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TRUE MISSION
AMERICA.
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GEO. S. APPLETON, PRINT-PUBLISHER,
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ART'S TRUE MISSION.
THERE is no more blessed influence superacting on the world than the love of art nourished by the education of our higher feelings.
It is never individual in its operation, never
selfishly confined to the object upon which it was
first directed; but it effuses like the atmosphere,
radiates like light, enveloping, pervading, and
ameliorating all surrounding things, and transforming the rudest antagonisms into the tenderest sympathies. An enlarged and educated
scholar recognizes kindred in every intellect
which is marked by his own breadth of thought;
the soul of a true artist glides into and claims
affinity-with that of a brother in art, of whatever clime or caste; and it is indeed a divine
sympathy which unites the sensitive natures of
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THE ARTIST.
true-born children of music-whose lives are
broken melodies, and whose deaths the subsidence
of an exhausted cadence.  There is, in effect,
nothing "foreign" in the higher world of literature and art.  The  true poet or artist cannot
descend to the consideration of clime, or age, or
rank. There are no English, no Americans, no
Italians, nor Germans, nor French, in the grand
congress of mind and heart manifesting itself
through thought, light, and song. The exalted
artist has no country, or, rather, he claims all
countries; for his birth-place is the soul of all
true men, and the nourishment which gives him
life comes not from one breast alone, but from all
that throb with the love of which his genius is
the expression. Therefore does the high-souled,
heaven-anointed artist recognize all pure children
of his divine alma mater as brethren in his path;
therefore will he never regard the accidency of
birth as of a snow-flake's weight in his estimate
of genius; therefore will he welcome  to his
heart of hearts all feelings, all impulses, all influences born of the beautiful spirit which inspires his own conceptions.
So much as regards the Artist: and I under
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THE POET AND ARTIST.
stand this word to comprise  somewhat more
than the signification of a mere class or profession. I use the word " artist" in the high
sense to which poet should ever be confinedconveying the idea of a creator of new beauties
in the world-an interpreter of dumb  spirit
an exalted Cadmus giving form and expression
to impalpable and mute feeling. The Poet and
the Artist are- each in his sphere, the divine
chemists of all spiritual affinities around them.
The inner things of men's natures,- hidden sympathies and mysterious promptings-howsoever
nameless and subtile they be,-are reduced to
substance, shape, and character, in that strange
alembic the mind of genius, and thence thrown
out to the world's recognition, on the painter's
canvas, the scholar's page, or through
" the secret power
Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit
By voice or hand, and various measured verse,
-Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes."
It is true that there exists a marked distinction
between the merely sensuous- and primary effects
of poetry, and those of painting, and that the
processes of conception and execution through
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A POEM AD PICTURE COMPARED
A POEMI AND PICTURE COMPARED.
which the poet and the painter arrive at their
result or object-i. e., a perfect work-are ex actly inverse. It has been said that in all can vas representations, even the greatest, there must
appear an unsatisfactory incompleteness, render ing them inferior to a finished poem; that, for
example, a hand raised to strike, in a picture,
i must forever remain in that position, threatening
only, and that the flying horse of a painter never
advances, and therefore fails to suggest to us the
end  of his career;-whereas  in a poem  the
action is continuous-the arm falls, the steed
dashes onward,  bearing  thie  reader  with  its
flight. Whether the power of thus continuing
and elucidating the action of its subject be an
advantage to Poetry, may, however, in its turn,
be questioned; inasmuch as the scope allowed
to the imagination by a painting might be sliggestive of more interest than could be awakened
through the detailed description of the poet.
Perhaps, moreover, the tout ensemble that is at
once embraced by a single coup d'oeil at the
picture is more satisfactory to the mind than the
necessarily slower induction by which the argument of a poem must lead to its consummation.
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ITS EFFECT UPON THE MIND.
But, in fact, the inceptive processes through
which the excellences of both poem and painting
become recognized, involve two diverse mental
operations in the beholder or auditor. Thus, it
is the impressive coup d'oeil, or first view, in the
one case, regarding the painting, and it is the
inductive process in the other, regarding the
poem, which reveals to us the true merit of each
as a perfect work of art. And herein, perhaps,
lies the esthetic distinction between the two, that
the one appeals to our analytic, the other to our
synthetic, mental powers. There is a dual gratification in the contemplation of all perfect or
nearly perfect creations-that springing from the
composite or complete view, and that arising
from a mental dissection or disintegration of the
merits. This double pleasure has for its base
one of the two faculties of analysis or synthesis.
