Sometimes a ruined tower forms the chief motive of his composition.

His Marines and Watery Landscapes.—One of the principal characteristics of Van Goyen's marines and landscapes is their peacefulness, calmness, and slight touch of sadness. It is not the sadness inspired by Ruisdael's groves, but a gentle melancholy feeling that touches the imagination and induces dreams. The sun never appears in Van Goyen's pictures. Humid clouds veil his skies, which in their light portions have the silvery tones of Teniers. His beach or shore is generally enveloped in a grayish mist, and in the moving clouds you feel the breath of wind and fancy you hear it sigh. His long flat surface, so dull and solitary, is animated only by a fishing-boat or a shallop. Holland, because of its water-ways, is a silent country and the impression of silence and peace is marvellously reproduced in Van Goyen's pictures. He never allows a brilliant tone to disturb the uniformity and harmony of his watery landscapes; but behind the clouds that float across the sky you divine the far-away sun, like a light behind a curtain. The famous View of the City of Dordrecht, by the latter, signed and dated 1634, is a splendid example of his qualities and style.

His Illustrious Pupils.—After his marriage, Van Goyen established himself in Leyden, his native town, where he opened a school, to which flocked painters who afterward became illustrious. Among them was Jan Steen, who married Van Goyen's daughter Marguerite.

Only one of Esais van de Velde's (1590-1630) pictures—A Dinner in the Open Air, painted in 1614, hangs in this gallery, so that one cannot learn here how much Jan van Goyen owed to his master.

Hermann Saftleven (1606-81), a pupil of Jan van Goyen, painted, as a rule, views of the Rhine and Moselle with small boats and figures. He was a good portrait-painter and was successful with animals. His Landscape with Cattle is a charming example of his work.

To Salomon Ruisdael, who so greatly resembles Jan van Goyen with his pictures of canals, bordered with houses and trees, river banks, etc., we shall return when visiting the Rijks; for the Mauritshuis possesses no picture of this artist. He taught his more famous brother.

The Greatest of the Dutch Landscape-Painters.—"Jacob Ruisdael (1628-82) is beyond all dispute the greatest of the Dutch landscape-painters. In the works of no other do we find that feeling for the poetry of Northern nature and perfection united in the same degree. With admirable drawing he combined a knowledge of chiaroscuro in its most multifarious aspects, a coloring powerful and warm, and a mastery of the brush, which, while never too smooth in surface, ranges from the tenderest and most minute touch to the broadest, freest, and most marrowy execution. The prevailing tone of his coloring is a full, decided green. Unfortunately, however, many of his pictures have, in the course of years, acquired a heavy brown tone, and thus forfeited their highest charm. Many also were originally painted in a grayish but clear tone."

His Favorite Subjects.—"He generally presents us with the flat and homely scenery of his native country under the conditions of repose; while the usually heavy clouded sky, which tells either of a shower just past or one impending, and dark sheets of water overshadowed by trees, impart a melancholy character to his pictures. Especially does he delight in representing a wide expanse of land or water. If the former, the scene is frequently taken from some elevation in the surrounding country, commanding a view of his native city, Haarlem, which is seen breaking the line of the horizon with its spires.

"Taken altogether, his wide expanses of sky, earth, or sea, with their tender gradations of aërial perspective, diversified here and there by alternations of sunshine and shadow, may be said to attract us as much by the deep pathos as well as picturesqueness of their character. On the other hand, we often find the great master taking pleasure in the representation of hilly and even mountainous districts, with foaming waterfalls, in which he has won some of his greatest triumphs; or he gives us a bare pile of rock, with a dark lake at its base; but these latter subjects, which embody the feeling of the most elevated melancholy, occur very rarely. In his drawing of men and animals he was weak, and occasionally obtained the assistance of other masters, especially of A. van de Velde and Berchem."

Difference between his Earlier and Later Works.—"As he seldom dated his pictures, and early attained his full development, we find a difficulty in determining the order in which they were painted. His earlier works, however, may be identified by the extraordinary minuteness with which all objects—trees, plants, and every diversity in the soil—are represented; by a decision of form bordering on hardness, and by less freedom of handling and delicacy of aërial perspective."[4]

Reynolds's Estimate of him as a Landscape-Painter.—Four very fine examples of Jacob van Ruisdael are owned by the Mauritshuis: a Cascade, a Strand, View of Haarlem, and View of the Vijver at The Hague.

After a study of these beautiful works, Sir Joshua Reynolds's estimate of the painter will not seem excessive: "The landscapes of Ruisdael," he says, "have not only great force, but have a freshness which is seen in scarce any other painter."

