TERBURG AND METSU

If, as I pointed out, the freedom of Rembrandt's later expression was not compatible with the finish of his earlier portrait, such freedom is certainly not consistent with the polished and minute completeness of a Terburg or a Metsu.

" The Guitar Lesson."-The warm harmonious setting of this well-balanced composition, its deliciously manipulated textures, and the suavity of the surfaces gain for this panel the highest place among the works of Dutch genre. With Terburg, Metsu, de Keyser, Hals, and occasionally with Velazquez and many others, the grounds were prepared with varying tones of warm or cool grey evenly laid, graduating to a lighter ochre colour in the lower part, which is to represent the floor, and on this ground incidents, and accidents of light and shade, are thinly indicated, such as the blacks and dark draperies generally. Where this preparation is not much darker than the half-tones of the scheme, the light of the picture does not suffer; but where it is considerably darker, we find that the tonality of a work is affected throughout, and most strikingly in the less solidly touched parts.

Look carefully at the head of the lady with the [197] guitar. It is completely modelled and drawn in white and grey, then thinly coloured, the chin and neck almost left, the warmer nose semi-opaquely brushed. It is a key to the master's method. How the finish which we see on the white satin dress was accomplished is inconceivable to any one who knows the practical difficulties involved. It is too well modelled to have been done with a lay figure, so we must conclude that the patient lady sat from early morn till the late evening of a long summer's day without moving ; for, apart from the flat underlying pigment, it must have been painted direct at a sitting-such folds do not fall twice alike. In any case it is a remarkable feat.

Metsu probably began much as Terburg did, but finished with rather more solid colour, for Terburg's is a thin manner, and because of this in the latter's " Portrait of a Gentleman " the background tones blacken the flesh. The pigment is not strong enough to resist this dulling action.

The tone quality of the black silk over the boots, and the leather of the boots themselves, is altogether admirable, a fine lesson in the management of soft light on black textures.

TERBURG

THE GUITAR LESSON

National Gallery

Dutch genre at its best. In this picture the prepared grey ground referred to in the text will be seen.

XLVI. THE GUITAR LESSON. BY TERBURG

JAN STEEN

The little Jan Steen of the girl in yellow and blue at a harpsichord, is another perfect performance. [198] The slightly larger panel is by no means representative of the master's best work.

There is little need to enlarge on his practice, for in the same room as the Van Dyck grisaille you will have seen a black-and-white _{Footnote: This grisaille is so black, that it may possibly have been done for the use of an engraver.} by Jan Steen. Although blacker than the monochromes of other Dutchmen-for his greys are a little more metallic than most-this preparation gives a fair idea of the way his contemporaries also set about their work.

PETER DE HOOCH

Peter de Hooch's interiors and courtyards are crisp exercises in glowing light, but 'are fine pictures at the same time.

" The Vermeer of Delft " is another example of subtle lighting. The flesh tints of the girl are over grey. Possibly the glazes have flown, but the play of light on the flat wall is a successful achievement, for it is an extremely difficult task to preserve such flatness in tones receding from a centre of light. The firm " touch " throughout is an excellent example of brushwork. It is the velvety surface of these pictures to which I would particularly draw your attention. The present neglect of the easel picture is without doubt due to the surface coarseness of much modern work, and in the few instances where high finish is attempted there is a lack, except in the hands of [201] very few, of that freshness so fascinating in the best Dutch pieces.

We are in too great a hurry, and careless about preliminary preparations both in the direction of the necessary studies and of "what should be the predetermined grounds over which the final painting is done.

If genre subjects are to find renewed favour, these Dutchmen, I feel certain, will show the way, and the raw empirical luminists will be left in the impasse to which they have attracted the unthinking. The means should never be more evident than the ability to use them with discrimination and with purpose. Of this the Dutch were conscious, and of this too many moderns are oblivious.

The Dutch landscapists evince with the figure painters the same exquisite surface, and although in some instances their conceptions resemble less the light of nature than do more modern landscapes, the general quality is more satisfying and better fitted to be seen on the walls of a room. Their excessive brownness is due to the brown under-painting ; and their depth to a common use of the Flemish glass with a black reflector which replaces the quicksilver of the ordinary handglass.

There is an interesting letter in Mr. Hamerton's " Graphic Arts," from the late Sir John Gilbert to the author, which explains the methods of the Dutch landscapists as well as of Rubens, Teniers, [202] and others, from which I shall make a few extracts. He writes :-

" The system of monochrome foundation is that of the Flemish and Dutch Schools, and it is as applicable to landscapes as to figure pictures. Rubens got his landscapes in brown all over, so did Teniers, so did the Dutch landscape and marine painters.

" They put in all the forms, clouds, distant hill, middle distance, and figures with brown, raw umber, burnt sienna, raw umber and black. Some used warmer browns than others. This work dry, they went all over the canvas with raw sienna, or raw sienna cooled to a kind of dun colour.

" The blues of the sky were thinly painted over this ground after it was thoroughly dry. By looking carefully into the landscapes you will see the ground shining through the blue. This gives air and prevents coldness. You will see it hi the clouds, and you will not fail to see it all through the rest of the picture.

"It is more apparent as it comes to the foreground, which is, in fact, almost left as at first prepared.

"See Teniers, and Rubens, and indeed all of them."

Then among other observations he writes :-

" In all cases and all their landscapes the monochrome system prevails. You can get the most [203] lovely variety of greys in this way. Scumbling lightly a cool tint over the warm preparation," and so on.

Sir John Gilbert Worked in this method, which he had so exhaustively studied, and of which he thoroughly understood the possibilities. He so well explains the processes of the Dutchmen of the Teniers type that there is little need to add more than to observe that, in favouring a warm general tone, they were more concerned with their simple harmonies, than with a faithful transcript of the hues of nature. Nature is, after all, not the only standard by which a picture is to be judged. Although psychologically the painter may not stray far from her-and he must be assured of his power to reproduce her telle qu'elle est before attempting any fantasies on the theme she suggests, technical or moral-allowances must be made for the temperament of the artist, even for his limitations; and we must be equally tolerant of his mannerisms, which I suppose we should define as departures, as subtle variations, from what is actually seen, in favour of a purely personal expression.