The object, therefore, of the true painter or poet
will be to exercise to its proper degree whichever
of these faculties his subject or work is fitted to
call into action; and his success will be according
to the nicety of art and fidelity to nature of
which his work shall give evidence.
So in Homan's picture of "H  ARVEY EXPLAIN
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8        THE PREACHING OF KNOX.
ING  THE  CIRCULATION  OF  THE  BLOOD"-the
principal figure at once fixes the eye, and gives
tone to the whole scene; and our analytic powers then separate the components of the work:
the thoughitful monarch, the careless courtier,
the wondering boy, and finally, the stag's head,
with its swelling veins, furnishing the philosopher's illustration; satisfaction with all being
our artistic quest.
In viewing or criticising a picture like Wilkie's
"PREACHING OF KNox," for instance, the analytic process is peculiarly called into action.
Our first glance is arrested by the masterly
grouping, and perfect keeping, in position and
tone, of the accessories. The foreground of the
picture, occupied with figures whose attitude and
expression suggest a powerful  present feeling,
directs us at once to the chief actor, the
bold Refoirmer, JOHN KNox. His animation, so
graphically delineated in every line of the figure,
suggests at once a mental inquiry as regards
the effect of such preaching upon the other
witnesses of the scene; and we proceed, therefore, to note the expression and attitude of all
the listening figures. Thus we unconsciously
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THE POEM AND PICTURE.
analyze the entire picture-receiving it firstly
as a whole, and then dissecting its excellences.
With a poem, on the other hand, we may
here remark, comes the synthetic process. We
cannot obtain at once the grand effect of language and subject, but must be led or inducted
into it by graduated steps.  In the first line we
begin to recognize the style; proceeding, we discover simile, language, idea; concluding, we unravel the argument, and learn the denouement;
thus, through synthesis, reaching our conception
of the whole work; —whose perfection, to be
recognized, must be crowned by a culminating
effect.
The distinction thus drawn, respecting the
artistic treatment necessary to the development
of each work, that of the poet and that of the
painter, is very simple. A complete painting
strikes at first view, leaving the proportions of
its beauty to be learned by analysis; while a
poem builds up details in the mind towards a
superstructure which is only fully recognized
when its cap-stone is laid.
But, howsoever the artistic manipulation, so
to speak, of genius may differ in methods of
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THE TRUE ARTIST.
producing equally satisfactory results, one thing
is unquestionable-that a true artist or true
poet,  like  the  king,  "can  do  no  wrong."
Whether he steal into the love of humanity on
rays of painted sunlight, drawing the sympathy
of a world to his shadowed canvas; or whether
he envelop sense and spirit in the divine afflatus
of a magnificent thought of music, swaying with
melodious power the affections of myriad hearts;
still and forever the true artist can do no wrong.
Not of himself is his genius, nor its influence
directed by the impulse of his own will; but he
is an instrument, a glorious medium through
which the esthetic spirit of worship is revealed
to the children of men, in lieu of the barren
formalism generated by the material grossness of
every-day existence. It is only the untrue artist,
therefore, who sacrilegiously usurps the white robe
of Art's pure priesthood —who daringly pilfers
away her altar-fire, therewith to kindle false
flames; only he, thief of art, and rebel against
her divinity, can bring evil into the world.
Yet, indeed, it remains with many people a
question whether the operations of art, as developed in the creations of painter, sculptor, ar
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UTILITY OF ART.
chitect, and musician, are of permanent utility to
our race-whether, in effect, what are termed
the FINE ARTS do in reality benefit the nation
amidst which they flourish.  Not a few thinking minds are prepared to draw, between Spartan
nakedness and Italian luxury, a parallel far from
flattering to the latter. The fact that Athens,
Rome, Florence, and other states have dated
their physical and moral decadence firom the
zenith of their artistic glory; the reflection that
many of the noblest works of painting, statuary,
and music, were produced amid influences which
directly antedated a nation's declines and that
the brightest names of genius gleam out from
the darkness of popular ignorance anid servitude;
these truths would apparently argue that Art
can flourish in the absence of liberty, and that
its influence may decorate and aggrandize a state
without being of real popular utility; and they,
moreover, seem to give plausibility to Schlegel's
narrow theory, that in the mental as in the
natural world, there is an invariable sequence of
periods-bloom, maturity, decay.
