,,lectures ,,on ,,painting ,,delivered ,,to ,,the ,,students ,,of ,,the ,,royal ,,academy ,,by ,,edward ,,armitage1 ,r4,a4 ,,new ,,york ,g4 ,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons #bg #bi ,,west #bc;,d ,,street #ahhc ,press of ,g4 ,p4 ,putnam's ,sons ,new ,york ,,preface4 ,these ,lectures are a selection from those delivered by me to the students of the ,royal ,academy during the term of my professorship1--that is1 between the years #ahgf and #ahhb4 ,i have limited the selection to twelve1 partly to keep the book of a modest size1 and partly because many of the omitted lectures 7and especially those which treat of the great masters of the fifteenth1 sixteenth1 and seventeenth centuries7 would hardly be comprehensible without the numerous engravings with which they were illustrated at the time of delivery4 ,i ought1 perhaps1 to apologize for the roughness of my explanatory diagrams1 but as they only aspire to represent the rude sketches done with white chalk during the actual delivery of the lectures1 let us hope they will be leniently dealt with4 ,it is a common practice with writers who are not yet hardened offenders1 to seek some excuse for rushing into print1 and the excuse usually offered is the 8urgent entreaty of valued friends40 ,i certainly cannot avail myself of this customary but ,i fear often uncandid plea4 ,my only reason for publishing must be looked for in the large and very attentive audiences ,i have always had4 ,this evident appreciation of my teaching by the ,royal ,academy students1 has led me to think that some of these lectures might be interesting and instructive to other students outside the ,academy1 and possibly even to those who do not intend to follow art as a profession1 but who would be glad to have a little daylight thrown on a subject which1 though much written and lectured about of late years1 does not seem to have been often treated in a simple1 practical manner4 ,at the same time ,i am fully aware that the practical part of drawing can only be learned by real work2 and ,i am also inclined to believe that a knowledge of the old masters and their various schools is better acquired by frequent visits to galleries where their works can be seen1 than by second-hand description from a lecture4 ,in my opinion1 the special duties of a professor and lecturer on ,art ought to be1 first1 the general pilotage of the schools through the quicksands and mud-banks with which the deep-water channel leading to excellence is beset on every side2 and1 secondly1 the alimentation of that subtle flame without which the architect degenerates into a builder1 the sculptor into a statuary1 and the painter into a handicraftsman4 ,e4 ,a4 ,february1 #ahhc4 ,,contents4 ,,lecture ,,page ,i4 ,,ancient ,,costumes #a ,,ii4 ,,byzantine ,,and ,,romanesque ,,art #cg ,,iii4 ,,on ,,the ,,painters ,,of ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century #fg ,,iv4 8,,david0 ,,and ,,his ,,school #ia ,v4 ,,on ,,the ,,modern ,,schools ,,of ,,europe #aai ,,vi4 ,,on ,,drawing #aea ,,vii4 ,,color #ahb ,,viii4 ,,on ,,decorative ,,painting #bjg ,,ix4 ,,on ,,finish #bcc ,x4 ,,on ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,a ,,subject #bfj ,,xi4 ,,on ,,the ,,composition ,,of ,,decorative ,,and ,,historical ,,pictures #bhd ,,xii4 ,,composition ,,of ,,incident ,,pictures #caj ,lectures on ,painting4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,ancient ,,costumes4 ,i do not purpose in this lecture to enter much into detail4 ,such a course would indeed be impossible1 without having a large collection of costumes at hand to explain and illustrate my meaning as ,i go on4 ,i may attempt something of this kind in a future year1 but my object to-night is to make a few general observations on the dress of the ancients4 ,i will begin with the ancient ,jews1 from ,noah downward4 ,we have no pictorial record of the dress of the patriarchs2 we have therefore no fixed data to guide us4 ,we may1 however1 safely assume that a straight-cut under-garment was commonly worn2 that a long1 ample drapery or cloak was thrown over the shoulders2 and that the head was protected from the sun by a cloth1 or possibly by some kind of skull-cap4 ,turbans are essentially ,mahometan1 and the painters of the ,flemish and ,dutch schools were certainly wrong in representing ,abraham with a turban4 ,the costume ,i have suggested as appropriate to the patriarchal age is identical with the dress of the modern ,arabs1 and there is no doubt that1 if not identical1 it really was very similar4 ,i think1 however1 that in painting ,biblical subjects we ought to be careful not to carry the similitude too far4 ,i see no objection to clothing ,ishmael or any of the tribes of the desert like modern ,arabs2 but the ,jews1 even in the time of ,abraham1 were a peculiar people1 and we may very well suppose that they would modify their dress in such a manner as would distinguish them from the wandering and predatory tribes4 ,besides1 there is always a danger1 in dressing ,abraham or ,jacob like an ,arab chieftain1 of importing into your picture that familiarity which breeds contempt4 ,it has often been done in modern times1 but ,i cannot say ,i approve of this easy way of solving the difficulty4 ,i should put the cloak on differently to what the ,arabs do4 ,i should avoid the camel's-hair cord which encircles the head1 and thus1 whilst preserving the simplicity of that early period1 my patriarchs would not be mistaken for modern ,arabs4 ,the women of remote ,jewish antiquity1 the ,sarahs1 the ,rebeccas1 etc41 should be clothed in similar simple garments4 ,whatever may be said in favor of dressing the men like ,arabs1 it would never do to introduce the female ,arab fashions into ,biblical pictures4 ,their dress is peculiarly ,mahometan4 ,the women of the patriarchal age wore long straight-cut robes1 longer than those of the men1 gathered round the waist by means of a cord or narrow sash4 ,they would have a cloth on their heads1 falling a long way down the back2 and the young women would probably have their arms bare4 ,illustration ,the ancient ,jews certainly wore sandals 7or shoes1 as they are translated in our version of the ,bible74 ,these sandals were worn out-of-doors only1 and consisted most likely of a rude leather sole1 fastened to the foot and ankle by means of ligatures made of skin4 ,i will now pass on to the costumes of ,assyria and ancient ,egypt4 ,if we were to take literally the sculptured bas-reliefs of ,nineveh1 and the numerous wall-paintings of ,egypt1 we should come to the conclusion that the dress of those ancient peoples was of a very stiff1 formal character4 ,such1 however1 was probably not the case4 ,the stiffness and formality noticeable in these works is due rather to the want of skill in the sculptors than to the fashions of the period4 ,in the ,nineveh sculptures we notice everywhere the hair and beards of the kings arranged in symmetrical curls1 which would lead one to suppose that these monarchs must not only have had beards of a very peculiar nature1 but must have spent a great deal of time under the hands of the barber4 ,on further examination1 however1 we find that the manes of the lions are treated in the same way1 and hence we conclude that these regular1 basaltic-looking curls were merely the artist's conventional way of representing crisp or knotted hair4 ,the heavy fringes of the foldless dresses must be interpreted in the same way4 ,we learn from them that ,assyrian kings1 priests1 and high officials did wear fringes to their dresses1 but it does not follow that these fringes were like those of a drop-curtain1 or that the dresses were tight and uncomfortable4 ,the peculiar-shaped hat is probably very much like what really was worn4 ,something of the sort is still to be found in ,persia and on the ,indian frontiers4 ,in treating of ancient ,egyptian costume we must1 in the same way as with ,assyrian1 make a liberal allowance for the imperfections and mannerisms of the art of the period4 ,there is no doubt that the square shoulders and narrow hips of the ,egyptian figures were not pure inventions of the artists4 ,the peculiarity has often been noticed in ancient mummies and skeletons4 ,the artists doubtless exaggerated and embellished what was possibly thought a beauty1 just as we see more modern artists exaggerating the human form in another direction4 ,the heavy fringes and tassels of the ,assyrians seem to have been unknown in ,egypt4 ,the male costume is generally very simple and even scanty4 ,a cloth1 about two feet wide1 wound single round the waist so as to allow the hips and thighs to be covered1 with the end brought from behind between the legs1 and tucked in to the waist1 is in most cases the only covering4 ,besides this garment1 there is often a close-fitting kind of bodice with straps or braces over the shoulders4 ,of shirts and tunics there are a few examples cut in the ,greek fashion1 but these probably belong to a much later period than the time of the ,pharaohs4 ,we must not1 however1 argue that because we have no satisfactory representation of these under-garments that therefore they did not exist4 ,we read in ,genesis1 that ,pharaoh arrayed ,joseph in vestures of fine linen1 and there is abundant evidence elsewhere that the rich ,egyptians wore not only fine linen under-clothing1 but rich mantles also4 ,the women in the ancient ,egyptian paintings are represented in an impossibly tight dress descending to the ankles1 but as no female could either walk or sit down in such a garment1 we must suppose that the painters of the period did not know how to represent folds and therefore adopted this short and easy way of indicating clothing4 ,this is evidently a case where it would be absurd to follow literally the old authorities4 ,according to ,herodotus1 this robe was the only garment of the ancient ,egyptian women1 but there are indications on many of the bas-reliefs that some kind of thin tunic or under-garment was also worn4 ,most of the women in the ancient paintings1 however1 have no clothing above the waist2 but the neck and shoulders are adorned with a number of necklaces1 and we notice over the shoulders the same kind of bands ,i have already mentioned in speaking of the men's dress4 ,of course1 if you have a ,cleopatra to paint1 you may allow yourselves a great departure from the scantiness of the ancient wardrobe4 ,the ,roman fashions were in ,cleopatra's time grafted on the ,egyptian1 and there are plenty of sculptures of the time of ,adrian representing ,egyptian priestesses1 sacrifices1 and processions1 which give ample materials for dressing ,cleopatra and her attendants1 both male and female4 ,the most singular and striking feature in the costume of the ancient ,egyptians is the head-gear4 ,this takes the most fantastic and extraordinary shapes4 ,many of these queer head-coverings are royal crowns4 ,thus1 a was the crown of ,lower ,egypt1 and was of a red color2 b1 of ,upper ,egypt1 and white2 c1 the crown of the two countries united1 which union took place about #cjjj years ,b4,c4 ,some of these singular forms are doubtless heraldic imitations of flowers and feathers4 ,illustration ,it is probable also that many of them are mere symbols and were never worn4 ,the rather hackneyed bird head-dress was peculiar to the queens of ,egypt1 and this1 like the male crowns1 was never worn except on state occasions4 ,thus it would be incorrect to give ,pharaoh's daughter the bird head-dress4 ,if she had a right to it at all1 she would not wear it when going out to bathe with her attendants4 ,she would probably have a kind of veil fastened round her head with an ornamental band1 but she would no more think of putting on the insignia of royalty than our ,queen would dream of wearing her crown when taking a drive in the ,highlands4 ,the ,egyptian men shaved their heads1 and commonly wore either a skull-cap or the well-known cloth which we find everywhere from the gigantic sphinx to the most minute coin4 ,illustration ,the best authorities give this head-dress an obtuse-angled triangle shape1 but ,i never could make any thing of this hypothesis4 ,i am rather inclined to think that this most characteristic of ,egyptian coiffures was an elongated piece of heavy cloth2 the lower half of which was split into three divisions4 ,when the cloth was tied on the head1 the two outer divisions were brought over the shoulders1 the middle one being left to hang down the back4 ,a very becoming and very common head-dress of the women was a narrow band or fillet round the black hair4 ,this fillet was often embroidered with gold and bright colors1 and a large water-lily1 or an imitation of one1 was fastened to it in front and projected over the forehead4 ,illustration ,at the ,british ,museum upstairs you will find modern representations of ,egyptian warriors with their horses and chariots4 ,these are kings or great conquerors1 and their clothing is exceptional4 ,if ,i had to paint ,pharaoh pursuing the ,israelites1 ,i should not be guided entirely by these representations without further research2 but they give an idea of what the ,egyptian paraphernalia of war was like in the time of ,moses4 ,the caution ,i would give you in painting ,egyptian subjects is not to overdo the ,egyptian element4 ,if in your researches you find an extraordinary head-dress like a chemical retort1 or a patent cowl for a smoky chimney1 do not be in a hurry to introduce it4 ,be satisfied with the simpler and more generic forms of ,egyptian head-gear4 ,the transition from ,egyptian to ,greek costume1 like the transition from ,egyptian to ,greek art1 was very gradual4 ,without1 however1 stopping to speculate on the costume of the dubious ,homeric period1 we will proceed at once to the terra firma of the historical age4 ,i shall always use the word 8tunic0 to designate the under-garment1 or that which was worn next the skin4 ,if the tunic were never more seen than our under-garments1 its fashion and form would be of little importance3 but as it often 7especially in early times7 was the only garment worn1 it is well to consider its construction4 ,the tunic for both men and women was made either of wool1 linen1 or some material resembling cotton4 ,it was called by the ,greeks 8chiton10 and appears to have been of two kinds1 the ,dorian and the ,ionian4 ,the 8,dorian0 7the earliest form7 was a short woollen shirt for the men1 without sleeves1 and for the women a long linen garment1 also without sleeves4 ,these chitons were1 however1 not made like our shirts and chemises4 ,they consisted simply of two square pieces of stuff1 one for the front and one for the back4 ,these pieces were linked together on the shoulders by the means of clasps1 brooches1 or fibul1 and the different varieties of the ,dorian chiton were mainly due to the degree in which they were sewn together at the sides4 ,the pieces never appear to have been united above the waist or girdle1 but below this zone they were sometimes united on both sides down to the ground4 ,sometimes one side was open as high as the middle of the thigh4 ,the ,spartan girls1 who were very active and athletic1 adopted this fashion1 as it gave their limbs freer play4 ,when they married1 and gave up active games1 they wore the chiton close4 ,the ,amazons are always represented with this slit-up garment4 ,sometimes 7as in the ,bacchantes7 one side is entirely open4 ,sometimes there is but one girdle1 the usual one round the waist1 which is said to have been put on under instead of over the garment it was intended to confine4 ,in this case the chiton must have been tucked into the girdle1 and this may have been done occasionally4 ,but there are plenty of antiques where the girdle is plainly visible outside4 ,sometimes there is a second girdle round the hips1 the use of which was to shorten the dress by pulling it up through it1 and then allowing it to flap over1 so that this hip girdle is never seen4 ,before finishing with the ,dorian chiton1 ,i ought to mention that in cold weather two 7and sometimes three7 chitons were worn1 one over the other4 ,the rich people had inner chitons1 made expressly for the purpose1 but the poor simply wore their old and shabby ones next the skin1 and their best of course outside4 ,the ,ionic chiton was a long and very loose garment1 made shirt fashion1 and with sleeves that seldom came below the elbow4 ,these sleeves were often slit up1 and fastened at intervals with small clasps or studs4 ,the ,doric was the older garment of the two4 ,in later times the ,ionic chiton worn by the men was of two kinds4 ,the chiton worn by the freemen was a garment with openings1 and sometimes even sleeves1 for both arms4 ,on the other hand1 that peculiar to slaves had an opening only for the left arm1 leaving the right shoulder and breast bare4 ,illustration ,the 8diploidion0 and 8hemi-diploidion0 are supposed by ,mller and other authorities to have been a kind of double chiton1 but ,i do not think this hypothesis to be correct4 ,i rather believe these names to have been given to a kind of short mantle1 which was quite independent of the chiton4 ,although1 as ,i have already stated1 the chiton was constantly worn alone1 yet no person could be considered what we should call full dressed without the 8pallium0 or cloak4 ,in ,sparta1 although the young girls invariably wore the chiton alone1 it would have been considered highly improper for any married woman to appear without some upper garment4 ,indeed1 unless the climate has changed very much within the last two thousand years1 a cloak1 7and a good thick one too7 would be indispensable4 ,the only time ,i have ever landed at ,athens snow lay thick on the ground1 and a bitter cold wind swept down from ,hymettus4 ,the pallium was square-cut1 but not necessarily a square4 ,there were several ways of putting it on4 ,it was sometimes wound round the body and thrown over the left shoulder4 ,it was sometimes fastened on the right shoulder with a clasp1 leaving the right arm free4 ,in short1 there were as many ways of wearing it as we have of wearing a ,scotch plaid4 ,the pallium was of all degrees of thickness and of every variety of color2 scarlet1 purple1 saffron1 olive1 and pale green seem to have been the most fashionable colors4 ,for the poorer classes the pallium served as a covering by night as well as a garment by day4 ,it was to them a blanket2 and there is no doubt that our word 8pall0 is derived from pallium4 ,the 8peplon10 or shawl1 was worn in ,greece by the women only4 ,it was much ampler and made of thinner material than the pallium2 we find1 however1 that the ,orientals of both sexes wore something very similar1 and when we read of ,david or any other personage of the ,bible rending his garment1 the shawl is most probably meant4 ,the modes of wearing the peplon were at least as numerous as the ways of adjusting the pallium4 ,in many of the ancient alto-reliefs women are represented with both arms and hands concealed by the peplon4 ,indeed1 there does not seem to have been much coquetry displayed in wearing the peplon4 ,it was emphatically one of those garments used for comfort and not for show4 ,nevertheless1 from the fineness of the material and the great area of the peplon1 it was1 perhaps1 more picturesque and graceful than more formal pieces of finery4 ,the ,greek 8chlamys0 is best translated by the word scarf4 ,sometimes it seems exactly to correspond with what we understand by 8scarf10 being a narrow strip of fine material1 often embroidered and sometimes ornamented with a fringe4 ,the drapery which is often introduced to give relief to a nude statue1 is generally some kind of chlamys4 ,the drapery of the ,apollo ,belvidere is a familiar example4 ,there is another garment which was sometimes worn by the ,greek women over the long tunic4 ,this was a sleeveless short tunic much ornamented1 but without a girdle4 ,we have many examples of this dress in the figures on the ,greek vases4 ,i am told that modern milliners call this kind of thing a peplum1 but this is quite a misnomer4 ,a peplum or peplon is1 as we have seen1 an ample shawl4 ,when the chlamys was worn as a cloak1 it was either fastened in front below the neck or on the right shoulder2 in both cases by means of a brooch4 ,as the chlamys when cut as a scarf would be wretchedly meagre and poor when worn as a cloak1 it was modified and extended in shape1 and1 indeed1 in this form 7were it not for the thinness of the material7 it would be hardly distinguishable from the pallium4 ,the female scarfs were almost always used as scarfs and not as cloaks4 ,they were more ornamented than those of the men1 and were often embroidered with gold4 ,the ,coa vestis1 or robe of ,cos1 was made of the finest silk1 and was as transparent as our thinnest veils4 ,it was generally dyed either deep blue or purple1 and ,i need hardly add1 was never worn by any respectable female4 ,greek women do not appear to have worn much covering for the head1 except when they got old4 ,in youth the hair was so abundant and the art of arranging it was carried to such perfection1 that to hide it would have been a great blunder4 ,to protect themselves from the sun's rays in summer and from the storms in winter they had parasols and umbrellas1 shaped exactly like the modern ,japanese article4 ,these they either carried over their heads themselves1 or had a female slave to carry them4 ,nothing1 to my mind1 shows the exquisite taste of the ,greeks more than the way the women arranged their hair4 ,the bands and jewels with which the hair was often adorned1 rather assisted nature instead of distorting her4 ,if we compare these classical coiffures with the frightful wigs worn by the ,roman ladies under the ,csars1 or with the plaited tresses of medival times1 or again with the powder and pomatum structures of the last century1 we are struck by the great superiority of the ,greek fashion4 ,i am not giving a lecture on hair-dressing1 and will say nothing about modern times1 beyond emphatically condemning every fashion which distorts the shape of the head4 ,illustration ,the ,greek modes of arranging the hair1 however elaborate1 never leave us in doubt as to what is underneath4 ,we can always trace the shape of the head4 ,we never fancy that the knots1 chignons1 and tresses conceal a sugar-loaf or a small portmanteau4 ,sometimes1 as in the ,medici ,venus1 the hair was gathered in a knot in the front part of the head1 but generally the knot was placed behind1 where it balanced the face1 and broke the nearly straight line formed by the neck and the back of the head4 ,the bands and fillets with which the head was often encircled are very graceful adjuncts4 ,a crescent or diadem is often seen on the heads of goddesses1 queens1 and princesses2 and it is not easy to conceive a more noble or royal ornament4 ,nets made either of thread or silk were also worn to confine the hair1 but these nets fitted close to the head and were not much used for the chignon1 as with us in the days of beavers' tails4 ,the women of ,lesbos had a peculiar way of dressing their hair1 which savors rather more of the later ,roman than of the ,greek fashions4 ,you will notice that none of these coiffures are suggestive of wigs4 ,if false hair was worn1 it was worn with judgment and discretion1 and was never allowed to mar the symmetry of the head4 ,greek men1 like the women1 seldom covered their heads1 except when on a journey or at work in the sun4 ,the simplest and probably the oldest head-covering for the men was the conical skull-cap as seen on the head of ,ulysses1 but there are examples of soft broad-rimmed hats made either of felt1 leather1 or straw4 ,these would have been worn by field laborers1 masons1 etc4 ,the ,phrygian cap is worn at the present day by almost all ,mediterranean fishermen4 ,this is the famous cap of liberty1 and although in very bad repute since the ,french ,revolution1 it is a comfortable and inoffensive head-covering4 ,the first helmets were modifications of the ,ulysses cap4 ,the material was changed from straw or felt to thick leather or brass4 ,a couple of feathers were sometimes added1 and sometimes doubtless the leather or brass was ornamented with gold and precious stones4 ,after a time it was found that this primitive helmet did not protect the face2 so a large piece was added in front4 ,this covered the face1 but was soldered to the helmet and not movable4 ,it is this immovability of the vizor which throws the whole helmet back when the face is uncovered1 and it is this backward position which gives the peculiar character to the ,greek helmet4 ,we see it constantly in the statues of ,minerva1 and we have adopted it for our figure of ,britannia4 ,illustration ,in later times still further improvements were made4 ,a movable vizor was invented and flaps to protect the ears1 and the coal-scuttle shape went out of fashion4 ,the defensive body-armor of the ,greeks consisted of a close-fitting leather jerkin terminating at the hips4 ,strips of leather loosely connected together sprang from the bottom of this jerkin1 and reached nearly half-way down the thigh4 ,both the jerkin and the strips of this petticoat were often strengthened by bands of metal4 ,armor was also worn below the knees4 ,these greaves protected the shins1 but did not encircle the whole leg4 ,there can be no doubt1 from the descriptions of ,homer and other ancient authors1 that all this defensive armor was worn1 but many of the elaborately ornamented and embossed breast-plates and greaves which are to be seen in every museum 7though nominally ,greek7 are the works of a much later age4 ,before finishing what ,i have to say about ,greek costume1 ,i ought to mention the coverings for the feet4 ,these were of manifold shapes and fashions2 sometimes they consisted of a mere sole fastened to the foot with thongs2 sometimes the toes were covered1 but as there were no sides nor heel-piece the thongs were still necessary4 ,the most elegant form was that which we see in the statue of ,diana4 ,in the very early days of ,greece1 it was considered effeminate to protect the foot1 but at a later period every one except children1 slaves1 and ascetic philosophers wore some kind of sandal when they went out2 and in the last two centuries before the ,christian era1 great luxury and elegance were displayed in the adornment of those sandals4 ,the costumes of some of the nations inhabiting ,asia ,minor differed greatly from those worn by the ,greeks4 ,in several of the maritime provinces which had frequent intercourse1 and indeed had been colonized by the ,greeks1 this difference was not very marked1 although even here there was an ,oriental or ,assyrian element introduced2 but the dresses of ,phrygia were much more ,assyrian than ,greek4 ,in the first place1 the ,phrygians1 like ,oriental people generally1 had a dislike to expose any part of the body1 consequently they wore tight sleeves reaching down to the wrist4 ,drawers or close-fitting hose covered their legs and feet1 and over these they wore regular shoes made of soft leather4 ,to complete the costume1 an armless tunic was worn1 reaching to below the knees and girt by a leather belt4 ,the whole of this rather elaborate dress was often embroidered and ornamented with the richest colors4 ,it was altogether an effeminate and a gorgeous dress1 such as ,paris might have worn when he captivated ,helen4 ,the dress of the women bore a greater resemblance to the ,greek2 but fashion insisted on having the arms and feet covered4 ,whilst the women of ,lydia and the maritime provinces indulged in the most coquettish and elegant ,greek fashions1 the ladies of the interior had quite a ,persian way of dressing4 ,a very long close-fitting tunic or gown with tight sleeves reaching to the wrist1 with a girdle for married women1 and ungirt round the waist for young girls1 seems to have been the usual costume4 ,like the men1 they wore shoes1 and often the ,phrygian cap4 ,if the men were fond of embroidered garments1 it may be guessed that the ladies were not behind in the matter of ornament4 ,many of their dresses were figured all over with spots1 stars1 and a kind of shawl pattern1 whilst the coiffures sometimes developed into sultana-like turbans1 and were enriched with the most showy jewels4 ,jewelry of all kinds was indeed worn profusely by both sexes1 and it was a common saying in ancient ,greece1 when a man was effeminate or voluptuous1 that he ought to go to ,lydia and have his ears pierced4 ,before passing on to the dresses of ,imperial ,rome1 it will not be out of place to consider the important question of how to clothe the personages of the ,new ,testament4 ,i call this question an important one1 because the ,new ,testament is1 par excellence1 the great field for subjects of a high class1 and in the present era of research and investigation1 it cannot be a matter of indifference to the painter how the ,founder of ,christianity and his disciples were dressed4 ,the ,mosaic laws strictly forbade any representation of living organisms4 ,we have therefore nothing to guide us in our research1 as we have for ,egyptian1 ,assyrian1 and ,greek costume4 ,the dress of the ,jewish priests is tolerably minutely described in ,leviticus1 and is indeed almost identical with that worn at the present day2 but we have no authority whatever for the ordinary dress of the ,jews in the time of ,tiberius4 ,the old masters almost invariably adopted some shade of red and blue for the dress of ,christ1 and the same colors were also generally reserved for the robes of the ,virgin ,mary4 ,this choice of colors seems to have originated somewhere about the sixth century1 but it was not till much later that the ,church adopted these colors so exclusively that the artist had no option in the matter4 ,this traditional choice of colors became more and more binding as ages rolled on4 ,it has lasted even to the present day1 and few painters of religious subjects for church decoration would venture upon a departure from the time-honored red and blue4 ,the practice may have some advantages4 ,in the first place1 these colors 7when in combination7 have come to have a kind of sacred significance1 and from being reserved for the highest personages of the ,new ,testament1 they serve the same purpose that was formerly fulfilled by the nimbus4 ,they attract the eye to the principal figure in the composition4 ,again1 they are strong primary colors2 their juxtaposition in a picture is unusual1 and therefore likely to draw attention to the figure which is clothed in them4 ,the disadvantages are1 first1 the difficulty of harmonizing two such colors as red and blue 7a difficulty enormously increased when there are several figures in the composition72 and1 secondly1 the great improbability that our ,saviour or the ,virgin ,mary ever were so attired4 ,in the very early ages of ,christianity1 we never find this red and blue4 ,the ,saviour1 unless enthroned in glory1 is generally represented as the ,good ,shepherd1 and his garments are white or some shade of gray4 ,it may be argued that as he personates the ,good ,shepherd1 the artists of course give him a shepherd's dress1 but that this dress may have been totally unlike the one he actually wore4 ,this is perfectly true1 and ,i am not recommending the blind adoption of this shepherd's tunic4 ,i merely mention these earliest representations of ,christ1 as an answer to those who argue for the antiquity of the red and blue4 ,if in the absence of precise information we allow ourselves to be guided by precedent1 it is only logical to go to the earliest precedent4 ,the truth is that there are two distinct methods of treating subjects from the ,new ,testament1 especially those where ,christ himself is introduced4 ,one is the traditional or medival method1 and the other the naturalistic or 7as ,i prefer to call it7 the natural method1 the word 8naturalistic0 being generally applied to the grotesque style of the early ,german and ,dutch masters4 ,the first or traditional method seems to me more suitable for stained-glass windows and for church decoration generally1 than for easel pictures4 ,in decorative work no one expects to see the apostles and saints clad in the homely garments they certainly wore4 ,the figures are to a certain extent symbolical2 they represent the personages beatified2 and gorgeously colored mantles with jewelled borders1 nimbi1 and other medival ornaments are not so much out of place4 ,even here ,i would depart from the traditional red and blue for the dress of ,christ4 ,white and gold are more suggestive of perfection and purity than strong colors1 and ,i cannot help thinking that the red tunic which tradition gives to ,st4 ,john is singularly inappropriate to his character4 ,i do not1 however1 wish to extend my remarks in this direction1 but rather to confine what ,i have to say about costumes to real1 and not to ideal dresses4 ,if there exists a danger of degrading the ancient ,jewish patriarchs by giving them the dress which they probably wore1 the danger becomes greatly intensified when we have to deal with the sacred personages of the ,new ,testament4 ,nevertheless1 ,i think that something might be done toward an approximation to truth without any irreverence4 ,in the first place1 ,i would discard all strong positive reds1 blues1 and purples for the dresses1 as inappropriate4 ,to wear garments of these bright hues was the prerogative of kings1 emperors1 and great generals1 and it is quite out of keeping with the spirit of the ,new ,testament to clothe its personages in these imperial colors4 ,white1 dull yellow1 brown1 and black are the colors to which ,i should principally adhere4 ,linen1 bleached and unbleached1 goats' hair1 and wool of all shades1 from creamy white to sooty black1 would be the materials4 ,clemens of ,alexandria says3 8,all dyed colors should be avoided in dress1 for these are far away from man's need and from truth2 and besides they give proof of evil in the inward disposition40 ,tertullian1 who wrote about two hundred years after ,christ1 has a whole chapter denouncing the iniquity of dyed colors4 ,now it is hardly conceivable that these early ,christian writers would have fulminated against red1 purple1 and blue garments if ,christ and his apostles had been in the habit of wearing them4 ,secondly1 ,i should endeavor1 while preserving the tunic and outer cloak or pallium1 to give to these garments something of an ,oriental appearance4 ,there is not much scope for doing this with the tunic4 ,rich men1 like ,joseph of ,arimathea or ,nicodemus1 would wear long tunics reaching to their ankles2 but it is very doubtful whether ,christ himself1 who denounces the scribes on account of their loving to go in long clothing1 would wear a garment of this description4 ,the women would have two tunics1 one over the other1 with short or long sleeves1 but never with the open sleeves of the ,greek women4 ,the under tunic 7which would1 in fact1 be the ,roman stola7 would reach to the feet4 ,the upper one would be shorter1 and embroidered or ornamented with colors4 ,the pallium or cloak1 both of the men and the women1 should have a fringe2 not a heavy gorgeous one1 like the ,assyrian kings1 but a thin light one4 ,in the #bb;d chapter of ,deuteronomy1 ,moses commands3 8,thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture10 and in the ,book of ,numbers these fringes are again ordained4 ,when we consider how particular the ,jews were in observing their law1 we may assume1 as a fact1 that the cloak or outer garment of the ,new ,testament would have a fringe1 and this would at once give it a ,jewish or ,oriental character4 ,broad vertical stripes again1 either on the tunic or the cloak1 of a different colored wool to the garment itself1 would be unlike ,greek or ,roman fashions1 and would be perfectly allowable4 ,thirdly1 ,i should not hesitate 7when the subject required it7 about covering the heads of my figures4 ,in most ,biblical pictures by the old masters1 particularly of the ,roman school1 we find the figures bareheaded4 ,there does not seem to be any special reason for this1 and whatever may have been the practice in ,italy1 it certainly could not be the custom in ,syria and ,palestine to expose the head to the burning rays of the sun4 ,st4 ,peter and the other ,galilee fishermen may very likely have worn some kind of ,phrygian cap1 and we may be quite sure that all the personages of the ,new ,testament would have had some protection for the head2 probably a loose cloth bound round the head with a cord4 ,some writers have said that they merely threw a portion of the cloak over their heads4 ,this they very likely did on an emergency1 but when undertaking a journey or wandering about the country1 they must have had a proper head-covering4 ,as to the shoes1 ,i should avoid both the elegant sandal of the ,greeks1 and the elaborate leggings and straps of the ,roman soldier4 ,the ordinary ,jew1 of the class to which the apostles belonged1 was not in the habit of wearing any foot-covering at home1 but when on a journey he would protect the soles of his feet with leather or goat-skin4 ,it is a mistake to suppose that garments made of coarse materials are incompatible with dignity4 ,any one who has seen the fishermen of the ,adriatic or the ,arabs of the desert1 knows the contrary4 ,it is not the material1 but the amplitude of the garment and the mode of wearing it1 which give grandeur and dignity4 ,we1 as artists1 have no means of making our personages speak4 ,all we can do is to take care that their gestures1 appearance1 and dress1 shall not be inconsistent with the words they are supposed to utter4 ,if we bear this in mind1 and at the same time honestly endeavor to clothe them according to their station in life1 we cannot be far wrong4 ,before leaving the subject of the ,new ,testament1 ,i should like to say a few words about the position the ,jews assumed at their meals4 ,i endeavored to get at the truth a year or two ago1 and the results of my investigations were these4 ,the rich ,jews1 like the rich ,romans1 reclined at their meals2 the poor either stood or sat4 ,of this there can be no doubt1 and it is only what might have been expected4 ,the rich would have a proper dining-hall1 fitted with a triclinium or couch4 ,the poor would dine in the same room in which they worked1 and would have no place for so bulky a piece of furniture as a broad couch4 ,as for the ,last ,supper1 it must be recollected that the room where it was eaten was an upper room1 and therefore very unlikely to be furnished with a triclinium2 and1 secondly1 it was more in keeping with ,christ's teaching to adopt the humble fashion of sitting rather than the luxurious one of reclining4 ,finally1 all the ,evangelists use the word 8sat0 and 8sitting10 which1 if correctly translated1 ought surely to settle the question4 ,on the whole1 therefore1 ,i think that ,leonardo1 ,andre del ,sarto1 ,raffaelle1 and all the old masters were right in giving the figures a sitting posture1 and that modern innovators are wrong in assuming that because ,roman patricians and their imitators in ,juda reclined at their meals1 our ,lord1 and his disciples would also adopt the same position4 ,the costume of the ancient ,romans under the kings was very like that of the ,greeks4 ,the resemblance was especially noticeable in military costume4 ,if1 therefore1 you have to paint any ,roman or ,sabine warriors of the time of the early kings1 you should take ,greek armor as your model1 rather than the late ,roman1 such as is seen in the reliefs of the ,trajan column4 ,the ,romans1 however1 appear never to have worn the peculiar ,greek helmet which protected the face4 ,in these early times there is no reason to suppose that the civil dress differed materially from that of the ,greeks4 ,both sexes wore the tunic and pallium 7or cloak74 ,the ,roman 8toga0 was a large semicircular pallium4 ,illustration ,the question as to the exact shape of the toga has never been settled1 and most likely never will be4 ,the older authorities say that it was rectilinear on one side and curvilinear on the other2 but more modern writers say it was of the shape of two segments of a circle joined together4 ,i am inclined to favor this latter opinion4 ,it would in this case be folded in two before being put on1 and the complicated and multitudinous folds would be easily accounted for4 ,it is doubtful when it was first worn1 but it certainly was in fashion during the kings1 and it would therefore be the proper clothing for ,numa ,pompilius1 the elder ,brutus1 ,tarquin1 and the other personages of that period4 ,the mode of wearing it in these ancient times was slightly different to the fashion which prevailed in the time of the ,csars4 ,instead of being brought round the body under the right arm it was laid over the shoulder1 thus covering the whole right arm4 ,this must have been extremely inconvenient1 and although when sitting in judgment or taking part in some state ceremonials1 the ancient ,roman senators may have muffled themselves up in this way1 it is impossible to believe that they did not adopt some more comfortable way of draping themselves when actively employed4 ,we are told that in early times the toga was the only garment worn by the men1 but ,i suspect that this is a mistake4 ,i rather think that a short sleeveless tunic was always worn4 ,i shall refer to the toga again1 but ,i wish to proceed chronologically1 and to finish what ,i have to say about the costume of the earliest ,roman period4 ,whatever may have been the custom with the men1 the women certainly wore a long tunic1 and a shorter one underneath4 ,it is well to avoid giving them the chlamys1 as we have no evidence that they wore it3 but a cloak was certainly customary4 ,it was either of the toga1 semicircular make1 or cut square like the ,greek pallium4 ,care should be taken1 in dressing ,roman figures of this period1 to keep the costumes very simple and primitive4 ,the togas of the ,roman kings are said to have been striped with purple4 ,pliny mentions this1 and in a matter of this sort he is likely to have been correct4 ,silk was introduced into ,europe about this time1 but the material was far too costly to be generally worn4 ,we may suppose that a luxurious monarch like ,tarquinius ,superbus may have worn a tunic of ,oriental silk1 but luxury of this kind was not general1 as it became six hundred years later under the emperors4 ,the same stern sobriety of costume should be observed in painting subjects of the ,consulate4 ,scipio ,africanus1 ,regulus1 ,coriolanus1 and the other heroes of this period1 should be clothed with ,spartan plainness4 ,white 7or at any rate monochromatic7 cloaks and togas1 armor composed of iron1 bronze1 and leather would be the proper clothing during the ,consulate4 ,we now come to the ,imperial period2 and here ,i would remark that in the ,augustine age1 luxury had not reached that point of extravagance and bad taste which it acquired afterward4 ,the toga was still the ample woollen cloak of preceding ages1 and was worn over a simple short tunic4 ,i ought1 however1 to mention that in the time of ,augustus the toga began to be discarded in favor of more convenient garments4 ,it was1 however1 always worn on ceremonial or state occasions1 and great care was taken with the adjustment of the folds4 ,a ,roman gentleman would dress for a dinner at ,lucullus'1 or a grand show at the ,colosseum1 by putting on a clean white toga4 ,the toga pulla was made of the wool of black sheep4 ,it was of a coarser texture than the white toga1 and was worn by mourners4 ,the toga picta was1 as its name implies1 embroidered with colors4 ,the toga prtexta had a purple or rather what we should call a lake-colored border4 ,it was worn by young people1 and also by magistrates and other officials4 ,the purple and white striped toga1 already mentioned as having been worn by the old ,roman kings1 was also worn1 under the ,empire1 by the 8equites10 or mounted knights4 ,the emperor alone had the privilege of wearing a toga entirely of purple4 ,the female cloak of this period was the palla1 which is only another form of the word pallium4 ,it differed only from the toga in being rectangular4 ,the long tunic worn over the inner one 7the gown in short7 of the ,roman matrons was called a 8stola40 ,the lower part of it was crimped or plaited1 so as to form a kind of flounce4 ,this explains the numerous minute folds we see about the feet and ankles in many of the portrait statues4 ,i ought not to omit mentioning a very important article of female dress1 viz41 the 8strophium40 ,it was the same as the ,greek 8strophion10 and seems to have been of universal use4 ,it was a broad band1 supposed to have been made of kid leather1 and was wound round the waist to give support1 and to improve what dressmakers call the figure4 ,it was put on over the inner tunic1 and therefore corresponds exactly with the modern corset4 ,it does not appear that either the ,greek or ,roman ladies attached any value to a thin waist1 and this strophium was worn for comfort and not in compliance with the fashion4 ,the ,romans 7,i am still speaking of the ,augustan age7 wore in time of war the 8sagum40 ,this was a cloak made of thick woollen material1 and fastened in front or on the shoulder with a brooch4 ,it was1 in fact1 identical with some forms of the ,greek chlamys4 ,the 8paludamentum0 was the same kind of garment1 made of finer wool1 and used by the officers4 ,the sagum and paludamentum were not exclusively military1 as in time of war it was the custom for civilians to throw aside their togas and assume this war-like garb4 ,the 8lacerna0 was very commonly worn by the ,roman citizens either simply over the tunic1 or in cold weather over the togas as well4 ,it was very much the same kind as the sagum1 and worn in the same way4 ,it was almost always of a dark color4 ,the 8pnula0 was a circular cloak1 with a hole in the middle to put the head through4 ,it was slit open in front from the bottom1 about half-way up1 so as to give a little freedom to the arms4 ,it was made of thick cloth1 and generally had a hood4 ,it was a garment essentially for bad weather1 and must have greatly resembled our ,inverness capes1 or rather what is called a 8poncho40 ,the want of head-coverings amongst the higher classes of both the ancient ,greeks and ,romans has always struck me as being very singular4 ,the ,etruscans1 like the semi-oriental peoples of ,asia ,minor1 had a great variety of head-gear4 ,caps of all shapes1 more or less richly ornamented1 were common amongst the ,etruscans2 but the ,roman citizens 7at least the upper ten thousand7 seem to have had nothing to protect the head from the sun's rays4 ,we all know that habit will do a great deal2 our ,bluecoat boys do not suffer by going about bareheaded2 but ,i cannot help thinking that an elderly ,roman senator must occasionally have found the want of a hat on his way to the forum4 ,you will not often have to paint pictures of the ancient ,etruscans4 ,i need not therefore say much about their rich and varied dresses4 ,i may1 however1 mention that their wardrobe bore about the same relation to the ,roman costume that the ,asia ,minor dresses did to the ,greek4 ,there was an ,oriental and sometimes an ,egyptian tendency about the cut and ornamentation of their garments4 ,instead of the classical sandal of the ,romans they wore shoes1 and even boots1 made of some soft material4 ,in short1 they were more effeminate in their tastes4 ,the more wealthy an ,etruscan was1 the richer would be his garments4 ,he resembled in this respect many modern ,orientals1 whereas his neighbor of ancient ,rome would 7at least in the ,augustan age7 affect the greatest simplicity4 ,a ,roman patrician would as soon think of decking himself out in an embroidered and spangle tunic1 as an ,english gentleman would of assuming the plush and gorgeous livery of a ,belgravian footman4 ,luxury and effeminacy of dress began to creep into fashion in ,rome as early as the time of ,tiberius1 who 7probably because he did not wish to have any imitation of the finery of his own court7 promulgated very strict sumptuary laws as to dress4 ,these laws were enforced and even made more stringent by some of his successors1 but fashion was too strong even for ,roman emperors2 and under such sovereigns as ,heliogabalus1 but little was left of the ancient ,roman simplicity4 ,in one particular alone did the ,romans of the ,decadence contrast favorably with their neighbors the ,etruscans--,i mean in the matter of jewelry4 ,the ,roman noble1 even of the most degraded period1 never decked himself out with necklaces1 armlets1 and breast ornaments of gold like the ,etruscan4 ,the only jewelry he wore was a signet ring4 ,the ,roman ladies were less sparing of ornament1 but even they did not load themselves with gold trinkets of every description after the ,oriental and ,etruscan fashion4 ,much of this ,roman jewelry was of very beautiful design1 and has been most conscientiously imitated by ,castellani4 ,with regard to the fashion of wearing the hair and beard1 it is certain that up to the third century ,b4,c41 the ,romans wore their hair long and did not shave4 ,if1 therefore1 you have to paint any subject of the time of the kings1 it would be incorrect to represent your personages with cropped hair and clean shaven1 as though they were ,romans of the later ,consulate and ,augustan age4 ,some ,sicilian barbers1 who came over to ,rome about the beginning of the third century ,b4,c41 introduced the custom of shaving and having the hair cut short1 and this custom continued without intermission until the time of ,hadrian or ,trajan1 when beards came into fashion again4 ,the ,sybarites1 of a later period than this1 used to oil their hair and sprinkle it with gold-dust4 ,wigs were also worn1 by men as well as by women4 ,if the emperor of the time happened to have a crop of thick curly hair1 it was astonishing what a number of curly crops of hair suddenly appeared in ,rome4 ,perhaps we need not go as far back as ancient ,rome for phenomena of this kind4 ,it is needless for me to describe the stiff1 tasteless style of hair-dressing which prevailed amongst the ladies of the later ,empire4 ,it was their uncouth artificial coiffures which were imitated in ,france and ,england about the beginning of the century4 ,it was this pseudo-classical style both of hair-dressing and apparel which made our grandmothers and great-grandmothers such unlovable objects4 ,a real classical revival after the puff and powder of the preceding generation1 a return to the best ,greek and ,roman fashions1 would have been a great blessing both to society in general and to the arts especially2 but such classicism as prevailed under the first ,napoleon was hardly an improvement on the perruques and pig-tails that preceded it4 ,the ,roman military dress is so well known from the bas-reliefs of the times of ,trajan1 ,hadrian1 and ,vespasian1 that ,i need not go into any details respecting it4 ,the only remark ,i would make is1 that the linen drawers we see indicated in the sculptures1 were not worn in the army before the wars of ,gaul and ,germany4 ,the dresses of the time of ,constantine and his successors are very little known4 ,to some artists this is rather an attraction1 as affording an opportunity of invention in costume1 which is denied to them in a better known period2 and it must be admitted that1 provided they keep to what was likely to have been worn1 no one can prove them to be wrong4 ,there are a few coins and medals in existence which give some idea of the appearance of an emperor or great personage1 but of the dress of the common people we know nothing for certain4 ,in conclusion1 ,i would remark that correctness in the matter of costume is far more necessary to an artist now than it was formerly4 ,in this age of archology and research we find1 even on the stage1 the most scrupulous fidelity observed1 and it behooves us1 as artists1 not to lag behind4 ,you will find1 both in the ,academy library and at ,south ,kensington1 many excellent works on costume1 and with such a mass of information within your reach it will be unpardonable if you fall into the anachronisms and absurdities of our ancestors4 ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,byzantine ,,and ,,romanesque ,,art4 ,in the lectures ,i am about to deliver on ,early ,italian ,art1 ,i shall not enter into minute detail1 nor shall ,i attempt a history of all the painters of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries who deserve mention4 ,all ,i can hope to give you is a sort of bird's-eye view of the various phases through which the ,art of ,painting passed from its lowest ebb to its highest development4 ,i feel as if you were a party of excursionists about to be personally conducted across a great art continent1 and as if it behooved me1 as your conductor1 to perform my duty with judgment and discretion4 ,we shall have a vast desert to cross1 where nothing is found to break the dull and ugly monotony of the scene4 ,we cannot do better than take the express train for this part of our journey1 and get over the ground as quickly as possible4 ,substituting miles for years1 we shall1 when we have accomplished something like a thousand miles1 begin to notice signs of a more fertile soil4 ,these indications will be very faint at first1 but after a time the objects of interest will become more frequent1 and we shall leave our train and take to riding or driving so as to get a better view of what we are passing4 ,after a drive of a hundred miles the country will become so interesting that we shall buckle on our knapsacks and perform the rest of the journey on foot4 ,to continue the parallel1 ,i would remind you that you are only excursionists1 and not leisurely travellers desirous of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the products of the country they are about to traverse4 ,to acquire a thorough knowledge of the decay and revival of art1 it would be necessary to consult the numerous and learned treatises on the subject1 and to study the political and social state of ,italy during the ,middle ,ages4 ,such a study1 though doubtless very instructive1 would be rather a dry subject for a lecture1 even if ,i were equal to the task4 ,i shall1 therefore1 attempt nothing of the kind1 and having always had a tender feeling for those whose attendance here is compulsory1 and admiration for those who come of their own free will1 ,i shall endeavor to be as little tedious as possible1 whilst imparting to you a sort of rsum of medival painting and the early ,italian schools4 ,the designs and paintings which have been discovered in the catacombs are commonly held to be the earliest specimens we possess of ,christian art2 and if by ,christian art we mean the representation of ,biblical and ,new ,testament subjects1 they undoubtedly are the earliest4 ,if1 however1 by ,christian art we mean the peculiar style which grew up and was fostered by the early ,church1 we must look elsewhere1 for these paintings are essentially pagan in style4 ,in common with the paintings of the ,constantine baths1 and with the numerous decorative designs discovered in the pagan catacombs of the period1 they are clearly derived direct from classical sources4 ,they vary in merit according to the skill of the artist who executed them1 and also according to the epoch of their production1 those of the second century being infinitely superior to those of the third and fourth4 ,in the earliest of these paintings1 the ,good ,shepherd replaces ,orpheus1 ,elias replaces ,apollo1 and so on1 but the style is in no way distinguishable from contemporary ,roman wall-paintings4 ,the arabesque ornamentation of the panels is exactly similar1 and although the subjects are such as ,moses striking the rock1 ,jonah swallowed by the whale1 ,daniel in the lions' den1 and various ,christian miracles1 these interesting works cannot be considered in any other light than specimens of late ,roman art adapted to the illustration of ,scriptural subjects4 ,these catacomb paintings look to me more like copies of better things than original paintings4 ,they appear to have been done by decorative artists1 who would naturally be more at home with the ornamental borders and arabesques than with the figures4 ,we may often notice this kind of inequality of work in modern houses4 ,the skilled workmen employed by the professional decorator will execute with consummate neatness all the ornamental parts1 but if any figure is introduced into the panels it will be a coarse replica of some ,pompeii muse1 nymph1 or cupid1 possibly quite good enough for the purpose1 but hardly indicative of the state of art of the period4 ,in the paintings of the third and fourth centuries there is a very noticeable decline in the drawing and execution1 but there is still a reminiscence of a classical style4 ,the draperies are still disposed with something like taste1 and the heads1 though very rude and clumsy1 have not the barbaric hideousness of a later period4 ,the last flicker of the antique lamp is to be found in those catacomb paintings of the fourth and fifth centuries4 ,when ,i say that they are not ,christian in style1 ,i mean that they are not ecclesiastical4 ,speaking strictly1 from a common-sense rather than from an art point of view1 it appears to me that the simple garments and the un-nimbi'd heads of the personages are more in keeping with the spirit of the ,new ,testament than the gold and the gorgeous ornamentation of a later period4 ,however that may be1 viewed simply as works of art1 they are the natural sequence to ,pompeii and the later forms of ,roman mural painting4 ,the case is very different with the large ,roman and ,ravenna mosaics of the fourth and fifth centuries1 but before proceeding to criticise these productions1 ,i should wish to say a few words about antique mosaic work4 ,the art of depicting objects by means of small cubes of marble1 stone1 or terra-cotta was invented about #cjj years before the ,christian era4 ,from a very simple beginning it gradually developed itself1 until under the first emperors we find the most complicated ornaments1 and even large historical compositions1 executed in mosaic4 ,the use of mosaic for the floors of temples and dwelling-houses was universal wherever the ,romans spread4 ,it was not confined to ,imperial ,rome or to luxurious ,pompeii1 but is invariably found wherever a wealthy ,roman planted his villa1 whether in the vicinity of the great ,sahara ,desert1 or in the less savage neighborhood of the ,isle of ,wight4 ,as your average modern ,briton cannot do without his carpets1 so the ancient ,roman could not be happy without his tessellated pavement4 ,in spite1 however1 of this widespread fashion1 we do not find mosaic used as a means of wall decoration2 it was almost exclusively employed for floors and tables4 ,some of these small cabinet pieces are beautifully inlaid1 and1 as works of art1 are by no means contemptible4 ,in a very few which have been preserved to us1 we find specimens of the 8opus sectile0 of the ,romans4 ,this differed from ordinary mosaic by the tesser being cut into the form of the object to be depicted1 and then accurately put together like a puzzle map4 ,the well-known four pigeons perched on a tazza1 discovered at ,tivoli1 is1 ,i believe1 the most beautiful specimen extant of the ordinary ,roman cabinet mosaic4 ,the examples of ,roman tessellated work applied to perpendicular surfaces are so rare and so unimportant that we cannot consider them as prototypes of the subsequent gigantic mosaic wall-pictures4 ,the intermediate links are at any