,,books ,,by ,,prof4 ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ,art for ,art's #a4ej ,sake4 ,university ,lectures on the ,technical ,beauties of ,painting4 ,with #bd ,illustrations4 #abmo ,the ,meaning of net ,pictures4 #a4be ,university ,lectures at the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york4 ,with #ca ,illustrations4 #abmo ,studies in net ,pictures4 ,an #a4be ,introduction to the ,famous ,galleries4 ,with #dj ,illustrations4 #abmo ,what is ,art8 net ,studies in the #a4jj ,technique and ,criticism of ,painting4 #abmo ,text ,book of the #a4ej ,history of ,painting4 ,with #aaj ,illustrations4 #abmo ,old ,dutch and #g4ej ,flemish ,masters4 ,with ,timothy ,cole's ,wood-,engravings4 ,superroyal #hvo ,old ,english #h4jj ,masters4 ,with ,timothy ,cole's ,wood-,engravings4 ,superroyal #hvo ,modern ,french #aj4jj ,masters4 ,written by ,american ,artists and ,edited by ,prof4 ,van ,dyke4 ,with #ff ,full-page ,illustrations4 ,superroyal #hvo ,nature for ,its ,own #a4ej ,sake4 ,first ,studies in ,natural ,appearances4 ,with ,portrait4 #abmo ,the ,desert4 net ,further ,studies in #a4be ,natural ,appearances4 ,with ,frontispiece4 #abmo ,the ,opal ,sea4 net ,continued ,studies #a4be in ,impressions and ,appearances4 ,with ,frontispiece4 #abmo ,the ,money ,god4 net ,chapters of ,heresy #a4jj and ,dissent concerning ,business ,methods and ,mercenary ,ideals in ,american ,life4 #abmo ,the ,new ,new ,york4 net ,a ,commentary on #d4jj the ,place and the ,people4 ,with #abe ,illustrations by ,joseph ,pennell ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,illustration3 ,,palma ,,vecchio1 ,santa ,barbara 7detail7 ,s4 ,m4 ,formosa1 ,venice4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,pictures ,,six ,,lectures ,,given ,,for ,,columbia ,,university ,,at ,,the ,,metropolitan ,,museum ,,of ,,art ,,by ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ,,author ,,of 8,,art ,,for ,,art',s ,,sake10 8,,nature ,,for ,,its ,,own ,,sake10 ,,etc4 ,,with ,,illustrations ,,new ,,york ,,charles ,,scribner',s ,,sons #aiaa ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,copyright1 #aijh1 ,,by ,,charles ,,scribner',s ,,sons ,published1 ,february1 #aijh ,illustration ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,to ,,william ,,crary ,,brownell ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,preface ,,just how we should look at pictures1 just how we should judge of them1 is not for any one person to say4 ,we all have our different ways of estimating art2 and art is capable of being estimated in different ways4 ,in these lectures ,i have endeavored to set forth the various points of view4 ,the painter's conception has received perhaps the primary attention1 but ,i have given the public's conception of the picture also4 ,nor do ,i mean to apologize for arguing both sides of the case4 ,art might be better understood1 if there were less special pleading and theorizing about it4 ,it is so largely dependent upon the individual make-up of the artist1 that any precise theory about it must fall short of the mark4 ,instead of quarrelling over terms and trying to put the opposition in the wrong1 it would be better frankly to examine the product in the light of the producer's intention and draw our conclusions from that4 ,we should not always agree1 but that is all the more reason for tolerance and liberality4 ,j4 ,c4 ,v4 ,d4 ,,rutgers ,,college1 ,november1 #aijb ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,contents ,,chapter ,i4 ,truth in ,painting4--,theory of #a realism--,the old masters as realists--,and the ,dutch painters--,absolute realism impossible--,the real and truth defined--,art a series of signs--,recognizing the convention--,in poetry1 music1 and painting--,grasping the artist's intention--,realism merely the elaboration of the sign--,millet vs4 ,meissonier--,attitude of the realists--,kinds of truth--,the camera vs4 the human eye--,individual truths--,national truths--,universal truths--,great art universal in scope--,greatness as shown in ,rembrandt1 ,titian1 and ,velasquez--,art truths both great and small--,millet vs4 ,grme--,truth by suggestion--,michael ,angelo and ,shakespeare--,the truth of history--,and of archology--,the truth of art--,the law of sacrifice1 ,velasquez vs4 ,bonnat--,realism not the sum-total of art--,but its value not to be denied ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,individuality or the ,personal #ca ,element4--,the personal equation--,variations in handwritings--,different points of view--,different views of landscape--,sketches of the model in the class-room--,variations in portraiture--,difference between the camera and our eyes--,individual styles in literature--,and in art--,personal qualities of the painter in his work--,carpaccio and ,bellini--,michael ,angelo in the ,sistine--,rembrandt in his pictures--,giorgione1 ,correggio1 ,corot1 ,raphael1 ,titian--,drer's 8,christ on the ,cross0--,the disagreeable personality in art--,vulgarity1 brutality1 and insipidity--,conceit in painting--,the insistent personality--,eccentricity vs4 individuality--,the lost individuality--,the copyist and the realist--,the academic pattern--,impersonal art--,great art above laws and formulas--,something more to painting than individuality and realism ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,imagination of the ,artist4--,the act #fj of seeing--,perception--,unconscious seeing--,colors as seen by the ancients--,seeing the model--,necessity of imaginative seeing--,the imagination as ordinarily employed--,as employed in portrait painting--,the distorted view--,the camera vs4 the eye of the artist--,michael ,angelo in the ,sistine again--,tintoretto's distortions--,claude ,monet's lights--,impossibility of creating anew--,the imagination separating a part from the whole--,in poetry and painting--,in coins1 marble1 and bronzes--,the combining imagination--,inspiration vs4 composition--,all the great masterpieces have been composed and labored over--,goethe's 8,faust0--8,the ,ancient ,mariner0--,turner's marines and ,venetian scenes as flights of imagination--,imagination of ,paolo ,veronese--,tintoretto's 8,ariadne and ,bacchus0--,his ,scuola ,san ,rocco pictures--,ruskin's explanation of them--,fancy--,the serious vs4 the clever in painting--,the fantastic--,the bizarre--,caricature and the grotesque--,the bombastic and baroque ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,pictorial ,poetry4--,the argument for #hg poetry in art--,ideas suitable for different arts--,confusion of mediums of expression--,pictorial poetry not literary poetry--,painting deals with forms and colors1 not sound--,millet's 8,angelus0--,the division of the arts--,the time limit in painting--,the picture cannot disclose time--,what is pictorial poetry--,literary and pictorial themes--,writers who paint with words--,spenser1 ,shakespeare1 ,scott1 ,matthew ,arnold--,limits of pictorial expression--8,feeling0 in art--,sentiment and emotion1 how suggested--,feeling in literary poetry and in music--,also in painting--,religious feeling of early ,italians--,fra ,angelico1 7,benozzo7 ,gozzoli1 ,botticelli--,sincerity of ,carpaccio and ,bellini--,feeling for life1 light1 and color with ,giorgione and ,correggio--,the pathos of ,rembrandt--,and of ,millet--,the peasants of ,france and ,holland--,their beauty of character--,the poetry of landscapes1 of sea views1 of interiors--,indefiniteness of the pictorial thought--,the picture not a good vehicle for abstract ideas--,but well fitted for emotional expression--,poetry in the means of expression ,,chapter ,v4 ,the ,decorative ,quality4--,disagreement #aad between the painter and the public--,the 8average person0 in the gallery--,the painter in the gallery--,art as representation vs4 art as decoration--,the artist devoted to the decorative--,art has always been decorative--,origin of painting--,in the ,stone ,age--,primitive man as artist--,the artist in ,egypt--,in ,assyria and ,greece--,filling of space on ,greek coins--,the ,gothic ,age and decoration--,giotto1 ,masaccio--,line-composition with ,raphael and ,michael ,angelo--,light-and-shade composition with ,leonardo1 ,correggio1 ,giorgione--,color-composition with ,titian and ,paolo ,veronese--,art history explained on purely technical grounds--,titian and his ideas in art--,the ,decadence and why it came--,lack of technical skill--,why art flourished in the ,seventeenth ,century with ,rembrandt1 ,rubens1 and ,velasquez--,the decorative in modern art--,revision of technical methods by ,millet1 ,manet1 and ,monet--,advance of painting with new discoveries--,the spontaneity of art--,materials and the craftsman in literary art--,absence of the decorative in ,walt ,whitman and ,holman ,hunt--,the lasting value of the decorative--,the 8,venus of ,milo0 and ,titian's 8,sacred and ,profane ,love0--,and ,shakespeare again ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,subject in ,painting4--,art for the #aci artist--,the voice of the public in the work of art--,the old masters working for the ,church--,various views of art held by artists--,partisan views and their advocates--,extravagant views in literature--,mr4 ,whistler on painting--,advocates of the decorative only--,the meaning of pictures again--,the subject cannot be omitted--,mr4 ,whistler's marines--8,patriotism0 in painting--,velasquez1 ,rembrandt1 ,frans ,hals all show it--,all painting must illustrate something--,historical painting--,whistler and ,monet illustrating the social history of their time--,the illustrative quality of ,italian art--,whistler's 8,white ,girl0 vs4 ,palma ,vecchio's 8,santa ,barbara0--,the ,dutch as subject painters--,the historical landscapes of ,claude and ,turner--,the story in painting--,titian's 8,sacred and ,profane ,love0 once more--,the silly incident and the degradation of painting--,how the old masters worked upon given subjects--,the subject in the 8,sistine ,madonna0--,the subject in painting to be treated illustratively--,catholicity of taste--,education--,many elements united in 8great art0--,conclusion ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,palma ,,vecchio1 ,,st4 ,,barbara ,frontispiece 7,,detail74 ,,page ,i4 ,,holbein1 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,man1 #h ,,ii4 ,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 ,,adoration ,,of ,,kings #ab 7,,detail71 ,,iii4 ,,van ,,dyck1 ,,cornelius ,,van ,,der ,,geest1 #af ,,iv4 ,,millet1 ,,the ,,gleaners1 #bj ,v4 ,,paolo ,,veronese1 ,,marriage ,,in ,,cana1 #bd ,,vi4 ,,carpaccio1 ,,st4 ,,ursula ,,and ,,prince ,,of #bh ,,england 7,,detail71 ,,vii4 ,,bellini1 ,,madonna ,,and ,,saints1 #cf ,,viii4 ,,correggio1 ,,mystic ,,marriage ,,of ,,st4 #dj ,,catherine1 ,,ix4 ,,corot1 ,,landscape1 #dh ,x4 ,d,,rer1 ,,christ ,,on ,,the ,,cross1 #ef ,,xi4 ,,turner1 ,,the ,,fighting ,t,m,,raire1 #fd ,,xii4 ,,antonello ,,da ,,messina1 ,,portrait ,,of ,a #gj ,,man1 ,,xiii4 ,,velasquez1 ,,innocent ,x41 #gd ,,xiv4 ,,paolo ,,veronese1 ,,venice ,,enthroned1 #hj ,,xv4 ,,tintoretto1 ,,miracle ,,of ,,the ,,slave1 #hd ,,xvi4 ,,daubigny1 ,,spring1 #hh ,,xvii4 ,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 ,,adoration ,,of ,,kings #ib 7,,detail71 ,,xviii4 ,,van ,,dyck1 ,,jean ,,grusset ,,richardot1 #if ,,xix4 ,,gainsborough1 ,,mrs4 ,,siddons1 #ajj ,,xx4 ,g,r,,me1 ,,napoleon ,,before ,,the ,,sphinx1 #ajd ,,xxi4 ,,michael ,,angelo1 ,,delphic ,,sibyl1 #ajh ,,xxii4 ,,hals1 ,,the ,,jolly ,,man1 #aaf ,,xxiii4 ,,bonifazio ,,veronese1 ,,moses ,,saved #abj ,,from ,,the ,,nile1 ,,xxiv4 ,,giorgione1 ,,madonna ,,and ,,saints1 #abh ,,xxv4 ,,reynolds1 ,,lady ,,cockburn ,,and ,,family1 #acb ,,xxvi4 ,,claude ,,lorraine1 ,,flight ,,into ,,egypt1 #acf ,,xxvii4 ,,tintoretto1 ,,marriage ,,in ,,cana1 #adj ,,xxviii4 ,,raphael1 ,,sistine ,,madonna1 #adh ,,xxix4 ,,botticelli1 ,,allegory ,,of ,,spring1 #aeb ,,xxx4 ,,poussin1 ,,shepherds ,,in ,,arcadia1 #aef ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,pictures ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,pictures ,,chapter ,i ,,truth ,,in ,,painting ,,those people who go out into the highways of art crying1 ,haro6 ,haro6 in the name of realism1 would certainly gain their cause could numbers give them a verdict4 ,they have always been in evidence2 they have always made themselves heard4 ,there never was a time when the mob was not hungry for realities1 when artists were not harping upon 8truth to nature10 when critics were not concerned about 8the realistic tendencies of the age40 ,the interest in things as things and the art that hinges upon facts as facts were from the beginning4 ,for did not ,apelles paint horses so realistically that other horses neighed at the sight of the picture8 ,and did not ,zeuxis deceive the birds with his painted grapes1 and was not he himself deceived in turn by the painted curtain of ,parrhasios8 ,admitting the stories to be greatly exaggerated1 does not their very existence prove the liking for the realistic motive8 ,indeed1 the ,greeks were accounted very good realists in the days of their late power4 ,the ,pergamon frieze1 the 8,samothracian ,victory10 the 8,dying ,gaul0 give the proof4 ,and in earlier times they modelled and chiselled the ,parthenon marbles so true to life that ,william ,hazlitt based a theory of art upon them1 maintaining that the aim of art was the imitation of nature and the finest art was simply the imitation of the finest nature4 ,it was the realistic ,roman marbles1 founded upon those of ,greece1 that gave the first breath of inspiration to the painters of ,italy4 ,the ,renaissance nature-study that went hand in hand with the study of the ,greek was largely to enable the painters to reveal the model more completely1 to draw a leg or arm or face more exactly1 to place figures in an atmospheric envelope1 to reproduce a likeness of the landscape background4 ,if we examine the works of ,fra ,filippo1 ,botticelli1 or ,mantegna1 we shall find that there was more of the earthly in their painting than the mystic face of the ,madonna or the religious pathos of saints would disclose4 ,they were intent upon the reality before them and evidently for the reality's sake4 ,they delighted in drawing a foot and placing it firmly upon the ground1 in giving bulk1 body1 and weight to the figure1 in painting flowers1 leaves1 and fruits with precision1 in adjusting the exact relations of light-and-shade1 in catching the right tone of color4 ,it was all a close following of the model--a representation of nature itself or as near to it as they could attain4 ,but the ,dutch painters of the seventeenth century were far more rigid sticklers for the fact than the ,italians4 ,their work was essentially a portrait of ,holland and its people1 as ,fromentin has said1 wherein faithfulness to the model was a primary consideration4 ,from ,hals and ,rembrandt down to ,van ,mieris and ,schalken every ,dutchman considered an object as a plastic fact--a something not to be juggled with1 but to be rendered as truthfully as possible4 ,indeed1 it was the ,dutchmen who set the pace for all the moderns in what is called realism4 ,it was the five days upon a lady's hand--a day to each finger--of ,gerard ,dou that suggested the ten days to a shoe-buckle of ,meissonier4 ,all the modern contingent of genre painters and students of still-life who paint things that 8stand out0 are but a growth from the ,dutch4 ,the tradition has been handed down unimpaired1 losing none of its ancient positiveness1 but rather gaining some latter-day exactness in the process of transmission4 ,for just now realism in art seems more of a desideratum than ever4 ,and from the way the word 8truth0 is bandied about studio and gallery1 one might think it the only thing worth having in artistic equipment4 ,but we need not necessarily become either brow-beaten or bewildered by all this volume of talk about the real4 ,for1 bluntly stated1 there is no such thing as absolute realism in art4 ,the 8real0 is nature itself1 and 8truth0 is merely the report of nature made by man4 ,some cattle and horses standing under a tree in a meadow are a reality1 and your description or report of the scene1 either in words1 lines1 or colors1 would be the truth of the scene--that is1 provided your description was accurate4 ,under no circumstances is the report made by producing the real things in evidence4 ,it is practically impossible to do that in art4 ,any close attempt at doing it1 or misleading one into thinking he sees reality1 generally results in absurdity or repulsiveness4 ,what1 for instance1 could be more hideous than the wax figure in the museum8 ,or what more dull than the modern battle-panorama where dummy-figures and painted figures mingle to make up the scene8 ,art is far removed from such attempts4 ,instead of producing the real it merely implies or suggests the real by certain signs and symbols which we have agreed among ourselves to recognize as its equivalent4 ,if1 for instance1 we attempt to bring to the mind of another the thought of water we do not get a glassful of it and place it upon the table to show what we mean4 ,we simply say or write 8water0--a word of five letters which bears no likeness or resemblance whatever to the original1 yet brings the original to mind at once4 ,this is the linguistic sign for water4 ,the chemical sign for it1 ,h#b,o1 is quite as arbitrary1 but to the chemist it means water again4 ,and only a little less arbitrary are the artistic signs for it4 ,the old ,egyptian conveyed his meaning by drawing a zigzag up or down the wall2 ,turner in ,england often made the few horizontal scratches of a lead pencil do duty for it2 and in modern painting we have some blue paint touched with high lights to represent the same thing4 ,none of these signs attempts to produce the original or has any other meaning than to suggest the original4 ,they are signs which have meanings for us only because we agree to understand their meanings beforehand4 ,now this agreement to understand the sign is what might be called the recognition of the convention4 ,all art is in a measure conventional1 arbitrary--unreal if you please4 ,everyone knows that ,hamlet in real life would not talk blank verse with his latest breath4 ,the drama 7and all poetry for that matter7 is an absurdity if you insist upon asking3 ,is it natural8 ,it is not natural2 it is very artificial4 ,and unless you accept the artificial as symbolizing the natural1 unless you recognize the convention of metre and rhyme1 you are not in a position to appreciate verse4 ,the name of those who 8do not care for poetry0 is legion1 because they have not the proper angle of vision1 because they are out of focus4 ,and this is equally true of music4 ,tristan and ,isolde singing their loves at each other is sheer insanity from a realistic standpoint4 ,everyone knows that love in real life may do a good deal of sighing and sobbing1 but it does not burst forth into song4 ,the opera is a most palpable convention1 and the flow of music1 which so beautifully suggests the depths of passion and the heights of romance1 is but an arbitrary symbol of reality4 ,recognize this and you have taken the first step toward the understanding of art2 fail to recognize it and art must always be a closed book to you4 ,you will not perceive the artist's intention4 ,as a matter of fact we all do accept the convention in one form or another4 ,if a child standing at the blackboard should draw a horse with four chalk-lined legs and a chalk-lined body and head we should have no trouble in making it out as a horse4 ,and should we know it as a horse because of its truth to nature8 ,is a horse flat1 hairless1 colorless1 shadowless8 ,and has he a chalk line about him8 ,not at all4 ,the representation is but a sign or symbol which we have agreed to recognize as a horse4 ,it is a child's representation1 and it differs from a painter's representation of the same animal largely in the matter of trained skill and imaginative conception4 ,the fine portraits of ,holbein--than which there is nothing finer in painting--have that same rim about them 7,plate #a74 ,we call it ,holbein's 8clear outline10 but it is substantially the same thing4 ,and the etched landscapes of ,rembrandt--what could you have more arbitrary8 ,merely a few lines drawn with a swift hand1 a few scratches in a copper plate to represent sunlight1 and some cross-hatchings to represent shadow2 but how quickly we recognize their meanings6 ,if you will look closely at the wood engravings of ,timothy ,cole you will see the modelling of the faces brought out sometimes by long1 waving1 diagonal lines1 sometimes by dots and sometimes by checks and squares4 ,again could anything be more conventional8 ,but we have no trouble in making out the artist's intention4 ,we accept the convention from the start4 ,so it is that we do not necessarily grasp the intention by the fulness or elaborateness of the sign4 ,the painter1 from long experience1 from being more expert of hand1 is perhaps better able to exploit the sign than is the child2 but we do not fail in understanding the meaning of the childish outline4 ,there is a difference in sign making1 to be sure1 and that may make a great difference in art2 but there is little or no difference in the intention--the meaning of the sign4 ,the flat figures upon the ,greek vases are not quite like the outlined figures of ,raphael and ,ingres1 and still less like the figures of ,manet2 but they are all signs nevertheless4 ,manet used the patch of color instead of the rim or outline1 which is supposed to be a very fetching piece of realism2 but none of the representations is to be mistaken for reality4 ,the real is one thing2 the sign or symbol for it1 quite another thing4 ,what then is realism in art--this drawing of eyes that follow you about the room1 lips that seem parted as if to speak1 and hands that you could shake8 ,what is this painting of pots and pans to be picked up1 and cows that walk out of the canvas8 ,can we not define it as merely the adding-to1 the rounding1 the perfecting of the sign8 ,is it anything more than the telling of all the truths1 both great and small1 so that the veriest dunce in conventions shall not fail to recognize them8 ,illustration3 ,i4--,,holbein1 ,portrait of a ,man4 ,belvedere1 ,vienna4 ,to revert to our former illustrations1 perhaps ,ingres's rigid outline contains less truth--less important truths--than ,manet's color patch4 ,why8 ,because the figure in full light really has no rim about it4 ,it looks more like a patch of color relieved against other colors4 ,the rim or outline is childish1 primitive1 and originally came1 not from a direct study of the model but from studying the model's shadow or silhouette4 ,people of childish intelligence1 like the ,egyptian fellaheen1 for instance1 understand it very readily because of its simplicity and its arbitrary utterance2 but the more complex sign that deals with sunshine rather than the flattened shadow contains the greater truth4 ,therefore as regards the whole truth there is more of it in ,manet's figure than in ,ingres's4 ,additions to the sign1 such as effects of light-and-shade1 of color1 of surface texture1 of contour1 may tell us more about the object and add to the sum of truth and the perfection of the sign2 and yet these may not change in any way the significance of the sign4 ,the most elaborate human being that a ,meissonier could paint would still be only the individual symbol of a man1 and in that respect would not be different from the incised outline of ,rameses the ,great upon a ,theban wall4 ,you will understand1 of course1 that there are painters who use the sign to convey a meaning--use it as one might words and sentences4 ,millet1 in writing to a friend1 said3 8,all art is a language and language is made to express thoughts40 ,of that ,i shall have something to say later2 but just now ,i wish to call your attention to the fact that the realist does not agree with ,millet1 that he is not concerned with ulterior meanings1 that in fact he rather despises them4 ,for realism1 broadly speaking1 means a pot for a pot's sake1 or a cow for a cow's sake1 which is to say a sign for a sign's sake4 ,the ,gerard ,dous and the ,meissoniers rather plume themselves upon being expert sign-makers4 ,their art usually goes no farther than excellent craftsmanship4 ,they draw and paint skilfully1 decoratively1 telling everything about the model before them1 from an eyelash to a boot-strap2 and there they stop4 ,they give forth an official report which may be true enough from their point of view and yet contain not an idea worth the contemplating1 not a thought worth the thinking4 ,but that does not in any way disturb the poise of the realist4 ,he is ready to answer you that 8beauty is truth and truth beauty0--an aphorism that sounds like argument and yet is only assumption4 ,but let us look into the matter a little farther and ask3 ,what is the truth which they claim to have8 ,is it the vital truth or the only truth1 and are there not varieties1 grades1 and degrees of truth in painting as in the other departments of art and life8 ,i have no wish to deny that realism1 so-called1 makes up one kind of art2 but let us push our inquiry farther afield and find out if possible what is the basis of the realistic picture4 8,truth10 we have already affirmed1 8is the report of nature made by man40 ,we may cast out the child's report about the horse because it is incomplete1 immature4 ,it is made up of all the errors of the untrained hand and eye1 and though it has a certain personality about it1 and gives us a child's idea of a horse1 yet it cannot be considered as an entirely truthful record4 ,the report of the camera1 if it be true or false we do not know4 ,light flashes and the horse's silhouette is instantly caught and fixed upon the plate2 but ,i need not tell you that light does not flash into the human eye1 and the silhouette is not instantly fixed upon the human retina in the same way4 ,nor need ,i tell you that eyes vary more widely in the way they see than do cameras4 ,which then tells the truth8 ,that the camera always records the same does not prove that it always records truly4 ,it may always record falsely4 ,at least the human eye sees differently from the camera1 and the ultimate decision as to truth must be referred back to the eye4 ,it may not be an infallible register1 but it is the best we have4 ,for all human knowledge must base itself upon human sensation4 ,the horse of the child being incomplete and that of the camera misleading1 we return to the work of the painter and ask3 ,what of the horse of ,apelles8 ,can that stand as the final truth8 ,the story of its deceiving other horses we may put aside as pure romance1 but undoubtedly the picture was emphasized in its modelling--pushed hard in its high lights--to make the horse 8stand out40 ,granted a truth of relief and perhaps a truth of surface1 are these the only truths about the horse8 ,and do they make the standard to which art and artists must bow8 ,not necessarily4 ,we have had hundreds of painters since ,apelles's time who have painted hundreds of horses1 perhaps quite as true to nature as his1 but never a one of them saw or painted a horse in just the way ,apelles did4 ,and now we are confronted with the fact that if there are many men of many minds in this world of ours there are also many men with many eyes4 ,no two pairs of eyes see alike4 ,are we to infer then that any one pair of eyes or any one race or its school of painters sees truth and all the others see only error8 ,is truth on one side of the ,alps and falsehood on the other8 ,titian in ,italy made a different report of nature from ,rembrandt in ,holland--which told the truth8 ,does truth abide exclusively in the ,orient or the ,occident8 ,a landscape in ,japan by ,hokousai1 how very different from a ,seine landscape by ,daubigny6 ,but is either of them false8 ,and after all does not something of truth--,i do not say the whole of it--consist in the fidelity with which the point of view is maintained8 ,we must cultivate liberality in this matter4 ,for ,creation ordained that there should be a ,babel of eyes1 all seeing differently1 and consequently there must be a standard of truth peculiar to each individual4 ,illustration3 ,,ii4--,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 ,adoration of ,kings 7detail74 ,riccardi ,palace1 ,florence4 ,does 8truth to nature0 then mean to each man what his eyes tell him and to each painter what the sincerity of his make-up enables him to record8 ,yes1 certainly2 but1 mind you1 it may be a very limited truth1 not necessarily an absolute truth1 not a world-embracing truth applicable to all classes and conditions of men4 ,the child with his chalk-lined horse may be maintaining his childish point of view with the utmost fidelity1 but it is apparent from his drawing that he does not fully comprehend his subject1 does not see the object in its entirety4 ,the horses by ,spinello ,aretino1 shown in his ,campo ,santo pictures at ,pisa1 are not very different from the child's conception4 ,they contain more truths without by any means being exhaustive4 ,they are still crude1 but true enough as regards the maintenance of the point of view4 ,the fine horses of ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 in the ,riccardi palace fresco 7,plate #b71 are an improvement upon those of ,spinello without being complete1 and the ,gattamelata horse of ,donatello1 the ,colleoni of ,verrocchio1 may make us enthusiastic about the special truth of their pushing power1 and again not make a full report of the horse4 ,perhaps when we reach the height of realism and come to a horse as seen by ,grme or ,rosa ,bonheur we are not so pleased with it as with ,benozzo's square-framed beast2 but that may be for a cause which we shall discuss hereafter4 ,the completeness of the truth1 the fulness of the report1 may not be denied1 however wearisome it may be as art4 ,now we must add to this individuality1 which everyone possesses in measure and which must warp the vision somewhat1 a further influence or bias which the individual takes from his race and his country4 ,i have already asked ,pascal's question about truth being on one side of the ,alps and error on the other side4 ,applied to the arts it is pertinent to inquire3 ,is a ,siena landscape by ,pintoricchio false because it does not look like a ,vosges landscape by ,courbet8 ,not at all4 ,they are both true--that is1 not only true to locality but true to that native flavor which makes a pine-tree in ,japanese art look 8,japanesey0 and a pine-tree in ,norwegian art look ,norwegian4#a ,moreover1 each landscape is true in exhibiting its time1 its country1 and its race4 ,the ,pintoricchio shows the attenuated purist landscape of the ,tuscan country--the landscape admirably suited to serve as a background for the sensitive1 sentimental saints he depicted4 ,it speaks truly enough for a portion of ,italy during the ,early ,renaissance1 that portion which lies in the ,tuscan country2 but it goes no farther4 ,giovanni ,bellini at ,venice was ,italian1 too2 but he was at this very time producing quite a different landscape--one that spoke for the mountainous country lying to the north of ,venice1 but not for ,tuscany4 ,the landscape by ,courbet is not so limited4 ,it is nineteenth-century work and has the advantage of the great advance made in landscape work since the ,renaissance2 and yet no one could fail to see that it was ,french1 that it depicted a ,french country in a ,french way4 ,with all its large truth of appearance it shows its localized ,parisian point of view4 ,to be sure ,paris in ,courbet's day was very cosmopolitan4 ,his vision was broader1 his grasp of truths greater than the sculptor who carved1 in bas-relief1 ,sargon feasting with his wives2 but nevertheless the local truths of ,france and of ,assyria are each apparent in each4 ,footnote #a3 8,if we will take the trouble to look at the wood-cuts illustrative of some given celebrity as they appear in the illustrated newspapers of various nations1 we shall see that1 though copied very mechanically from the same photograph1 ,mr4 ,gladstone becomes a ,frenchman in ,france1 a ,spaniard in ,spain1 and1 though less visible to us1 in the same way the ,continental1 the ,spaniard1 or the ,frenchman becomes ,english in the engraving of an ,english magazine4 ,even in the handling of the tool called the graver which cuts the wood there is1 then1 a nationality40--,,john ,,la ,,farge1 in ,international ,monthly1 ,nov41 #aijj4 ,is every artist then biassed in his conception of truth by his race and age2 and is every art significant of its environment8 ,certainly4 ,thus far in the world's history all art has been provincial--expressive at least of a nationality if not of a locality4 ,the art of ,holland in the sixteenth century never travelled beyond the dikes and dunes except in the case of a genius like ,rembrandt4 ,as a truth for universal application a roystering party by ,jan ,steen would go no farther to-day than a garden party under the cherry blossoms by ,hiroshighe4 ,both are peculiarly provincial and belong in their own lands with their own peoples4 ,outside of their own countries they meet with appreciative understanding only from the artistic few4 ,a century ago no one in the ,anglo-,saxon or ,teutonic world cared very much for ,dutch art1 and not fifty years ago ,japanese art was regarded as little more than an interesting absurdity because of its unfamiliar perspective4 ,neither of them at this day has any world-wide reach4 ,they have not travelled to us1 but the cosmopolitan art-lover has gone out and discovered them4 ,transportation may eventually make us all cosmopolitan--make all art kin2 but it has not done so as yet4 ,of course all painting is not so strictly local as the pictures of ,jan ,steen and ,hiroshighe would suggest4 ,a work of art1 in subject and in method1 appeals more strongly perhaps to its own people than to any other--an ,osiris to an ,egyptian1 a ,zeus to a ,greek1 and a ,madonna to a ,christian4 ,but the carved ,buddha1 seated with crossed legs1 open palms1 and a vacant stare into space appeals only to a ,buddhist4 ,it will not travel elsewhere except as a curio4 ,nor will the ,osiris or the ,madonna go very far4 ,but what of a ,zeus6 what of a ,hermes by ,praxiteles6 what of the ,greek ideal6 ,have they not a universal quality about them--a grasp of universal truths--that carry them beyond the frontier lines of ,hellas8 ,think for a moment of the 8,venus of ,milo40 ,has it not something supremely true about it that a person of any nationality cannot choose but see8 ,and think for a moment of the 8,ariadne0 of ,tintoretto4 ,again is there not something here that compels the admiration of the ,asiatic as well as the ,european and the ,american8 ,there is individual and local and racial truth in all these works1 but there is also universal truth--truth applicable to all humanity4 ,illustration3 ,,iii4--,,van ,,dyck1 ,cornelius van der ,geest4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,and now1 if we stop to consider the great men in the arts1 we shall invariably find that each one of them is marked by some quality of universal significance4 ,there is something about them all that overleaps the provincial1 the accidental1 the small1 and the trifling4 ,they disregard in a measure the local truths and aim at the general truths--at things essentially true for all humanity4 ,our ,shakespeares and ,platos and ,st4 ,pauls survey the world from mountain tops4 ,from these vantage points their perspective is far-reaching1 their view of the world expansive4 ,they see and grasp the essentials1 the basic elements1 the foundations of things4 ,it is this1 for one thing1 that makes the art of ,titian so superlatively great4 ,what wonderful men and women people his pantheon6 ,what types they are of manhood and womanhood6 ,what embodiments of loftiness1 dignity1 and nobility6 ,and are they not universally admired8 ,no matter what a man's nationality1 he cannot choose but be interested in 8,the ,man with a ,glove0 or the 8,charles ,v40 at ,madrid4 ,there is something in them of that truth seen from mountain heights which every one will recognize as the nobler part of his little valley-world4 ,just so with the art of ,rembrandt4 ,his type is essentially of the ,low ,countries2 his costumes1 landscapes1 light-and-shade1 and methods are all localized in ,holland4 ,but a sadder painter you cannot find in all the reach of painting4 ,his emotional nature had been wrung by trial and suffering and his sympathies were with the down-trodden and the grief-stricken4 ,there never was a painter who painted so much of sorrow in the faces of his people as ,rembrandt4 ,the 8,christ at ,emmaus0 is1 in form and figure1 only a poor emaciated ,amsterdam ,jew2 but in emotional truth it is the one ,christ of all painting4 ,that face appeals to ,christian1 ,mahometan1 ,jew1 and infidel alike1 not because of its divinity but because of its intense humanity4 ,should we bring up the names of the other great masters of painting we should find that each one of them is remarkable for some quality of universal significance--,michael ,angelo for his great command of form1 ,rubens for his great splendor of effect1 ,velasquez for his sense of vitality in the physical presence 7,plate #ac71 ,raphael for his unity and his harmony4 ,the great men are remarkable for their breadth--the wide angle of their vision4 ,they see1 not differently from others1 but they see more4 ,yet it is only a point of view1 a limited outlook1 and not by any means the total sum of truth4 ,the report of nature made by man1 which we have defined as 8truth10 is always a report of some sort whoever makes it4 ,the difference between the great minds and the small ones consists in what is seen and reported4 ,a ,rousseau who sees and tells of the solidity of the earth1 the volume of the forest1 the great luminous expanse of the sky1 does not think to tell everything that may be in the landscape4 ,he sees the great truths1 those truths that are of universal permanence in all landscape1 and emphasizes them at the expense of the smaller details4 ,a man of narrower vision would perhaps overlook the sky and earth1 and fail to see the forest for the trees4 ,he might centre all his interest in blades of grass1 in dew-drops and spider-webs and opening buttercups--the infinitely little things in the landscape4 ,in portraiture men like ,gerard ,dou and ,denner emphasize the small skin-facts of a man's face with such minute workmanship that you may study them with a magnifying-glass4 ,you will never see anything like this in the portraits by ,titian1 ,rembrandt1 ,velasquez1 ,van ,dyck 7,plates #c1 #ac1 #ah74 ,they waste no time on small truths4 ,they are intent upon giving the large physical presence1 not the petty deformities of the epidermis4 ,again in drawing a hand and arm you will observe that men like ,grme give every curve and break of light along the arm1 every accidental contortion of muscle1 every wrinkle and twist of flesh2 but somehow1 when all these features are put down1 the arm fails to live1 fails to move4 ,it is a petrified arm4 ,for an opposite statement of truth look at the arm of ,millet's 8,sower40 ,there is nothing absolute or minute about the drawing4 ,the arm is generalized1 summarized1 synthetized as it were4 ,the wrinkles in it are not apparent1 the covering of it is vague1 the hand is not articulated in the muscles or even definite in the drawing of the fingers4 ,in short the whole arm and hand are cut down to a few elementary lines1 so that they appear to the uninitiated somewhat sketchy and peremptory4 ,but looked at for those qualities which ,millet thought more important than surface texture1 looked at for bulk1 mass1 weight1 motion--particularly motion--and there is a larger view apparent4 ,the arm and hand certainly have motion and life4 ,and these are precisely what ,grme's arm and hand have not4 ,can it not be claimed then that the truth of life and motion is a greater truth than the truth of momentary rigidity8 ,is it not a fact that ,millet has seized upon a general and universal truth characteristic of all arms and hands--that is1 the truth of life and movement--whereas ,grme has seized upon an accidental truth of light-and-shade which may be something local and peculiar to that one hand and arm8 ,illustration3 ,,iv4--,,millet1 ,the ,gleaners4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,if one shows us a snap-photograph of breaking waves1 what do we see if not the highest and most brittle wave the camera man could catch8 ,does this give us a general or a particular truth of the sea8 ,do waves stand rigidly in air1 petrified from base to crest1 as we see in the photograph1 or do they roll and keep on rolling indefinitely and ceaselessly8 ,does not the very essence of truth about a wave lie in its restless heave and toss1 its breaking and reforming1 its eternal indefiniteness of form8 ,how many sea pictures have we seen with every wave in place--pounded into place like hammered steel--with every facet shining like a mirror1 and not a possibility of motion in anything8 ,perhaps we have rather enjoyed them and fancied1 in crossing the ocean1 that the waves looked like that4 ,perhaps they did2 perhaps we were content to see only the small truths of the ocean2 but a study of the marines by ,courbet1 ,manet1 and ,monet may convince us that there are larger truths of the ocean than those relating to its mirror-like sparkles--larger truths in the ocean's depth1 power1 and its restless1 ceaseless motion4 ,these painters have discarded small things on the surface of the water1 as ,frans ,hals the small spots on a man's face1 in order to give the sense of form back of it 7,plate #bb74 ,in the same way you will often find painters discarding the exact drawing of objects such as wood or cloth or stone or metal in order that they may give the weight1 the elasticity1 or the density of these objects4 ,a feather or a leaf may be an epitome of floating1 dancing lightness1 but if you draw its complete anatomy and paint all its surface texture you will have something that is as heavy as wrought iron4 ,it does not follow either1 because ,desgoffes gives us the sheen and flash of brasses1 china1 and satins1 that he has told all or the most vital truths about those articles4 ,vollon may paint the same things in a fuller manner1 showing us something of structural character which is just as important and just as true as surface appearance4 ,moreover1 the broader method leaves something to implication and suggestion1 where the other method buries under an accumulation of fact4 ,please note the word 8suggestion10 for it is by suggestion that the greatest truths of art are brought home to us4 ,the realist1 whom we have been hastily considering1 does not care for this method of approach4 ,he is bent upon realization4 ,he is analytical in his statement of each and every fact and makes a full report4 ,all painters do this in some degree during the early stages of their career1 but as they advance in years and experience there is a tendency to a broader treatment1 a return to the simple line of the child1 to the synthesis of a ,millet1 as shown in the arms1 hands1 and backs of the women in 8,the ,gleaners0 7,plate #d71 to the implication and suggestion of a ,corot1 as shown in the sky of the 8,biblis40 ,facts are summarized4 ,a mere charcoal outline drawn by ,degas gives us the reliefs1 proportions1 weight1 and bulk of a human figure2 a shadow with ,giorgione or ,rembrandt sums up the series of facts beneath it1 and becomes suggestive by its very mystery and uncertainty2 a blended blur of color by ,whistler may bring to mind a heaving wave in mid-ocean better than all the drawn and tinted and 8realized0 waves of all the realists4 ,it is not the heaping of fact upon fact that flashes the truth upon us--at least not in art1 though it may in logic or in law4 ,indeed1 the accumulation of evidence often confuses4 ,it is common studio experience that a sketch of a picture is frequently better than the picture itself4 ,the attempt to 8finish0 7that is1 to put in all the details and minuti7 makes it dull and unsuggestive4 ,the unfinished marbles of ,michael ,angelo1 do they really suffer much by being unfinished8 ,i have sometimes thought that the figure of 8,day0 in the ,medici ,chapel gained by its incompleteness--that it was better than the 8,night0 upon the opposite side of the tomb because the sculptor's intention is perfectly obvious and yet the spectator's imagination is not stifled4 ,there1 like a fallen god1 he lies1 half embedded in his matrix of stone with a suggestion of mighty power1 never so strongly felt in any other marble in this world4 ,the lack of finish1 the mystery1 the uncertainty1 help on the imagination4 ,one may fancy1 as many have done1 that the figure symbolizes the loss of ,florentine freedom1 and that the grand captive1 with his massive brow and sunken eyes1 half-rises wearily to view the morning light shining for him in vain4 ,and again one may imagine he is a new ,prometheus bound to the rock2 one of the ,gigantes2 or perhaps a conquered ,titan lying along the hills of ,tartarus in the drear twilight1 brooding in melancholy silence over the loss of ,olympus4 ,to whatever the mind may conjure up regarding the figure1 the element of reserved strength will lend assistance4 ,cut the captive from his bed of stone and the strength falls short1 lacking the foil of resistance2 finish the marble and an existent fact precludes the possibility of wide imagination4 ,the great ,english master of art1 how well he knew what to leave out6 ,the lovers ,lorenzo and ,jessica are in the still1 evening air1 and with what consummate skill ,shakespeare paints the landscape with that one suggestive line3 8,how sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank40 ,not a word about the trees or grasses or ponds or meadows2 not a word about the stillness of the night1 the hushed winds1 and the shining stars2 but do you not see them all8 ,do they not rise up before your eyes as by magic8 ,your realist would have put us to sleep with dreary descriptions of grass and groves and glittering dew-drops instead of the moonlight4 ,and ,shakespeare himself might have written a volume of description and still not roused us to his meaning so quickly as with that one suggestive line4 ,the value of the sign in art1 whether it be pictorial1 sculptural1 or literary1 lies in its suggestive quality2 and the 8,sower0 of ,millet1 the 8,day0 of ,michael ,angelo1 and the moonlight of ,shakespeare are merely so many suggestive signs4 ,illustration3 ,v4--,,paolo ,,veronese1 ,marriage in ,cana4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,thus far our inquiry has extended no farther than the truth of nature--the truth of appearance as shown in realistic art4 ,but there are other truths with which the picture has to do that perhaps call for a moment's consideration4 ,the truth of history for which the public contends so valiantly need not detain us long4 ,that ,paolo ,veronese and his contemporaries chose to garb the sacred characters of the 8,marriage in ,cana0 7,plate #e7 or 8,moses saved from the ,nile0 7,plate #bc71 in ,venetian costume1 is matter of small importance4 ,and it is of still less importance whether ,christ and the ,apostles show the ,semitic cast of countenance or not4 ,the intense reverence for local and ethnographical truth possessed by the ,holman ,hunts and ,alma-,tademas of the art world would seem somewhat misplaced4 ,no matter what care is bestowed upon the archology1 there is always something not quite true to the fact4 ,and moreover1 all art in all times has pictured its own race1 costume1 and country4 ,it would not be worth much unless it did4 ,the marble gods of ,greece are all ,greek1 the painted ,madonnas of ,italy are all ,italian4 ,how otherwise would you have it8 ,marlowe's ,mephistopheles talks ,english1 and ,goethe's ,mephistopheles talks ,german4 ,what language should they talk8 ,when art deals with the past it translates it into the present4 ,it could not possibly do otherwise4 ,no ,anglo-,saxon could feel1 think1 or work like a ,greek1 simply because he is an ,anglo-,saxon4 ,there is another truth of far more consequence than historical accuracy1 and that is the truth of art4 ,this comes in here opportunely enough1 for art-truth is produced by the suggestive method of dealing with facts which ,i have just been illustrating4 ,the method is absolutely essential to all strong work in all departments4 ,it is usually known in painting as the 8law of sacrifice02 and you will find it in literature under the name of 8dramatic force40 ,we should never have had such characters as ,faust and ,macbeth had all the other characters in the plays been treated with an importance equal to that of the heroes4 ,hamlet is an elevated ,hamlet simply because the other characters are subordinate characters1 just as ,corot's light is light1 because everything else in the picture is sacrificed to it4 ,there is no quarrel with truth to nature in this truth to art4 ,great art seldom falsifies1 but it always selects1 emphasizing some features and subordinating other features4 ,it usually gives the large truths and merely implies the small ones4 ,millet in his 8,sower0 has no notion of telling you more than a few prominent facts about the man and his work4 ,he shows a peasant1 working under the shadow of a hill1 working late in the evening1 swinging and sowing with rhythmic motion of foot1 hand1 arm and body4 ,it is matter of no importance whether he wears linen or woollen or cotton1 whether his blouse has buttons upon it or not1 whether his face is clean or not4 ,the all-pervading truth of the picture lies in the swinging form of the sower1 and to keep your attention upon that he omits everything else4 ,the figure is but a suggestion1 a something that stands as an equivalent for that man whom ,millet thought should be recognized for his patience and fortitude of spirit1 his nobility and dignity in the hard labor of life1 his fine pictorial qualities as seen against the background of his native heath4 ,that is the ulterior meaning which he would show us4 ,the sign is true to the great truth of a sower1 the meaning is true within the limits of pictorial creation1 and finally the recording of it is true to the truth of art4 ,this method of procedure1 wherein suggestion becomes such an important factor1 implies two people in the work of art rather than one4 ,the spectator must do his part as well as the artist4 ,the latter suggests1 the former takes up the suggestion and builds upon it4 ,when ,velasquez painted ,christ on the cross1 hanging there alone in the night1 the head bowed forward on the breast1 and the long dark hair tailing over the face and half covering it1 he did not think to obliterate the face--to take it out of the picture completely4 ,he knew very well that the imagination of the spectator would go behind the veil and picture that face more vividly than he could paint it4 ,what painter ever yet produced a wholly satisfactory face of ,christ8 ,velasquez was wise in leaving it to the imagination of the spectator4 ,how wise he was you can perhaps gather by contrasting his 8,christ on the ,cross0 with the same subject by ,lon ,bonnat--one of the noblest of the latter-day realists4 ,bonnat simply took a dead body from the morgue and hung it upon a cross in the court-yard of the cole de ,mdecine1 and painted it exactly as he saw it4 ,but it is not ,christ2 it is the dead body he took from the morgue4 ,there is strain of arm and leg and torso1 the anatomy is wrenched1 the muscles are contorted1 the veins are swollen4 ,but there is no suggestion of anything that had been noble or exalted in the living4 ,in fact there is not a suggestion of any kind4 ,everything is told and the spectator's imagination is not called upon4 ,realism has been pushed into the last ditch1 and yet has produced only a sign standing for ,christ on the cross1 and not the real thing--a sign which1 in gaining an elaborate truth to fact1 has lost its truth to art and its power of suggestion4 ,illustration3 ,,vi4--,,carpaccio1 ,st4 ,ursula and ,prince of ,england 7detail74 ,academy1 ,venice4 ,we may as well conclude then1 without further illustration1 that the exact portrayal of nature known as realism falls somewhat short of its mark4 ,it may report and report1 but it cannot realize4 ,light1 air1 hills1 mountains1 human beings and their habitations cannot be reproduced1 but they may be translated through the medium of pigment and thus rendered intelligible to us4 ,you may translate them 8realistically0 or you may translate them suggestively1 but in either case it is the translation that you will have1 and not the original4 ,each art--music1 poetry1 painting--has its peculiar method of translation1 and we have called the result in each case a sign--a convention which we have agreed to recognize as meaning thus and so2 but of course the signs in painting are not quite so arbitrary as in language or chemistry4 ,the painting of a wave certainly looks more like a wave than the word 8water10 or the symbol ,h#b,o4 ,the sign has a certain resemblance to the original which gives a reason for the existence of realism and also adds to the confusion of those who would spin a theory of art2 but the resemblance should not mislead us4 ,the sign is still a sign1 though in the one case it is representative and in the other case symbolic4 ,its meaning has not changed in any way4 ,the all-seeing eye of ,osiris is not like those speaking eyes in ,van ,dyck's portrait of 8,cornelius ,van der ,geest0 7,plate #c74 ,one is more conventional than the other1 but both are conventions4 ,it is not necessary that we should deny value to this realistic art1 even though we do not wholly accept it4 ,the very endeavor to make the work faithful to the original in every detail1 though it may hurt its deeper sentiment1 cannot but result in good workmanship2 and that in itself is always acceptable and pleasurable4 ,indeed1 bald realism1 with nothing else back of it1 is seldom seen in art4 ,the man1 the material1 and the method are inextricably mixed together1 so that the product always has more or less individuality about it1 or is decorative in form or color1 or expresses some thought or feeling of the painter1 or stands for something in subject4 ,in any event the well-made sign--even as a sign--is not to be scorned4 ,we shall see hereafter how it is distorted by the personal element1 how it is twisted by the imagination1 how it is warped by the decorative instinct2 but we are not to forget at any time that it is but a symbol1 merely a means of suggesting reality1 and not reality itself4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chapter ,,ii ,,individuality ,,or ,,the ,,personal ,,element ,,the fact that 8the report about nature0 which we have called 8truth0 varies with the reporter is of vital importance to us in comprehending the measure of exactness in the result4 ,it is something that must be reckoned with in every thought1 deed1 and utterance1 for its presence is potent in all human endeavor4 ,two astronomers1 to use the accepted illustration1 taking the time of the passage of a series of stars over the same meridian1 will not precisely agree in their arithmetical results4 ,however accurate1 unbiassed1 and mechanical in action they may seek to be1 it happens that one takes the time earlier or later than the other4 ,consequently there is always a variation in the product1 which has to be rectified by adding a constant4 ,this is what is called the personal equation--a something we have heard about in literature and art as well as in science4 ,perhaps you may remember that in the writing class of our youth when the motto1 8,evil communications corrupt good manners10 was given us as an example to copy1 we all wrote the motto1 and we all tried to follow the exact form of the copper-plate pattern before us2 but somehow our performances differed one from another4 ,in some the letters were large1 in others they were small2 the angle was flatter1 the line was firmer1 or the shading heavier4 ,we used to think it merely a matter of practice1 and fancied if we kept at it long enough we could ultimately write exactly like the copper-plate pattern4 ,but ,i wonder if we thought quite correctly about that4 ,certainly there are thousands of people who have been writing all their lives and have had practice enough1 but these are the ones that show the most marked variations from the model4 ,each one writes in a manner peculiarly his own4 ,and these handwritings that vary so radically interest us very much4 ,we see all sorts of striking peculiarities in them suggestive of their authors1 and we even have so-called scientists who read character out of them1 or into them1 ,i will not say which4 ,the cause of the variation is not far to seek4 ,it is the personal element appearing in the work and influencing it4 ,if we would get the same result in all handwritings we must eliminate the personal element or1 if you please1 reckon with the personal equation4 ,this quality which creates the variance in handwriting is met with even more positively in painting4 ,for painting is1 after all1 only an elaborated picture-writing1 more flexible1 perhaps1 than letter-writing1 and1 therefore1 more easily bent by a personality2 but in the main influenced by the same principles as regards the variation of the characters4 ,we all write the letter 8,a0 and they are all 8,a's10 but each is different from the other1 just as all landscape painters paint hills and trees and they are all hills and trees1 yet each is different again4 ,if three painters1 say ,turner1 ,rousseau1 and ,claude ,monet1 could be brought together and induced1 each for himself1 to paint a given tree1 there can be no doubt that all three of the paintings would represent the tree and be true enough representations into the bargain2 but they would not be at all like one another4 ,the ,turner would undoubtedly give the height1 the branching outline1 the grace and grandeur of the tree2 but in flattened form1 perhaps in silhouette against a yellow evening sky4 ,in any event and under any circumstances we may be sure that it would be a ,turnerian tree4 ,and the ,rousseau would be correspondingly true to ,rousseau's peculiar point of view4 ,it would probably have an emphasis of mass and volume2 it would be as deep through as broad across1 it would be firm in its rooting1 massive in its trunk and branches1 heavy in its foliage1 rich in its coloring4 ,but ,claude ,monet1 painting the same tree1 would not see the things that appealed to ,turner and ,rousseau1 or if he did he would disregard them4 ,he would overlook form and line and body1 perhaps lose them entirely in studying the sunlight falling upon the foliage1 in painting the colored reflections cast by sky and ground and water1 in surrounding the tree with colored air and giving it a setting in an atmospheric envelope4 ,undoubtedly we should be able to recognize the original tree in any one of the three counterfeit presentments4 ,each would differ from the other and yet no one of them be false4 ,there would be three different truths about the one tree--three different phases of the one fact4 ,and undoubtedly we should be able to say just which painter painted each picture4 ,how8 ,because we should recognize in each the point of view peculiar to its maker--we should recognize the individuality of the painter4 ,if we consider this same tree as part of a landscape--consider it in connection with foreground1 background1 and sky--we shall see that the chance for the display of individuality is even greater4 ,the choice of the painter as to how the tree shall be seen determines at the very start the character of the representation4 ,if it is placed in the foreground and spreads in a pattern of branches and leaves high up against the sky1 we have one phase of tree-truth1 one kind of picture which may perhaps resemble1 in a way1 the work of ,harpignies1 if it is placed in the middle distance1 a shadowy form against a pale morning sky1 with a feeling of heavy air and rising mists1 we have another phase of truth1 something which may represent ,corot2 if it is seen in the far background against a yellow twilight sky1 tall1 dark1 motionless1 we have still another phase of truth which may stand for ,daubigny4 ,any change in the position of the tree1 any change in foreground or sky-line1 in light or reflection or atmosphere1 would represent a new angle of vision and hence a new truth4 ,and the preference of the painter for any particular phase of the manifestation1 any particular truth1 would exhibit what we have called his individuality4#b ,footnote #b3 ,this matter of personality and choice is well illustrated by ,mr4 ,la ,farge in his 8,considerations on ,painting40 ,he says 7p4 #ga73 8,i remember myself1 years ago1 sketching with two well-known men1 artists who were great friends1 great cronies1 asking each other all the time how to do this and how to do that6 but absolutely different in the texture of their minds and in the result that they wished to obtain1 so far as the pictures and drawings by which they were well known to the public are concerned4 8,what we made1 or rather1 ,i should say1 what we wished to note1 was merely a memorandum of the passing effect upon the hills that lay before us4 ,we had no idea of expressing ourselves or of studying in any way the subject for any future use4 ,we merely had the intention to note this affair rapidly1 and we had all used the same words to express to each other what we liked in it4 ,there were big clouds rolling over hills1 sky clearing above1 dots of trees and water and meadow land below2 and the ground fell away suddenly before us4 ,well1 our three sketches were