 INTRODUCTION To Great Artist, Volume 1 A word to the teacher. The following brief sketches are presented in fear and in hope. In fear, lest they prove in no wise adequate for so glorious a subject, in the hope that they may encourage not only the pupil but the teacher to study the lives and the works of the great artist and to make every possible effort to have copies of masterpieces ever before them to study and to love. The field of art study is a wonderful one from which to draw for language work. A double purpose is thus served. Interesting subjects are secured and pupils are given a start in acquiring a knowledge of the beautiful that fortifies them for the sorrows and cares of life and what is even better prevents their own life from being commonplace. With the teacher wished to study further, a list of valuable reference books is appended to each sketch, any one of which will greatly assist in acquiring a more extended knowledge of the subject. In the study of an artist take care to have a liberal supply of reproductions of his pictures at hand. These may be photographs, half tones, like the illustrations in this book, or engravings. Good work cannot be done without such pictures. Above all, work to cultivate a love for good pictures, not to fill young minds with uninspiring facts. J.E.K. Chapter 1 of Great Artists Volume 1 Great Artists Volume 1 by Jenny Ellis Kaiser J.E.K. We are about to study Raphael, the most generally praised, the most beautiful, and certainly the most loved of all the painters of the world. When all these delightful things can be truthfully set of one man, surely we may look forward with pleasure to a detailed study of his life and works. Often in examining the lives of great men we are compelled to pass over some events which, to say the least, are not creditable. Of Raphael this was not true. He was gifted with all admirable qualities, and so many cited with his genius that, while we think of him first as a painter, we must not forget that he also carved statues, wrote poems, played musical instruments, and planned great buildings. So much was he endeared to his pupils that, after he grew to be famous, he never went on the streets unless he was followed by an admiring throng of these students, ever ready to do his bidding or to defend his art from any possible attack by malicious critics. He lived at a time when artists were fiercely jealous of each other, and yet wherever he went, harmony, like a good angel, walked unseen beside him, making whatever assembly he entered the abode of peace and good will. It is a beautiful thing that such a strong, lovable man should have had for his name that of the chief of the archangels, Raphael, a name beautiful of sound and ever suggestive of beauty and loveliness. There seemed to have been special preparation for the birth of this unique character. Not only were his parents of the ideal sort, loving the best things of life and thinking ever of how best to rear the little son that God had given them, but the very country into which he was born was fitted to still further develop his natural tenderness and sweetness of disposition. Webmouth, the birthplace of Raphael, is a secluded mountain town on a cliff on the east slope of the Apennines, directly east of Florence. It is in the division known as Umbria, a section noted for its gently broken landscape, such as in later years the artist loved to paint as background for his most beautiful Madonna's. Here the people were shut off from much of the excitement known to commercial towns. They were slower to take up new things than the people in the coast cities where men lived by the exchange of goods and incidentally of customs. The inhabitants lived simple religious lives. We must remember, too, that hardly fifty miles away was the village of Assisi, where St. Francis, the purest of men, had lived and labored, and where, after his death, a double church had been built to his memory. To this day there is a spirit of reverence that inspires the religious region. No wonder that, in Raphael's time, when this spirit was fresh and strong, it gave a character of piety and sweetness to the works of all the painters of Umbria. From these two causes, the secluded position of the region and the influence of St. Francis arose what is called the Umbrian School of Painting. All painters belonging to this school made pictures very beautiful and full of fine religious feeling. One April morning, in fourteen eighty-three, to the home of Giovanni Santi, the painter, and his wife Magia, a dear little boy came, as millions of boys and girls have since come, to cheer and to bless. The father and mother were very proud of their little son, and feeling perhaps that a more than ordinary child had been given them, they gave him the name of Raphael as one of good omen. If we were to visit, in Urbino, the house where Raphael was born, we would be shown a faded fresco of a Madonna and a child, painted by Giovanni, and said to me, Magia and the child Raphael. From the earliest years the child was carefully tended. When he was only eight, the fond mother died and left the father to care for his boy alone. In due time a stepmother was brought home. She was a kind woman and loved and cared for the beautiful lad as if he were really her own child. Later, when the father died, leaving the boy Raphael and his little half-sister, no one could have been more solicitous for the boy's rights than his stepmother. She and his uncle together managed his affairs most wisely. We have no record that, like Titian, the boy Raphael used the juice of flowers with which to paint pictures of his childish fancies, but we do know that very early he became greatly interested in his father's studio and went in regularly to assist. Now, it must be remembered that, at this time, when a boy wishing to learn to paint went to the studio of a master, he did not at once begin to use colors, brushes, and canvas. Instead he usually served a long apprenticeship, sweeping out the studio, cleaning the brushes, grinding colors, and performing other common duties. Raphael's assistance to his father must have been largely of this humble sort. We can imagine, however, that his fond father did not make his hours long, and that there were pleasant rambling in the woods nearby, and that many a bunch of flowers was gathered for the mother at home. There were happy hours, too, when the father and his son read together great books of poetry in which tales of love and nightly encounters were interesting parts. And then I am sure there were other happy hours when, tuning their instruments together, they filled the time with music's sweetest discourse. This was, indeed, a happy childhood, a fit beginning for an ideal life. Meanwhile the boy grew strong, and his beauty, too, increased. The dark hair lay lightly upon his shoulders, and a certain dreaminess in his eyes deepened. He was about to feel a great sorrow, for the father, so devoted, so exemplary, died when his boy was but eleven years old. We cannot help wishing that he might have lived to see a great picture painted by his son. We can easily imagine his smile of joy at the first stroke that surpassed what he could do. Just what to do with the boy on the death of his father was an important matter for the stepmother and uncle to decide. They showed wisdom by their decision. Now the greatest of all the Umbrian painters, before Raphael, was a queer little miserly man named Perugino, who at that time had a studio in Perugia, an Umbrian town not far distant from Orbino. Although he was of mean appearance and ignomal character, he had an unmistakable power in painting mild-eyed Madonna's and spotless Saints against delicate landscape backgrounds. People disliked the man, but they could not help seeing the beauty of his art, and so his studio was crowded. Hither was sent the boy Raphael, and when Perugino noted the lad and some of his work he said, Let him be my pupil, he will soon become my master. As nearly as we can learn he remained in this studio nine years, from 1495 to 1504. Perugino's style of painting greatly pleased Raphael. He was naturally teachable, and this, with his admiration for Perugino's pictures, made his first work in the studio very much like his masters. Indeed it is almost impossible to tell some of his earliest pictures from those of his teacher. Let me tell you about one. It is called the Marriage of the Virgin, and you would have to go to the Brera Gallery in Milan to see it. The legend runs thus. The beautiful Mary had many lovers, all wishing to marry her. Now here was a difficulty indeed, and so the suitors were required to put by their rough staves for a night. The promise was that in the morning one would be blossom, and its owners should have Mary for his wife. We can imagine that these lovers were anxious for day to dawn, and that all but one was sad indeed at the result. In the morning there were the rods, all save one, brown and rough and bare, but that one lay there alive with delicate buds and flowers, and all the air was full of fragrance. This was Joseph's, and he went away glad and brought his young bride. This first great picture of Raphael's represented this marriage taking place at the foot of the temple steps. The disappointed lovers are present, and I am sorry to say, one of them is showing his anger by breaking his barren rod even while the marriage is taking place. The first and the last work of a great man are always interesting, and that is why I have told you so much about this picture. You will be still more interested in Raphael's last picture, the transfiguration. While in the studio he made many friends, with one he went to Siena to assist him in some fresco painting he had to do there. Of course you know that fresco is painting on wet plaster so that the colors dry in with the mortar. The conversation at the studio was often of art and artists, and so the beautiful city of Florence must have often been an engaging subject. Think of what Florence was at this time, and how an artist must have thrilled at its very name. Beautiful as a flower with her marble palaces, her fine churches, her lily-like bell tower. What a charm was added when within her walls Leonardo da Vinci was painting, Michelangelo carving, Savonarola preaching. In the early days of Raphael's apprenticeship the voice of the preacher had been silenced, but still with the ineffable left hand, da Vinci painted, and still the marble chips dropped from Angelo's chisel as a David grew to majesty beneath his touch. To Raphael, with his love of the beautiful, with his zeal to learn, Florence was the city of all others that he longed to see. At last his dream was to be realized. A noble woman of Urbino gave him a letter to the Governor of Florence expressing the wish that the young artist might be allowed to see all the art treasures of the city. The first day of the year, 1505, greeted Raphael in Florence, the art center of Italy. We can only guess at his joy in seeing the Florence here and in greeting his fellow artists. Angelo and da Vinci had just finished their cartoons for the town hall, the bathing soldiers and the battle of the standard, and they were on exhibition. All Florence was studying them and of this throng we may be sure Raphael was an enthusiastic member. While here he painted several pictures. Among them was the Granduca Madonna, the simplest of all his Madonna's, just a lovely young mother holding her babe. It is still in Florence and to this day people look at it and say the Grand Duke who would go nowhere without this gem of pictures knew what was beautiful. Raphael did not stay long in Florence at this time but soon returned to Perugia. His next visit to Florence was of greater length. During these years, 1506 to 1508, he painted many of his best known pictures. In studying the works of Raphael you must never tire of the beautiful Madonna, for it is said that he painted a hundred of these. So much did he love the subject and so successful was he in representing the child Jesus and the lovely mother. Some of his finest Madonna's belong to this time. Let us look at a few of them. One called the Madonna of the Goldfinch