Original Letters and Biographic Epitomes

Original Letters and Biographic
Epitomes

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Epitomes
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Title: Original Letters and Biographic Epitomes
Author: J. Atwood.Slater
Release Date: August 17, 2004 [EBook #13203]
Language: English
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ORIGINAL LETTERS
AND
BIOGRAPHIC EPITOMES

BY
J. ATWOOD.SLATER
PREMIUM HOLDER IN DESIGN, AND SILVER MEDALLIST OF
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON,
SHARPE PRIZEMAN OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH
ARCHITECTS, LONDON,
CERTIFICATED STUDENT OF THE SLADE SCHOOL OF FINE
ARTS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

LONDON:
SPRAGUE & CO., LIMITED, 4 & 5 EAST HARDING STREET, E.C.

_PAINTING._
From the WESTERN DAILY PRESS, _Feb. 20th_, 1901.
AN IMPRESSION OF "ECCE HOMO."
To the Editor of the Western Daily Press.
Sir,--First impressions forced upon me by an inspection of the picture,
"Ecce Homo," by Mons. de Munkacsy, would be succinctly expressed
in few words. It is haply, although not highly, inspired. It constitutes a
work of laborious but of average ability, and descends to a lower
technical state of imaginative eclecticism and expression than I had
indeed expected to encounter in so lavishly-applauded a work. Let it be
granted in the first instance that the theme is an onerous one; the
problem afforded by the venture should have been met in a manner
skilful in art, commensurate with its righteous obligations and its lofty
demands by the artist. The one fine attribute conspicuously lacking in
the work is its illumination, generally too yellow; the fine quality of
light, naturally directing the hearts with the intelligences of the
beholder to the central fact of the subject theme, "I am the Light of the
World." The broad use and disposition of whitish pigment; I mean
whitish, snowy light flecked, pimpled, dimpled with tints of orange and
purple, like snow about to thaw, here and there, honeycombed or
stippled to mark the intensity of its native regard for its own divine,
suffering, martyred Lord, would have attracted the attention and won

the curiosity, the sympathy, of many finer sensibilities. A dramatic and
subtle sense of distance, such a powerful agent of spiritual injection in
the hands of real artists is in this work absent; never skilfully employed
either for negative or positive reflections of emotion. Linear
perspective there is, and employed to much scenic advantage; but aerial
perspective, utilised towards expressing overlapping figures, there is
not, save in meagre degree. The canvas is too crowded, the sense of
vision and admiration is nowhere at all lulled by repose. We may point
to successful juxtaposition of individual figures, to masses of
harmonious tones, but not to masterly composition. The mind of the
artist is intent upon the bitterness of turmoil; it does not reach us
directly by imperishably revealing or extolling the divine nature of
"The Man," "Homo;" and is throughout the field of interest usually
recognised in overstrained partiality for attitude and outline. Hence the
title of the picture is almost sought for, expected in the multitude on the
left, which should have been isolated. "Ecce Homo," briefly and
emphatically, is not so suitable a title as I would suggest, with the
utmost regard for reverence, might be described, as the interval
between the two cries: "Away with Him," "Crucify Him," such
intensely dramatic particles of time finding expression and vent
throughout the work in coarse silhouetting.
The crowding of the lawless throng against the front of the tribune, on
which the chief characters of the scene are portrayed, though not in a
material sense wrong, must be open to much æsthetic dispute; must mar
the success and the action of reflex thought, the spiritual contest
waging and recoiling between the Divine, meek victim and the surging
rabble. At all events, it is sad to trace no direct or secret hint at new or
transcendental methods conspicuous or even dimly apparent in the
painter's art. Little there is in the effort to draw our finer instincts to
spiritual truths. The utmost mechanical skill of the diligent artist is
discernible, labouring incessantly without extraordinary or
transcendental light to the appointed end, the goal accomplished. It
should be understood that as spiritual Art of its own property and
nature is beset, environed on all impinging sides with a multifold range,
a series of difficult corners around which the sense cannot immediately
travel, but would for the