The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-15
THR GRRArEsT FAINTER.
Velasquez-Ths Precautionary Of the Artist
Who II Growing to BE Recognised ms tho
King in His Art.
From tie FortniohHV RrVi'v.

an occasion pass which may recall wherein
Spain's glory really lies. On the 9th OF June
II will be 300 years since the birth at Seville Of
| Diego Volasquez
| 1t Is the first time that centennial commem-
| Grafton ofthe birth OF Yelasquez has had any
international Significance. A century ago,
| though In England. at all events. our national
love OF travel led to some appreciation Of w.
| lasquez. that appreciation was OF very partial
| character. Reynolds. II Is true. admired Ye-
| lusquez; 1t Ia said that he pronounced the por-
| trait OF Innocent X. tho finest picture in
| Rome;' and we are also told that, with Guido's
1t. Michael" II was the only picture he copied.
| Yet do not think that there Is a single refer
| ence to VelasqueZ elther IN his Dlscourses or
his Notes OF Travel; he probably regarded
him as brilliant outs!Gs member OF
tho Venetian school. not worth any
special separate Characterization. Possibly
| Velasquez himself would have consented to
| be 80 classed he belonged TO no great national
| school: he disliked Raphael, and wns wholly
without affinity with the Florentines; he had
| witnessed the full splendor Of the Venetian
school, and 1t Is recorded that he once enthusi-
astically admitted thesupremacy OF Titan. A
| sincere and patient student Of nature. 1t may
| well be that he never realized his own pro-
| found originality To-day we can see that
| every modern movement In painting has been
|
| great and diverse initiators as Corot and Nh
not, whose originality cannot be contested.
may be said to have conscious or unconscious
| points Of departure in YelasqueZ.
How is 1t. we are tempted to ask, that Spain.
with no great national art. produced the man
| who is now regarded by most com mt judges
as perhaps the greatest OF European painters.
| and certainly moro than any other the fore
| runner Of our modern forms OF art There
hs.,,A
| art in painting: the old Eruscan district
| around Florence in the south and the country
| around the estuary OF the Rhine In the north !:
and there has been one secondary and inter-
mediate centre, Venice. in all save technical
originality scarcely second to these. Yet while
| Raphael, Rembrandt and Titan, the mighty
protagonists of these three schools. are sur
| rounded and followed by workers 30 nearly
| their peers that they scarcely maintain their
| prominence, Velasqucz. with no peers at all.
and only one fellow artist, Murillo. who can be
| said to possess any marked European sgnih-
canoe, as seen from our present standpoint
| overtops them all.
Spanish artists were realists. but no purely
| Spanish artist was ever 30 radically and unfail-
| ingly naturalistic as VelasqueZ. In all tho
others there Ia some other element which
comes into conflict. often rather disastrous
conflict with their realism In most Of them.
and especially In Xurbaran, there is the intonse
| Spanish religious fervor. fervor which is
curiously lacking In Velasquez, which he
seems to have been conRenitally incapable
OF experiencing; In Murillo again. as
well MS in many minor men. there ia
also the genuine Andalusian tendency to
sacrifice everything to some delicious. but often
too obvious or too emphatic. effect BY both
these ENTHUSIASTICALLY SPANISH and southern
traits NeasIuez. though he lived in the at
mosphere that was peculiarly favorable to
their development in his friends and fellow
pupils. was wholly untouched from first to last
He maintained with absolute calm his own
position Of Independence, and developed with
solid tcnacity and sobriety his own convinced
| and instructive naturalism. This temper was
the temper Of n northern, not Of a southern
race. From the contemplation OF his work
| alone an acute Judge Of races might declare
that here was man largely Of northern race.
NelasIuez's father was silva. of noble and
ancient family, belonging to Oporto Northern
Portugal. II must be remem bered. Ia inha bited
by u race largely northern in its ancestry and
aiiinities, aud wholly unlike the feeher and
to-day dccadent race to he found to the SOUTH
at Lisbon. 1t is not until we realize that
Nelas9ueA was the son Of Portuguese father.
OF race Wholly aliGn to the grave. INDECENT.
w%rH Is rSye1s ya to us at its origin w
painter OF his time. but he was never tempted
70 try to rant as Rubens painted. He went to
home d art studying not only Titan but also
Tintoret. who had already grSpped with, some
OF the pr33slsmS thn, sneciaI attracted him
h lines lived D pa a%drK N R snns
whose lmnertal voice has drowned the native
inspirations OF 30 many artists: aud he painted
works OF The seductive in1Ipence Of Home
gar a one left at last its impress on the least
unreasonable Of painters,
lite oolorlng, though II was encouraged by such
an environment rs he found himself IN. lay
ThPre .s ah orSnEy OF %
great coorists In Spanish art. yelasGuez apart
MurLilo alone felt with any subtety the iasci-
for color In tho Spanish genius. a fact that is
the :. more surnrtsTs when we, remember the
the Mo3rs In their costumes and many of their
Veasuuez expended tremendous energy In
acquiring the art Of putting a minimum OF
energy into his work Progress ip the prac-
II oa BY ni ffnS bu
nothing is SO laborious as learning what labor
Of 9% he w se9Tf has GeS e the frs
he painted may be said to be- an exreriment .
more complete re presentation OF the visible
world with an ecopomy OF pigment and u more
uu|cul " lnb rye mus IL Is tnNt
can see the texture of the canvas In his pictures
1.-The thinness OF the coating Of pigment indi-
ToctY serving TO give greater permanence to
the delicate effects attpnedj. and with tho
brushes OF which Paomino speaks, enabling
him to work from the point from which his
picture was TO be Viewed
| have wished to indicate how various cir;
quality OF d Rtinction.,pf aristocratic reserve
and .restralN Of visible effort-which slowly
dominates the whole work of Vuasqueg and
rHEmains ultimately hts fpol achievement and
pictures leaves on the behodor. To attain dis
tinction by narrowness OF i'm Is not dinlcult;
to attain II on the basis Of Observation-Disclosures
naturalism. and with the, resolve to incuie
every aspect of a scene within tho frame OF the
canvas, Is the achievement Of yelasqueZ alone
1t ts an achievement which NelusquGz himself
with fine disdain Of applause has done his
best to mipimtze and disguise; the triumphant
mastery OF Frans Hnlss brush has an air Of
mer" bourgeois success beside this royal In
difference TO ostentation. In the reserve Of
such mastery lies dominion over the minds
Of men mere glorious and more permanent
empire now crumbling to nothngness.
HAvELOCK ELLIS.