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New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, December 23, 1900, Image 39

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mOIUS KILUGKEW AND TH.MAS CAftBW.
(l'loni tl < Boosting BJ Van I>\ i k t
great soul; he had keen intelligence and con
tumnuite skill, but he lacked the inspired in
vrotion and the large executive power required
in the creation of, say, a grand altar piece.
lie was like a poet who, possessing culture and
art. 1-ut none of the divine fire, is incapable of
mighty conceptions and could not write a really
thrilling tragedy to save his- life. However, it
wou'd be a mistake to dwell at greater length
upon Van I>yck's limitations as a painter of
the Crucifixion or of the Madonna. We are not
even disposed to spend any argument upon Mr.
Cust's rather too amiable attitude toward the
devotional canvases and the big allegorical com
positions by his master. The portraits, as we
can never SB] too often, are the thing. To the
making of these Van Dyck brought unique
powers which were in him at his birth. There
is a charming anecdote of a visit he once paid
to Fntns Ball at Haarlem, which Mr. Oust
thus • •• bodies in his narrative:
Houbraken tells how there came into the
studio of the jovial Frans Hals a handsome
young man in silk and velvet clothes, with
plumed hat. gloves, and all the appearance of
an fl'^ant dandy and dilettante, which afforded
* gr» at central to the careless and almost slov
*er.!y habits of Hals. Th« young man bade Hals
to make a portrait of him as quick as possible,
f.^r h- had only a short time to spare there.
Within half an hour Hals had sketched in one
of tln<se marvellous sleight-of-hand portraits
for which h»» was so famous. Van Dyck. on see
ing this, said in a languid tone of voice that he
v.uuld likt- to try in return to make a portrait
(f Hals in as short a time. Hals s. tiled him
s>lf. rather amused at the situation, in a big
leather chair, and watched the young man be
p:r. As he progressed Hals saw that the paint
tr's band was not that of a tyro, and that he
was evidently no mere amateur. At last, jump
ing Cron his < hair, he rushed to the easel and.
seeing the portrait, cried out. "You are Van
Dyck. for no one else could do a thing like
thai!" Upon which th^ two painters embraced
warmli'.
It is in just such a posture as this, that, in
irr.asinati' n, we behold the famous painter.
Whether we are thinking of him in the studio
of a fellow artist, or working in moro stately
s-unnundinss as Court painter to King OharU s
of England, we think of h:m as nonchalant, per
haps a little self-satisfied, but, for all his sp
ji-aruiue of carelessness, using tli- authority of
;-••!. ;u?, the facility of a painter whose brush
move? naturally and swiftly toward precision
and perfection— when it is not aiming at too
lofty an effect. How facile he was one can
judge from the Immense amount of work that h'
managed to produce. It is true that, like Ru
bens, h<- had many helpers. He would design
a picture or. portrait, have it executed by one
cf his pupils, then work ovef it a little and send
It forth under his own name. We must deduct,
ton, from the gr«-at bulk of work commonly at
tributed to Van Dyck the copies made by his
pupils and assistants; there are, also, of course,
many paintings scattered over Europe and at
tributed to Van Dyck which he never saw. But
th^re is still left an amazing quantity of por
traits which are unmistakably from his brush;
in fact, they could have come from no other.
Mr. Cust rightly points out that the artist re
;:• 1 gn-atly on formulas, that in his portraits
you find the same pose, the same smile, the
sumo far off look in the eye. the same slender
J:u.!:d, the same arm akimbo on th hip, the
far:;e foot raised on a step, as well as the same
ever recurring studio paraphernalia, the gold
brocade, or sometimes scarlet, the curtain, the
::::ar:nary colonnade, the sharp edge Of the
window, casting the face into .i kind of
rl.houette against the light beyond, or fashioned
iTito the semblance of an overhanging rock with
a pretence of rustic simplicity." Hut with a
rr.i.n of Van Dyck's calibre even the most con-
BlaaUy used of formulas hi powerless to do any
furious harm. It does not matter that he re-
I "*te<i a pose, since in the unity of the portrait
It always takes a sufficiently subordinate place.
