THE HISTORY OF PAINTING.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2980, 17 June 1899, Page 3

THE HISTORY OF PAINTING.

Tho following are extracts from Hie lecture delivered by the Yen. Archdeacon Harper, " A Sketch of the History of the Art of Painting," on two evenings at the late exhibition of the Art Society. We give the merest skeleton of fads upon which a very interesting lecture, brightened by personal experiences, was given:— The most ancient paintings known are found m Egypt. In the museum at Gizeh are specimens from a tomb at Medum, which date back to 4000 be. These are m a wonderful state of preservation, due to the fact that they were executed on the walls of chambere built over tombs, and afterwards hermetically sealed, or on the walls of temples, which had been buried m dry eand, an excellent preservative of colour. Besidep, the mineral pigments used seem able to defy the ravages of time. The decorations on the walla of tombs sot forth the history of the person bariel there, together with all eorts of homely subjects, of hunting, agriculture, and domestic scenes. One painting m the museum represented a flock of geese. It is painted on a slab of stone, which had been covered with a fine stucco-plaster, and on this, when dry, the painting was done. (At a later date the Greeks and Romans painted on wet plaster.) The geese are admirably drawn, lifelike, and the colouring is true to nature, the tints of great purity, and the general effect is beautiful and harmonious. But there is neither light nor shade ; the artists of 6000 years ago were ignorant of both lineal and aerial perspective. Paintings of a later date, 1350 be; found by Bel* zoni far up the Nile, m the tomb of Seti I (father of the Pharoah who oppressed the Israelites), appeared to be as fresh as if newly painted. These represent scenes m the king's life, and the gods and goddesses whom he worshipped. Some were painted upon the flat wall ; m other casea a bas-relief was carved m the stone; this was covered with a very fine stucco, and upon the stucco the colours were laid. Bearing m mind their ignorance of perspective, the accuracy of outline, the spirit of the drawing, the colouring, composition and arrangement of the paintings are marvellous. From this point one has to take a long leap through time to the next step m the art of painting. It is curious to note how this art, as others, seems to have died out altogether, and again come into existence, m other parts of the world, apparently without any connection between one part and another, or between one period and anothpr. From about 1300 to 500 u>c , the art flourished m Asia Minor and Greece, and m Italy, where Greek and Asiatic colonists had settled. Records of the time speak of Greek painters as well known, and indicate that their art had reached a high point of excellence, within certain limits. Probably they came near to modern painters m colour and gradation of colour, m figure drawing, and m the delineation of still life ; they never understood perspective ; but m light and shade and m facial and bodily expression they must have come little short of the best modern painters. And the best painters were not ill paid. Apelles received £5000 for a portrait of Alexander the Great. In those days all paintings seem to have been done m wax. The perfect art waa lost soon after Apelles, and was not revived till eighteen centuries later. The lecturer next spoke of the famous Etruscan funereal vases, of which there is a magnificent series m the British Museum. The most ancient that he had seen were rudely shaped by hand, sun-dried, and marked by dots and lines and geometric patterns, scratched into the clay when set. Later the vases were ornamented by stamping figures upon them, and later still came rudely painted figures drawn and coloured with opaque white on the natural red of the clay. These are very ancient. Liter still, but not later than 500 b c, they had learned to use other colours, and represented animal life and mythological creatures. About 400 b.o. the vaaes shew great improvement. On the natural red of the clay they painted the human form m black, with a few bold lines m white, and finer lines of white within the black to delineate the muscles, expression of the face and limba, and the drapery. The work is often hard and conventional, but spirited, and neat io execution. The finest specimens belong to the period 400 to 300 be. In these the vase is painted black, and the figures are left m the natural reddish-yellow colour of the clay, details being indicated by black or brownish-red line. The shape of the vases is elegant, the drawing exquisite, and for fineness of material and brillianry of the varnish, no modem work can rival them, There must have been a large quantity of equally good work done m those days, but all else has perished, save m a few cases to be mentioned later. The wall. pointings found m the disinterred city of Pompeii were next described. M'uiy of these were believed to be traditional copies of the great pictu-e3 of Gm-ce when the art flourished there at its highest. The walls were first covered with a kind of stucco that rivalled marble m its fineness of Burface. On this, whilst it was wet, the painting was executed and became incorporated with the wall. The colours were mixed with white of egg or wax, or with size. 1 -There was some attempt at landscape but this was not m favour, and m their ignorance of perspective, such work resembled that of the willow-pattern plate. They were adept at the representation of still life, and of animal and human forms. In one of the houses excavated not long ago, there are rooms with the walls covered with lovely frescoes, wreaths of leaf and flower, freely and naturally drawn; birds, shell 9, fish, all admirablypainted: a lion attacking a bull, a horse caught by a leopard ; exquisite figures of girls dancing, others flittinct m the air, and also many sublets of daily interest, such as c-f.e 6«ca m Batch pictures. Mr Poynter, the well known artist, says of this work that m design and skill it equals the best work of any of the great schools of the 16lh and 17th centuries, and the very finest of later Italian work hardly approached it m vigorous expres-sion-of life. The art seems to have grad ually declined, with the decline of the Roman Empire, to be reborn, m rode imperfect form from the tombs again, the Catacombs of Rome preserving th earliest trace of early Christian Art, When Christanity was permitted to lift up its head m public, its churches were adorned with paintings and its manuscripts were illuminated, but of these worka only scanty remains exist. Then the art deteriorated and became practically ex'.inct under the -fl sod of northern barbarism, which descended on Italy. The better work of that period is found m the illuminated manuscripts. These and few relics of paintings m the Catacombs, are the only known links between the best work of the ancient Greeks and Romans and that of the | thirteenth Christian century. This ' refers to the countries on the mediterranean. At By zinteum (Constantinople) ' a tradition of the ancient art survived

