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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36427-8.txt b/36427-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3547f41 --- /dev/null +++ b/36427-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13278 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Art Principles, by Ernest Govett + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Art Principles + With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter + + +Author: Ernest Govett + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2011 [eBook #36427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES*** + + +E-text prepared by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 36427-h.htm or 36427-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36427/36427-h/36427-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36427/36427-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/artprincipleswit00goverich + + + + + + [Illustration: Detail from "The Pursuit" of Fragonard. + (_Frick Collection_)] + + +ART PRINCIPLES + +With Special Reference to Painting +Together with Notes on the +Illusions Produced by the Painter + +by + +ERNEST GOVETT + +With Thirty-one Illustrations + + + + + + + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1919 + +Copyright, 1919 +by +Ernest Govett + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book is put forward with much diffidence, for I am well aware of +its insufficiencies. My original idea was to produce a work covering all +the principles of painting, but after many years spent in considering +the various recorded theories relating to æsthetic problems, and in +gathering materials to indicate how the accepted principles have been +applied, I came to the conclusion that a single life is scarcely long +enough for the preparation of an exhaustive treatise on the subject. +Nevertheless, I planned a work of much wider scope than the one now +presented, but various circumstances, and principally the hindrance to +research caused by the war, impelled me to curtail my ambition. Time was +fading, and my purpose seemed to be growing very old. I felt that if one +has something to say, it is better to say it incompletely than to run +the risk of compulsory silence. The book will be found little more than +a skeleton, and some of its sections, notably those dealing with +illusions in the art, contain only a few suggestions and instances, but +perhaps enough is said to induce a measure of further inquiry into the +subject. + +That part of the work dealing with the fine arts generally is the result +of long consideration of the apparent contradictions involved in the +numerous suggested standards of art. In a little book on _The Position +of Landscape in Art_ (published under a nom de plume a few years ago), +I threw out, as a _ballon d'essai_, an idea of the proposition now +elaborated as the Law of General Assent, and I have been encouraged to +affirm this proposition more strongly by the fact that its validity was +not questioned in any of the published criticism of the former work; nor +do I find reason to vary it after years of additional deliberation. +I have not before dealt with the other propositions now put forward. + +The notes being voluminous I have relegated them to the end of the book, +leaving the feet of the text pages for references only. + +Where foreign works quoted have been translated into English, the +English titles are recorded, and foreign quotations are given in +English, save in one or two minor instances where the sense could not +be precisely rendered in translation. + + E. G. + + NEW YORK, January, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION 1 + + Definitions of "Art" and "Beauty"--Æsthetic systems--The + earliest Art--Art periods--The Grecian and Italian + developments--National and individual "Inspiration"-- + Powers of imagination and execution--Nature of "Genius"-- + The Impressionist Movement--Sprezzatura--The broad manner-- + Position in art of Rembrandt and Velasquez--Position of + Landscape in art. + + + _BOOK I_ + + CHAPTER + + I.--CLASSIFICATION OF THE FINE ARTS 52 + + The Arts imitative of Nature--Classified according to + the character of their signs--Relative value of form in + Poetry--Scope of the Arts in the production of beauty. + + II.--LAW OF RECOGNITION IN THE ASSOCIATED ARTS 59 + + Explanation of the Law--Its application to Poetry--To + Sculpture--To Painting--To Fiction. + + III.--LAW OF GENERAL ASSENT 72 + + General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated + Arts. + + IV.--LIMITATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTS 78 + + Production of beauty in the respective Arts--Their + limitations. + + V.--DEGREES OF BEAUTY IN THE PAINTER'S ART 83 + + VI.--EXPRESSION. PART 1.--THE IDEAL 86 + + VII.--EXPRESSION. PART 2.--CHRISTIAN IDEALS 91 + + The Deity--Christ--The Madonna--Madonna and Child. + + VIII.--EXPRESSION. PART 3.--CLASSICAL IDEALS 106 + + Ideals of the Greeks--Use of the ancient divinities + by the Painter. + + IX.--EXPRESSION. PART 4.--GENERAL IDEALS 135 + + X.--EXPRESSION. PART 5.--PORTRAITURE 141 + + Limitations of the Portrait Painter--Emphasis and + addition of qualities in portrait painting--Practice + of the ancient Greeks--Dignity--Importance of + Simplicity--Some of the great masters--Portraiture + of women--The English masters--The quality of + Grace--The necessity for Repose. + + XI.--EXPRESSION. PART 6.--MISCELLANEOUS 167 + + Grief--The Smile--The Open Mouth--Contrasts-- + Representation of Death. + + XII.--LANDSCAPE 192 + + Limitations of the Landscape Painter--Illusion of + opening distance--Illusion of motion in Landscape-- + Moonlight scenes--Transient conditions. + + XIII.--STILL-LIFE 214 + + XIV.--SECONDARY ART 219 + + Paintings of record--Scenes from the Novel--From + the written drama--From the acted drama--Humorous + subjects--Allegorical paintings. + + XV.--COLOUR 228 + + + _BOOK II_ + + INTRODUCTORY.--ILLUSION IN THE PAINTER'S ART 236 + + CHAPTER + I.--ILLUSION OF RELIEF 239 + II.--ILLUSION OF MOTION WITH MEN AND ANIMALS 249 + III.--ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR 259 + + + NOTES 273 + + + INDEX OF ARTISTS AND WORKS OF ART MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK 357 + + + GENERAL INDEX 369 + + + + +LIST OF PLATES + + + PAGE + FRONTISPIECE.--DETAIL FROM FRAGONARD'S THE PURSUIT (FRICK + COLLECTION, NEW YORK). + + This work, which is one of the celebrated Grasse series of + panels, offers a very fine example of the use of an ideal head + in a romantic subject. (See Page 139.) + + PLATE 1.--THE EARLIEST GREAT SCULPTURES 6 + + (a). Head from a statue of Chefren, a king of the 4th Egyptian + Dynasty, about 3000 B.C. (Cairo Museum.) + + (b). Head from a fragmentary statuette of Babylonia, dating + about 2600 B.C. (Louvre: from Spearing's "Childhood of Art.") + + The first head is generally regarded as the finest example of + Egyptian art extant, and certainly there was nothing executed + in Egypt to equal it during the thirty centuries following the + 5th Dynasty. The Babylonian head is the best work of Chaldean + art known to us, though there are some fine fragments remaining + from the period of about a thousand years later. It will be + observed that the tendency of the art in both examples is + towards the aims achieved by the Greeks. (See Page 7.) + + PLATE 2.--"LE BON DIEU D'AMIENS", IN THE NORTH PORCH, AMIENS + CATHEDRAL 18 + + This figure by a French sculptor of the thirteenth century, + was considered by Ruskin to be the finest ideal of Christ in + existence. It is another example of the universality of ideals, + for the head from the front view might well have been modelled + from a Grecian work of the late fourth or early third century + B.C. (See Page 319.) + + PLATE 3.--AFTER AN ANCIENT COPY OF THE CNIDIAN VENUS OF PRAXITELES. + (VATICAN) 30 + + It is commonly agreed that this is the finest model in existence + after the great work of Praxiteles, which itself has long + disappeared. The figure as it now stands at the Vatican, has the + right arm restored, and the hand is made to hold up some metallic + drapery with which the legs are covered, the beauty of the form + being thus seriously weakened. (See Pages 111 _et seq._) + + PLATE 4.--VENUS ANADYOMENE 42 + + (a). Ancient Greek sculpture from the design of Venus in the + celebrated picture of Apelles. (Formerly Chessa Collection, now in + New York.) + + The immense superiority of the sculpture over the painting (Plate + 5), from the point of view of pure art, is visible at a glance. It + is an indication of the far-reaching scope of the sculptor when + executing ideals. (See Page 113.) + + PLATE 5.--VENUS ANADYOMENE, FROM THE PAINTING BY TITIAN. + (BRIDGEWATER COLLECTION.) Compare with the Sculpture on + Plate 4. (See Page 115) 42 + + PLATE 6.--VENUS REPOSING, BY GIORGIONE. (DRESDEN GALLERY) 54 + + This is the finest reposing Venus in existence in painting. It was + the model for the representation of the goddess in repose used by + Titian, and many other artists who came after him. (See Page 116.) + + PLATE 7.--DEMETER 66 + + (a). Head from the Cnidos marble figure of the fourth century B.C., + attributed to Scopas. (British Museum.) + + (b). Small head in bronze of the third century B.C. (Private + Collection.) + + In each of these heads the artist has been successful in maintaining + the ideal, while indicating a suggestion of the sorrowful + resignation with which Grecian legend has enveloped the mind picture + of Demeter. Nevertheless, even this slight departure from the + established rule tends to lessen the art, though in a very small + degree. (See Page 122.) + + PLATE 8.--RAPHAEL'S SISTINE MADONNA (DRESDEN GALLERY), WITH THE FACE + OF THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN FRAGONARD'S THE PURSUIT SUBSTITUTED FOR + THAT OF THE VIRGIN 80 + + This and the two following plates show very clearly that in striving + for an ideal, artists must necessarily arrive at the same general + type. (See Pages 138 _et seq._) + + PLATE 9.--RAPHAEL'S VIRGIN OF THE ROSE (MADRID), WITH THE FACE + OF THE FIGURE REPRESENTING PROFANE LOVE IN TITIAN'S PICTURE + SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF THE VIRGIN 92 + + PLATE 10.--RAPHAEL'S HOLY FAMILY (MADRID), WITH THE FACE OF LUINI'S + SALOME SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF THE VIRGIN 102 + + PLATE 11.--THE PURSUIT, BY FRAGONARD. (FRICK COLLECTION, N. Y.) 114 + + A detail from this picture forms the Frontispiece. It will be + observed that in the complete painting the central figure apparently + wears a startled expression, but that this is entirely due to the + surroundings and action, is shown by the substitution of the face of + the central figure for that of the Virgin in the Sistine Madonna, + Plate 8. (See Page 139.) + + PLATE 12.--PORTRAIT HEADS OF THE GREEK TYPE, FOURTH CENTURY, B.C. + (See Page 145) 130 + + (a). Head of Plato. (Copenhagen Museum.) (b). Term of Euripides. + (Naples Museum.) + + PLATE 13.--PORTRAIT HEADS OF THE TIME OF IMPERIAL ROME. (SEE PAGE + 145) 146 + + (a). Vespasian. (Naples Museum.) (b). Hadrian. (Athens Museum.) + + PLATE 14.--SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA, FROM A POMPEIAN FRESCO. (ROUX + AINÉ'S HERCULANUM ET POMPEI, VOL. III) 160 + + This work is presumed to be a copy of the celebrated picture of + Timanthes, in which the head of Agamemnon was hidden because the + artist could see no other way of expressing extreme grief without + distorting the features. (See Pages 168 and 339.) + + PLATE 15.--ALL'S WELL, BY WINSLOW HOMER. (BOSTON MUSEUM, U. S. A.) 176 + + An instance where the permanent beauty of a picture is killed by an + open mouth. After a few moments' inspection, it will be observed + that the mouth appears to be kept open by a wedge. (See Page 176.) + + PLATE 16.--HERCULES CONTEMPLATING DEATH, BY A. POLLAIUOLO. (FRICK + COLLECTION, NEW YORK.) 190 + + The only known design of this nature which appears to exist in any + of the arts. (See Pages 190 and 343.) + + PLATE 17.--ARCADIAN LANDSCAPE, BY CLAUDE LORRAINE. (NATIONAL + GALLERY, LONDON) 198 + + A fine illusion of opening distance created by the precise rendering + of the aerial perspective. The illusion is of course unobservable in + the reproduction owing to its small size and the want of colour. + (See Page 198). + + PLATE 18.--LANDSCAPE, BY HOBBEMA. (MET. MUSEUM, NEW YORK) 210 + + A fine example of Hobbema's work. A strong light is thrown in from + the back to enable the artist to multiply his signs for the purpose + of deepening the apparent distance. (See Page 202.) + + PLATE 19.--LANDSCAPE, BY JACOB RUYSDAEL, (NATIONAL GALLERY, + LONDON) 220 + + Example of an illusion of movement in flowing water. (See Page 204.) + + + PLATE 20.--THE STORM, BY JACOB RUYSDAEL. (BERLIN GALLERY) 232 + + Exhibiting an excellent illusion of motion, due to the faithful + representation of a series of consecutive movements of water as the + vessel passes through it. The illusion is practically lost in the + reproduction, but the details of design may be observed. (See Page + 206.) + + PLATE 21.--THE LITTA MADONNA, BY LIONARDO DA VINCI. (HERMITAGE) 240 + + This is perhaps the best example known of an illusion of relief + secured by shading alone. (See Page 240.) + + PLATE 22.--CHRIST ON THE CROSS, BY VAN DYCK. (ANTWERP MUSEUM) 252 + + A superb example of relief obtained by the exclusion of accessories. + Van Dyck took the idea from Rubens, who borrowed it from Titian, + this artist improving on Antonella da Messina. The relief of course + is not well observed in the reproduction because of its miniature + form. The work is usually regarded as the finest of its kind in + existence. (See Page 244.) + + PLATE 23.--PATRICIA, BY LYDIA EMMET. (PRIVATE POSSESSION, N. Y.) 264 + + A very excellent example of the plan of securing relief described + in Book II, Chap. I. Here also the relief is not observed in the + reproduction, but the original is of life size and provides an + illusion as nearly perfect as possible. (See Page 247.) + + PLATE 24.--THE CREATION OF ADAM, BY MICHELANGELO. (VATICAN) 276 + + Instance of the use of an oval form of drapery to assist in + presenting an illusion of suspension in the air. (See Page 260.) + + PLATE 25.--THE PLEIADS, BY M. SCHWIND. (DENNER COLLECTION.) 288 + + One of the finest examples of illusion of motion in the air. + (See Page 269.) + + PLATE 26.--ST. MARGARET, BY RAPHAEL. (LOUVRE) 302 + + Perhaps the best example in existence of a painted human figure in + action. It will be seen that every part of the body and every fold + of the drapery are used to assist in the expression of movement. + (See Page 250.) + + PLATE 27.--DIANA AND NYMPHS PURSUED BY SATYRS, BY RUBENS. (PRADO) 318 + + A good example of an illusion of motion created by showing a number + of persons in different stages of a series of consecutive actions. + (See Page 254.) + + PLATE 28.--AUTOMEDON WITH THE HORSES OF ACHILLES, BY H. REGNAULT. + (BOSTON MUSEUM, U. S. A.) 334 + + The extraordinary spirit and action of these horses are above the + experience of life, but they do not appear to be beyond the bounds + of possibility. In any case the action is perfectly appropriate + here, as the animals are presumed to be immortal. (See Page 256.) + + PLATE 29.--MARBLE FIGURE OF ARIADNE. (VATICAN) 348 + + This work, of the Hellenistic period, illustrates the possibility of + largely varying the regular proportions of the human figure without + injury to the art, by the skilful use of drapery. (See Page 329.) + + + + +Art Principles + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In view of the many varied definitions of "Art" which have been put +forward in recent times, and the equally diverse hypotheses advanced for +the solution of æsthetic problems relating to beauty, it is necessary +for one who discusses principles of art, to state what he understands by +the terms "Art" and "Beauty." + +Though having a widely extended general meaning, the term "Art" in +common parlance applies to the fine arts only, but the term "Arts" has +reference as well to certain industries which have utility for their +primary object. This work considers only the fine arts, and when the +writer uses the term "Art" or "Arts" he refers to one or more of these +arts, unless a particular qualification is added. The definition of +"Art" as applied to the fine arts, upon which he relies, is "The +production of beauty for the purpose of giving pleasure," or as it is +more precisely put, "The beautiful representation of nature for the +purpose of giving disinterested pleasure." This is, broadly, the +definition generally accepted, and is certainly the understanding of +art which has guided the hands of all the creators of those great works +in the various arts before which men have bowed as triumphs of human +skill. + +There has been no satisfactory definition of "Beauty," nor can the term +be shortly interpreted until there is a general agreement as to what it +covers. Much of the confusion arising from the contradictory theories of +æstheticists in respect of the perception of beauty is apparently due to +the want of separate consideration of emotional beauty and beauty of +mind, that is to say, the beauty of sensorial effects and beauty of +expression respectively.[1] There are kinds of sensorial beauty which +depend for their perception upon immediately preceding sensory +experience, or particular coexistent surroundings which are not +necessarily permanent, while in other cases a certain beauty may be +recognized and subsequently appear to vanish altogether. From this it is +obvious that any æsthetic system based upon the existence of an +objectivity of beauty must fall to the ground. On the other hand, +without an objectivity there can be no system, because in its absence a +line of reasoning explaining cause and effect in the perception of +beauty, which is open to demonstration, is naturally impossible. Nor may +we properly speak of a philosophy of art.[2] We may reasonably consider +æsthetics a branch of psychology, but the emotions arising from the +recognition of beauty vary only in degree and not in kind, whether the +beauty be seen in nature or art. Consequently there can be no separate +psychological enquiry into the perception of beauty created by art as +distinguished from that observable in nature. + +It must be a natural attraction for the insoluble mysteries of life that +has induced so many philosophers during the last two centuries to put +forward æsthetic systems. That no two of these systems agree on +important points, and that each and every one has crumbled to dust from +a touch of the wand of experience administered by a hundred hands, are +well-known facts, yet still the systems continue to be calmly presented +as if they were valuable contributions to knowledge. Each new critic in +the domain of philosophy carefully and gravely sets them up, and then +carefully and gravely knocks them down.