FLEMISH ART

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 23 April 1927, Page 17

FLEMISH ART

OLD WORLD WOMEN. There are. times when one is tempted to cry out that painting began and ended* with the early Flemish artists. Certainly actual representation of things was never better done. Never were textures, of stuffs-, metals, and jewels iso exquisitely painted; and never surely were there richer or, more lovely textures to -paint than those reproduced in the 15th century pictures exhibited at Burlington House, London. (‘‘Textiles, you mean,’’ said a friend, kindly). Velvet of a warm bright rrd, or deep crimson, who,to soft silky pile, such as ■one’s fingers almost feel, is cut in Florentine designs. Or there is plain purple velvet gone rather shabby and “'antique” in tone from honest wear and tear; or black velvet, whose fierce black makes mere night seem, am amateurish darkness. These, are everywhere, and they are j’ukh the people’s clothes, or their hangings, painted perfectly to 'the last stitch.

Gold, too, was woven in many ways. There are black and gold pineapple patterns; pomegranates in red and gold velvet brocade ; broad, plain, gold borders, or those sewn with coloured stones and pearls. Each pearl is a perfect globe of creamy light, and for further lightness there are headdress wings of white gauze, delicately transparent. ■ We enjoy these riches all the more because they aye painted with a. certain austerity. Clean outlines betray the true severe Gothic spirit, and give ps the same satisfaction that we get from its architecture. (The above is written by Claire Stuart Worlty, in the. “Daily Mail.”) .Such lovely colour makes us feel a

little less -proud of being so content with hedge, wool crepe. It is just possible that this, exhibition may influence present fashions. One might seek long before finding any link between' these. Flemish ladies and ourselves, but there is one. It refers to our coiffure. Those wonderfully high foreheads of theirs were not quite natural; they were .assisted by the judicious plucking out or other removal of hair. They shaved their foreheads and we. shave our necks, hut the underlying principle is- the same. Women, as nature made her, is obviously unsatisfactory, and then, as now, something had to be done about- it. These, marvellous clothes were not worn by everyone. Laws were actually passed to. secure the great lady from being -imitated by her tradespeople, and a quaint-detail is the little black velvet loop worn on the forehead and called a frontlet, which Mr Calthrop says was donncd~by those having £lO or, more; a year. We are far too reserved about these things nowadays—perhaps because of our income tax. But what of the women inside the clothes ? Tneyitablv one is struck by their passivity, their stillness. Of course, they were* inactive. 'Movement would have been difficult in those very long and gorgeous gowns: also they led -a restricted life in their houses. The world outside .was full of fighting— either nobles’ quarrels or civil wars. Perhaps that ' was why calm and order iseemed to the poor Flemings the; best vision of paradise. It is true these women represent the Virgin, or saints, but they need not therefore, have been still. There are many gestures of adoration a saint can make. No. it was their nature to be calm, and it is in this calm that one must find the poetry of these pictures. It is as if bodily inaction had bred in them, a habit of meditation, of contemplating inner visions—a thing of which we, who rush from .sport to sport, know very little. The eyes of the N.ieuweuhove Madonna, by Memlinc, are downcast, and she is* strangely’"withdrawn. So is St. Barbara opposite. In another a coroneted saint sits on the with her hands folded on air open book, simply gazing at space; and the Madonna of Seven Sorrows (by Isenbrandt) sits on a darkl throne with folded hands and eyes almost closed, thinking—thinking! Taken singly, these women may seem expressionless. Taken collectively, their contemplative force, is overwhelming. There are. however, one or two de-

lightful worldlings to be found among the portraits. Mr Rockefeller’s richly dressed “Elderly Woman” lias the humorous and inviting -simile of the; perfect hostess, whereas Van Eyck’s wife

gazes upon the would with the suburb indifference of one who is thinking only of her household affairs. Household gear, of a modest kind, by the way, is delightfully shown in the Miracles of St. Nicholas, and later on we see fine round pewter plates, -such -as collectors love, used -at the marriage feast of the painter. Frans Pourbus. The big room is full of lovely Van Dycks. Here we see that the modern principle of -selection had arrived, in painting a-s in life—that of choosing out beauty, rather tlia-n piling it up. The clothes are-just as rich, but simpler and softer, less oppressively gorgeous. The whole is like Flemish art itself, a marvellous assembling of great riches, finely ordered -and displayed with perfect ‘ calm. Memory cannot cope with such abundance of beauty. Everyone departs vowing to- return.