The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-23
The Fine Art Lectures.

| aas ~ Il ApiitT, VI WV 'N''A'C.N >,--@'~e
sify, at the Baxter music hall. The au
dience was large. On either hand of the
lecturer were hung photographs of "Tbe
Last Supper" of Mona Lisi, a madonna,
"The Num-" heads from Leonardo's car
toons and sketches and portraits of Lee
onardo, from Mr.. Wares collection.
PROF. ToRREY's LECTURE.
Prof. Torrey's subject was "Leonardo
da Vinci." Among the epochs of great in
.ellectual and moral expansion, in history,
he said, one of the most remarkable was
that of the naissancc-remarkable not
only for the enlistment of awakened intel
lect in knowledge, art and religion but
for the number of men of universal genius
that appeared and wrought Among these
were Michael Angelo, aud Leonardo da
Vinci, and of the two, Leonardo surpassed
Michael Angelo. in the variety of subjects
that engaged his attention and in the saga
cious insight which pierced mysteries only
| unfUlded by science in future centuries
Leonardo laid down the principles of the
experimental philosophy, a hundred and
twenty years before Lord Bacon wrote the
| NoUum Orgdnum. He enumerated the
| three laws of motion q hundred years be-
fore Galileo. He laid down the laws of
the density and pressure OF fluids subse-
| quently ascribed to Paschal. He appears
to have adopted the heliocentric theory of
the solar system, thirty years before it was
announced and proved ny Coperncus. He
attributed the lash colored light" of the
new moon, popularly known as "the old
moon in the arms of the new to the re-
| Election of terrestrial light, century be-
fore it's explanation by Kepler In geology
H., 60. 80. ia ,1 Inv
ony with our time, aud Lyell gives to him
especial mention as one of the first to pre-
sent sound views IN that science. He
seemed to possess some art of divinalion,
and to carry light with him wherever he
| went. Had be lived in our day, art might
| have lost one of its brightest stars, but sci
ence would have gained one of its success
| full investigators. That his discoveries and
| opinions had no more effect on the prog
| ress of science, is explained by the fact that
| they were locked in manuscripts, Id vol
| umes of which are still in existeuce-wiitten
| in a peculiar character and from right to left
which have been only deciphered in later
day, with the aid Of a mirror and with
| great labor. After abiding TO the promi-
| ent facts of the life of Leonardo--to his
| birth his beauty and strength in child
| hood his precocity in art, shown by his
DiluJtlS uu duSti III OIL VII PaiuAibS WI
| which his teacher was engaged, which was
30 superior to the work Of his master that
the latter laid down his brush In despair
| his removal from Florence TO the court of
| Ludovico Sforza, of Milan his success as
sculptor, and hydraulic engineer his
anatomical studies at Pavia, aud his ana
tOmical drawings, still, in existence and
greatly admired his studies in chalks and
crayon his gift Of caricatule his expert
ments in ngraving-Profess0r Torrey
passed to his master piece, the Last Supper
He related the melancholy history of that
noted picture. With a fatal choice of ma
terlals it was painted in oil, on the plaster
ed wall of a refectory of Dominican mon
astery. The colors remained scarce fifty
years intact. Eighty years after, it was
spoken of as ruined. 1t was mutilated by
the monks, in order to make higher door
into the refeclory When, in time, they
began TO appreciate what priceless treas
ure they possessed, it suffered worse out
rage from the attempts to restore 1t. 1t
was painted over by one Belott, aud again
nearly all over by another charlatan, named
Mazza. In 1893 when Milan was occu-
pied by the French, the refectory was
| taken for stable, by the French soldiers.
| who used to amuse themselves by throwing
| bricks at the heads of the apostles. The
retectory was twice flooded by foundations,
and the colors injured by mould. 1t had
| later restoration from the cartoons and en-
cravings and still later one IN 1853,
| by one Ban ozzi. Ii is wonderful that after
| three hundred years of such treatment
| anything of Leonardo should remain ; yet
| the beholder of our day finds that the
genius of the great master still shines
through the marks of decay. The imagin-
alton reconsructs the most wonderful pic
| ture ever placed on wall. AS he gaZes,
| the shadowy forms take on life, and the
| beholder seems to stand in the upper
| room" in the presence of the master and
| his twelve.
A beautiful explanation Of the painting
| followed. Its sacrifice of historical accu.
| racy to ideal trnth its portraiture of what
| is perennial in human nature, as well as
what is fleeing in attitude and expression
its effective arrangement of details the
distribution of light and shade-the chidr0-
scuro, first brought into Importance by
| Leonardo, who wrote treatise on it the
moral significance of the light and darkness,
| illustrated by the placing OF the Savior in
unclouded light and of Judas in deep
| shadow-a stroke of high poetic magma
ton the various groupings and attitudes,
| aud the contrasts which heighten the effect
were dwelt on.
The object of interest, said the lecturer,
in this composition, is the different charac-
teristics of the individuals which compose
the group characteristics which find
| spontaneous expression in their varying at
| ttudes, in the instructive movements of
their hands, but most plainly in the emo
| lions depicted on their faces. The picture
would serve to illustrate the theory of
Coleridge regarding the essence Of the beau
tful. "Beauty," he says, sis unity in d.
versity." Both elements are present in
striking manner in this composition, and in
perfect harmony. The moment chosen by
the artist is that in which the announcement
falls from the lips of Christ "Verily, one
of you shall betray me-" This is the ele
ment of unity in the picture-the one
thought which gives to the scene its mex
| pressble pathos-the one startling word
which like an electric shock penetrated the
heart of each disciple. The element of
diversity is the varying characters and con-
seriousness of the disciples themselves. AT
once and Involuntary each dscloses his
heart. Each displays a different emotion.
| Distress, detection, establishment, indigna-
| ton. resentment guilt, this last look in
| stantly replaced by assumed surprise
| every one of these emotions is depicted,
and not in general or vague manner, but
such as James and John and Andrew and
Peter and Thomas and Judas would have
expressed at such a moment.
The other masterpiece of Leonardo's,
selected by Prof. Torrey for special descrip-
ton, was his portrait of the wife of Fran
cisco del Giocondo, which is now in the
Louvre, where it goes by the name of "La
Belle ,Iaconde," otherwise known as the
Mona Lisa. This, the lecturer insisted, is
something more than portrait of the Lady
Lisa. 1t would seem, said he, that in the
wife of his friend, Leonardo found the sug-
gestlon of some essential characteristic of
woman's nature. There was a subtle evan
escent grace there, which the cunning artist
detained by the charm of music until he
| cnlinht IL and made il dwell for after q nna