The Standard Galleries - Holland Part 1

The Standard Galleries - Holland.

by Esther Singleton.

Preface

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

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

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

On going through a gallery the visitor, in accordance with his individual tastes, will frequently be halted by a picture whose fame has not reached him, but whose beauty appeals to him quite as much as the celebrities with which he is familiar from numberless reproductions, such as Potter's Bull, Rembrandt's Night Watch, or Snyder's Boar Hunt.

The traveller is tempted to linger over the little pictures of the Little Masters, the charming interiors, marines, landscapes, and still life of the galaxy of painters of the seventeenth century. It is for this reason, therefore, that for ill.u.s.trating the following pages I have selected many of the less familiar examples of the art of that period.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a sound art critic as well as a great painter--an unusual combination of qualities--described with fine appreciation the pleasure derived from the contemplation of the works of the Dutch school. He says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E. S.

NEW YORK, August 1, 1908.

THE HAGUE GALLERY

THE OLD MAURITSHUIS

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

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

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

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

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

The Princes of Orange were art-collectors as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Although we do not know much regarding the art tastes of Prince Maurice of Orange, who died in 1625, yet we learn from a doc.u.ment that he employed Esais van de Velde as a court painter. On the other hand, we do know that his brother, Prince Frederick Hendrik, was a collector of fine taste and a Maecenas. He employed a great number of important artists, among whom were Rembrandt, Honthorst, Dirck Bleker, Cornelis Vroom, Christiaen Couwenberch, Cornelisz Jacobsz Delff, Thomas Willeborts, Moses van Uyttenbrouck, Jacob Backer, Gonzales Coques, Frans Pietersz de Grebber, Dirck Dalens, Gerrit van Santen, Adriaen Hanneman, Nicholaes de Helt Stocade, and Dirck van der Lisse.

Besides works by these artists, he acquired in Antwerp pictures by Rubens, Paulus de Vos, Adriaen van Utrecht, and others. To the Jesuit Father Soghers he even gave a golden palette made in The Hague by the goldsmith Hans Coenraet Brechtel. No wonder that his widow, Princess Amalia of Solms, following the ideas of her dead husband, employed Jordaens, Van Thulden, De Grebber, Casar van Everdingen, Honthorst, Lievens, Solomon de Bray, Pieter Soutman, and Cornelis Brise to decorate the House in the Wood.

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

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

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

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

=The Cabinet Pieces.=--The nucleus of this collection, originally a "princely cabinet," consists of the cabinet pieces. Therefore we find here pictures (that were highly valued in their day) by Poelenburgh, Dou, Van Mieris, De Vois, Schalcken, Netscher, Van der Werff, P. van Dyck, Ostade, Jan Steen, Ter Borch, and Metsu. There were also four Rembrandts, two De Keijsers, three Potters, the beautiful Moro, and examples by Adriaen and Willem van de Velde. The modern additions, generally speaking, do not equal in interest the original collection.

The most important are two portraits by Hals; a triptych, by Jacob Cornelisz van Ootsanen, a bequest; an Aert de Gelder, a gift, unfortunately much restored and spoilt by Houbraken; a signed still life, by Jan van Huysum; a portrait by Bol; a broad and spirited Begeyn; a Dusart; a strong, dark, and somewhat sunken view of The Hague by Jacob van Ruisdael; a beautiful Van Goyen; a head by Vermeer of Delft; a landscape by G. du Bois; a wonderful flower-piece by Abraham van Beyeren; several still-life pictures; and some portraits, among the latter Moreelse's portrait of himself.

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

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

And now, having looked at this building from across the Vijver, we will pa.s.s to the entrance.

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

=Italian Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--The Italian pictures include:

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

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

G.o.d the Father and Holy Spirit, Landscape with Mary Magdalen, Landscape with St. Paul and the Hermit, Death of Abel, Venus, Dalilah, St. John the Evangelist, Ecce h.o.m.o, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and The Musicians.

=Other Foreign Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--France is represented only by a portrait by J. A. Aved, A Group of Merchants by S. Bourdon, and two ideal landscapes by C. Vernet. The Spanish school is represented by a portrait by Velasquez, a Virgin and Child by Murillo, a Magdalen by M.

Cereso, and a landscape and a portrait by unknown artists. The German artists are scarcely more numerous. There are two portraits by Holbein and three others of his school, three portraits by B. Beham, an Italian landscape by J. H. Roos, three portraits by J. F. A. Tischbein, and four Biblical and one mythological pictures by H. Rottenhamer. The subjects of these are: The Meeting of David and Abigail, St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch, The Rest in Egypt, Christ Delivering Souls from Purgatory, and The Fall of Phaeton. The meagre list of foreign works also includes two portraits by the Danish artist, J. G. Ziesenis.

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

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

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

The Bull was painted in 1647, when Paul Potter was but twenty-two years of age, and was living in Amsterdam and Haarlem. The picture was purchased in 1749 for 630 florins, and in 1795 was carried by the French to Paris and placed in the Louvre, where it was ranked as the fourth most valuable painting,--the others being Raphael's Transfiguration, Domenichino's Communion of St. Jerome, and t.i.tian's Martyrdom of St.