IMPRESSIONS ON PAINTING BY ALFRED STEVENS TRANSLATED, WITH THE AUTHOR’S PER^ MISSION, BY ... . CHARLOTTE ADAMS COOnDES ® *"3 (Ü s Si $ @ Jjgg IMDCCCLXXXVI ? ■z m s: B pc p 1® NEW YORK GEORGE J. COOMBES No. 275 Fifth Avenue MDCCCLXXXVI I • t/ ft! , W / Of v IMPRESSIONS ON PAINTING Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/impressionsonpaiOOstev tÀ ♦ w ^ ►m#** „ tfc% . »„„f IMPRESSIONS ON PAINTING ALFRED STEVENS TRANSLATED, WITH THE AUTHOR’S PER- MISSION, BY ... . CHARLOTTE ADAMS NEW YORK GEORGE J. COOMBES No. 275 Fifth Avenue MDCCCLXXXVI Copyright, 1886, by George J. Coombes INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION AM pleased to see my “ Impressions on Painting ” translated for an American edition, because I have faith in the future of art in America, as I have already said in this book . I know the works of the American painters only through reproductions, often unfaithful. I have had, however, the opportunity of see- ing, and of becoming acquainted with, the original productions of some of the artists of the United States who have studied in Europe, and I am convinced that not a few of them have imdoubted talent. Connaisseurs have especially remarked at the Paris Salon of this year the contribu- tions of Young America. The illustrators of the United States, artists of the first rank, particularly deserve VI INTRODUCTION to fix our attention , by their initiative and the surejiess of their inventive faculty . François Millet was already appreciated at his proper value across the Atlantic when he was still unrecognised among us, for the elementary reason that a man is not a prophet in his own country. The new world, in love with our art, has purchased at high prices the masterpieces of the present epoch. It is America that regulates prices in the European picture market. It must be ad- mitted that artistic knowledge does not al- ways preside at these purchases ; but I hasten to add that lovers of art for art's sake, infal- lible afpreciators, are rare in all latitudes. A true appreciation of the beautiful is not within range of every one. ALFRED S TE VENS. ALFRED STEVENS E name “Alfred Stevens” carries with it associations of peculiar grace and elegance in modern art. All Americans who know the picture world of Paris or Belgium, either through travel or from exhibitions in this country, can at once identify this name with groups of lovely women and children, executed with an admirable technique and bear- ing the stamp of unusual refinement and distinction. M. Stevens belongs both to France and to Belgium. Born at Brussels in 1828, the son of an ex-cavalry officer, his early training gave him the liter- ary bias proper to Belgian art, and his first pictures show the influence of the Belgian school. His later works pro- claim him a Frenchman of the most ALFRED STEVENS viii modem school, in technique and artistic thought. The elder Stevens was a collector of pictures and one of the first appre- ciators of the works of Eugène Dela- croix, which he purchased at a time when this great artist was scarcely rec- ognized by the public. Who can tell what influence may have been exer- cised on the son by the father’s admi- ration for a painter placed by the French art estimates of to-day among the great masters of the century ? De- lacroix was the painter of eclectics. That M. Stevens loves Delacroix is evident from the special mention of him made in the “ Impressions.” The mother of M. Stevens was pos- sessed of more than ordinary knowl- edge of art. It is not strange, then, that, born and bred among such influ- ences, Alfred Stevens and his brothers should early have embraced artistic professions. M. Joseph Stevens is a distinguished animal painter at Brus- ALFRED STEVENS IX sels, and M. Arthur Stevens is widely known as an art critic and the curator of the gallery of the King of Belgium. M. Alfred Stevens went to Paris when seventeen years old. He stud- ied under Camille Roqueplan and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts ; but he was his own best teacher. He first exhib- ited in 1853, and his picture, “La Descente de la Courtille,” which re- ceived a medal, was purchased by the Museum of Marseilles. What is particularly noticeable in the “ Impressions ” of M. Stevens is their contemporaneousness — their ap- preciation of the world of to-day, val- ued as artistic material — their abound- ing sense of actuality. Such was the bias of the painter from the outset of his career. He is and has always been, in feeling, a modern of the mod- erns. He has always had this fond- ness for his own time, this “ love of modernity,” as he himself expresses it. But, as a young man, in order X ALFRED STEVENS to live at all he was forced to paint subjects of the period of Charles IX., for at that time the public toler- ated none but pictures representing a past epoch. The influence of French literary romanticism was then strongly felt in art. M. Stevens suffered keenly from the tyranny of custom, but he freed himself from it as soon as possible. It is not singular that in his “ Im- pressions ” he should deal well-aimed blows at the academic, the pseudo- historical and the conventional. He presently came before the public as a painter of every-day life and scenes. The strong human sentiment of Bel- gian art, the elegance of the Paris world of fashion and a certain per- sonal tenderness of feeling soon gave to his pictures an individual position in modern art. He stands by himself in the French art system, as well as in that of Belgium. It is with the later works of M. ALFRED STEVENS XI Stevens that we in America are most concerned, partly because we have more of them among us, partly be- cause they represent the worthiest results of his years of labor, and partly because they best illustrate the ideas and theories which sparkle in epigrammatic brilliancy on the pages of the “ Impressions.” Many of his pictures are owned by collectors of New York and of other cities in the United States. The museums of Brussels, Antwerp, Paris and London contain important examples of the master. The high esteem in which his work is held by painters is attested by the fact that much of it is bought by the younger French artists. Alfred Stevens is preeminently a painter for painters. He is an im- pressionist in the highest artistic sense of the term. His impressionism is of the kind that, while accepting life as it is, strives for beauty and not for ugliness. Repose, grace, loveliness, Xll ALFRED STEVENS moral