Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

attain the rank of masters. So we find in painting, as in poetry, the greatest power will always be with those artists who have this sympathetic imagination, who are able to discern the poetical in the actual, the ideal in the real, the universal in the particular. They alone can produce those glorious "speaking" pictures, which continually reveal the ideas and feelings that possessed the artist, when his brush was touched by a power that he knew not of.

CHAPTER V

MODERN DUTCH ART

THE seven Dutch artists we have already spoken of form a unique group, inasmuch as their paintings have this strong subjective "Art seeks phase, this revealing of nature, and of their the artist

alone.

When he

dies she

sadly takes

own feelings unconsciously inspired by nature, and because, in addition to this, they each see the subjects they paint in an absolutely dif- her flight, ferent way from anyone who has preceded loitering yet them. They have shown us new phases of

though

in the land association.

from fond

And so we

have the

influence of

the after

art, they have expressed the ideas that possessed them in new and varied forms, and they have transferred their thoughts to to canvas with ephemeral masterly execution in a large and noble man- the master's ner and dignified style, giving the impression memory, of power in reserve. As usually happens glow in with strong and original characters, they have inspired others, who see more or less through their eyes; but they themselves are creators. They have caught a spark of the divine fire ple." "Ten of genius, and stand splendidly alone.

which are

warmed for

a while the worker

and disci

O'Clock."

Whistler.

The last portion of the nineteenth century will be remembered in art as the time when the work of these men, whose powers gradually developed to the end of their lives, reached its highest point. Matthew Maris, the wonderful painter of dreams, whose canvases are the artists' and the picture-lovers' delight; Josef Israels, the father of the school, the revered of his countrymen, the sympathetic portrayer of the homes and occupations of the peasants of the land, and William Maris, the unrivalled painter of cattle and river scenes, sparkling in the sunshine, are the only ones that survive of the original band that has revolutionized Dutch art. The rest have passed away; Bosboom- - but not his visions of spacious churches permeated with light and air, the sunbeam pouring its rays through the windows, radiating warmth everywhere, lingering lovingly round the great pillars, and half revealing the darkness of the dim recesses beyond; Mauve - but not his landscapes, with ploughmen, cattle, or flocks of sheep, all bathed in atmosphere, and painted with a rare tenderness and beauty; James

[graphic][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »