148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. 11. in ■ 



WORCESTER HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY' 



Report of the Cummiltce on Paintings. 

 The Committee on Paintinga, having, in such 

 manner as circumstances would permit, attended to 

 the duties assigned them, ninkc tlieir report. 



It is a subject of con>jratulation that such choice 

 and varied specimens of this art are to be found in 

 and about Worcester. It is not less gratifying to 

 perceive among tlioso wlio pi>ssess these treasures, 

 a most liberal disposition to extend to their fellow 

 citizens the pleasure and advantage afforded by an 

 e.xamination of productions of genius and tast3. 



Although it has been customary, al the exhibi- 

 tion from which the farmers' annual festival derives 

 much of its animation and interest, to introduce 

 among the articles emphatically denominated use- 

 ful, more or less of those properly pertaining to the 

 fine or elegant arts, a collection of such works, up- 

 on an extended scale, has not been attejnpted. A 

 design of this nature has had its origin with the 

 establishment of a new association, intended to 

 promote those branches of culture vhich include 

 matters of lu.'iury and ornament. We believe, 

 however, that a gallery of paintings has not here- 

 tofore, by similar societies, been appended even to 

 a display of fruits and flower.-^ There is, there- 

 fore, something of novelty in the plan, and it will 

 perhaps be expected, at the outset of such an un- 

 dertaking, that a few remarks should be made re- 

 specting its practical use, and its connectiorl with 

 other objects of agricultural and horticultural Cele- 

 brati(ms. As yet, no premiums even of an hono- 

 rary character, have been proposed for this depart- 

 ment of the exhibition. In the choice, therefore, 

 between attempting a few hasty general observa- 

 tions, or a few hasty descriptions or criticisms of 

 particular paintings, we have decided upon the for- 

 mer as more appropriate now, while for tiie latter 

 purposes better opportunities will probably exist 

 hereafter. 



The sphere of the agriculturist, vvho owns the 

 land he tills, and applies to his private use the re- 

 sults of the seed he has planted, is not limited to 

 the growth of supplies for njerely indispensable 

 wants. The earth produces fruits that gratify his 

 finer appetites as freely as it yields corn and pota- 

 toes. Flowers, too, spring up beneath his feet, and 

 invite his eye to an appreciation of beauty in its 

 compound elements of form and color. In short, 

 he who cultivates the soil is surrounded by end- 

 less means of harmless luxury, and is in the midst 

 of the purest sources of true refinement; and if 

 his ears is fully opened to the voice of nature, in 

 whose bosom he dwells, he will hear it calling him 

 to enjoy the charms of varied flavors, of rich hues, 

 and of the lights and shades of scenery, as loudly 

 as to reap the grain or kill the fatted calf 



We find, indeed, a mint natural and connected 

 step of advancement from plain and simple agri- 

 culture to hiirticultiire, whose objects of cultiva- 

 tion appeal to tastes that are reached and gratified 

 through the medium of sight as well as to the relish 

 oftl.e palate. The art of horticulture, embracing 

 as it does the rearing of both ornamental and fruit 

 trees, the growth of flowers and shrubbery, and the 

 general improvement oi' grounds, stands, as it were, 

 between the homelier otfices of husbandry and the 

 highest arts of refined life. It is favorably situa- 

 ted for bringing these into a mutual and useful al- 

 liance. If it owes most to the practical employ- 

 ments of the one, a knowledge of the nice aii3 deli- 



cate principles on which the others depend, can 

 alone carry it to perfection. 



Experience teaches us, that a sensibility to the 

 beauties of proporlion nnd of color, although uni- 

 versal in the liiuaan cm -litntion, needs to be edu- 

 cated by observation and comparison in order to 

 a just and correct action when practical judgments 

 are required, and the owner of a farm or country 

 estate, which he seeks to render attractive to the 

 eye of taste, will, without these advantages, be as 

 likely to fail of producing the efl'ects he aims at, as 

 he would of raising good crops without a knowledge 

 of the influences of soil, and position upon their 

 qualities. 



It may be said, that nature ia the great school 

 where knowledge and experience upon these sub- 

 jects is best taught and most readily acquired, and 

 to her we may be referred for all that is needful to 

 be learned. It is true that nature is the original 

 source and only perfect standard of taste; yet the 

 best preparation for a profitable observation of na- 

 ture, is, undoubtedly, a study of lier varied fea- 

 tures as delineated upon the canvass of the artist. 

 The attention is there drawn to a more particular 

 examination of efl'ects, and the philosophy of their 

 production, and we can there more readily distin- 

 guish the means by which those arrangements of 

 vegetable forms, and of lights and shades of foliage, 

 most grateful to the eye, may be accomplished up- 

 on our own estates. The harmonies of color, too, 

 subject to as regular laws as the harmonies of 

 sound, are there most instructively manifested. 

