PICTURES 393
NON-CONTEMPORARY PICTURES

Pictures painted before the twentieth century are here classified
as non-contemporary; the division is merely for convenience.

The famous masterpieces of the far pa^t are too well known to
be suitable for home decoration. They no longer stimulate the
imagination. Some of the pictures painted by the old masters are
not well known, however, and printed color reproductions or
painted copies of them might prove satisfactory. Pictures by less
important artists of the past should also be considered.

In museums, period rooms usually contain pictures which were
painted about the same time as the furniture was made. See page
442. Period rooms in homes need not be so accurate in style, but
it is well to have some relation in idea between furnishings and
pictures. Since the traditional furniture styles are combined rather
freely, a wide choice in the selection of pictures is possible.

In selecting pictures for period rooms of the seventeenth century
styles early pictures should be chosen. Most of the early pictures,
or those painted before 1700, are in museums, and it is therefore
possible to get reproductions of them. Among the most impor-
tant early pictures are those painted by Giotto, Titian, Michel-
angelo, and Tintoretto in Italy; by Rembrandt, Rubens, Hobbema,
and von Ruisdael in northern Europe; and by El Greco and Velas-
quez in Spain. A reproduction of a fine Rembrandt portrait ap-
pears on page 404.

With eighteenth-century furniture, which is lighter in type, the
most suitable pictures are those from the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries and the conservative ones from the twentieth century.
Reproductions in color of these pictures are generally obtainable.
France led the world in painting during the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. Among her important artists were Corot, Millet,
Ingres, Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Seurat, Rousseau, and Cezanne.
In England, Constable, Turner, Gainsborough, and Reynolds were
prominent. In the United States, Inness, Homer, Abbey, Alex-
ander, Chase, and Whistler did outstanding painting. These lists
are not complete by any means, but they are representative,
Typical paintings by Cezanne and Rousseau.of France and by
Winslow Homer of the United States are shown on pages 403,
405, and 406.