Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860

Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27,
January, 1860

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January,
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Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860
Author: Various
Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11173]
Language: English
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THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY,
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
VOL. V.--JANUARY, 1860.--NO. XXVII.

OUR ARTISTS IN ITALY.

HIRAM POWERS.
Antique Art, beside affording a standard by which the modern may be
measured, has the remarkable property-giving it a higher value--of
testing the genuineness of the Art-impulse.
Even to genius, that is, to the artist, a true Art-life is difficult of
attainment. In the midst of illumination, there is the mystery: the
subjective mystery, out of which issue the germs--like seeds floated
from unknown shores--of his imaginings; the objective mystery, which
yields to him, through obvious, yet unexplained harmonies, the means
of manifestation.
Behind the consciousness is the power; behind the power, that which
gives it worth and occupation.
To the artist definite foresight is denied. His life is full of surprises at
new necessities. When the present demand shall have been fulfilled,
what shall follow? Shall it be Madonna, or Laocoön? His errand is like
that of the commander who bears sealed instructions; and he may drift
for years, ere he knows wherefore. Thorwaldsen waited, wandering by
the Tiber a thousand days,--then in one, uttered his immortal "Night."
Not even the severest self-examination will enable one in whom the
Art-impulse exists to understand thoroughly its aim and uses; yet to
approximate a clear perception of his own nature and that of the art to
which he is called is one of his first duties. What he is able to do,
required to do, and permitted to do, are questions of vital importance.
Possession of himself, of himself in the highest, will alone enable the
student in Art to solve the difficulties of his position. His habitual
consciousness must be made up of the noblest of all that has been
revealed to it; otherwise those fine intuitions, akin to the ancient
inspirations, through whose aid genius is informed of its privileges, are
impossible.
Therefore the foremost purpose of an artist should be to claim and take
possession of self. Somewhere within is his inheritance, and he must
not be hindered of it. Other men have other gifts,--gifts bestowed under
different conditions, and subject in a great degree to choice. Talent is
not fastidious. It is an instrumentality, and its aim is optional with him
who possesses it. Genius is exquisitely fastidious, and the man whom it
possesses must live its life, or no life.
In view of these considerations, the efforts of an artist to assume his

true position must be regarded with earnest interest, and importance
must be attached to that which aids him in attaining to his true plane.
Such aid may be, and is, derived from the influences of Italy. Of those
agencies which have a direct influence upon the action of the artist,
which serve to assist him in manifesting his idea and fulfilling his
purpose, mention will be made in connection with the works which
have been produced in Italian studios. They have less importance than
that great element related to the innermost of the artist's life,--to that
power of which we have spoken, making Art-action necessary.
It is not, however, exclusively antique Art which exercises this power
of elevation. Ancient Art may be a better term; as all great Art bears a
like relation to the student. In Florence the mediaeval influences
predominate. Rome exercises its power through the medium of the
antique.
There is much Christian Art in Rome. Yet its effect is insignificant,
compared with that of the vast collection of Greek sculptures to be
found within its walls. Instinctively, as the vague yearnings and
prophecies of youth lift him in whom they quicken away from youth's
ordinary purposes and associations, his thought turns to that far city
where are gathered the achievements of those who were indeed the
gods of Hellas. To be there, and to demand from those eloquent lips the
secret of the golden age, is his dream and aim, and there shall be solved
the problem of his life.
But antique Art, waiting so patiently twenty centuries to afford aid to
the artist, waits also to sit in judgment upon his worth and