The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-08-01
OLD MASTERS And THE NEW.
A CAREFUL DISCRIMINATION IL
NECESSARY.

Il - - VIZ 49, H. NV AnM AIIA 4
IN THAT THEY nnooEn hssrRas ny
onowru COMPANION or RArnAELa
lZTZo many the term "old mastcrsn Ia. a
vague Significance, and pictures Ia
the mind q class 81 exceptional beings
quite set apart from ordinary mortnls, en-
lowed with preternstural gifts for paint
Ing and living Ia kind Of spiritual atmos.
phere that has in reality long since passed
away and with the ability 10 do what these
favored men found II quite easy 20 do.
and II would seem. could not help doing.
Far from actual truth as such an impression
Is, yet the fact that II IN some form has
possessed the minds OF art-lovcrs for 30
many generations and has caused, and stlll
causes, stream OF pilgrims 90 move
annually from the West eastward 20
visit the galleries where these works may
be seen, and 70 Walt them with feeling
somewhat akin 20 that which possesses
the religious deyotee, cannot be wholly an
Illusion. And, while 10 state lust how
much OF Illusion and how much OF truth
Is involved, would be difficult, n not Inn
possible, yet certain popular impressions
may safely be called erroneous, and GER
tain other views, not yet generally ac-
cepted, may with equal confidence be
claimed as true; for example the assertion
that "paintIng Is lost art" that ait died
with the old masters" Is no more true
than TO assert that poetry died with Homer
or Dante. In mastery OF technique modern
painters have not excellcd the old masters;
In color, with very few exceptions, they
have not equalled them; but In drawing
they have greatly surpassed them, and
from this fact II follows that they have
also surpassed them In expression. Mod
ern art has q wider scope and IA more
developed than that OF the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, expressing q
wider range OF ideas and expressing them
with greater clearness and force. Take,
for example, one modern painting well
known TO this generation by IT'S frequent
repetition m black and white. the
"Angelus," by J. y. MIllet. II would be
difficult 10 match this picture either
In color or In religious sem
timent, though ore had his choice from
all the galleries Of all the old masters OF
Europe. But comparisons are odious, and
he Is an uniformed critic who in his de-
votion 70 old fancies holds that
there Ia little OF value IN the
new, yet II would be equally wide
Of the truth TO imagine that sdrnirs-
tion for the works OF the old masters has
not real foundation In fact, or that these
men we're other than masters, and the
leaders OF the greatest single impulse that
pictorial and plastic art has received in
modern times.
In one respect, at least, an old master
was much like the new master; they both
grc'O TO be masters, and during the stages
OF their growth did work varying ia quail
ity from their first stumbling efforts 10 the
final mastorful ones that gaze them their
great regulations. Take, for example.
Raphael, one of tho most gifted OF men,
framed In the prodigality OF nature,n
with grace and beauty at his fingers ends,
yet in the 90 Madonnas he has left MS one
may trace, step by step, the transition
from crampod, poor and consequently
expressionloss drawing, up TO pictures
that are models OF grace. color and compo-
sition. The drst have archaeological vaiue,
the second, value as w0rks Of art. and tho
value of the first Is almost wholly due 10
the fact that the second works exist.
Raphaeps early pictures are no better than
many OF Perugino's, aud Perugino's fame
10 due mainly TO the fact that he was Haph-
ael's teacher. Thus the power OF a grea.
man is shown In his ability 10 give value to
much that would be unknown but for
certain supreme work that he has accom-
plished, and which, being done, at once
LITE into secondary value certain other
work directly or indirectly associated with
IT, One of these early pictures by Raphael
would give little or no idea OF the great
ness OF the man who painted "The School
of Athens" or the "Dresden Madonna
and II Is easy 10 see that the estimation in
which these early pictures are held,
and their commercial value also, are
due not 10 their intrinsic quality,
but 10 the extrlnsic fact that they are from
the same immortal hand that ala the
greater work. Therefore we see that the
term "Old Masters" includes
more varying quality than is allowed to
the modern masters, since with the mod
erns, criticism IL more free TO express IT,
self, ie not, as Il were, under any spell,
aud the works themselves are, being mod
ern, IN much better preservation, and arc
less likely TO represent, in part (oftcn in
a great part the work OF pupils Again,
of the authentic pictures by the old mas
ters, few have escaped the destroying
hand OF the repairer, whose work has
commonly consisted IN REIN
forcement OF the picture by tho
simple process OF deepening tho
shadows and Tightening the lights, so
that the completely representative pic
lures by the great painters OF the renais-
sance period are rarer than Is generally
believed; and much OF the criticism ex-
pressed by the unbelievcr I'm "Ofd Mas
torsn Ia due to the fact that the samples
he has seen really represent the marring
effect OF some repairer rather than tho
work OF the great name 10 which II 10
credited.
lie who would Judge fairly OF the relative
worth OF modern pictorial art and that az
the fifteenth and succeeding century,
should II possible rid himself OF the pre-.
JUDGE that fancies his age wiser and
greater than all its predecessors, and that
therefore its productions Of all kinds must
bthef sFeI6aHe Will fahafe tis the RSsf t sff
familiar must be commonplace, and that
poetry aud inspiration rest only with the
past. Certainly true judgment upon
this question will be found somewhere
midway between these two extremes.