Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-01-07
The NJ Lectures.

PR E SIS. FR1OA 4
The NJ Lsetsrss. T..
.aE FIRST LIcruRE, ~ soN. .. !. PHILIPS.
The first of the series Of Lectures for the
benefit Of til Park Gallery Of Art. was de-
ivered Monday evening. ct the chapel OF
The Uniisrisu charch. Tte room is pleas
mt one. ths walls hung Sish nice engr.v-
ings. and hearing still the -sassefal Christ
mas decorations Of evergreen wfsaths'
These lectures, our readers remember. were
to be given provided that one hundred
tickets for the course were sold. Nearly
ttso hundred tickets for the course were
sold. and the chapel which holds about two |
hundred persons, was filled with an audi
enee as intelligent and cultivated as any
lecturer need desire.
Mr. Phelps was gracefully introduced by
President Buckhsm. President Of the
Board Of Trustees Of the Park Gallery. Mr..
Buekham said that If be were not an ofhcer
of the University. and one Of those an
nonneed as lecturers. and a citizen OF Bur
lington, he might congratulate the Univer-
sity that it has among its supporters men oil
such culture that it can call on them for
such service as this, and so many OF them
that the list OF lecturers might easily have
been doubled and that we have here
community so ready to appreciate the high
or and finer things of life. lie might at
least. a. one Of the Trustees OF the Park
Gallery, thank the subscribers to the
present course for their handsome response
to the call upon them. Our enterprise, said
President Buckham. has for its object. to
collect-at the University. but for the bene-
fit of the whole community-in the words
of Mr. Ruskir 4" an educational series Of ca
amp!es of eIoellenf Arr which shall edu-
cate the eyes, and cultivate the taste of
the community. Ii Is not vain to hope that
by means of our modest collection the
ted the decorations and surroundings OF
our homes improved and the public well
fare promoted. And all would recognize
the fitness of having q course Of lectures in
all of such an object, opened by Mr. Phelps.
MR.. PHELPS LECTURE.
Mr.. Phelps subject was the Education Of
| the Eye The artistic sense, he said, that
by which We appreciate and enjoy the beau
| tlful in Nature and AIT, is an acq uirement
of the mind. Ii can not exist in the idiot
But it must DO obtained through the me-
dium of the sight, and must largely depend
on what may be called training Of the eye
| in perceptive power. Two persons look ut
a great statue. Both see it distinctly, and
perceive that it is block o. marble finish
ed in human form. One sees little more
than that and goes on his way with small
increase of enjoyment or instruction. The
other sees fidelity to nature. harmony OF
outline, grace and beauty and something
beyond. He sees the sculptor's ideal. The
pulses of his heart are moved. and perhaps
some great word or deed. slumberlng in his
memory, awakened. The sight has been to
him ike the reading of beautiful poem
and its remembrance remains u perpetual
benediction. The difference between the
two is in the artistic sense.
How. the lecturer, proceeded to inqu
can this sense and training be attained
The germ of it exists in all men, but in
many it lies forever dormant. For them
sculptOrs and architects toll in vain, and
to them the beauties of Nature are unre-
| yealei. Ii cannot be obtained by reading
Ii is to be gained, first by familiarity with
correct and beautiful examples of art. and
second by the habit of comparing and ana
living the artistic effects the eye has learned
10 observe These methods were dwelt on
and elaborated The result of familiarity
with works of art is always progressive.
Great works Of art. like the grande-t OBJ
jectS in Nature, commonly dissppoint at
first sight. Most of the visitors TO the
LOUrre, are doubtless more impressed by
the modern paintings. than by the works
of the Masters and 90 away, not to re-
turn. with the thought that the Titians
and Raphaels and Correggios are admired
| because it il the fashion to praise and ad-
mire them But to the visitor who has
faith that the excellence he does not see, is
there; and who goes again and again, there
| comes ia time, u great light. tie finds that
these pictures are like the other immortal-.
We mast 20 to their sphere. They will not
Ame down TO US. The modern pictures
now cease to satisfy him. by the side Of the
old. He cannot explain the difference but
| any intelligent man who will take ilme
enough can discover it. HIS eye, by un-
conscious education mas come to perceive
the marvellous liielikeness and power ot the
works of the masters.
Ii is 80, also, with sculpture. The visit
or to the gallery of ancient sculptures IN
| the British museum. sees and admires out
side the threshold a statue of 8 lady. Ii
seems TO him full Of grace and expression.
He says ''Ihis is life itself" He passes on
into the presence OF the great memorials Of
Greek and Roman art, dlngy and yellow
with age, and at first interesting only for
their antiquity, Bat If nc fingers long
enough. the miracle OF TRANSPORTATION
comes to him. The dingy stone begins to
breathe. He feels the presence of life. a
life that was noble enough to despise lie
the perennial life OF Athens and Rome. He
passes out and the lady at the door Is dead.
| His eye has gained an education II never
had before, and can never lose. lie has been
with the immortals. and knows what they
mean who say that sculpture Is one Of the
lost arts We cannot tell whence Is this
marvellous difference between the ancient
and the modern. which the eve can learn 10
see but words cannot describe. As there
are truths that are higher than the scope
of argument, 20 both Art and Nature have
| q language that SURPRISES words. - Ii,
said the lecturer, - it should some day hap
pen to the traveller, still with imperfect
vision cropping his way towards the noun
tains that are called Beautiful. to stand in
that old Italian city before the remains OF
Lsonado's immortal pieturs--the last Sup
per-remains never to be restored. yet per-
haps better a. they are. for they builded
| better than they knew who soitened the
grandeur OF that scene with the lingering
pathos of decay and there in that mar
vellous presence TO begin to comprehend
how noble may be the humanity that is d.
vine or should he come ~ see where
| Murillo seems to have gathered into one
| infant Christ or st. John. all the childhood
| Of which il the kingdom Of Heaven. or
| concentrated In one virgin mother lowell
ness such a. earthly woman never had. but
vet may gain hereafter or if this way
| farer should come to gaze on Rembrandt's
| canvass and strive to master its mysterious
| light. until he begins to understand that
the light he is trying to comprehend IL
=" the light that never was on sea or land.
that those portraits of the dead were taken
on the other side of the river that has 70
bridge. and exhibit less the poor mortality
that used to be. than the grand Immortality
that shall be, and teach as no language
ever taught what an infinite blessedness it
is not merely that we may 90 to them. but
that they shall not return TO us-then If
never before, he realizes that humanity may
have a capacity TO which neither Greek or
Roman ever attained that the teachings of
Art rise a. far above words. as inspiration
does above philosophy, and raise nowhere
any questions they are incapable to an
swer."
Mr. Phelps found another illustration Of
this edu,ation of the eye in the increased
attractiyeness of natural scenery, to US,
as we approach the decline of life. Nature
has not changed, but We by its cesseless
instruction have learned to see its attrac-
tions.
The converse Of this general proposition
also holds true. Familiarity with false
models yitiates the eye ; and thus the worst
fashions of external lie come to prevail
and men spend money to dethrone beauty:
This truth was considered in its national
relations. A people without taste Will de-
s,roy instead Of adding to existing beauties.
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