arance and
to paint a picture that should be a living symbol of them. He took pains
to find out all he could about the mind of his sitters before he
painted them, and sought in the appearance the expression of this inner
man. So that whereas with Holbein it was the vivid presentation of the
impression as one might see a head that struck one in a crowd, with
Watts it is the spirit one is first conscious of. The thunders of war
appear in the powerful head of Lord Lawrence, the music of poetry in the
head of Swinburne, and the dry atmosphere of the higher regions of
thought in the John Stuart Mill, &c.

In the National Portrait Gallery there are two paintings of the poet
Robert Browning, one by Rudolph Lehmann and one by Watts. Now the former
portrait is probably much more "like" the poet as the people who met him
casually saw him. But Watts's portrait is like the man who wrote the
poetry, and Lehmann's is not. Browning was a particularly difficult
subject in this respect, in that to a casual observer there was much
more about his external appearance to suggest a prosperous man of
business, than the fiery zeal of the poet.

These portraits by Watts will repay the closest study by the student of
portraiture. They are full of that wise selection by a great mind that
lifts such work above the triviality of the commonplace to the level of
great imaginative painting.

* * * * *

Another point of view is that of treating the sitter as part of a
symphony of form and colour, and subordinating everything to this
artistic consideration. This is very fashionable at the present time,
and much beautiful work is being done with this motive. And with many
ladies who would not, I hope, object to one's saying that their
principal characteristic was the charm of their appearance, this point
of view offers, perhaps, one of the best opportunities of a successful
painting. A pose is selected that makes a good design of line and
colour--a good pattern--and the character of the sitter is not allowed
to obtrude or mar the symmetry of the whole considered as a beautiful
panel. The portraits of J. McNeill Whistler are examples of this
treatment, a point of view that has very largely influenced modern
portrait painting in England.

* * * * *

Then there is the official portrait in which the dignity of an office
held by the sitter, of which occasion the portrait is a memorial, has t