rate wanting4 ,there is one1 and only one1 mosaic1 that of ,st4 ,costanza1 near ,rome1 which might be viewed as the missing link4 ,it is supposed to have been executed toward the end of the fourth century1 and belongs essentially to the decorative school of ancient pagan art4 ,indeed1 so numerous are the little cupids and genii1 and so prodigal has the artist been of vine tendrils1 that the building containing it was formerly supposed to have been a temple of ,bacchus4 ,it is now1 however1 known that this1 the earliest specimen of wall mosaic1 was executed not in honor of ,bacchus1 but as a monument to the ,christian ,emperor ,constantine's two daughters4 ,not until the fifth century do we get to those colossal figures1 those blue and gold backgrounds1 those richly ornamented draperies1 which constitute the true starting-point of ecclesiastical art4 ,we often hear that ,cimabue is the father of modern art1 but the only reason for making him a kind of art ,adam is because his name has been handed down to us4 ,the real fathers of modern ,christian art are the nameless authors of these gorgeous though somewhat grim mosaics4 ,most art historians have included these splendid works in the later ,roman period4 ,they cannot certainly be called truly ,byzantine1 although they have a decided ,byzantine flavor about them1 and it is probable that many of them were executed by ,greek or ,byzantine artists2 but1 on the other hand1 they are so strikingly dissimilar to late ,roman work that they ought to be classed in a school by themselves4 ,the forms of the figures are of course stiff and lifeless1 if compared to the antique or to sixteenth-century art2 but they are quite graceful and animated when compared with the dead ugliness of the real ,byzantine work4 ,there is a certain grandeur1 sui generis1 about them 7particularly in the ,justinian and ,theodora mosaics of ,ravenna7 quite independent of their size and gorgeous ornamentation1 which we never find in later ,byzantine work4 ,the mosaics of the sixth century are in no way different in style from those of the fifth4 ,the finest specimens of this period are the well-known mosaics of ,,ss4 ,cosmo and ,damiano in ,rome4 ,the head and figure of the gigantic ,christ1 which forms the centre1 has been much eulogized by critics2 but ,i confess ,i was disappointed when ,i last saw this mosaic4 ,size1 and perhaps antiquity1 have a good deal to do with the awe-inspiring qualities attributed to this work4 ,if the art displayed in this figure were really of a high quality1 some of its beauty would be retained in a reproduction on a small scale4 ,however much the panels of the ,sistine ,chapel may be reduced1 they always retain their original grandeur1 whereas this over-praised figure appears to me to lose all its imposing appearance when copied or engraved on a small scale4 ,of historical or ,biblical compositions1 properly so-called1 there are none extant of this period4 ,the cause of this is partly no doubt owing to the nature of the materials then in use4 ,mosaic is certainly not suitable for figures in action1 nor for complicated compositions2 but there is also another reason for the absence of subject-pictures during the whole of the long interval between the early ,roman emperors and ,giotto1 and that is1 they were not wanted4 ,there were no wealthy patricians in those dark ages who required their villas decorated1 no ,mcenas to give a helping hand to struggling genius4 ,the ,church was the only patron the poor artists of the period had1 and a very hard and narrow-minded patron she was1 reducing men who 7for aught we know7 may have had some talent1 to the level of mere workmen and artificers1 strictly limiting the range of their subjects and fettering them with traditional rules4 ,we are now fast approaching the true ,byzantine period of art4 ,historians tell us that ,byzantine or ,greek ,christian art was the offspring of the ,eastern ,church1 influenced originally by ancient ,greek art4 ,it seems hard to believe that these hideous deformities should have descended from ancient ,greek sculpture4 ,it is a kind of ,darwinian theory turned upside down1 but still it may be true4 ,ancient ,greek does not necessarily mean the art of ,phidias and ,praxiteles4 ,it may mean the barbaric sculpture which preceded the advent of these great masters1 and ,i confess there is something in the odious grimace and the stiff draperies of ,byzantine figures which reminds me of certain very early ,greek work4 ,the introduction of the ,byzantine style into ,italy seems to have been very gradual4 ,the school existed at ,constantinople certainly in the fifth century1 and possibly much earlier4 ,its influence may be traced in the large ,italian mosaics of the sixth century1 but it was not till near the year #gjj1 when ,constantinople was fairly established as the capital of the world1 that it became in all its ugliness the dominant school in ,italy4 ,the ,church of the fifth and sixth centuries1 with all its narrow-mindedness in the choice of subjects1 gave the artist a certain amount of liberty in his drawing and flesh-painting1 but about the year #gjj even this liberty was denied him4 ,certain types were invented by monkish painters1 that is1 by men who were violently opposed to every thing that made life agreeable4 ,these men1 it is needless to say1 were quite untrained artists1 but in their uncouth way they endeavored to substitute their own ideal of humanity for the real thing1 and they succeeded only too well4 ,the ghastly type being once firmly established1 all subsequent artists of this school were obliged to conform to it4 ,in the second ,nicene ,council1 ,a4,d4 #ghg1 it was decreed that3 8,it is not the invention of the painter which creates the picture1 but an inviolable law1 a tradition of the ,church4 ,it is not the painters1 but the holy fathers1 who have to invent and to dictate4 8,to them manifestly belongs the composition1 to the painter only the execution40 ,as ,i have already stated1 there is good reason for believing that the holy fathers not only dictated the composition1 but interfered pretty considerably with the execution1 insisting as they did on ascetic1 cadaverous heads and an indiscriminate use of gold4 ,there may have been another cause besides morbid asceticism which in the ninth century caused the ,church to adopt such an unearthly type of humanity2 namely1 the fear of the ,jews and ,mahometans1 who were very numerous at ,constantinople4 ,it was natural that the growing sanctity of the grim mosaics should be associated in the minds both of ,jew and ,mahometan with idol-worship1 and accordingly we find that the ,emperor ,leo the ,isaurian wished to conciliate his non-,christian subjects by the prohibition of all representation of the human form4 ,this1 however1 did not suit the monks4 ,a synod was called1 and ultimately it was agreed that sculpture alone should be interdicted2 but may we not suppose that a kind of compromise was made about painting1 and that it was settled that any near approach to the human form should be tabooed1 that art in short was to be of the nature of that which graced the ,auld ,brig of ,ayr8-- 8,forms like some bedlam statuary's dream1 ,the crazed creations of misguided whim1 ,forms might be worshipped on the bended knee1 ,and still the second dread command be free1 ,their likeness is not found on earth1 in air1 or sea40 ,kugler's description of these ,byzantine heads is so good that ,i cannot refrain from giving it4 ,he says3 8,the large ill-shaped eyes stare straight forward2 a deep unhappy line1 in which ill-humor seems to have taken up its permanent abode1 extends from brow to brow beneath the bald and heavily-wrinkled forehead4 ,the nose has the broad ridge of the antique still left above1 but is narrow and pinched below1 the anxious nostrils corresponding with the deep lines on each side of them4 8,the mouth is small1 but the somewhat protruding lower lip is in character with the melancholy of the whole picture4 ,as long as such representations are confined to gray-headed saints and ecclesiastics they may be tolerated1 but when the introduction of a kind of smirk is intended to convey the idea of a youthful countenance this type becomes intolerable4 ,even the ,madonna1 to whose countenance the meagreness of asceticism was hardly applicable1 here assumes a thoroughly peevish expression1 and was certainly never represented under so unattractive an aspect40 ,i have given you this quotation from ,kugler1 in order to show you the opinion of a learned and liberal-minded writer1 who certainly cannot be called a severe critic4 ,he goes on to compare ,byzantine with ,chinese art1 which is1 ,i think1 rather hard upon the poor ,celestials4 ,both styles of figure-painting are equally conventional1 and equally untrue to nature1 but ,chinese figures are far more cheerful and decorative than the unhappy ,byzantine4 ,a room decorated by a ,chinese artist would be a pleasant place to live in2 but who except a long-distance walker1 a forty days' faster1 or one of our modern votaries of self-inflicted martyrdom1 would care about inhabiting a house hung with ,byzantine pictures8 ,in these pictures the draperies gradually became more and more wooden1 until at last they got to be thoroughly in keeping with the heads4 ,there was a traditional arrangement of folds derived from the late ,roman works1 but this arrangement1 though originally founded on sound principles1 became in the hands of ,byzantine artificers most untrue and stupid4 ,the folds used to be indicated by a number of unmeaning straight lines1 regardless of the form underneath4 ,the one redeeming feature in the art of ,byzantium was the treatment of ornament4 ,founded partly on the late ,roman as existing in numerous temples of ,asia ,minor during the reign of the ,csars1 and partly on the ,persian style as seen at ,persepolis1 ,palmyra1 and elsewhere1 ,byzantine ornamentation is both rich and graceful4 ,the ,arabs and ,moors carried the intricacies of ,byzantine tracery still further1 until the ne plus ultra was reached at the ,alhambra2 but to my taste the original ,byzantine style of ornamentation is bolder and more effective than the elaborate ,mauresque4 ,there is no want of taste or invention betrayed here4 ,indeed there is far more variety than in the somewhat overloaded ,roman style of ornamentation1 as may be seen at once by comparing ,byzantine capitals with the debased ,corinthian of the ,romans4 ,this excellence 7not only in architectural detail but in every department of ornamental art7 shows clearly that when the artists had free play they where not deficient in taste1 and that we must ascribe the utter badness of ,byzantine figure-painting to the proper cause2 namely1 to the veto the ,church seems to have set on the study of the human form4 ,the principal difference between the ,byzantine and ,romanesque ornamentation is the more frequent occurrence in the latter of geometrical patterns1 formed principally by squares and equilateral triangles intersecting each other4 ,the walls and pavements of the ,romanesque churches of ,italy abound with examples of this geometric decoration4 ,in ,romanesque ornament again1 gold and mosaic are not so universally used as in ,byzantine2 but the transition between the two styles was so gradual1 and they were so closely connected1 that it is almost impossible to draw the line between them4 ,italy was in a very miserable and disturbed state during the dark centuries of the ,middle ,ages1 being overrun by barbarous invaders and often afflicted by internecine wars1 so that even without the leaden hand of the ,church stifling all original talent1 it is very improbable that any improvement in art could have been made4 ,for art to thrive1 it is absolutely necessary that a country should be undisturbed and tolerably prosperous2 although it by no means follows that a prosperous country must produce great artists4 ,take1 for instance1 the ,republic of ,venice during the ,middle ,ages1 which1 whilst ,italy was being vexed with endless invasions and civil war1 enjoyed great prosperity2 and yet not a single attempt was made by her artists to emancipate themselves from the dead level of ,byzantine rules4 ,on the contrary1 the famous early mosaics of ,st4 ,mark's are amongst the most characteristic specimens of ,byzantine art which have been preserved to us4 ,of their original splendor 7as far as gold and workmanship could contribute to it7 there can be no doubt1 but of legitimate art there is no trace4 ,like all the work of this school1 whether mosaic or fresco1 the figures are done by routine1 and are as lifeless and mean in character as the worst ,byzantine types4 ,of course ,i am speaking of the series of early mosaics in ,st4 ,mark's4 ,the later ones executed in the twelfth century1 although very ,byzantine in character1 partake largely of the general improvement which was noticeable at that time4 ,the tremendous rapidity with which ,byzantine frescoes used to be executed is no excuse for their badness4 ,had the artists given ten times the labor they would have done no better4 ,all original design was prohibited2 every thing was done from tracings of previous works4 ,these tracings were reproduced on the wall to be painted1 and the flesh tints were filled in with a uniform flat color1 sometimes of a brick-dust and sometimes of a green hue4 ,the draperies were done in the same way1 first a flat tint and then a few unmeaning black lines to represent folds4 ,this process was entirely mechanical1 the lines having no respect whatever for the limbs underneath4 ,to give you a better idea of the rapidity with which whole churches can be decorated in the ,byzantine style1 ,i will give ,didron's description of ,oriental fresco-painting4 ,he was at ,mount ,athos about forty years ago1 and had the opportunity of seeing a monk and his five assistants at work4 ,mount ,athos has for the last thirteen centuries been the headquarters and principal laboratory of ,byzantine art1 and a countless number of pictures on wood are to this day exported thence as articles of commerce to the ,russian ,empire4 ,m4 ,didron says3 8,one pupil spread the mortar on the wall2 the master drew the outline1 without either cartoon or tracings2 another pupil laid on the colors2 a third gilt the nimbi1 painted the ornaments1 and wrote the inscriptions1 which the master dictated to him from memory2 and lastly1 two boys were fully occupied in grinding and mixing the colors40 ,the subject was a ,christ and eleven apostles 7life size71 and the time taken to complete the work was under an hour6 ,i am not quite sure but what a couple of months' experience in the ,mount ,athos workshops might not be of advantage to some of our students in the antique school4 ,our traveller adds 7,i think quite unnecessarily7 that the work seemed to him very rude and coarse--but it can be easily understood that at this rate a whole church could be covered with frescoes in a few days4 8,c'est magnifique1 mais ce n'est pas de l'art40 ,from what ,i have said1 you will understand the unchangeable nature of ,byzantine art4 ,pictures painted in this style may be more or less neatly executed1 but their artistic merit varies very little1 whether they be of the seventh or the nineteenth centuries1 whether they decorate ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice or an obscure monastery on ,mount ,athos4 ,as an illustration of this1 note a picture in the ,national ,gallery1 by a ,greek artist of the name of ,emmanuel4 ,the date of this work is #afej4 ,it was therefore painted long after ,titian1 ,raffaelle1 ,p4 ,veronese1 and all the great masters had departed this life1 and yet with all their glorious works before his eyes what does this primeval artist produce8 ,all ,i can say is1 8,go and see for yourselves40 ,other schools have their ups and downs4 ,the ,italian1 the ,flemish1 the ,french1 and the ,english schools have all had1 and will continue to have1 their periods of elevation and depression2 but ,byzantine painting always maintains its dead level1 and will continue to do so as long as the ,greek ,church lasts4 ,pictures of this school are often associated with ideas of sanctity1 not only in holy ,russia but in ,western ,europe4 ,almost all miracle-working pictures belong to this class4 ,the ,calabrian peasant1 or the ,andalusian muleteer1 who would probably be unmoved by the ,madonna di ,s4 ,sisto1 is wrought up to a high pitch of religious fervor at the shrine of some olive ,byzantine ,virgin1 with her pinched peevish face and wooden shoulders4 ,that this class of pictures has at all times been held to be peculiarly sacred1 is proved from the fact that at ,venice 7even in the time of ,titian7 the cultivation of the stiff ,byzantine style1 for popular devotion1 was maintained in juxtaposition with that of the most perfectly developed form of painting4 ,we may smile at the ,venetian religious world1 but ,i am not sure that at the present day an analogous tendency could not be imputed to some of us4 ,is there not to some sthetic nostrils a kind of odor of sanctity about medival perspective and composition8 ,it is true that our revivalists do not wish to go back to the ,byzantine period for our religious art2 the ,romanesque or at any rate the ,quattro ,cento style is the correct thing4 ,but why go back at all8 ,i can quite understand that in restoring an old cathedral it would be desirable to do so2 but in a modern building 7whether gothic or not7 to reproduce forms which we know to be incorrect1 and to introduce perspective which we know to be absurd1 seems to me to be carrying our reverence for the past a little too far4 ,a letter appeared in the ,times last summer which is so much to the purpose that ,i really must read it to you3-- 8,to the ,editor of the #8,times4'0 ,june #cjth4 8,,sir1--,i have before me a design for a window which it is proposed to place in a village church in ,lincolnshire1 as one of a group memorial of the late vicar1 his widow1 and two sons1 clergymen1 one of them a missionary of the ,church ,missionary ,society who died in ,india4 ,may ,i be allowed to describe the design8 ,the window is of two lights4 ,the dexter represents a cardinal in red hat and stockings1 red robe with blue lining1 and a nimbus round his head of a color resembling olive-green4 ,the sinister light has an archbishop with mitre1 pall1 polychromatic vestments1 and a blue nimbus round his head2 in his left hand a pastoral staff1 and in his right the ,sacred ,heart1 crimson1 with gold flames issuing from the top4 ,the drawing is signed by an eminent ,london firm1 and is submitted by the present vicar as a suitable memorial of his predecessor1 who was an ,evangelical of the old school1 and of his widow1 a lady whose dread of #8,popery' was almost morbid40 ,writers on art are fond of asserting that in spite of the repulsive ugliness of the ,byzantine types1 we ought to be grateful to the school for keeping the lamp of art alive during seven or eight centuries2 but ,i think that the history of the great revival does not bear out this assertion4 ,we find ,giotto and his followers hampered with the old traditions4 ,we find ,byzantine work rampant in ,venice down to the time of the ,bellinis1 impeding and indeed excluding all the various forms of progress which were spreading over ,northern ,italy2 and it may be noticed that all the faults and weaknesses of the early ,italian painters are traceable to ,byzantine sources4 ,i question very much whether the revival of art would not have been more rapid and complete had the ,byzantine school never existed4 ,the early reformers1 ,cimabue1 ,giotto1 and ,duccio1 would have had the great mosaics of the fifth century1 and such remnants of ancient pagan art as were then known1 to inspire them4 ,they would have been unfettered by ,byzantine tradition1 and ,i think it probable that their works would have been better in every respect4 ,every one with any experience knows that it is easier to instil sound principles of art into one who is totally uninstructed1 than into one who has already contracted a bad style of drawing2 and as it is with individuals1 so also is it with schools and phases of art4 ,then again it must be remembered that although the ,byzantine school was the dominant one during the ,middle ,ages1 there were1 in ,italy1 ,france1 and ,germany1 artists who had no connection with it1 and whose compositions1 as seen in manuscripts and missals1 will bear favorable comparison with similar work by ,greek artists of the same period4 ,i must refer you again to d',agincourt's book1 where you will find a great number of outlines from these miniatures4 ,in judging these works you must not1 however1 form your opinion as to their merits entirely by d',agincourt's illustrations4 ,they give a very fair idea of the drawing and composition1 but the charm of these small paintings lies in their color and execution1 which are sometimes very beautiful4 ,the ,bayeux tapestry1 for instance1 though charming in the original1 becomes very uninteresting and ugly when translated into black and white4 ,the transition from ,byzantine to ,romanesque art was so gradual that it is very difficult to decide when the change took place4 ,byzantine rules and traditions had taken such firm root1 that it was not till the end of the fourteenth century that its influence was finally overcome4 ,we are1 however1 approaching the time of ,guido da ,siena and ,guinto da ,pisa1 and it is pleasant at last to know 7or to suppose we know7 the names of two artists after centuries of anonymous work4 ,the fact of these names having been preserved shows at any rate that their bearers were not mere workmen bound to execute the morbid fancies of the ,church1 but painters of some repute1 whose creations1 though still very cramped and stiff1 show better modelling and a more intelligent execution than are to be found in the works of their predecessors4 ,every one has heard of ,cimabue1 but comparatively few have seen his frescoes4 ,i imagine that his best work is in the ,church of ,st4 ,francis at ,assisi4 ,i once spent six weeks at ,assisi1 and devoted a good deal of time to the wall-paintings of the church4 ,the frescoes of ,cimabue seemed to me infinitely better than his panel pictures1 but they were 7even then7 in such a state of decay that it was difficult to form an opinion of them4 ,this was twenty-two years ago1 and since that time ,i believe that the progress of decay has been very rapid indeed4 ,the ,arundel ,society had some admirable fac-simile drawings of these works executed five years ago4 ,it is curious how much more rapidly all the old frescoes are decaying now than formerly4 ,i attribute this accelerated rate of ruin to the presence of gas in the towns4 ,at ,pisa the ,campo ,santo frescoes are deteriorating much more rapidly than before the introduction of gas into the town4 ,i don't know whether ,assisi is now blessed with a gasometer1 but if it is1 poor old ,cimabue's work is doomed4 ,his famous ,madonna1 which was carried in triumphant procession through the streets of ,florence1 is painted quite in the ,greek style4 ,the flesh is better modelled1 and the draperies of the surrounding angels are much better drawn1 than in any previous example of ,byzantine work1 but ,i cannot understand the enthusiasm of the ,florentines4 ,the specimen we have in the ,national ,gallery appears to me to have been much re-painted2 the heads especially 7although ugly enough to be early work7 are of a later character1 and are painted in the fumbling1 uncertain way which is characteristic of restorers4 ,there are other artists of this period whose works show a great improvement on the old ,byzantine4 ,these are ,toriti1 who executed some fine mosaics in ,rome2 the brothers ,cosmati1 also of ,rome2 and ,gaddo ,gaddi1 the ,florentine4 ,the mosaics of the last named in the dome of the baptistery at ,florence are very highly commended1 but they appear to me rather improved ,byzantine than true ,romanesque4 ,indeed1 with the single exception of ,cimabue's frescoes at ,assisi1 ,i don't know of any work of the thirteenth century which has a true ,romanesque character at all4 ,giotto was 7as every one knows7 the pupil of ,cimabue1 and ,i believe that the truth of the old story about ,cimabue finding him when a shepherd boy occupied in drawing a sheep1 and taking him back to ,florence as an apprentice1 has not yet been doubted4 ,we can easily imagine the respect and awe which this shepherd lad would feel for the greatest painter of the capital1 and can readily believe that the work of his early youth would be founded entirely on that of his master4 ,it is more than probable that he served his apprenticeship at the great sanctuary of piety and art which arose after the death of ,st4 ,francis at ,assisi4 ,at any rate it is there that his earliest known1 and to my mind his best1 works are to be found4 ,the series of frescoes illustrative of the life of the saint1 may be considered as the starting-point of historical painting in ,italy4 ,compare the figures in these frescoes with the best work of ,cimabue1 and notice what an enormous advance has been made4 ,here we have natural1 if somewhat timid1 action1 well-proportioned figures1 and skilful arrangement of drapery4 ,i confess ,i was surprised to hear that these works were anterior to his larger frescoes in the lower church1 which represent the glorification of ,st4 ,francis1 and which appeared to me to indicate a step backward toward ,cimabue4 ,it is probable that in these last-named frescoes1 which adorn the compartments under the high altar1 ,giotto did not venture to depart much from the traditional arrangement of his predecessors1 and accordingly we find the poor1 meagre composition and the horizontal lines of heads cherished by the thirteenth century painters4 ,giotto would require a whole lecture to himself1 were ,i to attempt an account of what he did at ,padua1 ,florence1 ,rome1 and ,naples4 ,his chefs-d'uvre are said to be in ,florence1 at the ,church of ,st4 ,croce4 ,no less than four chapels in this church were decorated by him2 but1 alas6 there is very little left4 ,time1 whitewash1 and the restorers1 have done their work pretty effectually4 ,still1 the mere outlines of many of the groups show that these works may very well have been the finest that the master ever produced4 ,i have seen the ,arena ,chapel at ,padua1 which is literally covered with ,giotto's frescoes4 ,it is many years since ,i was there1 and very possibly1 were ,i to revisit the chapel1 ,i might form a different opinion1 but at the time ,i was disappointed with the paintings1 which appeared to me weak in design and feeble in execution4 ,when we recollect that ,giotto had the customs and prejudices of eight centuries to contend against1 no antiques at hand to guide and purify his taste1 no great predecessors to imitate1 we cannot help paying homage to the genius of the man who produced the ,st4 ,francis series of frescoes at ,assisi1 and numberless other works1 both at ,florence and elsewhere4 ,i think that the true explanation of his wonderful success is to be found in the old sheep-drawing anecdote4 ,it shows that even as a shepherd boy he felt that nature was the foundation of art4 ,instead of working by mere routine1 like the ,byzantine painters1 or1 like his master ,cimabue1 endeavoring to improve in the same direction1 he went direct to nature both for his compositions1 his action1 and his drapery4 ,to us it may appear the simplest thing in the world to make studies from nature for our pictures1 but in the time of ,giotto such a course would be unusual1 and would be placed in the category of happy thoughts4 ,it may be argued that if he had lived in the tenth or eleventh century instead of the fourteenth1 he would never have been allowed by his patrons to attempt such daring innovations4 ,he must have remained in the old beaten track4 ,this is no doubt true enough1 and there may have been during the dark ages a dozen embryo ,giottos whose genius had been strangled by ecclesiastical leading-strings2 but we are none the less indebted to the man who gave the death-blow to the barbarous mechanical craft which for long centuries had usurped the place of art4 ,although anxious to do full justice to ,giotto as a great art reformer1 ,i must admit that he had some very unpleasant peculiarities which were blindly adopted1 and1 indeed1 exaggerated1 by many of his followers4 ,the most repulsive of these peculiarities is the sameness and meanness of his heads4 ,in the only specimen we have of his in the ,national ,gallery this fault is not conspicuous1 but it is very noticeable in the pictures of his school4 ,indeed1 the family likeness which pervades all the heads in the large ,orcagna is almost ludicrous4 ,in ,giottesque heads the eyes are a great deal too close together and never fairly open4 ,the nose is thin and pinched1 and the jaws weak and shapeless4 ,the type1 in short1 is diametrically the opposite of the antique1 and is 7it must be confessed7 a very ignoble one4 ,the constant recurrence of this mean type is more apparent in his later than in his early works1 and it is probable that many of these stereotyped heads were executed by his assistants1 but nevertheless ,giotto is answerable for them4 ,italian sculpture1 as well as ,italian painting1 is greatly indebted to ,giotto1 for it was he who designed the reliefs for the bronze gates of the baptistery at ,florence4 ,these designs were executed in masterly style by ,andrea ,pisano1 and may be looked upon as the starting-point of ,italian sculpture4 ,in fact1 it is as the father of modern art rather than as a perfect painter that the name of ,giotto ought to be held in reverence4 ,many of his successors of the next century1 whom ,i shall mention in the course of my lectures1 approached much nearer to perfection than did ,giotto4 ,the composition of their pictures is less archaic1 the heads have more individual character and are much better drawn2 but we ought always to bear in mind1 that had ,giotto never lived1 we should never have had a ,masaccio1 a ,filippo ,lippi1 or a ,beato ,angelico1 and probably neither a ,leonardo nor a ,raffaelle4 ,louis ,quatorze is reported to have said3 8,l'etat c'est moi02 and ,giotto might with equal truth have declared3 8,l'art ,romanesque c'est moi10 so all-pervading was his influence4 ,besides the works of his immediate followers1 such as ,taddeo ,gaddi and ,orcagna1 ,italy abounds with ,giottesque frescoes1 whose authors are unknown1 or at least doubtful4 ,the most important of these nameless works are the large frescoes which cover the walls of the ,capella degli ,spagnuoli1 in ,sta4 ,maria ,novella at ,florence4 ,when ,i first saw these frescoes they were ascribed to ,taddeo ,gaddi and ,simone ,memmi of ,siena2 but modern critics have justly1 ,i think1 pronounced against this authorship4 ,they appeared to me to be of a later date1 but ,i may have been misled by the disgraceful way in which they have been retouched4 ,this retouching1 or rather repainting1 has been the ruin of many of the early frescoes1 and it is most extraordinary that in ,italy 7of all places in the world7 such barbarous mangling should ever have been allowed4 ,the real culprits are not the obscure bunglers who did the work1 but the ignorant monks or town councillors who employed them4 ,these ,sta4 ,maria ,novella frescoes are very characteristic of the allegorical mania of the ,romanesque period4 ,one of them1 we are told1 is meant to represent the 8,wisdom of the ,church10 but the allegory is so obscure and the component parts so heterogeneous1 that with the best intentions it is all but impossible to understand the painter's meaning4 ,why should ,grammar have a globe in her hand8 and why should ,logic have a serpent under her veil8 ,what has ,abraham done that he should be associated with arithmetic8 and why should ,john of ,damascus 7who1 for some occult reason1 typifies ,hope7 be mending his pen8 ,if the strange jumble in this fresco is bewildering1 what shall we say to the companion fresco which represents 8the activity of the ,church08 ,a dozen or more different centres of activity are in full play simultaneously4 ,the faithful are portrayed in one part of the fresco as men and women1 and in another part as a flock of sheep4 ,the ,dominicanes1 or ,dominicans1 are playfully represented as black and white dogs1 who are defending the sheep against wolves4 ,st4 ,dominic himself is preaching against heretics1 who are entreating pardon and burning their books2 but it is hopeless to give an idea of the confusion of imagery1 of the blending of piety with punning in this extraordinary fresco4 ,if ,i again refer in the course of my lectures to the ,romanesque allegories1 it is not that ,i am fascinated by them1 but because they are so numerous and so typical of the period that it is impossible to ignore them4 ,it would1 of course1 be unjust to blame the artists for these allegories1 or for the numerous 8,inferno0 pictures4 ,they probably had to execute and make the best of the subjects that were given them4 ,dante may very likely be answerable for much of the questionable taste of the fourteenth century4 ,i shall endeavor1 in my next lecture1 to steer a middle course between the modern blind adoration of the fifteenth century work1 and the cynical ,philistinism which can discover nothing worthy of notice in this interesting period4#a ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,on ,,the ,,painters ,,of ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century4 ,before proceeding to speak of the painters of the eighteenth century1 it will not be out of place to give a general sketch of the state of the art toward the close of the seventeenth4 ,i trust that in my last lecture ,i made it clear to you that after ,rubens and ,vandyke no painter of any talent appeared1 to support the fame of the ,flemish school1 but that in the northern provinces of ,flanders and in ,holland a whole constellation of imitative painters arose1 who1 for truthful color and exquisite skill1 have rarely been equalled1 and never surpassed4 ,this brilliant outburst of talent did not1 however1 last very long4 ,indeed1 it may be said with truth1 that all the best ,dutch pictures were painted within the space of sixty years--from about #afbj to #afhj4 ,we then perceive a gradual decline of the school1 not such a rapid decay as overtook the ,antwerp and ,brussels academies1 but a perceptible inferiority both in the color and the handling2 the former became more opaque and heavy1 and less true1 whilst the latter lost a good deal of its admirable dexterity4 ,i know of no ,dutch paintings of first-rate excellence unless it be some of ,van ,huysum's flower-pieces which were executed in the eighteenth century4 ,if we turn to ,italy1 we find the art of painting1 which had been partially arrested in its downward course by the ,eclectic and ,naturalistic schools1 now getting lower and lower4 ,devoid alike of original conception or good execution1 the ,italian painters of this time were little better than coarse decorators4 ,when ,i say that ,luca ,giordano towers like a giant over his contemporaries1 it will be easily understood what a pigmy race they must have been4 ,in ,france1 ,poussin1 ,lesueur1 ,lebrun1 and ,claude ,gele1 all died in the latter half of the seventeenth century1 leaving no worthy successors behind them4 ,germany1 owing perhaps to her long civil wars and political troubles1 had produced no great artist since ,holbein1 and the ,english school was as yet non-existent1 so we may easily comprehend the very low level to which art sank toward the beginning of the eighteenth century4 ,when ,i say that the ,english school was non-existent in the seventeenth century1 ,i do not mean that there were no painters in ,england4 ,the ,stuart princes were generally liberal patrons of art1 but all the best painters patronized by them were foreigners4 ,vandyke1 ,sir ,peter ,lely1 and even ,sir ,g4 ,kneller1 were all foreigners1 and the country was inundated with third-rate ,flemish and ,italian painters4 ,of the latter1 ,verrio is a good typical example4 ,charles ,,ii employed him to cover the ceilings and walls of his palaces with tasteless sprawling allegories1 and we learn from ,walpole that the sums paid by the king1 or rather by the unfortunate country1 for these wretched parodies of ,italian decorative painting1 were very considerable4 ,i think that of late years ,sir ,peter ,lely has had scant justice done to his talent4 ,a contemporary of ,vandyke1 his portraits have many points of resemblance with those of that master4 ,his inferiority is chiefly noticeable in the hands1 dresses1 and accessories of his portraits1 but his female heads are often very beautiful1 and are singularly characteristic of the period4 ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller1 although he lived well into the eighteenth century1 must be looked upon as a seventeenth-century painter1 all his best work having been done when he was comparatively young4 ,he is another of those predecessors of ,reynolds whom it has been the fashion to villify and decry4 ,i have seen portraits by ,kneller which were infinitely better than much of the highly-praised portraiture of the last century2 but unfortunately this clever though intensely vain artist regarded painting more as a lucrative trade than as a liberal profession4 ,no one can wish that ,kneller had devoted his talents to the stupid allegorical style then in fashion1 instead of sticking to portraits2 but what may be wished is that he had been more conscientious1 and less greedy for money1 in the particular branch of art to which he devoted himself4 ,in speaking of court patronage ,i noticed that the painters encouraged by the ,stuarts were all foreigners1 but this does not seem to have been done from systematic neglect of native talent1 but simply because no painters worthy of the name were born in ,england4 ,the only real ,englishman of the century who rose above mediocrity was ,william ,dobson1 and he had no reason to complain of want of royal patronage1 for ,king ,charles appointed him at a very early age to be court painter on the death of ,vandyke1 and used to call him the ,english ,tintoretto4 ,from what ,i have seen of ,dobson's ,i don't think ,i should have compared him to ,tintoretto4 ,nevertheless ,i consider him as a genuine artist1 and had he not died at the age of thirty-six he would probably have achieved much greater fame4 ,i ought not to omit mentioning ,john ,riley1 whose work was often taken for ,lely's4 ,walpole describes him as having been humble and modest1 and adds that with a quarter of ,kneller's vanity he might have persuaded the world that he was as great a master4 ,i think the anecdote told of him greatly in his favor1 that ,charles ,,ii1 after sitting to him1 exclaimed1 on seeing the picture1 8,is this like me8 then1 oddsfish6 ,i am an ugly fellow40 ,in such an age of flattery and falsehood it is quite refreshing to meet with an honest painter4 ,to give you an idea of the deplorable state of the art of painting toward the beginning of the eighteenth century1 ,i will quote from ,horace ,walpole1 who1 although by no means a good art-critic1 was a man of great taste and shrewdness4 ,speaking of the accession of the ,house of ,hanover1 he says3--8,we are now arrived at the period in which the arts were sunk to the lowest ebb in ,britain4 ,from the stiffness introduced by ,holbein and the ,flemish masters we were fallen into a loose and 7if ,i may use the word7 dissolute kind of painting4 ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller still lived1 but only in name1 which he prostituted by suffering the most wretched daubings of hired substitutes to pass for his works1 while at most he gave himself the trouble of painting the face of the person who sat to him4 ,his successors thought they had caught his free manner when they neglected drawing and finishing40 ,walpole goes on to deplore the frightful fashions of the period1 and remarks that ,dahl1 ,d',agar1 ,richardson1 ,jervas1 and others1 8rebuffed by such barbarous forms1 and not possessing genius enough to deviate from what they saw1 clothed all their personages with a loose drapery and airy mantles1 which not only were not but could not be the dress of any age or nation4 ,all these casual and loose wrappings were imitated from nothing2 they seldom have any folds or chiaroscuro1 drawing and color being equally forgotten40 ,there are hundreds of these portraits still in existence1 but they are generally relegated to attics and dark corridors of old country-seats1 and no one ever thinks of looking at them4 ,the owner does not like to make a bonfire of the effigies of his ancestors1 but he stows them away where they will not be seen4 ,setting aside all questions of art1 these insipid productions are valueless as likenesses4 ,we feel that not only the dresses1 but the faces themselves could not be of any age or nation4 ,walpole1 like most men of his time1 cared but little about historical or decorative painting1 and his remarks on the decadence of art relate solely to portraiture1 but there is no doubt that figure-painting had deteriorated just as much4 ,george ,i1 was totally devoid of taste1 and the second ,george 7as is well known7 hated 8boetry and bainting40 ,the only employers of artists 7,i cannot call them patrons7 were country gentlemen and a few noblemen who wanted their portraits painted4 ,the wonder to me is1 not that the portraits of ,richardson and ,jervas are so bad1 but that they are not worse4 ,as the century proceeded1 portrait-painting in ,england did not improve4 ,we find that1 between #agcj and #agej1 ,thomas ,hudson was at the head of the profession1 and no words can express better than this fact how deep the art had sunk4 ,the only representative of large historical painting at the beginning of the century was ,sir ,james ,thornhill4 ,i do not feel for this artist the same antipathy that ,i do for his predecessors1 ,verrio and ,laguerre4 ,indeed1 ,i think that had ,sir ,james lived at any other period he would have become a really great artist4 ,he was a very fair draughtsman1 and understood the art of grouping with taste and dignity2 but he had not the genius necessary to break away altogether from the ignoble style of his day4 ,it would be a profitless task to enumerate the crowd of insipid foreign painters who found a market for their work in ,england during the first half of the eighteenth century4 ,i prefer passing on at once to ,hogarth1 who stands up like a giant amongst his dwarfish contemporaries4 ,he at any rate possessed original genius1 and his manual skill1 though inferior to that of the best ,dutchmen1 was by no means contemptible4 ,his portraits are amongst the best and most characteristic of the century1 and ,i can find nothing in his attempts at a higher kind of art1 as illustrated by his 8,sigismunda0 7in the ,national ,gallery71 to justify either the savage onslaught of ,walpole or the contemptuous pity of ,reynolds4 ,on the contrary1 it appears to me that this much-abused picture is a very respectable performance1 and ,i fail to see any presumption in a skilful and accomplished artist like ,hogarth seeking to escape from the loathsome task of always painting scenes of vice1 misery1 or folly4 ,sir ,joshua ought to have recollected his own 8,death of ,dido10 and other attempts in what he calls 8the great historical style10 before taxing ,hogarth with imprudence and presumption4 ,as in these lectures ,i have often ventured to criticise1 and1 as some may think1 to speak disrespectfully of our first ,president and his discourses1 ,i should like to state that though ,i do not admire his pictures as universally as some do1 ,i consider him to have been a thorough artist2 by which ,i mean that he was saturated with love for his profession4 ,to him1 painting1 instead of being a task1 was the greatest pleasure in life1 and in pursuit of this pleasure he was indefatigable4 ,we owe him a deep debt of gratitude as the great regenerator of art in this country4 ,the great ,french art-reformer1 ,david1 went back to the antique1 and to nature 7who is older still72 and this seems to me the more logical method4 ,but there is no doubt that1 practically 7considering ,sir ,joshua's own idiosyncrasies and the state in which he found ,english portraiture71 an intelligent study of the old masters was the best rope for hauling ,british art off the mudbank on which she had so long been stranded4 ,the name of ,reynolds as a portrait-painter is almost as much respected abroad as it is here4 ,most of his work is faded and otherwise much deteriorated1 but fortunately the excellent engravings of his portraits will to all ages preserve his fame as a man of great power1 taste1 and refinement4 ,i confess myself quite unable to appreciate ,gainsborough's pictures as they are at present appreciated4 ,i don't mean to say that ,i undervalue all his work4 ,i have seen heads by him which ,i admired exceedingly1 but ,i must protest against the blind fetishism which would compel us to accept as good work any weak1 trashy picture which bears his name4 ,i have read laudatory notices both of him and ,romney which would tempt one to say with ,borachio1 8,see what a deformed thief this ,fashion is60 ,i would recommend young artists to bear in mind a pithy old saying1 to the effect that 8,one man may steal a horse while another may not look over the hedge02 and to beware of treating landscape1 or portraiture either1 in the ,gainsborough style4 ,should they be misled into any thing of the kind1 they will find to their cost that the loose1 flimsy manner which is greatly admired in the fashionable painter of the last century1 will not be tolerated for one instant in a modern picture4 ,amongst the early members of this ,academy1 ,cotes1 ,dance1 and ,ramsay were all portrait-painters1 who have1 in my opinion1 fully as good a right to celebrity as ,gainsborough2 but their merits are ignored1 whilst inferior works attributed to ,gainsborough fetch thousands of pounds4 ,amongst the figure-painters of the eighteenth-century academicians1 ,i consider ,copley to have been far the best4 ,when ,i compare his honest1 manly work with that of his contemporaries1 ,angelica ,kaufman and ,west1 ,i am always struck by its immeasurable superiority4 ,indeed1 considering that portraiture had been the only branch of the art cultivated in ,england since the days of ,holbein1 and bearing in mind how figure-drawing had been neglected1 ,i look upon ,copley's pictures with something like admiration4 ,i cannot feel the same respect for ,barry's paintings at the ,adelphi1 although the effort evinced in these paintings is worthy of all praise4 ,it was a much-needed protest against the all-absorbing fashionable portraiture of the day2 but unfortunately the artist's drawing was neither correct nor refined enough for this kind of work1 and ,i fear it must be allowed that the execution of these heroic subjects is both weak and pretentious4 ,in my opinion there are but two ,english figure-painters of the eighteenth century whose merit would be acknowledged by an intelligent foreign critic--by one1 in short1 who was ignorant of the market value of pictures1 and whose judgment was1 therefore1 wholly unbiased4 ,these two painters would be ,hogarth and ,copley4 ,we will now see what sort of artists this century of puff and powder produced in ,france4 ,in ,france the seventeenth century had been a very remarkable period for art1 for it was then that ,poussin1 ,lesueur1 ,claude ,gele1 and ,lebrun all lived and died4 ,thus1 while in ,england all historical and landscape painting was a complete blank1 ,france produced some of the greatest artists that have ever lived4 ,they 7at least three of them1 ,poussin1 ,lesueur1 and ,claude7 were great in the largest sense of the word4 ,classic1 religious1 and landscape painting must always1 ceteris paribus1 take precedence of homely genre and prosaic portraiture4 ,invention is a higher quality than power of imitation1 particularly when1 as in the case of these three painters1 the inventive power flowed without effort and was exercised with rare taste and judgment4 ,with these three great artists ,i coupled ,lebrun1 not because ,i consider him by any means their equal1 but because he was the founder of a good deal of the art which found favor in ,france during the eighteenth century4 ,it is with this century that we have to deal2 so1 without further preamble1 ,i will begin with ,jean ,jouvenet4 ,this artist 7but little known out of ,france7 narrowly escaped becoming a great painter4 ,his early pictures have a good deal of ,poussin's classical manner about them4 ,lebrun thought so highly of the young artist that he employed him as an assistant in the large battle-pieces he was executing for ,louis ,,xiv at ,versailles4 ,here he no doubt acquired a good deal of ,lebrun's vigor and facility1 but lost the pure taste and classical feeling he had derived from ,poussin4 ,he was a very prolific painter1 and all his works are either life-size or larger than life4 ,they are remarkably well drawn and vigorously colored1 but they lack the one quality which makes ,lesueur's work so attractive1 viz41 simplicity and reverential feeling4 ,it is by no means necessary that the painter of religious subjects should be an ascetic1 nor even what is commonly called a religious man1 but it is necessary that he should import into his work some of the spirit of ,christianity1 just as it is necessary for the painter of pagan heroes and nymphs to imbue himself with the spirit of classical art until it becomes a second nature to him4 ,in ,jouvenet's numerous pictures of ,new ,testament subjects the action is too violent1 and the painter has evidently thought more about displaying his own skill than doing justice to his subject4 ,in ,rubens' ,biblical pictures we often find the same kind of vulgar bustle and common types1 but every thing is pardoned to ,rubens on account of his brilliant color4 ,jouvenet's color1 though fairly good1 was not of that transcendent quality which would condone his very unbiblical style of composition4 ,with all his faults1 ,jouvenet is rather a favorite of mine4 ,i like his thoroughly masculine style of work1 and ,i admire his indomitable pluck and industry4 ,it is related of him that some ten years before his death he became afflicted with paralysis1 which completely crippled his right arm4 ,he then took to painting with his left1 and on recovering partially the use of his right fingers he used to hold his brush in his right hand and guide it with his left4 ,it is said that the work thus done is hardly inferior to what he produced before his paralysis4 ,contrast this devotion and love for his art with the tradesman-like indifference of the ,english face-painters1 of the ,knellers1 the ,jervases1 and the ,richardsons1 and others who1 as soon as they had acquired wealth1 shirked work as much as possible4 ,antoine ,watteau is another artist of great power and originality1 who made a very marked impression on the ,continental schools of the eighteenth century4 ,although he died at the early age of thirty-seven he became quite a chef d'cole4 ,lancret was the best of his imitators1 but dexterous and clever as ,lancret's pictures are1 they hardly equal the best of ,watteau's4 ,we have often read and heard about the humble beginnings of artists1 who subsequently became famous1 but the poverty and squalor of ,watteau's student life have1 ,i should think1 never been rivalled4 ,he left his native town1 ,valenciennes1 for ,paris without money and with hardly a rag to cover him4 ,with difficulty he obtained work at a kind of sign-painter's1 whose principal business was in the religious votive picture line4 ,a number of young students were employed by this dealer1 and quantity was more insisted on than quality4 ,watteau got three francs a week1 and as he was an excellent workman he had a bowl of soup given him every day4 ,he did not stay very long with this man1 but for many years his poverty compelled him to work for others4 ,during all this time he never ceased taking every opportunity of sketching from nature1 and thus laid the foundations of his subsequent extraordinary facility4 ,ultimately he was fortunate enough to meet with the best kind of patron1 not a pompous big-wig who condescended to sit for his portrait1 but a gentleman who possessed a first-class collection of drawings by the old masters1 and who allowed ,watteau to sketch and copy to his heart's content4 ,this completed our artist's education4 ,he formed his style of color on ,p4 ,veronese and ,rubens1 but his elegant and spirituel drawing and the crisp dexterity of his touch were all his own4 ,it may surprise some to hear that the painter of the frivolous1 masquerading scenes and of the foppish humors of his day was of a mild and rather melancholy disposition1 longing for the quiet of a country life1 and the unsophisticated joys of a poultry-yard and cabbage-garden4 ,watteau's fame increased after his death1 when it was found that not one of his numerous imitators could equal him4 ,this fame was completely swept away by the great classical wave which deluged ,france toward the close of the century4 ,this wave in its turn receded1 and ,watteau is now again at high-water mark4 ,the able ,french critic1 ,m4 ,villot1 asks apropos of this flux and reflux of popular estimation--8,pourquoi ne pas rendre justice en tout temps 7quel que soit le genre1 quelle que soit la forme7 l'originalite1 la force1 au sentiment1 en un mot au vrai gnie80 ,the answer is1 ,who is to determine what 8vrai gnie0 is8 ,it is just because the art-world in the time of ,david could see no genius in ,watteau that they treated his work with the most ignominious contempt1 and it is because the present ,french school is intensely anticlassical that the paintings of the first ,empire are looked upon with loathing4 ,i am afraid that fashion rules public opinion in art as much as she does in dress4 ,there are very few artists and still fewer critics who can 7like ,m4 ,villot7 give an unprejudiced opinion about two such dissimilar painters as ,watteau and ,david4 ,they 7like politicians7 take either one side or the other4 ,they are swayed by party1 and we all know what that means4 ,we all know the respectful homage paid by ,liberals to ,conservatives1 and vice vers4 ,i now come to the painters who are most typical of the eighteenth century4 ,these were the brothers ,vanloo and ,boucher4 ,i group them together1 as their style and the subjects they treated were so similar that for my purpose these three or four painters may be treated as one4 ,gifted with a marvellous facility of brush1 with great industry1 and with no scruples about purity of style1 these facile decorative painters got through an incredible amount of work4 ,boucher especially fairly glutted the market with pictures and drawings of every conceivable subject1 and as 7although a man of pleasure7 he made it a rule to work ten hours a day1 it may be understood that a good deal of this work was mechanical and commonplace4 ,the color of all the pictures of this school is as fictitious as the drawing1 but for all that it is not disagreeable from a decorative point of view2 and none but very clever men could have ignored nature with so little impunity4 ,when ,i was a student in ,paris1 the traditions of the ,david school had not died out1 and to call an artist a ,boucher or a ,vanloo was the ne plus ultra of insult4 ,old ,david himself1 however1 seems to have been more just to ,boucher1 for when one of his fanatical classical followers was railing against that master1 8,i can tell you10 says ,david1 8that it is not given to every one to be a ,boucher40 ,no doubt he was right4 ,it is not given to every one to produce over #aj1jjj works of art1 none of which can be said to be much below mediocrity1 and some greatly above it4 ,boucher1 and even the much-abused ,vanloo1 were infinitely better painters in every respect than any artist ,italy could produce at this period4 ,they at any rate had a style of their own1 which is more than can be said for ,maratti1 ,pomponi1 and the other miserable followers of the once great ,italian school4 ,the style was neither noble nor pure1 but it was all the better suited for the decoration of ,louis ,,xv apartments4 ,another figure-painter contemporary with ,boucher and the ,vanloos was ,greuze4 ,this artist is a very striking illustration of the power of fashion over the popularity of a painter4 ,it is not many years ago since a good specimen of ,greuze was worth more than a fine ,rembrandt or ,van der ,helst4 ,this strange ,greuze mania lasted a few years1 and then happily died gradually away4 ,there is a certain prettiness about his female heads1 and ,i have seen portraits by him which were remarkably good2 but his pictures1 such as 8,the ,maldiction paternelle0 and the 8,fils puni10 are a curious mixture of nambypambyism and melodrama4 ,there were two popular engravings of these pictures1 which in ,louis ,philippe's time were great favorites with the lower bourgeoisie2 and it was curious to note how universally they were disliked by all artists1 and how universally admired by all retired grocers1 pork-butchers1 and shopkeepers in general4 ,his chef-d'uvre is supposed to be the 8,cruche cassee0 at the ,louvre2 and during the ,greuze epidemic1 hundreds of copies were made of this 7to me7 rather offensive picture4 ,i shall reserve ,david and his school for my next lecture1 but before finishing what ,i have to say about the ,french artists of the eighteenth century1 ,i wish to mention the portrait-painter ,rigaud1 and one or two landscape-painters4 ,portrait-painting in ,france was never debased to a trade as it was in ,england4 ,many of the historical painters ,i have mentioned executed portraits1 and very fine ones too1 but the best portraitist of the century was ,hyacinthe ,rigaud4 ,his full-length of ,louis ,,xiv is really a grand work4 ,his biographer informs us that he worked with his brush for sixty-two years1 and averaged thirty portraits a year during the whole of that period4 ,in addition to this he made a point of retouching the numerous copies and replicas which were made of his royal portraits4 ,he painted five kings and innumerable princes and scions of royal blood4 ,probably no artist ever lived who painted so many great personages1 or who gave such general satisfaction4 ,no man1 however1 could possibly get through such a colossal amount of work without the quality suffering1 and there is in ,rigaud's portraits of minor personages a monotony and mechanical sameness which is very tiresome1 although ,i never yet saw a portrait by ,rigaud which was ill drawn or badly posed4 ,it appears that this excellent artist distinguished himself in early life by his careful academical studies--studies which he continued long after he became well known as a portrait-painter2 and the good results of this training are evident from the masterly treatment of the hands and all the accessories in his portraits4 ,it is strange that ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 who was liberal enough 7at any rate toward artists who were no longer living71 should never have mentioned the portraits of ,rigaud4 ,another excellent ,french painter of the eighteenth century was ,joseph ,vernet1 the father of ,carle and grandfather of ,horace ,vernet4 ,his views of the seaports of ,france are evidence of his honest style of work and indefatigable industry4 ,an able ,french critic1 speaking of these and other