Studio: international art (2.1894)

Silver-Points

chrome drawing, luminous in effect and large in
treatment. Morn, by Mr. W. Tatton Winter, is a
beautiful little picture, and Mr. Arthur G. Bell's
A Dutch Quay Side and two other contributions
are well worthy of the artist's experienced brush.
Mr. W. Manning's pastel of a Normandy Peasant
Girl is another meritorious work.

In the central gallery, Mr. Julius Olsson's large
oil painting, Evening, is a simple every-day coast
effect, dignified and powerful in treatment. It is
well selected and fine in arrangement of line.
Another picture which attracts immediate atten-
tion is M. F. Cayley Robinson's Susanne. It is a
girl at a piano, simple enough in arrangement and
thorough in painting. If it appears a little coarse
and trivial in method, it will be due in great degree
to the close proximity of Mr. Alexander Mann's
refined and beautiful, The Tower of London, a
river-piece, rich and harmonious in colour effect,
and masterly in execution. Of the many subject-
pictures, Gay Dogs at The Dragon, by Mr. Edgar
Bundy—a costume piece—will be amongst the most
popular. Whitby, by Mr. Harry Shields, is dis-
tinguished in treatment and broad in effect. Glad-
man Willard Ploughs, is an excellent picture by
Mr. J. R. K. Duff; it is well drawn, good in tone,
nicely selected and with an atmosphere. Other
pictures which help to support the interest of this
room are Roses, by Mr. F. H. A. Parker, and
A Trout Stream, by the same artist, which is a
charming little work; A Cool Evening, by Mr. W. H.
Clarkson, Une Pemme des Champs, by Mr. W.
Herbert Roe, and Under the Lindens, Dordrecht,
by Mr. G. C. Haiti. The Landing Stage, Para-
matta, Kashmir, by Mr. A. D. McCormick, and
The Lighthouse, by Mr. Frank Kelsey, are both
artistic, and well observed bits of work. In the
south-west gallery the prominent work is Mr. F.
Cayley Robinson's decorative panel, Ln a Wood so
Green ; again there is some lack of refinement in
the technique, but the design is good and not
without daintiness. Evening Light, by Mr. W. E.
Tindall, an autumn effect, is delicate in tone and
good in colour; but Mutual Distrust, a picture
of cat and ducks by Mr. Horace Mann Livens, is
not fresh enough in colour, and it is too heavy in
tone, although the drawing is careful and correct.
Melting Snow, by Mr. Herbert Dalziel, and Sun-
set on the Sea, by Mr. J. E. Grace, are amongst
the best things in this gallery.

The south-east gallery contains three pictures of
paramount importance, two of them sea-pieces with
figures, by Mr. John R. Reid, are amongst the very
best in the whole gallery; vigorous, bright and
fresh in colour, full of well-disposed interest, they
are accomplished and individual in treatment. The
third picture is a large open-air figure-piece by
Mr. R. C. W. Bunny. It might be somewhat of
the nature of a water-frolic, but I suspect the wild-
looking people, who snarl over the rocks, of serious
intentions. The colouring of this picture is bright
and not without suspicion of crudity, the execution
is vigorous, but not free from coarseness. Let
those dislike the picture who may, it is full of
merit. F. B.

72

ILVER - POINTS BY MR.
CHARLES SAINTON, AT THE
BURLINGTON GALLERY.

It is not usual in noticing a collection

of paintings or drawings to begin by explaining
the materials employed, yet silver-point is a term
which conveys no meaning even to many who have
more than a smattering of knowledge of the
technicalities of art. Of late years the description
silver-point, so often employed in photography, has
still further confused people, and the apparent re-
semblance of a platinotype to a drawing in silver-
point augments the confusion. It is needless to
say that Mr. Sainton's pictures are neither pro-
duced by photography, nor are they reproductions
of his original studies, but each an autograph
drawing. The silver-point is merely a stylus of
the metal which, by chemical action on the sur-
face of paper prepared with certain oxides, leaves
a faint but indelible mark. In the so-called
"metallic pocket-books " we have the same principle.
Before the lead-pencil came into general use,
silver-point was a favourite instrument with the
old masters. Examples by Francia Raphael,,
Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandajo, Holbein, Albert
Diirer, and many other masters are extant. Of
moderns, Sir Frederic Leighton, Professor Legros,
and Mr. Burne-Jones have frequently employed
this charming medium, which for precision com-
bined with delicacy has no rival. Even the most
delicate pen-drawing or steel-engraving appears
coarse beside the lines that go to make a study
in silver-point. The silver-greyness of its effect is
especially delightful in studies of the nude; no-
other black and white can be employed for model-
ling flesh to the same extent without producing a.
certain undesirable blackness of shadow. Mr.
Sainton's drawings now on view at the Burlington
Gallery, 27 Old Bond Street, are the second
collection he has shown. In December 1892 a
series, The Pallet and Fancy Subjects, enjoyed a
phenomenal popularity. The same title would be
not inapt for the present collection, which is.
devoted almost entirely to the danseuse ; or—as in,
the case of the Luna, the frontispiece to this
number—to the ideal. This drawing, purchased
by H.R.H. the Princess of Wales as a gift to the
Czar of Russia, we are enabled to reproduce
by her gracious permission, endorsing that pre-
viously given by the artist. The other, Au Pal
Masque, needs no comment; both are in reduced
facsimile. The effect of the grey line has naturally
been lost to some extent in the harsher medium of
printing ink, but the white network inseparable from
a "process block" restores it partly, at the cost
of the rigid although ethereal line which is the
most distinguishing characteristic of the material.
Consequently those who delight in this art should
study for themselves Mr. Sainton's collection,
wherein the technique of the method is displayed
with perfect mastery. A few gold-points obtained
by the substitution of the more precious metal, do
not differ in any important respect; the colour is a