file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #dafgd-;h4htm or #dafgd-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#dafgd_/pg#dafgd-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#da fgd_/dafgd-;h4zip7 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see http3_/_/archive4org_/details_/corotocad #jj;allnuoft ,masterpieces in ,colour ,edited by--,t4 ,leman ,hare ,,corot #agif-ahge 99 99 99 99 99 ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,others in ,preparation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,danse ,,des ,,bergers4 ,frontispiece ,the ,danse des ,bergers is the living memorial of a happy mood--one of those moments of lyrical ecstasy of which ,corot experienced so many1 and which1 by his genius1 those less fortunate are enabled to share4 ,the feeling in the drawing and painting of the trees is reminiscent of some words spoken by the painter when ,paris was oppressing him--,i need living boughs4 ,i want to see how the leaves of the willow grow from their branches4 ,i am going to the country4 ,when ,i bury my nose in a hazel-bush1 ,i shall be fifteen years old4 ,it is good2 it breathes love6 ,,corot by ,,sidney ,,allnutt ,illustrated with ,eight ,reproductions in ,colour ,illustration ,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,jack ,new ,york3 ,frederick ,a4 ,stokes ,co4 ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,danse des ,bergers ,frontispiece ,page ,,ii4 ,l',etang #ad ,,iii4 ,les ,chaumires #bd ,,iv4 ,le ,soir #cd ,v4 ,paysage #dj ,,vi4 ,le ,vallon #ej ,,vii4 ,souvenir d',italie #fj ,,viii4 ,vue du ,colise #gj ,all the illustrations are taken from the ,louvre1 ,paris ,illustration ,the work of ,jean ,baptiste ,camille ,corot has been steadily rising in the estimation of the instructed ever since he won his first notable successes in #ahdj4 ,during the greater part of the artist's life-time the rise was very gradual1 and he would have been astonished indeed if he could have known how rapid it was to be after his death4 ,it is by no means only a rise in the selling prices of such of his works as come into the market--a ,corot has something more than a collector's value2 but figures are in their way eloquent1 and when we find a work 7,le ,lac de ,garde7 for which the painter was glad to get #hjj francs selling for #bca1jjj francs within thirty years of his death1 the rapid growth in the fame of the painter is materially evidenced4 ,there are fashions in art as in everything else3 for reasons which the dealers could often disclose if they would1 this or that artist's work is suddenly boomed1 and for a time commands absurdly big prices in the auction rooms1 only to find its proper level again when it is no longer to anybody's interest to maintain an artificial valuation4 ,but it is difficult to believe that the passing of years will do anything to diminish the fame of ,corot1 or lessen the prices which connoisseurs are willing to pay for the possession of his work4 ,rather will both increase1 there is reason to think1 as under the winnowing of ,time's wings the chaff is separated from the grain1 and many a painter hailed as a master to-day is scorned if not forgotten4 ,for whatever may happen1 it is impossible to believe that the work of ,corot will ever become old-fashioned4 ,there is in it something that does not belong to one time1 but to all times2 not to one place1 but to all places4 ,it is elemental and universal1 and instinct with a vitality and youth that unnumbered to-morrows can have no power to destroy4 ,even those critics who most strongly opposed the canons ,corot professed--and there were many of them--were often unable to condemn a heresy in which faith was so justified by works3 coming to curse1 like ,balaam1 they remained to bless4 ,a far more trying ordeal the artist had to undergo in the intemperate rhapsodies of enthusiastic admirers4 ,but neither censure or praise1 the scepticism of his own people1 or the indifference of the picture-buying public1 could tempt him to deviate from the path that for him was the right one4 ,vive la conscience1 vive la simplicit6 he used to say4 ,his creed was in the words1 and he lived up to it4 ,he claimed for the artist an entire independence4 ,you must interpret nature with entire simplicity1 and according to your personal sentiment1 altogether detaching yourself from what you know of the old masters or of contemporaries4 ,only in this way will you do work of real feeling4 ,i know gifted people who will not avail themselves of their power4 ,such people seem to me like a billiard-player1 whose adversary is constantly giving him good openings1 but who makes no use of them4 ,i think that if ,i were playing with that man1 ,i would say1 ',very well1 then1 ,i will give you no more4' ,if ,i were to sit in judgment1 ,i would punish the miserable creatures who squander their natural gifts1 and ,i would turn their hearts to cork4 ,again he says--,follow your convictions4 ,it is better not to exist than to be the echo of other painters4 ,as the wise man says1 if one follows1 one is behind4 ,and again--,art should be an individual expression of the verities1 an ardour that concedes nothing4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,l',,etang4 ,beauty in art is truth bathed in the impression1 the emotion that is received from nature4444 ,seek truth and exactitude1 but with the envelope of sentiment which you felt at first4 ,if you have been sincere in your emotion you will be able to pass it on to others4 ,so said ,corot to a pupil1 and ,l',etang would in itself be sufficient to prove that he knew how to practise what he preached4 ,it is a variant on a simple motive that he was never weary of1 and that he knew how to invest with new beauties every time it came to him4 ,it is on the face of it rather a hopeless task to attempt to trace the artistic pedigree of a painter who1 at all costs1 will be individual with an ardour that concedes nothing2 and it would not help much towards an understanding of him4 ,at the same time1 it would be a mistake to suppose that ,corot was quite so independent of the influences around as1 perhaps1 he imagined himself to be4 ,artists1 says ,shelley in a notable utterance1 cannot escape from subjection to a common influence which arises out of an infinite combination of circumstances belonging to the times in which they live1 though each is in a degree the author of the very influence by which his being is thus pervaded4 ,thus ,corot took his part in the revolt against classicism in ,france1 with which the name of the little village of ,barbizon is so inseparably associated4 ,he coloured it1 and was coloured by it--so much was inevitable2 but his intense individuality none the less preserved him in an aloofness from what ,i may be permitted to call the broad path of the movement4 ,and as he grew older1 so far from becoming more