Aims and Ideals in Art

Aims and Ideals
in
Art
G. Clausen
AIMS AND IDEALS IN ART
Raphael
PORTRAIT OF BALTHAZAR CASTIGLIONE
AIMS
AND IDEALS
IN
ART
EIGHT LECTURES DELIVERED TO THE STUDENTS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY
GEORGE CLAUSEN
A.R.A., R.W.S.
raOFESSOR OF PAINTING IN THE ROYAL ACADBMT
WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND EDITION
36
METHUEN & CO. ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published
October igo6
igotj
Second Edition
NOTE
These Lectures were given
1906
;
in 1905
and
and, with the exception of a few
alterations in
form made necessary by
pubhcation, are pjinted as they were

delivered.
I
desire
to
express
my
thanks to the President and Council of

the Royal Academy, to the authorities
of
the
British
Museum,
to
M.
J.
E.
Buloz, and to the Vasari Society, for
kindly
permitting
;
me
wish
to to
reproduce
gratefully
drawings
and
acknowledge the assistance given
me
by Mr. Sidney
Colvin,
Mr.
Laurence
Binyon, and Professor Rapson.
G. C.
CONTENTS
PACK
1905
I.
On Truth to Nature and Style

;
II.
Imagination and the Ideal
25
S3
III.
Invention
IV.
Taste
....
Colour
79
107
125
1906
V.
VI.
Drawing
Drawing
VII. Quality in
VIII.
139
The Relative Importance of Sub

jECT and Treatment
.
165
LIST
OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Portrait of Castiglione
Coin of Terina
Raphael
.
Frontispiece
8 12
13
Throne of Venus
Throne of Venus
(Right side)
(Left side)
Study of Bather (Drawing)
Michelangelo
16
The Mass of Bolsena
(Right side)
(Left side)
.
Raphael
34
38
The Mass of Bolsena
Raphael
.
Wall Painting from Pompei

Study for Composition
48
Tintoret
Study for Composition (Drawing)
56
Veronese
60
61
Bassano
Bloemart
.

Landscape Study
. .
64
65
Rembrandt
Masaccio
The Miracle of the Fish

Christ's
69 70
109 114
115
Charge to Peter
Raphael
Diirer
Study of Arms and Hands (Drawing) l)

Study of Figure
.
Raphael
Ingres
Study of Drapery
Study of Figure
Leighton
118
List of Illustrations
FACING PAGE
Study of Figure Study of Figure
(Drawing)
Watts
Millet
119
127
1
A Group
An
of Trees
.
Claude
30
Interior
Rembrandt
Claude
134
141
Study of a Tree Trunk

Study of Boats
Claude
Claude
146
152
157
River and Trees
Mother and Child

Study of Landscape Study of Landscape
Watteau
Gainsborough
Titian
160
i6i
The Engraver
Seated Figure
Watteau Watteau
167
176
A Winter
Landscape
Rembrandt
180
ON TRUTH TO NATURE AND STYLE

;
ON TRUTH TO NATURE; AND STYLE
SIR
JOSHUA REYNOLDS,
"The study
of
in his notes
on
Du
beginning
Fresnoy's Art of Painting, very truly

of nature
It
is is is
says that
the
in
and the end
theory.
nature only
we can
find that beauty

:
which
the
great object of our search

else
:
it
can be found nowhere

idea of beauty
we can no more form any
superior to nature than

of a sixth sense, or
we can form an
idea
of
any other excellence out
the limits of the
human mind.
we
We
are forced
itself
to confine our conception even of
heaven
and
its
inhabitants to what
see in this world.
Nothing can be so unphilosophical as a supposition that
we can form any

or
idea of beauty or
is
excellence out of
beyond nature, which
and must be the fountain-head from whence

our ideas must be derived.
all
Lectures on Painting
"This being acknowledged,
course,
it
must
follow, of
that
all
the
rules
which
this
theory,
or any other, teaches, can be no more than
teaching the art of seeing nature.

art are
The
rules of
formed on the various works of those

studied nature the most successfully
:
who have
by
this
advantage,
in
of
observing
the
various
manners
which
various
minds have
con-
templated her works, the

views, and
is
artist enlarges his
own
taught to look for and see what
otherwise would have escaped his observation."
This really sums up the matter, and
can do
points
sort of
no more than
try,
by touching on some
arrive at
of detail, to help
you to
some
standard, some definite idea of what should be
an
artist's
aim
what idea
of truth or
what
aspect of nature are best worth our trying to
express
for
every
picture,
even
the
worst,
has some measure of truth to nature, otherwise

it
would not be recognisable.
We
have to
find
for ourselves
some
meaning for " nature,"
some
standard of truth.
The Greek
great
artists,
and
in a lesser degree the
Italians,
expressed
more
perfectly
than
On
Truth
to
Nature
and Style
we
recognise
others a type of form which
as
approaching an ideal of perfection.
These are
true to the type rather than to the individual;

while,
is
on the other hand, an
artist like
Velasquez
truer than others in giving the natural appear-
ance of the individual.

of Velasquez,
The
portraits of Raphael,
and
it
of
Rembrandt, are each true

help us, perhaps, to hold
to nature
and
may
our
way amidst
contradictory or opposite ten-
dencies in art, to
remember that there
is
no one
truths
truth to nature, for nature contains
all
and includes
to nature "
is
all
manifestations
and " truth
a loose and inexact phrase which
we use to support our individual point of view. The finest works include more than one kind of
truth,
and so are nearer
to nature.
mean, poor view of nature

;
may
is
be chosen,
to say, the
its
and may be painted truly

picture
that
may
correspond to the idea of
painter
but
however great the painter's

it
accomplishis,
ment,
wiU be a poor
picture.
it
It
though,
true, in
a way, to say that

is
does not matter what

:
object
painted,
if it
is
painted well
for
good
painting justifies
itself.
The question
is,
what do
we mean by good
painting
it
It
may
be only
smart execution, or
may
be, like the noble
realism of Watts, the expression of a fine under-
standing of his subject.

necessary thing
:
We
come back
to the
the " art of seeing nature."
Truth
of
resemblance
;
does
not
cover
the
whole ground of art
much
;
of the finest
work
appeals on other grounds

sentiment,
through subject, or
that
and
demands
the
to
spectator
receive
its
be in sympathy and prepared

message.
It
is
not the greatest works which
have the largest number of admirers; these do

not impress people at once, but are received with
indifference, or
even with a measure of
hostility.
You
of
will
remember that Reynolds,
in speaking
Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican, and his
inability to understand
them
at
first,
says the
custodian
told
him that many persons who

to see
came expressly
these works
had passed
through the rooms without noticing them, and

at
the end asked where they were

to
his
and he
first
confesses
own disappointment on
and
in
his
seeing them.
The impressions
of nature in the
minds
of
these people,
mind, had
On Truth
practically
to
Nature
and Style
no correspondence with the impreswhich were

in the
sions of nature
mind
of Raphael.
Yet,
if
if
Raphael had not been true to nature,
his
works were not founded on a deep underit
standing and great knowledge of nature,

inconceivable
that
still
is
they
retain,
should
the
have
gained,
and
should
admiration
and
esteem of the
artistic world.
It is easier for us,
perhaps, to recognise the
fine
qualities
of
Raphael's art in his portraits
than in his large compositions, which are in a

sense too familiar to us, too
much
a part of our
critically
;
inheritance, for us to think of
them
they have become commonplaces, and we cannot

estimate the greatness of his achievement.
in
his
But
portraits
we come
nearer to
him, and
such works as the portrait of Castiglione in the

Louvre, or the portraits in the
Uffizi,
or the
are,
Pope
I
Julius
in
our
National
in
Gallery,
think,
unsurpassable,
things
;
their
truth
to
the
essential
in
nature, the
is
structure
and
character
the modelling
firm
and thorough,
and
to
close to the form.
The
Castiglione seems
me
to rank even with Velasquez's portrait
of Philip in the National Gallery, in the sense
of
atmosphere which
it
has, in addition to its
other fine qualities.
These
portraits
of
Raphael
show what
is
is
?
called a sense of style.
Now, what
;
style
The word
is
used in two senses
as
when we
speak of the style of Rubens, or of Rembrandt,
we mean
rather their
manner
but when we speak
of the style of the Parthenon Marbles,
we mean
something beyond mannerism, something that

expresses as closely
and completely
as possible
the beauty and subtlety of nature.

praise
The highest
as,
we can
give to the finest
work (such
for instance, that splendid figure the " Ilyssus,"
which
is
perhaps the most beautiful of

is
all
the
is
Parthenon Marbles),
true to nature
;
only to say that

it
it
that
represents very truly

it
a fine type of form.
But then,
may
be said
that a photograph, or a cast from nature, are
the finest things attainable

art
and
if
the aim of
were only to present a close copy of a stationI
ary thing,
don't see
how
this
can be gainsaid.
be, they
of
However
true these things
may
fact
seem
artist
to lack intention:
and the
an
British
Museum
COIN OF TERINA
(enlarged)
On Truth
to
Nature
and Style
making anything, whatever

supposes some
his
material, pre-
intention on his part.
There
is
something he wishes to say;

action,
some measure
;
of in
some kind
of expression
and
it
is
giving this, with the truest expression of form
and
colour, that
the painter's work
lies.
And
they
although faces and figures vary

all refer in
infinitely,
greater or less degree to the normal

this is rather felt in the
type
and though
mind
than seen by the eye (though, of course, the

impression
must
come through the
eye),
it
should be expressed and conveyed to the mind

of those
who
see the artist's work.

of
All the
complex tendencies
an
artist's
mind
are seen in
what he
it
does, so that
it is
not possible
to isolate, as
were, one quality from the others,

it
;
and exactly define

rough attempt.
but one
And
it
seems to
may make a me that style
does not depend on symmetry, nor on proportion

;
for
we
find in
examining such works as the
little
Greek statuettes, the so-called Tanagra

they are sometimes ill-proportioned,
figures, that
or even clumsy, yet that they have
what
is
called
the charm of style.
think that this quality
lo
first,
;
called style, rests,
on expressive
action,
it
on structural rightness
its
and when we
of
action,
see
at
finest,
on
this
truth
expressed
with the closest approach to the finest type of

form.
there
And
must
I think,
too, that underlying this
be a creative impulse of the artist

is
that his aim

to copy.
to express something, not merely
As the quality
of
style
depends rather on
perhaps refer to
form than on colour, we
may
may
ancient sculpture as showing this
more
clearly
and
especially, I think, it
be seen in the
small
tion
is
figures
and
in
the coins.
An
illustra-
given of a small coin of Terina in the
British
Museum, which
;
is
about half an inch in

die
diameter
size,
no doubt the
was cut
to that
is
and not reduced from a

practice
large model, as
the
now.
The
enlarged
illustration
shows clearly the things which were thought

necessary to express
;
that
is,
the main forms

is
and
their direction
everything else
of
ignored.
The
so-called "
Throne
Venus," a piece of
Greek work,
in the National
fine
Museum
example
at
of
Rome,
style.
may
be instanced as a
On Truth
It
is
to
Nature
and Style
a marble seat carved on the back and sides

relief (those
with figures in
on the sides are given
as illustrations) which are remarkable for the
beautiful austerity of their drawing.
Nothing
is
is
given that
close
>
is
not essential
the modelling
as
and true
to natural form,
it
and as subtle
as possible, although
has the appearance of

fine
great
simplicity.
;
All
the
antique
work
some
should be studied
experience in the
especially, I think, after
life class,
when we can
see the
reason of the ancients' generalisations.

is,
As
it
we go through
as soon as
the antique
;
room and
forget
it
we can but
to
it is
well worth while to
return to the best antique figures, not to copy
them,
but
study
them,
as
Michelangelo
studied the " Belvidere " torso, from which, he

said, It
an
artist could learn everything.
should be remembered that
the
Italian
artists
had the advantage

all
of reference to the
ancient works, and
the artists of
;
the Re-
naissance should be studied

the
early
especially, I think,
ones
Masaccio,
Leonardo,
Bellini,
Pisanello,
and Mantegna.
;
Pisanello
is
was one
of
the earliest and best
he
particularly fine in
12
his
medals, which
have the same
firm,
true
drawing, the same structural rightness and grasp

of
essentials,
:
that
we
find in the best

finest
Greek
in that
work
and are perhaps the
works
kind that have been produced.
The
greatest
artists
of
the
Renaissance,
Michelangelo and Raphael, should of course be

studied.
If,
for
instance,
it
is
possible
figures,
to
it
examine one of Michelangelo's

were, from the outside only, for
as
what
aim
it
shows
its
us of his method, apart from the interest of

intention
;
it
would seem that
his
is
to give
movement, to express sentiment by movement.
And though
think
it
it
may
be said that he exaggerates

I
the action and development of his figures,
would be truer to say that he does not
go beyond the point of necessary expression. His work

tention
is is
conceived from within.
The
in-
that a figure shall express an emotion
by
its
action.
The action
is
imagined
close
and
designed,
and then comes the
study of
how
to
this
would be shown, which we can follow

his existing studies
;
some extent from

is
and
a good example
that of the Bather, a drawing
Na tiona I Attiseu in
A' oie
THRONE OF VENUS (RIGHT
SIDE)
National Museum,
Rome
THRONK OF
VP:NUS (LEFT SIDE)
On Truth
in the British
It is
to
Nature
and Style
Museum, given
as an illustration.
one of the studies for the celebrated cartoon
of the soldiers bathing
the
so-called " Cartoon
of Pisa,"
which was destroyed
and
;
it
shows
well his close
and accurate drawing, and search

muscular action
a thing which
for appropriate
it is
impossible to study in a
life class,
:
where a
stationary pose
must be given
for
movement
of
must be studied from movement.

ings in the Sistine
this
In his paint-
we
see the
summing up
mode
of study,
in figures of
which are not
carried
felt to
beyond the point
emphasis which he
In the draw-
be needful for expression.

of Raphael, too,
ings
and studies
we may
see
the same search for movement, and the attitude

that will best express
it.
The great masters

;
all
aimed at truth to nature

pletest,
and
style, the
comof
it
the
most accomplished expression

result.
their
knowledge, was the
The aim,
would seem, must be
for truth,
and not con-
sciously for style; for this seems to deaden the

artist at once.
We
cannot approach anything in a

;
spirit of
absolute detachment
our
likings,
our training.
14
and the
taste of the time, influence us in
in art,
what
we admire
and
see or seek in nature
and we naturally base ourselves on the reigning

influence of the
selves,
moment, without assuring our-
by comparison with acknowledged standIt is right,
ards,
whether we are on firm ground.
of course, that
able, that
an
artist
should be impression-
he should be
his
fully appreciative of the
good work of
fellows,
that he should be
;
grateful to those of
them who can help him

?
but
why
stop
there
He
should
remember
that the older artists
who have
attained mastery
can help.
all
One should not
say,
is
"Oh,
Titian
is
very well," or " Raphael
very great, of
course, but I'm not going in for that sort of
thing
" but rather one should say, "
What can
a painter
these men, too, teach

is,
me
"
Even
if
as
we mostly
are,
concerned with the things of
the day, he should remember that the old
men
had to use that which was before

that the sun shone
ful,
their eyes;
and made things beautiit
and that
:
life
went on then much as
does
now and whatever may be

talent,
the direction of his

is
some one
of the great artists
ready,
On Truth
as
it
to
Nature
and Style
But
were, to take h
by the hand.
it
would, for instance, be a mistake for a
man
with a taste for genre, or
still
life,
to
embark
on an imaginative subject, simply because he

rightly believed
it
to be the highest form of art
many And one

shown
as
a capable painter has been lost that way.
should remember that great art can be
in the
commonest and simplest things

work
of
we may
see in the
Rembrandt, De
;
Hooghe, Vermeer of
of Chardin,
Delft,
and Jan Steen
or
who
in that splendid still-life picture
in the National Gallery gives us
a loaf of bread,
a bottle, glass and knife, so finely seen, or rather

the beauty of their appearance as expressed by
light, is so finely
shown, that the
little
picture
outweighs
many
of far greater pretension. in

is
Our tendency,
imitative truth,
the search for
literal,
or
to concentrate attention
on
the
rendering
of
the
;
surfaces,
textures,
and
accidental appearances
ignoring or neglecting
of
the deeper truths, the underlying qualities

structure
figure,
and movement
from
which, in
we
infer the intention, or in a tree, the

its
nature of
growth, and the influence
it
is
and
so
on.
under,
These
qualities
think
govern the other ones (or should).
Of course
we must
begin by
literal
imitation
we must be
the only
as exact in our studies as
we can
it is
way
a
to learn.
But
it
is
not possible to paint

In everysort,
live
man
if
we only
paint his skin.

life
thing that moves, that has
of
any
from
a figure, to a flower unfolding, or a tree

in the wind, something
is
bending
life
conveyed by that
get this
finish
life.
we do not however beautifully we may

and movement
;
if
we
fail
up
details,
the work has not the spirit of

find
in
What we
the
greatest
works, that
is
which keeps
them
still
living to us,
the artist's perception
of nature, expressed through his material.
And
the greatest
men
see farthest.
is
In criticising a
sketch or painting, nothing
more common
from
:
than to be met, on pointing out some obvious

fault,
with the answer

;
" Well,
did
it
nature"
or " It
was
and one can only
say or think "Is

"
just like that in nature "
that
all
you
see in nature
When
Hudson
Reynolds,
who had been
trained under
to under-
to paint in a literal way,
came
Michelangelo
British
Museum
PEN DRAWING: STUDY OK BATHER
On Truth
to
Nature
and Style
felt,
17
as
stand the work of the great Italians, he
he
a
said, that
it
was necessary for him

;
to
become as
little
child again,
and learn anew and he became

I
what, for want of a better name,
suppose
we
?
may call a stylist.
Now, what was the difference

Reynolds's
We
all
know
mature
work
its
great charms are the ease of

figures,
movement
of his of
and the effective

I
management
the
lighting.
earliest
do not know any of Reynolds's

little
work, and but

infer
of
Hudson's
but
we can
Reynolds's
early
work
from a
portrait of
Newton by Hudson,
in Trinity College,
Cambridge.
It is a full-length sitting figure, in
the dress of the time.

in a literal
The head
is
weU
painted,
and rather hard manner, resembling

;
that of Hogarth, though not so good
and
it is
not related in lighting to the rest of the picture,
which
is
kept very dark, and
is
conventionally
painted.
The
picture
is
neither frank realism

find that Re5molds,
nor
as
fine convention.
But we
we know him, studied the

as
effects of light
lighting
of his
pictures
one would compose a landscape
and he used the

express form,
and shadow to
his
and to build up
picture, as
and
if
Titian did
to
I
there
is
a quality belonging
colour analogous to that of style in form,
think
if
it
should be sought in this direction.

as expressed in form, depends on
For
style,
the essential things, the close study of structure
and movement, so
depend on
the
its
in colour should it not also

?
essential qualities
Which
are
harmony and
true relation of
light.
the parts,
under the influence of
The French painter Rousseau,

letters,
in
one of his
says,
;
" Everything
springs
from
the
universal
whatever interest one

religion,
may
is
take by
etc.,
reason
of
of
manners, history,
of
in the representation of a subject,
no value
except through the understanding of the universal
agency of the
finite.
air
this
suggestion of the in-
Nothing can prevent a stone by the

round which the
a
greater
is
roadside,
air
seems to play,
than
from being
conception
some
ambitious work that
wanting in
this spirit.
All the formal majesty of a portrait of Louis
XIV.
by Lebrun
or Rigaud, will be overthrown
by a
which
tuft of grass clearly lighted

is
by the sun
only to say, in a few words, that in
On
art
it
Truth
is
to
Nature
to
and Style
19
than
better
be
simple-minded
clever."
The
drawn
art of Millet,
one of the greatest of the

this.
moderns,
confirms
His
inspiration
was
directly
from the nature round about

has the
him, yet his design
same simplicity
and directness
style, as
of
appeal, the
same quality
of
we
find in
Greek and other great
art.
" One
is
never so Greek," said Millet, " as in

naively
one's
painting
own
impressions,
;
no
matter where they were received "
and
in his
drawings and paintings, with their true expression

of
unconscious actions,
of
we seem
to
get
back to the simplicity

of his designs
an older world.
Some
have the completeness, simplicity,

Greek gem
if
and beauty
of a
be moved himself
Millet.
he
is
to
"an artist must move others," said

;
And
that
is
the secret of
it
;
all,
that
as
the
artist
must be true to himself
men
widely apart as Blake and Franz Hals (to take
extreme
instances)
were
alike
in
this.
The
great school of
Dutch painters were strong as

but how lament-
long as they, like the Italians, were true to their

natural sources of inspiration
;
20
able
was the
to
failure of those
Dutch
artists,
who
thought
Italian
improve their style by adopting

!
mannerisms
Types and customs vary,

air,
but the beauty of the

the
of the sunlight,
and
shadow
;
are,
as
Rousseau
things
says,
" of the sordid
universal "
in
so
that
like
mean and
themselves,
the tavern scenes of Jan
Steen or Brouwer,
may
be so seen by the insight
of the painter into great truths of nature, that
they convey some vision of beauty.
Some
life
years ago, that great artist, whose long

just
has
ended
Mr.
Watts
I
was
good
enough to give
me some
advice.
was speaking was trying

;
of the difficulty of doing something I
to do, because I could not get a
model to pose
and I
*'
said, " Of course one has to rely on said, "
memory."
Yes," he
memory
I
is
a good thing, but
there's a better."
asked him what that was.
" Knowledge," said he, and he took a piece of
chalk and
knee.
made a drawing
he
of
said,
of the bones of the
" There,"
"
when you
bones,
it
really
know
you'll
the
shape
these
doesn't
matter what position you draw the

understand
it."
knee
in,
It
was a most valuable
On Truth
lesson,
to
Nature
and Style
to me,
and made things

it
clearer
;
and
think
says,
is
worth recording
artist
for,
as Reynolds
"
An
ought to see clearly enough
to
enable him to point out to others the prin-
ciple
on which he works."
great
difference
This gives point to
the
skill. skill.
between
knowledge
is
and
What we What we
of
acquire in the Ufe-class

get
mainly
by the wider study
of nature,
is
and
pictures as guides or warning-posts,

;
knowledge
and, as
we know,
it
is
not always
the most skilful student

greatest
artist.
who
develops into the

of
Knowledge
;
nature
if
should
control
and
direct the skill
for
a painter has
only acquired imitative
skill,
the object of his

it,
picture will naturally be to display
and
his
mind
is
the servant of his hand

of nature,
is
but
if
he has
that,
some knowledge
however great
he must
as nothing
feel
his skill, it
compared
with the beauty of nature which he wishes to

express
his
:
his
hand then becomes the servant
of
mind.
Reynolds says that " the service of nature,
when properly understood,

This
is
perfect freedom."
we may
see in all the greatest artists,
and
22
a masterpiece one
I think it is this that gives to
of its greatest
charms
the sense of being natural
and easUy done.

effort,
it is
As nature does not suggest

the
masterpiece,
so
neither
does
that
as true to nature in its

;
method
of execution
as in its conception
it exists,
we do not
feel the effort,
like
nature.
Someone has remarked

is
that the effect of fine painting

feel
to
make you
is
that you could do
it
too
and
this
some-
thing of the feeling one gets before work executed
with
facility,
such as that
;
of
Velasquez,
of
Rubens, or of Veronese
possible.
it
looks as easy as
Methods
aims of the
been,
may
change,
but
the
ideals
and
artist
remain as they have always
and are unaffected by time or place

old
we,
when our turn comes, only go over the

I
well-trodden ground.
came
across
some
rules
on painting
the other day, from a Chinese
book
called
The Mustard-seed Garden, which was

;
published in the year 1680

are quoted as being given
*
and these
rules
by an ancient Chinese
:
In a book entitled
String of Chinese Peach-Stones
W.
A.
Comaby.
Kelly, London, 1895.

