The Standard Galleries - Holland Part 16

"This picture is signed: an open book on the table bears the word Meer."

=Van der Meer's Later Style.=--In later pieces his style is reminiscent of De Hooch and Metsu, but it is brighter and the tone more enamelled.

In most instances the scene is in a small room lighted by a cas.e.m.e.nt window. Sometimes the painter himself is seated in a studio; sometimes a girl and her lover are together; sometimes a woman is seated at the clavecin. The Milkmaid in the Six Collection is noted for its brilliancy of tone, harmonious distribution of tints, delicacy of gradations, and solidity of touch.

=His Portrait-painting.=--Van der Meer was also a splendid portrait-painter and excelled in landscapes, in which he sacrificed figures to trees, cottages, and lanes. There is a charming little picture of this cla.s.s in the Six Collection, representing a row of brick houses with people, in the style of Pieter de Hooch. It is said that he was killed by the fall of his house at the time when Simon Decker, a vestryman of the Delft Church, was sitting to him for his portrait.

=Pieter de Hooch (1635-78).=--This master who was so long neglected and is now regarded as at least the equal of Ter Borch, Metsu, and Van Mieris, is well represented in the Rijks, though absent from The Hague Gallery. His talent is exhibited chiefly in his Conversations. Burger says he has never seen a single picture by De Hooch that is not of the first rank.

=Burger on De Hooch's Choice of Subjects.=--"Sometimes he paints interiors--people are playing at cards, or having a family concert, or reading, or drinking, or conversing. Sometimes he paints exteriors; then the painter introduces us to domestic occupations, and the innocent recreations of private life, as, for instance, a servant washing linen in a back yard, or cleaning fish, or plucking a fowl; or perhaps there are ladies and their cavaliers playing at bowls in a garden with trim gravelled walks."

=His Excellent Painting of Interiors.=--"When he paints interiors, this artist rarely neglects to show, on the right or left, doors opening on a staircase or revealing a leafy alley, or the trees along a quay, so that his pictures almost always seem to be the antechamber of another picture. In this characteristic style of De Hooch, when the interior of the apartment is moderately lighted, the sun shines outside, and we feel its heat and brilliance in the vistas gradually lost to view in the background, so inimitably managed in the artist's manner.... Pieter de Hooch seems to have been in Rembrandt's secrets, and knew how to adapt the genius of that great master to familiar scenes, just as Gonzales Coques had adapted the genius of Rubens."

[Ill.u.s.tration: P. DE HOOCH The Country House]

=Seven Fine Examples of his Work in the Rijks.=--The Rijks Museum owns seven fine examples of this master's work. The Portrait of a Man is said to be that of the painter at the age of nineteen; but this is doubtful.

One of the most celebrated interiors shows a woman about to let a child drink from a jug of beer at the entrance to a cellar. This picture is very attractive for the simple att.i.tudes, and for the depth of the equally sustained warm harmony. "The execution," says Crowe, "is a model of softness and juiciness." The most glowing example, however, of this warm lighting is a woman cleaning the hair of a child, in the Van der Hoop Room. The woman wears a skirt of deep blue and a bodice of red, bordered with white fur, while the child has a skirt of green and a gray bodice. Behind them is an alcove bed with green curtains, and to the right, in the foreground, a little chair. An open door on the left allows you to see into another room with a pa.s.sage and courtyard beyond.

A little black dog seen from behind lies on the reddish tiles. The picture is beautiful in its treatment of three successive planes of light.

Another picture in the same collection represents apparently a pair of lovers who seem to be teasing each other. The lady seen in profile is squeezing a lemon into a gla.s.s, and the young man sitting opposite with his elbow on the table looks at her with a subtle smile. The costumes are elegant--the lady wears a straw-colored skirt and a rose-colored jacket. The man has on a garnet-colored doublet, scarlet knee-breeches, and white stockings. He is bareheaded and wears a wig. If it were not for the pipe in his hand he would remind you of Moliere's gentlemen.

They are sitting in a kind of courtyard of a house with a red-tiled roof, and a window with red shutters is also visible. At the door of the house a woman is standing with a gla.s.s in her hand. A servant is busy with a kettle by the window. On the right there is an opening into a clump of trees, suggesting a park, and to the left another enclosure.

