The Winterthur
Library
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis
du Pont Winterthur Museum
5105 Kennett
Pike, Winterthur, Delaware 19735
Telephone:
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Creator: Huntington, Daniel, 1816-1906.
Title: Lecture on Christian art: read at the National Academy of Design,
written by request of the Committee on Lectures, Feby.
1851
Dates: 1851.
Call No.: Doc. 519
Acc. No.: 68x115
Quantity: 1 volume (52 pages)
Location: 31 D 3
BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Daniel Huntington was a portrait,
historical, and landscape painter. Born
in New York City in 1816, he attended Hamilton College from 1832 to 1836. He studied art under Samuel F. B. Morse and
Henry Inman in New York City and then continued his training in Europe in 1839
and from 1842 to 1845. In 1840,
Huntington was elected a National Academician and served twice as President of
the National Academy, from 1862 to 1870 and from 1877 to 1890. He died in New York City in 1906.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
Consists of Huntington's text for
a lecture on Christian art written at the request of the Committee on Lectures
of the National Academy of Design in 1851.
In the speech, Huntington traced the history of Christian art and art
forms, praising certain artists, such as Leonard da Vinci and Johann Friedrich Overbeck, and discounting others, especially
Poussin. He
explained why portraits and landscapes should be considered as Christian
art. Subheadings of lecture parts are
included on the top of each page. An
engraving of Huntington (from Putnam's Magazine) and a biographical sketch are
laid in.
LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the
public. Copyright restrictions may
apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchased from Timothy Trace.
ACCESS POINTS
Topics:
National Academy of Design (U.S.)
Art - History.
Christian art and symbolism.
Lectures and lecturing.
Lectures.
Artists.
TRANSCRIPTION OF LECTURE:
Note:
many of the dashes which separated sentences or phrases have been eliminated or
changed into full stops or commas. There
is a great deal of writing between lines, and some of this has been edited for
clarity. Lines, sentences, and words
crossed through have not been included.
Some paragraphs have been added for clarity.
[title page]
Lecture
on Christian Art
read –
at the
National Academy
of
Design
Written
by request of the Committee
on
Lectures, Feby 1851
Dan
Huntington
48 E. 20th
[added, unnumbered, page in front]
Christian
Art
Introduction
(as repeated at Hope Chapel[?])
The lecture I am about to read is one of a course
sometime since prepared by the request of a committee representing the whole
body of artists, and delivered at the Academy of Design, which Institution
courteously offered us their rooms. As
the subject — Christian Art, was
selected for me by the gentlemen of the committee, no apology is needed for an
appearance of presumption in the choice of a theme so sacred, and which should
be approached in a spirit of the profoundest reverence.
It may be well
even this late to state some incidents which led to these lectures.
Some months
since it was proposed to appoint a certain evening in each of the winter months
for a general meeting of the artists to promote a closer intimacy, and to
kindle a zeal for art. We met at the
Academy of Design, and by the ardor and interest then prevailing, it was clear
how much better it might be, if that Institution was free and open, a home and
rendezvous for all who could claim the name of artists in the field of Design —
Sculptors — painters — architects — engravers and draughtsmen. Then by mutual efforts we might have a larger
Library of Art, a rich collection of casts, a Life and Antique School always
open, and every means afforded for those who thirsted for knowledge in the
Arts.
[note: on the facing page is found
almost the same text, beginning with “We met at the Academy….” The only difference is one word: rather than
“the ardor and interest then prevailing…,” the opposite text reads “the ardor
and interest there prevailing….”]
A plan for the
Course of Lectures was the first issue of those meetings. A new action has thus been awakened in the
artistic body; may it prove, as well said by Mr. Curtis "to be not the
Spasms of Death.[“]
[p.1]
Christian Art
Before entering of the subject before us, I ought
to say that it is one which has been selected for me by the gentlemen who have
acted as a committee in the conduct of this Course of Lectures. I may
therefore be excused for any appearance of audacity in venturing on a theme so
sacred, and which should be approached in a profoundly reverential spirit. It
may be well, even this late, to state some facts which led to these
lectures.
Some months
since it was proposed to appoint a certain evening in each of the winter months
for a general meeting of the artists to promote a closer intimacy and to kindle
a zeal for art and for the general interests of art.* One of the first things which grew out of the
meetings was a plan for the present course of lectures, a new action had thus
been awakened in the artistic body. May
it prove (as was well said by Mr. Curtis) "to be not the Spasms of Death
[p.2 - Introduction]
but the throes of Birth." It is intended that the present series shall be a prelude to another in
which the more practical principles and distinct Departments of art
shall be treated, Greek sculpture,
color, drapery, landscape art, etc. How
soon this may result does not yet appear.
The meetings
just alluded to have been characterized by great good feeling. Artists generally feel kindly towards their
brethren. The world has had some
mistaken notions about the sentiments of Painters towards each other. It
is sometimes ignorantly said, the artists are a careless set of mad-caps
and poor devils and always quarreling with each other.
Because Torsigiano threw his hammer at Michel Angelo and broke his
nose and gentle Domenichino was driven from Naples by the
persecutions and half-drawn dagger of the savage Spagnoletto,
and in our own times Newton was kicked down a long flight of stairs by his Uncle Gilbert Stuart, the impression has gone abroad
that artists are always at Loggerheads.
[p.3
- Introduction]
There
can be no greater mistake. Perhaps I may be excused for saying
that there is no profession which leads to a more fraternal sprit than that of
painting. Possibly the Sculptors from
the use of the hammer and chisel may fall into more pugnacious habits. The artists as a class are excitable and
passionate, but at the same time if (as good-wives say when they praise their
own puddings) "If I may it that shouldn't," they are benevolent, generous,
forgiving, & whole-souled.
A
little impatience may be allowed when, after bestowing weeks of love and toil
upon a picture, and fancying the work full of interest and beauty, one is met
by the remark from some patronizing critic "that's a nice size for a
picture," or "what style of frame would be suitable for a room hung
with rose-colored curtains."
An
occasional growl must needs follow such trials.
It is not always safe to judge of the contents of a flagon by the first
sip. In some mixtures, not well stirred
up, perhaps the acid of the lemon or even the tang of the peel might
[p.4
– Introduction ends with words Christian Art]
be all you would know of it, but drink deeper, drain
it, and you will find plenty of spirit all through
it and sugar at the bottom to your hearts content. Such is the
artistic temper.*
[from facing page]
(insert after the word temper)
Philosophers may be the brains, and mechanics the hands
of society, but painters and poets are the very throbbing heart of
humanity and will be felt to the very extremist pulse of daily life.
[return to p.4]
But enough - let us pass to the consideration of the subject
allotted to me—-which is Christian art. [end of introduction]
REST [?]
I shall not attempt to treat the subject
historically*
[from facing page]
(insert after word historically)
nor argumentatively, as it respects the
introduction of paintings into Churches, a topic most
ably treated of late by Mr. Morgan Dix, in a
paper which I trust may soon be made public)
[return to p.4]
but
only generally, and beg the audience to indulge me in a desultory and
careless arrangement.
Art
may be considered as Christian in three respects - in its very nature and
in name and finally as inwardly and positively so. In these divisions there is a correspondence to the
characters of the Human race. All men are
Christians in that they are the children of Christ the Creator, and whether they
will or no, in their very being and powers the images of His
person and the evidence of this goodness.
Again very many are
so in name, professing the creed, practicing the
[p. 5 – Christian art in general]
morality and speaking the language of the
Religion; but those only, it
will be granted, are truly and wholly Christian whose
inmost hearts are penetrated as well as their lives governed by the Divine principles
of Faith and Charity.
I
intend to follow this general arrangement in what I am about to say respecting
Christian art, but must beg leave to be allowed to
straggle about as painters are accustomed.