shows Mary seated with the child Jesus at her knee and the young John presenting him with the Finch, which he caresses gently. The Madonna has the drooping eyes, the exquisitely rounded face that always charms us, and the boys are real live children ready for a frolic. Another called the Madonna of the Meadow represents the virgin in the foreground of a gently broken landscape with the two children playing beside her. We must not forget, either, as belonging to this time, the very beautiful La Belle Jardinière or the Madonna of the Garden, which now hangs in the Louvre, the art gallery of Paris. Like all his great Madonna's, the virgin and children are of surpassing loveliness. It is finished in such a soft, melting style that to see it in its exquisite coloring one could easily imagine it vanishing imperceptibly into the blaze of some splendid sunset. While we are talking of Raphael's color it may be interesting to call your attention to a very remarkable fact about his paintings. He lays the color on the canvas so thin that sometimes one can see the drawing, and yet his color is so pure and beautiful that he is considered one of the greatest colorists of the world. The next time you see an oil painting notice how thick or how thin the paint is laid on, and then think what I have told you of Raphael's method of using color. Now, while Raphael was painting these droopy-eyed, mild-faced Madonna's and learning great lessons from the masters of Florence a wonderful honor came to him. He was called to Rome by the Pope and given some of the apartments of the Vatican to decorate in any way he wished. The Pope at this time was Julius II and he was a very interesting man. He was a warrior and had spent many years fighting to gain lands and cities for the church. When peace returned he was still anxious to do honor to the church and so wherever he heard of a great architect, painter, or sculptor he had once invited him to Rome to work for the church. Already he had set Michelangelo to work on a grand tune for him. Bramante, a relative of Raphael's was working hard to make St. Peter's the most wonderful church in all the world. Now the young Raphael was to beautify still further the building's belonging to the church. Julius did not pretend to be an artist or a scholar and yet by his patronage he greatly encouraged art and literature. The story is told that when making a statue of the Pope for the town of Bologna the artist asked Julius if he should place a book in the statue's extended left hand and the Pope retorted, almost in anger, what book? Rather a sword. I am no reader. In earlier years Florence had been a glorious site to our artists and now, in 1508 standing in the eternal city he was more awed than when he first beheld the city of the Arno. Here the court of Julius, and powerful, together with the works of art, like St. Peter's, in process of construction, were but a part of the wonders to be seen. In addition the remains of ancient Rome were scattered all about. Here a roll of columns, the only remains of a grand temple, there a broken statue of some god or goddess long lost to sight and all the earth about so filled with these treasures that one only had to dig to find some hidden work of art. Roman people, too, were awake to the fact that they were not only living out a marvelous present, but that they were likewise, in their everyday life, walking ever in the presence of a still more wonderful past. I wish, while you are thinking about this, that you would get a picture of the Roman Forum and notice its groups of columns, its triumphal arches, its ruined walls. You will then certainly appreciate more fully what Raphael felt as he went about this city of historic life. The Pope received the young artist cordially and at once gave him the vast commission of painting in fresco three large rooms or stanza of the Vatican. In addition he was to decorate the gallery or corridor called de Lugia leading to these apartments from the stairway. With the painting of these walls Raphael and his pupils were more or less busy during the remainder of the artist's short life. A great many religious and historic subjects were used, besides some invented by Raphael himself, as when he represented poetry by Mount Parnassus and habited by all the great poets past and present. In these rooms some of his best work is done. Every year thousands of people go to see these pictures and come away more than ever enraptured with Raphael and his work. In the Lugia are the paintings known collectively as Raphael's Bible. Of the fifty-two pictures in the thirteen arcades of the corridor all but four represent Old Testament scenes. The others are taken from the New Testament. Although Raphael's pupils assisted largely in these frescoes they are very beautiful and will always rank high among the artworks of the time. Raphael's works seem almost perfect even from the beginning yet he was always studying to get the great points in the work of others and to perfect his own. Perhaps this is the best lesson we may learn from his intellectual work. The lesson of unending study and assimilation. He was greatly interested in the ruins of Rome and we know that he studied them deeply and carefully. This is very evident in the Madonna's of his Roman period. They have a strength and a power to make one think great thoughts that is not so marked in the pictures of his Florentine period. The Madonna of the Fish is one of the most beautiful of this time. It was painted originally for a chapel where the blind prayed for sight and where, legend relates, they were often miraculously answered. The Divine Mother, a little older than Raphael's virgins of earlier years, is seated on a throne with the ever- beautiful child in her arms. The babe gives his attention to the surpassing, lovely angel, Raphael who brings the young Tobias with his fish into the presence of the virgin of whom he would beg the healing of his father who is blind. On the other side he points to a passage in the book held by the venerable Saint Jerome. This is doubtless the book of Tobit wherein the story of Tobias is related and in which Tobias translated. Whatever the real purpose of the artist was in introducing Saint Jerome, a very beautiful result was attained in contrasting youth and age. Like a human being of note, this picture has had an eventful history. It was stolen from Naples and carried to Madrid, and then in the French wars it was taken to Paris. It has since been restored to the Prado of Madrid, and there today we may feast our eyes on its almost unearthly loveliness. In it the Divine Painter showed that he knew the heart of a mother and the love of a son, and that he appreciated the majesty of age and the heavenly beauty of the angels. Hardly less beautiful is the Madonna Faleno, so named from the distant view of the Faleno seen under a rainbow in the central part of the picture. In the upper portion, surrounded by angel heads, is the Madonna holding out her child to us. Below is the scene already referred to, the portrait of the donor of the picture, some saints, and a beautiful boy angel. The latter is holding a tablet which is to be inscribed for this is one of that large class of pictures in Italian art called votive, that is, given to the church by an individual for some great deliverance. In this case the donor had escaped as by a miracle from a stroke of lightning. In this short sketch there is time to mention only a few of Raphael's great pictures, but I trust you will be so interested that you will look up about others that are passed over here. There are many very interesting books about Raphael in which you can find descriptions of all of his pictures. Among other paintings Raphael painted portraits. An excellent likeness of Julius was so well done that, skillfully placed and lighted, it deceived some of the Pope's friends into thinking it the living Julius. The painting of portraits was not the only departure of our artists from his favorite Madonna or historic subjects. We find him also interested in mythology. Out of this interest grew his Galatia which he painted for a wealthy nobleman of his time. In this picture Galatia sails over the sea in her shell boat drawn by dolphins. She gazes into heaven and seems unconscious of the nymphs sporting about her. Speaking of Raphael's use of mythological subjects, though not quite in the order of time, we may hear mention his frescoes illustrating the story of Cupid and Psyche, painted on the walls and ceiling of the same nobleman's palace, the Chigi Palace. The drawings for these paintings by Raphael but most of the painting was done by his pupils. As we study these pictures of the joys and sorrows of this beautiful pair, we are interested but we regret that our angel painter was willing, even for a short time, to leave his own proper subjects, the religious. We feel like saying let men who know not the depth of religious feeling, as did Raphael, paint for us the myth and the secular story, but let us save from any earthly touch of the world. In fifteen-thirteen the great Julius died, and Leo the tenth, a member of the famous Medici family of Florence, succeeded to his place. Raphael was in the midst of his paintings in the Vatican, and for a time it was uncertain what the new pope would think of continuing these expensive decorations. Though lacking the energy of Julius, Leo continued the warrior pope's policy regarding artworks. So Raphael went on unmolested in his work, with the great commission added. During the life of Leo the power of the church sunk to a low level, and yet the angel painter of the Vatican pursued in peace the composition and painting of his lovely works. The Saint Cecilia was a very important work, painted about the time of Julius's death. It was painted for a wealthy woman of Bologna to adorn a chapel which she had built to Saint Cecilia, the patroness of music. She had built this chapel because she thought she heard to do it. In other words, she had obeyed a vision. In the picture, the saint stands in the center of a group made up of Saint John, Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, and Mary Magdalene. She holds carelessly in her hands an organ from which the reeds are slipping. What charms can even her favorite instrument have for her when streams of heaven's own music are reaching her from the angel choir above? Every line of face and figure shows her apt attention to the celestial singers. The instruments of earthly music lie scattered carelessly about. While our attention is held most of all by the figure of Saint Cecilia, the other persons represented interest us too, especially Saint Paul leaning on his naked sword. His massive head and furrowed brow show man at his noblest occupation, thinking. In delightful contrast is the ever-beautiful Saint John, the embodiment of youth and love. When the picture was completed Raphael sent it to his old friend Francia, the artist of Bologna. It is related that Francia, on seeing the wonderful perfection of the picture, died of despair, feeling how poorly he could paint as compared with Raphael. Whether this story be true or not, it is certain that the people of Bologna were much excited over the arrival of the picture and gloried in possessing the vision of Saint Cecilia. The picture is still to be seen in Bologna, where it retains its brilliant coloring slightly mellowed by the passing years. The Sistine Chapel was the most beautiful apartment in the Vatican. Its walls were covered with the choices frescoes. Its ceiling, done by the wonder-working hand of Michelangelo, was a marvel. To add still more to the beauty of this chapel, Leo ordered Raphael to draw cartoons for ten tapestries to be hung below the lowest tier of paintings. Now, you know that cartoons are the large paper drawings made previous to frescoes and tapestries to serve as patterns. Raphael selected ten subjects from the Acts of the Apostles. His designs were accepted and sent to Arras in Flanders, where the most beautiful tapestries were manufactured. The cartoons were cut into strips that they might be more conveniently used. In 1518 the tapestries, woven of silk, wool, and gold, were hung