Studio: international art (36.1906)

The Staats Forbes Collection

old Dutch masters. Thus the Dutch painters of
to-day have revived the great artistic traditions of
their country, and have again given her a leading
position in the world of art.

Until the middle of the last century the Dutch
artists had proved themselves unworthy successors
of their forbears. Their art, like that immediately
preceding the revolution of 1830 in France, was
cold and conventional in character, and entirely
void of the richness, the vitality, and beauty of
colour of the Dutch masters of the seventeenth
century. But, inspired by the example of the French
landscapists, the next generation has striven to
raise itself to a higher level. In this case it could
hardly be called a revolution, but rather, as has been
said, an evolution—a return to truth and the fuller
comprehension of the beauties of nature.

That the works of the modern Dutchmen and
those of the Fontainebleau group are so often
found hanging side by side in private collections
may be, in some measure, a proof of the com-
munity of feeling which exists between the two
schools. The influence of the French painters upon
their Dutch confreres is not easy to define; but it
is certain that they awakened in the Dutchmen a
feeling for the simple beauties of nature, and it is this

common note which attracts, may be unconsciously,
the same collector to the two groups of painters.

The Staats Forbes Collection gives us an ex-
cellent example of this mingling of the two schools.
Rich as it is in the works of the Barbizon painters,
the unrivalled series of pictures by Josef Israels,
and the splendid examples of the art of James
Maris and the other leading members of the modern
Dutch school, would alone give it distinction.

The late Mr. Staats Forbes had many oppor-
tunities of studying the works of the Dutch painters.
For some years his professional duties made it
necessary for him to reside in Holland, and his
natural artistic bent soon led him to the studios of
the leading artists of that country. It was in this
way that he met Josef Israels, and there sprang up
between the two a close and lasting friendship.
His keen judgment soon detected the fine qualities
of the works of these Dutch artists, and, as in the
case of the Barbizon group, he was one of the first
to show any practical appreciation of their merits.
By his long residence in Holland he became
familiar with the peculiar beauties of its scenery and
the life and customs of its inhabitants, and he was
thus able to sympathise with the painters, to realise
their aims, and to appreciate their efforts.

“SHEEP ENTERING A BARN
I08

(By permission of Messrs. Thos. Agnew & Sons)

BY ANTON MAUVE