New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-09
A PLEA FOR REALITY.
LECTURE BY GERALD MASSEY.

TI,E STORY OF TIE ENGLISH PRE-RAPhAkihifo-fh-
CuIIARITIHs or TIE SCHOOL
Gerald Massey delivered a lecture on hi' ooioio
yassar College at Poughkeepse, last evening, On
titled "A Plea for Roility or lho otorS VI '"o
English Pre-RaphselItes.'
TIE LECTURE.
NV lecture said he. is plea for realtya praishe Oh
earnesness an illustration OF the text "wha,soe'e.
thv hand andeth to do do it with all thy might ana
that all of us have life interest ia that text even
tbouOh We may not write poems. paint pictures OF
carve statues. There are many ways In "hich 'ne
Creator seeks admtance into the soul oil man oho VI
tbese i. I'm the life OF external nature we see tho
flowers come to every springtide. Win messages
uttered in lovely forms. and in fragrance which IL
tho breath OF tho Divine. The winds blow,
waters roll, the green leaves dance, the sunoeans
brighten the colors burnish into beauty, the weeds
grow In grace, and the skylsrk mounts and deep
caeth unto deep day unto day uttereth speech; the
springing earth laughs out in the light; the starry
heavens kinde all aglow with tho glory OF God All
nature has its rootage in the great creative mystery
All nature reflects faint in its infinite Va
riety the image the Infinite one But beyond this
look in the Of nature there IL wistfuness In her
appeal 10 US sense Of something far deeper; pa
thetic admontion follows mistake as II she sought
deeper utterance practically pcturing IN the soui
of man more than she give expression TO, az II the
soul Of man alone olhred living mirror to reflect all
the glory of God OF which she catches at random 80
many broken lights: IL in man nature found her
heart OF hearts meeting place of the creator.
of the creature. OF tie creation. And so it Is All
this is external natures incentive and suggestion to the
artirt TO become interpreter Of tho works OF God
As Shelley has IT. lie nterprets tue world to himself
ana so we welcome these scers, whether thcy utter
their visions music color. or FORM III they VIII put
add a little OF ther own seeing to our eyes, II they
have but opened pure loving heart. without which
ibaI- in afIrp ID
human or divine, ANYTHING higher than mere likeness
of his own pfu sense; not Likely. as the Scripture
puts it, to see God.
Here Mr.. Masseygave sketch Of the early painters
who preceded Raphael, aud called Pre-Raphaees.
bright phalanx Of earnest such the world has
seldom With them. the art OF painting still srus
gled in By zanine swaddngclothes. was yet in It's
infancy but it is il the sweetness and freshness, the APP
peaiing sympathy. and pathetic grace the innocent
earthness and unable heavenliness Of childhood IL
lisps stammer 1t get out Its message plainly,
has pot hook and hanger handwriting Mt times, with
10 attractive Oarishes They had not the cunning OF
hand possessed BY many who after them nor the
glory of color hat the spirit that was all right That
boomed up hcavenward vIsibly church spire. and
the soul OF the on-oOker followed where IL pointed
Painting with these early men was spiritual calihg'
The modern reaction of tho English Pre- iaphaees IL
reaction favor OF the earlier painters the men Wno
ureceded Raphael II Is the Professionalism Of English
painting against all the false tradlt0nal IDEALS.
xoruout dnalties and colorado lies bequeathed by the
past It's strong and living protest OF the young
spirit OF the favor OF going back 10 nature each
man looking at the special eyes God has given
him Instead using the eyes OF Others as spectaclcs
II now 80 years since Mr. Ruskn In his WORK on Our
Landscape Painters. told artists that they should 90
10 nature in all singeness Of heart. walking WIN her
aborously and truStfully. having no other thought
than how best 10 penetrate her meaning. rejecting
vice was taken by students who were drawn TO-
cether by oneness OF purpose, and who banded and
formed what they called the Pre-Raphaete Brother
hood year OF revolutions, 1913. Oh these known 10
fame!arc Dante, Gabriel. RoSsetti. Holman Hunt and
John Everett Mais. 1t the creod Of these young
that the Old and famous masters we're only great
they had gone to nature as the fountain head
inspiration and that the only way for Us to get at tho
poetry OF the picture that exists IN the present 'hg
time as well in time past, is to do a. they did, ana
20 straight nature initiate the painters not their
pictures. They believed that although The Greek may
have attained perfection Of form IN marble. and the
Venetian i'll colcr. yet the great mother Nature is not
exhausted has uttered her last word; that so long
He lives IN whom is life forevermore and nature
works there something left to be said and done by
They believed that the English mind would nave its
revelation direct from God IA well IA the Greek ana
Hebrew mind They believed that farmer and Shake
speare in depth ofnsght. luminous suggeStveness, and
wrote with pencil with pen and both of these belong
70 our race one Of them to century Aud IN this
belief they going to nature to see for themselves
and pant what they saw, and not he the echo OF an
echo the shadow of shadow the fiat being you be
Yourself or nothing you cannot be somebody else's
shadow These young men began at that beginning.
They proposed paint what they saw and
felt in nature what they had not and felt
cording to any traditions OF art. II they painted
landscape they would inclose much in their picture
Frame render Just what they saw and shirk nothing
OF course they told that nature was fun OF faults
and it was their duty artists to correct and Improve
her until she became perfect this being the gospel ac
cordng Raphael But how should they dare to reject
this thing from their picture or add the other winch
hey never there, when they did not know the law
by produces the effect called beauty and
when the magic thing may giide away througn tue
slightest deviation from the truth Tney did not dare 10
ze wha; may at first sight look on as deformity,
knowing that 1t is IN nature III Gothic architecture,
deformy often the pared strength which bears up
the shapes of beauty and they held 1t TO be their duty
TO reproduce faithfully SO much As they saw IN
WSIch chose them Thus they proposed to
include and all the rich results of mod
ern observation, aud the stone whether az the
loot in the mountain top should tell its name to the
geoogst the rock unfold Its own history the plant be
marks OF its individuality We know that TO the
casual observer whole family VIII appear al nrst sight
from the other yet the more we SEQ o mem le more
distinctly unlike they In look and IN feature. 80 Is
1t with rocks and trees branches and leaves, no two
blades OF rbbon-rass IN all the world being
striped quite alike. To the casual observer passing
likeness is presented but with further looking this
sbarpens into individual unlkeness where they
are cassed in kind. Pictures painted or poems
written the shallow observers standpoint like
of FusiI example said nature put him outhese
cannot live. II the painter only gives US this general
resemblance shall be 10 turn to him who has
wrought the best likeness for all partial truth must die
As 81. Paul says "When that which is perfec-
ton is come, then that which Ii IN part shall be
done away" YOu must remember then looking
at of the preliminary pictures that there no arc
Of Disgusting of cong uerng difficulty And OF
IN working after this fashion, there will be plenty OF