DOI Artikel:
Holmes, Charles: The History of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27085#0019
OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS
considerable measure of support that they were encouraged to put
forth their fullest energies ; and when once the brief transition
period was passed, while the old school and the new were striving
side by side, they had no cause to complain that their efforts were
misunderstood or not appreciated.
If Paul Sandby can be considered to have shown the way for the
new development, the credit of proving its greatest possibilities may
fairly be given to Thomas Girtin. This young artist, who was
born in 1775 and died in 1802, was extraordinarily gifted, and had
naturally an artistic endowment that was almost perfect in its
balance. He was one of those men who have occurred occasionally
in the history of art, to whom the practical details of their work
presented apparently no difficulties, an instinctive master capable of
attacking and overcoming triumphantly the most exacting problems.
That he was ultimately surpassed by his contemporary and fellow
student, Turner, can be frankly admitted, but this fact does not
detract from his importance, and certainly does not diminish the
significance of his intervention. It must be remembered that Girtin
was only twenty-seven when he died, and the opportunity was
therefore denied to him of establishing his position among English
artists by a long and brilliant career such as Turner enjoyed.
Indeed, the astonishing quickness with which Girtin matured is one
of the most interesting features of his too brief life. At an age
when most men are only beginning—when Turner, for instance, was
still but a student—he was an accomplished and influential artist,
and was fully able to demonstrate the completeness of his under-
standing of the new methods of artistic expression which he
advocated. He had an unerring perception of what was essential in
pictorial arrangement, a singularly correct idea of combining har-
moniously the various parts of a picture, and of investing them with
the right degree of poetic sentiment ; and as he was a sound and
facile draughtsman and a sensitive colourist, he was able to set down
his compositions with most persuasive conviction. Few men have
been better fitted to direct the course of an evolution of artistic
taste, because few have possessed so completely the combination of
intelligence and manual skill which is necessary for leadership in the
artist’s profession.
The great difference between his manner of working and that of the
other water-colour painters of his time was that he did not occupy
himself with drawings in which colour and atmospheric effect were
made subsidiary to a formal and conventional design, but chose
rather to produce paintings that were in their colour qualities and
h vii
considerable measure of support that they were encouraged to put
forth their fullest energies ; and when once the brief transition
period was passed, while the old school and the new were striving
side by side, they had no cause to complain that their efforts were
misunderstood or not appreciated.
If Paul Sandby can be considered to have shown the way for the
new development, the credit of proving its greatest possibilities may
fairly be given to Thomas Girtin. This young artist, who was
born in 1775 and died in 1802, was extraordinarily gifted, and had
naturally an artistic endowment that was almost perfect in its
balance. He was one of those men who have occurred occasionally
in the history of art, to whom the practical details of their work
presented apparently no difficulties, an instinctive master capable of
attacking and overcoming triumphantly the most exacting problems.
That he was ultimately surpassed by his contemporary and fellow
student, Turner, can be frankly admitted, but this fact does not
detract from his importance, and certainly does not diminish the
significance of his intervention. It must be remembered that Girtin
was only twenty-seven when he died, and the opportunity was
therefore denied to him of establishing his position among English
artists by a long and brilliant career such as Turner enjoyed.
Indeed, the astonishing quickness with which Girtin matured is one
of the most interesting features of his too brief life. At an age
when most men are only beginning—when Turner, for instance, was
still but a student—he was an accomplished and influential artist,
and was fully able to demonstrate the completeness of his under-
standing of the new methods of artistic expression which he
advocated. He had an unerring perception of what was essential in
pictorial arrangement, a singularly correct idea of combining har-
moniously the various parts of a picture, and of investing them with
the right degree of poetic sentiment ; and as he was a sound and
facile draughtsman and a sensitive colourist, he was able to set down
his compositions with most persuasive conviction. Few men have
been better fitted to direct the course of an evolution of artistic
taste, because few have possessed so completely the combination of
intelligence and manual skill which is necessary for leadership in the
artist’s profession.
The great difference between his manner of working and that of the
other water-colour painters of his time was that he did not occupy
himself with drawings in which colour and atmospheric effect were
made subsidiary to a formal and conventional design, but chose
rather to produce paintings that were in their colour qualities and
h vii