TREES IN MODERN PAINTING 251 



from deepest gloom, through luminous shadow 

 and tranquil shade to the blinding brilliance 

 that seems to burn up the smaller branches, 

 and to fuse even the stalwart stem. How 

 tenderly beautiful is the misty, morning sunlight 

 in the "Abingdon" in the National Gallery! 

 How joyously the clear sunshine breaks through 

 the trees near the castle in the "Colchester" 

 drawing, and then disports itself upon the 

 grassy slope beneath them ! What bewildering 

 interplay of sunbeam and shade, what dazzling 

 brilliance of points of light reflected from in- 

 numerable leaves, there are in the "Aesacus 

 and Hesperie " of the Liber Studiorum ! And 

 how solemn are the shades, intensified, not 

 dispersed, by the light of the waning moon 

 and the growing dawn, and of the torch held 

 by Rizpah, where she watches among the bones 

 of her children ! 



Perhaps it need hardly be said that we must 

 not go to Turner's pictures expecting that his 

 representations of trees will serve the purpose 

 of botanical illustrations. They tell us a great 

 deal about trees, but they are not a pictorial 

 form of instruction in science. Many of us are 

 quite familiar with the various kinds of trees 