and mental harmony, are the elements of the ethical side of his art. As a painter of women this artist might well be called the Balzac of the brush, for his tender and gracious rendering of the subtle beauties of the modern woman — and especially the Frenchwoman of fashion. One breathes in his compositions the at- mosphere of the grand monde on its most exquisite, feminine side. He enjoys the distinction of having been the first painter to find his subjects in Parisian society. He was, too, prob- ably the first of the Paris artists to feel the mysterious fascination of Japanese art. His sympathy with it is very great and he has assimilated much of its delicate decorative quality. M. Stevens is a poet on canvas. He loves women, children, flowers, light, air and the sea. He has met with much success as a marine painter, and it is the suave, smiling aspect of the ocean that pleases him best. He ALFRED STEVENS Xlll loves effects of moonlight ; he loves — as he himself says — this “ planet which seems to have suffered, which poetises everything ! ” M. Stevens leads in his home at Paris the simple life of a worker and of one in love with his art. He lives in the midst of a famous group of artists and men of letters. He has known all the great men of the century in Paris art and literature — Corot, Millet, Delacroix, who, together with Alexandre Dumas, fils, was a witness of his marriage, Ingres, Rousseau, Troyon, Diaz, Couture, Victor Hugo, Dumas, père, and many others, now numbered with the dead. He counts among his friends and acquaintances all the distinguished literary men of the day, from Zola and Daudet down ; and all the artists, from Meissonier to the youngest members of the painter guild. The “Impressions on Painting” not only form a complete exposition XIV ALFRED STEVENS of the artistic creed of Alfred Stevens, but they represent the most modern and advanced side of French art, free from its diseases and exaggerations. They appeal particularly to our own young painters and art students, as well as to all among us who are inter- ested in “ art for art’s sake.” Charlotte Adams. New York, August 9, 1886. HAVE often, in familiar conversations, attributed to painters of greater age or authority than myself various reflec- tions on art, in order to cause them to be accepted more easily. While I do not attach more importance than they deserve to improvisations of this kind, I have determined, acting on the advice of my professional friends, to now acknowledge their paternity. I dedicate these thoughts to the memory of Corot, in testimony of my admiration for that great artist, the most modern of nineteenth cen- tury painters. IMPRESSIONS ON PAINTING I MAN should bear the marks of his time and of his early education ; he should be sub- ject to the influence of the sun be- neath which and of the country in which he lives. II It is not until a certain period of life that a man rightly understands his art. III In painting, there are no phe- nomena; prodigies like Pascal, Mo- zart, Pic de la Mirandole, etc., do not exist in our art. 2 IMPRESSIONS IV The student should learn to draw, as much as possible, with his brush. v There is no fine picture without fine color. VI The greatness of a work is not to be measured by its dimensions. VII Great workers must not be con- founded with mere drudges. VIII Every colorist is a lover of music. IX The painter who, in the matter of art, believes himself a god, displays his weakness. ON PAINTING 3 X Success too generally acclaimed belongs oftenest to mediocrity. XI It is better to give a nail’s breadth of one’s self than an arm’s length of what belongs to others. XII In painting, everything is contrast, color as well as drawing. XIII A painter is only great when he is a master-workman. XIV Execution is the painter’s style. XV In painting, one can dispense with a so-called “ subject.” A picture ought not to need a literary descrip- tion. 4 IMPRESSIONS XVI All imaginative subjects, all ca- prices of the brain, are permitted to genius. With the painter of nature there is only the true. XVII There are talents which give offence because they appear to be saying, “ Behold us !” XVIII The minor Dutch masters cause their faults to be pardoned because they always seem to say, “ I have done my best ! Would that it were better !” XIX One should formulate aesthetically and not imitate servilely. xx A painter, however mediocre, who has depicted the era in which he lives ON PAINTING 5 will become more interesting in time than he who, having more talent, portrays an epoch he has never seen. XXI Fashionable costumes cause a smile as soon as they are out of date. Time alone gives them back their character. The “mignons” of Henri III., who interest us, must have become ridicu- lous under Henri IV. XXII In modernity, the manner of social elegance is that which excites most criticism. XXIII If you paint a blonde and the buy- er’s wife be a brunette, your picture runs the risk of hanging a long time in your studio. XXIV Maturity is more difficult to paint than childhood or old age. 6 IMPRESSIONS XXV A bust of Donatello is as eloquent as the Moses of Michael Angelo. XXVI The “ Victory ” of Samothrace, in the Louvre, without a head and with- out arms, is quite as heroic as the bas-relief by Rude on the Arc de Triomphe. XXVII I would rather have painted four bladders and a palette, as did Chardin, than the Entrance of Alexander into Babylon of Lebrun, the official painter of Louis XIV. XXVIII The admiration inspired by tricky painters is fleeting. XXIX A painter should not live on his memories ; he should paint what he sees, what has just affected him. ON PAINTING 7 XXX The higher one rises in art, the less is one understood. XXXI Our epoch has a tendency to return to the early painters and to forsake the complex masters. XXXII The more beautiful and distingué the subject, the more difficult it is to paint. XXXIII Once the painter has a great artistic soul, the tortoise becomes as interest- ing as the horse, much more difficult to execute, the soul of the painter giving its imprint to everything. xxxiv There should be no haste in the erection of a statue to a man. Neither should we hasten to introduce our 8 I M P RESS I O NS masters into the Louvre. Time alone is an infallible classifier. XXXV In pictures of animals, the cow and the sheep have always brought higher prices than the horse. They are liked in general, without being studied. The horse finds connaisseurs and crit- ics where art has very