of Rubens, even of his most finished works, give a higher idea of his genius. All the parts are more determined than is usual in sketches. They are what I apprehend he put into the hands of his scholars, from which they advanced and carried on the great picture, which he afterwards retouched and finished.

Another sketch of the same master; the finding of Romulus and Remus.

A Child in a Cradle, with three women, by Rubens; the scene a landscape, the figures somewhat less than life. This picture has not so much force as his works in general, and appears not to have received his last

touches.

REMBRANDT. — Rembrandt's portrait, by himself, half length, when he was old, in a very unfinished manner, but admirable for its colour and effect; his pallet and pencils and mahlstick are in his hand, if it may be so called; for it is so slightly touched, that it can scarce be made out to be a hand.

A wo

LIONARDO DA VINCI.-YOUNG TENIErs. man with a sprig of jessamy in her hand, by Lionardo da Vinci. There is beauty in the countenance, but it is in a hard manner. - A small picture by young Teniers, of Boors shooting at a butt or target; in his best manner. His name and the date are on it, which I took down to mark the part of his life when he was in his zenith of perfection; the date is 1645; he was then 35 years old, being born in 1610.

OLD DAVID TENIERS.- Another picture of old David Teniers, which has a good landscape, but it has not the neat and elegant touch of young David: it seems to have proceeded from a more clumsy work

man.

VANDYCK..

Prince de Ligne's.

There is nothing here worth attention, except a whole-length portrait of John Count of Nassau, by Vandyck. The head of this picture is engraved in Vandyck's book of portraits. The character and drawing are admirable; the face seems to have lost a little of its brilliancy. It is much in the manner of Lord Strafford's picture in the possession of the Duke of Grafton.

VANDYCK, OR COPY.- A picture of Minerva and Mercury, bridling or taming Pegasus. It appears to be a Vandyck, or a copy after him as it hangs between two windows, I could not determine which was the case.

VANDYCK.-A Pieta of Vandyck, in the manner of Rubens; the same as one at Dusseldorp, but not so good; and it is there disputed whether their picture is of Rubens or Vandyck. The Virgin's eyes are disagreeably red; the whole without beauty of any kind, except in regard to its colour.

D. RYCKAERT.-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.

RUBENS.-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.

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

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

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

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

REMBRANDT.-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.

MECHLIN.

The Cathedral.

RUBENS.-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 Altarpiece, which may be worth relating, as it shows Rubens's 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's touches.

Recollets.

VANDYCK.- 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 colour,