The harbours of England . his works. Few parts of them arebrilliant in colour; they were executed chieflyin brown and blue, and with more directreference to the future engraving than wascommon with Turner. They are also smallin size, generally of the exact dimensions ofthe plate, and therefore the lines of the com-positions are not spoiled by contraction; whilefinally, the touch of the painters hand uponthe wave-surface is far better imitated bymezzotint engraving than by any of the ordi-nary expedients of line. Take them all in all,they form the most valuable series of marinestudies which hav
The harbours of England . his works. Few parts of them arebrilliant in colour; they were executed chieflyin brown and blue, and with more directreference to the future engraving than wascommon with Turner. They are also smallin size, generally of the exact dimensions ofthe plate, and therefore the lines of the com-positions are not spoiled by contraction; whilefinally, the touch of the painters hand uponthe wave-surface is far better imitated bymezzotint engraving than by any of the ordi-nary expedients of line. Take them all in all,they form the most valuable series of marinestudies which have as yet been published fromhis works; and I hope that they may be ofsome use hereafter in recalling the ordinaryaspect of our English seas, at the exact periodwhen the nation had done its utmost in thewooden and woven strength of ships, and had THE HARBOURS OF ENGLAND 59 most perfectly fulfilled the old and nobleprophecy— They shall rideOver ocean wide,With hempen bridle, and horse of tree. Thomas of Ercildoune. DOVER. - I.—DOVER This port has some right to take precedenceof others, as being that assuredly which firstexercises the hospitality of England to themajority of strangers who set foot on hershores. I place it first therefore among ourpresent subjects; though the drawing itself,and chiefly on account of its manifestation ofTurners faulty habit of local exaggeration,deserves no such pre-eminence. He alwayspainted, not the place itself, but his impres-sion of it, and this on steady principle; leav-ing to inferior artists the task of topographicaldetail; and he was right in this principle, asI have shown elsewhere, when the impressionwas a genuine one ; but in the present caseit is not so. He has lost the real characterof Dover Cliffs by making the town at theirfeet three times lower in proportionate height than it really is ; nor is he to be justified in 63 64 ;6THE HARBOURS OF ENGLAND giving the barracks, which appear on the lefthand, more the air of a hospice on th
Size: 1306px × 1912px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorruskinjo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1895