numerous sea-pieces by ,vernet1 remarks that although he may not have the delicacy of touch possessed by ,vandevelde1 nor the glowing color of ,claude1 yet no landscape painter ever was more thorough and uniformly good than ,vernet4 ,his figures are always admirably arranged1 and painted with great skill1 and his way of viewing nature was simple1 unaffected1 and broad4 ,unfortunately his pictures have become very dark and brown1 and the hanging of all the seaport views together in one gallery is not a happy arrangement4 ,one's first impression1 on entering the room1 is that they are a collection of old maps1 and it is only after close and patient examination that their good qualities became apparent4 ,hubert ,robert was another of the conscientious and indefatigable workers of the eighteenth century1 whose pictures are hardly known at all in ,england4 ,his forte was the delineation of old ,roman buildings1 and the ,louvre possesses several examples of his careful1 honest work4 ,on account of his great reputation as an architect1 he was much employed by ,louis ,,xv at ,versailles1 in designing the garden terraces and park buildings1 and it was probably on this account that he was looked upon as a ,royalist1 and thrown into prison at the time of the great ,revolution4 ,there he remained for ten months1 employing his time in sketching and painting his fellow-prisoners4 ,although he expected every day to be carted off to the guillotine1 the pictures and portraits which he executed at this terrible time show no sign of careless haste or nervous indecision4 ,they are extremely valuable as being true records of the scenes which took place in the prisons1 but they are seldom seen in public galleries1 as they were given by the painter to his companions in misfortune1 and are treasured as heirlooms by their descendants4 ,when ,i mention that our painter was sixty years old at the time1 ,i think it will be conceded that he was made of the right stuff4 ,having exhausted what ,i can afford time to say about the ,french schools of the eighteenth century1 ,i would gladly pick out a few ,italian painters of merit of that period1 but ,i find it utterly impossible to do so4 ,they were a race of bad copyists1 without a spark of originality or independence of feeling4 ,they had traditional receipts for covering large wall-spaces with figures in the ,pietro di ,cortona and ,carlo ,maratti style2 and as the century wore on1 these 8pasticcios0 became more and more insipid and commonplace4 ,it is better by far to have a style of one's own1 though it be frivolous like ,watteau's1 or artificial like ,boucher's1 than to go on manufacturing pictures by routine4 ,the only exception ,i know of to the universal decrepitude of the ,italian eighteenth-century painters is ,canaletti4 ,he may not have been a great genius1 but1 at any rate1 he was not an imitator of others1 and his canal views of ,venice are a great deal more truthful than any ,i have ever seen4 ,i am aware that his way of painting a ripple on the water was too mechanical1 but his buildings are admirable2 and whenever ,i go to ,venice ,i am always more reminded of ,canaletti's pictures than of ,turner's4 ,i am not expressing the heretical opinion that ,canaletti was a greater artist than ,turner4 ,i am merely stating1 as a matter of fact1 that ,canaletti's ,venice is much more like the real place than ,turner's2 and it appears to me that an architectural painter should 7of all painters7 adhere strictly to local truth4 ,i cannot find amongst the ,german painters of the eighteen century one single artist of first-rate excellence4 ,all the national talent seems to have found expression in the sister art of music4 ,we find ,handel1 ,haydn1 ,mozart1 ,beethoven1 and a host of other musical giants1 but not one man of exceptional stature amongst the painters4 ,raphael ,mengs was undoubtedly the best4 ,kugler tells us that from his twelfth year he was set to draw from the finest antiques1 and from the masterpieces of ,m4 ,angelo and ,raffaelle4 ,he afterward studied color from ,titian1 chiaroscuro from ,correggio1 and so on4 ,in short1 he had a most thorough and systematic art education4 ,he was a painstaking and intelligent man1 and yet1 though crammed with knowledge1 he failed to leave a great name4 ,the truth appears to be that he lacked originality and self-dependence4 ,his pictures1 therefore1 though almost faultless in composition and drawing1 are somehow cold and unsatisfactory4 ,then there is ,dietrich1 whose peculiar talent lay in the imitation of other masters4 ,rembrandt1 ,ostade1 and many other ,dutch masters were most closely imitated by this artist4 ,denner1 the most minute finisher that ever lived1 and ,sieboldt the portrait-painter1 who had a smooth1 highly polished manner of painting 7not unlike ,denner's71 pretty well exhaust the list of popular artists in ,germany4 ,in the ,netherlands1 as ,i have already stated1 the race of charming 8genre0 and landscape painters died out with the seventeenth century1 but ,van ,huysum and his followers ,roepel and ,van ,os carried the art of flower-and fruit-painting to a point which it never reached before4 ,many of the ,italian painters of this century were very fond of introducing festoons of flowers in their pictures1 and ,boucher was pretty liberal too of ,pompadour roses1 but these floral accessories were treated in a decorative fashion1 and could not be compared to ,van ,huysum's exquisitely finished and richly colored flower pieces4 ,to summarize what ,i have said about eighteenth-century painting1 we find in ,england a very low level of dull portraiture until ,reynolds revolutionized the art2 historical painting altogether absent2 incident painting with only one good representative 7,hogarth71 and landscape-painting also with only one 7,richard ,wilson71 unless we count ,crome1 ,cotman1 and ,constable as belonging to this century4 ,it will1 however1 be observed1 that during the latter half of the century1 art was in a continued state of progress4 ,the portraits which satisfied the public of the early ,georges were no longer tolerated4 ,landscape art was seriously studied1 and even what is called historical painting was feebly struggling into life4 ,in ,france1 on the contrary1 we find the art barometer falling during the century1 until the fall was rudely arrested by ,david4 ,her painters were incomparably superior to ours in the early part of the century1 but the all-pervading influence of the ,vanloos and ,bouchers demoralized fatally the whole school1 and prepared the way for the great classical revival4 ,art was in a woful plight in ,italy1 hardly any better in ,germany1 and dead or not yet born in other countries4 ,so that the eighteenth century1 or at least the greater part of it1 may be described in meteorological language as a widespread depression4 ,this depression has1 however1 long passed away1 and it rests with the coming generation of painters to take care that it should not occur again4 ,we cannot control the weather4 ,when a telegram is received from ,new ,york announcing 8a disturbance which will develop energy0 7meaning in plain ,english that we must look out for squalls71 we cannot avert the coming storm2 but when we are threatened from ,paris1 ,vienna1 or ,rome1 with an epidemic of false or meretricious art1 we can resist the temptation of following1 like the sheep of ,panurge1 any cracked bell-wether who may happen to be in fashion4 ,let every young artist work hard and conscientiously1 and when he has thoroughly learned the technical part of his profession and stored his mind with knowledge likely to be useful to him1 let him determine to carry out his own ideas1 regardless whether they happen to coincide with the prevailing craze of the day1 and ,i will venture to prophesy that no such a collapse of art as afflicted the first half of the eighteenth century will ever occur again4 ,,lecture ,,iv4 8,,david0 ,,and ,,his ,,school4 ,in my last lecture ,i traced the progress or rather the retrogression of the ,french school of painting during the eighteenth century4 ,i explained how1 beginning fairly well with such painters as ,lebrun1 ,sebastian1 ,bourdon1 and ,rigaud1 the school gradually degenerated1 and lost all traces of the pure and noble style of ,poussin and ,lesueur4 ,boucher and the numerous tribe of the ,vanloos deluged the country with a species of art which1 however suitable for decorative purposes in ,louis ,,xv galleries and boudoirs1 could not be called historical painting1 and the false sentiment1 conventional color1 and meretricious style peculiar to the school 7if pardonable in the original founders7 became unendurable in their followers and imitators4 ,it is not surprising1 therefore1 that almost simultaneously with the great national ,revolution1 an art revolution should also have occurred4 ,at the time of our great ,revolution1 when we set the example of beheading royalty1 ,cromwell and his ,roundheads were antagonistic to all art 7at least to all painting71 and no revival was possible4 ,a gloomy ,puritanism would tolerate nothing but dull portraiture4 ,in ,france1 however1 the case was different4 ,atheism and the worship of the goddess of ,reason1 though1 of course1 antagonistic to religious art1 were not opposed to pagan or classic painting1 and in the interval immediately preceding the establishment of the ,empire1 art suffered no discouragement4 ,on the contrary1 every thing was done to enlist the services of the best painters toward the glorification of the new rgime2 and as ,david1 the most able artist of his day1 happened to be an enthusiastic student of the antique1 it is not surprising that he acquired unlimited influence over the school4 ,artists 7particularly when they are such men as ,david7 do not spring up1 like mushrooms1 in a day1 and it may surprise some to hear that he was born as early as #agdh1 and had therefore reached the mature age of forty-four when the ,revolution broke out4 ,he received his artistic education in the atelier of ,vien4 ,that painter1 though not free altogether from the mannerism of the period1 adhered more closely to nature than did the painters of the ,vanloo school4 ,vien rose to great eminence under ,louis ,,xvi1 and held for many years the directorship of the ,french ,academy at ,rome4 ,his pupil1 ,david1 having after three unsuccessful attempts at last obtained the prix de ,rome1 accompanied his master1 and it was not till his residence in ,rome that he finally and completely emancipated himself from the ,vanloo school4 ,his study from the antique was unremittent4 ,he drew more than he painted1 but the few pictures he executed at this period were the best he ever did4 ,i know of nothing in the whole range of art more exquisite in arrangement and drawing than the drapery of the woman in his 8,belisarius40 ,this and several other excellent pictures were bought by ,louis ,,xvi1 and the ,count d',artois1 afterward ,charles ,x1 so that ,david in his best time was any thing but a ferocious revolutionist4 ,when the terrible time at last came1 ,david appears to have given up his art1 and to have joined the party of ,robespierre4 ,his biographer says1 8,il se laissa entrainer10 but there is no doubt that he was a willing convert1 and his name is associated with some of the most atrocious acts of the ,jacobins4 ,it is possible that1 having once connected himself with that sanguinary set1 he found he could not draw back1 and must be as cruel and ferocious as his colleagues4 ,it is difficult to believe that a man who had such an exquisite and refined taste for form 7and especially the human form7 should have taken a pleasure in ordering wholesale executions4 ,after narrowly escaping the fate of his friend ,robespierre1 he wisely returned to art and humanity2 nor did he ever afterward take any share in the political convulsions of his country4 ,he was much patronized by the first ,napoleon1 as the huge official pictures at ,versailles amply testify4 ,official pictures1 particularly during the hideous fashions which marked the ,empire1 must have been very awkward things to undertake1 and ,david1 with all his good qualities1 had not the gift of color1 which alone could enliven and give interest to such subjects as the crowning of ,napoleon and the distribution of the eagles to the troops4 ,he had1 however1 one quality in the highest perfection1 and that was drawing4 ,his monochrome cartoon for the great coronation picture is really a wonderful production4 ,all the figures are completely nude1 and it is a pity that his pontiffs1 princes1 and ambassadors could not be left in the state in which he first drew them from ,academy models4 ,when he came to draw figures in violent action1 as in his 8,romans and ,sabines0 and the 8,leonidas10 his drawing becomes rather stiff and constrained4 ,this1 coupled with his disagreeable color1 makes these pictures odious in the sight of most artists1 and to none more odious than to ,frenchmen4 ,but even in these works1 if individual portions1 heads1 arms1 and legs1 are examined critically1 it will be found how thoroughly masterly the drawing is4 ,there is in his figures no display of anatomy 7which display1 by the way1 generally indicates ignorance rather than knowledge of anatomy71 no ugly realism perpetuating the bunions and other deformities of his models2 and1 on the other hand1 none of that fictitious decorative style of drawing which is so characteristic of ,louis ,,xv painters4 ,david was a very great draughtsman1 not exactly in the sense in which ,m4 ,angelo is considered a great draughtsman4 ,he was singularly deficient in imagination1 in power of grouping1 and in poetic feeling2 but probably no man ever lived who could paint so good an ,academy figure4 ,it may also be said of him1 that he was not only a great master of drawing1 but a great drawing-master4 ,such a man was sadly wanted after the demoralization of eighteenth century art2 and1 notwithstanding the jeers of the modern realists1 ,i maintain that the pre-eminence of the ,french historical painters over those of other nations during the better part of this century is entirely due to old ,david and his teaching4 ,amongst his actual pupils may be mentioned ,girodet1 ,drouais1 ,gros1 ,grard1 and ,ingres2 but his influence extended far beyond the walls of his atlier1 and it is no exaggeration to say that the correct and refined though manly style of drawing inaugurated by ,david permeated the whole ,french school4 ,of the above-mentioned pupils ,drouais was undoubtedly the most promising4 ,his picture of the 8,canaanitish ,woman10 which is now at the ,louvre1 was his 8prix de ,rome0 work1 corresponding to our gold-medal pictures1 and it certainly is a most remarkable work for a young man4 ,it has very little of the stiff academic manner about it4 ,moreover1 there is a feeling for color in it which is very rare in the ,david school4 ,unfortunately ,drouais died in his twenty-fifth year1 and ,france lost a man who fairly promised to be one of the greatest painters she ever had4 ,grard followed pretty closely in the footsteps of his master4 ,his touch1 however1 was softer1 and his color less unpleasant4 ,moreover1 he abandoned ,greek and ,roman warriors1 and painted a great variety of more pleasing subjects1 from 8,cupid and ,psyche0 down to the 8,entry of ,henry ,,iv into ,paris40 ,pierre ,gurin was another artist of this group1 who1 although not a pupil of ,david1 adopted his style completely4 ,gurin was an excellent draughtsman1 but his taste in composition was theatrical1 and in almost all his pictures his figures have a stagey look1 as if they were on the boards of the ,thatre ,franais1 declaiming ,racine4 ,his picture of 8,phdre and ,hyppolite0 is a good example of this histrionic tendency4 ,both ,grard and ,gurin were content to emulate not only the fine drawing of the master1 but his false1 unpleasant color1 and their figures have1 like ,david's1 rather the appearance of painted statues4 ,moreover1 there is a degree of effeminacy about such pictures as the 8,cupid and ,psyche0 of ,grard1 and the 8,dido and neas0 of ,gurin which we never find in old ,david's work4 ,neither of these painters appears to me to have in any way improved on the style of their master1 whereas ,girodet1 ,gros1 and ,ingres grafted on to the correct drawing of ,david qualities of their own4 ,girodet emancipated himself completely from the stiff academic attitudes which ,david gave to his figures when he wanted to depict action4 ,the scene from the 8,deluge0 7which every one who has been to the ,louvre must have seen7 is outrageously artificial2 nevertheless1 supposing it possible that a family of antediluvians should have performed the acrobatic feat here depicted1 the action in all the figures is perfectly true4 ,moreover1 there is a freedom and spirit about the attitudes which we do not find in ,david's work4 ,this picture competed with ,david's 8,romans and ,sabines0 for the grand decennial prize given in #ahaj1 and the judges very justly gave the prize to ,girodet4 ,in the 8,endymion0 and the 8,burial of ,atala10 both at the ,louvre1 ,girodet deserted the ,david system of coloring and adopted a color suitable to the subjects1 which to my thinking is very impressive and poetic4 ,the dead ,atala is a most lovely creation1 perfect in every way4 ,indeed1 ,i consider it to be the chef-d'uvre of the whole school4 ,girodet's talent for composition was very great4 ,he illustrated ,virgil1 ,anacreon1 ,racine1 and other poets with exquisite taste and skill4 ,i have seen some of these illustrations4 ,they are more picturesque than ,flaxman's1 and much more refined in drawing4 ,girodet was himself a poet of no mean order1 and his translations from the ,greek classics proves him to have been an accomplished scholar4 ,i should have much liked to have illustrated what ,i have been saying about these really great artists with a few engravings from their works4 ,when ,i was a student in ,paris one might have picked up any number of them from the portfolios on the quays1 but now they are extremely scarce4 ,the school has long since gone out of fashion in ,france1 and in ,england it never was in fashion4 ,before proceeding to speak of ,gros1 ,ingres1 and ,granet1 who1 although pupils of ,david1 departed gradually from their master's style1 ,i should like to notice two painters1 ,prudhon and ,gricault1 whose art was altogether antagonistic to the stiff classicism of the period4 ,the former went to ,rome in #aghb1 and1 unlike his countrymen1 devoted his time to the study of the old masters instead of adhering to nature and the antique4 ,there is a pretty and true anecdote connected with this journey to ,rome1 which ,i should like to tell you4 ,whilst competing for the prix de ,rome1 one of his fellow-competitors was taken ill and was obliged to give up4 ,prudhon1 out of compassion for the poor fellow1 who had overworked himself1 left his own picture and finished his rival's in such a style that he gained him the prize4 ,the successful candidate was1 however1 not to be outdone in generosity1 so he told the whole story to the judges1 assuring them that had it not been for ,prudhon's assistance1 his picture would by no means have been the best4 ,upon hearing this1 the judges revised their decision1 and declared ,prudhon to be the victor4 ,i am not aware whether so much generosity on the one hand1 and modesty on the other1 is common amongst prize candidates and gold medallists4 ,i fancy it is the exception rather than the rule1 and this must be my excuse for relating the story4 ,prudhon's pictures are very inferior to his small drawings4 ,he never was a thorough draughtsman like his contemporaries1 and when he attempted life-size figures1 the form becomes incorrect and very vague4 ,his favorite masters appear to have been ,correggio and ,andrea del ,sarto1 but he exaggerated their softness until his figures lost all texture and appeared to be made of cotton wool4 ,in aiming at breadth1 he again overshot the mark4 ,simplicity is a very desirable quality1 and one which is rarely found in our ,academy schools1 but at the same time1 when carried to such extremes as in ,prudhon's 8,crucifixion0 it degenerates into mannerism4 ,of his small drawings ,i cannot speak too highly4 ,they are greatly admired in ,france1 but little known in ,england4 ,the other eccentric nonconformist to the ,david tradition1 namely1 ,gricault1 is much better known in ,england than ,prudhon4 ,his famous picture of the 8,medusa ,raft0 was not liked when first exhibited in ,paris4 ,it was brought over to ,london1 where it was much more appreciated4 ,on its return to ,paris1 ,m4 de ,forbin1 the director of the national collection1 in vain urged the government to purchase it4 ,it was disliked by ,louis ,,xviii's ministers1 and it took ,m4 de ,forbin three years to persuade them to grant #bjj for its purchase4 ,after this it suddenly rose to great popularity1 which went on increasing until my student days1 when it was universally acknowledged to be the chef-d'uvre of the modern ,french school4 ,it is no doubt a fine1 vigorous work1 full of action and energy1 but my enthusiasm was always rather cold compared to that of my fellow-students4 ,its realism appears to me to lie more in the execution than in the conception4 ,it is too melodramatic to be true4 ,we admire the technical qualities of the painting1 the vigorous drawing1 and the appropriate1 if somewhat sombre1 color1 but somehow we feel that the mise en scne lacks truth1 that the painter has thought more about displaying his own power than realizing the dreadful scene he had to depict4 ,compared with the artificial1 classical works of ,david1 this picture is nature itself2 but measured by the modern standard of pictorial truth1 it must be confessed that it is not quite satisfactory4 ,the sea ought surely in such a subject to play an important part4 ,we miss altogether the long swell which always follows a storm1 and the helpless condition of a rude raft as it plunges and rises on the big waves4 ,gricault's single wave1 which threatens to break over the raft1 is a pasteboard1 theatrical one1 which need cause no alarm4 ,to criticise the setting of the sail from a nautical point of view would be too matter-of-fact2 but ,i cannot help thinking that if the canvas had been listlessly flapping1 and consequently useless as a sail1 the picture would have been truer1 and therefore more touching4 ,gricault's other works in the ,louvre are rather gigantic sketches than pictures4 ,they all evince great power and facility1 but the action is generally unnecessarily violent1 and the relative proportion between man and horse not properly observed4 ,in spite of his faults1 ,gricault was1 however1 a very great artist1 and may justly be considered as the founder of the cole romantique1 which subsequently developed itself so greatly in ,france4 ,we now come to ,gros1 who1 although originally a pupil of ,david1 abandoned in after-life the style of his master4 ,gros spent a good deal of his youth in ,italy1 and having pleased ,buonaparte by a picture representing the battle of the ,bridge of ,arcola1 the young general attached him to his staff1 and thus fixed the painter's career4 ,every one who has been to ,paris knows the gigantic pictures commemorative of ,napoleon's ,egyptian campaign1 the 8,pestifers de ,jaffa10 the 8,battaille des ,pyramides10 and last1 though not least1 the 8,battaille d',aboukir40 ,this picture may be accepted as the chef-d'uvre of that noble style of battle-painting which is intermediate between the academic manner of ,david and the thoroughly naturalistic style of modern battle-painters4 ,the composition of this picture has always struck me as being most masterly1 and ,i strongly recommend all students to study the subtle manner in which the lines of the groups and the masses of light and shade are made to express the action1 quite independent of the individual attitudes4 ,murat1 who is charging at the head of the ,french cavalry1 looks like the forerunner of a great wave which is about to break over the unfortunate ,turks1 and the whole composition1 viewed as a composition1 is a masterpiece4 ,the relative proportions of the figures are not properly observed1 but the spirit and skill displayed are so great that this fault passes almost unnoticed4 ,i do not wish to underrate the battle-pieces of ,h4 ,vernet1 ,bellanger1 and ,raffet1 and ,i admire exceedingly those of ,de ,neuville1 but ,i must say that the art which could produce on canvas such an epic poem as this 8,battaille d',aboukir0 is of a higher quality2 and when we recollect that the figures are considerably larger than life1 our respect and admiration for old ,gros must be proportionately increased4 ,when considerably past fifty1 ,gros went to ,brussels to visit his old master1 ,david1 who was living there in exile1 and for whom he had always entertained the greatest affection4 ,unfortunately for ,gros1 he allowed himself to be persuaded by the old man to give up painting modern battles1 and to go back to the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,a few attempts in this direction1 made by ,gros on his return to ,paris1 were so severely criticised1 and greeted with such roars of laughter1 that poor ,gros drowned himself from sheer vexation4 ,a coroner's jury would have justly returned a verdict of temporary insanity1 for previous to his suicide ,gros had shown many symptoms of mental aberration independent of his egregiously bad pictures4 ,his rival ,ingres survived him for thirty years4 ,this painter 7also a pupil of ,david7 departed from the master's style1 but in quite a different direction to that taken by ,gros4 ,slow1 laborious1 and fastidious1 he was a long time before gaining the front rank of ,french painters1 which1 however1 when once gained he kept for forty years4 ,he largely modified the ,david interpretation of the antique by studying the works of ,raffaelle1 and importing into his own much of the simplicity1 dignity1 and grace which characterize the best works of the great ,roman painter4 ,he deserves1 however1 more honor as the founder of a school than as a great painter4 ,he may be said to have supplemented the schooling in draughtsmanship which the ,french artists got under ,david4 ,i can name but one very great artist amongst his pupils1 namely1 ,flandrin1 but there is no doubt that his severe and dignified style influenced1 perhaps unconsciously1 most of his younger contemporaries4 ,my own master1 ,p4 ,delaroche1 was eclectic in his art2 that is1 he endeavored to unite the spirit and life of ,gros with the severe drawing of ,ingres4 ,he was not always very successful in the attempt1 but fortunately he had qualities of his own which will rescue his fame from the fate which attends that of most eclectic artists4 ,these qualities were great dramatic power and exquisite taste in the arrangement of his figures4 ,i can bear witness to the care he bestowed on composition1 never grudging time or labor if he could in any way improve the action of his figures or the outline of his groups4 ,i have known him to efface no less than seventeen finished figures during the progress of his great mural painting at the ,ecole des ,beaux ,arts2 thus destroying at least two months' work1 simply because he was dissatisfied with the grouping4 ,his atelier was about equally divided between the ,ingrests and the partisans of the cole romantique1 but although a few men of extreme views would often quarrel over the respective merits of ,ingres and ,delacroix1 the great majority were much better employed in endeavoring to draw and paint the model they had before them4 ,some of ,ingres' portraits are fine works of art1 but they want life4 ,old ,david's portrait of 8,pius ,,vii0 is far better than ,ingres' best4 ,i consider the chef-d'vre of ,ingres to be the painting which he executed for one of the ceilings of the ,louvre1 representing the 8,apotheosis of ,homer40 ,this work has been removed to where it can be seen more comfortably1 but when in situ it looked very noble and dignified1 especially when contrasted with the trashy commonplace plafonds of the neighboring rooms4 ,many a young student has gazed with admiration at this work until he got a pain in his neck1 and it is the powerful influence for good which the 8,apotheosis of ,homer0 had on the then rising generation which constitutes ,ingres' best claim to the celebrity he enjoyed during a long life4 ,surprise has been recently expressed at ,ingres' prejudice against anatomy4 ,it is perfectly true that he disliked the look of a skeleton1 and small blame to him1 but ,i don't think he was opposed to any of the students consulting the anatomical figure4 ,he had never learned any thing about either bones or muscles himself1 and therefore could not see any benefit to be derived from the study4 ,his contempt for anatomy as an adjunct to art was shared by a good many other ,french masters1 nor can ,i much wonder at it when ,i recollect the courses of anatomy we used to attend4 ,a professor from the ,ecole de ,mdecine would give a dozen dry lectures on the bones and muscles1 just as if he were addressing a lot of medical students who would be called upon in after years to perform difficult surgical operations4 ,what would interest us1 and be of use to us as artists1 was never mentioned4 ,i don't know whether a more artistic kind of anatomy is now taught in ,paris2 if not1 ,i sympathize greatly with the students who attend the lectures4 ,another pupil of ,david's who for a few years made a great sensation was ,leopold ,robert1 the painter of 8,the ,pcheurs de l',adriatique10 8,the ,moissonneurs10 and similar scenes of ,italian peasant life4 ,two of these pictures are now hung in the ,louvre1 and it is marvellous to me how they could ever have been much admired by artists4 ,i am not surprised at their popularity with the general public1 for they made a very nice pair of engravings1 and there is a beauty about the women which is captivating at first sight2 but the figures are all posing1 as if for a photographic group1 and these once celebrated pictures now appear to me rather contemptible4 ,l4 ,robert 7like ,gros7 committed suicide1 and it was perhaps on this account that the two men used often to be compared together1 sometimes 7,i am ashamed to say7 to the disadvantage of ,gros4 ,granet is the last artist ,i shall mention who actually studied in ,david's atelier4 ,he never attempted the heroic style like ,girodet1 ,gurin1 and many others1 nor did he endeavor1 like ,leopold ,robert1 to idealize ,italian fishermen and peasants4 ,he began with architectural interiors1 and during a long life never changed his style4 ,his figures1 generally of medium or small size1 are remarkably well drawn4 ,their action is perfectly natural1 and they are always in their right places4 ,few artists ever lived whose work was more thorough and faultless than old ,granet's4 ,an excellent colorist1 a sound draughtsman1 and by no means deficient in poetic feeling1 he had but one blemish1 and that was the habit of using bad materials4 ,i remember his large picture of the ,mass at ,assisi soon after it was painted4 ,the dim but glowing light of the church was admirably rendered1 but now1 alas6 the picture has become so black that it is difficult to make out the figures4 ,i believe he was in the habit of using dark-red grounds for his pictures1 and this no doubt accounts for their so rapidly losing their brilliancy4 ,granet was a native of ,aix1 near ,marseilles1 and in his old age returned to his native town1 but used to contribute regularly to the annual exhibition in ,paris2 and his pictures were always admired1 not only by the public1 but by all the young artists1 with whom he was a great favorite4 ,i trust ,i have shown you that ,david1 whatever we may think of his pictures1 was at any rate a successful schoolmaster1 or what the ,french call a chef d'cole1 and his influence continued to be felt very perceptibly in the second generation4 ,abel de ,pujol1 ,leon ,coignet1 ,delaroche1 ,couture1 ,flandrin1 ,alaux1 etc41 were all pupils either of ,gurin1 ,ingres1 or ,gros1 and they all preserved the ,david traditions of sound and careful drawing4 ,indeed1 ,flandrin carried the noble draughtsmanship of his master ,ingres to such perfection that it seems to me impossible to advance any farther in this direction4 ,the two great pictorial heretics of this period were ,delacroix and ,decamps4 ,the former learned his art under ,gurin1 and the latter under ,a4 de ,pujol1 but in their case the maxim about 8training up a child in the way he should go0 certainly did not hold good1 for both these great artists threw the time-honored atelier traditions overboard1 and proceeded on diametrically opposed principles4 ,being both great colorists1 and both unusually gifted with true artistic feeling1 they succeeded at last in rivalling1 if not eclipsing1 the fame of their more orthodox contemporaries4 ,with ,delacroix1 especially1 the battle was a long one1 and ,i well remember his 8,entry of the ,crusaders into ,constantinople0 7perhaps the finest picture he ever painted7 being rejected at the ,salon1 and in the following year being hung at the top of the gallery4 ,decamps was much more careful about his drawing than ,delacroix1 and his pictures being always small1 he did not give so much offence to 8,ces ,messieurs de l',institt40 ,if ,i were addressing a ,french audience ,i should certainly not think of mentioning ,ary ,schffer2 but as in ,england he enjoys a kind of reputation1 a few words about him may not be out of place4 ,in the early part of his career he followed in the track of ,delacroix1 and the pictures he painted at this time show a great feeling for color4 ,all at once 7after achieving considerable success in this style7 he went about on the other tack1 gave up color1 and took to imitating ,ingres4 ,he was always a poor draughtsman4 ,his 8,paolo and ,francesco10 and many of his best-known religious pictures1 are wretchedly drawn1 but there is a pretension to purity of style about them which takes people in4 ,it is not many years ago since ,schffer1 on the strength of these sentimental works of art1 was considered in ,england to be the first of ,french painters4 ,if we proceed to my own time1 which ,i may call the third generation from ,david1 we find decidedly less of that precision of drawing for which the ,french school was famous4 ,there are1 of course1 exceptions1 and one or two very notable ones1 but the number of weak draughtsmen amongst painters of mature years has certainly increased4 ,it is1 however1 when we come to consider the pictures of the younger generation that we find how very much the impulse given by ,david to correctness and refinement of drawing has exhausted itself4 ,french literature 7speaking of course generally7 is either mawkishly sentimental or brutally realistic1 and these unpleasant characteristics seem to be reflected in the painting of many of their popular artists4 ,eccentricity appears now to be the surest road to fame4 ,formerly it required a great deal of talent to leave successfully the beaten track1 but now the eccentric painter finds himself famous1 not in spite of his grotesque peculiarities1 but on account of them4 ,i consider the modern ,french school to be in a very critical state4 ,they have acquired color1 but at too great a sacrifice4 ,beauty and dignity of form1 noble composition1 and all the higher qualities of art1 become rarer every year1 and will1 if the present downward tendency continue1 soon be extinct4 ,of course ,i am speaking of historical painting1 either sacred or profane2 of the art1 in short1 of ,girodet1 ,gricault1 ,gros1 ,ingres1 and ,flandrin2 and ,i think it will be generally allowed that no school can hold its place in the art-world which allows the noblest branch of the profession to wither and decay4 ,i will now proceed to consider the influence of ,david on other ,european schools4 ,this influence was very marked in ,italy1 where an uneasy feeling that their once famous school had sunk very low had prevailed for some time4 ,raphael ,mengs was too feeble1 and ,pompeo ,battoni too meretricious1 a painter to regenerate ,italian art1 but when ,david appeared1 an effort was made4 ,the antique was again studied1 the pernicious practice of imitating the old masters was abandoned1 and ,nature1 the fountainhead of all art1 was more conscientiously imitated4 ,david's example thus produced1 amongst others1 ,benvenuto and ,camuccini1 both of whom were infinitely greater painters than had appeared in ,italy for a century4 ,unfortunately1 the revival so successfully begun was suffered to die out4 ,the race of copyists became again in the ascendant1 and no doubt reaped a rich harvest when1 after the great ,napoleonic wars1 the ,continent was overrun by wealthy dilettanti anxious to obtain 7if not a genuine ,caracci or ,guido7 at least a good imitation of one4 ,the mania for collecting grimy old masters at last died out1 and considering the shameless way in which the purchasers were imposed upon1 it is a wonder that it lasted so long4 ,when1 however1 this happy event took place1 and a healthier taste became fashionable1 ,italian artists could not supply the demand4 ,small landscapes and pretty little costume pictures were painted in abundance1 but for ,biblical or historical art the public had to turn to the foreigner1 to ,overbeck or ,cornelius4 ,things are not quite so bad in ,italy at the present day1 but the school is very insignificant as compared with those of ,france1 ,belgium1 ,england1 and ,germany4 ,in ,germany the great art-revival began between #ahaj and #ahbj4 ,cornelius and ,overbeck1 the two founders of the modern ,german school of historical painting1 can neither of them be included among the followers of ,david1 and yet it is not improbable that had the ,french school remained as it was under ,boucher and ,vanloo1 ,germany would also have been content to go on in the vicious routine of the eighteenth century4 ,david1 therefore1 though not the progenitor1 may have been the indirect cause of the modern ,german school4 ,winkleman's laborious researches1 and the flood of light he threw on classical art and antiquities1 had fully prepared the way for a revival2 and in ,cornelius1 ,germany found a man after her own heart4 ,in #ahbe1 when he was still young1 he was made ,director of the ,academy at ,munich1 and commenced the gigantic series of mural paintings with which his name will always be associated4 ,he had a great number of scholars1 and his manner is more or less perceptible in all their works4 ,it is a manner ,i never did like1 and probably never shall4 ,the effort made by the artist is too evident1 and all the personages seem to be acting a part4 ,this is particularly noticeable in ,kaulbach's and ,piloty's large compositions4 ,these works were greatly admired in ,germany1 and are so still1 but ,i believe their popularity is on the wane4 ,as for ,overbeck1 he never could have become the founder of a durable school4 ,ascetic1 exclusive1 and narrow in his art views1 the only charm of his pictures is indissolubly connected with the personal character of the painter4 ,his admiration for ,perugino and the ,umbrian school was genuine and unbounded4 ,he abhorred ,titian and loathed ,correggio4 ,with such ideas on art he may justly be called an anachronism1 and it will be easily understood that however leniently and even favorably we may judge the work of an enthusiast like ,overbeck1 we should not be disposed to extend the same leniency to his imitators4 ,we will now examine what influence the great classical revival1 inaugurated by ,david1 had on ,british art4 ,i think it must be allowed that this influence 7if it ever existed at all7 was very slight4 ,our artists were content to tread in the path pointed out to them by ,sir ,j4 ,reynolds1 and to study with more or less intelligence the old masters4 ,their knowledge of the human form was very imperfect1 and there were at that time no large ateliers where they could acquire such knowledge4 ,the ,continent was closed to them1 and they were therefore debarred from seeing the works of ,david1 ,girodet1 ,gurin1 and ,grard4 ,it is probable1 too1 that even had they been able to visit the ,paris galleries occasionally1 they would have been greatly disgusted2 for it must be confessed that the later works of ,david are singularly repellent to an eye educated on ,titian and ,rubens4 ,in ,england1 particularly during the reign of ,george ,,iii1 there was no demand for large figure subjects4 ,the government did nothing for historical art4 ,the churches were ugly square boxes with whitewashed walls1 sometimes be-plastered with black or white marble commemoration tablets1 but in which paintings were tabooed4 ,private individuals could not1 of course1 find room in their houses for large pictures2 so1 as a natural consequence1 the ,english school was forced into another direction1 and we find accordingly the best and ablest artists of this period amongst the portrait and landscape painters4 ,a little of old ,david's precision of drawing would not have hurt some of them1 but landscape art depends more on color and effect than on fine perceptions of form1 and careful study of the antique is obviously unnecessary to a man whose mission it is to paint mountains and trees1 storm and sunshine4 ,of the few artists who executed large figure pictures at this time ,i shall say very little1 for the simple reason that there is very little to say4 ,we all know ,benjamin ,west's pictures1 and are fully aware of their tameness and insipidity4 ,i think that ,west is a striking example of a man who succeeded in impressing his character on his work4 ,highly respectable1 prosaic1 unimaginative1 and rather goody1 we find all these characteristics reproduced in his pictures1 and yet many of these pictures1 particularly 8,death on the ,pale ,horse10 created a perfect furore at the time1 and the prices the artist got for his works would be considered high even at the present day4 ,hilton was undoubtedly the best of the very few artists who endeavored to revive large historical painting in ,england4 ,he was at any rate a good draughtsman and an accomplished painter1 but his too palpable imitation of the old masters will always prevent his taking rank with such men as ,girodet1 ,gricault1 or ,gros4 ,fuseli1 with all his bombast and affectation of anatomical knowledge1 showed occasionally that he possessed real genius4 ,i know nothing finer in the whole ,english school than his ghost scene of 8,hamlet40 ,the ghost is not one of those artificial bogies1 so common in the works of ,blake and ,flaxman1 but a right royal ghost1 who stalks with gigantic strides across the stage4 ,fuseli was a very uneven painter4 ,his pictures are generally ludicrous1 but sometimes show real talent4 ,he wanted ballast1 and if ,west could have spared him a few tons of lead1 both painters would have been greatly benefited4 ,my present lecture is on ,david and his school1 and therefore ,i might have omitted altogether the contemporary ,english painters4 ,however1 as ,i have mentioned some1 ,i should be sorry to omit from my very short list the name of ,stothard4 ,of all the ,english figure-painters of this period1 ,stothard had the greatest feeling for composition4 ,with a little more power and correctness in his drawing1 he would have been an ,english ,prudhon4 ,even with all his feebleness of draughtsmanship he is to me always attractive4 ,there is so much bonhomie about his work1 such an absence of pretence and humbug1 and so evident a desire always to do his best1 that although we cannot close our eyes to his shortcomings1 we may well condone them for the sake of the good honest feeling which pervades almost all his compositions4 ,i prefer to pass unnoticed one or two aspirants to high art1 who in the first half of the present century were thought a good deal of4 ,some people still believe in them1 but as ,i never did1 ,i would1 rather say nothing about them1 particularly as their work is foreign to the subject of my lecture4 ,it is pleasant to turn from a kind of art with which ,i have no sympathy1 to more recent efforts1 and to be able to speak more favorably of ,english historical painting before closing my lecture4 ,we have had in ,etty a colorist both brilliant and original2 a painter who proved that it was quite possible to excel in color without imitating either the ,venetians or ,rubens2 and in ,dyce a draughtsman of the most severe and refined kind1 a master of composition1 and a most thorough artist4 ,i have often heard it remarked that ,dyce's mural paintings are very ,germanic in style1 but to my thinking there is but the slightest likeness to any work of the ,munich or ,dusseldorf masters4 ,his figures never have the labored self-conscious action which is so characteristic of the school of ,cornelius4 ,of course1 frescoes representing ,king ,arthur and his knights must have a sort of family resemblance to illustrations of the ,niebelungen legends1 but the resemblance is merely superficial4 ,a closer comparison will prove how much more true1 and therefore more dramatic1 is the action in ,dyce's figures4 ,there is an old adage which tells us that 8knowledge is power10 but in art this hardly holds good4 ,you may have plenty of knowledge and yet not have power2 though1 on the other hand1 you can hardly have true power without knowledge4 ,dyce had both in an eminent degree1 whereas ,schadow1 ,kaulbach1 ,piloty1 and most of the great ,german artists1 though decidedly learned painters1 had not the power of turning their learning to good account4 ,it is obvious that ,i cannot continue my remarks down to the present time1 but ,i may be allowed to express an opinion that 7in this ,academy at least7 feeble mysticism or blatant quackery is no longer associated with high art4 ,we have1 of course1 our faults1 but history-painters do not1 as formerly1 lag hopelessly behind their colleagues in genre1 portrait1 and landscape art4 ,this happy result is entirely due to a return to old ,david's system of teaching2 namely1 to a diligent study of the antique1 supplemented by a long course of drawing from nature4 ,such an excellent competition as we recently had for the gold medal would have been simply impossible fifty years ago4 ,i don't want to flatter the rising generation1 nor to tell them that they have twice as much talent as their fathers1 and ten times as much as their grandfathers2 but what ,i wish to point out is1 that by patient study and diligent work a much higher result can be obtained than by spasmodic effort or crazy enthusiasm4 ,,lecture ,v4 ,,on ,,the ,,modern ,,schools ,,of ,,europe4 ,my first lecture of the present course will be devoted to a kind of review of the various painting schools of modern ,europe4 ,as one of the jurors at the ,paris ,international ,exhibition1 ,i had a rare opportunity of comparing one school with another1 and ,i think that a lecture embracing the conclusions ,i came to1 may be more interesting to you1 and possibly more instructive1 than a discourse on the works of the old masters4 ,national schools of art can at this present time hardly be said to exist1 at least not in the sense in which they existed #cjj years ago4 ,in those times the attributes and characteristics of each school were sharply defined4 ,the ,roman1 the ,venetian1 the ,spanish1 the ,german1 and the ,flemish1 were as distinct in character as it was possible to be4 ,now1 however1 the national characteristics are very slight1 and in many countries there seem to me to be none4 ,the ,french and the ,german are the two great ,continental schools from which the others spring4 ,england1 ,austria1 ,spain1 and perhaps ,holland1 have certain features of their own2 that is1 speaking generally1 one would know an ,english1 ,austrian1 ,spanish1 or ,dutch picture at once4 ,the ,scandinavian and ,danish schools are feeble offshoots of the ,german4 ,the ,belgian is a vigorous branch of the ,french1 and the ,swiss is a less robust child of the same parent4 ,the ,italian seems to me to be a mixture of ,french and ,spanish1 with a little of the old ,italian element surviving4 ,by the old ,italian element ,i do not mean a reminiscence of ,raffaelle1 ,michael ,angelo1 or ,titian1 but rather of ,carlo ,dolce or ,sassoferrato4 ,russian and especially ,american art are of a nondescript character1 and the reasons are sufficiently obvious4 ,a young ,american or ,russian artist goes to ,paris or ,rome1 and puts himself to school under a certain master4 ,after a time he will paint pictures more or less like his master's2 he will exhibit them1 and may get rewards and medals for them2 but he can hardly be called a representative of the ,american or ,russian school4 ,no ,american thinks of studying art in ,new ,york or ,boston1 and no ,russian artist dreams of finishing his artistic education in ,st4 ,petersburg or ,moscow4 ,there can1 therefore1 be no ,american or ,russian school properly so called4 ,i shall begin my lecture with a few words about our noble selves4 ,i will give you rather the opinion of the best ,french artists than my own4 ,as this opinion was expressed with perfect sincerity1 and came from competent and independent judges1 ,i think we may derive a lesson from it4 ,it has1 ,i know1 often been remarked that ,french artists appreciate best whatever is most unlike their own work1 and it was a feeling of this kind which consoled the ,belgians for the favor with which the ,english galleries were regarded4 ,i confess that there is a good deal of truth in the remark4 ,english painting is so unlike ,french that there can be no direct rivalry between the two schools1 whereas in ,belgian work the rivalry is unpleasantly close4 ,i may1 perhaps1 be allowed to add1 that for the same reason those ,english painters who approximate most to the ,french school were precisely those who were the least appreciated4 ,novelty has a great charm1 particularly to a ,frenchman4 ,if you ask a ,parisian to dinner and wish to please him1 do not give him delicate little ,french dishes1 with light claret to drink4 ,give him half a codfish followed by a sirloin of beef1 with plenty of bitter ale to wash it down with1 and he will bless you and afterward cherish the memory of these alimens vraiment ,britanniques4 ,novelty of treatment was1 however1 certainly not the only reason of the success of the ,english school4 ,in the first place1 it was noticed that there was a certain refinement and elegance about the ,english galleries which was very pleasant to the jaded juror who had just been wading through long rows of coarse imitations of ,french art4 ,the ,english school was thought very highly of not on account of its color1 still less on account of its drawing1 but chiefly for the sake of the refined thought and invention shown in some of the pictures4 ,then1 again1 in some cases1 the novelty of the mode of execution1 or the delicacy of the color1 pleased our foreign judges2 but ,i am quite sure that the popularity which ,english art has undoubtedly gained in ,paris is due more to our brains than to our brushes4 ,the remarks and criticisms ,i heard in ,paris all tend to confirm the opinion ,i have often expressed about the importance of originality in painting2 of every artist1 in short1 thinking out his subject for himself1 with nature as his only guide4 ,of course1 novelty of treatment1 unless combined with truth1 is valueless4 ,it would not be difficult to mention some novelties about which the remarks of my ,french friends would be the reverse of complimentary4 ,the first quality in the pictorial rendering of a subject must be truth1 the second novelty or originality1 and the third feeling or poetry4 ,where these three qualities are combined in a picture1 it will more than hold its own in the eyes of competent judges against works far more brilliantly executed4 ,it must not1 however1 be supposed that foreign artists were delighted with all they saw in the ,british galleries4 ,our old faults--namely1 indifferent drawing1 and feeble1 scratchy execution--were often noticed1 but were not nearly so prominent as twenty-three years ago4 ,i have no doubt we have improved in these respects1 but ,i also think that our foreign judges are apt to be much more lenient than of old as regards drawing4 ,their own drawing is not what it used to be in the days of ,ingres and ,flandrin4 ,they have acquired other qualities1 but they seem to me to have lost the art of expressing beautiful form4 ,of course1 in my remarks to-night ,i shall speak of the general tendency of the schools4 ,in every school there are exceptions to the rule1 and amongst the ,french painters of the day there are at least one or two striking exceptions to the general decline of drawing power4 ,to return to the ,english galleries4 ,it would be impossible to retail to you the unfavorable remarks that were made without becoming disagreeably personal4 ,this adverse criticism of a few pictures gave perhaps more value to the verdict that1 speaking generally1 the ,english school was distinguished by its intellectual1 refined1 and1 above all1 thoroughly national character4 ,let us hope that as years roll on we may gain more power in drawing and more manliness of execution1 without losing any of those national qualities which have carried us so creditably through the ordeal of an ,international ,exhibition4 ,we will now leave the ,british section1 and proceed to the ,french galleries4 ,french art seems to me to be in a transition state4 ,public taste has been unsettled by the enormous success of ,fortuny1 ,regnault1 ,corot1 ,daubigny1 and other still more eccentric painters4 ,eccentricity is too often mistaken for genius1 and coarseness for power4 ,the last ,salon 7or annual exhibition7 was the worst ,i ever saw4 ,of course1 the ,french section of the ,international was rich both in quantity and quality1 but ,i did not notice a single really fine picture that had been painted within the last three years4 ,to what are we to attribute this unsatisfactory state of things8 ,although it has often been said that republicanism is fatal to art1 it is difficult to believe that the present ,french ,government can have any influence either for good or evil on artists' studios4 ,indeed1 ,french sculpture1 which is certainly improving1 is there to negative any such theory4 ,the reason of the decline of the older men is obvious enough4 ,they have ceased to paint for fame2 they paint for money4 ,country-houses1 carriages1 horses1 and last1 but perhaps not least1 madame's toilette1 must be paid for1 and the consequence is the production of what in a humbler sphere of art would be called pot-boilers4 ,these inferior works are eagerly purchased at very high prices1 and the artist1 finding he can coin as much money as he likes1 takes less and less pains1 till finally decadence sets in1 and the men who from their age ought to be in the zenith of their artistic power1 find themselves quite incapable of rivalling the productions of their youth4 ,the cause for the manifest dearth of rising talent amongst the younger men must be looked for elsewhere4 ,that this dearth really exists there can be no doubt4 ,the ,french themselves allow it4 ,medals which used to be given at the close of the ,salon for painting are now given for sculpture4 ,there must be some reason for this marked decline4 ,my old friends shrug their shoulders and say3 8,oh1 the kind of teaching which we had in our youth is now voted rococo4 ,sensational art0 7by which they mean art that will produce a sensation7 8is now the fashion40 ,the press has great power in ,france1 and ,french critics1 with few exceptions1 like what is strange and eccentric4 ,there are symptoms1 however1 that this quackery in art has had its day4 ,the last two ,salons have been too queer even for the new school of critics1 and we may therefore hope that the sensational fit is over1 and that the school may return again to the sound principles of design and drawing for which it has hitherto always been distinguished4 ,i wish it understood that the deterioration ,i have been mentioning was not very noticeable on the walls of the ,international ,exhibition4 ,we had there the cream of all that had been painted in ,france for the last ten years2 and although the pictures bearing the greatest names were rather disappointing1 there was evidence of abundance of talent in all departments of oil-painting4 ,the last years of the ,empire and the first years of the ,republic seem to have been particularly prolific in good work4 ,the portraits of that period1 the battle episodes1 the nude figures1 the still-life pictures1 are all characterized by a solidity and thoroughness which we rarely find now4 ,the most unsatisfactory feature in the work of this period is1 to my mind1 the landscape4 ,i confess to a want of appreciation of either ,corot or ,daubigny2 and as almost every landscape-painter is an imitator of either one or the other1 as a matter of course ,i cannot like their pictures4 ,the landscape school of which ,i am speaking appears to me never to get beyond a sketch1 and le culte du laid 7the worship of ugly subjects7 is carried too far4 ,the greatest modern landscape-painters ,france ever had were ,marillat and ,theodore ,rousseau1 and ,i think they are much better models to follow than ,corot or ,daubigny4 ,as ,i am criticising1 ,i may observe that much as ,i admire ,french pictures of a few years back1 ,i must say that ,i think the key in which these works are painted too low2 and there is another more serious fault which ,i have often noticed2 namely1 the want of navet4 ,the colors are simple enough1 but the execution is obtrusive4 ,in the portraits especially1 one thinks more of the artist than of the sitter1 whereas in certain portraits of the ,belgian and ,german galleries at the ,international1 the artist and his execution were completely forgotten1 so life-like and natural were the heads4 ,in speaking of ,french painting it is as difficult to generalize as it would be of ,english4 ,one man paints his whole picture in a low key1 another paints white figures on a black background1 one plasters his color on with a trowel1 another models it rather thin4 ,still ,i think ,i may safely say that the majority of ,french pictures are painted with thick1 opaque color and in a very low key4 ,mannerism is perhaps the rock on which most rising reputations are shipwrecked1 not only in ,france but everywhere else4 ,a clever young artist paints a really fine picture1 full of feeling1 originality1 and poetry1 but rather low in tone4 ,he has an immense success2 a success which he too often ascribes to the wrong cause4 ,the consequence is that his next picture will probably be less poetical1 but still darker in color4 ,his friends and admirers1 instead of pulling him up sharp1 are more prodigal than ever in their praise4 ,he gets a higher price for the second picture than he did for the first4 ,it is1 therefore1 not surprising that our promising artist paints lower and lower in color every year1 until at last he becomes a confirmed mannerist4 ,the same danger exists in every department of the art4 ,a young portrait-painter will perhaps have exhibited a full-length1 distinguished by great character and breadth1 but coarsely painted4 ,the praise which he justly earns for this portrait prompts him to paint his next still more coarsely1 and he too degenerates into a mannerist4 ,mannerisms of various kinds are rampant in the present ,french school1 and are in the present state of public opinion too strong for the more sober truthful work1 which ,i am happy to say is not yet