This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 Excerpt: ...him in forming an opinion about things which do not conform to everyday conventions, and consequently he cannot see why the slighter artistic exercises, with their absence of elaboration and want of what is inappropriately enough called finish, should be given the close attention demanded by the serious lovers of art. His imperfect sesthetic intelligence leads him to despise what he does not understand, and causes him to overlook the actual importance of work which lies outside the narrow range of his experience. This imperfection of taste is the more annoying because it has the effect of discouraging the production of beautiful things which would give infinite joy to the real connoisseur. Many artists who have the power of exquisite draughtsmanship would increase their activity in this direction if their performances were accorded a more general appreciation, and many more would take pains to preserve the drawings they do for their own purposes of reference. But because the drawing as a work of art is undervalued by the people who profess to be art patrons, it is to a great extent excluded from the recognised forms of expression; or, if it is produced, it is destroyed by the artist himself as not worth keeping because there is no one by whom it is likely to be wanted. Yet there is proof enough in the studies by Mr. Waterhouse, which are reproduced here, that the drawings of a painter with so marked a personality, and such a true sense of style, must be ranked among the greater achievements of modern art. To deny that work of this order is important, to suggest that its existence is a matter of no moment, to dismiss it as something trivial which the discreet collector need not notice, would be sheer folly; such productions claim the most serious considerati...