DOI Heft:
No. 177 (December, 1907)
DOI Artikel:Lawton, Frederick: The home of Anatole France as depicted by Pierre Calmettes
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20776#0242
The Home of A natole France
over, his material and his form have an
intimacy of reality that cannot be too
much praised. He brings out with
equal verity the metallic lustre of old
wood and the creamy or velvety soft-
ness of stuff and carpet. His style is
not microscopic, but bold, sure, and
true. From the first broad outlines to
the finish he proceeds by strokes that
demand only little retouching.
The artist has drawn and painted
several portraits of Anatole France. A
full-length oil painting shows the novelist
sitting pensively over a large folio of
prints. The crayon drawing, reproduced
opposite, has been preferred, on ac-
count of the more animated expression
—that assumed in conversation. France,
himself a connoisseur of the highest
competence, esteems this the best like-
ness he has ever had executed.
A number of canvases have been de-
voted to the drawing-room and its furni-
ture. The one given in the first illustra-
anatole France's home : by pierre calmettes tion shows an annexe, called the Salle
"la cite des livres"
comings, was still a consummate handler
of the pencil, and initiated his pupil into
the secrets of his own excellence. But
Pierre Calmettes' real apprenticeship was
served during the years he spent among
the trades and arts of France, working at
them with a view to their picturesque
reproduction. This long practice in
sketching workshop, lathe, and tools, with
the human figures in their midst, was the
best preparation for his maturer task of
painting the interior of a house and reveal-
ing it as a living abode. If anything were
needed to complete the training, he ob-
tained it while exercising the functions of
an art critic; so that neither skill nor
judgment was wanting when, at last, he
was impelled to begin mixing his colours,
and to carry through, with feverish ardour,
the remarkable achievement which has
just been exhibited in the gallery of
Messrs. Chaine & Simonson.
M. Calmettes' colouring is superb yet
sober; it is rich yet sincere; it is organic
and interpretative, yet is mingled on his
palette with that imagination of the eye ,
r . . ° anatole france s home : by pierre calmettes
characteristic of the true craftsman. More- " la cite des livres "
212
over, his material and his form have an
intimacy of reality that cannot be too
much praised. He brings out with
equal verity the metallic lustre of old
wood and the creamy or velvety soft-
ness of stuff and carpet. His style is
not microscopic, but bold, sure, and
true. From the first broad outlines to
the finish he proceeds by strokes that
demand only little retouching.
The artist has drawn and painted
several portraits of Anatole France. A
full-length oil painting shows the novelist
sitting pensively over a large folio of
prints. The crayon drawing, reproduced
opposite, has been preferred, on ac-
count of the more animated expression
—that assumed in conversation. France,
himself a connoisseur of the highest
competence, esteems this the best like-
ness he has ever had executed.
A number of canvases have been de-
voted to the drawing-room and its furni-
ture. The one given in the first illustra-
anatole France's home : by pierre calmettes tion shows an annexe, called the Salle
"la cite des livres"
comings, was still a consummate handler
of the pencil, and initiated his pupil into
the secrets of his own excellence. But
Pierre Calmettes' real apprenticeship was
served during the years he spent among
the trades and arts of France, working at
them with a view to their picturesque
reproduction. This long practice in
sketching workshop, lathe, and tools, with
the human figures in their midst, was the
best preparation for his maturer task of
painting the interior of a house and reveal-
ing it as a living abode. If anything were
needed to complete the training, he ob-
tained it while exercising the functions of
an art critic; so that neither skill nor
judgment was wanting when, at last, he
was impelled to begin mixing his colours,
and to carry through, with feverish ardour,
the remarkable achievement which has
just been exhibited in the gallery of
Messrs. Chaine & Simonson.
M. Calmettes' colouring is superb yet
sober; it is rich yet sincere; it is organic
and interpretative, yet is mingled on his
palette with that imagination of the eye ,
r . . ° anatole france s home : by pierre calmettes
characteristic of the true craftsman. More- " la cite des livres "
212