,,promenades ,,of ,,an ,,impressionist ,by ,,james ,,huneker #aiaj ,,books ,,by ,,james ,,huneker ,published by ,,charles ,,scribner',s ,,sons ,promenades of an ,impressionist4 #abmo1 7,postage #ae cents71 net1 #a4ej4 ,egoists3 ,a ,book of ,supermen4 #abmo1 net1 #a4ej4 ,iconoclasts3 ,a ,book of ,dramatists4 #abmo1 net1 #a4ej4 ,overtones3 ,a ,book of ,temperaments4 #abmo1 net1 #a4ej4 ,mezzotints in ,modern ,music4 #abmo1 #a4ej4 ,chopin3 ,the ,man and ,his ,music4 ,with ,portrait4 l#bmo1 #b4jj4 ,visionaries4 #abmo1 #a4ej4 ,melomaniacs4 #abmo1 #a4ej ,,to3 ,,frederick ,,james ,,gregg -,let us promenade our prejudices4--,stendhal787 ,,contents ,i4 ,,paul ,c,,zanne ,,ii4 ,,rops ,,the ,,etcher ,,iii4 ,,monticelli ,,iv4 ,,rodin ,v4 ,,eug,,ne ,,carri,,re ,,vi4 ,,degas ,,vii4 ,,botticelli ,,viii4 ,,six ,,spaniards3 ,,el ,,greco ,,velasquez ,,goya ,,fortuny ,,sorolla ,,zuloaga ,,ix4 ,,chardin ,x4 ,,black ,,and ,,white3 ,,piranesi ,,meryon ,,john ,,martin ,,zorn ,,brangwyn ,,daumier ,,lalanne ,,legrand ,,guys ,,xi4 ,,impressionism3 ,,monet ,,renoir ,,manet ,,xii4 ,a ,,new ,,study ,,of ,,watteau ,,xiii4 ,,gauguin ,,and ,,toulouse-,,lautrec ,,xiv4 ,,literature ,,and ,,art ,,xv4 ,,museum ,,promenades3 ,,pictures ,,at ,,the ,,hague ,,the ,,mesdag ,,museum ,,hals ,,of ,,haarlem ,,pictures ,,in ,,amsterdam ,,art ,,in ,,antwerp ,,museums ,,of ,,brussels ,,bruges ,,the ,,beautiful ,,the ,,moreau ,,museum ,,pictures ,,in ,,madrid ,,el ,,greco ,,at ,,toledo ,,velasquez ,,in ,,the ,,prado ,,coda ,,promenades ,,of ,,an ,,impressionist ,i4 ,,paul ,c,,zanne ,after prolonged study of the art shown at the ,paris ,autumn ,salon you ask yourself3 ,this whirlpool of jostling ambitions1 crazy colours1 still crazier drawing and composition--whither does it tend8 ,is there any strain of tendency1 any central current to be detected8 ,is it young genius in the raw1 awaiting the sunshine of success to ripen its somewhat terrifying gifts8 ,or is the exhibition a huge1 mystifying blague8 ,what1 you ask1 as you apply wet compresses to your weary eyeballs1 blistered by dangerous proximity to so many blazing canvases1 does the ,autumn ,salon mean to ,french art8 ,there are many canvases the subjects of which are more pathologic than artistic1 subjects only fit for the confessional or the privacy of the clinic4 ,but1 apart from these disagreeable episodes1 the main note of the ,salon is a riotous energy1 the noisy ebullition of a gang of students let loose in the halls of art4 ,they seem to rush by you1 yelling from sheer delight in their lung power1 and if you are rudely jostled to the wall1 your toes trod upon and your hat clapped down on your ears1 you console yourself with the timid phrase3 ,youth must have its fling4 ,,promenades ,and what a fling6 ,largely a flinging of paint pots in the sacred features of tradition4 ,it needs little effort of the imagination to see hovering about the galleries the faces of--no1 not ,grme1 ,bonnat1 ,jules ,lefvre1 ,cabanel1 or any of the reverend seigneurs of the old ,salon--but the reproachful countenances of ,courbet1 ,manet1 ,degas1 and ,monet2 for this motley-wearing crew of youngsters are as violently radical1 as violently secessionistic1 as were their immediate forebears4 ,each chap has started a little revolution of his own1 and takes no heed of the very men from whom he steals his thunder1 now sadly hollow in the transposition4 ,the pretty classic notion of the torch of artistic tradition gently burning as it is passed on from generation to generation receives a shock when confronted by the methods of the hopeful young anarchs of the ,grand ,palais4 ,defiance of all critical canons at any cost is their shibboleth4 ,compared to their fulgurant colour schemes the work of ,manet1 ,monet1 and ,degas pales and retreats into the ,pantheon of the past4 ,they are become classic4 ,another king has usurped their throne--his name is ,paul ,czanne4 ,no need now to recapitulate the story of the ,new ,salon and the defection from it of these ,independents4 ,it is a fashion to revolt in ,paris1 and no doubt some day there will arise a new group that will start the ,august ,salon or the ,january ,salon4 ,independent of the ,independents is a magnificent motto with which to assault any intrenched organisation4 ,,paul ,c,,zanne ,if riotous energy is1 as ,i have said1 the chief note of many of these hot1 hasty1 and often clever pictures1 it must be sadly stated that of genuine originality there are few traces4 ,to the very masters they pretend to revile they owe everything4 ,in vain one looks for a tradition older than ,courbet2 a few have attempted to stammer in the suave speech of ,corot and the men of ,fontainebleau2 but #ahfc1 the year of the ,salon des ,refuss1 is really the year of their artistic ancestor's birth4 ,the classicism of ,lebrun1 ,david1 ,ingres1 ,prudhon2 the romanticism of ,gricault1 ,delacroix1 ,decamps2 the tender poetry of those true ,waldmenschen1 ,millet1 ,dupr1 ,diaz1 ,daubigny1 or of that wild heir of ,giorgione and ,tiepolo1 the marvellous colour virtuoso who painted music1 ,monticelli--all these men might never have been born except for their possible impact upon the so-called ,batignolles school4 ,alas6 such ingratitude must rankle4 ,to see the major portion of this band of young painters1 with talent in plenty1 occupying itself in a frantic burlesque of second-hand ,czannes1 with here and there a shallow ,monet1 a faded ,renoir1 an affected ,degas1 or an impertinent ,gauguin1 must be mortifying to the older men4 ,and now we reach the holy precincts4 ,if ardent youths sneered at the lyric ecstasy of ,renoir1 at the severe restraint of ,chavannes1 at the poetic mystery of ,carrire1 their lips were hushed as they tiptoed into the ,salle ,czanne4 ,sacred ground1 indeed1 we trod as we gazed and wondered before these crude1 violent1 sincere1 ugly1 and bizarre canvases4 ,here was the very hub of the ,independents' universe4 ,here the results of a hard-labouring painter1 without taste1 without the faculty of selection1 without vision1 culture--one is tempted to add1 intellect--who with dogged persistency has painted in the face of mockery1 painted portraits1 landscapes1 flowers1 houses1 figures1 painted everything1 painted himself4 ,and what paint6 ,stubborn1 with an instinctive hatred of academic poses1 of the atmosphere of the studio1 of the hired model1 of literary1 or of mere digital cleverness1 ,czanne has dropped out of his scheme harmony1 melody1 beauty--classic1 romantic1 symbolic1 what you will6--and doggedly represented the ugliness of things4 ,but there is a brutal strength1 a tang of the soil that is bitter1 and also strangely invigorating1 after the false1 perfumed boudoir art of so many of his contemporaries4 ,think of ,bouguereau and you have his antithesis in ,czanne--,czanne whose stark figures of bathers1 male and female1 evoke a shuddering sense of the bestial4 ,not that there is offence intended in his badly huddled nudes2 he only delineates in simple1 naked fashion the horrors of some undressed humans4 ,his landscapes are primitive though suffused by perceptible atmosphere2 while the rough architecture1 shambling figures1 harsh colouring do not quite destroy the impression of general vitality4 ,you could not say with ,walt ,whitman that his stunted trees were uttering joyous leaves of dark green4 ,they utter1 if anything1 raucous oaths1 as seemingly do the self-portraits--exceedingly well modelled1 however4 ,czanne's still-life attracts by its whole-souled absorption2 these fruits and vegetables really savour of the earth4 ,chardin interprets still-life with realistic beauty2 if he had ever painted an onion it would have revealed a certain grace4 ,when ,paul ,czanne paints an onion you smell it4 ,nevertheless1 he has captured the affections of the rebels and is their god4 ,and next season it may be some one else4 ,it may interest readers of ,zola's ,l',oeuvre to learn about one of the characters1 who perforce sat for his portrait in that clever novel 7a direct imitation of ,goncourt's ,manette ,salomon74 ,paul ,czanne bitterly resented the liberty taken by his old school friend ,zola4 ,they both hailed from ,aix1 in ,provence4 ,zola went up to ,paris2 ,czanne remained in his birthplace but finally persuaded his father to let him study art at the capital4 ,his father was both rich and wise1 for he settled a small allowance on ,paul1 who1 poor chap1 as he said1 would never earn a franc from his paintings4 ,this prediction was nearly verified4 ,czanne was almost laughed off the artistic map of ,paris4 ,manet they could stand1 even ,claude ,monet2 but ,czanne--communard and anarchist he must be 7so said the wise ones in official circles71 for he was such a villainous painter6 ,czanne died1 but not before his apotheosis by the new crowd of the ,autumn ,salon4 ,we are told by admirers of ,zola how much he did for his neglected and struggling fellow-townsman2 how the novelist opened his arms to ,czanne4 ,czanne says quite the contrary4 ,in the first place he had more money than ,zola when they started1 and ,zola1 after he had become a celebrity1 was a great man and very haughty4 ,a mediocre intelligence and a detestable friend is the way the prototype of ,claude ,lantier puts the case4 ,a bad book and a completely false one1 he added1 when speaking to the painter ,emile ,bernard on the disagreeable theme4 ,naturally ,zola did not pose his old friend for the entire figure of the crazy impressionist1 his hero1 ,claude4 ,it was a study composed of ,czanne1 ,bazille1 and one other1 a poor1 wretched lad who had been employed to clean ,manet's studio1 entertained artistic ambitions1 but hanged himself4 ,the conversations ,czanne had with ,zola1 his extreme theories of light1 are all in the novel--by the way1 one of ,zola's most finished efforts4 ,czanne1 an honest1 hard-working man1 bourgeois in habits if not by temperament1 was grievously wounded by the treachery of ,zola2 and he did not fail to denounce this treachery to ,bernard4 ,paul ,czanne was born ,january #ai1 #ahci4 ,his father was a rich bourgeois1 and while he was disappointed when his son refused to prosecute further his law studies1 he1 being a sensible parent and justly estimating ,paul's steadiness of character1 allowed him to go to ,paris in #ahfb1 giving him an income of a hundred and fifty francs a month1 which was shortly after doubled4 ,with sixty dollars a month an art student of twenty-three could1 in those days1 live comfortably1 study at leisure1 and see the world4 ,czanne from the start was in earnest4 ,instinctively he realised that for him was not the rapid ascent of the rocky path that leads to ,parnassus4 ,he mistrusted his own talent1 though not his powers of application4 ,at first he frequented the ,acadmie ,suisse1 where he encountered as fellow-workers ,pissarro and ,guillaumin4 ,he soon transferred his easel to the ,beaux-,arts and became an admirer of ,delacroix and ,courbet4 ,it seems strange in the presence of a ,czanne picture to realise that he1 too1 suffered his little term of lyric madness and wrestled with huge mythologic themes--giant men carrying off monstrous women4 ,connoisseurs at the sale of ,zola's art treasures were astonished by the sight of a canvas signed ,czanne1 the subject of which was ,l',enlvement1 a romantic subject1 not lacking in the spirit of ,delacroix4 ,the ,courbet influence persisted1 despite the development of the younger painter in other schools4 ,czanne can claim ,courbet and the ,dutchmen as artistic ancestors4 ,when ,czanne arrived in ,paris the first comrade to greet him was ,zola4 ,the pair became inseparable2 they fought for naturalism1 and it was to ,czanne that ,zola dedicated his ,salons which are now to be found in a volume of essays on art and literature bearing the soothing title of ,mes ,haines4 ,zola1 pitching overboard many friends1 wrote his famous eulogy of ,manet in the ,evenement1 and the row he raised was so fierce that he was forced to resign as art critic from that journal4 ,the fight then began in earnest4 ,the story is a thrice-told one4 ,it may be read in ,thodore ,duret's study of ,manet and1 as regards ,czanne1 in the same critic's volume on ,impressionism4 ,czanne exhibited in #ahgd with ,manet and the rest at the impressionists' salon1 held at the studio of ,nadar the photographer4 ,he had earlier submitted at once to ,manet's magic method of painting1 but in #ahgc1 at ,auvers-sur-,oise1 he began painting in the plein air style and with certain modifications adhered to that manner until the time of his death4 ,the amazing part of it all is that he produced for more than thirty years and seldom sold a canvas1 seldom exhibited4 ,his solitary appearance at an official salon was in #ahhb1 and he would not have succeeded then if it had not been for his friend ,guillaumin1 a member of the selecting jury1 who claimed his rights and passed in1 amid execrations1 both mock and real1 a portrait by ,czanne4 ,called a communard in #ahgd1 ,czanne was saluted with the title of anarchist in #aijd1 when his vogue had begun2 these titles being a species of official nomenclature for all rebels4 ,thiers1 once ,president of the ,french ,republic1 made a bon mot when he exclaimed3 ,a ,romantic--that is to say1 ,communist6 ,during his entire career this mild1 reserved gentleman from ,aix came under the ban of the critics and the authorities1 for he had shouldered his musket in #ahga1 as did ,manet1 as did ,bazille1--who1 like ,henri ,regnault1 was killed in a skirmish4 ,his most virulent enemies were forced to admit that ,edouard ,manet had a certain facility with the brush2 his quality and beauty of sheer paint could not be winked away even by ,albert ,wolff4 ,but to ,czanne there was no quarter shown4 ,he was called the ,ape of ,manet2 he was hissed1 cursed1 abused2 his canvases were spat upon1 and as late as #aijb1 when ,m4 ,roujon1 the ,director of the ,beaux-,arts1 was asked by ,octave ,mirbeau to decorate ,czanne1 he nearly fainted from astonishment4 ,czanne6 ,that barbarian6 ,the amiable director suggested instead the name of ,claude ,monet4 ,time had enjoyed its little whirligig with that great painter of vibrating light and water1 but ,monet blandly refused the long-protracted honour4 ,another anecdote is related by ,m4 ,duret4 ,william ,,ii of ,germany in #ahii wished to examine with his own eyes1 trained by the black1 muddy painting of ,germany1 the canvases of ,monet1 ,pissarro1 ,sisley1 ,czanne1 and ,manet1 acquired by ,director ,tschudi for the ,berlin ,national ,gallery4 ,he saw them all except the ,czanne4 ,herr ,tschudi feared that the ,parisian fat would be in the imperial fire if the ,czanne picture appeared4 ,so he hid it4 ,as it was his ,majesty nodded in emphatic disapproval of the imported purchases4 ,if he had viewed the ,czanne6 ,at first blush1 for those whose schooling has been academic1 the ,czanne productions are shocking4 ,yet his is a personal vision1 though a heavy one4 ,he has not a facile brush2 he is not a great painter2 he lacks imagination1 invention1 fantasy2 but his palette is his own4 ,he is a master of gray tones1 and his scale is1 as ,duret justly observes1 a very intense one4 ,he avoids the anecdote1 historic or domestic4 ,he detests design1 prearranged composition4 ,his studio is an open field1 light the chief actor of his palette4 ,he is never conventionally decorative unless you can call his own particular scheme decorative4 ,he paints what he sees without flattery1 without flinching from any ugliness4 ,compared with him ,courbet is as sensuous as ,correggio4 ,he does not seek for the correspondences of light with surrounding objects or the atmosphere in which ,eugne ,carrire bathes his portraits1 ,rodin his marbles4 ,the ,czanne picture does not modulate1 does not flow2 is too often hard1 though always veracious--,czannes veracity1 be it understood4 ,but it is an inescapable veracity4 ,there is1 too1 great vitality and a peculiar reserved passion1 like that of a ,delacroix ribbers1 and in his still-life he is as great even as ,manet4 ,his landscapes are real1 though without the subtle poetry of ,corot or the blazing lyricism of ,monet4 ,he hails directly from the ,dutch3 ,van der ,near1 in his night pieces4 ,yet no ,dutchman ever painted so uncompromisingly1 so close to the border line that divides the rigid definitions of old-fashioned photography--the new photography hugs closely the mellow mezzotint--and the vision of the painter4 ,an eye--nothing more1 is ,czanne4 ,he refuses to see in nature either a symbol or a sermon4 ,withal his landscapes are poignant in their reality4 ,they are like the grill age one notes in ancient ,french country houses--little caseate cut in the windows through which you may see in vivid outline a little section of the landscape4 ,czanne marvellously renders certain surfaces1 china1 fruit1 tapestry4 ,slowly grew his fame as a sober1 sincere1 unaffected workman of art4 ,disciples rallied around him4 ,he accepted changing fortunes with his accustomed equanimity4 ,maurice ,denis painted for the ,champ de ,mars ,salon of #aija a picture entitled ,homage ,czanne1 after the well-known hommages of ,fantin-,latour4 ,this homage had its uses4 ,the disciples became a swelling1 noisy chorus1 and in #aijd the ,czanne room was thronged by overheated enthusiasts who would have offered violence to the first critical dissident4 ,the older men1 the followers of ,monet1 ,manet1 ,degas1 and ,whistler1 talked as if the end of the world had arrived4 ,art is a serious affair in ,paris4 ,however1 after ,czanne appeared the paintings of that half-crazy1 unlucky genius1 ,vincent van ,gogh1 and of the gifted1 brutal ,gauguin4 ,and in the face of such offerings ,czanne may yet1 by reason of his moderation1 achieve the unhappy fate of becoming a classic4 ,he is certainly as far removed from ,van ,gogh and ,gauguin on the one side as he is from ,manet and ,courbet on the other4 ,huysmans does not hesitate to assert that ,czanne contributed more to accelerate the impressionist movement than ,manet4 ,paul ,czanne died in ,aix1 in ,provence1 ,october #bc1 #aijf4 ,emile ,bernard1 an admirer1 a quasi-pupil of ,czanne's and a painter of established reputation1 discoursed at length in the ,mercure de ,france upon the methods and the man4 ,his anecdotes are interesting4 ,without the genius of ,flaubert1 ,czanne had something of the great novelist's abhorrence of life--fear would be a better word4 ,he voluntarily left ,paris to immure himself in his native town of ,aix1 there to work out in peace long-planned projects1 which would1 he believed1 revolutionise the technique of painting4 ,whether for good or evil1 his influence on the younger men in ,paris has been powerful1 though it is now on the wane4 ,how far they have gone astray in imitating him is the most significant thing related by ,emile ,bernard1 a friend of ,paul ,gauguin and a member of his ,pont-,aven school4 ,in ,february1 #aijd1 ,bernard landed in ,marseilles after a trip to the ,orient4 ,a chance word told him that there had been installed an electric tramway between ,marseilles and ,aix4 ,instantly the name of ,czanne came to his memory2 he had known for some years that the old painter was in ,aix4 ,he resolved to visit him1 and fearing a doubtful reception he carried with him a pamphlet he had written in #ahhi1 an eulogium of the painter4 ,on the way he asked his fellow-travellers for ,czanne's address1 but in vain2 the name was unknown4 ,in ,aix he met with little success4 ,evidently the fame of the recluse had not reached his birthplace4 ,at last ,bernard was advised to go to the ,mayor's office1 where he would find an electoral list4 ,among the voters he discovered a ,paul ,czanne1 who was born ,january #ai1 #ahci1 who lived at #be ,rue ,boulegon4 ,bernard lost no time and reached a simple dwelling house with the name of the painter on the door4 ,he rang4 ,the door opened4 ,he entered and mounted a staircase4 ,ahead of him1 slowly toiling upward1 was an old man in a cloak and carrying a portfolio4 ,it was ,czanne4 ,after he had explained the reason for his visit1 the old painter cried3 ,you are ,emile ,bernard6 ,you are a maker of biographies6 ,signac--an impressionist--told me of you4 ,you are also a painter8 ,bernard1 who had been painting for years1 and was a friend of ,signac1 was nonplussed at his sudden literary reputation1 but he explained the matter to ,czanne1 who1 however1 was in doubt until he saw later the work of his admirer4 ,he had another atelier a short distance from the town2 he called it ,the ,motive4 ,there1 facing ,mount ,sainte-,victoire1 he painted every afternoon in the open2 the majority of his later landscapes were inspired by the views in that charming valley4 ,bernard was so glad to meet ,czanne that he moved to ,aix4 ,in ,czanne's studio at ,aix ,bernard encountered some extraordinary studies in flower painting and three death heads2 also monstrous nudes1 giant-like women whose flesh appeared parboiled4 ,on the streets ,czanne was always annoyed by boys or beggars2 the former were attracted by his bohemian exterior and to express their admiration shouted at him or else threw stones2 the beggars knew their man to be easy and were rewarded by small coin4 ,although ,czanne lived like a bachelor1 his surviving sister saw that his household was comfortable4 ,his wife and son lived in ,paris and often visited him4 ,he was rich2 his father1 a successful banker at ,aix1 had left him plenty of money2 but a fanatic on the subject of art1 ceaselessly searching for new tonal combinations1 he preferred a hermit's existence4 ,in ,aix he was considered eccentric though harmless4 ,his pride was doubled by a morbid shyness4 ,strangers he avoided4 ,so sensitive was he that once when he stumbled over a rock ,bernard attempted to help him by seizing his arm4 ,a terrible scene ensued4 ,the painter1 livid with fright1 cursed the unhappy young ,parisian and finally ran away4 ,an explanation came when the housekeeper told ,bernard that her master was a little peculiar4 ,early in life he had been kicked by some rascal and ever afterward was nervous4 ,he was very irritable and not in good health4 ,in ,bernard's presence he threw a bust made of him by ,solari to the ground1 smashing it4 ,it didn't please him4 ,in argument he lost his temper1 though he recovered it rapidly4 ,zola's name was anathema4 ,he said that ,daumier drank too much2 hence his failure to attain veritable greatness4 ,czanne worked from six to ten or eleven in the morning at his atelier2 then he breakfasted1 repaired to the ,motive1 there to remain until five in the evening4 ,returning to ,aix1 he dined and retired immediately4 ,and he had kept up this life of toil and abnegation for years4 ,he compared himself to ,balzac's ,frenhofer 7in ,the ,unknown ,masterpiece71 who painted out each day the work of the previous day4 ,czanne adored the ,venetians--which is curious--and admitted that he lacked the power to realise his inward vision2 hence the continual experimenting4 ,he most admired ,veronese1 and was ambitious of being received at what he called the ,salon de ,bouguereau4 ,the truth is1 despite ,czanne's long residence in ,paris1 he remained provincial to the end2 his father before becoming a banker had been a hairdresser1 and his son was proud of the fact4 ,he never concealed it4 ,he loved his father's memory and had wet eyes when he spoke of him4 ,bernard thinks that the vision of his master was defective2 hence the sometime shocking deformations he indulged in4 ,his optique was more in his brain than in his eye4 ,he lacked imagination absolutely1 and worked slowly1 laboriously1 his method one of excessive complication4 ,he began with a shadow1 then a touch1 superimposing tone upon tone1 modelling his paint somewhat like ,monticelli1 but without a hint of that artist's lyricism4 ,sober1 without rhetoric1 a realist1 yet with a singularly rich and often harmonious palette1 ,czanne reported faithfully what his eyes told him4 ,it angered him to see himself imitated and he was wrathful when he heard that his still-life pictures were praised in ,paris4 ,that stuff they like up there1 do they8 ,their taste must be low1 he would repeat1 his eyes sparkling with malice4 ,he disliked the work of ,paul ,gauguin and repudiated the claim of being his artistic ancestor4 ,he did not understand me1 grumbled ,czanne4 ,he praised ,thomas ,couture1 who was1 he asserted1 a true master1 one who had formed such excellent pupils as ,courbet1 ,manet1 and ,puvis4 ,this rather staggered ,bernard1 as well it might2 the paintings of ,couture and ,czanne are poles apart4 ,he had1 he said1 wasted much time in his youth--particularly in literature4 ,a lettered man1 he read to ,bernard a poem in imitation of ,baudelaire1 one would say very ,baudelairian4 ,he had begun too late1 had submitted himself to other men's influence1 and wished for half a century that he might realise--his favourite expression--his theories4 ,when he saw ,bernard painting he told him that his palette was too restricted2 he needed at least twenty colours4 ,bernard gives the list of yellows1 reds1 greens1 and blues1 with variations4 ,don't make ,chinese images like ,gauguin1 he said another time4 ,all nature must be modelled after the sphere1 cone1 and cylinder2 as for colour1 the more the colours harmonise the more the design becomes precise4 ,never a devotee of form--he did not draw from the model--his philosophy can be summed up thus3 ,look out for the contrasts and correspondence of tones1 and the design will take care of itself4 ,he hated literary painting and art criticism4 ,he strongly advised ,bernard to stick to his paint and let the pen alone4 ,the moment an artist begins to explain his work he is done for2 painting is concrete1 literature deals with the abstract4 ,he loved music1 especially ,wagner's1 which he did not understand1 but the sound of ,wagner's name was sympathetic1 and that had at first attracted him6 ,pissarro he admired for his indefatigable labours4 ,suffering from diabetes1 which killed him1 his nervous tension is excusable4 ,he was in reality an amiable1 kind-hearted1 religious man4 ,above all1 simple4 ,he sought for the simple motive in nature4 ,he would not paint a ,christ head because he did not believe himself a worthy enough ,christian4 ,chardin he studied and had a theory that the big spectacles and visor which the ,little ,master 7the ,velasquez of vegetables7 wore had helped his vision4 ,certainly the still-life of ,czanne's is the only modern still-life that may be compared to ,chardin's2 not ,manet1 ,vollon1 ,chase has excelled this humble painter of ,aix4 ,he called the coles des ,beaux-,arts the ,bozards1 and reviled as farceurs the ,german secessionists who imitated him4 ,he considered ,ingres1 notwithstanding his science1 a small painter in comparison with the ,venetians and ,spaniards4 ,a painter by compulsion1 a contemplative rather than a creative temperament1 a fumbler and seeker1 nevertheless ,paul ,czanne has formed a school1 has left a considerable body of work4 ,his optic nerve was abnormal1 he saw his planes leap or sink on his canvas2 he often complained1 but his patience and sincerity were undoubted4 ,like his friend ,zola his genius--if genius there is in either man--was largely a matter of protracted labour1 and has it not been said that genius is a long labour8 ,from the sympathetic pen of ,emile ,bernard we learn of a character living in the real bohemia of ,paris painters who might have figured in any of the novels referred to1 or1 better still1 might have been interpreted by ,victor ,hugo or ,ivan ,turgenieff4 ,but the ,frenchman would have made of ,pre ,tanguy a species of poor ,myriel2 the ,russian would have painted him as he was1 a saint in humility1 springing from the soil1 the friend of poor painters1 a socialist in theory1 but a ,christian in practice4 ,after following the humble itinerary of his life you realise the uselessness of literary invention4 ,here was character for a novelist to be had for the asking4 ,the ,crainquebille of ,anatole ,france occurs to the lover of that writer after reading ,emile ,bernard's little study of ,father ,tanguy4 ,his name was ,julien ,tanguy4 ,he was born in #ahbe at ,pldran1 in the north of ,france4 ,he was a plasterer when he married4 ,the young couple1 accustomed to hardships of all kinds1 left ,saint-,brieuc for ,paris4 ,this was in #ahfj4 ,after various vicissitudes the man became a colour grinder in the house of ,edouard1 ,rue ,clauzel4 ,the position was meagre4 ,the ,tanguys moved up in the social scale by accepting the job of concierge somewhere on the ,butte ,montmartre4 ,this gave ,pre ,tanguy liberty1 his wife looking after the house4 ,he went into business on his own account1 vending colours in the quarter and the suburbs4 ,he traversed the country from ,argenteuil to ,barbizon1 from ,ecouen to ,sarcelle4 ,he met ,pissarro1 ,monet1 ,renoir1 ,czanne1 all youthful and confident and boiling over with admiration for ,corot1 ,courbet1 and ,millet4 ,they patronised the honest1 pleasant pedlar of colours and brushes1 and when they didn't have the money he trusted them4 ,it was his prime quality that he trusted people4 ,he cared not enough for money1 as his too often suffering wife averred1 and his heart1 always on his sleeve1 he was an easy mark for the designing4 ,this supreme simplicity led him into joining the ,communists in #ahga1 and then he had a nasty adventure4 ,one day1 while dreaming on sentry duty1 a band from ,versailles suddenly descended upon the outposts4 ,pre ,tanguy lost his head4 ,he could not fire on a fellow-being1 and he threw away his musket4 ,for this act of treachery he was sentenced to serve two years in the galleys at ,brest4 ,released by friendly intervention he had still to remain without ,paris for two years more4 ,finally1 entering his beloved quarter he resumed his tranquil occupation1 and hearing that the ,maison ,edouard had been moved from the ,rue ,clauzel he rented a little shop1 where he sold material to artists1 bought pictures1 and entertained in his humble manner any friend or luckless devil who happened that way4 ,czanne and ,vignon were his best customers4 ,guillemin1 ,pissarro1 ,renoir1 ,gauguin1 ,van ,gogh1 ,oller1 ,messurer1 ,augustin1 ,signac1 ,de ,lautrec1 symbolists of the ,pont-,aven school1 neo-impressionists1 and the young fumistes of schools as yet unborn1 revolutionaries with one shirt to their back1 swearing at the official ,salon and also swearing by the brotherhood of man 7with a capital71 assembled in this dingy old shop4 ,tanguy was a rallying point4 ,he was full of the milk of human kindness1 and robbed himself to give a worthless fellow with a hard-luck story some of the sous that should have gone to his wife4 ,fortunately she was a philosopher as well as an admirable housekeeper4 ,if the rent was paid and there was some soup-meat for dinner she was content4 ,more she could not expect from a man who gave away with both hands4 ,but--and here is the curious part of this narrative of ,m4 ,bernard's--,tanguy was the only person in ,paris who bought and owned pictures by ,czanne4 ,he had dozens of his canvases stacked away in the rear of his establishment--,czanne often parted with a canvas for a few francs4 ,when ,tanguy was hard up he would go to some discerning amateur and sell for two hundred francs pictures that to-day bring twenty thousand francs4 ,tanguy hated to sell1 especially his ,czannes4 ,artists came to see them4 ,his shop was the scene of many a wordy critical battle4 ,gauguin uttered the paradox1 ,nothing so resembles a daub as a masterpiece1 and the novelist ,elmir ,bourges cried1 ,this is the painting of a vintager6 ,alfred ,stevens roared in the presence of the ,czannes1 ,anquetin admired2 but1 as ,bernard adds1 ,jacques ,blanche bought4 ,so did ,durand-,ruel1 who has informed me that a fine ,czanne to-day is a difficult fish to hook4 ,the great public won't have him1 and the amateurs who adore him jealously hold on to their prizes4 ,the socialism of ,pre ,tanguy was of a mild order4 ,he pitied with a ,tolstoyan pity the sufferings of the poor4 ,he did not hate the rich1 nor did he stand at street corners preaching the beauties of torch and bomb4 ,a simple soul1 uneducated1 not critical1 yet with an instinctive flair for the coming triumphs of his young men1 he espoused the cause of his clients because they were poverty-stricken1 unknown1 and revolutionists--an sthetic revolution was his wildest dream4 ,he said of ,czanne that ,papa ,czanne always quits a picture before he finishes it4 ,if he moves he lets his canvases lie in the vacated studio4 ,he no doubt benefited by this carelessness of the painter4 ,czanne worked slowly1 but he never stopped working2 he left nothing to hazard1 and1 astonishing fact1 he spent every morning at the ,louvre4 ,there he practised his daily scales1 optically speaking1 before taking up the brush for the day's work4 ,many of ,vincent von ,gogh's pictures ,tanguy owned4 ,this was about #ahhf4 ,the eccentric1 gifted ,dutchman attracted the poor merchant by his ferocious socialism4 ,he was1 indeed1 a ferocious temperament1 working like a madman1 painting with his colour tubes when he had no brushes1 and literally living in the boutique of ,tanguy4 ,the latter always read ,le ,cri du ,peuple and ,l',intransigeant1 and believed all he read4 ,he did not care much for ,van ,gogh's compositions1 no doubt agreeing with ,czanne1 who1 viewing them for the first time1 calmly remarked to the youth1 ,sincerely1 you paint like a crazy man4 ,a prophetic note6 ,van ,gogh frequented a tavern kept by an old model1 an ,italian woman4 ,it bore the romantic title of ,the ,tambourine4 ,when he couldn't pay his bills he would cover the walls with furious frescoes1 flowers of tropical exuberance1 landscapes that must have been seen in a nightmare4 ,he was painting at this time three pictures a day4 ,he would part with a canvas at the extortionate price of a franc4 ,tanguy was the possessor of a large portrait by ,czanne1 done in his earliest manner4 ,this he had to sell on account of pressing need4 ,dark days followed4 ,he moved across the street into smaller quarters4 ,the old crowd began to drift away2 some died1 some had become famous1 and one1 ,van ,gogh1 shot himself in an access of mania4 ,this was a shock to his friend4 ,a second followed when ,van ,gogh's devoted brother went mad4 ,good ,father ,tanguy1 as he was affectionately called1 sickened4 ,he entered a hospital4 ,he suffered from a cancerous trouble of the stomach4 ,one day he said to his wife1 who was visiting him3 ,i am bored here444 ,i won't die here444 ,i mean to die in my own home4 ,he went home and died shortly afterward4 ,in #ahid ,octave ,mirbeau wrote a moving article for the ,journal about the man who had never spoken ill of any one1 who had never turned from his door a hungry person4 ,the result was a sale organised at the ,htel ,drouot1 to which prominent artists and literary folk contributed works4 ,cazin1 ,guillemet1 ,gyp1 ,maufra1 ,monet1 ,luce1 ,pissarro1 ,rochegrosse1 ,sisley1 ,vauthier1 ,carrier-,belleuse1 ,berthe ,morisot1 ,renoir1 ,jongkind1 ,raffaelli1 99,helleu1 ,rodin1 and many others participated in this noble charity1 which brought the widow ten thousand francs4 ,she soon died4 ,van ,gogh painted a portrait of ,tanguy about #ahhf4 ,it is said to belong to ,rodin4 ,it represents the nave man with his irregular features and placid expression of a stoic2 not a distinguished face1 but unmistakably that of a gentle soul1 who had loved his neighbour better than himself 7therefore he died in misery74 ,he it was who may be remembered by those who knew him--and also a few future historians of the futility of things in general--as the man who first made known to ,paris the pictures of the timid1 obstinate ,paul ,czanne4 ,an odd fish1 indeed1 was this same ,julien ,tanguy1 little father to painters4 ,,ii4 ,,rops ,,the ,,etcher ,i ,that personality in art counts1 next to actual genius1 heavier than all other qualities1 is such a truism that it is often forgotten4 ,in the enormous mass of mediocre work which is turned out annually by artists of technical talent seldom is there encountered a strong1 well-defined personality4 ,imitation has been called the bane of originality2 suppress it as a factor1 and nine-tenths of living painters1 sculptors1 etchers would have to shut up shop4 ,the stencil is the support of many men who otherwise might have become useful citizens1 shoemakers1 tailors1 policemen1 or vice-presidents4 ,for this reason the phrase academic should be more elastic in its meanings4 ,there are academic painters influenced by ,corot or ,monticelli1 as well as by ,david1 ,gros1 or ,meissonier4 ,the academic ,rodin has appeared in contemporary sculpture2 the great ,frenchman found for himself his formula1 and the lesser men have appropriated it to their own uses4 ,this is considered legitimate1 though not a high order of art2 however1 the second-rate rules in the market-place1 let the genius rage as he will4 ,he must be tamed4 ,he must be softened2 his divine fire shaded by the friendly screens of more prudent1 more conventional talent4 ,even among men of genius up on the heights it is the personality of each that enters largely into the equation of their work4 ,no one can confuse ,whistler the etcher with the etcher ,rembrandt2 the profounder is the ,dutchman4 ,yet what individuality there is in the plates of the ,american6 ,what personality6 ,now1 ,flicien ,rops1 the ,belgian etcher1 lithographer1 engraver1 designer1 and painter1 occupies about the same relative position to ,honor ,daumier as ,whistler does to ,rembrandt4 ,how seldom you hear of ,rops4 ,why8 ,he was a man of genius1 one of the greatest etchers and lithographers of his century1 an artist with an intense personal line1 a colossal workman and versatile inventor--why has he been passed over and inferior men praised8 ,his pornographic plates cannot be the only reason1 because his representative work is free from licence or suggestion4 ,giulio ,romano's illustrations to ,aretino's sonnets are not held up as the representative art of this pupil of ,raphael1 nor are the vulgarities of ,rowlandson1 ,hogarth1 ,george ,morland set against their better attempts4 ,collectors treasure the engravings of the eighteenth-century ditions des fermiers-gnraux for their capital workmanship1 not for their licentious themes4 ,but ,rops is always the ,rops of the ,pornocrates6 ,after discussing him with some amateurs you are forced to realise that it is his plates in which he gives rein to an unparalleled flow of animal spirits and gauloiserie that are the more esteemed4 ,rops the artist1 with the big and subtle style1 the etcher of the ,sataniques1 of ,le ,pendu1 of ,la ,buveuse d',absinthe and half a hundred other masterpieces1 is set aside for the witty illustrator1 with the humour of a ,rabelais and the cynicism of ,chamfort4 ,and even on this side of his genius he has never been excelled1 the ,japanese alone being his equals in daring of invention1 while he tops them in the expression of broad humour4 ,in the ,luxembourg galleries there is a picture of an interesting man1 in an etcher's atelier4 ,it is the portrait of ,rops by ,mathey1 and shows him examining at a window1 through which the light pours in1 a freshly pulled proof4 ,it depicts with skill the intense expression upon his handsome face1 the expression of an artist absolutely absorbed in his work4 ,that is the real ,rops4 ,his master quality was intensity4 ,it traversed like a fine keen flame his entire production from seemingly insignificant tail-pieces to his agonised designs1 in which luxury and pain are inextricably commingled4 ,he was born at ,namur1 ,belgium1 ,july #aj1 #ahcc1 and died at ,essonnes1 near ,paris1 ,august #bc1ahih4 ,he was the son of wealthy parents1 and on one side stemmed directly from ,hungary4 ,his grandfather was ,rops ,lajos1 of the province called ,alfod4 ,the ,maygar predominated4 ,he was as proud and fierce as ,goya4 ,a fighter from the beginning1 still in warrior's harness at the close1 when1 cardiac and impenitent1 as he put it1 he died of heart trouble4 ,he received at the hands of the ,jesuits a classical education4 ,a ,latinist1 he was erudite as were few of his artistic contemporaries4 ,the mystic strain in him did not betray itself until his third period4 ,he was an accomplished humourist and could generally cap ,latin verses with ,d',aurevilly or ,huysmans4 ,tertullian's ,de ,cultu ,feminarum he must have read1 for many of his plates are illustrations of the learned ,bishop of ,carthage's attitude toward womankind4 ,the hot crossings of blood1 ,belgian and ,hungarian1 may be responsible for a peculiarly forceful1 rebellious1 sensual1 and boisterous temperament4 ,doubtless the three stadia of an artist's career are the arbitrary classification of critics2 nevertheless they are well marked in many cases4 ,balzac was a romantic1 a realist1 a mystic2 ,flaubert was alternately romantic and realist4 ,tolstoi was never a romantic1 but a realist he was1 and he is a mystic4 ,dostoevski1 from whom he absorbed so much1 taught him the formulas of his mysticism--though ,tolstoi has never felt the life of the soul so profoundly as this predecessor4 ,ibsen passed through the three stages4 ,huysmans1 never romantic1 began as a realistic pessimist and ended as a pessimistic mystic4 ,flicien ,rops could never have been a romantic1 though the macabre romanticism of #ahcj may be found in his designs4 ,a realist1 brutal1 bitter1 he was in his youth2 he saw the grosser facts of life1 so often lamentable and tender1 in the spirit of a ,voltaire doubled by a ,rabelais4 ,there is honest and also shocking laughter in these early illustrations4 ,a fantaisiste1 graceful1 delicate--and indelicate--emerged after the lad went up to ,paris1 as if he had stepped out of the eighteenth century4 ,rops summed up in his book plates1 title-pages1 and wood-cuts1 illustrations done in a furious speed1 all the elegance1 the courtly corruption1 and ,boucher-like luxuriousness that may be detected in the moral marquetrie of the ,goncourts4 ,he had not yet said1 ,evil1 be thou my ,good1 nor had the mystic delirium of the last period set in4 ,all his afternoons must have been those of a faun--a faun who with impeccable solicitude put on paper what he saw in the heart of the bosk or down by the banks of secret rivers4 ,the sad turpitudes1 the casuistry of concupiscence1 the ironic discolourations and feverish delving into subterranean moral stratifications were as yet afar4 ,he was young1 handsome1 with a lithe1 vigorous body and the head of an aristocratic ,mephistopheles1 a head all profile1 like the heads of ,hungary--,hungary itself1 which is all profile4 ,need we add that after the death of his father he soon wasted a fortune8 ,but the reckless bohemian in him was subjugated by necessity4 ,he set to work to earn his bread4 ,some conception of his labours for thirty-five years may be gleaned from the catalogue of his work by ,erastne ,ramiro 7whose real name is ,eugne ,rodrigues74 ,nearly three thousand plates he etched1 lithographed1 or engraved1 not including his paintings or his experiments in various mediums1 such as vernis mou and wood-engraving4 ,the coarse legends of old ,flanders found in ,rops their pictorial interpreter4 ,less cerebral in his abounding youth he made ,paris laugh with his comical travesties of political persons1 persons in high finance1 and also by his shrewd eye for the homely traits in the life of the people4 ,his street scenes are miracles of detail1 satire1 and fun4 ,the one entitled ,spring is the most noted4 ,that legacy of hate1 inherited from the #ahcj poets1 of the bourgeois1 was a merry play for ,rops4 ,he is the third of the trinity of caricature artists1 ,daumier and ,gavarni being the other two4 ,the liberal pinch of ,gallic salt in the earlier plates need not annoy one4 ,deliberately vulgar he never is1 though he sports with things hallowed1 and always goes out of his way to insult the religion he first professed4 ,there is in this ,satanist a religious fond2 the very fierceness of his attacks1 of his blasphemies1 betrays the ,catholic at heart4 ,if he did not believe1 why should he have displayed such continual scorn8 ,no1 ,rops was not as sincere as his friends would have us believe4 ,he made his ,pegasus plod in too deep mud1 and often in his most winged flights he darkened the blue with his satyr-like brutalities4 ,but in the gay middle period his pages overflow with decorative ,cupids and tiny devils1 joyful girls1 dainty amourettes1 and ,parisian putti--they blithely kick their legs over the edges of eternity1 and smile as if life were a snowball jest or a game at forfeits4 ,they are adorable4 ,his women are usually strong-backed1 robust ,amazons1 drawn with a swirling line and a ,rubens-like fulness4 ,they are conquerors4 ,before these majestic idols men prostrate themselves4 ,in his turbulent later visions there is no suspicion of the opium that gave its inspiration to ,coleridge1 ,poe1 ,de ,quincey1 ,james ,thomson1 or ,baudelaire4 ,the city of dreadful night shown us by ,rops is the city through whose streets he has passed his life long4 ,not the dream cities of ,james ,ensor or ,de ,groux1 the ,paris of ,rops is at once an abode of disillusionment1 of mordant joys1 of sheer ecstasy and morbid hallucinations4 ,the opium of ,rops is his imagination1 aided by a manual dexterity that is extraordinary4 ,he is a master of linear design4 ,he is cold1 deadly cold1 but correct ever4 ,fabulous and absurd1 delicious and abominable as he may be1 his spirit sits critically aloft1 never smiling4 ,impersonal as a toxicologist1 he handles his poisonous acids with the gravity of a philosopher and the indifference of a destroying angel4 ,there is a diabolic spleen more strongly developed in ,rops than in any of his contemporaries1 with the sole exception of ,baudelaire1 who inspired and spurred him on to astounding atrocities of the needle and acid4 ,this diabolism1 this worship of ,satan and his works1 are sincere in the etcher4 ,a relic of rotten ,romanticism1 it glows like phosphorescent fire during his last period4 ,the ,church has in its wisdom employed a phrase for frigid depravity of the ,rops kind1 naming it morose delectation4 ,morose ,rops became as he developed4 ,his private life he hid4 ,we know little or nothing of it save that he was not unhappy in his companionships or choice of friends4 ,he loathed the promiscuous methods by which some men achieve admiration4 ,but secret spleen there must have been--a twist of a painter's wrist may expose his soul4 ,he became a solitary and ate the bitter root of sin1 for1 cerebral as he is1 his discovery of the human soul shows it as ill at ease before its maker4 ,flaubert has said that the ignoble is the sublime of the lower slope4 ,but no man may sun himself on this slope by the flames of hell without his soul shrivelling away4 ,rodin1 who admires ,rops and has been greatly influenced by him2 ,rodin1 as an artist superior to the ,belgian1 has revealed less preoccupation with the ignoble2 at least1 despite his excursions into questionable territory1 he has never been carried completely away4 ,he always returns to the sane1 to the normal life2 but over the volcanic landscapes of ,rops are strewn many moral abysses4 ,,ii ,he had no illusions as to the intelligence and sincerity of those men who1 denying free-will1 yet call themselves free-thinkers4 ,rops frankly made of ,satan his chief religion4 ,he is the psychologist of the exotic4 ,cruel1 fantastic1 nonchalant1 and shivering atrociously1 his female ,satan worshippers go to their greedy master in 99fatidical and shuddering attitudes2 they submit to his glacial embrace4 ,the acrid perfume of ,rops's maleficent genius makes itself manifest in his ,sataniques4 ,no longer are his women the embodiment of ,corbire's ternel fminin de l'ternel jocrisse4 ,ninnies1 simperers1 and simpletons have vanished4 ,the poor1 suffering human frame becomes a horrible musical instrument from which the artist extorts exquisite and sinister music4 ,we turn our heads away1 but the tune of cracking souls haunts our ear4 ,as much to ,rops as to ,baudelaire1 ,victor ,hugo could have said that he had evoked a new shudder4 ,and singularly enough ,rops is in these plates the voice of the medival preacher crying out that ,satan is alive1 a tangible being1 going about the earth devouring us2 that ,woman is a vase of iniquity1 a tower of wrath1 a menace1 not a salvation4 ,his readings of the early fathers and his pessimistic temperamental bent contributed to this truly morose judgment of his mother's sex4 ,he drives cowering to her corner1 after her earlier triumphs1 his unhappy victim of love1 absinthe1 and diabolism4 ,not for an instant does he participate personally in the strained voluptuousness or terrific chastisements of his designs4 ,he has all the old monachal contempt of woman4 ,he is cerebrally chaste4 ,huysmans1 in his admirable essay on ,rops1 wrote1 ,car il n'y a de rellement obscnes que les gens chastes2 which is a neat bit of special pleading and quite sophistical4 ,rops did not lead the life of a saint1 though his devotion to his art was ,balzacian4 ,it would be a more subtle sophistry to quote ,paul ,bourget's aphorism4 ,there is1 he writes1 from the metaphysical observer's point of view1 neither disease nor health of the soul2 there are only psychological states4 ,the tats d'mes of ,flicien ,rops1 then1 may or may not have been morbid4 ,but he has contrived that his wit in its effect upon his spectators is too often profoundly depressing and morbid and disquieting4 ,the triumphant chorus of ,rops's admirers comprises the most critical names in ,france and ,italy3 ,barbey d',aurevilly1 ,j4,k4 ,huysmans1 ,pradelle1 ,josphin ,pladan--once the ,sr of ,babylonian fame--,eugne ,demolder1 ,emile ,verhaeren1 the ,belgian poet2 ,camille ,lemonnier1 ,champsaur1 ,arsne ,alexandre1 ,fromentin1 ,vittorio ,pica1 ,de ,hrdia1 ,mallarm1 ,octave ,uzanne1 ,octave ,mirbeau1 the biographer ,ramiro and ,charles ,baudelaire4 ,the last first recognised him1 though he never finished the projected study of him as man and artist4 ,in the newly published letters 7#ahda-ff7 of ,baudelaire there is one addressed to ,rops1 who saw much of the unhappy poet during his disastrous sojourn in ,brussels4 ,it was the author of ,les ,fleurs du ,mal who made the clever little verse about ,ce tant bizarre ,monsieur ,rops444 ,qui n'est pas un grand prix de ,rome1 mais dont le talent est haut1 comme la pyramide de ,chops4 ,a ,french critic has called ,rops a false genius1 probably alluding to the malign characters of the majority of his engraved works rather than to his marvellous and fecund powers of invention4 ,perverse idealist as he was1 he never relaxed his pursuit of the perfection of form4 ,he tells us that in #ahfb he went to ,paris1 after much preliminary skirmishing in ,belgian reviews and magazines1 to learn his art with ,bracquemond and ,jacquemart1 both of whom he never ceased praising4 ,he was associated with ,daubigny1 painter and etcher1 and with ,courbet1 ,flameng1 and ,thrond4 ,he admired ,calmatta and his school--,bal1 ,franck1 ,biot1 ,meunier1 ,flameng4 ,he belonged to the ,international ,society of ,aquafortistes4 ,he worked in aquatint and successfully revived the old process1 vernis mou4 ,a sober workman1 he spent at least fourteen hours a day at his desk4 ,being musical1 he designed some genre pieces1 notably that of the truthfully observed ,bassoonist4 ,and though not originating he certainly carried to the pitch of the artistically ludicrous those progressive pictures of goats dissolving into pianists2 of ,liszt tearing passion and grand pianos into tatters4 ,he has contributed to the gaiety of nations with his celebrated design3 ,ma fille6 ,monsieur ,cabanel1 which shows a harpy-like mother presenting her nude daughter as a model for that painter4 ,the malicious ingenuity of ,rops never failed him4 ,he produced for years numerous anecdotes in black and white4 ,the elasticity of his line1 its variety and richness1 the harmonies1 elliptical and condensed1 of his designs2 the agile1 fiery movement1 his handling of his velvety blacks1 his tonal gradations1 his caressing touch by which the metal reproduced muscular crispations of his dry-point and the fat silhouettes of beautiful human forms1 above all1 his virile grasp which is revealed in his balanced ensembles--these prove him to be one of the masters of modern etching4 ,and from his cynical yet truthful motto3 ,j'appelle un chat un chat1 he never swerved4 ,a student and follower of ,jean ,francois ,millet1 several landscapes and pastorals of ,rops recall the ,french painter's style4 ,in his ,belgian out-of-doors scenes and interiors the ,belgian heredity of ,rops projects itself unmistakably4 ,such a picture as ,scandal1 for example1 might have been signed by ,israels4 ,le ,bout de ,sillon is ,millet1 and beautifully drawn4 ,the scheme is trite4 ,two peasants1 a young woman and a young man holding a rope1 exchange love vows4 ,it is very simple1 very expressive4 ,his portraits of women1 ,walloons1 and of ,antwerp are solidly built1 replete with character and quaint charm4 ,charming1 too1 is the portrait of his great-aunt4 ,scandal is an ambitious design4 ,a group of women strongly differentiated as to types and ages are enjoying over a table their tea and a choice morsel of scandal4 ,the situation is seized2 it is a picture that appeals4 ,ghastly is his portrait of a wretched young woman ravaged by absinthe4 ,her lips are blistered by the wormwood1 and in her fevered glance there is despair4 ,another delineation of disease1 a grinning1 skull-like head with a scythe back of it1 is a tribute to the artist's power of rendering the repulsive4 ,his ,messalina1 ,lassatta1 ,la ,femme au ,cochon1 and ,la ,femme au ,pantin should be studied4 ,he has painted scissors grinders1 flower girls1 old guards1 incantations1 fishing parties1 the rabble in the streets1 broom-riding witches1 apes1 ivory and peacocks1 and a notable figure piece1 ,an ,interment in the ,walloon ,country1 which would have pleased ,courbet4 ,it is in his incarnations of ,satan that ,rops is unapproachable4 ,satan ,sowing the ,tares of ,evil is a sublime conception1 truly ,miltonic4 ,the bony-legged demon strides across ,paris4 ,one foot is posed on ,notre ,dame4 ,he quite touches the sky4 ,upon his head is a broad-brimmed peasant's hat1 ,quaker in shape4 ,hair streams over his skeleton shoulders4 ,his eyes are gleaming with infernal malice--it is the most diabolic face ever drawn of his majesty2 not even ,franz ,stuck's ,satan has eyes so full of liquid damnation4 ,scattering miniature female figures1 like dolls1 to the winds1 this monster passes over ,paris1 a baleful typhoon4 ,the moral is not far to seek2 indeed1 there is generally a moral1 sometimes an inverted one1 in the ,rops etchings4 ,order ,reigns at ,warsaw is a grim commentary on ,russian politics quite opportune to-day4 ,la ,peine de ,mort has been used by ,socialists as a protest against capital punishment4 ,les ,diables ,froids personifies the impassible artist4 ,it is a page torn from the book of hell4 ,rops had read ,dante2 he knew the meaning of the lines3 ,as the rill that runs from ,bulicame to be portioned out amid the sinful women2 and more than once he explored the frozen circles of ,gehenna4 ,victor ,hugo was much stirred by the design1 ,le ,pendu1 which depicts a man's corpse swinging under a huge bell in some vast and immemorial1 raven-haunted1 decaying tower1 whose bizarre and gloomy outlines might have been created by the brain of a ,piranesi4 ,an apocalyptic imagination had ,flicien ,rops4 ,,iii4 ,,monticelli ,i ,poor ,fada6 ,the innocent1 the inoffensive fool--as they christened that unfortunate man of genius1 ,adolphe ,monticelli1 in the dialect of the ,south1 the slang of ,marseilles--where he spent the last sixteen years of his life4 ,the richest colourist of the nineteenth century1 obsessed by colour1 little is known of this ,monticelli1 even in these days when an artist's life is subjected to inquisitorial methods4 ,few had written of him in ,english before ,w4,e4 ,henley and ,w4,c4 ,brownell4 ,in ,france eulogised by ,thophile ,gautier1 in favour at the court1 admired by ,diaz1 ,daubigny1 ,troyon1 and ,delacroix1 his hopes were cracked by the catastrophe of the ,franco-,prussian war4 ,he escaped to ,marseilles1 there to die poor1 neglected1 half mad4 ,perhaps he was to blame for his failures2 perhaps his temperament was his fate4 ,yet to-day his pictures are sought for as were those of ,diaz two decades ago1 though there was a tacit conspiracy among dealers and amateurs not to drag his merits too soon before the foot-lights4 ,in #aijj at the ,paris ,exposition a collection of his works1 four being representative1 opened the eyes of critics and public alike4 ,it was realised that ,monticelli had not received his proper ranking in the nineteenth-century theatre of painting2 that while he owed much to ,watteau1 to ,turner1 to ,rousseau1 he was a master who could stand or fall on his own merits4 ,since then the ,monticelli pictures have been steadily growing in favour4 ,there is a ,monticelli cult4 ,america can boast of many of his most distinguished specimens1 while the ,louvre and the ,luxembourg are without a single one4 ,the ,muse de ,lille at ,marseilles has several examples2 the private collections of ,m4 ,delpiano at ,cannes and a few collections in ,paris make up a meagre list4 ,the ,comparative ,exhibition in ,new ,york1 #aijd1 revealed to many accustomed to overpraising ,diaz and ,fromentin the fact that ,monticelli was their superior as a colourist1 and a decorator of singularly fascinating characteristics1 one who was not always a mere contriver of bacchanalian riots of fancy1 but who could exhibit when at his best a justesse of vision and a controlled imagination4 ,the dictionaries offer small help to the student as to the doings of this erratic painter4 ,he was born ,october #bd1 #ahbd4 ,he died ,june #bi1 #ahhf4 ,he was of mixed blood1 ,italian and ,french4 ,his father was a gauger1 though ,adolphe declared that he was an authentic descendant of the ,crusader1 ,godefroy ,monticelli1 who married in #aajj ,aurea ,castelli1 daughter of the ,duca of ,spoleto4 ,without doubt his ,italian blood counted heavily in his work1 but whether of noble issue matters little4 ,barbey d',aurevilly and ,villiers de l',isle ,adam1 two men of letters1 indulged in similar boasts1 and no doubt in their poverty and tribulations the oriflamme of aristocracy which they bravely bore into the caf life of ,paris was a source of consolation to them4 ,but it is with brains1 not blood1 that painters mix their pigments1 and the legend of high birth can go with the other fictions reported by ,henley that ,monticelli was an illegitimate offshoot of the ,gonzagas2 that he was the natural son of ,diaz2 that ,diaz kept him a prisoner for years1 to steal the secret of his colours4 ,like many another of his temperament1 he had himself to thank for his woes1 though it was a streak of ill-luck for him when the ,prussians bore down on ,paris4 ,he was beginning to be known4 ,a pupil of ,raymond ,aubert 7#agha-aheg71 he was at first a fanatic of ,raphael and ,ingres4 ,delacroix and his violently harmonised colour masses settled the future colourist4 ,he met ,diaz and they got on very well together4 ,a ,southerner1 handsome1 passionate1 persuasive1 dashing1 with the eloquence of the meridional1 ,monticelli and his musical name made friends at court and among powerful artists4 ,in #ahgj he started on his walk of thirty-six days from ,paris to ,marseilles4 ,he literally painted his way4 ,in every inn he shed masterpieces4 ,precious gold dripped from his palette1 and throughout the ,rhone valley there are1 it is whispered--by white-haired old men the memory of whose significant phrases awakes one in the middle of the night longing for the valley of ,durance--that if a resolute1 keen-eyed adventurer would traverse unostentatiously the route taken by ,monticelli during his ,odyssey the rewards might be great4 ,it is an idea that grips one's imagination1 but unfortunately it is an idea that gripped the imagination of others thirty years ago4 ,not an auberge1 hotel1 or hamlet has been left unexplored4 ,the fine-tooth comb of familiar parlance has been sedulously used by interested persons4 ,if there are any ,monticellis unsold nowadays they are for sale at the dealers'4 ,in him was incarnate all that we can conceive as bohemian1 with a training that gave him the high-bred manner of a seigneur4 ,he was a romantic1 like his friend ,flix ,ziem--,ziem1 ,marcellin1 ,deboutin1 and ,monticelli represented a caste that no longer exists2 bohemians1 yes1 but gentlemen1 refined and fastidious4 ,yet1 after his return to his beloved ,marseilles1 ,monticelli led the life of an ,august vagabond4 ,in his velvet coat1 a big-rimmed hat slouched over his eyes1 he patrolled the quays1 singing1 joking1 an artless creature1 so good-hearted and irresponsible that he was called ,fada1 more in affection than contempt4 ,he painted rapidly1 a picture daily1 sold it on the terrasses of the cafs for a hundred francs1 and when he couldn't get a hundred he would take sixty4 ,now one must pay thousands for a canvas4 ,his most loving critic1 ,camille ,mauclair1 who1 above any one1 has battled valiantly for his art1 tells us that ,monticelli once took eighteen francs for a small canvas because the purchaser had no more in his pocket6 ,in this manner he disposed of a gallery4 ,he smoked happy pipes and sipped his absinthe--in his case as desperate an enemy as it had proved to ,de ,musset4 ,he would always doff his hat at the mention of ,watteau or ,rubens4 ,they were his gods4 ,when ,monticelli arrived in ,marseilles after his tramp down from ,paris he was literally in rags4 ,m4 ,chave1 a good ,samaritan1 took him to a shop and togged him out in royal raiment4 ,they left for a promenade1 and then the painter begged his friend to let him walk alone so as not to attenuate the effect he was bound to produce on the passersby1 such a childish1 harmless vanity had he4 ,his delight was to gather a few chosen ones over a bottle of old vintage1 and thus with spasmodic attempts at work his days rolled by4 ,he was feeble1 semi-paralysed4 ,with the advent of bad health vanished the cunning of his hand4 ,his paint coarsened1 his colours became crazier4 ,his pictures at this period were caricatures of his former art4 ,many of the early ones were sold as the productions of ,diaz1 just as to-day some ,diazs are palmed off as ,monticellis4 ,after four years of decadence he died1 repeating for months before his taking off3 ,je viens de la lune4 ,he was one whose brain a lunar ray had penetrated2 but this ray was transposed to a spectrum of gorgeous hues4 ,capable of depicting the rainbow1 he died of the opalescence that clouded his glass of absinthe4 ,pauvre ,fada6 ,,ii ,it is only a coincidence1 yet a curious one1 that two such dissimilar spirits as ,stendhal and ,monticelli should have predicted their future popularity4 ,stendhal said3 ,about #ahhj ,i shall be understood4 ,monticelli said in #ahgj3 ,i paint for thirty years hence4 ,both prophecies have been realised4 ,after the exhibition at ,edinburgh and ,glasgow in #ahij ,monticelli was placed by a few discerning critics above ,diaz in quality of paint4 ,in #ahib ,mr4 ,brownell said of ,monticelli in his ,french ,art--a book that every student and amateur of painting should possess--that the touch of ,diaz1 patrician as it was1 lacked the exquisiteness of ,monticelli's2 though he admits the exaggeration of the decorative impulse in that master4 ,for ,henley ,monticelli's art was purely sensuous2 his fairy meadows and enchanted gardens are that sweet word ',mesopotamia' in two dimensions4 ,henley speaks of his clangours of bronze and gold and scarlet and admits that there are moments when his work is as infallibly decorative as a ,persian crock or a ,japanese brocade4 ,d4,s4 ,mac,coll1 in his study of ,nineteenth-,century ,painting1 gives discriminating praise3 ,monticelli's own exquisite sense of grace in women and invention in grouping add the positive new part without which his art would be the mannerising of ,rousseau1 while ,arthur ,symons in his ,studies in ,seven ,arts declares all ,monticelli's art tends toward the effect of music444 his colour is mood 444 his mood is colour4 ,it remained1 however1 for ,camille ,mauclair1 a ,parisian critic in sympathy with the arts of design1 literature1 and music1 to place ,monticelli in his proper niche4 ,this ,mauclair has done with critical tact4 ,in his ,great ,french ,painters1 the bias of which is evidently strained in favour of the impressionistic school1 in his ,l',impressionisme1 and in his monograph on ,watteau this critic declares that ,monticelli's art recalls ,claude ,lorraine a little and ,watteau even more by its sentiment1 and ,turner and ,bonington by its colour444 ,his work has the same subtlety of gradations1 the same division into fragments of tones 7as in ,watteau's ',embarkment for ,cythera'71 the same variety of execution1 which has sometimes the opaqueness of china and enamel and sometimes the translucence of precious stones or the brilliancy of glass1 metal1 or oxides and seems to be the result of some mysterious chemistry444 ,monticelli had an absolutely unique perception of tonalities1 and his glance took in certain shades which had not been observed before1 which the optic and chromatic science of the day has placed either by proof or hypothesis between the principal tones of the solar spectrum thirty years after ,monticelli had fixed them4 ,there is magic and high lyric poetry in his art4 ,i wrote of the ,monticellis exhibited at the ,comparative ,exhibition in ,new ,york3 ,at the opposite end of the room there is ,a ,summer ,day's ,idyll1 upon which ,monticelli had squeezed all his flaming tubes4 ,it seems orchestrated in crushed pomegranate1 the light suffusing the reclining figures like a jewelled benediction4 ,marvellous1 too1 are the colour-bathed creatures in this ,no ,man's ,land of drugged dreams444 ,do not the walls fairly vibrate with this wealth of fairy tints and fantasy8 ,but it must not be forgotten that he struck other chords besides blazing sun-worshipping4 ,we often encounter landscapes of vaporous melancholy1 twilights of reverie4 #hhhh ,monticelli once told an admiring young amateur that in his canvases the objects are the decorations1 the touches are the scales1 and the light is the tenor1 thereby acknowledging himself that he felt colour as music4 ,there was hypersthesia in his case2 his eyes were protuberant and1 like the ears of violinists1 capable of distinguishing quarter tones1 even sixteenths4 ,there are affiliations with ,watteau2 the same gem-like style of laying on the thick pte1 the same delight in fairy-like patches of paint to represent figures4 ,in #ahfj he literally resuscitated ,watteau's manner1 adding a personal note and a richness hitherto unknown to ,french paint4 ,mauclair thinks that to ,watteau can be traced back the beginnings of modern ,impressionism2 the division of tones1 the juxtaposition of tonalities4 ,monticelli was the connecting link between ,watteau and ,monet4 ,the same critic does not hesitate to name ,monticelli as one of the great quartet of harmonists1 ,claude1 ,turner1 ,monet being the other three4 ,taine it was who voiced the philosophy of ,impressionism when he announced in his ,philosophie de l',art that the principal personage in a picture is the light in which all things are plunged4 ,eugne ,carrire also asserted that a picture is the logical development of light4 ,monticelli before him had said3 ,in a painting one must sound the ,c4 ,rembrandt1 ,rubens1 ,watteau1 all the great ones have sounded the ,c4 ,his ,c1 his key-note1 was the magic touch of luminosity that dominated his picture4 ,like ,berlioz1 he adored colour for colour's sake4 ,he had a touch all ,venetian in his relation of tones2 at times he went in search of chromatic adventures1 returning with the most marvellous trophies4 ,no man before or since1 not even those practitioners of dissonance and martyrs to the enharmonic scale1 ,czanne1 ,gauguin1 or ,van ,gogh1 ever matched and modulated such widely disparate tints2 no man before could extract such magnificent harmonies from such apparently irreconcilable tones4 ,monticelli thought in colour and was a master of orchestration1 one who went further than ,liszt4 ,the simple-minded ,monticelli had no psychology to speak of--he was a reversion1 a throw back to the ,venetians1 the decorative ,venetians1 and if he had possessed the money or the leisure--he hadn't enough money to buy any but small canvases--he might have become a ,french ,tiepolo1 and perhaps the greatest decorative artist of ,france4 ,even his most delicate pictures are largely felt and sonorously executed2 not finished in the studio sense1 but complete--two different things4 ,fate was against him1 and the position he might have had was won by the gentle ,puvis de ,chavannes1 who exhibited a genius for decorating monumental spaces4 ,with his fiery vision1 his brio of execution1 his palette charged with jewelled radiance1 ,monticelli would have been the man to have changed the official interiors of ,paris4 ,his energy at one period was enormous1 consuming1 though short-lived--#ahfe-ge4 ,his lack of self-control and at times his ,italian superficiality1 never backed by a commanding intellect1 produced the ,monticelli we know4 ,in truth his soul was not complicated4 ,he could never have attacked the psychology of ,zarathustra1 ,hamlet1 or ,peer ,gynt4 ,a ,salome from him would have been a delightfully decorative minx1 set blithely dancing in some many-hued and enchanted garden of ,armida4 ,she would never have worn the air of hieratic lasciviousness with which ,gustave ,moreau inevitably dowered her4 ,there was too much joy of the south in ,monticelli's bones to concern himself with the cruel imaginings of the ,orient or the grisly visions of the north4 ,he was ,oriental au fond2 but it was the ,orientalism of the ,thousand and ,one ,nights4 ,he painted scenes from the ,decameron1 and his ftes galantes may be matched with ,watteau's in tone4 ,his first period was his most graceful2 ivory-toned languorous dames1 garbed in ,second ,empire style1 languidly stroll in charming parks escorted by fluttering ,cupids or stately cavaliers4 ,the decorative impulse is here at its topmost4 ,in his second period we get the ,decameron series1 the episodes from ,faust1 the ,don ,quixote--recall1 if you can1 that glorious tableau with its ,spanish group and the long1 grave don and merry1 rotund squire entering on the scene1 a fantastic sky behind them4 ,painted music6 ,the ruins1 fountains1 statues1 and mellow herbage abound in this middle period4 ,the third is less known4 ,extravagance began to rule2 scarlet fanfares are sounded2 amethysts and emeralds sparkle2 yet there is more thematic variety4 ,voluptuous1 perfumed1 and semi-tragic notes were uttered by this dainty poet of the carnival of life4 ,the canvas glowed with more reverberating and infernal lights1 but lyric ever4 ,technique1 fabulous and feverish1 expended itself on flowers that were explosions of colours1 on seductive marines1 on landscapes of a rhythmic1 haunting beauty--the ,italian temperament had become unleashed4 ,fire1 gold1 and purple flickered and echoed in ,monticelli's canvases4 ,irony1 like an insinuating serpent1 began to creep into this paradise of melting hues4 ,the masterful gradations of tone became bewildered4 ,poison was eating the man's nerves4 ,he discarded the brush1 and standing before his canvas he squeezed his tubes upon it1 literally modelling his paint with his thumb until it almost assumed the relief of sculpture4 ,what a touch he had6 ,what a subtle prevision of modulations to be effected by the careless scratch of his nail or the whip of a knife's edge6 ,remember1 too1 that originally he had been an adept in the art of design2 he could draw as well as his peers4 ,but he sacrificed form and observation and psychology to sheer colour4 ,he1 a veritable discoverer of tones--aided thereto by an abnormal vision--became the hasty improviser1 who at the last daubed his canvases with a pasty mixture1 as hot and crazy as his ruined soul4 ,the end did not come too soon4 ,a chromatic genius went under1 leaving but a tithe of the gleams that illuminated his brain4 ,alas1 poor ,fada6 ,,iv4 ,,rodin ,i ,rodin1 the ,french sculptor1 deserves well of our new century2 the old one did so incontinently batter him4 ,the anguish of his own ,hell's ,portal he endured before he moulded its clay between his thick clairvoyant fingers4 ,misunderstood1 therefore misrepresented1 he with his pride and obstinacy aroused--the one buttressing the other--was not to be budged from his formulas and practice of sculpture4 ,then the world of art swung unwillingly and unamiably toward him1 perhaps more from curiosity than conviction4 ,rodin became famous4 ,and he is more misunderstood than ever4 ,his very name1 with its memory of ,eugne ,sue's romantic rancour--you recall that impossible and diabolic ,jesuit ,rodin in ,the ,mysteries of ,paris8--has been thrown in his teeth4 ,he has been called rus1 even a fraud2 while the wholesale denunciation of his work as erotic is unluckily