affected by his contemporaries1 he only seemed more and more to discover himself4 ,before all things ,corot was an idealist--a painter of ideas rather than of actualities2 which1 of course1 does not in any way discount his simple sincerity4 ,his landscapes give the idea of a place or an effect rather than its exterior appearance4 ,the rendering of a beautiful passage of colour1 of a gracious form1 or a delicate play of light and shade1 was never held to be sufficient4 ,within the body of phenomena he saw the throbbing heart and luminous soul of ,nature revealed2 and it was the very heart and soul of his subject that he strove to prison in his pigments4 ,at the same time1 dreamer as he was1 there was always in him a healthiness and sanity rare indeed amongst those who are given to seeing visions4 ,i remember a studio gathering at which ,corot was discussed4 ,i wish the master1 who always loved to be praised by those who could understand and were sincere1 could have heard what was said of him4 ,at length some one said1 ,corot was a great artist4 ,it is true that he also happened to be a great painter4 ,the words seemed to me to have meanings4 ,a painter is a man who does something2 an artist one who is something4 ,the statement may not be new1 but it is true2 and what it involves is1 ,i think1 too often forgotten4 ,in considering what a painter has done it is natural enough to be preoccupied with his method1 to become immersed in an analysis of his technique4 ,there will be an attempt to determine whether he is faithfully obedient to the accepted canons1 or modifying and adapting1 if not it may be defying them4 ,in the latter case an endeavour must be made to find a solution for the question whether these progressive or revolutionary activities are justified in their result4 ,it is criticism of this sort that fills innumerable studios with a jargon unintelligible to all but those who are1 so to say1 in the trade in one way or another1 and can speak with a craftsman knowledge--of technical terms if of nothing else4 ,such talk is often futile enough1 a breaking of butterfly nothings upon a ponderous wheel of words2 though it can1 on occasion1 be useful enough4 ,in any case only a few1 comparatively speaking1 are likely to be either interested or benefited4 ,it is altogether another matter when an artist is approached4 ,how he conveys his message is of much less importance than what is conveyed4 ,he may be poet1 painter1 or musician1 but the need for understanding what he does is infinitely less than that of learning what he is4 ,this is not to say that1 in the case of the artist1 technique is beneath consideration2 but it is to say that it must not be considered first4 ,trembling script sometimes give the authentic gospel its birth in words1 and a true vision may be recorded by an uncertain hand4 ,to lose sight of the artist in contemplating the technique of the work by which he reveals himself is to sacrifice the substance for the shadow4 ,corot was a great artist4 ,to him his art was not a trade or an amusement1 still less a trick1 but a religion4 ,he worshipped with an unceasing diligence and intensity before the chosen altar of his adoration4 ,less than his best he dared not offer there4 ,nothing that was not wholly honest and true could be acceptable4 ,what a magnificent character he gives to himself1 all unconsciously1 in confessing to ,m4 ,chardin an artistic sin6 ,one day ,i allowed myself to do something chic2 ,i did some ornamental thing1 letting my brush wander at will4 ,when it was done ,i was seized with remorse2 ,i could not close my eyes all night4 ,as soon as it was day1 ,i ran to my canvas1 and furiously scratched out all the work of the previous evening4 ,as my flourishes disappeared1 ,i felt my conscience grow calmer1 and once the sacrifice was accomplished ,i breathed freely1 for ,i felt myself rehabilitated in my own sight4 ,what would some of our painters say to a conscience so tyrannous8 ,it is1 for me1 impossible to look at ,corot's work without feeling that his was1 if ,i may put it so1 a monastic nature4 ,here is a serene and cloistered art1 something secluded from the traffic of the everyday world1 a vision intense rather than wide4 ,i think of ,corot as a priest at the altar of one of ,nature's innermost sanctuaries celebrating sacramental mysteries4 ,every picture that came from him is an elevation of the ,host4 ,this is the quality in his work1 much more than a fastidious refinement nearer the surface1 that gives it so high a distinction4 ,hung in a gallery among other pictures1 a ,corot does not clamour for notice4 ,it is much too quiet in matter and manner for that2 but1 after awhile1 it draws the eye1 and when it has done so its hold is secure4 ,the surrounding canvases almost invariably begin to look a little vulgar in its neighbourhood4 ,and this not only because rioting colour might well look blatant by the side of the tender greys and greens and rose flushes that the artist loved so well1 but because the spirituality of which those tones are merely the expression places the ,corot upon another and a higher plane4 ,to come upon a ,corot in a gallery is like stepping out of the noisy glare of the market-place into the cool stillness of a church4 ,market-places are good things1 and the noisy crowd is perhaps only noisy because it is doing its appointed work in a right hearty fashion2 but the ,presence seems nearer in the silence of the church4 ,the silence is not dead1 but quick with soundless speech4 ,so with a ,corot picture2 its quietness is the very antipodes of stagnation4 ,it seems to spread far beyond the limits of the frame in ever-widening waves1 until everything around is subdued4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,les ,,chaumi,,res ,luminous and almost uncannily true in tone1 ,les ,chaumires takes high rank among the finest productions of ,corot's maturer years4 ,it is the work of a man who knows1 who is able to take hold of essentials1 and let non-essentials go1 with a certainty of discrimination4 ,profound knowledge1 so thoroughly assimilated as to be instinctive in its application1 can alone account for both the completeness and simplicity of the landscape1 the result achieved with apparently so absolute a lack of effort4 ,the only other works of art which have ever given me quite the same impression in this direction are one or two of those dreaming ,buddhas that1 wherever they may be1 seem to be shrined in a stillness emanating from themselves4 ,from first to last ,corot was as independent as he was industrious4 ,he strove always to see ,nature with his own eyes1 and to keep his vision clear and simple4 ,whether or not other painters had a grander or nobler vision was nothing to him4 ,it mattered only that he should be true to the grace that was his own4 ,i pray ,god every day1 he said1 that ,he will keep me a child2 