DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0359
ENGLISH, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
333
and has blended them with the aristocratic dignity of the Lady Sligo,
or with the melting sweetness of many of the sketches of Emma.
This is what he finds in every first-rate Romney; and he finds much
more. He finds pure and unfaded color, the fruit of the painter’s
knowledge and of a self-restraint which forbade him to search for
complex effects through rash experiments. He finds a quality of
painting which, though it wants the subtlety and preciousness that
Gainsborough reached instinctively and Sir Joshua by effort, is a
quality to which nobody but a master can attain. To be convinced
of this we have only to look closely at the brushwork of the eyes in
any of the National Gallery Romneys, or the draperies in such pic-
tures as the Lady Warwick and Children or the Lady Derby.
“When all is said, Romney remains one of the greatest painters
of the Eighteenth Century and one of the glories of the English
name.”
We are apt to think that it was easier to conquer a reputation in
the Eighteenth Century than it is to-day and that Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, Gainsborough, Romney, Hoppner, and Raeburn stepped easily
into their commanding positions. Let us remember that Horace
Walpole mentions the fact that there were two thousand portrait-
painters in London in his time!
The story of English Painting previous to the Eighteenth Century
is interesting and very different from that of any nation on the Con-
tinent.
The Wars of the Roses, which lasted thirty years (1455-1485),
coincide with the great developments of Painting in Italy and Flanders.
During this period, while York and Lancaster were, like the Lion and
the Unicorn, fighting for the Crown, no attention could be paid to
the painting of pictures. Up to this period England had had a notable
past in portraiture, fresco-painting, and, even more particularly, in
the art of illumination and miniature-painting. In the decoration of
manuscripts from about 1250 to 1350 the Anglo-Norman painters
stood first in this branch of art. The old monastic artists had great
traditions to follow and superb models to draw upon, such as the
Book of Kells (dating from the Eighth or Ninth Century); and the Win-
333
and has blended them with the aristocratic dignity of the Lady Sligo,
or with the melting sweetness of many of the sketches of Emma.
This is what he finds in every first-rate Romney; and he finds much
more. He finds pure and unfaded color, the fruit of the painter’s
knowledge and of a self-restraint which forbade him to search for
complex effects through rash experiments. He finds a quality of
painting which, though it wants the subtlety and preciousness that
Gainsborough reached instinctively and Sir Joshua by effort, is a
quality to which nobody but a master can attain. To be convinced
of this we have only to look closely at the brushwork of the eyes in
any of the National Gallery Romneys, or the draperies in such pic-
tures as the Lady Warwick and Children or the Lady Derby.
“When all is said, Romney remains one of the greatest painters
of the Eighteenth Century and one of the glories of the English
name.”
We are apt to think that it was easier to conquer a reputation in
the Eighteenth Century than it is to-day and that Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, Gainsborough, Romney, Hoppner, and Raeburn stepped easily
into their commanding positions. Let us remember that Horace
Walpole mentions the fact that there were two thousand portrait-
painters in London in his time!
The story of English Painting previous to the Eighteenth Century
is interesting and very different from that of any nation on the Con-
tinent.
The Wars of the Roses, which lasted thirty years (1455-1485),
coincide with the great developments of Painting in Italy and Flanders.
During this period, while York and Lancaster were, like the Lion and
the Unicorn, fighting for the Crown, no attention could be paid to
the painting of pictures. Up to this period England had had a notable
past in portraiture, fresco-painting, and, even more particularly, in
the art of illumination and miniature-painting. In the decoration of
manuscripts from about 1250 to 1350 the Anglo-Norman painters
stood first in this branch of art. The old monastic artists had great
traditions to follow and superb models to draw upon, such as the
Book of Kells (dating from the Eighth or Ninth Century); and the Win-