If ; {' . < U. 3 } , \ \ , , \ , \ \\ - .. \. , ;. .. - - . THE HEAD OF A GIRL By JEAN BAPTISTE GREUZE (1725-1805) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON Greuze furnishes an interesting example of the inability often dis played by artists and writers to appraise the value .of their own work, He flattered himself that he was an historical painter, and it must be recorded that this unfortunate obsession made him ridiculous. As the result of many remarkable genre studies he was elected to member- ship of the Academy. He delayed the production of his diploma picture so long that he was forbidden at length to exhibit until he had supplied it. When eventually he submitted the painting it was found to be in the nature of an attempt to justify his claim to be a painter of historical subjects, but the result was such a fiasco as to call down upon him a dignified and tactful rebuke from the Director, after Greuze had been received with ceremonious honour. Greuze took the courteously administered snub in bad part and for many years refused to exhibit. The whole episode illustrates the curious lack of judgment which IS apt to affect the great. The triumph which Greuze achieved was that he gained an enormous popularity as a painter of scenes of domestic life, when this seemed the exclusive privilege of pail'l.ters of historical or allegorical pictures, That triumph he could not or would not acknowledge, but preferred to suffer by companson In a common- place department of art rather than shine by himself in an original sphere. He acquired wealth as the result of his industry, but squandered his substance, and in the evening of his day was forced to solicit com- missions which he was physically incapable of performing satisfactorily, Finally, in 1805 he died in the Louvre, in great poverty. II The Head of a Girl" reveals Greuze in his happiest style, and is an example of the kind of work that gained him popularity and fame for all time. F,P. SERII'.S U. 4 THE RIVER BANK By ARNESBY BROWN, A.R...\.. IN THE GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, LONDON Although Mr. Arnesby Brown divides the greater part of his time between Cornwall and the Norfolk Broads, he may be said to belong to the S1. lves School of painters, of whom he is the most prominent. His delightful pictures are very popular, and examples of his art grace many of the public galleries. He was born In Nottingham in 1866, and attended the School of Art there before becoming a private pupil of the late Andrew MacCallum, under whom he learnt the importance of accurate observa- tion and of correct painting. At that time he worked much in the open air, and the influence of his studies is found in his out-door paintings to-day. He joined the Herkomer School at Bushey in 1889, and remained there three years, during which his first Royal Academy picture, .. A Cornish Pasture" (exhibited in 1890), was painted while he was on a visit to the" delectable Duchy." Ever since his first picture was shown he has been an annual exhibitor at Burlington House. .. The River Bank" was painted in Norfolk, and appeared in the Royal Academy in 1902, the year before he was elected an A,R.A. It followed the .. Morning," now in the Chantrey Collection, The picture is painted in rich, glowing colours, which, with the effect of atmosphere, invest the simple subject with the dignity of nature itself. Some cattle are grazing by the riverside on a showery day. The skins of the animals glow in the sunshine which irradiates the misty air, On the right of the picture part of a rainbow's arc is seen, stretching up into the sky, from which the clouds are breaking away in green and purple glories. It is a beautiful picture, full of the majesty and peace of nature in a wilful mood, F.P. SERIES II. 5 ...... " "" .. . 't , ... ..., . " .. '4 I ON THE ROAD FROM WATERLOO TO PARIS By MARCUS STONE, R.A. IN THE GUILDHALL ART GALLERY. LONDON There are many points of interest of a personal nature connected with this picture in addition to its imaginative and dramatic power. It was painted just half a century ago when the artist was only twenty-two years old, and for a boy of that age it is certainly a remarkable achievement. The artist, when staying with Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill, came across a volume of Béranger, and read therein the exquisite poem II Souvenir du Peuple," which inspired the young painter with the idea for this work. So enamoured with it was he, that the picture was rapidly completed, and was exhibited in the Royal Academy the following year, This particular episode In the life-story of Napoleon has a perpetual interest for English folk. After the disastrous defeat of \'raterloo, the Emperor, with a small escort, fled to Paris, and the picture presents an incident of the flight. Resting for a brief space, he has entered a cottage, and is brooding by the fire. General Bertrand is drying the Emperor's coat, while a group of peasants stand aloof and gaze with awe and sympathy at their fallen idol- a young mother with a baby in her arms, a little girl and boy, a young widow, and an old soldier with an empty sleeve. There is an absence of men of fighting age, who have been drawn away for service in the campaign. A statuette of the Emperor on the chimney shelf, and a print of him in his coronation robes on the wall, accentuate the lost glory, which is further emphasised by the drizzling rain outside, where the villagers are to be seen questioning the escort. F,P, SERIES U. 6 "'"' \. -- ... , .. .- ..... .. ...> .., '-- -... - - :: " þ - .. . \ . ,. , 1'\ .. , 1 \. " " ECCE HOMO" GUIDO RENI (1575-1642) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON An interesting theory, which has often been put forward, is the question of the manner in which the character of an artist may affect his work. Does the frailty of a man reveal itself in the work of his mind and hands? Guido Reni is a painter who furnishes an example that the theorists may well ponder over. He was an inveterate gambler, and many who admire his work would censure him for the habit, Yet with it all he has produced such sermons in paint as have profoundly moved the generations of men through- out the world ever since his time, Here is one of the most poignant pictures ever conceived and put upon canvas, showing the .. Man of Sorrows II in one of the acutest phases of His suffering: .. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head. and they put on him a purple robe. . . . Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, 'Behold the man I' II Guido painted innumerable pictures which are to be seen in all the principal European galleries. He studied under Calvaert and Ludovico Caracci, and went to Rome, first in ) 599 and again in 1605. Here he worked for the Church, and one can imagine that the prelates welcomed him as a painter who could move the souls and stir the imaginations of their congregations. Through a quarrel with Cardinal Spinola concerning an altar-piece for St. Peter's, he left the Eternal City and migrated to Bologna, where he died. ".P. SIoHIES II. , .. - \ I - " " SPEAK! SPEAK!" By SIR J. E. MILLAIS, P.R.A, (1829-1896) IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON. Millais was the most popular painter of his day, and at the present time his pictures still retain their popularity. His career was remarkable. His hand seemed to take to drawing naturally, for at the age of six he produced some sketches of soldiers which seemed impossible to be the work of such a child, He was the youngest pupil ever admitted to the Academy Schools, and when he was presented with the medals and prizes he had won he was so tiny that he was placed upon a stool to receive them, His first picture in the Academy was exhibited in 1846, and it IS interesting to note that two of his pictures, II A Maid Offering a Basket of F mit to a Cavalier It and II Charles I. in the Studio of Van Dyck," which were painted when he was a youth, are exhibited III the Tate Gallery. Through Holman Hunt, Millais became a member of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood, whose principle it was to paint everything .. from Nature and from Nature only," and it is told of him that he was seen near Oxford studying leaves on the branch of a tree through a magnifying glass to paint them in a background. His work at this time was much abused by the critics, but he found an ardent champion in Ruskin. II Speak! Speak!" was exhibited at the Academy in 1895, and was purchased for the Chantrey Collection for f.2,OOO. The man has been reading the love letters which lie on the table by his bed, and, raising his eyes, he sees the spectre of a bride. She parts the curtains at the foot of the bed and looks into space with unearthly gaze while he stretches his hands towards her as if imploring her to speak. F.P. SFRIES II. 9 4".: It --- í I I I I I I I THE MEETING MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF. 0860-1884) IN THE LUXEMBOURG, PARIS :\larie Bashkirtseft was one of those unfortunate geniuses whose lives are one long struggle with a more or less hysterical emotion. As her famous II Journal" shows, she lived for emotions, for success and for fame. On April 3rd, 1883, she wrote in her journal: .. I feel within me the power to render whatever strikes me. I feel a new force, a confidence In myself, which trebles my faculties. To-morrow I am going to begin a picture which charms me." The next entry runs: .. Red Letter Day, Wednesday, April 4th. Six street children grouped, their heads close to one another, half length only. The eldest is about twelve, and the youngest SIX, The tallest, seen almost from the back, holds a nest, and the others are looking on, in various and suitable attitudes. The sixth is a little girl of four, seen from the back, her head raised and her arms crossed. The description may sound commonplace, but, in reality, all these heads togeLher produce something excessively interesting." That was her first idea for II The Meeting," which was ex- hibited in the Salon of 1884, and created a widespread interest throughout Europe. After her death it was bought by the State and hung in the Luxembourg. Into her brief life of twenty-four years she crowded a variety of experiences which she has immortalised In her remarkable II Journal." She was seventeen when she finally determined to devote herself to art, and her astonishing capacity was the wonder of her masters, who could hardly credit the fact that she was practically untrained. She reproduced life as she saw it, finding in the streets of Paris and in its types a rich source of inspiration which she delighted to express in colour as Zola expressed it in words. l<.P. SERIES II. 10 I rC;fl I I f I "- I I - .. ,. " "<.. MONNA LISA By LEONARDO DA VINCI 0452-1519) A melancholy interest attaches to this picture OWIng to the irreparable loss which the world has sustained by its theft from the Louvre not so very long ago. Vasari, a famous Italian critic who lived in Italy in Leonardo's day, says of it: .. Let him who wants to know how far Art can imitate Nature realise it by exammIng this head . . , it is a work that is divine rather than human." The painter was one of the wonder-men of the world. Born at Vinci, between Pisa and Florence, he became a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, and achieved renown in all these capacities. At the age of twenty-eight he went to the East as engineer to the Sultan of "Babylon," or Cairo, and in later years he planned a system of hydraulic irrigation for the plains of Lombardy. In 1500 he entered the service of Cæsar Borgia as architect and engIneer, and four years later he finished this half-length portrait of "the woman with the inscrutable smile," which is accounted his most celebrated easel picture, His famous .. Last Supper" was painted on the walls of the refectory in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. It has suffered from frequent restoration, necessitated by the dampness of the walls and the method of painting in oil upon plaster, but it still remains one of the world's masterpieces. Leonardo was not content with an easy adherence to known rules, but achieved his style by a thorough and painstaking study of Nature. His known works are few in number, but English people are fortunate in being able to study and enjoy a representative picture in the National Gallery, while the finest series of his draw- ings are in the British Museum and at Windsor, F.P. SERIES II, II ... FLOWERS By HENRI F.-\NTIN-LA TOUR (1836-1904) IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON II To paint the rose," wrote a well-equipped writer on the death of F antin-Latour, II is not one of the loftiest tasks an artist can set himself, but F antin did it supremely well, and with such handling and taste as his, a picture of a bunch of Bowers in a vase became undeniably a dignified and delightful work of art." But F antin was more than a painter of Bowers. Those who have studied his .. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Edwards," in the National Gallery, or his portrait-groups "Un Coin de Table" and .. A Studio at Batignolles," in the Luxembourg, will agree that Fantin was a worker of high order, and m his handling of colour, equal to the best. If his drawing was, at times, a little uncertain and faulty, it was a defect redeemed by many merits. In another medium than oil-that of lithography-Fantin further gained appreciation in the world of art. For nearly twenty years he laboured assiduously to reVIve the lithographer's art, then degraded by commercial use, and yearly produced a number of subjects, regularly exhibited at the Salons, and now prized by the great museums and private collectors. A fine set of proofs is in the possession of the British Museum, Many of his subjects were inspired by the works of Wagner, Schumann, and contemporary composers, all showing that F antin was poet as well as craftsman. As was once said of him, he II wrapped his soul in music. Then he took his crayons, and with wondrous dexterity drew, for his fellows to see, the visions he heard." Fantin-Latour was born in 1836, and, after studying pamtIng with his father, entered the studios of Couture and Courbet. He died in 1904, full of years and honour. P,P. SERIES II. 12 ... 44 ti et!" .. . :-- ". . ... , ." . . ". -t. - . l' ;r. to I' \I .. 