7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 in 2016 with funding from 
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PORTRAITS AND PORTRAIT 
 PAINTING 
 
Works of 
 
 Estelle M. Hurll 
 
 
 The Madonna in Art 
 
 $2.00 
 
 Child Life in Art 
 
 2.00 
 
 The Bible Beautiful 
 
 2.50 
 
 Portraits and Portrait 
 
 Painting 
 
 2.50 
 
 L. C. Page & Company 
 New England Building, Boston, Mass, 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Louvre. Paris] 
 
 [Leonardo da Vinci 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MONA LISA 
 
 (See page 30) 
 
Portraits and Portrait 
 Painting 
 
 Bring a Brief Surbrg of portrait Painting 
 from tijr fHiOtiic 3grs to tijc Present Hag 
 
Copyright , iqo? 
 
 By L. C. Page & Company 
 
 (incorporated) 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 First impression, September, 1907 
 
 COLONIAL PRESS 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds Co. 
 Boston , U. S. A . 
 
T© 
 
 JW. B. 
 
preface 
 
 The purpose of this book is so plain as to 
 need no explanation: it is a brief survey of 
 portrait painting from the Middle Ages to 
 the present day, showing what has been con- 
 tributed to the art by each age and by each 
 nationality, as well as by the several most 
 notable portrait painters. Something, too, is 
 told of the people who were the subjects of 
 famous portraits. Among the illustrations 
 the reader will find some familiar favourites, 
 and also some interesting pictures which have 
 never before been reproduced. 
 
 Estelle M. Hurll. 
 
 New Bedford, Mas*. 
 
 July , 1907 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 ABOUT PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 There are, no doubt, a great many people 
 who do not care for portraits, even people 
 who are otherwise fond of pictures. What 
 we call a good story picture is always sure to 
 be popular, but it requires some effort to be- 
 come interested in a portrait: it does not 
 
 appeal so directly to the imagination. There 
 is, indeed, much the same difference between 
 a portrait and a story picture, that there is 
 between a biography and a novel. One has 
 to do chiefly with character, and the other 
 with action. The biography is popularly 
 regarded as dull reading, while the novel 
 has wide circulation. Now and again, how- 
 ever, a biography is written, so full of dra- 
 matic incident and so skilfully related, that it 
 compels an interest beyond the most fasci- 
 nating novel. So, too, here and there, a por- 
 trait has been painted in so masterly a way 
 
VI 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 that it tells a story more interesting than an 
 actual illustration — the story of an individ- 
 ual life. If we know who the sitter was, and 
 something of his life, so much the better. 
 But even the portrait of an “ unknown ” may 
 be so charged with meaning that it will ex- 
 ercise a complete fascination for us. The 
 great portrait master writes the story so 
 plainly in the face that the picture needs no 
 label. So Titian’s Man with the Glove, 
 Rembrandt’s nameless gentleman of the 
 Metropolitan Museum, Velasquez’s Lady with 
 the Fan, appeal to us more powerfully than 
 many of the identified portraits by the same 
 masters. 
 
 The first quality of great portraiture, 
 then, is the power to reveal the inner char- 
 acter, or story, of the sitter. It is said that 
 every man habitually wears a mask in the 
 presence of his fellows, and it is only in mo- 
 ments of unconsciousness that he drops it. 
 The great portrait painter must be able to 
 discern and seize the true self, revealed in 
 instantaneous flashes, and then veiled. Such 
 an artist, 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Vll 
 
 " Poring on a face, 
 
 Divinely through all hindrance finds the man 
 Behind it, and so paints him that his face, 
 
 The shape and colour of a mind and life, 
 
 Lives for his children, ever at his best ” 1 
 
 Interpretative portrait painting first found 
 striking exemplification in Leonardo da 
 Vinci, and reached a superlative degree in the 
 Venetian Lotto. Probably every portrait 
 painter since, however far from attaining his 
 ideal, has set himself more or less definitely 
 to this aim. To attain it requires something 
 of the seer as well as the artist, and a sensitive 
 and sympathetic nature as well. A painter’s 
 gift in interpreting life is great in proportion 
 to the scope of his sympathies. Whistler’s 
 power was remarkable in his own circle, but 
 his radius was short, while Hals and Velasquez 
 were men of universal sympathies. Often 
 the personality of the sitter is revealed by 
 his direct gaze which seems to take us into 
 his confidence. Smiling or grave, his eyes 
 seem to draw us with a sense of “ intimacy ” 
 which is difficult to define. We get this qual- 
 
 1 The lines in Elaine in which Tennyson embodied the ideas 
 expressed to him by Watts on the work of a portrait painter. 
 
Vlll 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 ity in the jovial camaraderie of Hals, the 
 friendly smile of Reynolds, the wistful stare 
 of Rembrandt, and the melancholy appeal of 
 Morone. At other times the sitter’s glance 
 is averted, and he is quite unaware of obser- 
 vation. We have surprised him with his 
 expression off guard, in the intimacy of his 
 own self-communion. So Titian often treated 
 his portrait subjects. 
 
 Obviously the noblest form of character 
 revelation is idealization. When the painter 
 can show what a man’s soul is capable of 
 attaining, he fulfils the highest function of his 
 art. This was the special glory of Titian 
 and Van Dyck, and not infrequently Reyn- 
 olds and Gainsborough touched this mark. 
 In our day no one has done so much in this 
 way as George Frederick Watts. 
 
 Combined with psychological insight is a 
 second equally important quality of the por- 
 trait painter, the power to give lifelikeness 
 to a sitter. In the great portrait the blood 
 seems fairly coursing through the veins. We 
 seem to be looking at a breathing human 
 being, not a picture; we have the sense of a 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 IX 
 
 real presence. This is what we call vitality. 
 It has to do with the physical, as the other has 
 to do with the psychical. Vitality does not, 
 however, require motion or even excessive 
 animation. In the early military groups by 
 Frans Hals the figures are so alive that they 
 almost walk out of their frames. The quality 
 is not sufficiently restrained; the sitters do 
 not properly keep their place. It is possible 
 to produce an effect of perfect lifelikeness in 
 repose, as Velasquez did in his incomparable 
 portraits of Philip IV. 
 
 To what degree the likeness should be 
 counted an essential of portrait painting is 
 a matter of varying opinion. As the original 
 purpose of portraiture, in fact, the raison 
 d’etre, it has always been an ostensible, if not 
 a real object of the painter. In the begin- 
 nings of the art there was so little skill that 
 the sitter and his friends were easily satisfied. 
 It was half the battle to copy the costume 
 accurately. If the leading peculiarities of the 
 features were suggested, the resemblance was 
 considered a marvel. With the advancement 
 of technique a more photographic accuracy 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 was expected, such as we have in Ghirlandajo 
 and the Van Eycks. It was a still later 
 development of the art to adapt the portrait 
 to purely artistic ends, to make it first of all 
 a picture. This was the primary aim of the 
 Venetians, with whom decorative ensemble 
 was of supreme interest. With such a point 
 of view the resemblance was often neglected. 
 As a critic has wittily remarked, “ Titian, 
 Rembrandt and Rubens often executed a 
 fantasia on the motif of the person painted. 
 ... It was in the cause of beauty that these 
 great artists sacrificed the accurate map of 
 the features that pleases family friends, and 
 the profusion of hard accessories that minister 
 to family pride. ,, 
 
 In the reproduction of facial topography 
 the schools of Northern Europe excelled. 
 The minute realism of the fifteenth century 
 Flemings was carried over into the German 
 portraiture of the next century, as exempli- 
 fied in Diirer and Holbein. In the Dutch 
 school of the seventeenth century this tendency 
 reached the climax, Rembrandt making the 
 only notable exception to the rule. Velasquez 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 xi 
 
 had a way of his own in securing the likeness, 
 not by the minute imitation of detail, but by 
 a perfect reproduction of the total impression. 
 
 In a general way, usually somewhat 
 loosely, portrait painters are distinguished as 
 subjective or objective, according as they put 
 most of themselves or their sitters into the 
 picture. If the subjective element is some- 
 thing to be desired, the painter is the more 
 eagerly sought after, especially by those con- 
 scious of their own lack. It is as if he had a 
 princely gift to bestow. Nobility and distinc- 
 tion were conferred by Titian and Van Dyck; 
 grace and charm by the French and English 
 schools of the eighteenth century. On the other 
 hand, men like Holbein, Frans Hals, and 
 Velasquez, utterly lost themselves in their 
 subjects, giving themselves up wholly to their 
 impressions. Their work stood outside them- 
 selves, as if they had merely held the brush 
 for an external motive force to wield. 
 
 In the history of portraiture it is curious to 
 notice that what was one man’s limitation 
 was another’s opportunity. With Van Dyck 
 and Nattier the constant reiteration of the 
 
Xll 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 same subject, or class of subjects, became me- 
 chanical. They were content to repeat them- 
 selves to the point of mannerism, and lost the 
 ambition to grow. Velasquez and Rembrandt 
 found a single model an inexhaustible field of 
 study. A liftime was not long enough for 
 them to devote to the multitudinous varia- 
 tions which one figure could suggest. 
 
 Again it is curious that while some men 
 were distinctly the product of their time, 
 others seemed born out of due season. Titian 
 came at the climax of Venetian art, to epito- 
 mize the best of its characteristic qualities. 
 Velasquez came two hundred years ahead of 
 time, and struck out lines which his prede- 
 cessors never dreamed of. The environment 
 of Titian and Holbein, of Rubens and Van 
 Dyck, shaped in a measure the character of 
 their work, but other painters seemed to have 
 no relation to their surroundings. It was 
 matter-of-fact Holland which produced the 
 most visionary of painters, Rembrandt; and 
 Spain, the land of romantic adventure, 
 brought forth the most naturalistic, Velas- 
 quez. 
 
introductory 
 
 So through the whole range of great por- 
 trait painting, we find many temperaments, 
 and many types of work. No single painter 
 united in himself all the qualities of greatness, 
 but all are needed to show the perfect ideal 
 of the art which is as many sided as human 
 
 nature itself. 
 

CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Preface iii 
 
 Introductory ....... v 
 
 I. The Development of Portrait Painting 
 
 in Italy 1 
 
 II. Italian Portrait Painting in the Six- 
 teenth Century 26 
 
 III. The Venetian Portrait School : Early 
 
 Group . 44 
 
 IV. Titian and the Later Venetians . . 60 
 
 V. The Development of Portrait Painting 
 
 in the Netherlands 83 
 
 VI. Albert Durer as a Portrait Painter . 96 
 
 VII. The Portraits of Holbein .... 110 
 VIII. Rubens as a Portrait Painter . . . 125 
 
 IX. The Portraits of Van Dyck . . . 144 
 
 X. Dutch Portrait Painting and the Cor- 
 poration Groups 168 
 
 XI. Frans Hals and Rembrandt . . . 186 
 
 XII. Three Centuries of French Portrait 
 
 Painting 207 
 
 XIII. Velasquez at the Court of Philip IV . 227 
 
 XIV. The English Portrait School . . . 252 
 
 XV. Some Examples of Modern Portrait Paint- 
 
 ING 273 
 
 Index 301 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci. — Portrait of Mona Lisa(6V<? page 
 
 30) ....... Frontispiece 
 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Benozzo Gozzoli Portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici 
 
 (Detail of Fresco) 9 
 
 Riccardi Palace , Florence 
 
 Botticelli. — Portrait of Unknown Youth 
 National Gallery , London 
 
 Ghirlandajo. — Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni 
 Private Collection 
 
 Ambrogio de Predis. — Portrait of Bianca Sforza(?) 
 Ambrosiana , Milan 
 
 Ambrogio de Predis. — Portrait of Giangaleazzo 
 
 Sanseverino (?) 
 
 Ambrosiana, Milan 
 
 Raphael. — Portrait of Julius II 
 
 Pitti Gallery , Florence 
 
 Raphael. — Portrait of Joanna of Aragon 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Bronzino. — Portrait of Don Garcia .... 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 
 
 Bellini. — Portrait of Doge Loredano . 
 
 National Gallery, London 
 
 Lotto. — Portrait of Unknown Lady (Laura da Pola?) . 
 Brer a Gallery , Milan 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 35 
 39 
 42 
 48 
 56 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Titian. — Portrait of Himself 61 
 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 
 
 Titian. — Portrait of La Bella ..... 70 
 
 Fitti Gallery , Florence 
 
 Paris Bordone. — Portrait of a Boy ... 74 
 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 
 
 Tintoretto. — Portrait of the Architect Sansovino . 76 
 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 
 
 Morone. — Portrait of a Little Girl .... 80 
 
 Carrara Gallery, Bergamo 
 
 Van Eyck. — The Man with the Pinks ... 88 
 
 Berlin Gallery 
 
 Memling. — Portrait of an Unknown Man . . .92 
 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 
 
 Durer. — Portrait of Oswald Krel .... 101 
 
 Munich Gallery 
 
 Durer. — Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher . . 107 
 
 Berlin Gallery 
 
 Holbein. — Portrait of Erasmus 114 
 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Holbein. — Portrait of Anne of Cleves . . .122 
 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Rubens. — Portrait of Helena Fourment . . .141 
 
 M useuni , A ms ter da m 
 
 Rubens. — Portrait of Himself 142 
 
 Uffizi Gallery , Florence 
 
 Van Dyck. — Portrait of Count Brignole -Sala (Detail) 148 
 Palazzo Rosso, Genoa 
 
 Van Dyck. — Portrait of Philippe Le Roy (Detail) . 150 
 
 Wallace Collection , London 
 
 Van Dyck Portrait of Madame Le Roy (Detail) 152 
 
 Wallace Collection, London 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Van Dyck. — Portrait of Prince Charles (Detail) 
 Turin Gallery 
 
 Rembrandt. — Group of Heads from Anatomy Lesson 
 Royal Museum, The Hague 
 
 Frans Hals. — Group from Banquet of St. George 
 
 Shooting Guild (1627) 
 
 Town Hall , Haarlem 
 
 Rembrandt. — Portrait of Himself in Costume . 
 
 Cassel Gallery 
 
 Frans Hals. - The Bohemian Girl . 
 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Frans Hals — T he Laughing Cavalier 
 
 Wallace Collection , London 
 
 Rembrandt. — Portrait of an Old Woman 
 Hermitage , St. Petersburg 
 
 Clouet. — Portrait of Elizabeth of Austria 
 Louvre , Paris 
 
 Nattier. — P ortrait of Lady in Blue . 
 
 Wallace Collection , London 
 
 Madame Vig£e Le Brun. — Portrait of Her Daughter 
 Bologna Gallery 
 
 Velasquez. — Portrait of the Princess Margaret . 
 
 Louvre , Pa?'is 
 
 Velasquez. — Portrait of Philip IV (Old). 
 
 National Gallery , London 
 
 Reynolds. — Child with Kitten 
 
 Reynolds — L ady Cockburn and Her Children . 
 
 National Gallery , London 
 
 Gainsborough. — Portrait of Mrs. Siddons (Detail) 
 National Gallery , London 
 
 Romney. — Portrait of Mrs. Robinson .... 
 Wallace Collection , London 
 
 PACK 
 
 l 6 o 
 
 173 
 
 175 
 
 190 
 
 I96 
 
 I98 
 
 201 
 
 210 
 
 218 
 
 225 
 
 245 
 
 249 
 
 257 
 
 259 
 
 265 
 
 266 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lawrence. — Portrait of Lady Peel .... 270 
 
 Bonnat. — Portrait of Himself ..... 274 
 
 Uffizi Gallery , Florence 
 
 Watts. — Portrait of Mrs. Percy Windham . . 284 
 
 Collection of Hon. Percy Windham , Salisbury ^ Eng. 
 
 Whistler. — Portrait of Carlyle. .... 290 
 
 Corporation Gallery , Glasgow 
 
 Sargent. — Portrait of Edwin Booth .... 297 
 
 Players Club , New York 
 
PORTRAITS AND 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 IN ITALY 
 
 T is impossible to put one’s finger 
 upon a definite date for the origin 
 of portrait painting, or upon any 
 single work as the first example of that art. 
 Portraiture is but one of many branches of 
 the great mother art of painting, and was a 
 long time in reaching any independent status. 
 The original purposes of painting, it must be 
 remembered, were distinctly religious. It was 
 solely for the glory of God, and the edifica- 
 tion of the faithful, that the first Christian 
 artists painted their crude pictures on the 
 damp walls of the catacombs. Bible story 
 
2 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 and sacred allegory were the chosen subjects. 
 It was not till the next stage of art history 
 that something like a portrait element ap- 
 pears. Now we have the oft repeated figures 
 of the apostles Peter and Paul, so strongly 
 characterized that they seem to have been de- 
 rived from some actual likeness. St. Chrysos- 
 tom, indeed, alludes to a portrait of St. Paul, 
 hanging in his chamber, and this was in the 
 fourth century. In the wonderful old mosaics 
 of S. Vitale, Ravenna, are the full length por- 
 traits of the contemporary Emperor Justinian, 
 and the Empress Theodora, engaged in the 
 ceremony of dedicating the church. The em- 
 peror is accompanied by the Archbishop 
 Maximian, and many court attendants. Stiff 
 and formal enough are these groups of splen- 
 did creatures, not very much like the originals, 
 we may suppose, and executed in the style 
 borrowed from the Byzantine art. We must 
 wait a little longer for portrait beginnings of 
 a more modern spirit. 
 
 As we pass out of the middle ages into the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we come 
 to the so-called founders of modem painting. 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 3 
 
 From Florence and Siena came forth a great 
 company of painters who covered the walls 
 of churches and public buildings with vast 
 schemes of mural decoration. The subjects 
 were still largely religious and allegorical, and 
 art, under the surveillance of church or state, 
 was slow to introduce any innovations. Yet 
 the opportunities for portraiture gradually 
 increased. Quite an ambitious attempt in this 
 direction is seen at Siena, in Ambrogio Lo- 
 renzetti’s great allegorical decoration of the 
 Palazzo Pubblico. The subject is Good and 
 Pad Government, and in the lower portion of 
 the composition is a long procession of Sienese 
 dignitaries illustrating the results of the 
 former. 
 
 Religious subjects had likewise their por- 
 trait opportunities. Occasionally some bold 
 spirit ventured to introduce among the sacred 
 personages of his composition a portrait fig- 
 ure of a contemporary. A pretty compliment 
 this, to a patron, or famous personage of the 
 day, as when the old painter in the Campo 
 Santo (Pisa) introduces the Ghibelline com- 
 mander Uberti in scenes in the life of Job. 
 
4 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Dante, appearing among the blessed spirits 
 in the Paradise of the Bargello fresco (Flor- 
 ence), and Cimabue, Gaddi, and Memmi, 
 among the participants in the Church Mili- 
 tant — that famous fresco of the Spanish 
 Chapel, Florence — are among our most 
 precious legacies from this period. 
 
 Nor were single portraits by this time alto- 
 gether unheard of. Writers of that age, or a 
 little later, allude to portraits of Dante, Boc- 
 caccio, and Petrarch, and Petrarch himself 
 makes a great ado over Simone Memmi’s por- 
 trait of Laura. These treasures have not come 
 down to us, but we need not mourn them. The 
 poet’s sonnets on the likeness of his love 
 would be sadly discounted by any such coun- 
 terfeit presentments as fourteenth century art 
 could produce. The best the painter could 
 do at this stage was to reproduce some pecu- 
 liarity of costume, or the manner of wearing 
 the hair or beard. He knew nothing of 
 characterization as we now understand it. 
 The face was almost always drawn in profile, 
 and, like the eighteenth century silhouette, 
 suggested the likeness by the outline of fea- 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 5 
 
 tures, rather than by anything approaching 
 expression. The nose and chin were the 
 marks of identification, and there was a singu- 
 lar sameness even in the types of nose and 
 chin. The Sienese citizens seem to have been 
 cast in the same mould, with almond eyes, 
 straight noses, expressionless mouths and 
 pointed chins. 
 
 In short, the fourteenth century Italian 
 portrait was painted like another form of the 
 medal which came into vogue in the same 
 period — a revival of the ancient art so es- 
 teemed in imperial Rome. Pisanello, the 
 greatest of the medallists, was born in 1380, 
 and worked early in the fifteenth century in 
 the employ of the Duke of Ferrara. His 
 portrait of Leonello d’Este shows the fine 
 modelling characteristic of the medallist’s 
 art. 
 
 Side by side with the medallist’s art was 
 developed the art of the portrait bust which 
 reached such perfection in the mid fifteenth 
 century. Sculpture had in Italy, as in an- 
 cient Greece, outrun the art of painting, and 
 in no way more strikingly than in portraiture. 
 
6 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Such works as Mino’s bust of Bishop Salu- 
 tati, and Benedetto da Majano’s Pietro 
 Mellini, uncompromisingly realistic, and con- 
 summately executed, had no contemporary 
 match in portrait painting. But while the 
 actual perfection of portrait painting was 
 delayed till the sixteenth century, the evolu- 
 tion of the art in the preceding period is of 
 immense interest. 
 
 The fifteenth-century Italian painting is 
 seen in its most characteristic form in the 
 great religious mural decorations which con- 
 verted the walls of the churches into mam- 
 moth picture books. To this work all the 
 painters of the period devoted themselves: 
 Masaccio, Benozzo Gozzoli, the two Lippi, 
 Botticelli, Ghirlandajo, Fra Angelico, Si- 
 gnorelli, Cosimo Roselli, Perugino, and Pin- 
 turicchio, and the others of the splendid roll- 
 call of the Quattro Cento. Following the 
 methods first timidly adopted in the preceding 
 century, they one and all drew largely from 
 their friends, neighbours and patrons as 
 models for the figures in their sacred compo- 
 sitions. Thus the fifteenth century Italian 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 7 
 
 frescoes are a veritable historical portrait 
 gallery. 
 
 It was a common practice of painters to 
 sign their works with an auto portrait, so to 
 speak. In this way we get our most interest- 
 ing portraits of Masaccio, with square head 
 and thick neck, of Botticelli, with waving hair 
 and full curved lips, of Filippo Lippi, the 
 portly tonsured friar, of Ghirlandajo, rather 
 square and stolid, of Gentile da Fabriano, 
 smooth faced and bland, of Perugino, with 
 thin compressed lips, of honest, open-faced 
 Benozzo Gozzoli, and of Signorelli and Fra 
 Angelico, standing gravely together in the 
 corner of the Orvieto fresco. 
 
 On the threshold of the century stood the 
 Florentine Masaccio, whose frescoes were a 
 school of draughtsmanship for his successors. 
 Like the mosaicist of S. Vitale, Masaccio 
 painted the ceremony of consecrating the 
 Carmine church, with portraits of the partic- 
 ipants. There were the artists, Brunellesco, 
 Donatello, and Masolino, the ambassador 
 Lorenzo Ridolfi, and other notable Florentine 
 gentlemen, of whom Vasari tells us. The 
 
8 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 wonder of wonders was that the painter had 
 the “ forethought to make these men not all 
 of one size, but differing as in life; insomuch 
 that one distinguishes the short and stout man 
 from the tall and slender.” It was a decided 
 step forward to notice that all men were not 
 made alike. The men who came after, now 
 grew steadily in power to reproduce nature. 
 Portrait figures were drawn with distinct 
 characterization, and contemporary digni- 
 taries were preserved for the infinite delight 
 of posterity. 
 
 To begin with that great and powerful 
 family which so long shaped the destinies of 
 Florence — the Medici. It is Benozzo Goz- 
 zoli who presents 11s to the family in three 
 generations: Cosimo, the “ father of his 
 
 country,” Piero, the weak, and Lorenzo the 
 Magnificent, moving in the procession of 
 oriental kings who bring their offerings to the 
 Christ-child. The walls of the little Riccardi 
 chapel seem to stretch into an illimitable dis- 
 tance filled with the splendid pageant wind- 
 ing its way among the hills: gaily capari- 
 soned horses, huntsmen and their dogs, serv- 
 
Detail of Fresco, Riccardi Palace, Florence] [Benozzo Gozzoli 
 
 PORTRAIT OF LORENZO BE’ MEDICI 
 

 
 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 9 
 
 ants, pages and retainers of every degree 
 (Benozzo himself among them) accompany- 
 ing the royal guests. Young Lorenzo, with 
 richly embroidered doublet and cape, and a 
 coroneted cap, sits his horse with serene 
 dignity, the bright particular star of the 
 occasion. 
 
 Again do the Medici family figure in the 
 subject of the Adoration in Botticelli’s pic- 
 ture of the Uffizi. In this case it is Cosimo, 
 then just deceased, who impersonates the 
 eldest of the Magian kings. But even his 
 bared head and kneeling posture do not belie 
 the air of haughty patronage with which he 
 holds the Christ-child’s foot. Patron of ar- 
 tists, founder of libraries, builder of hospitals 
 and churches, this powerful tyrant blessed 
 his people with one hand while he coerced 
 them with the other. His strong personality 
 was felt throughout Europe. His grandsons, 
 Giovanni and Giuliano, stand waiting their 
 turn, as the other kings, bearing themselves 
 with the distinction of their race. Giuliano 
 is the subject of a separate portrait by Botti- 
 celli, presenting the striking personality of 
 
10 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the man. The long, thin, slanting nose and 
 lifted chin give him an air of supercilious dis- 
 dain (Berlin gallery). Botticelli’s well- 
 known “ Medallist ” of the Uffizi is supposed 
 to be Piero, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, 
 holding in his hands a medallion portrait of 
 his great grandfather Cosimo, pater patriae. 
 The long and narrow face, almost gaunt with 
 its high cheek bones, has an expression of in- 
 teresting melancholy which we suspect be- 
 longed to the artist himself more than to the 
 subject. It is one of the rare portraits in 
 three quarters front face beginning in this 
 time to replace the more common profile por- 
 traits. A full front face, still rarer, is pre- 
 sented in Botticelli’s portrait of a youth in the 
 National Gallery. 
 
 Two famous Florentine beauties were also 
 among the portrait subjects of Botticelli’s 
 work for the Medici. One of these was 
 Simonetta, the wife of Marco Vespucci, the 
 lady raised to the pedestal of a divinity in the 
 romantic imagination of Giuliano. For her 
 amusement her admirer held a splendid tour- 
 nament (1475) in the piazza of Santa Croce, 
 
National Gallery, London] [Botticelli 
 
 PORTRAIT OF UNKNOWN YOUTH 
 

 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 11 
 
 to her praise he wrote laudatory verses, and 
 in her name performed many gallant deeds. 
 Three portraits are claimed as the likeness of 
 this paragon, but they are not only quite dis- 
 similar but quite unlike our preconceived 
 notions of the original. The Simonetta of 
 the Pitti is grave and prim, with an inordi- 
 nately long neck, and a Quaker-like severity 
 of dress. The subject of the Berlin gallery 
 is a veritable lady of vanity, with fancifully 
 decked hair and pretty but empty face. At 
 Simonetta’s death in 1476, all the learned 
 Florentines were inconsolable. Sonnets were 
 written in her memory by Lorenzo himself, 
 there was an epigram by the famous Polizi- 
 ano, and an elegy by Bernardo Pulci. Botti- 
 celli’s other Florentine beauty is Lucrezia 
 Tornabuoni, daughter of a rich and illustrious 
 Florentine house, wife of the elder Piero, and 
 mother of Simonetta’s admirer Giuliano. She 
 is described as a woman of great intellectual 
 force and wide culture, a poet as well, and 
 possessed of all the virtues. If the Frankfort 
 Botticelli be really her portrait she was as- 
 suredly a charming creature in her youth, 
 
12 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 with straight, fine brows and cameo-like pro- 
 file . 1 
 
 The impress of his own individuality is on 
 all Botticelli’s portrait work. His contem- 
 porary Ghirlandajo was more objective, being 
 a close observer, and sticking conscientiously 
 to facts. There was not so much poetry in his 
 art, but it has solid and valuable qualities. 
 He had a passion for portraiture, and there is 
 a tradition that in his youthful days in the 
 goldsmith’s shop, he drew the likeness of 
 every passer-by. His great frescoes are filled 
 with the notable Florentines of his day: 
 Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Magnificent, most 
 illustrious representative of his family; Fran- 
 cesco Sassetti, for whom he decorated a 
 chapel at S. Trinita; men of learning like 
 Ficino, Landino, and Poliziano; reigning 
 belles, like Giovanna degli Albizzi; and even 
 the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci. Nor did 
 he omit himself : Baldovinetti, his master; Bas- 
 tiano, his cousin; and David, his brother. But 
 
 1 With these portraits of La Simonetta and Lucrezia should be 
 classed the charming profile of the Florentine girl in the Poldi 
 Pezzoli, Milan, attributed to Verocchio. This face is enchantingly 
 demure and piquant. 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 13 
 
 it was the rich and illustrious Tornabuoni 
 family in whose service his portrait skill was 
 most lavishly expended. For them he deco- 
 rated the choir of S. Maria Novella with illus- 
 trations of the life of the Virgin on one side, 
 and the life of St. John Baptist on the other. 
 To these sacred scenes the Tornabuoni lend 
 their pompous presence. They form a solid 
 phalanx awaiting the priest Zacharias as he 
 tarries in the temple with the vision. Some 
 of them stand by while the old man writes on 
 a tablet the name of his new-born son, and 
 others witness Joachim’s expulsion from the 
 temple. Their women folk come to visit both 
 mothers, Anna and Elizabeth, to see the new- 
 born babes. All these figures are convincing 
 as portraits, if not really interesting. Ruskin 
 says amusingly of them, “ If you are a nice 
 person, they are not nice enough for you, and 
 if a vulgar person, not vulgar enough.” In 
 short, they are hopelessly mediocre. 
 
 In Rome as well as in Florence Ghirlan- 
 dajo plied his art, and the Call of the Apos- 
 tles, in the Sistine chapel, is one of his noblest 
 compositions. Here again are rows of inter- 
 
14 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 esting portrait figures standing as spectators 
 of the sacred scene. This was painted in 1482 
 when the side walls of the chapel were being 
 decorated under the superintendence of Botti- 
 celli. All the panels are full of portraits in 
 what was now the prevailing custom. Peru- 
 gino’s Charge to Peter and the Baptism, 
 Botticelli’s Temptation and scenes from the 
 life of Moses, and Pinturicchio’s Journey 
 from Midian, abound in character studies of 
 a most interesting quality. 
 
 Most of these painters made an occasional 
 separate portrait study. One by Ghirlandajo 
 of special charm is the Old Man and Child of 
 the Louvre. The realistic painter spares us 
 nothing in delineating the warts which dis- 
 figure the poor old face, but with a touch of 
 real genius he reveals the transfiguring power 
 of love, as the grandfather gazes into the 
 wistful little face lifted to his. Again, 
 Perugino’s portrait of Francesco delle Opere, 
 in the L T ffizi, has been pronounced “ one of 
 the most ably interpreted, most firmly char- 
 acterized, most convincing faces, in the whole 
 range of Renaissance art.” This certainly is 
 
^ivate Collection] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF GIOVANNA TORNABUOXI 
 
 [Ghirlandajo 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 15 
 
 extraordinary achievement for a man who was 
 content to repeat as if by stencil the same 
 type of face for Madonna, saint and angel. 
 Pinturicchio’s Boy, in the Dresden gallery, 
 is a charming portrait, with his fresh ingenu- 
 ous face, and the severe simplicity of the pose. 
 
 Our study of fifteenth century portrait paint- 
 ing would be incomplete without noting how 
 much the progress of the art was furthered 
 by the patronage of rich noblemen through- 
 out Italy. Duke Federigo of Urbino was an 
 intelligent and progressive man of this type. 
 Among the artists in his employ was Pietro 
 della Francesca, whose portraits of his patron 
 and his good wife, Battista Sforza, are now 
 in the Uffizi gallery. The faces are drawn in 
 sharp profile, with firmness and precision. 
 Federigo’s strong features lend themselves 
 admirably to the treatment, and the deep in- 
 dentation above his large nose identifies him 
 unmistakably. Battista, undeniably bour- 
 geoise, regards her lord and master com- 
 placently. A worthy pair whom the artist’s 
 gift has preserved as an example of domestic 
 contentment. The duke is also seen in the 
 
16 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 role of donor in a large altar-piece of the 
 Madonna and Saints. He kneels in full 
 armour in the foreground, his helmet on the 
 pavement, his hands reverently clasped. This 
 work is in the Brera, at Milan, and it is 
 thought that Carnevale may have had a hand 
 in it, though it appears to have come from 
 Pietro’s workshop. Another important por- 
 trait by Pietro della Francesca is that of 
 Malatesta of Rimini, in a fresco in the church 
 of S. Francesco, in that town. The stern 
 despot kneels before his patron S. Sigismund, 
 and the portrait is executed with the sim- 
 plicity, dignity and force which give char- 
 acter to the work of this remarkable painter. 
 
 Among other commissions Pietro worked 
 at Ferrara for the Duke Borso d’Este in the 
 decoration of the Schifanoia Palace, but no 
 traces of his handiwork are now to be found 
 there. What remains to us of the original 
 scheme of decoration is the joint product of 
 Cosimo Tura and Francesco del Cossa, with 
 their pupils. Cosimo Tura was court painter 
 for two dukes of Ferrara, from 1458 to his 
 death in 1495. The duties of such a post were 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 17 
 
 manifold, from the designing of furniture 
 and the management of pageants, to covering 
 the palace walls with paintings and turning 
 out portraits on demand. The lasting monu- 
 ment of Tura’s ceaseless activity is the series 
 of compositions showing the Duke Borso in 
 various episodes of his career, riding to the 
 hunt, receiving a messenger from Bologna 
 and exchanging courtesies with the ambassa- 
 dor of Venice. It is all a most interesting 
 picture pageant with the portrait figure of the 
 duke moving through the scenes. 
 
 Of the innumerable detached portraits 
 which Tura must have made, not one remains 
 to us. Little value seems to have been at- 
 tached to such work, which was often done 
 under pressure, and perhaps not very credit- 
 ably, to serve some temporary purpose. The 
 fortunate nobleman of this period who could 
 command a court painter, regarded a portrait 
 almost as we do a photograph. It was not 
 kept as a piece of decoration for one’s house, 
 but was sent to some absent friend or rela- 
 tive, a suitor, or a husband at the wars. 
 
 The court of Mantua enjoyed a practical 
 
18 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 monopoly of the great painter Mantegna, 
 from his appointment in 1459 to his death 
 early in the next century. There is a list of 
 a dozen lost portraits belonging to this time 
 against two which remain. One of the latter 
 represents the seventeen-year-old son of the 
 Gonzaga house, Francesco, just made a car- 
 dinal (Naples). The other portrait subject 
 is the Cardinal Mezzarata (Berlin), a re- 
 markable man who was successively physician, 
 soldier and priest, and whose luxurious living 
 won him the soubriquet of “ Lucullus.” In 
 both works Mantegna showed himself a psy- 
 chologist of extraordinary insight. The sub- 
 jects are taken off guard, unconscious of 
 observation, absorbed in their own thoughts, 
 purely and entirely themselves. The young 
 Francesco is done in profile, in the fashion of 
 the primitives, the Cardinal Mezzarata, in the 
 rare three-quarters view, w’hich show’s the 
 strong lines of his hard face, the mouth of the 
 iron will, and the keen eyes of self seeking 
 under the heavy beetling brow’s. There is a 
 plastic quality in the modelling which allies it 
 to the portrait busts of the same period. 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 19 
 
 Mantegna was not altogether free from the 
 limitations of his day, but his insight into 
 character was a distinct advance in the art 
 of portrait painting. 
 
 Another new thing which Mantegna intro- 
 duced was a portrait family group. The 
 Marchese Lodovico had commissioned him to 
 decorate the walls of a room (Camera degli 
 Sposi) in the Castello with scenes of a domes- 
 tic character. On one side the painter repre- 
 sented the patron and his wife, the Marchesa 
 Barbara, surrounded by children and relatives 
 in a typical family scene. The composition 
 anticipated by two hundred years a Dutch 
 fashion of the seventeenth century. Another 
 subject in the room was the Meeting of Lodo- 
 vico with the Cardinal Francesco, represent- 
 ing an actual episode, as was not an uncom- 
 mon practice at the time. 
 
 It was some years later, after the death of 
 Lodovico, that the succeeding Duke, Fran- 
 cesco, brought as his bride to Mantua the 
 famous Isabella d’Este. Under the direction 
 of this gifted and critical lady, the painter 
 did other fine things to add to his fame. Un- 
 
20 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 happily, we have no more portraits from his 
 hand, having lost what would have been an 
 inestimable treasure to us — the likeness of 
 Isabella, painted to send to the Countess 
 d’Acerra. Of the Marchese Francesco, a man 
 of unprepossessing appearance, we have Man- 
 tegna’s portrait in the splendid Madonna of 
 Victory, where he kneels as donor at the foot 
 of the throne. 
 
 Another painter pressed into the service of 
 the indefatigable Isabella, was Francia, the 
 Bolognese. In the course of the Marchese 
 Francesco’s warlike adventures, he had been 
 taken prisoner by the Venetians. The pope 
 Julius II had intervened for his release, but 
 by way of hostage his little boy Federigo was 
 to be sent to Rome. The mother longed for 
 a portrait of her son to console her in his 
 absence, and Francia received an order to 
 make one. This picture, after long being 
 lost sight of, has recently been identified as 
 a beautiful little work owned by an English 
 gentleman who has allowed it to be photo- 
 graphed. The little fellow is as pretty and 
 romantic looking as a mother could wish. Of 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 21 
 
 Isabella herself, Francia also painted a por- 
 trait which has unhappily been lost. 
 
 Evangelista Scappi, and Bartolommeo 
 Bianchi, were others of Francia’s identified 
 sitters, men well known in their day, and ad- 
 mirably preserved for posterity by Francia’s 
 work. In the Pitti are two portraits of un- 
 known men attributed to Francia, and again 
 one especially interesting is in the Lichten- 
 stein gallery at Vienna. All these show certain 
 common mannerisms. The hair is massed in 
 two evenly divided locks which conceal the 
 ears, the mouth drawn in an exact Cupid’s bow, 
 the face smoothed out of expression, the hands 
 without articulation, and the finish as care- 
 ful as goldsmith’s work. Francia appears to 
 have been a leader in the movement towards 
 popularizing portrait painting. Many of his 
 sitters were middle class people. The art was 
 no longer to remain in the possession of the 
 privileged few. The character of the paint- 
 er’s work was, however, less progressive than 
 his spirit. He was modern in giving his 
 sitters a full front face, but primitive in 
 craftsmanship. So while the span of his life 
 
22 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 extended some years into the new century, 
 his place is still in the old. 
 
 The decorations of the Camera degli Sposi 
 at Mantua, and the Schifanoia Palace in 
 Ferrara, were not the only historical portrait 
 compositions of the period. Another example 
 is the work of Melozzo da Forli for the 
 library of the pope Sixtus IV. The subject 
 was the pope conferring the charge of his 
 library upon Platina, in the presence of vari- 
 ous dignitaries. We have here strong and 
 well characterized portraits of Sixtus IV, of 
 Platina, of Giuliano della Rovere (after- 
 wards pope Julius II), and of Pietro Riario 
 (afterwards Bishop of Treviso). The fresco 
 was eventually transferred to canvas and now 
 hangs in the Vatican gallery. 
 
 One of the most brilliant courts of the fif- 
 teenth century was that of Lodovico Sforza, 
 II Moro, at Milan. He drew to his employ the 
 greatest painter of the age, Leonardo da 
 Vinci. So varied were the demands upon the 
 painter during the sixteen years of his service, 
 from decorating a ball room to directing an 
 irrigating canal, and modelling an equestrian 
 
Ambrosiana, Milan] [Ambrogio de Predis 
 
 PORTRAIT OF BIANCA SFORZA(?) 
 
PAINTING IN ITALY 
 
 23 
 
 statue, that his portrait works were few and 
 far between. It is on record that he painted 
 likenesses of both Lodovico’s mistresses, 
 Cecilia Gallerani, and Lucrezia Crivelli, but 
 these are lost. The former was so much ad- 
 mired by Isabella d’Este that she borrowed it 
 to compare with Bellini’s work. It seems 
 pretty certain that the great Florentine did 
 not paint any panel portraits of the duke 
 himself, or his charming young wife, Beatrice 
 d’Este. The portraits which he made on the 
 wall of S. Maria della Grazie, opposite the 
 Last Supper, have long since perished. 
 
 Another painter in Lodovico’s employ was 
 Ambrogio de Predis, whose work shows so 
 plainly the influence of Leonardo that some . 
 of it has been taken for the elder master’s. 
 There is a pair of portraits in the Ambrosiana, 
 at Milan, attributed by recent critics to his 
 hand, and most plausibly regarded as Lodo- 
 vico’s daughter, Bianca Sforza, and her hus- 
 band, Giangaleazzo di San Severino. The 
 delicately cut profile, the netted head-dress 
 edged with pearls, the jewelled fillet and the 
 pearl necklace, are parts of the quaint charm 
 
24 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of the lady. The handsome young man with 
 thoughtful eyes and bushy, curling hair has 
 the romantic air we associate with the gallant 
 cavalier. 
 
 It seems a great pity that neither Am- 
 brogio nor Leonardo left us portraits of the 
 great duke and his girl wife. For authentic 
 likenesses we must turn to Zenale’s Madonna, 
 painted in 1495 for the church of S. Ambro- 
 gio at Nemo, but now in the Brera gallery. 
 Lodovico kneels at the Madonna’s right, with 
 his little boy, the Count of Pavia, beside him. 
 Beatrice kneels vis-a-vis , with her baby Fran- 
 cesco. All the faces are in profile, stiff, 
 wooden and expressionless, much more inter- 
 esting for costume than for physiognomy. 
 Comparing them with the beauty of the Ma- 
 donna, and the excellence of the attendant 
 saints, one realizes fully that with the average 
 craftsman, such as Zenale, even at this late 
 date, portraiture was still greatly behind ideal 
 and devotional figure painting in Italy. 
 
Ambrosiana, Milan] [Ambrogio de Predia 
 
 PORTRAIT OP GIANGALE AZZO SANSE VERIXO (?) 
 

 
 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ITALIAN PORTRAIT PAINTING IN THE SIX- 
 TEENTH CENTURY 
 
 I STORY seldom accommodates itself 
 to chronology, but, by a curious co- 
 incidence, a portrait was begun in 
 the year 1500, marking as by a milestone, the 
 transition from the fifteenth to the sixteenth 
 centuries. This was the famous Mona Lisa, 
 by Leonardo da Vinci. One after another the 
 steps had been taken to make a real portrait. 
 Masaccio had distinguished the fat man from 
 the thin, or, in other words, had given indi- 
 viduality to a figure. Ghirlandajo had faith- 
 fully reproduced the characteristic features. 
 A few bolder spirits had turned the portrait 
 head from profile to front face, adding a sense 
 of intimacy to the likeness. The historical 
 portrait composition had given animation and 
 some expressiveness to pose and gesture. 
 
26 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Mantegna had made a beginning of character 
 study, and had suggested the manner of man 
 behind the facial mask. At length came 
 Leonardo, and the portrait revealed a living 
 soul. 
 
 Master of all the technical processes with 
 which his predecessors had struggled, he had, 
 besides, the analytical mind of the psycholo- 
 gist, and the imagination of the seer. The 
 human face possessed an endless fascination 
 for this singular genius. If he encoun- 
 tered on the street some interesting physiog- 
 nomy, he would follow the person about all 
 day, and, returning home at night, would 
 draw the portrait from memory. One eve- 
 ning he gave a supper party, convulsing his 
 guests with merriment by his amusing stories. 
 Then he retired and drew the faces as he had 
 observed them in the contortions of laughter. 
 For caricature, too, he had a leaning, and 
 made many drawings with exaggerated fea- 
 tures and grimaces, as grotesque as gargoyles. 
 The taste for the bizarre was but one phase 
 of his love for the transient and subtle in ex- 
 pression. The fleeting loveliness of a woman’s 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 27 
 
 smile was his obsession. He spent his life in 
 the pursuit of this vanishing beauty. Some- 
 times the smile is pensive, sometimes, merely 
 happy; sometimes it is enigmatic, sometimes 
 purely mischievous; sometimes it is treacher- 
 ous, sometimes alluring. Always it has the 
 charm of momentariness. 
 
 The restless curiosity of Leonardo’s genius 
 drew him in so many directions, that he had 
 neither time nor energy to accomplish large re- 
 sults in any. Sculpture and architecture, poetry 
 and music, science, mathematics and engineer- 
 ing occupied him by turns. Though his fame 
 rests upon painting, this art really filled but a 
 small part of his life. The Mona Lisa is his 
 only existing title to the name of portrait 
 painter. There is no slightest doubt of its 
 authenticity, while the several other so-called 
 Leonardo portraits have all been questioned. 
 Other portraits which he is known to have 
 painted, mentioned in a previous chapter, 
 have been lost. It is on the multitude of his 
 drawings, collated with the Mona Lisa, that 
 we base our knowledge of his portrait art. 
 It was as easy for him to draw, as for most 
 
28 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 men to talk. A pen, a pencil, the silver point, 
 the crayon, was almost always at hand, to 
 throw off an idea. As we gloat upon these 
 precious sketches in the museums of Europe, 
 or pore over the reproductions which modern 
 publishers have made available, the wonder 
 grows that one hand could have compassed 
 such a range. Old age and infancy interest 
 him alike; strong and muscular men, soft and 
 beautiful women. In play of muscle, attitude, 
 gesture and facial expression he is master. 
 Ilis special passion — after the smile — is for 
 hair, the waving tresses of a woman, the dis- 
 ordered locks, or curling beard of a man. 
 The dexterity with which he drew each sep- 
 arate hair was almost Flemish in minuteness. 
 
 One of the most interesting and charming 
 of the portrait drawings is the sketch of 
 Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua. As 
 we have seen in a previous chapter her por- 
 traits by Mantegna and Francia are un- 
 happily lost. More is known of this lady 
 than of any of the grandes dames of the 
 Italian Renaissance. Her wit and beauty, 
 her learning and connoisseurship, and above 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 29 
 
 all her passion for art, made her a conspicuous 
 figure in all the great courts. She gathered 
 about her poets, painters and scholars, and 
 her patronage was an immense stimulus to 
 culture. Hers was decidedly a dominant per- 
 sonality. Of all this, however, Leonardo’s 
 sketch gives no inkling. The master sur- 
 prised her in a mood of simple gaiety of heart. 
 There is a piquancy and girlish charm in her 
 smile, as remote as possible from any pose of 
 the woman of affairs. This sketch was made 
 in a short visit at Mantua, in the period of 
 Leonardo’s connection with the court of 
 Milan. The promised portrait for which it 
 was a beginning was never forthcoming, 
 though Isabella was anxious to have it. 
 Leonardo, it appears, did not regard the 
 great lady with the awe she inspired in others. 
 
 Another interesting portrait sketch by 
 Leonardo is the likeness of himself in his old 
 age. His heavy overhanging eyebrows meet 
 the hair which mingles with the beard in 
 long flowing locks. The eyes peer out with 
 the glance of the acute observer. The mouth, 
 with upper lip shaven, is shut in a firm line 
 
30 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 which is almost stern. There is something in 
 the apostolic grandeur of the head which sug- 
 gests the preacher’s cry that “ all is vanity.” 
 
 The portrait of Mona Lisa was four years 
 in the making, for Leonardo would paint only 
 when the impulse moved him, and was never 
 satisfied. The lady was the wife of a Floren- 
 tine gentleman, Francesco del Giocondo, and 
 was regarded as a great beauty. To secure 
 the evanescent charm of her expression, some 
 one was employed at each sitting to entertain 
 her with music, or jest or story. Of the com- 
 pleted portrait, now hanging in the Louvre, 
 more perhaps has been written than of any 
 other picture in the world. Mona Lisa is a 
 siren, attractive and repellent by turns, al- 
 ways fascinating, and always elusive. She is 
 an image of the eternal feminine. The tech- 
 nical excellence of the work, the modelling of 
 face and hands, the colour of the flesh, the 
 moisture of eyes and lips, have elicited unend- 
 ing praise from Leonardo’s day to our own. 
 
 Though the other portraits once attributed 
 to Leonardo must now be regarded as the 
 work of other hands, they are still his in char- 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 31 
 
 acter. It was his influence which made them 
 what they are. Of these the Belle Ferro- 
 niere is the most closely akin to Mona Lisa in 
 conception. The bust is set against a ground 
 of solid colour, instead of against a landscape, 
 as is usual with Leonardo, and the handling 
 differs from his in colour and modelling. It 
 is in the psychological insight that the por- 
 trait shows the master’s leading — in the 
 speaking eyes, and the expressive mouth. 
 The “ Nun ” of the Pitti Gallery is posed like 
 Mona Lisa, but here the resemblance ends. 
 Her gentle timidity suggests perfectly the 
 cloistered life. Since this picture was taken 
 from Leonardo’s list, it has been attributed 
 by differing critics to Perugino, Francia- 
 bigio, and Ridolfo Ghirlandajo. The “ Gold- 
 smith,” in the same gallery, once assigned to 
 Leonardo, is now given to Ridolfo Ghirlan- 
 dajo. The young man holds in his hand a 
 beautiful object of his craft, which he regards 
 with a smile of satisfaction. This, too, who- 
 ever may be the artist, shows the new spirit 
 of character study which came into Italy with 
 Leonardo, and the new century. 
 
32 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Of Leonardo’s followers, Andrea Solario 
 is one whose few portraits show that he fell 
 in readily with the new movement. The most 
 remarkable is the Christoforo Longono, in the 
 Louvre, represented in half-length and full 
 front view; painted with no shirking of diffi- 
 cult problems, and with the assured touch of 
 a craftsman. The partial closing of the eyes 
 gives the introspective look of the sitter un- 
 aware of the observer. Charles of Amboise, 
 also in the Louvre, has again the half -closed, 
 sleepy eyes, imparting a meditative air which 
 is enhanced by the droop of the head. These 
 works show a curious kinship with the Flem- 
 ish portraits of the same period. 
 
 Luini is doubtless the most conspicuous of 
 the Leonardesque painters, but his tastes did 
 not often incline him to portrait work. To 
 him, however, we owe the noble piece of dec- 
 oration which contains the Bentivoglio por- 
 traits. It is in the church of S. Maurizio, at 
 Milan, covering the eastern wall. Alessandro 
 and his wife Ippolit a Sforza kneel with their 
 patron saints, on opposite sides of the altar. 
 They are grand and impressive figures, tak- 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 33 
 
 ing high rank among the portraits of donors 
 in sacred art. Among Luini’s Saronno fres- 
 coes, in the subject of the Disputation in the 
 Temple, is a portrait figure said to represent 
 the artist himself. It is an old man with long, 
 white beard, turning his deeply seamed face 
 towards the spectator with an almost wistful 
 look. “ La Columbina ” is also supposed to 
 be a portrait, but the subject is treated so 
 fancifully that it is probably the idealization 
 of a beautiful model. The smile with which 
 the lady regards the flower comes certainly 
 direct from Leonardo. It was he who taught 
 painters how to crystallize a passing mood. 
 
 Even Raphael felt the influence of Leo- 
 nardo’s portrait work. Coming to Florence 
 in 1504, when Mona Lisa was fresh from the 
 painter’s hands, the young L T rbinate fell un- 
 der the magic spell of her smile. Having an 
 order for the portraits of Angelo and Mad- 
 delena Doni, he made bold to pose the lady 
 precisely after the Mona Lisa manner. Two 
 women could scarcely be farther apart than 
 the placid Maddelena, and her fascinating 
 prototype, but the portrait was an interesting 
 
34 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 beginning of a new line of work. It was also 
 during this visit in Florence that Raphael 
 painted the portrait of himself, which gives us 
 a charming image of the gentle imaginative 
 youth on the threshold of his great career. 
 
