In the celebrated “Descent from the Cross,” which hangs in the south transept, the boldness of the composition, the energy in the characters, the striking attitudes and grouping, the glowing, vigorous coloring, are astonishing proofs of Rubens’ power.  The circumstances which gave rise to this wondrous effort of art are interesting.  It is said that Rubens, in laying the foundations of his villa near Antwerp, had unwittingly infringed on some ground belonging to the Company of Gunsmiths (arquebusiers).  A law suit was threatened, and Rubens prepared to defend it, but, being assured by one of the greatest lawyers of the city that the right lay with his opponents, he immediately drew back, and offered to paint a picture by way of recompense.  The offer was accepted, and the company required a representation of its patron saint, St. Christopher, to be placed in its chapel in the cathedral, which at that time Notre Dame was.

Rubens, with his usual liberality and magnificence, presented to his adversaries, not merely a single representation of the saint, but an elaborate illustration of his name—­The Christ-bearer.  The arquebusiers were at first disappointed not to have their saint represented in the usual manner, and Rubens was obliged to enter into an explanation of his work.  Thus, without knowing it, they had received in exchange for a few feet of land a treasure which neither money nor lands can now purchase.  The painting was executed by Rubens soon after his seven years’ residence in Italy, and while the impression made by the work of Titian and Paul Veronese were yet fresh in his mind.  The great master appeared in the fulness of his glory in this work—­it is one of the few which exhibits in combination all that nature had given him of warmth and imagination—­with all that he acquired of knowledge, judgment and method, and in which he may be considered fully to have overcome the difficulties of a subject which becomes painful, and almost repulsive, when it ceases to be sublime.

VII

HOLLAND

HOW THE DUTCH OBTAINED THEIR LAND[A]

[Footnote A:  From “Holland and Its People.”  Translated by Caroline Tilton.  By special arrangement with, and by permission of, the publishers, G.P.  Putnam’s Sons.  Copyright, 1880.]

BY EDMONDO DE AMICIS

The first time that I crossed the old Rhine, I had stopt on the bridge, asking myself whether that small and humble stream of water was really the same river that I had seen rushing in thunder over the rocks at Schaffhausen, spreading majestically before Mayence, passing in triumph under the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, beating in sonorous cadence at the foot of the Seven Mountains; reflecting in its course Gothic cathedrals, princely castles, fertile hills, steep rocks, famous ruins, cities, groves, and gardens; everywhere covered with vessels of all sorts, and saluted with music and song; and thinking of these things, with my gaze fixt upon the little stream shut in between two flat and desert shores, I had repeated, “Is this that Rhine?”