Part 1 (1/2)

The Mind of the Artist

by Various

PREFACE

It is always interesting and profitable to get the views of workuide thes of artists Mrs Binyon has done a very useful thing A great nuree way the wide range of the artist's thought, and enable us to realise that the work of the great ones is not founded on vague caprice or so-called inspiration, but on sure intuitions which lead to definite knowledge; not e of the craftsman, which many have possessed whose work has failed to hold the attention of the world, but also a knowledge of nature's laws

”The Mind of the Artist” speaks for itself, and really requires no word of introduction These opinions as a whole, seem to me to have a harmony and consistency, and to announce clearly that the directing ie, and that the thing to be said is ofit This desire for expression is the driving-force of the artist; it inforoverns the hand and eye That figures should give the impression of life and spontaneity, that the sun should shi+ne, trees move in the wind, and nature be felt and represented as a living thing--this is the fir every effort will, consciously or unconsciously, lead towards its realisation It should be the starting-point of the student It does not absolve hi thestudy of his model; rather it impels him, in the examination of whatever he feels called on to represent, to look for the vital and necessary things: and the artist will carry his work to the utet at the heart of his theme

”Truth to nature,” like a wide mantle, shelters us all, and covers not only the outward aspect of things, but their inner h them, differently by each individual And the inevitable differences of point of viehich one encounters in this book, are but srees; I may instance particularly the stress laid on the observation of nature Whether the artist chooses to depict the present, the past, or to express an abstract ideal, he must, if his work is to live, found it on his own experience of nature But he must at every step also refer to the past Hethat the problems they solved were the same that he has before him, and that now, no less than in Durer's ti her forth”

GEORGE CLAUSEN

NOTE

This little volu co all the artists who have written on art It is hoped, however, that the sayings chosen will be found fairly representative of what painters and sculptors, typical of their race and time, have said about the various aspects of their work Inthe collection, I have had recourse less to famous comprehensive treatises and expositions of theory like those of Leonardo and of Reynolds, than to thenotes contained in letters and diaries, or recorded in memoirs The selection of these has entailed considerable research; and in tracing as often by no e the kind assistance, especially, of M Raphael Petrucci, M Louis Dimier, and Mr Tancred Borenius I have also to thank Lady Burne-Jones, Miss Birnie Philip, Mrs Watts, Mrs C W Furse, Mr W M Rossetti, Mr J G Millais, Mr

Samuel Calvert, and Mr Sydney cockerell, for permission to make quotations from Burne-Jones, Whistler, Watts, Furse, D G Rossetti, Madox Brown, Millais, Edward Calvert, and William Morris; also Sir Martin Conway, Sir Charles Holroyd, Mrs Herringha me to use their translations froelo), Cennino Cennini, Leonardo, and Corot, respectively

Thankful acknowledgment is also made to the authors of any other quotations whose names may inadvertently have been omitted

Above all, I thank my husband for his advice and help

C M B

THE MIND OF THE ARTIST

I

An able painter by his power of penetration into the mysteries of his art is usually an able critic

_Alfred Stevens_[1]

[Footnote 1: The Belgian painter, not the English sculptor]

II