still green in our memory4 ,the sculptor1 who in #ahgg was accused of faking his life-like ,age of ,brass--now at the ,luxembourg--by taking a mould from the living model1 also experienced the discomfiture of being assured some years later that1 not knowing the art of modelling1 his statue of ,balzac was only an evasion of difficulties4 ,and this to the man who had in the interim wrought so many masterpieces4 ,to give him his due he stands prosperity not quite as well as he did poverty4 ,in every great artist there is a large area of self-esteem2 it is the reservoir which he must1 during years of drought and defeat1 draw upon to keep his soul fresh4 ,without the consoling fluid of egoism1 genius must perish in the dust of despair4 ,but fill this source to the brim1 accelerate the speed of its current1 and artistic deterioration may ensue4 ,rodin has been called1 fatuously1 the second ,michael ,angelo--as if there could ever be a replica of any human4 ,he has been hailed as a modern ,praxiteles4 ,and he is often damned as a myopic decadent whose insensibility to pure line and deficiency in constructional power have been elevated by his admirers into sorry virtues4 ,yet is ,rodin justly appraised8 ,do his friends not overdo their glorification1 his critics their censure8 ,nothing so stales a demigod's image as the perfumes burned before it by his worshippers2 the denser the smoke the sooner crumble the feet of their idol4 ,however1 in the case of ,rodin the fates have so contrived their malicious game that at no point of his career has he been without the company of envy1 chagrin1 and slander4 ,often1 when he had attained a summit1 he would find himself thrust down into a deeper valley4 ,he has mounted to triumphs and fallen to humiliations1 but his spirit has never been quelled1 and if each acclivity he scales is steeper1 the air atop has grown purer1 more stimulating1 and the landscape spreads wider before him4 ,he can say with ,dante3 ,la montagna che drizza voi che il mondo fece torti4 ,rodin's mountain has always straightened in him what the world made crooked4 ,the name of his mountain is ,art4 ,a born non-conformist1 ,rodin makes the fourth of that group of nineteenth-century artists--,richard ,wagner1 ,henrik ,ibsen1 and ,edouard ,manet--who taught a deaf and blind world to hear and see and think and feel4 ,is it not dangerous to say of a genius that his work alone should count1 that his life is negligible8 ,though ,rodin has followed ,flaubert's advice to artists to lead ascetic lives that their art might be the more violent1 nevertheless his career1 colourless as it may seem to those who better love stage players and the watery comedies of society--this laborious life of a poor sculptor--is not to be passed over if we are to make any estimate of his art4 ,he1 it is related1 always becomes enraged at the word inspiration1 enraged at the common notion that fire descends from heaven upon the head of the favoured neophyte of art4 ,rodin believes in but one inspiration--nature4 ,he swears he does not invent1 but copies nature4 ,he despises improvisation1 has contemptuous words for fatal facility1 and1 being a slow-moving1 slow-thinking man1 he admits to his councils those who have conquered art1 not by assault1 but by stealth and after years of hard work4 ,he sympathises with ,flaubert's patient toiling days1 he praises ,holland because after ,paris it seemed slow4 ,slowness is a beauty1 he declared4 ,in a word1 ,rodin has evolved a theory and practice of his art that is the outcome--like all theories1 all techniques--of his own temperament4 ,and that temperament is giant-like1 massive1 ironic1 grave1 strangely perverse at times2 and it is the temperament of a magician doubled by that of a mathematician4 ,books are written about him4 ,de ,maupassant describes him in ,notre ,coeur with picturesque precision4 ,he is tempting as a psychologic study4 ,he appeals to the literary1 though he is not literary4 ,his modelling arouses tempests1 either of dispraise or idolatry4 ,to see him steadily1 critically1 after a visit to his studios in ,paris or ,meudon1 is difficult4 ,if the master be there then you feel the impact of a personality that is as cloudy as the clouds about the base of a mountain and as impressive as the mountain4 ,yet a pleasant1 unassuming1 sane man1 interested in his clay--absolutely--that is1 unless you discover him to be more interested in humanity4 ,if you watch him well you may find yourself well watched2 those peering eyes possess a vision that plunges into your soul4 ,and the soul this master of marbles sees as nude as he sees the human body4 ,it is the union of artist and psychologist that places ,rodin apart4 ,these two arts he practises in a medium that has hitherto not betrayed potentialities for such almost miraculous performances4 ,walter ,pater is quite right in maintaining that each art has its separate subject-matter2 nevertheless1 in the debatable province of ,rodin's sculpture we find strange emotional power1 hints of the art of painting and a rare musical suggestiveness4 ,but this is not playing the game according to the rules of ,lessing and his ,laocon4 ,let us drop this old sthetic rule of thumb and confess that during the last century a new race of artists sprang up from some strange element and1 like flying-fish1 revealed to a wondering world their composite structures4 ,thus we find ,berlioz painting with his instrumentation2 ,franz ,liszt1 ,tschaikowsky1 and ,richard ,strauss filling their symphonic poems with drama and poetry1 and ,richard ,wagner inventing an art which he believed to embrace the seven arts4 ,and there is ,ibsen1 who used the dramatic form as a vehicle for his anarchistic ideas2 and ,nietzsche1 who was such a poet that he was able to sing a mad philosophy into life2 and ,rossetti1 who painted poems and made poetry that is pictorial4 ,sculpture was the only art that had resisted this universal disintegration1 this imbroglio of the arts4 ,no sculptor before ,rodin had dared to break the line1 dared to shiver the syntax of stone4 ,for sculpture is a static1 not a dynamic art--is it not8 ,let us observe the rules1 though we preserve the chill spirit of the cemetery4 ,what ,mallarm attempted to do with ,french poetry ,rodin accomplished in clay4 ,his marbles do not represent but present emotion1 are the evocation of emotion itself2 as in music1 form and substance coalesce4 ,if he does not1 as did ,mallarm1 arouse the silent thunder afloat in the leaves1 he can summon from the vasty deep the spirits of love1 hate1 pain1 despair1 sin1 beauty1 ecstasy2 above all1 ecstasy4 ,now the primal gift of ecstasy is bestowed upon few4 ,in our age ,keats had it1 and ,shelley2 ,byron1 despite his passion1 missed it1 and so did ,wordsworth4 ,we find it in ,swinburne1 he had it from the first2 but few ,french poets have it4 ,like the cold devils of ,flicien ,rops1 coiled in frozen ecstasy1 the blasts of hell about them1 ,charles ,baudelaire can boast the dangerous attribute4 ,poe and ,heine knew ecstasy1 and ,liszt also2 ,wagner was the master adept of his century4 ,tschaikowsky followed him close2 and in the tiny piano scores of ,chopin ecstasy is pinioned in a few bars1 the soul often rapt to heaven in a phrase4 ,richard ,strauss has shown a rare variation on the theme of ecstasy2 voluptuousness troubled by pain1 the soul tormented by stranger nuances4 ,rodin is of this tormented choir2 he is master of its psychology4 ,it may be the decadence1 as any art is in decadence which stakes the parts against the whole4 ,the same was said of ,beethoven by the followers of ,haydn1 and the successors of ,richard ,strauss will be surely abused quite as violently as the ,wagnerites abuse ,strauss to-day--employing against him the same critical artillery employed against ,wagner4 ,that this ecstasy should be aroused by pictures of love and death1 as in the case of ,poe and ,baudelaire1 ,wagner and ,strauss1 must not be adjudged as a black crime4 ,in the ,far ,east they hypnotise neophytes with a bit of broken mirror1 for in the kingdom of art1 as in the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 there are many mansions4 ,possibly it was a relic of his early admiration and study of ,baudelaire that set ,wagner to extorting ecstasy from his orchestra by images of death and love2 and no doubt the temperament which seeks such combinations--a temperament commoner in medival days than ours--was inherent in ,wagner4 ,he makes his ,isolde sing mournfully and madly over a corpse and1 throwing herself upon the dead body of ,tristan1 die shaken by the sweet cruel pains of love4 ,richard ,strauss closely patterns after ,wagner in his ,salome1 there is the head of a dead man1 and there is the same dissolving ecstasy4 ,both men play with similar counters--love and death1 and death and love4 ,and so ,rodin4 ,in ,pisa we may see 7attributed by ,vasari7 ,orcagna's fresco of the ,triumph of ,death4 ,the sting of the flesh and the way of all flesh are inextricably blended in ,rodin's ,gate of ,hell4 ,his principal reading for forty years has been ,dante and ,baudelaire4 ,the ,divine ,comedy and ,les ,fleurs du ,mal are the key-notes in this white symphony of ,auguste ,rodin's4 ,love and life and bitterness and death rule the themes of his marbles4 ,like ,beethoven and ,wagner he breaks the academic laws of his art1 but then he is ,rodin1 and where he achieves magnificently lesser men would miserably perish4 ,his large tumultuous music is for his chisel alone to ring out and sing4 ,,ii ,the first and still the best study of ,rodin as man and thinker is to be found in a book by ,judith ,cladel1 the daughter of the novelist 7author of ,mes ,paysans74 ,she named it ,auguste ,rodin1 pris sur la vie1 and her pages are filled with surprisingly vital sketches of the workaday ,rodin4 ,his conversations are recorded2 altogether this little picture has much charm and proves what ,rodin asserts--that women understand him better than men4 ,there is a fluid1 feminine1 disturbing side to his art and nature very appealing to emotional women4 ,mlle4 ,cladel's book has also been treasure-trove for the anecdote hunters2 all have visited her pages4 ,camille ,mauclair admits his indebtedness2 so does ,frederick ,lawton1 whose big volume is the most complete life 7probably official7 that has thus far appeared1 either in ,french or ,english4 ,it is written on the side of ,rodin1 like ,mauclair's more subtle study1 and like the masterly criticism of ,roger ,marx4 ,born at ,paris in #ahdj--the natal year of his friends ,claude ,monet and ,zola--and in humble circumstances1 not enjoying a liberal education1 the young ,rodin had to fight from the beginning1 fight for bread as well as an art schooling4 ,he was not even sure of a vocation4 ,an accident determined it4 ,he became a workman in the atelier of ,carrier-,belleuse1 the sculptor1 but not until he had failed at the ,beaux-,arts 7which was a stroke of luck for his genius7 and after he had enjoyed some tentative instruction under the great animal sculptor1 ,barye4 ,he was never a steady pupil of ,barye1 nor did he long remain with him4 ,he went to ,belgium and ghosted for other sculptors2 indeed1 it was a privilege1 or misfortune1 to have been the ghost--anonymous assistant--for half a dozen sculptors4 ,he learned his technique by the sweat of his brow before he began to make music upon his own instrument4 ,how his first work1 ,the ,man ,with the ,broken ,nose1 was refused by the ,salon jury is history4 ,he designed for the ,svres porcelain works2 he made portrait busts1 architectural ornaments for sculptors1 caryatides2 all styles that are huddled in the yards and studios of sculptors he had essayed and conquered4 ,no man knew his trade better1 although we are informed that with the chisel of the practicien ,rodin was never proficient--he could not or would not work at the marble en bloc4 ,his works to-day are in the leading museums of the world and he is admitted to have talent by the academic men4 ,rivals he has none1 nor will he have successors4 ,his production is too personal4 ,like ,richard ,wagner1 ,rodin has proved a ,upas tree for many lesser men--he has reflected or else absorbed them4 ,his closest friend1 the late ,eugne ,carrire1 warned young sculptors not to study ,rodin too curiously4 ,carrire was wise1 but his own art of portraiture was influenced by ,rodin2 swimming in shadow1 his enigmatic heads have a suspicion of the quality of sculpture--,rodin's--not the mortuary art of so much academic sculpture4 ,a profound student of light and of movement1 ,rodin1 by deliberate amplification of the surfaces of his statues1 avoiding dryness and harshness of outline1 secures a zone of radiancy1 a luminosity1 which creates the illusion of reality4 ,he handles values in clay as a painter does his tones4 ,he gets the design of the outline by movement which continually modifies the anatomy--the secret1 he believes1 of the ,greeks4 ,he studies his profiles successively in full light1 obtaining volume--or planes--at once and together2 successive views of one movement4 ,the light plays with more freedom upon his amplified surfaces--intensified in the modelling by enlarging the lines4 ,the edges of certain parts are amplified1 deformed1 falsified1 and we see that light-swept effect1 that appearance as if of luminous emanations4 ,this deformation1 he declares1 was practised by the great sculptors to snare the undulating appearance of life4 ,sculpture1 he asserts1 is the art of the hole and the lump1 not of clear1 well-smoothed1 unmodelled figures4 ,finish kills vitality4 ,yet ,rodin can chisel a smooth nymph for you if he so wills1 but her flesh will ripple and run in the sunlight4 ,his art is one of accents4 ,he works by profile in depth1 not by surfaces4 ,he swears by what he calls cubic truth2 his pattern is a mathematical figure2 the pivot of art is balance1 i4e41 the oppositions of volume produced by movement4 ,unity haunts him4 ,he is a believer in the correspondences of things1 of the continuity in nature2 a mystic as well as a geometrician4 ,yet such a realist is he that he quarrels with any artist who does not see the latent heroic in every natural movement4 ,therefore he does not force the pose of his model1 preferring attitudes or gestures voluntarily adopted4 ,his sketch-books1 as copious1 as vivid as the drawings of ,hokusai--he is very studious of ,japanese art--are swift memoranda of the human machine as it dispenses its normal muscular motions4 ,rodin1 draughtsman1 is as surprising and original as ,rodin1 sculptor4 ,he will study a human foot for months1 not to copy it1 but to possess the secret of its rhythms4 ,his drawings are the swift notations of a sculptor whose eye is never satisfied1 whose desire to pin on paper the most evanescent movements of the human machine is almost a mania4 ,the ,french sculptor avoids studied poses4 ,the model tumbles down anywhere1 in any contortion or relaxation he or she wishes4 ,practically instantaneous is the method adopted by ,rodin to preserve the fleeting attitudes1 the first shiver of surfaces4 ,he draws rapidly with his eye on the model4 ,it is a mere scrawl1 a few enveloping lines1 a silhouette4 ,but vitality is in it2 and for his purposes a mere memorandum of a motion4 ,a sculptor has made these extraordinary drawings not a painter4 ,it will be well to observe the distinction4 ,he is the most rhythmic sculptor of them all4 ,and rhythm is the codification of beauty4 ,because he has observed with a vision quite virginal he insists that he has affiliations with the ,greeks4 ,but if his vision is ,greek his models are ,parisian1 while his forms are more ,gothic than the pseudo-,greek of the academy4 ,as ,w4,c4 ,brownell wrote years ago3 ,rodin reveals rather than constructs beauty444 no sculptor has carried expression further2 and expression means individual character completely exhibited rather than conventionally suggested4 ,mr4 ,brownell was also the first critic to point out that ,rodin's art was more nearly related to ,donatello than to ,michael ,angelo4 ,he is in the legitimate line of ,french sculpture1 the line of ,goujon1 ,puget1 ,rude1 ,barye4 ,dalou did not hesitate to assert that the ,dante portal is one of the most1 if not the most1 original and astonishing pieces of sculpture of the nineteenth century4 ,this ,dante ,gate1 begun more than twenty years ago1 not finished yet1 and probably never to be1 is an astounding fugue1 with death1 the devil1 hell1 and the passions as a horribly beautiful four-voiced theme4 ,i saw the composition a few years ago at the ,rue de l',universit atelier4 ,it is as terrifying a conception as the ,last ,judgment2 nor does it miss the sonorous and sorrowful grandeur of the ,medici ,tombs4 ,yet how different1 how feverish1 how tragic6 ,like all great men working in the grip of a unifying idea1 ,rodin modified the old technique of sculpture so that it would serve him as plastically as does sound a musical composer4 ,a deep lover of music1 his inner ear may dictate the vibrating rhythms of his forms--his marbles are ever musical2 not frozen music as ,goethe said of ,gothic architecture1 but silent swooning music4 ,this gate is a ,frieze of ,paris1 as deeply significant of modern aspiration and sorrow as the ,parthenon ,frieze is the symbol of the great clear beauty of ,hellas4 ,dante inspired this monstrous and ennobled masterpiece1 but ,baudelaire filled many of its chinks and crannies with writhing ignoble shapes2 shapes of dusky fire that1 as they tremulously stand above the gulf of fears1 wave ineffectual desperate hands4 ,heine in his ,deutschland asks3 ,kennst du die ,hlle des ,dante nicht1 ,die schreckliche ,terzetten8 ,wen da der ,dichter hineingesperrt ,den kann kein ,gott mehr retten4 ,and from the singing flames of ,rodin there is no rescue4 ,but he is not all tragedy and hell fire4 ,of singular delicacy1 of exquisite proportions are his marbles of youth1 of springtide1 and the desire of life4 ,in #aijj1 at his special exhibition1 ,paris1 ,europe1 and ,america awoke to these haunting visions4 ,not since ,keats or ,swinburne has love been sung so sweetly1 so romantically1 so fiercely4 ,though he disclaims understanding the ,celtic spirit1 one could say that there is ,celtic magic1 ,celtic mystery in his work4 ,he pierces to the core the frenzy and joy of love and translates them in beautiful symbols4 ,nature is for him the sole theme2 his works are but variations on her promptings4 ,he knows the emerald route and all the semitones of sensuousness4 ,fantasy1 passion1 even paroxysmal madness there are2 yet what elemental power in his ,adam as the gigantic first homo painfully heaves himself up from the earth to that posture which differentiates him from the beasts4 ,here1 indeed1 the two natures are at strife4 ,and ,mother ,eve1 her expression suggesting the sorrows and shames that are to be the lot of her seed2 her very loins seem crushed by the ages that are hidden within them4 ,you may walk freely about the burghers of ,calais1 as did ,rodin when he modelled them2 that is one secret of the group's vital quality4 ,about all his statues you may walk--he is not a sculptor of one attitude1 but a hewer of men and women4 ,consider the ,balzac4 ,it is not ,balzac the writer of novels1 but ,balzac the prophet1 the seer1 the great natural force--like ,rodin himself4 ,that is why these kindred spirits converse across the years1 as do the ,alpine peaks in that striking parable of ,turgenieff's4 ,no doubt in bronze the ,balzac will arouse less wrath from the unimaginative2 in plaster it produces the effect of some surging monolith of snow4 ,as a portraitist of his contemporaries ,rodin is the unique master of character4 ,his women are gracious1 delicious masks2 his men cover many octaves in virility and variety4 ,that he is extremely short-sighted has not been dealt with in proportion to the significance of this fact4 ,it accounts for his love of exaggerated surfaces1 his formless extravagance1 his indefiniteness in structural design2 possibly1 too1 for his inability1 or let us say lack of sympathy1 for the monumental4 ,he is essentially a sculptor of the intimate emotions2 he delineates passion as a psychologist2 and while we think of him as a cyclops wielding a huge hammer destructively1 he is often ardent in his search of subtle nuance4 ,but there is breadth even when he models an eyelid4 ,size is only relative4 ,we are confronted by the paradox of an artist as torrential1 as apocalyptic as ,rubens and ,wagner1 carving with a style wholly charming a segment of a baby's back so that you exclaim1 ,donatello come to life6 ,his slow1 defective vision1 then1 may have been his salvation2 he seems to rely as much on his delicate tactile sense as on his eyes4 ,his fingers are as sensitive as a violinist's4 ,at times he seems to model tone and colour4 ,a marvellous poet1 a precise sober workman of art1 with a peasant strain in him like ,millet1 and1 like ,millet1 very near to the soil2 a natural man1 yet crossed by nature with a perverse strain2 the possessor of a sensibility exalted1 and dolorous2 morbid1 sick-nerved1 and as introspective as ,heine2 a visionary and a lover of life1 very close to the periphery of things2 an interpreter of ,baudelaire2 ,dante's alter ego in his vast grasp of the wheel of eternity1 in his passionate fling at nature2 withal a sculptor1 always profound and tortured1 translating rhythm and motion into the terms of sculpture4 ,rodin is a statuary who1 while having affinities with both the classic and romantic schools1 is the most startling artistic apparition of his century4 ,and to the century he has summed up so plastically and emotionally he has also propounded questions that only the unborn years may answer4 ,he has a hundred faults to which he opposes one imperious excellence--a genius1 sombre1 magical1 and overwhelming4 ,v4 ,,eug,,ne ,,carri,,re ,death has consecrated the genius of three great painters happily neglected and persecuted during their lifetime--,manet1 ,monticelli1 and ,carrire4 ,though furiously opposed1 ,manet was admitted to the ,luxembourg by the conditions of the ,caillebotte legacy4 ,there that ironic masterpiece1 ,olympe--otherwise known as the ,cat and ,cocotte--has hung for the edification of intelligent amateurs1 though it was only a bequest of triumphant hatred in official eyes4 ,and now the lady with her cat and negress is in the ,louvre1 in which sacrosanct region she1 with her meagre1 subtle figure1 competes among the masterpieces4 ,yet there were few dissenting voices4 ,despite its temperamental oscillations ,france is at bottom sound in the matter of art4 ,genius may starve1 but genius once recognised1 the apotheosis is logically bound to follow4 ,no fear of halls of fame with a ,french ,poe absent4 ,eugne ,carrire was more fortunate than his two famous predecessors4 ,he toiled and suffered hardship1 but before his death he was officially acknowledged though never altogether approved by the ,salon in which he exhibited2 approved or understood4 ,he fought under no banner4 ,he was not an impressionist4 ,he was not a realist4 ,certainly he could be claimed by neither the classics nor romantics4 ,a solitary they agreed to call him2 but his is not the hermetic art of such a solitary as ,gustave ,moreau4 ,carrire1 on the contrary1 was a man of marked social impulses1 and when in #ahhi he received the ,legion of ,honour1 he was enabled to mingle with his equals--he had been almost unknown until then4 ,he was the most progressive spirit among his brethren4 ,nowadays he is classed as an ,intimist1 in which category and with such men as ,simon ,bussy1 ,mnard1 ,henri le ,sidaner1 ,emile ,wry1 ,charles ,cottet1 ,lucien ,simon1 ,edouard ,vuillard1 the ,griveaus1 ,lomont1 ,lobre1 and others1 he is still their master1 still the possessor of a highly individualised style1 and in portraiture the successor to such diverse painters as ,prudhon1 ,ricard1 and ,whistler4 ,gabriel ,seailles has written a study1 ,eugne ,carrire1 l',homme et l',artiste1 and ,charles ,morice has published another1 ,eugne ,carrire4 ,the latter deals with the personality and ideas of one of the most original thinkers among modern ,french painters4 ,we have spoken of the acerbity of ,degas1 of his wit1 so often borrowed by ,whistler and ,manet2 we have read ,eugne ,fromentin's delightful1 stimulating studies of the old masters1 but we doubt if ,fromentin was as profound a thinker as ,carrire4 ,degas is not1 though he deals in a more acid and dangerous form of aphorism4 ,it is one of the charms of the eulogy of ,m4 ,morice to find embalmed therein so many phrases and speeches of the dead painter4 ,he was both poet and philosopher1 let us call him a seer1 for his work fully bears out this appellation4 ,a grand visionary1 he well deserves ,jean ,dolent's description of his pictures as realities having the magic of a dream4 ,carrire's career was in no wise extraordinary4 ,he fled to no exotic climes as did ,paul ,gauguin4 ,his only tragedy was the manner of his death4 ,for three years previous he suffered the agonies of a cancer4 ,his bravery was admirable4 ,no one heard him complain4 ,he worked to the last1 worked as he had worked his life long1 untiringly4 ,morice gives a succinct biography at the close of his study4 ,from it we learn that ,eugne ,carrire was born ,january #bi1 #ahdi1 at ,gournay 7,seine-,infrieure72 that he made his first steps in art at the ,strasbourg ,academy2 in #ahfi he entered the ,beaux-,arts1 in ,cabanel's class4 ,penniless1 he earned a precarious existence in designing industrial objects4 ,in #ahgj he was made prisoner by the ,prussians1 with the garrison of ,neuf-,brisach1 and taken to ,dresden1 where he was confined in prison4 ,after peace had been declared he resumed his studies at the ,beaux-,arts4 ,in #ahgg he married--an important event in his art2 thenceforward ,madame ,carrire and the children born to them were his continual models1 both by preference and also by force of circumstances--he was too poor in the beginning to hire professional models4 ,he spent six months in ,london1 which may or may not account for his brumous colour2 and in #ahgi1 when he was thirty years old1 he exposed in the ,salon of that year his ,young ,mother1 the first of a long series of ,maternities4 ,he was violently attacked by the critics1 and as violently defended4 ,during the same year he attempted to win the prix de ,rome and gained honours for his sketch4 ,luckily he did not attain this prize2 and1 still more luck1 he left the school4 ,in #ahhd he received an honourable mention for a child's portrait2 in #ahhe a medal for his ,sick ,child1 bought by the ,state2 in #ahhf ,le ,premier voile was bought by the ,state and he was proposed for a medal of honour and--singular dream of ,frenchmen--he was decorated in #ahhi4 ,he died ,march #bg1 #aijf4 ,not a long1 but a full life1 a happy one1 and at the last1 glory--le soleil des morts1 as ,balzac said--and a competence for his dear ones4 ,and it is to the honour of such writers as ,roger ,marx1 ,anatole ,france1 ,hamel1 ,morice1 ,mauclair1 ,verhaeren1 ,geffroy1 that they recognised the genius of ,carrire from the beginning4 ,in #aijd ,carrire was made honorary president of the ,autumn ,salon and was the chief guest of these young painters1 who really adored ,paul ,czanne1 and not the painter of an illusive psychology4 ,i wrote at that time3 ,carrire1 whose delicately clouded portraits1 so intimate in their revelation of the souls of his sitters1 was not seen at his best4 ,he offered a large decorative panel for the ,mairie of the ,thirteenth ,arrondissement1 entitled ,les ,fiancs1 a sad-looking betrothal party 444 the landscape timid1 the decorative scheme not very effective444 ,his tender notations of maternity1 and his heads1 painted with the smoky enchantments of his pearly gray and soft russet1 are more credible than this panneau4 ,was ,carrire a decorative painter by nature--setting aside training8 ,we doubt it1 though ,morice does not hesitate to name him after ,puvis de ,chavannes in this field4 ,the trouble is that he did not make many excursions into the larger forms4 ,he painted a huge canvas1 ,les ,thtres ,populaires1 in which the interest is more intimate than epical4 ,he also did some decorations for the ,hotel de ,ville1 ,the ,four ,ages for a ,mairie1 and the ,christ at the ,luxembourg and a view of ,paris4 ,nevertheless1 it is his portraits that will live4 ,carrire was1 first and last1 a symbolist4 ,there he is related to the ,dutch ,seer1 ,rembrandt2 both men strove to seek for the eternal correspondence of things material and spiritual2 both sought to bring into harmony the dissonance of flesh and the spirit4 ,both succeeded1 each in his own way--though we need not couple their efforts on the technical side4 ,rembrandt was a prophet4 ,there is more of the reflective poet in ,carrire4 ,he is a mystic4 ,his mothers1 his children1 are dreams made real--the magic of which ,dolent speaks is always there4 ,to disengage the personality of his sitter was his first idea4 ,slowly he built up those volumes of colour1 light1 and shadow1 the solidity of which caused ,rodin to exclaim3 ,carrire is also a sculptor6 ,slowly and from the most unwilling sitter he extorted the secret of a soul4 ,we speak of ,john ,sargent as the master psychologist among portraitists1 a superiority he himself has never assumed2 but that magnificent virtuoso1 an aristocratic ,frans ,hals1 never gives us the indefinite sense of things mystic beneath the epidermis of poor1 struggling humanity as does ,eugne ,carrire4 ,sargent is too magisterial a painter to dwell upon the infinite little soul-stigmata of men and women4 ,who can tell the renunciations made by the ,frenchman in his endeavour to wrest the enigma of personality from its abysmal depths8 ,as ,canaille ,mauclair says3 ,carrire was first influenced by the ,spaniards1 then by ,ver ,meer and ,chardin 444 formerly he coloured his canvas with exquisite delicacy and with a distinction of harmonies that came very near to ,whistler's4 ,now he confines himself to bistre1 black and white1 to evoke those dream pictures1 true images of souls1 which make him inimitable in our epoch and go back to ,rembrandt's chiaroscuro4 ,colour went by the board at the last1 and the painter was dominated by expression alone4 ,his gamut of tones became contracted4 ,physical magnetism is exactly the phrase that illuminates his later methods4 ,often cavernous in tone1 sooty in his blacks1 he nevertheless contrives a fluid atmosphere1 the shadows floating1 the figure floating1 that arrests instant attention4 ,he became almost sculptural1 handled his planes with imposing breadth1 his sense of values was strong1 his gradations and degradation of tones masterly2 and he escaped the influences of the new men in their researches after luminosity at all hazards4 ,he considered impressionism a transition2 after purifying muddy palettes of the academics1 the division-of-tones painters must necessarily return to lofty composition1 to a poetic simplicity with nature1 to a more rarefied psychology4 ,carrire1 notwithstanding his nocturnal reveries1 his sombre colouring1 was not a pessimist4 ,indeed1 the reverse4 ,his philosophy of life was exalted--an exalted socialism4 ,he was1 to employ ,nietzsche's pithy phrase1 a ,yes-,sayer2 he said ,yes to the universe4 ,a man of vigorous affirmations1 he worshipped nature1 not for its pictorial aspects1 but for the god which is the leaf and rock and animal1 for the god that beats in our pulses and shines in the clear sunlight4 ,nor was it vague1 windy pantheism1 this2 he was a believer--a glance at his ,christ reveals his reverence for the ,man of ,sorrows--and his religious love and pity for mankind was only excelled by his hatred of wrong and oppression4 ,he detested cruelty4 ,his canvases of childhood1 in which he exposes the most evanescent gesture1 exposes the unconscious helplessness of babyhood1 are so many tracts--if you choose to see them after that fashion--in behalf of mercy to all tender and living things4 ,he is not1 however1 a sentimentalist4 ,his family groups prove the absence of theatrical pity4 ,because of his subtle technical method1 his manner of building up his heads in a misty medium and then abstracting their physical non-essentials1 his portraits have a metaphysical meaning--they are a ,becoming1 not a ,being1 tangible though they be4 ,their fluid rhythms lend to them almost the quality of a perpetual rejuvenescence4 ,this may be an illusion1 but it tells us of the primary intensity of the painter's vision4 ,withal1 there is no scene of the merely spectral1 no optical trickery4 ,the waves of light are magnetic4 ,the picture floats in space1 seemingly compelled by its frame into limits4 ,gustave ,geffroy once wrote that1 in common with the great masters1 ,carrire1 on his canvas1 gives a sense of volume and weight4 ,whatever he sacrificed1 it was not actuality4 ,his draughtsmanship never falters1 his touch is never infirm4 ,i have seen his portraits of ,verlaine1 ,daudet1 ,edmond de ,goncourt1 ,geffroy1 of the artist himself and many others4 ,the ,verlaine is a veritable evocation4 ,it was painted at one sance of several hours1 and the poet1 it is said1 did not sit still or keep silence for a moment4 ,he was hardly conscious that he was being painted4 ,what a head6 ,not that of the old faun and absinthe-sipping vagabond of the ,latin quarter1 but the soul that lurked somewhere in ,verlaine2 the dreamer1 not the mystifier1 the man crucified to the cross of aspiration by his unhappy temperament4 ,musician and child1 here is the head of one of those pious1 irresponsible mendicants who walked dusty roads in the ,middle ,ages4 ,it needed an unusual painter to interpret an unusual poet4 ,the ,daudet face is not alone full of surface character1 but explains the racial affinities of the romancer4 ,here he is ,david1 not ,daudet4 ,the head of ,de ,goncourt gives in a few touches--,carrire is ever master of the essential--the irritable pontiff of literary impressionism4 ,carrire was fond of repeating3 ,for the artist the forms evoke ideas1 sensations1 and sentiments2 for the poet1 sensations1 ideas1 sentiments evoke forms4 ,never expansively lyrical as was ,monticelli1 ,carrire declared that a picture is the logical development of light4 ,and on the external side his art is a continual variation with light as a theme4 ,morice contends that he was a colourist2 that the blond of ,rubens and the russet of ,carrire are not monochromes2 that polychromy is not the true way of seeing nature coloured4 ,certainly ,carrire does not sacrifice style1 expression1 composition for splashing hues4 ,yet his illuminating strokes appear to proceed from within1 not from without4 ,he interrogates nature1 but her answer is a sober1 not a brilliant one4 ,let us rather say that his colouring is adequate--he always asserted that a sense of proportion was success in art4 ,his tone is peculiarly personal2 he paints expressions1 the fleeting shades that cross the face of a man1 a woman1 a child4 ,he patiently awaits the master trait of a soul and never misses it1 though never displaying it with the happy cruelty of ,sargent and always judging mercifully4 ,notwithstanding his humble attitude in the presence of nature1 he is the most self-revealing of painters4 ,few before him ever interpreted maternity as he has done4 ,carrire is not a virtuoso4 ,he is an initiator--a man of rare imagination4 ,above all1 he escapes the rhetoric of the schools4 ,his apprehension of character is that of sympathetic genius4 ,he divines the emotions1 especially in those souls made melancholy by sorrow2 uneasy1 complex1 feverish souls2 them that hide their griefs1 and souls saturated with the ennuis of existence--to all he is interpreter and consoler4 ,he has pictured the ,weltschmerz of his age2 and without morbid self-enjoyment4 ,a noble soul1 an elevating example to those artists who believe that art and life may be dissociated4 ,carrire has left no school1 though his spiritual influence has been great4 ,a self-contained artist1 going his own way1 meditating deeply on art1 on life1 his canvases stand for his singleness and purity of purpose4 ,on the purely pictorial side he is1 to quote ,m4 ,mauclair1 an absolutely surprising painter of hands and glances4 ,in the sad and anxious rectitude of his attire the artistic interest in modern man is concentrated upon his head and hands2 and upon these salient points ,carrire focussed his art4 ,peaceful or disquieted1 his men and women belong to our century4 ,spiritually ,eugne ,carrire is the lineal descendant of the ,rembrandt school--but one who has read ,dostoevsky4 ,,vi4 ,,degas ,let us suppose that gay old misogynist ,arthur ,schopenhauer persuaded to cross the ,styx and revisiting the earth4 ,apart from his disgust if forced to listen to the music of his self-elected disciple ,richard ,wagner1 what painted work would be likely to attract him8 ,remember he it was who named ,woman the knock-kneed sex--since the new woman is here it matters little if her figure conforms to old-fashioned1 stupid1 masculine standards of beauty4 ,but wouldn't the nudes of ,degas confirm the ,frankfort philosopher in his theories regarding the long-haired1 short-brained1 unsthetic sex1 and also confirm his hatred for the exaggerations of poet and painter when describing or depicting her8 ,we fear that ,schopenhauer would smile his malicious smile and exclaim3 ,at last the humble truth6 ,it is the presentation of the humble truth that early snared the affections of ,degas1 who has with a passionate calm pursued the evanescent appearances of things his entire life4 ,no doubt death will find him pencil in hand4 ,you think of ,hokusai1 the old man mad with paint1 when the name of ,degas is mentioned4 ,he was born in ,paris ,july #ai1 #ahcd--;his full name is ,hilaire ,germain ,edgard 7or ,edgar7--and there is one phrase that will best describe his career3 ,he painted4 ,like ,flaubert1 he never married1 but lived in companionship with his art4 ,such a mania could have been described by ,balzac4 ,yet no saner art ever issued from a ,parisian atelier2 sane1 clear1 and beautiful4 ,degas is a painter's painter4 ,for him the subject is a peg upon which to hang superb workmanship4 ,in amazement the public asked3 ,how could a man in the possession of his powers shut himself up in a studio to paint ballet girls1 washerwomen1 jockeys1 drabs of ,montmartre1 shopgirls1 and horses8 ,even ,zola1 who should have known better1 would not admit that ,degas was an artist fit to be compared with such men as ,flaubert and ,goncourt2 but ,zola was never the realist that is ,degas4 ,now it is difficult to keep asunder the names of ,goncourt and ,degas4 ,to us they are too often unwisely bracketed4 ,the style of the painter has been judged as analogous to the novelist's2 yet1 apart from a preference for the same subjects for the modernity of ,paris1 there is not much in ,degas that recalls ,goncourt's staccato1 febrile1 sparkling1 decomposed1 impressionistic prose4 ,both men are brilliant1 though not in the same way4 ,pyrotechnics are abhorrent to ,degas4 ,he has the serenity1 sobriety1 and impersonality of the great classic painters4 ,he is himself a classic4 ,his legend is slender4 ,possessing a private income1 he never was preoccupied with the anxieties of selling his work4 ,he first entered the atelier of ,lamotte1 but his stay was brief4 ,in the studio of ,ingres he was1 so ,george ,moore declares1 the student who carried out the lifeless body of the painter when ,ingres fell in his fatal fit4 ,there is something peculiarly interesting about this anecdote for the tradition of ,ingres has been carried on by ,degas4 ,the greatest master of pure line1 in his portraits and nudes--we have forgotten his chilly pastiches of ,raphael--of the past century1 ,ingres has been and still is for ,degas a god on the peaks of ,parnassus4 ,degas is an ,ingres who has studied the ,japanese4 ,only such men as ,pollajuolo and ,botticelli rank with ,degas in the mastery of rhythmic line4 ,he is not academic1 yet he stems from purest academic traditions4 ,he is not of the impressionists1 at least not in his technical processes1 but he associated with them1 exhibited with them 7though rarely71 and is as a rule confused with them4 ,he never exhibited in the ,salons1 he has no disciples1 yet it is doubtful if any painter's fashion of seeing things has had such an influence on the generation following him4 ,the name of ,degas1 the pastels of ,degas1 the miraculous draughtsmanship of ,degas created an imponderable fluid which still permeates ,paris4 ,naturally1 after the egg trick was discovered we encounter scores of young ,columbuses1 who paint ballet girls' legs and the heads of orchestral musicians and scenes from the racing paddock4 ,degas had three painters who1 if any1 might truthfully call themselves his pupils4 ,these are ,mary ,cassatt1 ,alexis ,rouart1 and ,forain4 ,the first has achieved solid fame4 ,the last is a remarkable illustrator1 who vulgarised the austere methods of his master for popular ,parisian consumption4 ,that ,renoir1 ,raffaelli1 and ,toulouse-,lautrec owe much to ,degas is the secret of ,polichinello4 ,this patient student of the ,tuscan ,primitives1 of ,holbein1 ,chardin1 ,delacroix1 ,ingres1 and ,manet--the precepts of ,manet taught him to sweeten the wiriness of his modelling and modify his tendency to a certain hardness--was willing to trust to time for the verdict of his rare art4 ,he associated daily with ,manet1 ,monet1 ,pissarro1 ,whistler1 ,duranty1 ,fantin-,latour1 and the crowd that first went to the ,caf ,guerbois in the ,batignolles--hence the derisive nickname1 ,the ,batignolles ,school2 later to the ,nouvelle ,athnes1 finally to the ,caf de la ,rochefoucauld4 ,a hermit he was during the dozen hours a day he toiled1 but he was a sociable man1 nevertheless1 a cultured man fond of music1 possessing a tongue that was feared as much as is the ,russian knout4 ,mr4 ,moore has printed many specimens of his caustic wit4 ,whistler actually kept silent in his presence--possibly expecting a repetition of the mot3 ,my dear friend1 you conduct yourself in life just as if you had no talent at all4 ,manet good-naturedly took a browbeating1 but the ,academic set were outraged by the irreverence of ,degas4 ,what hard sayings were his6 ,poor ,bastien-,lepage1 too1 came in for a scoring4 ,barricaded in his studio1 it was a brave man who attempted to force an entrance4 ,the little1 round-shouldered artist1 generally good-tempered1 would pour a stream of verbal vitriol over the head of the unlucky impertinent4 ,in #ahfj or thereabout he visited ,america1 and in ,new ,orleans he saw the subject of his ,interior of a ,cotton ,factory1 which was shown as an historical curiosity at the ,paris exposition in #aijj4 ,while it is implacably realistic there is little hint of the future ,degas4 ,the name of the painter was in every ,french painter's mouth1 and the brilliant article of ,huysmans concentrated his fame4 ,huysmans it was who first saw that ,degas had treated the nude as ,rembrandt would if he had been alive--making allowances for temperamental variations4 ,degas knew that to grasp the true meaning of the nude it must be represented in postures1 movements which are natural1 not studio attitudes4 ,as ,monet exposed the fallacy of studio lighting1 so ,degas revealed the inanity of its poses4 ,ibsen said the stage should be a room with the fourth wall removed2 ,degas preferred the key-hole through which we seem to peep upon the privacy of his ugly females bathing or combing their hair or sleeping1 lounging1 yawning1 quarrelling1 and walking4 ,the simian and frog-like gestures and sprawling attitudes are far from arousing amiable sensations4 ,these poor1 tired women1 hard-working laundresses1 shopgirls1 are not alluring1 though they are not as hideous as the women of ,czanne or ,edvard ,mnch2 but the veracity of the human document 7overworked phrase67 is there4 ,charles ,morice has said that to ,czanne a potato was as significant as a human countenance4 ,the pattern interested him in both4 ,for ,degas the beauty of life lies in the moving line4 ,he captures with ease the swift1 unconscious gesture4 ,his models are never posed4 ,they are nature caught in the act4 ,there is said to be a difference between the epidermis of the professional model and the human who undresses only to go to bed4 ,degas has recorded this difference4 ,what an arraignment of the corset are the creased backs and gooseflesh of his nudes6 ,what lurking cynicism there is in some of his interiors6 ,voil l'animale6 he exclaims as he shows us the far from enchanting antics of some girl4 ,how ,schopenhauer would laugh at the feminine truths of ,degas6 ,without the leer of ,rops1 ,degas is thrice as unpleasant4 ,he is a douche for the romantic humbug painter1 the painter of sleek bayadres and of drawing-room portraiture4 ,pity is deeply rooted in his nature4 ,he is never tender1 yet there is veiled sympathy in the ballet-girl series4 ,behind the scenes1 in the waiting-rooms1 at rehearsal1 going home with the hawk-eyed mother1 his girls are all painfully real4 ,no glamour of the foot-lights1 generally the prosaic side of their life4 ,he has1 however1 painted the glorification of the danseuse1 of that lady grandiloquently described as prima donna assoluta4 ,what magic he evokes as he pictures her floating down stage6 ,the pastel in the ,luxembourg1 ,l',etoile1 is the reincarnation of the precise moment when the aerial creature on one foot lifts graceful arms and is transfigured in the glow of the lights1 while about her beats--you are sure--the noisy1 insistent music4 ,it is in the pinning down of such climaxes of movement that ,degas stirs our admiration4 ,he draws movement4 ,he can paint rhythms4 ,his canvases are ever in modulation4 ,his sense of tactile values is profound4 ,his is true atmospheric colour4 ,a feeling of exhilaration comes while contemplating one of his open-air scenes with jockeys1 race-horses1 and the incidental bustle of a neighbouring concourse4 ,unexcelled as a painter of horses1 as a delineator of witching horsemanship1 of vivid landscapes--true integral decorations--and of the casual movements and gestures of common folk1 ,degas is also a psychologist1 an ironical commentator on the pettiness and ugliness of daily life1 of its unheroic aspects1 its comical snobberies and shocking hypocrisies2 and all expressed without a melodramatic elevation of the voice1 without the false sentimentalism of ,zola or the morbidities of ,toulouse-,lautrec4 ,there is much ,baudelaire in ,degas1 as there is also in ,rodin4 ,all three men despised academic rhetoric2 all three dealt with new material in a new manner4 ,it is the fashion to admire ,degas1 but it is doubtful if he will ever gain the suffrage of the general4 ,he does not retail anecdotes1 though to the imaginative every line of his nudes relates their history4 ,his irony is unremitting4 ,it suffuses the ballet-girl series and the nude sets4 ,irony is an illuminating mode1 but it is seldom pleasant2 the public is always suspicious of an ironist1 particularly of the ,degas variety4 ,careless of reputation1 laughing at the vanity of his contemporaries who were eager to arrive1 contemptuous of critics and criticism1 of collectors who buy low to sell high 7in the heart of every picture collector there is a bargain counter71 ,degas has defied the artistic world for a half-century4 ,his genius compelled the ,mountain to come to ,mahomet4 ,the rhythmic articulations1 the volume1 contours1 and bounding supple line of ,degas are the despair of artists4 ,like the ,japanese1 he indulges in abridgments1 deformations1 falsifications4 ,his enormous faculty of attention has counted heavily in his synthetical canvases4 ,he joys in the representation of artificial light2 his theatres are flooded with it1 and he is equally successful in creating the illusion of cold1 cheerless daylight in a salle where rehearse the little rats and the older coryphes on their wiry1 muscular1 ugly legs4 ,his vast production is dominated by his nervous1 resilient vital line and by supremacy in the handling of values4 ,the ,degas palette is never gorgeous1 consisting as it does of cool grays1 discreet blues and greens1 ,chardin-like whites and ,manet-blacks4 ,his procedure is all his own4 ,his second manner is a combination of drawing1 painting1 and pastel4 ,he has invented a kind of engraving mixed with wash drawing1 pastel crayon crushed with brushes of special pattern4 ,,vii4 ,,botticelli ,the common identity of the arts was a master theory of ,richard ,wagner1 which he attempted to put into practice4 ,walter ,pater in his essay on ,the ,school of ,giorgione has dwelt upon the same theme1 declaring music the archetype of the arts4 ,in his ,essays ,speculative ,john ,addington ,symonds said some pertinent things on this subject4 ,camille ,mauclair in his ,ides ,vivantes proposes in all seriousness a scheme for the fusion of the seven arts1 though he deplored ,wagner's efforts to reach a solution4 ,mauclair's theory is that the fusion can only be a cerebral one1 that actually mingling sculpture1 architecture1 music1 drama1 acting1 colour1 dancing can never evoke the sensation of unity4 ,synthesis is not thus to be attained4 ,it must be in the idea of the arts rather than their material realisation4 ,a pretty chimera6 ,yet one that has piqued the world of art in almost every century4 ,it was the half-crazy ,e4,t4,w4 ,hoffmann1 composer1 dramatist1 painter1 poet1 stage manager1 and a dozen other professions1 including that of genius and drunkard1 who set off a train of ideas which buzzed in the brains of ,poe1 ,baudelaire1 and the symbolists4 ,people who hear painting1 see music1 enjoy odorous poems1 taste symphonies1 and write perfumes are now classed by the omnipotent psychical police as decadents1 though such notions are as old as literature4 ,suarez de ,mendoza in his ,l',audition ,colore has said that the sensation of colour hearing1 the faculty of associating tones and colours1 is often a consequence of an association of ideas established in youth4 ,the coloured vowels of ,arthur ,rimbaud1 which must be taken as a poet's crazy prank2 the elaborate treatises by ,ren ,ghil1 which are terribly earnest2 the remarks that one often hears1 such as scarlet is like a trumpet blast2 certain pages of ,huysmans1 all furnish examples of this curious muddling of the senses and mixing of genres4 ,naturally1 it has invaded criticism1 which1 limited in imagery1 sometimes seeks to transfer the technical terms of one art to another4 ,whistler with his nocturnes1 notes1 symphonies in rose and silver1 his colour-sonatas1 boldly annexed well-worn musical phrases1 that in their new estate took on fresher meanings even if remaining knee-deep in the kingdom of the nebulous4 ,it must be confessed modern composers have retaliated4 ,musical impressionism is having its vogue1 while poets are desperately pictorial4 ,soul landscapes and etched sonnets are not unpleasing to the ear4 ,what if they do not mean much8 ,there was a time when to say a sweet voice would arouse a smile4 ,what has sugar to do with sound8 ,it may be erratic symbolism1 this confusing of terminologies2 yet1 once in a while1 it strikes sparks4 ,there is a deeply rooted feeling in us that the arts have a common matrix1 that they are emotionally akin4 ,her slow smile in fiction has had marked success with young people1 but a slow landscape is still regarded suspiciously4 ,the bravest critic of art was ,huysmans4 ,he pitched pell-mell into the hell-broth of his criticism any image that assaulted his fecund brain4 ,he forced one to see his picture--for he was primarily concerned not with the ear1 but the eye4 ,and ,botticelli8 ,was ,botticelli a comprehensive--as those with the sixth or synthetic sense have been named by ,lombroso8 ,botticelli1 beginning as a goldsmith's apprentice 7,botticello1 the little bottle71 ended as a painter1 the most original in all ,italy4 ,his canvases have a rare1 mysterious power of evocation4 ,he was a visionary1 this ,sandro ,filipepi1 pupil of the mercurial ,fra ,lippo ,lippi and the brothers ,pollajuolo1 and his inward vision must have been something more than paint and pattern and subject4 ,a palimpsest may be discerned by the imaginative--or1 let us say1 fanciful1 since ,coleridge long ago set forth the categories--whose secrets are not to be deciphered easily1 yet are something more than those portrayed by the artist on the flat surface of his picture4 ,he painted the usual number of ,madonnas1 like any artist of his period2 yet he did not convince his world1 or the generations succeeding1 that this piety was orthodox4 ,suspected during his lifetime of strange heresies1 this annotator and illustrator of ,dante1 this disciple of ,savonarola1 has in our times been definitely ranged as a spirit saturated with paganism1 and still a mystic4 ,doesn't the perverse clash in such a complex temperament give us exotic dissonances8 ,all ,florence was a sounding-board of the arts when ,botticelli walked its narrow ways and lived its splendid coloured life4 ,his sensitive nature absorbed as a sponge does water the impulses and motives of his contemporaries4 ,the lurking secrets of the new learning--doctrines that made for damnation1 such as the recrudescence of the medival conception of an angelic neuter host1 neither for ,heaven nor ,hell1 not on the side of ,lucifer nor with the starry hosts--were said to have been mirrored in his pictures4 ,its note is in ,citt di ,vita1 in the heresy of the ,albigenses1 and it goes as far back as ,origen4 ,those who read his paintings1 and there were clairvoyant theologians abroad in ,florence1 could make of them what they would4 ,painted music is less understandable than painted heresy4 ,matteo ,palmieri is said to have dragged ,botticelli with him into dark corners of disbelief2 there was in the ,medicean days a cruel order of intelligence that delighted to toy with the vital faith and ideals of the young4 ,it was more savage and cunning when ,machiavelli1 shrewdest of men1 wrote and lived4 ,a nature like ,botticelli's1 which surrendered frankly to ideas if they but wore the mask of subtlety1 could not fail to have been swept away in the eddying cross-currents of ,florentine intellectual movements4 ,never mere instinct1 for he was a sexless sort of man1 moved him from his moral anchorage4 ,always the vision6 ,he did not palter with the voluptuousness of his fellow-artists1 yet his canvases are feverishly disquieting2 the sting of the flesh is remote2 love is transfigured1 not spiritually and not served to us as a barren parable1 but made more intense by the breaking down of the thin partition between the sexes2 a consuming emotion not quite of this world nor of the next4 ,the barren rebellion which stirred ,botticelli's bosom never quite assumed the concrete4 ,his religious subjects are ,hellenised1 not after ,mantegna's sterner and more inflexible method1 but like those of a philosophic ,athenian who has read and comprehended ,dante4 ,yet the illustrations show us a different ,dante1 one who would not have altogether pleased the gloomy exile4 ,william ,blake's transpositions of the ,divine ,comedy seem to sound the depths2 ,botticelli1 notwithstanding the grace of his baby centaurs and the wreathed car of ,beatrice1 is the profounder man of the two4 ,his life1 veiled toward the last1 was not a happy one1 though he was recognised as a great painter4 ,watteau concealed some cankering secret2 so ,botticelli4 ,both belong to the band of the ,disquieted4 ,melancholy was at the base of the ,florentine's work4 ,he created as a young man in joy and freedom1 but the wings of ,drer's bat were outstretched over his head3 ,melencolia6 ,there is more poignant music in the ,primavera1 in the weary1 indifferent countenances of his lean1 neuropathic ,madonnas--,pater calls them peevish--in his ,venus of the ,uffizi1 than in the paintings of any other ,renaissance artist4 ,the veils are there1 the consoling veils of an exquisite art missing in the lacerated realistic holy people of the ,flemish ,primitives4 ,joyfulness cannot be denied ,botticelli1 but it is not the golden joy of ,giorgione4 ,an emaciated music emanates from the eyes of that sad1 restless ,venus1 to whom love has become a scourge of the senses4 ,music8 ,yes1 here is the coloured hearing of ,mendoza4 ,these canvases of ,botticelli seem to give forth the opalescent over-tones of an unearthly composition4 ,is this ,spring1 this tender1 tremulous virgin whose right hand1 deprecatingly raised1 signals as a conductor at the head of an invisible orchestra its rhythms8 ,hermes1 supremely impassive1 hand on thigh1 plucks the fruit as the eternal trio of maidens with woven paces tread the measures of a dance whose music we but overhear4 ,garlanded with blossoms1 a glorious girl keeps time with the pulsing atmospheric moods2 her gesture1 surely a divine one1 shows her casting flowers upon the richly embroidered floor of the earth4 ,the light filters through the thick trees2 its rifts are as rigid as candles4 ,the nymph in the brake is threatening4 ,another epicene creature flies by her4 ,love shoots his bolt in midair4 ,is it from ,paphos or ,mitylene6 ,what the fable6 ,music plucked down from the vibrating skies and made visible to the senses4 ,a mere masque laden with the sweet1 prim allegories of the day it is not4 ,vasari1 blunt soul1 saw but its surfaces4 ,politian1 the poet1 got closer to the core4 ,centuries later our perceptions1 sharpened by the stations of pain and experience traversed1 lend to this immortal canvas a more sympathetic1 less literal interpretation4 ,music1 too1 in the ,anadyomene of the ,uffizi4 ,still stranger music4 ,those sudden little waves that lap an immemorial strand2 that shimmering shell1 its fan-spokes converging to the parted feet of the goddess2 her hieratic pose1 its modesty symbolic1 the hair that serpentines about her foam-born face1 thin shoulders that slope into delicious arms2 the ,japanese group1 blowing tiny1 gem-like buds with puffed-out cheeks2 the rhythmic female on tiptoe offering her mantle to ,venus2 and enveloping them all vernal breezes1 unseen1 yet sensed on every inch of the canvas--what are these things but the music of an art original at its birth and never since reborn8 ,the larger rhythms of the greater men do not sweep us along with them in ,botticelli4 ,but his voice is irresistible4 ,modern as is his spirit1 as modern as ,watteau1 ,chopin1 or ,shelley1 he is no less ethereal than any one of these three2 ethereal and also realistic4 ,we may easily trace his artistic ancestry2 what he became could never have been predicted4 ,technically1 as one critic has written1 he was the first to understand the charm of silhouettes1 the first to linger in expressing the joining of the arm and body1 the flexibility of the hips1 the roundness of the shoulders1 the elegance of the leg1 the little shadow that marks the springing of the neck1 and above all the carving of the hand2 but even more he understood 'le prestige insolent des grands yeux4' ,for ,pater his colour was cold1 cadaverous1 and yet the more you come to understand what imaginative colouring really is1 that all colour is no mere delightful quality of natural things but a spirit upon them by which they become expressive to the spirit1 the better you like this peculiar quality of colour4 ,bernard ,berenson goes further4 ,for him the entire picture1 ,venus ,rising ,from the ,sea1 presents us with the quintessence of all that is pleasurable to our imagination of touch and movement444 ,the vivid appeal to our tactile sense1 the life communicating movement1 is always there4 ,and writing of the ,pallas in the ,pitti he most eloquently said3 ,as to the hair--imagine shapes having the supreme life of line you may see in the contours of licking flames and yet possessed of all the plasticity of something which caresses the hand that models it to its own desire6 ,and after speaking of ,botticelli's stimulating line1 he continues3 ,imagine an art made up entirely of these quintessences of movement-values and you will have something that holds the same relation to representation that music holds to speech--and this art exists and is called lineal decoration4 ,in this art of arts ,sandro ,botticelli may have had rivals in ,japan and elsewhere in the ,east1 but in ,europe never6444 ,he is the greatest master of lineal design that ,europe ever had4 ,again music1 not the music nor the symbolism of the emotions1 but the abstract music of design4 ,botticelli's appeal is also an auditive one4 ,other painters have spun more intricate1 more beautiful scrolls of line2 other painters sounded more sensuous colour music1 but the subtle sarabands of ,botticelli they have not composed4 ,there is here a pleasing problem for the psychiatrist4 ,manifestations in paint of this species may be set down to some mental lesion2 that is how ,maurice ,spronck classifies the sensation in writing about the verbal sensitivity of the ,goncourts and ,flaubert4 ,the latter1 you may remember1 said that ,salammbo was purple to him1 and ,l',education ,sentimentale gray4 ,carthage and ,paris--a characteristic fancy6 ,but why is it that these scientific gentlemen who account for genius by eye-strain do not reprove the poets for their sensibility to the sound of words1 the shape and cadences of the phrase8 ,it appears that only prose-men are the culpable ones when they hear the harping of invisible harps from ,ibsen steeplejacks1 or recognise the colour of ,zarathustra's thoughts4 ,in reality not one but thousands sit listening in the chill galleries of ,florence because of the sweet1 sick1 nervous music of ,botticelli2 this testimony of the years is for the dissenters to explain4 ,fantastico1 ,stravaganie1 as ,vasari nicknamed ,botticelli1 has literally created an audience that has learned to see as he did1 fantastically and extravagantly4 ,he passed through the three stages dear to arbitrary criticism4 ,serene in his youthful years2 troubled1 voluptuous1 visionary during the ,medicean period2 sombre1 mystic1 a convert to ,savonarola at the end4 ,he passed through1 not untouched1 a great crisis4 ,certain political assassinations and the ,pazzi conspiracy hurt him to the quick4 ,he noted the turbulence of ,rome and ,florence1 saw behind the gay-tinted arras of the ,renaissance the sinister figures of its supermen and criminals4 ,he never married4 ,when ,tommaso ,soderini begged him to take a wife1 he responded3 ,the other night ,i dreamed ,i was married4 ,i awoke in such horror and chagrin that ,i could not fall asleep again4 ,i arose and wandered about ,florence like one possessed4 ,evidently not intended by nature as a husband or father4 ,like ,watteau1 like ,nietzsche1 grand visionaries abiding on the other side of the dear common joys of life1 these men were not tempted by the usual baits of happiness4 ,the great ,calumnia in the ,uffizi might be construed as an image of ,botticelli's soul4 ,truth1 naked and scorned--again we note the matchless silhouette of his ,venus--misunderstood and calumniated1 stands in the hall of a great palace4 ,she points to the heavens2 she is an interrogation mark1 ,pilate's question4 ,botticelli was adored4 ,but understood8 ,an enigmatic malady ravaged his being4 ,he died poor and alone1 did this composer of luminous chants and pagan poems1 this moulder of exotic dreams and of angels who long for other gods than those of ,good and ,evil4 ,a grievously wounded1 timid soul1 an intruder at the portals of paradise1 but without the courage to enter or withdraw4 ,he had visions that rapt him up into the seventh heaven1 and when he reported them in the speech of his design his harassed1 divided spirit chilled the ardours of his art4 ,and thus it is that many do not worship at his shrine as at the shrine of ,raphael1 for they see the adumbration of a paganism long since dead1 but revived by a miracle for a brief ,botticellian hour4 ,madonna and ,venus6 ,the ,christ ,child and ,bacchus6 ,under which king8 ,the artist never frankly tells us4 ,the legends of fauns turned monks1 of the gods at servile labour in a world that had forgotten them1 are revived1 but with more sublimated ecstasy than by ,heine1 when we stand before ,botticelli and listen to his pallid1 muted music4 ,he was born at ,florence in #addf2 he died ,may #bg1 #aeaj2 in #aeae1 according to ,vasari4 ,a study of him is by ,emile ,gebhart1 late of the ,french ,academy4 ,it is erudite1 although oddly enough it ignores the researches of ,morelli and ,berenson4 ,gebhart attributes to ,alessandro di ,mariano ,filipepi about eighty-five pictures1 many of which were long ago in ,morelli's taboo list--that terrible ,morelli1 the learned iconoclast who brought many sleepless nights to ,dr4 ,wilhelm ,bode of ,berlin4 ,time has vindicated the ,bergamese critic4 ,berenson will allow only forty-five originals to ,botticelli's credit4 ,furthermore1 ,gebhart does not mention in his catalogue the two ,botticellis belonging to ,mrs4 ,gardner of ,boston1 a lamentable oversight for a volume brought out in #aijg4 ,need we add that this ,french author by no means sees ,botticelli in the musical sense8 ,he is chiefly concerned with his historic environment4 ,gebhart's authorities are the ,memoriale of ,francesco ,albertini2 ,anonyme ,gaddiano1 the manuscript of the ,magliabecchiana1 which precedes the ,vasari edition2 the ,life of ,botticelli1 by ,vasari1 and many later studies1 the most complete1 he avers1 being that of ,hermann ,ulmann of ,munich1 whose ,sandro ,botticelli1 which appeared in #ahic1 is rigorously critical4 ,nevertheless1 it is not as critical as ,morelli's ,italian ,painters4 ,details about the typical ears1 hands1 and noses of the painter may be found therein4 ,the last word concerning ,botticelli will not be uttered until his last line has vanished4 ,and1 even then1 his archaic harmonies may continue to sound in the ears of mankind4 ,,viii4 ,,six ,,spaniards ,,el ,,greco ,large or small1 there has been a ,greco cult ever since the ,greek-,spanish painter died1 ,april #g1 #afad1 but during the last decade it has grown into a species of worship4 ,one hears the names of ,velasquez and ,el ,greco coupled4 ,his profound influence on the greatest of the realists is blithely assumed1 and for these worshippers1 ,ribera1 ,zurbaran1 ,murillo are hardly to be ranked with the painter of the ,burial of the ,count of ,orgz4 ,while this undiscriminating admiration may be deplored1 there are reasons enough for the canonisation of ,el ,greco in the church of art4 ,violent to exaggeration in composition1 morbidly mystic1 there are power and emotional quality revealed in his work2 above all else he anticipated ,velasquez in his use of cool gray tones1 and as a pupil or at least a disciple of ,titian he is1 as his latest biographer1 ,seor ,manuel ,b4 ,cossio1 names him1 the last epigone of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,but of the man we know almost nothing4 ,we read his exhaustive study1 a big book of over seven hundred pages fortified by a supplementary volume containing one hundred and ninety-three illustrations1 poor reproductions of ,el ,greco's accredited works 7,el ,greco1 por ,manuel ,b4 ,cossio74 ,seor ,cossio has so well accomplished his task that his book may be set down as definitive4 ,a glance at the bibliography he compiled shows that not many writers on art have seen fit to pay particular attention to ,el ,greco4 ,a few ,spaniards1 ,seor ,beruete heading them2 ,max ,boehm1 ,carl ,justi 7in his ,diego ,velasquez72 ,paul ,lafond1 ,william ,ritter1 ,arthur ,symons1 ,william ,stirling1 ,signor ,venturi1 ,louis ,viardot1 ,wyzewa1 ,havelock ,ellis1 and the inimitable ,thophile ,gautier--whose ,travels in ,spain1 though published in #ahdj1 is1 as ,mr4 ,ellis truthfully remarks1 still a storehouse of original exploration4 ,but the ,cossio work1 naturally1 tops them all4 ,he is an adorer1 though not fanatical1 of his hero1 and it is safe to assert that all that is known to-day of ,el ,greco will be found in these pages4 ,the origins of the painter1 his visit to ,italy1 his arrival at ,toledo1 are described with references to original documents--few as they are4 ,then follows a searching and vivid exposition of the pictures in ,madrid1 ,toledo1 and elsewhere1 a technical and psychological analysis which displays vast research1 critical acumen1 and the sixth sense of sympathy4 ,no pictures1 sketches1 sculptures1 or retablos escape ,cossio4 ,he considers ,el ,greco in his relations to ,velasquez and modern art4 ,he has all the authorities at his tongue's tip2 he views the man and artist from every angle4 ,domenico ,el ,greco died at ,toledo two years before his contemporary ,cervantes1 says ,cossio4 ,domenicos ,theotocopoulos was his original name1 which was softened into ,domenico ,theotocopuli--which1 no doubt proving too much of a tongue-twister for the ,spaniards1 was quickly superseded by a capital nickname1 ,the ,greek4 ,his birthplace was the island of ,crete and his birth-year between #aede and #aeej4 ,justi was the first to demonstrate his ,cretan ancestry1 which was corroborated in #ahic by ,bikelas4 ,in #aegj1 we learn through a letter written by ,giulio ,clovio to ,cardinal ,farnese1 ,el ,greco had astonished ,roman artists by his skill in portraiture4 ,he was said to be a pupil of ,titian1 on ,clovio's authority4 ,why he went to ,spain has not been discovered4 ,he had a son1 ,jorge ,manuel ,theotocopuli1 a sculptor and architect4 ,who the mother was history does not say4 ,the painter took up his abode in ,toledo and is not known to have left ,spain thereafter4 ,pacheco visited him at ,toledo and reported him to be as singular as his paintings and of an extravagant disposition4 ,he was also called a wit and a philosopher4 ,he wrote on painting1 sculpture1 and architecture1 it is said4 ,he made money2 was1 like most of his adopted countrymen1 fond of litigation2 lived well1 loved music--and at his meals6--and that is all we may ever record of a busy life2 for he painted many pictures1 a careful enumeration of which makes ,cossio's book valuable4 ,there are ,grecos scattered over ,europe and the two ,americas4 ,madrid and ,toledo boast of his best work1 but as far as ,st4 ,petersburg and ,bucharest he is represented4 ,in the ,united ,states there are eleven examples1 soon to be increased by ,mr4 ,archer ,m4 ,huntington's recent acquisition from the ,kann collection4 ,in ,boston at the ,museum there is the portrait of ,fray ,paravicino1 a brilliant picture4 7,the worthy monk wrote four sonnets in glorification of the painter1 whom he calls ,divino ,griego4 ,quoted in one of the ,cossio appendices47 ,there is an ,assumption of the ,virgin in ,chicago at the ,art ,institute1 and an ,apostle1 belonging to ,charles ,deering4 ,in ,philadelphia ,mr4 ,j4 ,widner 7read ,p4,a4,b4 ,widener7 owns a ,st4 ,francis1 and at the ,metropolitan ,museum1 hanging in ,gallery #bd1 there is ,the ,adoration of the ,shepherds1 a characteristic specimen of ,greco's last manner1 and in excellent condition4 ,the gallery of the late ,h4,o4 ,havemeyer contains one of the celebrated portraits of the ,cardinal ,inquisitor ,d4 ,fernando ,nino de ,guevara1 painted during the second epoch1 #aeid to #afjd4 ,it furnishes a frontispiece for the ,cossio volume4 ,the same dignitary was again painted1 a variant1 which ,rudolph ,kann owned1 and now in the possession of ,mrs4 ,huntington4 ,the cardinal's head is strong1 intellectual1 and his expression proud and cold4 ,mr4 ,frick1 at a private club exhibition1 showed his ,greco1 ,st4 ,jerome1 a subject of which the painter was almost as fond as of ,st4 ,francis 7of ,assisi74 ,the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 owns a ,st4 ,jerome1 ,madrid another4 ,mr4 ,frick's example belongs to the epoch of #aehd to #aeid4 ,mr4 ,erich in ,new ,york possesses three pictures1 ,st4 ,jerome1 a portrait of ,st4 ,domingo de ,guzman and a ,deposition4 ,el ,greco is a painter admired by painters for his salt individualism4 ,zuloaga1 the ,spaniard1 has several2 ,degas1 two2 the critic ,duret1 two2 ,john ,s4 ,sargent1 one--a ,st4 ,martin4 ,durand-,ruel once owned the ,annunciation1 but sold it to ,mrs4 ,h4,o4 ,havemeyer1 and the ,duveens in ,london possess a ,disrobing of ,christ4 ,at the ,national ,gallery there are two4 ,gautier wrote that ,el ,greco surpassed ,monk ,lewis and ,mrs4 ,radcliffe in his pell-mell of horrors2 extravagant and bizarre are the adjectives he employs 7said of most painters whose style is unfamiliar or out of the beaten track74 ,in the ,baptism of ,christ he finds a depraved energy1 a maleficent puissance2 but the ardent colours1 the tonal vivacity1 and the large1 free handling excite the ,frenchman's admiration4 ,justi avers that ,greco's craving for originality developed incredible mannerisms4 ,in his portraits he has delineated the peculiar dignity of the ,castilian hidalgos and the beauty of ,toledan dames with a success attained by few4 ,r4,a4 ,stevenson devotes to him a paragraph in his ,velasquez4 ,referring to the influence of ,el ,greco upon the greater painter1 he wrote3 ,while ,greco certainly adopted a ,spanish gravity of colouring1 neither that nor his modelling was ever subtle or thoroughly natural444 ,velasquez ripened with age and practice2 ,greco was rather inclined to get rotten