On
artist
Truth
of
to
Nature
date,
and Style
23
unknown
though they might
have been written yesterday.
Some
extracts
may
be of interest
" Excellence does not consist in multiplicity

of detail, nor in bare simplicity
;
difficulty is
not
art,
nor
is
ease
non-accordance with rules

artistic
does not ensure an
style,
and
with
overmuch method the

inartistic.
result
may
be highly
First give rigid attention to all rules,
then follow your genius and break away from
them."
first first
" If you
want
:
to
if
work without
rules,
follow every rule
to paint with ease,

slight
take pains
if
you would have a

study
all
and simple
details."
style, first
the multitudinous
Another ancient
artist says, "
When
may
a picture
seems to be alive with motion and breath, as
though of heavenly creation,

a work of genius.
it
be called
When
the touches are some-
thing above the ordinary, and the washes are

in accord with
good
taste,
it
fertility of
motive
controlling the whole,

of
excellence.
may
be called a work
is
When
there
correctness
of
form, and a general observance of rules,
the
24
result
may
be called a work of ability "

follows
:
and he
sums up as
" With the breath of the
four seasons in one's breast, one will be able to

create on paper.
The
five colours well applied
enlighten the world."
II
IMAGINATION AND THE IDEAL
25
II
IMAGINATION AND THE IDEAL
IMAGINATION
artist,
is
the driving force of the

visible
whether he paints the
beauty
of
outward things, as did Velasquez, or
the fancies of the mind, as did Blake, a

at the opposite pole of thought
man
and temperament,
whose pictures have no conscious reference to

visual
directs
sensations.
The
painter's
;
imagination
whatever he does
and although the
word
is
commonly used
it
in the restricted sense

it
in which we apply
to Blake,
seems to
me
is
that for a good historical picture, or even for
good
:
portrait,
some imaginative power

intuition,
required
insight
some strong
some dramatic
which dictates the point of view and

It
controls the artist's work.

as
if
would even seem
the possession of imagination alone, with
the very poorest technical equipment,

27
makes the
28
artist
:
not of course that
if
it
makes him a
painter,
but that
will find,
he has a definite thing to express he

of doing so.
somehow, the means

is
The
this,
work
of Blake
an excellent instance of
for in spite of his conventionalities,
and from a and
painter's
point
of
of
his
view,
the
feebleness
childishness
execution,
he conveys his
is
meaning, and in such a

a charm
way
that there
even
in this weakness, telling of his struggle

:
for expression
as usually happens in an artist's
work, he
tells
more than he
intends.
Blake's
his sim-
sublimity seems to
me
little
stagey
plicity is his finest quality.
Of course
his
style
was formed largely on
that of Michelangelo, but his knowledge of the
master was derived from copies or prints, the

only material available, which exaggerated the
muscular action.
It
was not
until photographs
of the Sistine frescoes
were available for study,

really in the
we could see how fine Michelangelo was how true in the delicacy as well as
that
;
force of his work.
Blake himself seems to have been quite unconscious of
any technical weakness
indeed, he
29
thought himself better, as a painter, than his

contemporaries.
istic
He
says in his very character:
way, referring to imagination
"he who
light,
does not imagine in stronger and better linea-
ments, and in stronger and better

his perishing mortal eye
than
can
see,
does not imagine

asserts that all
infinitely
at
all.
The painter
and
of this
work
his imaginations
appear to him
minutely
more
than
this
perfect,
more
organised,
anything seen by his mortal eye."

contrasts with Reynolds's calm
How
and reasonable
statement, "
We
can no more form an idea of
beauty superior to nature, than we can form
an idea of a sixth sense, or any other excellence

out of the limits of the
human mind.
what we
We
are
forced to confine our conceptions, even of heaven

itself,
and
its
inhabitants, to
see in this
world."
Still,
Blake was able to express his ideas
and
his pictures, because of this,
touch us more than
any amount
of capable
and accomplished works

themes, but lacking
;
dealing with imaginative
imagination.
Blake expresses himself
his
work
leaves an impression on the mind,
and
this is
30
for,
one test of vital work
after
all,
it
is
ex-
pression which counts in art.
One may
recall
the well-known words of Blake, in speaking of the sunrise, "
What
you you
will tell
me
that
when
the sun rises you see a

like
little
I
round golden spot
a guinea
I tell
see all the hosts of
heaven, singing Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God
Almighty "
he would
and probably if he painted a

natural to symbolise
to the
it
sunrise,
feel it
if
in that
way.
But
we turn
work
of Turner,
who
find
was a
fine painter
and a master
of his materials,
as well as a
man
of great imagination,
we
that he had the same great view of nature, as
a living presence, although he did not personify

it
as Blake did.
For he was able to see and to
seize
the elements in nature which give the

life,
suggestion of
us,
and by putting them before
he arouses in us the same feelings as nature

In the one case there was the imaginative
does.
insight only, the emotion received
from nature,
artist able to
but in the other there was also the
analyse the grounds of this emotion, and, having

great power of drawing, and knowledge of gra-
dation and colour at his
command,
to express
it.

The imagination
of
31
I think,
an
artist is
shown,
rather in the treatment of his subject than in

his choice of the subject itself
;
and one may
instance this
by a comparison
of the
work
of
Jan Steen or Metsu, with that
of Mieris.
In
the work of Steen or Metsu, although the
common
things they painted are perfectly realised, one

feels
that they are subordinated to the dramatic
incident of their subjects (or that the dramatic

incident
is
raised into prominence over them).

this is
Exactly
it is
how
done
it
is difficult
to say
a question of the things the
mind
of the
artist
most dwelt on, which thereby are somehow

In the case of Steen or
brought to our minds.
human interest, or the beauty of the thing as seen we are made to feel something more than that so many items are comMetsu
it
is
the
prised in the picture.
But
in the case of Mieris

It is true
;
there
is
an utter lack of imagination.

is
everything
painted beautifully and minutely

it
:
one could take a lens to examine
but he
paints his hares and cabbages and carrots and

things, with the eye of a marketing housewife
looking for defects, and his people too, in the
32
same
is
spirit.
So that
his work, for all its skill,
poor.
It tells us nothing.
The
great
perfect
union
is
of
technical
in
skill
with
imagination
in him.
found
Michelangelo,
and only
His work attains perfection
in this balance of the finest qualities, for not
only are his figures true, in their expression,

to nature, but his workmanship, in its mastery
and
skiU, is perfect
his sculpture bears
com-
parison with that of the ancient artists.
Such
well-known figures as the David, the Slave,

the Pieta in St. Peter's, and the beautiful basrelief in
the Diploma Gallery, are masterpieces

if
technically,
it
is
possible
to look
at
them
;
apart from
all
thought of their meaning
but
they were not finished so finely only to show

his
knowledge of anatomy, or of form, but
in
order to give the utmost truth of expression.
His knowledge was gained that

his imagination
;
it
might serve
we
see in his
work expressive
action carried to
its
extreme point, but not

his figures are indi-
exaggerated
and although
vidualised, they include

for
more than the
individual,
by
fixing a characteristic action, they
become

typical.
tions,
33
abstrac-
His
to
figures
are
not
vague
made
and
conform to a conventional heroic

;
or
ideal
t5ê
but they show differences of
build
of characterisation, as
marked
as
we
find in
life,
so that in spite of their being re-
moved from
still
us by
their
grandeur,
in
they are
variety.
individual,
and human
their
This
may
be seen in the frescoes in the Sistine
Chapel, where the figures of the prophets and

sibyls
fine
show a variety
of types, as also
;
do the
supporting figures between them
these are
so individual that one can almost recognise the

different
models used.
;
It is rarely that
he gives
a figure at rest
he
fixes the action of a
moment,
the most telling expression of the thought.
Can work such
as this be done
by
rule
One
at
can recognise the imagination of an
artist
we
his
feel
Michelangelo's
mind from looking

if
works better than
he had written his
ideas
are
down
used
and we see that certain elements

expression.
for
Yet
his
imitators
seemed to think that by using these elements,

beginning, as
it
were, at the other end, they
would
produce
imaginative
work
forgetting
34
that,
though they borrowed his properties, they
could not borrow his brains.
The impulse
imagination
are
in his
work
is
from within
says, "
the
directs.
As Re5niolds
There
two modes
of imitating nature, one of

for its truth,
which
refers to the
mind
and the other

and
to the eye."
The work
mind.
of Michelangelo,
it
at a distance
refers to the
and derived from
that of Blake,
give expression
They both
to
an
imagined
ideal.
One cannot imagine
that Michelangelo would free himself from his
own
to
strong bias, and become sufficiently detached
face
nature quite frankly,
like
a portrait
his
painter.
His
imagination
governed
eyes,
and he used
his idea.
his
models only so far as they served
This was not the case with Raphael,
for although his for its truth,
work
also refers to the

I think,
mind
it refers,
more
to the eye.
He was more
not so
in
touch with the world, more

His imagination did
it
interested in his fellows.
much
evolve things from within, as
assimilated
and used things round about him.

observation
He had more
or, it
than Michelangelo,
;
would be truer to say, a wider observation

for
35
no observation, no searching, could be closer

of Michelangelo
:
and deeper than that

was, as
it
but
it
were, directed always to one figure,

it
searching
to the uttermost.
He
of
did not, Hke

figures
Raphael,
express
the
relations
to
each other in a group, or the different play of
one character with another, which

Raphael's greater qualities
perhaps, he excels
brandt.
all
;
is
one of
the one in which,
other artists except
Remand
Raphael's
figures
come
so
naturally
beautifully into their places,

of their beautiful grouping
;
and one often thinks

while with Michel-
angelo,
single
one thinks always of one or another

figure
:
he was a solitary even

the
man and
of
a
his
his
dreamer,
assistants.
disliking
presence
Raphael lived
pupils,
it
surrounded
interested
by
in
friends
and
he was
the
is
world
at its
and
best
seems to
me
that his painting

individuals,
his
finest
when he painted
and
not
abstractions.
Some we
;
of
work,
that certainly which
are most able to appre-
ciate, is in portraiture
and
if
one
may presume
to say so, there seems, in the Vatican frescoes,
^6
where
his fine quaUties of construction, character-
isation,
and drawing are seen to

the work,
perfection,
to be
more enjoyment in
actual
people.
when he
idea
is
painting
The "
certain
which, as he said, the painter must have in his
mind, did not control him altogether, as

Michelangelo
in
;
it
did
and
it
is
interesting to notice
some
of the splendid frescoes in the Vatican,
the
difference
between the beautifully drawn

figures
and firmly characterised

all
on the one
side,
evidently
portraits,
and the conventional

the
other.
" Raphaelesque " figures on

is
This
particularly noticeable in
the " Heliodorus,"

;
and in the " Mass of Bolsena "

the latter fresco show a character
;
the side groups of

difference
in
marked
feel to
one group we
be real and the
other unreal, and the strength and variety of
the
in
realistic
figures
emphasises the
ideal
in
sameness
a
the
types
of
the
find
figures
same-
ness
we do not
Michelangelo.
With
all their
appropriateness of action, they do not
give us the
same conviction
;
as
do the ideal
see in
figures of Michelangelo
we even
them
the germ of that insipidity which marked his

followers
37
and
imitators.
And
it is
perhaps the
recollection of so
much
conventionality founded
on the external qualities of Raphael, that blinds

us to the real greatness of his work.
He had
a wider range and a more sympathetic imagination
than any other
artist
he was able to
saw,
its
gather
from
;
everything
he
typical
character
so that, to every subject he painted,
he gave
its
most
characteristic expression,
still
and
fixed standards which
remain, for grouping

of
and
composition.
The
group
Hehodorus
could not be attempted again without reference

to Raphael, nor could a
Madonna, or any subject
which he treated.
The
great genius that this shows has

:
come
now
us.
to be taken for granted
it
does not astonish
His work seems to have come about so

so naturally,
easily,
and
it
it
has been so long
with
as
us, that
we
take
as a matter of course,
It
is
we do
the sky or the sunshine.

to think
;
not
until
we begin
it
aU out, that
all this
had to be created
not until
we
think of the
artist facing the great
blank walls do we realise
how stupendous was
his work.
And
if
we
pass
38
of isolated figures
from the consideration

groups
and
no one ever grouped
figures so finely
to the design of such pictures as the " School of
Athens," or the " Heliodorus," and consider the

placing of the figures and the design of the back-
ground
if
we study how these works are arranged

and how natural and easy
feel his true greatness,
it
and
controlled,
all
seems,
his
we must
and that
work belongs
to the eternal things of art.
We
must remember, however, that Raphael's

of
work was a continuation and development

the earlier art the
;
the methods, and to
some extent
already
groupings
employed,
think
were
those
in use.
But
we may be
direct
sure that the
new
things he
of
won were
by
reached through the

observation,
;
study
nature,
not
for
only of people, but of lighting in nature
the arrangement of the light, and the fine aerial

quality of colour in the " School of Athens
could only come that way, and the knowledge
how
tion.
is
to light effectively a large
number
of figures
can only have been gained by first-hand observaThis broad and

simple lighting, which
Italian work.
one of
the great charms of
Rafikael
Vatican
THE MASS OF BOLSEXA (LEFT
SIDE)

must
have been dictated by the necessity
;
39
of
filUng large spaces
for, as this
requires a distant
point of view to be taken, the picture has to be

seen broadly
;
but what
is
is
wonderful, especially
all this
in Raphael's work,
that with
there
is
no
sacrifice
of
necessary
detail,
and
at close
quarters one can see that the figures are minutely

finished,
and are hatched,
like a drawing.
This form of art developed naturally in the

Italian
Renaissance
it
does
not
develop
naturally with us.
Our
life is
too complicated,
it
;
and
its
conditions are opposed to
we cannot
and
get the
same opportunities
for observation,
who essays imaginative work in this manner now has nothing to lead him up to it
a painter he cannot refer to nature, with older work to
guide him, but only, a long
older work.
It is
way
back, to the
sometimes
said, indeed, that there is

;
no
scope for imaginative art nowadays

is
but this
not
so,
for imagination does not

If it exists, it will
depend on
itself freely
externals.
express
;
through the materials at hand
and although
the art of the great Italians cannot be re-created,
is still
imaginative art
tion
possible,
though
its direc-
may
be different.
Rousseau, the French

is
landscape painter, said, " It
asked that art

:
should abandon retrospective history
that
it
should confine
the
past.
itself
is
to actuality
and repudiate
healthy
This
evidently
and
fruitful idea,
but the
artist is essentially sensitive,
he
is
not master of his emotion, he paints best
that
which moves
him
most.
Go and
him
tell
Delacroix to burn Shakespere, destroy Goethe,
Dante, and
all
who have
inspired
tell
Grcricault to forget the Iliad,
Proudhon to give
Greek anti.
up Longus and the great
figures of
quity, Ingres to be false to Raphael.

artist
The
;
has a right to his professional education

to see well, to construct well
is
we can teach him

but to
feel,
to be touched,
a matter which
concerns him and his temperament alone.
He
true
must have the most perfect

and
of development."
liberty of expression
This seems to
me
and
wise.
If
we
consider another great imagin-
ative artist,
Rembrandt, whose imagination, like
that of Raphael, was nourished

ings,
by
his surround-
we
find
that he,
like
Raphael, painted

Scriptural
subjects.
41
Raphael
used the hand-
some types
of his fine race for models,
Rembrandt
used very ordinary Dutchmen.
Each had the
power
of
imagining
and re-creating a scene,
and
it is
curious to notice the difference in the
nature of their appeal to us.
Raphael's appeals
by
its
beauty,
;
its
general appropriateness and
Tightness
figures,
so that, apart from the

feel that
charm
of his
we
even
if
the events did not

to
happen as he has depicted them, they ought

have happened so
:
we accept
But the
his ugly
his
first
version
as
worthy of
of
its
subject.
impression
Rembrandt, with
is
and very ordinary
persons,
that these events cannot possibly

in
have happened
that
it
this
way; we have an
dignified,
idea
on.
was nobler, more

find,
and so
But we
when we
all
get to
know Rembrandt,
that he brushes
for
it
these ideas of dignity aside,
did not occur to

of
him that the men and

and
his pictures convince
women
Scriptural times could be different

:
from those of his own
us because he goes straight to the heart of his

subjects, re-creating a scene with all its emotion
and expression, and giving
it
a sense of reality
42
that raises
it
far
above the conventional view
impressed on our minds by the familiar traditional renderings.

it
It is presented so truly that
too becomes typical.
All his
amazing
skill,
his
knowledge of
is
light,
expression, colour,
and
movement,
used in the service of his imagina-
tion, to bring the scene
home
to us.
In such a
plate,
masterpiece as the "
Hundred Guilder "
how
splendid
is
the grouping, and
how
fine the
sentiment expressed through the arrangement

of the light, with the line of sick people
coming
forward out of the shadow

sions
and
all
the expres-
and incidents truly imagined, and something

;
more than that
for
he has expressed
all
the
possibilities of the scene so truly that his picture

is
typical
the subject has been done once for

find this living force of his im-
all.
And we
agination present throughout his work.

is
There
something more in his portraits than the cold

is
stare of the eye, there
the power of reaching

;
to
his
and showing us the person within

portraits
he makes
speak
to
us.
His
imaginative
its
power, though perhaps not so wide in

as Raphael's,
is
range
deeper; his work compels one's

interest
43
and sympathy, and leaves as profound

on
the
an
impression
mind
as even that
of
Michelangelo.
Rembrandt may be
type of Dutch
art, as
said to
have fixed the

of Italian
:
Raphael did
and
his influence
is still
the guiding one in the

:
living
Dutch school to-day
while in Italy, whatits
ever influence reigns
now among
painters,
it is
not that of Raphael, or their other great masters.

Theirs
is
an art of the past.
No
one was great

;
enough to succeed the great

nothing
left
Italians
there
;
was
and
but to follow at a distance
these in turn
had
their followers,
and the
fresh
reference to nature dropped out of men's minds.

