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Painting of the Nineteenth Century in England, Scotland and America Author(s): Frank F.

Frederick Reviewed work(s): Source: Fine Arts Journal, Vol. 34, No. 7 (Aug., 1916), pp. 313-335 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25587409 . Accessed: 27/02/2012 11:35
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LITTLE Fromn original

MRS. painting,

GAMP, property

BY

SIR

JOHN

TMILLAIS. & Co., New York.

of Ml. Knoedler

THE

SCIENCES.

COX.

(SEE

P. 693.

Painting

of

the Nineteenth

Century

in

England,

Scotlan-d and America BY


FRANK F. FREDERICK,
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. OF ART AND DESIGN,

PROFESSOR

HE

CENTURY

IN

ENGLAND.

~~~~(I)
it may be true that art has While no nationality, yet the art of every A strong race can be easily distinguished. nation having no individuality in its art can not be regarded as upon a high plane intel The art of Greece, of Italy, of lectually. is the art of their most Spain or of Holland of and individual periods-not independent foreign influence was those periods when

preeminent.

is independent and individual and England upon the con quite unlike her neighbors traveler sees little more con tinent. The to Algiers from France trast in crossing Habits, to England. than from France are art-all language, morals, customs, different. In these days of rapid and communication the work of distant countries, when New York knows more of the work of Paris than knew of London a few years ago, Edinburgh one is hardly prepared to find a people with a fully developed art quite unlike the art of increased inter of knowledge

To dismiss this art, the rest of the world. as many writers do who are interested in the art of the continent, as inferior because it does not conform to the accepted canons races, shows either of the art of the Latin an unfair spirit, or the lack of that breadth which is supposed to be the first and greatest requisite of the critic or historian. English painters have never felt the pic torial beauty of color and line as have the races. The or, Latin "literary element," in addition to the in other words, a meaning mere pictorial qualities of the work, must be to the English present in order to appeal A picture which mind. igno7 es the liter ary element or subject beconr.es a grouping of lines, tones and colors wh;,:h we associate with Persian rugs, while a picture ignoring all but the subject becomes a production which might just as wtell be expressed by another form of art, namely literature. There is a middle ground in the art of painting where each holds its true relation, but what their relation should be depends upon individual opinion. In France the balance tips in favor of "art for art's sake";

314

PPAITING

OF THE NINETEENTH
studios and introduced in the Continental of English art some into the conservatism of the more modern ideas. of the opening Painters.-At Historical artists went to the century many English so interested in and Italy, and there became so much under the influence of the old that upon their return home Italian masters to force upon the British they attempted public a grand style of painting based upon "What the vast decorations of the Italians. in the way of 'great art' England produced of the century could be in the beginning erased from the complete chart of Biitish gap being any essential painting without in the course of its development" made these men were the far-off Yet (Muther). and, while forerunners of the classicists, in transplanting unsuccessful they were an inter they make Italian art to England, art. esting chapter in the story of English at others James Barry (I74I-I806), Among believed the close of the eighteenth century, the Italians themselves, that he surpassed with the avowed to London and returned intention of providiing England with a classic art that would forever outrank in interest the portraiture, landscape and genre, the forms in England. Benj of painting ever popular though (I786-i846), amin Robert Haydon thought it a sin a lifelong friend of Wilkie, to devote artistic talent -which is a Divine subjects, or gift to anything but biblical of ancient history, upon a scale subjects suggesting, by its vastness, the importance He was the most important of the subject. Of Haydon's art, Redgrave of this group. and a good anatomist "He was says: effective, the his color was draughtsman, and conception treatment of his subject were original and powerful, but his works In look." have a hurried and incomplete exhib speaking of the Raising of Lazarus, ited in I823, which contains twenty figures each nine feet high, the same writer says: is first impression of the picture "The and powerful, the effect general imposing;. the incidents and well suited to the subject; coloring good the conceived; well grouping Sir Charles East and in parts brilliant." for many years president lake (I793-i865), and director of the of the Royal Academy

in favor of the thought or the in England picture" and there the "literary subject, the former To appreciate sway. holds and the latter requires one temperament, The points of view of the French another. and of the English have ever been different, and few are thewriters who do justice to both. from the has poetry existed English is of painting earliest times, but English the Before recent origin. comparatively eighteenth century it can hardly be said to artists came occa Foreign have existed. sionally, and a few made permanent homes on English soil, but of native talent there In the eighteenth cen was little or none. a group of portrait tury suddenly arose painters whose pictures were not excelled the names of by any then being produced stand preemi and Gainsborough Reynolds nent, and have long since been added to the world's roll of Old Masters. famous group of portrait paint England's ers died in the eighteenth or very early in century, and no one, at the ;the nineteenth of the nineteenth opening century,. except the to continue able seemed Lawrence, later destined Names of the past. standards to influence the art of the world were then Constable not known even in England. was just entering the schools of the Royal Academy, Crome was painlting quietly and though unknown at Norwich, and Turner, in I802, was elected to the Royal' Academy then but an artist of promise. by artistic traditions, these *Unhampered to create a men, with others, were destined art 'in one short cen national distinctive tury. By the end of the first quarter cen matters artistic seemed to be in a fair -tury this national art at once, way to produce but the influence of the Italian masters came in and itwas not till the middle of the century that Rossetti and the Preraphaelite movement brought England back to its own in art. Then followed the Realism of Hunt, the way Millais and Brown which prepared idealism Burne-Jones and Watts. for the of This brings us to the last quarter of the century in which we see, in addition to th*e the chief charac literary element-always new strength teristic of English painting-a added by the younger men who have studied

CENTURY

IN ENGLAND.

315D

National Gallery, painted many portraits and but is chiefly noted for pictures, genre works of the character of Brutus Exhorting to Avenge the Death of Lucre the Romans cold compositions arousing little tia-large, Etty interest at the present time. William did good colorist, (1787-I849), a thoroughly painting, not con fine himself to historical and is chiefly noted as a painter of women. Briggs, Maclise, Lucy and Charles Law rence, the elder brother of the animal painter, a pupil of Haydon, are names to be mentionied in this connection.

ians, seeking retirement from the world and carrying with themna Gotlhic earnestness of is no doubt about the sincerity air. There It was into this movement. that entered an honest effort to g'ain the true, the good, but it was no and as a result, the beautiful; less a striven-after honesty and an imitated earnestness. " Ruskin, who was himself an artist of no I9, and vol. (see "Studio," order mean the I900), espoused of Art," "Magazine

PRERAPHAELITES.

EALISM

IN

ENGLAND:

THE

(2)

