The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-02

10 impose his style upon her.
"The fascination OF his work Is diff
cult to explain. More often than not
he affects IL lowness of key which
yerges upon dinginess, and he has
marked preference for subjects OF a
rather sordid nature; the Camden
Town murder was exploited by him IN
innumerable pictures and drawings;
blousy women in poorly furnished bed
rooms with plain iron bedsteads, Vene-
tian putain, tawdry suburban music
halls, life in the slums-these are the
motifs that engage his attention. But
he has nothing OF the bitterness and
irony Of a Toulouse de Laucree or a
Forain.
"The most sordid subject Is glorified
by his sympathetic interest, and In
everything he does there Is the 'throp
and the thrill of life and the vibration
of atmosphere. His tone is low, but
never colorless. There Is suggestion
of trembling light in the darkest
passages, and the values are set down
with unerring sureness. Sickert Is
master Of form. His drawings are
ample proof. But in bis paintings the
solid forms are not so much drawn
as built up, touch by touch. of tone
values and light struck surfaces that
have no definite contours. His deriva-
ton is difficult to trace, though he has
learnt something both from Whistler
and Deeas--the chalk study mo. 30
and the pencil drawing (No. 23) illus
trate the two influences. But what is
best in his art is entirely his own.
This property he distributes generously
among his numerous pupils. There Is
a whole group of talented younger
artists who will carry on his tradition
and who are indebted to him for all
they know"
Tho death of W. NJ. Rossetti, who
was associated so closely with the his
tory Of art in the mid-Victorian era,
has brought an avalanche Of reminis-
cences to the London publications. A
writer in the Westminster Gazette re-
calls a curious and very outepoken
comment that Mr.. Rossetti once made
upon Ruskin.
THE fact is now we'll known" he
wrote that the mind of this vigorous
and subtle thinker, great writer and
most generous and in many respects
admirable man broke down at times:
to blink the fact would be useless. ]
gather that the year 1860, when he
was abroad, was the first year in
which he showed something OF a NOR
bid habit Of mind or incipient hypo-
chondria. Certainly when l saw him
in my brothers chambers in February.
1862, found the whole tone OF his
thought upon religious subjects
changed. and the ardent. devout Prot
estant figured as a total disbeliever in
any form of the Christian or other de-
fined faith. I might add the expression
Of my own opinion that the great as
tendency which Thomas Carlyle OBJ
tanned toward this time over the mind
OF Ruskin did him more harm than
good. Carlyle being one Of those strong
but extreme men who may brace very
robust natures but who usurp upon
the innate function OF more delicate
organisms. Personally I did not from
first to last witness any symptom of
impaired reason in Ruskin. He al
ways presented the aspect of man OF
very sensitive mind and feelings,
somewhat strained and overstrained
and little liable to take a contrary or
perverse basin the sense that when
| there was every fair presumption and
anticipation that he would be well
pleased and affirmative he turned out
to be punctilious and negative"
Mr.. winloch's description Of the an
cient Egyptian portrait group. "lny
and Rennut" excavated in 1918 and
purchased by the Metropolitan Mu
scum. appears in the Bulletin. He
says in part:
my and his wife sit upon two chairs
with lion clawed feet. At a first glance
it would appear that one broad seat is
intended. for the sculptor has left out
the chair legs which should appear
between the two figures. But the
drawings on the stella on the back of
this statue and the similar little group
/, published in the Bulletin of October,
1916. show that two ordinary chairs
are meant. Iny's hands lie in his lap.
the left one holding a handkerchief
His Wife. the beloved from the bot
tom of his heart. the lady of charms
before all people, Rennut," sits beside
him with nle,dt in her lap and her
right arm around his shoulders. II
they make rather stiff picture and
their affectionate attitude is a little
stilted to our way OF thinking, there
is many a family photograph album
of a generation ago In which the de-
voted couples are not a bit less self
conscious or more at their ease than
this ancient Egyptian pair.
Both wear the enormous curled per-
rllulles Of their dav the mans IN tho