little to see. XXXVI Paint a woman of a bygone age and the public and the artists themselves will have an indulgence for your pic- ture which they would not have for a modern figure. XXXVII One does not judge a picture justly until ten years after its execution. XXXVIII Easel painting is the most difficult to execute. ON PAINTING 9 XXXIX A painter is constantly at work, even outside of his studio. XL Our century counts more great painters of landscape than of the figure. XLI Talent being equal, the figure painter is superior to him who follows all the other branches. XLII Painters depicting their own time become historians. XLIII It is more difficult to put atmos- phere into an interior than to paint open air. XLIV Géricault was strongly influenced by his time and only related what he 10 IMPRESSIONS saw. He therefore spoke before Courbet. XLV The old masters rarely painted an epoch other than their own. The Bible is the history of the human heart, and they nearly always inter- preted the subjects with the costumes of their own time. XLVI The more one knows, the more one simplifies. XLVII Woe be to the painter who obtains only the approbation of women ! XLVIII One should know how to paint a moustache hair by hair before allow- ing himself to execute it with a single stroke of the brush. XLIX How many young painters put the cart before the horse ! ON PAINTING II L One can judge of the sentiment of an artist by a flower he has painted. LI The painter who does not know how to “ detach ” a lemon on a Japanese plate, is not a delicate col- orist. LII A man’s hand has the same ex- pression as his face. LIU What has been quickly done is quickly seen, unless the dexterity be the result of long and conscientious studies. LIV Painters who, in spite of their tal- ent, no longer make use of nature, disquiet me as to their future. 2 IMPRESSIONS LV They will end by wearying the public through the abuse of exhibi- tions. LVI The faculties are not artistic quali- ties. LVI I In painting, it is an art to know when to stop. LVI 1 1 The ignorant man always desires to make a great display of knowl- edge. LIX If one has unexpectedly done well, he may attribute his success to the effect of his previous study. LX In a portrait, it is better to let the ON PAINTING 13 sitter take an habitual pose than to strive for effect by an unusual one. lx I Art criticism has a tendency to occupy itself more with the literary than with the technical side. LXII Laboriously painted pictures, in which hard work is visible, please the public ; it gets its money’s worth. LXIII In the art of painting, one must be a painter before all ; the thinker comes later. LXIV A picture, like a pretty woman, needs dress. LXV Every painter, however bad he may be, has his little public, and is satis- fied with it. 14 IMPRESSIONS LXVI Before thinking of pleasing the public, one should be satisfied with himself. LXVI I An artist should first of all be a painter, and the greatest and finest “ compositions ” in the world are not worth a good bit of technique. LXVIII Géricault, with a single figure, de- picts the whole army of the First Empire. LXIX A smile is more difficult to render than tears. LXX An old 'Woman is easier to paint than a young girl. LXXI It is not necessary to go to the ON PAINTING 15 East to look for light and for pictur- esque motives. To the penetrating painter everything everywhere is beautiful. LXXII The artist prefers painting a blonde, because her hair blends more har- moniously with the skin than does the hair of a brunette. LXXIII A picture ought not, as is vul- garly said, to stand out of the frame ; it is the reverse that should be said. LXXIV The artist in his maturity should have his convictions, but he should nevertheless wrap himself in pious meditation before his easel. The early masters undoubtedly made the sign of the cross before painting. 6 IMPRESSIONS LX XV The Gioconda would have less suc- cess to-day than any battle. LXXVI The nude is the great difficulty of art, and the man is more difficult to execute than the woman. LXXVII An old slipper is more picturesque than the dancing shoe of a man of fashion. LXXVIII Before a fragment of a destroyed work one ought to be able to say with certainty what masterpiece it is and to what masterpiece it belonged. LXXIX Some great geniuses have felt the need of expending their strength rap- idly, and in order to go faster, have adopted certain formulas. They are ON PAINTING 1 7 less instructive than those who have interested themselves more directly in nature. LXXX The masterpiece of God is the human face. The glance of a woman has more charm than the most beau- tiful horizon, and more attraction than a ray of sunlight. LXXXI Before admiring a still-life, one must see if the painter has known how to treat the ground of his pic- ture. LXXXII In France fashion leads everything. Even in painting there are fashion- able tones. LXXXIII Art is made for the fastidious and passes over the heads of the vulgar. If it were not for this, it would no longer be art. i8 IMPRESSIONS LXXXIV Those artists who were but lately- doubted are no better understood to-day than before ; but, as specula- tion has adopted them and held them up to view, the sheep of Panurge flock after them. LXXXV The great artists doubted by their contemporaries always had some dis- ciples who cheered them in their hours of vexation. LXXXVI The opinion of a connaisseur is more flattering than the commenda- tion of the ignorant. LXXXVII The arrangement of our little apart- ments demands light and luminous painting. ON PAINTING 19 LXXXVIII A man is not vigorous because he is violent. LXXXIX It is more difficult to remain vigor- ous in executing warm-toned, trans- parent painting than in employing intense tones. \ XC Time renders sound painting more beautiful and debases the bad. XCI Bad painting cracks in the form of the sun; good painting becomes a fine crackle. XCII Flies do not restrain themselves with regard to bad painting ; they re- spect good. Strange ! § 20 IMPRESSIONS XCIII The specialist who puts the per- spective into your picture mars it. XCIV Without faith, one should not at- tempt religious painting. xcv In general, great colorists are born by the sea. XCVI True artists have a preference for ugly beauties. xcvn The Museum at Versailles is an artistic mystification. XCVIII Although the sun gives life to color, it is brutal at high noon, and becomes an anti-colorist. ON PAINTING 21 XCIX The moon beautifies everything. It lends