Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/343

 upon it the compL-ted work was left for several years, that it might dry thoroughly before it was V irnished by his own hand with the utmost care. Tiiere was never a more notable illustration of the disputed dictum that genius is, to some extent, at any rate, the power of taking pains. Starting on his career comparatively late in life, with nothing but his vivid imagination as capital, hampered by his lack of directed education in the painters' craft, by sheer patient and unfaltering perseverance he developed from the helpless beginner of 1856, struggling to express ideas too great for his unpractised hand to grapple with, into the most poetical and imaginative painter that has, perhaps, ever lived. "To sum up briefly, ' What is the secret of the charm that this artist's works exercise upon an ever-increasing multitude of admirers?' It lies firstly in the vividly poetical i:'nginativeness of his conceptions, and secondly in the wealth of beautiful accessories in which he eiiibodied and enshrined them. He was not a g eat painter in the true sense of the word. He never attained to that absolute mastery of the materials of his craft, that positively riotous ease of workmanship that belon2:ed to such painters as Rembrandt and Velasquez, but among great artists he takes his place undisputed in the very front rank. His earlier work suflFered technically from the delayed commencement and peculiar nature of his art education, and even in his matured years, though he attained a marvellous accuracy and exquisiteness of touch in drawing, he never reached real breadth or strength of style ; but from the first he possessed an infallible sense of beauty of form and colour, a powerful and over- whelming originality, and an unequalled grace and delicacy of fancy." if, B.

See ' Sir Edward Bume-Jones,' by Malcolm Bell. 1903.

BURNET, James M., a younger brother of John Burnet, was bom at Musselburg in 1788. At an early age he showed a predilection for painting, and frequented the evening academy of Graham to obtain a knowledge of the elements of art. He went to London in 1810, and renewed his studies. He found in Cuyp and Paul Potter much after his own heart, but in nature more. "The fields were his study, nature was his book." In his sketch-book he noted down beautiful bits of landscape, cattle, and rustic figures pursuing their avocations. These he afterwards embodied in his works, and produced ' Cattle going out in the Morning,' ' Cattle returning Home in a Shower,' ' Crossing the Brook,' ' Breaking the Ice,' ' Milking Time,' 'The Ploughman's Return,' and other pic- tures, full of high promise. Unfortunately for art, his life was but short; he died at Lee in 1816 in the twenty-eighth year of his age, to the regret of all who could appreciate Ms excellence. He was buried in the churchyard of Lewisham in Kent, a spot in which he delighted during his life. ' Taking Cattle to Shelter during a Storm' by him is in the Edinburgh Gallery.

BURNET, John, was born near Edinburgh, in 1784. His parents placed him with Robert Scott, the engraver, at Edinburgh, and from him he learned the practical part of etching and en- graving. Concurrently with tliis he attended daily at the Trustees' Academy, where he was a feUow-pupU with William Allen and David Wilkie. Burnet himself says of this period of his career, "I have often thought that my following the profession of an engraver and painter at the same time cramped the greater extension of either, as both are of sufficient difficulty to require the undivided attention to arrive at a high degree of excellence." In 1806 he paid his first visit to London. "Wilkie having preceded me," Burnet says, " by twelve months, the fame created by his picture of the ' VLUage Politicians ' produced such a sensation in Scotland that I hastily finished my engraving, and set sail for London in a Leith smack. On my arrival on Miller's Wharf, I seemed to feel what most Scotchmen feel, ' ample room and verge enough,' and though with only a few shillings in my pocket, and a single impression from one of my plates for Cooke's 'Novelists,' I felt myself in the proper element, having all that proper confidence peculiar, I believe, to my country-men I went instinctively toward Somers Town, where many of my brother artists resided, and next morning to No. 10, Sol's Row, Hampstead Road, to call on Wilkie. He was delighted to see me, and exclaimed, ' I am glad you are come, for London is the proper place for artists.' On his easel was the picture of the ' Blind Fiddler,' which struck me as a wonderful work for one who had seen so little of such paintings in his j-outh. My first engravings after settling in London were for Cooke's ' Novelists,' Britton and Baj-ley's ' England and Wales,' Mrs. Inchbald's ' British Theatre,' &c., but I longed for some larger work upon which to employ my graver, and bespoke the engraving of ' The Jew's Harp,' of the same size as the painting." This was the first picture by Wilkie that was engraved, and formed the commencement of the long series of prints after his admirable works now so well known to the public. The engraving of ' The Jew's Harp ' brought Bumet into acquaintance with William Sharp, the celebrated historical engraver, and " the great founder of the English school in this department," and its success led to the publication of others, and the picture of ' The Blind Fiddler ' was fixed upon to be engraved, of a large size, more like 'The Battle of La Hogue,' by WooUett. As ' The Jew's Harp ' was executed more in the style of Le Bas, Bumet tells us he executed 'The Blind Fiddler' in the manner of ComeUs Vischer; it exhibits more graving than etching, and, as far as the approbation of the public went, was highly popular from the beginning. It also received the approbation of his brother engravers. Wilkie, on the other hand, did not greatly approve it ; the consequence was that Burnet retouched the plate, and it was agreed that the whole of the original proofs were to be destroyed, and fresh ones with the alterations printed. This gave rise to two sets of proofs now being in existence. The first proofs have, amongst other peculiarities, the hat of the boy with the bellows in single line. The success which attended the production of ' The Blind Fiddler ' led to the production of a companion print, and 'The Village Politicians ' was the one fixed upon ; but Bumet eventually threw up the engraving (which was undertaken by Raimbach), in consequence of dis- agreeing with the terms proposed, which were, that " the engra-ing was to be executed entirely at his (Burnet's) own expenses, and the proceeds of the prints divided equally between the painter and engraver." After the plate of ' The Blind Fiddler ' other prints from Sir David Wilkie were ' The Reading of the Will,' 'The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo,'