Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-04
The School of Design Entertainments.

A fine audience gathered at the Art Gal
lery last evening on the occasion of the
entertainment given by the pupils of the
School of Design, under the direction of
w. F. Jackson. Mrs. H /. Seymour, Miss
Griswold and Mrs. Z. Freeman gave piano
selections that were very superior, and re.
ceiyed the hearty applause of the critical
audience. Fine tableaux, statuary and
living picture exhibits were made by pu-
pills of the school. The posings we're very
fine. and the draping of the figures was adj
mirable, indicating a cultured taste in the
conception and arrangement of the designs
and the method of presenting them. The
| chief event of the evening, however, was
the lecture by Monsignor L. ]. Capel. The
lecturer was introduced by Vice-President
Green, of the Museum Association The
discourse was divided into two parts, be-
tween which music and portion of the
| tableaux were introduced. The subject of
| the lecture was, " How to Study Pictures.n
1t was discourse of the most scholarly
| character evidencing the profound study
| made of the subject by the lecturer, the
broad knowledge of art possessed by the
speaker, and his clear conceptions of the
practical usefulness of a knowledge of
drawing, and the importance of cult
| waited taste in molding character and fitting
youth for the battle of life.
The lateness of the hour at which the en-
tertainment closed renders it impossible to
give any extended synopsis of the lecture,
which held the audienee in the closest at
tention, and interested every person pres
ent so deeply, hat there was not mani
| Tested the Sill est WEAKNESS or disposition
to have the speaker close. He defined a
picture, and clearly distinguished it from
flaoa
he analysed the method of making picture
and the mental processes that must operate
with the artist to successful work. He
| made exceedingly lucid the absorption of
the idea of a subject by the painter, and
its reproduction by him, by projecting his
conception or idea of the theme, upon the
canvas. He next treated of the inspira-
ton, the purpose the motive of a pidnre
In this branch of his treatment he analyzed
the thought of some of the greatest master
pieces of the world, and compared the arts
of architecture, sculpture and painting.
He came next to the origin of art tastes,
the love of the pure and the beautiful, and
found the beginning of these to be with the
mother who molds the character of the
child. He traced its passage to the school
| room, and the effect of the study of draw
| ing upon the developing man or woman.
He showed the effect of good taste in the
interiors of homes, upon the characters
| and habits of the inmates, and the
| good results in community life.
Finally, he pointed out the absolute
necessity for addressing the intelligence
| through the taste for illustration and how
powerful an influence love for illustra-
| ton exerts upon the moral and intellectual
parts. He dwelt freely upon the need for
| teaching drawing in the schools, and cited
| literally from the experience of public
educational schemes in England and in
| France, Germany and Italy, expressing his
surprise that SO little attention is given the
subject in the schools of America
Finally he spoke of the Sacramento
| School of Design and the promise of
such institutions in the communities of
California. He urged the people to sup
port the school, to endox it, to fill its chairs
with pupils, and to make the nucleus the
city has in the Art Gallery given it by Mrs.
Croker, yield the full promise with which
it is charged and which it will do if it is
properly cared for and made the influence
it should be. He paid high tribute to re-
ligion as an inspiration to art, and prophe-
| sled for California development among its
people of tastes for the beautiful, of love
for the great natural beauty of the Pacific
! Coast that would make its communities, in
time, the rivals in refinement of the oldest
and most cultured in the world. 1t was
altogether one of the most entertaining,
scholarly and profoundly interesting dis
courses that has ever been delivered in Sac
ramento.