Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-19


lures, 1.-The Creation of Light" ''The
Trial of Abraham's Faith" "The
Burial of Sarah" Joseph Sold by His
Brethren "The Brazen Serpent" p"
"Boaz and Ruth" David and Go
liath," THE TRANSPORTATION, 1.-The
Marriage In Cana" Babylon Fallen
and 2O5 Scriptural scenes in all, with
a boldness and grasp and almost SUI
pernatural afiatus that make the heart
throb and the brain reel and the tears
start and the cheeks blanch and the
entire nature quake with the tremen-
dous things of God and eternity and the
dead. | 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!
Arts Divine Mission.
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 corrosion.
What a lesson in morals was presented
by Hogarth, the painter, in his two
pictures, The Rake's Progress" and
1.-The Misers Feast" and by Thomas
Coles engravings of the Voyage of
Human Life" and the Course of EN-
pire.' and by Turner's Slave Ship"
God in art. Christ in artl Patri-
archs. prophets and apostles in art!
Angels in art. Heaven in art.
The world and the church ought to
come to the higher appreciation of the
divine mission of pictures, yet the
authors of them have generally been
left to semistarvation. West, the
great painter, toiled in unappreciation
till, being great skater. while on the
ice he formed the acquaintance of
General Howe of the English army,
who. through coming to admire West
as a clever skater, gradually came to
appreciate as much that which he ac-
complished by his hand as by his heel.
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 for
fabulous sums of money after his
death, but the living painter was glad
to get for his "Alcyone" a piece of
Stilton cheese. From 1910 to 1643
there were 1000 pictures willfully de
stroyed. In the reign of Queen Eliza
beth it was the habit Of some people
to spend much of their time in knock
ing pictures 10 pieces. In the reign OF
Charles | it was ordered by par
lament that all pictures of Christ
be burned. Painters were so badly
treated and humiliated in the begin
ming of the eighteenth century that
they were lowered clear down out OF
the sublimity of their art and obliged
to give accounts of what they did with
their colors The oldest picture in
England. a portrait of Chaucer, though
now of great value, was picked out of
a lumber garret. Great were the trials
of Quentin Matsys, who toiled on from
blacksmith's anvil till, as painter,
he won wide recognition. The first
missionaries 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 occasions,
means poverty and neglect, poorly
fed, poorly clad, poorly housed, be-
cause poorly appreciated?
Value of Art Galleries.
When | 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
departments of noble work. Some of
the mightiest have been hardly be-
stead. Oliver Goldsmith had such big
patch on the coat over his left breast
that when he went anywhere he kept
his hat III his hand closely pressed
over the patch. The world renown-
ed Bishop Asbury had a salary of $64
year. Painters are not the only ones
who have endured the lack of appreci-
ation Let men of wealth take under
their pa uonage the suffering men of
art They lift no complaint; they
make no strike for higher wages. But
with a keenness of nervous organiza-
ton which almost always character
ICES genius these artists suffer more
than any one but God can realize.
There needs be a concerted effort for.
the suffering artists of America, not
sentimental discourse about what we
owe to artists, but contracts that will
give them Il livelihood; for am in full
sympathy with the Christian farmer
who was very busy gathering his fall
pray for Il poor family, the father of
whom had broken his leg, and the busy
farmer said: 81 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 | can do now"
Artists may wish for our prayers,
but they also want practical help from
men who can give them work. You
have heard scores of sermons for all
other kinds of suffering men and worl-
en-. but we need sermons that make
pleas for the suffering men and women
nf American art. Their work is
more true to nature and life than some
Of the masterpieces that have become
immortal ON the other side of the sea,
but it is the fashion of Americans to
mention foreign artists and to know
little or nothing about our own Copley
and AllstOn. and Inman and Gree.