HE drew the marquis Giulio Brignole, a famous poet, on horse-back: he drew also the picture of the marchioness his wife, in which he seemed to oblige nature itself; for by eternising that beauty, he gave an instance to all posterity of what she had been able to perform.
He drew the picture of the doge Palavicino, in his habit of ambassador to the pope, and George Paulo Balbi, on horse-back, which was a most exquisite picture; but because of his conspiracy his face was blotted out, being a traitor to his country; and that of Francisco Maria, of the same family, made in the place. There is also in this person’s house, of the hand of Vandyck, the picture of an old man in white armour: his right hand holds a general’s staff, and his left the pommel of his sword; and is in picture as great a soldier as the marquis Spinola was in effect, and is generally supposed to be intended for him.
The queen of Sweden has in Rome, also of the hand of Vandyck, the picture of a boy of the family of the Imperiali, which appears so much alive that no body would judge it but to be really so.
Besides these pictures of particular persons, he made some histories: amongst which there is a crucifix, with St. Francis, and our Saviour, together with the patron of the picture at prayers. Vandyck had now a great mind to go into Sicily. Prince Filibert of Savoy being viceroy he drew his picture: but the plague happening about this time, and the death of the prince, to whom cardinal Doria succeeded, Vandyck likewise having received some disaster in Palermo, retired in great haste to his home of Genoa, carrying with him the cloth for a picture for the oratory of the society of the rosary; in which he represented the Virgin encompassed with the glory of angels, that present her each with a crown. At the bottom is St. Dominic, with the five virgin saints of Palermo, amongst which are St. Katherine and St. Rosary, and a child that holds his hand to his nose, because of the stench that comes from a dead head that lies upon the ground; by which he designs to express the plague from which the city was delivered by the intercession of those saints.
This picture being finished, and sent to Palermo, he betook himself again to the drawing of faces; by which having got a good sum of money, he returned to his own town of Antwerp, extolled by all, and welcomed by his friends, after the absence of some years. He employed himself here mostly in drawing faces; yet he likewise painted some history pieces, which are dispersed through all Flanders and many other places; of which we shall collect some few, there being already some that are made public by the engraver. Amongst the first of them that was seen at Antwerp, was the marriage of St. Joseph in St. Michael’s church, where the saint kneels before the Virgin, whilst she gives him her right hand, which is proposed to him by an angel. For the nuns of Begginage he drew a pietà, that is, our Saviour dead in the lap of his mother, and Magdalen kneeling kissing the wound of his hand, with a St. John. For the Magdalen he drew his sister’s face, who was then a nun, to whom he made a present of the picture. He drew also another pietà for St. Francis’s church, which is as much esteemed as any thing he did. He drew our Saviour extended on a winding-sheet, with his head on his mother’s bosom, who, opening her arms, lifts up her eyes to heaven: behind stands St. John, that takes one of the arms of our Saviour, and shews the wound to two angels who are lamenting at his feet.
These three last figures are in half-shadow, which gives great force to the naked figure of our Saviour, upon whom he makes the principal light fall. To the same sister, Susanna Vandyck, he dedicated the engraven design of another picture in St. Austin’s, which is very remarkable for liveliness of colour, and variety of invention. The saint being in an extacy, is sustained by two angels. On one hand of him stands St. Monaca, and on the other a saint of his order, and to St. Austin in this rapture the divinity is revealed from above, one of the angels pointing up to our Saviour, whose arms are spread ready to embrace him; and at his feet several little angels with divers symbols, as, one of them holds a sceptre with the eye of Providence upon it: another a branch of olive, the symbol of peace; a third lifts up a snake with his tail in his mouth, the emblem of eternity; a fourth opposes himself to a flaming sword; a fifth looks the son of justice in the face; together with several other mysteries symbolically expressed; and above all a triangle to express the trinity, with the name written in Hebrew characters.
For the sisters of St. Dominic he painted a crucifix, the saint on one side, and St. Catherine of Siena on the other; and another crucifix in Ghent, with a Magdalen that embraces the cross and St. John. Behind is a man armed on horseback, that gives orders to one of the crucifiers to reach the spunge to our Saviour, adored and lamented by the angels. In Malines in St. Francis’s church are three other pieces of his hand: our Saviour upon the cross over the high altar, and over two other altars St. Bonaventure saying mass, and the miracle of St. Anthony of Padua, when the horse kneeled before the host.
