sufferer communes
with his Father.

The Crucifixion is the saddest subject a painter could choose, yet
notwithstanding this, it has been one of the most important subjects
in Christian art. Van Dyck painted it many times, and expressed, as we
see here, a deep sense of the tragic nature of the scene. Yet he
always avoided those harrowing details which make some of the pictures
of the older masters too painful to contemplate. For this reason his
crucified Christ has been chosen as the model for the Crucifixion
scene in the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau.

We may see how wide was the range of our artist's gifts, which
extended from such joyous pictures as the Rest in Egypt to a theme so
solemn as the Crucifixion.

XII

JAMES STUART, DUKE OF LENNOX AND AFTERWARDS OF RICHMOND

James Stuart, Duke of Lennox, was one of the most prominent personages
at the English court. His uncle was a cousin and trusted friend of
King James I., and the relations between the nephew and Charles I.
were even closer. Immediately upon taking a degree at Cambridge, the
young nobleman entered the royal service as Gentleman of the King's
Bedchamber. He was just thirteen years of age, and a born courtier.
"His courtesie was his nature, not his craft," quaintly says one
historian. While still in his minority, he visited France, Italy, and
Spain. When Van Dyck came to England, he became at once one of the
painter's most frequent sitters.

Our illustration is one of the first of the series of portraits of the
Duke of Lennox, and shows him at the age of twenty. The young man
stands with his hand on the head of a favorite greyhound, and turns
his pleasant face to ours with a smile. He wears the habit of the
Order of the Garter. This "most noble and illustrious Order" was
instituted by King Edward III. under the patronage of St. George. It
consisted of the sovereign and twenty-five "companions" banded
together, like the knights of Arthur's Round Table, for the
advancement of ideal manliness. The ceremony of investiture was very
solemn, each part of the costume being placed in turn on the elect
knight, when he knelt to take the vows. We note in the picture the
same details which we saw in the portrait of Charles I., the mantle
with the great silver star, and the gold medal, or "George," on the
blue ribbon. One part of the costume not to be seen in the other
picture is the garter, worn on the left leg "between the knee and the
calf," as the o