USA > New York > Old New York : or, Reminiscences of the past sixty years > Part 26
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Thus much may suffice as a historical record of the introduction of the Italian opera in New York, and, consequently, in the United States. Let the undisputed honor belong to this city. It needs no prophetic vision to foresee that time will strengthen its power, culture render it more and more popular, and that its destiny is fixed among the noblest of the Fine Arts among us. It might add pleasure on this occasion, did time allow, to state particulars concerning the several opera com- panies which have favored us with their presence
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and their skill since the Garcia period ; the Pedrotti company, that of Montressor, with For- nasari, and the memorable displays of Sontag, Caradori Allen, Grisi and Alboni : the triumphs and career of Ole Bull and of Jenny Lind would also enrich a narrative of such transactions with the livcliest incidents in proof of the liberality of the patrons of this intellectual and refining recreation in our metropolis.
That cultivated gentleman and scholar, Robert Winthrop, in his Address, lately delivered at the opening of the grand musical festival at the Music Hall, has assigned to Boston the exccution of the first oratorio in this country, and his researches are curious and instructive in the history of music. It would seem, from his antiquarian details, that the most memorable concert was given at King's Chapel, on the 27th of October, 1789, on occasion of the visit of George Washington to Boston as the first President of the United States. Like a philosopher of true sentiment, Mr. Winthrop, among many felicitous observations, remarks, " What a continued and crowded record docs the history of the world's great heart present of the noble sympathics which have been stirred, of the heroic impulses which have been awakened, of the devotional fires which have been kindlcd, of the love of God and love to man, and love of country, to which animation and utterance have been given
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by the magic power of music." This seems to me the true feeling of a man properly indoctrinated. I have heard language of like import proceed from the lips of John Quincy Adams ; and Carlyle has said that music is the speech of angels, and that nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine.
I pass on to say a few words in relation to the progress among us of another branch of what is strictly denominated the Fine Arts and the Arts of Design. Admonished by the critical obser- vations of Sir Arthur Martin Shee, that there is, perhaps, no topic so unmanageable as that of the arts in the hands of those who bring to its dis- cussion only the superficial acquirements of ama- teur taste, I shall exercise a wise prudence in my limited notice of the subject. Antiquarian re- search will in vain find any proofs of the Fine Arts existing in this city erc the lapse of more than a century from its first settlement, and then the evidences of any thing like an approach to- wards their encouragement are hardly worth the notice. Our sedate and conservative Dutch an- cestors were content with the architectural dis- plays of the old-fashioned gable brick residence, the glazed tile roof, and the artificial china square plate, enriched with grotesque illustrations of dykes and wind-mills, and the prodigal son, as ornaments for the ample mantel and fire-jams. I
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have not forgotten the ten commandments thus illustrated as decorations of the fireplace in the humble suburban dwelling near the head of Pearl street, where I passed my earlier days, at that pe- riod of childhood when I studied with overflowing tears the mournful story of Cock Robin. Of the architecture of their churches or houses of worship, I have nothing now to say-the trespass would be too great.
About a century ago might be found, scattered here and there, as household decorations, portraits by Smybert, Copley, Pine, and old Charles W. Peale, of blessed memory, and still later, several by West, and many by Stuart. Our Jarvis, In- man, and Dunlap, are of quite a recent date. I have seen the portraits of the Hunters of Rhode Island, by Smybert ; and the Washington by Pine, in the possession of the late Henry Bre- voort. Smybert, considering the state of the arts at that time, possessed more than ordinary merit ; and Pine, of whom I have often heard Pintard speak, has secured a peculiar reputation for fidelity in portraiture and excellence in coloring. In speaking of Smybert, our associate member, the venerable Verplanck remarks, that "he was not an artist of the first rank, for the arts were then at a very low ebb in England, but the best por- traits which we have of the eminent magistrates and divines of New England and New York, who
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lived between 1725 and 1751, are from his pencil." Trumbull calls Smybert " the patriarch of painting in America." Smybert was by birth a Scotchman. " Hc was the first educated artist who visited our shores," says Mr. Tuckerman. To his pencil New England is indebted for portraits of many of her early statesmen and clergy. Among others, he painted for a Scotch gentleman the only authentic likeness of Jonathan Edwards." It was the ex- treme value at which Pintard estimated the pro- ductions of Pine, that led him to search so ear- nestly for the lost portraits of the Colden family by that artist, which you have in your gallery, and we have lately seen the value of his Garrick, from a perusal of Verplanck's interesting letter on the subject, published in the "Crayon," a periodical under the editorship of the great artist, Durand The well-preserved portrait of Dr. Ogilvie, of Trinity Church, and now in their collection, is, I believe, by Pine. We have, therefore, evidences of his great merits to be seen in many places. Pintard represented to me that Pine was a little fellow, active, assiduous, and ambitious to excel. He had received great countenance from the family of the Hopkinsons, of Philadelphia.
