Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖
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sumptuous table was frequented by persons of the highest distinction.
He often detained his sitters to dinner, where he had an opportunity to
observe more of their peculiar characteristics, and retouched their
pictures in the afternoon. Notwithstanding his distinguished success, he
does not appear to have been satisfied with eminence in portrait
painting; and not long after his marriage with Maria Ruthven,
granddaughter of Lord Gowrie, he went to Antwerp with his lady, on a
visit to his family and friends, and thence proceeded to Paris. The fame
which Rubens had acquired by his celebrated performances at the
Luxembourg, rendered Vandyck desirous to execute the decorations at the
Louvre; but on arriving at the French capital, he found the commission
disposed of to Nicholas Poussin. He soon returned to England, and being
still desirous of executing some great work, proposed to the king
through Sir Kenelm Digby, to decorate the walls of the Banqueting House
(of which the ceiling was already adorned by Rubens), with the History
and Progress of the Order of the Garter. The sum demanded was £8000, and
while the king was treating with him for a less amount, the project was
terminated by the death of Vandyck, December 9th, 1641, aged 42 years.
He was buried with extraordinary honors in St. Paul's cathedral. His
high living had brought on the gout during his latter years, and luxury
had considerably reduced his fortune, which he endeavored to repair by
the study of alchemy. He left property amounting to about £20,000. In
his private character, Vandyck was universally esteemed for the urbanity
of his manners, and his generous patronage to all who excelled in any
science or art, many of whose portraits he painted gratuitously.
WILLIAM VAN DE VELDE, THE ELDER.
This eminent Dutch marine painter was born at Leyden, in 1610. He drew
everything after nature, and was one of the most correct, spirited, and
admirable designers of marine subjects. He made an incredible number of
drawings on paper, heightened with India ink, all of them sketched from
nature with uncommon elegance and fidelity. His talents recommended him
to the notice of the States of Holland, and Descamps says they furnished
him with a small vessel to accompany their fleets, that he might design
the different manoeuvres and engagements; that he was present in
various sea-fights, in which he fearlessly exposed himself to the most
imminent danger, while making his sketches; he was present at the severe
battle between the English and Dutch fleets, under the command of the
Duke of York and Admiral Opdam, in which the ship of the latter, with
five hundred men, was blown up, and in the still more memorable
engagement in the following year, between the English under the Duke of
Albemarle, and the Dutch Admiral de Ruyter, which lasted three days. It
is said that during these engagements he sailed alternately between the
fleets, so as to represent minutely every movement of the ships, and the
most, material circumstances of the actions with incredible exactness
and truth. So intent was he upon his drawing, that he constantly exposed
himself to the greatest danger, without the least apparent anxiety. He
wrote over the ships their names and those of their commanders; and
under his own frail craft _V. Velde's Gallijodt_, or _Myn Gallijodt_.
VAN DE VELDE AND CHARLES II.
After having executed many capital pictures for the States of Holland,
Van de Velde was invited to England by Charles II., who had become
acquainted with his talents during his residence in Holland. He arrived
in London about 1675, well advanced in years, and the king settled upon
him a pension of £100 per annum until his death, in 1693, as appears
from this inscription on his tomb-stone in St. James' church: "Mr.
William van de Velde, senior, late painter of sea-fights to their
Majesties, King Charles II. and King James, died in 1693." He was
accompanied by his son, who was also taken into the service of the king,
as appears from an order of the privy seal, as follows: "Charles the
Second, by the grace of God, &c., to our dear Cousin, Prince Rupert, and
the rest of our commissioners for executing the place of Lord High
Admiral of England, greeting. Whereas, we have thought fit to allow the
salary of £100 per annum unto William van de Velde the Elder, for taking
and making draughts of sea-fights; and the like salary of £100 per annum
unto William van de Velde the younger, for putting the said draughts in
color for our particular use; our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby
authorize and require you to issue your orders for the present and the
future establishment of said salaries to the aforesaid William van de
Velde the Elder and William van de Velde the Younger, to be paid unto
them, or either of them, during our pleasure, and for so doing, these
our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge. Given under
our privy-seal, at our palace of Westminster, the 20th day of February,
in the 26th year of our reign."
Many of the large pictures of sea-fights in England, and doubtless in
Holland, bearing the signature _W. van de Velde_, and generally
attributed to the son, were executed by him from the designs of his
father. Such are the series of twelve naval engagements and sea-ports in
the palace at Hampton Court, though signed like the best works of the
younger van de Velde; they are dated 1676 and 1682.
WILLIAM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER.
This eminent artist was the son of the preceding, and born at Amsterdam
in 1633. He had already acquired a distinguished reputation in his
native country for his admirable cabinet pictures of marine subjects,
when he accompanied his father to England, where his talents not only
recommended him to the patronage of the king, but to the principal
nobility and personages of his court, for whom he executed many of his
most beautiful works. "The palm," says Lord Orford, "is not less
disputed with Raffaelle for history, than with Van de Velde for
sea-pieces." He died in 1707.
THE YOUNGER VAN DE VELDE'S WORKS.