 In the twelve years of Raphael’s Roman 
 period, demands multiplied upon him so fast 
 that he had little time for portrait painting, 
 even had his tastes inclined him in that 
 direction, as they plainly did not. A brilliant 
 figure at the papal court, the favourite of two 
 popes, the friend and intimate of the richest 
 and most in fluent ial officials and noblemen, 
 handsome, amiable, and supremely gifted, his 
 happy career reads like a fairy tale. The 
 amount of work he accomplished was pro- 
 digious, but it lay chiefly in the direction of 
 mural decorations and altar-pieces. His pre- 
 dilection seemed for purely ideal and imagina- 
 tive composition. Certain portrait orders, 
 however, he could not decline, when they came 
 from his papal patrons, or his own intimates. 
 In the end he produced a group of pictures 
 which would be remarkable from any source. 
 Coming from Raphael, they astonish us in 
 
Pitti Gallery, Florence] 
 
 [Raphael 
 
 PORTRAIT OF JULIUS II 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 35 
 
 showing the prince of idealists as a dispassion- 
 ate realist. 
 
 The pope Julius II is the dominant per- 
 sonality among these portraits, as fiery in the 
 papal chair as on the field of battle. “ Why 
 represent me with a book? ” he had once said 
 to Michelangelo, who was making his portrait 
 bust, “ Give me a sword.” Age might en- 
 feeble his body, but not the spirit. ITis mood 
 is thoughtful, but he broods less upon the past 
 than upon the future. Even while he rests, 
 he is alert for action. The picture in the 
 Uffizi is now generally regarded by critics 
 as the original of the several paintings. It 
 is curious that Michelangelo’s bronze bust of 
 Julius was melted in after years to make a 
 cannon, while Raphael’s portrait has proved a 
 “ monument more lasting than bronze.” 
 Still another portrait of the Pope by Raphael 
 is the splendid figure introduced into the 
 Chastisement of Heliodorus in the Vatican 
 hall known by that name. 
 
 Julius II was a handsome old man; any 
 artist would have liked such a sitter. But 
 Leo X was fat and coarse and greasy; it 
 
36 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 would seem that nothing could be made of 
 such a subject, except by idealizing him out 
 of all recognition. This was not Raphael’s 
 way. He was as unflattering as a Fleming 
 in his veracity, and, like a Fleming, too, he 
 painted the pope’s gold embroidered satin 
 cope, the illuminated breviary, and the richly 
 engraved altar-bell with utmost care. His 
 special triumph was in seizing upon an ex- 
 pression of refinement and thoughtfulness 
 which redeems the face. The pope is seated 
 at a table, with two cardinals, his nephew and 
 cousin, standing in the shadow behind the cor- 
 ners of his chair, and properly subordinated 
 to the principal figure. Such a group was 
 quite unique at the time, and this fact with 
 the fine scheme of colour, and the unusual 
 attention to detail, give the picture pre- 
 eminence among Raphael’s works. Another 
 portrait of the same pope was introduced by 
 Raphael into the composition of the Rout of 
 Attila, the companion fresco of the Chastise- 
 ment of Heliodorus. 
 
 Among the important figures at the papal 
 court in Raphael’s time Cardinal Bibbiena 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 37 
 
 was very influential. He had in his youth 
 been a protege of Lorenzo the Magnificent, 
 in Florence, and was a connoisseur in art and 
 letters. He performed various good offices 
 for Raphael, and finally arranged a marriage 
 between the painter and his niece. Raphael’s 
 untimely death, however, defeated the plan, 
 but he had in the meantime painted the por- 
 trait of the cardinal, which is now in the 
 Madrid gallery. The thin face with pointed 
 features has all the marks of culture and 
 intellectuality. But the painter revealed more 
 than he perhaps divined himself, of the cun- 
 ning and ambition of the man. Bibbiena 
 indeed finally proved too cunning, and, losing 
 favour with Leo X, he met a mysterious death 
 such as was gruesomely common in those 
 days, attributed to poison. 
 
 Inghirami was another favourite of Lo- 
 renzo de’ Medici, who had by learning and 
 eloquence won a position as secretary of 
 Julius II. Leo X was also his liberal patron, 
 under whom he might have risen higher had 
 he not died. There are two accredited por- 
 traits of Inghirami by Raphael, one in the 
 
38 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Pitti, Florence, and the other at Fenway 
 Court, Boston. The secretary sits at a table, 
 writing, and lifts his head as if for inspiration, 
 with eyes rolled up in a seraphic manner, 
 somewhat at variance with his stout heavy 
 featured face. 
 
 Of all Raphael’s later friends none was of 
 greater service to him than the Mantuan poet, 
 Baldassare Castiglione. It was not by 
 worldly influence, or by great wealth, but 
 by advice, criticism, suggestion, and inspira- 
 tion, that this good man helped the artist for- 
 ward in his career. In the midst of a corrupt 
 and self-seeking generation, Castiglione was 
 singularly high-minded and disinterested. In 
 his many visits in Rome he was always 
 warmly welcomed. In behalf of Isabella 
 d’Este he entreated Raphael to paint some pic- 
 ture for the great lady, but the busy young 
 artist never found time to All the order. It 
 is interesting to notice, however, that he in- 
 troduced a portrait of Isabella’s young son 
 Federigo (Whom Francia had once so charm- 
 ingly painted) 1 into the composition of the 
 
 1 See page 20. 
 
Louvre, Paris] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF JOANNA OF ARAGON 
 
 [Raphael 
 

SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 39 
 
 School of Athens. Raphael’s portrait of 
 Castiglione is one of his most beautiful colour 
 harmonies, as well as a character study of 
 profound insight. In the open countenance, 
 turned frankly to ours there is a genuineness 
 which we should hardly imagine possible to a 
 courtier. Yet the author of “ II Cortegiano ” 
 knew well all the intricacies of social life in 
 the great world. It seems to have tact and 
 real kindliness, rather than cunning or diplo- 
 macy, which made him a general favourite. 
 
 Our list of Raphael’s Roman portraits must 
 include at least two whose subjects were 
 women. The regal pose and raiment of 
 Joanna of Aragon belie the childish little face 
 with the hair falling to the beautiful shoul- 
 ders. There is little but doll-like prettiness 
 in the lady herself, but the picture is charm- 
 ing in decorative quality. The Donna Velata 
 is the beautiful model for the Sistine Ma- 
 donna. Her face is of the perfect oval, loved 
 of the painter. Though wearing the dress of 
 the Roman matron, the painter could not re- 
 sist the temptation to give a Madonna-like 
 touch to the picture by throwing a veil over 
 
40 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 her head. The eyes, set wide apart, have the 
 peculiar far-sighted look which gives saintli- 
 ness to the expression. 
 
 Upon Raphael’s death in 1520 his follow- 
 ers strove to imitate him in religious and his- 
 torical composition rather than in portrait 
 work. Out of the vast output of Raphael- 
 esque pictures of the next quarter century 
 there are extremely few portraits. These 
 few, it must be said, are far more creditable 
 than the insipid dilutions of the master’s re- 
 ligious motives. 
 
 In the meantime Florence continued to 
 show a growing interest in portraiture. Pon- 
 tormo stood at the head of this work in the 
 middle of the century, and passed the leader- 
 ship on to his pupil Bronzino, who lived fif- 
 teen years beyond him. Roth men were 
 liberally patronized by the Medici, and did 
 for the later generation of this great house 
 what Botticelli and his fellows had done for 
 the ciders. Pontormo took an important part 
 in preparations for the triumphal procession 
 in Florence which celebrated the accession of 
 the Medici Pope Leo X. His portrait work 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 41 
 
 was conscientious and dignified, and not in- 
 frequently vigorous. In general there was 
 not much fire or charm in it. How different 
 is the young Ippolito Medici of his handi- 
 work, heavy and ordinary, from the romantic 
 youth of Titian’s canvas. Much better than 
 the Medici portraits is the picture of a sculp- 
 tor in the Uffizi, where the artistic tempera- 
 ment is well indicated. There is also a pro- 
 file portrait of a fine old man in the Pitti, 
 quite out of the ordinary in interest. 
 
 The affection between Pontormo and his 
 pupil Bronzino was proverbial in Florence. 
 The older man introduced a charming figure 
 of the youth in one of his cassone pictures, 
 and the younger reciprocated by placing his 
 master in a religious composition, Christ in 
 Limbo. Bronzino first came into notice dur- 
 ing the festivities in honour of the marriage 
 of Duke Cosimo to Eleanor of Toledo. The 
 duke was so delighted with some decorations 
 executed in the palace that he gave orders for 
 a chapel to be decorated. Then followed a 
 series of all the family portraits: the duke 
 and duchess and the several children, some of 
 
42 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 them often repeated. A number of these are 
 now in the Florentine galleries, interesting 
 both as portrait and historical studies. Duke 
 Cosimo himself illustrates the decadence of 
 his house, in the bullet-shaped head, with close- 
 cropped hair, and hard plebeian countenance. 
 The refined tyranny of the ancestors has now 
 become a coarse brutality. The Duchess 
 Eleanor is described in Vasari’s fulsome flat- 
 tery as “a lady excellent above all that ever 
 lived, and whose infinite merits render her 
 worthy of eternal praise.” In truth she seems 
 an amiable and placid person, with her hair 
 parted smoothly and decorously over her wide 
 brow. She wears a brocade of huge pattern, 
 and sits with conscious dignity. The little boy 
 at her side (Fernando) is utterly charming. 
 He h as no princely finery, but looks as 
 if called suddenly from the nursery in his 
 pinafore, and, nestling against his mother, 
 looks out with bright-eyed merriment at the 
 caller. There is nothing so spontaneous in 
 child portraiture up to this time. Don Garcia 
 is equally a child, a fat little fellow, laughing 
 outright as he holds a bird in his pudgy hand. 
 
Uffizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DON GARCIA 
 
 [Bronzino 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 43 
 
 He wears a pretty satin tunic as a prince 
 should, but is not at all concerned with his 
 dignity. There is also a serious little girl of 
 the family, not pretty, but sweet and wistful. 
 Though one could multiply the list of por- 
 traits by Bronzino, whose number exceeded 
 even the patience of Vasari in enumerating, 
 we need go no farther to see that the new 
 spirit in portrait painting has fully arrived, 
 when the child has come into his own. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE VENETIAN PORTRAIT SCHOOL: EARLY 
 GROUP 
 
 HEN we come to Venice, we begin 
 our study of Italian portrait paint- 
 ing all over again. Everything 
 about Venice is unique: the city, the history, 
 the people and the art. The approach is by 
 water ways, winding among the coloured 
 marbles of palace fronts, with fairy bridges 
 uniting one stately pile with another. Black 
 keeled gondolas, with gleaming silver prows, 
 glide over the canals, and the parti-coloured 
 canvases of sailing craft move out into the 
 open. The atmosphere is charged with 
 colour, rich, variegated, harmonious, making 
 the city a vast mosaic, like those filling the 
 domes of the churches. Hither came the East 
 and the West, the North and the South, to 
 pour their diverse influences into the making 
 
 44 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 45 
 
 of a perfect whole. The spirit of the Orient 
 predominated. From Constantinople came 
 the great church domes, hanging bell-like 
 against the sky; from Constantinople, more 
 literally, the marble pillars and treasures of 
 gold and silver and precious stones filling the 
 churches with beauty. The Oriental love of 
 luxury came in with the spoils: the passion 
 for rich stuffs and jewels, for pomp and dis- 
 play, for festival and pageantry. With such 
 qualities in the ascendancy, religious worship 
 became a magnificent ceremonial, patriotism 
 expressed itself in noble public monuments, 
 while private ambition sought gratification in 
 costly palaces and lavish entertainments. In 
 joy and pride of life, Venice was the personi- 
 fication of a splendid egotism. It naturally 
 followed that Venice was the proper field for 
 the development of a portrait school. It was 
 the first state in Italy to make provision for 
 official portraits of her rulers, and the first 
 likewise to support a painter devoted exclu- 
 sively to this one branch of art. 
 
 The Venetian portraits of the Renaissance 
 exhibit that perfect colour sense which has set 
 
46 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 an unattainable standard for posterity: rich 
 yet restrained, brilliant but tempered with 
 sobriety. In the seventeenth century, Rubens 
 and Van Dyck sought by careful copying to 
 catch some inspiration from the Venetian 
 manner. In the eighteenth century Reynolds 
 tried to discover the Venetian “ secret ” by 
 scraping and analysing the pigments of the old 
 canvases. All in vain. Among their many 
 imitators the Venetians still remain supreme. 
 Never again can the same conditions of life 
 be repeated which created such an art. 
 
 Colour and decorative quality being of so 
 much moment, we cannot suppose that the 
 Venetian portraits were as a class strong in 
 point of likeness, though there are notable ex- 
 ceptions. The one essential which the painter 
 could not help imparting to his subject was 
 dignity. Ceremony was the business of life: 
 the portrait had to show the immense con- 
 sequence of the Venetian. It goes without 
 saying that rich costumes were much in evi- 
 dence in all the work of this school, and the 
 painter was expected to be somewhat flatter- 
 ing. The anemic is practically unknown in 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 47 
 
 such art; every man, woman and child is well 
 fed, and well kept. 
 
 The Bellini family, Jacopo, and his sons 
 Gentile and Giovanni, were all painting por- 
 traits in Venice in the mid-fifteenth century. 
 Jacopo had received his training from the 
 Florentine Gentile da Fabriano, and was, we 
 believe, an able craftsman, though few works 
 remain by which to judge him. It is Gio- 
 vanni who brought highest honour, both to 
 the family and the school. He is the repre- 
 sentative Venetian painter of his period, and 
 in some respects the leader of all fifteenth 
 century Italians. His continuous activity 
 through the entire length of his nearly ninety 
 years meant a large output of portraits as 
 well as of religious and historical composi- 
 tions. During his appointment as state 
 painter of the Republic he must have painted 
 a great number of prominent personages, in- 
 cluding at least four doges. His portrait 
 work was admired all over Italy, and Isa- 
 bella d’Este was among his patrons. Could 
 all his work have been preserved it would 
 make a gallery as representative of Venetian 
 
48 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 political and social life in the fifteenth century, 
 as does Titian’s that of the sixteenth century. 
 An unfortunate fate has swept them away, 
 leaving us only one of unquestionable authen- 
 ticity, the Doge Loredano. As a scientist can 
 deduce an entire organism from a single bone, 
 so the critic can infer from this single por- 
 trait the distinguishing qualities of Bellini’s 
 art. The pose is that of a sculptured bust, 
 and the noble old man carries head and shoul- 
 ders erect, with serene dignity. The face is 
 austere but genial, firm but magnanimous, 
 and altogether splendidly sane. The golden 
 colour and decorative costume make a rich 
 ensemble such as only Venice could produce . 1 
 Such was the quality of the work which called 
 forth the admiration of Diirer, when lie 
 visited Venice and made friends with the old 
 man Bellini. Though the Nuremberger could 
 never hope to emulate the Venetian richness 
 of palette, there were points of contact be- 
 tween the two men in the sincerity and direct- 
 ness of their style . 2 
 
 1 A profile of the same head from the school of Bellini is in the 
 Dresden gallery, a copy of an original at Bergamo. 2 See page 103. 
 
National Gallery, London] [Bellini 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DOGE LOREDANO 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 49 
 
 Gentile Bellini, though far less gifted than 
 his brother, was yet an excellent portrait 
 painter. He was sent by the Venetian senate 
 to Constantinople in place of Giovanni, who 
 had received the invitation but was too busy 
 to leave. Gentile painted the portrait of the 
 Emperor Mahomet who, amazed and delighted 
 at the likeness, asked if the painter dared por- 
 tray his own features. In a few day’s time 
 the Venetian brought him his answer in a 
 portrait of himself, made with the help of a 
 mirror. Such a marvel could only be ex- 
 plained on the hypothesis that some divine 
 spirit had been pressed into the service. The 
 Sultan apparently felt rather uneasy over 
 such magic, especially as the Mohammedan 
 law was as strict as the Mosaic about repre- 
 sentations from nature. Gentile was not long 
 after sent back to Venice, loaded with gifts 
 and honours. 
 
 Antonello da Messina, though not a native 
 of Venice, came to that city in 1473, when 
 Giovanni Bellini was well advanced in his 
 career. Under the influence of this master, 
 and in Venetian surroundings, the stranger 
 
50 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 made a rapid advance, and devoted his later 
 years almost exclusively to portrait painting. 
 He is credited with introducing into Venice 
 the use of oils, as practised in Flanders. In 
 his earlier years he had imbibed much of the 
 Flemish spirit, either from a visit in Flanders 
 — a doubtful hypothesis — or from the study 
 of Flemish works. The union of these two 
 tendencies makes his pictures very interesting. 
 His portrait faces are in three-quarters front, 
 in the Flemish manner. Some of them sug- 
 gest at once the works of Van Eyck. The 
 “ Condottiere,” of the Louvre, is a kindred 
 spirit of the “ Man with the Pinks,” in his 
 aggressive ugliness . 1 He has a large, coarse 
 face, framed in bushy hair, and his lower lip 
 is thrust out truculently. Such uncompro- 
 mising realism is more Flemish than Vene- 
 tian. Like the transalpine painters also, 
 Antonello sought after an expressiveness 
 which means more than mere outward beauty. 
 Some of the homeliest and most unattractive 
 of his subjects are strongly characterized. 
 Sometimes, indeed, in his effort towards ex- 
 
 Seepage 87. 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 51 
 
 pression, he exaggerates his lines to produce 
 an almost strained effect, but this is a fault 
 which the much greater Diirer sometimes fell 
 into. Ten existing portraits are listed as his, 
 all men. Like Bellini, he apparently painted 
 only the bust of his sitters. A contemporary 
 of the Bellini and Antonello da Messina was 
 Alvise Vivarini, whose portrait work has close 
 affinity with these men, as well as with the 
 younger man Lotto. Recent criticism attrib- 
 utes to Vivarini several excellent portraits. 
 
 With the advent of Giorgione a new spirit 
 entered into Venetian art. The influence of 
 his short life and slender output is incalcu- 
 lable. So fully did his contemporaries adopt 
 his manner, that critics are for ever perplexed 
 in settling the attributions in his group. Por- 
 traits long regarded as Titian’s, like the Doc- 
 tor Parma of the Vienna gallery, and the 
 Cobham Ariosto, as well as the Poet in the 
 National Gallery, attributed to Palma, and 
 the Three Ages of Man (Pitti), credited to 
 Lotto, are now claimed for Giorgione. It is 
 the part of wisdom to designate such inter- 
 changeable works as “ Giorgionesque,” for all 
 
52 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 have in common the qualities which the Cas- 
 telfrancan painter introduced. 
 
 Giorgione deepened and enriched the pre- 
 vailing Venetian palette, and softened the 
 outlines which with Bellini, Vivarini and 
 Antonello, had been indicated in the hard 
 Flemish manner. He had also extraordinary 
 skill in rendering textures. Above all, he in- 
 troduced the romantic element in place of the 
 matter of fact and prosaic. The remote ex- 
 pression, the meditative gaze, the air of 
 pensive melancholy lend interest to the plain- 
 est subjects. The Knight of Malta ponders 
 his pilgrimages, the youth of the Berlin 
 Gallery dreams of his love, the young man of 
 Buda-Pesth is lost in his memories. The lady 
 of the Borghese smiles faintly, as if pleased 
 with her thoughts. All these portraits show 
 the hands, which add not a little to their ex- 
 pressiveness and individuality. It was not 
 in the nature of Giorgione’s art to give great 
 strength or virility to his sitters, but he im- 
 parted the essence of his own poetic tempera- 
 ment. His portrait work struck a graver 
 note than his subject pieces, which are serene 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 53 
 
 and joyous, while his sitters are in some 
 instances quite serious. 
 
 Palma Vecchio is closely associated with 
 Giorgione in the development of Venetian art 
 in the qualities which are its distinctive glory. 
 His colour, though not so rich and subtle as 
 Giorgione’s, is brilliant and glowing, har- 
 moniously blended to obliterate all hardness 
 of line. Though largely occupied with altar- 
 pieces, he was much sought after by the great 
 Venetian families for his portrait work. He 
 was especially popular for his women’s por- 
 traits. The fashionable beauty of the day 
 must needs be a blonde. All grand ladies 
 dyed their hair golden, and prided themselves 
 on the whiteness of their skin. This is the 
 type reproduced in so many of Palma’s beau- 
 tiful canvases. Enhancing the charm of their 
 beautiful hair and dazzling necks are the rich 
 costumes of brocade and gorgeous stuffs 
 which the Venetians loved. Palma’s women 
 are not especially graceful, and are mostly too 
 plump for elegance. Nor are the faces at all 
 intellectual or expressive, but are simply 
 placid and sweet. The painter was not a 
 
54 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 profound thinker or even a poet. He was 
 somewhat deficient in the sense of* distinction 
 so marked in other Venetians. But he de- 
 lighted in the beauty of flesh and blood, and 
 painted them con amove. 
 
 The model known as Violante, once errone- 
 eously thought to be Palma’s daughter, 
 figures very often in his pictures. Her por- 
 trait in the Vienna Gallery probably shows the 
 young girl pretty nearly as she was in real 
 life. The face is amiable, with small regular 
 features, though without piquancy or charm, 
 but the waving golden hair, and the full white 
 bust and shoulders gleaming above her rich 
 dress, make her a beautiful creature. She is 
 grandly idealized in the majestic St. Barbara, 
 and more delicately spiritualized in the lovely 
 St. Lucy. In the “ Jacob and Rachel ” she is 
 a buxom country girl, and again in the “ Sis- 
 ters,” where she assumes three poses, she has 
 developed an avoirdupois which no amount of 
 finery can etherealize. 
 
 Sebastian del Piombo was a Venetian of 
 the same generation as Palma and Giorgione, 
 and though he spent the greater part of his 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 55 
 
 life in Rome, he always retained some of the 
 characteristic Venetian qualities which he im- 
 bibed in his early years. From Raphael and 
 Michelangelo he derived other elements which 
 made a unique combination. The story of his 
 rivalry with Raphael makes one of the most 
 gossipy pages of art history. It is said that 
 one day when Raphael passed through the 
 Vatican with his retinue of pupils, the Vene- 
 tian exclaimed, “ You go by like the Bargello 
 with his posse,” to which the popular favour- 
 ite rejoined, “ And you go alone like the ex- 
 ecutioner.” After describing at length 
 Sebastian’s religious compositions, Vasari 
 goes on to say, “ To tell the truth, portrait 
 painting was the proper vocation of Sebasti- 
 ano.” Then follows an account of the dis- 
 tinguished sitters whose likenesses were “ so 
 well done as to seem alive.” The beautiful 
 Vittoria Colonna is in the list, the celebrated 
 Andrea Doria, the Pope Adrian (four times), 
 Aretino, the poet, and many other notables. 
 As Vasari was on the whole unusually severe 
 in his estimate of Sebastian, his encomiums 
 are a bit more worth noting when he declares 
 
56 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 that in Florence no one had ever equalled the 
 delicacy and excellence of his work. In some 
 of his women’s portraits certainly, like the 
 “ Fornarina,” and the Dorothea, Sebastian 
 embodied with great charm, the type of a 
 somewhat languishing beauty, rendering with 
 much decorative effect rich mantles of velvet 
 and fur to set off the beauty of a full 
 white neck. His art has been aptly described 
 as “ a happy mixture of the Giorgion- 
 esque, the Itaphaelesque, and the Michelangel- 
 esque.” 
 
 Lorenzo Lotto was the psychologist of his 
 day. He surpassed all other Venetians, as 
 Leonardo surpassed the Florentines, in his 
 power of insight. Like Giorgione, he was 
 something of a poet, but with the difference 
 that his poetic temperament was dramatic 
 rather than lyric. Such qualities are almost 
 as readily discerned in portraiture as in relig- 
 ious subjects. The life story of every sitter 
 may he suggested by certain painters, whereas 
 others represent only the impenetrable mask 
 of the face. The unknown lady (Laura da 
 Pola?), at her reading-desk, with her prayer 
 
Brera Gallery, Milan] [Lotto 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AX UNKNOWN LADY 
 (LAURA DA POLA ?) 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 57 
 
 book in her hand, is so completely alone with 
 her thoughts that we seem to read them in her 
 countenance. Though the rich dress betokens 
 the aristocratic milieu in keeping with her air 
 of distinction, the current of her thoughts is 
 disturbed by doubts, perplexities and long- 
 ings. The interpretation is noticeably in the 
 minor key, as is apt to be the case with Lotto. 
 The Prothonotary Julian, splendid in the 
 ermine trimmed robe of his office, calm and 
 dignified in the pursuits of scholarship, is yet 
 serious almost to melancholy. This is a por- 
 trait superb with a decorative ensemble which 
 reminds one of Holbein. The table with its 
 Oriental covering, on which lies the open book, 
 matches the setting of the Erasmus . 1 Like 
 Holbein, too, Lotto painted the sitters’ hands 
 with wonderful expressiveness. By such occa- 
 sional resemblances between the Venetian and 
 Northern European schools we are reminded 
 that Venice was a half-way house for trans- 
 alpine travellers, where all interesting ideas 
 were cordially welcomed. The characteristic 
 Venetian element in the picture which we 
 
 1 See page 114. 
 
58 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 should not find in a Holbein is the window 
 opening upon a landscape. 
 
 A strong sense of intimacy is conveyed in 
 those of Lotto’s portraits where the eyes meet 
 ours. This is the case with the Man with the 
 Claw, who seems explaining to us the wonder 
 of the organism. He is something of a mystic 
 with his penetrating gaze, and the exagger- 
 ated impressiveness of his gesture. In direct 
 contrast is the homely simplicity of Agostino 
 and Niccolo della Torre, who look out at us 
 frankly with entire absence of pose. They are 
 plain and kindly souls, with genial faces un- 
 troubled with anxieties. This picture belongs 
 to the period immediately following Lotto’s 
 sojourn in Rome, where he gained something 
 from Raphael. It is like Raphael’s work in 
 its unflattering realism, recalling the portrait 
 of Castiglione . 1 From these scattered ex- 
 amples we see the compass of Lotto’s work, 
 and his own peculiar bent. Keenly sensitive 
 and sympathetic in nature, he seemed to read 
 the souls of men. None has ever understood 
 better how to express in a portrait the inner 
 
 1 See page 39. 
 
VENETIAN SCHOOL 
 
 59 
 
 life. His colour links him closely with his 
 generation of Venetians and shows the influ- 
 ence of Giorgione. 
 
 Giorgione, Palma and Lotto were all 
 nearly of an age, though Giorgione dropped 
 out of the race so early in life that we are 
 wont to think of him as of an earlier genera- 
 tion. Titian was born in the same year as 
 the Castelfrancan (1477), but was much later 
 in maturing his art. His life rounded out 
 nearly a hundred years, bringing his highest 
 achievement so well into the sixteenth century 
 that he is usually identified with the later 
 group of Venetians. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 TITIAN AND THE LATER VENETIANS 
 
 O other painter ever united in himself 
 so many qualities of artistic merit as 
 Titian. The chief of the Venetian 
 school, he represented in the highest degree 
 all its characteristic excellences. If others 
 surpassed him in single efforts, or in certain 
 respects, none equalled him in sustained 
 grandeur. In his extraordinary length of 
 days he acquired full mastery of his materials. 
 There was nothing in craftsmanship which he 
 could not accomplish with ease and rapidity. 
 With unsurpassed technical equipment was 
 combined an imagination of unlimited range, 
 powerful yet delicate, dramatic but not the- 
 atrical, exuberant but restrained. Delight- 
 ing in the sheer joy of living, he was yet 
 sensitive to the most subtle phases of the inner 
 life. Partaking fully of the Venetian love 
 
Uffizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 [Titian 
 
 PORTRAIT OF TITIAN 
 

TITIAN AND VENETIANS 61 
 
 of pomp and splendour, he knew the value of 
 simplicity. Sometimes, like Palma, he painted 
 a woman merely as a beautiful creature of 
 flesh and blood; sometimes, like Giorgione, 
 he enveloped his sitters in an atmosphere of 
 poetic serenity, or again, like Lotto, he un- 
 veiled the secrets of a soul. Most frequently, 
 however, he was himself, Titian, giving to 
 his subjects that air of nobility which no one 
 else could give, an appearance of entire self- 
 command. He was by turns subjective and 
 objective, always putting something of him- 
 self into his work, yet capable of a thoroughly 
 objective realism. His colour, rich, profound, 
 sonorous, unites all tones in a perfect chord. 
 
 The portrait work of Titian ran side by 
 side with his religious and mythological sub- 
 jects throughout his career. His patrons were 
 dwellers in kings’ palaces. Emperors, kings, 
 doges, popes, cardinals and bishops, noblemen, 
 poets and beautiful women fill his canvases. 
 Nor was there one among all these great per- 
 sonages of finer bearing than the painter 
 himself. “He was the noblest Roman of 
 them all.” A group of male portraits in the 
 
62 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 decade from 1520 to 1530 show the earlier 
 methods of Titian. The simplest elements are 
 used to produce noble effects. The figures are 
 in half-length, placed high on the canvas, wear- 
 ing plain black clothes, relieved only by a touch 
 of white at the throat. They are young men, 
 feeling the responsibility of their caste, high- 
 bred, refined, grave and thoughtful, the per- 
 sonification of repose. One of these was 
 Tommaso Mosti, who was secretary of the 
 Duke of Ferrara. Another has been called, 
 but probably incorrectly, Alessandro de’ 
 Medici, but the majority are unknown . 1 The 
 most winning is the Man with the Glove, in 
 the Louvre, a Venetian Sir Galahad. 
 
 To the same period also belong some por- 
 traits of a much more decorative order. One 
 is of Federigo Gonzaga, in three-quarters 
 length, richly dressed, standing by a table, 
 with his hand on a little pet dog. This son of 
 Isabella d’Este had been, as we know from 
 Francia’s portrait , 2 a charming boy. His 
 brilliant mother spared no pains with his edu- 
 
 1 In the Louvre, and in Munich and Berlin. 
 
 3 See page 20. 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 63 
 
 cation, and he spent three years in Rome at 
 the court of Julius II. At the age of twenty 
 he succeeded his father as the Duke of Man- 
 tua, and was soon after made Captain General 
 of the Church. It was near this time that the 
 portrait was painted, showing him as he was, 
 an amiable pleasure-loving young man of 
 fashion, rather than a soldier or diplomat. 
 Force and energy were not Titian’s special 
 note with his young sitters. On the other 
 hand the portrait of the Doge Andreas 
 Gritti, painted at nearly the same time, shows 
 all the force of an imperious will. This old 
 man, with the keen glance, and firmly com- 
 pressed lips, is a ruler not to be trifled with. 
 
 In 1532 Titian was summoned by the Em- 
 peror Charles V to paint the first of the long 
 series of portraits which have linked the name 
 of the great painter with the court of Spain. 
 Half Flemish and half Spanish, Charles was 
 by no means a prepossessing subject. His 
 face was long and narrow, and his lower jaw 
 protruded unpleasantly. Titian, however, 
 knew how to throw a kingly glamour over the 
 figure which overcame all defects. Standing 
 
64 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 in his rich court dress, with his hand on the 
 head of a great hound, Charles made a splen- 
 did and spirited picture. Fifteen years later 
 he was painted again in all the weariness of 
 his increasing years, seated in a large arm- 
 ehair. The painter has shown great insight 
 into the character of the morbid and weary 
 old man. The equestrian portrait of the same 
 year (1548) is accounted by some one of the 
 greatest portraits in the world, while others 
 criticize the ignorance of equine anatomy which 
 it displays. In the course of his service of the 
 emperor, Titian made various journeys to the 
 towns where the court was held, Bologna, 
 Mantua and Milan, and even took the fatigu- 
 ing journey across the Alps to Augsburg, 
 when nearly seventy years of age. His 
 genius was highly appreciated by his royal 
 patron: he received a pension and was created 
 Count Palatine of the Empire, and Knight 
 of the Golden Spur. The story is told that 
 at one of the portrait sittings, Titian let fall 
 a brush which the emperor, picking up, re- 
 stored to the painter with the gracious words: 
 “ Titian is worthy to be served by Caesar.” 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 65 
 
 It was not only for his own likeness but for 
 many other pictures that the emperor em- 
 ployed Titian. One of his most interesting 
 orders was for a portrait of the Empress Isa- 
 bella, who had died in 1539. This work was 
 painted with the help of an old picture, and 
 while lacking the vitality of a direct study, 
 it is full of charm. 
 
 In the last years of his life, Charles V, 
 worn out with the cares of government, re- 
 tired to a convent, relinquishing his kingdom 
 to his son Philip II. In the new monarch 
 Titian had another generous patron for whom 
 he exercised his choicest gifts. Again he 
 made the impossible possible in transforming 
 ugliness into kingliness. Philip had a poor 
 figure, with large, ungainly feet, and his fea- 
 tures were almost repulsive. His eyes v/ere 
 large and bulging, he had his father’s pro- 
 jecting jaw with full fleshy lips, which his 
 scanty beard could not conceal. In spite of 
 these difficulties, Titian made him the subject 
 of some of his finest portrait work. Whether 
 standing in splendid suit of gold inlaid 
 armour, or in rich court dress of embroidered 
 
66 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 velvet, Philip looks every inch a king, grave, 
 self-contained, distinguished. A full-length 
 portrait in armour was sent to Queen Mary 
 of England in furtherance of the king’s suit 
 for her royal hand. Word was returned that 
 she was “ greatly enamoured ” of the portrait, 
 and the marriage was soon after effected. 
 Philip, however, was never popular in Eng- 
 land, and after Queen Mary’s death returned 
 to Spain to spend the rest of his life. Cruel, 
 sensual and fanatic, his reign is a poor record 
 of mistakes and atrocities. Nevertheless, 
 while better kings are forgotten, he achieved 
 an immortality due largely to the genius of 
 Titian. 
 
 For psychological insight the group of por- 
 traits for the Pope Paul III show Titian at his 
 best. It was in 1543 that he was invited by 
 the Cardinal Farnese to Ferrara and Brussels, 
 where he painted the portraits both of his 
 host and the old pope. This was the pope, it 
 will be remembered, who excommunicated 
 Henry VIII, who assembled the Council of 
 Trent, and who ordered the Last Judgment 
 to be painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 67 
 
 chapel. A saving sense of humour was his 
 most agreeable trait. One recalls with amuse- 
 ment his reply to the chamberlain who com- 
 plained of being portrayed by Michelangelo 
 in the Inferno. “ If it had been in Purga- 
 tory, I might have done something for you, 
 but I have no authority in hell.” Something 
 cunning in the sharp old eyes, something 
 sinister in the wide mouth, whose shape is de- 
 fined even beneath the heavy moustache and 
 beard, and something wary in the peculiar 
 drooping pose of the head strike us at once 
 in these portraits. Two years later Titian 
 was called to Rome, and once again painted 
 the pope with powerful effect. The old man 
 is seated by a table, attended by the Cardinal 
 Farnese and his grandson Ottavio. The com- 
 position recalls that of Raphael’s Leo X, with 
 differences. The pope turns to address Ot- 
 tavio who bends obsequiously towards him. 
 The self -revelation of both men is amazing: 
 the old man, cunning as a fox, the youth, 
 vain and fawning. 
 
 From the immense popularity of his work 
 Titian derived an income which enabled him 
 
68 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 to live like a prince. When somewhat over 
 fifty years of age he set up an establishment 
 at Casa Grande, just outside Venice, in a 
 spot overlooking the lagoon, opposite Murano. 
 Here he laid out a beautiful garden, and here 
 he entertained his guests with lavish hospital- 
 ity. His wife having died a few years before, 
 the darling of the home was his daughter 
 Lavinia. In her girlhood Lavinia made a 
 charming portrait subject. Richly dressed 
 in brocade, and with jewels in her bright hair, 
 Titian painted her lifting high a plate of 
 fruit. The pose was exactly suited to the 
 curves of her plump figure, and her fresh 
 colour and vivacious smile lent themselves to 
 the pretty conceit. Her beauty was not, how- 
 ever, of a lasting kind. When a few years 
 after her father again painted her portrait 
 in honour of her betrothal, she had already 
 lost her kittenish grace. She stands rather 
 awkwardly, though with something of a shy 
 sweetness in the expression, holding a fan in 
 one hand. What the figure lacks in grace is 
 amply made up in the brilliant treatment of 
 the flesh, and the texture painting. Ten 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 69 
 
 years later Lavinia had become a stout ma- 
 tron, bourgeoise and amiable, but not inter- 
 esting, still richly dressed and carrying her 
 large feather fan complacently. Two por- 
 traits of this period are quite commonplace. 
 
 This group of pictures suggests Titian’s 
 characteristic point of view in women’s por- 
 traits. Though he loved Lavinia devotedly, 
 he did not try to invest her with any romantic 
 glamour. He seemed to reserve his more 
 poetic and psychological moods for men. 
 Even in painting the Virgin and saints he 
 did not touch a much higher key than in his 
 mythological subjects. Life, abundant, 
 serene and joyous, was his theme. With a 
 beautiful woman before him, he lavished con- 
 summate skill upon her hair, her neck and her 
 fine raiment, but ignored the psychic factor. 
 The Flora is one of the most beautiful of his 
 women, the model for the Medea and Venus 
 (“ Sacred and Profane Love”). What art 
 lover does not recall with delight the long 
 curve made by her drooping head, the soft 
 appealing eyes, the hair shimmering like spun 
 gold against the white skin? Yet Flora is 
 
70 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 only a beautiful soulless creature. La Bella 
 carries her head like an exquisite flower on a 
 long stem. Every feature is perfect, every 
 line of her figure graceful, she has the bearing 
 of a princess. But she is a figure-head, rather 
 than a woman of thought and character. 
 Eleanora Gonzaga might well feel flattered to 
 have her features so idealized, but the painter 
 did scant justice to “ the wisdom, genius, 
 courtesy and refinement ” which the courtier 
 Castiglione attributed to her. Eleanora was 
 in the forties when Titian painted the com- 
 panion portraits of the Duke of Urbino and 
 his good wife. Francesco Maria della Rovere 
 was general-in-chief of the Venetian forces, a 
 man of military prowess and very violent 
 temper. His portrait in full armour gives 
 complete expression to his warlike spirit. 
 The duchess is amiable, placid, and as in the 
 Bella picture, not over intellectual. Another 
 great lady whom Titian painted was Isabella 
 d’Este, but this portrait is known only in 
 Rubens’s copy. Allowing amply for the dif- 
 ference between painter and copyist, we must 
 yet be disappointed that the most intellectual 
 
Pitti Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF LA BELLA 
 
 [Titian 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 71 
 
 woman of her period should look so wooden. 1 
 It seems another proof of Titian’s lack of 
 interest in feminine psychology. 
 
 The friends and associates of Titian repre- 
 sented the wit and learning, as well as the 
 wealth and aristocracy of Venice. One of his 
 closest intimates was Aretino. This poet has 
 been called the “ founder of modern journal- 
 ism,” and certainly his influence was as 
 powerful as the press of to-day, a letter, a 
 poem or an epigram from his hand making or 
 breaking a reputation. He was by turns flat- 
 tering, abusive, ironical, insinuating. His 
 character was notoriously licentious, but he 
 was assiduously feted, for everybody feared 
 him. If there was any good side to this 
 strange man, he showed it to Titian. The 
 two enjoyed many tastes in common, espe- 
 cially the love of nature, and the love of art. 
 A letter from Aretino to the painter describ- 
 ing a sunset, ends with a genuine tribute to 
 his friend’s art. “ What marvellous clouds 
 they were,” he wrote, “ I gazed astonished at 
 the varied colours they displayed. The nearer 
 
 1 See pages 20 and 28 for references to other portraits of Isabella. 
 
72 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 masses burned with flames of sunset, the more 
 remote blushed with a blaze of crimson less 
 afire. Oh, how splendidly did Nature’s pencil 
 treat and dispose that airy landscape, keeping 
 the sky apart from the palaces, just as 
 Titian does. . . . With her lights and her 
 darks, there she was, harmonizing, toning, and 
 bringing out into relief just as she wished. 
 Seeing which, I, who know that your pencil 
 is the spirit of her inmost soul, cried aloud, 
 thrice or four times, ‘ Oh Titian, where are you 
 now? ’ ” It is the finer Aretino of such im- 
 passioned outbursts whom Titian’s portrait 
 reveals, splendidly dressed as a prince, with 
 noble bearing and an expression of poetic in- 
 sight which redeems the sensual face. The 
 mouth so habituated to a sneer is partly con- 
 cealed with the long heavy beard. 
 
 Time and space would fail to describe in 
 full the noble company of sitters who still live 
 on Titian’s canvases. Vitality is their com- 
 mon possession. They live and breathe as 
 truly as when they sat in Titian’s studio over 
 three hundred years ago. Yet they all belong 
 to a higher sphere than our common every- 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 73 
 
 day world, as if they had their being in a 
 rarefied atmosphere of noble sentiment. Or 
 again, it is as if, in some one’s fanciful phrase, 
 “ they had sat to music.” Their eyes do not 
 meet ours with any sense of intimacy; their 
 glance is averted with fine reserve. 
 
 As years went by, honours increased upon 
 Titian. In 1574 King Henry III of France, 
 passing through Venice as the guest of the 
 Republic, visited the painter, and found him 
 at the age of ninety-seven still hale and 
 hearty, still painting, and still entertaining 
 with princely hospitality. Two years later 
 he died of the plague, having nearly rounded 
 out a century of life. 
 
 A follower of Titian who caught the mas- 
 ter’s spirit in an extraordinary degree was 
 Paris Bordone, a man whose works are not 
 numerous enough to give him his deserved 
 place in Venetian art. Some splendid por- 
 traits from his hand show a rare gift of colour. 
 The most attractive are of women. They em- 
 body in full perfection the blonde, Venetian 
 type of beauty, but are somewhat stiff in pose. 
 
74 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 A charming portrait of a little boy shows how 
 well he understood child life. 
 
 Tintoretto was a follower of Titian by dint 
 of his own perseverance. His stay in the 
 master’s studio was of brief duration, termi- 
 nated according to tradition by Titian’s jeal- 
 ousy of his precocious pupil. There was noth- 
 ing, however, to hinder the young man from 
 studying Titian’s works scattered throughout 
 Venice. Inspired by their splendid colour, he 
 took for his ambitious standard, “ the draw- 
 ing of Michelangelo and the colour of Titian.” 
 A little episode shows his cleverness as an 
 imitator. Taking a sketch by Titian he cov- 
 ered it with lampblack, and then painted a 
 head in Titian’s manner on the same canvas. 
 Exhibiting this to a company of artists who 
 had been boasting of their knowledge of the 
 master’s art, they all agreed that this was a 
 real Titian, whereupon Tintoretto, erasing 
 the lampblack, showed them how few really 
 understood painting. 
 
 Tintoretto first attracted notice through 
 some portraits painted with peculiar lights 
 and shadows which suggested the epigram: 
 
Uffizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF A BOY 
 
 [Paris Bordone 
 

 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 75 
 
 “ If Tintoretto shines thus in the shades of night 
 What will he do when radiant day has risen ? ” 
 
 In later years his work lay largely in the line 
 of great decorative schemes, but he had be- 
 sides a wide vogue for portraiture. He lived 
 nearly twenty years after Titian’s death, and 
 with indefatigable industry, produced a 
 volume of work far exceeding that of any 
 other Italian. Sebastian del Piombo re- 
 marked that Tintoretto could paint in two 
 days as much as he himself in two years. 
 
 One of his patrons was Aretino, who was, 
 as we have seen, greatly feared for his sharp 
 tongue. During the portrait sitting the 
 painter suddenly approached the poet, taking 
 a large pistol from his doublet. Aretino drew 
 back with a start, when Tintoretto, applying 
 the weapon as a measuring stick, calmly re- 
 marked, “You stand two pistols and a half 
 high.” It is said that Aretino, bully as he 
 was, afterwards treated the painter with 
 marked respect. Sansovino was another of 
 his famous sitters. The architect spent the 
 latter half of his life in Venice, where he de- 
 signed many buildings, and was held in high 
 
76 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 esteem. Vasari gives us a delightful account 
 of his old age, corresponding closely to the 
 impression of Tintoretto’s portrait. “ He 
 had,” he wrote, “ an exceedingly venerable 
 appearance; with his beautiful white beard 
 he still retained the carriage of his youth: he 
 was strong and healthy, even to his ninety- 
 third year, and could see the smallest object 
 at whatever distance.” Another grand old 
 man was the Doge Marcantonio Trevisano, 
 wearing an ermine cape, and the cap of his 
 office. As he sits erect and commanding, one 
 cannot imagine infirmity making any inroads 
 upon so impregnable a constitution. 
 
 Tintoretto’s distinctive contribution to 
 Venetian portrait painting was his pictures 
 of old men: senators, procurators, and dig- 
 nitaries of various sorts. Apparently he was 
 not flattering enough to be popular as a 
 painter of women. No one previous to Rem- 
 brandt had so fully understood the beauty of 
 age: the expressiveness of wrinkled skin, of 
 hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, and the glory 
 of white hair. But Rembrandt was inclined 
 to emphasize the element of pathos, while 
 
Uffizi Gallery, Florence] [Tintoretto 
 
 PORTRAIT OF THE ARCHITECT, SANSOVINO 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 77 
 
 Tintoretto preferred the note of strength. In 
 the old men of his canvases the unquenchable 
 fire of youth still burns brightly, the spirit 
 triumphs over the infirmities of years. The 
 splendid virility of these veterans makes us 
 wonder anew at the conditions of life which 
 produced such specimens of mankind. His 
 subjects have the gravity characteristic of the 
 Venetian school; they take their portrait sit- 
 tings solemnly. They lack the air of grand 
 distinction which Titian imparted, and they 
 are not the dreamers Giorgione would have 
 made them, but they meet our gaze with an 
 air of living reality. 
 
 Included in the school of Venice are cer- 
 tain painters of North Italy who felt directly 
 or indirectly the influence of the great Vene- 
 tians. Romanino of Brescia was one such. 
 In his early manhood he spent a few years 
 in Venice studying the works of Giorgione, 
 whose golden tone he in some measure ac- 
 quired. His occasional portrait work was 
 admirable, showing the characteristics of his 
 Venetian model. Of Brescia, too, was Mo- 
 retto, who, though not really visiting Venice, 
 
78 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 was actuated by a spirit akin to the Venetians. 
 He excelled as a portrait painter, giving his 
 sitters an air of great distinction. Among 
 other notable patrons, he is known to have 
 taken the likeness of the poet Aretino. Much 
 of his work was for the house of Montinen- 
 gro, for whom he decorated the Palazzo della 
 Fabbrica in Brescia. In one room a land- 
 scape motive is finished in the foreground by 
 a simulated balustrade which forms a portrait 
 setting for various figures. Here and there, 
 as if taking the air in their own garden, a 
 pretty young princess pauses with her pet 
 dog, to smile at the spectator. There is an 
 old-time charm about the work which the 
 artificiality of the plan in no wise destroys. 
 
 The Count Sciarra Martinengro was one of 
 the most interesting of this long-pedigreed 
 family. Pie was educated at the French 
 court, where he remained till the assassination 
 of his father called him home to avenge the 
 crime. In the confusion of the encounter with 
 the assassin in a public square the young 
 nobleman accidently killed the wrong man, 
 the victim being a kinsman. The misfortune 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 79 
 
 deeply affected his sensitive nature. He 
 threw himself into a life of adventure and 
 finally fell in fighting with the Huguenots. 
 The unique charm of this personality is won- 
 derfully preserved in Moretto’s famous por- 
 trait of the National Gallery. The gentle- 
 man stands leaning on a table, his cheek 
 supported on his hand, lost in revery. A 
 splendid ermine collar falls over his velvet 
 tunic, a plumed hat is worn in French fash- 
 ion : he is the impersonation of romantic 
 
 melancholy. 
 
 The most distinguished of Moretto’s pupils 
 was Morone, who is known almost exclusively 
 for his numerous portrait works. Some of his 
 pictures have been attributed to Titian, so 
 strong was the kinship between the two men. 
 It is even said that Titian often recommended 
 patrons to him. Almost everybody knows 
 the famous Tailor of the National Gallery, 
 looking up from his cutting-table, scissors in 
 hand, in the midst of his task. His white 
 doublet and red hose are delightfully painted. 
 A peculiar tinge of melancholy colours the 
 portraits by Morone, due partly to a dis- 
 
80 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 pirited carriage of the head, and partly to the 
 haunting expression of the eyes, which look 
 directly into ours. In the Tailor this seems 
 like shyness, in the lady of the National Gal- 
 lery, gentle timidity, in the Widower of the 
 National Gallery of Ireland, it is genuine 
 sorrow, in the man of the Uffizi, it is positive 
 moroseness. The extreme lifelikeness of the 
 portraits comes both from the qualities of 
 painting and the intimacy of the direct gaze. 
 The little girl of the Bergamo Gallery is a 
 delightful child, one of the dear, every-day 
 homespun kind. 
 
 Veronese, the latest and most distinguished 
 of the naturalized Venetians, devoted himself 
 so completely to large scenic compositions 
 that he had no time for portrait painting. It 
 was only as he introduced contemporary like- 
 nesses into his religious subjects that we see 
 how admirably he adapted himself to this 
 branch of art. In the Marriage at Cana, 
 Alfonso d’ Avalos figures as the bridegroom, 
 and Eleanor, wife of the King of France, as 
 the bride. Charles V, Francis I, Solvman I, 
 and Queen Mary of England are among 
 
Carrara Gallery, Bergamo] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF A LITTLE GIRL 
 
 [Morone 
 

 
 i £) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TITIAN AND VENETIANS 81 
 
 the guests. The musicians represent the 
 leading Venetian painters of Veronese’s 
 day: Titian, Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano, 
 
 and Veronese himself. In the Christ at 
 Emmaus are the most delightful real chil- 
 dren, some of them, the painter’s own. 
 A beautiful blonde woman stands at one 
 side, holding a babe on one arm like a 
 veritable Madonna, a little girl nestling 
 at her side. A small boy on the other side 
 peeps out from the shelter of her long cape, 
 to watch the antics of a pet dog held by a 
 somewhat larger boy kneeling on the pave- 
 ment. In front of the table two little girls 
 play with a big dog between them. The grace 
 and naivete of these children anticipate by 
 two hundred years the spirit of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds. The child had been made very 
 little account of in Venice, much less it would 
 seem than elsewhere in Italy. Only in the 
 disguise of angel musicians had children had 
 a place in the sumptuous art of the great city. 
 The portrait painters evidently rarely re- 
 ceived orders for the likenesses of the sons and 
 daughters of their patrons. At the height of 
 
82 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Venetian development comes this new note 
 from Veronese, to bring to full completion 
 the splendid work of the Venetian portrait 
 school. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 IN THE NETHERLANDS 
 
 HILE fifteenth-century Italy was 
 rising from the new birth of art into 
 the full perfection of her powers, 
 wonderful things were also taking place on 
 the other side of the Alps. The impulse of 
 awakening was felt all over Europe, and in 
 the north, as well as in the south, a new era 
 opened with the new century. The form in 
 which the art spirit expressed itself would 
 naturally vary with temper and environment. 
 Even Venice, as we have seen, differed materi- 
 ally from Florence in her art. Much more 
 would the Flemish cities differ alike from 
 Venice or Florence. In the Middle Ages the 
 northern temper had worked itself out in 
 Gothic architecture, and in the Renaissance, 
 the same temper must inevitably work out an 
 equally distinctive style of painting. 
 
