New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-08-21

man aro committed 10 the ideal school, and have shown
some fght but they not productive enough 70 make
deep impression. La Fargo has, indeed painted 30 he
that it hard say what he do; Vedder Is al seha
STILL and has already begun to initiate himself ena mas
beside, shown no fertility in invention. G. G. Coleman
tho strongest of these men, is stronger with his realism
than with his ideasm and apparently believes more IL II
Hamilton throws realism" as Farrer and W. 1. Rich
ards interpret It, overheard with all the strength there Is
in him. and it utterly but for all that no Is rear
list in his own way and belongs to the new sehoo D! Tue
same logic that puts Turner there-that makes Iune he
great modern head Of tho school.
writer in the "Atantle" once, engaged in the some
what hopeless task of making out that MISS hosuor
Zenoba was as good anything the Greeks have le'
u.s. offered 10 give one of Turner'S finest pictures 10 any
body who would show that Turner had any right 70 DC
cassed with the PreRaphaelites-an unmeaning name
which wish could get dof have no ambition 10 earn
the prze which beside does not lay in the generous gen.
emaus power TO give, but nothing could be easier than
TO do so. The whole gst Of the Pre-Raphaeite theory
lies in the artists absolute dedication OF hmseto
He is to study her. 10 follow her teaching, " accept her
decision against the whole world eonloeurs detant
writers of maxims Methods Gre of no importance. Truth
TO nature is the watehwoId and Turner is the hghPest
of the school because he is supremey true to nature be-
cause he studied her With plOdding industry that nevey
tod with zes that never quenched, with purpose
that was never baked. He followed no lead thrust con
yenon aside having drained it dry and gave such an I'M
pulse to art as has before been given by single
man His method was his own-and he had dozen
methods hundred method for every picture. 80 is
glorious Frank Leightons method his own, and hosse
his aud Milais, Hunt Lewis, Hughes-Where tueie
any likeness between the works Of these menl LeghtoA
is the very antpodes Of M but yet they are one IL
their rejection Of conyention Of dcaon IN their pefeep
ton Of the essential in their determination to express H.
So in lower degree, claim Hamilton as belonging 10
the advance guard in spite Of his apparent difference from
the realiss among u.s. Not that DO not thnK ms pc
tures suffer from the lack Of minute study On al sdes
you hear his name linked with Turners sometimes III
praise sometimes in dsprasei but Turner could do every
thing and Hamilton is seflimited. Turner has p@nteu
stormy seas as beside ever painted the put nc
has Al 90 painted shells and fish az they have rarely been
painted The resembles Shakespeare IN the VIDE range
Of his observation he is as like him in the range Of bis
tochnc faculty. Ifnothng too grand for him. then
nothing was too fine for him. Hamilton has
done grand things think his Fight with the Scraps
az fine picture as has been painted in America,
all things considered It's place is in the Capitol. And
his collected studies OF Niagara sufficient proof OF his
knowledge of nature of his skill Of hand of his enthusiast
tic industry But he has painted nothing, at least have
seen nothing delicate And here the comparison between
him and Turner must fail But this Is Of no Importance
/ fr one dislike such comparisons-do not believe IN
them. Ii Hamilton wished to be called the American
Turner should doubt If he could be the American any
thing That he has been moved by Turner can see
that he knows Turner WELL i3 easy 20 learn on talking
with HIM but he IS no oopys Of Turner his pictures 10
way remind us Of him On the contrary, they ere evil
IDENTIFY the fruit of an individual study Of nature jealous
unidentified, intelligent and not Of any mans works
nor Of any set Of mems
| am not bent on eulogy-indeed have no
material for oulogy. | am only trying to coAYe!
IN impression (which bclieye is true one
ba, a man OF real strength is working in
4 narrow field here in Philadelpha, man whose pic.
lures ought 70 be more widely known. don't Ike to
see work IKE the Scraps shut up in narrow parlor
where ono has to resort TO nconyenent devices TO get
sight oft. 1t ought to be in room suited 10 IT. and yet
am glad It is not in the artists studio That would be
far worse place. But this is to be said Of Philldephl:
she upholi her own artists There is no mania here for
foreign work ard the citizens SEEM 20 be genuinely
proud Of good townsman-panter. Sometimes
they become excited on the subject. An Grti-
Gle in recent periodical said that there
vas no great painter in America, upon which Phill-
dclIhlA newspaper
that he had never Rothermc the pride Of the Quaker
City From the critics remark should judge, on the
contrary that whoever else be might not have seen he
certainly had Rothermc But the admiration for that
artist which certainly is provincial will be outgrown as
that of Lang and Rossitcr and Hicks has been with
Our gure-pantes rare and have until lately, had
nothing with which TO compare thcm but tie
day is not distant when beside rejecting the bad,
we shall do better-we shall produce the good.
Already, indeed, that day has dawned and EASTMAN
johnson, Wusow Homer, j. g. Brown (when' lie
chooses Guy when he has mind and Nedder lif Le
only would making figure painting such as Rother-
mel inacts upon US, impossible much longer In land
scape hold ground, yet think James Hamiltons
best pictures If they not hid in corners, but were
put where their power could be felt and make its due inn
PRESTON would give impetus to study ard put the
brakes on our present downward rush TO emaseulae
refinement Dusseldorf has been an almost fatal
enemy to Art in America, and, not content with
fighting US from the Rhine, she has planted two
stalwart "free lances' here in our very midst.
What swinging blows Lcutze has dealt us is past
what Bierstad has done what he viii do
especially that he has secured Mr. Tuckemans harp
of thousand strings to sound his praise there Is guess
ing but their is bad sign for Art in America. II
the triumph of fchood truth, Of the artificial
over the natural Of theatrical atudinzing grace
Such triumphs do not last long, and are not to be
feared, but they are uncomfortable. They can
not last long, but they may last too long
What We want is, strong fighters the other side
md if Hamilton were well-known he ought 10 be-
our people are dull but they would the differ
snce between his manly treatment of Mature and that OF
the men who are making fame and fortune by irayesying
her. &C.
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