Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1888-11-22


OF Human Life, aud the Course of EN-
pre-" and by Turner's Slave Ship" God
IN artl Christ In artl Patriarchs. propbets
aud apostles in art Angels in art Heaven
in arti
The world and the church ought TO come
to the higher appreciation of the divine mis-.
sion OF pictures, yet the authors of them
have generally been left to semi-staryatiou.
West, the great painter, toiled without an.
probation till, being a great skater. while
on the ice he formed the acquaintance Of
General Howe, Of the English army, and
through coming to admire West as skater,
they gradually came to appreciate as much
mat which he accomplished by his hand as
py ms heel. Pousin, the mighty painter,
was pursued, and had nothing with which
TO defend himself against the mob but the
artists portfolio, which he held over his
head TO keep of the stones hurled at him.
The pictures Of Richard Wilson, of England
were sold for fabulous sums of money after
his death, but the living painter was glad to
get FOR his "Alcyone'' a piece of Stilton
cheese. From 1910 to 1913 there were 1900
pictures wilfully destroyed. In the reign of
| queen Elizabeth IL was the habit of some
people TO spend much Of their time in knock
ing pictures to pieces.
In the reign of Charles the First II was
ordered by Parliament that all pictures OF
Christ be burnt. Painters were so baCsy
treated and Inundated in the beginning of
the eighteenth century that they were low
cred clear down out of the sublimity of their
art, and obliged 10 give minute accounts of
what they did with their colors, as paint
er's bill, which came TO publication in Scot
land, in 1907 indicated. The painter had
been touching up some old pictures in the
lal.. l.. 1. \. IN.
the vestry: "To filling up a chink in the
Red Sea aud repairing the damages 10
Pharaoh's host;n ito new pair of hands
for Daniel in the lions den, and a new set of
| teeth for the lioness:" At repairing Nebu-
| chadnezzar's beard - ITO giving blush to
the cheek of Eve on presenting the apple to
ADAM" ITO making bride for the Good
Samaritan's horse, and mending one of his
legs;n Ito putting on new handle TO Moses
basket and fitting bulrushes. and adding
more fuel to the fire in ACKNOWLEDGMENT
furnace" So painters were Inundated clear
down below the majesty of their art The
Oldest picture in England, a portrait of
Chaucer, though now of great value, was
picked out of lumber garnet. Great were
the trials of Quentin Matsys, who toiled on
from blacksmith's anvil till as a painter he
won wide recognition. The first mission
aries 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, 1855 and within twelve years Of
the twentieth century, to be a painter, ex-
cept in rare exceptions, means poverty and
neglect poorly fed, poorly clad, poorly
housed, because poorly appreciated! When
hear a man is a painter, / have two feel
in Of nd fpuf for ba ~
his soul, and the other of commiseration for
the needs Of his body
But so it has been In all departments OF
noble work. Some of the mightiest have
been hardly bested. 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 a 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 com |
plant; they make no strike for higher |
wages. But with the keeuness Of nervous or |
ganizatian which almost always character |
ICES genius, these artists suffer more than |
any one but God can realize. There needs |
TO be "a concerted effort for the suf. |
fering artists of America, not sentimental |
discourse about what we owe 10 artists but |
contracts that win give them a livelihood; |
for | am in full sympathy with the Christian /
farmer, who was very busy gathering bis
fall apples, and some one asked him to pray
for a poor family, the father of which had |
broken his leg, and the busy farmer said IL
can not stop now 10 pray, but you can go
down into the cellar and get some corned
beef, and butter, and eggs and pota-
toes; that is all can do nown
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 suffering men and women of
American art. Their work is more true to
nature and life than any ofthe masterpieces
that have become immortal on the otherside
of the sea, but it is the fashion of Ameri-
cans TO mention foreign artists, and to know
little or nothing about our own Copley, and
Allstone, and Inman, and Greenough and
Kensett. Let the affiuent fling out OF their
windows and into the back yard valueless
daubs on canvas, and call in these splendid
but unrewarded men, and tell them to adorn
your walls, not only with that which shall
DledSC lHt ldSht. uuh E1 AhN htAhhs anu
improve the morals, and save the souls of
those who gaze upon them.
Brooklyn. and all other American cities,
need great galleries of art, not only open
annually for few days on exhibition, but
which shall stand open all the year round,
and from early morning until ten o'clock at
night, and free TO all who would come or go.
What a preparation for the wear and tear
Of the day a five minutes look in the morn
ing at some picture that will open door
into some larger realm than that in which
our population daily drudgel Or what a
good thing the half hour of artistic oppor-
tunity on the way home in the evening from
exhaustion that demands recuperation for
mind and soul as well as bodyl Who will
do for Brooklyn or the city where you live
what w. w. Corcoran did for Washington,
and what | am told John Wannamaker, by J
the donation of De Munkacsy's great picture
'Christ before PLATE" is going to do for
Men of wealth, if you are too