4 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 15, 1912. ram cf Klaslerpiece5 of HSorlte g r&&e&rfi0k5. Va : --'i Ays L Back of Christmas Festival Stands the Birth o Jesus Art Grew From Attempts to Portray Mother and Child Evervp Great Artist Has Painted His Madonna '5 VJf .-nr. i BY WILLIAM ATHERTOJT DC PUT. THERE at&nd back of Christmas the Mather and Child. The modern mother and child are the moving Impulse of the festival to day, wherever a stocking; Is bung; or a cedar set In a. corner. Tet this mother of 1913 years ago Is, of them all. the mother who hastoached the hearts pf men by the millions and througrh the centuries. She It Is who has been the patron saint of all the households of the Christian world. She It Is who has been the Inspiration of the artists of the ages. She It la who has been more pictured than any Individual since the world beiran, and whose charm never falls. Her face has followed European civilization around the world and been established as the best-loved among; the Bushmen cf Australia, the Inca of the Andes, the Eskimo of the Arctic, the immigrants of Ellis Island, the farmers of Kansas, the palaces of Fifth avenue, the courts, of kin pa. Wherever this civilization has t-rone, the likeness of the Madonna has taken Its place on the wall of the humble cot or the eztravagrant mansion and there haa remained as a reminder of the sanctity of motherhood and Vie font of the Christian faith. The fidelity of the artists of the world to the Madonna has been most remarkable. The Holy Mother and Child, of all the events of the world. have most Inspired these users of the brush. When their work has been done and when the mechanical proc esses of a later time made It possible to broadcast the results of their labors, the Madonna was gl'n to the .winds and no picture in history has ever reached so far. There was In It moth erhood, most revered of consummations, and religion in the purity of its con ception. The Ftrat Madonna. The first picture of the Madonna and Child of which a record has remained. was drawn upon the tomb of a martyr of Rome in the early years or ine Christian era. After Balnta Peter and Paul had brought the new religion to the capital of the great empire of the West and had given up their lives be cause of It. martyrs followed them by the thousands. Then It was that those secret buryinir places of Christians in the catacombs came into being and here were laid the remains of uncounted men and women who died for their belief. It is above the tomb of one of these that the first Madonna and Child was cut into the stone. As time passed this representation fennd a place on many tombs and soon made Its Impression upon the hearts of the people. ' When Constantino, in the fourth century, built himself a new capital of the East and called It Constantino ple, and encouraged the development of Christianity there, the Madonna and Child Immediately became popular and In painting and sculpture reached nigh degree of perfection. In fact they grew so beautiful that it was found that the people were worshiping the likeness Instead of the things for which they stood. It was then that the Icon oclasts arose and broke and destroyed these works of art that had become or were threatening to become idols. Tet the Madonna and Child survived In the stern form given them by the church of Greece and In the thirteen centuries that have followed this like ness has been produced for all the Greek churches by a single monastery. It Is located at Mount Athos In the South of Turkey which haa of late appeared In news dispatches from the scenes of the bloody war. Ineestlosi f Italian Art. This was the extent to which the Madonna came to be pictured In these early days. Then followed nearly a thousand years, before the figures again took life and their first subsequent portrayal was an event of no mean Importance In all the history of art. There lived in Florence at this time a man of noble birth, by the name of Clmabue, In whose breast religion was deep set and art aeethed without sat isfaction. Italy had not then produced the likeness of people and things by the use of paint, except In frescoes. No portable paining had as yet been made. Clmabue executed the first painting that the inhabitants of Florence, the birthplace of art had ever known. That first picture was the Madonna and Child. When Clmabue had com pleted his picture it was officially car ried through the streets so that all the people might see. So overjoyed were they with it that they have ever since called the eecUon of the town in which It was shown the Happy Quarter. This was toward the close of the 13th century. Clmabue was contemporary with Dante, and an Intimate of that man. of sorrows. Be was the first of the great Italian artists, and to his Inspiration is due much of the glory that followed. Clmabue one day walked upon the hills and saw the shepherd boy, Giotto, drawing on a stone. The artist recog nised the latent talent of the boy and begged him from his mother and taught him art. OloUo improved on fff KJ 1 -v. A A Vs". if 1 lS;Sl.B in mi I? -a the art of his master, and the two learned many new things. When Gi otto died In 1336 he left much behind him as an Inspiration to artists that were to follow, for he was the first master. Incidentally he painted little else than Madonnas and the lives of the saints. Then, half a century later, came Fra Angellco, the artist monk. Many are the Madonnas that be left behind him. Prominent among them is the Madonna of the star which was stolen from San Marco about the same time that Mona Lisa was stolen in Paris and Rembrandt's Night Watch was cut in Amsterdam and the picture. Battle of Lake Erie, was slit by vandals in our own capltol at Washington. So ooes a given sort of vandalism seem to slmul taneously become worldwide. Lippi. the runaway monk, followed Fra An gellco, as did many others who lent greatness to this Florentine early school of artists. The Madonnas of Venice. So