The Standard Galleries - Holland Part 19

[27] H. Smissaert.

[28] G. H. Marius.

[29] H. Smissaert.

THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM

FROM AMSTERDAM TO HAARLEM

It would be well now to make a day's trip to Haarlem. The steam tram takes us through an interesting country, and in about an hour we reach the centre of the town,--the Groote Markt,--in which are several old buildings, the meat market, the Groote Kerk, and the Town Hall. The latter is the chief object of our visit to Haarlem, for it contains ten large pictures by Frans Hals, which no admirer of this great master can afford to neglect.

The Town Hall, facing the Groote Kerk, was originally a palace of the counts of Holland. It was begun in the twelfth century, but was remodelled in 1620 and 1630, when a wing was added. Some of the large beams in the interior date from the thirteenth century. The walls of the vestibule are decorated with coats of arms and portraits of the counts and countesses of Holland.

=The Room containing Hals's Doelen Pictures.=--We pa.s.s at once into the princ.i.p.al room, where the famous Regent (or _Doelen_) pictures by Hals are arranged in chronological order. These pictures represent nearly all the artist's working period. The Banquet of the Officers of the Guild of the Archers of St. George was painted in 1616, when the artist was thirty-five; the same subject, with different portraits, in 1627; the Banquet of the Officers of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew, in 1622, when the corps departed for the siege of Ha.s.selt and Mons; Reunion of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew, in 1633; and Officers and Sub-Officers of the Arquebusiers of St. George, in 1639.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANS HALS Reunion of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew]

As the enormous canvases each contain from fourteen to twenty life-size portraits, we feel as if we were entering a hall full of convivial officers, laughing, jesting, and making merry over their fine wines and choice food. They are richly dressed; many of them wear lace cuffs and ruffs and bright scarfs; flags flutter, spears glitter, spurs and swords clank and flash in the sunlight; the plumes on the large hats nod; and loud talk and bursts of laughter seem to issue from the frames. These convivial men have fought against the hated Spaniards, and are ready to trail a pike at any moment. The artist was commanded to paint each man accurately and according to his rank in the company. Every picture is, therefore, a group of portraits; and Colonel Jan Claasz Loo, in the picture of 1633, is considered one of Hals's masterpieces of portraiture. These pictures rank with Rembrandt's and Van der Helst's works of this cla.s.s.

In addition to these are Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth (1641), Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse, and Lady Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse, both painted in 1664, when Hals was over eighty. Two fine portraits of Nicholas van der Meer, Burgomaster of Haarlem, and his wife, are dated 1631. A copy of a portrait of Frans Hals by himself hangs in an adjoining room.

=Crowe on Hals's Earlier and Later Styles.=--"In every form of his art we can distinguish his earlier style from that of later years. Two Boys Playing and Singing, in the Gallery of Ca.s.sel, and A Banquet of Officers, in the Museum of Haarlem, exhibit him as a careful draughtsman, capable of great finish, yet spirited withal. His flesh, less clear than it afterwards became, is pastose and burnished.

Further on he becomes more effective, displays more freedom of hand and a greater command of effect. At this period we note the beautiful full-length of a young lady of the Berensteyn family in the house of that name in Haarlem, and a splendid full-length of A Patrician Leaning on a Sword, in the Lichtenstein Collection at Vienna. Both these pictures are equalled by the Banquets of Officers of 1627, and a Meeting of the Company of St. George, of 1633, in the Haarlem Museum.

A picture of the same kind in the Town Hall of Amsterdam, with the date of 1637, suggests some study of the masterpieces of Rembrandt, and a similar influence is apparent in a picture of 1641 at Haarlem, representing the Regents of the Company of St. Elizabeth....

Rembrandt's example did not create a lasting impression on Hals. He gradually dropped more and more into gray and silvery harmonies of tone; and two of his canvases, executed in 1664,--the Regents and Regentesses of the Oudemannenhuis, at Haarlem,--are masterpieces of color, though in substance they are but monochromes."

=His Pictures of Various Strata of Society.=--"Hals's pictures ill.u.s.trate the various strata of society into which his misfortunes led him. His banquets or meetings of officers, of sharpshooters and guildsmen, are the most interesting of his works. But they are not more characteristic than his low-life pictures of itinerant players and singers. His portraits of gentlefolk are true and n.o.ble, but hardly so expressive as those of fishwives and tavern heroes. His first master was Van Mander, the painter and historian, of whom he possessed some pictures. But he soon left behind him the practice of the time ill.u.s.trated by Sch.o.r.eel and Moro, and, emanc.i.p.ating himself gradually from tradition, produced pictures remarkable for truth and dexterity of hand."

