Polynesian., 1851-02-22

LECTURE UPON THE FINE ARTS
Delivered by JAMES G. SAwKINs, ESQ, be.
fore the Honoluiu .afheneun, Feb. 9, 1851
GENTLEMEN OF THE ATBENEUM:-Honor
ed by the request of some of your committee.
to lay before you few observations on the
fine arts-l have not, l fear, been able te
put together from my scanty memory, oil
sterile resources, sufficient TO interest you
As much appertaining to their history will be
but a repetition Of what in youth you may
have read, and forgotten in the variou:
occupations in which your minds have since
been employed.
By recalling to your recollection the works
of Florence Pliny, leonardo di Vinci, M
Angelo, Mings, Reynolds, Tazili, Barey ant
a catalogue Of authors within the last $50
years, you will be convinced how impossible
it is to bring within the limits ofhalf an hour
more than cleaning Of its use, progress, and
utility.
The invention of drawing, or delineatior
of form, is attributed to Filoches, an Egyp.
tian; by others to Cleante, native of Cor
inth, some hundreds of years before the birth
of Christ The next advancement has also
two competitors; Ardices, and Thelefanes.
who, ignorant of color, shaded their out.
lines by making their drawings with thin
line on the light side, and thick line on the
shaded side of the object.
Clessastro, Of Corinth according to Flor.
ence Pliny, invented coloring having paint.
ed his figures with burnt clay. They exist.
ed until the time Pliny wrote, accusing the
Greeks Of negligence in not having left da.
ia to prevent disputes, which he believed
would ever exist. Had the nep world beer
known to him, or China, US it is now known
10 US. he possibly would have considered ar
argument on the subject as inconclusive a.
ourselves.
Drawing, as it was in those days, is the
same now among the Indians Of North ant
South America. In Mexico, however, We
find more genius. There history was pre-
served by paintings; for reasons unaccount
able, these were destroyed soon after tn.
conquest Of that country. Some, made dur
ing the strife between the Aztecs and Span
iards are now in the museum of the Capital
painted on cloth, manufactured Of pita, from
the agave Americana.
The Chinese we suppose more advanced
though still ignorant of perspective. Their
original works as the others, are withou
shadows-mere lines, or profles of objects
as existed in olympaid. Their advance ha
been in coloring, the date of which we ar
yet ignorant.
In the reign of Augustus Caesar Mace
donian named Pampilo gave instruction il
the Arts. To enter his class, however,
was necessary to understand Arithmetic an
Geometry, and study ten years, at the cos
of $96S per annum. About this time la,
was passed in Greece, that all the young No
bles should be made to learn drawing an
painting; s'honest men" were permitted I
study, but no serf was allowed to paint.
Apeles one of his pupils during the sam
reign published the f1st book on Painting
and surpassed all his predecessors in tn
sublimity of conception, power Of design, an
tact of execution.
i In the reign Of Agustus Cesar. fresco, q
painting on walls. was first practiced, an
landscapes, views Of towns, mountains, ,tree'
flowers, water, sc. BY an Artist name
Ladid
The first painting on linen was done
order Of Nero Augustus; Il was . colossal {
one hundred and twenty feet high, but ".
soon after burnt BY lightning. This sol
stance has since been preferred for its DUR
bility. portsblsnsss, and other sdvantsgss