“O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are the work of Thy hand.”
--Isaiah 64:8

The poem from which I wish to draw the lesson which is to follow is that of Browning entitled, “Old Pictures in Florence.” In the first place Browning emphasizes the statement made by Jesus that, “A prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and among his own people.” He does so by pointing out the neglect and misunderstanding of those great painters of Italy by the Italians themselves, who were so close to the great masters that they could not perceive their greatness. He seems to feel that the artists themselves have, in many cases, painted as Jesus spoke, in parables, without leaving any key to the parables in art by which men who came after them might penetrate the divine mystery.

As so many have done since his time, Browning haunted the old churches of Florence where he loved to gaze on the works of his beloved