AN ENGLISH FRIEND OF RDBENS.* DUDLEY CARLETON, afterwards Lord Carleton
of Imbercourt and Viscount Dorchester, is a well-known figure in the diplo- matic history of the seventeenth century. His introduction to public life was unfortunate, for he was accidentally connected with the arrangements of the Gnnpowder Plot conspirators, of whose designs he was ignorant. Salisbury was convinced of his innocence, and in 1610, as the successor of Sir Henry Wotton in the English Embassy at Venice, he commenced a career which has been described as that of the most sagacious and successful diplomatist of his time in Europe. The author of the present volume holds strong views about the quarrel. between Venice and the Papacy in the beginning of the seven- teenth century, and introduces into his pages an attack upon Sir Henry Wotton'a diplomatic methods which seems to us somewhat unnecessary, as the affair had been settled three years before Carleton's arrival. The real interest of Carleton's five years in Venice, from the point of view of this book, is that they gave him his interest in art, and he purchased for his English patrons, Somerset and Rockingham, important Italian pictures. From Venice he was sent to the Hague, where he remained, with one year's interval, from 1616 to 1628. At the Hague his love of art was as great a possession as it had been at Venice, and he became the friend and corre- spondent of Rubens. Their letters give us much information about Rubene's methods and about particular pictures. We can quote from this book only one of many passages which relate to famous paintings. Ruben tells Carleton that he is sending him a picture
"It is a subject as it were neither sacred nor profane; namely, Sarah in the act of scolding Hagar, who, pregnant, is leaving the house In a feminine and graceful manner, with the assistance of the Patriarch Abraham. . . , I have engaged, as is my custom, a very skilfnl man in his pursuit, to finish the landscapes, solely to augment the enjoyment of Your Excellency."
On the other hand, the picture of "Daniel in the Den of Lions," which Carleton gave to Charles I., and which was afterwards at Hamilton Palace, is, says Rubens, "the whole by my hand."
This correspondence is the most interesting part of the book, even if it reveals little that is quite new; but the author, • Policy and Paint; or, Solna 15,16,111.i"; Aives of pulley careen. ..a Peer Nowise m955, ae. London' Pant Habana. By 1,1114./Ittlr Of •
having "conducted Dudley Carleton through diplomacy to paint," also "removes Rubens from paint to diplomacy," and tells of the employment of. the painter by the Archduchess Isabella in the interests of "the return of the 'United Pro- vinces to the Spanish allegiance and goodwill between Spain and England." When we return to Carleton, we find ourselves deep in the problems of the beginnings of the Thirty Years' War, and then in those of the early years of the reign of Charles I. Carleton was an eyewitness of the assassination of Buckingham, and wrote a well-known account of it to the Queen of Bohemia. "In his staggering," he says, in describ- ing the effect of Felton's blow, "he turned about, using only this word Villain!' and never spoke more; but presently plucking out the knife from himself before he fell to the ground, he made towards the traitor two or three paces and then fell against a table." Felton escaped, but gave himself up, saying : " I am the man, here I am," and Carleton with difficulty prevented him from being despatched on the spot. From murder we pass again to painting, to learn about Carleton's purchases for Charles I., and again we find Rubens, not yet released from his unwelcome tasks, receiving an honorary degree at Cambridge and being welcomed by the King. While in England he painted and presented to Charles I. the great allegorical picture on the homers of war and the blessings of peace—." a picture destined to go to Italy at the breaking up of Charles's splendid collection, to be purchased for £1,100 from the Doria family, to return to England and be offered to the nation, to be refused on its behalf by Pitt, and to be purchased by the first Duke of Sutherland and gene- rously presented by him to our National Gallery." Carleton holds a great place in the history of art in England as well as in the history of our foreign policy, and it is remarkable that no biography of him has been written. We have said enough to indicate the interest of this pleasant and discursive book.
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