FAMOUS PICTURES WILLIAM II OF NASSAU. From the portrait by Van Dyck. FAMOUS PICTURES FAMOUS PICTURES DESCRIBED WITH ANECDOTES OF THE PAINTERS BY ~ CHARLES L. BARSTOW | NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO, 1913 Copyright, IgII, 1912, by THE CENTURY Co Published, October, 1912 PREFACE It has been the endeavor of the author to fix the at- tention of the reader upon the painting itself — to tell something of its qualities as a picture and to impart some little idea of the painter’s art. Besides this, there is much collateral interest in the pictures selected — interest directly related to things which every one must sooner or later know. The original paintings have touched the hearts and interested the minds of all classes and con- ditions of men; and they form one of the great magnets that annually draw a vast army of travelers across seas and continents. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTORY G2 @ & @ Bio. « oa @ «4 a 3 THE Story oF PAINTING. . . . . 2© © © « 9Q PORTRAITS 4 @ « @ @ 8 © &@ #» # « «© « TZ PicTuRES OF CHILD LIFE. . . . . . 2. « . 32 ANIMAL PICTURES 2. «0 2 © 4 @ «© « # = «© 57 LANDSCAPE PAINTING . . . 2. + 5 5 @ ew Th LEGENDARY AND HisTorIcAL SUBJECTS. . . . . II2 SACRED AND RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS . . . ». . . 134 DECORATION Qe Cae 8 ee OR ee ae aoe On GENRE AND STILt-Lirre PAINTING . . . . .« . 200 IMPPENDIXG s.r Meade BER OR Bak Be: ee ARG GEOSSARY <4: wg) ce) a em em a CS BE INDEX. go 62 BO be) CS Re Gl ee 287 IT IS THE GLORY OF GOOD ART THAT ART REMAINS THE ONE WAY POSSIBLE OF SPEAKING TRUTH BROWNING AS THE SUN COLORS THE FLOWERS, SO ART COLORS LIFE Art is one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. Sir Joun Lusgock. Art is understood by all civilized nations, while each has a separate language. Nature will always appear less beautiful than art because art is more accurate than Nature. PLATO. A room without pictures is like a house without windows. RUSKIN. He who looks at a fine picure looks out of the world of every day into the dreamland of one of the world’s seers. For the time he uses not his own eyes, but the mind’s eye of a Raphael, a Michel- angelo, a Turner, a Corot. A picture in a gallery may be delightful to look upon, but infinitely more delightful is the art we own ourselves, that we can have when we please, and need not go anywhere to look at. Sir Martin Conway. Finally, good painting is a music and a melody. MICHELANGELO. FAMOUS PICTURES FAMOUS PICTURES INTRODUCTORY A WORD ABOUT PICTURES Many young people who have a natural love for pic- tures are discouraged by their elders and by other young people who care nothing for such things. Yet it is a pathway to true and high pleasure, and it is the person who sees nothing in good pictures for whom we should be sorry. The one who has a natural apprecia- tion of the beautiful should make the most of this gift. Like nearly everything else worth having, a knowledge and love of pictures mean time and study. Yet a very little thought will relieve any one of the necessity of gaz- ing foolishly and ignorantly at a picture, like a baby gaz- ing at a bright object, as some one has described it. If you see a beautiful lake or sunset or a spot in the country that takes you out of yourself for the time, it will give you much more pleasure if you think of it and try to recall it the next day and for many days, and go and see it again and again. It will give you still more pleasure if you take notice of the colors and forms as you would if you were going to draw or paint them from memory or as though you ex- pected to describe them to another. A great picture, like a fine scene in the country, will re- 3 4 Famous Pictures veal to us something new each time we look at it and study it. And it is surprising how, by trying to draw or remember or describe either pictures or nature, our im- pressions will become more accurate and our appreciation stronger. At first, however, the surprise may be to find, upon going back to a scene or picture, how many things are not as we thought they were. It is excellent practice to take little notes with pad and pencil of the scene or picture as it looks to you. This will fix the general lines and perhaps the general character of what you wish to remember, and if two or more do this together it becomes a fascinating amusement. President Eliot said, in an address not long ago: “ The main object of every school should be, not to pro- vide the children with the means of earning a livelihood, but to show them how to live a happy and worthy life, in- spired by ideals which exalt and dignify both labor and pleasure. To see beauty and to love it is to possess large securities for such a life.” And the same authority also said: “It is undeniable that the American democracy, which found its strongest and most durable springs in the ideals of New England Puritanism, has thus far failed to take proper account of the sense of beauty as means of happiness and to provide for the training of that sense.”’ It is said that good music often heard will give pleasure even to those who did not like it at first; but heard in the light of some explanation as to its meaning, the pleasure will be doubled. It is much the same with pictures. If we study carefully even such reproductions as can be given in a book or the pages of a magazine and learn Introductory & something about what they mean and how they were pro- duced and the ideas they represent, we shall be well started toward some real appreciation of great paintings. Every true and vital thing we learn about any good pic- ture helps us to judge correctly all other pictures. Color is, of course, the life of paintings, but there are so many things that can be truly observed in prints that by looking at them aright we may learn much that will help us to understand the masterpieces even before we have seen any of the originals. In reading the lives and anecdotes of the painters we must be struck by the fact that in addition to having the divine gift of genius, these men were great in other re- spects. They were, for the most part, men whose daily lives are worthy of study and emulation. They were orderly and useful as citizens. Some laid their brushes aside to fight for country. Some took up high public office and discharged their duties with great credit. Some were mayors, diplomats, engineers, builders of great works, and nearly all were good husbands and fathers, kind and helpful to their fellow men, lovable, gentle and honorable in their dealings. Generous they all seem to have been and when wealth became their portion they were philanthropists. Their greatest gift to the world, however, must ever be the work of their brushes, which remains for centuries to uplift mankind. HOW A PAINTING IS MADE. It will be helpful in thinking about famous pictures if we have some idea of how a painting is made. People 6 Famous Pictures who have known a great deal about pictures and who had first visited many galleries have said, nevertheless, that what they learned the first time they visited a studio and saw an artist really at work came to them as a revelation. The materials are simple. Before the artist is his easel, on which, let us say, rests a large blank canvas; that is, a piece of linen cloth stretched and tacked upon a wooden frame, and prepared to receive the colors. Usually the artist stands at his work, so that he can readily walk back and forth and view the picture as it will look from some little distance. For this reason the room should be large. The light should. come from above. Near at hand are his colors, put up in tubes; and on his palette, which he usually holds in his left hand, he has squeezed enough of some fifteen or twenty colors to last him through the day. In a dish is a small quantity of turpentine or oil, and very likely a little varnish or some other liquid suitable for “ thinning”’ the colors. Now he has but to take one or more of his brushes, and begin to work. But you must not suppose that he will begin to paint without any previous thought, even if the picture is to be a portrait and the model is seated before him. There is one important thing he has to do, and that is to think. We can follow the artist at least a little way in his thoughts, for there are two important things he has al- ways to consider. Whatever the result is to be, he cannot paint everything in sight. So he must select. Some painters occasionally use a card with a small rectangular hole cut in it through Introductory 7 which they look. Whether they are in the studio or out of doors, they look through this small hole until what they see seems to be about what they wish to paint. They determine in this way how much or how little of the entire scene they will include in their picture. But even from this selected fragment much must be left out. No artist could paint every blade of grass or every leaf on the trees or every hair of a head. He must find a way to suggest the whole without trying literally to put it all in — that is, in every detail. One of the best qualities of an artist is knowing what to leave out. . Another important thing our artist will decide is the arrangement of his scene. If a model is before him, he will seat him in different positions until the result will make a satisfactory picture. If it is a landscape, it may be that a tree or other object must be placed in a different position from the one it occupies in the real scene in order to appear best in the picture. If he followed nature exactly he would not have a picture, but by leaving out much and combining what is harmonious, he produces the effect of nature and makes what is called an artistic picture. These two principles of selection and arrangement make up “composition.” Before beginning to paint, the artist has nearly always settled upon the composition. Usually he makes one or more preliminary drawings for this purpose. If the picture is to be a portrait, a careful drawing of the same size as the canvas is usually made in charcoal, perhaps on the canvas itself, perhaps on a sepa- rate sheet for reference. We cannot follow our artist further in his work just 8 Famous Pictures now, but we may return to him while we are looking at some of our famous pictures to see what he does. under certain conditions. For the better acquaintance we get with his ways of working, the better we shall understand the pictures. L ENTE Silhouette of J. M. W. Turner. Done at the National Academy while he was viewing a picture. For chapter on Turner see pages 94-102. For mention of silhouettes see page 14. THE STORY OF PAINTING The pictures that follow are grouped according to the kind of subject, or according to the different kinds of painting, as they are often divided in histories of art. But in each group, the pictures are given in the order in which they were produced, and, taken in connection with the descriptions of the paintings themselves, show some- thing as to how painting has grown and developed. This will be noticed especially in the section devoted to landscapes. The two tables which follow, contain, besides the ar- tists whose pictures are given in the book, a few other really great names — names of men whose pictures we could not include because our book must be short. From these tables we see that up'to the sixteenth cen- tury only Italy had done much worth noting. Even that was very crude compared with what came soon after. For in the sixteenth century Italy produced all at once a number of the world’s greatest men, including Michel- angelo, Raphael, Titian and Leonardo da Vinci. In the seventeenth century other countries produced the great artists. The great Dutch painters, Franz Hals and Rembrandt, the great Spanish painters, Velasquez and Murillo, and the great Flemish painters, Rubens and Van Dyck, were born and did their immortal work. The French, too, afterwards to do so much for art, began to be known in this century through Claude Lorrain and 9 10 Famous Pictures Watteau. We might call these two centuries, the six- teenth and seventeenth, the Golden Age of Painting. In the second table we see that during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the scene again shifted, and that France, England and America produced the great- est work, but that there were important men in other countries. There are reasons, however, why first one country and then another took a leading place in art. Great painting is likely to be produced where special encouragement is given to it. This usually happens when countries have become rich and prosperous, where there are opportunities for artists to beautify fine palaces, public buildings and princely homes and where the great mass of the people have become educated to a real enjoy- ment of works of art. This is not the condition in our own day. ‘“ We are ‘long’ on education here in America,” says John La Farge, ‘“ but we are ‘short’ on that culture founded on a feeling for beauty, the first step to the attainment of which is a knowledge of the beautiful pictures that have been created for our delight in the last five hundred years.” And President Eliot said in an address to teachers: “ Drawing is as necessary, I was going to say, for all the purposes of life, as language; but as a mat- ter of fact, drawing is a better mode of expression than language.” So much has the study of pictures been neglected among us that this seems strange to us. We now think with wonder of those times when all the people of a town would gather about a studio or when thousands thronged The Story of Painting 11 to a church or convent to see a new painting by a master. The people then knew the meaning and felt the beauty Pes are Lee's i e By permission Franz Hanfstaengl, New Yor A Cavalier of great art although they could neither read nor write. They were truly taught by it. (See the chapter on Meissonier, pages 122-133, of whose work this picture is a well-known example. ) CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE PREVIOUS TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CENTURY | ITALIAN | FLEMISH | SPANISH DUTCH OTHERS Cimabue XIIIth. 1240-1300 Giotto XIVth. 1266-1337 Botticelli | Memling eee 1446-1510 | 1425-1495 Raphael XVIth En GERMAN Da Vinci Diirer 1452-1519 1471-1528 Titian Holbein, 1477-1576 the del Sarto Younger 1486-1531 1497-1543 Michel- : angelo 1474-1564 Correggio 1494-1534 Tintoretto 1518-1505 Rubens | Velasquez |Frans Hals eee 1577-1640 WES 1584-1666 | FRENCH Van Dyck} Murillo |Rembrandt} Lorrain 1599-1641 | 1618-1682 | 1607-1669 | 1600-1682 Teniers, Ruisdael the 1625-1682 Younger Hobbema 1610-1632 1638-1709 ‘Jan Steen 1626-1679 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CENTURY FRENCH ENGLISH AMERICAN OTHERS XVITIth. Watteau Hogarth 1684-1721 1697-1764 Reynolds West 1723-1792 1738-1820 Gains- Stuart borough 1754-1828 1727-1788 |_—_——__—. Copley 1737-1815 XIXth. David Constable Inness 1748-1825 1776-1837 1825-1894 | GERMAN Corot Turner Whistler Boecklin 1796-1875 1775-1851 1834-1903 | 1827-1901 1824-1898 1829-1896 Rousseau Landseer Sargent SPANISH 812- = ee 1812-1867 1802-1873 1856— Poraay 1838-1874 Millet Holman — 1814-1875 Hunt DUTCH 1827-1910 Puvis de §=|-——— Israels Chavannes Millais 1824-1911 Géréme 1824-1904 PORTRAITS It is said that the first portrait ever made was the tracing of a man’s shadow cast on a wall. This is a good thing to try for yourself. Sometimes the shadow of a profile will show a good deal of a likeness to the original. The first person who did it no doubt noticed that the shadow resembled, or had something of the character of, the one who cast it. It is a good practice, too, to try cutting out the profiles of your friends .from a small piece of paper. Before photography was invented these silhouettes were often the only family likenesses that people had. But it is a long way from making a silhouette to paint- ing a good portrait. It was probably only after very many failures that any one succeeded in drawing a good likeness. The earliest drawn or painted portraits were very crude. If we were to look at a group of photographs of paint- ings of noted people, never having seen the photographs before, and knowing nothing about the people themselves, we should probably make poor work at first of finding out just what kind of people they were. But it would be an interesting thing to try, and after we had written out what we thought of a number of the portraits we should learn a good deal by comparing what we had guessed with what the real characters were. In many cases where we had been wrong at first we should be 14 Portraits 15 able to see why we had been wrong, and it would be a guide to us in judging other portraits and people. If an artist were to paint a portrait of the greatest and best of men‘he would be right to show as much of the man’s character in his picture as possible, even if the man himself did not always