Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-17
once as you cannot help doing. If they

HIRE OUT THE PICTURES
| by the dhy or let a body take one home
| at time and grow into the spirit of il!
You cannot do that easily In a gallery.
1t is like looking at scenery; you
cannot really enjoy 1t by braciug your
self up and saying: "Now will go en-
joy this view - and then go stand in one
place and stare at the view! True en-
joyment of beauty is very subtle and
consists of a mixture OF surprise, re-
captivity of thought and a good many
things that you can't readily lay your
hand on. In art galleries we can do no
more than admire till the stock
of admiration is used up and then
gaze as a duty. Every one, think,
feels some disappointment when they
first see the pictures of the old masters.
We expect the ideals TO be higher,
whereas they are often material; we ex-
pect to see Madonnas with more than hu-
man loneliness, and saints more than hui
manly sanity. Why these are nothing but
ordinary men and women, we say in dis
gust, and SO they are; just the wives and
sweethearts and human models OF the
artists. Then we lay down our precon-
ceived notions and gradually the real
beauty and wonder of these old paint
ings dawns upon us. We regard the
representations of God the Father only
as allegorical embodiments of the Di-
vine Spirit, and the Madonnas as ideals
of motherhood. We realize how grand
the old paintings are when we step into
A GALLERY OF MODERN PAINTINGS
and see how insipid the latter are, not
only in coloring but in conception. the
early artists strove to paint something
more than beauty IN their saints and vir-
gins. The faces we first passed by as
ugly and uninteresting came to have
much meaning after study. II was
purity and sanctity they tried to put in
the faces more than roundness of contour
and loneliness of coloring and there was
an effort to make the baby Jesus express
kingliness as well as baby grace.
The picture of Madonna and child by
Cinabue in the church of Santa Maria
Novella was the first great painting OF the
world! Think of it! The first really
great attempt to express beauty and truth
with brush and colors. This was in 1880.
What gloriously simple times these were
when the whole population of Florence
left its shops and its business to bear
that picture through the streets and to
follow after with shouts and cheers! 1t
shows what natural expression of the
they all took it to their hearts
Immediately, and never since has been a |
picture so cheered and loved and flower |
crowned as this first great one. We |
look at the Madonna now with a mighty |
respect for what she once was. She is |
mortally ugly and sits up like pine |
board, yet there is a dignity about her |
that we like better than the soft pretti- |
ness OF later painted Madonnas.
The Academy is the place to study old |
paintings. Now don't dare to write it |
loud, but will write it very softly and |
that l think these pictures are
funny. l disgraced myself several times
in the presence of several serious art |
students by
GIGGLING OUT LOUD.
One occasion was before Perugino,
and to laugh at a Perugino is a very
grave offense indeed; but there was q
queer blue robed Christ on Mount of
Olives barely large enough for his knees,
and from the sky above him there
came an angel, tramping through
space like the giant with his seven
league boots. No air, not even painted
air, can stand being trodden on like
that! Then the landscapes Of these old
pictures amuse me. 1t was quite the
|
with scenery. and
how these earnest old fellows
did go in for anything they attempted
No ordinary landscape would do to back
up saint, but the most startling land
scapes were invented; they piled it in
thick and heavy, lakes, rocks, rivers,
cataracts and several Alpine ranges. If
they went in for scenery at all, they
painted a whole geography. They
painted it all nice and plain, too;
locks and hills several miles off accord
ng to perspective are just as clear as if
hey were right beside you. Now in
claude Lorraine kind of landscape you
ire no more sure than when looking at
nature as to whether those are rocks or
lows on mountain side.
We have been up to Fiesols. the little
own on the high hill near Florence, from
whence is lovely view, and we have
)een out to the monastery of Certosa and
Fought some ehatreuse. This is a famous
ordial made of the same things girls are
made of in the old rhyme:
Sugar and spice
And all things nice.
These monks are said to be the sole
manufacturers in the world, but we |
card of some other monks in Naples,
lso
SOLE AND ONLY MANUFACTURERS.
Two evenings we have been up the
'olh. This is hill rising I'D
rom the Arno, and closing
4 the city on the southwest,
p which winding road ascends. This
Dad is sixty feet wide and three quarters
a mile in length, and is called one
the finest promenades in Italy. 1t
ircles around now through woods, now
trough hedges of roses and banks of
overs, with fine views all the way. A
team train runs now from the gate
the city to the piazza Michel
.ngelo near the top. The church
San Miniato is on the summit.
hurches are always on top of everything
| Italy. The fine broad piazza with its
and many stone seats is q
ivorite promenading place. All Flor
nee and its environs lie spread out be-
cath you there. and the view is
OF only extensive, but exquis-
ely beautiful. Florence itself is
Picturesque because of its many quaint
'wers, and the hills around it are all
inning over with vines, and olive trees,
18th group OF dark cypress trees here