84 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 In the first place, mural painting, which 
 was so prominent in Italian art, was of almost 
 no account in Flanders and Germany. The 
 style of building neither required nor ad- 
 mitted it. Religious painting took the form 
 of many panelled altar-pieces. The art effort 
 was, so to speak, concentrated in small spaces. 
 This, as to mere externals. As to methods, 
 the fifteenth-century Flemish loved, above all 
 things, the minute detail. They regarded no 
 smallest thing as insignificant, and dignified 
 even the most commonplace trifles with skil- 
 ful craftsmanship. To beauty of line they 
 preferred richness of stuff: large-figured 
 
 brocades and Oriental hangings, garments 
 trimmed with fur, or embroidered with gems, 
 heavy crowns of gold and jewelled brooches. 
 So, too, to go deeper, it was not beauty of 
 feature they cared for in the human face, but 
 the exact delineation of surface, the careful re- 
 production of every irregularity or blemish, 
 the minute tracing of every seam and wrinkle 
 which makes for expression or character. 
 Their art was addressed to the mind as well 
 as to the eye. Such qualities were all favour- 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 85 
 
 able to portrait painting. It was as if North- 
 ern Europe were the soil designed by nature 
 for the growth of this particular branch of 
 art. 
 
 At the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
 the two brothers Van Eyck gave a great im- 
 petus to the material side of painting by their 
 methods of using oil. To what extent they 
 were either discoverers or inventors is of no 
 consequence to us. The fact remains that 
 their practical application of this medium 
 greatly benefited their own countrymen and 
 the Italians as well. The Ghent altar-piece, 
 which was their joint production, finished in 
 1432, brought Flemish art by a single stride, 
 into line with contemporary Florentines. It 
 did more. It set up a standard of portrait 
 painting for all the fifteenth -century Flemish 
 to follow. The donors of the picture, Jodocus 
 Vyt and his good wife Isabella, kneeling with 
 sanctimonious gravity on the outer shutters, 
 are delineated to the very life. There is no 
 artistic evasion here. The task is not made 
 purposely easy by posing the figures in pro- 
 file, or reducing them to half length. The 
 
86 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 painter faced his problem squarely and solved 
 it successfully. Jodocus is uncompromisingly 
 himself in every line of his big commonplace 
 face, and every wrinkle of his fine old hands. 
 Isabella, too, is neither prettier nor plainer 
 than in real life, somewhat careworn, but 
 wearing her years and honours with dignity. 
 The Canon George de Pala, donor of the 
 altar-piece in the Bruges Academy, is a mar- 
 vel of character revelation. A book in one 
 hand, pince-nez in the other, he kneels on the 
 pavement in complacent self-sufficiency, the 
 coarse aggressive face heavily seamed with 
 lines of self-indulgence. The Chancellor 
 Rollin, donor of the altar-piece in the Louvre, 
 is a man of quite different type, sincere and 
 devout. 
 
 Other portraits by Jan Van Eyck keep up 
 to the same standard of psychological signifi- 
 cance. Instead of the rather wooden profiles, 
 such as his Italian contemporaries were paint- 
 ing, he portrayed the open countenance. 
 The portrait of the painter’s wife, in the 
 Bruges Academy, is an interesting and beau- 
 tiful picture of a woman not specially inter- 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 87 
 
 esting or beautiful herself, and this because 
 she lets us read her open face so frankly. 
 Another fine portrait by Van Eyck is of an 
 old man in the Vienna Gallery. The face is 
 smooth -shaven, showing the modelling of the 
 nice mouth. There is a lovely net- work of 
 lines around the kindly eyes, and though he 
 is as plain as plain can be, he is thoroughly 
 attractive and likable. The Man with a Tur- 
 ban in the National Gallery is refined and dis- 
 tinguished, with thin, sharp features, and 
 expressive eyes. 
 
 The “ Man with the Pinks ” is ludicrously 
 ugly. A modern portrait painter would pose 
 him to bring out his best points, and soften 
 his defects. Van Eyck was quite innocent of 
 such flattery. It would even seem as if he 
 purposely arranged the head to the man’s dis- 
 advantage, turning upon us the full battery 
 of his oddities. Can it be that Van Eyck 
 was something of a humourist? More likely, 
 however, he took an artist’s keen delight in 
 overcoming difficulties. He compels our ad- 
 miration of this man, spite of his ugliness: 
 the puffy places under the eyes, the ill-shaped 
 
88 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 nose, the large projecting ears, the disagree- 
 able mouth. The marvellous fidelity of detail, 
 the beautiful rendering of textures, and the 
 sense of vitality go to make this a master- 
 piece of realism. The “ Man with the Pinks ” 
 is thirty years earlier than Mantegna’s Cardi- 
 nal Mezzarata, which is the first Italian full- 
 face portrait to compare with it. In still an- 
 other feat did Van Eyck forestall Mantegna 
 the full-length portrait. The double por- 
 trait of Arnolfini and his Wife, standing to- 
 gether in the vows of betrothal, is indeed 
 practically two centuries ahead of time in 
 mastery of technique. The quaintness of the 
 costumes enhances the charm of this work: 
 the long, fur-edged cape of the lover, with the 
 huge broad-brimmed hat; the bride’s volumi- 
 nous train and the white head-dress draped 
 over the horns of her coiffure. The solemn 
 earnestness of the young man, looking out of 
 the picture with upraised hand, the shyness 
 of the maiden looking down demurely, give 
 sufficient dramatic quality without detracting 
 from the portrait character. The strong indi- 
 viduality of the man makes us sure of the 
 
Berlin Gallery] 
 
 [Yan Eyck 
 
 THE MAN WITH THE PINKS 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 89 
 
 likeness: the rather slanting eyes, the large 
 nose, and the unusually narrow cleft chin. 
 He is more interesting, because more individ- 
 ual, than his betrothed, and indeed it seems 
 true of Van Eyck’s work in general, that the 
 men’s portraits are better than women’s. 
 One might go farther and say that ugly men 
 are better subjects than handsome men, and 
 that ugly old men are still better than ugly 
 young men! These preferences are not pecul- 
 iar to Van Eyck: they are characteristic of 
 th£ Northern portrait painters, both Flemish 
 and German. Youth and beauty do not offer 
 sufficient scope for their peculiar gifts. Their 
 chief aim, whatever the subject, man or 
 woman, young or old, is to make the portrait 
 expressive. Hence they used largely the 
 three-quarters views, and laboured scrupulously 
 to reproduce the individuality. The fifteenth- 
 century Flemish portraits are, therefore, on 
 the whole, more sophisticated than contempo- 
 rary Italian works. 
 
 The same custom prevailed in Northern 
 Europe as in Italy, of introducing portrait 
 figures into religious compositions, especially 
 
90 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 in the Adoration of the Kings. Roger van 
 der Weyden’s celebrated picture in Munich 
 represents Duke Philip the Good, in the 
 guise of the eldest king, while Charles the 
 Bold impersonates the youngest. The painter 
 does not even try to make the expression suit 
 the occasion, but in the case of the younger 
 man, paints a thoroughly characteristic por- 
 trait, full of fire and passion. 
 
 Roger van der Weyden was a pupil of Jan 
 Van Eyck, and became in turn the master of 
 Memling, thus passing on the influence of the 
 earlier master to successive generations. Hans 
 Memling was indeed a painter of great deli- 
 cacy, and marked sense of beauty. His heads 
 have more sweetness and less severity than 
 in the work of his predecessors, while his 
 colours are more luminous and transparent. 
 
 Like all his contemporaries, Memling had 
 a field for portrait painting in introducing 
 the figures of donors into altar-pieces. This 
 fashion is carried to an amusing extreme in 
 the Madonna in the Louvre, adored by a man 
 and his wife, with nineteen children! The 
 seven sons kneel behind their father, and the 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 91 
 
 twelve daughters behind their mother, and it 
 must be confessed that the sons are as much 
 alike as peas in a pod, and the daughters, as 
 the seeds of an apple. This was portrait 
 painting by the wholesale, a whole family at 
 reduced rates, when it could scarcely be ex- 
 pected that the painter could take pains to 
 individualize. Willem Morel and his wife 
 occupy the wings of the altar-piece of St. 
 Christopher in the Bruges Academy, and 
 they, too, have a goodly family to present 
 proudly to the saint. A portrait bust of 
 Morel is in the Brussels Museum, and is pre- 
 sumably a study made at the same time as the 
 altar-piece. 
 
 More celebrated is the portrait of Martin 
 van Nieuwenhove, donor of the Madonna in 
 St. John’s Hospital, Bruges. His hands are 
 clasped above his breviary, and he gazes ab- 
 sently before him with the rapt expression of 
 a saint. This picture is a composition in 
 every sense of the word, the background being 
 one of the most fascinating examples of the 
 Flemish love of detail. Two casement win- 
 dows of leaded glass fill the wall space, one 
 
92 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 having a charming bit of stained glass in an 
 upper pane. Through an open lower sash, 
 one sees a landscape with a bridge and tower, 
 every detail being exquisitely rendered. Such 
 accessories may not be necessary to the art 
 of portraiture, but when they are kept in true 
 subordination, they add a charming attraction 
 peculiar to the Flemings. Van Eyck’s Arnol- 
 fini and his Wife is an example in point, the 
 interior of the room being a miracle of skill. 
 
 Some of Memling’s portraits of donors 
 have become separated from their original 
 companion panels, and are now in galleries. 
 Such is the charming youth in Leipzig, and 
 such, the thoughtful young man of the Uffizi, 
 and another example is in the Hague Gallery. 
 In all these cases, the expression is very devout. 
 Memling had a strong vein of religious senti- 
 ment, and he made his donors, willy nilly, fill 
 reverently the part they assume. His other 
 scattered portraits show him in a more objec- 
 tive and realistic vein. Anton von Burgund 
 at Chantilly is characteristic and interesting, 
 a young man in a tall hat, with pronounced 
 individuality. Niccolo Spinelli, in the Ant- 
 
TJffizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN 
 
 [Memling 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 93 
 
 werp Gallery, holds a coin in one hand, look- 
 ing out gravely, and a young dandy in 
 Cologne pleases us with his own self-satis- 
 faction. An older man in the Staedel Insti- 
 tute, Frankfort, seems of gentle and amiable 
 nature. Mending’s characterizations are not 
 vigorous like Van Eyck’s; his sense of beauty 
 apparently softened character as well as fea- 
 tures, but the conscientious Flemish spirit is 
 always in evidence, and united with a gift of 
 idealization, made him an attractive and inter- 
 esting portrait painter. 
 
 There was a demand for Flemish painting 
 even in Italy. The agent of the Medici in 
 Bruges, one Portinari, ordered of Hugo van 
 der Goes an altar-piece for the hospital church 
 of S. Maria Nuova at Florence. The wings 
 contained portraits of the man and his wife, 
 the former with two little boys, and the latter 
 with a little girl. The portraits have the 
 characteristic Flemish quality of the period, 
 painted with great care and force. The odd 
 thing is the comparative scale of the donors 
 and their patron saints, who tower above the 
 other figures like giants. Justus of Ghent 
 
94 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 was another Fleming whose work was carried 
 into Italy, he himself being summoned by 
 Duke Federigo of Urbino to paint the por- 
 traits of the duke and duchess. 
 
 As a rule, however, the Flemish painters of 
 this time had little to do with courts and 
 princes. Their work was usually done at 
 home, and for that sturdy middle class which 
 built up the commercial prosperity of the 
 Netherlands. Whereas portrait painting in 
 Italy was the exclusive luxury of the aristoc- 
 racy, north of the Alps it was the delight of 
 the bourgeoisie: merchants and craftsmen, 
 
 men of solid worth and industry. Could we 
 hang together all the portraits of this school, 
 they would represent people of about the 
 same class, and of similar mental and moral 
 calibre, not brilliant or highly imaginative, 
 but possessed of the stronger virtues. The 
 men were honest and industrious, the women, 
 domestic and modest. This class of people 
 did not affect the study of classic literature 
 as an amusement, and did not care much for 
 mythological art. Their plainer and more 
 prosaic tastes inclined them to the subjects 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS 95 
 
 they could best understand, and what could 
 they understand better, or more greatly en- 
 joy, than their own likenesses? Thus the art 
 of portrait painting took firm root on fertile 
 soil. 
 
 Making the transition in Flemish art from 
 the fifteenth to the sixteenth century, was 
 Quentin Massys, who lived till 1530. His por- 
 traits were not numerous, but we may cite as 
 worthy companions of the pictures grouped 
 here, his two portraits of the Chancellor Caron- 
 delet. One of these is in the Louvre, and the 
 other in Munich. The man gazes directly out 
 upon us, with square open face, and firm thin 
 lips. He is handsome, in the sense that he has 
 great dignity of character, and strong, well 
 modelled features. At Frankfort is a portrait 
 of a man with spectacles, looking up from a 
 book which rests on a ledge before him. It 
 is an interesting and suggestive face, though 
 the pose is rather meaningless. This brings us 
 to the end of our chapter in the beginnings of 
 Flemish portrait painting. A century later 
 the Flemings were again heard from with 
 no uncertain tone in the progress of this art. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ALBERT DURER AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 
 
 CITY of steep-roofed houses, 
 adorned with gables and oriole 
 windows, of noble Gothic 
 churches, with carved portals and fretted 
 towers, of arched bridges spanning the river 
 which flows through the center of its busy 
 life, of sculptured fountains standing in the 
 market-places — the whole encompassed by 
 massive walls set with towers and bastions of 
 every style, and all the buildings climbing, 
 roof upon roof, to tbe great fortified castle 
 on the heights — this was Nuremberg, the 
 home of Albert Diirer. 
 
 It was under the Emperor Maximilian that 
 Nuremberg enjoyed the most flourishing 
 period. She then had more land than any 
 free town in the empire. Her commerce 
 brought her intercourse with East, West and 
 South. She had been among the first to es- 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 97 
 
 tablish printing presses, and was actively 
 interested in the revival of learning. Her 
 roll call of the famous men of the sixteenth 
 century includes the mathematician and scien- 
 tist Johannes Muller, the navigator Martin 
 Behaim, Anthoni Ivoberger, the “ prince of 
 booksellers,” Hans Sachs, the poet, and 
 humanists like Conrad Celtes, Lazarus 
 Spengler, and Willibald Pirkheimer. Nu- 
 remberg was one of the first towns to espouse 
 the cause of Martin Luther, and was bold in 
 matters of reform. Lastly Nuremberg was by 
 no means behind in the love of luxury which 
 fosters the arts and crafts. The houses of the 
 rich were decorated within and without with 
 the handiwork of skilled artisans. The 
 churches were beautified with sculptured 
 works by Adam Krafft, Peter Vischer and 
 Veit Stoss. Painting came in likewise for 
 a share of patronage. The art impulse which 
 had hitherto centered in the Flemish cities, 
 had now moved in this direction. The paint- 
 ers’ workshops were busy places, with youth- 
 ful apprentices lending their aid to fill the 
 masters’ orders. 
 
PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 98 
 
 In such surroundings Diirer was trained 
 for his life-work, and spent the most of his 
 days. From first to last, he was a German of 
 the Germans, and a Nuremberger of the Nu- 
 rembergers. Like all prophets, he was hon- 
 oured more in other cities than in his own 
 country, but he was steadily loyal to his 
 native place. Though he might complain of 
 her coldness, Nuremberg was always his first 
 love. Our painter was born in 1471, and was 
 apprenticed in boyhood to a goldsmith. Soon 
 he found that he preferred painting, and at 
 the age of fifteen he entered the service of 
 Michael Wohlgemut. We can outline his 
 biography in a series of self-made portraits. 
 
 First there is the eager boy of thirteen, 
 making his first experiments alone in pencil, 
 and delighted to discover himself. It is won- 
 derful how the little amateur sketch puts the 
 child before 11 s, with his earnest face, and 
 sensitive artist’s mouth. What manner of 
 man his father was, we may see from a por- 
 trait by the young art student, painted 
 towards the close of his four years of appren- 
 ticeship. The elder Diirer is the man of 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 99 
 
 arduous toil and anxiety, as his son has de- 
 scribed him in a letter. The eyes and mouth 
 are very expressive and very sad — yet gentle 
 withal, with the sweet patient spirit he trans- 
 mitted to Albert. The portrait is in the 
 Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 
 
 Our portrait of his mother is of much later 
 date, a charcoal drawing of 1514, the year of 
 her death. Her emaciated face is deeply 
 furrowed with lines of thought and suffering, 
 and the countenance is marked by great 
 strength of character and refinement. 
 
 The portrait of Wohlgemut shows the mas- 
 ter under whose influence Diirer’s youth was 
 passed. He is a man one would like to con- 
 fide a son to, not because of his great gifts — 
 he was far from being a genius — but because 
 he would inspire the respect and devotion of 
 his pupils. His eyes are keen and genial, as 
 of one who never lost touch with the interests 
 of youth. The portrait was painted in 1516, 
 when the old man was eighty-two, and had 
 lived to see his pupil far surpass him. 
 
 At the close of his apprenticeship, Diirer 
 started on a Wander jahr of four years. It 
 
100 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 was a period of thought and observation, when 
 the impressionable young mind was storing 
 up material for his life-work. He comes 
 back, a bit of a dandy as to clothes, but with 
 face still guiltless of beard, as fresh and inno- 
 cent as a maiden’s. The portrait of 1493 is a 
 milestone of this journey. A small crimson 
 cap, ornamented with a tufted tassel, is set 
 jauntily on the long hair; the shirt is fanci- 
 fully strapped with ribbons, and he wears a 
 blue mantle. Yet that his soul is above his 
 finery we doubt not from the dreamy expres- 
 sion. 
 
 Five years pass: Diirer has married, has 
 set up a workshop of his own, and with a 
 corps of apprentices, has been filling orders 
 for altar-pieces. He is now a handsome man 
 and is well aware of it. His long hair is care- 
 fully curled, and he wears a beard. With 
 innocent vanity — rather let us say with an 
 artist’s sense of his own good points — he 
 paints the portrait of 1498 arrayed in his best 
 
 a striped cap, a mantle edged with broad 
 bands of trimming and made with fancy 
 sleeves. At about this point his orders for 
 
Munich Gallery] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF OSWALD KREL 
 
 [Diirer 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 101 
 
 portraits begin to come in. Probably his very 
 first was from a princely patron, the Elector 
 Frederick, “ the Wise,” of Saxony, and others 
 were from the Tucher family who were peo- 
 ple of importance in Nuremberg. Carefully 
 drawn, and no doubt faithful to the originals, 
 the hard precision of these works is as differ- 
 ent as possible from the insight and charm he 
 showed in the subjects he cared for. Oswald 
 Krel must have been a friend. At all events 
 he was a most sympathetic subject. He was 
 a young man of about Diirer’s own age, 
 wearing his hair like his, in long curls, and 
 like him extremely thoughtful and serious. 
 Diirer painted his portrait with great distinc- 
 tion and charm. The only fault, if fault it be, 
 is that the lines of reflection are so deep as to 
 seem almost a scowl. 
 
 In 1500 comes the most famous and beauti- 
 ful of all Diirer’s portraits of himself, if not 
 the most famous of all his subjects. He has 
 attained the full mastery of himself, and of 
 his powers. The face looks directly out of 
 the picture, the large calm eyes meeting ours, 
 with an expression of deep thoughtfulness. 
 
102 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 The face would seem too long and narrow 
 but for the long curls which frame it, arranged 
 with careful symmetry, and falling to the 
 shoulders. The high noble brow, and the 
 faultless regularity of features, the grave gen- 
 tleness of the mouth are not unworthy the 
 Christ ideal which Diirer unquestionably had 
 in mind in assuming the pose. The hand, too, 
 is beautiful and strong, with long slender 
 artist’s fingers. In the Passion series of 
 woodcuts designed some ten years later we 
 distinctly see that Diirer is his own Christ 
 model. 
 
 The next group of Diirer’s portraits was 
 during his visit in Venice in 1505, when he 
 astonished artists and connoisseurs with the 
 minuteness and precision of his craftsmanship. 
 In the prevailing Venetian fashion, he intro- 
 duced portraits of real persons into religious 
 compositions. The Emperor Maximilian 
 kneels in the foreground of the Feast of Rose 
 Garlands receiving a crown from the Ma- 
 donna, while the Pope Julius II on the other 
 side is similarly favoured by the Christ-child. 
 In the rear, Diirer and his friend Pirkheimer 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 103 
 
 are among the bystanders. Of independent 
 portraits, the Young Man in the Vienna Gal- 
 lery is of interest, as showing how the Vene- 
 tian influence led the painter into a softening 
 of the outlines of the face. 
 
 A pleasant episode of Diirer’s Venetian 
 visit was his friendship with the older painter 
 Giovanni Bellini. The story is told that the 
 Venetian begged of the German one of the 
 brushes with which he drew hairs. Diirer at 
 once produced several ordinary brushes like 
 those Bellini himself used. “ No,” said the 
 other, “ I mean the brushes with which you 
 draw several hairs with one stroke.” Where- 
 upon, the painter, taking one of the brushes, 
 drew before the eyes of his astonished friend, 
 the long wavy tresses of a woman. The mar- 
 vellous delicacy of Diirer’ s hair painting is 
 indeed without a parallel. The Venetian Lo- 
 renzo Lotto was an imitator of his method, 
 but the only painter with whom we could 
 justly compare him is Leonardo da Vinci. 
 
 Returning to Nuremberg, Diirer took the 
 house which still bears his name. It was in 
 the years now following that he enjoyed the 
 
104 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 patronage of the Emperor Maximilian. His 
 largest commission was the series of woodcuts 
 forming the “ Triumphal Arch.” There were 
 ninety-three blocks devoted to the glorification 
 of the sovereign, and the subjects include por- 
 traits of various royalties. Diirer’s relations 
 with the emperor were of the pleasantest, 
 and it appears that the painter was something 
 of a courtier. One day when the emperor 
 was trying to make a sketch to show his idea, 
 the crayon broke in his fingers, when Diirer, 
 taking the charcoal, easily finished the draw- 
 ing. Maximilian, annoyed at his own clumsi- 
 ness, asked how this was. “ I should not like 
 your Majesty to he able to draw as well as 
 I,” was the reply. “ It is my province to 
 draw, and yours to rule.” It was in 1518, 
 when the emperor was holding the Diet at 
 Augsburg, that Diirer, sent from Nuremberg 
 as a commissioner, obtained a portrait sitting 
 from Maximilian. In the Albertina collec- 
 tion, at Vienna, we may see the precious little 
 original charcoal sketch, a few delicate lines 
 suggesting with much subtlety the strong 
 characteristics of the face: the large hooked 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 105 
 
 nose, the unbeautiful mouth, and the long 
 oddly moulded chin. The features are some- 
 what softened in the finished portraits, of 
 which there are two, one in oils in the Vienna 
 Gallery, and one in water colours in the Ger- 
 manic Museum at Nuremberg. There are be- 
 sides two large woodcuts from the same study. 
 
 It was also at the Diet at Augsburg that 
 Diirer took the portrait of Cardinal Albert of 
 Brandenburg. From the original charcoal 
 sketch ( now in the Albertina ) , the artist made 
 a splendid engraving. The face is in profile 
 so that the heavy features are somewhat re- 
 fined, and the expression of the eyes is full of 
 thought. The engraved portraits by Diirer 
 are indeed as interesting in their own way as 
 his painted works. Among the subjects is 
 the Elector Frederick, greatly increased in 
 avoirdupois since the portrait of twenty-five 
 years before. Here again, however, Diirer 
 succeeded in imparting dignity to a difficult 
 subject. In the same way he made his friend 
 Pirkheimer a noble and interesting head, in 
 spite of the thick neck and double chin which 
 could so easily seem gross. It is said of Pirk- 
 
106 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 heimer that his vehement opinions and caustic 
 wit led him to quarrel with every friend ex- 
 cept Diirer. Melanchthon is the subject of 
 another engraved portrait full of interest. 
 He has a high brow, emaciated cheeks, the 
 peculiar absent smile and introspective stare 
 of the mystic. Erasmus was still another 
 famous man whose portrait Diirer engraved, 
 reproducing faithfully the scholar’s fine face. 
 
 The death of Maximilian in 1519 was a 
 serious loss to Diirer, and it soon after be- 
 came expedient for him to visit the Nether- 
 lands on business connected with his pension. 
 All along the way he painted portraits, and 
 still more portraits, and again portraits. At 
 the inns lie painted his hosts, to defray ex- 
 penses; here and there he caught some rich 
 patron, or some celebrity; and, greatest pleas- 
 ure of all, he honoured some fellow craftsmen 
 with portraits: Bernard von Orley, Joachim 
 Patinir, Lucas van Leyden, Jakob of Lubek. 
 Returning to Nuremberg, the few remaining 
 years of his life were not very productive, but 
 his chief artistic interest seems to have been 
 
Berlin Gallery] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HIERONYMUS HOLZSCHUHER 
 
 [Diirer 
 

ALBERT DURER 
 
 107 
 
 portrait painting. His last group of paintings 
 includes three masterpieces of portrait art. 
 
 Of foremost importance is the man in the 
 Prado gallery, commonly, but without proof, 
 called Hans Imhof. The rich fur collar fur- 
 nishes a splendid decorative element suggest- 
 ing a Venetian work. The man himself, with 
 the strong concentrated gaze of a close 
 thinker, is delineated to the very life. In pre- 
 cisely the same compositional style is the fine 
 portrait at Fenway Court, but here the man 
 is younger and less interesting in character. 
 Jacob Muff el, Councillor of Nuremberg, is 
 another of the famous trio referred to. He is 
 a fine old man, with smooth face, and thin 
 sharp features, and the eyes of a dreamer. 
 He, too, wears a fur collar which Durer could 
 so cunningly paint. Lastly the famous 
 Hieronymus Holschuher, also in fur collar, 
 brings to a climax the master’s characteristic 
 method. The picture is painted with a realism 
 so painstaking that it is almost painful, be- 
 cause it shows too plainly the labour it cost. 
 Every hair seems to have been painted sepa- 
 rately, every line studied with intense and ab- 
 
108 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 sorbing interest. With all this attention to 
 detail, Diirer did not fail to give life to his 
 subject. Holschuher’s individuality is so 
 strikingly preserved, that he may well be 
 called the best known Nuremberger of the 
 sixteenth century, only Diirer himself ex- 
 cepted. 
 
 Diirer was not preeminently a portrait 
 painter, his highest claim to immortality be- 
 ing his engravings. Yet his contribution to 
 the art is not only considerable in quantity, but 
 remarkable in quality. His work is intensely 
 serious and expressive, thoroughly representa- 
 tive of the German spirit. He never got very 
 far away from Nuremberg. As her castle 
 towers in the background of his pictures, so 
 her influence dominated the character of his 
 work. Painstaking and conscientious in 
 minute detail, lie had besides the higher gifts 
 of the portrait painter, vigour and vitality. 
 His qualities were best adapted to the por- 
 trayal of men. There are not a half dozen 
 women in his entire list of sitters. Ap- 
 parently portraits of women and children 
 w r ere not much in fashion in his world. 
 
ALBERT DURER 
 
 109 
 
 Though Diirer was no flatterer, he yet un- 
 derstood the art of making the most of a con- 
 genial subject. Best of all, he was a genuine 
 psychologist, in the true meaning of that 
 overworked term. He chose by preference 
 the thoughtful mood, and discerned with much 
 insight the special calibre of the thinker. The 
 strong vein of mysticism which is so promi- 
 nent in his allegorical engravings is now and 
 then apparent in his character interpretation. 
 Homeliness is of course the invariable note, 
 characteristic alike of the German national- 
 ity and the man Albert Diirer. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 
 
 '^HE celebrated Hans Holbein was 
 born in 1497 in Augsburg, and came 
 
 to Basle while still in his teens, seek- 
 ing employment as an illustrator. He had re- 
 ceived his training from his father, who was 
 a painter of some worth. One of the youth’s 
 first patrons in Basle was the great Erasmus, 
 for whom he designed some pen and ink 
 sketches for the author’s private copy of the 
 “ Praise of Folly.” The learned Dutchman 
 was then in middle life, and had just taken 
 up his residence in the German city, after 
 journeying all over Europe. He had spent 
 some years in Paris, he had visited Venice and 
 Turin, and in Rome he had declined flattering 
 proposals from Pope Julius II. Twice he 
 had been in England, the second time as the 
 guest of Sir Thomas More, in whose house he 
 
 no 
 
PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 111 
 
 wrote the “ Praise of Folly.” He now in- 
 terested himself in the young artist, and the 
 two men became warm friends. Holbein 
 entered heartily into his author’s meaning, 
 and often showed a keen sense of humour in 
 illustrating his text. At one place where 
 Erasmus mentions his own name, the illustra- 
 tor sketched a portrait in the margin, labelled 
 “ Erasmus.” The author, highly tickled by 
 the flattered likeness, exclaimed, “ Oh, if 
 Erasmus looked like this, he might yet truly 
 take a wife.” It was not till nearly ten years 
 later, however, that Holbein made any am- 
 bitious portrait of the scholar. 
 
 In the meantime work of all sorts came to 
 the painter’s hand, and he seemed as ready 
 for one thing as another. He was not quite 
 twenty when he had an order from the newly 
 elected burgomaster, Jacob Meyer, for por- 
 traits of himself and wife. Holbein pro- 
 ceeded like a trained expert, making first a 
 preliminary sketch of each sitter, and then 
 producing the finished oil portrait. The 
 sketches, still preserved, are masterly works of 
 art. There is nothing weak or tentative in the 
 
112 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 line — character and expression are fully in- 
 dicated — it remained only to reproduce the 
 head in colour. Thus, at the outset, Holbein 
 showed that he had in him the making of a 
 master draughtsman, and a portrait painter 
 of the first rank. 
 
 It was five years later when he again made 
 studies of the same heads, to use in the Meyer 
 Madonna which the burgomaster had now 
 ordered. There is again the same delicacy of 
 touch, and the same care in studying the ex- 
 pression. Meyer is posed in an attitude of 
 devotion, raising his eyes to the Virgin. It 
 is marvellous how the painter, while adher- 
 ing faithfully to the likeness, gives nobility 
 and dignity to the plebeian countenance. 
 
 It was in 1519, at the age of twenty-two, 
 that Holbein was admitted to the Painter’s 
 Guild, of Basle, and the date was signalized 
 by one of his best known and best loved por- 
 traits. Boniface Amerbach was the son of 
 a publisher, a man of parts and learning. He 
 was possessed of great personal charm and 
 beauty. He was a discriminating connoisseur, 
 and an enthusiastic admirer of Holbein’s art. 
 
PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 113 
 
 A more poetic and picturesque subject could 
 scarcely be found, and Holbein did the sitter 
 justice. The beautiful sensitive face, with the 
 short wavy beard, is turned almost in profile, 
 the hair clustering about the ears, the forehead 
 shaded by a large soft cap. On the trunk of 
 a tree, at one side, hangs a sort of signboard, 
 with a laudatory inscription, the date, and 
 the names of painter and sitter. All this com- 
 poses admirably with the rest of the picture, 
 and makes the scheme extremely decorative. 
 The decorative portrait was indeed a specialty 
 of Holbein’s, and whenever he could use let- 
 tering effectively, he was sure to put it in. In 
 this case the inscription links pleasantly the 
 painter and the man who in after years did 
 so much to collect and preserve his works. 
 
 In the meantime Holbein’s friendship with 
 Erasmus bore fruit in a group of extraordi- 
 nary portraits. The first in order was per- 
 haps the little round woodcut drawn for the 
 publisher Froben in 1523, showing us the 
 keen inquisitive face in all the sharpness of 
 profile, and without the more mellow quali- 
 ties. These, however, were well presented in 
 
114 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the painted portraits, of which at least three 
 followed soon after. The best known of these 
 is the picture of the Louvre. The scholar is 
 at his desk, writing, the face in profile, the 
 eyes fixed on his book. The cap is pulled far 
 down over his forehead, and conceals all his 
 hair but one stray white lock on the cheek. 
 We see but little of his face, and yet we see 
 the whole man, — the scholar and the man of 
 the world, seeing and hating shams, yet with- 
 out the boldness of a reformer, claimed by 
 Catholics and Protestants alike, gentle and 
 amiable, appreciative of worth, with a keen 
 sense of humour, often verging on the satir- 
 ical, and sometimes even coarse. A dark 
 green flower-spangled curtain hung as a back- 
 ground is a part of an exceedingly decorative 
 ensemble. The motive of representing the 
 sitter in character, so to speak, came to be a 
 very common one with Holbein. It was some- 
 what new for this period, and anticipated the 
 seventeenth-century Dutchmen. 
 
 Another interesting portrait of Erasmus is 
 the woodcut design which Holbein made for 
 the title page of the author’s published works. 
 
i^ouvre, Paris] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS 
 
 [Holbein 
 

PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 115 
 
 It is a full-length figure in ornamental frame. 
 The scholar is now a much older man, and 
 the face shows that he has grown disappointed 
 and weary of life. It was in fact at about this 
 time that the fanatic zeal of religious reform- 
 ers reached such a pitch in Basle, that Eras- 
 mus and Amerbach retired in disgust to Frei- 
 burg. The attitude of Erasmus towards the 
 Reformation may be gathered from one of his 
 letters: “ I wish some god would interfere to 
 bring to a sudden and happy termination 
 this drama which Luther has so inauspiciously 
 commenced. Discord is so hateful to me, that 
 truth itself would displease me, if coupled 
 with sedition ; and though there are many 
 practices in the church which could be re- 
 moved with great advantage to the Christian 
 religion, yet no change will have my approba- 
 tion which is conducted with tumult.” Hol- 
 bein must have followed his two friends to 
 Freiburg for we have still another portrait 
 of Erasmus in the Parma gallery. There are 
 several copies of this head, including the min- 
 iature in the Basle Museum. 
 
 To go back now three years, the friendship 
 
116 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of Erasmus was the occasion of Holbein’s first 
 visit to England in 1526. Carrying an intro- 
 duction from the scholar to Sir Thomas More, 
 he was hospitably received and entertained by 
 the distinguished prelate. “ Thy painter, 
 dearest Erasmus, is a wonderful artist,” wrote 
 back More to his friend in Basle. Holbein 
 now undertook for his new patron a splendid 
 family group of ten figures. What has be- 
 come of this work we cannot conjecture, but 
 we know from the preparatory drawing what 
 the plan was. Holbein it is said took this 
 sketch to Basle, to show to Erasmus, who was 
 delighted with it. Fortunately we have still 
 the chalk drawings of Sir Thomas, and his 
 father Sir John. Of the former Horace Wal- 
 pole wrote “I do not know a single counte- 
 nance in which any master lias poured greater 
 energy of expression than in the drawing of 
 Sir Thomas More. It has a freedom, a bold- 
 ness of thought, and an acuteness of penetra- 
 tion that attest the sincerity of the resem- 
 blance.” 
 
 Other portraits of Holbein’s first English 
 visit were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
 
PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 117 
 
 Bishop of Rochester, and the Bishop of Lon- 
 don. Sir Henry Guilford, the king’s Master 
 of the Horse, and Nicholas Kratzer, the royal 
 astronomer, were also in the list. For these, 
 as was his custom, he made preparatory 
 drawings, which vie with the finished portraits 
 in interest, so strong and subtle is the art 
 which in a few lines can set before us the man 
 himself. A valuable collection of these 
 sketches is to be seen at Windsor, having 
 come thither after changing hands several 
 times. Among the striking personalities rep- 
 resented in the number is the venerable Will- 
 iam Warham, of Canterbury, a trifle life- 
 weary, but still calm, phlegmatic, impregna- 
 ble, while the aged Bishop of Rochester is 
 more sensitive, more intense and more troub- 
 led, just the stuff which martyrs are made of. 
 It is evident at a glance that these are Eng- 
 lishmen. Holbein did not look at his subjects 
 through German glasses; he was a universal 
 genius, and painted life as it was, English or 
 German. You pick out at once the astrono- 
 mer Kratzer as an alien in the company: he 
 is thoroughly German. This is a portrait “ in 
 
118 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 character,” such as has been mentioned. The 
 astronomer is seated at a table strewn with 
 instruments and holds one in his hand. On 
 the wall behind him hang other implements 
 of his profession, all adding to a picturesque 
 and effective composition. 
 
 Holbein’s English visit lasted two years, 
 but upon his return to Rasle he found the pro- 
 fessional outlook quite hopeless. An order 
 for the decoration of the Council Hall occu- 
 pied him for a time, but the Reformation 
 seemed to have paralyzed the popular interest 
 in art. There was nothing for it but to re- 
 turn to England, but before going the painter 
 made a portrait of his wife and two children. 
 This is the picture in the Rasle Museum so 
 well known through reproduction. The sim- 
 plicity and beauty of the grouping reminds 
 one of Raphael’s Madonna groups, so natural, 
 so apparently unstudied, yet so consummately 
 artistic. The fair-haired boy at his mother’s 
 knee gazes upward at his baby sister with the 
 ardour of a child Baptist adoring the infant 
 Christ. The matron Elsbeth, with her well 
 moulded features, and ample bosom, would 
 
PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 119 
 
 be a fine-looking woman but for her weak 
 eyes, which give a tired, almost cross expres- 
 sion to the face. In flow of line, harmony of 
 colour, and perfect lifelikeness, the group is 
 one of the painter’s greatest successes. 
 
 Holbein’s first work in England was among 
 his own people. There was a company of 
 German merchants in London making a 
 little colony in the Steelyard, with a guild 
 hall, a garden and a wineshop. From this 
 quarter came one after another a series of 
 portrait orders, making a most interesting 
 group of pictures. Many of these are in busi- 
 ness character, showing the merchant seated 
 at his table busy with papers. Most elaborate 
 of all such is the George Gisze of the Berlin 
 gallery. The detail work would satisfy the 
 most realistic fifteenth-century Fleming or 
 seventeenth-century Hollander. The table is 
 covered with a rich oriental rug and orna- 
 mented with an exquisite crystal vase of pinks. 
 All sorts of fascinating writing implements 
 are strewn about, and are attached to the 
 walls and shelves behind. These accessories 
 are admirably subordinated to the merchant 
 
120 
 
 PORTRAIT .PAINTING 
 
 himself, who makes a charming and pictur- 
 esque figure in the midst. Nevertheless the 
 man is neither interesting nor clever. Dirk 
 Tybis, of the Vienna gallery, who looks us 
 squarely in the face, and takes himself so seri- 
 ously, is rather more likable; and the bearded 
 and gentlemanly merchant of the Windsor 
 Castle collection is of quite a romantic type. 
 
 In the course of a few years, by precisely 
 what steps we do not know, Holbein obtained 
 the appointment as court painter to the King 
 Ilenry VIII, holding the position till his 
 death in 1543. Ilis duties were as multifari- 
 ous as were those of court painters in Italy. 
 He might have to design a drinking cup, a 
 sword hilt, or a gateway, or even go abroad 
 on a royal errand. More than all else he 
 painted portraits, and by the magic of his 
 pencil and brush we are introduced to the 
 royal entourage of these years : The bluff 
 
 king himself, square faced, choleric, self 
 willed, resplendent in finery; Jane Seymour, 
 the inoffensive queen who was allowed a 
 natural death; Christina of Denmark, the un- 
 successful candidate for the succession: Anne 
 
PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 121 
 
 of Cleves, the unfortunate German princess 
 who was made queen only to be divorced; the 
 chubby little Edward, Prince of Wales; John 
 Chambers, court physician, at the venerable 
 age of eighty-eight ; Hubert Morett, the 
 king’s goldsmith, scarcely less regal than his 
 master in bearing and attire; Robert Chese- 
 man, the king’s falconer, carrying a splendid 
 hawk on his wrist; Thomas Howard, Duke 
 of Norfolk, the king’s chamberlain, bearing 
 the mace of his office, and many other ladies 
 and gentlemen of high degree. One of the 
 most interesting pictures of this period is the 
 double portrait called the Ambassadors, in the 
 National Gallery. Beautiful accessories and 
 rich costume give splendid decorative quality 
 to the composition, but do not overshadow the 
 personal appeal of the men themselves. 
 
 Strangely enough, Holbein’s portrait of 
 King Henry is lost to us. It was a monu- 
 mental work in fresco, in the palace of White- 
 hall, showing the monarch with his family. 
 The palace was destroyed by fire in the fol- 
 lowing century, but fortunately Holbein’s 
 cartoon is preserved, as well as various copies 
 
122 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 by other artists of the king’s figure. Thus the 
 personality of Henry VIII has come down to 
 us from the hand of Holbein. The portrait 
 of Jane Seymour is in Vienna and is unsur- 
 passed for delicate colour and decorative 
 splendour. The lady, we can see, has the 
 serenity of temper which stood her in good 
 stead with her royal husband. It fell to Hol- 
 bein in no small degree to choose the next 
 queen. He was despatched to Brussels for 
 the Princess Christina’s portrait, and was 
 granted a three hours’ sitting — three hours in 
 which to penetrate and perpetuate a person- 
 ality. Certainly he never did a subtler or 
 more charming picture than this full-length 
 figure of the vivacious little Italian widow, 
 caught just as she entered the room, in her 
 widow’s weeds. It is said that the king was 
 so charmed with the picture that he promptly 
 sent a proposal of marriage, but complica- 
 tions with Christina’s uncle, Charles V, broke 
 off the match. Holbein was again sent abroad 
 for the portrait of Anne of Cleves, and this 
 time he resorted to all the devices of good 
 clothes to add to the charm of the subject. 
 
Louvre, Paris] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF ANNE OF CLEVES 
 
 [Holbeiu 
 

PORTRAITS OF HOLBEIN 123 
 
 Perhaps he overshot the mark. The lady’s 
 doll-like prettiness pleased the king mightily, 
 but the pleasure was of short duration. The 
 lady proved herself less agreeable than her 
 portrait promised, but there seems to have 
 been no blame for Holbein. 
 
 Few particulars are known of the English 
 life of “ Master Haunce,” as the painter was 
 called at court. They were perilous times for 
 royal favourites, and the painter did well to 
 steer his way safely in the fickle current of 
 King Henry’s pleasure. Changes were on 
 every hand. Sir Thomas More, once the be- 
 loved and intimate friend of the king, was 
 sent with the Bishop of Rochester, and other 
 saintly men, to the executioner’s block. Hol- 
 bein could hardly have been insensible to the 
 tragic fate of his former patron, but in that 
 same year his own salary was doubled. It is 
 said that when some courtier who had a quar- 
 rel with the painter brought complaint to the 
 king, Henry replied, “ I tell you, of seven 
 peasants I can make as many lords, but not 
 one Holbein.” In spite of many preferments, 
 however, Holbein longed for his native land, 
 
124 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 and was planning to return to Basle. Before 
 such hopes were realized, a plague broke out 
 in London, in 1543, and to this dread disease 
 he fell a victim. 
 
 Holbein brought the art of portrait paint- 
 ing a long way forward. His temper was 
 purely dispassionate; he delineated the face 
 before him with exact precision, neither add- 
 ing to nor taking from the original in any 
 measure. Sincerity was his strongest trait: 
 he anticipated Velasquez in absolute truthful- 
 ness to life and character. A consummate 
 draughtsman, his paintings show a better 
 quality of line than of colour. A certain 
 hardness characterizes him as a German rather 
 than an Italian. A fine decorative sense 
 shaped his compositions and produced some 
 delightful effects. His love of detail and 
 delicate craftsmanship served such ends admi- 
 rably. His work is in striking contrast to that 
 of Diirer, who was as subjective as Holbein 
 was objective. The two supplement each 
 other in representing the most valuable phases 
 of the German art spirit of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 RUBENS AS A PORTRAIT PAINTER 
 
 B UR next chapter in the history of 
 portrait painting opens some sixty- 
 five years after Holbein’s death, in 
 the Flemish city of Antwerp. The Nether- 
 lands were just entering upon a period of 
 respite from their long struggle with Spain. 
 The signing of the truce of 1609 was the sig- 
 nal of a general revival of prosperity. Sus- 
 pended commercial activities were resumed 
 and industries again flourished. In Flanders 
 and Brabant the industries were closely allied 
 with the fine arts, and consisted largely in the 
 making of beautiful things. Here were 
 woven rich tapestries for the hangings of hall 
 and palace. Here were produced fabrics of silk 
 and velvet and linen fit for kings’ apparel. 
 The Flemish lace was unrivalled throughout 
 the world in delicacy of workmanship. 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 In all these industrial pursuits Antwerp 
 had once held a proud place of honour. She 
 was besides one of the foremost trading cen- 
 tres of the world. In her position at the head 
 of the Scheldt she had intercourse with all the 
 great cities of Europe. Her quays were lined 
 with ships bringing and carrying commercial 
 products. The long war with Spain had 
 changed all this. Business had for awhile 
 been completely paralyzed, and it was re- 
 sumed too late to recover the lost prestige. 
 The tide of commerce had swept northward 
 to Holland, and, as we shall see in later chap- 
 ters, bore with it a new art impulse. Yet 
 even in this day of decline, Antwerp was still 
 a glorious city. There were yet commercial 
 interests sufficient to give healthy activity to 
 her people. Streets and quays were still 
 pulsing with commercial life, and a spirit of 
 tranquillity settled upon the city. Now was 
 the time ripe for the revival of the art of paint- 
 ing which had fallen upon evil days unworthy 
 of its glorious beginnings in the fifteenth 
 century under the Van Eyck brothers. The 
 bane of the sixteenth-century art had been the 
 
RUBENS 
 
 127 
 
 artificial imitation of Italian painters. The 
 saving quality had been the strength of its 
 portrait work, and even in those bad times 
 there were some worthy forerunners of the 
 seventeenth - century glory — Sir Anthony 
 Moro, 1 and Mark Gerard, so favourably 
 known at the English court. 
 
 It was in 1608 when the young painter 
 Rubens arrived in Antwerp after some years 
 residence in Italy. He brought back an im- 
 mense enthusiasm for the Italian masters, 
 from Raphael to Baroccio, with special devo- 
 tion to Titian. He had, however, never for- 
 gotten his youthful training in the Antwerp 
 studios of Adam van Noort, and Otto van 
 Veen. His hand was now well practised in 
 cunning. Already he had won high praise 
 beyond the Alps, and he met instant recog- 
 nition among his countrymen. Among the 
 group of painters then living in Antwerp, ad- 
 mirable as was their work, he was easily 
 supreme. Two years later he was appointed 
 court painter to the Archdukes Albert and 
 Isabella. From this time, till his death in 
 
 1 See page 253. 
 
128 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 1640, he made his home in Antwerp, though 
 taking several important journeys abroad. 
 
 The influence of the Spanish regent was in 
 every way favourable towards creating an art 
 atmosphere. Isabella Clara Eugenia was the 
 daughter of Philip II of Spain, who, like his 
 father, had been an ardent admirer of Titian. 
 She had been brought up to consider painting 
 a natural adjunct of court life. Though her 
 father called her “ the light of his eyes,” he 
 appeared to regard her solely as the means of 
 furthering his political ambitions. Having 
 failed to raise her to the throne of France, he 
 conceived the idea that she might win for him 
 the Low Countries which he found so diffi- 
 cult to subjugate. Accordingly he married 
 her to her cousin, Albert of Austria, who was 
 already in the Netherlands, that the two 
 might be joint rulers. In 1599 the royal 
 pair entered Brussels. During the first few 
 years of their government the war still went 
 on, hut when the peace of 1609 was arranged, 
 Albert and Isabella began to devote them- 
 selves to the welfare of their subjects. Their 
 tact and consideration won universal regard, 
 
RUBENS 
 
 129 
 
 and Isabella became really popular. In the 
 public fetes which the Flemings were so fond 
 of celebrating, the two regents took an active 
 part. They did much towards restoring the 
 plundered and desecrated churches of the 
 country, filling them with works of art. For 
 the palace, too, where the court was con- 
 ducted with great magnificence, paintings 
 were liberally ordered. 
 
 Under such fortunate auspices Rubens 
 passed his brilliant and successful life. He 
 was a man of extraordinary industry, order- 
 ing his pursuits with systematic regularity. 
 As commissions multiplied upon him, he em- 
 ployed many assistants, having a great paint- 
 ing establishment in the Italian manner. 
 Increasing prosperity enabled him to live 
 according to his tastes. Gifted with great 
 charm of manner, as well as with excellent 
 counsel, he made himself acceptable and use- 
 ful in the highest circles. Associating with 
 crowned heads, princes, diplomats and schol- 
 ars, he was himself artist, diplomat and 
 courtier by turns. 
 
 His enormous productivity lay in so many 
 
130 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 directions that quite diverse opinions prevail 
 in regard to him. A superficial traveller 
 making the grand tour, remembers him only 
 by the huge canvases of the Louvre, and sets 
 him down as coarse and vulgar. The so- 
 journer in Antwerp sees him as the idol of the 
 Flemings, and the painter of noble altar- 
 pieces. The painter envies him for technical 
 qualities to which every craftsman aspires: 
 for an unerring sense of composition, for 
 splendour of colour, for sureness of touch 
 and bravura of execution, and for the exu- 
 berance and spontaneity of his creative im- 
 agination. His chief forte lay in dramatic 
 composition, religious, historical or allegorical. 
 He was happiest when filling some great can- 
 vas with life and colour and action. Portraits 
 were incidents, or accidents, in his career, as 
 in that of Raphael, painted now and then to 
 please some friend or patron, or to gratify his 
 own family affections. Overshadowed by the 
 vast bulk of his subject painting, they have 
 not received the notice they deserve. Though 
 Rubens does not stand out like his famous 
 pupil Van Dyck, as one of the great original 
 
RUBENS 
 
 131 
 
 portrait masters, he made a valuable contribu- 
 tion to the art. There is wide variety in his 
 portrait methods. Sometimes he imparts a 
 distinction and dignity to the sitter worthy of 
 the great Venetians, but again, if they do not 
 arouse his enthusiasm, he makes them quite 
 commonplace. Sometimes they are very 
 grave and serious, and sometimes they are 
 extremely animated. Always they are thor- 
 oughly alive. “ Does this man mix blood with 
 his paint? ” exclaimed Guido Reni. Too fully 
 possessed with the creative spirit to keep 
 closely to the likeness, he could yet at times 
 lose himself wonderfully in his subject. 
 
 It naturally fell to Rubens on one occasion 
 and another to paint portraits of the arch- 
 dukes, and some of these were not successful. 
 We are greatly disappointed in the common- 
 place and uninteresting persons to whom the 
 painter introduces us in the companion pic- 
 tures of the Prado. It may have been true 
 that Albert was only a plain conscientious 
 man, and Isabella an opinionated bourgeoise, 
 but we demand something more of them. 
 Nor does Rubens fail to answer this demand. 
 
132 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Some years after the archduke’s death he 
 painted for the widowed Isabella a splendid 
 memorial for her husband in the altar-piece 
 of St. Ildefonso. Here he fully realized his 
 opportunity to immortalize his patrons in 
 the pair of portraits forming the wings of the 
 composition. Rubens was carried out of him- 
 self in the noble inspiration of this work. In 
 the central panel the Virgin bestows a chas- 
 uble upon the kneeling saint, while Albert 
 and Isabella kneel on either side attended by 
 their patron saints. The sweeping lines of 
 their regal garments fall in harmony with the 
 arrangement of the central group, making a 
 splendid decorative ensemble. There is some- 
 thing of true majesty in their bearing, there is 
 nobility and refinement in the faces, and above 
 all there is an expression of exaltation which 
 is in every way satisfying. 
 
 Of Rubens’ relations with Marie de’ Medici, 
 Queen of France, a single portrait bears in- 
 teresting record (in the Prado, Madrid). 
 For this queen the painter made, as everybody 
 knows, the famous historical series for the 
 decoration of the Luxembourg Palace. It 
 
RUBENS 
 
 133 
 
 was probably for a study of the queen’s figure 
 in these works, that the portrait was made. 
 For this reason perhaps the picture is entirely 
 free from any pretentious posing. It was the 
 best of the many-sided woman which Rubens 
 saw. She was charmed with the courtly man- 
 ners of her painter and especially with his de- 
 lightful conversation. Day by day as he 
 superintended the placing of the pictures in 
 the gallery, she was present enjoying the 
 progress of the work. So he painted her as 
 he knew her, amiable and complaisant, not 
 burdened with her dignities, but altogether 
 friendly and agreeable. 
 
