DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0080
64
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
signal. It vas a relief to see at his side the pleasant, bright,
kind faces of his wife and little daughter. There was a
wholesome look of happiness and common life about them.
That we should have spoken with the personation of
Christ ns ; that he should have received us into his house ;
should, even after the play, have hastened to take leave of
us at our departure, created the greatest interest among our
fellow travellers, and inspired them with the profoundest re-
spect for us. I was overwhelmed with questions regarding
him,—questions which probably his most intimate friends
could not have answered satisfactorily. But no wonder that
he should have inspired so profound an interest, for through-
out his conception and attempt at the embodiment of the
awful, unapproachable character of Christ, there had flowed
a subdued current of the deepest feeling, a sentiment of
true poetry, a piety, an appreciation of the highest heroism
—that heroism which shows itself in self-annihilation for
the salvation of suffering humanity. We had been greatly
struck by this, and by the different spirit evinced in the
personation of the Virgin. The young peasant-girl who
acted this character had studied her part under a well-known
Munich actress, but unfortunately had brought away with
her theatrical affectation and a most miserable air of con-
ceit. This was the sole departure from that simple, earnest,
unaffected dignity and truthfulness whichhad both astonished
and delighted us in this poor peasants' play. But the play was
their offering to God ! what wonder, then, that it should
bear the stamp of truth and fervour? for it came forth, I
sincerely believe, from their very heart’s core. Let us not.
therefore, call it irreverent or irreligious : depend upon it,
that murmur of peasants’ voices rose to heaven like the
smoke of an accepted sacrifice.
There was a certain regret in the thought that though
now turning our faces homewards, towards our beloved
little art-city of Munich, we were, nevertheless, travelling
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
signal. It vas a relief to see at his side the pleasant, bright,
kind faces of his wife and little daughter. There was a
wholesome look of happiness and common life about them.
That we should have spoken with the personation of
Christ ns ; that he should have received us into his house ;
should, even after the play, have hastened to take leave of
us at our departure, created the greatest interest among our
fellow travellers, and inspired them with the profoundest re-
spect for us. I was overwhelmed with questions regarding
him,—questions which probably his most intimate friends
could not have answered satisfactorily. But no wonder that
he should have inspired so profound an interest, for through-
out his conception and attempt at the embodiment of the
awful, unapproachable character of Christ, there had flowed
a subdued current of the deepest feeling, a sentiment of
true poetry, a piety, an appreciation of the highest heroism
—that heroism which shows itself in self-annihilation for
the salvation of suffering humanity. We had been greatly
struck by this, and by the different spirit evinced in the
personation of the Virgin. The young peasant-girl who
acted this character had studied her part under a well-known
Munich actress, but unfortunately had brought away with
her theatrical affectation and a most miserable air of con-
ceit. This was the sole departure from that simple, earnest,
unaffected dignity and truthfulness whichhad both astonished
and delighted us in this poor peasants' play. But the play was
their offering to God ! what wonder, then, that it should
bear the stamp of truth and fervour? for it came forth, I
sincerely believe, from their very heart’s core. Let us not.
therefore, call it irreverent or irreligious : depend upon it,
that murmur of peasants’ voices rose to heaven like the
smoke of an accepted sacrifice.
There was a certain regret in the thought that though
now turning our faces homewards, towards our beloved
little art-city of Munich, we were, nevertheless, travelling