'it!: " ... ...... '- 1\10THER'S DARLING By JOSEPH CLARK IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON Mr. Clark was born at Cerne Abbas, in Dorsetshire, in J834, and when he was about J 3 years of age migrated to London. He received his first art education at the gallery of the late J. I. Leigh in Newman Street, now Heatherley's, afterwards entering the Academy Schools. In 18.57, when he was 23, he exhibited "The Sick Child," a pathetic picture which indicated the bent of his mind. Since that time he has produced pictures which have called forth not only popular applause, but have gained him the reputation of being a master of his craft in all that concerns the construction of a picture, especially in the skill with which he conveys his story and concentrates the interest upon its central figures. This effect is gained not merely by clever construction, but by a wise discriminalion which, while it omits nothing vital, rejects superfluous details in favour of essentials. Above all, his pictures are noteworthy for the gentle thought and feeling which reveal the creations of his mind in a mood that is at once sweet and tender. "Mother's Darling" was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 188.5, and was purchased for the nation under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. It is typical of the painter's work. ". am always much interested in children," he says, II and their pathetic expression when they are ill appeals very strongly to me." The picture was painted In the artist's garden-studio m the Camden Road. The artist's wife posed for the mother, while his little girl served as the model for the sick child. F.P. SERIES 11. 13 A CANAL WITH A FISHERMAN By ALPHONSE LEGROS (1837-1911) IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON England, in Alphonse Legros, gained what was lost by Charles Chaplin, lor whereas the latter was an Englishman who became a naturalised Frenchman, Legros was a Frenchman who became by naturalisation a citizen of Great Britain. Legros was born at Dijon, where his father was an accountant. He was m the habit of visiting his relatives on vanous farms, and the peasants he met and the scenes he viewed were afterwards made the subjects of many paintings and etchings. He received his first lessons in art at a school in Dijon, and later was apprenticed to a house decorator and painter of images. In 1851, on his way to Paris to take up another situation, he worked for SIX months with the decorator Beuchot, who was painting the Chapel of Cardinal Bonald in the Cathedral. He studied in Paris with Cambon, the scene painter, and later attended evening classes at the École des Beaux Arts. In 1857 his portrait of his father appeared in the Salon. Two years later his II Angelus" was exhibited, and was the first of those simple pictures of Church worship by which he became so well known. He came to England in 1863, married an English wife the following year, and gained his living by etching and teaching. He became teacher of etching at the South Kensington School of Art, and subsequently Slade Professor at University College, where he taught for seventeen years, and exercised a wise and wholesome influence upon the pupils who were fortunate enough to come under his instruction. Two of his pictures, II Femmes en Prière" (one of his characteristic church interiors), painted at University College, and a II Portrait of Mr, John Gray," are familiar to visitors at the Tate Gallery, F .P. SHRIHS II. 14 . ...I. ... -f't 41" . . .. .. .,,1-:" 11 r . , j .. . QUEEN CHARLOTTE By THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, R.A. (1727-1788) IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON Gainsborough, one of the greatest English masters of portrait and landscape painting, was born at Sudbury, and in his early years he found delight in sketching the pleasant scenery surrounding his home. He was sent to London at the age of fourteen to study under Gravelot, the book illustrator, and others. His early efforts as a portrait and landscape painter were not successful. He married a lady with a small fortune and settled at Ipswich, but not until his removal to Bath in 1760 did he really achieve any considerable measure of fame, In that fashionable centre, however, he found scope for his genius in portrait painting, and he secured many commissions. He migrated to London in 1774, and settled down in a portion of Schomberg House, Pall Mall. Here he quickly became the great rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds, dividing the town into factions which severally supported his claims and those of Reynolds, and challenging the opinions of artists and critics on the same question of supremacy even down to the present day. He became one of the original members of the Royal Academy, and his art was represented at its first Exhibition. A concIse summary of his style compared with that of Sir Joshua Reynolds is given in the catalogue of the Glasgow Art Gallery, as follows: .. Gainsborough is deservedly reputed one of the first and ireatest of the artists of Eniland. His powers as a painter were more varied than those of Sir Joshua. As a landscape artist he is the precursor of the modern naturalists. and his portraits, of ladies especially, possess an unapproachable daintiness and grace." He was profoundly influenced by the work of Van Dyck, but he was no copyist of other men's methods: indeed, he ranks with those brilliant executants in art, Velazquez and Frans Hals. His best work may be viewed in the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the National Gallery of Scotland, and the Dulwich Gallery. F.P, SERIES 11, 15 DAY DREAMS By DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828-1882) IN THE VICTORU AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON Gabriele Rossetti, the father of the artist, was an Italian poet who lived in England as a political refugee, and became Professor of Italian at King's College. His son, naturally enough, was in due course entered as a student at King' 5 College School, where he remained for seven years. He gave early evidence of his talent for art, and on leaving school he took up his studies in Cary's Studio, In Bloomsbury, going to the Academy II Antique" School for a year at the age of seventeen. Millais and Holman Hunt were fellow- pupils, and in 1848 they helped to found the celebrated Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood, Rosseui derived great benefit from this association, for his first picture was painted under the guidance of Holman Hunt and in his studio. In certain respects Rossetti was the most interesting member of the Brotherhood. He scrupulously followed the delineation of natural detail and effect, but he added the study of intense poetic expres- sion on his own account. This was because he was a poet as well as a painter, a dreamer of dreams as well as an interpreter of visions in the light of tangible things. His favourite subjects were those derived from medieval history, . the II Vita Nuova" and English ballads; only on one occasion did he engage upon the illustration of the modern story. In 1857 he illustrated Tennyson's Poems, and helped in the decoration of the Union Debating Hall at Oxford, and this period was productive of some of his finest work. He was facile in water-colour as well as in oil; and he did some noteworthy decorative work, of which his altarpiece II The Adoration of the Magi," for Llandaff Cathedral, may be mentioned. I',P. SERIES II. 18 .- -" \ , î , . , . - '\ \ ... , , ., < "1 , J' \ - .. --- 4 , I.. " '-.. ,- r '... ...-- . " <\.\ { " ì THE THE Il\Il\IACULA TE VIRGIN CONCEPTION OF By MURILLO (1618-16 2) IN THE LOUVRE, PARIS This picture is the more amazing when one considers the sublimity of the subject, the difficulty of giving expression to such a thought, and the genius with which the artist has revealed his idea through the medium of his brush. Murillo has given the world by means of this canvas a picture poem that we may rank with Milton's" Paradise Lost." Where one false step would lead him to blasphemy or to bathos, he has maintained the dignity and splendour of the subject unimpaired. The holy rapture of the Virgin, the joy of motherhood, and the divinity of the occasion are wonderfully expressed, and nowhere does his genius betray him into belittling the inspiring majesty of the theme, Murillo's career was typical of a painter's life at that time, when the Church was the great patron of Art, and the artist required to rely upon its support unless, like Velazquez. the same aid was forth. coming from the Royal Court. He was born in Seville of humble parents. and his first essays in art took the form of rough religious picture:s for the fairs of his town and for exportation to South America. He was fortunate enough to secure the patronage of Velazquez, through whose influence he was enabled to study the masterpieces in the royal collections. Soon after. he painted eleven pictures for the coment of San Francisco. at Seville. which made him the most prominent painter of the town. A year or two later he married a lady of fortune, and ere long he settled down to his period of maturity in which his most splendid works were produced. The Immaculate Conception was a favourite subject with him, and invariably he treated it in the same manner. The present example was originally in the collection of Marshal Sou It, and after being purchased originally for f.250 was finally acquired for the French nation for f.24.000, PJ'. SEIlIES u. 19 c - WATERING HORSES ANTON MAUVE (1838-188S) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON Anton Mauve is a worthy representative of the modern Dutch School. He was born at Zaandam. and his early ambition was to become an artist. His family did not approve of his following so precanous a calling, and opposed his desire; but in spite of all opposition, he embarked upon senous work and never abandoned that course of life which he had mapped out for himself from the first, He was rather delicate all his days, and his poor health rendered him liable to fits of depression, which very frequently made themselves evident in his painting. He was profoundly in- Huenced by f\lillet, and, like him, possessed a limited range of colour, silver greys, browns and greens as a rule making up his palette. Like the work of Cazin, his landscapes seem to reveal his moods and express the sadness which he feels. But in spite of his melancholy and his preference for subdued colours, f\lauve's pictures are dis- tinguished by great tenderness and an exquisite atmospheric quality which pervades all his landscapes, He was a hard worker as well as a successful one, and he soon gained recognition both in his own country and in England and America. He died at Arnhem in 1888. The present picture, which illustrates the sympathetic insight \'lith which he painted animals, came into the possession of the nation in 1910, as a gift from 1\Ir,' j. C. j. Drucker, F.P. SERIES U. 20 - ,. " -\' \ t \ I \' . i ... . . I' THE SISTERS By RALPH PEACOCK iN THE TATE GALLERY. LONDON Originally intended for the Civil Service, I\lr. Peacock's talent was so conspicuous that at an early age he made up his mind to take up painting as his life work. He received great encouragement from his father, who joined a class in the South Lambeth Art Schools with him when the son was but fourteen years old. Here he was accustomed to work two evenings a week while studying for his ex- aminations In the daytime. He was eighteen when his work attracted the attention of John Pettie, who induced the youth to devote himself solely to his art. A year at the St. John's Wood Art School was followed by a course at the Royal Academy Schools, which he entered in 1887, In 1890 he was able to support himself by teaching and by illustrating books. Working in the evenings, he gained the Gold Medal and the Travelling Studentship in Historical Painting with his picture, II Victory," and for nearly two years he travelled abroad studying and painting, From Switzerland he sent a landscape which was exhibited in the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, and from Italy his picture. II Oxen Ploughing," which was a feature of the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1893. II Sisters" was painted in 1900, and was presented to the nation by the artist. It is interesting to note that the elder sister is now the painter's wife, while the younger is the girl shown in II Ethel." The great charm of this painting lies in its colour scheme, The grey shades of the dresses contrast agreeably with the mahogany brown of the background, both of which serve to display ad- vantageously the complexions of the two girls and the golden and rich brown hues of their hair, F.P. SERIES 11. 21 - - '\ ,-,:, ' , .!.; - GRACE BEFORE l\fEA T By JAN STEEN (l626?-1679) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY. LONDON The love of art among the English has found striking expression from time to time in a rescue from oblivion of the fame of some great artist whose masterpieces had long been unrecognised. Foreign observers have paid tribute to the discernment of English buyers who bought Steen's pictures in such numbers that the greater part of them (at least two-thirds) found their way to this country. To some extent this is accounted for by his boisterous humour. which found an echoing response in the English temperament, Sir Joshua Reynolds was so captivated with his work that he declared that II Steen's style !night become even the design of a Rafaelle," while C. R. Leslie, R.A., described him as II the greatest genius of the Dutch painters of familiar life:' Though at times he falls short of his highest standard, in his best work he excels the whole Dutch School in his originality, while he yields place to none in his technical mastery and his colouring. Much of Steen's life is wrapped in obscurity, but it seems cer- tain that after living in Leyden, his birthplace, from 1648 to 1658, he proceeded to Delft, where he set up a brewery. The venture was not successful. and he went on to Haarlem, where he joined the Painters' Guild, in 1661. Like some of our English painters he combined a genius for painting with jovial habits which were not marked by moderation. In spite of this he produced a large number of pictures, showing incidents of the everyday life with which he was acquainted, His general Dote is one of humour, and it is but rarely that he discards it for the quiet harmony of domestic scenes which gives an added interest to such pictures as .. Grace Before Meat:' F.P, SERIKS lL u .. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST By ELISABETH LOUISE \lGÉE LE BRUN (1755-1842) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON I\Iadame Le Brun, in the course of a long life devoted to art, achieved an international reputation which has lasted down to the present day. She was born in Paris, her father being an obscure painter named Vigée, and at the age of twenty-one she married J. B. P. Le Brun, a picture dealer and grand-nephew of Charles Le Brun, the French historical painter. As her portraits of herself show, she was possessed of great personal beauty, This, allied to her talent and great charm of manner, rapidly made her the fashion in Paris, She was only twenty.four when she first painted I\Iarie Antoinette, and so success- fullv did she execute the conumSSlon that she formed a lasting . friendship with the iII-fated Queen, and painted numerous members of the Royal Family and of the Court. After much opposition on account of her sex, she was elected to membership of the Academy. At the outbreak of the French Revolution she went to Italy, making a triumphal tour of Europe on the way, and being honoured by various academies of painting which admitted her to membership in honour of her achievements, She visited London in 1802, and painted many portraits, including those of the Prince of \Vales and Lord Byron, In 1805 she returned to Paris, where her salon was a centre of attraction to the cultured and refined men and women of the day until her death in 1842. She was prodigiously industrious, In which respect she rivalled Sir Joshua Reynolds. Her" Souvenirs," published in 1837, were illus- trated with no fewer than 662 portraits and 200 landscapes, which display the correctness of her drawing, the delicate and pleasing colouring, and the charm which make her work so delightful and so popular wherever her paintings are known, P.P, SERIES ll. 23 ""C: , . '"- .. .. MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER By JAMES ARCHER, RS.A. (1823-1904) IN THE GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, LONDON For many years the work of J ames Archer was extremely popular, though to-day it is hardly so well known as it deserves, public knowledge of his pictures being mainly limited to the present subject, to a couple of paintings in the Glasgow Art Gallery (a classical subject and a portrait of John Francis Ure), and to his diploma picture, II Rosalind and Celia," from Shakespeare's II As You Like It," which hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland at Edin- burgh. He was the son of a dentist, and was born in Edinburgh, where he was educated at the High School. He studied art at the Trustees' Academy of that city, and when he was eighteen years of age he exhibited his first picture at the Royal Scottish Academy. F rom that time his paintings were an almost annual feature of the Scottish Academy until the time of his death, First of all he turned his attention to portrait work executed in crayon, varied by subject pictures which attracted such attention that in 1850 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, becoming a full Academician eight years later. He removed to London in 1864, having in the meantime produced a large number of subject pictures d aling with historical and romantic subjects. After that time, however, he devoted himself largely to portrait work again, visiting America and India in the course of his profession. In the later years of his life, he took up his favourite style of paint- ing once more, depicting scenes from the Bible. history, and ballad poetry. It My Great Grandmother," therefore, is an example of the work by which he attained considerable fame, and from which, it is to be presumed, he derived his most lucrative commIssIons. F.P, SERIES u. 26 , " . .,. ..... , J-".-' \ " , " I THE ABDUCTION OF THE SABINE WOMEN By PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) IN THE NA TIONAL GALLERY, LONDON England is rich in examples of the work of this master, for, in addition to the fine selection of his works in the National Gallery, there are some splendid specimens in the Wallace Collection, and others in the Glasgow Art Gallery. Of all these the present picture is one of the best known, and illustrates the power of the painter's brush, particularly with regard to the sense of energy, which he knew well how to depict. After the death of Rubens' father the widow went Lo Antwerp, and her son was educated in the Jesuit College there. He was intended for the law, but elected to study art, and at the age of twenty-three he visited Italy, where he came under the spell of the works of Titian and Veronese. Art, however, was not to employ his whole time, for he entered the service of the Duke of Mantua, by whom he was sent on a mission to Spain, where he painted a number of Court portraits. On his return to Italy he copied celebrated works for his master, returning to Antwerp in 1608, and becoming Court Painter to the Archduke Albert the following year. He was employed on diplomatic missions more than once, in the course of which he visited England and received the honour of knighthood from Charles I. Rubens lived in magnificent style and amassed an enormouS (or tune. In spite of his diplomatic missions he painted a large number of masterpieces in which his inventiveness, magnificence of colour, and spirited treatment were unrivalled, whether he chose Lo paint landscapes. portraits, religious scenes, mythological fantasies, or historical subjects like the present picture, F.P. SERIES II 27 . - . ... " '- . t,. . .. RUBY, GOLD AND MALACHITE By H. S. TUKE, A.R.A. IN THE GUILDHALL GALLERY, LONDON Mr. T uke is best known for his sea and figure studies, which he treats in a distinctive manner. He spends much of his time in Cornwall, where he has a residence in addition to his London home, but he refuses to get into a groove, however admirable it may be, and refreshes his mind and his art from time to time by visils to Italy, where he received part of his education, II Ruby, Gold and Malachite" is a good example of his style, and is one of the best known of his popular paintings. It was painted about two miles from Falmouth in the summer of 1902, and it is interesting to note that of the models, the one standing half in the boat is now an engineer, high up in the Union Castle line; the one in the red jacket has been many times round the world, and the one standing up with the paddle is II a bold artillery man" who has served many years in Malta and other Mediterranean stations. All this goes to show, Mr, Tuke very rightly asserts, that posing in or about the water is not a cause of early death, as some of his friends are fond of pointing out, but is a good training, besides giving much time for useful meditation I F.P. SERl S 11. g , .. '- " (, . . , \ , 4 ,ø i , \ '\ . -- . .. THE DREAM By EDOUARD DETAILLE (1848-1912) IN THE LUXEMBOURG, PARIS This picture acquires an added interest in view of the rejuvenation of martial enthusiasm in France. The subject symbolises the military glory of the