Studio: international art (14.1898)

Studies by Sir E. Burne-Jones

surface of fanciful suggestion, no covering up of
ignorance or slovenly practice by ingenious
arrangement of amusing trifles, will be tolerated
except by that diminishing section of the public
which judges superficially and has not the power
to understand anything but the barest and most
obvious fact. Materialism has had its day, and
the easy trick of deceiving the ignorant by imitative
pretence has ceased to be regarded with anything
but contempt. If an artist would seize and retain
the attention of experts, if he would make sure of
the notice of the people who, without expert know-
ledge, have taste and discrimination, he must prove
himself to be a master of his craft, and must show

STUDY BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES

(From a Photograph by F. Hollyer)

very plainly that he has thoroughly educated him-
self before dreaming of exercising his powers of
persuasion upon others. He must, in fact, submit
for the approval of his judges all the devices and
methods that he proposes to use, and must pass a
severe examination in technique, or he will not be
allowed to pose as a specialist and will not be
accepted as a leader in the world of art.

The position which Sir Edward Burne-Jones
holds at the head of living artists who deal with
imaginative subjects is largely owing to the fact that
his grasp of the working details of his profession
is unusually comprehensive and complete. How
this completeness has been brought about his studies
show quite dramatically. They cover closely the
whole area of his practice and relate to every
branch of his work ; and they are invariably fas-
cinating by their extraordinary appositeness and
vivid meaning. They have in reality a scientific
value, because the research revealed in them is
that of the specialist who is concerned with all
those minute points of character by which is
determined the ultimate classification of what
he is examining. There is no incongruity in
the result, and there is no encroachment by one
set of characteristics upon the ground appropri-
ated to another set. Each one keeps its place
and fits in exactly with its surroundings.

The influence that Mr. Hollyer has been able
to exercise by his translations of the drawings
into a photographic form has been that of an
intermediary between the artist and the public.
To few people is it given to be able to collect
the originals and to be privileged to possess the
actual handiwork of the artist. Not many men
can afford to surround themselves with produc-
tions of such importance and of so great a market
value. Only the rare millionaire could gather
them in sufficient numbers to make possible a
detailed study of the methods and convictions
of this inimitable craftsman, and the ordinary
lover of art must necessarily be deprived of the
joy of amassing treasures so capable of high
appraisement. But the photographs from the
original drawings are not by any means inacces-
sible, and do not appeal only to the man of vast
possessions. They are well within the reach of
the average student, and he can with no ruinous
outlay secure an array of them large enough to
summarise with some completeness the salient
characteristics of Sir Edward’s practice ; and for
purposes of study they are scarcely less suitable
than the works they reproduce. A particular
feature of Mr. Hollyer’s exhibition was the wide

49