We find no statue at this early date as orna- mental to our city, if we except that of the elder
* Essays, Biographical and Critical ; or, Studies of Character. By Henry T. Tuckerman. Boston : 8vo. 1857.
12*
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Pitt, which stood at the junction of Wall and William streets, and the leaden figure of George III., in the Bowling Green, both destroyed by popular violence in the incipient troubles of the Revolution.
An approach to a loftier encouragement of the Fine Arts was manifested by our civil authorities in the selection of the great American historical artist, the late Col. Trumbull, who was employed to execute, in 1790, the two life-sized paintings of Washington and of George Clinton, the revo- lutionary general. If we except the Sortie of Gibraltar, by the same artist, they may be pro- nounced emphatically the great works of this dis- tinguished painter. I have often heard the richest praises bestowed on these artistic productions, for their remarkable fidelity to the originals, by our old patriots, who frequently honored them with a visit, and who personally were well acquainted with the subjects. I can easily imagine the feel- ings which glowed in the breast of this long-tried patriot and associate of the men of the revolution- ary crisis when occupied with these celebrated paintings, and how the workings of the soul prompted every effort to secure satisfaction in the result. Our faithful Lossing's remarks on this work of Trumbull correspond with what I have again and again heard uttered by the men of "76. During his whole life Trumbull seems to have
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been controlled by the highest motives of patriot- ism in order to perpetuate the historical occur- rences of his native country ; to secure for pos- terity faithful and characteristic likenesses of our American heroes and statesmen, seems to have been the ultimate desire of his heart, regardless of labor or expense. Great, indeed, would have been our misfortune deprived of his pictorial delin- eations of revolutionary times, and the graphic exhibitions of his prolific pencil of the men of the Eight Years' War.
This accomplished scholar, enlightened and unswerving patriot, eminent artist and delineator of American history, closed his honorable career in New York, in 1843, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. He was conspicuous among the old school gentlemen then among us. A few days before his death he accepted the presidency of the Washington Monument Association, recently or- ganized in this city. He readily gave his coun- tenance to the work. I attended him in his last illness, in consultation with his excellent physician, the late Dr. Washington, and it is curious to re- mark that the last word he distinctly uttered, on his dying bed, was Washington, referring to the father of his country, a name often on his lips.
It hardly falls within my design to enlarge in this place on the character and services of Col. Trumbull. The Reminiscences which he pub-
4
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lished give us the events most prominent in his career. A genuine love of country, a noble devo- tion to her interest in times of deep adversity, a patriotic ardor which led him, in season and out of season, amidst almost insuperable difficulties and perils, to rescue the fleeting and precious ma- terials which might give additional interest to her annals, entitle him to the admiration of all future time. We already see that the lapse of each suc- cessive day gives increased value to his labors for the student of American history.
The arrival from Europe of that consummate genius, Gilbert Stuart, and his settlement in New York, in 1793, constitute another era in the pro- gress of the Fine Arts among us. This remarkable man soon found his talents appreciated and called in requisition, and crowds of sitters delighted with his artistic abilities. Many of his portraits of that period are of special value, and may still be found in the residences of our older families in this city. Stuart remained but a short while with us, yet that brief time was propitious to the arts. He had left the old world prompted by a noble impulse, and his desire to paint Wash- ington was so great as to cause him to leave for Philadelphia to gratify his feelings, and it is, per- haps, not saying too much, that vast as is the in- herent glory which encircles the name of the spot- less patriot, the merits of that standard and
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unrivalled portrait by Stuart, have augmented even the renown of the founder of the Republic.
