International studio (26.1905)

abode beyond the cottages of the hamlet. The
strong effect of light combines with the impression
of transcendental imagination, so that the pictur-
esque aspect and the interpretative blend perfectly
together.
But Dettmann's whole individuality was too
much concerned with earth for such themes to
hold him permanently. The A// <?/ TAw had
certainly removed him at a stroke from the rank
of an artist known only to a narrow circle of art-
lovers, and made him a celebrity whose name was
on everyone's lips. But already, even at the
exhibition of 1893, when the appeared,
he had shown, by the work exhibited in the special
room that was allotted to him. in what direction
his innermost nature was driving him. He there
led his public, by virtue of the subtle realism of his
favourite landscapes, to the Holstein country,—to
Altona, to the shores of the Baltic, to the sand-
dunes, to the forest; even to the neighbourhood
of Berlin,—to Werder, near Potsdam, the orchard

of the Mark, where in the time of cherry-blossom
are displayed perfect marvels of delicate colouring ;
or into the Grunewald, which under the shy
witchery of spring has a tender loveliness all its
own ; and his lively and versatile faculty of realistic
portrayal is everywhere abundantly successful.
In 1894. the year after the exhibition of his
collected works, Dettmann exhibited in Berlin a
large picture inspired by the realities of modern
life, the triptych Here the social
rings out more clearly than hitherto, while an
undertone of religious feeling, emancipated from
all transcendental appeal, still echoes faintly,
although it is suggested by the form (now used
for an entirely mundane purpose) of the old
triple-panelled altar-piece. Two years earlier Dett-
mann had illustrated the curse of toil; he now
preached the joy of active industry, the sober
happiness that work confers, and its elevating
ethical force. The central panel represents the
front of a village smithy. The herculean figures
of the workmen stand before the forge
in the full Hood of glowing sunshine,
manipulating the red-hot iron tyre of a
wheel. Two of them hold it in its place;
the third wields the hammer with his
powerful arms. It is all yoked strength,
concentrated energy. The mighty strokes
of the hammer resound, reverberating
from the walls of the village church
which rises in the background like a
symbol of peace above this picture ot
joyous productive labour, wholesome
alike for body and soul. The faint sug-
gestion of solemnity given in the centre-
piece is re-echoed in the two side panels.
One of these shows the workman's family
at their meal, petitioning, " Give us this
day our daily bread." The grey-headed
grandfather, at whose right hand stands
his son, dismisses his youthful grandson
with the Bible-text that speaks of the
blessmg and the power of work, to which
we have already alluded. The busy
activity of the central panel is thus as-
sociated, both on the right and on the
left, with a scene of rest and contempla-
tion ; the bright sunny glory of open
daylight is bordered on either side by
the half-light of indoor subjects, so that
the whole appears finely closed in and
rounded off alike to the eye and to
the inner perception. The strong
effect produced by this antithesis may