His Character seen in his Paintings.—Ruisdael is considered by many critics the greatest of the Dutch landscape-painters. His execution is always masterly, and his works always express a poetic sentiment. Ruisdael delights in portraying sombre forests, rushing cascades, trees bent by the wind, gathering storm-clouds, and all the dark mysteries of the woodlands. His misfortunes probably had much to do with increasing his natural melancholy, to the great gain of his artistic development. As a rule, the paintings of his mature period have greatly blackened because he loved to paint sombre backgrounds, and always used a very dark green for his foliage and other verdure. His earlier works have remained brighter in tint; for at the beginning of his career he painted the dunes and meadows, woods and roads near Haarlem, bathed in light from sunny skies half veiled with clouds.

RUISDAEL
Distant View of Haarlem

His Picture of Haarlem.—The View of Haarlem, taken from the dunes of Overveen, shows a bird's-eye view of an immense stretch of country. In the foreground is shown a level meadow on which strips of white linen are being bleached; and on the left are the houses of the washerwomen. Beyond, a vast stretch of country almost destitute of trees or dwellings, reaches to the horizon line, where the town of Haarlem, with its bell-tower, is discerned.

"All these miles of country," exclaims Burger, "are represented on a little canvas only one foot eight inches high!"

This picture is regarded as one of the gems of The Hague Gallery.

The Cascade is noted for its warm lighting and careful execution; and the beautiful Beach at Scheveningen for its heavy gathering clouds and dim and broken light upon the water and shipping.

Ruisdael's Sea Pieces.—Ruisdael's sea-pieces are few; and, unlike Willem van de Velde, he never represents the ocean in repose; his sea is always stormy and sometimes raging, and the sky is full of heavy, angry clouds. The waves are always fluid and full of motion.

Some of his Notable Works.—The Mauritshuis has the rare luck to possess three pictures by Ruisdael, which are splendidly preserved, and each of which exemplifies a separate style of the master. A fourth one, bought more recently, is also exceedingly interesting in its way, because it gives a view of the Vijverberg in The Hague; but the rest of this picture is of such dubious art, and the color so sunken, that it cannot hold its own beside the others in the collection. The Strand and the View of Haarlem belong to the artist's middle period (between 1660 and 1670) as well as the Cascade. Bredius says:

"The still, heavy impasto and the clearness of the color make me think it is one of the first waterfalls that Ruisdael painted. We never, or hardly ever, find pictures of the painter's earliest period (covering the years 1646 to 1655) in the Dutch galleries.

"A fine, strong, cleverly painted little picture of Ruisdael's, painted in 1653, was sent to the Amsterdam Gallery with the Dupper Collection. Another very clear, lovely, and beautifully worked study of the Dunes, with a Grove, similar to the picture in the Louvre, is owned by Madame van Vollenhoven in Amsterdam. A somewhat dark but strong and spirited study, the Hut in the Dunes, also of his early period, was lately acquired by the Haarlem Gallery, which hitherto had owned nothing of Ruisdael's. These early pictures, of which, for instance, the Leipzig Exhibition in the Autumn of 1889 was able to show very important examples (the figures are often supplied by Berchem), are very highly esteemed by connoisseurs."

Love of Nature seen in his Earlier Works.—"In these works we see the youthful painter turning exclusively to Nature: a clump of bushes on a dune; a glimpse of the 'Haarlemer Hout'; a grove of trees on the shore, he paints exactly as he saw them. But how he saw them! In these early pictures his color is brighter, his manner of painting thicker and stronger than in his later works. Instead of the beautiful clouds for which Ruisdael was so famous, we often see the sky still painted in a more antique manner, with striped clouds in the style of his uncle Salomon.

His Growth toward Composition.—"Gradually his subjects become more 'composed,' but in the best sense of the word. Only occasionally does he wander away, as, for instance, in the Dresden Jewish Cemetery, which lay in the neighborhood of Amsterdam, but which he set in a fanciful landscape unknown to himself. He had quite another intention in the picture before us: the View of Haarlem from Overveen, with its bleaching-green in the foreground. Above it a beautifully clouded sky with the floating clouds casting their shadows here and there over the broad landscape. Amsterdam owns a similar picture; the Berlin Gallery another; the Ritter de Steurs in Maestricht, a fourth; and there are still others in private collections in England and Paris. Each of these pictures has a new excellence,—Nature glorified through an artistic eye and immortalized with the practised hand of an artist. What mastery there is in the representation of the broad, broad space!"

His Carefulness of Detail.—"Nevertheless Ruisdael does not neglect the detail of his landscapes. We need only notice in him the tree-characteristics—how carefully he handles every kind of foliage in accordance with the forms of its leaves and branches; but with him the whole is never subordinated to the details. When he paints the sea—he does not paint it often—he does it better and more artistically than any other painter. What a mighty effect his great marine in Berlin produces! The real air from the sea seems to blow upon us. Views of the seashore by him are even rarer. The Hague picture shows us a beautiful view of a sea and sky happily illuminated without the dark, melancholy tone which so often dwells in his works, and which we would consider as a reflection of his own sad moods. Who can it be that painted the fine figures in this picture? Perhaps it was Eglon van der Neer."