nation, and shows the panoply of war as opposed to its grim realities. Detaille, who was born in Paris in 1848, was one of the very few pupils taken by Meissonier, whose influence as a military painter at once appealed to him and has affected his work ever since. He began to paint when he left school at the age of eighteen, and his first studies in his master's studio were of military subjects. His first picture exhibited in the Salon (in 1867) showed II A Corner of Meissonier's Studio," but the following year he produced "A Halt," followed in 1869 by II Soldiers at Rest during the Manæuvres in the Camp of Saint Maur," and thereafter he continued to build up a reputation as a faithful reproducer upon canvas of the details of a soldier's life, II The Dream," which is his best known picture in this country, was painted in 1888. His portraits, which are associated with military subjects, are also noteworthy, \Vell known to English picture lovers is his painting showing the late King Edward with the Duke of Connaught at the time when the former was Prince of Wales. There is a story connected with another picture, II Salut aux Blessés "-considered his best work-which illustrates the sensitiveness of his countrymen on the point of military renown, He had painted, so the tale runs, a picture showing a group of wounded French soldiers passing a Prussian General and his staff, who paid honour to them by a salute, It was represented that the subject would be likely to be unpopular, and the artist painted it again so that the incident showed the French staff salutin the wounded Germans I F.P. SERIES IL 3 0 1 ...... .. . ,,'" .........,. -.. ,I \ f .---- I '" ',- \r '- \ 1 ... c 4 . - , '"'- .. , ... ,. --. 4 ' .. ,. - ..:.. \ .... 'lit .. '. ..... " - "I<' ' , .. ., \, I " \ . , .../ " MERCURY INSTRUCTING CUPID IN THE PRESENCE OF VENUS By CORREGGIO (ANTONIO ALLEGRI DA) (1494-1534) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON Like most of the great medieval painters, Correggio owed his fame and fortune to the discernment and munificence of the Roman Catholic Church, which all through Europe was making Art the servant of Religion. It IS somewhat curious to observe how, in the case of this artist, the painting of great religious subjects was varied by the production of pictures of a mythological character, His fame, indeed, rests upon the great frescoes which he painted in Parma and works of the nature of the present picture. Probably this combination of styles was brought about by the artist's peculiar gift of rendering the grace and sweetness of the female figure, and by a desire to find a wider scope for the exercise of this gift than was afforded by the work executed for the great religious houses. His delight in portraying feminine beauty led him into weaknesses which are often apparent. Many of his works are marred by affectations and mannerisms and an occasional strained attitude in the figures which are the outcome of breaking away from the pre scribed limits of Scriptural subjects. Correggio's weaknesses, however, serve to accentuate his powers, He was one of the great masters of the Italian School. In the technical mastery which he displayed in foreshortening and modelling figures, as well as in his arrangements of light and shade, he is unrivalled in the world of art, and this same supremacy is found in the luminous harmony of colour which his pictures reveal. He was equally happy in portraying human expression, although in all his faces there is more of earthly beauty than the inspired loveliness of the immaterial. Subjects such as II The Education of Cupid," which was one of his later works. are accordingly typical specimens of his genius, inasmuch as they gave him full play (or the exercise of his natural talents, . .P, SII:IUKS U, 3 1 y, FROM THE DORSETSHIRE CLIFFS By JOHN BRETT, A,R,A, (1830-1902) IN THE TATE GALLERY. LONDON Compared with many famous artists, Brett began his serious studies late in life, although he was not long in making his mark, In 1853 he was a student at the Academy Schools, and five years later he exhibited II The Stone-breaker," which called forth the enthusiasm of Ruskin. He was strongly inAuenced by the Pre- Raphaelite movement, and his well-known picture, the II Val d'Aosta," was an attempt to carry out the teaching of the Pre-Raphaelites in landscape painting, This picture was exhibited in 1859, and from that time he was a regular contributor to the Royal Academy, but confined his work more and more to studies of sea and coast scenes in Cornwall and the South of England, Upon these paintings, by which he is best known and which caused him to be elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1881, his fame with the general public is likely to rest. Two of them are hung in the Tate Gallery -the present picture, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1871, and presented to the nation by Mrs. Brett in 1902; and II Britannia's Realm," showing a wide stretch of sea dotted with vessels, which was shown at Burlington House in 1880, and was purchased for the nation by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest the same year. These admirable studies of luminous skies and summer seas, although they lack tenderness, derive an added charm from their very virility, F,P, SERIES IL 3 2 t J t'i 'lilt , I , 11' I I ,I I /I " '", II \ , I' 'I i' f l j ., Iii' 1 f I t I I , \. II 1 , I " II I '1 'I I 1 'I' 1 I I ,1(, I I I) I 1\' I l t' I , I I fl I , I ' ,\ t' If V I - - A CAVALIER By J, L. E, MEISSONIER (1815-1891) IN THE WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON At the age of 16, Meissonier exhibited m the Salon his picture II Dutch Burghers," also known as II The Visit to the Burgomaster," which was the first example in France of the microscopic painting in oils which aherwards made this artist so famous. While he was slaving at illustrations for the publishers to support himself, he contrived to find time to continue this style of work also, and rapidly achieved an unparalleled measure of success. It is no exaggeration to say that his pictures were raved about to such an extent that they became worth their weight in gold. Nobody commanded such high prices as he did, The sum of f.1O,000 was paid him for his II Cuirassiers," and similar amounts were his normal charges when he reaped his great success, On the other hand, he spent immense sums in making preparations for his pictures. He bought horses, armour, and clothing, regardless of cost, and the models he hired were forced to wear their costumes in sun and rain to give them the natural appearance he wanted, When painting his great picture 111814," which shows Napoleon at the head of his staff riding along a snow-covered road, he prepared the scenery in the plain of Champagne, and then had the road specially laid out for him to paint it. Even then he waited for a fall of snow, and had the ground trampled upon by artillery, cavalry and infantry to make the scene realistic. Nothing was too much trouble for him, and his patience was inexhaustible, At least one of his pictures-II 1807 "- took ten years to complete. It is not surprising, in view of these facts, that although his paintings commanded such enormous