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THE MENTOR 1916.04.01, No. 104, The National Gallery
DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME 4 FINE ARTS NUMBER 4
“Knowledge gives power,” says the philosopher. “Knowledge enriches,” says the scholar. But the practical individual exclaims: “Special expert knowledge is a personal asset, but how does general knowledge enrich?”
“Knowledge makes life fuller and more interesting.” And what does that mean? It means that life, through knowledge, may be made a joy and a blessing in spite of what the cynics say. It means that through knowledge we learn to appraise things at their true value. Our eyes are opened to see other colors than purple and gold, our ears to hear understandingly other sounds than the roar of traffic, the shriek of an automobile horn, or syncopated music. Knowledge reveals to us the nicer shades of color that give us quiet satisfaction--the finer and gentler tones of Nature and of human life that afford us a lasting enjoyment. It teaches us that there are things more “worth while” than ourselves.
Why do some of us ignore fine art, dismiss good books with indifference, yawn at good music, speed through a ravishing landscape at sixty miles an hour, and neglect a friendship that would bring us self-improvement? The sky and mountains have a thousand messages for us, if we pause to listen to them. The sea is an oracle if we study it. A good book is a mine of information if we search it. A fine painting is an inspiration if we cherish it. Good music is a constant joy if we give attention to it. And the voices of our fellow creatures are filled with precious confidences if we give our ears and hearts to them.
Let us then seek knowledge with the eager mind of a child; for indeed, as Robert Louis Stevenson sang:
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course
There were three famous painters in the Bellini family. Jacopo Bellini was the father, and his two sons were Gentile and Giovanni (Jo-van´-nee), the latter being the younger and the greater.
He is supposed to have been born at Venice either in 1430 or 1431, and was brought up in his father’s house, serving with his brother as his father’s assistant until he was nearly thirty years old. However, Giovanni seems to have been influenced more by his brother-in-law, Mantegna, than by his father. This influence lasted until Mantegna departed for the Court of Mantua in 1460. In 1470 Giovanni was commissioned to paint a Deluge with Noah’s Ark. After this he painted many pictures, among them the famous altar-piece for the Church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, which was destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1867, along with Titian’s “Peter Martyr” and “The Crucifixion” by Tintoretto.