The museum contains some of the best (most natural) paintings in Europe.
The pencil of Rubens has imitated nature so perfectly that the eye almost
fails to detect a flaw in the execution. The spectator may know that he
only stands before a flat surface of paper daubed with paint; but his soul
will be stirred, his pulse begins to beat faster and his imagination runs
away with him, as he looks at such masterly executions of a skillful hand
as is the "Dead Jesus" and some others in this museum. The congealed blood
in his side, upon his hands and on his head, with the tears of Joseph and
Mary and others, so natural that one mistakes the pictures for the
reality, create feelings in the beholder such as he seldom experiences
elsewhere, even in Europe. He first mourns for the dead and pities the
afflicted; then he recovers himself again, and thanks the artist for
having given him a key to the thoughts and feelings which he himself must
have cherished while executing this painting. It is said, that when
Roubiliac was erecting the Nightingale monument in Westminster Abbey,
described on page 86, "he was found one day by Gayfere, the Abbey mason,
standing with his arms folded, and his looks fixed on one of the knightly
figures which support the canopy over the statue of Sir Francis Vere; as
Gayfere approached, the enthusiastic Frenchman laid his hand on his arm,
pointed to the figure, and said in a whisper, 'Hush! hush! he vil speak
presently.'" Can we conceive that Rubens painted the "Dead Jesus" without
sobs and tears?

I had seen acres of paintings in the Kensington Museum in London, in the
Louvre in Paris and in Palais de Versailles; but it was reserved for me to
see the paintings of Rubens and of Van Dyck last, so that I might know
their merit.

Near the entrance of the Museum, stands a fine monument and statue to the
honor and memory of