where they were greatly admired. In 1527 Rome was sacked by savage soldiers and many of her choices things carried away. Among them were these tapestries. They were sold and then re-stolen by Jews who thought to separate the gold by burning them. They tried this with one and found that the quantity of gold was so small that it was not worth the trouble, and so the others were spared and sold to a merchant of Genoa. They were finally sold and are now in the Vatican. Meanwhile the cartoons were forgotten and three of them lost. The Flemish artist Rubens came across those remaining, however, and recommended Charles I of England to purchase them for his palace at Whitehall. Later Cromwell bought them for the nation and today we may see them pasted together and carefully mounted in South Kensington Museum, London. The miraculous draft of Fishes is one of the best known of the art of the year. The art is more bold and strong in drawing and several are very beautiful as Paul and John at the beautiful gate. One critic in speaking of the cartoons says they mark the climax of Raphael's art. We must not forget that all these years while Raphael was making these wonderful cartoons and pictures the work on the rooms of the Vatican was going steadily forward. He certainly was a busy man. Raphael a sedia, so called because the mother sits in a chair. A delightful story is told of the painting of this picture. It runs something like this. Many years ago there lived in a quiet valley in Italy a hermit who was greatly loved by all the people round about, for he taught them and he helped them in sickness and in trouble. His hut was near a giant oak tree that sheltered him from the sun of summer and the biting winds of winter. In the constant time he seemed to converse with him and so he said he had two intimate friends, one that could talk and one that was mute. By the one that could talk he meant the vine-dresser's daughter who lived nearby and who was very kind to him. By the mute one he meant this sheltering oak. Now one winter a great storm arose and when the hermit saw that his hut was unsafe his mute friends seemed to beckon to him to come up among the branches. To the tree where, with hundreds of bird companions, his life was saved though his hut was destroyed. Just as he thought he should die of hunger, Mary, the vine-dresser's daughter, came to see her old friend and took him to her home. Then the pious hermit, Bernardo, prayed that his two friends might be glorified together in some way. Time wore on. The hermit died, the oak tree was cut down and converted into wine casks and the lovely Mary married and was the mother of two boys. One day she sat with her children a young man passed by. His eyes were restless and one might have known him for a poet or a painter in whose mind a celestial vision was floating. Suddenly he saw the young mother and her two children. The painter, for it was Raphael, now beheld his vision made flesh and blood, but he had only a pencil. On what could he draw the beautiful group? He seized the clean cover of a wine glass nearby and drew upon it the lines to guide him in his painting. He went home and filled out his sketch in loveliest color and ever since the world has been his debtor for giving it his heavenly vision. So the hermit's prayer was answered. His two friends were glorified together. Other honors, besides those coming from his paintings, were showered upon Raphael at this time. He was now rich and the cardinal Bibiana offered him his wife Maria in marriage. It was considered a great thing in those times to be allied by marriage to a church dignitary, but Raphael had higher honors, and so while he accepted the offer rather than offend the cardinal, he put off the wedding until Maria died. His heart was not in this contract because for years he had loved a humble but beautiful girl, Margarita, who was probably the model of some of his sweetest Madonna's. Speaking of the honors thrust upon him, I must not forget that the Pope made him architect in chief of St. Peter's on the death of Bramante. He was also appointed to make drawings of the ancient city of Rome in order that the digging for buried remains might be carried on more intelligently. In every Madonna we have described we have had to use freely the words lovely, great, beautiful, but one that remains which, more than any other, merits all these titles and others in addition. In the last picture painted holy by Raphael's hand it was painted originally as a banner for the monks of St. Sixtus at Piazzenza, but it was used as an altar piece. In 1754 the Elector of Saxony bought it for forty thousand dollars and it was bought to Dresden with great pomp. People who know about pictures generally agree that this is the greatest picture in the world. Let us see some of the things which it contains. No one can ever tell you all, for as the years increase and your lives are enlarged by joy and sorrow, you will ever see more and more in this divine picture and feel more than you see. Two green curtains are drawn aside and there, floating on the clouds, is the virgin full length presenting the holy child to the world. It is far more than a mother and a child, for one sees in the Madonna a look suggesting that she sees vaguely the darkness of cavalry and the glory of the resurrection. This is no ordinary child, either, that she holds, for he sees beyond this world into eternity and that his is no common destiny. At least one feels these things as we gaze at the lovely apparition on its background of clouds and innumerable angel heads. Since Sixtus on one side would know more of this mystery, while St. Barbara on the other is dazzled by the vision of her lovely face. Below are the two cherubs, the final touch of love, as it were, to this marvelous picture. It is said that the picture was completed at first without these cherubs and that they were afterwards added when Raphael found two little boys resting their arms on a balustrade, gazing intently up at his picture. This painting has a room to itself in the Dresden gallery, where the most frivolous forget to chat and the thoughtful sit for hours of meditation under its magic spell. One man says, I could spend an hour every day for years looking at this picture and on the last day of the last year discover some new beauty and a new joy. There was now great division of opinion in Rome as to whether Angelo or Raphael were the greater painter. Cardinal de Medici ordered two pictures for the Cathedral of Narbonne in France, one by Raphael and one by Sebastian Piambo, a favorite pupil of Angelo's. People knew that Angelo would never openly compete with Raphael, but they also felt sure that he would assist his pupil. The subject chosen by Raphael was the transfiguration, but suddenly even before this latest commission was completed that magic hand had been stopped by death. The picture, though finished by Raphael's pupils, is a great work. The ascending lord is the point of greatest interest in the upper part, while the father with his demonic child holds our attention in the lower or terrestrial portion. At his funeral this unfinished picture hung above the dead painter, and his sorrowing friends must have felt, as long fellow wrote of Hawthorne when he lay dead with an unfinished story on his beer, ah, who shall lift that wand of magic power and the lost clue regain? The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower unfinished must remain. Raphael died suddenly on his birthday in fifteen twenty from a fever contracted while searching for remains among the ruins of Rome. He realized from the first that his sickness was fatal, and he immediately set about disposing of his property. His works of art he gave to his pupils, his palace to Cardinal Bibiana, and his other property was distributed among his relatives and to his sweetheart Margarita. In 1833 some scholars declared that they did not believe this to be the skull of the artist. They urged the authorities to open up the grave to prove their position. After five days of careful digging the coffin was reached, and there lay the artist's skeleton complete. For many days it was exposed to view in a glass case. A cast was made to display the remains of the deceased, and the remains of the remains of the deceased were displayed in a glass case. A cast was taken of the right hand and of the skull, and then with splendid ceremonies they buried the artist a second time. Mention has often been made of Raphael's personal beauty. Only thirty-seven when he died his seraphic beauty was never marred by age. In his palace he lived the life of a prince, and when he walked abroad he had a retinue of devoted followers. He had for friends, princes and servants. While the common people loved him for the fine spirit they knew him to be. Judged by the moral standard of his time he was absolutely spotless. Seldom and any man have all good qualities joined with a versatile genius to the extent that they did in Raphael. No wonder that his friends caused to be inscribed on his tomb these words. This is that Raphael by whom nature feared to be conquered while he lived, and to die was not. This is that Raphael. Life of Raphael by Belle. Life of Raphael by Sweetster. Life of Raphael by Vasari. Schools and Masters of Painting by Radcliffe. History of Art by Lubke. History of Art by Mrs. Heaton. Great Artists by Mrs. Shed. The Fine Arts by Simmons. Early Italian Painters by Mrs. Jamison. Subjects for Language Work. The Boy Raphael at Home. My Favorite Madonna. Stories of St. Francis of Assisi. What I Know of Fresco Painting. Looking for buried treasures in Rome. A Day in the Roman Forum. A Day with the Boy Raphael. The Legend of the Madonna della Sedia. Raphael and His Friends. Raphael the Student. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 of Great Artists. Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Sharon Bautista. Great Artists. Volume 1. By Jenny Ellis Kaiser. Chapter 2. Murillo and Spanish Art. Velazquez is an Art and Eagle. Murillo is an Angel. One admires Velazquez and adores Murillo. By his canvases, we know him as if he had lived among us. He was handsome, good, and virtuous. Envy knew not where to attack him. Around his crown of glory, he bore a halo of love. He was born to paint the sky. Diemiches. Murillo could paint the sacred fervor of the devotee or the ecstasy of the religious enthusiast as well as the raggedness of the mendicant or the abject suffering of Job. Charles Blanc. Murillo and Spanish Art. Spain was not blessed as Italy was with one generation after another of artists so great that all the world knows them even at this distant day. Spain has only two unquestionably great painters that stand out as world artists. They are Velazquez and Murillo. The former painted with unrivaled skill the world of noblemen among whom he lived. The other, not surrounded by courtiers looked into his own pure religious soul and into the sky above and gave us visions of heaven, its saints, and its angels. It is impossible to study either of these men apart from the other or apart from the art records of Spain. To understand either we must know the land the rich and unique cities we must have glimpses of its history and we must know something of the rules laid down by the church to guide the painter in his work. The climate of Spain except in the south is rigorous. Elevated planes rounded by snow-capped mountains and swept during a large part of the year by chilling winds are not adapted to inspire men to produce great works of art. On such a plane they are situated and chilly indeed are its nature pictures even though they are over-arched by the bluest of skies and the most transparent of atmospheres. In Andalusia, however, things were different. Here were the olive, the orange, and the cypress and here a sunny climate encouraged the houseless beggar no less than the aspiring artist. In speaking of Spain as a home of painting the history devoted the people were to their religion for this, perhaps more than anything else, gave a peculiar character to the art of Spain. The doctrines of Luther found no willing listeners in Spain. Indeed, the Spaniards clung all the closer to