NEW-YoKK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED BUPPLK.M XVI .
You may notice the formula, but you do not
mind it, there is so much else to enchant the
eye; there is the fine, flowing and graceful
diaughismanship; there is the beautiful color;
there is. above all. the distinction of style.
Lord Macaulay, speaking of Van Dyck's por
trait of Strafford dictating to his secretary,
says: "The account which Thucydides has given
of the retreat from Syracuse is among narra
tives what Van Dy«k"s Lord Strafford is among
paintings" It is high praise, possibly just a lit
tle too high. Van Dyck has not. e\en in the
AHCHHISMGP LAID.
? From the painting by Van DycU.)
Strafford, the profound poignancy which we find
in the very greatest portraiture, in some of the
works of Rembrandt or Velazquez, for example.
Mr. Oust is eloquent over the numerous por
traits painted of Charles I by the artist on
whom he conferred knighthood, and there is
certainly much to be said for Van Dyck's in
terpretation of that "nolle melancholy" which
we have abundant grounds for associating with
the unhappy King. But Van Dyck did far less
Bar Charles than Velazquez did for Philip, of
that there can be no question, and it reminds
us i hat In the painting of character the Flem
ing did not reach the loftiest level. Brilliant as
he is in that portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio,
which is one of the treasures of the Pitti, he
falls short of the supreme standard set by the
"Innocent X" of Velazquez, in the Palazzo
Doria at Rome. Yet here again we must avoid
lingering over a point of criticism. It Is neces
sary to state Macaulay's eulogy with reserva
tions, yet when they have all been made the
portraits remain masterpieces. Especially
strong are they when it is not so much a ques
tion cif bringing the grave secrets of a great
sen! to the surface as of commemorating the
charm of feature and dignity of carriage which
belonged to the patricians of the painter's time.
The frontispiece to this volume is a reproduc
tion of that splendid portrait of the Marches* di
Brignole-Sala which is preserved, along with
Van Dye§J*S portrait of Paula Adorno. the wife
of th. Marchese, In the Palazzo Rosso, at Genoa.
The young man, mounted on a noble white
charger with flowing mane, is dressed in black
with a simple white collar. In one hand he
holds his plumed hat and leans slightly forward
as though saluting the spectator. Fate has not
written much on the countenance of the noble
man, there are no profundities here; but there
is character of a sort, there is the character
which comes from birth and breeding. There is,
if nothing else, "the grand manner," and all
through the work of Van Dyck it is plain that
the grand manner counted for him as something
in itself important, interesting and even im
pressive.
Take the famous portrait of Philip, Lord
Wbarton, which hangs in the Hermitage at St.
Petersburg. By this model Van Dyck was not
invited to rise to the heights which he almost,
but not quite, scaled in the portrait of Straf
ford; but his grasp is absolute so far as it goes,
and he puts before us a living individual. Van
Dyck was a courtier. He flattered the King
and his consort— the latter especially— and It Is
to be presumed that he flattered many others.
But he was no crass concealer of the truth, and
if he does not cut to the bone he does not. for
that matter, give you a mere envelope of flesh.
He made his sitters interesting, at all events.
This Is a crucial point. Van Dyck may not
shake the imagination as Velazquez shakes it,
or as Rembrandt shakes it. but he never leaves
the spectator cold. Partly this is due to his
color. Mr. Cust notes his passion for Titian.
"Titian at G<>noa, Titian at Rome. Titian at
Venice, it Is always Titian at whose feet the
young painter places himself in adoration," and
to the day he died Van Dyck remembered and
emulated the glow of the great Venetian. The
memory reverts to a portrait like that of Marten
Ryckaert, the painter, with his fur lined robe
and under garment of crimson silk, in the Prado
at Madrid, as to something warm, rich, superb
ly beautiful; the mere thought of this painting
wakes an emotion of pleasure. And so we come
back to the words we have already quoted from
Mr. Cust about Van Dyck's art being intended
to please, not to create surprise or wonder. We
go to Leonardo or to Velazquez to be awed into
silent admiration. But Van Dyck, for all his
courtly stateliness, is friendly, human, pleasing.
