The pleasing
variety of some of the more handsome buildings is due to the competition
for large premiums offered for the finest facades. The resemblance of
Brussels to Paris is perhaps more apparent in the cafes, shops, and
public amusements along the busy boulevards. West of the Royal Palace is
the picture gallery owned by the state, and by judicious and repeated
purchases, the collection of pictures is considered superior to that of
the famous gallery in Antwerp. In this gallery the two young artists
spent several pleasant half-days comparing the early Flemish and Dutch
schools. Especially did they study portrait work by Rubens, Frans Hals,
and Van der Helst. All the work by the blacksmith artist Quinten Matsys
in color or iron proved of great interest to the young Americans.
Finally Leo, who knew much of the old masters of Europe, took Alfonso to
see the Musee Wiertz, which contains all the works of a highly gifted and
eccentric master. In a kind of distemper Wiertz painted Napoleon in the
Infernal Region, Vision of a Beheaded Man, A Suicide, The Last Cannon,
Curiosity, and Contest of Good and Evil, Hunger, Madness and Crime, etc.
As Brussels is located near the center of Belgium, the city is very
convenient to several cities that contain many works attractive to
painters and architects.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241