the church when they knew that there were those who wished to change it and so their paintings are full of sad-faced, suffering saints and rejoicing holy men and women who gave their lives to religion. In connection with this extreme religious seal the church found it necessary to impose rules on the artists who would paint these holy personages the virgin whom all profoundly reverenced should according to tradition have fair hair and blue eyes. Her robes must be of pure white and azure blue and under no circumstances should her feet be exposed. She should stand on the crescent moon with its horns pointing downward. Many other similar rules were at that time thought necessary and they greatly limited the artists in their work. For however good a churchman a man may be, it is impossible for him to properly prescribe colors and forms for the artist who, if he has anything at all, is the seer of his age. We want such things as the artist sees them. We'll see how nearly Morio got into trouble by breaking some of these prescribed rules. If we study the kings of Spain Charles the fifth and Philips we shall see two things that greatly influence the art of Spain. First, they were fond of art and spent great sums of money in buying fine paintings by Italian and Flemish masters. Both Titian and Rubens were favorites in Spain and many of their pictures were painted expressly for Spanish monarchs. Then these rulers were vain and had a great liking for having their portraits painted. This vanity extended to the courtiers and even to the dwarfs several of whom were usually connected with the court as a source of amusement. There are portraits of some of these diminutive creatures so skillfully painted that we cannot help wishing that more worthy subjects had been used. Thus the vanity of monarchs and their courtiers gave a direction to Spanish art which can be accounted for in no other way. Their greatest artists are always great portrait painters. So we see that while genius and artists is indispensable yet is this same genius largely influenced by climate by religious enthusiasm and even by the whims of kings and queens. Although Morio stands out superlatively great and beautiful artist we must not forget that Velazquez only eighteen years his senior and like himself a native of Seville lived during the greater part of Morio's lifetime and divided honors with him. As has already been indicated Velazquez's art was of a very different sort from Morio's. He was born into a home of plenty and very soon went to Madrid as court painter. We know how he gained renown for all time by the accuracy of the portraits he painted of various members of the court of Philip IV. The king, the minister, Count Olivares, the princes, the dwarfs and the buffoons. We remember too how he thought that very ordinary personage the water carrier of Seville with his wrinkles, his joys and his beggarly customers a subject worth painting. Then we recall a goodly list of other commonplace subjects which he treated so truthfully that they will always stand among the great pictures of the world. The spinners were women labor in a dingy room, the toppers the lances representing the great surrender of Breda and the maids of honor. Nor can we forget his ideal portrait of Issape with his book under his arm. How well we know that book of fables. The rugged good-natured face, homely be holds us as by a spell and if we have not already done so we read his book because we must after looking into that dear old face. One of the loveliest things we remember of Velazquez was his kindness to Murillo when he came to Madrid a poor art student. Although Velazquez was rich and his pictures in demand he took a keen interest in the young Murillo who should one day stand beside him, they too were the great artists of Spain. By the duties of his office he was obliged to take an active part in the festivities attending the marriage of Louis XIV and the Infanta Maria Teresa in 1660. The fatigue and exposure caused his death. We are reasonable in presuming that thus was Spain robbed of 10 years of a strong artist's life and work. Incomparable loss when we think of the countrymen gained in watching a passing pageant. Spain is a land of unique cities. Perhaps this is because in so many of them the works of Christianity were grafted onto works originally built or begun by the Moors. As we study the wonderful buildings of Spain we cannot forget however much we may abhor the religion of the Arabs that they were marvelous builders and profound scholars. When the Spaniards sent from their country after they had lived there for 700 years they lost their best citizens and the most beautiful and highly cultivated part of Spain was henceforth to be comparatively desolate. On all the great section of Andalusia the most southern part of Spain the Moors left marks in buildings and in cultivation that it will take centuries yet to sweep away. Of all the cities of this division a goodly number of Spain's most important towns Seville the Pearl of Cities the birthplace of both Velasquez and Murillo appeals most strongly to everyone. Many superlative adjectives rise to our lips as we think of its whiteness of its sunny vineyard slopes its orange and olive groves its salubrious climate and its ancient associations. We think of its wondrous cathedral next in size to St. Peter's of its storied bell tower the Heralda of that fairy palace the home of generations of Moorish kings the Alcazar of the golden tower by the river's edge where Christian rulers stored their treasure and then to our vision of Seville the beautiful we add the silver Guadalquivir which divides and yet encloses the dream city of Andalusia. If we are not interested in art still must we be enthusiastic over Seville for it's bewitching little women with their lustrous eyes their glossy dark hair held by the ever present single rose. If it be entertainment we seek then Seville will furnish us the national bullfight in all its perfection. If the more refined delights of music attract us still more is this our chosen city for here is the scene of Mozart's Don Juan and Figaro of Bizet's Carmen and many are the shops that claim to have belonged to the barber of Seville. It is most pleasing to our sense of appropriateness that out of this beautiful white city of Andalusia should have come at about the same time the two greatest Spanish painters the one to give us real scenes and people the other to give us ideals of loftiest type. Here in the closing days of 1617 Murillo was born his father and mother were poor people the house they lived in had formally belonged to a convent and it was rented to them for a very small sum on condition that they would keep up the repairs even this Murillo's father found to be a heavy burden he was a mechanic and his income very small our artist's full name was Bartolome Esteban Murillo his last name seems to have come from his father's family though it was even more common in those days to take the mother's name for a surname as in the case of Velazquez we know almost nothing of his early years except that he was left an orphan before he was eleven under the guardianship of an uncle perhaps we should mention that Murillo early showed his inclination to make pictures by scribbling the margin of his school books with designs that in no wise illustrated text therein with this as a guide his guardian early apprenticed him to Juan del Castillo another uncle and an artist of some repute here he learned to mix colors to clean brushes and to draw with great accuracy when Murillo was about twenty-two Castillo moved to Cadiz down the river from Seville and the young artist was thrown wholly on his own resources life with him in those days was merely a struggle for existence he took the method very generally taken by young artists he painted for the faria or weekly market here all sorts of producers and hucksters gathered with their wares we can imagine that men of this sort were not very particular about the art objects they purchased they demanded two things bright colors and striking figures Murillo in common with other struggling artists turned out great numbers of these little bits of painted canvas some of them have been discovered in Spanish America whether they were undoubtedly taken to assist in religious teaching if there was hardship in this painting for the faria as people slightly spoke of such work there were also immense advantages as he painted he could observe the people who came to buy and the people who came to sell and may have that other numerous other buy nor sell but beg instead from this very observation of character must have come largely that skill which is so marked in his pictures of beggar boys who with a few coppers or a melon or some grapes are kings of their surroundings then the demand for striking figures cultivated a broad style in the artist which added greatly to his later work a fellow pupil of Murillo's had joined the army in Flanders when he returned he told such wonderful stories of the country and its artworks that Murillo was more than ever inspired to go abroad to Rome or to Flanders he had once said about earning a little money to assist him in the journey again he painted a great number of saints and bright landscapes or small squares of linen and sold them to eager customers thus he provided himself with scant means for the journey he placed his sister in the care of a relative and then started off a foot across the Sierras to Madrid without having told anyone of his intentions his little stock of money was soon exhausted and he arrived in Madrid exhausted and desperately lonesome he at once searched out Velazquez his townsman who was then rich and honored in the position of court painter to Philip IV Velazquez received him kindly and after some inquiry about mutual acquaintances he talked of the young painter's plans for himself Murillo spoke freely of his ambition to be a great painter and of his desire to visit Rome and Flanders Velazquez took the young painter to his own house and procured for him the privilege of copying in the great galleries of the capital and in Escorial he advised him to copy carefully the masterpieces in his own country there were pictures by Titian, van Dyck and Rubens and Murillo began the work of copying them at once when Velazquez returned after long absence he was surprised at the improvement in Murillo's work he now advised the young painter to go to Rome but he had been away from Seville for three years and he longed to be again at home in his beautiful native city during his absence he had learned much in art and in the ways of the world he had met many distinguished artists Velazquez's home the first three years after his return to Seville he busied himself with a series of pictures for a small Franciscan convent nearby although he did the work without pay the monks were loathed to give him the commission because he was an unknown artist there were eleven in the series scenes from the life of St. Francis they were admirably done and though the artist received no pay for them they did him a greater service than money could have bought they established his reputation so that he no longer wanted for such work as he desired among his earliest and best known pictures are those charming studies of the beggar boys and flower girls of Seville several of the best of these are in the gallery at Munich where they are justly prized here are some of the names he gives these pictures the Melaneters, the Gamesters the Grape Eaters the Flower Girl they are true to life the happiest, most interesting and self-sufficient set of young beggars one could well imagine notice too the beauty of the faces especially in the fruit vendors reproduced in this sketch there are other interesting things in this picture with what eagerness the day's earnings are counted there is a motherliness in the girl's face that makes us sure that she is at once the mother and sister to the boy what luscious grapes what a background unkempt like themselves but thoroughly in keeping with the rest of the picture in his works of this sort what broad sympathy he shows so broad indeed that they prove him as belonging