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CONTEMPORARY ART 223
burgher who may wish to interest himself in
the fine arts goes, I presume, for instruction
to the place from which instruction comes
I mean the ha'penny papers.
Patronage of the arts in England
is an
expensive pleasure. In France the prices of
the most promising young men range from
one hundred to one thousand francs, and many
an amateur with a first-rate collection of
modern work has never paid more than five
hundred francs for a picture. The Englishman
who would possess the works of native
geniuses must be able to put down from 50
to 2000. Thus it comes about that a few of
the richer people in the more or less cultivated
To
class form in England the artist's
public.
them he must look for criticism, sympathy,
understanding, and orders ; and most of
them, unluckily,
have no use either for art
or for good painting. What they want is
furniture and a background pretty things
for the boudoir, handsome ones for the
hall, and something jolly for the smokingroom.
They want, not art, but amenity ;
whether they get it is another matter. What
is certain is that their enthusiasms and disappointments,
likes and dislikes, fancies and
prejudices, have nothing whatever to do with
art.
Behind the patrons and their decorators