HKB
Gustave Courbet (French: 1819-1877).
Courbet is famous in the history of modern French painting as the first of the "realists"; he is the Caravaggio of France, full of force and vigour, but often somewhat coarse and brutal. His landscapes and seapieces will probably be esteemed more highly by posterity than his realistic works. He was, says Dr. Muther, "the first French painter of sea-pieces, who had a feeling for the sombre majesty of the sea. His very quietude is expressive of majesty; his peace is imposing, his smile grave; and his caress is not without a menace." Courbet was a revolutionary in politics, as in art. In September 1870 he was appointed Director of the Fine Arts by the Provisional Government, and he afterwards joined the Commune. He was instrumental in saving many works of art, but he ordered the destruction of the Column in the Place Vendôme. For this he was brought before a court-martial and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Afterwards, in a civil action, he was cast in heavy damages; his furniture and pictures were sold; and he retired to Switzerland. He died at La Tour, Vevay, a ruined man.
Mabuse (Flemish: about 1470-1541). See 656.
This famous picture was acquired for the National Gallery from Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle, in 1911, for £42,776.[262] The picture was painted in about the year 1500 for the Abbey of Grammont in East Flanders. In 1600 it was bought for 2000 florins by the Archduke Albert to decorate the high altar of the Court Chapel in Brussels. A story which is recorded of it in those days is a tribute to its bright attractiveness. During Lent it used to be concealed by the hanging in front of it of a picture of the Crucifixion as less likely to interfere with the penitential thoughts proper to the season. In the 18th century the picture passed into the collection of Prince Charles of Lorraine, Governor-General of the Netherlands, and thence into that of the fifth Earl of Carlisle. For more than a century it remained at Castle Howard, and many connoisseurs who saw it there wrote of it as one of the chief art-treasures of Great Britain. "I do not think," wrote W. Bürger (Thoré), "that there is anywhere else a picture by Mabuse so brilliant, so well preserved, so capital as the Adoration of the Kings, belonging to the Earl of Carlisle." "For variety of character, glow of colour, and finished execution, quite unsurpassed," said Mrs. Jameson of it.
The pride of the artist himself in his work is shown by the fact that he has signed his name upon it in two places--i.e. on the head-dress of Balthasar, the black king, and on the metal collar of his attendant. The signature Jennin Gossart (diminutive, Little John), was that under which Mabuse was inscribed as a member of the Guild of St. Luke at Antwerp. In the history of Flemish art the picture is of interest as one of the last works painted before the "Italianising" influence became marked. It is one of the finest specimens of Mabuse's first period (see under 656); but it will be noticed that the architecture of the ruin is no longer Gothic, but already shows the influence of the Renaissance. The picture is after 400 years in perfect preservation. It has an artistic unity, for the parts are subordinated to the whole; but it is full of incident, which adds not a little to its attractiveness and curious interest.