sant reminiscences of Titian still
appear in such work, as in the often-used motif of baby angels; but in
the subjects of the Crucifixion and the Pieta, he stands quite apart.
These works are distinctly his own, and show genuine dramatic power.

During this Flemish period Van Dyck was appointed court painter by the
Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, Spanish Regent of the Netherlands.
In this capacity he painted a notable series of portraits, including
some of his most interesting works, which represent many of the most
distinguished personages of the time.

The last nine years of Van Dyck's life were passed in England, where
the family of Charles I. and the brilliant group of persons forming
his court were the subjects of his final series of portraits. There
were no altar-pieces in this period. At the beginning of his English
work Van Dyck produced certain portraits unsurpassed during his whole
life. The well-known Charles I., with an equerry, in the Louvre, is
perhaps the best of these. His works after this were uneven in
quality. His vitality was drained by social dissipations, and he lost
the ambition to grow. Some features of the portraits became
stereotyped, especially the hands. Yet from time to time he rose to a
high level.

A painter so easily moulded by his environment cannot justly take rank
among the world's foremost masters. A great creative mind Van Dyck
certainly had not, but, gifted assimilator that he was, he developed
many delightful qualities of his art. The combined results of his
borrowing and his own innate gifts make him a notable and indeed a
beloved figure in art history.

The leading note of his style is distinction. His men are all
noblemen, his women all great ladies, and his children all princes and
princesses. The same qualities of dignity and impressiveness are
carried into his best altar-pieces. Sentiment they have also in no
insignificant degree.

It is perhaps naming only another phase of distinction to say that his
figures are usually characterized by repose. The sense of motion which
so many of Reynolds's portraits convey is almost never expressed in
Van Dyck's work, nor would it be consistent with his other qualities.

The magic gift of charm none have understood better when the subject
offered the proper inspiration. We see this well illustrated in many
portraits of young noblemen, such as the Duke of Lennox and Richmond
and Lord Wharton.

Van Dyck's clever technique has pr