The times., 1899-07-30

in the Palisades of the Potomac
on the Heights, Along Rock Creek
| and About Anacostia's Byyvays
The Opinion of Bcnjamin Constant
These questions are often asked by stu.
dents and amateurs: What is there abou
Washington to paint?" and Where are
good places to go sketching?" The Older
painters know that material may be found
in almost any direction, both inside the
city limits and within the District line
but understanding the students inexperi-
enee and the earnest desire on their part
{ for some practical suggestions on the sub
ject the writer offers the following notes
hoping they may prove helpful:
Washington is a remarkably rich field
for picturesqueness abounds in great va
riety. No city has so many sketchable
places within easy reach of the heart OF
town. The field is not worked at present
to the extent 1t deserves. Some ten years
ago the Washington exhibitions were
strongly localized by work representing
bits of Washington, and not only here
but in New York, Washington artists ere
ated stir with pictures of their home
town. W. H. Holmes, De Lancy Gill, Max
| Weyl, and Hobart Nichols found most
congenial material in Washington scenery
Mr. Gill was particularly successful in
this direction, as those who remember his
| virile, vivid, and individual water color
( studies OF local scenery will testify. Moth
| ing more charming or more original has
been painted here. and it is to be regretted
that this excellent water colorist no longer
produces these picturesque glimpses of the
Capitol from the heights and those quaint
! whitewashed shanties perched high on red
| clay banks. These very artistic studies
were highly thought of both here Gnd in
! New York, where they found ready sale
as all truly good and original work is
! sure to do, no matter what the subject OF
where 1t is painted, providing, OF course, il
is thoroughly artistic.
In those days when Washington was be-
ing much painted the flats just east of the
| Observatory and west of the Van Ness
mansion were favorite stamping ground
Much OF the picturesqueness of that local
| ity has disappeared before the march OF
! progress, and the quaint, paintabie shan
| ties have been replaced by formal brick
| buildings gs-improvements, perhaps, but no
true artist is willing to admit it-"now
stunned by sketchers and Stunned by few
ers, too
The Flats still Interesting.
These fats have not lost their interest
entirely There are still some very attrac-
tive subjects to be found there. From the
southeast corner of the Observatory may
be obtained some very paintable glimpses
of the Capitol dome above the broken line
1 of f..rsds Wafsa,. srTr.
edge of the old canal a fine line OF syca-
more trees which makes an interesting
| foreground to the marsh land and hills OF
Arlington and Fort Myer. The large
| ponds, originally part of the old canal
/ basin at this point, near the Observatory.
I which in former days were so rich in ar
row heads and reeds, have been filed in,
and, although enough remains to still be
interesting and make good subjects it is
so much less beautiful than it was that
| the older painters seldom go there now
| adays. No one place about Washington
probably was ever so widely painted as
this One meets pictures of The Flats
| frequently in the houses here. lie Grande
Johnston and jerome Uhl also foLe1 sub
tects for paintings here, and in some o:
Mr.. Johnston's most successful sheen
| pictures one might detect in certain fore
| ground features a kind of beauty peculiar
to the rank and rich vegetation familiar
to sketchers in the fats. The spring, par
ticularly when among the masses OF pale
yellow Vaeds the rich young green first
began to appear, was a favorite season
with all OF the painters. Al this season
of the year the fats are very fine, espe-
cially toward evening; then the greens
OF late July and August are full OF CO or
and variety. The moist earth OF the
marshes produces the richest growth o.
weedy underbrush that may be found any
where and the student cannot do better
than to make his foreground studies in the
FATS.
There is a similar rich and sonewha,
wilder growth along the Anacostia shore Of
the Eastern Branch. Beginning at the
Anacostia Bridge northward stretches a
wonderfully rich and picturesque line pos
sessing lake-like features OF marsh and
wooded shore. While the material at this
point is most attractive and palntable a,
any time OF day, ii is a good morning
| sketching ground. From the Washington
end OF the bridge the early morning effects
of atmosphere on this Anacostia shore are
| very poetic Offering especially suggestive
material to those wishing to paint in a high
impressionistic key. There are at this
western end OF the bridge some very pictur-
| esque lighthouses, which make a pleas
like such subjects, and il treated honestly
they make most agreeable pictures Alone
the river front, from this point TO the bar
racks and indeed all the way to Lone
| Bridge and about the Monument, where
the sand barges unload. are subjects OF
shipping and wharf views which should
satisfy the artist who thinks Gloucester is
the only place to find these effects. There
is also combination of water, shippine
buildings, and glimpses OF distant hills
which is particularly individual and no
where to be found more attractive than In
Georgetown.
Along the canal there is a most popular
sketching field for the Washington students
and it has been aptly dubbed by them
Little Venice" Along Rock Creek NAV
be found nature in all the purity and beau
ty one looks for only in mountain streams
far from the madding crowd" Nowhere
can be found greater variety of charming
and paintable scenery than exists on Rock
Creek between the military bridge and the
zoo" 1t is but a few steps from tbs
Brightwood terminus of the electric cars
to the creek. and Immediately below the
bridge on this road is the most picturesque
arrangement of moss-coyered boulders, over
which this beautiful stream runs. 1t Is a
| TO-