in the first place different in shape2 either from our physical differences1 or from a habit of drawing certain shapes of a picture1 which itself usually indicates--as you know or ought to know--whether we are looking far or near4 ,two were oblong1 but of different proportions2 one was more nearly a square3 the distance taken into the right and left was smaller in the latter case1 and1 on the contrary1 the height up and down--that is to say1 the portion of land beneath and the portion of sky above--was greater4 ,in each picture the distance bore a different relation to the foreground4 ,in each picture the clouds were treated with different precision and different attention4 ,in one picture the open sky was the main intention of the picture4 ,in two pictures the upper sky was of no consequence--it was the clouds and the mountains that were insisted upon4 ,the drawing was the same--that is to say1 the general make of things--but each man had involuntarily looked upon what was most interesting to him in the whole sight2 and though the whole sight was what he meant to represent1 he had unconsciously preferred a beauty or interest different from what his neighbors liked4 8,the color of each painting was different--the vivacity of colors and tone1 the distinctness of each part in relation to the whole2 and each picture would have been recognized anywhere as a specimen of work by each one of us1 characteristic of our names4 ,and we spent on the whole affair perhaps twenty minutes4 ,i wish you to understand again that we each thought and felt as though we had been photographing the matter before us4 ,we had not the first desire of expressing ourselves1 and ,i think would have been very much worried had we not felt that each one was true to nature4 ,of course there is no absolute nature1 as with each slight shifting of the eye1 involuntarily we focus more or less distinctly some part to the prejudice of others4 ,and not only would this result have been the same if we had gone on painting1 but had we made a drawing1 had we made a careful representation or rapid note of what we saw by lines 7that is to say1 by an abstraction of the edges of the surfaces that we saw71 anyone could have told the names of the men who had done it40 ,this preference for a peculiar point of view crops out very early in the painter's life4 ,the students in an art class1 drawing from the living model on the platform1 and each one striving to follow that model literally1 all show it4 ,the sketches indicate by the placing of the figure upon the paper1 the size of the figure1 the height or depth of the shadows1 the clearness or vagueness of the outline1 that the personal element--individuality--is present1 influencing and practically dominating the work of everyone in the class-room4 ,and this1 too1 in charcoal work1 where the color problem is eliminated4 ,moreover1 there are features of these charcoal sketches1 aside from mere technique1 that are equally interesting as indicative of the peculiar temperament behind the pencil4 ,you cannot fail to be struck with the mood or spirit that creeps into each one of the drawings4 ,on one paper the model looks pleasant1 almost jovial1 on another he will appear sad-faced or morose1 on another1 romantic as you might conceive a ,wagner hero1 or classic and insipid like a ,canova marble1 and on still another1 gross1 brutal1 or perhaps foolish-looking4 ,it is not possible that the model could exhibit all these different moods4 ,the variation is not in him4 ,he presents the same stolid1 tired front common to all models2 the mood is added to him by the personality holding the charcoal4 ,illustration3 ,,vii4--,,bellini1 ,madonna and ,saints4 ,s4 ,m4 dei ,frari1 ,venice4 ,we see the same variation among the works of older people--full-fledged artists1 in the world of art4 ,nowhere is it more apparent than in the portrait1 the one thing which might be thought to call for the elimination of the painter and a close fidelity to the facts of the original4 ,but such is the power of preference that the painter almost invariably emphasizes certain features at the expense of others less interesting to him2 or such is the warp of the vision that certain qualities appear abnormal1 certain prominences appear unduly accentuated4 ,there are portraits of the ,duchess of ,devonshire and of ,mrs4 ,siddons 7,plate #ai7 by both ,reynolds and ,gainsborough1 but how very different they are6 ,with ,reynolds both of the characters are healthy1 robust1 good-natured1 somewhat loud and stormy2 with ,gainsborough they are both delicate1 subdued1 refined1 even melancholy4 ,and think of the portraits in the ,louvre of ,francis ,i4 by different hands1 where only a slight thread of resemblance holds them together2 or1 better still1 the portraits of ,napoleon ,i41 painted by the classic painters of his reign who believed in the utter effacement of the artist in favor of the facts before him4 ,how very different in form1 feature1 mood1 and character ,napoleon appears in each picture4 ,he is classic2 he is romantic2 he is thin1 fat1 amiable1 moody1 fiery1 dreamy4 ,david1 ,delaroche1 ,gros1 no matter what their theories in art1 could not keep themselves out of the representation4 ,all that any one of them could do was to give his individual impression of the model before him4 ,necessarily each was tinctured by a predilection or a bias4 ,it could not have been otherwise4 ,what is the cause of the variation in results to be seen in the portrait8 ,why1 for instance1 do the photographs of ,queen ,victoria show substantially the same thing1 while the portraits of her by painters show different things8 ,because the cameras are all made of practically the same material1 have the same sensitiveness1 and receive light in the same way2 whereas men are not made of the same material1 have not the same sensitiveness1 and receive varying degrees of light according to their lucidity or absorbent power1 which is sometimes called genius4 ,no two people are fashioned precisely after the same pattern4 ,they vary in intellectual1 emotional1 and physical make-up4 ,and let a painter strive as he may to record an exact fact before him1 he cannot escape the action of his inherent faculties4 ,these may be brighter1 clearer1 keener1 than those of other painters1 or they may be duller and feebler2 but at least they are different1 and he must use what nature has given him4 ,he was equipped originally to see with his own eyes1 think with his own brain1 and work with his own hands4 ,is it not very apparent then that the eye may warp the vision and report peculiarly to the brain1 which in turn may tell the hand to work thus and so8 ,and the result in art is what8 ,why1 the individual view of one man2 or nature passed through the alembic of that man's personality4#c ,footnote #c3 8,our eyes1 our ears1 our sense of smell1 of taste1 differing from one person to another1 create as many truths as there are men upon earth4 ,and our minds1 taking instructions from these organs1 so diversely impressed1 understand1 analyse1 judge1 as if each of us belonged to a different race4 ,each one of us1 therefore1 forms for himself an illusion of the world2 and the writer 7the painter1 too7 has no other mission than to reproduce faithfully this illusion1 with all the contrivances of art that he has learned and has at his command40--,,guy ,,de ,,maupassant1 ,fortnightly ,review1 ,march1 #ahhh1 p4 #cff4 ,illustration3 ,,viii4--,,correggio1 ,mystic ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,how shrewdly ,coleridge discerned the truth in that definition of art which ,i am so very fond of quoting because of its exactness4 ,he says that painting is of 8a middle quality between a thought and a thing--the union of that which is nature with that which is exclusively human40 ,that is it1 precisely4 ,art is an illusion of nature produced by a personality4 ,human individuality must be in it because it cannot very well be kept out of it4 ,whatever we do1 we speak ourselves4 ,for a time we may act a part--copy someone else--but sooner or later the mask falls and we stand revealed in the form and manner nature designed for us4 ,we are all peculiar in our make-up physically1 mentally1 and sthetically4 ,to the ,european all ,chinamen look alike1 and possibly to ,chinamen all ,americans look alike2 but we know there is a variation4 ,we may seem as like as peas in a peck measure1 but we differ in the conformation of a wrinkle4 ,out of a hundred acquaintances on the street how easy it is to recognize each one apart from his fellows4 ,there is a peculiarity in look or walk or bearing that betrays the man4 ,and of those hundred acquaintances each one1 as we have already noted1 writes in an individual way and you are able to distinguish the handwritings by the variations in the muscular action of the hands4 ,suppose you should have read to you extracts from a hundred famous authors1 do you think you would have much difficulty in recognizing ,shakespeare from ,victor ,hugo1 ,carlyle from ,cardinal ,newman1 or ,walter ,scott from ,swinburne8 ,could you possibly mistake an essay by ,bacon for an essay by ,macaulay1 or could you by any chance confuse a sermon by ,canon ,liddon with a sermon by ,spurgeon8 ,i think not1 for the individuality of mind and thought is even more positive and assertive than the individuality of the physical presence4 ,if you are acquainted with pictures you can enter a gallery in which you have never been before1 and standing in the middle of the room you can pick out at a distance the ,corots1 the ,diazes1 the ,monets1 the ,millets1 the ,delacroixs--yes1 the ,rubenses1 the ,van ,dycks1 the ,holbeins1 and the ,titians4 ,and this1 too1 with a large degree of accuracy4 ,you are very likely to be right in your ascriptions4 ,why8 ,because you know the artistic individualities of each one of those painters--know just how they see1 think1 feel1 and paint--as you know the personal appearance of an acquaintance upon the street1 or recognize his handwriting upon the face of an envelope4 ,when the question of a picture's attribution comes up1 when it is of moment whether a work is by a ,raphael or a ,perino del ,vaga1 by a ,velasquez or a ,mazo1 there is an unconscious appeal made to the spirit of the picture4 ,and this quite aside from a question of technique1 aside from any ,morellian theory of tools or methods or models4 ,does the work reflect the spirit of ,raphael8 ,is the impress of his individuality to be felt in the canvas8 ,if it is genuine1 yes2 if by a follower1 no4 ,the sugary little 8,reading ,magdalene0 in the ,dresden ,gallery1 so long attributed to ,correggio1 gives not the slightest hint of that great painter's individuality2 the alleged portrait of ,raphael by himself in the ,louvre shows all the blundering stupidity of ,bacchiacca4 ,whether master or follower1 the painter cannot disguise himself effectively4 ,back of the work we feel the presence of the worker4 ,the great artists fashion their art after their own thoughts1 and that which they love the best or feel the deepest speaks out from the canvas until at last we recognize the poet in his poem1 the sculptor in his marble1 the painter in his picture4 ,these qualities of individuality in art are much like the same qualities in real life1 and we may perhaps fancy in the picture that which we find admirable in the personal acquaintance4 ,for instance1 the traits of frankness and straightforwardness which we all love in a friend1 are they not just as apparent in ,carpaccio the painter8 ,and just as lovable8 ,the way in which ,carpaccio tells the history of ,st4 ,ursula or ,st4 ,george--so frank in spirit and yet so cunning of hand--reminds one somehow of a chapter from ,sir ,john ,maundevile or ,roger of ,wendover4 ,how naif he is with his gorgeously robed ,venetians 7,plate #f76 ,how earnest he is about the dignity of the types1 the nobility of the faces1 the sobriety of the action6 ,his sincerity is as great as that of ,giotto1 and his absolute unconsciousness--his lack of egotism--as apparent as that of ,fra ,angelico4 ,at the foot of the 8,presentation0 in the ,venetian ,academy is that little angel playing upon a lute which you have all seen in reproductions so many times4 ,you must have noticed that the angel was not playing for public applause1 but for the glory of the ,madonna standing above4 ,there is no thought of you or of me1 or anyone outside of the ,madonna and the group of saints4 ,that quality of unconsciousness we need not attribute to angels4 ,it is no characteristic of theirs so far as we know2 but it was a quality of ,victor ,carpaccio1 the ,venetian painter4 ,think for a moment of the 8,madonna and ,saints0 in the sacristy of the ,frari by ,giovanni ,bellini 7,plate #g74 ,how absolutely honest and unabashed she looks6 ,this is not the ,madonna of ,sorrows1 not the pathetic ,madonna of ,botticelli2 but a purely human mother1 proud of her boy--a mother and not ashamed4 ,and the little cherubs playing on musical instruments at the foot of the throne1 how child-like they are with their serious faces1 their little fat cheeks and round childish legs6 ,everything in and about the picture tells you of the sane1 healthy mind and art of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the ,madonna's honesty is ,bellini's honesty2 the view of the cherubs as merely beautiful and graceful children of this earth is ,bellini's view2 yes1 the gorgeous coloring of the patterned background1 the superb architecture1 even the rich ornamentation of the framing are ,bellini's taste4 ,we cannot1 if we would1 escape the man4 ,he is omnipresent in his work4 ,why should he not be8 ,the story in literature becomes fascinating through the personality and skill of the story-teller2 why should not the theme in art be beautiful through the individuality and skill of the painter8 ,those of you who have been in ,rome and have studied in the ,sistine ,chapel know with what a feeling of awe the great figures on the ceiling inspire one4 ,you feel the presence of a mighty spirit within the walls1 hovering about the vaulted space1 in the very air of the chapel itself4 ,what is it8 ,surely1 nothing in the architecture or the lighting of the chapel2 nothing in the subjects of the frescoes1 for they are familiar subjects in art4 ,it is the impress of a commanding individuality that you feel4 ,michael ,angelo lives here in his pictures4 ,those great forms of the ,prophets and ,sibyls lost in thought1 brooding over the evil of their days1 isolated in their grandeur1 living on in gloomy solitude1 how very like they are to what we know of ,michael ,angelo himself6 ,notice the fore-shortened hand and arm of the 8,delphic ,sibyl0 7,plate #ba7 and how symbolic of strength it is1 how like to the power that lay in the arm1 hand1 and mind of the master himself6 ,follow the outline of the figure of the newly created ,adam--perhaps the grandest piece of drawing in all pictorial art--and how that summarized1 synthetized line speaks the comprehensive grasp1 scope1 knowledge1 and plastic feeling of the great draughtsman4 ,so it is that individuality creeps into the work of art and tinges the whole character of it4 ,of the thousands of pictures we pass before in public galleries the great majority of them are merely records of individual tastes1 beliefs1 aspirations1 emotions4 ,in other words they are partial autobiographies of the painters1 showing countless moods of human nature4 ,some of them are grave1 some gay1 some refined1 some fierce1 some grandiloquent1 some resplendent4 ,almost every shade of sentiment and feeling1 almost every quality personal to the man1 can be recorded in art4 ,and this1 without premeditated thought1 without extravagant effort1 without conscious action4 ,the note of a bird discloses its kind not more unconsciously than the hand of the artist tells the quality of the man4 ,if all the lives of ,rembrandt were swept out of existence we should still be able to reconstruct his individuality from his pictures4 ,his must have been an intensely emotional nature4 ,for not in the 8,supper at ,emmaus0 alone do we find the sorrow-stained face4 ,the portraits of himself are only too often sad-eyed and passion-wrung2 and there is in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 one of his portraits of an old woman with a lace cap and a white ruff 7,no4 #gge of the ,catalogue7 that shows a mouth and chin quivering with emotion1 and eyes that seem red with weeping4 ,the man was tragic in his passionate power4 ,he could not suppress it4 ,even when he laughs you feel that he is doing so to avoid a moan4 ,we have little record of the life of ,giorgione1 but from two or three of his pictures we know he must have been quite the reverse of ,rembrandt4 ,his 8,madonna10 at ,castelfranco 7,plate #bd7 and his 8,concert10 in the ,louvre 7in ,giorgione's style if not by his hand71 tell us his ,theocritean nature--loving life for its pastoral beauty1 revelling in sunshine1 shadow and color1 careless of everything but the pure joy of living4 ,we know still less about ,correggio1 but his pictures 7,plate #h7 say to us that he was of a similar faun-like nature--a man who grew eloquent over the grace and charm of women and children1 and cared little or nothing for the religious themes of his time4 ,and so we might go on down the long line of paintings1 recognizing in each picture the note that harmonized with the painter's individuality4 ,what1 for instance1 is more apparent than the charm of ,corot as seen in his landscapes 7,plate #i78 ,his pictures delight us by their alluring qualities of calmness1 radiance1 unity4 ,they are fair dreams of splendor in which dawn and twilight glow through a silver veil of atmosphere1 in which the winds are hushed and the waters are stilled and that peace that passeth understanding1 that joy which is beyond price1 have fallen upon the dwellers in ,arcadia ,charm in its various manifestations has been the possession of not a few painters4 ,many of the ,italians--,leonardo1 ,filippino1 ,lorenzo ,costa1 ,sodoma--possessed it2 the eighteenth century ,englishmen--,wilson1 ,gainsborough1 ,romney--were not without it2 and the modern landscape painters--,daubigny 7,plate #af71 ,cazin1 ,homer ,martin1 ,tryon--have shown it in almost all their work4 ,serenity is a quality allied to charm in that it is restful and hence an attractive feature4 ,all the great men possessed it4 ,raphael was primarily its exponent in ,rome as ,giorgione in ,venice4 ,the superb repose of ,titian and ,velasquez is akin to it2 and the calm of the ,parthenon marbles is part of the same spirit4 ,refinement is another characteristic that may be shown in painting as readily as in print4 ,it has nothing to do with fine furniture1 fine clothes1 and a pretty face4 ,a picture may possess all the elegance of the latest fashion and still be the epitome of vulgarity4 ,refinement in art means the delicacy1 the distinction of feeling that a painter may possess and show in his work4 ,terburg made it apparent in so simple a thing as the drawing of a chair leg or a table-cloth1 ,chardin showed it in his pots1 pans and dishes1 and it is obvious to the most obtuse in ,van ,dyck's portraits of men1 women and children4 7,plate #ah47 ,a tenderness of feeling as well as of touch has been exhibited many times in painting4 ,drer shows it in his 8,christ on the ,cross0 7,plate #aj71 and ,botticelli suggests it in almost every picture he ever painted1 whether sacred or profane 7,plate #bi74 ,just so with sensitiveness1 which we see so beautifully shown in the portraits by ,lorenzo ,lotto1 or impetuosity as revealed in the great dramatic canvases by ,tintoretto1 or liveliness as seen in the garden scenes of ,pater or the soubrette figures of ,fragonard4 ,the words describe the spirit of the pictures and they also suggest the nature of the painter4 ,illustration3 ,,ix4--,,corot1 ,landscape4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,and note too1 if you please1 that the disagreeable and unpleasant qualities of the individual crop out in painting as in social life4 ,how many modern painters do we know whose works exhale the atmosphere of the ,folies-,bergres and the ,bal ,bullier4 ,their subjects may be pure enough or refined enough2 they may picture decent people1 high life1 and fashionable surroundings1 and yet do it with an unwholesome mind and a tell-tale brush4 ,there are painters 7their names need not be mentioned7 who cannot paint a lady without showing the cocotte1 nor a gentleman without showing the blackguard1 nor a child without showing a certain sophistication--a precocious knowledge of evil--altogether unhappy4 ,the coarseness of ,jan ,steen or ,brouwer may be passed over as incidental to his time4 ,it is coarse1 but neither vulgar nor immoral4 ,but not so the brutality of the modern cosmopolite who boasts so openly in his pictures that he has no faith in the virtue of women nor the respectability of men4 ,and what vulgarity we see in every modern exhibition1 whether held in ,chicago1 ,london1 or ,paris6 ,painters there are1 born and bred no one knows where or how1 who depict ,oxford professors or statesmen with the air and attitude of flunkies1 or duchesses with the smirk of shop-girls4 ,and painters there are1 too1 who1 assuming for their characters the elegance of luxury1 paint pictures that seem to reek of perfumes1 scented soaps1 and manicured finger-nails4 ,such men seem to leave an unhappy impress upon the trees and mountains1 and their point of view vulgarizes the blue sky4 ,they may be very brilliant handlers of the brush--indeed they are often excellent craftsmen--but their vision is sadly warped and their minds are tainted4 ,there are1 for instance1 few workmen more fascinating in craftsmanship than ,goya4 ,he could paint beautifully and convincingly1 but when you go to ,spain and see the mass of his painting you will be surprised at the blood and flame and brutality of it4 ,the man's mind1 at times1 was hideous1 unearthly1 poisoned with bitterness4 ,on the contrary take the work of ,carlo ,dolci or ,sassoferrato and you meet with super-saturated sentimentality and mawkishness4 ,neither was a bad painter for his age and people1 but his mental attitude was lacking in force--perhaps had not enough brutality about it4 ,and human conceit exudes as readily from the painter's brush as from the writer's pen4 ,you have no trouble in recognizing conceit in a book4 ,it is only too apparent4 ,and yet all that clever painting1 that bravura of the brush1 that elaborate flourish of the little men who try to make a great noise and attract attention to themselves1 is mere pictorial conceit4 ,and there is so much of it in modern painting4 ,it seems sometimes as though the exhibitions were more than half made up of flippant displays of dexterity1 which have no other aim than to show how very clever the painter can be and still avoid seriousness4 ,but ,i need not stop longer to discuss disagreeable characteristics in art4 ,they are not our quest in any sense and they are referred to here merely to suggest anew that the man--be he weak or strong1 good or bad1 noble or ignoble1 serious or flippant--eventually appears in his work4 ,individuality will speak out though the individual may not be aware of it4 ,and this is as it should be4 ,the disagreeable personality misleads for only a short time4 ,eventually it is ignored in art as in social life4 ,and that which is really good in painting is the better for the strong individuality behind it4 ,the frank statement of personal feeling or faith1 the candid autobiography1 has added more to the real knowledge of life1 and has done more to show people how to live1 than all the long volumes of scientific history1 of which we have enough and to spare in every library4 ,when a person speaks of himself he knows his subject at least1 and can speak of it truly2 but when he speaks of dead-and-gone ,alexanders and ,csars1 he is speculating in 8perhapses0 and 8possiblys40 ,and so in painting1 when a person paints what he individually sees and is impressed by1 he is likely to produce something worthy of attention2 but when he takes up some formula of truth laid down by a school or a camera he is merely repeating a something he has not seen1 and simulating a feeling he has not known4 ,even the positive assertion--the insistent assertion--of one's own view is often welcome in art4 ,i think we all like the self-reliance1 the steadfastness of belief of the individual--assuming1 of course1 that he is right and not therefore merely obstinate4 ,when ,delacroix was opposed by the classic painters of his day because he saw nature in patches of color and light1 instead of in outlines and linear extensions1 he declared defiantly3 8,the whole world cannot prevent me from seeing things in my own way40 ,he insisted upon it that his 8way0 was a right way1 even if different from that of ,ingres4 ,he was seeking to picture something peculiar to himself1 in a manner entirely his own4 ,listen to him again3 8,i am at my window and ,i see the most beautiful landscape2 the idea of a line never comes into my head4 ,the lark sings1 the river glitters1 the foliage murmurs2 but where are the lines that produce these charming sensations80 ,there you have the individual point of view1 and in the #ahdj's it was a very unusual view4 ,it was the self-reliant quality of the man1 which enabled him to discard the outworn conception of his contemporaries and create a something new2 and it is largely by the creative faculty arising from the desire to say something new1 that we distinguish genius from mediocrity or eccentricity4 ,for you know that people whom we call 8queer0 can be just as individual as others1 and yet not accomplish anything of importance4 ,there is an individuality of genius which consists in original impression and statement2 and there is an eccentricity of foolishness which produces only the bizarre4 ,it is not difficult1 however1 to distinguish between them4 ,for1 as we have already noted1 true individuality is always creative4 ,it builds up1 has a definite aim1 proceeds to a definite goal2 whereas1 eccentricity is disordered1 disposed to be meaningless1 inclined to produce brilliant fragments that have no connection with each other4 ,we see the same qualities exhibited in the social characters of real life1 and gossip says that such a man is a 8genius0 or that another is 8eccentric40 ,it is by some outward manifestation or action1 akin to expression in painting1 that gossip arrives at its conclusion2 and it is usually a correct conclusion4 ,then1 too1 there are painters who lose their individuality--throw it aside to take up with the view of some other person who seems to have achieved more popularity4 ,the majority of men break down in their ideals long before they are old4 ,they may have possessed talent1 and given voice to it in early years2 but it has been unnoticed1 perhaps unheard4 ,they may have had impressions of their own2 but perhaps they have not proved attractive to the masses1 or have not received the immediate recognition to which their producers perhaps thought them entitled4 ,then they make the irretrievable mistake of trying to follow someone whose impressions seem to be in public demand4 ,it may be that they follow ,raphael or ,titian or ,velasquez2 but no matter how good a painter they may choose for a model1 they have already committed artistic suicide4 ,no one in this world of ours ever became great by echoing the voice of another1 repeating what that other has said4 ,are there not countless illustrations of this--illustrations by whole schools of painters and sculptors in the history of art8 ,what was the art of ,rome1 following as it did the art of ,greece8 ,what was the art of those who followed ,michael ,angelo1 ,raphael1 and ,correggio8 ,what was the seventeenth-century art of ,france1 following that of ,italy8 ,what was ,david and classicism1 following ancient ,rome8 ,what is to-day the value of all these ,french peasants and ,seine landscapes for which ,millet and ,corot set the patterns1 and in the imitation of which ,america has contributed her modicum of strength8 ,it is all a vapid and somewhat meaningless copying that may furnish canvases to hide a break in the wall-paper of a drawing-room1 but as original art counting for naught4 ,and why8 ,simply because it lacks in individuality--lacks in originality of aim and statement4 ,that last statement may be almost as fittingly applied to those who literally imitate nature as to those who imitate some other painter4 ,it adds nothing to our store of knowledge1 nothing to our appreciation of beauty1 to have the painter reproducing line upon line and shade upon shade and color upon color the exact scene from nature4 8,a mere copier of nature10 says ,sir ,joshua1 8can never produce anything great2 can never raise and enlarge the conceptions or warm the heart of the spectator40 ,the insistence upon fact crowds the man out of the picture4 ,individuality does not appear1 except perhaps in a manner of handling which shows the artisan rather than the artist4 ,the ,denners and ,meissoniers and ,gerard ,dous have no individualities that you can trace in their pictures4 ,you know they were workmen and that is about all4 ,realism with them1 as with all devoted followers of the 8truth to nature0 theory1 is an attempt at eliminating the personal element1 an attempt at approximating the working of a machine4 ,of course the attempt is never fully realized1 but it may be carried far enough to destroy whatever might have been stimulating or exalted in the picture4 ,illustration3 ,x4--,d,,rer1 ,christ on the ,cross4 ,dresden ,gallery4 ,and just so with those painters who produce academic art or1 as it has been known for many years1 classic art4 ,it is based upon an abstraction1 an ideal taken from memories or remains of ,greek art2 and it is produced1 in a scholastic way1 according to an unwritten canon of academic proportions4 ,bouguereau and ,lefebvre are the last notable exponents of it in ,france1 and excellent craftsmen they are1 too2 but somehow their pictures always remind one of the book-keeper's handwriting4 ,they are very good as official handicraft--excellent drawings after a model--but they seem to lack character4 ,they have no more force than the pretty girl on the outside of the handkerchief box1 for whose existence1 indeed1 they are largely responsible4 ,the want of stamina and vitality in their pictures may be accounted for readily enough1 because again the man is absent4 ,the work is mapped out by rule and done by academic precept4 ,as for the feeling and the enthusiasm of the painter they are not apparent1 and the product is accordingly colorless1 mechanical1 somewhat insipid4 ,this academic art is just as impersonal as the so-called realistic art1 but1 of course1 neither of them is impersonal through the ignorance of their producers4 ,it is a part of their creed that the painter should be