ART.
THE ANCIENT MASTERS.
WHAT other large towns occasionally strive to procure for them- selves with great labour and difficulty, London has long had supplied to it without any effort of its own. Works of the ancient masters of painting have uninterruptedly, for more than half a century, been annually exhibited at the British Institution, in quantities such that every one could easily make himself acquainted with every picture shown, and with a variety that is the best possible antidote to narrow and one-sided views of the province and capabilities of Art, and to the poison of temporary fashion and affectation. How far Londoners have made use of their oppor- tunities is at this moment, when there is too much reason to fear the entire withdrawal of the privilege, a matter of doubt. The novelties and bright colours, the familiar allusions, and modes of thought that are found in modern pictures, attract more eyes and excite greater sympathy among the generality of sight-seers than the more recondite beauties of the ancient painters. But this, though quite intelligible, does not supply a complete or satisfactory explanation of the almost utter indifference shown to the most instructive picture exhibition of the year. Nor does the present Exhibition fall below the average of its predeces- sors. Some of Rembrandt's grandest heads, the famous " Portrait of a Lady," by Vandyke, from Mr. Holford's collection, the " Earl of Arundel," by Rubens, from Warwick, a first-rate specimen of Bassano, with excellent Ruysdaels and W. Vandeveldes, and a picture of great power by Lievens, a Dutch artist not much known in this country, are among the principal attractions•of the gallery. Rembrandt's pictures are the works of a man who first-has clearly made up his mind what he wants to do, and then does it with perfect art and professional knowledge. Hence the vivid iinpres- sion and the appearance of reality produced. To strike the imagination of another, it is before all things necessary to have a definite impression oneself. Haziness of idea in the artist brings forth only the most feeble and prosaic results. To be truly poetical, a man must have clearly discerned his subject. That Rembrandt saw his in his minds' eye with absolute completeness, and probably with immense rapidity, few can doubt. And to this definiteness of purpose may best be ascribed the singularly lifelike character, and the sublimity of realism which breathes from his best pictures. Among famous examples of this quality, the portrait of his own servant girl in the Dulwich Gallery is not the least remarkable. But it is well matched by the two heads of Jew Rabbis, one lent by the Duke of Devonshire (51), the other by the Earl of Derby (61), at the British Institution. Here is not the mere surface painting of the ordinary realist, who thinks his work well done when he has painted every individual hair of a beard and every wrinkle about an eye. These men can breathe ; these heads think. Then, what splendid painting ; what amazing power yet tenderness of light and shade ; what a glow of colour ! The Duke of Devonshire's picture appears to have suffered from those enemies of true excellence, the picture-cleaners, who have " cleaned " off the face some of the glazings, and left it dotted over with raw patches of leaden gray. The other picture has been more fortunate. " The Death of Isaac" (43) is of a class of subject in which the artist has to invent all the ingredients of the scene, and where Rembrandt was far less impressive than in that other sort of invention which consists in selecting from things actually seen, and investing them with a glory and a poetry which to the eye unpoetical are not their own. Yet there is great power and violence of grief in the sketch of " Joseph's Garment brought to Jacob" (127), in which Rembrandt has happily forgotten his favourite symbol of Eastern nationality, the turban, and composed his picture with figures that might have been born and bred in Holland. "The thirty pieces of silver" (159) is also attributed to him ; but it is a poor picture, and belies the parentage. More probably it is by Lievens, though comparing it with " The Raising of Lazarus" (123), even he might not be anxious to claim the authorship. The last-named picture is a very striking work. The grave is in front, and beyond and raised somewhat above it stands the Christ with upward look as if invoking power from above, while a negro drags the winding sheet from the grave in which the upraised hands of Lazarus returning to life are just visible. One or two other figures expressive of astonishment and awe stand behind. The rapt expression of the Christ standing apart, and the winding-sheet trailing upwards in a grand line from the tomb, are noticeable and material ingredients in the production of a remarkably impressive picture. The tone is sombre, and the colouring Rembrandtesque. With the somewhat homely figure but earnest action of the Christ it is interesting to compare the cold Academic treatment of a similar subject by L. Caracci, " Our Saviour Raising the Widow's Son" (91). Besides the feeble formality of the principal figure, there is too much of the picturesque in the arrangement. The child, how- ever, is nobly conceived, and, of course, exquisitely drawn. Re- ference may here be made to the " Return of the Prodigal Son " (80), by Bassano, a picture marked by all his accustomed meanness of character and weakness of composition, but signalized also by more than his usual splendour of colour.
