AMERICAN  ARTISTS.                                     369
to pursue the expensive studies of his art, he has had only a
hmaU studio, and received only orders for little cabinet pictures.
Could he carry out adequately his ideas, in him would be found
the treasure of genius. He has made the drawings for a large
picture of many figures ; the design is original and noble, the
grouping highly effective. Could he paint this picture, I beUeve
it would be a real boon to the lovers of art, the lovers of truth. I
hope very much that, when he returns to the United States, some
competent patron of art — one of the few who have mind as well
as purse — wiU see the drawings and ordei* the picture. Other-
wise he cannot paint it, as the expenses attendant on models for
so many figures, &c. are great, and the time demanded could not
otherwise be taken from the claims of the day.
Among landscape painters Cropsey and Cranch have the true
artist spirit. In faculties, each has, what the other wants. Crop-
sey is a reverent and careful student of nature in detail ; it is no
pedantry, but a true love he has, and his pictures are full of little,
gentle signs of intimacy. They please and touch ; but yet in poetic
feefing of the heart of nature he is not equal to Cranch, who pro-
duces fine effects by means more superficial, and, on examination,
less satisfactory. Each might take somewhat from the other to
advantage, could he do it without diminishing his own original
dower. Both are artists of high promise, and deserve to be loved
and cherished by a country which may, without presumption, hope
to carry landscape painting to a pitch of excellence unreached
before. For the historical painter, the position with us is, for
many reasons, not favorable ; but there is no bar in the way of the
landscape painter, and fate, bestowing such a prodigality of sub-
ject, seems to give us a hint not to be mistaken. I think the
love of landscape painting is genuine in our nation, and as it is a
branch of art where achievement has been comparatively low, we
may not unreasonably suppose it has been left for us. I trust it
will be undertaken in the highest spirit. Nature, it seems to me,
reveals herself more freely in our land ; she is true, virgin, and
confiding, — she smiles upon the vision of a true Endymion. I
hope to see, not only copies upon canvas of our magnificent scenes,
but a transfusion of the spirit which is their divinity.