absolutely 8wiped out of the canvas10 and that the picture is complete only when the means of its production 7including the painter7 are no longer apparent in the work4 ,the realist believes that nature is above all1 the most beautiful of all beauties1 and that the best the painter can do is to copy her in all humility of spirit4 ,the academician believes that the academic rule--the consensus of tradition as to what constitutes beauty in art--is better than any one painter's eyes and hand1 and that the best the moderns can do is to follow the greatest of the ancients1 namely1 the ,greeks4 ,but we have seen the impossibility of absolute realism in art and we can imagine the futility of copying an art of the past to be applied to a people of the present4 ,in practice neither kind of art has proved satisfying4 ,the insistence upon academic and realistic formulas has always led to denials and revolts4 ,the bitterest quarrels in art have hinged upon whether painting should be personal or impersonal1 whether a man should follow a model1 a rule1 an inexorable law1 or whether he should create and be a law unto himself4 ,we have been told many times that the struggles and neglect of the ,delacroixs1 the ,corots1 and the ,millets were due to the stupid public that refused to recognize them2 but on the contrary1 it was the stupid academicians of the cole des ,beaux ,arts who would not understand them and denounced them4 ,the protestants did not conform to the academic standard--they did not recite by rote4 ,great art never has admitted a law2 it will not be bound down to a model or a formula2 it will not tolerate a rule if it can gain by breaking it4 ,it is primarily the expression of man's delight in what he sees or feels1 and every man must express himself in his own way and in his own language4 ,indeed1 the longer we ponder over the subject the surer we are to agree in substance with ,vron that 8of every work of art we may truly say that its chief value consists in the personal character of its author40 ,these different kinds of art--realism1 classicism1 individualism--we frequently hear spoken of in metaphysical terms1 which one hesitates to use for fear of producing confusion4 ,when a person begins talking about 8the real0 and 8the ideal10 8the objective0 and 8the subjective10 we are at once all at sea2 because those words seem to have been used to define everything in the art world1 and no two definitions mean quite the same thing4 ,but as we may consider impersonal art hereafter1 perhaps it is as well to say that it is often referred to as objective art4 ,that is to say1 it is as much as possible a realization of the object or thing painted4 ,it is the outer view1 seeing things beautiful in external nature4 ,personal art1 on the contrary1 is usually referred to as subjective art4 ,it is the inner view1 seeing things beautiful in the mind's impression or the heart's emotion4 ,the interest in the one case centres in the representation of the model2 in the other case it emanates from the expression of the painter himself4 ,of course1 the work of art does not necessarily hinge upon this question of personality or impersonality in the picture4 ,there is the decorative quality that counts for much2 there is something in subject that may be of importance2 and there is1 too1 the style of the work1 which may be strong enough to overcome other and perhaps detracting features4 ,we have not yet finished with our consideration of the picture1 and are not yet ready to draw a conclusion4 ,it may be that conclusions in art are the better for not being 8drawn0 too rigidly4 ,the arts which depend so largely upon varying personalities and temperaments cannot be summed up and proved with the exactness of a mathematical problem4 ,sometimes from a mass of illustrations one may extract a few general principles1 and if we succeed in doing that we shall be taking at least one step forward in the appreciation of art4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chapter ,,iii ,,imagination ,,of ,,the ,,artist ,,in our consideration of the varying points of view held by painters we have been placing the responsibility for the variations upon the human eye4 ,the argument has been that people see differently one from another2 and from that you have perhaps inferred that there is a difference in the construction of eyes4 ,it is true that there may be a physical difference through imperfections of sight1 as when one is near-sighted or has some astigmatism or is color-blind4 ,but defective vision does not account for the individual view and is not a factor in the present consideration4 ,the physical make-up of the eye may be assumed as practically the same with all men4 ,the retina is merely a mirror which receives an impression of a scene or object4 ,but the reception of the impression is not the beginning and the end of seeing4 ,the complete act requires a mental recognition of what is seen--requires perception4 ,the word 8seeing0 then should be understood as meaning not only the mirror-work of the retina1 but the perception of that work by the mind4 ,in the matter of perception there may be differences among men and still be no great display of what we have called individuality4 ,some people perceive much while others seem almost blind4 ,you know that the eyes of an unconscious person may be wide open1 with the retinas mirroring everything1 and yet the mind perceiving nothing4 ,and so people who are quite conscious may look at things and not see them4 ,the blue shadows cast upon the snow were1 no doubt1 seen centuries ago1 but not perceived until the very recent time of the impressionists2 and the ,hebrews must have seen the difference between the blue sky and white light as the ,greeks the difference between the hues of yellow and orange without being aware of what they saw4#d ,footnote #d3 ,a most interesting discussion of what the ancient peoples knew of lights and colors is to be found in ,franz ,delitzsch1 ,iris1 ,studies in ,color1 etc41 ,edinb41 #ahii4 ,the eyes of the workmen who select the skeins of colors for the ,gobelin tapestries are physically not different from other eyes1 but they recognize scores of tints and shades that your perception and mine cannot grasp at all4 ,this is usually assumed to be the result of the training of the eye2 but the eye cannot be trained like the hand4 ,it is passive and receptive2 not active4 ,the training is that of the mind to note the sensations of the eye4 ,so far as keenness and clearness of vision are concerned1 ,i know of no people more remarkable than the ,papago and ,yuma ,indians1 and yet in the ,colorado ,desert ,i have frequently called their attention to the lilac shadows upon sand-banks1 to the pink and yellow hazes of sunset1 to the blue-steel glow of mountain walls at noonday1 without ever finding one of them to nod an affirmative4 ,they know form1 outline1 movement1 and crude color in large masses1 but the refinements of hue1 the subtleties produced by light-and-shade1 though doubtless seen by the eye1 are not recognized by the mind4 ,much of the fumbling with the paint brush found in present-day pictures is no doubt due to an inadequate perception of the model4 ,in the studios you will often hear painters declaring that they can see things clearly enough1 but their 8technique bothers them20 they cannot get their fingers or canvases or colors or brushes to work properly4 ,but the trouble is really more fundamental4 ,it is their lack of perception that bothers them4 ,whenever a person in art or in literature knows his subject thoroughly there is no difficulty about words or lines or colors to express it4 ,men like ,leibl and ,meissonier1 who see acutely every feature before them1 are not worried by a want of technical expression4 ,that their work1 with all its cleverness of hand and keenness of vision1 is somewhat mechanical--lacking in inspiration--may suggest that clearness of view is not the only requisite of art4 ,it is1 no doubt1 a valuable accomplishment with any painter1 and yet if the picture tells only a tale of facts it has fallen short of the highest aim4 ,keen eyes and a clever hand will not take the place of that vital quality of all great art--the imagination of the artist4 ,for the imagination is1 perhaps1 the very essence of artistic seeing4 ,in the ordinary acceptation of the word the imagination is little more than the image-making power--the ability to see a thing in the mind's eye4 ,we all of us have the power in some degree and can summon up scenes out of the past at will1 travelling fair lands that we have not known for years1 and seeing faces that have long been shut away in the grave4 ,in boyhood1 when the imagination is active and disposed to build air-castles1 you doubtless saw yourself many times as the hero of imaginary deeds of daring1 carrying off the beautiful princess from the enchanted castle1 just as older people like ,dumas saw the adventurous ,d',artagnan1 and painters like ,rossetti saw the ,blessed ,damosel leaning from the gold bar of ,heaven with eyes far 8,deeper than the depth ,of waters stilled at even2 ,she had three lilies in her hand1 ,and the stars in her hair were seven40 ,such flights of the imagination as these1 you will understand1 are connected and associated with 8memories10 of which we shall have something to say further on2 but they are not the less connected with the image-making power4 ,when the object or the cause is present before us instead of far back in the past1 the process of image-making is not radically different4 ,we see and comprehend by an image in the mind4 ,a portrait painter1 to take an example at once from pictures1 does not exercise his imagination upon a sitter by conceiving him as a great lawyer1 a great poet1 or a great general4 ,he does not think of him in connection with what he has done or has been4 ,nor does he eliminate the ,mr4 ,hyde from his appearance1 and give only the good ,dr4 ,jekyll part of him4 ,that would not be pictorial imagination so much as pictorial falsehood1 the popular belief to the contrary notwithstanding4 ,what he really does is to look over his sitter with an eye to his exterior appearance2 then he imagines him as he would look upon canvas1 and finally he takes up a brush and tries to paint the image he sees in his mind4 ,that image in his mind is his conception1 his idea--yes1 his ideal1 if you choose to use that badly misused word4 ,his imagination has rounded and shaped the appearance1 and just as is the weakness or the strength of his image-making power so will be the weakness or strength of his portrait1 the execution1 for the present1 being disregarded4 ,illustration3 ,,xi4--,,turner1 ,the ,fighting ,tmraire4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,but now observe1 if you please1 that the painter1 in looking over his sitter1 does not necessarily see him as the lens of a camera might see him4 ,the imagination may insist upon his seeing less accurately and more positively--perhaps abnormally4 ,the man before him may have a peculiar breadth of forehead1 an unusual width between the eyes1 a hollowness in the cheek1 a pinched look in the nose and mouth2 or it may be he has a foxy eye1 a puffed cheek1 a flabby1 vicious-looking lip1 and a sensual-looking hand4 ,these may be the very features that the imagination seizes upon and emphasizes4 ,then when the painter takes up his brush he paints these features strongly because they appeal to him strongly4 ,and what is the result8 ,the look--perhaps in the one case scholarly and thoughtful1 like ,van ,dyck's 8,cornelius ,van der ,geest0 7,plate #c71 or in the other case crafty-looking like ,velasquez's 8,innocent ,x0 7,plate #ac7--the look that betrays the character of the sitter appears in the picture1 appears more strongly emphasized than in the original2 and all through the proper exercise of the imagination4 ,the pictorial imagination almost always lays emphasis upon prominent features1 and may at times distort them without falsifying them as art4 ,the very first act1 the seeing of things pictorially--that is1 as they would appear in a picture rather than as they appear in real life--is necessarily a translation if not a free rendering4 ,everyone knows that ,george ,morland1 who saw ,english tavern-life cut up into beautiful pictures and hanging upon the walls1 did not see accurately or scientifically2 but he certainly saw pictorially and imaginatively4 ,the actual would have left us cold1 where the imaginative excites admiration4 ,we can see something akin to this even in the work of the camera4 ,the ordinary photograph of a flock of sheep is prosaic enough1 but we have all seen photographs of sheep taken when the camera was a little 8off-focus10 when some of the sheep at the side did not get into the line of light and were somewhat distorted and magnified in bulk4 ,in this 8off-focus0 view the sheep immediately become pictorial in appearance1 and we notice how much like ,millet's sheep they look4 ,of course the unusual appearance is caused by a perversion of light in the camera1 but ,i do not know that ,millet's sheep are not caused by a perversion of sight in the man4 ,genius is supposed to be closely allied to insanity2 and imagination may be allied to distortion4 ,certainly there is in the pictorial view something of the distorted view4 ,a modern athlete in the gymnasium is a very different athlete from those that writhe upon the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,did not ,michael ,angelo's imagination see the model abnormally1 and thus persuade his hand to emphasize all the powerful attributes8 ,a running horse as seen by the instantaneous camera is no doubt accurate enough in all respects1 save the sense of motion4 ,he does not run4 ,the camera arrests his flight1 holds him poised in air momentarily4 ,but ,fromentin's imagination1 as shown in his pictures1 saw the horse running1 saw him distorted1 drawn out in body from head to tail4 ,you know from the report of the camera1 again1 how human beings fall through the air in jumping1 diving1 plunging2 but what a different report you get from ,tintoretto's fall of the damned in his 8,last ,judgment40 ,there is a tremendous rain of elongated bodies falling from heaven to hell4 ,the exaggeration of the imagination is here most apparent1 but the result is wonderfully effective4 ,we are made to feel that the bodies are really falling4 ,the reason for the pictorial distortion in the instances cited must be obvious enough4 ,there is no great attempt to present things precisely as they are in nature4 ,we have already arrived at the conclusion that this would be impossible4 ,the object presented to the imagination is sought to be represented by the sign or symbol1 and it requires the radical translation1 possibly the distortion of the sign or symbol to show the imaginative conception4 ,what was the actual bulk of the battle-ship ,tmraire ,i do not know1 but ,i feel quite sure that ,turner in painting that vessel 7,plate #aa7 saw it in exaggerated proportions1 saw it lifted high out of the water1 its height additionally emphasized by the smallness of the towing tug4 ,in the same way ,claude and ,poussin saw trees and groves of phenomenal height and thickness 7,plate #bf71 as ,courbet saw sea waves of astounding bulk1 and ,claude ,monet saw exaggerated lights and colors upon the towers of ,rouen ,cathedral4 ,the exaggeration is quite within the province of the imagination--quite necessary to all imaginative art4 ,it is more apparent in some painters than in others1 and yet is not the less existent in almost all pictorial expression4 ,from the caricature of the child to the conception of the skilled artist there is apparently only a step4 ,the boy in school who draws the face of a companion on the fly-leaf of his book1 giving it perverted features and a wide smile of countenance1 is distorting the sign to convey a certain ludicrous impression2 but the ,egyptian sculptor who carved the mysterious smile upon the face of the ,sphinx--that face which under burning suns and midnight stars has looked out across the silence for so many centuries--was using the distorted sign1 too1 using it imaginatively to tell people his idea of the majesty and serenity of the sun-god ,harmachis4 ,but however the imagination may distort1 it cannot originate anything entirely new nor create anything outside of human experience4 ,we are sometimes led to think1 by the common use of the word 8imagination10 that it can 8,body forth the forms of things unknown10 as ,shakespeare has put it2 but it must be apparent that 8out of nothing1 nothing comes10 and that it is impossible to make a body from things unknown4 ,all the originality of all the great originals in the world's history goes no further than the dividing up or the adding to of things already known4 ,you may make a novel landscape perhaps by shutting out the sky with a high sky-line1 or you may make an angel by adding bird wings to a human form2 but you cannot make an absolutely new form or create one thing that has not some basis in human life or experience4 ,to be sure1 you may bring to mind the image of a character in fiction or poetry--,sir ,galahad or ,roland of ,brittany or ,amadis de ,gaul1 for instance--but after all your image is based upon some previous memories of knights in armor4 ,just so with the likeness of ,christ4 ,there is no authentic record of how he looked1 either in picture or worded description1 and the type of ,christ which we accept to-day has been derived from ,italian art1 which in turn received and blended together two types--one from the ,eastern ,church at ,constantinople and one from the ,western ,church at ,rome4 ,as for the abnormal creations that seem at times quite original--the witches of 8,macbeth10 the fairies of 8,midsummer ,night's ,dream10 the water babies of ,kingsley1 the elves and gnomes and dwarfs of ,grimm--they are all founded upon the distortion of the human figure4 ,the wonders of the 8,thousand and ,one ,nights10 the ,city of ,brass1 the diamond windows1 the hanging gardens1 the genii of the clouds1 are not different as regards the manner of their construction4 ,animal life too1 is made monstrous by the quips of the fancy1 but again the dragons are all snake-formed and the goblins all bat-winged2 the centaur is a combination of man and horse1 and ,ariosto's hippogriff is the familiar winged ,pegasus of ,greece translated into ,italian4 ,illustration3 ,,xii4--,,antonello ,,da ,,messina1 ,portrait of a ,man4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,in the first exercise of the imagination 7that is1 by division7 we shall find that the mind conceives a part of an object1 for instance1 as of sufficient value to stand by itself4 ,this is separated from the whole1 magnified by emphasis1 and finally handed forth as an entity--a new creation1 if you please4 ,we can see this well exemplified in poetry1 where ,keats1 for instance1 not wishing to describe the entire winter landscape on the ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes1 isolates a few features of the scene and makes them do service for all4 8,ah1 bitter chill it was-- ,the owl for all his feathers was a-cold1 ,the hare limped trembling through the frozen grass1 ,and silent was the flock in woolly fold40 ,here we have an owl1 a hare1 and a flock of sheep magnified out of all proportion as regards their importance in the landscape1 and standing by themselves as symbols of a cold winter night4 ,but the suggestiveness of these features is very effective1 very complete--much more so than if an elaborate description had been given of snow and icicle1 moonlight and sleigh-bells4 ,claude ,monet1 when he wishes to show a winter morning on the ,seine1 does it with very few objects4 ,there are silent ranks of trees1 a foggy air congealed to hoar-frost1 the swollen river with floating ice crunching and jostling its way2 and that is all4 ,but again what an effective winter morning6 ,the heat of summer he describes just as summarily by cutting off a square of vivid sunshine falling on a wheatstack1 exaggerating it in brilliancy of color and light1 and allowing it to stand in lieu of a whole landscape4 ,corot is not different in thought and method4 ,he throws all his strength upon light along the hills of morning or evening1 and every detail of grass and tree and human being is sacrificed to it 7,plate #i74 ,there are many ways in which the dividing imagination deals with the figure in painting4 ,the model may be treated as part of a group1 as an object in landscape1 as a whole-length portrait in a room1 as a knee-piece1 as a half-length1 as a bust1 or as a head alone4 ,nothing could be further removed from the actual than a man's head shown in profile on a coin1 but what imaginative art the ,greeks made of their coinage6 ,and what superb heads--superb in their character--the ,pisani put upon their medals6 ,how well each head suggested the whole man6 ,and was there ever a more virile1 living personality1 ever a man with a more lion-hearted look1 than ,antonello da ,messina pictured in the head and shoulders of that unknown ,italian in the ,louvre 7,plate #ab78 ,byron's ghost portrait of ,nimroud as he appears to ,sardanapalus in a dream is more colossal1 but it is not more intense or forceful than ,antonello's1 save as language is always more definite than pigment4 ,here it is3 8,the features were a giant's and the eye ,was still yet lighted2 his long locks curled down ,on his vast bust whence a huge quiver rose ,with shaft-heads feathered from the eagle's wing ,that peeped up bristling through his serpent hair40 ,to match in bulk such an imaginative picture1 we should have to go back to the great king-headed bulls that flank the portals of the ,assyrian palaces1 or the colossal pharaonic figures in granite that symbolize the ,egyptian kings4 ,sculpture affords many good illustrations of parts detached from the whole and magnified by the imagination into separate creations4 ,the ,colleoni statue at ,venice comes to mind instantly4 ,the great commander and his horse have been taken out of battle and placed upon a pedestal1 yet1 isolated as it is1 how the statue tells the irresistible strength1 the pushing power of both man and horse6 ,the 8,water ,nymphs0 of ,jean ,goujon are separated again in panels1 they tell no connected story2 but the serpentine grace of the figures1 the rippling flow of the draperies1 how inevitably they bring to mind the native element1 the home of the water people6 ,the ,greek youths that ride along the ,parthenon frieze1 the wounded lionesses that roar defiance from the ,assyrian bas-reliefs1 the ,japanese fish that swim in bronze1 though cut off from their background or environment1 yet again how perfectly each suggests its habitat through the magnifying imagination of the artist6 ,the combining imagination 7the building up by additions which enhance and enliven7 is just the reverse of the process we have been considering4 ,it has to do with associations1 with memories2 and the combination is brought about by images from hither and yon1 that gather and join in the mind4 ,there is some confusion just here between what is imagination in painting and what is mere composition1 which ,mr4 ,ruskin has tried to clear up by asserting that the former is intuitive and the latter is labored1 that one works by genius and the other by laws and principles4 ,but the distinction itself is somewhat labored1 and in its practical working it seems to have small basis in reality4 ,a gathering together of antique pavements1 marble benches stained with iron rust1 ideal figures clad in ,greek garments1 with various museum bric-a-brac illustrative of ,greek life1 such as we see in the pictures of ,alma-,tadema1 is certainly composition4 ,it may be good or bad composition1 it may be academic or naturalistic1 it may have been put together laboriously1 piece by piece1 or flashed together by a momentary lightning of the mind2 but1 whatever the method or however brought about1 one thing seems very certain1 and that is1 the work1 in the hands of ,alma-,tadema1 contains not one spark of imagination4 ,the same method of combining in the mind or working on the canvas with ,delacroix or ,turner or even ,j4 ,s4 ,cotman would have almost certainly resulted in the imaginative4 ,illustration3 ,,xiii4--,,velasquez1 ,innocent ,x4 ,doria ,gallery1 ,rome4 ,it is a fond fancy of ,mr4 ,ruskin1 and also of ourselves1 that genius despises laborious composition and does things with a sudden burst of inspiration4 ,we think1 because the completed work looks easy or reads easy1 that it must have been done easily4 ,but the geniuses of the world have all put upon record their conviction that there is more virtue in perspiration than in inspiration4 ,the great poets1 whether in print or in paint1 have spent their weeks and months--yes1 years--composing1 adjusting1 putting in1 and taking out4 ,they have known what it was to 8lick things into shape10 to labor and be baffled1 to despair and to hope anew4 ,goethe may have conceived 8,faust0 intuitively1 but it took him something like fifty years to record his intuitions4 ,he composed laboriously1 and yet was no less a man of superlative imagination4 ,listen a moment to his ,prologue to 8,faust03 ,raphael4 8,the sun-orb sings in emulation ,mid brother-spheres his ancient round3 ,his path predestined through creation ,he ends with step of thunder-sound4 ,the angels from his visage splendid ,draw power1 whose measure none can say2 ,the lofty works1 uncomprehended1 ,are bright as on the earliest day4 ,gabriel4 8,and swift1 and swift beyond conceiving1 ,the splendor of the world goes round1 ,day's ,eden-brightness still relieving ,the awful ,night's intense profound3 ,the ocean-tides in foam are breaking1 ,against the rocks deep bases hurled1 ,and both1 the spheric race partaking1 ,eternal1 swift1 are onward whirled6 ,michael4 8,and rival storms abroad are surging ,from sea to land1 from land to sea1 ,a chain of deepest action forging ,round all1 in wrathful energy4 ,there flames a desolation1 blazing ,before the ,thunder's crashing way2 ,yet1 ,lord1 thy messengers are praising ,the gentle movement of thy ,day40#e ,footnote #e3 ,the original ,german lies open before me1 but ,i prefer to give the quotation in a language which will not fail to be understood by all ,american readers4 ,it is ,bayard ,taylor's translation1 and so far as the imaginative conception is concerned it reproduces the original fairly well4 ,here is the imagination presenting us with a great cosmic picture that in sublimity ,i venture to think has no superior in either poetry or painting2 yet it cannot be doubted that it was built up thought by thought1 line upon line2 torn down perhaps a dozen times to be modelled anew with something added or omitted4 ,in other words it has been composed1 not flashed together by intuition4 ,the combining imagination in painting does not work differently from this4 ,the picture is built up2 and memories often play a prominent part in the process4 ,one may mingle lines from ,greece with colors from ,japan and an atmosphere from ,holland if he will4 ,the result might be something heterogeneous and incongruous1 but it would nevertheless be a true enough display of the imagination4 ,but such a gathering from hither and yon1 such a mingling of many foreign elements1 would not be necessary or essential or even usual in art4 ,pictures are made in simpler ways4 ,here1 for example1 is a sea-piece from the 8,ancient ,mariner10 imagined and composed again1 but brought together as a homogeneous whole4 8,the western wave was all aflame1 ,the day was well-nigh done1 ,almost upon the western wave ,rested the broad bright sun40 ,there the marine would seem to be quite complete1 but ,coleridge has yet to heighten the effect of the sunset by introducing a memory of an impression received perhaps in boyhood4 ,his imagination1 having conjured up the image of the phantom ship1 combines it with the burning sunset3 8,when that strange shape drove suddenly ,betwixt us and the sun40 8,and straight the sun was flecked with bars 7,heaven's ,mother send us grace67 ,as if through a dungeon grate he peered ,with broad and burning face40 ,the introduction of the 8dungeon grate0 still further increases the effect4 ,we now have the flaming sky1 the sea1 and the skeleton ship through which the sun mockingly peers1 as through dungeon bars1 at the dying crew4 ,the effect is weird1 uncanny1 unearthly1 just what ,coleridge intended it should be4 ,this1 ,i should say1 was the imagination adding and combining4 ,and so far as ,i can see it is also the intelligent mind composing4 ,it would be difficult to find a parallel in painting to this picture from the 8,ancient ,mariner40 ,one thinks at once of ,turner's 8,ulysses and ,polyphemus0 as resembling the ,coleridge conception1 because of the sea and the sun2 but the likeness is superficial4 ,in the ,turner the spread of the sea1 the golden waves in the foreground1 the heave of the mountains out of the water1 the spectral figure on the mountain top1 the far distance of the ocean with the sun on the uttermost verge1 are all highly imaginative2 but the real glory of the picture is its decorative splendor rather than its expressive meaning4 ,the 8,fighting ,tmraire10 as we have already noted1 is imaginative in the magnitude of the bulk and there is something of the ,coleridge effect in the glare of the red setting sun that peers through clouds1 taking its farewell look at the old war-ship being towed to its last berth2 but the imagination is not so clear-cut here as with ,coleridge 7,plate #aa74 ,in some of ,turner's 8,approaches to ,venice0 there is perhaps a better example of the combining imagination1 for ,turner never hesitated about 8composing0--putting things into the picture that were not there in reality2 and in the ,venetian pictures he sometimes did this with startling results4 ,i have in mind one of these pictures1 where ,venice is seen a mile or more away2 but the domes of the ,salute and the tops of the campaniles have been so shifted about to suit ,turner's views of composition that ,i have never been able to determine whether the city is seen from the east or the west4 ,and apparently ,turner did not care anything about geography or topography4 ,his imagination brought up out of the blue-green sea a city of palaces1 builded of marble and hued like mother-of-pearl1 with distant towers shining in the sun--a fairy city floating upon the sea1 opalescent as a mirage1 dream-like as an ,eastern story1 a glamour of mingled color and light beneath a vast-reaching sky glowing with the splendor of sun-shot clouds4 ,it is most beautifully unreal1 and yet by dint of its great imagination and suggestion it is more ,venetian than ,venice itself4 ,it is that kind of distortion by the imagination which sacrifices the form to gain the spirit of things4 ,here at ,venice one can see the work of the combining