The arts of design were promoted by the as- siduous labors of Rembrandt Peale, a devoted scholar and an artist of wide repute, whose Court of Death is among the trophies of the pencil ; and by Sharpless, of New York, whom I became well acquainted with in his after life. His likenesses, in crayon, won general commendation, and justice to his memory demands that he be placed in the foremost ranks of successful portrait-painters. The same remarks will honestly apply to Alexander Robertson.
In sculpture, at and about this time, Houdon and Caracci gave proofs of their mastery in their professional line.
Such was the platform on which the Fine Arts rested, when a number of the friends of liberal culture and elegant pursuits contemplated the organization of the first association in this city, under the name of the New York Academy of Fine Arts, in 1801. In 1808 it received the act of incorporation under the name of the Ameri- can Academy of Fine Arts, and Chancellor Living- ston was chosen President ; Col. John Trumbull, Vice President ; Dewitt Clinton, David Hosack, John R. Murray, William Cutting, and Charles Wilkes, directors. If we add the names of C. D. Colden, Edward Livingston, and Robert Fulton,
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we include in this enumeration the leading New Yorkers who, for years, were liberal in their patron- age to promote the undertaking. Through the instrumentality of the American minister at the court of France, Napoleon presented to the in- stitution many valuable busts, antique statues, and rare prints. I can dwell but a moment longer on the fortunes of this Academy. After several years of trial and neglect it was revived in 1816. Certain paintings of West, which for a time were added to its collections through the kindness of Robert Fulton, with the Ariadne of Vanderlyn, and other results of the easel of that distinguished artist, sustained it for a few years longer from dis- solution, while the several addresses of Clinton, Hosack, and Trumbull, gave it for a season addi- tional popularity. At this particular crisis in the Academy, a measure long contemplated was at- tempted to be carried into effect, viz., the organi- zation of a School of Instruction, by lectures, models, and by anatomical illustrations. The
distinction was conferred on me of professor of the Anatomy of Painting ; and although miserably deficient in the great requisites demanded in a suc- cessful teacher of so refined a study, I was not wholly ignorant of what William Hunter and John Sheldon and Charles Bell had done, and I commenced preparations under the guidance of Col. Trumbull ; but within a very short time the
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straightened condition of the Academy put a period to all plans cherished to protect its dura- tion and increase its usefulness. With the down- fall of the American Academy, the National Acad- emy of Design took its rise about 1828. S. F. B. Morse, he who has recently become so famous by his invention of the electric telegraph, was elected President, and the constitutional provisions of this association being far more acceptable to the feel- ings and views of a large majority of the artists than the old Academy favored, it has proved an eminently successful corporation, and has aided in numerous ways the promotion of its specified objects, the Arts of Design. The plan of Ana- tomical Lectures was now carried into effect, and Morse, and Dr. F. G. King, gave instruction to numerous scholars for a succession of years. The devotion given to this institution by Thomas S. Cummings, in the instruction he for a series of years has imparted to students of art in the life and antique school, has also proved a constant source of gratification and improvement to the pupil in this elegant pursuit.
He who is solicitous to study historically the subject of the Fine Arts in this city, and to know their progress in other cities of the Union, will consult the work of William Dunlap, a writer of patient research, and abating the influence of oc- casional prejudice, a reliable authority. And could
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I, like Sir Walter Raleigh, compress the history of the world in a volume, I should record many things more amply, and be willing to take an ex- tended notice of the Apollo Association, which, some time after its formation, merged into the American Art Union, and which for a series of years exerted a wholesome influence in the diffu- sion of an improved taste, which was no less con- ducive to the fiscal advantage of those ingenious men most interested in the popularity of their important calling. The enlarged views and public spirit of James Herring in this goodly undertaking, ought not to be passed over ; his labor and talents united with Longacre, and appropriated to the Biography of Distinguished Americans, accom- plished much for the arts and for national history.