=Hals and Rembrandt compared.=--"We prize in Rembrandt the golden glow of effects based upon artificial contrasts of low light in immeasurable gloom. Hals was fond of daylight, of silvery sheen. Both men were painters of touch, but of touch on different keys. Rembrandt was the ba.s.s, Hals the treble. The latter is, perhaps, more expressive than the former. He seizes with rare intuition a moment in the life of his sitters. What nature displays in that moment he reproduces thoroughly in a very delicate scale of color, and with a perfect mastery over every form of expression. He becomes so clever at last that exact tone, light and shade, and modelling are all obtained with a few marked and fluid strokes of the brush."

=The Other Corporation Pictures.=--The other Corporation pictures will not detain us; but while here we can take a hasty glance at A. Brouwer's Binnenhuis; Jan Steen's Peasants' _Kermesse_; Philips Wouwermans's Stags and Goats; Molenaer's Rustic Wedding; F. Hals the Younger's Binnenhuis; Pieter Aertsen's Children in the Fiery Furnace; A. Backer's Semiramis; Cornelis Bega's Street Musicians; Gerrit Berckheyde's Groote Markt in Haarlem and Fish Market in Haarlem; Job Berckheyde's Groote Kerk, Haarlem, and Joseph and his Brothers in Egypt; Bloemaert's Message to the Shepherds; Pieter Claez's Still Life; Jacques de Claen, Fruits; Droochsloot's _Kermesse_; A. van Everdingen's Street in Haarlem; H.

Goltzius's t.i.tus; G. W. Heda's Still Life; G. van Honthorst's Singer; Hendrik Meyer's Groote Markt, Haarlem; P. de Molyn's Pillaged and Burning Village; Isaac van Nickele's Groote Kerk, Haarlem; Isaac Ouwater's Groote Markt, Haarlem; Christoffel Pierson's Hunting Attributes; Isaac Ruisdael's Holland Dunes and Landscape in the Dunes; Saenredam's Nieuwe Kerk, Haarlem; P. van Santvoort's Winter Landscape; J. van Scorel's Adam and Eve, St. Cecilia Playing the Organ, and Christ's Baptism in the Jordan; Jacob van der Ulft's The Forum of Nerva, Rome; Esais van de Velde's Landscape; Jan Wijnants's Landscape; Thomas Wyck's Roman Ruins; and many portraits by Maes, Jan Weenix, Jan Victors, Verkolje, Ter Borch, Ravesteyn, Pot, Netscher, Mierevelt, T. de Keijser, and other famous Dutch artists.

=The Teyler Museum.=--We can afford to neglect the Teyler Museum, unless we are particularly interested in the study of modern Dutch art. In that case, we can view there some excellent examples of Israels, Mauve, Mesdag, Ten Cate, J. Koster, Bosboom, Verveer, Eeckhout, Koekkoek, and others. The Teyler Museum also contains a valuable collection of engravings and drawings by old masters, including Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Goltzius, and A. van Ostade.

=The Paviljoen Welgelegen.=--Taking the tram to Frederiks-Park, we may glance at the Paviljoen Welgelegen, a _chateau_ built in 1788 by Mr.

Hope, an Amsterdam banker, and which was purchased by Louis Napoleon when he became King of Holland. It was to this building that the modern pictures were removed from the Trippenhuis in 1838. This now shelters a Colonial Museum and a Museum of Industrial Art, both of great interest.

THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM, ROTTERDAM

THE MUSEUM'S ORIGIN AND GROWTH

The Boijmans (or Boymans) Museum, on the Schiedamsche Dyk, was founded by a bequest of Mr. F. J. O. Boijmans, who died in 1847. His fine collection of 360 paintings suffered by fire in 1864, and only 163 of them were left. These were housed in a new building, completed in 1867.

By means of various bequests and purchases, the collection has been increased to more than four hundred paintings and two thousand drawings and engravings. The ground-floor contains the drawings and engravings, the Library of Rotterdam (30,000 volumes), and the Portrait-room. The upper floor consists of six galleries, two of which are devoted to modern pictures.

=Two Cla.s.ses of Landscapes in this Museum.=--The Boijmans Museum is rich in landscapes. These naturally fall into two cla.s.ses: first, the works of those men who studied in Italy or at least owed their inspiration to others who did; and secondly, pictures of purely Dutch scenery with the peasants, flocks, and herds familiar to the native. The cla.s.sical landscapes are framed with mountains, and usually have cascades and ruins, and often are peopled with nymphs, shepherds, and other figures cla.s.sically draped. Many examples of this school have already been noted in The Hague and Amsterdam museums.