It
is
a curious comparison,
that
of
Raphael
life
dying at the height of his fame and the

his
of
school
with
him
and Rembrandt dying
obscure and discredited, and his influence growing greater with time, and inspiring a school.
Both drew
their inspiration
from without
one
aiming at an ideal perfection of form, the other

absolutely
blind
to
it,
accepting
and using
whatever came to hand.
One can hardly com-
pare them, or say which was the higher aim or
44
if
the greater achievement, but
we take
a great
it
man's work as a legacy to
his
successors,
would seem that Rembrandt's was the more

fruitful
;
and perhaps
this is because the impulse

is
towards realising an abstract beauty
confined
to few, while the desire to express people
and
things as they are will be felt
by many
and
that
Rembrandt
is still
a living influence because
he comes nearer to
us,
and
is,
as
it
were, every-
body's friend, while
men
of kindred spirit with
the great souls of the past are rare, and their
road
is difficult
to tread.
There can be no doubt that Mr. Watts was

one of these rare
spirits.
It is
not
my
place to
make, nor
am
capable of making, a just estimate

I
of his great gifts, but
may
is
touch on some
points in his work, which

its
first
as remarkable for
great range
place,
as
for
its
high aim.
In the
we may
see that he
;
had a thorough
command
pictures
of his
means
he was a
bom
painter,
and had a natural
gift of expression.
His early
show this
is
such a work as the "
Wounded
still-life
Heron "
painted with an ease and accomplishto that of the best
ment equal
Dutch

painters.
45
Indeed,
it
reminds one in
many ways
of the early Velasquez in the National Gallery,
though
it is
not quite so stern.
In the presence
that he
of Mr. Watts's early

his business,
work we
in
feel
knew
and that
whatever direction his
nature had led him, he would have shown himself
a master
" struck
we are (as Millet said of Rousseau) by the fact that a power is a power
:
from
Millet
its
very
beginning."
..." You
were,'*
said to Rousseau,
"from the beginning
the
little
oak which was destined to become
the great oak."
We may
see in Watts's early

of the
work hints
of the influences
time,
;
of
Lawrence, of Etty, and perhaps of Turner
but
he soon finds himself, and in the splendid series

of
it
his portraits
and
pictures,
but
especially,
seems to me, in the portraits, we see how
thorough
true
was
his
his
knowledge
of
form,
how
fine
was
draughtsmanship, and
how
his colour-sense.
His heads are

in
finely constructed
;
and modelled, and true

is
character
is
nothing
slurred over, nothing essential
sacrificed.
And
they are remarkable among portraits in
another
way
that everything
is
subordinated
46
to the extent
to the expression of character,
even that his method of work varies according

to the character of his sitter, so that there
is
kind of childhke, unconscious obedience of the
hand
in
to the mind.
If
we
notice the difference
method between the

of
portraits of Walter Crane

of his ladies' or
and
Lord Roberts, and some

portraits,
children's
we
see
something of his
with no forcing
range. His colour

for effect
;
is fine
and
true,
the relation of flesh to linen
to
the
whites, as well as to the darks of his picture

is
so beautifully kept, that his colour seems to

of the ordinary-
have a wider range than that

palette.
This
is
due to
his fine sense of gradation,
and
also to his fine sense of quality of colour
for though, as
we know,
it is
not possible to get a
greater range than from white to black, yet a

greater variety in
this
range
is
produced by
is
varying the kind of colour (that

using in
to say,
by
some places
is
solid, in others
if all
transparent
colours) than
possible
the tints are mixed

colour,
and painted
although
it
solidly.
The transparent
may be taken down to the full strength

from the lighter
of a shadow, yet has a brilliancy

ground beneath, which keeps
light
;
47
it
nearer to the
in this
is
and Mr. Watts's method
like
that of the great Venetians, and his colour has
the same range and fulness.

It
seems to
me
that Mr, Watts's

:
work divides
the search
stage
roughly into three stages

for
the
the
first is
truth
and accuracy,
portrait
the second, for the expression of ideal beauty,

as
we
see in the "
Daphne " and
others of that
time, which are splendid examples of the
way
not
an ideal subject should be rendered.
It is
enough
for us to pose a
it
model and paint a
figure,
and
call
Venus, or Juno, or
what
not,
and
then to think
we have painted an
ideal picture.
The idea should be the
starting
point,
its
and
should control both the design and
treat-
ment, and Mr. Watts's ideal figures are splendid

in this respect. in the studio,
They do not suggest the model

but rather that he was inspired
by the
finest
Greek work, and tried to work
in its spirit.
The
finest of the
antique painting
of this time,
must have been very

and the
illustration
fail
like his
work
given,
to
from a fresco at
Pompeii, cannot
remind us of his work,
48
and
to
show how thoroughly he entered

spirit.
into
the antique
Mr. Watts's third stage was the expression of

his imagination
;
of his
it
own
feehngs.
He seems
to have felt that

things, that
it
was not enough to record

to give aesthetic
was not enough
pleasure, but that the object of his

be, in his
work should
own
words, " to suggest, in the language

in
of art,
modern thought
;
things ethical and
spiritual "
he was not content to embody old but has given fresh forms
myths
to
in fresh forms,
ideas
and problems which touch us now.

is
The question
often
raised,
whether in en-
deavouring to give pictorial form to abstract

ideas,
he was not giving up the
finest qualities
of the painter, such as
we
see in his portraits

his
so.
and
earlier
works
which come from

life.
more
For
more,
;
immediate touch with
It
may
it
be
my own
but
I
part, these
works appeal to
me
here
do not propose to discuss

it
and
:
indeed I do not think
really
life
worth discussing
we must take a man's

his nature
work as expressing
This develop-
and
his
convictions.
to him,
ment came naturally
and whether by
Museum, Pompeii
ULYSSES AND PENELOPE

(wall-painting from POMPEII)

reason of
it
49
our loss
is
greater than our gain,
there can be no question of the nobihty of his
aim, nor of the greatness of his achievement

for
such works as the
" Hope,"
"
Love and
Death," " Opportunity," and
many
others which
will occur to us, have, like great
poems, passed
of
into
our
thought,
and become part
our
inheritance,
criticism
is
sometimes made of Mr. Watts's

it
work, especially of his colour, that though
is
no doubt very
all
beautiful,
and
fine in effect, it is
borrowed from the Venetians, and that

not
we
but
did.
should
go back for our inspiration,
endeavour to create for ourselves as they
How
far is
this
true
If
the only merits of

it
Mr. Watts's work were that

qualities of the Venetians,
recalls
if
the fine
and
his admirers
were content to copy these qualities from him,
and so
would
on,
we can
;
foresee
that deterioration
result
and there would be a reason to

to appeal for a fresh start.
protest,
and
But
sym-
Mr. Watts's fine qualities are his
own
on
his
pathy with the Venetians

4
rests
his under-
standing of their use of colour as well as form,
50
as a
means
of expression,
and expression was
what he sought.
He
learnt from the Venetians
that colour speaks to us, that the

picture depends on the tone of
mood
of a
its colour.
For
example, a picture
tones,
and so
far,
may be all painted in we may say, be untrue

;
golden
to the
actual look of things
but within this golden

parts
envelope
all
the true relations of
may
exist, the general colour giving the
key or setting
is
the
mood
of the picture.
;
This
what Remin our small
brandt did
and
think
we
all
all,
ways, try to use colour in this way.

only
But
it
is
when a man knows
the possibilities of
colour that he can do this weU, and that he
becomes, like Mr. Watts, a master, having the
whole scale at his command.

that
am
convinced
if
we cannot
get this knowledge
we only
study in the cold north light of a studio, or even

if
we supplement
this
by study
of the masters
but that we must go back to the old source, and

study the whole wide range of light and colour
in
nature.
Mr.
Watts,
like
all
great
figure
painters,
of his
was
also a landscape painter,
and some
landscapes,
such
as
"
The dove that
51
returned not," are as fine things as have been
done
of
and
it
was,
I feel sure,
through the study

'*
landscape,
not the study of Httle
bits,"
but of the great controlling things, the sun and

the sky, in their relation to the earth and to
people, that he
was able
to find out the reasons
for the fine colour of the Venetians,
and how
to use
it
for himself.
In looking at a picture, the mind refers to
more than
of things
is
before the eye, to our consciousness
outside the picture.
There
may
felt
be
no sky
in the picture,
but our recollection of the
balance between sky and earth wUl be

us
;
by
and
it
seems to
me
in all Mr. Watts's pictures,
whether
it is
actually expressed in the

is
:
work or
not, that the blue of the sky
the determining
so that there
is,
point of the scale, in his

as
it
mind
it
were, reflected back from his pictures
may
be only in a vague suggestion
a sense of
their
harmony with the

nature,
great elementary things of

indications
figures.
by
subtle
of
corre-
spondences with his
In some of his
pictures, too, the alternations of light
and shadow
on the
figures rouses the
same
feeling that
we
52
get in nature in noticing the play of light and
shadow over a wide country, and perhaps

directly recalls
it
is
it.
in-
do not pretend to know,

difficult
is,
an obscure and
this
life,
thing to trace
but something of
of the sense of the
I fancy, at the
bottom
and harmony with nature,
that
we
feel
before his finest work.

of his art his
Every development
seems to have
not, or
come naturally through

hardly at
all,
own mind,
;
from others' ideas
for
he kept
apart from schools, and was throughout true

to himself
and
his ideals.
Ill
INVENTION
68
Ill
INVENTION
"
''
^HE
invention of a painter," says Rey"consists not in inventing his
nolds,
subject, but in a capacity of forming in

his imagination the subject, in a
manner best
accommodated
to his Art."
"It includes not
only the composition, or the putting the whole

together,
part,
and the disposition
of every individual
but likewise the management of the back-
ground, the effect of hght and shadow, and the

attitude of every figure or animal that
is
intro-
duced or makes part of the work."
And he
is
goes on to say that " composition, which
the
is
principal part of the invention of a painter,
by
far the greatest difficulty
he has to encounter.
all
Every man that can paint at

individual parts
;
can execute
but to keep these parts in

re65
due subordination as relative to a whole,
56
quires a comprehensive view of the art that
more
strongly implies genius than perhaps any quality
whatever."
This
is
perfectly
true,
all
and most
have had
admirably expressed.
We
far
must
some such
feeling,
on looking at a
fine picture
which we know to be
can do ourselves
;
beyond anything we
Veronese's
such
as, for instance,

is
" Vision of St. Helena," which

in design.
very simple
though we
And if we examine each part, almay feel ourselves capable of painting

it is
any one
detail as well as
done
in the original,
we could no more paint the

design
it
picture,
that
is,
as
an original work, than we could

realise until, in spite of
failures, that
fly
and we do not
our
skill,
we have made numberless

the picture
is
we have
of
neither seen nor understood the

:
mechanism
the means by which
its fine effect
produced.
We
can appreciate the action and
intention of a picture, but so can the person
who
can,
is
altogether ignorant of painting

addition,
:
and we
in
appreciate the fine painting
of its parts
but we do not know enough to

invention,
it
understand
its
how
its
elements are
put together so that
looks so well.
Tintorel
In the author! possession
STUDY FOR COMPOSITION

(I'EN
AND WASH DRAWING)
Invention
57
The
qualities in a picture
which appeal to the

to the
in the street "
artist are not the
same ones which appeal
general public.
feel
The " man
can
the sentiment of Sebastian del
Piombo's
" Descent
" Raising of Lazarus," or Rubens's
from the Cross," or the truth of Velasquez's

portrait of Philip, or of the pictures of de
Hooghe
he can understand a story, but he cannot appreciate,
and would probably be quite blind
to,
the qualities which
make
these works great.
A
for
bad copy,
would
if
the
expression
;
were
preserved,
satisfy
him
he could
of
appreciate,
instance,
the point
a drawing by* Charles

I fancy,
if
Keene or Phil May, but he would,
be
ex-
equally pleased with a bad drawing,

pressed the intention.
it
And
as pictures are painted, not only for the
pleasure of the artist, but that they should be
found worth looking at by
all sorts
of people,
it
would seem that truth

is
of action
and expression
the
first
quality to be sought in a picture.

this is evident, for
It
it
must be so arranged that

is
on
this that the picture
makes
to
its
appeal.
Millet
said,
" I wish
first
of all
make my
58
engaged
in
figures express the actions they are
people and things should always be there with
an object."
Leonardo dwells on
says, "
this
very strongly, and
is
never tired of urging the
artist to observe.
He
it
When you
are instructed in perspective

of bodies,
and know how to draw the forms
should be your delight to observe and consider

the
different
actions
of
;
men, when they are
talking
and quarrelling
fight.
when they laugh and

in sketching these
when they
Be quick
with slight strokes in your pocketbook, which

should always be about you.
When
it
is
full
take another, for these are not things to be
rubbed out, but kept with the greatest care
because forms and motions of bodies are so

infinitely various, that the
memory
is
not able
these
to
retain
them.
Therefore
preserve
sketches as your assistants and masters."
He
goes on,
"
The painter must observe on the

and not wait
it
till
spot, take sketches,
he wants
such expression, and then have

for
counterfeited
him
for instance, getting a

is
model to weep
when
there
no cause
an expression without
Invention
a cause will be neither quick nor natural.
a figure which does not express
the sentiments and passions
it
59
And
by
its
position
by which we suppose
its
animated, will appear to indicate that

its
muscles are not obedient to
will,
and the
painter very deficient in judgment."
One more
:
quotation,
which
is
a kind of summing up
" The painter ought always to form in his a kind of system of reasoning,
within himself,
mind
or discussion
on any remarkable object before

take
notes,
him.
He
rule
should stop,
and form
the
some
upon
it,
considering the place,
circumstances, the lights and shadows."

Well, this
If
is all
only excellent
common
sense.
man
sets out to paint
a picture, he can't
even make a good commencement unless he has
some fund
from.
in this
of
collected
observations
to
start
We know
way, and
that the great painters worked

it is
well worth while for us
to study their drawings
and preparatory work

as from their
we can
learn as
much from them
pictures,
perhaps even more, because one can
see the steps that were taken.

cases, as in the studies of
And
in
some
Raphael, one can see
6o
the various actions which were tried for his

figures, before the final
and most expressive one

helpful for us to see that
perfect,
was reached.
For
it is
works which seem to be
and to have
effort,
come together naturally and without

with our
are a
were worried over and altered, just as we do
own
works.
It
makes us fed that we
little
nearer to the great
that they also had
their difficulties.
men when we know And then,

of illustration,
these drawings are in themselves so well worthy

of study.
I
may
all
give,
by way
four drawings,
deaUng with the same subject,

the
the Adoration
Tintoret,
of
Shepherds
one
is
by
by
and
one by
Marcola Veronese,
one
;
Bassano, and one by

it
Abraham Bloemart
arranged.
is
very interesting to notice the different

in
ways
which the subject

arranged
as
is
Two
;
of
them
two
a
are
upright
panels
and
Tintoret's drawing shows the stable arranged in

storeys, with the
Holy Family above, and
fine
group of shepherds below, beautifully
arranged against an open central mass of light

outside.
I
This suggestion of the grouping must,
think,
have been derived from some actual
î^Si^M^k-jir^
Giambattista Marcola Veronese
>
/ the author
.'
STUDY FOR COMPOSITION

(pen and wash drawing)
Invention
place which he had seen
'61
and one point

is
of the
design
is
that the greatest prominence
given
to the figures of the shepherds.
In the sketch by Veronese there
is
an ingenious
through
arrangement of a
flight of steps leading
an archway.
is
The group
of
is
the Holy Family

raised up, but the
in
posed on the steps, and so
figure of Joseph,
and an ox at the back, are
the shadow of the arch, making a dark framework
which allows the

Virgin
light
to be focussed on the
effect
and
Child.
is
This
of
shadow
from the arch
one which must have been

it is
observed in nature, and
utilised
very cleverly.
filling
It is evident, I think, that the
need of
an
upright panel has determined the composition

in
both these cases.

is,
In the design by Bassano,
which
I think, the finest expression of the
subject,
is
it is
interesting to note that the Child
made
literally
the centre of interest,
by the
figures
on either side bending towards

all
Him
:
the lines of the stooping backs

of circles, of
form parts
which the Child
is
the centre
and
line
we may note that
this design
depends on
lighting.
and movement, rather than on
62
These
clearness
sketches
are
done
with
remarkable
and freedom, showing that at the
earliest stage the artist
had a
definite idea in in action
his
mind
and they are natural

Italian
is
and
gesture.
The
more
and
demonstrative
than the northern races, and his actions are

naturally
more expressive
it
may
be worth
whUe, by way of emphasising the fact that we

render best those things with which
familiar, to
we
are
compare with these another drawing
of
the same subject
by a Fleming, Abraham
to his figures poses
Bloemart,
" graces "
who gave
and
which he borrowed from

His design
is
Raphael
and Michelangelo.
able and well
arranged, but every one of

ated,
its figures is
:
exagger-
and
it is
affected in pose
all
one sees at once

indeed, the
that
mannerism;
whole
design seems to be arranged for the sake of the

poses.
How poor this
kind of work
is,
compared
or
either with
the Italians
who
are imitated,
with the Dutch painters

native inspiration
!
who were true to their For when we look at Remare struck
brandt's fine picture of the same subject, in the
National Gallery,
we
by
its
truth to
Invention
nature.
63
In this there are no fine poses, but the

is
if
subject
himself,
felt
he
is
"an to move
;
artist
must be moved
others," as Millet said.
When we
is,
are concerned with landscape,
or
with figures associated with landscape, invention

I think,
much
simpler affair than
when one
is
designing a subject, because one does as a rule

;
see one's subject first in nature
the thing
is
before our eyes, and
it
is
because
we
find
particular effect beautiful that

it
;
we want
to paint
so that
we have
rather to select than to

to notice
invent.
We
:
must be quick
;
what
it is
that impresses us
picture
what
are the elements of the
we must make up our minds about

;
the quantity and position of the lights and darks
make a note
keep to
it.
of them, and, as far as possible,
Some
of
the finest
drawings of
Claude and of Rembrandt show this simple and

beautiful
noting of effect
of a
the
drawing
illus-
trated
is
most commonplace scene, made

of the
beautiful
by the arrangement
it
:
sunlight
and shadow over and darks.

It
by the placing
of the lights
seems to me- that the principal thing a
64
its
picture depends on, for

rate, is
general truth at
any
knowledge of the
effect of light
;
and shade,
I
in enhancing or modifying colour

if it
and
doubt
is
possible to get this except
by studying
the
it
full
range of light and colour, as
we
find
in
outdoor
nature
taking
the
is
landscape
painter's point of view, that light

thing.
the governing
In looking back to the early work,
we
see that the possibility of rendering the beauty

of natural effect
was only recognised gradually, had the same

;
and that at
and
the
first all figures
relief
same
prominence
little
then
little
perspective
was discovered, and

the steps
:
by
we can
trace
Masaccio, Leonardo, Raphael, each
gaining something, until

central figures, Titian,
we come
to the great
Rembrandt, and Velasquez,
whose knowledge
it
of light
all
and colour sums up,
would seem,
that can be known.
The
development of painting has been a gradual

progress towards the knowledge of light, and
how things are revealed by it and it is not too much to say that every great figure painter has
;
been a landscape painter

has studied landscape.
also,
or at
any
rate
One may
instance, since
Invention
the time of Titian and Giorgione,
65
who were
the
fathers of landscape painting, Rubens, Velasquez,
Rembrandt, Vermeer
of Delft,
Vandyke, Gains-
borough, Reynolds, and in our
own time
Sir
John
Millais, Whistler,
and Watts.
This necessary knowledge of the effects of

light
cannot be gained
if
we
confine ourselves,
in studying landscape, to the
minute observa-
tion
for
we employ when we
can't sit
painting things in detail,

to
it
;
down
we must
culti-
vate the habit of making quick comparisons,
and
of estimating the relative force with which

;
things are presented to us
looking at figures
all
and groups, sky, houses and trees
at once,
and with a kind
of governing observation over
the whole field of sight, noting and remarking

light
and shade, colour and gradation.

as
The
method may be
summary
as
we
please, the
roughest notes with the colours and gradations

written
down and numbered
any method, so
that something remains in the mind.
Then we
know-
can begin to get our observations into some sort

of system,
and build up a
little
reserve of
ledge, which
5
we can confirm and estabhsh by
66
It
is
;
our study of pictures.
only developing
for, as
a faculty we already possess
you know,
we can
all
criticise
a painting to some extent,

its
and pronounce on
degree of truth
through
in
the recollections of nature
which are latent
our minds, but are not cultivated sufficiently

to enable us consciously to use
selves,
them
for our-
constructively,
as
Turner
and
other
great artists did.
This building up of a picture by

as
it
its effect is,
were, the material part of the painter's
problem,
indicated
;
and the direction
of
study can be
but the governing design and action
must
it
first
have been imagined, and

in light
in line
for a picture
must be imagined
is
and shade.
For
a design that
only,
fine
and arrangement
may
be contradicted or neutralised by the

its
is
arrangement of
colour
or,
on the other hand,

scheme
a picture which
effective as a colour
its
may
line.
be poor when reduced to
elements of
directions
One
;
cannot,
things
think, give
any
for design
may
or
be pointed out, as that

repetition
in
absolute
symmetry
is
figures
is
not pleasing (this
probably because the mind
Invention
recognises that no
67
alike),
two people think or act
or that equal spaces are not pleasant to the eye, or that a principal object should not be exactly
in the centre,
and so on
but one learns these
things from the study of pictures.
One method,
for instance, of calling attention to the central
point of a picture,
of Bassano's,
circles,
may
the
be seen in the drawing

parts of concentric
where
lines, like
surround
is
central
point
another
method
and
by
lines
converging to the centre of
interest, as
may be
seen in the sketch
by
Tintoret,
in Mr. Watts's picture of " Cain " in the
Diploma
Gallery,
where the arms of the angels

figure of Cain.
aU point down to the
And one
of
lines
may
frequently
trace
these
;
two
sets
it is
combined, in a picture
speaking
picture
so that
roughly
Queen
of
Uke
of
a spider's web, as in Claude's
the embarkation of the

are,
it
Sheba.
But these things

instinctively,
seems to me,
consciously
figures,
done
rather
than
and no
rules
can be given for designing
for the picture
must
arise in the artist's
mind,
and
is
dependent on his temperament, on what
has moved or interested him.
We may
point
68
out that such a work was composed on the

principle of the pyramid, another
circle,
on that of the
and so on
but, as Reynolds says, " Rules

pictures,
are
rules.
made
.
.
from
not
pictures
from
They should be
subject to us, and not
we
to them."
And
if
the painter knows, or can
imagine, the true action of his figures, as Raphael,

or Rembrandt, or Millet did;
if
he can see his
picture in his mind, and enter into the emotion
and
spirit of
it,
the hues will
come
right of
to.
them-
selves, or
they will be on the
way
One may
painted
go through the splendid
series of pictures
by Mr. Watts, but no

no
rules
can furnish us with

;
the secret of their fine composition
there
is
limit to the variety of his inventions,

all his
:
and
yet they are
one can only say that this

idea, that
was how he imagined such an

it
he
felt
should be expressed in such a way.
One
can say no more

or of Raphael.
of Michelangelo, of Rembrandt,
We
afraid,
should study Raphael more than,
am
;
we
do, for his invention
and grouping
he was,
I think,
greater than
any
:
other, except
of
Rembrandt,
in
these
things
not,
course,
Invention
that
69
or groups,
we should copy
his
gestures
but we should study them.
He had an
of
units
equalled power of realising his subject in

essentials,
and expressing the action

it,
each
individual figure in
to
in itself
and
in its relation
the
other
is
figures
of
his
group.
And
his
action
always natural, and, because natural,