If it be asked, have the Fine Arts, during the incorporation of our Historical Society, advanced in this city under the countenance of these several institutions, it may be safely responded to in the affirmative. Great and distinctive as may have been the individual merits of many adepts, such as Allston, Vanderlyn, Peale, Durand, Cole, Waldo, Jarvis, Inman, Mount, Stearns, and others, by association a still greater power was wielded and successfully carried into operation in behalf of this branch of refined knowledge.
It is not to be concealed that some of our artists pursue their calling chiefly to secure a live-
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lihood, yet there are many others who cherish a higher ideal ; imbued with the greatest earnest- ness, patience, and faith, they have striven to comprehend the secrets of nature and achieve more than a temporary fame, the consciousness of orig- inal research and inspiration. In the enumeration of this class of painters, I would place A. H. Wenzler, so familiarly known by his unrivalled miniatures. For years his studies have been di- rected to the philosophy of colors. I borrow in part the language of a classical writer on art, who appears to comprehend the subject. " Mr Wenzler has been convinced," (says this acute writer,) "that the illusion of distance, so requisite to landscape- painting, is not to be realized by perspective lines, but by the gradation of tints so obvious to nature. In order to demonstrate this, he has merely de- picted in rough the material objects of a land- scape-trees, rocks, a stream, a church, and a meadow, and over the whole, including a range of hills in the background, thrown these naturally graduated tints, from the prismatic rays in the immediate vicinity of the sun, to the cool light of the distant earth : the effect is exactly like nature ; you imagine yourself gazing through an open win- dow upon an actual scene ; the distances through- out the picture are so natural that we feel, for the first time in art, an harmonious and complete aerial perspective. It opens a new sphere of artis-
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tic truth, and vindicates a hitherto unacknowledged law ; it embodies in theory what Turner aimed at." An accomplished writer on the state of art in the United States, Dr. Bethune, in Putnam's Home Book of the Picturesque, in adverting to the hindrances which have operated on the pro- gress of the Fine Arts in the early condition of America, has beautifully and truthfully expressed himself in these words : " Under the pressure of cares and struggles and urgent anxieties, there would be neither time nor desire for the cultivation of these elegant pursuits, which are the luxury of leisure, the decoration of wealth, and the charms of refinement. The Puritans and the Presbyterians together, the most influential, were not favorable to the fine arts, and the Quakers abjured them. Men living in log cabins and busied all day in fields, workshop or warehouse, and liable to attacks by savage enemies at any moment, were indisposed to seek after or encourage what was not imme- diately useful. Their hard-earned and precarious gains would not justify the indulgence. There were few, or rather no specimens of artistic skill among them to awaken taste or imitation. It is, therefore, little to be wondered at if they did not show an appreciation of art proportionate to their advance in other moral respects, or that they waited until they had secured a substantial pros- perity before they ventured to gratify themselves
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with the beautiful. The brilliant examples of West and Copley, with some others of inferior note, showed the presence of genius, but those artists found abroad the encouragement and in- struction not attainable at home, thus depriving their country of all share in their fame, except the credit of having given them birth."
I incline strongly to the opinion that our country is destined to great distinction in the arts of design, as she is already acknowledged to excel in many of the most prominent and important of the mechanical arts. There is a genius through- out the land developing itself in these elevated pursuits. In steam navigation what has she not accomplished since the mighty innovation of Ful- ton ? in naval architecture where has she a rival ? Where shall I find room for an enumeration of her thousand discoveries and improvements (not no- tions) in mechanics, in the arts of husbandry, in that art of arts, printing,and in the lightning press of Hoe ? In sculpture she presents a Greenough, a Powers, a Frazee, a Clavenger, a Brown, and her wondrous Crawford, a native of this city. In painting, how rarely have happier displays of genius been furnished in modern time, than are given us by Durand, Weir, Elliot, Huntington, Bogle, Hicks, Stagg, and Church. Had we room we might feel ourselves ennobled in contemplating the individual triumphs and merits of the devoted
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disciples of the fine arts our country has pro- duced.
