漏 Copyright 2001 R. G. Harrison Letter R58 Nuenen, September 1885
Amice Rappard,
I sent a basket containing birds鈥?nests to your address today. I have some in my own studio too. They are nests of the thrush, the blackbird, the golden oriole, the wren and the finch. I hope they will arrive safe and sound.
Do you know much about Eug猫ne Delacroix? I read a splendid article about him by Silvestre. To write down a few words for you that occur to me right now, the article ended thus: 鈥淎insi mourut presqu鈥檈n souriant Eug猫ne Delacroix peintre de grande race qui avait un soleil dans la t锚te et un orage dans le coeur 鈥?qui 鈥?des guerriers passa aux saints 鈥?des saints aux amants 鈥?des amants aux tigres 鈥?et des tigres aux fleurs.鈥?[Thus died, almost smiling, Eug猫ne Delacroix 鈥?painter of noble race 鈥?who had a sun in his head and a thunderstorm in his heart 鈥? who 鈥?passed from warriors to saints 鈥?from saints to lovers 鈥?from lovers to tigers 鈥?and from tigers to flowers.]
These words struck me, as the whole article demonstrated that the atmosphere of the colours and the tone in his pictures was identical with their meaning 鈥?the contrast of the colours, the broken effect, the reciprocal reacting of black to white, of yellow to violet, of orange to blue, of red to green.
And further, Delacroix writes to a friend, 鈥淟a chapelle o霉 j鈥檃i paint ma Piet脿 茅tait tellement obscure que je n鈥檃i pas su d鈥檃bord comment peindre pour faire parler mon tableau, 鈥?j鈥檃i 茅t茅 oblig茅 de peindre dans le cadavre du Christ les ombres avec du bleu de Prusse, les lumi猫res avec du jaune de chr么me pur.鈥?[The chapel where I painted my Piet脿 was so dark that I did not know at first how to paint so as to make my picture speak 鈥?I was forced to paint the shadows of the corpse of Christ with Prussian blue, the light parts with pure chrome-yellow.]
To this the author adds, 鈥淚l faut 锚tre Delacroix pour oser cela.鈥?[One would have to be a Delacroix to dare do this.]
Then I read somewhere else, 鈥淟orsque Delacroix peint 鈥?c鈥檈st comme le lion qui d茅vore le morceau.鈥?[When Delacroix paints 鈥?it鈥檚 like a lion devouring a piece (of meat).]
And this last is the very thing Silvestre鈥檚 article is full of.
What amazing fellows those French painters are 鈥?a Millet, Delacroix, Corot, Troyon, Daubigny, Rousseau, and a Daumier or a Jacque 鈥?not forgetting Jules Dupr茅 especially! A new one of the same breed is Lhermitte.
Another thing about Delacroix. He had a discussion with a friend about the question of working absolutely after nature, and he said on this occasion that one must get one鈥檚 studies from nature but that the ultimate picture ought to be made from memory. That friend was walking with him on the boulevard when they were having this discussion - which had already become pretty vehement. When they parted company, the other one still wasn鈥檛 entirely convinced. Delacroix let him toddle on for a bit after he took his leave, and then (using his two hands as a speaking trumpet) he roared after him in a lusty voice, to the consternation of the respectable citizens passing by, 鈥淧ar coeur! Par coeur!鈥?[From memory!].
I can鈥檛 tell you how much I enjoyed reading this article, as well as another one about Delacroix by Gigoux. I have read besides a fine book by Bracquemond, the etcher, Du Dessin et de la Couleur.
Another thing about Delacroix, writes Silvestre, 鈥淥n dit que Delacroix ne dessine pas 鈥?dites que Delacroix ne dessine pas comme les autres.鈥?[they say that Delacroix does not draw 鈥?they ought to say that Delacroix does not draw like others.]
How truly, my friend, one might say the same in denial of the assertion that Mauve, Isra毛ls, Maris do not draw.
Another thing 鈥?the painter Gigoux comes to Delacroix with an antique bronze and asks his opinion about its genuineness. 鈥淐e n鈥檈st pas de l鈥檃ntique, c鈥檈st de la renaissance鈥?[it is not from antiquity, it is from the renaissance] says D. Gigoux asks him what reason he has for saying this 鈥?鈥淭enez, mon ami, c鈥檈st tr猫s beau,
mais c鈥檈st pris par la ligne et les anciens prenaient par les milieux (par les masses, par noyaux).鈥?[Look here, my friend, it is very beautiful, but it is starved from lines, and the ancients started from the central things (the masses, the nuclei.] And he adds, 鈥淟ook here a moment,鈥?and draws a number of ovals on a piece of paper 鈥?and he puts these ovals together by means of little lines, hardly anything at all, and out of this creates a rearing horse full of life and movement. 鈥淕茅ricault and Gros,鈥?he says, 鈥渉ave learned this from the Greek 鈥?to express the masses (nearly always egg-shaped) first tracing the contours and the action from the position and the proportions of these oval shapes.鈥?And I say that this was first pointed out to Delacroix by G茅ricault.
Now I ask you, isn鈥檛 this a superb truth?
But鈥oes one learn it from the plaster-of-Paris artists or at the drawing academy? I think not! If it were taught in this way, I should be pleased to be an enthusiastic admirer of the academy, but I know only too well that such is not the case.
I sent Wenkebach an article about the Salon by Paul Mantz with a request to let you read it too. Have you got it?
I thought it excellent.
I thought that you might like the birds鈥?nests as much as I do myself, for really and truly birds 鈥?such as the wren and the golden oriole 鈥?rank among the artists too. At the same time they are beautiful stuff for still lifes.
Good-by, with a handshake,
Ever yours, Vincent
漏 Copyright 2001 R. G. Harrison