Though, then, one of the duties of a picture be that which we are often told is its only duty-to give pleasure by beautiful colour and representation of beautiful form, or by one of these pictures which do no more than this cannot have a deeper or more enduring influence on the large part of the world which does not know how much skill and thought go to the making of a picture, than a primrose has on the culture of the man to whom it is a 'yellow primrose,' and 'nothing more. To have enduring interest, to gain a place on the memory, and to give delight often to the 'inward eye,' a picture must appeal to memorable thought or feeling, must impress itself on them, and give them grace and intensity, that so it may be remembered when they are again roused into activity. Only on these terms can pictures win much attention from the busy men and women who fill the modern world. A picture should have relation to some body of vital knowledge-knowledge, that is, which does not rest in seldomvisited chambers of the memory, but which acts on, and is reacted on by, habitual thought and feeling. This relation may be illustrated by that which a beautifully illuminated Bible-text bears to its context for readers of the Bible. The illumination, by its beauty, fixes thought, imagination, feeling, on a few words full of deep meaning; and the context then is raised for thought, feeling, and imagination to a higher level. This undoubtedly was the relation which most of the work of Greek sculptors bore to the knowledge of those for whom they worked. To the Greeks who saw the Zeus of Pheidias, Zeus had all their lives been the object of religious or poetical thought and feeling, which the statue roused into activity, and to which it gave intensity and grace. This, too, was the relation borne by the pictures of Cimabue, of Giotto, of Fra Angelico, to the thought and feeling of the men and women for whom they painted. The tradition that part of Florence gained a new name from the glad crowd which flocked to see the Madonna of Cimabue, is only credible to us because we know that there were thousands of Florentines to whose thoughts and feelings a picture of the Virgin could give new and nobler form.

It is because there is no vital knowledge-or very little, and that little not rich in subjects for the painter-held in common by many English people, that pictures have not much influence on English culture. In the case of the comparatively small number of English people, other than painters, professional or amateur, whose culture is influenced by pictures, the relation between the pictures which interest and impress them, is not less close than that which existed between the pictures of Giotto and Cimabue and the thought and feeling of their contemporaries. A picture like Mr. Holman Hunt's Light of the World' is popular-that is, dwells in the memory and pleases long after it has been seen-because of the people who have seen it, many have meditated on the relation of Christ to men, of Christianity to the human goodness with which it mingled

tensity and grace, and is recalled when the thought and feeling with which it is entangled are revived. Mr. Watts' noble pictures of the 'Angel of Death,' and of 'Love and Death,' are very dear to some because they revive very memorable thought and feeling, and give grace and intensity to the emotions which they rekindle, in people who often think of what love and death are to their kind, and who have enough imagination and knowledge to understand the meaning of Mr. Watts' symbols. A picture like Mr. Holman Hunt's Claudio and Isabella' probably dwells in the memory only of people who have read Measure for Measure.' To them, no doubt, it often again becomes visible, when in thought or feeling they compare the hatefulness of shamèd life with the fearfulness of death. Even Mr. Millais' Huguenot Lovers,' though its beauty attracts the attention of most people who see it, and though it excites feeling even in people who do not know exactly what it represents, so evident is it that its subject is some terrible parting-even this picture can really add much to the culture only of the people who, knowing the history of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, have Mr. Millais' beautiful representation of one struggle between Love and Duty so impressed on their memory, that the recollection of it is awakened by the thought of other such struggles. Pictures of known scenery, and, in a lesser degree, those of unknown scenery, probably add more to English culture than any other kind of pictures now do. They are afterwards remembered, with the deep feeling which beautiful scenery excitesa feeling which is probably more common amongst English people than any other to which pictures can now appeal. Pictures, like Mr. Leslie's, of fair and innocent girls, are popular because they impress themselves on the feeling, the emotional thought, which the beauty of innocent young girls excites in most people who have any sensibility; and pictures of this kind are therefore sometimes recalled when such feelings are again made active.

