115/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

When he reproduces the likeness of existing forms, it is not for the sake of imitating or mimicking them, but because his finer perceptive instinct enables him to discern in forms ready at hand in Nature, certain pure ideas; and an indwelling Presence,

of which he is conscious and with which his own life has become identified, clothes those ideas according to the peculiar artistic predilections or specially cultivated tastes of the individual mind through whose instrumentality they find outward shape.

The Author and Creator of all expression within the provinces of both Nature and Art, when permitted to act spontaneously, produces similar results. Poet, seer, prophet, and artist realize something of the Universal in their several spheres. It is not Henry Smith who writes verses, paints, or composes immortal works, but the infinite Spirit acting through the personal agent.

A painting in imitation of some old masterpiece, even though so cleverly executed that only a connoisseur can distinguish it from the original, possesses little intrinsic worth because it is simply a copy. Although its forms and colors may exactly correspond with those of the genuine work of the master, yet the counterfeit lacks the spirit with which he endowed his work: just as a mechanically modeled figure of the human body lacks the breath of life.

Genius infuses into a work the spirit that causes it to hold the same vital relation to the universal ideal as do living organisms to the soul of Nature. It is the Spirit that creates and quickens, in both Nature and Art. All works are vehicles of the Spirit, and possess intrinsic values according to the measure of the Spirit with which they are endowed.

The great painter instils the quality of his inspiration into the very colors and canvas he uses. It is indelibly stamped on the physical and psychical forces with which he has to deal, and that is what gives value to his productions.. It is its spirit, rather than details of expression, that satisfies the appreciative observer.

Many immortal paintings are open to severe criticism, from a technical point of view, for faulty perspective or imperfect coloring. Even Nature produces blemishes and monstrosities; but though the vehicle be deformed, it still serves, in a measure, to reveal the immanent Spirit.