HARDING'S SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD.
Tate splendid work has at length appeared, and it more than realizes the expectations formed of it from the specimens put forth.
There is something so fascinating in the union of skill and facility, the evidence of power without labour, the production of great things with few and simple means, in a sketch by a master-band—the very deficiencies incidental to slightness in art are supplied b the fancy with such ample and glowing completeness—that the short-hand of the painter, imperfect as it must necessarily be, seems more pregnant with ideas, and even reads more fluently and brilliantly as well as freshly, than his elaborated work. The greatest artists, however, are not always the best sketchers. Their short-hand may be only useful as memoranda to themselves, being illegible to others. Some are content to note down the forms only, others mere effects of light and colour. HARDING'S combines the outlines and the atmospheric appearances of the scenes— the masses and the details. His practice with the crayon gives him a perfect command over that simple implement of art the lead pencil. His style is at once bold and graceful, his touch forcible and delicate, and his effects broad and brilliant. In a word, he is a most accomplished sketcher. His felicitous choice of the points of view best calculated to display with pleasing effect the characteristic beauties of the scene, is evidenced in the picturesque elegance of the composition in moat
of these sketches, and the new and agreeable aspect in which scenes familiar to us are presented to the eye. As examples of beautiful com- position, we may instance the general views of Trento, Como, Frank- fort, Bergamo, St. Goer Hausen, and Greenwich ; which last has quite a classic air, with its domes rising from a long line of foliage steeped in the golden mist of the setting sun.
The lithographic process by which HARDING has been enabled to multiply his own drawings, so that every successive impression is As much the work of the muster as the original of which it is a fac. simile, was described in our notice of the specimen plates of this publication. M'e need only now observe, with reference to the lithography, that it has afforded the artist the means of heightening the effect of his ori- ginal sketches, by the endless variety of hues which were at his dis- posal; so that be could not only choose the precise tint best fitted to determine the tone of the picture, but he might in some cases calculate upon the medium to represent au atmospheric appearance of nature. The peculiar advantages of this process are most remarkable in the imitation of clouds, in which it surpasses any mechanical method hitherto known. Its value will be apparent by contrasting the sky in the general view of Trento, in which no white clouds are indicated, with e'that of any other view. The atmospheric effects in this work are, indeed, among its most striking beauties. In most cases, however, the tint is not to be regarded as representing the pervading hue of the scene, but only as the medium for producing effects of light and shade without reference to colour ; otherwise the white would be taken fur snow instead of stun : but in some the tint conveys almost the colour as well as the warmth of sunlight,—in the view of the Grand Canal at Venice, for instance, where a calm glow suffuses the atmosphere. In two of the coast scenes—Hastings and Tynemouth—the local colour of the sand is imitated by a brown tint, which enhances by con- trast the cold gray tone of the sky. The effect of dreary chilliness in the view of Tynemouth is complete, and the atmosphere inn the view of Hastings is marine-like ; but the attempt at giving the local colour of objects fails, as in the instance of the sail of the fishing-boat. The tints should Dc confined to giving the predominant effect of the scene. In representing the mist and spray of the Fall of Terni, and the spume of the waves iu the view of Hastings, with fishing-boats in beoyant motion on the edge of the tide, the white is very successful. We wonder a snow scene, for which it is well adapted, was not introduced : there is, too, only one moonlight effect, and that a very warm one, in the view of Caub. The cool gray light of dawn is well imitated by the tint in the ruins on Holy Island. Indeed the pictorial completeness of many of the sketches is surprising: we wish for nothing beyond them. As imitations of the .originals, they arc positively deceptive : when mounted on card-board, like drawings, they are not perceived to be lithographic impressions ; and it requires a scrutinous inspec- tion to distinguish the copy from the original when placed side by side. In this respect the appearance of this work is an event in tine annals of art. To all artists who use crayons or the black-lead
whether they draw with the point or the stump, this method is
available. Ilsionso's long experience of lithography gives hint of course great dexterity of hand and command over his material, and it has al,o helped him in acquiring his intimate keowledge of the powers of black and white to represent light mud colour : yet, with all his ex- perience of lithography, lie 'was unable to carry into effect his long. rherished intention to publish his sketches, until the ingenuity of the lithographer, Ileissuss:nrs, supplied him with these means of realizing in every point perfect fine-similes of his drawings. We cannot pretend to picture to the reader by words the lovely scenes in the volume before us : but it may give some idea of its contents to state, that Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Rhine, I'ratice, and England, have furnished the views ; and that there are street scenes and extended prospects with foliage and architecture, figures and cattle. and river and coast scenes, with shipping and craft. They are of different sizes too, and three or four out of the fifty leaves have a couple or four smaller sketches on each.
The titlepage is tastefully enriched with a fanciful border of light foliage enclosing several little vignettes representing the artist's adven- tures. In one he is sketching n a cab ; in another on in mule ; iiia third under an umbrella in the pouring rain; in a fourth in the middle of a crowd that has gathered round him in the street. here we see him laden with his knapsack, easel, &c. toiling along a tiresome straight road—that across the Pontine Marshes, perhaps—without a subject to induce him to stop ; and at the end he is cosily esconced in his easy chair at home, touching up his sketches. Besides the views we have already instanced, there are a few which we must particularize,—namely, Desegnsano, under a brilliantly clear and sunny atmosphere; Ehrenfels, with a rain-cloud partially obscuring the sunny brightness of the scene; Oberwesel, with a beautiful effect of clearing after a summer shower, and a rainbow reflected in the still water; St. Goar—one of two charming views on the same leaf—ad- mirable for grandeur and its airy distance; Sistrone, a remarkable scene, with a striking effect of height above and depth below—the buildings are relieved with great solidity, and the eye travels up from the river below to the bridge, the steep houses on the bank, and those perched on the rock above; a street scene at Coblentz, with a gleam of sunlight from a cross street shining on the face of the houses opposite, and showing the rest in a warm transparent shadow. The touch of the buildings in this last view, and in another street scene, with a church at Lyons under a similar effect, is crisp and sharp, and in neither are there those dark patches of shade that give heaviness to some others. A group of boats and horses in the view of itudesheim is one of the most beautiful examples of the artist's taste and skill in sketching groups and objects in his foregrounds; which be does with powerful effect.
The work is dedicated to the King of the French, in return for the
compliment paid to HARDING by the French Institute, who awarded him a gold medal for some of his lithographic drawings that were exhibited there by the Baron TAYLOR, for whom they were executed : indeed, it is likely to make as great a sensation on the Continent as in England% It is published complete in the first instance, at the request of sub scribers ; but is to appear in numbers, to accommodate all purchasers
Previous page
