THE CHEVALIER DE MARTINO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12535, 24 June 1901, Page 2

THE CHEVALIER DE MARTINO.

AN ILLUSTRIOUS PAINTER. A very pleasant hour was spent by a representative of this journal yesterday in conversation with the Chevalier do Martino, who is accompanying the Royal Visitors, and is illustrating the voyage of the Ophir. The reporter found the artist in a characteristic attitude at the Christchurch Club. He was sitting at a table, close to a window, examining a few half-finished drawings and sketches' of marine subjects. A palette and some brushes were,, on the table, and pictures were scattered about, some of the rough sketches having been made on the backs of menu cards, and on scraps of paper which had come casually to the painter’s hands. The conversation passed from the weather and the voyage to art,, and the Chevalier spoke with enthusiasm of his work andi of art generally. He is a Neapolitan by birth. He served for fifteen years in the Italian navy, and for over a quarter of a century has resided in London. Some years ago he was appointed marine painter in ordinary to her late Majesty the Queen, and he has painted many works for the gallery of the lata Emperor of Brazil. With fair hair, large expressive blown eyes, an exceedingly courteous manner, and a fund of information gathered from travels in many parts of the world, the Chevalier has a charming personality. Being devoted to his art, he gives up to it practically all his time. “ My regular work occupies about nine hours a day,” he said to the reporter. “ Am I fond of the sea?” he continued in answer to a question. “ Yes, yes; I am sea-sick not on sea, but on land, as yotT might say. I should like ip live on the sea, and if there ever is invented such a thing as a house which can be inhabited below the surface of the waters, I will dwell in it.” “ You ask about my methods of work. Well, I work much as you would write a report or an article. I take shorthand notes, as' it were. 'My pictures have to go through several processes before .they are finished. First of all, the idea is ' formed hi my mind; then a pencil sketch is made; after that a coloured sketch; and finally the? picture as it ought to be. You see, my subjects, in the form of ships and steamers, sometimes go along very rapidly, and suddenly disappear. That is where my shorthand is useful, I make notes, just as you do, and I daresay that you,, like me, have to put your work through, several stages before it is ready for. the public. I pub into a picture what I feel, not necessarily what I see. For instance, I do not adhere closely t 6 the colours in Nature, as they may not be, good ones for the effect which, I desire to obtain. I often change them and: tone them until the exact shade of colour as revealed. “My art is like the art of making speeches. A man gets up to speak at a meeting, and speaks on and on, and when he sits down you say ‘ What has he been speaking about?’ Another man says, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to see you today, because I want to explain that such and such a thing has taken place.’ He sits down, and you say, ‘ Just so.’ You know exactly what he meant to convey to you. It is the same with me. I must be clear and distinct, so that anybody and everybody will understand at a glance what it is I am painting. It is simplicity which is needed; that is the thing. In my rough sketches, i often make actual notes, as you do in your pocket-book. Hero I put the word ‘bright,’ and here ‘dark,’ to represent the degree of light. Prom this, I know how to make the picture. There is what I might call a. grammar in painting, as in literature, and it has to be studied and mastered. Yes, I am almost always at work. I walk the streets and work all the time, looking at things and making mental notes. It is a great thing, art. It is the bread of the spirit, and lifts the soul into the regions of the sublime.” The Chevalier is very enthusiastic in what he has seen, in New Zealand already. He gays that he was much impressed with Auckland Harbour, and the high opinion he formed of the colony on first arrival, has been confirmed as he has gone further south. Speaking as a traveller, he says that this colony has a very great future before it. In order to fulfil its true destiny, however, he thinks that immigration should be carried out on a large scale. “Let ten thousand immigrants come every year,” are his words, “and let them represent English,, not England alone, but also Scotland, Ireland, France, Snain and Italy. Let them amalgamate, anS, in a few years a -new .nation will spring up in this part of the world which will accomplish in fifty years more than other nations have accomplished in a hundred,” ■The. artist then replaced the traveller',

and tjie Chevalier said that all people in this new land must work, work, work, bub it must be for art and for the development of the mind and the spirit as well as for the more materialistic necessaries of life. “I am sorry that ! must leave you," he said in conclusion, “ as I must go and finish my work. But let me urge you to remind your countrymen that they must; work, and must not forget the ‘bread of the spirit/ which is art. v