Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/76

Rh 60 VAN D Y C K not, as has been asserted, a painter on glass at Bois-le-Duc. His mother, Maria Cupers, who died when he was scarcely eight years of age, seems to have attained a certain degree of excellence in art needlework. Of the boy s early educa tion nothing is known. He was little over ten when he was apprenticed to Henry Van Balen, the painter of many delicate little pictures, also an occasional collaborator of Rubens, and the master of Snyders. From a document discovered some twenty years ago in the state paper office at Brussels, relating to a lawsuit between a picture dealer and an Antwerp churchman, which arose out of the sale, in 1660, of a series of Apostles heads ascribed to Van Dyck, it appears that, as far back as 1615, Van Dyck had worked independently, Avith pupils of his own, and that his pictures were greatly valued by artists and amateurs. 1 Before he was nineteen (February 1618) Van Dyck became a full member of the Antwerp guild of painters ; and some idea of his ability at the time may be gained from the excellent portraits of an old lady and gentleman, ascribed till quite recently to Rubens, in the Dresden gallery (Nos. 854 and 855). Dated 1618, they were originally entered as works of Van Dyck, and, as Prof. &quot;Woermann observes, are undoubtedly the same as those spoken of by Mols in his MS. annotations on Walpole s Anecdotes, now in the library at Brussels. But the same admiration cannot be accorded to the earliest religious composition known to have been painted by him Christ Falling under the Cross, in St Paul s at Antwerp. This picture, of some ten life-size figures, still preserved in the place for which it was originally destined, distinctly proves that from the outset of his career Van Dyck s power of conception was vastly inferior to his refined taste as a portrait painter. At first sight it would seem also that with him, as with most other Flemish painters of the period, every concep tion, whether sacred or profane, needed to be cast in the mould of Rubens. It would be too much, however, to assert that Van Dyck at this time stood under the guid ance of that master ; their association indeed does not seem to have begun until 1619, and Bellori (1672), who got his information from Sir Kenelm Digby, Van Dyck s bosom friend, tells us that he was first employed in making drawings (probably also chiaroscuros) for the use of the great master s engravers, and that among works of the kind one of the first was the Battle of the Amazons (1619). In 1620 we know that Van Dyck was working with Rubens, for on 20th March, in making arrangements with the Antwerp Jesuits for the decoration of their church, the great master is allowed to avail himself of his pupil s assistance, and obtains for him the promise of a picture. This proof of Van Dyck s personal reputation is fully con firmed (17th July) by a correspondent of the earl of Arundel, who speaks of Van Dyck as a young man of one and twenty whose works are scarcely less esteemed than those of his master, and adds that, his relations being people of considerable wealth, he could hardly be expected to leave his home. Van Dyck was, however, thus persuaded, for on 28th November Sir Toby Mathew mentions the artist s departure to Sir Dudley Carleton, adding that he is in receipt of an annual pension of 100 from the king. There is evidence of Van Dyck s presence in London till the end of February 1621. He is first mentioned in the order-books of the Exchequer on the 17th of that month as receiving a reward of 100 &quot;for special service by him performed for His Majesty,&quot; and on the 28th, &quot;Antonio van Dyck, gent., His Majesties servant, is allowed to travaile 8 months, he havinge obtayneid his Ma ties leave in that behalf, as was signified by the E. of Arundell.&quot; What Van Dyck did in London is not known. Among his 1 Prof. Woermann has identified several of the Apostles heads here spoken of with some paintings in the gallery at Dresden. numerous paintings still preserved in English houses one only is admitted as belonging to the period of this first visit, a full-length portrait of James I. in the royal collec tion. That he was at the time a portrait painter of the rarest merit may easily be seen from his own likeness of himself when still quite young and beardless, in the National Gallery (London), in the Pinakothek at Munich, and in the private collections of the duke of Grafton and Sir Richard Wallace. In this last admirable specimen the young painter has represented himself in the character of Paris. Early paintings by Van Dyck are certainly not scarce in British galleries ; and at Duhvich there is his admirable Samson and Delilah, wrongly ascribed to Rubens. Van Dyck is supposed to have profited by his leave of absence to visit Paris and The Hague ; but it is much more probable that the eight months were spent in Ant werp, where Rubens was greatly in need of his assistance for the church of the Jesuits. After this Van Dyck most probably returned to London and remained there till the end of 1622, when his father died. The precise date of his departure for Italy perhaps at the beginning and cer tainly in the course of 1623 has not been ascertained. But he is known to have left with Rubens a considerable number of paintings, most of which have been identified in Madrid, Berlin, Dresden, &c., and show that study, as well as advice, had long since made the painter acquainted, through Rubens, with those principles of picturesque ex pression which he was now about to see exemplified so splendidly in the works of the Venetian and Genoese schools. His previous acquaintance with many excellent examples of Titian, Tintoretto, and others in Rubens s own collection can alone account for the remarkably glowing tints of Van Dyck s earliest paintings. In fact, such works as the Martyrdom of St Peter (Brussels), the Crown ing with Thorns (Berlin), the Betrayal of Christ (Madrid and Lord Methuen), St Martin Dividing his Cloak (Windsor Castle), a magnificent production, generally ascribed to Rubens, but easily identified through Van Dyck s admir able sketch at Dorchester House, incontestably prove that, in point of colouring, Venice at this moment stood higher in his predilection than Antwerp. It is unnecessary to dwell on a number of tales con nected with Van Dyck s early life, all of which have on closer examination proved to be apocryphal ; but one story has been too frequently told to be altogether ignored. At the very outset of his Italian journey the inflammable youth was captivated by the beauty of a country girl, and for the love of her painted the altar-piece still to be seen in the church at Saventhem near Brussels, in which he himself is supposed to be represented on a grey horse, given by Rubens to his pupil. It is now known, however, that the picture was commissioned by a gentleman living at Saventhem (to the charms of whose daughter Van Dyck in reality seems not to have been altogether insensible), and a closer study makes it almost certain that it was executed after, not before, his Italian journey. On a re duced scale, and with the omission of two or three figures, the St Martin at Saventhem is a reproduction of the picture at Windsor Castle. No master from beyond the Alps ever took up a higher position than Van Dyck among the most celebrated repre sentatives of Italian art. Study, as a matter of course, had been one of his principal objects. No doubt can be entertained as to the great influence exerted by the works of Titian and Paul Veronese in the development of his genius ; still the individuality of the painter remains a striking feature of what may be termed his Italian works, especially portraits. Their peculiar character seems to originate even more in the stateliness of the personages