ANTWERP. angel, with the instruments of cruci VANDYCK. RUBENS. fixion. The Christ is foreshortened with great skill in drawing. Engraved by Bolswert. CHURCH OF THE CACONS (NUNS). In a little chapel the Virgin and Infant Christ, by Vandyck; a priest kneeling; an angel behind directing his attention to the Virgin. The drapery seems to be by another hand. There is nothing in this picture very much to be admired. ST. MICHAEL. THE great altar, the Adoration of the Magi; a large and magnificent composition of near twenty figures, in Rubens's best manner. Such subjects seem to be more peculiarly adapted to the manner and style of Rubens: his excellence, his superiority, is not seen in small compositions. One of the kings, who holds a cap in his hand, is loaded with drapery his head appears too large, and upon the whole he makes but an ungraceful figure. ANTWERP. The head of the ox is remarkably well painted. Engraved by Lommeli. On the left of the great altar is another RUBENS. picture of Rubens, St. Gregory with the Dove, dressed in the sacerdotal robes; behind him is St. George in armour; both noble figures; and the female saint, who is likewise in the front of the picture, is, for Rubens, uncommonly beautiful. Behind is St. Sebastian, and other Saints; and above are angels bearing a picture in a frame, of the Virgin and Child. The print by Remoldus Eynhovedts. Near this is a monument of Rubens's RUBENS. brother Philip, with an inscription and a portrait in oval, by Rubens. In this church are many fine portraits inserted in monuments. Vos. St. Norbert receiving the Sacrament, SIMON DE by Simon de Vos; in which are in ANTWERP, troduced a great number of portraits extremely well painted. De Vos was particularly excellent in portraits. There is in the poor-house in this city, his own portrait by himself, in black, leaning on the back of a chair, with a scroll of blue paper in his hand, so highly finished, in the broad manner of Correggio, that nothing can exceed it. ERASMUS On the right cross is an immense large picture, by Erasmus Quellinus, containing some good heads, and figures not ill drawn ; but it is an ill-conducted picture, and in bad condition. THE MINIMES. THERE is nothing curious in the church; but in passing to the cloisters are forty pieces of glass pane, by Diepenbeke, of the life of St. Francis; and in an adjoining room a crucifix of Jordaens, admirable for its colouring, and the expression is better than usual ; but the drawing of the limbs of Christ is defective. THE CHURCH OF THE JACOBINS. ANTWERP. THE altar of the choir is painted by RUBENS. Rubens the subject the same as one mentioned before in the church of the Recollets at Ghent: Christ launching thunder on the world, the Virgin interceding; below are many saints, male and female, bishops and cardinals. Rubens acquired a predilection for allegories from his master, Otho Venius ; but it may be doubted, whether such fancies in a Christian church are not out of their proper place. St. Francis is here, as in the picture at Ghent, the best head. This picture has been much damaged, and St. Sebastian in particular has been repainted by some ignorant person: the sky has likewise been badly repaired. God the Father, who is leaning on a globe, has something majestick in the attitude. A Council composed of saints, popes, RUBENS. cardinals, and bishops, by Rubens, the same subject as Raffaelle's, in the ANTWERP Vatican, called THE DISPUTE OF THE SACRAMENT. GOD the Father is represented alone in the distant sky; boy angels with labels.-Engraved by Snyers. The sky has been ill repainted, and does not harmonize with the rest of the work. The whole picture, indeed, seems to have suffered; for there is not that brilliancy which might be expected, nor indeed any extraordinary character of heads the best is that immediately behind the bishops on the fore-ground. A print by Snyers. At an altar on the entrance to the choir, Christ carrying the cross; said to be one of the most early pictures of Vandyck. It is in many parts like the works of Rubens, particularly the figure with his back towards the spectator, which is well drawn. The drapery of the Christ being dark, having become so probably by time, is scarcely at all seen, which makes the head look like that taken by St. Veronica. |