Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/279

VAN DER MEER strnction in painting from Gilbert Stuart, and in 1796 visited Paris, where he studied five years. He again resided in Europe in 1803-'15, and painted "The Murder of Jane McOrea by the Indians," "Ariadne," a picture very cele- brated in its time, and "Marius Sitting among the Ruins of Carthage," which received the gold medal at the Paris exhibition of 1808. After his second return to America, he painted portraits of Madison, Monroe, Clinton, and Calhoun. He was long engaged in superin- tending the exhibition of panoramic views in a building called the rotunda, erected by himself in the city hall park, New York, which involved him in pecuniary difficulties. Among his re- maining pictures are a portrait of Washington for the hall of representatives at Washington, and " The Landing of Columbus," painted for one of the compartments of the rotunda in the national capitol. His last work was a portrait of President Taylor. VAN DER MEER. I. Jan, the elder, a Dutch painter, born about 1625, died about 1685. He studied in Utrecht and Rome, and became dean of the painters in Amsterdam. He painted the portrait of the prince of Orange, who ap- pointed him comptroller of canal tolls. He excelled in landscapes, sea pieces, and battles, and was distinguished by a brilliancy of color- ing not unlike that of Claude Lorraine. II. Jan, the younger, son of the preceding, born in Haarlem about 1660, died there about 1704. He was a successful follower of Berghem. His works are seldom to be met with out of Hol- land. The best is a "View of the Rhine." VAN DER MEULEN. See METJLEN. VANDERVELDE, or Vandevelde. I. Adrian, a Dutch painter, born in Amsterdam in 1639, died there in 1672. He excelled in figures, and was frequently employed by Ruysdael, Hobbema, Van der Heyden, and other artists, to complete their pictures. II. Willem, the elder, a Dutch painter, born in Leyden in 1610, died in London in 1693. He was so distin- guished by his drawings of sea fights that the states of Holland provided him with a small vessel for the purpose of following the Dutch fleets and illustrating their manoeuvres. In 1675 he was invited by Charles II. to England, and w.as appointed painter of sea fights to the king, with a pension of 100, which was con- tinued by James II. III. Willem, the younger, son of the preceding, born in Amsterdam in 1633, died in London, April 6, 1707. He suc- ceeded his father as marine painter to the king of England, where his pictures are chief- ly owned. He was unrivalled in storm pieces. VAN DIEMEBPS LAND. See TASMANIA. VANDYKE, or Van Dyck, Sir Anthony, a Flemish painter, born in Antwerp, March 22, 1599, died in London, Dec. 9, 1641. He was the most illustrious pupil of Rubens, and finally surpassed him in elegant portrait painting. After visiting England, he went in compliance with the advice of Rubens to Venice, and thence to Genoa and Rome. In both cities he VANDYKE 259 received abundant commissions for portraits, and in the latter produced a fine head of Cardi- nal Bentivoglio, esteemed one of his master- pieces, besides many altarpieces. In 1627 he returned to Antwerp with a high reputation, and soon after executed for the church of the Augustinians there a celebrated picture repre- senting St. Augustine in ecstasy, supported by angels. For the next five years he was busily employed by ecclesiastical establishments and private patrons in the Netherlands ; and to this period may be ascribed numerous " Cruci- fixions" and "Pietas," impressed with that character of profound sorrow for which he has always been distinguished. Preeminent among them is his altarpiece of the crucifixion in the cathedral at Mechlin, which Reynolds pronounced " one of the finest pictures in the world." The close imitation of Rubens which at first characterized his works was now re- placed by a peculiar style in which graceful- ness of contour, softness of coloring, and an expression of a deeper and more touching emotion are the distinguishing traits. But his greatest reputation was won by his portraits, which probably led to his being in 1632 in- vited by Charles I. to England. Soon after his arrival he was knighted, and in 1633 a life pension of 200 was granted to him. " He always," says a contemporary writer, " went magnificently dressed, had a numerous and gallant equipage, and kept so good a table in his apartment that few princes were more visited or better served." Excessive applica- tion (it is said that he frequently painted a portrait in a day) and a too lavish indulgence in dissipation, together with the anxieties caused by a search for the philosopher's stone, rapidly undermined his health ; and with the desire of repairing his shattered fortunes, he proposed to the king to paint the walls of the banqueting room at Whitehall, but died be- fore completing the bargain for the work. The number of works of all classes attributed to him is enormous, in view of his short life, and of the circumstances under which the last ten years of it were passed. The best of his por- traits are in England, prominent specimens be- ing his several portraits of Charles I., those of the earls of Straff ord and Pembroke, and many others in the collections at Windsor castle, Hampton court, Blenheim, Althorp, and other famous seats. There are also many in the gal- leries of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. A series of 100 small portraits in chiaroscuro of the most eminent of his contemporaries, from which etchings have been made, was executed by him in Antwerp, and is very celebrated. His long lost "Madonna with the Child" is said to have been discovered in 1875 in a Ger- man cloister by the Flemish painter George van Haanen. He was buried in St. Paul's cathedral, near the tomb of John of Gaunt. See "Memoir of Sir A. Van Dyck," with a descriptive catalogue of his etchings, by W. H. Carpenter (4to, London, 1844).