I am ready to acknowledge that the traditional glories of art which we have received from
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INFLUENCE OF ART.
history, warrant skepticism to a certain extent
regarding its beneficial influence on the race.
I believe that an inaccessible Louvre, an aristocratic Academy, or an exclusive Opera House
can exercise little refining influence upon the great
mass. Rather, indeed, should we look for an
opposite result. Venus de Medicis may attract
the worship of cognoscenti, while a horde of
lazzaroni are gambling upon its pedestal, unconscious or contemptuous of its beauties.  Praxiteles or Apelles may enchant a king and his
court, while thousands of Helots lie, with distorted limbs and minds, in bondage at their feet.
Pyramids may rise, cemented by the blood and
sweat of a million human beings; the walls of a
CoIliseum may frown over the combats of wild
beasts and gladiators; the Kremlin or St. Petersburgh may tower in the very centre of degraded barbarism; yea, the sublime masses of a
Cherubini or a Spohr may swell from sounding
organ-pipes, as a musical accompaniment to an
auto da fe.
And, in a financial point of view, when it is
argued that the patronage of Art, and the increase of luxury, give employment to thousands
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ROYAL PATRONAGE OF ART.
in catering for the supply of artificial wants;
when it is asserted that the extravagance of the
virtuoso is a direct pecuniary gain to a hundred
individuals occupied in the details of executing
that which he purchases,-I am  far from  receiving such facts as evidence of the beneficial
effect of luxurious Art upon a nation's character.
It is related of Colbert, prime minister of Louis
XIV., that he defended the extravagant magnificence of that monarch's carrousels, by a financial calculation, in which he demonstrated that
the influx of strangers on account of the fetes,would produce to the industry of the kingdom a
profit ten times greater in amount than the royal
outlay for the occasion.  Thus, he argued that
the fountains, grottoes, palaces, statues, paintings,
and fireworks necessary for a week's courtly
festivities, were legitimate and virtuous means
towards the development and reward of industrial
talent.  I do not gainsay the fact of all these
and such things being profitable to some portion
of a nation —merchants and artificers-in a pecuniary point of consideration; but I oppose
the conclusion that such is the proper and legitimate consideration of Art; for I conjecture that 
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14   A LOVE OF ART NEEDS EDUCATION.
its influences may have a higher direction-that
its mission is to humanize and refine the great
popular mind-and that whenever it is degraded
to mere physical subserviency, it must lose its
beauty and divinity.
For what avail is it, in a spiritual, refining
sense, that the mechanical preparations for a
gorgeous cathedral are diffused among a thousand laborers? What delicate artistic influence
has the noble conception of the architect upon
the dull drudge who  quarries the  stone, the
demi-brute who delves for the metal, which are
to become components of the great work? Because the paint thrown upon canvas is the medium of an artist's immortality, does it follow
that the boor who grinds it has been refined or
exalted by the operation?  And why not I  It
is because drudge and boor share in the details
which are to make up the great whole, merely
as drudge and boor. The sublime IDEA of the
work, which their individual labors are hastening
to completion, never breaks upon their clodden
brains. Not a glimpse of the perfectness to constitute which each is bringing his imperfect fraction, dissipates the mist in which they toil. The
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ART NEEDS FREEDOM.
mine is wrought, the quarry opened, simply as
means of direct subsistence or reward, without a
shadowy reference to future purpose and result
involved in present labors.
It is on this account that Art, confined to the
appreciation and enjoyment of a limited number,
its productions as a whole rated enormously
high, its influences appealing only to the luxurious'and refined, and its associations fastidiously
exclusive, can never humanize  nor  beautify a
national physiognomy.  Its true mission, forever,
is like that of religion, among high and low. It
should speak the same simple truth to those who
dwell in palaces as to the unlettered cottagerexalted and sublimed, perhaps, but still the selfsame  truth.   For it can only be productive
of the highest good to mankind when it
is not monopolized by a luxurious few; when
it is not clouded or impeded by tyrannous
minorities; when it is, in fine, free-capable,
like the air, to flow softly into the chamber
of suffering; to penetrate prisons, and palaces,
and huts; to concentrate, whirlwind-like, against
the  strongholds of oppression;  to rise with
the exhaled prayers  of loving hearts, and to
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PROSPERITY ACCESSORY TO ART.
descend laden with the blessings and peace of
heaven.