The portrait by Rubens of Thomas, Earl of Arundel (20), is a masterpiece of the artist, and notwithstanding some assertions to the contrary is in excellent condition. The head has immense fire and vivacity, and the painting of it, as well as of the armour in which the Earl is clad and all the accessories of the picture, is quite worthy of him whom Reynolds declared to be the greatest master of execution that ever handled a brush. Tameness or in- sipidity were never imputed to this master, and his "Prometheus" (126) is no exceptional work. But the horrors that may be suggested in words without offence are here represented with most sanguinary and revolting force. Vandyke never painted a more fascinating face than that of the lady whose portrait is lent by Mr. Holford (2). Just such a pleased and interested expression one would like to see in conversation with such a lady. The picture, though hung high, appears to be of Vandyke's best period, before fashion and a full tide of popularity made him hasty and careless. His "Lady and Child " (24), from Earl Brownlow's collection, if not tampered with, must be ascribed to the later period. The lady's face is animated, but coarsely painted, as if with the graining- comb of a house-painter. The different condition of the child's face suggests that the former has undergone unfair treatment. The "Earl of Surrey," by Holbein (125), is a vigorous bit of character, and the so-called portrait of " Raphael, by Himself " (13), whether rightly so named or not, is the work of a master's hand, and the likeness of a man of mark. Two heads of Greuze (8 and 157) should be looked at for their charming colour and good execution. There are two pictures ascribed to Titian, a portrait of Ignatius Loyola (37), and " The Tribute Money "'(45), a composition similar to that which bears the same title in the National Gallery. The portrait brings some reminiscence of the Venetian school, but the latter picture brings none. Less doubt- ful, however coarsely painted, are the two heads given to Velasquez (49, 55).
Ruysdael is a landscape painter whom the more one knows the more one admires. He dignifies the homeliest subjects, and in common things finds a grandeur which escapes the vulgar eye;, moreover, he rises with his subject, and is best with the greatest. Few who saw will forget his " Storm at Sea," exhibited here two years ago ; and now there is "A Gale" (9), which renders the hurrying waves, the driving rack of cloud, and the air whitened with sea-scud with masterly truth and beauty. W. Vandevelde and Backhuysen have each treated a similar subject (117 and 16) with considerable spirit. But in each the effort to achieve some- thing is more evident than in Ruysdael. There is less simplicity. There are two very beautiful pictures of shipping under calm morning effects by W. Vandevelde (93, 124). But though tenderly coloured, they yield of course, in truthfulness of sunshine effect to Cuyp (128). The pure gray of daylight was tenderly felt by Tethers, of whose landscape art there is here an excellent specimen in " The Bleaching Ground " (86). This picture pre- sents a good lesson in the art of reconciling the accidental with- carefully studied arrangement.
The tale of landscape art is well taken up by our own Crome„ though of late we have been accustomed to more important work than this (158), and by P. Nasmyth, by whom there is a little picture of amazing brilliance (171). It had been well to close the list here, and not to have admitted the miserable "Jerusalem " (198), by a late R. A. A " Portrait of a Lady " (192) is one of Gainsborough's most refined and perfectly painted works. At a little distance the relief of the head is startling. Sir H. Raeburn is well represented by the very powerful "portraits of gentlemen" (188 and 165), which one cannot but wonder are anonymous- Morland shows what he could do before he became a dealer's hack.. The central picture in the series here exhibited (177) is charmingly painted, but in all the drawing is incorrect, and sometimes childish_ The Exhibition is greatly enriched by two of Hogarth's most finished paintings, "The Lady's Last Stake" (177), a very richly coloured picture, and the well-known " Gate of Calais " (102)„ with the British artist's idea of the ill-fed Gallic soldiers and the
sinking under the weight of the British sirloin, in which the fat friar is pointing out with discriminating finger the exact spot- from which he would choose a slice. Hogarth has introduced his.
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