Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Belgium -- Guidebooks
349. Patinier: another Repose on the Flight into Egypt. Observe
persistence of the main elements. Notice in particular, as compared with
the similar picture (350) close by, the staff, basket, etc., in the R.
foreground.
546. School of Memling, perhaps by the master: a Bishop preaching: M.
Fétis thinks, exhorting the Crusade in which Pope Nicholas V. wished to
interest the princes of Europe after the fall of Constantinople.
621. School of Dürer: Fine and thoughtful portrait of a man, perhaps
Erasmus.
Above it, 577, Flemish triptych (school of Van der Weyden) of the
Adoration of the Magi, the elements in which will by this time be
familiar to you. Right and left, Adoration of the Shepherds and
Circumcision. The exceptional frequency of the subject of the Adoration
of the Magi in the Low Countries and the Rhine district is to be
accounted for by the fact that the relics of the Three Kings are
preserved in Cologne Cathedral, and are there the chief object of local
cult.
At the corner,
84 and 255, two good portraits by the German de Bruyn (early 16th
cent.). Transitional: show Italian influence.
Between them, 619, unknown German, Wedding Feast at Cana. That you may
have no doubt as to the reality of the miracle, a servant is pouring
water into the jars in the foreground. He is much the best portion of
the picture. Behind are Christ, St. John, and Our Lady. Next to them,
the bride and bridegroom. (Compare the Gerard David in the Louvre.)
Above it, 624, a very quaint St. George and St. Catherine, early German
School, with gold background. St. George is stiffly clad in armour, and
painfully conscious of his spindle legs, with a transfixed dragon and
broken lance at his feet. St. Catherine looks extremely peevish, with a
Byzantine down-drawn mouth: she holds the sword of her martyrdom, and
has a fragment of her wheel showing behind her. Her face is highly
characteristic of the severity and austerity of early German art.
Companion piece (624) at opposite corner.
Now proceed to the next wall.
539. Fine portraits of a donor and his wife, with their patron saints,
Peter and Paul. The tops of both have been sawn off.
549 and 643. Two Madonnas. Not very important.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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