Paintings by Old MastersAuthor(s): C. N.Source: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 67, No. 388 (Jul., 1935), pp. 40-41Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/866275 .

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Shorter Notices

Byzantine world-a link which is parallel to and con- temporary with that we have already alluded to be- tween the more refined arts of Russia proper and Constantinople.

What little is known of Christian painting in the Cau- casus-at Ani, Tekor, Achthamar and elsewhere-- shows that the eastern Byzantine style had penetrated there at an early date, probably as early as the eighth or ninth century, and recent investigations undertaken by the author at, and in the region of, Trebizond throw further light on the problem. There, in the monastery of Sumela, are some paintings which are not only obviously linked with those of the eastern Byzantine style, but which are also definitely similar to the " pre- Mongol " work in Russia. The dates of these paintings are uncertain, but there are grounds for believing them to be of early date, and if they have been restored, the repaintings have followed the originals very closely.' An Archangel is reproduced here [PLATE A] for com- parison with pre-Mongol painting, or with such an icon as the Golden-haired Angel [PLATE B].

On the grounds of these paintings it is tempting to suggest that a definite school existed in the Caucasus, inspired from Cappadocia, but also having certain characteristics of its own, and that it was the influence of this school that was to a great extent responsible for the " pre-Mongol " style in Russia. Both Professor Anisimov's suppositions are thus probably correct, though the two independent influences produced work of distinct styles. If painting developed at all along the same lines as architecture and sculpture, we should expect to find the manifestations of Caucasian influence most to the fore in the Vladimir district, for Alpatov, developing Strzygowski's suggestions, has shown that the exterior decoration of such churches as Vladimir (1158) and Juriev Polskij (1230) was influenced from Armenia and the East, perhaps by way of Trebizond.5 The influence spread far, however, for the frescoes at Starya Ladoga, dated to i i8o, in the very north of Russia, are in the same manner.6 D. TALBOT RICE

4 These paintings will be fully published by Professor Gabriel Millet and the author in the near future.

5 op. cit. pp. 261 ff, and also in an article " Les reliefs de la Ste. Sophie de Tribizonde, Byzantion [1927-28], IV, pp. 407 ff.

6 GRABAR : History of Russian Art (in Russian), Moscow [19i4], Vol. VI, pp. 132 ff and figs.

The Angel on Plate B is reproduced from Muratov's Les Icones Russes.

PAINTINGS BY OLD MASTERS.-The Exhibition at Colnaghi's is dominated by two very little known and remarkable portraits by Holbein and Rogier van der Weyden: the first, a large panel representing Mary, Lady Gudeford (1527) [PLATE A], appears as completing in one composition the well-known portrait of Sir Henry Guildford (more properly Gudeford), its companion piece at Windsor. The continuation of such architectural details as the curtain rod with the figures set back and divided by the pillar and curtain shows this in much the same way as in the portraits of Jacob Meyer and Dorothea Kannengiesser painted eleven years earlier at Basel. The black hood behind the head makes a lively contrast to the subtle modelling of the flesh tones, while the fine drawing of the hands and sleeve marks the superiority of this original over the smaller copy in the Metropolitan Museum ; the curious surface quality of the craquelure in the flesh tones is another argument in favour of the authenticity of the Lady Elizabeth Vaux at Prague, a

picture which has been lately much improved by cleaning.

Of the other pictures, the Madonna and Child with St. John, attributed to Botticelli, appears from the harsh red and green draperies and greenish flesh tones, to represent rather the studio version of one of the master's later compositions-though the Titian, a Magdalen, lent from the Gutekunst Collection, shows in the fine landscape every trace of the master's own touch, if less brilliantly than does the Hermitage version.

The Portrait of a Man, by Rogier van der Weyden [PLATE B], is in its simplicity perhaps the finest thing in the exhibition. The composition is still Eyckian, but the left cheek, eye and mouth have the more sculptural properties of Van der Weyden and remind one in their cutting of such portraits by Tura as that lent by Lord Duveen to the exhibition at Ferrara. The device " je he ce que mord " is borne out by the prickling Gothic quality of the exquisite holly spray on the reverse. c. N.

FIFTY YEARS OF PORTRAITS.-The exhibition of portraits at the Leicester Galleries covering the years 1885-1935 is of exceptional interest. It is drawn from all schools and countries, and includes such stylistic extremes as, for example, Gerald Brockhurst and Pablo Picasso. That is to say, the exhibition gives us an opportunity not only of tracing the evolution of the art of portrait painting during the last fifty years, but of observing that actually there is no connected development of any kind, but only various individual methods of interpretation. More than any other kind of art, portrait-painting necessarily involves psychological values, and is there- fore a test of other than purely formal qualities in an artist. Yet how triumphantly a formal artist like Cezanne comes out of the test-the self-portrait lent by Lord Ivor Churchill being one of the most powerful works in the exhibition. We have not space to mention more than one or two of the 148 exhibits, but Le petit paysan en bleu, painted in 1882, is a rare and revealing example of Seurat's art; Lafemme rousse shows Toulouse- Lautrec in a strangely tender mood; whilst the Self- portrait of Renoir, lent by M. Pierre Renoir [PLATE], painted in 1897 and not previously exhibited or published, is a self-statement which we would willingly take as the ideal representation of this modern master.

AN EXHIBITION OF FLEMISH PRIMITIVES. -The Exhibition at Messrs. Tomas Harris's proves once more how rich still is the Iberian Peninsular in fine early Flemish pictures, since most of the paintings shown came from Spain or Portugal during the last fifteen years. The period represented is that of the later fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century, that is about I480-I540. We would notice especially the Seven Deadly Sins signed by Hieronymus Bosch, a fine small Pietd by Gerard David, the already famous Vision of S. Ildefonso by Isenbrandt (formerly in the Northbrook Collection) a Christ by Albert Bouts, the Portrait of Adolf van Cleve by the Magdalen Master, the Card-players by Lucas van Leyden, and a large landscape by Patinier with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, the figures being by a lesser master. Most interesting is an Adoration of the Kings by an unknown follower of Hugo van der Goes. [PLATE.] But perhaps the two most attractive panels are the Rest on the Flight into

Egyp.] and Mary and the Holy

Women at the Tomb, by Quentin Metsys, from a great altarpiece, formerly in Portugal, dedicated to the Life of

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A-PORTRAIT OF LADY GUDEFORD, BY HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER. PANEL, 83.8 BY 66 CM. (MESSRS. P. & D.

COLNAGHI & CO.)

B-PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH A BOOK, BY ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN. PANEL, 33 BY 23.4 cm. (MESSRS. P. & D. COLNAGHI & CO.)

SHORTER NOTICES: PAINTINGS BY OLD MASTERS

SELF-PORTRAIT, BY PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, 1897.

CANVAS, 33 BY 40.6 CM. (M. PIERRE RENOIR)

SHORTER NOTICES: FIFTY YEARS OF PORTRAITS

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI, BY A FOLLOWER OF HUGO VAN DER GOES. PANEL, 121 BY 99 CM. (MESSRS. TOMAS HARRIS, LTD.)

SHORTER NOTICES: AN EXHIBITION OF FLEMISH PRIMITIVES

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