accent to sterile landscapes that the sun itself is powerless to animate, because it suppresses details and gives value only to the mass. C The historical subject was invented the day that people were no longer interested in painting itself. Cl Japanese art is a powerful element of modernity. CII The Japanese have better rendered all the manifestations of the sun and moon than the ancient or modern masters. cm The Japanese have made us under- stand that nothing in nature is to be 22 IMPRESSIONS disdained, and that an ant is as well constructed as a horse. CIV In Japanese art all is love, from the blade of grass to the divinity. cv The Japanese are true impression- ists. CVI If one paints a peasant woman, one performs the act of a thinker ; but if one paints a woman of society, one is held to perform an act of fashion. Why? A woman of society has nevertheless looked at the sky oftener than a peasant woman. CVII Without ever dispensing with na- ture, at a given moment the painter should no longer allow himself to be dominated by her. ON PAINTING 23 CVIII The invention of photography has made a revolution in art quite as great as that which the invention of railroads made in industry. CIX Photography proves to us that art is much superior to this admirable invention ; even if it found color, it would still be inferior to painting. cx In looking at a picture, one ought not to have to suspect the artist of having called photography to his aid. CXI Independence gives audacity to the artist. CXII A commission for a picture is al- 24 IMPRESSIONS most corrupting to the artist, since it injures his originality of impulse. CXIII One commits an act of bad faith in having a model pose for the hands of a portrait. CXIV In studios, the pupils drawing from models succeed better with the back view of the academic figure than with the front. CXV A man is not a modernist because he paints modern costumes. The artist in love with modernity should, first of all, be impregnated with mod- ern sensations. cxvi All the masters have painted the Virgin and the Infant Jesus. It is always a mother and her son, and ON PAINTING 25 this will be an admirable subject to all eternity. CXVII Masterpieces are generally simple. A figure, a torso suffice to reveal a master. CXVIII A great artist is generally a good critic, because he penetrates best into the arcana of things. cxix Why are there so many artists who wear the blouse all the year, only to put on the dress coat when it becomes a question of exhibiting at the Salon ? cxx As long as an artist has not ob- tained a recompense he thinks of Peter and Paul ; but from the day he is recompensed he most frequently believes himself to be somebody, for- 2 6 IMPRESSIONS gets Peter and Paul, and is no longer anybody. CXXI The masters of all countries and of all ages have practiced portrait paint- ing, which is perhaps the finest of all kinds. CXXII The Frenchman prefers the picture which he can complete with his thought. CXXIII The painter should try to express himself in his work, and should do it with sincerity. CXXIV The painter who always paints the same picture pleases the public, for the sole reason that the latter recognises it easily, and considers itself a con- naisseur. ON PAINTING 27 cxxv Art is aristocratic. The alphabetical list adopted for the classification of the Salon, for the love of democratic equality, is an outrage upon the le- gitimate prerogatives of talent. CXXVI Draughtsmen, like colorists, are born, not made. CXXVII There should be exhibitions every five years, where each artist should exhibit but a single figure, expressing nothing. CXXVIII At the Salon the restless red-tails raise their voices, crying : “ Come this way ; then you shall see what you shall see !” Art counts for nothing therein. cxxix A spark of light, placed on an ac- 28 IMPRESSIONS cessory by a Dutch or Flemish master, is more than an able touch of the brush — it is a stroke of intellect. cxxx A foreshortening, a violent move- ment, are easier to draw than a simple and quiet movement. CXXXI An artist strikes his note at the outset. CXXXII The most interesting subjects are those which one can examine in all conditions of mind and heart. CXXXIII Since the jury of the Salon has systematically rejected the works of painters who have become great mas- ters, like Rousseau, Delacroix, Millet, painters whose works are justly re- ON PAINTING 2 9 fused now make use of these great names to excuse their defeat. CXXXIV Fine decorative art is too much confounded with theatrical and com- monplace decoration. cxxxv One should not enter the Louvre except he say to himself : “ To-day I shall look at but five or six great masters! ” CXXXVI Nothing is as useful as comparison. CXXXVII By looking at the palette of a painter, one knows with whom one is dealing. CXXXVIII In our days talent runs about the streets, but genius is rarer than ever. 30 IMPRESSIONS CXXXIX The physique has its predestina- tions. A badly constructed being has never arrived at the mastery in the plastic arts. CXL Woman easily assimilates pictorial qualities, but she also stops with the same facility as soon as it comes to a question of creating. CXLI More than fifteen hundred pictures should be removed from the Louvre. CXLII The pictures of the masters at the Louvre should be spaced ; they would be more respected and admired. CXLIII When one executes painting of a ON PAINTING 31 lofty order, one may not be a master, but one is meritorious. CXLIV A finger of the portrait of Anne Boleyn, by Holbein, is as forcible as a whole portrait by Franz Hals. CXLV Rubens existing, one could, per- haps, more easily do without the great Vandyke than a minor Dutch master. CXLVI A fine picture, the effect of which is admired at a distance, ought equally to bear analysis when looked at near by. CXLVII There are pictures full of talent, the subject and the quality of which forbid their entrance into drawing- rooms, and which ought to remain in the ante-room. 32 IMPRESSIONS CXLVIII In painting, it is well to identify one’s self with the seasons. It is a mistake to depict a winter subject in summer. CXLIX Nothing does more injustice to a good picture than bad neighbors. CL “ I have never seen nature thus,” say certain Philistines before a pict- ure. Nothing is wanted but that they should view it with the intelli- gence of the artist ! One should learn to see, as in music one learns to hear. CLI Of what use is it for a young artist to wish to exhibit too soon and in spite