154 May — Glory of the Horse-chestnut. 



consequence of this is, that the horse-chestnut is hardly 

 ever painted, and never painted quite sufficiently and suc- 

 cessfully. But now, having stated the artistic difficulty, 

 let us turn our backs for the moment upon all picture 

 exhibitions, and, forgetting art altogether, go straight to 

 the world of Nature. The horse-chestnut, in the earlier 

 weeks of May, is a sight for gods and men. If you are 

 well outside its branches, you see the richly-painted 

 flowers rising tier above tier on all its glorious slope up 

 to the odorous heights that belong to the birds and the 

 bees ; if you are under its shadow, you walk in a soft 

 green light that comes through the broad-spreading 

 leaflets. No transparencies are finer than this sun- 

 illumined canopy of green, and whilst the leaves are 

 quite young and perfect, they are cut out so clearly 

 as to have a grandly decorative effect. Next, as to 

 direction of line and surface, this tree is very remark- 

 able for its bold and decided contrasts. You have the 

 curve of the twig, first downwards and then upwards, 

 where it carries the flowers at its extremity. The ten- 

 dency of the flowery spike itself is to be vertical, and 

 the large leaves spread themselves out horizontally and 

 as flatly as possible to right and left. The flowers 

 themselves are amongst the very richest of spring 

 blossoms. The coloring of the petals is made lively 

 by the presence of white, but admirably preserved from 

 crudity by dashes of red and yellow. When the spikes 

 or cones of flowers are in their full splendor, the horse- 

 chestnut reminds one of a magnificent Christmas-tree, 

 carrying a thousand lighted tapers upon its branches, 



