CRATER, CASPAR DE, one of the moat distinguished Flemish historical painters, was born at Antwerp in 1582, and was instructed by Raffaelle, the son of Michael Cozies He first distinguished himself at Brussels, where ha painted /emend great altar-pieces, but he settled eventually at Ghent, where his greatest works are still preserved in the museum and in various churches: many of his works however are scattered over Germany and the Netherlands. Ho died at Ghent in 1669.
The works of Crayer, in their style, subjects, and dimensions, aro generally of the highest pretensions, and they are In a great degree successful, but yet are frequently formal and cold. Besides other great works, he painted at Ghent twenty-one large altar-pieces for the principal churches of that city, some of which, for their fuloess and dignity of subject, correct and occasionally vigorous design, and the judicious bestowal of extra care in the execution of their more Important parts, command high admiration, notwithstanding a very sensible coldness of effect and a certain formality of treatment. Even the gorgeous taste of Rubens is said to have been vividly impressed with the great merits of Crayer.
There are fourteen of his works in the museum of Ghent, com prising some of hi. principal pictures, as—' St. Rosalie crowned by the infant Christ ;' the ' Martyrdom of St. Maim; his last work, painted in hie eighty-slzth year; and three of the pictures painted for the triumphal arches erected at Ghent upon the occasion of the formal entry of Prince Ferdinand, Infant of Spain, Into Ghent, in 1625. One is Francis I. surrendering his sword to Lannoy after tho battle of Pavia in 1625; another, the descent of Charles V. upon the coast of Africa in his expedition against Tunis, ten years afterwards: the figures of these works are colossal, and they are slight in their execution, but at the same time remarkably vigorous and correct. There are a few works by Crayer in Spain, and he is supposed to have visited that country in the reign of l'hilip IF. Few of his great works have been engraved, and they have comparatively seldom been moved, being too large for the commerce of pictureedealers. The large altar piece of the 'Virgin and Child enthroned amongst angels and sur rounded' by saints,' in the gallery of Munich, about 19 feet long by 12 feet wide, and by no means one of the best of his works, cost, with the copy that was substituted in its place, 20,000 nix dollars. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who saw this picture in the gallery at Dassel dlorf. makes some severe but just observations upon it in his 'Journey to Flanders and Holland: It was painted in 1616, and the lower figures are portraits of Crayer and his family.
(Desaunse, Le Fie des Flamands, Am) CftERILLON, PROSPER JOLYOT DE, was born at Dijon in 1674, of an ancleut and noble family. lie was sent by his father to Pans to sandy the law, under a person named Prieur. The master and pupil were both attached to the theatre; and the former observing in Crebillon strong marks of a poetic genius, urged him to try his powers on a tragedy. Crebillon accordingly look the subject of the all ken of Brutus, which he carried to the who however rejected it in • manner so little flattering to the feelings of an author that he threw his manuscript into the fire, and gave up all thoughts of writing for the stage. l'rieur would not him to rernaiu in
this despondency, and the tragedy of 'Idomende: produced in 1707, was the fruit of his permissions. The fifth act did not at first please the audience, but an alteration was made, and the piece was perfectly successful In 1707 appeared his second piece, called 'Atr5e,' which is founded on the horrible incident of Atreus bringing to 'Thyestes a cup filled with the blood of his own sou. Prieur being in a declining state of health when this tragedy came out, was carried into a box : at the end of the representation he embraced Crebillan, and said, " I die contented; I have made you a poet, and I leave a man to the nation." The success of Atrde' was indeed very fair, but it was not until the production of Rhadamiste,' in 1711, that Crebillon's fame rose to its height, and it ie on this piece that it chiefly rests. After the production of this piece, Crebillon did not much increase hie reputation ; his 'Xerxes' (1714) and 'Semiramis' (1717) were not very aucces.ful ; and though ' Pyrrhus' (1726) was very well received, the author himself said ho was surprised, as it was " tho shadow of a tragedy, rather than a tragedy itself." He did not bring out any other piece for twenty-two years. The death of his wife, and certain pecuniary difficulties, weighed down his spirits to such an extent that he was incapable of writing. However, at the cud of that period he was allowed by the king a pension of 1000 francs, for which ha was indebted to the persuasions of Madame Pompadour, who was iustigated, it is said, by her hatred to Voltaire to benefit Crebillon, as these two authors were ,looked on as rivals in the drama. His tragedy of ' Catilina' was now advertised, and great. warn the expectations of the public ; the court were determined to patronise him, and the king himself furnished the requisite dresses. It was produced in 1749, and the applause was tumultuous. The public however on reading it began to retract their hasty praise, and it was objected that the tragedy was a very unfaithful picture of the manners of ancient Rome, a censure which ahould not be passed on Crebillon as peculiarly distinguiehing him from other authors of his school. 'Le Triumvirat' was produced when the author was eighty-one years of age and had but indifferent success; he also began another tragedy, called 'Cromwell,' about this time, which was never completed.
Crebillon died in 1762, and a erected to his memory in the church of St. Gervois, by the order of Louis XV. The French actors also caused a magnificent service to be celebrated in the church of St. Jean de Latran in honour of the veteran dramatist, at which nil the literati and most of the nobility of France attended.
Those who wish to know more of Crebillon may read a chapter on this author iu La Harpe's Coura de la Litt4rature: The chapter is a long one, and the extracts are so copious, and the reader's atteutiou is directed so pointedly to the remarkable passages that he may really learn more of Crebillon by reading that critique than by perusing the author's own works.