Chapter XLIX: J. M. WHISTLER--Lillie in Our Alley 328 (12)

When repeatedly pressed by the Committee for the reasons why so few purchases were made outside the Academy exhibitions, the President, Sir Edward Poynter, repeatedly pleaded the impossibility of a Council of Ten, all of whom must see pictures before they are bought, travelling about in search of them. In view of this apparent--but obviously unreal--difficulty, the following questions were then put by the Earl of Lytton:----

420. Without actually changing the terms of the will, has the question of employing an agent for the purpose of finding out what pictures were available and giving advice upon them ever been suggested?--No.

421. That would come within the term of the will, would it not, the final voting being, as it is now, in the hands of the Academy; it would be open to the Council to appoint an agent, as was suggested just now, of going to Scotland, and going about the country making suggestions as to pictures which in his opinion might be bought?--The question has never arisen.

422. But that could be done, could it not?--I suppose that could be done under the terms of the will, but I do not suppose that the Academy would ever do it.

As a comment on this let us turn to the "Autobiography of W. P. Frith R. A." (Chapter xl.):--"A portion of the year ... was spent in the service of the winter Exhibition of Old Masters. My duties took me into strange places.... One of my first visits was paid to a huge mansion in the North.... I visited thirty-eight different collections of old masters and named for selection over three hundred pictures.... The pictures of Reynolds are so much desired for the winter Exhibition that neither trouble nor expense are spared in searching for them; so hearing of one described to me as of unusual splendour, I made a journey into Wales with the solitary Reynolds for its object."

Here, where it is not a question of a Trust for the benefit of the public and for the encouragement of artists, there appears to have been no trouble or expense spared. But the real reason for the Academic selection leapt naively from the mouth of the President a little later, in reply to question 545.--"The best artists come into the Academy ultimately. I do not say that there have been no exceptions, but as a general rule all the best artists ultimately become Academicians. It is natural, if we want the best pictures that we should go to the best artists."

On this point the answer to a question put by Lord Lytton to one of the forty, Sir William Richmond, K.C.B., is of value, as showing that the grievances of "the outsiders" were not imaginary:--

767. I just want to ask you one more question. When you said that in your opinion the walls of the Academy have had priority of claim in the past, have you any particular reason for that statement?--Yes. I may mention this to show that I am consistent. Before I was an Associate of the Royal Academy, I fought hard for what are called, in rather undignified language, the outsiders, and I was anxious that men should be elected Associates of the Royal Academy not necessarily because they exhibit on the Royal Academy walls, but because they are competent painters. That was my fight upon which I stood; and I refused to send a picture to the Royal Academy on the understanding that if I did I should probably be elected Associate that year, and also that my picture would be bought by the Chantrey Fund. My answer to that was, "If my picture is good enough to be purchased for the Chantrey Bequest my picture can be purchased from the walls of the Grosvenor Gallery as well as from the walls of the Royal Academy. That seems to me to be justice."

The "New English," then, had some justification for their establishment; and although they did not make very much headway before the close of the nineteenth century, they find themselves at the opening of the twentieth in a position to determine to a very considerable extent what the future of English painting is to be, just as the Academy succeeded in determining it before they came into existence.

For the Academy everything that was vital in English art in the last half century had no existence--was simply ignored. For the New English, it was the seed that flowered, under their gentle influence, into the many varieties of blossoms with which our garden is already filled. To the Academy there was no such thing as change or development--their ears were deaf to any innovation, their eyes were blind to any fresh beauty. To others, every new movement foretold its significance, and the century closed with the recognition of the fact that art must live and develop if it is to be anything but a comfortable means of subsistence for a self-constituted authority of forty and their friends.

