FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  
everything I paint in this world, but everybody does not see alike. To the eyes of a miser a guinea is far more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy, is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way.... To the eye of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. _Blake._ VIII Painting is nothing but the art of expressing the invisible by the visible. _Fromentin._ IX The picture I speak of is a small one, and represents merely the figure of a woman, clad to the hands and feet with a green and grey raiment, chaste and early in its fashion, but exceedingly simple. She is standing: her hands are held together lightly, and her eyes set earnestly open. The face and hands in this picture, though wrought with great delicacy, have the appearance of being painted at once, in a single sitting: the drapery is unfinished. As soon as I saw the figure, it drew an awe upon me, like water in shadow. I shall not attempt to describe it more than I have already done, for the most absorbing wonder of it was its literality. You knew that figure, when painted, had been seen; yet it was not a thing to be seen of men. _Rossetti._ X A great work of high art is a noble theme treated in a noble manner, awakening our best and most reverential feelings, touching our generosity, our tenderness, or disposing us generally to seriousness--a subject of human endurance, of human justice, of human aspiration and hope, depicted worthily by the special means art has in her power to use. In Michael Angelo and Raphael we have high art; in Titian we have high art; in Turner we have high art. The first appeals to our highest sensibilities by majesty of line, the second mainly by dignified serenity, the third by splendour especially, the Englishman by a combination of these qualities, but, lacking the directly human appeal to human sympathies, his work must be put on a lower level. _Watts._ XI THE SIX CANONS OF ART Rhythmic vitality, anatomical structure, conformity with nature, suitability of colouring, artistic composition, and finish. _Hsieh Ho_ (Chinese, sixth century A.D.). XII In painting, the most troublesome subject is man, then landscape, then dogs and horses, then buildings, which being fixed objects are easy to manage up to a certain point, but
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
figure
 

picture

 

painted

 

subject

 

beautiful

 

Michael

 
Angelo
 
Raphael
 
Titian
 

sensibilities


highest

 

majesty

 

Turner

 
appeals
 

disposing

 

feelings

 

touching

 

generosity

 

tenderness

 

reverential


treated

 

manner

 

awakening

 

depicted

 
worthily
 

special

 

aspiration

 

generally

 
seriousness
 

endurance


justice

 

Chinese

 
century
 

finish

 
composition
 

nature

 

conformity

 

suitability

 
colouring
 

artistic


painting
 
manage
 

objects

 

landscape

 

troublesome

 

horses

 
buildings
 

structure

 

anatomical

 

lacking