of the cen About the middle tury a number of young artists from whomn to find instructors failing they could secure profit, and not being in sympathy with the art of the time, organ Brother ized, in I848, the Preraphaelite and Hunt being the hood, Rossetti, Millais This proved to be one of the most leaders. in English art, and important movements for some years the spirit of a Renaissance Many seemed to influence many painters. volumes have been written upon this move ment, but no one has summed up itsmotives in fewer words than Mr. J. C. Van Dyke in this History of Painting: "It was an emulation of the sincerity, the loving care, and the scrupulouis exactness tne Italian paint in truth that characterized includ Its advocates, ers before Raphael. the critic, maintained that ing Mr. Ruskin, came that fatal facility in art after Raphael lost whiclh, seeking grace of composition, truth of fact, and that the proper course for modern painters was to return to the sincer Hence ity and veracity of the early masters. and the signa the name Preraphaelitism, tures on their early pictures, P. R. B.-Pre to To this attempt Brother. raphaelite of the sensuous, gain the true, regardless was added a mnorbidity of thought mingled with mysticism, a inoral and religious pose, Some of the and a studied simplicity. wvent even so painters of the Brothernood far as following the habits of the early Ital

t-,.

..

-.

..- 'X,"

ElIZABETH

IN THE

TOWER.

MILLAIS.

of the strugglinog youno painters, and of the the principles through his writings Brotherhood became very widely known and the realism of Just how much discussed. art, it is this time has influenced English too soon to estimate, but its influ perhaps ence was not so great as the later work of of whichi he and the new group Rossetti cause movement, the center-another formed which, for want of a better name, has been The Preraphaelitism." called the "New its long continue did not Brotherhood

316

PAINTING

OF

THE

NINETEENTH

The members drifted apart. organization. Rossetti became the center of the new circle, Millais and Brown, who, while Hunt, though not a member of the Brotherhood, is said to have almost "out-P. R. B.'d the true to the original P. R. B," continued principles and purstued realism until each in found how far turn and in different measure removed from art it was. Sir John Everett Millais (1829-I896) was the "prince of Realists," and though he later looked back to his connection with the move ment as to a bit of youthful folly, the con scientious study put upon his work at that time, gave him, with his later freer treat

the closest and union of spirituality with of all, even the rendering accurate most details of the. picture. unimportant, mos, So far did realism go at this time that, in to reproduce exactly all that the endeavor it the limits of the canvas, came within seemed as if art was really the "reflection of nature as in a-mirror." For ten years, or until I859, though the talked about public jeered, and the "Times" infatuation," Millais went on "that morbid with his friends trying to unite the actual truth with the beautiful, and produced, with and the the aid of the poetry of Rossetti intellectual help of Hunt and Brown, a num ber of pictures which the laid foundation of his future succ-esses. For thirty years and more he con tinued the broad genre of a char acter suggested by Elizabeth in the Tower, St. Bar tholomew's D ay, The Rescue, The Escape of a Her etic, etc., inter spersed with land scapes and the most powerful portraits executed since the days of Reynolds and

FINDING

CHRIT

IN TE IN THE

Te

HUNT.

4HN

FINDINTG CHRIST

TEMPLE.

a power over his subject ment, and his materials hardly equaled by any English painter of the closing year of the century. "Rather make him a chimney-sweep than an artist," said Shee, then president of the Royal Academy, when the parents of Millais asked him his advice about their son's soon changed when he saw work-advice the work, for Millais early gave evidence of his great ability. In I846, at the age of exhibited his first pic seventeen, Millais ture, and soon after joined with his friends and Hunt in protest against Rossetti the "debased of the art of the generalization Then followed a series of works day." the Preraphaelite illustrating principles-a

a landscape-painter "As Gainsborough. Millais can assuredly be compared, with loss neither of dignity nor place, with the great est masters living or dead. I do not mean to compare him with Turner in the com bined glory of artistic knowledge and the science of landscape, as I would call it, as well as the magic of the romantic palette. But as a respectful translator of an actual scene, painted simply as it stands-as the mournful Chill October- Millais has had no superior in this country" (Spielman). Hol man Hunt has been most consistent (I837-) in keeping to the principles of the Preraph aelites. "Microscopic fidelity to nature, which formed the first principles in the pro

CENTURY

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317

gram of the Brotherhood, has been carriLed by Holman Hunt to the highest possible point" To all of this he added a truly (Muther). feeling and a depth of sentiment religious Ford Madox art. quite new to English of the group, eldest the Brown (I82I-I893), the Pre Before realist. forceful was a most only the was he moveinent raphaelite mid-century the of genre of English painter trivial scenes and inci who did not make He of his pictures. the subjects dents detail with a vigor, and presented painted to the rules of his subjects with a disregard the that delighted composition academic who were looking for young Preraphaelites the truth as they felt it; and he exerted, through such pictures as Christ Washing Feet, and Lear and Cordelia, a pow Peter's erful influence upon the art of the time. to see now-a-days, are accustomed, We privations and hesitating artists undergoing at nothing that will aid them in their work. We are not surprised that Mr. Stokes should go to the polar seas and work in a tempera ture in which oil paint froze in order to paint icebergs; but fifty years ago a devo tion to realism that took Hunt to the Dead to the Brown to paint his Scapegoat, Sea to paint the bit of cliffs of the seashore that led in The Last of England, distance a a house where landscape to build Millais could be seen to the best advantage was quite rare. at this time To the realism of England which very soon spent itself, a movement can trace for nature and art are not one-we that quality of modern English art which is so characteristic of it, its sincerity.

and hell something in the spirit, though not in imitation of Michelangelo. Dying in the seem that year of Rossetti's birth, itwould his spirit passed to the young poet to appear in the latter's pictures free from the awful, but more mysterious than ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~z

T74.

r --~~~

BLESSED

DAMOSEL.

ROSSETTI.

Rossetti was born in I828 Dante Gabriel and died in I882. His father was an Italian refugee, at that time a professor in King's At the age of seventeen, College, London. a pale, strange youth, he began his studies and of a few months at the Royal Academy, quite as much the poet as the painter, took his place at the age of about twenty as a fully established professional artist, having several poems. About already published fascinated with this time, I850, he became his model, who afterwards became his wife, and striking beauty a woman of unusual in his face forever after appeared whose After her death he shut himself away work. from the world and became a recluse, suffer ing from ill health and the intense strain of his artistic nature. His life naturally divides itself into three In his earlier work he selected periods. biblical subjects, of which Ancilla Domini, are the best of Mary Virgin and Girlhood In the happy year just preced examples.

AND OSSETTI RAPHAELITISM:

THE

PRE NEW IDEALISM. (3)

of in the middle When Rossetti, the century, brought before the eyes of the British public new visions of beauty, he was, after the usual number of a years of neglect and ridicule, acclaimed genius and his way the only true path in art. Blake made excur Before Rossetti, William sions producing into the "unknown and unattainable," a series of weird visions of heaven

31

PAINTING

OF

THE

NINETEENTH! Vanna, Venus Palmifera, Monna Sibylla and The Saluta The Beloved, Verticordia, He tion of Beatrice on Earth and in Eden. from Dante of his subjects selected many influenced by that poet. and was greatly fruitful period he In the third and most pictures of separate some thought also of poetry. Many to his wife, as The these were dedicated and Astarte Damosel, Proserpine, Blessed occupied himself with figures each illustrating often embodied in his As Dante immortalized his Beat Syriaca. his wife in his honored rice, so Rossetti "He painted her poems and his pictures. with her gentle, as The Blessed Damosel,

saint-like face, her quiet mouth, lids. golden hair and peaceful sented her as an angel of God the gate of heaven and thinking when she will see her lover

her flowing repre He standing at of the time in heaven"

(Muther).

:-i~~~~~~L t k s. If