with facility4 ,mr4 ,ricketts says that his pictures might at times have been painted by torchlight in a cell of the ,inquisition4 ,richard ,ford in his handbook of ,spain does not mince words3 ,greco was very unequal444 ,he was often more lengthy and extravagant than ,fuseli1 and as leaden as cholera morbus4 ,ritter speaks of his symphonies in blue minor 7evidently imitating ,gautier's poem1 ,symphony in ,white-,major74 ,in ,havelock ,ellis's suggestive ,the ,soul of ,spain there is mention of ,greco--see chapter ,art of ,spain4 ,ellis says3 ,in his more purely religious and supernatural scenes ,greco was sometimes imaginative1 but more often bizarre in design and disconcerting in his colouring with its insistence on chalky white1 his violet shadows on pale faces1 his love of green4 ,mr4 ,ellis finds this 'predilection for green' significant as anticipating one of the characteristics of the ,spanish palette4 ,his distorted fever of movement--the lean1 twisted bodies1 the frenzied1 gesticulating arms1 the mannerism of large calves that taper down to pointed toes--usually fails to convince us4 ,but in the audacities of his colouring he revealed the possibilities of new harmonies1 of higher1 brighter1 cooler keys4 ,the ,count ,orgaz burial scene at ,toledo ,mr4 ,ellis does not rank among the world's great pictures4 ,there is often a depressing morbidity in ,greco2 ,goya is sane and healthy by comparison4 ,greco's big church pieces are full of religious sentiment1 but enveloped in the fumes of nightmare4 ,curious it was that a stranger from ,greece should have absorbed certain not particularly healthy1 even sinister1 ,spanish traits and developed them to such a pitch of nervous intensity4 ,as ,arthur ,symons says1 his portraits have all the brooding ,spanish soul with its proud self-repression4 ,seor ,cossio sums up in effect by declaring that ,venice educated ,greco in his art2 ,titian taught him technique2 ,tintoretto gave him his sense of dramatic form2 ,angelo his virility4 ,but of the strong personality which assimilated these various influences there is no doubt when confronted with one of his canvases1 every inch of which is signed ,el ,greco4 ,,velasquez ,why so well-known and authoritative a work as ,velasquez1 by ,aureliano de ,beruete1 should have been so long in reaching ,america is a puzzle when you consider the velocity with which the ,atlantic ,ocean is traversed by so many mediocre books on art4 ,the first ,spanish edition of the ,beruete monograph appeared about #ahig2 the same year saw it in ,french1 and from the latter tongue it was translated into ,english by ,hugh ,e4 ,poynter in #aijf4 ,seor ,beruete is considered with reason as the prime living authority on the great ,spanish realist1 though his study is not so voluminous as that of ,carl ,justi4 ,the ,bonn professor1 however1 took all ,spain for his province4 ,velasquez and ,his ,times is the title of his work1 the first edition of which came out in #ahhh1 the second in #aijc4 ,beruete 7whose portrait by ,sorolla was one of that master's most characteristic pictures at the recent ,hispanic ,society exhibition in ,new ,york7 is not at odds on many points with ,justi2 but more sceptical he is1 and to ,r4,a4,m4 ,stevenson's list of ,velasquez pictures1 two hundred and thirty-four1 ,beruete opposes the comparatively meagre number of eighty-nine4 ,he reduces the number of sketches and waves away as spurious the ,velasquez originals in ,italy1 several in the ,prado1 the very stronghold of the collection2 and of the eleven in that famous cabinet of the ,vienna ,imperial ,museum--to which we went as to a divine service of eye and soul--he allows only seven as authentic4 ,the portrait of ,innocent ,x in the ,doria palace1 ,rome1 is naturally a masterpiece1 as is the bust portrait of the same subject at the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg2 but the ,boston ,museum full-length of ,philip ,,iv is discredited as a copy1 only the ,prince ,don ,baltasar ,carlos ,attended by a ,dwarf being admitted in the company of the true ,velasquezes4 ,of the supposed portrait of ,cardinal ,pamphili1 a real ,velasquez1 now hanging in the ,hispanic ,society1 #aefth ,street1 ,beruete writes3 ,in the winter of #aijb there appeared in ,paris a bust portrait of a cardinal brought from ,italy by ,messrs4 ,trotty ,co41 which had been alluded to by ,professor ,a4 ,venturi of ,rome in ,l',art4 ,it is life size1 representing a person about thirty years of age in the dress of a cardinal1 with smiling face and black hair1 moustache and pointed beard1 good carriage and a touch of levity not in keeping with the dignity and austerity of a prince of the ,church4 ,the beretta and cape1 of a fine red colour1 the latter painted in a uniform tone and without a crease1 harmonise with the roseate hue of the features1 and the plain gray background4 ,every detail reveals the hand of ,velasquez1 and it can be classed without hesitation among the characteristic works of his second style4 ,it is on that ground that ,i make mention of it here4 ,however1 in ,rome1 at the house in which this picture was found1 it was held to be the portrait of ,cardinal ,pamphili1 nephew of ,innocent ,x1 who according to ,palomino was painted in ,rome by ,velasquez at the same time as the ,pontiff1 that is in #afej4 ,beruete believes ,palomino was wrong in declaring that ,velasquez painted the young cardinal in ,rome2 ,madrid was the likelier city4 ,the style proves an earlier date than #afej4 ,the cardinal withdrew from the cardinalate after three years1 #afdd-dg and married4 ,the portrait was acquired by the ,american artist the late ,francis ,lathrop4 ,stevenson grants to the ,metropolitan ,museum a fruit-piece by ,velasquez4 ,not so ,beruete4 ,j4 ,h4 ,mc,fadden of ,philadelphia once owned the ,doa ,mariana of ,austria1 second wife of ,philip ,,iv1 in a white-and-black dress1 gold chain over her shoulder1 hair adorned with red bows and red-and-white feather1 from the ,lyne-,stephens collection in the ,new ,gallery1 #ahie--;and is so quoted by ,stevenson2 but he sold the picture and ,beruete has lost track of it4 ,whereas ,stevenson in his invaluable book studies his subject broadly in chapters devoted to the dignity of the ,velasquez technique1 his colour1 modelling1 brushwork1 and his impressionism1 ,beruete follows a more detailed yet simpler method4 ,picture by picture1 in each of the three styles--he adopts ,justi's and ,stevenson's classification--he follows the painter1 dealing less with the man than his work4 ,not that biographical data are missing--on the contrary1 there are many pages of anecdotes as well as the usual facts--but ,beruete is principally concerned with the chronology and attribution of the pictures4 ,he has dug up some fresh material concerning the miserable pay ,velasquez received1 rather fought for1 at the court of ,philip1 where he was on a par with the dwarfs1 barbers1 comedians1 servants1 and other dependants of the royal household4 ,the painter has been criticised for his attachment to the king2 but as he was not of a religious nature and did not paint religious pieces with the gusto of his contemporaries1 the court was his only hope of existence2 either court or church4 ,he made his choice early1 and while we must regret the enormous wasting of the hours consequent upon the fulfilment of his duties as a functionary1 master of the revels1 and what not1 we should not forget how extremely precarious would have been his lot as a painter without royal favour in the ,spain of those days4 ,he had his bed1 board1 house1 and though he died penniless--his good wife ,juana only survived him seven days--he had the satisfaction of knowing that he owed no man1 and that his daughter had married his pupil ,mazo4 ,velasquez was born at ,seville in #aeii2 died at ,madrid1 #affj4 ,his real name was ,diego ,rodriguez de ,silva y ,velasquez4 ,he was a ,silva--for the de was acquired from the king after much pettifoggery on the part of that monarch with the prognathic jaw--and he was of ,portuguese blood4 ,he signed ,velasquez--a magic grouping of letters for the lovers of art--though born as he was in ,spain his forefathers came from ,portugal4 ,the mixed blood has led to furious disputes among hot-headed citizens of the two kingdoms4 ,as if it much mattered4 ,velasquez's son-in-law1 by the way1 ,juan ,mazo1 was the author of a number of imitations and forgeries4 ,he was a true friend of the picture-dealers4 ,velasquez belonged to that rare family of sane genius4 ,he was eminently the painter of daylight and not a nocturnal visionary1 as was ,rembrandt4 ,shakespeare1 who had all the strings to his lyre1 had also many daylight moments4 ,mozart always sang them1 and how blithely6 ,no one1 not ,beethoven1 not ,raphael1 not ,goethe--to name three widely disparate men of genius--saw life as steadily as the ,spaniard4 ,he is a magnificent refutation of the madhouse doctors who swear to you that genius is a disease4 ,remember1 too1 that the limitations of ,velasquez are clearly defined4 ,imagination was denied to him1 asserts ,beruete2 he had neither the turbulent temperament of ,rubens nor possessed the strained1 harsh mysticism of ,el ,greco--a painter of imagination and the only painter allowed by ,beruete to have affected the ,velasquez palette4 ,in a word1 ,velasquez was a puzzling comminglement of the classic and the realist4 ,he had the repose and the firm1 virile line of the classics1 while his vision of actuality has never been surpassed4 ,the ,dutch ,terburg1 ,vermeer1 ,van der ,helst1 ,frans ,hals saw as vividly the surfaces of things material2 the last alone was the match of ,velasquez in brushwork1 but not ,rembrandt recorded in his ,anatomy ,lesson the facts of the case as did ,velasquez4 ,seor ,beruete wittily remarks that ,los ,borrachos 7,the ,topers7 of ,velasquez is the truer anatomy lesson of the two4 ,a realist1 an impressionist1 as ,stevenson has it1 the ,spaniard was2 but he was also something more4 ,he had a magic hand to define1 the rendering of the magical mystery of space and atmosphere4 ,grant that he was not a colourist in the sense the ,venetians were1 or ,rubens1 yet how much more subtle1 more noble1 more intellectual1 is his restricted tonal gamut4 ,those silver-grays1 resonant blacks1 browns1 blues1 and reds sing in your memory long after you have forgotten the tumultuous golden waves breaking upon the decorative coasts of ,rubens4 ,we are constrained to question the easy way ,beruete and other critics deny the attributes of imagination and poetry to ,velasquez4 ,there is1 perhaps1 a more sublimated poetry in his pictures than in the obvious religious and mythological and allegorical set pieces of ,rubens1 ,murillo1 and how many others4 ,his realism did not run to seed in the delineation of subject4 ,he was as natural as ,cervantes--the one great man of ,spain who may be compared to him--and he saw the larger patterns of life1 while never forgetting that the chief function of a painter is to paint1 not to think1 not to rhapsodise1 not to be literary on canvas4 ,his cool1 measuring eye did more than record sordid facts4 ,he had a sort of enraptured vision of the earth as beautiful1 the innocence of the eye we encounter in children only4 ,stevenson rages at those who say that ,velasquez was not a colourist--and ,beruete is of them1 though he quotes with considerable satisfaction the critical pronouncement of ,royal ,cortissoz 7in ,harper's ,magazine1 ,may1 #ahie7 that ,las ,meninas is the most perfect study of colour and values which exists4 ,the truth is1 ,stevenson1 ,cortissoz1 and ,beruete are all three in the right4 ,that ,velasquez1 when in ,rome1 studied the pictures there2 that he didn't care for ,raphael2 that he had very much admired the ,venetians1 ,titian1 ,tintoretto2 that he had admired ,rubens1 with whom he associated daily on the occasion of the ,flemish master's visit of nine months to ,madrid--these are truths not to be denied4 ,beruete claims that the ,rubens influence is not to be seen in ,velasquez1 only ,el ,greco's4 ,every object1 living or inanimate1 that swam through the eyeballs of the ,spaniard--surely the most wonderful pair of eyes in history--was never forgotten4 ,his powers of assimilation were unexcelled4 ,he saw and made note of everything1 but when he painted his spectators saw nothing of any other man1 living or dead4 ,was not the spiritual impulse missing in this man8 ,he couldn't paint angels1 because he only painted what he saw2 and as he never saw angels he only painted mankind4 ,life1 not the subject1 appealed to him4 ,he had little talent1 less taste1 for the florid decorative art of ,rubens and the ,venetians2 but give him a simple1 human theme 7not pretty or sentimental7 and he recreated it1 not merely interpreted the scene2 so that ,las ,meninas1 ,the ,spinners 7,las ,hilanderas71 the hunting pictures1 the various portraits of royalty1 buffoons1 beggars1 outcasts1 are the chronicles of his time1 and he its master psychologist4 ,beruete says that ,ribera more than ,zurbaran affected ,velasquez2 ,el ,greco taught him the use of delicate grays in the colouring of the flesh4 ,hot1 hard1 and dry in his first period 7,borrachos71 he becomes more fluid and atmospheric in the ,breda composition 7,the ,lances71 and in the third period he has attained absolute mastery of his material4 ,his salary at the court was two and sixpence a day in #afbh4 ,even ,haydn and ,mozart did better as menials4 ,yet some historians speak of the liberality of ,philip ,,iv4 ,an immortal employee indeed1 as ,beruete names his idol4 ,luca ,giordano called ,las ,meninas the theology of painting4 ,wilkie declared that the ,velasquez landscapes possessed the real sun which lights us1 the air which we breathe1 and the soul and spirit of nature4 ,to see the ,prado1 exclaims ,stevenson1 is to modify one's opinion of the novelty of recent art4 ,to-day the impressionists and realists claim ,velasquez as their patron saint as well as artistic progenitor4 ,the profoundest master of harmonies and the possessor of a vision of the real world not second to ,leonardo's1 the place of the ,spaniard in history will never be taken from him4 ,velasquez is more modern than all the moderns2 more modern than to-morrow4 ,that sense of the liberation of the spirit which ,mr4 ,berenson is fond of adducing as the grandest attribute of the ,space ,composers1 ,raphael and the rest1 may be discovered in ,las ,meninas1 or in ,the ,spinners1 space overhead1 with mystery superadded4 ,the brumous ,north was the home of mysticism1 of ,gothic architecture4 ,the note of tragic mystery was seldom sounded by the ,italians4 ,faith itself seems more real in the ,north4 ,it remained for ,rembrandt to give it out in his chords of chiaroscuro4 ,and is there more noble1 more virile music in all art than ,the ,surrender of ,breda8 ,mr4 ,berenson refers only once to ,velasquez and then as an impersonal painter4 ,as a counterblast to his theory of impersonality let us quote a few lines from ,r4,a4,m4 ,stevenson's ,velasquez 7that most inspiring of all art monographs73 ,is it wonderful1 he asks1 that you can apply ,morelli's principles of criticism to the ,pre-,raphaelite ,italian schools2 that you can point to the thumbs1 fingers1 poses of the head1 ovals of the face and schemes of colour that the painters learned by heart1 and can even say from whom they learned8 ,the later ,venetians broke away1 and when you come to ,velasquez the system holds good as little as it can in our own day4 ,but this charge holds good for many painters of the ,renaissance1 painters of patterns4 ,velasquez1 like the great prose-master of ,france1 ,gustave ,flaubert1 is always in modulation4 ,no two canvases are rhythmically alike1 except in the matter of masterfulness4 ,he1 too1 was a master of magnificent prose painting1 painting worth a wilderness of makers of frozen medival patterns4 ,mr4 ,henry ,b4 ,fuller1 the author of the ,chevalier di ,pensieri-,vani1 once spoke of the cosy sublimity in ,raphael's ,vision of ,ezekiel2 one might paraphrase the epigram by describing the pictures of ,velasquez as boxed-in eternities4 ,dostoevsky knew such a sensation when he wrote of a species of eternity within the space of a square foot4 ,but there are many connoisseurs who find evidences of profounder and more nave faith in the angular loveliness of the ,flemish ,primitives than in all the religious art of ,italy or ,spain4 ,,goya ,i ,goya was a ,titan among artists4 ,he once boasted that ,nature1 ,velasquez1 and ,rembrandt are my masters4 ,it was an excellent self-criticism4 ,he not only played the ,velasquez gambit in his portraits1 the gambit of ,rembrandt in his sombre imaginative pieces1 but he boldly annexed all ,spain for his sinister and turbulent art4 ,he was more truly ,spanish in the range and variety of his performances than any ,spanish-born painter since ,velasquez4 ,without the sanity1 solidity1 nobility of ,velasquez1 whose vision and voice he never possessed2 without the luscious sweetness of ,murillo1 whose sweetness he lacked1 he had something of ,el ,greco's fierceness1 and much of the vigour of ,ribera4 ,he added to these influences a temperament that was exuberant1 fantastic1 morose1 and pessimistic yet humorous1 sarcastic1 sometimes melting1 and ever masterful4 ,he reminds one of an overwhelming force4 ,the man dominates the painter4 ,a dozen comparisons force themselves upon you when the name of ,goya is pronounced3 comets1 cataracts1 whirlwinds1 and wild animals4 ,anarch and courtier1 atheist and decorator of churches1 his whole art seems like a bullfight1 says ,richard ,muther4 ,one might improve on this by calling him a subtle bull1 a ,hercules who had read ,byron4 ,nature1 ,velasquez1 and ,rembrandt6 cries ,mac,coll in a too brief summary4 ,how inadequate the list6 ,lucifer1 ,beelzebub1 and ,legion had a hand in the teaching4 ,goya incarnated the renaissance of old ,spain and its art4 ,spanish art has always come from without1 for its foundations were northern and ,flemish4 ,the ,van ,eycks and ,van der ,weyden were studied closely2 ,jan ,van ,eyck visited ,madrid4 ,the ,venetian influence was strong1 and ,el ,greco his life long1 and a pupil of ,titian as he was1 this gloomy painter with the awkward name of ,theotocopoulo endeavoured to forget his master and became more ,spanish than the ,spanish4 ,ribera1 emotional1 dramatic1 realistic1 religious1 could sound the chords of tenderness without the sentimentalism of ,murillo4 ,goya stems more from ,caravaggio and ,salvator ,rosa than from any of his predecessors1 except ,velasquez4 ,the presence of ,tiepolo1 the last of the ,venetians1 in ,spain may have influenced him4 ,certainly ,raphael ,mengs1 the ,saxon pedant1 did not--,mengs associated with ,tiepolo at ,madrid4 ,it is in company with the bravos of the brush1 ,caravaggio and ,rosa1 that ,goya is closely affiliated4 ,we must go to ,gustave ,courbet for a like violence of temperament2 both men painted con furia2 both were capable of debauches in work2 ,goya could have covered the walls of hell with diabolic frescoes4 ,in music three men are of a like ilk3 ,berlioz1 ,paganini1 ,liszt4 ,demoniacal1 charged with electric energy1 was this trinity1 and ,goya could have made it a quartet4 ,but if ,spain was not a country of original artists--as was ,italy1 for example--she developed powerful and astounding individualities4 ,character is her leit motv in the symphony of the nations4 ,the rich virility and majestic seriousness of her men1 their aptitudes for war1 statesmanship1 and drama1 are borne out in her national history4 ,perhaps the climate plays its part4 ,havelock ,ellis thinks so4 ,the hard and violent effects1 the sharp contrasts1 the strong colours1 the stained and dusky clouds1 looking as if soaked in pigment1 may well have affected the imagination of the artist1 he writes4 ,certainly the landscapes of ,velasquez could not be more ,spanish than they are2 and1 disagreeing with those who say that he had no feeling for nature1 the bits of countryside and mountain ,goya shows are truly peninsular in their sternness4 ,it may be well to remark here that the softness of ,tuscany is not to be found in the lean and often arid aspects of ,spain4 ,spain1 too1 is romantic--but after its own fashion4 ,goya revived the best traditions of his country's art2 he was the last of the great masters and the first of the moderns4 ,something neurotic1 modern1 disquieting1 threads his work with devilish irregularity4 ,he had not the massive temper of ,velasquez1 of those men who could paint day after day1 year after year1 until death knocked at their ateliers4 ,as vigorous as ,rubens in his sketches1 ,goya had not the steady1 slow nerves of that master4 ,he was very unequal4 ,his life was as disorderly as ,hals's or ,steen's1 but their saving phlegm was missing4 ,in an eloquent passage--somewhere in his ,english ,literature--,taine speaks of the sanity of genius as instanced by ,shakespeare4 ,genius narrowly escapes nowadays being a cerebral disorder1 though there was ,marlowe to set off ,shakespeare's serene spirit1 and even of ,michael ,angelo's mental health and morals his prime biographer1 ,parlagreco1 does not speak in reassuring terms4 ,goya was badly balanced1 impulsive1 easily angered1 and not slow to obey the pull of his irritable motor centres when aroused4 ,a knife was always within reach4 ,he drove the ,duke of ,wellington from his presence because the inquisitive soldier asked too many questions while his portrait was being blocked out4 ,a sword or a dagger did the business2 but ,wellington returned to the studio and1 as ,mr4 ,rothenstein tells us1 the portrait was finished and is now at ,strathfieldsaye4 ,a sanguine is in the ,british ,museum4 ,his exploits in ,rome may have been exaggerated1 though he was quite capable of eloping with a nun from a convent1 as is related1 or going around the top of the ,cecilia ,metella tomb supported only by his thumbs4 ,the agility and strength of ,goya were notorious1 though in a land where physical prowess is not the exception4 ,he was picador1 matador1 banderillero by turns in the bull ring4 ,after a stabbing affray he escaped in the disguise of a bull-fighter4 ,if he was a dompteur of dames and cattle1 he was the same before his canvas4 ,anything that came to hand served him as a brush1 an old brown stick wrapped up in cloth1 a spoon--with the latter he executed that thrilling ,massacre1 ,may #b1 #ahjh1 in the ,prado4 ,he could have painted with a sabre or on all fours4 ,reckless to the degree of insanity1 he never feared king or devil1 man or the ,inquisition4 ,the latter reached out for him1 but he had disappeared1 after suffering a dagger-thrust in the back4 ,when on the very roof of his prosperity1 he often slipped downstairs to the company of varlets and wenches2 this friend of the ,duchess of ,alba seemed happier dicing1 drinking1 dancing in the suburbs with base-born people and gipsies4 ,a genre painter1 ,goya delighted in depicting the volatile1 joyous life of a now-vanished epoch4 ,he was a historian of manner as well as of disordered souls1 and an avowed foe of hypocrisy4 ,not poignantly genteel1 to use a ,borrovian phrase1 was he4 ,yet he could play the silken courtier with success4 ,the ,arabs say that one who has been stung by a snake shivers at a string1 and perhaps the violence with which the painter attacked the religious may be set down to the score of his youthful fears and flights when the ,inquisition was after him4 ,he was a sort of ,voltaire in black and white4 ,the corruption of churchmen and court at this epoch seems almost incredible4 ,goya noted it with a boldness that meant but one thing--friends high in power4 ,this was the case4 ,he was admired by the king1 ,charles ,,iv1 and admired--who knows how much6--by his queen1 ,marie ,louise of ,parma1 ,goya painted their portraits2 also painted the portraits of the royal favourite and prime minister and ,prince de la ,paz1 ,manuel ,godoy--favourite of both king and queen4 ,him1 ,goya left in effigy for the scorn of generations to come4 ,a grocer's family who have won the big lottery prize1 was the witty description of ,thophile ,gautier when he saw the picture of the royal family4 ,curiously enough1 this ,goya1 who from the first plucked success from its thorny setting1 was soon forgotten1 and until ,gautier in #ahdj recorded his impressions in his brilliant ,voyage en ,espagne1 critical literature did not much concern itself with the versatile ,spaniard4 ,and ,gautier's sketch of a few pages still remains the most comprehensive estimate4 ,from it all have been forced to borrow2 ,richard ,muther in his briskly enthusiastic monograph and the section in his valuable ,history of ,modern ,painting2 ,charles ,yriarte1 ,will ,rothenstein1 ,lafond1 ,lefort1 ,cond de la ,vinaza--all have read ,gautier to advantage4 ,valerian von ,loga has devoted a study to the etchings1 and ,don ,juan de la ,rada has made a study of the frescoes in the church of ,san ,antonio de la ,florida2 ,carl ,justi1 ,stirling ,maxwell1 ,c4,g4 ,hartley should also be consulted4 ,yriarte is interesting1 inasmuch as he deals with the apparition of ,goya in ,rome1 an outlaw1 but a blithe one1 who1 notebook in hand1 went through the ,trastevere district sketching with ferocious rapidity the attitudes and gestures of the vivacious population4 ,a man after ,stendhal's heart1 this ,spaniard4 ,and in view of his private life one is tempted to add--and after the heart1 too1 of ,casanova4 ,notwithstanding1 he was an unrivalled interpreter of child-life4 ,some of his painted children are of a dazzling sweetness4 ,,goya ,,ii ,francisco ,jos de ,goya y ,lucientes was born ,march #cj 7or #ca71 #agdf1 at ,fuentetodos1 near ,saragossa1 ,aragon4 ,he died at ,bordeaux1 ,france1 where he had gone for his health1 ,april #af1 #ahbh--;,calvert1 possibly by a pen slip1 makes him expire a month earlier4 ,he saw the beginnings of ,french romanticism1 as he was himself a witness of the decadence of ,spanish art4 ,but his spirit has lived on in ,manet and ,zuloaga4 ,decadent he was2 a romantic before ,french romanticism1 he yet had borrowed from an earlier ,france4 ,some of his gay ,ftes ,champtres recall the influence of ,watteau--a ,watteau without the sweet elegiac strain4 ,he has been called a ,spanish ,hogarth--not a happy simile4 ,hogarth preaches2 ,goya never2 satirists both1 ,goya never deepened by a pen stroke the didactic side4 ,his youth was not extraordinary in promise2 his father and mother were poor peasants4 ,the story of his discovery by a monk of ,saragosela--,father ,felix ,salvador of the ,carthusian convent of ,aula ,dei--is not missing4 ,he studied with ,jos ,martinez4 ,he ran away in #agff4 ,he remained1 say some1 in ,italy from #agfi to #aggd2 but in #agga he appeared in ,saragossa again1 and the year #aggb saw him competing for the painting about to be undertaken in the cathedral4 ,he married ,josefa ,bayeu1 the sister of the court painter4 ,he has told us what he thought of his jealous1 intriguing brother-in-law in a portrait4 ,in #agge he was at ,madrid4 ,from #aggf he executed forty-six tapestry cartoons4 ,in #aggi he presented to the king his etchings after ,velasquez4 ,his rise was rapid4 ,he painted the queen1 with her false teeth1 false hair1 and her infernal simper1 and this portrait was acclaimed a masterpiece4 ,his religious frescoes1 supposed to be ad majorem ,dei gloriam1 were really for the greater glory of ,goya4 ,they are something more than secular1 often little short of blasphemous4 ,that they were tolerated proves the cynical temper of his times4 ,when the fat old scoundrel of a ,bourbon king ran away with all his court and the pusillanimous ,joseph ,bonaparte came upon the scene1 ,goya swerved and went through the motions of loyalty1 a thing that rather disturbs the admirers of the supposedly sturdy republican4 ,but he was only marking time4 ,he left a terrific arraignment of war and its horrors4 ,nor did he spare the ,french4 ,callot1 ,hell-,breughel1 are outdone in these swift1 ghastly memoranda of misery1 barbarity1 rapine1 and ruin4 ,the hypocrite ,ferdinand ,,vii was no sooner on the throne of his father than ,goya1 hat in hand but sneer on lip and twinkle in eye1 approached him1 and after some parleying was restored to royal favour4 ,goya declared that as an artist he was not personally concerned in the pranks of the whirligig politic4 ,nevertheless he was bitterly chagrined at the twist of events1 and1 an old man1 he retired to his country house1 where he etched and designed upon its walls startling fancies4 ,he died disillusioned1 and though nursed by some noble countrymen1 his career seemed to illustrate that terrifying picture of his invention--a skeleton lifts its gravestone and grinningly traces with bony finger in the dust the word ,nada--,nothing6 ,overtaxed by the violence of his life and labours--he left a prodigious amount of work behind him--soured by satiety1 all spleen and rage1 he was a broken-down ,lucifer1 who had trailed his wings in the mud4 ,but who shall pass judgment upon this unhappy man8 ,perhaps1 as he saw the glimmering square grow less1 the lament of ,cardinal ,wolsey may have come to a brain teeming with memories4 ,goya had always put his king before his ,god4 ,but in his heart he loved the old romantic faith--the faith that hovered in the background of his art4 ,goya is not the first son of his mother church who denied her from sheer perversity4 ,what a nation6 ,cervantes and ,lope da ,vega1 ,teresa de ,cepeda y ,ahumada--most glorious of her sex1 saint and genius--and ,goya6 ,spain is the land of great and diverse personalities4 ,but with ,calderon we must now say3 ,let us to our ship1 for here all is shadowy and unsettled4 ,goya1 as ,baudelaire pointed out more than half a century ago1 executed his etchings by combining aquatint and the use of the dry point4 ,a few years before his death he took up lithography1 then a novelty4 ,his ,caprices1 ,proverbs1 and ,horrors of ,war may outlive his paintings4 ,his colour scheme was not a wide one1 blacks1 reds1 browns1 and yellows often playing solo2 but all modern impressionism may be seen on his canvases--harsh dissonances1 dots1 dabs1 spots1 patches1 heavy planes1 strong rhythmic effects of lighting1 heavy impasto1 luminous atmosphere1 air1 sunshine1 and vibrating movements2 also the strangeness of his material4 ,manet went to him a beginner4 ,after studying the ,maja desnuda at the ,prado ,museum he returned to ,france and painted the ,olympe1 once of the ,luxembourg1 now in the ,louvre4 ,the balcony scenes of ,goya1 with their manolas--old-fashioned grisettes--must have stirred ,manet2 recall the ,frenchman's ,balcony4 ,and the bull-fights8 ,oh6 what an iron-souled master was there--,goya when he slashed a bull in the arena tormented by the human brutes6 ,none of his successors matches him4 ,the same is the case with that diverting1 devilish1 savoury1 and obscene series he called ,caprices4 ,it is worth remembering that ,delacroix was one of the first artists in ,paris who secured a set of these rare plates4 ,the witch's sabbaths and the modern version of them1 prostitution and its symbolism1 filled the brain of ,goya4 ,he always shocks any but robust nerves with his hybrid creatures red in claw and foaming at mouth as they fight in midair1 hideous and unnamable phantoms of the dark4 ,his owls are theologians4 ,the females he often shows make us turn aside our head and shudder4 ,with implacable fidelity he displayed the reverse of war's heroic shield4 ,it is something more than hell4 ,sattler1 ,charlet1 ,raffet1 ,james ,ensor1 ,rethel1 ,de ,groux1 ,rops1 ,edvard ,mnch 7did you ever see his woman wooed by a skeleton871 and the rest of these delineators of the morbid and macabre acknowledge ,goya as their progenitor4 ,he must have been a devil-worshipper4 ,he pictures the goat devil1 horns and hoofs4 ,gautier compares him to ,e4,t4,w4 ,hoffmann--,poe not being known in ,paris at that time--but it is a rather laboured comparison1 for there was a profoundly human side to the ,spaniard4 ,his perception of reality was of the solidest4 ,he had lived and loved and knew before ,flaubert that if the god of the ,romantics was an upholsterer the god of eighteenth-century ,spain was an executioner4 ,the professed lover of the ,duchess of ,alba1 he painted her nude1 and then1 hearing that the ,duke might not like the theme so handled1 he painted her again1 and clothed1 but more insolently uncovered than before4 ,at the ,spanish museum in ,new ,york you may see another portrait of this bold beauty with the name of ,goya scratched in the earth at her feet4 ,her attitude is characteristic of the intrigue1 which all ,madrid knew and approved4 ,at home sat ,mrs4 ,goya with her twenty children4 ,goya was a man of striking appearance4 ,slender in youth1 a graceful dancer1 in middle life he had the wide shoulders and bull neck of an athlete4 ,he was the terror of ,madrilean husbands4 ,his voice had seductive charm4 ,he could twang the guitar and fence like ten devils4 ,a gamester1 too4 ,in a word1 a figure out of the ,renaissance1 when the deed trod hard on the heels of the word4 ,one of his self-portraits shows him in a ,byronic collar1 the brow finely proportioned1 marked mobile features1 sombre eyes--the ideal ,don ,juan ,tenorio to win the foolish heart of an ,emma ,bovary or a bored noblewoman4 ,another1 with its savage eye--it is a profile--and big beaver head-covering1 recalls ,walt ,whitman's ,i wear my hat as ,i please1 indoors or out4 ,a giant egoist1 and as human1 all too human1 a fellow as ,spain ever begot1 ,goya is only hinted at in ,baudelaire's searching quatrain beginning3 ,goya1 cauchemar plein de choses inconnues4 ,fleurs du ,mal would be a happy title for the work of ,francisco ,goya if to ,the ,flowers of ,evil were added and ,wisdom4 ,goya is often cruel and lascivious and vulgar1 but he is as great a philosopher as painter4 ,and to offset his passionate gloom there are his visions of a golden ,spain no longer in existence2 happy1 gorgeous of costume1 the ,spain of sudden coquetries1 of fans1 masques1 bull-fights1 and fandangos1 of a people dancing on the rim of a fire-filled mountain1 pious1 capricious1 child-like1 romantic1 and patriotic--the ,spain of the eighteenth century4 ,goya is its spokesman1 as is ,velasquez the mirror of ,philip's more spacious times4 ,velasquez--,goya6 poles asunder1 yet both born to the artistic purple4 ,and the stately aristocrat who signed himself ,velasquez is not more in tune with the twentieth-century ,zeitgeist than that coarse-fibred democrat of genius1 ,francisco ,goya4 ,,fortuny ,mariano ,fortuny3 what a magic-breeding name6 ,the motto of this lucky ,spanish painter might have been ,fortuny ,fortunatus4 ,even his sudden death1 at the early age of thirty-six1 came after he had executed a number of masterpieces1 an enormous quantity of water-colours1 etchings1 ceramics1 damascene swords and chased ornaments2 it followed on the heels of sudden glory4 ,his name was in the mouth of artistic ,europe1 and the sale of the contents of his studio at ,rome in #ahge brought eight hundred thousand francs4 ,yet so slippery is fame that ,fortuny's name to-day is seldom without a brace of epithets1 such as garish1 or empty4 ,his work is neither4 ,he is a virtuoso4 ,so was ,tiepolo4 ,he is a ,romantic2 so the generation preceding him4 ,the ,orientalist par excellence1 he has somehow been confounded with ,meissonier and ,grme1 has been called glittering like the former1 hard as was the latter4 ,it is true there are no emotional undertones in his temperament1 the brilliant overtones predominating2 but it is also true that when he died his manner was changing4 ,he had said that he was tired of the gay rags of the eighteenth century1 and his ,strand of ,portici shows a new line of departure4 ,edouard ,manet made special appeal to ,fortuny2 ,manet1 who had derived from ,goya1 whose ,spanish fond is undeniable4 ,perhaps the thrice-brilliant ,fortuny's conscience smote him when he saw a ,frenchman so successfully absorbing the traditions of ,goya2 but it was not to be4 ,he passed away at the very top of his renown1 truly a favourite of the gods4 ,he was admired1 imitated1 above all parodied2 though1 jealously as are his pictures guarded1 he has been put on the shelf like one of the amazing painted bibelots in his work4 ,the injustice of this is patent4 ,between ,fortuny and ,meissonier there lies the gulf that separates the genius and the hard-working man of talent4 ,nevertheless ,meissonier's statue is in the garden of the ,louvre1 ,meissonier is extolled as a master1 while ,fortuny is usually described in patronising terms as a facile trifler4 ,the reverse is the truth4 ,no one has painted sunlight with more intensity2 he was an impressionist before the word was coined4 ,he is a colourist almost as sumptuous as ,monticelli1 with a precision of vision never attained by the ,marseilles rhapsodist4 ,his figures are as delicious as ,watteau's or ,debucourt's--he recalls the latter frequently--and as an ,orientalist he ranks all but a few4 ,grme1 ,guillaumet1 ,fromentin1 ,huguet are not to be mentioned in the same breath with ,fortuny as to the manipulation of material2 and has ,guillaumet done anything savouring more of the mysterious ,east than ,fortuny's ,at the ,gate of the ,seraglio8 ,the magician of jewelled tones1 he knew all the subtler modulations4 ,his canvases vibrate1 they emit sparks of sunlight1 his shadows are velvety and warm4 ,compared with such a picture as ,the ,choice of a ,model1 the most laboriously minute ,meissonier is as cold and dead as a photograph--,meissonier1 who was a capital fan painter1 a patient miniaturist without colour talent1 a myopic delineator of costumes1 who1 as ,manet said1 pasted paper soldiers on canvas and called the machine a battle-field4 ,the writer recalls the sensations once evoked by a close view of ,fortuny's ,choice of a ,model at ,paris years ago1 and at that time in the possession of ,mr4 ,stewart4 ,psychology is not missing in this miracle of virtuosity2 the nude posing on the marble table1 the absolute beauty of the drawing1 the colouring1 the contrast of the richly variegated marble pillars in the background1 the eighteenth-century costumes of the ,academicians so scrupulously yet so easily set forth1 all made a dazzling ensemble4 ,since ,fortuny turned the trick a host of spurious pictures has come overseas1 and we now say ,vibert at the same time as ,fortuny1 just as some enlightened persons couple the names of ,ingres and ,bouguereau4 ,in the kingdom of the third rate the mediocre is conqueror4 ,listen to this description of ,la ,vicaria 7,the ,spanish ,wedding71 which first won for its painter his reputation4 ,begun in #ahfh1 it was exhibited at ,goupil's1 ,paris1 the spring of #ahgj 7some say #ahfi71 when the artist was thirty-two years old4 ,thophile ,gautier--whose genius and ,thodore de ,banville's have analogies with ,fortuny's in the matter of surfaces and astounding virtuosity--went up in the air when he saw the work1 and wrote a feuilleton that is still recalled by the old guard4 ,the following1 however1 is not by ,gautier1 but from the pen of ,dr4 ,richard ,muther1 the erudite ,german critic3 ,a marriage is taking place in the sacristy of a rococo church in ,madrid4 ,the walls are covered with faded ,cordova leather hangings figured in gold and dull colours1 and a magnificent rococo screen separates the sacristy from the middle aisle4 ,venetian lustres are suspended from the ceiling1 pictures of martyrs1 ,venetian glasses in carved oval frames hang on the wall1 richly ornamented wooden benches and a library of missals and gospels in sparkling silver clasps1 and shining marble tables and glistening braziers form part of the scene in which the marriage contract is being signed4 ,the costumes are those of the time of ,goya4 ,an old beau is marrying a young and beautiful girl4 ,with affected grace and a skipping minuet step1 holding a modish three-cornered hat under his arm1 he approaches the table to put his signature in the place which the escribano points out with an obsequious bow4 ,he is arrayed in delicate lilac1 while the bride is wearing a white silk dress trimmed with flowered lace and has a wreath of orange blossoms in her luxuriant black hair4 ,as a girl friend is talking to her she examines with abstracted attention the pretty little pictures upon her fan1 the finest she ever possessed4 ,a very piquant little head she has1 with her long lashes and black eyes4 ,then1 in the background1 follow the witnesses1 and first of all a young lady in a swelling silk dress of the brightest rose colour4 ,beside her is one of the bridegroom's friends in a cabbage-green coat with long flaps and a shining belt1 from which a gleaming sabre hangs4 ,the whole picture is a marvellous assemblage of colours in which tones of ,venetian glow and strength1 the tender pearly gray beloved of the ,japanese1 and a melting neutral brown each sets off the other and gives a shimmering effect to the entire mass4 ,fortuny was a gay master of character and comedy as well as of bric-a-brac4 ,still life he painted as no one before or after him2 if ,chardin is the ,velasquez of vegetables1 ,fortuny is the ,rossini of the rococo2 such lace-like filigrees1 fiorturi1 marbles that are of stone1 men and women that are alive1 not of marble 7like ,alma-,tadema's74 ,the artificiality of his work is principally in the choice of a subject1 not in the performance4 ,how luminous and silky are his blacks may be noted at the ,metropolitan ,museum in his portrait of a ,spanish lady4 ,there is nothing of the petit-matre in the sensitive and adroit handling of values4 ,the rather triste expression1 the veiled look of the eyes1 the morbidezza of the flesh tones1 and the general sense of amplitude and grace give us a ,fortuny who knew how to paint broadly4 ,the more obvious and dashing side of him is present in the ,arabian ,fantaisie of the ,vanderbilt ,gallery4 ,it must be remembered that he spent some time copying1 at ,madrid1 ,velasquez and ,goya1 and as ,camille ,mauclair enthusiastically declares1 these copies are literal identifications4 ,they are highly prized by the ,marquise ,carcano 7who owned the ,vicaria71 ,madrazo1 and the ,baron ,davillieu--the last named the chief critical authority on ,fortuny4 ,in the history of the arts there are cases such as ,fortuny's1 of ,mozart1 ,chopin1 ,raphael1 and some others1 whose precocity and prodigious powers of production astonished their contemporaries4 ,fortuny1 whose full name was ,mariano ,jos ,maria ,bernardo ,fortuny y ,carb1 was born at ,reus1 a little town in the province of ,tarragona1 near ,barcelona4 ,he was very poor1 and at the age of twelve an orphan4 ,his grandfather1 a carpenter1 went with the lad on foot through the towns of ,catalonia exhibiting a cabinet containing wax figures painted by ,mariano and perhaps modelled by him4 ,he began carving and daubing at the age of five2 a regular little fingersmith1 his hands were never idle4 ,he secured by the promise of talent a pension of forty-two francs a month and went to ,barcelona to study at the ,academy4 ,winning the prize of ,rome in #aheg1 he went there and copied old masters until #ahfj1 when1 the war between ,spain and ,morocco breaking out1 he went to ,morocco on ,general ,prim's staff1 and for five or six months his brain was saturated with the wonders of ,eastern sunlight1 exotic hues1 beggars1 gorgeous rugs1 snake-charmers1 ,arabs afoot or circling on horseback with the velocity of birds1 fakirs1 all the huge glistening febrile life he was later to interpret with such charm and exactitude4 ,he returned to ,rome4 ,he made a second trip to ,africa4 ,he returned to ,spain4 ,barcelona gave him a pension of a hundred and thirty-two francs a month1 which amount was kept up later by the ,duke de ,rianzars until #ahfg4 ,he went to ,paris in #ahff1 was taken up by the ,goupils1 knew ,meissonier and worked occasionally with ,grme4 ,his rococo pictures1 his ,oriental work set ,paris ablaze4 ,he married the daughter of the ,spanish painter ,federigo ,madrazo1 and visited at ,madrid1 ,granada1 ,seville1 ,rome1 and1 in #ahgd1 ,london4 ,he contracted a pernicious fever at ,rome and died there1 ,november #ba1 #ahgd1 at the age of thirty-six4 ,his funeral was imposing1 many celebrities of the world of art participating4 ,he was buried in the ,campo ,varano4 ,in #ahff at ,rome he began etching1 and in fifteen months finished a series of masterpieces4 ,his line1 surprisingly agile and sinuous1 has the finesse of ,goya--whom he resembled at certain points4 ,he used aquatint with full knowledge of effects to be produced1 and at times he recalls ,rembrandt in the depth of his shadows4 ,his friend the painter ,henri ,regnault despaired in the presence of such versatility1 such speed and ease of workmanship4 ,he wrote3 ,the time ,i spent with ,fortuny is haunting me still4 ,what a magnificent fellow he is6 ,he paints the most marvellous things1 and is the master of us all4 ,i wish ,i could show you the two or three pictures he has in his hand or his etchings and water-colours4 ,they inspired me with a real disgust of my own4 ,ah1 ,fortuny1 you spoil my sleep6 ,standing aloof from the ideas and tendencies of his times and not a sweeper of the chords that stir in human nature the heroic or the pathetic1 it is none the less uncritical to rank this ,spaniard as a brainless technician4 ,everything is relative1 and the scale on which ,fortuny worked was as true a medium for the exhibition of his genius as a museum panorama4 ,let us not be misled by the worship of the elephantine4 ,it is characteristic of his temperament that the big battle piece he was commissioned by the ,barcelona ,academy to paint was never finished4 ,not every one who goes to ,rome does as the ,romans do4 ,dowered by nature with extraordinary acuity of vision1 with a romantic1 passionate nature and a will of steel1 ,fortuny was bound to become a great painter4 ,his manual technique bordered on the fabulous2 he had the painter's hand1 as his fellow-countryman ,pablo de ,sarasate had the born hand of the violinist4 ,that he spent the brief years of his life in painting the subjects he did is not a problem to be posed1 for1 as ,henry ,james has said1 it is always dangerous to challenge an artist's selection of subject4 ,why did ,goya conceive his ,caprichos8 ,the love of decorative beauty in ,fortuny was not bedimmed by criticism4 ,he had the lust of eye which not the treasures of ,ormuz and ,ind1 or ivory1 apes1 and peacocks1 could satisfy4 ,if he loved the kaleidoscopic ,east1 he also knew his ,spain4 ,we have seen at the ,pennsylvania ,academy of ,fine ,arts a tiny picture1 the court-yard of a ,spanish inn through which passes a blinding shaft of sunlight1 which would make envious ,seor ,sorolla4 ,fortuny has personal charm1 a quality usually missing nowadays1 for painters in their desire to be truthful are tumbling head over heels into the prosaic4 ,individuality is vanishing in the wastes of an over-anxious realism4 ,if ,fortuny is a daring virtuoso on one or two strings1 his palette is ever enchanting4 ,personally he was a handsome man1 with a distinguished head1 his body broad and muscular and capable of enduring fatigues that would have killed most painters4 ,allied to this powerful physique was a seductive sensibility4 ,this peasant-born painter was an aristocrat of art4 ,old ,mother ,nature is an implacable ironist4 ,,sorolla ,y ,,bastida ,we might say of the ,spanish painter ,joaqun ,sorolla y ,bastida that he was one of those who came into the world with a ray of sunshine in their brains--altering the phrase of ,villiers de l',isle ,adam4 ,seor ,sorolla is also one of the half-dozen 7are there so many87 great living painters4 ,he belongs to the line of ,velasquez and ,goya1 and he seldom recalls either4 ,under the auspices of the ,hispanic ,society of ,america there was an exhibition of his works in #aiji1 some two hundred and fifty in all1 hung in the museum of the society1 ,west #aefth ,street1 near ,broadway4 ,the liveliest interest was manifested by the public and professional people in this display4 ,those who saw ,sorolla's art at the ,paris ,exposition1 #aijj1 and at the ,georges ,petit ,gallery1 ,paris1 a few years ago need not be reminded of his virile quality and masterly brush-work4 ,some art lovers in this city are aware of his ,sad ,inheritance1 the property of ,mr4 ,john ,e4 ,berwind1 which has been hung in the ,sunday-school room of the ,ascension ,church1 ,fifth ,avenue and ,tenth ,street4 ,it is one of the artist's few pictures in which he feels the ,weltschmerz4 ,his is a nature bubbling over with health and happiness4 ,he is a ,valencian1 was born in #ahfc of poor parents1 and by reason of his native genius and stubborn will power he became what he is--the painter of vibrating sunshine without equal4 ,let there be no mincing of comparisons in this assertion4 ,not ,turner1 not ,monet painted so directly blinding shafts of sunlight as has this ,spaniard4 ,he is an impressionist1 but not of the school of ,monet4 ,his manner is his own1 cunningly compounded as it is of the proceeds of half a dozen artists4 ,his trip to ,rome resulted in nothing but a large eclectic canvas without individuality2 what had this pagan in common with saints or sinners6 ,he relates that in ,paris ,bastien-,lepage and ,menzel affected him profoundly4 ,this statement is not to be contradicted2 nevertheless ,sorolla is the master of those two masters in his proper province of the portrayal of outdoor life4 ,degas was too cruel when he called ,bastien the ,bouguereau of the modern movement2 ,bastien academicised ,manet and other moderns4 ,he said nothing new4 ,as for ,menzel1 it would be well here to correct the notion bandied about town that he discovered impressionism before the ,french4 ,he did not4 ,he went to ,paris in #ahfg4 ,meissonier at first1 and later ,courbet1 influenced him4 ,his ,rolling ,mill was painted in #ahgf4 ,it is very ,courbet4 ,the ,paris ,exposition1 #ahfg1 picture shows the influence of ,monet--who was in the ,salon of #ahfd2 and ,monet was begat by ,boudin1 who stemmed from ,jongkind2 and ,jongkind studied with ,isabey2 and they came from ,turner1 idolater of the ,sun4 ,remember1 too1 that ,corot and ,courbet called ,eugne ,boudin roi des ciels4 ,monet not only studied with him but openly admitted that he had learned everything from him1 while ,boudin humbly remarked that he had but entered the door forced by the ,dutchman ,jongkind4 ,doubtless ,sorolla found what he was looking for in ,bastien1 though it would be nearer the truth to say that he studied the ,barbizons and impressionists and took what he needed from them all4 ,he is a temperament impressionable to the sun1 air1 trees1 children1 women1 men1 cattle1 landscapes1 the ocean4 ,such swift1 vivid notation of the fluid life about him is rare2 it would be photographic were it not the personal memoranda of a selecting eye2 it would be transitory impressionism were it not for a hand magical in its manipulation of pigments4 ,brain and brush collaborate with an instantaneity that does not perplex because the result is so convincing4 ,we do not intend to quote that musty flower of rhetoric which was a favourite with our grandfathers4 ,it was the fashion then to say that ,nature--capitalised--took the brush from the hand of the painter1 meaning some old duffer who saw varnish instead of clear colour1 and painted the picture for him4 ,sorolla is receptive2 he does not attempt to impose upon nature an arbitrary pattern1 but he sees nature with his own eyes1 modified by the thousand subtle experiences in which he has steeped his brain4 ,he has the tact of omission very well developed4 ,after years of labour he has achieved a personal vision4 ,it is so completely his that to copy it would be to perpetrate a burlesque4 ,he employs ploys the divisional taches of ,monet1 spots1 cross-hatchings1 big sabre-like strokes la ,john ,sargent1 indulges in smooth sinuous silhouettes1 or huge splotches1 refulgent patches1 explosions1 vibrating surfaces2 surfaces that are smooth and oily surfaces1 as in his waters1 that are exquisitely translucent4 ,you can't pin him down to a particular formula4 ,his technique in other hands would be coarse1 crashing1 brassy1 bald1 and too fortissimo4 ,it sometimes is all these discouraging things4 ,it is too often deficient in the finer modulations4 ,but he makes one forget this by his entrain1 sincerity1 and sympathy with his subject4 ,as a composer he is less satisfactory2 it is the first impression or nothing in his art4 ,apart from his luscious1 tropical colour1 he is a sober narrator of facts4 ,ay1 but he is a big chap1 this amiable little ,valencian with a big heart and a hand that reaches out and grabs down clouds1 skies1 scoops up the sea1 and sets running1 wriggling1 screaming a joyful band of naked boys and girls over the golden summer sands in a sort of ecstatic symphony of pantheism4 ,how does he secure such intensity of pitch in his painting of atmosphere1 of sunshine8 ,by a convention1 just as the falsification of shadows by rendering them darker than nature made the necessary contrasts in the old formula4 ,brightness in clear-coloured shadows is the key-note of impressionistic open-air effects4 ,w4,c4 ,brownell--,french ,art--puts it in this way3 ,take a landscape with a cloudy sky1 which means diffused light in the old sense of the term1 and observe the effect upon it of a sudden burst of sunlight4 ,what is the effect where considerable portions of the scene are suddenly thrown into marked shadow1 as well as others illuminated with intense light8 ,is the absolute value of the parts in shadow lowered or raised8 ,raised1 of course1 by reflected light4 ,formerly1 to get the contrast between sunlight and shadow in proper scale the painter would have painted the shadows darker than they were before the sun appeared4 ,relatively they are darker1 since their value1 though heightened1 is raised infinitely less than the parts in sunlight4 ,absolutely1 their value is raised considerably4 ,if1 therefore1 they are painted lighter than they were before the sun appeared they in themselves seem truer4 ,the part of ,monet's pictures that is in shadow is measurably true1 far truer than it would have been if painted under the old theory of correspondence1 and had been unnaturally darkened to express the relation of contrast between shadow and sunlight4 ,like ,turner1 ,monet forced the colour of his shadows1 as ,mac,coll points out1 and like ,monet1 ,sorolla forces the colour of his shadows--but what a compeller of beautiful shadows--forces the key to the very verge of the luminous abyss4 ,seor ,beruete1 the ,velasquez expert1 truthfully says of ,sorolla's method3 ,his canvases contain a great variety of blues and violets1 balanced and juxtaposed with reds and yellows4 ,these1 and the skilful use of white1 provide him with a colour scheme of great simplicity1 originality1 and beauty4 ,there are no non-transparent shadows1 and his handling of blacks reveals a sensitive feeling for values4 ,consider that black-gowned portrait of his wife4 ,his underlying structural sense is never obscured by his fat1 flowing brush4 ,it must not be supposed that because of ,sorolla's enormous brio his general way of entrapping nature is brutal4 ,he is masculine and absolutely free from the neurasthenic morbidezza of his fellow-countryman ,zuloaga4 7,and far from attaining that painter's inches as a psychologist47 ,for the delineation of moods nocturnal1 of poetic melancholy1 of the contemplative aspect of life we must not go to ,sorolla4 ,he is not a thinker4 ,he is the painter of bright mornings and brisk salt breezes4 ,he is half ,greek4 ,there is ,winckelmann's ,heiterkeit1 blitheness1 in his groups of romping children1 in their unashamed bare skins and nave attitudes4 ,boys on ,valencian beaches evidently believe in ,adamic undress4 ,nor do the girls seem to care4 ,stretched upon his stomach on the beach1 a youth1 straw-hatted1 stares at the spume of the rollers4 ,his companion is not so unconventionally disarrayed1 and as she has evidently not eaten of the poisonous apple of wisdom she is free from embarrassment4 ,balzac's two infants1 innocent of their sex1 could not be less carefree than the ,sorolla children4 ,how tenderly1 sensitively1 he models the hardly nubile forms of maidens4 ,the movement of their legs as they race the strand1 their dash into the water1 or their nervous pausing at the rim of the wet--here is poetry for you1 the poetry of glorious days in youth-land4 ,curiously enough his types are for the most part more international than racial2 that is1 racial as are ,zuloaga's ,basque brigands1 manolas1 and gipsies4 ,but only this8 ,can't he paint anything but massive oxen wading to their buttocks in the sea2 or fisher boats with swelling sails blotting out the horizon2 or a girl after a dip standing1 as her boyish cavalier covers her with a robe--you see the clear1 pink flesh through her garb2 or vistas of flower gardens with roguish maidens and courtly parks2 peasants harvesting1 working women sorting raisins2 sailors mending nets1 boys at rope-making--is all this great art8 ,where are the polished surfaces of the cultured studio worker2 where the bric-a-brac which we inseparably connect with pseudo-,spanish art8 ,you will not find any of them4 ,sorolla1 with good red blood in his veins1 the blood of a great1 misunderstood race1 paints what he sees on the top of ,god's earth4 ,he is not a book but a normal nature-lover4 ,he is in love with light1 and by his treatment of relative values creates the illusion of sun-flooded landscapes4 ,he does not cry for the sun1 as did ,oswald ,alving2 it comes to him at the beckoning of his brush4 ,his many limitations are but the defects of his good qualities4 ,sorolla is sympathetic4 ,he adores babies and delights in dancing4 ,his babies are irresistible4 ,he can sound the ,mitleid motive without a suspicion of odious sentimentality4 ,what charm there is in some of his tiny children as they lean their heads on their mothers6 ,they fear the ocean1 yet are fascinated by it4 ,near by is a mother and child in bed4 ,they sleep4 ,the right hand of the mother stretches1 instinctively1 toward the infant4 ,it is the sweet1 unconscious gesture of millions of mothers4 ,on one finger of the hand there is just a hint of gold from a ring4 ,the values of the white counterpane and the contrast of dark-brown hair on the pillow are truthfully expressed4 ,one mother and babe1 all mothers and babes1 are in this picture4 ,turn to that old rascal in a brown cloak1 who is about to taste a glass of wine4 ,a snag gleams white in his sly1 thirsty mouth4 ,the wine tastes fine1 eh6 ,you recall ,goya4 ,as for the boys swimming1 the sensations of darting and weaving through velvety waters are produced as if by wizardry4 ,but you never think of ,sorolla's line1 for line1 colour1 idea1 actuality are merged4 ,the translucence of this sea in which the boys plash and plunge is another witness to the verisimilitude of ,sorolla's vision4 ,boecklin's large canvas at the new ,pinakothek1 ,munich1 is often cited as a tour de force of water painting4 ,we allude to the mermaids and mermen playing in the trough of a greenish sea4 ,it is mere property water when compared to ,sorolla's closely observed and clearly reproduced waves4 ,rhythm--that is the prime secret of his vitality4 ,his portraiture1 when he is interested in his sitters1 is excellent4 ,beruete is real1 so ,cossio1 the author of the ,el ,greco biography2 so the realistic novelist ,blanco ,ibaez2 but the best1 after those of his1 ,sorolla's1 wife and children1 is that of ,frantzen1 a photographer1 in the act of squeezing the bulb4 ,it is a frank characterisation4 ,the various royalties and high-born persons whose counterfeit presentments are accomplished with such genuine effort are interesting2 but the heart is missing4 ,cleverness there is in the portraits of ,alphonse2 and his wife's gorgeous costume should be the envy of our fashionable portrait manufacturers4 ,it is under the skies that ,sorolla is at ease4 ,monet1 it must not be forgotten1 had two years' military service in ,morocco2 ,sorolla has always lived1 saturated himself in the rays of a hot sun and painted beneath the hard blue dome of ,spanish skies4 ,sorolla is a painting temperament1 and the freshening breezes and sunshine that emanate from his canvases should drive away the odours of the various chemical cook-shops which are called studios in our world of art4 ,one cannot speak too much of the large-minded and cultivated spirit of ,archer ,milton ,huntington1 who is the projector and patron of the exhibitions at the ,hispanic ,society ,museum4 ,sorolla y ,bastida1 through the invitation of ,mr4 ,huntington1 made this exhibition4 ,,ignacio ,,zuloaga ,we are no longer with ,sorolla and his vibrating sunshine on ,valencian sands1 or under the hard blue dome of ,san ,sebastian2 the two-score canvases on view in #aiji at the ,hispanic ,museum were painted by a man of profounder intellect1 of equally sensual but more restrained temperament than ,sorolla2 above all1 by an artist with different ideals--a realist1 not an impressionist1 ,ignacio ,zuloaga4 ,it would not be the entire truth to say that his masterpieces were seen2 several notable pictures1 unhappily1 were not2 but the exhibition was finely representative4 ,zuloaga showed us the height and depth of his powers in at least one picture1 and the longer you know him the more secrets he yields up4 ,in ,paris they say of ,sorolla that he paints too fast and too much2 of ,zuloaga that he is too lazy to paint4 ,half truths1 these4 ,the younger man is more deliberate in his methods4 ,he composes more elaborately1 executes at a slower gait4 ,he resents the imputation of realism4 ,the fire and fury of ,sorolla are not his1 but he selects1 weighs1 analyses1 reconstructs--in a word1 he composes and does not improvise4 ,he is1 nevertheless1 a realist--a verist1 as he prefers to be called4 ,he is not cosmopolitan1 and ,sorolla is3 the types of boys and girls racing along the beaches of watering places which ,sorolla paints are cosmopolitan4 ,passionate vivacity and the blinding sunshine are not qualities that appeal to ,zuloaga4 ,he portrays darkest--let us rather say greenest1 brownest ,spain4 ,the ,basque in him is the strongest strain4 ,he is artistically a lineal descendant of ,el ,greco1 ,velasquez1 ,goya2 and the map of his memory has been traversed by ,manet4 ,he is more racial1 more truly ,spanish1 than any painter since ,goya4 ,he possesses the genius of place4 ,havelock ,ellis's book1 ,the ,soul of ,spain1 is an excellent corrective for the operatic ,spain1 and ,george ,borrow is equally sound despite his bigotry1 while ,gautier is invaluable4 ,arsne ,alexandre in writing of ,zuloaga acutely remarks of the ,spanish conspiracy in allowing the chance tourist only to scratch the soil of this country too well known but not enough explored4 ,therefore when face to face with the pictures of ,zuloaga1 with romantic notions of a ,spain where castles grow in the clouds and moonshine on every bush1 prepare to be shocked1 to be disappointed4 ,he will show you the real ,spain--the sun-soaked soil1 the lean1 sharp outlines of hills1 the arid meadows1 and the swift1 dark-green rivers4 ,he has painted cavaliers and dames of fashion1 but his heart is in the common people4 ,he knows the bourgeois and he knows the gipsy4 ,he has set forth the pride of the vagabond and the garish fascinations of the gitana4 ,since ,goya1 you say1 and then wonder whether it might not be wiser to add3 ,goya never had so complicated a psychology4 ,a better craftsman than ,goya1 a more varied colourist1 a more patient student of ,velasquez1 of life1 though without ,goya's invention1 caprice1 satanism1 and fougue4 ,zuloaga was not born poor1 but with genius2 and genius always spells discontent4 ,he would not become an engineer and he would paint4 ,his family1 artists and artisans1 did not favour his bent4 ,he visited ,italy1 almost starved in ,paris1 and after he knew how to handle his tools he starved for recognition4 ,it is only a few years since he exhibited the portrait of his uncle1 ,daniel ,zuloaga1 and his cousins4 ,it now hangs in the ,luxembourg2 but ,madrid would have none of him2 a ,spanish jury rejected him at ,paris in #aijj1 and not possessing the means of ,edouard ,manet he could not hire a gallery and show the world the stuff that was in him4 ,he did not sulk2 he painted4 ,barcelona took him up2 ,paris1 the world1 followed suit4 ,to-day he is rich1 famous1 and forty4 ,he was born at ,eibar1 #ahgj1 in the ,basque province of ,viscaya4 ,he is a collector of rare taste and has housed his treasures in a gallery at his birthplace4 ,he paints chiefly at ,segovia1 in an old church1 though he wanders over ,spain1 sometimes afoot1 sometimes in his motor car1 often accompanied by ,rodin in the latter1 and wherever he finds himself he is at home and paints4 ,a bull-fighter in the ring1 as was ,goya--perhaps the legend stirred him to imitation--he is a healthy athlete4 ,his vitality1 indeed1 is enormous1 though it does not manifest itself in so dazzling a style as ,sorolla's4 ,the demerits of literary comparisons are obvious1 yet we dare to think of ,sorolla and ,zuloaga as we should of ,thophile ,gautier and ,charles ,baudelaire4 ,in one is the clear day flame of impersonality2 the other is all personality1 given to nocturnal moods1 to diabolism and perversities1 cruelties and fierce voluptuousness4 ,sorolla is pagan2 ,gothic is ,zuloaga1 a ,goth of modern ,spain4 ,he has more variety than ,sorolla1 more intellect4 ,the ,baudelairian strain grows in his work2 it is unmistakable4 ,the crowds that went to see the healthy art of ,sorolla 7as if art had anything in common with pulse1 temperature1 and respiration7 did not like1 or indeed understand1 many of ,zuloaga's magnificent pictorial ideas4 ,he paints in large coups1 but his broad1 slashing planes are not impressionistic4 ,he swims in the traditional ,spanish current with joy4 ,green with him is almost an obsession--a national symbol certainly4 ,his greens1 browns1 blacks1 scarlets are rich1 sonorous1 and magnetic4 ,he is a colourist4 ,he also is master of a restrained palette and can sound the silver grays of ,velasquez4 ,his tonalities are massive4 ,the essential bigness of his conceptions1 his structural forms1 are the properties of an eye swift1 subtle1 and all-embracing4 ,it seems an image that is at once solidly rooted in mother earth and is as fluctuating as life4 ,no painter to-day has a greater sense of character1 except ,degas4 ,the ,frenchman is the superior draughtsman1 but he is no more vital in his interpretation of his ballet girls1 washerwomen1 and grisettes than is ,zuloaga in his delineations of peasants1 dwarfs1 dogs1 courtesans1 scamps1 zealots1 pilgrims1 beggars1 drunkards1 and working girls4 ,what verve1 what grip1 what bowels of humanity has this ,spaniard6 ,a man1 not a professor of academic methods4 ,he has no school1 and he is a school in himself4 ,that the more serene1 poetic aspects and readings of life have escaped him is merely to say that he is not constituted a contemplative philosopher4 ,the sinister skein to be seen in some of his canvases does not argue the existence of a spiritual bias but is the recognition of evil in life4 ,it is not very pleasant1 nor is it reassuring1 but it is part of the artist1 rooted deep in his ,spanish soul along with the harsh irony and a cruel spirit of mockery4 ,he refuses to follow the ideals of other men1 and he paints a spade a spade2 at least the orchestration1 if brutal1 is not lascivious4 ,a cold1 impartial eye observes and registers the corruption of cities small and great and the infinitely worse immoralities of the open country4 ,sometimes ,zuloaga's comments are witty1 sometimes pessimistic4 ,if he has studied ,goya and ,manet1 he also knows ,flicien ,rops4 ,the only picture in the ,zuloaga exhibition that grazes the border-land of the unconventional is ,le ,vieux ,marcheur4 ,it is as moral as ,hogarth and as bitter as ,rops4 ,it recalls the ,montmartre days of the artist when he was acquainted with ,paul ,gauguin and ,toulouse-,lautrec4 ,two women are crossing a bridge4 ,their actuality is impressed upon the retina in a marvellous ly definite way4 ,they live1 they move4 ,one is gowned in dotted green1 the other in black4 ,there is a little landscape with water beyond the iron railing4 ,a venerable minotaur is in pursuit4 ,he wears evening clothes1 an overcoat is thrown across his left arm1 under his right he carries waggishly a cane4 ,his white tie and hat of sober silk are in respectable contrast with his air of fatuousness--the ,marquis of ,steyne en route2 the doddering hero of ,mansfield in ,a ,parisian ,romance1 or ,baron ,hulot4 ,the alert expression of the girls1 who appear to be loitering1 tells us more at a glance than a chapter of ,flaubert1 ,zola1 or ,de ,maupassant4 ,is it necessary to add that the handling takes your breath away because of its consummate ease and its realisation of the effects sought8 ,note the white of the old party's spats1 echoed by the bit of stocking showing a low shoe worn by one of the girls2 note the values of the blacks in the hat1 coat1 trousers1 shoe tips of the man4 ,the very unpleasantness of the theme is forgotten in the supreme art of its presentation4 ,m4 ,alexandre1 the ,french critic1 may argue valiantly that ,zuloaga must not be compared with ,goya1 that their methods and themes are dissimilar4 ,true1 but those witches 7,les ,sorcires de ,san ,millan7 are in the key of ,goya1 not manner1 but subject-matter--a hideous crew4 ,at once you think of the ,caprichos of ,goya4 ,the hag with the distaff1 whose head is painted with a fidelity worthy of ,holbein2 the monkey profile of the witch crouching near the lantern1 that repulsive creature in spectacles--,goya spectacles2 the pattern hasn't varied since his days--these ladies and their companions1 especially that anonymous one in a hood1 coupled with the desperate dreariness of the background1 a country dry and hard as a volcanic cinder1 make a formidable ensemble4 ,zuloaga relates that the beldames screeched and fought in his studio when he posed them4 ,you exclaim while looking at them3 ,how now1 you secret black and midnight hags6 ,hell hovers hard by2 each witch of the unholy trio has the evil eye4 ,as a painter of dwarfs ,zuloaga has not been surpassed by any one but ,velasquez4 ,his ,gregorio1 the monster with the huge head1 the sickening1 livid1 globular eye1 the comical pose--you exclaim3 ,what a brush6 ,the picture palpitates with reality1 an ugly reality1 for the tall old couple are not prepossessing4 ,the topography of the country is minutely observed4 ,but this painter does not wreak himself in ugliness or morbidities2 he is singularly happy in catching the attitudes and gestures of the peasants as they return from the vintage2 of picadors1 matadors1 chulos1 in the ring or lounging1 smoking1 awaiting the signal4 ,the large and celebrated family group of the matador ,gallito--which is to remain permanently in the ,hispanic ,society's museum--is a superb exemplar of the synthetic and rhythmic art of the ,spaniard4 ,each character is seized and rendered4 ,the strong silhouettes melt into a harmonious arabesque2 the tonal gamut is nervous1 strong1 fiery2 the dull gold background is a foil for the scale of colour notes4 ,it is a striking picture4 ,very striking1 too1 is the portrait of ,breval as ,carmen1 though it is the least ,spanish picture in the collection2 ,breval is pictured on the stage1 the lights from below playing over her features4 ,the problem is solved1 as ,besnard or ,degas has solved it1 successfully1 but in purely personal manner4 ,it is the picture in the ,metropolitan ,museum that is bound to attract attention1 as it is a technical triumph2 but it is not very characteristic4 ,we saw dark-eyed1 graceful manolas on balconies--this truly ,spanish motive in art1 as ,spanish as is the ,madonna ,italian--over which are thrown gorgeous shawls1 smiling1 flirting2 with languorous eyes and provocative fans1 they sit ensconced as they sat in ,goya's time and centuries before ,goya1 the ,eternal ,feminine of ,spain4 ,zuloaga is her latest interpreter4 ,isn't ,candida delicious in green1 with black head-dress of lace--isn't she bewitching8 ,her stockings are green4 ,the wall is a most miraculous adumbration of green4 ,across the room is another agent of disquiet in ,nile green1 ,mercedes by name4 ,her aquiline nose1 black eyes1 and the flowers she wears at the side of her head bewilder2 the sky1 clouds1 and landscape are all very lovely4 ,this is a singularly limpid1 loose1 flowing picture4 ,it has the paint quality sometimes missing in the bold1 fat massing of the ,zuloaga colour chords4 ,the ,montmartre ,caf concert singer is a sterling specimen of ,zuloaga's portraiture4 ,he is unconventional in his poses2 he will jam a figure against the right side of the frame 7as in the portrait of ,marthe ,morineau7 or stand a young lady beside an ornamental iron gate in an open park 7not a remarkable portrait1 but one that pleases the ladies because of the textures74 ,the head of the old actor capitally suggests the ,spanish mummer4 ,and the painter's cousin1 ,esperanza6 ,what cousins he