Let me be allowed to conclude this chapter, and my imperfect efforts to indicate the energies of six centuries of art in so small a space, with a passage from a lecture delivered in 1882 by Mr Selwyn Image, now Slade Professor at Oxford, which embodies the spirit in the air at that time, and foreshadows what was to come. "I do not feel that we have come here to sing a requiem for art this afternoon," he said. "As a giant it will renew its strength and rejoice to run its course. I am not a prophet, I cannot tell you just what that course is going to be. Nor is it possible to estimate what is around us with the same security, with the same value, that we estimate what has passed--you must be at a certain distance to take things in. But in contemporary art we can notice some characteristics, which are quite at one with what we call the modern spirit; and extremely suggestive--for they seem to indicate movement, and therefore life, in this imaginative sphere, just as there is movement and life in the sphere of science or of social interests. For instance, in modern representative work ... I think anyone comparing it as a whole with the work of the old masters, will be struck as against their distinctness, containedness, simplicity and serenity; with its complexity, restlessness, and vagueness, and emotion, and suggestiveness in place of delineation, and impressionism in place of literal transcription--and this alike in execution and motive. I do not mean to say that these qualities are better than the qualities that preceded them, or worse--but only that they are different, only that they are of the modern spirit--only that they indicate movement and life; and so far that is hopeful--is it not?"

