Part 7 (1/2)

=W. van Mieris influenced by his Father and by G. de Lairesse.=--Willem van Mieris was a pupil of his father, and at first had no other ambition than to imitate his style and produce those charming Conversations in which rich furniture, s.h.i.+ning chandeliers of bra.s.s or copper, j.a.panese porcelains, silken curtains, Turkish table-carpets, flowers, and elegantly dressed people make a somewhat restricted, although delightful, world. Willem, falling under the influence of Gerard de Lairesse, who was much in vogue in Holland, selected such subjects as a young lady playing on the clavecin, or making lace, or walking in the country in a lilac satin robe with large sleeves that reveal through their slashes a beautiful arm, and a straw hat ornamented with a sweeping plume. Becoming a shepherdess this attractive lady next sits in his pictures with bare feet, in the shade of an oak, and beside her Corydon talks of love.

=His Success with Mythical and Biblical Subjects.=--Next he turned his attention to subjects from fable, romance, and mythology; and Diana, Armida, Cleopatra, Bacchus, Jupiter, Tarquin, the Sabines, etc., fill his panels or copper plates, which were hardly larger than your hand.

Biblical and religious subjects occupied him for a time and then he again turned pagan. His success grew greater every day, and his Dutch patrons who loved scenes of familiar life demanded from Van Mieris pictures in the style of his famous father--those charming _genre_ pictures still being produced by Slingelandt, Van Tol, and other imitators of Gerrit Dou.

=A Window-frame his Favorite Setting.=--Like Gerrit Dou, Willem van Mieris selects a window-frame of stone, which he often decorates with graceful creepers or a bouquet of tulips or jonquils placed on the sill, or throws over it a bright piece of tapestry. From it a blond lady leans to flirt with the unseen pa.s.ser, a child blows bubbles, a portly dame waters her flowers; or the artist himself sits calmly by. When tired of this, Willem van Mieris takes us to his favorite shop.

=Arie de Vois.=--Among the portraits one must not fail to notice the picture of A Huntsman Holding a Partridge by Arie de Vois (1630-80).

This was originally in the collection of William V. and was bought for 1,210 florins. His pictures are so rare that we are not surprised that the Mauritshuis contains but one example. The Rijks is more fortunate in owning four by this delightful painter.

=Abraham de Pape's Style.=--Abraham de Pape (1625-66), supposed to have been a pupil of Gerrit Dou, is represented by An Old Woman Plucking a c.o.c.k, with a little boy kneeling beside her. It is a very good example of this master; and at the Gerrit Muller sale brought no less than 490 florins. Crowe says:

”This almost unknown artist is decidedly one of the best _genre_ painters of this time. He is true and speaking in action, animated in his heads, harmonious, and even in some of his pictures warm in coloring, and very careful and soft in execution.”

=A. van der Werff's Biblical and Mythological Pictures.=--Adriaan van der Werff (1659-1722) occupied a peculiar position among Dutch painters.

While his contemporaries were devoting themselves to the study of nature and becoming realistic, he adhered to the pursuit of the ideal and produced pictures inspired by Biblical or mythological subjects,--pictures noted for their beauty and elegance, and moreover finished with wonderful smoothness of touch, which he had learned from his master Eglon van der Neer. His figures as a rule are small, and the flesh-tints are of an ivory tone. Van der Werff was so popular that it was impossible for him to execute all the commissions sent him. His greatest patron was the Elector Palatine John William; the pictures that Van der Werff painted for him are now in Munich, where this master may best be studied.

=Description of The Flight into Egypt.=--He is fairly well represented in the Rijks; but The Hague has only two of his works,--a Portrait of a Man, dated 1689, and The Flight into Egypt, dated 1710. This is only one foot six inches high and one foot two inches wide. The Virgin is in profile in a Prussian-blue mantle, accompanied by St. Joseph, who is leading an a.s.s. The road runs by the side of a brook, and the landscape is diversified with trees, ruins, and a portico. This picture was given by the artist to his daughter, who sold it to Mr. Schuijlenberg for 4,000 florins. At the Schuijlenberg sale at The Hague in 1765 it brought 6,500 florins.

=Reynolds on Van der Werff's Manner.=--This picture was much admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who saw it in the King's collection. In describing Van der Werff's manner he said:

”He has also the defect which is often found in Rembrandt,--that of making his light only a single spot. However, to do him justice his figures and heads are generally well drawn and his drapery is excellent; perhaps there are in his pictures as perfect examples of drapery as are to be found in any other painter's work whatever.”

=Philip van Dijk and his pupil, Louis de Moni.=--To this group belongs Philip van Dijk (1680-1753), a pupil of Arnold Boonen, and an imitator of Van der Werff. Judith with the Head of Holofernes is a good example of his historical work; and two good _genre_ pictures, A Lady Playing the Guitar, and A Lady at her Toilet, show this artist in a happier mood, where he gives free play to his more delicate touch. His Bookkeeper also hangs in this gallery. His pupil, Louis de Moni, shows the decline of the school. An Old Woman and a Boy, in a window, the boy blowing soap bubbles, is dated 1742.

