The technical part may be good and gratifying to those who understand
it, but that is the mere trade of the thing. We prefer to see it well
done, of course, but if the canvas has nothing but the paint to
recommend it, the artist might have saved himself the trouble of
putting it on, for all the good it does or the pleasure it gives."
"Oh, Ideala, do you know nothing of the charm of colour?" asked a lady
who painted.
"_I_ do," said Ideala, "but I may be supposed to have enjoyed
exceptional advantages. And it is hardly charm we want to elevate us.
There will always be enough in all conscience to appeal to the senses.
But there is an absence even of charm."
"Many a noble thought has been expressed in a coat of colour," said the
lady.
"I know it has," Ideala answered; "and all best thoughts give pleasure.
I have been so thrilled by a noble idea, well expressed, that I could
do nothing but sit with closed eyes and revel in the joy of it. But if
such an idea were placed before you, and you did not know the language
in which it was written, what good would it do you? An uneducated
person seeing a picture of a donkey in a field sees only a donkey in a
field, however well it may be painted; and I fancy very exceptional
ability would be required to make any of us think a grey donkey
sublime, or believe an ordinary green field to be one of the Elysian.
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