that is to say1 that ,he will enable me to see and draw with the eye of a child4 ,that prayer was surely answered1 for never did an artist look out upon the world with a more direct simplicity1 or with eyes more delicately sensitive to the appeal of beauty4 ,it was seldom the obviously picturesque that appealed to him4 ,he seemed instantly to apprehend the most elusive of the beauties in the scene before him4 ,that death-bed utterance of ,daubigny is significant3 ,adieu2 ,i go above to see if friend ,corot has found me new landscapes to paint4 ,that was it3 ,corot never failed to find new landscapes to paint1 for his eye was keen enough to pierce through what seemed commonplace1 and discover the underlying beauty4 ,starting off on one of his innumerable sketching excursions1 he remarks to a friend that he has heard bad accounts from painters of the country for which he is bound1 but adds that he has no doubt he will find pictures there4 ,and1 of course1 he found them4 ,the pictures are always there1 though the faculty of seeing them is rare4 ,no one ever worked more constantly and faithfully from ,nature1 or became more intimately acquainted with the subtle outward expressions of her innermost moods2 but the profound knowledge thus gained was only treated as the poet treats a wide vocabulary2 as a means of expression1 not as in itself worth exploitation4 ,the scene before him was not recorded as a collection of facts1 but as it had stirred his emotions1 and as it was1 in a sense1 transformed by his vivid imagination4 ,the resulting picture is the record of an adventure of the soul2 the outward reality is not lost1 but rather realised in a strange intensity4 ,see1 said ,corot1 pointing to one of his landscapes1 see the shepherdess leaning against the trunk of that tree4 ,see1 she turns suddenly4 ,she hears a field-mouse stirring in the grass4 ,of how the artist went to work when he had found a new landscape some notion may be gained from ,m4 ,silvestre's description4 ,if ,corot sees two clouds that at first sight appear to be equally dark1 he will1 before building up the whole harmony of his picture on one or other of them1 apply himself to discover the difference he knows must exist4 ,then1 when he has decided on the darkest as well as the lightest tone in the scene before him1 the intermediate values readily take their places1 and subdivide themselves indefinitely before his discerning eyes4 ,these values1 from the most positive to the most vague1 call to one another and give answer1 like echo and voice4 ,when the artist sees he can divide the principal values of the landscape before him into four1 he does so by numbering the different parts of his rough sketch from #a to #d1 #d standing for the darkest and #a for the lightest patch1 while the intermediate tones are represented by #b and #c4 ,this method enables ,corot1 with the help of any old pencil and any scrap of paper1 to make records of the most transitory effects seen upon a journey4 ,corot was not a man to make an inventory of his sentiments1 and the fact that he made such records proves that they were sufficient for his own purposes4 ,as a rule he first of all puts in his sky1 then the more important masses in the middle of the composition1 then those to the left and to the right2 he then picks out the forms of the reflections in the water1 if there is water1 and so establishes the planes of his picture1 his masses falling in one behind the other while one watches him4 ,sometimes he proceeds in a less orderly way2 for it goes without saying that his methods are the methods of freedom1 and not the invariable recipes of a pedant4 ,he runs an unquiet eye over every part of the canvas before putting a touch in place1 sure that it does no violence to the general effect4 ,if he makes haste he may become clumsy and rough1 leaving here and there inequalities of impasto4 ,these he afterwards removes with a razor1 as if he were shaving his landscape1 and leaving himself free to profit by such accidents of surface as are happy in effect4 ,the picture of ,corot sketching in shorthand shows him when the long and close study of ,nature had enabled him to generalise with confidence1 and when a memory1 always retentive1 had been trained to a pitch that made it far more reliable than any sketchbook memoranda4 ,although he always expressed impatience with the idea that anything worth doing could be done merely by taking pains1 ,corot was the least apt of men to spare any pains that were essential to his purpose2 and nothing could be farther from the truth than the suggestion sometimes made1 that he was wanting in this respect4 ,to generalise as he generalised is not to be careless of detail1 but the very reverse3 it implies a knowledge so complete of every element in a landscape that those belonging to a particular view of it can be selected with an unerring judgment1 and what is non-essential eliminated4 ,put in as much as you like at first1 and afterwards efface the superfluity1 is a bit of advice that comes from ,corot himself4 ,it was not a strikingly original remark1 but it could not have been made by other than a conscientious worker4 ,it is certainly a mistake to suppose that ,corot was careless of details in the sense that he did not give them due consideration2 but he always realised that details were details after all4 ,i never hurry to the details of a picture1 he said2 its masses and general character interest me before anything else4 ,when those are well established1 ,i search out the subtleties of form and colour4 ,incessantly and without system ,i return to any and every part of my canvas4 ,there is a note in ,mr4 ,george ,moore's ,modern ,painting that seems to throw some illumination upon ,corot's manner of looking at his subject4 ,mr4 ,moore came upon the artist1 an old man then1 in front of his easel in a pleasant glade4 ,after admiring his work1 ,i ventured to say3 ',what you are doing is lovely1 but ,i cannot find your composition in the landscape before us4' ,he said1 ',my foreground is a long way ahead4' ,and sure enough1 nearly two hundred yards away1 his picture rose out of the dimness of the dell1 stretching a little beyond the vista into the meadow4 ,i think ,corot's foreground had a habit of being a considerable way ahead4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,le ,,soir ,my ',soir1' ,i love it1 ,i love it6 ,it is so firm1 said ,corot1 standing before his picture in the exhibition gallery in company with an appreciative friend4 ,it is firm enough beyond question1 and the sky especially is a marvel of delicate1 palpitating colour4 ,but it is much more1 a moment of magic beauty1 evanescent as the reflected picture on a bubble-bell1 seized and made permanent2 an emotion of pleasure cast into a material shape4 ,to most1 ,corot is the man of greys1 the painter of the twilight4 ,without for a moment