The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-08-25
ron THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY.
PAINTING.-No. g.

We think that we may affirm without hcsita.
ting, and without the fear of beirp contradict.
ed, that men are, in greater degree or less.
fond OF what is ornamental; that after main.
tanning, they generally seek after something
that shall enliven and adorn their existence
as alter the season of labor, they require re.
7xatlon of some sort or other. We shall not
think it worth the while to contend with those
who would take away from life, every thing
That has tendency to brighten and decorate it,
The age OF Puritans, we should think, was
pretty much gone by, and for our part, we are
glad of it. We believe that the love of the fine
arts is pure and ust love that its influence
is to soften, to raise, and to purify mems minds
And while, with all our might, we would strive
to do away that spirit, which pretencs 10 look
down on them with indifference or contempt.
we should be as far as any from chershing ex-
travagance, or undertaking that simplicity and
spareness of expense, which is one of the no.
BILE features in the character of a republican
people. We cannot but know, however, that
with the general progress of our country. great.
er expense will be laid out on things which are
merely decorative, than in former times that
with the increase of wealth, the Injuries and
elegancies which it can purchase, will be more
sought after Now, all we wish, is,-not that
this thirst for ornament should be DESTROYED,
but that it should be freely quenched at f6un.
tain OF pure and generous waters. Such a taste
sjnst, and cannot be rooted out of our natures: :
let us then seek to direct it Alright. Let il moi
figure in the love of tawdrincss or sparkle
in the fondness for silly display but let it rise
to something that has in it high and lasting
delight; delight that shall neither tire nor
deceive u.s. but which shall be an ever growing
and satisfying ono.
We think that Painting is we'll fitted to sun.
ply this want, to a certain degree, because il is
of popular cast, and an art of which. those
who are the least instructed in it, are often the
best judges. II is said, that true taste for
painting is not to be had without intense study,
and the contemplation of the works of the best
masters This, in certain sense, we believe
TO be the case. None, but those deeply vetsed
in painting, can find out the delicaces and nice.
Ties of the art, to understand which, ore must
have the knowledge of a professed painter
But its more plain and valuable e1cellencies
we think those who are the least technically
learned, are often the quickest to discover, and
the freest to praise. We do not of course sun
pose that one who has been employed all his
life in digging the earth; or some like employ
ment, is to he good Judge of painting Such
man, from the very nature of his labors will
not be apt to have much sensibiitv for any
thing that savors of the refined and intellectual.
But he who can look with a curious eve, with
warmed apd raised spirit, on the face of nature,
who is alive to the beauties of landscape COM
bined by the hand Of art and he who has a
soul for poetry, cannot behold, without stirring
emotion, the loftier works of painting-such
as historical and scrptura pictures After all.
where have the greatest painters turned as TO
the spring and beginning of their power? To
Nature, surely. They caught something Of her
own glory and gathered from the large stores
that she opens to those who bow before her
in pure and deep worship. Her temple is open
unto all but we must enter it with chastened
and reverent minds, before we can breathe in
its light and peculiar influences. The savage
or the ignorant man would tread. without emo.
ton, the ground Of Thermopyle To the at.
| tentive locker on, Nature is the source of pure
and elevated delight but to the genuine artist
she is the object of study-of deep, unceasng
ardent thought. Yet they both draw from the
! same spring, and are warmed by tho same fer.
vor. With one it is passing glow, short
though lofty emotion; with the other, it is the
source of conceptions, which, impressed on the
| canvass, may 90 down TO after times, perpet
ual monument-the wonder and the delight o
men. Ones taste in painting, as in any thing
else is, without doubt, ma6e more keen anC
perfect BY the continued exercise of It, Blu
all men, who look abroad on the earth, clothed
with its grandeur and ovelines, and feel them
selves warmed and made better by the contem
plation-who have souls to be touched bv thu
.
them the elements of pure love and just dis
, cernment of painting. ....
This false notion, that none but tho dccpl
learned in the art, can appreciate the works G
, the painter, arises, in a good measure, from th
unjustly low estimate which is made of il. N
ono can in an instant discover the full beaut
of painting Of high excellence it could no
. in truth, be worth much, il this were the case
and one, who should pretend to find out il
merits, at the first look, must be either an ].
n norant fellow or fool. This production mui
. have cost the artist a multitude of pains, wit
a deep and severe study; and can any one, as
q by intuition, comprehend, in a glance, II
a work of yaars' Sir Joshua Reynolds SAY
I that when he first saw the paintings of R
!, phae, he was disappointed. and unable to pc
~ ccive their excellence. Mortified at this CT
i. cums,ance, he attributed il to his own want
4 dscernmcnt but on questioning some arts
If Of merit about him in relation TO the matte
~ no found that they met with the same difficult
q but, by the docp study Of them, he came,