ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 80

ART AND ARTISTS.

. ♦ WATTS AND MILLAIS. — G-. F. "Watts as Portrait Painter. — I referred recently to the late Mr Geo. Frederick Watts's wonderful scries of Yic-tc-iian portraits. Those are touched on :n-terestingly:n-terestingly by a writer in the North American Review. Temysci onco asked Watts to describe his ideal of what a true portrait painter should be : when he had listened he embalm ?d Watts's views in ths j fclld'ving noble, lines in the "Idylls" : | As -when a painter, poring on a face, Divinely, through all hindrance, finds the man Behind it, and so paints him that his face, The shape and colour of a nunrl and life, Lives for his children, ever at its best. That is what Watts achieved in the portiaits which are now sitch a remarkable feature of the National Portrait Galley. He had it in his hand to send his sitters down to posterity as so many "frail tenements of clay," or as the embodiments of certain Qualities of mind or soul ; and somehow, in. spite of the technical limitations which always hampered him, h& followed with remarkable success th& cours.j which his idealistic nature inevitably dictated to him. His scope was unbounded, for his sympathy embraced the most diverse types. He portrayed Swinburne and Rossetti as readily as Tennyson or Matthew Arnold, and was no less sure of hand when painting the lean, ascetic features of Leslie Stephen than when painting the leonine head of Lord Lawrence. — Carlyle and His Portrait. — Did Watts's sitters like hie highly_ intellectual renderings of their face*? Not always : Carlyle did not like his portrait, and it is said that Cardinal Manning was much distressed when Watts gave him an unduly j florid complexion. He did not realise that hh red robes, from >/hich the light was reflected on his face, were responsible for this, and blamed the painter for making him lcok, as he thought, like a high liver. But the general testimony of those v?ho have known the celebriti-'S painted by Watts goes to confirm the impression derived by the world at large from the canvases alone —that he had a gift for telling the truth about his sitters. His portraits arc in harn>ony with all that we know of them and of their work. — Millais and " The Huguenot." — Another very interesting art article is Mr Frederick Dolman's story of the painting of Sir John Everett Millais's famous picture, "The Hugueroot." Who has not been fascinated by that pair of old-time love'-s parting in the garden before a leaf-shel-tered wall? "'The Huguenot" w»s the most popular picture in the Academy of 1852 : "Crowds stood before it all day long. Men lingered there for hours, and went away but to return. Tt had clothed the old feelings of men in a new garment, and its pathos found almost universal acceptance" I refer my readers to Mr Dolman's very interesting account of iho inception and progresc of this masterpiece. One passage I must quote: "Millais had likewise two models for the young lady in ' The Huguenot' — Mrs Geo. Hodg'kmson, a cousin of the artist, and Miss Ryan, a beautiful girl, who 'sat' professionally in the studios of most of the leading artists of the time. Miss Ryan married shortly afterwards, and had a sad aft^r-history. bsauty in her case proving to be a fatal gift. Otherwise Miss Ryan would probably have figured in many of Millais' 3 later pictures. In 'sitting' for 'The Huguenot,' she had a comparatively oiisy task, hut now and again Millais's method of work led him to be somewhat ejecting from his models." "The Hugaepot" is now in the hands of Mrs Miller, of Preston.— T. P."s Weekly. PAINTED TO REFUTE SLANDERS. Miss Carl, an American artist who has painted the portrait of the Empress-Dow-ager of China, is probably the first foreigner e-^er permitted to paint a Chinese royalty. That; in fitting for her portrait ehe was outraging all Chinese tradition and piocedent TTds of no consequence to the grim old Empre-s. She banished that ancient pz~eiu.uice a§ ,ihe lias banished many; others.

j There they remained, castaways on these j desolate rocks for a peilod of 20 months. During that time their sufferings were great, °ar±d their privations prodigious. As time wore on, and there came no immediate appeaiance jf relief, they set about reerectmg their ship's boat. Appliances being rude and meagre, the labour 1 connected with reconstruction was slow 1 and disheartening. Still, they peisevered, and after enduring unheard of disappointments, the made-up craft was launched on its novel but distressing career. They voyaged over thes-e stormy, western waters, shaping a course for New Zealand. It was indeed a forlorn hope. Memory appears to have been merciful, leaving them but indistinct recollections of the fearsome days and nights spent on that hazardous jcramey. The wretched cobble was covered over with sealskin, leaving the upper portion of their bodies exposed. The wattrr lashing over was thereby prevented swamping them oirt. In that way they staggered along, skimming over the waves, but more frequently going under. They supported the inner man on scraps of eealskin. More dead than alive they reached the shelters of Port Adventure, wh»re they fell in with cur Flying Scud, which eventually sailed back with them to the Aucklands, and rescued the remainder of ths crew. It is in the present-day after-part of these transformation scenes that we find "John" as owner of the "Scud," snugly housed in the old deck cabin.

She condescended, however, to explain thai, she permitted her portrait to be painted in order to refute the slander than she is of low origin, with a coarse and ill— j bred countenance. I Her picture, indeed, shows her as a ' wc-man of commanding presence, strong and rr-astorful, with brilliant* black eyes. IJer h?ir, which is jet black and very long, is parted in front and brushed smoothly over the ears, but it the back is caught up» over a jade ornament the ends of which are decorated with artificial flowers and butterflies. She permitted three portraits to he painted of her, giving sittings as a rule when she was fatigued with Stale affairs. The artist received some £4-000 for her •work, as well as a decoration. One of the thfjp- portraits is exhibited at the St. l/oufa Exhibirion. — Teak, which is acknowledged to he th© best material for shipbuilding, is superior to all other woods for that purpose ftoin. the fact that it contains an essential Kil which prevents spikes and nails driven into it from rusting. — The cloth tree is found at Otaheite, in the South Sea. The bark is taken off in long strips, and put to soak in running water. This softens it so that the inner fibre may be easily separated from the rest of the bark. The fibres are put together in. lengths of about 11yds or 12yds, which are placed side by side until they are at least 12in in width, and two or three lasers of fibre are placed one upon the other. They adhere in one piece, and the material thus formed is beat-en out on wood until it becomes as thin as muslin, and it is then bleached in the air and made up into clothing.