. John Pettie, , ; . on the slashed doublet and brillianthose of ancient times. But Pettie was colouristrather than technician; the scientific adjustmentof subtle and sombre tones had little attractionfor his ardent eye. So, when opportunity offered,he was eager to get rid of the drab monotony ofmodern dress, and to put in its place the rich glowof velvet or satin, the glint of armour or goldenchain, the creaminess of a ruff. There can be nodoubt that the costume-portrait (which, I think,he can claim to have invented) gave fuller scope tohis talent, and he had wonderful skill in av
. John Pettie, , ; . on the slashed doublet and brillianthose of ancient times. But Pettie was colouristrather than technician; the scientific adjustmentof subtle and sombre tones had little attractionfor his ardent eye. So, when opportunity offered,he was eager to get rid of the drab monotony ofmodern dress, and to put in its place the rich glowof velvet or satin, the glint of armour or goldenchain, the creaminess of a ruff. There can be nodoubt that the costume-portrait (which, I think,he can claim to have invented) gave fuller scope tohis talent, and he had wonderful skill in avoidingthe fancy-dress ball air usually attendant on wearersof anachronistic costume. It is open to question,however, whether the gain in opportunity fordrama and colour was not counterbalanced bythe fact that the subject was transported to acentury to which he did not belong, and placedin an historic atmosphere to which he was entirely PORTRAIT OF A. P. WATT, ESQ., AS A SCHOLAR IX THE TIME OF TITIAN (Size of originfi], 29 x 24.). PORTRAITS 149 alien. Relations and descendants look mainly fortruth in a portrait rather than high artistic merit,and prefer to see their kinsman or ancestor in hishabit as he lived and walked. Pettie himselfseems to have recognised the cogency of thearguments against his practice, and this phase ofhis portrait work lasted for a few years only. These costume-portraits seem to have begunin 1875, when Pettie sent to the Academy portraitsof Edward Sherrard Kennedy, Esq., in costumeof the Seventeenth Century, G. H. Boughton,, in costume of the Sixteenth Century, andE. F. White, Esq., in costume of the Seven-teenth Century ; and in the same year painted thepicture of Briton Riviere, , in a buff coatand gorget, which has already been mentioned. Goldsmith to His Majesty, painted in 1876, isa fine fancy portrait of the late Mr. Arthur Tooth,in such a costume as George Heriot might haveworn; and at the Academy in 1877 appeared, A Knight of the Seventeen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonaandcblack
