Rubens, the founder of the Flemish school, was an ac complished gentleman, and son of a senator of Antwerp in the end of the sixteenth century ; his works are so uni versally known, and his style of painting so calculated to please generally, that what we would say of hint has probably been already said an hundred times. So prolific was his pencil, that his works are to be found in every quarter, and so distinguished in brilliancy and imagination, as to attract a greater share of attention than the generali ty of pictures that may be presented in competition with them. His subjects are familiar, and remarkably attrac tive by the playful and hold composition, striking effect of light and shade, luxuriance of the richest colouring, and general air of blooming profusion of every thing that is calculated to catch the eye. Rubens neither studied the antique, nor the works of the great masters of Rome and Florence, the severity of whose style was, perhaps, ill suited to the festive and splendid tone of his imagination ; which was more in unison with the rich fancy of Paul Veronese, and the other masters of the Venetian school. The prevailing taste in the pictures of Rubens is so palpa ble and obvious as seldom to leave any doubt of their iden tity, and of course leads us to infer the charge of mannerism ; but that manner is of so playful and captivating a descrip tion, as rarely to pall upon the appetite,—particularly in the rosy freshness and exuberance of health and jollity, so manifest in the flesh and countenances of his figures ; which, however frequently repeated, have still the charm of novelty.
Of the learning of Michael Angelo, or the dignified grandeur of Coreggio, there is as little in the works of Rubens as of the pathetic modesty and grace of Raphael ; but there is the perfection of freedom, ease, and move ment, a sort of hey-day festivity, which beant,s in every countenance, and diffuses a charm over the whole scene. But it must be allowed, that this tone of gaiety is not un frequently at variance with that species of decorum we require in a picture ; there is often in the female figures a meretricious air, a sort of wreckless defiance of modesty and feminine diffidence, that is somewhat disparaging to the purity or dignity of the female character. In his bac chanalian subjects, for instance, in his troops of nymphs, loves, and satyrs, a degree of libertinism is, perhaps, con genial enough to the scene ; and flows from the pencil of Rubens with the careless and rapid facility of nature itself, as if bursting from such an overfloo ins*, source of exuber ant fancy as could never fail ; but still we feel disposed to yield, not without considerable reluctance, the unqualified admiration which the excellence of the execution would otherwise command. We feel conscious that the ribaldry of a drunken Silenus, accompanied by his lacsivious crew of satyrs, or the meretricious excitement of a bacchana lian group, are subjects upon which we regret to see such waste of talent. The characteristics of painting ought to be truth, grace, and dignity ; a certain degree of compo sure and gravity belongs to it, as consistent with its per manent nature ; sprightliness and gaiety, however charming for a moment, fatigue by being prolonged ; they become affectation, and the unskilful waste of an art directed to a nobler purpose. Painting is not adapted to the expres sion of sentiments that arc not such as can stand the test of deliberate and continued contemplation ; what pleases for a moment may soon grow contemptible if prolonged.
The knowledge of composition, and richness of fancy, pre-eminently displayed by Rubens in the fantastic variety of his allegorical groups, is another subject of admiration, the propriety of which we feel a little disposed to question. This species of composition, which is rarely if ever an elucidation of the subject, but more generally a revolting invasion of unintelligible fiction and absurdities,. however skilfully executed, abounds in the works of Rubens ; and particularly in that celebrated production of his pencil, meant as descriptive of the life of Mary of Medicis, in twenty-four separate pictures now in the Louvre. As spe cimens of art these performances are admirable; but so utterly enigmatical and perplexing are the crowd of per sonified passions, qualities, sentiments, and those cross readings that bewilder the mind, that the effort required to unravel the mystery, and pick out the real from the fictitious personages, becomes exceedingly irksome. For instance, take that magnificent picture, in which we see the gorgeous assembly of the whole gods of Olympus at tending the queen ; Jupiter and Juno are seen harnessing some doves to a globe, and placing the reins in the hands of Cupid, preceded by two female figures. Apollo, Mi nerva, Mars, and Venus, armed with their respective attri butes, are employed driving away three hideous figures,— and all this, we are told, means the government of Mary of Medicis. The same subject is somewhat more intelligibly treated in another of the pictures, where the majority of her son Louis the Twelfth is indicated by the queen plac ing the helm of a ship into his hands; only the ship's crew are a little ambiguous, and make us alarmed for the safety of the vessel, worked by such personages as the vir tues, with Good Faith, Justice, Religion, and Strength ; of all the company Fame, with her speaking trumpet, is the only one that seems to know her duty.
It is always dangerous to admit of arbitrary license in allegory. It ought, if suffered at all, to be conformable to the sort of received language of symbol, with which the expression of general ideas is, by a kind of tacit con sent, permitted to be conveyed, and never left to the in ventions of fancy. An abstract idea is not easily express ed by any visible sign ; it must he conveyed by the con ventional agreement of mankind, as in words ; without such agreement, no power of ingenuity could, for instance, understand the symbol of an armed woman, in the per son of Minerva, to mean wisdom, or of a strapping hunt ress to mean chastity. There are, no doubt, some of the ancient Greek symbols that possess great elegance, and may be introduced with a very felicitous effect in pictures; conveying the idea required in a more terse and elegant manner than it is, perhaps, capable of in any other way ; but it is a venture which requires very delicate handling. The Greek gems are full of those elegant allegories, and among modern painters Poussin has been the most suc cessful in this branch of invention ; of which his allego rical representation of the Nile is a happy instance, where he hides the head of his figure among the reeds, in order to indicate our ignorance of the source of that river. Ano ther painter treats the same subject, but has the clumsy idea of setting a group of little cupids to stretch a veil over the head of the figure.