suggesting that this is true in so far as it seems to hint that his art had very narrow limitations1 ,i am certainly inclined to believe that the general eye has fixed itself upon his most characteristic and most valuable work4 ,the two dawns1 as the old ,egyptians called them1 ,isis and ,nephthys1 the dawn of day and the dawn of night1 revealed themselves to ,corot with a fulness to be measured only perhaps in part by the manner in which he has revealed them to us4 ,the stillness1 the freshness1 the indescribable tremor of awakening life1 the curious sense of a remoteness in familiar things1 the expectancy as of some momentous revelation1 all that goes to make the mystery and magic of the dawn1 he knew how to translate into subtle yet easily understandable terms of form1 and tone1 and colour4 ,it was a miracle to which he seemed to have found the key--perhaps by means of that prayer to be kept a child4 ,over and over again he invoked the dawn to appear upon his canvas1 and never in vain4 ,in ever-varying robes of loveliness1 but the same in all of them1 the dawn responded to his call4 ,grey dawn6 ,the words had a cold and gloomy sound until ,corot interpreted them1 taking the gloom away and leaving of the cold only the delicious shiver of the morning freshness4 ,beautiful almost as the dawn itself--born of it as they were--are those wonderful pearly greys of his4 ,his palette seemed to hold an infinite range of them1 each pure and perfect in itself1 and each in a true harmonic relation to the others4 ,and if the painted dawns are beautiful1 they are also true2 they carry instant conviction of their absolute verity4 ,there is only one thing that can make a painted canvas do this1 and that is truth of tone1 and of tone-values ,corot made himself a master1 mainly because he never ceased to be a student4 ,he retained the eye of a child1 but his mind became stored with the accumulated experience of many long hours that were only not laborious because the work was a delight4 ,and great as the store grew in process of time1 he was adding to it up to the last4 ,here is a picture by ,albert ,wolff of the artist at the age of #gi1 when the hand of ,death was already stretched out towards him4 ,an old man1 come to the completion of a long life1 clothed in a blouse1 sheltered under a parasol1 his white hair aureoled in reflections1 attentive as a scholar1 trying to surprise some secret of nature that had escaped him for seventy years1 smiling at the chatter of the birds1 and every now and again throwing them the bar of a song1 as happy to live and enjoy the poetry of the fields as he had been at twenty4 ,old as he was1 this great artist still hoped to be learning4 ,it is altogether an important thing about ,corot that he was always singing--in season and out of season ,i was about to say1 when ,i remembered that he would probably have declared that it was always singing-time4 ,he went to his work carolling like a lark1 though with a somewhat robuster organ1 and snatches of song punctuated his brush strokes4 ,the day's work done1 he broke out into melody in earnest1 and sang to himself1 to his friends1 at home or abroad1 with equal vigour and enjoyment4 ,we are told that on one occasion his irrepressible song broke out at an official reception1 doubtless to the confusion of dignities and the shocking of many most respectable people4 ,i cannot but think that something of music found its way into ,corot's pictures4 ,they look as if they could have been done in music as well as they were done in paint4 ,in a way they were3 if there was always a song on his lips1 surely there was also a song at his heart4 ,one may say that his paintings were built to music like the walls of ,thebes4 ,they are haunted by sweet harmonies1 and seem charged with hidden melodies that tremble on the verge of sound4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,paysage ,the play of light filtering through foliage has never been more beautifully rendered upon canvas1 or with a closer approximation to the truth of ,nature1 than in the ,paysage1 reproduced here4 ,the manner in which the tree has been portrayed1 the body and soul of it1 is not less astonishing4 ,the landscape is a masterpiece among masterpieces1 and an impressive witness to ,corot's amazingly sensitive faculty of apprehending what was in front of him1 both with eye and mind4 ,many of those who read may shake their heads at this attempt to make a confusion of two arts1 but my apology shall take the form of a quotation from ,corot himself4 ,moved to sudden emotion by a magnificent view1 he exclaimed1 ,what harmony6 ,what grandeur6 ,it is like ,gluck6 ,i think the man who said that may possibly have painted a little music1 without caring for a moment whether he was confusing the arts or not4 ,perhaps he felt that painting and music were more nearly related than a certain school of critics can allow itself to admit4 ,but that is by the way4 ,when in ,paris he was frequent in his attendances at concerts and the opera1 and indeed music always drew him with a power only second to that of his chosen mistress--painting4 ,as the twig is bent the tree will grow--it may be that had the accidents of his early environment been other than they were1 his name would be famous as that of a great composer instead of a great painter4 ,fortunately we do not know what we may have missed1 while we are fully conscious of what we have gained4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the father of ,corot the painter was ,louis ,jacques ,corot1 who1 if he escaped being altogether a hairdresser1 only did so by a narrow margin4 ,one would rather like to imagine him as another ,carrousel1 the barber of ,meridian ,street4 ,such was his art1 he could with ease ,curl wit into the dullest face2 ,or to a goddess of old ,greece ,lend a new wonder and a grace4 ,the curling irons in his hand ,almost grew quick enough to speak2 ,the razor was a magic wand ,that understood the softest cheek4 ,such was ,carrousel1 according to ,aubrey ,beardsley's ballad1 and such ,louis ,jacques ,corot should surely have been1 if only to make his son more easily explainable2 but1 as a matter of fact1 he appears at an early age to have forsaken the high art of hairdressing for more strictly commercial pursuits4 ,he became a clerk1 and his wife's assistant manager4 ,for ,madame ,corot was a business woman--very much so4 ,she was a native of ,switzerland1 and evidently of the practical nature that so often distinguishes the ,swiss people4 ,a woman of property in a moderate way1 and two years older than her husband1 as well as a capable manager1 she does not appear by any means to have allowed marriage to submerge her own personality4 ,as a marchande de modes she was a distinct success4 ,fashion found its way to her establishment in the ,rue du ,bac1 and the name ,corot became a hall-mark of elegance4 ,perhaps her son owed more to his mother than has sometimes been suspected4 ,corot himself remarked that a skill equal to that of the painter was often shown by the costumier in the blending of colours--indeed he went farther1 and said as much of a certain flower-seller of his acquaintance and her bouquet-making4 ,really1 when one comes to think of it1 he may be said to come of artists on both sides1 for if his father was scarcely as much of a hairdresser as we should like him to be1 his paternal grandfather's claim to the description is beyond criticism4 ,under these circumstances it is a little sad that1 when he had completed his educational career without winning any considerable distinction1 it was decided to make a draper of him4 ,there is every evidence that1 in so far as the attempt went1 he made a very bad draper indeed4 ,i do not know how long it took him to come to the conclusion that he would never make a good one--not very long1 ,i should say--but after a trial of six years or so1 it would seem that his father had arrived at the same conclusion4 ,when his son declared his intention of abandoning drapery and of becoming a painter1 ,corot pre did not offer any strenuous objection4 ,he thought that the young man was a fool1 and said so1 with possibly a little bitterness1 but on the whole with resignation4 ,what was more to the point1 he made a small provision1 so that his son might live while amusing himself4 ,the provision in question was certainly a small one--#aejj francs a year--but it prevented ,corot from ever knowing the extremities of poverty to which some of his brilliant contemporaries were reduced4 ,as he said1 he could always count on shoes and soup--and shoes and soup1 if not much in themselves1 can often bridge the gulf that lies between hope1 or even content1 and despair4 ,moreover1 ,corot's wants were few4 ,throughout his life he had the simplest tastes1 and his only extravagance was a charity that gave without measure and never thought about return4 ,however1 figure to yourself ,corot fully embarked on his career as a painter4 ,he is1 roughly1 twenty-five years of age1 and for stock-in-trade has glowing health1 a certain familiarity with pencil and brush already acquired1 an unquenchable enthusiasm1 and so many francs a year4 ,on the whole it is the outfit of a very happy and fortunate young man4 ,once emancipated from the compulsions of drapery he lost no time in setting to work4 ,he went straight to ,nature1 and even at this time produced work that bore a hall-mark as distinctive as that of his later years4 ,he worked also in the studios of ,michallon and of ,bertin1 and if they did him no good 7and there is little reason to suppose such a thing71 they at least did him no harm4 ,already he was too keenly engaged upon a line of his own4 ,around ,ville d',avray1 where his father had bought a house1 he found numberless subjects ready to his hand1 subjects of which nothing that he saw in his wide wanderings could ever make him tired4 ,he also had an experience in ,morvan4 ,i shall venture to quote from ,mr4 ,everard ,meynell's ,corot and his ,friends1 concerning it4 ,he went1 presently1 to the little hamlet of ,morvan1 whose blacksmith gave him hospitality4 ,as a member of a farrier's numerous family1 with the forge for sitting-room1 and its fires to assuage the cold of mortals and of metals1 and soup for fuel1 and the blue smock of the country for raiment1 ,corot saved money4 ,he saved money out of the #abjj francs of his allowance2 even the cost of canvas and paints did not bring his expenditure to three francs a day4 ,his austerity meant ,rome1 but it was not a hard road for him to follow4 ,never was a man less provoked to any of the pampered ways of living4 ,it was in ,morvan that ,corot picked up with the peasant1 and found in him many things fit to be learned4 ,he learnt about soups1 and pipes1 and blouses1 and the habit of the sunrise2 and nothing that he learned did he forget4 ,soups1 and pipes1 and blouses1 and the sunrise lasted him till the end of his life4 ,these things1 like the honest humour and good-comradeship of a man afield1 were in his blood2 but ,morvan and ,morvan's blacksmith1 and daily things done with the ,morvan peasantry1 developed the peasant in the painter4 ,corot's was nearer to the peasant's character than ,millet's even2 for the emotional gloom of ,millet's outlook1 his sense of the price paid for life1 his sense of death and toil1 of the significance of the seed and the scythe1 made him a person too great and dreadful to be familiar with those for whom he thought and felt4 ,corot's laugh and song1 his raillery and content1 were things to be friends with4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,le ,,vallon ,le ,vallon is probably one of the best-known and most universally admired of ,corot's works4 ,it does not record one of those tender twilight effects in which1 as may be believed1 the painter found his keenest pleasure1 but the quiet glory of a golden afternoon4 ,the simple landscape is bathed in the most wonderful of painted sunshine1 and possesses an extraordinary verity4 ,the material essentials of the scene are set down with an unerring regard for truth1 but it is in interpreting its sentiment that the most notable success has been achieved4 ,i think that in the foregoing passage the influence upon ,corot of the ,morvan visit1 though it may well have been a memorable one1 has been perhaps a trifle exaggerated4 ,surely he must have picked up with the peasant long before1 and found out how much he had in common with the dweller on the soil4 ,and will the comparison with ,millet fully bear examination8 ,i doubt it4 ,the extraordinary delicacy and refinement of ,corot's vision is at least a thing as foreign to the peasant as the tense emotionalism of ,millet2 and ,i suspect that the deep-rooted content of the one was as much removed as the implicit revolt of the other from the people with whom in their several ways they were both so much in sympathy4 ,that in personal relations ,corot got nearer than ,millet to his peasant friends is more than probable4 ,if not more understandable in reality1 he seemed so in daily intercourse with those as simple and direct as himself4 ,there was nothing in him to repel4 ,his gay and expansive nature invited a confidence that was seldom withheld1 except by those too distrustful and secretive themselves to understand it4 ,the first visit to ,italy1 undertaken in #ahbe1 marks an epoch in the life of ,corot1 as in that of many another painter4 ,but though it widened his outlook1 and taught him much that otherwise he might never have learned1 it did not tempt him to any deviation from the simple principles that all through his life guided him in the practice of his art4 ,all the inducements which ,italy could offer were not sufficient to make him incline to use other eyes than his own