style and traditions of his master and blindly followed them until he
found himself, are gone. Such conditions belonged to an age when
intercommunication was difficult, and when the artistic horizon was
restricted to a single town or province. Science has altered all that,
and we may regret the loss of local colour and singleness of aim this
growth of art in separate compartments produced; but it is unlikely that
such conditions will occur again. Quick means of transit and cheap
methods of reproduction have brought the art of the whole world to our
doors. Where formerly the artistic food at the disposal of the student
was restricted to the few pictures in his vicinity and some prints of
others, now there is scarcely a picture of note in the world that is not
known to the average student, either from personal inspection at our
museums and loan exhibitions, or from excellent photographic
reproductions. Not only European art, but the art of the East, China and
Japan, is part of the formative influence by which he is surrounded; not
to mention the modern science of light and colour that has had such an
influence on technique. It is no wonder that a period of artistic
indigestion is upon us. Hence the student has need of sound principles
and a clear understanding of the science of his art, if he would select
from this mass of material those things which answer to his own inner
need for artistic expression.

The position of art to-day is like that of a river where many
tributaries meeting at one point, suddenly turn the steady flow to
turbulence, the many streams jostling each other and the different
currents pulling hither and thither. After a time these newly-met forces
will adjust themselves to the altered condition, and a larger, finer
stream be the result. Something analogous to this would seem to be
happening in art at the present time, when all nations and all schools
are acting and reacting upon each other, and art is losing its national