Like his father, the younger Van de Velde designed everything from
nature, and his compositions are distinguished by a more elegant and
tasteful arrangement of his objects, than is to be found in the
productions of any other painter of marines. His vessels are designed
with the greatest accuracy, and from the improvements which had been
made in ship-building, they are of a more graceful and pleasing form
than those of his predecessors; the cordage and rigging are finished
with a delicacy, and at the same time with a freedom almost without
example; his small figures are drawn with remarkable correctness, and
touched with the greatest spirit. In his calms the sky is sunny, and
brilliant, and every object is reflected in the glassy smoothness of the
water, with a luminous transparency peculiar to himself. In his fresh
breezes and squalls, the swell and curl of the waves is delineated with
a truth and fidelity which could only be derived from the most attentive
and accurate study of nature; in his storms, tempests, and hurricanes,
the tremendous conflict of the elements and the horrors of shipwreck are
represented with a truthfulness that strikes the beholder with terror.
The works of the younger Van de Velde are very numerous, and the greater
part of them are in England, where Houbraken says they were so highly
esteemed that they were eagerly sought after in Holland, and purchased
at high prices to transport to London; so that they are rarely to be met
with in his native country. Smith, in his Catalogue raisonné, vol. vi.
and Supplement, describes about three hundred and thirty pictures by
him, the value of which has increased amazingly, as may be seen by a few
examples. The two marines now in the Earl of Ellesmere's collection, one
a View of the Entrance to the Texel, sold in 1766 for £80, now valued at
£1,000; the other sold in 1765 for £84, now valued at £500. A Sea-View,
formerly in the collection of Sir Robert Peel, sold in 1772 for only
£31; brought in 1828, £300. The Departure of Charles II. from Holland in
1660, sold in 1781 for £82; it brought recently, at public sale, £800. A
View off the Coast of Holland sold in 1816 for £144; it brought, in Sir
Simon Clarke's sale in 1840, £1,029. A View on the Sea-Shore, 16 inches
by 12, sold in 1726 for £9, and in 1835 for £108. The picture known as
_Le Coup de Canon_, sold in 1786 for £52, in 1790 for only £36, but in
1844 it brought 1,380 guineas.
The drawings, and especially the sketches and studies of the younger Van
de Velde are very numerous, and prove the indefatigable pains he took in
designing his vessels, their appurtenances, and the ordonnance of his
compositions. His sketches are executed in black lead only; his more
finished drawings with the pencil or pen, and shaded with India ink. He
executed these with wonderful facility; it is recorded that he was so
rapid in his sketching, that he frequently filled a quire of paper in an
evening. Stanley says that during the years 1778 and 1780, about 8,000
of his drawings were sold in London at public auction. Some of his
choicest drawings in India ink brought, at the sale of M. Goll de
Frankenstein at Amsterdam, in 1833, and at that of the late Baron
Verstolk de Soelen, in the same city in 1847, prices varying from £27 up
to £144 each. He inherited his father's drawings, and all these seem now
to be attributed to him.
NICHOLAS POUSSIN.
This distinguished French painter was born at Andely, in Normandy, in
He was descended from a noble family, originally of Soissons,whose fortunes had been ruined in the disastrous civil wars in the time
of Charles IX. and Henry III. His father, Jean Poussin, after serving
in the army of Henry IV., settled on a small paternal inheritance at
Andely, where he cultivated a taste for literature and the sciences, and
instructed his son in the same. Young Poussin had already distinguished
himself for the solidity of his judgment, and his progress in letters,
when a natural fondness for drawing, developed by an acquaintance he had
formed with Quintin Varin, an artist of some eminence, induced him to
solict the permission of his father to adopt painting as a profession.
POUSSIN'S FIRST CELEBRITY.
In 1612, at the age of eighteen, Poussin went to Paris in search of
improvement, where he devoted himself to studying the best works to
which he could gain access (for the fine arts were then at a low ebb in
France) with the greatest assiduity. In 1620, according to Felibien, the
Jesuits celebrated the canonization of the founder of their order,
Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier, on which occasion they
determined to display a series of pictures by the first artists in
Paris, representing the miracles performed by their patron saints. Of
these, Poussin painted six in distemper, in an incredibly short space of
time, and when the exhibition came off, although he had been obliged to
neglect detail, his pictures excited the greatest admiration on account
of the grandeur of conception, and the elegance of design displayed in
them. They obtained the preference over all the others, and brought
Poussin immediately into notice.
POUSSIN'S FIRST VISIT TO ROME.
While Poussin resided at Paris, his talents, and the endowments of his
mind procured him the esteem of several men of letters and distinction,
among whom was the Cav. Marino, the celebrated Italian poet, who
happened then to be in Paris. Marino strongly urged him to accompany him
to Rome, an invitation which Poussin would gladly have accepted, had he
not then been engaged in some commissions of importance, which having
completed, he set out for Rome in 1624, where he was warmly received by
his friend Marino, who introduced him to the Cardinal Barberini. He
however derived little advantage from this favorable notice at the time,
as the Cardinal soon after left Rome on his legation to France and
Spain, and the Cav. Marino died about the same time. Poussin now found
himself a stranger, friendless and unknown in the Eternal City, in very
embarrassed circumstances; but he consoled himself with the thought that
his wants were few, that he was in the very place where he had long
sighed to be, surrounded by the glorious works of ancient and modern
art, and that he should have abundant leisure to study. Therefore,
though he could scarcely supply his necessities by the disposal of his
works, and was often compelled to sell them for the most paltry prices,
his courage did not fail him, but rather stimulated him to the greatest
assiduity to perfect himself in the art. He lodged in the same house
with Francis du
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