when painting4 ,he seems to have treated the ,masters in an unusually cavalier manner4 ,nature in ,italy interested him much more than ,art in ,italy3 he was more concerned with sunsets than with ,michael ,angelo4 ,as was his custom1 ,corot was always at work in ,italy1 sitting down with his usual happy knack in finding the right spot1 and painting what he saw as he saw it1 with careful fidelity to his own beautiful way of looking at things4 ,sometimes he worked from models in his room1 but whether indoors or out1 day after day found him painting1 painting with unabated enthusiasm and ever-fresh delight4 ,and he made friends1 as always--among them d',aligny1 who was the first to take the true measure of the then somewhat awkward young man4 ,d',aligny1 says ,mr4 ,everard ,meynell1 was the discoverer of his genius and its advertiser2 for having found ,corot at work on the ',vue du ,colise1' now hanging in the ,louvre1 he made a formal statement of his admiration at ',il ,lepre' 7a caf in ,rome much frequented by painters7 that night4 ',corot1 who sings songs to you1 and to whom you listen or call out your ribald chaff1' said he1 'might be master of you all6' ,the friendship lasted until the death of d',aligny in #ahgd1 and ,corot never forgot the generous praise that had so encouraged him during those early days in ,rome4 ,in #ahbg ,corot exhibited for the first time in the ,salon4 ,the two pictures which bore his name were not unnoticed1 but no one was sufficiently interested to purchase them4 ,it was indeed fortunate on the whole that he was assured of shoes and soup from other sources than his art1 for it was not until #ahdj that it brought him any monetary reward worth mentioning4 ,but it would be beside the mark to say that he had to endure any remarkable period of neglect4 ,it must be remembered that his career as a painter did not seriously begin until he was of an age when many artists have already secured something of a position for themselves4 ,his work1 too1 was not of such a description as to make any sensational impact upon the attention of the art-loving public4 ,before he returned from his first visit to ,rome he had1 however1 made his mark in some measure1 had been hailed by a few discerning critics as one of the elect4 ,the enthusiastic testimony of d',aligny and one or two others had been endorsed with signatures that carried some weight--only at home was he still held to be an amateur4 ,his right to a place among the more notable artists of his time was no more questioned1 except by those whom ignorance or prejudice had rendered incapable of sane judgment4 ,once more1 and again1 he visited ,italy1 painting as he went1 and what was much more to the purpose1 filling with magic pictures the tablets of his mind3 but ,i doubt if these subsequent visits carried him far beyond the point he had arrived at during the first4 ,each day he was gaining more knowledge and greater dexterity1 but his point of view was never seriously modified4 ,italy gave to his delicacy some of its strength1 invested the most tender-hearted of painters with the touch of sternness that could alone save his work from becoming invertebrate3 but it could not materially alter his habit of vision1 or turn into dramatic shape an inherently lyrical gift4 ,he saw ,nature as a song in ,france first of all and last of all2 ,italy only helped him to give the song a more severe metrical basis than it might otherwise have possessed4 ,much that was sweet in ,corot it would seem that the relentless landscapes and pitiless skies of ,italy helped to make strong4 ,from #ahdj onwards one may say that ,corot was steadily growing into fame4 ,in that year two of his pictures were bought by public authorities1 and thus1 for the first time1 an official imprimatur was set upon his increasing reputation4 ,he never knew the feverish delight of awaking one morning to find himself famous4 ,the value of his work was only very slowly recognised1 and as his paintings attracted more and more notice a heavy fire of hostile criticism was opened upon them3 with no more effect than to make him smile as he went upon his way4 ,some of these egregious criticisms are so utterly beside the mark that it is difficult to believe them anything but the result of a wilful misapprehension on the part of the critics4 ,they seem to be inspired by venom and spite when read to-day3 but in their own time they probably fairly represented the serious opinions of many who thought they were defending legitimate art against a spreading anarchy4 ,it is even possible that such as ,nieuwerkerke1 who1 as ,mr4 ,meynell records1 was overheard describing ,corot as a miserable creature who smeared canvases with a sponge dipped in mud1 honestly believed that he was administering a well-deserved castigation to a charlatan4 ,it is more than likely that many of us are making mistakes almost as serious to-day1 so we need not find such an attitude incredible4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,souvenir ,d',,italie ,corot at the height of his powers is seen in the ,souvenir d',italie4 ,the thousand subtle nuances of exquisite colour in the luminous sky1 the refined drawing and firm painting of the trees1 and the happy confidence revealed by every brush mark upon the canvas1 make it one of the most delightful and1 we may say1 most lovable of its creator's works4 ,there were other critics at this same period who were less hampered by preconceived notions1 and came to a very different conclusion than those who were able to dismiss the whole ,nature school with contempt as pampered humbugs4 ,delacroix could see that ,corot was not only a man of landscapes but a rare genius1 and he was not alone4 ,every year1 as one masterpiece after another appeared at the ,salon from the mud-dauber's brush1 the general body of artists and art-lovers were more disposed to give him the rank that was his due4 ,in #ahdh ,corot was elected one of the judges for the annual exhibition by his fellow-artists4 ,he himself sent nine pictures1 and one of them1 a ,site d',italie1 was purchased by the ,state4 ,the following year ,corot was again one of the judges1 and in #ahej he was elected a member of the ,jury de ,peinture4 ,he had become a personage in the art-world of ,france4 ,already in #ahdf he had been decorated with the ,cross of the ,legion of ,honour1 to the astonishment of his worthy father1 who could not in the least understand on what grounds such an honour had been done to his failure of a son4 ,the history of ,corot's following years there is no necessity to follow in detail4 ,like the years which had gone before1 they were fulfilled with happy labour4 ,he journeyed through the length and breadth of ,france1 to ,switzerland1 and elsewhere1 finding landscapes with that apprehensive eye of his1 and recording them on canvas or on paper1 or storing them in the pigeon-holes