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Art as a Record.3
each tree-trunk and mossy rock having
its portrait painted from a certain point
of view, without change or disguise.
The perfected artists find their memory
richly stored with accurate images of
nature, and will paint these sometimes,
but constantly copy nature too. And
if any of them ever paint anything
from studies, it is copied exactly from
those studies, which, being faithful
beyond peradventure, are to a great
extent nature itself.
This is the way the Pre-Raphaelites
work.   As far as their painting of
external nature goes, this is all that is
peculiar about it.   Anything   that
seems odd to one who is accustomed
to the every-day, conventional work,
brilliant color, strong and bold con-
trasts of light and shade. form  and
outline, called  ungraceful and stiff,
results from the earnest effort to
represent nature as she is. This is of
the true Pre-iRaphaelites. There were
at first certain tendencies in the school
towards the faults as well as the
excellences of the early painters.
They are almost forgotten now.
If it be desirable to have painted for
us the beautiful objects in our own
woods, it surely is to have equally
faithful representations of the wonders
of foreign lands, and the equally re-
Maote and as little known wonders of
our own. The precipices of Puget's
Sound, the canons of the Gila, the Yo-
selmite Pass; known to us now only
through the medium of photographs or
topographical Reports, need the artist's
hand to paint them, no less than our
familiar " Palisades."
We owe our meed of thanks to
those who have gone through this
travel and work for us. Mr. Church
has painted Niagara for us rightly.
We are most thankful for that.repre-
Sentation of our great cataract. There
is the greater cause to regret that we
cannot depend upon the fidelity of the
pictures of South American, and other
scenery, of which he has given us
several large and celebrated pictures.
These pictures, which are known to be
painted from studies, and to be com-
positions put together in New York,
cannot be felt to be faithful portraits
of any   scenery.  They   were not
intended to be, very probably, and all
we wish to express, in this connec-
tion, is our regret that they were not.
It seems certain that there are views
among the Andes as magnificent, to
say the least, as any Mr. Church has
composed. It would have been better
then, to have given us these.
Let it not be urged that the public
demands no accuracy and faithfulness
of record, but buys -willingly that
which it considers the fashion. It is
very true, but it is no argument. The
public demands many kinds of vicious
pleasure, but that demand warrants no
man in supplying it. When was it
ever true that artists are bound to give
the public what it asks for?
It is the business of artists to educate
the public, to paint them that which
will please the right minded and the
observing, running the risk of limited
appreciation at first, in the certainty
of ultimate success in raising the stand-
ard of popular taste.
If one man paints a free, wild,
vigorous plant as it grows, and another
paints a vase of cut flowers, undoubt-
edly the latter will be more sure of a
sale than the former.  What then?
The selling his picture will be a secon-
dary matter, (not unimportant, but of
secondary importance,) to every right-
minded man. The first thing he has
to think of is how to do the right
thing. The bitterness of unapprecia-
ted effort is not so bad as the sense
that one has done his best to encour-
age ignorance and narrow-mindedness,
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