Vermeer's View of Delft.—Vermeer of Delft (1632-75) was a pupil of Karel Fabricius (whom we shall meet in the Rijks), who was a pupil of Rembrandt. One of the most important and beautiful pictures in The Hague Gallery is Vermeer's View of Delft. On an appreciative eye and receptive mood it leaves a tenacious impression which will never be forgotten. Until about thirty years ago, Vermeer of Delft was hardly thought of, although in his own day his pictures were highly prized and sought after, and later his work received great praise from Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was the French critic Burger (Thoré), who rehabilitated this great artist.

Bredius exclaims:

"How this picture shines out from the others around it like a stream of light out of dark clouds!

"All the light which the artist saw fall upon his town, he has succeeded in concentrating at once in this picture, the broad, masterful, sure painting, the luminous colors, the clear sky which arches over the town, all excite our highest admiration."

A drawing said to be a sketch for this picture is in the Stadel Institute of Frankfort. The picture which brought 200 florins in 1698 was sold for 2,900 gulden at the Stinstra sale in 1822. (See [Frontispiece.])

A Painter of Light and Sun.—The beautiful picture of Diana and her Nymphs, which was bought as a Maes in Paris in 1876 for 4,725 gulden, is now attributed by some people to this master, and by others to Vermeer of Utrecht.

Lemke says:

"Vermeer was a painter of the light and sun school; and this was his chief study—to catch and hold fast the moment. What Frans Hals did for physiognomy, grasping the flying moment in an incomparable manner with winks, smiles, leers, gesticulations, etc., and fixing it in paint, that Vermeer, as a landscape-painter, delighted to do for the sunshine. He shows its rays streaming into a room or the play of light and shadow when the light with the moving air falls through heavy foliage against a bright house and paints it with rays of light and shade. Unlike the moment of Rembrandt and Ruisdael, which is fixed for all eternity, with Vermeer the moment vibrates in the light. The shadows lose their sharp outlines, and the fine brush-work suggests the living change and play of the light. Rembrandt paints light in darkness and lets it glow in the dark, or streaming into it, or in a broad flood of brilliance; but Vermeer prefers to set darkness or twilight against the light. For interiors, Vermeer has another palette and mode of painting than for the outdoor pictures. When he selects the moment for this, where the scene consists of trees, houses, water, etc., it would seem that the artist wanted to make us blink, as if we were looking at the sun."

Vermeer's Portrait of a Girl.—Vermeer did not confine himself to landscape. In 1903, The Hague Gallery acquired by bequest a remarkable portrait by this master, the portrait of a girl wearing a buff coat, a blue and cream turban, and magnificent pearl earrings, on which are "concentrated," says the enthusiastic Frank Rinder,

"those dreams of gray, which are Vermeer's. Although in this portrait, with its liquid spots of light, we at once apprehend the presence of Vermeer, with his nostalgia for the interpretation of a beauty visioned inwardly rather than seen with the eye, the picture passed through the auction rooms at The Hague in 1878, fetching only 230 florins. It was bequeathed in 1903 to the Mauritshuis by M. des Tombes."

"In his laying on of paint he was distinguished," says Frank Rinder, "even among his technically well-equipped contemporaries; by virtue of his isolated vision, he is of all the Little Dutchmen the one inimitable weaver of spells."

Jan Wijnants's Love for the Dunes.—Jan Wijnants (1615-80) has two pictures in the Mauritshuis, Clearing in the Forest (1659) and Road through the Dunes (1675). Wijnants, the Haarlemite, loved his dunes, and when he lived for years in Amsterdam (probably he died there), he painted them even more frequently,—every little hill, with its sandy rises and with little stunted trees, and those roads marked with deep wagon-ruts, almost always bright and illumined with warm sunshine. How had he observed them? How did he always know how to discover the paintable spot? Frankly, his fancy sometimes made the hills somewhat higher than we really find them at Haarlem; indeed, sometimes, he created landscapes with so poetic a flight, or we might say he sometimes composed them to such an extent that in truth we might seek them in vain in Holland; as, for instance, the great pictures in the Munich museum. We are, therefore, forced to conclude that he had seen Claude Lorraine's pictures, and wanted to paint somewhat in the same spirit. In Haarlem he was painted by Wouwermans, and as a fine little cavalier.

