New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-28
ARTISTIC CHAT.
BY FERNANDO ARMANT, AUTHOR OF "THl
PATRIOTs."
TurneP.

BY FERNANDO ARMANT, AUTHOR OF 'THE
PATRIoTs."
Turner.
Turner was strange but superior artist,
queer. by timee, in his conceptions, and
fringing on recklessness, but never dwind-
ling Down to an ordinary level.
His main and characteristic idea, that
ranked him among the masters, was to
paint light itself, independently Of the OBJ.
jects upon which it shone; and, strange as
it may appear to some, he alone has sue
ceeded in this Promethean task, a. may
be ascertained by glance at some of his
masterpieces.
His first exhibited painting, in 1889, an
aquarella, was . "View of the Archbishop's
Palace, LAMBETH" which created sensa-
ton at the Roysl Academy, then presided
over by Reynolds.
Emboldened by this success, Turner be-
gan travelling in Europe, and returned in
1894 to England, when he exhibited his
celebrated "Moonlight Study" now at Marl-
borough House; it somewhat resembles
Aart Van der Neer's manner, bus it shows,
on close examination, the most wonderful
boldness of brushwOrk, that which has
made Turner so conspicuous.
After this. he engaged with Gilpin pro-
ducing "Summer Morning Study" (ani-
mails by Gilpin), for which he was elected
an associate of the Royal Academy in 1901.
Tkn 0f otpSn
prompted him to paint his glorious Battle
of the Nile," for which he was elected MEM
Der of the Academy in 1902.
Considering the subsequent turn in his
manner, it may be said that his real career
of glory only then began. In fact he had
generally constrained himself, up to that
period of 1902, within the limits of an active
but friendly competition with his friend
Girtia in water color paintings. Thif. how
ever, should not be overlooked, for it was
wholly from their works, after Cozzens and
SANDY, that the English school of water
color painting, now standing unrivaled, has
| arisen.
Although Turner felt he was to remain
unique, his fancy of the old continent
masters again took him back to Italy,
whence he returned with series of works
| in imitation of the old masters, which Lord
Marlborough secured.
In 1907 Turner painted his celsbrated
'Risipg of the Sun in Foggy Weasher''
and "Dido Building Carthage" which he
presented to the National Gallery on con-
dition that they were placed between tw o
| of Claude Lorrain's.
There was no rashness in this, for hav g
seen those paintings at the Trafalgar
Square Gallery, where 1 found them quite
| fairly coping with the great Claude's
paintings.
In 1907 Turner's talent was finally re-
warded by his appointment a. professor Of
perspective at the Royal Academy. Dur.
! ing the recess of his protest. onal duties, he
published his "Liber Studiorum," cap ital
record, with splendid plates of his own de-
signing.
From 1909 to 1912 he returned once m ore
to water color painting, and published his
"Fallacies OF Hope with his own poetr y
The legends of some among his works we re
composed by Scott and by Byron. but th 9
majority we're his own; such was his "Na'
| poleon at St. Helena"
| In 1914 he begaa with Messrs. Cook
Brothers the magnificent series of en-.
cravings known as the "Picturesque
Scenery of the Southern Coast"
| These most conspicuous works bein 6
mentioned, let US now study more closely
the characteristics proper of Turner.
| Whether dealing with nature or with
fancy, all that was wrong Turner could
not help trying to improve. He never
! sought any of his effects in the contrasts
between light and shade. He knew quite
| we'll that in day time there was light every
where, in different degrees, perhaps, but
| shade real Tor darkness) is nowhere, in
| open nature. Such were the reasons that
| led him to his peculiar manner.
Turner. it was, who discovered that
shades, like light itself, were of different
| hues and sometimes quite brilliant. Cor
| regio, Titiano and Rembrandt had already
known this obscure clearness, or chias
oscuro. His principle is to vary and
| to light up his shades, and he places bright
| colors every ywhere, instead of the traditional
| grey.
As his works elearly evince, he was well
aware that fineness of design was greater
difficulty than it's firmness, and that in the
finest things in nature, the lines are always
exquisitely firm and fine. He always seeks
the fineness of forms and the delicacy in
| the touch of his brush, refinement thus
producing strength.
Examine Turner'S "Jaso" and you will
| at once zee that there is no vacuum in M
ture; that nature is infinitely replenished,
| although none of the old masters had had
any suspicion Of such power of accumula
ton in nature. Any one may observe that
| in ell skies there are many more clouds, in
| all forests many more trees, in every soil
| many more asperities. than have ever beer
painted. Hence, Turner can not receive
too much praise for his persevering At
tempts to express in his works the momen
tous fact of quantity in the universe.
He, more than any of the masters, hai
attained the full conception Of infnity ir
nature. Never has any painter possessed
nor more completely conveyed unto others
the impression of the universal mixture o.
things.
This somewhat poetical pantheism wal
the origin of his masterpieces, although, il
must be confessed it drove him, ct times
/ ;nto <he fialda of unhOnndod axtravaOanza