altogether extinct4 ,unfortunately the encouragement given to these mannerists 7or 8impressionists0 as they love to be called7 is not wholly derived from their friends of the press2 it proceeds also from artists of real talent who ought to know better4 ,this seems to me the gravest symptom in the present condition of the ,french school4 ,it is of little importance how enthusiastic the various literary or dilettanti cliques may be about their favorites4 ,these are mere fashions1 which sooner or later die a natural death1 but when artists of standing give in to the prevailing delusions1 the mischief becomes serious4 ,i can hardly believe that these artists of talent really admire the productions of which ,i am speaking1 but they are afraid of going against the stream of journalism1 or else they wish to appear liberal in approving what is so diametrically opposed to their own practice4 ,at any rate they acquiesce1 and humbug flourishes4 ,before leaving the ,french painters1 ,i ought1 perhaps1 to say something about the subjects principally affected by them4 ,no one can go through a ,french exhibition without being struck by the number of ghastly and horrible subjects which meet the eye on every side1 and which seem to vie with each other in cruelty and brutality4 ,death and suffering in every form have always been favorite subjects with ,french artists4 ,delaroche was continually painting murders and executions1 but the comparatively mild form of horrors affected by him is not sensational enough for the modern school4 8,scene of the ,inquisition--,a man being ,tortured to ,death02 8,rizpah ,driving away the ,vultures from the ,bodies of her ,seven ,sons1 who are ,swinging in the ,wind02 8,roman ,conspirators ,drinking the ,blood of a ,slave whom they have just ,murdered for this ,festive ,purpose02 8,nero ,experimentalizing with ,poison on his ,slaves02 8,apollo ,flaying ,marsyas alive10--are a few of the many pretty subjects which were conspicuous in the ,french galleries of the ,international ,exhibition4 ,one artist 7and a very distinguished one too7 has improved even upon these subjects1 and delights in painting not only death but decomposition4 ,at the ,ecole des ,beaux ,arts the subject given last year to the students for their diploma pictures was 8,augustus ,causes the ,tomb of ,alexander the ,great to be ,opened1 and ,places a ,crown of ,gold on the ,head of the ,corpse40 ,when we reflect that ,alexander had been dead some three hundred years1 it will easily be understood that his body was in that half-putrid1 half-mummified condition which is apparently so attractive to the artistic world in ,france4 ,another marked characteristic of a ,french exhibition is the number of nude female figures4 ,this is notoriously very objectionable to many ,english visitors1 but for my part ,i would rather see a dozen nude nymphs than a decapitated figure or a putrid corpse4 ,many of these figures are done by young painters as a kind of supplement to their art education2 and instead of being offended at their frequency1 ,i am always glad to see so much laudable ambition4 ,i only wish we had a few more similar efforts in our ,english exhibitions4 ,the ,hanging ,committee would1 of course1 eliminate those which were objectionable either from want of technical skill or from any other cause1 and the remainder might be allowed to hang on our walls and irritate ,mrs4 ,grundy4 ,a third characteristic of a ,french exhibition is the general excellence of what are called rustic pictures4 ,the peasants are real peasants1 and not models dressed up as such4 ,there is almost always in this class of subjects an honest attempt to give a truthful version of nature4 ,there is a completeness about them that is very charming4 ,the pictures of flowers1 fruit1 fish1 and every thing coming under the head of nature morte1 seem to me equally good4 ,in fact1 one hardly ever sees a bad still-life picture in a ,french exhibition4 ,i suppose the jury is more strict about fruit1 oysters1 and copper kettles than about humanity1 and particularly female humanity4 ,pictures of animal life are1 ,i think1 less common than in ,english exhibitions4 ,dogs especially are seldom painted4 ,this may be partly owing to the currish aspect of ,french dogs4 ,our bloodhounds1 mastiffs1 newfoundlands1 deerhounds1 and all the aristocracy of the canine race1 are hardly ever seen in ,france2 and it must be confessed that a stumpy-tailed mongrel or a clipped poodle is not a very tempting model4 ,the ,french are not a doggy nation4 ,a well-off ,parisian will often keep a couple of ugly pointers1 but it is always understood that 8,stop0 and 8,komeer0 are indispensable 8pour la chasse10 and not to be regarded as pets or companions4 ,finally1 in every modern ,french exhibition the influence of ,fortuny is very perceptible2 ,i believe1 however1 that almost all the disciples of this school are ,spaniards or ,italians residing in ,paris1 and that the ,french artists who devote themselves to microscopic painting have the good taste to follow the lines of ,meissonier rather than those of ,fortuny4 ,we will now examine the ,belgian pictures4 ,belgian art is derived entirely from ,france4 ,at the ,international ,exhibition one passed from the ,french to the ,belgian galleries without being aware of the change of nationality4 ,i think1 however1 that the branch is at present in a healthier state than the parent stem4 ,when ,i compare the recent mural paintings which have been executed in ,belgium with similar work done in ,paris1 ,i am struck with the vast superiority of the ,belgian4 ,again1 in landscape the ,belgians are far in advance of their neighbors4 ,comparisons are proverbially odious1 so ,i will not incur odium by comparing ,english landscape with ,belgian1 but ,i should recommend those who think that we specially excel in this branch of the art to go and look at what the ,belgians are doing4 ,the great men of the ,belgian school--the men whose names are familiar to every artistic circle in ,europe--are declining in power even more rapidly than their colleagues in ,france1 but there seems to me to be more hope about the younger men4 ,the ,belgian portrait-painters are1 ,i think1 inferior to the ,french as a rule1 but there were one or two portraits in the ,belgian galleries which attracted a great deal of attention from their unaffected simplicity1 and in this respect contrasted very favorably with some more showy ,french work4 ,the history pictures1 again1 were more careful and better drawn than analogous ,french work4 ,there was less striving after effect and singularity1 and much better composition4 ,they reminded me more of what ,french painting used to be before the school became afflicted with what may be called 8sentimental radicalism0 in art4 ,i was glad to notice that ,baron ,leys1 the painter of the strange medival pictures of the ,antwerp town-hall1 has not left a school of medivalists behind him4 ,the quaint ugliness of an old ,flemish picture is interesting because it is real1 but in these modern works the uncouth drawing and constrained stiff attitudes of the early ,flemings are assumed1 and therefore offensive4 ,no doubt there are several excellent artists living who have studied under ,leys1 but they have all of them abandoned the affectation of their master4 ,the influence of ,rubens and his school is not perceptible in modern ,belgian work4 ,this is rather curious when we consider the immense amount of ,rubens-worship which is perpetually going on at ,antwerp4 ,rembrandt1 ,franz ,hals1 and ,vanderhelst have had much more influence on the ,belgian school than ,rubens1 but the modern artists of ,brussels are not a race of copyists4 ,they evidently study nature a good deal1 and this1 it appears to me1 is the secret of their strength4 ,on the whole ,i have formed a very favorable opinion of the ,belgian school1 and when ,i recall to mind the excellent mural paintings at ,ypres and ,courtray1 ,i must say that the old ,parisian sneer about the 8contrefaon ,belge0 is quite inapplicable at the present day4 ,it is manifestly unfair to compare the ,german gallery of the ,great ,exhibition with the ,french1 ,english1 or ,belgian section4 ,the pictures sent by ,germany were hastily got together at the eleventh hour1 and were notoriously inadequate specimens of ,german art4 ,still they were interesting1 as showing the tendency of the school4 ,the first impression on entering the ,german gallery was a favorable one4 ,it was like entering a gallery of old masters after a surfeit of garish1 crude modern pictures4 ,a closer examination led one1 however1 to form a less favorable opinion of the peculiarities of ,german art4 ,the imitation of the old masters is1 in my opinion1 carried too far4 ,reminiscences of ,holbein and ,albert ,durer crop up everywhere1 and many pictures which are not directly imitative of the old masters have a brown old-varnished appearance4 ,there may not have been any thing offensively bad or ludicrously absurd in the ,german gallery1 but on the other hand1 with a few exceptions1 there appeared to me to be a sad want of originality4 ,these exceptional pictures were humble and unpretentious enough both in subject and dimensions1 but full of truth and character4 ,the artist1 ,knaus1 enjoys a great reputation both in ,germany and ,europe generally4 ,his color1 though true1 is not very attractive4 ,there is no great charm in his execution4 ,the nature of his subjects precludes fine1 classical drawing or noble composition4 ,it may be asked1 ,what1 then1 is his great merit8 ,it is simply the intense realism of his figures4 ,we always feel that we must have seen and known his peasants1 his children1 and his ,jews4 ,he has the same power of seizing types which ,john ,leech so eminently possessed4 ,whether he quite deserves to be in the front rank of ,european painters is another question1 but it is interesting to note the reputation such an artist has obtained in ,germany1 where art1 though often learned1 is seldom truthful or harmonious4 ,it has often been said that ,german art is never seen at its best in easel pictures1 and that to express an opinion about it one ought to go to ,germany1 and study the mural paintings which abound there4 ,it is more than twenty-five years since ,i visited either ,munich or ,berlin1 and ,i am therefore not qualified to give an opinion about the present state of art in ,germany4 ,i confess ,i was not favorably impressed with what ,i then saw2 and have often in the course of these lectures found fault with ,kaulbach and his school for neglecting ,horace's well-known precept1 8,artis est celare artem40 ,the large mural works at ,munich and ,berlin used to be considered by ,germans as the highest development of heroic painting4 ,they asserted that their country was at the top of the ladder in high art1 just as it undoubtedly was in music1 and my criticisms on their great painters have always been provoked by this assertion4 ,i have never stigmatized these decorative paintings as being absolutely bad or contemptible1 but as being unworthy of the great esteem in which they were held4 ,i hear that at the present time other artists have in great measure superseded those of the school of ,kaulbach1 and that the highly artificial style of thirty years ago has been almost abandoned4 ,scandinavian and ,danish art are derived from ,germany1 as ,belgian and ,swiss are derived from ,france4 ,in the case of ,norway and ,sweden1 however1 all the best artists emigrate to more southern regions2 and small blame to them1 for when daylight begins at ten and ends at two1 there is not much time for painting pictures4 ,these artists1 who are mostly landscape-painters1 return to their native countries in summer and make their sketches and studies2 but the pictures themselves are painted either in ,germany1 ,belgium1 or ,france4 ,in ,denmark the winter days are rather longer1 and we find at ,copenhagen a feeble attempt at a native school1 bearing about the same relation to ,dusseldorf or ,berlin1 that ,birmingham or ,liverpool would to ,london4 ,leaving these humble followers of the ,german school1 we will now enter the ,austrian and ,hungarian galleries4 ,some ,french critic compared ,austrian art to a noisy brass band1 and the comparison is not inapt4 ,no doubt the band is a very good one2 the trumpets are loud1 the trombones sonorous1 and the big drum unexceptionable4 ,still it is not the kind of harmony which would please a musician4 ,austrian and ,hungarian art1 though apparently fascinating to the multitude1 is too rich and cloying for a more fastidious taste4 ,if you can fancy a mixture of plum-pudding and lobster-sauce1 you will form a good idea of the most celebrated ,austrian pictures4 ,as the ,french school has a weakness for the horrible1 and the ,english for the homely1 so the ,austrian delights in the showy4 ,pageants1 royal receptions1 and ceremonies of medival times are the subjects which the leading ,austrian artists revel in2 subjects in which there is not much story to tell1 no human emotions to portray1 nothing but silks1 velvets1 armor1 and trappings to paint4 ,all these accessories are marvellously well executed1 a great deal too well indeed for the heads and the flesh2 but it is this overpowering execution1 united with a pseudo-,venetian coloring1 which captivates the ,french bourgeois1 just as it would captivate the ,london cockney4 ,i wish to observe that ,i am speaking of the large ,austrian and ,hungarian pictures which attracted so much attention at the ,paris exhibition4 ,amongst the portraits and the smaller pictures there were some which would have done credit to any school4 ,vigorous in drawing and execution1 full of character1 and harmonious though rather dark in color1 they appeared to me far superior to the kindred pictures from ,north ,germany4 ,i should have formed a very high estimate of the ,austrian school if two or three of the principle pictures had been absent4 ,it may be asked why1 if these large pictures were so offensively meretricious1 the jury awarded them medals of honor8 ,i should be very sorry to have to defend all the decisions of the international jury1 but in the present case ,i think ,i may say with truth that it was not admiration for this kind of art which dictated the award4 ,before leaving the ,austrian and ,hungarian galleries1 ,i would observe1 that whatever may be thought of the pretentious richness of these large pictures1 there exists at any rate an ,austrian school1 and that this school seems full of power and vitality4 ,austrians1 do not1 as a rule1 paint their pictures in ,paris or ,rome4 ,others may1 like myself1 deplore the overpowering gorgeousness of a good deal of their work1 but amongst the canvasses of more modest proportion there was abundant evidence of sound training and original invention4 ,dutch art is very national2 that is1 the subjects are national4 ,muddy seas1 flat meadows with groups of cattle1 canal and street scenes--in short1 the same kind of subjects which were formerly painted by ,teniers1 ,vandevelde1 ,de ,hoogh1 and ,paul ,potter1 are still the favorites with the ,dutch artists4 ,in the ,dutch school1 as seen at the ,great ,exhibition1 there was a laudable absence of priggishness or sensationalism1 but the pictures appeared to me to lack the neat precision of touch and the delicacy of color which distinguished the old ,dutchmen4 ,pathos will cover a multitude of sins1 and in some of the best modern ,dutch work this quality is not wanting2 but in subjects which do not admit of pathos1 such as the old familiar scenes of ,teniers and ,ostade1 something more is wanted than indifferent execution and dull1 inoffensive color4 ,i am inclined to think that ,dutch art was not only fairly1 but even favorably represented at the ,paris ,exhibition1 for in several recent visits to ,holland ,i was always struck by the want of development of modern art4 ,there are no great mural painters as in ,belgium2 the ,church1 being ,protestant1 does nothing for art4 ,the rich ,dutch citizens and merchants are equally unsympathetic2 in short1 there is no demand for a high class of art1 so there is no supply4 ,i never heard of a ,dutch collector who patronized modern painters4 ,his rooms are always filled with ,ostades1 ,wouvermans1 ,vanderveldes1 etc41 or more frequently with wretched copies of these masters2 but in these private collections1 which are scattered all over ,holland1 one never meets with a good picture by a modern artist4 ,under these circumstances ,i think it very creditable to ,dutch artists that painting should not have declined more than it has in ,holland4 ,swiss art can only be regarded as provincial ,french4 ,it is1 however 7like the ,dutch71 very national in its subjects4 ,glaciers1 snow mountains1 pine forests1 and chlets were the usual subjects in the ,swiss section4 ,even the figure-subjects were redolent of ,switzerland--peasants1 guides1 hunters1 and tourists were the principal dramatis person4 ,if a fault is to be found with these innocent works of art1 it is that they look as if they were meant for the tourist or the ,alpine ,club market4 ,a traveller who is detained by rain for a week at ,interlacken would be just the man to purchase a good view of the ,jungfrau1 or perhaps he might be tempted by a group of ,bernese ,oberlanders at home4 ,the native ,swiss pictures are too much like their wood carvings1 not works of good art but pleasant souvenirs4 ,we will now cross the ,alps and say a few words about ,italian art4 ,italy was wretchedly represented at the ,great ,exhibition4 ,none of her greatest artists had contributed4 ,the best pictures were by two or three ,parisian ,italians1 and the worst by men whose proper abode ought to be ,hanwell or ,colney ,hatch4 ,it has often been remarked that modern ,italians labor under the same disadvantage which afflicts a man who has had illustrious progenitors4 ,he may not be a greater fool than other men1 indeed he may be rather above the average1 but he gets no credit for it4 ,people are always contrasting him with his illustrious father or his glorious grandfather1 and the poor fellow has hard work to get any justice done him4 ,this may be true enough at ,venice1 ,florence1 or ,rome1 where the chefs-d'uvre of the old masters are in very close proximity4 ,i can well understand that a stranger who has been feasting his eyes all the morning on ,titians and ,paul ,veroneses1 should find the descent very precipitous to the level of a modern ,italian studio2 but in ,paris there were no such formidable rivals to fear1 and it is much to be regretted that ,italy did not put forth her whole strength4 ,i am inclined1 however1 to give another reason why modern ,italian art has suffered from the proximity of so many chefs-d'uvre by the old masters1 and that is the temptation to become copyists4 ,wealthy ,americans1 if they cannot carry away the originals1 will have copies1 and the harvest to be derived from this source by a clever painter is so rich a one that he is often tempted to abandon the paths of originality and virtue1 and become a copyist4 ,of course the leading painters would not accept a commission for a copy of ,beatrice ,cenci1 but there have been 7and doubtless are still7 artists fitted for better things1 who do accept these commissions and are glad of them4 ,a friend of mine a good many years ago asked me to call and see a copy of this celebrated portrait which had just arrived from ,italy4 ,he had given the painter a commission for it two years before4 ,i could not say much in praise of it4 ,it was a fair average copy1 but ,i could not help remarking that the artist had been a precious long time about it4 8,oh10 says my friend1 8mine was the seventh order for a ,beatrice ,cenci in his book1 and he told me that nothing would induce him to paint more than four copies a year of this head4 ,he had other work to attend to10 etc41 etc4 ,if a man once gets into the way of earning his living by copying1 he will never get out of it 7at least not in ,italy74 ,independently of downright copying there is the danger of imitating1 and this is a danger to which ,italian art has always been very much exposed4 ,no good can ever come of imitating the old masters1 but when the masters so imitated are men like ,carlo ,maratti or ,luca ,giordano1 the downfall of the school is indeed precipitate4 ,italian painters1 like ,italian sculptors are very skilful workmen1 but they do not appear ever to get beyond a certain point of excellence4 ,the new school of ,rome may be said to have been founded by ,fortuny1 and in this school execution is every thing4 ,doubtless this phase of ,italian art is better than the dreary decadence of the first half of the century1 but ,i cannot say ,i am a great admirer of the new style4 ,i will speak of ,fortuny and his followers presently1 when ,i get to the ,spanish school1 but before leaving the ,italian ,court ,i may mention that there were some specimens of microscopic painting which were marvellous if they were really legitimate pictures and not painted photographs4 ,admitting1 however1 that they were genuine pictures1 the very fact of their looking like colored photographs relegates them to an inferior style of art4 ,they are curiosities1 and not much more4 ,in justice to the ,italian section ,i should mention that if the oil pictures were bad1 the water-colors by ,rota were excellent4 ,there seems to me no reason whatever why ,italy1 the land of art 7par excellence71 should lag behind in the international race4 ,italians are quick1 intelligent1 and imaginative4 ,if they would steer a middle course between the tame imitations of the old masters and the sensational quackeries of contemporary art1 ,i have no doubt they would take a high place in the ,european school4 ,the ,spanish gallery was one of the most interesting in the whole exhibition4 ,one or two of the large pictures showed great power and originality4 ,i believe these pictures were painted by ,spaniards residing in ,rome4 ,indeed all the best ,spanish pictures are painted either in ,paris or ,italy4 ,there is no native school1 as in the days of ,velasquez and ,murillo4 ,the most attractive wall in this gallery was that devoted to the works of ,fortuny4 ,fortuny's mode of painting1 his delicate sense of color1 and the novelty of his subjects1 took the artistic world by storm some fifteen years ago4 ,since that time a host of imitators have arisen1 mostly ,spaniards or ,italians1 so that the modern ,spanish school has come to be identified with his very peculiar kind of art4 ,i have no doubt that if one were to go to ,spain and visit the studios of the resident artists1 one would find very little of the ,fortuny element4 ,probably the pictures would be more like ,portuguese work1 which of all ,european schools is the most backward4 ,setting aside1 however1 the question as to how far the ,fortuny style can be called national1 ,i will hazard a few remarks about its merits and faults4 ,in the first place1 ,i think we ought to welcome any novelty in art1 provided the novelty is not downright absurd1 and a man who like ,fortuny revolutionized modern art 7at any rate in the south of ,europe71 certainly deserves consideration4 ,his pictures are characterized by a wonderful delicacy of execution and brilliancy of color4 ,his drawing is firm and masterly4 ,with all these good qualities ,i cannot consider him to have been a great artist4 ,in the first place1 the subjects he affected were of the most frivolous and meretricious description4 ,secondly1 the general effect in his pictures is not sufficiently attended to4 ,i have heard them compared to those sheets one sometimes sees composed of a jumble of small photographs4 ,each individual figure or gaudy bit of stuff is perfect by itself1 but the whole picture is deficient in effect4 ,finally1 the execution wants that breadth and manliness which are so conspicuous in the best works of ,meissonier4 ,much as ,i admire any man of genius who departs from the beaten track and creates a style of his own1 ,i cannot help thinking that ,fortuny has been much over-rated4 ,many of his followers' works resemble the crude wall-papers and chintzes which used to be common before ,south ,kensington was in existence4 ,pinks1 light blues1 and coal-tar dyes of the most violent hues 7colors which would drive our sthetic amateurs mad7 here run riot4 ,the execution is always clever1 but the offence against good taste in color is not to be got over4 ,i do not recollect any landscape work in the ,spanish gallery except as backgrounds to the figure pictures4 ,if ,i were a ,spanish artist ,i should leave the fripperies of the boudoir1 and turn my attention to the grand forms of rock and forest which abound in the ,asturias1 or to the sierras of ,andalusia1 with their semitropical vegetation4 ,of ,russia and the ,united ,states as picture-producing countries but little can be said4 ,there are a few ,russians scattered over ,germany1 ,france1 and ,italy1 who paint and exhibit pictures which pass muster more or less creditably4 ,some give a ,russian flavor to their work by painting ,muscovite peasants1 sledges1 wolves and bears1 but even these national pictures might have been done by ,french or ,german artists as far as the execution goes4 ,the eye was not impressed in the ,russian gallery1 as it was in the ,english1 ,austrian1 or ,spanish departments1 by some national peculiarity4 ,the large picture which obtained one of the medals of honor was painted in ,rome4 ,it represented one of the most barbarous episodes of ,nero's persecution of the ,christians4 ,i thought it clever as a decorative work1 but very weak in drawing4 ,there were in the ,russian gallery some good heads very boldly and forcibly painted4 ,their authors1 though their names ended in 8sky10 8vich10 or 8koff10 were pupils of the ,french or ,german schools1 and therefore these works1 though painted by ,russians1 can hardly be considered as characteristic of the school4 ,the ,byzantine element was not in the least traceable in the ,russian galleries4 ,probably ,byzantine pictures were excluded1 as coming under the head of manufactures4 ,greece exhibited a few pictures of modest proportions1 and still more modest merit2 but even this faint commendation cannot be accorded to ,portugal1 whose small contribution was ludicrous for its badness4 ,the art of the ,united ,states is even less national than the ,russian4 ,american artists seldom give us reminiscences of their country1 and the ,american gallery was exactly like some of the rooms in the ,french ,salon4 ,from their admiration of ,parisian art it is probable that the ,american school of the future will1 like the ,belgian1 be a branch of the ,french1 unless indeed some ,american ,fortuny should be raised in the ,states who would give an original impulse to ,transatlantic art4 ,french critics were rather hard on the ,american figure-painters for choosing such subjects as the death of ,cleopatra4 ,what in the world1 they said1 had ,cleopatra and the ,nile to do with ,america8 ,about as much1 ,i should say1 as ,nero and his atrocities had to do with ,france4 ,according to these gentlemen1 ,french artists may choose their subjects from any period and from any country2 the same license may be allowed to ,belgium1 ,germany1 and possibly to ,england2 but the ,american is to confine himself to the short and not very picturesque history of his own country4 ,this seems to me very unfair1 but at the same time ,i should have liked to have seen amongst the landscapes something more national than views of ,bougival or ,fontainebleau4 ,i have now taken you all round the picture galleries of the ,international ,exhibition1 and ,i may with truth say that we have no cause to be ashamed of the position we hold in the ,european art-world4 ,the ,french were at home and able to exhibit nearly all their best works of the last ten years4 ,we1 from reasons that are very well known1 were unable to do so1 and yet we held a very respectable position4 ,i am not ,john ,bull enough to say1 as some of my friends at the hotel did1 that our school is the first in ,europe4 ,but what ,i do say is that ,english art 7speaking of course generally7 is in a thoroughly healthy state2 that ,english artists 7also speaking generally7 think more of their subjects and less of themselves than ,frenchmen1 ,belgians1 or ,austrians do2 that whilst some of the leading foreign schools are past the zenith of their power1 we1 on the contrary1 seem to be improving steadily1 and gradually getting rid of our faults4 ,some may be inclined to attribute this marked improvement to the extraordinary sums of money which have of late years been spent on art in this country1 some to the existence amongst us of a school of high-art criticism1 some to foreign influence4 ,i attribute it to none of these causes1 but solely to better training and a more scrupulous regard for nature4 ,it may be thought that in boasting about our better training ,i am blowing the academic trumpet pretty loudly1 but ,i am not speaking so much of the training you get here and at other ,london art schools1 as of the training which every young painter has to give himself after he has learned the ,a ,b ,c of his art4 ,it is this training especially which is better than it used to be4 ,the commonplace slap-dash way of going to work of former days is now the exception and not the rule with young painters4 ,one man may be careless or weak in his drawing1 but he may have a keen sense for truthful atmospheric effect1 and he labors away at his picture until he approximates to the out-of-door look of nature2 another 7a portrait-painter perhaps7 wearies out his sitters in his endeavors to be truthful2 a third will patiently brave the elements on a bare ,scotch moor1 humbly trying to imitate the fitful patches of sunshine and mist on the hillside before him4 ,all this is what ,i call good training4 ,it is honest1 conscientious work1 and it is this which tells favorably on a school1 rather than ,manchester patronage or ,oxford sthetics4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i would observe1 in conclusion1 that in the appointment of our new ,president we have another cause for self-congratulation4 ,it would be out of place here for me to dwell on all his qualifications for the important post he fills1 but ,i should not like my first lecture under his presidency to pass without expressing my thorough satisfaction with the choice we have made4 ,to say more would probably be unpleasant to him1 to have said less would have been unpleasant to me4 ,i may1 however1 point out that the progress of the ,english school of art does by no means rest with the ,president of the ,royal ,academy 7however excellent he may be72 it depends on the individual exertion of every member of the profession1 from the ,president down to the probationer who seeks admission to the schools4 ,let us all do our best to produce careful1 honest1 and original work1 and ,i have no doubt of the result4 ,,lecture ,,vi ,,on ,,drawing4 ,drawing is the backbone of all great work1 and it is an art which1 if neglected when you are young1 does not appear ever to be acquired in after-life4 ,most artists improve in color1 and particularly in execution1 as they get older1 but in drawing they seldom acquire greater correctness4 ,they acquire facility1 but not accuracy4 ,it is1 therefore1 of the highest importance that all students should carry out their studies in drawing as far as they possibly can whilst they are young4 ,i am not speaking of their chalk studies alone1 but also of their painted studies4 ,it often happens that as soon as a student gets a palette on his thumb1 he considers himself completely emancipated from all the trammels of correct drawing1 and after sketching his figure with a few hasty strokes of charcoal or red chalk1 he smears on his color at once4 ,i have known some who would not condescend to make any preliminary outline at all1 but went in for drawing with the brush4 ,i can quite understand that when you first begin painting1 the novelty of the material and the difficulties of color should prevent your drawing with the same precision and firmness as you would with charcoal and chalk2 but when these difficulties are overcome1 you should endeavor to return to your former precision4 ,it is very difficult1 when once a slovenly habit of drawing has been contracted1 to return to accuracy2 but nevertheless it is possible4 ,the fact is1 that an artist1 to excel as a draughtsman1 should consider himself a student all his life4 ,the school of painting ought to be the school of drawing in color1 and no student ought to be allowed to color a badly drawn figure or head4 ,this was always the rule1 not only in ,delaroche's ,school1 but in all the ateliers of his contemporaries2 and as more than half the present members of the ,institute were students in these schools1 the system cannot have been a bad one4 ,it may surprise some of you to hear the time that was spent in drawing the figure before beginning to paint4 ,the model used to sit for six consecutive days3 from seven to twelve in summer1 and from eight to one in winter1 and an hour was allowed every day for intervals of rest4 ,during the whole first day's sitting1 nothing but drawing was done4 ,sometimes the shades of the figure were rubbed in with bitumen or some transparent brown1 but no color was ever used4 ,the master would come early on the ,tuesday1 and until he had passed1 as it were1 every student's drawing1 no one who studied seriously would think of laying on color4 ,six hours1 therefore1 out of the twenty-four were spent before the actual painting began2 but1 at any rate1 good solid foundations had been laid3 well-proportioned and carefully drawn figures were the rule and not the exception1 and if the student had not time to finish his work by the end of the week1 he would have at any rate a large portion of the figure carefully studied4 ,when a figure is well drawn1 the master will take a pleasure in giving the student some hints about the color1 and will perhaps take the palette himself2 but to give instruction in color when there is no drawing1 is like furnishing a house before the walls are built4 ,i have noticed that some of you in the life school attach too much importance to the mere outline1 and neglect the structure and internal markings of your figures4 ,now the bones and principal markings of a figure are of infinitely more consequence than the outline2 it is they which give the action and proportion1 and in every stage of figure-drawing they should be accurately and clearly defined1 to serve as landmarks from which the outline may be mapped out4 ,if you were drawing a head1 you would not trace a sharp outline of the hair1 ears1 and cheeks1 without having first indicated the position of the eyes1 nose1 and mouth4 ,why then should you proceed on a different principle in drawing a figure8 ,there is another bad habit of drawing which has of late become too common in the schools1 and which ,i1 as visitor1 have often protested against2 and that is the practice of blackening the figure all over1 with the intention of working out the details with breadcrumb or the eraser4 ,it maybe that this is the most expeditious way of producing a smoothly-finished drawing1 but ,i am sure it is not the most artistic way4 ,an ,academy figure should be drawn on the same principle that a ship is built4 ,if you visit a ship-builder's yard you will see vessels in all stages of progress1 but the future character and destination of each are discernible almost from the first laying down of the keel4 ,you can tell at a glance whether the future vessel is to be a clipper yacht1 a collier brig1 or a barge4 ,if you revisit the yard a month or two afterward1 you will find great progress4 ,the builder has got the planking on1 but the vessels have retained their original form4 ,in another month1 perhaps1 they will be found decked1 caulked1 coppered1 and ready for launching2 but they have never lost the original lines given them4 ,so it should be with your ,academy figures4 ,they will1 of course1 be less complete on the third and fourth days than on the ninth or tenth2 but in no stage of their progress should they present the formless1 hopeless appearance they too often do4 ,let me hasten to add that this inartistic way of drawing 7though too common here7 is not universal1 and that those who have chosen the better path will find the benefit of it hereafter4 ,i will now proceed to give you a few words of advice about figure-drawing after you have left the schools and are painting pictures of your own4 ,it will seldom happen that when you have to introduce a nude or semi-nude figure into your picture1 you can copy the model exactly as you would in the ,academy schools4 ,there all you have to do is to copy what you see1 but if you have to represent a ,moses1 a ,prometheus1 or an ,andromeda1 and your model has short legs and deformed feet1 it will not do to be too literal in your copy of him4 ,artists often say on these occasions that the model puts them out1 and that they can get on better without nature4 ,of course1 if they copy all the defects of their model they may1 to a certain extent1 be right in saying that they do better without nature2 but even in this case ,i doubt it4 ,nature1 though cramped and vulgarized1 is better than feeble reminiscences of ,michael ,angelo or ,carracci4 ,an accomplished draughtsman will constantly refer to nature without servilely copying her4 ,it is not possible that the great sculptors of antiquity found 7even in ,greece7 such matchless specimens of humanity as the ,theseus1 the fighting gladiator1 or the ,milo ,venus4 ,it is still more incredible that they evolved these perfect forms out of their inner consciousness4 ,no2 they idealized and improved what they found1 not so much by taking the head of one model and putting it on the shoulders of another1 adding the arms of a third1 as by the much more subtle process of keen and artistic observation of various types of beauty4 ,to descend from the time of ,phidias to our own days1 you must 7if you wish to excel7 pursue the same method4 ,do not copy all the defects of your model1 but1 on the other hand1 do not fancy you can draw without a constant reference to nature4 ,it is far from my intention to deprecate the study of anatomy1 and particularly that kind of artistic anatomy which our ,professor so ably teaches1 but ,i am sure he would agree with me in saying that anatomy alone would only enable you to build up a coldly correct form of the human figure without either beauty or individuality4 ,anatomy1 and1 ,i may add1 academic studies generally1 must be looked upon as the grammar of figure-painting1 and we all know that however necessary it may be for a writer to be grammatical1 grammar alone will not give him an elegant or even a clear style4 ,so it is in drawing and painting4 ,the knowledge of anatomy and drawing which you acquire here is not the end of art1 but only the beginning4 ,it would be out of place in this lecture to give you rules of proportion for the human figure4 ,these rules you can learn 7if you care about learning them7 elsewhere1 but it may be well for me to give you a few hints as to when and where it is right to depart from them4 ,first1 as to the size of the head4 ,you probably all know that the head measures from one seventh to one eighth of the height of the figure4 ,seven and a half heads to the figure is a good average proportion4 ,if1 however1 you have to draw figures of heroic size1 you will have to make the head barely one eighth1 and the larger the size of your figures the smaller ought to be the relative size of the head4 ,michael ,angelo exceeded even these limits1 and some of his imitators1 who have always copied his defects rather than his good qualities1 have caricatured him by giving their figures a height of ten or eleven heads4 ,there is a point beyond which the sublime becomes the ridiculous4 ,illustration ,whilst on this subject1 ,i would observe that these proportions can only be depended on when the head is neither inclined up nor down4 ,an upturned head measured from the chin to the top of the head is always much shorter than one whose facial angle is vertical1 and a head inclined downward and measured in the same way is considerably longer4 ,in colossal figures1 the hands and feet should be in proportion to the head1 and therefore rather small for the body and limbs4 ,it is generally advisable to make the leg1 from the patella downward1 somewhat longer than it is in nature4 ,length of leg gives style and elegance to a figure4 ,in many of the antique statues 7the ,apollo and the ,venus de ,medici1 for instance7 this method of improving nature seems carried to excess1 and ,i should recommend a middle path between the extreme length of the antique tibi and the short ,dachshund-like legs of our models4 ,it must be remembered1 that if you preserve the centre of the figure where it ought to be1 you can only lengthen the tibia at the expense of the femur2 and although a great length from the knee to the instep may be desirable1 yet a very short thigh is certainly not an element of beauty4 ,in short1 and even in medium-sized models1 the middle of the figure is generally too low1 so that you may increase the length of the leg without at all diminishing the proportions of the thigh4 ,it is a curious fact1 that sitting and especially kneeling figures by the side of standing ones always appear small if represented of their exact relative size4 ,i have always found this to be the case1 and have invariably had to increase the dimensions of my kneeling figures1 although by so doing ,i knew ,i was violating strict truth4 ,as another instance of a case where a departure from perfect accuracy is necessary1 ,i may mention the drawing of foreshortened arms and legs1 particularly when they are only slightly foreshortened4 ,unless the outline and muscular development are kept rather fuller than it is in nature1 the limbs will look withered and poor4 ,style in drawing is not synonymous with correctness4 ,there can be no true style without a certain amount of correctness1 but1 on the other hand1 a drawing may be very correct and yet deficient in style4 ,photographs are a good illustration of the distinction4 ,no one will dispute the general accuracy of photography1 and yet how few photographs possess the element of style6 ,a fine style of drawing may be defined as the delineation of beautiful forms in a masterly and simple manner4 ,it must be founded on nature1 but purified and refined by the continual study of the antique4 ,the execution should not be timid and labored1 and on the other hand it should not obtrude itself by its dexterity4 ,michael ,angelo and ,raffaele are generally accepted as the great masters of style in drawing1 and it is very noticeable how simple and unobtrusive their execution is4 ,michael ,angelo's departure from natural proportions1 and his often forced attitudes1 give great offence to many modern artists1 particularly to the medivalists2 and instead of recognizing in him 7as ,sir ,joshua did7 the great master 7par excellence7 of style in drawing1 they strongly object to his peculiarities4 ,for myself1 ,i cannot say that ,i worship him to the extent that ,sir ,joshua did2 but when ,i recollect the timid and meagre drawing of the ,florentine and ,umbrian schools of the period1 and compare these poor forms with ,michael ,angelo's 8,creation of ,adam and ,eve0 in the panels of the ,sistine ,chapel1 ,i must acknowledge that his great reputation as a draughtsman and designer is fully deserved4 ,sir ,j4 ,reynolds1 in his discourses1 with which most of you are familiar1 has entered very fully into the question of style1 or of what used in his day to be called the great style or the grand style4 ,i am not going to inflict on you many quotations from the celebrated discourses1 but there is one sentence which ,i shall quote1 as it will serve as a text on which to graft my own remarks on the subject of style4 ,the passage is this3 8,the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists in being able to get above all singular forms1 local customs1 particularities1 and details of every kind40 ,it appears to me that ,sir ,joshua ought to have added at the end of his condemnation of 8singular forms1 particularities1 and details of every kind10 the words1 8when they are mean or trivial40 ,forms may be full of character1 and even beautiful1 though singular4 ,many of the antique fawns' heads1 though singular enough1 have the elements of style in them4 ,raffaelle's cripple at the ,beautiful ,gate of the ,temple is singular to the verge of grotesqueness1 but he in no way detracts from the grand style of the cartoon4 ,many other examples of singular forms might be given from the works of acknowledged masters of style4 ,then1 again1 if by 8details0 ugly details are meant1 ,i quite agree with ,sir ,joshua in thinking them incompatible with a grand style1 but it is detail which gives individuality to a figure2 and in the fighting gladiator1 the dancing fawn1 and indeed in all the masterpieces of antiquity1 the detail is most elaborate4 ,neglect of detail is the besetting sin of those painters who aim at the grand style4 ,they fail to see that the same process of selection may be applied to the detail1 as well as to the general proportions of the figure4 ,in a portrait you must of course copy your sitter4 ,you must take him as you do a wife1 for better1 for worse4 ,he may have a cast in his eye or a conspicuous pimple on his nose1 which1 of course1 as a faithful portraitist you are bound to reproduce4 ,you are under no such obligation if you are painting an ideal head from the same individual4 ,you may omit the pimple1 and make him look straight4 ,but your same sitter may have finely-formed furrows across his brow1 or delicate expressive wrinkles extending from the corners of his eyes4 ,are you1 in painting an ideal head1 to neglect these landmarks of age and wisdom8 ,i say1 by no means1 neither in painting nor sculpture4 ,the word 8ideal10 from a misconception of its meaning1 has come to be almost a term of reproach1 and at a recent lecture at the ,royal ,institution some ridiculous parody of ,canova was nick-named 8,ideal10 and contrasted unfavorably with a masterly portrait bust by ,donatello4 ,this is about as fair as if ,i1 holding a brief on the other side1 were to produce the ,theseus as a specimen of the ideal1 and ,madame ,tussaud's effigy of the ,claimant1 of the realistic4 ,the 8ideal10 or what ,sir ,joshua calls the grand style1 means a generalization of beautiful forms1 but it has nothing to do with neglect of detail1 except when such detail is trivial1 ugly1 or superfluous4 ,it must also be remembered that detail does not mean furrows1 wrinkles1 and veins alone2 it means also minute correctness in rendering of form4 ,the outward contour of any portion of the human form is never perfectly spherical1 nor perfectly elliptic1 nor perfectly straight1 and it is the delicate perception and artistic execution of form which constitutes beauty4 ,take the original of 8,the ,laocoon10 and a common fourth-rate garden cast of the statue which has stood half-a-dozen ,english winters1 and has had the benefit of several good coats of paint4 ,in this cast all the beautiful passages of the original have disappeared1 and the neglecters of detail get what they think so desirable1 namely1 a general want of precision and individuality4 ,michael ,angelo himself1 who is ,sir ,joshua's high-priest of the grand style1 gives plenty of detail whenever his work is not meant to be seen at a distance4 ,in his 8,moses0 and other statues even the veins are carefully studied4 ,it is the custom1 in this as in most other academies1 for the student to begin with the ,antique1 and finish with the ,life4 ,the object of this is of course to avoid multiplying difficulties at first1 and to accustom him to draw from an inanimate object before he proceeds to copy one that is always more or less moving4 ,i should1 however1 very much wish that those who are ambitious of following the highest walk of art would supplement their life studies by a return to the antique4 ,they would then perceive beauties which they little dreamt of during their apprenticeship4 ,they would acquire a fine taste for form1 and would learn to generalize the knowledge they had acquired in the life schools4 ,i would make this class of students the highest in the ,academy1 so that no one should feel that by returning to the antique he was being subjected to degradation4 ,in this last stage of the student's education1 artistic studies from the antique should be made1 and not what are called finished drawings1 such as are at present executed to compete for prizes4 ,the character and beauty of the antique should be given rapidly1 and by simple means4 ,before proceeding to speak of the difficult problem of drawing objects in motion1 ,i should wish to impress on your minds the importance of being able to draw tolerably from memory4 ,all drawing is1 strictly speaking1 an effort of memory4 ,you cannot look at your model and trace lines on your paper at one and the same time2 there must be an interval of a second or two1 and all that you have to do to acquire facility in drawing from memory1 is gradually to prolong this interval4 ,if you visit a large forge1 you are sure to see men in violent action1 either working the rolling-mill1 or forging large masses of iron under the ,nasmyth hammer4 ,you may be certain that their action is perfectly natural1 and that it is not only natural but most appropriate to the work they are about4 ,men who have been rolling boiler-plate for years are sure to set about their work in the most practical way4 ,sketching on these occasions is impossible1 except1 perhaps1 to a newspaper correspondent1 but there is nothing to prevent your watching the action of these men intently4 ,you will notice the various positions the body arms1 and legs assume to accomplish various tasks2 how each action is fitted to the work4 ,you will endeavor to draw from memory what you have noticed4 ,your drawings will doubtless be very imperfect1 but they will be infinitely better than what you could have produced before taking stock of what you saw at the forge4 ,in ,london you may not have opportunities of seeing much in the way of action that is worth drawing1 but even in ,london people skate1 play lawn tennis1 and other games which give rise to action1 and in the country there is always plenty to observe if you keep your weather eye open4 ,every one cannot become a ,horace ,vernet1 but ,i think that any fairly good draughtsman may1 after examining an object carefully1 learn to reproduce it two or three hours later when he reaches home2 and this kind of power 7though never cultivated in academic schools7 is one which every young artist ought to endeavor to acquire4 ,very young children 7unless they are asleep7 cannot be studied in the deliberate manner in which a professional grown-up model is studied4 ,wild animals1 again1 are difficult things to draw1 because they cannot be depended upon to retain the same position for any length of time4 ,it is in these cases that an artist who has exercised his memory has an enormous advantage over one who is merely a good academic draughtsman4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i will now turn to the question of how to represent objects which are meant to appear in motion1 as a man walking1 running1 or striking1 a horse galloping1 etc4 ,i do not intend to investigate the laws of motion1 nor to point out the muscles which are brought into action by violent movement1 but simply to analyze the appearance to our sense of vision of these various actions4 ,in drawing inanimate objects which are at rest1 that which is apparent to the eye really exists1 and therefore by drawing what you see1 you will be mathematically correct2 but even this apparent truism does not hold good in every case4 ,for example1 take the usual pictorial method of representing a star1 which1 although astronomically incorrect1 gives the impression a bright star produces on our organs of sight1 and is therefore the proper method4 ,seen through a telescope the planets become round disks1 and the brightest fixed stars mere points1 and there can be no doubt of the non-existence of any radiation2 and yet the appearance of it is so constant that the terms 8star-shaped10 8star-fish10 etc41 are always used to designate objects of this form2 and it is quite consistent with the soundest principles of art to represent what appears to be1 rather than what is4 ,when we come to consider moving objects1 we find plenty of contradiction between what appears to be and what is4 ,there are many moving objects which present no difficulty4 ,driving clouds or a ship in full sail are easily drawn1 because1 although moving rapidly through the air1 their form varies very little as they proceed1 and their apparent form is in no way different from their true form4 ,even the ever-heaving waves of the open sea1 though by no means easy to draw correctly1 offer no discrepancy between what you see and what is4 ,the big ,atlantic rollers1 and particularly the short1 steep1 irregular waves one sometimes meets with in the ,channel1 are awkward things to draw1 especially to a sea-sick artist2 but1 at any rate1 unless he is very far gone1 he sees nothing which does not really exist1 and no effect of wind on the waves is so rapid that he cannot see it4 ,the case1 however1 is widely different if you have to represent a rotating wheel4 ,the spokes of the wheel are there1 but it is impossible to see them4 ,all you will be able to make out is a kind of flickering radiation1 with perhaps some faint traces of concentric circles caused by mud spots or other marks on the spokes4 ,even when the wheel turns very slowly the spokes become blurred and confused1 and when it revolves briskly they are lost sight of altogether4 ,this is an extreme case1 in which nothing in the way of spokes is distinguishable1 and therefore nothing can be done2 but when we see a man running or a horse galloping we do distinguish the legs both of man and horse4 ,we get a decided impression both of form and action1 and it is our business as artists to convey that impression on paper or canvas4 ,it is not our business to draw man or horse in positions which may be true1 but which are contrary to our own impressions4 ,that there are plenty of such positions ,i hope to prove by means of these diagrams4 ,we have here two men walking1 one of whom has his left leg forward and the other his right leg4 ,illustration ,this diagram represents them going along fair heel-and-toe1 perhaps not very elegantly1 but at any rate it conveys the idea of walking4 ,now it is self-evident that1 in walking1 the legs must pass each other at every step4 ,let us endeavor to draw our pedestrian at the moment when one leg is passing in front of the other1 and we shall find it impossible to give the idea of fair heel-and-toe walking4 ,illustration ,now1 why is this8 ,the reason appears to me to be twofold2 in the first place1 at each step there is a momentary pause when both feet are on the ground2 and the eye seizes on this pause1 and naturally associates the position the legs are in with the action of walking4 ,secondly1 it is only in this position that any idea can be given of the length of the step and the rate of the man's progress4 ,a photograph taken at the moment when one leg is passing the other1 would not convey the impression of forward movement4 ,in nature it is the actual motion of the leg which causes the attitude to appear all right2 but if we could arrest it instantaneously1 the action would appear as cramped in nature as it does on paper4 ,during a thunder-storm at night1 if you should ever happen to see a walking or a running man illumined by a flash of lightning1 you will notice that he does not appear to be moving at all1 unless the flash occurs just at the time when his legs are fully extended4 ,i have myself seen the curious effect of a sudden flash of light on a moving carriage and horses4 ,the horses1 though trotting fully eight miles an hour1 did not seem to be moving1 and every spoke in the wheels was as plainly seen as if they had not been rotating4 ,what ,i have said about the action of walking applies equally to running4 ,the attitude appears always more or less cramped unless the moment is seized when the runner's legs are fully extended4 ,the illustration of running given in ,flaxman's lectures is wrong in more than one particular4 ,in the first place1 the heel ought not to touch the ground2 it never does in running4 ,secondly1 the figure appears poised on his right foot2 indeed1 he would fall rather backward than forward2 and it is essentially necessary1 in expressing the action of running1 that the figure should appear to fall forward whenever one foot is on the ground4 ,illustration ,in drawing the human figure either running or walking1 this must always be attended to1 otherwise the figure looks like an academy model1 with his hind foot comfortably propped up on a box4 ,it is possible that for a fractional part of a second1 a running man's leg might assume the vertical position given it by ,flaxman2 but this position1 even if true1 is one of those which ought never to be selected4 ,illustration ,in the next fractional part of the second1 the foot being arrested by the ground1 and the body moving rapidly forward1 the leg must assume a slanting position1 and our man will be off his balance1 and under the necessity of rapidly bringing to the front his other leg2 and thus the idea of running is given1 as in the preceding diagram4 ,flaxman's floating and arial female figures are exquisitely graceful1 and here he is seen at his best2 but ,i think that the action of his male figures is rather academic2 that is1 they suggest too much the life-school1 where the model is placed in a position which he can hold for a considerable length of time4 ,i am quite aware that in a severe bas-relief composition1 or in a grave historical picture1 a runner should not be represented as he might appear at ,lilliebridge grounds1 or racing after a cricket-ball at ,lord's4 ,he should proceed more by comparatively slow bounds than by quick steps1 but the sentiment of forward impetus should be just the same4 ,there is a fine example of a running figure in one of ,raffaelle's stanze4 ,i think it is in the 8,heliodorus ,expelled from the ,temple40 ,in the next diagram1 the action approximates to ,flaxman's1 but there is this important difference1 that the left foot is in the air1 and we feel that before it gets a good grip of the ground1 the body will have moved on considerably1 and the balance of the figure will have a strong forward tendency1 as in the last illustration4 ,any attempt to represent a man running whilst one leg is crossing the other1 will be just as hopeless as to give the idea of walking under similar conditions4 ,illustration ,in the action of striking1 the proper moment for the draughtsman to seize is either just before or just after the blow has been given4 ,here1 again1 if the arm were arrested midway1 the attitude of the striker would appear cramped and absurd4 ,moreover1 there would be nothing in the position of the arm to indicate whether the blow was a heavy or a light one4 ,exactly the same remarks apply to the action of throwing4 ,by accurately giving the thrower's preparatory position1 the power of the throw can be indicated2 and the same may to a certain extent be done by taking him after the stone or ball has left his hand1 