Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/496

BEE but passed his life in painting forgotten portraits. He taught the prince of Wales, and the dukes of York and Gloucester drawing. From England he passed to the courts of France, Denmark, and Sweden. From Queen Christina he received rich presents, and the appointment of first valet de chambre. He then received a roving commission from this mad queen of Sheba, to visit all the courts of Europe, and paint the portraits of the monarchs, bagging in his way nine gold chains and medals, and acquiring at Rome, where he was received into the academy, the nickname of "the golden sceptre." In passing through Germany, a strange adventure happened to him. He was taken ill at an inn, and laid out as dead. His valets, to console themselves for the loss of so good a master, so agreeable, handsome, polite, liberal, and rich an adventurer, assembled round the body, and discussing his merits, like guests at an Irish wake, began to drink. At last, one of them getting confused and drunk, cried out to the company, holding up a full glass of the best Hockheimer, "Master was very fond of wine when he was alive, why should he not have some now he is dead?" The company agreed with him; they raise the dead man's head, prize open his mouth, and pass down the wine. Beek sneezes and sits up. The valets are delighted with the dead man's politeness, and pour him out another glass. Beek revives, kicks them out of the room, and rings for post-horses. The real end of Beek, however, came at last. He got tired of the tyrannical madwoman, and asked leave to go back to Holland. The queen does not wish to lose her handsome painter; but when she goes to France and kills Monaldeschi, Beek gets a few week's furlough, which he promises not to exceed. Beek gets to the Hague, determines never to return, but dies soon after in 1656, as some thought poisoned. No one at that time disputed the right of a queen to poison a refractory painter. Dear me! no.—W. T.  BEEKKERK, H. L., born at Leuwarde, 1756, and studied under John van Breght at Amsterdam, painted history, landscapes, and animals. His design is bad. Died in 1796.—W. T.  BEELDEMAKER,, born at the Hague, 1636 (Charles I.); died 1736. He was the earliest painter of stag and fox hounds; he designed with a spirit and nature quite unnational. His son Francis, a historical painter, some of whose heavy portraits are in the Hague academy, was born in 1669. He died in 1736.—W. T.  BEER,, born at Antwerp, 1490 (Henry VI.) He was a good designer, but in colour repulsively hard, dry, and wooden. He died, to the great benefit of art, in 1542.—W. T.  BEER,, known in Spain about 1630. His "Triumph of the Holy Sacrament" was painted for the capuchins of Murcia. His daughter, Maria Eugenia, was a successful engraver at Madrid. She executed a portrait of Prince Balthazar Carlos, and plates for Salzedo's books on bull-fighting and horsemanship.—W. T.  BEER,, a distinguished Austrian surgeon, who devoted his attention to diseases of the eye. He was born at Vienna on the 23rd of December, 1763, and died in 1821. He was surgeon to the Clinical Institute in Vienna, and devoted himself to the general practice of surgery. His writings, which are numerous, are almost exclusively devoted to diseases of the eye. One of his earliest works was entitled "Practical Observations on Cataract and Diseases of the Cornea." It was accompanied with copperplates, and appeared in 1791. In the following year he published a general work on the diseases of the eye, in two volumes. This work contributed greatly to make him known, on account of the proof it afforded of his profound knowledge of the diseases of the structures of the eye. In 1797 he published in Latin a work, in which he reviewed the literature generally relating to ophthalmological science. This work was entitled "Bibliotheca Ophthalmica." He also published in German a history of the art of ocular surgery in 1813. He has published numerous other works and papers, which have given him a first position amongst those who have studied ocular surgery. The practice of Beer was as extensive as his reputation, and he is one of the few instances of the attainment of a great scientific name in connection with a special department of the practice of surgery.—E. L.  BEER,. See.  BEER,, born at Utrecht in 1550 (Queen Mary), studied historical painting under Floris, was patronized by the bishop of Tournay, died in 1596.—W. T. <section end="496H" /> <section begin="496I" />BEER,, a German dramatist, was born at Berlin in 1800, and died at Munich, 22nd March, 1833. He was a brother of the celebrated composer, Meyerbeer. His best tragedies are "Struensee" and the "Paria." His works were published after his death by his friend Eduard von Schenk.