Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-06-04
miscellaneous.
+ or thc Waterman.
WORKS OF ART.

WORKS OF ART.
n Mr. EDITOR AS the people of our Green
Mountain State grow, year by year, more
wealthy and refined, VIC find them giving more
and more attention to works of art. The
general pride which has been manifested
throughout the State, in the distinction that
is being given to young Mead the DISPOSE
ton to notice, in complimentary terms, even
the taste displayed in the erection of private
dwellings and the suddenness with which
the sorrow for the loss of our State House at
Montpelier, subsidized at the prospect Of hav-
ing soon much noblor structure of the kind
to boast Of, attest rapidly growing appreci-
alton Of works Of art.
In rehecting upon this subject, ] have tho't
that few letters on the history Of the arts,
as they were practiced and cultivated in the
remote ages Of the world, would be read with
interest. have several works which throw
great light upon this subject, and in writing
shall CLEAN from all of them such facts as will
be most likely to interest those who have not
the leisure to study the minute details Of ey-
cry one Of the arts of which shall speak.
/ II has always been an easier task to relate
wars and negotiations, debates and battles,
than 10 describe the gradual and almost inn
I perceptible progress of genius and TASTE in
works Of elegance and beauty. For this rea-
son the history of arts have been less cult
waited than that Of arms and politics.
/ The Egyptians and Phnnecians merit doubt
less the preominence in respect to the origin
of the initiative arts. The arts Of design
seem to have been cultivated by both these
nations from the earliest ages of heather an-
tiquity. The Egyptians, in the rcmotest pc
ri of an fpu
stones, and strovc to render their public trans
actions immortal, by recording them in hier-
oglyphics, on the hardest bogattes before
the Persian conquest and the reign of Candy
ses, the patience of that people had carried
the mechanical part Of sculpture to a perfection
which we cannot sufficiently admire But
until the traces of Greciau conquest and coli
onization appeared in the medals of the Pt1l-
mics, particularly those with the head of Ju-
pitcr Ammon, the nations of either PhUuccia
or Egypt had faithfully copied their national
features. without attempting TO improve them;
they had mover studied beauty, the essence
and the end Of art. IL was not So with the
Grecian artists Long before the invasion Of
NcrXes, the Grecan sculpture was distin
guishcd by an air Of majesty peculiar 10 itself;
the best judges in the most refined ages of
arts, have been delighted and astonished by
the grandeur and sublimity Of expression
which the images Of the gods, yet rudcly
finished, displayed. Euripidcs Aristotle and
Epicurus cndeavor to persuade us that the
Greeks owed to their skies and climate their
peculiar aptitude for arts, letters and philos-
ophy. To the manly spirit Of their religious
civil and military institutions, and TO their
active, laborious education and way Of life
they were probably no less indebted. But
however this may be- that the sculptures and
other works of art Of Greece and the adjacent
islands far surpnss those of any other divis-
ions Of the world. is confirmed by the testi-
mony of modern travellers.
This singularity would be expected by any
one familiar with the religion and manners of
Greece and the inimitablo excellence Of its
poets. The Greeks imagined that their diyin-
tiles were Of the human form, though incom-
parably more perfect and noble, and conso-
quently artists naturally began at a very early
period to extol their conceptions The mild
enthusiasm Of poetry served to elevate and
support their flight, and the native country Of
Homer was the first scene OF their success.
In the eighth century before the Christian
era, the Asiatic colonies from Greece. far sur
passed their mother country in splendor and
prosperity II was hy those colonies that the
Doric and Ionic orders of architecture were
invented Of which I shall speak particularly
in my next letter. They also invented paint
ing and sculpture in marble, and these arts
were long peculiar to themselves. They
greatly improved and ennoblcd others derived
from the Lydians and Phrygans. For this
prominence they were indebted partly to their
pcrscycring diligence and ingenuity, and part
ly to the superior fertility Of their soil the
number and convinicnce Of their harbors, the
advantages Of their situation and climate, and
the vicinity of the most refined nations in
Asia.
In future letters | shall have occasion to
speak Of the most celebrated works of Phid-
las and other renowned artists of antiquity
Stowe, May 2l 1855. r. l.. =.