The Standard Galleries - Holland Part 22

=One of Pompe's Rare Works.=--A View of Rotterdam, by a little-known painter, Gerrit Pompe (fl. 1700), whose works are very rare, deserves study. The Maas, animated with ships, occupies the foreground; on the left, the Admiralty yacht is under full sail, and there is also a row-boat; in the middle distance is a battleship; in the background are some other boats; and still farther away extends the town of Rotterdam.

The painter has signed his name on a floating plank.

=Pompe's Rotterdam and Sonje's.=--It is interesting to compare Pompe's Rotterdam with the View near Rotterdam by Johannes Sonje. Here we have the Rotter in the foreground, on which a merchant ship and a row-boat are seen. The river winds among the trees of the meadows, which are animated with persons and animals. Under the trees on the left is a farmhouse. Farther back are two sail-boats, and in the background is the city.

=A Beautiful River Scene by Van Goyen.=--J. van Goyen, the father-in-law of Jan Steen, was particularly famous for his landscapes and river scenery, a beautiful example of which is called View of a River in Holland. On the left is a jetty, from which fishermen are loading a boat with baskets; in the middle distance is a boat with fishermen drawing a seine; and in the background are a mill and some houses on the bank.

Several other sailing and rowing boats are on the water, and on the horizon to the left is a village.

=Avercamp's Famous View of a River.=--Hendrik Avercamp (fl. 1660) was famous in his day for his Dutch _kermesses_, camp life, landscape, and still life. His View of a River is full of life and color. In the left foreground are two fishermen, and on the left a seated fisherman's wife.

The men are dragging a big seine. In the middle distance to the right people are bathing and swimming; swans are on the stream, also boats with occupants; and there are houses on the banks.

=River Scenes by Willaerts, Father and Son.=--Isaac Willaerts (fl. 1650) has a View of a River. On the left is a village on a dike; on the right, a river with many sail-boats. He was a pupil of his father, Adam. The Mouth of the Meuse near Brielle, by Adam Willaerts, also belongs to this group. In the foreground on the left stands an inn with the sign In de Witte Zwaan (The White Swan), and before it on a cask sits a wandering singer, surrounded by fishermen and peasants; a little to the front are seen a gentleman and his family, to whom an old fisherman offers fish; on the banks of the river are groups of peasants, sailors, and fishermen, talking, embracing the women, and offering their arms to them for a promenade. Boats are arriving and departing, and on the horizon lies the town.

=A River Picture and Two Others by Verschuier.=--Lieve Verschuier has The Maas before Rotterdam. The river is seen on the right; on the left are the Bompjes (the quay bordered with trees), the Oudehoofdpoort (old gate), and the Haringvliet (ca.n.a.l). Merchant vessels are riding at anchor, and all sorts of boats are carrying merchandise and pa.s.sengers.

In the foreground is a boat with two fishermen. The same artist has here a Mountainous Landscape, and the old Oostpoort at Rotterdam, built in 1611-13 and demolished in 1836.

=Jongkind's Impressive Picture of Overschie in Moonlight.=--The impressive picture, View of Overschie in Moonlight, was purchased in 1893 out of a bequest by Mr. Prainat at Rotterdam. After Jongkind settled in France he frequently visited Holland, and this picture was painted in 1872, during one of his visits. He was exceedingly fond of Rotterdam and its environs. Overschie is a village near Rotterdam, and the Schie, it may be noted, joins the Maas at Delftshaven; upon it is situated Delft. It is interesting to compare this picture with Gabriel's In the Environs of Overschie.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JONGKIND View of Overschie in Moonlight]

=Jan Storck's Picture of the Old Gate at Rotterdam.=--Jan Storck, whose Castle of Nyenrode is in the Rijks, has here The Oude Hoofdpoort at Rotterdam seen from the Maas. In addition to the old gate (built in 1598 and demolished in 1856), several boats are represented, and a yacht is just leaving port amidst salvos of artillery. The Maas is seen to the right.