—K. E. <section end="496I" /> <section begin="496J" />BEER,, a very valuable German contributor to practical astronomy. See. <section end="496J" /> <section begin="496K" />BEER-BING,, a clever Hebrew scholar, lived in the beginning of the nineteenth century; author of a Hebrew translation of Mendelsohn's Phédon, and of a French translation of Judas Levi's Elegy on the Ruins of Sion. <section end="496K" /> <section begin="496L" />BEERBLOCK,, born at Bruges, 1736, pupil of Matthias de Visch, was a painter of small pictures, now very rare. Died in 1806.—W. T. <section end="496L" /> <section begin="496M" />BEERINGS,, born at Malines about 1500. He went to Italy, and is known to have been dissipated and indolent. He hid his talent in a napkin, and there it lies still. He died in 1544 (Edward VI.).—W. T. <section end="496M" /> <section begin="496N" />BEESTEN, A. H., a painter of bas reliefs at Amsterdam. Died in 1764.—W. T. <section end="496N" /> <section begin="496Zcontin" />BEETHOVEN,, the illustrious musician, was born at Bonn, 17th December, 1770, and died at Vienna, 26th March, 1827. A groundless rumour for some time prevailed that he was the natural son of the king of Prussia; and, at considerable pains, he proved himself to be the lawful child of Johann Beethoven, a tenor singer in the chapel of the electoral prince in his native town, in which establishment his grandfather, after whom he was named, and who was also a composer, sang bass. For the memory of this latter, although he died when the boy was but three years old, Beethoven, in after life, had a high veneration, and he treasured his portrait as a most valuable relic. The feeling of the grandson may be accounted for by the intemperate habits of his father, who could thus elicit no respect; and his strong sense of reverence having no present stimulus, attached him to an ideal, of which he could not recollect the original. He had an elder brother, Ludwig Maria, who died in his infancy; and two younger, Caspar Anton Carl, who became a teacher of the pianoforte, and Nicolaus Johann, who followed the trade of a druggist. Whatever the professional ability and personal irregularities of his father, the position of this choir singer was such as to give Beethoven the advantage enjoyed by all the greatest musicians, of becoming familiar in his earliest infancy with music, and receiving his first impressions from it: his organization had thus immediate opportunity for development, and he at once gave tokens of a strong natural disposition for the art he conspicuously advanced. His father, hoping to improve the slender means of the family by the display of the child's ability, was the first to undertake his technical training; but dissipation rendered him an unfit instructor. The boy's studies were, however, assisted by Pfeiffer, an oboe player and director of a military band, to whom in after years he made the kindest acknowledgment of the obligation he owed him. He evinced so remarkable a talent, as to attract the attention of the reigning elector, the Archduke Maximilian, at whose charge he received lessons of Van der Eder, the court organist, and, at his death, of his successor, Neefe. Beethoven's restless disposition rendered steady practice irksome to him; and his father's impatience at this increased his distaste to application. He, however, progressed so rapidly, that at eight years old he was already remarkable for his playing of the fugues of Sebastian Bach. His three sonatas, written when he was ten years old, prove his early acquaintance with the principles of musical construction, and show a fluency of thought, which, though rendered in the idiom of the time, is not without indications of originality. These interesting productions, as well as some songs and some pianoforte variations, were printed in 1783. Sterkel, a pianist of some repute in his day, on seeing the variations, questioned the ability of their author to play them; whereupon Beethoven, not only executed his printed piece, but improvised upon the same theme, in imitation of the manner of his sceptical critic, proving at once his agile finger and his prompt invention. This is the earliest anecdote of his marvellous extemporaneous power, which afterwards became one of the most remarkable manifestations of his genius, and which he often exercised with still more pointed pertinence to the occasion than in the present instance. Coincident with his progress on the pianoforte and in composition was his practice of the violin, which, if it led to no notable proficiency, enabled him to write most effectively for string instruments throughout his career. His father's dissolute life <section end="496Zcontin" />