Not one of the pictures which I have named-and I have named them because they are amongst the most popular which I know-not one of these pictures, except the Light of the World,' and landscapes, appeals to the memorable thought and feeling of more than a small number of persons. How many people who have looked at the Huguenot Lovers,' or at Claudio and Isabella,' have known the context of those beautifully illuminated texts well enough to feel light flowing from text to context, from context to text? And how many have the imagination, thought, and feeling, and the knowledge of symbolism, without which Mr. Watts' pictures cannot be understood?

Even then, if most English pictures were as interesting as are the few pictures which I have named, the painter's art would be doing far less for English culture than that art did in the fourteenth century for Italian culture, and than the sculptor's art did in the fifth century B.C. for the culture of Athens. But unfortunately a very large number of English pictures have no relation to the memorable thought and feeling of any class of people, however small. Exhibi

Though, then, one of the duties of a picture be that which we are often told is its only duty-to give pleasure by beautiful colour and representation of beautiful form, or by one of these pictures which do no more than this cannot have a deeper or more enduring influence on the large part of the world which does not know how much skill and thought go to the making of a picture, than a primrose has on the culture of the man to whom it is a 'yellow primrose,' and 'nothing more.' To have enduring interest, to gain a place on the memory, and to give delight often to the inward eye,' a picture must appeal to memorable thought or feeling, must impress itself on them, and give them grace and intensity, that so it may be remembered when they are again roused into activity. Only on these terms can pictures win much attention from the busy men and women who fill the modern world. A picture should have relation to some body of vital knowledge-knowledge, that is, which does not rest in seldomvisited chambers of the memory, but which acts on, and is reacted on by, habitual thought and feeling. This relation may be illustrated by that which a beautifully illuminated Bible-text bears to its context for readers of the Bible. The illumination, by its beauty, fixes thought, imagination, feeling, on a few words full of deep meaning; and the context then is raised for thought, feeling, and imagination to a higher level. This undoubtedly was the relation which most of the work of Greek sculptors bore to the knowledge of those for whom they worked. To the Greeks who saw the Zeus of Pheidias, Zeus had all their lives been the object of religious or poetical thought and feeling, which the statue roused into activity, and to which it gave intensity and grace. This, too, was the relation borne by the pictures of Cimabue, of Giotto, of Fra Angelico, to the thought and feeling of the men and women for whom they painted. The tradition that part of Florence gained a new name from the glad crowd which flocked to see the Madonna of Cimabue, is only credible to us because we know that there were thousands of Florentines to whose thoughts and feelings a picture of the Virgin could give new and nobler form.

It is because there is no vital knowledge-or very little, and that little not rich in subjects for the painter-held in common by many English people, that pictures have not much influence on English culture. In the case of the comparatively small number of English people, other than painters, professional or amateur, whose culture is influenced by pictures, the relation between the pictures which interest and impress them, is not less close than that which existed between the pictures of Giotto and Cimabue and the thought and feeling of their contemporaries. A picture like Mr. Holman Hunt's 'Light of the World' is popular-that is, dwells in the memory and pleases long after it has been seen-because of the people who have seen it, many have meditated on the relation of Christ to men, of Christianity to the human goodness with which it mingled

