International studio (33.1907/1908(1908))

S. Melton Fisher

sphere that will be consistent with the faith he
holds, an atmosphere that is permeated with the
sentiment to which he responds. That he succeeds
in realising this aim can scarcely be disputed ; the
character and quality of his pictures, the suavity
and elegance of his technical method, the dainty
charm of the subjects he prefers, can all be adduced
as evidence of his consistency. He uses perfectly
legitimate means to make himself understood, and
his art has in consequence a full measure of that
frank directness which is the mark of the sincere
student of nature who has satisfied himself as to
the way in which he can best explain what is in
his mind.
It can well be imagined that he has not arrived
at his present clearness of conviction without some
years of preparation. He had the advantage of a
thorough training in the practical details of his
craft, and what he learned in his student days he
has since subjected quite thoroughly to the test of
experience ; and, as well, he has availed himself of
special opportunities that have come to him of
widening unusually his artistic outlook. Born in
i860, he received his general education at Dulwich
College, where he had the benefit of practically
daily contact with a collection of notable pictures
by the greater masters, and was able to satisfy by

study of these masterpieces inclinations which even
in his early boyhood were definitely developed.
His actual training in art began when he left Dul-
wich, and started as a student in the Lambeth
School. After making some successes there—
among them the gaining of a gold medal in the
National Competition—he went to France and
became a pupil of M. Bonnafe, a teacher well able
to guide him in his seeking after completer know-
ledge, and an artist with a sound understanding of
many branches of executive practice.
Reversing the usual proceeding of the English
art student, Mr. Melton Fisher came back from
Paris to work in the Royal Academy schools.
During his period of study there he proved in
many ways that he had to be seriously reckoned
with as an artist of more than common ability, and
he ended by carrying off the gold medal and
travelling studentship, the most eagerly competed
for of all the Academy prizes, and the one which
tests most fully the imaginative power and the
technical skill of the student. As he had to spend
the two years’ term of this studentship abroad he
betook himself to Italy, and after travelling for a
while in that country he decided to settle down in
Venice, where he would have the advantage of
living in surroundings artistically inspiring and of


“CLERKENWELL FLOWER MAKERS

BY S. MELTON FISHER