'This is even more strange and new to me,' said Claude, at length,
'than anything I have yet seen in this lovely West. I now appreciate
Ruskin's advice to oil-painters to go and study the coasts of Devon
and Cornwall, instead of lingering about the muddy seas and tame
cliffs of the Channel and the German Ocean.'
'How clear and brilliant,' said I, 'everything shows through this
Atlantic atmosphere. The intensity of colouring may vie with that of
the shores of the Mediterranean. The very raininess of the climate,
by condensing the moisture into an ever-changing phantasmagoria of
clouds, leaves the clear air and sunshine, when we do get a glimpse
of them, all the more pure and transparent.'
'The distinctive feature of the scene is, in my eyes, the daring
juxtaposition of large simple masses of positive colour. There are
none of the misty enamelled tones of Lynmouth, or the luscious
richness of Clovelly. The forms are so simple and severe, that they
would be absolutely meagre, were it not for the rich colouring with
which Nature has so lovingly made up for the absence of all softness,
all picturesque outline.
Pages:
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326