"In some of the Nocturnes the absence, not only of definition, but of gradation, would point to the conclusion that they are but engaging sketches. In them we look in vain for all the delicate differences of light and hue which the scenes depicted present."
F. Wedmore, "Four Masters of Etching."
2.—SYMPHONY IN WHITE, No. III.
Lent by Louis Huth, Esq.
"It is not precisely a symphony in white—one lady has a yellowish dress and brown hair and a bit of blue ribbon, the other has a red fan, and there are flowers and green leaves. There is a girl in white on a white sofa, but even this girl has reddish hair; and of course there is the flesh colour of the complexions."
P. G. Hamerton, "Saturday Review."
"Mr. Whistler appears as eccentrically as ever.... Art is not served by freaks of resentment.... We hold him deeply to blame that these figures are badly drawn.
"... 'Taste,' which is mind working in Art, would, even if it could at all conceive them, utterly reject the vulgarities of Mr. Whistler with regard to form, and never be content with what suffices him in composition."—Athenæum.
"Painting, or art generally, as such, with all its technicalities, difficulties, and particular ends, is nothing but a noble and expressive language, invaluable as the vehicle of thought, but by itself nothing."
John Ruskin, Esq., Art Professor,
"Modern Painters."