New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-10

PalNtNG.
the scientific or self conscious critic as
occasions for the display Of learning. 1t
was this masters feeling that was al
WAYS coming to the surface. his swift IN
stinct for the clements in q work OF art
that kept It alive and made y really
worth while to all men
There is a saying in one Of these chap
ters which is luminous with La Farges
true irterpretative faculty. He is speak
Ing Of the great 81. Cecilia al 80
lorna and Of what it has suffered at th@
hands Of the restorer. Though the dam
age inks him he will not eyagGerate its
significance. going on as follows,
Put with Raphaers paintings usually
.hera &c Something in their make which re
sists the injuries Of nlseppleo aGlhl. aL.uI!'
beyond what average reason .palu or ,,,,,
The intention Of such design Is So rx
forrS ee to- carry a special form Of NE
with 4.
That. we repeat. is So like La Fargo IN
,ts going straight to the thing that mat
+crod the intention Of such a design
Tor the intention underlying a great
rointine. which is to say for IFS vital
crark. he has an extraordinary clalrN"N-
ance. IN ;his book he fulfils what We
have been told by Anatole France IS the
function Of the critic TO relate the ad-
ventures Of soul among masterpieces
And he shows the authenticity OF his
warrant TO discourse on his hundred
famous pictures in nothing more con-
clusiyely than in the broad nature OF
the scheme he follows. La Fargo on
choice Germany Of his predecessors is
worth listening to. not merely because
he was himself a continuato" of their
tradition. a practising artist, but be-
cause he was man Of MIND and OF
acute human sympathy. Hence. his
book frames no formula. ombOdics no
class list. counts up no riGidiE limited
number OF the best pictures, hut de-
taChes from the worlds mass of paint
inss succession Cf works illustrating
interesting IDEAS The very titles OF his
chapters show with what freshness the
old PAINTER attacked his beloved th"me.
Needless Of conventional classification,
of schools. oIochs, ana the like, he adj
dresses himself rather, 90 salient mo-
tiyes, which have touched the hearts OF
painters and OF those for whom they
laborei re writes Of way and a. tr!-
umph-. Of alcgorio- and OF what ne
d2rc- 90 caI simply dreams Of harpi-
ness" q sacred conversations and Of
the eadncsa Of certain portraits His
APPROACH is personal and alive with
thought Hc has nothing 20 say 20 the
systematic student, for whom chrOnol-
oCy and streams Of influence are tran
scendently important. lie wants to
make the layman understand what a
beautiful picture IS, how it grew out Of
soc.ai conditions and what The indi-
vidIal genius behind it was like.
Bocauee ne wrote as he talked, deal
ing with ideas instead of with ponder
able facts. hts appeal is constantly to
the imagination, and is nothing if rot
subtly suggestive He communicates
not so much information as atmos-
phere. and cnforces not so much a les
son as a point Of view. 1T is, Of course,
the point of view of the artist that he
states, but with nothing mysterious
about it, nothing esoteric Here are ii
few guiding thoughts from his preface;
The contemplation Of art is a form Of
study OF the history OF man and a very
certain one Its records are absolutely dis
interested from Any attempi at proving
TO understand that the record OF art passe;
beyond the record OF the historian. II docs
L.. a
not live from necessity, but from choice,
and IL avoids the pressure Of necessity. We
obtain from a work Of art parallel and DIFF
ferent statements. We learn how our an
cestors-that is 10 sag, all manknd-lived,
externally, and their ideas concerning that
external life; what things they did 10
carry on the form OF their civilization,
what shapes OF building they used. and
how they liked to have their life, In and
out ordered: what their ideas were Of pro-
priety and behavior But we also get what
were their desires, their aspirations, their
ideas concerning matters of feeling, OF the
higher life, and their relation 10 lie be-
yond. Thus we know what they thought
OF life: we know also what they thought
OF death We have before US the mirror OF
life at given moment.
Through his eyes we see into the mir
ror and IL would be hard to overestimate
the pleasure and the illumination THEREBY
gained. An instance may be cited from
the very first chapter, in which La Fargo
treats OF certain portraits Of civic life,
the Corporation Pieces" OF the seven
teenth century Dutch school We have
heard a great deal about the technical
achievements in these csnvases OF Rem
brandt, Halls and the rest, but while La
Fargo does not neglect them he subordi-
mates them 10 what can only be de-
scribed as the spiritual significance Of