TRADITION AND COMMON SENSE
a lot of knowledge to be original. If we lack this knowledge how can we be sure that someone else has not made our “original” discovery before?
In painting and appreciation revaluation is continual. There are alleged to be over 2,000 pictures in the store
rooms of the National Gallery which are old favourites out of favour. But certain stars continue to shine. “Nobody cares much at heart about Titian,” said Ruskin, “only there is a strange under-current of everlasting murmur about his name, which means the deep consent of all great men that he is greater than they.” On the other hand, when the National Gallery was founded, out of the list of thirty-three artists which contained many great names, the picture, The Raising of Lazarus, by S. del Piombo, an artist seldom mentioned now, was considered most valuable, in spite of the fact that the principal figure was over
All I have said here has been said before with more cogency. It is, as far as I know, orthodox and academic.
But I see no objection to saying it again, for more has been forgotten about painting and criticism than any one of us is ever likely to discover. For an original artist— original that is, in the sense that originality is development —we have the obvious example of Reynolds. It has been the fashion to underrate the achievements of this great painter and teacher, but almost everything was sound about Reynolds except the permanency of his art. As he admitted, his pictures - “came off with flying colours”. In spite of the jibes of journalists, art masters, professors, con
who are without his knowledge, incapable ofhis balanced judgment, and blind to his achievement, Reynolds was a great painter, and his Discourses have never been surpassed.
Without being provincial or suburban, he belonged to a culture which was European; urban, and not merely con
temporary and superficially fashionable. Reynolds put the case for academic art.
Right: GARMENT CONVENTIONS IN CHINESE PAINTING : TWO EXAMPLES
Calligraphy is said to be the most personal characteristic of an artist. Yet the Chinese who developed calli
graphy to the greatest variety were the most traditional. Can art be copied? Chinnery was an Irishman who worked in China.
Below : George chinnery (1774- 1850). TWO DRAW
INGS OF CHINESE SCENES
a lot of knowledge to be original. If we lack this knowledge how can we be sure that someone else has not made our “original” discovery before?
In painting and appreciation revaluation is continual. There are alleged to be over 2,000 pictures in the store
rooms of the National Gallery which are old favourites out of favour. But certain stars continue to shine. “Nobody cares much at heart about Titian,” said Ruskin, “only there is a strange under-current of everlasting murmur about his name, which means the deep consent of all great men that he is greater than they.” On the other hand, when the National Gallery was founded, out of the list of thirty-three artists which contained many great names, the picture, The Raising of Lazarus, by S. del Piombo, an artist seldom mentioned now, was considered most valuable, in spite of the fact that the principal figure was over
painted. What Ruskin called “the everlasting murmur” about Titian is what I mean by a continuous community of taste and common sense...
All I have said here has been said before with more cogency. It is, as far as I know, orthodox and academic.
But I see no objection to saying it again, for more has been forgotten about painting and criticism than any one of us is ever likely to discover. For an original artist— original that is, in the sense that originality is development —we have the obvious example of Reynolds. It has been the fashion to underrate the achievements of this great painter and teacher, but almost everything was sound about Reynolds except the permanency of his art. As he admitted, his pictures - “came off with flying colours”. In spite of the jibes of journalists, art masters, professors, con
fessed or professed ex-gunmen, and all such rude critics
who are without his knowledge, incapable ofhis balanced judgment, and blind to his achievement, Reynolds was a great painter, and his Discourses have never been surpassed.
Without being provincial or suburban, he belonged to a culture which was European; urban, and not merely con
temporary and superficially fashionable. Reynolds put the case for academic art.
Right: GARMENT CONVENTIONS IN CHINESE PAINTING : TWO EXAMPLES
Calligraphy is said to be the most personal characteristic of an artist. Yet the Chinese who developed calli
graphy to the greatest variety were the most traditional. Can art be copied? Chinnery was an Irishman who worked in China.
Below : George chinnery (1774- 1850). TWO DRAW
INGS OF CHINESE SCENES