Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-04-14
PAINTERS BLUNDERS
Reckless Franks Played With
Heavenly Bodies.
IMPOSSIBILITIES IN NATURE
A Rainbow Depicted Wrong Side Out
and Moons In Positions and Form.
That Could Not Occur - Amusing
Anachronisms by Old Time Artists.

and Moons In Positions and Forms
That Could Not Occur - Amusing
Anaehronisms by Old Time Artists.
That artists, like authors, shout,
commit many errors of fact is hardl.
a cause for wonder. Rather, 1t is as
tonishing that they are not found of
tener at fault In view of the grea
variety Of knowledge required In theil
work. Despite this, however. there is
no manner of excuse for certain alb
surdities.
For example, there Is the case of al
English painter who depicted an elab
crate rainbow. Unfortunately he
painted it wrong side out. But we
forget amazement at such stupidity IL
admiration for the artists magnificent
audacity when we learn that NJ
charged EGO additional for repaintinc
the rainbow colored In accordanc'
with natures arrangement
Painters are very prone to distress
the astronomers by their reckless
pranks with the heavenly bodies, par
ticularly with the moon. Cne artist
presented scene in which was Il
crescent moon low in the eastern SKY
directly opposite n setting sun. Mere
over. this genius q d3inCd the criti-
cisms Of the learned He insisted that
this arrangement Was nee csSlry for
the composition, inaSmuc Il - the res
Of the picture wcu!d Ec t,";-r ed b;
a full moon-the only one possible il:
such a sitN tiCn.
Other artists haze triaad with the
moon by turning its correctly away
from the sun. which is Of course. i'm
possible in nature. In one picture the
moon was placed near the cOnstella-
ton Of the Great Bear, though as 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 q hun
dred miles.
Artists Of old time were often out
rageously wrong, sometimes necessari-
ly by reason Of the limitations imposed
by the ignorance Of the period. A
Dutch artist painted the garden Of
Eden with well clipped borders and
yew 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 to Dutch painting Of
1874. This showed Abraham about to
slaughter Isaac by means of blunder-
buss-the product Of an age 5000
years after the time Of the patrlarchs.
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 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 a gun!
Many child as well as some older
persons has puzzled over that beam"
In the eye Of which the New Tesla
ment speaks. 1t Is not always under
stood that this means beam of light
But 1t was left to Solomon Bernard,
in his woodcuts illustrating the Bible
published at Lyons in 1868, to picture
this beam as one Of wood, rectangular
In section and several feet in length!
The matter Of costumes offers vast
opportunity for flaws, which the paint
ers have not failed to seize. In the
national gallery at Edinburgh Pha-
raoh's daughter and her accompanying
women are exhibited CARRIED In the
long wasted bodices and hoped
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 at 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 inflat-
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 da-
mascened mail, yet this form Of armor
did not come into actual use until half
a 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. ID.
A curious Illustration of the limita-
tions set on genius by circumstance Is
exhibited In one Of the worlds most
famous paintings, 1.-THE Last Supper"
Ia0nordo da Vtpci cfmpJy did not