Genre Painters. Gerard Honthorst, 1592-1666. Gerard Dow, 1613-1680. Gerard Terburg, 1608-1681. Adrian van Ostade, 1610-1685. Gabriel Metsu, 1615-1668 or 1659. Frans Mieris, 1635-1681. Caspar Netscher, 1636-1684. Adrian van der Werff, 1659-1722. Landscape, Marine, and Animal Painters. Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656. Albert Cuyp, 1606–1667. Jan Wynants, 1610-1680. Jan Both, 1610-1650. Jacob Ruysdael, about 1635-1681. Hobbema, 1635-1700. Van der Neer, 1619-1683. Berghem, 1624-1683. Wouvermans, 1620-1668. Paul Potter, 1625-1654. Willem van de Velde, 1633-1707. Backhuysen, 1631-1709. Interiors, Architecture, and Still-Life. Van Hooghe, about 1635-1700. Van der Heyden, 1637-1712. Jan Weenix, 1644-1719. David de Heem, 1600-1674. A very different development may be studied in Roman Catholic Spain, where art preeminently followed the fortunes of the Church, expanded under the smile of the Inquisition, and died with the downfall of faith. Its pictures are glowing, sombre, or aërial in tone; fervid and intense in expression; passionately ideal, or passionately austere. Among its host of artists may be chiefly mentioned— Luis de Vargas, about 1502-1568. Juan Joanes, 1523-1579. Alonso Berruguete, 1480-1561. Coello, died 1590. Navarette, 1526-1579. Cespedes, 1538-1608. Juan de las Roelas, 1558 or 1560-1625. Alonso Cano, 1601-1667. The two Ribaltas, 1551-1628. Ribera, 1588-1656. Velasquez, 1599-1660. Murillo, 1617-1682. Valdes Leal, 1630-1691. Francisco Goya, 1746–1828. The French school, so highly national in feeling and execution, traces its distinct and progressive succession from the age of Francis I. to the present time. The same quality of sentiment, the same tendency to exaggeration and theatrical effect, and yet the same indefinable grace and esprit, are marked throughout. We have not to chronicle its decline, for its painters of the nineteenth century share with the English the widest modern celebrity. In enumerating the artists of the French and English schools, only the most prominent are mentioned, while all still living are omitted: Jehan Foucquet, about 1415-1485. Jean Cousin, about 1501-1590. Simon Vouet, 1590-1649. Jacques Callot, 1592-1635. Claude Lorraine, 1600-1682. Rigaud, 1659-1743. Watteau, 1684-1721. Claude Vernet, 1714-1789. Greuze, 1724-1805. David, 1748-1825. Gros, 1771-1835. Gérard 1770-1837. Prud'hon, 1760-1823. Elisabeth Lebrun, 1755-1842. Isabey, 1767-1855. Granet, 1775-1849. Horace Vernet, 1787-1863. The art of England may be called entirely modern, with all the vigor of youth, and the brightness of ascending fame. For this reason it is to many more interesting than any study of the past; while its subjects also adapt themselves to prevailing tastes. Its special excellence lies in the departments of landscape, portrait, and genre painting. A selection of its most meritorious artists is attended with no little difficulty, but the names affixed can be added to at pleasure : William Hogarth, 1697-1764. Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723-1792. Romney, 1734-1802. Benjamin West, 1738-1820. Copley, 1737-1815. Barry, 1741-1806. Fuseli, 1741-1825. Northcote, 1746-1831. Stothard, 1755-1834. Blake, 1757-1828. Opie, 1761-1807. Morland, 1763-1804. Raeburn, 1756-1823. Lawrence, 1769-1830. Turner, 1775-1851. Constable, 1776-1837. Calcott, 1779-1844. Collins, 1788-1847. Wilkie, 1785-1841. Haydon, 1786-1846. Nasmyth, 1786-1831. Mulready, 1786-1863. West, Copley, and Charles Leslie, though American by birth, have been included in the preceding catalogue, as their English residence and acknowledged talent of course entitle them to an eminent place. But David Cox and Samuel Prout are omitted, as the consideration of water-color painting would open too wide a field, and must, together with the embryo American school, be left for the coming historians of the twentieth century. Meanwhile let us hope that our standard of art, both in England and America, may rise at least as high as our standard of literature; that noble works may grow from noble sentiments; that the painter's hand may interpret upon canvas, not only the harmony and beauty of outside Nature, but the harmony and beauty of the soul; and that the conflict between ideality and reality may be reconciled, not by any undue exaltation of the one above the other, but by the transformation of the ideal into the real. CHAPTER XX. WORLD-PICTURES. UNDER this title we now propose to consider twelve of the most celebrated paintings of the most celebrated artists; so familiarized to us by engravings, and so dear to memory or imagination, that the thought of beholding the originals is one of the pleasantest anticipations of the traveler. These are Raphael's "Transfiguration" and "Sistine Madonna;" Michael Angelo's "Last Judgment;" Domenichino's "Last Communion of St. Jerome; " Volterra's " Descent from the Cross; " Leonardo da Vinci's “Last Supper; " Titian's " Assumption of the Virgin; " Correggio's "Nativity," or "Santa Notte; " Guido's "Aurora; " Guido's "Portrait of Beatrice Cenci;' Murillo's "Immaculate Conception;" and Rubens's "Descent from the Cross." They shall be spoken of in turn ; specifying where each is to be found, and adding descriptions of each, selected from standard authors. The Transfiguration, called the finest picture in the world, was Raphael's last composition. It had been ordered by Cardinal Giulio de Medici for the town of Narbonne, France, of which he was archbishop. But, as the great master died before its completion, it was suspended above the bed on which his body lay in state, and was afterward retained in Rome. |