and Rossetti was not a good draughtsman, faulty. his of anatomny was knowledge of the matters that seem to come to Many the most ordinary art student as second to him. Yet in not known natUre were Ijis color he is one of the world's masters. of his glow with the perfection pictures of course, an effect, color-harmonies, lost in the black and white repro. to revel in brilliant He seemed in other hands and that violet red, green would have become gaudy, but in his were entirely ductions. color has of music. Rossetti's and "music set in pigment," of the modern he was one of the earliest is now lyricists of color of whom Whistler What the chief inspiration. explains Ros success is purely the condition of setti's like chords been called of his work spirit which vent to the making nervous -"that vibration, that ecstasy of of suffering and opiumi, that combination and that romanticism drunk sensuousness, with beauty, which go through hiis paint ings" (M uther). or rather around his Around Rossetti, work, gathered a circle of artists who, feel ing on the one lhand the romantic chord in old English poetry and the modern applica tion of classic story, and on the other tlle beauty of Italian art, united the twvoand the or "iNew "New Idealism" Pre English

M~~~~

HOP-.

BURNEaJONES

ing and after his marriage hie crave his atten tion to more and ronantic imaginative subjects, such as Beata Beatrix, Lady Lilith,

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319

" as it is variously called, found it might say: raphaelitism is them, the man who the result. 'Whatever this may have represented, it is Burne-Jones Sir Edward (I833-I898) was a work of art, beautiful in surface and qual the greatest painter of this school. When reward ity and color.' And my greatest he died in i898 the French artists and art would that, after ten be the knowledge critics, as well as the English, with one voice years' possession, the owner of any picture declared him the most distinguished and the of mnine, who had looked at it every day, had most representative painter of England. found in it some new beauty he had not seen Burne-Jones was reading theology at Ox before. " ford while Rossetti was executing the mural was A lifelong friend of Burne-Jones paintings for the Union. by the William Attracted Morris both While (1834-I866). influence of Rossetti, almost mesmeric were imbued with the spirit of the New Burne-Jones adopted art as a profession and Preraphaelitism, their aim was quite dis pursued it with the greatest diligence for Burne-Jones followed the Italians tinct. His earlier works nearly half a century. in producing poetry in pictorial form; while later they were were ridiculed, to find tolerated, and he lived himself the head of a school, lhis and his work name a watchword, He the world around. admired amount an incredible executed of work with a very wide range found in he which of subject heathen and the Bible, in Christian of the in the and legends story, Christ days of Kingr Arthur. Crucified upon the Tree of Life, MIerlin and of Venus, Mirror are Stairs The Golden Vivien, His work resem typical subjects. bles that of the fifteentlh century Italian painters, though stamped with the most vivid and brilliant and completely individuality; takes one away from the reali century. ties of the nineteenth into his a faculty of reading had He work, though even a story of ancient da-s, could that the most modern sentiments of hiis the popularity Hence appreciate. as in I877, when around which, works after a sliglht-real first exhibited he Academy, the Royal cr imaginary-from In crowds gathered and gazed spellbound. lhe did not attempt a story other pictures but combined beautiful figures to secure, by lilnes, forrns, and colors the nmost beautiful love to treat my pic "I compositions. tures," to use his own words, "as a gold I slhould like every smith does his jewels. inch of surface to be so fine that if all were burned or lost, all but a scrap from one of

CUPID

AND

PSYCHF.

BURNE-JONES.

in feeling, devoted his Morris, more Gothic life, as did the artists of the fifteenth cen tury, to handicraft and the union of fine a result, every As industrial art. with thing connected with industrial art in Eng land received a newv lease of life, and he, with his followers, produiced a new style of decoration. .Stanhope R. Speiicer delicate group, producing like of those tures very those than less successful (I849-), M. Strudwick and Burne-Jones, Stanhope sistent in his fidelity to principles. His pictures to belongs and poetic Burne-Jones, of his master. a pupil of "was more this pic but J both con

the Preraphaelite have the same

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PAI[TING

OF THE NINETEENTH
Muther porary considers painting him "a master and of contem. of all of the painting

in I820, and is Watts was born in London tendency in art and has been said to be the still at work with the vigor of youth and in most sane among this group of artists. In the full enjoyment of life. The Elgin marbles in the British museum were his first early life, influenced by Millais, he painted incidents of Round-table days in England in the Royal Acad teachers, -a few months the such as The Lady of Shalott. About year I875 he forsook the romantic for and still later he turned antique subjects, to mural in the style of Burne painting Jones, influenced by the Greek rather than Crane is a leader in the arts the Italian. and is one of the most and-crafts movement, successful all-around designers living.

delicate, enervated mysticism, and the same thoughtful, dreamy poetry, as those of his elders in the school" (Muther). Walter Crane represents a most healthful (I848-)

times."

GEEORGE (4)

FREDERICK

WATTS.

end of Art must be the "The expression of some weighty prin ciple of spiritual significance, the illustration of a great truth.'" This principle, expressed in his-own words, has governed the life of a Frederick Watts truly great man, George He in his genera (I820-). stands alone in himself, a master of tion, a personality the fifteenth century returned to earth to represent, after centuries of study of human ity, the greater truths of existence, and to di again the words which are his own-" vest the inevitable of its terrors, and to show rather as a friend than as the Great Power an enemy." a poet as well as a Nature made Watts He differs from his contempora painter. the lights of the New Pre Ties in art-from that he invents allegories raphaelitism-in of his own instead of accepting those already "The record of given out by the poets. great thoughts and great men has been his principal object, and love of humanity and the unfailing source of his his country The are energy" (Monkhouse). English proud of him, not only as an artist, but as a man who has done much to raise the nation's of artistic work and artistic standards Of the greatness of his work, the endeavor. -majesty of his compositions, and the lofti ness of his thought there can be no question.

LOVE AND LIFE.

WATTS.

emy Schools having no influence upon him. At the age of twenty-three he won a compet for a fresco in the Houses itive commission of Parliament, and went to Italy to study. Here he was powerfully influenced by Titian "The and others of the Venetian school. of the worshipper pupil of Phidias became In Italy his firstnotable work, Tintoretto."

CEN

TURY

IN ENGLAND.

321

Fata Morgana was painted. With won derful visions of reviving the splendor of the palmy days of mural painting in Italy, he returned to England, and with other young artists endeavored to interest the British public, but without avail. Possess Ing a fortune large enough to make him independent, he began, entirely free from the influence of the public, the execution of a long series of allegorical pictures. Of these he has painted nearly three hundred, if not all of which, are still in his most, possession or have been given to the nation. Among those hanging in the National Gal lery of British Art are The Court of Death, with the attendant pieces: Silence, and Mystery; The Messenger (who summons the aged to their rest); Death Crowning Death and Judgment; Innocence; Time, Love and Death; and finally its tender com panion, Love and Life. Then came Faith the militant faith of the church-awakening to the folly of the persecutions she has prac and Goodwill; For He Had ticed; Peace Great Possession; The Spirit of Christianity -said to be "a somewhat sarcastic commen tary on schismatic discord"; Jonah; The the god Minotaur, as sensualist; Mammon, of vulgar avarice and insolent cruelty; and Sic Transit, the end of all things. Hope; canvases are all true masterpieces; These for they not only have spiritual quality, but that sense of style, color, line and compo is always sition which, though indescribable, felt in a masterpiece., Love and Concerning Death, Muther writes, "And amongst living painters I should find it impossible to name a single one who could embody such a scene so calmly, so en as that of Love and Death tirely without rhetorical gesture and all the tricks of theatrical management." (See the full page reproduction on p. 642.) is also one of England's Watts strongest portrait painters, as seen notably in his por and in landscape trait of Walter Crane; For the portraiture see rivals Turner. further lesson 6. It is easy to tell how the work ofWatts differs from that of other painters, but it is his style. It has, not easy to characterize to the intensity of Rossetti in addition an of Burne-Jones, and the gracefulness