tensity and grace, and is recalled when the thought and feeling with which it is entangled are revived. Mr. Watts' noble pictures of the 'Angel of Death,' and of 'Love and Death,' are very dear to some because they revive very memorable thought and feeling, and give grace and intensity to the emotions which they rekindle, in people who often think of what love and death are to their kind, and who have enough imagination and knowledge to understand the meaning of Mr. Watts' symbols. A picture like Mr. Holman Hunt's Claudio and Isabella' probably dwells in the memory only of people who have read Measure for Measure.' To them, no doubt, it often again becomes visible, when in thought or feeling they compare the hatefulness of shamèd life with the fearfulness of death. Even Mr. Millais''Huguenot Lovers,' though its beauty attracts the attention of most people who see it, and though it excites feeling even in people who do not know exactly what it represents, so evident is it that its subject is some terrible parting even this picture can really add much to the culture only of the people who, knowing the history of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, have Mr. Millais' beautiful representation of one struggle between Love and Duty so impressed on their memory, that the recollection of it is awakened by the thought of other such struggles. Pictures of known scenery, and, in a lesser degree, those of unknown scenery, probably add more to English culture than any other kind of pictures now do. They are afterwards remembered, with the deep feeling which beautiful scenery excites— a feeling which is probably more common amongst English people than any other to which pictures can now appeal. Pictures, like Mr. Leslie's, of fair and innocent girls, are popular because they impress themselves on the feeling, the emotional thought, which the beauty of innocent young girls excites in most people who have any sensibility; and pictures of this kind are therefore sometimes recalled when such feelings are again made active.

Not one of the pictures which I have named-and I have named them because they are amongst the most popular which I know—not one of these pictures, except the 'Light of the World,' and landscapes, appeals to the memorable thought and feeling of more than a small number of persons. How many people who have looked at the Huguenot Lovers,' or at Claudio and Isabella,' have known the context of those beautifully illuminated texts well enough to feel light flowing from text to context, from context to text? And how many have the imagination, thought, and feeling, and the knowledge of symbolism, without which Mr. Watts' pictures cannot be understood?

6

Even then, if most English pictures were as interesting as are the few pictures which I have named, the painter's art would be doing far less for English culture than that art did in the fourteenth century for Italian culture, and than the sculptor's art did in the fifth century B.C. for the culture of Athens. But unfortunately a very large number of English pictures have no relation to the memorable thought and feeling of any class of people, however small. Exhibi

foul air-this is decided for them by the will. The chief condition of the action of the imagination of an artist is that the subject on which it is to act shall be very interesting to him, and that he shall be able to live with it, and brood over it.

It may be urged that prize poems and birthday odes are almost always poor, and that pictures of subjects from a book chosen for painters will probably have many of their faults. But there is no real analogy between the cases. Such poems are generally poor, because the themes fail to excite the imagination sufficiently. However exalted, they are seldom great enough to be interesting or vitally quickening. But the chosen book would be great, and would be stimulating by its greatness; while the painter would have to occupy only those parts of the subject where his imagination moved most freely and strongly. The painter who cannot find an adequate stimulus to his imagination in any one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, in Job, Isaiah, in 'Maud,' or 'Comus,' in the Antiquary,' in 'Esmond,' or 'Adam Bede,' either has very little imagination or has an imagination which is already strongly preoccupied. In the latter case he will probably influence culture more by painting the subject which has preoccupied him than by painting one from the chosen book. It is certainly impossible to believe that any chosen book could offer a painter like Mr. Watts subjects so congenial to him, as are those of his Angel of Death,' and his Love and Death.' But it is at least as hard to believe that most pictures have been painted by men whose imagination has been strongly preoccupied. Many pictures, painted by even able men, show clearly that their subjects have been painfully sought for, and that the accident of being in one place instead of another has finally determined the painter's choice.

Much also might be gained, in the case of landscape painting, if in all exhibitions, except those in London, subjects were mainly chosen from a country easily accessible to the people who see the pictures. For unquestionably pictures of known scenery have a much more powerful effect on thought and feeling, than pictures of unknown scenery can have. A picture of a place known to us revives the associations which we have with the place; and its representation of the place is made fuller by our knowledge of that which is represented.. The picture gives us a firmer hold of the place, and probably often fully reveals to us the existence of beauty in it, of which we have been but dimly or not at all aware. And as it is only in pictures of places which are known to us that we see how painters, for the sake of increase of beauty or of truth of effect, make their pictures differ from the places which are their subject, pictures of known scenery give more insight into part of the painter's art than is given by pictures of unknown places.

By such means as I have suggested, the influence of pictures might be greatly extended and reach many more people than at preFor although many who read may fail to read a great book,

sent.