imagination very well in some of the old ,venetian pictures4 ,paolo ,veronese1 for instance1 has upon the ceiling of one of the rooms in the ,ducal ,palace1 a towering majestic figure1 clad in silks and ermines1 crowned with pearls and sceptred with power1 seated under a gorgeous canopy in a chair of state1 and representing the glory of ,venice4 ,she is a magnificent type of womanhood1 splendid enough in herself to symbolize the splendor of ,venice1 but ,paolo's imagination adds to her importance still further by placing her upon a portion of a great globe representing the world1 while below at her feet are two superb figures representing ,justice and ,peace1 offering the tributes of the sword and the olive branch 7,plate #ad74 ,illustration3 ,,xiv4--,,paolo ,,veronese1 ,venice ,enthroned4 ,doge's ,palace1 ,venice4 ,another ,venetian1 ,tintoretto1 had possibly more imagination than any other of his school--yes1 any other ,italian in art-history2 and yet it is not always possible to say just how his ideas originally took form4 ,no doubt he labored and composed and tried effects by putting things in and taking them out4 ,no doubt the 8,ariadne and ,bacchus10 or the 8,miracle of the ,slave0 7,plate #ae7 as we see it to-day1 was the third or fourth thought instead of the first2 but there is no questioning the exaltation of the final result4 ,the subject of the ,resurrection in his day had become a tradition in painting1 and was usually shown as a square tomb of marble with a man rising from it between two angels4 ,this stereotyped tradition had been handed down for centuries2 but how greatly ,tintoretto changed it and improved it in his picture in the ,scuola ,san ,rocco6 ,he imagined the side of a mountain1 a rock-cut tomb with angels pulling away the great door1 and as it slowly opens the blinding light within the tomb bursts forth1 and the figure of ,christ rises swiftly1 supported by the throbbing wings of angels4 ,however this last-named picture was produced1 by combination or association1 at least it is purely pictorial--that is1 it deals with forms1 lights1 and colors1 things that can be seen4 ,i hardly know what to make of ,mr4 ,ruskin's remarks upon some of the other pictures by ,tintoretto1 in the ,scuola ,san ,rocco4 ,he seeks to exemplify the painter's ever-fertile imagination by pointing out1 in the 8,annunciation10 that the corner-stone of the building is meant by ,tintoretto to be that of the old ,hebrew ,dispensation1 which has been retained by the builders as the corner-stone of the new ,christian ,dispensation2 and that1 in the 8,crucifixion10 the donkey at the back eating the palm-branches recently thrown down before ,christ upon his entry into ,jerusalem is a great piece of imaginative sarcasm4 ,i confess my inability to follow ,mr4 ,ruskin just here1 and ,i cannot believe that ,tintoretto meant anything of the sort about either the corner-stone or the palm-branches4 ,if he did1 it was perhaps a mistake4 ,the motives would be more literary than pictorial4 ,i think it all exemplifies ,mr4 ,ruskin's imagination rather than ,tintoretto's1 and in either case it has little to do with imagination in painting as generally understood among painters4 ,painting and the pictorial conception1 it must be repeated1 have to do with forms and colors seen by the eye or in the mind's eye2 they have very little to do with a sarcasm or a ,hebraic mystery4 ,there is still another phase of imagination which figures in metaphysical text-books under the name of fancy4 ,it is sometimes called the passive imagination1 apparently for no reason other than distinction's sake4 ,it is supposed to be temporary and accidental in its association of ideas and images1 to be light1 airy1 capricious1 perhaps indefinite2 whereas1 imagination is said to be more sober1 serious1 single in purpose1 seeking unity of effect4 ,the illustrations usually cited are taken from ,shakespeare4 ,the 8,midsummer ,night's ,dream0 is said to be a product of fancy1 while 8,lear0 or 8,hamlet0 is a work of the imagination4 ,but again ,i must confess my inability to comprehend the distinction4 ,the thought in the one case busies itself with a light or gay theme1 and in the other with a sober or tragic theme2 but the mental process would seem to be the same in either case4 ,the mind may grow happy over a birth or grieve over a death1 but one mind and one imagination would seem flexible enough to comprehend them both4 ,there is a difference in art between what is called the serious and what is called the clever2 but the imagination has nothing to do with it4 ,a figure of a soubrette dashed off in a ,parisian studio1 and sent in a hurry to a ,salon or ,academy exhibition as a 8stunning thing10 may be clever4 ,mr4 ,la ,farge has defined such cleverness as 8intelligence working for the moment without a background of previous thought or strong sentiment40 ,and this definition suggests that the serious in art is just the opposite of the clever4 ,a figure by ,millet1 such as that of 8,the ,sower10 is serious just because the intelligence has been working upon it for many months4 ,but1 in spite of calling a ,jacquet soubrette fanciful and a ,millet sower imaginative1 there would seem to be no difference in the mental processes4 ,the difference is one of subject1 time1 men1 original endowment2 not a difference in the kind of thought4 ,the fantastic is also a product of the imagination1 but it is a lighter1 more volatile and irresponsible expression than fancy4 ,it is the imagination just escaping from control1 dominated by caprice and leaning toward the bizarre4 ,the griffins and the spouting dragons along the gutters of the ,gothic churches1 and the boar-headed1 bird-footed devils of early art are perhaps fair illustrations of it4 ,in modern painting ,blake and ,monticelli came perilously near the fantastic in some of their creations4 ,turner in his last years quite lost himself in fantasy1 and a number of the painters in ,france and ,england might be named as illustrating the tendency to the bizarre4 ,when the bizarre is finally reached we may still recognize it as the working imagination1 but uncontrolled by reason4 ,our dreams which often strike us as so absurd are good instances of the play of the imagination unfettered by reason2 and if our dream-land conceptions could be reduced to art we would undoubtedly have what we have called the bizarre4 ,caricature and the grotesque are different again4 ,they are conscious distortions1 designed exaggerations of certain features for effect4 ,they are not ruled so much by either fancy or caprice as by a sensible view of the extravagant4 ,illustration3 ,,xv4--,,tintoretto1 ,miracle of ,slave4 ,academy1 ,venice4 ,there is no metaphysical or sthetic term to designate an absence of the imagination1 but possibly the words 8baroque0 or 8bombastic0 will suggest the results in art4 ,and there is no lack of material to illustrate it4 ,unfortunately the master minds in both poetry and painting have been few and far between4 ,the names and works that have come down to us from the past are the survivals from many siftings2 and the few geniuses of the present are perhaps still obscured by the bombastic performances of smaller men4 ,the ,robert ,montgomerys and the ,martin ,farquhar ,tuppers somehow contrive to make a stir and delude the public into considering them as great originals4 ,they have not imagination of their own1 so they imitate the imaginative utterances and styles of others4 ,not one but many styles of many men are thus brought together in a conglomeration that may deceive the groundlings into thinking it genuine poetry2 but the judicious soon find out its true character4 ,of course1 all imitators try to imitate the inimitable individualities4 ,the ,montgomerys and the ,tuppers aspire to no less than ,shakespeare and ,milton4 ,just so in pictorial art4 ,vasari1 ,guido1 the ,caracci reached out for the imaginations of ,michael ,angelo1 ,raphael1 and ,correggio4 ,the result was the contorted bombastic art of the ,decadence than which nothing could be less imaginative and more monstrous4 ,the mind of a ,michael ,angelo of necessity distorted the image in the first place and then a ,salviati came along to distort the distortion6 ,the figure of a ,madonna1 for instance1 is elongated by ,correggio for grace1 and ,parmigianino following after elongated the elongation6 ,this is what ,i have called the bombastic4 ,it is indicative of a lack of imagination4 ,modern painting is full of it4 ,the attempts at the heroic that overstep the sublime and fall into the ridiculous1 the rant and high-sounding utterances of the brush1 the inflated figures of allegory and the vacuous types of symbolism1 are all illustrative of it4 ,but the bombastic and its companion evils in art need no further consideration at this time4 ,it is not my aim to illustrate the deficiencies of painting1 but to point out its higher beauties1 and if the reverse of the shield is occasionally shown it is but to illustrate and emphasize the brighter side4 ,perhaps one may be pardoned for thinking that sometimes the analysis of error is a potent factor in the establishment of truth4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chapter ,,iv ,,pictorial ,,poetry ,,time was1 and not very long ago at that1 when an argument for poetic thought in art would have been considered superfluous4 ,everyone was agreed that the higher aim of language was to convey an idea1 a feeling1 or an emotion4 ,that the language should be beautiful in itself was an advantage1 but there was never any doubt that the thought expressed was greater than the manner of its expression4 ,to-day it would seem that we have changed all that4 ,the moderns are insisting that language is language for its own sake1 and art is art for art's sake4 ,they are1 to a certain extent1 right in their contention2 for there is great beauty in methods1 materials and the general decorative appearance4#f ,but perhaps they insist too much4 ,we are not yet prepared to admit that because ,tennyson's poetry sounds well1 his thoughts have no value2 nor1 for all ,tintoretto's fine form and color1 can we believe his poetic imagination a wholly unnecessary factor in his art4 ,footnote #f3 ,i have stated the case for the decorative side and for the technical beauties of painting in ,art for ,art's ,sake1 ,new ,york1 #aijb4 ,the technical and the decorative beauties of painting1 however important they may be1 are not necessarily the final aim of the picture4 ,in the hands of all the great painters of the world they have been only a means to an end4 ,the ,michael ,angelos1 the ,rembrandts1 the ,raphaels1 and the ,titians have generally had an ulterior meaning in their work4 ,and by 8meaning0 ,i do not mean anything very abstruse or metaphysical1 nor am ,i thinking of anything ethical1 allegorical1 or anecdotal4 ,the idea which a picture may contain is not necessarily one that points a moral1 nor need it have anything to do with heroic action or romantic sentiment or fictional occurrence4 ,there are many ideas1 noble in themselves1 that find expression in literature better than in painting1 and it is a sound rule in all the arts that a conception which can be well told in one art has no excuse for being badly told in another art4 ,the materials and their application to the best advantage are always to be regarded4 ,why waste effort in cutting glass when you can blow it8 ,why chisel curtains in marble when you can weave them in cloth8 ,why tell sequential stories1 moral1 narrative1 or historical1 in paint when it can be done more easily in writing8 ,and why describe landscapes in writing when you can do it so much better in painting8 ,it is mere consumption of energy and distortion of materials to write down the colors of the sunset or to paint the history of ,greece or ,rome4 ,illustration3 ,,xvi4--,,daubigny1 ,spring4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,it is well for us then at the start that we have no misunderstanding about the relationship between literature and art4 ,that they are related in measure may be said with equal truth of preaching and science1 of poetry and politics1 of music and history4 ,science has been preached and politics have been poetized1 and history has been shrieked in a high treble at the opera4 ,just so art has illustrated literature and literature art2 but it can hardly be contended that any one of them has been put to its proper purpose4 ,the main affair of literature is to illustrate literature1 and the business of art is primarily to produce art4 ,they are independent pursuits and there is no need of confounding their aims or being confused by their apparent resemblances4 ,therefore1 in using the phrase pictorial poetry ,i would be understood as meaning pictorial poetry and not literary poetry4 ,they are two quite different things by virtue of their means of expression4 ,the idea in art1 whether poetic or otherwise1 has its material limitations1 which we must not fail to take into account4 ,the first limitation is the major one and it demands that painting deal with things seen4 ,we have referred to this in speaking of ,tintoretto's 8,annunciation10 but it is worth while to take it up again and more definitely4 ,the couplet1 8,the mind that broods o'er guilty woes ,is like the scorpion girt by fire10 is certainly a poetic image2 but fancy1 if you can1 how a painter would paint that brooding mind4 ,he could not do it4 ,why8 ,because it is not tangible1 it cannot be seen1 it has no form or color4 ,it is an abstract idea to be comprehended by the mind through sound1 and belongs to literature4 ,perhaps you think the painter might have rendered it by showing a sad face and a wrinkled brow1 but how would you know whether the wrinkles came from mental or from physical pain8 ,and what can he say to you about 8guilty woes0 with a paint brush8 ,the writer can tell you about the inside and the outside of the head1 but the painter is limited to the outside4 ,the inability of painting to deal with sound--a something without tangible form--may be further illustrated by ,millet's celebrated picture of the 8,angelus40 ,it has already served me for illustration1 but ,i shall not at this time go out of my way for a newer example4 ,the expressed thought of the picture1 the whole story1 hinges on the sound of a church-bell--the ,angelus bell of sunset4 ,how does ,millet attempt to picture this sound8 ,why1 by painting far back in the distance a church-spire seen against a sunset sky1 and in the foreground two peasants with bowed heads4 ,but the effort at sound is inadequate4 ,the peal of the bell is beyond the reach of paints and brushes4 ,the most brilliant colors make no sound4 ,it is not to be wondered at1 therefore1 that there have been half a dozen different readings of the picture's meaning4 ,the idea of the ,angelus is in the picture only because it has been read into it by the title of the work4 ,that is a leaning upon literature which is unnecessary in art4 ,the painting should require no explanation by language4 ,it need not be denied that the ,angelus story is poetic2 but it is perfectly just and proper to contend that by its dependence upon sound it is better fitted for literature than for art4 ,a ,tennyson could have made a poem about it wherein the sound of the bells would have been in the cadences of the language--in the very syllables breaking upon the ear4 ,we all remember his flying notes from the horns of ,elfland in 8,the ,princess40 8,oh hark1 oh hear6 how thin and clear ,and thinner1 clearer1 further going4 ,ah6 sweet and far1 from cliff and scar1 ,the horns of ,elfland faintly blowing40 ,in those lines we have the idea of sound conveyed to us most forcibly4 ,the flow of the words describes exactly 7and they even imitate7 the long travel of the bugle notes1 far across the lake1 up the vales1 and finally dying away into the remotest distance4 ,surely the thought of that passage is best told in language4 ,what could pigments do with it8 ,what could a fine technician like ,bargue or a poet in paint like ,delacroix make of that mellow music8 ,they might picture someone with a horn to his lips and a mountain lake in the background2 but the fetching part of those ,elfland horns is not their look1 but their sound4 ,what could the painters do with the sound8 ,why nothing except to let it alone4 ,a flat canvas will not discourse music like the board of a piano4 ,forms and colors may talk very eloquently to the eye1 but they say nothing to the ear4 ,the old division of the arts made over a century ago by ,lessing is still acceptable to-day4 ,the fine arts of architecture1 sculpture1 and painting address the sense of sight2 the fine arts of music and literature address the sense of hearing4 ,therefore1 let us assume that such thoughts1 ideas1 or emotions1 poetic or otherwise1 as a painter may wish to express in painting should be primarily pictorial by addressing the sense of sight4 ,illustration3 ,,xvii4--,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 ,adoration of ,kings 7detail74 ,riccardi ,palace1 ,florence4 ,there is another1 a minor limitation put upon painting which in its way is quite as binding as the major one4 ,this is the time limit4 ,a painting is not a shifting panorama like a drama4 ,it cannot picture 7though it may hint at7 the past or the future2 it can deal adequately only with the present4 ,you may turn the leaves of a book and pass from ,greek days to the present time as you read2 but you cannot do that with a picture4 ,it does not turn or shift or show any more than the one face4 ,therefore the idea in art1 generally speaking1 should not concern itself with time1 or be dependent upon shiftings of scene1 or deal with anything that has gone before or is to come after4 ,a picture of ,charlotte ,corday on the way to the guillotine indicates a present happening1 and1 so far as it offers something complete in itself1 it is pictorial enough2 but the picture fails to tell us that some days before she assassinated ,marat1 and that some minutes later she herself will be done away with by the executioner's knife4 ,the title of the picture may tell us her story1 but then that is leaning upon literature again4 ,a painting of 8,alexander ,entering ,babylon0 by ,lebrun may show us marching troops1 elephants1 chariots1 and ,alexander himself surrounded by his generals4 ,it is a present scene2 but how shall the picture tell you who ,alexander was1 what battles he fought1 what ending he came to8 ,it may suggest the past and the future by the present condition1 but the suggestion is often too vague for human comprehension4 ,time-movement1 sequential events are really beyond the reach of pigments4 ,it is much easier deciding what painting can picture than what it cannot4 ,we have only to ask ourselves if the subject is one that may be comprehended by the unaided eye1 and if it is a theme completed in present time4 ,painting moves freely only within these boundaries1 whereas literature moves within and without them as it pleases1 and with measurable success even in pictorial themes4 ,here is a word-landscape by ,scott that illustrates my meaning3 8,sweet ,teviot1 on thy silver tide ,the glaring bale-fires blaze no more1 ,no longer steel-clad warriors ride ,along thy wild and willowed shore40 ,there we have a picture painted in words4 ,scott has gone poaching into the domain of pictorial art1 and with astonishing results4 ,it is a picture4 ,literature is certainly capable of dealing with forms and colors as with abstractions of the mind1 but it cannot handle them so well1 perhaps1 as painting4 ,we have here not abstractions1 but entities of form and color4 ,there is something for the painter to grasp with pencil and brush4 ,perhaps he can paint the 8silver tide0 and the 8willowed shore0 more effectively than ,scott can describe them2 and if he should paint them with that feeling which would give us the wildness of the shore1 the weirdness of the bale-fires1 the crush and rush of steel-clad warriors along the banks1 paralleling the push-forward of the stream itself1 we should have what ,i am disposed to call pictorial poetry4 ,but1 if you please1 it is not to be inferred that this pictorial poetry is to be gotten out of literary poetry only4 ,painting is no mere servant of literature1 whose duty it is to illustrate rather than create4 ,there is no reason why the painter1 looking at the river ,teviot1 should not see poetry in it as well as the writer4 ,delacroix not only could but did see it4 ,turner saw the same kind of romantic sentiment as ,scott in all the rivers he ever pictured4 ,daubigny saw it less romantically1 but with more of the real charm of nature1 along the banks of the ,marne2 and ,claude ,monet has certainly shown us many times the poetry of light1 color1 and rushing1 dancing water on the ,seine4 ,monet is just as susceptible to poetic impressions as ,leconte de ,lisle1 only his poetry comes to him in forms and colors rather than in the measured cadences of language4 ,it is painter's poetry1 not writer's poetry4 ,it is true enough that painting has often taken its themes from the play1 the novel1 and the poem1 and not without success4 ,all the older painters of ,england spent their time illustrating ,shakespeare and ,milton4 ,but it was not at all necessary1 nor did it result in the best kind of art4 ,and as for literature taking its theme from painting1 one can pick illustrations of it in quantity from any anthology4 ,for instance1 what is more probable than that ,scott was looking at a painting when writing this3 8,no earthly flame blazed e'er so bright ,it shone like heaven's own blessed light1 ,and1 issuing from the tomb1 ,showed the monk's cowl and visage pale1 ,danced on the dark-browed warrior's mail1 ,and kissed his waving plume40 ,the light-and-shade of the scene seems to bring to mind some lost ,correggio4 ,and how like ,giorgione is the 8flame0 dancing on the warrior's mail1 and 8kissing his waving plume60 7,plate #bd47 ,in reading the 8,faery ,queene0 one finds a whole gallery of pictures painted with words4 ,spenser would have made a painter1 for he had the pictorial mind4 ,milton is not unlike him2 and ,shakespeare goes hither and yon over all fields and through all departments4 ,here1 for example1 is his genre picture of the hounds of ,theseus3 8,my hounds are bred out of the ,spartan kind1 ,so flewed1 so sanded3 and their heads are hung ,with ears that sweep away the morning dew2 ,crook-kneed and dew-lapp'd like ,thessalian bulls40 ,illustration3 ,,xviii4--,,van ,,dyck1 ,jean ,grusset ,richardot4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,surely a very striking picture1 but after all you cannot see ,shakespeare's hounds so completely and perfectly as those of ,velasquez or ,snyders or ,troyon4 ,sculpture1 too1 may furnish material for good poetry1 as witness this description of the marble figures upon the tomb in the ,church of ,brou4 8,so rest1 forever rest1 ,o princely ,pair6 ,in your high church #8mid the still mountain air1 ,where horn and hound and vassals never come4 ,only the blessed saints are smiling dumb ,from the rich painted windows of the nave ,on aisle and transept and your marble grave2 ,so sleep1 forever sleep1 ,o marble ,pair6 ,or if ye wake1 let it be then1 when fair ,on the carved western front a flood of light ,streams from the setting sun1 and colors bright ,prophets1 transfigured ,saints and ,martyrs brave1 ,in the vast western window of the nave2 ,and on the pavement round the tomb there glints ,a chequer-work of glowing sapphire tints ,and amethyst and ruby44440 ,matthew ,arnold has certainly made a striking picture in words out of the tomb and its figures1 but again the poetry is plastic--that is1 fitted for sculpture or painting4 ,so it is--to repeat and summarize--that the writer with his words shows things picturesque and sculpturesque--inadequately perhaps as compared with the plastic mediums1 but nevertheless effectively2 but not so the painter with his colors4 ,the brush will not reveal and can scarcely do more than hint at things without form4 ,it is perhaps possible for painting to be as clear-cut and as definite in its ideas as literature1 but1 as a matter of fact1 it seldom is so4 ,more often there is suggestion than realization1 and the poetry comes to us in an almost indescribable feeling or sentiment of the painter4 ,indeed1 the greater part of what we have called 8pictorial poetry0 lies in a glimmering consciousness of beauty1 an impression that charms1 a feeling that sways1 rather than in any exact statement4 ,now that word 8feeling0 is not a cant expression of dilettanteism4 ,it has a distinct meaning in all the arts4 ,in the presence of beauty the artist 8feels0 that beauty and is emotionally moved by it as you or ,i might be moved by an heroic action1 a splendid sunset1 or a fine burst of orchestral music4 ,he responds to the charm and yet is not able to express his whole feeling1 not even in words1 much less in forms and colors4 ,with all the resources of language and with all his skill in expression ,tennyson is not cunning enough to tell the whole passionate tale of ,arthur and ,launcelot and ,guinevere--the three who lived and loved and died so many years ago and now lie 8low in the dust of half-forgotten kings40 ,all the heroism1 the nobility1 the splendid pathos of those lives1 could not be put into words4 ,tennyson could only summon up a sentiment about them1 and deeply imbued with that sentiment1 he left a tinge of unutterable sadness in the poem which you and ,i feel and love1 and yet can but poorly describe4 ,we do not know it like a mathematical problem2 we feel it4 ,and consider that old man forsaken of his children--,lear4 ,his complaints and tempers seem almost childish at times2 and yet through that play1 more than through any other written expression of human woe1 runs the feeling and the passion of a great heart breaking through ingratitude4 ,again think of that last act in 8,the ,cenci10 with ,beatrice cursed by fate1 stained with crime1 and finally brought face to face with trial and death4 ,have you ever read or known of such another whirlwind of wildness and calmness1 of weakness and fortitude1 of courage and fear6 ,and the ghastly1 creeping horror of it all6 ,can you not feel it8 ,neither ,shakespeare nor ,shelley can chart and scale upon a board the passion he would show us4 ,it could not be pinned down or summed up scientifically4 ,it can1 in fact1 be brought home to us only by that great under-current running through all notable art--feeling4 ,consider once again ,wagner's 8,gtterdmmerung60 ,how would it be possible to tell with musical notes all the tragic power that lies in that opera8 ,wagner himself was not able to do it4 ,what he did was to summon up a romantic mood of mind by contemplating the theme in his imagination and then1 to suggest by a choice of motives and orchestration1 the immense passion of the story4 ,by following the orchestration rather than the individual singers you can feel in the different motifs the poetry of that heroic age--the glorious achievements1 the sad passing1 the mournful sunset1 the fading into oblivion of those who ruled the beautiful world4 ,if you cannot feel the mystery1 the sadness1 the splendor of it all1 ,i am afraid it argues some want of music and romance in your soul rather than a want of poetry in the opera4 ,the feeling is there2 it is the last thing perhaps to be recognized by the student of music1 and yet it is the one thing above all others that has made ,wagner a great poet4 ,he could suggest more than he could describe1 and because he suggests and does not describe is one reason why he is1 at first1 so difficult to understand4 ,illustration3 ,,xix4--,,gainsborough1 ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,the picture in this respect1 is not different from music or literary poetry4 ,poetic feeling in painting may be and has been shown in many subjects and in many ways4 ,if we go back to the ,gothic period in ,italy1 when the painters were just emerging from medivalism1 we shall find a profound feeling for religion4 ,it shows in ,giotto and the ,florentines1 in ,duccio and the ,sienese4 ,they do not know how to draw1 color1 or light a picture correctly2 they are just learning to paint1 and like children they feel infinitely more than they can express4 ,and they do not try to express any precise or detailed account of ,christianity4 ,they could not if they would4 ,that which is called 8religious feeling0 in the altar-pieces of the ,gothic period and the early ,renaissance is really a mental and emotional attitude of the painter--a fine sentiment1 an exquisite tenderness in the presentation of biblical themes and characters4 ,it is no matter whether the sentiment is really religious or merely human2 it is in either case poetic4 ,and it is no matter whether the painter's devotion and earnestness were misplaced or not2 at least they were sincere4 ,there never was a time in the history of painting when the body of artists believed more thoroughly in their theme1 their work1 and themselves than during that early ,italian time4 ,you can see this well exemplified in ,orcagna--in his 8,last ,judgment0 in ,santa ,maria ,novella4 ,the ,madonna looking up at her ,son is an embodiment of all the pietistic sentiment of the time4 ,the figure is ill-drawn1 stiff1 archaic-looking2 but in the white-cowled face what purity1 what serenity1 what pathos6 ,the clasped hands seem moved in prayer2 the upturned eyes look unutterable adoration4 ,orcagna is bent upon telling the faith of the ,madonna in her ,son1 but he can only do so by telling the faith that is within his own soul4 ,his revelation is a self-revelation1 but it is not the less a religious feeling and a poetic feeling4 ,is this not equally true of that pious monk of ,san ,marco1 ,fra ,angelico8 ,can there be any doubt about his life-long sympathy with religion and the religious theme in art8 ,it was his sympathy that begat his painting4 ,that sweet1 fair face full of divine tenderness1 which we have so often seen in the copies of his trumpet-blowing angels1 is it not the earthly embodiment of a divine spirit8 ,fra ,angelico was the last of the great religionists in art1 and before his death the sentiment of religion began to wane in the works of his contemporaries4 ,they were straying from the religious to the naturalistic subject1 but wherever their sympathy extended their feeling showed4 ,when ,masaccio1 ,benozzo1 ,botticelli1 and ,leonardo began to study the outer world with what earnestness and love they pictured the humanity1 the trees1 the grasses1 the flowers1 the long1 flowing hill-lines1 and the wide1 expanding ,italian sky4 ,botticelli's 8,allegory of ,spring0 7,plate #bi7 or ,benozzo's 8,adoration of the ,magi0 in the ,riccardi palace 7,plates #b and #ag7 or ,leonardo's face of 8,mona ,lisa0 must have been seen sympathetically and thought over passionately1 else we never