One of the most beautiful pictures in the collection, a marvel very difficult to describe because its superlative value lies in its luminous effect, is thus described:

=A Picture Highly valued for its Luminous Effect.=--"We are in a room, the door of which, in the background on the left, opens onto the quay of a ca.n.a.l. A girl pa.s.ses along the path; next we see a tree, a stretch of the ca.n.a.l, and on the opposite bank another street, flooded with sunlight, in which two cloaked men have halted in front of a house. Above the door, which is slightly arched, is a large window with small panes in four compartments, one of which is open. Under the light falling from the window, in the corner of the room, a girl in a blue bodice and white ap.r.o.n is seated, with her head turned toward a youth who is entering through on the extreme right in the foreground.

In one hand he holds his hat, and presents a letter with the other."[26]

=A Pleasing Sunlight Effect.=--Another picture shows a sunlight effect, in which both De Hooch and Vermeer of Delft delighted. There is a window on the left, above a table covered with a Turkey-red table-cloth, which is silhouetted brightly on the lower part of the opposite wall, close to a chimney piece. A servant is sweeping in front of the latter. Another woman, almost full-face, is seated, holding a baby in a yellow frock, with a child's cradle beside her. She wears a blue velvet jacket and red skirt. Behind her a door opens into a courtyard, and gives us a glimpse of the town. The rest of the background consists of a gray wall, on which hangs a picture. There is also a picture over the fireplace.

=The Sick Lady.=--Very similar to the pictures by Jan Steen and Metsu is Hooghstraten's The Sick Lady, who, very pale and with drooping head, sits by a table on which her left elbow rests. On the red cloth, which is covered with a piece of white linen, stand a pot and a phial. She wears a white cap, a yellow jacket bordered with ermine, a Persian-blue skirt, and a white ap.r.o.n. Her hands are clasped at her waist, and her feet rest on a foot-warmer. Behind the table stands the doctor in his conventional costume of black. The bed, draped with green curtains, is seen in the background, where, to the left, a short flight of stairs leads to a series of rooms opening one into another in the style of Pieter de Hooch. The figures, about a foot high, are very finely drawn.

Burger says:

"The general harmony of color is strange, distinguished, and original.

There are tones of straw-color, tones of pearl-color, and silvery tones, happily brought together, a clever distribution of light, and lightness in the shadows."

=Jan Steen's Style patterned after Hals and A. van Ostade.=--Jan Steen shows the influence of his models, Hals and Adriaen van Ostade, in several of the seventeen pictures of this artist owned by the Rijks Museum. His own portrait and those in the Oostwaard picture (dated 1659) are strong, bright, and clear with the qualities he admired in Hals. The other pictures are all distinguished by correct drawing, admirable freedom and spirit of touch, and clear and transparent color. They range in subject from the stately interiors of grave and opulent burghers to tavern scenes of jollity and debauch.

=Some of the Seventeen of his Pictures owned by the Rijks.=--There are two pictures of the charlatan who puffs his pills, draws teeth, and sells everything helpful to those sick in body or in mind, from a love-philtre to the Elixir of Life. Here, also, we see doctors and patients, card-parties, marriage-feasts, and the festivals of St.

Nicholas and Twelfth Night. His delightful rendering of children is also fully exemplified here. In detail, the pictures are as follows: A Portrait of Himself, showing a rather handsome man with oval face, arched brows, and well-cut mouth; A Charlatan Selling his Wares, in which the chief figure is standing on a platform beneath the shade of a tree, while around him are many little figures variously grouped, forming comic episodes; The Baker Oostwaard with his Wife and a Son of the Painter (1659). The baker is arranging his wares, and the little boy is blowing on a horn. The Scullion represents a woman scouring a pewter pot. She is in a kitchen, and wears a white jacket and a blue skirt. On the table by which she stands are utensils and a lantern.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAN STEEN The Parrot Cage]

=Description of The Parrot Cage.=--The Parrot Cage is a domestic scene, in what appears to be a tavern or a middle-cla.s.s hall, in which there is a bed, a chair, and a table, at which two men are playing backgammon, while a third looks on smoking a pipe. At the big fireplace an old woman is broiling oysters, which are likely to spoil, as she is taking more interest in the backgammon than in her own task. A boy seated on a low stool is feeding a kitten with milk from a spoon, and watching a woman of graceful figure who is offering a biscuit to a parrot in a cage.

The Orgy is famous for the dash and abandon with which it is painted.

=The Village Wedding and Other Pictures.=--The Rijks owns also The Birthday of the Prince of Orange, The Happy Return, The Rake, The Dancing Lesson, in which merry children are teaching a cat to dance; The Village Wedding, a little masterpiece, in which the light is treated as if by Ostade, and where the bride and groom are seated at a table with friends, while musicians play for many dancers.

