Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-04-07
RACIAL PORTRAITS.
HOW IRE PRESSlBLe PERSONALITY
MopIFIes THE ARTISTS TRAciNGs
Tho Apostles and Saints From the Flem-
ish Masters are Strongly Dutch In
Italy Religious Portraiture Is
Distinctly italian.


chronological Journal
The general interest shown in the
death of zen L. s Grant, brought out
In striking manner the principle.
Of the proneness to Judge others accord.
ing to self The New York sun in de.
scrbing the varied appearance of Gen.
Grant as shown by pictures of him. SO
very numerously displayed by store keep
ers with mourning symbols, said:
PORTRAITS DIsPLAYED.
"In deep black frame in a shop win.
dow of au East. side Hebrew, there is Q
life dressed in civilians attire; his face Is
Jewish, and nothing but a pronounced
wart on the right side of the nose. and a
squarely. beard. indicate 10 the
passer by that ii is intended 10 represent
Gen. Grant This style of portrait is
very popular on the east side. and in
Essex aud Ludlow streets. where the
Polish .ews chiefly reside. very
down down in the German
quarter another portrait is displayed; il
represents German gentleman of mid
die age, clad in generals uniform. with a
distinct Teutonic feature in every line
of il.
-In the windows Of an Irish liquor 81.
loon there is shown n portrait Of a mid
dle.aged lrishman with square beard.
and the wart short-cropped hair, and an
expression of real lIibernian pluck about
the corners of his tightly shut lips. In
the window Of al Italian restaurant in
Mulberry street, passer-by sees "a picture
of a young aud dashing Italian officer
whose moustache is waxed and hair
trimmed in the prevailing military style
Of that nation.
The racial impression given in each
case, as above shown, was an unconscious
performance on the part of the artist As
Hebrew he could scarcely be otherwise
than Hebrew in his estimate of proper.
tion in feature: ami however much his
method might have been modified by
culture, still the Hebrew popularity of
mind. which is as marked as the physiog.
nomy Of the race. would penetrate the
physiognomy of his portraiture. So. too.
with the Italian. and perhaps in his case
the fact that the Italian style has long
been in the ascendance among artists,
would render the relative expression of
the physiognomy more pronounced than
in the work Of artists having other blood
than tia ian.
MEDIEVAL ART.
The visitor to those collections Of
medi rval art that abound on the cont.
nent OF Europe is always struck by the
racial impression given to ideal forms
The representations of Christ. of the
saints Of Mary. Of the Magdalenes. etc.
Take those old Flemish portraits found
in the collections of Belgium and Holland
the features of Hebrew apostles and the
Italian saints are all strongly Dutch. and
sometimes the association OF costume is
grotesquely So In Italy the religious
symbolism in portraiture is distinctly
Italian. the features of the disciples and
of the saints are regular. pyriform. soft
and ideal. with few or none Of the charac
teristics belonging to the strong motive
temperament OF the Hebrew type
The artists drew their portraits of Gen.
Grant from the penciling of the sunlight,
because his photographs by the thou
sand were scattered through the city.
and while they handled the crayon
or the brush the irrepressib!e personality
of race would ooze from their finger ends
and modify the tracings of the artist Of
nature.
IDEAL TYPES.
IL is probable that TO the Hebrew such
q portrait as has been described rs preya
lent in the Jewish quarter was the most
acceptable. and in the saloons of the
Bowery the Teutonic gentleman of mid.
die age in uniform with the wart and
beard was acceptable to the German fire.
quenters of the neighborhood; and so on
with the others.
zach race has its ideal type of beauty