Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-12-24

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-Four hundred years ago. when the
School OF Masters was created In Italy
the work Of painting the Madonna and
child was taken NJ as life study. Tho
great painters did H. not as an incl
dent In life OF art. but as work TO
BE- prayed over, slept over ana eaten
over. to be studied repalntcd. redrnwn
md worked upon until. finally. at the
conclusion OF n long life, the painter
could say. II have finished my Ma
donna"
Tho church was tho scene IN which
he raintcd. and tho altar was the rage
of rarc hmcnt or ycllum which present.
Ell itself for toll aud sacrifice. In this
rnnctity he lived. and religion came
20 be n part NJ his painting. Each
stroke was put TO the canvas under the
Divine influence. and To this day there
arc legends o. the inspirations under
which the painters labOrcd when they
worked.
MADoNNAs OF TO-DAY.
To-day the work ~ painting the
Madonna and the Child goes on, ana
II would be unfair 10 say that II IL
not the work ~ reiiEiouH men. but
clearly the religion that inspires thcm
holds "a very different place In the
everyday life from that u held when
the earliest ~ the great masters paint
cd. Those are, In plain truth, easel
pictures. Intended 10 be hung among
Others, 10 be part Of more or less num-
'rous objects that furnish pleasantly
the houses Of their owners. kownlskl.
the painter % hunting and campaign
scenes. places n graceful model. with
boy NJ her knee. IN sober SURROUNDINGS
paints the scene with simplicity aud re-
nnement and calls II THE Infancy OF
Christ" Papporlts. with vivid mem
Dry NJ the later Renaissance. makes n
brilliantly picturesque rendering Of his
subject the attraction Of which In In
the floating. impossible veil. and In the
highly wrought texture 81 the flesh.
Adolphc Grass kcopg'cloaer 20 the slim
pie conception. while Knauns and Hoo
Der give REIN TO iivcllcr. II not a more |
sympathetic. fancy. The pictures IN |
themselves are pleasing. They md
their welcome In multitudcr Of homes. |
aud are cherished by muliitudcs ~ /,
rlour hearts. II they are no longer Of
the old religious art. yet they may be
the centres of sincere and tender rc.
ligioua feeling.
Tho earliest masterpiece Of the Ma
donna ana child Of which we have l
record. IL that Of Giovanni Bcilini, who
lived 1928 20 1915 with Bcilini. came
the full development OF art with re-
llFlon. Tho previous Madonnaa had |
either religion without art, which
meant nothing. or art without fellg-
ION, which became rncriicEc. But with
nolllnl there arose the FIRST great mas
tefpiccc 81 tho Madonna.
Bslllni. under the shadow OF tho
altar. painted the gravel face OF the
mother ~ Christ full Of comtompla-
ton. The Child was serious, with In
tent consciousness OF the future. lie
modelled In simple. broad methods, and
finished In n refined. smooth way with
out cccontricity TO detail 10 mar his
THE FIRST MADoNSAs.
Talne aftcrward said that the work
NJ bcllinl was the browning OF rclig-
Iour art.
While ii.lilni was painting. for Bel.
llni was Italian. pistro Perugino. who
lived iuc 60 1893, was also painting.
and In some senses he painted better,
for his art was moro highly religious
Ills was Joyful Madonna with a
child who rcIolccd that he had come
INTO the world.
Titan. the famous. hcEnn life IN
''' and for nearly half century he
painted. Titan lived tranquil llfo I,
into his hundrcdth year. and the rc- ,
'ordH tell ~ that he painted for eighty ,
ears. During that time hc turned out
rom his patient hand the happlcsi. I
ioalthiert. most religious pictures that :
'ver came from "a painters brush. III ,
ian had calm and nteadfaHt will. A.,
Which shows now In his paintings. IIc