DOI issue:
Nr. 106 (December, 1905)
DOI article:Halton, Ernest G.: The Staats Forbes collection, 2, The modern Dutch pictures
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0158
The Staats Forbes Collection
The collection contains many good examples of
Maris’ oil paintings, both figure and landscape.
CartingSeaweed, with its vast grey sky and vaporous
atmosphere, is the most impressive. Though low
in tone it is of fine quality, and its quiet dignity
gives it distinction.
In The Ferry Boat the artist’s remarkable capacity
for portraying the solemn beauty of his native land
is shown. The restful silence, the flatness of
the country over which the eye is led to the far
distant horizon, the soft luminous atmosphere,
are rendered with wonderful truth and direct-
ness. Another typical Dutch scene is The Maas
at Rotterdam. The brown and grey sails in the
foreground and the brown and red tones of the
quays and buildings in the distance form an agree-
able scheine of colour. The large white clouds
rolling across the blue sky are treated with remark-
able skill. A Bit of Old Delft is a small work of
brilliant colour, but it lacks atmosphere.
Of the figure-subjects by James Maris, the Girl
feeding Fowls is the most typical example. It was
painted in 1866, the period when the artist was
giving up figures and devoting his attention to
landscape. The young girl holding the grain in
her apron is simply and directly painted, and
the colour and composition of the little work are
admirable.
Matthew Maris is one of the most remarkable,
one of the most personal artists who has appeared
in modern times. He is a poet endowed with a
wonderful imagination, revealing itself in his art,
and his pictures are ^dreams of exquisite beauty,
teeming with stränge mysticism and subtle har-
monies. To him realities are of importance only
as a means of expressing himself and of interpreting
his emotions. The true
beauty of his work is not
to be realised at once : it
requires close and sympa-
thetic contemplation before
it can be fully appreciated.
The collection contains an
excellent example of his
art, entitled The Gravel
Fit, a delightful symphony
in brown and grey. With
delicate feeling the artist
has wrapped his subject in
an atmosphere of enchant-
ment, bathed it in a stränge
mysterious light, until it
appears like a dreamy vision
passing before the mind.
If William Maris does
not attain to the level
reached by his two elder
brothers, his pictures never-
theless show a certain dis-
tinction and freshness which
have gained for the artist
many admirers. His work
is less individual, less
national, in its character
than is the case with the
otherleading Dutch artists.
He is a close Student of
nature, and delights in
painting the warm light of
the sun and the rieh tones
of the foliage. As a cattle
painter he has produced
CHURCH INTERIOR BY J. BOSBOOM
The collection contains many good examples of
Maris’ oil paintings, both figure and landscape.
CartingSeaweed, with its vast grey sky and vaporous
atmosphere, is the most impressive. Though low
in tone it is of fine quality, and its quiet dignity
gives it distinction.
In The Ferry Boat the artist’s remarkable capacity
for portraying the solemn beauty of his native land
is shown. The restful silence, the flatness of
the country over which the eye is led to the far
distant horizon, the soft luminous atmosphere,
are rendered with wonderful truth and direct-
ness. Another typical Dutch scene is The Maas
at Rotterdam. The brown and grey sails in the
foreground and the brown and red tones of the
quays and buildings in the distance form an agree-
able scheine of colour. The large white clouds
rolling across the blue sky are treated with remark-
able skill. A Bit of Old Delft is a small work of
brilliant colour, but it lacks atmosphere.
Of the figure-subjects by James Maris, the Girl
feeding Fowls is the most typical example. It was
painted in 1866, the period when the artist was
giving up figures and devoting his attention to
landscape. The young girl holding the grain in
her apron is simply and directly painted, and
the colour and composition of the little work are
admirable.
Matthew Maris is one of the most remarkable,
one of the most personal artists who has appeared
in modern times. He is a poet endowed with a
wonderful imagination, revealing itself in his art,
and his pictures are ^dreams of exquisite beauty,
teeming with stränge mysticism and subtle har-
monies. To him realities are of importance only
as a means of expressing himself and of interpreting
his emotions. The true
beauty of his work is not
to be realised at once : it
requires close and sympa-
thetic contemplation before
it can be fully appreciated.
The collection contains an
excellent example of his
art, entitled The Gravel
Fit, a delightful symphony
in brown and grey. With
delicate feeling the artist
has wrapped his subject in
an atmosphere of enchant-
ment, bathed it in a stränge
mysterious light, until it
appears like a dreamy vision
passing before the mind.
If William Maris does
not attain to the level
reached by his two elder
brothers, his pictures never-
theless show a certain dis-
tinction and freshness which
have gained for the artist
many admirers. His work
is less individual, less
national, in its character
than is the case with the
otherleading Dutch artists.
He is a close Student of
nature, and delights in
painting the warm light of
the sun and the rieh tones
of the foliage. As a cattle
painter he has produced
CHURCH INTERIOR BY J. BOSBOOM