[from facing page]
For in our informal lectures at the
Academy of Arts we are not tied to methods, the platform we use here is not a preachers desk, but I believe
[return to p.5]
a sort of stage
on which the various models and fragments are placed for drawing: sometimes a
Hercules, then a Venus, now a cast of drapery and then the living model.
[from facing page]
If I am found wandering, apparently at random, into
by-paths and comers, try in charity to supp[rest of
word is lost in gutter, but perhaps suppose was
written] that every seemingly entangled footpath has some connection with the
main road. In a convenient dwelling,
there is not only the simple plan of the whole, main rooms and floors connected by a grand flight of steps, but there
should be also, recessed and concealed closets, winding stairs down which one
may slip unperceived, balconies for the view, and for the waving of
handkerchiefs when pageants and heroes pass with the sound of trumpets & shoutings of the people; and bay-windows where the daughters
of the household may peep through lattices, and watch at sunset for the
approach of their cavaliers. We shall
not stick rigidly to method. Painters are wedded to liberty.
[return to p.5]
I know of no class of cultivated men more averse
than artists and their associates to being crammed and choked with dry Logic
and Metaphysic. If by any possibility I should be heard to
use the words Psychological or Aesthetics, I beg these may be
general enough, especially from every member present of that easy nest of
lovers of art and merry fellows, known as the Century Club.
All art then is
in one sense (that sense to which we have alluded) generally Christian. The simplest tracing of an outline by the
hand of a child, when
[p.6 – Ch. art in general]
spontaneous, is an exercise of the creative
faculty, and is no small proof of his claim to an immortal parentage and
inheritance. Those feeble lines scrawled by an infant on
the scrap of paper with which it plays at his mother’s feet, and which bear
some dim resemblance to a living being, use but the dawnings
of a power which the Almighty has conferred on His children, of shaping from
the unmeaning chaos of matter forms of Beauty, and of reproducing all but the Breath
of Life, his own sole prerogative.
Whenever the
artist puts forth his wand to call into being a true work of art, he is but
imitating his Divine Master, and is so far a Christian; and it matters not
whether from the shapeless mass of clay he moulds the
Human form, or from rude earth and rock rears the architectural pile,
harmonious in lines, or by arrangement of sounds charms the ear and steals away
the soul by divinely warbled notes — all are but reflections of the Divine,
and must redound to the Glory of the Creator.
When the poet
peoples the brain of the silent and solitary reader with phantasms
and dreams.
[p.7 – Xn art in genl]
or, (to come more home to our branch of the
subject) when on the bare flat canvas, from that blank and void, by stains of colored earth, the Painter
wakens to life the images of the Past; when in his lonely studio the
sepulchered form throws off its white shroud, and the life and motion of nature
begin to be developed; when by the repeated touches of his pencil, the blood
seems to steal gently through the veins, the eye kindles and is suffused with
tenderness or gleams with anger, and the group in all its living force is
revealed to us; then is another creative act accomplished, one more proof is
added that we are the offspring of God. It
is but another echo to the prolonged and ever-extending song with which the
dawn of creation was first celebrated by the Angelic Host, for we and they
alike are the Sons of God.
Every work of
art is also an illustration of Christianity in a general way; for in every
painting and in every statue are wrapped up the great truths of Revelation, the
Creation of the race, the apostasy under whose curse we struggle
and are ever found, and the hope of that immortal Life for which we
pant.
[p. 7 ½ – Christian
art general ends with the line {the line is drawn after “all art is related to Christianity.”}
]
The art is Christian also by its capacity to teach
all nations the facts, aye, and the sentiments of our Faith.—So far, for that sense in which all art is
related to Christianity.
When, however,
the illustration of our Religion becomes its definite object, then it assumes a
more decided rank, and is named Christian, and indeed is actually
so, sometimes in an eminent degree, even where the inward Spiritual motive is
but feeble in the artist himself. For
even the worst of men are not utterly incapable of these affections, and the
power of conceiving, appreciating, and of course, expressing and depicting the
Christian emotions, lies dormant in their souls, and may at any time be put
forth in a creation of art, visibly impresses with the Divine Spirit. It is this potential, or sleeping sense of
goodness in the hearts of even bad men to which the appeal is made by the holy,
when ideas of truth and purity are presented to the vile and sensual. This divinely implanted sense of moral
perfection, or the innate idea of God, is that which rises to startle the
consciences of the vicious, in the midst of their blackest enormities, even as
a blood-thirsty crew of reveling blasphemers would pale, should a
sheeted ghost glide among them at the noon of night. There are doubtless a large number of the
works of Genius, thus more
[p.7 ¾ - Xn name]
or less imbued
with this latent Christian spirit, carried so far, too, even by bad men, as
greatly to enlist our sympathies and delight our souls.
Beyond all
this, notwithstanding, I maintain that there is a kind of art more completely
and Spiritually Christian, where the heart of the artist is alive & responds
to every sentiment & where every Emotion of his Soul finds an answering
harmony in the subject which employ his powers. And I appeal to the inward
Conviction of all who hear me, whether a painting or any work of art will be
informed, to its utmost capacity, with the highest and warmest Christian
devotion, where its sentiment does not pour forth from a heart wholly inflamed
by Sacred Love? Must not the prevailing
temper of the Soul in some degree affect its offspring? Art
is not to be treated as a trifle, as only the amusement of our idle hours. It is serious. It is earnest. It has a powerful influence for good or for
ill on the minds of men. Thousands will
turn from the teaching of words, but every eye is arrested by the picture.
[p.8 – art, Xn in name & purpose]
In this light we see how high is the calling of
every true artist. Our pencils are bound by indissoluble links
to the past & the coming Eternity. Every
work you produce, which has any real character, is engraved forever on
your own souls and on the souls of all who behold it. Erase its effect you cannot. If the soul is wounded by what you have done
woe to you! for the scar will remain
forever; if purified, then blessings wait upon you! Every foul stain is as indelible [sic] as the
blood on a murderer’s fingers, every fair & pure line is luminous, and
shall shine on long after "all pleasant pictures" are destroyed.
There are
those, who would frown upon all art as injurious to the Christian Religion, as
endangering its simplicity and vitality.
They say that the fine arts are enervating indulgences, beguiling the
soul, and luring it from the severe duties of a life which should be a struggle
and a combat. That they seduce
the pilgrim from the narrow and
[p.9 –
objectors to Xn art]
rugged way, into easy and pleasurable by-paths,
blinding the sense of Truth by the hazy and glimmering atmosphere of Beauty;
and so the unwary soul is lulled into a delicious dream of soft enchantments,
and unfitted to cope with the stem and naked realities of life. It is
not my province to answer such objectors.
Some of them are sincere I doubt not, but most of them have their eyes
bent too steadily by the coarse earth at their feet. Let them look up & around them and see
How fair the Creator hath made all things!
Last night’s sunset which bathed the whole heavens with a flood of
Glory, which made so gorgeous a tumultuous pile of clouds, and turned the river
into a burnished heaven and gave a deeper richness to the brown forests which
overhang its banks; that living picture, the plodding dust-loving multitude saw
not. But there was one, who gazed long
and wistfully at it, on whose soul all its beauty is impressed forever, the
humble landscape painter; and he will perpetuate it in colors, if not so
bright, at least more enduring, and shall it not be for the Glory of the
Creator?
[p. 9 1/2 - objectors to art in matters of relgn.]
