A History of Art for Beginners and Students Part 14

HYACINTHE RIGAUD (1659-1743) became the most distinguished French portrait painter of his time; but his pictures are not very attractive or interesting in our day. He finished them too much, and so gave them an artificial appearance. Then, too, the costume of his day was such that his portraits seem to be the portraits of wigs and not of people. They are very numerous. He often painted the portrait of Louis XIV., and had ill.u.s.trious people from all parts of Europe among his sitters.

ANTOINE WATTEAU (1684-1721) was the first to practise a new style of painting. The habit of the French court was to pa.s.s much time in elegant out-door amus.e.m.e.nts. Watteau represented the scenes of the _fetes galantes_ and reunions then so much in fas.h.i.+on. His pictures are crowded with figures in beautiful costumes. There are groups of ladies and gentlemen promenading, dancing, love-making, and lounging in pleasant grounds with temples and fountains and everything beautiful about them.

The pictures of Watteau are fine, and are seen in many galleries. His color is brilliant, and to their worth as pictures is added the historical interest which belongs to them, because they give us the best idea of court life, dress, and manners of the reign of Louis XIV. which can be had from any paintings.

The followers of Watteau were numerous, but are not of great importance.

There were a few painters of animals and flowers in the French school; but we shall pa.s.s to the _genre_ painters, among whom JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE (1725-1805) was important. He painted very beautiful pictures of young girls and children. His color is very agreeable, and some of his works are finished as finely as if they were done on ivory. Most of his pictures are in private galleries, but they are seen in some public collections.

Probably the "Broken Jug," in the Louvre, is his best known work. His pictures sell for very large prices. At the Forster sale in 1876, "A Little Girl with a Lap Dog in her Arms" brought six thousand seven hundred and twenty pounds; in 1772 the same picture was sold for three hundred pounds, and in 1832 it was again sold for seven hundred and three pounds.

Thus we see that in fifty-four years its value had increased to more than nine times its price, and in one hundred and four years it brought twenty-two times as much as it was first sold for.

CLAUDE JOSEPH VERNET (1714-1789) was the best marine painter of the French school. Louis XV. commissioned him to paint the seaports of France.

Fifteen of these pictures are in the Louvre. There have been many engravings after his works. His pictures of Italian seaports and views near Rome and Tivoli are among his best paintings. His color has little variety; but his drawing is correct, and his finish is very careful and fine. Vernet also made a few etchings.

In the early part of the eighteenth century JOSEPH MARIE VIEN (1716-1809) returned to the cla.s.sic style of painting, and created a feeling against the pretty manner which had been the chief feature of French pictures for some time. His pictures are very numerous in the churches and galleries of Paris. He was not a great painter, but he marks a change in the spirit of French painting. Vien was the teacher of JACQUES LOUIS DAVID (1748-1825), who was considered the first painter in modern art at the close of the eighteenth century. He was so devoted to the cla.s.sic style that he took the remains of ancient art as models for the figures in his pictures. His groups are like groups of statues, and his flesh looks like marble, it is so hard and lifeless. During the time of the first Napoleon this style was carried to excess in everything connected with the arts. David was such a favorite with the emperor that after the return of the Bourbons he was banished, and his family were not allowed to bury him in France. He lived in Brussels, and executed many of his best pictures there.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 68.--THE SABINE WOMEN. _David._]

ANTOINE JEAN GROS (1771-1835) was a great admirer of David, and first attracted attention in 1801 by a picture of "Bonaparte on the Bridge of Arcola." After this Gros painted many such works, and princ.i.p.ally represented military events. Many of his pictures are very coa.r.s.e. The "Plague at Jaffa" and the "Field of Eylau" are of this type, and the first is disgusting. Among his best works is "Francis I. and Charles V. visiting the Tombs at St. Denis." But although he received many honors, and was made a baron by Charles X., he could not bear the criticism which was made upon his pictures, and finally drowned himself in the Seine near Meudon.

