Some Artists at Liege
RET) COURT, HASLEMERE : GARDEN FRONT ERNEST NEWTON, ARCHITECT
tects, who, in their own way, may be deemed not ardour and energy, tempered, nevertheless, by a
unworthy of being considered descendants of the slight touch of idleness. He is certainly a man
builders of the past. of action, but a certain dreamy tendency deprives
him of that patient plodding spirit which consti-
nMC » tutes the strength of the Flemish. The great
OME ARTISTS AT LIEGE. . _ , . „.to11 , t, . ° , .
defect of the Walloon—and at the same time his
BY FERNAND KHNOPFF.
C.....................„.....
chief merit, whence all the other virtues spring—is
| At the opening of a most interesting his extreme nervous sensibility, especially among
V*_>^ and exhaustive article entitled " Les the cultured classes, while one is astonished to find
Lettres Franchises en Belgique," M. Albert Mockel, traces of it even among the country folk. This
the graceful poet and equally delicate art critic, peculiarity endows these big dark men with a sort
wrote the other day the following lines, which I am of secret tenderness which brings them into close
glad to repeat: " Every one knows the land of communion with Nature, but at the same time it
Belgium is composed of two quite distinct parts— is the cause of the traditional hot-headedness of
Flanders and Wallonia. The Flemish—a robust the Liegois, and the consequent failure of collec-
and tranquil race, mostly lymphatic, with a san- tive effort among them. The Walloon is inventive
guine leaven here and there—are to be found in by nature, but easily discouraged when the hour of
Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp ; while the Walloons, realisation comes. Frequently intellectual, at times
of livelier and more nervous temperament, inhabit over-analytical, and something of a reasoner, he
Liege, Namur, and all the country as far as Mons. broods over his work, one fancies, with too much
The Gallo-Frank, or Walloon, with the same blood subtlety, instead of simply plodding on as his fancy
in him as the French of the Ardennes, is full of directs him, like the Flamand. He is capable of
178
RET) COURT, HASLEMERE : GARDEN FRONT ERNEST NEWTON, ARCHITECT
tects, who, in their own way, may be deemed not ardour and energy, tempered, nevertheless, by a
unworthy of being considered descendants of the slight touch of idleness. He is certainly a man
builders of the past. of action, but a certain dreamy tendency deprives
him of that patient plodding spirit which consti-
nMC » tutes the strength of the Flemish. The great
OME ARTISTS AT LIEGE. . _ , . „.to11 , t, . ° , .
defect of the Walloon—and at the same time his
BY FERNAND KHNOPFF.
C.....................„.....
chief merit, whence all the other virtues spring—is
| At the opening of a most interesting his extreme nervous sensibility, especially among
V*_>^ and exhaustive article entitled " Les the cultured classes, while one is astonished to find
Lettres Franchises en Belgique," M. Albert Mockel, traces of it even among the country folk. This
the graceful poet and equally delicate art critic, peculiarity endows these big dark men with a sort
wrote the other day the following lines, which I am of secret tenderness which brings them into close
glad to repeat: " Every one knows the land of communion with Nature, but at the same time it
Belgium is composed of two quite distinct parts— is the cause of the traditional hot-headedness of
Flanders and Wallonia. The Flemish—a robust the Liegois, and the consequent failure of collec-
and tranquil race, mostly lymphatic, with a san- tive effort among them. The Walloon is inventive
guine leaven here and there—are to be found in by nature, but easily discouraged when the hour of
Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp ; while the Walloons, realisation comes. Frequently intellectual, at times
of livelier and more nervous temperament, inhabit over-analytical, and something of a reasoner, he
Liege, Namur, and all the country as far as Mons. broods over his work, one fancies, with too much
The Gallo-Frank, or Walloon, with the same blood subtlety, instead of simply plodding on as his fancy
in him as the French of the Ardennes, is full of directs him, like the Flamand. He is capable of
178