ART.
"THE SHADOW OF DEATH."
WE know of no painting of modern date which challenges so many diverse kinds of criticism, or may be made the subject of so many distinct points of difference of opinion, as Mr. Holman Hunt's new picture. For there is probably none in which the painter, while striving to unite so many separate and, some of them, quite new sources of interest, has applied himself to each particular aim with the same degree of singleness and energy. He has set before us an estimate of the character of Christ at a period of our Lord's career which has seldom before been made the sub- ject of a picture. He has asserted a moral and religious prin- ciple peculiarly applicable to the social questions of our age.
He has related a striking poetic incident. He has read a lecture on Oriental habits, architecture, costume, and trade implements, ancient and modern. He has made a topographical study of the country about Nazareth. He has portrayed the reflections of a Syrian sunset. And in doing this he has endeavoured, as a distinct subject of ambition, to construct as exact an imitation as possible, down to the minutest detail and accessory, of the image which the scene he chose to set upon his
canvas would have presented to the eye, had it occurred in the presence of the spectator. Now each of these aims, and the manner or degree in which it is accomplished, opens out a. more or less distinct field of discussion ; but as subjects of criticism they may fairly be reduced to three classes, the first having relation to the motive of the picture, the second to the method of expression, and the third to the skill of the- painter. Under each of these categories Mr. Holman Hunt either asserts some claim to originality, or adopts a practice which differs. from the recognised course of proceeding. We need not now con-- cern ourselves with the first branch of the subject. It has in reality nothing to do with the business of the painter, as a painter, and, moreover, it was dealt with at length last week in another part of the Spectator. Under the second head we have to regard Mr. Hunt as one among several other modern artists who depart from the methods of dealing with Scriptural subjects which were practised by the old masters, and are still practised by most modern painters. Instead of dressing his figures in conven- tional costumes, and placing them in ideal scenery, he endeavours, by the aid of modern antiquarian knowledge and by personal acquaintance with the existing habits, customs, people, and local scenery of the East, to reproduce as nearly as possible a fac-simile of the scene and incident in the life of Christ which he has under- taken to depict. In justifying this degree of realism, we think that Mr. Hunt takes the only right ground when he appeals to- " the current spirit and intelligence of the age," and declarea that, as the public is better instructed than that which- Ghirlandajo or Paolo Veronese addressed," his practice is no- more than'painting for our spectators as they did for theirs." As the orator or the player must have a due regard to the know- ledge, education, and habits of his audience, so must the painter legislate for his spectators. The reform which is thus advocated in painting is precisely the same as that which took place on the- stage when the bag-wigs of Garrick's day were discarded, and which culminated in the Shakespearian revivals of Macready and Charles Kean. Similar realistic reforms have taken place, too, before now, in the history of painting, as when Benjamin West abjured the classic style, and insisted on depicting the death of Wolfe as it actually occurred. There can, indeed, be no reason- able doubt of the ultimate propriety of such reforms, the only question is as to the precise period when the public taste is ripe enough to appreciate the change. If the spectators are not already sufficiently educated to feel the incongruity of the con- ventional treatment, the substitution of new accessories will, how- ever true they may be, either excite a feeling of their oddity, or by taking a position of undue importance, detract in some degree- from the force of the main impression. This must be particularly the case where the complexion and costume bestowed by painters- upon the universally recognised figure of Christ are suddenly altered. It will take many pictures painted on the new prin- ciple to shake the popular conception of that figure, and it will only be in exceptional ones like the present, which possess great- originality and strength, that the Oriental accessories will not be- in reality the chief attraction ; just as in the Shakespearian re- vivals to which we have referred the scenery, costume, and deco- rations were often of much greater importance in the eyes of the audience than the acting of the play. This would have been more especially the case in Mr. Holman Hunt's picture, where the- utmost pains have been bestowed alike upon all details without reference to their relative importance, had not the all-absorbing interest which he has imparted to the head of Christ overpowered' these rival attractions. Even as it is, they do to our eyes in some degree interfere with its effect, and on our first view of the picture, we felt disposed to hold up a hand so as to shade the eye from the distracting influence of the fidgetty mass of shavings scattered over the floor, in order to enable it to enjoy in greater- repose the contemplation of the wonderful face. Admitting, how- ever, the necessity of all this elaboration, as one of the conditions of his work, there can, we think, be no difference of opinion as to- the imitative skill of the painter displayed in the supreme perfec- tion of his rendering of every one of the multitudinous facts which he has set himself to copy. In so exhaustive a study of actual appearances, replete with beauty, it was impos- sible not to present that beauty also; and it is here, for those who seek it, and who are also endowed with the per- ceptive power which would enable them to see it in nature. What, for example, can be more full of exquisite colour than the ivory front of the coffer-lid where it catches the light? But it must be observed that the painter himself holds out no helping hand to the spectator to lead him to the discovery of these beauties. He reckons this as no great part of his business as an artist. In his view of art, as he tells us, the "primary object" is "to teach the lesson of the incident portrayed," and in the present case at least, the beauty of natural objects forms no part of that lesson. Still leas is it to be supposed that it was his aim to confer upon his work a merely decorative beauty as a piece of painted canvas. Yet there can, we think, be no greater mistake than to imagine that the artist's task has been confined to mere copying, or that, with the special objects he had in view, he has despised or neglected the arts of composition. On the contrary, we believe it will be found, after careful exami- nation, that a more than ordinary amount of thought has, in fact, been bestowed upon the selection and relations of the several parts of the picture, with a view to what may be strictly called the artistic treatment of the subject. Consider some of the problems presented for solution by the very nature of that subject. The motive of the picture is twofold. First, the painter is re- quired to exhibit in its fullest intensity, and as the primary and leading idea, the feelings and emotions of Christ at the moment of cessation from daily labour ; and then, as a sort of second plot in the drama, he has to introduce, and to keep in due subordination, the incident of the shadow, with its effect upon the mother of Jesus. Besides these, there is a window to be placed in the background, the perforations of which shall suggest, but not too strongly, a nimbus round the Saviour's head ; and the star of Bethlehem above it ; and a variety of accessories have to be added, including a comprehensive local landscape. All this must be represented under an effect of the most brilliant, horizontal sun, shining on near objects, which gives strong definition to the shadows, brings out all the forms in a manner equally sharp, clear, and telling, and strikes upon the upturned face after the trying manner of foot-lights on the stage. Everything has to be delineated with stern, realistic truth, nothing softened off or left indefinite, and .nothing accentuated in any manner inconsistent with absolute fidelity to nature. And among these things, which have to be included within a very limited space, the principal object must be ,a tall figure, extending nearly from top to bottom of the canvas, standing in about as unbeautiful an attitude as it is possible for a model to be set in. These were the conditions under which he had to work, and it surely required no slight ingenuity and management to reconcile such conflicting elements, and fit them together so as to produce anything like the unity of impression which we have in this picture.