Couertesy of Berlin Plhoto. Co. BATH OF PSYCHE. LEIGHTON.

322
element arouses onlooker, associated of mysterious the very and with along

PAINTING
suggestiveness feelings lines not deepest

OF THE NINETEENTH
thatT in the HE The CLASSIC PAINTERS.(5)

immediately

the subject of the picture. We speak of him as coming to us direct and yet his works from the Renaissance, are as little reminiscent of that period as tend they are influenced by the momentary is himself, encies of the art of to-day. He as Michelangelo or Titian. as independent He has created new types and a new art of a simple grandeur of its own. As a manipulator of pigment he ought not to be judged by the canvases he has pro duced of late years. Possessed of a tech in which every touch is as clear and nique confident as in a Gainsborough or a Sargent, he has deliberately laid it aside in his recent work, holding that painting should be used for the satisfaction of cravings higher than in dexterity, the merely sensuous delight and that brilliancy in handling distracts at intellectual tention from the more elevated qualities of the work.

"grand art" of the historical came to an end with the painters but inter revival; Preraphaelite tra est in classic story and the "academic and a school of ditions" of art continued, of the members classic painters developed, which have always found an appreciative classic These public and liberal patrons. painters have been the "official" painters of and have from the first controlled England, this control Whether the Royal Academy. of English art as has been to the advantage question. a whole is a debatable was Leighton (I830-I896) Lord Frederick of of this group the most distinguished For years he was president of Classicists. and filled the office the Royal Academy, before with a dignity and grace never throtugh and "He was a Classicist equaled. the tlhrouigh-in the balance of composition, rhythmical flow of lines, and the confession of faith that the highest aimiiof art is the

Courtesy of theBerlin Photo. Co. A VISIT TO ESCULAPTTJS. BOYNTON.

CENTURY

IN ENGLLDA.D.

323

Courtesy of theBerlin Photo. Co. READING FROMf HOMER. ALMA-TADEMA.

representation of men and women of immac ulate build" (Muther). Leighton to be an artist at the decided age of nine. Among the cultivated Eng lishmen of the time the profession of artist was generally considered synonymous witlh that of "loafer, " yet the elder Leighton gave his son every opporttunity to study, and the schools of Florence, Frankfort and Paris in turn enrolled him as a student. In I852 he went to Rome and there finislhed the picture that made him known at home, Cimabue's Madonna in Procession Carried through the Streets of Florence. From this time on Leighton made London his home, though he traveled and pro extensively, duced a long series of works the character of which can be guessed from their titles: of Troy, Orpheus Helen and Eurydice, Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon, and Venus Disrobing for the Bath. These and many others have been in very popular England, and are, according to Muther, the most ''amongst refined although the most frigid creations of contemporary Eng lish art." The present president of the Royal Acad example emy, Sir Edward Poynter (1836-) is another of English Classicism in whom the

up-to-date French and American critic can see nothing fine, yet both Leighton and Poynter are true artists; "'academic," it is true, but academic in the right sense. "Both sought out an ideal beauty," to quote from an editorial appearing in the "Maga zine of Art" at the time of Poynter's elec tion, "each in his own way. Both aimed at the perfection of Greek art; the art of both was decorative rather than realistic. To both perfection of drawing was a goal-in chief; and although Leighton most WGr of all the inasters of true shipped Raphael and Mr. Renaissance, Poynter bent the knee to Michelangelo, both painters were heart and soul for classic beauty." Laurens Alma-Tadema (I836-),though a Classicist, stands a little apart from the painter just mentioned. He has made antique life a real thing. He has rebuilt the cities and refurnished the homes of two thousand years ago and peopled them with living figures. A inan of great archaeo logical learning, he knows his antique world as thoroughly as he does the English men and women who appear in his pictures. Born in I836 in Dronrijk, Friesland, he began the study of drawing at a very early' age. The discovery of some Merovingian

324

PAINTING

OF THE NINETEENTH
antiquities near his home seemis to have to his future studies; and in given direction and the studios of the leading historical the he laid archaeological painters of the day as the "great foundation of his reputation of our day apostle of pictorial archaeology throughout the length and breadth of the world of art." No one can paint marble or the myriad details of the house furnishings as can of wealthy and Romans Greeks He very does this rapidly Alma-Tadema. and almost by instinct; and this very dex terity blinds many to the other excellences of The chief characteristic of hiis work. Alma-Tadema's work is its conscientious a credit ness, which should be considered He may not be a rather than a reproach.

t~~~~~~~
: ;L

Jr

'~~~IK

e _~4

SAPPHIRES.

ALBERT

MIOORE.

or Burne poet in the sense that Rossetti Jones were poets, but he certainly unites an imag with his archaeological knowledge ination at once powerful and picturesque. and "His originality, his easy confidence of effect, the brilliancy of his knowledge always color, his scholarship which while learned is never pedantic, his skill in imita tion of textures, his daring which sometimes almost amounts to audacity, and his perfec tion of finish are a sufficient justication of on which he has been placed" the pinnacle (Spielmann). The best painter of this group of artists His pictures was Albert Moore (I 84 I - I892). take us back to classic times; but, unlike he never attemp the men just mentioned, ted to reconstruct, as an archaeologist, the He was influenced by his antique world. from which he love of Greek sculpture learned the beauty of line, and the charm of dignity, and by the Japanese from whom he learned the beauty of harmonies of color and the charm of simplicity. He was a in art, a forerunner, a man born prophet out of his time, destined never to receive the appreciation of his contemporaries. lived ten years longer (he Could- he have died in I892) he would have seen the prin the ciples he followed for forty years made motive of much of the strongest work exe cuted at the end of the century. He was called a painter of "pot boilers," of pretty girls who knew little and meant less, while, in fact, he was an artist whose aim was dis

CEN TUR Y IN ENGLAND. tinct and whose methods were scientific. He felt that the interest of each picture he painted was included within the four sides of the frame enclosing it. To him each canvas was complete in itself, depending -upon nothing external for its right to exist, affected by nothing beyond itself, and, in fact, frankly and simply decorative. He proved that without motive, or subject, without passion or dramatic action, a picture may be a work of art in itself. "He showed that beauty of form, color, design, and -draughtsmanship, exquisite balance of line arrangement, and consummate skill of han dling, are all possible in a canvas that tells no story, records no gossip, nor teaches any moral" (Baldry). This is the point of view of many painters of to-day who use figures, etc., merely as so many oppor landscapes, tunities to express beauty of line, color and mass. Some of the younger English paint ers are influenced by this phase of art, and -certain painters of Scotland-the "Glasgow ,School"-are among its chief exploiters.

325

r.J

PORTRAIT

OF Xi-NISELF.

LEIGMTON.

NGLISH
AND

PORTRAIT,
LANDSCAPE

ANIMAL
PAINTERS.

(6)

