THE SUPPER AT EMMAUS
Rembrandt Van Rijn (1607? -1669)
Rembrandt has taken the story of the two men and the stranger on their way to Emmaus after they have gone into the house. You see the disciples still did not know that the stranger was Jesus, the Christ. But when He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it and brake and gave to them. Then they knew that it was the Savior who was talking with them and sitting at the table with them. Rembrandt shows the wondering men as they begin to recognize who their guest is, and he makes us feel the warmth and gladness that fill their hearts when they know that it is the risen Lord. The boy, too, lingers at the Savior's side as though to hear the meaning of the scene. But as they look, Jesus disappears out of their sight. When He is gone they say to each other:
"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"
Rembrandt painted this picture after many sorrows had come to him. His beloved Saskia, the mother of the "golden lad," Titus, was dead; friends had deserted him and his patrons were gone. But the love of people still filled the heart of the great painter.
THREE CHILDREN OF CHARLES I OF ENGLAND
Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641)
The little boy standing between his brother and sister in this picture is Baby Stuart, the same child that is in the picture of "Baby Stuart" that you know so well. When Baby Stuart grew up he was crowned James II, king of England (1685). His brother was Charles II, king of England, and his sister was the mother of William III, king of England. James II, Baby Stuart, had a daughter, Mary, who became Mary, queen of England. When these cousins, William and Mary, grew up they were married and crowned king and queen of England in 1689.
A funny story is told of the crowning ceremony. William was very short and Mary was quite tall. It would not do to have Mary taller than her husband, so a stool was brought for William to stand on. Now they are the same height as they are crowned King William III and Queen Mary II of England. When William and Mary ruled England the country was happy and prosperous because love reigned in the royal household.
I have seen the stool that William stood on when he was crowned William III of England. It is in Westminster Abbey, London. That is another interesting bit of historic setting that you will see when you go to visit England.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck, the Flemish artist, painted many pictures of the royal families of England, especially the family of Charles I. He put little dogs into his pictures so often that the people began to call these little fellows "King Charles spaniels." To-day, two hundred years after, they are still called King Charles spaniels.
THE BUTTERY
Pieter de Hooch (1632? -1681)
Pieter de Hooch is a Dutch artist you are going to love. Usually you can tell his pictures by the checked or plaid floors. The floors in the homes in Holland are mostly made of squares of black and white marble. Did you ever see a cuter little girl than this one in the picture? She has come for her pitcher of milk. Her mother went to the "buttery" for it: a buttery is a place for keeping casks and barrels and bottles. We can see one end of the cask or barrel under the window in the buttery. Now look into the next room and see the chair on a little platform. That platform is quite common in the Dutch home and is probably the place where mother or grandmother sits to read or sew by the window. What a beautiful day it must be out of doors to make the rooms so cheerful and bright! Hooch loved the sunshine and used it to brighten every home he painted. The sunshine on the checked floors makes his pictures sing with joy and happiness.
We can find very little about the life of the "Dutch little masters," yet the pictures they have left us are among our greatest treasures: just little home scenes that you and I know about.
It is said that de Hooch often put in his people after he had finished painting his picture. In one picture he has added a girl near a fireplace to make the picture more balanced. We know that she was added after the picture was made, for we can see the plaid floor through her dress where the paint was too thin to cover the original floor. Such little things tell us something of the method of work of the Dutch painters.
THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
Sandro Botticelli (1446-1510)
The children who are holding the book and ink-bottle in this picture, "The Coronation of the Virgin," lived four hundred years ago. Their names are Giovanni and Giulio de' Medici. Botticelli, the artist, knew them well for he was born and brought up in Florence and used to spend a great deal of time at the Medici Palace.
The boys were cousins. Giulio, the younger, was left an orphan when a wee child and his uncle, Lorenzo the Magnificent, adopted him and had him brought up with his own son Giovanni. The boys were nearly the same age and grew up to be great and good men. Both of them were popes of Rome. The older boy, Giovanni, was Pope Leo X and Giulio Pope Clement VII.
