The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-03-23

The reform of David, like ever,
great innovation, contained within
It the elements of many diverse is
sues. His intense classlcism wa
accompanied by the faculty of stimu
lating the strongest individuality II
his pupils, and while he was follow
Ing his own line Of action there wer,
other artists who were seeking highe
ground In other ways. Added t
these two elements there was
general acknowledgment of the low
of romance which had found such
rare opponents in Goethe and Byron
and the French history of the time
made the French people unusually
responsive to this fascinating in
fluence. The attraction of nature had
also begun TO assert itself as the nor
NAL corrective of the errors that in
vest the exaltation Of form over spirit
and all these forces brought bout the
inevitable reaction which resulted In
the Romantic School
Among the pupils of David whose
effort tended toward the new order
Gerard, Guerin Regnault, and Ingres
were the most remarkable Gerard,
without displaying any great origin
atty, was especially successful In the
composition and color OF his historical
and portrait work, and he repro
duced his subjects so simply and sim
cerely that he was known as the
"painter of kings, and the king OF
painters" After David's death he
held the supreme place in French art,
and his best qualities are shown in
the ENTRY of Henry w into Paris"
a creation full of indefinable skill and
judicious treatment.
Guerin had q refined and delicate
taste and great skill IN the illusion of
luminous atmosphere, but he IL
chiefly noted Tor the wise direction of
his pupils and for forwarding the de-
cided opposition of Regnault to the
teaching.o of their master. Regnault did
NIT reject antiquity, but he sought to
use it's forces rs exalted by natural
grace and color. He attempted more
than he was able to compass, but he
was "the forerunner OF Ingres and
Delacroix," and Delscroix was a pupil
of Guerin. But lIngres WAS the most
original and creative OF this distinct
i've group. Being swayed by pas.
haa h.t
equalled by his passion for nature, he
worked heroically through the neg
lect and misunderstanding OF many
years to body forth his principles in
regard to the inter.dspendence of
the real and ideal, and his LA
Source" completed forty years after
it's conception has been considered by
eminent critics the finest figure in
the French School. ,..
Ingres and Delacroix had together
the qualities necessary to inaugurate
the new regime, but because of
Iugres' continued dependence upon
the classic models, DelacrOix is known
rs the fret Romanticst. Leaving
the teaching of 'Guerin far behind
Delacroix was not the advocate of
any special principles, but simply
gave expression to mastery ideas;
and III his grasp of Christian as OPP |
posed to the pagan spirit, and the
sympathetic poetry of nature, he be-
came at once the leading representa-
tive of modern thought. He was |
never in Italy, but he studied the |
color of Veronese as we'll as Rubens.
and while he uses this element more
effectively than the earlier masters,
he does not equal them in perfection |
of form. The disregard of form lie one
of the weaknesses of any Romantic
art, and the degeneration it prod uces
cannot be overcome by the character
and individuality it so strongly
empha-izes; but Delacroix is the
apostle of genuine human emotion,
and the exponent of simple hum an
right, and as such he transcends all
the defects OF his school.
But AIRY Scheffer, fellow pupil of
Delacrolx In the atelier of Guerin,
brought a strong spiritual element
into the new movement. OF German
and Dutch parentaRe he formed a
link between the early
French mysticism and the teaching
of Cornelius ana Overlook. A
thorough trancende ntalist he became
with faulty anatomy and melancholy
ooloring "the painter of the soul" and
his religious pictures have depth of
meaning that gives his work place