to no particular nation but to the world from the painting of these scenes from real life he passed gradually to the painting of things purely imaginary to those visible only to his own mind a dainty picture which belongs half and half to each of these classes of pictures represents the virgin little girl sweet and quaint as she must have been standing by St. Anne's knee apparently learning a lesson from the open book both figures are beautiful in themselves and besides they present the always interesting contrast of age and youth this was one of the pictures that Well Nye brought trouble on Murillo from some zealous churchmen before they referred to they thought that the virgin was gifted with learning from her birth and never had to be taught they merely criticized the treatment of the subject however it was an innovation in church painting by this time Murillo was wealthy he had numerous commissions and in society he mingled with the best in the land he was now in a position to marry which he did in 1648 there is a story told of Murillo's marriage which one likes to repeat he was painting an altarpiece for the church in Pulas a town nearby while he was working wrapped in thoughts of his subject a lovely woman came into the church to pray from his canvas the artist's eyes wandered to the worshipper he was deeply impressed with her beauty and her devotion wanting just then an angel to complete his picture he sketched the face and the form of the unsuspecting lady by a pleasant coincidence her words made her the angel of his home his good wife the painter doubtless proved the truth of Wordsworth's beautiful lines I saw her upon near of you a spirit yet a woman too a countenance in which did meet sweet records promises as sweet a creature not too bright and good for human nature's daily food a perfect woman nobly planned to warn to comfort and command and yet a spirit still and bright with something of angelic light however this may be we know that she is often painted as the virgin in Murillo's great pictures her liquid eyes and dark hair inspired him to forget the rigid rules laid down regarding the virgin's having blue eyes and fair hair or at all events to disregard them we shall see the Mary some of his loveliest pictures with the dark hair and eyes of his countrymen three children were born into Murillo's home two boys and one girl one boy for a time practiced the art of his father but he later became a clergyman the other son came to America while the daughter devoted herself to religion and entered a convent after Murillo's marriage his house was the gathering place for the most distinguished people of Seville it was this from Murillo's early condition when he toiled at the weekly markets for bread and shelter his power and his work increased so that every new picture was an additional pledge of his greatness it was in middle life that Murillo began painting the subject that more than any other distinguished him it was to glorify a beautiful idea that Mary was as pure and spotless as her divine son it is called the doctrine of immaculate conception and so much did it appeal to Murillo that he painted it over and over again he has left us at least 20 different pictures embodying this doctrine the one most familiar is perhaps the greatest it is the one that now graces the gem room of the Lureve I so name this room foreign it within a few feet of one another our pictures by Raphael Da Vinci, Correggio, Rembrandt Veronese in short by the foremost masters of the world among all these the vision of Murillo takes an equal rank to many the idea which the picture represents is of secondary importance save perhaps as giving a reason for the name it bears but all can see the exquisite loveliness of this young woman in her blue mantle and her white robe with her feet concealed by the voluminous folds of her drapery and with the crescent moon the symbol of all things earthly in the midst of a throng of child angels hovering in the sunny air reposing on clouds or sporting among their silverly folds the apotheosis of womanhood it is as if an unseen hand had suddenly drawn aside an invisible curtain and we the children of earth were for a moment permitted to view the interior of heaven itself in this vision of a poet so masterfully painted the lover of pictures rejoices how did the lure of come by this magnificent monument of Spanish art when so much that as glorious has been kept within the boundaries of Spain we have but to turn to the wars of Napoleon and the campaigns in the Spanish peninsula when the marshals of the mighty warrior swept everything before them one of these marshals sold brought back after his victorious invasion pictures enough to enrich a czar one of these stolen treasures was the picture we are studying in 1852 the French government bought it of him for more than $120,000 there is but one mitigating thought regarding this rapin of the French and that is that many art treasures here to for virtually locked to the public were open to the world were made easily accessible from this fair vision of womanhood let us turn to another fairer still where a little child is the central figure Saint Anthony of Padua although he did not repeat this subject so often as he did the conception yet he has left us several representations of this beautiful and much adored saint in the life of Raphael we saw how great an influence was exerted on art by Saint Francis of Assisi his most devoted follower was Saint Anthony of Padua from whose lips sweet words fell like drops of honey and whose ready hands ever dispensed deeds of love any man whose life abounds and such acts must be devout such was the character of Saint Anthony and he added to this a vivid imagination many were the beautiful visions that rewarded and encouraged his deeds of mercy and kindness one of the loveliest is the one who caught from the depths of his own pure soul and held long enough to transfer it to canvas to delight the people of his own day and us of this later time who no longer see visions it is still in the cathedral of Seville for which it was painted it is merely called Saint Anthony of Padua never was a more soul thrilling vision sent to man to illumine his earthly pathway there is the kneeling saint stretching arms reaching forward to embrace the Christ child who comes sliding down through the nebulous light from among a host of joyous angels from the ecstatic look on Saint Anthony's face we know that the child of God has been drawn to earth by the prayerful love in the saint's heart we feel that the open book on the table nearby is none other than the best of all good books the vision has come to Saint Anthony on the earth for that is common daylight that streams in through the open door and those are perishable lilies in the vase there by the open book by the painting of this picture Morio gained for himself the title of the Painter of Heaven the picture has always been highly prized and even the hardships of war did not tempt the men of the cathedral to accept the Duke of Wellington's offer to literally cover the canvas with gold to be given in exchange for the precious picture the English general was obliged to keep his money and in the cathedral still we may view Morio's masterpiece treasures tempt thieves even when they are in the form of pictures in 1874 the figure of the Christ child was cut from this painting it was brought to New York where the thief in trying to dispose of it was caught the figure was returned to Seville and carefully inserted in the injured painting it may not be out of place to stop here and notice the wonderful variety of holy children that Morio has given us his Madonna's invariably hold very beautiful children not so heavenly perhaps as Raphaels and the Sistine Madonna but nevertheless children that charm us into loving them from the holy babe with all his lovely qualities let us turn to that dear little boy from his father's grave that Joseph and Mary held so tenderly by either hand in the picture of the holy family in the National Gallery in London or to those other boys the Divine Shepherd and Saint John better than all however are those beautiful children known as the children of the Shell where the little Christ offers to his playfellow John the cooling draught of a conch shell they have picked up in their play from the sky quite as much as the Jesus in the famous Saint Anthony picture among his children there are little girls too we've already noticed the virgin as a child and there is that other led by the guardian angel sure and safe along life's uncertain way even in our practical time we all have more or less faith in the guardian spirit that watches over every little child if by some miracle these children could all come to life what a joyous yet thoughtful assembly it would be difficult indeed would it be to select the one beyond all others precious no more certain proof exists of Mario's high appreciation of spiritual things of the simplicity and purity of his own life and thought then the self same throng of little children that he has given us Mario had always thought that a public academy of painting was very much needed in Seville in his youth he had greatly felt the need of such an institution finally in 1660 the year of Velazquez's death several of the artists united with Mario in starting an academy he lived only as long as its founder and never produced a great artist in 1671 our artist seemed in the very prime of his power in that year he began the wonderful series of pictures for the charity hospital of Seville it was an old institution of the city but it had been neglected until it was almost in ruins in Mario's time a wealthy and pious citizen set about restoring it for the beautifying of the restored hospital Mario was commissioned to paint 11 works they are among his very best two of them we must notice in particular Moses striking the rock hungry tending the sick in the first of these the artist shows himself in a new capacity that of illustrator nothing could better express the thirst of that vast assembly in the wilderness than his picture from a mighty towering rock the coveted water gushes forth in a generous crystal stream by its very abundance making a pool beneath all degrees of thirst are represented in man and beast from that which is not pressing to that which in its intensity makes a mother seize the cup from the babe in her arms in the St. Elizabeth we admire the composition of the work but the subject rather repels than holds us with the diadem of a queen upon her head with the delicate hands of a gentle woman and from a costly basin St. Elizabeth baves the scoreful head of a beggar her ladies in waiting turn from the loathsome object of her care while other patients await their turn in the distance is the court feast that goes unjoyously in the palace while Elizabeth the mistress of the feast serves the diseased beggars at the portal I have said that we could not stop to notice more than two of this notable series yet as I run my photographs over I cannot refrain from the mention of one other the noble and wonderfully beautiful liberation of St. Peter it is simply a magnificent angel awakening Peter who languishes in prison the suddenly aroused prisoner the broken fetters and above all that glorious angel extending a helping hand his presence making a light in that dark cell telling no uncertain accents of the power of our beloved painter thus might we go on from picture to picture and from year to year for the list ever strengthens as it lengthens two more at least should claim our attention before the sketches closed they are St. Thomas giving alms and the Madonna of the napkin the St. Thomas is rightly the companion of that other great charity picture St. Elizabeth the other represents the abnig nation of self in woman's way she gives service the other represents man's way he gives money at the portal of the church stands the pale faced spiritual St. Thomas dispensing his alms to beggars and cripples composition and drawing this is one of Murillo's greatest works we are interested to know that it was his own favorite among his pictures the Madonna of the napkin is both beautiful and