LUCAS, JOHN SEYMOUR (1849-1923), English painter, was born in London, and was a student in the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected A.R.A. in 1886 and R.A. in 1898, and was a constant exhibitor of pictures of historical and domestic inci dents, notably of the Tudor and Stuart periods. One of his most important works is a panel in the Royal Exchange, presented by the corporation of London, representing William the Conqueror granting the first charter to the city; and one of his earlier pictures, "After Culloden: Rebel Hunting," is in the National Gallery of British Art. He died at Southwold on May 8, 1923. LUCAS VAN LEYDEN (c. Dutch painter, was born at Leiden, where his father Huig Jacobsz gave him the first lessons in art. He then entered the painting-room of Cornelis Engelbrechtszen of Leiden. According to van Mander he was born in 1494, and painted at the age of 12 a "Legend of St.
Hubert," for which he was paid a dozen florins. He was only 14 when he finished a plate representing Mohammed taking the life of Sergius, the monk, and at is he produced a series of nine plates for a "Passion," a "Temptation of St. Anthony," and a "Con version of St. Paul." The list of his engravings in 1510 includes subjects as various as a celebrated "Ecce Homo," "Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise," a herdsman and a milkmaid with three cows and a "Woman with a Dog." In Diirer's diary kept during his travels in the Low Countries, we find that at Antwerp he met Lucas, who asked him to dinner. He exchanged the Dutchman's prints for his own and drew his portrait (British Museum). The effect of this contact with the great German artist is traceable in Lucas' drawings. In 1527 he made a tour of the Netherlands, giving dinners to the painters of the gilds of Middleburg, Ghent, Malines and Antwerp. The
journey ruined his health ; after a long illness he died in 1533.
After Darer, Lucas was the most important engraver of his time. Existing engravings ascribed to him number 172. He also designed a number of woodcuts, and some 20 pictures by him are in public and private collections. Early works are "The Chess Players" in the Berlin museum ; the "Death of John the Bap tist" in the Johnson collection, Philadelphia. These are works of a beginner. Then follow the paintings in a more fluent style:— "St. Jerome" and "The Virgin Enthroned" in Berlin; the "Card Players" at Wilton House and a portrait in the National Gallery.
In 1522 he painted the "Virgin and Child with the Magdalen and a Kneeling Donor," now in the gallery of Munich. His manner was then akin to that of Mabuse. The "Last Judgment" in the town-gallery of Leiden is composed on the traditional lines yet some of the heads are painted with great delicacy and modelled with exquisite feeling. His last important work was a triptych now at the Hermitage at Leningrad (St. Petersburg), executed, accord ing to van Mander, in 1531, representing the "Blind Man of Jericho healed by Jesus Christ." Here may be observed great finish and warm flesh-tints with a gaudy scale of colours. It has been said that Lucas van Leyden was the greatest of the Dutch artists who laid the foundation of the 17th century Dutch painting.
See Sir Martin Conway, The Van Eycks and their Followers (1921) ; M. Freidlander, Lucas van Leyden (1924) ; and Van Eyck bis Brueghel (1921).