PAUL DELAROCHE (1797-1856) was born at Paris, and studied under Baron Gros. He became a celebrated artist and was made a member of the Inst.i.tute of France, a Professor in l'ecole des Beaux-Arts, and an officer of the Legion of Honor. His princ.i.p.al works represent scenes of important historical interest, and he so arranged them that they appeal to one's sympathies with great power. Among these pictures are the "Condemnation of Marie Antoinette," the "Death of the Duke of Guise," "Cromwell Contemplating the Remains of Charles I.," and other similar historical incidents. His design was according to academical rules; but he was not entirely conventional, and in some of his religious pictures there was much expression and deep feeling.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 69.--DEATH OF THE DUKE OF GUISE. _Delaroche._]

His largest and most famous work is the "Hemicycle," in l'ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He was occupied with this painting during three years; it contains seventy-five figures of life size. The arts of different countries and ages are represented in it by portraits of the artists of the times and nations typified. Thus it is very interesting when considered merely as a great collection of portraits. Delaroche married the daughter of Horace Vernet, and it is said that the figure which stands for Gothic Architecture is a portrait of her. The Hemicycle is richly colored, and has a great deal of fine painting in it; but from its very nature it has no dramatic power, and does not arouse any deep sentiment in one who studies it. Delaroche was paid only about fifteen thousand dollars for this great labor, and refused to have any further reward.

Perhaps none of his works are more powerful than the "Death of the Duke of Guise." You will easily recall the circ.u.mstances of his a.s.sa.s.sination: the painter has so represented it that one really forgets that it is a picture, and can only remember the horror of the crime. The corpse of the duke is on one side of the immense chamber, near the bed; the a.s.sa.s.sins are in a terrified group on the other side, and with them the cowardly king, who was absolutely afraid of the dead body of his victim. The picture is a remarkable instance of the power that may be given to what is sometimes called historical-genre art. This picture was sold in 1853 for ten thousand five hundred dollars (Fig. 69).

JEAN LOUIS GeRICAULT (1791-1824). He was born at Rouen, and studied first under Guerin and then in Rome. He was the first master of any power who entirely dismissed the influence of the art of David with its marble flesh and statuesque effect. The one great work by which he is known is the "Wreck of the Medusa," which is in the Louvre, and which may be said to mark the advent of the modern French school.

EUGENE DELACROIX (1799-1863) was the son of a Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was born to position and wealth. But through misfortunes all this was changed, and he was forced to work hard for his living. At last he managed to study under Guerin, and in the studio of the master became the friend of Gericault. The first work which brought Delacroix fame was a picture of a scene from Dante's "Inferno," in which Dante sees some of his old acquaintances who were condemned to float upon the lake which surrounds the infernal city. This work was exhibited in 1822, and was bought for the Gallery of the Luxembourg. Baron Gros tried to be his friend; but Delacroix wished to follow his own course, and for some time had but small success.

He travelled in Spain, Algiers, and Morocco, and at length was commissioned by Thiers to do some decorative work in the throne-room of the Chamber of Deputies. He was much criticised, but at length was accepted as a great artist, and was made a member of the Inst.i.tute in 1857. He received another important order for the Chamber of Peers. Some of his works are at Versailles, and others are seen in various churches of Paris. When they are considered as a whole they are effective, but they do not bear examination; his design was free and spirited and his color good, and he painted a variety of subjects, and was able to vary the expression of his work to suit the impression he wished to produce.

eMILE JEAN HORACE VERNET (1789-1863) was born in the Louvre. He studied under his father, Carle Vernet, who was the son of Claude Joseph Vernet.

Carle was a witty man, and it is said that when he was dying he exclaimed, "How much I resemble the Grand Dauphin--son of a king, father of a king, and never a king myself!" In spite of his being less than his father or his son, he was a good painter of horses. When Horace Vernet was but fifteen years old he supported himself by drawing; he studied with Vincent, and drew from living models. In 1814 he showed such bravery at the Barriere of Clichy that he was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor: before he died he was a grand officer of the order on account of his artistic merits. He was also a member of the Inst.i.tute and Director of the Academy of Rome.

His best works were executed in Rome, where he spent seven years; he travelled in Algiers, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Russia, and England, and was everywhere received with the honors which his genius merited. His works embraced a great variety of subjects, and it is said that he often finished his picture the first time he went over it, and did not retouch it. There is no doubt that in certain ways the excellence of Vernet has been overestimated, and he has been too much praised; but his remarkable memory, which enabled him truthfully to paint scenes he had witnessed, and his facility of execution, are worthy of honorable mention.