show his character in his face. There are artists who would not agree to this. They would say that if the sitter had a defect on one side of his face they would paint that side —they would want it to be just as it really was, for they would be realists, while the man who ignored the little defects that were not essential to the likeness and tried to paint into the picture the true character and inner soul of the man would be called an idealist. We may see something of a mix- ture of both of these two methods in nearly all pictures and most men have something of both characteristics in themselves. There are as many kinds of artists as there are of other men and the same artist, like the rest of us, will probably not be the same every day. There are a few lines of verse — In men whom men condemn as ill I see so much of goodness still In men whom men pronounce divine I see so much of sin and blot I hesitate to draw the line Where God has not. To make a portrait there must be great exactness. Everything must be perfectly drawn and in the right place. To produce a good likeness, even without intro- ducing any of the natural color, requires such closeness of observation and such care and skill in working that 16 Famous Pictures many hundreds of hours of hard preliminary work are necessary before one can hope to become a proficient artist. But besides merely getting a true likeness, there is much more to be thought of in executing a good por- trait. One of the things we look for is the character of the man. As we develop our own characters in life, some- thing of what we are is shown in our faces. If we sit on a platform and look at an audience, or if we watch people passing in the street, we can guess something of their lives by the kind of countenances we see. We often hear such remarks as, “ He looks like an actor,” or, “ How scholarly he looks!” and these are indications of what the occupation of the mind will do to the face. Sometimes we think of a person, “ He looks stern and cruel,” or of another, “‘ What a benevolent-looking gen- tleman!” These thoughts show one’s conduct and life- work have an effect on his expression of countenance. In addition to such easy distinctions there are thousands of grades of characters — no two persons look alike, and each has something of his character written in his face. The artist must be able to see what is most like the real man and to put this into his picture. Besides the features, the posture must be characteristic and the costume suitable, for “the apparel oft proclaims the man,” Frequently objects are introduced into a picture especially to suggest something about a sitter; as, for instance, a book if he is a teacher or an author, or a desk if he is a business man. These objects are called “accessories”? and are often very important. Portraits 17 WILLIAM II OF NASSAU By Anthony Van Dyck of the Flemish School (Born 1599, died 1641) Turn now to the frontispiece. In the picture of this beautiful boy, who was William II of Nassau, we see a fine portrait by the great Flemish painter Van Dyck. There are the grace, refinement, and distinction which every one who has written of Van Dyck’s work has men- tioned. There is also the slight touch of effeminacy which we find in so many of his pictures. Despite his armor, this lad does not look like a boy who would care to fight very hard or very long. He would not go out of his way for a quarrel. His amusements would not be of the most strenuous kind, either. His nature seems refined and gentle, almost to girlishness; and Van Dyck has shown the character of the boy so that we feel we could not make a mistake about it. This great artist won his place among the world’s im- mortals by his portraits. He painted more than thirty of King Charles I, of England, and every one of them is said to be a masterpiece. Most of his portraits were of royal personages or noblemen, and to them all he gave grace and distinction. He never painted scenes of domestic happiness, but preferred the pomp of the royal court. Even his own intimates he does not portray in their daily occupations. He is full of sentiment, always refined, often tender. In Van Dyck’s paintings we notice that the details are carried out quite fully. Turn again to the portrait of William II of Nassau. Look at the sleeve which shows 2 Princess Mary Stuart and William II of Orange. From the portrait in the Ryks Museum, Amsterdam. Portraits 19 the weave so plainly, the braid upon the clothing, and the hair upon the head; each is brought out with minuteness, and yet somehow it does not seem trivial or chromo-like. The “values” are truly studied and rendered, as artists or critics would say. And so now we must try to explain the meaning of the word “ values,” although it is not easy to do so. One who has never tried to draw may not easily understand, but to make it clear let us say that if you will take a cube or an egg and draw it carefully you will soon see that, to make it look exactly like the original, you must have exactly the right amount of light and shade in exactly the right places. It is the light reflected upon the objects by other objects and by the atmosphere that makes them appear round or square or oval, and one must look very carefully to get the light and shade just right. Everything that is near us is more plainly seen than what is farther away, especially if the latter is partly in shadow. The objects in the foreground there- fore have a stronger “value” than those in the back- ground, while between them are many planes and many variations in the strength of light and shadow. Another way of thinking of these values is by consider- ing the way our artist at the easel usually works them out for himself. He looks at the object and decides what will be his strongest light, or say “high light.” If a landscape-scene, this will very likely be a cloud or a spot in the sky which may be, say, mainly yellow and white with a little blue. He takes up his brush and puts in a dab of this tone. Then he studies his scene to find the darkest place. This will not be really black, by any means, but perhaps a dark green or a brown in shadow. 20 Famous Pictures Then he selects the paints on his palette that will give this color, and puts a dab of that in the proper place. Look at the portrait by Van Dyck and select what seem ‘to you the highest light and the deepest shade in it. Now all other parts of the picture come somewhere between these two extremes — and this relation expresses their “ value.” In music any given chord will have a highest note and a lowest note, and all the notes between must be struck correctly together, or we have a discord. In a picture if one place is too dark it is out of harmony, or if too light it is just as lacking in harmony and often seems to pop out of the picture. If, by reading this over, and by trying, in some simple drawing, to get the varying intensity of light in the different parts correct, you can learn to understand clearly the meaning of “ values,” you will have gained something worth knowing — some- thing that always will be of great assistance to you in judging a picture or painting. ANECDOTES OF VAN DYCK. Anthony Van Dyck was born in Antwerp in 1599, of wealthy parents. At fifteen he entered the studio of the great Rubens, who ever after befriended him. At nine- teen he became a member of the guild of Antwerp paint- ers, an unprecedented honor for one so young. ‘There is a good story of how some of the boys em- ployed in Rubens’s studio, in looking at one of his paint- ings they were not supposed to see, accidentally smudged over a part of the wet paint. What to do they did not know, but finally agreed that the young Van Dyck should ‘try to repair it. The next day Rubens saw that the work had been changed and de- manded an ex- planation. But he was so well pleased with what had been done that he let it stand as Van Dyck had re- painted it, and, some historians say, he even de- clared that the pupil had im- proved upon his master. Soon after this, Van Dyck Portraits 21 Babie Stuart or Prince Jamie, afterward King James II. This is a celebrated figure taken from a large canvas. began to have some reputation as a painter and was be- sought to go to England. He traveled there, and later, by the advice of Rubens, he set out on “ the grand tour” through Italy, which every artist considered a necessary part of his education. He visited the leading cities, and in Venice was so im- pressed by paintings by Titian and Tintoretto that he was much influenced by their work. 22 Famous Pictures Throughout Italy he was received by the noble families and enjoyed the luxurious living, although he was un- popular among the students. In fact, he was called by them a prig. There was a reason for this, for Van Dyck did not like student ways of living, but preferred the company of his rich patrons. We have spoken of the kind of portraits he painted — portraits of men in rich clothing and laces, members of the aristocratic class. . When a trait of this kind runs through all of an artist’s- work we may look for something of the same sort in his own life. In Van Dyck’s case it is true that he hated everything coarse and vulgar and gave up both his time and his fortune to the elegancies of life. He was early accus- tomed to expensive living at home and in the home of Rubens, as well as in Italy, where he lived for the most part in the palaces of his patrons. When he began to have large sums of money he adopted an extravagant scale of entertaining. Kings, princes, and noblemen were his guests, and he surrounded himself with all the splendor and service he could buy. During his Italian journey he painted over a hundred pictures, and after about six years’ absence he returned to Antwerp, where he spent several years, in which his fame grew rapidly. In 1632 he again went to England and painted many of the great people of the time. It was not to be Van Dyck’s fortune to have long life, for he died at forty-one, the last two years probably being marked by failing health. It is related that he once went to Haarlem to visit Frans Hals, whose work he greatly admired. Hals was Portraits 23 more likely to be at a tavern than anywhere else, and Van Dyck, as we know, did not care for the comradeship of taverns. After waiting in vain and being unwilling to turn back without seeing Hals, he sent word to him that The three children of Charies I. From the portrait in the Dresden Gallery. a stranger wished to have his portrait painted. Hals came, saying he could give but two hours to it. At the end of that time he showed his work to Van Dyck, who expressed his approval, and continuing, said: ‘ This painting seems a simple process. I should like to try what I can do with your portrait.” Hals consented to 24 Famous Pictures exchange seats, and soon saw that Van Dyck knew how to handle his colors. When he saw the result, however, he was amazed, and immediately embraced the stranger, saying: “ You are Van Dyck! Nobody but he could do what you have done!” Van Dyck liked to paint quickly, rarely giving over an hour at any one sitting. When the hour was up he would rise and bow, as much as to say that was enough for that time. In this way he often painted upon several portraits in a day. His method of beginning was to sketch in the sitter in an attitude he had meditated and decided upon. With gray paper and black and white crayons, he drew per- haps in a quarter of an hour the figure and drapery which he arrayed in exquisite taste. He then turned the sketch over to skilful artists he always had about him who began the painting, putting in the clothes and back- ground. The assistants having done their best, Van Dyck with ease and lightness went over it all, usually doing most of the face himself. Many of the artists of early times — and later too, when their time became valu- able and their prices very high, adopted such methods as these to turn‘out a greater number of canvases. In some cases, and Van Dyck in his later years is one of them, the studio became more like a factory than any- thing else. Of course the less Van Dyck and the more assistance, the poorer the result. Yet this very process often made admirable artists of the assistants and it has been said that if the system were still in vogue it might be better for the art of our time. Portraits 2g A LITTLE GALLERY OF VAN DYCK’S PAINTINGS William II of Nassau........... Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. Three Children of Charles I............... Royal Gallery, Dresden. Cornelius Van der Geest..............--. National Gallery, London. Prince of Orange and Princess Mary Stuart.................. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam. Portrait:of Himself sc wever ts sees sekseoeecneudies eaas Louvre, Paris. PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT By Rembrandt van Rijn of the Dutch School (Born 1607, died 1669) Rembrandt had a rare insight into people’s characters. He did not care much for physical beauty. In his way of putting on the paint and in his wonder- ful distribution of light and shade in a picture, Rem- brandt has never been excelled. He has been called the painter of shadow. His portraits seem bathed in shadow — the figures peeping forth from a mysterious darkness, and yet a darkness in which we can see something. The shadows themselves are transparent, and the longer we look into them the more we seem to see. They provoke our curiosity; and study reveals things we have not seen at first. Rembrandt had sympathy with humanity. He loved to portray common people and beggars. Besides a pic- turesqueness in their appearance, he saw also a pathos and poetry in their miserable lives. He not only had an insight into character, but he was a revealer of it as well. Rembrandt was fond of painting his own portrait, for we have a number of such pictures to choose from. In One of Rembrandt’s portraits of himself. Portraits 25 these he has introduced all sorts of costumes, probably for the fun of painting them. Sometimes he is an officer with a dashing military air; again he wears jewels and ornaments, while sometimes he is a rough country fel- low. He was a very accommodating model and did almost anything the artist desired! What the artist thought, he carried out before a mirror! Nearly every artist has painted at least one good por- trait of himself. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, one of the greatest treasure-houses of art in the world, has a room where portraits of famous artists by themselves are hung, and a most interesting room it is, as you will probably see for yourselves some day. Nearly all the people who have written about Rem- brandt agree that he seemed to be a man of two natures, as related to his painting —the idealist struggling with the realist. By the realist we understand the painter who is willing to paint things as they are, without regard to their hidden meaning. In portrait-painting this would mean that the artist set down the physical facts, or appearance, of his sitter, just as he saw them. By idealist, in portrait-painting, we should understand the man who made up his mind what kind of a character his sitter had — what his face showed of the inner soul —-and who then made the picture express that kind of a character. ANECDOTES OF REMBRANDT. Rembrandt was born at Leyden in 1607, of poor par- ents; but, humble as they were, they sent him to the Latin 28 Famous Pictures school in order that he might become a worthy and use- ful citizen. Studying in school was not to Rembrandt’s mind, and his tendency toward art soon showed itself. Man with a fur cap, by Rembrandt. Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. He studied art for a time under a master of his native place, and was soon after sent to Amsterdam to learn. Six months later, he returned to Leyden, determined to study and practise painting alone in his own fashion, and kept at it for six years. When about twenty-four Rembrandt went again to Amsterdam, this time to establish himself. Here two Portraits 29 years later he painted his famous ‘“‘ Lesson in Anatomy,” and in another two years he married his wife Saskia, whom he has immortalized in his portraits. Portrait of Elizabeth Bas, by Rembrandt. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam. When he was about forty-eight he lost all his property, and for the rest of his life became a sort of wanderer, carrying with him little but what he needed to paint with. The old home is still pointed out on a quay of the Amstel, where he gathered together a whole museum of paintings, furniture, and beautiful things, and where he lived, full of the joy of living and working, during the 30 Famous Pictures years of his happy family life and while prosperity still smiled. In the picture of himself we may study values again to advantage. Select the darkest dark and the highest light, and see how between the two extremes are all the quiet values of this wonderful portrait. Also notice how white and strong the highest light is. This we see in nearly all of Rembrandt’s portraits. His father was a ; miller, and there is a story that in his boyhood Rem- brandt spent much time in the old windmill, which was quite dark in- side, with only a small window near the top. Certain objects in the mill would therefore re- ceive a strong light in one part, rapidly shading into indis- tinctness. Gazing for hours at a time at these effects in the dim interior, a aa : : and drawing them rincipal figures from “ The Sortie of the Banning Cocq Company of Musketeers,” over and over, he usually known as “The Night Watch,” came to love the by Rembrandt. Ryks Museum, Amster- eae dam. A marvel of lights and shadows. brilliant contrast Portraits 21 and to paint into the shadows of his pictures the forms and outlines faintly seen, which now are so loved and prized by the artistic world. One picture of Rembrandt’s is always mentioned — “The Sortie of the Banning Cocq Company of Muske- teers”— for by it alone he would have immortalized himself. It represents the musketeers pictured in a rare and wonderful light, and it is one of the most famous pictures in the world. On page 30 is a small reproduc- tion of the part of the painting containing the principal figures. When first discovered, Sir Joshua Reynolds called it the “ Night Watch.” The picture was so obscured by the dust of years that it seemed a picture of a night scene. Rembrandt was also famous as an etcher. There is no one who excels him in this field. He has been called the Prince of Etchers, the King of Shadows, and the Shak- spere of Painting. A LITTLE GALLERY OF REMBRANDT’S PAINTINGS The Angel Raphaels . sc. sc 04 ss eecueeensioewemee dee ees Louvre, Paris. The Rat Killer: ss: ccsancewrassae yew eter seteceeaas Boston Museum. Philosopher in Meditation..................2 222 e eee Louvre, Paris. Christ: at mina ss: «cscs a daadateiiaacaaeseeeecaes “ = Sortie of the Civic Guard.............. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam. Man with a Fur Cap............... The Hermitage, St. Petersburg. For notable portraits in this valume but not included in this chapter, see pages 33, 34, 35, 38, 50, 61, 120, 140, 155, 159. PICTURES OF CHILD LIFE Pictures of child life are not essentially different from other pictures as far as the manner of painting them is concerned. It is largely a matter of inspiration, since one is likely to paint what one loves most. As everybody loves children, so nearly every great painter has done beautiful pictures of child life. We could, if we chose, study the whole world of artists by pictures of children. But here and there one man stands out by reason of his fine portrayal of the delicate bloom and witchery of children. Children are the type of innocence and brightness. “On the heads of these new-born citizens of life’s great city the glory of morning is shed.” As Longfellow writes: Here at the portal thou dost stand, And with thy little hand Thou openest the mysterious gate Into the future’s undiscovered land. DON CARLOS BALTASAR ON HORSEBACK. By Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez of the Spanish School (Born 1599, died 1660) Don Baltasar, son of Philip IV, was seven when this portrait was painted. His father, the King of Spain, 32 Don Carlos Baltasar (detail), by Velasquez. Prado Gallery, Madrid. 34 Famous Pictures rejoiced greatly in the boy, and Velasquez painted his portrait many times. The one given here is the most famous. “The motive is simple. The boy gallops past at an angle which brings him into the happiest relation to his mount. His attitude is the natural one for the pupil of the best horsemen in Eu- Portrait of himself, by rope. His look and gesture Velasquez. ‘i express just the proper de- gree of pride and delight. Through all this Velasquez has worked for simplicity. . . . The mane and tail of the pony, the boy’s rich costume, his’ flying scarf, and the splendid browns, blues, and greens of the landscape back- ground make up a decorative whole as rich as any Titian,” says one critic. Certain of the great painters are famous for having made advances in the art of painting over all artists who lived before them; one in drawing, another in composi- tion, and others in other directions. Velasquez was one of the men who made a great ad- vance, and it was chiefly by what is called breadth and simplicity that he gained over previous painters. He is called ‘the painters’ painter,” that is, the painter whom painters admire. They study his work and his methods, and it has an abiding influence on the best work of to-day. Pictures of Child Life 35 Let us be sure we understand what we mean by breadth in painting. Every one who writes of Velasquez speaks of this feature in his work. It seems to be the differ- ence between putting every little detail into a picture and giving the essential facts by a few strokes of the brush. In other words, it was his ability to omit de- tails and thus simplify his manner of painting. Velasquez with the broad strokes of his large brushes could give the real character of the person he was paint- ing better than any picture full of small details could portray it. He did not acquire this great power all at once, for his early pictures do not show it; but he got it through long years of practice and discovery, and only perfected it in his later years. Like many hard things, it “looks easy.” A difficult feat performed gracefully and simply looks easy enough until we try it. The work of this great master, who could get the likeness of a face with only a few prominent strokes showing, looks as though it had been done carelessly in a few minutes. But we find all the truth there. A lesser artist would make only a senseless blur with such bold work. The les- ser artist would need to work out each bit of draw- ing and point of light be- Head from the Aesop, by Velas- quez. Prado Gallery, Madrid. Remarkable for its subtle har- mony with little color. 36 Famous Pictures fore he could learn to simplify a painting like this. Now such a painting, thus carefully and minutely done, may look true and right to us when we are very near to it. But step back across the room and it will appear flat. It will not “carry” far. That is why the artist in the studio should have room to see his canvas from a distance while he is working at it. He will thus be more likely to avoid the small things and paint so that it may show the effect farther off. When an artist can paint in the broad, simple manner and yet in his picture tell you just what he wants to ex- press, we may conclude that he has a real mastery of his subject and that what he has done with apparent care- lessness he has really done from greater knowledge. Breadth has an even wider meaning than the one we have described; that is, it applies also to the conception of the picture and the grouping of the masses of light and dark into simple and broad effects. There is another thing for which Velasquez is noted. He did not use bright colors. He preferred dull ones, but he so skilfully brought out the slighter differences in colors and tones that he produced wonderful har- monies. Another writer remarks that Velasquez thought it worthier to paint perfectly what the eye sees than to try to paint the vision which the aspiring soul imagines. From this we may gather that he was more of a realist than an idealist. So are many great painters. While Velasquez’s work may not inspire our thoughts as much as that of some others, it is most wonderful in the man- ner in which it is done and is truly immortal painting. Pictures of Child Life a7 In looking at this picture notice that the general shape of the space occupied by the horse and rider is that of a pyramid. It isa principle in art that regularity of struc- ture is an element of beauty. This is called symmetry. If something departs from this on one side of a picture, it should be balanced on the other side. Symmetry and balance are words you will often hear in relation to pic- tures. The picture should not show this foo plainly, however. If it is too evident, it spoils the very effect sought. The “ art which conceals art’ must be brought into play. The work must appear to be balanced, however, and if a picture looks wrong, think whether it violates these principles of symmetry. This will often help you to judge a picture. ANECDOTES AND LIFE OF VELASQUEZ, Velasquez was born in Seville in 1599, in the same year as Van Dyck. His parents were of noble blood and stood well among their equals. Velasquez worked in the studio of Francisco de Herrera from the time he was thirteen until he was nineteen, when he married the daughter of Pacheco, a painter, who was one of his teachers. Not until he was twenty-four did any other important event come into his life. At that time a friend, at the suggestion of a powerful minister of state, invited him to Madrid. Velasquez was here commissioned to paint Don Fer- dinand, the king’s brother, and later King Philip him- self. Don Carlos Baltasar, Infante of Spain. From the painting by Velasquez. Pictures of Child Life 39 How little did they think at court that the portraits which were painted by Velasquez would be about the only thing that would be heard of the king in future ages! Velasquez made the king famous. For forty years, excepting two intervals, he continued to make numerous portraits of pam him and of the royal household. The king became a judge of things artistic, admired the painter, and accorded him as much friendship and regard as court etiquette would allow. We are not sure that Valasquez entirely enjoyed his life at court; but he had a fine studio in the palace, a residence in the city, and an allowance of money. —E——— In 1628 he paid a nine months’ peice aa ee visit to Rubens. This wasanim- Velasquez. Prado Gal- $ lery, Madrid. One of portant event to him, for one the’ world’s greatest strong artist always has an in- historical paintings. fluence over another’s work. In 1630 he made his first visit to Italy, where, in Venice, he made a close study of the paintings by Titian and Tintoretto. Later he stayed some time at Rome. After returning from Italy he spent nearly twenty years in uninterrupted employment at the court. We may think that his life was not eventful. It was not, ex- cept for progress in his art, but this was the great thing to him. Velasquez left a record of many helpful acts. He befriended Murillo in times of need, obtained free- 40 Famous Pictures dom for his own slave, and showed a spirit of helpful- ness throughout his life. We like to read how he was always willing to assist his fellow-artists and even his enemies and rivals. For nearly two hundred years after his death little was thought of his work; but when other artists began to see how greatly he had painted, his pictures became popular and world-renowned, He was deeply interested in children, and has been called the supreme painter of child life. Velasquez was noted for his patience. He never worked from memory or guess-work or “ chic” as some artists call it, but always had his model before him. He worked incessantly and never felt tired. As we have said, he did not often use bright colors, but liked the softer grays and has been called the great harmonist. He preferred subtlety to splendor. A LITTLE GALLERY OF VELASQUEZ’ PAINTINGS Don Carlos Baltasar on Horseback........... The Prado, Madrid. The Maids of Honor......... 0... cece eee eee The Prado, Madrid. Portrait of Velasquez................008- Capitoline Gallery, Rome. AESOP awesaie-s ts 52 4 Chae eben se yan eae a ee The Prado, Madrid. Philip LV ssiaccns oc eeh ee es Weems eee se National Gallery, London. The Tapestry Weavers.................../....The Prado, Madrid. Surrender of Breda.............cseeeecccceees The Prado, Madrid. Pictures of Child Life 4l THE BEGGAR BOYS By Bartolome Estéban Murillo of the Spanish School. (Born 1617, died 1682) Southern Europe, with its warm, enervating climate, is noted for its numerous beggars. The traveler is beset by them. Yet they are not likely to be the sullen, threat- ening kind of beggar who sometimes spoils our walks at home. They are of the picturesque and beseeching kind whose benediction after a small donation seems to help us on our own pathway. The climate promotes idleness, and the children, with their merry ways and good-natured pranks, are hard to refuse. They often live all day upon a crust of bread, and for a penny can buy fish or fruit enough to make a luxuri- ous repast. They live often in the poorest kind of a cellar or even in doorways. A boy will sometimes spend all his savings to keep a roof over the head of his mother or motherless sister, content himself to sleep wherever night overtakes him. Besides begging, they are always ready to do a good turn or run an errand. They are a fascinating lot and merry, as we see in the picture. Usually they do not have beautiful faces, but they are happy and good- natured, and their little bodies and limbs are well rounded and modeled on the curves of beauty. Murillo sketched boys like these for years. Doubtless. they comprised a good part of the paintings he made and sold for a song in the public market-place, when he was still very poor. Among those bright-eyed, nut-brown boys and girls, he 42 Famous Pictures found subjects far better fitted for his canvas than the pale royal children whom Velasquez painted at court. Murillo did not care much for the life that Velasquez led at court, and later refused an offer to paint there. He has been called, by one admirer of his famous work, “The court painter of the poor.” ANECDOTES OF MURILLO. Murillo was born in Seville and spent most of his life there. His parents both died when he was about eleven years old and he was soon after apprenticed to his uncle, Juan del Castillo, who was a painter of no great fame. We do not know very much of his early years but it is probable that he was not very well cared for. When he was twenty-three his uncle moved to Cadiz, and for two years after this he was in needy circumstances. It was the custom in those times to hold a fair or market in Seville each week, and besides the fruit, vegetables, and other articles common to such places, the poorer artists used to set up their easels and offer their wares for sale. There were many artists in those days, and so many more pictures were painted than could be sold at good prices that even some of the better painters came to the fairs. They used to bring their brushes and colors so that they might alter their pictures or even paint them to order. This was the school where the future great man learned many of his lessons. Here, no doubt, he learned to love to paint the little beggar boys whose pictures ap- pear so true to life. These urchins swarmed the streets of Seville, and as painted by Murillo their happy and dirty faces have a charm for all. The Beggar Boys or The Melon Eaters, by Murillo. Munich Gallery. 