curious while Murillo was painting a series of pictures for a capuchin convent of Seville the cook became very much attached to him when his work was done and he was about to leave the convent the cook begged a memento but how could he paint even a small picture with no canvas at hand the cook, bent on obtaining his wish presented him with a table napkin and begged him to use that instead of canvas with his usual good nature the artist complied and before evening he produced a beautiful virgin holding the infant Christ though done thus hastily this Madonna is one of his best in design and coloring his other Madonna's we know well the one holding a rosary and the other marked by nothing but its own surpassing grace and beauty and known simply as Murillo's Madonna according to the subject he was painting Murillo used three distinct styles of work known as the cold, the warm and the aerial the first in which the liner drawing is marked by strength the second he used in his visions while the third he reserved for his conceptions his heavenly effects so fine a colorist was he however and so indispensable a part of his art did he consider the coloring that even the pictures classed as cold are radiant with his lovely mellow colors through the greater part of Murillo's life he painted for his beautiful Seville in 1680 however he went to Cadiz to paint pictures for the Capuchins at that place he began on the largest one of the number it was to represent the marriage of St. Catherine a favorite subject of the time events prove that this was to be his last picture for while trying to reach the upper part of it he fell from the scaffolding receiving injuries from which he died two years later gradually his physical power deserted him until he did not attempt to paint at all then he spent much of his time in religious thought in the church of Santa Cruz nearby his home was a picture of the descent from the cross by Campana before this picture he spent many hours so much did he admire it one evening he remained later than usual the Angelus had sounded and the Sacristan wished to close the church he asked the painter why he lingered so long he responded I am waiting until those men have brought the body of our blessed Lord down the ladder when Murillo died he was buried according to his wish immediately under this picture he died in April 1682 his funeral was of the sort that draws all classes a beloved man and a profound genius had passed away his grave was covered with a stone slab on which were carved but few words beside his name the church was destroyed during the French wars and the Plaza of Santa Cruz occupies its place in later years a statue of bronze was erected in one of the squares of the city in honor of Murillo there it stands through all changes the very master spirit of the city if this sketch has implied anything it has emphasized over and over again the sweet and lovable character of Murillo his religious seal was great yet no one could ever justly write fanatic beside his name there was too much love in his soul for that his pictures are indisputable proof of the never dying love that permeated his life he left a great number of pictures and his habit of not signing them made it easy to impose on unwary seekers after his paintings passing by all the work the authorship of which is uncertain yet is there enough left to make us marvel at his productiveness End of Chapter 2 Recording by Sharon Bautista in Evanston, Illinois Chapter 3 of Great Artist Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Great Artist Volume 1 by Jenny Ellis Kieser Chapter 3 Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640 In our study of Raphael we had a glimpse of the golden age of art in Italy. In our work on Marilio we saw what Spain was able to produce in pictures when the whole of Europe seemed to be trying its hand at painting. Moving north we are to see in this sketch what the little country known as Belgium produced in the same lines. For this we need hardly to take more than the one name Peter Paul Rubens for he represented very completely the art of Flanders or Belgium as we call it today. If we love to read of happy, fortunate people as I'm sure we do we shall be more than pleased in learning about Rubens. You know there is an old story that by the sight of every cradle stood a good and an evil fairy who by their gifts make up the life of the little babe within. The good fairy gives him a wonderful blessing. Perhaps it is the power to write poems or paint pictures. Then the bad fairy ugly little sprite that he is adds a portion of evil. Perhaps it is envy that eats the soul like a canker. And so they alternate the good and the evil until the sum of a human life is made up and the child grows up to live out his years marked by joy and sorrow as every life must be. As we look at the men and women about us we feel often that one or the other of these fairies must have slept while distributing their gifts and so lost a turn or two in casting in the good or ill upon the babe. So happy are some lives so sorrowful are others. At Rubens cradle the evil fairy must well nigh have forgotten his task for the babe grew up one of the most fortunate of men. In order to understand as we should any great man we must always study his country and his time. No man can be great enough not to be like the nation that produced him or the time when he came into the world. For these reasons we love to study a man's time and country and indeed find it quite necessary if we would understand him a right. It is impossible to think of Rubens without initiating him with Flanders and with Antwerp, his home city. Here then is just a little about the history of this most interesting country. One of the richest possessions of Spain in the 16th century was known as the Netherlands. When the doctrines of Luther began to spread many of the Netherlanders accepted them. Philip II the terrible and gloomy king of Spain seized this opportunity to persecute them cruelly. Many of them resisted and then Philip sent his unscrupulous agent, the Duke of Alva to make the people submit. This he partially accomplished by the greatest cruelty. The northern provinces which we know as Holland declared their independence. The southern of which Flanders was the most flourishing province long so for peace and the prosperity that accompanies it that they submitted to Spain. The people then grew rich as weavers merchants and traders. Splendid cities like Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp became the seats of commerce and their artist and workmen of all sorts were known throughout Europe for their thrift and the excellence of their workmanship. We recall how Raphael's cartoons were sent to Flanders to be copied in tapestry, the finest in the world. Of all the cities dear to Flemish hearts Antwerp was perhaps the most beautiful and the most prosperous. It was situated on the river Skelte, about twenty miles from the sea. In the time of its greatness one might count almost at any time twenty-five hundred ships and boats riding at anchor in front of the city and within her walls two hundred thousand people lived in plenty. There were marble palaces, beautiful churches, a magnificent town hall, hotel and the houses of the umbil showed by their cleanliness and comfortable surroundings that enjoyment of life was restricted to no one class. This matter of religious faith however was bound to come up again and bring, as it proved, ruin upon the city. A body of people who thought it wrong to have pictures and statues of saints and of Mary and her son gathered together and for four days went from one Flemish town to another and destroyed everything of the sort to be found in the churches. Four hundred places of worship were desecrated, many of them within the city of Antwerp. Because of their zeal against the use of so-called images they were called Iconoclasts. If formally they had been punished for thinking things against the established religion of the state, what now could be expected when they had done such sacrilegious things? Again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote and again the wild alarm sound from the toxins throat. Our imagination cannot picture things so terrible as were perpetrated upon the inhabitants of Antwerp for their part in the destruction of the images. This terrible event is known in history as the Spanish Fury. Thousands of her people were killed, most of her palaces were burned and the treasure of her wealthy citizens was stolen. Property was confiscated to the Spanish government. Death and terror, theft and rapine reigned in the beautiful city of the scout. When the dead were buried the charred ruins of buildings removed and the Spanish soldier withdrawn the mist-beclouded Netherland sun shone out on a dead city which even today bears marks of the Spaniard's fury. Grass grew in what had been its busiest streets. Trade almost ceased and thousands of weavers and other artisans went to England where they could pursue their vocations unmolested. Philip was apparently satisfied with the chastisement he had inflicted. He began to restore the confiscated property to its rightful owners and to encourage the industry he had so cruelly destroyed. He even made Flanders an independent province under the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella. Although peace had returned and a degree of prosperity again prevailed, yet many other things were irretrievably gone and the people lived every day in the sight of painful reminders of their former greatness. In art, too, these low-country provinces had made much progress. There had been Hubert and Jan van Eyck who had painted with minute skill devout pictures. They had, moreover, given to the world the process of painting in oils. This discovery worked out with the extreme care natural to the Netherlanders, changed the whole character of painting and made it possible to have such colorists as Titian, Raphael, and Rubens. We must remember that the colors used in fresco painting were mixed and that they had none of the richness of oil colors. There had been other artists of note besides the van Eyck's. Hans Memling, with the spirit of a real poet, had painted his sweet visions. And today it is not for the opulent merchants who added fame and wealth to their city and their time. But for this poet painter, Memling, that we venerate the ancient and stately city of Bruges. Quentin Montsise, the brawny blacksmith, who for love of an artist's daughter became a painter, comes to our minds as a name of no mean fame in the early records of Flemish painting. The guild system, where every class of artisans was organized for protection and for the production of good work, touched even the fine arts. No man could set up for a good painter who had not served his apprenticeship and whose work was not satisfactory for the experts. When Rubens was born he came as the heir of all that had been accomplished before him. He only carried on what his predecessors had begun. But he carried it on in a matchless way so that he was able to leave to succeeding painters, not only all he had inherited but a goodly legacy besides. The legacy of a pure life, a glowing, natural, vigorous art. It seems to me that the right here is a lesson for us. May we not add our might, tiny though it be, to the ever-growing volume of truth. I like this quotation in this connection and I hope you may see its beauty too. The vases of truth are passed on from hand to hand, and the golden dust must be gathered into them, grain by grain, for the infinite shore. Rubens' birth took place in 1577, the year following the Spanish Ferry. When he was only seven, William the Silent, the savior and protector of the northern provinces, was assassinated at the insistence of Philip II. When he was eleven, the Spanish Armada, the proudest fleet that ever sailed the seas, sent to invade England and punish Queen Elizabeth, was scattered by wind and wave and dashed by wind. The Reformation was well established in England and Holland, while France, led by Henry IV, was yet uncertain whether or not to accept the new doctrines. Such were some of the pretentious events that