It
is
beautiful.
difficult,
out of the immense
mass
his
of his works, to choose
any one, but one

of
of
familiar
works,
the
cartoon
" Christ's
Charge to Peter,"
may
serve for an example.

is
The idea
to
of his composition
probably derived,
fresco of " Christ
some extent, from Masaccio's

to take the
commanding Peter
money from
of
the
mouth
are
as
of
the
fish."
The proportion
is
the
figures to the
all
background
the same, the heads
on a
level,
and the
feet at irregular levels,
the
spectator
is
would see them,
standing
and there
with
hills.
in
each a landscape background

are
The Apostles
grouped around
the figure of Christ, but the grouping in Masaccio's

picture
is
casual
most of the
figures
seem there
by chance, and not The

incident itself
to be related to the incident.

is
not clearly told, nor are
70
the
principal
figures
given
prominence
but
the drawing of the figures
is fine.
Now,
if
we turn
to Raphael's work,
we
see the
great advance he made.
The same natural and

and there
;
true point of view
is
taken,
is
the
same
relation of figures to landscape

is
but the
main incident
given prominence by detaching
the two principal figures.

instead of
to
Then the
Apostles,
standing about vaguely, are shown

in
be
interested
of
the
incident
there
of
is
variety
expression
and variety
This
gesture
is
throughout
gressive,
is
the
group.
gesture
pro-
and from the quiet

intensified,
figures at the end,

it
;
gradually
until
reaches
the
central incident of the picture
so that in this
group we have,
first
little
group, then figures

:
detaching, and finally the figure of Peter

figure of
the
this
It is
Christ
stands
alone.
Now
it
all
?
gives a fine effect, but
why was
done
it
hardly a sufficient answer to say that

better " that
" comes
way than
in Masaccio's.
Was
nature
it
not done because

variety of action
Raphael realised that
this
?
was true
to
human
We
all
know
that although a group of people do
Invention
71
keep together as a whole, the more active and

the more eager ones
come away from the others
and
so,
not only has Raphael given to each
figure his natural
and appropriate
gesture,
but
he has given the group as a whole the behaviour

of a
group
so that the group becomes t5îcal.

is
composition has been found which

;
natural
all,
and inevitable
it
is
done once for
and
cannot be done better.
The truth sought

than
in his inventions was, as in

;
his figures, a general truth
to the type, rather
to
the
as
individual
such a picture,
for
instance,
that
of
" Michael
overthrowing
Satan"
subject.
settles for ever the
arrangement of that
It is told of the late
M. Fantin, the
French painter, that he was when a young

going through the Louvre with Millet,
his attention to
this
man
who drew
picture
but Fantin did

" Yes," said
!
not like
Millet,
it,
and gave
his reasons.
" but look,
what a
terrible fall
"
And
when we think
of the great
mass
of his work,
and that one man,
in a short lifetime,
advanced
directions,
the boundaries of his art in so
many
to a point which has not been surpassed,
we
72
artists
cannot wonder at succeeding

follow
for
trying to
:
him
and
least of all at their failure
how can one

?
continue a perfection already
attained
It is
worth while considering in
this connec-
tion, in the light of the
more complete
historical
knowledge of painting which we now possess,

whether
Reynolds's
advice
on
generalisation
has proved to be altogether sound.

truly that " the
of accidents,
He
says
mind
is
distracted in a variety
for
so they ought to be Ccdled,
rather than forms, and the disagreement of these
among themselves
ideas,
will
be a perpetual source of
confusion and meanness until,
by
generalising his
the painter has acquired the only true
criterion of
judgment."
This
is is
quite true
but
then he goes on to say, "It
better that he
should come to diversify on particulars from

the large and broad idea of things, than vainly
attempt to ascend from particulars to the great

general idea
:
for to generalise
from the endless

is
and vicious variety
of actual forms
perhaps
:
more than any one mind can accomplish
but
is
when the
other and, I think, better course
Invention
pursued, the artist
73
himself of the
may
avail
united powers of his predecessors.
He
sets out
with an ample inheritance, and avails himself

of the selection of ages."
Well,
we
all
do
this in a sense,
but
think
history shows that those
who
set out in that
way, trying to avail themselves of the selection

of ages,
have
set out
with a larger burden than

scientific
they could carry.
The
student can,
suppose, and does, avail himself of the united
powers of his predecessors

his
they are fully at

has to begin his
command
but every
artist
climb at the bottom of the tree, and get up as

far as
he can.
The powers
of his predecessors
are not at his
command
until he proves himself
equal with them.

distinct
The history
of art gives us a
warning in
this respect, in the sterility
which has always attended the deliberate adoption of the grand, or

rightly learn
any other
style.
is
What we
from the masters
to do as they
did
to study nature.
;
In this spirit they can
help us
and
I think
we should
by
try and allow
ourselves to be influenced
in the spirit of Constable,
nature,
somewhat
who
said, "
When
74
before nature, I try to forget that
I
am
ever
have
seen
picture."
Of course we cannot
forget the good things

is
we have
seen
but what
feel,
meant,
I think, is
that
we should
when
before nature, that

of its
all
pictures give but echoes
power and beauty.

greatest service the old painters can do
The
is
to steady our
judgment
for
we
are peculiarly
liable
to be led
away by
following whatever
fad happens to be in vogue at the moment.
This
may
be
consequence
of
exhibitions,
which lead men to emulation
in those qualities
most appreciated by painters

leads artists to
and so
far as this
make
their
work
:
as perfect as
it
they can,
it
is
commendable
but
leads also
to the cultivation of virtuosity for
its
own
sake,
and as an end, which

painting
is
is
surely a mistake.
For
itself
a means of expression, not in
an end.
sake "
is
know
that the plea of

in justification,
'*
art for art's

it is
made
and that
truly said that painting should not attempt to
express things which can be better expressed in

literature
;
but the object of a painter need not

be
a
story.
necessarily
The
expression
of
Invention
character,
J^
or
the
beauty and significance of

effects
movement, or the
sphere,
of
light
raise
;
and atmo-
and the emotions they
any
in
of the
endless
ways
in
which the beauty
nature
may
be expressed
If
may
surely be taken as the
artist's aim.
" art for art's sake "

;
mean
for
truth's sake, or for beauty's sake
to express
nature as well, and with as good workmanship

as one can, one cannot have a better motto
:
but
if
it
mean
that the object of painting
is
simply to get, or display, fine technical qualities,

then
I
think
it
is
altogether the
wrong way
about, like putting the cart before the horse.
Mr. Whistler did not paint his nocturnes for the

sake of getting a beautiful quality of blue paint,
but to express, as he once told me, the beauty
and mystery
lives
of the night
it
and
all
work that
or reveals
does so because
in
interprets
some beauty
nature.
The French painter
Gerome once
told a pupil that " painting for the
sake of painting was like speaking for the sake

of talking
:
to paint well," said he, " one
must
have something to say."
The danger
of virtuosity is its
tendency to
76
cleverness
degenerate into
and
triviality,
but
nature does not impress us as
being trivial
and
is
as the larger part of a student's training

it
is,
necessarily imitative work,
fear,
too
is,
often
after
taken
all,
for
granted
of
that this, which

painting,
is
a kind
still-life
the
beginning and end of the whole matter.

is
This
apparent,
it is
it
seems to me, in
all
exhibitions,
difference
and
at the root
of the great
;
between modern work and the old
whose aim
was rather to represent than to imitate nature.
The best
of
modem
work,
it
is
true, joins
;
on
the
harmoniously with the best of the old
great French school of the middle of last century
takes
its
place naturally with the great schools
of the past, and the artists
who made
it
were
occupied with expression, with the

not the letter of their art
;
spirit
and
with the simple and
direct appeal to the natural feeling
and emotion,
rather than with details which, however interesting they
may
be as matters of technique, are

It
of less consequence.
seems to
if
me
that this
point can be seen very clearly
we compare
Denner's
Denner with Rembrandt
or Reynolds.
Invention
77
work
ship.
is
most wonderful as imitative workmanit is
Everything in
painted as minutely
as possible,
and at
close quarters,
but the
;
effect
its
of the picture as a
whole
of
is
weak
because
to
elements,
instead
being
adjusted
each
other, with each detail presented in its proper
degree, as portions of a harmonious whole, are

disintegrated, so that, although
we have every
item,
is
we have not
give
is
the picture
for our attention
so compelled to every item, to every detail,

to
as
us almost a feeling
of
intrusion.
There
of
certainly a triumph of imitation, but

little
how
account
it
all
is,
when compared
of
with the
easy and
natural representation
Rembrandt
or Reynolds, which
we
recognise at
similar
once as true.
One could not avoid a

portraits
of
comparison between the
Sandys
Watts's
in
its
and
of
Watts
are
in a recent exhibition.
portraits
composed,
;
one
element
relation to another
and
this is the true
view of
nature, which imitative painting, for
all its skill,
misses
for a general impression of truth is not

all
produced by adding together

but by generalising.
the
little
truths,
yS
The
artist
must have an idea

;
in
his
mind
which he wishes to convey

facts,
he must depend on
but he must control them according to
his intention.
Rousseau has some remarks on
composition which are of interest.
He
says, " I
is
understand by composition that which

entering as
in us,
much
as possible into the exterior

If it
reality of things.
were not
so,
the
mason
with his rule could very quickly compose a

picture
representing
the
sea.
It
would
be
his
is
enough to draw a
canvas.
line at
any height across

sea,
if
Now, what composes the

artist
?
it
not the soul of the
There
is
composition
when
the objects represented are not there for
themselves, but for the sake of including under
natural appearances the echoes which they have

in our souls."
IV
TASTE
TO
IV
TASTE
A
for
it,
PICTURE
begins
its
life
when
has
it
leaves
the painter's hand.
He
made somewill last will
thing that, with reasonable care,

centuries
;
in
the
hope that
will possess
it
give
pleasure, that
someone
and cherish
it.
and
will
always
like to look
on
He
has
expressed whatever insight into nature has been
given him
his
he has made his work conform to
standard of taste.
live or die, to
And
it
goes out into the
world to
have people continually

recognising
it
;
finding pleasure
in
it,
its
beauty,
and being led through
to a greater appreci-
ation of nature's beauty

like
or else tiring of
it
it,
a child with a toy.
Or
it
may come back

and never
to him,
and he may turn

it
to the wall,
wish to look at
again.
But we must remember

its
that a picture cannot take
place definitely
82
in
a few years
if
contemporary judgment
there are, as
it
is
in the
main
right,
we
all
know,
many
instances where
success
has been mistaken.

failure
The immediate
only
or
of
a work
need not count as an indication

it is
of its merit, for
when a
picture has attained a respect-
able age
say
from ten to twenty years

it
that
its place,
whatever
may
be, is assured.
So, to arrive at a standard of taste,
we must go
back to the older painters
and
as there are
many
alike,
schools
and many
methods, there can be

for
all,
no one fixed standard

in
though
all
are
that they must refer for their merit
to the degree of truth with which they interpret
some aspect
of nature in paint.
But there are things which, however

truly painted, do not attract.
well
and
work may be
very well painted, but

pulsive,
its
subject
may
be
re;
and
this
we
agree to call bad taste
or
it
its
subject
may
be unexceptionable, and yet

tasteless
may
be painted in a
is
way
and so
our taste
shown, not only in what we paint,

paint
it.
but in the
It
way we
seems to
me
that taste in a picture
is
some-
Taste
thing like natural good manners in
8^
man
:
not
the
depending on the elements

picture,
the
clothes
it
of
but on the temperament

of its
;
displays,
and the measure
harmony with our acknowman's picture reveals

is
ledged standards
his outlook
for a
on the world, and

If
in that sense
for a friend,
a part of him.
we choose a person
we
like
him,
let
us say, to be simple and natural,
reliable
and without swagger.
Whether he
is
rich or poor, grave or gay, does not
matter so
it
long as
to
we can depend on him.

qualities
And
it
seems
me
that a picture, to be in good taste, must
have analogous
our
ideal
;
that
should, like
friend,
it
be
in
accord with the best
standards
best
should be in harmony with the
we know. we
are led
But we should not assume that the particular

direction in which
is
the only direction,

;
the one that everyone else should follow the differences of

that there
is
for
the various schools show us
not one fixed, undeviating standard,

:
though some standards are higher than others

but that each quality in a picture has
standard, and that these are
all
its
own
equally founded
84
to, or
on some truth
agreement with, nature.

greatest,
And we
as
it
recognise
some works as the
because in them
we
see that their qualities are,
were, adjusted in the
same proportionate
balance as in nature.
By
has
recognising that each response to nature
its
own
standard,
we may
get to
know our
own
basis
limitations,
;
and so get on to a working
each of us trying to
make
For
it
his
is
work more
absurd to
perfect in its
own way.
so
as
suppose that we should

ideals
;
all
try for the
same
as
much
of
to
expect
conformity
in opinion on other matters.
The works
Raphael
Phidias,
of
Michelangelo, of
of
and
of Velasquez,
Titian and of
Rembrandt, take by common

highest there
is
agreement
the
places
they
are
our standards.
the best work
of
But
a harmony in
all
an
We
that
accord
with
the
possibilities
nature.
live,
agree that people in a picture should
their form should be well expressed, that they
should be natural in their actions, and in their proper
environment
air,
that
the
influences
of
the light and
and the colour
in accordance
Taste
with
this,
85
should also be properly expressed.
And on
it
these simple
and reasonable conditions
seems to
me
that
we may take Raphael,
Velasquez, Titian and Rembrandt, Claude and

Constable, each in a particular quality, as giving
a
are
standard.
so
great,
Both Phidias and Michelangelo

so
unapproachable,
in
we cannot
any way
measure ourselves against them

they are above comparison.
aside,
But, leaving them
one cannot presume to make comparisons
between giants, each greatest in his own way.
Raphael had,
as an inventor
it
;
seems to me, the greatest genius

in this respect
he had no
variety
limits.
Consider
the
naturalness
and
of
his
groupings, and
how
his figures are all related to
each other.
The
things he wishes to bring into

:
prominence are there, just as they should be

his
it
invention
is
so natural, that
we
recognise
no more
in his pictures
than we do in a grouping
take his observation as
try, ourselves,
of actual people.
We
;
a matter of course
to put even
find
but when we
two or three
it
is,
figures together,
we
how
difficult
and how poorly our

then what a mag-
minds are furnished.
And
86
he was, how great the
skill
nificent artist
with
of of
which he carried through his long works

;
series
it
would seem that our

expression,
difficulties
drawing,
and command
:
of
colour
did not exist for
him
and
since his time, nearly

refer to
four hundred years ago,
we cannot
it is
any
work
of the kind
worthy to be named with

true to
his.
But Raphael's work, though
human
them,
nature, refers for the most part to conditions
that are past, as do the Greek statues

it is
like
removed from us by
racial
and
social con-
ditions as well as
by
time.
Yet, like the art of

in
the Greeks,
it is living,
and should be studied

the Greek work.
the same spirit as
we study
We
cannot revive a style which arose naturally

:
from conditions that are past

career shows that the
in
but Mr. Watts's

mind, when
most
finest
modem
sympathy with the

and he
is
work, can re-create
its spirit,
an ideal example of the use

us,
which the old art can be to

influence.
If
as a guiding
we take Raphael's work

and
for
as a standard for
generalisation,
composition
ideal
we
must take that
of Velasquez as the standard for
Taste
painting actual things.
to surpass his
inclusive truth.
It
87
does not seem possible

dispassionate
work
in
its
and
In such a work as the later

is
portrait of Philip, everything

in
life,
given as truly as
directly
and the only reference seems to be
to nature, and not to other painters;
and one
may
imagine that Velasquez really did,

nature, forget
;
"when
before
that he had ever seen a
picture "
as
Constable says he tried to do.
Is it altogether
owing to the difference between
the Italian and Spanish temperament
or
is
it
not rather because of their finer and more subtle

art
that the pictures of Velasquez are nearer to

They
are
us?
more "modern" than those

the
portraits
of
is
of
Raphael
(comparing
each),
and while the resemblance to nature

the art
is
so great,
so concealed, that
it
it.
hardly occurs
to us there can be
any
art in
What
a fine
;
judgment was that of Reynolds on Velasquez

"
What we
are
all
trying to do with great labour,
he does at once."
We
do not
feel like this
before Titian, or before
Rembrandt: we
but the art
is
feel
the beauty of the picture,
evident,
and the point
of view has
88
to be
felt,
and accepted.
It is a parti-pris
an
element of expression in nature, developed and

dwelt on to the utmost, and in the case of both
artists,
perhaps, appealing more to the emotion
than to the reason.
In Titian's work
we
are
moved by
in that of
the
harmony
of colour in light,
and
Rembrandt by the mystery

Titian gives us
of light
and shadow.
colour,
a standard for
and
all
that
us,
it
may
of
be made to convey
or
suggest
to
and Rembrandt gives the

light
expressive
significance
and
shadow.
Raphael,
We may
take
these
four
painters,
Velasquez, Titian, and Rembrandt, as each giving

a standard of truth.
Now, what
which we
is
taste
Reynolds says, "
We
apply the term taste to that act of the mind by

like,
or dislike, whatever be the subject.

airy nothing,
is
Our judgment upon an

which has no foundation,
a fancy
called
by the same
name which we
give to our determination con-
cerning those truths which refer to the general
and most unalterable
principles of
human
nature
to the works which are only produced
by the
greatest efforts of the understanding," and he
Taste
89
goes on to say that " the natural appetite or

taste of the
is
it
human mind
and
I
is
for Truth."
If this
sound
is,
sense,
think
we must
agree that
then taste must be dependent on some
standard of truth.
But
it
does not follow, as
we know,
that the
true representation of everything

is
and anything
in
good
taste.
Things which are horrible or
repugnant to our feelings cannot be.

against our nature,
picture
They go
of
and the
lie
significance
a
is
should
not
in
It
anything which
repugnant to our senses.

things exist, and
as
of
may
be said, "Such
?
why
not paint them
"
And,
we know, some
painters are particularly fond

hospital scenes, etc.
I
horrors decapitations,
and
don't
they paint them well and truthfully.
mean
to say that
we should only paint

;
what are
one
called " pleasing " pictures
but
still
may
take the idea of truth, in connection
with taste, to imply not only true representation,
but that the thing represented should be

accord
in
with
;
the
general
instincts
of
human
nature
so that things tending to cruelty would
be, in that sense, untrue to nature.
The work
90
of
Rembrandt
raises this question

is
the interest
it
and charm
magic
of his lighting
so great, that
:
governs the objects he paints

the
of his
but with
pictures
of
all
colouring,
his
are
sometimes
repellent.
His
picture
is
the
" Butcher's Shop," for instance,

painted,
reds,
wonderfully
whites,
;
with
magnificent
warm
its
and
but
it
and browns
most perfect study

beauty of
?
in spite of the great
paint, can
be said to be in good taste
As painting
is
it is
splendid, but in a thing that
always to be
looked
at, there
should be surely some selection
of the elements that give pleasure,
and not pain.

;
Rembrandt seems never

led
to have felt this
his
keen interest and frank acceptance of everything
him
at times to paint things which

feel
must
life,
make us
that a thing
in
may
:
be true to
and yet not be
good taste
and while he
is
convinces us that truth of expression
of greater
fine
moment
matter
in a
work than personal beauty or
proportion, he does not convince us that any

is
equally acceptable
though he holds
our admiration always by the beauty of his

vision,
even while we
dislike his choice.
And
Taste
Teniers, Steen,
91
in
and Brouwer,
their
tavern
scenes, touch us in the
same way, though not

a touch of
side
is
so strongly
for
they are not so terribly in

:
earnest
as
Rembrandt
there
is
comedy
in their
If
work, and the
human
interesting.
we
could imagine ourselves going
with Brouwer into one of the squalid taverns he

paints,
we should no doubt want

But Brouwer would
to get
out
again quickly.
don't
say, " Oh,
mind those
fellows; they're just enjoying

;
themselves in their
like that.
own way they're always But look how beautifully the light
shines on
the
rich
look at that red coat against shadow at those men quarrelling "
them
!
And
so, as
we
see in the pictures of these painters,

is
a second interest
created or aroused, depending
on the greater things
on
;
simplicity of action,
on
this
fine
lighting,
colour,
or
atmosphere
and
we
it
is
which charms us
rendering
of
and
for the sake of the
these
qualities,
forgive
or tolerate, or even like, the

their choice.
It is
mean
subjects of
the truth or beauty of the

the
painter's
qualities,
lighting
and
colour,
which keep such things on the right side of the
92
boundary.
artistically,
The same
subjects,
painted
in-
without taste, would have no right
to exist.
There
could
be
no
greater
contrast
than
between the pictures of Steen and
Brouwer
and those
of
Watteau.
In the one case almost

is
every element in the scene
mean and poor
and ugly
in itself; in the other, every beautiful
thing has been carefully chosen and combined.

