384 Hennepin at the Falls of St. Anthony 



show several ornamental enlargements. From the laborious attitude 

 of the squaw it is evident that the whole party have but just arrived, 

 and that the appearance of Hennepin is designed to represent him in 

 his ordinary traveling costume, leaving it open to imagination as to 

 what part of Hennepin's baggage the squaw carried. 



The divergencies of this remarkable picture from historic truth 

 are so glaring that the merest tyro in state history can but discern 

 th€m. To the novice in state history, and to the multitudes who 

 visit the room who know nothing about our state history it conveys 

 a wrong impression. As a work of imaginative art it is finely exe- 

 cuted and appropriately colored. 



There is, however, a higher element in art than mere mechanical 

 execution. True art is true to nature and to facts. 



"Art Is the child of nature; yes, her darling child, in whom we 

 trace the features of the mother's face" — Longfellow. 



In the absence of a knowledge of facts it would be warrantable to 

 supply them, but the result ought to be labeled, not a historic painting 

 but an imaginative restoration of history. Poems are thus built up. 

 Novels are "based on history." Milton's "Paradise Lost," most of the 

 dramas of Shakespeare, are of this character. But they are not his- 

 tory and do not claim to be history. The known events of those his- 

 tories are scant or too prosaic. The poets were justifiable, in con- 

 structing their works, in supplying lacking parts. 



In the case of the discovery of the falls of St. Anthony, what an 

 opportunity for a truthful painting! the scene, the historic event, the 

 lively description by Hennepin — the very details are all available.. 