Now look at the picture again. The Madonna is reading to her little son, Jesus, "The Magnificat," that beautiful song from Luke, Chap. I, v. 46-56, sung so often in our churches. Let us repeat the song together:
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
For, behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation
He hath shewed strength with his arm;
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
And exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
THE WOLF CHARMER
John La Farge (1835-1910)
You see these wolves were once the old women gossips of the town, the story says; and when these women were unkind in what they said about people the Fates – I have told you another story about the Fates – the Fates to punish them turned them into wolves. The Wolf Charmer, who really is the old gypsy who killed the black cat of the village witch, goes out into the night. The owl calls the wolves to attack the gypsy. But the gypsy knew the old women before they were turned into wolves so he calls them by name: "Kate, Anne, and Bee!" And soon they follow him down the narrow path between the rocks and listen to his music on the bagpipes. "A funny story!" you say. You know there are people who have a strange power over wild animals.
John La Farge said about this picture, "I made it to be one of a series of some hundred subjects, more or less fantastic and imaginary." He never finished the pictures nor carried out his plan of making these books for children. I am giving you "The Wolf Charmer" because he painted the picture for you. Mr. La Farge named this picture as the one he liked best of his paintings.
THE OLD WOMAN CUTTING HER NAILS
Rembrandt Van Rijn (1607? -1669)
No artist in all history had a sadder life than Rembrandt. It was sad because the people of Amsterdam were stupid and too blind to know that a great man was living among them. Rembrandt could paint wonderful portraits, and the rich people wanted their portraits painted. At first all went well. The rich flocked to his studio and Rembrandt made marvelous likenesses. Then the guilds of the great commercial houses wanted pictures for their halls. They came to Rembrandt for these pictures, but thinking that their money had bought the great artist body and soul, they began to tell him how he should make the pictures that each one might have equal prominence in it. Naturally Rembrandt would not be bought off with money. His art was bigger than gold. The picture that was really the turning point in his life was "The Night Watch." I wish you would look at the picture again. You see the men away back in the picture were jealous that they were not put in the front row. All they cared for was to have a fine portrait of themselves and Rembrandt was only interested in making a great picture.
Rembrandt went on painting but no one bought his pictures. Many sorrows came to him. It was when the world had forsaken him that he painted "The Old Woman Cutting her Nails." Now you can understand why Rembrandt could paint an old woman with human sympathy. We could love that old woman because the unkindness of the world made her more tender and true to suffering humanity. She is the old grandmother we would go to if we were in trouble.
THE SPINNER
Nicolaes Maes (1632-1693)
This old woman is spinning flax. Have you ever seen a flax wheel? When you go to Holland try to visit Dordrecht, and if possible, go into a real Dutch home. There you may see some one, the grandmother maybe, spinning flax; then you will know that this picture is an actual scene.
Nicolaes Maes, who painted the picture, was born in Dordrecht or Dort. This city is said to be the oldest city in the Netherlands; it was founded in the tenth century. An old woman spinning was a familiar scene to Maes. Now look at this spinner closely. She will not mind, for she is too intent on picking up a thread, possibly a broken or a knotted one. Maes saw a picture in the old woman's dull red dress and bright red sleeves. He liked the brown wheel and the yellow floor and the beautiful bit of blue cloth thrown over the wheel-base. Then he saw how beautifully the white kerchief and apron and wall caught the light. He saw the helpfulness of the rugged old hand, worn and scarred as it was, yet patient and firm in repairing a mistake.
Maes's "The Spinner" and Rembrandt's "The Old Woman Cutting her Nails" make the tasks of every-day life very human. We in America owe much to these old Dutch women and to the artists who have made them live for us.
This picture of "The Spinner" is only sixteen and one fourth inches high and thirteen inches wide, yet that old woman at her spinning-wheel is as much a real person in the room where she hangs on the wall as she was when Maes painted her, nearly three hundred years ago. I want you to love these little Dutch pictures; they are so honest and true and tell us about real people and real things, and they make us feel that beauty is everywhere. Now look at your grandmother as she mends your stockings and see how beautiful she is with the light on her dear old face and hair.