of a memory that in such matters never failed him4 ,for the rest the record is one of a continually increasing appreciation of his work4 ,it started in a very small circle1 extending thence in ever-widening ripples4 ,almost imperceptibly his fame increased until he became an acknowledged master4 ,in view of the sums paid for many of them since1 the prices he obtained for his pictures seem ridiculously small1 but there is no reason to suppose that he was anything but well content with such material rewards as came his way4 ,indeed1 so much to the contrary1 for some time he looked upon the increasing prices which purchasers were willing to pay with a mild astonishment and a kind of humorous fear that it was too good to be true4 ,the slighting of his earlier work and the laudation excited by the later had precisely the same effect upon him--that is none at all4 ,if one had asked him1 ,i think he would have said both alike were out of perspective4 ,and he would have spoken without any taint of bitterness3 for1 from the very first1 he was both confident and humble4 ,of the man ,corot there are many portraits both in pen and pencil1 that help to give an outward shape to the more intimate revelation of personality to be found in his work4 ,one of the most interesting is a portrait by the artist of himself as a young man4 ,he is sitting1 a burly1 broad-shouldered figure1 before his easel4 ,the face looks out from the canvas square and strong1 but the full-lipped mouth is sensitive1 almost tremulous1 and betrays the nature of the man even more surely than the alert eyes2 though these eyes1 on the pounce1 one may say1 and the forehead drawn in the intense endeavour to see--these also tell their own story4 ,a pen-portrait of later date by ,silvestre describes the artist as of short but ,herculean build2 his chest and shoulders are solid as an iron chest2 his large and powerful hands could throw the ordinary strong man out of the window4 ,attacked once1 when with ,marilhat1 by a band of peasants of the ,midi1 he knocked down the most energetic of them with a single blow1 and afterwards1 gentle again and sorry1 he said1 ',it is astonishing2 ,i did not know ,i was so strong4' ,he is very full-blooded1 and his face of a high colour4 ,this1 with the bourgeois cut of his clothes and the plebeian shape of his shoes1 gives him at first sight a look which disappears in a conversation that is nearly always full of point1 of wit1 and matter4 ,he explains his principles with great ease1 and illustrates the method of his art with anything at hand2 and that generally is his pipe4 ,he so loves to talk about his practices in painting that1 a student told me1 he will talk in his shorts and with bare feet for two hours at a stretch without being once distracted by the cold4 ,many photographs are in existence to present to us ,corot in his autumn time4 ,says ,m4 ,gustave ,geffroy1 examining one of these3 ,the features are clearly marked4 ,the brow1 high and bare1 crowned with hair in the coup de vent style1 is furrowed with lines4 ,his glance goes clear1 keen1 direct1 from beneath the heavy eyelids4 ,the nose1 short and fleshy1 is attached to the cheeks by two strongly marked creases4 ,there is a smile on the lips1 of which the lower is very thick--altogether a good1 intelligent1 witty face4 ,in general appearance1 ,i may add1 these later portraits of ,corot always remind me of the late ,mr4 ,lionel ,brough4 ,to my mind there is something more in these photographs than ,m4 ,geffroy has called attention to4 ,they are the portraits of a very happy man4 ,a deep spiritual happiness and content make the old1 wrinkled face a beautiful one4 ,it is the face of one who1 to use a lovely old phrase1 walked with ,god1 and of whom it was said1 c'est le ,saint ,vincent de ,paul de la peinture4 ,as one of his friends said1 ,corot was adorably good4 ,he was a good son1 for all that he found himself unable to fall in with his father's desire to make him a successful draper3 and the fact that at home his outstanding abilities were never recognised1 could not in the least abate the warmth of his family affections4 ,and he was a good friend4 ,he never forgot a kindness done to him either in word or deed1 although his memory seemed to be singularly incapable of retaining a record of anything done to his hurt4 ,it has been said1 and the argument could be powerfully supported1 that the same qualities that go to the making of a good friend make a bad enemy4 ,very likely it is true in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred3 if so the case of ,corot was the hundredth4 ,he seemed to have a natural incapacity to bear malice or retain a sense of injury4 ,perhaps he was too simple or too wise2 or1 maybe1 both4 ,not less characteristic of ,corot than his manner of going about always with a song on his lips1 was his incurable habit of giving4 ,the wonder is that he ever had anything at all left for himself1 that even shoes and soup did not follow after francs4 ,and very reprehensibly1 of course1 he gave to almost every one who had recourse to him1 as well as to many who did not4 ,his generosity was all but indiscriminate1 and conducted in a manner that1 it may be supposed1 would drive a charity organisation society to distraction4 ,he was victimised often and knew it1 but the knowledge never dulled the edge of an insatiable appetite4 ,to give was at once a luxury and a necessity to him1 as appears1 and he was never so gay as when he had been indulging himself in this direction rather more recklessly than usual4 ,he would paint 7,i quote from ,meynell71 saying to himself1 ',now ,i am making twice what ,i have just given4' ,or1 again1 having just emptied his cash drawer1 he would take up his easel1 saying3 ',now we will paint great pictures4 ,now we will surprise the nations4' ,rather a foolish fellow evidently3 but one of ,god's fools1 as ,i heard an old priest say of a somewhat similar example4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,vue ,,du ,,colis,e ,the ,vue du ,colise is a reminiscence of ,corot's first visit to ,rome4 ,it plainly shows that even in those early days he had obtained a great mastery of his medium1 and could set down with distinction what he so clearly saw4 ,though the subject is a big one1 it is handled in such a fashion that simple dignity is its outstanding characteristic4 ,the ,vue du ,colise was one of the paintings that first gained for ,corot the high consideration of the more discerning among his artist friends4 ,notwithstanding the love that made the keynote of his character1 all the investigations of the curious have not discovered an affair of the heart in ,corot's life story4 ,it is a story to all intents and purposes without a woman in it3 or1 if that is saying too much1 certainly without a heroine4 ,there has been some attempt to exalt his relations with ,mademoiselle ,rose to the