FINE ARTS.
SCOTT'S PILGRIM'S PRI/GRESS.*
PAINTVL memories are connected with the name of David Scott. To the general public it is of course a blank. Almost equally =suggestive to the common art-public, they are but the few for whom it possesses real meaning; and to the majority of even these it represents only strange, hopeless, suicidal effort. Last remains the small number of those who understand in him, through all his constructive shortcomings, a man of large genius and power, and of intense purpose.
Of all means towards vindicating and extending his fame, none better could have been devised than the publication of his designs to the "Pil- grim's Progress." Here his admirers (rather, perhaps, to be called sym- pathizers, as the few able or willing to feel with the painter) will find themselves abundantly justified ; here others may well learn to reconsider their judgment. The work should tend also to popularize Scott's name ; a chance that had never offered before. The "Monograms of Man" bore prohibition to the profane vulgar stamped on their front ; the etch- ings to the "Ancient Mariner," even had they invited acquaintance, were virtually inaccessible ; and the sight-seers were only alienated by his exhibited pictures. It may be fairly said that Bunyan's vision pre- sented a point of intersection for the unswerving will of the ideal painter, and familiar lovein all classesj such as might be sought elsewhere in vain.
• The Pilgrim's Progress; with Forty Illustrations by David Scott, engraved by William B. Seat. Pliblished by Fullerton and CO., Londbn anti Edinburgh. The series opens with "Christian's distress upon reading the Book." Two neighbours look in jeeringlyat the open door; near which Christiana sits perplexed, with her children huddling against her. The attitude of 'Christian is liable to the charge of exaggeration, so constantly, and often justly, advanced against Scott The burden at his back is merely indi- cated in shadow,—an expedient contrary to the realism observable even in the artist's more abstract inventions ; and he is scarcely so clothed in rags as to evidence an essential point of the allegory that might easily have been preserved. On the hearth are shown "brands for the burning." In the third plate the characters of Obstinate and Pliable are of the highest excellence. This quality of expression,—one of the loft ipst and most in- dispensable that can be brought to the illustration of Bunyan whi. n ab- stractly applied, as here,—is maintained throughout to the uttermost, in more instances than we can stop to refer to. Scott's abstract is that best and mast difficult of all, the mere concrete of the one thing repre- sented. There is neither anything extraneous to the emotion or charac- ter, nor is allegoric adjunct ever called in to explain type. His Simple and Sloth are as true as Bunyan's : in the design, as in the book, their companion is laying it down that "Every tub must stand on its own bottom," and he can be none other than Presumption. Not less good are Timorous and Mistrust, Formalist and Hypocrite. The scene of "Faith- ful tempted by Wanton"' is in the deepest spirit of perceptive subtilty, —enticing, graceful, yet constrained with consummate tact and mastery. The Old Adam and Atheist are conceptions of the highest order. The former is an abstract of the merely animal sensualisms—Silenuses' Fauns, and what not,—so vastly above previous examples that we shall not at- tempt to describe it. The passage in Bunyan may furnish a hint to the reader; for the rest he must consult himself. In the design for the "Slough of Despond," an nnhuman or ideal representation is wisely given of Help,—a figure hard to realize to the mind's eye in reading.
Scott has been spoken of as powerless to portray female beauty. But a tenderness-of form and expression occurs frequently in these .plates : they excel in tenderness of action. This quality shows very beautifully in the figures of Charity, especially the first and third ; and in the group of the holy damsels bidding Christian God-speed on his path. This design, and indeed all referring to the Palace Beautiful, are eminent in dignity.
As a poetic symbol nothing could have been imagined finer than the entrance into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. A huge presence broods over the desolate waste, on which the orb of his crown traces porten- tous shade ; and Christian is taking his last step out of light. The form of Death, however, vague as it is, wants proportion to account for it. The mouth of Hell, the backward look on the valley at sunrise, the mar- tyrdom of Faithful, whose soul is seen passing on to the chariot, the blind doubters stumbling among graves, and the meeting with Atheist, already mentioned, are all grandly embodied. The casting of Turnaway into Hell, with the stars seen glowing afar through the pit's mouth, while Christian and Hopeful, followed by Ignorance, journey onwards, is a dreadful thing, designed with mighty force and impulse. The ascent of the saved souls to the New Jerusalem, marshalled and motioned up by angels, and the continual crying of ""Holy! holy ! holy !" are ecstatic thoughts; the last the most rapturous and conceivable idea of heaven we have seen in art. It surpasses the Dantesque heavens of Flaxman; and any one who wishes to see how utterly mean an attempt of the same na- ture can appear may compare with this Retzsch's outline to the prologue of Feast. Blake alone was a man to equal or excel it.
It is not to be glossed over, however, that, with much evidence of scien- tific attainment in drawing, glaring inaccuracies often present themselves ; the more excessive because of the very knowledge that hazarded them. The plate of Evangelist and Christian, among others, sins in over- strained action; the figure of Faithful tempted by the Old Adam is a dis- tortion of grace. In this design we find two youths introduced—should not these be daughters—the Lust of the Flesh and the Lust of the Eye ? Perhaps the original was not so far advanced as to explain itself. Igno- rance, too, is an old man,, not the "very brisk young lad" of the vision. In the imprisonment by Giant Despair, Christian is shown in the anguish of grief, while Hopeful is lost to all hope, nerveless and stunned. This we point out not as an oversight, but in suggestion for some such train of thought as the artist was doubtless guided by.
It is clear that in the style of execution much is supplied by the etch- ing of Mr. William Scott. There is more-minuteness of accessory than is to be found in original etchings by David Scott, tending sometimes to floridity ; as in the journey by the Water of Life, the converse in the Palace Beautiful, and the meeting with the shepherds. On the other hand, we perceive a more intimate technical acquaintance with the pro- cess: the vignette introduced into the titlepage is of uncommon elabora- tion as an etching ; and a very remarkable effect of expanse and natural quality in the sky, as difficult as it is unwonted, is in etched outlines given in the plate of Christian's first sight of Faithful.
In reviewing the designs as a series, the singular resources presented 1br illustration by the Pilgrim's Progress become strikingly apparent. These forty subjects are chosen with comprehensive discretion ; yet there rennin the wonders of Interpreter's house type within type,—valuable to the artist by presupposing Christian, as it were, in like manner as the dreamer is presupposed by the vision thus indicating, with the artist's , process, the position assumed by the writer ; there also remain Giant ' Pope, and the assault of Moses on Faithful,—a trying subject that might have tempted Scott ; the pertinacious promptings of Shame; the evidence of Vanity Fair ; and how many others yet!
There was a directness of aim about David Scott, and a certain tone of mind which might be termed organic or intrinsic, such as pointed him out for the illustrator (truly such) of Bunyan. His brother, in his first grave and urgent service to the painter's memory, has told us how these designs, produced in 1841, were "earnestly in his mind" well nigh at the last ; and we admit the claim now preferred that he was " peculiarly qualified" for the work. The theme had been handled before, and with no lack of manual and mechanical appliance : the conceptual and mental were within the scope of David Scott. There are waters below and waters above the firmament.
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