Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖

him 1,300 guilders, and a

handsome present. This picture was presented to the King of France, who

placed it in the Louvre. The King of Prussia visited Backhuysen, and the

Czar Peter took delight in seeing him paint, and often endeavored to

make drawings after vessels which the artist had designed.

 

 

 

 

JOHN BAPTIST WEENIX, THE ELDER.

 

 

This eminent Dutch painter was born at Amsterdam in 1621. He possessed

extraordinary and varied talents. He painted history, portraits,

landscapes, sea-ports, animals, and dead game, in all which branches he

showed uncommon ability; but his greatest excellence lay in painting

Italian sea-ports, of a large size, enriched with noble edifices, and

decorated with figures representing embarkations and all the activity of

commercial industry. In these subjects he has scarcely been surpassed

except by his pupil, Nicholas Berghem.

 

 

 

 

WEENIX'S FACILITY OF HAND.

 

 

Houbraken relates several instances of his remarkable facility of hand.

He frequently painted a large landscape and inserted all the figures in

a single day--feats so much admired in Salvator Rosa, and Gaspar

Ponssin. On one occasion he commenced and finished three portraits, on

canvass, of three-quarters size, with heads as large as life, from

sun-rise to sun-set, on a summer's day. Lanzi warns all artists,

especially the youthful aspirant, not to imitate such expedition, as

they value their reputation.

 

 

 

 

JOHN BAPTIST WEENIX, THE YOUNGER.

 

 

Was the son of the preceding, and born at Amsterdam in 1644. Possessing

less varied talent than his father; he was unrivaled in painting all

sorts of animals, huntings, dead games, birds, flowers, and fruit. He

was appointed Court painter to the Elector Palatine, with a liberal

pension, and decorated his palace at Bernsberg with many of his choicest

works. He painted in one gallery a series of pictures representing the

Hunting of the Stag; and in another the Chase of the Wild Boar, which

gained him the greatest applause. There are many of his best works in

the Dusseldorf Gallery. He painted all kinds of birds and fowls in an

inimitable manner; the soft down of the duck, the glossy plumage of the

pigeon, the splendor of the peacock, the magnificent spread of an

inanimate swan producing a flood of light, and serving as a contrast to

all the objects around it, are so attractive that it is impossible to

contemplate one of his pictures of these subjects without feeling

admiration and delight at the painter's skill in rivaling nature.

 

 

 

 

JAN STEEN.

 

 

The life of this extraordinary artist, if we are to believe his

biographers, is soon told. He was born at Leyden in 1636. He early

exhibited a passion for art, which his father, a wealthy brewer of that

city, endeavored to restrain, and afterwards apprehending that he could

not procure a comfortable subsistence by the exercise of his pencil,

established him in his own business at Delft, where, instead of

attending to his affairs, he gave himself up to dissipation, and soon

squandered his means and ruined his establishment; his indulgent parent,

after repeated attempts to reclaim him, was compelled to abandon him to

his fate. He opened a tavern, which proved more calamitous than the

former undertaking. He gave himself up entirely to reveling and

intoxication, wrought only when his necessities compelled him, and sold

his pictures to satisfy his immediate wants, and often for the most

paltry prices to escape arrest.

 

 

 

 

JAN STEEN'S WORKS.

 

 

The pictures of Jan Steen usually represent merry-makings, and the

frolics and festivities of the ale-house, which he treated with a

characteristic expression of humorous drollery, that compensated for

the vulgarity of his subjects. He sometimes painted interiors, domestic

assemblies, conversations, mountebanks, etc., which he generally

accompanied with some facetious trait of wit or humor, admirably

rendered. Some of his works of this description are little inferior to

the charming productions of Gabriel Metzu. His compositions are

ingenious and interesting, his design is correct and spirited, his

coloring chaste and clear, and his pencil free and decided. He also had

a good knowledge of the chiaro-scuro, which enabled him to give his

figures a fine relief. His works are invariably finished with care and

diligence, and do not betray any haste or infirmity of hand or head. It

is evident that, from some untoward circumstance, his works were not

appreciated in his day, but after his death they rose amazingly in

value, and have continued to increase ever since,--a true test of a

master's merit--till now they are scarcely to be found except in royal

and noble collections and the public galleries of Europe. His pictures

were, for a long time, scarcely known out of Holland, but now they are

deservedly placed in the choicest collections. His works are very

numerous, sufficient to have continually occupied the life time of not

only a sober and industrious artist, but one possessing great facility

of hand. Smith, in his Catalogue raisonné, vol. iv. and Supplement,

gives a descriptive account of upwards of 300 genuine pictures by

Steen, many of them compositions of numerous figures, and almost all of

them executed with the greatest care. It cannot be believed that a man

living in a state of continued dissipation and inebriety, could find

time to produce so many admirable works, displaying, as they do, a deep

study of human nature, and a great discrimination of character, or that

the hand of a habitual drunkard could operate with such beauty and

precision. Nor is it probable that a mind besotted by drink, and debased

by low intercourse, could moralize so admirably as he has done on the

evil consequences of intemperance and the indulgence of evil passions.

 

 

 

 

KUGLER'S CRITIQUE ON THE WORKS OF JAN STEEN.

 

 

Dr Kügler, a judicious critic, thus sums up his character as an artist:

"The works of Jan Steen imply a free and cheerful view of common life,

and he treats it with a careless humor, such as seems to deal with all

its daily occurrences, high and low, as a laughable masquerade and a

mere scene of perverse absurdity. His treatment of the subjects differed

essentially from that adopted by other artists. Frequently, indeed, they

are the same jolly drinking parties, or the meetings of boors; but in

other masters the object is, for the most part, to depict a certain

situation, either quiet or animated, whilst in Jan Steen is generally to

be found action more or less developed, together with all the

reciprocal relations and interests between the characters which spring

from it. This is accompanied by great variety and force of individual

expression, such as evinces the sharpest observation. He is almost the

only artist in the Netherlands who has thus, with true genius, brought

into full play all these elements of comedy. His technical execution

suits his design; it is carefully finished, and notwithstanding the

closest attention to minute details, it is as firm and correct as it is

light and free."

