A/y. (9" y.
end of the seventies there was a prevahing idea
that the only mission of the artist was to record
with absolute hdelity the facts of Nature. He was
told that only in strict realism could he hope to hnd
salvation, and that any modihcation of the actuali-
ties of the life around him was contrary to correct
principles. To attempt to build upon Nature
fanciful inventions, to seek for suggestions which
would give him scope for the exercise of his
imaginative faculties, even to select from the mass
of available material what he thought most suitable
for the illustration of a preconceived idea, was,
according to the dogma of his teachers, to depart
from the lines which alone could lead him to the
highest type of achievement. If he was not a
realist, an unselective and uncompromising student
of everyday commonplaces, he was told that he
must inevitably sink into a follower of some formal

convention, and destroy all his hopes of future
eminence by losing the power of receiving impres-
sions at hrst hand.
To-day the fallacy of this creed is properly recog-
nised, and the artists on whom we have to depend
in the immediate future for memorable works have
substituted for it something much more reasonable.
They have found that proper respect for Nature
is not incompatible with the expression of an
imaginative intention, and that the man who
wishes to use his capacities as a designer of pictorial
fancies need not necessarily commit himself to
a convention, or lose touch with actuality. There
runs through this new school a vein of romantic
fantasy which all thinking people can appreciate,
because it leads to the production of pictures that
appeal, not only to the eye by their attractiveness
of aspect, but also to the mind by their charm of
sentiment. The artists who
have consumed their inSuence
do not state things that are
obvious to every ordinarily
observant person, and they do
not waste their time on re-
presenting baldly episodes in
the somewhat sordid struggle
of modern life; they start with
an idea which is inherently
dramatic, and they embroider
it with a variety of details, all
of which help to make it more
convincing and to increase its
persuasiveness. What results
from this method of working
is a picture which, with all the
needful accuracy of detail paint-
ing, possesses an abstract atmo-
sphere full of impressive sug-
gestion, and distinguished by
an eminently acceptable quality
of personal conviction. It gives
an insight into the artist's mind,
and reveals quite as much of
his intellectual power as of his
command over essentials oi
craftsmanship.
It is because Mr. Young
Hunter and his wife have
carried out consistently the best
principles of this school, that
they have, in a career of only
some half-dozen years, estab-
lished themselves as painters of
noteworthy prominence. Their


272