TREES IN MODERN PAINTING 233 



stable's tree-drawing, or unless he be thinking 

 of one thing and Hamerton of another, the 

 following statement of the latter writer must be 

 perplexing: "Nothing is more conspicuous in 

 Constable than the entirely non-mechanical 

 character of his touch on trees ". Perhaps we 

 may find a solution of the difficulty in another 

 passage in Modern Painters, in which Ruskin 

 says what he can in praise of Constable : " There 

 is a strange want of depth in the mind which 

 has no pleasure in sunbeams but when piercing 

 painfully through clouds, nor in foliage but 

 when shaken by the wind, nor in light itself 

 but when flickering, glistening, restless and 

 feeble. Yet, with all these deductions, his 

 works are to be deeply respected, as thoroughly 

 original, thoroughly honest, free from affecta- 

 tion, manly in manner, frequently successful in 

 cool colour, and realising certain motives of 

 English scenery, with perhaps as much affection 

 as such scenery, unless when regarded through 

 media of feeling derived from higher sources, 

 is calculated to inspire." 



We breathe again. It is still permissible to 

 enjoy Constable ; and the pleasure we get from 

 his pictures, which are almost always of the 