Portrait painting is a serious thing Their character admits -with the English. of only the most straightforward represen and the character rep -tation of themselves; takes resented always precedence of the way Almost all English paint he is represented. turned to portraiture, ers have occasionally the -as have Leighton the figure and Landseer animal painter; but only among the young -men of to-day do we find the portrait used for "art for art's sake." -as an opportunity *Sargent is the leader of the school to-day. in the opinion of the Millais and Watts, are the two greatest English themselves, of the century, and Mil *portrait painters is said by Ben lais's portrait of Gladstone jamin Constant (member of the Institut de France) "to hold its own as a work of art by the side of the greatest masters of the past. himself could not injure it by Rembrandt has life been set on Never juxtaposition. ,canvas with greater power, nor so large an

existence been presented with a touch, a of the brush." Opinions of the sweep pictures differ widely, excellence of Millais's but of his portraits even the most anti-Eng is lish art critic of the American press the obliged to admit that they represent "His likenesses are all of them as sitter. is as they are actual. Millais convincing perhaps the firstmaster of characterization amongst the moderns" (Muther). has In the portraits he has painted Watts been the historian of the past half century, having painted nearly all leading men of all professions, perhaps fifty in all. The chief quality of this series of portraits of great men is their sympathy with the sitters. He expresses the real man just as he actually is, as an individual, and not as a type. Muther " But few likenesses to writes: belonging this century have the same force of expres sureness of sion, the same straightforward and simplicity." aim, the same grandeur After Watts the painter most able to express Holl character Frank was (I845-i888). in their unconven of his portraits Some tional pose and thoughtful characterization in the por have scarcely been surpassed

326

PAIPIINNG

OF THE NINETEENTH
school that a por tradition of the English trait should be the representation of the soul As free as well as the body of the man. disciplc, as any handling his and vigorous in of course, ex (Sargent, of Carolus Durail his pictures into also puts cepted), Shannon that quality, human that that poetry, ideal its to next which aroma" "delightful and joy of ism is the chief characteristic Einglish art, and which, if not appreciated, makes of English art a sealed book. The animal painters of the eighteenth cen tury did little more than paint the portraits The and oxen. horses of prize-winning and Seymour, still hang works of Wooton ing inmany country houses, are of this class. a step in i8o6, went died who Stubbs, life and further, and was the first to give Gilpin, motion to his portraits of animals. but one year, was a who survived Stubbs famous painter of horses, and branched out the into such subjects as Darius Obtaining of His by the Neighing Persian Etnpire (I763-I804) was George Moreland Horse. animal painter of his the most celebrated time. He was the son of a portrait painter who early instructed his son in the rudi

--r

PORTRAIT OF HINISFLF.

WATTS.

After Holl, perhaps traiture of any people. Herkomer may be men (I849-) Hubert tioned. His portraits of Ruskin, Archibald Forbes and Miss Grant can well stand com parison with any executed upon English soil. life reads like a The story of Herkomer's romance. conditions which would Against any but the most indomi have discouraged table nature, hc has risen to an enviable position in English art. Like many painters who become famous, much of his later work is not equal to that executed when unknown and in poverty. and James Sant Walter Ouless (I848-) are typical English painters deserv (I 820-) ing of study. Of the former, to quote again from M uther, "Ouless will probably merit the place of honor immediately after Watts of character. as an impiressive exponent was represented at the Paris Orchardson last year by a portrait which was Exposition one of the strongest exhibited in the British and Among the younger men, section. there are many whose work deserves men occupies a conspicuous place tion, Shannon of on account of the thorough excellence his work. "I strive," he writes, "to be an after first and a portrait-painter artist and yet he keeps to the good old wards;"

P
PORTRAIT OF HIMISELF. 'MILLAIS.

CENTURY

IN ENGLAND.

327

ments of his art; but treated him with such strictness and lack of sympathy that the young man, when he became of age, entered upon a life of riotous living that sadly inter fered with his art. He generally selected stable yards, or the interiors of stables, for the setting of his animal pictures. He loved low company, painted with little thought or study, generally to secure free dom from some debt; but would doubtless have been, under different circumstances, one of England's greatest artists. As it was he produced some fine work, as The Gipsies, and did much to show Englishmen the ALEXANDER AND DIOGENES. LANDSEER. beauty of their own land and prove to them that it was not necessary to go to Italy for the picturesque. A brother-in-law of More has also painted pictures illustrating the land, named Ward, wvas a verv conscientious friendship of animals for men in a manner painter of cattle. recalling Landseer the without humanizing Sir Edwin Landseer (I802-I873), who animals. began drawing at the age of five, and for Some of the younger men show great three score years caused the British public promise in the field of animal painting. M. J. to alternately laugh and shed tears over his Swan is not suirpassed as a delineator of animal is the most pictures, celebrated wild animals for their own sake by any liv of this class of subjects. painter Buxton The ing painter. illustrations of the Boer writes: "Not only did Landseer rival solme war appearing in the London illustrated of the Dutch masters of the seventeenth press during the past year prove that the century in painting fur and feathers, but he horse is still loved in England, and that animals with sympathy, as if he worthy descendants depicted of the earlier men use believed that 'the dumb driven cattle' him to good advantage in pictorial art. A possess souls. His dogs and other animals woman, Miss Lucy Kemp-Welch, a member are so lhumiianas to look as if they were able of Herkomer's art colony at Bushey. pro. to speak." His works have been wonder duces notable pictures of horses. She often fully popular in England, and reproductions paints the wild ponies of the New Forest, of them have encircled the globe. and is quite as well able to represent the The greatest though not the most popular in the moving horse as "poetry of motion" painter of animals of the century is Briton any aniinal painter of the century. He paints them in all the Riviere (i840-). Mason George and Fred (I8I8-I872) majesty of their wildness, but as part of a Walker exerted an influence (I840-1875) composition lhaving human interest. Unlike upon English art quite distinct from that of he never represents his animals Landseer other painters. the genre of Following trivial anecdote with human passions; and the tiresome details of and, unlike almost of which the English had become every animal painter, he does not represelnt Realism, his subjects as endowed with a consciousness wearied, came a poetic genre that introduced His first impGr of their own characteristics. tant picture, Circe, exhibited in I87i, repre sented the comrades of Ulysses, changed to the enchantress crowdin g around swine, This was followed by Daniel Circe. in the where lions roam Lions' Den, Persepolis, at will over the ruins of temples and palaces, He and other works of similar character. somethiing of the feeling that is seen in the of Gainsborough landscapes and Moreland, and other early painters, and which is entirely lacking in later genre or in the of the Preraphaelites. landscapes "As the wished to give exquisite pre Preraphaelites cision to the world of dream, Walker and Mason have taken this precision from the

328

PAINTING

OF THE NINETEENTH

ORPHEUS.

SWAN.

