Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-04-18

most highly cherished treasures of the
cathedral at Marienweder.
James SAINT l. one of the few Eng
| fish artists who have added anything
notable to religious art. His Easter
| Offering" is one of the daintiest pic
lures of its class, a modernized pres
entation of the holy women. His
| Walk to Emmaus" is also a highly
| devotional work. SAINT is now eighty
| six years of age and lives in London
! at 43 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park.
| West He is best known as portrait
| painter and holds the honorary posi-
| ton of principal painter in ordinary to
the queen. He has been a member Of
| the Royal academy since 1870 and a
corresponding member of the La Regia
Academia Raffaella of Urbino. In
spite of his age he still contributes to
/ national exhibitions. Two of his
daughters are well known in English
| society. One of them is the wife of
General j. NJ. Batten, and the other
is the wife of the Hon. Percy eye.
! Heinrich Holman, who, like Plock-
horst, is of the modern German school.
is one of the best known of religious
| painters He was born in Darmstadt
! in 1924 and studied at Dusseldorf,
| Antwerp and Paris. He was for a
| time professor in the art schools at
Dusseldorf and Dresden,
He was a prolific artist. the galleries
at Dresden and Berlin containing SONS
| of his best achievements. Some critics
accuse him of lack of originality. but
! he stands high in the world of art. for
| his paintings are pleasing. and all tell
an effective story, which. after all. is
the secret of popularity. A life of
Christ might be compiled by proper
arrangement of his pictures. for he
! follows the Biblical narrative from
scene to scene. taking it up at Beth
Iehem and closing with the incidents
| at Emmaus. HofmannS Easter
Morning is not so we'll known as is
his Jesus In the Temple Disputing
| With the Doctors" but it is character
1 istic. 1t shows the weeping Mary at
the sepulcher, while behind her stands
the glorified Master waiting to make
himself known to her.
Many other modern artists have
found their inspiration in the scenes
of the Bible. These have mostly been
those of the German school, for the
/ German temperament is certain to be
! intensely devout whenever il is not
skepticah Few French artists have
ventured into this field-Bouguereau
! Barrias. DelacroiX. Dore, Delaroche
and Tissot being some exceptions that
almost prove the rule.
The old masters with the somber
| religious views of the middle ages de-
voted themselves to painting the cru
cifXion and the descent from the
cross rather than the brighter scenes
Izg ~ H.
days, when men We're rough, unim-
| pressionable creatures. the church
needed heroic means to bring the
world TO. realize the claims of religion,
and SO the tragic scenes of the death
| of the Saviour were impressed upon
\ the eye and were used to stir the
| heart when the messages of the resurI
rection might have been insufficient to
= arouse them to enthusiasm and dcyo-
4 tom.
No longer is religion the dark and
gloomy thing it was-designed to
scourge humanity into the straight
and narrow pathway. but rather tina
gospel of love set like star to guide
I men through this world and into q
I home of rest above. Art, to be sure.
has not the encouragement that it had
4 in the golden renaissance period. when
! a. great artist was almost as honored
as a king. The church is no longer
the liberal patron of the arts that IL
once was. and purftanism with it's bare
and undecorated churches has never
4 lent 1t much encouragement. 1t Is
likely that the golden age of religious
art is over, and this is a pity, for
Il often the brush of the artist can
! preach more effective sermon than
the tongue of the preacher. Certainly
the story of the resurrection has never
been so well told as by the great mod
ern masters of religious art
CAROLINE WETHERELIA