But at Bethnal Green the visitors
feel that they have been invited to be pleased, to wonder, and to
admire the beautiful stories represented on the canvas by clever men
who have learnt this trade. As for how a story may be told on canvas,
the way in which the conception of the artist has been executed, the
truth of the drawing, the fidelity of colouring--on these points no
questions are asked and no curiosity is expressed. Why should they?
Painting they regard as one of the arts which may be learned for a
trade, like matchmaking or shoemaking. Remember that it never occurs
to people to learn the mysteries of any trade beside their own. On my
last visit to this museum, for instance, I chanced upon two women who
were standing before a vase. It was a large and very beautiful vase,
of admirable form and proportions, and it was decorated on the top by
a group representing three captives chained to the rock. Their comment
on this work of art was as follows: 'Look,' said one, 'look at those
poor men chained to the rock.' 'Yes,' replied the other, 'poor
fellows! ain't it shocking?'
To their eyes the only thing to be looked at was the group of figures,
and the only suggestion made to their minds by the vase related to the
story, thus half told, of the captives.
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