=Ochtervelt a follower of Metsu and of Pieter de Hooch.=--Jacob van Ochtervelt (?-1700), who occupies a first place among the second-rate painters of his day, was a follower of Metsu and also of Pieter de Hooch. The Fish Vender, representing a woman in a room where a man is offering her fish, in conception and careful finish recalls Metsu, while in lighting and combination of color it reminds one of Pieter de Hooch.

The general tone is warmer than most of Ochtervelt's pictures.

=Jan Steen's Favorite Subjects.=--One of the greatest of all the Dutch _genre_ painters is Jan Steen (1626-79), ”the jolly landlord of Leyden.”

As a draughtsman and colorist he takes high rank, and as a student of human nature he has been compared to Hogarth and Moliere. His pictures are studies of life and character, and are full of humor. He paints feasts and merry-makings, weddings, quacks, tavern-brawls, dentists, invalids, children at play, family parties, etc., with sympathy and joyousness.

=His Character-painting.=--As a character-painter, he is unapproachable.

n.o.body so well as he has understood all human pa.s.sions, all emotions--hilarious joy, deep-seated satisfaction, fear, grief, and _Weltschmerz_ with such mastery, and known how to represent them in the smallest possible s.p.a.ce.

=His Method of showing Background to Advantage.=--With regard to Jan Steen's interiors it is interesting to note that, like Ostade's, they are painted from an elevation, so that the figures in the background are not hidden by those in the foreground. Ordinarily he opens a window in the background to illuminate the distant figures and thus is formed an echo of the princ.i.p.al light. The number of utensils is less than with most painters of this cla.s.s, for Jan Steen had too much sense to multiply them uselessly. Like Metsu, he often painted little pictures on the walls of his interiors, and it is singular that these depict heroic landscapes, battle scenes, mythological subjects, etc., and never tavern or _genre_ scenes such as he himself painted.

=Refinement and Culture in his Pictures.=--Another thing to notice is that whether in houses of affluence or in common taverns his people do not drink grossly and from jugs, as in the taverns of Adriaen Brouwer.

Each one takes his place gracefully and naturally at the table or in the room; and the details of the furniture accord with the politeness of the people or the players. On the mantelpiece, for instance, stands a bronze figure of Love; a guitar hangs from one of the panels; and here hangs a fine landscape in an ebony frame. The collation consists of delicious fruits that rejoice the eyes; perhaps also open oysters, which glisten in the light like pearls; ripe grapes and beautiful peaches, whose furry skins are blus.h.i.+ng like the cheeks of a young girl, and finally some lemons half peeled, the skin falling in a golden spiral. All this shows the influence of Van Mieris, who was a friend of Steen and who spent many hours in his tavern at Leyden.

=Reynolds's Appreciation of Jan Steen.=--Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was so delighted with the Steens he saw in Holland, wrote the following appreciative criticism of the artist:

”Jan Steen has a strong manly style of painting, which might become even the design of Raffaelle, and he has shown the greatest skill in composition and management of light and shadow as well as great truth in the expression and character of his figures.”

=Jan Steen's Fondness for painting his own Family.=--Jan Steen was very fond of painting his own family; his wives, his aged parents, and his children provided him with varied models of a.s.sorted ages and sizes. He had six children by his wife Marguerite van Goyen, daughter of the painter; and when she died, he married a widow, named Mariette Herkulens, who had two. He has characterized the pleasures of all ages in his picture called The Family of Jan Steen, bearing the legend ”_Soo de ouden songen pypen de jongen._” (As the old ones sing so will the young ones pipe.) This is particularly interesting, because the artist has painted himself between his wife Marguerite van Goyen and Mariette Herkulens, who was destined to be his second wife. They were both quite handsome, especially Marguerite. Mariette Herkulens was a meat vender.

=How he ridiculed the Physicians.=--Physicians were always b.u.t.t for Steen's caustic wit. It was a common practice in the seventeenth century to turn them into ridicule; and as Moliere brought them on the French stage, Jan Steen painted them with all their charlatanism and gravity and that severity of costume so studied for effect.

=Description of The Young Lady who is Ill.=--The Hague Gallery contains two of these,--one known as The Young Lady who is Ill (sometimes called The Doctor Feeling the Pulse of a Young Woman). In this picture a doctor dressed in black, with a pointed hat like that worn by Sagnarelle in the _Medecin malgre lui_, is seated at the bedside of a young and pretty girl with round arms and clear, pale complexion, who looks with interest at the potion that is being prepared according to the doctor's instructions. The latter pretends to be looking at the medicine which an elegant woman is bringing, but he is really looking at the beautiful throat of the blond and well-dressed Dutch lady, who lowers her eyes, charmed to let him gaze at her brilliant white neck, her little _retrousse_ nose, and her hair arranged _a la Ninon_, which is half covered with a sort of black cap. ”If it were not for a little touch of malice and certain inconsistencies in the somewhat careless execution,”

Blanc says, ”this picture might pa.s.s for a Van Mieris or a Metsu.”