An undertaking of this nature, though not imperative, would lead to reflections cheering to our feelings, and gratifying in even a national point of view. We have noted that the original Academy of Arts, through fiscal embarrassments and other causes, terminated its career-the once popular Art-Union, to the regret of many, no longer exists, and the pioneers in New York artis- tic fame, Vanderlyn, Jarvis, Inman, and others are no more,-while Morse has left painting to acquire lasting renown in science, there are signs of the times which indicate that this metropolis has steadily advanced, and our country made de- cisive progress, both in facilities for the student and in the fame of the votaries of art. Let me recall to your minds the fact, that at this moment there are open in our city adequate galleries of painting representative of each great school, the Italian, French, English, and German ; that the enterprise of a Bryan, and a Boker, have brought home to us the "old masters," and the finest mod- ern painters of the Rhine ; that the munificent patronage of a Lenox, a Belmont, a Cozzens, a Sturges, and a Leupp, has garnered up some of the choicest specimens of European and native art to adorn the private mansions of New York. Our Historical Society has also added a permanent
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WORKS OF ART.
gallery to its library. More than one English nobleman has given Kensett an order for his graphic American scenes ; Ruskin, the famous art-critic, is, we are told, a frequent visitor of Cropsey, at his studio at Kensington ; the name of Page is honored at Rome as that of the first portrait-painter of the Eternal City ; Cole's " Voy- age of Life" has afforded a series of the choicest modern engravings, as popular as they are poet- ical ; Church's Niagara was a theme of universal admiration in London ; Leutze stands high among the Dusseldorf painters ; a constant throng sur- rounded Powers' Greek Slave at the World's Fair in the original Crystal Palace ; at Munich, Craw- ford's Washington was pronounced by all, from the King of Bavaria to the oldest artist, the noblest equestrian statue of the age, and now that death has canonized his fame, it is allowed that no sculptor of his years ever accomplished so much and so well ; Palmer, a son of your own State, has made ideal heads in marble of the most cx- quisite and original beauty ; # Durand, it has been truly said, expresses on canvas the sentiment of the picturesque, in the same spirit as Bryant in verse ; Darley's "Illustrations of Margarct" have been pronounced by competent foreign critics as the best Outline, for expression, grace, and signifi-
* For an account of this self-taught artist, see "the Sculptor of Albany " in Putnam's Monthly.
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cance, since those of Retzch ; Elliot paints vener- able heads with much of the vigor and freshness of color for which Stuart was remarkable ; Chap- man's Drawing Book is the most scientific and practically valuable treatise of the kind yet pub- lished ; and for a memoir of Allston's life and labors, hitherto better appreciated abroad than at home, let me refer you to the New American En- cyclopædia. One of our merchants has lately erected a costly edifice here expressly for studios, and a prosperous citizen of New Jersey commis- sioned Huntington, Rossiter, Hicks, and Baker, to execute respectively elaborate portrait groups of the leading scientific men, merchants, authors, and artists of America. These few hasty sug- gestions will serve to evidence how much has been and is doing in the highest spheres of Art-culture among us, and no small part thereof dates front our Association with our own city. The classical volume of Mr. Tuckerman, entitled Artist-Life, will prove an advantageous work to all who study the achievements of American Pictorial Genius.
The art of engraving on wood was first under- taken in this country in New York, by Alexander Anderson, a native of this city, about the year 1794. This ingenious artist, still alive and in full employment, now in his 83d year, was origi- nally a physician, and had graduated M. D. in Columbia College. The extent of his labors in
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the profession he has exercised so long can scarcely be calculated. He has often been termed a second Bewick. Contemporary with Anderson we find Ma- son, Lansing, Adams, Bobbett, and Lossing. The success of American talent in this peculiar depart- ment of the Arts of Design has commanded the approbation of the severest critics ; and the Field- Book of the American Revolution, by Benson J. Lossing, may be cited for the excellencies which have resulted from the combined talents of that truthful writer as designer, engraver, and author of this work of extensive research, originality, and fidelity. Yet later, this species of engraving has been adopted still more extensively, the photo- graphic art, independent of drawing, being directly applied to the wood itself, by its inventor, Mr. Price. As a steel engraver of historical portraits, Jackman is pre-cminent.
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