MR. ORION's.

A Country Town pillaged by Soldiers, by D. Ryckaert, It is painted in a colder manner than I expected from the sketch which I have in my possession in colours.

A sketch by Rubens, of three Saints on their knees: likewise two admirable sketches of the two ends of the ceiling of the Banqueting-house; the middle part was in Lord Orford's collection, which is now in Russia.

A painter drawing after a plaister-figure of a child; perfect in its kind.

A Nativity, by Jordaens; a capricious composition in the manner of Tintoret,

Many excellent small pictures of Teniers, Van Uden, Asselyn Crabbetje, and others.

He has two Rembrandts; the Wrestling of Jacob and the Angel, and a Portrait; but neither of them excellent.

My friend remarked, that Mr. Orion was almost the only gentleman who showed his own pictures, that did not pester us by prating about their merit. He certainly has pictures which well deserve to be praised, but he left that part to us.

These two sketches were afterwards purchased by our author. M.

MECHLIN.

The Cathedral.-The Last Supper, by Rubens. The heads of the Apostles and style of drapery are in Rubens's best manner; but the picture is in bad condition, as it is mildewed: the Christ, the worst head. The principal figure is here, as is generally the case, the worst figure in the composition. Perhaps this is unavoidable: it is here as in poetry; a perfect character makes but an insipid figure; the genius is cramped and confined, and cannot indulge itself in those liberties which give spirit to the character, and of course interest the spectator. It has been observed, that Milton has not succeeded in the speeches which he has given to God the Father, or to Christ, so well as in those which he has put in the mouths of the rebel angels. Under the table is a dog gnawing a bone: a circumstance mean in itself, and certainly unworthy such a subject, however properly it might fill a corner of such a' picture as the Marriage at Cana, by Paul Veronese. Beside the impropriety, one does not see how the dog came by his bone, nothing of that kind being on the table; but the word SUPPER was excuse enough for Rubens, who was always glad of an opportunity of introducing animals into his pictures.

There is a print of this picture by Bolswert.

On one side hangs a small picture of Christ

washing the Disciples' feet, and on the other a picture of the same size, of Christ entering Jerusalem, likewise by Rubens; they are both well composed, and that appears to be their whole merit.

There is a circumstance belonging to the altar piece, which may be worth relating, as it shows Rubens' manner of proceeding in large works. The person who bespoke this picture, a citizen of Mechlin, desired, to avoid the danger of carriage, that it might be painted at Mechlin; to this the painter easily consented, as it was very near his country-seat at Steen. Rubens, having finished his sketch in colours, gave it as usual to one of his scholars (Van Egmont), and sent him to Mechlin to dead-colour from it the great picture. The gentleman, seeing this proceeding, complained that he bespoke a picture of the hand of the master, not of the scholar, and stopped the pupil in his progress. However, Rubens satisfied him that this was always his method of proceeding; and that this piece would be as completely his work as if he had done the whole from the beginning. The citizen was satisfied, and Rubens proceeded with the picture, which appears to me to have no indications of neglect in any part; on the contrary, I think it has been one of his best pictures, though those who know this circumstance, pretend to see Van Egmont's inferior genius transpire through Rubens' touches.

RECOLLETS.

The great altar, in the church of the Recollets, is Christ crucified between the two Thieves, by Vandyck. This, perhaps, is the most capital of all his works, in respect to the variety and extensiveness of the design, and the judicious disposition of the whole. In the efforts which the thieves make to disengage themselves from the cross, he has successfully encountered the difficulty of the art; and the expression of grief and resignation in the Virgin is admirable. This picture, upon the whole, may be considered as one of the first pictures in the world, and gives the highest idea of Vandyck's powers; it shows that he had truly a genius for history-painting, if it had not been taken off by portraits. The colouring of this picture is certainly not of the brightest kind, but it seems as well to correspond with the subject as if it had the freshness of Rubens. St. John is a mean character, the only weak part in the picture, unless we add another circumstance, though but a minute one; the hair of the Magdalen at the feet of Christ, is too silky, and indeed looks more like silk drapery than hair.-There is a print of the head of this Magdalen, to which is added a skull.

The altar on the right, by Vandyck; St. Bonavent, supported by an angel, whilst another is giving him the Sacrament. The Priest at the altar is without dignity; he is looking over his shoulder as

if he was only satisfying his curiosity to see what they were about: the Saint is likewise poorly imagined, and makes but a despicable figure in comparison of the manner in which the same kind of subject has been treated by Domenichino and Agostino Caracci, in their pictures of the Communion of St. Jerome. The colouring is not brilliant; a reddish colour being too predominant in the flesh, particularly in the shadows. This, as I have before observed, is the case with many of Vandyck's pictures. A print by Franciscus Vanden Wyngaerde.

THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN.

The great altar, the Adoration of the Magi, by Rubens; a large and rich composition; but there is a want of force in the Virgin and Child: they appear of a more shadowy substance than the rest of the picture, which has his usual solidity and richness. One of the kings holds an incense-vase. This circumstance is mentioned to distinguish this picture from many others which Rubens has painted of this subject. It is engraved by L. Vostermans.

On the inside of one of the doors is the Decollation of St. John the Baptist, on the other St. John the Evangelist in the cauldron of boiling oil. The figures which are putting him into the cauldron want energy, which is not a common defect of Rubens: the character of the head of the Saint is vulgar, which indeed in him, is not an uncommon defect.