Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/360

310 to his lot in 1 802, at the early age of twenty-seven ; ' Cader Idris/ 1800 ; 'Falls of the Clyde/ exhibited in 1802 ; ' Edinburgh,' exhibited in the same year, and ' Pembroke Castle ' in 1 806. Of these the ' Falls of the Clyde ' is incomparably the best, and a typical specimen of this period of his work. Turner had gone to Scotland for the first time in 1801, and the romantic scenery of that beautiful country had given a fresh impulse to his art. The ' Falls of the Clyde ' is digni- fied in arrangement and perfect in tone, though this perfection is obtained by an entire abnegation of what Mr. Ruskin speaks of as ' the difficulty and treachery of colour.' W. Turner always steered clear of this difficulty ; he was, when this drawing was painted, trying to learn one set of truths, and did not rashly put himself into a position in which he was likely to find himself at variance with others. A certain con- ventional colour, or want of colour, was all he aimed at or obtained, and it is all that many people still think it is necessary to obtain. How impressive this draw- ing is ! The water comes tumbling down with living force and strength, and the skill with which this is done makes us forget that in Nature its whole course would not show as one mass of seething, warm-grey foam ; there would be some places where the coiling water would be seen clear and dark, and a modern land- scape-painter would have to vex his soul, perhaps to no purpose, with the attempt to render it and other acci- dents of torrent life. There is a group of figures un- dressing, or rather undressed, for a bath, which they seem in no hurry to take. These are the mere con- ventional old-master landscape adjuncts of nymph or siren, which look much out of place in a modern Scottish subject. The ' Pembroke' has a wonderfully fine sky. One bright gleam of sunlight has pierced its way through some heavy storm-clouds. It is evi- dently the same burst of light which appears in the England and Wales drawing of the same subject. There is a fine rough sea, fishermen are sorting fish, and a hint of the perils which encompass their lives is given by the wreckage strewn about on the shore. ' Cader Idris ' is painted in deep, crude blue, and is by no means a good specimen of the period. It is a strange fact that Turner never did paint a good North Wales drawing. He did not often paint North Wales, but, when he did, always fiiiled to catch the character of the scenery. Only one of the drawings made for Whitaker's History of Richiiwiidshire has found its way into the present collection. It is of this series that Mr. Ruskin says : ' I do not know in what district of England Turner first or longest studied ; but the scenery whose influence I can trace most definitely throughout his works, varied as they are, is that of Yorkshire. Of all his drawings, I think those of the Yorkshire series have the most heart in them — the most affectionate, simple, unwearied, serious finishing of truth.' The ' Hardraw,' painted in 181 6, is a very fine drawing, even though the Prussian blue has faded. Why should not this colour be brought back ? We have seen one im- portant drawing, and have heard of others, to which this fugitive colour has been persuaded to return, and this by no method likely to injure the drawing under treatment. All that was necessary in the instance referred to was that it should be taken out of its frame, shut away in a dark drawer, and kept lying there for six months, all light being rigorously ex- cluded. When it came back to the light of day, strong faith was required to believe that it was the same drawing. The height of the cliff in the ' Har- draw ' is enormously exaggerated. Judging by the scale afforded by the cows, the clifl^ would be about two hundred feet high, whereas it is but one hundred ; and the distant scaur looks like a surging range of mountains, instead of a Yorkshire fell. But it is idle to mention such trifles as this ; let us be thankful for a beautiful drawing. To those who neither know the drawing nor the place, it may seem diflScult to make a spout-like waterfall, pouring itself down over the very centre of a semicircular cliff, either beautiful or inter- esting ; but Turner has done both. During the course of its ceaseless flow it seems to have slightly worn away the rock over which it passes ; and many of us may be inclined to ask, with Mr. Arthur Severn, why it has not worn it much more ? He and Mrs. Severn were making an excursion to this neighbourhood with Mr. Ruskin ; and at Hardraw, Mr. Severn, chancing to be a little in advance of the party, met a man who lived somewhere very near, and ex- pressed his surprise that the constant action of the water did not wear away the rock to a much greater extent. The man laughed, and said, ' You must not judge altogether by what you see down here, sir. It does wear it ; it wears it terribly ; but we keep build- ing it up again. If you were up at the top, you would soon see what a lot of building we have had to do.' ' Oh,' said Mr. Severn, ' what a pity the gentleman I am travelling with is not here to hear that ! He would be so interested ! If you happen to meet a gentleman with a lady, will you tell him what you have just told me ? ' ' Arthur ! Arthur ! ' said Mr. Ruskin piteously, half an hour later, ' why did you do that } How could you destroy all my pleasure in looking at that place ? I never wish to see it again now ! '

There are six of the England and Wales series, and these range from 1826 to 1831. The fii'st is Barnard Castle, wrongly described in the Catalogue as a sunset. The morning sunshine streams through the ruined windows of the Brackenbury and Balliol towers. Alas for the bygone beauty of this place, once the very fairest of river-side castles ! Gasworks, with what the Barnard Castle folk are sometimes pleased to call the 'ometer ' painted as bright a red as any pillar-post in London, when last we saw it, now occupy that Arcadian bank to tiie left ; a huge and hideous mill occupies the bank to the right. The bridge, which, when this drawing was made, was so picturesque, has been altered. That we must not object to, for the alteration was made