was art born In Florence, and so was the Madonna the Inspiration of it What Florence had learned It be queathed to Venice, and from the sur roundings of this city of beauty came the Idea of colorings, rich and rare. About the time that Fra Angellco died the first of the Venetian artists began work. Here appeared Bellini, a man of many new ideas. The first addi tion he made te the art of Venice was through the enriching of the somber colors that had been formerly used. This he did successfully. Then a sec ond Idea occurred to this man of re source, and he it was of them all In the art world who first used the faces of his models In these religious pic tures. The artists before him had merely painted the vision that they had In their minds, but Bellini painted a portrait for the figure he sought to represent. This fcjdlson of the art world heard, also, that there waa a certain painter from Mesatna who mixed paints in a new way that got unheard-of results. Disguising himself a laborer, he spied upon the painter in question and discovered that, instead of mixing his paints with water or the white of an egg. he used oil. Bellini employed oil, and so the oil painting came into being. At abont this time, also, appeared Titian, of the school of Venice. Titian ran riot In the colors that the school of Venice Initiated. Even unto today when there appears a theatrical star of a peculiar, ooioriui son oi Dionaness, she is referred to as titlan-haired. This great artist lived for s years ana for 0 of it he was busily painting. He painted Madonnas almost without num ber. Most oi dis subjects, as were those of his contemporaries, were still sacred. The greatest of his paintings and one of the greatest pictures of all time was "The Assumption." which still hangs in the Academy in Venice and viewed by ine noraes ox junenoans who regularly tour Europe. But Titian. the aged man. died of plague, deserted by his servants and relatives, and. as be was dying, vanaais rusnea in ana bore away his precious pictures ana otherwise robbed his bouse. But many Madonnas survive. Peragino, who Is of Importance in the world of art because be was the teacher of Raphael, was a contemporary t W ftiJ. 4V 5s. 4 f t r. 13 h J I m r V el'0 2 ipft-e 5 2rx of Titian. Batticelll appeared in the school of Florence and Introduced the classical figure. Cupids and Venuses and Mercuries began to find a place in oalntlnir and have ever since been popular. His Madonnas likewise take high rank. The Culmination of Art. Then came the greatest art era that the world has ever known. Never since time began have such artists lived as were working at the end or tne ni teenth century. There were then no less than six men, contemporaries, who were doing such work as had never been done before and such as has never been done since. The centuries that have followed have failed to produce a single artist who has been as great as any one of these just as they have failed to produce the equal of bnaKe speare. who was also contemporary. . Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael. Correggio, were then all at work, as still .was Titian. Albert Du re r, the great German, was then plying the greatest brusn outside ot naiy. Leonardo and Michaelangelo were two of the most remarkable men that the world has ever known. Both were un surpassed as painters, both were great sculptors, great architects, great poets, Michaelangelo has been referred to as the most titanic genius of all the ages. Yet Leonardo Is held by some to have been a greater man. Desperate rivals. they . were . always at each other s throats. Michaelangelo painted the Last Judgment, said to be the greatest of pictures. Leonardo painted a rival. the Last supper, une latter aiso paint ed the Mona Lisa, recently stolen. He was popular In France, where the King did him homage. Leonardo's versatility was shown when he even built fortifi cations for the Duke of Milan. Michael angelo retaliated by building St Pe ter's, in Rome. Botn contributed to tne art treasures of Rome. Finally In their rivalry these two masters entered a contest to decide which was the su perior. Each chose to depict a huge battle scene with great numbers of figures In action. The result was the production of great amounts of the best drawing the world has ever, known, but circumstances prevented a decision as to who was master. Raphael was a younger man than these and lived to be but 17 years ot age. Michaelangelo assailed him, being Jealous of his increasing popularity. He picked an obscure young artist who, he argued, was a greater painter than Raphael. He got them matched In a contest. Then Michaelangelo painted the central figure in the obscure man's picture. When the paintings were shown everybody recognised the heavy, muscular strength that typified Mich aelangelo and Raphael declared himself complimented that so great a man should thus oppose him. Raphael was the sweetest of char acters and his death at so early an age was greatly mourned. He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome, beside bis betrothed, who died but shortly before. In the brief span of his working life he had painted 120 Madonnas. Of all the Madonnas that have ever been painted, Raphael's have probably been the most popular. His Madonna of the Chair, copied by all the world and broadcasted In every form down to the cheapest chromo, is probably . fa- j lift iia y. :x' A - ?!!:' fA.M 4 Ay - 1 ssnliJb..... o. .