File:John Pettie, R.A., H.R.S.A; (1908) (14586997020).jpg

Identifier: johnpettierahrsa00hard (find matches)
Title: John Pettie, R.A., H.R.S.A.;
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Hardie, Martin, 1875-1952
Subjects: Pettie, John, 1839-1893
Publisher: London : A. and C. Black
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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of epics.That is what Pettie did in paint. His picturesmake this wide claim for sympathy ; and everyone of them is, besides, not merely a subject, but aproblem of line, colour, and illumination. Whetherone ranks him with the great painters of all timedepends, therefore, on the estimate formed of hiscolour and his technical power. Great art, says Ruskin, is the expression ofthe mind of a great man ; and mean art that of thewant of mind of a weak man. Petties art wasgreat, because his was a strong personality. Never,I think, has an artists temperament been moreabsolutely reflected in style as well as in subject.His work was the immediate response to his ownvigorous nature. If you look at one of his finestpictures, the subject becomes secondary ; it is thesplendid impetuosity of his style that arrests theattention and thrills the blood with its martialnote, like the tramp of armed men, the beating ofdrums, or the trumpet-call. From his full enjoy- THE CARDINAL (.Sue oforiginul, 30 X 22.)
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V SUBJECTS AND STYLE 181 ment of life he gathered joy for his work. Therewas no wastage, no anxious search for the best wayof self-expression, no agonies of failure. The bestthat was in him could all be given to splendidlabour. One of the most rapid of workers, he paintedin a white heat, sometimes almost a fury, ofstrenuous effort. He met difficulties or grappledwith a new subject with an irresistible dash andcheerfulness, like that of the old British seamenwhen they came to close quarters and boarded afoemans ship. His technical achievement ofdraughtsmanship was of no common order, andhis hand was trained to work in quick sympathywith the swiftest perceptions of his brain. In thesense that he saw his subject steadily and saw itwhole, that he worked with the rapidity essentialfor the expression of his first idea, he was animpressionist in the best and truest sense of theword. He worked directly and unconsciously,not brooding with keen analysis on the scientificplacing of his paint, bu

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