As for drawing of faces, in which Vandyck seemed more especially to excel, whilst he continued in Brussels he drew almost all the nobility in Flanders, having justly acquired greater reputation than any painter since the death of Titian. Indeed he gave his pictures a certain air and grace in the posture: such perhaps as was admired in Apelles when he had drawn Alexander and Antigonus.
He drew the infanta at length, and Mary of Medici, the queen-mother, sitting, and the duke of Orleans, her son, at the time they fled into Flanders. Of his hand are also the pictures of the cardinal infant; of prince Thomas of Savoy in armour on horseback, and many other great personages.
In the town-house of the same city he drew after the life the magistrates of that place sitting in judgment: and this is looked upon as one of his best pieces, being composed with great judgment, and accurately finished. He drew for the prince of Orange a story out of Pastor Fido; who bought, also of his hand, the Virgin, with the child Jesus, before whom little angels are dancing. Many other of his pictures, both stories and faces, may be seen at Antwerp in Van Ham’s house, as also in that of Diego Vueerdt’s; who, amongst the rest, has also those of king Charles the first, and his queen, drawn at the time Vandyck presented himself to the court of England.
In this abundance of employment and fame, having, as it were, filled all Flanders with his renown, he resolved to make use of the king of England’s favour, who then called him for his service to London. In this prince’s court Rubens had already been honourably entertained, the king being always a great lover of all sorts of ingenious arts; and so great a friend and rewarder of foreign ingenuity, that in all occurrences he not only countenanced, but preferred them. ‘Twas so that upon Rubens’ departure, Vandyck succeeded to his favour, which quickly augmented his wealth; and therefore, as it were, necessarily confirmed him in his wonted ostentation of behaviour and splendor of equipage.
He had, however, opportunity enough of reimbursing his great expences by frequent visits that were made him by the nobility, who, in that, followed the example of the king, who went often thither to see him paint, and took delight in his conversation. Vandyck seemed to vie with the magnificence of Parrasin, by keeping of servants, coaches, horses, musicians, and buffoons, with which he entertained such persons as came daily to him to be drawn, who were also invited to his table, where he spent no less than eight or ten pounds a day.
Besides such as are already mentioned, he kept men and women for models to paint by; for his manner was, as soon as the face was done, to finish the rest by the help of these models, placed in this or that posture.
The king was pleased many times to be drawn by him; so that Cavaliere Bernini at Rome being ordered to make a marble bust of his majesty, he was drawn on one cloth in three different views; the one with a whole face, the other two in profile and half profile.
He drew the king and queen in half length, holding a sprig of myrtle between them, and another of them with the young princes. He drew also the king on horseback, attended by a person that bears his helmet after him.
He drew general Goring in a posture of haranguing; and the lord Newport, master of the ordnance, giving orders to his officers. He drew the lord Arundel and his lady (who being a great lover of painting, was the means of Vandyck’s being introduced to the king’s favour, and had been a great instrument of his coming into England), which piece he finished to such perfection, as if he was resolved to shew his art and gratitude together. Of his hand also is that of the dutchess of Buckingham, with her daughters; who in token of the memory of her husband, holds his picture, in little, in her hand.
He drew the dutchess of Southampton like the goddess of Fortune, sitting upon the globe; and Sir Kenelme Digby, with his wife, sitting in two chairs, with their children by them; who being a great virtuoso himself, Vandyck, as it were by a certain mutual consent of genius, did more especially confide in him. He drew him in several manners; sometimes in his armour, and sometimes in the habit of a philosopher. In one of the latter there is represented a broken sphere, the motto out of Horace, Si fractus illabatur orbis intrepidum ferient ruinae; which picture is one of the hundred that makes up the book of famous men, published by Vandyck, and printed at Antwerp, the best of which are done by himself with aqua fortis: amongst which you find also his own picture. The same Sir Kenelme had a fancy to have his lady drawn in the form of Prudence, sitting in a white robe, with a coloured veil, and belt of jewels. One hand she reaches to two white doves, and the other holds a serpent: she sets her feet upon a cube, to which are chained as slaves Deceit with her two faces, anger, envy, with snakes about her head, and profane Love, blinded, his wings clipt, his bow broken, his arrows thrown away, and his torch extinguished, with other naked figures according to the life. Above all this, is a glory of angels singing and playing upon instruments, three of them holding between them a palm and garland over the head of Prudence, in token of victory and triumph over those vices. The motto is taken out of Juvenal, Nullum numen abest si sit Prudentia.
