ST. CHARLES BORROMEO. VAN OOST, THE ELDER. THE subject of this picture is purely historical. St. Charles Borromeo was named Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, at the age of twenty-three. In that dignified situation he was the pattern of every virtue. Anxious to assist one of his flock in his last moments, he learnt that the plague had broken out in the neighbour hood of Milan, and threatened desolation to the city. He returned thither immediately, and administered to those committed to his care all the aid of humanity and the consolation of religion, devoting himself incessantly to prayer, and the relief of the sick; soliciting the Almighty to spare the people, and to take him as the only victim. A little time after that epoch, he had the felicity to perceive the calamity cease. This historical event has often been the subject of painting, and presents to artists abundant materials for the display of their genius. The picture of Van Oost is deserving of particular esteem. This painter, who acquired much celebrity in his own country, which he ornamented by various productions of his pencil, holds a very distinguished rank among the masters of the Flemish school. The arrangement of the figures in this picture is at once dignified and simple. In the attitude, and in the expression of the sick, there is that mixture of physical suffering, and of piety, which the subject prescribes, but which it is difficult properly to express. Nothing can be more interesting than the figure of St. Borromeo, who with one hand endeavours to protect himself against the pestilential vapour, and with the other restrains a young infant from rushing into the bosom of its mother, who has just expired. The view of this group recalls to the recollection that very celebrated picture of the Grecian painter, Aristides, of which Pliny has furnished us with the description. This artist has represented a female mortally wounded, in an attack upon a city, who endeavours to withdraw the child from creeping to her bosom, under an apprehension that the infant will imbibe her blood with her milk. This incident gave rise to a very beautiful Greek epigram, which has been thus elegantly translated: Suck, little wretch, whilst yet thy mother lives, The vigorous colouring of this picture we shall attempt to describe. It possesses no extraordinary brilliancy, which manifests the judgment of the author, and is befitting the austerity of history, and the tenderness of the subject. The stole of the revered archbishop is of a lively red; but the tints of his capuchin, which are of violet, verging upon slate colour, and those of his white sleeves are softened by broad demi-tints. The habit of the sick person, who is on the point of receiving the viaticum, is brown, and a part of the apparel of the woman beside him is of the same colour. The woman ST. CHARLES BORROMEO. has beside a green drapery. In the fore ground the colours are more full, without appearing over vivid. The artist has observed the same rule for the draperies, red and green, of the dead woman; for the blue mantle of the man, of whom only the shoulders are seen, and the linen spread over the body of the infant, who has just fallen a victim to the contagion. Van Oost was born at Bruges, in 1600, and attached himself to the style of Annibal Caracci, whom he imitated in such a manner, as to surprize the most able connoisseurs at Rome. He possessed many of the accomplishments of a great painter. His touch and his colouring were good. He introduced but few figures in his designs, to avoid incumbering his subject; and he disposed them with a great deal of skill and elegance, giving them such draperies as were simple and natural. He designed in a good taste; his style resembling that of Annibal; yet it was less charged than the designs of that master usually are. In his carnations, his colouring was fresh and like nature; but he is not so commendable in the colour of his drapery, which is sometimes so broken, as to give the stuffs an appearance of hardness. He understood perspective and architecture extremely well; and as he was not fond of painting landscapes, (though occasionally he painted well,) he ornamented his back ground, most frequently, with buildings, columns, arches, and different pieces of architecture, which gave his composition a grand effect. The most admired picture of Van Oost, is in the church of the Jesuits, at Bruges; the subject of it is, |