marked the advent and early years of the greatest of Flemish painters. The family of Rubens' father had lived for years in Antwerp, but when Luther's doctrines were put forward, Jan Rubens, believed in them. For this reason he was compelled to flee from the city, and his prosperity was confiscated. He went to the little village of Siegen, in western Germany, where his illustrious son was born on June 29, 1577. His birth was on the day dedicated to the saints, Peter and Paul, and so his parents gave the child their names. After the residence of a year in England, the family removed to Cologne, where they lived for ten years, until the death of the father. Jan Rubens was a lawyer and a learned man, and he took pains that his sons should be thoroughly educated. In addition to his heretical views regarding religion, he had grievously offended William the Silent, and so was doubly exiled. His wife remained with him, and by the death of exile. This was the admirable Marie Pipling, the mother so revered by Rubens, and so deserving the respect of all who knew her. A portrait of her by her son is given in this sketch. To her he owed his handsome face, his strong physique, his shrewdness, and his love of order. Immediately after the death of her husband, Marie Pipling and her family, now consisting of her daughter, returned to Antwerp. Her property, which had been confiscated in those wild days at Antwerp, was restored to her in the general restitution with which Philip tried to compensate the citizens for their losses in the Spanish Fury. From this time Rubens was an adherent of the Catholic Church. The education of Peter Paul, which was so carefully begun by his father, was continued to teach at Antwerp. He was an apt student and soon attained the elements from which he became a very learned man. He knew seven languages, was interested and learned in science and politics. All through his life he devoted some part of each day, however busy he was with his painting to general reading. This, perhaps more than his early studies, accounts for his elegant scholarship. He determined that this son should be, like his father, a lawyer. His own taste, however, and a power to use the brush early displayed, decided otherwise. It very soon became evident that he was to be a painter, good or bad. Who could tell in those early days? In accordance with the custom of the time he was placed as a page in the house of a nobleman of Antwerp. Antwerp was intolerable, and he soon induced his mother to allow him to enter the studio of Vanderheite, a resident artist of some repute and a close follower of Italian art. He was only thirteen at this time. Here he learned to draw skillfully, and through the influence of his teacher he acquired a love of landscape art which never left him. From Vanderheite and his mild but correct art, Rubens weakness and figure work went to the studio of the erasable and forcible painter Van Nort, about whom critics have delighted to tell stories of brutality. However true these may be, Rubens stayed with him for years, and never ceased to speak in praise of his master's work. Here he became acquainted with gardens, who used often to paint the animals in Rubens' landscapes. From Van Nort's studio the restless Rubens went to study with Van Vien, who afterwards became court painter. When the Archduke Albert and Isabella entered Antwerp in 1594, it was Van Vien who decorated the triumphal arches used on the occasion. We may judge that he did the work well, for he was shortly selected to serve the new rulers as court painter. Rubens' experience with Van Vien closed a ten years in Antwerp, and now he determined to go to Italy, where he could study the masters at first hand. As a sort of parting work, and perhaps because he wished to impress more vividly on his mind those dear, strong features of his mother, he painted that portrait of her, which we so much admire, both for its subject and its art. This image of his mother was an effectual charm to carry with him in his travels. To save him, perhaps, from some of the stumbling places into which a handsome young man away from home might wander. In May of 1600, after making all-needful preparation, our artist set out on his journey. It was natural that he should direct his steps first to Venice. Titian had but recently completed his productive life of nearly a century, his misty atmosphere, his intense interest in human and, above all, his glowing color touched a kindred cord in Ruben's nature. Then there were Tintoretto and Varanasi, almost as interesting to our painter. The Duke of Mantua, a most liberal and discerning patron of art, was in Venice when Rubens reached that city. One of the Duke's suit happened to be in the house with Rubens. He took notice of the painter's courtly bearing, his fine physique, and his ability to paint and introduced him to the Duke. Never did our painter's handsome face and fine presence so quickly win a patron. He was at once attached to the Duke's court and began copying for him the masterpieces of Italy. The pictures of Titian, Correggio, Varanasi, leading all others. He also studied carefully the work of Giulio Romano, Raphael's famous pupil. He accompanied the Duke to Milan where he copied Leonardo's great picture, the Last Supper, besides doing some original work. The Duke had observed Rubens' courtly manner and his keen mind. He decided that the painter was just the person to send in charge of some presence to the king of Spain, whose favor he was anxious to gain. The gifts were made up of fine horses, beautiful pictures, rare jewels, and vases. Early in 1603 the painter set out with his calvocade, and after a stormy journey of about three months they reached the court of Spain. He was cordially received and the gifts were delivered, although the pictures had been somewhat damaged by the rains, which marked the last days of their trip. He was asked to paint several portraits of imminent personages of the court, and he complied graciously. He returned to Italy after somewhat more than a year's absence. For some time he remained at Mantua to paint an altarpiece for the chapel, where the Duke's mother was buried. Later he went to Rome, where he studied carefully the works of Michael Angelo. In turn he visited all the great art cities of Italy except Naples. He stopped for some time at Florence, Bologna, and Genoa. At the last place he received so many orders for his work that he could not attend to them all. Everywhere he went the fame of the Fleming, as he was called in Italy, had gone before him. In many of the cities he made lengthy sojourns, copying the masterpieces that pleased him, and painting originals highly prized today in the galleries of Italy. He had been in Italy eight years, when one day from over the Alps came a courtier in hot haste bearing to Rubens that sad news that his mother lay at home very ill. Not even waiting for permission from his patron, the Duke, Rubens started north with a heavy heart, for he felt sure that he should never see his mother again. Although he rode with all haste, as he neared his home city of Antwerp, he received the sad tidings he had so much dreaded. Marie Pipling had died nine days before he left Italy. As was the custom in his country he secluded himself for four months in a convent attached to the church where his mother was buried. The profound sorrow for his mother, and the sudden change from the life he had so recently led, made him melancholy. He longed for the skies, the pictures, and the society of Italy. When he came forth from his retirement his countrymen could not bear the thought of their now illustrious artist returning to Italy. They wanted him among them to glorify with his splendid brush the now city of the Skelte. The rulers of the city, Albert and Isabella, made him court painter and gave him a good salary. He accepted the office on condition that he should not have to live at the court. It was with some regret that he gave up returning to Italy, but the natural ties that bound him to Antwerp were stronger. He hoped that he might yet one day visit Italy. This part of his life plan, however, he never carried out. He was now thirty-two years old, respected of all men, not only for his power as a painter, but for his sterling worth as a man. He had studied carefully the best art that the world could show, and he had absorbed into his own characteristic style what was best for him. His style of painting was now definitely formed. His fame as a painter was established from the Mediterranean to the Mediterranean. He was overwhelmed with orders for his pictures so that he had plenty of money at his command. He had the confidence of princes and was attached to one of the richest courts of Europe. A crowd of anxious art students awaited the choice privilege of entering his studio when he should open one. It would seem that there was little left for this man to desire in earthly things. The two he lacked a good wife and a happy home, both destined to live always on the canvases of this most fortunate of painters. In sixteen-ten he married the lovely and beautiful Isabella Brandt, the daughter of the secretary of Antwerp. Happy indeed were the fifteen years of their life together, and often do we find the wife and their two boys painted by the gifted husband and father. We reproduced a picture of the two boys. He bought a house on Meersquare, one of the noted locations in Antwerp. He remodeled it at great expense in the style of the Italians. In changing the house he took care that there should be a choice place to keep and display his already fine collection of pictures, statues, cameos, agates, and jewels. For this purpose he made a circular room lighted from above, covered by a dome somewhat similar to the Pantheon at Rome. This room connected the two main parts of the house, and was, with its precious contents, a constant joy to Rubens and his friends. The master of this palace, for such it certainly was, lived a frugal and abstemious life, a most remarkable thing in an age of great extravagance in eating and drinking. Here is the record of one of his days in summer. At four o'clock he arose, and for a short time gave himself up to religious exercises. After a simple breakfast he began painting. While he painted he had someone read to him from some classical writer, and if his work was not too laborious he received visitors and talked to them while he painted. He stopped work an hour before dinner and devoted himself to conversation or to examining some newly acquired treasure in his collection. At dinner he ate sparingly of the simplest things and drank little wine. In the afternoon he again began his work at his easel, which he continued until evening. After an hour or so on a spirited and elucian horse, of which he was always passionately fond, and of which he always had one or more fine specimens in his stables, he spent the remainder of the evening conversing with friends. A varied assembly of visitors loitered in this citable home. There were scholars, politicians, old friends, perhaps former fellow pupils in Antwerp studios. Occasionally the princess Isabella came among the others and Albert himself felt honored to stand as Godfather to Ruben's son. Surely the wicked fairy did forget some of the evil he was to have mixed with his life. It was in connection with the building of this house that the best known of the greatest work of Rubens was painted. The descent from the cross, now in Antwerp Cathedral. It is said that in excavating for the foundation to some of the new parts of Ruben's house the workmen unintentionally trespassed on some adjoining ground belonging to the gunsmith's guild. In settlement for this Rubens was requested to paint a picture of St. Christopher, the Christ-bearer, as they called him. Rubens complied with the request and painted what to us today would seem a very strange picture. A triptych. That is, a middle panel over which two narrow side panels, hinged to the middle one, could be closed. He interpreted the request of the guild rather strangely too. He thought it would please them to represent in the several spaces of the triptych all who had ever carried Christ in their