han all other masters did
Claude Gelee penetrate into the secrets of nature, and by the enchanting
play of sunlight, the freshness of his dewy foregrounds, and the charm of
his atmospheric distances, he obtained a tone of feeling which influences
the mind like an eternal Sabbath rest. In his works there is all the
splendor, light, untroubled brightness, and harmony of the first morning
of creation in Paradise. His masses of foliage have a glorious richness
and freshness, and even in the deepest shadows are interwoven with a
golden glimmer of light. But they serve only as a mighty framework, for,
more freely than with other masters, the eye wanders through a rich
foreground into the far distance, the utmost limits of which fade away in
golden mist."

His two great charms are the immense space which he represents in his
pictures and his beautiful color. The latter appears as if he had first
used a silvery gray, and then put his other colors over that, which gives
his works a soft, lovely atmospheric effect, such as no other artist has
surpassed. When he introduced buildings into his pictures they were well
done; but his figures and animals were so imperfect that he was accustomed
to say that he sold the landscape, and gave away the figures.

Before his death his pictures were so much valued that other artists tried
to imitate them, and he was accustomed to keep a book of sketches by which
his works could be proved. He called this book "Liber Veritatis," and
before his death it reached six volumes; one of these containing two
hundred drawings is at Chatsworth. A catalogue of his works describes more
than four hundred landscapes. All the principal galleries of Europe have
his pictures, and there are a great number of them in England, both in
public and private collections.

SEBASTIAN BOURDON (1616-1671), who was born at Montpelier, made his
studies in Rome. He brought himself into notice by a picture of the
Crucifixion of St Peter, which is now in the Louvre. He was one of the
earliest members of the French Academy. Bourdon resided in Sweden for some
years; but was in Paris, and held the position of Rector of the Academy
when he died. He painted a few _genre_ subjects, and two of his portraits
by himself are in the Louvre; but his best works were landscapes, and in
these his style was like that of Salvator Rosa. It has been said that
Rigaud assisted him in his portraits of himself. Bourdon made some
engravings, and collec