DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63299#0126
i H THE PICTURE GALLERY OF CHARLES I.
and dated 1516. In the collection of Charles I. was also to be found
another picture ascribed to Mabuse—the very curious altar-piece with
The Conversion of St. Matthew, now in the Royal Collection at Bucking-
ham Palace. It is said to have formed part of the booty taken by the
Earl of Essex in his expedition against Cadiz in 1596.
The King’s collection included the two superb portraits by Joos van
Cleve—Sotto Cleve, Clef le Fol, Foolish Cleve, as he was then variously
called—of the painter himself and his wife, the same which are now
at Windsor Castle. This artist, one of the greatest Flemish painters
of the early sixteenth century, has fallen a little out of the knowledge
of our time, chiefly because his recognised pictures are so few, and
must be sought for mainly at Windsor and Munich, or in the Uffizi.
An effort has very recently been made to identify him with that
prolific and accomplished painter, but elusive artistic personality, the
Meister des Lodes der Maria, but on grounds which appear but remotely
connected with the style and technique of the still anonymous Nether-
lander who painted at Cologne in the first quarter of the sixteenth
century, and there acquired certain German characteristics.
Among the French pictures in the Collection may be mentioned the
two portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, in her white robes as widowed
Queen of France, both derived from the same original drawing by
Francois Clouet in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, the better of
which is to be identified as the picture—now at Windsor, and formerly
No. 631 at Hampton Court—known as Le Heuil blanc. A replica of
this panel is in the collection of Mr. Alfred Morrison. The finest
example of the French art of the period in England is the Eleanor of
Austria, second consort of Francis I., No. 561 at Hampton Court which
cannot at present be traced in the Royal Collection earlier than the
reign of Charles II. Unattractive as the faithful portrait of a Hapsburg
princess will inevitably be, it is of the most precious workmanship,
and has serious claims to be considered an original by Jean Clouet-
the real Janet. The picture, like many others at Hampton Court, was
until quite lately in an alarming state, threatening its very existence as
a work of art ; it has now been properly cared for, with the result that
it stands forth, one of the most remarkable portraits in the gallery.
The curious Allegorical Picture of Queen Elizabeth, which is No. 635
and dated 1516. In the collection of Charles I. was also to be found
another picture ascribed to Mabuse—the very curious altar-piece with
The Conversion of St. Matthew, now in the Royal Collection at Bucking-
ham Palace. It is said to have formed part of the booty taken by the
Earl of Essex in his expedition against Cadiz in 1596.
The King’s collection included the two superb portraits by Joos van
Cleve—Sotto Cleve, Clef le Fol, Foolish Cleve, as he was then variously
called—of the painter himself and his wife, the same which are now
at Windsor Castle. This artist, one of the greatest Flemish painters
of the early sixteenth century, has fallen a little out of the knowledge
of our time, chiefly because his recognised pictures are so few, and
must be sought for mainly at Windsor and Munich, or in the Uffizi.
An effort has very recently been made to identify him with that
prolific and accomplished painter, but elusive artistic personality, the
Meister des Lodes der Maria, but on grounds which appear but remotely
connected with the style and technique of the still anonymous Nether-
lander who painted at Cologne in the first quarter of the sixteenth
century, and there acquired certain German characteristics.
Among the French pictures in the Collection may be mentioned the
two portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, in her white robes as widowed
Queen of France, both derived from the same original drawing by
Francois Clouet in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, the better of
which is to be identified as the picture—now at Windsor, and formerly
No. 631 at Hampton Court—known as Le Heuil blanc. A replica of
this panel is in the collection of Mr. Alfred Morrison. The finest
example of the French art of the period in England is the Eleanor of
Austria, second consort of Francis I., No. 561 at Hampton Court which
cannot at present be traced in the Royal Collection earlier than the
reign of Charles II. Unattractive as the faithful portrait of a Hapsburg
princess will inevitably be, it is of the most precious workmanship,
and has serious claims to be considered an original by Jean Clouet-
the real Janet. The picture, like many others at Hampton Court, was
until quite lately in an alarming state, threatening its very existence as
a work of art ; it has now been properly cared for, with the result that
it stands forth, one of the most remarkable portraits in the gallery.
The curious Allegorical Picture of Queen Elizabeth, which is No. 635