On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Raphael might have been proud—and their mother also ; for where is the highest triumph of art , unless there be the corresponding spirit in others to recognise and be improved by it . These children felt the influence of the - true-- and the beautiful , though as yet unable to explain why they felt it * The simple
dignity of ; Paul ' s figure , the richyyet light drapery that envelopes it , the strong vitality of lofty purpose in the attitude , its contrast with the cold , hard , silent statue of Mars , seen on its pedestal in the back-ground—marking the holier triumph of the gospel of peace over the unhallowed might of war—the differing expressions in the faces of the listening group—positive disapprobation
—gloomy murmuring—dogged attention—inward thought—half awakened conviction—earnest admiration- —all worked up with the most consummate power and grace in the choice of expres * sion , the adjustment of attitude , the arrangement of drapery ; no one . single error in detail to mar the magnificence , the one grand design ; all this was felt , and to tins was accorded the willing and enthusiastic homage which ingenuity had failed to call forth .
From this they passed to others , to excite fresh admiration , and call forth new expressions of delight . It seemed to open a new world to them . The poets , sculptors , painters , and the other great , though less glorious , rulers of the world , with whom history had made them familiar , were hailed with delight . It was the poetry of education infused into the prose . Here was art fulfilling its true destination . Art - loved for itself alone , becomes a selfish
dereliction of the care and ^ endance which excellin g minds owe to others who may be less highly gifted . It is the lavish expenditure of time and thought on the lifeless image , while the living breathing creature is languishing for the . help which is denied it . We deny not to those who are labourers in the holy vocation of working out the redemption of man from a debasing
unspirituahzing thraldom , moments , nay , hours of enjoyment , in gazing on the forms and faces that have remained , from time to time , as promises of future glory . There may the unrequited love , the baffled hope in wearied and worn hearts , turn for refuge from the thought , of what man has been to them , to the hope of
what he may become for others ; or there find an anodyne of forgetfulness in gazing $ t beauty that cannot betray * or strength that cannot tyrannize ; , and there let the master-spirits of-art . be stimulated to nobler creations ; suited to the rapidly progressing spirit of our times ; taking fire from the altar of genius , to create , in turn , a purer , brighter flame * than has ever yet ^ bee n kindled .
Wiho , speaJta , of ths , high and palmy state of the arts having departed for . t&vQx ? , / There is yet ample scope for mightier achievement * than , thoy have yet attained * Thay ^ . re in a ptate of repose , but 1 j > ey will rw \ v » ken ; to a mors glorious and beautiful existence than , tty « y have heretofore known . . The antique scul p ture appealed to the human intellect , while it left the human heart
Untitled Article
760 Buy Images .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1834, page 760, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2639/page/12/
-