The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-26 00:00:00

_fine arts.

THE PAINTERS OF BRUGES. (Lea Peintrea
Brugeois, par Alfred Michiels. Brunelle, 1846.)—This little
book is one of the most acceptable to the lovers of art that
has appeared of late Tears. It is a history of the painters of
Bruges, from Van Lyck to Engelbrechstz, and contains,
besides information derived from known sources, valuable
particulars, the result of recent researches into the old
manuscripts of the period. Such a history had long been
wanting in Belgium, as it still is in England. Why Belgium
should have remained so long without one, is incomprehen-
sible, being the source from which all information on the sub-
ject must be drawn. But where there is no national litera-
ture, as in the case of Belgium, it is always difficult to fled
an author capable or willing to undertake such an arduous
task. The only author, of Belgian origin, who has written
lives of the Flemish painters is Descamps, whose works teem
with faults and omissions, and who. notwithstanding his as-
sumption of superior information, is but a bad copyist
of the Dutch writers. Diderot, when he heard of Descamps'
intention of publishing his work, addressed him thus : " I
hear," he said, " that you have taken to literature ; may
you be more successful in it than you have been in the arts.
This wish was never realised, and the book is so dull, that it
is quite impossible to read it. But it is not our intention
here to enter into the merits or demerits of this author,
whose facts are in many instances the offspring of his imagi-
nation. Suffice it to sAy, that Descamps abridged the Dutch
authors without judgment, and rendered a pleasant subject
dull and unprofitable.
England, as regards the Flemish painters, is no better off;
Chronological accounts and dictionaries abound ; but even
the hest of them, that of Allan Cunningham, was necessa-
rily much indebted to Descamps.
The Dutch writers, Van Mender, lioubreken, Van Goo],
and Campo Weyermsn ; the Italians, Facies, Vaeari, and
the Chronicler Opmeer, all contain valuable information.
Some of them treat of the same periods, and others of differ-
ent ones ' • but they do not form a series. Of late, indeed,
detached lives have appeared in Belgium, in the Messager
des Arts et dos Sciences; and many. new facts have been
ascertained by indefatigable search into old manuscripts.
But here again the series is broken : no continuous link eon-
' netts either the progress of the art or the efforts of succes-
' sive painters with each other ; and no complete history is
given. It is this defect that Mr. Michiels undertook to re-
medy in the present volume. He informs us in his preface,
that it is but an extract of &larger work not yet completed,
which comprises the school of Bruges, and he adds, that he
is induced to publish it in italwesent form, on account of its
I being a distinct history of a distinct period in Flemish art,
• more likely to be useful to amateurs and visitors in Belgium
than his larger and more expensive work.
, Mr. Michiels has been enabled, by the new lights lately
thrown on the infancy of Flemish art, to clear up obscure
' passages in the old writers, to elicit the truth fr in their con.
tradictory at.d confuseil accounts, and even to show, in one
material instance, how completely Van Mender, the oldest
, and most trusted authority, had fallen into Error.
Van Mender wrote principally from memory ; the facts
which he mentions being, at the time he wrote, still in the
• recollection of the old generation, and it must have been
neglect on his part when he made blunders. One of these,
ha—particular, deserves to be mentioned. Amongst the
painters of wh•‘m he gives an account is Roger of eruges
Of him he says that he was born in Bruges, the town from
which he tcs.k his surname. He became a pupil of Van
' Eyck, and the favourite of that painter. Not satisfied,
• however, with remaining constantly in Begium, he went to
• Rome, where he painted several pictures; and sifter staying
there several years, he returned to Flanders, where he died.
The time and place of his death are alike unknown. This is
a summary of the account he gives of Roger of Bruges.
• Now, in another part of his book, he speaks of a painter,
called Van der Weyden, and of him be says that he was born
• at Brussels, where he early became celebrated aa a painter.
He was employed by the town council of his native place