164 



KNOWLEDGE, 



[July ], 1896. 



brisk wind in shallow sea. The profile of several auooes- 

 sive waves, concave on the Icc ,ancl curving over, perhaps " 

 liitir too much, ou the weather side, should be noticed. 

 The same aspect is shown in some of lUkhuizen's pictures, 

 but not so well. 



In the Turner Gallery are many famous sea-pieces. He 

 likes to percli a boat precariously upon an isolated mound of 

 water. This may bo a way ol' indicating the toss and tumble 

 of the sea, but "the balanced rhythm of the undulation is 

 thereby lost. " The Sliipwreck " (No. 176) is an instance of 

 this, in wliicli there is a great heap of water on the right- 

 hand side, and nothing to balance it on the left. However, 

 such is the aspect of sea waves whicli Turner chooses to 

 represent, and one would bow to genius and pass on if 

 these great unbalanced billows were at all like the waves 



go straight from the Turner Gallery to theChantrey pictures 

 and tlie Prescot Ilewett Gift pictures at South Kensington, 

 and tost hi^ impressions by examining some of tlie finest 

 wave pictures in the world. On students' days at the 

 National Gallery one cannot but regret to see so many 

 artists copying sea-pieces in which the sea is badly drawn, 

 when really good studies of waves are to be found so near 

 at hand. 



There are some half-dozen wave paintings at Sjuth 

 Kensington which at once bring the real thing before 

 one. IPerhaps, as a study of waves, the best of all is 

 "A Grey Day at Sea," by Sir Francis Powell (No. -121 

 in the Prescot Ilcwctt Gift). In this picture I note the 

 following points of careful observation aci'irately rendered, 

 most of which are missed even in the average of gjod sea- 



\4S^' 



tP^.^-^ 



An Indiaiuau lu a Kortli -Wester off the Cape of Good Hope. From a iiitluiL' lj\ llr. \\ jn. iJaunU, K. 



of the sea, but they are not. The fluid has more the 

 consistency of tar — it is some slow viscous fluid tossed 

 into great heaps. Take, for instance, No. 813 : " Boats 

 in a Stiff Breeze off the Coast." The height of the 

 waves is nearly half the length from crest to crest ; 

 and m " Spithead " 'No. 481) the slope of the waves 

 is about forty-five degrees. The wind has raised the 

 waves, but gravity has no power to bring them down 

 again and the breeze has no force to drive them forward. 

 On the other hand, the wild sea towards the horizon in 

 the picture of " Calais Pier " (No. 472) is very fine; but 

 it is generally the waves in the background which are 

 Turner's best. His breakers (in No. 496) are as bad as 

 his deep-sea waves. If anyone donbt his eyes when looking 

 at these pictures, deeming his visual memory too unreliable 

 to justify him in finding fault with a master's work, let him 



pieces. The waves run from right to left before a strong 

 wind, and in the foreground on the left we see the back or 

 weather slope of the first of a train of waves. This slope 

 is much less steep than that of the lee side of the nest 

 on-coming wave. It is driven by the onward rush of the 

 wind, instead of being supported and heaped up by the 

 wind eddy, as are the leeward slopes. Again, on the 

 weather slope the rushing wind tears at the water, raising 

 new waves upon the slope of the billow. In another 

 moment the top of the wave will break and the pressure 

 of the wind will be relieved. The lee slope of the 

 next on-coming wave is in comparative cilm, sheltered 

 in the eddying wind ; but the surface of the steep slope, 

 though smooth, is covered with a thin network of 

 transparent foam ; and here the artist has shown great 

 power of observation. The foam was left when the 