44 Famous Pictures There was at about this time a fellow-pupil of Muril- lo’s, Pedro de Moya, who joined the army, and, while away, gave up the pursuit of arms and went to London to study under Van Dyck. When he returned to Seville in about two years he brought back copies of several of Van Dyck’s paintings and some others that he had ad- mired. Murillo at once saw the superiority of the new manner of painting and longed to go where he might im- prove himself. No artist is ever satisfied with his work. He is always looking for improvement and longs ardently for any opportunity for study and instruction. Murillo determined to make his way to better things. It is related that he said nothing to any one of this in- tention, but bought some linen and painted several very bright canvases of various popular subjects which he thought would sell readily, in order to get money enough to start on his journey. Murillo set off on foot and arrived first at Madrid, though it was his ultimate intention to go to Rome, where he might see the greatest art of the day. He had an object in going to Madrid, for there dwelt St. Joseph and Child, by Velasquez, the great master ra of Spanish painting, then court painter to Philip IV, and in the height of his power and popularity. Some one has said that when he reached Pictures of Child Life 45 Madrid he had no money, but that he had courage and had learned the useful les- son to depend upon himself. | Velasquez received Murillo kindly, liked his appearance and the answers he gave, and offered to take him into his He own studio. Murillo accord- ingly became a resident of Madrid and stayed there for several years. From time to time Velas- quez would be absent, perhaps with the king, and always adoration of the Shepherds, upon his return he was aston- by Murillo. ished at the progress Murillo had made. Finally Velas- quez suggested that Murillo proceed to Rome, and prom- ised him letters to great folk. But by that time Murillo had changed his mind and did not wish to go away from Spain. Instead of going to Rome, he returned to Seville in 1645. Soon after, he received a commission to paint a series of life-size pictures for a small convent. It was not a coveted commission, for there was little pay. However, it gave Murillo an opportunity to show what he could do. The next three years saw him at work upon these paint- ings. The pictures were a great success, Murillo’s repu- tation was established, and from that time on he could not keep up with his orders. The work which he did showed the influence of his 46 Famous Pictures master Velasquez and of the Van Dycks he had studied and copied, but it did not look like ‘the work of either of them nor like that of any of the others he had studied. He had developed a epee style of his own, which all who saw admired. With his success his re- sources grew and he pros- pered. He was admitted to the best society of Se- ville, married a wealthy and noble wife, and soon became a power in the art world. Indeed, he be- came the head of the Se- ville school of painting. As a school it did not make great progress at the time. Murillo’s attempt to form A Spanish flower girl, by a great academy was not oa very successful. He was of a gentle nature and attracted every one to his person, but he was not able to organize his pupils. It is said that some of his works were seen by King Charles II, who wished him to visit England, and tried to bring it about. But Murillo did not covet a position at court. There are people who prefer being themselves in quiet and retirement to being obliged to give up their best impulses and talents for the sake of riches and fame. Perhaps Murillo was one of these. At any rate, the in- cident will throw light upon his character. Certain it is that he loved Seville better than any other Pictures of Child Life A7 place, and, aside from his stay in Madrid, he never left it but once, and then only to execute a commission to paint four pictures at Cadiz. Late in life he met with a fall from a scaffold, and thereafter never did active work. It is said he used to sit for hours in front of a large picture that he loved, painted a century before he was born. When he felt that he was dying he sent for a notary to make his will; but he did not even live to finish it, so quietly and stealthily came the last messenger. A LITTLE GALLERY OF MURILLO’S PAINTINGS The Melon Eaters (or the Beggar Boys)......... Munich Gallery. St ~Anthony Of Padtiae s+ o.nddccccndatsussielamecntauons Berlin Gallery. Virgin and Child...........0.. 0... cece eee Pitti Palace, Florence. The Children of the Shell.....................000- Prado, Madrid. The Immaculate Conception.............--00e eee eee Louvre, Paris. THE STRAWBERRY GIRL By Sir Joshua Reynolds of the English School (Born 1723, died 1792) “The Strawberry Girl,” which was exhibited in 1773, was considered by Reynolds himself as one of his best and most original pictures. He has said that it was one of his half-dozen original pictures, a number which few can exceed in a life’s work. The model was the artist’s little niece, Miss Theophila (“ Offy ”) Palmer, who came to visit him in London. Miss Palmer, like Reynolds himself, came from the Hertford House, ynolds. irl, by Sir Joshua Re London. The Strawberry G Pictures of Child Life 49 countryside of Devonshire, England, long before the time of railroads and trolleys. The old village where the family lived was a place of peace and quiet, and it is easy to see why Sir Joshua liked to paint her as a little village maiden. In the picture her big eyes are lifted to ours half timidly, but she seems ready to smile if encouraged. There is a feeling of old-fashioned dignity about her art- less pose and the way in which her hands are folded. The strawberries are probably in the basket, and we can imagine her whole day’s work and play from the glimpse we have of her—how she would behave at school and how she would go about her little tasks. It almost seems as though he painted, not a child whom he saw before him, but the essence of childhood which he saw shining through and was able to catch and keep for us. Reynolds was eminent as a portrait-painter, but his work is never reviewed without special mention of his portraits of children. In these he seemed to see farthest into the heart. “If it were only for his love of chil- dren,” writes one, “and his power of interpreting the fascination of childish beauty, he would still amply de- serve the fame he has won.” Miss Palmer, simple as she looks as the model in the picture, was destined, at her uncle’s house in London, to meet the fashion and intellect of her time. Sir Joshua loved her as a daughter, and later on, when his eyes were disabled, she read to him and helped him in other ways. One of his friends afterward became her husband; and the model for another of Sir Joshua’s most famous child 4 50 Famous Pictures pictures, ‘ Simplicity,” was no other than the daughter of “ The Strawberry Girl.” More than that, she lived to be ninety, “cheerful and affectionate to the last.” Doubtless the great painter loved children well, and Portrait of himself, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Uffizi Gallery, Florence. though this will account for much, it is probable he also kept in his age something of the boy heart of his own childhood, and was able to remember how he felt about the things of early life. Pictures of Child Life #1 ANECDOTES OF REYNOLDS. Sir Joshua Reynolds was born at Plympton, in Devon- shire, in 1723. His father was a clergyman, but wished Joshua to be an apothecary. The Age of Innocence, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. National Gallery, London. At seventeen Joshua had overcome the objections to his becoming a painter and had gone to London to study art with Hudson, a popular artist of that day. The pupil soon outstripped his master, and this led to their separation. 52 Famous Pictures After only. about two years in London, Reynolds re- turned to his home and set up as a portrait-painter. He began at Plymouth, where he obtained work at once, painting about thirty portraits with good success. When he was twenty-five, Commodore Keppel, a friend of his, invited the young man to accompany him to the Mediterranean, whither he was going in his own ship. From Rome, Reynolds wrote: ‘“ Iam now at the height of my greatest wishes, in the midst of the greatest works of art the world has produced.” Mrs. Jameson says that Reynold’s pictures are “ Italian music set to English words.” Reynolds worked hard in Rome for:two years or more, copying and studying the old masters. Here, in the cold and drafty halls and galleries, he contracted the deafness from which he ever afterward suffered. Of all the masters he admired Michelangelo the most, and the work of that master inspired and influenced him all his life. Afterward Reynolds went to Venice and spent an- other year in Italy, studying Titian and Tintoretto, fa- mous for their beautiful color. He said that he had to change all his ideas and become as a little child and learn the truth from all these great Italian masters. Returning to London, he worked for more than thirty years, with uninterrupted success. He painted very rapidly, frequently finishing a portrait in four hours. It is believed that over three thousand canvases came from his brush. He is said to have related that at one time, when he was receiving only about £30 (or $150) for a portrait, his income was £6000 (or $30,000) a year. Pictures of Child Life 53 His life was full of honors, too. In 1768 he was elected president of the Royal Academy by acclamation and was knighted by King George III. The Child Samuel in Prayer, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. In his sixty-sixth year he lost the sight of one of his eyes while he was at work upon a canvas, and in a few weeks his sight was totally gone. As president of the Academy he delivered a series of “ Discourses,” which are still valued by art students. The final discourse was delivered in December, 1790, and 54 Famous Pictures after a long illness he died and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral in February, 1792. It is said that Dr. Samuel Johnson, who lived at the same time and was intimate with Reynolds, added some polish to the “ Discourses”; but Johnson himself said: “ Sir Joshua Reynolds would as soon get me to paint for him as to write for him.” One of his great portraits was that of Mrs. Siddons, the great actress, as the “ Tragic Muse.” Mrs. Siddons was then in the height of her beauty, as of her glory. The king said of her: “ She is the only real queen; all others are counterparts.”” Mrs, Siddons’s account of the portrait is that Sir Joshua bade her “ascend her undis- puted throne and bestow upon him some idea of the Tragic Muse.” The pose she assumed so well satisfied’ him that it was never altered. Sir Joshua was anxious to learn how the old masters painted their pictures and how the rich colors were at- tained. It is said that he even scraped off the paint from some that he owned in his attempt to find out. He was constantly trying new ways of mixing paint, and artists to-day find that many of his works are cracked and in- jured by the bad mixtures he made. The character of this artist is one we like to read about. There were many men living in London in that time whom the world has not forgotten —men like David Garrick, the great actor; Oliver Goldsmith, the famous author; Samuel Johnson, maker of a great English dic- tionary; Burke, who made the great speech on America; Gibbon, the historian; Sheridan, author of “ The Rivals ”’; and these men were such great friends that they Pictures of Child Life cs used to meet together very frequently. One of them was Sir Joshua Reynolds, and much of his conversation and numerous incidents of his life are preserved to us Cherubim or Angels’ Heads, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. National Gallery, London. These show different views of the same beau- tiful face. in the biographies of the day. Let us remember, too, that at the same time Reynolds lived there lived in Amer- ica George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and Lafayette; and in Europe lived Goethe, Frederick the $65 + Famous Pictures Great, Mendelssohn, Voltaire and Mozart. He was a kind-hearted gentleman, ever eager to serve others, and many are the chronicles of his goodness. He liked to write, and early composed some rules of conduct. One of these was: “ The great principle of being happy in this world is not to be affected by small things.” Goldsmith wrote of him: His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand; His manners were gentle, complying and bland. Still born to improve as in every part,— His pencil our faces, his manners our hearts. A LITTLE GALLERY OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’ PAINTINGS Angel Headsis oy daca cceiaielseuetusinninennncrees National Gallery, London. Lady Cockburn and Children.......... Owned by A, Bick, London. Dr, JOHNSON s sereectevedeoeesenannsnastrespeaseee Rosebury Collection. The Age of Innocence...............205- National Gallery, London. Mrs, Siddons as The Tragic Muse.............+ Grosvenor House, Portrait Of Himself... ccccciccesvcciececee see es Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The Strawberry Girl..............2 2.200 Hertford House, London, Duchess of Devonshire and Child............ Chatsworth, England, For other pictures of child life in this volume but not included in this chapter, see pages 18, 21, 23, 132, 147, 152, 159, 168. ANIMAL PICTURES Next to our own friends and relatives, animals are nearest to our hearts. Nearly every household has its dog, or cat, or bird. The usefulness and beauty of the horse, the faithful friendship of which a dog is capable, are proverbial. In a corner of one of the finest parks in London is a cemetery where little city pets may be buried, and where many interesting monuments have been erected. In an- other similar place is an epitaph, “Our Sydney. Born a dog, lived like a gentleman, died beloved.” We cannot wonder that many artists have chosen to paint only animals. If you will try to make a drawing of your favorite dog or cat, you will find that they do not keep still long at atime. To draw a dog or horse in action is not easy, yet the skilful artist can suggest this action far better than any instantaneous photograph can. Among the great pictures by animal painters we find battle scenes, hunting scenes, and many others in which animals play a part. Cattle have been a favorite subject with some of the greatest artists. Paul Potter’s “ Bull,” a very big can- vas which hangs in the gallery at The Hague, is one of the world’s famous paintings. Then there are the lions and tigers by Delacroix, and the wild and domestic animals by Gérome and Rosa Bon- 57 58 Famous Pictures heur, to name only three great French painters who have given much of their time to depicting animals. SUSPENSE By Sir Edwin Landseer of the English School (Born 1802, died 1873) Almost any picture by Landseer might be called a “famous picture,’ for his popularity has hardly ever been rivaled. His pictures, by means of the engravings made of them and circulated far and wide, are known 7 Suspense, by Sir Edwin Landseer. So. Kensington Museum, London. Animal Pictures 59 and cherished in thousands of homes in England and America. They are pictures that touch the heart. Like most of Landseer’s works, the one we have here, “ Suspense,” tells a story. Perhaps you have heard that pictures that tell a story are not good art. Many people, especially artists, are inclined to think little of such pic- tures. This is because they are chiefly interested in the method of putting on the paint, the technical side of the picture, the side which we spoke about in connection with Velasquez’s painting. This technique: or “how it is done,” is, of course, very important, and an artist may naturally feel jealous of introducing outside interest, such as stories, or “ morals,” or hidden meanings, into paintings; but we find that great artists have frequently done it, and we know that many pictures make their strongest appeal to people just be- cause they do tell a powerful or affecting story, or awaken emotions that stir the heart. And even those who complain that Landseer’s paintings are story-tell- ing pictures, admit that he had also fine technical ability. Not only the poor in their cottages, but the great men of the time, loved these works of Landseer. Sir Walter Scott, Dickens, and Thackeray were all warm friends of the artist, and ardent admirers of his pic- tures. And so, if we feel that we like them all the better for the stories they tell, let us go on liking them. All this time the beautiful dog has been waiting in “ Suspense.” See if you can guess for yourself what gives him that look of loving anxiety. It must be something about his master, for only the dog’s master 60 Famous Pictures ever causes him real concern. We have all had a dog for a friend, and we know how faithful he can be. We know how he mourns when we go away, how happy he is when we return. So this dog was a true friend of his master, although shut out of the room where he was. The master has been brought home wounded, and lies ~ groaning beyond the closed door. If we could see the original picture, the blood-stains on the floor would lead us to guess this. As we look at the heavy door studded with nails, we think that the room is in some great castle, and that the master is a nobleman. The gauntlets on the table and the plume on the floor suggest those medieval times ‘when knights were bold and barons held their sway.” Our dog’s master may have been off hunting, or he may have been wounded in battle, but it is all the same to the dog. He never questions the right or wrong of our acts, even when we are unjust or severe with him, and we know that whatever happens to the mas- ter, the dog will always be true. Landseer had a peculiar power over dogs, as one is likely to have over things that one loves. He once said they, loved him because he had peeped into their hearts. He sometimes represented them in humorous scenes, but he reached his greatest success in showing pathos and dramatic power, as in Suspense. Se Piso tinea, aks Portrait of himself, by Sir Edwin Landseer. Dignity and Impudence, by Sir Edwin Landseer. 