DOI issue:
Nr. 116 (November 1902)
DOI article:Shaw Sparrow, Walter: The centenary of Thomas Girtin: his genius and work
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19877#0105
Thomas Girtin
something more even than that must be borne in
mind, if we wish to do full justice to the historic
worth of Girtin's example. We must remember also
the immediate success of Bonington in France, with
its effect on Delacroix and others ; and we must
keep in memory the importance of Constable's art as
the immediate forerunner of the French School of
Corot, of Rousseau, and of Daubigny. Yes, much
as Girtin did in his own art, he achieved far more
at second-hand through his ascendency over rising
painters.
2. Weight of Style.—This, in paint, is a rare
quality, and for some reason or other it has not
received in criticism all the attention it deserves.
According to some writers it consists in a forceful
and harmonious arrangement of the whole subject
through all its several parts. But this gives us
only a bit of the truth. A man may paint badly,
and break every rule of composition, and yet be
able to interest us with one necessary constituent
of the quality now under consideration. The
phrase weight of style, to be understood in criticism
at its full value, must be applied to the weight
avoirdupois suggested by the various objects in a
picture.- All objects represented in art have in
nature some weight avoirdupois; and it is an im-
portant part of a painter's business not only to
suggest in his work that pressure downwards which
heavy substances have in nature, but also to make
us keenly alive to the infinite variety of difference
" BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE " FROM THE WATER-COLOUR BY THOMAS GIRTIN
(In possession of the Whikvorth Institute, Manchester)
93
something more even than that must be borne in
mind, if we wish to do full justice to the historic
worth of Girtin's example. We must remember also
the immediate success of Bonington in France, with
its effect on Delacroix and others ; and we must
keep in memory the importance of Constable's art as
the immediate forerunner of the French School of
Corot, of Rousseau, and of Daubigny. Yes, much
as Girtin did in his own art, he achieved far more
at second-hand through his ascendency over rising
painters.
2. Weight of Style.—This, in paint, is a rare
quality, and for some reason or other it has not
received in criticism all the attention it deserves.
According to some writers it consists in a forceful
and harmonious arrangement of the whole subject
through all its several parts. But this gives us
only a bit of the truth. A man may paint badly,
and break every rule of composition, and yet be
able to interest us with one necessary constituent
of the quality now under consideration. The
phrase weight of style, to be understood in criticism
at its full value, must be applied to the weight
avoirdupois suggested by the various objects in a
picture.- All objects represented in art have in
nature some weight avoirdupois; and it is an im-
portant part of a painter's business not only to
suggest in his work that pressure downwards which
heavy substances have in nature, but also to make
us keenly alive to the infinite variety of difference
" BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE " FROM THE WATER-COLOUR BY THOMAS GIRTIN
(In possession of the Whikvorth Institute, Manchester)
93