The arts in a community find their nourishment in its prosperity. A savage, subsisting on
the mere necessaries of life, cannot be expected
to give much attention to mental or spiritual
adornment. The development of his taste is
complete when he appends silver rings to his
sliced nostrils, or jingles his strung wampum, or
daubs his cheeks and forehead with parti-colored
streaks. He is then, as far as in him lies, a
patron of the fine arts; but not exactly a refined
man.
It is only when the channels of profit in a
nation are overflowing-when men are enjoying
comfort and leisure-that we may safely count
upon the spread of art.  Painters and mnusicians
may thrive in a land where the inhabitants have
not bread to eat, but very little is art benefited
by such thrift. Such success of artists proves
that they are of little more consequence in- the
state than would be so many monopolies or
appanages of the power-be it prince or peerwhich patronizes them; while the people, the
great heart which should sway the- pulsations of
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AN ACADEMY.
their genius, has nought in common with them.
Cheops could build his pyramid, Czar Ivan could
erect his great temple, and Czar Peter fill his
capital with paintings and sculpture; but the
swart bondman of the Nile, and the bearded serf
of the Volga, had little interest in that beauteous
spirit which men call Art.  To evangelize men,
first give them to eat. To refine a people, make
them comfortable, and familiarize their minds
to the enjoyment of the beautiful.  We,  as a
nation, have attained in a great measure to
that degree of comfort and prosperity which
presents a fair field for  artistic  experiment.
Already we  exhibit the germs  of a  liberal
spirit, that will eventually refine the national
taste into a just appreciation of talent'now obscure, if not dormant.
In this view, it is with confidence, that I
look forward to the future establishment of a
grand national conservatory of the Fine Arts,
under direction of mnen whose lives shall be devoted to the cause of artistic progress, aided by
government, and supported by permanent revenues from the whole country. Our experimental Art Unions, and other associations, have at
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18         HOW TO CREATE TASTE.
least answered one purpose, as initiative steps
towards a consolidation of the lovers and amateurs, as well as professors of art, into a mututiallybeneficial national association; and we may witness, before many years shall pass, the foundation of an academy which shall be an honor to
America. For we do not lack- talent in our
country, nor does talent lack encouragement
when developed; we only lack at present the
legitimate means and opportunities of study and
practice.  Nearly all our artists are spontaneous
in their first growth, few of them passing through
the probationary experience which in past times
was deemed requisite to the formation of a Raphael, Titian, or Correggio. Yet, indeed, we
cannot hope for masters unless we first constitute
apprenticeships. And when America shall possess an ACADEMY, it must be one founded on a
broad basis, and conducted in a liberal and republican  spirit.  It must  embrace  not only
schools of design, living models, draperies, casts,
statues, groups, and bas-reliefs; but all these adjuncts must be accessible and beneficial to every
class of society, whether comprising lovers of art,
par excellence, or not. It must furnish not only
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LECTURES ON ART.
a library of works on architecture, sculpture,
painting, and their kindred- sciences; not only a
museum of vases, trophies, utensils, altars, and
mnodels; but it must insure a further result-that
the knowledge and refinement acquired through
these auxiliaries shall find a wvay out of the
academic walls, and be diffused among the people,
improving and directing their tastes in all things.
Not only must professorships be constituted to
induct students into the principles and laws of
composition, to educate their ideas of design
and coloring, to point out to them the beauties
and defects of masters, and to direct their attention to the particular branch of art for which
,nature has fitted their own faculties; but the
influence of these professorships must be conducted, throughI the students, out into the world,
there to generate and conserve a true artistic
taste. The lecturer on painting, on architecture,
on anatomy, on perspective, must speak through
his class to the outer community, or hlie achieves
comparatively little towards the culture and
elevation of Art in the nation.
I believe these objects may be secured by
an institution organized and conducted on a
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20.A PLAN FOR AN ACADEMY.
republican basis, with features recommending it
to popular sympathy;  such, for example, as
free admission to all students who shall, on examination, be deemed naturally qualified to become artists; the establishment of lectures on a
generous scale of support; the distribution of
prizes and honors for the encouragement of a
proper emulation; award of diplomas as in
our universities;-the whole to be guaranteed
through a permanent Fund, accruing from various means.