62 Famous Pictures ANECDOTES OF LANDSEER. Landseer was born in London, in 1802, and _ his father, who was an engraver, took a keen interest in his art education. Like many great artists, Landseer was not a good student at school, “always running away from his teachers, and always drawing.” But his drawings were worth while— perhaps partly because his father encouraged him in doing them, and was able to understand and appreciate the boy and his work. Some of his earliest sketches are preserved in the South Kensington Museum at London. Many of them were made when he was only six or seven years old, and at eleven, he won the prize of the silver palette of the Society of Arts for the best drawings of ani- mals. At thirteen, he was allowed to exhibit two pictures in the Royal Academy, and the following year he entered the Art School, where he became a favorite pupil. As early as the rules would allow, he was made an asso- ciate of the Royal Academy, and his pictures met with ready sale. He bought a house at No. 1 St. John’s Wood Road. Here he lived the remainder of his life, nearly fifty years, and here he entertained his hosts of friends. For he was of a happy and companionable disposition. He used to call his studio his workshop. It was visited by the élite of London society, and by men of wit and talent. Landseer was very modest. He once said, “If peo- ple knew as much about painting as I do, they would Animal Pictures 63 never buy my pictures.” It is also said that he was never envious or jealous of other painters. Most of his pictures were of animals. One-of his friends used to say, as he opened the studio door, “ Keep your dogs off me,” meaning the pictures that were scattered about. He was a very rapid worker, and remarkable stories are told of the swiftness with which he executed his paintings. Some important works he is said to have finished in a few hours. He spent a good deal of time in thinking out his pictures beforehand. It was his custom to place an empty can- vas on his easel, and then, before he touched a brush, to decide not only what was to be painted, but how it was to look when completed. It is a very good plan, not only for painters, but for all people who are mak- ing things or doing things, to first see in their minds the finished products as they wish them to be when they are done. A story related of Landseer tells of his once doing two pictures at a time. Some one had been remarking upon his rapid work, when a young lady said that at least he could do only one at a time. Then and there, Sir Edwin, taking a pencil in each hand, drew with one a stag, and with the other a horse. Among his greatest admirers were Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, who sometimes used secretly to give him commissions for paintings designed as pres- ents for each other. Once the queen rode unannounced to his house, and sent for him to accompany her on a ride. Another incident connected with royalty occurred when he was introduced to the King of Portugal. “I ‘YOK MAN ‘wasn ueppodoyap, “smayuog esoy Aq ‘Wey ass0ZT oy, Animal Picturés 65 am so very glad to meet you,” said the king, “for 1] am very fond of beasts.” In 1850 the order of Knight- hood was conferred upon him, and in 1865 he was elected president of the Royal Academy. A LITTLE GALLERY OF LANDSEER’S PAINTINGS SUSPENSE sis siciedesieuncieanawaaiad s South Kensington Museum, London. Sleeping Bloodhound.................... National Gallery, London. The Highland Shepherd’s Chief Mourner............... Asie sea) Maren Vat Seyeaey Nes casei a Us South Kensington Museum. High and Low Life..................00. National Gallery, London. THE HORSE FAIR By Rosa Bonheur of the French School (Born 1822, died 1899) This picture, painted by the artist when she was thirty years old, is, by general consent, called her master- piece. It is sixteen and a half feet wide by seven feet nine inches high, and is said to be the largest canvas ever produced by an animal painter. It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum.of Art in New York, having been purchased for $55,500 and presented to the museum in 1887. The scene represents something quite different from what we understand by a horse-fair; probably horse market would describe it better to us. The magnificent animals pass before us at a trot, kicking up the dust un- der their feet. They have probably just reached the market, and there seems to be an inclosure, perhaps a speeding ground, at the back, to which they are being hurried. There are fine trees at the right, under which 5 66 Famous Pictures dealers and spectators are taking their places. Far at the left in the distance, and obscured by the dust, is the dome of a church. In the center of the canvas are horses, brown, sorrel, and gray, and_ several grooms attending them, one of whom is nearly carried off his feet by the mettle- some beast. The horses are neither saddled nor bridled, but are controlled by halters with rope bits. As you look at the painting, or even at a reproduc- tion of it, the first impression is that it is a scene taken from real life. Rosa Bonheur was a realist, yet she was a realist with a great deal of imagination. She went to nature for the truth of her productions, but did not ignore the requirements of art. Notice in the picture the irregular arrangement of the horses, their different positions and movements, which, “ like the dif- ferent spots on their coats, are so placed as to balance one another, giving that variety and contrast so rest- ful to the eye.” This is an important element in the composition of a picture. These things show plainly the technical, artistic skill which can produce a grand and harmonious whole. The free and vigorous work of the brush gives addi- tional evidence of the strength of execution of which An Old Monarch, by Rosa Bon- heur. In a private collection. Animal Pictures 67 the artist was capable. There is a strong, spirited touch and powerful drawing. When the painting was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1853, it was a matter of general wonder that any woman should possess the power to accomplish such a vigorous work—one of which but few men could have been capable. It attained an immediate success, and was awarded all the honors of the Salon, and Rosa Bonheur was declared exempt from future examination by the Jury of Admission. It did not, however, find a purchaser. Later on, it was exhibited at Ghent, and again failed to sell. In 1855, the artist sent it to her native town of Bordeaux, and offered to sell it to the town for $2400. When, at this time, a dealer offered to buy it to take to Eng- land, she said: “I wish my picture to remain in France, but if my countrymen will not buy it, you may have it for $8000.” Thus it happened that the picture went traveling over Eng- land, while Landseer made an engraving from a quar- ter-size copy, or replica, which the artist painted. This smaller painting was afterward purchased and presented to the National Gallery in London, where it now hangs. Another still smaller copy was sold “ A Shepherd’s Dog, by R in England for $20,000. oe eee 68 Famous Pictures Very many engravings, photographs, and other reproduc- tions of the painting have been made, and are still being made, and, in one form or another, almost every one inter- ested in pictures has seen it. It is plain, at even the first glimpse of the picture, that the artist knew what she was doing; that her work grew out of thorough knowledge. This she had ac- quired by work, work, work —the kind of work that could never be endured but for love of the work it- self. She says herself: “I love to catch the rapid motions of animals— the reflection of light and color on their coats, their different characteristics. There- fore, before undertaking the study of a dog, a horse, a sheep, I tried to become familiar with the anatomy of each of them. Another excellent practice is to ob- serve the aspect of plaster models of animals, especially to copy them by lamplight, which gives more distinct- ness and vibration to the shadows. I owe all that I know to such patient conscientious exercises.” This knowledge of anatomy, which would be neglected or half understood by a merely ordinary art- ist, was of the greatest value to her. It enabled her to show the structure of her animals—it made the difference between greatness and mere excellence. The result was worth while, although it took this deter- mined woman to unpleasant places and among dis- agreeable people, and subjected her to annoyance and insult. There was no movement of the muscles, no slightest change in expression, no action of alertness or intelligence, no motion showing the animal’s intent or disclosing its peculiarities, that escaped her. With Animal Pictures 69 this knowledge and her skill in execution as a founda- tion, she was able to work out her great ideas. ANECDOTES OF ROSA BONHEUR. Rosalie Marie Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1822. Her father was a painter who had in his youth taken high honors at the exhibitions of his native town. Rosa was the eldest of four children. She was active and impetuous, and not fond of study. She disliked her books as much as she loved nature. Her chief delight was to play in the fields, to draw, and to experiment with the wet clay in her father’s studio. When Rosa was seven, her father removed to Paris in the hope of improving his fortunes. When she was eleven, her mother died. Then for two years she was put to school with two of her sisters. Here her love of outdoor life led to many reprimands. Her father, having married again, apprenticed Rosa to a seamstress in order that she might learn to make a living. As we can quickly guess, this was a sort of slavery to such a girl as Rosa. When her father came to visit her, she would throw herself into his arms and beg to be taken away. Being too fond of her to see her suffer, he next found a place for her in a board- ing-school. This delighted Rosa at first, for she quickly made friends and enjoyed the freedom from the work which she disliked. But it was hard for her to study. She preferred to make drawings and caricatures of the teachers. These were well done and often colored, and the teachers, although they were obliged 70 Famous Pictures to punish the poor girl continually, kept them care- fully in an album, where, it is said, they show them to this very day. One thing, however, clouded her pleasure while at the school: her father was still very poor, and the cheap calico dresses which Rosa was obliged to wear looked shabby beside the handsome gowns of the rich men’s daughters who were her schoolmates. They had plenty of pocket-money, and the difference was very plain to the .sensitive child. But it developed her character quickly. For it is said that even then she determined she would “rather be something than have something.” The school itself, however, was not a happy place to her, and finally her father saw that it was best to take her home. She now spent her days in her father’s studio, happy in copying everything she saw him do. As long as she had a pencil or a piece of clay in her hands, she needed nothing more to amuse her. Here she began to have longings for the career that was to be hers, and the . Ploughing in the Nivernais, by Rosa Bonheur. Luxembourg Gallery, , Paris. Animal Pictures 71 restless idleness of early school-days was transformed into a life with a high pur- pose. Her father helped her to improve in drawing, and she, | in turn, helped her | father by working on the drawings which 5 he made for publish- | ers. So untiring was ES her zeal, and so rap- Deer in the Forest, by Rosa Bonheur. idly did her work Metropolitan Museum, New York. improve, that it was soon plain to her father that her true happiness lay in art. It was almost unheard of in those days for a woman to engage in painting. It was looked upon as unwom- anly, and the friends of Bonheur did everything to dissuade him from allowing his daughter to embark upon such a career. But Rosa’s own determination alone would have been hard to overcome, even if her father had not nobly stood by her. He gave her his best in the thorough training he was able to supply. He did not keep her always at work upon the drawings he so much needed to make in order to provide for his now large family, but sent her to the Louvre to copy. These copies were so good as to attract the notice of many of the people who saw them, and naturally this deepened her love of art and her ambition to succeed. In her studies she was sincere and thorough, and, 72 Famous Pictures like all great artists, her desire was for truth. She was fond of all kinds of animals, and her studio and home were always full of them. When success came, her greatest happiness was in sharing it with her father, whose encouragement had been everything to her. Every one knows that Rosa Bonheur sometimes donned the clothing worn by men, and at the time she was living and working, many people were ready to say that she did it to attract attention. Now that she is dead, and the petty jealousies that her success caused are forgotten, she is no longer.censured for this. When she planned her great picture, ‘ The Horse Fair,” she knew she would have to make her sketches in and about the horse markets and on step-ladders, and she decided to wear men’s clothes for convenience. She was a woman of great power and ability, and her costume helped her work, by making it easier for her to go about. She should not be judged in the same way as we would judge any one who might do it merely to be peculiar. In 1855, she visited England, where her work had made her famous. She had now received honors and acquired fortune. She moved from one studio in Paris to a larger and a larger one, as her requirements and wealth increased, until finally she purchased a fine estate at By (pronounced Bee), near the forest of Fontainebleau, where she could find settings for her pictures in endless variety. At this chateau, surrounded by Newfoundlands, Spaniels, St. Bernards, sheép, goats, cows, lions, boars, rare birds, deer, gazelles, elk, indeed Animal Pictures 73 a menagerie of animals for models, she was destined to live for nearly fifty years. Here she led a happy life, rich in honors, retired from the world, receiving only a few intimate friends now and then, and, as she her- self said, “ working my very best.” A LITTLE GALLERY OF ROSA BONHEUR’S PAINTINGS The Horse: Fait: 2.2 oe ens eooccs Metropolitan Museum, New York. Plowing in the Nivernais............... Luxembourg Gallery, Paris. Haymaking in Auvergne............... Luxembourg Gallery, Paris. Deer in the Forest.............. Metropolitan Museum, New York. Weaning the Calves............. Metropolitan Museum, New York. An. Old Monarehics vs .07s2 eee cag suse eae s ek Private Collection. Sheep in Repose..........-.....0-0000- Wallace Collection, London. LANDSCAPE PAINTING The “Old Masters” seldom painted a landscape ex- cept as a background for figures. Now it has become one of the most important divisions of painting and there seem to be more landscapes than figure subjects put on canvas. In the early days people probably cared less for na- ture than we do. We have studied her more and know more of her secrets. Then, too, we feel the need of her soothing and healing influence in these hurrying, rush- ing times more than they did in the sixteenth century. So as we follow the history of landscape painting we.notice that the early works were crude and flat. As men began to take up landscape painting as a separate work, the representation of nature upon canvas became better and better. Trees and foliage became less stiff and conventional and pictures of nature began to live. At length some one discovered that he could paint the atmosphere and atmospheric effects. These interpreters of nature by their profound study, were able finally to faithfully reproduce the most fleet- ing aspects of earth and sky and thrill the beholder almost as nature herself would do. Thus to communicate to others the feelings he has had in working and to make others see as with his own eyes is the wish and triumph of the artist. 74 Landscape Painting 75 We must not suppose that the early masters knew nothing of nature. Very little escaped those wonderful observers. Leonardo da Vinci, in his “ Treatise on Painting,’ at the beginning of the sixteenth century speaks of the “transparent medium interposed between the eye and bodies ”’ and of how the color and appearance of distant objects is changed by the air, that, “like a veil, tinges the shadows.” But somehow they did not get the results that the later landscape men, by earnest study, have given us. In this department of painting the moderns have outdone the ancients; men living among us to-day can work marvels which Michelangelo and Raphael never attempted. By an example of Claude Lorrain, followed by one of Constable, one of Turner, and one of Corot, we shall be able to trace, to some extent, the progress of this branch of painting, now so highly esteemed. THE ENCHANTED CASTLE © By Claude Lorrain of the French School (Born 1600, died 1682) When you look at this picture I think you will feel at once that it is well named. It does not look like any castle you would see nowadays. If you should find such a building you would expect to see driveways leading to it and well-kept grounds instead of the wild- ness and neglect shown in the picture. It is more like what you might dream about as a castle in fairyland where some princess is imprisoned, awaiting her deliverer. 