firm arts.
Mr. Ruskin has this year produced the fifth number of his Notes on some of the Principal Pictures exhibited in the Rooms of the Royal Academy, with further notes on The Old and New Societies of Pain- ters in Water Colours, the Society of British Artists, and the French Exhibition. His general comment on the Royal Academy is conveyed. in the brief preface ".The present Exhibition shows steady advance among the younger students ; the more experienced masters, whether Academic or prn-Raphaelite, are either absent or indolent ; but I have never seen the Academy walls show so high an average of good work." His own notes are more than usually—we will not say capricious, but uncertain ; omitting many pictures, dismissing some very briefly, even some of the most beautiful, and dwelling upon others without coming to any specific result. He is precise enough in the handling of details, but we still miss good general positive rules. Do your work well, he says—almost in phrases that Carlyle might use—and kindly, and no enemy can harm you. So soon as your picture deserves to be bought it will be bought. At the same time he warns the student against attempt- ing to sell what he knows to be worthless, " by catching the fancy of the purchaser." These precepts are tantalizing for the student; but there is matter in the notes which it will be useful for painters to ponder, while it will serve to stimulate the attention and inform the perception of the visitor.
Previous page
