Page:A tribute to W. W. Corcoran, of Washington City (IA tributetowwcorco00boul).pdf/35

 careful geographical study. Art has also a higher mission than the mere elevation of the mind and the refinement of taste. It tends to worship of the great Author of our being; and, as the worthy Cardinal Wiseman said: "It is the most graceful and natural tribute of homage we can pay to Him for the beauties which He has so lavishly scatterd over creation. Art, then, is a reverend thing; one which must he treated with all nobleness of feeling, and with all the dignity of aim." See what the Divine Hand has lavished upon our broad earth, and what it has cast into the way of the artist to portray! The beautiful mountains, towering to the clouds; the peaceful valleys, lying as if in gentle slumber at their base; the magnificent forests, teeming with verdure; the noble rivers and the grander ocean—and above all these things, man, after His own glorious image! With what a wrapt interest do we stand in the art museums of the old world, before the faces of St. Peter, St. Paul, and others that walked in holiness, in the company of Him who was above all men the most saintly! And besides these sacred personages, the philosopher and sage, and noble women worthy in good deeds to immortalize canvas. In the bright army of His creatures there are names that belong to the golden age of art! Who shall speak the glories of Raphael and Angelo, Murillo and Titian, Thorwaldsen and Canova? If the genius of Europe treats all these spheres of celebrity, our country, still young, does bravely her part, and some few have been prepared to cope with the proudest and best of any age.

Such names as West, Powers, Greenough, Bierstadt, Cole, Crawford, Durand, Healy, Rogers, Leutze, Church, Trumbull and Allston, form a brilliant constellation, and a grateful memory survives those who have departed from the scene of their labors. Church's wonderfully