Great Artists, Vol 1.

Great Artists, Vol 1., by Jennie
Ellis Keysor

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Title: Great Artists, Vol 1. Raphael, Rubens, Murillo, and Durer
Author: Jennie Ellis Keysor
Release Date: September 10, 2007 [EBook #22564]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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GREAT ARTISTS
"Art manifests whatever is most exalted, and it manifests it to
all!"--TAINE

GREAT ARTISTS RAPHAEL MURILLO RUBENS DURER
BY
JENNIE ELLIS KEYSOR Author of "Sketches of American Authors"
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHTED BY EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY,
1899.

[Illustration]
A WORD TO THE TEACHER.
The following brief sketches are presented in fear and in hope--in fear
lest they prove in no wise adequate for so glorious a subject; in the
hope that they may encourage not only the pupil, but the teacher, to
study the lives and the works of the great artists and to make every
possible effort to have copies of masterpieces ever before them to study
and to love.
The field of art study is a wonderful one from which to draw for
language work. A double purpose is thus served. Interesting subjects
are secured and pupils are given a start in acquiring a knowledge of the
beautiful that fortifies them for the sorrows and cares of life; and, what
is even better, prevents their own life from being commonplace.
Would the teacher wish to study further, a list of valuable reference
books is appended to each sketch, any one of which will greatly assist
in acquiring a more extended knowledge of the subject.
In the study of an artist, take care to have a liberal supply of
reproductions of his pictures at hand. These may be photographs,
half-tones, like the illustrations in this book, or engravings. Good work
cannot be done without such pictures.

Above all, work to cultivate a love for good pictures, not to fill young
minds with uninspiring facts. J. E. K.

[Illustration: SISTINE MADONNA. Raphael.]
RAPHAEL SANTI
"THE PERFECT ARTIST, THE PERFECT MAN."
We are about to study Raphael, the most generally praised, the most
beautiful, and certainly the most loved of all the painters of the world.
When all these delightful things can be truthfully said of one man,
surely we may look forward with pleasure to a detailed study of his life
and works.
Often in examining the lives of great men we are compelled to pass
over some events which, to say the least, are not creditable. Of Raphael
this was not true. He was gifted with all admirable qualities, and so
many-sided was his genius that, while we think of him first as a painter,
we must not forget that he also carved statues, wrote poems, played
musical instruments, and planned great buildings.
So much was he endeared to his pupils that, after he grew to be famous,
he never went on the streets unless he was followed by an admiring
throng of these students, ever ready to do his bidding or to defend his
art from any possible attack by malicious critics. He lived at a time
when artists were fiercely jealous of each other, and yet wherever he
went harmony, like a good angel, walked unseen beside him, making
whatever assembly he entered the abode of peace and good-will. It is a
beautiful thing that such a strong, lovable man should have had for his
name that of the chief of the archangels, Raphael, a name beautiful of
sound and ever suggestive of beauty and loveliness.
There seemed to have been special preparation for the birth of this
unique character. Not only were his parents of the ideal sort, loving the
best things of life and thinking ever of how best to rear the little son
that God had given them, but the very country into which he was born

was fitted to still further develop his natural tenderness and sweetness
of disposition.
Webmo, the birthplace of Raphael, is a secluded mountain town on a
cliff on the east slope of the Apennines directly east of Florence. It is in
the division known as Umbria, a section noted for its gently broken
landscape, such as in later years the artist loved to paint as background
for his most beautiful Madonnas. Here the people were shut off from
much of the excitement known to commercial towns. They were slower
to