boasts6 ,we recall ,the ,three ,cousins1 with its laughing trio and the rich colour scheme4 ,our recollection1 too1 of ,the ,piquant ,retort1 and its brown and scarlet harmonies2 of the ,promenade ,after the ,bull-fight1 which has the classical balance and spaced charm of ,velasquez2 and that startling ,street of ,love overbalances any picture except one in this exhibition1 and that is ,the ,bull-fighter's ,family4 ,the measuring eye of ,zuloaga1 his tremendous vitality1 his sharp1 superb transference to canvas of the life he has elected to represent and interpret are at first sight dazzling4 ,the performance is so supreme--remember1 not in a niggling1 technical sense--a half-dozen men beat him at mere pyrotechnics and lace fioritura--that his limitations1 very marked in his case1 are overlooked4 ,you have drunk a hearty ,spanish wine2 oil to the throat1 confusion to the senses4 ,you do not at first miss the soul2 it is not included in the categories of ,seor ,zuloaga4 ,zuloaga1 like his contemporary farther north1 ,anders ,zorn1 is a man as well as a painter2 the conjunction is not too frequent4 ,the grand manner is surely his4 ,he has the modulatory sense1 and ,christian ,brinton notes his sonorous acid effects4 ,he paints beggars1 dwarfs1 work-girls1 noblemen1 bandits1 dogs1 horses1 lovely women1 gitanas1 indolent ,carmens2 but real1 not the pasteboard and foot-lights variety of ,merime and ,bizet4 ,zuloaga's ,spain is not a second-hand ,italy1 like that of so many ,spanish painters4 ,it is not all bric-a-brac and moonlight and chivalric tinpot helmets4 ,it is the real ,spain of to-day1 the ,spain that has at last awakened to the light of the twentieth century after sleeping so long1 after sleeping1 notwithstanding the desperate nudging it was given a century ago by the realist ,goya4 ,now1 ,zuloaga is not only stepping on his country's toes1 but he is recording the impressions he makes4 ,he1 too1 is a realist1 a realist with such magic in his brush that it would make us forgive him if he painted the odour of garlic4 ,have you seen his ,spanish ,dancers8 ,not the dramatic ,carmencita of ,sargent1 but the creature as she is1 with her simian gestures1 her insolence1 her vulgarity1 her teeth--and the shrill scarlet of the bare gum above the gleaming white1 ,his street scenes are a transcript of the actual facts1 and inextricably woven with the facts is a sense of the strange beauty of them all4 ,his wine harvesters1 venders of sacred images1 or that fascinating canvas ,my ,three ,cousins--before these1 also before the ,promenade ,after the ,bull-fight1 you realise that by some miracle of nature the intensity of ,goya and his sense of life1 the charm of ,velasquez and his sober dignity are recalled by the painting of a young ,spanish artist who a decade ago was unknown4 ,nor is ,zuloaga an eclectic4 ,his force and individuality are too patent for us to entertain such a heresy4 ,a glance at ,jacques-,emile ,blanche's portrait of the ,spanish painter explains other things4 ,there is the physique of a man who can work many hours a day before an easel2 there are the penetrating eyes of an observer1 spying eyes1 slightly cruel2 the head is an intellectual one1 the general conformation of the face harmonious and handsome4 ,the body is that of an athlete1 but not of the bull-necked sort we see in ,goya4 ,the temperament suggested is impetuous1 controlled by a strong will2 it has been fined down by study and the enforced renunciations of poverty-haunted youth4 ,above all1 there is race2 race in the proud1 resolute bearing1 race in the large1 firm1 supple1 and nervous hands4 ,indeed1 the work of ,zuloaga is all race4 ,he is the most ,spanish painter since ,goya4 ,,ix4 ,,chardin ,zola1 as reported by ,george ,moore1 said of ,degas3 ,i cannot accept a man who shuts himself up all his life to draw a ballet girl as ranking co-equal in dignity and power with ,flaubert1 ,daudet1 and ,goncourt4 ,this remark gives us the cue for ,zola's critical endowment2 despite his asseverations his naturalism was only skin deep4 ,he1 too1 was swayed by his literary notions concerning the importance of the subject4 ,in painting the theme may count for little and yet a great picture result2 in ,zola's field there must be an appreciable subject1 else no fiction4 ,but what cant it is to talk about dignity4 ,zola admits ingrained romanticism4 ,he would not see1 for instance1 that the ,degas ballet girls are on the same plane as the ,ingres odalisques2 that a still-life by ,chardin outweighs a big canvas by ,david2 and it must be admitted that the world is on the side of ,zola4 ,the heresy of the subject will never be stamped out1 the painted anecdote will always win the eye of the easily satisfied majority4 ,it may be remembered that the great ,spaniard began his apprenticeship to art by copying still-life1 which he did in a superlative manner2 his ,bodegones1 or kitchen pieces1 testify to this4 ,chardin1 who led as laborious an existence as ,degas1 shutting himself away from the world1 studied surfaces with an intensity that ,zola1 the apostle of realism1 would have misunderstood4 ,later the ,french painter devoted himself with equal success to genre and figure subjects2 but for him there was no such category as still-life4 ,everything of substance1 shape1 weight1 and colour is alive for the eye that observes1 and1 except ,velasquez1 ,vermeer1 and a few others1 no man was endowed with the eye of ,jean ,baptiste ,simon ,chardin1 an eye microscopic in intensity and that saw the beautiful in the homely4 ,edmond ,pilon has published a comprehensive little monograph in the series ,les ,matres de ,l',art4 ,m4 ,pilon is as sympathetic as he is just in his critical estimates of the man and his work4 ,there is not much to relate of the quotidian life of the artist4 ,his was not a romantic or a graceful figure among his contemporaries1 the pastellist ,la ,tour1 ,fragonard1 and the rest1 nor had his personality a jot of the mysterious melancholy of ,watteau4 ,his artistic ancestry was ,dutch2 in the footsteps of ,de ,hooch1 the younger ,teniers1 ,vermeer1 ,terburg1 ,kalf1 he trod1 rather plodded1 producing miracles of light1 colour1 finish4 ,a long patience his career1 he never indulged in brilliancy for the mere sake of brilliancy2 nevertheless he was an amazing virtuoso of the brush4 ,he was born in the ,rue de ,seine1 ,paris1 ,november #b1afii4 ,his father1 ,jean ,chardin1 a joiner1 was a man of artistic instinct whose furniture and marquetrie were admired and in demand4 ,the lad began his tuition under ,cazes1 but soon went to the atelier of ,coypel4 ,later he worked under the eye of ,carle ,vanloo in the restoration of the large gallery at ,fontainebleau4 ,his painting of a barber-chirurgeon's sign drew upon him the notice of several artists of influence and he became a member of the ,academy of ,st4 ,luc4 ,when he exhibited for the first time in public1 in the ,place ,dauphine1 #agbh1 ,watteau had been dead seven years2 ,coypel1 ,allegrain1 ,vanloo1 ,troy1 and the imitators of the pompous art of ,le ,brun were the vogue4 ,colour had become a conventional abstraction2 design1 of the most artificial sort1 the prime requisite for a sounding reputation4 ,the unobtrusive art of ,chardin1 who went to nature not to books for his inspiration1 was not appreciated4 ,he was considered a belated ,dutchman1 though his superior knowledge of values ought to have proved him something else4 ,diderot1 alone among the critics of his epoch1 saluted him in company with the great ,buffon as a man whom nature had taken into her confidence4 ,in #agbh he was received at the ,academy as painter of fruit and flowers4 ,he married his first wife1 ,marguerite ,saintan1 in #agca1 and his son1 ,j4,b4 ,chardin1 was born the same year4 ,in #agce he lost his wife and infant daughter1 and the double blow drove him into retirement1 but he exposed his pictures from time to time4 ,he was made counsellor of the ,academy in #agdc1 and in #agdd married the second time1 a widow1 ,franoise ,marguerite ,pouget by name4 ,this was a happy marriage2 ,madame ,chardin1 a sensible1 good-tempered bourgeoise1 regulated the household accounts1 and brought order and peace into the life of the lonely artist4 ,hereafter he painted without interruptions4 ,he received from the king a pension of five hundred francs1 his son obtained the prix de ,rome for a meritorious canvas1 and if he had had his father's stable temperament he would have ended an admirable artist4 ,but he was reckless1 and died at ,venice in a mysterious manner1 drowned in a canal1 whether by murder or suicide no one knew4 ,chardin never recovered his spirits after this shock4 ,the king offered him lodging in the gallery of the ,louvre 7,logement ,no4 #ab74 ,this was accepted1 as much as he disliked leaving his comfortable little house in the ,rue ,princesse4 ,as he aged he suffered from various ailments and his eyes began to give him trouble2 then it was he took up pastels4 ,december #f1 #aggi1 he died1 his wife surviving him until #agia4 ,he was a man of short stature1 broad-shouldered and muscular4 ,liked by his friends and colleagues for his frankness1 there was a salt savour in his forthright speech--he never learned to play the courtier4 ,his manners were not polished1 a certain rusticity clung to him always1 but his honesty was appreciated and he held positions of trust4 ,affectionate1 slow--with the ,dutch slowness praised by ,rodin--and tenacious1 he set out to conquer a small corner in the kingdom of art1 and to-day he is first among the ,little ,masters4 ,this too convenient appellation must not class him with such myopic miniaturists as ,meissonier4 ,there are breadth of style1 rich humanity1 largeness of feeling1 apart from his remarkable technique1 that place him in the company of famous portrait painters4 ,he does not possess what are called general ideas2 he sounds no tragic chords2 he has no spoor of poetry1 but he sees the exterior world steadily2 he is never obvious1 and he is a sympathetic interpreter in the domestic domain and of character4 ,his palette is as aristocratic as that of ,velasquez3 the music he makes1 like that of the string quartet1 borders on perfection4 ,at his dbut he so undervalued his work that ,vanloo1 after reproaching the youth for his modesty1 paid him double for a picture4 ,another time he gave a still-life to a friend in exchange for a waistcoat whose flowery pattern appealed to him4 ,his pictures did not fetch fair prices during his lifetime2 after more than half a century of hard work he left little for his widow4 ,nor in the years immediately subsequent to that of his death did values advance much4 ,the engraver ,wille bought a still-life for thirty-six livres1 a picture that to-day would sell for thousands of dollars4 ,at the beginning of the last century1 in #ahaj1 when ,david was ruler of the arts in ,paris1 the two masterpieces in pastel1 now in the ,louvre1 the portraits of ,chardin aux besicles1 and the portrait of ,marguerite ,pouget1 his second spouse1 could have been bought for twenty-four francs4 ,in #ahfg at the ,laperlier sale the ,pourvoyeuse was sold for four thousand and fifty francs to the ,louvre1 and forty years later the ,louvre gave three hundred and fifty thousand francs to ,madame ,emile ,trpard for ,le ,jeune ,homme au ,violon and l',enfant au ,toton4 ,diderot truly prophesied that the hour of reparation would come4 ,he is a master of discreet tonalities and a draughtsman of the first order4 ,his lighting1 more diffused than ,rembrandt's1 is the chief actor in his scene4 ,with it he accomplishes magical effects1 with it he makes beautiful copper caldrons1 humble vegetables1 leeks1 carrots1 potatoes1 onions1 shining rounds of beef1 hares1 and fish become eloquent witnesses to the fact that there is nothing dead or ugly in nature if the vision that interprets is artistic4 ,it is said that no one ever saw ,chardin at work in his atelier1 but his method1 his facture has been ferreted out though never excelled4 ,he employs the division of tones1 his couches are fat and his colour is laid on lusciously4 ,his colour is never hot2 coolness of tone is his chief allurement4 ,greuze1 passing one of his canvases at an exhibition1 a long time regarded it and went away1 heaving a sigh of envy4 ,the frivolous ,frago1 who studied with ,chardin for a brief period1 even though he left him for ,boucher1 admired his former master without understanding him4 ,decamps later exclaimed in the ,louvre3 ,the whites of ,chardin6 ,i don't know how to recapture them4 ,he might have added the silvery grays4 ,m4 ,pilon remarks that as in the case of ,vermeer the secret of ,chardin tones has never been surprised4 ,the ,french painter knew the art of modulation1 while his transitions are bold2 he enveloped his objects in atmosphere and gave his shadows a due share of luminosity4 ,he placed his colours so that at times his work resembles mosaic or tapestry4 ,he knew a century before the modern impressionists the knack of juxtaposition1 of opposition1 of tonal division2 his science was profound4 ,he must have studied ,watteau and the ,dutchmen closely4 ,diderot was amazed to find that his surpassing whites were neither black nor white1 but a neuter--but by a subtle transposition of tones looked white4 ,chardin worked from an accumulation of notes1 but there are few sketches of his in existence1 a sanguine or two4 ,the paucity of the ,velasquez sketches has piqued criticism4 ,like ,velasquez1 ,chardin was of a reflective temperament1 a slow workman and a patient corrector4 ,the intimate charm of the ,chardin interiors is not equalled even in the ,vermeer canvases4 ,at the ,louvre1 which contains at least thirty of the masterpieces1 consider the sweetness of ,le ,benedicite1 or the three pastels1 and then turn to the fruits1 flowers1 kitchen utensils1 game1 or to ,la ,raie ,ouverte1 that magnificent portrait of a skatefish1 with its cat slyly stealing over opened oysters1 the table-cloth of such vraisemblance that the knife balanced on the edge seems to lie in a crease4 ,what bulk1 what destiny1 what chatoyant tones6 ,here are qualities of paint and vision pictorial1 vision that has never been approached2 paint without rhetoric1 paint sincere1 and the expression in terms of beautiful paint of natural truths4 ,in ,chardin's case--by him the relativity of mundane things was accepted with philosophic phlegm--an onion was more important than an angel1 a copper stew-pan as thrilling as an epic4 ,and then the humanity of his youth holding a fiddle and bow1 the exquisite textures of skin and hair1 and the glance of the eyes4 ,you believe the story told of his advice to his confrre3 ,paint with sentiment4 ,but he mixed his sentiment with lovely colours1 he is one of the chief glories of ,france as a colourist4 ,x4 ,,black ,,and ,,white4 ,i ,some ,frenchman has called the theatre a book reversed4 ,it is a happy epigram4 ,by a similar analogy the engraving or mezzotint might be described as a reversed picture4 ,and with still more propriety black and white reproductions may be compared to the pianoforte in the hands of a skilful artist4 ,the pianoforte can interpret in cooler tones orchestral scores4 ,it gives in its all-formal severity the line2 the colour is only suggested4 ,but such is the tendency of modern music toward painting that the success of a pianoforte virtuoso to-day depends upon his ability to arouse within his listeners' imagination the idea of colour--in reality1 the emotional element4 ,the engraver evokes colour by his cunning interplay of line and cross hatching2 the mezzotinter by his disposition of dark masses and white spaces4 ,indeed1 the mezzotint by reason of its warm1 more sympathetic1 and ductile medium has always seemed more colourful in his plates than the most laboriously executed steel engravings4 ,in this sense the scraper beats the burin1 while the etcher1 especially if he be a painter1 attains a more personal vision than either one of these processes4 ,the stone was made for the mystics1 say the ,pennells4 ,the revival of lithography by contemporary artists of fame is very welcome4 ,above all1 the appeal of engraving1 mezzotint1 and etching is to the refined4 ,it is an art of a peculiarly intimate character4 ,just as some prefer the exquisite tonal purity and finished performances of the ,kneisel ,string ,quartet to the blare and thunder of the ,philharmonic ,society2 just as some enjoy in silence beautiful prose more than our crude drama1 so the lovers of black and white may feel themselves a distinctive class4 ,they have at their elbow disposed in portfolios or spaced on walls the eloquent portraiture1 the world's masterpieces1 marine views1 and landscapes4 ,there is no better way to study painting historically than in the cabinet of an engraving collector4 ,furthermore1 divested of bad or mediocre paint--many famous pictures by famous names are mere cartoons1 the paint peeled or peeling off--the student and amateur penetrates to the very marrow of the painter's conception1 to the very skeleton of his technical methods4 ,,piranesi ,i ,battlements that on their restless fronts bore stars is a line from ,wordsworth that ,thomas de ,quincey approvingly quotes in regard to his opium-induced architectural dreams1 and1 aptly enough1 immediately after a page devoted to ,piranesi1 the etcher1 architect1 and visionary4 ,you may find this page in ,the ,confessions of an ,english ,opium ,eater1 that book of terror1 beauty1 mystification1 and fudge 7,de ,quincey deluded himself quite as much as his readers in this autobiography1 which1 like the confessions of most distinguished men1 must not be taken too literally73 ,many years ago1 he wrote1 when ,i was looking over ,piranesi's ,antiquities of ,rome1 ,mr4 ,coleridge1 who was standing by1 described to me a set of plates by that artist1 called his ,dreams1 which record the scenery of his own soul during the delirium of a fever4 ,some of them 7described only from memory of ,mr4 ,coleridge's account7 represented vast ,gothic halls1 on the floor of which stood all sorts of engines and machinery expressive of enormous power put forth and resistance overcome4 ,creeping along the sides of the walls1 you perceived a staircase1 and upon it1 groping his way upward1 was ,piranesi himself4 ,follow the stairs a little farther and you perceive it to come to a sudden1 abrupt termination1 without any balustrade1 and allowing no step onward to him who had reached the extremity1 except into the depths below4 ,whatever is to become of poor ,piranesi8 ,you suppose1 at least1 that his labours must in some way terminate here4 ,but raise your eyes1 and behold a second flight of stairs still higher1 on which again ,piranesi is perceived1 by this time standing on the very brink of the abyss4 ,again elevate your eyes1 and a still more aerial flight of stairs is beheld1 and again is poor ,piranesi on his aspiring labours1 and so on1 until the unfinished stairs and ,piranesi both are lost in the upper gloom of the hall4 ,this plate was evidently one of the ,carceri set--sixteen in all--which the etcher improvised after some severe cerebral malady4 ,what would we not give to have heard the poet of ,kubla ,khan describing the fantastic visions of the ,venetian artist to the ,english opium eater6 ,the eloquence of the prose passage we have transcribed has in it some faint echoes of ,coleridge's golden rumble4 ,that these two men appreciated the ,italian is something2 perhaps they saw chiefly in his work its fantastic side4 ,there was no saner craftsman than ,piranesi apart from certain of his plates2 no more solid construction in a print can be shown than his various interpretations of the classic ruins of ,rome1 the temples at ,pstum4 ,he was a great engraver and etcher whose passion was the antique4 ,he deliberately withdrew from all commerce with the ideas and art of his own times4 ,he loved architecture for architecture's sake2 not as a decoration1 not as a background for humanity1 but as something personal4 ,it was for him what the human face was for ,rembrandt and ,velasquez4 ,that he was called the ,rembrandt of ,architecture is but another testimony to the impression he made upon his contemporaries1 though the title is an unhappy one4 ,piranesi even in his own little fenced-off coign of art is not comparable to the etcher of the ,hundred ,guilder print1 nor are there close analogies in their respective handling of darks and lights4 ,it might be nearer the mark to call ,piranesi--though all such comparisons are thorns in the critical flesh--the ,salvator ,rosa of architecture1 for there is much of ,salvator's unbridled violence1 fantasy1 and genius for deforming the actual that is to be encountered in some of ,piranesi's works4 ,his was not a classic temperament4 ,the serene1 airy1 sun-bathed palaces and temples which ,claude introduced into his foregrounds are seldom encountered in ,piranesi4 ,a dark ,gothic imagination his1 ,gothic and often cruel4 ,in his etching of public buildings at ,rome or elsewhere1 while he is not always faultless in drawing or scrupulous in observation1 such was the sincerity and passion of the man that he has left us the noblest transcriptions of these stately edifices and monuments4 ,it is in the rhythmic expression of his personal moods that his sinister romantic imaginings are revealed1 and with a detail and fulness that are positively overwhelming4 ,it should not be forgotten that in the eighteenth and in the early part of the nineteenth centuries ,piranesi achieved widespread popularity4 ,he was admired outside of ,italy1 in ,england1 in ,france1 and ,germany4 ,a generation that in ,england read ,vathek and ,mrs4 ,radcliffe1 supped on the horrors of ,melmoth and ,frankenstein1 knew ,e4,t4,w4 ,hoffmann and the ,german romantic literature1 could be relied on to take up ,piranesi1 and for his lesser artistic side4 ,poe knew his work and ,baudelaire2 we see that for ,de ,quincey he was a kindred spirit4 ,the ,english mezzotinter ,john ,martin must have studied him closely1 also ,gustave ,dor4 ,the ,carceri 7#agej7 of ,piranesi are indoor compositions1 enclosed spaces in which wander aimlessly or deliriously the wraiths of damned men1 not a whit less wretched nor awful than ,dante's immemorial mob4 ,piranesi shows us cavernous abodes where appalling engines of torture fill the foreground1 while above1 at vertiginous heights1 we barely discern perilous passageways1 haunted windows peering out upon the high heavens1 stone-fretted ceilings that are lost in a magic mist4 ,by a sort of diabolic modulation the artist conducts our eye from these dizzy angles and granitic convolutions down tortuous and tumultuous staircases that seemingly wind about the axis of eternity4 ,to traverse them would demand an eternity and the nerves of a madman4 ,lower barbaric devices reveal this artist's temperament4 ,he is said to have executed the prison set during the delirium of fever4 ,this is of the same calibre as the clotted nonsense about ,poe composing when intoxicated or ,liszt playing after champagne4 ,it is a credible anecdote for ,philistines who do not realise that even the maddest caprice1 whether in black and white1 marble1 music1 or verse1 must be executed in silence and cold blood4 ,piranesi simply gave wing to his fancy1 recalling the more vivid of his nightmares--as did ,coleridge1 ,de ,quincey1 ,poe1 ,baudelaire1 and the rest of the drug-steeped choir4 ,we recall one plate of ,piranesi's in which a miserable devil climbs a staircase suspended over an abyss2 as he mounts each step the lower one crumbles into the depths below4 ,the agony of the man 7do you recall ,the ,torture by ,hope of ,villiers de l',isle-,adam87 is shown in his tense1 crouching attitude1 his hands clawing the masonry above him4 ,nature is become a monstrous fever1 existence a shivering dread4 ,you overhear the crash of stone into the infernal cellarage--where awaits the hunted wretch perhaps a worse fate than on the pinnacles above4 ,it is a companion piece to ,martin's ,sadak searching for the ,waters of ,oblivion4 ,another plate depicts with ingenuity terraces superimposed upon terraces1 archways spaced like massive music1 narrow footways across which race ape-like men1 half naked1 eagerly preparing some terrible punishments for criminals handcuffed and guarded4 ,they are to walk a sharp-spiked bridge4 ,gigantic chains swing across stony precipices1 a lamp depends from a roof whose outlines are merged in the gray dusk of dreams4 ,there is cruelty1 horror1 and a sense of the wickedly magnificent in the ensemble4 ,what crimes were committed to merit such atrocious punishment8 ,the boldness and clearness of it all6 ,with perspicacity ,george ,saintsbury wrote of ,flaubert's ,temptation of ,saint ,anthony3 ,it is the best example of dream literature that ,i know--most writers who have tried this style have erred1 inasmuch as they have endeavoured to throw a portion of the mystery with which the waking mind invests dreams over the dream itself4 ,any one's experience is sufficient to show that this is wrong4 ,the events of dreams1 as they happen1 are quite plain and matter of fact1 and it is only in the intervals that any suspicion occurs to the dreamer4 ,certainly ,piranesi remembered his dreams4 ,he is a realist in his delineation of details1 though the sweep and breadth of an ideal design are never absent4 ,he portrays ladders that scale bulky joists1 poles of incredible thickness1 cyclopean block and tackling4 ,they are of wood1 not metal nor marble1 for the art of ,piranesi is full of discriminations4 ,finally1 you weary4 ,the eye gorged by all the mystic engines1 hieroglyphs of pain from some impossible inquisition--though not once do we see a monkish figure--all these anonymous monkey men scurrying on what errand ,piranesi alone knows2 these towering arches1 their foundations resting on the crest of hell 7you feel the tremendous impact of the architectural mass upon the earth--no mean feat to represent or rather to evoke the sense of weight1 of pressure on a flat surface72 the muffled atmosphere in these prisons from which no living prisoner emerges2 of them all you weary1 for the normal brain can only stand a certain dose of the delirious and the melancholy4 ,this aspect1 then1 of ,piranesi's art1 black magic in all its potency1 need no longer detain us4 ,his ,temples of ,pstum sound a less morbid key than his ,carceri1 and as etchings quite outrank them4 ,,ii ,giambattista ,piranesi was born at ,venice in #agbj4 ,bryan says that about #agch his father sent him to ,rome1 where he studied under ,valeriani1 through whom he acquired the style of ,valeriani's master1 ,marco ,ricci of ,belluno4 ,with ,vasi1 a ,sicilian engraver1 he learned that art4 ,ricci and ,pannini were much in vogue1 following the example of ,claude in his employment of ruins as a picturesque element in a composition4 ,but ,piranesi excelled both ,ricci and ,pannini4 ,he was an architect1 too1 helping to restore churches1 and this accounts for the proud title1 ,architect of ,venice1 which may be seen on some of his plates4 ,he lived for a time in ,venice1 but ,rome drew him to her with an imperious call4 ,and1 notwithstanding the opposition of his father1 to ,rome he went1 and for forty years devoted himself to his master passion1 the pictorial record of the beloved city1 the ancient portions of which were fast vanishing owing to time and the greed of their owners4 ,this was ,piranesi's self-imposed mission1 begun as an exalted youth1 finished as an irritable old man4 ,among his architectural restorations1 made at the request of ,clement ,,xiii1 were the two churches of ,santa ,maria del ,popolo and ,il ,priorato4 ,lanciani says that ,il ,priorato is a mass of monstrosities inside and out4 ,it is his etching1 not his labour as an architect1 that will make ,piranesi immortal4 ,he seems to have felt this1 for he wrote that he had executed a work which will descend to posterity and will last so long as there will be men desirous of knowing all that has survived the ruins of the most famous city of the universe4 ,in the black-and-white portrait of the etcher by ,f4 ,polonzani1 we see a full-cheeked man with a well-developed forehead1 the features of the classic ,roman order1 the general expression not far removed from a sort of sullen self-satisfaction4 ,but the eyes redeem4 ,they are full1 lustrous1 penetrating1 and introspective4 ,the portrait etched by the son of ,piranesi1 after a statue1 discovers him posed in a toga1 the general effect being classic and consular4 ,his life1 like that of all good workmen in art1 was hardly an eventful one4 ,he married precipitately and his wife bore him two sons 7,francesco1 the etcher1 born at ,rome1 #agdh--;,bryan gives the date as #agef--;died at ,paris1 #ahaj7 and a daughter 7,laura1 born at ,rome1 #agej--;date of death unknown74 ,these children were a consolation to him4 ,both were engravers4 ,francesco frequently assisted his father in his work1 and ,bryan says that ,laura's work resembled her father's4 ,she went to ,paris with her brother and probably died there4 ,she left some views of ,rome4 ,francesco1 with his brother ,pietro1 attempted to found an academy in ,paris and later a terra cotta manufactory4 ,the elder ,piranesi was of a quarrelsome disposition4 ,he wrangled with an ,english patron1 ,viscount ,charlemont1 and1 like ,beethoven1 destroyed title-pages when he became displeased with the subject of his dedications4 ,he was decorated with the ,order of ,christ and was proud of his membership in the ,london ,society of ,antiquaries4 ,it is said that the original copper plates of his works were captured by a ,british man-of-war during the ,napoleonic conflict4 ,this probably accounts for the dissemination of so many revamped and coarsely executed versions of his compositions4 ,his besetting fault was a tendency toward an ,egyptian blackness in his composition4 ,fond of strong contrasts as was ,john ,martin1 he is1 at times1 as great a sinner in the handling of his blacks4 ,an experimenter of audacity1 ,piranesi's mastery of the technique of etching has seldom been equalled1 and even in his inferior work the skilful printing atones for many defects4 ,the remarkable richness and depth of tone1 brought about by continuous and innumerable bitings1 and other secret processes known only to himself1 make his plates warm and brilliant4 ,nobility of form1 grandeur of mass1 a light and shade that is positively dramatic in its dispersion over wall and tower1 are the characteristic marks of this unique etcher4 ,he could not resist the temptation of dotting with figures the huge spaces of his ruins4 ,they dance or recline or indulge in uncouth gestures4 ,his shadows are luminous--you may gaze into them2 his high lights caught on some projection or salient cornice or silvering the ,august porticoes of a vanished past1 all these demonstrate his feeling for the dramatic4 ,and dramatic is the impression evoked as you study the majestic temples that were ,pstum1 the bare1 ruined arches and pillars that were ,rome4 ,it is ,pstum that is the more vivid4 ,it tallies1 too1 with the ,piranesi plates2 while ,rome has visibly changed since his day4 ,his original designs for chimneys1 ,diverse ,maniere d',adornare i ,camini1 are pronounced by several critics as foolish and vulgar4 ,he left nearly two thousand etchings1 and died at ,rome ,november #i1 #aggh4 ,his son erected a mediocre statue by ,angolin for his tomb in ,il ,priorato4 ,a manuscript life of ,piranesi1 which was in ,london about #ahcj1 is now lost4 ,bryan's dictionary gives a partial list of his works as published both by himself in ,rome and by his sons in ,paris4 ,the plates passed from his sons first to ,firmin-,didot1 and ultimately into the hands of the ,papal ,government4 ,de ,quincey's quotation of ,wordsworth is apposite in describing ,piranesi's creations3 ,battlements that on their restless fronts bore stars2 from sheer brutal masonry1 gray1 aged1 and moss-encrusted1 he invented a precise pattern and one both passionate and magical4 ,,meryon ,until the recent appearance of the ,baudelaire letters 7#ahda-ff7 all that we knew of ,meryon's personality and art was to be found in the monograph by ,philippe ,burty and ,braldi's ,les ,graveurs du ,,xix ,sicle4 ,hamerton had written of the ,french etcher in #ahge 7,etching and ,etchers71 and various anecdotes about his eccentric behaviour were public property4 ,frederick ,wedmore1 in his ,etching in ,england1 did not hesitate to group ,meryon's name with ,rembrandt's and ,jacquemart's 7one feels like employing the ,whistlerian formula and asking3 ,why drag in ,jacquemart872 and to-day1 after years of critical indifference1 the unhappy copper-scratcher has come into his own4 ,you may find him mentioned in such company as ,drer1 ,rembrandt1 and ,whistler4 ,the man who first acclaimed him as worthy of associating with ,rembrandt was the critic ,charles ,baudelaire2 and we are indebted to him for new material dealing with the troubled life of ,charles ,meryon4 ,on ,january #h1 #ahfj1 ,baudelaire wrote to his friend and publisher1 ,poulet-,malassis1 that what he intends to say is worth the bother of writing4 ,meryon had called1 first sending a card upon which he scrawled3 ,you live in a hotel the name of which doubtless attracted you because of your tastes4 ,puzzled by this cryptic introduction1 the poet then noted that the address read3 ,charles ,baudelaire1 ,htel de ,thbes4 ,he did not stop at a hotel bearing that name1 but1 fancying him a ,theban1 ,meryon took the matter for granted4 ,this letter was forwarded4 ,meryon appeared4 ,his first question would have startled any but ,baudelaire1 who prided himself on startling others4 ,the etcher1 looking as desperate and forlorn as in the ,bracquemond etched portrait 7#ahec71 demanded news of a certain ,edgar ,poe4 ,baudelaire responded sadly that he had not known ,poe personally4 ,then he was eagerly asked if he believed in the reality of this ,poe4 ,charles began to suspect the sanity of his visitor4 ,because1 added ,meryon1 there is a society of littrateurs1 very clever1 very powerful1 and knowing all the ropes4 ,his reasons for suspecting a cabal formed against him under the guise of ,poe's name were these3 ,the ,murders in the ,rue ,morgue4 ,i made a design of the ,morgue--an orang-outang4 ,i have been often compared to a monkey4 ,this orang-outang assassinated two women1 a mother and daughter4 ,et moi aussi1 j'ai assassin moralement deux femmes1 la mre et sa fille4 ,i have always taken this story as an allusion to my misfortunes4 ,you1 ,m4 ,baudelaire1 would do me a great favour if you could find the date when ,edgar ,poe1 supposing he was not assisted by any one1 wrote his tale4 ,i wish to see if this date coincides with my adventures4 ,after that ,baudelaire knew his man4 ,meryon spoke with admiration of ,michelet's ,jeanne d',arc1 though he swore the book was not written by ,michelet4 7,not such a wild shot1 though not correct in this particular instance1 for the world has since discovered that several books posthumously attributed to ,michelet were written by his widow47 ,the etcher was interested in the cabalistic arts4 ,on one of his large plates he drew some eagles1 and when ,baudelaire objected that these birds did not frequent ,parisian skies he mysteriously whispered those folks at the ,tuileries often launched as a rite the sacred eagles to study the omens and presages4 ,he was firmly convinced of this4 ,after the termination of the trying visit ,baudelaire1 with acrid irony1 asks himself why he1 with his nerves usually unstrung1 did not go quite mad1 and he concludes1 ,seriously ,i addressed to ,heaven the grateful prayers of a pharisee4 ,in ,march the same year he assures the same correspondent that decidedly ,meryon does not know how to conduct himself4 ,he knows nothing of life1 neither does he know how to sell his plates or find an editor4 ,his work is very easy to sell4 ,baudelaire was hardly a practical business man1 but1 like ,poe1 he had sense enough to follow his market4 ,he instantly recognised the commercial value of ,meryon's ,paris set1 but knew the etcher was a hopeless character4 ,he wrote to ,poulet-,malassis concerning a proposed purchase of ,meryon's work by the publisher4 ,it never came to anything4 ,the etcher was very suspicious as to paper and printing4 ,he grew violent when the poet asked him to illustrate some little poems and sonnets4 ,had he1 ,meryon1 not written poems himself8 ,had not the mighty ,victor ,hugo addressed flattering words to him8 ,baudelaire1 without losing interest1 then thought of ,daumier as an illustrator for a new edition of ,les ,fleurs du ,mal4 ,it must not be supposed1 however1 that ,meryon was ungrateful4 ,he was deeply affected by the praise accorded him in ,baudelaire's ,salon of #ahei4 ,he wrote in ,february1 #ahfj1 sending his ,views of ,paris to the critic as a feeble acknowledgment of the pleasure he had enjoyed when reading the brilliant interpretative criticism4 ,he said that he had created an epoch in etching--which was the literal truth--and he had saved a rapidly vanishing ,paris for the pious curiosity of future generations4 ,he speaks of his nave heart and hoped that ,baudelaire in turn would dream as he did over the plates4 ,this letter was signed simply ,meryon1 #bj ,rue ,duperr4 ,the acute accent placed over the e in his name by the ,french poet and by biographers1 critics1 and editors since was never used by the etcher4 ,it took years before ,baudelaire could persuade the ,parisians that ,poe did not spell his name ,edgard ,po4 ,and we remember the fate of ,liszt and ,whistler1 who were until recently known in ,paris as ,litz and ,whistler4 ,with the aid of ,champfleury and ,banville1 ,baudelaire tried to bring ,meryon's art to the cognisance of the ,minister of ,beaux-,arts1 but to no avail4 ,why8 ,there was a reason4 ,bohemian as was the artist during the last decade of his life1 he did not always haunt low cafs and drink absinthe4 ,his beginnings were as romantic as a page of ,balzac4 ,he was born a gentleman la main gauche4 ,his father was the doctor and private secretary of ,lady ,stanhope4 ,charles ,lewis ,meryon was an ,english physician1 who1 falling in love with a ballet dancer at the ,opra1 ,pierre ,narcisse ,chaspoux1 persuaded her that it would be less selfish on her part if she would not bind him to her legally4 ,november #bc1ahba1 a sickly1 nervous1 and wizened son was born to the pair and baptised with his father's name1 who1 being an alien1 generously conceded that much4 ,there his interest ceased4 ,on the mother fell the burden of the boy's education4 ,at five he was sent to school at ,passy and later went to the south of ,france4 ,in #ahcg he entered the ,brest naval school1 and #ahci saw him going on his maiden voyage4 ,this first trip was marred by the black sorrow that fell upon him when informed of his illegitimate birth4 ,i was mad from the time ,i was told of my birth1 he wrote1 and until madness supervened he suffered from a wounded imagination4 ,he was morbid1 shy1 and irritable1 and his energy--the explosive energy of this frail youth was amazing2 because he had been refused the use of a ship boat he wasted three months digging out a canoe from a log of wood4 ,like ,paul ,gauguin1 he saw many countries1 and his eyes were trained to form1 though not colour--he suffered from ,daltonism--for when he began to paint he discovered he was totally colour-blind4 ,the visible world for him existed as a contrapuntal net-work of lines1 silhouettes1 contours1 or heavy dark masses4 ,when a sailor he sketched4 ,meryon tells of the drawing of a little fungus he found in ,akaroa4 ,distorted in form and pinched and puny from its birth1 ,i could not but pity it2 it seemed to me so entirely typical of the inclemency and at the same time of the whimsicality of an incomplete and sickly creation that ,i could not deny it a place in my souvenirs de voyage1 and so ,i drew it carefully4 ,this bit of fungus was to him a symbol of his own gnarled existence4 ,tiring of ship life1 he finally decided to study art4 ,he had seen ,new ,zealand1 ,australia1 ,italy1 ,new ,caledonia1 and if his splendid plate--,no4 #bb in ,m4 ,burty's list--is evidence1 he must have visited ,san ,francisco4 ,baudelaire1 in ,l',art ,romantique1 speaks of this perspective of ,san ,francisco as being ,meryon's most masterly design4 ,in #ahdf he quit seafaring4 ,he was in mediocre health1 and though from a cadet he had attained the rank of lieutenant it was doubtful if he would ever rise higher4 ,his mother had left him four thousand dollars1 so he went over to the ,latin ,quarter and began to study painting4 ,that he was unfitted for1 and meeting ,eugne ,blry he became interested in etching4 ,a ,dutch seventeenth-century etcher and draughtsman1 ,reiner ,zeeman by name1 attracted him4 ,he copied1 too1 ,ducereau and ,nicolle4 ,an etching by the latter of a riverside view through the arch of a bridge is like a link between ,meryon and ,piranesi1 says ,d4,s4 ,mac,coll4 ,meryon also studied under the tuition of a painter named ,phelippes4 ,he went to ,belgium in #ahef on the invitation of the ,duc d',aremberg1 and in #aheh he was sent to ,charenton suffering from melancholy and delusions4 ,he left in a year and returned to ,paris and work2 but1 as ,baudelaire wrote1 a cruel demon had touched the brain of the artist4 ,a mystic delirium set in4 ,he ceased to etch1 and evidently suffered from the persecution madness4 ,in every corner he believed conspiracies were hatching4 ,he often disappeared1 often changed his abode4 ,sometimes he would appear dressed gorgeously at a boulevard caf in company with brilliant birds of prey2 then he would be seen slinking through mean streets in meaner rags4 ,there are episodes in his life that recall the career of another man of genius1 ,gerard de ,nerval1 poet1 noctambulist1 suicide4 ,it is known that ,meryon destroyed his finest plates1 but not in a mad fit4 ,baudelaire says that the artist1 who was a perfectionist1 did not wish to see his work suffer from rebiting1 so he quite sensibly sawed up the plates into tiny strips4 ,that he was suspicious of his fellow-etchers is illustrated in the story told by ,sir ,seymour ,haden1 who bought several of his etchings from him at a fair price4 ,two miles away from the atelier the ,englishman was overtaken by ,meryon4 ,he asked for the proofs he had sold1 as they were of a nature to compromise him2 besides1 from what he knew of ,haden's etchings he was determined that his proofs should not go to ,england4 ,sir ,seymour at once returned the etchings4 ,now1 whether ,meryon's words were meant as a compliment or the reverse is doubtful4 ,he was half crazy1 but he may have seen through a hole in the millstone4 ,frederick ,keppel once met in ,paris an old printer named ,beillet who did work for ,meryon4 ,he could not always pay for the printing of his celebrated ,abside de ,notre ,dame1 a masterpiece1 as he hadn't the necessary ten cents4 ,i never got my money6 exclaimed the thrifty printer4 ,enormous endurance1 enormous vanity1 diseased pride1 outraged human sentiment1 hatred of the ,second ,empire because of the particular clause in the old ,napoleonic code relating to the research of paternity2 an irregular life1 possibly drugs1 certainly alcoholism1 repeated rejections by the academic authorities1 critics1 and dealers of his work--these and a feeble constitution sent the unfortunate back to ,charenton1 where he died ,february #ad1 #ahfh4 ,baudelaire1 his critical discoverer1 had only preceded him to a lunatic's grave six months earlier4 ,inasmuch as there is a certain family likeness among men of genius with disordered minds and instincts1 several comparisons might be made between ,meryon and ,baudelaire4 ,both were great artists and both were born with flawed1 neurotic systems4 ,dissipation and misery followed as a matter of course4 ,charles ,meryon was1 nevertheless1 a sane and a magnificent etcher4 ,he executed about a hundred plates1 according to ,burty4 ,he did not avoid portraiture1 and to live he sometimes manufactured pot-boilers for the trade4 ,to his supreme vision was joined a miraculous surety of touch4 ,baudelaire was right--those plates1 the ,paris set1 so dramatic and truthful in particulars1 could have been sold if ,meryon1 with his wolfish visage1 his fierce1 haggard eyes1 his gruff manner1 had not offered them in person4 ,he looked like a vagabond very often and too often acted like a brigand4 ,the ,salon juries were prejudiced against his work because of his legend4 ,verlaine over again6 ,the etchings were classic when they were born4 ,we wonder they did not appeal immediately4 ,to-day1 if you are lucky enough to come across one1 you are asked a staggering price4 ,they sold for a song--when they did sell--during the lifetime of the artist4 ,louis ,napoleon and ,baron ,haussmann destroyed picturesque ,paris to the consternation of ,meryon1 who to the eye of an archologist united the soul of an artist4 ,he loved old ,paris4 ,we can evoke it to-day1 thanks to these etchings1 just as the ,paris of #ahdh is forever etched in the pages of ,flaubert's ,l',education ,sentimentale4 ,but there is hallucination in these etchings1 beginning with ,le ,stryge1 and its demoniac leer1 insatiable vampire1 l'eternelle luxure4 ,that gallery of ,notre ,dame1 with ,wotan's ravens flying through the slim pillars from a dream city bathed in sinister light1 is not the only striking conception of the poet-etcher4 ,the grip of reality is shown in such plates as ,tourelle1 ,rue de la ,tisseranderie1 and ,la ,pompe1 ,notre ,dame4 ,here are hallucinations translated into the actual terms of art1 suggesting1 nevertheless1 a solidity1 a sharpness of definition1 withal a sense of fluctuating sky1 air1 clouds that make you realise the justesse of ,berenson's phrase--tactile values4 ,with ,meryon the tactile perception was a sixth sense4 ,clairvoyant of images1 he could transcribe the actual with an almost cruel precision4 ,telescopic eyes his1 as ,mac,coll has it1 and an imagination that perceived the spectre lurking behind the door1 the horror of enclosed spaces1 and the mystic fear of shadows--a ,poe imagination1 romantic1 with madness as an accomplice in the horrible game of his life4 ,one is tempted to add that the romantic imagination is always slightly mad4 ,it runs to seed in darkness and despair4 ,the fugitive verse of ,meryon is bitter1 ironical1 defiant2 a whiff from an underground prison1 where seems to sit in tortured solitude some wretch abandoned by humanity1 a stranger even at the gates of hell4 ,sir ,seymour ,haden has told us that ,meryon's method was to make a number of sketches1 two or three inches square1 of parts of his picture1 which he put together and arranged into a harmonious whole4 ,herkomer says that he used the burin in finishing his bitten work with marvellous skill4 ,no better combination can be found of the harmonious combination of the two4 ,burty declared that ,meryon preserves the characteristic detail of architecture444 ,without modifying the aspect of the monument he causes it to express its hidden meaning1 and gives it a broader significance by associating it with his own thought4 ,his employment of a dull green paper at times showed his intimate feeling for tonalities4 ,he is1 more so than ,piranesi1 the ,rembrandt of architecture4 ,hamerton admits that the ,french etcher was one of the greatest and most original artists who have appeared in ,europe1 and berates the public of the '#fjs for not discovering this4 ,then this writer1 copying in an astonishingly wretched manner several of ,meryon's etchings1 analysing their defects as he proceeds1 asserts that there is false tonality in ,le ,stryge4 ,the intense black in the street under the tower of ,st4 ,jacques destroys the impression of atmosphere1 though at a considerable distance it is as dark as the nearest raven's wing1 which cannot relieve itself against it4 ,this may have been done in order to obtain a certain arrangement of black and white patches1 etc4 ,this was done for the sheer purpose of oppositional effects4 ,did ,hamerton see a fine plate8 ,the shadow is heavy2 the street is in demi1 not total1 obscurity2 the values of the flying ravens and the shadow are clearly enunciated4 ,the passage is powerful1 even sensational1 and in the ,romantic1 ,hugoesque key4 ,hamerton is wrong4 ,meryon seldom erred4 ,his was a temperament of steel and fire4 ,,john ,,martin1 ,,mezzotinter ,the sitting-room was long and narrow4 ,a haircloth sofa of uncompromising rectitude was pushed so close to the wall that the imprints of at least two generations of heads might be discerned upon the flowered wall-paper--flowers and grapes of monstrous size from some country akin to that visited by the ,israelitish spies as related in the ,good ,book4 ,a mahogany sideboard stood at the upper end of the room2 in one window hung a cage which contained a feeble canary4 ,as you entered your eyes fell upon an ornamental wax fruit piece under a conical glass4 ,a stuffed bird1 a robin redbreast1 perched on a frosted tree in the midst of these pale tropical offerings1 glared at you with beady eyes4 ,antimacassars and other things of horror were in the room4 ,also a centre table upon which might have been found ,cowper's poems1 the ,bible1 ,beecher's sermons1 and an illustrated book about the ,holy ,land by some hardworking reverend4 ,it was ,aunt ,jane's living-room2 in it she had rocked and knitted for more than half a century4 ,there were a few pictures on the wall1 a crayon of her brother1 a bank president with a shaved upper lip1 a high1 pious forehead1 and in his eyes a stern expression of percentage4 ,over the dull white marble mantelpiece hung a huge mezzotint1 of violent contrast in black and white1 a picture whose subject had without doubt given it the place of honour in this old-fashioned1 tasteless1 homely1 comfortable room4 ,it bore for a title ,the ,fall of ,nineveh1 and it was designed and mezzotinted by ,john ,martin4 ,let us look at this picture4 ,it depicts the downfall of the great city upon which the wrath of ,god is visited4 ,there are ghastly gleams of lightning above the doomed vicinity4 ,a fierce tempest is in progress as the invading hosts break down the great waterways and enter dry-shod into the vast and immemorial temples and palaces4 ,the tragedy1 the human quality of the design1 is summed up by the agitated groups in the foreground2 the king1 surrounded by his harem1 makes a gesture of despair2 the women1 with loose-flowing draperies1 surround him like frightened swans4 ,a high priest raises his hand to the stormy heavens1 upon which he is evidently invoking as stormy maledictions4 ,a warrior swings his blade2 to his neck clings a fair helpless one1 half nude4 ,there are other groups4 ,men in armour rush to meet the foe in futile agitation4 ,on temple tops1 on marble terraces and balconies1 on the efflorescent capitals of vast columns that pierce the sky1 swarms affrighted humanity4 ,the impression is grandiose and terrific4 ,exotic architecture1 ebon night1 an event that has echoed down the dusty corridors of legend or history--these and a hundred other details are enclosed within the frame of this composition4 ,another picture which hangs hard by1 the ,destruction of ,jerusalem1 after ,kaulbach1 is colourless in comparison4 ,the ,englishman had greater imagination than the ,german1 though he lacked the latter's anatomical science4 ,to-day in the ,pinakothek1 ,munich1 ,kaulbach holds a place of honour4 ,you may search in vain at the ,london ,national ,gallery for the paintings of a man who once was on the crest of popularity in ,england1 whose ,biblical subjects attracted multitudes1 whose mezzotints and engravings were sold wherever the ,english ,bible was read4 ,john ,martin1 painter1 mezzotinter1 man of gorgeous imagination1 second to ,de ,quincey or the author of ,vathek1 is to-day more forgotten than ,beckford himself4 ,heinrich ,heine in his essay1 ,the ,romantic ,school1 said that the history of literature is a great morgue1 wherein each seeks the dead who are near or dear to him4 ,into what morgue fell ,john ,martin before his death8 ,how account for the violent changes in popular taste8 ,martin suffered from too great early success4 ,the star of ,turner was in the ascendant4 ,john ,ruskin denied merit to the mezzotinter1 and so it is to-day that if you go to our print-shops you will seldom find one of his big or little plates4 ,he has gone out of fashion--fatal phrase6--and only in the cabinets of old collectors can you get a peep at his archaic and astounding productions4 ,william ,blake is in vogue2 perhaps ,martin--8 ,and then those who have garnered his plates will reap a harvest4 ,facts concerning him or his work are slight4 ,bryan's dictionary accords him a few paragraphs4 ,when at the ,british ,museum1 a few years ago1 ,i asked ,mr4 ,sidney ,colvin about the ,martins in his print-room4 ,there are not many1 not so many as in a certain private collection here4 ,but ,mr4 ,colvin told me of the article written by ,cosmo ,monkhouse in the ,dictionary of ,national ,biography1 and from it we are enabled to present a few items about the man's career4 ,he was born at ,hayden ,bridge1 near ,hexham1 ,northumberland1 ,july #ai1 #aghi4 ,his father1 ,fenwick ,martin1 a fencing-master1 held classes at the ,chancellor's ,head1 ,newcastle4 ,his brothers1 ,jonathan 7#aghb-ahch7 and ,william 7#aggb-ahea71 have some claim on our notice1 for the first was an insane prophet and incendiary1 having set fire to ,york ,minster in #ahbi2 ,william was a natural philosopher and poet who published many works to prove the theory of perpetual motion4 ,after having convinced himself by means of thirty-six experiments of the impossibility of demonstrating it scientifically1 it was revealed to him in a dream that ,god had chosen him to discover the great cause of all things1 and this he made the subject of many works 7,jasnot1 ,vrits positives1 #ahed74 ,verily1 as ,lombroso hath it1 ,a hundred fanatics are found for a theological or metaphysical statement1 but not one for a geometric problem4 ,the ,martin stock was1 without doubt1 neurasthenic4 ,john was apprenticed when fourteen to ,wilson1 a ,newcastle coach painter1 but ran away after a dispute over wages4 ,he met ,bonifacio ,musso1 an ,italian china painter1 and in #ahjf went with him to ,london4 ,there he supported himself painting china and glass while he studied perspective and architecture4 ,at nineteen he married and in #ahab lived in ,high ,street1 ,marylebone1 and from there sent to the ,academy his first picture1 ,sadak in ,search of the ,waters of ,oblivion 7from ,tales of the ,genii74 ,the figure of ,sadak was so small that the framers disputed as to the top of the picture4 ,it sold to ,mr4 ,manning for fifty guineas4 ,benjamin ,west1 president of the ,royal ,academy1 encouraged ,martin1 and next year he painted ,adam's ,first ,sight of ,eve1 which he sold for seventy guineas4 ,in #ahad his ,clytis was shown in an ante-room of the exhibition1 and he bitterly complained of his treatment4 ,joshua1 in #ahaf1 was as indifferently hung1 and he never forgave the ,academy the insult1 though he did not withdraw from its annual functions4 ,in #ahag he was appointed historical painter to ,princess ,charlotte and ,prince ,leopold4 ,he etched about this time ,character of ,trees 7seven plates7 and the ,bard at the ,academy4 ,in #ahah he removed to ,allsop ,terrace1 ,new 7,marylebone road74 ,in #ahai came ,the ,fall of ,babylon1 ,macbeth 7#ahbj71 ,belshazzar's ,feast 7#ahba71 which1 excluded from the ,academy1 yet won the #bjj prize4 ,a poem by ,t4,s4 ,hughes started ,martin on this picture4 ,it was a national success and was exhibited in the ,strand behind a glass transparency4 ,it went the round of the provinces and large cities and attracted thousands4 ,martin joined the ,society of ,british ,artists at its foundation and exhibited with them from #ahbd to #ahca1 and also in #ahcg and #ahch1 after which he sent his important pictures to the ,royal ,academy4 ,in #ahcc ,the ,fall of ,nineveh went to ,brussels1 where it was bought by the ,government4 ,martin was elected member of the ,belgian ,academy and the ,order of ,leopold was conferred on him4 ,his old quarrels with the ,academy broke out in #ahcf1 and he testified before a committee as to favouritism4 ,then followed ,the ,death of ,moses1 ,the ,deluge1 ,the ,eve of the ,deluge1 ,the ,assuaging of the ,waters1 ,pandemonium4 ,he painted landscapes and water-colours1 scenes on the ,thames1 ,brent1 ,wandle1 ,wey1 ,stillingbourne1 and the hills and eminences about ,london4 ,about this time he began scheming for a method of supplying ,london with water and one that would improve the docks and sewers4 ,he engraved many of his own works1 ,belshazzar1 ,joshua1 ,nineveh1 ,fall of ,babylon4 ,the first two named1 with ,the ,deluge1 were presented by the ,french ,academy to ,louis ,philippe1 for which courtesy a medal was struck off in ,martin's honour4 ,the ,ascent of ,elijah1 ,christ ,tempted in the ,wilderness1 and ,martin's illustrations 7with ,westall's7 to ,milton's ,paradise ,lost were all completed at this period4 ,for the latter ,martin received #b1jjj4 ,he removed to ,lindsey ,house1 ,chelsea1 in #ahdh or #ahdi1 and was living there in #aheb1 when he sent to the ,academy his last contribution1 ,destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah4 ,november #ab1 #ahec1 while engaged upon his last large canvases1 ,the ,last ,judgment1 ,the ,great ,day of ,wrath1 and ,the ,plains of ,heaven1 he was paralysed on his right side4 ,he was removed to the ,isle of ,man1 and obstinately refusing proper nourishment1 died at ,douglas ,february #ag1 #ahed4 ,after his death three pictures1 scenes from the ,apocalypse1 were exhibited at the ,hall of ,commerce4 ,his portrait by ,wangemann appeared in the ,magazine of ,fine ,arts4 ,a second son1 ,leopold ,charles1 writer1 and godson of ,leopold1 ,king of ,belgium1 was an authority on costumes and numismatics 7#ahag-hi74 ,his wife was a sister of ,sir ,john ,tenniel of ,punch4 ,john ,martin was slightly cracked2 at least he was so considered by his contemporaries4 ,he was easily affronted1 yet he was a very generous man4 ,he bought ,etty's picture1 ,the ,combat1 in #ahbe for two or three hundred guineas4 ,there are at the ,south ,kensington ,museum three ,martins1 watercolours1 and one oil2 at ,newcastle1 an oil4 ,at the time of his decease his principal works were in the collections of ,lord de ,tabley1 ,dukes of ,buckingham and ,sutherland1 ,messrs4 ,hope and ,scarisbruck1 ,earl ,grey and ,prince ,albert4 ,the ,leyland family of ,nantchvyd1 ,north ,wales1 owns the ,joshua and several typical works of ,martin4 ,wilkie1 in a letter to ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 describes ,belshazzar's ,feast as a phenomenon4 ,bulwer declared that ,martin was more original and self-dependent than ,raphael or ,michael ,angelo4 ,in the ,last ,essays of ,elia there is one by ,charles ,lamb entitled ,barrenness of the ,imaginative ,faculty in the ,production of ,modern ,art4 ,the name of ,martin is not mentioned1 but several of his works are unmistakably described4 ,his towered architecture ,lamb is writing of ,belshazzar's ,feast are of the highest order of the material sublime4 ,whether they were dreams or transcripts of some elder workmanship--,assyrian ruins old--restored by this mighty artist1 they satisfy our most stretched and craving conceptions of the glories of the antique world4 ,it is a pity that they were ever peopled4 ,literary art critic as he was1 ,lamb put his finger on ,martin's weakest spot--his figure painting4 ,the entire essay should be read1 for it contains a study of the ,joshua in which this most delicious of ,english prose writers speaks of the wise falsifications of the great masters4 ,before his death the critics1 tiring of him sooner than the public1 called ,martin tricky1 meretricious1 mechanical4 ,to be sure1 his drawing is faulty1 his colour hot and smoky2 nevertheless1 he was not a charlatan4 ,as ,david ,wilkie wrote3 ,weak in all these points in which he can be compared to other artists1 he had the compensating quality of an imposing1 if at times operatic1 imagination4 ,monkhouse justly says that in ,martin's illustrations to ,milton the smallness of scale and absence of colour enable us to appreciate the grandeur of his conceptions with a minimum of his defects4 ,in sooth he lacked variety4 ,his pictures are sooty and apocalyptic4 ,we have seen the ,mountain ,landscape1 at ,south ,kensington1 ,the ,destruction of ,herculaneum1 at ,manchester1 another at ,newcastle whose subject escapes us1 and we confess that we prefer the mezzotints of ,martin1 particularly those engraved by ,le ,keux--whose fine line and keen sense of balance corrected the incoherence of ,martin's too blackened shadows and harsh explosions of whites4 ,one looks in vain for the velvety tone of ,earlom1 or the vivid freshness of ,valentine ,green1 in ,martin4 ,he was not a colourist2 his mastery consisted in transferring to his huge cartoons a sense of the awful1 of the catastrophic4 ,he excelled in the delineation of massive architecture1 and if ,piranesi was his superior in exactitude1 he equalled the ,italian in majesty and fantasy of design4 ,no such cataclysmic pictures were ever before painted1 nor since1 though ,gustave ,dor1 who without doubt made a study of ,martin1 has incorporated in his ,biblical illustrations many of ,martin's overwhelming ideas--the ,deluge1 for example4 ,james ,ensor1 the ,belgian illustrator1 is an artist of fecund fancy who1 alone among the new men1 has betrayed a feeling for the strange architecture1 dream architecture1 we encounter in ,martin4 ,coleridge in ,kubla ,khan1 ,de ,quincey in opium reveries1 ,poe and ,baudelaire are among the writers who seem nearest to the ,english mezzotinter4 ,william ,beckford's ,vathek1 that most ,oriental of tales1 first written in ,french by a millionaire of genius1 should have inspired ,martin4 ,perhaps its mad fantasy did1 for all we know--there is no authentic compilation of his compositions4 ,heine has spoken of ,martin1 as has ,thophile ,gautier2 and his name1 by some kink of destiny1 is best known to the present generation because of ,macaulay's mention of it in an essay4 ,the ,vale of ,tempe is one of ,martin's larger plates seldom seen in the collector's catalogue4 ,we have viewed it and other rare prints in the choice collection referred to already4 ,satan holding council1 after ,milton1 is a striking conception4 ,the ,prince of ,eblis sits on a vast globe of ebony4 ,about him are tier upon tier of faces1 the faces of devils4 ,infernal chandeliers depend from remote ceilings4 ,light gashes the globe and the face and figure of ,satan2 both are of supernal beauty4 ,could this mezzotint1 so small in size1 so vast in its shadowy suggestiveness1 have stirred ,baudelaire to lines that shine with a metallic poisonous lustre8 ,and there is that tiny mezzotint in which we find ourselves at the base of a rude little hill4 ,the shock of the quaking earth1 the silent passing of the sheeted dead and the rush of the affrighted multitudes tell us that a cosmic tragedy is at hand4 ,in a flare of lightning we see silhouetted against an angry sky three crosses at the top of a sad little hill4 ,it is a crucifixion infinitely more real1 more intense than ,dor's4 ,another scene--also engraved by ,le ,keux3 ,on a stony platform1 vast and crowded1 the people kneel in sackcloth and ashes2 the heavens thunder over the weeping millions of ,nineveh1 and the ,lord of ,hosts will not be appeased4 ,stretching to the clouds are black basaltic battlements1 and above rear white-terraced palaces as swans that strain their throats to the sky4 ,the mighty ,east is in penitence4 ,or1 ,elijah is rapt to heaven in a fiery whirlwind2 or ,god creates light4 ,this latter is one of the most extraordinary conceptions of a great visionary and worthy of ,william ,blake4 ,or ,sadak searching for the waters of oblivion4 ,alas1 poor humanity6 is here the allegory4 ,a man1 a midget amid the terrifying altitudes of barren stone1 lifts himself painfully over a ledge of rock4 ,above him are vertiginous heights2 below him1 deadly precipices4 ,nothing helps him but himself--a page torn from ,max ,stirner is this parable4 ,light streams upon the struggling egoist as he toils to the summit of consciousness4 ,among the designs of nineteenth-century artists we can recall none so touching1 so powerful1 so modern as this picture4 ,martin was not equally successful in portraying celestial episodes1 though his paradises are enormous panoramas replete with architectural beauties4 ,his figures1 as exemplified in ,miltonic illustrations1 are more conventional than ,fuseli's and never naively original as are ,blake's4 ,indeed1 of ,blake's mystic poetry and divination ,martin betrays no trace4 ,he is not so much the seer as the inventor of infernal harmonies4 ,satan reviewing his army of devils is truly magnificent in its depiction of the serried host armed for battle2 behind glistens burning ,tophet in all its smoky splendour4 ,satan in shining armour must be a thousand feet high2 he is sadly out of scale4 ,so1 too1 in the quarrel of ,michael and ,satan over the sleeping ,adam and ,eve4 ,blake is here recalled in the rhythms of the monstrous figures4 ,bathos is in the design of ,lucifer swimming in deepest hell upon waves of fire and filth2 yet the lugubrious arches of the caverns in the perspective reveal ,blake's fantasy1 so quick to respond to external stimuli4 ,martin saw the earth as in an apocalyptic swoon1 its forms distorted1 its meanings inverted2 a mad world1 the world of an older theogony4 ,but if there was little human in his visions1 he is enormously impersonal2 if he assailed heaven's gates on wings of melting wax1 or dived deep into the pool of iniquity1 he none the less caught glimpses in his breathless flights of strange countries across whose sill no human being ever passes4 ,there is genuine hallucination4 ,he must have seen his ghosts so often that in the end they petrified him1 as did the ,statue ,don ,giovanni4 ,martin was a species of reversed ,turner4 ,he spied the good that was in evil1 the beauty in bituminous blacks4 ,he is the painter of black music1 the deifier of ,beelzebub1 and also one who caught the surge and thunder of the ,old ,testament1 its majesty and its savagery4 ,as an illustrator of sacred history1 the world may one day return to ,john ,martin4 ,,zorn ,anders ,zorn--what's in a name8 ,possibly the learned and amiable father of ,tristram ,shandy or that formidable pedant ,professor ,slawkenbergius might find much to arouse his interest in the patronymic of the great ,swedish painter and etcher4 ,what ,zorn means in his native tongue we do not profess to know2 but in ,german it signifies anger1 wrath1 rage4 ,now1 the ,zorn in life is not an enraged person--unless some lady sitter asks him to paint her as she is not4 ,he is1 as all will testify who have met him1 a man of rare personal charm and sprightly humour4 ,he1 it may be added1 calls yellow yellow1 and he never paints a policeman like a poet4 ,in a word1 a man of robust1 normal vision1 a realist and an artist4 ,false realism with its hectic1 ,zola-like romanticism is distasteful to ,zorn4 ,he is near ,degas among the ,frenchmen and ,zuloaga among the new ,spaniards2 near them in a certain forthright quality of depicting life1 though unlike them in technical and individual methods4 ,yes1 ,zorn1 that crisp1 bold1 short name1 which begins with a letter that abruptly cuts both eye and ear1 quite fits the painter's personality1 fits his art4 ,he is often ironic4 ,some fanciful theorist has said that the letters ,z and ,k are important factors in the career of the men who possess them in their names4 ,camille ,saint-,sans has spoken of ,franz ,liszt and his lucky letter4 ,it is a very pretty idea1 especially when one stakes on zero at ,monte ,carlo2 but no doubt ,anders ,zorn would be the first to laugh the idea out of doors4 ,we recall an exhibition a few years ago at ,venice in the art gallery of the ,giardino ,reale4 ,zorn had a place of honour among the boiling and bubbling ,secessionists2 indeed1 his work filled a large room4 ,and what work6 ,such a giant's revel of energy4 ,such landscapes1 riotous1 sinister1 and lovely4 ,such women6 ,here we pause for breath4 ,zorn's conception of womanhood has given offence to many idealists1 who do not realise that once upon a time our forebears were furry and indulged in arboreal habits4 ,zorn can paint a lady2 he has signed many gentle and aristocratic canvases4 ,but ,zorn is also too sincere not to paint what he sees4 ,some of his models are of the earth1 earthy2 others step toward you with the candid majesty of a ,brunhilda1 naked1 unashamed1 and regal4 ,they are all vital4 ,we recall1 too1 the expressions1 shocked1 amazed1 even dazed1 of some ,american art students who1 fresh from their golden ,venetian dreams1 faced the uncompromising pictures of a man who had faced the everyday life of his day4 ,for these belated visionaries1 whose ideal in art is to painfully imitate ,giorgione1 ,titian1 or ,tiepolo1 this modern1 with his rude assault upon the nerves1 must seem a very iconoclast4 ,yet ,zorn only attempts to reproduce the life encircling him4 ,he is a child of his age4 ,he1 too1 has a perception of beauty1 but it is the beauty that may be found by the artist with an ardent1 unspoiled gaze1 the curious1 disquieting beauty of our time4 ,whistler saw it in old ,venetian doorways as well as down ,chelsea way or at ,rotherhithe4 ,zorn sees it in some corner of a wood1 in some sudden flex of muscle or intimate firelit interior4 ,and he loves to depict the glistening curves of his big model as she stands in the sunlight1 a solid reproach to physical and moral anmia4 ,a pagan1 by ,apollo6 ,as an etcher the delicacy of his sheathed lion's paw is the principal quality that meets the eye1 notwithstanding the broad execution4 ,etching is essentially an impressionistic art4 ,zorn is an impressionist among etchers4 ,he seems to attack his plate not with the finesse of a meticulous fencing-master but like a ,viking1 with a broad ,berserker blade4 ,he hews1 he hacks1 he gashes4 ,there is blood in his veins1 and he does not spare the ink4 ,but examine closely these little prints--some of them miracles of printing--and you may discern their delicate sureness1 subtlety1 and economy of gesture4 ,fitzroy ,carrington quotes the ,parisian critic ,henri ,marcel1 who among other things wrote of the ,zorn etchings3 ,let us only say that these etchings--paradoxical in their coarseness of means and fineness of effect--manifest the master at his best4 ,coarseness of means and fineness of effect--the phrase is a happy one4 ,coarse is sometimes the needle-work of ,zorn1 but the end justifies the means4 ,he is often cruel1 more cruel than ,sargent4 ,his portraits prove it4 ,he has etched all his friends1 some of whom must have felt honoured and amused--or else offended4 ,the late ,paul ,verlaine1 for example1 would not have been pleased with the story of his life as etched by the ,swede4 ,it is as biting a commentary--one is tempted to say as acid--as a page from ,strindberg4 ,yes1 without a touch of ,strindberg's mad fantasy1 ,zorn is kin to him in his ironic1 witty way of saying things about his friends and in front of their faces4 ,consider that large plate of ,renan4 ,has any one so told the truth concerning the ex-seminarian1 casuist1 and marvellous prose writer of ,france8 ,the large1 loosely modelled head with its fleshy curves1 its super-subtle mouth of orator1 the gaze veiled1 the bland1 pontifical expression1 the expression of the man who spoke of the mania of certitude--here is ,ernest ,renan1 voluptuous disdainer of democracies1 and planner of a phalanstery of superior men years before ,nietzsche's superman appeared4 ,zorn in no unkindly spirit shows us the thinker2 also the author of ,l',abbesse de ,jouarre4 ,it is something1 is it not1 to evoke with needle1 acid1 paper1 and ink the dualism of such a brain and temperament as was ,renan's8 ,he is not flattering to himself1 ,zorn4 ,the ,henry ,g4 ,marquand1 two impressions1 leaves one rather sad4 ,an ,irish girl1 ,annie1 is superb in its suggestion of form and colour4 ,saint-,gaudens and his model is excellent2 we prefer the portrait4 ,the ,evening ,girl ,bathing is rare in treatment--simple1 restrained1 vital4 ,she has turned her back1 and we are grateful1 for it is a beautiful back4 ,the landscape is as evanescent as ,whistler1 the printing is in a delicate key4 ,the ,berlin ,gallery contains a ,zorn1 a portrait striking in its reality4 ,it represents ,miss ,maja von ,heyne wearing a collar of skins4 ,she could represent the ,maja of ,ibsen's epilogue1 ,when ,we ,dreamers ,awake2 ,maja1 the companion of the bear hunter1 ,ulfheim4 ,as etched1 we miss the massiveness1 the rich1 vivid colour1 yet it is a plate of distinction4 ,among his portraits are the ,hon4 ,daniel ,s4 ,lamont1 ,senator ,billy ,mason1 the ,hon4 ,john ,hay1 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,atherton ,curtis1 and several big-wigs of several nations4 ,an oil-painting is an impressionistic affair1 showing some overblown girls dressing after their bath4 ,the sun flecks their shoulders1 but otherwise seems rather inclined to retire modestly4 ,evidently not the midnight sun4 ,we have barely indicated the beauties in which the virile spirit of ,anders ,zorn comes out at you from the wall--a healthy1 large-hearted1 girted ,swede is this man with the ,z4 ,,brangwyn ,the name of ,frank ,brangwyn may fall upon unresponsive ears2 yet he has a ,continental reputation and is easily the foremost ,english impressionist4 ,new ,york has seen but little of his work2 if we mistake not1 there was a large piece of his1 a ,gipsy ,tinker in the open air1 hung several seasons ago at the ,pennsylvania ,academy of ,fine ,arts4 ,mr4 ,kennedy shows extraordinary etchings of his at the ,wunderlich ,galleries4 ,we call them extraordinary not alone because of their size1 but also because ,brangwyn is practically the first among latter-day artists to apply boldly to etching the methods of the impressionists4 ,etching in its essential nature is an impressionistic art4 ,we do not mean to assert that ,brangwyn uses the dot or dash or broken dabs in his plates1 for the very good reason that he is working in black and white2 nevertheless a glance at his plates will show you a new way of conquering old prejudices4 ,whistler it was who railed at large etchings4 ,he was not far wrong4 ,in the hands of the majority of etchers a large plate is an abomination1 diffused in interest1 coarse of line2 but ,brangwyn is not to be considered among this majority4 ,he is a big fellow in everything4 ,besides1 ,whistler was using the familiar argument1 pro doma sua4 ,the same may be said of ,poe1 who simply would not hear of a long poem 7shades of ,milton67 or of ,chopin1 who lost his way in the sonata form1 though coming out in the gorgeous tropical land1 the thither side of sonatas and other tonal animals4 ,because ,catullus and ,sappho did not write epics that is no reason why ,dante should not4 ,it is the old story of the tailless fox4 ,brangwyn as well as ,anders ,zorn has been called a rough-and-ready artist4 ,for exquisite tone and pattern we must go to ,whistler and his school4 ,brangwyn is never exquisite1 though he is often poetic1 even epical4 ,look at that ,bridge1 ,barnard ,castle4 ,it is noble in outline1 lovely in atmosphere4 ,or at the ,old ,hammersmith--swell1 as the artist slang goes4 ,the ,mine is in feeling and mass ,rembrandtish2 and as we have used the name of the great ,dutchman we may as well admit that to him1 despite a world of difference1 ,brangwyn owes much4 ,he has the sense of mass4 ,what could be more tangibly massive than the plate called ,breaking ,up of the ,hannibal8 ,here is a theme which ,turner in ,the ,fighting ,tmraire made truly poetic1 and ,seymour ,haden in his ,agamemnon preserved more than a moiety of sentiment1 not to mention the technical prowess displayed2 but in the hulk of this ugly old vessel of ,brangwyn's there is no beauty4 ,however1 it is hugely impressive4 ,his landscapes are not too seldom hell-scapes4 ,the ,inn of the ,parrot is quaint with its reversed lettering4 ,the ,road to ,montreuil is warm in colour and finely handled4 ,how many have realised the charm of the rear view of ,santa ,maria ,salute8 ,it is one of the most interesting of ,brangwyn's ,venetian etchings4 ,his vision of ,saint ,sophia1 ,constantinople1 has the mystic quality we find in the ,dutchman ,bauer's plates4 ,a ,church at ,montreuil attracts the eye2 ,london ,bridge is positively dramatic2 the ,old ,kew ,bridge has delicacy2 the ,sawyers with their burly figures loom up monstrously2 the ,building of the ,new ,victoria and ,albert ,museum1 ,south ,kensington1 recalls1 as treated by the impressionistic brush of ,brangwyn 7for the needle seems transformed into a paint-loaded spike71 one of ,h4,g4 ,wells's terrific socialistic structures of the year #bjji4 ,remember that ,brangwyn is primarily a painter1 an impressionist4 ,he sees largely4 ,his dream of the visible world 7and like ,sorolla1 it is never the world invisible with him7 is one of patches and masses1 of luminous shadows1 of animated rhythms1 of rich arabesques4 ,he is sib to the ,scotch4 ,his father is said to have been a ,scottish weaver who settled in ,bruges4 ,frank saw much of the world before settling in ,london4 ,he was born at ,bruges1 #ahfg4 ,the ,golden ,book of ,art describes him as a one-time disciple of ,william ,morris4 ,he has manufactured glass1 furniture1 wall-paper1 pottery4 ,his curiosity is insatiable4 ,he is a mural decorator who in a frenzy could cover miles of space if some kind civic corporation would but provide the walls4 ,as the writer of the graceful preface to the ,wunderlich catalogue has it3 ,he gets the character of his theme4 ,his art is itself full of character4 ,temperament1 overflowing1 passionate1 and irresistible1 is his key-note4 ,in music he might have been a ,fritz ,delius1 a ,richard ,strauss4 ,he is an eclectic4 ,he knows all schools1 all methods4 ,he is ,spanish in his fierce relish of the open air1 of the sights--and we almost said sounds--of many lands1 but the ,belgian strain1 the touch of the mystic and morose1 creeps into his work4 ,we have caught it more in his oils than etchings4 ,it is not singular1 then1 that his small etched plates do not hold the eye2 they lack magnetic quality4 ,it is the ,titan1 rude and raging1 dashing ink over an acre of white paper1 that rivets you4 ,the stock attitudes and gestures he does not give you2 and it is doubtful if he will have an audience soon in ,america1 where the sleek is king and prettiness is exalted over power4 ,,daumier ,mr4 ,frank ,weitenkampf1 the curator of the ,lenox ,library print department1 shows nineteen portfolios which hold about seven hundred lithographs by ,honor ,daumier4 ,this collection is a bequest of the late ,mr4 ,lawrence1 and we doubt if the ,bibliothque ,nationale at ,paris surpasses it2 that is1 in the number of detached examples4 ,there the works of the great artist are imbedded in the various publications for which he laboured so many years--such at ,la ,caricature1 ,les ,beaux ,arts1 ,l',artiste1 ,les ,modes ,parisiennes1 ,la ,gazette ,musicale1 ,le ,boulevard1 and ,masques et ,visages4 ,the ,lawrence lithographs are representatives1 though not complete2 the catalogue compiled by ,loys ,delteil comprises #c1ieh plates2 the paintings and drawings are also numerous4 ,but an admirable idea of ,daumier's versatile genius may be gleaned at the ,lenox ,library1 as all the celebrated series are there3 ,paris ,bohemians1 the ,blue ,stockings1 the ,railways1 ,la ,caricature1 ,croquis d',expressions1 ,emotions ,parisiennes1 ,actualits1 ,les ,baigneurs1 ,pastorales1 ,moeurs ,conjugales1 the ,don ,quixote plates1 ,silhouettes1 ,souvenirs d',artistes1 ,types ,parisiens1 the ,advocates and ,judges1 and a goodly number of the miscellanies4 ,altogether an adequate exhibition4 ,honor ,daumier1 who died ,february #aa1 #ahgi1 was almost the last of the giants of #ahcj1 though he outlived many of them4 ,not affiliated with the ,barbizon group--though he was a romantic in his hatred of the bourgeois--several of these painters were intimate friends2 indeed1 ,corot was his benefactor1 making him a present of a cottage at ,valmondois 7,seine-et-,oise71 where the illustrator died4 ,he was blind and lonely at the end4 ,corot died #ahge2 ,daubigny1 his companion1 #ahgh2 ,millet1 #ahge1 and ,rousseau1 with whom he corresponded1 died #ahfg4 ,in #ahgi ,flaubert still lived1 working heroically upon that monument of human inanity1 ,bouvard et ,pcuchet2 ,maupassant1 his disciple1 had just published a volume of verse2 ,manet was regarded as a dangerous charlatan1 ,monet looked on as a madman2 while poor ,czanne was only a bad joke4 ,the indurated critical judgment of the academic forces pronounced ,bonnat a greater portraitist than ,velasquez1 and ,grme and his mock antiques and mock orientalism far superior to ,fromentin and ,chasseriau4 ,it was a glorious epoch for mediocrity4 ,and ,daumier1 in whom there was something of ,michael ,angelo and ,courbet1 was admired only as a clever caricaturist1 the significance of his paintings escaping all except a few4 ,corot knew1 ,daubigny knew1 as earlier ,delacroix knew2 and ,balzac had said3 ,there is something of the ,michael ,angelo in this man6 ,baudelaire1 whose critical flair never failed him1 wrote in his ,curiosits ,esthtiques3 ,daumier's distinguishing note as an artist is his certainty4 ,his drawing is fluent and easy2 it is a continuous improvisation4 ,his powers of observation are such that in his work we never find a single head that is out of character with the figure beneath it4 444 ,here1 in these animalised faces1 may be seen and read clearly all the meannesses of soul1 all the absurdities1 all the aberrations of intelligence1 all the vices of the heart2 yet at the same time all is broadly drawn and accentuated4 ,nevertheless one must not look at too many of these caricatures4 ,at first the ,rabelaisian side of the man appeals2 presently his bitterness becomes too acrid4 ,humanity is silly1 repulsive2 it is goat1 pig1 snake1 monkey1 and tiger2 but there is something else4 ,daumier would see several sides4 ,his pessimism1 like ,flaubert's1 is deadly1 but at times reaches the pitch of the heroic4 ,he could have echoed ,flaubert's famous sentence3 ,the ignoble is the sublime of the lower slope4 ,yet what wit1 what humour1 what humanity in ,daumier6 ,his ,don ,quixote and ,sancho ,panza are worth a wilderness of ,dors4 ,and the ,good ,samaritan or ,the ,drinkers4 ,the latter is as jovial as ,steen or ,hals4 ,a story went the rounds after his death which neatly illustrates his lack of worldliness4 ,his modesty was proverbial1 and once ,daubigny1 on introducing him to an ,american picture dealer1 warned him not to ask less than five thousand francs for the first picture he sold to the man4 ,the ,american went to ,daumier's atelier1 and seeing a picture on the easel1 asked1 ,how much8 ,the artist1 remembering ,daubigny's warning1 answered1 ,five thousand francs4 ,the dealer immediately bought it1 and on demanding to see something else1 ,daumier put another canvas on the easel1 far superior to the one sold4 ,the ,yankee again asked the price4 ,the poor artist was perplexed4 ,he had received no instructions from ,daubigny regarding a second sale2 so when the question was repeated he hesitated1 and his timidity getting the better of him1 he replied3 ,five hundred francs4 ,don't want it2 wouldn't take it as a gift1 said the dealer4 ,i like the other better4 ,besides1 ,i never sell any but expensive pictures1 and he went away satisfied that a man who sold so cheaply was not much of an artist4 ,this anecdote1 which we heard second hand from ,daubigny1 may be a fable1 yet it never failed to send ,daubigny into fits of laughter4 ,it may be surmised that1 despite his herculean labours1 extending over more than half a century1 ,daumier never knew how to make or save money4 ,he was born at ,marseilles in #ahjh4 ,his father was a third-rate poet who1 suspecting his own gift1 doubted the talent of his son1 though this talent was both precocious and prodigious4 ,the usual thing happened4 ,daumier would stick at nothing but his drawing2 the attempt to force him into law studies only made him hate the law and lawyers and that hatred he never ceased to vent in his caricatures4 ,he knocked about until he learned in #ahbi the technics of lithography2 then he soon became self-supporting4 ,his progress was rapid4 ,he illustrated for the ,boulevard journals2 he caricatured ,louis ,philippe and was sent to jail1 ,sainte-,plagie1 for six months4 ,many years afterward he attacked with a like ferocity ,napoleon ,,iii4 ,look at his frontispiece--rather an advertisement--of ,victor ,hugo's ,les ,chtiments4 ,it is as sinister1 as malign as a ,rops4 ,the big book1 title displayed1 crushes to earth a vulture which is a travesty of the ,napoleonic beak4 ,daumier was a power in ,paris4 ,albert ,wolff1 the critic of ,figaro1 tells how he earned five francs each time he provided a text for a caricature by ,daumier1 and ,philipon1 who founded several journals1 actually claimed a share in ,daumier's success because he wrote some of the silly dialogues to his plates4 ,daumier was the artistic progenitor of the ,caran d',aches1 the ,forains--who was it that called ,forain ,degas en caricature8--,willettes1 and ,toulouse-de-,lautrecs4 ,he was a political pamphleteer1 a scourger of public scamps1 and a pictorial muck-raker of genius4 ,his mockery of the classic in art was later paralleled by ,offenbach in ,la ,belle ,hlne4 ,but there were other sides to his genius4 ,tiring of the hurly-burly of journalism1 he retired in #ahfj to devote himself to painting4 ,his style has been pronounced akin to that of ,eugne ,carrire2 his sense of values on a par with ,goya's and ,rembrandt's 7that ,shop ,window of his in the ,durand-,ruel collection is truly ,rembrandtesque74 ,this feeling for values was so remarkable that it enabled him to produce an impression with three or four tones4 ,the colours he preferred were grays1 browns1 and he manipulated his blacks like a master4 ,mauclair does not hesitate to put ,daumier among the great painters of the past century on the score of his small canvases4 ,they contain all his gifts of bitter and profound observation1 all the mastery of his drawings1 to which they add the attractions of rich and intense colour1 declares ,mauclair4 ,doubtless he was affected by the influence of ,henri ,monnier1 but ,daumier really comes from no one4 ,he belongs to the fierce tribe of synics and men of exuberant powers1 like ,goya and ,courbet4 ,a born anarch of art1 he submitted to no yoke4 ,he would have said with ,anacharsis ,cloots3 ,i belong to the party of indignation4 ,he was a proud individualist4 ,that he had a tender side1 a talent for friendship1 may be noted in the affectionate intercourse he maintained for years with ,corot1 ,millet1 ,rousseau1 ,dupr1 ,geoffroy1 the sculptor ,pascal1 and others4 ,he was very impulsive and had a good heart with all his misanthropy1 for he was an idealist reversed4 ,the etching of him by ,loys ,delteil is thus described by a sympathetic commentator3 ,daumier was very broad-shouldered1 his head rather big1 with slightly sunken eyes1 which must1 however1 have had an extraordinary power of penetration4 ,though the nose is a little heavy and inelegant1 the projecting forehead1 unusually massive like that of ,victor ,hugo or of ,beethoven and barred with a determined furrow1 reveals the great thinker1 the man of lofty and noble aspirations4 ,the rather long hair1 thrown backward1 adds to the expression of the fine head2 and finally the beard worn collarwise1 according to the prevailing fashion1 gives to ,daumier's face the distinctive mark of his period4 ,this etched portrait may be seen in several states at the ,lenox ,library4 ,,lalanne',s ,,etchings ,how heavily personality counts in etching may be noted in the etched work of ,maxime ,lalanne which is at the ,keppel ,galleries4 ,this skilful artist1 so deft with his needle1 so ingenious in fancy1 escapes great distinction by a hair's breadth4 ,he is without that salt of individuality that is so attractive in ,whistler4 ,of him ,hamerton wrote3 ,no one ever etched so gracefully as ,maxime ,lalanne2 444 he is essentially a true etcher444 ,there have been etchers of greater power1 of more striking originality1 but there has never been an etcher equal to him in a certain delicate elegance4 ,this is very amiable1 and ,joseph ,pennell is quite as favourable in his judgment4 ,his ability1 wrote ,mr4 ,pennell in ,pen ,drawing and ,pen ,draughtsmen1 to express a great building1 a vast town1 or a delicate little landscape has never been equalled1 ,i think1 by anybody but ,whistler4 ,mr4 ,pennell modestly omits his own name2 but the truth is that ,pennell is as excellent if not more individual a draughtsman as ,lalanne1 and when it comes to vision1 to invention1 and to the manipulation of the metal he is the superior of the ,frenchman4 ,the ,american etcher rates ,lalanne's lines above ,titian's4 ,whistler and ,titian would be big companions indeed for the clever-mannered and rather pedantic ,lalanne4 ,let us admit without balking at ,hamerton that his line is graceful4 ,he belongs to the old-fashioned school which did not dream1 much less approve1 of modern tonal effects in their plates4 ,a ,lalanne etching is as clean and vivid as a photograph 7not an art photograph74 ,it is also as hard4 ,atmosphere1 in the material as well as the poetic sense1 is missing4 ,his skies are disappointing4 ,those curly-cue clouds are meaningless1 and the artist succeeds better when he leaves a blank4 ,at least some can fill it with the imagination4 ,another grave defect is the absence of modulation in his treatment of a landscape and its linear perspective4 ,everything seems to be on the same plane of interest1 nor does he vary the values of his blacks--in foreground1 middle distance1 and the upper planes the inking is often in the same violent key4 ,such a capital plate1 for example1 which depicts a fire in the port of ,bordeaux is actually untrue in its values4 ,dramatic in feeling and not without a note here and there of ,rembrandt1 this particular composition fails1 just fails to hit the bull's-eye4 ,after all1 we must judge a man in his genre1 as ,keppel pre puts it4 ,maxime ,lalanne's style is that of a vanished generation in etching4 ,he was a contemporary of ,meryon1 but that unhappy man of genius taught him nothing4 ,born at ,bordeaux in #ahbg1 ,lalanne died in #ahhf4 ,he was a pupil of ,jean ,gigoux 7#ahjf-id71 a painter whose gossipy souvenirs 7#ahhe7 pleased ,paris and still please the curious4 7,gigoux it was who remained in ,balzac's house when the novelist died2 though he was not visiting the master of the house47 ,from this painter ,lalanne evidently imbibed certain theories of his art which he set forth in his ,treatise on ,etching 7#ahff74 ,strangely enough1 illustrator as he was1 his transpositions into black and white of subjects by ,troyon1 ,ruysdael1 ,crome1 ,constable1 and many others are not so striking either in actual technique or individual grasp as his original pieces4 ,constable1 for instance1 is thin1 diffuse1 and without richness4 ,mezzotinted by the hands of such a man as ,lucas1 we recognise the real medium for translating the ,english painter4 ,a master of the limpid line1 ,lalanne shows you a huddled bit of ,amsterdam or a distant view of ,bordeaux1 or that delicious prospect taken on a spot somewhere below the ,pont ,saint-,michel1 with the ,pont ,neuf and the ,louvre in the background4 ,he had a feeling for those formal gardens which have captured within their enclosure a moiety of nature's unstudied ease4 ,the plate called ,aux ,environs de ,paris reveals this4 ,and what slightly melancholy tenderness there is in ,le ,canal ,pont ,sainte-,maxence4 ,there are several states of the ,villers etching1 an attractive land and seascape1 marred1 however1 by the clumsy sameness of the blacks in the foreground4 ,without possessing ,meryon's grim power in the presentation of old ,paris streets and tumble-down houses1 ,lalanne has achieved several remarkable plates of this order4 ,one is his well-known ,rue des ,marmousets4 ,this street is almost as repellent-looking as ,rue ,mouffetard at its worst period4 ,ancient and sinister1 its reputation was not enticing4 ,in it once dwelt a pastry cook who1 taking his crony the barber into his confidence1 literally made mince-meat of a stranger and sold the pies to the neighbours4 ,messire ,jacques du ,breul1 in his ,le ,thtre des ,antiquits de ,paris 7#afab71 remarks1 not without critical unction1 in his quaint ,french3 ,de la chair d'icelui faisit des pastez qui se trouvoient meilleurs que les aultres1 d'autant que la chair de l'homme est plus dlicate cause de la nourriture que celle des aultres animaux4 ,every one to his taste1 as the old politician said when he kissed the donkey4 ,when you study the ,lalanne etching of this gruesome alley you almost expect to see at the corner ,anatole ,france's famous cook-shop with its delectable odours and fascinating company4 ,the scenes of ,thames water-side1 ,nogent1 ,houlgate ,beach1 at ,richmond1 or at ,cusset are very attractive4 ,his larger plates are not convincing1 the composition does not hang together2 the eye vainly seeks focussing centres of interest4 ,beraldi was right when he said that ,lalanne has not left one surpassing plate1 one of which the world can say3 ,there is a masterpiece6 ,yet is ,maxime ,lalanne among the ,little ,masters of characteristic etching4 ,his appeal is popular1 he is easily comprehended of the people4 ,,louis ,,legrand ,the etched work of the brilliant ,frenchman ,louis ,legrand is at last beginning to be appreciated in this country4 ,french etchings1 unless by painter-etchers1 have never been very popular with us4 ,we admire ,meryon and ,helleu's drypoints1 ,bracquemond1 ,jacquemart2 ,flix ,buhot has a following2 ,lalanne and ,daubigny too2 but in comparison with the demand for ,rembrandt1 ,whistler1 ,seymour ,haden1 or ,zorn the ,paris men are not in the lead4 ,there is ,rops1 for example1 whose etchings may be compared to ,meryon's2 yet who except a few amateurs seeks ,rops8 ,louis ,legrand is now about forty-five1 at the crest of his career1 a versatile1 spontaneous artist who is equally happy with pigments or the needle4 ,his pastels are much sought1 but his dry-points have gained for him celebrity4 ,though a born colourist1 the primary gift of the man is his draughtsmanship4 ,his designs1 swift and supple notations of the life around him1 delight the eye by reason of their personal touch and because of the intensely human feeling that he infuses into every plate4 ,legrand was one of the few pupils of ,flicien ,rops1 and technically he has learned much of his master2 but his way of viewing men and women and life is different from that of the ,belgian genius4 ,he has irony and wit and humour--the two we seldom bracket--and he has pity also2 he loves the humble and despised4 ,his portraits of babies1 the babies of the people1 are captivating4 ,imagine a ,rops who has some of ,millet's boundless sympathy for his fellow-humans and you have approximately an understanding of ,louis ,legrand4 ,he is a native of ,dijon1 the city that gave birth to ,bossuet1 but ,legrand is not that kind of ,burgundian4 ,several critics pretend to see in his work the characteristics of his native ,cte d',or2 that1 however1 may be simply a desire to frame the picture appropriately4 ,legrand might have hailed from the south1 from ,daudet's country2 he is exuberant as he is astute4 ,the chief thing is that he has abundant brains and in sheer craftsmanship fears few equals4 ,like ,whistler1 his principal preoccupation is to suppress all appearance of technical procedures4 ,his method of work is said to be simplicity itself2 obsessed by his very definite visions1 he transfers them to the scratched plate with admirable celerity4 ,dry-point etching is his principal medium4 ,with his needle he has etched ,montmartre1 its cabarets1 its angels--in very earthly disguise--its orators1 poets1 and castaways1 and its visiting tourists--,god's silly sheep4 ,he has illustrated a volume of ,edgar ,poe's tales that displays a macabre imagination4 ,his dancers are only second to those of ,edgar ,degas1 and seen from an opposite side4 ,his peasants1 mothers1 and children1 above all1 babies1 reveal an eye that observes and a brain that can co-ordinate the results of this piercing vision4 ,withal1 he is a poet who extracts his symbols from everyday life4 ,this is what ,camille ,mauclair said of him at the time of his dbut3 ,an admirably skilful etcher1 a draughtsman of keen vision1 and a painter of curious character1 who has in many ways forestalled the artists of to-day4 ,louis ,legrand also shows to what extent ,manet and ,degas have revolutionised the art of illustration1 in freeing the painters from obsolete laws and guiding them toward truth and frank psychological study4 ,legrand is full of them without resembling them4 ,we must not forget that besides the technical innovation division of tones1 study of complementary colours impressionism has brought us novelty of composition1 realism of character1 and great liberty in the choice of subjects4 ,from this point of view ,rops himself1 in spite of his symbolist tendencies1 could not be classed with any other group if it were not that any kind of classification in art is useless and inaccurate4 ,however that may be1 ,louis ,legrand has signed some volumes with the most seductive qualities4 ,gustave ,kahn1 the symbolist poet who was introduced to the ,english reading world in one of the most eloquent pages of ,george ,moore1 thinks that ,legrand is frankly a symbolist4 ,we side with ,mauclair in not trying to pin this etcher down to any particular formula4 ,he is anything he happens to will at the moment1 symbolist1 poet1 and also shockingly frank at times4 ,take the plate with a pun for a title1 ,le paing quotidien 7paing is slang for poing1 a blow from the fist1 and may also mean the daily bread74 ,a masculine brute is with clinched fist about to give his unfortunate partner her daily drubbing4 ,he is well dressed4 ,his silk hat is shiny1 his mustache curled in the true ,adolphe fashion4 ,his face is vile4 ,the woman cries aloud and protects herself with her hands4 ,in ,marthe ,baraquin1 by ,rosny senior1 you will find the material for this picture1 though ,legrand found it years ago in the streets4 ,unpleasant1 truly1 yet a more potent sermon on man's cruelty to woman than may be found in a dozen preachments1 fictions1 or the excited outpourings at a feminist congress4 ,legrand presents the facts of the case without comment1 except the irony--such dismal irony6--of the title4 ,in this he is the true pupil of ,rops4 ,however1 he does not revel long among such dreary slices of life4 ,the ,poe illustrations are grotesque and shuddering1 but after all make believe4 ,the plate of ,the ,black ,cat piles horror on horror's head 7literally1 for the demon cat perches on the head of the corpse7 and is1 all said1 pictorial melodrama4 ,the ,berenice illustration is1 we confess1 a little too much for the nerves1 simply because in a masterly manner ,legrand has exposed the most dreadful moment of the story 7untold by ,poe1 who could be an artist in his tact of omission74 ,the dental smile of the cataleptic ,berenice as her necrophilic cousin bends over the coffin is a testimony to a needle that in this instance matches ,goya's and ,rops's in its evocation of the horrific4 ,we turn with relief to the ballet-girl series4 ,the impression gained from this album is that ,legrand sympathises with1 nay loves1 his subject4 ,degas1 the greater and more objective artist1 nevertheless allows to sift through his lines an inextinguishable hatred of these girls who labour so long for so little2 and ,degas did hate them1 as he hated all that was ugly in daily life1 though he set forth this ugliness1 this mediocrity1 this hatred in terms of beautiful art4 ,legrand sees the ugliness1 but he also sees the humanity of the ballateuse4 ,she is a woman who is brought up to her profession with malice aforethought by her parents4 ,these parents are usually noted for their cupidity4 ,we need not read the witty history of the ,cardinal family to discover this repellent fact4 ,legrand sketches the dancer from the moment when her mother brings her1 a child1 to undergo the ordeal of the first lesson4 ,the tender tot stands hesitating in the doorway2 one hand while holding the door open seems to grasp it as the last barrier of defence that stands between her and the strange new world4 ,she is attired in the classical figurante's costume4 ,behind1 evidently pushing her forward1 is the grim guardian1 a bony1 forbidding female4 ,although you do not see them1 it is an easy feat to imagine the roomful of girls and dancing master all staring at the new-comer4 ,the expression on the child's face betrays it2 instinctively1 like the generality of embarrassed little girls1 her hand clasps her head4 ,in less than a minute she will weep4 ,another plate1 ,l'ami des ,danseuses1 is charged with humanity4 ,the violinist who plays for the ballet rehearsals sits resting1 and facing him are two young dancers1 also sitting1 but stooping to relieve their strained spines and the tendons of their muscular legs4 ,the old fellow is giving advice from the fulness of a life that has been not too easy4 ,the girls are all attention4 ,it is a genre bit of distinction4 ,upon the technical virtuosity in which this etcher excels we shall not dwell4 ,some of his single figures are marvels4 ,the economy of line1 the massing of lights and darks1 the vitality he infuses into a woman who walks1 a man who works in the fields1 a child at its mother's breast1 are not easily dealt with in a brief study4 ,we prefer to note his more general qualities4 ,his humour1 whether in delineating a stupid soldier about to be exploited by camp followers1 or in his ,animales1 is unforced4 ,it can be ,rabelaisian and it can be a record of simple animal life1 as in the example with the above title4 ,a cow stands on a grassy shore2 near by a stolid peasant girl sits slicing bread and eating it4 ,cow and girl1 grass and sky and water are woven into one natural pattern4 ,the humour inheres in several sly touches4 ,it is a comical ,millet4 ,very ,millet-like too is the large picture1 ,beau ,soir1 in which a field labourer bends over to kiss his wife1 who has a child at her breast4 ,a cow nuzzles her apron1 the fourth member of this happy group4 ,the ,son of the ,carpenter is another peasant study1 but the transposition of the ,holy ,family to our century4 ,a slight nimbus about the mother's head is the only indication that this is not a humble household somewhere in ,france4 ,maternal ,joy1 ,mater ,inviolata are specimens of a sane1 lovely art which celebrate the joys1 dolors1 and exaltations of motherhood4 ,we prefer this side of the art of ,legrand to his studies of sinister jail-birds1 hetairai1 noctambules1 high kickers1 and private bars1 the horrors of ,parisian night life4 ,whatever he touches he vivifies4 ,his leaping1 audacious line is like the narrative prose of a ,maupassant or a ,joseph ,conrad4 ,every stroke tells4 ,his symbolical pictures please us least4 ,they doubtless signify no end of profound things1 yet to us they seem both exotic and puerile4 ,we go back to the tiny dancers1 tired to sleepiness1 who sit on a sofa waiting to be called4 ,poor babies6 ,or to the plate entitled ,douleur4 ,or to the portraits of sweet ,english misses--as did ,constantin ,guys1 ,legrand has caught the precise ,english note--or any of the children pieces4 ,if he knows the psychology of passion1 knows the most intimate detail of the daily life of les filles1 ,legrand is master too of the psychology of child life4 ,this will endear him to ,english and ,american lovers of art1 though it is only one of his many endowments4 ,his wit keeps him from extremes1 though some of his plates are not for puritans2 his vivid sympathies prevent him from falling into the sterile eccentricities of so many of his contemporaries2 if he is cynical he is by the same taken soft-hearted4 ,his superb handling of his material1 with a synthetic vision superadded1 sets apart ,louis ,legrand in a profession which to-day is filled with farceurs and fakers and with too few artists by the grace of ,god4 ,,guys1 ,,the ,,illustrator ,practitioners of the noble art of illustration are1 as we know1 modest men1 but no matter the degree of their modesty they are all distanced by the record in shyness still maintained by ,constantin ,guys4 ,this artist was once a living protest against ,goethe's assertion that only fools are modest1 and the monument recently erected to his memory in ,paris is provocation enough to bring him ferrying across the ,styx to enter a disclaimer in the very teeth of his admirers4 ,so set in his anonymity was he that ,charles ,baudelaire1 his critical discoverer1 was forced to write a long essay about his work and only refer to the artist as ,c4,g4 ,the poet relates that once when ,thackeray spoke to ,guys in a ,london newspaper office and congratulated him on his bold sketches in the ,illustrated ,london ,news1 the fiery little man resented the praise as an outrage4 ,nor was this humility a pose4 ,his life long he was morbidly nervous1 as was ,meryon1 as was ,czanne2 but he was neither half mad1 like the great etcher1 nor a cenobite1 as was the painter of ,aix4 ,few have lived in the thick of life as did ,guys4 ,to employ the phrase of ,turgenieff1 life1 like grass1 grew over his head4 ,in the ,crimean camps1 on the ,parisian boulevards1 in ,london parks1 ,guys strolled1 crayon in hand1 a true reporter of things seen and an ardent lover of horses1 soldiers1 pretty women1 and the mob4 ,baudelaire called him the soldier-artist4 ,he resembled in his restless wanderings ,poe's man of the multitude1 and at the end of a long life he still drew1 as did ,hokusai4 ,who was he8 ,where did he receive his artistic training8 ,baudelaire did not tell1 nor ,thophile ,gautier4 ,he went through the ,crimean campaign2 he lived in the ,east1 in ,london and ,paris4 ,not so long ago the art critic ,roger ,marx1 while stopping at ,flushing1 ,holland1 discovered his baptismal certificate1 which reads thus3 ,ernestus ,adolphus ,hyacinthus ,constantinus ,guys1 born at ,flushing ,december #c1 #ahje1 of ,elizabeth ,btin and ,franois ,lazare ,guys1 ,commissary of the ,french ,marine4 ,the baptism occurred ,january #bf1 #ahjf1 and revealed the fact that he had for godfather an uncle who held a diplomatic position4 ,guys told his friends that his full family name was ,guys de ,sainte-,hlne--which may have been an amiable weakness of the same order as that of ,barbey d',aurevilly and of ,villiers de l',isle ,adam1 both of whom boasted noble parentage4 ,however1 ,guys was little given to talk of any sort4 ,he was loquacious only with his pencil1 and from being absolutely forgotten after the downfall of the ,second ,empire to-day every scrap of his work is being collected1 even fought for1 by ,french and ,german collectors4 ,yet when the ,nadar collection was dispersed1 ,june1 #aiji1 in ,paris1 his aquarelles went for a few francs4 ,flix ,fnon and several others now own complete sets4 ,in ,new ,york there are a few specimens in the possession of private collectors1 though the ,lenox ,library1 as a rule rich in such prints1 has only reproductions to show4 ,the essay of ,charles ,baudelaire1 entitled ,le ,peintre de la ,vie ,moderne1 to be found in ,volume ,,iii of his collected works 7,l',art ,romantique71 remains thus far the standard reference study concerning ,guys1 though deficient in biographical details4 ,other critical studies are by ,camille ,mauclair1 ,roger ,marx1 ,richard ,muther1 and ,george ,grappe2 and recently ,elizabeth ,luther ,cary in a too short but admirably succinct article characterised the ,guys method in this fashion3 ,he defined his forms sharply and delicately1 and used within his bounding line the subtlest variation of light and shade4 ,his workmanship everywhere is of the most elusive character1 and he is a master of the art of reticence4 ,miss ,cary further speaks of his gentle gusto of line in motion1 which lately has captivated us in the paintings of the ,spaniard ,sorolla1 and long ago gave ,botticelli and ,carlo ,crivelli the particular distinction they had in common4 ,mauclair mentions the most animated water-colour drawings of ,guys1 his curious vision of nervous elegance and expressive skill1 and names it the impressionism of #ahde1 while ,dr4 ,muther christened him the ,verlaine of the crayon because1 like ,verlaine1 he spent his life between the almshouse and a hospital1 so said the ,german critic4 ,furthermore1 ,muther believes it was no mere chance that made of ,baudelaire his admirer2 in both the decadent predominated--which is getting the cart before the horse4 ,rops1 too1 is recalled by ,guys1 who depicted the gay grisette of the faubourgs as well as the nocturnal pierreuse of the fortifications4 ,guys exercised on ,gavarni an influence which brought into being his ,invalides du sentiment1 his ,lorettes vielles1 and his ,fourberies de femmes4 ,it is not quite fair to compare ,guys with ,rops1 or indeed with either ,gavarni or ,daumier4 ,these were the giants of ,french illustration at that epoch4 ,guys was more the skirmisher1 the sharpshooter1 the reporter of the moment1 than a creative master of his art4 ,the street or the battle-field was his atelier2 speed and grace and fidelity his chief claims to fame4 ,he never practised his art within the walls of academies2 the material he so vividly dealt with was the stuff of life4 ,the very absence of school in his illustrations is their chief charm2 a man of genius this1 self-taught1 and a dangerous precedent for fumblers or those of less executive ability4 ,from the huge mass of his work being unearthed from year to year he may be said to have lived crayon in hand4 ,he is the first of a long line of newspaper illustrators4 ,his profession was soldiering1 and legend has it that he accompanied ,byron to ,missolonghi4 ,the official career of his father enabled the youth to see much of the world--,greece1 the ,balkans1 ,turkey1 ,persia1 and perhaps ,india4 ,on returning to ,france he became an officer of dragoons and for some time led the life of a dandy and man about town4 ,with his memory1 of which extraordinary tales are told1 he must have stored up countless films of impressions1 all of which were utilised years later4 ,in #ahde we find him installed at ,paris1 though no longer in the army4 ,then it was he began to design4 ,he became contributor to many periodicals1 among the rest the ,illustrated ,london ,news and ,punch4 ,for the former journal he went to the ,crimean war as accredited art correspondent4 ,the portfolio containing the ,crimean set is now most sought for by his admirers4 ,he is said to have originated the expression taken on the spot1 in the title of one of his instantaneous sketches4 ,few draughtsmen could boast his sure eye and manual dexterity4 ,the ,balaklava illustration is as striking in its way as ,tennyson's lines1 though containing less of poetic heroism and more ugly realism4 ,like the trained reporter that he was1 ,guys followed a battle1 recording the salient incidents of the engagement1 not overemphasising the ghastliness of the carnage1 as did ,callot or ,goya or ,raffet1 but telling the truth as he saw it1 with a phlegm more ,british and ,german than ,french4 ,though he had no ,dutch blood in his veins1 he was1 like ,huysmans1 more the man of ,amsterdam than the man of ,paris4 ,he noted the changing and shocking scenes of hospital life1 and sympathy without sentimentality drops from his pen4 ,he is drily humorous as he shows us some plumaged ,general peacocking on foot1 or swelling with ,napoleonic pride as he caracoles by on his horse4 ,and such horses6 ,without a hint of the photographic realism of a ,muybridge and his successors1 ,guys evokes vital horses and riders1 those seen by the normal vision4 ,the witching movement of beautiful ,arabian steeds has not had many such sympathetic interpreters4 ,in ,turkey he depicted episodes of daily life1 of the courts of the ,sublime ,porte itself1 of the fte of ,baram1 which closes the fast of ,ramadan4 ,his ,turkish women are not all houris1 but they bear the stamp of close study4 ,they are pretty1 indolent1 brainless creatures4 ,in his most hurried crayons1 pen-and-ink sketches1 and aquarelles ,guys is ever interesting4 ,he has a magnetic touch that arrests attention and atones for technical shortcomings4 ,abbreviation is his watchword2 his drawings are a species of shorthand notations made at red-hot tempo1 yet catching the soul of a situation4 ,he repeats himself continually1 but1 as ,m4 ,grappe says1 is never monotonous4 ,in love with movement1 with picturesque massing1 and broad simple colour schemes1 he naturally gravitated to battle-fields4 ,in ,europe society out of doors became his mania4 ,rotten ,row1 in the ,bois1 at ,brighton or at ,baden-,baden1 the sinuous fugues of his pencil reveal to succeeding generations how the great world once enjoyed itself or bored itself to death4 ,no wonder ,thackeray admired ,guys4 ,they were kindred spirits2 both recognised and portrayed the snob mundane4 ,as he grew older ,guys became an apparition in the life of ,paris4 ,the smash-up of the ,empire destroyed the beloved world he knew so well4 ,poor1 his principal pleasure was in memory2 if he couldn't actually enjoy the luxury of the rich he could reproduce its images on his drawing-pad4 ,the whilom dandy and friend of ,baudelaire went about dressed in a shabby military frock-coat4 ,he had no longer a nodding acquaintance with the fashionable lions of ,napoleon the ,little's reign1 yet he abated not his haughty strut1 his glacial politeness to all comers1 nor his daily promenade in the ,bois4 ,a ,barmecide feast this watching the pleasures of others more favoured1 though ,guys did not waste the fruits of his observation4 ,at sixty-five he began to go down-hill4 ,his habits had never been those of a prudent citizen1 and as his earning powers grew less some imp of the perverse entered his all too solitary life4 ,with this change of habits came a change of theme4 ,henceforth he drew filles1 the outcasts1 the scamps and convicts and the poor wretches of the night4 ,he is now a forerunner of ,toulouse-,lautrec and an entire school4 ,this side of his career probably caused ,dr4 ,muther to compare him with ,paul ,verlaine4 ,absinthe1 the green fairy of so many poets and artists1 was no stranger to ,guys4 ,in #ahhe1 after dining with ,nadar1 his most faithful friend1 ,guys was run over in the ,rue du ,havre and had his legs crushed4 ,he was taken to the ,maison ,dubois1 where he lived eight years longer1 dying at the venerable age of eighty-seven1 though far from being a venerable person4 ,astonishing vitality6 ,he did not begin to draw1 that is1 for a living1 until past forty4 ,his method of work was simplicity itself1 declare those who watched him at work4 ,he seemingly improvised his aquarelles2 his colour1 sober1 delicate1 was broadly washed in2 his line1 graceful and modulated1 does not suggest the swiftness of his execution4 ,he could be rank and vulgar1 and he was gentle as a refined child that sees the spectacle of life for the first time4 ,the bitterness of ,baudelaire's flowers of evil he escaped until he was in senile decadence4 ,in the press of active life he registered the shock of conflicting arms1 the shallow pride of existence and the mere joy of living1 all in a sane manner that will ever endear him to lovers of art4 ,george ,moore tells the following anecdote of ,degas3 ,somebody was saying he did not like ,daumier1 and ,degas preserved silence for a long while4 ,if you were to show ,raphael1 he said at last1 a ,daumier1 he would admire it2 he would take off his hat2 but if you were to show him a ,cabanel1 he would say with a sigh1 ',that is my fault4' ,if you could show ,raphael a croquis by ,constantin ,guys he would probably look the other way1 but ,degas would certainly admire and buy the drawing4 ,,xi4 ,,impressionism ,i - ,,monet ,the impressionists claim as their common ancestors ,claude ,lorraine1 ,watteau1 ,turner1 ,monticelli4 ,watteau1 ,latour1 ,largillire1 ,fragonard1 ,saint-,aubin1 ,moreau1 and ,eisen are their sponsors in the matters of design1 subject1 realism1 study of life1 new conceptions of beauty and portraiture4 ,mythology1 allegory1 historic themes1 the neo-,greek and the academic are under the ban--above all1 the so-called grand style4 ,impressionism has actually elevated genre painting to the position occupied by those vast1 empty1 pompous1 frigid1 smoky1 classic pieces of the early nineteenth century4 ,however1 it must not be forgotten that modern impressionism is only a new technique1 a new method of execution--we say new1 though that is not exactly the case4 ,the home of impressionism is in the ,east2 it may be found in the vivid patterns woven in ,persia or in old ,japan4 ,in its latest avatar it is the expression of contemporaneous reality4 ,therein lies its true power4 ,the artist who turns his face only to the past--his work will never be anything but an echo4 ,to depict the faces and things and pen the manners of the present is the task of great painters and novelists4 ,actualists alone count in the future4 ,the mills of the antique grind swiftly--like the rich1 they will be always with us--but they only grind out imitations2 and from pseudo-classic marbles and pseudo-beautiful pictures may ,beelzebub1 the ,lord of ,flies1 deliver us4 ,that able and sympathetic writer ,d4,s4 ,mac,coll has tersely summed up in his ,vision of the ,century the difference between the old and new manner of seeing things4 ,the old vision had beaten out three separate acts--the determination of the edges and limits of things1 the shadings and the modellings of the spaces in between with black and white1 and the tintings of those spaces with their local colour4 ,the new vision that had been growing up among the landscape painters simplifies as well as complicates the old4 ,for purposes of analysis it sees the world as a mosaic of patches of colour1 such and such a hue1 such and such a tone1 such and such a shape444 ,the new analysis looked first for colour and for a different colour in each patch of shade or light4 ,the old painting followed the old vision by its three processes of drawing the contours1 modelling the chiaroscura in dead colour1 and finally in colouring this black-and-white preparation4 ,the new analysis left the contours to be determined by the junction1 more or less fused1 of the colour patches1 instead of rigidly defining them as they are known to be defined when seen near at hand or felt444 ',local colour' in light or shade becomes different not only in tone but in hue4 ,to the layman who asked1 ,what is impressionism8 ,mauclair has given the most succinct answer in his book ,l',impressionisme3 ,in nature1 he declares1 no colour exists by itself4 ,the colouring of the object is pure illusion2 the only creative source of colour is the sunlight1 which envelops all things and reveals them1 according to the hours1 with infinite modifications444 ,the idea of distance1 of perspective1 of volume is given us by darker or lighter colours2 this is the sense of values2 a value is the degree of light or dark intensity which permits our eyes to comprehend that one object is further or nearer than another4 ,and as painting is not and cannot be the imitation of nature1 but merely her artificial interpretation1 since it has only at its disposal two out of three dimensions1 the values are the only means that remain for expressing depth on a flat surface4 ,colour is therefore the procreatrix of design444 ,colours vary with the intensity of light444 ,local colour is an error2 a leaf is not green1 a tree trunk is not brown444 ,according to the time of day1 i4 e41 according to the greater or smaller inclination of the rays 7scientifically called the angle of incidence71 the green of the leaf and the brown of the tree are modified444 ,the composition of the atmosphere444 is the real subject of the picture444 ,shadow is not absence of light1 but light of a different quality and of a different value4 ,shadow is not part of the landscape where light ceases1 but where it is subordinated to a light which appears to us more intense4 ,in the shadow the rays of the spectrum vibrate with a different speed4 ,painting should therefore try to discover here1 as in the light parts1 the play of the atoms of solar light1 instead of representing shadows with ready-made tones composed of bitumen and black444 ,in a picture representing an interior the source of light windows may not be indicated2 the light circulating1 circling around the picture1 will then be composed of the reflections of rays whose source is invisible1 and all the objects1 acting as mirrors for these reflections1 will consequently influence each other4 ,their colours will affect each other even if the surfaces be dull4 ,a red vase placed upon a blue carpet will lead to a very subtle but mathematically exact exchange between this blue and this red2 and this exchange of luminous waves will create between the two colours a tone of reflections composed of both4 ,these composite reflections will form a scale of tones complementary of the two principal colours4 ,the painter will have to paint with only the seven colours of the solar spectrum and discard all the others2444 he will1 furthermore1 instead of composing mixtures on his palette1 place upon his canvas touches of none but the seven colours juxtaposed ,claude ,monet has added black and white and leave the individual rays of each of these colours to blend at a certain distance1 so as to act like sunlight upon the eye of the beholder4 ,this is called dissociation of tones2 and here is a new convention2 why banish all save the spectrum8 ,we paint nature1 not the solar spectrum4 ,claude ,monet has been thus far the most successful practitioner of impressionism2 this by reason of his extraordinary analytical power of vision and native genius rather than the researches of ,helmholtz1 ,chevreul1 and ,rood4 ,they gave him his scientific formulas after he had worked out the problems4 ,he studied ,turner in ,london1 #ahgj2 then his manner changed4 ,he had been a devoted pupil of ,eugne ,boudin and could paint the discreet1 pearly gray seascapes of his master4 ,but ,turner and ,watteau and ,monticelli modified his style1 changed his way of envisaging the landscape4 ,not ,edouard ,manet but ,claude ,monet was the initiator of the impressionistic movement in ,france1 and after witnessing the rout and confusion that followed in its wake one is tempted to misquote ,nietzsche 7who said that the first and only ,christian died on the cross7 and boldly assert that there has been but one impressionist2 his name1 ,monet4 ,he has arrived at painting by means of the infinitely varied juxtaposition of a quantity of colour spots which dissociate the tones of the spectrum and draw the forms of objects through the arabesque of their vibrations4 ,how his landscapes shimmer with the heat of a summer day6 ,truly1 you can say of these pictures that the dawn comes up like thunder4 ,how his fogs1 wet and clinging1 seem to be the first real fogs that ever made misty a canvas6 ,what hot ,july nights1 with few large stars1 has ,monet not painted6 ,his series of hayricks1 cathedrals1 the ,thames are precious notations of contemporary life2 they state facts in terms of exquisite artistic value2 they resume an epoch4 ,it is therefore no surprise to learn that in #ahgd ,monet gave the name 7so variously abused7 to the entire movement when he exhibited a water piece on the ,boulevard des ,capucines entitled ,impression3 ,soleil ,levant4 ,that title became a catchword usually employed in a derisive manner4 ,monet earlier had resented the intrusion of a man with a name so like his1 but succumbed to the influence of ,monet4 ,one thing can no longer be controverted--,claude ,monet is the greatest landscape and marine painter of the second half of the last century4 ,perhaps time may alter this limit clause4 ,what ,turgenieff most condemned in his great contemporary1 ,dostoevsky--if the gentle ,russian giant ever condemned any one--was ,feodor ,mikhailovitch's taste for psychological mole runs2 an inveterate burrowing into the dark places of humanity's soul4 ,now1 if there is a dark spot in a highly lighted subject it is the question1 ,who was the first impressionist8 ,according to ,charles de ,kay1 ,whistler once told him that he1 ,james the ,butterfly1 began the movement2 which is a capital and characteristic anecdote1 especially if one recalls ,whistler's boast made to a young etcher as to the initiative of ,corot4 ,whistler practically said3 ,before ,corot was1 ,i am6 ,and he adduced certain canvases painted with the misty-edged trees long before--but why continue8 ,whistler didn't start ,corot--apart from the chronological difficulties in the way--any more than ,courbet and ,manet started ,whistler2 yet both these painters played important rles in the ,american master's art4 ,so let us accept ,mauclair's dictum as to ,claude ,monet's priority in the field of impressionism4 ,certainly he attained his marked style before he met ,manet4 ,later he modified his own paint to show his sympathy with the new school4 ,monet went to ,watteau1 ,constable1 ,monticelli for his ideas1 and in ,london1 about #ahgj1 he studied ,turner with an interest that finally bordered on worship4 ,and why not8 ,in ,turner1 at the ,national ,gallery1 you may find the principles of impressionism carried to extravagant lengths1 and years before ,monet4 ,consider ,rain1 ,steam and ,speed--the ,great ,western ,railway1 that vision of a locomotive dashing across a bridge in chromatic chaos4 ,or the ,sea ,piece in the ,james ,orrock collection--a welter of crosshatchings in variegated hues wherein any school of impressionism from ,watteau's ,embarkment to ,monet's latest manner or the pointillisme of ,signac and ,seurat may be recognised4 ,and there is a water-colour of ,turner's in the ,national ,gallery called ,honfleur1 which has anticipated many traits of ,boudin and the ,manet we know when he had not forgotten ,eugne ,boudin's influence4 ,let us enjoy our ,monet without too many mole runs4 ,as ,de ,kay pointed out1 it was not necessary for ,monet to go to ,london to see ,constables4 ,in the ,louvre he could gaze upon them at leisure1 also upon ,bonington2 not to mention the ,venetians and such a ,dutchman as ,vermeer4 ,it is therefore doubly interesting to study the ,monets at ,durand-,ruel's4 ,there are twenty-seven1 and they range as far back as #ahgb1 ,promenade ,trouville1 and come down to the ,charing ,cross ,bridge1 #aijd1 and the two ,waterloo ,bridge effects1 #aijc4 ,it is a wide range in sentiment and technique4 ,the ,mills in ,holland of #ahgd is as cool and composed as ,boudin4 ,sincerity and beauty are in the picture--for we do not agree with those who see in ,monet only an unemotional recorder of variations in light and tone4 ,he can compose a background as well as any of his contemporaries1 and an important fact is overlooked when ,monet is jumbled indiscriminately with a lot of inferior men4 ,monet knew how to draw before he handled pigment4 ,some lansdcape painters do not2 many impressionists trust to ,god and their palette-knife2 so the big men are sufferers4 ,monet1 it may be noted1 essayed many keys2 his compositions are not nearly so monotonous as has been asserted4 ,what does often exhaust the optic nerve is the violent impinging thereon of his lights4 ,he has an eagle eye1 we have not4 ,wagner had the faculty of attention developed to such an extraordinary pitch that with our more normal and weaker nerves he soon exhausts us in his flights4 ,too much ,monet is like too much ,wagner or too much sunshine4 ,the breezy effect with the poplars painted flat is an example very unlike ,monet4 ,the church of ,varengeville at ,dieppe 7#ahhj7 is a classic specimen2 so is the ,pourville beach 7#ahhb74 ,what delicate greens in the ,spring 7#ahhe76 ,what fine distance1 an ocean view1 in the ,pourville picture6 ,or1 if you care for subdued harmonies1 there is the ice floe at ,vtheuil 7#ahha74 ,the ,london pictures tell of the older artist--not so vigorous1 a vein of tenderness beginning to show instead of his youthful blazing optimism4 ,claude ,monet must have had a happy life--he is still a robust man painting daily in the fields1 leading the glorious life of a landscapist1 one of the few romantic professions in this prosaic age4 ,not so vain1 so irritable as either ,manet or ,whistler1 ,monet's nerves have never prompted him to extravagances4 ,backbiters declare that ,monet is suffering from an optical degeneration--poor1 overworked word6 ,monet sees better1 sees more keenly than his fellow-men4 ,what a misfortune6 ,ibsen and ,wagner suffered1 too1 from superior brains4 ,if ,monet ever suffered seriously from a danger to his art it was--success4 ,he was abused in the beginning1 but not as severely as ,manet4 ,but success perched on ,monet's palette4 ,his pictures never seem to suggest any time but high noon1 in spirit1 at least4 ,and he is never sad4 ,yet1 is there anything sadder under the sun than a soul incapable of sadness8 ,in his very valuable contribution to the history of the cause1 ,thodore ,duret1 the biographer and friend of ,whistler and ,manet has in his ,les ,peintres ,impressionistes held the scales very much in favour of ,manet's priority in the field over ,monet4 ,it is true that in #ahfc ,manet had drawn upon his head the thunderous wrath of ,paris by exhibiting his ,djeuner sur l',herbe and ,olympe--by no means a representative effort of the painter's genius1 despite its diabolic cleverness4 7,it reveals a profound study of ,titian1 ,cranach1 and ,goya47 ,but his vision was in reality synthetic1 not analytic2 he was a primitive2 he belongs to the family of ,velasquez1 ,ribera1 ,goya4 ,he studied ,hals--and with what glorious results in ,le ,bon ,bock6 ,he manipulated paint like an old master and did astounding things with the higher tones of the colour scale4 ,he was not an impressionist until he met ,monet4 ,then in audacity he outstripped his associates4 ,discouraged by critical attacks1 his courage had been revived by ,charles ,baudelaire1 who fought for ,richard ,wagner as well as for ,poe and ,manet4 ,to the painter the poet scornfully wrote3 ,you complain about attacks8 ,but are you the first to endure them8 ,have you more genius than ,chateaubriand and ,wagner8 ,they were not killed by derision4 ,and in order not to make you too proud1 ,i must tell you that they are models1 each in his own way1 and in a very rich world1 while you are only the first in the decrepitude of your art4 ,sinister and disquieting that last phrase1 and for those who see in impressionism the decadence of painting 7because of the predominance given to the parts over the whole7 it is a phrase prophetic4 ,manet is a classic4 ,his genuine power--technically speaking--lies in the broad1 sabre-like strokes of his brush and not in the niggling taches of the impressionists--of which the reuctio ad absurdum is pointillisme4 ,he lays on his pigments in sweeping slashes and his divisions are large4 ,his significance for us does not alone reside in his consummate mastery of form and colour1 but in his forthright expression of the life that hummed about him4 ,he is as actual as ,hals4 ,study that ,boy ,with the ,sword at the ,metropolitan ,museum--is there anything superficial about it8 ,it is ,spanish1 the ,spain of ,velasquez1 in its beautiful thin1 clear1 flat painting1 its sober handling of values4 ,the truth is that ,manet dearly loved a fight1 and being chef d'cole1 he naturally drifted to the impressionists' camp4 ,and it is significant that ,duret did not give this virile spirit a place in his new volume1 confining the estimate of his genius to the preface4 ,mauclair1 on the contrary1 includes ,manet's name in his more comprehensive and more scientific study1 as he also includes the name of ,edgar ,degas--,degas1 who is a latter-day ,ingres1 plus colour and a new psychology4 ,the title of impressionism has been a misleading one4 ,if ,degas is an impressionist1 pray what then is ,monet8 ,pissarro1 ,sisley1 ,czanne are impressionists1 and in ,america there is no impropriety in attaching this handle to the works of ,twachtmann1 ,j4 ,alden ,weir1 ,w4,l4 ,metcalf1 ,childe ,hassam1 ,robert ,henri1 ,robert ,reid1 ,ernest ,lawson1 ,paul ,cornoyer1 ,colin ,campbell ,cooper1 ,prendergast1 ,luks1 and ,glackens4 ,but ,manet1 ,degas6 ,it would have been a happier invention to have called the #ahgg group independents2 independent they were1 each man pursuing his own rainbow4 ,we may note an identical confusion in the mind of the public regarding the ,barbizon school4 ,never was a group composed of such dissimilar spirits4 ,yet people talk about ,millet and ,breton1 ,corot and ,daubigny1 ,rousseau and ,dupr4 ,they still say ,goethe and ,schiller1 ,beethoven and ,mozart1 ,byron and ,shelley4 ,it is the result of mental inertia1 this coupling of such widely disparate temperaments4 ,nevertheless1 divided tones and screaming palette do not always a picture make2 mediocrity loves to mask itself behind artistic innovations4 ,for the world at large impressionism spells improvisation--an easy-going1 slatternly1 down-at-the-heel process1 facile as well as factitious4 ,albert ,wolff must have thought these things when he sat for his portrait to ,manet4 ,his surprise was great when the artist demanded as many sittings as would have done the painstaking ,bonnat4 ,whistler shocked ,ruskin when he confessed to having painted a nocturne in two days1 but with a lifetime experience in each stroke of the brush4 ,whistler was a swift worker1 and while he claimed the honour of being the originator of impressionism--didn't he originate ,velasquez8--he really belongs to the preceding generation4 ,he was impressionistic1 if you will1 yet not an impressionist4 ,he was ,japanese and ,spanish1 never ,watteau1 ,monticelli1 ,turner1 or ,monet4 ,mac,coll has pointed out the weakness of the scientific side of impressionism4 ,its values are strictly sthetic2 attempts to paint on a purely scientific basis have proved both monotonous and ludicrous4 ,the experiments of the neo-impressionists 7the #ahhe group71 of ,signac1 ,seurat1 were not very convincing4 ,van ,rhysselberge1 one of the few painters to-day who practise pointillisme1 or the system of dots1 is a gifted artist2 so is ,anquetin4 ,the feminine group is headed by the name of ,berthe ,morisot 7the wife of ,eugne ,manet1 a brother of ,edouard and the great granddaughter of ,fragonard71 a pupil of ,manet1 the most individual woman painter that ever lived2 and ,mary ,cassatt1 a pupil of ,degas1 though more closely allied to the open-air school in her methods4 ,miss ,cassatt possesses a distinguished talent4 ,as a school impressionism has run down to a thin rill in a waste of sand4 ,it is more technical than personal1 and while it was lucky to have such an exponent as ,claude ,monet1 there is every reason to believe that ,monet's impressionism is largely the result of a peculiar penetrating vision4 ,he has been imitated1 and ,maufra and ,moret are carrying on his tradition--yet there is but one ,monet4 ,we know that the spectral palette is a mild delusion and sometimes a dangerous snare1 that impressionism is in the remotest analysis but a new convention supplanting an old4 ,painters will never go back to the muddy palette of the past4 ,the trick has been turned4 ,the egg of ,columbus has been once more stood on end4 ,claude ,monet has taught us the innocence of the eye1 has shown us how to paint air that circulates1 water that sparkles4 ,the sun was the centre of the impressionistic attack1 the splendid1 silent sun4 ,a higher pitch in key colour has been attained1 shadows have been endowed with vital hues4 7,and ,leonardo da ,vinci1 wonderful landscapist1 centuries ago wrote learnedly of coloured shadows2 every new discovery is only a rediscovery47 ,the dim1 religious light of the studio has been banished2 the average palette is lighter1 is more brilliant4 ,and ,rembrandt is still worshipped2 ,raphael is still on his pedestal1 and the millionaire on the street continues to buy ,bouguereau4 ,the amateur who honestly wishes to purge his vision of encrusted painted prejudices we warn not to go too close to an impressionistic canvas--any more than he would go near a red-hot stove or a keg of gunpowder4 ,and let him forget those toothsome critical terms1 decomposition1 recomposition4 ,his eyes1 if permitted1 will act for themselves2 there is no denying that the principles of impressionism soundly applied1 especially to landscape1 catch the fleeting1 many-hued charm of nature4 ,it is a system of coloured stenography--in the hands of a master4 ,woe betide the fumbler6 ,,ii - ,,renoir ,the secret of success is never to be satisfied2 that is1 never to be satisfied with your work or your success4 ,and this idea seems to have animated ,auguste ,renoir during his long1 honourable career of painter4 ,in common with several members of the impressionistic group to which he belonged1 he suffered from hunger1 neglect1 obloquy2 but when prosperity did at last appear he did not succumb to the most dangerous enemy that besets the artist4 ,he fought success as he conquered failure1 and his continual dissatisfaction with himself1 the true critical spirit1 has led him to many fields--he has been portraitist1 genre painter1 landscapist1 delineator of nudes1 a marine painter and a master of still-life4 ,this versatility1 amazing and incontrovertible1 has perhaps clouded the real worth of ,renoir for the public4 ,even after acknowledging his indubitable gifts1 the usual critical doubting ,thomas grudgingly remarks that if ,renoir could not draw like ,degas1 paint land and water like ,monet or figures like ,manet1 he was a naturally endowed colourist4 ,how great a colourist he was may be seen at the ,metropolitan ,museum1 where his big canvas1 ,la ,famille ,charpentier1 is now hung4 ,charpentier was the publisher of ,zola1 ,goncourt1 ,flaubert1 and of the newer realists4 ,he was a man of taste1 who cultivated friendships with distinguished artists and writers4 ,some disappointment was experienced at the recent public sale of his collection in ,paris4 ,the clou of the sale was undoubtedly the portrait of his wife and two children4 ,it was sold for the surprising sum of #hd1jjj francs to ,m4 ,durand-,ruel1 who acted in behalf of the ,metropolitan ,museum4 ,another canvas by ,renoir fetched #ad1jej francs4 ,a sanguine of ,puvis de ,chavannes brought #b1jej francs1 and #d1gjj francs was paid for a ,czanne picture4 ,the ,charpentier ,family1 originally entitled ,portrait de ,madame ,charpentier et ,ses ,filles1 was painted in #ahgh1 first exhibited at the ,salon of #ahgi1 and there we saw and admired it4 ,the passage of the years has tempered the glistening brilliancies and audacious chromatic modulations to a suave harmony that is absolutely fascinating4 ,the background is ,japanese4 ,mme4 ,charpentier is seated on a canopy surrounded by furniture1 flowers2 under foot a carpet with arabesque designs4 ,she throws one arm carelessly over some rich stuff2 the hand is painted with masterly precision4 ,the other arm has dropped in her lap4 ,she is an interesting woman of that fine maternal type so often encountered in real ,france--though not in ,french fiction1 alas6 ,her gaze is upon her children1 two adorable little girls4 ,a superb dog1 a ,st4 ,bernard1 with head resting on paws1 looks at you with watchful eyes4 ,one of the girls sits upon his shaggy hide4 ,the mother is in black1 a mellow reception robe1 tulle and lace4 ,white and blue are the contrasting tones of the girls--the blue is tender4 ,a chair is at the side of a lacquer table1 upon which are flowers4 ,renoir flowers1 dewy1 blushing4 ,you exclaim3 ,how charming6 ,it is normal ,french painting1 not the painting of the schools with their false ideal of pseudo-,greek beauty1 but the intimate1 clear1 refined1 and logical style of a man who does not possess the genius of ,manet1 ,degas1 or ,monet1 but is nevertheless an artist of copiousness1 charm1 and originality4 ,charm2 yes1 that is the word4 ,there is a voluptuous magnetism in his colour that draws you to him whether you approve of his capricious designs or not4 ,the museum paid #ah1dhj for the ,charpentier portrait1 and in #ahgg1 after an exposition in the rue ,le ,peletier1 sixteen of his paintings1 many of them masterpieces1 netted the mortifying sum of #b1jje francs4 ,pierre-,auguste ,renoir was born at ,limoges1 ,february #be1 #ahdj4 ,his father was a poor tailor with five children who went to ,paris hoping to better his condition4 ,at the age of twelve the boy was painting on porcelain--his father had picked up some rudiments of the art at ,limoges4 ,auguste did so well1 displayed such energy and taste1 that he soon fell to decorating blinds1 and saved1 in the course of four years1 enough money to enable him to enter the atelier of ,gleyre4 ,there he met ,sisley1 ,bazille--afterward shot in the ,franco-,prussian war--and ,claude ,monet4 ,they became friends and later allies in the conflict with the ,parisian picture public4 ,renoir made his first offering to the ,salon in #ahfc4 ,it was refused4 ,it was a romantic bit--a nude lady reclining on a bed listening to the plucked music of a guitar4 ,it seems that the guitarist1 and not the lady1 was the cause of offence4 ,it is a convention that a thousand living beings may look at an undressed female in a picture1 but no painted man may be allowed to occupy with her the same apartment4 ,in #ahfd ,renoir tried again--after all1 the ,salon1 like our own academy1 is a market-place--and was admitted4 ,he sent in an ,esmeralda dancing4 ,both these canvases were destroyed by the painter when he began to use his eyes4 ,in #ahfh his ,lise betrayed direct observation of nature1 influenced by ,courbet4 ,until #ahgc he sent pictures to the ,salon2 that year he was shut out with considerable unanimity1 for his offering happened to be an ,algerian subject1 a ,parisian woman dressed in ,oriental costume1 and--horrors6--the shadows were coloured4 ,he was become an impressionist4 ,he had listened1 or rather looked at the baleful pyrotechnics of ,monet1 and so he joined the secessionists1 though not disdaining to contribute annually to the ,salon4 ,in #ahgd his ,l'allee ,cavalire au ,bois de ,boulogne was rejected1 an act that was evidently inspired by a desire to sacrifice ,renoir because of the artistic crimes of ,edouard ,manet4 ,otherwise how explain why this easily comprehended composition1 with its attractive figures1 daring hues1 and brilliant technique1 came to have the door of the ,salon closed upon it8 ,the historic exposition at ,nadar's photographic studio1 on the ,boulevard des ,capucines1 of the impressionists1 saw ,renoir in company with ,monet1 ,sisley1 and the others4 ,his ,la ,danseuse and ,la ,loge were received with laughter by the discerning critics4 ,wasn't this the exhibition of which ,albert ,wolff wrote that some lunatics were showing their wares1 which they called pictures1 etc48 7,no1 it was in #ahge47 ,from #ahfh to #ahgg ,renoir closely studied nature and his landscapes took on those violet tones which gave him the nickname of ,monsieur ,violette4 ,previously he had employed the usual clear green with the yellow touches in the shadows of conventional paysagistes4 ,but ,pissarro1 ,monet1 ,sisley1 and ,renoir had discovered each for himself that the light and shade in the open air vary according to the hours1 the seasons1 the atmospheric conditions4 ,monet and ,pissarro in painting snow and frost effects under the sun did not hesitate to put blue tones in the shadows4 ,sisley was fond of rose tones1 ,renoir saw violet in the shadows4 ,he enraged his spectators quite as much as did ,monet with his purple turkeys4 ,his striking ,avant le bain was sold for one hundred and forty francs in #ahge4 ,any one who has been lucky enough to see it at ,durand-,ruel's will cry out at the stupidity which did not recognise a masterly bit of painting with its glowing1 nacreous flesh tints1 its admirable modelling1 its pervading air of vitality4 ,renoir was never a difficult painter2 that is1 in the sense of ,monet or ,manet or ,gauguin4 ,he offended the eyes of #ahge1 no doubt1 but there was in him during his first period much of ,boucher2 his female nudes are1 as ,camille ,mauclair writes1 of the eighteenth century2 his technique is ,boucher-like3 fat and sleek paint of soft brilliancy laid on with the palette-knife with precise strokes around the principal values2 pink and ivory tints relieved by strong blues similar to those of enamels2 the light distributed everywhere and almost excluding the opposition of the shadows2 vivacious attitudes and decorative convention4 ,vivacious1 happy1 lyrical1 ,renoir's work has thus far shown no hint of the bitter psychology of ,edgar ,degas4 ,his nudes are pagan1 child women full of life's joy1 animal1 sinuous1 unreasoning4 ,his genre tableaux are personal enough1 though in the most commonplace themes1 such as ,djeuner and ,the ,box--both have been exhibited in ,new ,york--the luminous envelope1 the gorgeous riot of opposed tones1 the delicious dissonances literally transfigure the themes4 ,in his second manner his affinities to ,claude ,monet and impressionism are more marked4 ,his landscapes are more atmospheric1 division of tones inevitably practised4 ,everything swims in aerial tones4 ,his portraits1 once his only means of subsistence1 are the personification of frankness4 ,the touch is broad1 flowing4 ,without doubt1 as ,theodore ,duret asserts1 ,renoir is the first of the impressionistic portrait painters2 the first to apply unflinchingly the methods of ,manet and ,monet to the human face--for ,manet1 while painting in clear tones 7what magic there is in his gold671 in portraiture seldom employed the hatchings of colours1 except in his landscapes1 and only since #ahgj1 when he had come under the influence of ,monet's theories4 ,mauclair points out that fifteen years before pointillisme 7the system of dots1 like eruptive small-pox1 instead of the touches of ,monet7 was invented1 ,renoir in his portrait of ,sisley used the stipplings4 ,he painted ,richard ,wagner at ,palermo in #ahhb4 ,in his third manner--an arbitrary classification--he combines the two earlier techniques1 painting with the palette-knife and in divided tones4 ,flowers1 barbaric designs for rugs1 the fantastic1 vibrating waters1 these appear among that long and varied series of canvases in which we see ,paris enjoying itself at ,bougival1 dancing on the heights of ,montmartre1 strolling among the trees at ,armenonville2 ,paris quivering with holiday joys1 ,paris in outdoor humour--and not a discordant or vicious note in all this psychology of love and sport4 ,the lively man who in shirt sleeves dances with the jolly1 plump salesgirl1 the sunlight dripping through the vivid green of the tree leaves1 lending dazzling edges to profiles1 tips of noses1 or fingers1 is not the sullen ouvrier of ,zola or ,toulouse-,lautrec--nor are the girls kin to ,huysmans's ,soeurs ,vatard or the human document of ,degas4 ,renoir's philosophy is not profound2 for him life is not a curse or a kiss1 as we used to say in the old ,swinburne days4 ,he is a painter of joyous surfaces and he is an incorrigible optimist4 ,he is also a poet4 ,the poet of air1 sunshine1 and beautiful women--can we ever forget his ,jeanne ,samary8 ,a pantheist1 withal a poet and a direct descendant in the line of ,watteau1 ,boucher1 ,monticelli1 with an individual touch of mundane grace and elegance4 ,mme4 ,charpentier it was who cleverly engineered the portrait of herself and children and the portrait of ,jeanne ,samary into the #ahgi ,salon4 ,the authorities did not dare to refuse two such distinguished women4 ,renoir's prospects became brighter4 ,he married4 ,he made money4 ,patrons began to appear1 and in #aijd1 at the autumn ,salon1 he was given a special salle1 and homage was done him by the young men4 ,no sweeter gift can come to a ,french painter than the unbidden admiration of the rising artistic generation4 ,renoir appreciated his honours2 he had worked laboriously1 had known poverty and its attendant bedfellows1 and had won the race run in the heat and dust of his younger years4 ,in #aijd1 describing the autumn exhibition1 ,i wrote3 ,in the ,renoir salle a few of the better things of this luscious brush were to be found1 paintings of his middle period1 that first won him favour4 ,for example1 ,sur la ,terrasse1 with its audacious crimson1 like the imperious challenge of a trumpet2 ,la ,loge and its gorgeous fabrics2 a ,baigneuse in a light-green scheme2 the quaint head of ,jeanne ,samary--a rival portrait to ,besnard's faun-like ,rjane--and a lot of ,renoir's later experimentings1 as fugitive as music2 exploding bouquets of iridescence2 swirling panels1 depicting scenes from ,tannhuser2 a flower garden composed of buds and blossoms in colour scales that begin at a bass-emerald and ascend to an altitudinous green where green is no longer green but an opaline reverberation4 ,we know how exquisitely ,renoir moulds his female heads1 building up1 cell by cell1 the entire mask4 ,the simple gestures of daily life have been recorded by ,renoir for the past forty years with a fidelity and a vitality that shames the anmic imaginings and puling pessimisms of his younger contemporaries4 ,what versatility1 what undaunted desire to conquer new problems6 ,he has in turn painted landscapes as full of distinction as ,monet's4 ,the nervous vivacity of his brush1 his love of rendered surfaces1 of melting ,boucher-like heads1 and of a dazzling ,watteau colour synthesis have endeared him to the discriminating4 ,he may be deficient in spiritual elevation--as were ,manet1 ,monet1 and the other ,impressionists2 but as they were primarily interested in problems of lighting1 in painting the sun and driving the old mud gods of academic art from their thrones1 it is not strange that the new men became so enamoured of the coloured appearances of life that they left out the ghosts of the ideal 7that dusty1 battered phrase7 and proclaimed themselves rank sun-worshippers4 ,the generation that succeeded them is endeavouring to restore the balance between unblushing pantheism and the earlier mysticism4 ,but wherever a ,renoir hangs there will be eyes to feast upon his opulent and sonorous colour music4 ,,iii - ,,manet ,in the autumn of #ahfe ,thodore ,duret1 the ,parisian critic1 found himself in the city of ,madrid after a tour of ,portugal on horseback4 ,a new hotel on the ,puerta del ,sol was1 he wrote in his life of ,manet1 a veritable haven after roughing it in the adjacent kingdom4 ,at the mid-day breakfast he ate as if he had never encountered good cooking in his life4 ,presently his attention was attracted by the behaviour of a stranger who sat next to him4 ,the unknown was a ,frenchman who abused the food1 the service1 and the country4 ,he was so irritable when he noticed ,duret enjoying the very plats he had passed that he turned on him and demanded if insult was meant4 ,the horrible cuisine1 he explained1 made him sick1 and he could not understand the appetite of ,duret4 ,good-naturedly ,duret explained he had just arrived from ,portugal and that the breakfast was a veritable feast4 ,and ,i have just arrived from ,paris1 he answered1 and gave his name1 ,edouard ,manet4 ,he added that he had been so persecuted that he suspected his neighbour of some evil pleasantry4 ,the pair became friends1 and went to look at the pictures of ,velasquez at the ,prado4 ,fresh from ,paris1 ,manet was still smarting from the attacks made on him after the hanging of his ,olympia in the ,salon of #ahfe4 ,little wonder his nerves were on edge4 ,a dozen days later1 after he had studied ,velasquez1 ,goya1 and ,el ,greco1 ,manet1 in company with ,duret1 returned to ,paris4 ,it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship4 ,about eight years ago ,duret's definitive biography of ,manet appeared1 ,histoire de ,edouard ,manet et de ,son ,oeuvre4 ,no one was better qualified to write of the dead painter than ,thodore ,duret4 ,a critic of perspicacity1 his enthusiasm was kindled during the birth throes of impressionism and has never been quenched4 ,only a few years ago1 after a tribute to ,whistler1 he wrote of ,manet in the introduction to his volume on ,impressionism1 and while no one may deny his estimate1 yet through zeal for the name of his dead friend he attributed to him the discoveries of the impressionists4 ,manet was their leader2 he would have been a leader of men in any art epoch2 but he did not invent the fulminating palette of ,monet1 and1 in reality1 he joined the insurgents after they had waged their earlier battles4 ,his impressionistic painting1 so called1 did not date until later2 before that he had fought for his own independence1 and his method was different from that of ,monet1 ,pissarro1 ,sisley1 ,czanne and the rest4 ,nevertheless1 because of his notoriety--fame is hardly the word--he may be fairly called the leader of the school4 ,as a rule he was not an irascible man1 if the unpleasant nature of the attacks upon him is taken into consideration4 ,with the exception of ,richard ,wagner and ,ibsen1 ,i know of no artist who was vilified during his lifetime as was ,manet4 ,a gentleman1 he was the reverse of the bohemian4 ,duret writes of him that he was shocked at the attempt to make of him a monster4 ,he did not desire to become chef d'cole1 nor did he set up as an eccentric4 ,when he gave his special exhibition his catalogue contained a modest declaration of the right of the artist to his personal vision4 ,he did not pretend to have created a new school1 and he asked the public to judge his work as that of a sincere painter2 but even that mild pronunciamento was received with jeers4 ,the press1 with a few exceptions1 was against him1 and so were nearly all the artists of influence4 ,zola's aggressive articles only made the situation worse4 ,who was this ,zola but a writer of doubtful taste and sensational style6 ,the whole crowd of realists1 naturalists1 and impressionists--the ,batignolles school was the mocking title given the latter--were dumped into the common vat of infamy and critical vitriol poured over them4 ,the main facts of ,manet's career may be soon disposed of4 ,his mother was ,eugnie ,dsire ,fournier2 she was the goddaughter of ,charles ,bernadotte1 ,king of ,sweden4 ,her father1 a prefect at ,pau1 had rendered services to ,bernadotte which the latter did not forget4 ,when she married1 in #ahca1 ,auguste ,manet1 a distinguished judge of the ,seine tribunal1 ,bernadotte made her many valuable presents and a dowry4 ,her three sons were ,edouard1 ,eugne1 and ,gustave4 ,they inherited from their rich grandfather1 ,fournier4 ,edouard was born at ,paris1 ,rue ,bonaparte1 ,january #bc1 #ahcb4 ,his brother ,eugne became a doctor of medicine and later married one of the most gifted of women painters1 ,berthe ,morisot1 who died in #ahie1 after winning the praise of the most critical pens in all ,europe4 ,edouard was intended for the bar1 but he threw up his studies and swore he would become a painter4 ,then he was sent abroad4 ,he visited ,south ,america and other countries1 and kept his eyes wide open1 as his sea-pieces proved4 ,after his mother became a widow he married1 in #ahfc1 ,susanne ,leenhoff1 of ,delft1 ,holland4 ,she was one of the early admirers of ,schumann in ,paris and played the ,a minor piano concerto with orchestra there1 and1 it is said1 with success4 ,she was an admirer of her husband's genius1 and during all the turmoil of his existence she was a friend and counsellor4 ,the young couple lived with the elder ,mme4 ,manet in the ,rue de ,saint-,ptersbourg1 and their weekly reception became a rallying centre for not only les ,jeunes1 but also for such men as ,gambetta1 ,emile ,ollivier1 ,clemenceau1 ,antonin ,proust1 ,de ,banville1 ,baudelaire1 ,duranty--with whom ,manet fought a duel over a trifle--,zola1 ,mallarm1 ,abb ,hurel1 ,monet1 and the impressionistic group4 ,edouard entertained great devotion for his mother4 ,she saw two of her sons die1 ,edouard in #ahhc 7,april #cj7 and ,gustave in #ahhd4 7,he was an advocate and took ,clemenceau's place as municipal councillor when the latter was elected ,deputy47 ,mme4 ,manet died in #ahhe4 ,the painter was stricken with locomotor ataxia1 brought on by protracted toil1 in #ahha4 ,for nearly three years he suffered1 and after the amputation of a leg he succumbed4 ,his obsequies were almost of national significance4 ,his widow lived until #aijf4 ,manet et manebit was the motto of the artist4 ,he lived to paint and he painted much after his paralytic seizure4 ,he was a brilliant raconteur1 and1 as ,degas said1 was at one time as well known in ,paris as ,garibaldi1 red shirt and all4 ,the truth is1 ,manet1 after being forced with his back to the wall1 became the active combatant in the duel with press and public4 ,he was unhappy if people on the boulevard did not turn to look at him4 ,the most notorious painter in ,paris was a description which he finally grew to enjoy4 ,it may not be denied that he painted several pictures as a direct challenge to the world1 but a painter of offensive pictures he never was4 ,the execrated ,picnic1 proscribed by the jury of the ,salon in #ahfa1 was shown in the ,salon des ,refuss 7in company with works by ,bracquemond1 ,cazin1 ,fantin-,latour1 ,harpignies1 ,jongkind1 ,j4,p4 ,laurens1 ,legros1 ,pissarro1 ,vollon1 ,whistler--the mildest-mannered crew of pirates that ever attempted to scuttle the bark of art71 and a howl arose4 ,what was this shocking canvas like8 ,a group of people at a picnic1 several nudes among them4 ,in vain it was pointed out to the modest ,parisians 7who at the time revelled in the ,odalisque of ,ingres1 in ,cabanel1 ,grme1 ,bouguereau1 and other delineators of the chaste7 that in the ,louvre the ,concert of ,giorgione depicted just such a scene2 but the mixture of dressed and undressed was appalling1 and ,manet became a man marked for vengeance4 ,perhaps the exceeding brilliancy of his paint and his unconventional manner of putting it on his canvas had as much to do with the obloquy as his theme4 ,and then he would paint the life around him instead of producing pastiches of old masters or sickly evocations of an unreal past4 ,he finished ,olympia the year of his marriage1 and refused to exhibit it2 ,baudelaire insisted to the contrary4 ,it was shown at the ,salon of #ahfe 7where ,monet exhibited for the first time7 and became the scandal of the day4 ,again the painter was bombarded with invectives4 ,this awful nude1 to be sure1 was no more unclothed than is ,cabanel's ,venus1 but the latter is pretty and painted with soap-suds and sentimentality4 ,the ,venus of ,titian is not a whit more exposed than the slim1 bony1 young woman who has just awakened in time to receive a bouquet at the hands of her negress1 while a black cat looks on this matutinal proceeding as a matter of course4 ,the silhouette has the firmness of ,holbein2 the meagre girl recalls a ,cranach4 ,it is not the greatest of ,manet2 one could say1 despite the bravura of the performances1 that the painter was indulging in an ironic joke4 ,it was a paint pot flung in the face of ,paris4 ,olympia figured at the #ahhg exhibition in the ,pavilion ,manet4 ,an ,american 7the late ,william ,m4 ,laffan7 tried to buy her4 ,john ,sargent intervened1 and a number of the painter's friends1 headed by ,claude ,monet1 subscribed a purse of twenty thousand francs4 ,in #ahij ,monet and ,camille ,pelletan presented to ,m4 ,fallires1 then ,minister of ,instruction1 the picture for the ,luxembourg1 and in #aijg 7,january #f71 thanks to the prompt action of ,clemenceau1 one of ,manet's earliest admirers1 the hated ,olympia was hung in the ,louvre4 ,the admission was a shock1 even at that late day when the din of the battle had passed4 ,when in #ahhd there was held at the cole des ,beaux-,arts a memorial exposition of ,manet's works1 ,edmond ,about wrote that the place ought to be fumigated1 and ,grme brandished his little cane with indignation4 ,why all the excitement in official circles8 ,only this3 ,manet was a great painter1 the greatest painter in ,france during the latter half of the nineteenth century4 ,beautiful paint always provokes hatred4 ,manet won4 ,nothing succeeds like the success which follows death4 7,our only fear nowadays is that his imitators won't die4 ,second-rate ,manet is as bad as second-rate ,bouguereau47 ,if he began by patterning after ,hals1 ,velasquez1 and ,goya1 he ended quite ,edouard ,manet2 above all1 he gave his generation a new vision4 ,there will be always the battle of methods4 ,as ,mr4 ,mac,coll says3 ,painting is continually swaying between the chiaroscuro reading of the world which gives it depth and the colour reading which reduces it to flatness4 ,manet takes all that the modern inquisition of shadows will give to strike his compromise near the singing colours of the ,japanese mosaic4 ,what a wit this ,parisian painter possessed6 ,duret tells of a passage at arms between ,manet and ,alfred ,stevens at the period when the former's ,le ,bon ,bock met for a wonder with a favourable reception at the ,salon of #ahgc4 ,this portrait of the engraver ,belot smoking a pipe1 his fingers encircling a glass1 caused ,stevens to remark that the man in the picture drank the beer of ,haarlem4 ,the mot nettled ,manet1 whose admiration for ,frans ,hals is unmistakably visible in this magnificent portrait4 ,he waited his chance for revenge1 and it came when ,stevens exhibited a picture in the ,rue ,lafitte portraying a young woman of fashion in street dress standing before a portire which she seems about to push aside in order to enter another room4 ,manet studied the composition for a while1 and noting a feather duster elaborately painted which lies on the floor beside the lady1 exclaimed3 ,tiens6 elle a done un rendezvous avec le valet de chambre8 ,,xii4 ,a ,,new ,,study ,,of ,,watteau ,new biographical details concerning ,jean ,antoine ,watteau 7#afhd-agba7 may never be forthcoming1 though theories of his enigmatic personality and fascinating art will always find exponents4 ,our knowledge of ,watteau is confined to a few authorities3 the notes in ,d',argenville's ,abrg de la ,vie des ,plus ,fameux ,peintres2 ,catalogue ,raisonn1 by ,gersaint2 ,julienne's introduction to the ,life of ,watteau by ,count de ,caylus--discovered by the ,goncourts and published in their brilliant study of eighteenth-century art4 ,since then have appeared monographs1 tudes1 and articles by ,cellier1 ,mollet1 ,hanover1 ,dohme1 ,mntz1 ,sailles1 ,claude ,phillips1 ,charles ,blanc1 ,virgile ,joez1 ,f4 ,staley1 ,todor de ,wyzewa1 and ,camille ,mauclair4 ,mauclair is the latest and one of the most interesting commentators1 his principal contribution being ,de ,watteau ,whistler1 a chapter of which has been afterward expanded into a compact little study entitled ,watteau and translated from the ,french text by ,mme4 ,simon ,bussy1 the wife of that intimate painter of twilight and poetic reverie1 ,simon ,bussy1 to whom the book is dedicated4 ,it is the thesis put forth and cleverly maintained by ,mauclair that interests us more than his succinct notation of the painter's life4 ,it is not so novel as it is just and moderate in its application4 ,the pathologic theory of genius has been overworked4 ,in literature nowadays psychiatrists rush in where critics fear to tread4 ,mahomet was an epilept2 so was ,napoleon4 ,flaubert died of epilepsy1 said his friends2 nevertheless1 ,ren ,dumesnil has proved that his sudden decease was caused not by apoplexy but by hystero-neurasthenia4 ,eye strain played hob with the happiness of ,carlyle1 and an apostle of sweetness and light declared that ,ibsen was a degenerate--,ibsen1 who led the humdrum exterior life of a healthy bourgeois4 ,lombroso has demonstrated--to his own satisfaction--that ,dante's mystic illumination was due to some brand of mental disorder4 ,in fact1 this self-styled psychologist mapped anew the topography of the human spirit4 ,few have escaped his fine-tooth-comb criticism except mediocrity4 ,painters1 poets1 patriots1 musicians1 scientists1 philosophers1 novelists1 statesmen1 dramatists1 all who ever participated in the ,seven ,arts1 were damned as lunatics1 decadents1 criminals1 and fools4 ,it was a convenient inferno in which to dump the men who succeeded in the field wherein you were a failure4 ,the height of the paradox was achieved when a silly nomenclature was devised to meet every vacillation of the human temperament4 ,if you feared to cross the street you suffered from agoraphobia2 if you didn't fear to cross the street1 that too was a very bad sign4 ,if you painted like ,monet1 paralysis of the optical centre had set in--but why continue8 ,it is a pity that this theory of genius has been so thoroughly discredited1 for it is a field which promises many harvestings2 there is mad genius as there are stupid folk4 ,besides1 normality doesn't mean the commonplace4 ,a normal man is a superior man4 ,the degenerate man is the fellow of low instincts1 rickety health1 and a drunkard1 criminal1 or idiot4 ,the comical part of the craze--which was short-lived1 yet finds adherents among the half-baked in culture and the ignorant--is that it deliberately twisted the truth1 making men of fine brain and high-strung temperament seem crazy or depraved1 when the reverse is usually the case4 ,since the advent of ,lombroso brainstorms are the possession of the privileged4 ,naturally your grocer1 tailor1 or politician may display many of the above symptoms1 but no one studies them4 ,they are not geniuses4 ,all this to assure you that when ,camille ,mauclair assumes that the malady from which ,antoine ,watteau died was also a determining factor in his art1 the ,french critic is not aping some modern men of science who denounce the writings of ,dostoevsky because he suffered from epileptic fits4 ,but there is a happy mean in this effort to correlate mind and body4 ,if we are what we think or what we eat--and it is not necessary to subscribe to such a belief--then the sickness of the body is reflected in the soul1 or vice versa4 ,byron was a healthy man naturally1 when he didn't dissipate1 and ,byron's poems are full of magnificent energy1 though seldom in the key of optimism4 ,the revolt1 the passion1 the scorn1 were they all the result of his health8 ,or of his liver8 ,or of his soul8 ,goethe1 the imperial the myriad-minded ,goethe1 the apostle of culture1 the model ,european man of the nineteenth century--what of him8 ,serenity he is said to have attained1 yet from the summit of eighty years he confessed to four weeks of happiness in a long lifetime4 ,nor was he with all his superb manhood free from neurotic disorders1 neurotic and erotic4 ,shelley8 ,ah6 he is a pronounced case for the specialists4 ,any man who could eat dry bread1 drink water1 and write such angelic poetry must have been quite mad4 ,admitted4 ,would there were more ,shelleys4 ,browning is a fair specimen of genius and normality2 as his wife illustrated an unstable nervous temperament allied to genius4 ,george ,borrow was a rover1 a difficult man to keep as a friend1 happy only when thinking of the gipsies and quarrelling when with them4 ,would ,baudelaire's magic verse and prose sound its faint1 acrid1 sinister music if the ,french poet had led a sensible life8 ,cruel question of the dilettante for whom the world1 all its splendor1 all its art1 is but a spectacle4 ,it is needless to continue1 the list is too large2 too large and too contradictory4 ,the ,variations of ,genius would be as profound and as vast a book as ,lord ,acton's projected ,history of ,human ,thought4 ,the truth is that genius is the sacrificial goat of humanity2 through some inexplicable transposition genius bears the burdens of mankind2 afflicted by the burden of the flesh intensified many times1 burdened with the affliction of the spirit1 raised to a pitch abnormal1 the unhappy man of genius is stoned because he staggers beneath the load of his sensitive temperament or wavers from the straight and narrow path usually blocked by bores too thick-headed and too obese to realise the flower-fringed abysses on either side of the road4 ,and having sent genius in general among the goats1 let us turn to consumptive genius in particular4 ,watteau was a consumptive2 he died of the disease4 ,a consumptive genius6 ,it is a hard saying4 ,people of average health whose pulse-beat is normal in tempo luckily never realise the febrile velocity with which flows the blood in the veins of a sick man of genius4 ,but there is a paradox in the case of ,watteau1 as there was in the case of ,chopin1 of ,keats1 of ,robert ,louis ,stevenson4 ,the painter of ,valenciennes gave little sign of his malady on his joyous lyrical canvases4 ,keats sang of fary landscapes and ,chopin's was a virile spirit2 the most cheerful writer under the sun was ,stevenson1 who even in his ,pulvis et ,umbra conjured up images of hope after a most pitiless arraignment of the universe and man4 ,and here is the paradox4 ,this quartet of genius suffered from and were slain by consumption4 7,stevenson died directly of brain congestion2 he was1 however1 a victim to lung trouble47 ,that the poets turn their sorrow into song is an axiom4 ,yet these men met death1 or what is worse1 met life1 with defiance or impassible fronts4 ,and the world which loves the lilting rhythms of ,chopin's mazourkas seldom cares to peep behind the screen of notes for the anguish ambushed there4 ,watteau has painted the gayest scenes of pastoral elegance in a land out of time1 a ,no-,man's ,land of blue skies1 beautiful women1 gallant men1 and lovely landscapes1 while his life was haunted by thoughts of death4 ,the riddle is solved by ,mauclar3 ,these flights into the azure1 these evocations of a country west of the sun and east of the moon1 these graceful creatures of ,watteau1 the rich brocade of ,chopin's harmonies1 the exquisite pictures of ,keats1 the youthful joy in far-away countries of ,stevenson1 all1 all are so many stigmata of their terrible affliction4 ,they sought by the magic of their art to create a realm of enchantment1 a realm wherein their ailing bodies and wounded spirits might find peace and solace4 ,this is the secret of ,watteau1 says ,mauclair1 which was not yielded up in the eighteenth century1 not even to his followers1 ,pater1 ,lancret1 ,boucher1 ,fragonard1 whose pagan gaiety and artificial spirit is far removed from the veiled melancholy of ,watteau4 ,as we see ,chopin1 a slender man1 morbid1 sickly1 strike the martial chord in an unparalleled manner1 ,chopin the timid1 the composer of the ,heroic ,polonaise1 so ,watteau1 morbid1 sickly1 timid1 slender1 composes that masterpiece of delicate and decorative joyousness1 ,the ,embarkment for ,cythera1 which hangs in the ,louvre 7a gorgeous sketch1 the final version1 is at ,potsdam in the collection of the ,german ,emperor74 ,in these works we find the aura of consumption4 ,none of ,watteau's contemporaries fathomed the meaning of his art3 not ,count de ,caylus1 not his successors1 who all recognised the masterly draughtsman1 the marvellous colourist1 the composer of pastoral ballets1 of matchless ftes galantes1 of conversations1 of miniatures depicting camp life1 and fanciful decorations in the true style of his times4 ,but the melancholy poet that was in the man1 his lyric pessimism1 and his unassuaged thirst for the infinite--these things they did not see4 ,caylus1 who has left the only data of value1 speaks of ,watteau's hatred of life1 his aversion at times from the human face1 his restlessness that caused him to seek new abodes--,chopin was always dissatisfied with his lodgings and always changing them4 ,the painter made friends in plenty1 only to break with them because of some fancied slight4 ,chopin was of umbrageous nature1 ,liszt tells us4 ,watteau never married1 and never1 as far as is known1 had a love affair4 ,he is an inspired painter of women4 7,perhaps1 because of his celibacy47 ,he loved to depict them in delicious poses1 under waving trees in romantic parks or in the nude4 ,a gallant artist1 he was not a gallant man4 ,he had the genius of friendship but not the talent for insuring its continuity4 ,like ,arthur ,rimbaud1 he suffered from the nostalgia of the open road4 ,he disappeared frequently4 ,his whereabouts was a mystery to his friends4 ,he did not care for money or for honours4 ,he was elected without volition on his part as a member of the ,academy4 ,yet he did not use this powerful lever to further his welfare4 ,silent1 a man of continent speech1 he never convinced his friends that his art was chaste2 yet he never painted an indelicate stroke4 ,his personages1 all disillusionised1 vaguely suffer1 make love without desire--disillusioned souls all4 ,l',indiffrent1 that young man in the ,louvre who treads the earth with such light disdain1 with such an airy expression of sweetness and ennui1 that picture1 ,mauclair remarks1 is the soul of ,watteau4 ,and1 perhaps1 spills his secret4 ,mauclair does not like the coupling of ,watteau's name with those of ,boucher1 ,pater1 ,lancret1 ,de ,troy1 ,coypel1 or ,vanloo4 ,they imitated him as to externals2 the spirit of him they could not ensnare4 ,if ,watteau stemmed artistically from ,rubens1 from ,ruysdael1 from ,titian 7or ,tiepolo1 as ,kenyon ,cox acutely hints7 he is the father of a great school1 the true ,french school1 though his stock is ,flemish4 ,turner knew him2 so did ,bonington4 ,delacroix understood him4 ,so did ,chardin1 himself a solitary in his century4 ,without ,watteau's initiative ,monticelli might not be the ,monticelli we know1 while ,claude ,monet1 ,manet1 ,renoir are the genuine flowering of his experiments in the division of tones and the composition of luminous skies4 ,mauclair smiles at ,caylus for speaking of ,watteau's mannerisms1 the mannerisms that proclaim his originality4 ,only your academic1 colourless painter lacks personal style and always paints like somebody he is not4 ,watteau's art is peculiarly personal4 ,its peculiarity--apart from its brilliancy and vivacity--is1 as ,mauclair remarks1 the contrast of cheerful colour and morbid expression4 ,morbidezza is the precise phrase2 morbidezza may be found in ,chopin's art1 in the very feverish moments when he seems brimming over with high spirits4 ,watteau was not a consumptive of the ,pole's type4 ,he did not alternate between ecstasy and languor4 ,he was cold1 self-contained1 suspicious1 and inveterately hid the state of his health4 ,he might have been cured1 but he never reached ,italy1 and that far-off dream and his longing to realise it may have been the basis of his last manner--those excursions into a gorgeous dreamland4 ,he yearned for an impossible region4 ,his visions on canvas are the shadowy sketches of this secret desire that burned him up4 ,it may have been consumption--and ,mauclair makes out a strong case--and it may have been the expression of a rare poetic temperament4 ,watteau was a poet of excessive sensibility as well as the contriver of dainty masques and ballets4 ,in literature one man at least has understood him1 ,walter ,pater4 ,readers of his ,imaginary ,portraits need not be reminded of ,a ,prince of ,court ,painters1 that imaginative reconstruction of an almost obscure personality4 ,his words as he spoke of them the paintings of ,rubens seemed full of a kind of rich sunset with some moving glory within it4 ,this was the ,watteau who is summed by ,pater 7a distant kinsman1 perhaps1 of the ,pater ,watteau tutored7 as a man who had been a sick man all his life4 ,he was always a seeker after something in the world1 that is there in no satisfying measure1 or not at all4 ,camille ,mauclair eloquently ends his study with the confession that the mere utterance of ,watteau's name suffices to evoke in men's minds a memory of the melancholy that was his1 arrayed in garments of azure and rose4 ,ah6 crepuscular ,psyche1 whose smile is akin to tears6 ,,xiii4 ,,gauguin ,,and ,,toulouse-,,lautrec ,i - ,,gauguin ,the key-note to the character of ,paul ,gauguin1 painter and sculptor1 may be found in his declaration that in art there are only revolutionists or plagiarists4 ,a brave speech4 ,and a proud man who uttered it2 for unless he wished to avoid its implications he must needs prove his sincerity4 ,in the short1 adventurous1 crowded life vouchsafed him1 ,paul ,gauguin proved himself indeed a revolutionary painter4 ,his maxim was the result of hard-won experiences4 ,he was born at ,paris ,june #g1 #ahdh--;a stormy year for ,france2 he died at ,dominique ,may #i1 #aijd4 ,his father was a native of ,brittany1 while on his mother's side he was ,peruvian4 ,this mixed blood may account for his wandering proclivities and his love for exotic colouring and manners4 ,to further accentuate the rebellious instincts of the youth his maternal grandmother was that ,flora ,tristan1 friend of the anarchistic thinker ,proudhon4 ,she was a socialist later and a prime mover in the ,workman's ,union2 she allied herself with ,pre ,enfantin and helped him to found his religion1 ,mapa1 of which he was the god1 ,ma1 and she the goddess1 ,pa4 ,enfantin's career and end may be recalled by students of ,st4 ,simon and the socialistic movements of those times4 ,paul's father1 ,clovis ,gauguin1 wrote in #ahdh the political chronicle on the ,national1 but previous to the coup d'etat he left for ,lima1 there to found a journal4 ,he died of an aneurism in the ,straits of ,magellan1 a malady that was to carry off his son4 ,after four years in ,lima the younger ,gauguin returned to ,france4 ,in #ahef a ,peruvian grand-uncle died at the extraordinary age of one hundred and thirteen4 ,his name was ,don ,pio de ,tristan1 and he was reported very rich4 ,but ,paul got none of this wealth1 and at fourteen he was a cabin-boy1 feeble of health but extremely curious about life4 ,he saw much of life and strange lands in the years that followed1 and he developed into a powerfully built young sailor and no doubt stored his brain with sumptuous images of tropical scenery which reappeared in his canvases4 ,he traversed the globe several times4 ,he married and took a position in a bank4 ,on ,sundays he painted4 ,his hand had itched for years to reproduce the landscapes he had seen4 ,he made friends with ,degas1 ,czanne1 ,pissarro1 ,renoir1 ,monet1 ,guillaumin1 and ,manet4 ,he called himself an amateur and a ,sunday painter1 but as he was received on terms of equality with these famous artists it may be presumed that1 autodidact as he was1 his versatile talent--for it literally was versatile--did not escape their scrutiny4 ,he submitted himself to various influences2 he imitated the ,impressionists1 became a ,neo-,impressionist of the most extravagant sort2 went sketching with ,czanne and ,van ,gogh1 that unfortunate ,dutchman1 and finally announced to his friends and family that henceforward ,i shall paint every day4 ,he gave up his bank1 and ,charles ,morice has said that his life became one of misery1 solitude1 and herculean labours4 ,he painted in ,brittany1 ,provence1 at ,martinique1 in the ,marquesas and ,tahiti4 ,he had parted with the ,impressionists and sought for a new sthetik of art2 to achieve this he broke away not only from tradition1 even the tradition of the ,impressionists1 but from ,europe and its civilisation4 ,to this half-savage temperament devoured by the nostalgia of the tropics the pictures of his contemporaries bore the fatal stamp of the obvious1 of the thrice done and used up4 ,france1 ,holland1 ,spain1 ,italy--what corner was there left in these countries that had not been painted thousands of times and by great masters6 ,the ,south ,seas1 ,japan1 ,china--anywhere away from the conventional studio landscape1 studio models1 poses1 grimaces6 ,at ,pont-,aven in #ahhh1 between trips made to ,martinique and ,provence1 ,gauguin had attained mastery of himself2 ,czanne had taught him simplicity2 ,degas1 his avowed admirer1 had shown him the potency of the line2 ,renoir's warm colouring had spurred him to a still richer palette2 and ,manet had given him sound advice4 ,a copy of the ,olympe1 by ,gauguin1 finished about this time1 is said to be a masterpiece4 ,but with ,degas he was closer than the others4 ,a natural-born writer1 his criticisms of the modern ,french school are pregnant with wit and just observation4 ,what was nicknamed the ,school of ,pont-,aven was the outcome of ,gauguin's imperious personality4 ,a decorative impulse1 a largeness of style1 and a belief that everything in daily life should be beautiful and characteristic sent the painters to modelling1 to ceramics and decoration4 ,armand ,seguin1 ,emile ,bernard1 ,maurice ,denis1 ,filiger1 ,serusier1 ,bonnard1 ,vuillard1 ,chamaillard1 ,verkade1 ,o',conor1 ,durio1 ,maufra1 ,ranson1 ,mayol1 ,roy1 and others are to-day happy to call themselves associates of ,paul ,gauguin in this little movement in which the idolatry of the line and the harmonies of the arabesque were pursued with joyous fanaticism4 ,gauguin in an eloquent letter tells of his intercourse with ,vincent ,van ,gogh1 who went mad and killed himself1 not1 however1 before attempting the life of his master4 ,mauclair has said of ,van ,gogh that he left to the world some violent and strange works1 in which ,impressionism appears to have reached the limit of its audacity4 ,their value lies in their nave frankness and in the undauntable determination which tried to fix without trickery the sincerest feelings4 ,amid many faulty and clumsy works ,van ,gogh has also left some really beautiful canvases4 ,before ,gauguin went to ,tahiti his ,breton peasants were almost as monstrous as his later ,polynesian types4 ,his representations of trees also seem monstrous4 ,his endeavour was to get beyond the other side of good and evil in art and create a new synthesis1 and thus it came to pass that the ugly and the formless reign oft in his work--the ugly and formless according to the old order of envisaging the world4 ,in #ahia and #ahib1 at ,tahiti1 ,gauguin painted many pictures--masterpieces his friends and disciples call them--which were later shown at an exhibition held in the ,durand-,ruel ,galleries4 ,paris shuddered or went into ecstasy over these blazing transcriptions of the tropics2 over these massive men and women1 nude savages who stared with such sinister magnetism from the frames4 ,the violent deformations1 the intensity of vision1 the explosive hues--a novel gamut of rich tones--and the strangeness of the subject-matter caused a nine days' gossip2 yet the exhibition was not a great success4 ,gauguin was too new1 too startling1 too original for his generation2 he is yet for the majority1 though he may be the ,paint ,god of the twentieth century4 ,cut to the heart by his failure to make a dazzling reputation1 also make a little money--for he was always a poor man--he left ,paris forever in #ahie4 ,he was sick and his life among the ,marquisians did not improve his health4 ,he took the part of the natives against the whites and was denounced as a moral castaway4 ,in #aijd he wrote ,charles ,morice3 ,i am a savage4 ,but a savage of talent4 ,in reality he was a cultivated man1 an attractive man1 and a billiard player and a fencer4 ,paint was his passion4 ,if you live by the pen you may perish by the pen4 ,the same is too often the case with the palette and brush hero4 ,though ,paul ,gauguin failed in his search for a synthesis of the ugly and the beautiful1 he was nevertheless a bold initiator1 one who shipwrecked himself in his efforts to fully express his art4 ,with all his realism he was a symbolist1 a master of decoration4 ,a not too sympathetic commentator has written of him3 ,paul ,gauguin's robust talent found its first motives in ,breton landscapes1 in which the method of colour spots may be found employed with delicacy and placed at the service of a rather heavy but very interesting harmony4 ,then the artist spent a long time in ,tahiti1 whence he returned with a completely transformed manner4 ,he brought back from those regions some landscapes treated in intentionally clumsy and almost wild fashion4 ,the figures are outlined in firm strokes and painted in broad1 flat tints on canvas that has the texture of tapestry4 ,many of these works are made repulsive by their aspect of multicoloured1 crude1 and barbarous imagery4 ,yet one cannot but acknowledge the fundamental qualities1 the lovely values1 the ornamental taste1 and the impression of primitive animalism4 ,on the whole1 ,paul ,gauguin has a beautiful1 artistic temperament which1 in its aversion to virtuosity1 has perhaps not sufficiently understood that the fear of formulas1 if exaggerated1 may lead to other formulas1 to a false ignorance which is as dangerous as false knowledge4 ,all of which is true2 yet ,paul ,gauguin was a painter who had something new to say1 and he said it in a very personal fashion4 ,,ii - ,,toulouse-,,lautrec ,i once attended at ,paris an exhibition devoted to the work of the late ,count ,toulouse-,lautrec4 ,there the perverse genius of an unhappy man who owes allegiance to no one but ,degas and the ,japanese was seen at its best4 ,his astonishing qualities of invention1 draughtsmanship1 and a diabolic ingenuity in sounding the sinister music of decayed souls have never been before assembled under one roof4 ,power there is and a saturnine hatred of his wretched sitters4 ,toulouse-,lautrec had not the impersonal vision of ,zola nor the repressed and disenchanting irony of ,degas4 ,he loathed the crew of repulsive night birds that he pencilled and painted in old ,montmartre before the foreign invasion destroyed its native and spontaneous wickedness4 ,now a resort for easily bamboozled ,english and ,americans1 the earlier ,montmartre was a rich mine for painter-explorers4 ,raffaelli went there and so did ,renoir2 but the former was impartially impressionistic2 the latter1 ever ravished by a stray shaft of sunshine flecking the faces of the dancers1 set it all down in charming tints4 ,not so ,toulouse-,lautrec4 ,combined with a chronic pessimism1 he exhibited a divination of character that1 if he had lived and worked hard1 might have placed him not far below ,degas4 ,he is savant4 ,he has a line that proclaims the master4 ,and unlike ,aubrey ,beardsley1 his affinity to the ,japanese never seduced him into the exercise of the decorative abnormal which sometimes distinguished the efforts of the ,englishman4 ,we see the ,moulin ,rouge with its hosts of deadly parasites1 ,la ,goulue and her vile retainers4 ,the brutality here is one of contempt1 as a blow struck full in the face4 ,vice has never before been so harshly arraigned4 ,this art makes of ,hogarth a pleasing preacher1 so drastic is it1 so deliberately searching in its insults4 ,and never the faintest exaggeration or burlesque4 ,these brigands and cut-throats1 pimps and pickpurses are set before us without bravado1 without the genteel glaze of the timid painter1 without an attempt to call a prostitute a cocotte4 ,indeed1 persons are called by their true names in these hasty sketches of ,lautrec's1 and so clearly sounded are the names that sometimes you are compelled to close your ears and eyes4 ,his models1 with their cavernous glance1 their emaciated figures1 and vicious expression1 are a commentary on atelier life in those days and regions4 ,toulouse-,lautrec is like a page from ,ecclesiastes4 ,,xiv4 ,,literature ,,and ,,art ,i - ,,concerning ,,critics ,the annual rotation of the earth brings to us at least once during its period the threadbare1 thriceworn1 stale1 flat1 and academic discussion of critic and artist4 ,we believe comparisons of creator and critic are unprofitable1 being for the most part a confounding of intellectual substances4 ,the painter paints1 the composer makes music1 the sculptor models1 and the poet sings4 ,like the industrious crow the critic hops after these sowers of beauty1 content to peck up in the furrows the chance grains dropped by genius4 ,this1 at least1 is the popular notion4 ,balzac1 and later ,disraeli1 asked3 ,after all1 what are the critics8 ,men who have failed in literature and art4 ,and ,mascagni1 notwithstanding the laurels he wore after his first success1 cried aloud in agony that a critic was compositore mancato4 ,these be pleasing quotations for them whose early opus has failed to score4 ,the trouble is that every one is a critic1 your gallery-god as well as the most stately practitioner of the art severe4 ,balzac was an excellent critic when he saluted ,stendhal's ,chartreuse de ,parme as a masterpiece2 as was ,emerson when he wrote to ,walt ,whitman4 ,what the mid-century critics of the ,united ,states1 what ,sainte-,beuve1 master critic of ,france1 did not see1 ,balzac and ,emerson saw and1 better still1 spoke out4 ,in his light-hearted fashion ,oscar ,wilde asserted that the critic was also a creator--apart from his literary worth--and we confess that we know of cases where the critic has created the artist4 ,but that a serious doubt can be entertained as to the relative value of creator and critic is hardly worth denying4 ,consider the painters4 ,time and time again you read or hear the indignant denunciation of some artist whose canvas has been ripped-up in print4 ,if the offender happens to be a man who doesn't paint1 then he is called an ignoramus2 if he paints or etches1 or even sketches in crayon1 he is well within the ,balzac definition--poor1 miserable imbecile1 he is only jealous of work that he could never have achieved4 ,as for literary critics1 it may be set down once and for all that they are suspect4 ,they write2 ergo1 they must be unjust4 ,the dilemma has branching horns4 ,is there no midway spot1 no safety ground for that weary ,ishmael the professional critic to escape being gored8 ,naturally any expression of personal feeling on his part is set down to mental arrogance4 ,he is permitted like the wind to move over the face of the waters1 but he must remain unseen4 ,we have always thought that the enthusiastic ,dublin man in the theatre gallery was after a critic when he cried aloud at the sight of a toppling companion3 ,don't waste him4 ,kill a fiddler with him6 ,it seems more in consonance with the ,celtic character2 besides1 the ,irish are music-lovers4 ,if one could draw up the list of critical and creative men in art the scale would not tip evenly4 ,the number of painters who have written of their art is not large1 though what they have said is always pregnant4 ,critics outnumber them--though the battle is really a matter of quality1 not quantity4 ,there is ,da ,vinci4 ,for his complete writings some of us would sacrifice miles of gawky pale and florid medival paintings4 ,what we have of him is wisdom1 and like true wisdom is prophetic4 ,then there is that immortal gossip ,vasari1 a very biassed critic and not too nice to his contemporaries4 ,he need not indulge in what is called the woad argument2 we sha'n't go back to the early ,britons for our authorities4 ,let us come to ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 whose ,discourses are invaluable--and also to be taken well salted2 he was encrusted with fine old ,english prejudices4 ,one of his magnificent sayings and one appreciated by the entire artistic tribe was his ejaculation3 ,damn paint6 ,raphael ,mengs wrote4 ,we wish that ,velasquez had4 ,what ,william ,blake said of great artists threw much light on ,william ,blake4 ,ingres uttered things1 principally in a rage1 about his contemporaries4 ,delacroix was a thinker4 ,he literally anticipated ,chevreul's discoveries in the law of simultaneous contrasts of colour4 ,furthermore1 he wrote profoundly of his art4 ,he appreciated ,chopin before many critics and musicians--which would have been an impossible thing for ,ingres1 though he played the violin--and he was kind to the younger men4 ,need we say that ,degas is a great wit1 though not a writer2 a wit and a critic8 ,rousseau1 the landscapist1 made notes1 and ,corot is often quoted4 ,if ,millet had never written another sentence but ,there is no isolated truth1 he would still have been a critic4 ,constable with his ,a good thing is never done twice2 and ,alfred ,stevens's definition of art1 ,nature seen through the prism of an emotion1 forestalled ,zola's pompous pronouncement in ,the ,experimental ,novel4 ,to jump over the stile to literature1 ,wordsworth wrote critical prefaces1 and ,shelley1 too2 ,poe was a critic2 and what of ,coleridge1 who called painting a middle quality between a thought and a thing--the union of that which is nature with that which is exclusively human8 ,there are plenty of examples on the side of the angels4 ,whistler6 ,what a critic1 wielding a finely chased rapier6 ,thomas ,couture wrote and discoursed much of his art4 ,sick man as he was1 ,i heard him talk of art at his country home1 ,villiers-le-,bel1 on the ,northern ,railway1 near ,paris4 ,this was in #ahgh4 ,william ,m4 ,hunt's talks on art were fruitful4 ,so are ,john ,lafarge's4 ,the discreet ,gigoux of ,balzac notoriety has an entertaining book to his credit2 while ,rodin is often coaxed into utterances about his and other men's work4 ,there are many ,french1 ,english1 and ,american artists who write and paint with equal facility4 ,in ,new ,york1 ,kenyon ,cox is an instance4 ,but the chiefest among all the painters alive and dead1 one who shines and will continue to shine when his canvases are faded--and they are fading--is ,eugne ,fromentin1 whose ,matres d'autrefois is a classic of criticism4 ,since his day two critics1 who are also painters1 have essayed both crafts1 ,george ,clausen and ,d4,s4 ,mac,coll4 ,professor ,clausen is a temperate critic1 ,mac,coll a brilliant1 revolutionary one4 ,the critical temper in either man is not dogmatic4 ,seurat1 the ,french ,neo-,impressionist1 has defended his theories2 indeed1 the number of talented ,frenchmen who paint well and write with style as well as substance is amazing4 ,rossetti would no longer be a rare bird in these days of piping painters1 musicians who are poets1 and sculptors who are painters4 ,the unfortunate critic occasionally writes a play or an opera 7particularly in ,paris71 but as a rule he is content to echo that old ,german who desperately exclaimed3 ,even if ,i am nothing else1 ,i am at least a contemporary4 ,let us now swing around the obverse side of the medal4 ,a good showing4 ,you may begin with ,wincklemann or ,goethe--we refer entirely to critics of paint and painters--or run down the line to ,diderot1 ,blanc1 ,gautier1 ,baudelaire1 ,zola1 ,goncourt1 who introduced to ,europe ,japanese art2 ,roger ,marx1 ,geoffroy1 ,huysmans1 ,camille ,mauclair1 ,charles ,morice1 and ,octave ,mirbeau4 ,zola was not a painter1 but he praised ,edouard ,manet4 ,these are a few names hastily selected4 ,in ,england1 ,ruskin too long ruled the critical roast2 full of thunder-words like ,isaiah1 his vaticinations led a generation astray4 ,he was a prophet1 not a critic1 and he was a victim to his own abhorred pathetic fallacy4 ,henley was right in declaring that until ,r4,a4,m4 ,stevenson appeared there was no great art criticism in ,england or ,english4 ,the ,velasquez is a marking stone in critical literature4 ,it is the one big book by a big temperament that may be opposed page by page to ,fromentin's critical masterpiece4 ,shall we further adduce the names of ,morelli1 ,sturge ,moore1 ,roger ,fry1 ,perkins1 ,cortissoz1 ,lionel ,cust1 ,colvin1 ,ricci1 ,van ,dyke1 ,mather1 ,berenson1 ,brownell1 and ,george ,moore--who said of ,ruskin that his uncritical blindness regarding ,whistler will constitute his passport to fame1 the lot of critics is to be remembered by what they have failed to understand4 ,walter ,pater wrote criticism that is beautiful literature4 ,if ,ruskin missed ,whistler1 he is in good company1 for ,sainte-,beuve1 the prince of critics1 missed ,balzac1 ,stendhal1 ,flaubert1 and to ,victor ,hugo was unfair4 ,yet1 consider the ,osrics embalmed in the amber of ,sainte-,beuve's style4 ,he1 like many another critic1 was superior to his subject4 ,and that is always fatal to the water-flies4 ,george ,,iii once asked in wonderment how the apples get inside the dumplings4 ,how can a critic criticise a creator8 ,the man who looks on writing things about the man who does things4 ,but he criticises and artists owe him much4 ,neither in ink-horn terms nor in an upstart ,asiatic style need the critic voice his opinions4 ,he must be an artist in temperament and he must have a credo4 ,he need not be a painter to write of painting1 for his primary appeal is to the public4 ,he is the middle-man1 the interpreter1 the vulgariser4 ,the psycho-physiological processes need not concern us4 ,one thing is certain--a man writing in terms of literature about painting1 an art in two dimensions1 cannot interpret fully the meanings of the canvas1 nor can he be sure that his opinion1 such as it is1 when it reaches the reader1 will truthfully express either painter or critic4 ,such are the limitations of one art when it comes to deal with the ideas or material of another4 ,criticism is at two removes from its theme4 ,therefore criticism is a makeshift4 ,therefore1 let critics be modest and allow criticism to become an amiable art4 ,but where now is the painter critic and the professional critic8 ,stands ,ulster where it did8 ,yes1 the written and reported words of artists are precious alike to layman and critic4 ,that they prefer painting to writing is only natural2 so would the critic if he had the pictorial gift4 ,however1 as art is art and not nature1 criticism is criticism and not art4 ,it professes to interpret the artist's work1 and at best it mirrors his art mingled with the personal temperament of the critic4 ,at the worst the critic lacks temperament 7artistic training is1 of course1 an understood requisite71 and when this is the case1 ,god help the artist6 ,as the greater includes the lesser1 the artist should permit the critic to enter1 with all due reverence1 his sacred domain4 ,without vanity the one1 sympathetic the other4 ,then the ideal collaboration ensues4 ,sainte-,beuve says that criticism by itself can do nothing4 ,the best of it can act only in concert with public feeling 444 we never find more than half the article in print--the other half was written only in the reader's mind4 ,and ,professor ,walter ,raleigh would further limit the gentle art4 ,criticism1 after all1 is not to legislate1 nor to classify1 but to raise the dead4 ,the relations between the critic and his public open another vista of the everlasting discussion4 ,let it be a negligible one now4 ,that painters can get along without professional criticism we know from history1 but that they will themselves play the critic is doubtful4 ,and are they any fairer to young talent than official critics8 ,it is an inquiry fraught with significance4 ,great and small artists have sent forth into the world their pupils4 ,have they always--as befits honest critics--recognised the pupils of other men1 pupils and men both at the opposite pole of their own theories8 ,recall what ,velasquez is reported to have said to ,salvator ,rosa1 according to ,boschini and ,carl ,justi4 ,salvator had asked the incomparable ,spaniard whether he did not think ,raphael the best of all the painters he had seen in ,italy4 ,velasquez answered3 ,raphael1 to be plain with you1 for ,i like to be candid and outspoken1 does not please me at all4 ,this purely temperamental judgment does not make of ,velasquez either a good or a bad critic4 ,it is interesting as showing us that even a master cannot always render justice to another4 ,difference engenders hatred1 as ,stendhal would say4 ,can the record of criticism made by plastic artists show a generous ,robert ,schumann8 ,schumann discovered many composers from ,chopin to ,brahms and made their fortunes by his enthusiastic writing about them4 ,in ,wagner he met his ,waterloo1 but every critic has his limitations4 ,there is no ,schumann1 let the fact be emphasised1 among the painter-critics1 though quite as much discrimination1 ardour of discovery1 and acumen may be found among the writings of the men whose names rank high in professional criticism4 ,and this hedge1 we humbly submit1 is a rather stiff one to vault for the adherents of criticism written by artists only4 ,nevertheless1 every day of his humble career must the critic pen his apologia pro vita sua4 ,,ii - ,,art ,,in ,,fiction ,fiction about art and artists is rare--that is1 good fiction1 not the stuff ground out daily by the publishing mills for the gallery-gods4 ,it is to ,france that we must look for the classic novel dealing with painters and their painting1 ,manette ,salomon1 by ,goncourt4 ,henry ,james has written several delightful tales1 such as ,the ,liar1 ,the ,real ,thing1 ,the ,tragic ,muse1 in which artists appear4 ,but it is the particular psychological problem involved rather than theories of art or personalities that steer ,mr4 ,james's cunning pen4 ,we all remember the woman who destroyed a portrait of her husband which seemed to reveal his moral secret4 ,john ,s4 ,sargeant has been credited with being the psychologist of the brush in this story4 ,there is a nice1 fresh young fellow in ,the ,tragic ,muse1 who1 weak-spined as he is1 prefers at the last his painting to ,julia ,dallow and a political career4 ,in ,the ,real ,thing we recognise one of those unerring strokes that prove ,james to be the master psychologist among ,english writers4 ,any discerning painter realises the value of a model who can take the pose that will give him the pictorial idea1 the suggestiveness of the pose1 not an attempt at crude naturalism4 ,with this thesis the novelist has built up an amusing1 semi-pathetic1 and striking fable4 ,there are painters scattered through ,english fiction--can we ever forget ,thackeray6 ,ouida has not missed weaving her ,tyrian purples into the exalted pattern of her romantic painters4 ,and ,george ,eliot4 ,and ,disraeli4 ,and ,bernard ,shaw--there is a painting creature in ,love ,among the ,artists4 ,george ,moore1 however1 has devoted more of his pages to paint and painters than any other of the latter-day writers4 ,the reason is this3 ,george ,moore went to ,paris to study art and he drifted into the ,julian atelier like any other likely young fellow with hazy notions about art and a well-filled purse4 ,but these early experiences were not lost4 ,they cropped up in many of his stories and studies4 ,he became the critical pioneer of the impressionistic movement and first told ,london about ,manet1 ,monet1 ,degas4 ,he even--in an article remarkable for critical acumen--declared that if ,jimmy ,whistler had been a heavier man1 a man of beef1 brawn1 and beer1 like ,rubens1 he would have been as great a painter as ,velasquez4 ,to the weighing scales1 fellow-artists6 retorted ,whistler2 yet the bolt did not miss the mark4 ,whistler's remarks about ,mr4 ,moore1 especially after the ,eden lawsuit1 were1 so it is reported1 not fit to print4 ,in ,mr4 ,moore's first volume of the half-forgotten trilogy1 ,spring ,days1 we see a young painter who1 it may be said1 thinks more of petticoats than paint4 ,there is paint talk in ,mike ,fletcher1 ,moore's most virile book4 ,in ,a ,modern ,lover the hero is an artist who succeeds in the fashionable world by painting pretty1 artificial portraits and faded classical allegories1 thereby winning the love of women1 much wealth1 popular applause1 and the stamp of official approbation4 ,this ,lewis ,seymour still lives and paints modish ,london in rose-colour4 ,moore's irony would have entered the soul of a hundred celebrated artists if they had had any soul to flesh it in4 ,when he wrote this novel1 one that shocked ,mrs4 ,grundy1 ,moore was under the influence of ,paris4 ,however1 that masterpiece of description and analysis1 ,mildred ,lawson in ,celibates--very ,balzacian title1 by the way--deals with hardly anything else but art4 ,mildred1 who is an ,english girl without soul1 heart1 or talent1 studies in the ,julian atelier and goes to ,fontainebleau during the summer4 ,no one1 naturally1 will ever describe ,fontainebleau better than ,flaubert1 in whose ,l',education ,sentimentale there are marvellous pictures2 also a semi-burlesque painter1 ,pellerin1 who reads all the works on sthetics before he draws a line1 and not forgetting that imperishable portrait of ,jacques ,arnoux1 art dealer4 ,goncourt1 too1 has excelled in his impression of the forest and its painters1 ,millet in particular4 ,nevertheless1 let us say in passing that you cannot find ,mildred ,lawson in ,flaubert or ,goncourt2 no1 not even in ,balzac1 whose work is the matrix of modern fiction4 ,she is her own perverse1 cruel ,mooresque self1 and she lives in ,new ,york as well as ,london4 ,in both ,daudet and ,maupassant--,strong as ,death is the latter's contribution to painter-psychology--there are stories clustered about the guild4 ,daudet has described a ,salon on varnishing day with his accustomed facile1 febrile skill2 you feel that it comes from ,goncourt and ,zola4 ,it is not within our scope to go back as far as ,balzac1 whose ,frenhofer in ,the ,unknown ,masterpiece has been a model for the younger man4 ,poe1 ,hawthorne1 ,wilde1 and ,robert ,louis ,stevenson have dealt with the theme pictorial4 ,zola's ,the ,masterpiece 7,l',oeuvre7 is one of the better written books of ,zola4 ,it was a favourite of his4 ,the much-read and belauded fifth chapter is a faithful transcription of the first ,salon of the ,rejected ,painters 7,salon des ,refuss7 at ,paris1 #ahfc4 ,napoleon ,,iii1 after pressure had been brought to bear upon him1 consented to a special salon within the official ,salon1 at the ,palais de l',industrie1 which would harbour the work of the young lunatics who wished to paint purple turkeys1 green water1 red grass1 and black sunsets4 7,lie down1 ivory hallucinations1 and don't wag your carmilion tail on the chrome-yellow carpet67 ,it is an enormously clever book1 this1 deriving in the main as it does from ,manette ,salomon and ,balzac's ,frenhofer4 ,the fight for artistic veracity by ,claude ,lantier is a replica of what occurred in ,manet's lifetime4 ,the ,breakfast on the ,grass1 described by ,zola1 was actually the title and the subject of a ,manet picture that scandalised ,paris about this epoch4 ,the fantastic idea of a nude female stretched on the grass1 while the other figures were clothed and in their right minds1 was too much for public and critic1 and unquestionably ,manet did paint the affair to create notoriety4 ,like ,richard ,wagner1 he knew the value of advertising4 ,all the then novel theories of plein air impressionism are discussed in the ,zola novel1 yet the work seems clumsy after ,goncourt's ,manette ,salomon1 that breviary for painters which so far back as #ahfg anticipated--in print1 of course--the discoveries1 the experiments1 the practice of the naturalistic-impressionistic groups from ,courbet to ,czanne1 ,monet to ,maufra1 ,manet to ,paul ,gauguin4 ,there are verbal pictures of student life1 of salons1 of atelier and open air4 ,no such psychologic manual of the painter's art has ever appeared before or since ,manette ,salomon4 ,it was the ,goncourts who introduced ,japanese art to ,european literature--they were friends of the late ,m4 ,bing1 a pioneer collector in ,paris4 ,and they foresaw the future of painting as well as of fiction4 ,,xv4 ,,museum ,,promenades ,,pictures ,,at ,,the ,,hague ,there are two new ,rembrandts in the galleries of the ,mauritshuis1 lent by ,prof4 ,a4 ,bredius1 director of the ,royal ,picture ,gallery at ,the ,hague4 ,neither is an important picture in the professional sense of that word1 but they are ,rembrandts--at least one is indubitable--and that suffices4 ,the more credible of the pair is a small canvas depicting ,andromeda manacled to the rocks4 ,her figure is draped to the waist2 it is a solid ,dutch figure1 ugly as the one of ,potiphar's wife 7in an etching by ,rembrandt71 and no deliverer is in sight4 ,the flesh tones are rather cold1 a cadaverous white1 but it is a ,rembrandt white4 ,the picture as a whole is sketchy and without charm or mystery4 ,nevertheless1 the lion's paws are there4 ,the other shows us a woman reading at a table4 ,the colouring is warm and the still-life accessories are richly and minutely painted4 ,not a likely ,rembrandt1 either in theme or notably so in treatment4 ,we must bow1 however1 to the judgment of the learned ,bredius who made the ascription4 ,these two works are not as yet in the catalogue4 ,it is a pity the catalogue to this gallery is not as complete as those of the ,rijks ,museum4 ,to visitors they offer an abridged one1 dated #aijd4 ,there are since then many new pictures1 notably a sterling ,chardin1 marvellously painted1 and an excellent landscape by ,van ,cuyp1 both loans of ,dr4 ,bredius4 ,otherwise this little collection is as choice and as entertaining as ever4 ,the usual tourist makes at once for the overrated ,young ,bull by ,paul ,potter and never looks at the magnificent ,weenix across the room1 the ,dead ,swan1 with its velvety tones4 ,the head of a young girl by ,vermeer1 with its blue turban and buff coat1 its pearl earrings1 is charming4 ,and the ,view of ,delft seems as fresh as the day it was painted4 ,the long faade of the houses and warehouses and the churches and towers facing the river are rendered with a vivacity of colour1 a solidity in drawing1 and an absence of too marked literalism which prove that this gifted artist had more than one style4 ,the envelope is rich2 there is air1 though it be stagnant4 ,down-stairs is an allegorical subject1 ,the ,new ,testament1 which is not very convincing as a composition1 but warm in tint4 ,the ,diana and ,her ,companions must have inspired ,diaz and many other painters4 ,but the real ,vermeer1 the ,vermeer of the enamelled surfaces and soft pervasive lighting1 is at ,amsterdam4 ,no place is better than ,the ,hague for the study of the earlier ,rembrandt4 ,dr4 ,tulp's ,anatomical ,lecture is1 after the ,potter bull1 the most gazed-at canvas in the ,mauritshuis4 ,it is not in a good condition4 ,there are evidences of over-varnishing and cobbling2 nor is it a very inspiring canvas4 ,the head of ,dr4 ,tulp is superb in characterisation1 and there is one other head1 that of a man with inquiring eyes1 aquiline profile1 the head strained forward 7his name is given in the critical works on ,rembrandt71 which arrests the attention4 ,an early composition1 we are far from the perfection of ,the ,syndics4 ,the self-portrait of the painter 7#afbi7 is a favourite1 though the much-vaunted feather in the head-gear is stiff2 perhaps feathers in ,holland were stiff in those days4 ,but the painters flock to this portrait and never tire of copying its noble silhouette4 ,the two little studies of the painter's father and mother are characteristic4 ,one1 of the man1 is lent by ,dr4 ,bredius4 ,rembrandt's brother 7study of an old man's head7 shows a large old chap with a nose of richest vintage4 ,the portrait is brown in tone and without charm4 ,the ,susanna ,bathing is famous1 but it is not as attractive as ,simeon in the ,temple1 with its masterly lighting1 old gold in the gloom4 ,the ,homer never fails to warm the cockles of the imagination4 ,what bulk6 ,what a wealth of smothered fire in the apparel6 ,the big ,saul listening to the playing of ,david is still mystifying4 ,is ,saul smiling or crying behind the uplifted cloak8 ,is he contemplating in his neurasthenia an attempt on ,david's life with a whizzing lance8 ,his sunken cheeks1 vague yet sinister eye1 his turban marvellous in its iridescence1 form an ensemble not to be forgotten4 ,david is not so striking4 ,from afar the large canvas glows4 ,and the chiaroscuro is miraculous4 ,the portrait of ,rembrandt's sister1 the ,flight ,into ,egypt1 the small1 laughing man1 the negroes1 and the study of an old woman1 the latter wearing a white head-dress1 are a mine of joy for the student4 ,the sister's head is lent by ,dr4 ,c4 ,hofstede de ,groot1 the art expert4 ,there are only thirty-odd ,rembrandts in ,holland out of the five hundred and fifty he painted4 ,of this number eighteen are in the ,mauritshuis4 ,holland was not very solicitous formerly of her masters4 ,nowadays sentiment has changed and there is a gratifying outcry whenever a stranger secures a genuine old master4 ,as for the copies1 they1 like the poor1 are always with us4 ,america is flooded every year with forged pictures1 especially of the minor ,dutch masters1 and excellent are these imitations1 it must be confessed4 ,there are only four specimens of ,frans ,hals here2 portraits of ,jacob ,pieterez1 ,aletta ,hanemans1 his wife2 of ,william ,croes1 and the head of a man1 a small picture in ,the ,jolly ,toper style4 ,the lace collar is genuine ,hals4 ,let us close our catalogue and wander about the galleries4 ,german and ,english are the tongues one hears1 ,dutch seldom1 ,french occasionally4 ,the ,potter bull with the wooden legs is stared at by hundreds4 ,as a picture painted by a very young man it is noteworthy4 ,the head of the beast is nobly depicted4 ,but what of the remainder of this insignificant composition with its toad and cows1 its meaningless landscape8 ,the ,weenix swan is richer in paint texture4 ,the ,holbeins are--two anyhow--of splendid quality4 ,of the ,rubenses it is better to defer mention until ,antwerp is reached4 ,they are of unequal value4 ,the same may be said of the ,van ,dycks4 ,look at that baby girl standing by a chair4 ,a ,govert ,flinck4 ,how truthful6 ,the ,de ,heems are excellent fruit and flower pieces4 ,excellent1 too1 the ,huysums1 ,hondecoeters1 and ,weenixes4 ,there is a dead baby of the ,dutch school 7#affa7 which is as realistic as a ,courbet4 ,we admired the small ,memlic1 or ,memling1 and1 naturally1 the ,metsus1 ,mierevelts1 and ,mierises4 ,the ,holy ,virgin and ,infant ,christ1 by ,murillo1 is tender and sleek in colour4 ,it hangs near the solitary ,velasquez of the museum1 a portrait of ,charles-,baltasar1 son of ,king ,philip ,,iv of ,spain4 ,it is not a remarkable ,velasquez4 ,the ,pieter ,lastman1 a ,resurrection of ,lazarus1 is of interest because this painter was a preceptor of ,rembrandt4 ,william ,kalf's still-life is admirable1 and the ,aert ,van den ,neer moonlight scene 7purchased #aijc7 is a lovely example of this artist4 ,indeed1 all the minor ,dutchmen are well represented4 ,potter's much-praised ,cow in the ,water is faded1 and the style is of the sort we smile over at our own ,academy exhibitions4 ,the ,van ,goyen waterscapes are not all of prime quality1 but there are two that are masterpieces4 ,amsterdam excels in both ,van ,goyens and ,jacob ,ruisdaels4 ,the ,distant ,view of ,haarlem of the latter proved a disappointment4 ,the colour is vanished quite1 the general effect flat4 ,the ,bol portrait of ,admiral de ,ruyter is a sterling specimen4 ,the ,van de ,veldes and ,wouvermans are excellent4 ,the ,good ,housekeeper of ,dou1 a much-prized picture1 with its tricky light and dark4 ,the ,teniers and ,ostades no longer interest us as they did4 ,perhaps one tires soon of genre pictures4 ,the inevitable toper1 the perambulating musician1 the old woman standing in a doorway1 the gossips1 the children1 and the dog not house-broken may stand for the eternal ,ostade1 while the merry-makings of ,david ,teniers are too much alike4 ,however1 this touch of spleen is the outcome of seeing so many bituminous canvases4 ,probably in no other painter's name have so many sins been committed as in ,rembrandt's4 ,his chiaroscuro is to blame for thousands of pictures executed in the tone of tobacco juice4 ,all the muddy browns of the studio1 with the yellow smear that passes for ,rembrandtish light1 are but the monkey tricks of lesser men4 ,his pupils often made a mess of it1 and they were renowned4 ,terburg's ,despatch is an interesting anecdote2 so too ,metsu's ,amateur ,musicians4 ,there are the average number of ,dutch ,italianate painters1 ,jan ,both and the rest1 men who employed southern backgrounds and improvised bastard ,italian figures4 ,schalcken's candlelight scenes are not missing1 though ,dou leads in this rather artificial genre4 ,and every tourist led by a guide hears that ,wouvermans always introduced a white horse somewhere in his picture4 ,you leave ,holland obsessed by that white animal4 ,naturally the above notes hardly scratch the surface of the artistic attractions in this ,hague gallery4 ,not the least of them is to look out on the ,vyver lake and watch the swans placidly swimming around the emerald islet in the middle4 ,the ,mauritshuis is a cabinet of gems1 and months could not stale its variety4 ,there are important omissions1 and some of the names in the catalogue are not represented at top-notch4 ,but the ,rembrandts are there1 and there are the ,potters1 the ,rubenses1 the ,van ,dycks1 the ,jan ,steens--his ,oyster ,feast is here--the landscape and marine painters1 not to mention the portraiture1 the ,murillo1 ,palma ,vecchio1 and the ,titian4 ,the single ,roger van der ,weyden1 an attribution1 is a ,crucifixion1 and hangs near the ,memlig4 ,it is an interesting picture4 ,of the sculpture there is not much to write4 ,houdon1 ,hendrick de ,keyser1 ,verhulst1 ,falconet1 ,blommendael1 and ,xavery make up a meagre list4 ,at ,baron ,steengracht's house--admission by personal card--on the ,vyverberg there is a wonderful ,rembrandt1 ,bathsheba ,after ,her ,bath1 a golden-toned canvas1 not unlike the ,susanna over at the ,mauritshuis4 ,it was painted in #afdc1 about a year after he had finished ,the ,night ,watch1 a jewel of a ,rembrandt and the clou of this collection4 ,there are some weak modern pictures and examples by ,terburg1 ,metsu1 ,flinck1 ,jordaens1 ,cuyp1 ,potter1 ,brouwer--the smoker1 a fine work2 a ,hobbema mill and others4 ,in the ,municipal ,museum1 full of curiosities in furniture1 armour1 and costumes1 there is a gallery of modern paintings--,israel1 ,david ,bles1 ,mesdag1 ,neuhuys1 ,bisschop1 ,j4 ,maris1 ,weissenbruch1 ,bosboom1 ,blommers1 and ,mauve4 ,there are also ,mierevelts1 ,jan ,ravensteyns1 ,honthorst1 ,van ,goyen1 ,van ,ceulen1 and a lot of shooting-gallery 7,doelen7 and guild panoramas2 there are miles of them in ,holland1 and unless painted by ,hals1 ,van der ,heist1 ,elias1 and a few others are shining things of horror1 full of staring eyes1 and a jumble of hands1 weapons1 and dry colours4 ,but they are viewed with religious awe by the ,dutch1 whose master passion is patriotic sentiment4 ,there is the ,huis ten ,bosch 7,the ,house in the ,wood71 the royal villa1 a little over a mile from ,the ,hague1 in which ,de ,wit's grisailles may be seen4 ,the ,japanese and orange rooms are charming2 the portraits by ,everdingen1 ,honthorst1 ,jordaens1 and others are of historic interest4 ,,the ,,mesdag ,,museum ,when we were last at ,the ,hague the ,mesdag ,museum had just opened 7#aijc74 ,there was no catalogue1 and while the nature of this great gift to the city was felt it was not until a second visit 7in #aiji7 that its extraordinary value was realised4 ,the catalogue numbers three hundred and forty-four pictures by modern artists1 and there is also a valuable collection of objects of art1 bronzes1 pottery1 furniture1 and tapestries4 ,philip ,zilcken 7a well-known ,dutch etcher7 in his introduction calls attention to the rare quality of the ,mesdag ,museum and tells us that ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,mesdag van ,houten bought for their own