136 THE FINE ARTS. 
worthy of notice that, in spite of the trifling encouragement American 
artists as yet could hope to meet with, a number of talented men have 
devoted themselves to the study of sculpture and painting, and have secured 
for themselves a good share of the admiration of connoisseurs. Thus the 
great Thorwaldsen named among the foremost sculptors of the age two 
Americans, Hiram Powers and George Crawford: the former as rivalling 
himself in the boldness and purity of his busts; the latter as deserving the 
greatest credit for the harmony of his groups and the ease of his drapery. 
Among the painters belonging to America Washington Alston and Thomas 
Cole deserve to be especially mentioned. Much has been done in late 
years towards making art popular by the establishment of art-unions in 
various cities of the United States, whose purpose it is to encourage artists 
by purchasing their works, and distributing them among their members after 
exhibiting them for a season. These art-unions may be regarded as creating 
the germs of a future American school ; and when we consider the immense 
field open for the development of an original school of art, in the bold and 
picturesque conformation of the country ; in the original features of Ameri- 
can life, commercial, rural, and political; and in the very progress of. 
improvement in the various pursuits that engross the attention of the people, 
and whose different stages wait to be recorded by the artist’s pencil or 
chisel ; we consider ourselves justified in expressing the view that one day 
the American school of art will reach a high point of excellence, and will 
command the respect of the world as perfectly as American skill and energy 
have already done in every utilitarian branch upon which they have as yet 
been concentrated. But that is a high eminence to climb, and it is to be 
hoped that the contenders for the prize may not be misled by excess 
of praise to sit down in self-complacency when their work is only half 
done, or their natural talents only half developed. They should also bear 
in mind that, while they naturally have to learn a great deal in points of 
technicalities and accuracy of drawing from European masters, ancient and 
modern, a servile adoption of the manner of any one master or school, how- 
ever sublime, will retard their progress instead of speeding it. If their 
progress equal their beginning in zeal, if they preserve their own freshness 
and originality of conception while enlarging their esthetic feelings by a 
close study of whatever is excellent in foreign schools of art, and if their 
fellow-citizens extend to them‘a judicious patronage, thus enabling them to 
follow the glorious path they are led into by their own inspiration, then may 
we hope at no distant day to see their efforts result in a respectable and 
original American School of Art. 
3. THEORY OF THE ART OF DRAWING. 
The art of drawing represents the visible form of bodies on a plane. This 
representation is called the drawing of the bodies. 
The materials employed in the art of drawing are: first, any smooth 
surface, as, for instance, that of paper, parchment, canvas, ivory, stone, 
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