Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/117

 Adam and Eve in Paradise, Eve plucking the Apple. The Fall of Adam ; inscribed on a Tablet, Lapsus hu- mani ffejieris. 1511. Christ and the Twelve Apostles; in thirteen plates. 1518. The Crucifixion, with St. John supporting the Virgin, and Mary Magdalene behind the Cross; fine, in chiaroscuro. Illustrations to the Ten Commandments. 1516, 1518, 1531. St. Sebastian, two differeut prints. 1512 and 1514. A Pieta. Silenus drunk, near a Tun : Cupid insulting him. An Incantation ; in chiaroscuro. 1510. Two Landscapes ; very scarce. The Groom and the Sorceress ; no date. Four small upright prints — Solomon's Idolatry ; Samson and Delilah ; David and Bathsheba ; and Aristotle and Phryne. Very fine. The Holy Family, with St. Elisabeth and St. Catharine ; half length. 1512. Three prints of Horses in a Forest ; marked Baldung. 1534. The Fates. The two mothers, called the ' Kinderaue.' Phyllis riding on Aristotle. The portrait of Luther. The portrait of the Margrave of Baden. The Virgin with St. Anna, both holding the Infant Christ; St. Joseph, St. Joachim behind. A large print. The following are his most important paintings : Ascha£fenburg. Gall. Basle. Berlin. Gallery. Afuseum. Darmstadt. Gallery. Frankfort. Stddel. Freiburg. Cathedral. Munich. Pinakothek. Schleissheim.GoZ/frjr. Vienna. Gallery. Christ on the Cross. Joseph and Mary adoring the Infant Christ. Death and a Woman Christ on the Cross. 152 — . Christ on the Cross. 1512. Triptych. Adoration of the Kings — SS. George and Maurice on the wings, and SS. Catharine and Agues on the exterior. 1507. Stoning of St. Stephen. 1522. ' Noli me tangere.' 1539. Heavenly and Earthly Love. Altar-piece {see text). Portrait of the Margrave Philipp Christoph of Baden. 1514. Portrait of the Margrave Philipp Christoph of Baden. 1515. Portrait of a young man. 1515. n n His own Portrait — clothed in green. W. B. S.

BALECHOU, Jean Joseph, a celebrated French engraver, was born at Aries in 1719. He studied first under a seal-engraver named Michel at Avig- non, and afterwards under Lepicie in Paris: hut, compelled to leave that cit.y, he returned to Avignon, where he died in 1764. Balechou carried the handling of the graver, as far as regards the clearness of the strokes and brilliancy of colour, to a higher perfection tlian any engraver of his country that had practised the art before him; and if neatness of execution were the greatest merit of a print, few artists would have an equal claim to distinction ; but if the excellence of the plate consists in expressing the effect produced by the painter, and in giving the true design, and, if it may be so expressed, the colour of the picture, his pretensions to superiority will be considerably diminished. Notwithstanding the fascination of his execution, it will be admitted by every judicious observer, that his flesh appears like marble, and that the deficiency of his drawing incapacitates him from giving the true effect of the style and character of the painter. This defect, it must be confessed, is most discernible in his historical prints and some of his portraits ; and it will be admitted that his three plates after Vemet are among the fine productions of the graver, although they have been so much surpassed by our own incomparable Woollett. The following are his most important works :

roRTRAns. Anne Charlotte Gauthier de Loiserolle, wife of J. A. Aved ; after Avcd. William IV., Stadtholder of the Netherlands, when Prince of Orange ; after the same. Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon ; 1751 ; after the same ; fine. Jacques Gabriel Grillot, abbe de Pontigny; after Autreau. Charles EoUin ; 1741 ; after C. Cuypel. Charles Poree, Jesuit ; after Aetlson. Heinrich, Count von Brohl ; after L. Silvestre ; fine ; but it must be before the name of Balechou, as it was ill retouched. Jean de JuUienne, director of the Gobelins; 1752; after De Troy. Madame Jullienne ; after the same. Don Philip, Infanta of Spain, Duke of Parma; after Vialy. Charles Antoine Coypel, painter ; after himself. Augustus in.. King of Poland ; after Rigaud ; the first impressions are very fine ; the plate was afterwards much altered

Infancy and Youth ; two fancy subjects; after D. Bardon. Five fancy subjects ; after E. Jeaurat. La Terre ; the Portrait of Louisa Elizabeth of France, Duchess of Parma ; after Nattier. St. Genevieve; after C. van Loo. The Storm ; ajfter Vemet (his chef-d'ceuvre). The Calm ; after the same. The Bathers; after the same.

BALEN, Hendrik van, who was born at Ant- werp in 1560, is said to have been instructed in the art by Adam van Noort, who was also the master of Rubens. On leaving that scliool he went to Italy, where he studied some years, and painted several pictures which were greatly admired. On his return to Antwerp he was so much employed that it was with difficulty he could satisfy the demand for his works. In 1593 lie was received into the guild of St. Luke, and in 1609-10 he was dean. Balen was one of the first of the Flemish painters who succeeded in that purity of colour, which was afterwards carried to such perfection by Rubens and Van Dyck. In his cabinet pictures he generally made choice of very agreeable subjects, and frequently reprc?sented the ' Metamor- phoses ' of Ovid, in which the landscapes were generally painted by Jan Brueghel, and the animals sometimes by Snyders, who with Van Dyck was a pupil of Van Balen. His works of this description were extremely popular, and were placed in the choicest collections. He did not, however, confine himself to works of a small size, but painted, with less success however, many pictures for the churches. In the cathedral at Antwerp there is a fine altar- piece by him. The centre piece represents the ' Virgin Mary, with the Infant Saviour and St. John ; ' and on the two folding-doors, which are now in the Antwerp Gallery, a 'Choir of Angels.' For another altar in the same church he painted ' St. John preaching in the Wilderness,' also now in the Antwerp Gallery ; well composed and admirably coloured. Van Balen occasionally painted figures in the landscape pictures of other artists. He died at Antwerp in 1638 (or 1632). The following are some of the best of his works ; they frequently occur in the continental galleries, but he is unrepresented in the National Gallery :