I have lately heard it said, and by one who is a
deep student of the human heart, that there are those whose ideas of God are
only as of an all-pervading Conscience whose severe eye can tolerate
nothing in us but what springs from notions of laborious duty. Such minds are too apt to regard all joy in things of Beauty as a
sinful indulgence. These men are of a
rigid, stern, cast iron mould. They are almost ready
to trample under their savage feet the very violets of the field and to turn in
sour derision from the harmonious tints of the evening sky. They seem almost to think that the Almighty Himself
has swerved form his nature in tinging with such a
bloom the cheek of woman and making her eye to captivate with such liquid lustre & fullness of color. They especially scowl upon all that adorns the
house or worship of God. The more bare,
cheerless, and desolate the sanctuary the better they are pleased. They would stamp the iron hoof with
sacrilegious joy on the delicate carved work of the house of prayer &
shatter to ten thousand fragments the windows dim with religious story. Such
are the first, when the precious Spikenard is poured by adoring Penitence over
our Saviors feet, and the house is filled with the odor of the ointment, to cry
out "what a waste is this," and, with a tighter clutch on their
purse-strings to mutter "This might have been sold for more than three
hundred
[p. 9 ¾]
pence and given to the poor." These are ready to tear the leaves of
Solomon's Song from the Sacred books. Their faces are seamed with
harsh forbidding lines, the index of their dry & hardened hearts, and, not
seldom, under this ugly crust of crabbed pretense some low & beastial passion lies hid and festering.
Not so S. Paul
who was ready to quote from the Greet poets, if it served his turn, as at Mars
hill, nor St. James, who was ready with a picture to enforce his meaning as in
the passage beginning "If there come unto your assembly a man with a gold
ring" etc. and, indeed throughout the whole of his Epistle, which is one
chain of vivid pictures. And shall we
speak of S. John's Apocalyptic vision? If
not the imagination of man lifted to its utmost height, and can yet not reach
the sublimity of those images of Glory which bum through every line?
[p.10 – art may teach morality]
Our Savior himself called the attention of the
bystanders to the exquisite colors and delicate form of the lily. "Behold," saith
He, "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” His own Divine lessons were almost always conveyed in the form of
graphic images, from which practice some dry didactic Theologians may well take
a lesson. The grandest passages
of the Prophets are poetic descriptions, in which lie conceals the holiest
meanings.
I am aware that it has been said in a former
Lecture of this course that the end of art is never
to teach, and especially never to teach morality. And this doctrine, as it was then urged,
commended by such charm of eloquence, and enforced
by such a masterly and dexterous
appearance of Right reason, might well have
deluded us into a belief of its Truth, even as
the unsuspicious Eve was ensnared by the
insinuating whispers of the Serpent. To
her, in her innocence, the sentence "ye shall not surely die,"
"ye shall be as Gods knowing
good & evil" sounded like divine philosophy, but 'twas falsehood, the very breath of
Hell.
Is it then an
usurpation for art to attempt to teach and above all things to teach
morality?
Are all the
Holy lessons of the Divine Law
[p.11 – art
intentionally teach morality]
never to be intentionally impressed on the mind by
the pleasing images of the poet & painter?
Where then is Overbeck? [note: Johann Friedrich Overbeck
was a reviver of “Christian art” in early 19th century.] Who, in his cartoon for the wise and foolish
virgins, hath plainly said "Have then oil in your lamps" - let him
appear and with his chastened eye of Calm Faith look a rebuke to this impiety. And where is Milton! Let him come,
angel-winged and seraph-voiced and from Paradise “assert
Eternal Providence and justify the ways of God to Man." Did Hogarth falsify the objects of art in his
“Rakes Progress” or in his "Marriage a-la-Mode," but honest fellow, perhaps he did not mean to teach! What meant Wilkie by his "distraining for rent” but to say "Thou shalt not grind
the face of the poor"? Is Dante's
warning voice in the Inferno to be strangled? And old Bunyan to be either dragged from his
place among creative artists or else
considered so great a fool as not to have known what he was about.*
[from facing page]
*The book of Job is a dramatic poem, whose claims
as a sublime work of art all acknowledge and there is no attempt in it even to
conceal its moral meaning, much less is
such a purpose absent.
[return to p. 11]
But enough on this point. For one, I believe that art is as unlimited
in its aims as it is in its meaning; it has dominion over matter,
mind & morals and can never
be pinned close even to the thin and
[p.12]
intangible formula woven for it by the befogged
brains of German infidels and Transcendentalists. [long passage has been
crossed through]
The Almighty has smiled upon all that is beautiful
as well as upon all that is Good & True. & Every art that is pure & innocent
and well-directed is approved by the Allwise and may,
in a comprehensive sense by [sic, be is
meant] styled Christian. But the
higher & better the gift, the more base & perfidious is its abuse. Miserable
then is the wretch who impiously perverts the Divine art of painting to unholy
uses. As a beautiful, graceful and
accomplished woman without virtue, is more poisonous to society than the open
and shameless sinner, so is an immoral subject made enticing by the
[p.13 – wickedness of a bad use of art]
magic of a rich and brilliant pencil, more to be
hated than the breath of pestilence. Let us then cultivate high & pure aims. Let us strive not only to please men
but God. Let us
aim to elevate & spiritualize our artistic studies, that by a life of
earnest labor, we may meet with the approval of Him, who is the fountain of all
light and color, & to whom belong the day-spring and the night-fall.
I am not ready to join with those who say that the
influence of art is never bad: indeed it is sometimes degraded to the
vilest purposes. Woe be to the artist
who dares so to abuse his
Heaven-derived gift, who makes use of the colors of
the rainbow to fit the world for another deluge. There have always been those who prostituted
the holiest things to profane uses, and such there always will be, but let us
not envy the fatal secret of their power, who invest sensuality &
corruption with the fascinations of rich color and fair proportions. This abandoned class of artists flourished greatly in France during the
dissolute reigns of Louis 14 and 15. The
style reached its acme and found its very archetype in Boucher, who perpetuated
in colors the fopperies, indecencies, and debaucheries of that
[p.14 – vicious pictures accursed]
tasteless & effeminate period in Art and desbasement of morals. A curse rests on the works and memories of such men. The error, hateful
in its nakedness, which they have contrived to render seductive by the
blandishments and harlotries of meretricious color, and luxurious forms, will haunt
them forever.
As the assassin
hears always at midnight, the smothered gasp of his victim, and as the
betrayers' dreams are made frightful by the tearful distracted eye, the haggard
cheek and disheveled hair of the ruined innocent. So shall the painter who is a corrupter
of youth be forever dogged by his sin.
Shall a form of gentleness and saintly purity
minister to him, think you, in his last sickness? Shall kindly voices whisper to him Christian
Consolation as his eyes are closing on the world? Shall attendant angels hover near to bear him
swiftly to the Company of the Blest? Such indeed may be the lot of those who, like
the pious Overbeck, or the beatified Fra Angelico
have spread their colors only to lure us to the Truth and Holiness, but bitter will be end of him whose art
has been the minister of evil. Remorse
will summon frightful
[p.15 – happiness of true Xn
painters]
images to disturb his last sleep, and the Temptor
will not fail to claim the soul which has been sold to him for the miserable
price of a few lewd tricks in art. Who
shall follow the downward & darkening flight of such a wretch in the
endless future?
What Christian
painter would not be glad to pass to the next world having lived and labored
like Fra Angelico and Overbeck? I quote these names not at random, for there
are no others like them in the whole history of art. From earliest youth to hoary age, patiently studying,
toiling, dreaming, soaring, neither for money, nor pleasure, nor even for fame
(that bait so tempting to the artist), but for the glory of Christ and the
joy of the world. How fragrant is the
memory of such a life. How precious
beyond all rewards to them the favor they receive from their Divine Teacher, the
omniscient artist by whose hand the colors of the morning are spread upon the
mountains. No sensual images ever soiled
the canvasses of these men, never even have they condescended to flaunt in
pageants, or like Rubens, to pour out their colors in wasteful prodigality
causing
[p.16]
wanton forms to swim reeling in Bacchanal images
before the eye to intoxicate the senses; nor, like Paul Veronese have they
aimed to exalt and glorify the pomp and magnificence of an outward Life making
the air to glitter with an endless variety of lively colors, the very Apotheosis of Vanity & pride
and self-indulgence [these last 2 words may be crossed out]. Nor even have they deigned like the great
Titian to invest the profane and lascivious fables of of
[sic] a false mythology with the rich twilight hues and solemn harmonies which
should be sacred to the true Religion, stealing from the Virgin Mother and her
holy child, and from the shadows of Mt. Olivet that awful depth of subdued
richness and majesty of repose and shade [these last 2 words are probably
crossed out], to bestow it on the amorous loiterings
of Venus in the lap of Jove. No, the two
I have named are examples of sincere and devoted Christian painters. Their fames are spotless.
