HENRY a, MOON 
347 
Like a poet or any other worker he 
had his moods, — what he called his 
landscape days, and his flower days. 
In the case of the flowers his group- 
simple and unique, and not 
to be found in the groups of any other 
The Late Henry G. Moon. {E jt^^ raved f 
flower-painter. He always painted one 
flower in each group as its focus or 
most important point, and the leaf- 
colouring was always studied from na- 
ture and not merely a conventional 
green. He never overcrowded his flow- 
ers like Fantin Latour, or over-coloured 
them like James Andrews and Walter 
Fitch. His outlines were of the slightest, 
often done with a brush dipped in local 
colour, or in the case of white flowers 
with a few lines and touches of apple- 
green. The grouping and outlining 
were indicated rather than completed, 
and the outlines were then finished with 
a full brush of the predominant colour. 
His powers as a pure colourist were 
remarkable, and depended on his know- 
ledge and experience of wet colours, 
and the exact effects they would have 
when dry on the paper. To see him 
working seemed simplicity itself. The 
outline rightly suggested, the blot- 
colouring was laid in with a firm hand, 
and its drying watched and 
regulated with infinite pa- 
tience, lightened by the 
touch of a damp brush 
here, or deepened with a 
touch of colour there, until 
the form and curl of the 
petals with their gloss and 
sheen, grew up before one's 
eyes. When the drawings 
had dried out, the finish- 
ing touches were given, the 
model flowers still before 
him, and the result always 
struck one as far ahead of 
what could have been ex- 
pected from such appar- 
ently simple means. Being subtle alone 
in grouping, and simple in form and 
colour, his drawings lent themselves 
readily to most of the best methods 
of modern colour-printing. 
His whole heart was in his work, 
and he worked almost to the last. I 
went to see him at St. Albans a few 
weeks before he died and found him in 
his studio, with two beautiful blotted- 