of everything ! CLII What would the public have said ON PAINTING 33 if, in the reign of Louis Philippe, the prediction had been made that fifty years later a statue would be raised to Delacroix, and that Delaroche would scarcely be remembered ? CLIII At the Salon, the first pictures are always more favorably judged than the last. CUV In the composition of a competent jury it is not necessary that it should consist of forty members ; three or five would be sufficient. CLV The great masters are more won- derful at their homes than at the Louvre, because in looking at them at home one embraces the country in which they were born. CLVI If a painter represents Rembrandt 34 IM PRESSIONS in his studio he is dominated by Rem- brandt ; in spite of himself he seeks for effects of light and shade; if he represents Veronese he is possessed by Veronese, and will seek for open-air effects. One enters involuntarily into the temperament of the painter whom one wishes to recall. CLVII One should go much to the Louvre to study and interpret the masters, but never to try to imitate them. CLVIII Quentin Matsys passed, they say, twenty years in executing his master- piece at the Brussels Museum. Never- theless, in contemplating this marvel one does not discern the least lassi- tude, the slightest exhaustion. CLIX They say “ The opinion of a painter is always tainted with bias ; he only ON PAINTING 35 judges by his preferences.” A con- naisseur who loves Ingres has also his bias against Delacroix, and vice versa . CLX Since the war of 1870, more soldiers have been painted than ever. CLXI As a general thing, one must be dead in order to sell at a high figure. CLXII It is to the English painters that the French school is indebted for the artistic evolution of 1830. CLXIII We are passing through an epoch in prey to such pictorial monstrosities, that people will come, by reaction, to do justice to works of fine execution. CLXIV The masters of the eighteenth cent- t 36 IMPRESSIONS ury are especially interesting because they were thoroughly inspired by the manners of their epoch and interpreted them with spirit. CLXV At the Salon the public concerns itself almost exclusively with the sub- ject; the true art of the painter be- comes accessory. CLXVI The painter is, in the world of art, the most petted and the most re- warded, and it is he who complains the most. CLXVII A painter is wrong to abandon the country in which he was born and passed his youth. CLXVIII A man should have the courage not to allow the successes of the Salon, the opinion of the press or the ON PAINTING 3 7 contingency of recompenses to occupy his mind, and should be chiefly con- cerned with living up to his own ideal. CLXIX There is no coloring without reflec- tions. CLXX There are masters who have a right to our admiration, but who are no longer of our time. CLXXI How many men of great talent could no longer do at our epoch what they did at their own ! CLXXII Do not exert yourself to make too perfect studies from nature. A study should be an exercise without preten- sion. CLXXIII A painter ought sometimes to con- sult a sculptor, and vice versa . 38 IMPRESSIONS CLXXIV One usually begins a picture with spirit, but often finishes it with a cer- tain melancholy. CLXXV A master sometimes delivers, with- out being satisfied with it, a picture to which he becomes reconciled upon seeing it again some years later. CLXXVI There always remains something to do in a picture for the artist who is not easily satisfied. CLXXVII It is, however, an art not to retouch what has come at one stroke. CLXXVIII An artist can never sufficiently search into the secrets of his art, but ON PAINTING 39 he should never lose his native sim- plicity. CLXXIX There is no artist’s studio, even a mediocre one, in which a study may not be found superior to his finished works. CLXXX Everything here below is the pro- duct of study. One does not play the piano except by exerting one’s self to play scales, just as one does not become an accomplished fencer until one has used the plastron for a long time. It would be truly strange if, by exception, the art of painting did not require study. CLXXXI The opinion of inexperienced youth is often more judicious than that of a painter who has succeeded. Youth has the sentiment of the present and the presentiment of the morrow ; the 40 IMPRESSIONS artist who has succeeded has a predis- position to stiffen himself in the for- mulas of the previous day, which have brought him his reputation. CLXXXII One sees to-day too many artists attempt all branches of painting with deplorable lack of personal feeling. Rubens or Rembrandt, when they painted genre or landscape, placed on these productions the genius mark of their signature. The painters of to- day, on the contrary, alter their work- manship in changing their kind of painting. CLXXXIII I do not like a model who never moves. CLXXXIV One paints dry and hard at the outset; suppleness only shows itself when the artist is in full possession of his art. -V- ON PAINTING 41 CLXXXV To paint a good portrait, it is in- dispensable to enter into the spirit and the character of the model, and to compel one’s self to depict him not only by exactly reproducing his features, but more particularly by in- terpreting his mind. CLXXXVI One ought not to be forced to paint from the first of January to the thirty- first of December. There is some- thing sad, however, in finding dust on one’s palette after an absence. CLXXXVII It is puerile to say, “ I have found a fine subject for the next Salon.” CLXXXVIII The broad noonday sun discolors ; the indefinite and mysterious hours of dawn and twilight are preferable for the painter. 42 IMPRESSIONS CLXXXIX The painter who lives on stored-up memories of travel is an artificial artist who has only retrospective emotions. cxc The virgin forests in which we have not lived have not the eloquence of a well-known and familiar grove. CXCI Put three landscape painters before a landscape and each will interpret it according to his temperament ; never- theless it is the same landscape. Where, then, is found what it is now agreed to call the tone of nature ? CXCII Painting is nature seen through the prism of an emotion. CXCIII The most beautiful odalisque, ON PAINTING 43 adorned with jewels, will never move me as much as the women of the coun- try in which I was born ; I therefore prefer painting the latter to the former. CXCIV Painters are to be pitied who have not deigned or have not known how to sing of woman and child. CXCV To make a pupil paint many flowers is excellent instruction. CXCVI The student should be forbidden to draw from memory or from chic. He ought always to work de visu. CXCVII People have a sad tendency to run after the qualities of their neighbors and to neglect those with which they themselves are endowed. 