Estelle M. Hurll

A gentleman has brought his little boy to our painter's studio for a portrait sitting. Father and son are close friends and understand each other well. On the way they have talked of the picture that is to be made, and the boy has asked many questions about it. It is rather a tedious prospect to an active child to have to sit still a long time. But his father's companionship is his greatest delight, and it is a rare treat to both to have a whole morning together.

Frontispiece. Portrait of Van Dyck. Detail of a portrait of Van Dyck and John Digby, Earl of Bristol. Painted about 1640. Formerly in the Isabel Farnese Collection in the palace of San Ildefonso; now in the Prado Gallery, Madrid. Cust, p. 285.

St. Anthony of Padua was a Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, celebrated for his piety and eloquence. He was a Portuguese by birth, and early in life determined to be a Christian missionary. His first labors were in Africa, but being seized by a lingering illness, he returned to Europe and landed in Italy. Here he came under the influence of St. Francis of Assisi, who was just establishing a new religious order. The rules were to be very strict: the members could possess nothing of their own, but were to beg their food and raiment of fellow Christians.

Compiled from Lionel Cust's Anthony Van Dyck, to which the references to pages apply.

1599. Antoon Van Dyck born March 22, in the house "der Berendaus," Antwerp (p. 4).

1601. Removal of Van Dyck family to house number 46 in street De Stat Gent (p. 4).

1607. Death of Van Dyck's mother (p. 4).

1609. Van Dyck among the apprentices of the painter Hendrick van Balen (p. 6).

In the time of Van Dyck there was living in Antwerp a family of ancient lineage who bore the name of Colyns de Nole. For three centuries there had been sculptors among the men of this name. The talent had been handed down from father to son through the several generations, and sometimes there were two or three of the family working together in the art. The old churches of Antwerp contained some fine specimens of their work.[4]

Flemish:—

  • Franz Snyders, 1579-1657.
  • Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640.
  • Gaspard de Craeyer, 1582-1669.
  • Jacob Jordaens, 1594-1678.
  • Justus Sustermans, 1597-1681.
  • David Teniers, 1610-1690.

Spanish:—

  • Pacheco, 1571-1654.
  • Herrera, 1576-1656.
  • Zurbaran, 1598-1662.
  • Velasquez, 1599-1660.
  • Cano, 1601-1676.
  • Murillo, 1618-1682.

French:—

In the distant past which we call the age of fable lived the cunning craftsman Dædalus of Athens. One of his most curious inventions was a labyrinth which he constructed for Minos, the king of Crete. Having at length displeased this king he resolved to flee from the island with his son Icarus. It was impossible to escape by way of the sea without detection, but Dædalus was not discouraged.

Writers:—

  • Ben Jonson, 1573 or 1574-1637.
  • Robert Herrick, 1591-1674.
  • George Herbert, 1593-1632.
  • Edmund Waller, 1605 or 1606-1687.
  • Sir William Killigrew, 1605-1693.
  • Sir John Suckling, 1608 or 1609-1641 or 1642.
  • John Milton, 1608-1674.
  • Thomas Killigrew, 1611-1682.
  • John Evelyn, 1620-1706 (author of "Memoirs").

Architect:—

  • Inigo Jones, 1572-1653.

Royalists:—

(By Sir Peter Lely, after Van Dyck)

Charles I of England was the second king of the Stuart dynasty, whose despotic tendencies made the seventeenth century a memorable period in history. He ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five, and began at once to assert his belief in the divine right of kings. Indignant at the restraints which Parliament set upon his power, he dissolved this body and ruled alone.

On the summit of Monte Pellegrino, in the island of Sicily, stands a colossal statue of St. Rosalia. Like the old Greek statue of Victory on the island of Samothrace,[8] or to use a modern instance, like the statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island in New York harbor, St. Rosalia serves as a beacon to mariners. The Sicilians hold the saint in great reverence, and celebrate her memory in two annual festivals. From the eleventh to the fifteenth of July are horse-races, regattas, illuminations, and all sorts of gayeties in her honor. In September there is a solemn procession to her chapel.

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