He is much admired by
artists to-day, and, as a technician, he certainly had more than
average ability. He was hardly an artist like Reynolds or
Gainsborough, but among the mediocre painters of his day he shone like
a star. It is not worth while to say much about his contemporaries.
Etty (1787-1849) was one of the best of the figure men, but his Greek
types and classic aspirations grow wearisome on acquaintance; and Sir
Charles Eastlake (1793-1865), though a learned man in art and doing
great service to painting as a writer, never was a painter of
importance.
William Blake (1757-1827) was hardly a painter at all, though he drew
and colored the strange figures of his fancy and cannot be passed over
in any history of English art. He was perhaps the most imaginative
artist of English birth, though that imagination was often disordered
and almost incoherent. He was not a correct draughtsman, a man with no
great color-sense, and a workman without technical training; and yet,
in spite of all this, he drew some figures that are almost sublime in
their sweep of power.
Pages:
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380