76 Famous Pictures It is surrounded by many of the beauties of nature. There are fine trees, and on the shore a woman sits musing and looking across the waters beyond. It seems solitary. You would not wish to live there without plenty of com- panions. And you would be right in thinking there never was just such a place in reality, but only in some one’s vivid imagination. You might find something nearly like it in the Swiss or Italian Lakes — but with a difference —the difference between something real and something ideal. The artist was a hard student and painted and sketched without ceasing, directly from nature herself, but when he came to paint a picture he built it up from parts of many separate places, so combined as to pro- duce beautiful effects such as we see in the one selected. When pictures are painted in this way, without re- producing any particular place, they are sometimes spoken of as generalized. Look at this well for it is a type you should learn to recognize. When you see such pictures you may safely conclude that they are Claude Lorrain’s or imitated from him, for he was the first to produce them. The skies and trees in all are similar. When Claude paints a tree, he does not intend to copy a tree exactly as he sees it but to make it more perfect than the original. If there are dead limbs he leaves them out, although we have all noticed how picturesque old and dead or twisted trees often are. It is thought that the reason he avoided these accidents was because they would attract attention too strongly and interfere The Enchanted Castle, by Claude Lorrain. 78 Famous Pictures with the quietness and repose which he endeavored to put into his work. He was convinced that to take nature just as he found it would never produce beauty and so, as Sir Joshua Reynolds writes of this man’s work: “ His pictures are a composition of the various drafts he had previously -made from various beautiful scenes and prospects.” Being the first man to create ideal scenes in this way, and his principle of generalization having been followed ever since, he is often spoken of as “the fa- ther of modern landscape art.” Moreover he was among the first to give all his time to landscape work. You will notice in studying this picture that it is not purely a landscape, for the artist has introduced other things, namely, a castle and figures. This is the case in all his pictures and of those of many of his imitators. In some cases the castles and columns occupy most of the picture, and the fact that these are nearly always of a classical style of architecture has led people to speak of his pictures as classical. However, this is not what is meant technically by classical painting. Classical painting rather refers to the manner in which the painting is done. Anything which is done very carefully, and exactly following rules laid down by predecessors in art is called classical. But it is correct enough in another sense to call a work classical because it has a classical subject, as in the case of Claude’s paintings. The castles lend something of stateliness and dignity to the pictures and are a part of them. They belong there. If you place your thumb over the castle you Landscape Painting 79 will see that the whole picture has lost its life. Do this several times, comparing the effect when the castle can be seen and when it cannot. The figures add still more life to the effect, and, as they are usually intended to represent some character in Greek or Roman mythology, they stamp a still more classical character upon all that Claude did. The figures are not as well painted as the rest of the picture, for though he labored long and hard, drawing for years from the figure, he never became able to do it easily and naturally. It was difficult for him and the result showed it. When a painter has so mastered any given thing that he can paint it almost without trying, it will be done with much fewer strokes than when the artist must study each detail in order to get the desired ef- fect. This we have seen in Velasquez’s work. Claude knew that he could not do his figures as well as the rest of his work but he felt they had a place there, and, as they were part of his conception as to what a great painting ought to be, he was right to put them there. He used to say that he sold his landscapes but gave away the figures. But there is one thing which Claude did better than his predecessors and that was the painting of atmos- phere. Between us and every object, no matter how near, there is air. The air is illuminated, or rather the particles that float in it, and each of these particles reflects some little point of light. We speak of a clear day and of a hazy day. Now in a hazy day there are more particles in the air and even 80 Famous Pictures near objects are obscured as by a veil. The farther we look away into the distance the thicker becomes the veil of intervening atmosphere and the more indistinct and hazy in outline are the hills or other objects we see. While we notice this plainly on a smoky or misty day, the veil or envelope of atmosphere surrounds everything at all times and even ona “ clear” day, by looking with this in mind, we shall see that the further objects are less dis- tinct than the nearer ones. Many artists, especially the earlier ones, ignored this altogether and therefore their paintings lack the charm of nature. They appear flat and hard and sharp. It is first necessary to learn to see the atmosphere which surrounds and envelops everything and then to repre- sent it in the picture. By painting the atmosphere and indicating the intervening envelopes of air, the objects are made to appear as in nature. The atmosphere also af- fects the color of objects, which grow grayer in the distance, and, by representing these variations truly, everything is made to take its place in the picture and to have its just and proper relation to every other ob- ject. These varying quantities of light in the colors of objects are called values, as we have already seen. In Claude’s picture the atmosphere is distinctly seen in the horizon, which is not a sharp line but hazy and un- determined, full of mystery and suggestion. The more distant trees at the extreme left and at the left of the castle also, plainly show the luminous air between us and them gradually becoming less dense and showing details more plainly as we come towards the foreground. Landscape Painting 81 When we merely wish to see a long ways, we think of a clear day as desirable. But clear atmosphere is not in itself an element of beauty. A mild haze or even the smoke of forest fires adds beauty not alone to the sunset, but to the general aspect of nature. ANECDOTES OF CLAUDE. Claude, we learn, was another dull boy who after- wards lived to be a great and useful man. His par- ents were poor and he had lost both of them before he was twelve. We notice one thing, I think, in the lives of all the great painters. They may have been dull boys or dull at certain things. They may have been poor business men, they may not have been able to gain recognition even during their lifetime; but they were nearly all great workers. They loved their work. It is in having a work in life that we love, that the _greatest and truest success lies. When Claude’s parents died he went to live for a year with his brother, a wood engraver and carver, who taught him drawing. Then another relative, a dealer in lace, offered to take him to Rome. There, thrown on his own resources at that early age, he found a room and continued to study as best he could. From then until he was twenty-seven he had a difficult life indeed. He drifted to Naples where he spent two years in study. This life in Naples was a pleasure to him for here he saw a very beautiful landscape full of color and of life that he enjoyed. We have some of his paintings of the Bay of Naples that testify to the loving heart 6 82 Famous Pictures with which he worked upon them. That world of color in sea and sky, ““ Where Capri waits, her sapphire gates, beguiling to her bright estates”? and ‘“ Ischia smiles o ’er liquid miles,” made up to him for the poor clothes he had to wear and the poor food he had to eat. Returning to Rome he entered the household of Agostino Tassi where for several years he received in- struction in painting in return for his services as stable- boy, color-grinder and general servant. Then, at about: the age of twenty-five, he began two years of continual wandering. He visited Venice and his old home village in Lorraine and is supposed to have spent some time near Munich, a visit which is now commemorated by a monument. But 1627 found him back in Rome. The years following were years of study with only small earnings, until success came at last shortly before he was forty. Day by day he would go out into the fields around Rome, painting until nightfall, earnestly seeking to master the secrets of nature and to get upon his can- vas the charm of the evening sky or the approaching dawn. He often worked for days to match the colors of nature upon his palette, putting them upon his can- vases afterwards in his garret. But as often happens, when fame did come it came with a rush. He became known to a cardinal, one of the most powerful at the court and an intimate friend of the Pope (Urban VII). For this cardinal he painted two landscapes. Afterwards the interest of Urban himself was aroused and after that orders and distinctions came thick and Landscape Painting 83 fast. So great was his vogue that commissions came from all over the world— from England and Spain and elsewhere. Following upon his great. popularity came many imitators. Pictures which he had never painted were passed off and sold as his. This is probably what led him to make a series of drawings of his paintings which he called the ‘‘ Liber Veritatis,’ or ‘“‘ Book of Truth.” This is still in existence and is in itself a thing of priceless value, containing, as it does, records of some of the artist’s greatest pictures. Claude continued to work to the very end of his life. In the collection of Queen Victoria was a picture he painted when almost eighty-two years old. Where he lies in Rome, near the Pantheon, the French government has erected a monu- ment to his memory. A LITTLE GALLERY OF CLAUDE LORRAIN’S PAINTINGS Landing of Cleopatra at Tarsus.................004- Louvre, Paris. The Flight into Egypt.................... Royal Gallery, Dresden. The: -Mill.'sos3 205 Seay oa daa s seeecon Sadana. Doria Gallery, Rome. NOON ies heee dees eee Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. THE CORN FIELD By John Constable of the English School (Born 1776, died 1837) Since Claude’s time there had been a backward movement in landscape art, and, when Constable came to the front, it was at a low ebb, especially in England. If we could see the pictures that were painted about this time and The Corn Field by John Constable, National Gallery, London. Landscape Painting 85 for fifty years previous and compare them with Con- stable’s, we should quickly see what an original man he was and how he advanced landscape art. The pic- tures of the time were mostly “arrangements of certain forms of earth, sky and clouds in very much the same sets of colors, all flat and uninteresting.” The first picture that Constable saw that inspired him with the wish to himself become an artist, was one by Claude Lorrain, at the home of Sir George Beaumont. He was too original to paint just like Claude Lorrain, but, to perfect his own art, he studied the best things in Claude’s pictures. While Lorrain, as we have seen, painted pictures containing classical buildings and figures, Constable found his subjects in the English country he loved so well, and painted it as he saw it. It is known that Constable copied many of Lorrain’s pictures owned by his friend Sir George Beaumont, and although Beaumont was his friend and helper and him- self a good artist, the two did not agree about paint- ing. Beaumont thought Constable’s pictures should be toned’ down, and once, it is said, recommended to him the tints of an old Cremona fiddle as the real ones of the landscape. To this Constable replied by laying an old fiddle on the green lawn in front of the baronet’s house. When people complained that his lights were much too strong, he said of one of his pictures: “ Its light cannot be put out because it is the light of nature, the mother of all that is valuable in poetry, painting or anything else, where an appeal to the soul is required.” The “ Corn Field,” painted in 1826, was presented, after 86 Famous Pictures the artist’s death, to the English nation by a committee of his friends and now hangs in the National Gallery. When Constable sent it to the Academy he wrote to a friend that he had “ despatched a large landscape to the Academy: inland corn fields, a close lane forming the foreground: it is not neglected in any part: the trees are shaken by a pleasant and healthful breeze at noon.” To quote a fuller description. “It is one of Con- stable’s most vigorous and powerful masterpieces. The noble group of elms in the hedgerow on the leit is already slightly tinged with brown while the shorter trees across the lane have still their summer dress of green.. Between them, in the middle distance, part of a corn field is seen, sloping down to the greener water- meadows of the valley, with glimpses of the river and a church tower among the trees. Several small figures are moving along the pathway through the corn, which glows like gold under the sun’s rays. The lane which twists sharply down hill on the right is in cool shadow, though the gleaming light filters through in places. The shepherd’s boy, prone on his face by the wayside, leaves his dog to look after the flock while he quenches his thirst at a small spring, and near him a donkey and tier foal are browsing under the hedge. The sky is a fine piece of painting, full of movement, with its masses of white and gray clouds and glimpses of bright blue. There is more warm golden color in this picture than in most of Constable’s larger works, and the yellow brown on the one side, and the tender green and blue on the other combined to produce a very lovely effect.” All this we read as the story the canvas has to tell Landscape Painting 87 us, and we might read more into it, for nothing is said about the buildings and the church in the distance. We also wish to examine a little how the picture is in advance of work that had been done before — why it is a great picture. Some one has said that what one always no- ticed in Constable’s pictures was the weather. The look in the clouds as if rain was to come, the appearance of the countryside after a shower—the rush of wind through the tree tops, the look that made us know, “ It is noon time ”— these were things that he was the first to put on canvas. No one else was trying to do these things and no one except his fellow-artists understood what he meant. “How did he do it?” you ask. The answer is that he did it, not by trying to make his pictures like other pictures, but by studying nature and painting her as he saw her. We speak later of his work as a miller and how he watched the weather. He did it to some purpose. The simple country which he grew so to love he continued to love all his life. One critic has said, and doubtless many said at that time, that Constable had a low mind that could not rise above his own provincial town and farm. But Constable knew, and never wavered in applying the knowledge, that the highest beauty may be expressed in the simplest things. By his persistent courage and his infinite labor in working out his own method he truly conquered nature herself and left the world a higher conception of her and how her features might be made plain to others in the language of painting. It is now granted that he founded a school and that 88 Famous Pictures he was one of the world’s geniuses in painting. He definitely influenced all the landscape painting of the future. Here is a leaf from a novel about a picture of a corn field: “Suppose ye want to paint a field of ripe corn: Will ye get at it, do ye think, by sittin’ down and pentin’ the stalks and the heads;— aye, if ye were to spend a lifetime at it and paint fifty thousand of them? Aye, and if ye painted a hundred thousand of them as like as could be, ye’d be no nearer getting at your corn field. For what ye have to paint is what ye see: and when ye look at a corn field, ye see no stalks at all, but a great mass of gold, as it were, with a touch of orange here or paler yellow there, and a wash of green where the land is wet, and sometimes of warm red even where the stalks are mixed with weeds. .. . “ Suppose that ye ’ve been ill for a month or two, laid on your back maybe and sick and tired of the pattern on the wall of your room; and at last a day comes when the doctor thinks you might be lifted into a carriage and taken for a drive. And we’ll say it’s a warm after- noon, and your heart is just full of wonder and gladness, like, at the trees and the soft air, and well say that all of a sudden, at the turning o’ the road, ye come in sight o’ this field o’ ripe corn, just as yellow as yellow can be under the afternoon sky. Aye, and what is it when ye see such a wonderful and beautiful thing — what is it that brings the tears to your e’en? I say, what is it? For it’s that ye’ve got to catch and put in your pic- ture.”