CHAPTER VIII 



TREES IN MODERN PAINTING 



THE use of the words ancient, mediaeval 

 and modern is admittedly somewhat 

 arbitrary. There are ways in which we may 

 be less modern than the ancients. It is only 

 recently, for example, that we have, in one 

 particular, become as up to date as the ancient 

 Assyrians : in permitting married women to 

 have property of their own ! 



There is, however, good reason for regarding 

 art as having, from the later years of the seven- 

 teenth century, entered upon a fresh chapter 

 of its history. It did then begin to look at life 

 and nature with a much clearer purpose to 

 interpret them as they really were than had 

 been generally the case in earlier times. This, 

 however, be it said, was not the beginning of 

 a tendency, but the bringing of it into full 

 activity. 



I must say a word at this point as to the 

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