For instance, the designs and execution of
statues and paintings for national and state
galleries-of ornaments for legislative chambers
-of monuments commemorative of battle-fields,
political events, etc.-might emanate from such
an academy; every state in our confederacy
making an annual appropriation for the purchase of some work produced by the studentartists. Then each state might have the privilege of nominating a professor in the academythus supporting one of its own talented citizens
by the annual appropriation made to art.
Casts, medallions, and engravings, disposed of
generally throughout the country, would aug
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THE EFFECT OF AN ACADEMY.
ment the annual revenues. A Fund for indigent artists, or their destitute families, should be
discreetly administered; and elementary schools,
for instruction in the primary branches of art,
would discover and develop the germ of talent
in the children of rich and poor.
In the multiform yet simple operations of an
Academy like this, all details having aught to
do with the culture of an artistic taste in the
community, should have proper place and consideration. The same idea of refinement which
induces a professor of art to gather about him
antique reliefs and ornaments of marble or porcelain, would, if properly directed, generate a
desire in the poorest citizen to have fac-similes
of such  things, though  moulded  only from
clay, in his rudest household  utensils.   The
design of an Etruscan vase may as well ornament the poor man's mantel, as the rich
one's mosaic  table; and the Gothic or  Corinthian order may as legitimately give character to the laborer's chair, stove, or clock, as
to that of the virtuoso.
Thus, through  its lectures, engravings, and
elementary schools, would the Academy influence
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the community. An approved design of a villa,
a summer-house, a vase, a flower-pot, or even a
fruit-basket or ice-cream mould, emanating from
the primary school of a National Academy,
would naturally be adopted by the public as
a style or pattern of build or manufacture.
And so, in -the commonest every-day objects
would soon be recognizable both beauty and
symmetry; and the nation would be educated
in the love of Art by daily witness of its ameliorations.
By degrees, under the present auspices of Art,
the humanizing influence of a love or appreciation of it, are becoming understood, and it is to
be hoped that we shall not long have to complain of the ill success attending' the efforts of
those who seek to embellish life by its productions. There is no human being, however uneducated, who may not be acted upon, more or
less, by an appeal to the etherial portion of his
nature. The habits of the world, the evil passions, propensities, and appetites of the animal
man, may harden and incrust his outer development, but beneath all there ever exists some
vestige of that spiritual quality which consti
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POWERS' GREEK SLAVE.
tutes his title to the namne of human. Hence the
necessity of so disposing outward influences as
to awake and  quicken the better life within,
thus adapting art to its highest vocation, as a
great popular educator. For the propensities
and passions of mankind are, after all, but distortions of the diviner principles and qualities.
Lust, the demonic, is but the hideous growth of
rank, uncultured Love. Revenge is but an excrescence of Justice, and holy Reverence may
degenerate into sinful Idolatry.  To confine and
regulate, then, the too exhuberant expansion of
any quality, is the true method of preserving in
equilibrium the human character; and it is necessary, to this end, that an atmosphere, or surrounding sense, of goodness and beauty should
be brought continually to act upon society.  A
little child (it is related), on being led into the
room  where  Powers'  "Slave" was  exhibited,
awed by the stillness around, whispered to its
mother-" Mamma, we mustn't speak htere." It
was the pervading presence of beauty, felt and
mutely acknowledged by the spectators, which
prompted the child's thought. It would have
seemed as much sacrilege to raise the voice
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24       ART A FAITHFUL MONITOR.
in that hall, as before a high cathedral altar.
We might scarcely fancy a man so brutal, so
impious, as to strike a blow in anger, or even to
vent an imprecation, in the mute presence of
that statue! Nay, we should rather expect to
behold anger subside, and passion sink subdued
before the present sanctity of genius. And so,
likewise, in the outward world-if the beautiful
were oftener presented to our affections, and the
refined placed within our aspirations and reach,
surely our social life could not fail of being exalted by the communion.
Let, then, Art be acknowledged as (what in
truth its capacities directly indicate), a teacher
of the people.   Let our school-houses, halls,
churches, and homes become familiar with lovely things.   A  picture of a'quiet  landscape
may be a silent monitor to thevexed minda sweet face gazing from the wall, may make
us ashamed of the frown which darkens our
own  brows   Even  the  humblest  engraving,
in a poor man's chamber-if it possess but
the symmetric proportions of beauty-may
minister to the beholder's taste, enlarge his
heart, embellish, so to speak, his views of life.
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ITS HAPPY INFLUENCE.