— (William Black in “ Shandon Bells.’’) The Hay Wain, by Constable. National Gallery, London. go Famous Pictures ANECDOTES OF CONSTABLE. John Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. His father was a miller and well to do and wished his son to enter the Church. This was so dis- tasteful to John that a compromise was ‘effected whereby he should go into the mill, although his own wish was to be a painter. His talent was manifest and from his earliest years he was continually sketching the lanes and byways near his country home. However, he worked faithfully in the mill, learning about the structure of windmills and ob- serving the weather, the changes in the clouds and other things in nature which helped him later on. He was a fine-looking young man and was known as “ the hand- some young miller.” About this time he chanced to meet Sir George Beau- mont, who was an art amateur and collector, and his ac- quaintance strengthened Constable’s desire to become a painter. Finally his father consented to his going to London to see what others thought of the advisability of his taking up painting as a profession. John went to London where he met various artists but they were not enthusiastic in their opinion of his works. So we find him in his twenty-first year, writing to a friend, ‘‘I must now take your advice and attend to my father’s business. . . . I see plainly that it will be my lot to walk through life in a path contrary to that in which my inclination would lead me.” But for all this the inclination won in the end, and two years later he took up his brush never to abandon it Landscape Painting Ql again during his life. At twenty-six he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy, of which Sir Benjamin West was president. West took an interest in the young man, advised him not to be discouraged when one of his pictures was refused by the Academy, and prophesied a successful future. Success was very slow in coming. For years his pic- tures had almost no sale and he felt much discourage- ment. Pictures that are now beyond price, were ex- hibited almost unnoticed and returned unsold. He once said, “ My art flatters nobody by imitation, courts nobody by its smoothness — how then can I hope to be popular?” Constable was often low-spirited because of this lack of recognition and the continued postponement of his marriage through many weary years— indeed it would never have taken place but for his persistency and an inheritance of a few thousand pounds. The marriage was a happy one and when, after he was fifty years old, a comfortable fortune of £20,000 came to him, he settled it upon his wife and children, saying, “It will make me happy and I shall stand before a six-foot canvas with a mind at ease.” It was at about this time that “‘ The Hay Wain” and “ The Corn Field” were painted. But now that happiness had come, it was quickly snatched away, for his wife soon died and he never fully recovered from the blow, though he lived and painted for nearly ten years more. In February, 1837, he began to work upon a picture which he declared was to be the best he had ever done. But it was never finished. During the March following, on a cold night, he walked part way home from a meet- g2 Famous Pictures ing of the Academy with his friend Leslie, who writes: “ The most trifling occurrences of that evening remain on my memory. As we proceeded along Oxford Street he heard a child cry on the opposite side of the way: the griefs of childhood never failed to arrest his attention and he crossed over to a little beggar girl who had hurt her knee; he gave her a shilling and some kind words . we parted at the end of the street laughing. I never saw him again, alive.” The next day Constable worked on his picture and that night, awaking in pain, in less than an hour after, he was dead. “ He was faithful in all ways,” says one biographer, “to his friends, to the memory of his wife and to his art. No adverse criticism, no disappointment could move him an inch from the path he thought right to pursue as a landscape painter.” He was faithful to his art, for, had he been willing to paint pictures in the fashion, he could have made more money and perhaps have sooner achieved success. But he preferred to be true to what he believed. A LITTLE GALLERY OF CONSTABLE’S PAINTINGS Dedham Mill seescu. sce wee esate South Kensington Museum, London. THE Cottages muscuse ye exe eye areata vex eae dde em Louvre, Paris. The Valley: Parti. cis coosateyscteescees National Gallery, London. Hampstead Heath.................. Corporation Galleries, Glasgow. Phe: Hay: Wallies «cece ntiruncetesiuanaae National Gallery, London. Landscape Painting 93 THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE. By Joseph Mallord William Turner of the English School (Born 1775, died 1851) William Turner carried the painting of atmospheric effects further than any of his predecessors. He was the first to try to depict upon canvas the full force of the sun. In “ The Fighting Téméraire”’ we have one of his very latest and very best canvases in which the sun is setting in a sky of the greatest brilliancy. It is said that the picture was done one day when he was on a holiday excursion with some other artists. One moment he would be talking and joking, and the next transferring some wonderful glory of color to his canvas. Thornbury tells how the idea of painting the old ship came about. “ Suddenly there moved down upon the artist’s little boat the grand old vessel that had been taken prisoner at the Nile and that led the van at Trafalgar. She loomed pale and ghastly and was being towed to her last moor- ings by a flery, puny steam-tug.” It was “ The Fighting Téméraire”’ of which Henry Newbolt has sung: There’s a far bell ringing At the setting of the sun And a phantom voice is singing Of the great days done. ’There’s a far bell ringing And a phantom voice is singing Of renown forever clinging ‘uO puo'y LM Wf 4q resp Bunysiy ey Landscape Painting 95 To the great days done. Now the sunset breezes shiver, Téméraire! Téméraire! And she’s fading down the river, Téméraire! Téméraire! “There ’s a fine subject,” said one of the artists, and Turner, filled with the sentiment and the beauty of the scene, produced the great painting. Any kind of prints in black and white, can give but little idea of Turner’s paintings, for they are brighter and lighter and more brilliant than such reproductions can sug- gest. One must see the original. This great brilliancy and luminosity is partly due to Turner’s method of underlaying his color by a thick coat of white paint, over which his rich, high-keyed colors were laid rather thinly. His works were so blazing with brilliant reds, light blues, and luminous yellows and show so little of the details of drawing that at first they looked ridiculous to the public. Even the intelligent critics abused him cordially. People said that some of his canvases looked as though a tomato omelette had been thrown at them. But he soon came to have strong defenders. Ruskin devoted hundreds, if not thousands, of pages to praising and minutely explaining Turner’s methods and the results of his work, and Ruskin’s books have become as famous as Turner’s paintings. Ruskin made many mistakes in his judgments in art matters, according to opinion to-day, but the world supports him in what he found in Turner. Although there is so little drawing evident in many of Turner’s paintings, he was really one of the best drafts- 96 Famous Pictures men of alltime. He worked with infinite care in drawing and sketching during his travels, and has left many thou- sands of wonderful water-color drawings. ‘These were the means by which he accumulated the mass of knowledge which enabled him to paint his great effects from which details were obliterated. The labor of years gave him the strength and knowledge by which he became a master. Ruskin says he is the only man who truly represented rocks ; he showed their structure. He seemed to show his trees growing. Some one has said that other artists could hide things in a mist, but that Turner revealed things through a mist. Hammerton, the critic, says: “ With a knowledge of landscape vaster than any mortal ever possessed before him, his whole existence was a series of dreams.” He would sit down in the presence of a real scene in nature and build up a dream in the face of the reality. “Tt is the soul of Turner and not the material world that fascinates the student,” says another. A large new wing of the Tate Gallery in London con- tains thousands of works by Turner, including most of his wonderful canvases bequeathed by him to the nation. ANECDOTES OF TURNER. Turner was born April 23, 1775, in Maiden Lane, in Chelsea, a poor, unpleasing part of London, over a barber shop, in which his father, William Turner, lived and worked. The latter was an economical, good-natured, uneducated man, who taught his boy to be honest and saving. Dido building Carthage, by J. M. W. Turner. This painting suggests the influence of Claude Lorrain, National Gallery, London. 98 Famous Pictures The young Turner kept the sidewalk swept and the windows clean, but early showed his talent for drawing. At ten his birds and trees on the walls of his school at- tracted attention. One day he used one of his father’s barber-brushes with which to paint a picture. The next morning, when the barber began to lather a customer’s face, instead of turning a snowy white it became a fiery red. His father did not discourage his talents, although he had intended to make him a barber. He hung the drawings about the shop and sometimes sold one for a few pence. At twelve the boy began to study under a London mas- ter; at thirteen he was sent to a Mr. Coleman at Mar- gate where he loved and studied the sea; at fourteen he was sent to the Royal Academy. At this time he made small sums by copying pictures for a Dr. Munro, who lived in a palace on the Strand and possessed Rembrandts and works by other famous artists. This was good practice indeed. In 1792, when he was seventeen, he got a commission to make some drawings for magazines. To make the sketches the boy traveled through Wales on a pony lent him by a friend, and on foot through many English counties, an experience that perfected his hand and stored his mind with the effects seen in nature. At twenty-one he hired a house and took pupils, but he soon grew tired of this, and at twenty-two we find him in Yorkshire and Kent, where he made warm friends, one of whom afterwards bought $50,c00 worth of Turner’s works. Landscape Painting 99 Meantime his pictures had been accepted at exhibi- tions, his first water-color having been exhibited at the Royal Academy when he was only fifteen. Every one who knew him in these years speaks of his sunny disposition, his love of sports and of fun of all kinds. In later life, after troubles and disappoint- ments, he was not always so cheerful, but he was success- ful in his artistic career. He became an associate of the Royal Academy when only twenty-four and a full Royal Academician at twenty-seven. One of Turner’s cherished projects was the publica- tion of the “ Liber Studiorum.” There were to be one hundred plates issued in numbers, each containing five pictures. But it never reached completion,— the public would not buy. It is said that an engraver, who had a lot of the trial proofs, used them for kindling his fire. Afterwards he was able to sell the few he had left for over seven thousand dollars. Since then a single copy of the book has brought fifteen thousand dollars. ‘I’ve been burning bank notes all my life,” said the old en- graver. From the time he was thirty-five Turner must have had plenty of money. He moved into a country house, still keeping his city residence. In spite of his wealth, earned by his pictures, he lived like a hermit and had queer habits —bad habits, some of them, but amongst them we find golden deeds that are worth telling. At the death of a poor drawing-master, Mr. Wells, whom Turner had long known, he was deeply affected, and lent money to the widow until a large sum had ac- Landscape Painting 101 cumulated. She was both honest and grateful, and, after a long period, was happy enough to return to her bene- factor the whole sum she had received from him. She went to him with it; but Turner kept his hands in his pocket. “ Keep it,” he said, ‘and send your children to school and to church.” Once, after sending an unfortunate beggar from his house, he relented, ran after her, and gave her a five- pound note. . Another story is told of how, when his earliest bene- factor came to financial grief in his later years, Turner, hearing of it, advanced thousands of pounds to the man’s manager without allowing his name to be made known. ‘Yet this man was called stingy and parsimonious. His friends criticized his frugal living only to find when he died that, after giving a hundred thousand dollars to the Royal Academy and a few other bequests to relatives, he had left an immense fortune for the maintenance of “poor and decayed male artists, being born in England.” This will was broken when contested by relatives. Ruskin says that, having known him during that period of his life when he was suffering most from the evil- speaking of. the world, he never heard him say one de- preciating word of any living man, or man’s work. He had a heart intensely kind and nobly true. Turner and Sir Walter Scott were good friends. They liked each other, but it seemed that neither man could understand or appreciate the other’s art. Scott could not see why any one should want Turner’s pictures. “As for your books,” said Turner, “the covers of some are very pretty.” 102 Famous Pictures A LITTLE GALLERY OF TURNER’S PAINTINGS The Fighting Téméraire................. National Gallery, London. The Bay of Baiae.............00.eeeeees a ee WICTIGEY as ustiajeecvayacntesata caste /astudcase 5 Aceia aileebepseteceae “ Dido Building Carthage................. - te . Portrait of Himself...................-. “ % s The Whale Ship................ Metropolitan Museum, New York. Grand Canal, Venice............ s 4 a ss DANCE OF NYMPHS: EVENING By Jean Baptiste Camille Corot of the French School (Born 1796, died 1875) It has been said that it was not nature herself that Corot represented but the impression nature made upon him. And yet no one has so faithfully interpreted cer- tain elements of landscape, and he was so far in ad- vance of others of his time that he was the first to pre- sent certain effects of light and air. We know that when a boy at school he used to take long walks with his master, who was an old and solitary man with solitary ways. He was fond of walking in out-of-the-way places and in the evenings about dusk he liked to wander under the big trees in the meadows or by the side of the river. Ten years later than this, when his father bought a place in the country, for they were Parisians, another scene came into his life which had a great influence upon him and upon his work. This new home was near a pond and many times, when all the rest were asleep, Corot re- mained up the greater part of the night, leaning out of Dance of Nymphs: Evening, by Corot. 