His Pictures enlivened by other Artists.—When he settled down in Amsterdam in 1660, the always ready Adriaen van de Velde often assisted him by enlivening his landscapes with charming little figures. He had no idea that at present a Wijnants would be so much more highly valued on account of his little figures than it would be without them. Lingelbach undertook this work later, straining after Van de Velde but not reaching him. In his early pictures, Wijnants is somewhat labored; but by and by he acquires that sureness of painting which must have become ever easier to him because he almost always painted the same subjects and the same style of landscape. In his last pictures he was quite broad and decorative in style, but less convincing. One picture with fine little figures by Lingelbach bears the date 1675. In his Clearing in the Forest (1659) he has depicted his favorite subjects: the old oaks mutilated by the storm and partly stripped of their bark; the fallen trunk of a tree and large, handsome plants, whose leaves pour raindrops over the blades of grass that have pushed their way up between them. Van de Velde has added to this lovely landscape a distant farm, cattle walking along the road, and a pond crossed by a rustic bridge. "With such simple objects," exclaims Blanc, "Wijnants and his pupil have produced a masterpiece, expressing a poetry that few could perhaps explain, but which every well-organized man can feel."

Neglect of Dutch Scenery by Dutch Artists.—Wijnants, like Van Goyen, is not only an excellent painter but chief of a school. Until their time the artists of the Netherlands hunted for scenery outside of their country; for instance, Memling and Saftleven chose the borders of the Rhine; others, like Savery, liked to wander in the Tyrol; others, like Paul Bril, visited the Alps; others, like Everdingen, went to Norway to get inspiration from pine forests and foaming cascades; and Asselijn, Berghem, Jan Both, Moucheron, and Pynacker sought the sunny clime of classic Italy. Into the "Italian landscapes," which they either brought home or finished from memory when they returned, they frequently introduced among the classic ruins and sunlit verdure the cattle and peasants of their own country.

Wijnants the Leader of a new School.—Wijnants was one of the first to take pleasure in his own country. In the environs of Haarlem, his native town, he saw much that would make pictures of charm; so, while other painters were roaming in foreign lands, he took walks in the neighboring meadows and followed the paths that led to the dunes, noticing everything on the way,—the tufts of grass, the shrubs, the moss-covered stones, the trees, the roads, the hillocks, the flowers, and taking note of the reflections of light on the bark of the trees, the lichens growing on the stump of a tree, the common bugloss, burdock, and thistle, and the swarming insects. Wijnants was the first to show that poetry was to be found in the lonely walk that led to the sea.

His Influence on other Artists.—Nature seems to have been his chief master; but he soon became the master of others. Adriaen van de Velde, for instance, feeling his vocation for landscape, entered his studio in Haarlem. It is said that one day his wife said to him, "Wijnants, this child is your pupil to-day, but one day he will be your master." Instead of being jealous, the painter never ceased to boast of his pupil's talent, and even allowed him to contribute the figures in many of his landscapes,—for Wijnants could paint only earth, trees, and sky. A great number of the figures in Wijnants's pictures, therefore, are the work of Adriaen van de Velde, who always introduces them modestly and in such a way that they render the landscape even more attractive. Philips Wouwermans and Lingelbach also were employed by Wijnants to add figures to his pictures, and a few times Adriaen van Ostade aided him, also Gael, Schellinkx (who painted the dunes very well himself), Jan Wouwermans, Nicholas de Helt Stockade, the painter of battles, and Wyntranck, the clever painter of farmyard animals.

Dutch Landscape-Painters who followed Wijnants.—Wijnants was, as has been said, one of the creators of the Dutch landscape, one of the first to imitate Nature in her humbler expression, finding beauty in common things. After him came such landscape-artists as Philips Wouwermans, Adriaen van de Velde, Daniel Schellinkx, Isaac Ostade, Karel Dujardin, Paul Potter, and in some respects the great Ruisdael.

Van de Velde's Favorite Subjects.—Adriaen van de Velde (1635-72) was a painter of animals, figures, interiors (rarely religious and historical subjects). He is worthily represented in The Hague Gallery by two pictures: a Dutch Roadstead and a Landscape with Cattle. Van de Velde is also responsible for the figures in the pictures of Van der Hagen (No. 47), Van der Heyde (No. 53), and Wijnants (No. 212), in this gallery. Bode says:

Impressionism and Naturalism.—"Adriaen van de Velde is one of the few artists by whom landscape and figures composed in a masterly manner are both felt and thought out harmoniously. He stands so close to our modern impression as does scarcely another of his day, being so simple in his motives and going so straight to nature, that he knows how to reveal the intimate connection between the outside world and our own feeling. A real painter of moods, he excels in awakening in us dark and gloomy feelings; his shadowy forest-glimpses on summer days, with herdsmen reclining beside their panting cattle in obvious rest. His bright mornings with the hunting-parties called together to the halloo, with the gentlemen and nobles promenading on the walks near their equipages, ring fresh and gay in the heart of the spectator; in his homelike evening-feeling with the sound of the returning cattle, he affects us with the feeling of happy departure and well-earned rest."

