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See also:GAIUS See also:MEMMIUS (incorrectly called Gemellus, " The Twin ") , See also:Roman orator and poet, See also:tribune of the See also:people (66 B.C.), friend of See also:Lucretius and See also:Catullus . At first a strong supporter of See also:Pompey, he quarrelled with him, and went over to See also:Caesar, whom he had previously attacked . In S4, as See also:candidate for the consulship, he lost Caesar's support by revealing a scandalous transaction in which he and his See also:fellow candidate had been implicated (Cic . Ad AU. iv . 15—18) . Being subsequently condemned for illegal practices at the See also:election, he withdrew to See also:Athens, and afterwards to Mytilene . He died about the See also:year 49 . He is remembered chiefly because it was to him that Lucretius addressed the De rerum natura, perhaps with the See also:idea of making him a convert tee the doctrines of See also:Epicurus . It appears from See also:Cicero (Ad Fam. xiii . 1) that he possessed an See also:estate on which' were the ruins of Epicurus' See also:house, and that he had determined to build on the site a house for himself . According to See also:Ovid (Trist. ii . 433) he was the author of erotic poems .
He possessed considerable oratorical abilities, but his contempt for Latin letters and preference for See also:Greek See also:models impaired his efficiency as an See also:advocate (Cic
.
But the latter is more interesting than the former, because it tells how See also:Memlinc, See also:long after See also:Rogier's See also:death and his own See also:settlement at See also:Bruges, preserved the traditions of sacred See also:art which had been applied in the first See also:part of the See also:century by Rogier See also:van der See also:Weyden to the " Last See also:Judgment " of See also:Beaune
.
All that Memlinc did was to purge his See also:master's manner of excessive stringency, and add to his other qualities a See also:velvet softness of pigment, a delicate transparence of See also:colours, and yielding See also:grace of slender forms
.
That such a beautiful See also:work as the " Last judgment " of See also:Danzig should have been bought for the See also:Italian See also:market is not surprising when we recollect that picture-fanciers in that See also:country were See also:familiar with the beauties of Memlinc's compositions, as shown in the preference given to them by such purchasers as See also:Cardinal Grimari and Cardinal See also:Bembo at See also:Venice, and the heads of the house of See also:Medici at See also:Florence
.
But Memlinc's reputation was not confined to See also:Italy or See also:Flanders
..
The " Madonna and See also:Saints " which passed See also:oat of the Duchatel collection into the See also:gallery of the Louvre, the " Virgin and See also:Child " painted for See also:Sir See also: The masterpiece of Memlinc's later years, a See also:shrine containing See also:relics of St See also:Ursula in the museum of the hospital of Bruges, is fairly supposed to have been ordered and finished in 1480 . The delicacy of finish See also:nish in its See also:miniature figures, the variety of Its landscapes and See also:costume, the marvellous See also:patience with which its details are given, are all matters of enjoyment to the spectator . There is later work of the master in the " St See also:Christopher and Saints " of I484 in the See also:academy, or the Newenhoven " Madonna " in the hospital of Bruges, or a large " Crucifixion," with scenes from the Passion, of 1491 in the See also:cathedral of See also:Lubeck . But as we near the See also:close of Memlinc's career we observe that his practice has become larger than he can See also:compass alone; and, as usual in such cases, the labour of disciples is substituted for his own . The registers of the painters' See also:corporation at Bruges give the names of two apprentices who served their time with Memlinc and paid dues on See also:admission to the gild in 148o and 1486 . These subordinates remained obscure . The trustees of his will appeared before the See also:court of wards at Bruges on the loth of See also:December 1495, and we gather from records of that date and See also:place that Memlinc See also:left behind several children and a considerable See also:property . (J . A . C.; P . G . |
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