=Painters of Italian Landscapes.=--Jan Miel (1599-1664) went to Rome and studied under Andreas Sacchi. His Italian Landscape, alive with travellers, is similar in feeling and treatment to many others in this gallery by Jan van de Meer, Jr., Adam Pynacker, J. Lingelbach, Jacob van Huchtenburgh, Willem de Heusch, Jan Hackaert, J. van Bronckhorst, Pieter Bout, Jan Both, Adriaen Bloemaert, and Johannes van der Bent. In many of these cla.s.sical landscapes the figures are supplied by A. van de Velde and Lingelbach.

=Poelenburg's Figure-painting.=--Poelenburg painted the figures in the pictures of some of his contemporaries,--in the Rocky Landscape by Willem de Heusch, for instance. In this panel we find the usual road with women, children, cattle, sheep, goats, trees, cascade, rocks covered with vegetation, shepherd with flock, travellers with a pack-mule, and mountainous background.

=A. Bloemaert's Italian Landscape.=--Adriaen Bloemaert (d. 1668) painted historical subjects and landscape. His Italian Landscape exhibits goats on rocks covered with vegetation in the foreground, from which a road rises to a castle on a mountain. A man and a child are coming down the road. The background is mountainous.

=Dirk Maas's Camp.=--Dirk Maas (1656-1717) studied successively under Mommers, Berchem, and Huchtenburgh, and finally adopted the style of the latter. His subjects generally are skirmishes, marches, and camps. His Camp is full of life. The canvas of a tent is fixed to a tree-trunk.

Before the tent sits a cavalier, gla.s.s in hand and holding a horse by the bridle, talking to a woman standing in front of him. Inside the tent, soldiers are playing cards; on the right, two dogs are fighting.

There are other groups of soldiers, beggars, horses, women, and children. The background is closed by tents at the foot of an elevation crowned by a fortress.

=Jan Maartsen's Cavalry Combat.=--Jan Maartsen (d. 1645) painted battles and cavalry skirmishes. His Cavalry Combat, dated 1630, shows a fight between Dutch and Spaniards. Infantry are engaged in the background.

=Vrancx's Pillage and his Promenade.=--Sebastian Vrancx (or Francken) has a Pillage, somewhat similar to that of Wouwermans. Soldiers are seen pursuing fugitives and chasing cattle before them; one soldier takes a poor peasant from his house as prisoner; and farther away, near a tree, are a horseman on a rearing horse, and a house in flames; in the middle distance the village street guarded by the cavalry; and in the background houses, and a town on the horizon.

His Promenade shows a gentleman in black, with brown mantle and large hat ornamented with green, white, and red feathers, offering his hand to a lady in a white dress, red overskirt, black mantle, and red bonnet. On the right is a grape-vine; on the left, an inn, in which several persons are seated; and on the horizon, a town.

The same subject is again treated, but this time the gentleman wears a costume of white satin and red velvet, a brown cloak and a brown hat with a green plume, and high leather boots, while the lady has a blue dress, a white bodice, a tunic of red satin, a fluted ruff, and a round hat. Fireworks are seen in the background.

=Esais van de Velde's Battle Picture.=--Esais van de Velde has a Nocturnal Combat between Cavalry and Infantry, in which a Dutch troop of cavalry are attacking Spanish Mousquetaires and Lansquenets, the scene illuminated by a tent in flames. Far in the distance are the towers and spires of a town.

=Johan Huchtenburgh and his Cavalry Combat.=--Johan van Huchtenburgh (1646-1733) was a pupil of Thomas Wijk. After joining his brother Jacob in Italy in 1667, and working there for a time, he left for France, and painted under the direction of the celebrated battle-painter, A. F. van der Meulen. On his return to Holland in 1670 he grew famous; afterwards he painted scenes from the wars in which William III., Marlborough, and Prince Eugene were prominent. His Cavalry Combat shows a fight between the Imperial troops and the Turks in a mountainous district. It is full of action. The foreground is in shadow, while the middle distance and background are fully illuminated.

=Lingelbach's Country People by a Fountain.=--Country People by a Fountain is the t.i.tle of a picture by J. Lingelbach. In the foreground of an Italian landscape several country people are variously grouped; on the right, at the foot of a rock, a fountain gushes forth, by which is a man wrapped in sheepskin; in the centre, a woman riding an a.s.s, is talking to another woman, who stands by her side; then comes a boy; then a man is seen drinking from the fountain, his a.s.s beside him. On the left, another peasant is riding a white horse laden with panniers; and by his side walks a man with a stick in his hand, and followed by a dog.

