DOI issue:
No. 5 (August, 1893)
DOI article:Hartley, Alfred: Sketching from nature
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17188#0198
Sketching from Nature
cases; how few of them manifest any real observa-
tion of the subtle, fleeting aspects of Nature, so
noticeable in Turner's rendering of the same
subjects.
I have drawn attention to these works, chosen
more or less at hazard, as the strongest argument I
can use in favour of the practice of sketching, as I
think no one can look at the early works of this
great landscapist and note the hard, matter-of-fact
drawings which he made when young, and compare
them with the splendidly free impressionist works
of after years, without attributing much of the
freedom and grand conception of the latter to the
practice he made of constantly going to Nature
sketch-book in hand.
Constable's immense personality was never
better displayed than in his sketches, and we have
only to look around the highly interesting collec-
tion of his studies now at the South Kensington
Museum to comprehend how determined a student
of Nature this Suffolk artist was, and how power-
fully and yet lovingly he recorded his impressions
of the districts in which he worked, and especially
of that district with which he so closely identified
himself—the country of his birth.
During the times of his sojourn at East Bergholt
he must have been for ever wandering with note-
book or sketch-box in hand, with eager eyes for
all that was beautiful, and few spots or objects-—
with any claim to interest—near Dedham, Flatford,
and all that neighbourhood of the Stour, escaped
some record by his brush or pencil. But of more
importance to us was the way in which he was
learning to see simple things—of little interest in
FROM A SKETCH BY ALBERT MORROW
themselves—in a big manner truly worthy of a
great artist.
His eye was ever alive and his hand ready to
note the passing effect; to catch the sparkle of the
wet foliage, or the grey light on wind-tossed trees,
or to portray the grandeur on the storm as it swept
180
over the valley where he loved to paint; and his
habit of observation and practice of recording his
impressions produced eventually the splendid
results which we know of in his works.
Some of his studies are admirable in every way;
most of them are powerful and breathe of light and
FROM A SKETCH BY ALBERT MORROW
air in a manner peculiar to himself. Some are
almost unsurpassable for vigour of execution ; and
what are we to say of the man who took out six-
foot canvases for sketching purposes, unless it be to
avow that there is something giant-like and splendid
in the method of such an artist; and we may well
wonder when he brings back such studies as those
for the Hay Wain and the Jumping Horse, both of
which are at South Kensington.
It is by this continual practice that all great
craftsmen are made; the mind and the eye must
be continually trained and the hand schooled into
power; without this perpetual training of the eye
the more lovely aspects of Nature must remain
unrevealed, and without this schooling of the hand
those beauties, even if seen, can never be ade-
quately recorded.
Of the method to be adopted, it appears to me
that not much need be said ; each man chooses
the medium best fitted to his own particular feeling,
or the most adapted to the study he has in hand.
The more fleeting the effect he wishes to depict
the wiser of course will he be to choose a method
adapted to speed : if he be working in oil, a toned
cases; how few of them manifest any real observa-
tion of the subtle, fleeting aspects of Nature, so
noticeable in Turner's rendering of the same
subjects.
I have drawn attention to these works, chosen
more or less at hazard, as the strongest argument I
can use in favour of the practice of sketching, as I
think no one can look at the early works of this
great landscapist and note the hard, matter-of-fact
drawings which he made when young, and compare
them with the splendidly free impressionist works
of after years, without attributing much of the
freedom and grand conception of the latter to the
practice he made of constantly going to Nature
sketch-book in hand.
Constable's immense personality was never
better displayed than in his sketches, and we have
only to look around the highly interesting collec-
tion of his studies now at the South Kensington
Museum to comprehend how determined a student
of Nature this Suffolk artist was, and how power-
fully and yet lovingly he recorded his impressions
of the districts in which he worked, and especially
of that district with which he so closely identified
himself—the country of his birth.
During the times of his sojourn at East Bergholt
he must have been for ever wandering with note-
book or sketch-box in hand, with eager eyes for
all that was beautiful, and few spots or objects-—
with any claim to interest—near Dedham, Flatford,
and all that neighbourhood of the Stour, escaped
some record by his brush or pencil. But of more
importance to us was the way in which he was
learning to see simple things—of little interest in
FROM A SKETCH BY ALBERT MORROW
themselves—in a big manner truly worthy of a
great artist.
His eye was ever alive and his hand ready to
note the passing effect; to catch the sparkle of the
wet foliage, or the grey light on wind-tossed trees,
or to portray the grandeur on the storm as it swept
180
over the valley where he loved to paint; and his
habit of observation and practice of recording his
impressions produced eventually the splendid
results which we know of in his works.
Some of his studies are admirable in every way;
most of them are powerful and breathe of light and
FROM A SKETCH BY ALBERT MORROW
air in a manner peculiar to himself. Some are
almost unsurpassable for vigour of execution ; and
what are we to say of the man who took out six-
foot canvases for sketching purposes, unless it be to
avow that there is something giant-like and splendid
in the method of such an artist; and we may well
wonder when he brings back such studies as those
for the Hay Wain and the Jumping Horse, both of
which are at South Kensington.
It is by this continual practice that all great
craftsmen are made; the mind and the eye must
be continually trained and the hand schooled into
power; without this perpetual training of the eye
the more lovely aspects of Nature must remain
unrevealed, and without this schooling of the hand
those beauties, even if seen, can never be ade-
quately recorded.
Of the method to be adopted, it appears to me
that not much need be said ; each man chooses
the medium best fitted to his own particular feeling,
or the most adapted to the study he has in hand.
The more fleeting the effect he wishes to depict
the wiser of course will he be to choose a method
adapted to speed : if he be working in oil, a toned