Art
• [Fr.Enusti Ater AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.] LOANS from five foreign governments, many churches, and private owners (American and English especially), have resulted in a triumphant expression of the art of Flanders. We know from the rehanging of our National Galleries since the War how stimulating can be a rearrangement of even well-known pictures, and one of the many interests at the Royal Academy is to study under fresh conditions world famous examples one had never expected to see outside their Shrines at Bruges, or Antwerp, or Louvain. Nor could there be a more appropriate place for their assemblage than in England, Whose own Masters in painting are the nearest rela- tives of the great Flemish School. Resemblances in the arts of stained glass and painting in mediaeval times (the Eton wall paintings and No. 1 in this Exhibition are examples), the prevalence of Flemish painters at our Tudor Courts, the reign of Van Dyck over our later portraiture, the influence of Rubens on the landscapes of Gainsborough, Turner and Constable, are striking instances which carry us to the nine- teenth century, while the early work of Millais and Holman Hunt might be called pre-Rubensian more properly than pre- Raphaelite. The likeness lies in a habit of mind, interested in human characteristics and in detailed description of material qualities rather than in formal design, as well as in a tendency towards warm and glowing colour.
The comparative lack of flowing, rhythmic design in Flemish Art in the period before Rubens causes work of the second and lower rank-S to lack the 'spirit and decorative gaiety of Italian paintings of a similar class. But in the finest examples in the fifteenth century an astonishing command of the beauties of the craft of painting and an intense curiosity regarding form and colOur are positive. qualities so absorbing that-we ask for no more : in precision of statement and brilliance of colour they are without rival.
The first room; devoted to the fourteenth century, is the most precious as the large third gallery, with its Rubens and Van Dycks, is the most sumptuous._ Sir Herbert Cook's Three Marys at the Sepulchre that rarest thing, an accepted Hubert Van Eyck, has a steady, solemn dignity Of presenta- tion ind planning with its incomparable coMbiiiiitinn Of detail
and simplicity. Even in the present state of the painting the effect of morning light is remarkable. Incomparable, too, outside this group is the freshness and delicacy of investigation in Jan's famous portrait of his wife. Students will be especially glad to see the St. Barbara, the exquisite under-painting not yet touched with colour. A delightful Nativity, by Peter Christus, lies nearest to the Van Eycks in finesse of colour and observation. In the Tournai group Robert Campin's large picture is still strikingly Gothic—a fine, compact, an- gular design. Roger van der Weyden is splendidly repre- sented : his dramatic temperament and strong draughtsman- ship are striking in the Pieta from Brussels, -and the more brilliant version lent by Lord Powis. But his portraits also show exceptional sensibility and temperament, which, together with the special decorative qualities of slim panels -of the Leonello d'Este type distinguish him among his fellows in the School. Mr. Mellon's portrait of a lady is one of the finest. The Meniline group is equally important ; the Duke of Devonshire's Triptych for the early period, and the Brussels St. Sebastian for distinction of design and atmospheric spaciousness, are works of capital importance. The Diptych front Bruges, with the Portrait of Martin van Nieuwenhoven, seems a miracle, even here, in freshness and delicate purity of colour. The Hugo Van der Goes' Death of the Virgin shows a very different and original outlook. Serenity gives place to movement and to dramatic gesture in a composition based on large sweeping curves. Hugo's more concentrated design must be found in a version of his Adam and Eve.
One can follow very fully -the development of Flemish
painting through the later centuries. The Italianized painting of the sixteenth century produced a rather dismal type of hybrid in the Antwerp blend -of this period. Yet the gradual weakening of the older tradition is clear. From the superla- tive technical beauty of Gerard David, through the hard brilliance of Mabuse, the occasional over-elaboration, in spite of his intensity, of Quentin Metsys to the tours de force of Marinus van Reymerswaele, there is already some declension in creative spirit. The very native vigour of men like Jerome Bosch, and Pieter Brueghel becomes especially striking. Bosch's St. Jerome and St. Anthony are not only unique in fantastic invention, but are full of brilliant handling and a new tonality in which browns, greys and red play a large part. No one interests young painters to-day more than Brueghel, and these will be a little disappointed that one of the great compositions of figure and landscape has not been lent by Vienna. Robbing the Nest will be their greatest recompense in the Brueghel group, with its massive figure, astonishing air and space, and fine use of paint.
The Italian influences' are justified when Rubens, in whom they seem a natural inheritance, emerges. One misses his great dramatic and decorative compositions, but portraits like those of Yrsselius, Isabella Brant and Legaiies are supreme paintings, and the Duke of Buceleuch's Landscape with Watering Place is a superb design and a great ancestor of others. Rubens seems more than- a man, rather a whole country. His precisely expressive touch is as remarkable as his breadth and freedom. Van Dyck's pictorial qualities are, of course, distinguished and unique, more attractive to many perhaps because he has not the colossal creative power of Rubens. His portraits here include some of his finest, for example : The Children of Charles I (lent by H.M. The King), the Marchese Filippo Spinola and many sumptuous colour compositions. A dramatic effect in the hanging is given by two full-length portraits by Nicholas Neuchatel, modest but distinguished silhouettes of black and flesh colour, among these sumptuous portraits de parade.
Of the nineteenth century pictures, which include a delight- ful and important group by Alfred Stevens, the drawings, sculpture and tapestries, it is impossible to speak here, but no one should require urging to visit the Exhibition for them- selves as often as possible.
HUBERT WELLINGTON.
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