CHAPTER IX.

THE WORKS OF VAN DER WEYDEN.

VAN DER WEYDEN was less indebted to his pictures for celebrity than to the influence which his religious conceptions exercised in distant schools, and the talents which he helped to form. His name, sustained on one side by his connexion with Van Eyck, and on the other by his arteducation of Memling, was pronounced with reverence as that of a master, although his works did not always support the high and well-earned character of Flemish art. Germany must own, however, that it took from him a portion of the elements which formed the school of Dürer; for Albert, though he learnt the art from Wohlgemuth, rather fashioned his style on that of Martin Schön,' a pupil of Van der Weyden, equally harmonious in the use of colour, and possessed of greater vigour of design. Were this the only triumph of Van der Weyden, his claims to notice would be ample; but he had others. He imparted his peculiar manner not only to the School of Bruges, through Memling, but to that of Louvain through Dierick Stuerbout. Cologne and its degenerate

1 Gaye, Carteggio inedito, ut sup., vol. iii. p. 1767. Vasari calls Martin Schön Martino d'Olanda. (Terza parte, ed., 1468.) Zani (Abate), in his Enciclopedia Metodica, gives the name of Martin in thirty different manners, as it is written in various authors.

painters of the fifteenth century came in for a share of it; and the mixture of the three produced the bastard school, from which at last arose no less a man than Quintin Massys.

In the progress of years, during which he laboured indefatigably, Van der Weyden remained unchanged in manner, and true to a certain standard of excellence. When he visited Italy, and saw the masterpieces of the Tuscans, he returned unaltered, gaining, perhaps, a certain warmth of colour, but nothing more. His pictures on that account possess an uniformity of style which makes them easy of distinction; painting in a graceful and beautiful feeling, without possessing sufficient genius or power to express himself completely, Roger Van der Weyden was an artist of some qualities, marred by many imperfections. Harmonious in composition, finished in design, possessed of a fair knowledge of anatomy, and happy in the reproduction of the real in nature, he abounded in varied and good expression, and was as free from flattery as any painter of the Netherlands. But his conceptions were rarely noble; he failed to impart idealism, when he sought for it in the heads of the Virgin and Saviour. He exaggerated the idea of length, not only in the human figure, but in its component parts the face, the body, limbs, hands, and feet; his knowledge of anatomy extending only so far as to enable him to render the form correctly, but not guarding him in its choice. Lacking majesty and elegance in the disposal of draperies, he generally spoilt the effect of his pictures by the hard outlines of the parts, and the angularity of the folds, at times even marring a good attitude

by it. Of these, however, whilst some were good, many were so disposed as to exhibit exaggerated grief or joy by unnatural action. And in the application of linear perspective to the human form he was far behind his master.

Clear and luminous in tone, painted with a profusion of colour nicely blended and softened down, the pictures of Van der Weyden were more than usually free from marked contrasts of light and shade. Their blooming flesh tints and pale shadows, suggestive of the use of tempera rather than of oil, cannot easily be recognised as those of a painter who laboured under John Van Eyck. Still history is there to prove the connexion of the two, and strengthens the opinion that Van der Weyden, possessing all the means wielded by his master, failed to equal him in power. Nor is this less noticeable in the comparison of colour than in other important parts, such as the quality of aërial perspective. Well acquainted with the use of the various keys of colour, Van der Weyden was, nevertheless, lacking in the rendering of space and atmosphere; and although his backgrounds are in general highly-finished landscapes, they want the truth and nature of those which adorn the pictures of Van Eyck. Another and final feature of dissimilarity is Van der Weyden's chariness of ornamentation, differing much in this from his cotemporaries and predecessors.

The earliest pictures which divulge the manner of Roger are the Pietà, of the Pontiff Martin the Fifth, and the scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist-compositions in three compartments, preserved at Berlin. In the first of these the subjects are taken from the life

of the Saviour, the panel on the left representing the Virgin watching the Infant Christ on her knee, and St. Joseph asleep, whilst a blue angel hovers above them. The central panel depicts Mary wailing over the Crucified Saviour, whose body she holds on her knees. St. John and St. Joseph are near her. A violet angel flies above them. On the right Christ appears to his mother: and this group, also, is adorned with a blue angel floating in the air. The two last scenes are laid in open landscapes : the first in an apartment having a background of gold brocade. Few of the qualities which Van der Weyden possessed are to be found in these pictures, which are marked by rigidity and angularity of outline. The Crucified Saviour on the knees of his mother is dead, starved, and reduced; and the struggles of agony from pain, hunger, and cold are depicted there. But was the dead Christ to be so treated? or is the mere physical imitation of nature sufficient for such a subject? The Infant on the Virgin's knee is another instance of this. Unlike Van Eyck, who endeavoured to deify the Saviour by an appearance of age out of keeping with his form, Van der Weyden only copied a thin ungraceful child, with large broad head, hands and feet, and a puny body. It may be said, indeed, that in the composition of these scenes the painter was not unmindful of harmony and grace; but this does not suffice to make them pleasing.'

1 No. 534 A, Berlin Cat. Wood; each panel 2 f. 31 z. by 1 f. 42 z. Martin the Fifth gave this tryptic to John the Second of Spain, who sent it to the convent of Miraflores. Charles the Fifth used it as a travelling altar-piece, and carried it with him. Margaret of Austria had a copy of this picture, of which the wings were by Memling. Albert Dürer saw the altar-piece of Charles the Fifth in the

The scenes from the life of John the Baptist are the birth and presentation to Zachariah; the baptism of the Saviour, with the Eternal looking down from heaven ; and the beheading—all of them presented, like those of the Pietà, under Gothic arches, carved profusely with sacred figures. They are so similar in execution and sentiment to the Pietà, that the remarks made upon it will fully answer for the others; and any doubts which might arise, as to their being productions of Van der Weyden, must fall before the contemplation of them.' Yet these are the subjects said by Ponz, in his Viage, to have been painted for the Carthusians of Miraflores, by Juan Flamenco. Ponz, however, asserts that Juan painted five scenes from the life of John the Baptist. Here are three only, obviously executed in Roger's early days, and not in 1495 and 1499, the period assigned by Ponz to the works of Juan Flamenco. It is strange, too, that these three panels were purchased from the Carthusians of Miraflores.2 The Stædel Gallery at Francfort has copies of the same subject by an inferior pupil,3 which were found near Milan.

Undoubtedly, the greatest production of Van der Weyden is the altar-piece at Beaune ; remarkable for the beauty of many parts, though, perhaps, composed with

Rathhaus at Bruges; and when it was restored to Miraflores, it remained there till General d'Armagnac removed it. Considerable injury has been done to this picture by restoring.

1 Antonio Ponz, Viage, ut sup., vol. xii. p. 50.

2 No. 534 B, Berlin Cat. Wood; each panel 2 f. 52 z. by 1 f. 63 z. This tryptic was made to remain open, the wings being of the same size as the centre panels.

3 No. 120, Stædel Gallery Catalogue. Wood, 15" 9′′ by 9′′′ 9′′′′.