-.., . ;-v ; r. - 3 , it . . uj-a;Si-js-... m fus' silMar to more people than any picture Ireggio produced several that still rank that the world ever produced. (among the masterpieces of the world. Of the Madonnas of .this schooL Cor-'Most noted of these la the Holy aught, the scene at the manger. In this pic ture the light all comes from the Babe. It illuminates the faces of the differ ent figures of the picture until these shield their eyes from its brilliance. It Is one cf the very greatest of the manger pictures. The Holy Day, in which the figure of St. Jerome appears, shows a similar scene with a different light effect, the light coming from without. gome Later Madonnas, Then came Carlo Dolce, who refined his painting to such an extent that his Madonnas are like miniatures that ap pear perfect on the closest inspection. Guldo Renl also labored In these times and his face of the Madonna, Mater Doloroso, Is one of the art treasures of the ages. Later appeared Murlllo, In Spain, and the Madonnas he painted are without end. Murillo was the first of the art ists whose designs reached out for American dollars. He worked as late as 1682 and in those days Spanish ad venturers were returning from the West laden with the gold of the new land. To these he sold his Madonnas at good round prices. These Madon nas found their way to the churchea of Mexico, Cuba, California and South America. They were broadcasted throughout the world. At the time the greatness of Murillo was not appreci ated, but the worth of his pictures later came to be realized. For a hun dred years past, some Individual baa been occasionally coming Into posses sion of a painting from some odd cor ner of the world. It having been de spoiled from some ancient church. Then this individual finds that he possesses one of the original Murillo Madonnas, a survival of the time when art was greatest and a painting such as has not been put on canvas in 200 years. Among the moderns there appears an occasional painter who puts on canvas a Madonna that Is almost worth while. Bouguereau, the Frenchman, Is well liked In America, and one of his best Madonna pictures Is owned by John Wanamaker and used to hang In hla salon in Washington, when he was Postmaster-General. The moderns, however, fall to get ths spirituality, the gqulfulness of the ear lier pictures. This Is probably duo to an absence of religious feeling that existed at the time when the best Ma donnas were being produced. The art ist's painting must first be in his heart and in the hearts of moderns there Is no such fervor as characterised ths days when devotees tortured them selves for their sins and offered up their lives for their religion. (Copyright, 1912. by W. A. Da Puy.) AMERICAN TRADE SPIES (OOMi.NUKl FROM PACK THREE.) which to conquer a good share of the trade ot the universe." "Are any foreign manufacturers suc cessfully competing in this country with our own manufacturers! I asueo. Plentv of them." Mr. Baldwin an swered. "We don't stop to think that Congress annually appropriates aDout 11.000.000.000 with which to pay the exoenses of the National government. and that a large part of the money is collected at our ports on goods brought here from other countries to be ais posed of In our markets. iermany pays the freightage across the Atlan tic and the customs duty; besides on J3.000.000 of cheap bose which are sold In American stores to American cus tomers. France ships us great car goes of wine and manufactured silk. Japan sells us copper ingots, matting and pottery, not to mention nearly all of Its tea and 145.000,000 of its raw silk. In plain, well made and lngen lous things we can - hold our own against the rest of the world. In some cheap things, however, we are at disadvantage because of our higher scale of wages. Then we are lacking in artistic ability, and so rich Ameri cans go abroad lor pottery, nne siiks and miscellaneous merchandise that is high In price." ,, The Secret of German Sncceas. "You spoke of Germany awhile ago," said. - - "Yes, and should like to speak of It again," Mr. Baldwin replied. "The Germans are making extraordinary headway Industrially. We think they are very remarkable business men that they are brilliantly progressive. sagacious and' scientific. It Is a thank less task. I suppose, to uncover a su perstition, but the fact of the matter s that Germany has won its command ing place In Industry simply through the unromantlc agency of organiza tion. Its people were emigrating by the shipload and it was losing its pop ulation because of the economic pres sure that I have already mentioned.' Something had to be done to stop ths drain, to keep the people at home. Statesmanship saw what was needed, and thus the German government It self became the chief instrumentality for the promotion of German industry and trade. Helping It are the schools, manufacturers, bankers, scientists and commercial bodies. There is team work, as baseball players say, all over the nation. Money is ' the national watchword, and emigrant ships leav ing German ports are now empty of natives. "A German manufacturer can go to his local board of trade and get the route and freight to any point in civili zation or heathendom. The state rail way will give him a special rate to the nearest port on the seacoast. His bankers will finance his shipment, will loan him the money to manufacture his product or to carry out his contract, and then through its German banking connection will finally collect the bill from his debtor. Business In Germany is a national policy. In this country It Is more individual. "One of our commercial agents found two German chemists experimenting with native essential oils at an isolat ed spot in the heart of China. Germans are everywhere. I was going to say that they probably have more com mercial agents in the United States than there are in our entire service. Moreover, they are as skilled in the making of Imitations as are the Japa nese. An American Bafety razor that sells for 5 has been cheaply reproduced by a German company ana can De bought in Spain, where patent laws are inoperative, for 80 cents. Nor la that all of the story. The razors bear the name of the American Inventor, and are represented to have been made In this country. "While the German man of business is ubiquitous, still the United States has the money and the goods and th brains, and can outsell the world In most thinfts. as I believe. If It is WIU lng to make the effort." (Copyright, 1912, by James B, Morrow