Sharp County record., 1888-11-15

I actually staggered down the steps OF
the London Art Gallery under the power
of Dore's "Christ Leaving the PraetorA-
um,"
Profess yot to be Christian man or
woman and see no Divine mission IN art'
and acknowledge you no obllgation el'n'l
in thanks to God or man?
1t is no more the word of God when put
before us in printers ink than by skill
full laying on of colors, or designs Oh
metal through incision or corroslon.
What lesson in morals was presented
by Hogarth, the great painter IN MS tw1
pictures, "The Rake's Progress" anu
and "The Miser's Feast" and by Ihomas
Coles engravings of the voyage Oh
Human Life" and the "Course OF EN-, !,
pire," and by Turner's slave snip"
God in art Christ in art! Patrlarcn!s'
prophets and apostles in art! Angels III
art! Heaven in art! The world ana Inc
church ought to come to the higher ap-
probation of the Divine mission OF pct
ures, vet the authors of them have gem
orally been left to semi starvation w ee"
the great painter, toiled in unappre CA
ton till, being a great skater, while
on the ice he formed the acquaintance or
General Howe, of the English amy and
through coming to admire West as @
skater, they gradually came to appreciate
as much that which he accomplished by
his hand as by his head. Poussin, the
mighty painter, was pursued, ana hau
nothing with which to defend hlmsell
against the mob but the artists portrolo
which he held over his head to keep on
the stones hurled at him, The pictures OF
Richard Wilson, of England, were sold
for fabulous sums of money after MS
death, but the living painter was glad 10
get for his "Alcyone" a piece OF Sulton
cheese. From 1910 to 1913 there were
1900 pictures willfully destroyed In
the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was the
habit of some people to spend much OF
their time in knocking pictures to
pieces. In the reign of Charles l. 1t
was ordered by Parliament that all pct
ures of Christ be burnt Painters we're so
badly treated and humiliated in the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century that
they were lowered clear down out OF the
sublimity of their art, and obliged to give
minute accounts of what they did with
their colors, as painters bill Whlch
came to publication in Scotland in lIO',
indicated. The painter had been touch
ingup some old pictures in the church,
and he sends in this itemized bill to the
vestry: "To filling up clink in the Red
Sea, and repairing the damages to Phara-
oh's hosts" "to new pair of hands for
Daniel in the lions den, and new set or
teeth for the lioness;" 'to repairing Ne
buchadnezzar's beard;" "to giving
blush to the cheek of Eve on presenting
the apple to Adam" "to making bride
for the Good Samaritau's horse, and
mending one of his legs" 'to putting a
new handle on Moses basket and fitting
bulrushes, and adding more fuel
to the fire in Nebuchadnezzar's S
furnace" SO painters were humiliated
clear down below the majesty of their art.
The oldest picture in England, portrait
of Chaucer, though now of great value,
was picked out Of a lumber garrett Great
were the trials of Quentin Matsys, who
toiled on from blacksmith'5 anvil till as
a painter he won wide recognition. The
first missionaries to Mexico made the
fatal mistake of destroying pictures, for
the loss of which, art and religion must
ever lament. But why go so far back,
when in this year of our Lord, 1SSS, and
within twelve years of the twentieth cent
ury, to be painter, except in rare cx-
ceptions, means poverty and neglect?
poorly fed, poorly clad, poorly housed,
because poorly appreciated! When
hear man is q painter have two feel
ings-one of admiration for the greatness
of his soul, and the other of commisera-
ton for the needs Of his body
But so it has been in all departments of
noble work. Some of the mightiest have
been hardly bestead Oliver Goldsmith
had such big patch on the coat over his
left breast that when he went anywhere
he kept his hat in his hand closely pressed
over the patch. The world-renOwned
Bishop Asbury had salary Of sixty-four
dollars a year. Painters are not the
only ones who have endured the lack of
appreciation. Let men Of wealth take
under their patronage the suffering men
of art. They lift no complaint; they
make no strike for higher wages, But
with keenness Of nervous organization,
which almost always characterizes genius,
these artists suffer more than any one
but God can realize. There needs to be
a concerted effort for the suffering artists
of America, not sentimental discourse
about what we owe to artists but con-
tracts that will give them livelihood;
for am in full sympathy with the Chris
tian farmer who was very busy gathering
his fall apples and some one asked him
to pray for poor family, the father of
which had broken his leg and the busy
farmer said: 81 can not stop now to
pray but you can go down in the cellar
and get some corned beef, and butter,
and eggs, and potatoes; that is all l can
do now" Artists may wish for our
prayers, but they also want practical help
from men who can give them work. You
have heard scores of sermons for all other
kinds of suffering men and women, but
| think this is the first sermon ever
preached that made plea for the suffer-
ing men and women Of American art.
Their work is more true to nature and life
than any of the masterpieces that have
become immortal on the other side of the
sea, but it is the fashion of Americans to
mention foreign artists and to know little
or nothing about our own Copley, and
Allston, and Inman, and Greenough, and
Kensett. Let the affluent fling out Of their
windows and into the back yard valueless
dauES on canvas and call in these SDlpn-