should have felt their beauty4 ,benozzo1 inheriting his religious point of view from ,fra ,angelico1 blends his love of man1 animals1 and landscape with his belief that they are all made for righteousness2 ,botticelli is so intense that he is half-morbid in his sensitiveness2 and ,leonardo1 with that charm of mood and sweetness of disposition in the 8,mona ,lisa10 is really transcendental4 ,it is all fine1 pictorial poetry1 howbeit more in the suggestion than in the absolute realization4 ,this quality of poetry shown so largely in what ,i have called 8feeling0 is apparent in all great art1 regardless of nationality or subject4 ,the ,venetians1 for example1 had none of the intense piety of the ,umbrians1 but they had perhaps just as much poetry4 ,even the early ,venetians1 like ,carpaccio and ,bellini1 were more material than ,fra ,angelico and ,filippino4 ,they painted the ,madonna with all seriousness and sincerity1 with belief in the truth of their theme1 but with a human side1 as noble in its way as the spiritual1 and just as truly marked by poetic feeling 7,plate #g74 ,after them came another painter1 of greater skill and power4 ,he was not so boyish in his enthusiasm as ,carpaccio1 but ,theocritus in love with pastoral nature never had so much feeling for the pure joy of living as ,giorgione4 ,his shepherds seated on a hill-side playing and singing1 in a fine landscape and under a blue sky1 make up a picture far removed in spirit from theology1 philosophy1 science1 war1 or commerce4 ,the world of action is forgotten and in its place there is ,arcadia with sunlight and flowers1 with beautiful women and strong men4 ,but is it not nobly poetic8 ,when ,giorgione painted the ,castelfranco ,madonna 7,plate #bd7 he did not change his spirit to suit the subject4 ,the picture has written upon the face of the ,madonna as upon the face of the landscape3 8,i believe in the beauty and glory of the world40 ,you may call this a pagan belief if you choose1 but it is with ,giorgione a sincere and a poetic belief4 ,correggio at ,parma was not materially different from ,giorgione as regards the spirit of his art4 ,his religious characters were only so in name4 ,he never had the slightest sympathy with the melodramatic side of the ,christian faith and could not depict the tragic without becoming repulsive2 but he saw the beauty of women and children in landscape and he felt the splendor of sunlight and shadow and color 7,plate #h74 ,there is no mystery or austerity or solemnity or intellectuality about his characters4 ,they are not burdened with the cares of the world2 but how serenely and superbly they move and have their being6 ,what grace of action6 ,what poetry of motion6 ,what loveliness of color6 ,shall you say that there is no poetry in that which appeals directly to the senses1 that which belongs only to the earth8 ,as well contend that there is no beauty in the blue sky1 no loveliness in flowers1 no grace in the wave that curves and falls on the beach4 ,illustration3 ,,xx4--,g,r,,me1 ,napoleon before the ,sphinx4 ,if we move to the north1 passing the splendid achievements of ,titian1 ,tintoretto1 ,palma1 and ,paolo ,veronese1 passing the mysticism of ,drer and the intense humanity of ,holbein1 passing the radiant splendor of ,rubens and the courtly elegance of ,van ,dyck1 we shall come eventually to ,holland and to those ,dutchmen whom the academicians declared had no style4 ,there we shall find the arch-heretic1 ,rembrandt1 who had nothing of ,greek form and academic composition1 and yet possessed what was worth far more--deep human feeling4 ,his characters are only poor ,dutch peasants2 his ,christ is a forlorn1 bare-footed1 frail-bodied outcast2 his back-grounds are generally squalid1 ill-lighted interiors4 ,there is no splendor of architecture1 no glamour of wealth1 no fair ,italian valley with a deep-blue sky above it4 ,his materials for making the pictorial poem were slight enough2 but never a picture was painted with so much poetic pathos as that little 8,supper at ,emmaus0 in the ,louvre4 ,the intense sympathy of ,rembrandt going out to the poor and oppressed all his life1 went out above all others to that ,one who was poor and despised--the lowly ,one who taught the gospel of love4 ,no one can look upon any of the peasants of ,rembrandt without being conscious of the man's deep feeling4 ,his technique1 of course1 is marvellous2 but so is his insight and his capacity to feel4 ,if it were not so we should gain little pleasure from his subjects4 ,have you never wondered what it is in art that makes a painter's interpretation of a scene more agreeable than the scene itself8 ,if you had a few sheep1 a ,french peasant1 a straw-thatched cottage1 and a barren plain you would have the materials for a ,millet picture4 ,suppose you lived in a fine country place1 how long would the cottage stand near you before you had it torn down1 or the shepherd and sheep roam your lawns before you had them driven off by dogs8 ,you would not care for them1 they would not be beautiful1 they would not even be interesting after the first day4 ,why is it then that you pay thousands of dollars for a picture of the shepherd and his sheep to hang in your drawing-room1 when you would not have the originals within gun-shot8 ,is it not that the materials have something added to them8 ,are they not helped in their representation by the painter's insight and his capacity to feel8 ,rembrandt saw a deeper meaning in his commonplace materials than you or ,i4 ,he saw that under the tattered gaberdine of the ,amsterdam ,jew beat the heart and throbbed the brain of all humanity4 ,the ,jew was typical of universal suffering--an epitome of humanity1 and at the same time an exemplar of inhumanity4 ,and think you there is no force1 no nobility in the uncouth1 heavy-set peasant of ,holland8 ,can you not see the stamp of character in the deep-marked face and the labor-worn form8 ,can you not see that the man is self-made1 made strong by hardships2 that he has been developed and brought to maturity through adversity8 ,it is this beauty of character that ,rembrandt is bringing to your notice4 ,and can you believe that there is no charm in the low-lying land of the ,dutchman--the land where clouds roll out to sea by day1 and fogs drift inland by night8 ,can you not see that here1 too1 is something developed through adversity1 that this domain has been wrested from the sea and turned into flower-spattered meadows1 fields of grain1 ranks of polders1 groves of trees8 ,have not man and country a peculiar beauty of their own--a beauty of character8 ,and how different is it with the peasantry of ,france8 ,these gleaners in the fields as they bend forward to gather the stray stalks1 how fine they are in their great simple outlines1 how substantial in body1 how excellent in motion 7,plate #d76 ,and see how they harmonize with the coloring of the stubble and fit into their atmospheric place1 so that they are of a piece with the foreground1 background1 and sky--cemented1 blended into one1 by the warm haze of a ,july afternoon4 ,is then this flat space of stubble under the burning summer sun1 this bare treeless field1 8,la belle ,france0 which every ,frenchman and many a foreigner raves about8 ,yes2 only doubly intensified4 ,this is the substance and the solidity of ,france--the yielding1 arable soil that makes the wealth of ,france4 ,and this sower moving silently in the shadow of the hill1 moving with such rhythmic motion1 tired and worn yet swinging and sowing--the sun gone down and twilight upon him1 yet still without a murmur1 without a falter1 swinging and sowing the grain--is this the brave ,frenchman whose kith and kin fought at ,marengo and ,waterloo8 ,yes2 only doubly intensified4 ,he is the brawn and muscle of ,france--the original producer1 the planter and sustainer of the race4 ,has he1 who has so labored1 so wrestled with stubborn circumstance and wrought success from meagre opportunity1 has he not a character of his own that may be called beautiful in art8 ,and the land he has broken and made so productive1 the soil that he sprang from and is so intimately associated with1 has it not a character of landscape peculiarly its own and again pictorially beautiful8 ,illustration3 ,,xxi4--,,michael ,,angelo1 ,delphic ,sibyl4 ,sistine ,chapel1 ,rome4 ,millet and ,rembrandt knew this truth of character in both man and nature1 and often they must have thrown down their brushes in despair of ever telling it2 but knowing it so well and feeling it so deeply1 they could not choose but leave the mark of their feeling in their pictures4 ,and they produced great democratic art--the assertion that all beauty does not lie in the straight nose1 the ,apollo mouth1 and the ,apoxyomenos form2 and that poetry is not alone the tale of classic heroes and medival marauders4 ,the man1 though rag-patched1 may be a king2 the land1 though no ,arcadian grove1 is still the great productive mother-earth4 ,shall we have an aristocracy solely of wealth1 or an aristocracy solely of birth8 ,may there not also be an aristocracy of character8 ,i have said that this poetic feeling in art found its way into many subjects4 ,the examples given are but a handful from that vast world of life from which the painter is privileged to draw2 and you must not infer that it has to do with religion and the pathos of humble life alone4 ,corot1 for instance1 never painted anything that expressed either4 ,his was the poetry of light 7,plate #i7 as ,rousseau's the poetry of the forest and ,daubigny's the poetry of the meadow and the river-bank 7,plate #af74 ,and are there not pans of beauty unmixed in the voyaging clouds of ,constable1 the serene blue skies of ,courbet1 the silvery mists of ,maris1 the stormy coasts of ,winslow ,homer8 ,a portrait by ,gainsborough 7,plate #ai7 or ,van ,dyck 7,plate #ah71 an interior by ,van der ,meer of ,delft or ,pieter de ,hooge1 a ,venetian scene by ,guardi or ,bunce1 a battle or shipwreck by ,delacroix1 a tiger and a serpent by ,barye1 may any or all of them be poetic4 ,the poetry is in the man1 not the subject4 ,whatever the poet sees1 if it appeals to him emotionally1 may start that train of feeling which evitably creeps into the canvas--creeps in just as when one is in a gay or sad mood his gayety or sadness will tinge the current of his playing or his singing or be apparent in his conversation4 ,again let me repeat that the thought in pictures1 whether poetic or otherwise1 is seldom so definite or precise as in literature4 ,meissonier in his 8,napoleon in #ahad0 wishes to tell you of the ,emperor's defeat1 but the only way he can do it is to paint a man on horseback alone on the brow of a hill with a gloomy1 set face and a dark sky4 ,it is suggestion rather than realization4 ,grme is one of the best story-tellers with the paint-brush of the present times1 but what does he mean by his 8,napoleon before the ,sphinx0 7,plate #bj78 ,evidently a contrast has been thought of--a contrast between the tiny figure on horseback and the colossal head looming above the desert sands--but what precisely does the contrast mean8 ,is this the modern world against the whole vast past8 ,is it ,france1 the latest of nations1 conquering ,egypt1 the earliest of nations8 ,or is this little man on horseback the intellectual force1 the dipus of the ,west1 come at last to ,egypt to solve the riddle of the ,sphinx8 ,you see the actual thought is not so accurately read4 ,again1 ,i am disposed to think that in ,mr4 ,watts's 8,love and ,death0 the little god upon the doorstep falling back among the flowers before the great outstretched arm of ,death means that into every house where love and joy and flowers have been supreme1 the spectre of death must sooner or later enter4 ,but ,i do not know that ,mr4 ,watts had quite that idea when he painted the picture4 ,it is because the thought in painting is always more or less indefinite as compared with literature that so many different meanings are read into or out of celebrated pictures4 ,art-critics and historians are still explaining ,titian's 8,venus ,equipping ,cupid0 and ,botticelli's 8,allegory of ,spring40 ,pictorial language is not like the vernacular of speech2 it is not even written so that all alike may comprehend its spirit4 ,at best it is a sign language that permits of varying interpretations1 and it is not by any means the best medium of conveying abstract ideas from one mind to another4 ,but like music it is very responsive to emotional feeling and conveys the poetic mood or sentiment1 sometimes with great force4 ,indeed1 true pictorial feeling finds its way into still less clear conceptions than we have cited4 ,the very means of expression are often tinged by it4 ,there may be no deep sentiment in the subject or characters4 ,it may be only a group of tavern brawlers by ,jan ,steen or a smirking fish-wife by ,frans ,hals1 and yet the picture may be handled in color and light with such charm as to produce a prismatic poem4 ,diaz could and did paint flowers as worthy of ,paradise as ,ghiberti's 8,gates of the ,baptistery10 solely because of his fine feeling for color4 ,sometimes there is a feeling for the sweep and flow of lines1 as in ,raphael1 ,tintoretto1 and ,rubens1 that is poetic in the best sense of the word1 and in ,delacroix's colors there is often the haunting suggestion of passion1 fury1 fire1 and death4 ,the subject may count for little4 ,what the painter feels about it may make it poetic4 ,decamp got poetry out of the exact value of a spot of sunshine falling on the floor2 and ,chardin found it in the textures of pots and pans in a kitchen4 ,paint itself may be made poetic by the sympathetic handling of it1 just as words and sentences in literature4 ,there is nothing remarkably poetic in thought about ,byron's 8,before ,st4 ,mark's still glow his steeds of brass1 ,their gilded collars glittering in the sun10 but can you not feel in the expression of it the stately and majestic march of numbers8 ,you may think there is nothing remarkable in thought in the flying figures of ,william ,blake4 ,they are descriptions like ,byron's couplet1 but under them is the feeling of vast sweeping power4 ,this is all poetry of a most sovereign kind2 and that1 too1 shown in the means of expression--in the technique of art4 ,the same kind of feeling appears in the contours of ,leonardo1 in the light-and-shade of ,correggio1 in the coloring of ,paolo ,veronese1 in the modelling of ,velasquez1 in the brush-work of ,manet4 ,it rises to the sublime with ,michael ,angelo2 it abides in the smallest things of earth in the hands of the ,japanese4 ,into the infinitely little as into the infinitely great the feeling of the man may infuse that true poetry of painting which is perhaps the highest as it is the ultimate aim of pictorial art4 ,that it is not the only aim we shall see immediately when we come to discuss the decorative value of painting4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,decorative ,,quality ,,we could easily settle1 ex cathedra1 this matter of art if our views were the only ones to be considered2 but1 unfortunately1 intelligent people differ with us1 and the painter himself is often our most determined antagonist4 ,the painter1 in fact1 has opinions of his own about his pictures and he sometimes asserts them with no uncertain voice4 ,his most persistent assertion is that the picture should be something decorative in form or color--be something beautiful to look at--rather than something moral1 intellectual1 or narrative4 ,but the public1 being differently minded1 keeps insisting that the picture should be something in subject or have some literary meaning2 and1 consequently1 it often misses the decorative altogether4 ,so it is that there is plenty of material for disagreement4 ,the painter and his public seem ever at swords' points4 ,let us to-day review the case for the plaintiff and to-morrow perhaps we can sum up for the defendant public4 ,it is true1 to begin with1 that the average person who takes an interest in painting and attends gallery exhibitions often shoots wide of the mark in his appreciations4 ,he starts wrong by devoting too much attention to pictures that have pretty faces and tell pretty stories4 ,he is over-fond of heroes and heroines1 plots and tales1 dramatic scenes from history1 or familiar characters in fiction4 ,the ideal1 whether in figure1 face or landscape1 pleases him2 and he does not object to a laugh over the comic or the ludicrous4 ,but he cannot abide coarse peasants or fishermen in art2 ,dutch pictures with their tavern brawls are not to his taste2 and he persists in misunderstanding ,italian people dressed in modern garb and representing sacred characters4 ,anachronisms of type1 furniture1 architecture1 bother him beyond measure4 ,the ,madonna and the ,apostles were ,jews and lived in ,judea1 and he wishes an archological report of the race1 country1 climate and soil4 ,of course1 he does not care for portraits by ,velasquez with their outlandish dresses1 or large ,flemish women by ,rubens1 or the 8splashy0 painting of ,dutch burghers by ,frans ,hals4 ,in short the average person is devoted to the pleasant subject in art and is continually asking of the picture3 ,what does it mean8 ,the view of the painter is very different from all this4 ,he is not interested in the pretty face4 ,the ,madonnas and ,saints whether ,dutch1 ,french1 ,german1 or ,italian1 do not interest him as ,madonnas and ,saints4 ,a figure1 whether sacred or profane1 is to him only a figure4 ,as for the pretty story1 the ideal1 the correct costume1 he usually turns up his nose at them4 ,he is not always interested in what a picture means4 ,too often perhaps he cares not a rap whether it means anything or not4 ,his question is first of all3 ,what does it look8 ,he wishes to know whether that figure is well drawn1 rightly placed1 beautiful as form solely and simply4 ,costume1 whether right or wrong1 is no great matter2 but does that ,madonna's robe make for graceful line1 or play well as a spot of color8 ,the interior of a room has no significance architecturally4 ,it may be false to history2 but does it make a good setting for the figures1 does it lend readily to light-and-shade1 has it atmosphere 7,plate #bg78 ,finally1 what is the result of the workmanship as a whole8 ,has the painter handled his materials artistically1 has he drawn his figures effectively1 has he arranged them compactly1 has he brought his lights-and-shades together truthfully1 and has he fused his color-masses harmoniously8 ,if so he has produced a work of art1 whether its subject means much or means little4 ,illustration3 ,,xxii4 --,,hals1 ,the ,jolly ,man4 ,rijks ,museum1 ,amsterdam4 ,the distinction which ,i would make is the old one between art as representation and art as decoration4 ,the ,arabic numeral #h1 for example1 conveys an abstract idea to the mind2 but if you draw a series of linked #h's thus3 #hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you will have something that conveys no idea and yet looks to the eye very like a graceful pattern for an architectural frieze4 ,the art which the 8average person0 seeks in a picture-gallery represents an idea and has an expressive meaning1 the art which the painter seeks in a gallery looks something and has a decorative meaning4 ,it need not be inferred that the two kinds of art are incompatible with each other4 ,on the contrary1 they are closely united1 for great art is both expressive and decorative1 and all art is more or less decorative even when not expressive4 ,nor is it necessary to say that one is better than the other4 ,perhaps it is the thing said rather than the manner of saying that counts most with us2 but what ,i wish to insist upon just here is that the painter is first of all devoted to the manner of saying1 he is devoted to the decorative4 ,we look at his pictures and think how long he toiled over that conception1 how he walked the town1 like ,raphael1 searching for that pretty face1 how he must have studied to verify all his archological facts4 ,but1 no4 ,his greatest effort has perhaps gone out in the endeavor to make his tones harmonize1 to get his drawing right1 to hold his picture together in its planes1 and make it one united impression of beautiful form and color4 ,you perhaps fancy that this contention for the decorative on the part of the painter is some fad of modernity4 ,if you have that idea pray dismiss it1 for it has no basis in fact4 ,the decorative sense goes back to the dawn of history4 ,it was the very first sign of the art instinct in ,primitive ,man4 ,just how it originally came to the surface would be difficult to determine4 ,years ago ,schiller put forth a theory which has been accepted by ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer and others to the effect that it arose through the play-impulse2 and that art in its early significance was merely the result of man's superfluous energy--something done for pleasure in an idle hour4 ,that is to say1 the ,stone ,age man ornamented his weapons of the chase and his domestic utensils with color and line because he had too great a supply of animal spirits4 ,and the safety valve where his spirits blew off was art6 ,we are to infer then that the decorative came into existence through man's delight in form and color and because he had nothing better to do4 ,the theory is ingenious but not wholly convincing4 ,it is quite as reasonable to argue with ,mr4 ,whistler that when the so-called ,primitive ,man set out for the chase in the morning there was some weak or crippled brother of the tribe who had not enough animal spirits to join the band1 and was left behind with the women to do camp work4 ,he could not draw bow or fight and so it is possible that he was put to work at making weapons1 carving implements1 moulding1 decorating1 and baking pottery4 ,he was at first no doubt an awkward workman2 but as his hands became more deft and his senses more acute he rounded shapes and forms with growing grace1 and put patterns upon bowls and knife-handles with more justness of balance and appropriateness of design4 ,it is interesting to observe that almost at the start this primitive artist recognized the problem of adapting design and color to a given space--a problem that is to-day continually up for solution in every studio in the country4 ,he recognized that the body of an ordinary vase1 for instance1 was capable of receiving one sort of a design--an open1 free pattern perhaps1--the neck of it required something like a narrow-band pattern1 the top or cover required a circular pattern4 ,it was not long before our primitive artist found that the secret of good decoration lay in filling given spaces symmetrically2 and that the sense of order1 harmony1 and proportion were necessities of his craft4 ,he found the same problem staring him in the face when he left his pottery and its geometrical designs and began scratching the outlines of animals and men upon weapons or flat surfaces of stone4 ,he had to adapt his figures to his space--adapt them rhythmically1 decoratively4 ,if the space happened to be a dagger-handle then the figures were necessarily of diminutive size or represented in horizontal attitudes2 if the space were a shield then the figures had to carry the action around the centre in rows perhaps2 if it were an upright panel of clay or stone then the figures were required to stand at full length and fill the space from bottom to top4 ,the adaptation of design and color to prescribed space was 7and is7 the primary requisite of good decoration2 and the early artist was accounted a success or a failure just in proportion as he accepted or rejected this requisite4 ,illustration3 ,,xxiii4--,,bonifazio ,,veronese1 ,moses ,saved from the ,nile4 ,brera1 ,milan4 ,centuries after the period of ,primitive ,man--no one knows how many centuries--when civilization had become established on the banks of the ,nile1 we find pottery1 household utensils1 weapons of warfare1 furniture1 embroideries1 walls of temples and walls of tombs1 all covered with patterns1 figures1 and colors4 ,the carvings and paintings are better in execution1 but not unlike those of more barbaric times4 ,and the artist here in ,egypt1 like his predecessor in the ,stone ,age1 is concerned with filling spaces decoratively4 ,to be sure the king in his chariot surrounded by his bowmen1 the flying enemy1 the files of prisoners bearing tribute1 the convocation of the gods1 the scenes from royal and humble life1 are all records of history1 religion1 or custom4 ,the painter is saying something1 illustrating something1 with his figures and groups and colors2 but how careful he is that he shall say it gracefully1 pleasing the eye as well as the mind4 ,the composition usually runs in long tiers or bands and the spaces are filled with standing or moving figures4 ,the open spots about the figures are dotted with accessory objects1 such as palms1 fruits1 implements1 cartouches--all decorative in form or color4 ,everywhere in the ,egyptian temple the hieroglyphs appeared in bands and rows--a text explanatory of the subject1 but introduced in such a manner that no space in the picture should look empty or wanting in balance4 ,assyrian art tells us the same tale4 ,the alabaster slabs that lined the palace walls of ,nineveh were all cut of one size1 and the colored bas-reliefs upon them picturing warriors1 chariots1 horses1 dogs1 hunting scenes1 battle scenes1 and sacred scenes conformed to that size4 ,trees and city ramparts and rivers were used as accessory objects1 and often the cuneiform inscriptions ran across them and held them together like a veil of atmosphere4 ,with ,greek art this decorative filling-of-space reached its highest point in the ancient world4 ,you cannot to-day take up a red-figured vase1 a silver coin1 or an engraved gem without being conscious that the artist's first thought was how to fill the given space effectively4 ,there is little attempt at fitting a round stone into a square hole4 ,the whole surface of the vase1 the coin1 or the gem is covered with a regard for the general form of the space decorated4 ,a ,greek coin almost always shows good decorative effect1 because the disk is completely filled with a round profile2 an ,american coin usually shows poor decorative effect because the space is not filled with one large object1 but is huddled full of small dates1 figures1 stars1 liberty-caps1 and shields4 ,the ,greek die-sinker is influenced solely by decorative appearance1 whereas the ,american die-sinker or his employer wants to tell you on a ten-cent piece all about the constitution1 the flag1 and the magnificent freedom and general excellence of the greatest republic on earth4 ,not alone with small objects was the ,greek a decorative workman4 ,the wall-paintings1 the sculpture1 the architecture1 all exemplified his skill in space-filling4 ,it was no mere accident that the figures in the highest part of a ,parthenon pediment were shown standing1 and that they were seated or reclining in the lower angles4 ,there was a pedimental form to fill with figures1 and ,pheidias would not have been ,pheidias had he not placed the figures so that they would fill the space gracefully1 easily1 and with no loss of dignity in their attitudes4 ,just so with the ,parthenon frieze of ,athenian youths on horseback4 ,how gracefully they ride6 ,and how well adapted the moving train of horsemen to the long1 lane-like frieze that conducts them around the temple4 ,it is obvious enough that the sculptor had to consider the field upon which he worked1 and he had to fill it so that it would first of all be beautiful to the eye4 ,the step from ancient to modern art is a long one1 but the decorating motive did not die with the ,greeks4 ,the ,gothic age had perhaps more need for it than the age of ,pericles4 ,when painting began to rise in ,italy1 the chief patron of it was the all-powerful ,church4 ,at that time artists were not artists1 in name at least4 ,they were mechanics1 members of trades-unions called guilds1 and were hired to do certain kinds of work like carpenters1 masons1 stone-cutters1 and other mechanics4 ,the painter at that time was often a layer of colors1 a gilder of altar-pieces1 a modeller in clay1 a hewer of marble1 a goldsmith1 a frame-maker--all in one4 ,when the church was built he was called in to decorate it--that is1 to make it beautiful to look at1 attractive in appearance4 ,there were certain architectural spaces--ovals1 triangles1 squares1 panels--certain recesses in the apse1 the dome1 the ceiling1 that had to be filled with carvings1 designs1 pictures4 ,he filled them1 and he was praised or criticised as he filled those spaces decoratively or otherwise4 ,he was a decorator pure and simple4 ,then came ,giotto4 ,the same kind of spaces needed filling1 but ,giotto filled them better than his predecessors4 ,his decorative sense was larger1 his taste in color more refined2 and he could draw a figure nobler and with more flexibility as regards its muscular play and action4 ,painting advanced with a bound4 ,it did not do so because of ,giotto's subjects1 because he painted the traditional ,church themes like those before him2 but because ,giotto was1 for his time1 a great craftsman4 ,a hundred or more years later came ,masaccio4 ,art was once more pushed suddenly forward1 for ,masaccio rounded the archaic line1 drew drapery with ease1 fathomed the tones of colors1 gave light-and-shade1 perspective1 values4 ,then another hundred years to ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael4 ,with these two last-named artists drawing reached a great height4 ,it could not at that time be carried further1 and no painters in ,florence were so famed for drawing and composition as ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael4 ,they filled space quite perfectly with lines and forms4 7,plates #ba and #bh47 ,contemporary with ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael lived ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,he was an excellent draughtsman but you do not often hear him spoken of as such4 ,his fame rests largely upon his discovery and mastery of light-and-shade4 ,here was something new with which to fill space4 ,it made no difference that at this time painting often came down from the apse and the ceiling and spread itself upon canvas and wooden panel to make what we to-day call the easel-picture4 ,the decorative motive was not lost sight of for a moment4 ,leonardo was just as solicitous that the panel should be decoratively beautiful as the wall fresco1 and he made it beautiful by his mystery of light-and-shade1 by his figures and colors4 ,he was for ,florence the perfect craftsman1 and many students followed his initiative4 ,then came ,correggio at ,parma 7,plate #h7 and ,giorgione at ,venice 7,plate #bd71 varying the use of light-and-shade and making of it a magnificent background upon which to weave colors4 ,these three