Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-06-10
were limited in range: they wsrs esseas

SHu nc6lIatIBB when VenL0Tlu8 0SyGRd
1t: each of them had his keynote ane
would hardly have dared compose ir
any other; but this Is characteristic Of
artists in all times and in all countries.
Of none but the very greatest can we
fail TO see that this range is narrow and
his attempt to so beyond it nearly al
ways disastrous. Another name must
be. mentioned in this connectlon-that
of Thomas Girtin. who would have been
a great painter had he lived. and Of
whom 1T Is said by some students Of
Turner that his genius was equal to
that of the great master himself. This
must be classed as one Of those sayings
winch are harmless except as they mis-
lead. but which do mislead. Genius in
line art is the combination of lEany Aac-
ulties which balance and counterbal-
ance, check and intensity one another;
which physical conditions, the eye, the
hand and even physical disabilities and
restrictions, go not only to modify, but
actually TO build up. Girtin died at 81,
John Keats at &c; what the future had
in store for either had he lived, 1t Is
In vain to surmise. Turner's life of in
cessant varied and prodigous per-
formance might have been as imposs-
bic to Girtin as 1T was easy and natural
to the master who lived and of whom
we know more.
When Turner was 81 years old he
took little studio of his own, still in
the heart of London. In the same year
he exhibited at the Royal academy
eleven compositions, of which six were
connected more or less with architec-
lure. such as drawings of Bath Abbey,
Salisbury cathedral and LIandaff ca
thedral in Wales, together with Mt
least one sea picture with flshermen's
boats. These paintings were sold and
many water colors were sold during
these years. though not at high prices
Moreover. the enEravers, or rather the
employers of the engravers. that Is,
the publishers OF books, furnished the
young artist with a steady income
from the copyright or right of produce
| ton OF his drawings-a thing which,
then as now, was easily Separable from
the tangible work of art Itself. Accord
ingly, when he was % years old Turner
visited Yorkshire. and out OF that visit
came that wonderful set of drawings
! from which were made the cngravinrs
known as the Yorkshire series Prints
from these enGravings are in great de-
mand among students OF Turner's ear
licr and more severe work but he did
vast deal of such work during these
early years of his manhood and good
work. too, with his name signed TO It
and forming the chief attraction of such
| interesting volumes of charming as
poet rs arc the ANIMALS or that time.
IN the it'ncrant. the oxford Almanac,
the Copperplatc Magazine and other ne
riodcals his prints are still to be stud
icd as we'll as in the ANNALS He rot
to know Engls nd we'll. from Kent in the
lar southeast to the Scottish border and
to Chester in the northwest, and he
was known by the publishers az a
workman who could be trusted This
seems important for In this way the
mans actual artistic career was made
TO last nfty-iive years. and it is not
hard to see that the modern artist who
goes to school until he is II, stays In
college until he is n, in the school of
art until he is PC. and hardly does n
days work professionally before he is
80 VIII never have Il working career of
more than half century. Moreover
Turner's loneliness. his life as a bach
clor. with only his old father Keeping
house for him in London his own soil
| tary trips I'm England and later on the
continent, all tended toward n single
minded devotion to the practice of his
| art, which it may almost be said is an
essential to very great achievement
The excellent quality of the art pro-
duced by some men who have produced
nut little Is not to be ignored nor for
gotten nor questioned for n moment
but the central truth is that the best
work has been done by men who have
produced an enormous amount of work
1t mas been suggested above thar
turner's early manner was firm and
simple. 1t may also be said that II was
subdued in color ana rather fun of de-
| tall. one might almost say that tho
characteristic painting of Turner's
carrier time was portraitlike in that it
represented some gentlcman's mansion
on n hillside. with rolling mountains
| beyond and dense woods at one side
and a river in front; with n bridge. the
whole in careful and patient gradations
! OF green ana gray. Few of these pic.
lures nave come to this country, hut
| thcre are one or two here and there
are many in London in public galleries.
Nor is 1T possible to imagine n more
useful study for n landscape painter
| than to analyzc this early work and tn
| pass from ii to the work of the SOON
coming middle style. For as early as
1902 Turner then being 81 years old.
| he had completely abandoned his
earlier manner and had begun his ca
rcer as an imaginative landscape paint
! err In other words. he had begun 10
design as he drew from nature. lie sat
on rock in front of Rheinfeld or
Lausanne. or In boat off Calais ietty
| or Hastings cliff, and drew with swift
decision what he saw in his mind n,
the true artistic Interpretation of the
! scene-not at all the facts as they were
before him. Mountain slopes would be
! made sleeper and cliffs higher: tower,
! and steeples rising from the town be-
| fare him he brought into couples and
! thlres. one lowered, ore heightened. un-
| I'll their grouping served the artistic
| TURN. Buildings in no way a part OF
the scene before him. but which he had
! seen i'll the town itself and associated
with it, were brought into the compo-
sition. The compositions themselves
we're often OF extreme subtlety, even in
swiftly made sketchbook drawing AT
| me same time color, which had always
mad an especial charm for him, as his
earlier studies show, began now to take
a permanent place in his work. Nor
was this color used indirectly and for