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Ixxx ART IN BELGIUM AND HOLLAND.
half of the century, which are to be found in the Municipal collection
and the Fodor Museum at Amsterdam, in the Teyler Museum at Haar-
lem, and in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam, and elsewhere. The
carefully studied works of the landscape painters Andreas Schelfhout
(1787-1870) and Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (4803-62) and of the
marine painter Joh. Christianus Schotel (1787-1838) are fairly num-
erous in Germany aswell as in Holland; and a considerable vogue
was enjoyed also by the genre scenes and costume pictures of Hu-
bertus van Hove (1814-67), David Bles (4824-99), Alenander Hugo
Bakker-Korff (4824-82) and their companions, which recall some-
times Leys, sometimes Meissonier or Stevens, and sometimes seem
to derive direct from Vermeer or De Hooch. Josef Israéls (b. 1824),
since Menzel’s death the Nestor and doyen of European painters, be-
longs to this circle. With the brothers Maris, Mauve, and others
who were contemporaries at The Hague shortly before 1870, he
founded the Hague School. Israéls was the first great modern Dutch
painter and he has remained the greatest. Though far inferior to the
Frenchman Millet in draughtsmanship, he equals him in depth of
feeling and excels him in the representation of light. No one has
more touchingly depicted helplessness, weariness, and heartache. The
subject and still more the title of his ‘Alone in the World’ (Amster-
dam Museum) have been criticized as ‘literary’, but what poet could
have more poignantly realized the significance of that phrase? We
must pause a little before passing from these scenes from the life of
the fishing-village and the ghetto, with their almost Scriptural at-
mosphere, to the works of the other masters of The Hague. The
oldest of these, Johannes Bosboom (4817-91), also was highly success-
ful in representations of the lighting of interiors, but he is deficient
in the deeper human interest. The brothers Maris are significant
figures in art, full of delight in the beauty of their country, full of
poesy and delicate sense of colour. Jacob Maris (1887-99), the oldest
brother, delighted in painting the great windmills of Holland, the
canals in the Dutch towns, and coast- scenes, but he produced also
Some charming interiors with figures, such as the Waiting-woman
(at Rotterdam). Willem Maris (b. 1844), the youngest brother, affects
sunlit landscapes, enlivened with cattle or other animals. Matthys
Maris (b. 1839) strongly resembled Jacob in his earlier paintings, but
not much of his work is to be seen in Holland for in 1877 he settled
permanently in London, where he produces fairy scenes, glowing in
colour. Not unlike Willem Maris is Anton Mauve (4838-88), who
also paints landscapes with sheep or cattle, but in a softer key and
in a mistier atmosphere. The influences both of Israéls and of the
Maris may be detected in the works of Adolf Arts (1837-90), painter
of interiors, who is represented in the Ryks Museum by a charming
Orphanage Scene with delicate light effects; Albert Neuhuys (b. 1844),
whose favourite subjects are offective interiors with children; Bern-
ardus Blommers (b. 1845), another excellent painter of children, |