Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/571

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In Holland. 541 principal work there is the Trial of Man by the Animals, a singular composition of fourteen compartments, the two largest of which are surrounded by the twelve smaller. Potter did not paint all these chapters himself : the his- tory of Actceon is by Poelenborch; that of flf. Hubert, perhaps, by Teniers; but the central panel belongs to Potter himself; it represents the Condemnation of Man by the Tribunal of Animals. A large Landscape, dated 1650, and another dated 1649, are more important pictures, and are entirely by Potter. Karel du Jardin (ab. 1625 — 1678), like Berchem, went to Italy for the completion of his studies, and, like him, he was imbued with something of the Italian spirit. The Amsterdam Museum has, among other works by him, a good Mounted Trumpeter and a Farmyard. In the Louvre is a Calvary, and the Italian Charlatans. The National Gallery has four works by this artist. Jacob van Ruysdael (ab. 1625 — 1682), the prince of Dutch landscape painters, was originally intended for the study of medicine, and received an education fitting the profession, which he is supposed to have practised for a short time. But his love of art prevailed, and he abandoned the pharmacopoeia in favour of the brush. His first instructor in art was his uncle, Salomon van Ruysdael. He is sup- posed to have afterwards studied under Berchem, with whom he was on intimate te^ms of friendship. If we seek in Ruysdael merely the imitation, the portraiture of nature, he is equalled, and, perhaps, even surpassed, in some tech- nical points, by Hobbema, Decker and a few others ; but it is the inner sentiment, the poetry of solitude, of silence, of mystery, which place him in the front rank alone. In the Museum of Amsterdam, are a Waterfall and a View