[3] An excuse for the systems has +been here and there offered, that the explanations thereof sometimes +include valuable philosophical comments or suggestions. This may be, but +students cannot reasonably be expected to sift out a few oats from a +bushel of husks, even if the supply be from the bin of a Hegel or a +Schopenhauer. Is it too much to suggest that these phantom systems be +finally consigned to the grave of oblivion which has yawned for them so +long and so conspicuously? Bubbles have certain measurements and may +brilliantly glow, but they are still bubbles. It is as impossible to +build up a system of philosophy upon the perception of beauty, which +depends entirely upon physical and physiological laws, as to erect a +system of ethics on the law of gravitation, for a feasible connection +between superstructure and foundation cannot be presented to the mind. + +We may further note that a proper apprehension of standards of judgment +in art cannot be obtained unless the separate and relative æsthetic +values of the two forms of beauty are considered, because the beauty of +a work may appear greater at one time than at another, according as it +is more or less permanent or fleeting, that is to say, according as the +balance of the sensorial and intellectual elements therein is more or +less uneven; or if the beauty present be almost entirely emotional, +according as the observer may be affected by independent sensorial +conditions of time or place. Consequent upon these considerations, an +endeavour has been made in this work to distinguish between the two +forms of beauty in the various arts, and the separate grades thereof. + +It will be noticed that the writer has adopted the somewhat unusual +course of including fiction among the fine arts. Why this practice is +not commonly followed is hard to determine, but no definition of a fine +art has been or can be given which does not cover fiction. In the +definition here accepted, the art is clearly included, for the primary +object of fiction is the beautiful representation of nature for the +purpose of giving disinterested pleasure. + + * * * * * + +Art is independent of conditions of peoples or countries. Its germ is +unconnected with civilization, politics, religion, laws, manners, or +morals. It may appear like a brilliant flower where the mind of man is +an intellectual desert, or refuse to bloom in the busiest hive of human +energy. Its mother is the imagination, and wherever this has room to +expand, there art will grow, though the ground may be nearly sterile, +and the bud wither away from want of nourishment. Every child is born a +potential artist, for he comes into the world with sensorial nerves, and +a brain which directs the imagination. The primitive peoples made +beautiful things long before they could read or write, and the +recognition of harmony of form appears to have been one of the first +understandings in life after the primal instincts of self-preservation +and the continuation of the species. Some of the sketches made by the +cave men of France are equal to anything of the kind produced in a +thousand years of certain ancient civilizations, commencing countless +centuries after the very existence of the cave men had been forgotten; +and even if executed now, would be recognized as indicating the +possession of considerable talent by the artists. The greatest poem ever +written was given birth in a country near which barbaric hordes had +recently devastated populous cities, and wrecked a national fabric with +which were interwoven centuries of art and culture. That the author of +this poem had seen great works of art is certain, or he could not have +conceived the shield of Achilles, but the laboured sculpture that had +fired his imagination, and the legends which had perhaps been the seed +of his masterpieces were doubtless buried with his own records beneath +the tramp of numberless mercenaries. Fortunately here and there the +human voice could draw from memory's store, and so the magic of Homer +was whispered by the dying to the living; but even his time and place +are now only vaguely known, and he remains like the waratah on the +bleached pasture of some desert fringe--a solitary blaze of scarlet +where all else is drear and desolate. + +Strong is the root of art, though frail the flower. Stifled in sun-burnt +ground ere it can welcome the smile of light; fading with the first +blast of air upon its delicate shoots; shrivelling back to dust when the +buds are ready to break; or falling in the struggle to spread its +branches after its beautiful blossoms have scattered their fragrance +around: whatever condition has brought it low, it ever fights +again--ever seeks to assure mankind that while it may droop or +disappear, its seed, its heart, its life, are imperishable, and surely +it will bloom again in all its majesty. Sometimes with decades it has +run a fitful course; sometimes with centuries; sometimes with +millenniums. It has heralded every civilization, but its breath is +freedom, and it flourishes and sickens only with liberty. Trace its +course in the life of every nation, and the track will be found parallel +with the line of freedom of thought. A solitary plant may bloom +unimpeded far from tyranny's thrall, but the art and soul of a nation +live, and throb, and die, together. + + [Illustration: PLATE 1 (See page 7) + Head of Cephren, 4th Egyptian Dynasty (_Cairo Museum_) + Chaldean Head: About 2600 B.C. (_Louvre_)] + +Egypt, Babylon, Crete, Greece, Rome, tell their stories through +deathless monuments, and all are alike in that they demonstrate the +dependence of art expansion upon freedom of action and opinion. An art +rises, develops another and another, and they proceed together on their +way. Sooner or later comes catastrophe in the shape of crushing +tyranny which curbs the mind with slavery, or steel-bound sacerdotal +rules which say to the artist "Thou shalt go no further," or +annihilation of nation and life. What imagination can picture the +expansion of art throughout the world had its flight been free since the +dawn of history? Greece reached the sublime because its mind was +unfettered, but twenty or thirty centuries before Phidias, Egyptian art +had arrived at a loftier plane than that on which the highest plastic +art of Greece was standing but a few decades before the Olympian Zeus +uplifted the souls of men, while whole civilizations with their arts had +lived and died, and were practically forgotten. + +It is to be observed that while in its various isolated developments, +art has proceeded from the immature to the mature, there has been no +general evolution, as in natural life, but on the other hand there seems +to be a limit to its progress. So far as our imagination can divine, no +higher reaches in art are attainable than those already achieved. The +mind can conceive of nothing higher than the spiritual, and this cannot +be represented in art except by means of form; while within the range of +human intelligence, no suggestion of spiritual form can rise above the +ideals of Phidias. Of the purely human form, nothing greater than the +work of Praxiteles and Raphael can be pictured on our brains. There may +be poets who will rival Homer and Shakespeare, but it is exceedingly +doubtful. In any case we must discard the law of evolution as applicable +to the arts, with the one exception of music, which, on account of the +special functioning of its signs, must be put into a division by +itself.[a] + + [a] See Chap. III. + +But although there has been no general progression in art parallel with +the growth of the sciences and civilization, there have been, as already +indicated, many separate epochs of art cultivation in various countries, +sometimes accompanied by the production of immortal works, which epochs +in themselves seem to provide examples of restricted evolution.[4] It is +desirable to refer to these art periods, as they are commonly called, +for the purpose of removing, if possible, a not uncommon apprehension +that they are the result of special conditions operating an æsthetic +stimulus, and that similar or related conditions must be present in any +country if the flame of art there is to burn high and brightly.[5] The +well-defined periods vary largely both in character and duration, the +most important of them--the Grecian development and the Italian +Renaissance--covering two or three centuries each, and the others, as +the French thirteenth century sculpture expansion, the English literary +revival in the sixteenth century,[6] and the Dutch development in +painting in the seventeenth, lasting only a few decades. These latter +periods can be dispensed with at once because they were each concerned +with one art only, and therefore can scarcely have resulted from a +general æsthetic stimulus. But the Grecian and Italian movements applied +to all the arts. They represented natural developments from the crude to +the advanced, of which all nations produce examples, and were only +exceptional in that they reached higher levels in art than were attained +by other movements. But there is no evidence to show that they were +brought about by special circumstances outside of the arts themselves. +While there were national crises preceding the one development, there +was no trouble of consequence to herald the other, nor was there any +parallel between the conditions of the two peoples during the progress +of the movements. A short reference to each development will show that +its rise and decline were the outcome of simple matter-of-fact +conditions of a more or less accidental nature, uninfluenced by an +æsthetic impulse in the sense of inspiration. + +The most common suggestion advanced to account for the rise in Grecian +art, is that it was due to the exaltation of the Greek mind through the +victories of Marathon, Platæa, and Salamis. That a people should be so +trampled upon as were the Greeks; that their cities should be razed, +their country desolated, and their commerce destroyed; that +notwithstanding all this they should refuse to give way before enemies +outnumbering them twenty, fifty, or even a hundred to one; and that +after all they should crush these enemies, was no doubt a great and +heroic triumph, likely to exalt the nation and feed the imagination of +the people for a long time to come; but that these victories were +responsible for the lofty eminence reached by the Greek artists, cannot +be maintained. From what we know of Calamis, Myron, and others, it is +clear that Grecian art was already on its way to the summit reached by +Phidias when Marathon and Salamis were fought, though the victories of +the Greek arms hastened the development for the plain reason that they +led to an increased demand for works of art. And the decline in Grecian +art resulted purely and simply from a lessened demand. Though this was +the reason for the general decay, there was a special cause for the +apparent weakening with the commencement of the fourth century B.C. In +the fifth century Phidias climbed as high in the accomplishment of +ideals as the imagination could soar. He reached the summit of human +endeavour. Necessarily then, unless another Phidias arose, whatever in +art came after him would appear to mark a decline. But it is scarcely +proper to put the case of Phidias forward for comparative purposes. He +carried the art of sculpture higher than it is possible for the painter +to ascend, and so we should rather use the giants of the fourth +century--Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus, Apelles--as the standards to be +compared with the foremost spirits of the Italian Renaissance--Raphael +and Michelangelo--for each of these groups achieved the human ideal, +though failing with the spiritual ideal established by Phidias. + +It must be remembered that all good art means slow work--long thinking, +much experiment, tedious attention to detail in plan, and careful +execution. Meanwhile men have to live, even immortal artists, and rarely +indeed does one undertake a work of importance on his own account. It is +true that in the greater days of Greece the best artists were almost +entirely employed by a State, or at least to execute works for public +exhibition, and doubtless the payment they received was quite a +secondary matter with them, but nevertheless few could practise their +art without remuneration. During the fifth and fourth centuries great +events were constantly happening in Greece, and in consequence there +were numberless temples to build and adorn, groves to decorate, men to +honour, and monumental tombs to erect. Innumerable statues of gods and +goddesses were wanted, and we must not forget the wholesale destruction +of Athenian and other temples and sculptures during the Persian +invasion. In fact for a century and a half after Platæa, there was +practically an unlimited demand for works of art, and it was only when +the empire of Alexander began to crumble away that conditions changed. +While Greece was weakening Rome was growing and her lengthening shadows +were approaching the walls of Athens. Greece could build no more temples +when her people were becoming slaves of Rome; she could order no more +monuments when defeat was the certain end of struggle. And so the +decline was brought about, not by want of artists, but through the +dearth of orders and the consequent neglect of competition. + +In the case of the Italian Renaissance the decadence was not due to the +same cause. The art of Greece declined gradually in respect of quantity +as well as quality, while in Italy after the decay in quality set in, +art was as nourishing as ever from the point of view of demand. The +change in the character of the art was due entirely to Raphael's +achievements. As with the early Greek, nearly the whole of the early +Italian art was concerned with religion, though in this case there were +very few ideals. The numerous ancient gods of Greece and Rome were long +gone, to become only classical heroes with the Italians, and their +places were taken by twenty or thirty personages from the New Testament. +Incidents from the Old Testament were sometimes painted, but nearly all +the greater work dealt with the life of Christ and the Saints. The +painters of the first century of the Renaissance distributed their +attention fairly equally among these personages, but as time went on and +the art became of a superior order, artists aimed at the highest +development of beauty that their imaginations could conceive, and hence +the severe beauty that might be shown in a picture of Christ or a +prominent Saint, had commonly to give way to a more earthly perfection +of feature and form, which, suggesting an ideal, could only be given to +the figure of the Virgin. And so the test of the power of an artist came +to be instinctively decided by his representation of the Madonna. No +doubt there were many persons living in the fifteenth century who +watched the gradually increasing beauty of the Madonna as depicted by +the succession of great painters then working, and wondered when and +where the summit would be reached--when an artist would appear beyond +whose work the imagination could not pass, for there is a limit to human +powers. + +The genius arose in Raphael, and when he produced in the last ten or +twelve years of his life, Madonna after Madonna, so far in advance of +anything that had hitherto been done, so great in beauty as to leave his +fellow artists lost in wonder, so lofty in conception that the term +"divine" was applied to him in his lifetime, it was inevitable that a +decadence should set in, for so far as the intelligence could see, +whatever came after him must be inferior. He did not ascend to the +height of Phidias, for a pure ideal of spiritual form is beyond the +power of the painter,[b] but as with Praxiteles he reached a perfect +human ideal, and so gained the supreme pinnacle of his art. But while +there was an inevitable decadence after him, as after Praxiteles, it +was, as already indicated, only in the character of the art, for in +Italy artists generally were as busy for a hundred years after Raphael, +as during his time. Michelangelo, Titian, and the other giants who were +working when Raphael died, kept up the renown of the period for half a +century or so, but it seemed impossible for artists who came on the +scene after Raphael's death, to enter upon an entirely original course. +The whole of the new generation seemed to cling to the models put +forward by the great Urbino painter, save some of the Venetians who had +a model of their own in Titian. + + [b] See Chap. IX. + +Thus it is clear that the rise and decline of the Grecian and Italian +movements were due to well ascertained causes which had nothing to do +with a national æsthetic impulse; nor is there evidence of such an +impulse connected with other art developments. + +The suggestion that a nation may be assisted in its art by emotional or +psychological influences arising from patriotic exaltation, is only an +extension of an opinion commonly held, that the individual artist is +subject to similar influences, though due to personal exaltation +connected with his art. It is as well to point out that there is only +one way to produce a work of art, and that is to combine the exercise of +the imagination with skill in execution. The artist conceives an idea +and puts it into form. He does nothing more. He can rely upon no +extraneous influence. It is suggested that to bring about a supreme +accomplishment in art, the imagination must be associated with something +outside of our power of control--some impulse which acts upon the brain +but is independent of it. This unmeasured force or lever is usually +known by the term "Inspiration." It is supposed that this force comes to +certain persons when they have particular moods upon them, and gives +them a great idea which they may use in a painting, a poem, or a musical +composition. The suggestion is attractive, but in the long range of +historical record there is no evidence that accident, in the shape of +inspiration or other psychological lever, has been responsible in the +slightest degree for the production of a work of art. The writer of a +sublime poem, or the painter of a perfect Madonna, uses the same kind of +mental and material labour as the man who chisels a lion's head on a +chair, or adds a filigree ornament to a bangle. The difference is one of +degree only. The poet or painter is gifted with a vivid imagination +which he has cultivated by study; and by diligence has acquired +superlative facility in execution, which he uses to the best advantage. +The work of the furniture carver or jeweller does not require such high +powers, and he climbs only a few steps of the ladder whose uppermost +rungs have been scaled by the greater artists. + +If in the course of the five and twenty centuries during which works of +high art have been produced, some of them had been executed with the +assistance of a psychological impulse directed independently of the +will, there would certainly have been references to the phenomenon by +the artists concerned, or the very numerous art historians, but without +a known exception, all the great artists who have left any record of the +cause of their success, or whose views on the subject are to be gained +by indirect references, have attributed this success to hard study, or +manual industry, or both together. We know little of the opinion of the +ancient Greeks on the matter, but the few anecdotes we have, indicate +that their artists were very practical men indeed, and hardly likely to +expect mysterious psychological influences to help them in their work. +So with the Romans, and it is noticeable that the key to the production +of beauty in poetry, in the opinion of Virgil and Horace, is careful +preparation and unlimited revision. This appears to be the view of some +modern poets, and if Dante, Shakespeare, and Milton, had experienced +visionary inspiration, we should surely have heard of it. Fortunately +some of the most eminent painters of modern times have expressed +themselves definitely upon the point. Lionardo observed that the painter +arrives at perfection by manual operation; and Michelangelo asserted +that Raphael acquired his excellence by study and application. Rubens +praised his brushes, by which he meant his acquired facility, as the +instruments of his fortune; and Nicholas Poussin attributed his success +to the fact that he neglected nothing, referring of course to his +studies. According to his biographers, the triumphs of Claude were due +to his untiring industry, while Reynolds held that nothing is denied to +well directed labour. And so with many others down to Turner, whose +secret according to Ruskin, was sincerity and toil. + +It would seem to be possible for an artist to work himself into a +condition of emotional excitement,[7] either involuntarily when a great +thought comes to him, or voluntarily when he seeks ideas wherewith to +execute a brilliant conception; and it is comprehensible that when in +this condition, which