When twenty years old Vernet was married, and from this time he kept an expense account in which all the prices he received for his works are set down. The smallest is twenty-four sous for a tulip; the largest is fifty thousand francs for the portrait of the Empress of Russia.

About 1817 Vernet became the favorite of the Duke of Orleans, and was therefore unpopular with the royal party. In 1820 he had made himself so displeasing to the king by some lithographs which were scattered among the people, that it was thought best for him to leave Paris. However, he overcame all this, and four years later Charles X. sat to him for his portrait. From this time orders and money flowed in from all sides.

The Vernets had originated in Avignon, and in 1826, when the museum there was opened, Horace and his father were invited to be present. Every honor was shown them; poems were read in their praise; they were conducted to the home of their ancestors, which they piously saluted, and inscribed their names upon the door-posts. After they returned to Paris they received rich gifts in return for the pictures they had given to Avignon.

The Gallery Vernet, which contains works by Antoine, Francois, Joseph, Carle, and Horace Vernet, is regarded as a sacred place by the people of that region.

When Horace Vernet was Director of the Academy in Rome he held _salons_ weekly; they were very gay, and all people of distinction who lived in Rome or visited that city were seen at these receptions, dancing and amusing themselves in the lively French manner. But after 1830 he felt that the Villa Medici was a prison. He wished to follow the French army in the East, and three years later did go to Algiers. In the same year the king decided to convert the palace at Versailles into an historical museum, and from this time Vernet had but two ideas, the East and Versailles. Almost every work he did was connected with these two thoughts.

Louis Philippe now desired him to paint four battle-pieces; but Vernet objected that no room was large enough to please him: for this reason a floor was removed, two stories turned into one, and the grand Gallery of Battles made. At length he had a difficulty with the king and went to Russia; but hearing that his father was dying he returned to Paris, and was made welcome back to Versailles, where he was really necessary.

We cannot stay to recount the honors which were showered upon him, and which he always received with great modesty of demeanor. He went from one triumph to another until 1848, when the Revolution almost broke his heart; he worked on, but his happiness was over. In the great Exposition of 1855 he had a whole _salon_ devoted to his works, and men from all the world came to see and to praise. He lived still eight years; he made pictures of incidents in the Crimean War; he painted a portrait of Napoleon III., but he wrote of himself: "When time has worn out a portion of our faculties we are not entirely destroyed; but it is necessary to know how to leave the first rank and content one's self with the fourth."

His industry and the amount of work he did are simply marvellous. He loved excitement and adventure, and the works which have these elements were his best--and he liked best to do them. His color cannot be praised; he had no lofty intellectual aims; he was clever to a high degree, but he was not great; he was one to whom the happy medium of praise should be given, for he neither merits severity of criticism nor immoderate praise; he was simply a gifted painter and "the greatest and last of the Vernets."

He is also the last French painter of whom we shall speak, as we do not propose to take up the excellent artists of our own day, who would require a volume devoted strictly to themselves.

CHAPTER VII.

PAINTING IN ENGLAND.

In early days in England there were miniature-painters, and in the last half of the sixteenth century there were some very important English painters of this kind. Before the days of Charles I. the English kings were much in the habit of inviting foreign artists to England, and commissions were given to them. The painters who were most prominent in England were of the Flemish school, and even under Charles I., as we have seen, Rubens and Vandyck were the princ.i.p.al painters in England. But in the reign of this king some native artists made names for themselves, and what we call the English school of painting may really be dated from this time.

Before speaking of painters I must mention one miniaturist whose works were in demand in other countries, as well as in England. SAMUEL COOPER (1609-1672) has been called "the Vandyck in little," and there is far more breadth in his works than is usual in miniature. He painted likenesses of many eminent persons, and his works now have an honorable place in many collections.

WILLIAM DOBSON (1610-1646) has been mentioned in our account of Vandyck as a painter whom the great master befriended and recommended to Charles I.

He became a good portrait-painter, and after Vandyck's death was appointed sergeant-painter to the king. His portraits are full of dignity; the face shadows are dark, and his color excellent. He did not excel in painting historical subjects. Vandyck was succeeded at court by two foreign artists who are so closely a.s.sociated with England that they are always spoken of as English artists.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 70.--SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.]

