DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0164
152
WILTON HOUSE.
Letter XXY.
carefully executed; in both respects the influence of the school of
Van Eyck is evident. Three larger pictures by the same master
in the Berlin Museum (Nos. 173, 183, and 184, third division),
from a church in the town of Soest in Westphalia, render it
probable that he lived there, in the second half of the 15th
century.
Lucas van Leyden.—Men and women assembled round a
card-table ; half-length figures. Though the rude inscription of his
name is by a later hand, this picture is, nevertheless, one of the very
rare genuine works of this master ; the heads are very truthful
and able ; the execution, in the yellowish lights and brownish
shadows characteristic of his style, is admirable. It has unfor-
tunately been somewhat injured by cleaning.
Mabuse.—A repetition of the three Children of Henry VII.,
the original of which is at Hampton Court, is so good, that it
may almost be pronounced to be a repetition by the hand of the
master himself. It is inscribed 1495.
Holbein.—1. The Father of Sir Thomas More; half-length.
A serious, dignified character is here represented with all the
simple truth of nature peculiar to Holbein. The hands are excel-
lent. From the yellowish colour of the lights and the brownish
tone of the shadows this picture may have been painted in the year
1526, soon after the artist's arrival in England, when he was chiefly
employed by Sir Thomas More.
2. AVilliam, first Earl of Pembroke; a standing whole-length
figure, the size of life. This indifferent and coarse picture is
either not the work of Holbein at all, or it has been so painted
over as to be wholly unworthy of him. How could Holbein ever
paint such miserable hands ?
3. King Edward VI., with a flower in his hand ; to the knees.
Inscribed " E. VI. R.," and " Hans Holbein, P." Though so much
damaged that no opinion can be formed of it, it seems very doubt-
ful whether it ever was an original by Holbein.
4. Lord Cromwell. A drawing in black and red chalk, which I
did not see.
Rubens.—1. The Assumption of the Virgin, surrounded by Che-
rubim, and borne aloft by nine angels. 1 ft. 1 in. high, 9-^- in. wide.
This small picture, painted for Lord Arundel, was afterwards
executed by Rubens on a large scale, for a church in Antwerp.
2. A beautiful landscape with sunset.
WILTON HOUSE.
Letter XXY.
carefully executed; in both respects the influence of the school of
Van Eyck is evident. Three larger pictures by the same master
in the Berlin Museum (Nos. 173, 183, and 184, third division),
from a church in the town of Soest in Westphalia, render it
probable that he lived there, in the second half of the 15th
century.
Lucas van Leyden.—Men and women assembled round a
card-table ; half-length figures. Though the rude inscription of his
name is by a later hand, this picture is, nevertheless, one of the very
rare genuine works of this master ; the heads are very truthful
and able ; the execution, in the yellowish lights and brownish
shadows characteristic of his style, is admirable. It has unfor-
tunately been somewhat injured by cleaning.
Mabuse.—A repetition of the three Children of Henry VII.,
the original of which is at Hampton Court, is so good, that it
may almost be pronounced to be a repetition by the hand of the
master himself. It is inscribed 1495.
Holbein.—1. The Father of Sir Thomas More; half-length.
A serious, dignified character is here represented with all the
simple truth of nature peculiar to Holbein. The hands are excel-
lent. From the yellowish colour of the lights and the brownish
tone of the shadows this picture may have been painted in the year
1526, soon after the artist's arrival in England, when he was chiefly
employed by Sir Thomas More.
2. AVilliam, first Earl of Pembroke; a standing whole-length
figure, the size of life. This indifferent and coarse picture is
either not the work of Holbein at all, or it has been so painted
over as to be wholly unworthy of him. How could Holbein ever
paint such miserable hands ?
3. King Edward VI., with a flower in his hand ; to the knees.
Inscribed " E. VI. R.," and " Hans Holbein, P." Though so much
damaged that no opinion can be formed of it, it seems very doubt-
ful whether it ever was an original by Holbein.
4. Lord Cromwell. A drawing in black and red chalk, which I
did not see.
Rubens.—1. The Assumption of the Virgin, surrounded by Che-
rubim, and borne aloft by nine angels. 1 ft. 1 in. high, 9-^- in. wide.
This small picture, painted for Lord Arundel, was afterwards
executed by Rubens on a large scale, for a church in Antwerp.
2. A beautiful landscape with sunset.