New-York tribune., 1901-06-17
LONDON NOTES.
MRS CRAIGIE AT THE DANTE CITP-
JUNE ART SHOWS

she was in quest of health and recreation With
a modest but fncfsive little essay on "Danta
and Botticeh' and has delighted a critical and
scholarly audience with the freshness of her
thoughts and the brightness of her phrasine
What was the precise motive which impelled her
TO take the Dante Society into her confidence
and to favor brilliant Harley-st. audience
with her holiday reflections on the two great
men Of Florence she did not reveal Possihlv
she took with her TO Florence the ESSAYS az
Walter Pater and John Addington Symonds
and was disturbed by the evidence that thew
did not comprehend the Roman Catholic spirit
in the Renaissance movement which. accord
ing TO her view, had nothing to do with
learning. nor documents. nor great intellectual
gifts. but a question of feeling. She was
not controversial, and had no special theory.
She took up human problem in the lives OF
Dante and Botticelli, and was content with
| finding for it a natural and simple solution.
The problem, she stated il. this: Why
two men so different in genius and living in
different periods of the history of Florence
should have arrived at precisely the same point
of view respecting questions raised by the Ro-
man Catholic faith" Her answer seemed to ba
that il was because they were before all thinss
human. Ii neither the revival of learning
nor interest in Greek. nor any of those acct
dental things which drove great man to
trate it. Their histories did not depend upon
the hearing of this or that message. nor upon
the reading of this that book. 1t was all
a matter of human nature 1t the dis
cipline OF life, not disappointment in love- nor
an uncongenial marriage. nor the woes of exile.
which made Dante the eternal ambassador OF
the Italian spirit. II was not of necessity the
downfall of the Medici. the burning Of
Savonarola. which drove BotticeIn from his
child Madonnas. wistful saints and innocent
Aphrodite to thoughts of heaven and hell. They
both came by different roads and experiences.
by disusions. distractions bewildering griefs.
reactions and doubts. the same paradise.
Mrs. Craigie described Dante scholar judge.
soldier and ambassador, who knew pagan liter
ature and public and social life. and by sheer
versatility anticipated the Renaissance. He
took all that his country gave to him. whether
in legend. tradition. history or revelation To
him the sacred muses. real as the car
dinal virtues. and the gods had never gone; yet
he was in advance of his time, and offered
neither religion of joy of suffering. but
religion of the heart. BOtticelli in his turn
the pupil of Carmelite friar and the friend Of
Savonarola. tine founder of Puritanism, and also
of Poitian who Iectured on pagan literature
and the idyls of Theocritus; and he waited until
his last years before undertaking the execution
making of sublime love verses to the mysteries
of hell. so BotticeIi ceased to portray visions of
Ioveliness. The spotted snake entering into the
beautiful world of poetry and ideaIism life
itself. The wickedness of the city came nearer.
Tale bearers. liars, slanderers and hypoCrites
cursed and sneered every side. He painted
calumny ten years before SavonaroIa was
burned. and ended by illustrating the Divine
Comedy and losing sight of Madonnas. saints
and Aphrodite. Mrs. Craigie's analogies of the
two careers converged at the same point-the
disillusion which comes from the discipline Of
life and the evolution of human experiences, ana
one Of her morals was that the best possible
training for artists was reading the highest kind
| of literature and the best training for writer's
was decorative art That was certainly a
satisfactory sequence than the Poet Laureate's
inference that what made Dante eternaly in
teresting was the love affair.
When Mrs. Craigie had finished her thought
full If frasmentary essay, and had beer thanked
for il. there was dull rectattve from the secre-
tary about the Dante library which the society
was laboring TO found All the members were
plaintively urged 10 collect subscriptions with
old fashioned fervor for this enduring monument
| TO Dante and 70 give to the project the widest
possible publicity. The American Ambassador.
who in the chair, had opened the way for
this discussion by describing the magnificent
Dante library which has been collected at Cor
nell University. Alack, Englishmen are not al
lowed even to spend a quiet hour with Dante
and BotticelIi. listening the sparkling epi-
grams of lady in white with luminous face,
without being held up in the end and genialy
reminded OF the superior resources Of Western
civilization and how easily the Americans man.
age literary enterprises, How feeble and help
less was the secretary's cadging for subscrip-
| tions when the summary of the catalogue OF
| that unrivalled collection in. an American uni
versity barely more than thirty years old was
| recalled. Englishmen seem doomed in these
| days TO be reminded of American superiority in
resources of wealth, energy and organization
| every day in the week
| The largest of the June art shows is the water
| color exhibition OF the Dudley Gallery Art So
| ciety in Egyptian Hall. There are over three
| hundred drawings and sketches in the dinly
lighted old room. and there some lovely
landscapes among them. Mr.. Walter Severn has
series of drawings Of Scotch scenes. with
abundance of atmosphere. agreeable blends OF
color and a just sense of relations and values.
The best one is Golden Autumn" with a forest
lighted up with reds. yellows and browns, and
a tranquil stream shimmering with siIvery sheen
until ii is lost in the distant reaches OF misty
vista IL is old fashioned water color painting,
with beauty of composition and tenderness or
feeling. Not far away is landscape by MY
George Marks. with the fanciful title, There Is
a Sweet Spirit Dwelling Here" II is a Scotch
tange of gorse. wild flowers. thistles and green
cry. with sense of quetude. beauty and rest
fulness In the wildness and neglect There Is
individuality in the technique, and the drawing
has charm of color and refinement Of feeling
The painter has lovely little example OF
| .-lT0r