The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-06-14
Hncicnt vs. 'f71oderf1 Elrt.

MTtOUkFU GEl~
first attempts down to the incompara-
BILE finished article as shown in the
Hermes Of Phaxitiles, the Views Of
Milo, or any Of the other famous relics.
The period Of rise In Grecian art dates
from 1900 B. G.. to about geo BIC, q
period of over twelve hundred years
which it took to attain to the highest
of their fame. Then, the Inevitable
decline set in; and Greek art went
from great to bad, from bad to worse,
until about the time of the final fall
of Rome, it was totally dead after en-
during for over two thousand years.
Where. the ancient Greek shows
his masterful ability is in the manner
in which he boldly casts aside the prec-
edent established by Egypt and
Assyria and adopted an entirely new
idea and line of work. l mean in
copying perfectly from living models,
the human form both nude and draped,
into the statue. Neither the Egyp-
tians nor the Assyrians made any at
tempt to do this, as their work shows,
except in the case OF the very earliest
of the Egyptian work, and which they
never tried to copy afterwards. The
Greeks carried this to absolute perfec-
tion, SO that their draperies and nudes
have been copied By every artisfsince
then, and have never been equalled, to
say nothing of being excelled. Their
perfection OF detail was greatly en-.
HANGED by using the wonderfully
luminous Parian marble which looks
when polished, more like fine
paratfine wax than marble, and is
beautiful beyond expression.
Of Roman art there is none; what
they had was Grecian and poor at that
but they reasoned the same as the
Americans, that nothing in that line is
good unless imported, thereby killing
their own genius and always getting
the poorest palmed off on them for the
best. The Romans were long with the
sword but short with the chlsel. re-
fer, of course, in the above, to statuary
alone. In speaking of ancient archi
lecture, the first thing that strikes 6
beholder is the massive solidity of thu
structure; but this is so exquisitel!
counterbalanced by the perfect pro
portions that while it is evident, it i!
not obtrusive, and the whole present.
a uniform and beautiful appearance
For instance, the Parthenon at Athens
take a restoration of it and study i
and you cannot find one fault nor cal
you suggest one improvement thai
would not be incongruous. 1t is
perfect, symmetrical, finished entirety
This applies to all Grecian and Roman
buildings las they are all Creek ant
range from the tiny Temple of th'
Wingless Victory on Areopagus hill a
Athens to the stupendous Colosseum
and Forum at Rome
With the fall of Rome, or about 5O
A. D., came a complete relapse int,
barbarism as far as art was con
cerned and continued practically s,
till the Italian Renaissance, which be
gan in the 18th century A. D. Thi
period marks the advent of the grea
painters of the world, and who doe
not know Michael Angelo, Raphael
Fra Angelica, Titan, Leonardo d
Vinci, Murillo, Velasquez and others
These comprise what are known as tn
"Old Masters" Masters they were il
every sense of the word, and when on
views "Last Judgment" by Michae
Angelo, a TRANSPORTATION" by Rapt
ael, "Last Supper" by Leonardo, or
portrait by Murillo, Titan or Velas
quez, you will, if you have the tru
, artistic temperament, note the wonder
full execution, the fine blending G
color, combined with the most faul
, less drawing and greatness of ide
, that shows the master mind. Br
, high above the rest towers the might
shade of the most gifted, the MOI
). willful and obstinate of them all, til
! wonderful Michael Angelo, who coul
8 take up either brush or ,chisel, an
q when he laid it down leave to posterit
q masterpiece. He was probably tt
= most gifted man that ever lived,