The native American., 1838-08-18
A NJ E r &c n RT.
lcoMMUNIcATEp.l

with her in the claim to that title. The great
masters established her supremacy, and the mo-
derns have modestly succumbed by following in
their footsteps A few bright exceptions here and
there, have been sufficient to rescue US from the
name Of mere copyists, and to show, that there
are secrets in art well nature, treasured lor
the daring, WHO will venture out OF the beaten
track, and boldly dash into unexplored paris
Caravaggio, when he was told to study the AN
TIouE, pointing to group OF men and women oe-
fore him, exclaimed '!these are the models ana
masters, provided by nature!' BY the boldness
Of his genius he rescued the Roman school OF
painting from that languor which had crept III,
from the time of Raphael, its tutelary angel
This was the secret of the perfection of the an
clients they had no model to follow; nature was
their inspiration, and observation and ingenuity
their only instructors. But these were sufficient:
and the beautiful results in poetry, in painting, and
in sculpture, have for ages charmed the world.
Whilst the blush mantes our cheek, we make
the enquiry, have we really, as we love to boast,
advanced in the march of improvement! Can
dor will confess that in many things we have ra-
ther retrograded- is, we have been led as in
Ia labyrinth, round and round, till we have come
back again to the very same point from which we
started. With this experience before us OF the
folly of multiplying limitations of mere imltators,
we of the new world should attempt something
new, and follow the example Of the ancents, only
in having no example. The mind left to its
struggles will in time learn its strength and from
its own substance, draw its own support. 1t
only needs this principle of sef-reliance, of self
recti6cation-for the talent that is everywhere de-
veloping itself in this country is worthy of re-
mark. But little past our infancy, we have al
ready furnished to the world some amongst the
most distinguished of modern painters. The
names of West and Stewart raise high the pride
OF their "ountrymen, and the many OF ''lnierlor
note, bear out the assertion that we are rich in
the materials Of mind and Imagination, which,
rightly cultured will, in due time, produce the
flowers and the fruits of greatness But we have
much to encounter, ere can hope to reach that
point of success. We are money-making peo-
pie. Enterprise is to us, what action was to Gre
clan oratory, and all hurrying in the same busy
pursuits have little time or inclination to bestow
the encouraging glance, or ''golden opinion" that
breathes life into the hope Of the dropping artist.
His education has been a constant struggle-per
haps like the great Buonaroti, he has worshipped
his art in secret, without aid-wthout even the
elements Of instruction. his talent has been left
to school itself-and when the mortlfying discov
cry is made that an artist is disturbing, not their
line of ancestry but their course Of enterprise,-
with sigh or snaer. they 'whistle him down
the wind,' and he may ''prey at fortune or
march to fame, as his character for weakness or
energy may chance to determine. do not as
sert this as general result. only say, from the
prejudices of education, it sometimes happens
There is not wealth enough to allow the proper
encouragement to genius, and until the whole OF
this vast territory has been cleared and settled,
and men have had time to repose from their la
bors, and seek to surround themselves with the
elegancies, as well as the comforts oflife, we may
not expect to the golden age for art artists.
i The consummation of every thing from its
germ to its frution requires its seasons and its
cycles and in the fields of Empire and of mind,
time carries the results, and spreads in few
generations before the world, cities and schools of
science, where deserts only stood before. The
spell of this mutation is upon us; and even in oar
day. our academies and Institutions may rival
those of Europe; mere portrait painting will cease
to be its only production in this art, and the dig
nifty of the historic and poetic schools again be
restored by the admiration of genius and the i'm
4 pulse given to successful competition.
As an evidence of the general talent for painting
in this country look, for example, AT our little
i District Of ten miles square. Wehave men here,
}, who, though perhaps unknown to fame rank
highly as artists of merit. Among them, the gifted
Cooke, with his grace and poetry of style, who
has stepped into the very presence of Apollo, and
taken him by the hand. Our old friend Gibson
} whose landscapes and panoramas have cheated
many weary hour by their rich beauty; and oul
whom acquaintance, Cranch, who with the wand
Of Ariel, linked the verses of Shakespeare to the
|likenesses ofnature.
There are also other artists highly esteemed
though from personal observation cannot speak
of their productions. Among these, Mr.. Charles
A has been cited as whose talent and persever
ing industry give fair promise of future excellence
This laborer iii the path Of pictorial poetry, if all
be true, that is said of him. deserves high praise,
as one who, from another occupation, followed the
bent of bright ambition, and with native inspi-
ration, seized the palette from the muse, to paint
himself reputation in the strength Of his own
abilities.
The habit Of irjudicious praise is much TO be
condemned as it abstracts from the merits of the
deserving, by placing the ignorant or insignificant
upon that erlinence which belongs only to the un-
tirng efforts of study and enthusiasm. Sooner
or later the fraud is discovered and recoilng upon
the objects and the authors, covers them with OBJ
loquy. But when we see the honest independent
ef1nrts of oenus throwinp of its shack les and