=Two Pictures Characteristic of A. Storck's Style.=--Abraham Storck has two characteristic works. An Italian Seaport has a jetty on the right with a large building and a stone fountain. Several persons are busy discharging the contents of the boats and galleys. On the left a sloop is going toward a Dutch boat at anchor. His other picture is A Dutch Port in Winter. A great hole appears in the ice in the centre; on the right is a pole on which nets are drying; on the left, a boat stuck fast in the ice: Farther along are more imprisoned boats, some houses, and a mill; near the bridge are a lady and gentleman in a sleigh; on the left, two persons playing hockey; farther along are some skaters and promenaders. In the background are two ships in the ice; and on the horizon, some houses and a clock-tower.

=Two Marines by Backhuysen.=--Ludolf Backhuysen has a large View of the Dutch Coast in Stormy Weather, dated 1682. Ships of various sizes are endeavoring to escape an approaching heavy squall. A marine, about one-third the size of the above, is a calmer but bustling scene of ships of war exchanging salutes at a place of embarkation.

=A Marine, by Zeeman.=--Reinier Zeeman (16-- after 1673), whose pictures greatly resemble those of Jan Both and Claude Lorraine, is represented by a marine. On the left some vessels are in the roadstead, on the right other boats are off for the deep, and on the banks sailors and fishermen are seen.

=Two Marines by Schotel.=--J. C. Schotel has an Agitated Sea showing a brig at anchor and a fisherman's boat. A lighthouse is seen on the sh.o.r.e to the right. Another, called Au Moerdijk, represents a steamboat plying toward the landing, and in the background boats laden with hay. The weather is calm.

=The Port of Texel, by W. van de Velde.=--A characteristic example of Willem van de Velde is The Port of Texel. On the left is a jetty from which large merchant ships are preparing to leave, on the right the Admiralty yacht firing salvos, in the foreground fishermen busy with their nets, a boat containing several gentlemen, and in the offing many boats leaving port.

=A Sea-Strand, by Mans.=--Fredericus Mans (d. 1673) has a panel called A Sea-Strand. In the foreground are fishermen, peasants, and women. A road on the right leads to a village in the dunes. On the left, the beach is animated with many figures and fishing boats.

=A Marine, by L. G. Man.=--L. G. Man (eighteenth century) has a marine consisting of several English men-of-war on a sunlit sea.

=Sunset at Scheveningen and Two Other Pictures, by Schelfhout.=--Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870) has A Beach, with the sea in the background, fishing-boats in the middle distance, and a fisherman on the dunes, with his dog in the foreground. A Winter Scene represents a frozen stream where three children are playing with a sled; farther away are some skaters; and to the right, the village houses beneath wintry trees.

Sunset at Scheveningen shows a beautifully lighted sea; some boats with fishermen occupy the middle distance; and the beach with promenaders is shown in the foreground.

=H. Koekkoek's Stormy Sea.=--Herma.n.u.s Koekkoek (1815-82) was a pupil of his father, and, like him, a marine painter. His Stormy Sea, showing various vessels struggling with the elements, is full of force and atmospheric effects.

=Two Beautiful Marines by Mesdag.=--Two beautiful pictures by the skilful marine-painter, H. W. Mesdag, should be noted: Breakers on the North Sea Coast, presented by Mr. C. E. van Stolk in 1885, depicts a scene that the traveller himself may verify at any moment; and A Sunrise on the Dutch Coast, presented by the Society for Promoting Art at Rotterdam in 1876. This was painted in 1875. Beautiful in color and striking in composition, it appeals equally to the artist and the amateur.

A picture by Mrs. Mesdag, Moorland with a Sheepfold in Moonlight, was presented to this gallery by her in 1904.

=David de Heem, One of the First Painters of Still Life.=--This gallery owns many pictures of fruits, flowers, animals, and birds. David de Heem (1570-1632) was one of the first to devote his talents almost exclusively to still life. Neither The Hague nor the Rijks gallery contains an example of his work. He treated with great minuteness flowers, fruits, gla.s.ses, etc. Even during his own lifetime his paintings were much sought after, and high prices were paid for them. In his Flowers and Fruits we see a gla.s.s of Rhine wine standing in a stone niche ornamented with carved mouldings. The gla.s.s is garlanded with roses, honeysuckle, pinks, and chrysanthemums; and grouped about it are white grapes, peaches, apricots, plums, etc.

