by Grant Allen
Enter
Room IV.
with landscapes and still life of the later period. Left of the door, 381, Rubens: The Woman Taken in Adultery. 605. Good *family group of the Van Vilsteren household, attributed to Van Dyck.
466. Interior of a picture-gallery, Teniers.
The room also contains several pictures worthy of note, but too modern in tone to need explanation. Observe that landscape has now almost vindicated its right to be heard alone, though figures in the foreground are still considered more or less necessary.
Now enter
Corridor C.
which contains good pictures of the later Flemish school. R. of door, 435, A. Van Utrecht: one of the favourite Dutch kitchen scenes, well painted.
L. of the door.
95. Philippe de Champaigne: Presentation in the Temple, with characteristic crude French colouring.
437. Stag Hunt by Snyders.
375. Rubens: *Martyrdom of the local Bishop, St. Lieven. His tongue is torn out and given to dogs. Very savage pagans; rearing horse; and characteristic angels, with celestial scene. In Rubens’ less pleasing “allegorical” manner. Plenty of force, but too fiercely bustling.
383. Rubens: Fine portrait of the Archduke Albert.
384. Rubens: companion portrait of the Infanta Isabella, wife of 383.
376. Rubens: *Painfully un-Christian subject: mainly by a pupil, re-touched by the master: The Saviour about to destroy the World, which is protected by St. Francis and Our Lady. A strange method by which a votary seeks to impress his devotion to his own patrons. Behind, burning towns, murder, etc.
374. Rubens: *The Way to Calvary. (Almost all these large Rubenses are from High Altars.) In the foreground, the two thieves; then Christ falling, and a very Flemish and high-born St. Veronica unconcernedly wiping his forehead. Our Lady faints close by, supported by St. John. St. Longinus mounted, and Roman soldiers. The composition somewhat sketchy, but immensely vigorous. A gorgeous pageant, it wholly lacks pathos.
377. Rubens: * *Adoration of the Magi (Altar-piece of the Capuchin Church at Tournai). One of his noblest works, magnificently and opulently coloured. The subject was one he often painted. Note still the Three Kings, representing the three ages and continents, but, oh, how transfigured! In their suite are Moors and other Orientals. Behind, St. Joseph with flambeaux, representing the earlier candle. This is a painting in Rubens’s best Grand Seigneur manner — vast, throbbing, concentrated. He thinks of a Nativity as taking place with all the pomp and ceremony of the courts which he frequented. Charming pages in the foreground.
382. Rubens: Venus in the Forge of Vulcan. A made-up picture. Splendid studies of the exuberant nude by Rubens; with effects of light and shade in a smithy, added in the late 17th century to make up for a lost portion.
380. Rubens (much restored): *Christ on the knees of Our Lady. A noble composition, greatly injured. In the foreground kneels the Magdalen (her hair falling ungracefully), with the nails and Crown of Thorns. Notice always her abundant locks. To the R., St. Francis, with the Stigmata, bends over in adoration (a Franciscan picture). To the L., very fleshy angels (Antwerp models) hold the instruments of the Passion. White sheet and dead flesh in their usual strong combination. (Painted for the Franciscan Capuchins of Brussels.)
The De Crayers, close by, contrast in the comparative crudity of their colour with the splendid harmonies of the master.
507. Paul de Vos: Horse and Wolves. Full of spirit.
129. De Crayer. The Martyrdom of St. Blaise. Shows him combed with a wool-carder.
Then flowers, hunting scenes, etc., requiring no comment.
Now pass through Room VII. (with Italian pictures to be considered later) and enter
Corridor D.
Right of door, nothing that requires comment.
Left of door, 231, Janssens: Our Lady appearing to St. Bruno.
125. De Crayer: *Assumption of St. Catherine, with her wheel and sword. A fine picture, in which De Crayer approaches very near Rubens. In the foreground are St. Augustine with the flaming heart; St. Gregory, habited as Pope; St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome, — the four Doctors of the Church, with other saints, contemplating devoutly the glory of St. Catherine.
R. and L. of central door, 136, 137, good saints, by De Crayer. Beneath them, excellent landscapes.
The remaining pictures in this room can be inspected by the visitor without need for explanation.
