358 The Functions of Art. 



body forth. Failing in this, however clever he may have been 

 with his fingers, we do not thank him for his brains. 



The artist goes forth at all seasons of the year into the 

 country, and in due course elaborates his landscapes. Here 

 again, after demanding technical correctness, we are entitled to 

 ask for something more. If his canvas looks like the place ; 

 and that is all, his human intellect and heart have done little 

 more for us than the photographer's chemicals and lens. If we 

 go to the spot he depicts with no finer associations than we 

 should have had without him ; if he has given us small help in 

 seeing, and none in the loftier process of linking together the 

 beautiful and the true ; what ought we to care for his work, 

 although its precision might serve to guide the carrier to the 

 right roadside inn, or suggest to maternal solicitude a convenient 

 situation for sea-bathing when the children's holidays arrive. 



There is a class of landscape very common in our galleries, 

 and yielding ample profits to its producers. We mean that in 

 which some harsh and discordant effect of blazing light and 

 colour is repeated with certain changes over and over again, and 

 year after year. In another case a man carries his own eternal 

 lameness to every scene — his waterfalls are composed of the same 

 soapsuds, his trees have the same mild stems, and the same pale 

 green leaves ; his rocks are smooth enough for the drawing- 

 room table when the cover is off, and his skies simper with one 

 unvaried smile. Ho is no helper to see or think, not an aiiist, 

 however deftly his brush may glide. Certain other men have 

 discovered an "effect" that will sell, and they produce their 

 effect year after year, just as the crockery maker gives us the 



■lasting willow plate. In many instances, a certain crotchety 

 egotism and mannerism always comes uppermost. It is evident 

 that artists of this stamp do not look nature honestly in the 

 faoe. They project one side of themselves upon all they behold. 

 They are not interpreters of nature, nor can be until they have 

 exorcised the demon of self. 



Doubtless wo have good artists, as well as good brushmen ; 

 but tried by their appeal to men's higher faculties! not one 

 picture in a hundred that fetches a high price, and secures the 

 laudation of the common herd of critics, really deserves the 

 came of a work of art. We believe our artists will give more 

 when the public demands more. It is therefore wo would 

 stimulate fene public demand. 



