DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0084
40
THE QUEEN’S GALLERY.
the list of his effects left at his death, this picture is
No. 168, and called “Pythagoras, with fruit by Snyders.”
When his collection was sold after his death by his widow,
“ Madame la Douairiere Rubens,” (as Michel politely styles
her,) the Emperor, the King of Spain, the King of Poland,
the Cardinal de Richelieu, and other great personages, sent
agents to Antwerp, to make purchases ; and apparently
the Pythagoras was bought for the King of Spain, for we
next hear of it in the Palacio Nuevo, at Madrid, where
Madame de Humboldt saw it, and mentions it in her
notes, with strong expressions of admiration, particularly
of the fine painting in the women introduced.* It is easy
to imagine how it came into the possession of its next
possessor, Joseph Buonaparte, when he was king of Spain.
I am informed that he presented it to his physican, Dr.
Stokoe, after his recovery from a dangerous illness, and
that this gentleman brought it to England about 1838. It
was exhibited in the British Gallery in 1839, and excited
great admiration ; but the large size unfitting it for any
private collection, made it difficult to find a purchaser,
until her Majesty, in 1841, was pleased to add it to her col-
lection, and to place it where it can be seen to the greatest
possible advantage, though its most appropriate situation,
considering the subject, would be the upper end of a spa-
cious banqueting-room.
C. 8 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 2 in. (JSmith’s Cat. 492, under the title of
Numa Pompilius.)
96 A Landscape—called the Farm of Lacken (in French, 2
la Prairie de Lacken.^) A hilly landscape, diversified with
clusters of trees, a pool of water, cattle, and figures; a
church is seen on a hill in the distance. “ This picture,” says
Dr. Waagen, “transports us in fancy to the fertile fields of
Brabant, in the neighbourhood of Brussels. The fresh green
of the trees, the dewy verdure of the rich meadows, glisten
in the sunbeams; among the figures in the foreground, two
peasant girls, one of whom is carrying a basket of fruit on
her head, are particularly attractive. No landscape by
Vide Dr. Waagen’s Essay on tire Life and Genius of Rubens.
THE QUEEN’S GALLERY.
the list of his effects left at his death, this picture is
No. 168, and called “Pythagoras, with fruit by Snyders.”
When his collection was sold after his death by his widow,
“ Madame la Douairiere Rubens,” (as Michel politely styles
her,) the Emperor, the King of Spain, the King of Poland,
the Cardinal de Richelieu, and other great personages, sent
agents to Antwerp, to make purchases ; and apparently
the Pythagoras was bought for the King of Spain, for we
next hear of it in the Palacio Nuevo, at Madrid, where
Madame de Humboldt saw it, and mentions it in her
notes, with strong expressions of admiration, particularly
of the fine painting in the women introduced.* It is easy
to imagine how it came into the possession of its next
possessor, Joseph Buonaparte, when he was king of Spain.
I am informed that he presented it to his physican, Dr.
Stokoe, after his recovery from a dangerous illness, and
that this gentleman brought it to England about 1838. It
was exhibited in the British Gallery in 1839, and excited
great admiration ; but the large size unfitting it for any
private collection, made it difficult to find a purchaser,
until her Majesty, in 1841, was pleased to add it to her col-
lection, and to place it where it can be seen to the greatest
possible advantage, though its most appropriate situation,
considering the subject, would be the upper end of a spa-
cious banqueting-room.
C. 8 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 2 in. (JSmith’s Cat. 492, under the title of
Numa Pompilius.)
96 A Landscape—called the Farm of Lacken (in French, 2
la Prairie de Lacken.^) A hilly landscape, diversified with
clusters of trees, a pool of water, cattle, and figures; a
church is seen on a hill in the distance. “ This picture,” says
Dr. Waagen, “transports us in fancy to the fertile fields of
Brabant, in the neighbourhood of Brussels. The fresh green
of the trees, the dewy verdure of the rich meadows, glisten
in the sunbeams; among the figures in the foreground, two
peasant girls, one of whom is carrying a basket of fruit on
her head, are particularly attractive. No landscape by
Vide Dr. Waagen’s Essay on tire Life and Genius of Rubens.