 It was in connection with the commission 
 for Marie de’ Medici that Rubens painted the 
 portrait of Baron le Vicq, as an expression of 
 gratitude for that gentleman’s good offices in 
 tendering him the order. Baron le Vicq was 
 at that time the ambassador of the Archdukes, 
 Albert and Isabella, at the court of France. 
 In the portrait, now in the Louvre, we see a 
 plain, vigorous personality. The furrowed 
 brow and thoughtful eyes show the man of 
 judgment, but a courtier we should not sus- 
 
134 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 pect him of being. It is a striking and virile 
 characterization. 
 
 It was in Paris that Rubens formed the ac- 
 quaintance of the Duke of Buckingham. Two 
 portraits of this nobleman were painted, and 
 though not standing particularly well among 
 Rubens’ works, they gave good satisfaction 
 to the patron. It was an indirect consequence 
 of the friendship with Buckingham that 
 Rubens was chosen by the archduchess as the 
 best possible diplomat to negotiate friendly 
 relations between Spain and England. He 
 was accordingly sent to Spain to confer with 
 Philip IV, and here he formed the friendship 
 of the great Velasquez . 1 Thence he repaired 
 to England, where Charles I, who was a fine 
 art critic, gave him hearty welcome, and at 
 once set him to painting. The story runs that 
 one day an English courtier, discovering the 
 Fleming at his easel, exclaimed, “ Ah, his 
 Majesty’s ambassador occasionally amuses 
 himself with painting.” “ On the contrary,” 
 replied Rubens, “ the painter occasionally 
 amuses himself with diplomacy.” The Rubens 
 
 1 See page 230. 
 
RUBENS 
 
 135 
 
 room at Windsor Castle shows in what esteem 
 the painter is still held in England. One of 
 its chief treasures is the delightful portrait 
 composition of the Gerbier family. The 
 father and mother, a baby in arms, and eight 
 children, figure in this beautiful work, ar- 
 ranged diagonally on the oblong canvas. The 
 setting is a colonnaded portico opening on a 
 landscape in the Italian manner. With so 
 many figures to consider one cannot think of 
 another painter who could have managed the 
 plan with such freshness and spontaneity of 
 motive. As decorative as a fine old tapestry, 
 it has besides the merit of individual beauty 
 and distinction in every head. 
 
 It was through the good offices of Rubens 
 that Charles I secured for England Raphael’s 
 cartoons for the tapestries of the Sistine 
 Chapel. These precious treasures had been 
 stored away in Flanders when they came to 
 the knowledge of the painter. 
 
 Rubens left England loaded with marks of 
 favour. King Charles had made him a 
 knight, bestowing upon him a sword which he 
 took from his own person, and a diamond ring 
 
436 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 from his own finger. Returning to Spain he 
 was received with highest honour by Philip, 
 who bestowed upon him the order of the 
 Golden Key, and ordered portraits of the 
 royal family. It was not in Rubens to put 
 kingliness into a man of Philip’s character. 
 Only a Velasquez, or perhaps a Titian, could 
 make much of such a subject. The Fleming 
 painted him with all sincerity, and showed the 
 monarch in all his weakness. Nor is Elisa- 
 beth of Bourbon much more successful, while 
 the young Cardinal Ferdinand is decidedly 
 namby-pamby. 
 
 On the whole Rubens does not deal with 
 royalty so successfully as with his own friends. 
 Some of these were the subject of admirable 
 portrait work. There is Rockox, the burgo- 
 master of Antwerp, a man of scholarly mind 
 and wise administration, with a twinkle of 
 humour in his make-up. There is the un- 
 known old 4 4 Scholar,” of the Munich gallery, 
 the genial man of seventy-five, whose smile 
 has won so many friends. There is the so- 
 called 44 Dr. Thulden,” the typical man of 
 medicine, with high brow, keen eyes, and an 
 
RUBENS 
 
 137 
 
 air of quiet confidence. These are real men, 
 thoroughly alive, and vigorously individual- 
 ized. A noble portrait work, too, is the group 
 of four friends about a table in the Pitti 
 gallery. Here is Rubens, and his brother 
 Philip, with Lipsius and Grotius, the cele- 
 brated Dutch scholars. The greatest of the 
 Venetians might have been proud of such 
 work, for the richness and beauty of the 
 colour scheme, in which the oriental table 
 cover and the fur collars are important deco- 
 rative elements, and for the simple seriousness 
 and noble distinction of the four heads. 
 
 But Rubens was at his best in portraiture 
 when he was painting his family. There is 
 no other head he made so picturesque or so 
 distinguished as his own, no woman who com- 
 pares in charm with his wife Helena, no chil- 
 dren with the naive grace and beauty of his 
 own boys. His series of family pictures are 
 a beautiful record of his domestic happiness, 
 and a complete expression of his rare gift of 
 portraiture under the conditions best adapted 
 to develop this art. Rubens was first mar- 
 ried in 1609 to Isabella Brandt, and a souvenir 
 
138 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of their honeymoon is the charming portrait 
 of the bridal pair in the Munich gallery. 
 They sit out of doors, with hands linked, in 
 the manner made familiar to us in many 
 similar pictures in Northern art. Frans Hals 
 and his wife were painted in much the same 
 style. Poor Isabella laboured under distress- 
 ing disadvantages in her stiff Spanish corset, 
 the huge ruff about the neck, and the absurd 
 high-peaked hat perched rakishly aslant. But 
 her shy sweet smile shows her happiness in 
 her handsome husband, and reveals the depth 
 of a gentle and winning nature. Isabella’s 
 face became thenceforth one of the painter’s 
 ideals of womanly beauty, reappearing in 
 various sacred subjects. 
 
 Albert and Nicholas were the two eldest 
 sons of Rubens and Isabella. Round-faced 
 boys were they both, with features not over 
 shapely, but with frank open countenances 
 which make them very likable. In the well- 
 known portrait at Vienna they are painted in 
 full length, dressed in rich court costumes. 
 Albert is in black, slashed with white, while 
 Nicholas has a blue jacket with yellow satin 
 
RUBENS 
 
 139 
 
 trimmings. The younger boy plays with a 
 captive goldfinch to while away the tedium of 
 the sitting, but Albert, with a manly sense of 
 the importance of the occasion, stands at ease, 
 with one arm thrown affectionately over his 
 brother’s shoulder. With grace and distinc- 
 tion equal to Van Dyck, is united a charm of 
 naturalness beyond the latter. The lovely 
 flow of line and rich colour harmony make it 
 a perfect masterpiece. 
 
 Helena Fourment was but sixteen years old 
 when in 1630 she became the second wife of 
 the painter of fifty-three. In spite of the dis- 
 parity in age the marriage proved a very 
 happy one. Rubens seems always to have 
 kept a young heart, and he lavished every 
 token of affection upon his idol. The garden 
 portrait of Munich (called the Promenade) 
 shows the newly married couple in their early 
 happiness. The two walk together along the 
 path toward a little pavilion, a young lad, 
 perhaps Albert, following them. Helena 
 looks very girlish with a broad -brimmed hat 
 set over her sunny curls, but the painter is 
 handsome and gallant enough to suit any 
 
140 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 young girl’s ideal of a lover. The fruit trees 
 are in blossom, the peacock spreads his gor- 
 geous tail, a dog bounds playfully towards 
 the fowl. The atmosphere is redolent of 
 poetry. 
 
 A few years later came the beautiful Morn- 
 ing Walk of the Rothschild collection, where 
 the painter and his young wife are teaching 
 their baby to walk in leading strings. It is 
 full of delightful sentiment and is almost un- 
 surpassed in artistic excellence. Helena was 
 indeed a beauty, and of a type precisely suited 
 to the taste of Rubens, embodying the ideal 
 of his dreams. It became his ruling passion 
 to paint her portrait in every variety of pose 
 and costume. From such an embarrassment 
 of riches it is hard to make selections. The 
 tall narrow panel of St. Petersburg is masterly 
 in decorative quality, in restraint and elegance 
 in the use of black. The lady droops her 
 head with a pretty air of timidity, and glances 
 askance from under her hat brim, half in shy- 
 ness, and half in coquetry. We suspect her of 
 being rather shallow, but she holds us captive, 
 as she did Rubens. She has rather more 
 
Museum, Amsterdam] [Rubens 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HELENA FOURMENT 
 

RUBENS 
 
 141 
 
 womanly dignity in the Munich portrait, 
 seated in a large chair. The eyes meet ours 
 with an expression of great vivacity, as if the 
 sitter were on the point of speaking. One 
 is reminded of the extreme animation of some 
 of Sargent’s American women. The decora- 
 tive scheme is superb — the black skirt opens 
 over a gold brocaded white petticoat, a violet 
 curtain is draped in the background, and an 
 oriental carpet covers the floor. A portrait in 
 the Amsterdam Gallery closely duplicates the 
 head of the Munich picture. 
 
 As time passed, Helena’s girlish figure be- 
 came quite matronly, and added flesh coars- 
 ened her beauty. Rubens, however, was not 
 at all disillusionized: he continued with un- 
 diminished zest to paint her as she was. Por- 
 traits of her with her little boy on her lap may 
 be seen in the Munich gallery, and in the 
 Louvre. It is also in this less etherealized 
 form that she became the model for the Ma- 
 donna and virgin saints, and for the various 
 goddesses of Greek mythology. No other 
 woman’s face is so familiar to us in the entire 
 range of art. 
 
142 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 The portrait of Rubens himself is a sur- 
 prising revelation of the man. There is no 
 trace in his face of that vein of coarseness 
 which we find ourselves looking for in the 
 painter of those over-developed nudes which 
 make many of his pictures distasteful, and 
 some positively revolting. Surely no painter 
 ever loved flesh and blood more than he. Yet 
 his face is cut with the refinement and deli- 
 cacy of a cameo. The fine eyes and sensitive 
 mouth are those of a poet and a dreamer. A 
 fondness for the exaggerated and sensational 
 runs through many of his great canvases. 
 Yet here is a man of reserve and self-com- 
 mand. The artist stood apart from his art. 
 The Uffizi Gallery of Florence contains two 
 portraits of Rubens. One is that of a young 
 man at about the time of his first marriage. 
 The other is the likeness by which he is best 
 known to the world, painted in the vigour of 
 manhood at the height of his career. 
 
 Again we see him in the Vienna portrait, 
 in later life, grown somewhat weary of the 
 cares of this world, the fine features sharp- 
 ened, the face etherealized, with an increased 
 
Tilizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF RUBEN’S 
 
 [Rubens 
 
RUBENS 
 
 143 
 
 sweetness of expression, and an incoming 
 sadness in the eyes. 
 
 Rubens’ most striking quality as a portrait 
 painter was the power of giving vitality to the 
 sitter. In character study he was less success- 
 ful. As an eminent critic has said, “ he 
 pushed a type in the direction of his own 
 taste.” Yet there were occasions when a sub- 
 ject so appealed to him as to awaken his more 
 objective mood. Then he became a seer as 
 well as a painter, and produced works worthy 
 to rank with the world’s great portraits. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 
 
 S a pupil of Rubens, Van Dyck suf- 
 fers somewhat by comparison with 
 the great creative genius of his 
 master. Contrasted with the splendid versa- 
 tility of the older man, his gifts seem very 
 limited. Aspiring in his early ambitions to 
 emulate Rubens in every particular, he fell 
 far short of the mark. Nature had intended 
 him for a specialist, and as the years moved 
 on he reluctantly concentrated his energies in 
 a single direction. Portrait painting became 
 at last his acknowledged forte. In this field 
 the relation between the two great Flemings 
 is reversed. Van Dyck’s place is among the 
 world’s foremost portrait painters, while 
 Rubens falls into second rank. 
 
 Van Dyck is indubitably one of the peo- 
 ple’s favourite portrait painters. It was in 
 
 144 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 145 
 
 the nature of his art to please. Good taste 
 governed his work from first to last. No 
 false note ever jarred the perfect harmony 
 of his conceptions. In his hands a coarse 
 subject was refined, an ugly subject beauti- 
 fied, and a beautiful subject idealized. Men, 
 women and children yielded up to him the 
 secret of the best that was in them. 
 
 The young Van Dyck was only nineteen 
 years of age when he entered the studio of 
 Rubens, but he was already so advanced in 
 his craft that he was admitted to the freedom 
 of St. Luke’s Guild. For the next three 
 years much of his work was in collaboration 
 with his master, and the rest bears so strongly 
 * the mark of Rubens that we realize the wis- 
 dom of the older man’s advice to travel in 
 Italy. With what interest do we follow him 
 through his five years’ journeyings in the 
 enchanted land of art. With the spell of the 
 old masters upon him he began to come into 
 his own. Titian was his idol, as he had been 
 that of Rubens, and far more imitative in his 
 nature than Rubens, Van Dyck often bor- 
 rowed his motives direct from the great Vene- 
 
146 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 tian. Such borrowings were, however, mostly 
 in subject compositions. His portraits de- 
 clared the advent of a new master. 
 
 The portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio be- 
 longs to the Italian period, and marks a great 
 step forward in Van Dyck’s career. Nowhere 
 in the world could the painter have found a 
 sitter of more striking personality. Benti- 
 voglio was born in Ferrara in 1579, and 
 at the age of nineteen achieved a diplomatic 
 exploit which attracted the attention of the 
 pope. Henceforth his services as confidential 
 adviser were in constant demand. None knew 
 better than he how to reconcile apparently 
 irreconcilable interests. From one responsi- 
 ble post to another he had finally been raised 
 to a cardinalship at about the time Van Dyck 
 came to Italy. In the portrait he is seated in 
 a large arm-chair wearing his ecclesiastical 
 robes, scarlet and white. The head is turned 
 alertly as if to answer a question. At once we 
 know this man for what he is: refined and 
 scholarly in temperament, keen in insight, 
 suave in manner, wary of self-revelation ; 
 ecclesiastic, diplomat and man of the world. 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 147 
 
 Seldom if ever again did Van Dyck produce 
 a work so spontaneously and vitally conceived. 
 
 It was in Genoa that Van Dyck made his 
 longest tarrying. If we may trust the figures 
 of an eighteenth-century writer 1 he made 
 seventy-two portraits in this city alone. The 
 Genoese nobility gave him generous patron- 
 age, and to this day Genoa is a treasure 
 house of his portraits. The great families 
 represented in his canvases make a sonorous 
 list of names: Doria, Spinola, Brignole-Sala, 
 Durazzo, Balbi, and Lomellini. With this 
 class Van Dyck found his own peculiar voca- 
 tion. He was preeminently fitted to be the 
 interpreter of aristocracy. Not since Titian 
 had the painter appeared who could so en- 
 noble his subjects. He had a magic gift of 
 imparting to his sitter an air of dignity and 
 elegant repose. He understood all the signs 
 of birth and breeding, which are so elusive 
 when we try to describe them, so unmistakable 
 when we see them. In a word his portraits 
 have distinction. 
 
 1 Carlo Giuseppe Ratti : Instruzione di quanto pu6 vedersi di 
 pul bello, in Genoa, 1780. 
 
148 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 A perfect illustration of these qualities is 
 in the companion pictures of the Marchese 
 and the Marchesa di Brignole-Sala, in the 
 Palazzo Rosso at Genoa. A romantic inter- 
 est attached to this couple whose happy mar- 
 ried life was of such short duration. Upon 
 the death of the marchioness the disconsolate 
 young husband took priestly orders, and 
 passed his life in literary work. In his por- 
 trait the marchese is mounted on a splendid 
 white horse, an impersonation of the “ verray 
 parfit gentil knight.” He rides directly 
 towards us waving his plumed hat with one 
 hand as if in salute. There is no gaiety in 
 the gesture, only a grave courtesy. The face, 
 singularly long and narrow, is that of a poet, 
 with dreamy eyes and a melancholy sweetness 
 of expression. The lady who was the object 
 of this life devotion makes a charming figure 
 standing in the portico of her palace. Her 
 rich dress sweeps behind her in lustrous folds, 
 a large ruff encircles her neck, and she wears 
 a jewelled head-dress, with a long feather. 
 Her face is small and almost child-like in ex- 
 pression, but she bears herself well. Apart 
 
Pallazzo Rosso, Genoa] [Van Dyck 
 
 PORTRAIT OF COUNT BRIGNOLE - SALA 
 
 (detail] 
 

PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 149 
 
 from their other more important merits as por- 
 traits, both these pictures have splendid 
 decorative quality. 
 
 One more gem from the Genoese series 
 must be mentioned — the dear little “ White 
 Bov,” of the Palazzo Durazzo. The white 
 satin costume suggests the name, made with 
 baggy knee breeches which give the figure a 
 charming quaintness. The little fellow stands 
 leaning against a chair, arm akimbo, looking 
 out at us with an innocent smile which goes 
 straight to the heart. There is nothing artifi- 
 cial in the picture; even the child’s hair is 
 mussed, as if he had paused only a moment 
 in his play. In freshness and spontaneity, 
 Van Dyck never in more sophisticated days 
 surpassed this child study. 
 
 It was probably in the year 1626 when Van 
 Dyck returned to his native city of Antwerp, 
 to remain for the following six years in the 
 Netherlands. Though engaged during this 
 period upon a large number of sacred paint- 
 ings, portrait orders crowded upon him. He 
 now had his craft sufficiently in hand to make 
 it express his intention. It was a time of con- 
 
150 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 tinuous growth, in which he added vigour and 
 subtlety to his previous elegance and super- 
 ficial charm. As in Italy, his patrons were 
 largely from the wealthy and titled classes, 
 and brought into full exercise his peculiar 
 gifts. 
 
 The companion portraits of Philippe Le 
 Roy, and his wife, in full length, show his 
 high water mark. Titian himself could not 
 have given more noble distinction to this gen- 
 tleman who stands caressing a large hound, 
 and confronting us with an expression of 
 courteous though reserved friendliness. His 
 beautiful wife, almost timid in her sweetness, 
 stands with equal grace and dignity, holding 
 a large fan. The decorative quality here, as 
 in all Van Dyck’s works, is above praise. He 
 knew how to use to the utmost advantage all 
 the rich accessories of costume: the shimmer- 
 ing lights on satin folds, the contrast of deli- 
 cate lace against dark velvet, the gleam of 
 jewels against fair skin. 
 
 Among the Spanish grandees holding 
 official positions in the Low Countries was the 
 Marquis of Moncada, for whom Van Dyck 
 
Wallace Collection, London] [Van Dyck 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PHILIPPE LE ROT 
 
 (detail) 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 151 
 
 painted one of his finest equestrian portraits. 
 The man himself had neither beauty nor dis- 
 tinction, but dressed in full armour and en- 
 throned upon a superb white horse, he had 
 every advantage which art could give him. 
 There is a tradition that Rubens had pre- 
 sented Van Dyck with a white horse as a 
 parting gift on the occasion of his journey 
 into Italy, and this is the noble animal, we are 
 told to believe, which figures so often on Van 
 Dyck’s canvases. Whether this is so or not, 
 Van Dyck showed an intimate understand- 
 ing of horses, as well as of dogs, and in many 
 instances introduced them with fine effect into 
 his pictures. The horse of Moncada is not 
 a mechanical accessory, but the most beautiful 
 and vital feature in the composition. 
 
 An episode of Van Dyck’s Netherlandish 
 period was a visit to Haarlem and Frans Hals. 
 Appearing at the studio incognito, he asked 
 to have his portrait painted in two hours. 
 Hals accomplished the order in the given 
 time, when Van Dyck remarked that painting 
 appeared a simple matter: he would like to 
 try it himself. Seating himself at the easel 
 
152 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 he had not proceeded far when Hals ex- 
 claimed in amazement, “ You are Van Dyck, 
 no person but he could do what you have 
 done.” 
 
 In the pictures of Van Dyck’s Flemish 
 period are some delightful studies of child 
 life. The little daughter of Madame de 
 Colyns pulling impatiently her mother’s arm, 
 and turning around shyly to the painter, was 
 apparently “ caught ” upon the canvas with- 
 out any attempt at posing. The essential 
 child spirit is here: she is a real little girl. 
 The serious little boy who stands with his 
 father in the portrait called Richardot and his 
 Son, is of another type, but not a whit less 
 childlike. He is proud and happy to be with 
 his father, and though he regards the painter’s 
 awesome preparations with no little timidity 
 he means to stand quiet and do his part 
 towards the picture. It was also in his years 
 of residence in Antwerp that Van Dyck 
 progressed in the knowledge of the eternal 
 feminine. The face of Madame de Colyns is 
 beautiful in motherliness, in the patience and 
 serenity of expression which tell the story of 
 
Wallace Collection, London] [Van Dyck 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MADAME LE ROT 
 
 (detail) 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 153 
 
 her unselfish life. The unknown lady in the 
 Louvre group of Mother and Child is ex- 
 quisite in gentle refinement. Anna Wake, 
 too, is of those rare spirits who live like 
 Elaine in a high tower chamber of idealism. 
 But Louisa van Tassis is a coquette. The 
 eyes gleam with mischief, and the small mouth 
 curves in an enchanting smile. Not since 
 Mona Lisa has a smile proved so fascinating 
 to so many people. Yet Louisa’s smile has 
 none of the mystery of the Italian lady’s; it 
 is frankly teasing. 
 
 A very interesting portrait of the Arch- 
 duchess Isabella gives us an insight into the 
 character of this remarkable woman. Late in 
 life she took religious orders, and even as 
 abbess she still held firmly the reins of gov- 
 ernment. She was sixty-six years of age 
 when she discovered, and promptly averted, 
 a plot to raise the Low Countries to an inde- 
 pendent republic. This is the woman of 
 indomitable will whom Van Dyck shows us. 
 The severe simplicity of her religious garb 
 accentuates the forcible character of the coun- 
 tenance. There is a shrewd gleam — half 
 
154 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 humourous — in the eyes, and the large mouth, 
 with tightly closed lips, reveals the person of 
 determination. The story runs that at the 
 siege of Ostend, at which she accompanied 
 her husband, she vowed she would not change 
 her linen till the city was hers, and looking 
 into this face, we may almost believe she kept 
 the vow, though the siege lasted over three 
 years ! 
 
 Van Dyck had been appointed court 
 painter to Isabella in 1631, and in the follow- 
 ing year came the much more important ap- 
 pointment at the court of England. Charles 
 I was a genuine connoisseur, and was eager 
 to avail himself of the best talent the world 
 afforded. He was already an ardent admirer 
 of Rubens, and he was quick to recognize the 
 excellence of Van Dyck’s work. He now 
 made the painter a prime favourite, estab- 
 lished him in a house at Blackfriars, conferred 
 the honour of knighthood upon him and 
 busied him with commissions. 
 
 Van Dyck’s entire life up to this time had 
 precisely fitted him for this position, as if 
 destiny had shaped him for this sole end. 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 155 
 
 Never was court painter so fortunate in a 
 patron, and never was king so fortunate in 
 an interpreter, not even Titian and Charles 
 V, nor Velasquez and Philip IV. The two 
 men understood each other from the first. 
 Together they set forth the Stuart doctrine 
 of the divine right of kings. For if Charles 
 knew how to act the part, it was Van Dyck 
 who made him look the part. It is indeed im- 
 possible to separate Charles I in our thoughts 
 from the portraits in which Van Dyck has 
 perpetuated his personality. Always as we 
 read the story of his reign there rises before 
 us the vision of the poetic face, framed in the 
 waving hair, with melancholy eyes, and a re- 
 mote expression. 
 
 Van Dyck’s nine years’ residence in Eng- 
 land were the palmiest days of Charles. He 
 was trying his experiment of ruling without 
 a Parliament, and ignoring the discontent of 
 the people, was in the full enjoyment of 
 fancied success. It was not till 1641 that 
 England’s wrath burst forth — the very year 
 of Van Dyck’s death. In the long struggle 
 which followed there were many gallant 
 
156 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Royalists who held stoutly to the king’s 
 cause. Yet perhaps not one of them all, not 
 even those who laid down their lives in the 
 Civil War, did so much for the Stuart cause 
 as Van Dyck had done in the royal portraits. 
 We must accept seriously the historian’s ver- 
 dict, extravagant as it may seem, that these 
 pictures, with their melancholy majesty, had 
 a great influence in producing a reactionary 
 sentiment in favour of the martyred king 
 and the final restoration of the Stuarts. 
 
 Van Dyck is said to have made no less than 
 thirty-eight portraits of the king, and thirty- 
 five of the queen, Henrietta Maria, besides 
 many pictures of their children, singly or in 
 groups. A noble monument of the court 
 painter’s work is the Van Dyck room of 
 Windsor Castle, containing twenty-two of his 
 pictures, of which ten are royal portraits. 
 Here is the interesting three-fold portrait of 
 Charles, showing the head from different 
 points of view. This was painted to send to 
 Rernini, to guide him in making a portrait 
 bust of the king. The sculptor examined the 
 pictures gravely, and exclaimed, “ Something 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 157 
 
 evil will befall this man; he carries misfor- 
 tune on his face.” In the Windsor collection 
 is also Van Dyck’s equestrian portrait of the 
 king, riding forth under a marble arch. Still 
 another portrait here shows him in full length, 
 in his robes of state. Not any of these, how- 
 ever, equals in beauty and distinction the 
 famous portrait of the Louvre. The setting 
 is a wooded glade. Charles is in hunting 
 costume, and having dismounted, stands in 
 profile, turning towards the spectator, while 
 an equerry holds the horse behind him. The 
 broad-brimmed Cavalier’s hat, worn jauntily 
 aslant, the short white satin tunic, the knee 
 breeches and high buskins, the long swinging 
 sword, and the fierce spurs, give much ro- 
 mantic charm to the figure. The air of aloof- 
 ness with which he surveys the scene is Van 
 Dyck’s subtlest touch. Even in holiday 
 mood, Charles does not forget that he is king. 
 The canvas is like a rich old tapestry; over- 
 head the spreading branches of the tree em- 
 broidered against the cloud -flecked sky, and 
 beneath the harmoniously interwoven figures 
 of the king, his horse and the attendants. 
 
158 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 The king is seen in full official dignity in 
 the Dresden portrait, and though this picture 
 is in all probability Sir Peter’s Lely’s copy of 
 Van Dyck’s original, it is thoroughly charac- 
 teristic. Charles now wears the mantle of the 
 order of the Garter, resplendent with the 
 great six-pointed silver star. With one hand 
 resting on a table, he turns as if to survey the 
 whole English nation with his supercilious 
 glance. Cavil as we may at the weakness of 
 the face, and the affected languor of the ex- 
 pression, we must admit that we are in the 
 presence of royalty. It was with the same 
 calm majesty of bearing that we imagine him 
 walking forth on the January morning of 
 1649 to meet his death upon the scaffold. 
 “ I go,” said he, “ from a corruptible to an 
 incorruptible crown.” 
 
 In portraits of the Queen Henrietta Maria, 
 Van Dyck contented himself with superficial 
 prettiness rather than with any psychological 
 analysis. There is much in the history of this 
 French princess that is admirable: her devo- 
 tion to her husband, and her fortitude and 
 courage in the great crisis. But in these 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 159 
 
 earlier years of her married life, her character 
 was as yet untested, and apparently Van 
 Dyck had no notion of its latent possibilities. 
 The small regular features and rather insipid 
 expression are familiar to us through their 
 frequent repetition in half-length and full- 
 length figures. A stiff row of curls is pressed 
 flat across the forehead in the prevailing 
 fashion. Perhaps the most attractive of her 
 portraits, one altogether unique in the series, 
 is the full-length figure accompanied by the 
 dwarf Geoffrey Hudson. A large hat lends 
 a picturesque charm to the composition, and 
 the lady seems here a real human being and 
 not a royal doll. The queen had a peculiar 
 fancy for dwarfs which were in this period 
 the common playthings of royalty. At the 
 Spanish court they were in high favour, and 
 were often painted by Velasquez. 1 Geoffrey 
 Hudson was eighteen inches high and cele- 
 brated for his intelligence. Sir Walter Scott, 
 in “ Peveril of the Peak,” tells the amusing 
 story of the little man’s first appearance at 
 court. It was at some royal fete where a 
 
 1 See page 248. 
 
160 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 banquet was served. A huge pie was brought 
 in and placed upon the board, when out 
 stepped Geoffrey, to the infinite amusement 
 of the queen. 
 
 The children of Charles I are, it is safe to 
 say, the best known picture children of the 
 world. Nearly every important gallery has 
 one of Van Dyck’s portrait groups, and 
 copies and reproductions have carried these 
 works far and wide. All these pictures are 
 noticeably deficient in compositional excel- 
 lence. The figures stand in a stiff row as a 
 provincial photographer might have arranged 
 them. The delightful spontaneity of Van 
 Dyck’s earlier child studies is altogether miss- 
 ing. The painter evidently regarded these 
 groups as official portraits. The young 
 princes and princesses were on parade, and 
 it was fitting that they should bear their 
 honours with dignity. Hence they pose in 
 grown up attitudes of men and women, and 
 are more or less self-conscious in expression. 
 They are, nevertheless, charmingly pretty 
 and winning. Charles, the young Prince of 
 Wales, described even by his fond mother as 
 
Turin Gallery] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PRINCE CHARLES 
 
 (detail) 
 
 [Van Dyck 
 

PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 161 
 
 a hopelessly ugly baby, is painted with beau- 
 tiful round big eyes, and a veritable Cupid’s 
 bow of a mouth. It is hard to believe that 
 he grew up to be the weak and dissolute King 
 Charles II. Little Mary is a miniature repe- 
 tition of the queen. James, Duke of York, 
 is more delightfully child-like than either. 
 They all wear the most enchanting finery, 
 which adds not a little to our satisfaction. 
 The three eldest children are the most famil- 
 iar. Two younger daughters, Elizabeth and 
 Anne, introduced into some larger groups, 
 are less interesting. 
 
 Van Dyck’s favour with the king naturally 
 drew to him the patronage of nearly all the 
 English peerage. There is scarcely a great 
 house in England to-day which does not 
 cherish some ancestral portrait by Van Dyck. 
 Painted in the decade preceding the Civil 
 War, his works are of immense interest in the 
 character study of many who figured promi- 
 nently in the ensuing conflict. Foremost 
 among them was Wentworth, Earl of Straf- 
 ford, at one time the king’s strongest coun- 
 sellor, in whom, says the historian, “ the very 
 
162 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 genius of tyranny was embodied.” Van 
 Dyck’s best portrait of the earl shows him 
 seated with his secretary at a table. Macau- 
 lay’s splendid description has made this work 
 a famous historical document. Van Dyck is 
 nowhere stronger and more penetrating in 
 his character delineation. The determined 
 mouth and glowering eyes show the resolute 
 energy of a man whose theory of government 
 was to rule by fear. Fearing nothing him- 
 self, he pursued his “ thorough ” policy until 
 the indignation of an outraged people 
 brought him to the scaffold. 
 
 Another of the king’s counsellors was 
 Archbishop Laud, whose persistent opposition 
 to Puritanism made him also an object of 
 popular hatred, and cost him his life. There 
 is something very pathetic in the careworn 
 face of Van Dyck’s portrait, and an expres- 
 sion of benignity which softens our opinion 
 of his bigotry. We can better understand 
 how, as he took barge for the Tower, hun- 
 dreds of his poor neighbours stood by praying 
 for his safety. 
 
 One of the staunchest adherents of the 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 163 
 
 Crown was the king’s cousin, James Stuart, 
 Duke of Lenox and Richmond. He was a 
 born courtier, a typical Cavalier, precisely the 
 sort of figure Van Dyck loved to idealize. 
 The Metropolitan Museum in New York is 
 fortunate in possessing a splendid full length 
 portrait of this young man, painted in Van 
 Dyck’s most distinguished vein. He stands 
 with his hand on the head of a favourite grey- 
 hound, and turns his high bred face to ours 
 with an engaging smile. The rich court cos- 
 tume is ornamented with the insignia of the 
 order of the Garter, and the figure is a com- 
 plete impersonation of the court life of the 
 period. 
 
 Philip, Lord Wharton, was another young 
 nobleman whom Van Dyck painted in a 
 charming fancy portrait, in the costume of 
 a shepherd. One would scarcely suppose that 
 this rather soft-faced youth would be made 
 of stern stuff. In later years, however, his 
 conscience compelled him to enter the Parlia- 
 mentary army, taking sides against the king 
 whose friend he had been. Van Dyck was 
 especially happy in painting the younger men 
 
164 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of the court, like Lord John and Lord Ber- 
 nard Stuart, George Digby, the Earl of 
 Bristol, and William, Duke of Bedford. 
 
 His patrons included many “ fair women,” 
 as well as “ brave men.” There is something 
 of sameness among them, a resemblance due 
 not altogether to the uniformity of fashion. 
 The painter was impartial in bestowing small 
 features, and a rosebud mouth upon them all. 
 Venetia, Lady Digby, is one of these fa- 
 voured ladies. Another still more celebrated 
 was the Countess of Sunderland, whom he 
 painted many times. This is the “ Saccha- 
 rissa ” who inspired the muse of Waller, and 
 to whom was written the exquisite “ Go, 
 lovely Rose.” The poet wrote also in praise 
 of Van Dyck’s beautiful portrait, as Petrarch 
 had, so many centuries before, sung the 
 praises of Memmi’s portrait of his Laura. 
 Beatrice de Cusance is a far more fascinating 
 creature than these. She is painted in full 
 length, turning to look at us with a half 
 disdainful, and altogether adorable expres- 
 sion. As in Louisa van Tassis, the painter 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 165 
 
 has caught here a fleeting vision of a woman’s 
 soul. 
 
 As the years moved on, Van Dyck’s work 
 began to show signs of deterioration. It is 
 hard even for a strong man to withstand the 
 temptations of flattery and success, and Van 
 Dyck’s moral fibre was by no means of the 
 strongest. To meet the demands upon him 
 he was obliged to depend much upon- the 
 help of assistants, and his work became me- 
 chanical. In elegance and repose his figures 
 were never deficient, but even this elegance 
 became stereotyped. We weary at last of his 
 oft repeated motives, of the pillared back- 
 ground, with the draped curtain, of the men 
 with arms akimbo, and the women with hands 
 folded in front, of the averted gaze, and self- 
 conscious expression. In the painting of the 
 hands we notice a decided decline from the 
 earlier days when he reproduced so carefully 
 their individual characteristics. Now a studio 
 model supplied this feature for the pictures, 
 and we find the same delicate and character- 
 less hand with tapering fingers, reappearing 
 indifferently on the men, women and children 
 
166 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of his canvases. More serious still is the ac- 
 companying decline in characterization which 
 is especially apparent in the women. 
 
 It may be because the painter realized that 
 danger threatened his art if he continued as he 
 was, that he began to plan a return to Ant- 
 werp. It may be that he foresaw the troubles 
 awaiting his royal patron in England. Doubt- 
 less he longed for another chance to paint the 
 great subject pictures which he had always 
 been so ambitious to produce. Rubens was 
 now dead and he was the greatest living 
 Flemish painter. A hearty welcome awaited 
 him in his native land. But the painter’s 
 homecoming was never accomplished. Under 
 the double strain of self-indulgence and pro- 
 fessional labours his health was undermined. 
 In the midst of his arrangements the hand of 
 death was upon him, and his life came to an 
 end in December, 1641. 
 
 Much has been written of the place of Van 
 Dyck in the history of art. By universal con- 
 sent his name is associated with those of the 
 great Venetians. The leading notes of his 
 style are distinction, repose, charm. Generally 
 
PORTRAITS OF VAN DYCK 167 
 
 speaking he was little of a psychologist. His 
 patrons belonged to that social class in which 
 reserve is a test of breeding. The painter 
 was not required to interpret their character. 
 Yet he was capable of a profound character 
 study, and as opportunity offered, showed a 
 remarkable insight into the minds of his sub- 
 jects. His fine decorative sense, united with 
 brilliant technique, gives great pictorial value 
 to his works, aside from their qualities as 
 portraits. His merits need no explanation: 
 they are of the obvious kind which appeal to 
 a wide public. While greater artists may be 
 ignored, or unappreciated, he has always been 
 admired. His work was the inspiration of the 
 eighteenth-century English portrait school, 
 and to this day his popularity is still undimin- 
 ished in England and America. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 DUTCH PORTRAIT PAINTING AND THE 
 CORPORATION GROUPS 
 
 ERHAPS no country in the world 
 has so distinct an individuality as 
 Holland. In physical aspects, in 
 political history, and in the character of the 
 people, it is entirely unique. How different 
 was the Dutch temper from that of their 
 neighbours in the southern provinces came out 
 during the long struggle of the Netherlands 
 with Spain, when the seven provinces of the 
 north formed themselves into the Dutch Re- 
 public (1579). It was a final victory of their 
 national spirit when the Treaty of 1648 ac- 
 knowledged them an independent nation, 
 while their sister provinces still remained 
 under the Spanish yoke. 
 
 Not all the storm and stress of these eighty 
 years’ warfare could prevail against the steady 
 
 168 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 169 
 
 development of Dutch commercial prosperity. 
 Fighting, farming and fishing all went on 
 simultaneously. The same indomitable cour- 
 age which wrested victory from Spain was at 
 the same time wresting riches from nature. 
 In the early seventeenth century, no other 
 country in the world had so large a fleet of 
 vessels on the sea, meadows so rich in cattle, 
 or cities so busy with industries. It was this 
 material wealth which provided, not the 
 formative causes, but the favourable condi- 
 tions for the development of an art, whose 
 foundations had been laid simultaneously with 
 the Flemish, but whose beginnings had been 
 far less promising. Italian influence for 
 awhile hampered both nationalities, but the 
 seventeenth century set them free, the Dutch 
 about a decade behind their neighbours. It 
 was during the golden age of Frederick 
 Henry, whose rule as stadtholder extended 
 from 1625 to T 647, that the Hollandish Re- 
 naissance brought Dutch art to the perfect 
 flowering. It now took on a rare beauty of 
 its own, neither German nor Flemish, nor yet 
 Italian, but distinctly Dutch. It was a com- 
 
170 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 plete expression of the new-born spirit of 
 national freedom. While the revival of 
 Flemish art, as we have seen, received positive 
 help by the residence of the Spanish regents 
 in the Netherlands, Dutch art owed little or 
 nothing to foreign patronage. And while 
 Flemish art always bore a strong flavour of 
 foreign graftings, Dutch art was distinctly 
 provincial in character. 
 
 Naturally the religious convictions of Hol- 
 land tended to turn the art impulse from old 
 channels into new. The sturdy Dutch Prot- 
 estants were averse to the church decoration 
 which was prevalent in the Roman Catholic 
 provinces of the southern Netherlands. There 
 was little demand for sacred altar-pieces such 
 as Rubens and Van Dyck were painting for 
 their Flemish patrons. As a result entirely 
 new fields of art were opened up in painting 
 landscape, still life, animals, flowers and the 
 like. In the meantime the first effect was to 
 strengthen the uses of the portrait. Now 
 for the first time, the demand for portrait 
 painting was so great that it was possible for 
 a painter to devote himself exclusively to this 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 171 
 
 one thing. Every well-to-do burgher wished 
 a portrait of himself and his wife, or better 
 still, a group of the whole family. Even more 
 important than such private orders was the 
 call for large groups from corporations. 
 There was no trade or profession which had 
 not its own guild: drapers, wine-merchants, 
 painters, surgeons, and so on through the list. 
 Besides these were the military companies 
 which were most noteworthy organizations. 
 All these bodies took pride in having portrait 
 groups of their members hung in the assembly 
 halls. The fashion extended to all governing 
 boards: the magistrates of the city, the re- 
 gents of hospitals, almshouses, orphan asy- 
 lums, and charitable institutions of various 
 kinds. A veritable passion for portrait im- 
 mortality was in the air. In every public 
 gallery of Holland one sees these corporation 
 groups. They are the most characteristic art 
 product of the period. Often there are whole 
 series of such works as those at Delft, in the 
 Town Hall, and the Hospital; the four by 
 Ravesteyn at The Hague, the five by Elias 
 Pickenoy in Amsterdam, the six by Schooten, 
 
172 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 at Leyden, and lastly the splendid array of 
 eight, by Frans Hals, in the Town Hall at 
 Haarlem. To describe them all in full would 
 make monotonous reading, yet there is scarcely 
 one which is not interesting as a human 
 document and as a record of national art 
 progress. The figures range from four or 
 five to twenty or thirty, and as the number 
 increases, the compositional qualities weaken. 
 The painter had an almost insoluble problem 
 in adjusting the exigencies of his art to the 
 demands of his patrons. Each individual 
 wanted a conspicuous position and a satis- 
 factory likeness, yet how to attain this when 
 the principles of art composition require the 
 subordination of some elements to others? 
 The sitters were best pleased when placed in 
 stiff rows where all fared alike. The earlier 
 painters contented themselves with this primi- 
 tive method, and showed what manner of 
 artist they were only in the handling of indi- 
 vidual heads. Mierevelt’s Anatomy Lesson 
 (1617) at Delft, is of this class, and in spite 
 of its wooden poses and mechanical arrange- 
 ment contains two or three really interesting 
 
Royal Museum, The Hague] [Rembrandt 
 
 GROUP OF HEADS FROM ANATOMY LESSON 
 

DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 173 
 
 heads. The picture, however, is made un- 
 necessarily revolting by the treatment of the 
 cadaver, which is opened to show the viscera. 
 
 The subject of the Anatomy Lesson was 
 one in great favour with surgeons’ guilds, 
 and represented the members gathered about 
 a dissecting-table, ostensibly listening to the 
 professor’s demonstration. It was an attempt 
 to supply a story motive for a portrait group. 
 When we turn from Mierevelt’s picture to 
 Rembrandt’s famous treatment of the same 
 theme, in the year 1632, we can understand 
 the furore which the latter aroused in Amster- 
 dam. Here is genuine dramatic interest as 
 the colleagues bend eagerly over the subject. 
 If their zeal is slightly exaggerated, not so 
 that of Dr. Tulp, the demonstrator, who 
 speaks with the calm deliberation of the scien- 
 tist. The fine strong personality preserved 
 in this portrait is a type of that class of men 
 whose scholarship made the Dutch universities 
 so famous in the seventeenth century. All 
 the heads are convincing likenesses, and we 
 may well believe that they were gratifying to 
 the originals. The subject, too, is treated in 
 
174 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 as good taste as is possible with the unpleasant 
 theme: the muscles of the arm are under dis- 
 cussion. Rembrandt had at this time but 
 recently set up his studio in Amsterdam, 
 having removed thither from his native 
 Leyden The success of this first important 
 commission augured a brilliant future for the 
 young painter. Happy in his marriage, he 
 now entered upon a busy and fruitful decade 
 of his career. 
 
 The military groups were of course the 
 most common of all forms of corporation pic- 
 tures. To begin with a typical work in the 
 older method, one might take Ravesteyn’s 
 masterpiece at The Hague: The Officers of 
 the Civil Guard leaving the Town Hall, 
 painted in 1616 . Here the power of good 
 portrait art makes itself felt under the most 
 adverse conditions. The figures are ar- 
 ranged in two tiers, along a balcony and on 
 the ground floor, and are packed solidly to- 
 gether. Rut here and there, in the huddled 
 rows of faces, one catches a singularly expres- 
 sive countenance. 
 
 Tt was a bold and delightful innovation 
 
Town Hall, Haarlem] [Frans Hals 
 
 GROUP FROM BANQUET OF ST. GEORGE SHOOTING GUILD 
 
 ( 1627 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 175 
 
 when Frans Hals produced at nearly the 
 same time, his first great corporation picture, 
 The Banquet of St. George Shooting Guild, 
 at Haarlem. The company are seated about 
 the table, engaged in lively conversation. 
 The motive is so simple and natural that one 
 wonders why it had not been commonly used 
 before. There is really good and sufficient 
 reason here for bringing the company to- 
 gether — one, too, which shows the most 
 agreeable side of the participants. The 
 groups into which they fall are united by 
 standing figures, and the coherence of the 
 linear composition is admirably maintained. 
 But though the artist was bold in breaking 
 away from the old custom of rows, he dared 
 not follow his scheme to its logical conclusion. 
 The perspective indicates considerable depth 
 of space, but the figures in the rear are as 
 sharply defined as those in front. “ Values ” 
 are set entirely at defiance. The patrons be- 
 hind the table would have been highly of- 
 fended to be cast in the shadow by any haze 
 of distance. 
 
 It was by this great picture that Frans 
 
176 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Hals suddenly sprang from obscurity to fame. 
 How and where he obtained the necessary 
 practice which must have preceded such 
 craftsmanship, we do not know. He had re- 
 moved from Antwerp to Haarlem, the home 
 of his ancestors, at the beginning of the cen- 
 tury, but nothing is known of him during the 
 first fifteen years of his residence there. Some 
 work, now lost, must have demonstrated his 
 fitness for so important a commission from 
 the St. George Guild. Be this as it may, he 
 is not again lost sight of till his death at a 
 good old age. His next corporation picture 
 belongs to the year 1627, when he again 
 painted the St. George Guild, and also, for 
 the first time the Shooting Guild of St. 
 Adrian. The banquet motive is again em- 
 ployed, but less formally. The men stand or 
 lounge in knots, and some wear their broad - 
 brimmed hats. To avoid false values, such 
 as the picture of 1616 contained, the figures 
 are massed as much as possible in the fore- 
 ground, and this produces a somewhat 
 crowded and confused effect. Yet these 
 faults are trifles beside the great portrait 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 177 
 
 work the pictures reveal. One singles out one 
 head after another for special praise. A 
 spirit of good comradeship animates every 
 figure. The passing moment is seized by the 
 artist and crystallized into permanency. 
 
 The pictures of 1627 mark the half-way 
 point between the work of 1616 and the mas- 
 terpiece of 1633, which was a second St. 
 Adrian’s group. To keep all the figures well 
 in the foreground, as his patrons demanded, 
 the painter now massed the men in two dis- 
 tinct groups. Yet what the picture lacks in 
 coordination of parts is amply atoned for in 
 the harmonious scheme of colour. It is 
 Fromentin who pronounces the final word 
 upon it as showing “ as much taste as Van 
 Dyck, as much skilful execution as Velas- 
 quez, with the manifold difficulties of a pal- 
 ette infinitely richer.” This was certainly as 
 near as it was possible for mortal man to 
 solve the insoluble problem of the large Dutch 
 corporation picture. 
 
 As one reviews these four wonderful pic- 
 tures by Hals, certain common features come 
 to mind. The decorative element in each 
 
178 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 case is furnished by the gaily coloured ban- 
 ners, which are cleverly disposed in oblique 
 lines, to unite groups, and relieve monotonous 
 levels. The ensigns, or standard bearers, are 
 the most conspicuous and picturesque figures 
 of the groups, tricked out with captivating 
 finery, and carrying their standards with a 
 delightful swagger. The commanding officer 
 has of course special prominence, though not 
 always the most commanding personality. 
 He attracts our attention, either by looking 
 directly out of the picture with an air of im- 
 portance, or by receiving the salute of an 
 ensign. The other characters represent the 
 usual elements of such a company. The ar- 
 gumentative man is here, punctuating his 
 debate with gestures; the tedious story-teller, 
 holding a victim in his toils; the humourist, 
 with his anecdote, and the jolly good fellow, 
 who listens, or laughs, or drinks a toast, as 
 occasion demands. 
 
 As if hopeless of again equalling these mas- 
 terpieces, the next and last military group of 
 Hals shows a decided retrograde. This was 
 the St. George picture of 1639. where the 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 179 
 
 figures are ranged in a monotonous row as 
 in more primitive work. Even so, the hand 
 of Hals is unmistakable in the vigorous 
 heads and expressive countenances. 
 
 The effect of the five great military pictures 
 hanging together in the Haarlem gallery is 
 altogether unique. It is like entering a great 
 banquet hall, full of animation. You are met 
 on all sides by the friendly jovial glances of 
 the revellers. It it as if you heard the clink- 
 ing of glasses, the sound of voices, and the 
 outbursts of laughter. And although the 
 spirit of hilarity prevails, no unseemly con- 
 duct offends the taste. 
 
 The methods inaugurated by Hals were not 
 allowed to lapse. Bartholomew van der 
 Heist, a painter of Amsterdam, imbibed 
 deeply the spirit of the Haarlem master. He 
 was a generation younger than Hals, and be- 
 gan his career when the latter was at his 
 height. The gallery at Amsterdam contains 
 two large military groups, of 1639 and 1648, 
 strongly reminiscent of his model. The sub- 
 ject of the second is The Banquet of the 
 Civil Guard celebrating the Peace of West- 
 
180 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 phalia, and the arrangement is borrowed from 
 the 1616 Banquet of the St. George Guild 
 in Haarlem. As in the work of Hals, the 
 values of the figures behind the table are 
 somewhat faulty for the very abundance of 
 life which throbs through the whole canvas. 
 Good cheer reigns supreme : the captain 
 
 grasps the lieutenant by the hand, as he 
 pledges him. The other men fall to with jest 
 and anecdote. In the center, somewhat apart, 
 sits the ipagnificent being who fills the office 
 of ensign. The giant throws one leg over the 
 other, steadies the great flag over his shoul- 
 der, and complacently meets the gaze of an 
 admiring audience. In his own opinion at 
 least he is the whole show. 
 
 In the meantime Rembrandt had contrib- 
 uted to the great military groups of the 
 period his famous picture of the Night Watch. 
 This was painted in 1642 for the Amsterdam 
 Musketeers, under the captaincy of Frans 
 Banning Cocq. The painter’s object was to 
 make a natural dramatic motive the basis of 
 the work. The guard issues from their as- 
 sembly-hall in some sudden call to action. 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 181 
 
 The captain leads the way, giving orders to 
 his lieutenant. The drum beats, the ensign 
 unfurls the standard, the men come out with 
 musket and lance ; a dog scampers under 
 foot, and a little girl slips into the crowd. 
 All is confusion and action. In such a scene 
 it would be impossible to give every figure 
 full portrait value. Some of the figures neces- 
 sarily occupy insignificant positions in the 
 background. This was very humiliating to 
 the Musketeers. They preferred the old- 
 fashioned ways to such startling innovations. 
 They paid their money for good portraits, 
 not for a dramatic composition. Popular 
 sympathy was with the grumblers. The pic- 
 ture was in fact quite beyond the average 
 comprehension. Rembrandt had used the op- 
 portunity to work out some problems of chiar- 
 oscuro which were struggling in his mind. 
 Absorbed in the wonderful contrasts of light 
 and shadow, he was careless of all else. He 
 produced one of the world’s greatest pictures 
 but he disappointed his patrons. The captain 
 and lieutenant are the only satisfactory por- 
 trait figures in the company. 
 
182 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 In the following century the picture was 
 removed to the Town Hall, and in order to 
 fit it to a particular place, a strip was cut 
 from each end of the canvas. The result is 
 a crowded effect not belonging to its original 
 condition. In the passing years the accumu- 
 lation of smoke darkened the colour, until 
 it was supposed to represent a night scene. 
 Hence the incorrect title of the Night Watch. 
 Since the canvas was cleaned in 1889, it is 
 seen clearly as a daylight incident, and the 
 proper title is the Sortie of the Civic Guard. 
 The unpopularity of the picture had a seri- 
 ous effect upon Rembrandt’s professional in- 
 terests, and brought to an end the first and 
 happiest period of his career. 
 
 Reside the large Dutch military composi- 
 tions the smaller corporation groups of four 
 or five figures make a much more amenable 
 sub ject of painting. The participants usually 
 gather about a table as if for discussion of 
 business. They represent official governing 
 boards, both of men and women. It is indeed 
 a surprise to find that women took so impor- 
 tant a place in these days in the management 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 183 
 
 of hospitals and charity organizations. What 
 sensible and capable characters they were, we 
 see in many of these pictures. They take 
 their duties seriously, conscious of the impor- 
 tance of their trust. Naturally they are 
 women in middle life, or somewhat elderly, 
 the solid matronly figures of the Dutch mid- 
 dle class. Their black dresses, with ample 
 skirts, and their stiff white ruffs and quaint 
 caps make the material for a sober and dig- 
 nified colour scheme. There are very interest- 
 ing examples of such works in Amsterdam and 
 Haarlem by men of secondary importance, 
 like Jacob Backer, Joannes Verspronck, 
 Werner van Valckert, and Dirck Santvoort, 
 men whose names are so little known to-day, 
 yet who contributed a worthy quota to the 
 splendid body of seventeenth-century Dutch 
 art. 
 