but nothing satisfactory can come of attempting to draw him in an intermediate stage4 ,if we have to represent men rowing1 the best way is to draw them leaning forward and with outstretched arms1 the oars just catching the water4 ,illustration ,the degree in which they are reaching forward is the key to the length of the stroke1 and1 therefore1 in great measure1 to the velocity of the boat4 ,if they are rowing a race1 or spurting1 their arms and backs would be almost horizontal2 if they are merely paddling1 their bodies would be only gently inclined forward4 ,we have no means in painting1 drawing1 or photography1 of indicating the number of strokes per minute1 any more than we have of timing the rapidity of a man's steps when he is walking or running2 but we can in both cases indicate clearly the length of the stroke or step1 and the length is generally a pretty good index of the rapidity4 ,supposing that1 with the idea of being original1 an artist should choose to represent the moment when the stroke is half rowed through1 when the bodies of the crew are comparatively upright1 and the arms beginning to bend1 can any one suppose that his drawing would have the same spirit as if he had taken the previous moment1 when the men were all extended8 ,from these examples we may deduce the rule1 that to represent action of any kind1 the figure should be extended to the full limit of the position necessary to produce that action4 ,having established this rule1 we will now consider how far it is applicable to the action of animals4 ,we find but little amongst the works of the old ,italian masters which can by any stretch of fancy be called a galloping horse4 ,but few of them attempted horse-painting at all1 and those who did make the attempt were content to reproduce with more or less skill the heavy shapeless war-horse of ,roman sculpture4 ,these portly animals were represented either at rest or pawing the ground4 ,sometimes1 as in ,leonardo da ,vinci's 8,fight for the ,standard10 they are rearing1 kicking1 biting1 and displaying every form of equine vice2 but we very seldom come across a real galloping or even a trotting horse1 until the end of the sixteenth century4 ,rubens' horses are often represented galloping1 but it must be confessed that they are not getting over the ground very fast4 ,the hind legs are invariably on the ground and the fore legs well bent2 just straighten them a little1 and you have the prototype of the modern rocking-horse4 ,this old-fashioned way of representing a horse galloping was blindly adopted by successive generations of artists through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries4 ,i believe that ,carl ,vernet 7the father of ,horace7 was the first to innovate4 ,his studies of horses are admirable4 ,whether walking1 trotting1 or galloping1 their action is always spirited and suggestive4 ,his method has never been improved upon1 and probably never will4 ,it is now about two years since a very remarkable series of instantaneous photographs1 representing a horse at full gallop1 were brought over to ,england from ,america4 ,they were executed with great skill and care by an ingenious gentleman of ,san ,francisco1 and have been tested in ,london by means of an instrument called the praxinoscope1 which brings them in succession and at regular intervals before the eye4 ,their effect seen in this way is marvellous4 ,the grotesque1 absurd figures start into life1 and the result is a wonderful representation of a race-horse at full speed4 ,there is therefore no room for doubting the absolute correctness of every one of these diagrams1 which ,i have had enlarged for this lecture4 ,i need not describe in detail the manner in which the original negatives were taken4 ,it will be sufficient to say that electricity was absolutely indispensable for the operation4 ,twelve cameras were set up in a line with the track2 they were placed twenty-seven inches apart1 and each negative was taken instantaneously as soon as the galloping horse was opposite the camera4 ,the word 8instantaneously0 does not at all represent the rapidity with which the negatives were taken4 ,it was calculated that the time for each operation was under #a_/bjjjth ,part of a second4 ,the interval between the production of the negatives was one twenty-fifth of a second1 which1 if multiplied by twelve1 will give about half a second for the completion of the series4 ,the original photographs are of course mere dark silhouettes1 but it is very wonderful that any result at all should have been obtained in the #a_/bjjjth part of a second4 ,we are told that the 8celebrated flyer ,sally ,gardner was ridden by the jockey ,domm at a #a3dj gait in front of the apparatus40 ,the #a3dj gait translated into ,english means that ,sally ,gardner was going at the rate of a mile in one minute forty seconds1 which certainly is a great pace even for a ,derby winner4 ,now1 it has been known for a great many years that the usual sporting way of representing a racer at full gallop is not correct4 ,stonehenge1 in his book on the horse1 published more than twenty years ago1 says3-- 8,to represent the gallop pictorially in a perfectly correct manner is almost impossible2 at all events it has never yet been accomplished2 the ordinary and received interpretation being altogether erroneous4 ,when carefully watched1 the horse in full gallop will be seen to extend himself very much1 but not nearly to the length which is assigned to him by artists4 ,to give the idea of high speed1 the hind legs are thrust backward and the forelegs forward in a most unnatural position1 which1 if it could be assumed in reality1 would inevitably lead to a fall and most probably to a broken back40 ,stonehenge goes on to observe that 8many artists have tried to break through the time-honored recipe for drawing a galloping horse1 but that the eye at once rebels4 ,the new version may be scientifically correct1 but the mind refuses its assent to the idea of great pace which is desired to be given40 ,amongst the 8many artists0 alluded to by ,stonehenge ,i may mention my old acquaintance ,john ,leech4 ,leech was far too keen an observer to be satisfied with the absolute truth of the ordinary method of representing a horse going across country1 and accordingly he tried all kinds of positions for the legs1 but always had to go back to some modification of the usually accepted one1 viz41 all four legs off the ground1 and all more or less extended4 ,he remarked to me thirty years ago how impracticable it was to represent the true action of a galloping horse satisfactorily4 ,i wonder what ,stonehenge and ,leech would have said1 could they have seen these extraordinary photographs4 ,out of the series of twelve there are only two 7,nos4 #b and #c7 which give the least idea of galloping1 and in these two all the legs are tucked under the horse in a bunch4 ,well may the editor of the ,field have written back to ,america to say that there was some mistake1 as1 barring two1 which looked something like galloping1 all the others represented the horse as more or less stationary4 ,to me they looked more like the tricks of a highly-trained steed in a circus4 ,however grotesque the position of a horse's legs may be1 we must 7per force7 accept them as truthful1 and to those sceptics who cannot reconcile their minds to this fact1 ,i would observe that four-footed animals don't fly2 their legs not only touch the ground1 but must at one particular #bjjjth part of a second be vertical1 and ,i am quite sure that under these conditions the cleverest draughtsman would fail to make the horse appear galloping4 ,gricault1 ,horace ,vernet1 and all the best delineators of horses galloping1 have represented them with all the feet in the air and the legs more or less extended4 ,it has now been proved1 beyond the possibility of doubt1 that this position is never assumed by the horse4 ,does it follow that the pictures of these artists are all wrong8 ,by no means4 ,speaking scientifically1 they are wrong1 but science and art1 though often bracketed together1 are very distinct1 and ought to be independent of each other2 so that if the old-fashioned way of representing a racer conveys to the mind a better idea of speed than any of these diagrams1 we ought to continue to wallow in our ignorance4 ,it is impossible to say what the art of the future may be4 ,we may get valuable hints from these and future instantaneous photographs2 we may learn to modify1 to a considerable extent1 the time-honored sporting way of depicting horseraces1 but ,i can hardly believe that the struggle for the ,derby of #aiha will be represented as above4#b ,illustration ,the other paces of the horse1 the walk and the trot1 have also been photographed by the same gentleman4 ,the results are curious1 but there is nothing so outrageously absurd as the 8#a3dj gait0 photographs4 ,in conclusion1 ,i would caution you against being disquieted by any modern investigation of the true action of animals4 ,in art1 whatever appears right is right1 and this seems to me to constitute one of the differences between art and science4 ,i have already said that in drawing men or animals in motion artists are limited to one momentary position1 and that care should be taken that that momentary position be characteristic of the general action4 ,thus in the greyhound pursuing the hare1 the legs appear even more extended than in the racing horse1 and we ought accordingly to represent them in this way1 regardless of the literal truth4 ,what we call action1 both in men and animals1 is not the attitude at one particular moment1 but the combination of various attitudes in rapid succession4 ,to give a perfect representation of action lies1 therefore1 beyond the province of art4 ,all we can do is to select1 or sometimes even to invent1 an attitude which1 whether true or not true1 shall accurately give the general impression of what we want to represent4 ,we have heard a good deal lately of a new school of painters calling themselves ,impressionists4 ,i need hardly say ,i have but little sympathy with their work4 ,to neglect form1 as they ostentatiously do1 is to abandon voluntarily the highest quality of art2 but ,i must confess that in drawing animated objects in motion1 ,i am somewhat of an ,impressionist myself4 ,wherever from the rapidity of the movement any deliberate drawing of the form is out of the question1 ,i hold it to be much safer to trust to general impressions than to be guided by the results of instantaneous photography4 ,,lecture ,,vii4 ,,color4 ,lectures on color are generally semi-scientific discourses4 ,the lecturer explains the theory of primaries and secondaries1 and the optical effects produced by contrast1 illustrating what he has got to say on the subject by means of colored diagrams4 ,those who are interested in the singular effect produced by what are called simultaneous and successive contrasts of color had better consult ,chevreuil's book on color1 which has been translated into ,english1 and is a very exhaustive work on the subject4 ,from a very slight knowledge of the book ,i should say that it was more likely to be of use to the designer and manufacturer than to the artist4 ,the author deals almost entirely with flat surfaces of color1 and the weakest part of the book is that where he tackles the complex problem of reducing to rule the coloring of pictures4 ,some of his theories appear to me very fanciful1 and some are quite contrary to my own experience4 ,indeed1 it is a question to me whether a scientific knowledge of optics in their relation to color can be of any use to an artist in his profession4 ,after this preamble you will not be surprised if ,i do not exhibit to-night any prisms or kaleidoscopic effects of color4 ,moreover1 ,i don't know enough of the subject to venture to lecture on it4 ,i shall give you the results of my experiences 7quantum valeant7 not only about colors1 but about such prosaic matters as brushes1 palettes1 and mediums4 ,it appears to me that many a student is kept back or discouraged because his palette is in a hopeless mess2 his brushes are like old birch-brooms1 and his canvas is slippery and greasy4 ,if you were learning to write1 instead of learning to paint1 you would not provide yourselves with stumpy worn-out pens1 bad ink1 and cartridge paper4 ,you would get fairly good pens and ink and white foolscap1 so as to give yourselves a chance4 ,i don't wish you to be fastidious about the choice of your materials4 ,this is as bad as being too careless2 nor do ,i want to bind you to use the colors and brushes which ,i myself find most convenient for life studies4 ,all ,i desire is that you should not multiply your difficulties unnecessarily by using bad materials4 ,before1 however1 entering on these details1 ,i wish to make a few observations about the effect and contrast of colors4 ,in the first place1 ,i would observe that1 pictorially speaking1 no color can1 taken individually1 be called either pretty or ugly4 ,the dullest mud-color1 if in its right place1 is charming2 and the most delicate mauve1 if in the wrong place1 hideous4 ,dirt has been defined as matter in the wrong place4 ,no one while digging among his flower-beds would call the rich mould 8dirt10 but if he proceeds to wipe his spade with his pocket-handkerchief1 he will certainly 8dirty0 it4 ,in the same way when in a picture we speak of a color being ugly or dirty1 all we mean is that it appears so with reference to its surroundings4 ,take the same color and put it in a more harmonious setting1 and it will appear all right4 ,we are told by scientific writers on color1 that the primaries 7red1 yellow1 and blue7 harmonize with their secondaries1 viz41 red with green1 yellow with purple1 and blue with orange4 ,this is no doubt true in a general way1 but it is by no means invariably true4 ,any color will1 under certain conditions1 harmonize with any other1 provided they are of the proper shade1 and the surrounding setting and background are suitable2 whilst1 on the other hand1 we often see in pictures by bad colorists the most orthodox combination of reds and greens1 which1 instead of being harmonious1 are painfully discordant4 ,the truth is that color cannot be subjected to theoretical rules4 ,the only safe book for the student to consult is the ,book of ,nature4 ,he will there find no limit to the harmonious combinations of the primary and secondary colors4 ,do the golden blossoms of the ragwort or the blue-bells of the wild hyacinth not harmonize with their respective green leaves8 ,are the orange orchards of the ,south1 or the mingled blue1 green1 and gold of the peacock's plumage1 unpleasant to the eye8 ,and yet these combinations of color violate the rules laid down by theorists4 ,another obvious truth to be gleaned from ,nature1 and which may be made applicable to art1 is that she varies her tints according to climate4 ,in the plumage and coloring of exotic birds and insects we find the most gorgeous combinations of bright colors4 ,in the parrot-house of the ,zological ,gardens we see red and blue1 orange and purple1 blue and green plumages of the most brilliant hues4 ,the coloring of these birds1 although not as discordant as their voices1 seems in our gray climate too crude and violent1 but in their native tropical forests1 with an intensely blue sky overhead1 the crudity would disappear1 and they would be as much in keeping with the surrounding scenery as eagles and hawks are on our mountains1 black and white seafowl on our coasts1 or sparrows in our streets4 ,the truth appears to be that in color there are various scales of intensity and strength4 ,if the key-note1 or1 in other words1 the most decided color in your picture1 be strong and vivid1 you will have to carry out the whole picture on the same scale4 ,if it be of a delicate or neutral tint1 you must treat the remainder of the picture accordingly4 ,good specimens of old stained-glass windows1 where the strongest reds1 blues1 greens1 and yellows are seen in juxtaposition1 are fine examples of a powerful rich harmony of color1 and many pictures of the ,dutch school are very good illustrations of harmony of a delicate gray kind4 ,this sort of low-toned harmony is much more easily obtained than the stronger and richer kind4 ,the reason for this is that faults of color and errors of taste are much less conspicuous in a gray picture than in a brilliantly colored one4 ,in the former all the costumes are of a whitey-brown1 buff1 or slate color1 and an injudicious distribution of these ,quaker-like tints would be hardly noticeable2 but in a work where strong reds1 yellows1 blues1 and blacks predominate1 the substitution of one color for another would be fatal to the picture4 ,in landscape again1 it is far easier to paint the gray land of mountain and mist than the brilliant sunshine of the ,south4 ,any one who honestly attempts to depict the blue ,mediterranean sparkling in the sunshine will probably be severely criticised1 whilst his neighbor who has painted the kind of ,highland scenery we all know so well1 will get praised for his painstaking truthfulness1 although his picture may be in every respect inferior as a transcript of nature to the ,southern one4 ,the axiom to be derived from this is1 that whatever your subject may be1 whether figures or landscape1 it is comparatively easy to succeed as a colorist in a low or gray scale of color4 ,i do not mean to recommend any shirking of difficulties1 and if your subject is of a nature which requires brilliant coloring1 by all means endeavor to paint it up to the mark2 but in decorative work1 and in pictures which admit of a tender and soft coloring1 you will do well to select grays1 bluish greens1 and broken tints generally4 ,your shortcomings will be less conspicuous1 and you will avoid the risk of becoming tawdry and vulgar4 ,some men are born with a strong natural feeling for color1 and a good many more fancy they have this gift without really possessing it4 ,some have an exceptionally dull sense for color1 and although they may be quite able to distinguish red from green1 yet they cannot be taught to discriminate between different shades of the same color4 ,to students belonging to any of these three classes ,i am afraid my lecture will be of no use4 ,the first--that is1 the born colorists--will instinctively use harmonious tints1 and their natural feeling will be a better guide to them than any lectures4 ,the second class--namely1 those who fondly believe themselves to be colorists--will1 of course1 not attend to any thing ,i may say2 and those to whom nature has denied a sense of color are unteachable1 just as it is hopeless to teach music to a man who has no ear4 ,the great majority1 however1 of students belong to none of these exceptional classes4 ,they have an average sense of color1 just as they have an average sense of form2 and although ,i am quite aware that practice and experience will alone improve and develop their power of coloring1 yet a few practical hints may facilitate and shorten their studies4 ,i assume that whatever method is adopted for painting flesh1 the object ought to be to get it like nature4 ,i don't mean necessarily like the model1 but like what nature would be under the conditions imposed by the subject1 and it is very necessary continually to bear in mind what those conditions are4 ,it will not do 7if you have an open-air subject to paint7 to copy your model faithfully as he appears in the studio1 and then put in a sky and background from your out-of-door studies4 ,although the whole picture might truly be said to be painted from nature1 yet it would certainly not look right4 ,the figures would have been painted under one condition of light1 and the landscape under another4 ,you cannot be expected1 except under peculiar circumstances1 to paint direct from your model out-of-doors1 but you may take careful notice of the difference between studio light and shade and open-air effect4 ,i must do modern painters the justice to say that this difference is much more generally recognized than it was twenty years ago4 ,formerly a group of figures used to be painted with more or less care from models as they appeared in the studio1 the aperture which admitted light being often not more than three or four feet wide4 ,it was immaterial to the artist whether the scene of his subject was an apartment similarly lighted1 or an open heath2 and the consequence was that the picture1 however cleverly it might be painted1 had an unreal appearance whenever a landscape background was introduced4 ,this discrepancy must have been felt1 and hence no doubt we may account for the perfectly conventional landscape backgrounds we notice in many pictures by the masters of the last century4 ,instead of the old artifice of spoiling the landscape for the sake of the figures1 it is much better and healthier art to paint the figures to suit the landscape4 ,we cannot do this completely unless we paint the whole picture on the spot1 and then we should not have the same command over the arrangement of the groups as we have in the studio2 but we can make an approximation toward this desirable end1 and it is satisfactory to notice that many young artists1 both ,french and ,english1 are making efforts in this direction1 and thus studying the ever-varying effects of color and light in the only way in which they ought to be studied4 ,if you do not feel equal to the task of thus modifying your studio work1 choose some subject where the scene is an interior1 analogous to your own room1 and then you may copy literally the color and light and shade of your models and draperies4 ,i am not going to give any recipe for painting flesh2 some ,english artists and the great majority of foreigners paint it in at once as near nature as they can4 ,others model it first in what is technically called dead color1 and finish with transparent or semi-transparent tints4 ,if the result is good1 it matters little how it has been obtained4 ,every artist has his own method1 and he generally adheres to it1 either because he is accustomed to it1 or because it suits his style of composition and drawing4 ,i shall therefore confine the remarks ,i have to make on color to the harmonious arrangement of backgrounds1 draperies1 and costumes4 ,first1 as to backgrounds4 ,it is a curious fact1 which any one can verify1 that if you have painted a head and you find the color too hot and red1 the proper remedy is to paint the background of a cool green or some cold color4 ,naturally one would suppose that on the principle of contrasts the cool-colored background would make the head appear redder4 ,such1 however1 is certainly not the case4 ,a vermilion curtain behind your rubicund gentleman would make him appear more objectionably rubicund1 but a cool gray or green would have the contrary effect4 ,on the other hand1 if you want warmth of color in your head1 paint a red background to it4 ,if you try to give warmth to it by setting it in a cold background you will make it look more ghastly than it did4 ,the only explanation ,i can offer for this apparent anomaly is that the eye gets filled or saturated with the color of the background until the head seems to partake of it4 ,in the first example the eye gets filled with cool green1 and thus the redness of the head becomes less apparent4 ,in the second example1 the optic nerves get accustomed to a hot color1 and so the pallor of the head disappears4 ,in my opinion a colored sketch or water-color drawing gains brilliancy by being mounted on a white ground1 whereas1 according to theory1 the dazzling whiteness of the mount ought to make the drawing look dingy4 ,in the same way1 supposing you have painted a series of figures for the decoration of a pediment or frieze1 and you find that your figures are dull and heavy in color1 how are you to remedy this without repainting them8 ,my answer would be1 ,give them a gold or light bright-colored background4 ,it is not only that this bright background enlivens the whole work1 but it has the effect of making each individual figure appear less dull in color4 ,although experience has taught me that these apparently anomalous effects are produced with color1 yet1 of course1 where black and white alone are concerned1 the law of contrast follows its natural course2 that is1 if you want to give brilliancy to a white spot1 surround it with black2 and if you want to give darkness to a black spot1 surround it with white4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in a composition of several figures1 it is almost always desirable to assist the effect by selecting white or light-colored draperies for the figures in the light1 and dark colors for the figures in the shade4 ,this principle may1 of course1 be carried too far1 but as a general rule it may be depended on4 ,a good deal has been said by ,sir ,j4 ,reynolds and others in praise of a simple palette1 and with much of this ,i cordially agree2 still ,i think that in the ordinary practice of figure-painting nine or ten colors are indispensable4 ,if ,i give you my own palette1 it is not that ,i wish to dictate to you what colors to employ1 but simply as a foundation for the remarks ,i am going to make about the colors generally used4 ,first1 with regard to white4 ,illustration ,white lead is the pigment all but universally used in oil-painting4 ,many years ago ,i tried zinc-white4 ,it was strongly recommended1 on the ground that it did not turn yellow or black with age like white lead4 ,i believe it has this good quality1 but it wants opacity and body2 and although ,i think it might be used with great advantage in skies1 or for scumbling1 ,i don't think it can ever replace white lead for flesh-painting4 ,we next come to ,naples yellow4 ,i am no chemist1 and do not profess to tell you what ,naples yellow is made of1 any more than ,i could inform you of what ,london butter is made4 ,there are a great many shades of this useful color1 but ,i think that the pale greenish variety is the most serviceable4 ,the ,french have jaune de ,naples ordinaire1 jaune brilliant1 and three shades of jaune ,pinard4 ,our colormen have pale and deep ,naples yellow1 of various shades1 and lemon yellow besides4 ,of all these varieties1 ,i prefer the light-colored jaune ,pinard4 ,in painting flesh it will be found useful1 especially in the reflected light of the shadows1 where white lead would probably create heaviness and opacity2 but it is in light-colored draperies1 in gold-embroidered brocades1 and in glowing sunsets that ,naples yellow of some kind becomes indispensable4 ,yellow ochre ought to be a simple earth1 tinted yellow in nature's laboratory2 but1 like the aforesaid ,naples yellow1 you cannot tell what the contents of the tube you purchase as yellow ochre really are4 ,the terra chiara1 which1 in ,italian fresco1 replaces our yellow ochre1 is perfectly durable1 but no yellow ochre that ,i ever bought in ,london would resist the action of the lime4 ,hence ,i conclude that the yellow ochre of the trade is not a genuine earth4 ,however that may be1 it is quite indispensable on the palette1 and in oil-paintings seems perfectly durable4 ,roman ochre1 golden ochre1 and other varieties are quite unnecessary if you have yellow ochre on your palette2 but brown ochre is capital for one particular purpose1 and for nothing else that ,i know of4 ,the purpose of which ,i am speaking is for painting a dead white luminous bit of wall or pavement4 ,if you mellow your white lead with a very little brown ochre1 you will get a luminous compound which is neither yellow nor red1 and is totally dissimilar to your flesh tint4 ,of raw sienna ,i would speak with great respect1 as it is perfectly durable in fresco-work1 where yellow ochre drops off the wall and disintegrates every thing it is mixed with4 ,nevertheless1 raw sienna wants body2 when ground in oil1 and except perhaps for landscape-painting1 ,i hardly ever use it4 ,before exhausting the yellows1 ,i may mention that the only violent yellow you ought ever to admit on your palette is cadmium4 ,chromes of all kinds are rank poison1 and cadmium1 though quite safe1 is a difficult color to manage with discretion4 ,light red is burnt ochre1 and is one of the most useful colors of the palette for painting flesh4 ,mixed with white and a very little yellow it is the foundation of all flesh-painting4 ,the ,french light red1 or 8brun rouge10 as it is called1 is much better than ours4 ,it is a little more pink in color1 and is generally pleasanter to work with4 ,we now come to vermilion4 ,of this color there are two kinds in common use1 the ,chinese and the so-called extract of vermilion4 ,i should think it hardly necessary to have both kinds on the palette1 but some artists1 who are much better colorists than ,i can pretend to be1 think otherwise2 and although they omit altogether umbers and browns of all sorts1 yet never lay their palette without both sorts of vermilion4 ,burnt sienna is the next color on our palette1 and is of universal use4 ,it is the best color to use for giving warmth to shades1 and for preparing draperies or stuffs which are ultimately to be blue or green4 ,of course1 one may use it too much1 but it never gives opacity and heaviness1 which any other red would do if employed for a similar purpose4 ,there are many other reds4 ,venetian red is hardly to be distinguished from light red4 ,indian red is a deep laky red1 and very opaque4 ,i don't think it is much used now1 but formerly it was in great request for painting flesh4 ,etty was very fond of it4 ,the so-called ,mars reds are perfectly durable1 but all these colors are quite unnecessary4 ,of the lakes the most useful for general purposes is madder lake4 ,some of them1 such as yellow lake and scarlet lake1 are very fugitive and not safe to use4 ,rose madder and purple madder are expensive1 and1 except for very rich stuffs1 are seldom wanted4 ,there are several varieties of brown and yellow madders1 which may be used with advantage in landscape1 but which are never really wanted for figure-painting4 ,green is a color which is not absolutely necessary if you have blue on the palette1 still it is sometimes very useful for the half tones4 ,oxide of chromium is the best of the decided greens1 but ,i think that the ,french vert de ,cobalt is more generally useful4 ,this is a bluish green1 and a most excellent color for painting skies4 ,terra verte has no body in it1 and ,i find it turns black very speedily4 ,malachite green is a sickly color that ,i cannot recommend2 and what we used to call emerald green1 but which the ,french call vert veronese1 is rank poison on the palette4 ,almost all the rich dark greens required for foliage and verdure in landscape-painting can be obtained by a judicious mixture of blues and yellows4 ,french ultramarine1 mixed with raw or burnt sienna1 gives a strong dark green1 which is not at all heavy1 and every landscape-painter discovers new combinations of blues and blacks with yellows and reds1 which enable him to give the infinite variety of nature4 ,as for blues1 the only colors ,i can recommend are cobalt and ,french ultramarine4 ,the colors known as ultramarine ash and mineral gray are sometimes useful1 but they can very easily be imitated on the palette4 ,i never use either ,prussian1 ,antwerp1 or any other cyaneous blue2 and ,i think that1 at any rate for figure-painting1 they are unnecessary4 ,you will observe that ,i have not put any brown on the palette1 not even umber4 ,i am quite aware that with many painters1 especially ,english ones1 raw umber is considered a sine qu non1 and ,i thought so myself a few years ago4 ,i took1 however1 a dislike to it from a conviction that it turned black1 and ,i fancy that ,i have done better since ,i discarded it4 ,it is very seldom seen on the palettes of foreign artists4 ,asphaltum and bitumen are very seductive colors1 but1 as every one knows1 they have been the ruin of many excellent pictures1 and it is well to steer clear of them4 ,i think1 however1 that either color1 when mixed with white lead1 is tolerably safe1 and nothing else that ,i know of gives so effectively and pleasantly the gray hair and fur of animals4 ,in blacks1 you have ivory or blue black1 both excellent colors1 and there is also a charcoal black which is much more gray than either of the others1 and has very little body4 ,i think1 when mixed with white1 that it may be useful in painting clouds4 ,it is generally gritty and badly ground1 but for the purpose ,i mention1 ,i don't think this fault matters much4 ,before taking leave of the palette1 ,i may be expected to say something about brushes and mediums4 ,first1 as to brushes3 ,as to the size of the brushes1 this depends very much on the taste and habits of the artist4 ,i am fond of small ones myself1 not necessarily sables1 but small hog's hair tools1 and ,i should recommend them to beginners1 who wish to express form as well as color in their work4 ,i never use flat brushes for painting flesh1 and very seldom for any thing else1 but this is merely an old habit4 ,every one is perfectly right to use the tools which he finds the most convenient1 only let them be good of their kind1 and always kept in working order4 ,now as to mediums3 ,this is a subject on which ,i speak with diffidence1 as opinions vary greatly about these compounds4 ,i think1 however1 that ,i may safely say that the less they are used by students the better4 ,by mediums1 ,i mean the various copal jellies which are sold in tubes1 and placed on the palette like the colors4 ,i do not say that they are unsafe to use in moderation1 but moderation is said by teetotalers to be a virtue more difficult to practise than total abstinence4 ,for a great many years ,i used them1 and have only quite lately discarded them altogether in favor of clarified poppy oil4 ,this oil is a very slow drier1 and is1 therefore1 peculiarly suitable for ,academy students' work4 ,it continually happens that a student prepares a larger portion of the figure than he can finish in one day4 ,the next day it is too dry to continue the modelling1 and yet not dry enough for glazing and repainting4 ,if he has painted it with poppy oil1 he will find it in a very workable state for two or even three days4 ,nothing can be safer1 provided of course the picture is painted throughout with the same slow drier4 ,the best and purest poppy oil is known by the name of huile chromophile4 ,it has a strong smell of castor-oil1 which to susceptible persons may be rather an objection4 ,i shall not attempt a criticism of the various oils and essences which are to be found at the color-man's4 ,what is one man's meat is another man's poison1 and ,i even go farther and say1 that the same man at one period of his career will swear by some compound which a few years afterward he will regard with special aversion4 ,the only advice ,i give to young artists is to use the simplest materials they can1 both for mediums and colors2 and ,i may add1 that the better the colorist1 the simpler his palette generally is4 ,i have seen on some foreign artists' palettes as many as six different kinds of lake1 when one would have been quite sufficient1 and ,i need hardly say that whatever other merit their pictures may have had1 they were not distinguished for brilliant color4 ,after all1 it is only natural that it should be so4 ,an artist who is not a good colorist must 7unless he is blinded by conceit7 have some suspicion of his deficiency1 and would naturally endeavor by a more elaborate palette to remedy his shortcomings1 just as some of our bad cooks endeavor to improve their cuisine by a liberal use of made sauces4 ,with artists as with cooks1 the remedy is unsuccessful2 in both cases it is taste that is wanted1 and not a multiplicity of ingredients4 ,if a student has a germ of feeling for color1 he may develop it into a plant of respectable growth4 ,he will probably never become a great colorist1 but he may at any rate learn to attain a certain degree of harmony and propriety1 qualities which are not always found in the works of noted colorists4 ,i would strongly deprecate the habit of painting pictures up to exhibition pitch4 ,paint them up to the pitch you see in nature1 and you will have quite enough to do4 ,exasperation is not force1 and although a soberly-colored work may be eclipsed on the exhibition walls by a dazzling neighbor1 yet it will more than hold its own when removed from the glare and glitter of its surroundings4 ,color1 as understood by many people1 means violent contrasts of reds1 blues1 and yellows4 ,now1 ,i am far from saying that strong contrasts and positive colors are always inharmonious4 ,we have 7even in our climate7 plenty of wild flowers to prove the contrary4 ,the scarlet poppy1 the blue corn flower1 the common yellow buttercup1 are all as positive in color as red1 blue1 and yellow well can be1 but the green stalk and leaves of each plant harmonize perfectly with the flower1 and the contrast1 though strong1 is never offensive4 ,the kind of contrasts ,i am deprecating are perhaps best known by the epithet 8vulgar40 ,look at the cheap colored glass windows which abound in our country churches1 and which are generally much admired by the congregation4 ,as a rule1 the more crude the colors1 the more grateful are the farmers and their wives to the donors of these windows for giving them something cheerful to look at during the service4 ,we need not go into the country for specimens of vulgar taste in color4 ,i never pass a ,london pillar letter-box without an uncomfortable feeling1 particularly after it has been newly painted4 ,the post-office authorities are certainly not bound to educate the eye of the ,british public1 and their object in painting these post-boxes vermilion was of course to make them more conspicuous1 just as a red flag is used to indicate danger4 ,but the daily press1 and particularly that sheet which claims the largest circulation in the world1 praised the authorities for 8giving us a bit of color0 to refresh the eye4 ,had these letter-boxes been painted of a laky ,indian red1 or of a bronze color1 they would have been unobjectionable1 but no one would have thought of commending them as 8bits of color40 ,again1 if we consider the scheme of clothing the volunteer regiments in scarlet1 and try to account for the enthusiasm with which certain corps have hailed the innovation1 we shall find that the 8bit of color0 is at the bottom of it4 ,it can hardly be supposed that the gallant ,east-end volunteers wish to be mistaken for militiamen2 it must be that the scarlet cloth is thought becoming1 both by themselves and their female relatives4 ,if ,i am not mistaken1 the ,west-end corps1 such as the ,queen's1 the ,inns of ,court1 and especially the artists1 will be very loth to give up their gray uniforms and don the national red4 ,i am afraid that the average ,englishman's taste in color 7though much improved of late years7 is still but little more refined than the ,west ,african's4 ,if he no longer buys hideous wall-papers and vulgar carpets1 it is not that he dislikes them1 but that he does not know where to get them1 so great has been the improvement in our manufactures4 ,if we turn from the ,english ,philistine to the ,english artist1 we find ourselves at the opposite pole4 ,he has often such a horror of loud1 vulgar tints1 that he is apt to fall into the affectation of painting on too subdued a scale1 and ,i would caution you against this affectation4 ,truth is not necessarily dull1 nor is simplicity monochromatic4 ,there is no danger of the general public1 which delights in the red coats of our soldiers1 and thinks the crudest colored dyes the prettiest1 encouraging you to paint sad olive pictures4 ,the danger comes from the select few who are gifted with sthetic tastes1 and who1 having recently awakened to the fact that crude contrasts do not constitute color1 fall into the opposite extreme1 and praise whatever is negative and colorless4 ,the dismal view of nature seems to me an unhealthy view2 and although it may be commended as a reaction against vulgar1 tawdry color1 the art which it tends to foster is morbid and unsound4 ,beauty of color is a much more subtle and indefinable quality than beauty of form4 ,we are all pretty well agreed that the antique is the nearest approach to perfection of form which has ever been made1 but we are by no means agreed about color4 ,some will think that ,titian was the greatest colorist that ever lived1 some ,velasquez1 some ,paul ,veronese1 and some ,rembrandt2 and it is not only individual opinions that differ1 but the collective opinion of the age4 ,we all are familiar with instances of pictures which are now highly prized for their color1 but which within the present century failed to gain admission to any exhibition4 ,delacroix's pictures used to be regularly rejected1 or very badly hung1 and these same pictures are now considered the gems of the gallery at ,versailles4 ,on our side of the ,channel we used to turn out ,muller's1 and1 ,i believe1 ,constable's pictures4 ,these acts of what we should call injustice were not committed from any ,academic spite or jealousy4 ,they were simply the expression of the general public opinion at that time4 ,it may be noted that our predecessors in this country were by no means indifferent to color4 ,on the contrary1 they prided themselves on being the crme de la crme of colorists1 and any one who expressed admiration for the color of ,gros and ,gricault would be looked upon as a kind of traitor to the ,english school4 ,it was a generally accepted article of belief in ,england1 that the ,french could draw1 but knew nothing about color1 and that for fine coloring you must look at home4 ,we have less national prejudice now1 and ,i hope that we are in a better path toward forming a right judgment than our predecessors were4 ,they almost always judged of the color of a picture by comparing it with similar works by the old masters1 and if it reminded them of ,titian1 ,correggio1 ,rubens1 or some other acknowledged colorist1 it was pronounced a fine thing4 ,if it were unlike the work of any accepted master of color1 it was thought nothing of1 however true it might be to nature4 ,hence as ,constable's pictures resembled neither ,claude1 ,cuyp1 nor ,ruysdael1 they were disliked by the connoisseurs of the period1 and were quite unsalable4 ,a remnant of this artificial way of judging pictures still lingers amongst us1 but1 speaking generally1 the present generation has ceased to take this narrow view of color4 ,mistakes in judgment are no doubt made1 and posterity may pronounce a different verdict on some of our favorites2 still the principle on which we decide whether a man is to be called a colorist or not1 is sound4 ,the principle is briefly this3--,that however unusual or novel the coloring of a picture may be1 if it reminds one vividly of some harmony of nature1 if there is space and air in it1 and if the same atmosphere pervades the whole canvas1 it is the work of a real colorist4 ,i have abstained in this lecture from giving you any of the old-fashioned recipes for coloring 7such as keeping the shades warm and lights cool1 and vice vers71 because ,i think that all such rules have a tendency to cramp and fetter the artist who follows them4 ,nothing can be more dissimilar than the works of the ,florentine ,ghirlandajo and the portraits of ,rembrandt1 and yet few will deny the right of both these painters to rank as colorists4 ,i might bracket ,titian with ,rubens1 or ,correggio with ,ostade1 to show how broad is the path which leads to excellence in color4 ,an innate sense of the harmonious color in nature1 and a steadfast determination1 by hook or by crook1 to reproduce an echo of this harmony on your canvas1 must ultimately lead to a good result4 ,no original colorist could tell you by what process he arrives at the effects he obtains4 ,his only secret 7if secret it be7 is that he observes more closely and intelligently than other men4 ,it is not the colors he uses1 nor the canvas1 nor the medium1 nor even the technical skill of his hand which cause his pictures to look like nature1 whilst his neighbor's look like paint4 ,it is simply what phrenologists would call his bump of color1 but what ,i 7who do not believe in bumps7 would term his keen appreciation of the harmony of nature1 and his retentive memory which enables him to reproduce in his studio the fleeting effects he has seen4 ,i cannot promise you that by adopting the same method you will all become great colorists2 but of this you may rest assured1 that habits of observation and repeated attempts at rendering honestly and faithfully what you have seen1 will tend to improve your color far more than all the rules that have ever been laid down1 and all the lectures that have ever been delivered4 ,,lecture ,,viii4 ,,on ,,decorative ,,painting4 ,by decorative painting1 ,i mean moral figure-painting4 ,ornamental designs are a very important factor in all decorative work1 but as this branch of the art is out of my province1 ,i shall say nothing about it4 ,the great mistake most artists make when they have a large wall-space to decorate with figures1 is to proceed in the same way as they would for an easel picture4 ,elaborate finish1 powerful light and shade1 expression and individuality in the heads1 are all excellent qualities in an easel picture1 but they are by no means necessary in decorative work4 ,on the other hand1 a well-balanced and harmonious composition1 a pure and grand style of drawing1 and great breadth and luminosity of coloring are absolutely essential for good decorative work4 ,these are all qualities which are never got by dexterity of hand1 dodges about color1 or chance1 to which much of the fascination of oil-painting on canvas must be attributed4 ,they are only attainable by patient and laborious work4 ,i will endeavor to show you1 step by step1 what the nature of this work is4 ,it is always advisable for decorative work of any importance to make a cartoon of the size of the painting1 and1 if possible1 after the completion of the cartoon1 to have it put up in situ1 so that the size of the figures1 the arrangement of the groups1 and the general effect may be judged of4 ,if the result is satisfactory1 the work may be considered three parts done4 ,should there1 however1 be any alterations required1 they should be carried out on the cartoon4 ,nothing which requires alteration should be left knowingly4 ,there will always be plenty of unforeseen changes suggesting themselves during the progress of the painting1 without complicating matters by having an imperfect cartoon4 ,for fresco-painting a cartoon is absolutely necessary4 ,in the course of this lecture ,i will describe the process of fresco-painting4 ,before1 however1 proceeding to speak of the different methods of painting1 we will first consider the preliminary operations4 ,the first thing to be done1 even before a stroke of charcoal sullies the spotless purity of our cartoon paper1 is to get an idea of the kind of arrangement which it will be best to adopt4 ,this pursuit of an idea for the general arrangement of our subject is of course entirely brain-work1 but as soon as an idea is got1 the hand comes into play2 not1 however1 with charcoal on the big cartoon1 but with pen and ink or pencil in the scrap-book4 ,i always think the clearest way of describing any process is to take an example4 ,we will therefore take an example1 and suppose that we are lucky enough to have the decoration of a town-hall or some similar building in a large seaport town entrusted to us1 and that it has been suggested to us by our employers that groups of figures representing all countries would be appropriate4 ,very well1 we don't at once seize a stick of charcoal and begin drawing promiscuously4 ,we think first how we can best fit our subject into the space allotted to us4 ,how are we to arrange our personages8 ,shall we group them irrespective of their nationality1 like the figures in ,delaroche's 8,hemicycle02 or shall we adopt a kind of geographical arrangement8 ,shall we have a centre figure or group8 ,shall we introduce architecture into the background1 as ,raffaelle has done in the 8,school of ,athens08 ,these and a dozen other questions of vital importance to our design have all to be settled before the cartoon is begun1 and we must be guided in our settlement very much by the nature of the building1 the shape of the panel1 the height of the work from the ground1 etc4 ,the decorative painter ought always to bear in mind that his work is supplementary to that of the architect4 ,inattention to this self-evident truism has been the cause of many failures4 ,in an easel picture we order the frame to suit the picture4 ,we don't paint the picture to suit the frame2 but in mural painting the reverse ought always to be the rule4 ,of course1 there are cases--as1 for instance1 in museums and picture galleries--where the works of art are the jewel and the building the setting2 but these works of art are not decorative4 ,the very word decorative implies subserviency to that which has to be decorated4 ,to return to our imaginary work2 ,i will suppose we have decided that a central group of figures is desirable1 and that ,england1 as the greatest maritime power in the world1 ought to occupy the place of honor4 ,moreover1 not being of the 8,perish ,india0 school1 we think that she ought to be supported by her colonies4 ,we will1 therefore1 surround her with figures representing ,canada1 ,india1 ,australia1 etc4 ,having so far settled our scheme of composition1 we must abandon our idea of a geographical arrangement4 ,we find that it is more logical to arrange our figures according to the importance of the countries they represent1 than according to their latitude and longitude4 ,we will accordingly place in the immediate vicinity of our central group1 representatives of ,france1 the ,united ,states1 ,germany1 ,italy1 etc4 ,we then gradually descend to less civilized countries1 until finally we reach the remote corners1 which we reserve for barbarians like our late enemy ,king ,coffee4 ,the next point for our consideration would be1 #8,how are we to represent ,england8' ,certainly not as a pseudo-classical ,minerva with a trident in her hand1 and the ,british lion at her feet2 still less as an obese1 ill-tempered ,john ,bull4 ,we may leave this venerable joke to the comic press4 ,we must try and invent something new1 which shall be characteristic of ,england1 and yet neither commonplace nor grotesque4 ,we may1 however1 leave the costume and action of our ,britannia for future consideration4 ,we have made up our minds that ,britannia must be typified by a female figure1 but farther than this we need not go at present4 ,having got the key-note 7as it may be called7 of the composition1 we shall have no difficulty in determining that all the other civilized countries must also be represented by female figures4 ,it will not probably be advisable to clothe these figures in their respective national costumes2 such a mode of treatment would be incompatible with a grand style of decoration4 ,it will1 nevertheless1 be quite allowable to vary their features and complexion according to the nationality they represent1 and to give them something1 either flowers1 fruit1 grain1 or produce1 which will help to identify them4 ,having got thus far1 we may begin to map out our groups on the cartoon4 ,we do not engage models until we have approximately decided on the various attitudes we wish our figures to assume4 ,some must be standing1 some sitting1 and very possibly some kneeling or reclining4 ,we try these various attitudes on the cartoon1 sketching them in very lightly with soft charcoal4 ,we transfer and shift them about until we get an harmonious and pleasant arrangement of line1 not too symmetrical1 and yet sufficiently so to give an air of grandeur and repose to the work4 ,these figures need not1 of course1 be more than indicated1 but they ought to be tolerably correct in proportion1 and the attitudes should be natural1 or at any rate possible4 ,it is here that a knowledge of anatomy is especially useful to the young artist4 ,when a man has been drawing figures for forty years he ought to draw the human form very much as he forms the letters of the alphabet when writing2 but until long experience has given him this kind of facility1 he will find his studies of anatomy and proportion of the greatest benefit to him4 ,he will save many a long and profitless morning's work from a model1 and save his pocket too4 ,it is when the cartoon is in this state of progress--that is1 when the size of the figures1 the general arrangement of the different groups1 and their relative position have been settled approximately--that it is so desirable to hoist it up to its place on the wall4 ,any alteration can be made now much easier than later2 certain figures or even whole groups may want to be shifted a few inches1 certain actions modified1 the line of heads may require revisal1 and so on2 and it is obvious that what can be done now with a few lines of charcoal1 would at a later period involve a great amount of rubbing out and a great waste of labor4 ,having at last decided on the proportions and positions of the various groups and single figures1 we may now begin to work from the living model2 and here it may perhaps not be out of place if ,i give you some advice about the selection of your models4 ,i would strongly advise you to engage those who are intelligent and apt1 rather than those who may be better proportioned1 but who are stiff and awkward4 ,what you want in the present stage of your work is natural and graceful action1 and with some models it is hopeless to struggle in this direction4 ,when ,i was a student in ,paris1 there were some three or four models who were so intelligent 7and ,i may say so artistic7 that they naturally put themselves into the attitudes wanted1 and even suggested and assumed other positions which were often adopted by the artist4 ,in violent and spontaneous action suitable for battle pictures these models were invaluable1 and the decline of many a great reputation in historical painting dates from the death of these humble assistants1 some of whom could neither read nor write4 ,i am afraid the race is extinct1 but even in the present generations of models some are far superior in artistic feeling to others4 ,in our present cartoon1 however1 we do not require any violent action2 all we need is perfect ease and dignity4 ,as our personages are to be clothed1 it will be unnecessary to make careful nude studies4 ,nevertheless1 it will be well to get rough outline drawings from the nude of all the figures1 just to correct and verify the proportions of our personages4 ,two or three of these nude studies can be made in a day4 ,if the artist is an experienced draughtsman1 there may not be much to correct on the large cartoon2 but let him be ever so experienced1 there is always something wrong about the attitude of figures drawn without models1 and occasionally very gross mistakes are made4 ,i knew a very clever draughtsman in ,paris who made the mistake of giving one of his figures two right hands1 and he did not find it out until he began to work from nature4 ,in an outstretched arm1 the twist of the radius and ulna makes all the difference about the position of the thumb1 and if the thumb be placed on the wrong side of the hand1 you immediately make a right hand of what ought to be a left1 and vice vers4 ,i will assume now that we have corrected the drawing of our cartoon from our small nude studies4 ,we are fully aware that the drawing of every figure will have to be perfected from nature1 that is1 the head1 neck1 arms1 hands1 and feet2 but we are satisfied that the attitudes are all possible1 and that there is no great fault in the proportions4 ,now1 therefore1 we may look out for models for the heads1 arms1 feet1 etc41 and work with chalk or charcoal 7if it can be fixed7 on the cartoon itself4 ,and here let me caution you against ever working from a model whom you know to be unsuitable4 ,if1 as often happens1 you engage a model1 and find when you have got him into position that he won't do1 pay him his sitting and send him away4 ,it is better to lose five shillings than to lose five shillings and your morning's work into the bargain4 ,at this stage of progress we ought to be draping our figures as well as drawing the heads and hands4 ,whatever may be said about small easel pictures1 ,i am quite sure that for large mural work a lay figure is indispensable4 ,in adjusting draperies on a lay figure a good deal of ingenuity1 and1 above all1 a good deal of patience1 are necessary4 ,nothing is so stupid as a lay figure1 and many artists prefer studying their draperies on the living model2 but the studies thus done will very seldom have the precision and finish of those done from the lay figure4 ,they are1 therefore1 less suitable for large cartoon-work4 ,i will now suppose that all our figures are draped1 and the heads and hands finished4 ,there still remains the selection of the different symbols or attributes which are to give nationality to our personages1 and here we must endeavor to reconcile truth with pictorial fitness4 ,we have the whole vegetable and animal kingdom to choose from1 and it will go hard if we cannot fit each female figure with some flower1 fruit1 bird1 or beast1 which shall be typical of the country she represents and at the same time ornamental and graceful4 ,the cartoon is now at last finished1 and the next thing to be done is to make a colored sketch4 ,i need not go through this process at length4 ,every one knows that the scheme of color intended at first is often abandoned1 and minor changes are innumerable4 ,at last1 however1 we get what we think a good result1 and all our preliminary work is over4 ,not quite1 however1 for we have to trace the cartoon on transparent paper1 and prick the tracing4 ,some artists omit the tedious process of pricking the tracing1 but the labor that is thus saved is fully counterbalanced by the trouble of following all the lines of the tracing with a point before an impression can be got1 whereas with a pricked tracing a bag of pounded charcoal does the work at once4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i will now give a short account of the different mediums principally in use for mural painting4 ,the first medium ,i shall notice is oil1 or some modification of oil4 ,the great objection to oil for mural work is the impossibility of seeing the painting when it faces the light4 ,an absorbent ground will to a certain extent mitigate this evil4 ,the use of spirits of turpentine1 benzine1 and other essences1 will also contribute toward giving a flat surface2 but do what we will1 we can never get in an oil-painting the pure1 clear qualities of water-color or fresco4 ,the compound known as ,parris' medium and sold by ,roberson1 is not a bad thing for diminishing the shine of oil-painting4 ,it is made of white wax dissolved in spirits of lavender1 but ,i am inclined to think that an absorbent ground prepared with parchment size and whiting is the best preventive of the greasy surface inseparable from oil-painting4 ,the great desideratum in all mural and decorative oil-painting is that every part should have an equal amount of shine4 ,take an ordinary oil-picture and place it opposite the light4 ,the lighter parts will be tolerably well seen1 but the oily or gummy darks will reflect the light of the sky and spoil the effect completely4 ,all we can aspire to1 in decorative oil-painting1 is to give to the dark parts as little shine as there is in the