On the left is a lake; and mountains form the background.

=Three Landscapes by Adam Pynacker.=--The Rotterdam Gallery owns three pictures by Adam Pynacker. In An Italian Landscape a line of high mountains edges the horizon, from which stretches a plain; and in the foreground on the right, a river flows from a high mountain through a rocky gorge. Two men are fishing; and near them are a dog and an a.s.s. On the left a road leads to a small lake, on the borders of which a herdsman and his cattle are advancing. In the Mountainous Landscape a ruined tower stands at the foot of a high rock on the left; and along the road that is lost behind the hill and rocks in the foreground, peasants and their cattle are seen. The setting sun throws its warm rays over the wooded hills and over the river that winds through the vast landscape and upon the figures, and illuminates a cow and a goat browsing among the bushes and rocks. On the Border of a Lake shows a sheet of water illuminated by the sun, and on the left several persons are embarking. In the distance are rocky peaks partly wooded; and men are fishing from the sh.o.r.e of the lake.

=Jacob Huchtenburgh's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jacob van Huchtenburgh followed his master, Berchem. In the foreground of his Mountainous Landscape a road crosses a river by a three-arched stone bridge. In the road are some sheep and peasants; and a shepherd with an a.s.s and two cows is crossing the bridge. At a ford on the right a man is watering two horses. Some distance away there is a cloister at the foot of a high mountain, before which are monks, peasants, and a carriage and horses.

Higher up the mountain are a farm, a castle, and a group of buildings surrounded by walls. Peasants are dancing in a valley on the left.

Finally, we see a vast mountain landscape through which a river winds.

=Moucheron's Mountainous Landscape.=--Another Mountainous Landscape is by Moucheron. In the foreground we observe a woman on a white horse. She is talking to a man who descends a hill. Some country people are wading through a ford, and on the other side of the stream stands a ruined tower. The picture is lighted by the warm rays of the setting sun.

Adriaen van de Velde painted the figures.

=Two Imitators of Poelenburg's Style.=--Jan van Bronckhorst has an Italian Landscape in the style of Poelenburg, by which he is most commonly known. There are ruins partly surrounded by water, two bathers, a shepherd and goats, a stone bridge, and mountainous background.

Another imitator of Poelenburg was Jacob Esselens (b. 1628), who painted landscapes, marines, and town views. A Landscape shows a distinguished company of ladies and gentlemen beside a stream with carriages, horses, hounds, herons, and falcons. On the river are a yacht and a row-boat; and, in the distance, a castle among the trees. The scene is full of color and movement.

=Jan Beerstraten and his Town Gate.=--Jan Beerstraten (d. 1660) painted marines and town views; but nothing is known of him except that he married Magdalena Bronckhorst. His drawing is good, color excellent, and brush work strong. Some of his marines will bear comparison with those of Backhuysen. A. van de Velde sometimes painted his figures. A Town Gate, signed and dated 1654, worthily displays his powers. In a mountainous country we see a town, with its churches, towers, gates, and fortifications, situated on both sides of a river; on the water several boats are sailing and rowing; and, on the banks, people are bathing and promenading.

=Jan Hackaert's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jan Hackaert has a fine Mountainous Landscape with a shepherd playing a clarinet by a stream, and a couple of peasants dancing, watched by a man with his back to us.

On a hill to the right, under tall trees, are a hunter and his dog; to the left, a man on horseback followed by a dog. A road runs along the banks of a lake, at the foot of a high mountain brightly illuminated by the sun, on which three cavaliers are approaching at a fast trot. The figures and animals in this canvas belong to J. Lingelbach.

=Berchem and Two who painted in his Style.=--Johannes van der Bent (1650-90) was a pupil of Ph. Wouwermans and A. van de Velde; but he also imitated the style of N. Berchem. He has an Italian Landscape in which a shepherdess is milking a goat in the foreground, with another woman and a boy near her; farther on are a white horse and cattle. The mountainous background has a cascade as usual. Berchem is not strongly represented here,--only by A Grotto: a woman and two men, one mounted on an a.s.s, are driving cattle over a ford. On the right, a shepherd is driving a flock of sheep; there are high mountains in the distance. Dirk van Berghen has also a Landscape and Animals in this style with mountainous and woody perspective.