Vandyck was so pleased with this invention, that he copied it in little; but not finished. Both the one and the other, during the troubles in England, land, were carried into France. For Sir Kenelme Digby he drew also our Saviour taken from the cross, with Joseph and Nicodemus, who were anointing him before they laid him in the sepulchre. There is by them Magdalen and the Virgin falling in a swoon. And with this several other pieces of devotion; as St. John Baptist in the wilderness; Magdalen transported, and in an extacy at the harmony of the Angels; Judith, with Holofernes’s head, in half figure; our Saviour upon the cross giving up the ghost, which Sir Kenelme made a present of to the princess of Guimenè, when he was at Paris.
He drew for him also the picture of a brown woman in the habit of Pallas armed, and a plume in her helmet; a most admirable head. For the earl of Northumberland he drew our Saviour upon the cross, with five angels, that in golden chalices catch the blood as it falls from the wounds; and under the cross are placed the Virgin, St. John, and Mary Magdalen.
He drew also for the king, besides heads and many other pictures, the dance of the Muses, with Apollo in the middle of Parnassus; another Apollo flaying Marsias; a Bacchanal; and a dance of Amorets, that are sporting whilst Venus sleeps with Adonis. And there being then in that court, amongst many other virtuosi, Nicholas Lanier, a painter as well as musician, he drew him in the form of David playing upon the harp before Saul.
He drew also the dutchess of Richmond, daughter of the duke of Buckingham; which, by reason of her incomparable beauty, is occasion of a doubt whether art or nature is capable of greater perfection; being drawn in the form of a Venus, which is waited upon by her son duke Hamilton, naked, in the character of a Cupid, with his bow and arrow. He drew also the countess of Portland, and the countess of Aubengey, in the habit of Nymphs. He drew also a lady in the character of a Venus, standing by a black.
For the queen he drew the Virgin, with the child Jesus and St. Joseph, that are looking upon certain angels dancing upon the earth, whilst others play to them upon several instruments in the air; and this accompanied with a very pleasant landscape. He drew also, in imitation of Tintorett, the crucifixion, with the crucifiers that are lifting up the cross; which is a work of great variety of figures.
The picture also of the Blessed Virgin is very excellent. She is represented holding up the infant Jesus, between two angels that play upon instruments. At his foot is the globe of the world. Nor must we pass by the twelve apostles done by his hand, and Christ with the cross, all in half figure, and to be found amongst that great collection of Charles Bosch, bishop of Ghent, which are made public by the press.
He likewise painted a picture of Sampson breaking his bonds; which was given by Van Woonsel to the archduke Leopold, governor of the Low Countries: a person that seems to have passed all his time in the study of antiquity, medals, and painting, as we may see by what is already printed of his study. Besides the ordinary rewards of the king’s munificence to Vandyck, his majesty conferred on him the honour of knighthood: but being now, because of his indispositions, which he had laboured under some years, desirous to withdraw himself from the drudgery of portrait painting to some great work, by which his name might be transmitted with honour to posterity, he took a journey to Paris, with an intent to procure to himself the painting of the gallery of the Louvre: but after having stayed there two months without any success, he returned to England, and proposed to the king, by means of Sir Kenelme Digby, to make designs for a suit of hangings for the Banqueting-house at Whitehall; the subjects of which were to be the ceremony of the crowning of the kings of England; the institution of the order of the garter by Edward the third; the procession of the knights in their robes, and other functions civil and military. The king was extremely well pleased with this design; but thought his demand of eighty thousand pounds too extravagant: though it was believed the price would have been adjusted, if Vandyck’s death, which happened at this time, had not put a stop to all farther proceeding.
Vandyck, notwithstanding the vast sums of money he received, left very little at his death, having consumed it all in that splendid manner of living, which was rather like a prince than a painter. As to his person, he was of small stature, but well proportioned, and active; his features were regular, and his countenance agreeable. His hair was inclinable to red, which is common to those of his country.
It is very extraordinary that his best pictures are those he painted when very young, when he not much exceeded twenty years. He then used, according to the practice of the Venetians, a great body of colour, which he afterwards changed for a smoother, insipid, but more expeditious manner; using very little colour, which, after some time, flying off, left the light parts of the face too white, and the half shadows too grey. This is the general fault of his portraits of women; and the portraits of the men are very often dry and flat, and, in the painter’s phrase, starved of colour. To balance those faults, which are sometimes found in his work, he possessed other excellencies to the highest degree of perfection: the exact drawing, and distinct manner of pronouncing the features, the easy and agreeable attitudes, at the same time marking the peculiar character of the person he drew, has deservedly given him the character of the greatest painter the world has ever yet produced.