light ones1 where white lead and opaque colors generally have been freely used4 ,i cannot say as much in favor of wax as a medium for grinding the colors in4 ,it is neither fish1 flesh1 nor good red herring2 that is1 it has neither the richness of oil nor the luminosity of fresco4 ,most of the modern decorative pictures in the ,paris churches are painted with this medium4 ,the colors are much the same as for oil-painting1 but the blacks1 browns1 and lakes have a very dull appearance4 ,the fluid medium used for painting is a kind of essential oil of lavender1 so that this method1 if somewhat deficient in light1 is at any rate overflowing with sweetness4 ,i have found that to use the ordinary oil-colors diluted with a medium composed of wax1 mastic varnish and turpentine1 is by far preferable to legitimate wax-painting4 ,the colors are much more manageable and dry brighter1 without having any more shine than when actually ground with wax4 ,what is called encaustic painting has also wax as a foundation1 but is quite a different process to 8peinture la cire40 8,encaustic0 implies burning1 and in this method of painting the colors are laid on rather thick1 and when the work or any portion of it has to be finished1 a hot iron is applied to melt the wax and allow the brush to do its softening and finishing work4 ,the ,pompeii paintings are mostly done in this way1 but it is very unfitted for large figure-painting4 ,distemper has many excellent qualities1 but its want of durability will always prevent its being used for costly and important work4 ,it might1 however1 be made much more durable than it generally is1 by a careful selection of materials4 ,distemper is generally associated with scene-painting or some temporary work1 for which any rubbish can be used2 but if care were taken about the size and the colors1 and above all if some coating of silica were floated over the finished painting to protect it from damp and atmospheric changes1 ,i see no reason why this very pleasant method should not be generally used4 ,the so-called silica method has been much used in ,germany under the name of ,wasserglas4 ,i have no experience in this method1 and therefore cannot enter into detail4 ,speaking generally1 the process consists in painting on a dry surface with colors simply ground in water1 and fixing the colors afterward by the spray of silicated water4 ,i believe that after this silication the work can be retouched and even repainted2 subject1 however1 to another fixing by silication4 ,we now come to the best and grandest style of decorative work2 namely1 legitimate fresco4 ,people who don't know much about painting are very apt to call any picture on a wall a fresco1 but ,i suppose ,i need hardly tell you that oil-or wax-paintings on walls are no more frescoes than is an oil sketch on paper a water-color4 ,in all the methods of painting ,i have mentioned1 some medium is used to fix the color4 ,it is either oil1 copal1 wax1 size1 or silica1 but in fresco no vehicle of any kind except water is used4 ,how then is the color fixed8 ,how have ,michael ,angelo's and even ,giotto's frescoes lasted to the present day8 ,we all know that if some powdered color is mixed with water and applied by a brush to a wall1 it will stick as long as it is wet1 but as soon as the water evaporates1 the color returns to the powder it was before1 and falls off1 or brushes off with the slightest friction4 ,the reason that frescoes can be dusted and washed without effacing the color1 is that they were originally painted on wet mortar1 and the lime of which the mortar is composed has the property of retaining and fixing the color4 ,i will now describe the whole process of fresco-painting4 ,the first care ought to be the wall4 ,a brick wall is the best1 but stone will do very well1 provided every precaution has been taken against damp4 ,on this wall there ought to be a coating of strong rough mortar about half an inch thick4 ,the surface ought not to be smoothed with the trowel1 but left rather uneven4 ,as soon as this mortar is thoroughly dry1 the fresco may be begun4 ,i have already told you that all real fresco is painted on wet mortar1 but the mortar1 or intonaco1 as the ,italians call it1 is not the rough stuff which has already been used for coating the wall4 ,the composition of this intonaco is all-important1 and ,i am perfectly convinced that the rapid decay of our modern frescoes is due entirely to the bad quality of the intonaco4 ,the lime should be thoroughly slaked1 so as to deprive it of its caustic properties1 but it does not follow that it should be twenty or thirty years old4 ,lime can be kept in a slaked state and skimmed until it almost ceases to be lime at all1 and this worn-out material is unfit for fresco4 ,then the sand should be gritty and hard to the touch4 ,clean river-sand collected in a granite country is very good2 ground lava is used by modern ,italian fresco-painters4 ,i do not know where the sand supplied to the fresco-painters of ,westminster ,palace came from1 but it was a great deal too fine and soft to the touch4 ,the older and more worn-out the lime is1 the sharper and more tenacious ought to be the sand4 ,having got some well-slaked but not worn-out lime and some good hard sand1 the mortar that is required for the day's use should be made fresh every day1 or at least as often as twice a week4 ,when ,i was painting some frescoes at ,islington1 ,i got my intonaco from a man who had had great experience4 ,instead1 however1 of sending me the lime and sand separate1 he sent me about twenty small barrels of ready-made mortar4 ,my work took me nearly two years1 and every morning my plasterer had to go with a pick-axe and hack a piece of dry mortar out of the barrels4 ,this he beat up with water and spread it for my day's work1 smacking his lips as if he had got a most delicious compound on his trowel4 ,i knew no better then1 but now ,i am surprised1 not that the frescoes should be decaying1 but that the decay should not be more rapid4 ,improper colors and the omnipresent gas may have had something to do with the decay of all frescoes painted in ,london1 but from experience ,i can assert with confidence that the main cause has been the weakness of the lime and sand4 ,we will suppose in our imaginary decoration that we don't fall into this mistake1 that we get lime of the proper strength and clean granite sand4 ,we will also suppose that we don't get a dozen barrels of mortar made up1 but have our intonaco mixed fresh every other day4 ,the first thing to be painted is the sky or background1 whatever it may be4 ,we mark out on the wall with charcoal the extreme extent of this background4 ,we don't trace the outline of the heads1 but make our black mark well beyond where this outline should be4 ,the plasterer ought to be an early riser1 so that by nine or ten o'clock when we arrive we may find the mortar all ready for us1 even in surface1 and tolerably firm or 8set0 as it is called4 ,i never could get an ,english plasterer to throw the mortar against the wall1 as is done by ,italian and ,french workmen4 ,when spoken to about it he always seemed to think he ought to know his own trade best1 or perhaps the ,union forbids him to make the mortar stick too close4 ,his way of smearing or buttering the wall answers pretty well on a very rough surface1 but on smooth stone or tiles it would not do at all4 ,in ,italy it is not at all uncommon to see marble columns coated with frescoes more than four hundred years old4 ,the intonaco in these cases is very thin1 not above one eighth of an inch in thickness4 ,as a rule the thinner the intonaco the better it will stick4 ,we will suppose now that we have painted our flat background and finished our first day's work4 ,we now get our pricked tracing1 and holding it so as to fit the panel1 we apply our charcoal bag to the outline of the heads4 ,when we remove the tracing-paper we find a black dotted line which gives us the outline against the sky4 ,with a knife or a sharp spatule we cut away the superfluous mortar4 ,the cut should not be at right angles with the wall1 or the outline will be sure to be injured next day when the fresh mortar is joined on to it4 ,it should be inclined at an angle of fifty or sixty degrees4 ,i always make a point of doing this cutting job myself4 ,the dotted line is sometimes indistinct1 and ,i have to cast a glance at the cartoon4 ,where1 therefore1 there is any complication of outline or the least indistinctness1 this operation ought to be done by the artist4 ,before leaving1 we make a charcoal mark as before1 which will completely cover our next day's work and leave us a remnant to cut away4 ,our plasterer fits in the new mortar up to the charcoal mark the next morning1 and so we proceed bit by bit as if we were putting together a puzzle1 until the whole is completed4 ,it is hardly necessary to say that it is very desirable that each cutting should correspond with some natural division of the work4 ,thus1 in painting a female head1 we might paint the hair and diadem the first day1 and go on with the face and neck the next1 stopping at the necklace4 ,in real fresco nothing can be retouched4 ,every day's work must be finished and complete in the minutest detail4 ,i will now say something about the colors and execution of fresco4 ,in fresco 7as in distemper7 the colors in drying become of a much lighter shade4 ,it is1 therefore1 very desirable to have a piece of some very absorbent material at hand to try the tints on4 ,there are two distinct modes of painting fresco4 ,one is the solid body-color method1 as practised by ,m4 ,angelo1 ,raffaelle1 and all the other masters of that period4 ,the other is the thin water-color method4 ,if we adopt the first mode1 we get a porcelain or metal palette1 and set the colors on it just as we do for oil-painting4 ,lime takes the place of white lead4 ,the only yellow it is safe to use1 at least in ,england1 is raw sienna2 probably1 however1 ,mars yellow1 which is derived from iron1 might be used with safety4 ,light red of various kinds and burnt sienna are the principal reds4 ,oxide of chromium is the green4 ,raw and burnt umber are quite safe1 as is also black4 ,blue is a very difficult color to manage in fresco4 ,it seems very antagonistic to lime1 and it is almost impossible to paint a blue sky properly graduated4 ,on the other hand1 raw umber takes very kindly to fresco4 ,lakes and all vegetable colors are to be strictly avoided4 ,the brushes ought to be hog's hair tools1 but long and soft1 so as not to disturb the surface of the wet mortar4 ,painting fresco in this opaque1 solid method is a very similar process to oil-painting4 ,it is best to begin with the shades and work up to the lights1 no scumbling is practicable1 but at the end of the day1 when the surface is becoming too dry for solid painting1 thin washes of color may be used with great advantage4 ,the ,italian terra rossa1 burnt sienna1 raw sienna1 and even vermilion1 may be of great service for these light glazings4 ,it will take three or four days 7and often more1 if the intonaco is thick and the weather cool7 before the colors begin to lose their dark1 wet tint4 ,the beginner must not be discouraged if the colors seem to be drying not as he intended4 ,some colors take a longer time than others1 and it is well to have a little patience4 ,the old masters generally retouched defective parts with what was called fresco secco 7dry fresco71 but which was simply some compound of white of egg1 vinegar1 and garlic2 but it is much better to cut the defective portions out1 to have fresh intonaco laid on1 and to repaint them4 ,if once you begin to retouch1 the whole work seems to require it1 and you never know where to stop4 ,the second method of painting fresco is totally different4 ,i very much prefer it1 as the work is done more rapidly1 and the colors hardly change at all in drying4 ,besides 7as far as my experience goes71 the result is more durable4 ,as soon as the fresh intonaco for the day's work is sufficiently set1 you mix some lime with water very fluid1 something like milk 7good milk1 ,i mean1 and not milk and water74 ,you float this over the intonaco1 and in about ten minutes you may give it a second coating of lime-water4 ,this ought to smooth the surface1 and remove any little grains of sand4 ,you now trace your outline as before with the tracing paper and the bag of charcoal4 ,you have no palette1 but half-a-dozen small tumblers4 ,into one of these you put a small lump of raw umber and about the same quantity of oxide of chromium4 ,you add water1 and mix them well together4 ,the result is of course a brownish olive green4#c ,you pour half the mixture into another tumbler1 and add water1 thus getting a weaker solution of the same mixture4 ,you repeat the process into a third tumbler1 and get a still weaker tint4 ,with these three or more tints you begin to model your head1 beginning with the dark parts and working up to the light4 ,you must bear in mind that no rubbing out is possible2 you cannot wash or sponge out as in water-color drawing4 ,you must therefore be very careful in approaching the light parts1 and copy the cartoon as carefully as possible4 ,you continue thus to draw and model with your green color until the head looks like a finished drawing4 ,this operation will take from two to four hours1 according to the nature of the head4 ,you now take three clean tumblers and put a small lump of light red or terra rossa into one of them1 add water1 and mix as before2 you make weaker solutions1 just as you did with the green4 ,if the head is that of an old man or a bronzed warrior1 you ought to add raw sienna to the light red1 but for ordinary complexions the light red is quite sufficient4 ,you apply this flesh tint in washes with a very broad and soft brush1 using the stronger solution for the lips and cheeks1 the medium for the intermediate parts1 and the weakest for the high lights4 ,no modelling is required2 the modelling has already been done1 and this tinting is very soon accomplished4 ,you now take either burnt sienna pure1 or burnt sienna and umber1 and with a fine sable give strength and precision to the darkest parts1 such as the nostrils1 the division of the lips1 the inside of the ears1 etc4 ,if a little black is necessary for the eyebrow or eyelashes1 you now give these little finishing touches1 and your head is complete4 ,you have not used one grain of lime or of any solid color2 the wall is stained rather than painted1 and you have none of those strange and capricious changes of color to fear which are so constantly occurring in the solid method1 where lime is used freely as a pigment4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have now gone through the whole process of fresco-painting as far as ,i know it4 ,i shall conclude with a few general observations4 ,the fresco-painter ought to be of a nature capable of continued exertion4 ,whatever the work is1 whether head1 torso1 or drapery1 it must be finished in a day4 ,he must not1 on the plea of headache or seediness1 give himself a half-holiday4 ,he may of course abstain from work for a whole day1 or for a week if he likes1 but those little snatches of rest1 involving a game at lawn-tennis1 a good lunch1 or a look at the papers1 to which many artists are rather partial1 are denied him4 ,he is always working against time1 and although this is trying at first1 he soon gets accustomed to it4 ,secondly1 he must be a man of fixed purpose4 ,he has got his cartoon and his colored-sketch1 and he must turn a deaf ear to all suggestions of alterations when once these preliminaries are settled4 ,an alteration in the turn or size of a head1 or a change in the action of a figure1 are very easily carried out in an oil picture1 but in a fresco it is a very serious matter to begin alterations4 ,thirdly1 he must not mind a bit what the workmen and people about the building think of him4 ,i believe that the upper ten thousand 7at least the sthetically inclined amongst them7 do not hold mural decoration in contempt1 but the working class invariably take the fresco-painter in his blouse and on his scaffold to be one of their own fraternity4 ,if they were to see the same artist in a handsome studio painting somebody's portrait in a gilt frame1 they would at once suppose he was a gentleman1 but coloring a wall is a very ungentlemanly occupation4 ,when ,i was painting a large monochrome work at ,university ,hall1 there were some plumbers and glaziers employed in repairing gas-pipes and mending windows4 ,one of them came down into the hall where ,i was at work1 and began to look about for something amongst the pots and colors on my table4 ,apparently he did not find what he wanted1 so he turned round and called to me1 8,i say1 governor1 you don't happen to have a bit of putty in your pocket80 ,fourthly and finally1 the mural painter ought to be satisfied with moderate pay4 ,at the ,tercentenary ,rubens ,festival celebrated at ,antwerp1 last year1 an ,art ,congress was held1 at which ,i assisted4 ,the principal question proposed for discussion was an eminently practical one4 ,it was2 8,how can monumental and decorative painting be best encouraged and revived at the present time80 ,in answer to this practical question ,i gave what ,i thought a practical answer4 ,after passing in review various difficulties with which modern artists had to contend1 ,i summed up by saying that the real impediment to the development of mural painting was its enormous cost1 and ,i pointed out that it was only by the artist accepting very moderate pay1 and having at his command a staff of efficient pupils who would be willing to work under him for little or no remuneration1 that such works as were executed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries could again become common4 ,i said a good deal respecting the costliness of large mural paintings done by modern artists of any repute1 and on the other hand gave examples of modern work1 which1 with the help of efficient assistants1 had been done not only well but at a moderate cost4 ,at the conclusion of my paper1 up jumped a gifted orator1 who knew no more about painting than a cobbler1 and in a torrent of eloquence swept away the few grains of common-sense ,i had ventured to import into the congress4 ,it was a sacrilege 7according to him7 to profane the temple of high art with a dirty question of pounds1 shillings1 and pence4 ,art was a subtle essence1 a delicate perfume4 ,art was a religion4 ,art appealed to all our higher sympathies1 and it was only by educating people up to a kind of art-millennium pitch that we could hope to see our public buildings decorated with historical paintings4 ,he sat down and mopped himself amidst loud applause1 and ,i felt considerably humiliated4 ,we had a great deal more of this sort of thing at the congress4 ,the few artists who were present sat dumb1 and the high sthetic gentlemen had it all their own way1 so that the congress1 which might have served some practical end1 finished in vapor and smoke4 ,in spite1 however1 of this termination of the discussion1 ,i am still convinced that until mural painters have sufficient love for their art to accept a small remuneration1 decorative work of a high class will languish4 ,for the mural painter's work1 ,manchester millionnaires do not vie with each other4 ,no spirited and enterprising dealers beset his studio1 eager to secure whatever he has on the easel4 ,all of what ,dr4 ,johnson called the 8,potentiality of becoming rich beyond the dreams of avarice0 is denied him4 ,pay of course he must have1 but his patrons are generally committees or corporate bodies of some kind1 who seldom give fancy prices4 ,let him therefore console himself with the thought that his is the highest and noblest branch of the profession1 and that whilst high-priced easel pictures are relegated to private galleries and dining-rooms1 only to reappear at intervals at ,christie's salerooms1 his work is a fixture1 and can always be seen by the public4 ,with the hope that it may be admired as well as seen ,i shall conclude my lecture4 ,,lecture ,,ix4 ,,on ,,finish4 ,it has always been a disputed point1 both amongst artists and writers on art1 how near an approach to absolute truth is desirable in painting2 some insisting on photographic accuracy1 whilst others go to the opposite extreme1 and consider mere suggestiveness to be the great desideratum in painting4 ,much may be argued in favor of both sides of the question1 but a medium course is certainly the best4 ,imitation of nature is no doubt the foundation-stone of all sound painting1 and the natural inference would be1 that the closer the imitation the better the picture4 ,but1 on the other hand1 a picture which is not an exact counterpart of the object portrayed1 but leaves something to be imagined1 is generally more interesting than a more perfect copy would be4 ,this fact is particularly noticeable in pictures of flowers1 fruit1 and still life generally4 ,a picture which at a little distance gives thoroughly the character of the fish1 game1 or flowers it is intended to represent1 will be much more masterly and artistic if the scales of the fish1 the feathers of the birds1 and the petals of the flowers are not individually studied with microscopic care1 but treated in a broad1 suggestive manner4 ,in a painting so handled the loss of a few minute details is more than compensated by greater freshness of color1 and the charm inseparable from a rapid and dexterous execution4 ,if it were possible to combine the two qualities1 if we could get breadth and brilliancy united with minute finish1 it would even then be doubtful whether the picture would be any the better for the additional pains bestowed upon it4 ,in looking at pictures1 we require to be deceived only up to a certain point1 and the whole question depends on where to fix that point4 ,in to-night's lecture ,i intend to investigate this subject1 and to extend my remarks to other kindred questions connected with the finish of a work of art4 ,all writers and lecturers on art are pretty well agreed that excessive finish is undesirable4 ,i mean such finish as one sees in ,bellini's portrait of the ,doge1 where each individual hair is painted1 and where every wrinkle or pimple is studied as though it were of the utmost importance4 ,there is1 however1 a kind of finish of an infinitely more objectionable kind than ,bellini's4 ,if ,bellini elaborated small details to an extensive extent1 they were at any rate thoroughly and honestly studied4 ,his minute1 delicate work always had a laudable object1 whether it were the exact rendering of a stray hair or the microscopic modelling of the wrinkles about the eyes4 ,but the finisher of whom ,i am now speaking has no object1 beyond smoothness4 ,bad proportions and gross errors in drawing are nothing to him provided he gets a smooth1 uniform surface4 ,like the old-fashioned provincial drawing-master1 who taught oils1 water-colors1 and ,poonah painting1 smoothness and finish are with him synonymous terms4 ,probably most of you are happily ignorant of the lost art of ,poonah painting and drawing1 and ,i certainly do not mean to waste our time in describing it4 ,it will be sufficient to say that the process was almost entirely mechanical1 and that the results exhibited the maximum of smoothness combined with the minimum of art4 ,it used often to be taught in young ladies' schools4 ,it would be both invidious and unjust to compare the work of any ,academy student with these inane productions1 but ,i wish to warn you1 as ,i have often warned you before1 against confounding 8finishing0 with mere polishing4 ,intelligent finishing consists in correcting small faults of detail1 in revising the relative values of the shades and half-tones1 in giving definite form to the fingers and toes1 or any portion of the figure which may have been neglected4 ,unintelligent finishing1 or what ,i call polishing1 consists in getting a nice even grain for all the modelling of the figure4 ,this polishing process may not in itself be objectionable1 but it becomes objectionable when it interferes 7as it too often does7 with necessary alterations and modifications4 ,you probably all know that ,i am no advocate of sketching in the schools4 ,however much ,i may admire the nude studies of the great masters1 ,i do not wish to see the same kind of work attempted by the students4 ,i am decidedly for 8finish10 8high finish0 even1 but by the term ,i mean accuracy of drawing and modelling1 and not neatness or evenness of execution4 ,to return to the ,doge's portrait1 which ,i have taken as a thoroughly good specimen of minute finishing4 ,it is perfectly true that if you go close up to it and examine it with a lens1 you will find it much more like nature than would be a head by ,titian or ,rembrandt if subjected to the same microscopic investigation2 but pictures are not meant to be microscopic objects any more than human beings4 ,if in some foreign town ,i meet unexpectedly my old friend ,smith1 ,i should probably recognize him some fifty yards off4 ,i should say3 8,that must be ,smith1 it is so like his figure and general appearance40 ,as ,i approach him ,i begin to distinguish his features1 and ,i become more and more certain1 until finally ,i grasp his hand and all doubt as to his identity vanishes4 ,it is ,smith all over1 and1 as ,i remark1 not a bit changed since ,i last saw him4 ,i do not pull out a pocket lens and count the number of gray hairs in his whiskers1 or the small warts about his eyes4 ,it appears to me that a life-size portrait should be treated in the same way4 ,viewed from the end of the gallery1 it should resemble the person it represents1 and the likeness should become more and more striking the nearer we approach1 until we get within a very short distance4 ,if we approach still nearer1 the brush-work of the artist begins to appear1 and finally1 if we examine the features with a lens1 we can discover but very little left of the resemblance which was so striking at a reasonable distance4 ,the whole question is1 ,what is a reasonable distance8 ,in portraits by the minute finishers1 the point at which the work looks its best is evidently too near1 and ,i think that in a good deal of modern painting it is too far off4 ,a life-size head should look its best at from about six to ten feet distance4 ,nearer than six feet the impasto and brush touches of the painter would be too apparent1 and beyond ten feet the delicate modelling of details would begin to be lost4 ,artists and the art-loving portion of the public delight no doubt in going close up to a fine ,titian1 ,rembrandt1 or ,vandyck1 but this is to see how the marvellously life-like effect has been produced 7to learn a lesson in short71 but not to view the work from the most favorable standpoint4 ,i think it will be found that1 generally speaking1 the old masterpieces of portraiture are best seen within the distances ,i have mentioned4 ,there are1 no doubt1 exceptions4 ,thus the portraits of ,holbein gain by being studied closely1 and those of ,velasquez are best appreciated at a considerable distance1 whilst the figures of ,van der ,helst are so admirably painted that they will bear a very close scrutiny as well as a distant view4 ,if an artist has the precision of a ,holbein or the consummate execution of a ,van der ,helst1 there is no harm in his following finish in portraiture almost to its extreme limit2 but if not1 he had better rest and be satisfied with less literal work4 ,in spite of a few honorable exceptions1 the tendency of modern artists is1 however1 not toward the finish of ,holbein1 but rather in the opposite direction4 ,no one can walk through a ,paris exhibition without being struck by the enormous amount of sketchy1 imperfect work2 the best specimens of which have1 at a great distance1 a look1 a reminiscence of nature1 but when viewed nearer1 resolve themselves into smears of paint1 generally plastered on with the knife4 ,now it is this kind of work which is so attractive to the modern connoisseur4 ,the peasant1 the workman1 the soldier pass it by with a laugh1 or sometimes with an expression of bewilderment4 ,the cultured artist shrugs his shoulders1 but tries to view it leniently1 as he would the work of a savage2 but the dilettanti and those who have a smattering of art-knowledge delight in it4 ,it flatters their vanity to supplement out of their inner consciousness the artist's short-comings4 ,these pictures get talked about in the salons and praised in the newspapers1 whilst good1 honest1 sober work is comparatively ignored4 ,public taste having thus declared itself1 it is not surprising that an ever-increasing crop of these young 8impressionists0 should be forthcoming to minister unto it4 ,there is another kind of departure from truth in connection with finish1 which is1 ,i think1 almost as much to be deprecated4 ,i mean where the heads are painted in a different style to the rest of the picture4 ,if we go back to the old masters1 we shall never find this fault4 ,examine any of their works4 ,recall to mind the ,raffaelles1 the ,titians1 the ,correggios1 or the ,poussins of the ,national ,gallery1 and observe that the draperies1 accessories1 and backgrounds are all in keeping with the heads4 ,if1 as in ,perugino's and ,raffaelle's early works1 the painting of the flesh is delicate and smooth1 though dry and hard1 you will find the same qualities and defects in the whole picture4 ,if1 on the other hand1 as in ,titian and ,paul ,veronese1 the flesh-painting is rich and free1 the draperies will be equally so4 ,take ,rubens1 again2 how homogeneous is his work6 ,let us suppose that a picture by this master were unexpectedly discovered1 and that by some accident all the flesh-painting in it had been destroyed1 would any one hesitate1 on inspection of what remained1 in attributing it to ,rubens8 ,would not the good and bad qualities of the master be apparent in every part8 ,as the opposite extreme to the slapdash ,rubens1 take the careful ,gerard ,dow1 and observe how the delicate and minute finish of the heads is carried out into every detail of his pictures4 ,if we examine any genuine work of ,rembrandt or of ,david ,teniers1 we shall always find the same homogeneous qualities4 ,the heads may 7as is often the case in ,rembrandt7 be more carefully painted than the unimportant parts of the picture2 or contrariwise1 as in ,david ,teniers1 we may sometimes find a stoneware flagon more elaborated than the hand of the boor who is holding it1 but we recognize everywhere the touch of the master4 ,i know of no example amongst the old masters where the kind of disparity in style which ,i am deprecating is observable4 ,in certain modern pictures1 however1 this homogeneous quality in painting is sadly wanting4 ,in the so-called ,spanish school 7by which ,i mean the school of ,fortuny71 the background1 draperies1 and accessories are painted with a crisp dexterity which is quite marvellous1 whilst the heads are labored like colored photographs4 ,the contrast is sometimes so great that it is difficult to believe that the picture is not the work of two artists4 ,this fault has become apparent in certain pictures of the ,austrian school2 but the contagion does not appear to have extended to us1 at least not to our oil-painters4 ,i have1 however1 noticed a tendency amongst a few of our water-color figure-painters toward this singular modern peculiarity4 ,the difficulties of giving color1 form1 and expression to a head1 and at the same time preserving a free style of painting1 are no doubt much greater in water-color than in oil1 but ,i think it so desirable that a work should be homogeneous that ,i would sacrifice a good deal in the way of finish and even of expression in the faces1 to obtain that quality4 ,if a man has great versatility with his brush and wishes to display it1 let him paint one picture in the style of ,holbein or ,memling1 and another in the style of ,velasquez1 but he should not in the same picture 7and fortiori in the same figure7 attempt to unite two dissimilar styles of painting4 ,one of the principal difficulties young artists have to encounter in finishing a figure-picture is the management of their drapery4 ,if they are painstaking and make an intelligent use of their models they will succeed with their heads1 hands1 and all their flesh-painting2 or if they do not succeed1 the way to success is so obvious that ,i need say but little about it4 ,i assume that our young artist has gone through a course of study1 and is able to paint a nude figure or a head from nature tolerably correctly4 ,his difficulty will be1 not in copying his models1 but in making use of them without copying them4 ,he should form an ideal in his mind of the personage he means to represent1 and take care to select either from professional models or from his friends those who approach nearest to this ideal4 ,he will probably have to make use of casts4 ,the small heads of the warriors on the ,trajan ,column are admirable in character and very suggestive4 ,casts from the medival heads of ,pisano1 ,donatello1 and ,luca della ,robbia are also very useful4 ,all these and other means toward his end will suggest themselves to him1 but his course is not so clear when he comes to tackle his draperies4 ,every student must be aware that draperies adjusted on the lay figure and carefully copied1 have always an unnatural and trivial look about them4 ,the form underneath1 if expressed at all1 is the form of the lay figure1 and not that of nature4 ,it will not do therefore in a picture to adjust the drapery on a lay figure and copy the result4 ,this may be done with advantage for those folds which hang altogether independent of the figure1 but for all those which are in the slightest degree connected with the form underneath1 some other method must be adopted4 ,no doubt the best method of all 7were it possible7 would be to dress up the living model and paint direct on to the picture1 but this is seldom practicable4 ,long before the artist has had time to study the folds1 the model moves1 and all has to be done over again4 ,if an artist has great experience with drapery1 and the attitude is a very easy one1 he may make a charcoal study which will serve him for the picture without having subsequently to readjust his drapery on the lay figure1 but no young hand would be able to do this in a satisfactory way4 ,he must go more systematically to work4 ,he must first get a characteristic study of the nude figure4 ,i mean such a study as the old masters used to make1 giving the exact attitude and the form of the salient parts4 ,he must then make a replica in charcoal of this study and adjust the drapery on his living model4 ,on this replica he will now1 as far as he can1 reproduce the arrangement of the folds he has before him4 ,there are plenty of studies by ,raffaelle and the old masters which explain better than words can1 the process ,i am trying to describe4 ,he has now two working drawings to guide him1 viz41 his original nude study1 and the study from the draped model4 ,having thus as it were laid his foundations1 he may drape his lay figure and paint direct from it on to his picture1 taking care 7as he proceeds7 to correct the form from his preliminary studies4 ,he will thus be doing sound1 honest work1 and1 even if dissatisfied with his finished drapery1 he has always his studies to fall back upon4 ,some artists1 especially ,french and ,italians1 make a great use of photography1 and1 if kept within bounds1 ,i see no objection whatever to the practice4 ,it would hardly be legitimate art to dress up and pose a number of models and have them photographed with the intention of transferring the group to canvas1 but it is perfectly allowable to call in the aid of photography for draperies or costumes1 where1 from the action of the figures1 it would be impracticable to draw the folds from nature4 ,all portrait-painters know that it is not easy to get ladies and gentlemen to sit for their clothes1 and it is far better to get help from a good photograph than from a model or a lay figure whom the clothes do not fit4 ,i have no doubt that if photography had been known in the time of ,raffaelle he would have largely availed himself of it4 ,he often copied whole figures from his predecessors1 and this is certainly more reprehensible4 ,i now approach the vexed question as to how far the draperies1 background1 and accessory parts of a picture should be finished without detracting from the heads4 ,most of you will doubtless recollect the passage in ,sir ,joshua's discourses where1 speaking of drapery1 he says3 8,it is the inferior style that marks the variety of stuffs4 ,with the historical painter the clothing is neither woollen1 nor linen1 nor silk1 nor satin nor velvet3 it is drapery1 nothing more40 ,i would fain believe that ,sir ,joshua meant to say that it was beneath the dignity of high art to trouble itself with surface texture1 in which case ,i should certainly agree with him2 but ,i am afraid this is hardly what he did mean4 ,however that may be1 it is certainly not the inferior style which by intelligent arrangement and careful study of the folds expresses the nature and quality of the various stuffs4 ,how is it possible 7using ,sir ,joshua's own words7 to 8dispose the drapery with the nicest judgment1 and to copy it carefully10 without clearly expressing the material out of which it is made8 ,satin and velvet are very seldom wanted in pictures of subjects taken from the ,bible1 ancient history1 or mythology4 ,the figures should be clothed in woollen or linen stuffs1 and without descending to minute imitation of texture1 the nature of these garments should be clearly expressed4 ,if in ,raffaelle's frescoes1 and in the works of the ,roman school generally1 we are in doubt as to whether the draperies are meant for wool1 linen1 or silk1 it is because their folds were not 8studied with the greatest care10 and often not 8disposed with the nicest judgment40 ,in many of ,raffaelle's works1 and particularly in those of ,giulio ,romano1 we feel that the draperies are wholly imaginary1 and hence the vague uncertainty as to the material4 ,this uncertainty1 instead of being a quality to be imitated1 appears to me as a blemish to be avoided4 ,in the highest style of landscape-painting1 again1 although it would doubtless be absurd for the artist to elaborate his foliage leaf by leaf1 yet there would be nothing beneath the dignity of his art in faithfully giving the general characteristics of the oak1 the beech1 the ash1 the bay1 and the olive1 so that each species should be distinctly recognized in the picture4 ,i am quite aware that in many classical landscapes by ,poussin and the old masters1 it is difficult to specify the kind of trees they contain1 but the botanical uncertainty in which we are left1 instead of enhancing the merit of the work1 rather lessens it4 ,i remember going through an ,italian gallery with a mixed company1 and coming upon a magnificent ,titianesque landscape4 ,this arrested the attention of all the party1 and was greatly admired1 until some botanical ,philistine asked what kind of trees the artist had meant to represent4 ,we none of us could tell2 ,i thought they were evergreen oaks1 another said they were elms1 a third apple-trees1 and so on2 but we were all in doubt4 8,well10 says the questioner1 8it cannot be much of a picture if the trees are done so badly that no one can tell what they are40 ,our ,philistine was no doubt wrong1 but1 at the same time1 the work would have been all the better1 and would have lost none of its imposing grandeur if the specific characters of the trees had been given with greater care4 ,i am glad to note that almost all modern landscape-painters are fully alive to the fact that a tree is not merely a tree1 but a particular species of tree1 and that the species can be thoroughly indicated without in any way lessening the grand character of the work4 ,to return to draperies and costumes4 ,the artists of the ,byzantine and ,romanesque periods used to paint their heads of a conventional and very ugly type1 without any attempt at individuality1 and bestow all their care on the draperies1 nimbi1 and accessory parts1 often enriching their work with real jewels4 ,this fashion1 which was rampant in the ,byzantine period1 began to wane in the fourteenth century1 but lingered on almost till ,leonardo da ,vinci's time4 ,during what may be called the golden age of art 7that is1 from ,leonardo's time down to ,poussin's7 the proper balance of finish between flesh and drapery seems to have been well observed1 but in the last century 7especially in this country7 the artists of the time reversed the practice of the old ,byzantine painters2 that is1 they painted the heads of the sitters as well as they could1 and left the dress and accessories to be put in by their assistants4 ,bad as the flesh-painting was1 the treatment of the dress was still more slovenly and inartistic4 ,the apologists for this style of work say that the head is everything in a portrait1 and that no one cares about the dress and background1 but this was certainly not the opinion of the old masters4 ,to take a familiar example4 ,is not the head of ,gavartius greatly improved by the exquisitely-painted frill which surrounds it8 ,or1 again1 is not the life-like flesh in ,bordoni's female portrait rendered still more life-like by the gorgeous color and masterly execution of the crimson dress8 ,our ,national ,gallery teems with examples of the same kind1 where judicious finish of the accessory parts assists rather than mars the effect of the flesh-painting4 ,i do not wish to be understood as insisting that in all cases the dress and background should be as much finished as the heads1 but there is a great difference between unfinished work and bad work1 and it is this difference which the advocates for neglecting accessories seem unable to understand4 ,i do not find fault with a certain charming unfinished portrait group by ,rubens in the ,louvre1 because the accessory parts are merely indicated1 but ,i should find fault with it if they were clumsily and inartistically painted4 ,the kind of work ,i am protesting against is that which is often noticeable in portraits of the ,gainsborough and ,lawrence schools1 where the shoulders and hands are quite shapeless1 and the folds of the dress utterly impossible4 ,it is very refreshing to me to emerge from a gallery containing pictures of this class1 and to enter one devoted to pictures of the ,dutch school4 ,i feel as if ,i had reached terra firma after floundering about in a quagmire4 ,we never find a want of intelligent and careful drawing in the hands and dresses of portraits by ,rembrandt1 ,van der ,heist1 ,franz ,hals1 ,terburg1 and all the other masters of the school4 ,it may be objected that ,i am deprecating a fault which no longer exists1 that my expressions of antipathy to a slovenly treatment of the accessory parts of a picture are out of date1 and that the commonplace1 simpering full-lengths of fifty years ago1 with their impossible shoulders and badly-drawn hands1 are no longer seen in an ,academy exhibition4 ,i am quite willing to grant this1 but it does not follow that because this pseudo-,lawrence sort of work is no longer seen on the walls of the ,academy1 that therefore it is defunct4 ,there is a large and ever-increasing class of young artists who are treading in the footsteps of the old masters1 who grudge no time and spare no pains in the study of their hands1 costumes1 and every thing which will give finish and completeness to their work2 but1 on the other hand1 there are still many who1 to save themselves trouble1 and perhaps misled by the present extraordinary popularity of ,gainsborough1 are satisfied with the most careless and weak treatment of all accessories in their pictures4 ,that these pictures are not often seen on the ,academy walls is due to the rejecting power of the ,council1 and not to the non-existence of their authors4 99 99 99 99 99 ,having thus1 ,i trust1 given you to understand that by the word 8finish0 ,i mean something quite different from mere smoothness or polish1 ,i will now give you a few hints as to how the work of finishing a picture is to be accomplished4 ,it was the habit of ,horace ,vernet to make a very rough pen-and-ink sketch for his elaborate battle-pieces4 ,he would then1 without further preamble1 have his models1 and paint direct from them on to the blank canvas1 finishing every thing as he went on4 ,when the whole canvas was covered1 the picture was finished4 ,i remember1 on one occasion1 he painted a most gorgeous ,arab saddle1 holsters1 stirrups1 and all1 and several weeks afterward painted the horse which bore it4 ,cocked-hats1 kepis1 etc41 he would knock off by the dozen1 and then1 when he could get his trooper models1 he would paint the wearers4 ,he was always1 in the matter of finish1 putting the cart before the horse4 ,i don't think that he did this intentionally1 but he was of an impatient nature1 and could not bear to sit idle1 waiting for his sitters4 ,he was not a great colorist1 like his contemporary ,delacroix1 nor a great draughtsman1 like ,flandrin1 but his pictures have a manly1 business-like look about them1 and a homogeneous quality which is perfectly marvellous1 considering the heterodox way in which they were put together4 ,no living artist1 and probably none that ever lived1 could have taken such liberties with his modus operandi without the most disastrous results2 and ,i feel sure that no one present here to-night would think of painting a figure-picture in this haphazard fashion4 ,supposing the subject of the picture to be the time-honored one of 8,king ,john ,signing ,magna ,charta40 ,instead of 7like ,vernet7 beginning by painting a medival inkstand1 and then perhaps doing a bit of tapestry background1 proceeding onward toward the figures1 the proper process would be to get the figures done first1 and finish with the accessory parts4 ,i will assume1 therefore1 that this has been done1 that the composition of the groups has been thoroughly studied1 that a colored sketch has been made1 and that each individual figure has been carefully studied from nature4 ,the picture1 however1 after all this work1 would probably be far from finished4 ,the general effect would have to be revised2 certain portions which had cost hours1 and even days of labor1 would have to be sacrificed2 other important parts1 such as heads and hands1 to be altered4 ,finally1 the general scheme of color1 which was pleasing enough in the sketch1 but had somehow deteriorated in the picture1 would have to be attended to4 ,a conscientious artist has often great difficulty in knowing when his picture may be called finished4 ,some men will carry their striving after perfection too far1 and waste their time over really trivial details1 or1 like ,penelope1 be always undoing their previous day's work4 ,this is1 no doubt1 better than being too easily satisfied1 but these vacillating artists should recollect that alterations are not always improvements4 ,on the whole1 ,i think it may be safely said1 that when the artist has fully carried out on the larger scale the intentions of his sketch1 his work may be said to be done4 ,by the word 8fully0 ,i mean that each figure should be executed in such a way as to give force and pathos to his version of the subject4 ,in the designing of hands1 for instance1 there are fifty ways 7to return to our ,king ,john7 of holding a pen4 ,he should not hold it as if he were writing 8,yours truly02 he should betray unwillingness mixed with fear both in his face and his hands4 ,the burly barons1 again1 should not appear to be inviting their monarch to kindly sign his name4 ,their hands ought to express a resolve that he should sign it1 and in their muscular knotty fingers should be indicated a foreshadowing of the consequences if he refused4 ,attention to all these points is what constitutes 8finish0 rather than the elaboration of detail4 ,my master1 ,paul ,delaroche1 was a great adept at this dramatic completeness2 indeed1 it was this quality alone which earned him his reputation4 ,his drawing was sound and correct1 but nothing more2 his color was generally inky and cold1 but the dramatic force and truthfulness of his figures were quite enough to insure him a very high place amongst the artists of the nineteenth century4 ,when he was painting his well-known 8,napoleon after ,waterloo10 he wanted a pair of muddy boots4 ,some artists would have thought the mud-splashes of no importance whatever1 and would have daubed them in at random2 others1 more careful1 would have made their model put the boots on1 and sent him for a walk in the muddy streets2 but ,delaroche1 reflecting that boots are differently splashed after riding to what they are after walking1 hired a horse1 and got one of his pupils to don the jackboots1 and take a good gallop across the plain ,st4 ,denis4 ,the boots were splashed to perfection1 and it did not take the master long to do them full justice4 ,intelligent brain-work is of a higher order of excellence1 and contributes more largely toward the completion of a work of art than mere execution4 ,i am far from underrating executive skill1 but the term is rather an elastic one1 and generally includes good drawing and good color as well4 ,taken in its restricted sense1 as meaning merely brilliant manual dexterity1 ,i hold it to be of but little value4 ,of course a certain amount of dexterity is necessary1 otherwise a fine sense of form could not be adequately expressed4 ,if ,leonardo and ,raffaelle had not possessed considerable manipulative skill1 they could not have produced a 8,last ,supper0 and a 8,madonna de ,s4 ,sisto40 ,where would ,holbein have been if he had not had great precision of touch as well as the keenest perception of form8 ,every painter should have sufficient power in his hand to give expression to what he feels1 but this is not the kind of manual dexterity to which ,i have said ,i attach little importance4 ,i mean the showy1 impudent kind of work of which there are always numerous examples in foreign exhibitions--the kind of work which is too common amongst modern ,italian painters1 and which seems to be rampant in the ,austrian capital4 ,to return to my subject1 namely1 the finishing of a picture4 ,i would advise all young artists to beware of making alterations either in the composition or in the scheme of color of their pictures1 when they are in an advanced state4 ,a very slight change often brings in its wake many others1 and gets the whole work into a muddle4 ,observations about incorrect drawing or faulty proportions are always valuable1 as these imperfections can be remedied without disturbing the rest of the picture1 but beware of suggestions which may in any way affect the general scheme of coloring4 ,thus1 if it is suggested to you that a certain mass of white drapery would be better dark1 and you happen to agree with the suggestion1 do not be in a hurry to carry out the change4 ,try the effect with charcoal or water-color first1 and if the result does not please you1 no harm has been done4 ,even if it does please you1 you should make a large allowance for the charm of novelty4 ,you have had your picture before your eyes for a long time1 and the change may be agreeable to you at first sight2 and yet1 if you carry it out1 you may repent4 ,of course1 if you do not agree with the suggestion1 dismiss it from your minds4 ,the man who listens to every piece of advice that is given him will never finish his work4 ,you probably all know the story of the artist with many candid friends1 who got so bewildered by their criticisms that he provided a large piece of chalk and requested each of them to mark the part he desired altered4 ,by the end of the day the surface of the picture was like a section of a chalk-pit4 ,a long experience has taught me that nothing ought to be left undone in the hope of retouching the picture on the so-called varnishing days4 ,such anticipations are almost always illusory2 and it does not matter whether you have one or three days for retouching4 ,it often happens that one would like to have the picture home again and repaint it1 but the few changes one has time to make during the purgatorial varnishing time are so trifling1 that1 except to the artist himself1 they do not affect the general appearance of the picture1 and they often interfere considerably with the rubbing-in of medium or some temporary varnish1 which is generally indispensable for the exhibition of pictures painted with the ordinary materials4 ,as the professorship of sculpture is still vacant1 ,i am not trespassing on any one's ground if ,i say a word or two about finish in sculpture4 ,in this art1 even more than in painting1 excessive smoothness is too often mistaken for high finish4 ,the sculptors of the female figure especially1 are too prone to efface 7even in the clay7 details which ought to be carefully preserved2 and after the figure has been cast in plaster1 the work of polishing goes on with file and sand-paper1 until the few touches of nature which had been left are effaced4 ,the great mischief1 however1 is usually done when the plaster is copied into marble4 ,the paid statuary who does this work strives to give still greater roundness to the already smooth and rounded limbs1 and he generally succeeds too well4 ,when the marble is ready for the finishing-touches of the sculptor1 he sometimes endeavors to regain a little of the natural element1 but generally he consoles himself with the reflection that high art is incompatible with detail1 and so his ,venus or nymph leaves his studio for the exhibition or the patron's gallery1 there to be admired as a model of beautiful carving and of exquisite taste2 of the former1 on account of its soft1 boneless appearance2 and of the latter1 because1 though a nude figure1 there is no reminiscence of nature about it4 ,there is less of this kind of insipid sculpture now than formerly4 ,terra cotta1 which1 as every one knows1 is the direct impression of the artist's modelling1 has to a great extent supplanted marble1 and the smooth pseudo-classical nymphs of forty years ago are rather out of favor4 ,french sculptors of the nude have1 in their horror of smoothness1 gone into the opposite extreme2 and1 thinking to give more realism to their work1 have adopted a coarse granular style of modelling for their surface texture4 ,i question1 however1 whether this new fashion at all meets the objection every artist must entertain toward the old style of work4 ,even supposing we grant that1 in nature1 the skin is of a granular hummocky texture1 such as we see in the plaster statues by ,carpeaux and his school1 ,i cannot allow that any thing is gained by this piece of realism4 ,carpeaux himself was a man of genius1 and in his work1 nature 7though not of a very beautiful kind7 is apparent everywhere2 but his imitators1 like most imitators1 copy his eccentricities rather than his good qualities4 ,the real objection to the work of the ,canova school of sculpture is not that the surface is unlike the human skin1 but that unintelligent carving and excessive polishing tend to obliterate all character and individuality of form4 ,this objection can only be met by sculptors aiming at a more discriminating perception of form1 as well as what 7from want of a better word7 ,i may call a more conservative style of execution4 ,the excellence of the masterpieces of antiquity does not lie either in their smoothness or in their surface texture1 but in the beauty of their proportions1 and in the thorough though never obtrusive knowledge of anatomy displayed in the modelling of every part4 ,these qualities1 in sculpture as well as in drawing1 are what constitute 8finish10 and not mere surface polishing on the one hand1 or on the other a coarse imitation of the cellular tissue of the skin4 ,,lecture ,x4 ,,on ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,a ,,subject4 ,before beginning to treat of the composition of a picture1 ,i should like to make some remarks on the choice of a subject4 ,of course1 no rule can be laid down in this matter4 ,what strikes one artist as being a very good subject will appear totally uninteresting to another4 ,it is1 perhaps1 fortunate that this should be so4 ,the taste of the general public is at least as varied as that of the profession1 and thus every one can be suited4 ,i remember an old gentleman who has now been dead many years1 but who in his day was a great patron of artists1 telling me that he preferred pictures with little or no subject in them4 ,he liked what he called nice 8satiny0 bits of painting1 and the less story there was in them to distract his attention from the 8satiny0 painting the better4 ,i fancy that this want of appreciation of composition is more common than is generally supposed4 ,for one person who notices the skill shown in the general arrangement of a picture1 fifty will be found to admire its color and execution4 ,now ,i do not wish in any way to depreciate the charm of harmonious color and brilliant execution4 ,of all qualities in painting they are1 perhaps1 the most captivating2 but they are not the alpha and omega of art4 ,i purpose1 therefore1 to devote several lectures to the study of composition1 and acting in conformity with the precept about 8first catching your hare before you proceed to cook it10 we will this evening review the various kinds of subjects generally chosen by artists4 ,in my lecture on the ,international ,exhibition1 ,i mentioned with disapproval a certain class of subjects much affected by the modern ,french school4 ,the artists seem to have ransacked history for every incident that was most loathsome and horrible4 ,i am not at all squeamish1 and should not object to blood and torture occasionally1 but it is the morbid treatment of these ghastly subjects and their frequency which are offensive4 ,perhaps it is hardly necessary to caution ,english students against painting death and putrefaction4 ,they generally have a laudable desire to sell their pictures1 and this desire would naturally tend to keep their subjects sweet4 ,some letters on the dismal tendency of modern ,british art appeared in the ,times last autumn1 and certainly ,i am not prepared to say that the writers were wholly in the wrong4 ,but if they had had an opportunity of comparing our school with the ,french1 ,i think the letters would not have been written4 ,why1 our deathbed scenes1 funerals1 etc41 are positively cheerful1 compared with the sensational pictures of a ,french exhibition4 ,no2 whatever the faults of ,english pictures may be1 ,i don't think the subjects can be called dismal4 ,on the contrary1 ,i should say1 speaking generally1 that they are too frivolous4 ,pictures are continually being painted which have little or no subject4 ,the costumes of the period are pretty1 the mild incident depicted happened1 or might have happened1 and these are quite sufficient reasons to many young artists for painting the picture4 ,i am far from saying that such a picture must be a bad one4 ,it may be1 and often is1 charming in color1 arrangement1 and execution4 ,indeed1 the better the painting1 the more one regrets that so much good work should be spent on so trivial an incident4 ,before proceeding to what ,i have to say about the choice of a subject1 ,i would impress upon you that ,i only profess to give you my own opinions4 ,if any student or young artist has a great fancy for a certain subject1 the probability is that he will treat it better than he would one less congenial to him1 and ,i should