St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-02

1t is pleasing TO know that our own
Hawthorne has left one of the best pen
| and ink sketches of the world-renowned
| duOmo of Florence. 1t is Hawthorre's
| opinion that in spite of the twilight
region inclOsed within the armament of
| the dome, the art of luan has never con-
| trived any-other beauty and glory at all
| to compared with this.
Ruskin's Rule.
Although John Ruskin betooled many
| Of us by forcing us to look up imposSi-
| offered the laurcateship and then res
fused tine proffered honor, still it must
| be admitted that he is the best living
| critic of architectural beauty. Accord
| ing to him the glory of architecture is
| that it be grand by proportion, lovely
| by Imagination, comfortable by ingen-
uity and secure by honesty. Size, even
| as such. must not be entirely over
| looked. The big buildings of Chicago.
| hideous though they be to anyone with
a sense of proportions, nevertheless are
| impressive by reason of their very size.
! The qualities OF which Ruskin speaks,
and which are undoubtedly necessary
| for the highest form of architectural
| beauty, are easily discernable III the
historic buildings of Florence. But we
| must not accept the eccentric art critic
as safe guide in all things. What a
race of fools there would be in the world
! if everybody followed RuSkin'S example
of not reading the newspapers! He is
all the time railing at FlOrentine res
| toration, and looks upon it as an UNI
| mixed abomination. Now, restoration
may not imply new beauty. yet many Of
! the old beauties would have long since
crumbled into dust were they not held
together by the restoring hand OF the
latter-day artist.
Florence bears ample evidence of that
marvellous shepherd boy GiOttO. who
was on terms of friendship with Dante.
was the scholar of Cimabue, and was
copied by Titan. His youthful sue
cesses mark place in art which recall
the precious genius of John Keats in the
world of letters. There is his own
parish church, the place wherein he
poured out his effervescent soul
in prayer. You may not be able
10 make a close study of the Santa
Maria NOYella. nor even TO do more than
make few hurried notes of it. at least
outside. for Ruskin'S complaint, that
all the blackguard children of the neigh
borhood come to howl and throw stones
OH the steps, still holds good. Giotto's
madOnnaS are magnificent, yet it must
be admitted that CimaOue's Mater Do
loroSa at ASsySi Is the most beautiful on
earth. The secret of his success is said
to have been that he saw things as they
are, little things as we'll as great-the
golden straw from which the Leghorn
bonnet is made and the golden gate of
heaven, such as men then conceived it
to be.
Kings have been painted byVelasquez,
Vandyke, Rubens. Joshua Reynolds;
bat Saint King Louis, by GiottO. sur
passes all.
Who else, except painter of the days
of st. Dominic ana st. Francis, would
have done justice to king who made a
pilgrimage from Paris to Perugia in
order to see holy brother of the name
of Giles? In those days pilgrimages
were far from being pleasure trips, such
as they are now. Tile schools of art
come up before US, the cOntemplative
and the dramatic. The former gives Us
Mater Dolorosa because of the unut-
terable sorrow in her upturned face; the
latter because the most sorrowful
mother is being prayed to. Giotto weds
forever the exquisite beauty of graceful
action with the calm loneliness of serene
contemplation.
An Explanation.
Just as some scientists love to at
tribute the letters of their faVorite study
to the opposition of Christianity, so
some artists are never done clamoring
until our ears are deafened with the din
that all the excellence OF art is direct
result of Christina influence. Both are
wrong. Strictly speaking, Christianity
has no more to do with art than with
science. Its direct object is different
from either. 1t may affect them indi-
rectlY, just as PauPS preaching against
idols resulted in the ruin of the trade of
the silversmiths at Ephesus.
AS matter of fact some of the noblest
works of art existed before Christianity
was even heard of; and as a matter of
history the early Christians made short
work of some Of the most admirable
specimens of pre-Christian art. And is
not the best Florentine work purely
Etruscan; done on the art principles
which obtained in Etruria seven cent
uries before the birth of Christianity.
Jesus Christ is sculptured iDStead of
Jupiter PluvIus; Mary, the virgin, takes
the place of Pallas Athena. But the
art principles are the same and | hate
arrogant rot" either in religion or in
science. The Christianity Of st. Francis
and st. Dominic may have supplied
needful warmth to the Florence of the |
thirteenth century without (which it
would not have burst into bloom so
soon. Ruskin thinks it did. He writes:
And after they (the DOminicanS and
FranciscanS) had stayed quietly in such
lodgings as were given them. preaching
and teaching through most of the cOuu-
try: and had got Florence, as it were,
heated through, she burst out in Chris
tian poetry and architecture, of which
you have all heard much talk, burst
in to bloom of ArnolfO, GiottO, Dante.
Preagna, and the like persons, whose
works you profess to have come to
Florence that you may see and under
stand. Florence then, tn us heated
through, first helped her teachers build
finer churches. The D0mini-
cans designed their own buildings; but
for the FranciScanS and the town
worked the first great master of Gothic
art, ArnolfO. with Giotto at his side, and
Dante looking on and whispering
sometimes word to both.
| am not surprised that Giotto and
Buchier fell so deeply in love with st.
Francis. So did the dreamy-eyed sad
souled Tennyson, who wrote OF him.
sweet St Francis
He who in his catholic wholeness called the
very flowers
Sisters, brothers-and the beasts. whose pains
are hardly less than ours"
Many others, too, would love that
charming thirteenth century knight of
labor were it not for the lamentable le-
gends which even the modern monk
thrusts upon The traveller to Assist. The
monk presents you with a thorness
rose and tells you, doubtless what he
believes, to wit: that st. Francis, in Or
der to remove temptation, threw him.
self among thornS and at once beautitied
thornless rose trees sprung up laden
with red and white roses, the leaves
spotted with blood. AS a matter of
fact the thornless rose tree grows there
because nature wills it, just as snakes