. The works of William Makepeace Thackeray . is lifetime. Theladies pressed round him ; the wits admired him : the fashion hailedthe successor of Rabelais. Goldsmiths little gem wa^ liardly sovalued imtil later days. Their works still form the wonder anddelight of the lovers of English art; and the jtictures of the Vicarand Uncle Toby are among the masterpieces of our English in the Hague Gallery is Paul Potters pale eager face, and yonderis the magnificent work by which the young fellow achieved hisfame. How did you, so young, come to paint so well % What hiddenpower lay in that w
. The works of William Makepeace Thackeray . is lifetime. Theladies pressed round him ; the wits admired him : the fashion hailedthe successor of Rabelais. Goldsmiths little gem wa^ liardly sovalued imtil later days. Their works still form the wonder anddelight of the lovers of English art; and the jtictures of the Vicarand Uncle Toby are among the masterpieces of our English in the Hague Gallery is Paul Potters pale eager face, and yonderis the magnificent work by which the young fellow achieved hisfame. How did you, so young, come to paint so well % What hiddenpower lay in that weakly lad, that enabled him to achieve such awonderful victory? Could little IMozart, when he was five yearsold, tell you how he came to play those wonderful ? Potterw%as gone out of the world before he was thirty, but left this prodigy(and I know not how many more s])ecimens of his genius and skill)behind liim. The details of this admirable picture are as curious asthe eftect is admirable and complete. The weather being unsettled,. DUTCHMEN NOTES OF A WEEKS HOLIDAY 255 and flouds and suiisliine in tlie gusty sky, \\c saw in mir little tournumberless Paul Potters—the meadows streaked with sunshine andspotted with the cattle, the city twinkling in the distance, thethunder-clouds glooming overhead. Na})oleon carried oft the picture(vide Murray) amongst the spoils of his bow and spear to decoratehis triumph at the Louvre. If I were a conquering prince, I wouldhave this picture certainly, and the Raphael ]\Iadonna fromDresden, and the Titian Assumption from Venice, and thatmatchless Rembrandt of the Dissection. The prostrate nationswould howl with rage as my gendarmes took off the pictures, nicelypacked, and addressed to Mr. the Director of my Imperial Palaceof the Louvre, at Paris. This side uppermost. The Anstrians,Prussians, Saxons, Italians, &c., should be free to come and visitmy capital, and bleat with tears before the pictures torn from theirnative cities.
Size: 1398px × 1787px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorritchieannethackeray1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
