. St. Nicholas [serial] . he same way. It is very probable that weshall begin by preferring the Claude. If so,it is largely because the lines and masses ofits composition are more pleasing. The hulls,masts, and spars of the shipping on one sidebalance the lines of the architecture on theother, and between them is a gently dippingcurve which separates the luminous open spaceof the sky from the glittering waves of the waterand the busy animation of the figures. Be-sides the actual beauty of balance between the and hardly care to distinguish which of the fig-ures is Mark Antonys. Our feeling is t
. St. Nicholas [serial] . he same way. It is very probable that weshall begin by preferring the Claude. If so,it is largely because the lines and masses ofits composition are more pleasing. The hulls,masts, and spars of the shipping on one sidebalance the lines of the architecture on theother, and between them is a gently dippingcurve which separates the luminous open spaceof the sky from the glittering waves of the waterand the busy animation of the figures. Be-sides the actual beauty of balance between the and hardly care to distinguish which of the fig-ures is Mark Antonys. Our feeling is that ashore which was once a ragged ending of theland, where the sea began, has been made astately approach of terraces leading up tonoble buildings; that in these, as in the ship-ping, mans creative power is apparent; thatthe scene is an improvement upon nature. Now we turn to the Hobbema. It is acomposition of vertical lines contrasted withhorizontal; a much cruder arrangement ofspaces—of nature unadorned, we might al-. LANDING OF CLEOPATRA AT TARSUS. BY CLAUDE LOKRAIN. full and the empty spaces of the composition,we get the added enjoyment of contrast be-tween a sense of activity and a still strongerone of permanence and repose. Everythinghas been calculated to stir our imaginationpleasurably. We find ourselves thinking thatif there is no spot on earth like this, it is a pity;that there ought to be one, and that the artisthas made it possible. In fact, he has createdit—and thereby we are the happier. We are little concerned with Cleopatra, most say, or, at any rate, taken as the artistfound it. We are disposed to feel that perhapswe are lacking in imagination, and that hiswork, as compared with the ideal beauty ofClaudes, is homely and uninteresting; that, touse an expression of the eighteenth century,when artists prided themselves on having apretty fancy, it is pedestrian — that itdoes not soar, but walks afoot like the commonpeople. Certainly Hobbema was not inventive
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
