An artist thus constituted could not but be exceedingly original, intelligent, and independent, though selfish and entirely swayed by caprice.  When he began to study nature, he entered upon his task not with that good nature which is the distinctive characteristic of so many of the Dutch painters, but with an innate desire to stamp upon every object his own peculiarity, supplementing imagination by an attentive observation of real life.  Of all the phenomena of nature, that which gave him most trouble was light; the difficulty he most desired to conquer was that of expression.

ALBERT DUeRER’S ‘MELANCHOLIA’

From ‘The Dutch School of Painters’

The love of the extravagant and fantastic observable in Duerer’s first pictures never abandoned him.  He has probably expressed the inspiration of his own soul in the figure of Melancholy, who, seated on the sea-shore, seems trying to penetrate with her gaze into infinite space.  For my part, I have this picture always before me.  How could it be possible to forget an engraving of Duerer’s, even though seen but once?  I can see her proud and noble head resting thoughtfully upon one hand, her long hair falling in disheveled tresses upon her shoulders; her folded wings emblematic of that impotent aspiration which directs her gaze towards heaven; a book, closed and useless as her wings, resting upon her knee.  Nothing can be more gloomy, more penetrating, than the expression of this figure.  From the peculiar folds of her dress, one would suppose she was enveloped in iron draperies.  Near her is a sun-dial with a bell which marks the hours as they glide away.  The sun is sinking beneath the ocean, and darkness will soon envelop the earth.  Above hovers a strange-looking bat with spreading wings, and bearing a pennon on which is written the word “Melancholia.”

All is symbolical in this composition, of which the sentiment is sublime.  Melancholy holds in her right hand a pair of compasses and a circle, the emblem of that eternity in which her thoughts are lost.  Various instruments appertaining to the arts and sciences lie scattered around her; after having made use of them, she has cast them aside and has fallen into a profound revery.  As typical of the mistrust which has crept into her heart with avarice and doubt, a bunch of keys is suspended to her girdle; above her is an hour-glass, the emblem of her transitory existence.  Nothing could be more admirable than the face of Melancholy, both in the severe beauty of her features and the depth of her gaze.

Neither the sentiment of melancholy nor the word which expresses it had appeared in art before the time of Albert Duerer.

* * * * *

INGRES

From the ‘Life of Ingres’

Small of stature, square of figure, rough of manner, devoid of distinction, Ingres’s personality afforded a great contrast to the refinement of his taste and the charm of his feminine figures.  I can hardly conceive how a man thus built could show such delicacy in the choice of his subjects; how those short, thick fingers could draw such lovely, graceful forms.