is practically an extreme concentration of his +mental energy upon the purpose in hand, images or other æsthetic +suggestions suitable for his work may present themselves to his mind. +These he might regard as the result of inspiration, but in reality they +would be the product of a trained imagination operating under +advantageous conditions. + +Nor can any rule be laid down that the character or temperament of an +artist influences his work, for if instances can be given in support of +such an assertion, at least an equal number may be adduced which +directly oppose it. If we might approximately gauge the true characters +of Fra Angelico and Michelangelo from a study of their work, it is +certain that no imagination could conjure up the actual personalities of +Perugino and Cellini, from an examination of the paintings of the one +and the sculptures of the other. What can be said on the subject when +assassins of the nature of Corenzio and Caravaggio painted so many +beautiful things, and evil-minded men like Ribera and Battistello +adorned great churches with sacred compositions? If the work of Claude +appears to harmonize with his character, that of Turner does not. +"Friendless in youth: loveless in manhood; hopeless in death." Such was +Turner according to Ruskin, but is there any sign of this in his works? +Not a trace. If any conclusion as to his character and temperament can +be drawn from Turner's paintings, it is that he was a gay, light-hearted +thinker, with all the optimism and high spirits that come from a delight +in beautiful things. The element of mood is unquestionably of importance +in the work of an artist, but it is not uncommon to find the character +of his designs contrary to his mood. Poets, as in the case of Hood, or +painters as with Tassaert, may execute the most lively pieces while in +moods verging on despair. With some men adversity quickens the +imagination with fancies; with others it benumbs their faculties. + +The tendency of popular criticism to search for psychological phenomena +in paintings, apparently arises largely from the difficulty in +comprehending how it is that certain artists of high repute vary their +styles of painting after many years of good work, and produce pictures +without the striking beauty characterizing their former efforts. +Sometimes when age is beginning to tell upon them, they broaden their +manner considerably, as with Rembrandt and others of the seventeenth +century, and many recent artists of lesser fame. The critic, very +naturally perhaps, is chary of condemning work from the hand of one who +has given evidence of consummate skill, and so seeks for hidden beauties +in lieu of those to which he has been accustomed. A simple enquiry into +the matter will show that the change of style in these cases has a +commonplace natural cause. + + [Illustration: PLATE 2 (See page 319) + "Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens" (_Amiens Cathedral_)] + +To be in the front rank an artist must have acquired a vast knowledge of +the technique of his art, and have a powerful imagination which has been +highly cultivated. But the qualifications must be balanced. Commonly +when this balance is not present the deficiency is in the imagination, +but there are instances where, though the power of execution is supreme, +the imagination has so far exceeded all bounds as to render this power +of comparatively small practical value. The most conspicuous example of +this want of balance is Lionardo, who accomplished little though he was +scarcely surpassed in execution by Raphael or Michelangelo. His +imagination invariably ran beyond his execution; his ideas were always +above the works he completed or partly finished: he saw in fact far +beyond anything he could accomplish, and so was never satisfied with the +result of his labour. At the same time he was filled with ideas in +the sciences, and investigated every branch of knowledge without +bringing his conclusions to fruition. During the latter part of his +life, Michelangelo showed a similar defect in a lesser degree, for his +unfinished works of the period exceed in number those he completed. +Naturally such intellectual giants, whose imaginations cannot be +levelled with the highest ability in execution, are few, but the lesser +luminaries who fail, or who constantly fail, in carrying out their +conceptions, are legion, though they may have absorbed the limit of +knowledge which they are capable of acquiring in respect of execution. +It is common for a painter to turn out a few masterpieces and nothing +else of permanent value. This was the case with numerous Italian artists +of the seventeenth century, and it is indeed a question whether there is +one of them, except perhaps Domenichino, whose works have not a +considerable range in æsthetic value. + +There have been still more artists whose powers of execution were far +beyond the flights of their imaginations. They include the whole of the +seventeenth century Dutch school with Rembrandt at their head, and the +whole of the Spanish school of the same period, except El Greco, +Zurbaran, and Murillo. When an artist is in the first rank in respect of +execution, but is distinctly inferior in imaginative scope, his work in +all grades of his art, except the highest, where ideals are possible, +seems to have a greater value than it really possesses because we are +insensibly cognizant that the accomplishment rises above the idea upon +which it is founded. On the other hand his work in the highest plane +appears to possess a lower value, because we are surprised that ideals +have not been attempted, and that the types of the spiritual and +classical personages represented are of the same class of men and women +as those exhibited in works dealing with ordinary human occupations or +actions. This is why the sacred and classical pictures of Rembrandt, +Vermeer of Delft, and the other leading Dutch artists, appear to be +below their portrait and genre work in power. + +The course of variation in the work of a great painter follows the +relative power of his imagination and his execution. Where there is a +fair balance between the two, the work of the artist increases in +æsthetic value with his age and experience; but when his facility in +execution rises above the force of his imagination, then his middle +period is invariably the best, his later work showing a gradual +depreciation in quality. The reason is obvious. The surety of the hand +and eye diminishes more rapidly than the power of the mind, which in +fact is commonly enhanced with experience till old age comes on. Great +artists who rely mostly upon their powers of execution, and exhibit +limited fertility in invention, such as Rembrandt, have often a manner +which is so interwoven with the effects they seek, that they are seldom +or never able to avail themselves of the assistance of others in the +lesser important parts of their work. A man with the fertile mind of a +Rubens may gather around him a troupe of artists nearly as good as +himself in execution, who will carry out his designs completely save +for certain details. Thus he is not occupied with laborious toil, and +the decreasing accuracy of his handiwork troubles him but little. On the +other hand a Rembrandt, whose merits lie chiefly in the delicate +manipulation of light effects and intricate shades in expression, +remains tied to his canvas. He feels intensely the decreasing facility +in the use of his brush which necessarily accompanies his advancing +years, and his only recourse from a stoppage of work is an alteration in +manner involving a reduction of labour and a lessened strain upon the +eyesight. With few exceptions the great masterpieces of Rembrandt were +produced in his middle period. During the last ten or fifteen years of +his life he gradually increased his breadth of manner. He was still +magnificent in general expression, but the intimate details which +produced such glorious effects in the great Amsterdam picture, and fifty +or more of his single portraits, could not be obtained with hog's +hair.[8] + +Disconnecting then the work of the artist with inspiration or other +psychological force, we may now enquire what is mean by "Genius," +"Natural gift," or other term used to explain the power of an artist to +produce a great work? It would appear that the answer is closely +concerned with the condition of the sensorial nerves at birth, and the +precocity or otherwise of the infantile imagination. From the fact that +we can cultivate the eye and ear so as to recognize forms of harmony +which we could not before perceive, and seeing that the effect of this +cultivation is permanent, it follows that exercise must bring about +direct changes in the nerves associated with these organs, attuning them +so to speak, and enabling them to respond to newer harmonies arising +from increased complexity of the signs used.[9] It is matter of common +knowledge that the structure of the sensorial nerves varies largely in +different persons at birth, and when a boy at a very early age shows +precocious ability in music or drawing, we may properly infer that the +condition of his optic or aural nerves is comparatively advanced, that +is to say, it is much less rudimentary than that of the average person +at the same age; in other words accident has given him a nerve +regularity which can only be gained by the average boy after long +exercise. The precocious youth has not a nerve structure superior in +kind, but it is abnormally developed, and so he is ahead of his +confreres in the matter of time, for under equal conditions of study he +is sooner able to arrive at a given degree of skill. + +But early appreciation of complex harmony, and skill in execution, are +not enough to produce a great artist, for there must be associated with +these things a powerful imagination. While the particular nerves or +vessels of the brain with which the imagination is concerned have not +been identified, we know by analogy and experience that the exercise of +the imagination like that of any other function, is necessary for its +development, and according as we allow it to remain in abeyance so we +reduce its active value. Clearly also, the seat of the imagination at +birth is less rudimentary in some persons than in others. From these +facts it would appear that when both the sensory nerve structure and the +seat of the imagination are advanced at birth, then we have the basis +upon which the precocious genius is built up. With such conditions, +patient toil and deep study are alone necessary to produce a sublime +artist. Evidently it is extremely rare for the imagination and nerve +structure to be together so advanced naturally, but commonly one is more +than rudimentary, and the deficiency in the other is compensated for by +study.[10] + +Of course these observations are general, for there arises the question, +to what extent can the senses and imagination be trained? We may well +conceive that there is a limit to the development of the sense organs. +There must come a period when the optic or aural nerves can be attuned +no further; and is the limit equal in all persons? The probability is +that it is not. The physical character of the nerves almost certainly +varies in different persons, some being able to appreciate more complex +harmonies than others, granted the limit of development. This is a point +which has to be considered, particularly in the case of music wherein as +a rule, the higher the beauty the more complex the combinations of +signs. There is a parallel problem to solve in respect of the +imagination. We can well believe that there was something abnormal in +the imagination of Shakespeare, beyond the probability that in his case +the physiological system controlling the seat of the imagination was +unusually advanced at birth. It is quite certain that with such a man a +given training would result in a far greater advance in the functioning +capacity of the imagination, than in the vast majority of persons who +might commence the training on apparently equal terms; and he would be +able to go further--to surpass the point which might be the limit of +development with most persons. + +These questions are of the highest importance, but they cannot be +determined. We are acquainted with certain facts relating to the general +development of the sense organs, and of the imagination; and in regard +to the former we know that there is a limit within comprehensible +bounds, but we see only very dimly anything finite in the scope of the +imagination. With what other term than "limitless" can we describe the +imagination of a Shakespeare? But in all cases, whatever the natural +conditions at birth, it is clear that hard work is the key to success in +art, and though some must work harder than others to arrive at an equal +result, it is satisfactory to know that generally Carlyle was right when +he described "genius" as the transcendent capacity for taking trouble, +and we are not surprised that Cicero should have come to the conclusion +that diligence is a virtue that seems to include all the others. + +Seeing that the conclusions above defined (and some to be later drawn), +are not entirely in accord with a large part of modern criticism based +upon what are commonly described as new and improved forms of the +painter's art, it is necessary to refer to these forms, which are +generally comprehended under what is known as Impressionism.[c] Alas, to +the frailty of man must we ascribe the spread of this movement, which +has destroyed so many bright young intellects, and is at this moment +leading thousands of gentle spirits along the level path which ends in +despair. For the real road of art is steep, and difficult, and long. +Year upon year of patient thought, patient observation, and patient +toil, lie ahead of every man who covets a crown of success as a painter. +He must seek to accumulate vast stores of knowledge of the human form +and its anatomy, of nature in her prolific variety, of linear and aerial +perspective, of animals which move on land or through the air, of the +laws of colours and their combinations. He must sound the depths of +poetry, and sculpture, and architecture; absorb the cream of sacred and +profane history; and with all these things and many more, he must +saturate his mind with the practical details of his art. Every artist +whose work the world has learned to admire has done his best to gain +this knowledge, and certainly no great design was ever produced by one +whose youth and early manhood were not worn with ardent study. For +knowledge and experience are the only foundations upon which the +imagination can build. Every new conception is a rearrangement of known +signs, and the imagination is powerless to arrange them appropriately +without a thorough comprehension of their character and significance. + + [c] The varied interpretations of Impressionism are referred to + elsewhere (see page ). When using the term in this book + without qualification, the writer means thereby the subordination + of design to colour, which definition covers all the forms of the + "new art" without going beyond any of them. + +This then is the programme of work which must be adopted by any serious +aspirant to fame in the art of the painter, and it is perhaps not +surprising that the number of artists who survive the ordeal is strictly +limited. In any walk of life where years of struggle are necessary for +success, how small the proportion of men who persevere to the end; who +present a steel wall to misfortune and despair, and with an indomitable +will, overcome care, and worry, and fatigue, for year after year, till +at last the clouds disappear, and they are able to front the world with +an all-powerful shield of radiant knowledge! But unfortunately in the +painter's art it is difficult to convince students of the necessity for +long and hard study, because there is no definite standard for measuring +success or failure which they can grasp without long experience. In +industries where knowledge is applied to improvement in appliances, or +methods with definite ends, or to the realization of projects having a +fixed scope, failure is determined by material results measured commonly +by mathematical processes of one kind or another. A man produces a new +alloy which he claims will fulfil a certain purpose. It is tested by +recognized means: all concerned admit the validity of the test, and +there the matter ends. But in the arts, while the relative value of the +respective grades is equally capable of demonstration, the test is of a +different kind. Instead of weights and measures which every man can +apply, general experience must be brought in. The individual may be +right in his judgment, and commonly is, but he is unable to measure the +evidence of his senses by material demonstration, and as he has no means +of judging whether his senses are normal, except by comparison, he is +liable to doubt his own experience if it clash with that of others. +Thus, he may find but little beauty in a given picture, and then may +read or hear that the work has a high æsthetic value, and without +calling to mind the fact that no evidence in the matter is conclusive +unless it be based on general experience, he is liable to believe that +his own perception is in some way deficient. + +Thus in the arts, and particularly in painting, there is ample scope for +the spread of false principles. Poetry has an advantage in that the +intellect must first be exercised before the simplest pictures are +thrown on the brain, so feeble or eccentric verse appeals to very few +persons, and seldom has a clientèle, if one may use the word, outside of +small coteries of weak thinkers. It is difficult also in sculpture to +put forward poor works as of a high order, because this art deals almost +entirely with simple human and animal forms in respect of which the +knowledge is universal, and so as signs they cannot be varied except in +the production of what would be immediately recognized as monstrosities. +But in painting an immense variety in kind of beauty may be produced, +from a simple colour harmony to the representation of ideal forms +involving the highest sensorial and intellectual reaches, and there is +ample scope for the misrepresentation of æsthetic effects--for the +suggestion that a work yielding a momentary appeal to the senses is +superior to a high form of permanent beauty. + +It is to the ease with which simple forms of ephemeral beauty may be +produced in painting that is due the large number of artists who should +never have entered upon the profession. Nearly every person of average +intelligence is capable with a few lessons of producing excellent +imitations of natural things in colour, as for instance, flowers, bits +of landscape, and so on, and great numbers of young men and women, +surprised at the facility with which this work can be done, erroneously +suppose that nature has endowed them with special gifts, and so take up +the art of painting as a career. Hence for every sculptor there are +twenty painters. Now these youthful aspirants usually start with +determination and hope, but although they know the value of studious +toil, they rarely comprehend that this toil, long continued, is the only +key to success. Most of them seem under the impression that inspiration +will come to their assistance, and that their genius will enable them to +dispense with much of the labour which others, less fortunate, must +undertake. They do not understand that all painters, even a Raphael, +must go through long years of hard application. + +We need not be surprised that there should be occasional eruptions in +art circles tending to the exaltation of the immature at the expense of +the superior, or even the sublime, for we have always with us the +undiligent man of talent, and the "unrecognized genius." But hitherto, +movements of the kind have not been serious, for with one exception they +are lost in oblivion, and the exception is little more