MR. CLAUSEN'S LECTURES.*
Wito makes the better critic of pictures,—a painter, or a man devoted to art but unacquainted with its technique? Readers of Mr. Clausen's book will, we think, incline to give the preference to the painter. The views expressed here are sound and the thought is clear. There seems to be little wanting that is possessed by the literary critic, while there is much that only the painter can know. Every artist who is a student of the works of the Renaissance will tell us how profoundly unconvincing are a great many of the minute speculations as to authorship and authen- ticity liberally poured forth at the present time by the able and ingenious critics who write but do . not paint. As a case in point may be instanced the remark made by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to the effect that the figures of the women on the left-hand aide of Raphael's fresco of the "Mass of Bolsena" are obviously not by the master's hand, but by that of a pupiL This pronouncement seems to be made on the ground that the figures of these women, beautiful as they are, cannot compare for force and brio with • Aims and Ideals in Art. Eight Lectures delivered to the Students of the Royal Aaideruy by 0. Clausen, A.R.A. London: Methuen sad Co. On] the Pope's chair-bearers on the right-hand side. Now let us turn to Mr. Clausen's view of this problem. He shows us how great was Raphael's power as a portrait-painter, and how evidently he enjoyed the portrait side of his art. When the actual representation of real people is contrasted with ideal figures, as in the case of the fresco mentioned above, we are conscious of the difference between the thing seen and the thing imagined. Every painter, of course, knows how infinitely harder it is to get power and vitality into an imagined figure than it is to get the same qualities into a portrait. So here the painter-critic is able to understand the forces that con- trolled even Raphael, while the literary critic has to call in the explanation of assistants and scholars.
Throughout these lectures Mr. Clausen shows his deep appreciation of the art of Raphael. He has none of the modern conventional disparagement of the great artist, nor holds either with those who have swallowed Ruskin whole or with those who think they are the first who have appreciated Velasquez. Mr. Clausen is not afraid to say that to him the "Castiglione" in the Louvre ranks with the Philip in the National Gallery "in the sense of atmosphere which it has, in addition to its other fine qualities."
The lectures which make up this book treat of such things as quality of colour, imagination and the ideal, drawing, and kindred subjects, and everywhere we find illumination. It matters not whether the theme be Tintoretto or Michelangelo, Watteau or Reynolds, we are sure to find something about these masters which is worthy of study. We cannot resist making a somewhat long quotation from the lecture on "Taste," as it seems to us that here we have the root of the matter,—that is, the importance of setting up standards. The use of these standards is not so much that we may judge pictures by them as that by them we may raise our own taste :-- "The works of Phidias, of Michelangelo, of Raphael and of Velasquez, of Titian and of Rembrandt, take by common agree- ment the highest places; they are our standards. But there is a harmony in all the best work—an accord with the possibilities of nature. We agree that people in a picture should live, that their form should be well expressed, that they should be natural in their actions, and in their proper environment ; that the in- fluences of the light and air, and the colour in accordance with this, should also be properly expressed. And on these simple reason- able conditions ' it seems to me that we may take Raphael, Velasquez, Titian and Rembrandt, Claude and Constable, each in a particular quality, as giving a standard. Both Phidias and Michelangelo are so great, so unapproachable, we cannot measure ourselves against them in any way ; they are above comparison. But, leaving them aside, one cannot presume to make comparisons between giants, each greatest in his own way. Raphael had, it seems to me, the greatest genius as an inventor; in this respect he had no limits. Consider the naturalness and variety of his groupings, and how his figures are all related to each other. The things he wishes to bring into prominence are there, just as they should be his invention is so natural, that we recognise it no more in his pictures than we do in a grouping of actual people. We take his observation as a matter 'of course ; but when we try, ourselves, to put even two or three figures together' we find how difficult it is, and how poorly our minds are furnished. And then what a magnificent artist he was, how great the skill with which he carried through his long series of works ; it would seem that our difficulties of drawing, expression and command of colour did not exist for him: and since his time, nearly four hundred years ago, we cannot refer to any work of the kind worthy to be named with his. But Raphael's work, though it is true to human nature, refers for the most part to conditions that are past, as do the Greek statues; like them, it is removed from us by racial and social conditions as well as by time. Yet, like the art of the Greeks, it is living, and should be studied in the same spirit as we study the Greek work. We cannot revive a style which arose naturally from conditions that are past: but Mr. Watts's career shows that the most modem mind, when in sympathy with the finest work, can re-create its spirit, and he is an example of the use which the old art can be tons, as a guiding influence. If we take Raphael's work as a standard for composition and for ideal generalisation, we must take that of Velasquez as the standard for painting actual things. It does not seem possible to surpass his work in its dispassionate and inclusive truth. In such a work as the later portrait of Philip, everything is given as truly as in life, and the only reference seems to be directly to nature, and not to other painters ; and one may imagine that Velasquez really did when before nature, forget that he had ever soon a picture,' as Constable says he tried to do. Is it altogether owing to the difference between the Italian and Spanish temperament—or is it not rather because of their finer and more subtle art—that the pictures of Velasquez are nearer to us? They are more modern than those of Raphael (comparing the portraits of each), and while the resemblance to nature is so great, the art is so concealed that it hardly occurs to us that there can be any art in it. What a fine judgment was that of Reynolds on Velasquez 'What we are all trying to do
with great labour, he does at once.' We do not feel like this before Titian, or before Rembrandt. We feel the beauty of the picture, but the art is evident, and the point of view has to be felt and accepted. It is a perti-pris; an element of expression in nature, developed and dwelt on to the utmost, and in the case of both artists, perhaps, appealing more to the emotion than to the reason. In Titian's work we are moved by the harmony of colour in light, and in that of Rembrandt by the mystery of light in shadow. Titian gives us a standard for colour, and all that it may be made to convey or suggest to us. Rembrandt gives the expressive significance of light and shadow. We may take these four painters, Raphael, Velasquez, Titian, and Rembrandt, as each giving a standard of truth."
If space allowed, we should like to quote what Mr. Clausen says of the art of Watts, but must content ourselves with referring our readers to the passage. In it will be found a fine appreciation of the painter's purely artistic, powers, which are so frequently overlooked by the literary art critics, who too often grasp the obvious poetic intention and miss the subtle- ties of emotion, which can only be felt by those who appreciate pictures with their eyes as well as with their brains. In taking leave of Mr. Clausen we may hope that a further volume is in store for us. This is the second book of abiding interest that he has given us, and we shall look forward with pleasure to a third.
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