 A typical male group of this class is 
 Pickenoy’s Regents of the House of Correc- 
 tion, a picture of 1628 in the Amsterdam 
 gallery. The appearance of the beadle with 
 a letter is the excuse for a pause in the pro- 
 ceedings, all four regents looking directly out 
 
184 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of the picture. The work is admirably con- 
 ceived, but it has the stiffness of an imma- 
 ture hand. Comparing with it the Regents 
 of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, by Hals, painted 
 in 1641, we see what the free hand of a 
 consummate technician could make of such a 
 theme. Each face is as animated and ex- 
 pressive as if actually speaking. Over twenty 
 years later Hals painted two more small cor- 
 poration groups, one of men, and one of 
 women, but his hand had now lost its cun- 
 ning. The brush once so bold had become 
 incoherent, and there is much pathos in these 
 signs of decadence. It was left to Rembrandt 
 to achieve the perfect corporation picture in 
 the Syndics of the Cloth Guild of 1661. 
 Nearly thirty years had passed since the 
 Night Watch had occasioned so much disap- 
 pointment, but in this work he vindicated 
 himself in the popular esteem. The picture 
 is a miracle of infusing life into the dry 
 bones of a traditional composition. The 
 Syndics appear to be interrupted by the ar- 
 rival of a newcomer, and they all look up 
 with a common impulse. Every quality of 
 
DUTCH PAINTING 
 
 185 
 
 greatness in a portrait group is here: fine 
 characterization of the individual heads, 
 hands, and pose ; unity and flow of line in the 
 linear composition; harmony of rich colour; 
 and a unity of interest, with a single idea 
 dominating the entire group. With this 
 picture then we touch the climax in the de- 
 velopment of a form of portrait art which 
 was the peculiar product of the period, a 
 characteristic expression of the Dutch genius. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 FRANS HALS AND REMBRANDT 
 
 HERE is an old Dutch custom, 
 holding even to this day, of fasten- 
 ing to the window a mirror, set at 
 an angle which reflects to the occupant of 
 the room the figures of the passers-by. Had 
 Hals and Rembrandt set up such mirrors in 
 their studio windows, at Haarlem and Am- 
 sterdam, in the middle of the seventeenth 
 century, fixing the reflections by some magic 
 process, the result would have been some- 
 thing like the series of portraits they pro- 
 duced. For it was in the life of the people 
 that make up the daily throng of the street, 
 that they were most at home. They were 
 men of the people, and it was for the people 
 that they wrought — the sturdy middle class 
 who furnish brain and brawn (and money, 
 too!) to the nation. Among their sitters to 
 
 186 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 187 
 
 be sure were men of learning, letters and 
 science, like Hoornebeek, professor in the 
 University of Leyden (Hals) ; Doctor Tulp 
 and Doctor Tholinx of Amsterdam (Rem- 
 brandt) and Herman Krul, the poet (Rem- 
 brandt). There were ministers, too, like 
 Rembrandt’s Anslo, and Hals’ Johannes 
 Acronius, and minor artists like Berchem 
 (Rembrandt) and Van der Vinne (Hals). 
 There was even an occasional admiral, this 
 with Hals, or a burgomaster, with Rem- 
 brandt, but this is as high as the scale reaches. 
 No noblemen are identified among them, and 
 it is needless to add, no princes or crowned 
 heads. For the most part they were mer- 
 chants or burghers and their wives, like Rem- 
 brandt’s Shipbuilder, and Hals’ Nicolas 
 Beresteyn, the majority indeed being of too 
 little consequence for their names to have 
 been preserved. A foreigner is a rarity, a 
 single notable exception being Descartes, 
 whom Hals painted during the French phi- 
 losopher’s sojourn in Amsterdam. Alto- 
 gether the united product of the two men 
 presents a striking contrast to that of their 
 
188 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Flemish contemporaries, Rubens and Van 
 Dyck — this commonplace company of mid- 
 dle class Dutch with that brilliant panorama 
 of the court life of every country in Europe. 
 The course of their lives was correspondingly 
 diverse, and beside the constant journeyings 
 of the two great Flemings, the tranquil pro- 
 vincial routine of the two Dutchmen affords 
 almost no material for the biographer. Nor 
 do the contemporaries of Rembrandt and 
 Hals appear to have had much insight into 
 their characters. While Rubens and Van 
 Dyck are clearly defined personalities, the 
 two great Dutchmen are rather vague and 
 shadowy figures. Something of their char- 
 acter we may gather from their portraits. 
 
 Our best known portrait of Hals is the 
 Amsterdam picture of himself and his 
 second wife in a landscape group, after the 
 manner of Rubens and Isabella Brandt. 1 
 The Dutch painter is a handsome man with 
 large well cut features, and he has the “ open 
 countenance ” which we like to associate with 
 the Dutch character. He has evidently just 
 
 1 See page 138. 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 189 
 
 cracked a joke, and throws himself back for 
 a hearty laugh, while his wife joins good- 
 naturedly in his merriment. A jolly good 
 fellow this with a simple kindly nature, whom 
 we should not suspect of being very pro- 
 found. There is little or nothing in the face 
 to indicate the artistic nature which is so 
 apparent in the refined and imaginative like- 
 nesses of Rubens and Van Dyck. Hals is 
 indeed reputed to have been a man of con- 
 vivial habits, and a frequenter of taverns. 
 Worse still, he was once brought into court 
 for wife-beating. Yet after the death of 
 this unfortunate first wife, Lysbeth Reyniers 
 was not afraid to make the venture as his 
 second, and in this picture appears to find 
 her husband a very agreeable companion. 
 They lived together nearly fifty years, and 
 had a large family. 
 
 The portraits of Rembrandt extend over a 
 period of forty years. No other face has 
 been so many times represented in art, not 
 even that of Charles I or Philip IV. 1 There 
 
 1 An exception is the case of Bismarck whom Lenbach 
 painted over a hundred times. See page 278, 
 
190 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 are fifty painted portraits, or one sixth of 
 his entire portrait output, and twenty-seven 
 etchings besides. The majority were made 
 merely for practice, and not from any mo- 
 tives of vanity. The painter took no pains 
 to show himself to advantage, and often made 
 himself quite grotesque, forcing a laugh or 
 a grimace for the study of facial expression. 
 The portraits came most thickly during the 
 early years of his professional life, when 
 there was most need of technical training. 
 For instance there are ten etchings in the 
 year 1630, and seven in 1631, and a dozen or 
 so painted portraits for the years 1634-1635. 
 Nearly all these early studies are in costume, 
 and deal with the reflection of light on vel- 
 vet stuffs and metals. The painter was es- 
 pecially interested in the shadows cast on the 
 face by the brim of a head covering. So 
 we see him wearing every conceivable form 
 of headdress — the soft velvet cap, the wide- 
 brimmed hat, these often with plume or 
 feather, the tall fur cap, the turban, and the 
 helmet. Among all these fantasticallv dressed 
 figures we search in vain for Rembrandt as 
 
Cassel Gallery] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT IN COSTUME 
 
 [Rembrandt 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 191 
 
 his neighbours saw him, Rembrandt as he 
 walked the streets of Amsterdam. These 
 studio trappings are strangely at variance 
 with the sober black clothes with stiff ruffs 
 or broad flat collars, and the Puritan hat, 
 which were in vogue at that time. How 
 Rembrandt would look in the regulation 
 Dutch attire, such as was worn by the sur- 
 geons of the Anatomy Lesson and the Syn- 
 dics, is left to our imagination. The ar- 
 tist’s face is cast in a large plebeian mould 
 with irregular features and rather small eyes. 
 He was not overcareful to reproduce the 
 features accurately, so that we do not always 
 recognize him in his various disguises. He 
 also varied constantly the treatment of hair 
 and beard so that we are still in the dark as to 
 whether Rembrandt’s own hair was long or 
 short, scanty or abundant, bushy, curly or 
 straight. We feel reasonably sure that he 
 was a kindly and candid person and pos- 
 sessed of a somewhat independent spirit, with 
 a proper opinion of his own merits. Yet who 
 could find in his face the indications of a 
 visionary? The keen observing eye of the 
 
192 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 artist is, however, now and then apparent, 
 as in one of the Louvre portraits (with head 
 uncovered). He is almost always very seri- 
 ous, except when forcing a laugh for strictly 
 professional purposes. Apparently he was 
 quite the opposite of the light hearted Hals. 
 The most satisfactory portraits are from his 
 youth and his old age. At Fenway Court, 
 Boston, is a most delightful portrait of the 
 young artist on the threshold of his career. 
 There is an irresistible charm in the frank, 
 ingenuous face looking out so hopefully upon 
 life. The face is delicately shaded by a pic- 
 turesque plumed hat, the work showing even 
 in this early period the magic touch which 
 was to characterize the master. Many years 
 later we see him again, stripped of studio 
 finery, wrapping his mantle about him, as he 
 turns his weary old face to ours, and shows 
 us in his careworn expression something of 
 the conflicts of a life of profound experience. 
 
 The fame of Rembrandt’s wife Saskia is 
 second only to that of Helena Fourment in 
 the annals of artists’ biography. He was 
 married in 1632 at the beginning of his career 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 193 
 
 in Amsterdam, and for ten happy years this 
 amiable girl was the light of his home. There 
 are many pictures to show the artist’s delight 
 in his bride. She was no such beauty as 
 Rubens’s Helena, with a round blunt nose and 
 small eyes; but she had the charm of youth 
 and a pleasant, cheerful smile. It was in- 
 deed chiefly as a model that Rembrandt 
 painted her, using her face, as he used his 
 own, for the perfecting of his skill, rather 
 than for the proper purposes of portraiture. 
 The most attractive picture is the betrothal 
 portrait of the Cassel gallery, where the 
 flower in her hand is the symbol of her happy 
 love. The artist has loaded her with jewels, 
 strings of pearls about her arms and neck, 
 and in her hair. A rich velvet dress is worn 
 over an embroidered guimpe, and a fur man- 
 tle falls over one shoulder. A broad brimmed 
 hat with long feather completes the fanciful 
 costume. In such fashion the painter con- 
 tinued to array her, paying much more atten- 
 tion to picturesque and decorative effects 
 than to the expressiveness of the face. In 
 fact it is difficult in some cases to distinguish 
 
194 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the portraits of Saskia from those of Rem- 
 brandt’s sister. In the Dresden gallery is 
 the well known group in which Saskia is 
 seen sitting on her husband’s knee, while he 
 raises his glass for a toast. The composition 
 is not very felicitous, and Saskia looks more 
 like a doll than a live woman, but the work 
 is a pleasant record of a happy mood in a 
 life clouded with troubles. The spirit of the 
 picture is really more like Hals than Rem- 
 brandt. Now and again Rembrandt caught 
 the picturesque swagger which is the special 
 charm of Hals, and vice versa, Hals achieved 
 the serious dignity which was Rembrandt’s 
 forte. There are not a few cases where the 
 two painters meet on common ground, as in 
 their corporation pictures of the Regents and 
 the Syndics. Nowhere perhaps do they come 
 more closely together than in two portraits 
 of old women in the Amsterdam gallery: the 
 lady of the Van der Meer family, by Hals, 
 and Elizabeth Bas, by Rembrandt. Worthy 
 compeers are these two, posed so similarly in 
 arm-chairs, rendered with like fidelity of de- 
 tail, with like power of individual characteri- 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 195 
 
 zation, treated with equal dignity and refine- 
 ment. 
 
 A field in which Hals was unapproached 
 was in studies of genre life. Loitering about 
 the market and taverns, he loved to watch the 
 happy-go-lucky fives of the common people. 
 Hille Bobbe, the fish-wife of Haarlem, was 
 a favourite model, a toothless old hag, re- 
 puted to be a witch. Her fish-stand was a 
 gathering place for idlers who delighted in 
 bandying jokes with her. Hals liked noth- 
 ing better than to loosen her sharp tongue 
 with a tankard of ale, and, when the climax 
 of the tale was reached, sketch the grotesque 
 old face so contorted with merriment that one 
 can fairly hear the old beldame’s shrill cackle 
 of laughter. The itinerant musician was an- 
 other hobby of Hals. One recalls the flute 
 player of Schwerin, grinning at us in a pause 
 between notes, the lute player of Amsterdam 
 making eyes at some imaginary siren in 
 mocking imitation of a cavalier; the two 
 touching little fellows with a mandolin, in 
 the Cassel gallery, and the pretty boy singer 
 of Berlin. 
 
196 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Another street study is the charming Bo- 
 hemienne, of the Louvre, with her sly side- 
 long glance, from beneath her half closed 
 eyes. The Jolly Man, at Amsterdam, and the 
 Young Man with Slouch Hat, at Cassel, with 
 the maudlin toper in the same gallery, are 
 familiar examples of the hilarious mood which 
 Hals knew so well how to represent. Such 
 heads have many counterparts in the large 
 military groups. Spontaneous hilarity like 
 this was quite foreign to the nature of Rem- 
 brandt, though he might sometimes try to sim- 
 ulate it. Instead of the jovial tavern loungers 
 of Hals, he took by preference some Jewish 
 beggar and transformed him into a wistful 
 philosopher, a melancholy exile, or a medi- 
 tative apostle, whose yearning eyes reveal 
 the pathos of a lonely soul. 
 
 Hals was a wizard in catching an expres- 
 sion as elusive as thought. The portrait of 
 the Wallace collection, so inaptly called the 
 “ Laughing Cavalier,” is a fascinating study 
 in the dawning of a smile. The Smoker of 
 the Metropolitan Museum is catching our eye 
 to share the little joke which has set his com- 
 
Louvre, Paris] 
 
 [Frans Hals 
 
 THE BOHEMIAN GIRL 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 197 
 
 panion to laughing. The unknown gentle- 
 man of Frankfort has just the suspicion of 
 a kindly twinkle in his eyes, and the pompous 
 admiral of St. Petersburg is about to utter 
 a pleasant repartee. The irresistible Ilpen- 
 stein baby is unmatched in child portraiture. 
 The round little face is fairly rippling with 
 laughter. A long range is thus illustrated in 
 the work of Hals, from the coarse jest and 
 shrill laughter of the old witch Hille Bobbe, 
 and the noisy hilarity of the tavern brawler 
 or soldier, to the bubbling merriment of an 
 innocent baby. 
 
 The born humourist has always much to 
 suffer from those who refuse to take him seri- 
 ously. Hals excelled so strikingly in the de- 
 lineation of jovial types that many are un- 
 aware of the number and merit of his more 
 dignified portraits. Some of these are espe- 
 cially strong in decorative quality. The full- 
 length portrait of Willem van Huythuysen 
 in the Lichenstein gallery at Vienna is quite 
 wonderful in this respect. The brocade dress 
 is rendered with great effect. As in Baby II- 
 penstein’s dress Hals took his opportunities 
 
198 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 to exercise consummate craftsmanship in rich 
 stuffs and delicate laces. The companion 
 portraits of Jacob Olycan and his wife at The 
 Hague mark the high water mark of dignity 
 and expressiveness combined w r ith decorative 
 beauty. 
 
 Men and women of all ages make up the 
 full complement of the long portrait list of 
 Rembrandt. Children are rather rare and 
 are not among the successes. They are usu- 
 ally too grave for their years. Youth did not 
 appeal strongly to the painter. Even his 
 beloved wife did not inspire his highest effort. 
 Superficial prettiness did not interest him so 
 much as character significance. In this he 
 shared the spirit of the early painters of 
 Northern Europe, though differing from them 
 so widely in his methods. For character and 
 expressiveness of countenance there must 
 needs be experience and age. So the favourite 
 subjects of Rembrandt were strong men of 
 middle age, and old people of both sexes. 
 
 An extraordinary performance for a young 
 man of twenty-five is the Shipbuilder and his 
 Wife (1633) painted with such insight into 
 
Wallace Collection, London] [Frans Hals 
 
 THE LAUGHING CAVALIER 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 199 
 
 the sterling worth of the homely old couple. 
 The man turns about from his table to re- 
 ceive the letter his wife brings him. Simple 
 as the act is, both faces show that years of ten- 
 der devotion have knit the two together in 
 perfect understanding. It is also in these 
 early years that Rembrandt painted the sev- 
 eral portraits of his father and mother which 
 have given us a better understanding of his 
 parentage than of his own individuality. 
 What resoluteness of character is indicated in 
 the mother’s large mouth, with the thin lips 
 tightly compressed. A proud self-contained 
 nature is here, with grave eyes, small and 
 keen rather than poetic. She is a dignified 
 and handsome woman whom we must all 
 greatly respect. 
 
 The portrait at Windsor, and the etching 
 of the seated figure show us all this. The 
 studio pieces in the character of St. Anna, 
 and the like, are not satisfying as portrait 
 studies. Extreme old age softens somewhat 
 the natural austerity of the mother’s character, 
 and when we see her bent with years, lean- 
 ing on her cane (Vienna), though dressed in 
 
200 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 velvet and satin finery, as if to conceal her 
 feebleness, the withered face smiles with child 
 like pleasure. 
 
 Rembrandt’s father is not of so stern a 
 fibre. A plain, hard working miller, but 
 with the large eyes of a visionary. There is 
 no little pathos in the face, as of one in whom 
 fact and fancy were often in conflict. The 
 portrait with the skull cap, at Cassel, is one 
 of several examples, and the portrait of the 
 Boston Museum of Fine Arts is another. 
 
 One after another the old people of Rem- 
 brandt’s portraits rise before the imagination, 
 the women mostly in quaint starched head- 
 dresses, with big ear pieces, the men in skull 
 caps. In each face we discern a distinctive 
 personality. From the complacency of Eliza- 
 beth Bas, energetic and authoritative, but not 
 unkindly, we turn to the gentle, almost depre- 
 cating smile of an old lady in St. Petersburg, 
 and from her again to the animated young 
 old lady of Captain Holford’s collection 
 (1645), turning her face so alertly to the 
 right that she seems about to speak. A very 
 unusual old lady is that of Mr. Havemeyer’s 
 
Hermitage, St. Petersburg] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN 
 
 [Rembrandt 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 201 
 
 New York collection (1640), eighty-seven 
 years old, according to the inscription. The 
 face is exquisitely refined and the mouth of 
 exceeding sweetness. The deep eye sockets, 
 and the depression of the temples are beauti- 
 fully rendered. The old lady of the National 
 Gallery is eighty-three, and she, too, has 
 held her own well through the years. Her 
 face, looking directly out of the canvas, is a 
 perfect net-work of wrinkles. She looks down 
 reflectively, with an amiable smile. A favour- 
 ite model of Rembrandt was an old family 
 dependent whose portraits have often errone- 
 ously been called “ Rembrandt’s Mother.” 1 
 She was of peasant origin, with large hands 
 knotted with hard work, but in her prime 
 she must have been a handsome woman. She 
 was a patient old soul, who had passed 
 through many sorrows, but had borne them 
 with a sweetness which has made the mouth 
 beautiful, and the eyes very tender and ex- 
 pressive. Between this Mother of Sorrows 
 
 Michel (vol. ii, p. 77, of Rembrandt) refers to five 
 studies of this model. The writer has specially in mind here 
 the picture in St. Petersburg. 
 
202 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 and the Witch of Haarlem, what a gulf of 
 experience. 
 
 Among Rembrandt’s portraits of elderly 
 men that of Jan Six easily leads. (Six Col- 
 lection, Amsterdam.) It was the crowning 
 prooi of a long friendship between the two 
 men which seems to have originated in their 
 common passion for collecting works of art. 
 The Six family had a country-seat at Els- 
 broek, near Amsterdam, and thither in 1641 
 Rembrandt had been summoned to paint the 
 mother’s portrait. From thenceforth he had 
 frequent intercourse with the son Jan. Young 
 Six was a lover of literature, as well as of 
 art, and something of a poet beside. In an 
 etched portrait by Rembrandt we see him in 
 the days of his literary activity. He leans 
 against a window-ledge in his library, por- 
 ing over a folio volume. The dreamy coun- 
 tenance, the graceful figure, the absorbed at- 
 titude, and the stately room, make this one 
 of the most fascinating of Rembrandt’s por- 
 trait etchings. It was at about this time that 
 the young poet published his tragedy of 
 Medea which Rembrandt illustrated with a 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 203 
 
 magnificent etching. Literary work led the 
 way to various public honours until at last 
 Six became Burgomaster of Amsterdam. 
 How the passing years had dealt with him 
 we may see in the great portrait. We recog- 
 nize at once the delicate high bred features 
 of the etching; but the rapt face of the young 
 poet is now graven with the deeper experi- 
 ences of life. It is a most gentle and noble 
 countenance of a French type, the Sixes hav- 
 ing been Huguenots, who took refuge in 
 Holland in the sixteenth century. The bur- 
 gomaster stands drawing on his gloves, wear- 
 ing a hat and a rich cloak, as if going abroad. 
 The gracious inclination of the fine head, and 
 the entire ease of the figure express perfect 
 distinction. Among the etched portraits of 
 old men more homely types come to mind: 
 Jan Lutma, the goldsmith, settled comforta- 
 bly in his arm chair with the complacent ease 
 of hard-won success; Sylvius, the preacher, 
 weighing some theological dogmas; Clement 
 de Jonghe, the publisher, with the astute air 
 of the connoisseur; the venerable “old Haa- 
 
204 TOR TR A I T P A INTI X G 
 
 ring,” official of the bankruptcy court, benev- 
 olent and serene. 
 
 Our study of these characteristic portrait 
 examples of Ilals and Rembrandt gives 11 s 
 the basis of a comparison between the two 
 painters. Rembrandt was of course a much 
 bigger man, as Rubens was bigger than Van 
 Dyck. An engraver as well as a painter, and 
 an all around artist, as well as a maker of 
 portraits, he looms far above Hals who was 
 exclusively a portrait painter. In Rem- 
 brandt’s sixty-three years of industry lie pro- 
 duced much more work than the more indolent 
 Hals in his long life of eighty odd years. 
 Rut in the matter of portrait painting the 
 two rank together as the highest exponents 
 of their school, hiving in a period which was 
 notable for many excellent portrait painters, 
 contemporaries of Mierevelt, of Moreelse, of 
 Ravesteyn, of Metsu, and of Gerard Don, 
 they stand head and shoulders above all the 
 great company. They had several character- 
 istics in common which belong more or less 
 to their period. Their closest similarity was 
 perhaps in the sense of intimacy which both 
 
HALS AND REMBRANDT 205 
 
 imparted to their subjects, each in his own 
 way. There is with them none of that averted 
 gaze and distant air which Van Dyck gave 
 his sitters. Their portrait folk look us di- 
 rectly in the face, and give us their confi- 
 dence. They are all thoroughly alive. 
 
 In their points of divergence they supple- 
 mented each other in realizing a full expres- 
 sion of the spirit of the seventeenth-century 
 Dutch art. Their style of craftsmanship is 
 quite dissimilar. We recognize Hals by the 
 bold brush-work which often makes a picture 
 quite unintelligible at close range. Rem- 
 brandt we distinguish by his wonderful con- 
 trasts of light and shade. Often the defini- 
 tion of a face or figure is quite lost in the 
 shadow. In palette, too, the two men differ 
 characteristically. Hals began with a wide 
 range of colours and ended practically in 
 monochrome , with the severest limits of black 
 and white. Rembrandt from colder colour 
 grew warmer with the years, and at length 
 his canvases took on those golden or tawny 
 browns, like nothing so much as the varying 
 tints of amber. Hals painted his figures by 
 
206 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 daylight, the illumination evenly distributed, 
 Rembrandt saw things in a “ light which 
 never was on land or sea.” Without over- 
 looking the many exceptions which in each 
 case prove the rule, the general tendency of 
 the two men lay in opposite directions. Ilals 
 represented the material side of life, Rem- 
 brandt the ideal. Hals stuck to facts, Rem 
 brandt was a poet. Hals saw the fun of life, 
 Rembrandt, its pathos. Ilals caught the play 
 of the passing emotion, the smile, the jest, the 
 transient mood, Rembrandt penetrated the 
 deeps of character and represented the abid- 
 ing values of the human soul. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THREE CENTURIES OF FRENCH PORTRAIT 
 PAINTING 
 
 ITH the accession of Francis I in 
 1516 the art of painting first came 
 into prominent recognition in 
 France. Travel in Italy had first opened the 
 king’s eyes to the splendour of art, and he 
 had besides no mind to be outdone by the 
 Emperor Charles V in the patronage of ar- 
 tistic talent. He invited several Italian paint- 
 ers to his court, including, among lesser men, 
 the Florentine Andrea del Sarto, „ and the 
 great Leonardo da Vinci. Some of these 
 remained many years, and Leonardo passed 
 his last days there, expiring, as tradition lias 
 it, in the arms of his royal friend. This 
 group of Italian painters founded the so- 
 called school of Fontainebleau. 
 
 It was probably early in his reign that 
 
 207 
 
208 
 
 PORTRAIT TAINTING 
 
 Francis discovered the merits of a certain 
 Jean Clouet, a Fleming then living in 
 Tours. The king kept him busy till his death 
 in 1589, when the court patronage was trans- 
 ferred to the son Francois Clouet. Royal 
 favour made the Clouets and their school 
 famous. Their work was almost exclusively 
 in portraiture, both in drawing and painting. 
 In Italy, as we have seen, portrait painting 
 had to free itself gradually from religious 
 composition, of which it was first merely an 
 accessory. In France, on the other hand, 
 portraiture was the first form which painting 
 assumed, since it was the court, not the 
 church, which gave it the original impulse. 
 
 The excellence of the Clouets seems the 
 more remarkable when we realize that only 
 half a century of native art lay back of them. 
 Fouquet had been the real founder of French 
 painting. lie had made enough of a name 
 to attract the attention of the Tope Eugene 
 IV who, as if there were not better men at 
 home, had called him to Rome in 1440, to 
 paint his portrait. The French painter had 
 lingered five years in Italy, drawing inspira- 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 209 
 
 tion from its art atmosphere, then returned 
 to France to make the beginnings of a French 
 school. The Clouets were the heirs of his 
 efforts, and brought French portrait painting 
 at a single bound into a position of dignity. 
 
 The respective characteristics of father and 
 son are difficult to distinguish, and the prob- 
 lem is complicated by the variety of names 
 applied indifferently to each: Jean, Jehan, 
 Jehannet, Jeannet, and Janet. Both Clouets 
 were accomplished draughtsmen, but while 
 the elder made rapid and spirited sketches, 
 intended merely as studies, the younger care- 
 fully elaborated his drawings as finished works. 
 The National Library at Paris contains 
 several hundreds of these precious drawings, 
 and there are other collections in private 
 ownership. The Clouet paintings are most 
 numerous at Chantilly, and in the English 
 royal galleries at Windsor and Hampton 
 Court. Francois outlived King Francis and 
 continued in office under Henry II, until his 
 death in 1572. Contemporary poets vied with 
 one another in extolling his gifts, and Ron- 
 
210 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 sard employed him to paint an ideal portrait 
 of his lady-love. 
 
 Many French celebrities of three reigns 
 appear in the portraits of the Clouets and 
 their school: Francis I with his long, crooked 
 nose, small eyes and sinister expression ; 
 Eleanor, his queen; Catherine de’ Medici, 
 dangerously innocent looking, concealing her 
 iron will under an amiable smile; Charles 
 IX (at Vienna and in the Louvre) in doublet 
 and hose, with a rich cape and a plumed cap, 
 graceful and princely; the nice little Eliz- 
 abeth of Austria, his wife, with her smooth 
 hair and pretty high necked dress; the Due 
 d’Alen^on, looking rather weak and effemi- 
 nate, but charmingly dressed: Henry II, 
 
 sombre and heavy ; Mary Stuart, the beauti- 
 ful English princess, in her unhappy young 
 widowhood. 
 
 The Clouets had a great reputation for 
 the likeness, and one must believe that con- 
 temporary judgment was right in this mat- 
 ter. There is a sincerity in their work which 
 is thoroughly convincing. They seemed alto- 
 gether free from the court painter’s common 
 
Louvre, Paris] [Clouet 
 
 PORTRAIT OP ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA 
 
 v 
 

FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 211 
 
 fault of flattery. Perhaps their Flemish 
 blood counted for something in this respect, 
 modified by the French influence. Their 
 work shows strong kinship with Holbein in 
 frank realism and careful finish. Often 
 there is genuine psychological insight in the 
 portraits and sometimes a peculiar charm of 
 intimacy. 
 
 The seventeenth century was not without 
 abundant products of portrait art in France, 
 but the quality was decidedly inferior to the 
 quantity. While Spain and the Netherlands 
 were uniting to make this the golden age of 
 portraiture, their great names have no worthy 
 French compeers. The stamp of Louis Qua- 
 torze was upon the art as upon the manners 
 of the time. 
 
 The spectacular, the ostentatious, the arti- 
 ficial were the preferred qualities. The sim- 
 ple and the natural were far to seek. The 
 character of the art was dominated by Le- 
 brun, founder and director of the Academy, 
 and the exponent of the pompous and the 
 theatrical. The making or marring of an 
 artist lay with him. Little did he dream that 
 
212 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 future generations would set his dreary his- 
 torical compositions below the portrait work 
 of the men to whom he condescended. 
 
 A few whose portrait works are worth 
 mentioning are Simon Vouet, who painted 
 Louis XIII and all the nobles of his court; 
 the brothers Le Nain, a number of whose 
 portraits are in England, and Santerre, whose 
 chef d’oeuvre is said to be the portrait of the 
 Duchesse de Bourgogne, and who might have 
 gone on painting beautiful women, had he 
 not been annoyed by the betises of his sitters. 
 Others with whom portrait painting was the 
 chief occupation were Mignard, Largilliere, 
 and Rigaud. 
 
 The name Mignard, French for exquisite, 
 had come to the family in exchange for the 
 original name of More, from a compliment 
 paid to the father and uncles of the painter 
 by Henry IV. Seeing the group of young 
 men, — all officers in the royal army, — the 
 king exclaimed, “ Those are not Mores 
 (Moors), but Mignards.” The name became 
 particularly appropriate to the character of 
 the painter’s work, which was smooth and 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 213 
 
 graceful, with some affectation. His pictures 
 of the Madonna were known as mignardes ” 
 and the verb mignardiser ” was concocted 
 from the name. 
 
 Mignard spent over twenty years of his 
 life in Rome, where he painted the portrait 
 of many distinguished persons, including 
 three popes. At length he was recalled to 
 France by Louis XIV who bestowed com- 
 missions and honours upon him. Ten times 
 he painted the portrait of the Grand Mo- 
 narque. The first of these pictures was dashed 
 off in three hours and was sent to the Spanish 
 princess whom the king was to marry. The 
 most conspicuous is the great picture at Ver- 
 sailles, hanging over the mantelpiece of the 
 Salon d’Hercule. It represents the king in 
 armour on horseback, crowned by victory, 
 after the conquest of Maestricht. 
 
 Mignard’s studio became a fashionable re- 
 sort for great ladies whose portraits he painted 
 with pleasing flattery. He had no mean 
 opinion of his own ability, and once when 
 there was question of his leaving France, he 
 remarked, “ With these five fingers, there is 
 
214 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 no country in Europe where I shall not be 
 more considered, and cannot make a greater 
 fortune than in France.” 
 
 Largilliere passed his youth in Flanders, 
 where he received his artistic training from 
 Flemish painters. He was twice in England 
 where he was in great favour with Charles II 
 and James II. Returning at length to 
 France he entered the Academy by a por- 
 trait of Lebrun. Thereafter he continued to 
 devote himself to portrait work, and his pa- 
 trons included many members of the royal 
 family. Fine examples of his work are in the 
 Louvre, at Versailles, and Chantilly. He 
 was especially successful with women’s por- 
 traits, imparting grace and dignity to his sit- 
 ters. His colour is rich and harmonious. 
 
 A warm friendship existed between Largil- 
 liere and Rigaud, their talents being too dis- 
 similar for rivalry. Rigaud disliked to paint 
 women’s portraits as much as Largilliere en- 
 joyed it. “ If I make a true likeness of a 
 woman,” he said, “ it is often unsatisfactory 
 to the sitter, because not beautiful; and if 
 beautiful, it is not satisfactory to me, because 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 215 
 
 not true.” He was an extremely prolific 
 painter, producing thirty or forty portraits a 
 year. His industry reminds one of the Eng- 
 lish Reynolds. He has been called the Van 
 Dyck of France, and did indeed draw inspira- 
 tion from the Flemish master, like him im- 
 parting dignity and gravity to his subjects. 
 Five kings were among his patrons, and 
 many other notables. His portrait of Louis 
 XIV is considered the official historical por- 
 trait of the Grand Monarque. The king 
 wears an ample drapery of ermine-lined vel- 
 vet, thrown back to show his figure dressed 
 in small-clothes and close-fitting hose. The 
 huge curled wig is his crowning touch of mag- 
 nificence, and in attitude and bearing his 
 pompous character is perfectly expressed. The 
 picture has been justly called “ a page of his- 
 tory, the history of the man, the artist and the 
 period.” The engraved works of Rigaud in- 
 clude two hundred portraits. Ranking just 
 below Rigaud and Largilliere was Francois 
 de Troy, a protege of Madame de Pompa- 
 dour, who painted portraits of ladies in the 
 guise of goddesses. 
 
216 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Before leaving the group of seventeenth 
 century painters the name of Philippe de 
 Champaigne should be briefly mentioned as 
 one that is claimed in French art. Cham- 
 paigne was, however, of Flemish origin, and 
 did not come to Paris till he was nine- 
 teen years of age. He was among the 
 foremost portrait painters of the period, and 
 the Louvre contains over twenty of his por- 
 traits. A famous one is the three-fold like- 
 ness of Richelieu, in front view and both 
 profiles. All his works have the Flemish 
 character of seriousness and noble express- 
 iveness. It is more logical to group him with 
 his countrymen, Rubens and Van Dyck, than 
 with such men as Rigaud and Largilliere. 
 But the French historian, anxious to make his 
 tale as complete as possible, includes all for- 
 eigners who ever sojourned in Paris, and omits 
 no natives who sojourned in foreign lands. 
 
 There was no sharp transition between the 
 French art of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. Largilliere and Rigaud lived well 
 into the reign of Louis Quinze, and carried 
 over the artificial spirit with them. Their 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 217 
 
 successors were quite as full of mannerisms, 
 but with this difference: that what was pom- 
 pous and stilted in the seventeenth century 
 became pretty and insipid in the eighteenth. 
 Force and virility were equally lacking in 
 both periods. If the note of the Louis Qua- 
 torze art was set by Lebrun, that of Louis 
 Quinze was given by Watteau. In portrait 
 art Largilliere and Rigaud were succeeded 
 by Nattier and Greuze. 
 
 In his youth Nattier was a zealous copyist 
 of the so-called great masters. A drawing 
 he had made of Rigaud’s celebrated portrait 
 of Louis XIV came to the attention of the 
 king, who remarked: “ Monsieur, continue to 
 work thus and you will become a great man.” 
 Nattier obeyed injunctions, and if not a great 
 man according to the broadest standards, at- 
 tained great fame in his own world. His first 
 important work was in 1715 for Peter the 
 Great, Czar of Russia. Summoned to Am- 
 sterdam to meet the monarch, he then and 
 there made a series of portraits of important 
 personages of the Russian court, culminating 
 in a picture of the battle of Pultowa, with 
 
218 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the czar as the hero. All this work giving 
 immense satisfaction, the painter was next 
 sent to The Hague to paint the Empress 
 Catherine, where again he made a great hit. 
 Before the portrait was finished, his royal 
 patroness praised it so highly that the impa- 
 tient czar ordered the unfinished canvas 
 brought to him in Paris where it was set on 
 the throne of the banquet room at a great 
 entertainment. Nattier, however, positively 
 declined an invitation to the court of Russia, 
 at which the czar was so incensed that he 
 countermanded all orders then under way, 
 and Catherine’s portrait was never completed. 
 
 It was some years later when Nattier’s por- 
 trait work first attracted the attention of 
 Louis XV’s queen, Marie Leczinska. In 
 the following years he went through the en- 
 tire royal family, painting every member, the 
 king, the queen, the dauphin, and Mesdames 
 the several daughters, in all the most beautiful 
 and creditable group of his entire portrait 
 output. The queen herself is the most distin- 
 guished of this royal company. She was not 
 considered at all beautiful, but Nattier has 
 
Wallace Collection, London] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF LADY IN BLUE 
 
 [Nattier 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 219 
 
 imparted to her a graciousness and charm 
 which are more than beauty. She is seated 
 on a sofa, the lustrous folds of her rich dress 
 spread about her, and a picturesque lace bon- 
 net framing her face. 
 
 The patrons of Nattier liked to believe that 
 their portraits were excellent likenesses. To- 
 day, however, the wonder is that so many 
 ladies could look so precisely alike. The type 
 of face is as fixed as that of Perugino’s saints, 
 with the same oval outline, the round spark- 
 ling eyes, arched brows, and small perfect 
 mouth. The prevailing fashions accentuate 
 the sameness. Every lady has powdered hair, 
 slightly waved, drawn back closely from the 
 face, rouged cheeks, spotted with court-plaster 
 patches, and a decollete gown, with a long 
 stiff corset. There is something very attract- 
 ive in this pretty, smiling being, in spite of 
 her mannerism. The painter’s touch is light, 
 his colour often brilliant and harmonious, his 
 decorative sense fine. For subtlety, characteri- 
 zation, and distinction, we must accept from 
 him grace, and charm, and refinement. 
 Whether it is a seated figure, like Madame 
 
220 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Elizabeth and Madame Henriette, the twins 
 who were eldest of the royal daughters, or 
 half-lengths, like Madame Sophie and Ma- 
 dame Louise, the portrait is first of all a 
 “ picture.” Many of Nattier’s sitters affected 
 the roles of Greek divinities. Hebe, Diana, 
 and Flora, and the Vestal virgins are among 
 these lovely disguises. The same custom pre- 
 vailed in English portrait painting in this 
 century . 1 There is indeed a close affiliation 
 between Nattier and his English contem- 
 poraries in his gift for idealizing womanly 
 beauty. For the rest he is too distinctly and 
 typically French to be compared with the 
 English. 
 
 Greuze was not preeminently a portrait 
 painter, but there are thirty-five portraits 
 among the one hundred and twenty-five 
 works of his scattered through the European 
 galleries. In addition there are over thirty 
 heads of young girls painted as fancy sub- 
 jects, a kind of picture which had a great 
 vogue. For twenty-five years he was the 
 
 fashionable painter in Paris. He was made 
 
 1 See page 267. 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 221 
 
 painter to the king, and his studio was visited 
 by all the foreign princes coming to Paris. 
 His style had the prettiness and sentimentality 
 which calls forth the admiration of the super- 
 ficial. Of his own special invention were his 
 story pictures of French village life, rendered 
 in a sort of operatic version. The popularity 
 of these works was so great that his contem- 
 poraries did not realize that he was at his best 
 and strongest in portraits. In the delineation 
 of young women and girls he was too apt to 
 suggest coquetry and allurement with an af- 
 fected innocence, where no innocence was. 
 So in his well-known portrait of the beautiful 
 actress, Sophie Arnould, the character of the 
 sitter is almost too obvious, as she surveys her 
 admirer with a lazy but seductive witchery. 
 No such element enters into English portraits 
 of actresses. Occasionally the painter forgot 
 himself so far as to paint a child with ex- 
 quisite naturalness and charm, like the little 
 girl with an apple, leaning on a window ledge, 
 in the National Gallery. Among his cele- 
 brated portrait subjects are Madame de Pom- 
 
222 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 padour, Louis XVI, and Napoleon as first 
 consul. 
 
 Greuze had an extraordinary opinion of his 
 own ability. Pointing to his own works, he 
 would say, “It is perfectly incomprehensible 
 to me how with merely a few bits of pounded 
 earth, a man can put so much life into a can- 
 vas. Really if these were the days of myth- 
 ology, I should fear the fate of Prome- 
 theus.” II is self-esteem drew an ironical re- 
 proof from the painter Vernet, who told him 
 he had one enemy who would ruin him, even 
 though he loved him to distraction. “ And 
 who is that?” asked the painter, innocently. 
 “ Yourself,” was the reply. The painter out- 
 lived his vogue, and had a neglected and lonely 
 old age lasting a few years into the new cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Madame Vigee Le Rrun’s eighty-seven 
 years were nearly divided between the eight- 
 eenth and nineteenth centuries. Iler career 
 began early in life, and at fifteen she was con- 
 tributing to the family support by painting 
 portraits. Her beauty and vivacity were no 
 little help in her profession, and she soon had 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 223 
 
 plenty of patronage from admiring young 
 men. Such patrons she cleverly posed with 
 eyes focussed in another direction than her 
 easel. If the sitter’s glances strayed towards 
 the fair artist, she would call him to task by 
 announcing: “Now I am doing the eyes.” 
 Her charm of manner lasted all through life, 
 and made her a host of friends in the highest 
 circles. At a meeting of the French Academy 
 La Harpe paid her an extravagant tribute 
 which brought forth the applause of the whole 
 audience. Her most characteristic work be- 
 longs to the early half of her life, when she 
 was the favourite of Queen Marie Antoinette. 
 After the Revolution she travelled extensively 
 in Italy and Germany, lived a long time in 
 St. Petersburg, visited London, where she met 
 Reynolds, and finally returned to Paris under 
 Napoleon, where she died in 1842. 
 
 Beginning in her girlhood by copying heads 
 of Greuze, she always followed the tradition 
 of Watteau, Fragonard, and Nattier, but 
 with more simplicity and sincerity. She was 
 indefatigably industrious, and was always too 
 busy for self-improvement. Nevertheless her 
 
224 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 pictures have the characteristic charm of her 
 nationality: delicacy, grace, and sentiment. 
 
 She was particularly felicitous in pose and 
 grouping. 
 
 Madame Le B run’s portraits of Marie An- 
 toinette have done as much to keep fresh the 
 memory of the unfortunate queen as Van 
 Dyck’s of Charles I did for that monarch. 
 There were between thirty and forty of these 
 pictures, a goodly number of which are still 
 at Versailles. The queen was far from beauti- 
 ful, but the painter understood the art of flat- 
 tery as well as her contemporaries. She made 
 her royal patroness a pretty doll-like creature, 
 carrying her head magnificently as a queen 
 should. The rich dresses, the high, powdered 
 coiffure, crowned with the big hats set aslant, 
 as with the English ladies of Gainsborough’s 
 canvases, are charming additions. A beautiful 
 composition is the Queen seated with her three 
 children, the young dauphin, the eldest daugh- 
 ter, Madame Royale, and the infant Due de 
 Normandie. 
 
 After Marie Antoinette, Madame Le Brun 
 was her own most interesting sitter. She often 
 
Bologna Gallery] [Madame Vig6e Le Brun 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MADAME LE BRUN’S DAUGHTER 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FRENCH PAINTING 
 
 225 
 
 painted her own portrait, now in a plumed 
 hat with rolling brim jauntily set back upon 
 her curls, now in a broad-brimmed hat sha- 
 ding her face, a la Rubens’ “ Chapeau de 
 Poil,” now in a white kerchief knotted about 
 her head, now in a turban, seated at her easel, 
 now in a Greek costume, embracing her little 
 daughter. Always she is vivacious and ap- 
 parently happy, looking out on life with a 
 splendid courage which triumphs over the 
 troubles of a disappointed life. She was un- 
 happy in her marriage and in the relations 
 with her adored daughter; but through all 
 the vicissitudes of a strange life she clung 
 bravely to her art. By her own count she 
 painted six hundred and sixty-two portraits, 
 and if the work is neither strong nor great, 
 it did her honour. As her biographer has 
 said, “ She is one of the most aimable painters 
 of the French school.” 
 
 Much of the French art of the seventeenth 
 and eighteenth centuries was ephemeral. The 
 product of an artificial spirit, it does not in- 
 terest a more thoughtful generation. It is 
 on the whole the portrait work which has the 
 
226 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 most permanent value. This is the most sin- 
 cere and vital in intention. Lacking the noble 
 elements of some other schools, it yet holds 
 its own for qualities of external beauty which 
 will never cease to charm. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 VELASQUEZ AT THE COURT OF PHILIP IV 
 
 ^ARLY all that makes for the glory 
 of Spanish history was compressed 
 within the two hundred years be- 
 tween the late fifteenth and late seventeenth 
 centuries. Spain was now at her height, in 
 political supremacy, in commercial prosperity, 
 and in the rise of literature and painting. 
 The Emperor Charles V gave a strong im- 
 petus to art by his liberal patronage, both of 
 religious and portrait subjects. How highly 
 he valued the work of Titian, we have al- 
 ready seen. 1 The splendid canvases of the 
 Venetian which were brought to Madrid, 
 were in themselves a school of art for native 
 painters. About 1550, the emperor began 
 to employ the Netherlandish painter, Anthony 
 Moro. This artist was first sent to Lisbon 
 
 1 See page 64. 
 
 227 
 
228 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 to paint the betrothed wife of Philip, and 
 afterwards to England to paint his second 
 wife, Queen Mary. 1 Returning later to Spain, 
 he was here long enough to exercise a decided 
 influence on contemporary artists. As we see 
 in his celebrated portrait of Queen Mary, he 
 had in remarkable degree the Netherlandish 
 gift of expressive realism. 2 Ilis best Spanish 
 pupil was Sanchez Coello, who painted the 
 portraits of Philip II and Philip III, and 
 various members of the house of Austria. 
 Coello’s best pupil, in turn, was Pantoja de la 
 Cruz, who was also employed by Philips II 
 and III. With the seventeenth century we 
 come to the new king, Philip IV, and the 
 new painter Velasquez. While the earlier 
 art had been shaped largely by foreign influ- 
 ences, especially the Italian, Velasquez was a 
 bold and independent spirit. He has been 
 called the most Spanish of Spanish painters. 
 
 Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez was 
 born in Seville in 1599. This Andalusian 
 
 1 It will be remembered that Philip sent her his own portrait 
 by Titian. See page U6 
 
 7 One of these portraits is in the Prado Gallery at Madrid 
 another at Fenway Court, Boston. 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 229 
 
 city was at that time the great commercial 
 port of Spain. Sevillian merchants controlled 
 the markets of the old Mediterranean ports, 
 and even those of the north. The population 
 was very cosmopolitan, but the general aspect 
 was oriental. Houses were built with marble- 
 paved courts, adorned with fountains, and 
 furnished with objects of eastern workman- 
 ship. The popular amusements were dances, 
 feasts, masques, and processions of oriental 
 nature. It was altogether a rich, prosperous, 
 and pleasure-loving city. Such was the back- 
 ground of the youth and early training of 
 Velasquez, similar in many points to that of 
 Rubens and Van Dyck in Antwerp, and of 
 Titian in Venice. Such resemblances, how- 
 ever, count for nothing when one considers 
 what widely different types of painting these 
 several men represent. The character of a 
 genius has never yet been explained by his 
 environment. 
 
 Seville had its local school of painting, 
 and when the boy, Velasquez, showed his bent 
 for drawing, he was placed first under the in- 
 struction of Herrera, and later of Pacheco. 
 
230 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Five years of training under the latter gave 
 him some command of his tools, and at the end 
 of this time, marrying his master’s daughter, 
 he set up for himself. This was in 1618. 
 Three years later the accession of Philip IV 
 aroused his ambition to try his fortune in 
 Madrid. Armed with influential introduc- 
 tions, he was not long in coming to royal 
 notice. His first order from the young king 
 was for an equestrian portrait, an ambitious 
 subject for an inexperienced young painter. 
 The picture seems to have been a creditable 
 performance, and gave the king much satis- 
 faction. 1 It was not long after that Velasquez 
 received his appointment as court painter. A 
 studio was assigned him on the ground floor 
 of the palace, a regular salary was attached 
 to the office, besides special payment for each 
 work to be done. All the circumstances were 
 favourable to the development of his art. It 
 was the boast of Philip to maintain the piety 
 of his father, the statesmanship of his grand- 
 father, and the warlike spirit of his great- 
 grandfather. To this he might have added 
 
 1 The picture is unfortunately lost, probably destroyed by fire. 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 231 
 
 the artistic tastes of his grandfather. Like 
 Charles V, he was on easy terms of familiarity 
 with his court painter, having access by a 
 secret passage to the studio, where a special 
 chair was reserved for his Majesty. He was 
 not only an excellent connoisseur, but is said 
 to have been something of a painter himself. 
 The king’s interest in art was shared by his 
 minister, Olivarez, and by many of the court- 
 iers. Madrid contained at this time not a 
 few valuable collections of paintings, and of 
 other art objects, owned by genuine virtuosi. 
 
 It was a juvenile court to which Velasquez 
 was called. The king himself was only eight- 
 een years of age, and his wife, Isabella of 
 Bourbon, but two years older. The king’s 
 sister Mary was a year younger than himself, 
 his brother Don Carlos a year younger than 
 she, and the brother Ferdinand, a boy of four- 
 teen. Of the queen we have unfortunately no 
 portrait made in these youthful days. She 
 seems to have had an aversion to sittings, and 
 female portraiture was not sufficiently fashion- 
 able to induce her to overcome the prejudice. 
 She passed many years in neglect and obscu- 
 
232 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 rity, and it was not till late in life that the 
 king discovered her ability and goodness. Of 
 the king and his brothers, the Prado gallery at 
 Madrid contains full-length portraits by Ve- 
 lasquez, painted in their young manhood. One 
 notes the strong family resemblance in the 
 long, narrow face, the large nose, the heavy 
 jaw, and thick lips. The costume is exceed- 
 ingly simple for royalty, for the king took 
 pride in making some radical changes in this 
 matter as soon as he came to the throne. The 
 large ruff previously worn was replaced by 
 a wide, flat, saucer-like collar of Philip’s own 
 invention, called the " golila ” The plain black 
 tunic and baggy knee-trousers complete the 
 severity of the fashion. This serious scheme 
 of colour Velasquez handled with great dig- 
 nity, so placing his figures as to increase the 
 impression of their height. Grave beyond 
 their years, with the responsibilities of their 
 position, these young princes show the blood 
 royal, even in its decadence. The king’s pose 
 is formal and official, but altogether graceful 
 and elegant. The same boyish, unformed face 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 233 
 
 is seen in the bust portrait in armour in the 
 same gallery. 
 
 Don Carlos was the most promising of the 
 three brothers, and his cleverness put the wary 
 Olivarez on guard lest he win too much influ- 
 ence at the court. His untimely death at the 
 age of twenty-five was the matter of some 
 suspicion. Don Ferdinand left Spain in his 
 early twenties, to take the regency of the 
 Netherlands, after the death of Albert. 1 His 
 portrait here is in hunting costume, standing 
 in a landscape, accompanied by his dog. With 
 this group of pictures belongs the portrait of 
 Philip IV in the Boston Museum of Fine 
 Arts, painted at about the same time, or per- 
 haps a little earlier. The young king here 
 wears a long gold chain, with the order of the 
 Golden Fleece, the only ornament to relieve 
 the severe simplicity of his dress. This pic- 
 ture was acquired by the Museum in 1904, and 
 after exciting wide-spread discussion is ad- 
 judged by the best authorities a fine and gen- 
 uine work. From all these pictures one sees 
 that Velasquez began his court life hampered 
 
 . 1 See page 136. 
 
234 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 by no spirit of flattery. The stamp of sin- 
 cerity is on his work, and we are convinced 
 of the resemblance of portrait to original. 
 
