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affectedly contrasted, is the most ungracious figure that can be imagined: the best part of the picture is the head of St. Francis.

GHENT.

Mary Magdalen expiring, supported RUBENS. by ill drawn angels, by Rubens; the saint herself old and disagreeable.

St. Francis receiving the Stimate, RUBENS. likewise by Rubens; a figure without dignity, and more like a beggar: though his dress is mean, he ought surely to be represented with the dignity and simplicity of a Saint. Upon the whole Rubens would appear to no great advantage at Ghent, if it was not for the picture of St. Bavon.

ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH.

THE great altar, representing some N. ROOSE. history of this saint, is painted by N. Roose, a painter of no great merit; but this is far superior to any other of his works, which are plentifully dispersed over Flanders. It is of a mellow

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liancy it is illuminated by torch-light, but so well managed, as to have nothing of that disagreeable effect which Honthorst, Segers, Schalcken, and others, gave to their pictures, when they represented night-pieces.

St. Joseph advertised by an Angel, by Rombouts. The angel is an upright figure, and treads the air with great grace; his countenance is likewise beautiful, as is also that of the Virgin.

ALOST ST. MARTIN.

ST. ROCK interceding with Christ for the diseased of the plague, by Rubens. The composition is upon the same plan as that of St. Bavon at Ghent. The picture is divided into two parts; the Saint and Christ are represented in the upper part, and the effects of the plague in the lower part of the picture. — In this piece the grey is rather too predominant, and the figures have not that union with their ground which is gene

rally so admirable in the works of Rubens. I suspect it has been in some picture-cleaner's hands, whom I have often known to darken every part of the ground about the figure, in order to make the flesh look brighter and clearer; by which the general effect is destroyed. There is a print from this picture, by P. Pontius.

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GHENT.

CHRIST'S charge to Peter with two of BRUSSELS. the Apostles. The characters heavy, without grace or dignity; the handling, on a close examination, appears tame even to the suspicion of its being a copy,: the colouring is remarkably fresh. The name of Rubens would not RUBENS. stand high in the world, if he had never produced other pictures than such as this. On the same pillar is a Pieta of B. Van B. VAN Orlay, with six portraits of the family who presented this picture to the church. The old man who appears to be the father, has great nature, but hard, as the whole picture is in a dry Gothick style.

ORLAY.

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UNSHOD CARMELITES.

THE high altar; the Assumption, by Rubens. The principal figure, the Virgin, is the worst in the composition, both in regard to the character of the countenance, the drawing of the figure, and even its colour; for she is dressed, not in what is the fixed dress of the Virgin, blue and red, but entirely in a colour between blue and grey, heightened with white; and this, coming on a white Glory, gives a deadness to that part of the picture. The Apostles and the two women are in Rubens's best manner; the angels are beautifully coloured, and unite with the sky in perfect harmony; the masses of light and shade are conducted with the greatest judgement, and excepting the upper part where the Virgin is, it is one of Rubens's rich pictures.

Here are about the Church pretty good copies, making in all ten pictures, of that great work of Rubens, the Triumph of the Church. The originals were destroyed by fire, when the Prince's palace was burnt in 1731.

On the left side of the high altar, BRUSSELS. Christ and St. Theresa with two an- RUBENS. gels; one supports her, and the other presents to her bosom a flaming arrow; neither are very angelical: the head of the saint is finely drawn and painted; the Christ is likewise well drawn for Rubens; but the effect is rather hard, proceeding from its being wrought up too highly it is smooth as enamel, which takes off that suppleness which appears in his other works: this is certainly not in his best manner, though it seems to have cost him the most trouble.

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In the sacristy is a fine portrait by RUBENS. Rubens.

CAPUCHINS.

THE high altar by Rubens: Christ RUBENS. dead, lying on the lap of the Virgin; two angels holding the lance; near is a St. Francis and St. Elizabeth with a handkerchief to her eyes. This was probably one of Rubens's best pictures, but it appears to have suffered much

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