Beautiful
women, young men and

;
children in
fine dresses
trees,
fountains, statues, the sug-
gestion of music
everything
thinks
carefully
of
that can please
is
there
so that in thinking of taste in painting,
one
instinctively
Watteau.
out.
Every
jarring
note
is
kept
Yet the
effect of the picture, its
charm
me,
to the painter,
does
these
not,
it
seems
things,
to
depend
on
all
beautiful
but rather, as in the
work
of the vulgar
Dutchman, on the way he
has lighted and treated them.

quality of his colour
realisation of
is
The
jewel-like
expressed through his

it,
shadow
in relation to
and the
this,
if
beauty of his pictures depends largely on
and on the way they are put
together.
For
Taste
93
of his imitators
we compare
and
properties
his
work with that

although
materials
followers,
they
used
see
the
same same
and
we
the
elements in their pictures, the same dresses and
backgrounds
after
how
poor and
artificial
they are
Watteau.
So that harmony of colour and
true lighting, as an element of truth to nature,

is
an element of
taste.
But
in
it
may
;
be
said, surely the effect is forced
Watteau
one does not, in daylight or sunstrong darks

?
light, see these
Yes, this
is
true,
tell,
but
it is
impossible to get strong colour to

it
as a light, unless
is
contrasted with, or sup-
ported by, dark colour, as the Venetians did;
and
if
by darkening the shadows, the painter

effect of the sparkling lights,
can get the
he
is
justified in sacrificing the truth of the general
colour for the sake of giving,
by a
particular
relation of the parts to the whole, a concentra-
tion on certain things. tion our
For by
this concentra-
mind
is
directed to the principal things,

interest in them,
if
as
it
would be by our own
we were
looking at the scene.

to do.
Watteau does
us share his
what he wants
He makes
94
interest
if
or
enjoyment in certain things.
Yet
we were
painting figures under trees in sun-
light,
we ought not
;
deUberately to imitate this

I
:
convention
we
ought,
feel
sure,
if
always to
to
approach nature frankly
but
we wanted
concentrate on a particular passage as Watteau

did,
I
we should have
have
to
do so by a similar means.
tried to express
is
by
these comparisons
that taste
in
not quite the same thing as fashion

it
is
art
that
depends on the principles on

done, being in accord with a
which a work
right understanding of nature,
much more than

be great and
it.
on the properties the painter uses to compose

his pictures
;
although these
may
valuable elements of interest in
The immakes
of
portant thing
is
the use the painter
them how
;
far
he can bring his means of expres-
sion into accord with his perceptions of beauty.
We
aU have some
it is
ideal
towards which we
work, and
weU not
to be too easily satisfied
with ourselves.
We
should
make
a point of
comparing our work, not only with that of our

contemporaries, but with what
the best.
It is
we know
to be
so easy now to get photographs
Taste
of first-rate pictures
95
of
and we should get some
our favourites, or a good copy of something

like,
we
and put them up
in our
rooms with someare rather
thing of our
own
beside
them that we
proud
of,
and
see
which we get
tired of first,
and
find out
why.
We
see
should not only enjoy

it
;
looking at a good thing, but dig into
try
and
I
take
it
to pieces,
and
how
it is
made.
it is
And
think
we
shall generally find that
a matter
fine
of selection or suppression that
makes the
picture better than our
own
in our desire to
It is
give everything
we
equalise the interest.
good thing,
too, to take
up something
of one's
own work
that has been done long enough to
be forgotten,
passionately as
which we can
if
criticise
as
else,
dis-
it
were by someone
and
search out
its
faults,
with one's ideal in one's
mind.
But we cannot work without coming under

the influence of the " taste of the time "
in the current,
we are
and part
of
it.
And
this taste
varies from year to year,
is
governed by no
standard, and affects us unconsciously; so that
we sometimes
are
shocked on finding an old
96
work
of our
own
I
to be full of affectations, of
which we were quite unconscious while painting

it
:
and
it
is,
think, a
good thing
if
we
are.
Only the very strongest men are unaffected by

this influence
;
and they, while they are doing

a later
work that
will set the taste or fashion to
generation, are sometimes out of the taste of

their
own
time.
No doubt Hogarth was

bad
taste
con-
sidered to be in
of his time,
by the formal painters
and Chardin must have been quite
out of the current of his day.
We
know,
too,
that MUlet's work was for a long time thought

to be in
bad
taste,
and that Corot was
(I
think)
;
over
fifty
years of age before he sold a picture
yet these
men
are
all
accepted now, and one
wonders that any
difficulty
should ever have
been made in accepting them.
This
is
not so
itself,
much
due, I think, to dislike of novelty in
as to a kind of resentment felt at
work which
be wrong.
implies that the current ideals
may
Painting has a
way of getting
like
into ruts or grooves,
and we don't
ideas. Sir
being asked to reconsider our
George Beaumont, a very conven-
tional landscape painter,
who asked
Constable,
Taste
"
97
tree
?
Where do you put your brown
" was
no doubt shocked when Constable told him

that he painted trees green.
The public
maintained
standard.
taste
must
;
rest
it
on the standards
cannot
by
painters
it is is
form
Indeed,
questionable whether, in
a broad sense, there

taste.
such a thing as public
There are a comparatively small number
of people, not painters,
who
;
really understand
and love
fine
to,
painting
a large number with
every wish
who
are very willing to learn
and beyond
that, I fancy, the great majority of
people don't trouble themselves one

other.
of,
way
or the
They have other

no
things to do and think

artists are
and the questions which agitate

interest to them.
of absolutely
The conditions under which we work,
too, are
very different from those prevailing in early

times,
when
the painter was as necessary as the
carpenter or shoemaker.
picture would be
ordered for some purpose
for
it
a house or a
church
and
the painter would do his
work
as
well as he could
and send
it.
home, and there

later on,
would be an end of
7
And
when
98
pictures
became
for
articles of
commerce, the painter
worked
the merchant and for the private
patron, as he does now.
But the painters had,

good work.
and maintained,
their standards of
This was before the days of large exhibitiorts,
though exhibitions
hills
;
are, in
a sense, as old as the

exhibit
his
for
Apelles
used
to
works
to the public, and, as
we know, Velasquez, when

first
he went to
Rome
to paint the Pope,
painted
the portrait of his servant, Juan de Pareja, to get

his
hand
in.
"And when
this
was taken, with
other good paintings, to adorn the cloisters of
the Pantheon on the feast of St. Joseph, as was

at that time customary,
it
met with such

on
the
uni-
versal
approbation
that,
unanimous
opinion of the painters of various nationalities,

all
else
seemed
painting,
this
alone
truth
{Justi).
So that things were then much as now,

artist
and the
not so
depended on exhibition (though

as he does
much
now)
for recognition
by
his fellows.
its
But every virtue has

and the development
in
attendant
vice
of our large exhibitions,
which pictures bid not
only
for
artistic.
Taste
99
but also for public approval, has brought about

a change.
There being so powerful an induce-
ment
to a painter to please or attract attention,

;
pictures are painted for the purpose
and as he
who
the
that,
shouts loudest
is
best heard in a crowd,
element
as
of
sensationalism
see,
comes
in,
so
of
we sometimes
pictures even
horrors
are
painted, with apparently no other
object or purpose than to
draw a crowd.
And
it
we may
often hear
it
said of a picture, that

picture, but one
makes a good exhibition

not like to live with
popular, though
it is
it
;
would
is
or that a
work
very
not well painted.

exhibitions
is
Another
painter
is
result
of
that
the
tempted to attract attention by forcing
the picture into prominence
by means
of strong
colour or violent contrasts, so that one
may
see
pictures with pure white at one end of the scale
and pure black
at the other, playing on every

;
colour of the palette at once

to the modesty and
out of
all
truth
harmony
of nature,
and so
out of taste
and
this is called " painting

I
up
to
exhibition pitch."
feeling,
am
sure
we can
all recall
in
exhibitions,
the
restfulness
and
lOO
naturalness of a fine harmonious picture, such

as one
by Watts
or Whistler,
among
others which
are forced out of

is called,
harmony
for the sake of, as it
" telling strongly."

is
We
should always
remember that harmony

of a picture.
the true strength
Now
for
it
seems to
me
that this aim
to
force
a picture into prominence
is
beside the
mark
in
an
artist.
Those of us who are engaged

subtle an art
;
painting
know how
is
it is,
and how
find that
much
it is
there
to be learnt
and we
that
only as
we
get on in
life
we
are able
even to understand the beauties of the greatest
works
but those who don't study painting^

all.
don't understand these qualities at

difficult
It
I
is
to go
beyond
little
generalities,
but
will
try
and make a
point
clear.
Painters
lies
know
actual
that the great difficulty of their art
in getting a picture together, rather than in the
painting
even
of
its
principal
parts
and one
of the greatest beauties in fine
work
we may take
the portaits of Vandyke, Gains-
borough, or Reynolds as instances

the background
is
is
the
way
used to
"make
the picture";
Taste
light being placed in
loi
one place and dark in another

it
so
beautifully, that
artifice.
all
seems natural and

find
;
without
But painters only
out
these things after
much time and study
and
those
who know nothing
of painting will probably
not even see the background, or recognise the
means by which,
say, a
number
effect
of figures are
of
grouped together, or
rendered in landscape.
if
an
atmosphere
It
is
indeed doubtful
people
who have never

relieved
is
:
given a thought to
life,
these matters are conscious, in actual

figures
that
;
are
against
backgrounds
or
even that there

or other objects
light
and shadow on
faces
they have never considered

things,
the appearances
of
or
their
relations
one to another.
all
But they
will of course
is
know
about
facts,
how
a person
dressed, etc.,
and they prefer pictures which give these things

as definitely
as
possible.
And
if
the painter
should be led by the comparative ease with
which such an acceptable standard of work can

be reached, to rest content with
it, it is
a pity.
us,
For we have good standards
set
for
and
should respect them and try to maintain them,
I02
so that in time good painting should be better
understood.
We
have only ourselves to blame,

taste,
if
and should not blame the public

desire to attract attention
in
our
we depart from what

by
painters,
we know to be good standards.

It is often said,
and always
felt
we haven't the same chance nowadays as the old men had our civilisation makes things so much uglier, we can't take things as they are.
that
;
There
is
some truth
too
in this,
but
don't think
since people
we need worry
their
much about
it,
have always looked back to the past and thought
own
times prosaic and inartistic.
Reynolds
considered that the dress of his time was unsuitable for representations either in painting or
sculpture " for the sake of dignity," " because
the familiarity of modern dress

to
is
alone sufficient
destroy
all
dignity."
is
But yet he painted

said
Nelly
O'Brien, and
to
of
have
the
pro-
nounced
Velasquez's
portrait
Pope
the finest picture in

dresses of
his
Rome
We now
find the
period delightfully picturesque,

of the
and we no longer have the same ideas

beauty
of
" dignity "
borrowed
from
the
Taste
Greeks and Romans, which
time
;
103
prevailed in his
it
an idea that they were always, as
were,
measuring their proportions or adjusting their

togas.
We know now
was
also very
that the ancient art was
not only devoted to gods and goddesses, but

that
it
it
and you wiU
see
human and playful. Study this. Some of the paintings

of Delacroix or
from Herculaneum and Pompei are as fresh and

spirited as the
work
Rubens.
;
We should make
it is, I fear,
the best of our times
though
civilisa-
undeniable that our complex
tion does not
make
for beauty,
its
and does not give

expression as do
us such opportunities for

simpler social conditions.
Painters, as
for
we know,
painting
have always shown a preference
simple people, because their actions and gestures

are
city
natural and expressive.
And though
the
man who
"tube"
goes to his ofhce in the morning by

quite as worthy a person as the
the
is
average ploughman
picture
of
probably
more so
yet
is
the ploughman going to his
work
a
going
pleases us,
and we recognise that there

it
;
beauty in
while one of the city
man
to his office
would
strike
us as commonplace.
104
and depressing.
This
is
tasteless, unnecessary,
doubtless because the
mind
naturally refers to
the beauty of the great elementary things

sky, the sunshine,
the
all
and the
hills,
rivers, fields,
and
trees
and
in people to those things

activity,
which
suggest beauty,
and health.
We
have a longing
for the perfect things.
After aU, light seems to

thing,
me
is
the
governing
;
as
far
as
the painter
is
concerned
it
redeems anything that

There
is
capable of redemption.
a story told of Reynolds, that when

sit
someone came to
to
him
in a very ugly hat,
" Never mind," said he, " there's light and shade
on
it
"
and, after
all, if it is
in us to
do good
as ever
work, a masterpiece
it
is
as possible
now
was.
But there
will
always be some
Mr. Watts, seek to express and bring
men who, like home to
us perfections beyond those which their im-
mediate surroundings afford.
Mr. Watts accepted

time, but
it
what was
beautiful in his
;
own
was
take
not enough to satisfy him
and we may
fitly
him
as being an instance of Reynolds's saying,
that the natural taste or appetite of
man
is
for
Taste
truth
to
:
105
refers us,
I
for his
works
refer,
and he
back
all
the
great
elementary truths.
feel
this,
think
his
painters
must
especially in
fine
imaginative
work, where
things
and persons
whom we know
to be unreal are presented with

is
a degree of reality which
exactly proportioned
to the expression desired, yet in

literal imitation.
no way suggesting
In fine taste, as in his other

I
great qualities, he was,

artist of his time.
think,
the greatest
And we
should take courage

in
from his example, when we see that even
our
matter-of-fact times ideals are not disregarded

either
by the
artist
or
by those
to
whom
he
appeals.
V
DRAWING
im
V
DRAWING
DRAWING
Yet
it
is
an obvious convention, for
we do not
see lines
round or upon objects,
but one tint adjusted against another.
comes more naturally to us to represent
things
by
this convention of lines
than by tones
and gradations, such as a photograph from

nature
express
gives
us.
Primitive
outlines,
people
naturally
satisfied
;
things
by
and are
with the idea of the object so conveyed

in
and
early days,
before there were,
as
we may
by
suppose, any theories or schools, expression
drawing, in outlines or in
dently held to be sufficient.
flat
masses, was evi-
It
was only slowly
and gradually that drawing advanced from a

mere symbol, to the stage
sentation, in light
of things.
109
of imitation or repre-
and shadow, of the appearance
no
Drawing
or writing
is
a form of expression, like speech

indeed, that drawing
is
I think,
the
foundation
of
our
alphabet
its
and
although
painting has long passed
primitive stages,
and aims at imitating the
effect of nature, yet

its
the object of painting and

still
kindred arts
;
is
the same as
it
was
at the beginning
is
ex-
pression.
And
there
if
our art
to be vital,
it
must,
its
whatever be
object
;
its
method, have expression as
must be something the
artist
has to say.
If
it
we
consider drawing as an art of expression,
gives us, I think, the key to other forms of
art,
such as those of the Orientals
which we
it
cannot easily grasp, because we do not, as

were,
know
art
the
language.
And
for the
the
earliest
Western
such,
for instance, as that
shown
in the Celtic manuscripts
is
same reason
strange to us, though
it
was, no doubt, natural
and perfectly
intelligible at the time.
And we
figure
may
will
notice, in passing,
how
the rudest and most
summary
representation of an object or
even now
satisfy ignorant people or children,

in these
whose perceptions
matters seem to be
Drawing
in the
1 1
same stage
as those of primitive races
they do not require more than a few signs by
which to identify an object.
Drawing makes
the most direct appeal to our inteUigence, and
whatever idea an
artist
wishes to convey can

it is
be conveyed by Une, so that

of an artist's study.
the foundation
It is difficult, of course, to
draw
that
well
it is
and so high a standard has been
set
impossible to excel what has already

:
been done
great
we should study the work of the men, in order that we may, if possible,
this high standard.
I
approach to
We
into
can,
think,
roughly classify drawing
two
divisions,
which correspond to a very

which
rough and
loose distinction
may
;
be drawn
the older
between old and modern painting

paintings and drawings being
marked by the
search for form, and for expression
by form
and the
that
is,
later
by
the development of " effect,"
of the influence of light
and colour on
form.
great
We know
artists
the finished paintings of the

well,
fairly
but
their
drawings
help us to understand them

first
by showing the
the
scaffold-
steps,
and,
one
may
say,
1 1
ing
up.
by means
of
which their work was built
We may touch
and on some by
on the drawings
of
some
for
of the
early artists which
show the study

our
form,
artists of
own day whose

;
work has been influenced by them

studies.
It
all
figure
should be noticed,
however,
that
there
is
a difference between these studies and
the
studies
which students make
in
schools.
for
These
were
;
made with an
intention,
purpose
and
not, as school studies are

itself.
made,
all
only for the sake of the study
As we
of
know, there
is
no better method
teaching
;
drawing than through the study of the figure
and study
in schools
has everywhere replaced
the older system, of pupils working in a master's

studio.
all
Yet
it
is
very doubtful whether, with
the advantages a student has nowadays (for
I don't
suppose any of the old masters had
five
years' continuous practice in drawing

ing,
and paintto express
without a thought except
how
what was before him), the system
of schools gives
as good a training as the old system, of pupils
working under a master for a definite purpose.
Drawing
The work
the
first
113
of the older artists, even those not of

is
rank,
remarkable for
its
satisfactory
accomplishment, for going straight to the point

while our
work seems more

it
or less tentative
and
think
is
probable that one reason for this
weakness
that
we depend
effort to
too
much on
the
posed model.
The
merely imitate the
model, acquired in the school,
may become
lifelong habit, obscuring or excluding the intelli-
gent study of form as shown in natural move-
ment
through the mistaken point of view that

is
the school-work
an end, whereas
it is
only a
means
to
an end.
of
Very few
exist or are
the earliest
painters'
drawings
known, but the work

its fine
of Masaccio
may
be referred to for
drawing, and also
the work of Pisanello, whose beautiful drawing
can be seen best in his medals; of Piero della

Francesca, and of Crivelli.
British
There
is
also in the
Museum
wonderful
sketch-book
by
Jacopo
Bellini, of the
;
year 1430, which should
be studied
it is full
of designs for compositions,

life,
and drawings from and

delicacy, with,
8
of the greatest
charm
of
course,
the angularities
114
In this
which are characteristic of early work.
angularity the Italians resemble the Flemings
though, as might be expected, the Italian work

finer in
is
type and in proportion than the Flemish
work, in which the effort was to be strictly true

to nature, regardless of
its
is
imperfections
and
awkwardnesses.
There
a drawing
by Van
The
Eyck
it is
in the
Antwerp Museum
strictly speaking,
an unfinished picture
is
of
St.
Barbara.
whole subject
carefully
drawn
in,
and only the

is
sky and part of the distant landscape but everything

is
painted,
drawn throughout with the

and
is
most
beautiful
of
precision
delicacy.
The
in
work
Peter Breughel, too,
very
fine
drawing, in the same definite manner.
The
greatest
draughtsman
Diirer,
is
of
the
primitive
of
painters
his that
was perhaps
can be seen
and everything
worth studying
for its
unsurpassable thoroughness and fineness.

see in his
of
We
work the search

its
for accurate definition
form carried to
furthest point, with great
simplicity of method.
of
The
illustration, a
drawing
hands and arms, a study for the plate of

is
Adam
and Eve,
a good example of the thoroughness
Ingres
Musee de Moiitauban (By perjuission of M. y. H. Buloz, Paris
STUDY OF DRAPERY
Drawing
of his
work
yet though
:
it
is
so fine
it is
it
has a
distinct
manner
This
we can
tell
that
a German
present
drawing.
in the
Diirer.
German maimer, though

is
work
It
of Holbein,
not so marked as in
is,
indeed, absent from the matchless
portrait drawings of his in the
Royal
collection
at Windsor; these drawings are above mannerism,
and must be
as true to nature as
it is
possible
to be.
In looking at them we are reminded only
of nature, not of
any other
artist
and
this is
only the case with the greatest work.