THE END

_INDEX_

Academy of Painting, the French, 231

---- the Royal, 279, 286, 329-333

Alamanus, Giovanni or Johannes, 60, 61

Allegri, Antonio, or Correggio, 58

Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence, 307

Altdorfer, Albert, 212, 214-216

Angelico, Fra, 19

Animal Painters, 154, 191-202

Aretino, Spinello, 17

Arnolde, 255

Backer, 174

Balen, Henry van, 159, 162

Barret, 287

Basaiti, Marco, 63, 74

Bassano, Jacopo da, 98-99

Bastiani, Lazzaro di, 75-76

Baudelaire, 311, 312

Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio (Sodoma), 57

Bellini, Gentile, 70, 72-73, 76, 81

---- Giovanni, 62, 63, 66, 70-72, 76, 81, 82, 83, 94

---- Jacopo, 66, 69, 70, 75

Belvedere, Andrea, 201

Berchem, Nicholas, 199-201, 205, 208

Beruete, Senor, quoted, 113, 115, 116, 118, 177

Bettes, John, 254, 255

---- Thomas, 255

Bol, 165

Boltraffio, Giovanni Antonio, 57

Bonifazio Veronese or Veneziano, 97-98

Bordes, Lassalle, 311

Bosboom, 307

Botticelli, Sandro, 26, 28-32, 33

Botticini, Francesco, 32

Boucher, Francois, 241-243, 245, 246, 247, 248

Bouguereau, 306

Bourdon, Sebastien, 231-232

Bouts, Dirk, 132

Bracquemond, 325

Bril, Paul, 229

Broederlam, Melchior, 121, 122, 124

Brouwer, Adrian, 157, 158, 173, 183-185

Brueghel, Jan, or Velvet Brueghel, 141, 201

----- Pieter (or Peasant), 141

---- ---- his son, 141

Brun, Le, 234-241

Bruyn, Bartel, 212

Buonarroti. _See_ Michelangelo

Burnet, on Turner, 315

Byzantine Art, 59, 124

Caliari, Paolo, 102-103

Campidoglio, Michel de, 201

Canale, Antonio, 108

Caro-Delvaille, quoted, 79, 87, 91, 92

Carpaccio, Vittore, 75, 76-78

Carracci, the, 106, 182

---- Agostino, 106, 107, 108

---- Annibale, 106, 107

---- Lodovico, 106, 107

Catalonia, School of, 109

Catena, Vincenzo, 72, 73

Cazin, 325

Champaigne, Philippe de, 233-234

Chantrey Trust, the, 329

Chardin, 245, 247, 296, 297

Chartered Society, the, 286

Cimabue, Giovanni, 1-9, 10, 11, 124, 125, 308

Claude (or Claude Lorraine, or Gellee), 226, 229-231

Cleef, Joos van, 142

Clouet, Francois, 226

---- Jehan or Jean, 226

Cole, Peter, 255

---- Vicat, 323

Conegliano, Cima da, 72, 73-74

Constable, 295, 306, 310, 314, 317

Cook, Herbert, quoted, 80, 83, 87

Copley, John Singleton, 297

Corot, 306

Correggio, 58

Cotes, 287

Cotman, John Sell, 295-296, 306, 314

Courbet, 306

Couture, 324

Cox, 306

Cozens, John Robert, 316

Cranach, Lucas, 212, 213-214

Credi, Lorenzo di, 49

Creswick, 323

Crivelli, Carlo, 63, 64

Crome, John, or Old Crome, 295, 314

---- John Bernay, his son, 295

Crowe and Cavalcaselle, quoted, 122

Cunningham, Allan, "Life of Hogarth," 261, 266, 267, 301

Cuyp, Albert, 194-196

---- Jacob Gerritz, 194

Dance, Nathaniel, 286

Daubigny, 306

Daumier, 306

David, Jacques Louis, 248, 249, 306, 309

Dayes, Edward, quoted, on Turner, 315

Decamps, 306

Degas, 306

Delacroix, Eugene, 306, 309-313

Diana, Benedetto, 75

Dilke, Lady, quoted, 247

Dobson, William, 257

Dolce, Carlo, 108

---- Ludovico, on Titian, 80, 81

Domenichino, 107-108, 227

Donatello, 23, 70

Dore, 306

Dou, Gerard, 187, 188, 192

Doyen, 246

Duccio of Siena, 5, 6, 59, 124, 125

Duerer, Albert, 70, 140, 175, 181, 212, 213, 215-222, 223

Duret, Theodore, quoted, on Manet, 324-325

Dyck, Anthony van, 156, 157, 160-163, 165, 166, 178, 236, 272

---- ---- in England, 256-257

Dutch School, 165-210

Eclectics, the, 105

Edwards, Edward, quoted, on Art Exhibitions, 279

Elsheimer, Adam, 158, 212

Emilia, Schools of, 57

English School, early Portrait Painters of, 251-258

---- in Eighteenth Century, 295-298

---- spirit of revolt in Nineteenth Century, 305 _et seq._

Everdingen, 157, 205

Exhibitions of Painting, 278

Eyck, Hubert van, 121, 125, 126, 127, 143, 150

---- Jan van, 121, 125, 129-131, 133, 134, 150

Fabriano, Gentile da, 65, 70

Fabritius, Karel, 189

Fantin-Latour, 325

Fiori, Mario di, 201

Flaxman, John, on Romney, 298-300

Flemish School, 121-163

Floris, Franz, 144

Foppa, Vincenzo, 57

Fragonard, Jean Honore, 245, 248, 249

Francesco, Piero della, 49

Franciabigio, 45

Free Society of Artists, 286

French Academy of Painting, 231

French School in Seventeenth Century, 225-235

---- in Eighteenth Century, 235-249

---- in Nineteenth Century, 305

Frith, W. P., quoted, 331

Fyt, Jan, 154, 157

Gaddi, Taddeo, 18

Gainsborough, Thomas, 286, 288-295, 297

Garrard, Mark, 255

Gellee, Claude, or Claude, 226, 229-231

Genre Painters of Dutch School, 183-191

Gericault, 306, 310

German Schools, 211-224

Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 43, 310

Giambono, Michele, 60, 61

Gillot, Claude, 236, 239

Giorgione, 76, 79, 81, 82, 83, 86, 97

Giotto di Bondone, 10-18, 24, 66, 124, 308

Girtin, 315, 316

Gossaert, Jan, or Mabuse, 136, 138, 139, 143, 254

Gosse, Edmund, quoted, 322, 323

Goubeau, Antoine, 235

Goya, Francisco, 119-120

Goyen, Jan van, 186, 199, 202-203, 204

Grebber, Peter, 199

Greco, El, 110

Greene, Thomas, quoted, on Turner, 314

Greenhill, 257

Gros, Le, 309, 325

Greuze, Jean Baptiste, 243-245, 249, 258

Gruenewald, Matthew, 213

Guardi, Francesco, 108

Guercino, 108

Hals, Frans, 165-169, 173, 178, 179, 181, 183, 184, 192, 248

Harpignies, 325

Heem, de, 201

Heemskirk, Martin, 144

Helst, Bartholomew van der, 165, 170-171, 174

Herle, Wilhelm van, or Meister Wilhelm, 211

Herrera, Francisco de, 111

Highmore, 297

Hilliard, 257

Hobbema, Meindert, 208-210

Hogarth, William, 257, 258-267, 280, 297, 298, 307

Holbein, Hans, 175, 212, 213, 222-224

---- in England, 254

Hondecoeter, Giles, 197, 198

---- Gysbert, 198

---- Melchior, 154, 198, 199

Hone, Nathaniel, 287

Honthorst, Gerard, 169-170

Hoogh, Peter de, 189, 190

Hudson, Thomas, 257, 269

Hunt, Alfred, 323

---- Holman, 134, 306, 320, 321, 322

Huysum, James van, 202

---- Jan van, 201-202

---- Justus van, 202

---- Michael van, 203

Image, Mr Selwyn, quoted, 333

Ingres, 306

Israels, 307

Jervas, 257

John of Bruges, 125, 126

Jongkind, 325

Jordaens, Jacob, 156, 157, 160, 163

Kauffmann, Angelica, 287

Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 234, 257, 279

Knupler, Nicolas, 186

Kugler, quoted, 13, 61, 67, 75, 77, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103, 107, 181, 182, 195, 204, 223

Lancret, Nicholas, 239-240, 241

Landscape, painters of, 202-210

Largilliere, Nicholas, 234, 235, 241

Lastman, Peter, 180

Laurens, J. P., 325

Lawrence, 300, 301-303, 306, 313

Le Brun, 234, 241

Le Gros, 309, 325

Le Moine, Francois, 241

Le Sueur, Eustache, 232-233

Lefort, quoted, on Velasquez, 115

Lely, Sir Peter, 165, 235, 257

Leyden, Lucas van, 138, 212

Lingelbach, 203, 208

Lippi, Fra Filippo, 21, 26, 29

---- Filippino, 22

Lochner, Stephen, 211

Lockie, 255

Lombardy, Schools of, 57

Longhi, Pietro, 108

Loo, Carle van, 241

Lorenzetti, Pietro, 17

Lorraine, Claude, 226, 229-231

Lotto, Lorenzo, 63, 72, 96-97

Luini, Bernardino, 57

Lyne, 255

Mabuse, Jan van, 136, 138, 139, 143, 254

Maes, Nicolas, 180, 188-189

Manet, Edouard, 306, 324-327

Mansueti, Giovanni, 75

Mantegna, Andrea, 67-70, 71, 72, 146, 151

Maratti, Carlo, 108

Maris, the Brothers, 307

Masaccio, 18, 21, 24-26

Masolino, 26

Massys, Jan, 141

---- Quentin, 136-138, 141, 212

Mauve, 307

Meissonier, 306

Memling, Hans, 132, 133-136, 150

Mengs, Raphael, 85

Messina, Antonello da, 71, 72, 126, 129

Metsu, 191

Michelangelo, 26, 40-46, 66, 95, 100

Mieris, Frans van, 188

Millais, 320, 321, 322, 323

Millet, 306

Moine, Francois le, 241

Monoyer, Baptiste, 201

Montagna, Bartolommeo, 63

Mor, Sir Antonio, 142

Morland, George, 296-298

---- Henry, his father, 296

Moroni, 75

Moser, Michael, 280

Moyaert, Nicholas, 199

Murano, Antonio da, 60

Murillo, Bartolome Esteban, 118-119

Muther, Dr, quoted, 32, 177, 178

Nasmyth, 306

New English Art Club, 329, 333

Norwich School, 295

Oil Painting, introduction of, 126

Oliver, 257

Oort, Adam van, 145

Orcagna, Andrea, 16

Orley, Bernard van, 140, 143

Ostade, Adrian van, 173, 183, 185, 206

---- Isaac van, 183, 185

Ouwater, 13

Pacheco, 110-111

Padua, School of, 66

Palma, Giovane, 78

---- Vecchio, 78, 96, 98

Parma, School of, 58

Pater, Jean Baptiste Joseph, 240-241

Peake, 255

Penny, 287

Perugian or Umbrian School, 48, 49, 51

Perugino, Pietro, 48, 49

Pinas, 180

Piombo, Sebastiano del, 94-96

Pisanello, Vittore, 64, 65

Pissarro, 325

Pollaiuolo, Antonio, 26-28, 30

Pontormo, 45

Pot, Hendrik Gerritz, 169

Potter, Paul, 196

---- Pieter, 196

Poussin, Gaspard (Gaspard Dughet), 228-229, 231

---- Nicholas, 226-228

Poynter, Sir Edward, 331

Predis, Ambrogio di, 36, 57

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 134, 320, 323, 327

Previtali, Andrea, 74

Prudhon, 309

Quattrocentists, the Earlier, 18-26

---- the Later, 26 _et seq._

Raeburn, 300

Raphael, 26, 45, 47-57

---- Sir Joshua Reynolds on, 85, 270

Rembrandt van Ryn, 165, 166, 171-183, 192

Reni, Guido, 108

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 267-278, 286-288, 289

---- quoted, on Boucher, 243

---- ---- on Bourdon, 232, 233

---- ---- on Gainsborough, 290-294

---- ---- on Hogarth, 260

---- ---- on Rubens and Titian, 93-94

---- ---- on Titian and Raphael, 85

---- ---- on Veronese, 105

---- revival of English School due to, 150

---- _Refs._ to, 245, 247, 251, 257, 297, 301, 331, 332

Ribera, 110

Richardson, 257

Ridolfi, quoted, 84

Rigaud, Hyacinthe, 234, 241

Riley, 257

Robert, Hubert, 246

Robusti, Jacopo. _See_ Tintoretto

Romano, Giulio, 55

Romney, George, 100, 152, 289, 298-300, 301

Rossetti, 134, 306, 321, 322

Rowlandson, 89

Royal Academy, the, 329-333

---- foundation of, 279, 286

Rubens, Peter Paul, 143-157

---- and Van Dyck, 161-162

---- and Velasquez, 112, 149

---- pupils of, 157-163

---- _Refs._ to, 89, 93, 114, 117, 158, 160, 165, 167, 176, 179, 182, 184, 235, 236, 271

Rucellai Madonna, the, 5

Ruisdael, Jacob, 157, 200, 204-206, 208, 209

Ruskin against the Philistines, 313-323

---- on Whistler, 327

Sandrart, Joachim, 229

---- quoted, 180

Sansovino, 89, 102

Sarto, Andrea del, 41, 45

Scharf, Sir George, 328

Schlegel, on Altdorfer, 215

Schongauer, Martin, 134

Scorel, Jan, 140

Sebastiani, Lazzaro di. _See_ Bastiani

Segar, Francis, 255

---- William, 255

Seghers, Daniel, 201

Semitecolo, Nicolo, 59

Shee, Sir Martin Archer, 313

Signorelli, Luca, 49

Smith, John, Catalogue Raisonne, quoted, 193, 199, 244, 265

Snyders, Frans, 154, 157, 159-160, 163

Sodoma, 57

Spanish School, 108-120

Spinello of Arezzo, or Aretino, 17

Squarcione, Francesco, 62, 63, 66-67, 70

Steen, Jan, 186-187

Stevens, 306

Streetes, Guillim, 254, 255

Strozzi, Bernard, 113

Sueur, Eustache le, 232-233

Swanenburg, Jacob van, 175, 180

Tassi, Agostino, 229

Teniers, Abraham, 158

---- David, the Elder, 157, 158

---- ---- the Younger, 157, 158, 159, 163, 185

Terburg, Gerard, 190-191

Thornhill, Sir James, 258, 279

Thulden, Theodore van, 156

Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, 108

Tintoretto, Il, 99-102, 103, 104, 105, 113, 114, 117

Titian, 78-94, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 117, 179

Turner, 295, 306, 314-320, 323, 327

---- Claude's influence on, 230, 231

Tuscan Schools, 1-58

Uccello, Paolo, 23-24, 25

Umbrian or Perugian School, 48, 49, 51

Vaga, Piero del, 45

Van Balen, Henry, 159, 162

Van Cleef, Joos, 142

Van de Velde, Adrian, 203, 206, 208

---- Willem, the Elder, 206

---- ---- the Younger, 206-208

Van der Helst, Bartholomew, 165, 170-171, 174

Van der Weyden, Roger, 132-134, 211

Van Dyck, Anthony, 156, 157, 160-163, 165, 166, 178, 236, 272

---- ---- in England, 256, 257

Van Eyck, Hubert, 121, 125, 126, 127, 143, 150

---- Jan, 121, 125, 127, 131, 133, 134, 150

Van Goyen, Jan, 186, 199, 202-203, 204

Van Huysum, James, 202

---- Jan, 201-202

---- Justus, 202

---- Michael, 202

Van Leyden, Lucas, 138, 212

Van Loo, Carle, 241

Van Mabuse, Jan, 136, 138, 139, 143, 254

Van Mieris, Frans, 188

Van Oort, Adam, 145

Van Orley, Bernard, 140, 143

Van Ostade, Adrian, 173, 183, 185, 206

---- Isaac, 183, 185

Van Swanenburg, Jacob, 175, 180

Van Thulden, Theodore, 156

Vasari, quoted, on Andrea del Sarto, 41

---- on Botticelli, 28, 30, 32

---- on Cimabue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9

---- on Fra Angelico, 20

---- on Fra Filippo Lippi, 21, 22, 23

---- on Giotto, 10

---- on introduction of oil painting, 126, 127, 129

---- on Leonardo da Vinci, 34, 37, 39, 40

---- on Masaccio, 25, 26

---- on Michelangelo, 42, 43, 44, 45

---- on Pollaiuolo, 26, 27, 28

---- on the Quattrocentists, 18

---- on Raphael, 47

---- on Spinello of Aretino, 82, 86

---- on Titian, 82, 86

---- _Refs._ to, 173, 308

Vecellio, Tiziano. _See_ Titian

Velasquez, 89, 109, 110-118, 120, 163, 178, 179

Venetian Schools, 59-108

Verhaegt, Tobias, 145

Vermeer of Delft, Jan, 189, 191

Veronese, Paolo, 103-104, 105

Verrocchio, Andrea, 34, 35, 49

Vertue, George, 251

Vinci, Leonardo da, 26, 33-40, 49, 57, 225

Vivarini Family, the, 59, 60

---- Antonio, 62, 63, 65

---- Bartolommeo, 62

---- Luigi, or Alvise, 62

Vlieger, Simon de, 206

Vollon, 325

Volterra, Daniele da, 18

---- Francesco da, 18

Vos, Simon de, 156

Waagen, Dr, quoted, 95, 122-123, 143, 146, 153, 157, 224

Walker, Robert, 257

Walpole, quoted, 251, 252, 267

Wals, Gottfried, 229

Watteau, Antoine, 235-239, 240, 241

Watts, George Frederick, 306, 322

Weenix, Jan Baptist, 154, 197, 198, 199

---- ---- his son, 154, 198

Wesel, Hermann Wynrich von, 211

West, Benjamin, 253, 256, 287

Weyden, Roger van der, 132-134, 211

Whistler, James M'Neill, 306, 325, 327

Wilhelm, Meister, 211

Wills, 280

Wils, Jan, 199

Wilson, Richard, 230, 288, 296

Wint, Peter de, 306

Wouvermans, Philip, 192-193, 205, 206, 208

Wyczewa, M. de, quoted, 117

Wynants, Jan, 192, 203-204

Zampieri, Domenico, or Domenichino, 107-108

Zoffany, 297

Zurbaran, 110

FOOTNOTES:

[1] National Gallery Catalogue.

[2] "Titien," par Henry Caro-Delvaille. Librairie Felix Alcan.

[3] An old copy of this picture is in the Edinburgh Gallery.

End of Project Gutenberg's Six Centuries of Painting, by Randall Davies