New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-10
ART AT THE UNION LEAGUE
ENGLISH AND DUTCH PICTURES ON En-
UIBITION

almost as many Dutch as does English paintings.
hut II is of interest chiefly for the light 1t throws
on the transitional period OF landscape art In Great
Britain and through British influence. In Europe
such light Is needed. 1t has never been plentiful
here for the landscape painters who fourished at
the beginning of the present century have only re-
Gently been made the objects OF a cult outside the
province OF special students. The exhibition held
a, the Union League Club early in 1892 and based
principally on Mr. W. II. Fulier's collection has
not until now been repeated in New-York with
the same carefully illustrative aim. The present
gathering Of paintings therefore signazes very
happily the resumption of the clubs activity In
matters OF art.
The last link binding English lanscape art TO
the architectural traditions Of the eighteenth
century may be said to have been removed with
the death of Richard Wilson shortly after the
birth of Constable The latter born In lH6.
Wilson died only six years later. One stands TOT
the classic tradition founded in the seventeenth
century by Claude and echoed in France over
hundred years later by Leopold Robert Inc o'hNr
was the precursor of the Barbizon schooi anu
modern landscape art. But 1t is important to re-
member that Wilson master enough TO re-
vive something of the power of his most famous
predecessors and that on the eve OF the oisso-
hutton of his school he reached forward and caught
a breath Of stimulus from the approaching natural
ism Of the new era The Landscape py nii''
No 80 Of this collection. is Of distinctly earlier
BILE, or for that matter Gainsborough himsei pc
longed. Gansborough was a contemporary Oh WIZ
son. surviving him by but few years. pu' oaiS-
borough well Constable threw overpoaro 'he
expresses. the ruins and the figures OF WHICH van
atoms are discovered in the landscape 10 whch
reference Is made. What Wilson also hao' however
was a consciousness of the beauty ana poe'r! IN
nature-expressed In the grace of his composition
and the sunny tone Of his work-and a breadth which
Is his most modern characteristic lhere IL d mint
OF artificiality in his work 1t Is diminished IN
effect by the charm of his design ana py the evil
dent feeling for nature underlying his academic
bias
The reaction against academic painting kind
of painting above all things preoceupied with form'
was almost certain to concentrate It's reforming ar
dor upon questions of FORM Thus II is not sur
prising that the significance OF atmosphere was
only partially understood by Gainsooroush ana Con-
stable and that in their robust rehabilitation OF
nature in landscape their efforts were all directed
toward natural synthetic handling of the masses
of tone before them. They were not ready Tor line
subtleties of light and atmosphere, though Con-
stable did sometimes secure them. IT was enough
If they obtained the broad. convincing TRUTH mat
they obtained this will be plain to any one who
studies carefully the English landscapes in this col
lection-"The Market Cart" by Gainsborough; the
two pictures by Constable and the handful OF
works by Callcott Crome, Morland and Stark. Call
colt and Stark, minor men, narrowly escape the
vice OF EngllSn lanuScdplStS Ho" hNhS'
they analyze foliage little too closely, but they
s;l preserve great deal of the virtue belonging TO
the movement in which they shared. Morland. for
a painter of genre. had amazing naturalistc
gift revealed only in his vigorous rustic types
but in the backgrounds he gives them out OF ooors
Amateurs have been made familiar with TINS TACT
through the contemporary colored prints which
have lately come into fashion. The originals of this
painter, rarely met with in our exhibitions, show
how genuine a foundation he provided for the
plates. The trees in No. 7, shepherds Reposing'
and the flushed sky in the same picture are In the
natural key of the modern school Before taxing
leave Of Morland the oily richness of his color
should be noticed. lie is one OF the few English
men of his time whose tone has body and trans
parency
Ca!nsborough Constable and Crome belong to the
few just referred to- though those pictures by the
greatest of the three which are hung in this col
lection represent him less worthy as colorist
than as a brush-man interpreting the genera!
effect Of the scene. We have seen richer Con-
stables than even the best of the two shown, No.
IL. "Landscape-Suffok:" on the other hand there
lustraton than this of the English painters man
ner l. is big picture in LITTLE ,b st mi;s OF OF
small canvas. You observe in it the faculty OF Sc
tone in an expansive view, which you would ASK
from landscapst nowadays as matter or course.
IN a;ns not tme aTex pondered
Of outlines but an approximation TO what struck
alive at fast to something in nature uncapturabe
by rule Of thumb was to proclaim me a%ake s
early English landscapsts must still leave room
for an adverse judgment upon them Landscape art
in translating the subtleties of light and atmosc
phere touched upon above: and the varied play OF
art-the art of Corot and Rousseau Of George
lnness and Claude Monet1bears this test. and
exhibition could not have equailed. The moments
linda II viii atpsV will
Of the most advanced landscape painting. Inc Eng
list nauras,s studied out OF dooTs but s theTe
light 1t may as well be confessed that however
Interesting they may be they LEFT AN na art
tenth century y. They left it also emsncipated
from the dry rot into which he noble a5a
beyond the possibility Of recall upon the road which
erss stu s ss T hi gxss e an
The historical value Of the lsndscapiss at the
uTe paintings there The latter would, however.
under any circumstances, evoke little comment for
The English portraiture of the last century when
i was at its finest. in the works OF * Keyn SIn.
fancy worthy of a school founded by Van Dyck:
When it was not at its finest. In the works OF OF
RNrai,s by Lawrence and HOpPner in at this noise es
aged Gainsborough,, who in his best, vein has a
nod snd prodaes IN porrsa ike No n orra
Of lady, very Pleasing Re'q ,oach in Of Ga fSl
boIoqghs art The best of the English portraits Sd
there is a portrait a stately. elderly lady, strong
IN the modelling Of her substantial shoulders. IN
the painting of the faccid cheeks, and beautiful
in the smoothness and quality Of the handling.
or the two Sir Joshuas one Is an interesting por-
trait OF himself, and the other is a picture or
child with mouse trap The latter belongs 10 his
later period OF excessively warm color and thick:
very thick. mpasto. The canvas is surcharged
with pigments, fairly loaded with them Such,
though was the skill of this. great painter that
through the heavy manner OF the picture there
looks forth as delicate figure of childish grace
as he ever painted In any OF the most refined mo-
nents OF his brush. With these portraits are two
by Lely. OF the Earl Of Kenmare and the Countess
o. Orrery, respectively. They fair examples
OF Of shallow painter In color they are a shade
below even his unimprcssive standard and in the
mechanical treatment of the drapery they exhibit
him In a still more unfavorabe light Partaking
TO the full Of the old English grace of execution
and distinction Of tone Is unfinished Portrait
OF Gentleman" by Gilbert Stuart. Ii Is "A very
winning sketch. showing the brightest side Of
STARTS art
The group Of Dutch paintings comprehends some
good work and more that without being bad is
quite unrer1arkable. The pictures by Eeckhout.
Van der Vliet, Asselyn GryeT. Brekeienkam
and Jan Breughel could have been omitted and
their absence would have caused no regret, though