If
we
I
consider
what
is
the difference between

the Italian manner,
the Flemish or
it
is,
German and
think, that the Northern artists relied
on observation only, while the Italians were able

to reinforce their observation
of
by some standard
while there
is
form and proportion.

of
And
wider observation
character
and
freer
is
in-
vention in the Northern work, there
a finer
of
judgment
beauty.
in
the
if
Italian,
a greater sense
And
we go
further,
and inquire why

is
a figure having certain proportions
perfect
and
beautiful, while
is
one having different pro-
portions
not,
we
get into speculations on the
Ii6
it
nature of beauty, on what
rests or depends,
which are
difficult,
it
and perhaps
insoluble.
We
must take
arrived
for granted that certain proportions,
at long ago
by the Greeks,
type.
give the
tell
most
perfect
human
We
cannot
why
the proportions of a Doric or Ionic column
are beautiful.
We know
that they satisfy us,
and that we could not improve on them; but
we do not know how many

trials
efforts,
how many
were made before this perfect form was
reached.
The pre-Raphaelite
tion
painters took their inspira-
from the Flemish and Italian Primitives,

fine
and the
school of
illustrators,
in
which
Walker, Houghton, Sandys, and Pinwell were

the leading men, owes
its
impulse to the pre-
Raphaelites
more
especially, perhaps, to Millais
and
Rossetti,
whose drawings are well worth
study.
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest

draughtsmen, and one gains a truer idea of his
power from
his drawings
first
than from his paintings.
He was
from the
the
who thoroughly broke away

and " posed " look
of
stiffness
the
Drawing
earlier artists,
117
of natural
and gave the freedom

see
movement.
studies
We may
from
his
anatomical
what immense pains and trouble he
took to get a thorough knowledge of form and

construction, searching for
for true
its
finest
type and
his
movement, and putting down
hne
a most beautiful line

cision
^with
the greatest preis
and
delicacy.
Yet there
certain
restraint in his
in the
drawing which we do not find

is
drawing of Raphael, which
true, and,
at the
same time,
free
and unrestrained.
given
as an
In the
drawing by Raphael
(the original
is
illustration
it
in the British
is
Museum),
may
to be
be seen how everything
beautifully given with

it
the simplest means, so that one feels

altogether
followers
Ingres,
right.
We
need not touch on the

but
of
Raphael,
we should study
one of the greatest draughtsmen
who
followed his ideals, whose drawings are excellent
examples of style; and the drawings of Lord

Leighton, which are worthy to rank with those
of Ingres as carrying
on the Academic
tradition.
is
The main point about these drawings

they
are
that
is,
drawn
from
construction
that
1 1
intelligent
from an
figure is
understanding
;
of
how a
put together
not from unthinkingly
copying the model just as he happens to be

at the
moment, as
in
is
so often done in
life
schools.
Of course,
drawing from a model, one has to

it
copy him, but
should be borne in mind that
one gains most, not by imitating the model,

but by trying to learn from him
;
so that,
when
have,
our student days are over, and we

perhaps, but a short time to
may
make a drawing
to
from
life,
or
may
work
get
even
have
draw from
knowledge
memory, we can bring some

to bear on our
;
store of
otherwise
we
are helpless,
unless
we can
long
sittings.
Raphael's
drawing cannot have taken him more than

half
an hour, but there
is
everything in
it
and
swift
Michelangelo's drawings also

application of great knowledge.
show
I
this
do not think
drawing from
we could have a
life
better
method
of
than that of Raphael and Michelangelo, and
one
may
instance Alfred Stevens,
Millet,
and
fine
Watts as showing the influence

tradition.
of
this
One may
trace Michelangelo throughMillet,
out Stevens's work.
though he was not
Lord Leighton, F.K.A.
Royal Academy
STUDY FROM LIFE

(chalk drawing)
C. F. IVatls.
R.A.
Koyal Academy
STUDY FROM LIFK

(CHAI.K drawing)
Drawing
119
a follower in the strict sense, as Stevens was,
was inspired by him

and expressiveness
in seeking the significance
of
movement
and so was
Watts, whose drawings have the quiet, unquestionable authority of a great master, in every
line.
The drawings
in
of these artists
have one thing

differ,
common, although
is
:
their
methods
and
that
expression
through definition of the
form, and not through light and shade or effect.
One
is
often asked in the
life
school,
when
re-
commending a student
in
to think only of the form

is
drawing, whether, since form
only mani-
fested
by means
of gradations, one should not
try to express the gradations and so give the
form.
this
If it
were possible for the student to do
there would be
no objection
but
it
is
difficult to learn
is
the form alone, and
when form
on
complicated with questions of gradation and

its
tone, not only on the figure itself, but
background
and
surroundings
if
(for
all
these
is
must be studied
tempted),
is it
the relation of tones
atit
becomes impossible.
Therefore
best frankly to adopt the convention of out-
I20
the background, and to think only
line, to forget
of modelling
by
light
and shadow, and
so to
express the form.
The search
is
for form,
through true construction,
the firm basis of an artist's work.
We
as
should
firmly
in
our student
in
days
get
ourselves
grounded
form as we can.
even
if
We
should strive
for this knowledge,
our taste
may
lead
us towards expression through colour, and

eventually give form the second place.
artist
we
For an
can never,
feel sure,
develop his gifts
as a colourist unless he has this firm ground-
work.
In support of
this,
may
cite
a most
interesting letter
from Whistler, whose genius as
a colourist
is
unquestioned, which was recently ^

the
Gazette
published
in
des
Beaux- Arts.
It
was written to
1867,
his friend Fantin, the painter, in

for severe
and puts the case
draughtsmanin its
ship admirably.
entirety, but one
It is well
worth reading
may
quote a few passages.

is
He
:
begins
" For I
by saying that he
must
tell
working very hard
you that
am now much more

when
I
exacting and hard to please than

^
threw
Gazette des Beaux- Arts,
September 1905.
Drawing
everything pell-mell on the canvas, knowing that

instinct
and good colour would always

. . .
pull
me
through.
Ah,
my
dear
Fantin,
!
what an
education
am
giving myself
or rather,
!
what
a terrible lack of education

natural
vain,
gifts,
I feel I
With
my own
if,
what a painter
"
should be now,
and content with these

!
qualities, I
had not
to
despised everything else

regret
Then he goes on
of Courbet
coming under the influence

:
and
realism
"
" This
damned
Realism,"
to
he
says,
made immediate appeal

at all traditions,
my painter's
'
vanity,
mocking
and crying aloud with

Vive
la
the assurance of ignorance,
nature
This cry has been a great misfortune for me."

"
One had only
to open one's eyes
and paint
his
what was before one."

pictures, the
And he instances "Piano," the "White Girl,"

gifts,
the
Thames and
sea pictures, accusing himself of
vanity in showing splendid

severe education, would have
which, with a
a master.
made him
I
He
goes on to say, "

?
Why
How
was
not a pupil of
Ingres
" not, he explains, that he likes Ingres's
work, but he says, "
healthy his influence

all,"
would have been
"
" Drawing, above
he
122
says.
" Colour alone
be,
is vice,
though certainly
the
it
may
and should
be, one of
greatest
virtues.
Well controlled by a strong hand, well

is
guided by her master, drawing, colour

like a splendid
then
woman
with a husband worthy of
her."
He
and
concludes
by saying that he has been
educating himself in this direction for a long

time,
faults.
I
feels
sure that he will conquer his
think he was hardly just to himself.

fit
Probably
the letter was written in a

certainly the pictures he
of depression, for
names
are beautiful in
letter is a
drawing as well as in colour.

true " cry from the heart."
Yet the
One may
as an
ask. Should
?
we take any one manner

;
example
think not
although, no doubt,
that of which
the finest style of drawing
is
we
and
may take
we should
Ingres's
and Watts's work as examples,

:
following the traditions of the great Italians
try to get the accuracy, the largeness,

I
and simplicity that these drawings show.
don't think one could take up any of the earlier
methods without making
it
a kind of pose.
The
work
of the early
men
gives us the lesson that
Drawing
we should be
faithful to nature;
123
the greatest
men show
the greatest truth to nature, and are
certainly the best to study.
Though when we
short of the
;
go through a gallery we don't estimate each work

according as
it
approaches or
take
it
falls
grand
style.
We
for
what
it is
and, in
looking at a
number
it
of pictures,
we make
the
acquaintance, as
were, of so
many
different
temperaments, holding each

It is largely
in a certain esteem.
a question of temperament, and
even of individual eyesight.
One man
by
will feel
that he can only express nature
patiently and
exhaustively representing everything, like
Van
Eyck
while another will feel large masses and

to be
is
movements
range of art
ledge
at
;
more important.
part of our
The whole
now
common knowown
even
yet each one of us, in a way, must begin
the beginning, and in himself, in his

all
small way, go through
the stages that the art

carefuUy,
has gone through
beginning
hardly, and gradually and naturally arriving at

as
much freedom
as he can attain to.
VI
DRAWING
1S5
/. F. Millet
British iMiiseuin
STUDY OF FIGURE
(chalk drawing
VI
DRAWING
DRAWING
realising
may
be considered not only as
and expressing actual form, but
also as recording the appearance of things
under varying conditions of light

"
this is the
modem" point of view.
In the early work, every

for itself
figure or accessory
was studied rather

;
than as a part of the whole

each figure or object takes
in
modern work,
its
place in the scale
of light, shade, or colour, in

is
which the picture
arranged.
This wider range includes landscape

of
figures
;
painting,
and the association

under
its
with
it
landscape
varying
conditions
shows not so much a deeper insight as a wider
sympathy with nature,

to
for
it
would be impossible
surpass the depth of sentiment or feeling

artists'
which we find in the early

In speaking of the
127
works.
I
modem
point of view,
128
its
would take Titian as

think that Claude,
starting-point
and
Rembrandt, Gainsborough,
artists
and Watteau may be given as

shows
this
whose work
tendency, of drawing
;
for effect, rather
than for form
though perhaps Watteau shows

is
a balance of both tendencies, and

definite
hardly so
an example as
is
Claude or Rembrandt.
illustration,
In the drawing by Titian, given as an

it is
remarkable
how much
air,
;
is
conveyed by very
of the
simple means
sky,
are
the
is
and movement
and
in
suggested
Gainsborough's
drawings there
also this suggestion of life
and
movement, conveyed
as in the illustration given

if
with
a very charming,
mannered, touch, by
the arrangement of light and shadow.
Watteau
of Rubens,
in his
drawings shows the influence

is
and though the Fleming

in his
robust
and natural
movements, and the Frenchlittle
man
Millet
delicate,
and perhaps a
his
figures
affected
criticised
as
marionettes
yet each conveys the sense of
life
and
action.
In Watteau's drawings this

delicate,
is
is
given by the most

;
and yet
precise, indications
his touch
so beautiful, so sensitive
and
fine,
that his
Drawing
drawings are most delightful things for an
to
129
artist
study
and we may
daintily
notice, in the illustrations

finely
given,
how
and
the
movement
dresses,
of the figures is given,
and how well the
and the design and beauty

greater, as
of their folds, are suggested.
Claude's drawings are of the greatest interest

;
in
them he shows himself

artist,
to be even
an
than we know him to be
through his paintings.

beauties
of
his
We
:
all
know
the special
skill
work
his
wonderful
in
expressing light,
by
his perception of
delicate
gradations
extending
through
wide
of
his
range,
tints.
and the
clearness
and freshness
He
gives,
with every appearance of truth, the
illusion of the
sun shining in the clear sky, or

all full
the receding planes of a wide prospect,

of air
;
and
it
is
done so
finely that his
work
there
in
has never been surpassed.

is
But with
and
this,
methodical
planning
;
" staging "
many
of his pictures
:
they are too obviously
composed
and they are animated by a con-
ventional and quite uninteresting set of personages.
But these weak points

9
are overpowered
of his artist's
and redeemed by the greatness
130
vision
;
and
it is
with the pleasure of a surprise
that one finds, on going through Claude's drawings

in
the
British
Museum
there
are
over
three hundred in the National collection,

of
most
them
studies from, or for, his compositions
quite a large
studies
number
of fresh
and most beautiful

buildings,
from
nature, of
carefully
trees,
and
views,
all
most
drawn and
individualised,
and studied
bistre,
for effect.
They
are nearly all in

;
done with pen and wash
and are
evi-
dently
made
are
direct
from nature, with a simple

These
to
enjoyment
drawings
in
what was before him.
much more
attractive,
me,
than the elaborate compositions which we know

so well, which were no doubt painted to meet
the taste of the time
for
it
must be rememitself
bered that pure landscape as in

for a picture
a motive
;
was
at that time hardly conceivable
landscape was used as the setting of a formal

scene,
and the landscape painter had,
in a sense,
to express himself indirectly.
The
spirit of these sketches is quite free
and
delightful, as
illustration.
may
be seen in those chosen for

of Trees "
is
The " Study
as true
Claude
British
Museum
A GROUP OF TREES
(pen
and wash drawing)
Drawing
a study as could be
made
easy,
and at the
same time
precise as possible, giving the sense
of life in the trees.
Another drawing
is
of a
" Tree-trunk " covered with ivy, and every leaf
and stem
of light
is
drawn minutely
in
the arrangement
is
and shade
this
study
beautiful.
is
An
early drawing, a
"Study
and
is
of Boats,"
in
very
delicate
and
precise,
good
arrangement
of
and the drawing
of " Trees
is
by a River," one
its
the most beautiful,

of
remarkable for
in
effect
sunshine
it
is
beautiful
composition,
reminding us of Wilson, and Corot, and indeed of

almost
every
landscape
are,
painter
for
many
lines.
first
works have been, and
painted on these
Claude's practice was evidently to
make
the
careful
outline
to
it is
draw the structure

monochrome.
and then
It is
to
wash
in his effect, all in
a good method of sketching, and should be

;
more practised
one
for
worthy
of notice that
seldom
finds
sketches
from
nature
in
colour
among
the old painters' studies.
They
are nearly always in point, or pen and wash,
recording the facts and the main gradations
and colour was
doubtless^ with them, largely a
132
matter of
it is
observation
and
memory.
Indeed,
probable that they did not approach nature

of
in the sense
colour, as
reproducing the effect of
its
we
try to, but laid the greater stress

of
light
on the gradations
this
and shadow;
and
would account
for the
brown foregrounds
and strong darks which we
see in old landscapes.
Among aU
which
are
is
the Claude drawings in the British

is
Museum, there
only one
in
of a
Roman
arch
altogether
colour,
although there
;
slight
indications in
some others
it
is,
however, recorded that Claude did paint direct
from nature, indeed that he was one

artists to
of the first
do so
but none of these studies are
known to exist. The early sketch-books of Turner show that he worked in the same way as Claude, making outlines
and wash drawings
and no doubt
it
was
were
in
the usual method.

in colour,
But
his later sketches
and Constable's sketches are mostly
colour
and though landscape painting has
lost
the big grasp of nature which
we
has
see in Claude
and Turner, some advance

there
is
been made
a nearer approach to general truth of
Drawing
colour.
133
We
have, however, only gained truth in

effect.
matters of detail, at the cost of the
Per;
haps
it is
impossible to combine the two things

it is,
and
think
is
at
any rate
if
so wide a field of
vision
taken as Claude and Turner employed

field it
with a smaller
can be done, and has been,
by Constable and
his successors.
We are,
think, too
much
given to copying the

sufficiently regard
facts of nature,
and do not
its
the beauty
of
constantly changing effects.

is
To
and
record these, a simple and rapid method

is
desirable, such as
seen in Claude's drawings,
in those of
Rembrandt, the greatest master
of all in gradation.
Rembrandt
;
ignores regular
beauty of form, or proportion

expression, character,
concentrating on
strong
and
action, with
human sympathy and dramatic

approaches
his
instinct.
He
and
subject
always by light
it,
shadow, or by the suggestion of

drawings.
clearer
even in his line

can
be
the
Perhaps
this
;
point
if
made
work
by a comparison
we take we
of Charles Keene, the
one English draughtsman

find in
it
who comes
nearest to Rembrandt,
an instinctive selection
of the line or accent
which
134
gives
is,
movement
or expression
and
this accent
it
seems to me, determined by shadow, or

If
expresses shadow, as with Rembrandt.
now
we take
the work of another great draughtsman,
Phil May,
who
also, like
Keene, sought expression

line,
with the greatest economy of

his accents are
we
;
find that
determined by form
even by
outline, as with Diirer or Ingres, rather than

light
by
and shade.
illustrated are
The drawings
fine
an " Interior," a
example of Rembrandt's method, a most

;
beautiful study of gradation
and a " Winter
Landscape," one of the

scape studies.
noticed
finest of his
many
land-
In
this
drawing
it is
it
should be
how
beautifully
all
drawn.
The
proportions of things at different distances are

so
weU
given,
and the pen- work
is
splendid
the accents are as fine and as delicate as possible

in the distant parts, but strong
and
decisive in
the foreground.
colour of winter
The sentiment and even the

is
finely expressed.
To sum up
one
is
there are
many methods, but any

is
good, provided that nature

It
studied init
telligently.
really
depends on what
is
Drawing
desired to express
;
135
on temperaBut,
in
and as
this rests
ment, so each one must find his method.

for study, the best
method is,
am sure,
to
draw
hne, and
as searchingly as possible, so as to learn
form
and afterwards, taking a wider view, to

its
study light and
gradations.
this it rests
This
is
the
groundwork
beyond
feeling.
on individual
judgment and
a work as
One cannot imagine such

of
Madox Brown's "Last
England"
it is
;
could be painted in any other
way than
in,
it
demands our most searching attention

detail,
feel
in every
and the more we take
the more
:
we
the
the strength and pathos of the picture
interest
accumulates and intensifies with each

is
thing that
there
is
observed.
It is defined
:
throughout
that in
no " losing and finding "
we do
our
minds by dwelling on the importance of

others.
some things over

a work
different
But the sentiment
of
may
be quite as strongly conveyed by

in
means; as
Shepherds."
Rembrandt's "Adoration
This,
of
the
and the " Last
of
England," have one thing in common, expressive design

;
but while Madox Brown gives an

detail,
accumulation of
Rembrandt hardly
gives
136
any, and produces his effect

of tone.
by
subtle variations
is
;
In the one case the picture
Hke a
in the
story read to us,

other,
we
are told everything
we
are brought,
realise
by means
so subtle that
we do not
meaning
them, into
the
mood and
of the picture.
The
art of Ingres is beautiful
and exact, the

and sympathy
perfection of
accomplishment, but lacking, or
almost lacking, in
human
interest
and
in this
he
falls far
short of Raphael,
is
who
is
very human. The art of Rembrandt
vague and
uncertain, regardless of formal beauty, but full of
emotion
sympathetic, unmatchable in force of

If
expression.
we compare
these two men,
we
find that they represent opposite tendencies of
the artist's mind.
In the case of Ingres, we find

impelled
reason, measurement, close searching,
by a
of
desire to express with exactness the beauty

it
form;
is
the scientific side of the artist's
mind, the
spirit of the seeker or inquirer.
One
;
does not trouble about what his figures are doing

his
pictures are uninteresting,

us.
but the
is
skilful
drawing charms
opposite
;
Rembrandt
is
quite
the
the whole impulse
to give expression.
Drawing
and any means
help.
is
37
used,
any suggestion taken to

;
His figures interest, in themselves

feel this interest
it is
and
because we
beautiful
is
we
find the
method
by which
conveyed.
Rembrandt's
the impulsive, the " artistic " temperament

is
Ingres's fault
that his
work
is
:
too perfect in
there
.
proportion to
little
its
hmnan
his
interest
Still,
is
very
heart
in
work.
and perhaps
is
because of this
that
of
his only pre-occupation
with the
posed
model
his
drawings are
fine
models for method

not say
this
in life-drawing.
One could
he
is
Rembrandt, though
;
immeasurably greater than Ingres

great
is
and, however
it
the
importance
of
training,
:
only
supplements natural endowment

the place of
it.
it
cannot take
VII
QUALITY IN COLOUR
189
Claude
British
Museum.
STUDY OF A TRP:E-TRUNK
(pen
and wash drawing)
VII
QUALITY IN COLOUR^
IT or a
us
is
common
experience that an engraving
photograph of a picture does not give
the
same impression as the
original
work
we
find often that a picture
which
little
may
not
look well in a reproduction has very

in itself, as a painting
:
charm
is
or a picture which
at aU effective in black
and white, may

This
is,
in itself,
as a painting, be beautiful.
of course,
it is
dependent on the
true,
effect of colour;
whether
harmonious, or
fine
in
quality.
We
can
judge drawing, or movement, equally well in a
photograph or in a picture
about
it
;
there
for,
is
no mystery
but colour
Its
effects
is
full
of mysteries
and
subtleties.
are produced
as
by means
the
Which are hardly definable,

^
we know,
The pictures mentioned
in this lecture are in the National

141
Gallery, unless otherwise indicated.
142
actual colours used in a picture are not
what
they profess to be
in
and we may accept a passage
a picture as white
that
may
is,
as representing
white,
being
and
white
so,
for
the purpose of illusion, of

it
while
actually be,
or
as
;
a
its
pigment,
yellow,
grey,
brown,
blue
apparent value as a colour depending on

relation to other colours in the
its
same
picture.
This
is
a question of the value of colours
rather than of their quality. colour depends on the
The quality
is
of a
way
the paint
put on,
rather than on the colour
itself.
For instance,
picture,
one
may
see
two copies
of the
same
and
at a little distance one copy
may seem
as good
as the other
but
if
we examine them
closely,
we
may
find that one
copy has heavy, disagreeable
paint, while the other
may have
the clearness
and charm
of the original.
is
In the one case the
quality of the paint
bad, in the other good.