=Description of The Happy Family.=--In The Happy Family we see a simply furnished room, in which is a bed, and next it a cupboard, on the top of which stand a mortar, some platters, and a vase of flowers; a happy family group is seated at a table. Hanging on the bed curtains is the legend in Dutch, "As the old ones sing so will the young ones pipe."

This is the keynote of the picture. Every one is singing, piping, and making merry. Their gaiety is infectious. The father, seated at the end of the table, has a viola in one hand, while the right holds a gla.s.s of wine. Next him stands a boy playing bagpipes. Then the grandmother, singing, with a jolly expression on her face; next, the merry mother, with a merry baby, the image of her; next, a boy with a flute, another with a pipe; next, a girl about to smoke a pipe, in front two children, and at the open window a boy with a pipe. A dog stands by the master, near an empty platter, that shows he too has shared in the feast. There is a handsome table-carpet on the table, protected by a napkin, and on it a ham and a loaf of bread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAN STEEN The Happy Family]

=A Family Scene on Twelfth Night.=--Nearly all the same persons, only grown older, appear in A Family Scene on Twelfth Night: Margarita van Goyen, Steen's wife, seen this time from behind, with her profile upturned, and wearing a red skirt and a blue jacket trimmed with ermine, and ten other figures, including the old father and the painter himself, who are smoking in the background. "Delicious in color and vivacity!" is Burger's comment.

=A Doubtful Picture of Steen and his Wife.=--The Couple Drinking is said to be Steen and his wife. The latter with a white handkerchief on her head, a dark blue jacket, red skirt, and white ap.r.o.n is drinking from a tall gla.s.s. The man in black behind her and talking to her is about to drink from a mug. The ages of the couple make it doubtful if the painter and his wife are represented.

=The Young Lady who is Ill.=--The Young Lady who is Ill, seated languidly in a red arm-chair, with her head on a pillow, may be compared with similar pictures in The Hague Gallery. She wears a yellow silk skirt, and a jacket of lilac velvet bordered with ermine. The doctor is one of Steen's best creations of this type.

=Steen's Most Popular Picture.=--The most popular of all Steen's pictures, however, is the Eve of St. Nicholas, which shows a room in Jan Steen's house, and himself, his first wife, and their children. Beside the chimney sits the mother in lilac skirt and green velvet jacket bordered with ermine, and on her left is a low table, on which is a variety of cakes, fruits, and other holiday sweets. In the background sits the father, who is enjoying the scene. Seven children are present.

The oldest, holding a baby with a rag doll in its arms, is pointing up the chimney, explaining to the open-mouthed and staring little boy at his side whence St. Nicholas came. On the extreme left a boy is crying because all that St. Nicholas has rewarded him with is a birch rod, which his sister is presenting to him in his wooden shoe, and with evident pleasure. A little boy, with his father's cane in his hand, is enjoying his brother's disappointment and probable future punishment. In the background, the grandmother, drawing the curtains of the bed and tauntingly beckoning to the crying boy, seems to invite him to spend his St. Nicholas festival in bed. In the very centre of the picture is the pet of the family--a little girl, the very image of her mother. She has a pail full of toys, fruits, and cakes on one arm, and in her tiny hands she holds the figure of St. Nicholas, whose head is surrounded with a nimbus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAN STEEN Eve of St. Nicholas]

A basket of wafers, cakes, waffles, buns, crullers, etc., stands on the floor on the left; and leaning against the little table on the right is an enormous flat loaf of bread or cake iced in lines and decorated with figures of the c.o.c.k at the four corners and in the centre that of St.

Nicholas.

=Early and Later Styles of Jan Miense Molenaer.=--Jan Miense Molenaer (1610-68) was either a pupil or a very skilful imitator of Jan Steen in his early works, which are painted in strong, clear color with bold execution. About 1650, however, he adopted a brown tone with a light and transparent execution, and concentrated his effects of light after the manner of Ostade when the latter was under the influence of Rembrandt.

=A Fine Example of his Powers.=--The Lady at the Clavecin is a splendid example of the powers of this artist who was almost as fond of making musical instruments important features of his compositions as Slingelandt was. It was painted in 1637 as the signature shows, and therefore is full of the Hals influence. The lady and two children, whose amiable faces are turned with interested expression toward the spectator, are evidently portraits, probably of the artist's wife and children. The other picture, Grace before Meat, is also a fine study with Hals's technique. It is in the Van der Hoop Collection.

=Four Pictures by Metsu.=--Four Metsus hang in the Rijks: The Huntsman's Present, purchased in 1843 for 12,400 florins, The Old Drinker, purchased in 1827 for 2,960 florins, The Breakfast, acquired in 1809, and the Old Woman in Meditation, bought in 1880 for 6,170 florins.

