Art in England | Page 4

and ordered to be burned
forthwith. Immediately after the King's death, votes were passed for the
sale of all his pictures, statues, jewels, hangings, and goods. Cromwell,
however, on his obtaining sole power, made some effort to stay the
terrible sacrifice that was being made of the royal collections.
There was thus an end of King Charles's Musæum Minervæ. Yet, if not
absolutely founded on its ruins, at any rate in some measure following
its example, we soon find record of the rise of a similar institution. One
Sir Balthazar Gerbier, without Government aid or countenance, but
acting entirely on his own responsibility, had opened an Academy 'on
Bednall-green without Aldgate.' This was probably in the year 1649.
Sir Balthazar Gerbier, architect and painter, 'excellent in either branch,'
says a biographer, had led a somewhat curious life. In a pamphlet
published in Paris, in 1646, addressed 'to all men that loves
Truth,'--singularly rich, thanks to the French printers, in blunders,
orthographic and grammatical,--Sir Balthazar gives some account of his
family and himself. He was born about 1591, at Middelburg in Zeeland,
the son of Anthoine Gerbier, a baron of Normandy, and Radegonde,
daughter-in-law to the Lord of Blavet in Picardy. 'It pleaseth God,'
writes Sir Balthazar, 'to suffer my parents to fly the bluddy persecutions

in France, against those which the Roman Catholics call the Huguenots.
My said parents left and lost all for that cause.' He came to England
when about twenty-one, and entered the service of George Villiers,
'newly become favourite to King James, being immediately after Baron,
Viscount, Earle, and afterwards created Marquis and Duke of
Buckingham.' He accompanied Buckingham to Spain, and was
employed in the famous treaty of marriage, though ostensibly acting
only as a painter. While in Spain he executed a miniature portrait of the
Infanta, which was sent over to King James. The Duchess of
Buckingham wrote to her husband in Spain, 'I pray you, if you have
any idle time, sit to Gerbier for your picture, that I may have it well
done in time.' After the accession of Charles, it appears that Gerbier
was employed in Flanders to negotiate privately a treaty with Spain, in
which Rubens was commissioned to act on the part of the Infanta; the
business ultimately bringing the great painter to England. In 1628,
Gerbier was knighted at Hampton Court, and, according to his own
account, was promised by King Charles the office of Surveyor-General
of the works after the death of Inigo Jones. In 1637, he was employed
at Brussels in some private state negotiation with the Duke of Orleans,
the French King's brother, and in 1641 he obtained a bill of
naturalization, and took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
According to Vertue, he was much hated and persecuted by the
anti-monarchic party, for his loyalty and fidelity to the King and his
son. At the sale of the royal collection he made purchases to the amount
of £350. The suspension of all art-patronage during the Commonwealth,
probably necessitated the establishment of his Academy at Bethnal
Green, as a means of obtaining a livelihood. Painters did not flourish
very much under the rule of the Puritans.
A fly-sheet, undated, which may be found in the British Museum, sets
forth the plan of Gerbier's Academy. He addresses himself 'to all
Fathers of Noble Families and Lovers of Vertue,' desires public notice
of his great labours and exertions, and informs the world that 'the chiefe
Famous Forraigne Languages, Sciences, and Noble Exercises' are
taught in his establishment. 'All Lovers of Vertue,' of what age soever,
are received and instructed, and each of them may select such studies,
exercises, and sciences as are most consonant to his genius. Public

lectures are announced to be read gratis every Wednesday afternoon, in
the summer at three, in the winter at two o'clock. A competent number
of children of 'decayed families' are taught without fee. 'Lovers of
Vertue' are stated to be thus freed from the dangers and inconveniences
incident to travellers, who repair to foreign parts to improve themselves,
and leave the honour of their education to strangers, running 'the
hazzard of being shaken in the fundamental points of their religion, and
their innate loyalty to their native country.' The nation is therefore
exhorted to reflect seriously on Sir Balthazar's proffers; to embrace
them vigorously and constantly to countenance and promote them,
'since that the languages declared to be taught in the Academy
are:--Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, High Dutch, and
Low Dutch, both Ancient and Modern Histories, jointly with the
Constitutions and Governments of the most famous Empires and
Dominions in the World, the true Natural and Experimental Philosophy,
the Mathematicks, Arithmetic and the Keeping of Bookes of Accounts
by Debitor and Creditor, all Excellent Handwriting, Geometry,
Cosmography, Geography, Perspective,