than a vague +memory. That the present movement should have lasted so long is not +difficult to understand when we remember the modern advantages for the +spread of new sensations--the exhibitions, the unlimited advertising +scope, and above all the new criticism, with its extended vocabulary, +its original philosophy, and its boundless discoveries as to the +psychological and musical qualities of paint. That history is silent as +to previous eruptions of the kind before the seventeenth century is a +matter of regret. It is unlikely that the greatest of all art epochs +experienced an impressionist fever, for one cannot imagine the spread of +spurious principles within measurable distance of a State (Thebes) which +went so far as to prohibit the representation of unbeautiful things. In +respect of poetry we know that the Greeks stood no nonsense, for did not +Zoilus suffer an ignominious death for venturing upon childish criticism +of Homer? In Rome eccentric painters certainly found some means to +thrive, for where "Bohemian" poets gathered, who neglected the barber +and the bath, and pretended an æsthetic exclusiveness, there surely +would painters of "isms" be found in variety. Naturally in the early +stages of the Renaissance, when patronage of the arts was almost +confined to the Church, and so went hand in hand with learning, inferior +art stood small chance of recognition; and a little later when Lorenzo +gathered around him the intellectual cream of Italy; when the pupils of +Donatello were spreading the light of his genius; when the patrician +beauties of Florence were posing for Ghirlandaio and his brilliant +confrères, and when the minds of Lionardo and Michelangelo were +blooming; who would have dared to talk of the psychological qualities of +paint, or suggest the composition of a fresco "symphony"? + + [Illustration: PLATE 3 (See page 111) + Ancient Copy of the Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles (_Vatican_)] + +But another century and more passed away. The blaze of the Renaissance +had gone down, but the embers were kept alive, for Italy still seemed to +vibrate with a desire to paint. Simultaneously in Flanders, in Holland, +in France, and in England, private citizens appeared to develop a sudden +demand for pictures, and quite naturally artists multiplied and fed the +flame. Outside of Italy the hustle and bustle in the art world were +novelties to the general public, though pleasant ones withal, and for +half a century or more they delighted in the majestic designs of Rubens +and Van Dyck, the intimate scenes of the Dutch artists, and the delicate +landscapes of Claude and Poussin and their followers, which were +continually finding their way from Rome. The simplicity of the people +protected the arts. They knew the hard labour involved in the production +of a picture; the worries, the struggles, the joys of the painters; and +daily saw beautiful imitations of every-day life in the shops and +markets. They must have been proud of them--insensibly proud of the +value of human endeavour. For them the sham and immature had no place: +there is not a single example of spurious art of the first three +quarters of the seventeenth century that has come down to us from +Holland or Flanders. But while the Dutch school was at the height of its +fame, a change was marking Italian art conditions. The half score of +academies scattered through the country were still in a state of +activity, carrying on, as far as they could, the traditions of the +Renaissance: from all parts of Europe students were still pouring in, +endeavouring to glean the secrets of the immortals; and there was no +apparent decrease in the demand for pictures from the religious +foundations and private buyers. But the character of the art produced +was rapidly declining: the writing on the wall was being done by the +hand that wielded the brush. As a necessary consequence the trader was +called in and art began to be commercialized. Worse still, fashions +appeared, guided by successive masters in the various centres, often +with an influence quite out of proportion with their merits. + +By the middle of the century a general fall in activity and enthusiasm +was noticeable. The disciples of the Roman school, largely through the +pernicious influence of Bernini, had nearly forgotten the great lessons +taught by the followers of Raphael, and later by the three Carracci, and +were fast descending below mediocrity; the Florentine school included +half a dozen good painters, mostly students of Berritini: Venice was +falling into a stagnation in which she remained till the appearance of +Longhi and Tiepolo and their brethren; Bologna was living on the +reputation of the Carracci, and had yet to recover with the aid of +Cignani: Milan and Genoa as separate schools had practically faded away; +and the Neapolitan school was relying on Salvator Rosa, though Luca +Giordano was growing into an inexhaustible hive of invention. This was +the condition of Italian art, while political and other troubles were +further complicating the position of artists. For most of them the time +was gloomy and the future dark. A few turned to landscape; others +extended the practice of copying the early masters for the benefit of +foreign capitals, while some sought for novelty in still-life, or in the +then newly practised pastel work. But there was a considerable number +who would have none of these things; some of them with talent but +lacking industry, and others with industry but void of imagination. What +were these to do at a time when at the best the outlook was poor? + +An answer came to this question. A new taste must be cultivated, and for +an art that required less study and trouble to produce than the sublime +forms with which the Renaissance culminated. So whispers went round that +Raphael was not really so great a master as was supposed, and that with +Michelangelo he was out of date and did not comprehend the real meaning +of art--very similar conclusions with which the modern impressionist +movement was heralded.[11] The discovery was made in Rome, but the news +expanded to Florence and Naples, and Venice, and behold the +result--Sprezzatura, or to use the modern word, Impressionism, that is +to say, the substitution of sketches for finished pictures, though this +is not the definition usually given to it. But fortunately for the art +of the time the innovation was chiefly confined to coteries. All that +could be said or done failed to convince the principal patrons of the +period that a half finished work is so beautiful as a completed one, and +so the novelties rarely found entrance into great collections, nor were +they used to adorn the interiors of public buildings. But a good many of +them were executed though they have long ceased to interest anybody. Now +and again one comes across an example in a sleepy Italian village, or in +the smaller shops of Rome or Florence, but it is quickly put aside as a +melancholy memento of a disordered period of art when talented painters +had to struggle for fame, and the untalented for bread. + +The cult of Sprezzatura faded to a glimmer before the end of the +seventeenth century. Bernini was dead, and Carlo Maratta with a few +others led the way in re-establishing the health if not the brilliancy +and renown of Italian art. Nor did a recurrence of the movement occur in +the next century. During this period there was comparatively little call +for art in Italy, and at the end of it, when political disturbances made +havoc with academies and artists, the principal occupation of Italian +painters with talent was precisely that of their skilled brethren in +Holland and Flanders--the manufacture of "old" masterpieces. It was +reserved for the second half of the nineteenth century for Sprezzatura +to make its reappearance, and this time Italy followed the lead of +France. + +There are many methods and mannerisms which go under the name of +Impressionism, but they are mostly suggestions in design or experiments +in tones which were formerly produced solely as studies to assist +artists in executing their complete works, or else eccentricities which +are obviously mere camouflage for lack of skill.[12] Sometimes the +sketches are slightly amplified with more or less finished signs, and +now and then novelties are present in the shape of startling colour +effects; but in all cases the impartial observer sees in the pictures +only sensorial beauty of a kind which is inevitably short lived, while +his understanding is oppressed with the thought, firstly that the +picture is probably the result of a want of diligence on the part of the +artist, and secondly that its exhibition as a serious work is somewhat +of a reflection upon the intelligence of the public. + +Obviously the fundamental basis of Impressionism is weak and illogical, +for in our conception of nature it invites us to eliminate the +understanding. What the impressionist practically says is: "We do not +see solid form; we see only flat surface in which objects are +distinguished by colours. The artist should reproduce these colours +irrespective of the nature of the objects." But the objects are +distinguished by our knowledge and experience, and if we are to +eliminate these in one art, why not in another? Why trouble about +carving in the round when we only actually see in the human figure a +flat surface defined by colour? There is no scene in nature such as the +impressionist paints, nor can such a scene be thrown upon the mind of +the painter as a natural scene. Except in absolute deserts there are no +scenes without many signs which are clearly defined to the eye, and +which the artist can paint. He cannot of course produce all the signs in +a view, but he can indicate sufficient of them to make a beautiful +picture apart from the tones, and there can be no valid æsthetic reason +for substituting for these signs vague suggestions of colour infinitely +less definite than the signs as they appear in nature. Nor is there any +such atmosphere in nature as the impressionist usually paints. We do not +see blotched outlines of human figures, but the outlines in nature, +except at a considerable distance, appear to us clear and decisive +though delicately shaded, and not as seen through a veil of steam. Nor +has any valid reason been advanced for juxtaposing pure colours instead +of blending them before use.[13] Why should the eye have to seek a +particular distance from a painting in order that the colours might +naturally blend, when the artist can himself blend them and present a +harmony which is observable at any reasonable distance? We do not carve +a statue with blurred and broken edges, and then tell the observer that +the outlines will appear correct if he travel a certain distance away +before examining them. + +In giving nearly his whole attention to colour the impressionist limits +his art to the feeblest form, and produces a quickly tiring, ephemeral +thing, as if unconscious of natural beauty. Sylvan glades and fairy +dales, where the brooks ripple pleasantly as they moisten the roots of +the violet, and gently lave the feet of the lark and the robin; where +shady trees bow welcome to the wanderer; where the grassy carpet is +sprinkled with flowers, and every bush can tell of lovers' sighs! Does +the impressionist see these things? Offer him the sweetest beauties of +nature, and he shows you in return a shake of a kaleidoscope. Mountain +peaks towering one above the other till their snowy crests sparkle the +azure sky; mighty rivers dividing the hills, crumbling the granite +cliffs, or thundering their course over impeding rocks; cascades of +flowing crystal falling into seething seas of foam and mist; the angry +ocean convulsively defying human power with its heaving walls and +fearsome caverns! Nature in her grandest form: sublime forces which +kindle the spirit of man: exhibit them to the impressionist, and he +presents to you a flat experiment in the juxtaposition of pure colours! +And the majesty of the human form, with its glorious attributes; the +noble woman and courageous man; incidents of self-sacrifice; the realms +of spiritual beauty, and the great ideals which expand the mind to the +bounds of space and lift the soul to Heaven! What of these? Ask the +impressionist, and he knows nothing of them. For his pencil they are but +relics of the past, like the bones of the men who immortalized them in +art. + +This is perhaps an overstatement of impressionism as applied to the +works of a large number of artists, who although commonly sacrificing +form to colour, infuse more or less interest in the human poses and +actions which are nominally the subjects of their pictures. But one can +only deal generally with such a matter. The evil of Impressionism does +not lie in the presentation of colour harmonies as beautiful things, for +they are unquestionably pleasing, though the beauty is purely sensorial +and of an ephemeral character. The mischief arises from the declaration, +overt or implied, that these harmonies represent the higher reaches of +the painter's art, and that form or design therein is of secondary +importance. Let something false in thought or activity be propagated in +any domain where the trader can make use of it, then surely will the +evil grow, each new weed being more rank than its predecessor. +Impressionism is not a spurious form of art, but seeing that its +spurious claims were widely accepted, with substantial results, there +soon appeared innumerable other forms inferior to it. There is no +necessity to deal here with these forms, with the crude experiments of +Cézanne, the vagaries of Van Gogh,[14] the puerilities of Matisse, or +the awful sequence of "isms," commencing with "Post-Impressionism," and +ending in the lowest depths of art degradation; but it is proper to +point out that so long as Impressionism puts forward its extravagant +pretensions, these corrupt forms will continue to taint the realm of art +to the detriment of both artists and public. + +The significance of Impressionism is alleged by its advocates to be of +such considerable import that in the public interest they should have +brought forward the most cogent arguments for its support. But we have +no such arguments, nor has any logical reason been advanced to offset +the obvious practical defects of the innovation, namely, that in the +general opinion the art is incomplete and decidedly inferior, and that +the leading critics of every country have ignored or directly condemned +it as an immature form of art. Nevertheless, although there has been no +determined attempt to upset the basis of art criticism as this basis has +been understood for more than twenty centuries; although the whole of +the arguments in support of the various forms of Impressionism have +failed to indicate any comprehensible basis at all, but have dealt +entirely with vague sensorial theories, and psychological suggestions +which have no general meaning; although it has never been remotely +advanced that the beauty produced by means of Impressionism is connected +with intellectual activity, as any high form of art must necessarily be: +notwithstanding all this, there has been gradually growing up in the +public mind, a vague and uncertain signification of the comparative +forms of art, which tends to the general confusion of thought amongst +the public, and a chaos of ideas in the minds of young artists. + +The root of these spreading branches of mysticism is to be found in the +insistent affirmation that the broad manner of painting is necessary for +the production of great work, and that only those old masters who used +this manner are worthy of study. It is, as if the advocates of the new +departure declare, "If we cannot demonstrate the superiority of our +work, we can at least affirm that our methods are the best." Where a +small minority is persistent in advocating certain views, and the great +majority do not trouble about replying thereto, false principles are +likely to find considerable area for permeation among the rising +generation, who are easily impressed with the appearance of undisputed +authority. In the matter we are discussing, the limited authority is +particularly likely to be recognized by the inexperienced of those +mostly concerned, that is to say, young artists, because it sanctions a +method of work which reduces to a minimum the labour involved in +arriving at excellence by the regular channels. + +Now the artist is at liberty to use any method of painting in producing +his picture providing he presents something beautiful. There is no +special virtue in a broad manner, a fine manner, or any other manner, +and the public, for whom the artist toils, is not concerned with the +point. It is as indifferent to the kind of brushwork used by the +painter, as to the variety of chisel handled by the sculptor. The +observer of the picture judges it for its beauty, and if it be well +painted, then the character of the brushwork is unconsidered. If, +however, the brushwork is so broad that the manner of painting protrudes +itself upon the observer at first sight, then the work cannot be of a +high class. All the paintings which we recognize as great works of art +are pictured upon the brain as complete things immediately they are +brought within the compass of the eye, and to this rule there is no +exception. If, when encompassed by the sight we find that a picture is +so broadly painted that we must move backwards to an unknown point +before the character of the work can be thoroughly comprehended as a +complete whole, then it is distinctly inferior as a work of art, +because, being incomprehensible on first inspection, it is necessarily +unbeautiful, and the act of converting it into a thing of beauty, by +means of a mechanical operation, complicates the picture on the brain +and so weakens its æsthetic value.[15] This is axiomatic. There are +proportions and propriety in all the arts, and the good artist is quite +aware of the lines to be drawn in respect of the manner he adopts. Jan +Van Eyck's picture of Arnolfini and his Wife, and Holbein's Ambassadors, +both painted in the fine manner, are equally great works of art with +Titian's portraits; and Raphael's portrait of Julius II. (the Pitti +Palace example),[16] which is in a manner midway between that of Holbein +and Titian, is superior to the work of all other portrait artists. + +But the most remarkable outcome of the spread of Impressionism is not +the extravagant use of the broad manner, for vagaries of this sort will +always find support among immature minds and undiligent hands, but the +establishment of a species of cult connected with certain old masters +who are not in the very first rank, and the attempted relegation to the +background of public opinion, of the few sublime painters whose colossal +genius and superiority are recognized by well balanced minds wherever +the breath of man can open the door of his soul. It is unnecessary to +enter upon a long enquiry as to the validity of these proceedings, but +the new position in which two great masters have been placed can +scarcely be ignored. These masters are Rembrandt and Velasquez, who +appear to have been set upon the loftiest of pedestals in order that +some of their glory may be shed upon the new varieties of Sprezzatura. +It has been frequently said that these masters were the first of +impressionists, but the connection between their work and Impressionism +is hard to find.