Maria Farquhar

“ Independent of the subject, without a knowledge of the character and position of a master, a picture is at most a pleasing distribution of masses of light and shade, and colour. To add, then, to this enjoyment, the pleasure of enjoying a painting also as a work of art, is opening up a new province of delight to the visitor to a picture gallery, and this is the interest that this little hand-book does lay pretensions to develope. The art itself has its history and its difficulties, and every master has his individual services to be recognised, as well as his position ”

“ In the Catalogue he will find the aspirations, the vicissitudes, the triumphs, of their lives, and learn to love the works for the sake of the workers. In the second case, he will find that he is surrounded by the works of the great names of the seventeenth century; men who endeavoured to imbue with new vitality an art that had been exhausted through the morbid efforts of the artist after notoriety, by the attractions of novelty. ”

“ These men, too, were pioneers; but while the first drew from the cravings and emotions of the soul, the others thought only of preserving the technical beauties of their great predecessors, and prepared the well-cleared path of the so-called Academicians, whose whole aspirations are summed up in good drawing, good colour, good light and shade; and so efficient were the labours of these men, that for two hundred years, the painters of Europe, with rare exceptions, have been quite content to tread in their footsteps. ”

“ A great multiplicity of names would only encumber the lists, and render the Table obscure and comparatively useless. As accurate information is given in the Catalogue, which, indeed, is the explanation of the Table, it has not been repeated here; and it is desired rather that the reader should refer to the Catalogue for the fuller information there given, than be satisfied with the mere dates of birth and death, or such other bare essentials as might have been compressed into the Table. Thus, also, the connection of master and scholar is omitted in the Table. ”

“ The great predominance of one quality shows the deficiency of another; sentiment is perfectly rendered; but it is only in the works of the very latest masters, such as Francia or Perugino, that there is an approximation even toa perfect rendering of the physical. When this was attained, which was in the first decennium of the sixteenth century, then only art may be said to have reached perfection, so far as human arts can be perfect. ”

“ Idealism, or sentimentalism, was a general mannerism of the seventeenth century; and was, apparently, one of the ill effects of the spirit of eclecticism developed by the Carracci.
It remains yet to explain the special destination of this Table and Catalogue, as a companion or hand-book to Italian picture galleries. The work is so, of course, only generally, as supplying general information concerning Italian painting. It may be made serviceable wherever Italian paintings are to be found, whether in or out of Italy. ”

“ In all visits to picture galleries, therefore, one of the first inquiries of the mind must be whether a work belong to the period of development, establishment, or decline; whether it be quattrocento, cinquecento, or academic. And this general inquiry must be succeeded by a modification of the same idea when investigating a picture as the work of a particular master ”

“ We have been too habitually content to admire pictures without inquiring into the characters or fortunes of the devoted men who have produced them. While some works are faithful objective pictures of men and manners, others are simply subjective exponents of character ”

“ It is divided into half centuries; those who died early in the half century being placed in the upper part of the division, and so on, each name in proportion, without, however, such precision as to imply that every painter died before those whose names are lower in the list; for some have died in the same year, the dates of others are uncertain, and where a distinguished master has died about the same period as some scholar, or only shortly afterwards, the name of the master precedes that of the scholar ”

“ We take it for granted, then, that people are generally indifferent about pictures and painters, and really ignorant of the vast stores of Italy in particular, illustrating this interesting subject, even after they have seen them, because they have not had any easy ready means of instructing themselves in the matter, when the opportunity has offered. ”

“ Ordinary guide-books do not in any way meet this necessity, nor do the catalogues of collections themselves, even in their own individual cases, except in two or three rare instances; Dictionaries of Painters are meagre, cumbrous, and inaccurate; and even a good history is as ill adapted for incidental reference, as for the pocket. ”

“ For this reason, and in order to make the Table as simple as possible, it presents only selections of the most important artists who, during the six centuries comprised, were the chief representatives of painting of the several Schools inserted. The principle of the Table is chronological succession; and the year of death, rather than that of birth, has been adopted, because the majority of men scarcely bring any influence on their fellows into operation before their thirtieth year at soonest, and in many cases still later. ”

“ Without a moderate preparation of this kind no picture gallery can be appreciated or thoroughly enjoyed, and no opportunity fairly used; the more frequent the visits to galleries, the more is the necessity felt for some such general guide, applicable in a measure to all occasions. ”