Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/114

 going to Italy. Van Dyck had had many opportunities of studying the fine collection of Italian paintings and works of art stored in Rubens's house, and had already been deeply affected there by the works of Titian and other great artists of the Venetian school. He had, however, by this time developed a style of his own, which, although based upon that of Rubens, was marked by a restraint and refinement, which, if it lacked the strength, was also wanting in the somewhat boisterous exuberance of his master. Rubens is, without any ground, said to have been jealous of Van Dyck, and to have advised him to confine his art to portraits and animals. This advice, if really given, would be nothing more than the advice of a master, whose knowledge of his art was supreme, to a pupil, whose future was uncertain, and who seemed likely to devote himself to a branch of art in which, if sure to succeed, he was not likely to excel, rather than follow out the true bent of his genius. In reality the two painters were the best of friends. Van Dyck presented Rubens with portraits of himself and his wife, Isabella Brant, and also with a fine picture of ‘The Betrayal of Christ,’ now in the Prado Gallery of Madrid. Rubens is said to have given Van Dyck the best horse in his stables for his journey.

Van Dyck left Antwerp on 3 Oct. 1621, in company of Cavaliere Gian Battista Nani, an Italian friend of Rubens. He stopped on his way at Brussels, and on 20 Nov. 1621 arrived at Genoa. The romantic legend of his delay at Saventhem has now been disproved. At Genoa a colony of Flemish artists was settled, perhaps at the instigation of Rubens, who had spent some time in that city some years before. Among these were two brothers, Lucas and Cornelis De Wael, sons of Jacobus De Wael of Antwerp. One of Van Dyck's finest portrait groups is that of Jacobus De Wael and his wife at Munich, and one of the most interesting that of the brothers De Wael, now in the Capitol Gallery at Rome. Van Dyck was warmly received by the brothers, and took up his residence in Genoa for a considerable time. In the great palaces of the Genoese nobility, the Dorias, Spinolas, and others, there were many fine works of Titian, Paolo Veronese, and other Venetian painters, which continued to be the object of Van Dyck's special study. It would seem probable that most of the mythological paintings by Van Dyck date from his first residence in Genoa, ‘The Education of Bacchus’ (painted for the Gentili family), the ‘Drunken Silenus’ of the Durazzo Gallery, and others, all showing the influence of Rubens, which at the time carried much weight in Genoa. It is, however, to the period of his residence at Genoa that one portion, perhaps the finest, of Van Dyck's life-work belongs, the wonderful series of portraits of the Genoese nobility, equestrian full-length military knights and senators, noble ladies and children, many of which still adorn and make famous the great palaces of the Spinola, Balbi, Lommelini, Durazzo, Brignole-Sala, Adorno, Lercari, and other great families. A few of these have come to England, including the splendid ‘Lommelini Family’ at Edinburgh; but the majority can be studied only in Genoa. In these portraits Van Dyck made full use of the rich and costly robes of the nobility, the velvets and jewels and heavy brocades, and added to the already italianised side of his art a rich glow of colour which is worthy of Titian himself. These paintings are all the more valuable as being in all probability entirely or for the greater part the work of Van Dyck's own hands. In February 1622 he left Genoa for Rome, but, after a short stay, left again for Florence, where his friend and fellow-townsman, Justus Suttermans, was now employed in the service of the Medici family. There he may have met that strange genius, Sir Kenelm Digby [q. v.], who afterwards had a considerable influence in Van Dyck's career. From Florence he went by Bologna to Venice, where he made a special study of the paintings by Titian and Paolo Veronese. A painting of ‘The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence’ is in the church of Sta. Maria dell' Orto at Venice. In 1623 Van Dyck, after visiting Mantua, returned to Rome, where his refined and courtly manners and mode of life were in strong contrast to the rough and roystering habits of his fellow-countrymen. The ‘pittore cavalleresco’ they called him, and mocked him for his sensitive sobriety of demeanour. At Rome Van Dyck found a ready patron in Cardinal Bentivoglio, who had been lately papal nuncio in the Netherlands, was acquainted with Rubens, and no doubt also with the growing fame of Van Dyck. The portrait of Bentivoglio, painted by Van Dyck, now in the Pitti Palace at Florence, is one of the most famous portraits in the world. Van Dyck was employed by the Colonna, Odescalchi, Barberini, and other great families in Rome, where several of his works still remain. He returned, however, to Genoa. His next visit was across the sea to Palermo, where he painted the portrait of the governor of Sicily, Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (at Turin). He was, however, forced to quit Palermo, through an outbreak of the plague, before completing