[17] Not only is Rembrandt entirely distinct in his +manner from Velasquez; not only were they both portrait painters +primarily, while the great bulk of impressionist work is landscape; but +their aims, their ideas, and the whole of their works are as far removed +from the new school as the poles are asunder. The work of the two great +painters deals almost entirely with expression, that of the +impressionists with colour harmonies. In the one case intellectual +beauty is sought to accompany the sensorial, in the other the production +of beauty which is not purely or almost entirely sensorial, is not even +pretended. While these differences are obvious, and while no man of +ordinary intelligence is likely to be confused in his mind in respect of +them, the fact remains that the movement, which was born with +Impressionism some forty years ago, to raise Rembrandt and Velasquez to +an elevation in art to which they are not entitled, has met with much +success amongst that considerable section of the community which is +interested in art and appreciates its value, but suffers from the +delusion that special knowledge, which it has not acquired, is necessary +for the recognition of high æsthetic merit. No definite propositions +have been laid down in support of the movement: there has been no line +of reasoning for the critic to handle, nor have the old standards been +upset in the slightest degree: the position has been brought about +chiefly by a continuous reiteration of vague assertions and mystic +declarations, and by the glamour arising from the enormous prices paid +by collectors for the works of the masters named, consequent upon the +skilful commercial exploitation of this exaggerated approbation. + + [Illustration: PLATE 4 (See Page 113) + Venus Anadyomene (_Sculpture after the painting of Apelles_)] + + [Illustration: PLATE 5 (See page 115) + Venus Anadyomene (_The painting of Titian_)] + +Portraiture is necessarily on a lower scale of art than historical +painting (using this term in its higher application), firstly because +ideals are not possible therein, and secondly in that the imagination of +the artist is very restricted. The greatest portrait ever painted is +immeasurably below a picture where a beautiful ideal form, with ideal +expression is depicted; as far below in fact as the best ancient +sculptured busts were inferior to the gods of Praxiteles. Neither +Rembrandt nor Velasquez was capable of idealization of form, and so +neither left behind him a single painted figure to take its place as a +type. Rembrandt was a master of human expression, and in the +representation of character he was perhaps unsurpassed by any painter, +but if we analyze the feeling that is at the bottom of the appreciation +of his portraits, we find that it largely consists of something apart +from admiration of them as things of beauty. There enters into +consideration recognition of the extraordinary genius of the artist in +presenting character in such a way that the want of corporeal beauty +seems to be unfelt. Instead of observing that the expression in a +countenance harmonizes with the features, we involuntarily notice +that the features harmonize perfectly with the expression, which seems +in itself to be the picture. Of course inasmuch as the expression +invariably appeals to the good side of our nature, it means intellectual +beauty, but as the depth of any impression of this kind of beauty +depends upon the development of the mind, the admiration must, except +where the artist presents corporeal beauty, be confined generally to the +cultivated section of the community. From the point of view of pure art, +his fame as a great painter can only rest upon those of his pictures +which are also appreciated for the corporeal beauty exhibited. + +The extraordinary power of Velasquez lay in the sure freedom of his +execution, and in this he was equal to Titian. He was besides a master +of balance, and so every portrait he painted is one complete whole, and +has exactly the effect that a portrait should have--to direct the mind +of the observer to the subject, and away altogether from the painter. +But these high qualities as portrait painters do not place Rembrandt and +Velasquez on a level with Raphael, and Michelangelo, and Correggio. +Whatever the individual opinion, it is impossible to move aside from the +long path of experience and the laws dependent upon natural functions, +and so long as the world lasts, a work of ideal beauty, whether it be a +Madonna by Raphael, a Prophet by Michelangelo, or a symbolical figure by +Fragonard, will live in general estimation, which is the only test of +high beauty, far above portraits from life and scenes of every day +labour, however they may be painted. The beauty of the one is eternal +and exalting; and of the other, sympathetic and more or less passive. +The appreciation of Raphael and Michelangelo is universal, spontaneous, +emphatic; of Rembrandt and Velasquez, sometimes imperative, but usually +deliberative and cultivated. In fact it is only amongst a section of +cultivated people, that is to say, a small percentage of the community, +that Rembrandt and Velasquez are given a status which is not, and cannot +be, accorded them if we adhere to the natural and time-honoured +standards of judgment accepted by the first artists and philosophers +known to the world since art emerged from the prehistoric shade. To +place these artists above, or on a level with, the Italian artists +named, is to cast from their pedestals Homer, Phidias, Praxiteles, +Apelles, Shakespeare, Dante, and every other admittedly sublime genius +in art of whom we have record. + +Another baneful result of Impressionism is the attempt to raise +landscape to a higher level in art than that to which it is properly +entitled. This is perhaps a natural consequence of the elevation of +colour at the expense of form, for the movement is based upon new +methods of colouring, and the significance of colour is vastly greater +in landscape than in any other branch of art. Elsewhere the disabilities +of the landscape painter are pointed out, and it will be seen that fixed +and unalterable restrictions compel an extreme limitation to his work. +It is because of these restrictions that the very greatest artists have +refrained from paying close attention to this branch of art as a +separate department. + +From indirect records we may presume that landscape painting was well +understood in the days of ancient Greece, but there is no evidence that +it then formed a separate branch of art. In Roman times according to +Pliny, landscape was used for mural decoration. Of its character we can +only judge from the examples exposed during the excavations at Pompeii +and Herculaneum, which indicate that the pictures had but a +topographical interest, or formed settings for the representation of +industrial pursuits or classical adventures. Certainly there is no +instance in Greek or Roman art recorded or exhibited, of any landscape +as we understand it, that is, a work built up as a beautiful +representation of nature, to be instantly recognized by the observer as +a complete whole, as one sign in fact. The artists of the Italian +Renaissance did not paint landscapes as separate pictures unless by way +of study or experiment. They evidently considered landscape signs purely +as accessories, and composed their natural views with special reference +to figure designs. Some of them, particularly the leaders of the +Venetian School, occasionally painted pictures in which landscape +appears to play an important part, but in these cases the landscape is +really subsidiary, though essential to the design; and the works cannot +be compared in any way with those of Claude and others who often added +figures to their landscapes in order to comply with the wishes of their +patrons. The fifteenth century Flemish artists also dealt with landscape +purely as background, and so with Martin Schongauer, Dürer, and other +early German painters. But all the great painters down to the decline +of the Renaissance, closely studied landscape, as is evidenced by the +numerous sketches still existing, and the finished pictures remaining +clearly indicate that by the middle of the sixteenth century artists had +little or nothing to learn in landscape art, save the management of +complex aerial perspective. + +Since landscape painting was introduced as a separate art towards the +end of the sixteenth century, it has only commanded general attention +when the higher art of the painter has appeared to decline. In Flanders +the spurt in landscape due to Paul Bril was terminated with the last of +the Breughels by the overpowering splendour of Rubens in historical +work, and the attempts of even Rubens himself to create a greater +interest in landscape signally failed. There were some good landscape +painters in Holland during the flourishing period of the Dutch school, +but it was only when Rembrandt, Dow, Terburg, and the rest of the bright +constellation of figure painters had passed their zenith, or were +resting in quiet graves, that landscape painting became in any way +general. Then it was that Hobbema, Jacob Ruysdael, and their numerous +followers, with coast painters like Van der Cappelle, and sea painters +as William van de Velde, turned out the many fine works which are now so +highly prized. + +The Italians of the seventeenth century were too close to Raphael, and +Michelangelo, and Titian, to permit of a landscape being generally +received as a great work of art, but there appeared at this time in +Rome numerous foreigners from France, and Flanders, and Holland, who +were devoted to landscape, and amongst them the greatest genius known in +the art--Claude Lorraine. He was the first to put the sun in the sky on +canvas for the purpose of pure landscape; the first to master thoroughly +the intricate difficulties of aerial perspective; the first to adorn the +earth with fairy castles and dreamy visions of nature, such as we might +suppose to have been common in the days of the Golden Age, ere yet men +fought for power, or toiled from morn to eve for daily bread. With his +magic wand he skimmed the cream of natural beauty and spread it over the +Roman Campagna, transforming this historic ground into a region of +palaces, terraces, cascades, and glorious foliage. At the same time +Nicholas Poussin was also using the Campagna for the landscape settings +of his classical compositions--such perfect settings that it is +impossible to imagine the figures separated from their surroundings. +These two artists with their disciples, and many Flemish and Dutch +painters headed by Berghem and the two Boths, formed a landscape colony +of considerable importance, but no Italian landscape school was founded +from it. In the next century there was little pure landscape in Italy. +Some fine works of topographical, and a few of general interest were +produced by Canaletto and his followers, and a kind of landscape school +was maintained in Venice for half a century or more, but elsewhere in +Italy the cultivation of landscape was spasmodic and feeble. + +In England and France, landscape as a separate art has only made +considerable headway quite recently, though there have been local +schools, as the Norwich and Barbizon, which followed particular methods +in design. Meanwhile England produced some isolated giants in landscape, +as Wilson, Gainsborough, Turner, and Constable, Turner standing out as +the greatest painter of strong sun effects on record. It will be seen +that until the last generation or so, in no country has landscape been +admitted to high rank as a separate art, universal opinion very properly +recognizing that the highest beauty in the handiwork of man is to be +found in the representation of the human figure. Profound efforts of the +imagination are not required in landscape, for it consists of a +particular arrangement of inanimate signs which have no direct influence +upon the mind, and cannot appeal to the higher faculties. There is no +scope therein for lofty conceptions, and consequently the sensorial +beauty exhibited must be very high to have more than a quickly passing +effect upon the observer. This high beauty is most difficult to obtain, +and can only be reached by those who have a supreme knowledge of the +technique of their art; who have made a long and close study of natural +signs and effects; and who are possessed of uncommon patience and +industry. We need not be surprised that scarcely one out of every +hundred landscape painters executes a work which lasts a generation, and +not one out of a thousand secures a permanent place on the roll of art. +The man who does not give his life from his youth up, to his work, +concentrating his whole energy upon it, to the exclusion of everything +else, will paint only inferior landscapes. The four greatest landscape +painters known to us are Claude and Turner in distance work, and Hobbema +and Jacob Ruysdael in near-ground. Claude was labouring for twenty-five +years before he succeeded in accomplishing a single example of those +lovely fairy abodes so forcibly described by Goethe as "absolute truth +without a sign of reality." Turner took more than twenty years to master +the secrets of Claude; Jacob Ruysdael spent a quarter of a century in +working out to perfection the representation of flowing water, and +Hobbema passed through more than half of his long life before arriving +at his superlative scheme of increasing his available distance by +throwing in a powerful sunlight from the back of his trees. And a long +list of landscape painters of lesser lustre might be given, who went +through from fifteen to thirty years of painstaking labour before +executing a single first-class picture. + +Great landscapes of the pure variety are of two kinds, and two kinds +only. The highest are those where an illusion of opening distance or +other movement is provided, and the second class are where natural +scenes of common experience, under common conditions of atmosphere, are +faithfully reproduced. The lighter landscapes representing phases, as +the sketches of the Barbizon school,[18] with the moonlight scenes, and +the thousand and one sentimental colour harmonies unconcerned with human +motives, which are turned out with such painful regularity every month, +serve their purpose as wall decorations of the moment, but then die and +fade from memory like so many of the unfortunate artists who drag their +weary way to the grave in the vain struggle for fame by means of them. + +No landscape of the phase class can be anything more than a simple +harmony of tone and design, more ephemeral than the natural phase +itself. The quiet harmony is restful for the fatigued eye, and every eye +is fatigued every day; and because the eye feels relieved in glancing at +the picture, the conclusion arises to the unthinking that it must be a +great work of art. Glowing eulogies were pronounced upon Whistler's +Nocturne, in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, when it was first +placed there, but is there anything less like a work of beauty than the +dark meaningless patch as it is now seen? And the same thing has +happened with a thousand other landscapes of the kind--first presented +to the tired eyes of business and professional men, and then placed in +collections to be surrounded by permanently beautiful works. All these +phase pictures must quickly lose their beauty in accordance with natural +laws which cannot be varied. Let it not be supposed that the writer +means to suggest that these simple works should not be executed. They +are surely better than no decoration at all in the many homes for which +really fine pictures are unavailable, but it is entirely wrong to +endeavour to pervert the public judgment by putting them forward as +works of high art. + +And what of the struggling artists? Look around in every city and see +the numbers of bright young men and women wearing away the bloom of +their youth in vain endeavours to climb the heights of art by the easy +track of glowing colours! It is the call of Fame they think, that leads +them along, for they know not the voice of the siren, and see not the +gaping precipice which is to shatter their dreams. There is but one sure +path to the top of the mountain, but it is drab-coloured, and many are +the slippery crags. Few of the strongest spirits can climb it, but all +may try, and at least they may direct their minds upwards, and keep ever +in front of them a vision of the great idealists wandering over the +summit through the eternal glow of the fires they lit ere death +consecrated their glory. + + + + +BOOK I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Classification of the fine arts + + The arts imitative of nature--The arts classified according to the + character of their signs--Poetry not a compound art, primarily--The + extent to which the arts may improve upon nature. + + +Since art uses natural signs for the purpose of representing nature, it +is necessarily mimetic in character.[19] + +Poetry represents all that the other arts imitate, and in addition, +presumed divine actions. Specially it imitates human and presumed +spiritual actions, with form and expression; expression directly, form +indirectly. + +Sculpture imitates human and presumed spiritual form and expression; +form directly, expression indirectly. It also represents animal forms, +and modifications of natural forms in ornament. + +Painting imitates natural forms and products, and specially human form +and expression; form directly, expression indirectly. + +Fiction imitates human actions, and form and expression; expression +directly, form indirectly. + +Music imitates natural sounds and combines them and specially represents +human emotional effects. + +Architecture is the least imitative of the arts, its freedom in the +representation of nature being restricted by the necessity of serving +the end of utility. It combines geometrical forms, and in the positions +and proportions of these, is compelled to represent what we understand +from experience of nature as natural balance. + +The poet may give to a character sublime attributes far above +experience, or expand form as Homer raises the stature of Strife to the +heavens, but he cannot provide attributes beyond experience in kind, or +any part of a form outside of nature. He may combine or rearrange, and +enlarge or diminish as he will, and so may the painter, the sculptor, or +musician, but he is powerless to create signs unknown to nature. It +follows then, that he who imitates nature in the most beautiful way, +that is to say, he who combines the signs of nature to form the most +beautiful whole, produces the greatest work of art. + +It would appear that upon the character of their principal signs is +dependent the relative position of the arts in respect of the +recognition of beauty therein. Of the six fine arts, namely, Poetry, +Sculpture, Painting, Fiction, Music, and Architecture, the first four, +which hereafter in this work will be known as the Associated Arts, have +for their principal sign the human figure, to which everything else is +subordinate; while in music the signs consist of tones, and in +architecture, of lines. + +All the other arts whose object is to give pleasure, as the drama, +dancing, etching, are either modifications of one of the fine arts, or +combinations of two or more of them. In recent times it has been held +that poetry is a combined art, owing to the almost invariable use of a +simple form of music in its construction, but it would appear that +primarily poetry is independent of metrical assistance. This was clearly +laid down by Aristotle, but modern definitions of the art have usually +included some reference to metre.