 An exciting episode of Velasquez’ early 
 connection with the court was the visit of 
 Prince Charles Stuart of England, as the 
 suitor of Philip’s sister Dona Maria. The 
 painter has shown us this young lady in her 
 most pleasing aspect, in a portrait made a few 
 years later. She could not dispense with the 
 family mouth, but for the rest, her agreeable 
 smile, and curling hair gave her a certain 
 charm, while the big ruff relieved the narrow- 
 ness of the face. She is described as of a 
 lively temperament, a daring huntress, and 
 very charitable and friendly. The Duke of 
 Buckingham wrote to King James of Eng- 
 land: “Without flattery I believe there is no 
 sweeter creature in the world.” The prince 
 was an ardent lover, and an amusing story 
 was told of his adventure in the garden of 
 a summer-house whither he had followed his 
 lady. Having climbed a high wall in the pur- 
 suit, he was making straight for the object of 
 his affection, when she suddenly spied him, 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 235 
 
 and with a piercing shriek, turned and fled. 
 A court official then warned him to make his 
 escape on pain of death, and the prince rue- 
 fully took his leave. So strictly did the court 
 etiquette prohibit any kind of love-making 
 that it is no wonder that in spite of a formal 
 betrothal, the match never came off. The lady 
 became seven years later the wife of King 
 Ferdinand of Hungary. It is on record that 
 during the visit Velasquez made a portrait of 
 the English prince which mysteriously disap- 
 peared. 1 
 
 Velasquez had been nearly seven years at 
 court when the even tenor of his life was in- 
 terrupted in 1629 by the appearance of 
 Rubens in Madrid. The Flemish painter had 
 come on a diplomatic mission from England, 
 and remained nine months, as busy with his 
 art as with diplomacy. 2 He painted a number 
 of pictures for the king, and made for himself 
 many copies of Italian works in the royal col- 
 lection. A great painter, an extensive trav- 
 
 *Mr. Frank Wood of Boston possesses an interesting portrait 
 of Prince Charles which came from Spain and which he not un- 
 reasonably regards as the lost picture. 
 
 2 See page 136. 
 
236 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 eller, and a genial gentleman, Rubens brought 
 many new ideas to the Spanish court painter. 
 Velasquez, with all his provincialism, was a 
 courtier and a man of parts. He could hold 
 his own, even with such a man of the world 
 as Rubens. The two became great friends. 
 Together they climbed the steep ascent of the 
 Sierra to make a sketch of the view. This 
 visit was a turning point in the life of Ve- 
 lasquez, whether directly or indirectly through 
 the influence of Rubens. A journey into 
 Italy soon after brought to a close the first 
 period of his career. The picture of the To- 
 pers, painted just before his departure, sums 
 up the qualities of his first method. “ Piece- 
 meal realism ” is the phrase of a clever critic, 
 describing this art. Every head in the group 
 has equal care and characterization, as in the 
 early military groups of Frans Hals. The 
 technique is close, tight, and hard. 
 
 The Italian journey covered nearly two 
 years and took Velasquez to Venice, where he 
 copied assiduously Titian and Tintoretto, to 
 Rome, where he had free access to the works 
 of Raphael and Michelangelo in the Vatican, 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 237 
 
 to Naples, where he painted the portrait of 
 Philip’s sister Maria, now Queen of Hun- 
 gary, 1 and visited his countryman Ribera, 
 thence home to Madrid in 1631. For a period 
 of nearly twenty years Velasquez now con- 
 tinued at court, steadily developing his art. 
 A new sense of decorative quality was one 
 result of the visit in Venice. He had an op- 
 portunity to put this idea in practice in super- 
 vising the decorations of Philip’s new palace 
 of Buen Retiro. For this place he painted 
 the famous Surrender of Breda, the master- 
 piece of his second period. In the centre 
 Justin of Nassau presents the keys of the city 
 to the victorious Marquis of Spinola in the 
 presence of a number of attendants, while in 
 the background a company of soldiers stand 
 with lances erect. The fine decorative en- 
 semble, which is a harmonious unity both in 
 line and colour, is the setting for the noble 
 study of individual portraiture. It was also 
 in this period, with the freer and broader 
 touch, that Velasquez painted some magnif- 
 icent equestrian portraits. The painter seemed 
 
 1 See page 234. 
 
238 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 to understand horses and dogs no less than 
 humans, and the splendid creatures of his 
 portraits are alive in every muscle. The Span- 
 ish horses of this time were of a peculiar 
 breed, rather small, but well-proportioned, 
 and very swift and intelligent. An animal 
 once ridden by the king could never be 
 mounted by another, hence the royal steeds 
 often grew heavy through idleness. In the 
 portrait of Philip IV the cavalier is seen in 
 profile riding across a landscape, on a spirited 
 rearing horse. The king, who was the best 
 horseman in Spain, sits as if born in the 
 saddle: horse and rider are one. In his fa- 
 vourite exercise, the monarch is roused from 
 his usual lethargic manner to real animation. 
 The cocked hat and full armour give pictur- 
 esque charm to the figure, and the whole com- 
 position is superbly decorative. It is conjec- 
 tured that this picture was the one painted by 
 Velasquez for the guidance of the Florentine 
 sculptor Tacca in making the equestrian 
 statue of the king. The equestrian portrait 
 of Queen Isabella was its pendant at the en- 
 trance to Buen Retiro. The queen rides a 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 239 
 
 white palfrey which ambles to the left, but 
 is so nearly covered by the sweeping robes of 
 the rider that one sees only his fore quarters. 
 The lady’s face is painted with extreme deli- 
 cacy, showing her beautiful eyes and sweet 
 expression as her chief charms. 
 
 The Count Duke Olivarez is the subject of 
 another great equestrian portrait. This am- 
 bitious minister exercised almost complete con- 
 trol over the weak king until his downfall in 
 1643. Having first introduced Velasquez to 
 the king, he regarded the painter as a protege, 
 and had several portraits made by him, this 
 being the most striking. The figure of the 
 horse fills the canvas diagonally as the animal, 
 seen from the rear, is about to leap a narrow 
 stream. The rider turns his head to look over 
 his shoulder, and we read in the haughty and 
 sinister face something of the character of this 
 “ scarecrow of kings.” He is dressed in 
 armour, with a rich sash, and the decorative 
 character of the piece is above praise. 
 
 While Velasquez was absent in Italy, a 
 prince had been born to the royal family, and 
 in the years following this child became the 
 
240 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 painter’s most frequent subject. The Boston 
 Museum of Fine Arts contains one of the 
 earliest of this series. Don Balthasar Carlos 
 is here a little toddler in skirts, playing with 
 a dwarf. The child’s innocent gravity as he 
 balances himself uncertainly on his feet, imi- 
 tates to the life the mingled helplessness and 
 dignity of the growing baby. The painter 
 has also avoided the error of over-modelling 
 the features — a common pitfall of child por- 
 traiture. In none of the portraits of the boy 
 prince is the expression too mature for his 
 years. Their charm is not in prettiness or in 
 winsomeness, but in their perfect naivete. The 
 most interesting and beautiful are the hunting 
 piece and the equestrian portrait, both painted 
 at about the age of six. The subjects afforded 
 splendid material for decorative composition, 
 and Velasquez rose to the occasion. The 
 youthful huntsman stands by a tree in the 
 foreground of a mountain landscape, and a 
 huge dog lies by his side. His high boots and 
 large gauntlets, and the cap set jauntily 
 aslant are the principal sporting items of his 
 costume, and he grasps a gun firmly in the 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 241 
 
 right hand as he looks out of the picture with 
 imperturbable complacency. A companion 
 picture of Philip IV in hunting costume was 
 painted at about the same time, with similar 
 decorative quality. As a horseman, the little 
 prince sits gallantly in the saddle, as becomes 
 his father’s son. His beautiful bay pony gal- 
 lops forward with long mane and sweeping 
 tail flying in the breeze. The picture is full 
 of joyous life. Perhaps the last of the por- 
 trait series of the young prince is as a boy of 
 fourteen standing in court dress. At sixteen 
 years of age all the bright promises of his 
 future were shattered by his death. Outside 
 the royal household two striking portraits of 
 this period are of the sculptor Montanez, and 
 the Admiral Pulido. 
 
 In 1649 Velasquez again made an extended 
 journey in Italy to buy works of art for his 
 king. He revisited Venice, Naples, and 
 Rome, lingering till 1651. In the Eternal 
 City he was honoured by the patronage of the 
 Pope Innocent X, for whom he made one of 
 his most interesting portraits. With undevi- 
 ating adherence to nature, he did nothing to 
 
242 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 soften the ugliness of a very unprepossessing 
 face, or ennoble the expression of an ignoble 
 character. The work is so strong in realism 
 that a photograph from the painting produces 
 the same effect as if directly from life. Dur- 
 ing his visit in Rome, Velasquez discussed 
 with Salvator Rosa the merits of the Italian 
 masters. Raphael, it appears, did not please 
 him at all, but he gave first place to the Vene- 
 tians. “ It is Titian,” he said, “ that bears the 
 banner.” 
 
 Upon his return to Madrid Velasquez en- 
 tered upon what is called his third manner of 
 painting. This is to a certain extent a method 
 of impressionism. With extraordinary facil- 
 ity for reproducing the relations of tones, he 
 painted the object surrounded by light and 
 air. The king, after several years of widower- 
 hood, had now taken as his second wife, his 
 niece, Mariana of Austria, who had been be- 
 trothed to the Prince Balthasar. The mar- 
 riage was celebrated with great pomp and 
 festivity. Triumphal arches were erected in 
 the streets of Madrid through which passed 
 the splendid procession of German, Flemish, 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 243 
 
 and Spanish bodyguards, followed by heralds, 
 grandees, and their pages, and ladies on 
 horses and in coaches. The bride was a girl 
 of fourteen, only three years older than her 
 stepdaughter, Maria Theresa. Both girls sat 
 to Velasquez for their portraits, wearing the 
 absurd Spanish dress, which was the ugliest 
 in Europe. High neck and long sleeves were 
 de rigeur. A long-waisted corset as stiff as 
 a coat of mail, and a hoop of monstrous cir- 
 cumference enveloped the figure. The hair 
 was curled and built up with the addition of 
 silk and wool into a huge structure resembling 
 a cauliflower, and ornamented with ribbons 
 and jewels. Rouge was plentifully bedaubed 
 over cheeks, forehead, ears, and chin, shoul- 
 ders, and hands. Madame d’Aulnay, a 
 French countess visiting Madrid in 1679, 
 wrote of the rouge custom that she ‘ never 
 saw boiled crabs more highly coloured.” With 
 such incumbrances the fairest of maidens 
 could scarcely be made attractive, and neither 
 Mariana nor Maria Theresa could be called a 
 beauty. Yet such was the magic of Velasquez’ 
 technique, that he has made a masterpiece even 
 
244 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 of the painting of a ridiculous costume. 
 Mariana is said to have had somewhat bois- 
 terous spirits and found the restrictions of 
 court etiquette quite irksome. In trying to 
 assume a proper regal gravity in her portrait, 
 she looks unhappy and ill-tempered. Maria 
 Theresa, on the other hand, was of a lovely 
 and gentle nature, pious and charitable. 
 Velasquez has rendered the sweet gravity of 
 her face with great delicacy. The little lady 
 became in later years the wife of Louis XIV 
 of France, and her portraits were then made 
 by the French court painter, Mignard. 1 
 
 The first child of Philip IV and Mariana 
 was the Princess Margaret, at whose christen- 
 ing Maria Theresa stood as sponsor. On the 
 way to chapel a costly ring slipped from the 
 hand of Maria Theresa, and as a poor woman 
 was restoring it to her, the princess said gra- 
 ciously, “ Keep it, God has sent it to you.” 
 The baby Margaret grew into a lovely child, 
 and became the darling of the court as the 
 Prince Balthasar had once been. Her por- 
 traits were now in demand, and again Velas- 
 
 1 See page 213. 
 
Louvre, Parisl 
 
 PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCESS MARGARET 
 
 [Velasquez 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 245 
 
 quez caught on the canvas the essential spirit 
 of childhood. The little girl, in a lace dress, 
 standing beside . a table, is one of these pic- 
 tures, and another is the half-length figure 
 in the Louvre. The elusive charm of the 
 technique is the despair of copyists, so light 
 is the touch of the brush in securing this trans- 
 parent effect. There is here no hardness of 
 outline or modelling; Velasquez had come to 
 the height of his skill. The climax of his 
 achievement was the portrait group of Las 
 Meninas (Maids of Honour), of which this 
 little Margaret is the heroine. A plausible 
 story is told explaining the origin of the 
 unique composition. The king and queen 
 were together one day in the studio giving 
 Velasquez a portrait sitting. The painter 
 stood at his easel, and on the wall behind him 
 was a mirror in which the royal pair could 
 see their own reflection. Presently the Prin- 
 cess Margaret came in, attended by her maids 
 of honour and dwarfs. The king was struck 
 with the picturesqueness of the group, and de- 
 sired to have the scene transferred to canvas, 
 as was accordingly done. We look into the 
 
246 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 room from the standpoint of the royal sitters. 
 The setting reminds one of the Dutch inte- 
 riors at which Peter de Hooch was so adept 
 in this period. The illusion is so perfect that 
 Gautier wrote, “ One is tempted to ask when 
 standing before it, Where then is the pic- 
 ture ?” The figures are so alive that they 
 fairly breathe. It is one of the few pictures 
 in the world which express a perfect unity of 
 colour, line, definition, modelling, and tone. 
 Another child of Philip’s second marriage was 
 the Prince Philip Prosper, a sickly boy who 
 lived only four years. A single portrait by 
 Velasquez has preserved the memory of the 
 fragile little fellow, dressed in skirts, with his 
 playthings strung on a girdle. 
 
 The royal child portraits of Velasquez sug- 
 gest by contrast those which his contemporary, 
 Van Dyck, painted at the court of Charles I. 
 The outward prettiness of the Stuart princes 
 makes them popular favourites, while the 
 Spanish children have only their child nature 
 to commend them, and this in some cases ob- 
 scured by their dress. Everything in his en- 
 vironment tended to strengthen Van Dyck’s 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 247 
 
 leaning towards the pretty and flattering, 
 while Velasquez adhered sturdily to reality. 
 Velasquez’s time seems to have been practi- 
 cally monopolized by the royal service, and 
 he had no such opportunities as Van Dyck 
 to paint other patrons. This is especially re- 
 grettable in the matter of women’s portraits. 
 The royal family providing him only one such 
 subject, and that an unwilling sitter (Queen 
 Isabella), we wish the more that some of the 
 Spanish beauties might have been perpetuated 
 on his canvases. Even had the king allowed 
 him time for such work, it is improbable that 
 orders would have come, as the Spanish hus- 
 bands were notoriously jealous and guarded 
 their wives in almost oriental seclusion. An 
 English nobleman visiting in Madrid was 
 attacked by a party of fifteen armed men for 
 merely daring to look at a lady on a balcony. 
 How dangerous then would it have been to 
 admire a lady’s portrait. Nevertheless at 
 least one Spanish beauty — a nameless one — 
 lives for us through the art of Velasquez. 
 She is the Lady of the Fan in the Wallace 
 Collection, with the wonderful eyes which 
 
248 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 only Spain brings forth. Velasquez also dared 
 to paint his own wife. Certainly she was no 
 beauty, even when we subtract the high 
 coiffure from her face. She meets our gaze, 
 however, with an intimacy of expression which 
 has much charm. 
 
 Court dwarfs and buffoons figure in the pic- 
 tures of Velasquez with an intense realism 
 whicli exaggerates their grotesqueness. The 
 idiot “ El Bobo,” the sad-eyed “ Sebastian,” 
 the grave “ El Primo,” and the pompous 
 “ Inglese,” gorgeously attired in court dress, 
 are of this strange company. Don Juan de 
 Austria, a haggard old man, pathetic in his 
 forced jocoseness, and Pabillos de Valladolid, 
 striking an oratorical attitude, are among 
 others who in a different way served to amuse 
 the jaded tastes of the court. 
 
 The last portraits of* the king show the natu- 
 ral changes in the face which Velasquez had 
 studied so faithfully over thirty years. Time 
 has coarsened the features which were natu- 
 rally so large. The neck has thickened, mak- 
 ing the massive chin more prominent than 
 ever. The moustaches have grown to a fierce 
 
National Gallery, London] [Velasquez 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IV 
 (OLD) 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 249 
 
 length, and are turned up in military fashion. 
 The eyes have the weary droop of advancing 
 years and disappointed hopes. One of these 
 portraits is in Madrid and another in the 
 National Gallery. Through all the changes 
 of the years king and painter had continued 
 on terms of harmonious intimacy. The crown- 
 ing mark of the royal favour was the cross of 
 Santiago which made Velasquefz a knight. 
 With peculiar fitness the usefulness of the 
 two men ended almost simultaneously. Philip 
 was stricken with paralysis in 1659, and 
 Velasquez died in 1660. The king lived on a 
 few years and even had his portrait painted 
 again by another hand, but it is only through 
 the art of Velasquez that he lives as a striking 
 historic figure. 
 
 The qualities of Velasquez do not appeal 
 to a large public. He is so simple that the 
 uninitiated see nothing wonderful about him, 
 little dreaming that such simplicity implies 
 great knowledge. He taught art how to look 
 at nature, in order to reproduce faithfully the 
 impression of the natural object. He was 
 
250 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 absolutely sincere, without evasion and with- 
 out tricks. He never stooped to flattery, and 
 he did not try to probe the secrets of the mind. 
 The kind of subject set before him did not 
 concern him, beautiful or ugly, noble or ig- 
 noble, man, woman, or child. He made the 
 most of the slenderest resources. He was 
 sparing of colour, using only the most severe 
 and stately schemes. Of academic rules he 
 was quite independent: he was a rule unto 
 himself. He was the first of the moderns, and 
 so far in advance of his times that he is only 
 just coming into his own. Several pictures 
 bear the painter’s name as self portraits, of 
 which the most interesting is that of the Capi- 
 tol, Rome. This is the face of the man as we 
 like to imagine him, with high brow and fine 
 eyes, courtly, dignified, and sincere. 
 
 NOTE ON GOYA 
 
 Once again Spain brought forth a great painter in the per- 
 son of Francesco Jose de Goya y Lucientes. Appointed painter 
 to Charles IV late in the eighteenth century his prolific brush 
 served the court in many capacities. In portraiture he has been 
 compared by turns to Gainsborough and Rembrandt, though he 
 did not seek to imitate either, being of audacious and independ- 
 ent temper. His work is variable in quality but there are in- 
 deed some remarkable portraits among them, full of vitality, 
 
VELASQUEZ AT COURT 251 
 
 delicacy, and fascination. Like his great predecessor Velasquez, 
 he painted his king and queen in large equestrian portraits. In 
 pictures of women and children he often attained exquisite 
 charm. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 
 
 NGLAND was the last of the great 
 European countries to develop a 
 national school of painting. It was 
 Henry VIII who first awoke to the fact that 
 his people were so behindhand in the matter 
 of art. The contemporary monarchs, Charles 
 V and Francis I, were vying with each other 
 in the patronage of painting, and he did not 
 wish to appear any less munificent or pro- 
 gressive than they . 1 He accordingly invited 
 Raphael to his court, but the favourite of 
 popes and cardinals had no mind to exchange 
 Rome for a land of barbarians. A few lesser 
 Italians were all that the English king could 
 attract, until he was so fortunate as to secure 
 the services of Holbein. The German painter, 
 as we have seen, did splendid work in Eng- 
 
 1 See page 107. 
 
 252 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 253 
 
 land and aroused a widespread interest in por- 
 trait painting which steadily increased. 1 In 
 the following two hundred years a succession 
 of continental artists were employed by Eng- 
 lish sovereigns in the practice of portrait 
 painting. Queen Mary was immortalized by 
 the Fleming Sir Anthony Moro, 2 Elizabeth, 
 by Lucas de Heere, Mark Gerard and the 
 Italian Zucchero. King James had several 
 Flemings in his service, Mytens, Jansens, and 
 Van Somer. Then came Charles I with the 
 incomparable Van Dyck, to be followed by 
 Charles II with Sir Peter Lely and Sir God- 
 frey Kneller. The English peerage had 
 patronized these artists liberally, but without 
 discrimination: there was little genuine con- 
 noisseurship. The fashionable painter of the 
 hour set the standard of taste. Lely in his 
 day was reckoned as good as Van Dyck, and 
 Sir Godfrey Kneller as good as Lely. At the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century the pop- 
 ular creed was “ Shakespeare in poetry and 
 Kneller in painting.” This was the state of 
 
 *See page 120. 
 
 ’See page 228. 
 
254 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 affairs when the young painter Reynolds re- 
 turned to London after three years of study in 
 Italy and ventured to introduce some innova- 
 tions. He met at first much opposition, but 
 he had not long to wait for success, and in 
 the end, as all the world knows, he founded a 
 national portrait school which is the glory of 
 English art. With such brilliant leaders as 
 Reynolds and Gainsborough, it included 
 lesser lights of varying degrees: Romney, 
 
 Opie, Hoppner, and Lawrence; with Barry, 
 Beechey, Etty, Northcote, and Shee, as 
 minor names. These men were fortunate in 
 having a biographer like Allan Cunningham, 
 who was a sort of English Vasari, preserving 
 the personalities of the artists as well as an 
 accurate record of their works, and interspers- 
 ing his narrative with lively anecdote. 
 
 Certain common tendencies and certain 
 common points of craftsmanship unite these 
 men in a “ school.” Some of these may be 
 plainly traced to Van Dyck, while others were 
 the natural expression of the spirit of the 
 times. For the rest each painter cherished, 
 not a little jealously, his own particular forte. 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 255 
 
 The proudest claim of the school is that it 
 developed the beauty of womanhood and 
 childhood. Slowly through the centuries, por- 
 trait painting had been working towards this 
 goal, but it was the English, with the most 
 beautiful women and children in the world, 
 who first touched it. The Italian Renais- 
 sance had produced much that was beautiful 
 in ideal types of the Virgin mother and the 
 divine babe. Leonardo had been the subtlest 
 in his portrait interpretations, Titian and the 
 Venetians, the most absorbed in bodily charm. 
 Van Dyck, though advancing upon his prede- 
 cessors in the number and interest of his child 
 and woman portraits, still left much to be de- 
 sired. It could not yet be said that any 
 painter up to this time regarded the woman or 
 child with an understanding at all comparable 
 to that bestowed upon the man. 
 
 Another characteristic quality of the eight- 
 eenth-centurv English portrait is the anima- 
 tion and cheerfulness of the subject. Con- 
 trasted with the gravity and dignity of the 
 people of Titian, Van Dyck and Velasquez, 
 this new way was very striking. Before 
 
256 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Leonardo, no portrait face had ever smiled, 
 and for a century after, the serious note pre- 
 vailed. The seventeenth-century Dutch had 
 made the first decided break from this tradi- 
 tion. Frans Hals in particular had devoted 
 himself to the joyous aspects of human life. 
 This mode of treatment, transferred from the 
 coarser and commoner subjects of his brush 
 to the English aristocracy, gives distinctive 
 character to the English school. 
 
 From Van Dyck came the noble air of dis- 
 tinction which prevails in the English eight- 
 eenth-century portrait. Some of his most 
 successful poses were borrowed outright as 
 the ideal expression of the princely bearing. 
 From Van Dyck, too, as an inevitable corol- 
 lary, came the tendency to flattery which was 
 the English painters’ pleasant weakness. 
 
 Reynolds himself led in this direction, mak- 
 ing his men “ all nobleness,” his women “ all 
 loveliness,” and his children “ all simplicity.” 
 Rut Lawrence was perhaps the mightiest 
 flatterer of them all. The commercial instinct 
 was too strong in this “ nation of shopkeep- 
 ers ” for the painter to resist the temptation 
 
CHILD WITH KITTEN 
 
 [Reynolds 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 257 
 
 to tickle his noble patron’s vanity. With flat- 
 tery must be coupled artificiality, which was 
 the besetting sin of the age. England indeed 
 never went to such extremes as France, nor 
 did she produce any Nattier or Greuze. But 
 portraiture could not reflect faithfully con- 
 temporary life without more or less affectation 
 in attitude, costume, and expression. The 
 greatest absurdity perhaps was the craze for 
 allegorical or mythological subjects, such as 
 prevailed in France. English gentlewomen 
 took delight in posing as Hope nursing Love, 
 as Diana disarming Cupid, and as many an- 
 other classical divinity in a sentimental role. 
 Offsetting these idiocies were the family 
 groups like snap-shots of nursery frolics and 
 garden romps, embodying so charmingly the 
 joys of English home life. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds was particularly felici- 
 tous in this direction. There seemed no end 
 to his resourcefulness in inventing story 
 motives for portraits. A sitting in the big 
 studio at Leicester Square was an event to 
 look forward to. Here was an atmosphere of 
 genial courtesy which put everybody at ease. 
 
258 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 The painter had a genius for child friendships, 
 and was a capital playmate. He contended 
 that all the natural motions of childhood are 
 graceful, and watching his little visitors in 
 their games, he caught many a charming atti- 
 tude and gesture. The lively Miss Bowles, 
 skipping about the park with her pet spaniel, 
 suddenly sees something to attract her atten- 
 tion, drops on her knees, clasps her dog in 
 a choking embrace, and challenges the in- 
 truder with merry eyes. Master Bunbury, a 
 lusty boy of nine, has run himself panting, 
 and sits under a tree to watch with bated 
 breath some object in the distance. Not less 
 appealing in their child-likeness are other 
 little folk who are not quite so active, like 
 Frances Harris standing by a tree with her 
 hand on the head of a big dog, and Penelope 
 Boothbv, the demure, crossing her mit-envel- 
 oped hands primly on her lap. 
 
 The Countess Spencer, in broad-brimmed 
 hat and lace-trimmed mantle, walking through 
 the glade with her little son, calls the child to 
 her from some fancied danger, and stooping 
 gathers him to her side, while the tiny dog is 
 
National Gallery, London] [Reynolds 
 
 LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 259 
 
 impatient to scamper away. Mrs. Payne- 
 Gallway, enjoying an outing with her little 
 boy, gives him a ride, clinging to her shoulder, 
 “ Pick-a-back.” The Duchess of Devonshire 
 has had her baby daughter brought to her 
 morning room for a romp, and seated on a 
 sofa, trots the little creature to Banbury 
 Cross amid gurgles of laughter. The stately 
 Lady Cockburn gathers her three darlings 
 about her, the baby lying across her capacious 
 lap, while the others try to draw his attention, 
 one peeping roguishly over his mother’s 
 shoulder. Reynolds managed groups of this 
 sort with astonishing ease, though doubtless 
 what looks so spontaneous often cost him a 
 deal of thought. His sense of composition 
 was admirable; whatever the form which he 
 chose for a basis the lines fall perfectly within 
 his diagram without any apparent forcing. 
 A just sense of balance gives dignity and ele- 
 gance to his style. 
 
 For extreme vivacity the portrait of the 
 Countess Crosbie has never been surpassed. 
 The lady comes hurrying towards us across 
 the lawn, her slender figure swaying with the 
 
260 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 swift motion, her arm eagerly out-stretched, 
 and in another moment she will pass out of 
 the canvas. Even in seated figures Reynolds 
 could convey the sense of animation, as in the 
 Honourable Ann Bingham, and the bewitch- 
 ing Nelly O’Brien. In subjects like Mrs. 
 Braddyl he suggested admirably the medita- 
 tive mood, in Kitty Fisher, the pose of youth- 
 ful insouciance, and in Lavinia Bingham, the 
 air of sweet timidity. We like to dwell upon 
 Reynolds’ women and children, because they 
 are a new creation in art, but not because he 
 was less successful with men. It is he who 
 has given us the Johnson of Boswell’s pages: 
 ponderous, uncouth, untidy, his face distorted 
 with the force of his argument. Lord Heath- 
 field, the hero of Gibraltar, grasping the keys 
 of the fortress, embodies the indomitable spirit 
 and the high moral calibre of the English 
 soldier. Lawrence Sterne, with the wide 
 mouth curved in a satirical smile, fixes his 
 deep-set eyes upon us with his inscrutable 
 glance. Charles James Fox, Edmund Burke, 
 Goldsmith, Garrick, and a host of other men 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 261 
 
 who lent lustre to the reign of George III live 
 again in Reynolds’ portraits. 
 
 It would be useless to go on enumerating 
 and describing the portrait works of a painter 
 who produced two or three thousand pictures. 
 Naturally they could not be uniformly good. 
 None knew better than the painter himself the 
 faults of drawing and technique into which 
 he sometimes fell through lack of early train- 
 ing. Yet his essential gifts of charm out- 
 weighed lesser things, and he was the idol of 
 the fashionable world. In his most prolific 
 period he had six sitters a day and often 
 turned out a portrait in four hours. His un- 
 fortunate mania for experimenting in colours 
 wrecked many a beautiful canvas. From the 
 use of pigments which were not permanent, 
 faded faces look out to-day which are mere 
 ghosts of their original brilliancy. 
 
 As president of the Royal Academy, as 
 well as in the direction of pupils, Reynolds 
 had a great influence upon contemporary art, 
 but his best qualities have never been dupli- 
 cated. Gainsborough was his closest rival, 
 and though coming to London late in life, 
 
262 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 when Reynolds had already been established 
 over twenty years, the royal favour brought 
 him instant success. Reynolds could never 
 quite forgive this encroachment upon his own 
 supremacy until his rival lay on his death- 
 bed. He then paid him a farewell call and 
 expressed his sympathy in appropriate words. 
 It is said that Gainsborough whimsically re- 
 plied, “ We are all going to heaven together 
 — and Van Dyck is of the company.” 
 Gainsborough was by no means the all- 
 around man that Reynolds was, but he had 
 flashes of inspiration which the other was in- 
 capable of. Once and again he might fail of 
 securing a successful arrangement, but an- 
 other time, as a person entered the studio, 
 he would see on the instant the complete pic- 
 ture, and base his work on this sudden vision. 
 Careful elaboration could never achieve such 
 perfect results. In some such way he must 
 have conceived the incomparable “ Morning 
 Walk.” A bridal pair (Squire and Mrs. 
 Hallett), strolling through the park with their 
 dog, exhale the delightful atmosphere of their 
 romance. The figures are combined in a per- 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 263 
 
 feet harmony of line and move forward in 
 rhythmic unison. Orpin, the Parish Clerk, 
 looks up from the ponderous volume he has 
 been perusing with cheerful response to an 
 inquiry which the painter must have caught 
 in the face in some actual interview. 
 
 A wonderful gift of sympathy gave Gains- 
 borough an insight into character vouchsafed 
 to few. He often discovered pathos where 
 others might have read a more cheerful story. 
 Elizabeth Linley, the “ fair maid of Bath,” is 
 one of the most appealing of his sitters, with 
 big dreamy eyes and delicate features. She 
 was the beautiful singer who made a romantic 
 runaway match with the actor Richard Sher- 
 idan. The Honourable Mrs. Graham, stand- 
 ing against a pillar, richly dressed, and 
 bearing the honours of her position with sweet 
 dignity, has an air of interesting melancholy. 
 Upon her death, in the fulness of her young 
 womanhood, her husband could not/ endure the 
 wistful gaze of the portrait, and had it hidden 
 away where it was lost for half a century. 
 Even Mrs. Robinson, painted at the height of 
 her career as Perdita when enjoying the 
 
264 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 favour of the prince, sits under a tree, lost in 
 some sorrowing reflections, as if foreseeing her 
 lonely and unhappy end. 
 
 The famous Blue Boy, seen in a black and 
 white reproduction, might almost be taken for 
 the work of Van Dyck, so closely did the 
 painter imitate the graceful attitude and air 
 of breeding for which the earlier painter set 
 the type. But with this he united a sweetness 
 and naivete which are not of Van Dyck. In 
 colour the picture is from Gainsborough s 
 own palette, which one can pick out easily in 
 a multitude of his contemporaries’ works. The 
 pearly gray of his flesh tones, and the delicacy 
 and refinement of his harmonies, especially 
 in handling blue, mark his peculiar individu- 
 ality. In poetic imagination he had no equal 
 among his contemporaries. 
 
 The distinctive qualities of Reynolds and 
 Gainsborough are admirably illustrated in 
 their portraits of the same person, as for in- 
 stance the Duchess of Devonshire, the beauty 
 of whom Gibbon wittily said, that “ if she 
 beckoned to the Lord Chancellor to rise from 
 his woolsack he could not but obey.” Mrs. 
 
National Gallery, London] [Gainsborough 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MRS. SIDDONS 
 (DETAIL) 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 265 
 
 Siddons was another fair sitter they both por- 
 trayed. Reynolds was to paint the great ac- 
 tress as the Tragic Muse, and it is said that 
 on her arrival at the studio, he led her to the 
 chair, saying in his pompous phraseology, 
 “Ascend your undisputed throne; bestow on 
 me some idea of the Tragic Muse.” Where- 
 upon she at once assumed the position in 
 which he painted her. It was undeniably a 
 histrionic pose, as she sits with head turned, 
 listening to the voices of conflicting emotions, 
 the left hand raised as if to command silence. 
 Nobly conceived and finely executed, it was 
 no wonder that Reynolds was proud to paint 
 his name on the ornamental border of her 
 robe, with the gallant ex/ lanation that he 
 “ could not resist the temptation of going 
 down to posterity on the hem of her gar- 
 ment.” In Gainsborough’s portrait of the 
 same year, Mrs. Siddons, the woman of the 
 world in modish attire, sweeps one day into 
 the artist’s studio, drops into a chair for a 
 chat and is caught on the canvas in all the 
 charm and spontaneity of her vivacious mood. 
 Still another phase of the lady’s many-sided 
 
266 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 character was brought out by Lawrence, who 
 painted her several times. In the best known 
 of these pictures, she is in negligee, and look- 
 ing full into her face, we get a bit of the wear- 
 iness, as well as the sweetness of her mood. 
 
 To compare Gainsborough with still an- 
 other artist, we may match his Mrs. Robinson 
 with the portrait of the same lady by Romney. 
 In the walking-dress of Perdita, muff and lace 
 bonnet, she moves across our vision turning 
 upon us a face full of coy and piquant charm. 
 
 Romney, like Reynolds, looked preferably 
 on the joyous side of life, though not insensi- 
 ble to the graver aspects. It was Emma Lyon 
 whose buoyant spirit opened to him the wider 
 possibilities of his art. She was no less an 
 artist than he in her own way, creating new 
 subjects for him, as the mood possessed her. 
 Now she is Circe, the enchantress, working 
 her fascinating spell upon us; now a Bac- 
 chante, leading the sacrificial kid, with a 
 hound bounding joyously at her side. Cas- 
 sandra, Titania, Euphrosyne, Ariadne, a 
 Nun, and a Spinner, are some of her many 
 disguises. She could not be ungraceful if she 
 
Wallace Collection, London] [Romney 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MRS. ROBINSON 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 267 
 
 would; her face was beautiful from every 
 point of view; and her sparkling eyes and 
 lovely smile never fail to captivate us. Her 
 strange career reads like an exaggerated ro- 
 mance of Balzac. Beginning life as a ladies’ 
 maid, she passed from one entanglement to 
 another till her marriage with Sir William 
 Hamilton gave her entree to the great world. 
 She then passed out of Romney’s life for 
 further adventures. For nearly ten years she 
 had been a necessity to his art, and his loss 
 was inestimable. Not long after her marriage 
 he broke down completely, returning to his 
 country home and long neglected wife to die. 
 
 Romney is distinguished by the beauty of 
 his draughtsmanship, by pleasing colour, and 
 a delightful pictorial sense. Some exquisite 
 groups of children show a flow of line and a 
 lightness of motion that could scarcely be 
 equalled in any school of art. Heads like the 
 Parson’s Daughter, and Mrs. Tickell, and 
 full-length figures like Mrs. Mark Currie, 
 illustrate the simplicity and directness of his 
 art. He was not perhaps a very profound 
 thinker, nor an artist of great range, but 
 
268 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 without him English art would have missed a 
 delightful element peculiar to himself. 
 
 Of less important names Opie is one whose 
 work has stood well the test of time. He had 
 not the aptitude of some of his contemporaries 
 for women’s portraits, and lacked both the 
 brush and the tongue of the flatterer. A 
 lady once sitting for her portrait bade him 
 make her beautiful. “ Then, Madame, I sup- 
 pose you do not want it to be like,” was the 
 caustic reply. His men’s portraits were 
 painted with admirable sincerity, and are 
 genuine character studies in the expressiveness 
 of the eyes. Some of his distinguished sitters 
 were Charles Fox, Southey, and Mr. William 
 Siddons. Opie was himself a man of the 
 typical artistic temperament, subject to fits of 
 depression and self-disparagement. His 
 modest success was due to his own merit, and 
 he made his way without influence or favour. 
 
 Hoppner had a great vogue for a time, 
 although his name is now little known. Un- 
 fortunately his colours have not always stood 
 well. He painted the portraits of several 
 members of the royal family, and was con- 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 269 
 
 sequently sought after by many persons 
 of quality. The names of bishops, dukes 
 and earls were in his lists, as well as many 
 beautiful women of rank. In the heyday 
 of his popularity he met a powerful com- 
 petitor in Lawrence, who had won the 
 favour of the king, as Hoppner had that of 
 the Prince of Wales. The patrons of the 
 rival painters made two society factions, and 
 feeling became very bitter. Lawrence had 
 however the surest passport to success in his 
 gift of flattery. What woman could resist 
 the temptation of having her charms en- 
 hanced by his magic brush? Hoppner’s 
 death in 1810 left the younger man alone 
 in the field for the remaining twenty years 
 of his life. In 1815 he was knighted and 
 later became the president of the Royal 
 Academy. 
 
 The story of Lawrence’s life is peculiarly 
 romantic, beginning in obscurity, as the son 
 of an innkeeper. He was an infant prodigy, 
 astonishing his father’s guests when about 
 five years of age with recitations and draw- 
 ings. At ten he was supporting the family 
 
270 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 with his pencil. In the fluctuating standards 
 of the day he was ranked as high as his pred- 
 ecessors Reynolds and Gainsborough, but 
 in more modern criticism his true place is 
 assigned decidedly below them. In his 
 works the artificial spirit of the age reached 
 its limit. “ Lawrence,” said the blunt Opie, 
 “ made coxcombs of his sitters, and his sit- 
 ters made a coxcomb of Lawrence.” Cer- 
 tainly the affectations of his portrait person- 
 alities is often the first thing to strike us, 
 and this is naturally more conspicious in 
 women than in men. As Fanny Kemble 
 wittily said, “ They were fine ladies, but 
 by no means great ladies.” Yet his art was 
 preeminently feminine in quality. Such 
 portraits as Lady Blessington and Lady 
 Gower are on his highest level, and show his 
 remarkable insight. Comparing them with 
 male portraits like John Julius Angerstein, 
 and the Pope Pius VII, we see what Law- 
 rence might have been, had he been strong 
 enough to resist the meretricious taste of his 
 environment. The captivating smile of the 
 clever and fascinating woman, and the genial 
 
PORTRAIT OF LADY PEEL 
 
 [Lawrence 
 
ENGLISH PORTRAIT SCHOOL 271 
 
 refinement of the philanthropist have been 
 seized with extraordinary success. Lawrence’s 
 colour was often very beautiful, particularly 
 in the heads of children. 
 
 It is customary to include in the English 
 school the Scottish painter Sir Henry Rae- 
 burn, who practised his profession in Edin- 
 burgh. This semi isolation kept him free 
 from certain weaknesses of his contempora- 
 ries, and preserved the originality and vigour 
 of his work. His style is marked by a 
 boldness and simplicity which have linked 
 his name to that of Frans Hals and Velas- 
 quez. His six portraits of Sir Walter 
 Scott have made the face of the great ro- 
 mancer familiar all over the world. Many 
 other distinguished Scotchmen sat to him 
 and some charming women. His portraits 
 are full of vitality. 
 
 It was during the latter half of the great 
 period of English portrait painting that our 
 own early American portrait school was de- 
 veloped. Our two foremost painters, Copley 
 and Stuart, were a long time in London where 
 they practised their profession and enjoyed 
 
272 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the help of the Anglicized American Presi- 
 dent of the Royal Academy, Benjamin West. 
 The mother country had reason to be proud 
 of her American art offspring, and Copley 
 and Stuart proved solid names upon which 
 to build the art history of the new nation. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 SOME EXAMPLES OE MODEEN PORTRAIT 
 PAINTING 
 
 FTER long gazing into the past 
 centuries of portrait painting, it is 
 difficult to readjust the focus to 
 more recent times. There is a tendency with 
 some critics to belittle the work of the nine- 
 teenth century, as compared with that of the 
 great periods which went before. On the other 
 hand there is danger of overestimating the 
 prize winners of the hour. In the matter 
 of mere craftsmanship certainly the modern 
 painter has shown himself an adept. Many 
 problems which puzzled his predecessors have 
 long since been solved. There is an inex- 
 haustible stock of types from which to select 
 his methods. For the rest, it remains for a 
 later century to determine whether tech- 
 nical acquirement has been matched by the 
 
 273 
 
274 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 higher gifts of imagination and insight which 
 characterized the old portrait masters. For 
 our present purpose it will be sufficient to set 
 down in order a few important names, of 
 several nationalities, which stand for distinct- 
 ive achievement in this line. 
 
 Paris has been generally regarded as the art 
 centre of the modern world, the great train- 
 ing school in the painter’s craft. And Paris 
 has produced some notable portrait painters. 
 Bonnat is a name revered by many men of the 
 younger generation who have come in touch 
 with him in the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He 
 is regarded as a fine draughtsman, and a vig- 
 orous portrayer of character. Three of his 
 portrait works in the Luxembourg illustrate 
 his best points: Leon Cogniet, his master 
 
 Aime Millet, the sculptor, fftad Cardinal La- 
 vigerie, late primate of Algeria. Masculine 
 portraits have been his specialty: his gifts are 
 not for the interpretation of feminine char- 
 acter. His list of sitters includes some of 
 the greatest French names of the century: 
 Victor Hugo, Dumas, Gounod, Thiers, 
 Grevv, Carnot, Pasteur. Puvis de Chavannes. 
 
Uffizi Gallery, Florence] 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF 
 
 [Bonnat 
 

MODERN PAINTING 
 
 275 
 
 France may justly be proud of such a noble 
 historical series. 
 
 Carolus Duran is another master beloved 
 of the art student in Paris. His special dis- 
 tinction has been in the brilliant use of colour. 
 Many beautiful women have lent themselves 
 to his art, and he has distinguished them 
 with delicacy and insight. His portrait of 
 his wife, La Dame au Gant, of the Luxem- 
 bourg, is a beautiful full-length work. 
 Fluttering across the canvas with exquisite 
 grace, she pauses to glance at us with an 
 enchanting smile. M. Carolus Duran has 
 paid one visit to the United States and has 
 had many American patrons. 
 
 With Bonnat and Duran is classed Cabanel, 
 each one of the trio having a large following 
 more or less in rivalry. Cabanel’s portraits 
 of women are especially beautiful. He is 
 known in this country by the fine portrait 
 of Miss Catherine Wolfe in the Metropolitan 
 Museum, New York. Benjamin Constant, 
 who died in 1902, was also known in his last 
 years for portrait painting though primarily 
 devoted to oriental subjects. He had the 
 
276 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 honour of painting the portrait of Queen Vic- 
 toria in 1899. 
 
 Paris is also the headquarters of Boldini, 
 the most widely distinguished portrait painter 
 of the Italians. He has a very acute percep- 
 tion of character and imparts a vivid sense of 
 animation to his sitters. Specially notable 
 
 are his portraits of the Princess Ponialowski, 
 and of the German painter Menzel. 
 
 Another Italian portrait painter, at one time 
 long in Paris is Vittorio Corcos, a native of 
 Leghorn. He later returned to his own 
 country, and in 1892, in Florence, painted the 
 portrait of the poet Carducci. The recog- 
 nized leader of the modern Italian school 
 was the Neapolitan Domenico Morelli, who 
 died in 1901. Distinguished especially for 
 his great religious works he was likewise a 
 portrait painter of great merit. In the 
 gallery of modern art at Turin is his por- 
 trait of the statesman Quintino Sella, 
 standing at the ministerial bench in the sen- 
 ate at Rome. In the same gallery is a portrait 
 of Cavour by Gordigiani. The well-known 
 portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Browning were 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 277 
 
 painted by this latter artist, whose studio was 
 long a favourite resort in Florence. 
 
 One of the most important portrait paint- 
 ers of the early nineteenth century was from 
 Germany. This was Winterhalter, a pupil 
 of the Munich Academy, who went to Carls- 
 ruhe in 1828 and was made court painter. 
 In 1834 he settled in Paris, and in the follow- 
 ing years painted many crowned heads of 
 Europe: Louis Philippe and his queen, Leo- 
 pold of Belgium and his queen, the Emperor 
 and Empress of Russia, Napoleon and Eu- 
 genie, and various members of the English 
 royal family. A series of portraits represent 
 the present King Edward in his boyhood and 
 youth. The artistic character of the work is 
 not remarkable enough to have made the 
 name famous, hut in a period which knew not 
 photography the portraits have served as val- 
 uable historical records. 
 
 The most prolific German portrait painter in 
 the nineteenth century was undoubtedly Franz 
 von Lenbach. From humble birth (1836), 
 as one of seventeen children of a poor stone- 
 mason, he rose by his own efforts to fame and 
 
278 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 fortune, and all the rewards of honour and 
 success. Throughout his life he retained 
 much of the rugged and unpolished manner 
 of the class in which he was born, and was 
 often rude and sarcastic in speech. But his 
 tremendous ambition, energy, and self-confi- 
 dence carried him forward. His later years 
 were passed in a splendid marble palace at 
 Munich, filled with treasures of art, and here 
 he died in 1903 after sixty-five years of event- 
 ful and successful living. The roll-call of 
 Lenbach’s sitters includes practically all the 
 German celebrities of his day. Among the 
 most notable are: the old Emperors William, 
 and Franz Josef, Theodore Mommsen, the 
 historian, Paul Ileyse, the poet, Bjornsterne 
 Bjbrnson, the novelist, Frans Liszt and 
 Wagner, the musicians, Count von Moltke 
 and Prince Bismarck. In Italy he made por- 
 traits of Queen Margherita and the Pope 
 Leo XIII. 
 
 The name of Lenbaeh is indissolubly asso- 
 ciated with Bismarck. The relations between 
 the two men covered a long period of years 
 during which over one hundred portraits of 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 279 
 
 the Iron Chancellor were produced. The 
 painter had all the privileges of an intimate 
 family friend, making frequent visits in the 
 prince’s household, and sketching his host in 
 any time or place as the fancy seized him. 
 Seldom in the history of art has there been 
 such devotion on the part of a painter to a 
 single subject. It is like the service of Velas- 
 quez for Philip IV. The character of Bis- 
 marck has been shaped for posterity in this 
 series of portraits. With every variety of pose 
 there is always the same inflexibility of pur- 
 pose stamped on the face. Whether the eyes 
 are turned full upon you, or look aside under 
 their shaggy, beetling brows, they see every- 
 thing and tell nothing. The lines of thought 
 in the forehead, the lines of determination 
 about the chin, express the iron will of the 
 man whom everybody feared. 
 
 Early in his career Lenbach became an ar- 
 dent admirer of the old masters, and copied 
 many of their portraits. He made it his aim 
 to secure in his canvases the same effects of 
 rich, mellowed, and subdued colour which 
 characterize these works of past centuries. His 
 
280 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 success in this respect was quite wonderful. 
 The face of the sitter was of first importance 
 to him; the surroundings were of no account. 
 Concentrating all his power upon the charac- 
 ter and expression, especially upon the eyes, 
 he made the countenance emerge, as it were, 
 from nothingness. His forte lay with men, 
 and with men of stern fibre. The solemn in- 
 trospective gaze of Mommsen, the hard im- 
 penetrable mask of Von Moltke, the medita- 
 tive aspect of Bjornson, were subjects of his 
 own kind. The seriousness of the German 
 race is reflected in his art. He was, as a rule, 
 much less successful with women. The artistic 
 methods of Lenbach were open to criticism in 
 many respects: the questionable practice of 
 using photography, his careless draughtsman- 
 ship, his slurring of details. On the other 
 hand his admirers emphasize, not without rea- 
 son, the intense vitality of his portrait work, 
 and the strong note of psychic interest. 
 
 In England, as we have seen, portrait paint- 
 ing has always been of great importance, as 
 the branch of art best understood by the aver- 
 age Anglo-Saxon. In the early part of the 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 281 
 
 Victorian reign Sir George Hayter was por- 
 trait painter to the queen and had the honour 
 of painting the girl sovereign taking the oath 
 of office. In the following years the royal 
 family have patronized a succession of paint- 
 ers, often from other lands, and not always 
 with much artistic discrimination. Excellent 
 portrait work has been done by a group of 
 Englishmen too numerous to mention, includ- 
 ing Sir John Millais, Herkomer, Fildes, and 
 Orchardson. 
 
 George Frederick Watts was in many re- 
 spects the most notable English portrait 
 painter of the nineteenth century. His works 
 show us the best of Victorian England. In 
 addition to his large number of commissioned 
 portraits from people of importance he under- 
 took as a labour of love a series of representa- 
 tive Englishmen, including statesmen, lawyers, 
 artists, musicians, men of letters, and divines. 
 It was in such high company that the painter 
 was most at home. Nature made him a gen- 
 tleman of the finest fibre, a dreamer of noble 
 dreams, a philosopher, and a thinker. He 
 began his artistic career as a mural painter, 
 
282 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 and his preference was always for allegorical 
 and decorative subjects. Portrait painting was 
 forced upon him for commercial reasons, but 
 he accepted it as a valuable discipline, and put 
 into it the same imaginative and decorative 
 gifts which inspired his ideal subjects. He 
 had a peculiar power for interpreting genius, 
 seizing the essential character, and accentua- 
 ting it by the accessories. The rugged head of 
 Carlyle, at once noble and dogmatic, with the 
 melancholy eyes and aggressive chin, the cold, 
 austere face of John Stuart Mill, with the ab- 
 sent gaze of intense concentration, the medita- 
 tive pose of Tennyson, rapt in the poet’s 
 vision, express to a marvel the men themselves. 
 Others of this distinguished company are: 
 Matthew Arnold, with forehead creased with 
 lines of unrest, Robert Browning, in all the 
 magnificence of his fully developed manhood, 
 Rossetti, almost childlike, in his look of 
 dreamy irresponsibility. Sir Andrew Clark, 
 with the air of authority and self-restraint 
 which belongs to the man of science and 
 secrets. Motley, scholarly, modest, and in- 
 tensely serious, William Morris, with Jove- 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 283 
 
 like head thrown back to confront the difficul- 
 ties of art reform, and Lord Lytton, hand- 
 some and romantic. The delicately chiseled 
 features of George Meredith’s sensitive high- 
 bred face, the long narrow countenance of 
 Leslie Stephen, with the look of incisive 
 thought, the well cut profile of Walter Crane, 
 lifted with the air of inspiration, remain with 
 one permanently as ideal types of novelist, 
 criiic, and artist. Cardinal Manning is also 
 among these celebrities, a noble old man. The 
 sunken cheeks, deep-set eyes, and thin com- 
 pressed lips are the marks of the ascetic, while 
 the expression is that of the mystic. 
 
 A critic has cleverly said that Watts 
 “ scarcely ever painted a man without making 
 him about five times as magnificent as he 
 really was,” adding that the portraits made the 
 men themselves “ look like mean and unsym- 
 pathetic sketches from the Watts originals.” 
 This glorifying process was not because the 
 painter intentionally flattered his sitters, but 
 because he saw in them the highest of which 
 they were capable. It was by no means a sub- 
 jective glamour which he cast about them m 
 
284 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 the manner of Titian and Van Dyck. Each 
 portrait shows what the man “ was worth to 
 God.” Five portraits of Tennyson, majestic 
 and godlike, attest the long and devoted 
 friendship between the painter and the poet, 
 and certainly poet was never more fortimate 
 in an interpreter. 
 
