The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1899-06-23

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the spectrum. In 1888 forth from Stras-
burg, Germany, there came a child that
was to eclipse in speed and boldness
anything and everything that the world
had ever seen since the first color APP
peared on the sky at the creation, Paul
Gustave Dore. At IL years of age he
published marvellous Autographs of his
own. Saying nothing of what he did
for Millions Paradise Lost" amblazon-
ing it on the attention of the world, he
takes up the book of books, the mon
arch of literature, the Bible, and in his
pictures, "The Creation of Light" 1.-THE
Trial of Abraham's Faith, THE Burial
of Sarah" Joseph Sold by His Breth-
rem" 1.-THE Brazen Serpent" "Boaz and
Ruth" David and Goliath" THE
TRANSPORTATION" "The Marriage in
Cana" Babylon Fallen" and 2o5 Scrip
turaI scenes in all, with boldness and
a grasp and almost supernatural af-
flatus that make the heart throb and
the brain reel and the tears start and
the cheeks blanch and the entire nature
quake with the tremendous things of
God and eternity and the dead. l ac-
tually staggered down the steps of the
London art gallery under the power of
Dore's Christ Leaving the Praetori-
um" 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?
The world and the church ought to
come to the higher appreciation of the
Divine mission of pictures, yet the au-
thors of them have generally been left
to semistarvation. West, the great
painter, toiled in interpretation till,
being great skater, while on the ice he
formed the acquaintance of Gen. Howe,
of the English army, who, through
coming to admire West as a clever
skater, gradually came to appreciate as
much that which he accomplished by
his hand as by his heel. Poussin, the
mighty painter, was pursued and had
nothing with which to defend himself
against the mob but the artists port
folio, which he held over his head to
keep off the stones hurled at him. The
pictures of Richard Wilson, of England,
were sold for fabulous sums of money
after his death, but the living painter
was glad to get for his "Alcyone"
piece of Stilton cheese. From 1910 to
1643 there were 1900 pictures willfully
destroyed. In the reign of Queen
Elizabeth it was the habit of some peo-
pie 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 burned. Painters were so badly
treated and Inundated in the beginning
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, por-
trait of Chaucer, though now of great
value, was picked out of lumber gar
ret. Great were the trials of Quentin
Matsys, who toiled on from black
smiths anvil till, as painter, he won
wide recognition. The first mission
aries to Mexico made the fatal mistake
of destroying pictures, for the loss of
which art and religion must ever Ia
ment. But why go so far back when in
this year of our Lord to be a painter, ex-
cept in rare exceptions, means poverty |
and neglect, poorly fed, poorly clad,
poorly housed, because poorly appre-
ciated? When hear man is 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 hestead.
Oliver Goldsmith had such big patch
on his coat over the left breast that
when he went anywhere he kept his hat
in his hand closely pressed over the
patch. The world renowned Bishop
Asbury had salary of $54 a year.
Painters are not the only ones who have
men of wealth take under their patron
age the suffering men of art. They lift
no complaints they make no strike for
higher wages. But with a keenness of
nervous organization which almost al
ways characterizes genius these artists
suffer more than anyone but God can
realize.
There needs to be a concerted effort for
the suffering artist of America, not SEN
discourse about what we owe
to artists, but contracts that will give
them a livelihood; for | am in full SYM
patty with the Christian farmer who
was very busy gathering his fall apples
and some one asked him to pray for
poor family, the father of which 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 women, bat
we need sermons that make pleas for
the suffering men and women of Amer
lean art. Their work is more true to
nature and life than some of the mas
terpieces that have become immortal
on the other side of the sea, but it is the {
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