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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 15, 1912.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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