al paintings,
Time is again the stalwart man of imperishable youth, while Oblivion,
another form of Death, spreads her mantle of darkness over all, claiming
all.

_Landscapes_.--Although Watts will ever be remembered for his
allegorical, biblical, and portrait painting, yet he was by no means
deficient in landscape art. Indeed, he carried into that branch of work
his peculiar personality. Not only do his landscapes depict beautiful
scenery in a fitting manner, joining atmosphere, sunshine, and colour,
but they convey in an extraordinary degree the mood of Nature and of
Man. "The Sphinx by Night" has an air of mystery about it that
immediately impresses the spectator, and tells him something that cannot
be communicated by words. The Italian and the Asiatic canvases by Watts,
"Florence," "Fiesole," "Correna," "Cos," and "Asia Minor," all induce
the feeling of repose and happiness, and the message that Nature sends
to her devotees comes sweetly and calmly in "The Rainbow," where we look
over an extensive valley from high ground, while heavy clouds and the
rainbow adorn the upper air. In "The Cumulus" we "see skyward great
cloud masses rolling, silently swelling and mixing." They recall perhaps
the memories of the child, to whom the mountains of the air are a
perpetual wonder. When in Savoy in 1888, Watts painted the Alps, again
with a cloudy sky and a rocky foreground. In this the quietude of the
scene penetrates the beholder. English landscape, to which all true
hearts return, was successfully depicted, both in form and spirit, by
Watts' "Landscape with Hayricks" (like the Brighton Downs), a quiet
view from the summit of a hillside, on which are seen some hayricks. But
perhaps the highest of them all is that very peaceful idyll named "All
the air a solemn stillness holds." It was a view from the garden of
Little Holland House. The time is sunset; a man and two horses are
wending their way home. There are farm buildings on the left, and a
thick wood in the background. In this one we feel how thoroughly Watts
uses all forms as expressions of his invisible moods. In purely
imaginative landscape, however, Watts struck his highest note. His
"Deluge" canvases are wonderful attempts; in "The Dove that returned in
the Evening," the bird is the only creature seen flying across the
dreary waste of waters, placid but for three long low waves. On the
horizon the artist has dimly suggested the ark of Noah. "Mount Ararat"
is especiall