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John William Waterhouse

1876 PDF Print E-mail

The Real and the Ideal, The Beautiful and the True; Or, Art in the Nineteenth Century, by A Rustic Ruskin, Samuel Tinsley, Strand, London, 1876.

A review of The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1876. Over 5,000 works were sent to the Academy, of which 1,522 were selected as against the odd 500 in 1776, and 136 in 1769, the first year of the Exhibition. The critic declares the "triumph of the Decorative School of Art, as represented by two such masterpieces as Mr. leighton's 'Daphnephoria' and Mr. Poynter's 'Atalanta's Race.'"

To the right is (91) a cool classic picture, entitled 'After the Dance,' by J.W. Waterhouse, of very considerable merit. A water-jug in left foreground, and porcelain vase in right-hand corner, are worthy of M. Alma Tadema, of whose style the whole work is suggestive. The draperies and accessories are admirable, especially the rich brown costume of the principal figure. But there is faulty drawing in the right arm of each of the girls, who are reclining on silken cushions, with a bunch of peacock's feathers that we should like to point out to the artist who did the fan carried by the Duchess of Westminster in (329) Room IV. The artist has carelessly modelled the right hand of the further damsel, which looks larger than the left, but otherwise both the figures are exceedingly well designed. The perspective of the outer room is incorrect; but the figures of the musicians seated there are well drawn, save for the huge ungainly feet of one, and the frightfully unshapely right hand of the other.

The full title of this publication is: THE REAL AND IDEAL, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE TRUE; OR, ART IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION OF 1876. A PLAIN TREATISE, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, FOR PLAIN PEOPLE, IN WHICH THE TRUE THEORY OF ART AND THE PROPER MISSION OF AN ARTIST ARE EXAMINED, AND THE BOASTED REVELATION OF THE MODERN SCHOOL OF PRE- RAPHAELITISM SHOWN TO BE BUT A SIMPLE PLAGIARISM OF AN OLD MASTER