an harmonious unity. A
single figure, or half length, he placed on his canvas with unerring
sense of right proportion. Perhaps the best summary of Van Dyck's art
has been made by the English critic, Claude Phillips, in these words:
His was "not indeed one of the greatest creative individualities that
have dominated the world of art, but a talent as exquisite in
distinction, as true to itself in every successive phase, a technical
accomplishment as surprising of its kind in solidity, brilliancy, and
charm, as any that could be pointed to even in the seventeenth
century."

II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

It has been reserved for our own day to produce two superb works by
English writers on Van Dyck. The first to appear was that by Ernest
Law, "a storehouse of information," on the paintings by Van Dyck in
the Royal Collections. The second is the definitive biography by
Lionel Cust: "Anthony Van Dyck; An Historical Study of his Life and
Works." The author is the director of the English National Portrait
Gallery, and has had exceptional opportunities for the examination of
Van Dyck's paintings. His work has been done with great thoroughness
and care. The volume is richly illustrated with photogravures, and
contains complete lists of the painter's works arranged by periods.

For brief sketches of Van Dyck's life the student is referred to
general histories, of which Kugler's "Hand-book of the German,
Flemish, and Dutch School" (revised by Crowe), is of first importance.
Luebke's "History of Painting," and Woltman and Woerman's "History of
Painting," contain material on Van Dyck. A volume devoted to Van Dyck
is in the series of German monographs edited by H. Knackfuss, and may
be had in an English translation.

A critical appreciation of Van Dyck is given by Fromentin in his
valuable little book on "The Old Masters of Holland and Belgium."
Critical articles by Claude Phillips have appeared in "The Nineteenth
Century," November, 1899, and "The Art Journal" for March, 1900.

III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION.

Frontispiece. _Portrait of Van Dyck._ Detail of a portrait of Van Dyck
and John Digby, Earl of Bristol. Painted about 1640. Formerly in the
Isabel Farnese Collection in the palace of San Ildefonso; now in the
Prado Gallery, Madrid. _Cust_, p. 285.

1. _Portrait of Anna Wake_, inscribed: "AEtat suae 22, An 1628." Signed:
"Anton Van Dyck fecit." In the Royal Gallery at the Hague. Size: 3 f