It is not easy to state precisely in what this ultimate expression consists, but on general lines it is possible to affirm of Spanish artists that their work is characterised by a decided tendency towards sincerity, simplicity of composition and tonal harmonies in grey. Velázquez appears to have fixed the character of the Spanish palette and technique: the scale of very subtle greys, the harmonies of grey and silver, the use of certain carmines and violets, first encountered in the work of Greco, were tested and employed by him, as were those coloured earths especially indigenous to Spain, the earth of Seville and the preparation of animal charcoal, the use of which is noticeable in his canvases. These determined the material elements by the aid of which was developed a method of painting as simple as characteristic. Velázquez, like the painters of the great Italian school and the schools of the North, grew tired of conventionalism in colour and perspective, and, employing an exuberant palette and gifted with vision of extraordinary keenness, turned to the natural, and, with the lesson of Greco before him, and by aid of his own gifts of observation, sincerity, and a supreme simplicity, did not employ more than the necessary colours to obtain those gradations of tone which to our eyes appear so natural and present the harmony afforded by reality, the master by choice and temperament inclining to those in which were combined all the shades of grey. He created by his unique palette the true and unmistakable Spanish style. Goya, more than a hundred years after him, during the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, a period when the national characteristics tended towards insipidity, maintained this traditional spirit and thus saved Spanish painting from becoming confounded with the works of his contemporaries in France and England. The years which followed those of Goya, the remainder of the nineteenth century, those years of easy communication, of rapid transit, of frequent travelling, of international study and residence abroad, so much more advanced in some respects, were less rich for Spanish painting. Spanish artists, absent from their country, engaged in many departments of work and instruction, lost something of their former qualities. At the present time, in which there seems to have been born into the world a new assertion and exaltation of nationality, Spaniards have regained their ancient spirit, and while aspiring to absolute modernity, remain faithful to a tradition which is peculiarly their own, which makes for national individuality, and has caused them to be regarded with that interest which always accrues to the original, the characteristic, the intelligent, and consequently arouses attention and anticipation. * * * * *