104 Famous Pictures the window, looking at the sky and the water and the trees. He had studied these misty scenes so many times that, when he came to paint, he made watery, vaporous effects. He himself has said that to his love and study of these marshy visions is due the readiness with which he remembered the tones and colors proper to express this gray mist, light and floating, with which the air is satu- rated, and which veils the sky and obscures the sharp lines of the horizon in nearly all his pictures, as it does in nature itself. The prevailing colors in Corot’s pictures are greens and grays with a soft yellowish tinge to the sky. Sev- eral critics have agreed in seeing something in his work which suggested music to them and they have called him the Mozart of painting. He himself once said of another painter’s work that it made one think of the nightingale but that he himself was only a little song bird. There are many terms in music, such as tones, harmonies and vibrations, which have come to be applied to painting by those who feel the resemblance that the one art bears to the other. In the “ Dance of the Nymphs” we may detect these resemblances. Like all of Corot’s pictures, the colors are not bright, gay or discordant, but are subdued and har- monized together so that one general tone pervades the picture. This is a feature of much modern landscape art. We noticed that Claude sticceeded in putting the at- mosphere into his picture — Corot carried this much fur- ther and suggested not only the season of the year and the time of day but many other slight variations. Landscape Painting 105 In one of Corot’s letters to a friend, which is preserved to us, we have an account of such a scene as the one in our picture. It is a noted piece of writing and helps us to understand his pictures. “ Nature drowses,” he writes, ‘“ the fresh air, however, sighs among the leaves — the dew decks the velvety grass with pearls. The nymphs fly — hide themselves — and desire to be seen. Bing! A star in the sky which pricks its image on the pool. Charming star — whose brilliance is increased by the quivering of the water, thou watchest me — thou smilest to me with half-closed eye! Bing! — a second star appears in the water, a second eye opens. Be the harbingers of welcome, fresh and charming stars. Bing! Bing! Bing!—three, six, twenty stars. All the stars in the sky are keeping tryst in this happy pool. Everything darkens, the pool alone sparkles. There is a swarm of stars — all yields to illusion. The sun being gone to bed, the inner sun of the soul, the sun of art awakens. Bon!— there is my picture done.” Corot was more successful than Claude in introducing figures into his paintings. In this picture of the evening graceful nymphs give an added charm and they come naturally into the scene in which they appear. One thing that one may notice about good landscapes is that there is usually some one salient feature. If a path through the woods is to be shown, there should be one path, not two. If it is to be a river scene, there should not be a second river of nearly equal interest. It is said that an artist can always compel the spectator to see the one point he wishes to emphasize. If we ask ourselves, as we look at a picture, “ What did the artist 106 Famous Pictures wish to emphasize? ” it will help us to judge his picture. In Corot we find the joy and poetry and music of life as shown in trees and atmosphere. These misty morn- ings and evenings, as he looked at them, seemed to sug- gest figures, usually moving or dancing, to complete the picture. We can understand why he always took a boy- ish delight in going to the theater. Corot’s pictures communicate something to us at once. All great art has a way of speaking to those who take the time to ask its message — who put themselves in the way of hearing, by listening. To see as Corot saw, is to see truly what nature herself first showed to him. He gives us not the hard facts of nature, but the feeling of nature, the veiled mystery of her meaning; a suggestion of her effect upon us in certain of her moods. ANECDOTES OF COROT. Corot was born in Paris in 1796. His father kept a millinery shop. When Corot was ten his father sent him to a boarding-school in the beautiful old city of Rouen and there he remained for seven years. Corot’s father was of good peasant stock from the vineyards of Burgundy, and he himself became a tall, powerful, rubicund and, above all, a kindly and fascinating man. His nature was of the gentlest. He loved the atmosphere of peace and friendship and was ever surrounded by friends and companions. Whenever he could, he was glad to assist those who needed help. After his return from school, he was employed in a draper’s shop and in some such occupation continued for the next eight years. But during this time his artistic Landscape Painting 107 tendencies began to show themselves. He made draw- ings whenever he could, and, chancing to meet a painter, he began to do some drawings from nature under his eye. This painter, named Michallon, was a young man and had just taken the grand prize of Rome for landscape paint- ing. Though he was Corot’s master, the two were friends and companions and Corot received a good grounding in the rudiments of his art before the other died at the early age of twenty-six. At length Corot plucked up courage enough to go to his father and ask permission to leave the counter for the easel. His father was quite prosperous, and intended to set up the son in business. He told Corot, however, that since he did not wish to continue in trade he would make him an allowance of 1500 francs a year, but would not give him the capital he had intended to use in buying a business for him. Corot, instead of complaining, was very happy. As soon as he had his freedom he got his artist’s ma- terials together and made his first real painting. It was near his father’s house, and those who have visited the studio of Corot have seen this very picture, for he al- ways kept it. He used to say to his guests thirty-five years later: “Oh, my friends, my picture has not changed; it is always young and recalls the very hour when I made it; but the friends of those days and I— what are we?” In 1825, when nearly thirty, Corot paid his first visit to Rome. He was warmly welcomed as a good fellow but no one thought of his work as anything great. His sunny nature made him a favorite here as everywhere. The Bathers, by Corot. Collection of M. Rouart, Paris. Landscape Painting 109 He could sing well and the painters thought more of that than of his work. One day, however, the landscape director of the Academy of Rome happened to see Corot working at a sketch of the Colosseum and was struck with its truth and the fine qualities it contained. He not only con- gratulated the artist but spoke of it to his classes and even prophesied that in time this man would be the master of them all. At first Corot took this as a joke but it worked wonders in the estimation in which he was held by others. Some one has said that it is not what any one may do, so much as what other people say of them, that helps or hurts. This is perhaps too strong, but true it is that, no mat- ter how good one’s work may be, its excellence may not be recognized. It has sometimes happened that artists have been dead many years before their paintings became admired and famous. When Corot returned to Paris after this visit, he ex- hibited for the first time in the Salon but his work did not receive much applause there for many, many years. It was different from the work of other landscapists, and, not being understood, was passed over. Not until he was fifty did any real recognition come. Then, in 1846, he was awarded the decoration of the Le- gion of Honor. This was something but it did not mean great success. He still had years of struggle ahead. He made two or three more trips to Italy, where all artists loved to go, but all the rest of his life he spent between Paris in winter and his country home in sum- mer. It is related of Corot’s father that once, after 110 Famous Pictures Corot had received the Legion of Honor decoration, he endeavored by asking others to find out whether his son really had any talent. When parents feel this distrust of their own children, it is very hard for the children, though better than foolish praise. Corot’s fellow-artists were the first to find out that he was stronger than any of them. But he was sixty be- fore the public came to his feet and seventy before he was an officer of the Legion of Honor. Corot was generous and. was always giving. He would never take pay for lessons, but helped many and many a young artist, and older ones, too. One day he gave away a thousand francs. “ Yes, it was quite a pull for me,” he admitted, but the next day it happened that he sold six thousand francs worth of pictures. “So you see,” he said, “it all comes back.” Corot’s later years were peaceful. During his last mo- ments his mind was still upon painting, and acting as though he had his brush in his hand, he moved his arm to, the wall exclaiming, “Look! How beautiful! 1 have never seen such lovely landscapes.” A LITTLE GALLERY OF COROT’S PAINTINGS Dance of the Nymphs, Evening................. Private Collection. Dance of the Nymphs, Morning..................0. Louvre, Paris. STNG? 8 Grae EPEC ahs asceucustcova sb vatevevacean tole GedeoehcaniniceAmerie Gey Private Collection. TATIAS CAPES opace cio:tanaiteoveravveerasscaseconsce an aid araelg eG oramuterered Louvre, Paris. Ville: Di Avray ss iv _— > = Sacred and Religious Subjects 169 where he had plenty to do. His decorations there in the cathedral, in the cloisters of San Paolo, and in the Church of San Giovanni, are among the greatest of his works. One branch of study to which he was devoted was anatomy. This he learned from a physician, whose portrait he has left to us. He was among the first to feel the necessity for such knowledge, but it is now a recognized part of an artist’s preparation. Even his early work was very wonderful. ! Venre lor ‘oyjatIoyuL gv eee eee eens €rS1—-Z6b1 ‘ulaqjoH suey seeeeeesbOCT-P6PI ‘O18891109 *-O€SI-gghI ‘oes Jep BoIpuy trttseessrogsi-Cgpr ‘oizues jaeydey Pek bere eS ee ew en om g£S1-LLh1 ‘uel 06 ***voSi-PZbI “IHOLeUONg opasuepyoL LG vette 61S1—zSPI ‘IOUT A, ep opseuos’T ¥9 re o1S1-orbr TT[a010g IG) Meee PES ETSS eiedecainne™ LEE1-99zI1 ‘o}015) FO acts a zoe 1—orz1 ‘onqewty UALNIVd dO INVN “suoTjeziiajoeIeyo Jotiq AJaA Yim ‘urog atem Ady} YDIYM Ul JOpsO oy} UT 4I1e JIaYy} JO JUaWIDUBAPe 9Y} JO}F JSOU oy} SUOP Suraey sB pue ‘sylomM 4so]e013 ay} poonposd Suraey se paydaoce ATUOWUIOD SioyseTT OY} SMOYS 2TqeI SIY.L SUALNIVd AO ATAVL TVIIDOTONOYHO 235 Chronological Table *sau0} 2}BOI[ap UT SUOT}e1099C ‘ramod jeai8 Jo Jajured jewiuy “s201} yep pue sodeospuel JAY ‘Jews A1aA APsSouL syoefqns aiuss) ‘sadeospur] SH] eZtajoeseYD Sauloz 2]IqNS ‘azT] Jeans pue sjueseed yo Jaqured ‘sjeuiue yo raqzured 3ea15) ‘Surjured [euo} :Buruso0ul FO Syst ‘adeospury ysysuq jo JoyyeT ‘10]OD JuRTTIIq yo sadeospueT “AY Iqou ay} JO sywesyo0g "u0} -BuryseAA Jo Aypersadsa ‘syresjsod 10} snowez “‘QOURI Ul [OOYDS ]BdISse[D JO JIATAIY ‘syreajiod : 410M siy UT [eNprlAripuy ‘UsIP[IYO pue sinyWwes10g ‘uleyo pue APP JO Saz-[[YS Url JuouTMQeWIT ‘yured url rayseeid yeas VW ‘syed UT Sati9ds a[qeUorysey *ysnhiq ouy e pue JOWNY as1209 {sausds UIIAR} UT S}D9H9 9FT-[1NS ‘sjua110} pue spoom ‘sureyuNoyy ‘poayured Ajpeorstpeor spemiuy ‘sfoq Joai]s pue sjoafqns snorst[oy ‘sSuipjing pue skemysty ‘sadeospuey ‘spefqns aiuas pue syueseag Smavnaat youes gy youely youesy youa1y youary youas.q ysipsuy uoziqieg ysysuy Ys suy youas WesIaWy youesy ys sua ysisuy youasy Ysysuy youety yomd ypinq yond ystueds yond YsteyT "IOOHODS pL crt Q6gi-Pegi ‘sauueaeyy ep stand LL +++ -66Q1-czgl ‘Imayuog esoy 19 tele: (SRS Time nde etifareaens: *gZg1-ZIgI ‘Ausiqned 1Z ia abies ete Sapecabececars ts *16QI-SI1gI ‘JIUOSSIO I, 48 sence nee eee eee eeeees © 1Q6I-PIQI ‘uIzey 19 wee eee eee eee reveee sC/Q1-PIQI PITAL IZ crt €gZ1-Logr ‘ssespueyT UMpA IS 6LZ°°°"° veneers eseess -G/QT-O6LI1 yo107D ig crs Legr-9Z2i ‘aqeysuoy uyof 92 peters ee eeeneereees s1GQ7-CLZ1 ‘JauINn L 2g avaerens! ater eee 3 ‘zbgt-SSZ1 ‘unig aT omepeyyy £9 et oes es eee “gzgi-SSZI renis qaeqiry ZL c1++ ++ Szgi-gPZI ‘praeq smo7T senboef 19 °° *9QZ1-ZzZ1 ‘yANo1oqsures) sewmou yl, 69 °*t tt 26L1-EzZ1 ‘spjouday enysof IIS og °°°7°' 6221-6691 ‘UIpseyD isydeg ual dg rrr vgd1-L6g1 “WzesoP] WRIT LE ocrccrcr crs trzZi-pggt ‘nese, suloyuy EG creeeeete cress s+ + 6ggi-glgI ‘u3a1S uef ZS vcr 8 8 1ggI-gfor ‘Jaepsimy ueA qooet gb ae tees seeess E/OT-GZOI ‘130g neg to" tee eeseresess -2Q0T-OIQI ‘ONL 1Z Ce * 6021-991 ‘eulaqqopy 0g Ob9I-OI9I ‘JaSuNOA ey} ‘stoTUaT, PlAed Hivag UILNIVd JO INVN LV DOV INDEX NOTE: Accessories, 16, 160, Gl. ZEsop, 35. Age of Innocence, 55. Alchemist, 202-208. Allegory, 180, Igo. America, 10, A. Anatomy, 68, 169. Animal pictures, 57-73. Arrangement, 7, 66, I50. Atmosphere, 74, 76, 79, 80, 94. Babie Stuart, 21. Balance, 37, 66. Barbizon, 220, A. Beggar boys, 14-47. Bellini, 121. Boecklin, 13. Bonheur, Rosa, 57, 65-73. Botticelli, 12, Bouguereau, A. Breadth, 34, 35, 36, Gl. Breton, 222. Brush work, 35, 66. Burne-Jones, A. Carry, 36, 170. Character, 4, 15, 16, 17, 25. Chardin, A. Chavannes, Puvis de, 12, r90- _ 199. Chiaroscuro, 172, Gl. Child life, pictures of, 18, 21, 23, 32-36, 132, 147, 152, 159, 168. Christmas, 163. Cimabue, 12, 134, A. Classic, A. Colors, 117, 118, 121, 164, A. Composition, 7, 37, 149, Gl. 237 A is used for Appendix and Gl. for Glossary. Constable, 12, 76, 83-93. Copley, 12, A. Cornfield, 84, 86. Corot, 12, 76, ro2-111, A. Correggio, 12, 163-169. Da Vins 9, 12, 76, 121, 135-146, 182, A. - David, 12, A. Decoration, 177-199. Delacroix, 57, A. Don Carlos Baltasar, 32-37, 38. Drawing, 4, 10, 35, 57, 62, 67, 96, 121, 158. Diirer, 12, A. Dutch painting, 9, 25-31, 57, 200, 201, A. Eclectics, A. Emblems, 148. Emotion, A. English painting, 10, 47-56, 58- 65, 209-215, A Exactness in painting, 15, 16, 122, 123. Ethical Topics. Ambition, 70. Aspiration, 209. Character, 4, 15, 16, 17, 25, 46, 54, 55, 57: Courage, 5, 45, 131. Duty, 219. Friendship, 60, 106, 146, 155. Fidelity, 60. Generosity, 5, 56, 63, 101, 106, II0. Happiness, 4. Ideals, 4, 22. 238 Ethical Topics — (contd.) Pages ys 3, 4, 41, 68, 123, 145, Kindness, 5, 46, 56, I01, 109, 144. Love of Nature and of the beautiful, 3; Io, 11, 60, 74, 104, 106, 144, 179. Manners, 56, 122. Modesty, 62. Patriotism, 5. Perseverance, 41, 44, 68, 123, Riches or Poverty, 25, 70, 81, 218, 219. Simplicity of Life, 25, 41, 42, ae, 70, 82, 87, 128, 131, 133, 21 Sincerity, 71, 87. Truthfulness, 72, 131, 132, 133. Thoroughness, 71, 123. Fighting Téméraire, 94-97. Figure painting, 74, 79. Flemish painting, 9, 17-24, 170- 176, 202-208, A Florentine school, 121, 135-162, Form in painting, 121. Foreshortening, 166, 182, Gl. Fortuny, 13, A. Fra Angelico, 134, A. French painting, 9, 10, 65-73, 76-83, I02-11I, 122-133, 215- 223. Fresco, 169, 177-199. Friedland, 122-127. Gainsborough, 12. Generalization, 77, 78, 193, Gl. Genre painting, 200-223, A. German school, A. Gérome, 12, 57, A. Giorgione, 121, A. Giotto, 12, 134, A. Goya, A Hals, Franz, 9, 12, 22, 23, 201, A. Harmony, 20, 36, Gl, A i ‘ Index Historical subjects, 30, 98, I12, 122-133. Hobbema, 12, 200, A. Hogarth, 12, 209-215, A. Holbein, 12, A. Holy Night, 163-166. Horse Fair, 65-69. How a painting is made, 6-8, 24. Hunt, Holman, 12, A. 92, 95, Idealist, 15, 27, 36, 77, 158. Impressionism, 102, Inness, George, A. Inventors of oil-painting, A. Israels, 12. Italy, 9, 52, see also, Florentine, Venetian, Lombard, etc. Landseer, 12, 56-65. Landscape painting, 74-111, 118, IQI, 194, 195, 200, 206. Last supper, 135-141. Legendary subjects, 95, 98, 112- 122. Liber Veritatis, 83. Line in painting, 121. Lombard school, 163-169. Eee Claude, 9, 12, 76-83, 85, Love for pictures, 3, 10, 11. Love of Nature and the beau- tiful, 60, 74, 104, 106, 144, 179. : Manet, A. Mannerists, A. Marriage contract, 209-212. Medea and Venus, 113-118. Meissonier, 122-133, A. Memling, 12, A. Michelangelo, 9, 12, 52, 121, 135, 154, 156, 179-189, A. Millais, 13, A. Millet, 13, 275-223, A. Mona Lisa, 139, 140, 144. Monet, Claude, A. Motive, 34, 160, 209, Gl. Murillo, 9, 12, 41-47, A. Music and painting, 4, 20, 104. Mystery, 25, 106. Index Night Watch, 30, 31. Old Monarch, 66. Perspective, 180, 182, Gl. Perugino, 135, 153, 154. Portraits, 14-31, 33, 34, 35, 38, 50, 61, 120, 140, 155, 159. Potter, Paul, 57. Pre-Raphaelite, A. Prices of paintings, 140, I41. Primitives, 134, A. Pyramid, 149, 150. Raphael, 9, 12, 121, 135, 146-157, 179, A. Realist, 15, 27, 36, 66, 192, 212, GL, A Religious paintings, 134-176. Rembrandt, 9, 12, 25-37, 201, A. Renaissance, 135, 188, A. Repose, 78. Reynolds, 12, 47-56. Romantic school, A. Rossetti, A. Rousseau, 12, A. Rubens, 9, 12, 170-176, A. Ruisdael, 12, A Salient, 105, 151. Sargent, 12. Sarto, Andrea del, 12, 154, 158- 163, A. Schools of painting, 121, 130, A. Selection, 6, 7, 88, 150. Silhouette, 14. Sistine chapel, 179-189. Sistine Madonna, 146-153. 239 Spanish painting, 9, 32-47, A. Steen, Jan, 12, 201, A. Still life, 201, 202, 204, 205, A. Story of painting, 9-12. Story-telling pictures, 59. Strawberry girl, 47-50. Stuart, Gilbert, 12, A. Style, 46. Symbolism, 116, 148, Gl. Symmetry, 37, 150, Gl. Technique, 59. Teniers, 12, 201, 202-208, A. Texture, 202. Tintoretto, 15, 52, 121, A. Titian, 9, 12, 52, 113-122, 1€9, A. Troyon, A. ‘ Turner, J. M. W., 12, 94-102, A. Values, 19, 20, 30, 80, 117. Van Dyck, Frontispiece, 9, 12, 17-24, 201, A. Van Eyck, A. Vatican, 154. Melatage?; 9, 12, 32-40, 59, 79, Venetian, 113-122, A. Vermeer, Jan, 201 Veronese, 121, A. Watteau, 9, 12, A. West, Benjamin, 12, A. Whistler, 12. William II of Nassau, 17-19. Wyant, A. Yeames, Sir Wm. F., 130-133. Young, St. John, 158-160.