Mexico Missouri message., 1912-05-09

se!I-defense on the part Of the hardpushed quarry
when the antlered monster charged down upon
him crushing him to death before he had time
TO withdraw his invaluable flint? That bit Of
oone-encased rock-what tragedies of the Stone
Age does it not suggest?
But We have strayed far afeld from the real
purpose Of these lines which is none else than
% make the reader acquainted with the Innings
OF an infinitely less remote age, but which, as
samples Of finished drawings Of sporting scenes
yet rank among the oldest have.
Florentne Of the Florentnes though Flemish
BY birth, for he born In Bruges in the year
1928, Giovanni della Strada, or to use his Latin
lied name with which he frequently signed his
work, Joannes Stradanus. had acquired by his
apprenticeship to Michael Angelo many of the
famous artists peculiarities and mannerisms,
a glance at Stradanus' prancing heavily-maned
steeds and giant-limbed men discloses. Strada-
nus was born at most opportune moment for
the craving for pictorial matter making itself
felt In the second half Of his century was Great
ing demand which far exceeded the supply, and
though your Bodies and Tschudis and even ear.
Her art critics insist that this craving helped
more than any other circumstance TO prostitute
art debasing the divine inspiration Of the painter
20 common craft, IL must not be forgotten that
but for men like Stradanus Theodore de Bry,
Hans Boil the multitudinous Gale family at Ant
werp, Collaera, Wierx Mallery Sadeler and Colt
Zius. well as the De Passe family, who all
worked with extraordinary energy in turning out
life and Of occurrences in that tempestuous cen.
fury would be nothing Ike as correct and init
mate as It is. What progress for instance, art
made In the halfcentury between 1917 and the
year 1867. when Stradanus drew his one hundred
and four Nenauones sporting pictures, a glance
at "Theuerdank" Emperor Maxmilian's famous
book Of adventures and at the prints appertan-
ing 10 the frst-named series, will show. Both the
designer of the pictures and the wielder Of the
Eraver had made giant strides in the interval and
see of pripir al
drawings by Stradanus hand. many a master OF
the eighteenth century would have done we'll 20
study the Italianised FlemIng's method and
touches
The drawings afford amusing evidence Of the
widespread ignorance which then prevailed in
connection with certain forms Of sport Perhaps
the most characteristic in this respect Is the pic
tuTe OF mountain sport-viz., the chase OF the
Chamois When one first saw the print OF this
picture and ones astonished gaze rested upon the
delineation Of the agile mountain beast carrying
horns that are crooked forward instead of back
ward, one naturally assumed that this extraordi-
nary mistake made By the engraver and not
by the artist who drew the animal whose body
and pose in other respects correct But in
this one would have done the buI Antwerp en-
gravers an Injustice was disclosed when the
original came into ones possess on, for there
immortalized by master hand, prance about not
one but several chamOis with this curious nal
formation.
IL o1Ne4 Ie9PeC1s TOO STauanus drew upon his
Imagination In concoctinE this drawing, for he
represents the man Of Michael Angelu.llke limbs
strapping steigeisen, or crampOns to his naked
feet which, Of course. never done To turn
20 another form Of sport-elephant and ostrich
hunting-Stradanus in the former picture drew
mis- quarry OF very understood dimensions a mis-
take not usually made either by him or By other
artists OF his age, who as a rule magnifed the
size OF foreign animals Take as an instance
our reproduction Of engraving after another
drawing by the same Florentine artist Here we
nave elephants which II We accept the ordinary
human form as our scale must have stood some
thing Ike eighteen feet high, though probably
as the inscription below tells US that the man in
the act OF hamstringng his quarry is a troglo-
dyte or cavedweller, a race who were believed
10 be OF dwarf stature the disproportion Is IN,
tended 20 be as great as il is AS an early mic