It is interesting to stand by the balustrade, here, above the sculpture gallery, not only for the general outlook upon the handsome hall, but also to note how the colour of the Rubenses stands out at a distance among the other pictures.
Now, go on through Room VIII. to Corridor A., reaching on the L.,
Room V.
containing the Dutch Masters. On these, for the most part, I shall have little to say. Their landscapes, flower-pieces, and portraits are admirable, indeed, but they are of the sort which explain themselves at sight, and need rather for their appreciation critical faculty than external knowledge. Begin on the L. of the door.
282. Nicolas Maes: Good portrait of a 17th century lady.
263. Leerman’s Crucifixion, finely executed.
Near it, good landscape or flower-pieces, etc., by Cuyp, De Heem, and Isaac van Ostade.
448. St. Pierre at Louvain.
525. Good hunting scene by Wouwerman.
279. * *Admirable figure of an old woman fallen asleep over her reading, by Nicolas Maes.
Above it, 284. *Good portrait by Nicolas Maes.
278. *Fine portrait by Luttichuys.
304. Van Mieris: Susannah and the Elders. Frankly anachronistic.
233 is a fine *landscape with cattle, by Karel du Jardin.
147. Van Delen: Excellent architectural piece, with good *portraits in the foreground, painted in later by Emmanuel Biset.
End Wall.
44. Admirable *portrait by Bol.
45. Bol: *Portrait of a lady, probably wife of the last. On either side 310, 311, characteristic tavern scenes by Molinaer.
Right Wall.
398. One of Jacob Ruysdael’s finest landscapes, with ruined tower.
399. Excellent *sea piece by Jacob Ruysdael, representing the Lake of Haarlem in a storm. Good foam.
I pass by, on the same wall, many meritorious Dutch works which cannot fail to strike the observer.
141. Albert Cuyp: *Cows. Excellent.
232. *Delicately luminous piece by Karel du Jardin, “L’Avant-garde du Convoi.”
153. Gerard Dou: * *The artist drawing a Cupid by lamplight. One of his finest studies in light and shade. It should be looked at long and carefully.
On either side of it, delicate small pieces by Steen, A. van Ostade and Dietrich.
47. *Good portrait by Bol.
281. *Portrait by Maes. Fine and audacious in colouring. Above it, 403, good Ruysdael.
Do not imagine because I give little space to the pictures in this room that they are not therefore important. As works of art, many of them are of the first value; but they do not require that kind of explanation which it is the particular province of these Guides to afford.
Now, pass through the small passage to
Room VI.
containing works also by the Dutch masters, the finest of which are here exhibited.
Left of the door.
364. Van Ravestein, capital portrait.
280. Maes: * *Old woman reading.
206. Fruit piece by De Heem. One of his finest.
490. Van der Velde, junior: Shipping on the Zuyder Zee. The Dutch interest in the sea begins to make itself felt.
345. Portraits by Palamedes, arranged as a musical party.
352 (old number, no new number given). Molyn the Elder: Town fête by night. Good effect of light.
333. Admirable *portrait by Nicolas Maes.
251 and 250. De Keyser: Two fine portraits of women.
46. Bol: * *Excellent portrait of Saskia, wife of Rembrandt.
463.
* *Exquisite miniature portrait by Ter Burg, which should be inspected closely.
328. Van der Neer: The Burning of Dordrecht. A lurid small piece.
501. A. de Voys: The Jolly Drinker. Highly characteristic of Dutch sentiment.
528. Landscape by Wynants.
The other still life and fruit or flower pieces on this wall need no comment.
End wall.
616. Weenix: Dutch lady dressing, with good effects of light and colour.
203. Frans Hals: * *Portrait of W. van Heythuysen. One of his finest works. Broadly executed, and full of dash and bravado.
496. Excellent still life by Jan Weenix.
522. De Witte: Fine architectural church interior.
222. Above it, *peacock and other birds by Hondecoeter, who painted almost exclusively similar subjects. The solitary feather in the foreground recalls his famous masterpiece at the Hague.
On each side of this, tolerable portraits by Van der Helst.
