the people again prevented it, and they
were forced to call more soldiers from Brussels before they succeeded in
taking it. The St. Martin was placed in the Gallery of the Louvre, at
Paris, but was restored to Saventhem in 1815. About 1850 a rich American
offered twenty thousand dollars for the picture, no matter who brought it
to him. Upon this a set of rogues tried to steal it at night; but the dogs
of the village gave such an alarm that the town was roused, and the
robbers escaped with difficulty. Since then a guardian sleeps in the
church, and the St. Martin is still there.

The news that Vandyck was thus lingering on his way to Italy reached the
ears of Rubens, and he sent such urgent messages to his pupil as induced
him to continue his journey, and he also sent him letters of introduction
to artists and to nobles whom the master had known when he made his
studies beyond the Alps.

Vandyck went first to Venice, where he worked hard to copy and learn to
imitate the rich color and refined manner of Titian and other Venetian
masters. He also painted some original pictures in Venice, and made many
portraits which gave him fame in that and other cities. He was asked to
go to other places for the painting of portraits; but he remained in
Venice until his money was spent, and then went to Genoa, where he was
well received and generously employed by the old friends of Rubens. His
works are still to be seen in some of the palaces of that city, while some
have been sold and carried to other countries--they were so fine that they
still maintain the name which they gained for him when they were executed.
The principal work done in Genoa was a picture of the Lomellini family
which is now in Edinburgh; it is about nine feet square. His different
visits to Genoa during his absence in Italy make up a period of about
three years, and he did a vast amount of work there.

When he first went to Rome Vandyck was invited to the house of Cardinal
Bentivoglio, who had been papal nuncio to Flanders, and for whom our
artist made a picture of the Crucifixion. The full-length portrait which
Vandyck painted of the cardinal is now in Florence; a copy of it is in one
of the halls of Harvard College. It is one of the finest among the many
splendid portraits by this great master.

Vandyck was fascinated with Rome, but he was so unpopular with the other
Flemish painters there that he shortened his stay in the Eternal City in
order to escape the