GENIUS AND PRECOCITY. 477 



struck out his original manner about eighteen, and reached fame soon 

 after twenty. Holbein is known to have painted good works at the 

 age of fifteen, and at nineteen produced fine examples of finished por- 

 traiture. Van Dyck, too, painted exquisite portraits at twenty-one. 

 Rubens had made his mark by excellent work at twenty-three. Rem- 

 brandt was famous at twenty-four, and about the same age Velasquez 

 won royal recognition. Vernet painted considerable works at twenty- 

 two. In our own country Landseer is again one of the most striking 

 examples. By the age of eighteen he had won recognition as a great 

 artist, and had more work than he could do. Lawrence was about the 

 same age when he established his reputation as a finished painter. Tur- 

 ner painted pictures at eighteen which display real power. Reynolds 

 had won a European reputation by twenty-three, and Romney's finer 

 work dates from about the same age. 



Here again figures may be useful. Out of a list of forty-two about 

 the date of whose attainment of fame-bringing excellence I have been 

 able to inform myself, twenty-eight reached this point before twenty- 

 five, nine more before thirty, and the rest soon after that date. I can 

 not find an instance of artistic fame having been reached after the age 

 of forty. 



A word or two may suffice respecting the few exceptions to the 

 rule of the early manifestation and rapid growth of artistic genius. 

 In one case, that of Ghirlandajo, we are explicitly told that distinction 

 was not reached till after thirty. In another, that of Francia, I have 

 gone by the fact that the earliest dated work belongs to the age of 

 forty. Perhaps the most striking example of an undoubtedly late 

 bloom of artistic genius is that of Sir Christopher Wren. He first dis- 

 tinguished himself in the realm of science (particularly mathematics 

 and medicine), and suddenly showed himself a great architect about 

 the age of thirty. 



Poets. A goodly collection might be made of stories of famous 

 poets who have " lisped in numbers." I mention a few of the more in- 

 teresting cases. 



Among the great Italians Tasso is perhaps the most conspicuous 

 example. Wonderful anecdotes are related of his childish powers. In 

 bis seventeenth, or at the latest in his eighteenth year, he wrote " Ri- 

 naldo," a work which instantly brought him renown. Gordoni, the 

 comedian, showed his bent as an infant by choosing puppets for his 

 playthings, and he astonished his friends by knocking off a sketch of 

 a comedy at the age of eight. Metastasio, as a child, improvised in 

 the streets, holding a crowd in admiring attention, and translated the 

 "Iliad," at twelve. The great Spanish dramatist, Calderon, is another 

 clear instance of precocity. His development was so rapid that at the 

 age of thirteen he went to the high-school at Salamanca, and at four- 

 teen wrote his first play. Among German poets, Goethe, the greatest, 

 is also the most precocious. He is said to have composed dialogues 



