قراءة كتاب John Pettie, R.A., H.R.S.A. Sixteen examples in colour of the artist's work
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John Pettie, R.A., H.R.S.A. Sixteen examples in colour of the artist's work
State Secret," and "Ho! Ho! Old Noll!" The scene in the latter is a tennis-court where two cavaliers are looking on with a chuckle of amusement at the spirited caricature which a third has made upon the wall. "Ho! Ho! Old Noll" is the work of a master draughtsman. The light pose and easy grace of the cavalier who makes the sketch, the foreshortening of his arm, the hand that holds the chalk—so lightly that it seems to move—are all superbly rendered. Two years later, in 1876, he exhibited "The Step," a picture of a little girl with golden hair, in a pale blue dress, dancing before her grandmother. The same old lady, with spinning-wheel and high-backed chair, formed the subject of a picture titled "Grandmother's Memories."
"A Sword-and-Dagger Fight," exhibited in the following year, is one of many pictures that show Pettie's dramatic perception and his power of representing physical exertion and momentary movement. Almost at the same time was painted "Disbanded," a rough and ragged but stalwart Highlander, without doubt a rebel of "the '45" on his return from Culloden. This is one of many subjects for which the artist sought inspiration in the novels of Sir Walter Scott. "The Clash of Steel," painted in 1888, obviously owes its origin to the first chapter of "The Fortunes of Nigel." It depicts the time when the cry of "Clubs! Clubs! 'Prentices!" often echoed along a London street.
"The Chieftain's Candlesticks," of 1886, will puzzle those who do not recall the scene in Scott's "Legend of Montrose." Angus M'Aulay, a proud Highlander, on a visit to his friend, Sir Miles Musgrave, in England, had six candlesticks of solid silver set before him on the table at dinner—
"Sae they began to jeer the laird, that he saw nae sic graith in his ain poor country; and the laird, scorning to hae his country put down without a word for its credit, swore, like a gude Scotsman, that he had mair candlesticks, and better candlesticks, in his ain castle at hame, than were ever lighted in a hall in Cumberland."
When the laird welcomed the Englishman on an unexpected visit shortly after, his purse and credit were both at stake, for he had nothing of more value than some tin sconces. But M'Aulay was helped out of the dilemma, to his own surprise, by his retainer, Donald:
"'Gentlemans, her dinner is ready, and her candles are lighted, too,' said Donald.
"The two English strangers, therefore, were ushered into the hall, where an unexpected display awaited them. Behind every seat stood a gigantic Highlander, holding in his right hand his drawn sword, and in the left a blazing torch.... 'Lost, lost,' said Musgrave gaily—'my own silver candlesticks are all melted and riding on horseback by this time, and I wish the fellows that enlisted were half as trusty as these.'"
Another Scott scene, chosen from "Waverley," was painted in 1892, and shows "Bonnie Prince Charlie" at the moment when the young chevalier is entering the ballroom at Holyrood, with flowers strewn at his feet. This, one of the last of Pettie's works, is one of the most brilliant and energetic in its colour scheme.
The last years of Pettie's life were lean years for the painter of genre. The period preceding 1890 marked the climax of the prejudice against the "literary idea" in paint. It was a prejudice somewhat unjust, for there is nothing to prevent the subject-picture from being true art, any more than the subject-poem from being poetry. At the same time there was a natural reaction after the banalities of the mid-Victorian painters of genre on the one hand, and the over-wrought preciousness of the pre-Raphaelites on the other.
Pettie had often painted portraits for his own pleasure, and in these lean years they became to some extent a necessity. His portrait work is naturally not so well known as his subject-painting, yet now and then he produced things that in sheer power and interest of colour and technique rank among his highest achievements.