APPENDIX.
“Very few poets get their inspiration from nature. The majority of them have read other poets, and they use the same ideas, clothed in different language. The painter has to go directly to nature, or he is a mere copyist. He cannot paint his picture like somebody else. He must tell his own story if he has any to tell. Please to look out of the window! You’ll get something different from what you get out of books, for it never has been seen before!”
W. Hunt.
APPENDIX I.
Books on art.
We are continually receiving letters from correspondents asking us to recommend them some books on art.
Now we can deeply sympathize with these earnest fellow-workers, for at one period we wasted much time in vexation of mind in reading the works of “self-appointed preachers, who knew many things save their subject.” When we endeavoured to learn something of art we put the very same question to our teachers, and the answer came, “There is nothing worth reading; some good things have been written by painters but they are old now, for art has developed greatly of late years, one thing only we can advise you, don’t read anything not written by a practical man.”
When we came to consider the writings of artists, we found that but very little had been written by them, and we can only repeat to the student, with the full conviction of experience, that he must read nothing save that written by practical artists.
Technique and Practice of art.
The technique and practice of art can be taught in studios, and its principles can be scientifically recorded, but the poetry of art cannot be taught, only hints can be thrown out. The poetic qualities which make an artist as distinguished from the craftsman are born in a man and cannot be acquired by any amount of training. It is for this reason we must suppose that artists have, as a rule, thrown out suggestions and hints rather than enunciated any laws: these hints and suggestions, then, coupled often with the rhapsodies of literary men, form the body of all writings on art.