[Rest – written
in margin]
Every department of Landscape art must be
mentioned in this connection as entirely harmonious with the Christian
feeling.*
[to facing page – landscape art harmonious with Xianity]
And especially is it so, when it rises to an ideal
& typical character, and grasping at the inward spirit and essence of
outward scenery, holds up to us a generic purity that impress of the Divine
attributes, by which the almighty has written his nature in his works.
[return to p. 16]
It is an art pure and refreshing, leads to the
contemplation of nature, softens and solemnizes the mind, and prepares it for
reflection and for Religion. For
one
[p.17 – landscape, portraiture]
I will confess that I have no confidence in the
Religion of that man who does not love Natural Scenery. He can never love God, who does not admire and enjoy His
works. For at his word the Lilly opens
to the sunlight, the fountains pour into the thirsty valleys, the heavens are
clothed with Light or darkened with Thunder. The landscape painter is then enlisted in the
service of the Creator. He is a Priest
in the vast temple of Nature; let him reverently render the Truth, for he too
must account to the Master.*
[to facing
page]
That large
class of domestic & familiar pictures, fireside works, of which the English
and our own school are so fond, ought to be cherished greatly. Such works are sweeteners of Home and in
unison with the mild & consoling spirit of our Religion.
[return to
p.17]
I am asked if Portraiture can by any means
be admitted to this wide circle of negatively Christian arts - assuredly yes! What! is it possible that yonder simple and
demure portrait of a plainly dressed old woman, is to be dignified with the
name of Sacred art! There are reasons
why it may be. Do you not know that
to be the resemblance of a venerated mother? The homely well-worn bible that she holds and
those old-fashioned spectacles are not without their meaning. Her eyes of mild intelligence are often met by those of her rugged and,
mayhap, hard-hearted son; he looks often and long at this memento of his
departed parent; his eye will sometimes moisten and
[p.18]
his heart melt, as he remembers, that each evening
in the silence of her chamber she taught his infant lips to say "Our
Father."
In its influence Portraiture is certainly
humanizing.
It cultivates & perpetuates the Home influences; the loveliness of
virtue is prolonged by it, and the worthies of the past become visible
companions to stimulate the living to good and great acts.
[several lines
crossed out]
The portrait
painter, so often tired & discouraged, is sometimes well repaid by the
consolation his art affords to the bereaved. He is suddenly called perhaps to a house where
a lovely child has been snatched away by Death, his icy touch sealing up
forever that "well-spring of joy."
While he is sketching the effect of
the open brow, the soft hair
about the transparent temples, tracing the delicate curve of the slightly
parted mouth, the mother watches with eyes of hopeless sorrow. Do you
[p.19]
think, she
tremulously asks, "you can makes the portrait look as when he lived."
"Can you
express his sweet smile, can you give the roguish sparkle of his eye
which was clear and blue, shall we see the dimple in his rounded arm, and his
cunning little hand with the rosy taper-fingers?"
The sketch is made. The painter leaves the still
and darkened room. There is no hope in the mother’s expression. The delicate pale form, now strewn with white
blossoms, and hands meekly folded, is carried away forever.
After many days
the portrait, completed, and invested with color, beauty, and life, is shown,
and the painter, when he enquires "Do you think it like" is
sufficiently answered by the earnest pressure of their hand and the choking
voice that cannot speak.
While touching
on the subject of Portraiture, allow me to say that when followed in a proper
spirit, it becomes a most interesting and noble study. The drudgery of painting every common face
that comes along, in all its cold vacant vulgarity, is surely stupid enough. Wood-sawing is better. But to paint portraits with an aim to seize
vigorously the character of the sitter, to express
[p.20]
the individuality, thought, or beauty of the subject, to enrich the work with the
mysteries of light and shade, to exercise invention in avoiding the stiff
absurdities of fashion, and contriving elegant or majestic lines of drapery out
of the poor materials of familiar costume, to paint portraits in such a way is
a dignified pursuit, which Titian, Vandyck, Raphael,
and Reynolds have honored with their illustrious talents. But let the portrait painter be independent!
Let him beware of submitting to the
caprices of tasteless criticism; let him listen with as much patience as he can
muster to the innumerable suggestions of the one thousand and one friends, and
then, do just as he thinks best himself.
I have heard a painter say that, if his sitter wished it, he would paint
a man's nose grass green. The opposite
color - a flaming red - is not indeed so uncommon in noses and might now and
then be allowed in all its strength when very expressive of the sitter’s
friendly disposition towards a cask of old port. Sir Joshua would never alter his portraits
merely to please sitters or their friends, he painted as he
thought best, he pleased himself, and the result was Fame and
fortune.*
[to facing page]
When he was satisfied with the effect of his
portrait, no entreaties or threats would induce him to touch them again, and in consequence, instead of being
trumpery for garrets and food for rats, as most of our portraits are
becoming, they are inestimable gems, a patent of nobility to every possessor.
[return to p. 20]
Let us take a lesson from this artistic
stubbornness - a little of it is certainly a
good thing.
[unnumbered page – reverse of p. 20, and should be
p.21]
A draughtsman in crayons, eminent among us for the
wondrous truth and ideality of his
portraits, found great difficulty in satisfying one
of his sitters, and was indeed rather
disgusted with the work himself. However, after repeated sittings and amendments,
on the
sitters coming in one morning, the artist said
"I congratulate you - I have finished
the portrait."
"Bless me! Impossible! How is that?" cried the subject. "I put it in the stove, sir."
It was
enough. And
the sitter, who was a distinguished man of letters and a humorist,* laughed
heartily at the summary process.
*Fitz-Greene Halleck
[note in pencil:]
(This occurred at my studio. S.W. Cheney's head of Fitz Greene Halleck. Elliot afterwards painted the head which was here
being[?] engraved for Appleton's edition of the poems. DH)
[next page, also unnumbered but p. 22 – Xn art defined]
In considering Christian art in a more definite
and also in its highest sense, let us remember those elements of
humanity on which it is based and in reference to which every work of art
should be judged. It is a trite remark
that Man is a trinity of sense, soul and spirit; the reflection of Deity, though dim and infinitely distant.
Body, mind & heart combine to stamp us
with the image of God. Without any one
of these we should be either, brutes - cold intelligence - or torn by alternate whirlwinds of Love &
Hatted, unguided by Reason.
Into every
effort of man these elements enter. In the commonest actions of life, though
the ethereal Spirit be dormant, the slightest stirring up from without will
betray its presence. Much more then in
every serious effort of the Soul.
In the act of prayer, the bended knee, the Heaven
directed eye & the subdued voice being to sense, the language of the
petition is framed by the intellect, but the Love and Faith flow from the renewed
spirit, and are the wings which bear it to the presence of the Eternal Father. Every work of Christian art at least, if not
all art, must be viewed under this three-fold aspect, and it is only when all
three are justly expressed that the work can be considered the best of its
kind. It has been suggested that the three
greatest periods or developments of art
[p.23 – introductory to Xn
art, definitely(?) so]
are representative of these three constituent s of
humanity. The Egyptian, vast and gloomy,
is matter & brute power; the Greek, thoughtful and beautiful, is mind, while the Christian, warm
with passion and emotion, is the Spiritual element. But all qualities must enter in some measure
into each. Even the ponderous forms of
Egyptian art breath a terror to the Soul through them. Sullen & revengeful Gods seem to moan
& mutter to their affrighted worshippers, and this is their spiritual
meaning.
