Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/462

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unexpected, for Swift, one of the satirists of the day, referring to him, wrote :—

i * We may expect to see next year A mouse-trap man chief engineer.'

Nevertheless in 1702 he was employed on his first great work ; and began Castle Howard, a noble Corinthian edifice, which so pleased his employer, the Earl of Car- lisle, that he appointed his architect De- puty Earl Marshall and Clarenceux King at Arms, thus placing him above all the Heralds, and notwithstanding their re- monstrances, and his own want of know- ledge of the duties of the office, he held it till nis death. His reputation established, on the completion of this work he com- menced a succession of noble mansions. He built Eastbury, in Dorsetshire, since taken down ; King's Weston, near Bristol ; Easton Weston, Northamptonshire ; Dun- combe Park, Grimsthorpe : Seaton Delaval, Blenheim, his great work lor which, though Parliament voted the building, they refused to provide the money, and several others. He also was the main promoter and archi- tect of a fine theatre erected in the Hav- market, and on its completion in 1706 he became the Manager, and produced ' The Confederacy,' a plav full of humour; but the speculation failed, and he soon after quitted all connexion with the stage. On the accession of George I. in 1714, he was knighted, and was appointed Surveyor of Greenwich Hospital m 1716. Ten years later he died at Whitehall on the 26th of March, 1726, and was buried in the family vault, at St. Stephen's, Walbrook. He left one son, who was lolled at the battle of Fontenoy. His widow died at the age of 90, in 1776. Some unfriendly wit wrote his epitaph :

'Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he Laid many a heavy load on thee.'

A partizan himself, he had to bear, which we are told he did with much superiority, the attacks of party, and the sarcasms of Swift and Pope. Opinions upon his art were much divided. Walpole speaks very disparagingly of him; says he wanted all idea of proportion ; that his style was of no age or country; that he had no ima- gination ; that he undertook vast designs, and composed littleness. But Sir Joshua Reynolds tells us that there is in his works a greater display of imagination than we shall perhaps find in any other; that he had originality of invention, and great skill in composition ; and such is now the pre- vailing opinion. His works, with many faults, impress us by their grandeur. His style, though founded on the classic, was not subservient to its rules; but aimed rather at the picturesqueness of the Gothic. His plays, of which he wrote altogether

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twelve, abounding in wit and satire, are too immodest to retain their place on the stage of our day.

Of Dutch extraction, he was born in Paris in 1649, and was a pupil of De Poilly. He came to England about 1674. and soon gained a name for the laboured finish of his work, chiefly portrait heads, some of which are of unusually large size. In the absence of higher qualities he had a good knowledge of the mechanical part of his art ; but he was unappreciated and under- paid. He married the sister of a gentle- man of good landed property, at Bradfield, in Hertfordshire, ana when reduced and in difficulties, found an asylum in his house. He engraved many portraits of historical interest, of such are the heads for Kennet's 1 History of England ; ' also some of Verrio's paintings at Windsor. He is supposed to nave been connected with the manufacture of tapestry. He died and was buried at Bradfield m 1697. He left three sons, one of whom, of the same Christian name, was brought up to his profession. His widow sold nis plates to a well-known print-seller, who made a large profit by them.
 * VANDERBANK, Peter, engraver.

VANDERBANK, Sow, portrait painter. Son of the above, was born in England towards the close of the 17th cen- tury, and studied his art here. He was much employed in the reign of Anne and of George I., was a bold and masterly draftsman, and painted a good likeness, but, with great facility of execution, was too careless and extravagant to be success- ful. There is a portrait of Newton by him at the Royal Society, and at Hampton Court a large group of figures, crowded together with little attempt at composition, or light and shade. He was known as a caricaturist. He designed the illustrations for a translation of ' Don Quixote ' by Lord Carteret, who thought him superior to Hogarth. He headed the rebel party who seceded from Sir James ThornnilTs aca- demy, and established himself a drawing academy, to which, introducing the living model, he gave a short existence. He had a brother who practised as an artist. He died of consumption in Holies Street. Cavendish Square, December 23, 1739, aged about 45, and was buried at Marylebone Church.

VANDERBORCHT, Henry,./&w*»- painter. Was born at Brussels in 1683, the son of a painter of the same name. He was sent to Italy by the Earl of Arun- del, in whose service he continued till the Earl's death. He was then employed by the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II., and lived in London many years. He chiefly excelled in flowers and fruit, but there are some etchings by him— a * Virgin and Child,' after Parmigiano, dated London,

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