=A Large Still-life Picture by Jan de Heem.=--His more famous son, Jan Davidsz, who inherited his talents and tastes, has here a large picture of still life. On a table partly covered with a cloth of green velvet are arranged various fruits,--grapes, peaches, figs, and a lemon partly peeled. In the foreground is a pewter dish full of crabs, prawns, and hazelnuts; then come a blue porcelain bowl and a pewter plate with oranges and strawberries; next we have a basket covered with a blue velvet cloth, on which is a pewter dish with a cut ham. In the background is a box with gold and silver fringe, and on it a wide-mouthed bottle of Rhine wine, with a vine branch, a cooked crayfish, and some chestnuts. To the left are two wine gla.s.ses and a silver plate of plums, figs, and cherries. Well may Blanc exclaim:

"There is no eater so cloyed, no gourmet so _blase_, who would not have his appet.i.te restored by the sight of one of De Heem's pictures; for here everything is exquisite, both the form and the substance, the viands and the fruits, as well as the way in which they are served. It is necessary that the eye should dine, says the proverb; and this is particularly true of feasts and collations given in painting.... De Heem has happily expressed the quality of every viand and every fruit, its rough or smooth surface, dull or shining, and even its stage of ripeness,--the violet plum with its thin skin, splashed with red and drab, the light down of the peach with its pale and purple tones, the plush envelope in which the hazelnut hides, and the green and split sh.e.l.l inside which we see the kernel. Moreover, this diversity of substances is not only rendered by local color but also by certain variations of the brush work by fine shades of touch. On the oak or marble table is placed an enormous gla.s.s vessel cut in facets, a patriarchal gla.s.s, all the ridges of which glitter in the light, and through the crystal of which we see a golden liquid, fused topaz.

Sometimes it is a _roemer_, a cylindrical vase of Bohemian gla.s.s mounted in silver, a precious utensil transmitted from generation to generation. This is a picture that transports us to the intimate life of these domestic Dutchmen, attentive to all the delicacies of interior comfort."

Jan's son, Cornelis, has also a piece called Flowers and Fruits in the same style.

=Seghers's Flowers.=--The striking picture of Flowers, by David Seghers, shows a stone cartouche with a little bust of Ceres framed in a garland of red and white roses, tulips, and many small flowers, around which hover numerous b.u.t.terflies.

=W. C. Heda, an Early Still-life Painter.=--Willem Claes Heda (1594-1668) was one of the earliest Dutchmen who devoted themselves exclusively to the painting of still life. Heda was the contemporary and companion of Dirk Hals, with whom he had in common pictorial touch and technical execution. But Heda was more careful and finished than Hals, and showed considerable skill and not a little taste in arranging and coloring chased cups and beakers and tankards of precious and inferior metals. Nothing is so appetizing as his Luncheon, with rare comestibles set out upon rich plate, oysters,--seldom without the cut lemon,--bread, champagne, olives, and pastry. Even the commoner Refection is also not without charm, as it comprises a cut ham, bread, walnuts, and beer.

=Van Gelder and Gillemans, Famous Painters of Still Life.=--N. van Gelder (d. 1660) painted birds, animals, and flowers with great finish and delicacy. His Poultry consists of a dead c.o.c.k on a black marble plinth, partly suspended by one of its feet from an iron hook fixed behind a partly open green curtain. To the left are two shot pigeons, a green velvet game-bag, and a fowling-piece.

Jan Paul Gillemans (1618-?) was famous for his still life. This gallery possesses one of his fruit pieces, in which grapes, oranges, lemons, plums, and apricots are temptingly displayed.

