An effect of sunshine upon the counter
discovered every coin that was scattered upon its surface. On these
the painter had bestowed such intense labour, that their very legends
were distinguishable.
"It would be in vain to attempt conveying, by words, an idea adequate
to this _chef d'oeuvre_, which must have been seen to have been duly
admired. In three months it was far advanced; during which time our
artist employed his leisure hours in practising jigs and minuets on
the violin, and writing the first chapter of Genesis on a watchpaper,
which he adorned with a miniature of Adam and Eve, so exquisitely
finished, that every ligament in their fig-leaves was visible. This
little _jeu d'esprit_ he presented to Madam Merian."
Leyden's earliest painter was Lucas Jacobz, known as Lucas van Leyden,
who was born in 1494. He painted in oil, in distemper and on glass;
he took his subjects from nature and from scripture; he engraved better
than he painted; and he was the friend of Duerer. Leyden possesses his
triptych, "The Last Judgment," which to me is interesting rather as a
piece of pioneering than as a work apart. After settling for a while at
Middelburg and Antwerp, he returned to Leyden, where he died in 1533.
In spite of her record as the mother of great painters, Leyden treats
pictures with some indifference.
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