FINE ARTS.
A PEEP AT PICTURE-MAKING, WIT!! AN EYE TO NATURE, To follow out the purpose of our " glance at Nature" we will now re- verse the view, and take a peep at the process of picture-making, with reference to the causes of the unsatisfactory character of modern land- scape-painting compared with the reality. We do not seek to depre- ciate the efforts British artists—we admire them too much for that ; our object is to point out those sources of improvement whence the charming indications of nature that now delight us may be converted into solid representations.
The growing desire for distinct and definite impressions, whether of actual facts, scientific truths, poetical ideas, or pictorial images, which BOW prevails, and with the spread of rational education will increase rapidly, demands that our artists should be no longer content with vague generalization. Nature herself, through the reflections of her image in the Daguerreotype plates, points out the beauty of exactness, and the possibility of combining minute details with broad, general effects of light and shade : the influence of these microscopically-correct delineations will be very great on the nascent taste of the public for works of art. It behoves artists to regard these signs of the times, and supply those deficiencies that eyes more accustomed to scrutinize real objects than to look at pictures will be likely to find in their pro- ductions according to the present system. The painters of the British school have the right feeling for landscape ; it is innate in them ; they are inspired with it by the changeful effects of nature with which they are constantly surrounded. The very atmosphere of our humid and variable climate ministers to the picturesque feeling ; it casts a veil of mist (some- times too thick, in(leed) over the distance, making an aiSrial perspec- tive most favourable to the purpose of painting, and sends flocks of fleecy clouds to scatter their tender and fleeting shadows over the verdurous soil. Then for forms ; though England cannot boast of the vast and sublime in mountainous scenery and desert plains—which, however, defy the efforts of the pencil—our rural prospects arc full of the kind of beauty most available to the painter, universally pleasing to the eye, and grati- f)ing to the mind. Nor are there wanting districts of a more wild and romantic character, where grandeur and solitude are among the ele- ments of beauty : these are the better appreciated for the contrast they offer to those smiling spots, rich with the fruits of labour and the signs of comfort and prosperity, where prettiness and snugness are the lead- ing features. Our style of water-colour painting, moreover, which is a. national creation, is most propitious to the preservation of the daylight aspect and dewy freshness that are the peculiar charms of out-door scenes. British artists need not go beyond their own country either to study scenery and atmospheric effects, or to learn how to paint them ; but all of them have much to acquire ot home ; and many want what cannot be acquired—imaginative power. This, however, is a quality may be dispensed with in depicting actual scenes: "selection is the invention of the landscape-painter."
What, then, is wanting to raise the British school of landscape-paint- ing to the state of perfection of which it is susceptible ?—A more thorough investigation of the laws that govern natural appearances; a closer study of the external characteristics of objects; a more accurate style of delineation ; and a more scientific method of painting. The combination of these essentials would place at the command of genius resources adequate to the embodying of the loveliest natural scenes and the most exalted conceptinns of the fancy ; and moreover would esta- blish a system of instruction in the art of picture-making that would greatly raise the character of the English school of painting in the eyes of this and other countries. Our landscape painters possess an instinctive faculty of apprehending those general appearances that constitute the charm of the scene ; and by dint of the vividness of the impression, they often summed in conveying such an approximate likeness to them, as at once recals a similar effect to the mind ; and thus the imperfeet picture receives its completion from the Lucy of the beholder. In effect, the mass of landscapes, especially those in water-colours, are sketches, net pictures properly so called ; and as such they are worthy of all admi- ration, so far as they go: but they do not go far enouph ; the amount of knowledge and skill possessed by the artist will not allow him to ap- proach nearer the truth—he has gone the length of his tether. Bog- immix was but a brilliant and accemplished sketcher, though he pro- duced two or three finished pictUrCS, and had he lived might have become a great painter. TruNite, in his best day, and Calms-seer, are the two great exemplars of English landempe-painting both these artists are observant and scitegial students of nature, and proceed upon theory busLd on fixed principles. TURNER 11:.S all in is for the perception of atmospheric eticets of colour that even his discasud fancies and morbid manifestations prove to he marvellous for the varime and vividness (ili the impre sions reticivm1 and retained : the phrensy
delirium under which he labours—so liar as regards his painting—is only an over. excitement of the sem:aril:tn. A man more learned in his
