GREAT ARTISTS, Volume I

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.