A flower in the window, or a picture on the
wall, imparts an air of refinement to the rudest
habitation; and its possession is a mute  appeal to something within the owner's breast,
the  development  of  which  will  elevate his
taste above the enjoyment of the coarse or the
sensual.
A true understanding and love of Art, therefore, bids us welcome all means and objects calculated to awaken pleasure in well-constituted
minds, since they cannot be devoid of a happy
influence upon society.  The evil spirit fled before the harp of David, and Art is powerful now
as then.  When  we shall accustom ourselves,
our families, and our children, to embrace what
is really beautiful, we shall not, as a community,
be far from reaching that which is good.
. Let, then, a popular appreciation of art be
encouraged, and its productions familiarized to
the community by being rendered accessible to
all classes; for there is no want of a general
love for the beautiful, if the proper objects of
love be supplied.  The fine paintings of ancient
and modern days, if translated to the public
through equally meritorious engravings, will
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26 THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY ENGRAVINGS.
speedily exert an influence upon national taste,
and their wide-spread distribution, at reasonable
prices, rendering their acquisition possible to all
classes of the people, will be the surest method
of indoctrinating the popular mind with true
taste in matters of Art, as well as the legitimate
first-steps towards a general appreciation of its
claims, which may hereafter result in an artistic
school worthy of our native land.  The commnmity requires more than the hackneyed allotment of annual engravings by Art Unions; it
demands choice and variety in the works of art
submitted to its favor; and such works must be
supplied as may be coveted and possessed by all.
The glorious creations of Raffaelle, Correggio,
Murillo, Claude, and Rubens-the masterly productions of Lawrence, West, Wilkie-the incomparable sketches of Landseer-not to speak
of the beautiful works  of native genius-of
Allston, Cole, Flagg, and a host of others-rendered to us by the truthful transcript of the engraver-may grace the "poor man's cot-the
rich man's drawing-room;" and when Art shall
thus become familiar, we cannot long remain
ignorant or heedless of its blessed influences.
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AMERICA'S MISSION.
If it is gratifying in a patriotic point of view
that America has reached a proud position in
the world's history, it is far more pleasing to
look forward to the period when our example
shall lead the enterprise of European nations.
If it is just to consider our indebtedness to the
Old World for much of the genius, energy, and
indomitable perseverance which mark our character, it is wise likewise to reflect that we are even
now exerting a reflex influence, and returning to
the nations of our ancestry a more perfect and
enduring light to guide their progress. While,
for instance, we acknowledge what we owe to
the sturdy Anglo-Saxon stock, we are conscious
that the child is able even now to lead and support its parent, and we rejoice that our mission
may yet be to illumine the altars of our foreign
forefathers with the living fire of freedom that
now flashes upon our own.
And not only in a liberalizing and philanthropic sense are we destined to react upon the
Old World  nations.  I believe  this  glorious
land is yet to be the grand theatre for the regeneration of all things most dear to social
beings. I think it no rashness to predict
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28   TYRANNY NOT THE NURSE FOR ART.
that many now living may behold the spectacle
of Painting, Music, and Poetry, flying from
the chaos of European revolutions, to erect new
and more magnificent temples upon the towering
mountains and beneath the peaceful skies of
our happy continent.
For, indeed, Art requires, in its true life, a
clear atmosphere and quiet habitation.  It has
no home  where tyranny abides;  nor can it
flourish amid anarchy or ignorance. Its higher
blessings have never yet been vouchsafed to the
great body of the people, because in all history
there has never yet been an epoch when the
mass could love and appreciate these diviner
things. Though Greece had her temples, her
academies, her melodious groves-her canvas
glowing with heavenly creations, and her marble
almost instinct with life; though Italy in past
ages has seemed the very home of music, of
painting, of all that elevates and refines-though
her Rome, her Florence, her Venice, appear in
history like enchanted abodes, where all beautiful things were beloved, all glorious images
reverenced, where the skies were fraught with
golden sunshine, and the atmosphere was
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ITALY.
"full of noisesSounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not,"
-an empire of romance, where Art sat enthroned
over a universe of worshippers-yet the reality
of these picturings is not so pleasant. Art was
patronized in Italy, and had its rewards and
places of honor; it was lodged in palaces and
lifted up its voice in cathedrals; but unfortunately it was no more than patronized. As I
before said, it never indoctrinated the great mass
of Italy, never elevated, refined, or ennobled their
souls. It was never received as a gospel, or it
would, ere this, have made of the Italians a nation of freemen.  It had its influence, to be sure,
tin attuning the national feeling to an idea of the
:sensuous in Art; for, doubtless, the beggars of
Naples and Florence are somewhat critical in
respect to the physical beauty of painting and
statuary which they may see, and the animal
influence of operas and masses that they may
hear; but as regards pure appreciation and love
of Art for her own blessed self, they have, I
fancy, very little of it. Their souls are not large
enough to clasp the glorious spirit.