level of a romance1 but it has failed completely for want of materials4 ,mademoiselle ,rose was one of his mother's work girls1 and in those early days1 when he was but newly emancipated from the bondage of drapery1 she used to come to see him at his painter-work4 ,she never married1 and thirty-five years later ,corot still counted her among his friends1 and she visited him from time to time4 ,it is a little romance of friendship1 if you like1 it may have been on the part of ,mademoiselle ,rose something more--who knows8--but it cannot count as a ,corot love-affair on the evidence that is available4 ,as far as is known this is the nearest approach to a love interest in the life of the artist4 ,it may have been that he looked upon women too much with the eye of an artist ever to be able to see them merely as a man2 more probably it was the element of austerity in him that kept him immune from passion4 ,with all his intense delight in life and in living1 ,corot was always detached2 always preserved1 as by a religious habit1 from actual contact with the world around him4 ,through the midst of the follies1 the extravagances1 and the vices of ,romanticist circles in ,paris of the thirties1 he passed without coming to any harm1 and characteristically enough1 without losing his regard for some of the wildest of a wild company4 ,he took part in much of the fun that was going on1 but though often in the set he was never of it1 and so far as can be judged it did not influence him1 or colour his outlook upon life1 in the slightest degree4 ,i think it was this temperamental detachment1 and possibly a sense1 unexpressed even to himself1 of being vowed to one particular service1 that prevented ,corot from ever falling in love1 as the phrase goes4 ,or1 to put it another way1 his life was so full of his art1 that there was no room within its limits for another dominating interest4 ,simple and single-minded1 happily pursuing the occupation that of all others he would have chosen1 he made his life a work of art more lovely than the most beautiful of his paintings4 ,no one can live in such a world as this for the allotted span and more without becoming acquainted with grief1 but ,corot knew none of those searing sorrows which scorch their way into heart and brain1 until they make existence a burden hardly to be borne4 ,his faith in the good ,god1 to whom he looked up with so childlike a confidence1 was so complete that sorrow for him could hold no bitterness2 nor1 deeply sympathetic as he was1 had it power over an impregnable content and an unfailing serenity4 ,and he died as he had lived4 ,a few days before his death it is recorded that he told one of his friends how in a dream he had seen 'a landscape with a sky all roses1 and clouds all roses too4 ,it was delicious1' he said2 ',i can remember it quite well4 ,it will be an admirable thing to paint4' ,the morning of the day he died1 the #bbnd of ,february1 #ahge1 he said to the woman servant who brought him some nourishment1 ',le pre ,corot is lunching up there to-day4' ,it will be hard to replace the artist2 the man can never be replaced1 was one fine tribute to his memory2 and another1 ,death might have had pity and paused before cutting short so sweet a life-work4 ,a sale of some #fjj of ,corot's works took place in the ,may and ,june following his death4 ,it realised nearly two million francs1 or #hj1jjj4 ,this is1 of course1 not a fraction of the sum that would be realised were the same pictures to be put up to auction to-day2 but it shows that his achievement was beginning to be estimated at something approaching its true value4 ,corot's work1 of which at one time he was able to boast he had a complete collection1 is now scattered to the four corners of the earth4 ,paris possesses some splendid examples at the ,louvre1 and there are many not less admirable distributed among the provincial galleries of ,france4 ,america holds a large number in public and private galleries1 and there are in private ownership in this country ,corots sufficient to make a magnificent collection4 ,lately the ,national ,gallery has been enriched1 by the ,salting bequest1 with seven fine paintings from the master's hand1 eloquent witnesses alike to his individuality and variety4 ,to me it is an added joy1 when ,i stand before a ,corot picture1 to think of the gracious personality of its creator4 ,it is almost as if his eager1 happy voice were pointing out the manifold beauties of the miraculously bedaubed canvas1 and recalling the moment1 so certainly made permanent there4 ,it is always a moment that is seized in ,corot's paintings1 with the exception of some of the earliest4 ,nature is surprised with her fairest charms unveiled1 in a passing emotion1 of laughter or of tears4 ,there is life1 movement1 the tremble of being1 in everything set down4 ,the air is palpitant with colour1 rainbows are dissolved in an atmosphere that clothes everything in magic and mystery4 ,beneath the gay confidence of the painting1 subserving the emotion of the moment1 what knowledge is shown in these pictures6 ,these tree forms1 bold and delicate1 with such wonderful subtleties of drawing in them1 give more than externals4 ,they reveal a very psychology of trees1 the soul that the artist so plainly saw in everything around him4 ,he was concerned to set down far more than the details of the scene before him1 not in the least satisfied to be but a reporter4 ,the higher1 or1 if you like1 deeper verities were what he strove for1 and the universal verdict to-day is that he did not strive in vain4 ,the figure-painting of ,corot is comparatively little known1 and it is a subject of too much importance to attempt to deal with adequately in small space4 ,an enthusiastic critic claims that it includes the artist's absolute masterpieces1 but ,i doubt if many would agree1 beautiful as some of these figures are4 ,they show the same faculty of apprehending a sudden revelation of beauty as is shown by the more familiar landscapes1 the same exquisite sense of graces in form and colour1 which elude the eyes of most of us4 ,but it is still in landscape that ,corot is supreme4 ,i have already stated my conviction that he was not greatly influenced by other artists1 his predecessors1 or contemporaries4 ,perhaps ,constable1 to mention but one name1 helped to open his eyes1 but once open he used them as his own4 ,again1 the classicism which surrounded him in his youth left gentle memories that in his age were never quite forgotten2 but it was worn as sometimes an elderly gentleman wears a bunch of seals1 and had about as much to do with the essential personality of the wearer4 ,he was always true to himself4 ,his equipment was simple faith1 definite purpose1 and unflagging zeal4 ,a clear eye1 a dream-haunted brain1 and a great loving heart--that was ,corot4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh