Bastien-Lepage

Bastien-Lepage we had judged from reproductions, but we find lately, on seeing some of his work, that we had all along misjudged him, thinking him a much greater painter than he really is. This study of Bastien-Lepage has been a revelation to us of the quite misleading and dangerous power of reproductions of a painter's work in black and white. All the black and white reproductions that we have seen of this painter's work give the impression of much greater work than the originals really are, and we would caution all our readers against judging of any painter's or sculptor's work by a reproduction by any method, from etching to cheap wood-cutting, for they may be woefully misled. We feel sure these reproductions - no matter of what kind - will have a very harmful effect on art, and will give quite wrong opinions of work; and they are, no matter of what kind, whether etching, engraving, photo-etching, woodcut, or photograph, to be strongly condemned. Bastien-Lepage is not even always strong in drawing, and his sentiment is often false, untrue, and brutal, and not nearly so fine as Courbet's sentiment, yet Courbet's preceded him; he was but a follower, where Courbet was a leader.

Breton And Lher-Mitte

Of the older living painters, Jules Breton and Lher-mitte stand out as strong men; but Breton has long ago been passed, and Lhermitte is not the man he was, but some of Lhermitte's work will live always. There is a remarkably fine Lhermitte in the Luxembourg, which every one should try and see. Both are naturalistic painters. Of other living painters much might be written, for they, in our opinion, represent the acme of painting and its highest development. We feel that we never saw painting done to perfection until we saw the Paris Salon, and we strongly recommend all readers of this book, after they have studied the pictures and sculptures here referred to, and have some insight into nature, to make without fail a yearly pilgrimage to the French Salon, where they will see painting at its highest development, though of course there is much bad work in the Salon, as at other exhibitions.

The marvellous pastel work, aquarelles, and charcoal drawings will all show them how immeasurably behind France, England is in all the pictorial arts. Englishmen do not know what drawing is - therein lies the cause of their failure. This very year we went to the Academy the day after seeing the Salon, and what a fall was there !

Of living French painters the work the student should carefully study is that of Meissonier,4 Cabanel, Carolus Duran, Pelouse, Protais, Detaille, Perrandeau, Doucet, Petitjean, Busson, Landelle, Appian, Cazin, Harpignies, La Touche, Lansyer, Le Roux, C.M.G., Abraham, Anthonissen, Moreau de Tours, Nys, Nobillet, Marinier, Michel M. Japy, Carne, Vallois, Jan-Monchablon, Joubert, Boucher, J. F., Cabrit, Durot, Poithevin, Beauvais, Denant, Dufour, and many others whose names we forget for the moment, but, be it said, all naturalistic painters to a marvellous degree.

This brings us to the end, so we will leave painting with France in the van and Holland and Belgium closely following and America and England floundering in the rear of these three, for we are no believers in the tall talk of the greatness of the immediate future of English painting, though there is good hope since an earnest and sincere band of young artists has arisen in England whose watchword is "Naturalism."

4 Now dead.

Niccola Pisano.

Andrea and Nino Pisano.

Ghiberti.

Donatello.

Sculpture.

With sculpture the same old story greets us that we meet with in the history of painting. After the masterpieces of Greece come the puerile conventionalities of the Early Christians. But as we have hitherto done so shall we continue - that is, we shall discuss the masters only, and the first we come to is Niccola Pisano. Though his work shows that he was still imbued with the spirit of classicism, yet he struggled to throw off the paralyzing conventionality of servile imitation, and tried hard to get back to nature, and some of his sculptures in Pisa are wonderful for expression. He was the pioneer where followed the great Donatello. Pisano's son worked in the same direction as his father, and has left some wonderful architectural monuments and sculptures, but his fame rests chiefly on his architectural works, with which we are not here concerned. Andrea and Nino Pisano made great strides towards truth and naturalness, and so paved the way for the great man to come. They were immediately followed by Ghiberti, who spent many years of his life in working at the well-known mighty doors of the baptistery at Pisa. These great gates, however, show no subtlety of the sculptor's art. Tonality there is none; the whole is rather a kind of emblematic picture-writing than sculpture, but Ghiberti says he spent his time in "studying nature and investigating her methods of work," so that even though he did not succeed, nature was his watchword. But all these sink into insignificance before the mighty name of Donatello. Like all true and great artists, Donatello appreciated the limits of his art, made naturalism his watchword, and followed his principles with sincerity. Whilst we are now writing, the wonderful low relief of St. Cecilia, which is on view at