PASTORAL LANDSCAPE
By Claude Lorrain
Gainsborough, the contemporary of Reynolds, also painted Mrs. Siddons, and made the more famous portrait of her. The color is a trifle cold in blues, and the surface is glassy; but the portrait has dignity, personality and style. This is the picture that Gainsborough had such difficulty in painting the nose that at last he exclaimed in a rage, and it is said with some mild profanity, “Madame, there seems to be no end to your nose.” Many excellent portraits by both Reynolds and Gainsborough, with their contemporaries Hoppner, Romney, and others are here. The best Romney is the celebrated “Parson’s Daughter,” and the best Lawrence, the sad-faced bust portrait of Mrs. Siddons.
THE TURNERS
The gallery some years ago had a very extensive collection of Turners, but many of them are now removed to the Tate Gallery. The celebrated ones, such as the “Frosty Morning,” “Crossing the Brook,” and “Rain, Steam and Speed,” are still here. When Turner died he left many canvases and about 19,000 sketches and drawings to the National Gallery. Among the canvases were a “Dido Building Carthage” and a “Sun Rising through Vapor” that Turner in his will requested should be hung between two large pictures by Claude Lorrain—the thought being to show how far Turner surpassed Claude. But the comparison is not wholly in Turner’s favor. He is flushed, hectic, a little spectacular, where Claude is cool, calm and serene. The Turners are more cunning in artifice, but they lack Claude’s simplicity and sincerity. Claude and Poussin (poo´-sang), by whom there are plenty of canvases here, were past masters in their time and it is somewhat dangerous for any modern to put himself in comparison with them. Art is not, after all, a thing that will bear comparisons so well as contrasts. It is supposed to reveal the individuality of the man behind the brush, and one great pleasure of the great galleries is that they show us these differing individualities—even as Turner and Claude.
RIVER SCENE
By Turner