This page has been validated.
210
DIEPPE—DIERX
  

other occupation for the lucrative business of a draughtsman and designer for engravings. Most of Diepenbeck’s important canvases are in continental galleries. The best are the “Marriage of St Catherine” at Berlin and “Mary with Angels Wailing over the Dead Body of Christ” in the Belvedere at Vienna, the first a very fair specimen of the artist’s skill, the second a picture of more energy and feeling than might be expected from one who knew more of the outer form than of the spirit of Rubens. Then we have the fine “Entombment” at Brunswick, and “St Francis Adoring the Sacrament” at the museum at Brussels, “Clelia and her Nymphs Flying from the Presence and Pursuit of Porsenna” in two examples at Berlin and Paris, and “Neptune and Amphitrite” at Dresden. In all these compositions the drawing and execution are after the fashion of Rubens, though inferior to Rubens in harmony of tone and force of contrasted light and shade. Occasionally a tendency may be observed to imitate the style of Vandyck, for whom, in respect of pictures, Diepenbeck in his lifetime was frequently taken. But Diepenbeck spent much less of his leisure on canvases than on glass-painting. Though he failed to master the secrets of gorgeous tinting, which were lost, apparently for ever in the 16th century, he was constantly employed during the best years of his life in that branch of his profession. In 1635 he finished forty scenes from the life of St Francis of Paula in the church of the Minimes at Antwerp. In 1644 he received payment for four windows in St Jacques of Antwerp, two of which are still preserved, and represent Virgins to whom Christ appears after the Resurrection. The windows ascribed to him at St Gudule of Brussels were executed from the cartoons of Theodore van Thulden. On the occasion of his matriculation at Antwerp in 1638–1639, Diepenbeck was registered in the guild of St Luke as a glass-painter. He resigned his membership in the Artist Club of the Violette in 1542, apparently because he felt hurt by a valuation then made of drawings furnished for copperplates to the engraver Pieter de Jode. The earliest record of his residence at Antwerp is that of his election to the brotherhood (Sodalität) “of the Bachelors” in 1634. It is probable that before this time he had visited Rome and London, as noted in the work of Houbraken. In 1636 he was made a burgess of Antwerp. He married twice, in 1637 and 1652. He died in December 1675, and was buried at St Jacques of Antwerp.

DIEPPE, a seaport of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Seine-Inférieure, on the English Channel, 38 m. N. of Rouen, and 105 m. N.W. of Paris by the Western railway. Pop. (1906) 22,120. It is situated at the mouth of the river Arques in a valley bordered on each side by steep white cliffs. The main part of the town lies to the west, and the fishing suburb of Le Pollet to the east of the river and harbour. The sea-front of Dieppe, which in summer attracts large numbers of visitors, consists of a pebbly beach backed by a handsome marine promenade. Dieppe has a modern aspect; its streets are wide and its houses, in most cases, are built of brick. Two squares side by side and immediately to the west of the outer harbour form the nucleus of the town, the Place Nationale, overlooked by the statue of Admiral A. Duquesne, and the Place St Jacques, named after the beautiful Gothic church which stands in its centre. The Grande Rue, the busiest and handsomest street, leads westward from the Place Nationale. The church of St Jacques was founded in the 13th century, but consists in large measure of later workmanship and was in some portions restored in the 19th century. The castle, overlooking the beach from the summit of the western cliff, was erected in 1435. The church of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours on the opposite cliff, and the church of St Remy, of the 16th and 17th centuries, are other noteworthy buildings. A well-equipped casino stands at the west end of the sea-front. The public institutions include the subprefecture, tribunals of first instance and commerce, a chamber of commerce, a communal college and a school of navigation.

Dieppe has one of the safest and deepest harbours on the English Channel. A curved passage cut in the bed of the Arques and protected by an eastern and a western jetty gives access to the outer harbour, which communicates at the east end by a lockgate with the Bassin Duquesne and the Bassin Bérigny, and at the west end by the New Channel, with an inner tidal harbour and two other basins. Vessels drawing 20 ft. can enter the new docks at neap tide. A dry-dock and a gridiron are included among the repairing facilities of the port. The harbour railway station is on the north-west quay of the outer harbour alongside which the steamers from Newhaven lie. The distance of Dieppe from Newhaven, with which there has long been daily communication, is 64 m. The imports include silk and cotton goods, thread, oil-seeds, timber, coal and mineral oil; leading exports are wine, silk, woollen and cotton fabrics, vegetables and fruit and flint-pebbles. The average annual value of imports for the five years 1901–1905 was £4,916,000 (£4,301,000 for the years 1896–1900); the exports were valued at £9,206,000 (£7,023,000 for years 1896–1900). The industries comprise shipbuilding, cotton-spinning, steam-sawing, the manufacture of machinery, porcelain, briquettes, lace, and articles in ivory and bone, the production of which dates from the 15th century. There is also a tobacco factory of some importance. The fishermen of Le Pollet, to whom tradition ascribes a Venetian origin, are among the main providers of the Parisian market. The sea-bathing attracts many visitors in the summer. Two miles to the north-east of the town is the ancient camp known as the Cité de Limes, which perhaps furnished the nucleus of the population of Dieppe.

It is suggested on the authority of its name, that Dieppe owed its origin to a band of Norman adventurers, who found its “diep” or inlet suitable for their ships, but it was unimportant till the latter half of the 12th century. Its first castle was probably built in 1188 by Henry II. of England, and it was counted a place of some consideration when Philip Augustus attacked it in 1195. By Richard I. of England it was bestowed in 1197 on the archbishop of Rouen in return for certain territory in the neighbourhood of the episcopal city. In 1339 it was plundered by the English, but it soon recovered from the blow, and in spite of the opposition of the lords of Hantot managed to surround itself with fortifications. Its commercial activity was already great, and it is believed that its seamen visited the coast of Guinea in 1339, and founded there a Petit Dieppe in 1365. The town was occupied by the English from 1420 to 1435. A siege undertaken in 1442 by John Talbot, first earl of Shrewsbury, was raised by the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI., and the day of the deliverance continued for centuries to be celebrated by a great procession and miracle plays. In the beginning of the 16th century Jean Parmentier, a native of the town, made voyages to Brazil and Sumatra; and a little later its merchant prince, Jacques Ango, was able to blockade the Portuguese fleet in the Tagus. Francis I. began improvements which were continued under his successor. Its inhabitants in great number embraced the reformed religion; and they were among the first to acknowledge Henry IV., who fought one of his great battles at the neighbouring village of Arques. Few of the cities of France suffered more from the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685; and this blow was followed in 1694 by a terrible bombardment on the part of the English and Dutch. The town was rebuilt after the peace of Ryswick, but the decrease of its population and the deterioration of its port prevented the restoration of its commercial prosperity. During the 19th century it made rapid advances, partly owing to Marie Caroline, duchess of Berry, who brought it into fashion as a watering-place; and also because the establishment of railway communication with Paris gave an impetus to its trade. During the Franco-German War the town was occupied by the Germans from December 1870 till July 1871.

See L. Vitet, Histoire de Dieppe (Paris, 1844); D. Asseline, Les Antiquités et chroniques de la ville de Dieppe, a 17th-century account published at Paris in 1874.


DIERX, LÉON (1838–  ), French poet, was born in the island of Réunion in 1838. He came to Paris to study at the Central School of Arts and Manufactures, and subsequently settled there, taking up a post in the education office. He became a disciple of Leconte de Lisle and one of the most distinguished of the Parnassians. In the death of Stéphane Mallarmé in 1898 he was acclaimed “prince of poets” by “les jeunes.” His works include: Poèmes et poésies (1864);