art does not exist : indeed, it reqoires a knowledge of the theory of colours and of the laws of nature. to violate the one and step beyond the other Ile does ilreakS more rules than most oilier painters know. There is not a griller nil •taloe than the vulgar notien that the problems of colour aud effect, it hitch he :onuses himself with werhing at the ex psnse it truth tied his reputation. are idle ;lonbs equally devoid of ineeniles tot pureose : it would he easy to cash:anise hut lett to imitate them. Perhaps When lie has done blowing bubbles fitr the sake of wateltim,.: their raini.00 hues, 110 Will paint a picture, suell Us he was wont le do tt ho in his suitor Senses : we would lain hope thq aro Hot iris'' ii ir,ill gout' ; Iv( hiu lii'iuvo that the aro ""1- .1" Fcthrli from 1116 tii;:;tv,:,■011; %%bleb, boa IS ertinent to the tual;, m hand, ime.ninell a, 11 iney serve to tutu lint' 111,s,• read.,•I'S w110 11,11,• Inn S11111 .111•10;L:It'S 110s1 winks, 111111 nl 111S!,,nchy; him as the greatest Enelish landscape-painter, we are ot.t speaking patadoxittally or at tutu;, it and that e e are inStilit'a iii l'onint;: ION N% mks with Ille and ein,sie pr011itelion$ or CA LLCOTT. it school has been the consequence of the produce only highly-wrought sketches—finished studies of effects : nor is the transparent medium calculated for producing elaborated picturett, which is the reason why painters who want to produce powerful effects of painting—to depict, not merely to indicate—use opaque colours. The landscapes of COPLEY FIELDING. Diswiser, CON, BARRETT, and the architectural views of PROUT, belong to the class of washed or tinted drawings; while the landscapes of TURNER and HARDINC., the scenic groups of Imwts and CATegnsioLE, the interiors of IlAune and NAsse, and the peasant-boys of Ilretr, belong to the class of paintings: that the two classes approximate, we admit, but they are distinct in thentselves, and will eventually become separate, if the power of body- colours—the use of which in conjunction with transparent tints is yet in its infancy—prove adequate to the requirements of the painter of complete pictures. Water-colour painting has assumed a new shape and struck out a new path ; but the old one need not be forsaken--we should be sorry if it were. The aim of the two manners appears to us entirely different ; and it is needless to say that the practitioners in body- colours must work very hard, and study both nature and art well and scientifically, to enable them to carry their pictures to the perfection required : indication will not do here—there must be positive. defined representation. In proportion as the tierces have advanced towards the
power of painters, and their washed drawings have approached to the character of pictures, so must the painters, whether in oil or body. colours, leave their sketchy indications to arrive at the power. solidity, and elaboration of finished works of' art ; or they will be only substituting one vehicle that is more rapid and ready in its use for another. Their performances must be judged by a different standard from those of artists who limit themselves to transparent colours.
The difference between the sketch and the finished picture may be thus explained : the sketch is a »ote of the idea, the picture the idea worked out. A sketch suggests a hint of the appearances denoted. and its vividness assists the fancy in realizing the scene of which it conveys an imperfect image; and so pow rf ul is truth, that the oue casual glimpse of nature is often more potent than the deliberate and entire view. The sketcher calls ueon the beholder to fieish his work in idea : the painter presents the work complete, impressing him nith the power of his art and subduing him to the quality of his hie:gin:aka. The effect of the sketch is momentarily exciting. hut transient ; the influence of the picture is deep end permanent. The picture works upon the mind of him who contemplates it aright : while the person who looks at a sketch has to work upon it. To make a complete picture, an accurate outline of the cempesition, a sketch of the general effect of colour and chiar- oscuro, and careful studies of the different parts, are requisite: a sketch is but part of the in..terials of a picture: though the mass of (so-called) pictures are butt " finished sketches "—that is, slight studies carried to a certain point of completeness. Few of our painters know enough of their art to do more. Place one of Bostosetrox's sketches beside 3 landscape of lila rim or Caseau POUSE.IN. of Muse or RUI3T.N.S. and it will be like a brilliant shadow beside a solid substance ; but the finished pictures of MALI:me' and Tr RNEI: Will IleaT tht COMpaTI:,011. To descend lower in the scale, place one of leofs cold, green. river-scones beside one of Rees:est:Cs sombre landscapes: a sea-piece of z-C.0;•• TIELD'S beside one of VANDnvta.DE's: put NASMYTII. STARK. and Cites- WICK in comeetitien with 110111:INA; and the deficiency of the English painters is at its cc made apparent. The old painters unite solidity of substance, lee::: c (lour, and au atmosphere glowing With light : their pie- (ores represeet the elements. Modern pictures are comparatively super- ficial. made up of mere effect ; or it' they aim at solidity, the sense of motion in the foliage herbage and water, and that vibration (it' Si) strong 3 term mov be ii td) of the outlines of s.tlid forms con se pent on the at- mospherle meann through which we see them, is not represented. The fault is not theirs. but the want of a proper system of education in the science of nature and the theory of art : the wonder is that so much is necomplishel on so small a stock of knowledge and so imper- fect a method of pmetiee. '1'lle art of painting. 115 now practised is too empirieal : it is Ihr the most part made up of arbitrary rules and con- n.:S1:4 Of the practical experenee of individuals; the i■:;'ormatiott is scat:erod. and is not based upon any settled prin- ciples. Yet as the pictorial imitation of nature is an art, its remises should be ...egulatol by the la.a.s that cot slit me the the try of lieht colours. as tho.,e of perspective and sit elow govern the delineation of form, Little or mehing. however. iu Isnown of the theory of ar; : nor is it taught on a Feientille S■ ;Mir:I Who hits NO!: a nettle of imitatine partieular naturo is set up as a landscap,..-paimer;
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