men for ,italy perfected and completed the decorative use of light-and-shade1 and you will always hear them spoken of as the masters of chiaroscuro1 the inventors of composition by masses of light and dark4 ,one moment more to the school of ,venice6 ,you will remember that from her infancy ,venice was a trader with the ,east4 ,she was the carrier by sea1 the broker1 between ,europe and that realm of ,mahomet lying back of ,constantinople which has never known any other art than colored ornament4 ,this ,moslem empire and its color-glamour had its influence upon the ,venetians through their ships and traders1 and when the painters began the fabrication of altar-pieces and mosaics for the ,venetian churches it was not line or form or light or shade that primarily interested them4 ,it was color--the color of the old decadent ,eastern world--to which they were devoted4 ,the ,bellinis began it1 their pupils ,giorgione and ,titian made it glorious1 ,paolo ,veronese gave it final brilliancy and splendor4 7,plates #e and #ad47 ,again the height was reached4 ,space-filling at ,venice was done primarily by masses of color1 and to-day you will always hear the ,venetians spoken of as the great colorists in art4 ,now have you noticed that ,i have given you1 in this little outline of art-history1 the names of the great masters in painting8 ,have you noticed that the rise of that greatest school of all1 the ,italian1 can be adequately explained on purely decorative grounds8 ,art was great in ,italy primarily because the ,italians were great technicians1 great decorators1 great space-fillers4 ,if you will turn back and read their lives1 their adventures1 and their quarrels among themselves you will discover that they were not wholly absorbed by the ,madonnas and ,holy ,families and the religious sentiment of art4 ,many of them had piety and strong belief1 and some of them had neither the one nor the other4 ,the subjects were dealt out to all of them alike by the ,church2 but the manner in which they should be painted was something taught in the bottega of the master1 something dictated in each case by the space 7the wall or altar7 which had to be decorated4 ,even the pietists like ,fra ,angelico were not free of obligation to the decorative4 ,nor did a single one of them ever wish to be free4 ,whether they believed in religion or not1 whether they had pietistic sentiment or not1 they all believed in the beauty of good form and good color4 ,if you will look again at ,andrea del ,sarto's ,holy ,families you will see little holiness about them or in them4 ,they are only ,florentine people posed in traditional attitudes1 with ,andrea's wife enacting the part of the ,madonna4 ,but they are not wanting in decorative charm4 ,andrea knew how to fill space if not how to paint soul1 and it was because he did fill space beautifully in the convent of the ,annunziata that his townspeople called him 8the faultless painter40 ,no one ever referred to him as 8the faultless thinker0 or 8the faultless sentimentalist0 or 8the pietistic painter40 ,if you will look again at the pictures of ,titian you will see only handsome1 well-fed1 richly robed ,venetians4 ,their brows are not burdened with ,christian ecstasy nor their faces furrowed with classic thought4 ,there is little to them but fine form and fine color4 ,and yet ,i venture to think that ,titian1 taking him for all in all1 was the greatest painter known to history4 ,it was by and with such men--men devoted to the material and technical side of their art--that ,italian craftsmanship rose step by step through three hundred years of severe training until the ,renaissance height was reached and great art was the result4 ,the pictorial voice of ,italy would never have been heard in this world had it not been for the decorative skill of the workman1 the craftsman of the ,renaissance1 the man we to-day call a technician4 ,and from beginning to end the first consideration of ,italian art was not religion1 nor nature1 nor the ideal nor the classic1 but rather the making of a beautiful decoration by the use of lines1 lights1 shadows1 and colors4 ,illustration3 ,,xxiv4--,,giorgione1 ,madonna and ,saints4 ,cathedral1 ,castelfranco4 ,i am aware that you regard all this as decidedly heterodox1 and possibly you may think ,i am distorting the facts to make a point in argument4 ,but no4 ,i am stating the artist's contention1 giving his idea of the development of art--the view held by the ancients and still upheld to-day by the moderns4 ,but let me ramble on a little further1 and consider this matter negatively4 ,you know that with ,raphael1 ,michael ,angelo1 and ,titian art in ,italy reached its climax1 and that after them came that deluge known to history as the ,decadence4 ,but why was there a decadence8 ,what caused it8 ,nothing more nor less than that the followers of the great men came to regard craftsmanship as something of a trick to be readily picked up1 and failed to study with the severity of the early men4 ,they thought to be technicians without labor1 to gain facility without skill1 to produce great pictures without knowledge4 ,their predecessors had achieved technique1 and the followers thought they had nothing to do but help themselves to the result without bothering about going to the fountain-head4 ,so they tried to combine certain line-effects of ,raphael with ,titian's color and ,correggio's light-and-shade4 ,of course this attempt at a unity of technical excellences was an absurdity4 ,then1 too1 they began to think that the sublime or sentimental subject was worth more than good workmanship1 and that ,michael ,angelo's greatness lay in his mystery-haunted figures1 as ,raphael's in his round-faced ,madonnas4 ,so they began copying these features1 too4 ,and as a result there appeared the ponderous scowling ,titans of ,salviati and ,vasari1 the sugary1 empty-headed ,madonnas of ,carlo ,dolci and ,sassoferrato4 ,they could not draw or paint like the great masters1 because their hands had not been thoroughly trained2 they could not design decoratively1 because their taste had become corrupted2 they could not think effectively1 because they were following other people's ideas rather than their own4 ,no wonder there was decadence4 ,it would have been very strange had there been anything else4 ,two hundred years of this meretricious art followed the downfall of the ,renaissance4 ,during those centuries painting in ,europe lay barren1 save in some exceptional spots4 ,it flourished in ,holland with ,rembrandt2 it flourished in ,flanders with ,rubens2 it flourished in ,spain with ,velasquez4 ,why did it flourish8 ,if ,i were searching the entire history of painting ,i could not name for you three greater technicians than ,rembrandt1 ,rubens1 and ,velasquez4 ,with ,titian1 they are the great masters of the craft4 ,art always flourishes in the hands of the skilled craftsman2 it always languishes in the hands of the unskilled craftsman4 ,and it is necessary to insist upon it again that all these men were workmen1 working with the decorative sense uppermost4 ,they were artists1 too--artists who expressed great thoughts1 sentiments1 and emotions1 particularly ,rembrandt2 but they never would have been artists1 they never would have represented any fact or thought worth considering1 had they not been1 first of all1 decorative workmen4 ,but you may say we have changed all that4 ,the painter in those days was only a court dependant--a varlet of the king--not different from cabinet-makers1 stone-cutters1 and other mechanics2 but to-day he is an independent citizen1 a creative genius1 a teacher of mankind1 an influencer and moulder of public opinion4 ,yes2 but the picture is still the picture4 ,and custom may change the painter's skin1 but not his nature4 ,he is still a skilled workman at heart1 or at least would be such4 ,and his main aim is decorative craftsmanship4 ,modern painting gives it proof4 ,it is said1 and truly enough1 that art has advanced in this century4 ,why has it advanced8 ,simply because it has taken hold of the old technical and decorative problems1 and tried to better them4 ,in ,france1 ,ingres was doing his best to draw like ,raphael1 when ,delacroix came to the front with a new kind of drawing4 ,instead of line he substituted the patch of color1 and made the outer rim elastic1 movable1 life-like4 ,corot1 ,rousseau1 and the landscape painters2 ,courbet1 ,millet1 and ,manet1 the genre painters1 helped complete it4 ,art under them rose rapidly1 and the truth of nature was more nearly approximated4 ,but the light was too dull1 the shadows too black4 ,a new man came to the front to revise and re-edit the light-and-shade of ,leonardo1 ,correggio1 and ,rembrandt4 ,that man was ,monet1 the so-called impressionist4 ,he changed the whole pitch of light by transposing the scale1 and giving both lights and darks a higher register4 ,and has not the rich deep color of the old ,venetians been revised too8 ,look about you at the high keys of color that greet you in every modern picture exhibition4 ,claude ,monet1 whom people smiled at a dozen years ago1 but are now calling a genius1 is responsible for this high scale of color and light4 ,he has transformed the whole decorative aspect of landscape painting1 by studying the intermixture and play of pigments4 ,we are now seeing colors in art that approximate1 at least1 the colors of nature2 and they are just as beautiful decoratively as the old ones1 only we are not yet accustomed to them4 ,painting advances1 breaks out new sails1 and enters upon new seas with such new knowledge of materials4 ,and of course some of the energy put into the study is to enable the painters to show a truer life and nature than ever before2 but we are not to forget that there is beauty also in the new pitch of light and color and that the painter is using them with a decorative purpose4 ,indeed it would be easy to demonstrate that no present-day painter begins upon an oval1 a square1 a triangle of wood or canvas1 without first planning how to fill that space gracefully with forms1 lights1 and colors4 ,these nineteenth-century painters have had few wall-spaces to fill1 but it has already been suggested that the decorative tradition has descended to them1 and that they are as considerate about filling a panel or canvas as ever the old men were considerate about filling an apse or spandrel4 ,illustration3 ,,xxv4--,,reynolds1 ,lady ,cockburn and ,family4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,but ,i fancy you are ready to stop me by protesting that these motives are too material1 too mechanical4 ,you will perhaps insist that true art is above all this petty planning1 squaring1 measuring1 space-filling2 that genius knows not method1 and that the ideal out-soars the base materials that would hold it down to earth4 ,there are those who believe that inspiration dictates with the voice of an angel and that the hand of the poet or painter but obeys the voice2 there are those who believe there is no labor or plan or design or foundation in the work of art4 ,and it is true that oftentimes painting and poetry appear so effortless that we think them spontaneous and unpremeditated4 ,but those are always the works that have been slaved over the most4 ,every great work of art is based in technical knowledge and has the skilled workman back of it4 ,and many are the poets born by nature1 yet lacking the accomplishment of verse4 ,did you ever read a great piece of prose or poetry written by a man ignorant of grammar and the rhythmical construction of sentences8 ,did you ever hear of a good piece of architecture built by a man who knew not plans1 scales1 and proportions8 ,did you ever see a great picture painted by a man who could not draw decently or lay color harmoniously8 ,we are quite right in admiring the feeling1 the enthusiasm1 yes1 the inspiration1 if you prefer that word1 of some great violinist over his instrument2 but we should not forget the training of the hand1 the many years of dealing with the material that made enthusiasm and feeling possible4 ,how much of them should we have heard had the hand remained untrained8 ,shelley's poetic thoughts1 yes1 but ,shelley's sense of melody1 his knowledge of rhythm1 his general mastery of words and sentences1 gave them meaning to the world4 ,and so1 too1 while we admire ,tintoretto's fertility of resource and his bounding imagination we should not overlook the fact that it was his absolute skill of hand1 his knowledge of line and light and color1 that made an idyl of the 8,ariadne and ,bacchus0 and an epic of that great malstrom composition the 8,paradise40 ,materials1 craftsmanship1 the decorative sense which requires that a man's work shall be interesting in itself1 are the very bases of art2 and we often go astray in our judgments by not considering them4 ,we have with us to-day one of the best literary technicians of the nineteenth century--,mr4 ,james the novelist4 ,it can hardly be contended that he is a very popular novelist4 ,we sometimes read outbreaks in newspaper or magazine columns to the effect that he is not much of a story-teller1 has not much of a plot4 ,that is the complaint of the average person in the picture-gallery when he stands face to face with a ,whistler nocturne4 ,he wants what the artist does not care to paint4 ,mr4 ,whistler and ,mr4 ,james are both very well acquainted with the pretty face and the romantic story1 but they choose to ignore them4 ,the average person may read a novel by ,mr4 ,james and keep asking3 ,what does it mean8 but if ,mr4 ,james were at his elbow and disposed to ask questions he would certainly inquire3 ,how does it read8 ,it may be admitted1 if you please1 that the insistence upon the decorative use of language with ,mr4 ,james or with ,mr4 ,swinburne is excessive4 ,and so1 too1 the followers of ,mr4 ,whistler1 if not the leader himself1 may be thought to refine color and mystify tone and shadow into a meaningless fog of pigments4 ,any principle1 however good in itself1 may be rendered ridiculous by extravagance in its application4 ,but the followers of the decorative are not the only ones who go beyond the normal4 ,painters who are given to 8ideas in art0 oftentimes fly to the other extreme and neglect the decorative altogether4 ,mr4 ,holman ,hunt1 for example1 will hardly be accused of not having enough ideas and meaning in his ,palestine pictures1 and just as certainly he will not be accused of pandering to the decorative4 ,his drawing1 coloring1 painting1 surfaces1 are anything but pleasing4 ,nor does anyone doubt that ,walt ,whitman has put forth some poetic ideas as great as any in ,american literature1 but the form in which he has sent them forth is far enough removed from the rhythmical4 ,you read him and question perhaps whether he is a great poet or a solemn impostor just because he trusts his thoughts to bad drawing1 crude coloring1 and incoherent composition1 just because he dispenses with the decorative4 ,now you will please not understand me as saying that it makes no difference what you say if you but say it well1 or that the setting is nobler or better than the gem itself4 ,it is not necessary to rush to either extreme of statement4 ,some artists there be who make sweeping claims for the decorative1 and so far as they themselves are concerned they are doubtless in the right4 ,that is to say1 form and color1 in graceful combinations1 make one kind of painting2 but we need not straightway conclude that it is the only kind of painting4 ,it has been suggested already that music and poetry may have something more to them than melodious sounds that fall sweetly on the ear2 and that painting may have another mission than that of pleasing the eye with sensuous lines and colors4 ,the ultimate end of painting is perhaps the expression of emotional feeling2 and ,i am not now contending for superlative and final art in the ,persian-rug picture made up of subtle lights and tones of colors4 ,but it may be reasonably insisted that it is better for the picture--no matter what its ulterior meaning--that it should first of all be pleasing to the eye and decoratively attractive4 ,certainly that is the way all the great artists of the world have thought and wrought1 from the man of the ,stone ,age who first decorated pottery to the ,american of to-day who is concerned with filling space upon panel or canvas4 ,illustration3 ,,xxvi4--,,claude ,,lorraine1 ,flight into ,egypt4 ,and this decorative motive1 which was the first consideration1 remains to the last the most enduring feature of art4 ,the history of a marble or a picture may be lost2 its subject or theme may be forgotten2 what it meant or signified to a past generation may be incomprehensible to a present generation2 but what it looks is substantially the same for all times and all peoples4 ,what1 ,i wonder1 makes the glory of the 8,venus of ,milo0--the fact that she is a ,venus8 ,it has been gravely questioned1 is still questioned1 just what character that figure is intended to personify2 but it has never been doubted that it is a wonderful piece of line and form--something beautiful to look upon4 ,what makes the glory of ,titian's 8,sacred and ,profane ,love08 ,there is nothing either sacred or profane about it2 the title is a misnomer--something attached to the picture long after the painter's death--and no one knows what ,titian intended to say in the picture4 ,but is the picture less beautiful for that8 ,it is a splendid panel of form and color2 any name or no name could not render it less splendid4 ,its decorative quality is quite perfect4 ,all those altar-pieces1 frescoes1 and mosaics in the ,italian churches--how much meaning have they and their sacred subjects for the unbelieving art-lover of to-day6 ,very little indeed2 but how beautiful they are to look upon just as pictures6 7,plates #bc and #bg74 ,who really cares to-day for the characters of ,lear1 ,hamlet1 and ,macbeth as compared with the deathless language of their decorative setting6 ,who does not care for ,shakespeare's jewelled sentences6 ,it is the common experience of art-lovers that the more they study pictures the more certainly do they lose interest in the theme or narrative illustrated4 ,the historical or poetical incident portrayed fades into insignificance beside well-drawn forms and impressive schemes of color4 ,no one who knows much about painting ever looks twice for the meaning of a ,watteau or a ,lancret group4 ,the only meaning of it lies in its vivacity and gayety expressed in color and handling4 ,even where the meaning is important1 as in ,reynolds's 8,lady ,cockburn and ,family0 7,plate #be7 or ,leighton's 8,summer ,moon10 it is not possible to overlook or ignore the intertwining and blending of the group in both form and color1 which makes it so attractive decoratively4 ,such in brief is the artist's view of art4 ,it is firmly based upon the decorative1 though all artists do not advocate it to the extinction of every other feature of the painting4 ,on the contrary there are many who believe in sentiment1 feeling1 and emotional expression as the final aim4 ,and some there are who stickle for the value of history1 archology1 and story1 as others for the value of the natural and the real4 ,indeed1 there are several kinds of painting1 representing several different points of view1 and if we would cultivate catholicity of taste we should consider them all4 ,there is a large body of intelligent people in this world who are even heretical enough to believe that art has some value as illustration2 and since we have given the painter's contention1 perhaps it would be as well that we now state the case for the other side4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,chapter ,,vi ,,subject ,,in ,,painting ,,it has been intimated1 more than once in these lectures1 that the artist1 deep down in his heart1 has no great respect for the public's taste concerning works of art4 ,he has always arrogated to himself and his fellows the exclusive right of saying what was and what was not art2 and he would have us believe that after all art is made only for the appreciation of artists4 ,such a feeling is comforting and comfortable1 no doubt4 ,it possibly pervades branches of industry other than the arts4 ,the shoemaker probably feels that he knows more about shoes than the people that wear them and the cook more about dinners than the people that eat them2 but neither of them would contend that shoes were made only for shoemakers or dinners only for cooks4 ,nor can the contention of art exclusively for the artist be made good save in the extravagant atmosphere of the art-school4 ,unless the picture appeals to someone without the studio1 unless it is accepted by someone in the outside world1 its excuse for being would seem to be very slight4 ,the work may please the worker and he may be as absorbed and happy in his occupation as a child making sand houses on the sea-shore2 but in neither case is energy put to a profitable purpose4 ,an author writes a book to be read by the public1 and an orator speaks to be heard by the public2 why should not a painter paint to be seen by the public8 ,illustration3 ,,xxvii4--,,tintoretto1 ,marriage in ,cana1 ,s4 ,m4 della ,sa'ute1 ,venice4 ,and the audience that sees has something to say about what the painter shall paint4 ,it creates in large measure the demand which the artist supplies4 ,i am aware that oftentimes the contrary is maintained and it is asserted that the artist sets the pace and directs the public taste4 ,sometimes he does1 but he is influenced more or less by his audience4 ,the demand for work has always come from those who could pay for it1 and the patron usually insists upon having his views incorporated in the work4 ,the history of painter and patron in the past rather confirms this4 ,no doubt ,michael ,angelo had some contempt for the art views of ,julius ,,ii41 but he painted the ,sistine ceiling as the ,pope requested4 ,and probably ,rubens thought his ,jesuit patrons in ,flanders an ignorant pack of priests1 but he painted the themes and subjects they designated4 ,the subject--aye--there's the rub6 ,for the public will have it and the painters will hate it--that is to say1 some of the modern painters have come to hate it apparently for no other reason than that the public likes it4 ,of recent years there has arisen a cry of 8art for art's sake0--that is to say1 art in the form1 color1 and workmanship1 but not in the thought or subject--and many artists have given their unqualified support to the dogma4 ,in upholding the charm of the decorative they are prone to deny charm to anything and everything else4 ,form and color1 they alone make a picture1 and all else is philistine sentiment--the very leather and prunello of art4 ,it is not to be denied that this contention of the painter is right enough so far as it affirms the importance of the decorative4 ,form and color do make art1 and that too with slight reference to subject-meaning2 but we may question the assumption that there is no other form of art1 and that the subject and what art may mean to us are matters of no importance4 ,we have already considered the different kinds of painting that are produced by painters who think and paint in different ways4 8,art is in the look10 says ,whistler2 8,no1 it is in the thought10 says ,millet2 ,vibert in his pictures seems to believe it is the subject that counts2 and if ,meissonier were alive he would certainly insist upon it that art consists in realizing the model--in painting a boot you could pull off or a spur you could put on4 ,but it must be apparent to you that each one of these men1 while exploiting his own preference1 is possibly exploiting his own limitation4 ,no doubt each one of them believes there is nothing to be seen beyond where he has travelled4 ,but there is something too much of 8my way is the only way0 in these views of painting4 ,not perhaps too much for the men themselves1 because a person usually succeeds better who believes implicitly in himself and is convinced by his own convictions2 but too much perhaps for those who have nothing to do with production1 who have to do only with the enjoyment of things produced4 ,individually we may be willing to admit that neither the subject nor the realistic portrayal of nature interests us so much as the look of a picture and what it may express in thought or sentiment2 but it would be idle for us to ignore the fact that four-fifths of the people who are looking at pictures are interested only in subject and that perhaps two-thirds of the painters who are painting them are intent only upon doing something realistic4 ,it is possible to influence and persuade these many dwellers in ,philistia1 if you choose so to regard them1 but they cannot be pushed aside contemptuously4 ,and sometimes the persuasion of the artist is in direct defiance of the rational4 ,the 8no-subject0 cry of some present-day writers of fiction will perhaps illustrate this4 ,what shall we say1 for instance1 to the extravagance of those who tell us that in writing nothing which teaches1 argues1 or expounds is 8literature02 that 8literature0 consists in the writing of something clever about nothing1 and that when the thing said becomes of importance the work ceases to be literary4 ,the inference is1 of course1 that history and essay step down and out in favor of poetry and fiction2 that ,richard ,le ,gallienne's sensuous cadences and ,henry ,harland's delightful ping-pong conversations are 8literature02 but not ,macaulay's history and ,de ,quincey's essays4 ,are we to believe that there is no art in ,bossuet's oration over the great ,cond because it preaches2 no art in ,taine's philosophy because it teaches8 ,it is true enough that there is art in the skilful use of the adjective1 in the glow of words1 and in the slip of sentences2 but why is there not art also in the handling of an idea1 in the development of a subject1 in a point of view8 ,why is it necessary to let the sense out of everything before it becomes artistic8 ,practically it is not possible to separate the mental from the mechanical4 ,the mind guides the hand1 and both are but manifestations of an individuality4 ,how shall you distinguish ,shakespeare the thinker from ,shakespeare the dramatic writer8 ,how shall you separate emotional thinking from its sequence1 enthusiastic craftsmanship8 ,people are not convinced by the argument for art in the method but not in the mind or the material4 ,mr4 ,whistler1 speaking for painting1 is scarcely less extravagant than the writers4 8,as music is the poetry of sound1 so is painting the poetry of sight1 and the subject-matter has nothing to do with the harmony of sound or of color4 ,art should stand alone and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it1 as devotion1 pity1 love1 patriotism1 and the like40 ,thus ,mr4 ,whistler2 and again there is a measure of pungent pertinence in the remark4 ,painting should appeal primarily to 8the artistic sense of eye10 but not necessarily to that alone4 ,there is no reason why it should not have a meaning and express a feeling or a sentiment about something besides form and color4 ,even music appeals to something more than the ear4 ,it suggests a feeling1 an association4 ,if it be true that it has no idea or sentiment1 why do we grow sad over ,siegfried's ,death ,march1 or elated over that last upward burst of song in the dungeon scene from 8,faust08 ,why do we become emotional or sentimental or romantic over a symphony by ,beethoven8 ,if we wish meaningless sound we must take the olian harp or the hum of the wind through pine needles or the roar of the sea breaking on the beach2 and perhaps each of these seems beautiful to us largely because it suggests something like a human moan or wail4 ,just so there may be a suggestion or meaning behind the most decorative of pictures4 ,every picture1 if it be coherent at all1 illustrates1 represents1 or expresses some fact1 thought1 or feeling4 ,however shadowy the trees of the no-subject artist1 however vague and ghost-like the figures of a symphonist in paint1 we see and recognize the trees and the figures4 ,the lines1 lights1 and colors are so placed that they illustrate subjects1 namely1 trees and figures2 they convey to us a meaning1 and if they are so indefinite that we cannot distinguish trees from figures1 rocks from grass1 or water from sky1 then the picture is not a picture1 but merely a dash of variegated colors4 ,two dead fish upon a plank and behind them an iron pot--the picture that ,vollon has painted for us--has1 as a picture1 perhaps as little subject about it as the most confirmed modern could desire2 yet it is no less a subject4 ,we recognize the pot1 the plank1 the fish readily enough4 ,smear the canvas so that we have only streaks of gray and black1 and the subject is gone and with it the picture4 ,it is then only a medley of pigment which may be rather interesting as a color-spot1 but is no more of a picture than so much color rubbed on the panel of a door4 ,mr4 ,whistler may call one of his small canvases of the open sea a symphony in blue or gray or catalogue it by any other fantastic name he chooses2 but the fact remains that his few touches of the brush give us not only the form and color of the sea1 but suggest to us the great ocean tossing after storm--rolling moodily under gray skies4 ,the painter intended that such a meaning should be suggested4 ,if he had not defined his sea and sky so that we could recognize them his canvas might still be a pretty piece of blue and gray1 and it might be a 8symphony02 but it would not be a picture4 ,it would not picture anything2 it would be merely pigment again4 ,and even an art-for-art's-sake devotee might wonder why ,mr4 ,whistler should fight wind-mills about 8devotion1 pity1 love and patriotism0 in pictures4 ,are the altar-pieces of the early ,italians the worse for being filled with what people choose to think true 8devotion08 ,would the pictures by ,filippino or ,botticelli be the better if the pietistic sentiment were eliminated and a smiling ,froufrou took the place of the sad-faced ,madonna8 ,consider for a moment that splendid family group kneeling in the altar-piece of the ,pesaro family by ,titian1 and then ask yourself if the suggestion of devotion here is any more objectionable than the spirit of frivolity or gayety in a scene from the ballet by ,degas4 ,some years ago there was a rather interesting picture by ,dagnan-,bouveret in the ,salon1 called 8,the ,conscripts0--a picture showing a squad of youths marching down the street to the sound of drum-beats1 with the tricolor flying over their heads4 ,the sentiment of it was undoubtedly patriotic1 and crowds stood about it day by day as long as the exhibition remained open4 ,would ,mr4 ,whistler condemn it for either its patriotism or its popularity8 ,if so1 why not the 8,surrender at ,breda0 by ,velasquez8 ,that1 too1 smacks of military glory1 and ,i doubt not had its