DOI issue:
No. 196 (July, 1909)
DOI article:Eddington, A.: William McTaggart, R. S. A., painter of sea and land
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20967#0116
PVilliam McTaggart, R.S.A.
effects. There is never a suggestion in his mature
work that it is other than a picture completed on
the spot, except in his supersensitive method of
dating. It has no taint of the studio. Nature’s
fulness and freedom of
symphonic beauty are
expressed with rare under-
standing and fine sym-
pathy. There is a con-
vincing certainty in the
quality of the light and
the way in which it is
affected by different at-
mospheric conditions and
the objects from which it
is reflected. He is not a
stylist. Order and sym-
metry occupy a subordi-
nate place in his mind,
and thus we seldom have
him approaching that
unity of reposeful beauty
that distinguishes work by
Mathew Maris or Corot.
On the other hand, his
colour effects are orches-
tral in their variety, richness and fulness of tone.
In his composition chiaroscuro plays a small part.
It is thus impossible to translate him into black-
and-white without grievous loss. He composes in
BY WILLIAM MCTAGGART
“MACRIHANISH BAY”
BY WILLIAM MCTAGGART
90
effects. There is never a suggestion in his mature
work that it is other than a picture completed on
the spot, except in his supersensitive method of
dating. It has no taint of the studio. Nature’s
fulness and freedom of
symphonic beauty are
expressed with rare under-
standing and fine sym-
pathy. There is a con-
vincing certainty in the
quality of the light and
the way in which it is
affected by different at-
mospheric conditions and
the objects from which it
is reflected. He is not a
stylist. Order and sym-
metry occupy a subordi-
nate place in his mind,
and thus we seldom have
him approaching that
unity of reposeful beauty
that distinguishes work by
Mathew Maris or Corot.
On the other hand, his
colour effects are orches-
tral in their variety, richness and fulness of tone.
In his composition chiaroscuro plays a small part.
It is thus impossible to translate him into black-
and-white without grievous loss. He composes in
BY WILLIAM MCTAGGART
“MACRIHANISH BAY”
BY WILLIAM MCTAGGART
90