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188 Route 13. ANTWERP. Royal Museum:
From the entrance-hall (p. 186) a portal leads to the Srarrcass
(Vestibule De Keyser), the walls of which are clad with Belgian
coloured marble. In the centre is a large bronze vase (No. 1516),
by Drake, with reliefs from the monument of Frederick William 11.
in the Tiergarten at Berlin. To the right, 1294. Ch. van der Stappen,
David, a marble statue; to the left, no number, J. Dillens, An angel
(marble statue). — The chief decorations, newriey er, are the paint-
ings by Nicaise de Keyser on the upper walls, executed in 1866
and transferred hither from the old Museum in the Academy (p. 182).
These represent, in the fashion of Delaroche’s Hemicycle in Paris,
the glories of the Antwerp School of Art (best viewed from the top
of the staircase).
The first floor contains the picture-gallery, which includes over
800 examples of the old masters and about 550 modern paintings.
The **Gollection of Old Masters, many of the works in which have
been collected from the suppressed monasteries and churches of
Antwerp, while others have been brought hither from the Hotel
de Ville and the Steen, may claim to be the most important gallery
in Holland for the works of Rubens and his school. But also the
collection of works of the early-Flemish school is ample and ex-
cellent. thanks mainly to the bequest of gomaster van Ertborn
(p. 189). Many of the Dutc b Mi vin tings were bequeathed by the
Baroness van den Hecke-Baut (1859). Specially noteworthy are the
following : the small Madonna oe 14 ; ; p. 189) and the St. Barbara,
by Jan van Eyck (No. 410; p. 189); the Seven Sacraments, ascribed
to Roger van der Weyden aS 393-395; p 4189); the large work
by Memling (Nos. 778-780; p. 191); and the Heads of Christ and
the Madonna (Nos. 241, 119. ; a 489) and the Entombment (No. 245;
p. 194) by Quinten Matsys papene the numerous specimens of
Rubens we may especially mention the Portraits of Burgomaster
Rockox and his wife (Nos. 308, 310, p. 1492; wings of a St. Thomas
altar-piece), Christ and the two M: alefactors (No. 297; p. 192), the
Sona 300-303 ; p. 193), the Communion of St. Troneinigh . 305 ;
. 195), the Prodigal Son (No. 781; p.193), and St. Theresa(No. 299;
94). The finely coloured Piet’ by Van Dyck es 404; p. 194) )
ae the St. Norbert by Cornelis de Vos (No. 107; p. 192) should not
be overlooked. The gem of the Dutch works is the so-called Strand-
looper van Haarlem, usually attributed to Frans Hals (No. 188 ;
p. 495). The number of other than Netherlandish pictures is very
limited ; conspicuous among them are a Crucifixion by Antonello da
Messina (No. 4; p. 190) and Fr. Clouet’s Portrait of Francis I.
(No. 33; p. 189).
We first enter Room J: Ceremonial-pieces (Nos. 20, 22) by Zh.
Boeyermans, four portraits (Nos. 109, 110, 660, 661) by Cornelis
de Vos, to the left a sketch (No. 799; comp. p. 340) by Jordaens,
and other works.
We turn to the
right into — |