The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-23

ELEMENTS OF ART CRITICISM. By e. w,
Samson. ID. D. Philadelphia: j. b. Lip
pincott & Co.
1t is necessary, in order that the taste of
our public be cultivated to proper apprecia-
tion of the fine arts, that standard works of
instruction be laid before them A few DAYS
since we had occasion to commend Pal
graves Essays on Art" and to regret that
large portion Of their point was lost because
American readers were not familiar with
the references. The work before us pos
sesses all the advantages Of Palgrave's
production, with thousand improvements, as
well as the additional force which is impaired
bya familiarity with the schools of which the
writer speaks. The work before us is
thorough treatise on the entire subject OF art
criticism. 1t commences with the unda-
mental principles of correct appreciation Of
art, and gradually leads the reader from
rudiments to the higher departments. The
book, taken all together, is the most accept
able OF any which has issued from the presses
of any American publisher for many months.
In the chapter devoted to the narration of the
leading works Of art, we find the following
admirable description of the dome of St.
PeteI's:-
"The patron Saint of Rome was Peter, who
from the time Of the baptism Of the first Roman
convert to Christianity, A. ID. 43, to his death, A.
D.. 6S, period OF twenty-five years, was as
Jerome says, pre-eminent in esteem among
Roman Christians. Not long after hIs CruCl-
hXiOn with his head downward bV order OF
Nero, the spot where he suffered, situated nortn.
west and outside OF the ancient CITY, was GOV.
cred by his friends with a small OratOro drdi-
Gated 10 the apostles memory. TbIs snail
shrine the Emperor Constantine, A. D. 3Oj
caused to be replaced by church in the bas-
hCa STYLE regardlui at once of the memory Of
the apostle and wisely deierential to the arcnl-
teCtural taste then prevailing at the seat OF his
Western Empire. This edidce must have been
originally noble one, since it stood occasionally
renovated, for twelve hundred years, and was at
last reluctantly sacrificed only when it could
not be made TO harnonIze with the plan OF the
new structure. Though projected A, D. 1850
the foundations OF the new church were not
laid till A. d. 1906; eight years after which the
original architect BTamantv died, leaving his
plans for years 70 incompetent successors
About A. ID. 1910, Michel Angelo, then IN his
seVentY-seCOud year, was called to undertake
what every artist shrank from; and despite ms
Florentine independence in art Judgment and
his indOmitable pride rs the worlds recognized
master in design, an Independence upon which
no Pope even could dare TO trespass, he was
entrusted not only with the plans OF his prede.
CessOrs, but with power to modify them at
will Though brother artists wrote to him sFlv
from The ungrateiul BABYLON which is unable IN
appreciate your genius NJ. Angelo was not the
man to yield to mend or toe. He enlarged Bra.
nantes plan, especially for the dome, adding
greater length 10 the transept, and giving added
strength to the piers which were to support the
dome, uttering the memorable declaration. I
will hang rhe Pantheon in the air. With yet
greater independence he changed the ground
plot from the Roman cross which successive
POpes had naturally required for the form of
the Greek cross, whose front projection wOuld
allow the entire dome to be seen from below.
M. Angelo pushed his work on his own plan for
seventeen years until his death at the age of
eighty-nine, A. ID. 1863 at which time the drum
was ready for the dome. Succeeding architects
for more than sixty years folio we'd Michel
Angeles plans, except in the extension of tne
nave so as to make the form that of the Roman
cross 1t was in A. d. 1926, about one hundred
and seYenUy-ive years after the first design,
that the structure was so far completed as to be
dedicated; while the circular cOlonnade was
added about forty years still later
THE length of this immense eddce Is Gl3l
feet through the nave and choir; its breadth
through the transepts is 4465 feet, ana the
height of the ceiling in the nave is 1921 feet
The breath of the dome at its base on the eXte
Tior is 1853 feet; its interior diameter greatly
diminished by the thickness of the double wall,
composing the dome, is 1894 feet, SURPRISING
that of the Pantheon: the height of the apel
of the dome from the pavement is 405 feet; anC
tbe elevation of the top Of the cross 448 feet,
height never equalled by any human strucrur
lu the world save the great Pyramid OF Egypt
The vast size of this structure Is indicated b
the fact tkat it covers 100000 square feet, o