The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-11-09

God In art! Christ in art! Patriarchs,
prophets and apostles in artl Angels in
arti Heaven in artI The world and the
church ought to come to the higher ap-
pre- eciation of the Divine mission Of pict-
ures yet the authors of them have gem
orally been left to semi starvation. West,
the great painter, toiled in unapprecia-
ton till, being a great skater, while
on the ice he formed the acquaintance of
General Howe, of the English al my, and
through coming to admire West as a
skater, they gradually came to appre
as much that which he accomplished by
his hand as by his head. Poussin, 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 off
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
4,600 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 I. it
was ordered by Parliament that all plot
ures of Christ be burnt Painters were 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 a painters bill which
came to publication in Scotland, In 1907,
indicated. The painter had been touch
ing up some old pictures in the church,
and he sends in this itemized bill to the
vestry: '"To filing up a oIink in the Red
Sea, and repairing the damages to Phara-
oh's hosts" ''tO a new pair OF hands for
Daniel in the lions den, and new set Of
teeth for the lioness;'' "to repairing Ne
buchadnezzar's beard;" ''to giving a
blush to the cheek of Eve on presenting
the apple to ADAM" "tO making a bride
for the Good Samaritan'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 Nebuchadnezza ar'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 lumber garrett Great
were the trials of Quentin Matsys, who
toiled on from blacksmith's 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, 1888, and
within twelve years Of the twentieth cent
ury, to be painter, except in rare ex-
ceptions, means poverty and negleotP
poorly fed, poorly clad poorly housed,
because poorly appre ciated! When L
hear man is painter have two feel
tngs-one Of admiration for the greatness
of his soul, and the other Of oommisera-
ton for the needs of his body.
Brooklyn. and all other American
cities, need great galleries OF art not
only open annually FOR few days on ex-
hibition, but which shall stand open all
the year round, and from early morning
until ten O'Clock at night, aud freq to all
who would come and go. What prepara-
ton for the wear and tear of the day
FIVE minutes look in the morning at some
picture that viii open n door int some
larger realm than thaU in which our
! population daily drudgel Or, what a
good thing the half hour Of artistic op-
| portunity on the way home in the evening
from exhaustion that demands recupera-
ton for mind and soul as we'll as body
/ Who will do for Brooklyn, or the city
where you live, what w. w. Corcoran did
for Washington, and what l am told John
Wanamaker, by the donation of De
Munkacsy's great picture, "Christ Before
Plate, +" Is going to do for Philadelphia
Men Of wealth. if you are too modest to
your lifetime, why not go 10 your iron
safe and take out your last viii and testa-
ment and make q cOdicil that sh all build
for the city of your residence a throne for
American art? Take some Of that money
that would otherwise spoil your chill
dren and build an art gallery that
shall associate your name forever,
not only wah the Z great mas
| ters of painting who are gone, but with
T. ms ST "a WI aT n
| and also win the admiration and love of
| tens of thousands Of people who, unable
| to have fine pictures Of their own, would
| be advantaged by your benefactiOn.
| Build your own monuments, and not
| leave it to the whim OF others. Some of
the best people sleeping in Greenwood
have no monuments at all, or some
crumbling stones that in "a few years
Will let the rain wash out pane and cpl
| taph; while some men, whose cath was
the abatement of nuisance, have a pile
of polished Aberdeen high enough for a
King and eulOgium enough to embar-
rass a seraph. On, men of large wealth,
instead Of leaving TO the whim OF others
your monumental commemoration and
epitaphiology to be looked at when people
are going to and fro at the burial of 9TH
ers, build right down in the heart of our
great city, or the city where you live, an
immense free reading room, or q free
musical conservatory, or a free art gall
Iery the inches for sculpture, and the
walls abloom with the rise and fall OF
nations, and lessons Of courage for the
disheartened, and rest for the weary, and
life for the dead; and one hundred and
fifty years from now you will be welding
inhueDc ces in this world for good among
those whose great grandfather was your
great-grandChild.
How much better than white marble
that chills you if you put your hand On IT
when you touch it In the cemetery would
be a monument in colors, in beaming
eyes, In living possession, in splendors
which under the chandelier would be
glowing aud worm, aud looked at by
strolling groups with catalogue ia hand
on the January night, when the necropo-
lis where the body sleeps is all snows
under. The tower OF David was hung
with one thousand dented shields Of bs t.
tie; but you, oh man Of wealth, may
have grander tower named after you,
one that shall be hung not with the SYM
bols of carnage, but with the victories OF
that art which was so long ago recogniz cd
in my text as pheasant pictures" Oh,
the power Of pictures / can not deride,
as some have done, Cardinal Mazarin,
who, wheR told he must die. took his last
walk through the art gallery Of his palace
saying: ''Must quit all thisg Look at
/ that Tiuap Look at that CorregtoJ LOOK
( at that deIuge Of Carraccil Farewell, dear
/ picturesr" AS the way OF the Lord Of
/ hosts, according % this text VIII
scrutinize ths pictures, l tmplore
/ oil parents to see that in their households
/ they have neither in book or newspaper
I or on canvas any thing that viii depraVe.
4 Pictures are no longer the exclusive pos
/ session Of the adlueut. There is not
/ respectabIe home ia these cities that has
i not specimens Of wooicut or steel en-
craving Il not of painting aud your
+ whole family viii feel the moral uPl 1&ang
/ or depression. Have nothing on yo1k
wall 81 III book tba- VIII tamiilarize the
J .-.---- .-lLh ...u.- nL erLala- nE waaaaLLs