Frederick Walker and his works . with Frederickthe Great and his campaigns was, it appears, much studied by him—partly on the wqw style and practice introduced by Millais and thePre-Raphaelites, but with less of hard insistence and more freedom andgrace than the latter could command. Certainly if the influence ofMenzel is anywhere visible in Walkers black-and-white work, it is inthese illustrations to Denis Duval. But as a rule that swiftness andsupreme mastery of pencil applied to the precise notation of fact, thatcrdnerie of the elder master which, if it does not unnecessarily set upnever sh
Frederick Walker and his works . with Frederickthe Great and his campaigns was, it appears, much studied by him—partly on the wqw style and practice introduced by Millais and thePre-Raphaelites, but with less of hard insistence and more freedom andgrace than the latter could command. Certainly if the influence ofMenzel is anywhere visible in Walkers black-and-white work, it is inthese illustrations to Denis Duval. But as a rule that swiftness andsupreme mastery of pencil applied to the precise notation of fact, thatcrdnerie of the elder master which, if it does not unnecessarily set upnever shirks difficulties, are just the qualities which we do not, as a rule,find in our artist. With much more truth may it be asserted thatWalkers art at this initial stage is more or less the outcome of that ofMillais and the Pre-Raphaelites. If any English artist can be said tohave exercised a direct influence over him, it is certainly Millais—theMillais of the first Pre-Raphaelite period at its maturity. But Walker 4!>!-^^tv. Denis DuzuiPs by permisiion of Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. FREDERICK WALKER 19 not less as an artist than as a man, was essentially self-developed—a trueproduct of his time, but yet isolated from his predecessors and fellow-workers as have been very few even among painters of undoubtedinitiative and originality. Once fairly started he owed much ]ess tohis contemporaries, whether English or French, than has been imagined,and to ancient art other than classical sculpture, nothing. This attitude of aloofness is to be noted neither all in praise nor all inblame ; it is the natural outcome of Walkers temperament, of hisapparently limited power of appreciating such art as was outside thebounds of his own immediate sympathies. k is the result of hisabsolute self-concentration, and his curious system of slowly, laboriouslyworking up artistic material. Important determining impulses fromwithout he certainly received at more than one point i
Size: 1411px × 1772px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidfrederickwalkerh00phil