 

 

 

 

FROLICS OF MIERIS AND JAN STEEN.

 

 

Sandrart says that Mieris had a real friendship for Jan Steen, and

delighted in his company, though he was by no means fond of drinking as

freely as Jan was accustomed to do every evening at the tavern.

Notwithstanding this, he often passed whole nights with his friend in a

joyous manner, and frequently returned very late to his lodging. One

evening, when it was very dark and almost midnight, as Mieris strolled

home from the tavern, he unluckily fell into the common sewer, which had

been opened for the purpose of cleansing, and the workmen had left

unguarded. There he must have perished, had not a cobbler and his wife,

who worked in a neighboring stall, heard his cries and instantly ran to

his relief. Having extricated Mieris, they took all possible care of

him, and procured the best refreshment in their power. The next morning

Mieris, having thanked his preservers, took his leave, but particularly

remarked the house, that he might know it another time. The poor people

were totally ignorant of the person whom they had relieved, but Mieris

had too grateful a heart to forget his benefactors, and having painted a

picture in his best manner, he brought it to the cobbler and his wife,

telling them it was a present from the person whose life they had

contributed to save, and desired them to carry it to his friend

Cornelius Plaats, who would give them the full value for it. The woman,

unacquainted with the real worth of the present, concluded she might

receive a moderate gratuity for the picture, but her astonishment was

inexpressible, when she received the sum of eight hundred florins.

 

 

 

 

SIR ANTHONY MORE.

 

 

This eminent painter was born at Utrecht, in 1519. In 1552, he

accompanied the Cardinal Granville to Spain, who recommended him to the

patronage of the Emperor Charles V., whose portrait he painted, and that

of Prince Philip, which gave so much satisfaction to the monarch, that

he sent him to Portugal, to paint the portraits of King John III.,

Catherine of Austria his Queen, and sister to Charles, and that of their

daughter, the Princess Donna Maria, then contracted to Philip; he also

painted the portrait of Donna Catalina, Charles' younger sister; all of

which gave entire satisfaction, and the artist was munificently

rewarded, and the honor of knighthood conferred on him. The Emperor next

despatched More to England to take the portrait of the princess Mary

previous to her marriage with Philip of Spain. On this occasion, he is

said to have employed all the flattering aids of his art, and so

captivated the courtiers of Spain, with the charms of Mary's person,

that he was employed by Cardinal Granville and several of the grandees

to make copies of it for them. He accompanied Philip to England, where

he remained till the death of Queen Mary, who highly honored him,

presented him a gold chain, and allowed him a pension of £100 a year.

The Emperor Charles V. having abdicated in favor of his son Philip II.,

the latter returned to Spain, and made More his court-painter, where his

talents procured him great respect and abundant employment.

 

 

 

 

SIR ANTHONY MORE AND PHILIP II.

 

 

Philip II. was accustomed to honor More by frequent visits to his

studio, on which occasions he treated him with extraordinary

familiarity. One day, in a moment of condescension and admiration, the

monarch jocosely slapped More on the shoulder which compliment the

painter, in an unguarded moment, playfully returned by smearing his hand

with a little carmine from his brush. The King withdrew his hand and

surveyed it for a moment, seriously; the courtiers were petrified with

horror and amazement; the hand to which ladies knelt before they had the

honor to kiss it, had never before been so dishonored since the

foundation of the monarchy; at that moment the fate of More was balanced

on a hair; he saw his rashness, fell on his knees, kissed the King's

feet, and humbly begged pardon for the offence. Philip smiled, and

pardoned him, and all seemed to be well again; but the person of the

King was too sacred in those days, and the act too daring to escape the

notice of the Inquisition, from whose bigotry and vengeance the King

himself could not have shielded him. Happily for More, one of Philip's

ministers advised him of his danger, and without loss of time he set out

for Brussels, upon the feigned pretence of pressing engagements, nor

could Philip ever induce him to return to his court.

 

 

 

 

MORE'S SUCCESS AND WORKS.

 

 

More was employed by most of the princes of Europe, who liberally

rewarded him, and at every court his paintings were beheld with

admiration and applause, but at none more than at those of Spain and

England. He acquired an ample fortune. When he was in Portugal, the

nobility of that country, in token of their esteem, presented him, in

the name of their order, a gold chain valued at a thousand ducats. He

closely imitated nature. He designed and painted in a bold, masculine

style, with a rich tone of coloring; he showed a good knowledge of the

chiaro-scuro, and he finished his pictures with neatness and care; his

style is said to resemble that of Hans Holbein, though not possessing

his delicacy and clearness; and there is something dry and hard in his

manner. His talents were not confined to portraits; he painted several

historical subjects in Spain for the Royal Collection, which were highly

applauded, but which were unfortunately destroyed in the conflagration

of the palace of the Prado. While he resided in Spain, he copied some

portraits of illustrious women, in a style said to approach Titian. His

own portrait, painted by himself, charmingly colored, and full of life

and nature, is in the Florentine Gallery. His best work was a picture of

the Circumcision, intended for the Cathedral at Antwerp, but he did not

live to finish it, and died there in 1575.

 

 

 

 

PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF A PAINTER.

 

 

John Griffier, a Dutch painter of celebrity, went to London in 1667,

where he met with great encouragement. While there he painted many views

on the Thames, and in order to observe