New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-04-16

though il was done By no Poet and by means u
! the most mechanical imitation. ms "ouu o7
! indisputable if looking were seeing bus CERTAIN
/ " no man ever strolled through the WOODS OF
across the fields with an artist, without discover
ing that having eyes he saw not, and without
,,edits,ioe anew the striking tory Of Turner'S re-
marx TO an anxious lady who surveyed the scene
I he vas painting, and who ventured to say" But
/ Mr. Turner, don't gee al that IN Nature -
! MADAM, don't you wish you could = 1t IS evil
dent that no man can paint proper portrait until
be understands the persons character he IS pant
Ing.
We have rather wandered away from his Ex'
cellency's pictures-But it was, perhaps, as well
N indicate what we meant by saying that he
nsipted the APPEARANCE rather than the spirit Of
Nature-that be and bis school, both in poetry
and painting are rather used by Nature than use
il. They are pleased with the repose Of wood,
With the contempative cattle that quietly Craze
along it's sunny edges or lie drowsily winAing in
the shade They "pore upon the brook that bah
bles by'-snd musily dream in soofhed and aim
leis reverie-While the slow sunlight shifts
along the wood paths, aud the tinkle OF the
returning kline sounds the homely dirse Of day.
In the same way and moved by the same spirit,
they love simple rocks and trees for their own
sake. We shall find proofs Of this upon the &C
ademy's walls Simple studies are almost as dear
and beautiful to them as pictures Indeed their
pictures are often only elaborated studies. They
are soothed rather than stimulated by Nature. If
they paint Autumn rural scenes we see the rain
bow reaches Of foliege, the huskiDg, the golden
corn, the buxom girls, the brawny boys-we hear
the creaking vain, the measured nail-but we do
not see the "spirit that hsUnts the years last
hours" nor hear the fail
skiing n,an
For the GUNNER o. ertnro.a.'
These, however, ere what we DO want to hear
and see in the picture. The artist, il he have an
artistic vocation, has finer ear and finer eye
living behind his fner hand, and giving the pro.
found and permanent value to the works of that
hand. He must use his skill 20 STOW Us what no
skill Of ours could show. Were the forms and
lines THAI lie under our eyes never so gracefully
rendered upon his canvas, they could only serve
az emoranda to the memory-and the instinct
Of every man who has sny thought at all about
the n after, assures him that the fine work OF art
whether statue, or song or picture, IS something
larger md lovelier than that.
This susterest demand of Art only few men
In history have ever satisfied; and the various
schools Of artistic have been, as it were, the long
and essening shadows Of the great leaders Ar
fists speculate aud WONDER and experiment, az
if the triumph OF Art could be attained by sci
ence. Titian's color is Analysed and disputed
and despaired Of, as if oil Titans knowledge or
the value of pigments would enable man to paint
ngood picture. 1t is & tendency toward the merest
msterialism, and you could as soon write poems
because you had dictionary OF rhymes as paint
well because you had mastered the palette. The
artist must first Of all, see or he can never make
others see.
twill be evident from this strain OF remark,
that we consider what may be called the IdeQl'sts
in Art superior 10 the RealiStS-usng the words,
however, not absolutely, but simply to indicate
tho two classes and meaning by the first those
who are gifted with the vision as well as the fac
ulty, divine and 10y the last, those who with the
same human vision, rs ourselves, have also the
faculty Of sgreeably recalling the familiar land
scape. OF this latter class, the English school,
of which Mr.. DURAND is a most faithful dis
cple, is fair exponent, aud has hitherto rest
r
observable in the history OF English poetry
But Turner Will undoubtedly exercise tie same
influence upon Landscape Art in England that
Wordsworth has exercised and is exercising,
upon its Poetry. Among ourselves, the late Mr..
Cole may be mentioned az an ldeaust in Land
scape AIT, for nothing canbe more unjust than the
suppositon that the Imagination has little to do
with landscape painting The artist, like tie
poet, must see with his imagination, ii he would
achieve an universal success. What was called
the poetry Of Mr.. COLES pictures was their
sweetest secret, and occssioned directly the spec
tator satisfaction.
Mr. DURAND, on the other hand, is & Realist-
using the word as already qualified. In all his
works we have the same clinging, unQuestioning
s,tisGed love Of Nsture-of her forms, Of her de-
tail. Of her general quiet effects. 1t is always
Summer, always silence upon his canvas. His
pictures breathe peace w e are lolterers along
elades and listeners to waterfalls. Broad mead
ows dotted with cattle, groups OF heavly'iolr
aged trees, ripping or smooth.Aowing streams,
leafhidden spire, a range OF graceful highlands,
whose outline sw inns away into dreamy haze
these are the forms he loves. lie is close stu
dent Of American nature, but the landscape Of his
pictures has usually the English air OF cultivated
repose This is observable in Nos. 70 and 403
aud in No lS3, "The two Osks.' No. 81, again,
is entirely Amer can. This style Of sentiment in
the contemplation of Na'ure epgenders, however,
two faults in neutrality-suspicious. and excess o.
detail The very tenderness Of the perception o.
the scene stays the artists hand, lest ne should
be partial in his power and sacrifice one point 70
another. But this very love Of all points and fear
of Partially, drives him into detail into care
fulueIs OF finish that shows the ssme result
a want OF broad vigor, which however, the
loveliest landscape in nature always has