The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-03-08
CORRESPONDS NOE.
Letter on Italy.

Letter on Italy.
Messrs. E'ditorS,--I cannot be said
that art is moral work like a sermon,
nor that its primary use is that Of teach
ing In its final analysis art is luxury,
and has for its principal object the reah-
zation of a beautiful conception. Yet art
Is no exception from the general laws OF
life, nor is it wandering comet, sepa-
rated from the infinite orbit of truth. 1t
is not impossible to prove the luxurious
tastes and tendencies of Roman Pontitfs
from the patronage they extended to art,
and from the artistic treasures Of the Pom
tifical Palace, yeU we dare say that il
the Roman Church had not taken the
artistic genius to her bosom and under
her control, that it would have run riot
and wrought great evil to modern society.
In despite of Church censorship there is
much to condemn. Without that censor
ship the genius of Italy would have fol
lowed one pathway and society another,
but not without great mutual injury
The ideal cannot reign in the higher re.
glons of fancy without giving vitality to
those daily actions whose thread forms
the whole web of our existence. But for
the curl which the Pontifs placed upon
Italian art-the school of design for the
world-the immoral tendency would un-
doubtedly have been more pronounced,
and would have penetrated modern IN
telEgence with its corrosive virus, dead
enlng sensibillty, weakening the distinc-
ton between right and wrong, and Civ
ing up the whole life of man to the rule
of an evil imagination. 1t was not, there
fore, with critical feelings that we visited
the
Vatican Museum of Sculpture,
but with gratitude that the Church had
succeeded in saving so much from the
wrecks of ancient civilizations and the
pillage of the barbarians. The chef
d oeWUre of this collection IS undoubtedly
the statue of the Apollo All that has
ever been chiselled in order to express
genius appears in the Apollo Belvidere.
We could not but inwardly compare it to
the bust of Napoleon, which we saw on
one Of the tables of the wonderful Pal
lazzo Pitt in Florence This bust was
not strict portrait but an apotheosis.
The sculptor saw the Napoleon of imagi-
nation with genius, glory, heroism, i'm
mortality, inspiration on his brow, the
world at his feet and two ages striving
around about him, and crowning his tenn
pies with their laurels. The sculptors OF
the heroic times thus represented the
Caesars when they desired to elevate them
to the altars of Immortality. All the
genius OF these remarkable productions
seems to be concentrated in this statue of
Apollo. THAT is the head of a god -
exclaimed my companion, on looking at
the bust. At first sight, we thought from
ITS likeness it was the head Of Byron.
Perhaps it would be impossible to paint
or model genius without representing the
features OF that Apollo-like physiognomy
over which inspiration, lurid though 1t
was, flung its sublimity.
We could not tarry about the LAGOON.
the Torso, and the Antinous, to be seen
in the adjoining apartments, all famous
works Of sculpture; but hastened to
The Musee of Paintings.
No enthusiasm can depict or exaggerate
the value of these works Of art. They
are a treasure house, we had almost said
OF more value than all Italy beside. The
fifty paintings are worth a duchv. Here
Raphael produced his immortal figures,
born OF his brain, as the Virgins child
IS said to have been delivered without
pam The stanzas of Raphael seem each
10 nave Issued like Cythera from the
foam OF the ocean, in a pearly shell, with
smile upon the lips, the rays Of the sun
upon the head, and heaven in the eyes
Ihey nave been raised as by gentle
wave and left on the rude shores Of real
lty They have been painted bv one
who was conscious Of and happv in his
inspiration, and who dwelt in an afnos-
phere Of unstormed tranquility. Here
also Angelo, the first sculptor Of his age
painted and left the huge vaults of the