36. Fruit and still life by Van Beyeren.
444. *One of Jan Steen’s most characteristic pieces of Batavian humour. A Dutch lover offering affection’s gift, in the shape of a herring and two leeks, to a lady no longer in her first youth. Behind, her unconscious husband. The painting of every detail is full of the best Dutch merits, and the tone of the whole frankly repulsive.
Right wall.
221. Hobbema: *The Wood at Haarlem. Characteristic Dutch landscape.
202. Frans Hals: * *Splendid portrait of Professor Hoornebeck of Leyden. Extremely vivacious and rapidly handled.
220. *One of Hobbema’s most famous mills.
Above this, 19, Storm at Sea, by Backhuysen.
368. Excellent * *portrait by Rembrandt.
216. Portrait by Van der Helst. Not in his best manner.
445. A very characteristic and excellent Jan Steen, known as *The Rhetoricians — that is to say, members of a Literary Club or Debating Society, one of whom is engaged in reading his prize verses to a not too appreciative audience outside. Even here, however, Jan cannot omit his favourite touch of coarse Dutch love-making, with a tavern-girl introduced out of pure perversity.
357. Paul Potter: *Pigs. Admirably piggy.
End wall.
223. More of Hondecoeter’s unimpeachable *poultry.
48. Bol: *Portrait of a Mathematician and Anatomist. One of the painter’s masterpieces.
367. * *Splendid portrait by Rembrandt (“L’Homme au grand chapeau”). An excellent and characteristic example of his art. The light and shade, the painting of the hair, and the masterly handling of the robe are all in the great painter’s noblest manner.
402. Capital *water scene by S. van Ruysdael: a ferry on the Meuse.
224. Hondecoeter. More poultry, this time dead, with realistic nails, and other little tricks to catch the great public.
Left wall (R. of door).
88. Van der Capelle: Calm sea, with excellent fishing boats.
Now, return through Corridors A. and D. to
Room VII.
containing the early Italian pictures. Few of these are of much value, and as they are not connected with Flanders or Brabant, I will not enlarge upon them. Right of door,
631. An early Italian Adoration of the Magi, where you may compare the Three Kings, Joseph with the gift, the ox and ass, etc., with Flemish examples.
631 (left) is a characteristic example of St. Francis receiving the stigmata. Study it for comparison with the Rubens at Ghent, and others.
628. Above is a set of panels containing events in the History of Our Lady. I give the subjects, running along the top row first, with necessary brevity: Joachim expelled from the Temple: Warned by the Angel: Anna warned by the Angel: Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate: Birth of the Virgin: Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple: The Nativity: Adoration of the Magi: Christ found in the Temple: Miracle at Cana: Raising of Lazarus: Death of the Virgin, with Christ receiving her soul as a new-born baby. All these may be studied as early examples of the subjects they represent. Above them, 629 and 630: two Crucifixions of various ages.
140. Good characteristic Carlo Crivelli of *St. Francis with the stigmata.
3. Adam and Eve. Albani.
Above it, a tolerable Veronese of *Juno scattering wealth into the lap of Venice, St. Mark’s lion beside her.
140. Beautiful Carlo Crivelli of *Our Lady and Child. This picture and the corresponding one opposite are parts of a large altar-piece, the main portion of which, a Pietà, is in the National Gallery in London.
415. Vannuchi (not Perugino): Leda and the Swan.
412 is a good portrait of Mary of Austria.
634. A tolerable Marriage of the Virgin.
473. Tintoretto: Portrait of a Venetian gentleman.
474. Another by the same.
Room VIII.
opposite, also contains later Italian pictures, with a few French.
472 is a Martyrdom of St. Mark, by Tintoretto.
497 is a Holy Family by Paolo Veronese, with St. Theresa and St. Catherine.
The other works in the room do not call for notice.
Passage leading into Room VI.
Skied. 477. Perugino: Madonna and Child, with the infant St. John of Florence, in a frame of Delia Robbia work. This is one of the best Italian pictures in this Gallery, but not a good example. Near it, School of Mantegna, Christ and St. Thomas with St. John the Baptist.
If you want further information about the pictures in the Brussels Gallery, you will find it in Lafenestre and Richtenberger’s La Belgique, in the series of La Peinture en Europe.
