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to the characteristics of the school of Rubens, especially in expression and colouring, in some of his larger productions. This has induced the belief that he was a pupil of that master; but there is no record of the fact, nor, it is believed, any authentic account of him as an artist, though his ability entitled him to notice from Flemish writers on painting more than many on whom they have lavished their praise.

MATTHIAS VANDER BERG is mentioned by several writers as being a scholar of Rubens, but perhaps it is owing to his having successfully copied several of that master's pictures; nothing original by him has been recognised. He was born in 1615; the time of his death is uncertain.

J. F. BESSCHEY, or BISCHEY, born at Antwerp in 1739, made copies in small of favourite pictures by Rubens, which are admirable. They were not intended by the artist to pass for anything but what they are, very pleasing reminis cences for amateurs whose means would not allow them to obtain originals. He died in 1799.

Many other painters are enumerated as scholars of Rubens, but the foregoing are those most entitled to distinction; the rest would only increase the book for no good purpose.

See Imitators and Analogists of Van Dyck.

DAVID TENIERS.

THIS remarkably versatile and prolific painter was born at Antwerp in 1610, and received his first instructions in the art from his father; it is also said that he studied under Brauwer, but this is doubtful, as Teniers was only two years younger than that artist. Be this as it may, he made very rapid progress in design, composition, and colouring. But his success in securing the approbation of his contemporaries was not equal to the talent he displayed; the pictures of Tilbourg, and others more inferior, being preferred to his. His mortification was, however, compensated by the discernment and patronage of the archduke Leopold William, for whom he painted a great number of pictures, and by whom he was employed to collect paintings of the Dutch and Italian schools to enrich his gallery. Many of these were

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copied by Teniers, and to this may be attributed that skill which he afterwards displayed in what is called Pasticci, a species of imitation both original and servile. Teniers cannot be placed in any particular department, for he excelled in whatever he undertook, and it may almost be said that he undertook everything. His landscape scenery is charming, well suited to the sports and pastimes of the characters therein represented, and the silvery hues of his skies have a cheerful aspect in accordance with the hilarity that prevails among the company. His interiors, when he bestowed attention on the finishing, exhibit the highest knowledge of the art in colour, chiaroscuro, and penciling; every object is brilliant, transparent, properly disposed for effect, and executed with freedom. This is obvious in his musical conversations, especially when his characters are of a superior class, in his representations of chymists' laboratories, interiors of guardrooms, kitchens, cabarets, etc.

In painting such a multitude of subjects, it was impossible to bestow on all the same degree of elaborate finishing, and it may be doubted whether they would have been rendered more pleasing if there had been more apparent pains. His facility is one of his great charms, and the rustic characters of his dramatic scenes almost demanded a corresponding slovenliness in their attire and deportment; though some of their offensive actions are not to be vindicated. It is said that a few hours sufficed for the production of a picture containing several figures, perfectly formed, and full of animation; this may be readily believed, as he used but few types for the characters in his tabagies, where boors of like intellect assembled to indulge their sottish propensities. The pictures by this master most esteemed by connoisseurs, says Smith in his prefatory remarks to his list of Teniers' works, are those painted on a light ground formed with a preparation of chalk, or plaster of Paris, over which he scumbled his various tints of brown and pearly greys; the figures and some of the accessories were at the same time spiritedly sketched in with bistre, and the principal shadows thrown in; these were succeeded by the half tones, taking always special care to preserve delicacy and transparency. In the finishing, all the higher lights, and whatever required solidity, were charged with a body of colour; a few sparkling

and spirited touches, and occasional glazing tints, completed the work. The vehicle, or medium, used by him in painting, was evidently the same kind as that with which Rubens, Breughel, and other artists of that school worked; and whatever this medium may have been, it is plain that it possessed two very important qualities; namely, of giving transparency to the colours, and of being a convenient texture for their application; for nothing short of these, in conjunction with a perfect knowledge of the principles of the art, could have enabled him to produce such an incredible number of pictures, many of them filled with a multitude of figures displaying the most lively animation, and an infinite variety of action. It appears, says the same writer, that Teniers was at one period so attracted by the energetic and powerful style of Brauwer, that he painted a great number of pictures in imitation of that master; of these the predominant tint is a rich brown, doubtless become more opaque from time. It may also be observed, that the figures on these pictures are usually larger than in those of his ordinary works, being frequently from twelve to eighteen inches high: this, however, is not a general rule, but they are always painted with a broad free pencil, and are full of character and expression. It has been already stated that Teniers excelled in those imitations called by the Italians pasticci. In these he seemed to take particular delight, and selected his models chiefly from the Venetian masters of the highest order of colourists; such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Bassano, and Paolo Veronese; nor did he leave his own countryman, Rubens, unattempted, and others that may be mentioned hereafter. In many of these excusable forgeries there is much of the peculiarities belonging to each master in colour and marking; it is in the expression that he is not so successful, and that defect betrays their Flemish origin. The amateur should take note that Teniers varied his style of painting as he progressed in his career. In his early works, probably before his thirtieth year, a brown tone prevails; after this period he gradually adopted a clearer and more silvery manner. His finest works will be found, when they are dated, to range from about 1643 to 1665, when he was in his full vigour. Perhaps there may be some discovered of a later date that betray no falling off in colour or