be very sorry to dissuade him from it4 ,indeed1 ,i should be much pleased to find that he had a subject at all4 ,if there is a rock ahead for the ,english school1 it is a tendency to shirk the difficulties of composition4 ,pictures representing single figures 7mere models dressed up as men-at-arms1 milk-maids1 or ,highland lassies7 are much commoner now than they used to be4 ,of course1 in the minor exhibitions of ,london one expects to find plenty of work of this class1 but the preponderance of these subjectless figure-pictures is becoming very marked even at the ,academy2 and as lecturer on painting1 ,i should be neglecting my duty if ,i failed to notice it4 ,it may be that these pictures pay1 but art is not a trade2 and even from a commercial point of view1 ,i would suggest that there is such a thing as over-stocking the market4 ,the whole domain of history1 both sacred and profane1 is open to the artist1 besides which there are innumerable subjects which are not strictly historical1 but are suggested by history4 ,finally1 to those who prefer illustrating the poets1 there are ,homer1 ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 and a whole host of more modern writers4 ,surely in such a vast quarry it cannot be difficult to dig out good subjects suitable to every mind4 ,many subjects are too hastily rejected because they have already been painted2 when probably a new reading is very possible1 or by slightly altering the moment chosen1 the subject assumes another aspect4 ,in a former lecture ,i mentioned1 as a familiar instance1 the parable of the good ,samaritan4 ,here is a trite and hackneyed subject enough4 ,every one has painted it1 and yet it would be very possible1 by altering the moment depicted1 to give a new version of it4 ,take the moment when the good ,samaritan intrusts the wounded traveller to the care of the innkeeper1 and leaves him money1 adding that whatever more he may spend will be repaid him2 and you have a capital subject1 which has never1 to my knowledge1 been painted4 ,again1 imagine the return of the ,samaritan after a few days' absence1 and the gratitude of the injured man1 now nearly restored to health1 and you have another first-rate subject4 ,as an extreme example1 take the 8,holy ,family40 ,how often has this subject been painted6 ,raffaelle alone painted it over thirty times1 and ,i should think that there are at least a thousand original ,holy ,families in existence2 and yet the subject seems to me as fresh as ever4 ,the reason of this is1 because it embodies the purest form of maternal love in the same way that the good ,samaritan illustrates human kindness4 ,maternal love and humanity are many-sided1 and hence the subjects which illustrate them will be many-sided too4 ,some artists shrink from taking known subjects from a laudable modesty4 ,they could not think of entering into rivalry with ,raffaelle or ,andr del ,sarto4 ,i deem this modesty unnecessary1 provided they bestow on their work original thought and invention4 ,if they attempt to rival the manner of the great masters1 then they may be taxed with presumption1 but no artist need be deterred from painting such subjects as the 8,last ,supper10 or the 8,walk to ,emmaus10 because many great masters have treated the same themes4 ,i have probably said enough in defence of taking subjects which have already been painted1 and will now attempt some classification of subjects suitable for the higher class of figure-pictures4 ,the term 8,religious10 in connection with art1 ought1 ,i think1 to be confined to those subjects in which ,divine personages are introduced1 or to those which embody some miracle4 ,thus 8,the ,creation of ,adam10 8,the ,holy ,family10 8,the ,raising of ,lazarus10 or 8,the ,conversion of ,st4 ,paul10 would all come under the head of religious subjects2 but ,i think the term misapplied when speaking of such subjects as 8,hagar in the ,desert10 8,the ,finding of ,moses10 8,samson and ,delilah10 etc41 which have no religious element in them1 although they are of course strictly ,scriptural4 ,it is almost needless for me to remark that the ,old and ,new ,testament offer an inexhaustible field for pictorial illustration4 ,the ,bible is more read and better known than any other book in the world1 and this alone would preminently distinguish it as a source whence artists should derive subjects for their pictures2 but besides this1 the costumes from ,noah down to ,st4 ,paul are simple and dignified1 suggesting the highest style of art4 ,there are reasons which militate against young artists 7or old ones either7 attempting this highest class of religious subjects1 the principal of which is the fear of failure2 failure in this class being a much greater humiliation than in a lower walk of art4 ,but there is also another good reason1 and that is1 the want of a market for their work4 ,our churches do not1 as a rule1 purchase ,biblical pictures1 and our lay patrons of art naturally enough object to importing a 8,crucifixion0 or a 8,noli me ,tangere0 into galleries and rooms full of mundane-subject pictures4 ,there seems1 however1 no reason why the second class of ,scriptural subjects 7those1 ,i mean1 which are simply historical or anecdotic7 should not be more often painted than they are4 ,of allegory and allegorical subjects ,i need hardly say any thing4 ,for mere decorative purposes they may sometimes be eligible1 but even then ,i think them quite out of date1 and should be sorry to see a revival of the painted riddles which were so much the fashion in the time of ,giotto and his followers4 ,such semi-allegorical subjects as ,reynolds' 8,garrick between ,tragedy and ,comedy0 are permissible enough1 because they are easily comprehended2 but the allegories ,i object to are those which are totally incomprehensible without a page or two of letterpress to explain their meaning4 ,mythology offers a much better field than allegory for decorative purposes4 8,juno in her ,peacock-drawn ,car ,ascending to ,olympus10 8,orpheus and ,eurydice10 8,prometheus ,vinctus10 etc41 etc41 are all splendid subjects4 ,there is a bourgeois objection to them on the ground that nobody now cares for ,juno or any of the heathen gods and demi-gods2 but ,i should like to ask these objectors if they think that any one cares now for the 8,vicar of ,wakefield0 and his family1 or for 8,tom ,jones0 and his ,sophia1 and yet pictures illustrative of these old-fashioned novels are painted every day1 and often meet with great success4 ,it is quite a mistake to suppose that in order to admire or appreciate pictures we must take a lively interest in the biography of the dramatis person4 ,jove1 ,mars1 ,venus1 and ,hercules are of interest to us now1 just as they probably were to the ,athenians in the time of ,phidias and ,praxiteles1 namely1 as representatives of power1 courage1 beauty1 and strength2 and so long as these qualities are valued by the human race1 so long will their personifications continue to be interesting4 ,historical subjects may be divided into two classes3-- #a4 ,those where the interest is solely derived from the rank or historical importance of the personages depicted4 #b4 ,those which1 from their nature1 are dramatically interesting1 independently of the names of the personages4 ,what are commonly called 8official pictures0 belong to the first class1 such as coronations1 royal marriages1 and ceremonials of all descriptions4 ,such pictures as ,terburg's 8,council of ,trent10 and others of the same kind1 belong to this category1 because all the interest of the work lies in the faithful portraiture of the figures4 ,deprive the figures of their historical importance1 and all interest in the subject 7as a subject7 vanishes4 ,of course the picture may have technical excellences which may make it interesting and valuable1 but this has nothing to do with the point at issue4 ,any trivial incident from the domestic lives of ,queen ,elizabeth1 ,charles ,i1 ,cromwell1 ,frederick the ,great1 etc4 7specimens of which are to be found in every exhibition71 belong essentially to this class of subjects4 ,i would hardly class our old friend1 8,alfred ,minding the ,cakes10 with these subjects1 simply because he did not mind them2 and the contrast between the disguised monarch's thoughtful and anxious look and the humble task to which he had been set is sufficiently interesting per se4 ,had he done his task cleverly1 and toasted the muffins to a turn1 this time-honored but apocryphal subject would have been a good specimen of the class ,i am speaking of4 ,the following are a few more subjects which will illustrate my meaning3--8,milton ,dictating #8,paradise ,lost' to his ,daughters02 8,francis ,i ,picking up ,titian's ,brush02 8,sir ,isaac ,newton ,watching an ,apple ,fall02 8,hampden ,refusing to ,pay ,ship-money40 ,in all these and similar subjects you will observe that no human passions are concerned4 ,the only reason for painting them at all is either because such famous men as ,titian1 ,francis ,i1 and ,milton are engaged in them1 or because they led to very important scientific and political consequences1 as in the falling apple and the ship-money instances4 ,i would give as instances of the second class of historical subjects3--8,the ,death of ,seneca02 8,charlemagne ,crossing the ,alps02 8,csar ,landing in ,britain02 8,queen ,boadicea ,haranguing the ,iceni40 ,these are all well known1 and1 indeed1 rather hackneyed subjects1 but they will serve as examples of what ,i mean4 ,there is a certain dramatic quality about them which fits them for pictorial treatment1 independently of the particular history attached to each2 and these are1 in my opinion1 the best kind of historical subjects4 ,events which do not concern the life of any particular person are also very pictorial1 provided always there is plenty of the dramatic element in them3--8,a ,man ,escaping to a ,city of ,refuge02 8,a ,departure of ,emigrants02 8,a ,rescue from ,fire02 8,launching the ,life-,boat02 8,return from ,victory10 are all eminently suitable for painting1 and yet there are no kings and queens1 nor even distinguished statesmen1 poets1 or philosophers to be introduced4 ,there are human interests of various kinds to be excited1 and this is quite enough4 ,war episodes are always interesting4 ,we do not care to know the exact spot or date of the engagement1 we have no curiosity about the names of the combatants1 nor even much about their nationality4 ,the scene itself is sufficiently exciting without any accompanying explanation4 ,it is true that there are plenty of highly uninteresting battle-pictures1 but the fault lies with the treatment and not with the subject4 ,in selecting a subject1 no matter whether from mythology1 ,scripture1 history1 fiction1 or every-day life1 care should be taken to choose one which has unity of action4 ,there ought to be a story in your subject1 but not more than one story4 ,in your secondary groups you may have separate action and by-play1 but they ought somehow to be connected with the main story of the picture1 and instead of distracting the attention from the subject1 they ought rather to assist in concentrating it4 ,where there is more than one centre of interest in a picture1 the effect1 dramatically speaking1 is weakened4 ,the old masters often disregarded the tolerably self-evident rule4 ,the famous ,transfiguration picture of ,raffaelle is a well-known instance in point4 ,the interest is divided between the ,transfiguration proper and the demoniac boy4 ,although some of the figures are pointing upward1 yet the faces are all turned toward the demoniac1 and he is certainly the principal focus of interest4 ,this blemish in ,raffaelle's picture is all the more unaccountable1 as no mention is anywhere made of a demoniac having been present at the time2 but the old masters 7especially those of the ,german schools7 abound in incongruities of this kind4 ,i remember seeing somewhere a picture of the 8,martyrdom of ,st4 ,lorenzo40 ,the saint is about to be roasted alive1 but the largest and most prominent figure in the picture is one of the executioners1 who is making a horrible face1 having got some of the smoke in his eye4 ,the introduction of these irrelevant and grotesque episodes cannot be justified1 however well they may be painted2 and if it be granted that it is undesirable to select a subject in which there is more than one centre of interest1 how much more objectionable is it to invent disturbing incidents which are not recorded in the text of the subject4 ,as an extreme instance of a bad selection of subject1 ,i have always thought that nothing could beat ,shakespeare's 8,seven ,ages of ,man40 ,the lines suggest seven distinct subjects having no connection whatever with each other4 ,each is very good of its kind2 to attempt to amalgamate them all into one picture is quite absurd4 ,the result is extremely unpleasant2 suggesting a company of strolling players1 each rehearsing his part1 or perhaps the court-yard of a medival lunatic asylum4 ,in justice to ,mulready ,i ought to mention that he did not select 8the seven ages of man0 as a subject for his picture4 ,he had the impossible task imposed upon him by a liberal but injudicious patron4 ,for decorative work 7for a frieze1 for instance7 such subjects as the 8seven ages of man0 are well suited1 because each 8age0 can be treated separately1 forming as it were a picture of itself1 the only bond of union between the seven being that the figures should be of the same proportion1 and should be similar in style and execution4 ,another good rule to observe in selecting a subject is to choose one which has illustrative action in it4 ,what ,i mean by this is that the action of the figures should be sufficient to explain the subject4 ,you cannot put words issuing from their mouths as is done in caricature1 you must therefore explain your story by action and expression4 ,we will take as examples two not dissimilar subjects4 ,one shall be a meeting of conspirators1 and the other a conference of philosophers4 ,of course1 ,i don't mean to insinuate that there is any analogy between philosophers and conspirators1 but that in both cases we have five or six figures seated round a table4 ,in the first we should represent our conspirators1 in close conclave1 leaning over the table with their heads near together1 one or two perhaps grasping their daggers1 another looking round anxiously--in short1 it would be very evident from the expression and attitude of the figures that they were about some villainous work4 ,if we now turn to the other subject1 the conference of philosophers1 how are we to express the purport of their conversation8 ,what facial muscles are called into play when men are talking metaphysics or expounding their theories of evolution8 ,it is clear that1 however exquisite the execution of the picture may be1 the subject of it will be unintelligible1 without explanation1 and even with the necessary elucidation it will be inferior to the conspirators in dramatic interest4 ,the subject ,i gave you in the life-school some time ago 7,i mean ,peter's denial of ,christ7 is an eminently good one1 because if properly treated it is impossible to mistake the meaning of the figures4 ,the menacing interrogatory of the woman1 ,peter's alarm for his personal safety1 and the jeers of the soldiers who are sitting round the fire1 are all well adapted for pictorial expression4 ,any one who had never read the ,new ,testament1 an unconverted ,chinaman for instance1 would say at once3 8,this young woman is taxing a middle-aged man with something he denies1 but there is such downright assertion in her action and such fear mixed up with his denial1 that the accusation1 whatever it is1 must be true40 ,no subject can be called a really good one which requires a long explanation to make it intelligible4 ,thus subjects in which the figures are assuming characters which do not properly belong to them are unfit for painting4 ,for example1 in the 8conspirators0 just mentioned1 it might very well have happened that to conceal their sinister designs they assumed the mask of joviality1 but you should not select this particular phase of the story4 ,on the stage1 this kind of make-believe is managed by an 8aside40 ,the actor takes the audience into his confidence when he says1 8,here comes the king1 let us dissemble10 and accordingly for the next ten minutes or so you are to understand that he is not the obsequious sycophant he pretends to be1 and lest by chance you should forget that he is dissembling1 he will come forward and frown1 clench his fist or point contemptuously over his shoulder at his fellow-actor1 who1 strangely enough1 never seems to see these ominous gestures4 ,all this is understood and accepted on the stage1 but it does not do in a picture4 ,i would1 therefore1 advise you as much as possible to choose subjects which can be understood at a glance4 ,let your personages appear in their natural characters1 and not assuming parts which do not belong to them4 ,acts of mercy1 such as clothing the naked1 feeding the hungry1 visiting the sick1 etc41 are all good subjects1 because the meaning is explained directly by the action of the figures4 ,speaking for myself1 ,i have but little sympathy with subjects taken from works of fiction4 ,the artist who selects them for pictorial treatment seems to me to abnegate whatever creative power he may possess1 and to become an illustrator or translator of other men's thoughts4 ,homer1 ,dante1 and ,milton are of course exceptional poets4 ,their creations are heroic1 and the personifications of their heroes would be either nude or sternly classical4 ,besides1 they never descend to minute particulars1 and the artist is left very much to his own invention4 ,the more detail an author gives1 and the more picturesque the detail1 the less fitted are his works for figure-pictures4 ,scott and ,dickens are eminently unpaintable2 that is1 it is a hopeless task to illustrate them4 ,pictures taken from their works are always disappointing4 ,the ,ivanhoes1 the ,mrs4 ,gamps1 and the ,pecksniffs of our imagination are always superior to their effigies on canvas1 and this is more or less the case with the personages of ,shakespeare1 ,cervantes1 and ,molire4 ,costume has a great deal to do with the choice of a subject1 and this1 no doubt1 is the reason why the works of ,shakespeare1 ,cervantes1 and ,molire are such favorite hunting-grounds for artists4 ,if the ,prince of ,denmark had been a modern heir-apparent1 attired in a frock coat1 tweed trousers1 and a chimney-pot hat1 or if ,malvolio had worn the dress of an ordinary ,british butler1 we should not often see them painted4 ,for one picture taken from ,thackeray's modern novels1 we find dozens illustrating ,tennyson's 8,idyls of the ,king10 or his 8,holy ,grail40 ,now1 although the question of costume must always be an important factor in the selection of a subject1 it ought not to be the only one4 ,a picture should not be painted merely for the sake of the costumes4 ,this seemed to me the principal fault in the large ,austrian pictures of the ,international ,exhibition2 and ,i may add that it is a fault which is not altogether unknown in ,england4 ,there is one more class of subjects which ,i have not yet noticed1 and that is the domestic or 8genre0 class2 the pictures1 in short1 of every-day life4 ,pictures of this kind are much less dependent on a good choice of subject than those which illustrate some historical incident4 ,they are generally prized for the brilliancy and harmony of their color1 or for the delicacy of their execution2 and if these qualities exist in a high degree1 the subject is a minor consideration4 ,still it ought to be a consideration1 and in choosing subjects of this class you should prefer those which are typical of the personages you have to represent4 ,if you attempt rustic pictures1 not only should your figures look like peasants1 but the subject should be thoroughly bucolic4 ,a dirty ploughman plodding wearily homeward along a muddy lane on a dull ,november evening seems commonplace and prosaic enough1 and yet the subject would not be deficient in pictorial interest4 ,it would be typical of the man's hard and comfortless life4 ,it would be in perfect harmony with his furrowed face1 his bony limbs1 and his stooping gait4 ,it would not only represent that particular ploughman in that particular lane1 but it would give a true though mournful impression of farm-laborers generally4 ,i should much prefer for the subject of a picture1 a common episode from the life of a laborer to an uncommon one4 ,again1 if ,i wished to represent the same man at home1 ,i should endeavor1 without exaggeration1 to give the squalor of his surroundings1 and should not1 out of my inner consciousness1 evolve an ideal peasant surrounded by a comely family1 and looking 7as ,dickens has somewhere said7 as if he had 8spent his little ,all in soap40 ,artists understand pretty well nowadays that in painting rustic subjects1 honesty is the best policy4 ,the great success of the ,french painter1 ,millet1 was due entirely to his uncompromising honesty of purpose1 and to the unerring judgment with which he selected his subjects4 ,there are pretty girls 7even in ,france7 amongst the peasant class1 although they are certainly rare4 ,there are plenty of fte days when every woman makes herself as smart as she can2 but ,millet knew better than to paint pretty girls and smart dresses4 ,instead of this1 he depicted the true types of ,french peasantry1 gaunt1 hard-featured women1 dressed in the coarsest garments1 and shod with wooden sabots4 ,the novelty of truth was unwelcome at first to the ,parisian public4 ,they had so long been accustomed to ,opera ,comique peasants that they had lost relish for the genuine article2 but by degrees they began to perceive that these uncouth figures were very like the ,jeannes and the ,victoires they knew la campagne4 ,moreover1 they did not fail to observe that the subjects chosen by the artist were of that homely1 agricultural kind peculiar to the ,french peasantry4 ,they smelt of the village dunghill1 and this was the great secret of their success4 ,i am often told by people who don't know much about art1 that they have thought of 8such a capital subject for a picture10 and it generally turns out to be something odd or incongruous1 and not at all fitted for painting4 ,for several years we have had pictures sent in for exhibition1 representing children playing at judge and jury1 police-courts1 auctions1 etc4 ,in these pictures the children are all dressed up to represent policemen1 barristers1 plaintiffs1 and defendants4 ,moreover1 they have so thoroughly learned their parts that their action is no longer childlike4 ,some of these pictures are very well painted1 but the principle is so wrong and false that we now invariably refuse them admission4 ,children should1 in a picture1 be engaged on something childlike4 ,thus it would be perfectly natural for children to play at being wild beasts1 making use of any bear or wolf skin which happened to be handy4 ,coach-and-horses1 hen-and-chickens1 are again legitimate games for children1 and therefore proper for painting2 but in the arts we don't want elaborately got-up burlesque4 ,a group of young children on the sea-sands1 at work with their wooden shovels1 would by some be thought a stupid kind of subject1 hardly worthy of being painted at all2 but make the same children overtaken by the tide1 with a steep cliff behind them1 and probably you will have a great success1 especially if you make your little figures expressing their fear or courage in a theatrical and unchildlike manner4 ,the first group would be a typical one--typical of the seaside and childhood2 the second would not be absolutely impossible 7like the bewigged and behelmeted youngsters above mentioned71 but it would be somewhat exceptional1 and therefore1 in my opinion1 not so suitable for painting as the first group4 ,in the same way with landscape1 the spot you select for pitching your umbrella should not be mean and ugly1 neither should it be overpoweringly grand and beautiful4 ,pictures representing the ,falls of ,niagara or the gorges of the ,rocky ,mountains are generally failures4 ,i have in a former lecture praised the ,belgian landscape-painters1 and ,i think that a good deal of their merit lies in the happy choice of subjects4 ,they are certainly not classical1 like the old school of ,french landscape-painters1 nor do they affect the dreariest commonplace1 like some of the moderns4 ,they neither paint precipices and snowy mountains1 nor dull stretches of poplar-skirted high-road4 ,their pictures are to me most interesting1 not only on account of their technical excellence1 but from the good taste shown in the selection of the subjects4 ,incidents which are out of harmony with the character of the persons engaged1 form capital materials for caricature4 ,the late ,john ,leech showed the nicest discrimination in his selection of subjects4 ,when he gave us pictures of character1 nothing could be better than his sporting scenes1 or his bits from the mining districts4 ,when he wanted to raise a laugh at something paradoxical1 he would give us a lot of mutes making merry after a respectable funeral1 or a used-up swell eating periwinkles with a pin on the top of a 'bus4 ,in both these cases it was the sharp contrast between the usual habits of the persons and their exceptional occupation at the time which made the fun1 and very good fun it was too2 but in an oil picture which takes some months to paint1 the humor ought to be of a more delicate kind4 ,i know of no better example of the kind of humor ,i mean than ,wilkie's 8,blind ,fiddler40 ,before closing my lecture ,i should wish to notice a certain kind of pictures which do not fit in well with any of the classes ,i have mentioned4 ,the pictures ,i mean are those which are painted expressly to teach some lesson1 or to inculcate some moral precept4 ,the great originator of this kind of art was ,hogarth4 ,before him nothing of the sort had ever been done1 and since his death no artist has equalled him in this particular line4 ,much1 however1 as ,i admire ,hogarth as a painter1 ,i cannot coincide with all the praise that has been showered on him as a great moral teacher4 ,he has often been compared to ,molire1 but the great ,frenchman attacked the vices and follies of his day with a sharp rapier1 whereas ,hogarth wielded a heavy bludgeon4 ,indeed1 ,i think it very doubtful whether our art can be converted into an active agent in the cause of morality4 ,the touches of ridicule which a clever writer uses with so much effect are very apt to become ponderous when embedded in oil paint4 ,hogarth's reputation may well be allowed to rest on his numerous technical excellences without hoisting him upon a pedestal as a great apostle of morality4 ,in like manner the name of ,cruickshank will be preserved as the clever draughtsman and caricaturist1 and not as the champion of teetotalism4 ,in mitigation1 however1 of ,hogarth's sledge-hammer style of belaboring vice1 we must bear in mind that the age in which he lived was a very gross and brutal one1 and that his 8,rake's ,progress10 his 8,marriage la ,mode10 and similar works1 which to us appear exaggerated or caricatured1 were considered by his contemporaries to be very true to nature4 ,to return to the proper business this evening1 which is not to criticise painters and their work1 but to discuss subjects for painting1 ,i cannot say ,i particularly delight in the class under notice4 ,whoever takes up these subjects becomes 7involuntarily perhaps7 a kind of missionary agent for the cause he takes up1 whether it be teetotalism1 humanitarianism1 or the redressing of the wrongs of our old friend1 the 8poor governess02 and as with some other agents1 his zeal often outruns his discretion1 and he is apt to thrust forward his moral too obtrusively4 ,when this kind of picture is painted in pairs1 after the fashion of ,hogarth's 8,industrious and ,idle ,apprentice10 there is a sort of poster or advertisement flavor about the work1 reminding one a little of 8what ,i was1 and what ,i am0 in connection with ,mrs4 ,allen's hairwash1 or of 8before and after using anti-fat40 ,no one can1 of course1 object to such antithetic pictures as 8,summer and ,winter10 8,peace and ,war10 8,youth and ,age10 etc42 but where the practice of showing both sides of the medal becomes objectionable1 is when the work is evidently intended to be didactic4 ,i don't know what effect these didactic pictures may have on others1 but ,i always feel a kind of impatience at having the contrast between virtue and vice thrust before me in this infant-school fashion4 ,i do not wish in these lectures to enter upon the domain of high-art ethics2 ,i have a very decided aversion to the union of painting with abstruse theories of all kinds1 but a few words on morality in art may not be out of place4 ,it must be generally allowed that certain pictures have an immoral tendency3 we may1 therefore conclude by analogy that others have a moral tendency1 but beyond this general truism it is difficult to get4 ,the art-loving portion of the public needs no ,lord ,chamberlain to ostracise immoral subjects1 but on the other hand1 it is rather intolerant of what are called 8goody0 pictures4 ,let us rather1 instead of preaching homilies with our brush1 endeavor to set an example of pictorial morality by adherence to truth1 by abstaining from clap-trap tricks and meretricious execution2 by ceasing to pilfer ideas and modes of painting from other artists1 and by general honesty of purpose4 ,if we do this1 we may rest assured that our work will have a healthier influence than it would have if more directly enlisted in the cause of morality4 ,,lecture ,,xi4 ,,on ,,the ,,composition ,,of ,,decorative ,,and ,,historical ,,pictures4 ,the art of composing figure-pictures may be divided into two categories1 to each of which ,i intend devoting a lecture4 ,the first category will comprise all decorative or semi-decorative work1 where grandeur and harmony of line is the great desideratum2 the graphic rendering of the subject being of minor importance4 ,the second category would include almost all easel pictures which aspire to represent some historical event1 or to illustrate some anecdote4 ,in these pictures the graphic rendering of the subject is the first desideratum1 and the pleasant harmony of line only the second4 ,we will deal this evening with the laws of composition for decorative work4 ,i ought perhaps to avoid using the word 8laws02 art is not an exact science1 and no strict law can be laid down about a matter of taste4 ,still there are certain principles which seem to be accepted by all masters of composition1 and certain others which1 although not generally accepted1 occur to me as likely to be of use to you4 ,the golden rule for the arrangement of figures in a picture1 is that the nature of the subject ought to dictate the lines of the composition4 ,if you have to paint a subject of a quiet1 majestic1 and dignified class1 a subject for all ages1 where you wish to express perfect repose and stability1 you cannot do better than go back to the pyramid4 ,this pyramidical theory of composition has been much quizzed and laughed at1 but that is because the old-fashioned dilettanti who advocated it wanted to apply it universally4 ,now it is clearly unsuitable for subjects of action1 or for filling with figures low long panels2 but for altar pieces1 or for pictures which are destined for central places1 it is at once the most natural and the most effective method4 ,the quiet and serene dignity of many of the ancient ,holy ,families and other subjects of sacred art is due mainly to the pyramidical form of grouping4 ,sometimes the form is that of a truncated pyramid1 as in the ,hemicycle at the ,ecole des ,beaux ,arts1 where the object of the painter was to represent an ideal ,areopagus of ,art4 ,in the compositions of ,masaccio and ,filippino ,lippi we have good examples of a horizontal style of arrangement4 ,the structure of these groups is suggestive of solid simple architectural forms1 and has a kind of dignity of its own2 but though suitable enough for frescoes of the fifteenth century1 it is hardly picturesque or varied enough for modern oil-pictures4 ,mural paintings1 particularly when they represent grave or sacred subjects1 should more or less partake of this horizontal and rectilinear form of composition4 ,a certain amount of deviation is necessary1 and it is in fixing the limit of this deviation that the skill of the artist is shown4 ,too little would make his composition formal and lifeless4 ,too much would take away from the symmetry which befits such subjects4 ,the ,stanze of ,raffaelle are noble examples of skill and taste in composition4 ,nothing can be finer than his 8,school of ,athens10 his 8,parnassus10 and his 8,theology40 ,here we find variety of line combined with a dignified simplicity4 ,it is the arrangement and composition of these grand frescoes which in my opinion justifies the position ,raffaelle holds in the history of art1 rather than the beauty of his ,madonnas or the bold drawing of his somewhat over-rated cartoons4 ,later artists of the ,roman school overdid the picturesque element1 and lost the stately simplicity which characterizes the second manner of ,raffaelle4 ,in modern times1 ,ingres' 8,apotheosis of ,homer0 is a good example of what a mural painting should be4 ,severe in drawing and dignified in composition1 it is yet by no means deficient in those more attractive qualities which are commonly expressed by the word 8picturesque40 ,flandrin's frieze at ,st4 ,vincent de ,paul is another magnificent specimen of an exquisite sense of fitness4 ,there is hardly a figure in the whole procession of apostles1 saints1 and martyrs1 which could be improved4 ,i know of no modern work which is so perfect of its kind4 ,it is1 of course1 preposterous to suppose that good composition can be taught in a couple of evenings2 but if ,i succeed in impressing on you the importance of this rather neglected branch of study1 ,i shall not have lectured in vain4 ,we will begin with the simplest problem1 namely1 how to fill up with figures an elongated rectangular space or frieze4 ,the most obvious method is to set up a row of figures of the same size and all in profile1 as was done by the ancient ,egyptians4 ,now this mode of treatment1 though suitable enough for the ,nile temples1 would obviously be unfit for buildings of the nineteenth century4 ,the figures should preserve a certain regularity1 a certain frieze-like arrangement1 and yet the attitudes should be varied1 and the work should not look as if it had been done by machinery4 ,the first improvement on the ,egyptian method would be to break the monotony by here and there grouping two or even three figures together4 ,as in these groups of two or three one figure must be behind the others1 and therefore farther off from the spectator1 it would be smaller1 the head would be lower1 and you would at once get a little variety in the line of heads4 ,to vary your line of heads simply by arguing that some people are six feet high whilst others are only five1 does not answer in decorative painting4 ,you may assume that the male figures are bigger than the female1 but you must proceed as if your men were all of the same 7or very nearly7 of the same height1 and your women ought also to vary very little in stature4 ,children you may introduce of any size1 from the infant in arms to the youth or maiden of fifteen2 but let them be unmistakably children1 and not little men and women4 ,the individual action of the figures would of course depend very much on the destination of the work4 ,if it were intended for the decoration of a church1 the figures would of course represent patriarchs1 apostles1 or martyrs1 and a severe and simple arrangement would be necessary4 ,if1 on the other hand1 your frieze were to decorate a theatre or ball-room1 the figures should have more action1 and naturally the lines would be more broken4 ,whatever the subject1 however1--whether maskers1 musicians1 or morris-dancers1--there should be a certain frieze-like symmetry in the composition4 ,you should never forget that you are engaged on a decorative work1 and not on an easel picture4 ,a rule which it is well to observe in all decorative work is to avoid cutting off any portion of the figures4 ,this is quite unavoidable in many easel pictures4 ,if you have a crowd of people to represent1 you cannot isolate some of them so completely that no portion of the others should be visible4 ,an easel or gallery picture is bounded on every side by the frame1 and the eye is not shocked at all by seeing portions of the figures cut off4 ,although every one knows that the figures do not extend behind the frame1 yet it is easy to suppose that they do1 and the eye allows itself to be cheated into this belief2 but in decorative or mural painting there is no solid framework round the picture isolating it from the surrounding wall4 ,there may be an ornamental border or possibly a light moulding1 but this is not enough to permit the practice4 ,michael ,angelo1 in his decorations of the ,sistine ,chapel1 often carried his figures and draperies right out of the panels allotted to them1 and this boldness adds to the grand1 free character of the work4 ,the problem of how to fill up the irregular-shaped wall spaces which continually occur both in ,gothic and ,palladian architecture is of course more complex4 ,these spaces have generally curved sides1 and in many of them--as1 for instance1 the spandrels of arches--the curve is concave4 ,straight horizontal lines of heads which are generally so desirable for long rectilinear spaces here become very objectionable4 ,bold convex outlines for the groups1 and an arrangement for the heads which does not suggest either horizontal or vertical lines1 ought to be the rule in these cases4 ,nothing can be finer than ,m4 ,angelo's treatment of the sybils and prophets in the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,there is a majestic dignity about them which is due rather to their full convex outlines than to their colossal proportions4 ,on the other hand1 in many of the compositions by the early ,florentines we have long horizontal rows of heads which seem out of harmony with the arched space they fill4 ,the circular nimbi take off somewhat from the meagre character of these lines1 and there is considerable beauty about the individual figures1 but viewed as decorative works they are very unsatisfactory4 ,it is1 of course1 impossible to devise rules for all conditions of decorative and historical painting1 but a few general hints may be useful to you4 #ast4 ,beware of concave lines for the outlines of your groups4 #b;d4 ,avoid sharp angles1 and particulary right angles1 unless you wish to draw special attention to them4 #c;d4 ,be very careful about the relative position of the heads1 so that viewed as points of interest they do not form any regular geometrical pattern4 ,these three rules seem to me the most important ones to be observed in the composition of decorative figure-pictures1 and we will examine them seriatim4 ,the first rule ,i have given is to avoid concave forms for the general outline of the groups4 ,there is no rule without exceptions1 and to this one there are a good many2 still it will be found that1 speaking generally1 convex outlines give grandeur wherever they are introduced4 ,this convexity in the form of the groups need not be dependent on the outlines of the figures themselves2 it may be got by introducing drapery or other accessories4 ,i know of no example showing the value of full convex outlines more strikingly than the ,madonna di ,s4 ,sisto4 ,in the pictures of the ,umbrian school1 on the contrary1 we find extreme poverty of line4 ,the figures themselves are not particularly attenuated1 but they are not sufficiently connected together nor enveloped in those useful pieces of flowing drapery which give such grandeur and fulness to the works of ,fra ,bartholomeo1 ,sebastian del ,piombo1 and other painters of the ,roman school4 ,i have in former lectures entered fully into the subject of convex lines being almost always associated with forward movement1 and concave with retreat1 and need not go over the same ground again4 ,i would1 however1 observe that the terms boldness and convexity are almost synonymous when applied to outline2 thus when we speak of a mountain having a bold outline1 we mean that though steep and precipitous it is bluff or convex in form4 ,a mountain with a depression on the top1 or surmounted by a sharp-pointed cone1 would hardly ever be noted for its bold outline4 ,the second rule to which ,i wish to call your attention is the avoidance of right angles in the composition of your figures4 ,all angles1 unless they be obtuse ones1 are to be deprecated1 but the most objectionable of all are the right angles4 ,in a single figure1 rectangular outlines are not so unpleasant1 but ,i cannot agree with those who think that the big seated ,egyptian figures with which we are all familiar1 owe their grandeur to their rectangular contour4 ,i have no doubt but that these gigantic figures in their native swamp1 and illumined by an ,egyptian moon1 would look very imposing1 but the solemn grandeur of their aspect would be due to their size and to their surroundings1 and not to their harsh rectangular outline4 ,if the 8,moses0 of ,michael ,angelo could be magnified to the size of these figures and transported to the banks of the ,nile1 ,i fully believe he would be far more impressive4 ,simplicity and grandeur are often bracketed together as though the terms were almost synonymous2 but they certainly are not so4 ,the street and chapel architecture of the ,georgian era was simple even to baldness1 but no one can call it grand4 ,it is not1 however1 in single figures that right angles are so much to be avoided1 as in complicated groups of several figures4 ,here they arrest and distract the eye1 giving harshness to the composition1 and destroying the look of spontaneous action and easy-flowing movement which figures always should have4 ,rubens in his 8,descent from the ,cross0 has avoided these disagreeable angles1 but in many of his more careless compositions1 where there is violent action1 they are painfully conspicuous1 in spite of his liberal use of flying draperies4 ,hence his cavalry skirmishes1 though full of violence and contortion1 are quite wanting in spontaneous 8go40 ,right angles in a group of figures convey the idea of immovability4 ,hence1 although generally undesirable1 it is well sometimes to introduce them4 ,illustration ,thus a kneeling warrior firmly planted to resist onslaught might with propriety have both knees right angles4 ,illustration ,in this case we wish to give the idea of fixture1 and therefore rectangular forms are not only allowable but very useful4 ,again1 in the case of a wounded man endeavoring to raise himself1 the angle formed by his right arm might with propriety be a right angle1 because we want to show that the man is wounded and cannot raise himself without difficulty4 ,illustration ,if he were uninjured and in full possession of his strength1 we ought to represent his springing up in some other way4 ,in the very frequent case of two arms crossing each other1 they should not cross at right angles4 ,there is no reason here for expressing immovability at the point where the arms cross1 and therefore the formality of right angles should be avoided4 ,we will now pass on to the third rule1 namely1 that relating to the heads of the figures4 ,whatever the subject of the picture1 the eye is always attracted to the heads4 ,it is therefore of the highest importance that their relative positions should be carefully considered4 ,illustration ,in the annexed diagram1 it is of no use arguing that one of the heads is a full face1 another three-quarters1 a third a profile1 and the fourth a back view of the head4 ,the four heads are all points of interest4 ,they are equidistant1 and placed on a segment of the same circle1 and1 turn them whichever way you will1 you cannot get rid of the unpleasantness of the arrangement1 so long as you keep them in their present relative positions4 ,illustration ,in the next figure we have four heads suggesting a quadrilateral of lozenge shape4#d ,this is also very objectionable1 and it is a case of frequent occurrence4 ,in both these diagrams1 by shifting the position of one of the heads1 we should break up the symmetrical arrangement which so much offends the cultivated eye4 ,illustration ,there is no objection1 in a composition of many figures1 to placing two or more heads on the same horizontal line4 ,indeed1 in many cases it is most advantageous to do so2 but what ought to be avoided is having heads on the same vertical line4 ,if you have a kneeling or sitting figure in front of an erect one1 arrange your kneeling figure so that the one head shall not be perpendicularly below the other4 ,illustration ,if you have two erect figures1 arrange your kneeling figure so that the head shall not come on the same vertical line as either of the other heads1 or half-way between the two4#e ,i might urge a good deal more about the extreme importance of a picturesque and irregular arrangement of the heads2 but ,i have probably said enough to call your attention to this very prominent feature in good designing1 and will now give a few hints about other kindred matters4 ,illustration ,converging lines are to be avoided1 unless there is something of interest to which you wish to direct attention at the point of convergence4 ,this is by no means an exaggerated specimen of the evil2 but the effect of these four arms all converging toward one point is unpleasant4 ,if the personages were disputing over a manuscript1 or trying to clutch a bag of gold lying on the table1 then the manuscript or the gold would be the centre of interest in the picture2 and converging lines would not only be excusable1 but absolutely necessary4 ,where there is nothing of particular interest at the point where the lines meet1 the eye feels disappointed at being misled4 ,illustration ,although converging lines are generally to be avoided1 it often happens that a repetition of the same kind of curve gives force and unity of purpose to a group4 ,observe the convex curves formed by the backs of these suppliants4 ,their repetition gives unity of purpose4 ,a perpendicular kneeling figure might individually be just as expressive1 but as one of a group he would take away somewhat from the general character of unity in supplication4 ,one of the most difficult problems the designer of large mural pictures has to solve1 is to introduce with good effect raised arms and hands1 especially when they belong to the background figures4 ,when possible1 it is better to keep them out of sight altogether2 but in some subjects you would by so doing inevitably lose expression and animation1 and it becomes necessary to introduce here and there an upraised arm with extended hand4 ,this is easy enough to do if you are reckless about the lines of your composition1 but if you are fastidious1 it is a very difficult problem4 ,in the first place1 they distract the eye1 destroying the full bold outline of your groups1 and1 secondly1 there is a comic element about them which it is rather difficult to avoid4 ,when1 as in many of ,raffaelle's ,loggie1 the whole of the figures which are raising their arms are seen1 the effect is bad and trivial2 but there is nothing particularly comical about it4 ,when1 however1 an arm crops up here and there from the unseen figures of the background1 it is difficult to avoid the ludicrous4 ,cases may occur when a whole forest of hands will have to be raised1 as in an oath of allegiance2 but here the action of raising the arms is inseparable from the subject4 ,my remarks apply only to upraised arms as indicative of wonder1 joy1 or grief4 ,all these hints about designing may appear to some of you rather far-fetched1 but if ever you get experience in decorative painting1 ,i think you will find they are not far from the truth4 ,the art of good grouping is not of spontaneous growth4 ,you may have a general idea of how you are to fill your canvas or wall-space1 and that idea may be a good one1 but all the details of the groups have to be worked out bit by bit4 ,a change in the attitude of one figure will be almost sure to entail a change in a good many others1 and it often happens that1 after giving yourself a good deal of trouble1 you will have to go back to your first idea4 ,a conscientious and fastidious designer may be compared to an ,arctic explorer picking his way in an ice-pack4 ,he will have to saw through one ice-barrier1 to blow up another with gunpowder1 to circumvent a third1 and when1 after surmounting all these difficulties1 he thinks his course clear and open water at hand1 he may have to retrace his steps and seek some other channel4 ,i am perfectly aware that in painting small easel pictures all this groping after fine lines may be unnecessary1 nay1 even detrimental to the life-like spirit of the composition4 8,our own correspondent's0 sketches at the seat of war 7if done on the spot1 which ,i am afraid they not always are7 will be not only more interesting but better composed than if he had sat at home and trusted to his imagination2 but in this lecture ,i am not dealing with easel pictures and realistic subjects1 and ,i repeat that in decorative figure-painting excellence can only be obtained by a continuous process of altering1 modifying1 adding1 and omitting4 ,in the same way that the lines and general grouping of a picture should be arranged with a view to expressing the subject with dignity and grandeur1 so the management of light and shade should tend toward the same end1 and it is as impossible to lay down strict rules for light and shade as for outline designing4 ,didactic writers on art will tell you that the principal light ought to fall on the principal figure-- 8,fair in the front in all the blaze of light1 ,the hero of thy piece should meet the sight40 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds remarks very justly on this piece of doggerel1 that there is no necessity for the principal figure to be placed in the middle of the picture1 or receive the principal light4 ,he goes on to say that 8this conduct1 if always observed1 would reduce the art of composition to too great a uniformity10 and that 8it is sufficient if the place he holds1 or the attention of the other figures to him1 denote him the hero of the piece40 ,in works which partake strongly of a decorative character this axiom about 8,fair in the front in all the blaze of light0 for the principal figure may be tolerably true1 but in historical pictures something more unforeseen is wanted4 ,in the often-painted subject of the 8,death of ,csar10 ,i should be very much inclined to put the ,csar in the shade1 and the tyrannicides with their flashing daggers in the light4 ,it appears to me that to throw a shade over the face of the prostrate emperor would somehow or other convey the idea of the shadow of death1 which is overspreading him1 and the reproachful 8,et tu ,brut0 would come with greater pathos from a figure half-veiled in shadow than from one in broad daylight4 ,we will suppose now that instead of having the death of ,csar to paint we have the 8,stoning of ,st4 ,stephen40 ,the subject is analogous4 ,the young man named ,saul and the ,jewish executioners of ,stephen were not common assassins any more than the murderers of ,csar4 ,shall we1 therefore1 adopt the same plan with the figure of ,stephen as we did with that of ,csar and put him in the shade8 ,i say1 ,certainly not4 ,stephen was the first ,christian martyr4 ,we read that his face was as that of an angel1 and he ought to be surrounded by an angelic halo of light1 and this treatment need not be dictated by the text4 ,we should come to the same conclusion simply on the grounds of pictorial fitness4 ,stephen was a voluntary martyr1 and gloried in his own death4 ,csar was assassinated much against his will2 and although we are told that he covered his face with his toga and died with dignity1 yet he certainly cannot be called a martyr4 ,i have introduced these two subjects to show you how hopeless it is to attempt to lay down general rules such as old ,du ,fresnoy gives us in his poem on the art of painting4 ,every new theme you undertake to illustrate ought to have a treatment special to itself if you wish to produce a fresh and original picture4 ,when the master of a vessel is starting on a voyage1 he would not steer ,s4 ,w4 by ,w4 ,w4 because that happened to be the course he steered the last time he was at sea1 nor would he run up his skyscrapers and set his studding-sails because he carried all his light canvas the last voyage out4 ,he would consult his chart1 the state of the tide1 the direction of the wind1 and act accordingly4 ,in short1 for this new voyage1 the condition of the wind1 tide1 and barometer being new1 he would give new orders to his mate and crew4 ,substituting the brain for the master1 the hand for the mate1 and the brushes for the crew1 we ought to set about our pictures much in the same way4 ,after giving the subject of light and shade a good deal of thought1 it appears to me that there is only one rule which invariably applies to all pictures1 and that is1 that there should be a uniform scale of tone throughout the work4 ,the gradient1 from light to shade1 may be very steep as in ,rembrandt1 or very gentle as in ,p4 ,veronese1 but this gradient or transition should not be abrupt in one part of the picture1 and gentle in another4 ,the whole work 7whatever scale you adopt7 should be homogeneous4 ,sir4 ,j4 ,reynolds and others have endeavored to ascertain the proportion of light to shade in the works of the old masters4 ,i believe these experimental blots have been made rather with a view to black and white than legitimate light and shade2 but whatever their object1 ,i don't think that any theory can be built up on them4 ,i am convinced that what the old masters called the chiaro-oscuro of their pictures was a matter of feeling1 and sometimes of accident1 but never of calculation4 ,theorists often talk learnedly about secondary and tertiary lights1 but the artist never dreamt of them4 ,they are nothing more than the efforts he has made1 and the means to which he has resorted1 in order to connect the highest light of his principal group with the gloom of his background4 ,rembrandt's vigorous light and shade and ,correggio's luminous breadth ought to be ascribed to the natural idiosyncrasies of the painters1 intensified probably by the conditions under which their works were executed4 ,they were assuredly not the results of calculation or learning4 ,modern artists are often credited by their critics with subtleties of which they are perfectly innocent4 ,they introduce into their pictures certain harmonies of tone or color by a kind of pictorial instinct1 but certainly not in obedience to theoretical laws4 ,in designing a composition of many figures1 it is natural to begin with the principal group or centre of interest4 ,when you have got this satisfactorily arranged1 you proceed with the less important figures1 and it is here that beginners 7and some who are by no means beginners7 often come to grief4 ,they get a fine action or a noble attitude for some accessory figure1 and they are so much in love with it that they must introduce it1 whether it is in keeping with the principal group or not4 ,it may 7viewed as a single figure7 be very good1 and yet be injurious to the general harmony of the composition4 ,recollect that accessory figures1 however good in themselves1 if they mar the general effect1 ought to be sacrificed4 ,by so doing you will doubtless raise a cry of lamentation from your friends4 ,they will say1 8,what could have induced you to have scraped out that figure8 ,why1 it was the best thing in the picture10 and so on4 ,to which you might reply that you did not want it to be the best thing in the picture1 and therefore you erased it4 ,it was this tendency to introduce some favorite figure where it was not wanted1 which rather mars ,raffaelle's latest manner1 as exemplified in the 8,transfiguration10 and in the 8,incendio del ,borgo02 and what in ,raffaelle was only an incipient tendency became a confirmed habit in the work of his imitators4 ,sir ,j4 ,reynolds1 in his discourses1 is continually urging the student of composition to think how the old masters would have treated the subject he is engaged upon1 and advises him to imitate their style and manner4 ,indeed1 the sixth discourse is devoted entirely to this principle of imitation4 ,now1 if we were vastly superior to ,m4 ,angelo1 ,raffaelle1 and ,titian1 and held the same relative position to them that they did to their predecessors1 ,i could understand our occasionally adopting their figures1 after greatly improving them2 but as we should not be likely to improve any figure we had appropriated1 we had much better leave the old masters alone4 ,plagiarism1 or1 to use a plainer word1 8stealing10 can only be excused when the plagiarist makes a better use of the property he has appropriated than the original possessor did4 ,sir ,joshua certainly says that you should 8imitate10 and not copy servilely4 ,imitation is the sincerest form of flattery1 and if ,philippino ,lippi could have seen ,raffaelle transferring his ,st4 ,paul into the famous cartoon of the saint preaching at ,athens1 no doubt he would have felt flattered4 ,but how about ,raffaelle8 ,is it not true that this plagiarism on ,raffaelle's part detracts somewhat from his fame8 ,does not every one1 on seeing the ,carmine ,chapel at ,florence1 and recognizing the familiar figure of ,st4 ,paul1 think somewhat more of ,philippino ,lippi and somewhat less of ,raffaelle8 ,i believe that nothing can be more fatal to the career of an artist than intentional imitation of another man's work4 ,i say 8intentional10 because we are all more or less imitators quite unconsciously4 ,we often confound a reminiscence of something we have seen in a picture with a reminiscence of nature1 and so become unconscious imitators2 but this is a very different thing from deliberately setting aside our own ideas and endeavoring to fancy what would be the ideas of some one else4 ,it may be argued that ,sir ,j4 ,reynolds addressed his advice to students and not to mature artists1 but the habit of imitating others1 when once acquired1 is not easily got rid of4 ,a certain degree of excellence may doubtless be attained by following this method1 provided the masters imitated are excellent1 but1 after all1 it is only a kind of reflected light1 and not to be compared to the electric light of original genius4 ,besides1 the student who follows ,sir ,joshua's advice may begin by honestly attempting to paint his pictures in the style of ,raffaelle without downright imitation of the figures1 but he soon learns to adopt ,raffaelle's attitudes1 ,raffaelle's expression1 and even ,raffaelle's mannerisms4 ,he becomes1 in short1 a mere copyist4 ,if this be deplorable in the case of the imitator of ,raffaelle1 how much more deplorable is it to adopt the modes of thought and expression of an inferior master6 ,it may be thought by some that in these lectures ,i often speak disrespectfully of the old masters1 but it is certainly not my intention so to do4 ,i have the greatest respect for many of them1 though not for all2 but ,i respect nature and truth still more1 and it appears