Émile Verhaeren: Essays on the Northern Renaissance: Rembrandt, Rubens, Grünewald and Others. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Albert Alhadeff

193 Pages·2012·10.393 MB·English

by  Alhadeff, Albert

Émile Verhaeren:
Essays on the
Northern Renaissance
BELGIAN FRANCOPHONE LIBRARY

Donald Flanell Friedman
General Editor

Vol. 21

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Émile Verhaeren:
Essays on the
Northern Renaissance

Rembrandt, Rubens,
Grünewald and Others

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by
Albert Alhadeff

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verhaeren, Émile, 1855–1916, author.
Émile Verhaeren: essays on the northern Renaissance: Rembrandt, Rubens,
Grünewald and others / translated with an introduction and notes by Albert Alhadeff.
pages cm — (Belgian francophone library; v. 21)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Painting, Renaissance—Europe, Northern.
I. Alhadeff, Albert, translator, editor of compilation. II. Title.
ND170.V47 759.9492—dc23 2012000540
ISBN 978-1-4331-0011-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4539-0868-6 (e-book)
ISSN 1074-6757

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

La publication de cet ouvrage a été encouragée par une subvention
accordée par la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Cover photo: Archives & Musée de la Littérature, fonds Verhaeren
Author photo on back cover: Adam Milner

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2012 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Printed in Germany
For Colin Eisler, who first led me to Verhaeren and
awakened my love for the arts of the Northern Renaissance.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
IntroductIon 1
PArt 1
Rembrandt 55
from Rembrandt (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1904)
Netherlandish Art 93
from the Journal des Beaux-Arts et de la Littérature, May 1882
PArt 2
Rubens 105
from Pierre-Paul Rubens (Brussels: Librairie Nouvelle d’Art et d’Histoire), 1910
Rubens and His World 121
from “Exposition de Bruxelles: Hommage aux Peintres,” Le Siècle de Rubens
(Brussels: Ém. Rossel, 1910)
Van der Meer 123
from L’Art moderne, 4 October 1891
PArt 3
Grünewald 129
from La Société nouvelle, December 1894
The German Gothic 149
from L‘Art moderne, 15 August, 1886
PArt 4
Flemish Painting 155
from the Revue encyclopédique, 24 July, 1897
Hans Memling 165
from Le Monde moderne, July 1899
Pieter Bruegel: Flemish Life 173
from Les Annales, 15 December 1913, 50-60

Acknowledgments
An Acknowledgment page is amongst the most courteous and necessary exercises
in an academic publication. It fortunately allows me to thank the many people who
have allowed this project to come into being. Foremost, I must thank my editor,
Donald Friedman, who through the years has unfailingly been a source of encour-
agement; if ever I lost courage in the translation, Donald was forever there, his sup-
port unflagging, ready to praise and encourage, giving me the wherewithal to keep
on with the work, no matter how difficult it seemed at the time—and to translate
Verhaeren’s evocative prose is and has always been a challenge. With Donald Fried-
man, I also must thank the many people at Peter Lang Publishing, especially Jackie
Pavlovic, for kindly accepting my interminable delays with the final manuscript. I
also need to thank the University of Colorado’s Interlibrary Loan staff, without
whose patience and expertise I could not have completed the research necessary for
the introduction to my text. Rembrandt scholars have also come into play, especially
Paul Crenshaw, whose encouragement and kind words are deeply appreciated. I also
need to thank editors who have read my text, namely David Joel, Max Boersma,
Chuck Scillia and Amber Teng. Otherwise, my very special thanks to a friend and
working colleague, Adam Milner, whose organizational skills, as well as his expertise
in the formatting and typesetting of the manuscript has proved to be invaluable and
has rendered the final product as attractive as it is. Finally, I must thank my wife You-
Jeong Cha for taking care of our two young children, Saan and Joya, while I spent
long hours in the library and in my office. Thank you all so very much.