44 IMPRESSIONS CXCVIII One should not systematically pre- scribe to students historical, mytho- logical or Biblical subjects ; it is better that they should interpret subjects bearing upon familiar, every-day life. CXCIX Ingres said : “ Drawing is the prob- ity of painting.” He might have added that color is the ennobling of it. CC I like, above all, in all the arts, the gifts of nature ; they surpass the ef- forts of academic drudges. CCI The man of genius is he who has received a gift which labor has logic- ally developed and balanced. CCII Many great painters are hurtful to ON PAINTING 45 youth. One must have reached a cer- tain age in order to “ embrace ” them without danger. CCIII Comfort has been injurious to art. CCIV The execution of a fine painting is agreeable to the touch. CCV A true painter is a thinker withal. CCVI At a certain age, a painter should no longer be afraid of trembling. CCVII A student should draw everything that presents itself to his eyes. One must sow in order to reap. CCVIII Certain Dutch masters appear to 46 IMPRESSIONS have painted with small pounded stones. CCIX It is easier to do a head in several hours than in several days. ccx To hunt with an important air for the signature of a picture, in order to appear to be a connaisseur, is already an avowal of artistic ignorance. CCXI If the right hand becomes too skil- ful, one should make use of the left. The brain ought not to allow itself to be dominated by the dexterity of the hand. CCXII It is abnormal to paint a violent movement — a man running, for in- stance. Impressionable people, at the end of a certain time, would be ON PAINTING 4 7 tempted to say to him : “ Do sit down ! ” CCXIII The masters have not always pro- duced masterpieces. Happy he who, in our day, shall be able to leave be- hind him a fine bit of painting ! CCXIV Charlet’s determined First Empire soldiers disappeared with the epic of which they were the heroes. The soldier of to-day serves his time with- out convictions, thinking only of his discharge. It is, therefore, no longer a type, and yet we have now more painters of soldiers than in the time of Charlet. CCXV Although France, artistically, leads the world to-day, the Frenchman is nevertheless more a stylist than truly pictorial. 48 IMPRESSIONS CCXVI The public willingly confounds romance with true artistic poetry. CCXVII The public is interested in costume subjects, as it is enamored of the society disguises of a masked ball. CCXVIII Oil painting is far above water color and pastel ; time destroys these last and ennobles the first. CCXIX One should distrust charcoal. It is a flatterer which is satisfied cheaply ; the pencil is more exacting. ccxx The born painter never believes that he has succeeded ; he is con- stantly seeking to enlarge and elevate his art, even above his strength ; ON PAINTING 49 this is, besides, for an artist, the only means of not weakening at a certain age. CCXXI Studios that are too small produce petty work. CCXXII The painter contemplating nature should depict it so as to preserve the flavor of his first impression. CCXXIII A student should avoid beautifying his model ; he ought rather to ex- aggerate it in order not to detract from its character. CCXXIV A picture should not be of such small dimensions as to lead us to suppose that we are becoming far- sighted. 50 IMPRESSIONS ccxxv Reputations are easy to acquire; what is difficult is to render them lasting. CCXXVI Too good sight is often a fatal gift to a painter, because the retina is maddened by seeing too many things in detail. CCXXVII The Americans have some nine- teenth century masterpieces; they have, it is said, the love of Japanese art ; if they come to have a Louvre, with their character, their inventive spirit in everything, old Europe is probably destined to one day accept an artistic renovation from young America. CCXXVIII I am a partisan of good picture dealers. It is they who create con- ON PAINTING 51 naisseurs, who raise our prices, who uphold and set off our qualities in the eyes of the ignorant, and who save us from having to sing our own praises. CCXXIX One cannot, living at Paris, paint flesh like Rubens ; each country gives an individual charm to woman. ccxxx Grace does not exist without strength. CCXXXI We are at an epoch in which the need of attaining originality is so strongly felt that Rome causes us more fear than London. CCXXXII In the future, a German will be prouder of the genius of Albert Dürer than of that of the great Frederick. 52 IMPRESSIONS CCXXXIII A great painter is of all periods ; a great politician belongs most fre- quently only to his epoch. CCXXXIV It is more uncommon to find a painter than a learned man. ccxxxv If neurosis exists, it is an evil which the painter must needs experi- ence. CCXXXVI If the costume of the men of our time be not beautiful, it is not the fault of the painter. CCXXXVII It is easier to find a man of talent than a man of elevated taste. CCXXXVIII All painting should be able to bear close inspection. ON PAINTING 53 CCXXXIX A professor may teach principles, but he ought especially to discover and develop the aptitudes of the student. CCXL The public, in the presence of the sea, understands less readily the re- served charms of the morning than the apotheoses of a setting sun. CCXLI The contemplation of the works of a painter of recognized talent causes less emotion than that of an artist less appreciated but nevertheless of greater taste. CCXLII Photography gives the common- place resemblance that everybody can see ; the painter alone penetrates into the intimacy of the model and de- tects the radiance of the physiognomy. 