Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-01-08
Prks BFadi.h's Lecture oai tAe F,se1
-. Arts e3 \&1

Pr6H Bfadi.h,s Lecture oni tAe Fiul
lks s~.-ksd Arts. s---s4 81
20 q. zassers Of a. Asnn..osian: s y
For enc, 7 am glad that the Board of Di.
rectors of the Mercantile Library Association
took steps to secure a lecture from Prof Bra
dish, before his departure from our city. 1t
isnot often that we have the opportunity, in
the winter time, to hear addresses or lectures
from any but our own citizens, and however
well and eloquently they may be able to dis
course to us, me should always be ready in
regard to intellectual, as we are in regard to
material wealth, to appropriate and invest
foreign capital" ...-
livery much fear that we are growing some
what Indifferent to this kind of investment,
So intent are We upon five per cent. per month
and corner lot speculations. l fear many in
our community are burying their talents, Of a
literary and intellectual character in their
eagerness for immediate success in material
point of view. But they have mistaken
idea Of success who would live without Guilt
waiting the mind and cherishing the finer sem
sibilities of the soul.
To be sure, though man does not live by
bread alone, yet large portion of our atten-
ton must be devoted to those matters imme-
diately connected with our individual voca-
ton. The lawyer must spend a larger portion
of his time in drawing his pleadings and pre-
pairing his precedents and authorities; the
doctor must visit his patients and consult his
pharmacopoeia the minister must write his
sermons and read theology; the politician
must study politics and calculate his chances;
the merchant watch the fluctuations of the
market, and SO each, according to his particu-
lar or employment; but it is better for the
lawyer sometimes to forget awhile docket and
client; the doctor, fsvers and calomel; the
minister, Hebrew; the politician, intrigues,
the merchant, calico, and all make some new
investment in the Bank of Intelligence which
no panic can break .tE
The lecture of Prof Bradish could not
fail to give present interest as well as furnish
food for thought to those who heard it. His
subject was the Fine Arts and he commenc
ed by saying that he should have preferred te
speak of the details and delcacies of speci
al department, but upon consultation and ad
vice had chosen broader theme.
The lecturer dwelt at some length on the
relations of the Fine Arts, among themselves
after first briefly pointing out the distinction
between the Fine and the Useful Arts. He
refuted the assertion of distinguished writ
er that music addresses itselfto the ear, paint
ing and sculpture to the eye, but poetry te
to the mind. Does not music address it
self to the mind and soul of man, though
the medium of the ear, and awaken senti
ments of sorrow or joy, pathos or sublimity
according to the nature and character of thu
composition
Do the voice of the vocalist and the swee
or solemn tones of the organ only strike up
on the tympanum of the ear: or do they en-
ter into the very soul of man and toucl
the chords to which they are attuned Doe
great historical painting not speak to TIN
mind as directly as the words of the poet o
the sweet which it illustrates? Does not the sta
tue ofthe Dying Gladiator send the thought
back to the days when he, who was after
wards made the sport of a Roman populace
was free, far away on his native hills, playinl
with his children or providing for their sub
sistence? Sounds, time and pitch are tn
language of music form and proportion tn
. language of sculpture color, combination
light and shade arc the language of painting
and words are the language of poetry. ..
But poetry has the advantage in this, tina
. it can represent a succession of events, Will
piece Of sculpture Or painting is confirme'
to the repre- sentation of a single scene or oc
) currence occupying but moment of time
, The lecturer then spoke of the imitatic
in Art. 1t is the province OF art to represen
and reveal nature, but mere mechanical imita
ton of nature is not the highest art.
: Combination, rejection and selection exer
else the taste and skill of the artist
The Chinese initiate well but are no artists
and there are thousands of perfect copyist
who possess no artistic genius.
. The Universally of the Fine Arts was no
ticed and illustrated. The rudest savage ma
tons give evidences of their existence anon,
them, in low and crude condition The In
) dian attempts to paint his war-dance and tn
sports of the chase in rude colors and charac
; ters on the bark of trees, and the Fine Art
!; grow as a nation emerges from lower to
higher civilization.
Greece was devoted to the fine arts NOR
exclusively than any other nation has been, o
perhaps ever will be.
) Itwas part of her worship, and the brok
J en- remains of statues that once lay whitening
the base of the Acropolis are sought for ant
treasured by modern Artists and awake1
. their admiration though but fragments o
what were once perfect works Of artremain
The lecturer dwelt upon the state of. fine art
in different periods and among different ma
tions. .tt--r.. -.----.. .-.. ..,-.
He descanted upon the aid which the Fin
Arts render to science to geography, geolo
gy, to natural and general history, illustratin.
and Illuminating them all preserving the la
bors of men of science and discovery as Ian
guage alone cannot preserve them.
have thus jotted down only some of tn
points of the lecture as they arise in my mind
without attempting to give anything like al