THE ANTWERP SCHOOL. In Flanders, the leader of the new movement was Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), a native of Siegen in Westphalia, who brought about a complete reform in Flemish Painting. Gifted with a powerful original genius, Rubens threw into his works something of the fire and energy we have noticed in those of Michelangelo; his mastery of coloring, his brilliant execution, fertility of imagination, and vitality of expression are acknowledged by all-although it is impossible to deny that his figures are sometimes coarse, and that he betrayed a want of feeling for spiritual beauty, especially noticeable in his sacred subjects. elier of Othon van Veen, with whom he remained four years. He first studied under one Tobias Verhaeght and Adam von Noort; he then, in 1596, entered the at In 1597 he entered the Guild of Painters of Antwerp; and on leaving Van Veen in 1600 he paid a visit to Italy. He resided at Venice, where he RUBENS. studied the works of Titian and Paolo Veronese, and was much patronized by the Duke of Milan. In 1605 he went on a diplomatic visit to Philip III. of Spain. There he executed portraits of eminent personages of the court. On his return to Italy, Rubens went again to Rome. then through Milan to Genoa, where he painted many pictures for the might reside at Antwerp. There he married his first wife, Isabella Brandt; and in the following year he erected a magnificent mansion for himself, and became the head of an illustrious school of painters. In 1621-25 Rubens was at work, in Paris and in Antwerp, on the series of paintings to illustrate the Life of Marie de Medicis, for the decoration of the Luxembourg: the series is now in the Louvre. Soon after his return to Antwerp from Paris, Rubens started, in 1626, on a tour through Holland, and during his journey visited many Dutch painters of importance. In this year his wife Isabella died, leaving him two sons, whose well-known portraits are in the Liechtenstein Gallery in Vienna. In 1627 he was employed in diplomatic service at the Hague, and in the following year he was sent by the widow of the Archduke Albert, the Infanta Isabella, as ambassador to Philip IV. of Spain. In the following year the Infanta sent him in the same capacity to Charles I. of England. Rubens was kindly and him the honor of knighthood, at the same time presenting him with his own sword, and throwing around his neck a costly chain, which the painter ever afterward wore in remembrance of the monarch. He was in the same year knighted by Philip IV. of Spain. palaces of the Genoese nobles. In 1608, on hearing In 1608, on hearing | graciously received by Charles I., who conferred on that his mother was dangerously ill, Rubens quitted Genoa in haste, but unfortunately arrived at Antwerp too late to see his parent alive. He had intended to return to Mantua, but the Archduke Albert persuaded him, much against his inclination, to remain in the Netherlands, and in 1609 appointed him court-painter to himself and his Duchess Isabella. He consented, on the understanding that he Rubens, while in England, made the designs for the great ceiling-piece for Whitehall; the work was completed afterward on his return to Antwerp. He On the 30th of May, 1640, this great painter, the protector of artists, and friend of kings and nobles, died, possessed of great wealth, celebrated, and much honored, at Antwerp, where he was buried with great pomp in the church of S. Jacques. It would be utterly impossible here even to name a tenth part of Rubens' works, for his love of work was so constant, and his fertility so wonderful, that there are nearly fifteen hundred of his pictures which have been engraved, and this enormous number is scarcely half his productions. At the same time it must be remembered that many works attributed to him were executed from his designs by his pupils. The celebrated Descent from the Cross, which is unanimously considered the finest of all his works, is in the Cathedral of Antwerp. It is needless to describe the subject. It is a large scene of high character, in which we find a nobler conception and more finished execution than usual, besides calmness in the midst of energetic movement, and also, in this instance, no less grandeur than fire and energy. The merits of the work are much increased by its perfect unity. On the wings are the Visitation and S. Simon. panion, Francisco Xavier preaching to the Indians; the Four Quarters of the Globe; S. Ambrose refusing to allow the Emperor Theodosius to enter the Cathedral of Milan (of which a copy by Van Dyck is in the National Gallery); and one of his best pictures, the Appearance of the Virgin to S. Ildefonso. In the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna are the wellknown pictures of his Two Sons, and a series illustrating the History of Decius. There are forty-three of Rubens' paintings in the Louvre; the highest number by any single master to be found in the whole catalogue. The greater part of this number, and certainly the most important, form a series, and may be considered as a single work. This is called the History of Marie de Médicis. It was intended merely as the decoration of a palace; it is now in the Louvre, and will be henceforth the chief ornament of that museum, as it is one of the finest works of the master. There are two Landscapes, one of which is lighted up by a rainbow; a large Kermesse or Fair, which is no less gay and animated than if it were by Jan Steen. Of the other pictures by Rubens at Antwerp we must mention the Raising of the Cross, the pendent of the Descent, a vast Assumption of the Virgin, placed over the high altar in the same cathedral, the coloring of which is magnificent; besides the eighteen pictures in the Museum, among which may be found a Last Communion of S. Francis, unsurpassed, perhaps, by any other work of Rubens. In the Pinakothek at Munich are nearly a hundred pictures by him; of these the principal are a Last Judgment; the Battle of the Amazons; Castor and Pollux carrying off the daughters of Leucippus; Children carrying flowers; and several portraits of himself and his two wives. The Belvedere, Vienna, possesses a Portrait of Helena Fourment; a Festival of Venus; an Assumption; Ignatius Loyola curing a demoniac; and its com In the Hermitage at St. Petersburg is the Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, and many other works. At Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, are, among other of his works, the Rape of Proserpine; a portrait of his second wife, Helena Fourment; and portraits of Himself, his wife Helena, and a Child, in one picture. In the National Gallery there are fourteen works by Rubens. Of these we must notice the Peace and War; the Abduction of the Sabine Women; the Horrors of War; the famous Chapeau de Poil (Het Spaansch Hoedje); the Triumph of Julius Cæsar (after a part of that of Mantegna in the gallery at Hampton Court); and two fine Landscapes. At Grosvenor House, the Duke of Westminster possesses a fine work, the History of Ixion and the Cloud, and at Hampton Court is a fine work of Diana and her Nymphs. Good examples of Rubens are also to be found at Buckingham Palace, Leigh Court, Longford and Warwick Castle. We have now to mention a few Flemish painters who were contemporary with Rubens. Abraham Janssens, van Nuyssen (1567-1632) visited Italy, but his pictures, frequently showing the effect of torchlight, are more after the style of Rubens than of the transalpine masters. Though |