=Description of The Huntsman's Present.=--For taste, depth, warm harmony, and careful execution, The Huntsman's Present is of the first order. In a room lighted by a window on the left, a lady is seated by the side of a table on which is a rich carpet. A large white ap.r.o.n of exquisite tone covers her lap, and on it lies a little green cushion on which she has been making lace, which she holds in her left hand. Her jacket, bordered with ermine, is of that flesh-color that Metsu loved.

With her right hand she caresses a little King Charles spaniel perched on the table. On her right, an old gentleman is seated. He still wears his hunting clothes and holds his hat under his arm. Evidently he has just returned from the chase, for his dog is with him, and on the floor lie his game bag, gun, and a dead duck. To the lady he is presenting a partridge. On a handsome _kas_ stands a statuette of Cupid.

=The Old Drinker.=--The Old Drinker represents a man with gray hair and short gray beard, with a pipe in one hand and a mug in the other. He has on a gray coat and a red cap edged with brown fur. He is perfectly happy, as his joyous expression shows.

=The Breakfast.=--The Breakfast is a beautifully painted scene. At a table covered with a Persian carpet over which is thrown a linen cloth, a woman in a light pink bodice, a violet skirt, green ap.r.o.n, and white fichu, seated at the right in profile, is pouring wine from a jug into a tall gla.s.s. A man in a puce-colored vest is placing a dish of meat on the table, which is already set with plates, bread, knives, and a gla.s.s.

On the left is a dark green curtain, and in the background a door is indicated.

=Johannes Verkolje.=--Johannes Verkolje (1650-93) is represented by The Family Concert (1673). He was the son of a locksmith in Amsterdam, and studied with Jan Lievensz, but later imitated the highly finished style of Gerard Pietersz Zijl (fl. 1655), whose works were in such favor. He produced portraits, historical subjects, and conversations, delicate and graceful in sentiment, charming in color, and excellent in drawing.

=Jan Victors's Pork Butcher.=--The Pork Butcher (1648) and The Dentist (1654) are by Jan Victors, an artist about whom so little has been known until recent years that he has been confused with two others of the same name. The pork butcher is seen in the centre of the picture, which represents a village street; the butcher is standing before his freshly butchered quarter of pork, and a boy, in a large hat and jacket, with yellow sleeves, with knife in hand, is helping his master, to whom a woman is bringing a drink in a gla.s.s. On the right, a little boy seated on a fence is blowing a bladder, while a little girl looks on and laughs. Behind, a man is ascending a ladder into a barn. On the right a little boy is washing a ham in a tub, and a woman is kneeling by him with a dish.

=The Dentist.=--The pendant shows a table over which a rose-colored umbrella is opened, and under it a charlatan is drawing the tooth of a peasant. A man and a woman witness the operation, and three children on the left, a peasant, and a woman with some vegetables on her head are laughing heartily. In the foreground two dogs are quarrelling over a bone; and in the background small figures and a village clock-tower are visible.

=The Religious Pictures.=--The religious pictures need not detain us long. Two or three in the style of Rembrandt: Isaac Blessing Jacob, by Govert Flinck; The Woman Taken in Adultery, by G. van der Eckhout, purchased in London in 1828 for 3,000 florins, and belonging to that artist's best period; and the picture of Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist are worth the student's attention. The latter is particularly interesting, because, although the catalogues give it to Cornelis Drost (1638-?), a pupil and imitator of Rembrandt, it is really by the hand of Karel Fabritius (1624?-54), also a pupil of Rembrandt and so close a follower that many of his pictures have pa.s.sed for Rembrandt's. The artist met with a tragic death; for he was killed in Delft by the explosion of a powder magazine.

=Aertsen's Altarpieces.=--Of historic value are the altar wings by Pieter Aertsen (Long Peter), The Presentation at the Temple; on the reverse, King Balthasar, painted for the Delft church; and the Nativity of Jesus Christ, a fragment of a picture destroyed in the fire of the Town Hall in Amsterdam in 1652. On Dr. J. Six's authority, the rest of this picture is in the New Church in Amsterdam. Aertsen was particularly famous for his altarpieces, many of which were destroyed by the Iconoclasts in 1566.

