Famous Paintings by Renowned Artists

Biographical and Pictorial

The highest form of the painter's art is conceded to be the delineation of the human figure, and the loftiest range of figure painting is that which is comprehended under the general title of the nude. The painting of the nude model is the crowning test of an art student's proficiency, and the accomplished artist turns to classical and idyllic subjects in order to establish the loftiest standard of his skill. Only those who have made an actual study of art can really understand the enormous difficulties involved in the representation of the human form, in all its subtle beauties of outline and its delicate inflections of color and light and shade, unassisted by the picturesque accessories of costume. It has been said that the successful execution of such subjects definitively marks the difference between an artist and a painter, and that this is the case, the examples presented in this work will, we think, prove.

While. in practically every instance, the artists represented in these pages are painters of conceded eminence and international fame, these facts have had no

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Chapter 1 Text

Francois-Maurice Lard