and produced pictures, erode m workmanship, but with a force of meaning and dignity of expression, givpn by high ideals of the Christian life. There was no originality. Certain models were reproduced again and again, and the art became purely mechanical, the real art of painting was lost. One must now jump from 400 ad. to 1400 a.d. to arrive at the Renaissance, of the new birth of the art. This began about l?.7O a.d. and though Italy was foremost, a similar influence made itself felt m all Europe. A new civilisation was being born, and with it the dormant art of painting awoke. Christianity supplied the motive, and produced and nurtured all the great painters of the new order. About 1300 a.d. appeared the fathers of modern painting, Oimabue and Gitto, of Florence, and Daccio, of Siena, men of original genius. Linear perspective and the painting of landscape had yet to be learned, but m the delineation of the human countenance thepow?r displayed at this period is remarkable, and the colouring most beautiful. Scenes from the go?pels were their favourite themrs, and these inspired them to the production of marvellous spiritual idealisations. Giotto was also the first of modern artists to attempt portrait painting with decided success. By the year 1350 painting had made such progress that the artists enrolled themselves into guilds of great influence, semi-religioue bodies, under the patronage of St. Luke, who, according to tradition, was a painter. By the 15th century knowledge had been gained of perspective and of chiaroscuro, ov light and shade, and an immense' gain was the discovery by a Rhinelander, John Van Eyeck, of a means of quickly drying oils, which made a great difference m painting. Painting on canvas m oils had been practised, but the work had to be dried m the sun or before a fire, before a second colour could be laid on. The new discovery enabled the artist to work with continuous energy, impossible before, and the invention soon became common property. In the 15th century flourished alFlorence the artist monk, Fra Angelico, almost unrivalled for loveliness of colouring and beauty of expression. He possessed a grand power of pourtrayiug the human face m its most noble and inspired moments. He was fond of painting on pantl, on a surface of gold leaf, and his colours remain to this day fresh and vivid. The names of other great paintera of that period were mentioned, whose works can also be seen to-day among the art treasures of Italy, the later being Perugino, Rafaelle, Leonardo de Vinci, and Titian, whose names mark the climax of the art of the Renaissance. A large painting by Perugino was described at length, the Crucifixion covering a wall broken above by the ribs of an arched roof. Perugino completed the arches by painting pillars down to the ground, aucl made a picture as if the spectators were looking through arches at the scene of the crucifixion, backed by a beautiful rural landscape. By this time painters had acquired great technical skill.and knowledge of perspective and anatomy, but beyond the value given to their works by these advance was the meaning, significance, inspiration, which such works as those of Rafnelle possessed, and somehow no copyistcouid reproduce that quality. The National Gallery m London possesses one of Rafael le's Madonnas, for the purchase of which Parliament voted £70,000, and the vote was supported by Radical members on the ground that the masses ought to have the opportunity of seeing the masterpieces of art. Next to Rafaelecame Titian, preeminent m colour and m portrait painting which was now being perfected. He moreover developed a new style of landscape painting, the precursor of the Dutch and modern schools. Hitherto landscape had not appealed to artists; when they had to make use of it, it was indicated rather than delineated. With the Reformation painters began to cease to paint for churches, and town halls and private mansions became the rep Dai tor ies of art, and instead of turning to religion for inspiration the artists turned to Nature and everyday affairs. Unfortunately they did not discriminate, and painted what was ugly as well as what was beautiful, 'he Dutch developed landscape painting to a high degree of perfection, inspired by the splendid atmospheric colour oi their humid climate. They revelled also m scenes of daily life, and excelled m portraits, but m these they showed their subjects engaged m their common occupations, not " sitting to have their portrait taken." And they were finished m a masterly fashion, so that mott moiern portraits looked like rough studies beside them. He had had the privilege of seeing the great Rembrandt exhibition, and described the characteristics of his works. The old Italian masters sought to represent human nature as it ought to be, might be, sometimes Is ; the Dutch seemed rather to prefer representing it as it ought not to be. Several other Dutch painters were referred to, and then the lecturer crossed over to Kngland and described the rise of the art there with (he portrait painters, Holbein and hia successors, its extension to landscape painting, and the impetus given to the latter by the introduction of watercolourp, a medium which gives the transparent softness of the atmosphere better than oils. Interesting reminiscences were given oi visits of the London Galleries, and of chats with Mr Watts, the famous portrait and allegorical painter, whose works of the latter kind recall the religious works of the old Italian masters at their best. The lecturer repeated the substance of remarks made to him by Mr Watts : "A painter should not idealise nature, but paint ft hat he really see 3, but not as a camera takes a picture. He should give the impression which the scene created m his emotions, m his own mind, so that he conveys his impressions of the beauty, the brilliance, the repose, the colouring, stirred m him by the scene he saw." He spoke with satisfaction of the crowds of people who visit the National Gallery m London on open day?, nit of well-to-do people only, but of all classes, even the very poor. The gradual spread of education m the art of drawing and painting makes it increasingly hard for young artists to live by their business, unless they have exceptional talent. Bu,t such education must conduce to the happiness of thousands, and is doing much to bring into daily life by means of pictures, illustrated books and magazines, much grace and beauty and a certain poetry of imagination, which much help to sweeten life. The lecturer concluded with a bit of advice to those who might be so fortunate as to travel and visit the treasures of art m the old world, that they should try by reading to prepare for what they would see. They would not then waste their time. For lack of preparation many tourists saw nothing bul " acres of pointings," The eye sees what it is prepared to spp, and the tr* vtller m foreign lands will find gratifica tion.in his travels m proportion to th< knowledge he takes with him to aid bin m his quest,