result of what they condemn in their contemporaries. Take a case in
point--the "Bacchus and Ariadne" in the National Gallery, with its
splendid red robe and its rich brown grass. You may rest assured that
the painter of that bright red robe never painted the grass brown. He
saw the colour as it was, and painted it as it was--distinctly green;
only it has faded with time to its present beautiful mellow colour. Yet
many men nowadays will not have a picture with green in it; there are
even buyers who, when giving a commission to an artist, will stipulate
that the canvas shall contain none of it. But God Almighty has given us
green, and you may depend upon it it's a fine colour.

_Millais._


C

I must further dissent from any opinion that beauty of surface and what
is technically called "quality" are mainly due to time. Sir John himself
has quoted the early pictures of Rembrandt as examples of hard and
careful painting, devoid of the charm and mystery so remarkable in his
later work. The early works of Velasquez are still more remarkable
instances, being, as they are, singularly tight and disagreeable--time
having done little or nothing towards making them more agreeable.

_Watts._


CI

I am painting for thirty years hence.