The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-06

fore us the beautiful Madonnas of Andrea
del Sarto, called the ..faultless painter :;
the quaint worldliness of Fra Filippo
Lippi; and the poetic, ripping smiles of
Leonardo. There are also many noble ex-
amples of the Italian portrait, by those
whom Ruskin terms patient, powerful
workers of the fifteenth century, and by
many succeeding portrait painters
Nearly all the schools of Italy are rep
resented, from the fifteenth century for
ward, eliminating in the rich glories of
the great Venetians, Titan, Veronese, and
TintOretto.
The setting of the pictures is florid, and
might be trying if the pictures them
selves were not of such absorbing interest
that the visitor does not have much time
to consider the surroundings. The style
OF interior decoration in the Pitt Palace
is of an Objectionable late-Renaissance
type, gilded bossy ceilings ornamented
with Indifferent frescoes, and exhibiting
what Browning calls "stucco twiddlings
everywhere"
The rooms are named in romantic taste
after various persons and attributes of
classic times. Henry James speaks of
these apartments as those dusky drawing
rooms of the Palazza Pitt, to which you
take your way along the tortuous tunnel
that wanders through the houses of Flor
ence, and is supported by the little gold
smiths booths on the Ponte Vecchio. In
the rich and insufficient light of these
beautiful rooms, to look at pictures, you
sit in damask chairs and rest your ell
bows on tables of malachite.''
There is no denying that these rooms
are gaudy and meretricious in taste; but
they are just as historically true to their
day as are the more pleasing Gothic and
Romanesque interiors to their time. This
late Renaissance and it's still later de-
cadence are typical of the people who
lived in these periods. The latter may be
called the Gilded Age. The Golden Age
had preceded it. Raphael, Titan, Leonar
do, Del Sarto-these need no apology
even mediaevalists can appreciate these
undeniably great painters, but there is a
vast horde of men who came after them
not worthy to be named with them, and
yet who possessed fine qualities, and pro
duced significant pictures. These pictures
and the very best of them, hang in the
Pitt Palace. They have never beer
given their due.
1.-THE CHRISTI by Rev. c. C. Thomp
son, pastor of the Methodist church at
Lenoir, N. c.
This is a beautiful volume, especially
appropriate as Christmas gift. 1t is an
illustrated poem of real merit contain
ing the story of the life of the Savior on
this earth. The Illustrations are appro
pirate and beautiful. Mr. Thompson has
shown poetic talent of high order.
The leading article in the December At
lantic is one which will attract more than
the ordinary amout of attention. 1t Is
DR.. Theodore T.. Munger's discussion OF
THE Church: Some Immediate ques
tons" The relation of ecclesiastical in
situations to our advancing civilization
is one which has come sharply before
the mind of all thinkers of the present
decade. No one in America is better
qualified to treat it with insight and au
thority than DR.. Munger. His conclu-
sions viii be eagerly discussed in both
the pulpit and the press.