That division which separates all the creations of Genius
into the inward & the outward, or in technical and scholastic phrase into subjective
and objective, is doubtless
a true one, and differs not in principle from the above. The Spirit of man is all that is truly
inward, that breath of the Creator which loves, wills and hates, while the
intellect is but the delicate machinery which the deeper seated spirit puts in
motion.
If a painter
draws a scene in nature, that scene is the object, his own mind the subject. An objective treatment in landscape would
be that which literally represented the outward appearance of the scene. But if the artist infuses his peculiar
sentiment, thus coloring the object,
it would be called the subjective mode of treatment.*
[to facing
page]
*The word subject, used in this, its
original sense, is unfortunate in the fine arts, being a word so
generally used to designate the matter to be
represented. As on looking at a beautiful
woman, a
painter would say "that's a good subject for
me" - while in the language of this
philosophy she
would be the object.
[return to p.
23]
This principle is applicable to every work of art
which can
[p.24]
possibly be executed and should always be borne in
mind in forming an opinion.*
[to facing page]
*For thus he shall find many pictures intensely interesting
though not true to outward nature, because they reflect the soul of the painter; as the skies and velvet
lawns and calm sunlit seas of Claude (who was all gentleness) and also the
rocks, caverns and knarled [sic] ferocious tree-trunks
of Salvator Rosa, which shadow forth the wild robber
spirit of that cut-throat & dare devil school to where he belonged, and
preeminently the works of the fierce & cruel Caravaggio, a bravo, who
flinched not at murdering a model to catch the expression of dying horror, and
whose works seem to have been painted in the very jaws of Hell, so black &
gloomy are the shadows and so sharp & flashing the light, as though brought
out by jagged lightening. One of the
plainest instances of the applications of this principle to an affair of darkly
occurrence is that of a portrait.
[return to p.
24]
A man
determines to have two portraits of his grand-mother, one by Holbein, another
by Michel-angelo.
Holbein, patient and faithful, copies closely every wrinkle, every grey
hair, every swelled vein, the dimness that begins to veil the almost sightless
eye, in short, the very reflection of the venerable lady. This is the objective picture. Turn now to the portrait by Michel
Angelo. You may trace the same acquiline [sic] nose, the grey locks, the wrinkled
forehead, the hollow-lidded eye, but you are arrested by more grandeur and
simplicity of line, trifles are omitted, a prophetic spirit animates the brow,
the eye peers into awful mysteries. The
grand and serious spirit of Buonarotti is breathed
into it. It resembles the model but is
exalted into a Sybel or a Fate. This is the subjective mode. Again, a third painter, Ostade
for example, might turn the respectable old Lady into a plump market woman,
still preserving the likeness which would be as completely a subjective
treatment as the last mentioned, the difference being in the contrary[?] temper
of Ostade and Angelo – but I believe I am getting
[p.25]
into the
detestable snarl of Psychology and Asthetic
[sic].
[to facing
page]
Lessing’s picture of the Martyrdom of Huss has been
complained of for being deficient in a grand and epic spirit, and for giving
too many literal portraits of people to be seen every day about the streets of
Dusseldorf. It may be thus faulty,
thought the portraits in it are to me the best parts. Remember that Lessing had no intention of making his picture
"Epic." He appears to have
aimed to make it in all its details, and individuality precisely what it might
have been in occurrence. Mr. Curtis
described this picture most justly as the incident not the fact. We scarcely think of the martyr sacrifised [sic] to the fury of Religious Despotism or of
the struggle between man’s rights and a cruel usurpation. The Protestant feeling is scarcely in the
picture and as Lessing meant it for a Protestant picture he has partially
failed in this respect. For, of the two
principal Ecclesiastics, the one is a noble swarthy Italian whom we admire, the
other a most respectable and comfortable Cardinal Archbishop at whose dinner
table any Protestant Divine, even Luther himself, might be glad to enjoy a
literary treat and join his good Eminence in a few bottles of Rhenish wine. The
fault of this, otherwise noble picture, is perhaps an excessive littleness and
effeminate band-box particularity in the painting of unimportant accessories, dwelling
with a girlish fondness of the veriest millinery and
trifles, gimp and gold-lace, fur and embroideries, silky horse-hair and the
braids and pelisse of the girl in the foreground. These tricks of imitation continually
distract the mind and lower character of the picture.
[return to p. 25]
To paint perfectly any subject, it is plain that
the heart of the painter should be thoroughly imbued with its [illegible]
Spirit and that nothing should interfere with its full development that his
mind should be richly stored with all knowledge and his hand and eye trained to
perfect exactness that his conception may be executed with inimitable
skill. The perfection of this execution
will depend on the extent of his acquirements first in his own immediate art,
and then in all the vast range of knowledge.
Indeed his field of study can scarcely be too wide. You may search all Nature and every art,
explore all depths of Philosophy, and peer into every hidden secret of
Nature, fill your imagination with the poetry of every age, satisfy the sense
with every image of Beauty, and accomplish the hand in every artifice of skill
- you need not fear but that all will serve you in the occult mixtures which
the magic of your art requires. The
whole realm of Nature, the boundless fields of science and the tide of all
Emotions belong to you. Fail not to
watch with increasing earnestness for every trace of Beauty, from the
reflections of a dew drop on a blade of grass, or the soft shadow which falls
from the eye-lash of
[p.26]
a sleeping infant, up through the whole chain of being, even to where stand the Cherubim
and Seraphim in burning row before the sapphire colored Throne. And then down through snaky windings of vice
to watch in dens of foulest guilt for the scars of passion and distortions of
fiendish malice tell you*
[to facing
page]
are scared by
the groans and lamentations which seem to rise struggling to the upper air from
the deepest fathomless pit of Hell itself.
[return to p.
26]
The great map of pictures called Christian are so
chiefly in name, or, only so in
that general sense described, not positively pagan or Mahommedan.
Many are utterly devoid of any quality
which can ally them distinctly to religion.
They are splendid falsehoods, shining in all the meretricious fineries
of a worldly spirit, like the gorgeous masquerade pageant of a pontifical high
mass at St. Peter's in Rome, all superficial magnificence but dead and rotten
at heavy. Inclining to this character
are most of the splendid compositions of Paul Veronese, and those of Rubens and
other Flemish painters. Their works are
flushed with the gayest sunniest hues, the richest juices give a tempting
lusciousness to the colors which dazzle and satiate the eye in every imaginable
variety and contrast, as unlike the simple majesty and seriousness of Christian
art, as is the papal banquet given to the twelve pilgrims at the
Vatican, to the solemn event it commemorates.
[p.27]
Or (to come nearer to home) as is a modem festival
of the New England Society, to a simple meal among the Pilgrim fathers.
[in pencil:] (a double good rest)
[p.28]
Partially
Religious
There is a class again of partially religious works,
painted with much earnestness, intended
to illustrate events in the Gospel history, which are filled with a noble &
serious spirit. Kindling our emotions
and commanding a deep study & reverence, yet wanting more or less in the
inward life of Christianity. Such are
the majority of the productions of Caracci's school
at Bologna. Many of Titian's wondrous
creations, Poussin's attempts at sacred subjects,
always tinctured with his cold classic spirit, and nearly all of the later
Italian masters. To form a completely
satisfactory Christian picture the spiritual element should prevail,
should be supreme. The two other
elements of our nature must be employed as accomplished handmaids sense
(representing all the charms of color & mysteries of light and shade and intellect—whose
realm is form
[p.29]
with is innumerable conceptions & selections of
beauty, and thoughtful lines of composition,
these two secondary elements should be employed as servants to
their Divine Mistress. For if either
sense or intellect become masters, the sensitive spirit, crushed to a state of
slavery, loses sight of Heaven, and
her pure flame begins to darken with the foul and noxious vapors of that
noisome dungeon, a bad heart.