[20] Now in our common experience two +things are observable in respect of poetry. The first is, that when by +way of admiration or criticism, we discuss the works of those poets whom +all the world recognizes as the greatest known to us, we deal only with +the substance of what is said, and the manner of saying it, without +reference to the metrical form. In the second place we observe that the +higher the poetry, the more simple is the metrical form with which it is +associated. The great epics, which necessarily take first rank in +poetry, have only metre, the higher musical measures in which lyrics are +set being avoided. But as we descend in the scale of the art, metrical +form becomes of more importance, and when simple subjects are dealt +with, and a grand style is inappropriate, the production would not be +called poetry unless in the form of verse. + + [Illustration: PLATE 6 (See page 116) + The Reposing Venus of Giorgione (_Dresden Gallery_)] + +In epic and dramatic poetry, we call one poet greater than another +because of his superior invention and beauty of expression, let the +measure be what it will. But the invention comes first, for only high +invention can be clothed with lofty expression. The actions of deathless +gods or god-like men; qualities of goodness, nobility, courage, +grandeur, so high as to be above human reach: only these can form the +subject of language and sentiment soaring into regions of the sublime, +and indifferent to metrical artifice. In the sacred books of all great +religions we may find the loftiest poetry without regular form, and any +prose translation of the Greek poets will provide many examples,[21] +though often there is a cadence--a rise and fall in the flow of words +which is more or less regular, and has the effect of emphasizing the +sentiment, and of throwing the images upon the mind with directness and +force. We must conclude then that in poetry, while metrical form is +generally essential, it is not vital to the highest flights of the poet, +and so strictly, poetry is primarily a pure and not a compound art. + +Seeing that art uses the signs of nature of which man is at once a +product and a tool, it must in its progress follow the general course of +nature. In her development of life, nature is chiefly concerned in the +improvements of types for her own purposes, and only uses the individual +in so far as he can assist in this end, while the natural instinct of +the individual is to conserve and improve his type. The art which +represents life is compelled to deal chiefly with types, for it is only +by the use of a type that the artist can apply his imagination to the +production of high beauty, to whatever extent he may use the individual +to help him in this purpose, and it is instinctive in the human being to +maintain and improve the æsthetic attraction of the species. The highest +art, as the highest work of nature, consists of the presentation of a +perfected type. The artist therefore must consider the species before +the individual; the essential before the accidental; the general before +the particular. + +The living signs of nature with which art deals are of two classes. In +the one sign the position of parts is the same throughout the species, +and is fixed and invariable, as in fully developed animals; in the other +the position is irregular, and variable within limits, as in plants. In +the latter case the position of parts may be commonly varied +indefinitely without a sense of incongruity arising, as in a tree, and +hence there can be no conceivable general form or type upon which art +may build up perfected parts and proportions. In respect of such a sign +therefore, art cannot improve, or appear to improve, upon nature, by +combining perfected parts into a more beautiful whole than nature +provides. + +In the case of a fully developed animal, where the position of parts is +fixed, a type may be conceived which is superior in symmetry and harmony +to any individual of the species produced by nature, for the imagination +is restricted to an unchangeable form, and has but to put together +perfected parts and proportions. But this conception can only be applied +in art to human beings, because in respect of other animals, while no +two are alike, the members of each species, or each section of a +species, seem to be alike, or so closely alike in form and expression, +that no perfected type can be conceived which will appear to be superior +in general beauty to the normal individual of the species, or section +thereof, coming within actual experience. Thus, the most perfect +conceivable racehorse painted on canvas, might in reality be more +perfect in form than any actual racehorse, but to the observer of the +picture it would not appear to be of greater perfection or higher beauty +than racehorses that come, or may come, within experience. The poet may +describe the actions and appearance of a courser in such a way as to +suggest that the animal has qualities far above experience, but the form +of the animal when thrown on the mind of the reader, would still appear +to be within the bounds of experience. + +With the human being, in addition to the general form there enters into +consideration the countenance, which is the all-important seat of +beauty, is the principal key to expression, and which, to the common +knowledge, differs in every person in character and proportions. Nature +never produces a perfect form with a perfect countenance, and she +actually refuses to provide a countenance which is free from elements +connected with purely human instincts and passions. But it is within the +power of art to correct the work of nature in these respects--to put +together perfect parts, and to provide a general expression approaching +our highest conceptions of human majesty. Homer, Phidias, and Raphael +have enabled us to throw upon our minds images far above any of actual +experience. + +Apart from these ideal forms, nature cannot be surpassed by art in the +production of beauty, either in respect of animate or inanimate signs, +separately or collectively, the latter because within the limitations +of art, there is no grouping or arrangement of signs possible which +would not appear to correspond with what may be observed in nature, +unless something abnormal and less beautiful than any natural +combination be presented. + +Poetry, painting, and sculpture may be concerned with ideals. In fiction +an ideal is impossible because the writer must treat of life as it is, +or as it appears to be, within the bounds of experience. In neither +music nor architecture is there a basic sign or combination of signs +upon which the imagination may build up an ideal. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LAW OF RECOGNITION IN THE ASSOCIATED ARTS + + Explanation of the law--Its application to poetry--To sculpture--To + painting--To fiction. + + +While we are unable to explain, logically and completely, our +appreciation of what we understand as beauty, experience has taught us +that there are certain phenomena connected with æsthetic perception +which are so regular and undeviating in their application as to have all +the force of law. The first and most important of these phenomena +relates to the interval of time elapsing between the sense perception of +a thing of art, and the recognition by the mind of the beauty therein. + +We know from common experience of the Associated Arts that if one fails +to appreciate a work almost immediately after comprehending its nature +and purport, he arrives at the conclusion that there is no beauty +therein, or at least that the beauty is so obscure as to be scarcely +worth consideration. But sometimes on further acquaintance with the work +the view of the observer may be changed, and he may become aware of a +certain beauty which he did not before appreciate. We notice also that +when the beauty is comparatively high, it is more rapidly recognized +than when it is comparatively low. Continuing the examination we arrive +at what is evidently an unalterable law, namely, that the higher the +æsthetic value in a particular sphere of art, the more rapidly is the +beauty therein recognized; that is to say, given any two works, other +things being equal, that is the higher art the beauty in which is the +more quickly conveyed to the mind of the observer after contact with it, +and precisely to the extent to which the reasoning powers are required +to be exercised in comprehending the work, so the beauty therein is +diminished. The law may be called for convenience the Law of +Recognition. + +But there are different kinds of beauty as well as degrees. One kind may +be more quickly recognized, and yet make a weaker impression on the +mind, a condition which is due to the varying relations between the +sensorial and intellectual elements in the works. We note that in all +the Associated Arts, as the works therein descend in æsthetic value, the +emotional element becomes more evident, and consequently the impression +received, less permanent. But sensorial beauty is the first essential in +a work of art: hence while the direct appeal to the mind must be made as +strong as possible, this must not be done at the expense of the +emotional elements. We unconsciously measure the emotional with the +intellectual effect, and if the former does not at least equal the +latter, we reject the work as inferior art. A painted Madonna wanting in +beauty of features is instantly and properly condemned even if her +figure be enshrined within surroundings of saintly glories which in +themselves make a powerful appeal to the mind. In fact the highest +reaches in art were probably originally suggested by the necessity of +balancing the one with the other form of beauty. The highest +intellectual considerations seem to rise far above any emotional +experiences connected with ordinary life, and hence to enable these +considerations to enter the domain of art, the divine must be introduced +so that the artist may extend his imaginative scope for the provision of +emotional effects commensurate, as far as possible, with the importance +of his appeal to the mind. Hence in all arts which combine an +intellectual with an emotional appeal, the highest forms must ever be +connected with the spiritual. + +In other grades of these arts also, the artist has to use special means +to maintain a due balance between the two kinds of beauty. Shakespeare +could not give men and women of every-day experience the wisdom, the +judgment, and the foresight necessary for the presentation of the +powerful pictures which some of his characters throw upon the mind, so +he raises them above the level of life by according them greater virtues +and nobler passions than are to be found in people of actual experience. +The supreme emotional effects he produces seem perfectly appropriate +therefore to the intellectual appeals. In the next lower form of art, +where the representation does not go beyond life experience, the +emotional appeal is of still greater relative importance because the +appeal to the mind is rarely striking. The emotional effect here may +indeed be so overpowering that the purely mental considerations are +lost sight of, and we observe that in all the greater works of art in +the division, whether of poetry, painting, sculpture, or fiction, the +intellectual appeal is vastly exceeded by the emotional. When we reach +the grade which deals with subjects inferior to the average level of +human life, as the representation of animals, landscape, humour, +still-life, the sensorial effect must be exceedingly strong relatively, +otherwise the art would scarcely be recognizable, the appeal to the mind +being necessarily weak. + +It is clearly compulsory then that the Associated Arts, all of which may +appeal to the mind as well as to the senses, should be separated into +divisions for the purpose of applying the Law of Recognition, and these +divisions are obvious, for they are marked by the strongest natural +boundary lines. They are: 1. The art which deals with divinities. 2. +That which exhibits beauty above life experience, but does not reach the +divine. 3. That which represents life. 4. That which produces +representations inferior to life. This separation corresponds with that +applied by Aristotle to poetry and painting, except that he joined the +two first sections into one, which he described as better than life. But +the division of the great philosopher, while being sufficient for his +purpose, is hardly close enough for the full consideration of the kinds +of beauty, since it puts in the same class, representations of the +divinity and the superman--joins Homer and Phidias with Praxiteles and +Raphael. In dealing with the divine the artist need place no limit to +his imagination in the presentation of his picture, whereas with the +superman he must circumscribe his fancy within the limits of what may +appear to the senses to be possibly natural. It is true that the poet +may use the supernatural as distinguished from the divine, to enable him +to extend his imaginative scope, and so give us beautiful pictures which +would be otherwise unpresentable. Shakespeare makes us imagine Puck +encircling the earth in forty minutes, and Shelley shows us iron-winged +beings climbing the wind, but we immediately recognize these pictures as +figures of fancy, or as in the nature of allegory, and they do not +impress us so deeply as the miraculous flight of a goddess of Homer, or +an assemblage of the satellites of Satan in the Hell of Milton, for we +involuntarily regard these events as compatible with the religious faith +of great nations, and so as having a nearer apparent semblance of truth. +Sacred art therefore, being capable of providing beauty of a much higher +kind than any other form, should be placed in a separate section for the +purpose of considering the law under discussion. Only poetry among the +arts is capable of appropriately representing divine actions, and only +sculpture of producing a form so perfect as to bring a divinity to mind. +Hence these arts are alone concerned with the Law of Recognition as +applied to the first section of the Associated Arts. + +The law applies to all the Associated Arts, and to all sections of them, +except the lowest form of painting--that represented by harmony of +colour without appeal to the mind of any kind--but this form is so weak +and exceptional that it need hardly be considered in the general +proposition. Indeed we might reasonably argue that it does not come +within the fine arts, as it is produced by a mechanical arrangement of +things with fixed and unalterable physical properties. + +The law cannot apply to music and architecture, for the effects of these +are purely emotional, and so directly vary with conditions of time and +place respectively. A work of architecture may seem more beautiful in +one place than in another; and a work of music more or less beautiful +according as it more or less synchronizes with emotional conditions of +human activity surrounding the hearer at the time of the performance. + +While this law is unvarying in the Associated Arts, there are artificial +restrictions which must be considered in order that apparent deviations +from it may be understood. Special restrictions in relation to the +higher poetry and sculpture are mentioned later on, but there is also an +important general restriction. The sense nerves and the imagination, +like all other functions, must be exercised in order that normal healthy +conditions may be retained; but a large section of the people, by force +of circumstances or want of will, have neglected this exercise, and so +through disuse or misuse these functions are often in a condition which +is little more than rudimentary. Hence such persons are practically +debarred from appreciation of many forms of art, and particularly those +wherein intellectual beauty is a marked feature. In discussing the +operation of this law amongst people in general therefore, the writer +must be understood to refer only to that section of the community whose +sense nerves and imaginations may be supposed to be in a healthy, active +condition. + +Experience with all the Associated Arts has clearly demonstrated the +validity of this law. The strength of the devices used by the poet lies +in simplifying the presentation of his pictures. Metaphor is necessary +to the poet, for without it he would be powerless to present pictures +made up of a number of parts, but he also uses it for the purpose of +throwing simple images upon the mind more rapidly, and consequently more +forcibly, than would be possible if direct means were employed; and the +beauty of the metaphor appears the greater according as it more +completely fills in the picture which the poet is desirous of +presenting. When other artifices than metaphor or simile are applied, +the result only appears very beautiful when the condensation of the +language used is extreme, and when there is no break in the delineation +of the action. A few supreme examples of beauty derived from the +principal devices of the poet for presenting his pictures may be +instanced, and it will be found that in each case the power of the image +is directly due to the brevity of expression, the simplicity of +description and metaphor, or the unimpeded representation of action. + +More than three thousand years have passed since the period assigned to +Helen of Troy, and yet each generation of men and women as they learn of +her, have deeply sealed upon their minds the impression that she was of +surpassing beauty, almost beyond the reach of human conception. We have +practically no details of her appearance from Homer or Hesiod, except +that she was neat-ankled, white-armed, rich-haired, and had the +sparkling eyes of the Graces, but already in the time of Hesiod her +renown "spread over the earth." What was it then that established the +eternal fame of her beauty? Simply a few words of Homer indicating the +startling effect of her appearance before the elders of Troy. We are +allowed to infer that these dry, shrunken-formed sages, shrill-voiced +with age, became passionately disturbed by a mere glance at her figure, +and nervously agreed with each other that little blame attached to the +Greeks and Trojans for suffering such long and severe hardships on +account of her, for only with the goddesses could she be compared. How +wondrous must be the beauty when a glimpse of it suffices to hasten the +blood through shrivelled veins, and provoke tempestuous currents to +awake atrophied nerves! Without the record of this incident, the vague +notices of Helen's appearance would be very far from sufficient to +account for the universal recognition of her marvellous beauty.[22] + + [Illustration: PLATE 7 (See page 122) + Greek Sculpture, 4th Century B.C. Attributed to Scopas + Greek Bronze, 3d Century B.C. + Heads of Demeter] + +One of the finest lines of Shakespeare is, "How sweet the moonlight +sleeps upon this bank." The beauty of the line rests entirely upon the +use of the word "sleeps" to express something which could not be +otherwise said without the use of many words. The moonbeam is apparently +perfectly still, the atmosphere calm, and there is nothing in the +surroundings to disturb the natural tranquillity, these conditions +inducing a feeling of softness and rest in the observer. If it had been +necessary to say all this, Shakespeare would certainly have omitted +reference to the moonlight, but his powerful imagination brings to mind +the word "sleeps" to express the conditions, and we are overwhelmed with +a beautiful picture suddenly thrown on the brain as if by a brilliant +flash of light. + +Among the many illustrations of the point which may be found in the +Bible, is the great passage, "And God said, 'Let there be Light,' and +there was Light." This is described by Longinus as nobly expressed, but +he does not suggest any cause for its æsthetic effect. It is true that +nothing could be finer, but the nobility of the expression is derived +from its brevity--from the extreme rapidity with which so vast and +potent an event as an act of creation is pictured on the brain.