54 IMPRESSIONS CCXLIII People do not trouble themselves enough in our day about the work- manship, the trade, painting for paint- ing’s sake ; but they will be forced to return to it, and only those who possess this master quality will be certain of immortality. CCXLIV The frivolous public laughed at a painter who had given to his work the abstract title of “Symphony in White”; the painter had, neverthe- less, performed more technically an act of painting than those who have produced so many historical subjects. CCXLV It is only after having executed numerous studies from nature that one may permit himself to paint an impression from her; one ends by wearying of a study, never of an im- pression. ON PAINTING 55 CCXLVI The old masters imbibed from child- hood all the knowledge of their teachers ; they had not, like us, to discover for themselves the secrets of their art ; this is why they were able, in full maturity, to add their indi- vidual qualities to their acquired ideas. CCXLVII To cause the picture of a master to be retouched is a crime that the law ought to punish severely. CCXLVIII The art of painting should not be too much encouraged ; rather the re- verse. CCXLIX It is not always the talent of the master which causes pupils to flock to his studio ; it is often the good luck he has had to meet among them a specially endowed nature. 56 IMPRESSIONS CCL One weeps reading a book or list- ening to music ; one never weeps before a picture, before sculpture. CCLI To those who say that Japanese art has a formula, one may reply that Greek art had also its own. CCLII Nothing is forgiven in a picture with a single figure ; many things are excused in a picture with several figures. CCLIII The masters of the grand epochs have often more faults than those of the decadences. CCLIV If the public were allowed to enter the Salon before the artists, what comical estimates would be obtained ! ON PAINTING 5 7 CCLV The bids at public sales are what rank a painter commercially. This is sometimes very unjust. CCLVI Painting is not made for exhibi- tions. Delicate pictures are annihi- lated at the Salon ; loud and vulgar ones hold their own better. CCLVII Once a member of the Institute, the painter lives to be old, because, at any rate, he remains somebody for the public. CCLVI 1 1 There are painters who paint only a single picture every year for the Salon ; others paint thirty during their year, and at the most can only exhibit three of them. This is unjust. 58 IMPRESSIONS CCLIX How many pictures do well in an exhibition and ill in a drawing-room, and vice versa ! CCLX The art of painting has not for its, mission to lead on to fortune. CCLXI The public supports, a mediocre painter as long as he is young ; once grown old, it abandons him to his sad fate. CCLXII What a mistake to have thought of forming a museum of copies of the masterpieces of foreign museums! Fine photographs give us a far more just impression of them. CCLXIII Fathers who oblige their sons to become painters, as one becomes a ON PAINTING 59 grocer, are to-day honored. Fifty years ago it was quite the contrary. They will come back to it. CCLXIV An alteration in a picture seems always to do good. CCLXV One should not give, in a picture, an accessory useless to the composi- tion of the subject that one is treating. CCLXVI One may, by instinct alone, become a painter of worth, but one only per- forms an act of genius in giving proof of great good sense. CCLXVII The sincere approbation of his pro- fessional comrades is, for the painter, the most flattering of recompenses. 6o IMPRESSIONS CCLXVIII Nothing can equal the happiness that a painter feels when, after a day’s work, he is satisfied with the task ac- complished. But, in the contrary case, what despair he experiences ! CCLXIX A great reputation is difficult to preserve if one has left few works be- hind him. CCLXX To live to be very old, and to pre- serve until the end of one’s days a great reputation in the art of painting, seems to me an almost impossible thing. CCLXXI If one laments the premature death of a painter, one should also some- times mourn for him who, for his art, lives to be too old. ON PAINTING 6l CCLXXII A man should not paint continually in his studio. CCLXXIII The magnifying glass has been laughed at ; fine painting ought to be able to withstand it. CCLXXIV The Italian masters, in spite of the brilliancy of their qualities, do not intoxicate us so far as to prevent our criticising form and drawing in them. The color of the Dutch masters, on the contrary, is so magical that it subjugates us and does not leave us the ability to trouble ourselves as to form and drawing. CCLXXV Painters ought to have some knowl- edge of chemistry. The old masters knew on what and with what they painted — hence the good quality and 62 I M PRESSIONS the fine preservation of their works. In our day, people paint with any- thing. The old masters painted for posterity ; we paint only for the present. CCLXXVI It is better to enlarge than to di- minish an accessory on the first plane. CCLXXVII If a Paris Salon could be exhibited abroad, as a whole, it would have quite another aspect and would be judged quite differently. What a disquieting and capricious thing is painting ! CCLXXVIII One generally goes to the Salon to see three or four conspicuous names and to laugh at several eccentrics. CCLXXIX If there were fewer pictures at the Salon, people would not be so eager ON PAINTING 63 to leave the galleries to go and look at the sculpture in the garden, while smoking a cigarette. CCLXXX In France, in our day, sculpture is perhaps superior to painting. CCLXXXI Why have those persons who im- agine they invented impressionism nearly all the same impression before nature ? It seems to me that it should be the contrary. CCLXXXII Art is jealous ; it does not forgive even a moment of forgetfulness. CCLXXXIII Certain painters, entering their stu- dios after a visit to the Louvre, say to themselves : “ Would my painting hold by the side of such-and-such a 6 4 IMPRESSIONS master ?” They forget that these great masters have been worked upon by time and that time has not yet been able to occupy itself with them. CCLXXXIV It is a crime to cause Notre Dame de Paris to be scraped ; it is a kind- ness to have Notre Dame de Lorette cleansed. This proves that master- pieces should not be repaired and that decidedly time is a great master. CCLXXXV There are painters possessed by the memory of the masterpieces which they have seen in the mu- seums. If a model presents himself to them, they say : “ Look, he re- minds me of a head by Holbein that I saw at Dresden !” or “ He reminds me of a head by Rembrandt that I saw at Amsterdam,” and their imag- ination goes from Dresden to Am- sterdam, without being able to trans- ON PAINTING 65 late the suggestions of their own brain. CCLXXXVI So many painters stop where diffi- culty begins ! CCLXXXVII Instead of expending all the heat of one’s temperament on the first draught of a picture, one should hus- band it in such a manner as to pre- serve the same ardor until the last stroke of the brush. CCLXXXVIII It is always dangerous to paint a portrait for nothing, for the person who has sat for it never defends it when it is criticised. CCLXXXIX Painting executed in the open air gains in the studio. 