arms. In the middle panel we have the men removing the dead Christ from the cross, with the three marys below. One of whom, the Magdalen is, perhaps the most beautiful woman Ruben's ever painted. The light is wonderful, coming as it does from the great white cloth in which they would wrap our lord. The form of the dead Christ in its difficult position is a piece of masterly drawing. This panel is, of course, the principal part of the altar piece. On one side of this was painted the virgin visiting St. Anne, and on the other we have the aged St. Simeon presenting the Christ child in the temple. If we close these side panels over the middle one, we find a space as large as the center panel. On this Ruben's painted St. Christopher with the child and accompanied by a hermit carrying his lantern. Surely it was a good-natured artist and a glowing and generous soul who painted so much in response to a quest for a St. Christopher. There were, however, trials for this fortunate man. There were those who were jealous of his fame and who said unkind things of him. In answer to their jealousies he only said, Do well, and you will make others envious, do better, and you will master them. He was called away from the home he loved so well, when the truce under which Antwerp somewhat of her former greatness was about to expire, Rubens was sent to Spain to renew it. He had hardly returned to Antwerp before Marie de Medici, the wife of Henry IV of France, the Henry of Navarre of historic fame, sent for the artist to adorn her palace of the Luxembourg in Paris. He was to paint twenty-one pictures for this purpose. They were to describe the life of the queen. We give one of the series. He accomplished this entire work in glowing allegorical fashion in which mythological and historical personages are sadly confused at times. If there was occasionally this confusion there were also present the artist's strongest characteristics as a painter, rich color and vigorous human action. While in Paris he became intimately acquainted with the Duke of Buckingham, the favorite of Charles I of England. This nobleman visited Rubens at his home in Antwerp and he was so pleased with the artist's collection that he offered him ten thousand pounds sterling for it complete. Rubens hesitated for in the collection there were nineteen pictures by Titian, thirteen by Veronese, three by Leonardo and three by Raphael, besides many of his own best works. The artist, however, was always thrifty and he felt he could soon gather another collection so he accepted the offer. In 1626 his lovely wife died. He mourned her deeply saying she had none of the faults of her sex. To beguile his time he accepted another diplomatic mission to Spain. This time he was to secure a strong ally for Spain against the powerful Richelot who then held France in his hand as it were. Incidentally he painted much while at Madrid. Among other work he copied the Titians, which were likely to be taken out of the country at the marriage of the Infanta. At this time, too, he undoubtedly met Velazquez, the able and high-sold court painter of Philip IV. This was certainly one of the most notable meetings in the history of artists. It was while at the court of Madrid at this time that Jean of Bruganza, afterward king of Portugal, invited the artist to visit him at his hunting lodge, and Ruben set out with several of his followers, as was usual with travelers of note in those days. Before he reached the lodge, Jean, hearing of so many attendants and dismayed at the expense of entertaining them, departed suddenly for Lisbon. He wrote Ruben's a courteous letter telling him that state business detained him and begged him to accept some money to defray the expenses incurred on the journey. Ruben's replied in light courteous manner and returned the money, saying that they had brought twenty times the amount with which to pay their expenses. An interesting story is related of their return. Overtaken by a dark night in the open country, they took shelter in a monastery. The next morning, Ruben's, with an eye always quick to see rare and interesting things, scanned the place carefully, and found something which might interest him. He was about to give up the search as hopeless when he discovered in a dark corner a grand picture. It represented, in more than mortal fashion, the beautiful things that a dead young man, painted in the foreground, had renounced. Ruben's called the prior to him and begged to know the name of the artist of so masterly a work. The prior, an old, bowed man, refused, saying, he died to the world long ago. I cannot disclose his name. Then the artist said, it is Peter Paul Ruben's who begs to know. The prior started, for even in the remoteness of the isolated monastery the frame of the name had gone, and fell in a dead faint at the artist's feet. The attendants lifted the prior gently, but he had ceased to live. Through the ashy pallor they saw the features of the young man in the picture yonder. They instinctively turned to look that they might more carefully compare the faces, and lo, like some cloud vision the picture had disappeared. Then they knew that the dead monk there had painted the canvas from the depth of his own experience. From Madrid Ruben's was sent to England in the interest of Spain. Here he was most kindly received by Charles I, and presented him with his own jeweled sword and a diamond ring. He also gave him a hatband set with precious stones which was valued at two thousand pounds sterling. From London he went to Cambridge where the ancient university conferred on him its highest degree. In London he painted almost constantly. Among other commissions he was given that of decorating the dining room in Whitehall Palace with nine pictures presenting the life of James I. To make the person or events of this king's life attractive must have been an immense task even for so suprema genius as Ruben's. As he sat painting one day a courtier entered and exclaimed ah, the Majesty's ambassador occasionally amuses himself with painting. On the contrary responded Ruben's who was always proud of his art. The painter occasionally amuses himself with painting to be a courtier. The influence of Ruben's visit to London must be counted rather as artistic than political. It really was the beginning of that desire for collecting pictures and other things of the sort which has ever since distinguished the English nobility. On the continent the price of pictures rose on account of England's demand. For Charles I Ruben's bought the entire collection of the Duke of Mantua and he knew so well. Ruben's was tired of the almost fruitless mission at various courts and was glad to give up the business of an ambassador and return to Antwerp and to the life of a private gentleman. We must not forget that all these years Ruben's was painting a great number of pictures in his ripest style. There was hardly a class of subjects or size of canvas which he could not skillfully use. Although he always maintained his best work on large surfaces. There were religious pictures of Madonna's and Saints all crowded with numerous figures and filled with vigorous human action. There were portraits such as those of his wives, of Elizabeth of France or the girl with a straw hat, which raked among the best of the world. There were wonderful animal pictures, hunting scenes, the excitement of which even today makes the cheek glow. There were historical scenes mingled with allegory. There were most beautiful children whose fat and agile bodies and whose laughing faces make us want to hug them. There were enchanting angels and there were huge fawns and satires. There were placid landscapes where, it may be, the artist's soul teaming with the life of all time took its rest and recreation sporting with the nymphs of the woodland streams and the plants of the trees. In 1630, at the age of 53, he married his second life, Helen Formont, only sixteen years old. Like his first wife, she was very beautiful as his numerous portraits indicate. Five children came to them and the felicity of his early years with Isabella Brandt continued with his second life. The health of our painter gradually gave way. For many years he had suffered intensely from repeated attacks of gout. As he aged, these became more and more frequent and severe. Often the disease working in his fingers kept him from painting. The death of St. Peter was painted for Cologne Cathedral in 1635. It seems as if in his last years his heart turned affectionately to the city of his boyhood home and he would thus commemorate it. Another picture belongs to these last years. It was a family picture which he called St. George. It represented four generations of the painter's family and included both his first and his second wife. He himself figured as the saint, clad in shining armor and triumphant over his late enemy, the deadly dragon. Rubens was too great to be conceded, but he stood at the end of his life. If ever a man had conquered the dragon of disappointment that lies crouching at the door of every life, Rubens had. He did well to represent himself as St. George. In both of these last pictures the painter shows at his very strongest. He died May 30, 1640 and was buried in the church beside his mother and his first wife. All the city attended his funeral in the capacities they mourned their illustrious citizen as an artist, as a diplomat and scholar, and as a man of noble character. Two years after his death the picture St. George was hung above his tomb where it is found today. He left Great Wealth which was largely represented by his collection of pictures and jewels. There were 319 paintings, but the collection sold for what would be in our money about half a million dollars. This is a large sum at any time but in Rubens' day it was well nigh fabulous. Rubens has left us more than 1500 pictures bearing his name. That any man could leave so many can be accounted for only by reckoning many of them as largely executed by his pupils. He used to make small sketches in color and hand them over enlargement. He was always at hand to make corrections and at the end to give the finishing touches. He used to charge for his pictures according to the time he used in painting them and he valued his time at $50 a day. He shows none of the mystical visionary feeling of the Spaniards even in his religious pictures. He was too much in love with life for that and so sometimes we are offended by stout Flemish saints and Madonna's too healthy to accord with our notions of their abstemious lives. In his pictures there is spirited action, almost excess of life and rich unfading color in which the reds largely prevail. His lights are fine but the deep expressive shadows that made Rembrandt famous are entirely lacking. The softly flowing way in which the color leaves his brush is perhaps the most part of his art. On this account someone has said who evidently had great reverence for both Velasquez and Rubens that we will see another Velasquez before another Rubens. Considering the qualities of his art, the number of his pictures, his scholarship, his eminence as a diplomat and his pure and honorable life we must place Rubens among the very greatest men who ever wielded a brush. Quotations about Rubens Rubens was par excellence, the painter of the group that included the heroes of the Dutch Republic and like many of his contemporaries what's excelling in his own line he was, in other respects also, a great man in a time of and among great men. Charles W. Kett I cannot sufficiently admire his personal appearance nor praise his uprightness, his virtue, his erudition and wonderful knowledge of antiquities, his skill and celerity of pencil and the charm of his manner. His eye is the most marvelous prism that has ever been given us of the light and color of objects of true and magnificent ideas. Subjects for language work 1. A day in Rubens studio 2. An evening with Rubens 3. Rubens at the monastery 4. A day with Rubens in London 5. Rubens as a diplomat 6. Antwerp the home city of Rubens 7. Rubens and his friends 8. The women Rubens loved 9. My favorite picture by Rubens 10. The Masters of Rubens End of Chapter 3