A. VAN DE VELDE
A Dutch Roadstead

His Helpfulness to other Artists.—The strong feeling in the figures, and, particularly, the lifelike color of the landscape, is so individual that almost all the landscape-painters of his home—Amsterdam—made use of his assistance in peopling their landscapes,—Wijnants, Ruisdael, Hobbema, Hackaert, F. R. de Moucheron, Ph. de Koninck, Verboom, and, above all, Jan van der Heyde, have made excessive use of his services and ability. Even with these artists, who were so foreign to each other in style, the figures that he introduced are so fine that the force of the landscape in both feeling and artistic effect is strengthened in the highest degree; indeed, many of these pictures have attained a higher fame solely through these contributions by the hand of Adriaen van de Velde.

His Skill as a Colorist.—"The paintings of this artist have an additional attraction in their rich and harmonious coloring, the fineness of the tone, and the peculiar tender manipulation of the pigments, which have such a soothing artistic effect.

"Some pictures painted in his last years have suffered by the sinking in and change of color (notably the increase of blue in the green leafage), by which some of their effect has been lost. The Landscape with Cattle has not sunk in; but it has, nevertheless, lost some of its original color in the green of the trees. The idyllic landscape with its joyous, bright sunlight and its peaceful animal life, is a good specimen of this style of Van de Velde's work. The picture is signed 'A. V. Velde, 1663.'"[5]

His Sea Pieces.—The second picture of this artist in this gallery, A Dutch Strand (1665) with numerous figures, is more important. Two similar views of the seashore by him are at Cassel and in the Six collection; and all these examples show that great and simple representation of the sea, in which he is also remarkable for his fine poetic feeling, equalling that in similar works by his brother Willem.

Wouwermans's Delight in painting Horses.—Philips Wouwermans's (1619-68) half century of life was industriously spent in producing about eight hundred pictures. Although his preference for the representation of the horse is evident in almost all his works, there is great variety in the treatment. Wouwermans is at the same time a striking landscape-painter. In many of his pictures the landscape is astonishingly often foreign and sometimes even Italian in subject, and the figures are merely lay-figures. The Country Riding-School plainly exhibits the artist's delight in horses. How beautifully painted are the grays on the right! He draws a brown horse so often that it must have been in particular favor. Some of his pictures must certainly have cost the painter a great deal of time, especially when numerous figures occur in them; as, for instance, in his horse-fairs and battle pictures.

The Fruits of his Great Industry.—It would appear that Wouwermans was well paid, for he was able to give his daughter, who married the flower-painter, De Fromantiou, a handsome dower,—Houbraken says 20,000 gulden! He was buried with pomp in Haarlem, on May 23, 1668, having bequeathed to his widow, who was destined not to survive him two years, a very good estate; and to us such a treasury of his art that we can enjoy it all over the world, in almost every important public and private collection.

The Variety and Abundance of his Works.—Whether he shows us the horse wildly rearing in the battle or quietly watering at the river, or being trained by an expert hand, or returning home to a well-cared-for stall after a long ride, we always admire again the rich variety of the master, who, an eminent horseman of knowledge and enthusiasm, never wearies us as such. Many of his pictures are a true reproduction of the farm life, or of the warfare of his day; and, on that account, have, moreover, a historical value. Dresden alone possesses sixty-two, and St. Petersburg fifty, of his pictures. The Hague Gallery has to be content with nine. These are a Battle; the Hunt with Falcon; Arrival and Departure from an Inn; A Country House; The Hay-Wagon; the Hunters' Halt, a charming example of his earliest period; A Landscape with Horses; and a Camp. In all these the horse plays an important part.

P. WOUWERMANS
The Hay Wain

Description of The Hay-Wagon.—The Hay-Wagon is a popular work representing a large canal and a large hay-wagon drawn by two horses, and a man on horseback with a woman behind him on a pillion; farther away are seen men loading boats with the hay. In the foreground on the right are a woman with a little boy, a chariot drawn by a horse which is led by a peasant.

The Arrival at an Inn.—The beautiful Arrival at an Inn represents an inn and a barn. On the one side a coach is arriving, and on the left a mounted lady and cavalier. Others are getting booted and spurred and saddling mettlesome steeds prefatory for departure. In the left foreground, a dwarf, a charlatan, and a monkey, eating a simple meal, regardless of the bustle around them, give a touch of the life of the travelling mountebank. A handsome castle closes the view on the left.

