New-York tribune., 1896-10-25

he has more than once caused modern critictm
to vince under defects Of mere draughtsmanship
mere science. OF which 1t seems incredible that
so great a master could have been guilty. But
the technical mastery which comes out so roy.
ally in the portraits by Botticei and in such
draughtsmanship as he gives us in his Venus"
is shown at its very best in the Dante drawings
In them all the artists hand would seem to have
traced with unfailing accuracy and elasticity the
promptings OF his fecund imagination. In the
dra wing for the twenty y-seventh canto OF the
Paradise" wherein Dante and Beatrice are
surrounded by clrcling ranks of angelic figures
the myriad lines OF the composition are held To-
gether in a unity not only compact bu, G'
quisitely graceful. Grace That is the quality
without which Botticelli could not have breathA
his enchanting dreams upon parchment or upon
wood. A design sprans into being under his an
In this degree or that of compexity OF simplicity;
but whether he dealt with one figure twenty
the work always preserved delicate poise.
symmetry OF line. which makes him to-day one
of the first OF eXemplars in all that pertains 10
reposeful and wise composition. Some owlsa
critics would have 1t that in this organic balance
Of his Botticeli anticipated the decorative
painters OF modern artS the men who propose
that a canvas shall be deftly filled" its coz.
stituents fused into pattern" OF much line
or color 1t is pretty fancy. but it will hardy
bear scrutiny outside OF the esoteric circles 10
which art consists OF high-hown Jargon and
an alteration OF Mr. Whistler That distir
guished painter having always made his CON-
position decorative unit as we'll as totaliV
OF intellectual Interpretation. there have been
scores and scores os young painters to assen
that he stopped at the decorative scheme Tn
same sort OF painter, the same sort Of criis
imagines that Bottice stopped at the sane
boundary. But he really went far beyond H.
This Is the point that perhaps needs TO be Tno@
emphatically enforced upon the student OF the
present time. When he Is told to go to Botticel
for instruction In the handling of lraperles hs
wants TO recognize also that his time viii @
wasted II he studies the draperies alone His old
Florentine master is above all thnos O teacher
OF imaginative art: he is above all things %
idealstic inspiration. The Dante illustrations
will prove an invaluable boon II this truth Is nrm
ly grasped. Studied reverently. taken as ths
work Of a sensitive thinker well consum'
mate craftsman. they will fertilize a sympathene
mind far more than Ill the teachings OF the
schools. 1t was ID art for arts ke' dilettan"
may be said about his fastdious trii.ing with tne
courtly topics OF the Medicean |, was no'
trining for him. any more than II was FOR nS
princely supporters. Much amateurishness tners
was. beyond question. in the epicurean circles :"
the FlOrentine Renaissance and the sitter OF tnS'
feverish period must forever be on the alert ~
separate what was artificial from what was spon'
taneous and genuine in the productions OK PAM.
err poet and prose writer. But with Bottice"
there need be little vigilance. He at least W."
sincere to the core. II II is said that ne cou'
not believe at once in his mythology and MS Nv
man church. the answer, though paradoxics"
iust-he did believe In both. That was the y
culiar privilege Of some Of the finest spirits Oh -.
Renaissance They were not good Christian .
YOU like They were not genuine pagans'
I'm some delightful fashion not wholly COMP,
hensible to the nineteenth century. they c0.'-
move amid classical or churchly scenes WIN :.
equal conviction as to their reality. Wnst Nv
created in art or In literature out Of the 'nsp"
tion which they got from both springs. tne. ..ower
ated with such enthusiasm and with sucn vshsir
that their work stands as immovable oeio Whep
BOtticeli sent his pagan Venus "oS ths
studio, when he finished his picture IL Ma
Spring" when he had completed one o. -" ~ ar.
donnas, II Ii impossible to imagine NM cth<f
ferentiating one Of these works from tn1 1a.csvs
saving. This one Is serious. this one Is -, been
For each painting his farewell must nsssuty.
the same. Go. thou vision OF eternss eters SsSa ~
care not whence thou eomset nsys J
and believo inxtAe0i 5Aa4 kAn1aGA