He paints not demigods, but men; and though
he could occasionally skirt with almost con
clusive results a theme with the potentialities
of tragedy in it. as In the case of the King or
in that of Strafford. his world is peopled by
types whom we need not take s > seriously, but
in whose purely mundane charms we can take
a quiet, natural and sensuous delight, enjoying
sheer beauty of form and splendor of color.
We say this with the original portraits in
mind, but we hasten to add that if ever an
equivalent was given for the actualities of a
painter's work by photographic reproductions,
it is given in this book. We are grateful for Mr.
Cusfs comprehensive and not too long narra
tive; we value the catalogues printed at the
back, one preserving the titles in the Grosvenor
Gallery Exhibition of ISS7, a second embracing
the works shown at Antwerp last year, a third
dealing with the Van Dyck exhibition at the
Royal Academy, and a f »urth enumerating all
of the principal paintings by the master. There
is also a copy of Van Dycks will, and there is
a satisfactory index. Furthermore, the book i*
superbly printed. Hut particularly provocative
of enthusiasm are the illustrations. We note
some regrettable omissions, but, on the whole.
these plates give an extraordinarily full repre
sentation of the painter, and they are magnifi
cently made. Year by year authoritative vol
umes on the old masters are accumulating, with
good English text and faultless illustrations.
This work on Van Dyck forms a precious addi
tion to the series, one which will remain indis
pensable to the student and a joy to every lover
of handsome books.
A SOVML TREATMENT OF A LINGUISTIC!
THEME.
SKMAMies. Studies In t»* Sci^n, c of MfanJr.«
Ciwt •&&! B « al " Translated by Mrs. Henrj
nn Vv VV}, a £ reface by J" P - locate. Octavo.
PP. lxvi, 341. Henry Holt & Co.
A distinguished French philologist has here
collected the results of some unconventional
investigations Into an unfamiliar department
of linguistic knowledge. The name Semantics.
Indeed, if rot the study to which it is ap
plied, seems to be of M. Breal's devising: as
interpreted by him, It means the science of
significations, as distinguished from phonetics,
the science of sounds. His studies take him
chiefly through the field of Greek and Latin
philology; and those who wish to gain the full
value of the book must have a knowledge, or
the remnants of a knowledge, of those tongues,
and even a little Sanscrit, not to mention
French and German, besides English. But,
since the words discussed and quoted are gen
erally translated, little is left unintelligible even
to the unlearned reader. M. Breal has the quali
ties of his race In his literary style, which is
lucid and wholly charming, setting forth the
stores of a great erudition in a way that never
ceases to be interesting.
M. Br£al is a vigorous opponent of some of the
accepted canons of philology. His position is
that intellectual laws have governed the devel
opment of language, and he combats the no
tion of an inexorable physical law behind that
development— the theory that man has counted
for nothing in it, and that the evolution has
been like the trajectory of a shell or the orbit
of a planet. Studied in this way, words take on
a new significance, becoming human records,
and leaving behind them often in their changes
of form a story of the character and circum
stances of those who used them. A will, dim
but persistent, according to M. Breal. presides
over the changes of language. It should be
represented, he says, under the form of count
less efforts, of furtive attempts, generally un
fortunate, sometimes partially successful, to at
tain to deflniteness in some specified direction.
The changes thus brought about occur under
different laws, chiefly psychological. Thus
there is specialization, by which the substitu
tion of invariable. independent expressions for
those that are variable is brought about; as
when the Latin abandoned several different
suffixes that served in the early speech to mark
the comparative and superlative degree of ad
jectives, and retained only one for each; or
when prepositions, originally adverbs, MUM into
use to denote more clearly and specifically the
general relations that were expressed by the
different cases of nouns. Differentiation is the
intentional, ordered process by which words
apparently synonymous take different mean
ings. Some Interesting examples are afforded
through the invasion of the Vlonnai Swiss dia
lect by French; in proportion as the French
word is adopted the patois word of the same
MARIA LUIGIA DI TASSIS.
(From the painting by Van Dyck.)
11
SEMANTICS.

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