Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1909-07-15

AN"Z NAANAF = - /" "NNE+ """IF
wlnIam Allen white who has been
doing Europe writes thus Of art IS
he saw II In the galleries Of the con-
tinent;
In the Munich gallery and In most
/ Of the German galleries considerable
space is given to tie Dutch masters
| In Munich there IL q fine lot Or
Rubens' naked fat women. Rubens
seemed to have a low opinion Of fat
people. He never painted a"Last
Judgment" that he did not I'LL hell
full Of naked fat people, mostly fat
women; while he sent all the syiphs
and wood nymphs to glory. Also,
his other pictures were full Of naked
fat people-fat Bacchuses, fat god
desses, and fat gods--ail just out OF
their underclothes. and looking as
ashamed Of their figures as real fat
folk. 1t probably has nothing TO do
with art, and is pure personal opin-
ion, but 1t does seem bad taste to all
hell with fat people. They aren't so
bad. They mean we'll. They are
sinners, Of course, but they are sorry.
And to give the skinny people the ex-
elusive use Of heaven is going to
make It a mighty dull place. But
then probably Rubens knows as little
about the real population Of heaven
and hell as the rest Of us-which Is
precious little. But there was this
pleasant innovation made by. the
Dutch painters from the Italian rule:
The Dutch painters did not put halos
on their saints and virgins. After
six weeks of desuItory viewing Ital-
ian art, little Mary asked her mother
why Jesus always wore tin hat--a
question which her mother couldn't
answer. But the tin hat disap-
peared in the northern galleries and
under Van Dyke and Rubens and
Rembrant virility and manly cour-
age and strength came into the face
OF Christ that the Italians could not
imagine. But the Dutch didn't
bother much with holy scriptures.
Aside from Ruben's cornucopio Of
fat folk dropping hellwards In his
Last Judgments, and few ..'Descents
from the Cross" Rubens and his
Dutch contemporaries were not I'M
terested in holy scriptures. But the
Dutch are the worlds greatest gro
Gerry painters. They call these pic
lures Of staple and fancy groceries,
"still Life" The German and Hol-
land and Belgian galleries are great
show rooms Of food. And the pic
lures of these things to eat indicate
that the bill OF fare Of man has not
changed much in thousand years.
One sees the same kinds Of cheese
that delights the palate today-the
same fruit and vegetables; the oy-
ster, the horse radish> and the lemon
lay side by side In picture in Mum
ich, painted 400 years ago. Rye
bread Is found beside the half empty
beer glass in a picture 800 years old,
with the onions and radishes and
marbled cheese and welnerwurst sau-
sages Of the old Dutch lunch, (Which,
like the Old, Old Story, is Always
New,) and the old Dutch Bust
Head and the Old Dutch Remorse
right along beside 1t, even as it is to-
day! And not only in painting food.
but in painting common life Of com
mon men, the Dutch were great
painters. They were realists. They /
painted life as 1t was. And they were
men warts and air weak, frail
men, with great aspirations and great
strength for some things, but great
weakness in others. They made NO
saints and but few real sinners
even Rubens' fat women in hell seem
to be making the best Of It, and do
Ing all they can to make 1t comfort
able. And the other Dutch painters
painted no heavens and few hells, but
made interiors Of many homes. and
only as these homes were obviously
happy or not were they heaven or
hell. But whatever one saw of the
human face in the canvasses Of the
Dutch 1t was always q human soul
hat was painted--and never a
.aint's. And to a Kansan who has
met no saints in all hfs life and few
real sinners. this was refreshing
,hange from the Italian pictures.
But this Is small world, after all.
rhe number Of people in It Is lin
ted. And in the Munich gallery
here is q great picture BY Albert
Durer, painted 400 years ago that
will interest Kansans. For Durer
las painted Stubs, as John the Bap-
list. The likeness Is more than mar
4. - SO n .