Bryan morning eagle. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1898-1909, 1908-12-23
PAINTERS DLUNDERS
Reckless Franks Played With
Heavenly Bodies.
lMP0SSlBILlTleS IN NATURE.

A Rainbow Depicted Wrong Side Out
and Moons In Positions and Forms
That Could Not Occur - Amusing
Anaehronisrs by Old Time Artists.
That artists. like authors, should
commit many errors OF fact Is hardly
cause for wonder Rather, II Is as
tonlshing that they are not found Of
lener at fault In view of the great
variety OF knowledge required In their
work. Despite this, however, tsere is
no manner OF excuse for certain ab.
surditles.
For example, there is the case OF an
English painter who depicted an CLAW
crate rainbow, Unfortunately he
painted II wrong side out. But we
forget amazement at such stupidity In
admiration for the artists magnificent
audaclty when we learn that he
charged Go additional for repaintlng
the rainbow colored IN accordance
with natures arrangement.
Painters are very prone 20 distress
the astronomers by their reckless
pranks with the heavenly 1dles, par
ticularly with the moon, one artist
presented scene In which was a
crescent moon low In the eastern sky
directly opposite n setting sun, More
over this genius dlsdained the criti.
cisms OF the learned. lie insisted that
this arrangement was necessary for
the composition, inasmuch as the rest
OF the picture would he destroyed 10y
n full moon-the only one possible In
such situation.
other artists have trihed with the
moon 10y turning it's convcxlty away
from the sun. which is, Of course. i'm.
possible in nature. In one picture the
moon was placed near the constella-
tlon OF the Great Bear, though rs n
matter Of fact the satellite never ven
lures into this part Of the heavens.
There are, too, oft recurring errors
made In the bulk Of the orb. An
American astronomer amused himself
by measuring the moons IN number
OF paintings He established the fact
that by reckoning from the satellites
size the average height OF the hills in
these landscapes was forty.three
miles, one of the mountains, indeed,
had the stupendous altitude Of n hun
drcd miles
Artists OF old time were often out.
rageously wrong. sometimes neccssari-
~ 10y reason Of the limitations imposed
10y the ignorance of the period A
Dutch artist painted the garden of
Eden with well clipped borders and
view trees trimmed into fantastic
shapes, He wrought In all innocence.
Tor of such sort were the only gardens
Of his experience. But the excuse
does not apply 20 a Dutch painting Of
1904. This showed Abraham about TO
slaughter Isaac by means Of blunder-
buss-the product ~ an age 1900
years after the time ~ the patriarchs.
Yet this mistake occurs again and
again, There have been elaborate
paintings " the children of Israel
crossing the Red sea with muskets on
their shoulders, A beautiful ivory
tankard. an Augsburg carving Of the
early seventeenth century. was sold
FOR high price In London not long
ago. The design, which is exquisite
In workmanship. shows the good Sa.
marian, with his attendants, IN the
Jericho road. one OF the servants
carries gunl
Many child as well as some older
persons has puzzled over that beam"
In the eye ~ which the New Tesla
ment speaks. II is not always under.
stood that this means a beam OF light
But Il was left To solomon Bernard.
In his woodcuts illustrating the Bible,
published AT Lyons In 1853, To picture
this beam as one Of wood. rectangular
In section and several feet In length,
The matter Of costumes offers vast
for flaws. which the paint
ers have not failed 10 seize. In the
national gallery at Edinburgh Pha.
raoh's daughter and her accompanying
women are exhibited CARRIED In the
long WASTED bodices and hooped
skirts Of Europe In the sixteenth cen
fury, The national collection In Lon
don has picture Of Joseph and his
kindred In Egypt, where the buildings
shown are not nj all Egyptian In their
style Of architecture, but distinctly
Italian. In the same gallery Paolo
Veronese's "The Family Of Darius at
the Feet Of Alexander After the Battle
Of Issus" displays the women of the
group In the pointed waists and infiat-
ed skirts that made the familiar dress
Of Venetian women In the painters
time.
Errors that have TO do with armor
may be more readily pardoned, though
the artists fail lamentably In knowl-
edge as to the earlier forms Of metal
protection Thus in some paintings
showing the time OF Christ the war
riors are seen clad In beautifully ia
mascened mail, yet this form of armor
did not come into actual use until half
n thousand years later.
Similarly, In other pictures OF Christ's
time, monks are portrayed in their
robes, with tonsures. In fact, how
ever, they did not exist In the church
prior TO the fourth century A. II.
A curious Illustration Of the llmita-
tons set ON genius by circumstance is
exhibited In one Of the worlds most
famous paintings. 1.-THE Last Supper"
Leonardo da Vinci simply did not