Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-02-21

are, either by othce, early rupllage, Z
or otherwise, bound to the
fortunes of that least exclusive of all
schools Of art-the Academy Of Dussel
dorf.
WHAT THE SCHOOL HAS DONE FOR ALL /
ARTS IN GERMANY.
The Dusseldorf school seems to renew {
its youth in the life-giving fellowship
sustained between masters and pupils.
A skilled student is not cast adrift on
the contrary, he is attached to the
Academy by the provision that he may
occupy one of its ateiiers. Thus talent,
first trained and then domiciled, is not
lost to the spot thus gifted youth
prolongs the influence over his fellow
students. and little by little grows as a vital
member into the body corporate. Artists
here preserve for long time the atti-
tude of discipleship even when arrived
at mans estate they continue to receive
the visits of Professors and the admoni-
ton of directors; and it is known that
a master sometimes numbers among his
scholars married men and fathers of
families. The whole Academy in fact
is a community for study and art work,
a guild vigiant for the welfare OF the
painter and his art When in Germany
some important national work has been
needed, counsel has been taken of the !
director by princes or municipalities.
The best man for the service is indicated:
the labor is assigned to some one
master, aided by band Of scholars. 1t |
would seem, judging from our own un-
happy experience in England, that great !
national works are absolute impossible |
tiles where there do not exist trained /
bands of scholars capable of carrying
out a concerted scheme under the
direction of one responsible master.
The evidence of Mr.. G.. +. Watts, Il. A,
before the Royal Commission, was strong
in favor of the very system which has
made the academy of dusseldorf great
art producing power, while lack of such
system has left our own academy i'm
potent, wholly imperative upon the
nations art save in the successful multi
plication of pretty exhibition pictures.
Higher results in Germany are the pro
duets of academic culture, and of that
fellowship in labor which subsists be-
tween a master and his scholars, 1t is
easy to conceive how much of ardor,
what esprit de carps, have been engen-
dered by this partnership in creation
an old scholar has been known to ask
as privilege, without prospect of pay,
permission TO join hands with his mas
ter over some earnest work. Thus 1t
was in Italy. Raffaelle walked through
Rome with following of fifty disciples;
and the great mural pictures of Rome,
Florence, Pisa, and Sienna, could only
have come into existence under a system
the origin, in fact, Of the practice in
modern Germany-which secured to
great masters the services of devoted
bands of scholars. Art was in Italy a
religion; and such has it been in Dussel-
dorf
ART LIFE IN THE RHENIsH PROVINCES.
Art life in the capital of the Rhenish
provinces is more than commonly social,
not to say "jolly.' Students of various
snationalities, some Protestants, others
Catholics, mingle kindly together in
mutual toleration. This student com
munity assumes certain burgher or
citizen attitude, jealous of its rights.
The academy naturally begets kindred
associations. In the public gallery are
collected representative works Of the
school. In Jacobs Garden, a pretty
shady retreat, well known resort Of
poetsand philosophers, the artists have
| located their club, the ' Kunstler Verein
Malkasten. To drink coffee or wine
beneath the trees, painter or two per-
chance within view making outdoor
studies, We have ourselves found pleas
ant in the sunny summer time. In
winter the artists indulge in theatricals !;
the walls of the club are decorated by
its members with mural paintings, and
ready fancy and rapid hands find no
difficulty in extemporiziug scenery,
coloring masks and concoeting costumes,
and completing other stage properties
which have at least the merit of being
somewhat out of the common. The
artists in Rome show like histrionic
propensities. Indeed any one who may
have glanced at art life on the Continent
will readily believe that the painters OF
Dusseldorf give themselves kindly to
masking and practical joking, fun and
frolie of all sorts. At Dusseldorf, too,
as 1T Venice in the days of GiorgiOne,
music is the painters passion. Here
E Mendelssohn, lived two years here he
conducted the " st. Paul" and the
masters refining influence has survived
even to the present day. Altogether, it
is easy to sac in artist life at Dusseldorf,
: as at Rome, how generously continental
E manners lend themselves to free and
easy wavs. Feasts and holidays in
Roman Catholic countries favor artist
festivals life is more scenic aud pictur-
esoue than in lands where cold, CONNER
) eial person has Ostracised Imagination
D Dusseldorf, moreover, still maintain:
I rural simplicity she is yet happily ex.
, empt from that fashionable frivolity
5 which trades for its own empty ends OF
: artists inherent vanities. Thus the
D quiet town is more favorable to study
n than gay capitals like Berlin or Munich
Y On the whole, this abode of painters II
pleasant place to live in Academi
Q clans from the windows of ateliers com
e mand picturesque views over the swift
d flowing Rhine, the sails of passing Graf
$ shining in the sun. The town is prettil.
h situated among trees, gardens, and run
ming waters; nature puts on winning
r ways, though she scarcely rises int
herolcs and so those artists who fn'
themselves restless under throes of i'm
e agination betake themselves, in th
If sketching season, to the highlands of tn
Ie Rhine. Hence, when summer come;
IF ambitious spirit, consolidating into cara
J. vans, migrate in search of the sublime
E. Pilgrimage is made to old Romanesqu
,r churches, to Rhenish castles legend
Is haunted. 1t has been said that poetr
G. and lyric music animate the wine-groW
If ing districts of the Rhine. Certainl
% the sketching ground which nature ha
% provided as domain to the school {
i Dusseldorf furnishes to the artists port
ID folio capital material, whether in type
N peasantry, character in costume or plt
Il