?
;
What makes the

It
is
is,
difference
mainly, the clearness of the paint
that
it
untroubled, not churned up into a mess, but

it
put down simply and sweetly, so that

to be lightly
looks
and
easily done.
This fine quality
Quality in Colour
of paint, joined, of course, with
143
good drawing
for,
and harmonious
colour,
is
what we look
But quahty
is,
and
find, in the finest
work.
it
is,
of colour,
important though
think,
a minor
beauty
ance.
harmony
of colour
is
of greater import-
For the
is
difficult
thing to do, in making
a picture,
to
establish
the
right
relations
parts,
between the colours of the

that the picture
is
is
different
;
so
in
harmony
this, especially,
where talent and judgment are shown.
A
are
picture
altered
may
be painted in solid colour throughout,

until
its
and repainted
;
colours
of
harmonious
paint
and though the quality

still
it
the
may not be fine, On the other picture.

pictures
may
be a good
hand, one
may
recall
for example, some of the early Victorian time, by painters who came after Lawrencein
is
which quality of colour
the principal merit

is
pictures in which the flesh
pearly, the lights
are brilliant,
these works
still
and the shadows transparent.

everything
is
In
skilfully
done, but
as
a whole they are not good;
because
the minor beauty of quality was sought, and the
more [important
thing
the
harmonious
144
relation of the colours to each other
was
dis-
regarded.
The
aspect, or effect, of the picture depends

its
on the harmony between

the
painter's
parts,
sense,
and shows
of
perception,
or
colour.
We may
Way."
paint
compare Bronzino's fine " Venus and
Cupid," in this respect, with Tintoret's "
MUky
alike
The two
pictures are
somewhat
in their elements,
is fine.
and
in
each the quality of the

is
Bronzino's
beautifully drawn,
it is
;
the colour fresh and clear, but as a whole

discordant
compared with the Tintoret

Beltraffio, the "
fine in
its
is
colours seem too obvious.
Another instance
the beautiful picture
by
Madonna
and Child," a picture

expression,
clearly
design, drawing,
is
;
and execution.
definitely
is
It
painted
as
and
as possible
the quality
is
of the paint
beautiful, but the flesh-colour
not
the flesh looks hard, like wax.

fine quality of paint, in itself, tells
;
us that
the painter understood his methods
and when,
beauty
in addition, the picture conveys to us the of nature,
we
recognise the great artist
man of
fine perceptions,
and master
of his
means.
Quality in Colour
It
is,
145
I think,
hardly too
much
to say that the
pictures which have been treasured for centuries,
and have come down to us as precious
things,
their
have kept their place more by reason of

colour
than through
respect,
their
drawing.
Drawing
commands our
or
but we love
of Ingres, of
it
fine colour
and such work as that

G6r6me,
although
Ary
Scheffer,
in
may
be
faultless
drawing, does not stand against the work of

colourists like Delacroix or
Bonington;
it
would
even seem as
but
not
if
bad drawing may be
forgiven,
of
bad
colour.
is
Much
and
of
the work
Manet, for instance,
ill-drawn
in its
and
repellent
but the colour, in

other colours,
is
itself,
harmony with
It
nearly always
fine.
would
seem as
go,
if
if
he was
content to let everything else

fresh, clear
he could only get beautiful,
paint in his work.
And
it is
one of Velasquez's
distinctions that he got this beautiful freshness of
paint, with fine draughtsmanship

else
which no one
has been able to do. has been said that time and varnish are the
It
greatest of the old masters; I don't think this

is so.
don't believe that time or varnish ever
146
picture into a good one; although
made a bad
some
time improves a good picture, and no

pictures
doubt
owe
their richness partly to their
varnish.
For
instance,
there are
two
small
pictures in the National Gallery

of
the "Adoration
Lippi,
the
Kings,"
by Filippino
Manna,"
and the
di
" Israelites
gathering
by Ercole
Robert!^which
have an extraordinary depth

(in
and richness
of colour
the picture of the
Israelites there is
a beautiful opposition of blue

I
and gold) which
think
is
to
some extent un-
doubtedly due to a
pictures
quality,
warm
they
varnish.
But the
in
must always have been beautiful

and
clear, for
;
are,
think, both
painted in tempera
and unvarnished tempera
pictures are very luminous.
One may
see this in
the large altarpiece
by
free
Crivelli,
which appears to
be as
as
St.
fresh,
it
and as
from any sign of change,

;
when
was painted
and there
is
an early
as
clear
Sebastian, also
unvarnished, and
as on the
day
it
was done.
;
These works have

they would rather
nothing to gain by varnish

lose.
One may
take, as a later instance,
two
pictures
by Henry Morland
(the father of George
Quality in Colour
Morland) of
girls
147
Morland
of
washing and ironing.
and Reynolds were contemporaries (the dates

their birth
and death almost coincide)

between the two
but what
a difference
artists'
works
;
Morland's are bad in colour and poor in quality
they are dull and chalky.
The other contem-
porary works in the same room, though darker,

are
more
brilliant
yet they have been equally
subject to time, and,

also.
we may presume,
to varnish
So we
may
conclude that the good picture
was always good, and the bad picture always bad.
Each method
and
oil
of
painting
fresco,
itself
;
tempera,
has a quality peculiar to

it
and the
possible
greater flexibility of oil-painting

to use
in three different
makes
it
ways
as transparent
And
;
colour, as
opaque
colour, or as a combination of
these two, which
is
the usual way.
so there
are wide differences in oil-paintings
but frescoes,
such as those hanging on one wall of the National

Gallery,
by
and
Signorelli,
by Perugino,
very
similar
in
and by
general
Pintoricchio,
effect
:
are
this
all
is
due partly to the limited

employed,
all
number
of the colours
earths or
itself.
minerals,
and partly to the medium
As
148
the colours are painted on and into a
we know,
The
wet-plaster
ground, and
so
is
form part of
it.
surface of the fresco
the granular surface

like
of the plaster,
pastel, reflect
and the colours being dry,

light,
more
and are more
brilliant
than when mixed with
oil.
Fresco has also a peculiar greyness, an aerial

quality, produced throughout
by
the
little lights
and shadows on each granulation

There
is
of the surface.
a tempera picture by Roger

is
;
Van
der
Weyden, a " Deposition," which

a canvas showing a strong grain
similar to that of a fresco,
similar
painted on
its
effect
is
and
is
produced by
means
the
unevenness of the surface.

light gives
This delicate veiling of
a peculiar
beauty to
colours
;
fresco,
and helps to harmonise the

in
though these are always beautiful
themselves, through being painted at once on
the white plaster, which gives the same sense of

light within the colour, as is given
by the under-
lying white paper to a
wash
of water-colour.
oil
The
surface of a roughly painted

it is
picture, so
long as
unvarnished, has the same veiling of
light as a fresco,
and much the same
effect.
Quality in Colour
It is
149
altera-
worth while remembering that no
tions can be
made
in fresco,
and that
in
tempera
alterations will
show
in the course of time.
We
can see these retouchings in some pictures

instance,
for
by
on one
of the figures in
Van der Weyden's
picture
and
in
the " Death of Procris,"

is
Piero di Cosimo, there
a correction in the
lies
is
is
drawing of the hand that

In both cases the correction
while the rest of the picture
on the ground.
in colour,
muddy
as clear as can be.
The " Death

works
throughout
landscape
done.
is
of Procris," one of the
most beautiful
in the gallery, is particularly fine in quality

;
it
is
clear
all
through, and the
especially beautiful,
fine
and very simply

too,
is
The
landscape
and sky,
in
Michelangelo's unfinished
"Entombment,"
thing to notice
it
seems to be done in the
simplest possible
way
yet
just
a delicate wash on
a white ground
it
suggests finely the depth
and transparency
fixion " in the
of the sky.
The small " Cruciis
by Antonello da Messina
so
is
beautiful
same way, and
the
little
"
Madonna
and Child "
by
Pintoricchio.
We
can
see,
from an unfinished " Nativity,"
150
by Piero
piece
it
della Francesca,
how
carefully every-
thing was
planned out, drawn, and painted,

;
by piece
all
with exact knowledge of

together.
how
was
to
come
And
the early
Flemings
Van Eyck, Memling, and their school

same deliberate way.
worked
in the
The "St.
his
Barbara,"
by Van Eyck, shows

;
careful
preparations
the only difference between the
Flemings and Italians being that the former

used an
oil
varnish,
which allowed the work
to be continued indefinitely, instead of an egg
medium.
But they were
just as careful to keep
the colour clear, and to avoid alterations.

It is curious to notice, in so
much
of the early
work, that the
lights,
such as
flesh, etc.,
were kept
transparent, with the ground showing through,
while the darks were loaded with thick paint.
We may
see this in
Bellini's
head
of
of
" Peter
Martyr," Holbein's
other works.
" Duchess
is
Milan,"
and
This method
quite the reverse

lights are loaded
of that in oil-painting,
where the
and the shadows kept as

possible
;
clear,
or as thin, as
and
think
it
likely that the
power
which oil-painting gives of using a thick body
Quality in Colour
of white, gave
it
151
its
victory over tempera,
by
enabling the artist to alter a work in progress.
The
large painting
by Catena, the " Warrior

is
adoring the Infant Christ,"
one of the
finest
its
it
pictures in the gallery for the rich quality of
colour
and though one can hardly think

it
possible,
seems to be painted straight away,
in its full strength
and almost
at one painting,
:
in transparent colour
on a white ground
one
can trace the ground under the paint throughout.

It is difficult to realise the perfect
command
it is
of
means which
too
it.
this
work
indicates,
and
hardly
much
I
to say that
no one to-day could do

artist
do not know an
at
his
now who
;
does not
the
arrive
colour
in,
gradually
getting
whole picture laid

ing
it
and then by degrees bring-
into
harmony, by altering a tone here or

feels
a colour there, until he
that he has got his
work
into balance.
But
in this picture all these
matters seem to have been decided before any

colour was put on the canvas at
all.
So that
when
it
is
once put on,
it
remains in absolute
freshness
and purity.
it
Now, what does
mean,
this colour
put down
152
once for
all
and never changed
It
seems to
me and
us
it will, I it
think, be apparent to
any
of
that
skill
indicates a
most wonderful mastery,

to-day.
practically
unknown
alterations,
We
all
of us
make many
but these
and cannot get

labour and
our work to satisfy us without

revision
;
infinite
men
did their work at once,
with something of the ease and certainty that a

house-painter shows in graining a door
there
this
is
(and
often a beautiful quality of colour in

grainer's
quickly -done
work).
We may
and that
grant that the early painters were ignorant of
many
things which
we have
to learn,
the problem of representation was a more simple
one for them
we may make every allowance
we must acknowledge that the men who were able to work in this way were
for ourselves, yet
very great masters indeed.
Tempera painting
and indeed
book
;
is
hardly practised now,

is
all this
early art
practically a closed
it
our conditions are so different that

arise
is
cannot
again,
naturally,
I
with
us
the
impulse
of
gone.
But
have dwelt on the work

it
these early
men
because
shows, in the
Quality in Colour
153
simplest and most definite form, the underlying
thing about
clearly
all
good work
that we must know

And
also, of course,
it.
what we want to
learn
do.
we must
as
how
to
do
The old
painters,
laid the
we may
see
from Cennini's book,

;
greatest stress
upon methods
talent could look
out for
trade.
spirit of
itself,
but the painter must learn his
These
men seem
to have
worked
in the
happy
children, satisfied with the
means
at their
command.
We, knowing
all
that has
been done, are by so much the more unsatisfied. The sleeve in Titian's so-called " Ariosto " is
a magnificent piece of work of the finest quality
though
it is
a dark colour
see
it
seems
I
full of light.
One cannot
how
it is
done, but
should think
it is
that, like the pictures
by Catena,
later
painted
Titian
thinly over white.
The
work
;
of
seems to be more frankly painted

it
although
may
be laid in
first in
black and white, the
painting seems to be simple and direct through-
out
one can, of course, see that there are
alternations of thick
and thin
colour,
and that
the large masses of colour, blue and

etc.,
red draperies,
are
finished
with thin paintings over a
154
solid
lighter
underpainting.
The
great
depth
of colour without heaviness,
which Titian's work
shows, can only have been reached gradually;
and though Titian no doubt made

Magdalen in
" Noli
alterations
(one can see a retouching on the nose of
Mary
me
tangere
"),
passage
altered would probably be effaced down to the
ground or foundation before repainting.
once
saw, in Mr. Watts's studio, one of his pictures in

this state.
The
picture
had been
finished,
but
;
he had decided to change one of the figures
and the changed
figure
was
laid in in solid black

rest of the
:
and white, or umber and white, the

picture being, of course, in
its
finished state
when
this
was dry
it
would be painted on, and
brought into harmony with the rest of the

picture,
and the alteration would never show.

paint
is
Titian's
beautiful
in
;
quality,
his
pictures are beautiful as a whole
and
I
is
think
in its
that the greatest beauty of his work
harmony, in the relation of one tone to another,

rather
than
the
to
richness
of
any one.
This
harmony seems
of the half-tones
depend on the management
and darks, which support the
Quality in Colour
colours
;
155
difi&cult
and surely
this is the
most
part
of painting.
For things
in light are obvious

;
and
can be painted definitely

departure.
they make a point of

of half-tone, such as
is
;
But passages
those of flesh in shadow, of which there

instance
in
a good
things
Tintoret's
" Milky
Way "
which, though they are dark, appear light, these

subtle
things
are
the difficult ones.
In this
picture the deepest darks are not heavy,
and
the shadows are different in kind from the lights,

as they are in nature. so
But
here, again,
it is
not
much
the quality of the shadow, or of any

itself,
other passage in
that
is
so fine, as the
to each other,
relation of the lights
and shadows
with a beautiful quality of paint.
And Rembrandt's work

of
is
the same
it is full
delicate
glazings,
and repaintings
in
solid
colour,
which were glazed down again to get the

;
sense of light in the shadows

of his single heads
though in
many
simply.
he painted quite frankly and " Old Lady's Head " is, apparently, The
done
in
one painting.
We may
note in this that

in transparent
the shadow side of the face

colour,
is
and contrasts with the
rich, full
painting
156
and the
is
of the lights
portrait of " Titus " in the

is,
Wallace Gallery
frankly done, and

It
think,
if
fairly solid paint throughout.
seems as
the
method
of glazing
and repainting was used to
increase the range of the colour.
After
all,
the quality of paint
is
a matter of
;
perception and feeling rather than of rule

artist feels the
if
an
beauty of surfaces, the range and
variety of light in nature, he will
make some
approach
to
it
in
his
work.
of
The ordinary
straightforward
method
painting
is,
to
paint
the apparent colour at once (that

see)
to learn to
is
a good one, as far as
it
goes
it
the best, I
think, for school practice.

little
But
only goes a
way.
Practically,
it is
best in a study or
;
sketch which
if
we can
get through at a sitting
and
we attempt a
subject that embraces a wide

light,
range of colour, or
we
find
we have
some
to get
of
an extension
paint
;
of the range
by varying the kind
with transparent colour in
places,
all
and
solid in others.
One may go through

it
the
great painters' works, and throughout

to be felt that the paint in the
seems
shadow passages
must be
of a different
and more subtle kind than
British
Museum
MOTHER AND CHILD

(chalk drawing)
Quality in Colour
that in the lights.
is
157
done there
Where
this is not
;
a certain monotony in the work
as in
some
of
the larger paintings of Frans Hals (the one in the

present Old Masters' exhibition
is
an example
:
^),
which are painted
solidly
throughout
in
is
any one
not so
of the single heads in the picture
it
apparent.
For beautiful quality of paint Watteau and

Gainsborough are remarkable.
Watteau gives
a beautiful effect by brilliant touches alternating
with transparent colour
his colours look as
if
mixed with some

brilliant quality of
rich varnish,
and have the

is
enamel
and there
picture
the same
quality of paint in the
little
by Le Nain,
" Le GoLiter."
But
doubt
best.
for the
if
charm
of a fresh, light touch, I
any painter equals Gainsborough
at his
Velasquez and Frans Hals are the only
painters
respect.
who can be compared with him

But Hals
little
is dull,
in this
and even Velasquez

I
looks
heavy beside Gainsborough.
could not help feeUng this in a recent exhibition,

^
Old Masters, 1906.
No. 102
Portrait of the Painter
and
his family.
158
fine
where Velasquez's
"Venus" was hanging

;
be-
tween two portraits by Gainsborough
the Venus
looked heavy beside their freedom and lightness

of touch.
And
in the
two
fine portraits in the
present exhibition ^
colour
is
especially
the
lady's
the
clear
put on with an enjoyment which must

spectator.
It is so fresh
be
felt
it
by the
and
that
seems a different kind of paint from that

is
in other men's works; yet this

of the beautiful
only because
I
freedom of the work.

looking
at
have
often wondered, in
Gainsborough's
work and that

very thinly,
of other painters
who
the
painted
painter's
how they
got over the paint
constant difficulty of
in the darks, as the
" drying in
I
work went on; and
am
and
are
inclined to think that they allowed time for the
work
to dry thoroughly before repainting,
did not trouble about " oiling out."

told that
(We
Vandyke varnished
before repainting,
is
but
do not know how
far this information
trustworthy.)
We
all
know how
fresh the work,
especially the thin painting, looks in a

^ Old Masters, 1906. No. No. 78 Portrait of Giardini.
:
good old
Adney
;
18
Portrait of Miss
Quality in Colour
picture
159
and we
all
know,
too,
many modem
and
" oiling
it is all
;
pictures that in a few years look leathery
dead,
through
the
practice
of
out."
right,
if
If the oil is
mixed with the colour
as in Morland's
is left
and Wilson's work

it
but
oil
on the surface
is
deadens the paint.
work that
solidly painted
throughout
is
generally heavy, because through being painted
" on and on," the paint becomes opaque,
and
bad
in
quality.
But
if
it
is
painted thickly
enough to get a surface which breaks up the

light,
it is
as
in
the man's portrait

;
by Hogarth,*
all
not bad
and
if
it
is
painted solidly
is
through, without alterations, there

in the quality of the paint
:
great beauty
partly because of
the pleasure
we
feel in following free execution,

itself,
and partly because the paint
when put on
an enamel-
frankly, acquires a richness of its own,

like
quality,
which
is
beautiful.
is
The " Old
Lady's " portrait by Frans Hals

of this
;
a good example
sitting.
it
seems to be done at one

Canaletto's
And
fine
some
of
work,
such
as
the
picture of the " Stoneyard," seems to be painted

^
Old Masters, 1906.
No. 7: Portrait of
J. St.
Aubyn, Esq.
i6o
each part at one painting
glazing in this picture,
is
solidly throughout
there seems very
little
or in his picture of the " Rotunda," which
most marvellous as a piece

little picture,
of execution.
etc.,
In this
the figures and lamps,
though
they are touched in a conventional way, are very

expressive,
and are most beautiful
as paint
and
such work as that of Wilson, of Romney, and of

Morland,
has a
who
often painted solidly throughout,
rich, fat quality.
We
It
see
it
in
Romney's
" Parson's Daughter."
seems only possible to

Hogarth's portraits,
get this at one painting.
which are painted
solidly, are
heavy
they were
evidently worked over
many
times.
But
his
" Shrimp Girl," and Gainsborough's " Portrait of

his
Daughter,"
may
be mentioned as examples
of fine quality in thin painting, done, as I think
both these works must have been, at one

they have
a
sitting
beauty and freshness which no

will give.
amount
of
working over
Many
" Boar
of the old painters
seem to have worked

Velasquez's
"
on a dark ground, usually brown.
Hunt " and Zurburan's

in
this
Monk "
are
probably painted
way, and
probably
Quality in Colour
Canaletto and Claude's were also
beautiful
i6i
and a very
is
and subtle kind
of colour
this
produced
:
by thin opaque colour on

partly showing through.
dark ground
it is
a kind of double colour, owing to the ground

It has,
however, the
disadvantage of not always remaining as when

first
done
the balance of the colours changes,
owing to the thinly-painted passages becoming
more transparent with

the ground
:
age,
and darkening into
while the solid high lights remain
as they were,
and stand away from the other

This can be seen in a
parts of the picture.
large portrait ascribed to
Vermeer
of Delft, in
the work of the Caracci, of Berghem, and the

late
Roman
school,
if
and
in that
is
of
Lely and
Kneller.
But
the painting
equally solid
it
;
throughout, as in the work of Canaletto,
does
the
not seem to matter

colour
is
if
the ground
is
dark
good
all,
if it is
done freshly and at once.

touch seems to be
;
After
this freshness of
the principal secret of quality
the one clear touch
allowed to dry with

beautiful.
I
its
natural surface becomes

it
If it is
scraped
loses its brilliancy,

is
think because the

II
protective skin of oil
62
in fact, the less
it is.
removed;
we do
to the paint,
little
the better paint

rightly,
all
So that to do that
we must know what we want

;
to do.
It
comes back to that

is
the directness of work
which
the basis of good quality, can only come

it
through practice, and, as

I
were, unsought
and
think the best practice, both for colour and

is
touch,
to be
had
in painting stUl-life, especially in form,

of effort
flowers,
which have the greatest beauty
colour,
in
and texture.
;
There
is
no sense
a flower
and
if
we
feel this, it will inspire
us
to try for the
same quality
in our work, to try
and make our hand so
sensitive
and sure that
we can
give good drawing with a firm touch;
so that our picture, like the flower, should look
sweet and not laboured.

there
is
We
have good models
Velasquez, and Chardin, of

said,
whom
the
De Goncourts
enchantment
"Never perhaps was the
of
mere painting carried further
than by him, in touching things uninteresting

in
themselves, and
transfiguring
them by the
fine
magic of execution."
Fantin shows that the
And
the
work
of
finest art
can find ex-
pression in these simple things.
Quality in Colour
163
question has often occurred to
me
before an
old picture, where great richness of effect

beautiful quahty of colour
is
and
produced by glazing
down with warm

surface
:
colours over a thickly painted

?
Should the student work in this way
Reynolds did habitually, and the beauty and

force of colour so produced
is
undeniable.
But
the student should, I feel sure, not try to improve
the effect of his work
by such methods.
We
see
the result in Reynolds's work, and can follow, to
some
extent, the train of thought which led

;
him
in this direction
but we cannot take his or any
man's experiences ready made, as the basis for

our vision of things
:
we must work out our prob-
lems for ourselves in the most straightforward
and simple-minded way that we can.

of course learn all
We
;
must
and
if
we can about methods
we
see a passage in a
good picture that we do
not understand, try and think out
why
it
was
done
and we may be eventually able to underand to

works,
use,
stand,
later
as
Mr. Watts did in his

of
every
method
early
getting
rich
colour.
But
Watts's
;
work was very

do
better
straightforward
and
we
cannot
164
than found our vision on the

give
men whose works

nature,
the
ordinary aspect
of
such
as
Veronese,
Moroni,
Velasquez,
Vandyke,
De
Hooghe.
these.
We
cannot have better models than
VIII
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF SUBJECT AND TREATMENT
IM
VIII
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF SUBJECT AND TREATMENT
PICTURES
different
may
be
esteemed
for
on
many
or
of
grounds; as
sentiment
story, for design or colour, or for
any
the subdivisions of these qualities

quality,
if
and any one
well presented,
it
existence, even though

respects.
may justify a picture's may be poor in other

satisfy
The
finest
pictures
us
on
every ground,
subject
and are complete expressions

in
and treatment are

fall
perfect accord
and painters
in love
with the work, while
others feel the sentiment.
These, of course, are the perfect works, where
masterly execution
expression.
is
at the service of a gift of

rare,
But perfect works are
and
if
we
take the two main elements in every picture, treatment, or method of

167
the subject and
its
68
presentation,
of accord
It is
we
find that there
is
often a
want
between them.
difficult to
very
say which
its
is
of greater
;
importance, the subject or

ideal
is,
treatment
the
I think,
that there should be a single
impulse controlling both.
picture should be
the outcome of a desire to express something,
and the execution should naturally and

direct itself towards this.
If it
willingly
story,
it
have a
should not,
I think,
;
be merely used as an excuse
for the painting
nor,
on the other hand,

is
is
a a
picture good
if
its
only merit
picture
its
that
it
tells
story clearly.
painting
;
The
must be good
as a
whatever be
is
subject, its presentation

It
as a picture
of the first importance.

