Shakespeare in Art

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. THE PAINTERS OF THE COMEDIES. HERE is the forest of Arden? Who knows, and who cares to know! What satisfaction is there in knowing that this forest was in France, near the river Meuse, between Charle mont and Rocroy, not far from Sedan? Such an inquisitive mortal hardly deserves to dip his lips into the springs of beauty and delight that are ever flowing there, to enjoy the cool twilight charm that dwells beneath its high bending boughs, or the bright gleams that gild the green swaid of its open glades, as we see it depicted in all its heroic grandeur and primeval grace by A. P. Ryder, who, in choice of subject, is the most ambitious of all our American painters. In the gift of translating literary inspirations into paint, few can approach him. Looking at Ryder's picture, we may exclaim, like Rosalind, " Well, this is the forest of Arden," a land over which the charms of fairyland are still hovering, where wonders are still possible, and where nobody would be astonished if Chaucer's Sir Topas came suddenly prancing in, in search of adventures. Here also, Spenser's " Queene of Faerie " "with harpe and pipe, and symphonie" may be at home, -- his giants, dragons, and monsters of all sorts, can, however, not be found in this northern paradise. The glow of the supernatural element, which hung over the northern folk-lore, while nameless ballad minstrels perpetuated the current superstitions in rude song, was banished by England's greatest poet. All that was coarse, gloomy, and fit only to "consort with black-browed night," was eliminated. There they sit in the autumnal landscape, the two princes' daughters, Rosalind and Celia, accompanied by their court clown, weary from their wanderings, resting under an oak-tree's shade, as Sir...