. Our Philadelphia. ave been a poor affair—not too busy to welcomethe first Americans who saw to it that all the beautyshould not be imported from Europe. After the firstcares for the necessaries of life are over, we shall come tothink of the embellishments, Franklin wrote to his Lon-don landladys daughter. Already some of our younggeniuses begin to lisp attempts at painting, poetry andmusic. We have a young painter now studying at this care for the embellishments of life, of so muchmore real importance than the necessaries, Philadelphiawas the first town to take the lead, though Phila
. Our Philadelphia. ave been a poor affair—not too busy to welcomethe first Americans who saw to it that all the beautyshould not be imported from Europe. After the firstcares for the necessaries of life are over, we shall come tothink of the embellishments, Franklin wrote to his Lon-don landladys daughter. Already some of our younggeniuses begin to lisp attempts at painting, poetry andmusic. We have a young painter now studying at this care for the embellishments of life, of so muchmore real importance than the necessaries, Philadelphiawas the first town to take the lead, though Philadelphianshave since gone out of their way to forget it. The oldQuaker lady in her beautiful dress, preserving her beauti-ful repose, in her beautiful old and historic rooms, showsthe Friends instinctive love of beauty even if they neverintentionally, or deliberately, undertook to create it. Forthe most beautiful of what we now call Colonial furnitureproduced in the Colonies, Philadelphia is given the credit %-^^^A. r i THE HALL AT CLIVEDEN, THE CHEW HOUSE PHILADELPHIA AND ART 389 by authorities on the subject. Franklins letters couldalso be quoted to show Philadelphians keenness to havetheir portraits done in conversation or familypieces, or alone in miniatures, whichever were most invogue. Even Friends, before Franklin, when they visitedEngland sought out a fashionable portrait-painter likeKneller because he was supposed the best. Artists fromEngland came to Philadelphia for commissions, artistsfrom other Colonies drifted there,—^Peale, Stuart, Cop-ley. Philadelphia, in return, spared its artists to Eng-land, and the Royal Academy was forced to rely uponPhiladelphia for its second President—^Benjamin artists studio in Philadelphia had become a place ofsuch distinction bj^ the Revolution that members of thefirst Congress felt honoured themselves when allowedto honour it with their presence—in the intervals betweenlegislating and dining. The Philadelphian to-day
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