P. WOUWERMANS
The Arrival at the Inn

Crowe's Appreciation of Wouwermans.—"Wouwermans's authentic works are distinguished by great spirit and animation, and are infinitely varied and full of incident, though dealing recurrently with cavalry battle pieces, military encampments, scenes of cavalcades, and hunting and hawking parties. He is equally excellent in his vivacious treatment of figures, in his skilful animal painting, and in his admirable and appropriate introduction of landscape backgrounds. Three different styles have been observed as characteristic of the various periods of his art. His earlier works are marked by the prevalence of a foxy brown coloring, and by a tendency to an angular form in the draughtsmanship; the productions of his middle period have greater purity and brilliancy, and his latest and greatest pictures possess more of force and breadth, and are full of a delicate silvery gray tone."[6]

Reynolds on Wouwermans's Three Different Manners.—On his visit to the Royal Collection in 1781, Sir Joshua Reynolds was greatly impressed with the pictures of this artist, and said:

"Here are many of the best works of Wouwermans whose pictures are well worthy the attention and close examination of a painter. One of the most remarkable of them is known by the name of The Hay-Cart; another, in which there is a coach and horses, is equally excellent. There are three pictures hanging close together in his three different manners: his middle manner is by much the best; the first and last have not that liquid softness which characterizes his best works. Besides his great skill in coloring, his horses are correctly drawn, very spirited, of a beautiful form, and always in unison with their ground. Upon the whole, he is one of the few painters whose excellence in his way is such as leaves nothing to be wished for."

Johannes Lingelbach (1623-74), a native of Frankfort-on-the-Main, settled in Amsterdam on his return from Italy. He was frequently employed by Wijnants to insert figures and animals in his landscapes. He was a successful imitator of Wouwermans.

Crowe's Estimate of Lingelbach's Powers.—"Lingelbach's coloring, as was almost always the case with Wijnants's, and also with Wouwermans's in his latest manner, is characterized by a cool and often delicate silvery tone, which with him sometimes degenerates into coldness and want of harmony. In his flesh, especially, a cold red tone often prevails, added to which, neither in clearness nor impasto, does he equal the above-named masters. He ranks, however, high for skill in composition, good drawing, careful execution, to which is sometimes added a happy vein of humor. He may be studied under all his different aspects in the galleries of the Louvre, The Hague, and Amsterdam. Of the four pictures by him in the gallery of The Hague, the Italian Seaport, dated 1670, is remarkable for a power and warmth quite unusual in this painter."[7]

Examples showing the Variety of Lingelbach's Style.—The variety of his style is well exhibited in The Hague Gallery by four pictures of different dates. These are the Italian Seaport, with large figures, signed and dated 1670; the Departure of Charles II. from Scheveningen for England in 1660, a very rich, luminous, and fine work; a small Cavalry March, in which the little figures are beautifully executed and are thoroughly original; and a Landscape with a Hay-Wagon, much in the manner of Philips Wouwermans.

Weakness of the Mauritshuis in Marines.—The Mauritshuis is weak in marines: two by Willem van de Velde; three by Backhuysen, two by Abraham Storck, a view of the Amstel at Amsterdam by Torenburg (1737-86), a few Italian Seaports, and a few Beaches at Scheveningen painted by the landscape artists are all that the gallery owns.

Excellence of W. van de Velde's Marines.—Willem van de Velde (1633-1707) stands very high in the ranks of the marine painters of the seventeenth century. In the last years of that century we have artists like Simon de Vlieger, Jan van de Capelle, Hendrik Dubbels, and Abraham van Beyerex (in his rare marines); but Van de Velde is a master in his sphere, especially when he represents the calm sea under bright sunlight.

In his View on the Y we obtain enjoyment from the fine aërial perspective, the correct drawing of the ships, and the numerous little figures. The accuracy of the detail does not detract from the wonderful composition, the play of the sunlight on sail and water, and the beautiful sky, lightly flecked with clouds. Probably, the gaily decorated ship on the left is the yacht of the Princes of Orange; the boat which is being rowed away from it is bringing important visitors to shore, while the trumpeter on the ship loudly announces their departure.

Although not of the very first rank, this picture belongs to the best work of the master's middle period.

The other picture, of exactly the same size, is also identical in subject and treatment. Both are small. The other picture owned in the Mauritshuis is the Capture of the Royal Prince (June 18, 1666).

His Greatness as a Marine Painter.—"There is no question that Willem van de Velde the younger is the greatest marine painter of the whole Dutch school. His untiring study of nature of which his numerous sepia drawings are the best evidence, his perfect knowledge of lineal and aërial perspective and the incomparable technical process which he inherited from his school,—all these qualifications enabled him to represent the great element under every form, whether that of the raging storm, the gentlest crisping wind, or of the profoundest calm, with the utmost truth of form and color. Nor are his skies, with their transparent ether and light and airy clouds, less entitled to admiration than his seas; the surface of which he diversified, with the purest feeling for the picturesque, by various vessels, near and distant, which are drawn with a knowledge that extends to every rope. Finally his various lightnings create the most charming effect of light and shade. With this combination of qualities, so calculated to please a seafaring nation, it is no wonder that he should have become the most popular painter with the Dutch and English."[8]

The Fulness of his Knowledge of the Sea and Ships.—Both England and Holland, the two greatest sea nations, agree that Willem van de Velde was the greatest marine painter up to his time. In fact, no one had so well observed the motion of the waters, their breaking, or their repose; and no one knew so well the habits of sailors, the rigging of boats, their behavior and their variety. He knew how to make them picturesque, whether isolated between the sky and the water in the most beautiful lines, or in cleverly foreshortening them while they gently rock on the waves singly, or in picturesque groups. Nobody has better understood the profound calm of the ocean, or better expressed the emotion produced by an infinite horizon.