The greatest
work is that in which all have their just rights. An approach to this perfection may be found in
some instances of Religious works of which we may presently speak. In them a true & sobered richness of colour satisfies the eye. Correct and ideal forms, expressive lines,
& groupings replete with meaning, employ and absorb the mind, and a holy
sentiment, a devout spirit, warms and touches the inmost Heart.
But let us
first consider some of those productions, Christian in name, but sensual
outwardly.
The great
masters of the Venetian school painted many scripture subjects, altar
pieces, and legends of the saints. Of
these the major part are treated in a worldly
[p.30]
Spirit. The splendid habits of the Venetian nobles
enter into their compositions. The picturesque
costumes of their day, furs, brocades &
cloth of gold are welcomed by them. The
eye is surfeited by the sumptuous colors, & the variety of rich
architecture so profusely introduced. The clear sunlight which flashes from piles
of marble building and the ten thousand tints which are repeated & mingled
by reflections in water are allowed to enter into the most solemn subjects
handled by those glorious fellows, the Venetian painters. Paul Veronese excels [sic] the whole school in
his affluence and temptations. His
overflowing Fancy knew no bounds. Excess
was his motto. I am reminded by this
of an anecdote of the studios. A lean
dyspeptic painter was once supping with a jovial crew of brother artists of
this city. At the height of the
festivity, a certain mysterious mixture began to circulate freely, but was
declined by the lean & dry brother of the brush on the plea of ill health. ‘Twas significantly
asked by one of the boon companions, as an overflowing goblet moistened his
lips, "For your dyspepsia, have you ever tried excess”? [punctuation
as in original] The taste & genius
of the querist were never disputed. His sympathy
[p.31]
with the dry & meagre
school of ascetic painters was probably small.
If when Venice was at the summit of wealth &
glory, you had been a guest at an entertainment given at the Manfrini Palace, what a scene would have feasted your eyes! You
alight from your gondola on the broad marble steps of the Palazzo; you ascend
by noble staircases, through avenues of statuary & vases festooned with
rare flowers & breathing the richest perfumes, to spacious saloons. Your eyes are dazzled by a blaze of light,
revealing architectural vistas enlivened by columns & panels of precious
marbles. The assembled crowd are haughty
in bearing & clad in rich stuffs of oriental fabric, the tables groan with costly
viands, and there is an unlimited pouring
out of wine and mirth. It is the midday
flush of this world's outward life. This
is one of Paul Veronese's pictures, and he would not change it one jot,
even if intended for a convent and to represent the last supper.
Do not suppose
that I would condemn these
[p.32]
works. Nothing could be more absurd than to do so. They are among the most successful creations
of genius. The splendors which they
embody are the true reflections of the Life which blazed in full glory around
them. Like strains of enchanting music
to the ear are they in their harmony, brilliancy & cheerfulness to the
eye.*
[to facing
page]
*They are as
necessary to complete the domain of art as gardens of flowery plants are to the
fullness[?] of a lovely mansion.
[back to p.32]
Titian differed
from this in his treatment, though a leaning towards it is sometimes
perceptible. In some
of his best works, he almost reached that solemnity & grandeur which strike
the beholder with awe in Prophets of [Michel –
crossed out] Angelo. Dignity, breadth &
repose are marked attributes of Titian. His
twilight mellowness, deep-toned fullness of color, his awful depth of yet luminous shadow, are
all in keeping with the most touching events of sacred story. Were it not that there is always more or less
in his attitudes of studied contrast & picturesque effect, and that his Madonnas & holy children have more of that tangible
loveliness and warm flesh & blood reality, (so cherishable
at our own fireside) but inconsistent with the ideal of Christian art). His efforts in this department would be very
perfect works.
[p.33]
Tintoretto
stands midway as regards color between Titian & Paul Veronese. There is less of Paul’s gaity
& splendor, but not enough of Titian’s majestic breadth &
massiveness.
It has been generally admitted that the color of
Titian is well suited to the most religious subjects. There is perhaps no better example of this than his pictures of the
Entombment one of which is in the Manfrini Palace at
Venice, and the other (quite as good if not better) in the Louvre at Paris. The
spectator will at first will hardly be arrested by it, but after a few glances
his attention will be more & more enlisted and at length in contemplation
long continued he will find its sorrow & stillness stealing upon his own
soul, and he will stand gazing at it long & reverently. The body of our Savior, of an ashy colour,
the head & arms falling heavily, is borne along by two gloomy figures,
draped in deep toned colors. St. John,
youthful but melancholy, holds one arm; the Virgin, a grand matronly figure
wrapped in folds of a dark drapery, is sinking overpowered by grief, & is
partly sustained by the Magdalen whose face &
action express a passionate sorrow, yet
[p.34]
her eye is steadfastly bent on the dead body of her
adored Master. This composition
is in light & shade, powerful & deep, & in color, of great richness
subdued, like one of our own autumnal
forests in the heart of the mountainous by the gloom of twilight. "While glow the Heavens with the last
steps of day."
Among those who
have held rank as religious painters, but who yet fall short of the highest
requisites are the masters of the Bolognian school,
that school formed by an attempted combination of the various excellencies of all the preceding groups of great artists. Of this eclectic school, none shone more
prominently than Guido Reni. This artist
aimed in his earlier works to unite the richness of the Venetians to the
drawing & composition of the Romans, harmonizing all by the sweet flow of
light & shade, which charms us in those of Da Vinci and Corregio. He ventured to add this to that generalized
& medium form, that absence of individual character, which may be perhaps
admissible in some of the abstractions of allegorical subjects, but too cold
for Christian fervor.*
[to facing page]
For in Christian Art, as in Christian Life, the
intensity and variety of individual character should be preserved though
purified, and not melted down into a vacant uniformity, that insipid medium
which is the too commonly received notion of the ideal.
[return to p.34]
The profoundest depth of chiaro-scuro
[p.35]
and impressive earnestness of expression sometimes
enter into the best work of Guido. They
all but satisfy the mind, yet there is something wanting. It is the informing spirit of a cordial
Faith. Let us go back in imagination
to the times, and into the city, where this school achieved their triumphs. You are in Bologna, whose every street is a long continued collonade [sic] of arched ways. There is the leaning tower, the huge
cathedral. You mingle in the circle of
artists & literati. You see & hear
the Caracci, Annibal,
impetuous, energetic, resolute; Ludovico, milder, timid
& in love with the angels of Coreggio. You converse with Albano dipping his brush
always in light, & spreading on his canvas, only the most cheerful images
such as Venus & Cupids sporting in a sunny atmosphere, & bacchanal
dances by a sparkling sea shore. Old
Domenichino too is there, sorrowful, loving religious subjects & giving
them a natural simplicity most captivating. And they ask you, have you seen the last work
of Guido? It is but just
finished, ‘tis wonderful, come & see it. You are conducted to his studio. Softly.
It is a crucifixion. By the
softening twilight which
[p.36]
streams through the large window of his studio, you gaze at this beautiful
work. The painter has left. His palette lies near, faintly streaked with
red. See! he has today touched upon the
temples of our Lord, the bloody drops by the crown of thorns. What a gloom is given to the sky beyond, with what earnest eyes looks
that suffering One to the Father who has forsaken Him. St. John clasps his hand in desperate grief. The Virgin Mother, a noble figure, is heart broken. The Magdalen, with long golden hair streaming over her glowing
neck, clings passionately to the cross & weeps in agony. You study long, till your eyes are dim with
tears, and in the deepening shadows the scene becomes too painfully real. Let us go & find the artist. We will see Guido himself. Shall we look for him in the chapel? At San Domenico for it
is the hour of vespers, he is probably at his evening devotions. Alas! No. Enter yon Haunt of the spendthrifts & profligates
of Bologna. That haggard face, pale with
remorse and midnight excesses is the gambler - Guido! Visit again by the sober daylight his great
picture. Study it calmly & repeatedly.