exlhibitions, perhaps in the current English Their pictures breathe world of reality. of so often when be men will thought two no things" of essence and only of the bloom glances over movements of art student a small the in was home Mason's (Muther). of the influence the for looks and walls, a quiet the he spent there and village, country and Walker. as Mason who past the by painters lived to that similar life He are now classed as the Barbizon group. painted farm life with a strong sense of its ENG CONTEMPORARY OTTHER by the fully appreciated pictorial quality, He PAINTERS. LISH (7) English who have always loved poetry. quality, had also a feeling for decorative from Plowing, and the Har and Returning vest Moon belong quite to the modern deco of line rative school in their dispcsition treatment. in general and and mass, fully the even more illustrates Walker qualities that made Mason one of the lead painting. English ing idealists of modern pictures put one instantly in that Walker's quiet receptive mood when memory plays have the "might freely, but only upon beens" of life. While all that has been done with the brush influences what is now doing, of the while the influence of the Classicists, of Constable Brotherhood, Preraphaelite and Crome and the portraitists can be seen be familiar names will Many missed from the preceding pages, but it is thought that the men most prominent the art making in the various movements history of the century have been mentioned. Space must be found for a few additional names now seen in currenit exhibitions. has been made in the art Great advances in the last two in England of painting students were not the American decades. studios in the Parisian only foreigners English century. past quarter during the painting has received new life through the exertion of these young men who have trav they could eled widely and studied wherever

CENTURY

IN ENGLALD.

32Q

learn; but the independent and individual Indeed, suggested by the Barbizon School. quality of English art fortunately remains. the "English has been called Peppercorn Grafting their knowledge of the art of paint His works, in this respect resem Corot." Ing upon the old growth of poetry, itmay bling those of Edward Stott, are not por come about that the story-telling picture of but reminiscences traits of landscapes, may be so well told that English painting landscapes that are made many complete may surpass that of other nations whose and satisfactory by the artist's feeling for painting occupies a narrower field. Walker He is not a painter of subjects, but nature. and Mason represent the essence of English a painter of nature's poetic moods, and in full sympathy with the Romantic movement painting, and, as has already been said, their influence is widely felt in contemporary in French landscape. Alfred East (I849-) work. The influence of Reynolds, Gains is one of the most popular of men now prom borough, Wilkie, Constable, He paints, with inent in the exhibitions. Turner, Leigh ton and Burne-Jones, and all the strong a graceful touch, the joys of springtime, men of the past, is also seen; but, while it with blossoming trees and springy leaves, may be true of "official art," it is certainily in wonderfully and "Opulent Autumn'5 not true that all English repeats simply painting itself by giving variations of the airs first sung by the masters. painting The landscape of the closing years of the century worthily sustains the best traditions of the landscape school. English and Mason united Walker so fully with landscape their figure pictures, and treated it with so much that all English poetry, since landscape painting their day has been greatly influenced; and yet Eng of to-day lish landscape
seems to f o ll o w only SUNNY DAY. PEPPERCORN.

trend impregnated" slightly the "thought expres Even the of other branches of art. sion of the strength and power of landscape is left to the Scotch, the English painters contenting themselves with the delicate and landscape of contented lovelvy the homelike A. D. Peppercorn sees the beauty England. the masses unite with when of the afterglow and grow more darkness gathering the becomes the until landscape indistinct nothing but the silhouette of foliage against con a fading sky, though he by no means Pepper to these subjects. fines himself corn.s work appeared during the eighties, at art was at a low landscape a time when ebb in England, and gave it a new direction

Thomson, Allan, rich and glowing color. are other names and Waterlow Aumonier Ernest A. connected with this movement. an land Waterlow indefatigable (I850-), scape painter of the past twenty-five years, is now reaping the reward of long endeavor, For awhile under the influence of Mason and Walker, with whose sentiment he still shows himself in harmony, he later felt nature with The practice of paint Constable and Corot. in the studio from sketches ing landscapes and studies made from nature is now almost a thing of the past; but this is the method certainly of Waterlow., and his pictures of composition hardly possess a beauty landscape painting. equaled in contemporary

330

PAINTING

OF THE NINE TEENTH


so strong that their work shocks both the Brangwyn's and the public. profession splendor of intense blue skies and Oriental lack of color, applied with freedom and frequently drawing which gradation-in a new thing to English eyes, suffers-was but his work has brought freshness of color A. studios. gloomy London into many

one of the most Forbes (1837-), Stanhope of modern English versatile artists, also the eyes of the looks upon nature with are classed as the Naturalis this movement the poetic French, and often subordinates tic School, the fundamental idea being truth and thoughts to the broad, semi-naturalistic fulness to nature, not in the sense of detail, chief the is glory treatment which suggestive but of truth of tone and color, in the characteristic of modern French and Amer of sunlight and the envelope of atmosphere. The older form ican landscape and genre. the school. of school, It is the plein-air in and is is still England popular these of genre of Newlyn and St. Ives, where many as exhibitions the as seen in often have quite ideas These painters have worked. to. referred work just the more "up-to-date" for artists the rising English dominated a Stone still "represents Marcus (I840-) applica an past few years; and are, in fact, an corner old a in of seated pretty girl, landscape of tion to genre of the principles is seen for a lover who garden, waiting The painter goes followed formany years. Foot The Welcome title, the approaching." to tries bring than to his subject rather cue to explains the story and the steps, gives himself. subject to Frank the expectant attitude of the maiden. Simple subjects are selected, the plowman has so long illustrated who Dicksee (I853-), fisher old The own field. in his is painted recently exhibited a Courtship Shakespeare, man is posed not in the corner of a studio, hair in which a maiden with copper-colored is The reaper but in his own cottage. and holding a pink fan, accepts a gift from caught in the act. What will be the ulti a kneeling lover. But all genre has not the painting" influence of "Naturalistic mate too early to sentimentality of these: Yeend King (I855-) art it is perhaps upon English in his Milking Time into puts the milkmaid venture to decide. a landscape beautiful in color and filled with also, in his (I857-), air; and Frank Bramley in something and direct gives free ENG painting, CONTEMPORARY OTTHER Haynes field to his story. In another addition LISH PAINTERS-Concluded.(8) ) and H. S. Marks (I829 Williams (I834-) Among others, La Thangue, Edward Brangwyn, Clausen, movement. this Stott, and Forbes represent has been identified with H. H. La Thangue Its funda from the first. the movement to "has in nature, idea, truthfulness mental class a to large attraction it an overwhelming of painters, men of the observant rather than The natural the imaginative type of mind. and are men painters emphatically, istic George sense." minor a in quite designers Stott are the "paint and Edward Clausen Frank Brang peasant, ers of the English wyn, ofWelsh descent, is one of those artists who occasionally appear with an individuality though the latter closely resemble Hogarth, sees the ridiculous side of lifemore often than (I854-) the former. Walter Denby Sadler being the equal of Orchard barely escapes Instead of the formal occasion so often son. selected as subjects by his Scotch contem choses homely incidents of porary, Sadler life of a century ago. Among the dailv tour rising young artists, " to quote a phrase press, Her frequently seen in the English He is one of the strongest. bert Draper the classic traditions in English represents is his artistic ances painting, and Leighton is tor. that- "Draper It has been said frankly taking up the part which was played

In genrel the field always well filled by end can the century's English painters, show no work of the character of Wilkie's, or St. Passage, Northwest or of Millais's The genre of the last Day. Bartholomew's decade of the century is influenced by Bas and others of tien-Lepage, Dagnan-Bouveret, a new and presents School, the French For want in English painting. movement of a better name, perhaps, the followers of

CENTURY