[23] A +description of an act of creation, although involving psychological +considerations of sublimity, is not necessarily so beautiful in +expression as to be a work of art. + +In the case of lyric poetry, brevity of expression, though still of high +importance, is not of so much moment as in epic or dramatic verse, +because the substance is subordinated to beauty of expression and +musical form. Devices are used chiefly for strengthening the sensorial +element, the appeal to the mind being in most cases secondary. +Nevertheless the lyric poet wastes no words. Take for example Sappho's +_Ode to Anactoria_. The substance of these amazing lines is +comparatively insignificant, being merely the expression of emotion on +the part of an individual consequent upon disappointment, yet the +transcendent beauty of the poem has held enthralled fourscore +generations of men and women, and still the world gasps with +astonishment at its perfection. Obviously the beauty of the ode rests +mainly on qualities of form which cannot be reproduced in translation, +but the substance may be, and it will be observed that the description +of the action is unsurpassable. The picture, the whole picture, and +nothing but the picture, is thrown on the mind rapidly and directly; so +rapidly that the movement of the brush is scarcely discernible, and so +simply that not a thought is required for its elucidation. With the +chain of symptoms broken or less closely connected, the passion +indicated would be comparatively feeble, whatever the force of the +artifices in rhythm and expression which Sappho knew so well how to +employ.[24] + +As with poetry, so with the arts of sculpture and painting: the greatest +works result from simple designs. All the sculptures which we recognize +as sublime or highly beautiful, consist of single figures, or in very +rare cases, groups of two or three, and indeed it is difficult to hold +in our minds a carved group of several figures. The images of the Zeus +and Athena of Phidias, though we know little of them except from +literary records and inferior copies, are far more brilliantly mirrored +upon our minds than the Parthenon reliefs. The importance of simplicity +is perhaps more readily seen in sculpture than in any other art, for the +slightest fault in design has an immediate effect upon the mind of the +observer. It is noticeable that the decadence of a great art period is +usually first marked by complications in sculptured figures.[25] + +In painting, the pictures which we regard as great are characterized by +their simplicity, and the immediate recognition of their purport. They +are either ideal figures, or groups where at least the central figure is +idealized and commonly known. The work must be grasped at one glance for +the beauty to be of a high order. Hence in the case of frescoes great +artists have not attempted to make the beauty of any part dependent upon +the comprehension of the whole. It is impossible for the eye to take in +at a single glance the whole of a large fresco painting, and this +explains why a fresco celebrated for its beauty is often disappointing +to one who sees it for the first time, and endeavours to impress it on +his mind as a single picture by rapidly piecing together the different +parts.[26] Polygnotus could well paint forty scenes from Homer as mural +decoration in one hall, for they could only be examined and understood +as separate pictures; and the ceiling of Michelangelo at the Vatican is +so arranged that there is no necessity for combining the parts in the +mind. So with the Parma frescoes of Correggio. Raphael had a different +task in his Vatican frescoes, but he accomplished it by arranging his +figures so that each separate group is a beautiful picture; and Lionardo +in his great work at Milan divided the Apostles into groups of three in +order to minimize the consideration necessary for the appreciation of so +large a work. + +Fiction is divided into two sections, the novel and the short story, and +they are so distinct in character that they must necessarily be +considered separately in the application of the law under discussion. +Form is of high importance in both classes of the art, but weighs more +in the short story because here the appeal to the mind is unavoidably +restricted. The novelist is capable of producing a higher beauty than is +within the range of the short-story writer. The latter is limited in his +delineation of character to the circumstances surrounding a single +experience, while the novelist, in describing various experiences, may +add shade upon shade in expression and thus elevate the characters and +actions above the level possible of attainment by means of a single +incident. But within his limit the short-story writer may provide his +beauty more easily than the novelist, because a picture can be more +readily freed from complications when away from surroundings, than when +it forms one of a series of pictures which must have connecting links. A +good short story consists of a single incident or experience in a life +history. It is clearly cut, without introduction, and void of a +conclusion which is not directly part of the incident. The subject is of +general interest; the language simple, of common use, and free from +mannerisms; while there are no accessories beyond those essential for +the comprehension of the scheme. These conditions, which imply the most +extreme simplicity, are present in all the greatest short stories known +to us--the best works of the author of the _Contes Nouvelles_, of +Sacchetti, Boccaccio, Margaret of Navarre, Hoffman, Poe, and De +Maupassant. The novel differs from the short story in that it is a large +section of a life with many experiences, but the principles under which +the two varieties of fiction are built up, are precisely the same. +Obviously the limit in length of a novel is that point beyond which the +writer cannot enhance the beauty of character and action, while +maintaining the unity of design. This means the concentration of effort +in the direction of simplicity, facilitating the rapid reception of the +pictures presented by the writer upon the mind of the reader. + +It is thus evident that the higher the beauty in the Associated Arts, +the simpler are the signs or sign combinations which produce it; and +hence the Law of Recognition rests on a secure foundation, for the +simple must necessarily be recognized before the complex. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LAW OF GENERAL ASSENT + + General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated Arts. + + +The first aim of art is sensorial beauty, because sensorial experience +must precede the impression of beauty upon the mind. The extent to which +something appears to be sensorially harmonious depends upon the +condition or character of the nerves conveying the impression of it to +the brain. We know from experience that exercise of these nerves results +in the removal or partial removal of natural irregularities therein, and +enables a complex form of beauty to be recognized which was not before +perceived. The vast majority of the people have not cultivated their +sense nerves except involuntarily, and consequently can only recognize +more or less simple beauty: thus, as the sign combinations become more +complicated, so is diminished the number of persons capable of +appreciating the beauty thereof. + +The highest form of beauty conceivable to the imagination is that of the +human being, because here corporeal and intellectual beauty may be +combined. This is universally admitted and has been so since the first +records of mental activity. The human figure must be regarded as a +single sign since the relation of its parts to each other is fixed and +invariable; and further it is the simplest, because of all signs none is +so quickly recognized by the rudimentary understanding. In the +Associated Arts therefore, the highest beauty is to be found in the +simplest sign, and this is the one supremely important sign in these +arts, for without it only the lowest forms may be produced. + +From all this we determine that the higher the beauty in a work of the +Associated Arts, the larger is the number of persons capable of +recognizing it; so that if we say that something in these arts is +beautiful because it pleases, we imply that it is still more beautiful +if we say that it generally pleases, and the highest of all standards of +beauty is involved in the interpretation of Longinus: "That is sublime +and beautiful which always pleases, and takes equally with all sorts of +men." Thus, in the Associated Arts, the general opinion as to the +æsthetic value of a work of high art is both demonstration and law.[27] + +In music the significance of the signs is inverted compared with the +progression in the Associated Arts, for while in the latter the highest +form of beauty is produced by the simplest of single signs, in music the +higher forms are the result of complex combinations of signs. The +greatest musical compositions consist of an immense variety of signs +arranged in a hitherto unknown order. Thus, while the immature or +uncultivated mind recognizes the higher forms of beauty before the lower +in the Associated Arts, it first recognizes the lower forms in music. In +the Associated Arts therefore, cultivation results in the further +appreciation of the forms of art as they descend, and in music as they +ascend. + +In painting, the most uncultivated persons, even those who have never +exercised their organs of sight except involuntarily, will always admire +the higher forms before the lower.[28] They will more highly appreciate +a picture of a Madonna or other beautiful woman than an interior where +the scene is comparatively complicated by the presence of several +persons, and they will prefer the interior to a landscape, and a +landscape to a still-life picture. So in sculpture. Other things being +equal, a figure of a man or woman will be preferred to a group, and the +group to an animal or decorative ornament. An exception must however be +made in respect of the sublime reaches of Grecian sculpture in the fifth +and fourth centuries B.C., owing to an artificial restriction. There is +very little of this sculpture to be actually seen, nearly all the more +important works being known only from records or variable copies. +Considerable observation, comparison, and study, are necessary before +one can gain a fair conception of the Grecian ideals, and so they are +practically lost to the bulk of the people. + +In fiction it is common knowledge that the greatest works from the point +of view of art are always the most popular, as they are invariably the +most simple in construction and diction. In considering poetry we must +exclude the great epics, as those of Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton, +because where the actions of supernatural persons are described, the +sentiments and language employed are so elevated in character, and the +images and literary references so numerous, that a certain superior +education is required before the sense of the poems can be comprehended. +Subject to this artificial restriction, the rule holds entirely good. +Shakespeare is at once the greatest and most popular of our poets: +Shelley, Byron, and Burns, are as far ahead of Tennyson and Browning in +popularity as they are in general beauty and simplicity. + +In music on the other hand the lower forms are the simplest and +consequently the most popular. Songs, dance measures, and ditties of +various kinds, are enjoyed by the mass of the people in preference to +Beethoven and Wagner, a certain cultivation of the aural nerves being +necessary for the appreciation of the greater artists. The architect is +under the necessity of meeting the ends of utility, but subject to this +restriction it is obvious that simplicity must be the keynote to his +design, for the highest quality of beauty in his power to produce is +grandeur, and this diminishes with an increase in the complexity of his +sign combinations. The combination of simplicity with grandeur is the +first form of beauty that would be recognized by the immature eye, and +consequently in respect of the general test of art excellence, +architecture falls into line with the Associated Arts, and not with +music. + +From what has been said it will be understood how it is that in the +Associated Arts opinion as to the æsthetic value of particular works +begins to differ as soon as we leave the recognized masterpieces of the +first rank, and why the divergence widens with every step downwards. As +the character of the art is lowered so is diminished the number of +persons capable of appreciating it. In painting and sculpture this +diminution is direct with the increased complexity of the signs used, +and indirect according as the character of the signs weakens. In poetry +the same rule applies generally, but in the lower forms alliance with +the art of music may bring about a variation. Only the very lowest forms +of music may be used with the higher forms of poetry because the poet +must have the minimum of restriction when dealing with the character and +actions of the personages who constitute the principal signs in his +work, but as the art descends the musical form becomes of more +importance, and the substance more simple. Hence the sensorial beauty of +a lyric may be appreciated more quickly than that of a poem which is, in +substance, of a much higher order, though the kind of beauty recognized +will differ in the two cases. But even in the greatest lyric the musical +form is comparatively very simple, its beauty being recognized without +special cultivation of the aural nerves: thus, subject to the division +of poetry into its natural grades--the two sections where substance and +form respectively predominate--the measure of its beauty is the extent +to which it is generally appreciated. None of the other Associated Arts +may be allied with a second art without crippling it as a fine art, +because of the extraordinary limitations forced upon the artist by the +alliance; and hence in respect of sculpture, painting, and fiction, +there is no exception to the rule that the beauty capable of being +produced diminishes strictly with an increase in the complexity of the +signs used. + +These facts appear sufficiently to establish what may be called the Law +of General Assent in the Associated Arts; that is to say, in the arts of +poetry, sculpture, painting, and fiction, the supreme test of the +æsthetic value of a work, is general opinion; and a corollary of this is +that the smaller the number of persons to whom a work of one of these +arts appeals, the weaker is the art therein. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +LIMITATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTS + + The production of beauty in the respective arts--How they differ + in scope. + + +The Associated Arts have all the same method of producing beauty: they +throw pictures on the brain.[29] Sensorial or intellectual beauty, or +both together, may be exhibited, but in the arts of the painter and +sculptor the picture is transferred to the brain through the optic +nerves, and is necessarily presented before the intellect can be brought +to bear upon the impression. The arts of the poet and the story writer +involve the presentation of a picture representing the complete +composition, and in addition when the work is lengthy, of a series of +pictures each of which strengthens the relief of the general design. The +painter and sculptor each presents a complete picture, the meaning of +which is immediately determined through the sense of sight, and the +extent of the beauty is bounded by what can be recognized by this sense. +All the signs necessary to perfect the composition are simultaneously +indicated, the artist exhibiting at one blow a full description of what +makes up his thing of beauty. But the poet cannot so produce a picture +because he presents the parts successively and not simultaneously, and +in the most important of all the forms which he represents--that of the +human countenance--both beauty and expression have to be defined, and +the separate elements are indescribable. Consequently, however, we may +combine the features of a countenance as described by the poet, we +cannot throw a picture of the whole upon our minds. A particular form of +beauty must be presented to the eye before it can be mentally pictured. +The poet therefore does not attempt to dovetail his picture of the human +form with descriptive details, but relies upon imagery, suggestion, or +other artifice, to indicate his meaning in the most rapid way +possible.[30] The novelist is in the same position as the poet in this +respect, except that some of the devices of the latter are denied him. + +But although the poet or novelist cannot put together the parts in his +description, he may in certain cases present natural beauty to the mind, +his scope depending upon the nature of the parts and the extent to which +they depend upon each other for the completion of the picture. Where the +beauty of the whole rests upon a combination of perfected parts of form +only, as in the case of a horse, then the poet is able to present beauty +of form notwithstanding that the separate parts are in themselves not +beautiful, though the beauty would be that of the type and not of the +individual. The beauty of a horse depends upon its possession of a +collection of features which have each a particular significance. If we +are able to recognize from a description that a horse has qualities of +form and action indicating speed, high spirits, proud bearing, and so +on, and at the same time has a harmonious symmetry in its general +outline, a beautiful animal is thrown on the mind without difficulty. We +readily picture the courser described by Shakespeare in his _Venus and +Adonis_ as a beautiful horse, but we should not be able to differentiate +it from the courser of Mazeppa. Where the parts of the thing described +are in themselves beautiful, then the poet may successfully throw on the +mind a series of pictures of æsthetic interest. Thus, he may call to the +imagination parts of a landscape which are in themselves beautiful +scenes, as for instance a deep gorge opening on to a lake, or a flowery +valley, though the parts could not be put together on the mind so that +the beauty of the whole may be presented.[31] + +Summing up the limits of the Associated Arts in the presentation of the +two kinds of beauty, the poet and the novelist can present general or +particular beauty of mind, and general sensorial beauty, but are +powerless with particular sensorial beauty; the sculptor and painter may +present general or particular sensorial beauty, and general, but not +particular, beauty of mind. Particular sensorial beauty may be suggested +by the poet or novelist, by indicating its emotional effect, or by +symbols in the form of metaphor; and particular intellectual beauty may +be suggested by the sculptor or painter by representing the effect in +expression of a particular action, or by symbols in the form of human +figures of beauty. + + [Illustration: PLATE 8 (See page 139) + Raphael's Sistine Madonna, with the Face of the Central Figure in + Fragonard's "The Pursuit" Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +But while the poet cannot throw upon the brain a particular form of +human beauty, he may suggest a greater beauty than that which the +painter or sculptor can depict, and further produce emotional effects +relating to spiritual and human actions and passions which are beyond +the plastic arts: hence his art is capable of the highest reaches. Next +to him come the sculptor and painter, for they may represent ideal forms +which must be excluded from fiction. Theoretically, painting and +sculpture are equal in respect of the production of human beauty, for +there is no form designed by the one which may not be presented by the +other; but practically the painter cannot attain to the height of the +sculptor in the representation of ideal beauty.[a] + + [a] See Chapter IX. + +The sculptor and painter are at a disadvantage compared with the poet +and novelist, for the limitation of their arts compels them to confine +their imaginations to structural work. Each of the Associated Arts +consists nominally of three parts: (_a_) the scheme, or idea, or fable; +(_b_) the design or invention[32]; (_c_) the execution. In a +representation of action, the painter or sculptor can only depict a +particular moment of it, neither the beginning nor the end being +visible. He must therefore choose an action of which the beginning and +end are known, for while either may be suggested in a simple design, +both cannot be implied so that the whole story is obvious. He has +consequently to take his moment of action from a fact or fable in one of +the literary arts, or from actual life experience.