Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-12-05
ChSFrl'. ereai American paiutips-rIo

succinct-"N Nsturerpass through the lalcm-
bic of Man,. In proportion, then, as the
mir d is pure, the spirit elevated, the ina i'm
alton high, viii the painting or the statue
be the truer reflex Of the outward form,
aided by the stimulus Of Fancy, and har-
monized by the love of the Ideal.
No great artist can be mere copyist
-Rapbaelitism was imitation without in-
spiration; form without spirit the flower
without fragrance. The great master came.
and the canvas breathed; the pencil spoke;
the surface reflected depth; the PrOmethean
clay was kindled, and the plastic pigment
caught the ERE from Heaven. ..r. -.H
The true artist must be poet. His lines
and lights his shadows aud his INNINGS are
as the structure and the measure, the rhyme
and muse of the verse. He metamorphos,s
his pallet into Nature, and reconstructs it
anew in an aesthetic mold, melowed by his
genius and palpitating with himself. He
has not painted the face, the form, the scene
before his outward eye he has reproduced,
so far as possible, the idea and the ideal
caught from them.
All pure Art is from within; the result of
the exoteric through the esoteric: the voice
Of Nature translated to the world.
This seems to us the process by which the
iVenus," the "Apollo," the "Laocoon" the
'1Iast Judgment, the TRANSPORTATION and
the "Madonnas," of the Greeks and the
Italians have been produced, and the great
modern painting, the Heart of the Andes,n
by all odds the finest landscape ever seen in
this country, and probably the best the
world has yet beheld.
Among the old Masters, landscapes.
strictly speaking, were not affected. They
mostly occupied their lives with Scriptural
themes, with ideal heads of "Madonnas,"
"Christs,n "Saints" and Martyrs" and later
schools devoted themselves to history,
groupings, domestic and poetic fragments,
and Representations and sketches of charac-
ter. Claude Lorraine touched the canvas
with the dreaminess of his sentimental
spirit and made Italy live again in glorious
lines. But there are comparatively few
landscapes in the European galleries where
we can see lovely Nature epitomized in paint,
and her voiceless poems speaking through
the genius of the artist.
We know not the process nor the history
of Church's painting. Probably he had no
purpose beyond the irresistible impulse to
execute, characteristic of and signiied by
genius; but it seems as if in the solitudes Of
South America, he had worshiped at the
altar of Nature until he rose an inspired
priest, and poured forth his worship in the
colors of his easel.
Great has been his triumph. The reward
of torturous toll, made grateful by the fore
shadowed consciousness of success, is before
him. He must have been proud, indeed,
when he beheld his work completed; the
glorious scenery Of the Andes fixed for time
and fame upon the canvas he had studied
and dreamed over, watched and worshiped,
until he felt, like Dido's brother, the longed-
for image grow warm with life, and return
his alteration with the dearest recompense
his soul had craved.
The "Heart of the Andes'-how suggest
i've, how beautiful No striking effects, nc
| fhara oh
at once, and Steals like a dream of for
| gotten happiness, into the soul, to be re-
membered thereafter as delightful actuality
| 1t does not seem a picture, for the illusion is
| completes 1t appears as if some genius had
sealed our eyes for moment, and borne us
| in a moment through the air, and opened
our lids again upon the glories of Southern
| landscape.
| So delicious and dreamy is the scene, We
| do not fancy ourselves awake. We havt
eaten Of the lotus plant, and we lie still, will
| throbbiDg heart, to gaze upon the enchant
ment to which we have been transported.
Time is not rcckoned; the sad, rudt
world has slipped away. We are here il
the atmosphere of quiet beauty, and a re.
ligious feeling fills us. Disappointments
sorrows, interests, even loves fade from us
We experience what the Present is, and we
| dread lest, we be awakened.
| There is scarcely life here; but the solitude
| is society and beauty our companion
Spiritualized is our being, and we think our
selves material Holonger.
After all it is the mimetic art, and our eye
wander over the beautiful landscape,
In the foreground at the right are trees 81
like to nature that we would vow they grew
there. They hang over bluff that ha
crumbled away, washed by the water fiowinl
below, and the base and gnarled roots stanC
out in the atmosphere, which isevery-whert
visible. In the middle of the picture is
stream falling in cascade, from which th
mist rises-we think we see it crawling up
matchmaking lakelet clearas crystal; ther
ripping over a shallow bed, fretted with blu
white beauty, it is lost to the eve. Agai
we see it above, like lake once more, clea
and beautiful, hamlet by its side; to tn
left of the rising ground above the bluff i
q cross with two peasant worshipers =
and approaching the background the sol
swels like earthly billows, betokening th
mountain ranges which we see rising highe
and higher in the distance, till they touc
the clouds. And on the left are the snow
covered peaks, Chimborazo above ALL kissin
the very Heavens it seems, and losing them
selves and the imagination in the misty dis
tanee.
The light falls from the left, striking til
trunk of tree, and glittering as if Phebu
bad armed its breast with sunshine; beamin
upon the waterfall, half illumining the val
ley, and darting far up the dizzy nights
/ the Andes into the clouds and mists thH
hang over the peaks, until it is broken int
rainbow hues, which, struggling amid th
muiky attitudes, appear proclaiming that il
celestial mission has been accomplished.
The clouds are exquisitely done, if w
could say so, though they seem to have bee
ordered there by the law of Nature, and tn
shadows they east far down upon the Andt
nearly to their base, are admirably mar
aged.
Then, there are the rich plants and bios
SONS, the foliage of the trees; each leaf {
which is a study, and the countless beautit
that Nature gives in profusion to he
creations, and there with the water, tn
clouds, the valley, the swelling ground, tn
mountains, the sky, the distances, make u
picture we never have seen equaled, an
never expect to see surpassed.
! Every part of the picture is an astonishin
elaboration. The more you study, the MOI
: you admire, and detect your mind echoinJ
"beautiful, magnificent, wonderful" On
| would think lifetime had been passed
! the execution of the painting, so eomplet
so highly finished are all its minutie, SO eI
tirely natural are all its details.
Our crude and hRstily-written notice dos
: no Justice to the "Heart Of the Andes y,
we feel better, younger, truer for the houl
we have passed in its contemplation. W
=: can only advise all lovers of art to visit il
! once and many times, for it is delightf
study. To those yet unenamored of pain
} ing, we say, 60 likewise, and learn there no
| lovely is she that fills vacancy with perez
l nial beauty, the past with golden memorie