236 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ V^OL. IV. 



for his conduct. After much prayer and pleading young West was per- 

 mitted to practise his art, yet from the indifference and lack of patronage 

 he, who might have laid the foundation of American art, was forced to 

 make a royal retreat and find his home in England. The dawn of the 

 Republic was characterized by no art movement. From the great tide 

 of immigration one would expect at the time an absolute cliange of front, 

 but what were the conditions of to-day, and what were the causes ? A 

 brief analysis, he thought, would suffice. The German immigrant, for 

 instance, though rapidly adopting new political principles, still cherished 

 fondly the early impressions made upon him in his native land. Indus- 

 trious, toiling, of thrifty habits, he soon acquired a fair amount of wealth. 

 The children visited the home of their fathers, and the great art galleries 

 of their old land became all in all to them. They returned deeply im- 

 pressed with a love for pure German art ; nothing American in art for 

 them. The same may be justly said of the descendants of every 

 nationality. From such a condition what hope to evolve an American 

 art ? The art of the nation ought to reflect the thought of the nation, 

 being in touch with the varying phases of light and shade through which 

 the nation is passing. The art of mediitval times formed a great 

 chapter in the book of history, and gave an insight into the mode of 

 thought which engrossed the middle ages. It was purely European, 

 inferior to the work of later centuries, yet invaluable from its native and 

 primitive character. It was historical. If Canadians hoped to have a 

 native art they must insist upon treating it from some national point of 

 view. Then as the centuries passed a distinctive character would unfold 

 itself, embodying and marking and reflecting the thought of the people 

 in its varied development. While the thought expressed by speech and 

 writing lives long, it does not survive that represented and expressed on 

 polished marble, imperishable fresco, and the canvas on which genius 

 has imprinted its sublime ideals. Art is the great conservator of thought. 

 It lives and shines forth in its might when books are forgotten and the 

 names of earth's great writers are become obscure. This is an age of 

 light. The dim lighted cathedral is a thing of the past, the dread wizard 

 of the cave has been transformed into an angel of light, and the magic 

 wand into a sceptre of righteousness. It is an age electric. Art should 

 reflect it — brilliant, varj'ing with every phase of thought, and without 

 any trace so far as subject is concerned of foreign thought. 