It is worth while to analyse the work in some detail, in • order to discover the means whereby the main object of the composition, that of giving the undisputed prominence to the head of Christ, which no one can fail to acknowledge, has been accomplished. Of course the difficulty is immensely reduced by concealing the face of the second figure. But observe also how the various classes of form are distributed. Round about the head we have nothing but simple curves and straight lines, circles and right angles, giving repose to the eye, and contrasting with the more broken forms in the lower part of the picture. And as the pair of round arched openings of the window, one of which gives the effect of the nimbus spoken of above, would be a repe- tition of equal forms, which is always distracting to the eye, a shadow of a larger and unseen arch is made to cross one of them and the stone mullion between them, thereby at the same time softening in part the outline of the opening behind the head. 'The same shadow in its lower limb continues the vertical line of one of the window-rails, which would otherwise come to an unsightly stop when it reached the sill. These curves are also of value in carrying off the inevitable stiffness of the angular arms of the figure. And see also how skilfully the awkward effect of the arms themselves is got rid of ! Half close your eyes, and you scarcely see them, so delicately are they relieved against two different shades of the background. And if we are not mistaken, the lines throughout the picture have been studiously arranged so as to prevent these upturned fore- arms from distracting the attention by drawing the eye away from the great point of interest. The right arm is in a continuous line with the saw, while the coffer containing the jewellery has been opened just far enough to carry off that of the left arm, and these are connected by the portion of the shadow on the wall which lies between them on the canvas. And again, these imaginary diagonal lines, so crossing one another, are assisted above or below by others more or less traceable,—one, for example, being formed by the handle of the carpenter's bench, the lower border of the drapery of the figure of Christ, and the left forearm of the kneeling figure. There is nothing either new or learned in de- vices of this kind. They are simply examples of the methods adapted by all painters who have a full command of the resources of their art ; and we draw special attention to them here, to show how great an error it is to suppose that even the most uncompromising of realists can afford to dispense with them. There was a time, in the early days of pre-Raphaelitism, when the young reformers of the school were too apt to regard all the devices of composition as savouring of trick ; and it can scarcely be forgotten how, in very contempt thereof, Mr. Holman Hunt himself, after former deep study in the East, set a scapegoat upon his canvas after the fashion of a sign-board. We now see him apparently as studious and careful in strengthening his style of narration as he has always been in the completeness and accuracy of his statement of facts. It is evident that in colour, as in form, the picture now before us has not only been the subject of in- tense and prolonged study of the effects of light on the spot, but has been carefully considered as a matter of pictorial arrangement. We have no reason to doubt the faithfulness of his rendering of the glory of Eastern sunshine, and his hues appear to our eyes to be veritably compounded of the violet-green and red of the pris- matic spectrum, culminating in their purity about the head of Christ. The painter has been careful in massing his colour, and echoing the several tints coursing throughout the canvas in such a manner as to prevent the eye from resting too long on any particular spot.
It would be easy to pursue the subject further, particularly as respects the lighting of the picture in its relations of black and white. There is art enough, here, too, we may be well assured, but, as in the above case, it is employed as a means to an end, and not thrust forward to startle by its own attraction. There can be no better illustration of the difference between art and trick than a comparison of two ways in which the figure of Christ is treated as a mere matter of chiaroscuro in the two rival exhibi- tions now open in Bond Street,—those, namely, of Holman Hunt and Gustave Dore. In each the principal light is placed near the point of interest,—in the one case, the perception of this device gives you a slightly increased interest in the picture ; in the other, it at once destroys the illusion, and reminds you for ever after of the lime-light of the stage. It was in this sense that Mr. Ruskin, in a fanciful passage, and in reference to the breadth of shadow of an empty skull, once denounced the devices of " chiaroscuro " under the name which (curiously enough) Mr. Hunt has chosen for his picture, "the shadow of death."
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