wvith such consummate skill by Lord Leighton, and is fitting himself to carry on the work President devoted to which the late his life." The

IN ENGLALD.

331

nude has seldom appeared in Eng lish painting. In portrait and land scape it of course found no place, and in genre its use would have been abh orrent. In classic paint ing the nude was used, but always more or less reminiscent of Greek But recently the huiman sculpture. figure as the highest form of physi and cal beauty has been appreciated in English has made its appearance To Draper, exhibitions. though one of the youngest English painters, belong,s part of the credit for this field. the painters' of widening Solomon J. Solomon is (i86o-) to return artist another young s tu d y a s a from Continental able to occupy figure draughtsman credit. this new and difficult field with Stokes, Slhaw In the work ofWaterhouse, Stott, to menition but a few and Williain painting in contemporary represent who the ideal current running through Eniglish art, the idealism of Rossetti and of Burne John W. Water Jones is worthily upheld. be called the perhaps may house (I849-) of the contemporary English most English In his first choice of pictorial painters. motives he was greatly influenced by Alma and though classic genre is a inuch Tadema; worked tlheme in English painting, he intro duces into it something of the modern spirit, and less of the old coniventions of the fol After many experiments lowers of Rossetti. in a certain picturesque a field he has found appear onily in Eng could which mysticism is about his work a there addition In land. one feel that his makes that of sense reality and could be nature in occurred really idyls by any one fortunate enough experienced heart to to Nature's to get near enough work of the In her secrets. have her reveal a sug even far beyond Shaw idealism goes into us takes and gestion of probability, Water of a pupil Shaw, another world. is classed among the followers of the but he differs BrotherhoodPreraphaelite house, ,~~~~~~~~~~~~~-Sp

THE MOCKER.

BRANGWYN.

the younger most-of from many-perhaps contemporary followers of Rossetti, in choos instead of the morbid and ing the beautiful Mystery there is in his work, but dreadful. the mystery of cool wood interior and fog shrouded seas rather than themystery of the human soul. This air of mystery is seen in Stokes who, (I854-), the work of Adrian though he constantly varies his art, is noted for pictures of mystery and stuggestion, and Stott, one of the also in the work ofWilliam best painters of the nude in England. Moore Henry painters Among marine has been formalny years the undis (I831-) of this province of art, and puted monarch this in a land where the sea plays an impor "Nowhere tant part in art. Mluther writes: else does there live any painter who regards the seas so much with the eyes of a sailor, such eminent qualities and who combines with this objective and cool, attentive obser have been Moore's seascapes vation." likened to views of the sea obtained from an open window, they are so true and so full (I857-) of the spirit of the sea. W. Wyllie No is the painter of the Thames at London. one knows better than he the construction under differ of vessels and their appearance His pictures not only ent circumstances.

332
display meaning teeming

PAINTING

OF THE NINETEENTH
Scotland has had a distinct and national art, of but, on account of the inaccessibleness the country, little was known of it till the century, opening years of the nineteenth of Scotch when the never-ceasing migration These men intro artists to London began. duced fresh influences into English art, and in the English many of the strongest men school then as now could claim Scotland as home. Many equally strong men remained in at home and assisted in the development, in measure in less and genre, landscape, portraiture, of the distinctive characteristics of Scotch art; and since the middle of the nineteenth century there has been a strong group of painters who could worthily uphold Scotch painting character. this national never had the delicate refinement and grace ful poetry of English painting, but is vigorous and and intense in its deep color-harmonies, its poetry is derived, directly from nature rather than from the verses of the poets. The attention which the work of the younger men of to-day has attracted, work which has given richer color, a more just regard technique and for tone, a more expressive qualities a new sense of the decorative everywhere in painting, is proof that paint ing is a living art in Scotland, and that th&% have forerunners of these painters must If with the best of been men of power. the work to-day we put the mid-century as well executed in England painting-that add the work of as that in Scotland,-and the older men, we could form an exhibition compare very art that would of Scottish favorably with the century's work of any

this knowledge, but give as well the of this great river-purt with all its life and seemingly endless traffic.

another painter Charles N. Henry (I84I-), of the ocean, does his work from the deck of oI works In a catalogue his own yacht. in I898 is in the Royal Academy exhibited the followiiig description of Henry's Wreck is a great record of storm age: "Wreckage on the Cornish coast, a vehement expression The sub in her grimmest mood. of Nature ject chosen is a group of fishermen salving the remains of a ship that has been cast upon They are busy hauling the rocky shore. out of reach of the angry sea great timbers and fragments of the wreck, struggling with to save what they can. the winds and waves The picture is full of action and vigorous The amount of labor required to produce study of the sea a work of this description: in storm, study of the figures as a group and individually, and the study of the wreckage, represent an amount of labor almost incredi ble to the spectator who sees the finished in its franme upon the wall of a gal canvas lery. Yet it is juist this kind of picture that painting. is bringing new life into English The old idea that even the realism of Mil lais' time did not dispel, that the art of painting is for the dilettante alone, that pic tures are the products of the studio'(prefer and ably a studio littered with accessories) individual (prefer executed by. an asthetic The ably with long hair) has passed away. is a healthy art, art of painting in England still holding to its old individuality, and in no sense decadent.

movement"

people.

The century opens, as in England, with a portrait painter, and but one, supreme in the is men IN SCOTLAND: world of art. But before his work HE CENTURY tioned several earlier artists should be noted. EARLY PAINTERS. (g) Allan Ramsey (I 7 I 3- I784), a portrait painter whose work had the "bloom of Reynolds." Painting may be said to have had its formal beginning in Scotland in The brothers Runciman who painted in very was strong and rich tones highly imaginative the Guild of St. Luke 1729 when and Shakespeare, of Homer and when the first illustrations founded in Edinburgh, were a strong band of Scotchmen who died large and important exhibition of pictures the opening of the century. just before was held, a few years later- (176I), in Glas. Allan should also be There were painters before this time, William (x802-i850) gow. He was a historical painter of great noted. but their work was of little consequence. European reputation, was elected president Since the middle of the eighteenth century

CENTURY

IN SCO TLAND.

333

body.

in I838, and con of the Scottish Academy in that tinued the traditions of classicism

in Scotland The most prominent painter at the opening of the century was Henry a time when Raeburn At (I756-I823). in England was painting super Lawrence in Scotland was ficial prettiness, Raeburn a series of portraits that can be executing for strength and compared with Velasquez

impressiveness. "In

Henry

Raeburn,"

the "Edinburgh possessed writes Muther, boldest and most virile of all British por composed his trait painters; while Reynolds in refined tones reminiscent of the pictures old masters, Raeburn painted his models He under a trenchant light from above.4' was a great colorist, placing together the most brilliantly colored Scotch costumes in areas and intensities so carefully disposed and graded that all harmonized. Not until the end of the century, in the work of Guth rie, -tomention but one of several contem did painters appear to porary Scotchmen, on carry portraiture upon the lines laid down by Raeburn. David Wilkie was without a peer, in genre, but he, in common with many other paint farther from to London-then ers, went is now-so than New York early Edinburgh in the century that his influence was exerted rather than upon his con upon the English at home. See further next temporaries

