Frederick Walker and his works . from different centres instead of as one coherent, dramaticwhole—is precisely the drawback from which Walkers art most method of progressive development well accounts for the mixedfeeling with which we contemplate precisely those works by which hisfame has been won ; for the difficulty which, while admiring exquisiteepisodes in these, v/e feel in grasping them in their entirety ; forthe lack of that current of vitality which should hold together the 22 FREDERICK IVALKER component parts of a great work and give it both pictorial and dramaticunity. It
Frederick Walker and his works . from different centres instead of as one coherent, dramaticwhole—is precisely the drawback from which Walkers art most method of progressive development well accounts for the mixedfeeling with which we contemplate precisely those works by which hisfame has been won ; for the difficulty which, while admiring exquisiteepisodes in these, v/e feel in grasping them in their entirety ; forthe lack of that current of vitality which should hold together the 22 FREDERICK IVALKER component parts of a great work and give it both pictorial and dramaticunity. It may be as well to deal here with a notable instance in point, thouo-hsomewhat out of its proper chronological order. There is, perhaps, inthe whole range of Walkers iviivre no design more forcible, more masterlyin its absolute grasp of nature, than the little-known etching The IVay-farers. The suggestion of onward movement, the characterisation of thetwo figures—that of the sturdy, youthful rustic, no less than that of the. The Udifdren. old and disabled peasant of forbidding aspect who leans on him forsupport—is perfect. The landscape is certainly more prosaic and lessattractive than in the later version—the large canvas of the same nameand subject which dates trom 1866, and was last seen in publicthis winter at the Old Masters Exhibition. This latter land-scape with its late autumn melancholy, its moist atmosphere, its mazeof tangled branches and twigs nearly stripped of their leaves, is oneof the painters most elaborate and beautiful transcriptions fromnature. The fii^ures, however, will not bear comparison with the singular FREDERICK IVALKER 23 and more realistic ones of the etching. A sort of pseudo-idealismhas been at woxV. sentimentahsing them at the expense of the unvarnishedtruth which, as we may guess, appeared to the artist too prosaic for per-petuation on a large scale. The pretty youth who supports and guidesthe steps of a vagrant, of milder but less proba
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidfrederickwalkerh00phil