66 IMPRESSIONS CCXC Slapdash painting may charm at first sight, but the charm does not last. CCXCI The execution should be adequate to the subject treated. CCXCII The virtuoso should not be con- founded with the trickster. CCXCIII A great painter is ordinarily better qualified than a great writer, a great musician or a great sculptor to com- prehend the other arts. CCXCIV The Flemings and the Dutch are the first painters of the world. ON PAINTING 67 ccxcv A too short arm now and then by Rembrandt is nevertheless “alive”; the arm of an academic drudge, exe- cuted in exact proportions, remains inert. CCXCVI Rubens has often been hurtful to the Flemish school, and Van Eyck has never been other than its bene- factor. CCXCVII There are great geniuses in painting who have been fatal to youth. CCXCVIII There are painters who have been useful to others and who are worth very little to themselves. CCXCIX Most picture subjects are rather in 68 IMPRESSIONS the province of illustrated journals than in that of painting. CCC Painting which produces an illusion of reality is an artistic lie. CCCI One should sometimes place his picture in the penumbra in order to properly judge if it preserves its har- mony. CCCII What was called a “ repoussoir ”* was an error with certain old masters. CCCIII Each country should have its pic- torial stamp; each country has its * A vigorous tone, setting off the light and luminous parts cf a picture. ON PAINTING 69 dance : Germany the waltz, Spain the bolero, England the jig, etc. CCCIV In a bovine exhibition, be sure that the public will pause by preference before the five-footed ox. CCCV If the old masters, of no matter what school, could return to earth, be assured that they would not hesitate to cause not a few of their works to disappear. CCCVI The religion of art abandons most often the painter too much flattered, too much petted, too happy. CCCVII To make to live — that is the great difficulty of painting and its aim. 70 IMPRESSIONS ON PAINTING CCCVIII If the perpendicular line C A leads to truth, the oblique line C E, starting from the same j point, but deviating, moves % farther away from truth the more it is prolonged. The public has but little regard for the painter who has reached the point B of the perpendicular, which leads to the true and the beautiful, and exaggerates the worth of him who has reached the letter D on the oblique line ; in its opinion he has mounted higher; the public does not perceive that he moves far- ther away from the true and c the beautiful, the higher he mounts on the line of the false. INDEX ALPHABETICAL INDEX Note. — The numbers indicate the page. Academic Figure, Drawings After, 24. Accessories, 59, 62. Air, Open, 9, 65. Age of Painting, 8, 19, 63. Age of the Painter, 45, 60. America, 50. Animals, 8. Art, 17, 27, 63. Art Criticism, 13, 25. Art, Decorative, 29. Artists, Doubted, 18. Bias, 34. Blonde, 5, 15. Brunette, 5, 15. Century, Eighteenth, 35. Charcoal, 48. 7 4 INDEX Chardin, 6. Charlet, 47. Chemistry, Knowledge of, 6i. Child, The, 43. Comfort, 45. Color and Colorists, 2, 3, 20, 37, 44, 61. Commission, 23. Completion of a Picture, 38, 39. Connaisseurs, 18. Costumes, 5, 10, 48, 52. Courbet, 9. Dawn, 41. Delacroix, 28, 32. Delaroche, 32. Dexterity, 11, 46. Difficulty of Painting, 69. Donatello, 6. Draught, First, 65. Drawing and Draughtsmen, 2, 27, 43,44, 45 - Dress of a Picture, 13. Durer, Albert, 51. Estimates, Public, of the, 56, 57. Execution, 3, 13, 66. INDEX 75 Exhibitions, 12, 27, 32, 36, 57, 58, 62, 69. Face, Human, 17. False, The, 70. Fashion, 17. Figures of a Past Time, 8. Flowers, ii, 43. Foreshortening, 28. Genius, 16, 44, 59, 67. Géricault, 9, 14. Germans, 51. Gioconda, La, 16. Grace, 51. Hals, Franz, 31. Hand, The Left, 46. Head, The, 46. Holbein, 31. Impersonality, 40, 43. Impressionism, 63. Independence, 23. Ingres, 44. Instinct, 59. 76 INDEX Institute, 57. Japanese, The, and Japanese Art, 21, 22, 50, 56. Jury, 28, 33. Lebrun, 6. Light, 14, 27. London, 51. Louvre, 7, 29, 30, 34. Magnifying Glass, 61. Masters, Great, 33, 44, 47, 52, 56. Masters, Early, 7, 1 5. Mastery, 30. Masterpieces, 16, 25, 47, 64. Matsys, 34. Mediocrity, 58. Memories, 42, 43. Michael Angelo, 6. Millet, 28. Models, 24, 41, 49. Modernity, 5, 24. Moon, The, 21. Movement, Violent, 28, 46. Museum, Copies of, 58. INDEX 77 Nature, ii, 16, 22, 37, 42, 49, 54. Neighborhood, 32. Neurosis, 52. Nude, The, 16. Originality, 51. Outset, 28, 40. Painting, 42. Painting, Easel, 8. Painting, Figure, 9, 56. Painting, Historical, 21. Painting, Landscape, 9, 42. Painting, Military, 35, 47. Painting, Oil, 48. Painting, Religious, 20. Painting, Light and Luminous, 18. Paint One’s Time, One’s Country, i, 4, 35 » 42 , 51 - Painters, Old, 55, 69. Painters, Tricky, 6, 66. Painters, Historians as, 9. Painters, Women, 30. Palette, 29. Pastel, 48. 78 INDEX Pencil, 48. Penumbra, 68. Personality, 3, 6. Perspective, Specialist in, 20. Phenomena, i. Photography, 23, 53. Picture Dealers, 50. Portraits, 12, 24, 26, 41, 53, 65. Press, The, 36. Privileges of Painters, 36. Professors, 53. Qualities of Painting, 19. Reality, Illusion of, 68. Recompenses, 25, 36. Religion of Art, 69. Rembrandt, 33, 40, 67. Repoussoir, 68. Reputation, 50, 60. Retouching, 38, 55. Rome, 51. Rousseau, Th., 28. Rubens, 31, 40, 67. Rude, 6. INDEX 79 Sales, Public, 57. Satisfaction with One’s Self, 14, 36, 60. School, The English, 35. School, The Dutch, 4, 27, 31, 45, 61, 66. School, The Flemish, 27, 66. School, The Italian, 61. Sculptors, 37, 62, 63. Sight, The, 50. Signature of a Picture, 46. Simplicity, 25, 38. Sincerity, 26. Smallness of Pictures, 49. Smile, 14. Statues Raised to Painters, 7. Still Life, 17. Studios, 49, 61. Studies, 37, 39. Subjects of Pictures, 4, 14, 31, 36, 41, 44, 48, 67. Sun, The, 21, 41. Success, 3, 36. Talent, 29, 52. Taste, 52. Tears, 14. 8o INDEX Touch, The, in Painting, 45. Twilight, 41. Vandyke, 31. Van Eyck, 67. Veronese, 33. Versailles, Museum of, 20. Victory, The, of Samothrace, 6. Vigor, 19. Virgin, The, and Infant Jesus, 24. Virtuoso, 66. Water Color, 48. Woman, 43. Workmanship, 54. Youth, 39. ; NEW YORK GILLI88 BROTHERS & TURNURE, ART AGE PRESS 75-79 FULTON STREET 5 7f.02.3tZ? 3 3125 00063 2295