DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.60474#0015
and shade alone. Great though their artistic value is, all the coloured landscapes
known to us from Dtirer's time, even the illuminated prayer-books and brevia-
ries where the artists of the Netherlands recorded the beauty of the passing sea-
sons seem to be dull and lifeless, sterile and realistic by comparison with the
glories Durer saw.
The full extent of his instinct for beauty only becomes clear on a close exami-
nation of the detail of his work. Look at the two studies of a stone-quarry where
he indicates the finest details with the most delicate characterisation, where every
cleft, every fissure, every splinter in the rock excites his interest, nevertheless his
treatment shows the boldness demanded by the nature of the subject. Here,
faced by a world of confused details, he does not even draw the scaffolding but
begins with a flat water-colour brush, washes in the leading colours in broad
strokes which are quickly absorbed by the damp paper, delicately paints the
gradations from tone to tone with a highly developed faculty for detecting every
nuance, then using first his pen for the dark effects, and next his dry brush for
the light he inserts those lines which give form to the whole sea of colour. The
known to us from Dtirer's time, even the illuminated prayer-books and brevia-
ries where the artists of the Netherlands recorded the beauty of the passing sea-
sons seem to be dull and lifeless, sterile and realistic by comparison with the
glories Durer saw.
The full extent of his instinct for beauty only becomes clear on a close exami-
nation of the detail of his work. Look at the two studies of a stone-quarry where
he indicates the finest details with the most delicate characterisation, where every
cleft, every fissure, every splinter in the rock excites his interest, nevertheless his
treatment shows the boldness demanded by the nature of the subject. Here,
faced by a world of confused details, he does not even draw the scaffolding but
begins with a flat water-colour brush, washes in the leading colours in broad
strokes which are quickly absorbed by the damp paper, delicately paints the
gradations from tone to tone with a highly developed faculty for detecting every
nuance, then using first his pen for the dark effects, and next his dry brush for
the light he inserts those lines which give form to the whole sea of colour. The