DOI issue:
No. 125 (August, 1903)
DOI article:Binyon, Laurence: Exhibition of drawings by the old masters at the British Museum
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19879#0215
Drawings by Old Masters
hand that one cannot but wonder if he ever painted
it. It would have made a splendid picture; the
thrilled procession, the onlookers on the wall, the
banners and horsemen coming up behind, and the
face of Judith focussing the intoxicating joy of
triumph. How the scene would have acted itself
before us, and sent the roll of drums through one's
imagination ! In admirable contrast with this is
the Tobit recovering his Sight, which one cannot
look at without sharing the intense eagerness of
the watching group, and listening for the old man's
cry of wonder as the light from the window pene-
trates his eyelids and seems to pervade all the
nerves of his body, half-lifted from the chair.
Rembrandt surely went further in drawing than
any mortal man; his lines are alive; they create
by magic, so that without thought of any inter-
posing artifice we are admitted to the heart of a
reality. Yet no man studied other artists more;
here is a sketch to prove it, one of several which
he made from the Last Supper of Leonardo, as of
many other works by the great Italians.
Caspar Netscher, Wouverman, a couple of
pleasing landscapes by Swanevelt, one of Claude's
many Dutch imitators, Thomas Wyck's interesting
view of London, with old St. Paul's from Black-
heath, and some of the careful water colour work
of eighteenth century artists, still preserving the
national tradition in a sense of daylight and
atmosphere, bring us to the end of the Dutchmen.
There remains the French School. French
draughtsmanship is very unequally represented in
the Museum, for while there is a magnificent set
of Claudes—over three hundred—and a superb
set of Watteaus, rivalling that of the Louvre;
most of the other artists are quite inadequately
represented, or not at all. The recent acquisitions
here shown, while adding to Claude and Watteau,
strengthen the existing collection where it was
poor, and fill up some important gaps. Thus
there is a delicate Fragonard in sepia, from the
De Goncourt collection; some delightful studies
by Gabriel de St. Aubin, a most accomplished
draughtsman; a rich, elaborate sketch for a picture
by Greuze; two Daubigny landscapes ; three black
chalk studies by Millet, one of which, Les Becheurs
is specially powerful, and notable as being the sub-
ject of one of his etchings; and a splendid study
'A MOORISH BIVOUAC FROM THE SKETCH IN OILS BY F. GOYA
200 >
hand that one cannot but wonder if he ever painted
it. It would have made a splendid picture; the
thrilled procession, the onlookers on the wall, the
banners and horsemen coming up behind, and the
face of Judith focussing the intoxicating joy of
triumph. How the scene would have acted itself
before us, and sent the roll of drums through one's
imagination ! In admirable contrast with this is
the Tobit recovering his Sight, which one cannot
look at without sharing the intense eagerness of
the watching group, and listening for the old man's
cry of wonder as the light from the window pene-
trates his eyelids and seems to pervade all the
nerves of his body, half-lifted from the chair.
Rembrandt surely went further in drawing than
any mortal man; his lines are alive; they create
by magic, so that without thought of any inter-
posing artifice we are admitted to the heart of a
reality. Yet no man studied other artists more;
here is a sketch to prove it, one of several which
he made from the Last Supper of Leonardo, as of
many other works by the great Italians.
Caspar Netscher, Wouverman, a couple of
pleasing landscapes by Swanevelt, one of Claude's
many Dutch imitators, Thomas Wyck's interesting
view of London, with old St. Paul's from Black-
heath, and some of the careful water colour work
of eighteenth century artists, still preserving the
national tradition in a sense of daylight and
atmosphere, bring us to the end of the Dutchmen.
There remains the French School. French
draughtsmanship is very unequally represented in
the Museum, for while there is a magnificent set
of Claudes—over three hundred—and a superb
set of Watteaus, rivalling that of the Louvre;
most of the other artists are quite inadequately
represented, or not at all. The recent acquisitions
here shown, while adding to Claude and Watteau,
strengthen the existing collection where it was
poor, and fill up some important gaps. Thus
there is a delicate Fragonard in sepia, from the
De Goncourt collection; some delightful studies
by Gabriel de St. Aubin, a most accomplished
draughtsman; a rich, elaborate sketch for a picture
by Greuze; two Daubigny landscapes ; three black
chalk studies by Millet, one of which, Les Becheurs
is specially powerful, and notable as being the sub-
ject of one of his etchings; and a splendid study
'A MOORISH BIVOUAC FROM THE SKETCH IN OILS BY F. GOYA
200 >