Description

I confess that when first I made acquaintance withCharlesStrickland I never for a moment discerned that there was inhimanything out of the ordinary. Yet now few will be found to denyhisgreatness. I do not speak of that greatness which is achievedbythe fortunate politician or the successful soldier; that isaquality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than totheman; and a change of circumstances reduces it to verydiscreetproportions. The Prime Minister out of office is seen, toooften,to have been but a pompous rhetorician, and the Generalwithout anarmy is but the tame hero of a market town. The greatnessofCharles Strickland was authentic. It may be that you do notlikehis art, but at all events you can hardly refuse it the tributeofyour interest. He disturbs and arrests. The time has passed whenhewas an object of ridicule, and it is no longer a markofeccentricity to defend or of perversity to extol him. Hisfaultsare accepted as the necessary complement to his merits. It isstillpossible to discuss his place in art, and the adulation ofhisadmirers is perhaps no less capricious than the disparagementofhis detractors; but one thing can never be doubtful, and thatisthat he had genius. To my mind the most interesting thing in artisthe personality of the artist; and if that is singular, Iamwilling to excuse a thousand faults. I suppose Velasquez wasabetter painter than El Greco, but custom stales one'sadmirationfor him: the Cretan, sensual and tragic, proffers themystery ofhis soul like a standing sacrifice. The artist, painter,poet, ormusician, by his decoration, sublime or beautiful,satisfies theaesthetic sense; but that is akin to the sexualinstinct, andshares its barbarity: he lays before you also thegreater gift ofhimself. To pursue his secret has something of thefascination of adetective story. It is a riddle which shares withthe universe themerit of having no answer. The most insignificantof Strickland'sworks suggests a personality which is strange,tormented, andcomplex; and it is this surely which prevents eventhose who do notlike his pictures from being indifferent to them;it is this whichhas excited so curious an interest in his life andcharacter.