The History of Modern Painting, Volume 2 (of 4): Revised edition continued by the author to the end of the XIX centuryMuther, Richard
History
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 2 (of 4): Revised edition continued by the author to the end of the XIX century
Muther, Richard
Painting -- History
At the end there is an ode to evening which is perhaps to be reckoned
amongst the most delicate pages of French lyrics: "_La nature s'assoupit
... cependant l'air frais du soir soupire dans les feuilles ... la rosée
emperle le velours des gazons.... Les nymphes fuient ... se cachent ...
et désirent être vues.... Bing! une étoile du ciel qui pique une tête
dans l'étang.... Charmante étoile, dont le frémissement de l'eau
augmente le scintillement, tu me regardes ... tu me souris en clignant
de l'oeil.... Bing! une seconde étoile apparaît dans l'eau; un second
oeil s'ouvre. Soyez les bienvenues, fraîches et charmantes étoiles....
Bing! Bing! Bing! trois, six, vingt étoiles.... Toutes les étoiles du
ciel se sont donné rendez-vous dans cet heureux étang.... Tout
s'assombrit encore.... L'étang seul scintille.... C'est un fourmillement
d'étoiles.... L'illusion se produit.... Le soleil étant couché, le
soleil intérieur de l'âme, le soleil de l'art se lève.... Bon! voilâ mon
tableau fait_."
[Illustration: DUPRÉ. THE POOL.]
Any one who has never read anything about Corot except these lines may
know him through them alone. Even that little word "Bing" comprises and
elucidates his art by its clear, silvery resonance. The words vibrate
like the strings of a violin that have been gently touched, and they
want Mozart's music as an accompaniment. I do not know any one who has
described all the feminine tenderness of nature, the dishevelled leaves
of the birches, the heaving bosom of the air, the fresh virginity of
morning, the weary, sensuous charm of evening, with such seductive
tenderness and such highly strung feeling, so voluptuously and yet so
coyly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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