The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-06-30

OnluB IL on the ullelllOu OF lHS WOIiu,
he takes up the Book of Books. the
monarch of literature, the Bible. and In
his pictures, The Creation Of LigL.,
THE Trial of Abrahams Faith, 81 nc
Burial Of Sarah" Joseph Sold by His
Brethren" THE Brazen Serpent,
"Boaz and Ruth" "The Transfgura-
tion," 1.-The Marriage in Cana" Baby
Ion Fallen" and two hundred and five
scriptural scenes in all, with a boldness
and grasp and almost supernatural ar
flatus that make the heart throb and
the brain reel and the tears start and
the cheek blanch and the entire ma
ture quake with the tremendous things
of God and eternity and the dead. l
actually staggered down the steps OF
the London Art Gallery, under the
power of Dore's Christ Leaving the
Praetorium." Profess you to be
Christian man or woman, and see no
divine mission in art, and acknowledge
you no obligation either in thanks to
God or man?
1t is no more the word Of God when
put before us in printers ink than by
skillful laying on of colors or designs
on metal through incision or corro-
sion. What a lesson in morals was
presented by Hogarth, the painter, IN
his two pictures, THE Rake's Prog
ress" and THE Misers Feast and
by Thomas Coles engravings OF the
Voyage of Human Life" and the
Course of Empire" and Turner's
slave Ship! God in art! Christ IN
art! Patriarchs, prophets and apos-
ties in art! Angels in art! Heaven IN
art!
The world and the church ought 10
come to the higher appreciation OF the
divine mission OF pictures; yet the au-
thors Of them have generally been LETT
to semi-starvation. West, the great
painter, toiled in unappreciation ILL.,
being a great skater, while on the Ice
he formed the acquaintance OF Gen
eral Howe of the English army, VINO
through coming to admire West as
clever skater, gradually came TO APP
preciate as much that which he accom-
pAASASN ~ no manu- as "
Poussin, the mighty painter. was pur-
sued and had nothing with which TO
defend himself against the mob but
the artists portfolio, which he held
over his head to keep off the stones
hurled at him. The pictures OF Rich
ard Wilson of England were sold Tor
fabulous sums of money after MS
death. but the living painter was glad
to get for his "Alcyone" piece OF Sui
ton cheese From 1910 TO l645 there
were four thousand six hundred pic
lures willfully destroyed. In the reign
Of Queen Elizabeth it was the habit OF
some people to spend much OF their
time in knocking pictures to pieces. IN
the reign of Charles |. it was ordered
by Parliament that all pictures OF
Christ be burnt. Painters were so bad
ly treated and Inundated in the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century that
they were lowered clear down out OF
the sublimity of their art, and oOllged
to give accounts of what they did with
their colors. The oldest picture In
III lahus Il POI II at VI AliauNNAf
now of great value was picked out OF
lumber garnet. Great were the trials
of Quentin Matsys, who toiled on from
blacksmth's anvil till, as painter, he
won wide recognition. The first mis-
sionaries TO Mexico made the fatal
mistake of destroying pictures. for the
loss of which art and religion must
ever lament. But why go so far back
when in this year OF our Lord, to be
painter, except in rare instances,
means poverty and neglect; poorly
fed, poorly clad. poorly housed, be-
cause poorly appreciated! When l
hear a man is a painter | have two
feelings-one OF admiration for the
greatness of his soul, and the other of
commiseration for the needs Of his
body. But so it has been in all de-
partments of noble work. Some of the
mightiest have been hardly bestead.
Oliver Goldsmith had such big patch
on his coat over his left breast that
when he went anywhere he kept his
hat in his hand closely pressed over
the patch. The world-renowned Bish-
op Asbury had salary of $54 year.
Painters are not the only ones who
have endured the lack OF appreciation.
Let men of wealth take under their
patronage the suffering men of art.
They lift no complaint; they make no
strike for higher wages. But with a
keenness of nervous organization
which almost always characterizes ge-
MUS, these artists suffer more than
any one, but God, can realize. There
needs to be concerted effort for the
suffering artists of America, not SEN
timental discourse about what we owe
to artists, but contracts that will give
them a livelihood; for / am in SYM
pathy with the Christian farmer who
was very busy gathering his fall APP
pies, and some one asked him to pray
for poor family, the father of which
had broken his leg, and the busy farm
er said: II cannot stop now to pray.
but you can go down into the cellar
and get some corned beef and butter
and eggs and potatoes; that is all l
can do now" Artists may wish for our
al t.