Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1909-02-25
PAIkTERS' BtUNDERS
iRPossiBlunEs IN NATURE.

~ Halnbe>M oepieted WroHu size Out
and MoeAs Ii PssItlons and Forms
That cseld Not Occur - Amusing
Ansshrenisms BY Old Time Artists.
That artistz, like authors, should
pomsnik many errors OF fact 10 hardly
d cause for wonder. Rather. II II an
tcnishlng that they are not found Of
tener at fault n View OF the great
variety o. knowledge required in their
work. Despite this, however. there b
no manner Of EXCUSE for certain abb
eurditiea.
Tor example. there u the case Of an
English painter who depicted an elab-
crate rainbow. Unfortunately he
painted II wrong side out. But we
forget anaxernent at such stupidity IN
admiration TOR the artists magnificent
audacity when We learn that he
charged $40 additional for repainting
the rainbow colored IN accordance
with natures arrangement.
Painters are very prone 70 distress
the aatrunomeFg by their reckless
pramks with the heavenly bodies, par
ticularly with the moon. One artist
presented scene In which was q
crescent moon Low IN the eastern sky
directly opposite q setting sun. More
over, this genius disdaineH the oriti.
cisms OF the Learned He insisted that
this arrangement was necessary for
the eomposition. inasmuch as the rest
OF the picture would be destroyed by
full nnoon-the only one possible IN
such q situation.
Other artists have triHed with the
moon by turning its conyexity away
from the sun, which II, Of course, Inn
possible IN nature. In one picture tho
moon was placed near the constella-
tion Of ths Great Bear, though a. Q
matter of fact the satellite never ven-
lures into this part OF the heavens.
There ere, too, oft recurring errors
made IN the bulk OF the orb. An
American astronomer amused himself
by measuring The moons In number
OF paintingn He established the fact
that By reckoning from the satellites
size the average height Of the hills in
these landscapes was fofty-threo
miles One Of the mourtains, indeed,
had tho stupand0ua altitude Of a hum
Grod miles.
Artists Of old time were often out
rnee6u6Iy wrong, sometimes nseessafi-
y BY reason of The Limitations supposed
Dutch artist patlted 80 $3.50 s.',',.. z
i1den with wen clipped b0fu6fh ma
Tew trees trimmed into fantastic
shapes. He wrought IN all innocence.
for Of such sort were the only gardens
OF his experience. But the excuse
does not apply 10 q Dutch painting OF
IT0A. This showed Abraham about to
daughter Isaac by means OF a blunder-
buss-the product Of an age 5000
years after the time Of the patriarchsi
Yet this mistake occurs again and
again. There have been elaborate
paintings OF 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 a high price In London not long
ago. The design. which is exquisite
In workmanship, shows the good ea-
marian, with his attendants, In the
Jericho road. One Of the servants
carries gunl
Many o child 40 well as some Older
persons has puzzled over that ''bearn"
In the eye OF which the New Tesla
ment speaks. It Ia not always under
stood that this means beam OF light
But 1t was left 70 Solomon Bernard,
in his woodcuts Illustrating the Bible,
published at Lyons IN 1868, TO picture
this beam az ons Of wood, rectangular
IN section ana several feet In iengthf
The matter of costumes offers vast
opportunity for Jaws, which the paint.
ers have not failed TO seizes In the
national gallery at Edinburgh Pha-
raotfs daughter and her accompanying
women arc exhibited garbed In the
long wasted bodices and hooped
skirts Of Europe In the sixteeIth CEN
tury. The national collection IN Lon
don has picture Of Joseph and bis
kindred In Egypt, where the. buildings
shown are not at ali Egyptian in their
style Of architecture, but distinctly
Italian. In the same gallery Paolc
veroneseis 1.-THE Family Of Darius at
the Feet os Alexander After the Battle
| Of Issuss displays the women Of the
group In the pointed waists and inhat-
Cd skirts that made the familiar dross
% Venetian women in the painters
! time.
Errors that have to DO with armor
may be more readily pardoned, though
the artists fan lamentably 10 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 da-
mascsned mail. yet this form Of armor
| dfd not come into actual use until half
q thousand years later.
Similarly, In other pictures Of Chrigt'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. d.
A curious illustration Of the limita-
| lions 81 on esntng by circumstance IL
exhibited in ono Of the worlds most
famous paintings, 'sThe Last supper"
| Leonardo az vinei simply did not
know that the table, the cloth. the
plates. the knives and forks and salt
cellars were impossiDiiities IL the
uesns BE designed to portray. The
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