 Watts also showed himself a student of 
 character in portraits of women. Mrs. Percy 
 Windham was one of his most successful sub- 
 jects, a truly grande dame , painted in full 
 length, leaning on the balustrade of her gar- 
 den terrace. The decorative character of the 
 panel is almost Venetian in beauty. The fig- 
 ure is drawn in long rhythmic lines, while the 
 mass of foliage behind the head and the jar of 
 flowers on the pavement unite with the green 
 robe to form a rich colour ensemble. Mrs. 
 Nassau Senior was the subject of another full- 
 length portrait. Lovely in character as in 
 person, the artist chose a felicitous motive in 
 representing her watering a potted flower. 
 The rippling hair drawn over her ears, and 
 dressed low in the neck, frames a face of an- 
 gelic sweetness and purity. Mrs. Hughes is 
 
Collection of Hon. Percy Windham, Salisbury, Eng.] [Watts 
 PORTRAIT OF MRS. PERCY WINDHAM 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 285 
 
 another sweet spirit among women, gentle, 
 placid, motherly, comfortable. Her portrait is 
 a bust, with a distant landscape suggested in 
 the background. Portraits of Mrs. Leslie 
 Stephen, Lady Granby, Lady Mount Temple, 
 and Mrs. Ellice are others which have been 
 highly praised by critics. The academic 
 training of Watts was extremely meagre, and 
 he never attained complete technical profi- 
 ciency. Nevertheless there are certain points 
 of craftsmanship in which he was unsurpassed, 
 and in higher gifts of poetic imagination he 
 stood alone in his generation. 
 
 Classed among the English painters, al- 
 though American by birth and early educa- 
 tion, was James McNeill Whistler. No man 
 was ever more original — or more egotistic. 
 During his life-time, it seemed impossible to 
 hold middle ground in regard to him. One 
 must either be an ardent admirer or a bitter 
 enemy. His eccentricities and ironies have 
 passed into proverbs. He divided humanity 
 into two classes, artists, and the rest, declaring 
 that the “ rest ” should never write, speak, or 
 think about artists. Since his death in 1903 
 
286 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 however the “ rest ” have taken upon them- 
 selves to discuss exhaustively his merits and his 
 weaknesses; and exhibitions of his works have 
 given a more complete idea of his aims and his 
 methods. Whether as an etcher, a landscape 
 painter or a portrait painter, his name will 
 always be of great importance. 
 
 Whistler’s chief preoccupation was with 
 colour, in the most subtle neutral tints: blacks, 
 blues, browns, and greys. Within this range 
 he discovered a countless number of delicate 
 gradations. He was indeed closely akin to the 
 Japanese in this fondness for low-keyed har- 
 monies. His portraits were painted with the 
 main idea of making up a beautiful piece of 
 decoration from his favourite palette. For 
 this purpose he preferred a full-length life- 
 size figure in a tall panel like a kakemono. 
 Often the picture seems quite flat, the figure 
 scarcely emerging from the background, which 
 is made of the same hue as the drapery. The 
 personality is thus rather ghostly, not warm 
 and living. The name of the subject is imma- 
 terial. The picture is the “ Yellow Buskin,” 
 instead of a portrait of Lady Archibald 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 287 
 
 Campbell, or “ An Arrangement in Black 
 and Brown/’ instead of Miss Rosa Corder. 
 What matters it who these ladies were who 
 lent their figures as motives for a decorative 
 design? Their portraits, however, have be- 
 come famous among the painter’s finest works. 
 
 The patron who accepted the Whistlerian 
 point of view was rewarded for his pains and 
 his money by a beautiful work of art. He 
 was sure of a picture whose subdued colour 
 harmony would never jar, and would always 
 be restful. Characterization and vitality might 
 be lacking, but in their place a certain fine 
 distinction could be counted on. Such refine- 
 ment in colour must inevitably impart refine- 
 ment to the subject. 
 
 Whistler’s first important portrait work was 
 the “ White Girl,” rejected by the Paris Salon 
 ( 1868 ), but creating a great stir when ex- 
 hibited in the Salon des Refuses. A girl 
 dressed in white was seen standing against 
 a white background with a white lily in her 
 hand. A second study in the same key was 
 the Little White Girl. Here a young girl in 
 white is standing on a white rug before a fire- 
 
288 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 place. The face, outlined in profile, is re- 
 flected in full front in the mirror over the 
 mantle. This was the picture which inspired 
 Swinburne’s poem “ Before the Mirror,” 
 which was printed on strips of gilded paper 
 and fastened to the frame of the picture. A 
 third Symphony in White was a composition 
 of two girls in white ; one lounging on a 
 couch, the other seated on the floor leaning 
 against it. Graceful young figures such as 
 these lent themselves readily to Whistler’s 
 motives, but he had wonderful versatility in 
 adapting to his ends sitters of every age. He 
 was remarkably successful with children. 
 
 Miss Alexander is one of the most beautiful 
 child portraits in the world. The little maid, 
 in short stiff white frock, stands in a dancing 
 school pose, hat in hand, looking out at the 
 spectator. Two yellow butterflies flutter 
 above her, not more airy and evanescent than 
 the dainty little creature herself, poised as if to 
 fly from the field of vision. The Rose of 
 Lyme, the frail wide-eyed little girl of the 
 Boston Art Museum, looking out at us with 
 such pathetic sweetness, is a child to remember. 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 289 
 
 An amusing story is told of a child portrait 
 Whistler attempted to paint for the father of 
 four little girls. So long was he about the 
 task, that each daughter had to sit for him in 
 turn, at the desired age, and the picture was 
 finally completed from the child of a neigh- 
 bour. The painter’s demand for sittings was 
 the cause of much faultfinding among his 
 patrons. It is said that Sir Henry Irving 
 posed twenty times for the portrait in the 
 part of Philip II, each time finding the canvas 
 as bare as at the beginning, except for a small 
 piece of linen. “ How is it,” he asked, “ that 
 in all this time you have painted only this piece 
 of linen?” “Ah,” said Whistler, “who save 
 the Master could have painted that linen? 
 Surely that is excuse enough.” It is said that 
 during this sitting Irving caught the peculiar 
 laugh of Whistler and used it effectively in 
 the part of Mephistopheles. 
 
 It has seldom been given to an artist to 
 paint childhood and old age with equal suc- 
 cess, but Whistler achieved this feat. He 
 seems to have reserved all his tenderness for 
 the two extremes of life. Among his most 
 
290 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 notable works are beautiful and sympathetic 
 portraits of his mother and of Thomas Car- 
 lyle. Both pictures are designed on the same 
 plan: in the interior of a room the entire 
 seated figure is seen in profile. The bareness 
 of the surroundings and the severity of the 
 straight-backed chair suggest the puritanic 
 simplicity of both these fine old natures, and 
 the linear composition accentuates this effect. 
 Only the lace-edged ties of her cap, and the 
 touch of lace at the wrists, relieve the plain- 
 ness of the “ Mother’s ” dress, which falls in 
 scanty folds about her. The smooth hair, the 
 folded hands, the lines about the drooping 
 mouth, the fixity of gaze and the inclination of 
 the head all express an intensity of character 
 which is almost poignant. No one but Henry 
 James could so fully interpret such a nature. 
 Whistler’s first title for the picture was 44 An 
 Arrangement in Grey and Black,” describing 
 the colour scheme, which was too sombre to 
 call forth immediate enthusiasm. The Acad- 
 emicians even classed it with the black and 
 white drawings when it was exhibited. When 
 it was at length purchased for the Luxem- 
 
Corporation Gallery, Glasgow] [Whistler 
 
 PORTRAIT OF CARLYLE 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 291 
 
 bourg everybody began to praise it. Whistler, 
 who always resented the praise of any single 
 picture as implying disparagement of his other 
 works, was impatient of the encomiums heaped 
 upon the “ Mother.” “ Wait,” he said, “ till 
 the Sarasate is as old as the ‘ Mother,’ with a 
 skin of varnish upon it that has mellowed — 
 then you will call that my chef d’oeuvre” 
 
 The Carlyle portrait shows the philosopher 
 sunk in a melancholy revery. It is as if he 
 had given up the battle in utter weariness and 
 discouragement, and with mind and body re- 
 laxed, had fallen into a sorrowful apathy. 
 Here we have the pathos of the Chelsea sage 
 without his fighting qualities. Whistler was 
 for some time a neighbour of Carlyle at Chel- 
 sea, and the two came to know each other 
 well. Though following aims so widely dif- 
 ferent, both were alike strenuously opposed to 
 sham. The old man was much impressed with 
 Whistler’s professional outfit, for the painter 
 used brushes as big as a house-painter’s, a 
 large canvas, and a table for a palette. “ You 
 are indeed a workman,” said the sitter, “ for 
 your tools are the tools of a workman.” The 
 
292 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Carlyle portrait was in progress at the same 
 time that little Miss Alexander was being 
 painted. The old man and child met at the 
 door one day as the former had just ended a 
 wearisome sitting. “ I am Miss Alexander,” 
 announced the little girl, demurely, “ 1 am 
 having my portrait painted.” “ Puir lassie, 
 puir lassie,” said Carlyle, compassionately, as 
 he went on his way. His own comment on his 
 completed portrait was “ Weel, man, you have 
 given me a clean collar, and that is more than 
 Meester Watts has done.” Some years after 
 his death Carlyle’s portrait was bought for 
 the corporation of Glasgow. The sage was 
 also painted by Sir John Millais, who made 
 him much handsomer, less rugged, and less 
 bitter, though not without a certain sternness 
 and melancholy. 
 
 The portrait work of Whistler suggests in- 
 evitably a comparison with that of another 
 Anglicized American, John Singer Sargent. 
 It is not impossible to admire both men, but 
 it is well-nigh impossible to imagine a greater 
 contrast. While Whistler’s art is almost 
 feminine in delicacy. Sargent’s work is pro- 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 293 
 
 nouncedly masculine; the one inclines some- 
 what to the eccentric and anemic, the other is 
 sane and robust. While Whistler’s portrait 
 figures almost melt into their environment, 
 Sargent’s fairly jump out of the canvas with 
 vitality. Beside the subtle reticence of Whis- 
 tler’s folk, Sargent’s seem almost vulgarly 
 self-assertive. While the former regard you 
 impassively with a proud reserve, the latter 
 fasten their eyes insistently upon you with the 
 highest degree of intimacy. The Whistler 
 world is one of calm repose, but the Sargent 
 atmosphere is charged with electricity. Whis- 
 tler looked through smoke-coloured glasses, 
 and made his patrons array themselves in all 
 sobriety: but Sargent’s subjects are gor- 
 
 geously attired in extremes of fashion and the 
 painter’s colour range seems as wide as na- 
 ture’s own. From time to time each found 
 a sitter who was born, so to speak, for his 
 special benefit. There is a singular correla- 
 tion between subject and artist when a Sara- 
 sate sits for a Whistler or a Henry Higginson 
 for a Sargent, the musician slender, sensitive, 
 poetic, the man of affairs, big, burly, forceful. 
 
294 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 To one who has seen these two portraits, a 
 Higginson by Whistler, or a Sarasate by 
 Sargent, is almost unthinkable. Yet Velas- 
 quez, to whom both these men have for differ- 
 ent reasons been compared, might equally well 
 have done either. 
 
 John Singer Sargent is the son of a Boston 
 physician, but was born in Florence, where his 
 father was practising his profession. His ar- 
 tistic training was in Paris, under Carolus 
 Duran. He has for some years lived in Lon- 
 don, but making occasional visits to the United 
 States, he is claimed by ties on both sides of 
 the water. His work is almost exclusively in 
 portraiture, with the important exception of 
 the mural paintings in the Boston Public Li- 
 brary. Since the death of Whistler and Watts 
 he is entirely unrivalled in his chosen field. 
 Working with great ease and rapidity, and 
 besieged with patrons, he has already pro- 
 duced an immense number of portraits repre- 
 senting the grand monde. No recent painter 
 has ever enjoyed more fully the appreciation 
 of his contemporaries except perhaps the Ger- 
 man Lenbach. At the Spring exhibition of 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 295 
 
 the Royal Academy his portraits are now the 
 most conspicuous and attractive feature, and 
 the Sargent exhibitions in Boston, in 1899 and 
 1903, drew people from all over the country. 
 
 His most characteristic style is the three- 
 quarters figure, though he has had to meet the 
 demand for bust portraits as well. In full- 
 length figures he has perfect scope for his best. 
 His bold brush-work requires large surfaces. 
 In fact, because of their size and broad exe- 
 cution, his canvases are scarcely suitable for 
 ordinary houses. They are designed rather 
 for great establishments where long, spacious 
 galleries afford the proper distance for vision. 
 At the height of his popularity, Sargent has 
 naturally become something of an autocrat. 
 His prodigious prices would astound even the 
 keen Reynolds. He usually has his own way 
 in every particular as to costume, pose, and 
 method. One can scarcely say whether his 
 preference is for men, women, or children, so 
 facile and brilliant is his touch through the 
 whole range of human life. 
 
 To begin with children. The Honourable 
 Laura Lister has become, like Whistler’s Miss 
 
296 
 
 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Alexander, a world favourite, to class with 
 such masterpieces as Velasquez’s Princess 
 Margaret. The child is dressed quaintly in a 
 satin skirt which reaches to the floor, and wears 
 a mob-cap over her pretty, short curls. The 
 shy sweetness with which she regards you out 
 of her big eyes is inexpressibly winning. Her 
 American counterpart is little Miss Beatrice 
 Goelet, painted six years before. She has the 
 same picturesque quaintness of dress — the 
 long full skirt — and the same shy wistfulness 
 with a difference. There is mischief lurking 
 in the big eyes of English child, but Beatrice 
 is one of the timid little spirits whose rare 
 charm only a great painter could divine. The 
 famous “ Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ” is 
 another charming picture of child-life. Two 
 little girls, in simple white frocks, stand amid 
 the tall lily-stalks of the garden, intent upon 
 lighting some Chinese lanterns. The scheme 
 is like a tapestry in decorative effect. 
 
 Sargent’s brilliant virtuosity is inevitably 
 associated with superb toilets. For the play 
 of light on folds of satin, and for the sugges- 
 tion of diaphanous draperies, this painter is a 
 
Copyright 1898; from a Copley print, copyright 1898 by Curtis & Cameron, 
 Publishers, Boston 
 
 Players’ Club, New York] [Sargent 
 
 PORTRAIT OF EDWIN BOOTH 
 

MODERN PAINTING 
 
 297 
 
 very wizard. That he takes delight in such 
 work is quite evident, and he fairly revels in 
 portrait groups where two or three sisters in 
 evening drees make a radiant bouquet of 
 colour. In such compositions there is apt to 
 be some straining after effect: the motive 
 
 often lacks spontaneity. Such for instance is 
 the much admired Mrs. Meyer and her Chil- 
 dren, and such the Ladies Acheson, and the 
 Misses Hunter. 
 
 But with all his delight in texture work and 
 sheer dexterity Sargent has far higher gifts 
 of portraiture. His characterization is so fine 
 that we can read the nationality at a glance: 
 English or American, French or Italian or 
 Hebrew. How subtly does he distinguish 
 between the nervous vivacity of the American 
 heiress and the languid grace of the English 
 peeress ; between the alert acumen of the 
 American financier and the easy equipoise of 
 the English gentleman. He even suggests 
 the essential Bostonian in the spare erect fig- 
 ure of the lady of Beacon Hill. Scholars like 
 Miss Cary Thomas, artists like William M. 
 Chase, actors like Booth and Jefferson, Ada 
 
298 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Rehan and Ellen Terry, musicians like Wolff, 
 bear the unmistakable stamp of their profes- 
 sional gifts, with the added touch of their own 
 individuality. 
 
 Sargent is generally regarded as a remark- 
 able psychologist. Ilis gift in character reve- 
 lation is sometimes appalling. He discovers 
 secrets with an insight as searching as the 
 x ray. Any one with an unpleasant secret 
 had better keep away from him. It is said 
 that a physician once diagnosed a previously 
 unsuspected malady from Sargent’s portrait 
 of his patient! Complaint is sometimes made 
 that in his cleverness at seizing a transitory 
 expression, the painter crystallizes a mood 
 which is too trivial for permanence, that his 
 art loses in dignity by exalting the momentary 
 above the more lasting elements. Such feats, 
 however, secure an amazing effect of lifelike- 
 ness. The expression fairly vibrates on the 
 countenance, never hardening into setness. 
 
 Scarcely too much can be said of the vitality 
 of Sargent’s portraits. To enter a gallery of 
 his works is like entering the town hall at 
 Haarlem among the great portrait groups of 
 
MODERN PAINTING 
 
 299 
 
 Frans Hals. We come into a room full of 
 living, breathing, human beings. Wherever 
 we go their eyes follow us, smiling, serious, or 
 intent, and as we approach them, they seem 
 to speak to us. And when we come close to 
 the canvas, and find that these creatures of 
 flesh and blood are composed of broad streaks 
 of paint, we feel that we are witnessing a 
 creative process which is not short of a miracle. 
 
 Though deriving much from foreign study 
 and foreign residence, our American painters 
 are tending more and more to build up the 
 art of portraiture in our own country. Will- 
 iam M. Chase of New York is the dean of 
 American portrait painters, the honoured 
 teacher of many of the younger men. In 
 technical mastery and in real distinction many 
 of his works deserve highest praise. J. W. 
 Alexander and J. J. Shannon are most suc- 
 cessful in a style of portrait work which, 
 for lack of a better term, is called pictorial. 
 The decorative composition is their raison 
 d’Hre. A certain sameness of type, and 
 that of a very ideal character, makes the 
 pictures less convincing as likenesses. In 
 
300 PORTRAIT PAINTING 
 
 Philadelphia Miss Cecilia Beaux carries on 
 her professional life with a force and virility 
 which place her among the leading portrait 
 painters of the day. Time would fail to 
 enumerate explicitly the names of the groups 
 in Boston and New York who are raising 
 the art of portrait painting to a higher 
 level. The annual exhibitions show a growing 
 interest in this line of work, and here without 
 doubt is one of the most promising fields for 
 the future of American art. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX OF ARTISTS 
 
 Alexander, J. W., American, 
 1856 — 
 
 Characteristics, 299 
 Angelico, Fra, Florentine, 
 1387-1455 
 
 Portraits in sacred compo- 
 sitions, 6 
 
 Self portrait, Orvieto, 7 
 
 Backer, Jacob, Dutch, 1608- 
 1651 
 
 Corporation groups, 183 
 Baroccio, Italian, 1528-1612 
 Devotion of Rubens to, 127 
 Barry, James, English, 1741- 
 
 1806 
 
 Place in English School, 
 254 
 
 Beaux, Miss Cecilia, Amer- 
 ican, living 
 Characteristics, 300 
 Beechey, English 
 Place in English School, 
 254 
 
 Bellini, Gentile, Venetian, 
 
 i426(?)-i507 
 
 Characteristics, 49 
 Portrait of Emperor Ma- 
 homet, 49 
 Self portrait, 49 
 Bellini, Giovanni, Venetian, 
 1428-1516 
 
 Characteristics, 47, 52, 103 
 
 Portraits of Doge Lore- 
 dano, 48 and note 
 Bellini, Jacopo, Venetian, 
 active 1430-1466 
 Characteristics, 47 
 Boldini, Italian, 1845 — 
 Characteristics, 276 
 Portrait of Princess Poni- 
 alowski, 276 
 Portrait of Menzel, 276 
 Bonnat, Leon, French, 
 18 33 — 
 
 Characteristics, 274 
 Portrait of Leon Cogniet, 
 274 
 
 Portrait of Aime Millet, 
 274 
 
 Portrait of Cardinal Lavi- 
 gerie, 274 
 
 Portrait of Victor Hugo, 
 
 274 
 
 Portrait of Dumas, 274 
 Portrait of Gounod, 274 
 Portrait of Thiers, 274 
 Portrait of Grevy, 274 
 Portrait of Carnot, 274 
 Portrait of Pasteur, 274 
 Portrait of Puvis de Cha- 
 vannes, 274 
 
 Bordone, Paris, Venetian, 
 1500-1571 
 
 Characteristics, 73 
 I Portrait of boy, 74 
 
302 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Botticelli, Florentine, 1447- 
 1510 
 
 Portraits in sacred compo- 
 sitions, 6 
 Self portrait, 7 
 Medici portraits in Adora- 
 tion, Uffizi, 9 
 
 Portrait of Giuliano, Ber- 
 lin, 10 
 
 The Medallist, Uffizi, 10 
 Portrait of Youth, National 
 Gallery, 10 
 
 Portraits of Simonetta, 10- 
 11 
 
 Portrait of Lucrezia Toma- 
 buoni, 1 1 
 
 Portraits in frescoes of 
 Sistine Chapel, 14 
 
 Bronzino, Italian, i502(?)- 
 1572 
 
 Family portraits of Duke 
 Cosimo and Eleanor of 
 Toledo, 41 
 
 Portrait of Cosimo, 42 
 Portrait of Eleanor, 42 
 Portrait of Don Garcia, 42- 
 43 
 
 Le Brun, Madame, French, 
 1755-1842 
 
 Characteristics, 223-224, 225 
 Portraits of Marie Antoi- 
 nette, 224 
 
 Group of Queen with chil- 
 dren, 224 
 
 Portraits of self, 225 
 
 Cabanel, Alexandre, French, 
 1823-1889 
 
 Characteristics, 275 
 Portrait of Miss Wolfe, 
 275 
 
 Carnevale, Fra (Corradini ) , 
 died 1484 
 
 Work on Madonna in the 
 Brera, 16 
 
 Champaigne, Philippe de, 
 
 French, 1602-1674 
 
 Characteristics, 216 
 Portraits in Louvre, 216 
 Portrait of Richelieu, 216 
 Chase, Wm. M., American, 
 1849 — 
 
 Characteristics, 299 
 Clouet, family of, 
 
 Works in royal collections, 
 209 
 
 Royal subjects, 210 
 Characteristics, 210-21 1 
 Clouet, Francois, French, 
 1 5 12 ( ? ) - 1 572 ( ?) 
 Characteristics d i s t i n - 
 guished from his father’s, 
 209 
 
 Clouet, Jean, French, earliest 
 mention, 1516, died 1539 
 Patronized by Francis I, 
 208 
 
 Characteristics distinguished 
 from Francois, 209 
 Coello, Sanchez, Spanish, 
 died 1590 
 
 Portraits of Philip II and 
 Philip III, 228 
 
 Constant, Benjamin, 
 French, 1845-1902 
 Portrait of Queen Victoria, 
 276 
 
 Copley, J. S., American, 1737- 
 1815 
 
 Relation to English School, 
 271-272 
 
 Corcos. Vittorio, Italian, 
 
 1859 — 
 
 Portrait of Carducci, 276 
 Cossa, Francesco del. Fer- 
 rarse. flourished middle 
 of 15th century 
 Work in Schifanoia Palace. 
 16 
 
 Cruz. Pantoja de la, Span- 
 ish, 1551-1609 
 Portraits of Philip II and 
 Philip HI. 228 
 
INDEX 
 
 303 
 
 Dou, Gerard, Dutch, 1619- 
 
 1675 
 
 Contemporary of Hals and 
 Rembrandt, 204 
 Duran, Carolus, French, 
 
 1837 — 
 
 Characteristics ) 275 
 La Dame au Gant, 275 
 Teacher of Sargent, 294 
 Durer, Albert, German, 
 1471-1528 
 
 Characteristics, x., 48, 51, 
 98, 103, 108-109, 124 
 Environment and training, 
 96-98 
 
 Sketch of himself, 98 
 Portrait of his father, 98-99 
 Portrait of his mother, 99 
 Portrait of Wohlgemuth 99 
 Portrait of himself, 1493, 
 100 
 
 Portrait of himself, 1498, 
 
 100 
 
 Portrait of Elector Fred- 
 erick, 10 1 
 
 Tucher family portraits, 
 
 101 
 
 Portrait of Oswald Krel, 
 101 
 
 Portrait of himself, 1500, 
 101-102 
 
 Portraits in Feast of Rose 
 Garlands, 102 
 
 Portrait of Young Man in 
 Vienna, 103 
 
 Royal portraits in “ Trium- 
 phal Arch,” 104 
 Portrait sketch of Maxi- 
 milian, 104 
 
 Finished portraits of Maxi- 
 milian, 105 
 
 Sketch and engraved por- 
 trait of Cardinal Albert 
 of Brandenburg, 105 
 Engraved portrait of Elec- 
 tor Frederick, 105 
 
 Engraved portrait of Pirk- 
 heimer, 105 
 
 Engraved portrait of Me- 
 lanchthon, 106 
 Engraved portrait of Eras- 
 mus, 106 
 
 Portrait of Bernard von 
 Orley, 106 
 
 Portrait of Joachim Pa- 
 tinir, 106 
 
 Portrait of Lucas van Ley- 
 den, 106 
 
 Portrait of Jakob of Lubek, 
 
 106 
 
 Supposed portrait of Hans 
 Imhof, 107 
 
 Portrait of man at Fenway 
 Court, 107 
 
 Portrait of Jacob Muffel, 
 
 107 
 
 Portrait of Hieronymus 
 Holschuher, 107-108 
 
 Etty, Wm,, English, 1787- 
 1849 
 
 Place in English School, 
 254 
 
 Eyck, van, Jan, Flemish, died 
 1440 
 
 Characteristics, 50, 89 
 
 “ The Man with the Pinks,” 
 50, 87-88 
 
 Portrait of George de Pala 
 in altarpiece, 86 
 
 Portrait of Chancellor Rol- 
 lin in altarpiece, 86 
 
 Portrait of wife, 86 
 
 Portrait of old man in 
 Vienna, 87 
 
 Portrait of man in National 
 Gallery, 87 
 
 Portrait of Arnolfini and 
 wife, 88, 92 
 
 Dyck. Van, Sir Anthony, 
 Flemish . 1599-1641 
 
 Characteristics, viii., xi., 
 
304 
 
 INDEX 
 
 xii., 46, 144-145, 165-167, 
 170, 204, 215, 246-247, 
 255, 284 
 
 Portrait of Cardinal Benti- 
 voglio, 146-147 
 Portraits of Marchese and 
 Marchesa Brignole-Sala, 
 148-149 
 
 41 White Boy,” 149 
 Portraits of Philippe Le 
 Roy and wife, 150 
 Portrait of Marquis of 
 Moncada, 1 50-1 51 
 Portrait called Richardot 
 and his son, 152 
 Portrait of Madame de 
 Colyns, 152 
 
 Portrait of lady in Louvre, 
 153 
 
 Portrait of Anna Wake, 
 153 
 
 Portrait of Louisa van 
 Tassis, 153, 164 
 Portrait of Archduchess 
 Isabella, 153-1 54 
 Portraits of Charles I, 155, 
 156-158, 224 
 
 Portraits of Henrietta 
 Maria, 156, 158-159 
 Portraits of Children of 
 Charles I, 156, 160, 246 
 Portrait of Prince Charles, 
 160-161 
 
 Portrait of Princess Mary, 
 161 
 
 Portrait of Prince James, 
 161 
 
 Portrait of Princess Eliza- 
 beth, 161 
 
 Portrait of Princess Anne. 
 161 
 
 Portrait of Wentworth, 
 Earl of Strafford, 
 161 
 
 Portrait of James Stuart, 
 
 163 
 
 Portrait of Archbishop 
 Laud, 162 
 
 Portrait of Lord Philip 
 Wharton, 163 
 
 Portrait of Young Men of 
 Court, 164 
 
 Portrait of Venetia Lady 
 Digby, 164 
 
 Portrait of Countess of 
 Sunderland, 164 
 Portrait of Beatrice Cu- 
 sance, 164 
 
 Place in the succession of 
 English court painters, 
 253 
 
 Influence on English art, 
 167, 254, 256, 264 
 Eyck, Van, The Brothers, 
 Jan and Hubert, Flem- 
 ish 
 
 Characteristics, x., 85 
 Portraits of donors of 
 Ghent altarpiece, 85 
 
 Fildes, English, 1844 — 
 Portrait work, 281 
 Fouquet, French, 1415- 
 1 480 ( ?) 
 
 Portrait of Pope Eugene 
 IV, 208 
 
 Francesca, Pietro della, 
 Italian, 1416-1492 
 Portraits of Duke and 
 Duchess of Urbino, 15 
 Portrait of Duke of Urbino 
 in Madonna, 15. 16 
 Portrait of Malatesta of 
 Rimini, 16 
 
 Work in Schifanoia Palace 
 (destroyed), 16 
 Francia, Francesco, Bo- 
 lognese, 1450-1517 
 Characteristics, 21 
 Portrait of Federigo Gon- 
 zaga, 20 
 
 Lost portrait of Isabella, 
 21 
 
INDEX 
 
 305 
 
 Portrait of Evangelista 
 Scappi, 21 
 
 Portrait of Bartolommeo 
 Bianchi, 21 
 
 Portraits of unknown men 
 in Pitti, 21 
 
 Portrait of unknown man 
 in Lichtenstein, 21 
 Franciabigio, Italian , 1482- 
 
 1524 
 
 Portrait of the “Nun” 
 attributed to, 31 
 
 Gainsborough, Thomas, 
 English, 1727-1788 
 Characteristics, viii., 224, 
 250, 262, 264, 270 
 The “ Morning W a 1 k,” 
 
 262 
 
 Portrait of Orpin, 263 
 Portrait of Elizabeth Lin- 
 ley, 263 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Graham, 
 
 263 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Robinson, 
 263 
 
 “ Blue Boy,” 264 
 Portrait of Duchess of 
 Devonshire, 264 
 Portrait of Mrs. Siddons, 
 265 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Robinson, 
 265 
 
 Gentile, da Fabriano, Flor- 
 entine, i36o(?)-i428 
 Self portrait, 7 
 Gerard, Mark, Flemish, 16th 
 century, died before 1604 
 At English court, 127 
 Portrait of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, 253 
 
 Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 
 Italian, 1449-1494 
 Characteristics, x., 6, 12 
 Self portrait, 7 
 Contemporary portraits in 
 frescoes, 12-13 
 
 Tornabuoni portraits in 
 S. Maria Novella, 13 
 Portrait of Old Man and 
 Child, Louvre, 14 
 
 Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, Ital- 
 ian 
 
 Portrait of “Nun” at- 
 tributed to, 31 
 Portrait of Goldsmith as- 
 signed to, 31 
 
 Giorgione, Venetian, 1478- 
 1511 
 
 Characteristics, 51-52, 56, 
 
 61, 77 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Parma, 51 
 Portrait of Ariosto, 51 
 The “ Poet,” 51 
 The “ Three Ages of 
 Man,” 51 
 
 The “ Knight of Malta,” 52 
 Portrait of youth in Ber- 
 lin, 52 
 
 Portrait of young man, 
 Buda-Pesth, 52 
 Portrait of lady in Bor- 
 ghese, 52 
 
 Goes, Hugo van der, Flem- 
 ish, 1435-1482 
 Portinari portraits in altar- 
 piece, 93 
 
 Goridigiani, Italian, 19th cen- 
 tury 
 
 Browning portraits, 276 
 
 Goya (Francesco Jose de 
 Lucientes) , Spanish, 
 1746-1828 
 
 Portrait work, 250-251 
 
 Gozzoli, Benozzo, Florentine, 
 1420-1498 
 
 Portraits in sacred compo- 
 sitions, 6 
 
 Self portrait in Riccardi 
 fresco, 7, 9 
 
 Medici portraits in Riccardi 
 frescoes, 8-9 
 
 Greuze, Jean Baptiste, 
 French, 1725-1805 
 
306 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Characteristics, 221 
 Number of portraits, 220 
 Portrait of Sophie Ar- 
 nould, 221 
 
 Portrait of child, 221 
 Portrait of Madame Pom- 
 padour, 222 
 
 Portrait of Louis XVI, 222 
 Portrait of Napoleon, 222 
 
 Hals, Frans, Dutch , 1581- 
 1 666 
 
 Characteristics, vii., viii., 
 ix., xi., 180, 186, 194, 196, 
 204-206, 236, 256, 271 
 Portrait of self and wife, 
 138, 188-189 
 
 Corporation groups at 
 Haarlem, 172, 178, 179, 
 298 
 
 Banquet of St. George 
 
 (1616), 175 
 
 Banquet of St. George 
 (1627), 176-177 
 Guild of St. Adrian 
 
 (1627), 176-177 
 Guild of St. Adrian (1633), 
 1 77 
 
 Guild of St. George 
 
 (1639), 178-179 
 
 Regents of St. Elizabeth’s 
 Hospital, 184, 194 
 Late corporation groups, 
 184 
 
 Portrait of Hoornebeek, 
 
 187 
 
 Portrait of Johannes Acro- 
 nius, 187 
 
 Portrait of Van der Vinne, 
 
 187 
 
 Portrait of Nicolas Bere- 
 steyn, 187 
 
 Portrait of Descartes, 187 
 Portrait of Van der Meer 
 lady, 194 
 
 Portraits of Hille Bobbe, 
 195, 197, 202 
 
 Portraits of itinerant musi- 
 cians, 195 
 
 Portraits of hilarious sub- 
 jects, 196 
 
 Portraits with elusive ex- 
 pression, 196-197 
 Portrait of Ilpenstein baby, 
 197 
 
 Portrait of Willem van 
 Huythuysen, 197 
 Portrait of Jacob Olycan 
 and wife, 198 
 
 Visit from Van Dyck, 151- 
 152 
 
 Hayter, Sir George, English, 
 1792-1871 
 
 Portrait of Queen Victoria, 
 281 
 
 Heere, Lucas de, Flemish , 
 
 1534-1584 
 
 Portrait of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, 253 
 
 Helst, Bartholomew van 
 der, Dutch f 1613-1670 
 Characteristics, 179 
 Banquet of Peace of West- 
 phalia, 179-180 
 
 Herkomer, Prof. Hubert, 
 English, 1849 — 
 
 Portrait work, 281 
 
 Herrera, Spanish, 1576-1656 
 Teacher of Velasquez, 229 
 
 Holbein, Hans, German, 
 I497-IS43 
 
 Characteristics, x., xi., xii., 
 57, 1 12, 124, 21 1 
 Birth and training, no 
 Portrait of Erasmus, 57, 
 
 H4 
 
 Portrait sketch of Eras- 
 mus, in 
 
 Portraits of Jacob Meyer 
 and wife, hi 
 
 Portraits of Meyer and 
 wife in Madonna, 112 
 Portrait of Amerbach, 
 112-113 
 
INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Woodcut portrait of Eras- 
 mus, 1 13 
 
 Three portraits of Eras- 
 mus, 1 14 
 
 Woodcut portrait of Eras- 
 mus, 114-115 
 
 Portrait of Erasmus in 
 Parma, 115 
 
 Miniatures of Erasmus, 
 
 115 
 
 Portrait sketches of Sir 
 Thomas More and 
 father, 116 
 
 Portrait of Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 116 
 Portrait of Bishop of 
 Rochester, 117 
 Portrait of Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 1 17 
 
 Portrait of Sir Henry Guil- 
 ford, 1 17 
 
 Portrait of Nicholas 
 Kratzer, 117 
 
 Portrait of wife and chil- 
 dren, 1 18 
 
 Portrait of George Gisze, 
 
 119 
 
 Portrait of Dirk Tybis, 
 
 120 
 
 Portrait of gentleman at 
 Windsor, 120 
 
 Portrait of Jane Seymour, 
 120, 122 
 
 Portrait of Christina of 
 Denmark, 120, 122 
 Portrait of Anne of Cleves, 
 120, 122- 123 
 
 Portrait of Prince Edward, 
 
 121 
 
 Portrait of John Chambers, 
 121 
 
 Portrait of Morett, 121 
 Portrait of Robert Chese- 
 man, 121 
 
 Portrait of Thomas How- 
 ard, 121 
 
 The ambassadors, 121 
 
 Portrait of Henry VIII, 
 121 
 
 Influence at English court, 
 252-253 
 
 Hoppner, English, 1757-1810 
 Characteristics and career, 
 268-269 
 
 Jansens, Flemish, 1593= 
 1662 ( ?) 
 
 Work at English court, 253 
 
 Justus of Ghent, Flemish, 
 born 1410, date of death 
 uncertain 
 
 Work for Duke of Urbino, 
 94 
 
 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, Ger- 
 man , 1648-1723 
 Work at English court, 
 253 
 
 Largilliere, Nicholas, 
 French, 1656-1746 
 Characteristics, 214, 216 
 Portrait of Lebrun, 214 
 Works in French galleries, 
 214 
 
 La wrence, Sir Thomas, 
 English, 1769-1830 
 Characteristics, 256, 269, 
 
 270, 271 
 
 Portrait of Lady Blessing- 
 ton, 270 
 
 Portrait of Lady Gower, 
 270 
 
 Portrait of John Julius 
 Angerstein, 270 
 Portrait of Pope Pius VII, 
 270 
 
 Lebrun, Charles, French, 
 1619-1690 
 
 Characteristics, 211-212, 
 217 
 
 Lely, Sir Peter, Dutch, 1618* 
 1680 
 
308 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Copy of Van Dyck’s por- 
 trait of Charles I, 158 
 Work at English court, 253 
 Lenbach, Franz von, Ger- 
 man, 1836-1903 
 Characteristics, 277, 279- 
 
 280 
 
 Portrait of Emperor Will- 
 iam, 278 
 
 Portrait of Franz Josef, 
 278 
 
 Portrait of Theodore 
 Mommsen, 278-280 
 Portrait of Paul Heyse, 
 278 
 
 Portrait of Bjornsternc 
 Bjc5rnson, 278, 280 
 Portrait of Frans Liszt, 278 
 Portrait of Wagner, 278 
 Portrait of Count von 
 Moltke, 278, 280 
 Portraits of Prince Bis- 
 marck, 278-279 
 Portrait of Queen Mar- 
 gherita, 278 
 
 Portrait of Pope Leo XIII, 
 278 
 
 Popularity compared with 
 Sargent, 294 
 
 Leonardo, da Vinci, Italian, 
 1452-1519 
 
 Characteristics, vn., 26-28, 
 56, 255 
 
 Lost portraits of Lodovico 
 Sforza’s mistresses, 23 
 Lost portraits in S. Maria 
 della Grazie, 23 
 Portrait of Mona Lisa, 
 25, 27. 30, 33. 153 
 Portrait drawing of Isa- 
 bella d’Este, 28-29 
 Portrait drawing of him- 
 self, 29 
 
 “Belle Ferroniere” once 
 attributed to, 31 
 “The Nun” once attrib- 
 uted to, 31 
 
 The “ Goldsmith,” once at- 
 tributed to, 31 
 Compared with Diirer, 103 
 At the French court, 207 
 Lippi, Filippo, Florentine, 
 1406-1463 
 Self portrait, 7 
 Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, Sien- 
 ese, active 1323-1348 
 Good and Bad Government, 
 3 
 
 Lotto, Lorenzo, Venetian, 
 1480-1556 
 
 Characteristics, vii., 51, 56, 
 58, 59, 61, 103 
 “ Three Ages of Man ” 
 credited to, 51 
 Portrait called Laura da 
 Pola, 56-57 
 
 Portrait of Prothonotary 
 Julian, 57 
 
 “ Man with the claw,” 58 
 Portrait of Agostino and 
 Niccolo della Torre, 58 
 Luini, Lombard, 1475 ( ?) - 
 IS 33 
 
 Bentivoglio portraits in S. 
 
 Maurizio, Milan, 32 
 Self portrait in frescoes at 
 Saronno, 33 
 “ La Columbina,” 33 
 
 Mantegna, Francesco, Man- 
 tuan, 1431-1506 
 Characteristics, 18, 26 
 Portrait of Francesco Gon- 
 zaga, Naples, 18 
 Portrait of Cardinal Mez- 
 zarata, Berlin, 18, 88 
 Gonzaga family portrait 
 groups in the Castello, 
 19 
 
 Lost portrait of Isabella 
 d’Este, 20 
 
 Portrait of Duke of Gon- 
 z a g a in Madonna, 
 Louvre, 20 
 
INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 Masaccio, Florentine, 1401- 
 1428 
 
 Characteristics, 6, 8 
 Self portrait, Church of 
 Carmine, Florence, 7 
 Portraits, in frescoes, Flor- 
 ence, 7 
 
 Massys, Quentin, Flemish, 
 ? — 1530 
 
 Portraits of Carondelet, 95 
 Portrait of man in Frank- 
 fort, 95 
 
 Melozzo, da ForlI, Italian, 
 1438-1494 
 
 Historical portrait compo- 
 sition in Vatican, 22 
 
 Memling, Hans, Flemish, 
 1477-1495 
 
 Characteristics, 90, 93 
 Portraits of donors in al- 
 tarpiece, Louvre, 90 
 Portrait of Willem Morel 
 and family in altarpiece, 
 Bruges, 91 
 
 Portrait of Morel, 91 
 Portrait of Martin van 
 Nieuwenhove, 91 
 Portrait of youth in Leip- 
 zig, 92 
 
 Portrait of man in Uffizi, 
 92 
 
 Portrait of man at the 
 Hague, 92 
 
 Portrait of Anton von Bur- 
 gund, 92 
 
 Portrait of Niccolo Spin- 
 elli, 92 
 
 Portrait of young man, 
 Cologne, 93 
 
 Portrait of man in Frank- 
 fort, 93 
 
 Memmi, Simone, Sienese, 
 1285 (?) -1344 
 Portrait of Laura, 4, 164 
 
 Messina, Antonello da, 
 Venetian, about 1444-1493 
 Characteristics, 49-50, 52 
 
 The “ Condottiere,” 50 
 Metsu, G., Dutch, 1629-16 67 
 Contemporary of Hals and 
 Rembrandt, 204 
 Michelangelo, Italian, 1475- 
 
 1564 
 
 Imitated by Tintoretto, 74 
 Studied by Velasquez, 236 
 Mierevelt, Michiel, Dutch, 
 1567-1641 
 
 Anatomy Lesson, 172 
 Contemporary of Hals and 
 Rembrandt, 204 
 Mignard, Pierre, French, 
 1610-1695 
 
 Roman portraits, 213 
 Portraits of Louis XIV, 
 213 
 
 Millais, Sir John, English, 
 1829-1896 
 
 Portrait work, 281 
 Portrait of Carlyle, 292 
 Moreelse, Paul, Dutch, 
 1571-1638 
 
 Contemporary of Hals and 
 Rembrandt, 204 
 Morelli, Domenico, Italian, 
 1826-1901 
 
 Portrait of Quintino Sella, 
 276 
 
 Moretto, Brescian, 1498 ( ?) - 
 1555 
 
 Characteristics, 78 
 Portrait of Aretino, 78 
 Portraits in decorations of 
 Palazzo della Fabbrica, 
 78 
 
 Portrait of Count Sciarra 
 Martinengro, 78-79 
 Moro, Sir Antonio, Flemish, 
 1525-1578 
 
 Characteristics, 228 
 At the English court, 127, 
 253 
 
 At the Spanish court, 227 
 Portrait of Philip’s first 
 wife, 227-228 
 
310 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portrait of Queen Mary, 
 228, 253 
 
 Morone, Giovanni Battista, 
 Venetian, 1520-1578 
 Characteristics, viii., 79 
 Portrait of Tailor, 79, 80 
 Portrait of Widower, 80 
 Portrait of man in Uffizi, 
 80 
 
 Portrait of little girl in 
 
 Bergamo, 80 
 
 Mytens, Daniel, born at 
 The Hague at end of 
 16th century, died about 
 1656 
 
 Work at English court, 
 253 
 
 Le Nain, brothers (Louis 
 and Antoine, died 1648, 
 Matthieu, died 1667), 
 French 
 
 Portrait work, 212 
 
 Nattier, Jean Marc, French, 
 1685-1766 
 
 Characteristics, x., 219-220 
 Russian portraits, 217 
 Picture of Battle of Pul- 
 towa, 217 
 
 Portrait of Empress Cath- 
 erine, 218 
 Court portraits, 218 
 Portrait of Queen Marie 
 Leczinska, 218 
 Portrait of Madame Eliza- 
 beth, 220 
 
 Portrait of Madame Henri- 
 ette, 220 
 
 Portrait of Madame 
 Sophie, 220 
 
 Portrait of Madame 
 Louise, 220 
 
 Noort, Adam van, Flemish, 
 1557-1641 
 
 Teacher of Rubens, 127 
 
 Northcote, English, 1746- 
 1831 
 
 Place in English School, 
 254 
 
 Opie, English, 1761-1807 
 Characteristics, 268 
 Portrait of Charles Fox, 
 268 
 
 Portrait of Southey, 268 
 Portrait of William Sid- 
 dons, 268 
 
 Opinion of Lawrence, 270 
 Orchardson, English, 1835 — 
 Portrait work, 281 
 
 Pacheco, Spanish, 1571-1654 
 Teacher of Velasquez, 229 
 Perugino, Umbrian, 1446- 
 
 1523 
 
 Portraits in sacred compo- 
 sitions, 6 
 Self portrait, 7 
 Portraits in frescoes of 
 Sistine Chapel, 14 
 Portrait of Francesco delle 
 Opere, Uffizi, 14 
 Portrait of “ Nun ” attrib- 
 uted to, 31 
 
 Palma, Venetian, 1480c?)- 
 1528 
 
 Characteristics, 53-54, 61 
 The “Poet” in the Na- 
 tional Gallery attributed 
 to, 51 
 
 Portraits of Violante, 54 
 Pickenoy, Elias, Dutch , 
 1590-1650 or 1656 
 Corporation groups in Am- 
 sterdam, 171 
 
 Regents of House of Cor- 
 rection, 183-184 
 Pinturicchio, Sienese, 1454 - 
 I 5 I 3 . . 
 
 Portraits in sacred compo- 
 sitions, 6 
 
 Portraits in frescoes of 
 Sistine Chapel, 14 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Portrait of boy, Dresden, 
 IS 
 
 Piombo, Sebastian del, Ve- 
 netian, about 1485-1547 
 Characteristics, 55-56 
 Portrait of Vittoria Col- 
 onna, 55 
 
 Portrait of Andrea Doria, 
 
 55 
 
 Four portraits of Pope 
 Adrian, 55 
 
 Portrait of Aretino, 55 
 The “ Fornarina,” 56 
 Portrait called Dorothea, 
 
 56 
 
 Remark on Tintoretto, 75 
 Pisanello, Italian , born 1380, 
 latest date 1448 
 Portrait of Leonello d’Este, 
 5 
 
 Pontormo, Italian , 1494-1556 
 Characteristics, 40-41 
 Bortrait of Ippolito Medici, 
 4 1 
 
 Portrait of sculptor, Uffizi, 
 4i 
 
 Portrait of old man, Pitti, 
 4i 
 
 Predis, Ambrogio de, Italian, 
 contemporary of Leo- 
 nardo 
 
 Portraits in Ambrosiana, 23 
 
 Raeburn, Sir Henry, Scotch, 
 1756-1823 
 
 Characteristics, 271 
 Portraits of Sir Walter 
 Scott, 271 
 
 Raphael, Italian, 1483-1520 
 Characteristics, 34 
 Portraits of Angelo and 
 Maddelena Doni, 33 
 Self portrait, 34 
 Portraits of Leo X, 35-36, 
 
 67 
 
 Portrait of Cardinal Bib- 
 biena, 37 
 
 Portraits of Inghirami, 
 37 
 
 Portrait of Baldassare Cas- 
 tiglione, 38-39 
 Portrait of Federigo Gon- 
 zaga in frescoes of Vat- 
 ican, 38 
 
 Portrait of Joanna of Ara- 
 gon, 39 
 
 “La Donna Velata,” 39 
 Studied by Velasquez, 236, 
 242 
 
 Invited to English court, 
 252 
 
 Ravesteyn, Dutch , 1572-1657 
 Corporation groups at The 
 Hague, 171 
 
 Officers of Civil Guard, 174 
 Contemporary of Hals and 
 Rembrandt, 204 
 Rembrandt, Dutch, 1606-1669 
 Characteristics, viii., x., xii., 
 76, 186, 194, 196, 198, 204- 
 206, 250 
 
 Portrait of man, Metropol- 
 itan Museum, New York, 
 vi. 
 
 Anatomy Lesson, 173- 174 
 “Night Watch,” 180-182, 
 184 
 
 Syndics of Cloth Guild, 
 184-185, 194 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Tholinx, 
 187 
 
 Portrait of Herman Krul, 
 
 187 
 
 Portrait of Anslo, 187 
 Portrait of Berchem, 187 
 Shipbuilder, 187 
 Portraits of self, 189-192 
 Portraits of Saskia, 193 
 Portrait of Elizabeth Bas, 
 194, 200 
 
 Portrait of shipbuilder 
 and wife, 198-199 
 Portraits of father and 
 mother, 199-200 
 
312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portraits of old women, 
 200-201 
 
 Portraits of Jan Six, 202- 
 203 
 
 Etched portraits of old 
 men, 203 
 
 Reni, Guido, Italian, 1575- 
 1642 
 
 Remark about Rubens, 131 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, Eng- 
 lish, 1723-1792 
 
 Characteristics, viii., 46, 81, 
 214, 256, 257, 259, 261, 
 270 
 
 Portrait of Miss Bowles, 
 258 
 
 Portrait of Master Bun- 
 bury, 258 
 
 Portrait of Frances Harris 
 258 
 
 Portrait of Penelope 
 Boothby, 258 
 
 Portrait of Countess Spen- 
 cer, 258 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Payne- 
 Gallway, 259 
 
 Portrait of Duchess of 
 Devonshire, 259 
 
 Portrait of Lady Cockburn 
 and children, 259 
 
 Portrait of Countess Cros- 
 bie, 259 
 
 Portrait of Honourable 
 Ann Bingham, 260 
 
 Portrait of Nelly O’Brien, 
 260 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Braddyl, 
 260 
 
 Portrait of Kitty Fisher, 
 260 
 
 Portrait of Lavinia Bing- 
 ham, 260 
 
 Portrait of Johnson, 260 
 Portrait of Lord Heath- 
 field, 260 
 
 Portrait of Lawrence 
 Sterne, 260 
 
 Portrait of Charles James 
 Fox, 260 
 
 Portrait of Edmund Burke, 
 260 
 
 Portrait of Goldsmith, 260 
 Portrait of Garrick, 260 
 Portrait of Duchess of 
 Devonshire, 264 
 Portrait of Mrs. Siddons, 
 265 
 
 Compared commercially 
 with Sargent, 295 
 Ribera, Spanish, 1588-1656 
 Visited by Velasquez, 237 
 Rigaud, Hyacinthe, French, 
 
 1659-1743 
 
 Characteristics, 214-215, 216 
 Portrait of Louis XIV, 215, 
 217 
 
 Engraved portraits, 215 
 Romanino, Brescian, born 
 about 1485, died 1566 
 Characteristics, 77 
 Romney, George, English, 
 1734-1802 
 
 Characteristics, 266-267 
 Portraits of Emma Lyon, 
 266-267 
 
 Parson’s Daughter, 267 
 Portrait of Mrs. Tickell, 
 267 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Mark Cur- 
 rie, 267 
 
 Rosa, Salvator, 1615-1673 
 Conversation with Velas- 
 quez, 242 
 
 Roselli, Cosimo, Florentine, 
 1439-1507 
 
 Mural decorations, 6 
 Rubens, Peter Paul, Finnish 
 Characteristics, x., xii., 46, 
 130-131, 137, 143. 144, 170, 
 2°4 
 
 Copy of Titian’s portrait of 
 Isabella d’Este, 70 
 Environment and training, 
 125- 130, 229 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 Portraits of Albert and Isa- 
 bella, 131 
 
 Portraits of archdukes in 
 altarpiece of St. Ilde- 
 fonso, 132 
 
 Portrait of Marie de’ Med- 
 ici, 132-133 * 
 
 Portrait of Baron le Vicq, 
 133 
 
 Portraits of Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, 134 
 
 Portrait of Gerbier family, 
 
 135 
 
 Portrait of Philip IV, 136 
 Portrait of Elizabeth of 
 Bourbon, 136 
 
 Portrait of Cardinal Ferdi- 
 nand, 136 
 
 Portrait of Rockox, 136 
 Portrait of “ S c h o 1 a r,” 
 
 136 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Thulden, 
 136 
 
 Portrait group of Pitti, 137 
 Portrait of self with Isa- 
 bella, 138 
 
 Portrait of sons, 138-139 
 Portrait of self and Helena 
 in “ Promenade,” 139 
 The “ Morning Walk,” 140 
 Portrait of Helena in St. 
 