;
should
it
give pleasure to the eye

live
and
if it is
to live,
will
by the appreciation
of its technical qualities,
rather than through

this
its
subject or story
for
may many old
be forgotten, as has happened with

pictures.
And
will
it
is
but reasonable
to suppose that the survival, or otherwise, of
contemporary work
be determined by the
in the past.
is
same causes
as
have operated
The
fine still-life
by Velasquez, which
called
Importance of Subject and Treatment 169

**
Christ in the house of Martha,"

illustration
it is is
may
serve as
of that
an
of
this.
As a picture
;
subject,
interest
badly designed
still-life
because the real

figures,
in the
and foreground
and not
the
title
in the little figures behind, to the picture.

It
which give
lose
if
would not
these figures were merely of casual people, or
were even
as
it
is,
left
out
the picture would remain,
an admirable study of genre.

is
In this
case the story
but the excuse for the painting,

is
but the picture lives because the painting

Velasquez's "
is
good.
Dead Warrior," on the other hand,

of
a well-designed picture, because aU the elements the last

trail
especially
I
smoke from the
extinguished lamp
express the idea.
are
appropriate, and help to
do not think a picture
is
better without a
subject (in the literary sense).
There must be
some reason
is
for a picture's being done,
and
if it
to set forth a story so
much
the better, so far

is
as the appeal of the picture
concerned
for
the story or sentiment of a picture will touch
many, while a work depending only on
qualities
which the trained eye of painters can appreciate,
170
and a picture
is
makes but a small appeal

to be looked at.
made
to be
But there would seem

and the
is,
a kind of antagonism between the idea and the
way
it is
expressed
relative importance
it
of the one or the other
seems to me, a
question of taste
artist,
it
depends on the taste of the
and
if
of those to
his
whom
he appeals.
bad
painter,
work
is
popular, feels justified
by
his public, for the sentimental picture in a
shop
window
gives pleasure to persons

;
who
are quite
blind to fine art
but we
may leave bad
painting
artist's
out of account, and dwell rather on the
problem, of the accord that should exist between

subject and treatment.
As we know,
art springs
from the desire to say
or to set forth something in a
more expressive
way than is possible by

had
other means, and painting
practically for centuries
no other aim than

It
to set forth the story of Christianity.
was
only by degrees that painters got to
know and
appreciate the beauty of the " thing seen."
may seem contradictory to say that the beauty of so much of the early work, for instance,
It
depends on the impulse for expression, while we

should aim mainly at technical accomplishment.
If
the mere setting forth of a story at their hands

results,
produced such beautiful

similar impulse be
should not a
?
good enough
for us
"
Why,"
their
their
we may
say, " should
we trouble about methods ? "

of of
But the old painters were masters

methods
work,
;
they learnt
all
the
details
down
to the preparation of their colours
and grounds
ignorant
their
;
matters of which we
No doubt
are, as
a rule,
in
and they were very methodical
workmanship.
they tried to
;
make
their pictures as real as they could
but in
their day, the conscious interest in the appearance
of things, which
we
enjoy, did not exist
and
us,
many
things which are commonplaces
to
such as the contrast of light and shadow, the

relation of one apparent colour, or colour value,
to another,
and the laws
of
atmospheric and
linear perspective, were hardly
known
to them.
So that their minds were

in the
left free,
to express,
most
definite
and obvious way, the themes

is
they chose.
This simple-minded attitude

;
one
if
source of the charm of primitive work
and
we
set
an untaught child nowadays to make a
172
it
drawing, he will do
artists,
flat
in the spirit of the early
defining everything,
and painting with

in
masses of colour, just as we see
Japanese
If
art,
and
in that of the earliest Italians.

is
it,
we
ask,
"How
is
then, that the early artists'

?
work
that,
so beautiful
their
"
one can only
answer
although
methods were primitive,
these
taste.
men were
a work
is
great artists
and had great
When
take
well imagined,
all its
elements
their
place naturally;
the planning and

is
execution go together, and there
no discord.
is
picture, for instance,
whose subject
one of
action and excitement, will suggest this
by
its
abrupt contrasts, while one that

tranquil
in
is
calm and
its
sentiment will be delicate in
transitions.
The "Battle
of
St.
Egidio,"
by
Paolo Uccello, seems to

this
;
me
a good example of
is
although the method
as deliberate as
possible, the picture gives a sense of excitement
by the abrupt way the
colours are disposed.
One
may
contrast the effect of this picture with that
of Bellini's
"Death
of Peter Martyr," a picture
which always seems to
me
to
show a lack
of

accord between the figures and their setting. In this work the grove of trees, and the
little
town, and the woodmen, are painted so beautifully,
that
I feel
the interest
;
is
rather there than
in the principal figures
and
think that,
if
we
the
witnessed the murder,
we should not have

of the painting.
is
leisure to look at other things so deliberately as

is
implied
by the manner
somewhere
It is
most beautiful
of accord
picture, but
?
there not a
want
So much has come between us and the primitives, that
any attempt
to
work
in their
;
ways
must be conscious and

ignore so
deliberate
we must
view
is
much
and
if
their point of
chosen,
it
must be from conviction.
The
pre-
Raphaelites in their early days,
when
their art
was a
things.
faith
rather than a method, did great

of the finest
is
One
the "Annunciation"
feeling
for the
of Rosetti,
which has as much
spirit of its subject as
any
of the earlier works,
and follows
has been
all
their
method.
We
But
can see that
it
planned out beforehand, and then

this
painted piece by piece.
method was
it
not natural, as
it
was with the early men,
174
was
deliberately adopted;
and we know that
Rosetti could not keep his

later
mind away from the
developments
of
painting.
And though
he attempted more
years,
it is
difficult
problems in later
doubtful whether he achieved results
as great, or kept to so high a level, as in this

early work.
It
is
admirable in the complete
accord between subject and treatment, which,
by
the
way,
all
his
is
work shows.
" Funda-
mental brain work "
the phrase Rosetti used
to define the essential thing in art,
and
it
is
phrase worth remembering.
For the sake
of contrast,
one
may compare
by
a
This
is it
Rosetti's picture with the " Annunciation "

Crivelli,
in
the
National
GaUery.
beautiful piece of work, but, as a picture,
has
very
scene
little
repose
the conception of the whole

architecture,
the
:
elaborate
the
overhis
dressed
angel,
and
the
ecclesiastic
with
model
of a church
seems
all
;
to
me
fantastic
and
affected
I
is
and as a picture
it
of the Annunciation
think
fine
misses the point altogether.
Yet
it
workmanship
through, and has one

the quiet
little
very beautiful passage
room

of the Virgin, with the books
tidily
and things
picture
all
put
I
on the shelves.
This
shows,
think, a
want
of
it
accord between subject and

is
treatment, but
finely painted,
and
is
an
example
of a picture
its
which stands through the
beauty of
workmanship.
the Sistine and the Vatican
The
frescoes in
hold their place in the estimation of the world
because in them great themes are treated worthily.
There
is
fine
conception of the subjects, and the
greatest skill
and beauty
all
in the work,
and they
stand away from

the
other things.
all
But only
greatest artists of
are free from bias,
either
towards subject
is
or
towards virtuosity.
This latter
the direction in which the painter's
inclination leads him,
and
it
is
the right one

greatest
but
it is
well to
remember that the
men
had
it
their skill as a
matter of course, and used
for expression.
The old painters
told their
stories naively
and simply, but we have such

of precept
is
an accumulation
and example that
we cannot
must
good work
so
much
expected, and our work

:
satisfy
on so many grounds
and though
it
will
always have a value,
may be
176
still
the greatest, as work,
we should not make

right, that
;
execution an end in
It is inevitable,
artist's
itself.
and quite
a great
work should
influence others
but
all
schools which found themselves on a particular
master seem to end in exaggeration of his mannerisms

;
only the independent spirits keep their
place,
and
it is
but too true in art that
"many
come
but
are called, but few are chosen."
One sometimes
hears an artist say, " I allow nothing to
between
can we
done,
us,
?
me and
nature."
Admirable
Does not everything that has been
every masterpiece which has impressed

?
come between us and nature
We
is
are
helped and directed to see nature, and, as Reynolds says, the best road to originality
through
paint-
the study of what has been done.

ing owes
Modern
much
of its strength to the inspiration

it
of Velasquez, but
also
owes some
;
of its
weak-
ness to the
artists
same source
that
is
to say,
some
have not
really understood their master,
and though
their
work has an
it
attractive loose-
ness of execution,
of
has neither the delicacy

:
drawing nor the just tones of Velasquez
'^4
^.''<^:,\'-^K- :':r^'-^f^^::^sri
^^^
"iMm^Mf^
,~>^^
U^
y

after the first surprise there
see.
is
nothing more to
But
if
there
is
one thing more than another

reveals to the student,
;
that Velasquez's
it is
work
that his easy mastery was not easily attained

is
there
clear sight, deliberation,
and determina;
tion in his early pictures, but not facility

I
and
should say that
if
ever there was a hard-working,

it
even a plodding student,

early works,
it
was Velasquez.
tell
His
seems to me,
time
it is
us
this.
;
And
for
even at his
finest
much
is
the same
is
the " Philip,"
with
;
all
its
freedom,
his
most
subtle and delicate
and so
" Venus."
This picture
the " Venus "

of
may
be instanced
as showing a want
accord between subject

is
and treatment.
ordinary
The lady
;
not Venus, but an
model
she
is,
however,
so
is
finely
painted that the lack of
imagination
If it
out-
weighed by the splendid work.

for this, the picture
were not
would be commonplace.
In one sense, too,

pictures subject
we may say that

in
in
Rubens's
in
and treatment are not always

the
all,
accord.
The goddesses
Flemish
" Judgment of
Paris " are not goddesses at

stantial
12
but very subhis
women, nor are
Sabines
178
at
all
Roman
but yet, in another sense, his
pictures do show a complete accord of the subject
with the execution.

story,
is
We
its
see that he realises the

;
and gives
it
it,
dramatic point
that he
interested in
rather than in the technical
work
of painting, which has been so thoroughly

all.
mastered as to give him no trouble at
His
works
tion,
strike us at once
by
their dramatic inven;
rather than
by
their fine painting

realise
and
only afterwards do
we
the fine work.

is
In
Velasquez's
" Venus " the flesh painting
the raison d'etre of the picture.
The work
lives
of Veronese, like that of Velasquez,

fine qualities
through the
of its painting
rather than through imagination or
sympathy
with his subject.

the
The
" Marriage at Cana," in

as
Louvre,
else,
might almost
so little
;
well
represent
to the
anything
is
the
mind drawn
central incident
and, so far as the effect of the

it
picture
is
concerned,
does not matter.
The
" Vision of St. Helena," too, in the National

Gallery,
sleeping.
is
only a picture of a beautiful
woman
The formal introduction

it
of the cherubs
with the Cross, though
points the story, adds

nothing to the expression of the picture
purely
;
it
is
masterpiece
of
painting.
And
does
the
" Darius' family before
Alexander "
its
not
touch one except through
workmanship.
The
early painters' works are
removed from us
it
by an archaism which, though

them, as
was,
I think,
quite unintentional, has the effect of putting

it
were, in another world.

is
The work
of Botticelli of this
;
perhaps the most striking example
it
shows always perfect accord between

;
subject and treatment
and
his "
Venus," his
" Primavera," and
the
Madonnas he painted,
pagan in sentiment,
as Rosetti's pictures
though they always show the same type, and

are neither Christian nor
satisfy us in the
same way
do, as being complete expressions of a tempera-
ment
of
one
a personal view.
is
His " Madonna " in
the Louvre
that
so fine in feeling
and expression,
dressed
;
feels
that
if
she
still
were
in
rags the picture would
be beautiful
and
every
element
of
richness
and
beauty that
its senti-
the picture contains helps to enforce
ment
but in a work
like
CrivelU's
"Annunis
ciation,"
where the human interest
nil,
aU
i8o
fails
the elaborate ornamentation

interesting.
to
make
it
Giorgione's " Fete Champetre "
is
one of the
;
most beautiful pictures

all
in the
world
it is, like
that
is
known
of his work, perfect in
harmony
of
It
and accord throughout, with a noble kind

realism,
is
poetical
rather than imaginative.
the
is
natural
expression of
all
a temperament.
This
the basis that unites
good work, that

;
makes Rembrandt brother

with each, the thing
is
to Michelangelo
for
the presentation of some-
thing as imaged, or imagined, in his mind.

picture made, as
it
The
were, to order, from external

it
elements, however able
may
be,
is
on a very
much
lower plane.
And Rembrandt, Watteau,

this
and Hogarth may on
ground be classed with

It
is
the imaginative painters.

notice
in
interesting to
Hogarth's work
how
expressive
is
is
his painting,
and how truly
in accord
every
element in his pictures, when he follows his
own temperament
uninteresting
and how commonplace and
he
becomes
when
as
in
the
" Sigismunda "

tive subject.
he essays a professedly imagina-
Importance of Subject and Treatment i8i

In imaginative or creative work there
may
be,
and often
is,
want
of accord
between subject and

is
treatment, because the subject
not really
In
literal
felt
but imagination
is
a rare
gift.
work,
which depends on the presentation of something

seen, the artist's task is easier.
It is rather
skill,
question of insight and technical
as in the
work
of Holbein,
which
is,
as
it
were, measurable,
although his
level,
as a draughtsman, has not
again been reached.
One may
Vermeer
instance,
as examples of fine un-
imaginative work, that of

of Delft,
is
Van Eyck,
Breughel,
artists
;
and Peter de Hooghe,
whose work
Steen,
perfect within its chosen limits
Metsu,
Terburg,
Frans
Hals,
Holbein,
Veronese, and
vision
is
Moroni
and Velasquez, whose
nearer and more natural to us than that

:
of other artists
the honest common-sense of his

theories
method makes
There are
all
seem
artificial.
so
many
different
excellences in
painting that one cannot say of any one direction that

it is
the only one to follow
but, as
serious students,
to
we should make
it
our business
examine
all
schools and methods, and to get at
82
:
to find out
principles
why
this or that thing
was done.
of
For we cannot reconstruct the art

;
any period
and our
art should
come about
naturally, should be in touch with the thought of
the time, and as far as possible with our
own
open
types and conditions.
The whole range

to the artist
;
of thought
and time
is
but to paint imaginative subjects,

;
he must have imagination

leave
if
not, he
had better
such
themes
alone.
Watts
owed
his
technique, and the fine qualities of his work, to
the study of the masters, but he owed them
nothing on the imaginative side
he painted his
in accord
own
inventions,
and
that
his
methods are
with them,
expressions.
so
his
works are complete
We should remember that learning to paint will

not
of
make us
artists,
any more than knowledge
grammar and
logic will
make
us poets
it is
a question of mental attitude and natural
gifts.
The
artist
should have sympathy, reverence for
beauty, and the capacity for enthusiasm.
His
;
mind
as well as his
hand should be trained
he
I
should study out of school, as
weU
as in
and

cannot but think that some experience of the
world
is
rather an advantage to the artist than

It helps
otherwise.
us to
know
ourselves, keeps
us from narrow-mindedness, and should, by force

of contrast, increase rather than lessen our love
for our art.
In the words of Chardin,

ing
is
who
said that " paint-
an island
of
which he had only skirted the

Diderot records
coast," " let us be charitable."
a conversation with him, a propos of the Salon of

1765.
" Gentlemen,"
he
says,
" let
us
be
charitable.
Among
;
all
the pictures here, seek
out the worst
and understand that two thousand

their
unhappy ones have broken
brushes,
in
despair of ever doing things even as bad as

these.
Parocel,
is,
whom you
nevertheless
call
a dauber, and
who
this
really
if
you compare him to Vernet

a
Parocel
is
man
of
mark,
compared with the men who started with him
and have given
it
up.
Lemoine said that
it
takes a painter thirty years to learn

to his sketch,
will listen to
how
fool.
to keep
If
and Lemoine was no

me, you
will learn
you
perhaps to be
lenient.
We
begin at seven or eight years of age
184
to
draw from copies
eyes, mouths,
Our backs
'
noses, ears,
then feet and hands.
are bent over
our work for a long time, then they put us before

the
'
Hercules
'
or the Torso
'
'
and you have not

'
seen the tears that the Satyr,' the Gladiator,' the

'
Venus,' the Antaeus,' have caused to flow.

'
You
may
be sure that these ancient masterpieces

exist to excite the jealousy of
would no longer
moderns,
will
if
the students could have worked their
on them.
And
and
then, after days
and nights
before these lifeless things, they put us before the

living model,
all
at once the
work
of our
preceding years seems to count for nothing.
We
It is
have to learn to see Nature

have never seen and
will
and how many

!
never see her
the torment of our lives.

before the model,
genius,
if
After five or six years
we
any.
are left to follow our
own
we have
One's talent
it is
is
not deterfirst
mined
in a
moment, and
not at the
attempt that one has the candour to avow one's

incapacity.
ful,
How many
!
attempts, some successPrecious years have gone
some unfortunate
before the
by
day
of disappointment
and wearito
ness comes.
Then what
to do
One has

find another occupation of
and with the exception

their
twenty or
so,
who show
work here
every other year to dull people, the others are " unknown, and perhaps are happier than are
we
He goes
on to say that "what we see
is
the work
struggled
of a small
number
of those
who have
with more or
not
felt
less success,
and that he who has
the difficulties of art will do nothing of

I
any worth."
am
sure that
we must
all
feel
the truth of this.
Printed by
Morrison & Gibb Limited Edinburgh

Aims and Ideals in Art

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Aims and Ideals

AIMS AND IDEALS IN ART

PORTRAIT OF BALTHAZAR CASTIGLIONE

EIGHT LECTURES DELIVERED TO THE STUDENTS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY

raOFESSOR OF PAINTING IN THE ROYAL ACADBMT

WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

METHUEN & CO. ESSEX STREET W.C.

and, with the exception of a few

form made necessary by

pubhcation, are pjinted as they were

thanks to the President and Council of

Buloz, and to the Vasari Society, for

acknowledge the assistance given

Binyon, and Professor Rapson.

On Truth to Nature and Style

Imagination and the Ideal

The Relative Importance of Sub

Study of Bather (Drawing)

The Mass of Bolsena

The Mass of Bolsena

Wall Painting from Pompei

Study for Composition (Drawing)

Study for Composition

The Miracle of the Fish

Study of Arms and Hands (Drawing) l)

Study of Figure Study of Figure

Study of a Tree Trunk

River and Trees

Mother and Child

ON TRUTH TO NATURE AND STYLE

ON TRUTH TO NATURE; AND STYLE

Fresnoy's Art of Painting, very truly

and the end

find that beauty

great object of our search

can be found nowhere

we can no more form any

superior to nature than

any other excellence out

the limits of the

to confine our conception even of

see in this world.

Nothing can be so unphilosophical as a supposition that

we can form any

beyond nature, which

and must be the fountain-head from whence

or any other, teaches, can be no more than

teaching the art of seeing nature.

formed on the various works of those

templated her works, the

artist enlarges his

taught to look for and see what

otherwise would have escaped his observation."

This really sums up the matter, and

standard, some definite idea of what should be

aspect of nature are best worth our trying to

has some measure of truth to nature, otherwise

would not be recognisable.

meaning for " nature,"

in a lesser degree the

others a type of form which

approaching an ideal of perfection.

true to the type rather than to the individual;

on the other hand, an