The National tribune., 1910-01-27

tIltN Sail lot lilt Lana OF tnE rec ana
Home of the Brave on the same steam
er we do The only person at the table
who does any talking (except ourselves)
| is bright. intelligent English woman,
with snow-white hair and pretty, deli
cate features. She talks q great deal
and generally interestingly, but not
about herself. She has been a teacher
in England, and what she is doing here
L do not know
| All the morning we spent in the art
gallery, which, next to the Amsterdam
gallery, is the finest ! have yet seen.
There are 500 pictures by the old mas
ters here and 300 by modern artists.
/ Rubenss finest works are preserved in
/ this gallery, and IL is 10 antwerp that
our modern artists come who wish 10
make a thoro study of him. Rubens
was quite man, Favorite Niece. Not
only was he the greatest painter the
! Flemish school ever had, the greatest
painter of his time and one of the great
est artists of any school the world has
ever seen, but he was quite a diplomat
| as well, being selected by Philip ii for
several delicate state missions. And
| the way he turned out pictures was n
caution. Nearly 1000 canvases bear
| his name. This does not seem so Won
| dcrful, tho, when we realize that most
| Of his pupils painted on his pictures
| tthe backgrounds and such, probably, ,
which he finished up. Of course, / don't
mean this was the case with all of his
| canvases, but good many of them
He painted pictures in Italy, Spain and
| England but most Of his artist years
were spent in Antwerp. Like all the
old painters (RubenS was born in
/ 1577), his subjects are mostly sacred
and in his pictures the faces IF his two
wives and his daughter usually appear
] { .tl ~
quite in chronological order Whether
it is the family figure which appears at
| tachcd to these faces ] do not know
| but certain it is that RUbenS loved to
paint well-cOvcred bones None of your
slim kind for Rubens; he liked his
plump, quite disgustingiy plump accord
| ing to the ideas of most of US. not 10
say coarse. But his colo:ing is wonder
full and his pictures have q marvellous
! power. His masterpiece is, / believe
The Descent from the Cross" which
| is in the old Cathedral, and Of which [
will speak a little later.
Now, Favorite Niece I am not going
| 10 drag you thru this gallery with me.
| Descriptions of pictures, as of places,
are generally read by those who have
not seen them very reluctantly. if at all.
Familiar scenes, pictures we have seen,
etc; ah, yes. that is very different
| proposition; even rather poor descrip-
| tons of them are keenly interesting, for
the printed words bring up all sorts of
delightful memories. l must, however.
say word Of this Irresistible creature
whose picture inclose. ] had eyes for
no other in the room where he hung
His smile gloritied the place Elizabeth
and your Aunt e. had fairly to drag me
away. Nobody seems to know ANYTHING
of this artist, Simon De Eos, whose
picture this is. At least / have not
been able to.iind out anything. He paint
ed il himself. How he ever managed to
tear himself away from the contempla-
ton of his fatal charms to paint anyone
or anything else is more than | can see
OF all insinuating, fascinating creatures
| he takes the cake! Why, one would
cheerfully go without food or raiment
for the privilege of living in the house
with that smile. 1t is quite possible,
however. that his woman folks did have
some trouble when the sugar and -four
We're out. for he does not have the look
of good provlder. But unappreciative
wretches they were, indeed. If they com
planned with him about il. Look at
him goOd-that hair. those eyes, that
smile Isn't he great, and do you Won
der at my ravings2
| There were in this gallery Van Eycks
! (said TO be the first painter To use oils)
and Van Dycks (Rubens's pupiD, Rem
| brandtS and all the best of the Dutch
4 f''''"i -i'i''AiH5Ss Win lHtlT
soft, delicate coloring. the women with
their longish faces, big eyes and sweet
expression (you would Just love these
Memlings), and many, many others of
worldwide reputation, far too many for
me to attempt to enumerate. Going
thru gallery like this in few hours
| is good deal of a delusion and a snare
| Where nearly every canvas is a master
piece, bearing name you have dream
ed about all your life, and YOU know
there are rooms and rooms filed with
these, you become dazed and do not
half look at anything. It Is vastly diff
ferent when the good pictures are scat
tered thru a collection. as they are at
home, and you make at once for them.