MR. TRETITHICK'S PICTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6067, 28 April 1881, Page 3

MR. TRETITHICK'S PICTURES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —If Mr. Trevithick painted his pictures for the purpose of attracting the attention of the public, he certainly has attained his object. Your art critic's remarks on these pictures has attracted the attention of Mr. Gerald Peacock, who writes a letter defending Mr. Trevithick's painting of the boats •white because they were white, on the same principle that grass is painted green because it is green in nature. The observations which I am about to write are not made for the purpose of defending your art critic. If Mr. Gerald Peacock wishes to enlarge his mind by reading some good works on painting, he will find that grass is not always painted green by artiste. Mr. Trevithick will find that if one of his own pupils had to copy a vase or a statue in oil colours the result would not be all white because the object was white; pictorially speaking, one spot only, that which reflects the greatest light, will appear quite white. The appearance or representation of the object must be made up of an infinite variety of tints, according to the light and shade. A ceiling is all white, but in a picture there is such a thing as aerial perspective, which prevents the artist from painting it white all over ; and in looking at a meadow we know the grass to be generally of the same colour throughout, and to the uneducated eye it appears equally green from one end to the other; yet to a good artist it appears of an infinite variety of tints, for the effect of the atmosphere is such as to rob the grass of its colour. From my recollection of Mr. Trevithiek's pictures, I must say that there is a good deal of force and energy about them. Let him go oa painting, and if his pictures are not liked by the critics, he should have the same feeling as the great statesman who is just dead had, and say, "The time will come when my pictures shall be appreciated," and to quote again from the same source in "Lothair," Mr, Phoebus, the great artist, is made to say, "To-morrow the critics will commence; you know who the critics are ? The men who have failed in literature and art." But the public in these days expect to have something like aerial perspective, and it has got beyond Queen Elizabeth's idea about shadows. Queen Elizabeth told her portrait painter to paint her face without shadows.—l am, &c, A Lover or Abt.