. . .W. B. Richmond is a ‘clever trifler,’ who ‘might do really good work’ ‘if he would employ his time in learning to paint.’  It is obviously unnecessary for us to point out how luminous these criticisms are, how delicate in expression.  The remarks on Sir Joshua Reynolds alone exemplify the truth of Sententia No. 19, ‘From a picture we gain but little more than we bring.’  On the general principles of art Mr. Quilter writes with equal lucidity.  That there is a difference between colour and colours, that an artist, be he portrait-painter or dramatist, always reveals himself in his manner, are ideas that can hardly be said to occur to him; but Mr. Quilter really does his best and bravely faces every difficulty in modern art, with the exception of Mr. Whistler.  Painting, he tells us, is ‘of a different quality to mathematics,’ and finish in art is ‘adding more fact’!  Portra. . . Read More