crowds of ,spaniards staring at it in the past as ,dagnan-,bouveret's picture in the present4 ,and why not put ,rembrandt's 8,night ,watch10 and ,frans ,hals's ,shooting ,companies at ,haarlem in the same pillory8 ,they are full of uniforms1 flags1 drums and guns1 and they are stuffed with patriotism1 civic pride and burgher conceit2 but1 oddly enough1 we find no painter-writer abusing them on that account4 ,why8 ,because they are not lacking in decorative quality2 they are superb as form and color4 ,so it seems then that ,velasquez1 ,frans ,hals1 and ,rembrandt shall go scot-free for perpetrating what is adjudged little short of a crime in ,sir ,john ,millais and ,george ,boughton4 ,which is it1 then1 the presence of the devotional and the patriotic or the absence of the decorative that really excites the wrath of the ,whistlerians8 ,possibly what their spokesmen meant to say was that in modern painting there is too much insistence upon the theme1 the subject1 the story told2 that artistic qualities of form and color are ignored1 pushed aside1 overlooked in favor of the incident set forth2 that painting is not a mere vehicle for illustrating poetry1 fiction1 religion1 or history2 that it has qualities peculiarly its own1 which are entitled to quite as much consideration as the thought or theme which may be illustrated4 ,and all of that would be true enough4 ,the decorative phase of art is quite as important as the illustrative1 but why are not both important8 ,why and how do they conflict with one another8 ,illustration3 ,,xxviii4--,,raphael1 ,sistine ,madonna4 ,dresden ,gallery4 ,but1 to return to our original contention1 expressive painting cannot get on without a thought and a theme4 ,it must represent or illustrate something4 ,and if we should cast out all the pictures that have an expressive meaning we should do away with almost all the art of the past4 ,certainly all descriptive art would have to go4 ,historical canvases1 we are told1 are only 8illustrative0 anyway1 and not art pure and simple4 ,but just where shall the line be drawn between what is historical and what is not historical8 ,a canvas of ,napoleon retreating from ,russia is illustrative--historical beyond doubt2 but how does ,meissonier's portrait of ,napoleon riding at the head of his bedraggled columns differ from ,mr4 ,whistler's picture of a blacksmith at his forge8 ,one is the likeness of a famous general in time of war1 the other is the likeness of a common blacksmith in time of peace2 but both canvases are biographical1 and therefore historical4 ,a picture of the field of ,gravelotte or the palace at ,versailles might serve as an illustration of the political history of ,france2 but a wheat stack and a row of poplars by ,monet1 a wood-chopper or a gleaner by ,millet1 why do they not equally well illustrate the social and agricultural history of ,france8 ,there is really no point where one can stop4 ,everything that can be recognized at all in a painting is more or less illustrative of history1 fact or incident4 ,and there is no reason why modernity should strain at an interesting subject because it happens to be political history1 and swallow a stupid one because it happens to be social history4 ,titian1 ,rubens1 and ,velasquez did not do it4 ,each one of them painted the life and history of his time1 not in portraiture alone1 but in battle scene and court ceremony4 ,and famous canvases they made of them1 too4 ,can it be thought for a moment that the subjects were detrimental to the artists or their art8 ,evidently the painters themselves did not think so4 ,and is the church art of ,italy to go1 too1 because it illustrates the biblical narratives8 ,without doubt it is the most complete expression of painting we have ever known1 the most perfect in decorative charm1 the most satisfactory in expressive meaning4 ,what if it did teach the ,bible to those who could not read6 ,did it not also adorn the interior of churches1 and fulfil the modern requirements of painting by its beauty of form and color8 ,and if it be true that art consists not in devotion or patriotism1 but in drawing the nude figure1 what difference does it make whether you draw that of ,adam lying upon the edge of the world as ,michael ,angelo1 or that of a dead unknown lying upon a hospital slab as ,rembrandt8 ,if the female figure be insisted upon as the acme of graceful line and delicate color1 why cannot these be shown in a 8,susanna at the ,bath0 as well as in a 8,venus0 or an 8,olympe08 ,some years ago ,mr4 ,whistler painted the figure of a girl in white standing at full length upon a white bear-skin1 and the result was called 8,the ,white ,girl40 ,it is a study in whites1 and his followers might count it a symphony in white without making much more of it than a clever exposition of painter's values4 ,in ,venice1 some centuries ago1 ,palma ,vecchio painted the figure of a girl in rich browns standing at full length upon guns1 and called the result 8,santa ,barbara40 7,frontispiece47 ,as a symphony1 as a study in color-harmony1 as a piece of drawing and painting1 it is irreproachable4 ,it is decoratively all that could be desired4 ,yes2 and there is something more to it4 ,the figure expresses superb dignity1 nobility1 and repose2 it is the perfect type of woman2 and in addition the picture has illustrated to the mob for many years the story of ,santa ,barbara the martyr4 ,both pictures are true enough art1 delightful each in its way2 but which is the more complete8 ,and would you have the meaning knocked out of ,palma's picture1 would you have it reduced to a mere symphony of brown and gold--something you might catalogue as 8,the ,brown ,girl08 ,suppose1 for argument's sake1 we admit that calling it ,santa ,barbara does not help it in any way2 but does it injure it in any way8 ,certainly not4 ,nor is it worth while to accept an allegorical figure by ,fantin-,latour or a nursing mother by ,degas and then quarrel with the meaning of a 8,madonna0 by ,bellini 7,plate #g7 or a 8,st4 ,catherine0 by ,sodoma4 ,the use of the latter pictures by the ,church to point a moral or adorn a tale does not invalidate their art1 nor does the name attached to them blind anyone to their harmony of form1 light1 and color4 ,we may be certain that those ,renaissance men were just as much interested in the decorative side of their art as the moderns4 ,they were expert technicians with a fine sense of line and color4 ,every feature of the ,madonna's face1 form or costume1 the fall of a robe1 the sparkle of a gem1 the play of light upon hair or nude shoulder1 the depth and resonance of colors1 were seized upon for decorative effect2 but the emotions of 8devotion1 pity and the like10 which ,mr4 ,whistler insists are quite foreign to art1 did not disturb them in any way4 ,they used them as they pleased and still made beautiful pictures4 ,just so with the ,dutchmen at the north4 ,they painted portraits1 interiors1 fte scenes1 marines--all things that related to ,holland--and they were very intent upon giving the realistic appearance of everything so that anyone could divine the meaning2 but they did not neglect the decorative nor quarrel about the subjects of their canvases4 ,the fine conversation-pictures of ,terburg or the interiors of ,steen or the portraits of ,hals 7,plate #bb7 need no apology for their purely artistic qualities4 ,every face or hand or figure1 every scrap of light or color1 has the most made of it4 ,the painters wrung all the hues possible out of silks and satins1 caught all the sparkle of glass1 all the sheen of pots and dishes2 but they did not think to win entirely by virtue of these qualities4 ,they cared something for their subject and insisted upon its truth of representation and illustration1 too4 ,illustration3 ,,xxix4--,,botticelli1 ,allegory of ,spring4 ,academy1 ,florence4 ,and what of the landscape8 ,are we to cast out the historical productions of ,claude and ,turner 7,plates #aa and #bf7 because they are supposed to represent ancient ,italy or classic ,greece8 ,what if ,turner does paint a picture of ,venice in which people may recognize some things ,venetian1 does that mar his painting of light1 air1 sky1 and color1 or dim the decorative splendor of the landscape in any way8 ,those splendid ,venetian sunsets with scarlet clouds waving and flaming far up the zenith1 their crimson reflection in the waters of the lagoons1 the golden atmosphere that never painter yet painted1 how are they harmed by the stray sunshafts that flush pink the familiar top of the ,san ,marco campanile or gild into recognition the great silver domes of the ,salute8 ,and if a modern paint a patch of mid-ocean without a name how much greater as art are his sea-waves than the waves of ,claude shown in a seaport of ,france8 ,what harm does the 8seaport0 and 8,france0 do the picture8 ,we have recently had some very beautiful studies of color1 light1 and air by ,claude ,monet which he has called 8,rouen ,cathedral0 and 8,westminster ,bridge40 ,they are much vaguer in outline than ,turner or ,claude would have painted them2 but they picture historical structures and might be called historical landscapes with as much reason as ,turner's 8,bay of ,bai0 or ,claude's 8,queen of ,sheba40 ,but the chief quarrel of the modern is with the story-telling subject--the sentimental or funny incident in paint--of which we see enough and to spare at every new exhibition4 ,this too is historical art in a way4 ,for the genre subjects of the present time are history in the little--personal incidents usually1 but nevertheless the history of the people4 ,and yet it must be acknowledged that there is some reason for waging war against this kind of art as we find it to-day4 ,not that the story in itself is necessarily objectionable4 ,if we are not interested in its incident perhaps we can enjoy its decorative qualities4 ,the 8,sacred and ,profane ,love0 by ,titian1 which ,i have already mentioned1 certainly had a literary meaning at one time1 but to-day the allegory is lost to us and the picture lives by virtue of its fine form and color--the allegory in no way injuring its decorative qualities4 ,nor are the stories of ,jan ,steen or ,van der ,meer of ,delft or ,teniers objectionable in their pictures4 ,you will hear no modern railing against them1 for the very good reason that the pictures are excellent pieces of workmanship and exceptionally beautiful in surfaces1 handling1 color1 light and atmosphere4 ,but the present-day story-teller with a paint-brush is not so good a workman as the ,dutchmen4 ,he slurs the decorative and throws all the interest of his picture upon the incident portrayed1 and lets form and color go lame1 blind and halt if they choose4 ,there is little to be said in praise of his work4 ,the tawdry colors and the card-board figures with which his stories are told condemn them at the start4 ,yet the public1 seeing not the cheapness of the method1 applauds the incident portrayed and thus endorses a lame and halting art4 ,it is this that stirs the wrath of the art-for-art's-sake advocates and leads to their extravagance of statement4 ,it is the ,marcus ,stones1 the ,viberts1 and the ,defreggers of painting who have brought the story into contempt and caused the opposition to it4 ,that the 8unco guid0 ,sunday-school incident or the horse-play of the grinning ,tyrolean peasant1 or the red-robed monk story should pass current as art while the peasants of ,millet1 the landscapes of ,corot1 the marines of ,whistler should be sneered at as impressionistic or 8faddish10 was more than the artistic brotherhood could bear4 ,it took up the cudgels for more art and less literature1 and in knocking the silly incident in the head1 it also tried to knock in the head every other incident in the art-world4 ,this was perhaps an error4 ,for the subject is not necessarily silly except in the hands of the whipper-snapper painter4 ,there is nothing silly about the 8,moses saved from the ,nile0 7,plate #bc7 by ,bonifazio1 or the 8,miracle of the ,slave0 7,plate #ae7 by ,tintoretto1 or the 8,good ,samaritan0 by ,rembrandt1 or the 8,garden of ,love0 by ,rubens1 or the 8,shepherds in ,arcadia0 7,plate #cj7 by ,poussin4 ,oh1 yes2 the old masters could paint stories when it pleased them to do so4 ,they were religious and classic stories--themes hallowed by tradition--but not differing in other respects from the stories of to-day4 ,they painted them well and with great decorative skill and therefore you never hear any painter decrying them2 but1 so far as their legitimacy or illegitimacy is concerned1 they were not different from the 8,love and ,death0 of ,mr4 ,watts or the 8,beguiling of ,merlin0 by ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones or the 8,blind ,fiddler0 by ,sir ,david ,wilkie4 ,but we must not push our argument too hard1 for we are not the special advocates of the story-picture4 ,nor should we1 while stating the contention of the public for the subject-picture1 be unjust to the contention of the painter for the decorative picture4 ,it is true enough that the religious or classic theme of ,renaissance art is not its most enduring quality with us to-day4 ,the pictures live more by their excellences of form and color than by their subjects4 ,still the painters found no great hardship in having to paint designated themes4 ,they worked easily under imposed conditions4 ,when ,mantegna was asked to paint a chapel in the ,eremitani at ,padua and the life of ,st4 ,christopher was given him as a subject he did not cry out against subjects in painting and talk about the absurdity of devotion and patriotism in art4 ,he accepted the conditions and fulfilled them nobly4 ,when ,correggio was asked to paint an ,assumption of the ,madonna in the cupola of the ,duomo at ,parma he1 too1 accepted the conditions of subject and architectural surroundings and produced that wonderful circle of whirling angels which1 seen from below1 seems to rise higher and higher in the dome as though actually disappearing in the blue sky4 ,illustration3 ,,xxx4--,,poussin1 ,shepherds in ,arcadia4 ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,hundreds of the ,renaissance painters filled wall and altar spaces under similar limitations1 producing ,nativities1 ,flights into ,egypt1 ,crucifixions1 ,resurrections1 without ever a thought of quarrelling with their themes4 ,they were hackneyed themes1 too2 but they knew that their success in the estimation of their fellow-craftsmen was largely dependent upon the degree of freshness and originality with which the subjects were treated4 ,one of the astonishing things about ,tintoretto at ,venice is that1 coming at the final day of the ,renaissance1 he should have handled the old time-worn and art-worn themes with such novelty and power4 ,the ,annunciation1 the ,nativity1 the ,flight1 the ,crucifixion in the ,scuola ,san ,rocco at ,venice are marvellous pieces of originality and invention4 ,before ,tintoretto's time there were innumerable 8,marriages in ,cana0 painted for the ,church1 but that wonderful picture in the ,sacristy of the ,salute at ,venice goes beyond them all 7,plate #bg74 ,what was it to ,titian or ,moretto that the early men had painted the 8,assumption of the ,madonna08 ,they did it over again with greater originality and splendor4 ,nor did the ,renaissance painters wholly ignore the audience for which their pictures were intended4 ,when ,raphael painted the 8,sistine ,madonna0 7,plate #bh71 he was most careful about the composition of the group1 about the drawing1 the draperies1 the light1 the color1 the action of the figures4 ,he studied long and hard every decorative feature of the picture1 that it might have grace of line and charm of hue4 ,yes2 and he also studied long and hard the story it should tell to the congregation of the ,black ,friars' ,church at ,piacenza1 for whom the picture was originally painted4 ,it hung over the high altar of the church and was so conspicuously placed that the whole kneeling throng could see it4 ,the curtains painted at the top of the picture are supposed to be the real altar-curtains1 the ledge at the bottom where the cherubs rest is supposed to be the real altar-top4 ,the angel-throng with the ,madonna is coming down from heaven4 ,she is walking on the clouds1 coming forward to meet the kneeling worshippers and holding up to them the ,child as the ,hope of the ,world4 ,behind them is a great halo of light made up of angel-heads--the light of the ,eternal ,day4 ,at the right ,st4 ,barbara kneeling turns away her face as though blinded by the radiance2 at the left ,san ,sisto the martyr looks up to the ,madonna and with one deprecating hand upon his bosom points outward with the other to the congregation as though saying3 8,not for me1 but for these poor souls in my keeping40 ,it is impossible to ignore the story told in the picture2 impossible to say that it is an intrusion or should have been left out4 ,there is nothing very decorative about the large round eyes of the ,mother and ,child--they were taken almost verbatim from the old ,byzantine mosaics--but again it is impossible not to recognize the look of wonder they express and the specific meaning they must have had for the audience4 ,all of which would seem to suggest once more that the theme in painting is at least not a hindrance1 not a something to be got rid of1 but a condition to be dealt with and handled illustratively in the same way that a given space of wall1 panel or canvas is a condition to be dealt with decoratively4 ,to say that painting shall reveal only 8the appearance of things0 and that the significance of those things shall count for naught is one extreme2 to say that objects shall depend solely upon their meaning and be regardless of decorative charm is the other extreme4 ,painters may choose either one or the other as becomes partisans 7the great painters have always chosen both71 but the spectator should cultivate a broader taste and exhibit a more discriminative mind4 ,to ,mr4 ,whistler1 for instance1 was given the sense of color1 light1 air1 and the power to produce the glamour and the mystery of these in harmonies1 symphonies1 nocturnes--all of them decorative things lovely to look upon4 ,let us by all means admire them and love them2 but we should not allow ourselves to think that this alone is art1 and all the products of the other men but so much rags and scrap-iron4 ,mr4 ,watts has a differently endowed mind4 ,he grasps elemental truths of life and presents them in allegorical forms that are beautiful to think about1 and ,mr4 ,whistler does not like that4 ,but never mind2 let us listen to ,mr4 ,watts1 too4 ,he is a man of imagination1 and what he has to say is well worth listening to1 though he has not ,mr4 ,whistler's point of view1 and is somewhat lacking in the decorative quality4 ,nor need we despise those painters whose equipment leads them to care as little for things decorative as for things symbolical4 ,there are artistic minds that love to deal with facts as facts4 ,realism is healthful at least1 and besides there may be much that is interesting in facts if we only study them long enough4 ,men like ,courbet and ,bonnat and ,meissonier and ,grme are not to be ignored4 ,they are great students1 great artists of their kind4 ,their minds move along scientific and archological grooves1 and in that respect they are quite different from the ,whistlers1 the ,millets1 and the ,delacroixs2 but ,i do not see why they are not entitled to admiration for what they do1 especially when they do it so very well4 ,we should find something to admire in all of them1 if we had more judgment and less prejudice4 ,unfortunately1 we allow our likes to dictate to our taste4 ,a certain form of art is agreeable to us1 and therefore everything else is bad form and not art at all4 ,because one likes the ,madonnas of ,raphael is no reason for condemning the ,madonnas of ,holbein and ,rubens4 ,the landscape of ,claude ,lorraine is not incompatible with the landscape of ,claude ,monet4 ,both are good4 ,but it is very difficult to make people see and believe that4 ,raising ourselves above prejudice is not easy of accomplishment4 ,it is what is called1 broadly1 education--a difficult attainment to many1 an absolute impossibility to some4 ,indeed when we come to sum up these lectures we find their burden to be chiefly 8,raising ourselves above prejudice40 ,the special pleas of painters1 whether for realization or decoration or illustration1 are1 of course1 to be heard and accepted in part2 but we are not to believe in any one of them to the utter exclusion of the others4 ,each is excellent of its kind1 so far as it goes2 but in our final judgment of the work of art we may conclude that the sum of the whole is greater than any of its parts1 and that truth to nature1 individuality1 imagination1 pictorial poetry1 decorative beauty1 subject--all the elements--go to the making of what is called 8great art40 ,titian1 ,rubens1 and ,velasquez scorned none of these elements1 advocated none of them exclusively2 and you and ,i1 who help make up the public1 can perhaps do no better than base our principles of taste upon the works of those famed masters of the craft4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,books ,,by ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ,professor of the ,history of ,art in ,rutgers ,college ,,published ,,by ,,charles ,,scribner',s ,,sons ---------------------------- ,the ,meaning of ,pictures ,with #ca full-page illustrations4 #abmo1 #a4be net 8,it may be questioned if any other book of its scope has ever shown #8the meaning of pictures' in a way that will make it so clear to the average ,english reader40--,the ,dial4 8,a book that is always calm and cool and right40--,new ,york ,evening ,post4 8,essentially sound and rational40--,outlook4 8,we could ask nothing better for the training of art taste in ,america than the wide circulation and careful reading of this sound and sensible introduction40--,the ,congregationalist4 8,an unusual quality in art criticism1 plain common sense with a delightful avoidance of technical jargon40--,new ,york ,sun4 8#8,the ,meaning of ,pictures' has in abundant measure a happy kind of originality1 the most genuine sort of helpfulness1 and rare power to stimulate40--,boston ,herald4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,art for ,art's ,sake ,seven ,university ,lectures on the ,technical ,beauties of ,painting ,with #bd reproductions of representative paintings4 #abmo1 #a4ej 8,one of the best books on art that has ever been published in this country40--,boston ,transcript4 8,we consider it the best treatise on the technic of painting for general readers40--,the ,nation4 8,mr4 ,van ,dyke is very good reading indeed1 and withal remarkably clear and precise in explaining much that shapes itself but hazily in the brain of those interested in art40--,london ,spectator4 8,i do not know that there is a book in ,english from which one can learn more of what pictures are and why they are admired40--,,dr4 ,,talcott ,,williams4 8,has all the recommendations that are to be looked for in essays of the kind4 ,they take a broad survey1 they deal with the points that it is worth while to know about1 they are perfectly lucid1 and they are very charming in their literary art40--,new ,york ,sun4 8,temperate and appreciative40--,atlantic ,monthly4 8,written in an easy1 entertaining style40--,new ,york ,tribune4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,studies in ,pictures ,an ,introduction to the ,famous ,galleries ,with #dj ,illustrations4 #abmo1 #a4be net 8,professor ,van ,dyke is a helpful cicerone1 for he does not overpower the reader with his theories1 or force upon him his tastes1 or crush him with the weight of his learning1 but talks clearly and sensibly about what pictures are painted for and how we can get the most out of them40--,the ,independent4 8,it would be difficult to find a better or more accomplished guide in gaining a comprehension of the principles of appreciation as applied to painting40--,the ,press 7,philadelphia74 8,not only useful to the unsophisticated1 to whom it is admirably adapted1 but valuable to those who have a tendency to lose themselves in technicalities40--,new ,york ,times4 8,mr4 ,van ,dyke will help the student to understand how pictures have been made and how they have been brought together in the great galleries2 he will show how to get at the points of view held by the masters1 and how1 in short1 to use the technique of art-study40--,new ,york ,tribune4 8,much useful information and suggestive thought in an informal little volume40--,international ,studio4 8,professor ,van ,dyke writes with his usual cool good sense40--,new ,york ,evening ,post4 8,an admirable introduction to travel or study40--,the ,congregationalist4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,,what ,,is ,,art8 ,studies in the ,technique and ,criticism of ,painting #a4jj net4 ,postpaid #a4aj ,professor ,van ,dyke in this volume returns to the general subject of fine art1 which he has already done so much to illustrate and illuminate in his various books4 ,this book expounds the painter's point of view as distinct from that of the connoisseur1 the collector1 or the museum director1 which1 he thinks1 has for the past twenty years so monopolized discussion among us as to obscure the consideration of art as art1 in considering it as a curiosity or commodity4 ,to the preaching of this gospel1 which is particularly timely in view of recent famous sales and expert controversies1 are added chapters on the constitution1 production1 and appreciation of painting4 ,the book is written in a particularly vivacious style1 and its criticism of current materialism is crisp and even cutting4 ,the author takes up such subjects as 8,the ,use of the ,model10 8,quality in ,art10 8,art ,criticism10 8,art ,history and ,art ,appreciation40 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,nature for ,its ,own ,sake ,first ,studies in ,natural ,appearances #abmo1 #a4ej 8,no one can read it without having his knowledge of nature enlarged1 his curiosity quickened1 and his sensitiveness to the beauty that is all about him in the world increased and stimulated40--,chicago ,tribune4 8,he writes clearly and simply and indulges in little rhetoric or false sentiment4 ,his #8first studies1' therefore1 will probably reveal to many people many things of which they were unaware40--,the ,nation4 8,a series of interesting and distinctly original essays40 --,philadelphia ,public ,ledger4 8,a book of uncommon merit1 first1 in its point of view1 and1 second1 in the peculiar skill with which the subject of nature is handled40--,washington ,post4 8,a book on nature widely different from anything yet written1 and fresh1 suggestive1 and delightful40 --,new ,york ,times4 8,a book for all nature lovers4444 ,a most delightful vade mecum40--,,bliss ,,carman in ,new ,york ,commercial ,advertiser4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,the ,desert ,further ,studies in ,natural ,appearances ,with frontispiece4 #abmo1 #a4be net 8,the reader who once submits to its spell will hardly lay it aside until the last page is turned40--,the ,spectator 7,london74 8,this charming volume comes as strong wine indeed after the tepid rose-water of books dealing with snails and daffodils in suburban gardens4 ,mr4 ,van ,dyke unquestionably knows his desert2 he has the true wanderer's eye for its essential fascination40--,the ,athenum 7,london74 8,no virgin rush of young impressions1 but an adult mingling of vision and criticism in a style that engages without startling the attention40--,london ,academy4 8,strange and curious reading1 this book of the desert1 and has all the fascination of things unaccustomed40--,new ,york ,tribune4 8,the writer's personality is carefully subordinated1 but one cannot help feeling it strongly2 that of a man more sensitive to color than to form1 enthusiastic1 but with a stern hand on his own pulse40--,atlantic ,monthly4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,the ,opal ,sea ,continued ,studies in ,impressions and ,appearances ,with ,frontispiece4 #abmo1 #a4be net 8,prof4 ,van ,dyke takes his reader's imagination captive with prose in which we feel the sea's own glamour of beauty and movement and mystery1 its glory of color and power40--,new ,york ,tribune4 8,pleasure awaits the reader of #8,the ,opal ,sea4'0--,boston ,evening ,transcript4 8,the history1 the poetry1 the science1 and the endless aspects of the sea are given in a style that will charm all lovers of the ocean40--,the ,independent4 8,will be read for the pleasure which the work of a skillful observer wielding a practised pen is bound to give2 and the pleasure will be great4 ,prof4 ,van ,dyke is a master of the art of #8seascape' who need fear no comparison40--,the ,spectator 7,london74 8,no ,english writer1 and no other writer except ,michelet1 has done as much as ,mr4 ,van ,dyke to arrange attractively what has been in the course of ages learned about the sea40--,the ,world 7,london74 8,we strongly approve the combination of gifts which represent ,prof4 ,van ,dyke's literary equipment and wish to commend his books most cordially to intelligent readers40--,the ,standard 7,london74 8,lovers of the sea and lovers of nature generally will find much to interest them in this book1 and here and there passages that may enthrall them40--,literary ,world 7,london74 8,prof4 ,van ,dyke's being at heart a poet of the sea is proved in his fine raptures on well-nigh everything of the deep40--,daily ,chronicle 7,london74 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,by ,,professor ,,john ,c4 ,,van ,,dyke ---------------------------- ,the ,money ,god ,chapters of ,heresy and ,dissent ,concerning ,business ,methods and ,mercenary ,ideals in ,american ,life4 #a4jj ,net4 ,postpaid #a4aj 8,a tremendous indictment of the degrading materialism now menacing both democracy and religion1 as such it should be read by all who have at heart the need of a moral revival40--,the ,outlook4 8,it is a strong book1 from a strenuous mind1 on a neglected and forgotten phase of modern society40--,boston ,advertiser4 8,the book is written in ,mr4 ,van ,dyke's usual scholarly and fascinating way1 and it should make itself felt as an appeal for a return to moral standards in public and private and financial life40--,philadelphia ,record4 8,as an economic ,philippic the book goes to the head of the class4 ,it would be well to add it as a text-book in the business courses of our schools and colleges40--,springfield ,union4 8,it is stimulating1 frank1 and often startling40--,chicago ,inter-,ocean4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected4 ,typographical errors were silently corrected4 ,inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book4 ,text that3 was in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics72 was in bold by is enclosed by 8equal0 signs 7bold74