This, the Tailor portrait, looks at you to-day as quietly and modestly as if still waiting for your instructions, with his shears in his hand, as the original must have done more than three hundred years ago; it is so highly finished in all its details, so perfect in its expression and pose, and, as I have said, so undemonstrative on the part of the master, that one is apt not to wonder he had no honour in his own country. It takes a painter of some experience to appreciate Moroni properly, as Titian did, although ordinary spectators will hardly pass it over without saying ‘How natural!’
The other pictures of this rarely gifted master all bear the same stamp-mark of matchless workmanship and power of depicting character: No. 1023, ‘Portrait of an Italian Lady,’ in red satin dress; 742, ‘Portrait of a Lawyer,’ in black velvet; 1024, ‘Portrait of an Italian Ecclesiastic;’ and 1022, ‘Portrait of an Italian Nobleman.’ While the student may satisfy his cravings with that likeness of ‘Pope Julius II.,’ No. 27, and perhaps one of Raphael’s infants, he cannot do better for himself than take the whole of the Moroni works, and follow up with what he can get of Velasquez.
While giving these hints to students about single subjects, I will run over those heads or portraits which have mostly impressed me as being more or less useful to take in this course of study for their special qualities, after which I shall take up some of the larger compositions, and finish up with the old landscape and seascape painters.
No. 852, the ‘Chapeau de Poil,’ by Rubens. For ease and strong colouring, as well as expression, this is one of the best for a young artist who has experience enough with his brush to paint it quickly. You may labour with improvement upon the portraits of Moroni, but you must work quickly and decidedly when you attempt to reproduce Velasquez or Rubens.
There are two portraits which I have always been fascinated with for their delicacy of execution. One is 585, ‘Portrait of Isotta da Rimini,’ by Piero della Francisca, and the other ‘The Doge Leonardo Loredano,’ No. 189, by Giovanni Bellini.
Both have been painted about the same period, at least within the same century, the fifteenth, and are distinguished by their high and minute finish and tenderness of outline; they are both well worth copying.
The ‘Ecce Homo,’ No. 271, of Guido Reni, is a good study of pain, and also good for the copyist because of its free and sketchy execution; it ought to be copied, as it was painted, in one working. Thus, the student who desires to be successful in his work ought to study the original well, and determine, if he possibly can, how many workings the master took to complete his work. In this case, Guido Reni began and finished his sketch at one sitting, meaning it only as a rough study for some larger work. Rubens did a number of his in the same method; indeed, if the artist is decided enough about his effects and intentions, he will endeavour to finish his work as far as possible in the one working, for oil-painting, like fresco-painting, is apt to look hard, artificial, and waxy, if worked over too much; in water-colour the artist need not place any limit to his different workings.
The best and richest colourists, with perhaps the exception of Rembrandt, finished as they went along, particularly in the flesh portions. The drapery and accessories may be retouched without so much damage, but excepting those masters who cultivated and depended upon the art of glazing,[17] most of the best men finished their backgrounds and draperies before they touched the figures, i.e. their pupils did all that was in those days considered subordinate parts, and left the flesh for the masters to do at the last: a great mistake on the part of the masters.
The other pictures of Guido Reni are not worth much consideration. His ‘The Magdalen,’ 177, is a fascinating study for young people, as it is intensely sentimental, with lavish masses of fair hair floating about, while the face expresses a sweet abandonment of large-eyed sorrow. I am afraid that I must echo John Ruskin’s sweeping verdict on his ‘Susannah and the Elders,’ and say also that it is ‘a work devoid alike of art and decency.’
The ‘Portrait of Himself,’ 690, by Andrea del Sarto, is a piece of rich, quiet colouring and fine drawing; so also is his other example. No. 17, ‘The Holy Family.’ He was counted one of the faultlessly correct painters of his age, and his pictures command high prices. They are excellent alike in tone and the other academical qualities which are useful to young painters who aim rather at mastering the technical difficulties of their art than the imitating of style; therefore, I recommend this portrait particularly as an early subject before grappling with such overpowering masters as Rembrandt, Velasquez, Murillo, or Moroni.