Art and the Artistic Life

Stevenson examines the painter's and writer's vocation, emphasizing art as a trade requiring discipline, the value of apprenticeship, and the tension between commercial success and creative integrity.

The drum is mused upon as an instrument of noise and martial art, with a reflection on its ironic material and its power to stir heroism.

The hawker's songbook contains pastoral poetry of labour and martial verses, and the canoe is compared to a violin, reflecting on art and craftsmanship.

Bazin recalls his youth as a decorative painter in Paris and his love of museums, which 'kindles a spark' in a workman.

The cathedral is celebrated as a supreme work of art, more expressive than any sermon, and compared to mountain scenery and a battleship.