=Ykens, Painter of Flowers.=--Franchois Ykens (or Ikens) (1601-93), a painter of flowers and pupil of his uncle, Osias Beest, has a picture here that was formerly attributed to Francois Seghers. A stone cartouche, surrounded with a garland of roses, tulips, pinks, honeysuckle, clematis, etc., and bearing a representation of the mystic marriage of St. Catherine, is called simply Flowers.

=W. van Aelst and his Famous Pupil, Rachel Ruysch.=--Willem van Aelst delights us with his Flowers. On a brown marble slab in a niche stands an elegant vase containing roses, poppies, a pink, and other blossoms, around which a b.u.t.terfly is fluttering. A snail is crawling in the niche. On a brown table-cloth with gold fringe, to the right, is an open gold watch with a green ribbon attached. The picture is signed and dated 1662. Willem's famous pupil, Rachel Ruysch, may be seen here by a charming flower piece. A tree-trunk surrounded by red and white roses, poppies, convolvuluses, etc., and upon the stony ground, covered with moss and mushrooms, innumerable lizards, toads, snails, and various insects swarm. b.u.t.terflies hover over the flowers. Rachel Ruysch painted this picture in 1685, and gave it as a present to the famous painter, Ludolf Bakhuysen.

=Pieter Boel's Dead Game.=--Her contemporary, Pieter Boel, shows the influence of his master, F. Snyders, in Dead Game. A dead swan hangs by its foot to a tree. In the foreground, near a pedestal, are arranged two partridges and some other game, with a gun and a bra.s.s hunting-horn. On the left is a hound; and, in the background to the right, an owl on a cage with a little dead bird in front of it.

=Ma.r.s.eus, Painter of Lowly Animal Life.=--Another follower of Snyders was Otto Ma.r.s.eus van Schrieck. He excelled in the loving rendering of lowly animal life. His Nest is of natural size, with eggs lying on the moss near some thistles, wild mulberries, and red mushrooms. Around it flutter some b.u.t.terflies; on the right is a lizard, and on the left a Mayfly.

=A. Breughel's Still-life Pictures.=--His pupil, Abraham Breughel (1631-?), went to Rome; but little is known about him except that his favorite subject was still life. Like so many others, his flowers and fruits are painted natural size. The princ.i.p.al objects in his picture are a silver dish with figs, a silver bowl containing roses and gladioluses at the foot of a column, and black and white grapes, apples, etc., in the foreground.

=A. Cuijp, a Painter Catholic in his Tastes.=--Aelbert Cuijp was very catholic in his tastes. He occupied a country house near Dordrecht, called Dordwijck, where he painted everything that struck his fancy,--men, animals, fruits, flowers, and landscape. The poultry yard is noticed in a c.o.c.k and Hen scratching in the straw, with a broom and some blocks of red stone conspicuously placed. A hare, two pigeons, and other birds on a stone pillar compose his Dead Game. A painting called Fruits represents peaches on a blue plate on a table, and, beside the plate, white grapes, cherries, and green gooseberries. On the left is also a b.u.t.terfly. A charming jumble of peaches, black and white grapes, and various sh.e.l.ls make the picture, Fruits and Sh.e.l.ls, in which three b.u.t.terflies and a housefly are also prominent.

=One of Jan Weenix's Many Dead Swans.=--No Dutch gallery would be complete without a Dead Swan by Jan Weenix. Sir Joshua Reynolds admitted that he had seen no less than twenty during his visit to Holland. The dead swan is here suspended by the foot from a stone pedestal; on one side lie a peac.o.c.k, a partridge, and a thrush; and near them a branch from a rosebush and a basket of fruit. In the background is seen a park with a lake, statues, fountains, and large trees.

=Two of Mignon's Best Pictures.=--Abraham Mignon appears at his best in two pictures in this gallery called Flowers and Fruits. In the former we admire a vase on a stone table, filled with red and white roses, tulips, blue irises, poppies, pinks, convolvuluses, and ears of wheat; on the left on the table a mouse, snails, b.u.t.terflies, beetles, and other insects are painted with rare delicacy and truth. Insects and snails also occur in the second picture, in which the fruits are placed in a niche, and consist of a bunch of black grapes, a peach, a melon, an apricot, and some plums decorated with a vine leaf, wheat, and small flowers.

