Turner and Mulready : the effect of certain faults of vision on painting, with especial reference to their works. The real and ideal in portraiture. The deterioration of oil paintings : three lectures / by R. Liebreich.

  • Liebreich, Richard, 1830-1917.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Turner and Mulready : the effect of certain faults of vision on painting, with especial reference to their works. The real and ideal in portraiture. The deterioration of oil paintings : three lectures / by R. Liebreich. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    period is principally based upon the purpose of the representation. The custom of representing as deities the emperor and his family, his friends, the higher functionaries, and even private persons of no merit, led to the imitation of the ideal types of the deities, with a face more or less approaching this ideal type. To this the purely iconic realistic bust, showing the individual in his real aspect, origin- ally formed a sharp contrast, though occasionally a sort of confusion was produced by a realistic head being placed on an idealistic body. Though no such reason any longer exists in our time for so sharp a separation, yet the separation itself still exists. Upon what con- ditions, then, is it based ? This we shall try to show by examples, and in order to enable us to do so, we must, above all, see these examples in a proper light, on the importance of which I should like to make a few observations. The importance of the background and light for the impression to be produced by pictures is generally acknowledged ; it appears, however, that the public are not so generally conscious of the fact that the background is quite as important for sculpture, and that for it the right light becomes a vital question. Otherwise an improvement in the system of exhibiting classic works of art in museums would be insisted upon ; and in private collections the places assigned to sculptures would not be allowed to depend upon accidental circum- stances. Thus in the Louvre we see its jewel, the Venus of Milo, placed in a bad light. In the South Kensington Museum, the highly interesting busts of the Florentine School of the fifteenth century are placed in such a manner that the height of their position, the colour of the background, and the light falling upon them, render it all but impossible to examine them, whilst very trivial objects have received the best position and light. In the National Portrait Gallery, the busts are set on shelves 9 feet from the floor and in front of the windows; so that they can only be seen from below, while they are lighted from the front and from below. Among the faulty arrange- ments for exhibiting sculpture we must mention also that of the Royal Academy. It will certainly be improved, as soon as the public begin to take an interest in this matter and to understand it. For this purpose it is only necessary to afford an opportunity of seeing a well-arranged exhibition. I convinced myself of the simple means by which such an arrangement may be effected, when visiting the exhibition in Milan in September last. We have attempted to give you an idea of the Italian arrangement, of which you will find an imitation in the Library. Several distinguished artists have kindly sent in some of their works for this purpose, and it will surely afford you a truly artistic enjoyment to see them after the lecture. There you will receive the general impression of sculpture exhibited in the right light; here we shall analyse the details of this effect, and that with reference to the face chiefly. The absolute dependence of sculpture on the light that falls upon it might be considered a defect in the art, and confirm the not