Whether I have been lucid enough to enable the reader to follow me, or sympathetic enough to interest him in my subject, I must leave to his own judgment. I can only say that my views are the reflections of one item appealing to other items in the big sum of humanity, written out honestly as the outcome of his own personal experience of the subject which interests him most deeply, and with the hope that he may find some readers who have had similar thoughts upon Art and Mankind, although they may not have been tempted to write them down. With this hope I leave my book to the consideration and judgment of each reader. HUME NISBET. HOGARTH CLUB: _June 1892_. [Illustration] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION ix A WORD BEFORE 1 I. WHERE ART BEGINS 5 II. A STUDY IN LIGHT AND SHADOW 26 III. THE PRIMARIES: YELLOW, RED, AND BLUE 56 IV. ART IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO EVERYDAY LIFE 97 V. ON PICTURE LIGHTING 119 VI. SHIPS: ANCIENT AND MODERN 132 VII. ILLUSTRATIVE ART: PAST AND PRESENT 150 VIII. ART IN MINOR DIRECTIONS 176 IX. DRESS AND DECORATION 196 X. SOME OF THE OLD MASTERS 229 XI. THE SACRED AND THE COMIC SIDES OF ART 250 XII. ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH ART 272 XIII. NATURE WORSHIP 297 INDEX 317 [Illustration] ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A NEW ZEALAND FERN-TREE GULLY. _Frontispiece_ REPOSE. _Vignette for title-page_ GROUP OF FISHER-FOLK. _From a photograph by John Foster of Coldstream_ 5 A GROUP OF WORKING HORSES. _From a photograph by John Foster of Coldstream_ 26 ANCIENT ASSYRIAN HALL: THE FEAST OF SARDANAPALUS. _From a sepia sketch by the Author_ 56 AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CORRIDOR. _From a sepia sketch by the Author_ 61 ON THE ESK RIVER, TASMANIA. _From a photograph by Major Aikenhead, Launceston_ 97 A NEW GUINEA VILLAGE. _A study of lighting from behind_ 125 NOAH'S ARK. _A process paper drawing_ 132 SHIP-OF-THE-LINE, 1815. _Pen and ink_ 134 A VIKING BOAT. _Process paper_ 138 FISHING BOATS. _Pen and ink_ 142 HOMEWARD BOUND. _Process paper_ 143 THE STORM. _Pen and ink_ 147