. The literary digest. hest degree. 340 THE LITERARY DIGEST, [March 19, 1898 Art grew out of handicraft. Many of the earliest Italian painterswere goldsmiths, goldsmithing having been the highest of thecrafts. As to the philosophy of their art, Mr. Crawford says : It is very hard to get at an idea of what men thought aboutart in those times. Perhaps it would be near the truth to say thatit was looked upon as a universal means of expression. Whatstrikes one most in the great pictures of that time is their earnest-ness, not in the sense of religious faith but in the determinationto do nothing wi
. The literary digest. hest degree. 340 THE LITERARY DIGEST, [March 19, 1898 Art grew out of handicraft. Many of the earliest Italian painterswere goldsmiths, goldsmithing having been the highest of thecrafts. As to the philosophy of their art, Mr. Crawford says : It is very hard to get at an idea of what men thought aboutart in those times. Perhaps it would be near the truth to say thatit was looked upon as a universal means of expression. Whatstrikes one most in the great pictures of that time is their earnest-ness, not in the sense of religious faith but in the determinationto do nothing without a perfectly clear and definite meaning,which any cultivated person could understand, and at which evena child might guess. Nothing was done for effect, nothing wasdone merely for beautys sake. It was as if the idea of useful-ness, risen with art from the hand-crafts, underlay the intentionsof beauty, or of devotion, or of history which produced the pic-ture. In those times, when the artist put in any accessary he. Cop>TlKht 1807, by H. T. Knlk. NVw Vnrk. F. MARIO.\ CKAWKORI). asked himself: Does it mean anything? whereas most paintersof to-day, in the same case, ask themselves: Will it look well?The difference between the two points of view is the differencebetween jesting and being in earnest, between an art that com-pares itself with an ideal feature, and the art of to-day that meas-ures itself with an ideal past. Thegreat painters of the Renaissance appealed to men and tomens selves, whereas the great painters of to-day appeal chieflyto mens eyes and to that much of men which can be stirredthrough the eye only. It was not that those artists were religious enthusiasts, movedby a spiritual faith such as that which inspired Fra Angelico andone or two others. Few of them were religious men ; several ofthem, like Perugino, were atheists. It was not, I think, becausethey looked upon art itself as a very sacred matter, not to bejested with, since they used their art agains
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