New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-17
an EXHIBITION OF STUDIES.
DRAWINGS BY OLD ENGLISH ARTISTS.

The thought at It's BIRTH that Is what Pcre Marie"e
usod 10 call n preliminary drawing. The phrase Is
happy one and II gances at one OF the hapPe'' pno
nomena OF artistic production with which the connoi-
seur ever has to deal For. however preieraDie Us
work of art the sophisticated and enriched thonsht may
he wien II is sent finished, from the easel u Is GER
tain that at 10 stage OF It's development N'is ~ qioo
Tho same intimate flavor with which 1t Is instinct In
It's crude ingenious state. In preliminary drawing
rou get the STYLE OF the artist unmixed with any self
conscious attributes such as may be put ih'o "ie
picture intended for the public. and By IT, more ire
ouentlv tan by any other work OF the artist yon are
let into the secret of his method. A taste ior his
revealing quality I'm drawings VIII 90 much W ea'oo
the opprecIaon of that larger section OF the exhibition
at the Keppe Gallery, opened to-day, wiich Is oeVo'e"
TO memoranda made from nature IN pencii, INK "aer
color and similar mediums by group OF English
artists comprising Turner, Gainsborough. Kichad VII
SON. David Cox George Marand, Sir David Wiihe ana
Seymour Haden. sixty Of the 145 drawings SHOWN
are by william Blake but they have separate literary
interest to which will return presently. Inc n-
mediate significance OF the exhibition Is derived rom
the sketches by the seven men named above. whose
message as 1t is delivered here differs from Bakes In
being more directly artistic and less exclusively
intellectual The fact should not be lost sight
o. however in connection with the fifty draw
ings by Turner, that artistic as they are ana
useful as they are in the personal direction OK
which we have spoken, they are still drawings.
IL is futile TO pretend that sketches like No. Az, study
for Mountains; No. A., "Another study Tor Moun1
ainsp; No. o. "Ullswatcr,' or No. As. "Pont Newyda
on the Elwy," arc pictures capable OF convey
ing anything like the impression Of nature
which Turner would have obtained had lie lntended
to make them anything but what they are-nooes TOT
future use. Yet we would put these drawings among
the most interesting OF the Turner'S because they arc
mirrors Of his artistic personality give an indlcaon
u the basis of his 81 STEM Study in No. 46 ana No.
~, in he
ground and note the annoations with which the sheets
Arr. sprnkled-" rough rock, rough fields study
no. a., with its minute drawing It's spaces marKeu
neg, rock It's cottage-roof marked thatch ana
I'm one corner a memorandum to the effect that the
most distant woods chew lgil; and shadow, Tie hghs
havo very little color just greensh; tile SHADOWS are
nearly II not absolutely coiorlcss.' Read in the in
,crlpuon on No. o how the parts about the stones
are tufted moss, the barks Of the trees light gray
patched with dark moss the bare parts OF the trees
nearly the color OF the stones" How many artists
are as thoughtful this in making nasty mono
chrome sketch With Tuner there is no Impotence
Of minor details, no trusting to memory, but In each
ca % the Is studied with the utmost thoroughness
and II, constituents registered with a reverential 70
gard for truth Turning TO the engravings neaoy Oh
three large paintings by Turner-"The Approach 10
Venice Modern Italy" and Ancient Italy'-paint
ngs OF the Imaginative and systematically luminous
sort which added the word "Turnercsque" TO tic
Technology Of art criticism, it IS almost inconcevabie
hat their author could have given In the rigid
adherence TO facts which is observed In the drawings
one i, simply reminded that Turner, often as he ap-
pears In the light OF builder OF vague and beahuul
dreams, was nevertheless man who foundea
his art on knowledge. lie made II ms
business TO ascertain the veries in nature. only the
man who does that throw the glamour VI MS
ina gination about her with mpunity. All through 'e
series Of Turner's drawings it is obvious that ne OBJ
served nature narrowly and afectionaely Comparison
Of No. A. "Old Holly Trees" with No. .. " study o.
Oaks and OF both these with No. Z, Naples III sun
snea will show how carefully the character OF each
tree IS preserved by him. once, in No. 30, a Lana
scapcn there is hint Of Turner the master OF aera
perspective and of vaporOus atmosphere but ese"hes
he is the student Of structure gathering supstAhus
material. HOst Of the sketches are done In pencil
few are reinforced with light washes OF India INK oc
color The line is generally delicate, and, as every
student Of Turner'S line in the "LiDer WIZ TdaiS
believe, very living and expressive.
Gainsboroughs drawings most unlike Turner's ID
that they give the artists impression rather than an
enumeration OF facts His method apparently was more
synthetic than Turner's, concerned with an ap-
Proclamation 10 the general effect Of scene than with
close report Of all its details. IL Is odd that 10
we sec here animated by pre- Raphaelite spirit should
present contrast that they do that Turner, whom
We here animaed by pre- Raphaeiite spirit should
have worked in his oils like ideast OF the ideastS,
yet always with truth, and that Galnsborough WORKING
with free hand In his drawings, should never have
attained ideality in his paintings any more than he
attained the convincing freshness Of the modern real
sts to which his undoubtedly naturalisc ideas would
have seemed destined TO carry him. We need not
follow this subject here. What the Gansborough draw
ngs in the present exhibition emphasize Is that this
great artist generalized freely but to the point when
he confronted nature with the purpose of making a
rough study aud that he got into his drawings little
looked for in sketches Of the sort. In No. 60a Shep
herd and Flock crayOn sketch OF wooded scene,
in which there delightful suggestions of color and
texture in tho foliage and Of air and light under the
trees in the middle distance, there is preusve dash
Of the charm which one would find In "A painting done
by the artist from this sketch There u even more "
The Gasboroush feeling in No. 50, Landscape an
Inda-ink sketch worked up with color washes and in
some respects, such graduation of Light and perspec
tive, work that would hold its own beside
one Of Gansborough's paintings But this Is an un-
commonly elaborate drawing aud is largely helped out
by color The majority of the sketches. and Of
the bost OF them like No. 81, Landscape with Trees
on the Banks OF stream No. ~, A Ruined Cot
tage' and No. d3, Landscape with Figures" are in
black and white and are more senographic in style.
OF the drawings BY other Old artists In this colec-
ton, besides Turner, Gainsborough and Blake, that one
by Richard Wilson, which is catalosued a. a study for
his Phheton tof which. By the way, engraving is
shown for tho edfcation o: the cuous) Is the most
being very characteristic of graceful ee-
CANT artist of whom We see little that every memo
rial OF him, however slight, has u real interest but
special word should be given the airy little land.
Scape in sepia BY David Co.. as well as to the figure
study by Morand In point Of time seymour Hadep Of
course does not belong to the circle which furnishes
all but half dozen of the drawings for the exhibition
but no one Will regret that the space for those supple.
nentary sketches has been assigned TO him. In the
nrst place, no drawings by Mr. Haden have been ex-
Oited In New. York in public before and 1t Is pleas
ue 10 meet him in a new character, to find him q
water c0lorst, with the most refined appreciation Of
sky effects, in No. li3, The River Holder fauca-
shire, and OF light and shade and color In no I42
= Mytton Hail. "A study for one OF the love.
Hest and most celebrated of his etchng. In
he second place IL is instructive to (and the op
portunty comes very apoposl In the two pen sketches
not mentioned In the catalogue, The t0urse Of fba