It is here, in our fresh, healthy land, that the
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30     AMERICA'S WELCOME TO ART.
new and sublimer advent of Art may be looked
for. Let us open our arms and hearts to her,
that she may rest and be plumed for higher
flights; let us prepare the way for her coming,
that she may feel her mission a welcome one.
It is in our grand old forests and among our
sounding hills, that music must abide, till its
cchoing anthem shall roll from shore to shore of
two mighty oceans. It is in the midst of our
republican temples that the shrine of art must
ascend, surrounded and guarded by a people's
love.  From the plains of Italy and the German
forests-from the gentle south and the rude
north-we will welcome the lore of the Old
World,'and enraft it with the genius of the
new. We will welcome the learning, the history, the imperishable works of European art,
and erect  them into a magnificent  column,
which shall be the starting-point of our country's
progress, beacon-crowned with the genius of the
Present and the Past.
And beautiful will be the spectacle, when,
casting national and sectional prejudices aside,
and holding all as brothers who enclasp the
same shrine and raise the same anthiem, we
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AMERICA'S WELCOME TO ART.
shall behold the spirit of redeemed Art moving
onward through the land, exalting and purifying the souls of men, and teaching by sigos
and sounds of loveliness the great and eternal
harmony of Nature.
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APPLETON'S ART PUBLICATIONS.
MUCH has been done by Galleries, Academies, and
Art Unions, towards the creation of a love and admiration for the beautiful in Art; but up to this time
no regularly established Publishing House has engaged
in the issue of Choice Engravings, executed in the
highest style of Art known at the present day.  European Engravings in small quantities, at enormously 
high prices, have found their way to some extent, but
are chiefly confined to the inhabitants of larger cities,
and those the most wealthy. The man of moderate
means is debarred from the purchase of such prints as
his taste would prompt him to purchase, by the insuperable barrier of price.
It is the design of the Subscriber to issue, from time
to time, the chefs-d',euvre of the Painters of America
and Europe. Of the works of American Painters, he
has now in progress the four beautiful Pictures of the
lamented  COLE, entitled the "VOYAGE  OF LIFE, or
CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, MANHOOD, AND AGE," forming an
allegorical series of Engravings of the highest order of
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34     APPLETOi'S ART PUBLICATIONS.
merit. They are intended to be faithful representations of this admirable painter's great effort, and are,
so to say, the only series of strictly FAMILY PICTURES
which this country has ever produced. The engraving
of them has been intrusted to Mr. James Smillie, who
bears a deservedly high rank as a landscape engraver.
Of European Paintings, the subscriber has in preparation the masterly efforts of the following celebrated Painters:
RAPHAEL,
CORREFGGIO,
MURILLO,
DE LA ROCHE,
LAWRENCE,
and others of a like high professional character.  Due
notice of these Art Publications will be given to the
public in future circulars.  The subjects will embrace
Scriptural, Historical, Moral, and Humorous Pictures.
.    They will be engraved for the most part in the
LINE MANNER, which is the most costly and the most
generally admired style known in Art, being five times
more expensive than Mezzotint, and fifty times greater
than Lithographs. Some idea may be formed of the
great expense, when it is borne in mind that the En graver is obliged to enter every line with the graver.
The time required to execute such an engraving as
"Harvey demonstrating to Charles the First the Theory
of the Circulation of the Blood," is two years, whereas
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LANDSEER,
WILKIE,
WEBSTER,
UWINS,
MULREADY, 
APPLETON'S ART PUBLICATIONS.
to engrave the same plate in Mezzotint, no more than
four months would be required.
Notwithstanding the great cost of getting up Engravings in Line, the Subscriber has determined to
issue these engravings on an average, at one-fourth
of thl prices asked for the same class of Engravings
in Europe, placing his reliance upon the generous
patronage of a public which is ever ready to en courage a laudable undertaking.
GEO. S. APPLETON,
PRINT PUBLISIIEP.,
356 Broadway, N. Y
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