Art and Science 



held neither time nor impressionism as objects, 

 and hence, though greatly better than the 

 Saas-Fee chapels as regards a certain Japanese 

 curiousness of finish and naivete of literal tran- 

 scription, it cannot even enter the lists with 

 the Saas work as regards elan and dramatic 

 effectiveness. The difference between the two 

 classes of work is much that between, say, John 

 Van Eyck or Memling and Rubens or Rem- 

 brandt, or, again, between Giovanni Bellini 

 and Tintoretto ; the aims of the one class of 

 work are incompatible with those of the other. 

 Moreover, in the Gliss triptych the intention 

 of the designer is carried out (whether by him- 

 self or no) with admirable skill ; whereas at 

 Saas the wisdom of the workman is rather of 

 Ober-Ammergau than of the Egyptians, and 

 the voice of the poet is not a little drowned 

 in that of his mouthpiece. If, however, the 

 reader will bear in mind these somewhat ob- 

 vious considerations, and will also remember 

 the pathetic circumstances under which the 

 chapels were designed for Tabachetti when 

 he reached Saas was no doubt shattered in 



body and mind by his four years' imprison- 



169 



