The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-09-17

the "l.innet' laftor Grdikshanks are
admirable. There arc other ohromos
which Ore lees successful, and ono or
two that are not successful at all but
thoy are nearly all excellent copies Of
the originals, With which the defects
must be charged.
Tho chromos Of Brichcr's paintings
arc really wonderful accurate.
Mr.. Prang's masterpiece, however, is
not yet published, although 1t is nearly
ready for the market. 1t entirely sur
passes all his previous efforts. 1t is
Correggio's "MAoDAIEFA;1 and can;
hardly fail, va. think, to command y:
quick sale aud hearty recognition.
Like every modern discovery, chro-
mo-lithography has its rartisans and de-
tractors, those who claim for tpcrhaps
impossible capabilities, and those who
regard it as mere landicratt, which no
skill can ever elevate into the dignity
Of an art. We do not care to enter
into these disputes. Nheth en al ar, or
hand'cratt, ehromo-lithography GER
tainly re-produccs charming little pic
lures vastly superior 10 any colored
plates that VIC have had before aud it
Is, at least, clearly entitled to be regard
ed as means Of educating the popular
taste, and thereby raising the natural
ideal of art.
\ correspondent, looking at chromos
from this point OF view, thus indicates
Git may be somewhat enthusiastically
:heir possible influence on the culture
of the people,
"What the discovery of tho art Of
printing did tor tho mental growth of
the people, the art Of chromo-lithogra-
ply seems destined to accomplish for
their aesthetic culture. Before types
we're first made, scholars and the wealth.
Ter classes had ample opportunities for
study; for even when bibles were
chained in churches, and copies of the
Scriptures (then aptly so-styled) were
worth herd Of cattle, there we're large
libraries accessible to the aristocracy of
rank and mind. Blu. they were guard
ed against the masses by the double
doors Of privilege and ignorance. n
book possessed no attractions for the
man who could not read the alphabet;
and, because they were; iare and :hard
to get at, he hat no Indictment to mas
ter their MYSTERIES. Made cheap aud
common, the mcanest peasant, in the
course Of few generations, found So
lace for his griefs in tic pages of the
greatest authors OF his times and of all
time. Mental culture become possible
for whole nations ; and democracy, with
its illimitable blessings, gradually grew
up under the little shadow of the: iist'
printers proof
"Until within quite recent period,
art has been feudal in its associations.
Galleries Of priceless paintings, indeed,
there have always been in certain favor
ed Cities and countries but to- the pco-
pie, as whole, they have been equally
inaccessible and unapprcciatcd, because
no previous training have taught the
community ho,o to prize them. 1t was
like Harvard College without the dis.
tricts school, planet without satel-
lites, and too far removed from the
world of tho people for ito Light to shine
in the cottage and in the homes OF ,Aa
masses. ss:S { =:
"Now chromo-hthography; although
still in its infancy, promises to ditfuse
not a love Of art merely among the peo-
pie at large, but to disseminate the
choicest masterpieces OF art itself. 1t
is art republicanized and natural1sed 10
America. Its attempts hitherto have
been comparatively unambitious but
it was not Homer and Plato that we're
first honored BY the Drin :ing-prcss. 1t
was dreary catechisms of dr:ary creeds.
So will it be with this new art. As the
popular taste improves, the subjects
will be worthicr of an art which seeks
to give back to mankind what has
hitherto been confined to the few"