prices he never became really rich, except in so far as he received what he asked. and achieved the full measure of his ambition, II A Cavalier" is an example of the work which made him famous before he abandoned that style of picture in favour of scenes of French military history. F.P, SERIES II. 33 ->-. --. "" . . . \ , , HIS FIRST OFFENCE By LADY STANLEY (DOROTHY TENNANT). IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON . Lady Stanley has a double title to fame. Apart from her success In the world of art, she married Mr. H. M. Stanley, the explorer, In 1890, nine years before he was knighted. To this may be added the fact that she figures in a picture by MiIlais, entitled .. No," while her portrait, holding a squirrel, was also painted by Waits, Her artistic life began very early, for she was drawing before she could read or write. Even in those days she showed a preference for the street arab types which are represented in this picture. Her training was of the best, She studied under Sir E, Poynter and M, Legros at the Slade School before becoming the pupil of Henner in Paris, where she spent three winters, Her pictures of ragamuffins, and of nymphs and dryads, were a feature of various London exhibitions for a number of years, while her black-and-white work was also prominent in the magazmes, .. His First Offence" shows a small boy brought up before the magistrate. He faces the spectator, who cannot fail to be impressed by the skill with which the artist has caught the sharp, shifty expression of the little rascal. The picture, which was exhibited at the New Gallery in 1896, was admired by Sir Henry Tate, who bought it and asked the artist to paint him some more ragamuffins, He died, however, before she had done more than a sketch on canvas of a .. Stowaway," which was to have been a sort of compamon to .. His First Offence," Lady Stanley ascribes the success of the picture to the boy's face and to the title she gave it, He was a little North Lambeth boy, with pathetic eyes, and proved a very trying little sitter, always restless to be off selling papers, which was his normal occupation. W.P, IJtJUKS U, 34 , ' \ 9 < . FIDELITY JEAN BAPTISTE GREUZE (172::-1805) IN THE 'ß'ALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON From a strictly critical point of view, the delicacy and grace of Greuze's work is marred by a certain triviality and by the pursuit of mere prettiness, Possibly these very defects contribute to the charm of his paintings and explain in a large measure their endurin popularity with the public. They are delightful in colouring and in their simplicity. One looks and admires, untroubled by any problems of life or of art. A charming head is the dominant characteristic of all these pictures of young girls. There is a family likeness between all of them, and a very similar treatment. The pose varies, the features and colourings vary, but one looks for the common likeness, and for the extra touch of bright colouring (varied in its hue) fur nished, for example, by a bow in the hair which challenges the eye agreeably. It is curious that these pictures which betray the defects of his art so conspicuously should be so well known, and his stronger work be unfamiliar to the English public. The Louvre possesses the best collection of his paintings, including the famous II Severus Reproach ing Caracalla," which was judged defective when he submitted it to the Académie Royale, and led him to refrain from exhibiting at the Salon for many years. Like many another famous painter, Greuze enjoyed his period of popularity, outlived it and died in poverty; and, like theirs also, his fame revived after his death and endures as a hsting testimony to the fickleness of popularity, To-day his work is valued in Europe and America, Most of the provincial museums of France possess their treasured examples of his paintings, and many fine pictures are contained in private collections in England. Greuze is well represented in the National Galleries of England and Scotland, while in the Wallace Collection the British nation enïoys, after the Louvre, the most rt'presentative collection of his works in existence, P.F. IKRIRS IL 35 .. ... . " .......... ...... , - . - 10 A FLOOD By JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (1796-1875) IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON Quite recently, the art treasures of England have been en- riched by the addition of several pictures from the brush of Corot, notably by means of the Ionides bequest of some of his mmor canvases which are housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the George Salting bequest, which placed the National Gallery in possessIOn of seven masterpieces (including the present subject) in 1910. Corot was the son of well-to-do parents of the tradesman class, His father was a fashionable barber, who was able to give his son a good education. When he left school, the youth became an assistant in a Paris drapery house, and he followed this call- ing for eight years. It was only when he was twenty-seven years of age that his father agreed to his abandonment of trade for art: but, having consented, the parent treated his son with generosity, so that he was able to study systematically. Three years later he went to Rome, where he remained for two years, and on his return to Paris he contributed two landscapes to the Salon. It must be confessed that his early work was precise in form and lacking in originality. and that his progress towards fame was terribly slow. Not till he was about forty years of age did his own particular genius assert itself, but from that time his position was assured. Thenceforth he maintained a steady progress towards fame and wealth, and an accumulation of honours was bestowed upon him, He won medals at the Salon in 1833, 1848, 1855, and 1867, received the Legion of Honour in 1846, and became an officer of that order in 1867. Corot's style is characterised by great breadth combined with delicacy, wherein accuracy of detail is subordinated to the harmony of the general effect. The Wallace Collection possesses one master- piece from his brush (" Macbeth and the Witches "), and six other fine specimens are to be seen in the Glasgow Art Gallery. W... SERIES II. 3 6 . . \\ . ., .. \ \ . ... , THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS By BRITON RIVIERE, R,A, IN THE GUILDHALL' ART GALLERY, LONDON '[he son of an artistic father, Briton Riviere gave early promise of distinction in the realm of art. At the age of eighteen he exhibited at the Royal Academy, and his pictures became an annual feature at Burlington House after his twenty-sixth year, He was elected an A.R.A. in 1878, and was admitted to full membership in 1881. He is best known as a painter of wild animals, in which field he stands supreme. Even in this branch of art he has successfully introduced the religious element, as may be seen in his popular painting of II Daniel in the Lions' Den," in the Walker Art Gallery. II The Temptation In the Wilderness" is an example of the artist's technical skill and knowledge, and is also interesting as being the successful outcome of an experiment in colour. The painter decided to express the