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iii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ART
were enabled correctly to discern what, amidst all the surrounding
wealth of material, was best suited to their needs, and + form most
strongly appealed tothem ; they created, ina word, a national art. The
war had made a nation of heroes. Stern ne ity had steeled their
courage and quickened their sense. Braye men, experienced in war
as well as state affairs, pious of heart, yet joyous withal, met the
eye at every turn. To pourtray these, not only as single and im-
pressive personalities, but assembl oups, in the council-
chamber, or sallying forth to the til round, or engaged in
fe celebrations , the artist’s favorite task.
ap life, the charms of existence
amidst privacy and comfort, doubly attractive in a time so
heavily charged with fateful events. The pleasurable abandonment
too, which, taking no thought for the morrow, is content to enjoy
the passing hour, captivated the imagination and furnished material
for numerous paintin But the victorious Netherlanders not only
created for themselves a new field of pictorial matter, in which
national sentiment should find expression; the appropriate form of
expression was also provided. Though nearly all the Dutch pz
> great colourists, some indispensable attributes of the artistic
faculty are wholly
yanting in them. The single figures lack ideal
grace, the groups do not conform to the rules of pe
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ctive. On
the other hand, they know how to impart such an artistic charm by
means of colour alone, as effectually compensates for these defects.
The use of the word ‘compensate’, however, may mislead. It must
not be inferred that any particular means of expr i
ayailin painting. The Italians are guided by ¢
rightly so; for these laws were the product of their particular cul-
ture and habits of mind. With equal right, however, the Dutch
painters framed for themselves rules for the guidance of their art
in harmony with national views and sentiments. It must not be
supposed that these Dutchmen, after they had carefully completed
the drawing of a picture, were content to overlay their pictures with
colour for the sake of mere beauty of effect. They thought, they
felt in colour, and composed in colour. The delicate gradation of
colour, the disposal of light and shade in the mass, and chiaroscuro,
are their natural means of expression. It is a matter of common
observation that colour beautifies many an object which without it
would be utterly insignificant, and to such objects the Dutch artists
knew how to impart an ideal charm by the modulation of colour-
tone. Household furniture, for example, was highly valued by
the Dutchmen. In its carefully-ordered splendour and subdued
brightness were reflected the delights of peaceful domestic life.
Applied to art-purposes, it transcended meaner objects only in so
far as it was richer in colours than they: and thus it was with
scenes from every-day life, which were in like manner idealised |