"One scarcely express purpose in our reform, left unsaid by reason of
its fundamental necessity, was to make art a hand-maid in the cause
of justice and truth." W. H. H.
"The vital ambition of an artist is to serve as high priest and
expounder of the excellence of the works of the Creator--choosing the
highest types and combinations of His handiworks, as the Greeks taught
the after-world to do, so that men's admiration may be fascinated by
the perfection of the works of the Great Author of all, and men's life
thus may be a continual joy and solace."
The aim set forth in this declaration is not the aim of any school,
however distinguished, but the aim, conscious or unconscious, of all
great painters. It has been constantly pursued throughout the life of
him who wrote these words; if we did not put this first, we should err.
The secondary purpose of his work--to give England what she has never
had before, a school of artists of her own--of vast and infinite
grandeur though it be, is yet subservient.
[Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE HIRELING SHEPHERD
"As to the pure white ground, you had better adopt that
at once, as, I can assure you, you will be forced to do
so ultimately, for Hunt and Millais, whose works already
kill everything in the exhibition for brilliancy, will
in a few years force every one who will not drag behind
them to use their methods." _Ford Madox Brown to Lowes
Dickenson._