The Van de Velde Family.—The family was talented. Willem the Elder, born at Leyden in 1611, was a magnificent draughtsman, and taught his sons, Willem and Adriaen, drawing. Willem, however, became a pupil of Simon de Vlieger, and the pictures that he sent to his father, then in the service of the English king, astonished the Court. James II. sent for the young man and offered him a pension. In England he frequently colored his father's drawings; and on the Thames from Greenwich to London he had a great opportunity for the study of shipping.

The Simplicity of W. van de Velde's Pictures.—With very simple details, Willem van de Velde produces marvellous effects. He paints the ocean from the shore to the distant horizon; and this straight line is in beautiful contrast to the rounded clouds, while the severity of the tall masts is relieved by the curves of the puffing sails. Sometimes a group of fishermen on the beach or the end of a wharf of piles is seen in the foreground; but he more frequently begins his picture in the middle distance and gives the foreground up to waves slightly agitated or with a buoy tossing in the rising tide, in such a way as to suggest that the picture was painted not from the shore but from a vessel at anchor.

W. van de Velde compared with other Painters.—Sir Joshua Reynolds said: "Another Raphael might be born; but there could never be a second Willem van de Velde"; and Havard calls him "not only the greatest marine painter of the Dutch school, but also one of the greatest in the whole world." Blanc draws the following distinction between Van de Velde and Backhuysen: "Backhuysen makes us fear the sea, whilst Van de Velde makes us love it."

Backhuysen, a Painter of Ships and Shipping.—Backhuysen (1631-1708) probably owed his darker moods to his master Allart van Everdingen, who was a pupil of Pieter Molijn (1600-54), whose works are now so rare, and who was also one of the founders of Dutch landscape-painting. Backhuysen was a painter of ships and shipping, as well as of the sea, and had a practical knowledge of nautical matters.

Examples showing his Style.—Three pictures in The Hague Gallery afford good examples for study of his style. One, Entrance to a Dutch Port, dated 1693, shows an agitated sea, very remarkable for the happy distribution of sunlight and shadows of clouds upon the water, and broad yet delicate treatment; another is a View of the Wharf Belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and is dated 1696; and the third has for its subject The Landing of William III. of England in the Oranje Polder in 1692.

Imitators of Backhuysen.—Pictures by Jan van de Capelle and Jan Dubbels often pass for Backhuysen's; and another imitator is Abraham Storck, who is greatly inferior in elegance of touch. Good examples of Storck's style—a Marine and a Shore—hang in The Hague Gallery. Storck was much influenced by Lingelbach. The latter was also quite successful with his harbors and quays, with their shipping and human figures.

Simon de Vlieger as a Painter of the Ocean.—A greater painter, however, is Simon de Vlieger (1601-59), who is supposed to have studied under Jan van Goyen, and painted landscapes in the style of that master; he is famous for his marines. He frequently painted sea pieces which included the coast. He was the first to represent the ocean in its varying moods. His execution is free and soft, and his aërial perspective very fine. Like the majority of the Dutch painters he loved to paint Scheveningen. His Beach at Scheveningen, signed and dated 1643, is a fine example of his work.

The Diversity of his Subjects.—"De Vlieger often paints birds of the farmyard, which, both in truth and delicacy, are equal to anything produced either by Hondecoeter or Flamen. His horses, hares, and sheep may certainly pair with those of Van der Hecke, Jouckeer, or Jean Leducq; his pigs are observed differently from those of Karel Dujardin, but perhaps they are more true to nature because he has not put any malice or irony into his representation of them. The diversity of his subjects, the talent he displays in grouping figures and animals in an extensive landscape, or in a boat passing along a canal, or on the beach of Scheveningen where, in The Hague picture, we see them huddling together as if the ocean had just cast them ashore with its shells and fishes; the art of lighting them so as to delight the eyes without too greatly distracting the mind from the spectacle of vast nature and the infinite ocean—all that makes Simon de Vlieger one of the most remarkable Dutch masters."[9]

De Vlieger was as eminent in interiors, ruins, and processions as in marines and landscapes. He loved to frame familiar and rustic scenes in beautiful landscapes; and he had no need to call upon others, such as Barent Gael, Schellinkx or Van de Velde, for his figures, as so many of his contemporaries did.

