PA1NTIXO 



practice was eswntinllv tlmt of the Flemish M)im>l, 

 and MeiMonier's (in liis Iwst work*) tlmt of the 

 Ihitrh. Turner approached intirli more nearly to 

 I In- Venetian practice limn to tliiit of lindens, an lie 

 dead coloHM-d liriHully and afterward* painted in 

 detail mi tin- dead-colour. using glazes and scumbles 

 (opaque colour used thinly ); but Turner's practice 

 wan complex, KM he often had recourse to water- 

 colour in his oil pictures, anil finally loaded his 

 li.-liis. Ingn-s the leader of the classical French 

 wlio.il. wan a clone follower of lta;>hael. It is 

 difficult to point to any real technical originality in 

 modern art, unlera it lie the ue of thick pigments 

 in die French school (called in French, pleine jMe) 

 introduced hy Decamps, ami often mgfatmted l>y 

 lii> iiniia(.ii>.. The novelty here won, however, 

 rather in tin- Imi-li woi k than in the use of thick 

 pigments themselves. Many French artist* have 

 nUo lilurretl their outlines in revolt against the 

 clear definition of the classical school. Imt the 

 originality was rather in the manner of doing it than 

 in the mere softening of the outlines, as Titian, 

 ('orreggio, Reynolds. and others hail already care- 

 fully avoided the early hardness of definition. 



Although the technical method* of oil-painting 

 are few and have now la-en known for centuries, 

 the varieties of i/iutiitt/ which result from individual 

 genius are alino-t as numerous ax artists them- 

 elves. They cannot lie explained without ex- 

 ample*: Imt it may lie said generally that, as differ- 

 ent violinists elicit different qualities of tone from 

 the same instrument, so the idiosyncrasy of painters 

 produces new results with old colours and old pro- 

 cesses. It is in this way, ami not hy the invention 

 of novel methods, that the art continually renovates 



( til painting now holds the first place on account 

 of its convenience, as it permits of infinite delibera- 

 tion and alteration, and also on account of its great 

 power and truth in imitating the textures and tones 

 of nature. Hut the true successor of fresco in 

 modern times in water-colour. It resemhles fresco 

 very closely hy its rapidity and hy the alwence of 

 glow, though it cannot replace fresco in mural 

 decoration. Water-colour, as a process, U much 

 more ancient than oil, having (>een extensively 

 employed in various ways during ancient and 

 mediirval time*; hut the met hml of using it that 

 gives the process its present intellectual value is 

 essentially modern and English, dating from the 

 early years of the 10th century. The practice of 

 the IHth century led up to it Of the use of hroad 

 washes in sepia or in neutral tint, afterwards more 

 or less coloured, an adaptation of the Dutch and 

 Flemish practice in oil-painting, except that the 

 finished result stopped very far short of full colour. 

 The water-colour of the present day has discarded 

 tip- monochrome wash, lieginning with pale washes 

 in colour, anil working from light to dark. In its 

 perfection modern water-colour is distinguished by 

 extreme freshness and brilliancy. It is important 

 not only as an indc|>enoVnt art, but by its great 

 influence on modern oil painting. The majority of 

 oil painters have themselves employed water colour 

 as an auxiliary for utilities, especially in landscape, 

 and much of the light and air in modem oil-painting 

 may 1 attributed to its influence. Water colour, 

 in our own century, has proved a compensation for 

 our failure in the attempted revival of fresco. 

 Though apparently of inferior importance, liccausc 

 practised on a small scale, it has taught what fresco 

 taught and more, as it has educated us in land- 

 scape. Improvement* in the materials of water- 

 colour hare led some of its practitioners to attempt 

 rivalry with the force of oil, which is unnecessary, 

 as oil most ever remain the more powerful medium 

 of the two, and water-colour has it* own superi- 

 orities in freshness and delicacy. There does not 



seem to Iw any probability that either of the two 

 art* will ever IK- reidaci-d by a new discovery as 

 tempera was superseded bv oil, nor is it likely that 

 the t-clmical methods will lie improved. There U 

 room for improvement in a stricter abctbMMt 

 from the use of evanescent or destructive colours; 

 but unfortunately very few nrti.-ts trouble them- 

 selves to secure the jirrmanence of their works. 



Water-colour was despised in France until the 

 fall of the second empire; but the example of 

 English artists has led the French to the stud y of 

 it, ami now many of them pursue it with success. 

 Their methods of' work are usually very simple and 

 direct, and their influence is almost exclusively in 

 favour of freshness and decision. 



(2) The Infrllertiml History of Painting. - I'nder 

 the F.gyptian dynasties painters were recorders of 

 events and decorators; ill Assyria they illuminated 

 a sort of pictorial history of royal deeds. In iMith 

 these c-ises there could tie very little room for the 

 exercise of individual intellect in the artist, who 

 was seldom more than a manual workman, laying 

 on colour according to methods prescrilied for him 

 by authority. Even in Greece we have evidence 

 that the manual skill of artists was despised as 

 handicraft by the class of gentlemen and scholars ; 

 however. Greek painters of eminence attained indi- 

 vidual distinction, and such a complete degree of 

 personal emancipation that they were free to 

 exercise whatever intellectual power they jiossessed. 

 There is not much expression in Greek sculpture, 

 but there is some, and what there is proves quite 

 sufficiently that the subtle and acute intellect of 

 Greece could express itself in art as effectually as 

 in literature. \\ hat remains to us of Greek and 

 Roman caricature is good evidence of faculties that 

 might have exercised themselves, by an alliance 

 with a higher form of art, in what we now call 

 genre-painting. Still, we have no direct proof that 

 the fine arts in Graece ever really were intellectu- 

 ally so great as her poetry, her philosophy, and her 

 drama. In the decline of classical art we timl little 

 more than the current production of an inferior 

 class of men for the adornment of habita- 

 tions or tomlis. The lieginnings of Christian art, 

 still' in design and lalmrionsly ornamental, give 

 hardly any evidence of intellect ; the artists who 

 produced that art were in a condition of mental 

 servitude, like that of the men who now manufac- 

 ture holy icons in Russia, and who are the direct 

 descendants of the early Byzantine school. As the 

 fine arts became gradually emancipated from the 

 thraldom of sacerdotal authority intellectual power 

 U'gttii to show itself, and, at length, when the 

 human mind was stimulated in so many directions 

 by the great outburst of the Renai--anee. the art of 

 painting had its full share in the general activity, 

 and assumed a place by the side of literature 

 which it has ever since maintained. Nevertheless, 

 the necessity for high manual accomplishment and 

 technical mastery must always, in painting, give 

 an advantage to the workman over the thinker ; 

 and so we find, as in many Dutch pictures, that 

 clever representations of trie most commonplace 

 subjects preserve their value though almost d.Mi- 

 tute of mind. There can 1-e no more striking con- 

 trast than that Wtween a Dutchman toiling for six 

 weeks on the representation of a besom and Michel- 

 angelo painting a prophet, in half a day ; yet 

 the Dutchman is immortal too. The intellectual 

 progress of art has been marked by the extension 

 of its sympathies. I'nder Christianity the art of 

 painting liegan again from the beginning, without 

 cither technical or intellectual preparation. Its 

 first awakening of sympathy is with the human 

 side of Christianity, the love of mother and child, 

 the sufferings of the crucified Christ, the sorrow 

 and bereavement of the disciples. As religious art 