sentiment of his subject almost entirely by means of colour, i.e. by the white figure of the Christ against the sunset glow of the sky, both sky and figure being focused by the gloom of the landscape. He made many notes of the colour effects derived from the juxtaposition of white and sunset, and found, as he expected and hoped, that the white. in shadow with the cold light of the south-eastern sky, appeared almost as a bright blue against the warm north-western sunset sky. This enabled him to dispense with the conventional nimbus of purely ecclesiastical pictures, and yet achieve an effect of the miraculous by showing, as if by accident, the white evening star, greatly magnified by the composition, just over the head of the Saviour. F.P. SIERra II, 7 \ ) \ WATERING CA TTLE By CONSTANT TROYON (1810-1865) IN THE WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON T royon, who has been described as the first of the great French Romanticists, was born at Sevres. It was natural that his talent for art should lead him to work in the famous porcelain factory of his native town, and at the tender age of seven he was receiving his first lessons there. As he grew older landscape painting attracted him, and at the age of twenty-three, young in years but not inex. perienced in art, he first exhibited at the Salon, He established himself in Paris in 1842, and became associated with a brilliant com- pany of landscape painters, which included Millet, Rousseau, Diaz, Decamps, and other remarkable men, T royon worthily maintained the reputation of this school by the landscape paintings to which he now devoted himself. Ere long, however, study of the work of Paul Potter gave another turn to his talent. The masterly combination of cattle with landscape exhibited by the Dutch painter inspired T royon to similar work, and from that time he began to achieve his greatest successes. The outstanding merit of his compositions is found in his capacity for blending the cattle into the landscape so that one forms, as it were, an essential part of the other. It would be difficult to choose between his work and that of the Dutch artist who inspired . him in this respect; though the latler is certainly his superior in what may be termed the II characterisation" of cattle. The work of both artists may be studied and compared at Hertford House, for two of Troyon's pictures and three of Potter's are included in the Wallace Collection, F,p, SKRIES XL )8 " of i &. s '" ,;. . . .., >. - . 'I c: . .. . ,. .. :, .. . '. '", ; i .. .J- . -.r · .t. . f. .. . . . . . '1 .. , .. . . ., .. . . . '" 10. ,,. '. , . \ AI; . . ..... . , .. ft, . .. , . '.. k · i , J.1 . . , '" -( I . , . .,. .. :- .r . . . II , , I' i. I ' '. .... "'4 > . . : t ;" . . .....:0'- . -.- "',. · r ":', r .. ....,... t;' ,.. ...." ... ........ ", . , -'" ...- · · "''''.'''''' J." .'" ) " "c .. . c .. J "- ,'It , , \ \. " - .., '- . -.. " . . . :1 \'''' ., . f. . . , " . . .. ,t 4 . . '. )" 4 . . :. . \, ." " \ G.... , ,", "''' , .. t" . ,.... , -- -. " J. ,\ - 4 .. .. '., ', . ".. ," ... ... ., .: .... .' / . '" a.,. '<<, .. '-" .- -... __f> .. '- - "\ , .., .. t .. ., f.J . - , .,. . " " ,f r. ., , ' itl . .. \. " .. "I 't ( , " " "'r'e r- '" l . f 'Or "' ( . '\.. ." it' ' "" . ." ..... '- .. ... ... ..... ... " t I- I- ., - ....'... \., HOME WITH THE TIDE By JAMES CLARK HOOK, RA 0819-1907) IN THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON From his earliest years, Hook displayed that love of the sea and the life associated with it, as well as the capacity for picturing it, which made him famous in later life. He showed a marked precocity, and at a tender age made up his mind to be an artist. First of all he studied on his own account, and for more than a year worked without supervision in the Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum. When he was seventeen he became a student at the Academy Schools, where he learned the technique of painting for three years. He exhibited his first picture, .. The Hard Task," at the age of eighteen. Five years elapsed before he exhibited another picture, but in the meantime he had been earning his living and furthering his studies in Ireland, where he painted portraits and developed his taste for landscape work in the Vale of Avoca. This second picture was a portrait, and during the year he gained a silver medal at the Royal Academy. In 1844 he exhibited in the Academy a picture illustrating a scene from .. The Decameron It (Pamphilius relating his Story), which was noteworthy as initiating a senes of literary studies which gained him great popularity because of their romantic picturesqueness and the brilliant manner In which he treated them. In 1846 he gained a travelling scholarship and journeyed to Italy VIa Paris and Switzerland. The influence of this visit was soon seen in his work, not only in the treatment and colouring of his paintings, but also in their subjects. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1851 as the result of these works, and soon afterwards he began the superb series of English landscape and marine studies which revealed his own peculiar talents, and have preserved his memory in the grateful hearts of picture-lovers. F.P, SF1HES II. 49 II , 1 I or ..I I I i I I l , J I ..- J n J __It , . .. , J f J ' , ,. .{, f' " '\ ...t- -c:' - t , THE FOUNTAIN OF LOVE JEAN HONORÉ FRAGONARD (1732-1806) IN THE WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON In studying the lives of the great painters one is ohen impressed by the fact that their popularity waned at the close of their lives, and that they died unhonoured, unsung, and in obscure poverty. It was so with Greuze, and it was the case with Fragonard. Posterity has, however, done justice to him as to the other unfortunate masters, and has rescued his genius from oblivion, Fragonard was a pupil of Boucher, and, aher carrying off the Prix de Rome in 1752, he journeyed to Italy, where he studied the works of the great painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He made a tour of Southern Italy and Sicily, drawing as he went, and on his return to France scored a notable success with his picture, "Coresus and Callirrhoë," which IS now In the Louvre. But he soon abandoned the coldly academic art In favour of a style of painting which secured greater popularity, and of which the present IS a favourite example, Fragonard's work IS remarkable for the skill with which it depicts the lively manners of his day. His paintings are ohen audacious, but always brilliant. They are amorous and sentimental, but his passionate conceptions, and the over-boldness of which he is often guilty, may be pardoned for the glamour with which he invests his subjects. The '\Iv' allace Collection contains nine of F ragonard' s chief works, and the National Gallery came into possession of another charming example-" The Happy Mother "-through the Salting bequest. The Louvre holds a collection of his masterpieces, and it will be remem- bered that Mr. Pierpont Morgan acquired the famous decorative canvases which were painted for Madame du Barry, who, however, declined them. F.P. SERIES 1L 50 -. , , \ ;""-\ .. , , ......:- . . , a.' f, · .' . ". . ' .. .' ,,> , f' t r .