from his eyes; and in the countenances and attitudes of his figures, it is easy to perceive proofs of his sincerity, his goodness, and the depth of his devotion to the religion of Christ.

LUIS DE VARGAS entered upon the duties of his profession with a like holy fervour, and with a similar sense of its sacredness. He carried his religious or superstitious zeal to the extent of flagellating himself, and keeping a coffin by his bedside, that he might occasionally lie therein, and meditate on the vanity of life, and the certainty of death; seeking in this wise to approach the

grave

"Like one that draws the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

JUAN (or VICENTE) DE JOANES, another Spanish artist, whose tastes were also of a grave and austere character, entertained such elevated notions of the art he practised, that an act of solemn devotion was the customary prelude to his labours at the easel. Commissions of a secular character he declined to receive, but selected his subjects exclusively from revelation; and, says Cumberland, "as he gave them life, he gave them adoration." (F)

Painters, it must be confessed, have need to be sustained by self-respect, and by a strong conviction of the value, dignity, and importance of their art, when compelled to confront those who regard the creations of the mind much as they

ANGELICO DA FIESOLE.

85

had it been otherwise, he could hardly have failed to derive some amusement from the obvious uneasiness of the lady's husband, who was present at the interview, and who made all sorts of telegraphic signs to his wife to restrain the extreme freedom of her tongue; but Madame did not, or would not, pay the slightest attention to her lord and master's signals. After the King had taken his departure, M. Wolters communicated to Madame his shrewd suspicions of the real character and dignity of their visitor, having been apprised that Frederick William was at that moment in Amsterdam; and that his majesty maintained, as far as was practicable, his incognito. The monarch paid two more visits to the studio of Madame Wolters, for the purpose of admiring her works; but the lady did not permit her royal visitor to perceive that she suspected who he really was; nor, excepting a little more circumspectness in her conversation, did she alter her accustomed demeanour towards him.

So entirely did the pure-minded and self-denying Fra ANGELICO DA FIESOLE regard the art he practised, as an inspiration from on high, that he would never retouch a painting once finished, believing that the work as completed in the first essay, was executed conformably to the will of God. Devotional exercises invariably preceded the use of his pencil; and, according to Vasari, he never painted a crucifix without tears streaming

could not, and would not accede, pointing out the scale on which the pictures had been painted, and the pains bestowed upon them as a sufficient justification of his refusal, at the same time declaring his willingness to execute two other paintings of a less elaborate character for the forty crowns offered. The latter proposition was agreed to, and the artist, knowing the disposition of the man he had to deal with, and probably anticipating a second repudiation of the contract, painted, above the glaze of the canvasses already covered, a couple of landscapes in distemper. But the forty crowns were not forthcoming, and the painter sued his penurious patron for the amount, which the latter was adjudged to pay. Franck had not done with him, even then, and was determined to hold him to his first agreement, and to compel him to disgorge the further sum of one hundred crowns in fulfilment of the previous contract. The recusant patron pleaded, that inasmuch as the historical compositions had been covered by the landscapes, they could no longer be held to exist. Passing a wet sponge over the latter, Franck revealed to view a couple of exquisite historical paintings, for which the individual who had given the commission was forced to disburse the balance of sixty crowns.

Let us borrow from the "Annals of the Artists of Spain," a companion-piece to the above, the artist

JUAN DE LAS ROELAS.

89

in this instance being JUAN DE LAS ROELAS. "The Martyrdom of St. Andrew was originally painted for the chapel of the Flemings, at the college of St. Thomas, Seville; it was not completed within the time appointed, and was at last rather hastily finished, for which reasons the college authorities wished to mulct the artist of a part of the stipulated price of one thousand ducats. He, on the other hand, demanded twice that sum for his labour; and the dispute becoming serious, and no Sevillian artist being willing to act as umpire, the picture was sent to be valued in Flanders, whence it returned, says Palomino, with an award of three thousand ducats, which Roelas exacted to the uttermost maravedi."

CHAPTER IV.

Jealousy of Artists :-Titian's jealousy of Tintoretto and Pordenone; Pierino della Vaga and Titian; Castillo y Saavedra and Murillo; Claudio Coello and Luca Giordano; Domenico Veniziano and Andrea del Castagno; Harlow and Sir Thomas Lawrence; Hudson and Reynolds; expulsion from Naples of Annibale Caracci, Cesari, and Guido, by Belisario, Spagnoletto, and Caracciolo; Spagnoletto's jealousy of Domenichino and Stanzioni; Agostino Beltrano's murder of his wife; Ghirlandajo and Bandinelli's jealousy of Michael Angelo; Michael Angelo and Sebastiano del Piombo; Andrea di Cosimo and Puntormo; Barocci and his rivals; Calvi's jealousy of Bargone, Semini and Cambiaso; Vassilacchi and Paolo Veronese; Perugino and Michael Angelo; Sir Joshua Reynolds and Romney; Giorgione and Titian; Guido, Annibale Caracci and Caravaggio; Lodovico Caracci and Guido; Agostino and Annibale Caracci; Francisco de Herrera, the younger; Van Huysum; Van Cleef; Parrocel; Jean de Baan and the court painter; Bloemaert and Wytoeck; Flemael and Carlier; Lely and Roestraeten; Palomino and Hidalgo: Juan de Valdés Leal.

THE irritability of genius is a favourite subject of invective, with those who participate in the failing without sharing in the faculty which redeems it. From the morbid self-love, which underlies this irritability, and which not unfrequently developes itself in the character of the actor and the man of letters, we reluctantly confess that the artist is not altogether exempt. Elevated by the study and