The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-07 00:00:00

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Betidelle, when he had abandoned the stitland
uninspired manner 44 Pentgino. These artists
worked only for churches and convents, and
generally on walls. in distemper or in frown ;
therefore, to judge of their merits, a visit to
Tuscany is neeessam. and the dubious speei•
mom which find their way to this eountry
would ghe u Very inadequate 1111prfte1011
their toower.
When the arts revived after the short Mite%)
which fidlowed the &mutat of the Hunrnu
empire. the church was the only patron of
ant the palace even of the monarch Wen it
rude fertresti winch ittlillitted little cuthellilt-
ment, the church was the only repository
secure from the depredation of the spoiler.
Hence that preference fur sacred subjects
which some modern waiters have attributed to
the painters of the day its a matter of religious
principle ; but this exelusive reproduetion of
religious subjects by no means excluded the
admiration of classic antiquity. From till.
earliest days in every &pertinent of art. the
eluvial but ignsontut artist of the tits.%
attempted as chow an imitation of the amtiqut;
model as hand" could achiet e :
hence in architecture that clumsy adaptat 101 l to
the classic orders which with efitelestiOhmen 1' 1
hats passed lire an original style, and is
1111 l untitled Byzantine. Lombard, Nornet
and Saxon. stecinsling to the traditions 14 the
reel& amongst WllOlll it 11104 been developed.
Mere wits an inclination aiming the artist-
of the middle ages to attach au exaggerated no
portance to the few and insignifieauat 111
mains of antiquity which they possum/led. Th..
Pisani formed their style upon the Romito
sarcophagus in the Campo Santo at Pisa, which
contains the body of the Countess Beatrice,
the mother of the fatuous Countess Matilda.
'Mese deservedly admired sculptors (theta.
were four of the seine family) founded is
school of imitators and followers ; hence those
hifpfed senators and Roman matrons who
figure as Christian saints and virgins, sod
whose dress omit attributes have become Nue•
gieol in the Itomish Church. A visit to the
shrines at Ravenna will enable the most car-
less observer to trace the transition front
clash to mediteval art, the metamorphosis of
the temple and the basilica into the Chris-
tian ehureh—the death of ancient art, the pro-
gress of its corruption, and its subsequent
resuscitation.
A lively writer of the present day has com-
pered fhe eclipse of the arts in Italy to the
twilight of the arctic mummer, where the night
hardly doses on the opening dawn. The ge-
nius of the lireekm, which had been but feebly
engntfted on the Roman stock, and which had
expired amidst the enervated civilisation of
the Byzantine empire, was revived in the four-
teenth and fifteenth century in Italy, while
designs were produced in eyery department in*
art which the Romans perhaps IleVer
and which the Greeks themselves would hanU
have disdained. The rise of art was wonder-
fully nipitl, and the taste for it universally
diffused : never had patrons been more nil
moons or more munificent—art seemed to
enter into the habits, almost into the necessities,
oftvery-day life. When art is thus spontaneous
it as needless to inquire whether it is or is not
fostered by the establishment of aetidenties.
Mach time has, we think, been wasted on this
diseussion. The benefit to be derived from
them depends of course upon their manage
ment ; but in these days, and in this country.
we think them indispensable: and to discard
them, as hits sometimes been proposed. %% halal.
we think. be its hopeless 104 to l'eNtort, tlis•
iu-
yalid to health 1) dismissing his nurse and
physician.
The sneee,,,,,p. and rollenguem of the great
fathers of mister,' nit Ihtflitelle' Titian. and
Michel Angelo. are supposed to have carried
the various branches of the tine arts isente of
them excelled in all) to a pitch beyond which
farther progress' was impossible. An age of
imitation and earelemnepot followed, and at each
suceesshe period the distance from the great
prototypes seemed widening. &Me napes
course course appeared advisable, and the pupil was
reeommended to commence his studies with P
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an imitation of the earlier models. It is with . p
the view, no doubt, of carrying out this sugge*:`
tion that we owe the crude attempt* al the
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