pleasure without any thought of forming a gallery for the ,dutch nation4 ,that came later4 ,w4,h4 ,mesdag is the well-known marine painter whose paintings may be seen in almost every gallery on the ,continent4 ,a native of ,groningen 7#ahca71 he studied under ,roelofs and while in ,brussels lived with his relative1 ,alma-,tadema2 the latter is a ,frieslander4 ,mesdag excels in marines1 painting great sweep of waters with breadth and simplicity4 ,his palette is cool and restrained1 his rhythmic sense well developed1 and his feeling for outdoors truly ,dutch4 ,he belongs to the line of the classic ,dutch marinists1 to ,van der ,velde1 ,backhuizen1 and ,van ,goyen4 ,his wife1 a woman of charm and culture1 died in the spring of last year4 ,she signed her work ,s4 ,mesdag van ,houten4 ,her gift lies in the delineation of forest views1 interiors1 portraits1 and still-life4 ,her colour is deep and rich4 ,a cursory walk around the various rooms on the ,laan van ,meerdervoort impresses one with this idea3 with what envy must any curator of any museum in the world study this collection4 ,mesdag began gathering his treasures at a time when the ,barbizon school was hardly known2 when a hundred other painters had not been tempted by the dealers into overproduction2 when1 in a word1 fancy prices were not dreamed of4 ,the ,alma-,tademas are among his best1 little as we admire his vital marbles and lifeless humans4 ,an early portrait of his wife is here4 ,bastien-,lepage has a preparatory sketch for ,les ,foins4 ,indeed1 the ,mesdag ,museum is rich in frottis1 painted-in pictures1 by such men as ,rousseau1 ,daubigny1 ,diaz1 ,vollon1 ,millet1 ,dupr4 ,as we admire the etchings of ,mari ,bauer1 it was a new pleasure to see half a dozen of his paintings1 chiefly scenes in the ,orient4 ,the same misty1 fantastic quality is present2 he manipulates his colour1 thinly laid on1 as if it were some sort of plastic smoke4 ,impressionistic as are these canvases1 there is a subdued splendor in them all4 ,bauer feels the ,east4 ,his etchings recall ,rembrandt's line2 but his paintings are miles away in sentiment and handling4 ,bisschop 7#ahbh-aijd7 is represented by a fine still-life1 and among the various ,blommers is one with children playing in the water and on the sands2 vividly seized1 this example4 ,the late ,thophile de ,bock was an interpreter of nature and his brush-work was fat and rich4 ,his work is well known in ,america and gains in value every day 7he died in #aijd74 ,there are fourteen specimens here of his best period4 ,the ,emile ,bretons are early and therefore different from his commercial productions4 ,of the ,corots1 twelve in number1 we did not see an insignificant one1 not a weak one4 ,the famous ,early ,morning and ,view at ,villeneuve-ls-,avignon are hung4 ,the first depicts a group of trees2 to the right a narrow stream in which is reflected a cloudless sky4 ,in the centre two women in white caps4 ,the second is more elaborate in composition4 ,the middle distance is occupied by picturesque buildings dating probably from the ,middle ,ages4 ,in the foreground four persons are under the shadow of some trees4 ,an unusual scheme for ,corot4 ,his well-known characteristics are present in the dozen2 the tremulous leafage1 the bright1 pure light1 the ,italian softness4 ,and what do you say to a half-dozen ,courbets1 all of his strong period1 landscapes1 still-life1 a nude study1 a dead roe1 a sunlit path1 and a lake scene6 ,good ,courbets are not numerous1 and these are good4 ,the nude is a woman recumbent upon draperies4 ,the pte is heavy but vital1 the flesh tones glowing1 and the silhouette firm1 yet delicate4 ,the portrait of the artist by himself is massive4 ,it was probably painted in ,ste4 ,plagie4 ,coutures two1 twenty-five ,daubignys1 and one of his son ,karl4 ,daubigny the elder is here in all his manners1 dark pictures with big foregrounds1 intimate bits of wooded interiors1 sand-hills1 streamlets1 moonlights1 coast scenes1 evening effects1 sunsets at sea1 twilights1 sheep1 broken rocks1 and a study in crayon4 ,decamps and ,delacroix come next in order4 ,there are three of the former1 among the rest his ,poacher1 and three of ,delacroix1 one a portrait of himself4 ,seven of ,diaz1 painted when his colour was most sonorous and brilliant1 are here1 with a study of an undraped female figure4 ,la ,mare is a sunlight effect in the forest of ,fontainebnleau4 ,dupr has seven to his account1 several of great tonal beauty4 ,the one ,fortuny is an elaborate etching of his ,anchorite4 ,the ,josef ,israels are strong4 ,jacque pigs and sheep2 ,klinkenberg's view of the ,binnenhof2 ,mancini's bewildering chromatic blurs and sensuously rich gamut1 and seventeen in number4 ,this painter is seldom encountered in ,america4 ,he should be better known2 while his ideas are not particularly significant he is colourist for colour's sake1 as was ,monticelli4 ,the three brothers ,maris1 ,jakob1 ,willem1 and ,matthys 7the latter living in ,london71 are to be seen here in unexampled states4 ,mauve1 too1 with fourteen pictures4 ,both the ,mesdags1 ,taco ,mesdag1 a brother and his wife are present4 ,also ,ter ,meulen1 a gifted ,dutch artist4 ,we have seldom seen better ,george ,michels4 ,the ,monticelli up-stairs is an unusual subject4 ,it is a mountain path in the south of ,france4 ,the sun is disappearing behind a cluster of trees4 ,rocks in the foreground4 ,the scheme of colour is low for ,monticelli1 the forms sharply accented4 ,he could see line when he wished4 ,the smaller example is an interior1 as rich as ,monticelli knew how to lay the colours on4 ,seven ,millets1 one the large exhibition picture ,hagar and ,ishmael1 another the wonderful ,resting ,vintager4 ,alone these ,millets would cause a sensation if exhibited elsewhere4 ,the ,hagar seems a trifle too rhetorical for the simple-minded painter4 ,brown predominates in the colour scale1 the composition is rather conventional1 an echo1 perhaps1 of the artist's ,delaroche apprenticeship1 but the ,vintager is a masterpiece4 ,seated among the vines in the blaze of the sun1 he is resting and has removed his heavy sabots4 ,the relaxed attitude after arduous labour is wonderfully expressed4 ,the atmosphere indicates stifling sultriness4 ,ricard1 ,roelofs1 ,theodore ,rousseau--halt6 ,there are twelve of this ,french master1 dramatic and rich4 ,descente des ,vaches dans le ,jura is the celebrated canvas refused at the ,salon1 #ahcd4 ,but it is too bituminous in parts4 ,a greater composition1 though only a drawing1 is ,les grands chnes du vieux ,bas-,brau4 ,four large trees illumined by sun-rays4 ,two ,segantinis1 a drawing in chalk and pastel2 ,storm ,van's ,gravesande2 seven ,troyons1 one1 ,le retour du ,march1 a masterpiece2 ,vollon1 still-life1 fish1 ivory goblets1 violets2 ,weissenbruchs2 ,zilcken etchings and two ,de ,zwarts4 ,there is old ,rozenburg pottery1 designed by ,colenbrander1 scarce to-day2 ,dutch and ,gothic brass1 ,oriental portires and brass1 old ,delft1 ,japanese armour1 various weapons and lanterns1 ,gobelin tapestry1 carved furniture1 ,dutch and ,scandinavian1 and a magnificent assortment of ,satsuma pottery1 ,cmail cloisonn1 ,japanese bronzes1 ,persian pottery1 ,spanish brasses1 majolica and bronzes and sculptures by ,mattos1 ,constantin1 ,meunier1 and ,van ,wijk--the list fills a pamphlet4 ,next door is the studio of the aged ,mesdag1 a hale old ,dutchman who paints daily and looks forward to seeing his ninety years4 ,in ,holland octogenarians are not few4 ,the climate is propitious2 above all1 the absence of hurry and worry4 ,to see ,the ,hague without visiting this collection would be a regrettable omission4 ,,hals ,,of ,,haarlem ,in writing of ,holland more is said of its windmills than its flowers4 ,it is a land of flowers4 ,consider the roll-call of its painters who their life long produced naught but fruit and flower pieces4 ,both the ,de ,heems1 the cunning ,huysums1 whose work still lives in the mezzotints of ,earlom--like ,david de ,heem1 he was fond of introducing insects1 flies1 bees1 spiders1 crawling over his velvety peaches and roses--,seghers1 ,van ,aelst and his talented pupil ,rachel ,ruysch1 ,cuyp1 ,breughel 7,abraham71 ,mignon1 ,van ,beyeren1 ,van den ,broeck1 ,margaretha ,rosenboom1 ,maria ,vos1 ,weenix1 ,a4 ,van der ,velde1 ,kalf1 and many others who excelled in this pleasing genre4 ,their canvases are faded1 the colours oxidised1 but on the highways and by-ways the miracle is daily renewed--flowers bloom at every corner1 fill the window-boxes of residences1 crowd the hotel balconies1 and are bunched in the hands of the peddlers4 ,a cart goes by1 a gorgeous symphony of hues4 ,roses1 chrysanthemums1 dahlias1 daisies1 tufts of unfamiliar species1 leaves that are as transparent lace1 blushing wild roses1 and what not4 ,ivy is used for practical purposes4 ,on the steam-yacht ,carsjens at ,leyden a wind screen is composed of ivy2 you feel enclosed in a floating garden4 ,along the ,vivjer berg1 fronting the house of ,baron ,steengracht1 is a huge boat-shaped enclosure of stone4 ,it is full of ivy growing low4 ,dutch landscape gardeners are fertile in invention4 ,they break the flat lines of the landscape with all sorts of ingenious surprises2 bosky barriers1 hedges abloom1 elm-trees pared away to imitate the processional poplars of ,belgium and ,france1 sudden little leafy lanes--what quips and quirks we have come across a few miles away from the town6 ,to see ,haarlem and its environs in ,june when the bulb farms are alight with tulips must be a delightful spectacle4 ,in the fall of the year you are perforce content to read the names of the various farms as the train passes4 ,the many-coloured vegetable carts remind you that ,snyders and ,van ,steen painted here4 ,the ,groote ,kerke1 ,st4 ,bavo1 at ,haarlem1 is a noble pile with a tall tower4 ,one of its attractions is the organ 7built in #agce-ch7 by ,christian ,mller2 it was until a few years ago the largest in the world4 ,its three manuals1 time-stained1 sixty stops and five thousand pipes 7thirty-two feet the longest7 when manipulated by a skilful organist produce adequate musical results4 ,we had the pleasure of hearing the town organist play ,bach for an hour4 ,he began with a few ,bach chorales1 then came ,a ,mighty ,fortress is ,our ,god2 followed by the ,a minor prelude and fugue1 and the ,wedge fugue4 ,the general diapasonic quality is noble1 the wood stops soft1 the mixtures without brassy squealing1 and the full organ sends a thrill down your spine1 so mellow is its thunder4 ,modern organs do not thus sound4 ,is the secret of the organ tone lost like the varnishing of ,cremona fiddles and the blue of the old ,delft china8 ,there are no fancy barnyard stops1 as ,john ,runciman has named the combinations often to be found in latter-day instruments4 ,you understood after hearing the ,haarlem organ why ,bach wrote his organ preludes and fugues4 ,modern music1 with its orchestral registration1 its swiftness and staccato1 would be a sacrilege on this key-board4 ,the bronze statue of ,coster did not unduly excite us4 ,the ,dutch claim him as the inventor of printing1 but the ,germans hang on to ,gutenberg4 ,at ,leyden there is a steam train to ,katwyk-aan-,see2 at ,haarlem you may ride out to ,zandvoort1 and six miles farther is the ,north ,sea ,canal4 ,but as the ,katwyk and ,zandvoort schools flourish mightily in the ,united ,states we did not feel curious enough to make the effort at either town4 ,regrettable as was the burning of the old church at ,katwyk1 perhaps its disappearance will keep it out of numerous pictures painted in that picturesque region4 ,of course it will be1 or has been1 rebuilt4 ,we walked in the forest of ,haarlem and did not once think of #abeth ,street2 the old town is slightly unlike its modern namesake4 ,what a charm there is in this venerable forest4 ,the ,dutch of ,amsterdam1 less than half an hour away1 come down here on ,sunday afternoons for the tranquillity and the shade4 ,you must know that the sun-rays can be very disturbing in ,july4 ,the canals intersecting the town are pretty4 ,they may be sinks of iniquity1 but they don't look so4 ,naturally1 they exhale mephitic odours1 though the people won't acknowledge it4 ,it is the case in ,venice1 which on hot ,august afternoons is not at all romantic in a nasal sense4 ,but you forget it all in ,haarlem as you watch a hay barge float by1 steered by a blond youngster of ten and poled by his brothers4 ,from the chimney comes a light smoke4 ,soup is cooking4 ,you remember the old sunlit towpath of your boyhood2 a tightening at your heart warns you of homesickness1 or hay fever4 ,oh1 to be on the ,erie ,canal1 you exclaim1 as you sneeze4 ,but the ,town ,hall ,museum is hard by4 ,it is the glory of ,haarlem as the ,rijks ,museum is the glory of ,amsterdam and ,holland4 ,a pull at the bell and the door is opened1 a small fee is paid1 and you are free to the room where are hung ten large paintings by the inimitable ,frans ,hals4 ,here are the world-renowned ,regent pictures set forth in chronological order4 ,drop the catalogue and use your own eyes4 ,the first impression is profound2 not that ,hals was profound in the sense of ,rembrandt's profundity1 but because of the almost terrifying vitality of these portraits4 ,prosaic men and women1 great trenchermen1 devourers of huge pasties1 mowers down of wine-bottles and beer-tankards1 they live with such vitality on the canvases of ,hals that you instinctively lower your voice4 ,the paint-imprisoned ghosts of these jolly officers1 sharpshooters1 regents1 and shrewd-looking old women regents are not so disquieting as ,rembrandt's misty evocations4 ,they touch hands with you across the centuries1 and finally you wonder why they don't step out the frame and greet you4 ,withal1 no trace of literalism1 of obvious contours or tricky effects4 ,honest1 solid paint1 but handled by the greatest master of the brush that ever lived--save ,velasquez4 ,how thin and unsubstantial modern painting is if compared to this magician1 how even his greatest followers1 ,manet and ,sargent1 seem incomplete4 ,manet1 with his abridgments1 his suppressions1 his elliptical handling1 never had the smiling confidence of ,hals in facing a problem4 ,the ,frenchman is more subtle1 also more evasive2 and there is no hint in him of the trite statement of a fact that we encounter in ,bartholomew ,van der ,heist--himself a great painter4 ,hals had not the poetic vision of ,rembrandt1 but he possessed a more dexterous hand1 a keener eye4 ,judged according to the rubric of sheer paint1 sheer brush-work1 not ,rubens1 not ,van ,dyck1 was such a virtuoso4 ,despite his almost incredible swiftness of execution1 ,hals got closer to the surfaces of what is called actual life than any of the masters with the exception of the supreme ,spaniard4 ,at ,haarlem you may follow his development2 his first big picture painted in #afaf2 his last in #affd4 ,he died at eighty-four4 ,but at eighty odd he painted two important canvases1 the portraits of the regents and of the lady regents4 ,more summary as regards the execution1 with a manifest tendency toward simplifications1 these two pictures are very noble4 ,the group of ladies1 each a portrait of character1 pleases some more than the male group4 ,they are not so firmly modelled1 and into them all has crept a certain weariness as of old age2 but what justness of expression1 what adjustment of puzzling relations6 ,one lady follows you over the gallery with her stern gaze4 ,it recalls to us the last judgment look which a maiden aunt was wont to bestow upon us years ago4 ,the men regents will live into eternity if the canvas endures4 ,the shiny varnish is not pleasing1 yet it cannot destroy the illusion of atmosphere that circulates about the vigorously modelled figures at the table4 ,what a colourist6 ,what nuances he produces on a restrained key-board6 ,the tones modulate1 their juxtaposition causes no harsh discords4 ,the velvet black1 silvery grays1 whites that are mellow without pastiness1 and the reds and yellows do not flare out like scarlet trumpets2 an aristrocratic palette4 ,really you begin to realise that what you formerly considered grandfather tales are the truth4 ,the great painters have been and are not with us to-day4 ,it is not a consoling pill to swallow for apostles of modernity4 ,hals is more modern than ,sargent4 ,these corporation and regent pieces are chronologically arranged4 ,no4 #hh is considered the masterpiece4 ,it shows the officers of the ,arquebusiers of ,st4 ,andrew1 fourteen life-sized figures4 ,again each man is a portrait4 ,this was painted in #afcc4 ,the ,regents of the ,elizabeth ,hospital 7#afda7 has been likened to ,rembrandt's style2 nevertheless1 it is very ,halsian4 ,why1 that chamber is alone worth the journey across the ,atlantic4 ,hals shows us not the magic of life but the normal life of daylight in which move with dignity men and women undismayed by the mysteries that hem them about4 ,he has a daylight soul1 a sane if not poetic soul1 and few painters before him so celebrated the bravery of appearances1 the beauty of the real4 ,,pictures ,,in ,,amsterdam ,i ,the wonderful ,rijks ,museum is the representative home of old ,dutch art4 ,the ,louvre1 the ,prado1 the ,national ,gallery excel it in variety1 but the great ,rembrandts are in it1 and ,the ,syndics and ,the ,night ,watch are worth a wilderness of other painters' work4 ,the ,night ,watch has been removed from the old room1 where it used to hang1 facing the large ,van der ,heist1 ,captain ,roelof ,bicker's ,company4 ,but it is only in temporary quarters2 the gallery destined for it is being completed4 ,we were permitted to peep into it4 ,the ,night ,watch will hang in one gallery1 and facing it will be ,the ,syndics1 ,de ,stallmeesters4 ,better lighted than in its old quarters1 ,the ,night ,watch now shows more clearly the tooth of time4 ,it is muddy and dark in the background1 and the cracks of the canvas are ill-concealed by the heavy coating of varnish4 ,if all the faults of this magnificent work are more plainly revealed its excellences are magnified4 ,how there could have been any dispute as to the lighting is incredible4 ,the new catalogue1 the appendices of which are brought down to #aijh1 frankly describes the picture thus3 ,the ,night ,watch1 or the ,company of ,captain ,frans ,banning ,cocq and of ,lieutenant van ,ruytenburg4 ,the corps is represented in broad daylight1 leaving the ,doele of the ,arquebusiers4 ,at their head1 standing in the foreground about the centre1 are the ,captain and his ,lieutenant conversing4 ,the former wears a dark dress1 the latter a yellow costume with a white sash1 causing a brilliant effect of light4 ,near the ,captain1 also standing out in full light1 is a little girl1 a dead white cock hanging from her waistband4 ,then follow the names of the other personages in this strange scene4 ,a commonplace happening is transfigured by the magic of a seer into a significant moment arrested in eternity4 ,rembrandt is a window looking out upon eternity4 ,it was quite like the logical minded ,frenchman1 ,eugne ,fromentin1 himself an admirable painter1 to pick this canvas full of flaws4 ,the composition is1 true enough1 troubled and confused4 ,the draughtsmanship leaves much to be desired2 hands are carelessly painted1 the grouping haphazard1 without symmetry1 the general rhythm full of syncopations1 cross accents1 and perverse pauses--empty spaces1 transitions not accounted for4 ,and yet this painting without personal charm--it is almost impersonal--grips your soul4 ,it is not alone the emotional quality of the paint4 ,there are greater colourists than ,rembrandt1 who1 strictly speaking1 worked in monochrome1 modelling with light4 ,no1 not the paint alone1 not the mystery of the envelope1 not the magnetic gaze of the many eyes1 but all combined makes an assault upon nerves and imagination4 ,you feel that ,captain ,cocq is a prosaic personage and is much too tall in proportion to the spry little dandy ,lieutenant at his side4 ,invested with some strange attribute by the genius of the painter1 this ,dutchman becomes the protagonist in a soundless symphony of light and shadow4 ,the waves that emanate from the canvas suffuse your senses but do not soothe or satisfy4 ,the modern nervous intensity1 missing absolutely in ,hals and his substantial humans1 is present in ,rembrandt4 ,we say modern as a sop to our vanity1 but we are the ancients1 and there is no mode of thought1 no mood that has not been experienced and expressed by our ancestors4 ,rembrandt is unlike any other ,dutch painter--,hals1 ,vermeer1 ,teniers1 ,van der ,heist--what have these in common with the miller's son8 ,but he is as ,dutch as any of them4 ,a genius is only attached to his age through his faults1 said a wise man4 ,rembrandt is as universal as ,beethoven1 a ,dutchman by descent1 as ,bach1 a ,hungarian by descent1 as ,michael ,angelo and ,shakespeare4 ,but we must go to ,leonardo da ,vinci if we wish to find a brother soul to ,rembrandt's4 ,there is a second child back of that iridescent and enigmatic girl with the dead fowl4 ,and the dog that barks as ,jan ,van ,koort ruffles his drum1 what a spectre dog6 ,no1 the mystery of ,the ,night ,watch is insoluble1 because it is the dream of a poet4 ,its light is morning light1 yet it is the mystic light of ,rembrandt1 never seen on sea or land4 ,in ,the ,syndics1 that group of six linen-drapers1 ,rembrandt shows with what supreme ease he can beat ,hals at the game of make-believe actuality4 ,now1 according to the accustomed order of development1 ,the ,night ,watch should have followed ,the ,syndics4 ,but it preceded it by two decades1 and the later work contains far better painting and a sharper presentment of the real4 ,the ,night ,watch is ,rembrandt's ,ninth symphony2 but composed before his ,fifth1 ,the ,syndics4 ,one figure in this latter picture has always fascinated us4 ,it is of the man1 ,volkert ,janz1 according to ,professor ,j4 ,six1 who stoops over1 his hand poised on a book4 ,rembrandt has seldom painted with more sensitiveness eyes1 subtle corners of the mouth1 and intimate expression4 ,this syndic is evidently superior to his fellows1 solid1 sensible ,dutch men of affairs4 ,there is a landscape1 purchased in #aijj1 a stone bridge1 lighted by rays darting through heavy storm clouds4 ,it is the ,rembrandt of the etchings4 ,lovely is the portrait of a young lady of rank1 though the ,elizabeth ,bas1 in another gallery1 will always be the masterpiece in portraiture if for nothing else but the hands4 ,the ,jewish ,bride is bulky in its enchantments1 the phosphorescent gleams of the apparel the chief attraction4 ,the ,toilet is heavy ,rembrandt2 while the anatomical lecture is repulsive4 ,but the disembowelled corpse is more corpse-like than the queerly foreshortened dead body in the picture on anatomy at ,the ,hague4 ,the warrior's head1 supposed to be a portrait of his father1 is an ancient copy and a capital one4 ,old dame ,elizabeth ,bas1 with her coif1 ruff1 and folded hands1 holding a handkerchief1 is a picture you return to each day of your stay4 ,hals at ,amsterdam is interesting4 ,there is the so-called portrait of the painter and his wife1 two full-length figures2 the ,jolly ,toper1 half-length figure1 large black hat1 in the left hand a glass2 and the insolent lute-player1 a copy1 said to be by ,dirck ,hals1 the original in the possession of ,baron ,gustave ,rothschild at ,paris4 ,and a fine copy it is4 ,the three ,vermeers are of his later enamelled period4 ,one is a young woman reading a letter2 she is seen in profile1 standing near a table1 and is dressed in a white skirt and blue loose jacket4 ,the ,letter shows us in the centre of a paved room a seated lady1 lute in hand4 ,she has been interrupted in her playing by a servant bringing a letter4 ,to the right a tapestry curtain has been looped up to give a view of the scene4 ,the new ,vermeer--purchased from the ,six gallery in #aijh--;is now called ,the ,cook2 it was formerly known as ,the ,milkmaid4 ,a stoutly built servant is standing behind a table covered with a green cloth1 on which are displayed a basket of bread1 a jug of ,nassau earthenware1 and a stone pot into which she is pouring milk from a can4 ,the figure1 painted almost full length1 stands out against the white wall and is dressed in a lemon-coloured jacket1 a red-brown petticoat1 a dark-blue apron turned back1 and a white cap on the head4 ,the light falls on the scene through a window to the left1 above the table4 ,this masterpiece is in one of the cabinet galleries4 ,it displays more breadth than the ,lady ,reading a ,letter1 and its colouring is absolutely magical4 ,the ,de ,hoochs are of prime quality4 ,greater art is the windmill and moonlit scene of ,hobbema1 as great a favourite as his ,mill1 though both must give the precedence to the ,alley of ,middleharnais in the ,royal ,academy1 ,london4 ,but where to begin1 where to end in this high carnival of over three thousand pictures6 ,the ticketed favourites1 starred ,baedeker fashion1 sometimes lag behind their reputation4 ,the great ,van der ,helst--and a prime portraitist he is1 as may be seen over and over again--is ,the ,company of ,captain ,bicker1 a vast canvas4 ,when you forget ,hals and ,rembrandt it is not difficult to conjure up admiration for this work4 ,the ,n4 ,maes ,spinner is very characteristic4 ,cuyp and ,van ,goyen are here2 the latter's view of ,dordrecht is celebrated4 ,so is the ,floating ,feather of ,hondecoester1 a finely depicted pelican4 ,the feather is the least part of the picture4 ,asselijn's angry swan is an excellent companion piece4 ,we wish that we could describe the ,jan ,steens1 the ,dous1 the ,mierises1 and other sterling ,dutch painters4 ,there is the gallery of ,dutch and ,flemish primitives about which a volume might be written2 their emaciated music appeals4 ,in expressiveness the later men did not excel them4 ,the newest acquisition1 not mentioned in the catalogue supplements1 is the work of an unknown seventeenth-century master1 possibly ,spanish1 though the figures1 background1 and accessories are ,dutch4 ,two old men1 their heads bowed1 sit at table4 ,across their knees are napkins4 ,the white is from a ,spanish palette4 ,a youth attired in dark habiliments1 his back turned to the spectators1 is pouring out wine or water4 ,the canvas is large1 the execution flowing2 perhaps it portrays the disciples at ,emmaus4 ,the portraits of ,nicholas ,hasselaer and his wife ,geertruyt van ,erp1 by ,hals1 in one of the cabinets1 are painted with such consummate artistry that you gasp4 ,the thin paint1 every stroke of which sings out1 sets you to thinking of ,john ,sargent and how he has caught the trick of brush-work--at a slower tempo4 ,but not even ,sargent could have produced the collar and cuffs4 ,a ,whistler1 a full-length1 in another gallery1 looks like an unsubstantial wraith by comparison4 ,two weeks' daily attendance at this excellently planned collection did no more than fix the position of the exhibits in the mind4 ,there is a goodly gathering of such names as ,israels1 ,mesdag1 ,blommers1 and others at the ,rijks1 but the display of modern ,dutch pictures at the ,municipal ,museum is more representative4 ,the greatest ,josef ,israels we ever saw in the style is his ,jew sitting in the doorway of a house1 a most eloquent testimony to ,israels' powers of seizing the race and the individual4 ,old ,david ,bles is here1 and ,blommers1 ,de ,bock1 ,bosboom1 ,valkenburg1 ,alma-,tadema1 ,ary ,scheffer--of ,dutch descent--,roelofs1 ,mesdag1 ,mauve1 ,jakob ,maris1 ,jongkind1 and some of the ,frenchmen1 ,rousseau1 ,millet1 ,dupr1 and others4 ,the ,six gallery is not so accessible as it was some years ago4 ,no doubt its ,rembrandts and ,vermeers will eventually find their way into the ,rijks ,museum4 ,,ii ,who was ,herri met de ,bles8 ,nearly all the large ,european galleries contain specimens of his work and in the majority of cases the pictures are queried4 ,that fatal 787 which1 since curators are more erudite and conscientious1 is appearing more frequently than in former years1 sets one to musing over the mutability of pictorial fortunes4 ,also1 it awakens suspicions as to the genuineness of paint4 ,restorations1 another fatal word1 is usually a euphemism for overpainting4 ,between varnish and retouching it is difficult to tell where the old master leaves off and the restorer begins4 ,bles1 for example1 as seen in the ,rijks ,museum1 is a fascinating subject to the student2 but are we really looking at his work8 ,the solitary picture of his here1 ,paradise1 is so well preserved that it might have been painted a year ago4 7,it is an attribution47 ,yet this painter is supposed to have been born at ,bouvignes1 #adhj1 and to have died at ,lige1 #aeba4 ,he was nicknamed ,herri1 for ,hendrick1 met de ,bles1 because he had a tuft of white in his hair 7a forerunner of ,whistler74 ,the ,french called him ,henri la ,houppe2 the ,italians ,civetta--because of the tiny owl he always introduced into his work4 ,he was a landscapist1 and produced religious and popular scenes4 ,bles has had many works saddled upon him by unknown imitators of ,metsu1 ,joost van ,kleef1 ,lucas1 and ,drer--who worked at ,antwerp between #aebj and #aeej4 ,thierry ,vellert was also an imitator4 ,in the old ,pinakothek1 ,munich1 there is a ,henricus ,blesius1 which is said to be a counterfeit1 and others are in ,karlsruhe1 ,milan1 ,brussels1 and at the ,prado4 ,the circular picture in the ,rijks shows us in various episodes ,adam and ,eve in the ,garden of ,eden from the ,creation until the ,fall4 ,around the edge are signs of the zodiac4 ,the colour is rich1 the figures delicate4 ,the story is clearly told and is not unlike a continuous performance4 ,you see ,adam asleep and over him stoops the ,almighty2 then ,eve is shown4 ,the apple scandal and the angel with the flaming sword are portrayed with a vivid line that recalls the miniaturist4 ,a rare painter4 ,roeland ,savery is an artist whose name1 we confess1 was not known to us until we saw his work in the ,rijks4 ,the rich pte and bouquet-like quality of his colour recall ,monticelli4 ,his compositions are composed1 like ,monticelli's1 but much more spirited than the latter4 ,a stag hunt1 a poet crowned at the feast of animals1 ,elijah fed by the ravens1 and the fable of the stag among the cows prove the man's versatility4 ,he was born about #aegf and died at ,utrecht1 #afci4 ,a pupil of his father1 he first worked in ,courtrai4 ,the ,bronzino ,judith holding the head of ,holophernes is a copy1 the original hanging in the ,pitti ,palace4 ,at ,vienna there is a replica4 ,among the ,bols 7,cornelis1 #afac-ff7 the portraits of ,roelof ,meulenaer and his wife1 ,maria ,rey1 attract because of their vitality and liberalism4 ,then we come across the oft-engraved ,paternal ,advice1 by ,gerard ter ,borch 7#afag-ha74 ,who doesn't remember that young lady dressed in white satin and standing with her back to you8 ,the man in officer's uniform1 admonishing her1 is seated next to a woman drinking from a wine-glass4 ,the texture of the dress and the artfully depicted glass are the delight of amateurs4 ,as a composition it is not remarkable4 ,the man is much too young to be the father of the blond-haired lady1 and if the other one is her mother1 both parents must have retained their youth4 ,the portrait of ,helena van der ,schalcke is that of a quaint ,dutch child standing2 a serious little body carrying a basket on her right arm like a good housewife4 ,it is a capital ,ter ,borch4 ,two beautiful ,albert ,cuyps are painted on the two sides of a copper panel4 ,on one side two merchants stand at a wharf2 on the other two men sit sampling wine in a cellar4 ,the colour is singularly luminous4 ,let us pass quickly the ,schalckens and ,gerard ,dous4 ,dou's self-portrait is familiar4 ,he leans out of a window and smokes a clay pipe4 ,the candle-light pictures always attract an audience4 ,govert ,flinck 7#afae-fj1 pupil of ,rembrandt7 is a painter who1 if he lived to-day1 would be a popular portraitist4 ,wherever you go you see his handiwork1 not in the least inspired1 but honest1 skilful1 and genial4 ,look at the head of the tax-collector ,johannes ,wittenbogaert1 covered with a black cap4 ,so excellent is it that it has been attributed to ,rembrandt4 ,boland1 we believe1 engraved it as genuine ,rembrandt4 ,gerard van ,honthorst's ,happy ,musician is another picture of prime quality1 and a subject dear to ,hals4 ,hoogstratten's ,sick ,lady is an anecdote4 ,the young woman does not seem very ill1 but the doctor gravely holds up a bottle of medicine and you feel the dread moment is at hand4 ,how to persuade the patient to swallow the dose8 ,she is stubborn-looking4 ,the ,pieter de ,hoochs are now in the same gallery with ,rembrandt's ,jewish ,bride4 ,these interiors1 painted with a minute1 hard finish1 lack the charm and the colour quality of ,vermeer4 ,with sunlight ,hooch is successful1 but his figures do not move freely in an atmospheric envelope1 as is the case with ,vermeer's4 ,the ,small ,country ,house is the favourite4 ,in front of a house a well-dressed man and woman are seated at a table4 ,she is squeezing lemon juice into a glass4 ,behind her a servant is carrying a glass of beer1 and farther away a girl cleans pots and pans4 ,the composition is the apotheosis of domestic comfort1 conjugal peace1 and gluttony4 ,we like much more ,the ,pantry1 wherein a woman hands a jug to her little girl4 ,the adjoining room1 flooded with light1 is real4 ,there is one ,van der ,helst we could not pass4 ,it looks like the portrait of a corpulent woman1 but is that of ,gerard ,bicker1 bailiff of ,muiden4 ,a half-length figure turned to the left1 the bailiff a well-fed pig1 holds a pair of gloves in his right hand which he presses against his ,gargantuan chest4 ,his hair is long and curly4 ,the fabrics are finely wrought4 ,holbein the younger is represented by the portrait of a young man4 ,it is excellent1 but doubtless a copy or an imitation4 ,to view five ,lucas van ,leydens in one gallery is not an everyday event4 ,his engravings are rare enough--that is1 in good states2 ghosts are aplenty--and his paintings rarer4 ,here they are chiefly portraits4 ,rachel ,ruysch1 the flower painter1 has a superior in ,judith ,lyster1 a pupil of ,frans ,hals4 ,she was born at ,haarlem1 or ,zaandam1 about #afjj1 and died #affj4 ,she married the painter ,jan ,molener4 ,her ,jolly ,toper faces the ,hals of the same theme1 in a cabinet1 and reveals its artistic ancestry4 ,judith had the gift of reproducing surfaces4 ,we need not return to the various ,maeses2 indeed1 this is only a haphazard ramble among the less well-known pictures4 ,consider the heads of ,van ,mierevelt2 those of ,henrick ,hooft1 burgomaster of ,amsterdam1 of ,jacob ,cats1 and of his wife ,aegje ,hasselaer 7#afah-fd74 ,her hair and lace collar are wonderfully set forth4 ,must we stop before ,mabuse1 or before the cattle piece of the ,dutch school1 seventeenth century8 ,a ,monticelli seems out of key here1 and the subject is an unusual one for him1 ,christ ,with the ,little ,children4 ,the ,little ,princess1 by ,p4 ,moreelse1 has the honour1 after ,rembrandt1 of being the most frequently copied picture in the ,rijks4 ,the theme is the magnet4 ,a little girl1 elaborately dressed1 is seated4 ,she strokes the head of a spaniel whose jewelled collar gives the impression of a dog with four eyes4 ,in ,vermeer's ,young ,woman ,reading a ,letter is a like confused passage of painting1 for the uninstructed spectator4 ,she wears her hair over her ear1 an ornament clasping the hair4 ,at first view this is not clear1 principally because this fashion of wearing the hair is unusual in the eyes of a stranger4 ,jan van ,scorel was born at ,schoorl1 near ,alkmaar1 #adie4 ,he studied under ,jacob ,cornelis at ,amsterdam and with ,jean de ,maubeuge at ,utrecht4 ,he died at ,utrecht1 #aefb4 ,when travelling in ,germany he visited ,drer at ,nuremberg2 resided for a time in ,italy4 ,the ,italian influence is strong1 particularly in his ,mary ,magdalen1 which formerly hung in the town-hall of ,haarlem4 ,a replica is in the residence of the head-master of ,eton ,college1 ,england4 ,mary is shown seated1 richly attired4 ,she holds in her right hand a box of perfume1 her left hand1 beautifully painted1 rests on her knee4 ,behind is a mountainous landscape1 distinctly ,italian1 beside her a tree4 ,the head is north ,lombardian in character and colouring1 the glance of the eyes enigmatic4 ,a curiously winning composition1 not without morbidezza4 ,scorel has five other works in the ,rijks4 ,the ,bathsheba is not a masterpiece4 ,solomon and the ,queen of ,sheba is conventional1 but the ,harpsichord ,player was sold at ,paris as late as #ahbc as a ,bronzino4 ,perhaps it is only attributed to ,scorel4 ,it is unlike his brush-work4 ,the ,painting of a ,vault1 divided into nine sections1 five of which represent the ,last ,judgment1 is a curiosity4 ,the portrait of ,emperor ,charles ,v4 as ,pharaoh is pointed out by the gallery attendant1 who then retires and diplomatically coughs in the middle distance4 ,the ,mancini 7pupil of ,morelli and ,w4,h4 ,mesdag7 is entitled ,poor ,thing4 ,a little girl stands in a miserable room2 mice run over the floor4 ,the colouring is rich4 ,there are admirable ,jakob ,marises2 but we wish to follow in the track of the old fellows4 ,adrian van ,ostade's ,baker is so popular that it is used for advertising purposes in ,holland4 ,the baker leans out of his door1 the lower half closed1 and blows a horn4 ,palamedes evidently repainted the same picture many times4 ,an interior with figures1 seated and standing2 same faces1 poses1 accessories4 ,same valet pouring out wine2 variants of this figure4 ,a ,merry ,party is the usual title4 ,at ,the ,hague in the ,mauritshuis there is another such subject2 also in ,antwerp and ,brussels4 ,but a jolly painter4 ,steen and ,teniers we may sidestep4 ,also the artificial though graceful ,tischbein4 ,there is a ,winterhalter here1 a mannered fashionable portrait painter 7he painted the ,empress ,eugnie71 and let us leave the ,titians to the experts4 ,when you are in ,holland look at the ,dutch pictures4 ,a ,de ,vos painted topers and fishermen with gusto1 and there is ,vinckboons1 who doted on scenes of violence4 ,fancy ,vollon flowers in the midst of these old ,dutchmen4 ,the ,frenchman had an extraordinary feeling for still-life1 though more in the decorative ,venetian manner than in ,chardin's serene palette1 or the literalism of ,kalf4 ,whistler's ,effie ,deans1 presented by the ,dowager ,baroness ,r4 van ,lynden in #aijj1 is not one of that master's most successful efforts4 ,it is a whole-length figure painted in misty semi-tones1 the feeling sentimental1 un-,whistlerian1 and1 as we before remarked1 wraith-like and lacking in substance when compared to ,hals4 ,there is actually a ,wouverman in which no white horse is to be discovered4 ,on ,van der ,werff and the romantic landscapist ,wynants we need not dwell4 ,the miniatures1 pastels1 and framed drawings are of goodly array4 ,of the former1 ,samuel ,cooper 7portrait of ,charles ,,ii471 ,john ,hoskins1 ,peter ,oliver1 ,isaac ,oliver1 ,laurence ,crosse1 and others4 ,english1 ,dutch1 and ,french may be found4 ,the ,liotard and ,tischbein pastels are charming4 ,in the supplements of the catalogue we find underscored a ,descent from the ,cross1 an anonymous work of the ,flemish school 7fifteenth century1 second half74 ,the dead ,christ is being lowered into the arms of his mother4 ,it is evidently a copy from a lost original in the style of ,rogier van der ,weyden4 ,there are such copies in ,bruges and elsewhere4 ,another composition is labelled as an anonymous work of undetermined school4 ,the ,christ hangs on the cross1 on ,his right are the ,virgin ,mary1 the holy women and ,st4 ,john2 on ,his left jeering soldiers and scribes4 ,on either side of the composition is the figure of a saint much larger in size than the other figures2 ,st4 ,cosmus on the left1 ,st4 ,damian on the right4 ,the background is a hilly landscape4 ,an authority ascribes the work to the ,catalonian school1 date about #addj4 ,there were giants in those days4 ,antonello da ,messina has the portrait of a young man4 ,it is an attribution1 yet not without some claim to authenticity4 ,the ,jan ,provosts are mostly of close study1 especially ,the ,virgin ,enthroned4 ,a certain ,pieter ,dubordieu1 who was living in ,amsterdam in #afgf 7born in ,touraine71 painted the portraits of a man and a woman1 dated #afch4 ,vivid portraits4 ,we must pass over the striking head of ,hanneman1 the ,lucas ,cranach 7the elder71 and the thousand other attractive pictures in this gallery4 ,the ,rijks ,museum could be lived with for years and still remain an inexhaustible source of joy4 ,,art ,,in ,,antwerp ,after passing ,dordrecht on the way down to ,antwerp the canals and windmills begin to disappear4 ,the country is as flat as ,holland1 but has lost its characteristic charm4 ,it has become less symmetrical2 there is disorder in the sky-line1 more trees1 the architecture is different4 ,dutch precision has vanished4 ,the railway carriages are not clean1 punctuality is avoided1 the people seem less prosperous1 few speak ,english1 and as you near ,antwerp the villas and roads tell you that you are in the dominion of the ,king of ,belgium4 ,but ,antwerp is so distinctly ,flemish that you forget that bustling modern ,brussels is only thirty-six minutes away by the express--a fast train for once in this land of snail expresses4 ,no doubt the best manner of approaching ,antwerp is by the ,scheldt on one of the big steamers that dock so comfortably along the river4 ,however1 a trip to the vast promenoir that overlooks the river gives an excellent idea of this thriving port4 ,the city--very much modernised during the past ten years--may easily be seen in a few days1 setting aside the museums and churches4 ,the quay promenade brings you to the old ,steen ,castle1 and the ,town ,hall with its salle des marriages1 its mural paintings by the industrious ,baron ,leys--frigid in style and execution--will repay you for the trouble4 ,the vestibules and galleries are noteworthy4 ,we enjoyed the faades of the ancient guild houses on the market-place and watching the light play upon the old-time scarred front of the cathedral that stands in the ,place ,verte4 ,then there are the ,zoological ,garden1 the ,plantin ,museum1 the ,thtre ,flamand1 the various monuments1 and the spectacle of the busy1 lively city for those who do not go to ,antwerp for its art4 ,you may even go to ,hoboken1 a little town in the suburbs not at all like the well-known ,sunday resort in ,jersey4 ,the ,royal ,museum is displayed in a large square4 ,it is a handsome structure and the arrangement of the various galleries is simple4 ,the ,rubenses1 thirty-odd in all1 are the pice de rsistance1 and the ,flemish and ,dutch ,primitives of rare beauty4 ,bruges is better for ,memling1 ,brussels for ,van der ,weyden1 ,ghent for the ,van ,eycks1 yet ,antwerp can boast a goodly number of them all4 ,she exceeds ,brussels in her ,rubenses for the larger altar pieces are here1 just as at ,amsterdam the ,rembrandts1 while not numerous1 take precedence because of ,the ,syndics and ,the ,night ,watch4 ,the tumultuous1 overwhelming ,peter ,paul is in his glory at ,antwerp4 ,you think of some cataclysm when facing these turbulent1 thrilling canvases4 ,if ,raphael woos1 ,rubens stuns4 ,in the company of ,michel ,angelo and ,balzac or ,richard ,wagner he would be their equal for torrential energy and vibrating humanity4 ,not so profound as ,buonarroti1 not so versatile as ,balzac1 he is their peer in sheer savagery of execution4 ,setting aside the miles of pictures signed by him though painted by his pupils1 he must have covered multitudes of canvas4 ,like men of his sort of genius1 he ends by making your head buzz and your eyes burn2 and then1 the sameness of his style1 the repetition of his wives and children's portraits1 the apotheosis of the ,rubens family6 ,he portrayed ,helena ,fourment and ,isabella ,brandt in all stages of disarray and gowns4 ,he put them together on the same canvas4 ,he did not hesitate to show them to the world in all their opulent nudity4 ,their white skins1 large eyes with wide gaze1 their lovely children appear in religious and mythologic pictures at every turn you make in this museum4 ,you become too familiar with them4 ,you learn to know that one wife was slenderer than the other2 you also realise that other days had other ways4 ,titian painted the portrait of a noble dame quite naked and placed her husband1 soberly attired1 near by4 ,no one criticised the taste of this performance4 ,manet1 who was no ,titian1 did the same trick and was voted wicked4 ,he actually dared to show us ,nana dressing in the presence of a gentleman who sat in the same room with his hat on4 ,the heavy-flanked ,percheron horses are of the same order as the ,rubens women4 ,the ,flemings are mighty feeders1 mighty breeders1 good-tempered1 pleasure-loving folk4 ,they don't work as hard as the ,dutch1 and they indulge in more feasting and holidays4 ,the ,north seems austere and ,protestant when compared with this ,roman ,catholic land4 ,its sons of genius1 such as ,rubens and ,van ,dyck1 painted pictures that do not reveal the deeper faith of the ,primitives4 ,no ,christ or ,mary of either ,van ,dyck or ,rubens sounds the poignant note of the ,netherlandish unknown mystic masters4 ,but what a banquet of beauty ,rubens spreads for the eye6 ,with him painting reached its apogee1 and in him were the seeds of its decadence4 ,he shattered the ,florentine line2 he1 a tremendous space-composer when he so wished1 wielded his brush at times like a scene-painter on a debauch4 ,the most shocking1 the loveliest things happen on his canvases4 ,set the beautiful ,education of the ,virgin1 in this gallery1 beside such a work as ,venus and ,vulcan at ,brussels1 and you will see the scale in which he sported4 ,or the ,virgin and ,parrot1 with a child ,christ who might have posed as a youthful ,adonis1 and the ,venus ,frigida--both in ,antwerp4 ,a pagan was ,rubens1 for all his religion4 ,we prefer the ,christ ,crucified between ,two ,thieves or the ,christ on the ,cross1 the single figure1 to the more famous ,descent at the ,cathedral4 ,but what can be said that is new about ,rubens or ,van ,dyck8 ,in the latter may be noted the beginnings of deliquescence4 ,he is a softened ,rubens1 a ,rubens aristocratic4 ,the portraits here are prime1 those of the ,bishop of ,antwerp1 ,jean ,malderus1 and of the young girl with the two dogs4 ,his various ,christs are more piteous to behold than those of his master1 ,rubens4 ,the feminine note is present1 and without any of the realism which so shocks in the conceptions of the ,primitives4 ,nevertheless we turn to his portraits or to the little boy standing at a table4 ,there is the true key of ,van ,dyck4 ,he met ,rubens as a portraitist and took no odds of him4 ,lucas ,cranach's ,adam and ,eve is a variation of the picture in the ,brussels gallery4 ,a ,gossaert portrait catches the eye1 the head and bust of a man2 then you find yourself staring in wonderment at the ,peter ,breughels and ,jerome ,bosches with their malodorous fantastic versions of temptations of innumerable ,st4 ,anthonys4 ,the air is thick with monsters1 fish-headed and splay of foot4 ,st4 ,anthony must have had the stomach of an ostrich and the nerves of a politician to endure such sights and sounds and witches4 ,such females6 ,but ,peter and his two sons are both painters of interest4 ,there are better ,teniers in ,brussels1 though ,le ,chanteur is admirable4 ,ostade's ,smoker is a masterpiece4 ,only four ,rembrandts1 the portrait of a woman1 according to ,vosmaer and ,w4 ,burger that of his wife ,saskia2 a fisherman's boy1 the ,burgomaster1 and the ,old ,jew4 ,dr4 ,bode thinks that the last two are by ,nikolas ,maes4 ,the portrait of ,eleazer ,swalmius--the so-called ,burgomaster ,six--is finely painted as to head and beard4 ,the ,antwerp ,museum paid two hundred thousand francs for the work4 ,we must not forget mention of a ,david ,teniers1 a loan of ,dr4 ,bredius1 a still-life1 a white dead goose superb in tone4 ,of the two ,frans ,halses1 the portrait of a ,dutch gentleman is the better2 the other was formerly known as the ,strandlooper van ,haarlem and shows the vigorous brush-work of the master4 ,it is the head of a saucy fisher-boy1 the colour scheme unusual for ,hals4 ,the ,quentin ,matsys pictures are strong2 among others the portrait of ,peter ,gillis with his shrewd1 strongly marked physiognomy4 ,this is a ,matsys town4 ,every one looks at his old iron well beside the ,cathedral and recalls the legend of the blacksmith1 as every boy remembers here ,hendrik ,conscience and the ,lion of ,flanders4 ,van ,reymerswael's ,the ,tax ,gatherers1 sometimes called ,the ,bankers or ,the ,misers1 hangs in the museum2 that realistic picture with the so highly individualised heads1 a favourite of the engravers1 holds its own4 ,both the ,boutses1 ,albrecht and ,dirck1 are shown in their ,holy ,families1 and both are painters of ineffable grace and devotion4 ,four ,memlings of seductive beauty light the walls4 ,one is a portrait of ,nicol ,spinelli4 ,christ and ,his ,angels1 the angels playing in praise of the ,eternal and other angels playing various instruments4 ,the two ,van ,eycks1 ,huibrecht 7,hubert7 and ,jan1 are well represented4 ,the ,st4 ,barbara1 by ,jan1 is repeated in the ,bruges ,museum ,the ,donateur or ,donor is a repetition of the original at ,bruges4 ,the ,adoration of the ,lamb is a copy of the original at ,ghent4 ,there is tender beauty in ,jan's ,st4 ,barbara1 and infinite motherly love expressed in his ,holy ,virgin4 ,hugo van der ,goes's portrait of ,thomas ,portunari is a marvel of characterisation4 ,terburg has a mandolin player and ,hobbema a mill scene4 ,the ,van ,orleys are interesting1 and also the ,van ,veens4 ,gerard ,david1 a painter of exquisite touch and feeling1 shows a ,repose in ,egypt4 ,lucas ,cranach's ,l',amour is one of his ,virgins transposed to the mythological key4 ,we have barely indicated the richness of this collection1 in which1 of course1 ,rubens plays first fiddle--rather the full orchestra4 ,and with what sonority and luminosity6 ,at the ,cathedral his three masterpieces draw their accustomed audiences with the usual guide lecturing in three languages1 pointing out the whiteness of the cloth in the ,descent and the anatomy in the ,ascent4 ,this latter work is always slighted by sightseers because ,baedeker1 or some one else1 had pronounced its composition inferior to the ,descent1 but there are many more difficult problems involved in the ,ascent4 ,its pattern is not so pleasing as the ,descent1 the subject is less appealing1 and more sternly treated4 ,there are more virile accents in the ,ascent1 though it would be idle to deny that in paint quality there is a falling off4 ,both pictures show the tooth of time and the ravages of the restorers4 ,at ,st4 ,jacques1 with its wonderfully carved pulpit1 the ,st4 ,george of ,rubens hangs in a chapel4 ,it has darkened much during the last twenty years4 ,also there is another ,rubens family group with wives and other relatives4 ,they thought well of themselves1 the ,rubens family1 and little wonder4 ,the modern pictures at the museum are of varying interest--,braekeleer1 ,stobbaerts1 ,verlat1 ,scheffer1 ,cabanel1 ,david 7,j4,l471 ,wiertz1 ,wauters1 ,wappers1 some elegant ,alfred ,stevenses1 ,de ,bock the landscapist1 ,clays1 ,van ,beers1 ,meunier1 ,breton1 ,bouguereau1 and a lot of nondescript lumber4 ,in the spacious approach there is one of ,constantin ,meunier's famous figures4 ,you rejoice that he followed ,rodin's advice and gave up the brush for the chisel4 ,as a painter he was not more than mediocre4 ,the four ,van der ,weydens in the gallery of ,primitives are not all of equal merit4 ,the ,annunciation is the most striking4 ,the early master of ,memling is distinguished by a sweetness in composition and softness in colouring4 ,mention must be made of the ,de ,vos pictures by the ,cornelis1 ,martin1 and ,simon4 ,a portrait of ,abraham ,grapheus by the first-named is one of the most striking in the museum1 and the self-portrait of the latter1 smiling1 is brilliant4 ,rombouts is a sort of ,adrian ,brouwer2 his ,cavaliers ,playing at ,cards recalls ,caravaggio4 ,daniel ,mytens's portrait of a lady is ,rubenesque4 ,and all that choir of elevated souls unknown to us by name1 merely called after the city they inhabited1 such as the ,master of ,bray1 or by some odd device or monogram--what cannot be written of this small army which praised the ,lord1 ,his mother and the saints in form and colour1 on missals1 illuminated manuscripts1 or on panels6 ,the ,antwerp ,museum has its share of ,anonymous1 that master of whom it has been said that he was probably the master of the masters4 ,antwerp is a city of many charms1 with its ,st4 ,jacques1 ,st4 ,andres 7and its carved pulpit71 ,st4 ,paul and the ,cathedral1 and its preservation of the ,flemish spirit and ,flemish customs2 but for us its museum was all in all4 ,,museums ,,of ,,brussels ,considering its size and significance1 ,brussels has more than its share of museums4 ,at the beginning of the ,rue de la ,rgence1 near the ,place ,royale1 stands the imposing ,royal ,museum of old paintings and sculpture4 ,the ,museum of ,modern ,art is around the corner and adjoins the ,national ,library1 which is said to harbour over six hundred thousand volumes4 ,in the gallery of old art the effect of the sculptors' hall1 which is in the centre and utilises the entire height of the building1 is noble4 ,the best sculpture therein is by ,rodin and ,meunier2 the remainder is generally academic or simply bad4 ,rodin's ,thinker1 in bronze1 is a repetition of the original4 ,after the wreathed prettiness of the conventional school--neither ,greek nor ,gothic--and the writhing diablerie of ,rodin imitators the simplicity and directness of ,constantin ,meunier is refreshing4 ,he was a man whose imagination became inflamed at the sight of suffering and injustice4 ,he is closer to ,millet than to his friend ,rodin1 but he lacks the sweetness and strength of ,millet4 ,selecting the ,belgian workman--the miner1 the hewer of wood and drawer of water1 the proletarian1 in a word--for his theme1 ,meunier observed closely and reproduced his vision in terms of rugged beauty4 ,the sentiment is evidently socialistic4 ,like ,prince ,kropotkin and the brothers ,rclus1 the ,belgian sculptor revolts against the cruelty of man to man4 ,he shows us the miner crouched in a pitiful manner finding a pocket of coal2 men naked to the waist1 their torsos bulging with muscles1 their small heads on bull necks1 are puddlers2 other groups patiently haul heavy carts--labour not in its heroic aspect1 but as it is in reality1 is the core of ,meunier's art4 ,that he is literary at times may not be denied1 but power he has4 ,the early ,flemish school of the fifteenth century is strongly represented in several of the galleries up-stairs4 ,and ,rogier de la ,pasture1 otherwise known as ,rogier van der ,weyden1 is shown in five pictures1 and at his best4 ,the ,chevalier with the ,arrow1 a bust portrait1 will be familiar to those who have visited the ,rijks ,museum1 where a copy hangs4 ,the robe is black1 the hat1 conical1 is brown1 the background blue-green4 ,the silhouette is vigorously modelled1 the expression one of dignity1 the glance penetrating1 severe4 ,what characterisation6 ,the ,christ is a small panel surpassingly rich in colour and charged with profound pity4 ,the body lies in the arms of the ,mother1 ,magdalen and ,john on either side4 ,the sun is setting4 ,the subject was a favourite of ,weyden2 there is a triptych in ,berlin and a panel at ,the ,hague4 ,this ,brussels picture has evidently been shorn of its wings4 ,there are replicas of the ,virgin and ,child 7,no4 #fej in the catalogue7 at ,berlin1 ,cassel1 and ,frankfort1 also in the recently dispersed collection of ,rudolph ,kann4 ,another striking tableau is the head of a woman who weeps4 ,the minutest tear is not missing4 ,hubert and ,jan ,van ,eyck's ,adam and ,eve are the wings 7volets7 from the grand composition in the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,bavo1 ,ghent4 ,they are gigantic figures1 nude1 neither graceful nor attractive1 but magnificently painted4 ,these portraits 7they don't look as if they had been finished in paradise7 of our first parents rather favour the evolutionary theory of development4 ,eve is unlovely1 her limbs lanky1 her bust medival1 her flanks ,flemish4 ,in her right hand she holds the fatal apple4 ,adam's head is full of character2 it is ,christ-like2 his torso ugly1 his legs wooden4 ,yet how superior to the copies which are now attached to the original picture at ,ghent4 ,there the figures are clothed1 clumsy1 and meaningless4 ,dierick ,bouts's ,justice of ,emperor ,otho ,,iii is a striking picture4 ,the subject has that touch of repulsive cruelty which was a sign of the times4 ,hans ,memling's ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,sebastian is another treasure2 with his portraits of a man1 of ,guillaume ,morel and of ,barbara de ,vlandenberg making an immortal quartet4 ,the head of the man is the favourite in reproduction4 ,morel is portrayed as in prayer1 his hands clasped1 his expression rapt4 ,a landscape is seen at the back4 ,the ,virgin ,surrounded by ,virgins1 by an unknown master of the fifteenth century 7school of ,bruges71 is one of the most amazing pictures in the collection4 ,it has a nuance of the ,byzantine and of the hieratic1 but the portraits are enchanting in their crystalline quality4 ,quentin ,matsys' ,legend of ,st4 ,anne is much admired1 though for sincerity we prefer ,the ,passion of the ,master of ,oultremont4 ,gerard ,david's ,adoration of the ,magi is no longer attributed to him4 ,it was always in doubt3 now the name has been removed1 though the picture has much of his mellowness4 ,dr4 ,scheuring1 the old man with the shaved upper lip1 beard1 and hair over his forehead1 by ,lucas ,cranach1 and ,jean ,gossaert's ,chevalier of the ,golden ,fleece1 are masterly portraits4 ,van ,cleve1 ,van ,orlay1 ,key--perhaps a portrait of the bloody ,duke of ,alva--also one of himself1 ,coello's ,maria of ,austria1 are among the sterling specimens in this gallery4 ,we need not expect to find duplicated here the ,rubens of ,antwerp4 ,the most imposing example is the ,adoration of the ,magi1 while his portraits of the ,archduke ,albert and his ,archduchess1 ,isabella1 are perhaps the best extant4 ,the ,calvary is a splendid canvas1 full of movement and containing several members of the well-known ,rubens family4 ,such devotion is touching4 ,you find yourself looking for ,isabella ,brandt and ,helena ,fourment among the angels that hover in the sky above the martyred ,st4 ,lieven4 ,the four negro heads1 the ,woman ,taken in ,adultery1 a ,susanna 7less concerned about her predicament than any we have encountered71 a curious and powerful portrait of ,theophrastus ,paracelsus 7,browning's hero71 with a dozen others1 make a goodly showing for the ,antwerp master4 ,otho ,vnius 7,octave ,van ,veen71 one of the teachers of ,rubens1 is hung here4 ,there are nearly a dozen ,van ,dycks1 of prime quality all4 ,the ,crucifixion1 the portrait of an unknown gentleman wearing a huge ruff and the winning portrait of a ,flemish sculptor1 ,francesco ,duquesnoy1 7on a stand71 give you an excellent notion of his range1 though better ,van ,dycks are in ,france and ,england4 ,the portrait of an old man1 by ,rembrandt1 is beginning to fade1 but that of an old woman is a superior ,rembrandt4 ,of ,frans ,hals there are two fine specimens2 one1 a portrait of ,willem van ,heythusen1 is a small picture1 the figure sitting1 the legs crossed 7booted and spurred7 and the figure leaning lazily back4 ,on his head a black felt hat with a broad upturned brim4 ,the expression of the bearded man is serious4 ,the only ,jan ,vermeer is one of the best portraits by that singularly gifted painter we recall4 ,it is called ,the ,man with the ,hat4 ,dr4 ,bredius in #aije considered the picture by ,jean ,victor1 but it has been pronounced ,vermeer by equal authorities4 ,it was once a part of the collection of ,humphry ,ward4 ,the man sits1 his hand holding a glove resting negligently over the back of a chair4 ,he faces the spectator1 on his head a long1 pointed black hat with a wide brim4 ,his collar is white4 ,a shadow covers the face above the eyes4 ,these are rather melancholy1 inexpressive2 the flesh tints are anaemic1 almost morbid4 ,we are far away from the ,vermeer of the ,milkmaid and the ,letter4 ,there is something disquieting in this portrait1 but it is a masterpiece of paint and character4 ,the ,old ,lady ,dreaming1 by ,n4 ,maes1 and the ,jan ,steen 7,the ,operator7 are good though not remarkable examples4 ,jacob ,jordaenses flood the various galleries2 ,rubens run to seed as far as quality1 yet exhibiting enormous muscularity1 is the trait of this gross painter4 ,the ,king ,drinks--his kings are always drinking or blind drunk--his nudes1 which look like the contents of the butcher shops in ,brussels1 attract throngs1 for the anecdote is writ large across the wall1 and you don't have to run to read4 ,panoramas would be a better title for these robust compositions4 ,david ,teniers's ,la ,kermesse is the most important work he ever finished4 ,it is in good preservation4 ,amsterdam has not its superior4 ,there is an ordinary ,el ,greco1 a poor ,goya1 and a ,ribera downstairs4 ,the ,french art is not enlivening4 ,philip ,champaigne's self-portrait is familiar3 it has been reproduced frequently4 ,jean ,baptiste ,huysmans1 a landscape with animals2 he is said to be an ancestor of the late ,joris ,karel ,huysmans4 ,the ,mors 7,antonio ,moro7 is of value4 ,but the lodestone of the collection is the ,primitives4 ,the pictures in the modern gallery are largely ,belgian1 some ,french1 and a few ,dutch and ,english4 ,it is not a collection of artistic significance4 ,in the black-and-white room may be seen a few original drawings of ,rops4 ,the ,muse ,wiertz is worth visiting only as a chamber of horrors4 ,when ,wiertz is not morbid and repulsive he is of the vasty inane1 a man of genius gone daft1 obsessed by the mighty shades of ,rubens and ,michael ,angelo4 ,wiertz was born in #ahjf and died in #ahfe4 ,the ,belgian ,government1 in order to make some sort of reparation for its neglect of the painter during his troubled and unhappy lifetime1 acquired his country residence and made it a repository of his art4 ,the pictures are of a scale truly heroic4 ,the painter pitted himself against ,rubens and ,michael ,angelo4 ,he said3 ,i1 too1 am a great painter6 ,and there is no denying his power4 ,his tones recall the pte of ,rubens without its warmth and splendour4 ,when ,wiertz was content to keep within bounds his portraits and feminine nudes are not without beauty4 ,he was fanciful rather than poetic1 and the picture of ,napoleon in hell enduring the reproaches of his victims 7why should they be there87 is startling4 ,startling1 too1 are the tricks played on your nerves by the peepholes4 ,you see a woman crazed by hunger about to cook one of her murdered children2 beheaded men1 men crushed by superior power1 the harnessed body of ,patroclus1 ,polyphemus devouring the companions of ,ulysses1 and other monstrous conceptions1 are all painted with reference to the ills of the poor4 ,anton ,joseph was a socialist in sentiment4 ,if his executive ability had been on a par with his ideas1 and if those ideas had been less extravagant1 the world would have had one more great painter2 but his nervous system was flawed and he died a melancholic1 a victim to misplaced ideals4 ,he wished to revive the heroic age at a time of easel pictures4 ,he1 the half genius1 saw himself outwitted by the sleek paint of ,alfred ,stevens4 ,born out of his due time1 a dreamer of dreams1 ,wiertz is a sad example of the futility of looking backward in art4 ,,bruges ,,the ,,beautiful ,on the way up from ,brussels to ,bruges it is well to alight at ,ghent for a few hours4 ,there are attractions enough to keep one for several days1 but as our objective was ,st4 ,bavon 7,st4 ,bavo1 or ,sint ,baafs7 we did not stay more than the allotted time4 ,and an adventurous time it was4 ,the ,ostend express landed its passengers at the ,st4 ,pierre station and that meant the loss of half an hour4 ,the ,cathedral is reached by the tramway1 and there we found that as an office was about to be sung no one would be allowed in the ambulatory until after its completion4 ,it was pouring live ,belgian rain without2 already the choristers in surplices were filing into the choir4 ,not a moment to be spared6 ,the sacristan was a practical man4 ,he hustled us into a side chapel1 locked the heavy doors1 and left us in company with the great picture of the brothers ,hubert and ,jan ,van ,eyck4 ,a monk knelt in prayer outside1 the rain clouds made the lighting obscure4 ,we were hemmed in1 but by angels and ministers of grace4 ,the chanting began4 ,atmosphere was not needed in this large and gloomy edifice1 only more light4 ,gradually the picture began to burn through the artificial dusk1 gradually its glories became more perceptible4 ,begun by ,hubert in #adbj and finished by ,jan in #adcb1 its pristine splendour has vanished2 and the loss of the wings--the ,adam and ,eve are in ,brussels1 the remaining volets in the ,berlin ,museum--is irreparable despite the copies4 ,but this ,adoration of the ,mystic ,lamb1 with its jewelled figures of the ,christ1 of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 ,st4 ,cecilia1 and the central panel with its mystical symbolism1 painted in sumptuous tones1 the lamb on the altar1 the prophets and ecclesiastics in worship1 the singing angels1 is truly an angelic composition4 ,the rain had ceased4 ,a shaft of sunshine pierced the rosy glass windows and fell upon the hieratic figure of the bearded ,christ1 which glowed supernally4 ,in the chancel the ,psalms had died away and the only sound was that of sandals shuffling over marble floors4 ,the man turned the lock4 ,it was a return to the world as if one had participated in a sacred ceremony4 ,bruges is invariably called ,bruges-la-,morte1 but it is far from being dead1 or even desperately melancholy4 ,delft1 in ,holland1 after nine o'clock at night1 is quieter than ,bruges4 ,bruges the ,dead8 ,no1 ,bruges the ,beautiful is nearer the truth4 ,after reading ,rodenbach's morbid romance of ,bruges-la-,morte we felt sure that a stay in ,bruges would be like a holiday in a cemetery4 ,our experience dispelled this unpleasant illusion4 ,bruges is in daylight a bustling and in certain spots a noisy place4 ,its inhabitants are not lugubrious of visage1 but wideawake1 practical people1 close at a bargain1 curious like all ,belgians1 and on fte days given to much feasting4 ,bruges is infinitely more interesting than ,brussels4 ,it is real1 while modern ,brussels is only mock-turtle4 ,and ,bruges is more picturesque1 the food is as well flavoured1 there are several resorts where ripe old ,burgundy may be had at not an extravagant price1 and the townsfolk are less grasping1 more hearty than in ,brussels4 ,the city is nicknamed a ,northern ,venice1 but of ,venice there is naught1 except the scum on the canal waters4 ,the secular odour of ,bruges was not unpleasant in ,october2 in ,august it may have been4 ,we know that the glory of the city hath departed1 but there remain the ,memlings1 the ,gerard ,davids1 at least one ,van ,eyck1 not to mention several magnificent old churches4 ,let us stroll to the ,bguinage4 ,reproductions of ,memling and ,van ,eyck are in almost every window4 ,the cafs on the square1 where stands the ,belfry of ,longfellow's poem1 are overflowing with people at table4 ,it is ,friday1 and to-morrow will be market day2 with perhaps a fair or a procession thrown in4 ,you reach the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,sauveur 7,sint ,salvator71 erected in the tenth century1 though the foundations date back to the seventh4 ,the narrow lane-like street winds around the rear of the church4 ,presently another church is discerned with a tower that must be nearly four hundred feet high1 built1 you learn1 some time between the tenth and fourteenth centuries4 ,notre ,dame contains the tombs of ,charles the ,bold and ,mary of ,burgundy1 a lovely white marble statue of the ,virgin and ,child ascribed with justice to ,michael ,angelo1 and a fine bow-window4 ,we pass the ,hospital of ,st4 ,jean1 turn up an alley full of cobblestones and children1 and finally see the canal that passes the houses of the ,bguinage4 ,the view is of exceeding charm4 ,the spire of ,notre ,dame and the apsis may be seen up 7or is it down87 stream4 ,a bridge cuts the river precisely where it should2 weeping willows to the left lend an elegiac note to the ensemble1 and there is a gabled house to the right which seems to have entered the scene so as to give an artist the exact balance for his composition4 ,nature and the handicraft of man paint pictures all over ,bruges4 ,we enter the enclosure with the little houses of the bguines1 or lay sisterhood4 ,there is nothing particular to see1 except a man under a tree admiring his daubed canvas1 near by a dog sleeps4 ,the sense of peace is profound4 ,even ,antwerp seems a creation of yesterday compared with the brooding calm of ,bruges1 while ,brussels is as noisy as a boiler shop4 ,the ,minnewater 7,lac d',amour7 is another pretty stretch1 and so we spent the entire day through shy alleys1 down crooked streets1 twisting every few feet and forming deceptive vistas innumerable1 leading tired legs into churches1 out of museums1 up tower steps4 ,that first hard stroll told us how little we could know of ,bruges in a day1 a week or a month4 ,bag and baggage we moved up from ,brussels and wished that the clock and the calendar could be set back several centuries4 ,at twilight the unusual happened3 the ,sandman appeared with his hour-glass and beckoned to bed4 ,there is no night in ,bruges for the visitor within the gates2 there is only slumber4 ,perhaps that is why the cockneys call it ,bruges the ,dead4 ,the old horse that drags the hotel bus was stamping its hoofs in the court-yard2 the wall of ,st4 ,jacques1 eaten away by the years1 faced us4 ,the sun1 somewhere1 was trying to rub its sleepy eyes1 the odour of omelet was in the air1 and all was well4 ,this is the home-like side of its life4 ,it may still harbour artists who lead a mystic1 ecstatic existence1 but we met none of them4 ,poetic images are aroused at dusk along the banks of canals1 bathed in spectral light4 ,here ,georges ,rodenbach1 that poet of delicate images1 placed his hero1 a man who had lost a beloved wife4 ,he saw her wraith-like form in the mist and at the end went mad4 ,the ,memlings hang in a chamber at the ,hospital ,st4 ,jean2 the ,chsse of ,st4 ,ursula is a reliquary1 ,gothic in design4 ,they consist of a dozen tiny panels painted in exquisite fashion1 with all the bright clarity and precision of a miniaturist1 coupled with a solidity of form and lyric elegance of expression4 ,they represent the side of ,memling's art which might be compared to the illuminators of manuscripts or to the artificers in gold and precious stones4 ,there is a jewelled quality in this illustration of the pious life and martyrdom of ,st4 ,ursula at ,cologne4 ,but it is not the greatest ,memling1 to our thinking4 ,a portrait of ,martin van ,nieuwenhoven1 the donator of the diptych1 ,la ,vierge aux ,pommes1 is as superb a ,memling as one could wish for4 ,the little hairs are a sign of clever1 minute brush4 ,it is the modelling1 the rich manipulation of tones 7yes1 values were known in those barbarous times71 the graceful fall of the hair treated quite as much en masse as with microscopic finish2 the almost miraculous painting of the folded hands1 and the general expression of pious reverie1 that count most4 ,the ductile1 glowing colours make this a portrait to be compared to any of the master's we have studied at ,london1 ,berlin1 ,dresden1 ,lbeck1 ,paris1 ,amsterdam1 and ,brussels4 ,but ,bruges is the natural frame for his exalted genius4 ,if the ,van ,eycks were really the first to use oil-colour--a fable1 it is said--,memling1 who followed them1 taught many great ,italian painters the quality and expressiveness of beautiful paint4 ,there is the portrait of ,sybilla ,sambetha1 the serious girl with the lace veil4 ,did any of the later ,dutch conjurers in paint attain such transparency8 ,the ,mystic ,marriage of ,st4 ,catharine1 a triptych with its wings representing the beheading of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist--the ,salome is quite melancholy--and ,st4 ,john at ,patmos1 is one of the world pictures4 ,the ,adoration of the ,magi1 with its wings1 ,the ,nativity1 and ,presentation in the ,temple1 is equally touching4 ,for me ,memling's ,descent from the ,cross sounds deeper music than ,rubens--which is operatic in comparison4 ,the ,virgin type of ,van ,eyck is less insipid than the ,italian2 there is no pagan dissonance1 as in the conception of ,botticelli4 ,faith blazed more fiercely in the breasts of these ,primitive artists4 ,they felt ,christ's ,passion and the sorrow of the ,holy ,mother more poignantly than did the ,italians of the golden renaissance4 ,we have always held a brief for the ,art for ,art theory4 ,the artist must think first of his material and its technical manipulation2 but after that1 if his pulse beat to spiritual rhythms then his work may attain the heights4 ,it is not painting that is the lost art1 but faith4 ,men like the ,van ,eycks1 ,rogier van der ,weyden1 ,memling1 and ,gerard ,david were princes of their craft and saw their religion with eyes undimmed by doubt4 ,james ,weak has destroyed the legend that ,hans ,memling painted his ,st4 ,ursula for the benefit of ,st4 ,jean's ,hospital as a recompense for treatment while sick there4 ,he was a burgher living comfortably at ,bruges4 ,the museum is a short distance from the hospital4 ,its ,van ,eyck 7,jan71 ,la ,vierge et l',enfant--known as the ,donator because of the portrait of ,george van der ,paele--is its chief treasure1 though there is the portrait of ,jan's wife2 ,gerard ,david's ,judgment of ,king ,cambyses1 and the savage execution companion picture2 ,memling's triptych1 ,st4 ,christopher bearing the ,christ ,child1 and ,david's masterpiece1 ,the ,baptism of ,christ4 ,holbein never painted a head with greater verisimilitude than ,van ,eyck's rendering of the ,donator4 ,what an eye6 ,what handling1 missing not a wrinkle1 a fold of the aged skin1 the veins in the senile temples1 or the thin soft hair above the ears6 ,what synthesis6 ,there are no niggling details1 breadth is not lost in this multitude of closely observed and recorded facts4 ,the large eyes gaze devoutly at the vision of the ,child1 and if neither ,virgin nor ,son is comely there is character delineated4 ,the accessories must fill the latter-day painter avid of surface loveliness with consuming envy4 ,but it is time for sleep4 ,the ,brugeois cocks have crowed1 the sun is setting1 and eyelids are lowering4 ,lucky you are if your dreams evoke the brilliant colours1 the magical shapes of the ,primitives of ,bruges the ,beautiful4 ,,the ,,moreau ,,museum ,out of the beaten track of sight-seers1 and not noticed with particular favour by the guide-books1 the museum founded by ,gustave ,moreau at #ad ,rue de la ,rochefoucauld in ,paris1 is known only to a comparatively few artists and amateurs4 ,you seldom hear ,americans speak of this rare collection1 it is never written about in the magazines4 ,in ,september1 #ahig1 ,moreau made a will leaving his house and its contents to the ,state4 ,he died in #ahih 7not in #aijb1 as ,bryan's dictionary has it71 and in #aijb ,president ,loubet authorised the ,minister of ,public ,instruction to accept this rich legacy in the name of the republic4 ,the artist was not known to stranger countries2 indeed he was little known to his fellow-countrymen4 ,huysmans had cried him up in a revolutionary article2 but to be praised by ,huysmans was not always a certificate of fame4 ,that critic was more successful in attracting public attention to ,degas and ,rops2 and ,moreau1 a born eclectic1 though without any intention of carrying water on both shoulders1 was regarded suspiciously by his associates at the ,beaux-,arts1 while the new men he praised1 ,courbet1 ,manet1 ,whistler1 ,monet1 would hold no commerce with him4 ,to this day opinion is divided as to his merits1 he being called a pasticheur or else a great painter-poet4 ,huysmans saw straight into the heart of the enigma--,gustave ,moreau is poet and painter1 a highly endowed man who had the pictorial vision in an unusual degree2 whose brush responded to the ardent brain that directed it1 the skilled hand that manipulated it2 always responded1 we say1 except in the creation of life4 ,his paintings are1 strictly speaking1 magnificent still-life4 ,no vital current animates their airless1 gorgeous1 and sometimes cadaverous surfaces4 ,like his friend ,gustave ,flaubert1 with whom he had so much in common 7at least on the ,salammb side of that writer71 ,moreau was born to affluence4 ,his father was a government architect2 he went early to the cole des ,beaux-,arts1 and also studied under ,picot4 ,in #aheb he had a ,piet in the ,salon 7he was born ,april #f1ahbf71 and followed it the next season with a ,darius and a large canvas depicting an episode from the ,song of ,songs4 ,the latter was purchased for the ,dijon ,museum4 ,at the ,universal ,exhibition of #ahee he showed a monster work1 ,the ,athenians and the ,minotaur4 ,he withdrew from the public until #ahfd1 when his ,oedipus and the ,sphinx set ,paris talking4 ,he exhibited until #ahhj various canvases illustrative of his studies in classic literatures and received sundry medals4 ,he was elected a member of the ,acadmie des ,beaux-,arts in #ahhh1 replacing ,boulanger4 ,he was decorated in #ahge with the ,legion of ,honour and made officier in #ahhc4 ,when a member of the ,institute he had few friends1 and as professor at the ,beaux-,arts he disturbed the authorities by his warm praise of the ,primitives4 ,altogether a career meagre in exciting incident1 though singularly rich and significant on the intimate side4 ,a first visit to the museum proved startling4 ,we had seen and admired the fifteen water-colours at the ,luxembourg1 among them the famous ,apparition1 but for the enormous number of pictures1 oil1 water-colour1 pastels1 drawings1 cartons1 studies1 we were unprepared4 ,the bulky catalogue registers #a1acb pieces1 and remember that while there are some unfinished canvases the amount of work executed--it is true during half a century--is nevertheless a testimony to ,moreau's muscular and nervous energy1 poetic conception1 and intensity of concentration4 ,even his unfinished pictures are carried to a state of elaboration that would madden many modern improvisers in colour4 ,apart from sheer execution1 there is a multitude of visions that must have been struggled for as ,jacob wrestled with the ,angel1 for ,moreau's was not a facile mind4 ,he brooded over his dreams1 he saw them before he gave them shape4 ,he was familiar with all the ,asiatic mythologies1 and for him the pantheon of ,christian saints must have been bone of his bone4 ,the ,oriental fantasy1 the ,buddhistic ideas1 the fluent knowledge of ,persian1 ,indian1 and ,byzantine histories1 customs1 and costumes sets us to wondering if this artist wasn't too cultured ever to be spontaneous4 ,he recalls ,prester ,john and his composite faiths4 ,there was besides the profound artistic erudition another stumbling-block to simplicity of style and unity of conception4 ,moreau began by imitating both ,delacroix and ,ingres4 ,now1 such a precedure is manifestly dangerous4 ,huysmans speaks with contempt of promiscuity in the admiration of art4 ,you can't admire ,manet and ,bastien-,lepage--le ,grvin de cabaret1 le ,siraudin de banlieue1 he names the gentle ,bastien2 nor ought you to admire ,manet and ,moreau1 we may add4 ,and ,huysmans did precisely what he preached against4 ,moreau was a man of wide intellectual interests4 ,devoid of the creative energy that can eject an individual style at one jet1 as a volcano casts forth a rock1 he attempted to aid nature by the process of an exquisite selection4 ,his taste was trained1 his range wide--too wide1 one is tempted to add2 and thus by a conscious act of the will he originated an art that recalls an antique chryselephantine statue1 a being rigid with precious gems1 pasted with strange colours1 something with mineral eyes without the breath of life--contemporary life--yet charged with its author's magnetism1 bearing a charmed existence1 that might come from a cold1 black magic2 monstrous1 withal possessing a strange feverish beauty1 as ,flaubert's ,salammb is beautiful1 in a remote1 exotic way4 ,however1 it is not fair to deny ,moreau human sympathies4 ,there are many of his paintings and drawings1 notably the latter1 that show him as possessing heart4 ,his handling of his medium though heavy is never timid1 and at times is masterly4 ,delacroix inspired many of his landscape backgrounds1 as ,ingres gave him the proportions of his female figures4 ,you continually encounter variations of ,ingres1 the sweet1 serene line1 the tapering feet and hands4 ,some critics have discerned the toe forms of ,perugino2 but such mechanical measurements strain our notion of eclecticism4 ,certainly ,moreau studied ,bellini1 ,mantegna1 and ,da ,vinci without ever attaining the freedom and distinction of any of them4 ,his colour1 too1 is often hard and cold1 though not in the sumptuous surfaces of his fabrics2 there ,venetian splendour is apparent4 ,he can be fiery and insipid1 metallic and morbid2 his ,orientalism is at times transposed from the work of his old friend the painter ,chasseriau into the key of a brilliant1 if pompous rhetoric4 ,,the ,,moreau ,,museum ,this herculean attempt at reassembling many styles in a unique style that would best express a certain frozen symbolism was the amiable mania his life long of ,moreau4 ,he compelled the spirits to come to his bidding4 ,the moment you cross the threshold of his house the spell begins to work4 ,it is dissipated by the daylight of ,paris1 but while you are under the roof of the museum you can't escape it4 ,nor is it as with ,rossetti1 a mystic opiate1 or with ,wiertz1 a madman's delirious fancy4 ,moreau was a philosophic poet1 and though he disclaimed being a literary painter1 it is literature that is the mainspring of his elevated and decorative art4 ,open at random the catalogue full of quotations from the painter's pen and you encounter such titles as ,leda and the ,swan1 treated with poetic restraint2 ,jupiter and ,semele1 ,tyrtus ,singing ,during the ,combat1 ,st4 ,elizabeth and the ,miracle of the ,roses1 ,lucretia and ,tarquin1 ,pasiphae1 the ,triumph of ,alexander1 ,salome1 ,dante and ,virgil1 ,bathsheba1 ,jason and the ,golden ,fleece4 ,all literatures were ransacked for themes4 ,this painter suffered from the nostalgia of the ideal4 ,when a subject coincided with his technical expression the result approximates perfection4 ,consider the ,salome1 so marvellously paraphrased in prose by ,huysmans4 ,the aquarelle in the ,luxembourg is more plastic1 more jewelled than the oil2 ,moreau often failed in the working-out of his ideas4 ,yet1 never in art has a hallucination been thus set before us with such uncompromising reality4 ,the sombre1 luxurious dcor1 the voluptuous silhouette of the dancing girl1 the hieratic pose of the ,tetrarch1 even the aureoled head of ,john1 are forgotten in the contemplation of ,salome1 who is become cataleptic at sight of the apparition4 ,arrested her attitude her flesh crisps with fear4 ,her face is contracted into a mask of death4 ,the lascivious dance seems suspended in midair4 ,to have painted so impossible a picture bears witness to the extraordinary quality of ,moreau's complex art4 ,nor is the ,salome his masterpiece4 ,in the realm of the decorator he must be placed high4 ,his genius is ,byzantine4 ,jupiter and ,semele1 with its colossal and acrian architectures1 its gigantic figure of the god1 from whose august head emanate spokes of light1 is ,byzantine of a wild luxuriousness in pattern and fancy4 ,moreau excels in representing cataracts of nude women1 ivory-toned of flesh1 exquisite in proportion1 set off by radiant jewels and wonder-breeding brocades4 ,his skies are in violent ignition1 or else as soft as ,lydian airs4 ,what could be more grandiose than the ,triumph of ,alexander 7,no4 #gj in the catalogue78 ,not ,john ,martin or ,piranesi excelled the ,frenchman in bizarre architectural backgrounds4 ,and the ,chimeras1 what a ,baudelairian imagination6 ,baudelaire of the bitter heart6 ,all luxury1 all sin1 all that is the shame and the glory of mankind is here1 as in a tapestry dulled by the smoke of dreams2 but as in his most sanguinary combats not a sound1 not a motion comes from this canvas4 ,when the slaves1 lovely females1 are thrown to the fish to fatten them for some ,roman patrician's banquet1 we admire the beauty of colour1 the clear static style1 the solidity of the architecture1 but we are unmoved4 ,if there is such a thing as disinterested art it is the claustral art of ,moreau--which can be both perverse and majestic4 ,his versatility amazes4 ,he did not always paint the same picture4 ,the ,christ ,between ,two ,thieves is academic1 yet attracts because the expression of the converted thief is remarkable4 ,the ,three ,magi and ,moses ,within ,sight of the ,promised ,land do not give one the fullest sense of satisfaction1 as do ,the ,daughters of ,thespus or ,the ,rape of ,europa2 yet they suggest what might be termed a tragic sort of decoration4 ,moreau is a painter who could have illustrated ,marlowe's fatuous line1 ,holla1 ye pampered jades of ,asia1 and superbly2 or1 ,see where ,christ's blood streams in the firmament4 ,he is an exotic blossom on the stem of ,french art4 ,he saw ivory1 apes1 and peacocks1 purple1 gold1 and the heavens aflame with a mystic message4 ,he never translated that message1 for his was an art of silence2 but the painter of ,the ,maiden with the ,head of ,orpheus1 of ,salome1 of ,jason and ,medea1 of ,jupiter and ,semele1 will never fail to win the admiration and homage of those art lovers who yearn for dreams of vanished ages1 who long to escape the commonplaces of the present4 ,gustave ,moreau will be their poet-painter by predilection4 ,once in the streets of prosaic ,paris he is as unreal as ,rossetti or the ,pre-,raphaelites 7though their superior as one who could make palpable his visions74 ,in the ,louvre--where the ,salon ,carr is little changed--,manet's ,olympe1 with her every-day seductiveness1 resolves the phantasies of ,moreau into thin air4 ,here is reality for you1 familiar as it may be4 ,it is wonderful how long it took ,french critics to discover that ,manet was un peintre de race4 ,he is very ,french in the ,french gallery where he now hangs4 ,he shows the lineage of ,david1 one of whose declamatory portraits with beady eyes hangs near by4 ,he is simpler than ,david in his methods--,mr4 ,c4,s4 ,ricketts critically described ,david as possessing the mind of a policeman--and as a painter more greatly endowed4 ,but ,goya also peeps out from the ,olympe4 ,after seeing the ,maja desnuda at the ,prado you realise that ,manet's trip to ,madrid was not without important results4 ,between the noble lady who was the ,duchess of ,alba and the ignoble girl called ,olympe there is only the difference between the respective handlings of ,goya and ,manet4 ,,pictures ,,in ,,madrid ,i ,the noblest castle in ,spain is the museum on the ,prado4 ,now every great capital of ,europe boasts its picture or sculpture gallery2 no need to enumerate the treasures of art to be found in ,london1 ,paris1 ,vienna--the latter too little known by the average globe-trotter--,berlin1 ,dresden1 ,cassel1 ,frankfort1 ,brussels1 ,bruges1 ,antwerp1 ,amsterdam1 ,florence1 ,rome1 ,naples1 ,st4 ,petersburg1 or ,venice4 ,they all boast special excellences1 but the ,prado collection contains pictures by certain masters1 ,titian1 ,rubens1 ,correggio1 and others1 that cannot be seen elsewhere4 ,setting aside ,velasquez and the ,spanish school1 not in ,venice1 ,florence1 or ,london are there ,titians of such quality and in such quantity as in ,madrid4 ,and the ,rubenses are of a peculiar lovely order1 not to be found in ,antwerp1 ,brussels or ,paris4 ,even without ,velasquez the trying trip to the ,spanish capital is a necessary and exciting experience for the painter and amateur of art4 ,the ,prado is largely reinforced by foreign pictures and is sadly lacking in historical continuity whether foreign or domestic schools4 ,it is about ninety years old1 having been opened in part 7three rooms7 to the public in ,november1 #ahai4 ,at that time there were three hundred and eleven canvases4 ,other galleries were respectively added in #ahba1 #ahbh1 #ahcj1 and #ahci4 ,in #ahij the ,queen-mother had the ,sala de la ,reina ,isabel rearranged and better lighted4 ,it contained then the masterpieces1 but in #ahii1 the tercentenary of ,velasquez's birth1 a gallery was built to hold his works1 with a special room for that masterpiece among masterpieces ,las ,meninas4 ,many notable pictures that had hung for years in the ,academia de ,nobles ,artes de ,san ,fernando1 at the ,escorial ,palace1 and and the collection of the ,duke of ,osuna are now housed within the walls of the ,prado4 ,at the entrance you encounter a monumental figure of ,goya1 sitting1 in bronze1 the work of the sculptor ,j4 ,llaneses4 ,the ,prado has been called a gallery for connoisseurs1 and it is the happiest title that could be given it1 for it is not a great museum in which all schools are represented4 ,you look in vain for the chain historic that holds together disparate styles2 there are omissions1 ominous gaps1 and the very nation that ought to put its best foot foremost1 the ,spanish1 does not1 with the exception of ,velasquez4 ,of him there are over sixty authentic works2 of ,titian over thirty4 ,bryan only allows him twenty-three2 this is an error4 ,there are fifteen ,titians in ,florence1 divided between the ,uffizi and the ,pitti2 in ,paris1 thirteen1 but one is the ,man with the ,glove4 ,quality counts heaviest1 therefore the surprise is not that ,madrid boasts numbers but the wonderful quality of so many of them4 ,to lend additional lustre to the specimens of the ,venetian school1 the collection starts off with a superb ,giorgione2 ,giorgione1 the painter who taught ,titian his magic colour secrets2 the painter whose works are1 with a few exceptions1 ascribed to other men--more is the pity6 7,in this we are at one with ,herbert ,cook1 who still clings to the belief that the ,concert of the ,pitti ,palace is ,giorgione and not ,titian4 ,at least the ,concert ,champtre of the ,louvre has not been taken from ,big ,george47 ,the ,madrid masterpiece is ,the ,virgin and ,child ,jesus with ,st4 ,anthony and ,st4 ,roch4 ,it is easy to begin with the ,titians1 one of which is the famous ,bacchanal4 ,then there are ,the ,madonna with ,st4 ,bridget and ,st4 ,hulfus1 ,the ,garden of the ,loves1 ,emperor ,charles ,v4 at ,mhlberg1 an equestrian portrait2 another portrait of the same with figure standing1 ,king ,philip1 ,isabella of ,portugal1 ,la ,gloria1 ,the ,entombment of ,christ1 ,venus and ,adonis1 ,dana and the ,golden ,shower1 a variation of this picture is in the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg1 the other in the ,national ,museum1 ,naples2 ,venus ,listening to ,music1 two versions1 the stately nude evidently a memory of the ,venus reposing in the ,uffizi3 ,adam and ,eve 7also a copy of this by ,rubens72 ,prometheus1 ,sisyphus--long supposed to be copies by ,coello2 ,christ ,bearing the ,cross1 ,st4 ,margaret1 a portrait of the ,duke of ,este1 ,salom1 ,ecce ,homo1 ,la ,dolorosa1 the once admired ,allocution2 ,flight ,into ,egypt1 ,st4 ,catalina1 a self-portrait1 ,st4 ,jerome1 ,diana and ,acton1 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount--the list is much longer4 ,there are many ,goyas2 the museum is the home of this remarkable but uneven painter4 ,we confess to a disappointment in his colour1 though his paint was not new to us2 but time has lent no pleasing patina to his canvases1 the majority of which are rusty-looking1 cracked1 discoloured1 dingy or dark4 ,there are several exceptions4 ,the nude and dressed full-lengths of the ,duchess of ,alba are in excellent preservation1 and brilliant audacious painting it is4 ,a lovely creature1 better-looking when reclining than standing1 as a glance at her full-length portrait in the ,new ,york ,hispanic ,museum proves4 ,one of ,goya's best portraits hangs in the ,prado1 the seated figure of his brother-in-law1 the painter ,bayeu4 ,the ,family of ,charles ,,iv1 his patron and patroness1 with the sheep-like head of the favourite ,de la ,paz1 is here in all its bitter humour2 it might be called a satiric pendant to that other ,familia1 not many yards away1 ,las ,meninas4 ,there are the designs for tapestries in the basement2 ,blind ,man's ,buff and other themes illustrating national traits4 ,the equestrian portraits of ,charles ,,iv and his sweet1 sinister spouse1 ,queen ,maria ,luisa1 reveal a ,goya not known to the world4 ,he could assume the grand manner when he so willed4 ,he could play the dignified master with the same versatility that he played at bull-fighting4 ,but his colour is often hot and muddy1 and perhaps he will go down to that doubtful quantity1 posterity1 as an etcher and designer of genius4 ,after leaving the ,prado you remember only the ,caprices1 the ,bull-fights1 and the ,disaster of ,war plates2 perhaps the ,duchess of ,alba1 undressed1 and in her dainty toreador costume4 ,the historic pictures are a tissue of horrors1 patriotic as they are meant to be2 they suggest the slaughter-house4 ,goya has painted a portrait of ,villanueva1 the architect of the museum2 and there is a solidly constructed portrait of ,goya by ,v4 ,lopez4 ,the ,raphaels have been reduced to two at the ,prado3 ,the ,holy ,family with the ,lamb1 painted a year after the ,ansedei ,madonna1 and that wonderful head of young ,cardinal ,bibbiena1 keen-eyed and ascetic of features4 ,alas6 for the scholarship that attributed to the ,divine ,youth ,la ,perla2 the ,madonna of the ,fish2 ,lo ,spasimo1 ,christ ,bearing the ,cross1 and several other masterpieces4 ,giulio ,romana1 ,penni1 and perhaps another1 turned out these once celebrated and overpraised pictures--overpraised even if they had come from the brush of ,raphael himself4 ,the ,cardinal's portrait is worth the entire batch of them4 ,there is a ,murillo gallery1 full of representative work1 the most important being ,st4 ,elizabeth of ,hungary ,tending the ,sick1 formerly in the ,escorial4 ,the various ,conceptions and saints' heads are not missing1 painted in his familiar colour key with his familiar false sentiment and always an eye to the appeal popular4 ,a mighty magnet for the public is ,murillo4 ,the peasants flock to him on ,sundays as to a sanctuary4 ,there the girls see themselves on a high footing1 a heavenly saraband among woolly clouds1 their prettiness idealised1 their costume of exceeding grace4 ,after a while you tire of the saccharine ,murillo and his studio beggar boys1 and turn to his drawings with relief4 ,his landscapes are more sincere than his religious canvases1 which are almost as sensuous and earthly as ,correggio without the magisterial brush-work and commanding conception of the ,parma painter4 ,to be quite fair1 it may be admitted that ,murillo could make a good portrait4 ,both in ,madrid and ,seville you may verify this4 ,a beautiful ,fra ,angelico1 a beautiful ,mantegna open your eyes1 for the ,italian ,primitives are conspicuous by their absence4 ,correggio is magnificent4 ,the well-known ,magdalen and ,christ ,risen1 ,noli ,me ,tangere6 ,his ,virgin with ,jesus and ,st4 ,john is in his accustomed melting pte4 ,one ,del ,sarto is of prime quality1 ,the ,virgin1 ,jesus and ,st4 ,john1 called ,asunto ,mistico at the ,prado4 ,truly a moving picture1 by a painter who owes much of his fame to ,robert ,browning4 ,his ,lucrezia is a pretty portrait of his faithless wife4 ,there are ,lotto1 ,parmigianino1 ,baroccio1 ,tintoretto1 ,bassano1 ,veronese1 ,domenico ,tiepolo1 and his celebrated father the fantastic ,giambattista ,tiepolo--not startling specimens any of them4 ,in the ,spanish section ,ribera comes at you the strongest4 ,he was a personality as well as a powerful painter4 ,consider his ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,bartholomew4 ,zurbaran follows next in interest1 though morbid at times2 but of ,berragueta1 ,borgona1 ,morales1 ,juanes1 ,navarette1 ,coello--an excellent portraitist1 imitator of ,moro--,la ,cruz1 ,alfonso ,cano1 ,luis de ,tristan1 ,espinosa1 ,bias del ,prado1 ,orrente1 ,esteban de ,march--two realistic heads of an old man and an old woman must be set down to his credit--,ribalta1 influenced by ,caravaggio1 in turn influencing ,ribera--,juan de las ,roelas 7el ,clerigo71 ,del ,mazo--son-in-law of ,velasquez1 and responsible for dozens of false attributions--,carreo de ,miranda1 ,jos ,leonardo1 ,juan ,rizi ,v4 ,iriarte1 the two ,herreras1 the elder a truculent charlatan1 the younger a nonentity1 and others of the ,spanish school may be dismissed in a word--mediocrities4 ,,ii ,the secret of ,titian's colour1 the ,venetian secret1 was produced1 some experts believe1 by first painting a solid monochrome in tempera on which the picture was finished in oil4 ,unquestionably ,titian corrected and amended his work as much as did ,velasquez4 ,it is a pleasing if somewhat theatric belief that ,titian and ,velasquez1 duelled with their canvases1 their rapier a brush4 ,after inspecting many of the ,hals portraits the evidences of direct painting1 swift though calculated1 are not to be denied4 ,this may account1 with the temperamental equation1 for the less profound psychological interest of his portraiture when compared with the ,raphael1 ,titian1 ,velasquez1 and ,rembrandt heads4 ,yet1 what superiority in brush-work had ,hals over ,raphael and ,rembrandt4 ,the ,raphael surfaces are as a rule hard1 dry1 and lustreless1 while ,rembrandt's heavy1 troubled paint is no mate for the airy touch of the ,mercutio of ,haarlem4 ,but ,titian's impasto is lyric4 ,it sings on the least of his canvases4 ,no doubt his pictures in the ,prado have been skinned of their delicate glaze by the iconoclastic restorer2 yet they bloom and chant and ever bloom4 ,the ,bacchanal1 which bears a faint family resemblance to the ,bacchus and ,ariadne of the ,london ,national ,gallery1 fairly exults in its joy of life1 in its frank paganism4 ,what rich reverberating tones1 what powers of evocation6 ,the ,garden of the ,loves is a vision of childhood at its sweetest2 the surface of the canvas seems alive with festooned babies4 ,the more voluptuous ,venus or ,dana do not so stir your pulse as this immortal choir of cupids4 ,the two portraits of ,charles ,v--one equestrian--are charged with the noble1 ardent gravity and splendour of phrasing we expect from the greatest ,venetian of them all4 ,we doubt1 however1 if the ,prado ,entombment is as finely wrought as the same subject by ,titian in ,paris2 but it sounds a poignant note of sorrow4 ,rembrandt is more dramatic when dealing with a similar theme4 ,the ,st4 ,margaret with its subtle green gown is a figure that is touching and almost tragic4 ,the ,madonna and ,child1 with ,st4 ,bridget and ,st4 ,hulfus1 has been called ,giorgionesque4 ,st4 ,bridget is of the sumptuous ,venetian type2 the modelling of her head is lovely1 her colouring rich4 ,rubens in the ,prado is singularly attractive4 ,there are over fifty1 not all of the best quality1 but numbering such works as the ,three ,graces1 the ,rondo1 the ,garden of ,love1 and the masterly unfinished portrait of ,marie de ,medicis4 ,the ,brazen ,serpent is a ,van ,dyck1 though the catalogue of #aijg credits it to ,rubens4 ,then there are the ,andromeda and ,perseus1 the ,holy ,family and ,diana and ,calista4 ,the portrait of ,marie de ,mdicis1 stout1 smiling1 amiability personified1 has been called one of the finest feminine portraits extant--which is a slight exaggeration4 ,it is both mellow and magnificent1 and unless history or ,rubens lied the lady must have been as mild as mother's milk4 ,the ,three ,graces1 executed during the latter years of the ,flemish master1 is ,rubens at his pagan best4 ,these stalwart and handsome females1 without a hint of sleek ,italian delicacy1 include ,rubens's second wife1 ,helena ,fourment1 the ox-eyed beauty4 ,what blond flesh tones1 what solidity of human architecture1 what positive beauty of surfaces and nobility of contours6 ,the ,rondo is a mad1 whirling dance1 the ,diana and ,calista suggestive of a ,turkish bath outdoors1 but a picture that might have impelled ,walt ,whitman to write a sequel to his ,children of ,adam4 ,such women were born not alone to bear children but to rule the destinies of mankind2 genuine matriarchs4 ,rembrandt fares ill4 ,his ,artemisia about to drink her husband's ashes from a costly cup reveals a ponderous hand4 ,it is but indifferent ,rembrandt1 despite several jewelled passages4 ,van ,dyck shows at least one great picture1 the ,betrayal of ,christ4 ,the ,brazen ,serpent only ranks second to it2 both are masterpieces1 and ,antwerp must envy the ,prado4 ,the ,crown of ,thorns1 and the portraits1 particularly that of the ,countess of ,wexford1 are arresting4 ,his ,musician1 being the portrait of ,lanire the lute-player1 and his own portrait on the same canvas with ,count ,bristol1 are cherished treasures4 ,the lutist is especially fascinating4 ,that somewhat mysterious ,dutch master1 ,moro1 or ,mor 7,antonis2 born in ,utrecht1 #aeab2 died at ,antwerp1 #aegf or #aegh71 is represented by more than a dozen portraits4 ,to know what a master of physiognomy he was we need only study his ,mary ,queen of ,england1 the ,buffoon of the ,beneventas1 the ,philip ,,ii1 and the various heads of royal and noble born dames4 ,the subdued fire and subtlety of this series1 the piercing vision and superior handicraft of the painter have placed him high in the artistic hierarchy2 but not high enough4 ,at his best he is not far behind ,holbein4 ,that great ,german's art is shown in a solitary masterpiece1 the portrait of an unknown man1 with shrewd cold eyes1 an enormous nose1 the hands full of meaning1 the fabrics scrupulous as to detail4 ,next to this ,holbein1 whose glance follows you around the gallery1 are the two ,drers1 the portrait of ,hans ,imhof1 a world-renowned picture1 and his own portrait 7#adih71 a magical rendering of a ,christ-like head1 the ringlets curly1 the beard youthful1 the hands folded as if in prayer4 ,a marvellous composition4 ,it formerly hung too high1 above the ,hans ,imhof2 it now hangs next to it4 ,a similar head in the ,uffizi is a copy1 ,sir ,walter ,armstrong to the contrary notwithstanding4 ,the ,flemish schools are to be seen in the basement1 not altogether a favourable place1 though in the afternoon there is an agreeable light4 ,like ,rubens1 ,jan van ,eyck visited ,spain and left the impress of his style4 ,but the ,van ,eycks at the ,prado are now all queried1 though several are noteworthy4 ,the ,marriage of the ,virgin is discredited4 ,the ,virgin1 ,christ and ,st4 ,john under the golden canopy1 called a ,hubert van ,eyck1 is probably by ,gossaert de ,mabuse1 and a clever transposition of the altar piece in ,st4 ,bavon's at ,ghent4 ,the ,fountain of ,life1 also in the catalogue as a ,jan van ,eyck1 has been pronounced a sixteenth-century copy of a lost picture by his brother ,hubert4 ,we may add that not one of these so-called ,van ,eycks recalls in all their native delicacy and richness the real ,van ,eycks of ,bruges1 ,ghent1 and ,brussels2 though the ,virgin ,reading1 given as ,jan's handiwork1 is of a charm4 ,the ,depositions1 attributed to ,rogier van der ,weyden 7,de la ,pasture71 are acknowledged to be old sixteenth-century copies of the ,deposition in the ,escorial4 ,the altar piece is excellent4 ,but there is a fine ,memling1 glowing in pigment and of beautiful design1 ,the ,adoration of the ,kings1 a triptych1 like the one at ,bruges4 ,in the centre panel we see the kings adoring1 one a black man2 the two wings1 or doors1 respectively depict the birth of ,christ 7right7 and the presentation in the temple 7left74 ,there is a retablo 7reredos7 in four compartments1 by ,petrus ,cristus1 and two ,jerome ,patinirs1 one1 a ,temptation of ,st4 ,anthony1 being enjoyable4 ,the painter-persecuted saint sits in the foreground of a freshly painted landscape1 harassed by the attentions of witches1 several of them comely and clothed4 ,to be precise1 the composition suggests a much-married man listening to the reproaches of his spouses4 ,hanging in a doorway we found a ,herri ,met de ,bles that is not marked doubtful4 ,it is a triptych1 an ,adoration1 in which the three kings1 the ,queen of ,sheba before ,solomon1 and ,herod participate4 ,a brilliantly tinted work this1 which once hung in the ,escorial1 and1 mirabile dictu1 attributed to ,lucas van ,leyden4 ,no need to speak of the later ,dutch and ,flemish school1 ,teniers1 ,ostade1 ,dou1 ,pourbus1 and the minor masters4 ,there are ,breughels and ,bosches aplenty1 and none too good4 ,but there are several ,jordaens of quality1 a family group1 and three heads of street musicians4 ,we forgot to mention an attribution to ,jan van ,eyck1 ,the ,triumph of ,religion1 which is a curious affair no matter whose brain conceived it4 ,the attendant always points out its religious features with ill-concealed glee4 ,a group of ecclesiastics have confounded a group of rabbis at a fountain which is the foundation of an altar2 the old fervour burns in the eyes of the gallery servitor as he shows you the discomfited ,hebrew doctors of the law4 ,we may dismiss as harmless the ,pinturicchio and other ,italian attributions in these basement galleries4 ,there is the usual crew of ,anonimos1 and a lot of those fantastic painters who are nicknamed by critics without a sense of humour as ,the ,master of the ,fiery ,hencoop1 ,the ,master of the ,eccentric ,omelet1 or some such idiotic title4 ,up-stairs familiar names such as ,domenichino1 ,bassano1 ,cortona1 ,crespi1 ,bellino1 ,pietra della ,vecchia1 ,allori1 ,veronese1 ,maratta1 ,guido ,reni1 ,romano need not detain us4 ,the catalogue numbers of the ,italian school go as high as #fbh4 ,the ,titians1 however1 are the glory of the ,prado4 ,the ,spanish school begins at #fbi1 ends at #a1jbi4 ,the ,german1 ,flemish1 and ,holland schools begin at #a1adf1 running to #a1heb4 ,there are supplements to all of the foregoing4 ,the ,french school runs from #a1ifi to #b1aaa4 ,but the examples in this section are not inspiring1 the ,watteaus excepted4 ,there is the usual ,champagne1 ,coypel1 ,claude of ,lorraine 7#aj71 ,largillire1 ,lebrun1 ,van ,loo1 ,mignard 7#e72 one of ,le ,nain--by both brothers4 ,nattier 7#d71 ,nicolas ,poussin 7#bj71 ,rigaud1 and two delicious ,watteaus2 a rustic betrothal and a view of the garden of ,st4 ,cloud1 the two exhaling melancholy grace and displaying subdued richness of tone4 ,tiepolo has been called the last link in the chain of ,venetian colourists1 which began with the ,bellini1 followed by ,giorgione1 ,titian1 ,tintoretto1 ,palma ,vecchio1 ,bonifazio1 ,veronese--and to this list might be added the name of the ,frenchman ,watteau4 ,chardin was also a colourist1 and how many of the ,poussins at this gallery might be spared to make room for one of his cool1 charming paintings6 ,the ,prado about exhausts the art treasures of ,madrid4 ,in the ,escorial1 that most monstrous and gloomiest of the tombs of kings1 are pictures that should be seen--some ,grecos among the rest--even if the palace does not win your sympathy4 ,in ,madrid what was once called the ,academia de ,san ,fernando is now the ,real ,academia de ,bellas ,artes4 ,it is at #aa ,calle de ,alcal and contains a ,murillo of quality1 the ,dream of the ,roman ,knight1 ,zurbaran's ,carthusians1 an ,ecce ,homo by ,ribera1 of power2 the ,death of ,dido by ,fragonard2 a ,rubens1 ,st4 ,francis1 the work of his pupils2 ,alonzo ,cano1 two ,murillos1 ,domenichino1 ,tristan1 ,mengs1 ,giovanni ,bellini2 ,goya's bull-fights1 mad-house scenes1 and several portraits--one of the ,due de la ,paz2 a ,pereda1 a ,da ,vinci 7871 ,madrazo1 ,zurbaran1 and ,goya's equestrian portrait of ,charles ,,iv4 ,a minor gathering1 the dbris of a former superb collection1 and not even catalogued4 ,there are museums devoted to artillery1 armour1 natural sciences1 and archology4 ,in the imposing ,national ,library1 full of precious manuscripts1 is the museum of modern art--also without a catalogue4 ,it does not make much of an impression after the ,prado4 ,the ,fortuny is not characteristic1 though a rarity2 a sketch for his ,battle of ,tetuan1 the original an unfinished painting1 is at ,barcelona4 ,there are special galleries such as the ,sala ,haes with its seventy pictures1 which are depressing4 ,the modern ,spaniards ,zuloaga1 ,sorolla1 ,angla-,camarosa are either not represented or else are not at their best4 ,there is a ,diaz1 who was of ,spanish origin2 but the ,madrazos1 ,villegas1 ,montenas1 and the others are academic echoes or else feeble and mannered4 ,there are some adroit water-colours by modern ,frenchmen1 and there is a seeming attempt to make the collection contemporary in spirit1 but it is all as dead as the allegorical dormouse1 while over at the ,prado there is a vitality manifested by the old fellows that bids fair to outlast the drums1 tramplings1 and conquests of many generations4 ,we have not more than alluded to the sculpture at the ,prado2 it is not particularly distinguished4 ,the best sculpture we saw in ,spain was displayed in wood-carvings4 ,the pride of the ,prado is centred upon its ,titians1 ,raphaels1 ,rubenses1 ,murillos1 ,el ,grecos1 and1 above all1 upon ,don ,diego de ,silva1 better known as ,velasquez4 ,,el ,,greco ,,at ,,toledo ,toledo is less than three hours from ,madrid2 it might be three years away for all the resemblance it bears to the capital4 ,both situated in ,new ,castille1 ,madrid seems sharply modern1 as modern as the early nineteenth century1 when compared to the medival cluster of buildings on the horseshoe-shaped granite heights almost entirely hemmed in by the river ,tagus4 ,it is not only one of the most original cities in ,spain1 but in all ,europe4 ,no other boasts its incomparable profile1 few the extraordinary vicissitudes of its history4 ,not romantic in the operatic moonlit ,grenada fashion1 without the sparkle and colour of ,seville or the mundane savour of ,madrid1 ,toledo incarnates in its cold1 detached1 proud1 pious way all that we feel as ,spain the aristocratic1 ,spain the theocratic4 ,to this city on a crag there once came1 by way of ,venice1 a wanderer from ,crete4 ,toledo was the final frame of the strange genius of ,el ,greco2 he made it the consecrate ground of his new art4 ,it is difficult to imagine him developing in luxuriant ,italy as he did in ,spain4 ,his nature needed a sombre and magnificent background2 this city gave it to him2 for no artist can entirely isolate himself from life1 can work in vacuo4 ,and ,el ,greco's shivering1 spiritual art could have been born on no other soil than ,toledo4 ,he is as original as the city4 ,the place shows traces of its masters--,romans1 ,goths1 ,saracens1 and ,christians4 ,it is1 indeed1 as much ,moorish as ,christian--the narrow streets1 high1 narrow houses often windowless1 the inner court replacing the open squares that are to be found in ,seville4 ,miscalled the ,spanish ,rome1 ,gautier's description still holds good3 ,toledo has the character of a convent1 a prison1 a fortress with something of a seraglio4 ,the enormous cathedral1 which dates back to ,visigothic ,christianity1 is1 next to ,seville's1 the most beautiful in ,spain4 ,such a faade1 such stained glass1 such ceilings6 ,blanco ,ibaez has written pages about this structure4 ,the synagogues1 the ,moorish mosque1 the ,alczar are picturesque4 ,and then there are the ,puente de ,alcntara1 the ,casa de ,cervantes1 the ,puerta del ,sol1 the ,prison of the ,inquisition1 the ,church of ,santo ,tom--which holds the most precious example of ,greco's art--the ,sinagogo del ,transito1 the ,church of ,san ,vicente--with ,grecos--,santo ,domingo 7more ,grecos72 the ,convent1 near the ,church of ,san ,juan de los ,reyes1 contains the ,museo ,provincial in which were formerly a number of ,grecos2 many of these have been transferred to the new ,museo ,el ,greco1 founded by the ,marquis de la ,vega-,inclan1 an admirer of the painter4 ,this museum was once the home of ,greco1 and has been restored1 so that if the artist returned he might find himself in familiar quarters4 ,pictures1 furniture1 carvings of his are there1 while the adjoining house is rebuilt in a harmonious style of old material4 ,remain various antique patios or court-like interiors1 the sword manufactory1 and the general view from the top of the town4 ,el ,greco's romantic portrayment of his adopted city is as true now as the day it was painted--one catches a glimpse of the scene when the contrasts of light and shadow are strong4 ,during a thunderstorm illuminated by blazing shafts of ,peninsular lightning ,toledo resembles a page torn from the ,apocalypse4 ,the cathedral is the usual objective2 instead1 we first went to the church of ,santo ,tom4 ,it is a small ,gothic structure1 rebuilt from a mosque by ,count ,orgz4 ,in commemoration of this gift a large canvas1 entitled ,el ,entierro1 depicting the funeral of ,orgz1 by ,el ,greco1 has made ,santo ,tom more celebrated than the cathedral4 ,it is an amazing1 a thrilling work1 nevertheless1 on a scale that prevents it from giving completely the quintessence of ,el ,greco4 ,no doubt he was a pupil of ,titian2 ,gautier but repeated current gossip when he said that the ,greek went mad in his attempt to emulate his master4 ,but ,tintoretto's influence counts heavier in this picture than ,titian's1 a picture assigned by ,cossi midway between ,greco's first and second period4 ,decorative as is the general scheme1 the emotional intensity aroused by the row of portraits in the second plan1 the touching expression of the two saints1 ,augustine and ,stephen1 as they gently bear the corpse of the ,count1 the murky light of the torches in the background1 while overhead the saintly hierarchy terminating in a white radiance1 ,christ the ,comforter1 ,his mother at ,his right hand1 quiring hosts at ,his left--all these figures make an ensemble that at first glance benumbs the critical faculty4 ,you recall the solemn and spasmodic music of ,michael ,angelo 7of whom ,el ,greco is reported to have irreverently declared that he couldn't paint72 then as your perspective slowly shapes itself you note that ,tintoretto1 plus a certain personal accent of morbid magnificence1 is the artistic progenitor of this art1 an art which otherwise furiously boils over with ,spanish characteristics4 ,nothing could be more vivid and various than the twenty-odd heads near the bottom of the picture4 ,expression1 character1 race are not pushed beyond normal limits4 ,the ,spaniard1 truly noble here1 is seen at a half-dozen periods of life4 ,el ,greco himself is said to be in the group2 the portrait certainly tallies with a reputed one of his4 ,the sumptuousness of the ecclesiastical vestments1 court costumes1 ruffs1 and eloquent hands1 the grays1 whites1 golds1 blues1 blacks1 chord rolling upon chord of subtle tonalities1 the supreme illumination of the scene1 with its suggestion of a moment swiftly trapped forever in eternity1 hook this masterpiece firmly to your memory4 ,it is not one of the greatest pictures in the pantheon of art1 not ,rembrandt1 ,velasquez1 ,hals1 ,raphael1 ,michael ,angelo1 ,titian1 or ,rubens2 yet it stands close to them all because of its massed effect of light1 life1 and emotional situation4 ,we confess to liking it better than the ,gloria at the ,escorial ,palace4 ,this glorification of a dream of ,philip ,,ii does not pluck electrically at your heart-strings as does the ,burial of ,count ,orgz1 though the two canvases are similar in architectonic4 ,the ,expolio is in the cathedral2 it belongs to the first period1 before ,el ,greco had shaken off ,italian influences4 ,the colouring is rather cold4 ,the ,st4 ,maurice in the chapter hall of the ,escorial is a long step toward a new method of expression4 7,a replica is in ,bucharest47 ,the ,ascension altar piece1 formerly in ,santo ,domingo1 now hangs in the ,art ,institute1 ,chicago4 ,at ,toledo there are about eighty pieces of the master1 not including his sculpture1 retablos2 like ,tintoretto1 he was accustomed to make little models in clay or wax for the figures in his pictures4 ,his last manner is best exemplified in the ,divine ,love and ,profane ,love1 belonging to ,seor ,zuloaga1 in ,the ,adoration of the ,shepherds1 at the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 and the ,assumption at the ,church of ,st4 ,vicente1 ,toledo4 ,his chalky whites1 poisonous greens1 violet shadows1 discordant passages of lighting are1 as ,arthur ,symons puts it3 ,sharp and dim1 gray and green1 the colour of ,toledo4 ,greco composed his palette with white vermilion1 lake1 yellow ochre1 ivory black4 ,seor ,beruete says that he generally laid on an impasto for his flesh1 put on in little touches1 and then added a few definite strokes with the brush which1 though accentuated1 are very delicate444 ,the gradations of the values is in itself instructive4 ,his human forms became more elongated as he aged2 this applies only to his males2 his women are of sweetness compounded and graceful in contour4 ,some a mere arabesque1 or living flames2 some sinister and fantastic2 from the sublime to the silly is with ,greco not a wide stride4 ,but in all his surging1 writhing sea of wraiths1 saints1 kings1 damned souls and blest1 a cerebral grip is manifest4 ,he knew a hawk from a handsaw despite his temperament of a mystic4 ,he who carries his own most intimate emotions to their highest point becomes the first in a file of a long series of men2 but1 adds ,mr4 ,ellis3 ,to be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men4 ,el ,greco1 like ,charles ,baudelaire1 cultivated his hysteria4 ,he developed his individuality to the border line across which looms madness4 ,the transmogrification of his temperament after living in ,toledo was profound4 ,born ,greek1 in art a ,venetian1 the atmosphere of the ,castilian plain changed the colour of his soul4 ,in him there was material enough for both a ,savonarola or a ,torquemada--his piety was at once iconoclastic and fanatical4 ,and his restlessness1 his ceaseless experiments1 his absolute discoveries of new tonalities1 his sense of mystic grandeur--why here you have1 if you will1 a ,berlioz of paint1 a man of cold ardours1 hot ecstasies1 visions apocalyptic1 with a brain like a gloomy cathedral in which the ,tuba ,mirum is sonorously chanted4 ,but ,greco is on the side of the angels2 ,berlioz1 like ,goya1 too often joined in the infernal antiphonies of ,satan ,mekatrig4 ,and ,greco is as dramatic as either4 ,beruete admits that his idol1 ,velasquez1 was affected by the study of ,el ,greco's colouring4 ,canaille ,saint-,sans1 when ,liszt and ,rubinstein were compared1 exclaimed3 ,two great artists who have nothing in common except their superiority4 ,it is bootless to bracket ,velasquez with his elder4 ,and ,gautier was off the track when he spoke of ,greco's resemblance to the bizarre romances of ,mrs4 ,radcliffe2 bizarre ,greco was1 but not trivial nor a charlatan4 ,as to his decadent tendencies we side with the opinion of ,mr4 ,frank ,jewett ,mather1 ,jr43 ,certain pedants have written as if the world would be better without its disorderly geniuses4 ,there could1 ,i think1 be no sorer error4 ,we need the unbalanced talents1 the potes damns of every craft4 ,they strew the passions that enrich a lordlier art than their own4 ,they fight valiantly1 a little at the expense of their fame1 against the only unpardonable sins1 stupidity and indifference4 ,greco should always be an honoured name in this ill-destined company4 ,in the ,prado ,museum there is a goodly collection4 ,the ,annunciation1 ,the ,holy ,family1 ,jesus ,christ ,dead1 ,the ,baptism of ,christ1 ,the ,resurrection1 ,the ,crucifixion--a tremendous conception2 and ,the ,coming of the ,holy ,ghost2 this latter1 with its tongues of fire1 its flickering torches1 its ecstatic apostles and ,mary1 her face flooded by a supernal illumination1 mightily stirs the sthetic pulse4 ,the ,prado has two dozen specimens1 though two of them at least--a poor replica of the ,orgz burial1 and another--are known to be by ,el ,greco's son1 ,jorge ,manuel ,theotocopuli2 of the numerous portraits and other pictures dispersed by time and chance to the four quarters of the globe1 we have written earlier in this volume1 when dealing with the definitive work on this ,greek by ,seor ,manuel ,b4 ,cossio4 ,el ,greco1 through sheer intensity of temperament and fierce sincerity1 could pluck out from men who had become1 because of their apathy and grotesque pride1 mere vegetable growths1 their very souls afire2 or if stained by crimes1 these souls1 he shot them up to ,god like green meteors4 ,to be sure they have eyes drunk with dreams1 the pointed skull of the mystic1 and betray a plentiful lack of chin and often an atrabilious nature4 ,when old his saints resemble him1 when young he must have looked like his saints1 ,sebastian and ,martin4 ,with his ardent faith he could have confuted the ,gnostic or the ,manichean heresies in colourful allegory1 but instead he sang fervid hosannahs on his canvases to the greater glory of ,christ and ,his saints4 ,perhaps if he had lived in our times he might have painted heads of fashionable courtesans or equivocal statesmen4 ,but whether primitive or modern1 realist or symbolist1 he would always have been a painter of dramatic genius4 ,he is the unicorn among artists4 ,,velasquez ,,in ,,the ,,prado ,fearful that your eye has lost its innocence after hearing so much of the picture1 you enter the tiny room at the museum on the ,prado in which is hung ,las ,meninas--,the ,maids of ,honour1 painted by ,velasquez in #afef4 ,my experience was a typical one4 ,i went hastily through the larger ,velasquez gallery in not only a challenging but an irritable mood4 ,the holy of holies ,i was enraged to find1 seemingly1 crowded4 ,there was the picture1 but a big easel stood in the foreground blotting out the left side2 some selfish artist copying1 some fellow thrusting himself between us and the floating illusion of art4 ,in despair ,i looked into the mirror that reflects the picture4 ,i suspected trickery4 ,surely that little princess with her wilful1 distrait expression1 surely the kneeling maid1 the dwarfs1 the sprawling dog1 the painter ,velasquez--with his wig--the heads of the king and queen in the oblong mirror1 the figure of ,seor ,nieto in the doorway1 the light framing his silhouette--surely they are all real4 ,here are the eternal simplicities4 ,you realise that no one is in the room but these painted effigies of the court and family of ,philip ,,iv2 that the canvas whose bare ribs deceived is in the picture1 not on the floor2 that ,velasquez and the others are eidolons1 arrested in space by the white magic of his art4 ,for the moment all other artists and their works are as forgotten as the secrets in the lost and sacred books of the ,magi4 ,there is but one painter and his name is ,velasquez4 ,this mood of ecstatic absorption is never outlived2 the miracle operates whenever a visit is made to the shrine4 ,but you soon note that the canvas has been deprived of its delicate glaze4 ,there are patches ominously eloquent of the years that have passed since the birth of this magisterial composition4 ,the tonal key is said to be higher because of restorations2 yet to the worshipper these shortcomings are of minor importance4 ,even ,giordano's exclamation3 ,sire1 this is the theology of painting1 falls flat4 ,essence of painting1 would have been a truer statement4 ,there is no other-worldliness here1 but something more normal1 a suggestion of solid reality1 a vision of life4 ,the various figures breathe2 so potent is their vitality that my prime impression in entering the room was a sense of the presence of others4 ,perhaps this is not as consummate art as the voluptuous colour-symphonies of ,titian1 the golden exuberance of ,rubens1 the abstract spacing of ,raphael1 the mystic opium of ,rembrandt2 but it is an art more akin to nature1 an art that is a lens through which you may spy upon life4 ,you recall ,ibsen and his fourth wall4 ,velasquez has let us into the secret of human existence4 ,not1 however1 in the realistic order of inanimate objects copied so faithfully as to fool the eye4 ,presentation1 not representation1 is the heart of this coloured imagery1 and so moving1 so redolent of life is it that if the world were shattered and ,las ,meninas shot to the coast of ,mars1 its inhabitants would be able to reconstruct an idea of the creatures that once inhabited old ,mother ,earth2 men1 women1 children1 their shapes1 attitudes1 gestures1 and attributes4 ,the mystery of sentient beings lurks in this canvas1 the illusion of atmosphere has never been so contrived4 ,in the upper part of the picture space is indicated in a manner that recalls both ,rembrandt and ,raphael4 ,velasquez1 too1 was a space-composer4 ,velasquez1 too1 plucked at the heart of darkness4 ,but his air is luminous1 the logic of his proportion faultless1 his synthesis absolute4 ,where other painters juxtapose he composes4 ,despite the countless nuances of his thin1 slippery brush strokes1 the picture is always a finely spun whole4 ,when ,fragonard was starting for ,rome1 ,boucher said to him3 ,if you take those people over there seriously you are done for4 ,luckily ,frago did not1 and1 despite his two ,italian journeys1 ,velasquez was not seduced into taking those people seriously4 ,his recorded opinion of ,raphael is corroborative of his attitude toward ,italian art4 ,titian was his sole god4 ,for nearly a year he was in daily intercourse with ,rubens1 but of ,rubens's influence upon him there is little trace4 ,las ,meninas is the perfect flowering of the genius of the ,spaniard4 ,it has been called impressionistic2 ,velasquez has been claimed as the father of impressionism as ,stendhal was hailed by ,zola as the literary progenitor of naturalism4 ,but ,velasquez is too universal to be labelled in the interests of any school4 ,his themes are of this earth1 his religious paintings are the least credible of his efforts4 ,they are ,italianate as if the artist dared not desert the familiar religious stencil4 ,his art is not correlated to the other arts4 ,one does not dream of music or poetry or sculpture or drama in front of his pictures4 ,one thinks of life and then of the beauty of the paint4 ,velasquez is never rhetorical1 nor does he paint for the sake of making beautiful surfaces as often does ,titian4 ,his practice is not art for art as much as art for life4 ,as a portraitist1 ,titian's is the only name to be coupled with that of ,velasquez4 ,he neither flattered his sitters1 as did ,van ,dyck1 nor mocked them like ,goya4 ,and consider the mediocrities1 the dull1 ugly1 royal persons he was forced to paint6 ,he has wrung the neck of banal eloquence1 and his prose1 sober1 rich1 noble1 sonorous1 rhythmic1 is to my taste preferable to the exalted1 versatile volubility and lofty poetic tumblings in the azure of any school of painting4 ,his palette is ever cool and fastidiously restricted4 ,it has been said that he lacks imagination1 as if creation or evocation of character is not the loftiest attribute of imagination1 even though it deals not with the stuff of which mythologies are made4 ,we admire the enthusiasm of ,mr4 ,ricketts for ,velasquez1 and his analysis is second to none save ,r4,a4,m4 ,stevenson's4 ,yet we do protest the painter was not the bundle of negations ,mr4 ,ricketts has made of him in his evident anxiety that some homage may be diverted from ,titian4 ,titian is incomparable4 ,velasquez is unique4 ,but to describe him as an artist who cautiously studied the work of other men1 and then avoided by a series of masterly omissions and evasions their faults as well as their excellences1 is a statement that robs ,velasquez of his originality4 ,he is not an eclectic4 ,he is a man of affirmations1 ,velasquez4 ,a student to his death1 he worked slowly1 revised painfully1 above all1 made heroic sacrifices4 ,each new canvas was a discovery4 ,the things he left out of his pictures would fill a second ,prado ,museum4 ,and the things he painted in are the glories of the world4 ,because of his simplicity1 absence of fussiness1 avoidance of the mock-heroic1 of the inflated grand manner1 critics have pressed too heavily upon this same simplicity4 ,there is nothing as subtle as his simplicity1 for it is a simplicity that conceals subtlety4 ,no matter the time of day or season of the year you visit ,velasquez1 you never find him off his guard4 ,aristocratic in his ease1 he disarms you first4 ,you may change your love1 your politics1 your religion1 but once a ,velasquez worshipper1 always one4 ,mr4 ,ricketts1 over-anxious at precisely placing him1 writes of his distinction4 ,he is the most distinguished painter in history4 ,but we contend that this phrase eludes precise definition4 ,distinguished in what8 we ask4 ,style1 character1 paint quality1 vision of the beautiful8 ,why not come out plumply with the truth3 ,velasquez is the supreme harmonist in art4 ,no one ever approached him in his handling save ,hals1 and ,hals hardly boasts the artistic inches of ,velasquez4 ,both possessed a daylight vision of the world4 ,reality came to them in the sharpest guise2 but the vision of ,velasquez came in a more beautiful envelope4 ,and his psychology is profounder4 ,he painted the sparkle of the eyes and also the look in them1 the challenging glance that asks3 ,are we1 too1 not humans8 ,titian saw colour as a poet1 ,velasquez as a charmer and a reflective temperament4 ,hals doesn't think at all4 ,he slashes out a figure for you and then he is done4 ,the graver1 deeper ,spaniard is not satisfied until he has kept his pact with nature4 ,so his vision of her is more rounded1 concrete1 and truthful than the vision of other painters4 ,the balance in his work of the most disparate and complex relations of form1 space1 colour1 and rhythm has the unpremeditated quality of life2 yet the massive harmonic grandeurs of ,las ,meninas have been placed by certain critics in the category of glorified genre4 ,some prefer ,las ,hilanderas in the outer gallery4 ,after the stately equestrian series1 the ,philip1 the ,olivares1 the ,baltasar ,carlos2 after the bust portraits of ,philip in the ,prado and in the ,national ,gallery1 the hunting series2 after the ,crucifixion and its sombre background1 you return to ,the ,spinners and wonder anew4 ,its subtitle might be3 ,variations on the ,theme of ,sunshine4 ,in it the painter pursues the coloured adventures of a ray of light4 ,rhythmically more involved and contrapuntal than ,the ,maids1 this canvas1 with its brilliant broken lights1 its air that circulates1 its tender yet potent conducting of the eye from the rounded arm of the seductive girl at the loom to the arched area with its leaning1 old-time bass-viol1 its human figures melting dream-like into the tapestried background1 arouses within the spectator much more complicated tats d'me than does ,las ,meninas4 ,the silvery sorceries of that picture soothe the spirit and pose no riddles2 ,the ,spinners is a cathedral crammed with implications4 ,is it not the last word of the art of ,velasquez--though it preceded ,the ,maids8 ,will the eye ever tire of its glorious gloom1 its core of tonal richness1 its virile exaltation of everyday existence8 ,is it only a trick of the wrist1 a deft blending of colours by this artist1 who has been called1 wrongfully--the ,shakespeare of the brush8 ,is all this nothing more than distinguished8 ,mr4 ,ricketts justly calls ,las ,lanzas the unique historic picture4 ,painted at the very flush of his genius1 painted with sympathy for the conquered and the conqueror--,velasquez accompanied the ,marquis of ,spinola to ,italy--this ,surrender of ,breda has received the homage of many generations4 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds asserted that the greatest picture at ,rome was the ,velasquez head of ,pope ,innocent ,x in the ,doria ,palace 7a variant is in the ,hermitage ,gallery1 ,st4 ,petersburg74 ,what would he have said in the presence of this captivating evocation of a historic event8 ,the battle pieces of ,michael ,angelo1 ,da ,vinci1 and ,titian are destroyed2 ,las ,lanzas remains a testimony to the powers of imaginative reconstruction and architectonic of ,velasquez4 ,it is the most complete1 the most natural picture in the world4 ,the rhythms of the bristling lances are syncopated by a simple device2 they are transposed to another plane of perspective1 there in company with a lowered battle standard4 ,the acute rhythms of these spears has given to the picture its title of ,the ,lances1 and never was title more appropriate4 ,the picture is at once a decorative arabesque1 an ensemble of tones1 and a slice of history4 ,spinola receives from the conquered ,justin of ,nassau the keys of the beleagured ,breda4 ,velasquez creates two armies out of eight figures1 a horse and fourteen heads--here is the recipe of ,degas for making a multitude carried to the height of the incredible4 ,his own portrait1 that of a grave1 handsome man1 may be seen to the right of the big horse4 ,the first period of his art found ,velasquez a realist heavy in colour and brush-work1 and without much hint of the transcendental realism to be noted in his later style4 ,the dwarfs1 buffoons1 the sop and the ,menippus are the result of an effortless art4 ,in the last manner the secret of the earth mingles with the mystery of the stars1 as ,dostoevsky would put it4 ,the ,topers1 ,the ,forge of ,vulcan1 are pictures that enthrall because of their robust simplicity and vast technical sweep though they do not possess the creative invention of the ,mercury and ,argus or ,the ,anchorites4 ,this latter is an amazing performance4 ,two hermits--,st4 ,antony the ,abbot visiting ,st4 ,paul the ,hermit--are shown4 ,a flying raven1 bread in beak1 nears them4 ,you could swear that the wafer of flour is pasted on the canvas4 ,this picture breathes peace and sweetness4 ,the ,christ of the ,spaniard is a man1 not a god1 crucified4 ,his ,madonnas1 masterly as they are1 do not reach out hands across the frame as do his flower-like royal children and delicate monsters4 ,the crinolined princess1 ,margarita1 with her spangles and furbelows1 is a companion to the ,margarita at the ,louvre and the one in ,vienna4 ,she is the exquisite and lyric ,velasquez4 ,on his key-board of imbricated tones there are grays that felicitously sing across alien strawberry tints1 thence modulate into fretworks of dim golden fire4 ,as a landscapist ,velasquez is at his best in the ,prado4 ,the various backgrounds and those two views painted at ,rome in the garden of the ,villa ,medici--a liquid comminglement of ,corot and ,constable1 as has been pointed out--prove this man of protean gifts to have anticipated modern discoveries in vibrating atmospheric effects and colour-values4 ,but1 then1 ,velasquez will always be modern4 ,and when time has obliterated his work he may become the legendary ,parrhasius of a vanished epoch4 ,to see him in the ,prado is to stand eye to eye with the most enchanting realities of art4 ,,coda ,when a man begins to chatter of his promenades among the masterpieces it may be assumed that he has crossed the sill of middle-age4 ,remy de ,gourmont1 gentle ironist1 calls such a period l'heure insidieuse4 ,yet1 is it not something--a vain virtue1 perhaps--to possess the courage of one's windmills6 ,from the ,paris of the days when ,i haunted the ateliers of ,grme1 ,bonnat1 ,meissonier1 ,couture1 and spent my enthusiasms over the colour-schemes of ,decamps and ,fortuny1 to the ,paris of the revolutionists1 ,manet1 ,degas1 ,monet1 now seems a life long4 ,but time fugues precipitately through the land of art4 ,in reality both periods overlap2 the dichotomy is spiritual1 not temporal4 ,the foregoing memoranda are frankly in the key of impressionism4 ,they are a record of some personal preferences1 not attempts at critical revaluations4 ,appearing first in the ,new ,york ,sun1 the project of their publication in book form met with the approbation of its proprietor1 ,william ,mackay ,laffan1 whose death in #aiji was an international loss to the ,fine ,arts4 ,if these opinions read like a medley of hastily crystallised judgments jotted down after the manner of a traveller pressed for time1 they are none the less sincere4 ,my garden is only a straggling weedy plot1 but ,i have traversed it with delight2 in it ,i have promenaded my dearest prejudices1 my most absurd illusions4 ,and central in this garden may be found the image of the supreme illusionist of art1 ,velasquez4 ,since writing the preceding articles on ,el ,greco and ,velasquez the museum of the ,hispanic ,society1 ,new ,york1 has been enabled1 through the munificent generosity of ,mr4 ,archer ,m4 ,huntington1 to exhibit his newly acquired ,el ,grecos and a ,velasquez4 ,the former comprise a brilliantly coloured ,holy ,family1 which exhales an atmosphere of serenity2 the ,st4 ,joseph is said to be a portrait of ,el ,greco2 and there also is a large canvas showing ,christ with several of his disciples4 ,notable examples both4 ,the ,velasquez comes from the collection of the late ,edouard ,kann and is a life-size bust portrait of a sweetly grave little girl4 ,seor ,beruete believes her to represent the daughter of the painter ,mazo and his wife1 ,francisca ,velasquez1 therefore a granddaughter of ,velasquez4 ,the tonalities of this picture are subtly beautiful1 the modelling mysterious1 the expression vital and singularly child-like4 ,it is a fitting companion to a portrait hanging on the same wall1 that of the aristocratic young ,cardinal ,pamphili1 a nephew of ,pope ,innocent ,x1 also by the great ,spaniard4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,books ,,by ,,james ,,huneker ,,mezzotints ,,in ,,modern ,,music ,,brahms1 ,,tscha,,kowsky1 ,,chopin1 ,,richard ,,strauss1 ,,liszt ,,and ,,wagner #abmo4 #a4ej ,mr4 ,huneker is1 in the best sense1 a critic2 he listens to the music and gives you his impressions as rapidly and in as few words as possible2 or he sketches the composers in fine1 broad1 sweeping strokes with a magnificent disregard for unimportant details4 ,and as ,mr4 ,huneker is1 as ,i have said1 a powerful personality1 a man of quick brain and an energetic imagination1 a man of moods and temperament--a string that vibrates and sings in response to music--we get in these essays of his a distinctly original and very valuable contribution to the world's tiny musical literature4--,j4 ,f4 ,runciman1 in ,london ,saturday ,review4 ,,melomaniacs #abmo4 #ca4ej ,contents3 ,the ,lord's ,prayer in ,b--,a ,son of ,liszt--,a ,chopin of the ,gutter--,the ,piper of ,dreams--,an ,emotional ,acrobat--,isolde's ,mother--,the ,rim of ,finer ,issues--,an ,ibsen ,girl--,tannhuser's ,choice--,the ,red-,headed ,piano ,player--,brynhd's ,immolation--,the ,quest of the ,elusive--,an ,involuntary ,insurgent--,hunding's ,wife--,the ,corridor of ,time--,avatar--,the ,wegstaffes give a ,musicale--,the ,iron ,virgin--,dusk of the ,gods--,siegfried's ,death--,intermezzo--,a ,spinner of ,silence--,the ,disenchanted ,symphony--,music the ,conqueror4 ,it would be difficult to sum up ',melomaniacs' in a phrase4 ,never did a book1 in my opinion at any rate1 exhibit greater contrasts1 not1 perhaps1 of strength and weakness1 but of clearness and obscurity4 ,it is inexplicably uneven1 as if the writer were perpetually playing on the boundary line that divides sanity of thought from intellectual chaos4 ,there is method in the madness1 but it is a method of intangible ideas4 ,nevertheless1 there is genius written over a large portion of it1 and to a musician the wealth of musical imagination is a living spring of thought--,harold ,e4 ,gorst1 in ,london ,saturday ,review 7,dec4 #h1 #aijf74 ,,books ,,by ,,james ,,huneker ,,iconoclasts3 ,a ,book of ,dramatists #abmo4 #a4ej net ,,contents3 ,henrik ,ibsen--,august ,strindberg--,henry ,becque--,gerhart ,hauptmann--,paul ,hervieu--,the ,quintessence of ,shaw--,maxim ,gorky's ,nachtasyl--,hermann ,sudennann--,princess ,mathilde's ,play--,duse and ,d',annunzio--,villiers de l'lsle ,adam--,maurice ,maeterlinck4 ,his style is a little jerky1 but it is one of those rare styles in which we are led to expect some significance1 if not wit1 in every sentence4--,g4,k4 ,chesterton1 in ,london ,daily ,news4 ,no other book in ,english has surveyed the whole field so comprehensively4--,the ,outlook4 ,a capital book1 lively1 informing1 suggestive4--,london ,times ,saturday ,review4 ,eye-opening and mind-clarifying is ,mr4 ,huneker's criticism2 444 no one having read that opening essay in this volume will lay it down until the final judgment upon ,maurice ,maeterlinck is reached4--,boston ,transcript4 ,,overtones3 ,a ,book of ,temperaments ,,with ,,frontispiece ,,portrait ,,of ,,richard ,,strauss #abmo4 #a4be net ,,contents3 ,richard ,strauss--,parsifal3 ,a ,mystical ,melodrama--,literary ,men who loved ,music 7,balzac1 ,turgenieff1 ,daudet1 etc47--,the ,eternal ,feminine--,the ,beethoven of ,french ,prose--,nietzsche the ,rhapsodist--,anarchs of ,art--,after ,wagner1 ,what8--,verdi and ,boito4 ,the whole book is highly refreshing with its breadth of knowledge1 its catholicity of taste1 and its inexhaustible energy4--,saturday ,review1 ,london4 ,in some respects ,mr4 ,huneker must be reckoned the most brilliant of all living writers on matters musical4--,academy1 ,london4 ,no modern musical critic has shown greater ingenuity in the attempt to correlate the literary and musical tendencies of the nineteenth century4--,spectator1 ,london4 ,,books ,,by ,,james ,,huneker ,,egoists ,a ,,book ,,of ,,supermen ,stendhal1 ,baudelaire1 ,flaubert1 ,anatole ,france1 ,huysmans1 ,barrs1 ,hello1 ,blake1 ,nietzsche1 ,ibsen and ,max ,stirner4 ,with portrait of ,stendhal1 unpublished letter of ,flaubert1 and original proof page of ,madame ,bovary4 #abmo4 #a4ej net ,the best thing in the book happily comes first1 the essay on ,stendhal4 ,closely and yet lightly written1 full of facts yet as amusing as a bit of discursive talk1 penetrating1 candid and very shrewd1 this study would be hard to beat in ,english1 or1 for that matter1 in ,french4 ,it is1 too1 the best of the essays as regards discrimination4 ,there are no shades of ,stendhal's genius1 whether making for good or for ill1 that are missed by this analyst1 and1 moreover1 both the lights and shadows are justly distributed444 ,he seeks to show you the color of a man's mind1 and it is evidence of his validity as an essayist that straightway he interests you in the color of his own4 ,he is an impressionist in criticism444 ,such an essayist is ,mr4 ,huneker1 a foe to dulness who is also a man of brains4--,royal ,cortissoz in ,new ,york ,tribune4 ,,james ,,huneker3 ,,individualist ,as a critic1 whether of music1 the plastic arts1 of poetry or fiction or philosophy1 he is of those who never attain finality2 but he is always stimulating1 provocative of thought1 and by virtue of this quality1 not invariably possessed by critics1 he is entitled to a distinctive place in ,american letters4 ,edward ,clark ,marsh in ,the ,forum4 ,,books ,,by ,,james ,,huneker ,,visionaries #abmo4 #a4ej net ,contents3 ,a ,master of ,cobwebs--,the ,eighth ,deadly ,sin--,the ,purse of ,aholibah--,rebels of the ,moon--,the ,spiral ,road--,a ,mock ,sun--,antichrist--,the ,eternal ,duel--,the ,enchanted ,yodler--,the ,third ,kingdom--,the ,haunted ,harpsichord--,the ,tragic ,wall--,a ,sentimental ,rebellion--,hall of the ,missing ,footsteps--,the ,cursory ,light--,an ,iron ,fan--,the ,woman ,who ,loved ,chopin--,the ,tune of ,time--,nada--,pan4 ,the author's style is sometimes grotesque in its desire both to startle and to find true expression4 ,he has not followed those great novelists who write ,french a child may read and understand4 ,he calls the moon 'a spiritual gray wafer'2 it faints in 'a red wind'2 'truth beats at the bars of a man's bosom'2 the sun is 'a sulphur-colored cymbal'2 a man moves with 'the jaunty grace of a young elephant4' ,but even these oddities are significant and to be placed high above the slipshod sequences of words that have done duty till they are as meaningless as the imprint on a worn-out coin4 ,besides1 in nearly every story the reader is arrested by the idea1 and only a little troubled now and then by an over-elaborate style4 ,if most of us are sane1 the ideas cherished by these visionaries are insane2 but the imagination of the author so illuminates them that we follow wondering and spellbound4 ,in ',the ,spiral ,road' and in some of the other stories both fantasy and narrative may be compared with ,hawthorne in his most unearthly moods4 ,the younger man has read his ,nietzsche and has cast off his heritage of simple morals4 ,hawthorne's ,puritanism finds no echo in these modern souls1 all sceptical1 wavering and unblessed4 ,but ,hawthorne's splendor of vision and his power of sympathy with a tormented mind do live again in the best of ,mr4 ,huneker's stories4--,london ,academy 7,feb4 #c1 #aijf74 99 99 99 99 99 ,,chopin3 ,the ,man and ,his ,music ,,with ,,etched ,,portrait #abmo4 #b4jj ,no pianist1 amateur or professional1 can rise from the perusal of his pages without a deeper appreciation of the new forms of beauty which ,chopin has added1 like so many species of orchids1 to the musical flora of the nineteenth century4--,the ,nation4 ,i think it not too much to predict that ,mr4 ,huneker's estimate of ,chopin and his works is destined to be the permanent one4 ,he gives the reader the cream of the cream of all noteworthy previous commentators1 besides much that is wholly his own4 ,he speaks at once with modesty and authority1 always with personal charm4--,boston ,transcript4