Page:Catalogue of an exhibition of water-colour drawings and other original works by Edmund Dulac.pdf/9

 to the poetic originals. He should, however, be regarded not as an illustrator, but as an original painter, who uses line merely as an accessory, and each of these little iridescent miniatures which seem to be made of opal dust on mother of pearl, satisfies the demand which Delacroix made upon all paintings,—they are colour feasts for the eye.

It may have been his friendship with the celebrated connoisseurs Ricketts and Shannon, that led Dulac to a renewed and closer acquaintance with those Oriental and Greek primitives, which he had already learned to love in his youth, and during the last few years, he has been steeping himself in Eastern art and folk lore. These studies removed any obstacles to his further development that may have existed. Persian miniatures especially have fascinated him, and it will be noticed that he has discarded all attempts at modelling by means of shading, and has wisely adopted the eastern convention of flat colours. We can recall only one other artist, Marcus Behmer, who can enter into so complete a sympathy with oriental subjects, and "Marcotino" as the German artist is affectionately known, does not possess Dulac's flare for superb colour. After all, the 6