=A Still Life by Van Beyeren.=--Abraham Hendricksz van Beyeren was especially fond of painting flowers and marine life. His Sea Fish is an evidence of his excellence in this line. On a table is a basket containing whiting and a slice of salmon; in front of the basket are a crab, some soles, some slices of cod, and a knife.

=Van den Broeck's Flowers.=--Elias van den Broeck (1653-1711), a pupil of Jan de Heem, delighted to immortalize on canvas the flowers he cultivated in his beautiful garden. A stone plinth with roses and Indian cress; and, in front, chrysanthemums and creepers, a lizard, two snails, and b.u.t.terflies are the chief features of his Flowers.

=Van Os, Another Good Flower-painter.=--Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os (1782-1861) was a worthy successor of the seventeenth-century masters of this school. Flowers and Flowers and Fruits are artistically composed and lovingly painted. The former consists of an Etruscan vase filled with roses, blue irises, tulips, and anemones, standing on a marble table. The second picture represents, on a marble plinth in a niche, a melon, a pear, and a bunch of black grapes with roses, convolvuluses, poppies, and other flowers.

=His Pupil, Hendrik Reekers.=--His pupil, Hendrik Reekers (1815-54), has here Fruits, Vegetables, and Game, arranged on a marble table. A basket is full of white and black grapes, a cut lemon, and some oranges, plums, peaches, and an artichoke, mingled with flowers. Above these hang a partridge and a grouse.

=Flowers, by Steenbergen.=--Flowers, by Albertus Steenbergen (1814- ), consists of roses, poppies, lilacs, convolvuluses, nasturtiums, etc., arranged in a vase that stands on a marble plinth. On the right flutters a b.u.t.terfly.

=Still Life, by Maria Vos.=--Still Life by Maria Vos (b. 1824) consists of a stone plinth partly covered with a piece of matting on which stand a white c.o.c.k and a black hen, an overturned basket of oranges and lemons, a copper dish, and a porcelain bowl; and on the wall a stone jug with a pewter top.

=Flowers, by Margaretha Roosenboom.=--In Flowers, by Margaretha Roosenboom (1843), we have a silver vase filled with roses, standing on a table with a green cover. In the background, a green curtain is half drawn.

=Two Excellent Hunting Scenes by Hondius.=--Abraham Hondius (1638-91), who excelled in painting the different breeds of dogs and other animals, and hunting scenes, with much fire and action, has two pictures here. A Boar Defending Itself Against Dogs shows the furious beast at bay, with four dying or dead dogs under him in the foreground. On the left three more dogs are rushing to the attack. The features of the landscape are three trees, with a mountainous background. The other picture, of exactly the same size, depicts a Bear Attacked by Dogs. The bear is standing on his hind legs with a dog under him, and throwing another into the air, while he hugs the life out of another. On the right and left, more dogs are rushing to attack. There is a dying dog in the left foreground. On the right, in the middle distance, there are two trees near a rock, and a cascade, and the background is mountainous. Both pictures are signed and dated 1672.

=Bird Pictures by the Hondecoeters, Father and Son.=--Gijsbert de Hondecoeter shows his loving study of the gallinaceous tribe in c.o.c.k and Hens. In the foreground is a black hen with a white comb; and behind her are a sitting yellow hen and a standing white one; still farther back are three more hens, one perched on the branch of a tree. To the left sits a brown hen with a black comb, with a yellow-brown c.o.c.k behind. The ground is strewed with oyster sh.e.l.ls and straw. Three hens are in the background. The picture is signed and dated 1652.

Melchior de Hondecoeter, who surpa.s.sed his father as a painter of birds alive and dead, enriches this collection with his Dead Game. In a grotto at the foot of some ruins a dead bittern and two partridges are hanging.

In front are two gulls; and on the right are a hunting-horn, tied with a red ta.s.selled cord, a green velvet bag, a kingfisher, and two finches.

In the middle distance is a fowling-piece with a shoulder belt and net.