 The art of drawing, it is well known, presents to 

 the cognizance of those who practice it, a thousand 

 peculiarities of form and hue, in objects of every 

 kind, from the leaf of a flower up to the outlines 

 of a landscape, which the casual observer would 

 pass by unnoticed. In truth, any one who owns a 

 portion of nature's domain, however small, will find 

 that the pencil of the painter can teach him lessons 

 that may increase his ability to improve and enjoy 

 that which he possesses. 



One of the most important secrets of a painter's 

 skill, is the selection of objects that are appropri- 

 ate to the scene he represents, and in keeping with 

 the general character of the picture. If he Avere 

 to place a palace or a temple in a barn-yard, or set 

 off a farm house with gay colors and fanciful archi- 

 tecture, we should see at once that he violates tlie 

 proprieties of his subject. If he prefers the showy 

 to the natur.il and simple, or fails to leave in shade 

 that which is unpleasing, as well as to bring out 

 into distinct view that which is agreeob'e, we pro- 

 nounce him deficient in the genius of his profes- 

 sion. Yet how constantly do we see these points 

 neglected, or mi.stiken, in and about our grounds 

 and dwellings. It is not that sufficient pains are 

 omitted to be taken, or sufficient expense incurred 

 in such nrragements. The error often lies in an 

 excess of these. Instead of the quiet and simple 

 styles, taught by the true artist, where the econom- 

 I ical hand of nature is employed to furnish decora- 

 tions and conceal deformities, a style more ostenta- 

 tious, more expensive, less convenient, and, to use 

 a much abused term, less genteel, is apt to prevail. 

 The fact is, tliat an eye and a judgment unprac- 

 ticed in such discriminations can seldom carry out 

 in execution an intended design. The forms, 

 colors, and positions of things, do not appear after 

 completion as the fancy had anticipated ; and he 

 who contrived the plan may perceive as readily as 

 any body, "that he has not succeeded in satisfying 

 himself or others, 



That cost in matters of taste which fails to ac- 

 complish its purposes, is, certainly, so much money 

 worse tlian wasted, as defects generally become 

 conspicuous in proportion to the display that at- 

 tends them. The art which teaches that the most 

 genuine c;ement3 of beauty are also the cheapest, 

 since a strong argument to the purse can be ad- 

 duced in its favor, has a right to claim a place 

 among the useful and practical ones. Illustrations 

 of a part of our ri marks may be found in every 

 village. Dwellings unsheltered by tree or shrub 

 present boldly to the eye every defect of form and 

 finish. If painted, a glaring color displays more 

 etrongly the want of grace and proportion. If un- 

 painted, th.it dificiency is apt to be made more 

 srrikingly manifi-sted by a few variegated strokes of 

 the painter's brush passed up and down the corners 

 and along the sills. If something beyond this is 

 attempted, we shall be likely to see imitation mar- 

 ble steps, quarried from the brain of some mechan- 

 ical artist. If tliere is a portico, stranue looking 

 figures blue or i;recn appear crawling up the col- 

 umns. But the chief seat of elaborate and varied 

 ornament is usually the door, made to exliibit, upon 

 its artificial mahoga.'.y frame and maple paniiels, a 

 tortuosity of knot and grain that nature, in the 

 wildest of her vegetable freaks, never equalled. 



Who that should see these in a picture would 

 fail to perceive their incongruity and ugliness, 

 while the humblest abode, which the vine or 

 the tree have adorned with their drapery, and 

 whose modest color permits its rude outlines to 

 mingle with the unstudied forms of nature, be- 

 comes an object of beauty and interest. There is 

 no building, however ill proportioned, no material 

 however coarse, that may not, by the simplest 

 means, be made to assume an air of beauty and 

 respectability which the carpenter and house painter 

 alone could not impart. 



Every land-holder has in his possession the ma. 

 terials of a great and perfect picture. His field 

 and forests furnish the ground- work into which 

 may be wrought every form and hue of beauty. 

 His harvests, his fruits, his vegetables and flowers, 

 ripening and glowing in the sunshine, provide him 

 colors that art cannot excel. In combining and 

 arranging these materials he becomes an artist, and, 

 like other artists, needs to (pmlify himself by a 

 study of proper exemplars, not so much for the sake 

 of finding something to imitate, as to improve his 

 taste and rectify his judgment. 



It is vain to say, that these things are of no 

 practical importance to the farmer and the husband- 

 man, on the ground that their efforts are directed 

 not to ornament but to profit. Almost every New 

 England farmer is at some cost in improving the 

 appearance of his homestead. We would have 

 him do it by the very means that are the sources of 

 his thrift. Order and neatness are unquestionably 

 favorable to the closest calculations of pecuniary 

 gain ; and elegance, if attempted by appropriate 

 means, can be obtained without additional e.\pense. 



If our remarks are correct, residents of the 

 country are the people among whom the arts of 

 design may produce the most general and advan- 

 tageous influence, yet they are the very persons 

 usually debarred from the best opportunities of cul- 

 tivating the faculties upon which these are found- 

 ed. Collections of good paintings, for instance, 

 are seldom seen except in large towns and cities, 

 where but few, comparatively, from the agricultural 

 districts are accustomed to visit them. We there- 

 fore, consider the plan of connecting such an ex- 



