DOI Heft:
Nr. 189 (December 1908)
DOI Artikel:Brinton, Selwyn John Curwen: Some recent paintings by John Lavery, R.S.A., R.H.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20965#0198
Recent Paintings by John Lavery, R.S.A., R.H.A.
colour has dried completely and the portrait been
varnished.
This portrait of Sir Andrew Porter just referred
to is a dignified presentation of the learned judge,
who is here wearing his Court robes as Master of
the Rolls. Mrs. von Meister’s portrait is one of
singular charm. This lady is American by birth,
and married into a high position in Germany, and
in the curve of the finely cut lips there is a
certain hint of appreciative humour, but she is
above all femme du monde, and the portrait is as
full of dignity as it is beautiful in type and rich in
colour. Mrs. Vulliamy, of Edinburgh, is a recent
portrait (painted in August last) of great freshness
and spontaneity ; she stands full-length against a
background in which the brown canvas has been
but little interfered with.
Mrs. Charles Baker stands upright in a cream-
white tailor-made costume. “ Perhaps the greatest
difficulty the portrait painter has to deal with is
dress, and the most difficult dress that made by the
tailor, whether for man or woman.” Such was Mr.
Lavery’s remark to me on this portrait, and he
added, “ The artist who can so depict the fashion
of his day that it shall be of his day, and yet for
all time, and the picture be a thing of beauty, has
solved the problem.” The great English eighteenth-
century Masters had before them the same problem,
and either met it by painting a costume which was
more or less undated, or avoided (I should hesitate
to say evaded) it by veil or cloak or lace.
The artist has here attempted, as stated above,
to face the problem directly, and to solve it by
what I may call “ treatment,” that is, by so
handling it that though it is obviously a tailor-
made gown of the year 1908, and will be so
recognised by anyone who is competent in
costume, yet it remains a thing which is beautiful
in itself. Velasquez did the same when out of
the hideous hoops of Spanish contemporary
costume he created figures which have an enduring
verity and beauty ; and Whistler said as much
‘1 A CALM DAY ”
176
BY JOHN LAVERY
colour has dried completely and the portrait been
varnished.
This portrait of Sir Andrew Porter just referred
to is a dignified presentation of the learned judge,
who is here wearing his Court robes as Master of
the Rolls. Mrs. von Meister’s portrait is one of
singular charm. This lady is American by birth,
and married into a high position in Germany, and
in the curve of the finely cut lips there is a
certain hint of appreciative humour, but she is
above all femme du monde, and the portrait is as
full of dignity as it is beautiful in type and rich in
colour. Mrs. Vulliamy, of Edinburgh, is a recent
portrait (painted in August last) of great freshness
and spontaneity ; she stands full-length against a
background in which the brown canvas has been
but little interfered with.
Mrs. Charles Baker stands upright in a cream-
white tailor-made costume. “ Perhaps the greatest
difficulty the portrait painter has to deal with is
dress, and the most difficult dress that made by the
tailor, whether for man or woman.” Such was Mr.
Lavery’s remark to me on this portrait, and he
added, “ The artist who can so depict the fashion
of his day that it shall be of his day, and yet for
all time, and the picture be a thing of beauty, has
solved the problem.” The great English eighteenth-
century Masters had before them the same problem,
and either met it by painting a costume which was
more or less undated, or avoided (I should hesitate
to say evaded) it by veil or cloak or lace.
The artist has here attempted, as stated above,
to face the problem directly, and to solve it by
what I may call “ treatment,” that is, by so
handling it that though it is obviously a tailor-
made gown of the year 1908, and will be so
recognised by anyone who is competent in
costume, yet it remains a thing which is beautiful
in itself. Velasquez did the same when out of
the hideous hoops of Spanish contemporary
costume he created figures which have an enduring
verity and beauty ; and Whistler said as much
‘1 A CALM DAY ”
176
BY JOHN LAVERY