Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-11-18

ART in general what he has done hee for few of lis
more iavorite pupils, (alasters We dare call only
two or three in almost any one leriod j that is 10
say, he has designed to present ne country " with
engraved specimens from the labGs of all the most
meritorious artists of the United States. Doubt
ing, however, the possibility of siccess for a work
so comprehensive and high-pricd as this would
necessarily be in a single body, lie has prudenhy
decided to break it into more manageable shape,
to give il annual Issue, and t. adopt for il the
popular form and character of the Winter Gift
Book. This, then, is the first if such series. |
The literary illustrations which accompany the pic
lures, or added TO give bulk 4 the volume, con-
form TO the usual matter of such publications that
is TO say, they fancifnl and OCCASIONAL only, not
biographical. This may be unavoidable, but is, we
think to be regretted. For in thahings Of this sort
which we get, the merit and interest Of the literary
execution bears little proportion Q the graphic ex-
ceence, and the pictures are all Mat atone for che
insipidity of the page. Parlor verse and boudoir
prose are worthy conpanians of such pictorial
beauties and the very object Of Mr.. S. being to
popularize the names and works of our best paint
ers, surely it would be far more agreeable, as well
as useful to attach to each picture notice Of the
artist and his works, and thus render the future
publication biographical gallery of our best paint
ers. thing thus conducted would have formed
in the course of FIVE or six years almost complete
history Of the American art. Mr.. Sartain is him.
self quite too good artist to be destitute of lite
rary talent; for all the higher excellence in the
imaginative pursuits implies general cultivation Of
the intellect and the TASTE and we therefore doubt
not that sketches from him of the lives and crti-
cisms of the works Of his kinsmen of the brush
would easily make something far more interesting
to all the world than the small romances, rhymed
unrhymed, which he has borrowed from others, to
illustrate the far better production OF his own burn
Indeed all such attempts this are reversals Of
what the true relation of the arts which his book
associates. 1t is the business of painting TO bring
before the eyes the airier conceptions of the
poet-not that of poetry Qess tangible as it isl to
illustrate what has been already made visible. The
seg,,ius erriiant animos demissd per aureS guam
gue subjecta su,u ocukS fdeii6us is just Hora-
tan precept which must not be disregarded. Gray,
too, and Campbell have cxemplled the principle !;
the former in his verses on Bentley, the engraver
designs for his own g 81 poems the latter in
his address Oh John Kembe's acting. Gray says ::
In silent awe, the unefll choir among,
Half pleased, ha!fblushing, let the Muse admire,
While Bentley leads her sister Art along,
And bids the pencil answer to the Tyre.
See in their course, each lransitory thought
Fixed by his touch, lasting essence take
Each dream in fancy's airy coloring wrought
And Campbell, copying the idea, to transfer it
only to another of the addressing itself directly
to the eye and ear, says:
For i'll can poetry express
Full many Of thought sutlime;
And Sculpture mute and moionl.ss,
Steals but glance at time;
While, by the mighty actor wrought,
Illusions mingled triumphs COM;
Verse ceases to be airy thought,
And Sculpture to he dumb
A thousand words would not better explain the
principle which we wish to enfor,e-that it is the
graphic art which must be the auxiliary to poetry,
not poetry to design. This last can make more
palpabe, while the preceding only render less
real the images Of the other. This being so. it il
easy to see what certain failure he poet mus. en-
counter who attempts 10 illustrate painting. That
being but shadow, what can he make but the dim
reflection of shade What would Mi.on's pic
ture-like "L'Allegro' or Grays "Elegy" have
been il they had written them, not TO bring Nature
herself before our eyes, but the pictures Ct those
whom their own powers of description have in
spired Enough, however, of all this.
Ii only remains for us TO say that Mr. Sartan's
is beautiful book, valuable from IFS historical re-
lation 10 art among us and that il is TO be pur-
chased at the new book and stationery store Of
Messrs. TAYLOR a. MAURY, on Pennsylvania ave-
nue., between 9th and 10th streets They are de-
serving young gentlemen, whose new and handsome
establishment il is t that we should take this first
occasion TO refer to with commentator.