The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-12-22
Visit TO nm Ars BaiIding.

New Haven Is q rural city, ahording q
striking combination of nature and art. It's
streets, with their rows of spreading maple
their varied architecture and tasteful sur
roundings, its quaint old college. upon
whose ancient brick wall the shadows fall
dreainily through the thick foliage Of the
classic trees, standing In methodical rows.
like ''solemn and heavy Druids, Of DID,
combine to give the town an air Of ancient
ness and quiet repose.
Just in the rear of the colleges stands the
Trumbuil Art Building with its bold and i'm
posing front, regal edifice for the cnthrope-
ment of art A striking contrast, too, 1t is.
to the old sepulchre, that formerly held all
the pictures that Yale could boast Of. The
old building was suggestive Of an Egyptian
Temple, and 1t entombed the remains of Col
Trumbull and his wife. He, lover Of arts.
as well as fighter of battles, had painted
and given nearly the whole collection. The
room was gloomy and solemn as grave.
The plain figured carpet absorb all sound,
and footsteps trod Il with mufiied hush.
Massive folding doors divided the spacious
rooms, and near the threshold prominent
inscription informed the beholder that he
stood on the artists grave. On coils day
the chilly dampness of the rooms was over
powering, despite the burning heat from the
registers of the hot air furnaces below.
Moreover, on table, covered with black
leather, beside murky ink bottle and a
very scratchy pen, lay dingy book, with
soiled and dark covers, in which visitors
were expected to inscribe their names,-the
writer feeling that he registered a visit to a
tomb as well as an art gallery. 1t was an
idea, born, perhaps, Of the deepest reverence
that moved the venerable fathers Of Yale to
entomb their beloved artist In sepulchre
adorned with his own works. We can i'm
agine that the old Roman superstition i'm
PEELED them, and that Trumbulrs paintings
were buried with him TO gladden. his spirit
in its mysterious journey to tine fields of
Elysium.
The Trumbull collection forms but small
part Of the pictures now exhibited in the
handsome building erected by Mr.. Street for
the Yale School Of Fine Arts. We enter the
building at the south front, and ascend by a
long flight of stairs to the North Gallery,
where we are greeted by the "Jarves collec-
tion-". This consists OF early Italian paint
ings. executed by masters who fourished
from the eleventh TO the beginning of the
seventeenth centuries. It has been q work
of extreme difficulty to collect and arrange
one hundred and twenty pictures of so early a
date, but the task has been well accomplished
by Mr.. Jarves, and with a result that gives
the collection q great artistic value In no
regular art gallery, either in Europe or
America, can the Italian schools Of painters
be so correctly studied, chronologically
Their time-honored and most imperishable
works were executed in churches and na-
tional edifces. Comparatively, very few
easel pictures Of the masters are to be found.
Unknown painters, men of humble fame and
obscure life, have done far more to acquaint
us with early art, than the famous painters,
and to help US to trace more completely the
varied schools. Many difficulties exist in
aseribing these ancient paintings to their
proper authors Traditions concerning them
are often erroneous, and signatures may be
forged, yet tradition, signature, and inter-
nal evidence are the only means usually at
our disposal" and where tradition falls, the
latter is almost always a certain indication
of the painter. The practiced eye can dis
cern the "brnsh stroke" that tells clearer
and more unfailing story than any "docu-
mentary history" that may be found accom-
panying the picture. Feeble as these pic
lures may seem, when compared with the
magnificent mosaics, freseoes, and immense
altar pieces that adorn the sistine Chapel,
the Vatican, and the Incoronata at Naples,
yet, the quaintness, the antiquity, and the
subjects Of these paintings can not but ex
cite the wonder and admiration of an art
loving and appreciative visitor. After the
nations emerged from that age Of darkness
that brooded over the minds of the people,
from the fiffh to the tenth century, Christian
art and civilization revived. The susceptible
and enthusiastic Italians caught the inspira-
tion, and their great object seems to have
been to picture Biblical scenes, and impress
them on the minds of the people; hence a
great number of the pictures OF the Jarves
Collection" are ideals Of Bible history.
1t must be confessed that the first impulse
Of the visitor, after recovering from hearty
surprise, is to laugh outright The curious
gilt frames that. In many Of the pictures, are
u the form Of a gothic temple. with right
and left wing; the peculiar arrangement of
colors; the singularity and perfect original
ity Of the grouping. and the utter disregard
of perspective, cause them TO appear ss the
ideal Of some frantic absurdify.
To review the pictures In this room, and
note the curious history that attaches to
each one, would be too great task. It
shall be our aim to notice, merely. those
paintings most meritorious and interesting
Perhaps It may be well to note that the ma
jority Of these pictures are painted In fe1sp<ra-
color mixed with glue. the white Of an egg.
or gum Of some kind. The Italians used
chiefly the white Of an egg. Some Of the
Byzantine pictures are done in encaHsfie,
which Is painting with the eolors mixed
In WAY and f,arf1v f,sfno fka r..ln~. H.