1824-1903.

"Dutch
Painters
of the

Nineteenth
Century."
F. A. E. L.
Smissaert.

CHAPTER XII

J. H. WEISSENBRUCH

THE recent death of J. H. Weissenbruch, which occurred early in 1903, has removed a well-known figure from the artistic world of Holland. His was one of those happy, cheerful natures that enjoy a simple life completely occupied with the art they love. Like Corot, he spread sunshine around him. He was bound up in his work, and was greatly loved by his fellow-artists, who looked up to him with admiration. One of them, Mr. Smissaert, writes: "Among the older generation Weissenbruch holds a prominent place; for who depicts as well as he the effect of the sun struggling through stormy clouds, or who appreciates better the value of light and shade? Who remains so young and enthusiastic? Who, indeed, but Weissenbruch, whose pictures fill us with delight, and create an impression on our minds not easily forgotten. He sees nature through the medium of his temperament,

which is warm and sensitive a temperament to which all that is great and noble appeals. His whole being is deeply affected by the beauty of natural scenery, and he is in perfect harmony with what he depicts. Wherever he paints, whether in oil or water colours, it is always the same as far as beauty is concerned, and no one will dispute the fact that he is a great artist."

Weissenbruch was born in 1824 and died in 1903. He had a strong and robust constitution and clear mental vision. He was a most entertaining companion, being a delightful talker, and having an inexhaustible fund of anecdote. As a young man he studied under Shelfhout and Van Hove. Here he learned to draw with accuracy and great detail, and we occasionally see examples now of this careful, painstaking work. After leaving his teachers, following the advice of Bosboom, he continued to work for many years in the same thorough manner, studying nature earnestly and leaving nothing undone that could add to his knowledge and experience. Later on he found himself, and left his early

Art."
Emerson.

2" When a
friend of
mine, who
painted as

man of his

school in

1"Essay on formal manner. Gradually his style changed, and his brush work grew vigorous and broad. He discovered how much he could leave out, in trying to give the essentials only, to secure that simplicity and suggestiveness, the best well as any part of every work of art. The beginner sees only detail, the artist sees the essence and suggests detail. Here it is that so many fail. They cannot see what are the essentials. lay all this Happy they who can, and are enabled to subordinate everything else, leaving out the "prose of nature and giving only the spirit and splendour."1

the Paris of that day, came to

Millet, to

accom

plishment

at his feet

and ask for direction,

'It is well,' said Jean François,

' and you can paint.

A time comes to every artist, after he has learned the technical side of his art and has become what Ruskin calls a "respectable -But what artificer," when he must begin to give his message and thoughts to the world through "Consider the medium of his works. If he has nothing ations on to tell, he is not a living force, no matter how much admiration brilliant technique may draw.

have you to

say?'"

Painting."

John La

Farge.

3"Don

Juan."
Canto III.
Byron.

"You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet;"
Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?"

are the words the great critic quotes for the
artist who depicted the luxurious idleness