Painters of Architectural Pictures: De Vries.—Pictures in which architecture forms the chief interest had their beginning with Jan Vriedeman de Vries, who devoted himself to the study of Vitruvius and Serlio. His works were very successful, though in the mannered taste of his time.

Hendrik van Steenwyck and his Son.—A scholar of his, Hendrik van Steenwyck (1550-1604), who became a master in Antwerp in 1577, painted chiefly interiors of Gothic churches of fine perspective, both lineal and aërial, and was the first to represent the light of torches and tapers on architectural forms. One of the very numerous Francken family usually added the human figures. His son Hendrik van Steenwyck was his pupil and follower, though he painted in a cooler tone and was inferior in all respects.

Pieter Neeffs and his Son.—Pieter Neeffs (1620-75), however, was the elder Steenwyck's best pupil. He followed him in style but excelled him in warmth of tone, power, and truthfulness in expressing torchlight effects. Many of his pictures contain figures by Frans Francken the younger, Jan Breughel, and David Teniers the elder. In the Mauritshuis we find a good example of Pieter Neeffs,—The Interior of a Church, with figures by Frans Francken III.

His son of the same name was his pupil and follower, but produced pictures of inferior merit. To this group belongs Bartholomew van Bassen, who painted interiors of the Renaissance churches and halls.

Van der Heyden's Architectural Paintings.—Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712) is "the Gerrit Dou of architectural painters." His subjects chiefly are well-known buildings, palaces, churches, etc., in Holland and Belgium, canals in Dutch towns with houses on their banks, fine perspective, the views selected with great taste. The trees are rather minute in foliage. The figures in many of his works were supplied by A. van de Velde, and after his death by Eglon van der Neer and Lingelbach. A View of the Church of the Jesuits at Düsseldorf, signed and dated 1667, is a valuable work. The figures are by A. van de Velde. "The warm, clear chiaroscuro in which the whole foreground is kept is admirable, while the sunlight falling on the middle distance has a peculiar charm."[10] He is also represented in The Hague Gallery by a still life.

Other Architectural Painters.—Other architectural painters are Gerrit Berckheyde, who painted exteriors of buildings in his own country, and occasionally interiors of churches; Jacob van der Ulft (1627-90), whose large picture in the Mauritshuis of troops marching has already been mentioned; Pieter Saenredam, whose works form a transition from the earliest architectural painters like Pieter Neeffs to the maturest expression of this class; Dirck van Deelen, a pupil of Frans Hals, who has a view of the Binnenhof with the last great Meeting of the States General; Emanuel de Witte, who, strange to say, was a pupil of Evert van Aelst, the painter of dead game and still life; Hendrik van Vliet, pupil of his father, Willem, who has an interior of part of the Old Church at Delft in the Mauritshuis, of peculiar warmth, brilliancy of effect, and delicate treatment of reflected lights; and last of all, Gerard Houckgeest (?-1655), who is represented by the Interior of the New Church at Delft and Tomb of William I. in the New Church at Delft.

The Excellence of Houckgeest's two Paintings.—"This almost unknown artist is a new proof of the astonishing efflorescence of excellent painters in Holland about the middle of the seventeenth century. Two views of the Interior of the New Church at Delft, in The Hague Museum, are on a level with the highest development of the school. It would be difficult to render the brilliancy and transparency of full sunlight more completely than in the one which contains the monuments of the Princes of the House of Orange. The other picture also, inscribed with the master's monogram, and 1631, is in every respect, and especially in the soft and full treatment, of the utmost excellence."[11]

Dou, Founder of the Leyden School.—The founder of the Leyden school of painters, Gerrit Dou (1613-75), is represented in the Mauritshuis by a masterpiece of the first rank, which is considered one of the gems of the gallery. It is known as The Good Housekeeper, The Household, and The Young Mother.

Description of The Good Housekeeper.—In a large room that serves as hall, dining-room, and sitting-room, as well as kitchen, is seated a lady, handsomely dressed in a morning costume. She has evidently just returned from market; for there is a plucked fowl in a basket on the window seat and an unplucked bird on the table, where a cabbage also lies. A hare hangs on the wall above, and below the table one notes a fish on a platter, and near a pot a bunch of carrots. A lantern has fallen on the floor in the foreground. The lady is sewing, with a basket beside her and a sewing-pillow on her knee; while a little servant watches the baby in its basket cradle. The pillar that supports the roof is carved, the brass chandelier is of splendid design, the draperies are heavy, and a coat-of-arms is painted on the windows. Everything betokens wealth and comfort.

The young mother looks at us in a very friendly way with her attractive little face. Our attention is first attracted to the group in the foreground; but gradually we admire the complete representation of all the little things around; the wonderful, finely expressed chiaroscuro, the beautiful stream of light, and the boldness of the shadowed yet plainly visible group in the background. The picture belongs to the artist's middle period and is dated 1658; and although it has darkened, it is still full of rich color.