works," among Scotch landscapes, "are the from showed emancipation earliest which the earliest the tone of the old masters, which displayed vigorous observation of the nature of the atmosphere" (Muther). Hora Macculloch discovered the tio (I805-I867) pictorial quality of his native land, and called attention to the beauities of Scotch mountain In his work he exaggerated landscape. col ors and contrasts of light and shade, but as this influenced later painters to brilliancy of color and richness of tone, characteristics of later Scotch painting, Macculloch may be considered an important member of that band of early painters who remained at home and kept the vigorous Scotch art inde pendent of English influence.

COTCH
(I 0)

PAINTERS

IN LONDON.

lesson.

in Scotland began Landscape painting with Alexander Nasmyth (I 758-i8I4), whose that of work, in. some respects, resembles I Patrick A Crome in England. son, is more celebrated, and executed Nasmyth, work far superior to that of his father. In fact, his paintings compare very favorably with those of the old Dutch masters of landscape. followed the principles and practice of He and Wynants; Hobbema and, after taking up his abode in London. became famous for It is his pictures of simple country lanes. that he did not remain in to be regretted Scotland and continue painting the lochs of his native land, for his earlier works: Views of Loch Katrine, and Loch Auchray wonderful promise. Crawford was the Scotch Constable. gave "His

We claim as American painters any of the profession who chanced to be born upon these shores, even if they have resided so long abroad, and become so filled with the spirit of the people among whom they live, that their work cannot be distinguished from that of the artists of -their adopted country. To be consistent we must claim as Scotch- painters the men of the North who went to London and there won name and fame, but they should be considered separately from the painters who remained at home and assisted in the devel opment of the Scotch art- of to-day. The most prominent-Scotch artist in London in the first quarter of the century was Sir him "the chief genre painter of the world" at this time. After studying in the Edin burgh Academy a few years he went to Lon don (in I805) and entered the Royal Academy School, where he became the friend of Hay don, at that time also a student. Wilkie's first picture, the Pitlessie Fair, from the sale of which he secured the- funds necessary to London, for journeying is characteristic of all of his best work. He selected for sub jects the English, and more often the Scotch at the country fair, or at- home peasants . enga,ed in all the :innocent

SC

David Wilkie (1775-I84I). Muther conisiders

gatherings

334

PAINTING

OF

THE

NINETEENTH (I809 Dyce William 1864), a native of Aber one of deen, became the best of the English
s c h o o l of historical

painters.

Bacchus

Nursed by the Nymphs, of and the Descent Venus are titles giving a good idea of his range of subject. John Pettie left his Edin (I839-) in I862, home burgh in London and worked until his death in 1893. sub his He selected jects from the many in incidents romantic cavaliers of the the lives of the English seveinteenth century, and gained great popu larity. He was a thoroughly good colorist, painting now with strong tones and again in delicate silver-greys and buffs (Orchard In his picture of the son's early color). in which one man dressed in yel Clhallenge, to another in sil low silk gives the message ver-grey, the color harmony, to quote from the most delicate work Muther, "is perhaps since Gainsborough's in England produced William But superior to Pettie is Blue Boy. one of Orchardson the fore (I835-), Quilter and one the English School, painters of most of the few living Englishmen whose work is at home and abroad. equally appreciated He left Scotland to try his fortunes in Lon don with Pettie, but was not so immediately successful. For several years he painted in a quiet, reticent manner, and it was not till

BLIND

MAN' S BUFF.

WILKIR.

"horseplay" of the period, all good natured and full of animal life and spirits. Wilkie himself was one of the best natured, thor men that ever wielded oughly whole-souled a brush; and this character influenced his work, which was immensely popular in Eng land and Scotland, and was more widely cir culated by means of engravings than that of any artist of the first half of the century. He made his first great success withi The in i8o6, and for Village Politicians, painted the next twenty years produced genre pic tures of which Leslie and Eaton write: "Wilkie's extraordinary ability in the com position of groups of figures and accessories, is seen at its best in these earlier works: lno painter has, perhaps, ever exceeded him in the deftness with which he could express the twinkle of an eye or the quiver of a lip." Ignorant of the art outside of his circle, he was an artist of individuality, and will be judged by his pictures of the home life which surrounded him in his youth. After a jour ney to Spain in 1825 be clhanged his method In this his and became a historical painter. of composition and skill as a knowledge to paint him technician enabled strong but it is as the painter of Blind works; Buff, and The Penny Wedding Man's that will not only be judged but remem Wilkie bered. with his brother John Faed (I820-), in Wilkie's followed Thomas, footsteps, and brought his style down to the present.

THE ACCOUNT NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA DICTATING HIS CAMPAIGN. ORCHARDSON.

Ol

CEANTURY ZiV SCO TLAND.


as late as I88i that he became prominent. is the painter of the aristocratic Orchardson life of a century ago, though he often intro duces the modern man and woman of society ilto his pictures. The Queen of Swords, and The Salon de Madame Recamier are of much of his work. titles suggestive No artist of the English School can group fig ures with better sense of a well ordered crowd, or place them in architectural set His tings as can Orchardson. success in A luminous portraiture is noted elsewhere. combination of light grey and delicate yellow favorite color scale. was Orchardson's A sort of buff, a tawny yellow, rather trying accus till one becomes tomed to it, dominates of the color schemes his recent work. Graham Peter has, to use his (I836-) own words when writ ing to a painter who had applied to him for advice, "a strong love for of and admiration in heaven or whatever or is beautiful, earth in form, color, grand He may and effect." be said to be the direct of artistic descendant and is a Macculloch, popular painter in that his work appeals alike to the shepherd whose and cliffs Gra moors ham loves to paint and to the most exactiing critic who haunts the galleries of the Royal in Edin was born Graham Academy. the under studied in I836, and burgh pe (Seep. 666.) Atanearly famousLauder. riod in his career he went to London, but did

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cess in his chosen branch of art to the study given the figure in his early exacting in his life and to the antique professional student days. he took reached London When Graham the town, literally, by storm, and the pic ture with which he made his debut at the Royal Academy, A Spate in the Highlands, away much of of sweeping was the means against land in the Academy the prejudice Constable Crome, scape painters which even to break failed Jown. The and Turner had titles of the following pictures among others exhibited during the past ten years will give an idea of the subjects he selects: Sea Worn

MIORINING MIISTS.

GRAHAM.

Rocks,

The

Head

of

the Loch,

The

Sea

Will Ebb and Flow, Lashed by theWild and scrupulously "While Ocean. Wasteful as to effects and details, material accurate cannot be classed among the Mr. Graham art. He belongs of landscape realists believe that every great rather to those who not, as so many Scotch artists have done, of but is a record not of sight landscape He lose his identity as a Scotcn painter. not do fol His pictures insight" (Gilbert). its its wild moors, Scotland, has painted or of Millais low the painstaking method desolate crags, its sea birds and picturesque or or the broad other suigges Realists, cattle, and its wild ocean shores, and very Hunt tive treatment of Constable and Turner, and little else; and now spends halE of each year but occupy that much modern landscape, at the old university town of St. Andrews He began life as a fig and half in London. ure painter, and attributes much of his suc middle ground and which enjoy. the great public can appreciate

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