n of the royal pair. Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Thomas
Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, were also frequently portrayed by him, and
one of his most important large works was a family picture of the Earl of
Pembroke and his household. It is called the Wilton Family, as it is in a
salon at Wilton House; it contains eleven figures, and has been called
"the first and most magnificent historic portraiture in the world." Again,
it is said to be stiff, wanting in harmony, bad in color, and so on, but
after all it still remains a splendid monument to the skill and genius of
Vandyck. The picture is twenty feet long by twelve feet high.

Vandyck painted no portraits of the Puritans nor popular leaders of his
day; neither did he of the literary men who flourished at that time, with
the exception of the court poets, Sir John Suckling and Thomas Carew.

I shall not give a list of Vandyck's historical and religious pictures,
though they are quite numerous. They are not as interesting as his
portraits, and we have not space to give them. His ambition, however, was
never satisfied, for he wished to do some great historical work. At one
time his opportunity seemed to have come, for the great banqueting-room of
Whitehall Palace, the ceiling of which Rubens had painted, still remained
with plain walls. Vandyck desired to paint on them the history of the
Order of the Garter. The project was laid before the king, and he desired
sketches to be made for the work, and one of them, the "Procession of the
Knights of the Garter," was sold after the execution of the king for five
pounds. It was owned by Sir Peter Lely and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is
now at Belvoir in the collection of the Duke of Rutland. We cannot help
being sorry for Vandyck's great disappointment when he knew that his work
could not be done. He was weak in health and much in debt, for the king
could not pay him his pension nor what he owed him for pictures. The
artist grew sad and discouraged. He sought relief in the study of alchemy,
and indulged the vain hope of discovering some chemical means of making
gold from base metals. All this wasted his time and means, and it is to be
regretted that he was less wise than his master, for when an alchemist
tried to interest Rubens in the same subject, that great artist replied:
"You come too late, my good fellow; I have long since discovered the
philosopher's stone. My palette and brushes are worth far more than any
other secret."

Th