to me that the true artist should go to the fountain-head for his ideas and inspiration1 and not to second-hand sources4 ,it may be answered that it is all very well saying that an artist should go to nature and rely on his own powers of creation and invention1 but supposing he is relying on a broken reed2 suppose he cudgels his brain in vain for ideas1 what is he to do8 ,in this case ,i should advise him1 instead of borrowing from the old masters1 that he should turn his attention to portrait-painting1 landscape1 or some branch of the profession where the creative and imaginative faculties are not much required4 ,he may have great imitative power with a dexterous execution2 he may be a charming colorist1 or1 again1 he may be a refined and accomplished draughtsman1 and yet be totally unable to give dramatic vitality to a scene he has not himself witnessed4 ,it has always been the fashion to apply the term 8high art0 to heroic or ,scriptural figure-subjects1 but ,i think there is almost as much high art in a noble portrait of ,titian or a fine landscape by ,claude as in any historical painting whatever4 ,i object to the term altogether2 but if it means any thing1 it ought to mean a dignified and poetic view of nature1 in contradistinction to a trivial or prosaic view4 ,it ought certainly never to be applied to a pasticcio of the old masters1 however plausible such an imitation may be4 ,in my opinion there is high art in ,turner's early pictures1 because in them we get the man's own poetic interpretation of nature1 but in those works where he attempts to rival ,claude ,i can see nothing but the labor of a skilful imitator4 ,i have wandered away from the proper subject of this lecture1 and have but little time left2 but before concluding ,i should wish to explain that although ,i am continually urging the extreme importance of originality in painting1 ,i do not mean forced singularity or oddity4 ,i mean by the word1 the expression of the painter's own sober ideas4 ,a sane man should produce sane work4 ,it may not be very powerful1 it may in no way recall ,michael ,angelo1 but it will have qualities of its own4 ,how charming1 simple1 and unaffected are ,flaxman's designs until he got inoculated with the ,sistine ,chapel lymph6 ,after this inoculation we notice 7at least ,i do7 a great change for the worse in his compositions4 ,to graft successfully1 the parent stem ought to be of the same nature as the scion or graft4 ,now ,flaxman's nature was gentle1 and very appreciative of beauty and grace4 ,with such a nature he ought to have abstained from attempting the grand and the terrible4 ,if ,flaxman erred in grafting ,michael ,angelo's manner on his own1 what shall we say about ,blake8 ,flaxman was at any rate a good draughtsman1 but ,blake's ignorance of the first principles of drawing makes his ,michael ,angelesque imitations simply ludicrous4 ,the successful attempts which have been made of late years to rehabilitate ,blake1 and to elevate him into a kind of ,british ,michael ,angelo1 make me almost despair of high art in this country4 ,i do not wish to speak contemptuously of ,blake as a poet1 but in his pictures 7even supposing he had grand ideas7 ,i cannot accept the will for the deed4 ,the frog in the fable had grand ideas when he wished to rival the ox in size1 and yet he only made himself ridiculous4 ,were ,i to express all ,i think about the ,blake revival1 ,i could hardly confine myself to parliamentary language4 ,i will1 therefore1 in closing my lecture1 simply protest to the best of my power against this strange infatuation4 ,,lecture ,,xii4 ,,composition ,,of ,,incident ,,pictures4 ,in my last lecture ,i treated the art of composition as applied to decorative or semi-decorative work--of work intended rather to cover a given wall-space with noble and picturesque forms than to give a dramatic version of any particular incident4 ,my present lecture will be devoted to the composition and arrangement of figure-pictures1 whether ,biblical1 historical1 or anecdotic1 whose object is to represent in the most forcible way any given incident4 ,we are far more particular now about the arrangement1 or what the ,french call the mise en scne1 of a picture1 than the old masters ever were4 ,we may not be able to paint like ,titian or ,correggio1 but we attempt an approximation to truth which they never did2 and not only is a modern historical painter more truthful about the costumes of his personages and the architecture of his backgrounds1 but in the disposition and action of his figures he honestly endeavors to represent the scene as it actually may have occurred4 ,when ,i say that the modern painter does this1 ,i mean that in my opinion he ought to do it4 ,i am quite aware that many artists prefer to look at nature through the spectacles of the old masters1 but it appears to me that all art should be in some measure representative of the age in which it exists4 ,when we come upon a ,romanesque1 ,umbrian1 ,venetian1 ,flemish1 or eighteenth-century work of art1 we can tell at a glance to what period it belongs1 and ,i think that our own time1 being one of original thought and research1 should in some measure be similarly reflected in our painting4 ,i have no objection to ,gothic architects repeating in modern buildings the narrow staircases1 the dim lighting1 and other inconvenient peculiarities of the style4 ,were they to give us large plate-glass windows and noble flights of steps1 they would cease to be ,gothic architects2 but ,i don't think that1 however much we painters may admire the old masters1 we ought to adopt their modes of composition when we know them to be the result of ignorance1 error1 or carelessness4 ,the present graphic method of treating figure-pictures is of quite modern growth1 and the innovation extends to all kinds of subjects4 ,compare any of ,giulio ,romano's1 ,rubens'1 or ,lebrun's battle-pieces with those of ,raffet1 ,horace ,vernet1 or1 better still1 ,de ,neuville4 ,how unreal the old masters appear6 ,recall to mind the ,romans of ,david and his school1 and compare them with the best modern representations of ,roman manners and customs4 ,in the one case we may admire the noble drawing and even the classical lines of the composition1 but we are never transported back to the scene2 whereas in certain modern pictures we feel on much more intimate terms with the personages4 ,we fancy we are actually a spectator at the ,colosseum or a participator in a fte intime4 ,the realism of modern art is due partly to a greater knowledge of1 and a greater attention to1 costume1 architecture1 furniture1 and all the properties of the stage on which we place our personages1 but it is also due to our making truth a primary object4 ,an incident may be treated truthfully in fifty different ways1 but some of these versions of it will be dull1 some obscure1 and some vulgar1 and it is for the artist to select a rendering which1 though perfectly truthful1 shall be neither dull1 obscure1 nor vulgar4 ,as soon as he loses sight of truth he ceases to be a realistic painter4 ,he may produce a beautiful picture1 but it will partake more or less of what ,i call semi-decorative work4 ,it is sometimes very difficult to fix a boundary-line between realistic and decorative painting4 ,to which class1 for instance1 belong the cartoons of ,raffaelle8 ,although designed for tapestry1 and therefore for decorative purposes1 there is too much truth and reality about them to allow of their being classed among purely decorative works2 whilst1 on the other hand1 we can hardly admit that they are like the scenes they are meant to represent4 ,the heads are ,italian rather than ,jewish or ,oriental1 and sometimes 7as1 for instance1 in the 8,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes07 pictorial liberties are taken which are quite inadmissible in realistic work4 ,i may here observe that in this lecture ,i shall not use the word realistic in the bad sense in which it has generally come to be used4 ,the term is now generally employed to designate some ugly or offensive piece of reality which is prominently thrust upon our notice by the artist2 as when ,quintin ,matseys gives us wrinkled and abnormally ugly old men1 or when a modern ,french painter throws all his talent into depicting the thick viscosity of a pool of arterial blood4 ,reality is only in rare instances repellent1 and ,i can see no good reason for confining the word to these exceptional cases4 ,in historical1 or what may be called incident pictures1 the main object of the artist ought to be to tell his story forcibly1 clearly1 and pathetically4 ,we have seen that in work partaking of a decorative character the principal object of the designer should be to group his figures in a noble and picturesque manner1 to attend to his drawing1 and if possible to add the charm of agreeable color to his work4 ,in realistic historical painting he has something else to occupy his thoughts4 ,he must by no means neglect the lines of his groups1 he must avoid disagreeable angles1 equidistant heads1 convergent lines where they are not wanted1 and all the other rocks and shoals on which many a composition has been wrecked1 but in addition to this he must tell his story truthfully and clearly4 ,much more latitude in the matter of arrangement may be allowed him than would be conceded to the painter of decorative subjects4 ,he may 7if he thinks fit7 huddle up all his figures into a corner of the canvas1 or he may place them all in the centre1 leaving the sides unoccupied4 ,in short1 he may take great liberties with the laws of composition1 provided always these liberties tend to assist in giving reality to the scene4 ,the more picturesque or melodramatic the subject1 the more he may depart from the usual rules of composition4 ,paul ,delaroche was1 ,i think1 the first of the numerous cohort of modern painters who have striven to combine truthful sentiment with pictorial fitness1 and of all his works the 8,assassination of the ,duc de ,guise0 is perhaps the most striking4 ,the arrangement of this picture is as dramatic as it is truthful4 ,on one side of the picture we have the murdered duke lying on his back1 stone dead4 ,the group of assassins are quite separated from their victim1 and are giving themselves no further trouble about him2 and yet the greatest ignoramus1 who knew nothing whatever about the story1 would have no hesitation in divining it1 so graphically is the incident told4 ,again1 if we recall to mind another and a better known picture by the same master1 ,i mean that known as 8,les ,enfants d',edouard10 we find the same subtle taste displayed4 ,i may here note that the color of neither of these pictures is in any way remarkable4 ,indeed1 that of the 8,princes0 is positively bad1 being very purple and inky2 but their enduring popularity rests on a more solid foundation than mere color4 ,it rests entirely on their truthful and poetic treatment4 ,i call the treatment 8poetic10 because a dull prose reading of both these subjects would have represented the murders as actually being committed1 whereas by choosing the moment in the one case immediately after the murder1 and in the other just before1 the artist avoids all the stabbing1 hacking1 and smothering business1 and increases rather than diminishes our interest in the victims4 ,gerome's 8,death of ,csar0 is another example of novel treatment of a hackneyed subject4 ,he also represents the deed as done4 ,the conspirators have sneaked off4 ,the benches of the senate-house are all but deserted1 the only occupant being a very fat senator1 who is fast asleep on one of the benches1 somewhere near the centre of the amphitheatre4 ,how much more empty the senate-house looks1 with this portly old ,roman snoring on his bench1 than it would do if entirely deserted6 ,i do not wish to lecture on modern pictures1 but ,i mention this 8,death of ,caesar0 by ,gerome as an instance of a happy departure from the usual treatment of the subject4 ,indeed1 it appears to me that all assassinations1 martyrdoms1 executions1 and such-like subjects1 if painted at all1 should be approached in some roundabout way4 ,the action of stabbing1 cutting a head off1 or sending a bullet through a man's body1 is instantaneous2 and although an executioner1 with his drawn sword and uplifted arm about to decapitate his victim1 may be startling and sensational at first sight1 yet after a time the feeling of horror or of pity gives place to a sort of impatience that he is so long before striking the blow4 ,one of the ,orleans princes had a picture of a military execution1 which he admired very much at first4 ,by and by1 however1 he got tired of it1 and ultimately sold it or gave it away1 not because it was too much for his feelings1 but because he was heartily sick of seeing the squad taking aim day after day and month after month1 and never firing4 ,although the best modern masters of dramatic composition have probably been guided by sentiment rather than by rule1 still a few observations on the treatment of certain subjects may not be out of place in this lecture4 ,thus1 if the subject be a departure of pilgrims or emigrants1 the figures should be placed on that side of the canvas which is opposed to the direction in which they are going4 ,if it be an arrival1 they should be placed on the side opposed to the direction whence they came4 ,in both these cases1 the large portion of canvas without figures is not wasted2 it assists materially in telling the story4 ,in the first case1 it represents the journey to be undertaken1 and in the second the journey just performed4 ,if we had to paint a shipwrecked sailor who has just reached the shore1 we ought to let very little of the shore be seen1 but plenty of raging sea4 ,here the interest of the subject lies in the formidable dangers he has escaped1 so we ought to devote the greater portion of our canvas to the breakers1 and relegate our mariner and the bit of slippery rock to which he is clinging to a corner4 ,if1 on the other hand1 we wished to represent our shipwrecked man clinging to a spar in the open sea1 with no land visible1 we ought to place him right in the middle of the canvas1 so as to give the impression of hopeless isolation2 and if we wished to convey the idea that he might possibly be rescued1 we would paint a sail on the horizon1 and near the edge of the picture4 ,i should place it near the edge1 in order that it might appear to have just come in sight1 and that hope of rescue was dawning4 ,if we were to put the same vessel in the middle of the picture1 and bearing down upon the drowning man1 we might feel equally certain that he would be saved1 but the effect would hardly be as dramatic4 ,again1 let us suppose that we have an elongated space to fill1 and that the subject is a 8fugitive escaping40 ,where ought we to place him on the canvas8 ,if we place him in the middle1 he will look too much like a professional runner doing his ten miles within the hour1 and we should feel inclined to pull out our watches and time him4 ,supposing him to be running from right to left1 if we place him near the right side of the picture we shall not know whether his pursuers are not close at hand1 and as our sympathies are always with the fugitive1 whether he be a prisoner of war1 a convict1 or a fox1 we should be glad to see him safe over to the other side of the picture4 ,if we place him near the left edge our wish is gratified4 ,there is now the whole width of the picture intervening between him and any sign of pursuit1 and we feel naturally1 though perhaps illogically1 that he has a better chance of escape4 ,the word 8artful0 has come to signify cunning1 and is always taken in a bad sense1 but ,i suppose that originally it meant literally 8full of art10 full of that curious compound of observation1 good-sense1 and poetic feeling which is so noticeable in ,raffaelle1 ,poussin1 and all the great masters of composition4 ,in the examples ,i have given you there has always been some good reason for placing the figures on one side of the picture1 but where no good reason exists1 it ought not to be done4 ,it may not be out of place here to say something about the size of the figures in proportion to the canvas4 ,this is a very important element in the composition of a picture1 and many a good and careful work has been spoiled by the figures being either too large or too small for the canvas4 ,in these days1 when the general destination of pictures is to decorate dining-rooms or to fill small galleries1 space ought to be economized4 ,we should avoid1 as a rule1 large areas of background2 but1 on the other hand1 when the figures are too large for the canvas the effect is very unpleasant4 ,an erect figure with the head bent down should have space enough above it to allow of the head being raised1 otherwise the figure has an uncomfortable look1 as if she could not lift up her head without rapping it against the frame4 ,illustration ,indeed all stooping1 sitting1 or kneeling figures should have space enough allowed them to stand up in4 ,they should not1 in short1 look as if they had been put into those attitudes in order to pack them into the picture4 ,the mannerism of introducing figures too large for the canvas originated probably with the old ,german masters of the ,albert ,durer school4 ,with them1 however1 it was not a mannerism but a habit contracted by wood-engraving4 ,in those early days the graving tools were very rude and coarse2 moreover1 the blocks were small1 hence it became imperative to design the figures as large as possible2 and the habit thus acquired spread to drawings and pictures4 ,when1 on the other hand1 the figures are too small1 the picture generally looks stagey1 as if the artist had taken his composition from some genteel comedy-scene at a theatre4 ,cases frequently occur where it is desirable to keep the figures small1 as in a caravan march across the desert1 or in a procession moving down a cathedral nave4 ,in the one case it is desirable to give an idea of the boundless waste of sand1 and in the other the architecture of the cathedral is probably more interesting than the individual action of the priests composing the procession1 and therefore the figures should be very small for the canvas4 ,as to the actual dimensions of the figures in historical or 8genre0 subjects1 there is only one size which ,i think objectionable1 and that is rather smaller than life4 ,figures of four and a half or five feet high seldom look well4 ,half life-size1 or rather more1 is a very good proportion1 and any size below this1 down to the microscopic figures of ,breughel or ,meissonnier1 is equally good4 ,in my former lectures on composition1 ,i gave you several examples of the kind of mental analysis which ought to be brought to bear on every subject you wish to design4 ,it will1 ,i think1 be unnecessary to go through all this again1 as you are1 ,i trust1 more skilled in the art of composition than you were five years ago4 ,nevertheless it may not be unprofitable to some of you1 if ,i work out again one or two of my old subjects4 ,one of the themes ,i selected was from ,exodus3-- 8,when ,moses was grown1 he went out unto his brethren1 and looked on their burdens1 and he spied an ,egyptian smiting an ,hebrew1 and he looked this way1 and that way1 and when he saw that there was no man1 he slew the ,egyptian40 ,the subject to be the first part of the quotation1 that is1 where ,moses is watching the ,egyptian smiting the ,hebrew4 ,very well4 ,now there are two distinct centres of interest in this subject4 ,one is the brutal treatment of the ,hebrew by his taskmaster1 and the other is the indignation of ,moses4 ,under any circumstances1 it would be advisable to sacrifice one of those centres of interest to the other2 but the context absolutely prohibits all idea of uniting the three figures together in one group4 ,moses was certainly not visible to the two men4 ,we must1 therefore1 allow a considerable space between the figures1 and the question now arises3 ,which is to be our foreground group8 ,either mode of treatment seems to me equally good1 but supposing ,i fancy making the ,moses the principal figure in the picture1 how am ,i to express what is passing in his mind8 ,the other two figures will be in violent action1 therefore it will be well to represent ,moses in a quiet attitude1 but with an expression of concentrated indignation about him4 ,i just hastily sketch an erect figure 7any indication of a human figure will do7 to represent ,moses4 ,i have some ideas floating in my mind about making him clutching at his dagger1 and about the expression ,i will throw into his eyes1 and so on2 but1 for the present1 ,i leave all this alone1 and occupy myself with the general arrangement of the picture4 ,i find that with my erect figure of ,moses1 it will be better to make the picture an upright one1 and it will be necessary to make him in hiding1 or partly concealed by some building1 otherwise he would be in full view of the ,egyptian1 and ,i should not be in keeping with the word 8spied0 of the text4 ,i1 therefore1 put in a line or two to represent a building behind which he might be hiding4 ,now for the two men4 ,i don't at present elaborate the group at all4 ,i think the most natural reading is to suppose the ,israelite on the ground1 having fallen under his burden1 and the ,egyptian standing over him1 and beating him2 but for the present1 ,i make a kind of scrawl which might mean any thing4 ,i do not quite like the place ,i have put it in2 ,i rub it out1 and shift it4 ,i am better pleased with the place now1 but the group looks too large2 ,i rub it out again1 and make it smaller4 ,now ,i find the ,moses is not quite in his right place1 ,i shift him about until ,i get him right2 and here let me point out the great advantage of a rough indication at first4 ,had ,i drawn my principal figure carefully1 with all the expression ,i meant to convey1 ,i should have hesitated about rubbing him out1 and my composition would eventually have suffered4 ,designing a subject is like drawing a figure4 ,in figure-drawing you do not begin 7at least you ought not7 with sketching the eyes1 nose1 and mouth4 ,it is sheer waste of time to do so1 as the chances are ten to one in favor of your having to shift the head or to alter its inclination4 ,you make a simple oval with a line down the centre to indicate the inclination1 and then you go on with the rest of the figure4 ,if you have to change the head1 you can do so in two or three strokes4 ,the same method applies to the hands and feet4 ,students will often draw the fingers and toes1 and when the master comes round he finds that the hands and feet are in their wrong places1 and the work has to be done again4 ,never begin the detail of a figure until you feel sure that every thing is in its right place1 and that the general proportions are correct4 ,in the same way1 in composition never begin to elaborate the figures until you feel sure that your groups are in their right places and of the proper size4 ,to return to our subject4 ,i will suppose now that ,i have got my figures where ,i want them to be4 ,i can go ahead now in all confidence4 ,i can try various attitudes for my striking and prostrate figures4 ,i can try different modes of giving to ,moses the kind of expression ,i wish him to have4 ,i stick to the ground plan of my design1 and also to the general features of the arrangement1 but ,i select my details as ,i go on4 ,now let us suppose that ,i have elected to take the other view of the subject4 ,in this case the picture would be reversed2 that is1 the struggling figures would be in the foreground1 and the ,moses behind4 ,i proceed always in the same manner4 ,i make a very rough indication of my two figures1 an indication which need not define either arms1 bodies1 or legs1 but which gives me an approximate idea of the size and general shape of the group4 ,this being done1 it remains to place the ,moses4 ,it is clear ,i must not put him very far off1 or his action and expression would be lost4 ,on the other hand1 ,i must not place him very near1 or the interest would be equally divided between him and the other figures4 ,i might perhaps1 by merely introducing his head with a pair of angry eyes glaring at the ,egyptian1 do something which would be original and telling2 and in this case1 with the head only seen1 he might be quite close to the struggling group4 ,all these different versions of the subject should be carefully considered before ,i finally adopt any one of them2 but when once ,i have made my choice1 ,i ought to stick to it4 ,there will be plenty of modifications to carry out in the individual action of the figures without again disturbing the general arrangement of the picture4 ,another of my old illustrations of the reasoning an artist ought to bring to bear on his subject1 was 8,the ,return of a ,crusader40 ,now here the first question which suggests itself is3 ,where shall we place our returning warrior8 ,on the road1 catching a first glimpse of his home8 on his threshold8 or fairly inside his house and surrounded by his family8 ,something may be said in favor of all three readings1 but if we place him at a distance on the road he will be alone1 or at best accompanied only by a retainer or two1 and we shall lose the best and most pathetic element in the subject4 ,if we place him inside the house and surrounded by his family1 we shall certainly avoid the objection to the first treatment1 but ,i think that the best moment to choose is when he has just crossed his threshold1 with the open door behind him4 ,admitting that we place him here1 our first and most obvious idea would be to make him the centre of a group1 his wife clinging to his neck1 his children to his legs1 his old dog licking his hand1 and the ancient retainer blubbering for joy in a corner4 ,on second thoughts1 however1 it might strike us that this treatment would be a little theatrical2 it would savor too much of the tableau vivant4 ,could not something more true to nature 7and therefore better7 be devised8 ,let us remember that our crusader has not been away for merely a month or two on a foraging expedition2 he has been away for years4 ,the boy he left has become a young man2 the infant a young girl1 and she1 of course does not remember him at all4 ,time and the sun of ,palestine have also changed him greatly2 his ruddy ,british complexion has vanished1 his hair is grizzled1 his polished armor is rusty1 and hardly holds together4 ,then again his arrival is totally unexpected4 ,he has not 7as a more modern warrior would have done7 telegraphed to his wife to expect him by the next train4 ,all these causes tend to make it probable that on presenting himself on his own threshold1 there would be a short period of uncertainty1 of suspense1 and of hope in the air1 before he would be fully recognized4 ,with the daylight at his back1 his face would be in the shade1 which would be an additional reason for his wife not rushing into his arms at once4 ,her face would1 of course1 be in the full light1 and ought to express a yearning1 eager hope4 ,this expression would be difficult to depict1 but all emotional expressions which are not downright sensational are difficult4 ,it is very likely that in this1 as in the other example ,i have given you1 ,i might1 when ,i came to the actual execution of the picture1 adopt a different moment of time and a different treatment to the one which at present seems best to me4 ,my object in giving you these illustrations is not so much to recommend this or that particular mode of treatment1 as to show you how you ought to examine a subject from every point of view before committing yourselves to one particular reading4 ,in the prize for design which is associated with my name1 ,i purposely gave a whole day 7or one third of the time allowed7 for the competitors to examine the subject in all its aspects1 so as not to commit themselves hurriedly to a treatment of which they might repent when it was too late4 ,for finished pictures1 taking three months to paint1 one third of the time would be too large a proportion to spend in making up one's mind about the general arrangement2 but even in this case ,i think that more time might often be advantageously devoted to the design and less to the execution than is generally done4 ,i cannot refer to these sketches without expressing my great satisfaction at the progress made within a very few years4 ,some of you probably recollect the first competition1 and will doubtless agree with me that not only are the prize sketches greatly superior to those of the first year or two1 but the general average is also very much higher4 ,now ,i don't suppose that 7taking the average7 you are a much cleverer set of students than your predecessors of six years ago1 and therefore the marked improvement of which ,i have been speaking is due entirely to your attention having been drawn to the very important1 and ,i may add attractive1 study of composition4 ,although a great advocate for this study1 ,i cannot say ,i approve of sketching clubs as usually constituted4 ,experienced painters may perhaps join them with impunity2 their evening's contribution is always a faint echo of something they have done fifty times before1 but no good can come of any young artist cudgelling his brains to produce something original in two hours4 ,i don't think a professor of music would approve of his pupils meeting once a fortnight to improvise something on a given subject4 ,the result would be a farrago of stolen melodies and borrowed passages which could not lead to any good4 ,he who had the best memory and the cleverest execution would carry off the honors of the evening4 ,the original genius1 if there happened to be one present1 would be nowhere4 ,the same kind of thing would happen in a sketching club2 the thoughtful and fastidious members would become discouraged1 and perhaps give up composition altogether4 ,i think that friendly artistic gatherings are not only very enjoyable but very useful4 ,a man who systematically keeps aloof from all his colleagues1 generally deteriorates2 but the object of these gatherings should be the interchange of ideas1 and not the production of crude1 hasty sketches4 ,an historical or figure painter ought1 in addition to his knowledge of the human frame1 to study the connection between mind and expression1 and to steer a middle course between the facial monotony of ,giotto1 ,orcagna1 and the early masters1 and the grotesque grimacing of the ,mantegna school4 ,the works of ,lebrun and ,lavater on facial expression are ridiculous and useless2 indeed1 nature is the only book we ought to consult if we wish truly to depict the effects of anger1 fear1 love1 and all the other human passions4 ,instead1 therefore1 of extending my observations in this direction1 ,i will return to the proper object of my lecture and give you a few more hints about the arrangement of a picture4 ,many artists1 in designing historical or what ,i call historical incident pictures1 prefer oblique to parallel perspective4 ,there are reasons for and against this practice1 and ,i am far from condemning oblique perspective in every case2 but ,i think that1 speaking generally1 the simpler method is preferable4 ,oblique perspective has the merit of being more picturesque and less formal2 but1 on the other hand1 it is less easily understood1 and although perfectly correct1 often gives a figure-picture a lop-sided look4 ,in every picture1 the horizon should be either above or below the centre of the canvas1 and not bisect it into two equal portions4 ,this is evident enough in landscape-painting1 but the reasons for observing this rule in figure-pictures 7particularly in those where the scene is the interior of a room1 and no horizon is visible7 are not so obvious4 ,practically1 however1 it will almost always be found desirable to place the horizon considerably below the centre4 ,similarly the point of sight 7which in parallel perspective would1 of course1 coincide with the vanishing point7 should not be in the centre of the picture1 unless1 indeed1 the subject happens to be one of the severest kind4 ,it should be nearest to that side of the picture from which the light comes4 ,suppose the figures in a picture to be lighted from the left of the spectator1 and that the picture is hung in its proper light4 ,you would not stand exactly opposite the centre of the canvas to get a good view4 ,you would naturally place yourself a little on the side whence the light comes4 ,hence it is desirable that the point of sight should also be on that side4 ,where the perspective is parallel1 the eye is not at all shocked when the point of sight is fairly out of the picture4 ,indeed1 in pictures which represent a small area1 the effect is more agreeable when the lines converge toward a point outside4 ,in the determination of all these points1 as also in settling the height of your horizon1 you must allow yourselves to be guided by the nature of your subject4 ,what is right in one case is wrong in another4 ,in a 8,prometheus ,bound0 you might with great propriety place your horizon below the picture altogether4 ,here1 quite at the bottom of the canvas1 you see the peaks of high mountains2 the real horizon would therefore be a long distance below4 ,illustration ,it would not be impossible to suggest subjects where the horizon should be above the picture1 but ,i have probably said enough to show that exceptional subjects must be exceptionally dealt with4 ,beginners 7when they have a subject of several figures to paint7 will often find it of great assistance to make a small clay model of the whole design1 and to clothe their little figures with rags of different shades1 until they get an effect which they think will do4 ,the figures would be mere rough clay sketches1 just enough to give an idea of the proportions and attitudes4 ,the rags should be wetted with clay water1 and then the folds when dry will become quite stiff1 so that the figures can be moved about without disturbing the arrangement of drapery4 ,this plan is particularly applicable whenever the scene of the picture is a confined room or cell1 with a strong concentrated light4 ,over the board on which your little figures are standing1 you put an empty box or packing case1 and you cut a hole in the side of the case1 to represent the window4 ,if you find the light on your group too concentrated1 you can enlarge the hole1 or cut a small aperture on the opposite side1 so as to diffuse the light4 ,in lamp or fire-lit subjects1 this 8maquette0 method is most valuable4 ,you admit no daylight into the box1 but you place a small lamp or night-light wherever you wish the fire to be1 and you have nothing to do but to copy the effect4 ,you must1 of course1 bore a small spy-hole at the point of sight4 ,in my early days in ,paris1 when pictures were painted1 and not single figures for the market1 almost every young artist had his little puppet-show1 into which he was continually peeping during the progress of his work4 ,some of the pictures thus painted were badly composed1 some were clumsily executed1 some were crude in color1 but all had a truthful look about them as far as light and shade were concerned4 ,the real shadows1 the reflected light1 and the half-tones were all in their right places and of the right value4 ,when a man has been painting pictures for twenty or thirty years1 he knows pretty well what his effect ought to be under certain conditions4 ,he knows when he may venture to copy the effect of light on the model before him1 and when he must depart from it1 but the beginner has no experience to guide him1 and ,i would strongly recommend him to try the little clay figures4 ,the whole group of say ten figures could be modelled in two days4 ,the legs of those which are to be clothed in flowing drapery need1 of course1 not be indicated at all1 and the roughest approximation to nature in the attitudes is all that is necessary1 provided effect only is wanted4 ,of course1 if you wish to study drapery from your small figures1 you will have to elaborate them with greater care1 and probably have to make them larger than would be convenient for the other purpose4 ,another advantage of pursuing this method is that it gives a little practice in modelling1 and ,i think that every figure-painter ought to be able to give expression to his ideas in clay just as well as on canvas4 ,there is no necessity for his learning to work out detail in the clay2 he need never model nose1 eyes1 or mouth1 and still less fingers and toes1 but he ought to be able to give proportion and action to a small clay figure1 just as easily as he would sketch with charcoal on a sheet of paper4 ,before ,i have done with my little clay figures1 ,i think it right to caution you against relying too implicitly on the effects of light and shade of your miniature figures4 ,they are intended to serve as aids1 but not as models to be servilely copied4 ,when copied too closely1 the shades are generally too black1 and there is an absence of half-tones1 which gives rather a harsh look to the picture4 ,an ingenious fellow-student of mine improved on the method by rigging up a light semi-transparent canvas box instead of the wooden one4 ,he cut the usual opening to admit the light1 and the canvas sides of the box let in just daylight enough to take away all unnatural blackness from the shadows4 ,it may be asked3 ,why have a box at all8 ,why not model the little figures1 clothe them1 and put them on your studio table8 ,in the first place1 the light you require for your picture may be dissimilar to the light of your studio2 and1 secondly1 one of the principal advantages of the box system is that the sides of the box represent the sides of the hall or room of the picture1 so that you see at a glance how the shadows of the groups are cast1 you see which portions of the figures stand out dark1 and which light1 against the background4 ,in short1 you get a much more complete idea of what you propose painting than you could possibly manage in any other way4 ,for out-of-door subjects1 where the light ought to be generally diffused1 this method is altogether inapplicable1 but for any prison1 catacomb1 or cloister scene1 it will be found extremely useful4 ,in a composition of several figures1 you will1 after arranging your groups1 often find large portions of the ground or floor space unoccupied4 ,don't be in a hurry to fill up these spaces with unmeaning accessories4 ,they are sometimes most valuable1 as giving rest to the eye1 and ought often to be preserved4 ,at any rate1 they ought never to be filled up promiscuously with objects which do not assist in telling the story4 ,i remember when ,i was a student we had a stopgap always ready in the shape of a pot of some sort or other4 ,if ,joseph was being sold by his brethren1 and there was an awkward corner in the foreground1 we would put in a water-pot4 ,the ,egyptian merchants who bought him would be sure to carry large pots with them4 ,if neas was escaping from ,troy with his father on his back1 there would certainly be a large amphora in the corner1 supposed to be too heavy for him to carry4 ,the captive ,jews could not wail by the waters of ,babylon without a whole set of pots occupying the nooks and corners of the composition4 ,now1 an ,oriental water-jar or an ,etruscan vase may be beautiful objects and nice things to paint1 but this is no reason why they should be invariably used as stop-gaps4 ,in a subject like ,hagar in the desert1 the empty water-bottle is an essential element in the story2 or again1 in ,rebecca at the well1 you may paint pots to your heart's content1 but in subjects where they are out of place it is best to refrain if you possibly can4 ,all stop-gaps are very objectionable2 and if ,i mention this particular kind1 it is because it is the one usually resorted to4 ,i do not by any means wish to imply that you are to leave a disagreeable vacant corner unoccupied1 but whatever you put in it1 whether it be some cast-off cloak1 fruit1 or flowers1 dog or cat1 or even the irrepressible jar1 it ought not to look as if it had been purposely put there to fill up a hole4 ,doubtless it would be put there with that intention1 but the artifice ought not to be readily detected4 ,my main object to-night has been to impress upon you that in designing figure-subjects you are not to take the first commonplace ideas which may occur to you1 but to reason your subject out1 and select whatever treatment you think most telling4 ,by so doing1 you are on the only true high-road to originality4 ,there is a kind of originality1 or rather eccentricity1 which may be easily enough attained by ignoring the natural laws of action1 of light1 and of color2 but ,i am speaking of originality united with excellence4 ,this1 ,i am convinced1 is seldom 7if ever7 attained by sitting idle and waiting for some happy thought to turn up4 ,you must use your brains constantly1 from the first charcoal sketch down to the finishing-touches on the ,exhibition walls4 ,before closing this course of lectures1 ,i should wish to disclaim any desire of imposing my individual opinions upon any of you4 ,like every one who has thought a good deal about painting and painters1 ,i have formed my own ideas1 and have1 ,i think1 expressed them pretty freely2 but it would be quite contrary to my theory of free thought in art that you should accept as proven all the opinions ,i have expressed4 ,art 7as ,i have already observed7 is not a science4 ,i cannot take up the white chalk and prove to you by x y that my views are right and all others wrong4 ,what would become of our friends the critics1 if this could be done8 ,but although all assertions on art must be mere expressions of individual opinion1 it appears to me that the professor of such a many-sided art as painting is better employed in giving his honest convictions 7whether they coincide or not with the prevalent opinion of the day7 than in prudently confining himself to dry history or hazy sthetics4 ,,the ,,end4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,publications ,,of ,g4 ,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons4 ,method of ,learning to ,draw from ,memory4 ,by ,,madame ,e4 ,,cave4 ,from #dth ,parisian ,edition1 #abmo1 cloth #a #jj 8,this is the only method of drawing which really teaches anything4 ,mme4 ,cave 99 99 99 renders invaluable service to all who have marked out for themselves a career of ,art40--,extract from a long review in the 8,revue des ,deux ,mondes10 written by ,,delacroix4 8,it is interesting and valuable40--,d4 ,,huntington1 ,pres4 ,nat4 ,acad4 8,should be used by every teacher of drawing in ,america40--,city ,item1 ,phila4 8,we wish that ,madame ,cave had published this work half a century ago1 that we might have been instructed in this enviable accomplishment40--,harper's ,mag4 ,method of ,teaching ,color4 ,by ,,madame ,,cave4 #abmo1 cloth #a #jj ,this work was referred by the ,french ,minister of ,public ,instruction to a commission of ten eminent artists and officials1 whose report1 written by ,m4 ,,delacroix1 was unanimously adopted1 indorsing and approving the work4 ,the ,minister thereupon1 by a special decree1 authorized the use of it in the ,french normal schools4 8,i cannot too highly commend these volumes4 ,they are a perfect god-send to all students40--,,annie ,j4 ,,kirk1 ,chicago4 ,methode ,cave1 pour apprendre a dessiner juste de mmoire d'aprs les principes ,d',,albert ,,durer et de ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,approved by the ,minister of ,public ,instruction1 and by ,messrs4 ,delacroix1 ,h4 ,verbet1 etc4 ,in eight series1 folio1 paper covers4 ,price #b #be each4 ,shaded ,models for more advanced students from #ge cents to #c #jj per plate4 ,n4 ,b4--,the ,crayons1 ,paper1 and other articles mentioned in the ,cave ,method may be obtained of any dealer in ,artists' ,materials4 ,linear ,perspective4 ,by ,,henry ,,hodge1 of the ,winchester ,school4 #dto1 boards #ge 8,i find this work excellently suited to my needs40--,a4 ,,colin1 ,scientific ,training ,school1 ,new ,york4 ,pottery3 ,how it is ,made1 ,its ,shape and ,decoration4 ,by ,,george ,,ward ,,nichols4 ,practical instructions for ,painting on ,porcelain and all kinds of ,pottery1 with vitrifiable and common oil color2 with a full bibliography of standard works upon the ,ceramic ,art1 and #db illustrations4 #abmo1 boards #a #be 8,attractive1 practical and suggestive4 99 99 99 ,we commend it most heartily to all who take any interest in the subject of ,pottery40--,boston ,traveller4 ,perspective4 ,the ,theory and ,practice of ,linear ,perspective1 applied to ,landscapes1 ,interiors1 and the ,figure1 for the use of ,artists1 ,art-,students1 etc4 ,by ,v4 ,,pellegrin1 ,m4,s4,a41 ,professor at the ,military ,school of ,st4 ,cyr4 #abmo1 with chart #a #jj 8,i can say nothing but good of this little book40--,prof4 ,f4 ,l4 ,,vinton1 ,school of ,mines1 ,columbia ,college4 8,comprehensive1 and contains all that the student requires40--,,virginia ,,granbery1 ,prof4 of ,drawing1 ,packer ,institute1 ,brooklyn4 8,the most practical work on the subject ,i have seen40--,m4 ,,morse1 ,prof4 of ,drawing1 ,new ,york4 8,thoroughly scientific and thoroughly practical40--,,susan ,v4 ,,carter1 ,prin4 ,school of ,design1 ,cooper ,union1 ,new ,york4 ,conversations on ,art ,methods4 ,by ,,thomas ,,couture4 ,translated from the ,french1 by ,s4 ,e4 ,,stewart4 ,with an introduction by ,,robert ,,swain ,,gifford4 #a #be 8,mr4 ,couture was not only an artist1 but the sharpest literary critic of his day4 ,it is safe to say that no volume of the size contains so much of value for the artist-student as this handsome little volume1 so admirably translated by ,mr4 ,stewart40--,chicago ,inter-,ocean4 8,a most readable and entertaining work40--,commonwealth4 8,couture talks with charming freedom on all subjects--on the critic1 on woman1 on the recent school of art1 on the great old masters1 on the divine art4 ,it is all delightful40--,hartford ,courant4 8,the simple way in which the book is written gives a pleasure to its perusal1 which the translation has well succeeded in preserving40--,art ,interchange4 8,the work is thoroughly fascinating1 and will be warmly welcomed and eagerly read by all40--,boston ,transcript4 8,the book itself is of rare value4 ,the faithful1 spirited translation is in such good ,english that it might be taken for an original work40--,newport ,daily ,news4 8,it is amusing to the general reader1 and it is of great practical value to the art student4 ,m4 ,couture's manner is conversational and familiar1 so that when1 as he often must1 he deals with the technicalities of his subject1 he is never dry or obscure40--,worcester ,spy4 8,very curious and suggestive are ,couture's ideas about the old masters and the modern ,french painters4 ,the great point in all his book is to impress on artists that they should dare1 above all things1 to be themselves40--,new ,york ,times4 8,a volume so characteristic1 so entirely stamped with the individuality of the writer1 that those who know him recognize his peculiar expressions1 his eccentricities of manner1 and almost seem to see his familiar gestures through its pages4 99 99 99 ,it should be in the hands of every student1 and many besides artists will find a charm and a pleasure in reading it4 ,it will take an important place in art literature40--,catholic ,world4 8,we heartily recommend the book to all who are seeking to cultivate their artistic perceptions1 whether as practical artists or connoisseurs40--,christian ,union4 8,artists cannot fail to derive many valuable suggestions from this work1 even though they do not agree with some of the radical ideas of the author1 and to all who are interested in art it will prove of much interest40--,boston ,post4 8,m4 ,couture has laid bare1 in these #8,conversations1' the whole theory and practice of painting4 ,the philosophy of the delightful art is made clear1 and the application of obvious principles is so precisely defined that the student can be at no loss to comprehend the groundwork of his art40--,new ,orleans ,picayune4 8,this fascinating little book is thrice welcome4 ,it is important to the practical painter1 valuable to the connoisseur and cultivated art-critic1 and interesting to the general reader4 ,it is the work of an artist with his pen as well as with his brush2 the composition forming a beautiful and artistic poem rendered in the most rhythmical prose4 ,we close this book with regret1 it is a rare treat1 and we feel assured no one will read it once without turning to it again and again40--,robinson's ,epitome of ,literature4 ,,works ,,on ,,art4 ,,learning ,,to ,,draw2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,a ,,young ,,designer4 ,by ,,viollet ,,le ,,duc4 ,translated by ,,virginia ,,champlin4 ,octavo1 with #acj illustrations4 #b #jj ,a work full of practical suggestions1 not only for the student of art or of decorative designing1 but for students and teachers in other departments4 ,the author's theories of the art of teaching are both original and practical4 ,,art ,,suggestions ,,from ,,the ,,masters4 ,selected from the ,works of ,artists and ,writers on ,art1 with ,reference to their ,practical ,value for ,art ,students4 ,compiled by ,,susan ,n4 ,,carter1 ,principal of the ,woman's ,art ,school1 ,cooper ,union4 #a #be ,,conversations ,,on ,,art ,,methods4 ,by ,,thomas ,,couture4 ,translated from the ,french1 by ,s4 ,e4 ,,stewart4 ,with an ,introduction by ,,robert ,,swain ,,gifford4 #a #be _/ ,,contents3 ,elementary ,drawing--,elementary ,principles of ,drawing from ,nature--,the ,first ,principles of ,painting--,the ,occupation of a ,young ,painter first ,commencing his ,art--,elements of ,composition--,introduction to ,high ,art--,on ,drawing in its most ,beautiful ,expression--,the ,portrait--,confession--,the ,times in which we ,live--,the ,critic--,a ,review of the ,schools for more than ,thirty ,years--,the ,golden ,medium--,jean ,goujon--,monsieur ,x--,eugene ,delacroix--,decamps--,on ,painting--,titian--,the ,sketch--,on ,composition--,simplicity in ,composition--,exaltation--,originality- -,a few ,words on ,antique ,art--,on ,french ,art--,prudhon--,the ,fathers of their ,country--,my ,master ,gros--,is ,art ,superior to ,nature8--,divine ,art--,adieu4 8,this fascinating little book is thrice welcome4 ,it is important to the practical painter1 valuable to the connoisseur and cultivated art critic1 and interesting to the general reader4 ,it is the work of an artist with his pen as well as with his brush1 the composition forming a beautiful and artistic poem rendered in the most rhythmical prose4 ,we close this book with regret2 it is a rare treat2 and we feel assured no one will read it once without turning to it again and again40--,robinson's ,epitome of ,literature4 8,very curious and suggestive are ,couture's ideas about the old masters and the modern ,french painters4 ,the great point in all this book is to impress on artists that they should dare1 above all things1 to be themselves40--,new ,york ,times4 8,a volume so characteristic1 so entirely stamped with the individuality of the writer1 that those who know him recognize his peculiar expressions1 his eccentricities of manner1 and almost seem to see his familiar gestures through its pages4 99 99 99 ,it should be in the hands of every student1 and many besides artists will find a charm and a pleasure in reading it4 ,it will take an important place in art literature40--,catholic ,world4 8,we heartily recommend the book to all who are seeking to cultivate their artistic perceptions1 whether as practical artists or connoisseurs40--,christian ,union4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,publications ,,of ,g4 ,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons4 ,,art1 ,,general ,,and ,,technical4 ,,art ,,hand-,,books 7,,putnam',s ,,series ,,of74 ,edited by ,,susan ,n4 ,,carter1 ,supt4 of ,woman's ,art ,school of ,cooper ,union3 ,i4--,sketching from ,nature4 ,by ,,thomas ,,rowbotham4 ,reprinted from the thirty-eighth ,english edition4 #bg illustrations4 #afmo1 boards #ej ,,ii4--,landscape ,painting in ,oil ,colors4 ,by ,w4 ,,williams4 ,reprinted from the thirty-fourth ,english edition4 #afmo1 boards #ej ,,iii4--,flower ,painting4 ,by ,mrs4 ,,wm4 ,,duffield4 ,reprinted from the twelfth ,english edition4 #ab illustrations4 #afmo1 boards #ej ,,iv4--,figure ,drawing4 ,by ,c4 ,h4 ,,weigall #ej ,v4--,water-,color ,painting4 ,by ,,aaron ,,pauley4 ,reprinted from the thirty-eighth ,english edition4 #afmo1 boards #ej ,,vi4--,an ,artistic ,treatise on the ,human ,figure4 ,by ,,henry ,,warren4 #afmo1 boards #ej ,,vii4--,sketching in ,water-,colors4 ,by ,,hatton #ej ,,viii4--,drawing in ,black and ,white1 ,charcoal1 ,crayon1 ,pencil1 and ,pen and ,ink4 ,by ,s4 ,m4 ,,carter #ej 8,we can1 from personal knowledge1 recommend them as excellent hand-books for amateurs40--,christian ,union4 8,the rules and principles they lay down are safe and practical guides to the student40--,n4 ,e4 ,journal of ,education4 ,,art ,,suggestions ,,from ,,the ,,masters4 ,selected from the works of artists and writers of art1 with reference to their practical value for art students4 ,compiled by ,,susan ,n4 ,,carter1 ,principal of the ,woman's ,art ,school1 ,cooper ,union4 #abmo1 cloth extra #a #be 8,full of good advice1 and of interest and importance to students1 artists1 and lovers of art40--,n4 ,y4 ,herald4 8,a good idea1 deserving of success4 ,the volume is made up of artistic and often brilliant selections40--,philadelphia ,times4 ,,cav 7,e47 ,method of ,learning to ,draw from ,memory4 ,from fourth ,parisian edition4 #abmo1 cloth #a #jj 8,this is the ,,only ,,method ,,of ,,drawing ,,which ,,really ,,teaches ,,anything4 ,mme4 ,cav 99 99 99 renders invaluable service to all who have marked out for themselves a career of art40--,extract from a long review in the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes1 written by ,,delacroix4 ,a work full of practical suggestions1 not only for the student of art or of decorative designing1 but for students and teachers in other departments4 ,the author's theories of the art of teaching are both original and practical4 8,it is a valuable1 carefully-prepared work1 full of practical hints and suggestions from one who had attained preminence in his special field of work40--,chicago ,tribune4 ,,lukin 7,,john7 ,the ,young ,mechanic2 ,practical ,carpentry4 ,containing directions for the use of all kinds of tools1 and for the construction of steam-engines and mechanical models2 including the art of turning in wood and metal4 ,by the author of 8,the ,lathe and its ,uses10 etc4 ,authorized reprint from the ,english edition1 with corrections1 etc4 ,illustrated4 ,small #dto1 cloth extra #a #ge 8,a valuable book1 eminently useful to beginners1 and suggestive even to the experienced and skilful40--,albany ,journal4 ---- ,amongst ,machines4 8,the ,boy with an ,idea ,series40 ,by the author of 8,the ,young ,mechanic40 ,embracing descriptions of the various mechanical appliances used in the manufacture of wood1 metal1 and other substances4 ,profusely illustrated4 #hvo1 cloth #a #ge 8,a book of wondrous fascination1 written in a clear1 bright1 pointed style4 ,a volume to be commended above a dozen stories40--,boston ,traveller4 ---- ,the ,boy ,engineers2 ,what they did and ,how they did it4 ,a book for boys4 ,fully illustrated4 #hvo1 cloth extra #a #ge 8,practical1 suggestive1 and full of interest40--,st4 ,louis ,globe-,democrat4 ---- ,the ,amateur ,mechanic's ,workship4 ,a treatise1 containing plain and concise directions for the manipulation of wood and metals2 including casting1 forging1 brazing1 soldering1 and carpentry4 ,by the author of 8,the ,young ,mechanic40 ,sixth edition4 ,illustrated4 #hvo #c #jj ,,nichols 7,,geo4 ,,ward1 author of 8,art ,education ,applied to ,industry407 ,pottery3 ,how it is ,made1 its ,shape and ,decoration4 ,practical instructions for painting on porcelain and all kinds of pottery with vitrifiable and common oil color2 with a full bibliography of standard works upon the ceramic art1 and #db illustrations4 #abmo1 boards #a #be 8,attractive1 practical1 and suggestive4 99 99 99 ,we commend it most heartily to all who take any interest in the subject of pottery40--,boston ,traveller4 ,,pellegrin 7,v41 ,m4,s4,a41 ,professor at the ,military ,school of ,st4 ,cyr47 ,perspective4 ,the ,theory and ,practice of ,linear ,perspective1 applied to ,landscapes1 ,interiors and the ,figure1 for the use of ,artists1 ,art ,students1 etc4 #abmo1 with chart #a #jj 8,we know of no work on the subject in which so much invaluable material is condensed40--,prof4 ,,thompson1 of ,rensselaer ,institute1 ,troy1 ,n4 ,y4 8,i can say nothing but good of this little book40--,prof4 ,j4 ,l4 ,,vinton1 ,school of ,mines1 ,columbia ,college4 8,comprehensive1 and contains all that the student requires40--,,virginia ,,granbery1 ,prof4 of ,drawing1 ,packer ,institute1 ,brooklyn4 8,the most practical work on the subject ,i have seen40--,m4 ,,morse1 ,prof4 of ,drawing1 ,new ,york4 8,the idea of the work is excellent40--,s4 ,,edward ,,warren1 ,boston4 8,thoroughly scientific and thoroughly practical40--,,susan ,n4 ,,carter1 ,prin4 ,school of ,design1 ,cooper ,union1 ,new ,york4 ,,rydberg 7,,viktor7 ,roman ,days4 ,translated by ,,alfred ,,corning ,,clark1 with ,memoir of the author by ,h4 ,a4 ,w4 ,,lindehn4 ,illustrated4 #hvo1 cloth #b #jj ,the volume embodies the results of careful historical studies1 and gives some legendary matters not heretofore brought forward4 ,the art criticisms are the work of a poet and scholar2 the brief historical and topographical sketches1 those of a clear-headed philosopher and eager traveller1 a quick observer1 a man of general and thorough culture4 ,the book is a picturesque mosaic of the many brilliant1 sober1 gay1 comic1 dramatic1 tragic1 poetic1 vulgar elements that make up the past history of that wonderful city and the physiognomy it bears to-day4 8,we welcome this work from the hardy ,north for its broad scholarship1 its freshness and ripeness4 ,the articles betray an artistic discrimination rare in one not a sculptor by profession1 and experienced and enthusiastic in that art4 ,rydberg possesses the pure plastic spirit40--,n4 ,y4 ,herald4 ,,technical ,,drawing ,,and ,,design4 ,for ,architects and ,builders1 ,carpenters1 etc4 ,in #b parts1 #dto1 boards4 ,part ,i1 ,outline ,drawing1 with #bi plates #a #jj ,part ,,ii1 in press4 ,,tomkins 7,prof4 ,e41 ,queen's ,college1 ,liverpool47 ,machine ,construction and ,drawing4 ,in ,elementary ,series4 #afmo1 with plates #ge ---- ,in ,advanced ,series4 ,text #abmo1 plates4 #dto4 ,in preparation4 ,illustrated #c #ge ,,treadwell 7,john ,h47 ,pottery and ,porcelain4 ,a ,manual for ,amateurs4 ,illustrated4 #hvo1 gilt top #b #ge 8,a highly creditable and most useful addition to ,american art literature40--,n4 ,y4 ,nation4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,for the reason stated in my preface1 ,i have not thought it expedient to publish my lectures on the great masters of the fifteenth1 sixteenth1 and seventeenth centuries4 #b ,these uncouth attitudes are faithful reproductions of ,nos4 #a and #g of the instantaneous photographic series4 #c ,the old masters used terra verte for this preparatory modelling2 but modern terra verte will not withstand the action of the lime1 so it is necessary to compound a substitute1 and the above mixture answers very well4 #d ,taken from the 8,acouchement de la ,reine0 7one of the 8,medici0 series7 by ,rubens4 #e ,all these diagrams illustrate a faulty arrangement4