execution; but such as evince tremulousness of hand, and a tendency to a yellowish brown, and opacity, may be considered as his latest productions.

The estimation in which the pictures of Teniers have ever been held since he was patronized by the archduke Leopold William, will account for the large number still existing. He was patronized by Christina of Sweden, by the king of Spain, who, it is said, took such delight in his works that he had a gallery built expressly for their reception, and he was much employed also by the Elector Palatine. Thus secured in royal collections, his works escaped the dangers incident to those that are frequently changing their locality; and when by the fortune of war they have been removed from their original situation, they have emerged with the prestige gained from royalty, and perhaps have been possessed by those who have had a still higher estimation of their merit and value. It may have been an exaggeration of Teniers when he said that it would require a gallery two leagues in length to contain all his pictures; but there are above one thousand authentic pictures by him recorded, some of which are of large dimensions, and contain numerous figures, one in particular has eleven hundred and thirty-eight, others from a hundred and fifty to three hundred and forty. Notwithstanding their numbers, they rather increase than diminish in their marketable value, especially when in good preservation. After an industrious, and, it would seem, a happy, life, Teniers died at the advanced age of eighty years.

SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS OF TENIERS.

ABSHOVEN, or APSHOVEN. This artist has the credit of being, above all the other scholars, the best imitator of his master's works; but while his biographers have been lavish in his praise, they have left posterity in the dark with respect to his real name, in which not two are agreed, and even the dates of his birth and death are uncertain. Some call him Theodore, others Michael, others F. van Apshoven, or Abshoven. But while all the writers are agreed that there was such a clever artist, under whichever name he may be called, picture-dealers seem to have determined that there shall be little or no evidence of the fact; for they first ob

literate the name from his pictures, and then unscrupulously attribute them to Teniers. However, some good imitations, or perhaps copies, by him have escaped, and show that he was a skilful imitator; these are interiors of doctors' and chymists' shops and laboratories, guard-rooms with armour and weapons of war, kitchens, larders, etc.

For the variations in his name and dates of his birth and death, see the note to the article in the enlarged edition of Bryan's "Dictionary of Painters and Engravers."

DAVID RYCKAERT is mentioned by several writers as a pupil of Teniers, but it may be doubted, as his father was a painter of some celebrity; perhaps the subjects he painted may have induced the supposition. He may be termed an imitator of Teniers from painting assemblies of peasants regaling, chymists' laboratories, Temptations of St. Anthony, and other whimsicalities to which Teniers had given notoriety. His style is, however, very different in execution and colouring. His pictures are good in composition and character, and are admissible to collections of some pretence. None but an impudent or ignorant dealer will attribute them to Teniers.

MATTHEW VAN HELMONT, born at Brussels in 1650 or 1653, and died in 1719, was a scholar of Teniers and painted analogous pictures, such as boors regaling at ale-house doors, villagers merry-making, and similar subjects. His pictures are frequently graced with the name of his master, but the connoisseur detects them by their want of smartness in the touch and transparency in the colouring. There is perhaps a little more of distinctiveness in the characters than in those of the same class by Teniers. Van Helmont was a good artist in subjects differing from those of his master, and may rest his reputation on them rather than on his power of imitation. See Exteriors and Merry-makings, in the Classifications.

J. D. HONDT. Whether this be the real name of a painter or a nom de guerre there is cause for hesitation in saying. If it be the real name of a painter he was a clever one, and imitated the works of Teniers exceeding well; if only a nom de guerre, he was equally clever, but a little oblivious; for in imitating Wouwerman he has unwittingly exposed the pencil of Teniers, and such a pasticcio is in existence with

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