Notes and Reviews 
v? 
response ot the senses is maintained through 
the natural craving for stimulus and rest, for 
variety and variation. Nothing is so dispir¬ 
iting, so dreary, as the monotony of an un¬ 
changing line, or of an unvaried surface, and 
even the interruptions made by accident or 
usage are a comfort to the eye. 
At another point it seems pertinent to 
supplement Mr. Price’s argument. He 
says, “ It is not what ‘ The Angelus’ has to 
tell us of the potato patch, but of Millet; it 
is not the afterglow of a day, but the after¬ 
glow of a life, that lies hidden in the can¬ 
vases of Corot. For we see many afterglows, 
but have few glimpses into the lives of men.” 
If it were true that “ we see many afterglows, 
but have few glimpses into the lives of men,” 
we might all forget the double character of 
art and its universality as the interpreter 
between the aspect of the world and the 
spirit. Like warp and woof are the two 
elements of art, the thing said or done and 
the saver or doer. Of neither do we know 
much. Of the artist we can only know 
through his work, and of nature we know as 
little. Consider how we are shadowed in 
by the limits of personality. Have we 
really seen many afterglows? We have 
looked on them, fading into the night, but 
Corot and a few others have alone been able 
to give a coherent and convincing account 
of what they saw; and I think that Mr. 
Price will own that his experience of nature 
has been enriched by the insight that Corot 
has lent him through his pictures. Art 
is nature seen through a temperament. This 
is a fact that cannot be too often repeated. 
Art is temperament eternally recording itself 
in the universal and permanent language of 
natural aspects, and revealing the heart and 
mind of the worker and artist. But is not 
the afterglow itself revealed ? Did not Corot 
show in it a characteristic splendor that had 
lain until then unsuspected of mankind? 
Did the majestic spirit of Shakespeare reveal 
only Shakespeare to the world ? Did he 
not rather discover mankind to us ? Did 
that uomo terribile , Michael Angelo, burn 
through a whole lifetime of passion merely 
to record the passionateness of his life? It 
is not so. The human figure stands revealed 
again in his work, in a new and marvelous 
aspect which is as true as its aspect re¬ 
vealed by Phidias. Warp and woof, nature 
and the creative spirit are blent in it. Lack¬ 
ing the revelation of the personality of Corot, 
we should wistfully miss his temperamental 
emphasis ; and while the freshness and ve¬ 
racity of his message disclose him and keep 
his personality perennially legible, it enables 
us to overstep our personal limits and to look 
with seeing eyes upon the afterglow which 
would else have faded from us and left no 
tangible souvenir. A. W. B. 
T he ownership of the Villa Borghese ap¬ 
pears to be ever a matter of uncertainty. 
In Europe titles to land are as difficult to 
obtain as titles to rank are easy. Visitors 
read in their guide-books that the Villa and 
grounds were purchased by the municipality 
of Rome in 1897. To what extent the 
transfer was then accomplished is of little 
consequence before the fact that in De¬ 
cember, 1901, the Italian Government pur¬ 
chased the property with the object ot 
opening the grounds free to the public. 
Phis transfer, too, seems to have been merely 
nominal, for the property is still in the 
hands of the creditors of the Borghese 
Family. Italians and strangers alike are ad¬ 
mitted conditionally and the creditors exact 
an entrance fee from all. 
The act of 1901 contained a clause, ap¬ 
proved by the Chamber of Deputies, the 
Senate and the King, authorizing the transfer 
of the Villa from the National Government to 
the City of Rome. The city would then join 
the grounds to the public gardens of the Pin- 
cian Hill, which overlook the Villa Borghese 
from the southwest. On the north the con¬ 
tiguous Parco Margherita would extend by a 
considerable area the tract dedicated to pub¬ 
lic use. All well and good the scheme, but 
it has not been carried out. Our corre¬ 
spondence tells the cause of the delay to 
be the numerous conditions, exceptions and 
burdens which the ministry has imposed 
upon the transfer of the property, and the 
City of Rome has therefore declined the 
gift. It is to be hoped, however, that 
these difficulties are but temporary, and that 
municipal ownership will be consummated 
ere the growth of modern Rome renders 
impossible the intact preservation of this 
beautiful and historic estate. 
252 
