Studio: international art (19.1900)

TJte Art of Evelyn De Morgan

real on canvas those subtle characteristics
which give to a great poem its peculiar
distinction. For example, every line of
" Paradise Lost" has a rare manliness,
while a sense of illimitable vastness
reigns through the whole poem; but
who, labouring within the four sides of a
canvas, could do justice to these things ?
Why, the very act of trying to draw one
of Milton's angels is in absolute an-
tagonism with the Miltonic method of
description, for Milton impresses us by
leaving his supernatural creations indis-
tinctly shadowed forth, so that the imagi-
nation may be stirred by a vague idea of
such a presence as should excite awe,
wonder, or amazement. A painter, on
the other hand, cannot thus escape from
the limitations imposed upon his means
of description by definite outlines and
exact details. Hence, no doubt, when
thinking seriously of Milton's angels,
fallen or other, he must come to one of
two conclusions : either he may regard
them as being above and beyond the

"■Mercy and Truth have met together,
Righteousness and J'eace have kissed each other "
230

FROM A PAINTING BY EVELYN DE MORGAN