We cannot live, easily, in the “cloistered silence of the past,” but we can emulate the deliberate and thoughtful work of Mantegna, of Holbein, of Albert Dürer, and the great men of the past, who, if they were alive to-day, would undoubtedly have preferred drawing for process to the labour of etching and engraving; and, if their work were to be reproduced by others, they would have perceived, what it does not require much insight in us to realise, that the individuality of the artist is better preserved, by making his own lines.
To do this successfully in these days, the artist must give his best and most deliberate (instead of his hurried and careless) drawings to the processes; founding his style, to a limited extent it may be, on old work, but preserving his own individuality.
But we must not slavishly copy sketches by the old masters, which were never intended for reproduction. We may learn from the study of them the power of line to express character, action, and effect, we may learn composition sometimes, but not often from a sketch.
“A PLOUGHBOY.” (G. CLAUSEN.)
As to copying the work of living artists, it should be remembered that the manner and the method of a line drawing is each artist’s property, and the repetition of it by others is injurious to him. It would be an easy method indeed if the young artist, fresh from the schools, could, in a few weeks, imitate the mannerism, say of Sir John Gilbert, whose style is founded upon the labour of 50 years. There is no such royal road.
No. VI.