DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51520#0032
modern painting ancient pictures are useless,
for the whole method of painting has changed
within the last hundred years. Who, for
instance, would go to see the two beautiful
Ruysdaels in order to inform himself how he
should begin the picture he is thinking of
painting at Malahide or Blessington ?
What remains of Ruysdael is his grave and
noble mind, set forth in symbols of grey sky
and brown woods ; but the student will never
look into those brown woods and grey skies
for instruction in the art of painting ; nor may
he seek Ruysdael’s mournful moods amid the
woods of Malahide and Blessington, for
Ruysdael’s mind exists in his painting, and is
dependent upon it. And as the whole method
of painting has changed within the last hundred
years—and changed radically—we moderns
no longer feel and see like the ancient masters.
And this will be apparent to anyone who goes
to the Louvre with a view to examining how
the ancient masters painted ; he will find that
all pictures painted before the nineteenth
century were painted first in black and white,
and were then glazed. To explain a word
that will be very well understood in the studios,
I will say that “glazing” means the use of
transparent colours without any admixture of
white. However much the artists of Italy,
Spain, Holland, and France differed, they all
painted alike in this respect; their pictures
were painted in black and white and then the
natural colours were applied. The roses
2 2
for the whole method of painting has changed
within the last hundred years. Who, for
instance, would go to see the two beautiful
Ruysdaels in order to inform himself how he
should begin the picture he is thinking of
painting at Malahide or Blessington ?
What remains of Ruysdael is his grave and
noble mind, set forth in symbols of grey sky
and brown woods ; but the student will never
look into those brown woods and grey skies
for instruction in the art of painting ; nor may
he seek Ruysdael’s mournful moods amid the
woods of Malahide and Blessington, for
Ruysdael’s mind exists in his painting, and is
dependent upon it. And as the whole method
of painting has changed within the last hundred
years—and changed radically—we moderns
no longer feel and see like the ancient masters.
And this will be apparent to anyone who goes
to the Louvre with a view to examining how
the ancient masters painted ; he will find that
all pictures painted before the nineteenth
century were painted first in black and white,
and were then glazed. To explain a word
that will be very well understood in the studios,
I will say that “glazing” means the use of
transparent colours without any admixture of
white. However much the artists of Italy,
Spain, Holland, and France differed, they all
painted alike in this respect; their pictures
were painted in black and white and then the
natural colours were applied. The roses
2 2