You will find in it, a grace of
attitude, a too
[p.37]
studied and
artificial arrangement, a turn & air about the heads & hands,
sufficient to convince you of the painter’s insincerity & almost to do away
with the impression of the whole. To be
entirely and lastingly successful, a work must be hearty & whole souled.
(rest, stop)
But we have dwelt long enough on this negative side
of the subject. Let us now turn to that art which is wholly
Christian. That is, where the Theme
& the informing Spirit are truly such, & the execution of the work as
perfect as its aim. Where shall we turn
for faultless examples of Christian art? Indeed it much be confessed that there are
none. The best works of the most devout
me n are darkened more or less by earthly stains. Very many are disfigured by the superstitions
of their day, & not seldom where the holiest ardor is breathed through
them, a feeble execution & meager forms weaken their effect, a dead
coldness of color will chill you to the heart. I have sometimes thought
that the Last Supper
[p.38 –
complete Christian art]
by Da Vinci must have more completely than any work
of art yet executed, fulfilled the requisites of a great Christian painting. A supposition which is well borne out by the
accounts of early writers, by the large
copies which have come down to us (made before those fearful injuries befell
the original) as well as by the noble engravings which have been made up from
various sources in later times. These
engravings are known & cherished wherever the Christian religion has
refined Society. And probably as
good an idea may be had as an engraving can ever give of the force of
the original picture. Its living beauty,
its deep solemnity, the unutterable sorrow which pervades it, are united to a
vigorous execution, a thorough knowledge of the form, & a most elaborate
finish & exquisiteness of expression in every part. And with all this there is
no littleness, no display of tricks of imitation - all is noble, pure, manly in treatment,
& divine in sentiment.
An old Italian
print of this picture engraved with unusual force & power of expression,
and somewhat darkened by
[p.39]
time, hung in
the room I occupied in Rome. Often I
have sat contemplating it at the close of day, till in the deepening twilight,
the startled group of Apostles seemed to breath & move. And sometimes late at night, when the streets
of Rome (quiet even by day) were as hushed & silent as a death chamber, the
obscure light of a flickering fire would fall on that picture revealing the
majestic forms of the horror stricken disciples, and in their midst that calm,
mild, compassionate face of our Lord, & as He seemed to say, “One of you
shall betray me.” I could fancy I saw
more tender sympathy steal over the lovely countenance of John, St. Peter’s eye
flash with new indignation, & the shadowed & malignant visage of Judas
to scowl more hatefully, while a shudder ran through the sorrowing agitated
circle of Apostles.
Are you a lover of Christian art? Nay, of art of any kind? Do you desire to increase your interest in the
sacred story of our Saviour's life? Then keep always near you a good copy of this
noble print. It will console
[p.40 – Da Vinci’s studies]
you in your desponding moments, give a grateful
seriousness to your happy hours, will rouse your slumbering faith, and inflame your soul with the love
of Christ. It will remind you daily of
the solemnities of that night of betrayal, and of the inestimable price paid
for the redemption of your soul.
[to facing
page]
(pause)
[return to p.
40]
Of the
remarkable man who painted this picture, it would be irrelevant to say much,
yet it bears on the relation which must exist between the artist & his work
to throw out a hint or two of his character & acquirements. It is rare that in one man are united so many
excellencies. In person
he was eminently handsome, of athletic frame & accomplished in all the
knightly exercises of the time. In his
manners, he was noble & courteous, blending the dignity of a cavalier with
the gentleness & refinements of a scholar and the solid attainments of a
profound philosopher, with the generosity, warmth and freedom of the artist. He had a thorough knowledge of the natural
[p.41 – Da Vinci’s studies]
sciences, and wrote important treatises on
mechanics. He was at once painter,
sculptor, architect, musician, poet, & engineer. He invented a variety of curious instruments &
constructed public works, a canal, fortifications, & edifices. His affections centred
[sic] however on the art of painting, in which he greatly triumphed,
emancipating it from the feebleness, flatness, & stiffness of preceeding [sic] times & investing it with force of
color, powerful relief, & truth & animation of expression. The fruits of his researches after the
proportions of the human figure & into the anatomy of men and animals and
other kindred subjects have come down in treatises to our times, and are in the
hands of every artist, or ought to be.
But more important to our purpose now is that honesty, indefatigable
conscientious faithfulness, as well as reverential pious spirit with which he
undertook his religious works. He always
carried in his packet a small sketch book in which he made memorandums of all
that
[p.42]
could be of service to him, frequenting fairs,
markets, & public places to study individual nature in all its singularity
and vividness. I have seen drawings by
him finished with infinite pains, of fragments of the figure, folds of drapery,
hands, feet, &c, studied with the minutest delicacy, evidently intended for
use in his pictures. He scrupled not to
witness the grim distorted faces of the worst of criminals, extracting from the
horrid expressions of wretched & dying malefactors, materials for the
perfecting his art, and it is well known that he would relate laughable stories
to rude peasants to become acquainted with their grotesque & ludicrous
expressions.
In the Library of the Brera
at Milan is a drawing slightly tinted of the Head of our Saviour,
a study for that in the Last Supper. It
is looking down, as in the painting. It
beams with a divine majesty & Love, shaded by a sweet compassion for his
disciples, sorrow for the miserable Betrayer & holy resignation to the will
of the Father. Many a pilgrim to that
land of art has stood long watching that inspired
[p.43 – Da Vinci & M. Angelo]
creation with full heart & tearful eye. “It is so wonderful” said Cole to me. “I would be almost willing to have stolen
it,” a strong expression coming from one so singularly pure in heart.
There was a marked resemblance in Da Vinci’s
character to that of Michel Angelo, so far as pure & high aims, & a
wide & thorough field of study were concerned. But Angelo, though he possessed the
versatility & varied learning of Leonardo, lacked entirely his feeling for
loveliness & cheerfulness. Da Vinci,
sometimes grand & prophetic, is more often winning, graceful, affectionate,
at times even jocund. Angelo
never stoops to the familiar, but is gloomy, wrapt in
high imaginings, a despiser of trifles, even severe, & lacking the
kindliness of humanity in his unyielding struggle after the terrible &
sublime. Michel Angelo knew nothing of
the sweet charities of domestic life. He had no wife to solace his hours of severe
toil, to cheer him when the world neglected to say, (as wives sometimes will,
even to ones most abominable failures), "How beautiful."
[p.44 - Da Vinci
& M. Angelo]
There were in his household, no knee-climbing
prattlers, to tumble about his studio, to stick their tiny fingers into his
vermillion & in the midst of his most abstract reveries to break in with “Papa
draw me a horse.” Such delightful
plagues were unknown & undesired by stern Buonarotti. He cared only for what was superhuman. There are few that can follow him in his
majestic flight, but all men delight in the human sympathies & heavenly
beauty of Leonardo Da Vinci.
I cannot leave Da Vinci without quoting one of this
maxims, so necessary for us all.
“Acquire exactness before facility.”
In this country we are too apt to reverse this role.[?]
