cond Delacroix, Millet, Corot, and Manet. Con- «The men rim:low in, of onmonition who dare stable met with similar lack of appreciation admire in England, and a painting of Whistler's was things in advance of hissed when exhibited in London. In every the re age there are the same kind of people claim- the world are not ing authority in art matters, who are on the common.” side of tradition and a past phase of art. Times of art Time J. F. Millet. Sensier's alone is the true arbiter, and the final opinion Life. of the public will be right. In comparing a painter of to-day with artists “He has of other times, it must be remembered that in meanly of many ways the art of painting improves as the re sources of each generation passes. It is not a lost art, man, who like the manufacture of Limoges enamel, or believes that the best age the stained glass of the Middle Ages, or the of produc tion is past." coloured porcelain of China. On the contrary, each new school has given its quota of Art.” Emerson. knowledge and discovery. Constable, Turner, Corot, and Manet have added to the living ideas of the world. In a recent lecture, George “Parathe art that has already been achieved may be imitated, but never graphs surpassed. Modern Art must strike out from the old and assert from the its individual right to live. The new is not revealed to those Studio of a whose eyes are fastened in worship upon the old. The artist of Recluse." to-day must work with his face turned toward the dawn, stead- Albert P. fastly believing that his dream will come true before the setting Ryder, of the sun.” A. N. A. On sition.” Clausen, A. R. A., said: “Turner was the first to paint colour in the shadows as well as in the light”; and “though from some of the work of the modern impressionists we might turn with more respect to the older painters, still something has been gained, and we could not go back again to brown shadows and degraded “Pictorial tones.” And Mr. Poore writes: “Masterful Compo composition of many figures has never been surpassed in certain examples of the old masters; but in the case of portrait composition of two figures, it is worthy of note how far beyond the older are the later masters; or in the group“We have ing of landscape elements, or in the arrangethen but to ment of figures or an ment of figures or animals in landscape, how wait until, with the a finer sense in such arrangement has come to mark of the gods upon art.” So it gradually comes about that the equipment and knowledge of the modern artist among us are greater than ever before. again the chosen, who he fronting + lang ulo artistic temperament, a great artist of to-day tinue what has gone should be able to express the thoughts that before.” inspire him more fully and completely than O’Clock.” one of two centuries ago. And we may truly Whistler. say that men of genius have appeared in recent come shall con "Ten times, and that no such landscape work as that of Anton Mauve, James Maris, J. H. Weissenbruch, and William Maris has ever “All great before been seen in Holland. They all paint have been the homely country scenery and the people great only in their engaged in their ordinary occupations, and rendering wonderfully beautiful works are produced from of what they have these simple materials. Everything in their seen and felt from pictures is seen to be surrounded with atmos early childphere and to dwell in space, and their constant hood. No man ever aim is to translate the sunshine, striking in painted well brilliant light on trees or cattle, or diffused anything " but what over the whole landscape. Their art is in- he has tensely modern, original, and racy of the soil; fong felt. strong, broad, vigorous, suggestive, and full and early and long of deep feeling, and it has the power of enabling loved.” others to feel the spirit that moved the artist. thot moved the artist “Modern " Painters." Mauve, James Maris, and William Maris in- Vol. I. troduce the human element largely into their Ruskin. Page 121. pictures, and cattle and animals, as they appear “Nature in the daily life of the peasant, are prominent betray the ut never did objects of interest in their works. But Weis- heart that loved her.” senbruch, whose aim, in his later works, is to “Tintern give that large feeling of wind-blown or calm Abbey." and quiet air-containing space which enfolds worth. “The Renais sance.” everything, depends almost entirely upon the simple seashore or country scene he is painting to produce the effect he desires and is so successful in obtaining, and in pure landscape he has carried the art to its latest expression. Writing about the Renaissance, Walter Pater says: “There are a few great painters, like Michelangelo or Leonardo, whose work has become a force in general culture, partly for this very reason, that they have absorbed into themselves all lesser workmen. But besides these there is a number of artists who have a distinct faculty of their own, by which they convey to us a peculiar quality of pleasure which we cannot get elsewhere. These, too, must be interpreted by those who have felt their charms.” Those who get a peculiar quality of pleasure from Weissenbruch would fain interpret his charm. Surely we have in “Nature him one of those rare subjective painters of always whom we have been speaking, fully equipped wears the colours of technically; one whose emotions are keenly the Spirit.” “Essay on i excited by the beauties of nature, and whose Nature.” sensitive and poetic temperament enables him to communicate to us the feelings and moods . Emerson. |
