Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

ThackerayWe gave several thousand pounds for it—how manythousand? About its merit is a question of taste whichwe will not here argue. If you choose to place Murillo inthe first class of painters, founding his claim upon theseVirgin altar-pieces, I am your humble servant. Tom Moorepainted altar-pieces as well as Milton, and warbled SacredSongs and Loves of the Angels after his fashion. Iwonder did Watteau ever try historical subjects? And asfor Greuze, you know that his heads will fetch 1,000£.,1,500£., 2,000£.—as much as a Sevres “cabaret” of Rosedu Barri. If cost price is to be your criterion of worth,what shall we say to that little receipt for 10£. for thecopyright of “Paradise Lost,” which used to hang in oldMr. Rogers’s room? When living painters, as frequentlyhappens in our days, see their pictures sold at auctionsfor four or five times the sums which they originallyreceived, are they enraged or elated? A hundred yearsago the state of the picture-market was different: thatdreary old Italian stock was much higher than at present;Rembrandt himself, a close man, was known to be indifficulties. If ghosts are fond of money still, what awrath his must be at the present value of his works!The Hague Rembrandt is the greatest and grandest ofall his pieces to my mind. Some of the heads are assweetly and lightly painted as Gainsborough; the facesnot ugly, but delicate and high-bred; the exquisite graytones are charming to mark and study; the heads notplastered, but painted with a free, liquid brush: theresult, one of the great victories won by this consummatechief, and left for the wonder and delight of succeedingages.The humblest volunteer in the ranks of art, who hasserved a campaign or two ever so ingloriously, has atleast this good fortune of understanding, or fancyinghe is able to understand, how the battle has been fought,and how the engaged general won it. This is theRhinelander’s most brilliant achievement—victory alongthe whole line. The “Night-watch” at Amsterdam is magnificentin parts, but on the side to the spectator’s right,smoky and dim. The “Five Masters of the Drapers” iswonderful for depth, strength, brightness, massivepower. What words are these to express a picture! to187