Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/187

Rh able for the stiffness of the hands, and the awkward arrangement of the dress; two defects, which, especially in the case of the former, he afterwards overcame. There is in the same room a portrait of Charles I. of some merit, which the exhibitor of the curiosities in the university generally attributes to Vandyke. It is probably the work of Jamesone, but it may be observed, that there is more calm dignity in the attitude, and much less expression, than that artist generally exhibits. Walpole and others mention as extant in the King's college of Aberdeen, a picture called the "Sibyls," partly executed by Jamesone, and copied from living beauties in Aberdeen: if this curious production still exists in the same situation, we are unaware of its being generally exhibited to strangers. There is a picture in King's college attributed to Jamesone, which we would fain bestow on some less celebrated hand. It is a view of King's college as originally erected, the same from which the engraving prefixed to Orem's account of the cathedral church of Old Aberdeen, is copied. It represents an aspect much the same as that which Slezer has given in his Theatrum Scotiæ, and, like the works of that artist, who could exhibit both sides of a building at once, it sets all perspective at defiance, and most unreasonably contorts the human figure. In characterizing the manner of Jamesone, Walpole observes that "his excellence is said to consist in delicacy and softness, with a clear and beautiful colouring; his shades not charged, but helped by varnish, with little appearance of the pencil." This account is by one who has not seen any of the artist's paintings, and is very unsatisfactory.

It is indeed not without reason, that the portraits of Jamesone have frequently been mistaken for those of Vandyke. Both excelled in painting the human countenance,—in making the flesh and blood project from the surface of the canvas, and animating it with a soul within. That the Scottish artist may have derived advantage from his association with the more eminent foreigner it were absurd to deny; but as they were fellow students, candour will admit, that the advantage may have been at least partly repaid, and that the noble style in which both excelled, may have been formed by the common labour of both. It can scarcely be said that on any occasion Jamesone rises to the high dignity of mental expression represented by Vandyke, nor does he exhibit an equal grace, in the adjustment of a breast plate, or the hanging of a mantle. His pictures generally represent hard and characteristic features, seldom with much physical grace, and representing minds within, which have more of the fierce or austere than of the lofty or elegant; and in such a spirit has he presented before us the almost breathing forms of those turbulent and austere men connected with the dark troubles of the times. The face thus represented seems generally to have commanded the whole mind of the artist. The background presents nothing to attract attention, and the outlines of the hard features generally start from a ground of dingy dark brown, or deep grey. The dress, frequently of a sombre hue, often fades away into the back ground, and the attitude, though frequently easy, is seldom studied to impose. The features alone, with their knotty brows, deep expressive eyes, and the shadow of the nose falling on the lip—a very picturesque arrangement followed by Vandyke—alone demand the attention of the spectator. Yet he could sometimes represent a majestic form and attitude, as the well-known picture of Sir Thomas Hope testifies. We shall notice one more picture by Jamesone, as it is probably one of the latest which came from his brush, and exhibits peculiarities of style not to be met with in others. This portrait is in the possession of Mr Skene of Kubislaw, and represents his ancestor Sir George Skene of Fintray, who was born in 1619. the portrait is of a young man past twenty; and it will be remarked, that the subject was only twenty-five years of age when the artist died. The picture is