DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62134#0103
GLANCE AT THE EARLY FLEMISH SCHOOL.
95
their golden grounds; years passed on in zealous labour., in
journeys made into the Netherlands in quest of pictures,
in research of all kinds : gradually the Gallery grew and
grew. Goethe, Tieck, and Schlegel entering into the
Boisserees’ enthusiasm, a universal interest was excited
throughout Germany for this early art, whose history was
yearly emerging from its obscurity—link after link reveal-
ing itself in the almost forgotten chain. And how bright
and clear are these links ! .First, these old semi-Byzantine
masters of Cologne, with their disciples, the precursors by
two centuries of Albert Diirer and his school; then the
Cologne school transplanted into the Netherlands, the
school of the Van Eycks, Hubert, John, and their sister
Margaret;—these noble, fine VanEycks, with then’ beautiful
domestic attachment, then’ wonderful industry, then’ strong
originality. John Van Eyck, the perfector, if not the
originator, of oil-painting; Margaret, the pupil and zealous
assistant of her brothers—that steadfast woman “ who,” says
an old chronicler, “ declined many offers of marriage with
noble gentlemen for love and devotion to her art.” Are
they not a noble trio ? Then we have Hans Mending, the
“ Memlino” of the Italians, whose master he was in land-
scape painting, influencing Perugino and Raphael also.
He is a beautiful vision in this art-history is Memling, with
his exquisite tenderness and refinement, and his singularly
romantic life—a mingling of the painter and the soldier.
Now he is painting his St. Johns and Madonnas; now he
is fighting for the Duke Charles of Bmgundy; now he is
lying sick and wounded in the Hospital of St. John at
Bruges; now he is painting for the good monks who have
tended him in his sickness the exquisite works which are
yet preserved in the Hospital at Bruges as its greatest
treasure.
Then we have Roger of Bruges, Hugo van der Goes, and
95
their golden grounds; years passed on in zealous labour., in
journeys made into the Netherlands in quest of pictures,
in research of all kinds : gradually the Gallery grew and
grew. Goethe, Tieck, and Schlegel entering into the
Boisserees’ enthusiasm, a universal interest was excited
throughout Germany for this early art, whose history was
yearly emerging from its obscurity—link after link reveal-
ing itself in the almost forgotten chain. And how bright
and clear are these links ! .First, these old semi-Byzantine
masters of Cologne, with their disciples, the precursors by
two centuries of Albert Diirer and his school; then the
Cologne school transplanted into the Netherlands, the
school of the Van Eycks, Hubert, John, and their sister
Margaret;—these noble, fine VanEycks, with then’ beautiful
domestic attachment, then’ wonderful industry, then’ strong
originality. John Van Eyck, the perfector, if not the
originator, of oil-painting; Margaret, the pupil and zealous
assistant of her brothers—that steadfast woman “ who,” says
an old chronicler, “ declined many offers of marriage with
noble gentlemen for love and devotion to her art.” Are
they not a noble trio ? Then we have Hans Mending, the
“ Memlino” of the Italians, whose master he was in land-
scape painting, influencing Perugino and Raphael also.
He is a beautiful vision in this art-history is Memling, with
his exquisite tenderness and refinement, and his singularly
romantic life—a mingling of the painter and the soldier.
Now he is painting his St. Johns and Madonnas; now he
is fighting for the Duke Charles of Bmgundy; now he is
lying sick and wounded in the Hospital of St. John at
Bruges; now he is painting for the good monks who have
tended him in his sickness the exquisite works which are
yet preserved in the Hospital at Bruges as its greatest
treasure.
Then we have Roger of Bruges, Hugo van der Goes, and