Part 9 (2/2)

He showed great political ability in the way he conducted his eh his personal charms made many friends

[Illustration: FIG 55--RUBENS AND HIS SECOND WIFE]

After his return froain to Rome and then to Genoa, and finally, on account of the illness of hisbeen absent seven years His mother died before he reached her He then decided to remain in Antwerp, and built hi studio He soonthe next fifteen years led a very regular and industrious life, and executed e number of pupils into his studio, and he has been accused of allowing them to paint pictures which he called by his own name; but it is true that Rubens, with his own hand, completed pictures of almost every kind, and so proved his power as an artist

He was fond of study, and could read and speak seven languages He was in the habit of having some one read aloud to him while he painted, and preferred books of history and poetry In 1620 he was invited to France by Marie de Medicis, for who the the life of this queen which decorate some apartments in the Louvre

In 1628 the Infanta Isabella sent him on a second rand and ieous coloring He proved hiland to try to make peace between that country and Flanders, in which he was successful He was knighted by King Charles in 1630, and received the sa of Spain

In 1630 he married Helena Forment, a niece of his first wife, as but sixteen years old She became the e, to whom Gevartius was tutor Rubens made so many portraits of both his wives and so often used thee pictures, that their faces are fa

55)

Rubens made a valuable collection of all sorts of beautiful objects, and lived luxuriously After his death a portion of his collection was sold at private sale for more than seventy-five thousand dollars His death occurred in 1640, and he was buried in a private chapel in the Church of St James in Antwerp; he had decorated this chapel with some works of his own His family erected a monument to him, upon which an epitaph written by Gevartius was inscribed

In painting Rubens was alreat variety of works as well as a great nuht hundred are ascribed to him: doubtless his pupils didof himself in all They include historical, scriptural, and enre_ pictures, and landscapes His style is a strangeand his arrangement of his subjects was like that of the Italians; but his figures, even when he represented Christ and the holiest s or German peasants, or somebody whom he had seen

We have not space to speak in detail of the works of Rubens Some critics insist that one class of his pictures is best, and soely upon the taste of those who ment It is certain that he was a wonderful painter, and reat pleasure to those who visit the galleries where they are seen

His pictures of children were so painted that they seem to have been done froenre_ scenes delightful, and his landscapes fine; in short, the aenius and industry, such as can scarcely be equalled in the history of painting Yet it cannot be denied that there is , and coarse, bad taste in soination, his bold design and effective execution, as well as his brilliant color, are all to be adh on the list of Flemish artists who are famous the world over

[Illustration: FIG 56--THE RETURN FROM EGYPT _By Rubens_]

FRANS SNYDERS (1579-1657) was born at Antwerp and lived in the time of Rubens He was a famous painter of aniether, Rubens painting the landscapes and figures and Snyders the animals in the sa ani moment of the combat or the chase, and his pictures are full of life They are seen in all large European galleries, and are much prized

JAN FYT (1609-1661), also born at Antwerp, is the greatest Flereyhounds cannot be equalled, while his live dogs are wonderful; but his best pictures represent dead gas arethe best in the world in which such subjects are treated

JACOB JORDAENS (1593-1678), another native of Antwerp, studied under Adam van Noort at the same time with Rubens, but later in life he became a follower and a sort of assistant of his forhter of their old master and never visited Italy His color was fine; in truth, he solohich is much admired in his works Many sacred pictures by Jordaens are seen in the churches of Flanders A fine historical work of his represents scenes froe, and is in the House of the Wood, near the Hague; but the larger part of his pictures represent the manners and custoalleries

The greatest artist areatest of Flanders, was ANTHONY VANDYCK (1599-1641) He was born in Antwerp, and was the son of a silkbeen the occupation of the Vandycks for several generations The mother of the painter was extremely skilled in various kinds of embroidery, and had such artistic tastes as enabled her to ns, which she worked out with her needle in delicate and elaborate tapestry work

Some people believe that to this taste and talent of hiswhich he early showed; at all events, she did all she could to develop his taste, and when he was still a boy she persuaded her husband to place hi of Henry van Balen

He was still quite young when he entered the studio of Rubens, and was soon so s fro reat care and exactness, and Vandyck must have had reat faith in hione out, the young student bribed his old servant to show the hich theeach other it happened that one of them hit the fresh picture, and injured it They were ed Vandyck to repair it After some hesitation he did so, and was so successful that at first Rubens did not detect the fact that another had worked on the picture When he did discover it, and learned the truth about it he forgave the offence heartily

When Vandyck was nineteen years old he was admitted to the Society of Artists in Antwerp, an unusual honor to one of his age In 1620 Vandyck went to England, having been invited there through the Earl of Arundel

Little is known of this visit, and two years later he was invited to the Hague, where he spent several h Haarlem he went to the studio of Franz Hals, as at a tavern just then A er desired to have his portrait made, and had but two hours to spare for it Hals hastened home and dashed off the portrait within the ti seeive me the brush for awhile” Hals coreat celerity Seeing this, Hals cried out, ”You are Vandyck; he alone can do such work”

The young artist was suddenly called to the death-bed of his father, who commanded him to paint a picture for the Dominican Sisters who had cared for his father in his illness Seven years later Vandyck presented the Sisters with a Crucifixion At the foot of the cross was a rock upon which was inscribed, in Latin, ”Lest the earth should be heavy upon the remains of his father, Anthony Vandyck ave it to this place” When the monasteries were broken up, this picture was purchased for two thousand seven hundred dollars for the Antwerp Acadeth Vandyck prepared to set out for Italy When he paid his farewell visit to Rubens he presented the ave him one of his finest horses As Vandyck was on his way froe of Saventhem, where he fell in love with Anna van Ophem, and so stayed on in the lovely valley of Flanders, week after week, as if he had forgotten that Italy existed Anna persuaded hie church, and he executed a Holy Fain was a portrait of Anna, and St Joachim and St Anna were drawn from her father and mother This picture pleased the church authorities sopainter an order for another, which represented St Martin dividing his cloak with beggars

In this work the saint was a portrait of Vandyck, and the horse on which he rode was like that which Rubens had given him