=Other Painters of Biblical Scenes.=--Of other painters whose reputations are larger in other fields, but who are represented in this gallery by one or two Biblical works, we may mention Berchem, with Ruth and Boaz; Velvet Brueghel, Repose of the Holy Family, Christ Preaching in a Fisherman's Boat, and the Adoration of the Kings, in a winter landscape; Frans Francken II., Adoration of Jesus Christ, and The Prodigal Son; and Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), The Resurrection of Christ. Benjamin Gerritsz Cuijp may be studied in Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of the Baker and Butler; Dirck van Hoogstraten (1595-1640), The Virgin, with Jesus and St. Anne; Eglon Hendrick van der Neer (1643-1703), Young Tobias with the Angel; and Rubens, Bearing of the Cross (a sketch for the picture in the Royal Museum in Brussels), and Ecce h.o.m.o and Meeting of Jacob and Esau (copies).

In addition to several Biblical pictures in the Italian, Flemish, and German schools, there are, by Francois Joseph Navez (1787-1839), Isaac and Rebecca and the Resurrection of the Widow's Son; by A. van Dijck, The Repentant Magdalen; (School of Van Dijck) The Holy Family; one by Bronzino, Judith with the head of Holofernes; one of the School of Palma Vecchio, The Holy Family; and Spain is represented by The Annunciation to the Virgin, by Murillo (1618-82), and The Glorification of the Virgin, by Antolines (1639-76). Hans Rottenhammer (1564-1623) has a Virgin with the Infant Jesus (1604); Nicholas Bertin (1667-1736), Joseph Fleeing from Potiphar's Wife, and Susannah at the Bath; Sebastian Bourdon (1616-71), the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine; copy after Hieronymus van Aeken, surnamed Bosch (1462?-1516), Adoration of the Magi; Leonard Bramer (1595-1674), a Biblical Subject(?) and King Solomon Sacrificing to Idols; Mechior Bra.s.sauw (1709-57?), The Prodigal Son; Peter Codde (1599?-1678), Adoration of the Shepherds; Jacob Cornelissen, Saul and the Witch of Endor; Gasper de Craeyer (1584-1669), The Adoration of the Shepherds and Descent from the Cross; Geertgen van St.

Jans (fifteenth century), Allegory on the Death of Jesus Christ; Barend Graat (1628-1709), The Prodigal Son (1661); Nicolaes de Gijselaer (1590-95-1644?), The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zacharias in the Temple (1625); Cornelis van Haerlem (1562-1638), Ma.s.sacre of the Innocents, and Adam and Eve in the Terrestrial Paradise; Pieter van Hanselaere, Chaste Susannah; Frans Haseleer (1804-?), Esther before Ahasuerus; Isaac Isacsz (1599-1648), Abimelech Giving Sarah to Abraham (1640); Cornelis Kruseman (1797-1857), The Burial of Christ; J. A. Kruseman (1804-62), Elisha and the Shunammite; Pieter Pietersz Lastman (1583-1633), The Sacrifice of Abraham; Willem de Poorter (?-1645?), Solomon Sacrificing to Idols; Joris van Schooten (1587-1651), The Adoration of the Kings (1646); Jan van Scorel (1495-1562), St. Madeleine, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and David and Bathsheba; Gerard Seghers (1591-1651), Christ and the Penitents; Benvenuto Tisi (the Garofalo) (1481-1559), Holy Family, and Adoration of the Magi; Tiziano Vecelli (1477-1576), Repentant Magdalen (copy); Jan Victors (1620-82?), Joseph Interpreting Dreams (1648); Jacob de Wet (1610?-71?), Christ Blessing the Children; Rogier van der Weyden (1399?-1464), Descent from the Cross; and Joachim A. Wttewael (1566-1638), David and Abigail (1597).

=Mythological Pictures combined with Landscape.=--It is noticeable that in mythological pictures landscape forms a prominent feature. Rubens was, doubtless, responsible for much of the popularity of this cla.s.s of art, and the vogue that the Italian landscape also enjoyed aided the taste. Nymphs and satyrs and G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses were more appropriate figures to introduce into the cla.s.sic scenes of Italy than Dutch peasants and cattle. We, therefore, find two cla.s.ses of mythological pictures: one in which the landscape is more important than the figures; and one in which the figures take precedence.

Born more than half a century after Poelenburg, Gerard de Lairesse (1641-1711), the most important Flemish painter of historical and mythological subjects in the generation succeeding Rubens, followed Poelenburg in his taste for Italian settings for his figures, although he had never been to Italy. He is represented in the Rijks by Mars, Venus, and Cupid; another of the same t.i.tle, Seleucus Abdicating in Favor of his Son Antiochus; Diana and Endymion; Virtue, an Allegory; and two in _grisaille_,--The Revolution and Legitimate Power.