Silver and Gold 《銀與金》

文/科斯莫·蒙克豪斯 譯/愛藝 By Cosmo Monkhouse

Silver and Gold 《銀與金》

文/科斯莫·蒙克豪斯 譯/愛藝 By Cosmo Monkhouse

或許，對于阿瑟·休斯先生（1832—1915） 畫 風(fēng)柔和、令人喜愛的作品來說，特里斯特先生的藏室是品鑒的最佳場所。相比我們印制的其他畫作，他的這幅《銀與金》（布面油畫，99.06厘米×67.31厘米）……更接近人們心目中的拉斐爾前派作品，因為畫作呈現(xiàn)的是“純粹”的情感，畫面充溢對草葉和花朵細(xì)致入微的刻畫。如果說拉斐爾前派運動還有所貢獻的話，那就是激發(fā)了年輕畫家的創(chuàng)作力，讓他們不僅能描繪自己所知的一切，還能傳遞他們的所思所感。［圖見本期封底］

There is probably no house in which the tender and loveable art of Mr.Arthur Hughes (1832—1915) can be better studied than in Mr. Trist’s1In 1883 the Hughes was part of “the collection got together by Mr. Trist at his house in Brighton.”. His Silver and Gold (oil on canvas, 99.06cm ×67.31 cm) … come[s] nearer to what the public reckons as Pre-Raphaelite than any other of the works we print;for they are “purist” in feeling and filled with almost infinite detail of grass and leaf and flower. If the Pre-Raphaelite movement did nothing else, it at least strung up the energies of our young painters to put into their pictures not only all they knew, but whatever they could think and feel.

[2] The charming contrast of youth and age to which the title of Silver and Gold has been given, tells its tale too plainly to need description in the text.Except that he is a timid and imperfect draughtsman, and somewhat too sweet and over-gentle, it is difficult to understand why Arthur Hughes should have failed of those academic honours which have fallen to the lot of men of far more ordinary endowments. I know of no modern picture more poetical in feeling or more exquisite in colour than his Morte d’Arthur nor has any one drawn Ophelia2參見本刊2017年第3期封底文《奧菲利婭》的介紹。more lovely or more pathetic. In the Trist collection you see him always exquisitely tender and true in colour, always sweet and wholesome in sentiment: Whether he appears in some lovely English landscape with flowery foreground; or in that sketch for The King’s Orchard (made famous by Mr. Ruskin’s praise in 1859—the wellremembered apple-blossom year at the Royal Academy); or in the charming group of children in church dabbling their fingers in live sunbeams. In the matter of execution, the patience and dexterity of such pictures as that of the sailor-boy at his mother’s grave3參見本刊2017年第6期封底文《出海歸來》的介紹。, with its dewdrops and cobweb and Chingford Church covered with innumerable ivy leaves, are notable indeed; while in Enid and Geraint4杰蘭特是圓桌騎士之一，伊妮德是其妻子。, and another picture of a female head, he has given us the quintessence of English womanhood,with its loveliness, its purity, and its sweetness of disposition.

[2]畫名“銀與金”被賦予了年輕與年老的對比義，這一對比令人著迷，表達相當(dāng)直白而無須再用文字描述。雖然阿瑟·休斯作為畫家并不完美，缺乏自信，畫風(fēng)也有點過于甜美和陰柔，但有一點還是很難讓人理解，即天資遠遜于他的平庸之輩都能獲得的那些學(xué)術(shù)榮譽，為何他卻得不到。在我所知的現(xiàn)代畫作中，沒有哪一幅比他的《亞瑟王之死》情感表達更詩意、色彩呈現(xiàn)更細(xì)膩，也沒有哪一位畫家筆下的奧菲利婭比他描繪得更美麗可人或惹人憐愛。從特里斯特先生的藏品中可以看到，阿瑟·休斯的用色始終柔和、真實而細(xì)膩，情感也總是甜美而積極的：無論是配以絢麗前景的英國某處美景，還是《國王果園》的素描（因拉斯金1859年的贊譽而聞名，那一年是皇家美術(shù)學(xué)院充滿希望的一年，讓人記憶猶新），或是教堂里在艷陽中玩著手指的那群可愛孩童。就技巧而言，那份耐心和嫻熟在一些畫作中顯露無遺，比如那幅描繪年輕水手在母親墓前的作品，有露珠，有蛛網(wǎng)，還有密密麻麻的藤葉覆蓋的欽福特教堂；在《伊妮德和杰蘭特》和另一幅女士肖像中，他則描繪出英國女性的典型特征——可愛、純潔、性情溫和。