PORTRAITURE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.* 'rats is an exceedingly pleasant
and should prove an exceed-
useful book. It consists of a selection of portraits of &amens historical characters of the seventeenth'century with abort biographical notes 'by Messrs. 9. R. L. Fletcher and H. B. Butler and an introduction by Mr. C. F. Bell, Keeper of the Vine Art Department in the Aehmolean Museum. The intro- aluction and the rest of the book are to some extent in con- flict, for Mr. Bell treats of the History of the art of portraiture, 'while Messrs. Fletcher and Butler are concerned rather to use that 'art for the illustration of history. The conflict, howeaer- avill not prevent the book doing good service in both fields Mr. Bell is, of course, one of the greatest living authorities on English portraiture, as his work in connexion with the recent exhibitions at Oxford has shown, and the preface he contra (aat to this volume should do much to call attention to 'the rather neglected school of painting which preceded the great age of Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney. Indeed, Mr. Bell claimsfoe the seventeenthoentury portrait painters that they surpass the eighteenth-century school in interest, if net in technical accomplialithent, Alice they interpose between • Llistoricat Portraits, /000.1700. Lives, by H. It Butler and .0. R. L. Wleteher. Portrait'', clidstili Emery Walker. With 'an Introdliction' by C. P. Bell. Oxford: at the Clareades Prose, pea, 011, net ; 7.'orttults separately. Ga.:1 the subject and the speatatar less 'Of that Cloak of stylet::0 which Reynolds and Giinribetotigh 'owe ho 'mulch of thet4' ;charm. It is not easy to 'accept this View, and two ohviians' .arguments may be advanced against it. 'In tho first place, one may 'ernpliasi2e--and Mr. Bell does not ignore it-the astonish-' 'ing ;emptiness of a great mass Of the work turned out by the two painters (Lely 'and Kneller), who; if we except 'Van Dyck. 'from the category, tvere the leading figures* of the time. At no period were a greater number of school pictUres pradneeir than were during the last half of the century poured' from the portrait factories Of these two fashionable artists. Their emptiness 'depresses half the country hciuses in the kingdom: To see ho* magnificently they Could Paint One has only' to look at Lelyau poatraits" of Flatmart; Wyeberley, James II.; and Sir William Temple in the National Portrait Gallery' (the lait two of which ,are reproduced in this book), his "Cowley" now at Mr. Shepherd's rooms, Kneller'a two portraits of Dryden (one of which Mr. Walker reproduces for us), the fine picture by him in the Dublin' Gallery, or' his tragic death mask of the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth. Another reasonwhich tells strongly against the pairiters of this' age is the absence of any distinctive national style. The the owed its origin to foreign inspiration received the first place from members of the Dutell colony, which the trenbles of its own land had driven to settle in London, and the most peoreinent members of Which were, perhaps, GeeraertS, alytens, Van Sourer; and Cottelins Janssens; and in the second' from the more notable foreign painters who were in Tudor and early Stuart times attraeted by the wealth of the Britieli Court to visit England and make a profit of their skill: Holbein, Renbens,,Houthoest, and others made the venture; and foand it profitable, but the most important visitor of all was, of course, Van Dyck. It is to him, and to hien almost alone, that the best English portraiture of this age is due, But if he, and Lely after him, taught the English how to paint, they created to a great extent, not artists, but imitators. Some men of outstanding talent we can still detebt, difficult as it is at this length of time to trace the true paternity of the vast number of pictures which came directly or indirectly froM the masters' studios. William Dobson at least was, in spite of a rather slavish imitation of his =tutor's style, a man of the highest talent--probably of genius. His poatraite of Sir Henry Vane (included in this volume) and the magnificent 'picture of Thomas Simon the medallist (the identification of the sitter is' extremely doubtful), recently on exhibition at Burlington House, incline' one to take the latter view. Another fine work attributed to him (butt both subjeCt and painter ban hardly be rightly maned) is the No-called' Nathaniel Lee in the possession of the Garrick Club, and Mr. Shepherd has a very interesting reduction of one of the Windsor Van Dyclus which is almost certainly, his. Another admirable painter was Robert Walker, well represented by the fine portrait of the engraver Faithorne at the National Portrait Gallery, and the same may be said of Michael Wright, whose pictures of Thomas Chiffinch and the extremely interesting Thomas Hobbes (reproduced in this book) show a more individual style than was common among painters of this age .Other good English painters were Greenhill, of whose work an example is given in his portrait of the First Lord Shaftesbury, and Riley, whose picture of Waller might, well have been included in this book. Had it not been.for the early deatatof Dobson, followed by the cataclysm of the Civil War, which was in turn succeeded by the domination of Lely and Kneller, these native artists might have succeeded in founding an English school. As it was, the advent of Lely from Holland and Kneller from Germany put English talent in the shade for
the remainder of the century. •
The course of all these events is excellently traced in Mr. Bell's introduction, and he also brings out most clearly the rapid development which the minor arts of pastel drawing, miniature painting, engraving, and sepulchral sculpture underwent during the same period. In sculp- ture. engraving, and pastel the development seems to have been due here also to foreign inspiration, though the English genius quickly assimilated all that foreign teachers could give it, and had not to compete? with a foreign immigration of any considerable im- portance. But in miniature painting (in gouache an opaque pigtne.nt) we find s. truly English art, and one that In the hands of Samuel Cooper reached a pitch of- perfection
'which leadelfr.-Bell to see. in.it the greatest glory of British art. Without accepting this valuation to the full—for not only the great Georgians, but the landscape painters from Crome to Turner have surely to be reckoned with—one must. recognize in it a well-deserved tribute to a branch of English achievement which was, before the great Exhibition now open at Brussels, known to few but connoisseurs.
Turning to the volume to which Mr. Bell's interesting chapter forms the prelude, one finds it difficult to know in what attitude to approach it. As an illustration of Mr. Bell's thesis it is,• of course, incomplete, though painters, gravers, and miniaturists are all represented. Inasmuch, however, as the object of the hook is primarily historical, one cannot find fault with it on this score. But, even as a collection of historical portraits of the period, it is open to a certain amount of criticism. Room might surely have been found for one of the. many portraits of Sir Isaac Newton.. Mierevelt's Henry Wriothesley, Lord Southampton, is a more interesting picture than his Elizabeth of Bohemia, which is given a place, and Wriothesley was a figure of the first importance. The omission of Riley's Waller has been mentioned, and one may also note the absence of any portrait of Suckling, three pictures of whom, by Van Dyck, are, it is believed, extant and identified with certainty. No portrait of any of the Restoration dramatists is given, though Lely's excellent Wycherley above referred to is available, and one would have liked to have seen included some portrait of Samuel Butler, authenticated pictures of whom are surely to be found. Another picture which one misses is that of Mary Countess of Pembroke, subject of Sir William Browne's (or Ben Jonson's) famous epitaph and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. Her portrait by Geeracrt in the National Portrait Gallery is one of that rather dogged painter's freest and most charming works, and might well have found a place. Another fault to which attention must be called is the want of an index. The only key to the book is a list of the portraits, but even this is not in alphabetical order. There should have been an index dealing, not only with the biographical sketches, but also with Mr. Bell's Introduction and giving full reference to the names of artists, &c.
These are, however, but slight blemishes in a most interest- ing and instructive book. The letterpress is in the hands of two able scholars, and is as good as a succession of short summaries of this kind can be, being written throughout with lucidity and generally without bias. It is to be hoped that the volume will be followed by others dealing in the same way with the later ages of portraiture.
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