Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works: A Handbook Containing Two Thousand and Fifty Biographical Sketches

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Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1889 - Art, Modern
Contains brief biographies, some works, and some critical commentary.
 

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Page 311 - ... he used to avow his intention to spend his patrimony, about £10,000, and then again to make his fortune by the law. The first he soon accomplished. But the law is not a profession so easily acquired, nor did Frank's talents lie in that direction. His passion for painting turned out better.
Page 286 - by Mr. Lewes ; and he studied art at Rome. If he had had his choice, he would rather have been famous as an artist than as a writer ; but it was destined that he should paint in colors which will never crack and never need restoration.
Page 270 - ... Sandalphon," which belonged to Mr. Longfellow, bas-reliefs of Dante, and a statue of the " Sleeping Child." She sent to the Exhibition in Philadelphia, 1876, a chimney-piece on which were sculptured " Children and the Yule-Log and Fireside Spirits." This was purchased by Mrs. Hemenway, of Boston. " Her works are full of poetic fancy ; her bas-reliefs of the seven days of the week and of the hours are most lovely and original in conception. Her sketches of Dante in bas-reliefs are equally fine....
Page 306 - Slave Ship" is the most infernal piece of clap-trap ever painted. There is noth1ng in it. It has as much to do with human affections and thought as a ghost. It is not even a fine bouquet of color. The color is harsh, disagreeable, and discordant.
Page 37 - Here the exquisite execution of the glossy and crisp hair of the dog, the bright sharp touching of the green bough beside it, the clear painting of the wood of the coffin and the folds of the blanket, are language — language clear and expressive in the highest degree. But the close pressure of the dog's breast against the wood, the convulsive clinging of the paws, which has dragged the blanket off the trestle...
Page 306 - It is absurd, you will say (and with a great deal of reason), for Titmarsh, or any other Briton, to grow so politically enthusiastic about a four-foot canvas, representing a ship, a steamer, a river, and a sunset.
Page 302 - He found them worth studying. Perhaps no artist in this country better appreciates the nature and the merits of oxen, or would better understand Mr. Hamerton's enthusiastic eulogy of them : " Who that has seen these creatures work can be indifferent to the steadfast grandeur of their nature ? They have no petulance, no hurry, no nervous excitability ; but they will bear the yoke upon their necks, and the thongs about their horns, and push forward without flinching from sunrise until dusk.
Page 185 - The art of this illustrious master consists in choosing well a bit of country and painting it as it is, enclosing in its frame all the simple and naïve poetry which it contains. No effects of studied light, no artificial and complicated composition, nothing which allures the eyes, surprises the mind, and crushes the littleness of man. No, it is the real, hospitable and familiar country, without display or disguise, in which one finds himself...
Page 105 - ... him to a late hour of the night before he destroyed himself. A notice attached to the number informed the public of this latter fact. There was at first a little difficulty in replacing him, and for a single number Mr. Buss was interposed. But before the fourth number a choice had been made, which as time went on was so thoroughly justified, that through the greater part of the wonderful career which was then beginning the connection was kept up, and Mr. Hablot Browne's name is not unworthily...
Page xiii - for the erection of an extensive gallery for the Annual Exhibition and Sale of the Works of Living Artists of the United Kingdom in the various branches of Painting (in oil and water colours), Sculpture, Architecture, and Engraving, at the period when the tasteful and opulent are usually resident in the Metropolis, viz., during the months of April, May, June, and July.

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