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

| larger. yes; but not more beautiful"
| 1t is pleasing to know that our own
| Hawthorne has left one of the best pen
| and ink sketches Of the world-renewned
| duOmo of Florence. 1t is HawthorHe's
| opinion that in spite of the twilight
region inclosed within the ornament of
| the dome, the art of iuan has never con-
| trlved anX-other beauty and glory at all
to compared with this.
Ruskfn,s Rule.
| Although John Ruskin betooled many
| Of us by forcing us to look up imposSi-
BILE reasons why he should have been
offered the iaurcateship 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
| 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 observable III the
historic buildings of Florence. But we
as safe guide in all things. What
| race of tools there would be in the world
If everybody followed RuSkin'S example
of not reading the newspapers He is
| all the time railing at FI0rentine 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 we're they not held
! tOpHthpr Inv the restoring hand nfAs 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
TO make 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 Cimabue'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 well 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 by Velasquez,
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 WEEDS
forever the exquisite beauty of graceful
action with the calm loneliness of serene
contemplation.
An Explanation.
Just as some scientists love to at
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 Christian 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
n a of
! the silversmiths at Ephesus.
AS a matter of fact some of the noblest
works of art existed before Christianity
was even heard of; and as 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 Pluvlus; Mary, the virgin, takes
the place of Pallas Athena. But the
art principles are the same and l hate
! arrogant rot" either in religion or in
science. The Christianity of st. Francis
and st. Dominic may have supplied a
| 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 an d
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
tan poetry and architecture, of which
you have all heard much talk, burst
in to bloom of Arnolfo, Giottc, Dante,
Preagna, and the like persons, whose
works you profess to have come to
Florence that you may see nd under
stand. Florence then, tn US heated
through, first helped her teachers build
finer churches. The DOmini-
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 OH and whispering
sometimes word to both.
l 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 thornless
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
4.