 Petersburg, 140 
 Portrait of Helena in 
 Munich, 141 
 
 Portrait of Helena in Am- 
 sterdam, 141 
 
 Portraits of Helena with 
 child, 141 
 
 Portraits of self, 142 
 “ Chapeau de Poil,” 225 
 
 Santerre, French, 1650-1717 
 Portrait of Duchesse de 
 Bourgogne, 212 
 Santvoort, Dirck, Dutch, 
 1610-1680 
 
 Corporation groups, 183 
 
 Sargent, John Singer, 
 American, 1856 — 
 Characteristics, 141, 293, 
 
 295, 297, 298-299 
 Portrait of Henry Higgin- 
 son, 293, 294 
 
 Portrait of Hon. Laura 
 Lister, 295 
 
 Portrait of Beatrice Goelet, 
 
 296 
 
 “ Carnation, Lily, Lily, 
 Rose,” 296 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Meyer and 
 Children, 297 
 
 Portrait of Ladies Acheson, 
 
 297 
 
 Portrait of the Misses 
 Hunt, 297 
 
 Portrait of Miss Thomas, 
 297 
 
 Portrait of Wm. M. Chase, 
 
 297 
 
 Portrait of Booth, 297 
 Portrait of Jefferson, 297 
 Portrait of Ada Rehan, 298 
 Portrait of Ellen Terry, 
 
 298 
 
 Portrait of Wolff, 298 
 Sarto, Andrea del, Floren- 
 tine, 1486-1531 
 At the French court, 207 
 SCHOOTEN, JORIS VAN, Dutch, 
 
 1587-1651 
 
 Corporation groups at Ley- 
 den, 172 
 
 Shannon, J. J., American, 
 1862 — 
 
 Characteristics, 299 
 Shee, Sir M. A., English, 
 contemporary of Reyn- 
 olds 
 
 Place in English School, 254 
 Signorelli, Italian, 1441-1523 
 Self portrait, Orvieto, 7 
 Solario, Andrea, Italian, 
 born about 1460, died 
 about 1530 
 
314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portrait of Christoforo 
 Longono, Louvre, 32 
 Portrait of Charles of Am- 
 boise, Louvre, 32 
 Somer, Van, Flemish , 1576- 
 1621 
 
 Work at English court, 253 
 Stuart, Sir Gilbert, Amer- 
 ican, 1755-1828 
 Relation to English School, 
 271-272 
 
 Tintoretto, Jacopo, Vene- 
 tian, 1518-1592 
 Characteristics, 74, 76 
 Portrait of Aretino, 75 
 Portrait of Sansovino, 75- 
 76 
 
 Portrait of Doge Marcan- 
 tonio Trevisano, 76 
 Copied by Velasquez, 236 
 Titian, Venetian, 1477-1576 
 Characteristics, viii., x., xi., 
 xii., 60-61, 69, 72-73, 147, 
 255, 284 
 
 Man with the Glove, vi., 
 62 
 
 Portrait of Ippolito Medici, 
 4i 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Parma at- 
 tributed to, 51 
 Portrait of Ariosto attrib- 
 uted to, 51 
 
 Portrait of Tommaso 
 
 Mosti, 62 
 
 Supposed portrait of Ales- 
 sandro de’ Medici, 62 
 Portrait of Federigo Gon- 
 zaga, 62-63 
 
 Portrait of Doge Andrea 
 Gritti, 63 
 
 Portraits of Charles V, 63- 
 64 
 
 Portrait of Isabella, 65 
 Portraits of Philip II, 65-66 
 Portraits of Pope Paul III, 
 66 
 
 Portraits of Lavinia, 68-69 
 “ Flora,” 69 
 La Bella, 70 
 
 Portraits of Duke and 
 Duchess of Urbino, 70 
 Portrait of Isabella d’Este, 
 7 ° 
 
 Portrait of Aretino, 71 
 Imitated by Tintoretto, 74 
 Idolized by Van Dyck and 
 Rubens, 145 
 
 Copied by Velasquez, 236 
 Troy, Franqois de, French, 
 1645-1730 
 
 Portraits of ladies, 215 
 Tura, Cosimo, Ferrarese, 
 1432-1495 
 
 Portraits of Duke Borso in 
 Schifanoia Palace, 16-17 
 
 Valckert, Werner van, 
 Dutch, 17th century 
 Corporation groups, 183 
 Veen, Otto van, Dutch, 1558- 
 1629 
 
 Teacher of Rubens, 127 
 Velasquez, Spanish, 1599- 
 1660 
 
 Characteristics, vii., ix., x., 
 xi., xii., 124, 236, 237, 249- 
 250, 255, 271 
 
 Portraits of Philip IV, ix., 
 136, 189, 279 
 
 Lady with the Fan, Wallace 
 Collection, London, vi., 
 247-248 
 
 Environment and training, 
 228-230 
 
 Equestrian portrait of 
 Philip IV, 230 
 Full-length portrait of 
 Philip IV, 232 
 Portrait of Don Carlos, 
 232-233 
 
 Portrait of Don Ferdinand, 
 232-233 
 
 Portrait of Philip IV, 233 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Portrait of Charles I, 235 
 The “ Topers,” 236 
 Surrender of Breda, 237 
 Equestrian portrait of 
 Philip IV, 238 
 Equestrian portrait of 
 Queen Isabella, 238-239 
 Portraits of Olivarez, 239 
 Portraits of Don Balthasar 
 Carlos, 240-241 
 Portrait of Philip IV in 
 hunting costume, 241 
 Portrait of Montanez, 241 
 Portrait of Admiral Pulido, 
 241 
 
 Portrait of Pope Innocent 
 X, 241-242 
 
 Portraits of Queen Mari- 
 ana, 243-244 
 
 Portraits of Maria Theresa, 
 243-244 
 
 Portraits of Princess Mar- 
 garet, 244-245, 296 
 Las Meninas, 245-246 
 Portrait of Prince Philip 
 Prosper, 246 
 
 Contrasted with Van Dyck, 
 246 
 
 Portrait of wife, 248 
 Portraits of dwarfs and 
 buff 007 248 
 
 Last portraits of Philip IV, 
 248-249 
 
 Whistler and Sargent com- 
 pared with, 294 
 
 Verocchio, Florentine, 1435- 
 1488 
 
 Portrait of Florentine girl, 
 12 (note) 
 
 Veronese, Paolo, Venetian , 
 1528-1588 
 
 Characteristics, 80 
 Portraits in Marriage at 
 Cana, 80-81 
 
 Verspronck, Joannes, Dutch, 
 1597-1662 
 
 Corporation groups, 183 
 
 Vivarini, Alvise, Venetian, 
 active, 1461-1503 
 Characteristics, 51, 52 
 Vouet, Simon, French, 1590- 
 1649 
 
 Portrait work, 212 
 
 Watteau, Antoine, French, 
 1684-1721 
 
 Influence on contemporary 
 art, 217 
 
 Watts, George Frederick, 
 English, 1817-1904 
 Characteristics, viii., 281- 
 282, 283, 285 
 
 Portrait of Carlyle, 282, 292 
 Portrait of John Stuart 
 Mill, 282 
 
 Portraits of Tennyson, 282, 
 284 
 
 Portrait of Matthew Ar- 
 nold, 282 
 
 Portrait of Robert Brown- 
 ing, 282 
 
 Portrait of Rossetti, 282 
 Portrait of Sir Andrew 
 Clark, 282 
 
 Portrait of Motley, 282 
 Portrait of William Morris, 
 
 282 
 
 Portrait of Lord Lytton, 283 
 Portrait of George Mere- 
 dith, 283 
 
 Portrait of Leslie Stephen, 
 
 283 
 
 Portrait of Walter Crane, 
 
 284 
 
 Portrait of Cardinal Man- 
 ning, 284 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Percy 
 Windham, 284 
 Portrait of Mrs. Nassau 
 Senior, 284 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Hughes, 
 284-285 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Leslie 
 Stephen, 285 
 
316 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portrait of Lady Granby, 
 285 
 
 Portrait of Lady Mount 
 Temple, 285 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Ellice, 285 
 Grouped with Whistler and 
 Sargent, 294 
 
 West, Benjamin, American, 
 1738-1820 
 
 Influence on A m er i c a n 
 painters in England, 272 
 
 Weyden, van der, Roger, 
 Flemish, 1432-1464 
 Portrait of Philip the Good 
 in Adoration of Kings, 90 
 Portrait of Charles the 
 Bold in Adoration of 
 Kings, 90 
 
 Whistler, James McNeill, 
 American, 1834-1903 
 Characteristics, vii., 285-287, 
 293 
 
 The “Yellow Buskin,” 286 
 An “ Arrangement in Black 
 and Brown,” 287 
 The “ White Girl,” 287 
 The “ Little White Girl,” 
 287 
 
 Symphony in White, 288 
 Portrait of Miss Alexander, 
 288, 292, 296 
 
 The 41 Rose of Lyme,” 288 
 
 Portraits of Henry Irving, 
 289 
 
 Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, 
 290, 291-292 
 
 Portrait of his mother, 290- 
 291 
 
 Portrait of Sarasate, 291, 
 293 , 294 
 
 Winterhalter, German , 
 1806-1873 
 
 Portrait of Louis Philippe 
 and his queen, 277 
 
 Portrait of King and Queen 
 of Belgium, 277 
 
 Portrait of Emperor and 
 Empress of Russia, 277 
 
 Portrait of Napoleon and 
 Eugenie, 277 
 
 Portraits of King Edward 
 in youth, 277 
 
 Wohlgemut, Michael, Ger- 
 man, 1434-1519 
 
 Teacher of Diirer, 98, 99 
 
 Zen ale, Italian, 1436-1526 
 
 Portraits of Lodovico 
 Sforza and wife, in Ma- 
 donna in Brera, 24 
 
 Zucchero (or Zuccaro), Ital- 
 i.in. 1543-1609 
 
 Portrait of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, 253 
 
 INDEX OF PORTRAITS 
 
 Acheson, Ladies 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Acronius, Johannes 
 Portrait by Hals in Berlin, 
 187 
 
 Adrian, Pope 
 Portrait by Sebastian del 
 Piombo, 55 
 
 Albert, of Austria, Arch- 
 duke of Netherlands 
 Portrait by Rubens, 131 
 Portrait by Rubens in al- 
 tar-piece of St. Ildefonso, 
 132 
 
 Albizzi, Giovanna degli 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 12 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Alencon, Due D* 
 
 Portraits by one of Clou- 
 ets, St. Petersburg and 
 Chantilly, 210 
 Alexander, Miss 
 
 Portrait by Whistler, 288, 
 292, 296 
 
 Amerbach, Boniface 
 Portrait by Holbein, Basle, 
 112 
 
 Angelico, Fra 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Angerstein, John Julius 
 Portrait by Lawrence, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 270 
 Anne, of Cleves 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, 
 Louvre, 121, 122-123 
 Anne, Princess 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 161 
 Anslo 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt in 
 Berlin, 187 
 Aretino 
 
 Portrait by Sebastian del 
 Piombo, 55 
 
 Portrait by Titian, Pitti, 
 7 1 
 
 By Tintoretto, 75 
 By Moretto, 78 
 Ariosto 
 
 Portrait attributed to 
 Titian and Giorgione, 51 
 Arnold, Matthew 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Arnolfini and Wife 
 
 Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, 
 National Gallery, Lon- 
 don, 89, 92 
 Arnould, Sophie 
 Portrait by Greuze, Wal- 
 lace Collection, 221 
 Avalos, Alfonso d’ 
 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
 Baldovinetti 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 12 
 Balthasar 
 See Carlos 
 Bas, Elizabeth 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt, 
 194, 200 
 
 Bassano, Jacopo 
 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 81 
 Bastiano 
 
 Portrait _by Ghirlandajo, 
 12 
 
 Bedford, William, Duke of 
 See Digby 
 Bellini, Gentile 
 Portrait by himself. 49 
 Bentivoglio, Alessandro 
 Portrait by Luini in deco- 
 rations of S. Maurizio, 
 Milan, 32 
 
 Bentivoglio, Ippolita 
 (Sforza) 
 
 Portrait by Luini in deco- 
 rations of S. Maurizio, 
 Milan, 32 
 
 Bentivoglio, Cardinal 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Pitti, 146 
 Berchem 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt, 
 Grosvenor House, Lon- 
 don, 187 
 
 Beresteyn, Nicolas 
 Portrait by Hals, Louvre, 
 187 
 
 Bianchi, Bartolommeo 
 Portrait by Francia, pri- 
 vate collection, Eng., 21 
 Bibbiena, Cardinal 
 Portrait by Raphael, 37 
 Bingham, Hon. Ann 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Bingham, Lavinia 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 
318 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bismarck 
 
 Portraits by Lenbach, 189 
 (note), 278-279 
 Bjornson, Bjornsterne 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278, 
 280 
 
 Blessington, Lady 
 
 Portrait by Lawrence, 
 Wallace Collection, Lon- 
 don, 270 
 
 “ El Bobo,” Spanish Dwarf 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 Bobbe, Hille 
 
 Portraits by Hals, 195, 197, 
 202 
 
 Boccaccio 
 
 Portraits referred to by 
 contemporary writers, 4 
 Booth, Edwin 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Boothby, Penelope 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 258 
 Botticelli 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Bourgogne, Duchesse de 
 Portrait by Santerre, Ver- 
 sailles, 212 
 Bowles, Miss 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, Wal- 
 lace Collection, 258 
 Braddyl, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Brandenburg, Albert of, 
 Cardinal 
 
 Portrait sketch and en- 
 graved portrait by Diirer, 
 
 105 
 
 Brandt, Isabella, Wife of 
 Rubens 
 See Rubens 
 
 Brignole - Sala, Marchese 
 and Marches a 
 Portraits by Van Dyck, 148 
 Bronzino 
 
 Portrait by Pontormo in 
 Cassone decoration, 41 
 
 Browning, Robert 
 
 Portrait by Gordigiani, 276 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Browning, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Gordigiani, 276 
 Brun, Le, Madame 
 Portraits by herself : in 
 
 Uffizi, Louvre and else- 
 where, 225 
 
 Brun, Le, Madame, Daugh- 
 ter of 
 
 Portrait reproduced in il- 
 lustration, 225 
 Brunellesco 
 Portrait by Masaccio, 7 
 Buckingham, Duke of 
 Two portraits by Rubens, 
 134 
 
 Bunbury, Master 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 258 
 Burgund, Anton von 
 Portrait by Memling, 92 
 Burke, Edmund 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 
 Campbell, Lady Archibald 
 Portrait by Whistler, 286- 
 287 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of 
 Portrait by Holbein, 
 Louvre, 116, 1 17 
 Carducci 
 
 Portrait by Corcos, 276 
 Carlos, Don 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 232- 
 233 
 
 Carlos, Don Balthasar 
 Portrait by Velasquez with 
 dwarf. 240 
 
 Portrait in hunting cos- 
 tume. Velasquez, Prado. 
 240 
 
 Equestrian portrait by Ve- 
 lasquez, Prado, 241 
 Portrait at fourteen years, 
 by Velasquez, Prado, 241 
 Carlyle, Thomas 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 282, 
 292 
 
 Portrait by Whistler, 290, 
 291-292 
 
 Portrait by Millais, 292 
 Carnot 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Carondelet, Chancellor 
 T wo portraits by Massys, 
 95 
 
 Castiglione, Baldassare 
 Portrait by Raphael, 38-39 
 Catherine, Empress of Rus- 
 sia 
 
 Portrait (unfinished) by 
 Nattier, 218 
 Chambers, John 
 Portrait by Holbein, 
 Vienna, 121 
 Charles of Amboise 
 Portrait by Solario, 
 Louvre, 32 
 Charles the Bold 
 Portrait by Van der Wey- 
 den in Adoration of 
 Kings, 90 
 
 Charles, Prince of Wales 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 160- 
 161 
 
 Charles I, King of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Portraits by Van Dyck, 
 
 155, 156, 189, 224 
 Threefold portrait by Van 
 
 Dyck, 156 
 
 Equestrian portrait by Van 
 Dyck, 157 
 
 Portrait in hunting cos- 
 tume by Van Dyck, 157 
 Portrait by Van Dyck 
 copied by Lely, 158 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 235 
 Charles I, King of Eng- 
 land, Children of 
 Portraits by Van Dyck, 
 
 156, 160-161, 246 
 Charles IV, King of Spain 
 
 Portrait by Goya, 251 
 Charles V, Emperor 
 Portrait standing by Titian, 
 in Madrid Gallery, 64 
 In armchair, by Titian, 
 Munich, 64 
 
 Equestrian portrait by 
 Titian, Madrid, 64 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
 Charles IX, King of France 
 Portraits by one of Clou- 
 ets, Vienna and the 
 Louvre, 210 
 Chase, William M. 
 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Chavannes, Puvis de 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Cheseman, Robert 
 Portrait by Holbein, The 
 Hague, 121 
 
 Christina, of Denmark 
 Portrait by Holbein, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 120, 122 
 Cimabue 
 
 Portrait in frescoes of 
 Spanish Chapel, 4 
 Clark, Sir Andrew 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Cockburn, Lady 
 Portrait by Reynolds, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 259 
 Cocq, Frans Banning, Cap- 
 t a 1 n of Amsterdam 
 Musketeers 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt in 
 Sortie of Civic Guard, 
 181 
 
 Cogniet, L£on 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 COLONNA, V ITTORIA 
 
 Portrait by Sebastian del 
 Piombo, 55 
 Colyns, Madame de 
 Portrait bv Van Dyck with 
 child, Munich, 152 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Corder, Miss Rosa 
 
 Portrait by Whistler, 287 
 Crane, Walter 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 283 
 Crivelli, Lucrezia 
 
 Lost portrait by Leonardo 
 da Vinci, 23 
 Crosbie, Countess 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 
 259 
 
 Currie, Mrs. Mark 
 Portrait by Romney, 267 
 Cusance, Beatrice de 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Windsor Castle, 164 
 
 Dante 
 
 Portrait in Bargello fresco, 
 4 
 
 Portraits referred to by 
 contemporary writers, 4 
 Descartes, French Philos- 
 opher 
 
 Portrait by Hals, Louvre, 
 187 
 
 Devonshire, Duchess of 
 Portrait, with child, by 
 Reynolds, 259 
 Portrait by Reynolds, full 
 length, 264 
 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 264 
 
 Digby, George, Earl of Bris- 
 tol 
 
 Portrait with William, 
 Duke of Bedford, by 
 Van Dyck, Althorp, Eng., 
 164 
 
 Venetia, Lady 
 Portrait l>> Wan Dyck, 
 Windsor Castle, 164 
 Donatello 
 
 Portrait by Masaccio, 7 
 Don 1, Angelo 
 Portrait by Raphael, Pitti, 
 33 
 
 Doni, Mapdelena 
 
 Portrait by Raphael, Pitti, 
 
 33 
 
 Doria, Andrea 
 Portrait by Sebastian del 
 Piombo, Doria Gallery, 
 Rome, 55 
 Dorothea 
 
 Portait by Sebastian del 
 Piombo, Berlin Gallery, 
 
 56 
 
 Dumas 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Duran, Madame Carolus 
 Portrait by Duran, 275 
 DOrer, Albert 
 Portrait drawing by him- 
 self, Albertina, Vienna, 
 
 98 
 
 Portrait by himself, 1493, 
 Felix Coll., Leipzig, 100 
 Portrait by himself, 1498, 
 Uffizi, Florence, 100 
 Portrait by himself, 1500, 
 Munich, 101-102 
 Portrait by himself in 
 Feast of Rose Garlands, 
 102 
 
 DOrer, Albert, Father of 
 Portrait by Diirer, 98-99 
 DOrer, Albert, Mother of 
 Portrait sketch by Diirer, 
 
 99 
 
 Edward, Prince of Wales 
 Portrait by Holbein, 121 
 Edward VII, King of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Portraits in youth (Prince 
 of Wales), by Winter- 
 halter, 277 
 
 Eleanor, Queen of France 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
 By one of the Clouets, 
 
 210 
 
 Eleanor of Toledo 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Portrait by Bronzino, Uffizi, 
 4 2 
 
 Elisabeth of Bourbon 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, Mu- 
 nich, 136 
 
 Elizabeth of Austria 
 Portraits by one of Clouets, 
 Chantilly and Louvre, 210 
 Elizabeth, Princess 
 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 161 
 Elizabeth, Queen of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Portrait by Lucas de Heere, 
 253 
 
 By Mark Gerard, 253 
 By Zucchcro, 253 
 Elizabeth, Madame, French 
 Princess 
 
 Portrait by Nattier, Ver- 
 sailles, 220 
 Ellice, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 285 
 Erasmus 
 
 Portrait by Holbein in 
 Louvre, 57, 114 
 Engraved portrait by 
 Durer, 106 
 
 Portrait sketch by Holbein, 
 
 Woodcut portrait by Hol- 
 bein, 1 13 
 
 Three portraits by Holbein, 
 
 Wood-cut portrait by Hol- 
 bein, 114-115 „ , 
 
 Portrait in Parma by Hol- 
 bein, 1 15 
 
 Miniatures by Holbein, 115 
 Este, Beatrice d’ 
 
 Lost portrait by Leonardo, 
 S. Maria della Grazie, 23 
 Portrait by Zenale, in Ma- 
 donna, 24 
 
 Este, Borso d\ Duke of 
 Ferrara 
 
 Portraits by Cosimo Tura, 
 
 1 7 
 
 Este, Isabella d* 
 
 Lost portrait by Mantegna, 
 
 20, 28 
 
 Lost portrait by Francia, 
 
 21, 28 
 
 Portrait drawing by Leo- 
 nardo, 28-29 
 
 Portrait by Rubens after 
 Titian (Vienna), 70 
 Este, Leonello d\ Duke of 
 Ferrara 
 
 Portrait by Pisanello, 5 
 Eugene IV, Pope 
 Portrait by Fouquet, 208 
 Eugenie, Empress of France 
 Portrait by Winterhalter, 
 2 77 
 
 Eyck, Van, Wife of 
 Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, 
 86 
 
 Farnese, Cardinal 
 
 Portraits by Titian, Cor- 
 sini, Rome, and Naples, 
 66 
 
 Portrait in group with 
 Paul III., Naples, 67 
 Ferdinand, Cardinal 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, Mu- 
 nich, 136 
 
 By Velasquez, 232-233 
 Ficino 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 12 
 Fisher, Kitty 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 
 Lenox Gallery, New 
 York, 260 
 
 Fourment, Helena, Second 
 Wife of Rubens 
 See Rubens 
 Fox, Charles James 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Portrait by Opie, 268 
 Francis I, King of France 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portraits by the Clouets ; 
 equestrian, Uffizi ; bust, 
 Louvre ; head, Chantilly. 
 Frederick, " the W i s e” 
 Elector 
 
 Portrait by Diirer, Berlin 
 Gallery, ioi 
 
 Engraved portrait by 
 Diirer, 105 
 
 Gaddi 
 
 Portrait in frescoes of 
 Spanish Chapel, 4 
 Gallerani, Cecilia 
 Lost portrait by Leonardo 
 da Vinci, 23 
 Garcia, Don 
 See Medici 
 Garrick 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Gentile, da Fabriano 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Gerbier Family 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, 135 
 Ghirlandajo, David 
 
 Portrait by Domenico Ghir- 
 landajo, 12 
 
 Ghirlandajo, Domenico 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Gisze, George 
 Portrait by Holbein, 119- 
 120 
 
 Goelet, Miss Beatrice 
 Portrait by Sargent, 296 
 Goldsmith, Oliver 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Gonzaga, Eleanora, Duch- 
 ess op Urbino 
 Idealized portrait by Titian 
 as La Bella, Pitti, 70 
 Companion portrait to 
 
 Duke of Urbino, by 
 
 Titian. Uffizi, 70 
 Gonzaga, Federigo 
 
 Portrait by Francia, 20 
 Portrait by Raphael in Vat- 
 ican frescoes, 38 
 
 Portrait by Titian, Madrid, 
 62-63 
 
 Gonzaga, Francesco, Car- 
 dinal 
 
 Portrait by Mantegna, Na- 
 ples, 18 
 
 Portrait in Castello fres- 
 coes by Mantegna, 19 
 Gonzaga, Francesco, Mar- 
 chese 
 
 Portrait by Mantegna in 
 Madonna of Victory, 20 
 Gonzaga, Lodovico, Mar- 
 chese 
 
 Portrait by Mantegna in 
 Castello frescoes, 19 
 Gounod 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Gower, Lady 
 
 Portrait by Lawrence, Staf- 
 ford House, London. 
 270 
 
 Gozzoli, Benozzo 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Graham, Hon. Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 263 
 
 Granby, Lady 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 285 
 Gr£vy 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Gritti, Doge Andreas 
 Portrait by Titian, Vienna, 
 
 63 
 
 Grotius 
 
 Portrait by Rubens in 
 group, 137 
 
 Guilford, Sir Henry 
 Portrait by Holbein, Wind- 
 sor, 1 17 
 
 Hallet, Squire, and Wife 
 Portrait by Gainsborough. 
 262 
 
 Hamilton, Lady 
 See Lyon, Emma 
 Haaring 
 
INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 Etched portrait by Rem- 
 brandt, 203-204 
 Hals, Frans 
 
 Portrait by himself with 
 wife, 138, 188-189 
 Harris, Frances 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 258 
 Heathfield, Lord 
 Portrait by Reynolds, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 260 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen of 
 England 
 
 Portraits by Van Dyck, 156, 
 
 158 
 
 Portrait by Van Dyck with 
 Geoffrey Hudson, pri- 
 vate collection, Eng., 
 
 159 
 
 Henriette, Madame, French 
 Princess 
 
 Portrait by Nattier, Ver- 
 sailles, 220 
 
 Henry II, King of France 
 Portraits by one of Clouets, 
 Louvre and Windsor, 
 210 
 
 Henry VIII, King of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Portrait (lost) by Holbein, 
 121 
 
 Heyse, Paul 
 Portrait bv Lenbach, 278 
 Higginson, Henry 
 Portrait by Sargent, 293, 
 
 294 
 
 Holbein, Wife of 
 Portrait by Holbein, 118 
 Holschuher, Hieronymus 
 Portrait by Diirer, Berlin, 
 107-108 
 
 Hoornebeek, Professor in 
 University of Leyden 
 Portrait by Hals, Brussels, 
 
 187 
 
 Howard, Thomas 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, Wind- 
 sor, 121 
 
 Hudson, Geoffrey, Dwarf 
 Portrait by Van Dyck with 
 Queen Henrietta Maria, 
 159 
 
 Hughes, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 284-285 
 Hugo, Victor 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Hunter, The Misses 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Huythuysen, Willem van 
 Portrait by Hals, 197 
 
 Ilpenstein, Baby 
 Portrait by Hals, 197 
 Imhof, Hans 
 
 Supposed portrait by Diirer, 
 107 
 
 Inohirami 
 
 Portraits by Raphael, 37, 
 38 
 
 “Inglese,” Spanish Dwarf 
 P o r t r a it by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 Innocent X, Pope 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Doria Gallery, Rome, 241- 
 242 
 
 Irving, Sir Henry 
 Portrait by Whistler, 289 
 Isabella of Bourbon, Queen 
 of Spain 
 
 Equestrian portrait by Ve- 
 lasquez, Prado, 238- 
 239 
 
 Isabella, Clara Eugenia, 
 Archduchess of Neth- 
 erla nds 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, 131 
 Portrait by Rubens in altar- 
 piece of St. Ildefonso, 
 132 
 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Turin, 153-154 
 Isabella, Empress 
 Portrait by Titian, Madrid 
 Gallery, 65 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 James, Duke of York 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 161 
 Jefferson, Joseph 
 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Joanna of Aragon 
 
 Portrait by Raphael, 
 Louvre, 39 
 Johnson, Samuel 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 260 
 Jonghe, Clement de 
 Etched portrait by Rem- 
 brandt, 203 
 
 Josef, Franz, Emperor of 
 Germany 
 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278 
 Juan, of Austria, Don 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 Julius II, Pope 
 Portrait by Raphael, Uffizi, 
 35 
 
 Portrait by Raphael in 
 frescoes of Vatican, 35 
 Portrait bust by Michel- 
 angelo, 35 
 
 Portrait by Diirer in 
 Feast of Rose Garlands, 
 102 
 
 See also Giuliano della 
 Rovere 
 
 Justinian, Emperor 
 Mosaic portrait in S. Vitale, 
 Ravenna, 2 
 
 Kratzer, Nicholas 
 Portrait by Holbein, 
 Louvre, 1 17 
 Krel, Oswald 
 Portrait by Diirer, Munich, 
 101 
 
 Krul, Herman, Dutch Poet 
 Portrait by Rembrandt at 
 Cassel, 187 
 
 Landino 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo. 12 
 
 Laud, Archbishop 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, pri- 
 vate coll., Eng., 162 
 Laura 
 
 Portrait by Memmi, 4, 164 
 Lavigerie, Cardinal 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 L a v 1 n 1 a , Daughter of 
 Titian 
 
 Portrait by Titian, Berlin 
 Gallery, 68 
 
 Portrait by Titian with 
 fan, Dresden Gallery, 68 
 Two later portraits in 
 Dresden and Vienna, 69 
 Lebrun 
 
 Portrait by Largilliere, 
 214 
 
 Leo X, Pope 
 
 Portrait by Raphael, Pitti, 
 35-36, 67 
 
 Portrait by Raphael in 
 frescoes of Vatican, 36 
 Leo XIII, Pope 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278 
 Leonardo, da Vinci 
 Portrait drawing by him- 
 self, 29 
 
 Leopold, King of Belgium, 
 and His Queen 
 Portraits by Winterhalter. 
 277 
 
 Leyden, Lucas van 
 Portrait by Diirer, 106 
 Linley, Elizabeth 
 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 263 
 
 Lippi. Filippo 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Lipsrus 
 
 Portrait by Rubens in 
 group, 137 
 Liszt, Frans 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278 
 London, Bishop of 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, Wind- 
 sor, 1 17 
 
INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Longono, Christoforo 
 
 Portrait by Andrea Solario, 
 Louvre, 32 
 Loredano, Doge 
 
 Portrait by Bellini in Na- 
 tional Gallery, 48 
 In Dresden Gallery and 
 Bergamo, 48 (note) 
 
 Louis XIV, King of France 
 Portraits by Mignard, 213 
 Portrait by Rigaud, Louvre, 
 215, 217 
 
 Louis XVI, King of France 
 Portrait by Greuze, 222 
 Louis Philippe and His 
 Queen 
 
 Portraits by Winterhalter, 
 277 
 
 Louise, Madame, French 
 Princess 
 
 Portrait by Nattier, Ver- 
 sailles, 220 
 Lubek, Jakob of 
 
 Portrait by Diirer, 106 
 Luini 
 
 Portrait by himself in fres- 
 coes at Saronno, 33 
 Lutma, Jan 
 
 Etched portrait by Rem- 
 brandt, 203 
 
 Lyon, Emma (afterward 
 Lady Hamilton) 
 Portraits by Romney, 266- 
 267 
 
 Lytton, Lord 
 Portrait by Watts, 283 
 
 Mahomet, Emperor 
 Portrait by Gentile Bellini, 
 49 
 
 Malatesta, of Rimini 
 Portrait by Pietro della 
 Francesca, 16 
 Manning, Cardinal 
 Portrait by Watts, 283 
 Margaret, Spanish Princess 
 Portraits by Velasquez, full 
 
 length, Vienna, half- 
 length, Louvre, 244-245 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez in 
 Las Meninas, 245 
 Margherita, Queen of 
 Italy 
 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278 
 Maria, Spanish Princess, 
 and Queen of Hungary 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 234, 237 
 Maria Theresa, Spanish 
 Princess 
 
 Portraits by Velasquez, 
 Prado, Vienna and 
 Louvre, 243-244 
 Mariana, of Austria, 
 Queen of Spain 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 243-244 
 
 Marie Antoinette, Queen 
 of France 
 
 Portraits by Madame Le 
 Brun, 224 
 
 Portrait by Madame Le 
 Brun in group, Ver- 
 sailles, 224 
 
 Marie Leczinska, Queen of 
 France 
 
 Portrait by Nattier, Ver- 
 sailles, 218 
 
 Martinengro, Count Sci- 
 arra 
 
 Portrait by Moretto, 78-79 
 Mary (Tudor), Queen of 
 England 
 
 Portrait by Veronese, in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
 By Sir Anthony Moro, 
 228, 253 
 Mary Stuart 
 
 Portrait by one of the 
 Clouets, Wallace Collec- 
 tion, 210 
 Mary, Princess 
 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 161 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Masaccio 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Masolino 
 
 Portrait by Masaccio, 7 
 Maximilian, Emperor 
 Portrait by Diirer in Feast 
 of Rose Garlands, 102 
 Portrait sketch by Diirer, 
 104 
 
 Oil portrait by Diirer, 105 
 Water-colour portrait by 
 Diirer, 105 
 
 Two woodcut portraits by 
 Diirer, 105 
 
 Maximian, Archbishop 
 Portrait in mosaic at Ra- 
 venna, 2 
 
 Medici, Alessandro de’ 
 Supposed portrait by Ti- 
 tian, 62 
 
 de’ Medici, Catherine, 
 Queen of France 
 Portrait by one of Clouets, 
 Czartaryski Gallery, St. 
 Petersburg, 210 
 Cosimo, pater patriae 
 Portrait by Benozzo Goz- 
 zoli in Riccardi fres- 
 coes, 8 
 
 Portrait by Botticelli in 
 Adoration of Kings, 9 
 Cosimo (I, Grand Duke) 
 Portrait by Bronzino, 
 Pitti, 42 
 Garcia 
 
 Portrait by Bronzino, 
 Uffizi, 4 2 
 Giovanni 
 
 Portrait by Botticelli in 
 Adoration of Kings, 9 
 Giulia no 
 
 Portrait by Botticelli in 
 Adoration of Kings, 9 
 By Botticelli, 9-10 
 Ippolito 
 
 Portrait by Pontormo, 
 4i 
 
 Portrait by Titian, Pitti, 
 4i 
 
 Lorenzo, the Magnificent 
 Portrait by Benozzo Goz- 
 zoli in Riccardi fres- 
 coes, 8, 9 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 
 12 
 
 Marie, Queen of France 
 Portrait by Rubens, 132- 
 133 
 
 Piero (son of Cosimo, pa - 
 ter patriae ) 
 
 Portrait by Benozzo Goz- 
 zoli in Riccardi fres- 
 coes, 8 
 
 Piero (son of Lorenzo) 
 Portrait by Botticelli, as 
 “Medallist,” 10 
 Meer, Van der, Lady 
 
 Portrait by Hals, 194 
 Melanchthon, 
 
 Engraved portrait by 
 Diirer, 106 
 Mellini, Pietro 
 
 Portrait bust by Benedetto 
 da Majano, 6 
 Mem mi 
 
 Portrait in frescoes of 
 Spanish Chapel, 4 
 Menzel 
 
 Portrait by Boldini, 276 
 Meredith, George 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 283 
 Meyer, Mrs. and Children 
 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Meyer, Jacob 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, Basle, 
 hi 
 
 Portrait by Holbein in Ma- 
 donna, 112 
 Meyer, Wife of 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, Basle, 
 hi 
 
 Portrait by Holbein in Ma- 
 donna, 1 12 
 
 Mezzarata, Cardinal 
 
INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Portrait by Mantegna, 18, 
 
 88 
 
 Mill, John Stuart 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Millet, Aime 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Moltke, Count von 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278, 
 280 
 
 Mommsen, Theodore 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278, 
 280 
 
 Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) 
 Portrait by Leonardo da 
 Vinci, 25, 27, 30, 33, 153 
 Moncada, Marquis of 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Louvre, 151 
 
 Montanez, Spanish Sculp- 
 tor 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 241 
 More, Sir John 
 Portrait sketch by Holbein, 
 1 16 
 
 More, Sir Thomas 
 Family group portrait 
 (lost) by Holbein, 116 
 Portrait sketch of, by Hol- 
 bein, 1 16 
 Morel, Willem 
 Portrait by Mending, 91. 
 Portrait by Memling, with 
 family as donors, in 
 altar-piece, 91 
 Morett, Hubert 
 Portrait by Holbein, Dres- 
 den, 121 
 
 Morris, William 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Mosti, Tommaso 
 Portrait by Titian, Pitti, 
 62 
 
 Motley 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Muffel, Jacob 
 
 Portrait by Diirer, Berlin, 
 107 
 
 Napoleon, First Consul 
 Portrait by Greuze, 222 
 Napoleon (III), Emperor 
 of France 
 
 Portrait by Winterhalter, 
 
 277 
 
 Nassau, Justin of 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez in 
 Surrender of Breda, 
 Prado, 237 
 
 Nicholas I, Emperor of 
 Russia 
 
 Portrait by Winterhalter, 
 277 
 
 Nieuwenhove, Martin 
 Portrait by Memling, 91 
 Normandie, Due de 
 Portrait by Madame Le 
 Brun in group with 
 Marie Antoinette, Ver- 
 sailles, 224 
 
 O’Brien, Nelly 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Olivarez, Count Duke 
 Portraits by Velasquez, 
 239 
 
 Equestrian portrait, by Ve- 
 lasquez, Prado, 239 
 Olycan, Jacob 
 
 Portrait by Hals, 198 
 Olycan, Jacob, Wife of 
 Portrait by Hals, 198 
 Opere, Francesco delle 
 Portrait by Perugino, 14 
 Orley, Bernard von 
 Portrait by Diirer, 106 
 Orpin, Parish Clerk 
 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 National Gallery, 263 
 Ottavio 
 
 Portrait by Titian in group 
 with Paul III, Naples, 
 67 
 
328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pabillos de Valladolid 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 
 Pala, George de, Canon 
 Portrait by Jan Van Eyck 
 in altar-piece, 86 
 Parma, Dr. 
 
 Portrait attributed to Ti- 
 tian and Giorgione, 51 
 Pasteur 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Patinir, Joachim 
 Portrait by Diirer, 106 
 Paul, St. 
 
 Portraits in church decora- 
 tion, 2 
 
 Portrait belonging to St. 
 Chrysostom, 2 
 Paul III, Pope 
 Portraits by Titian, Naples 
 and St. Petersburg, 67 
 Portrait by Titian in group, 
 Naples, 67 
 
 Payne - Gallway, Mrs. 
 
 Portraits by Reynolds, 259 
 Perugino 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Peter, St. 
 
 Portraits in church decora- 
 tion, 2 
 Petrarch 
 
 Portraits referred to by 
 contemporary writers, 4 
 Philip II 
 
 Portrait by Titian, in ar- 
 mour, Madrid Gallery, 66 
 Portrait, Munich, 65 
 Philip II, King of Spain 
 Portraits by Sanchez Co- 
 ello, 228 
 
 By Pantoja de la Cruz, 228 
 Philip III, King of Spain 
 Portraits by Sanchez Co- 
 ello, 228 
 
 By Pantoja de la Cruz, 228 
 Philip IV, of Spain 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, Mu- 
 nich, 136 
 
 Portraits by Velasquez, ix., 
 xii., 189, 279 
 
 Equestrian portrait by Ve- 
 lasquez, 230 
 
 Full-length portrait by Ve- 
 lasquez, 232 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 
 2 33 
 
 Equestrian portrait by Ve- 
 lasquez, Prado, 238 
 Portrait in hunting cos- 
 tume by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 241 
 
 Last portraits by Velas- 
 quez, 248-249 
 Philip the Good 
 Portrait by Van der Wey- 
 den in Adoration of 
 Kings, 90 
 
 Philip Prosper, Spanish 
 prince 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, Vi- 
 enna, 246 
 PlRKHEIMER 
 
 Portrait by Diirer in Feast 
 of Rose Garlands, 102 
 Engraved portrait by 
 Diirer, 105 
 Pius VII, Pope 
 Portrait by Lawrence, 
 Windsor Castle, 270 
 Platina 
 
 Portrait in historical com- 
 position by Melozzo da 
 Forli, 22 
 Pola, Laura da 
 Supposed portrait by Lotto, 
 56-57 
 
 POLIZIANO 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 
 12 
 
 Pompadour, Madame de 
 Portrait by Greuze, 221 
 Ponialowski, Princess 
 Portrait by Boldini, 276 
 
INDEX 
 
 329 
 
 Pontormo 
 
 Portrait by Bronzino in 
 composition, Christ in 
 Limbo, Uffizi, 41 
 
 PORTINARI, FAMILY 
 
 Portraits by Hugo van der 
 Goes in altar-piece, 93 
 
 El Primo, Spanish dwarf 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 
 Pulido, Spanish admiral 
 Portrait by Velasquez, Na- 
 tional Gallery, 241 
 
 Raphael 
 
 Portrait by himself, Uffizi, 
 34 
 
 Rehan, Ada 
 
 Portrait by Sargent, 298 
 
 Rembrandt 
 
 Portraits by himself, xii., 
 189-192 
 
 Portrait by himself with 
 Saskia, 194 
 
 Rembrandt, Father of 
 Portraits by Rembrandt, 
 200 
 
 Rembrandt, Wife of 
 See Saskia 
 
 Rembrandt, Mother of 
 Portraits by Rembrandt, 
 199-200 
 
 Reyniers, Lysbeth, Second 
 Wife of Frans Hals 
 See Hals 
 
 Riario, Pietro 
 
 Portrait in historical com- 
 position by Melozzo da 
 Forll, 22 
 
 Richardot 
 
 Supposed portait by Van 
 Dyck, Louvre, 152 
 
 Richelieu 
 
 Portrait by Philippe de 
 Champaigne, 216 
 
 Ridolfi, Lorenzo 
 Portrait by Masaccio, 7 
 
 Rimini ~ 
 
 See Mala testa 
 Robinson, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 Wallace Collection, 263 
 Portrait by Romney, Wal- 
 lace Collection, 266 
 Rochester, Bishop of 
 Portrait by Holbein, Wind- 
 sor, 117 
 
 R 0 c k 0 x , Burgomaster of 
 Antwerp 
 
 Portrait by Rubens, Ant- 
 werp Museum, 136 
 Rollin, Chancellor 
 Portrait by Van Eyck in 
 altar-piece, 86 
 Rossetti 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 282 
 Rovere, Giulia no della 
 (afterward Pope Julius 
 n) 
 
 Portrait in historical com- 
 position by Melozzo da 
 • Forli, 22 
 Also see Julius II 
 Le Roy, Philippe 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Wallace Collection, 150 
 Le Roy, Philippe, Wife of 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 Wallace Collection, 150 
 Rubens, , Albert 
 Portrait by Rubens, with 
 his brother Nicholas, 
 
 138-139 
 
 Portrait by Rubens in the 
 “ Promenade,” 139 
 Rubens, Helena (Four- 
 ment) 
 
 Portrait by Rubens with 
 himself in “ Promenade,” 
 139 
 
 Portrait by Rubens in 
 “Morning Walk,” 140 
 Portrait by Rubens in St. 
 Petersburg, 140 
 
330 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portraits by Rubens in 
 Munich and Amsterdam, 
 141 
 
 Portraits by Rubens with 
 child, 141 
 
 Rubens, Isabella (Brandt) 
 Portrait by Rubens with 
 himself, 138, 188 
 
 Rubens, Nicholas 
 Portrait by Rnbens, 138-139 
 
 Rubens, Peter Paul 
 
 Portrait by himself in 
 group, 137 
 
 Portrait by himself with 
 wife, Isabella, 138, 188 
 Portrait by himself in 
 “ Promenade,” 139 
 Portrait by himself in 
 “ Morning Walk,” 140 
 Two portraits by himself 
 in Uffizi, 142 
 
 Portrait by himself in Vi- 
 enna, 142 
 
 Rubens, Philip 
 Portrait by Rubens in 
 group, 137 
 
 Russia, Emperor and Em- 
 press of 
 
 Portraits by Winterhalter, 
 277 
 
 Salutati, Bishop 
 Portrait bust by Mino da 
 Fiesole, 6 
 
 Sansovino 
 
 Portrait by Tintoretto, Uf- 
 fizi, 75-76 
 
 Sarasate 
 
 Portrait by Whistler, 291, 
 
 294 
 
 Saskia, Wife of Rembrandt 
 Portraits by Rembrandt, 
 
 193-194 
 
 Sassetti, Francesco 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 
 12 
 
 Scappi, Evangelista 
 
 Portrait by Francia, Uffizi, 
 21 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter 
 Portraits by Raeburn, 271 
 Sebastian, Spanish dwarf 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Prado, 248 
 
 Senior, Mrs. Nassau 
 Portrait by Watts, 284 
 Severino, Giangaleazzo di 
 San 
 
 Supposed portrait attrib- 
 uted to Ambrogio de 
 Predis, 23 
 
 Seymour, Jane, Queen of 
 England 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, 120, 
 122 
 
 Sforza, Battista 
 See Duke of Urbino 
 Sforza, Bianca 
 Supposed portrait attrib- 
 uted to Ambrogio de 
 Predis, 23 
 Sforza, Ippolita 
 See Bentivoglio 
 Sforza, Lodovico (II Moro) 
 Lost portrait by Leonardo 
 in S. Maria della Grazie, 
 
 23 
 
 Portrait by Zenale in Ma- 
 donna of Brera, 24 
 Siddons, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 265 
 Portrait by Gainsborough, 
 National Gallery, 265 
 Siddons, William 
 Portrait by Opie, 268 
 Signorelli 
 
 Portrait by himself, 7 
 Simonetta, Vespucci 
 Portraits by Botticelli, 10- 
 
 Six, Jan 
 
 Portraits by Rembrandt, 
 
 202-203 
 
 Sixtus IV, Pope 
 
INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Portrait in historical com- 
 position by Melozzo da 
 Forll, 22 
 SoLYMAN I 
 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 80 
 
 Sophie, Madame, French 
 Princess 
 
 Portrait by Nattier, Ver- 
 sailles, 220 
 Southey 
 
 Portrait by Opie, 268 
 Spencer, Countess 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 258 
 Spinelli, Niccolo 
 Portrait by Memling, 92 
 Spinola, Marquis of 
 Portrait by Velasquez in 
 Surrender of Breda, 
 Prado, 237 
 Stephen, Leslie 
 Portrait by Watts, 283 
 Stephen, Leslie, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Watts, 285 
 Sterne, Lawrence 
 Portrait by Reynolds, 260 
 Stuart, Mary 
 See Mary 
 Bernard, Lord 
 Portrait with Lord John 
 by Van Dyck, Cobham 
 Hall, Eng., 164 
 James, Duke of Lenox 
 and Richmond 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, 
 163 
 
 John, Lord 
 See Lord Bernard 
 Sunderland, Countess of 
 Portraits by Van Dyck, 
 Devonshire House, Al- 
 thorp and elsewhere, 164 
 Sylvius, Dutch Preacher 
 Etched portrait by Rem- 
 brandt, 203 
 
 Tailor 
 
 Portrait by Morone, 79 
 Tassis, Louisa van 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, Vi- 
 enna, 153, 164 
 Temple, Lady Mount 
 Portrait by Watts, 285 
 Tennyson, Alfred, Lord 
 Portraits by Watts, 282, 
 284 
 
 Terry, Ellen 
 Portrait by Sargent, 298 
 Theodora, Empress 
 Mosaic portrait in S. Vi- 
 tale, Ravenna, 2 
 Thiers 
 
 Portrait by Bonnat, 274 
 Tholinx, Dr. 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt, 
 private collection in 
 France, 187 
 Thomas, Miss Cary 
 Portrait by Sargent, 297 
 Tijulden, Dr. 
 
 Supposed portrait by Ru- 
 bens, Munich, 136 
 Tickell, Mrs. 
 
 Portrait by Romney, 267 
 Tintoretto 
 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 81 
 Titian 
 
 Portrait by himself, in il- 
 lustration, 61 
 
 Portrait by Veronese in 
 Marriage at Cana, 
 Louvre, 81 
 Toledo, Eleanor of 
 See Eleanor 
 Tornabuoni, Lucrezia 
 Portrait by Botticelli, 11 
 Family portraits by Ghir- 
 landajo in S. Maria No- 
 vella, 13 
 
 Torre, Agostino and Nic- 
 colo 
 
332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Portrait by Lotto, Na- 
 tional Gallery, London, 
 58 
 
 Trevisano, Doge Marcan- 
 
 TONIO 
 
 Portrait by Tintoretto, 
 Staedel Institute, Frank- 
 fort, 76 
 
 Tucher Family 
 
 Portraits by Diirer, Wei- 
 mar, 101 
 Tulp, Dr. 
 
 Portrait by Rembrandt in 
 Anatomy Lesson, 173, 
 187 
 
 1 ybis, Dirk 
 
 Portrait by Holbein, 120 
 Uberti 
 
 Portrait in frescoes of 
 Campo Santo, Pisa, 3 
 Urbino, Federico, Duke of 
 Portrait by Pietro della 
 Francesca, Uffizi, 15 
 By Justus of Ghent, 94 
 Wife of (Battista 
 Sforza) 
 
 Portrait by Pietro della 
 Francesca, Uffizi, 15 
 Portrait by Justus of 
 Ghent, 94 
 
 Francesco (Maria della 
 Rovere) (Duke) 
 Portrait by Titian, Uffizi, 
 70 
 
 See also Gonzaga, Elea- 
 nora 
 
 Velasquez 
 
 Portraits by himself, 250 
 Velasquez, Wife of 
 
 Portrait by Velasquez, 
 Berlin, 248 
 Veronese 
 
 Portrait by himself in Mar- 
 riage at Cana, Louvre, 
 81 
 
 Vespucci, Amerigo 
 
 Portrait by Ghirlandajo, 
 12 
 
 SlMONETTA 
 
 See Simonetta 
 Le Vicq, Baron 
 Portrait by Rubens, 133 
 Victoria, Queen of Eng- 
 land 
 
 Portrait by Benjamin Con- 
 stant, 276, 280 
 Vinne, Van der 
 Portrait by Hals in Dres- 
 den, 187 
 Viola nte 
 
 Portrait by Palma in Vi- 
 enna, 54 
 
 Idealized portraits by 
 Palma, 54 
 
 Vyt, Jodocus and wife 
 Portraits by Van Eyck 
 brothers, Berlin, 85 
 
 Wagner 
 
 Portrait by Lenbach, 278 
 Wake, Anna 
 
 Po-trait by Van Dyck, 
 The Hague, 153 
 Warham, William 
 Sec Canterbury, Arch- 
 bishop of 
 
 Wentworth, Earl of Straf- 
 ford 
 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, pri- 
 vate coll., Eng., 161- 
 162 
 
 Wharton, Philip, Lord 
 Portrait by Van Dyck, St. 
 Petersburg, 163 
 Whistler, J. M., Mother of 
 Portrait by Whistler, 290- 
 291 
 
 William (I), Emperor of 
 Germany 
 
 Portrait by Lenbach 278 
 Windham. Mrs Percy 
 Portrait by Watts, 284 
 
INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 WOHLGEMUT 
 
 Portrait by Diirer, Munich, 
 99 
 
 Wolfe, Miss Catherine 
 
 Portrait by Carolus Duran, 
 275 
 Wolff 
 
 Portrait by Sargent, 298 
 
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