CATHEDRAL OF BRUSSELS
D. THE CATHEDRAL
[The Cathedral of Brussels is dedicated to St. Gudula or Ste. Gudule, and to St. Michael the Archangel. Ste. Gudule is a holy person who takes us back to the earlier ages of Christianity among the Middle Franks. She was a member of the family of Pepin d’Heristal, the kinsman of Charlemagne, and she died about 712. She became a nun at Nivelles under her aunt, St. Gertrude. The only fact of importance known as to her life is that she used to rise early, in order to pay her devotions at a distant church, whither she guided her steps by the aid of a lantern. Satan frequently extinguished this light, desiring to lead her feet astray, but the prayers of the saint as often rekindled it. Hence she is usually represented carrying a lantern, with the devil beside her, who endeavours to blow it out.
In the 10th century, the body of Ste. Gudule was brought to Brussels from Morseel; and in the 11th (1047), Lambert, Count of Louvain, built a church on this site above it: but the existing building, still containing the body of the saint, was not begun till 1220.
More important, however, than Ste. Gudule, in the later history of Brussels Cathedral, is the painful mediæval incident of the Stolen Hosts. The Jew-baiting of the 14th century led to a story that on Good Friday, 1370, certain impious Jews had stolen 16 consecrated Hosts from the Cathedral, and sacrilegiously transfixed them with knives in their synagogue. The Hosts miraculously bled, which so alarmed the Jews that they restored them to the altar. Their sacrilege was discovered by the aid of an accomplice, and on this evidence several Jews were burned alive, and the rest banished from Brabant for ever. A chapel on the site of the synagogue still commemorates the event, and the Miracle of the Hosts (as it is called) gives rise to several works of art now remaining in the Cathedral. An annual ceremony (on the Sunday after the 15th of July) keeps green the memory of the miraculous bleeding: the identical wafers are then exhibited. Visit the interior between 12 and 4, when the doors are closed, but will be opened for you by a sacristan in the South Portal, at a charge of 50 c. per head. You will then be able to inspect the whole place peaceably at your leisure. Take your opera-glasses.]
Approach the Cathedral, if possible, from the direction of the Grand’ Place. It is built so as to be first seen from this side, and naturally turns its main West Front towards the older city. Go to it, therefore, by the street known as the Rue de la Montagne and the short (modern
) Rue Ste. Gudule, which lead straight up to the handsome (recent) staircase and platform. The building loses much by being approached sideways, as is usually the case, from the Upper Town, which did not exist at all in this direction when the Cathedral was built. Consider it in relation to the nucleus in the valley.
First examine the exterior. The accompanying rough plan will sufficiently explain its various portions.
The façade has two tall towers, and a rather low gable-end, with large West Window. In style, it approaches rather to German than to French Gothic. Over the Principal Entrance are (restored) figures of the Trinity, surrounded by angels, with the Twelve Apostles, each bearing his symbol or the instruments of his martyrdom. Below, on the central pillar, the Three Magi, the middle one a Moor. High up on the gable-end is the figure of Ste. Gudule, the human patron, with the Devil endeavouring to extinguish her lantern. Above her is the other and angelic patron, St. Michael. (These two figures also occur on the middle of the carved wooden doors.) At the sides, two bishops, probably St. Géry and St. Amand. Though the sculpture is modern, it is of interest from the point of view of symbolism. The left portal has St. Joachim, St. Anne, and the education of the Virgin. The right portal has St. Joseph and Our Lady with the Divine Infant.
Now, go round the building to the R., to observe its arrangement. You pass first the chapels or bays of the S. Aisle, with weather-beaten sculpture, and then reach the slightly projecting South Transept. Beyond the South Portal, the Choir is hidden by the addition of a large projecting chapel (that of Notre-Dame-de-Délivrance), whose architecture will be better understood from the interior. At the East End, you get a good view of the Gothic Choir and Apse, with its external chapels and flying buttresses. The extreme East point is occupied by the ugly little hexagonal rococo Chapel of the Magdalen, a hideous addition of the 18th century. Still passing round in the same direction, you arrive at a second projecting Chapel (du Saint Sacremént), which balances the first. The best general view is obtained from the North Side, taking in the beautiful porch of the North Transept. (The handsome Louis XVI. building opposite is the Banque Nationale.)