The Wilmingtonian. (Wilmington, Del.) 1882-188?, 1884-09-27

green and orange and gold which make up
Lhe foliage of II tree are composed OF Separ-
ate leaves, and in his anxiety to do the !
square thing, the uppermost thought in his
mind is to put the leaves i'll separately-th
is to say all lie can distinguish in the object
before him. He is utterly bewildered at the
facility with which the artist accompllshes
satisfactory result without drawing single
leaf. A little reflection must suggest to the
mind that it is as foolish to attempt to
deliueate tree by putting in tine individual
leaves, as it would be to draw the fleece OF
a sheep or the hair of goat by conscien-
tiously giving the individual hairs. We
know that this could not possibly be done,
and the veriest school-boy would laugh at
the bare idea Of the proceeding, but there is
nothing more absurd in the proposition than
in the attempt to give the separate leaves of
trees.
There is good story told Of one Of the
alt-schools in Europe where pupil about
to copy a beech spray from nature proceeded
deliberately to court the leaves, in order to
secure perfect truth in his work. "1ou
need not count those leaves, young man,
said the teacher; "thcy don't cost any
thing"
| For the same reason then that we would
not paint in the wool of a sheep, hair by
hair, or the pillows Of the ocean, wave by
wave, we should refrain from any attcmp,
to paint or draw a tree leaf by leaf. w
have to proceed as the Texans do when they
hang horse-theves, "ou general principles.
That is to say that we must disregard detail
ard attend to the contour of the masses, ant
groupings of light and shade, which ar
different for every tree as they are for ever.
species of animal.
Is this following Nature? 1t is, to TIL
very letter. For, let us note first Of all
when we are far enough from tree to SC
the whole of It we cannot discern the sepat
ate leaves at all. Secondly, in those maSse
of the foliage which are in light, the dcta
is lost in the general blaze OF that | ght, an
the portions in shadow do not revc;
detailed leaves because there is not ligl
enough to distinguish them. Only in til
middle tones are the details suggested to til
eye, and it is here alone that we must nitro
duce them.
Referring for moment to the sheep an
the goat to compile the illustration we flu
that all the artist does is to give the gener
: masses of light and shade, contenting hin
: self with the barcst suggestion of individui
hairs at certain points. The eye takes IL
rest for granted, and fidelity to nature is II
result.
Here VIC may take occasion to say a wol
D on the application of this principle to all a
i work, and particularly to painting fro
u Nature. There is no greater mistake in u
y world than to give each object i'll the pictu
, its own light and shade in disregard Of Il
u general effect. Such II picture, howev
faithfully and laboriously worked out, pail
o the eye in exact proportion as the detail
e proceeded with. Our course should be
# exactly the opposite direction. We shou
8 aim to have one conspicuous mass Of liz
/ and one Of shadow, keeping everything el
e of an intermediate tint, SOttened into Il
It extremes but always leaving them d
Is tinctly recognizable This feature, viii
), is apparent in all good work, is call
II "breadth," and many an artist has linoy
II the struggle it has cost him to preserve Il
y quality intact while aiming to give suffice
G, detail. OF the two evils it is better. decided
b better, to lose the detail than the breadt
e. in the same way that sailor jlttisuns t
lc cargo to save tile Ship.
is We have said that it is the maSs;mg OF t
n foliage, rather than the character Of t
IT individual leaves, which is to be represent
u in an artistic study Of a tree. We viii 10
4 little further ~ THIS direction and see b
ie il y when distance lends enchantment TOT
y view oelectihS the morning q evening
o. our observation (bccaiSe u Is then that I
III contrasts OF llsht and shade are shonge
nc we small ma mat Tree mule dist
s. EXHIBITS no color at all, aud is distiPgui'
able only by Its form. 1t has also no LIS
PC ana Shade ana N painting II we must g
ne tent ouiseli with a nat TINT OF gray leavl
~ interStlces here and there for the ''p'erei
lie lights, that IS to say where the backgrou
s OF the sky shines through the leal-mass
nd Approaching now to Il distance of half
as mile two tints become necessary one for
in masses in light, the other for those
OF shadow. The tone has slightly inereas