PETER VAN DER FAES (1618-1680), who was born in Westphalia, is known to us as Sir PETER LELY. He became the most celebrated portrait-painter after Vandyck, and his "Beauties at Hampton Court" are pictures which are known the world over. He has been accused of not painting eyes as he ought; but the ladies of his day had an affectation in the use of their eyes. They tried to have "the sleepy eye that spoke the melting soul," so Sir Peter Lely was not to blame for painting them as these ladies wished them to be.

He was knighted by Charles II., and became very rich. His portraits of men were not equal to those of women. When Cromwell gave him a commission to paint his portrait, he said: "Mr. Lely, I desire you will use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay you a farthing for it." Sir Peter Lely was buried in Covent Garden, where there is a monument to his memory with a bust by Gibbon.

Sir G.o.dFREY KNELLER (1646-1723), born at Lubeck, was a rival to Sir Peter Lely, and had the honor of painting the portraits of eight crowned heads and a very great number of other people of importance. He had studied both the Dutch and Italian manner; for he was the pupil of Rembrandt and Bol, of Carlo Maratti and Bernini. Some critics praise his pictures very much, while others point out many defects in them. He painted very rapidly, and he sometimes hurried his pictures off for the sake of money; but his finished works are worthy of remark. He especially excelled in painting hair; his drawing was correct; some of his groups of children are fine pictures; and some madonnas that he painted, using his sitters as models, are works of merit. His monument was made by Rysbrach, and was placed in Westminster Abbey.

Both Sir Peter Lely and Sir G.o.dfrey Kneller had pupils and followers; but there was no original English artist before the time of WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697-1764), and he may really be named as the first master of a purely English school of painting. When Hogarth was fifteen years old he was apprenticed to a silversmith, and the grotesque designs which he copied for armorial bearings helped to increase his natural love for all that was ridiculous and strange. After 1718 he was much occupied in engraving for booksellers, and at length he began to paint small _genre_ pictures and some portraits, in which he made good success, but he felt that he was fitted for other work. In 1730 he married the daughter of the artist, Sir James Thornhill, without the consent of her father.

Soon after this he began his series of pictures called the "Harlot's Progress," and when Sir James saw them he was so satisfied with the talent of Hogarth that he declared that such an artist could support a wife who had no dower, and the two painters were soon reconciled to each other.

Before 1744 Hogarth had also painted the series of the "Rake's Progress"

and "Marriage a la Mode" (Fig. 71).

These are all pictures which hold up the customs of the time to ridicule and satire, and his works of this kind are almost numberless. He explains as follows the cause of his painting in this way: "The reasons which induced me to adopt this mode of designing were that I thought both critics and painters had, in the historical style, quite overlooked that intermediate species of subjects which may be placed between the sublime and the grotesque. I therefore wished to compose pictures on canvas similar to representations on the stage; and further hope that they will be tried by the same test and criticised by the same criticism."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 71.--THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT. _No. 1 of The Marriage a la Mode. By Hogarth. In the National Gallery._]

It was in this sort of picture that Hogarth made himself great, though he supported himself for several years by portrait-painting, in which art he holds a reputable place. Most of his important pictures are in public galleries.

Hogarth was a fine engraver, and left many plates after his own works, which are far better and more spirited than another artist could have made them. The pictures of Hogarth have good qualities aside from their peculiar features. He made his interiors s.p.a.cious, and the furniture and all the details were well arranged; his costumes were exact, as was also the expression of his faces; his painting was good, and his color excellent. In 1753 he published a book called the "a.n.a.lysis of Beauty."

Ever after his first success his career was a prosperous one. He rode in his carriage, and was the a.s.sociate and friend of men in good positions.

Hogarth was buried in Chiswick Churchyard, and on his tombstone are these lines, written by David Garrick:

"Farewell, great painter of mankind!

Who reach'd the n.o.blest point of Art, Whose pictur'd morals charm the mind, And through the eye, correct the heart.

If Genius fire thee, reader, stay; If Nature touch thee, drop a tear; If neither move thee, turn away, For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here."

The next important English painter was RICHARD WILSON (1713-1782), and he was important not so much for what he painted as for the fact that he was one of the earliest landscape-painters among English artists. He never attained wealth or great reputation, although after his return from studying in Italy he was made a member of the Royal Academy.