International studio (22.1904)

71%<? 777?^/' y/ //bzzy, 77..S'. A/.

earlier of these works something of the poet-
painter may be faintly traced, in the later ones it
is Henry, and Henry alone, that we see, both in
colour and in sentiment. Take, for instance, the
hyacinth blue of such a picture as ^H72g*A';w, or
the chrysanthemum gold of ZZ<37*77M77y. In these
the artist had in his mind the all-satisfying beauty
of the infinitely varied tints and tones of a single
flower ; and, in truth, as fresh, as clear, as simple,
and as harmonious as the hues of any flower are
the subtleties of colour that characterise such a
picture as AwTyAyTTy. Far from being a mono-
chrome, it is a splendid exercise in golden reds and
browns; and in such work .as this Henry has
shown that he is in truth a master of colour, of
sustained harmonies, that flow and ripple in a
series of variations of one basic note, just as
tenderly and as suavely as the cadences of a

violin rise and fall, grow and blossom, under the
touch of a master.
Turning now to the latest and most matured
manifestations of Henry's art, we come to his
portraits. Allusion has already been made to his
feeling that in portraiture, as in much other art,
simplicity is one of the most desirable of qualities,
and that the face of the sitter is the obvious key-
note of the picture, with which nothing should be
allowed to interfere. In addition to this, he has
felt that there is nq reason that a portrait should
not be a piece of decoration, while preserving to
the full the character of the subject, insisting on
the essential humanity of the sitter, and retaining
the aspect of modernity that rightly belongs to a
work of to-day. The portraits painted by the early
.Flemings are perfect decorative achievements; but
to paint like Van Eyck would be to falsify one's
work, and to produce a result lacking
the real spirit of the age, a characteristic
that should of right be present. But
there are other ways in which a por-
trait may be decoratively treated, and
these Henry has sought to employ,
believing that to a beholder the sense
of the decorative element in a picture
is as essential a part of its appeal and
its charm as is style to the reader
of a piece of accomplished prose.
AH these qualities, combined with
an unusual grasp of character, are
evident in Henry's portraits of men;
and such canvases as the A7A/A7(y
^?7v.g<377, Asy. (a delightful rendering of a
sympathetic sitter), (7^7gx A777*7*<?//, Asy.,
ZA.ZwA^.s'A?^, and TV (7. AA&dw, Zky,
are full of fine work, soundly painted
and simply treated. Allusion should
also be made in this connection to the
great success Henry has achieved in his
rendering of the sensitive face of Aw-
A. C. 7?TYM%y (Professor of Poetry
*at Oxford), to the recently completed
and highly successful presentment of
ZwalyMV/n? AAZy, and to the portraits
of yi IF! 7?a7vArf, Zby., Z^-^ yksVA?
ZAT-Ayg- and A. Z. A7?<A7-.sw7, TAy.
Although the reproductions speak for
themselves as far as charm of com-
position and realisation of character are
concerned, neither tone nor colour can,
of course, be adequately conveyed in
black-and-white.
Fewer portraits of ladies have fallen to


9