I will not enlarge on the great works left by
Michel Angelo. Their super-natural
dignity are well known to you all. The
indomitable resolution exhibited by him through a long life in the acquisition
of knowledge & in the unyielding performance of what he believed
to be right & for the true glory of art & religion
is what I wish to call attention to, for that is the Spirit which we need. For several years
[p.45 – M. Angelo]
during the building of St. Peters, he superintended
the work, without salary, with great outlay of time & toil, simply for the
advance of art and the glory of God. He
was truth & frankness itself. He
never condescended to cringe to & flatter the great & powerful of his
day for selfish purposes. On this
account he had bitter enemies. The
profligate courtiers of Julius Third’s Pontificate were visited by him with
severe rebuke for their disgraceful embezzlement of funds destined for the
completion of St. Peters. He scrupled
not to upbraid the Pope himself when he unjustly interfered with his rights as
an artist.*
[to facing page]
*He was a thorough Protestant in Spirit.
[return to p. 45]
Cardinals Marcello & Salviati
reproached him in the presence of the Pope with having concealed from them his
design in the placing of some church windows.
He replied, I am not, neither will I ever be obliged to
tell your eminences or any one else,
what I ought, or am disposed to do. It
is your office to see that money is provided; to take care of the
thieves, & to leave the building of St. Peters to me.” Then turning to the Pope he said, “Holy
father, you
[p.46 – M. Angelo & Luther]
see what I gain.
If these machinations to which I am exposed are not for my spiritual
welfare, I lose both my labor & my time.” The Pope clapping him on the shoulder replied
“Do not doubt. Your gain is now
& shall be hereafter,” and assured him of his confidence and esteem.
It is worthy of remark that we are indebted to
Michel Angelo for that excitement about indulgences which resulted in the great
Reformation. It was his ambitious plan
for the completion of St peters church on a magnificent scale which constantly
pressed on the attention of his Holiness, led to the scheme of raising funds
for so vast an enterprize by means of peddling
indulgences. And so the Lion Luther was
stirred up, a man who resembled Michel Angelo in more than one respect, in an
unconquerable love of Truth, and a contempt for all wickedness in man or
Devil.*
[to facing page]
Luther, it may be said in passing, loved the art,
and his mind was essentially artistic. His
language is a tissue of pictorial images. He was intimate with and loved cordially the
painted Albert [sic] Durer and Lucas Cranach. Do not all good men love
painters? Be careful how you trust
those dangerous men who dislike artists. It is as when a young man shuns the company of
refined women and lovely children. He is
to be suspected. Luther, also,
recommends the use of art for religious purposes, and with his own hand drew
many designs to be engraved as frontispieces to his "Tracts"; and I
have no doubt the little drawings helped the tracts to set all Germany in a
blaze.
[return to p.
46]
Both Michel Angelo and Luther dared to take the
Pope by the beard. While Angelo was
engaged upon the Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, His Holiness impatient to see
the effect of the work, demanded that the scaffolding should be taken down.
[p.47]
The painter would not at first allow it, & it
is said that to punish the Pontif [sic] for his curiosity
in attempting to peer through the crevices of the scaffolding he amused himself
in shaking down dust into the Pope’s eyes as he stood below gazing up.
[rest of this page has been crossed out, albeit
still legible, and a note on the facing page reads “leave out if too long”]
[p.48 – Christian art not always with the Spirit of
the age]
It has been said that the arts of every country &
of every age are but the embodiment of its spirit. This theory is undoubtedly
true in the main, but it applies
only to the aggregate, and is often wholly contradicted by isolated instances;
and, for our comfort be it said, those isolated cases are constantly occurring
in the history of art. Many of the
greatest artists have been such, green islands in a dusty wilderness,
immovable rocks breasting the torrent of the times, a sweet sunshine resting on
them, while the foul & blackening current goes roaring by. Such was Raphael in his early creations, pure,
lovely & pious, in the midst
of a city & court which was corrupt & heathen to the very centre [sic]. A very
den of thievery & lust. Such an
exception was Albert Durer surrounded by a ravenous multitude of reformers,
who were stirring Heaven & Earth with changes in Religion, & some of
them in their sacrilegious
[p.49 – Christian artists often exceptions to the
prevailing temper of an age]
barbarity battering down the quaint forms of early
art, dashing the painted windows of
Cathedrals to atoms & stripping Religion of all external ornaments, while
simple Albert, surrounded by those who were thus the enemies of his art, was quietly
painting Holy families & solemn crucifixions & groups of saints for
chapel altars, cheered in his labors by Luther himself.
All his life
long, old Michel Angelo stood aloof from the depravities of his time,
faithfully preserving that Divine arts in its purity, which at his death was
totally swallowed up by the affectation, falsehood & profligacy of the
age. He was free from that heartlessness
which even during his lifetime tainted & afterwards totally corrupted the
host of wretched artist who were his contemporaries.
While the religious painters of modem France are either
followers of the formal classical Poussin, whose
marble coldness they catch without his truth & taste; or else are covering
vast canvases with Arabian studies of the present day, tents & striped draperies, camels,
& long bearded orientals, & calling these
hollow-hearted operatic groups & sceneries of the Holy Land
[p.50]
Christian Pictures, while the great mass are running
in one or the other of these directions - there is Scheffer
in the chaos of Parisian art, simple & unaffected, painting Christian
subjects with a pathos & devotion most grateful to the lovers of sacred
art.
We might
multiply instances of great artists who have stood aloof from the tendencies of
their age, & produced works in direct opposition to its spirit. The well beloved Overbeck
is but one instance (though surely a marked one) of those Pilgrims in art, who
have kept their eyes steadily fixed on the Heavenly city, and who, if they have
looked back, it has been only to take lessons from the monuments which former
pilgrims have left along the way, & not to be distracted by the follies
& madness of the crowds that press around them.
While Rome,
once the Holy City, has become
besotted with the luxuries & abominations of the Earth, & the
simplicity of Christianity bedizzened with the gew gaws & trumpery decorations
of outward ceremonies, and while the
Faith of the heart, the vital essence of Christianity, has been exchanged for the shuffling of
mumbling
[p.51 –
conclusion]
Priests, and
the tinkling of silver bells, the telling of beads, the swinging of censors, the gabbling of hollow
forms & all the tawdry puerilities of modern Romanism – in the midst of all
this, Overbeck, a Roman Catholic, surrounded but not
swayed by these follies, with meekness and gentleness, & yet with
inextinguishable ardor, is noiselessly devoting himself to the illustration of
the most simple events in our Lord’s life.
If we could indulge no hopes for the arts of this
country except such as were in unison with the spirit of the age & the
progress of events, to what despair
should we be forced at once. Who would
desire to embody the insane restlessness & struggle for palpable good which
we feel around us? If our art is only to
be the expression of steam progress & trades-unions, of gold dust fevers, the
bustle & crash of increasing business, the everlasting tramp of brick
layers & carpenters, then we are a miserable set of wretches indeed.
No! My brothers
of the Divine art, there are better hopes for you, even though you aspire to be
painters of Christian subjects. Take courage.
Allston and Cole, hight [sic, perhaps high was meant] examples of those whom the
temper
[p.52]
of the age
cannot corrupt, have but just left you. Their
pencils were guided by Him “who touched Isaiah's lips with hallowed fire.” Christianity is an essence, a principle as unchangeable as God Himself.
The adoring
love of Christ, a thirst for all that is Holy, a joy in the happiness of men,
is its spirit. Imbued heartily with this,
with an earnest, constant, unconquerable pursuit of knowledge and power in the
art itself, you may hope to leave some waymarks along the wilderness of Life. Some creations of Beauty which shall cheer
the drooping Christian, and strengthen Holy men in their conflicts with the
powers of darkness. Yea, you may hope to
win a place among those more laborious disciples of the Master who, amid many
sorrow and tears, are gathering in the ripening harvests of the word.
Haste then like
the star-led wise-men of the East at the dawn of Christianity, and pour
your precious gifts and odors sweet at the feet of the Babe of Bethlehem, and
so shall He smile radiantly upon you when He shall come again as the King
Eternal, charioted in clouds, riding on the
wings of the wind, with innumerable angels of glory ministering before Him.