[33] Where no +particular action is indicated, as in many pastoral and interior scenes +in painting, or ornamental figures in sculpture, the conception and +invention are one. Thus, the painter or sculptor is confined to only two +parts of his art, the design and execution. While therefore the scope of +the poet and novelist is as unlimited as the sea of human motives and +passions, that of the painter and sculptor is held within strictly +marked bounds. + +All the Associated Arts are alike in that they cannot be specially used +for moral or social purposes without suffering a marked deterioration. +This is because of the limitations imposed upon the artist. His wings +are clipped: his imagination is confined within a narrow groove: he is +converted from a master to a slave. Hence no great work of one of these +arts has been produced where the conception of the artist was bound by +the necessity of pointing a moral, or of conforming to some idea of +utility.[34] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DEGREES OF BEAUTY IN THE PAINTER'S ART + + +The degrees of beauty which the art of the painter can exhibit appear to +be, in order of their value, as follows: + +1. That which appeals to the senses with form, and to the mind with +expression, above the possibility of life experience. This double beauty +can only be found in ideals, and the real cannot be associated with it +except as accessory. The highest art of the painter is therefore +confined to sacred, mythological, and symbolical subjects. + +2. That which appeals to the senses through representation of the human +form, without, or with only partial idealization, and to the mind +through the indication in expression of high abstract qualities. This +section comprises subjects of profane history, and high class +portraiture. It varies from the succeeding section in that the artist +may represent the human being as he ought to be, or would be with the +higher physical and abstract qualities emphasized, or in certain cases, +with these qualities added. + +3. That which appeals to the senses through the harmony of tone and +design, and to the mind through the representation of human action +within the compass of life experience. This section comprises interiors +and exteriors relating to daily life and labour, and portraiture which +is merely accurate imitation of features. It differs from the previous +section in that it represents the human being as he is, and not as he +ought to be. + +4. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of colour and +design, in respect of the imitation and the things imitated, in addition +to pleasing because it excites admiration of the skill in imitation. +This section comprises landscape, flowers, fine plumaged birds, and +certain symmetrical animal forms. + +5. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of tone and design, +and indirectly to the mind through association of ideas connected with +the other arts; in addition to pleasing because of the excellent +imitation, and possibly because of the beauty of the things imitated. +This section comprises paintings of things connected with the other +arts, and which are neither beautiful nor displeasing, such as books and +musical instruments; or which are imitations of products of another art, +as plate, marble reliefs, or architectural forms. + +6. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of tone and design, +in addition to pleasing because of the excellent imitation. This class +of beauty comprises paintings of objects which in themselves are not +beautiful, as vegetables, kitchen utensils, and certain animals; or +which are even repellent, as dead animals. + +7. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of colour, the +design having no beauty in itself. This form of art, which is the lowest +in the scale of the painter, is only adapted for the simplest formal +decoration. + +The first three sections may produce both sensorial and intellectual +beauty; the others only sensorial. Limited abstract qualities are +associated with certain animals in nature, but cannot be indicated in +the uncombined art of the painter. + +Beyond these sections, there are classes of pictures which do not belong +to the pure art of the painter, namely, those executed for use and not +for beauty[35]; those painted to illustrate sports, or to record passing +events; certain allegorical paintings; and those works which, while they +cannot represent the ideal, require the assistance of another art for +their interpretation; as for instance, incidents to illustrate +particular morals or stories; scenes from the drama other than tragedy; +portraits of persons in character; humorous subjects, and so on. Such +works, on account of the restrictions imposed on the artist, can exhibit +but limited and fleeting beauty. Elsewhere they are noticed under the +heading of "Secondary Art." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPRESSION. PART I.--THE IDEAL + + +The human being is the only sign in the arts capable of idealization, +because, while its parts are fixed and invariable, it is the only sign +as to which there is a universal agreement in respect of the value of +abstract qualities connected with it. There can be no ideal of the human +form separately, because this implies expression which results from +abstract qualities. Nor can there be an ideal combination of these +qualities, except a general expression covering all the virtues and +eliminating all the passions, which expression cannot be disassociated +from form. The ideal human being is therefore a perfect generalization +of the highest conceivable qualities of form and expression. + +Necessarily in matters of art, when we use the term "Ideal," we mean a +general ideal, that is to say, an ideal that would be accepted as such +by the general body of men and women. From the fact that the sensorial +nerves in all persons are alike in form and character, and that they act +in the same way under like conditions, it follows that there must be a +general agreement as to degrees of beauty, and thus a common conception +of the ideal human being. Experience has demonstrated this at all +times, both in respect of the general ideal we are now discussing, and +of particular ideals involving special types and characters; and so +invariable is this experience that the progression towards similar +ideals has all the force of law.[36] This general agreement is subject +to certain restrictions. The first is in regard to form in which the +imagination cannot proceed beyond experience. The component parts of an +ideal form cannot include any which are higher in quality than those +which have come within the experience of the person compounding the +ideal. Secondly, in regard to abstract qualities, the estimation of +these depends upon intelligence and education, and the accumulated +experience of these things, which we measure in terms of degrees of +civilization. Consequently, different interpretations would be placed +upon the phrase "the highest conceivable qualities of form and +expression," by the various races of mankind. According as the +experience was greater, so would the ideal form be higher in type; and +as the civilization was more advanced, so would the abstract qualities +exhibited be more perfect in character. But among civilized peoples what +is, within our understanding, the ultimate form of the ideal, would not +change in respect of abstract qualities, and as to form would only vary +in comparatively insignificant details with the width of experience. + +It is obvious that there can be only one general ideal covering +perfection of form and mind, and this being beyond human experience, can +only be associated with a spiritual personage, and necessarily with the +highest conceivable spiritual personage--the Supreme Being. In its +absolute perfection it may be significant of the Supreme Being of any +religion of civilized peoples, but not of other spiritual personages to +whom such perfection may also be attributed, because absolute power can +only be implied in one such personage. This power cannot be indicated in +an ideal expression, and hence there is no alternative but to leave the +one general ideal to the Supreme Being. + +There are only two religions in which an ideal human form has been used +in art to typify the Supreme Being, and these are the ancient Grecian +and the Christian; but the one general ideal referred to has only been +used by the Greeks. The Christian conception of the Deity is far nobler +than that which the Greeks had of Zeus, but in art nothing greater than +the Grecian ideal has been executed. As a type of an Almighty Power the +best Christian representation is distinctly inferior, and it must +necessarily be so because convention requires that a particular feature +of expression must be indicated therein which is not compulsory in the +Grecian ideal. Forgiveness of sins is a cardinal principle in the +Christian doctrine, and consequently whatever the character of +expression given to the Deity, a certain gentleness has to be exhibited +which materially limits the comprehensive nature of the expression. The +Grecian ideal, as sculptured, strictly denied any particular +characteristic, while covering every good quality, and hence for the +Christian it is not so suitable as the accepted modification. + +Among the Greeks, ideal types of the gods and goddesses other than +Zeus varied considerably. Those representations that have come down +to us are usually deviations from the Zeus type with certain special +characteristics, though often they can only be distinguished from +each other by symbols. They are above human life and so cannot be +appropriately associated with human surroundings. Ideals appertaining to +Christianity are practically fixed by convention, or are interchangeable +with ideals in allegorical and symbolical art. + +Art is not concerned with what are termed ideal physical qualities +because beauty is its first consideration. A form with powerful limbs +and muscles may be generally accepted as an ideal form of strength, but +these very limbs and muscles would detract from the beauty of the +figure, and so separately such a form would be inferior art. + +An ideal can only be applied to excellence. In art, moral or physical +deformity cannot be exaggerated for the purpose of emphasis or contrast +without lessening the deformity or injuring the art. In the work of the +greater artists the former result follows; in that of less skilful +artists, the latter. Homer could not deal with evil characters without +exciting a certain sympathy with them, thus diminishing the deformity in +the minds of his readers. There is a measure of nobility about +Shakespeare's bad men, and Milton distinctly ennobled Satan in +portraying his evil powers and influence. In painting and sculpture +there is no place for hideous forms of any description, for they either +revolt the imagination and so neutralize the appreciation of the +beautiful figures present in the composition, or they verge upon the +ridiculous and disturb the mind with counteracting influences. With rare +exceptions the greater artists have not failed to recognize this +truth,[37] and in respect of the very greatest men, no really hideous +figure is to be found in any of their works, if we except certain +instances where the artist had to comply with fixed rules and +conditions, as for example in Michelangelo's Last Judgment where evil +beings had perforce to be presented, and could only be shown as +deformities. + +Attempts to emphasize ugliness by artists of inferior rank result in the +fantastic or the ludicrous, as in the representation of evil spirits on +the old Etruscan tombs, and the whimsical imps of the Breughels and the +younger Teniers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +EXPRESSION. PART II.--CHRISTIAN IDEALS + + The Deity--Christ--The Madonna--The Madonna and Child. + + +In considering the scope for the exhibition of ideals in art, it should +be remembered that ideal types of some of the principal personages in +religious and mythological history have been already fixed by great +artists, and it is impossible to depart from them without producing what +would appear to be abnormal representations. Homer led the way with +occasional hints of the presumed physical appearance of some of the +leading deities of Greece, and except in the case of Aphrodite the later +Grecian sculptors closely followed him. The Zeus of Homer as improved by +Phidias has been the model of this deity in respect of form for nearly +every succeeding sculptor to this day, while it was also the model which +suggested the Christian Father as represented by the first artists of +the Renaissance, though, as already indicated, the majestic dignity of +the Phidian Zeus was partly sacrificed by the Christian artists. Phidias +in fact created a type which, so far as human foresight can judge, must +ever guide the artistic mind, whether portraying the mighty son of +Kronos, or the God of the Christians. Only very rarely nowadays is the +Christian Deity pictured in art, and as time goes on His introduction in +human shape in a painting will become still more rare in conformity with +changing religious ideas and practices; but now and hereafter any artist +who contemplates the representation, must, voluntarily or involuntarily, +turn to the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo for his guide. + +There is no tradition upon which to base an actual portrait of Christ. +For the first four centuries A.D., when He was represented in art, +it was usually by means of symbols, or as a young man without beard, but +there are some Roman relics of the fifth century remaining in which He +is depicted much in the later generally accepted type, with short beard +and flowing hair. During the long centuries of the Dark Age, when +religious art was practically confined to the Byzantine Greeks, Christ +was almost invariably portrayed with a long face and emaciated features +and limbs, as the epitome of sadness and sorrow. This expression was +modified as the arts travelled to the north and west of Europe, and +gradually His face began to assume more regularity and beauty. Then came +Cimabue to sow the seed of the Renaissance, and with him the ideal of +Christ was changed to a perfect man of flesh and blood. A century or +more was occupied in establishing this ideal, but it was so established, +and has maintained its position to this day.[38] + + [Illustration: PLATE 9 (See page 138) + Raphael's Virgin of the Rose with the Face of "Profane Love" in + Titian's Picture Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +This ideal represents the Saviour as a man of about thirty-three +years--His age at the Crucifixion. He wears flowing hair with a short +beard and usually a moustache. His face is rather long, often oval; the +features have a perfect regularity, and the expression is commonly one +of patient resignation. Naturally His body must appear well nourished, +otherwise corporeal beauty cannot be expressed. This is the type which +has been used since the height of the Renaissance, though there have +been a few exceptional representations. Thus, the face of Christ in +Lionardo's Last Supper at Milan is that of a beardless young man of some +twenty-five years[a] and Raphael in an early picture shows Him +beardless, but gives Him an age of about thirty.[b] Some early Flemish +artists also rendered Him beardless at times, notably the Maitre de +Flémalle, Van der Weyden, and Quentin Matsys. Michelangelo in his Last +Judgment represents the Saviour sitting in judgment as a robust, stern, +commanding figure, beardless, and with an expression and bearing +apparently serving the idea of Justice.[c] Strange to say the artist +gives a very similar face to St. Stephen in the same series of frescoes. +A still more unusual representation is that of Francisco di Giorgio, who +gives Christ the appearance of an Apollo,[d] while Bramantino depicts +His face worn with heavy lines.[e] In one picture Marco Basaiti shows +Him as a young man with long hair but without beard, and in another with +a thick beard without moustache.[f] There was considerable variation in +the type among the Venetians of the sixteenth century, but not in +important features, and since then very few artists indeed have ventured +to depart from the ideal above described. The only notable exception in +recent times is in a work by Burne-Jones who represents Christ as a +beardless youth, though indicating the wound to St. Thomas.[g] It is +supposed that the artist presumed that the Person of Christ underwent a +complete change after the Resurrection. + + [a] And in the drawing for the picture at the Brera. + + [b] Christ Blessing at the Brescia Gallery. + + [c] In the Sistine Chapel frescoes. + + [d] Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, Sienna + Academy. + + [e] Christ, Mayno Collection. + + [f] The Dead Christ, and Calling of the Children of Zebedee, Academy, + Venice. + + [g] Dies Domini. + +It is evident that the ideal Christ as established by the Italians can +scarcely be improved upon in art within the prescribed limitations. +Christ having lived as an actual man, His representation must be within +the bounds of possible experience; and since He died at the age of +thirty-three, intellectual power cannot be suggested in His countenance, +for this in life means an expression implying large experience warranted +only by mature age. The representation is therefore confined to that of +a man who, while exhibiting a healthy regularity of form and feature, +has lost all sense of earthly pleasure. The beauty achieved by this type +is negative, the only marked quality being a suggestion of sadness +which, in painting, is necessarily present in all expression where an +unconcern with human instincts and passions is depicted. The Italians in +their representation of Christ were thus unable to reach the height of +the Greek divine portrayals. They were confined to earth, while the +Greek figures were symbols of spiritual forms which were pure products +of the imagination. Giotto and his successors sought a physically +perfect man with all purely human features in expression eliminated. The +Greeks, even when representing divinities below Zeus, generalized all +human attributes, excluding nothing but the exceptional. They embodied +in their forms, truths acknowledged by the whole world; summed up human +life to the contentment of all men: there was nothing in their +divinities which would prevent their acceptance as spiritual symbols in +all religions of civilized peoples. To them human instincts were sacred: +all human passions could be ennobled: everything in the natural +progression of life came within the purview, and under the protection, +of the gods. So the course of their art was definite: there was never a +difference as to the goal, for it was universal. + +From the point of view of the development of art the ideal Christ has +been of little importance compared with the ideal Madonna, though here +also the Italians aimed for a particular instead of a general type. They +wanted a living woman with the form and features of a pulsating mother; +a woman of ordinary life in fact, but infinitely superior in physical +beauty, and endowed with the highest grace that their imaginations could +conceive and their hands execute. This ideal seemed to germinate with +Cimabue, but an immense advance upon him was made by Giotto who was +unsurpassed in the representation of the Holy Mother for more than a +century. But the ideal was yet purely formal and continued so till past +the middle of the fifteenth century, both in Italy and Flanders. Giotto +was then excelled by many artists, but the Madonnas they produced, +though often very beautiful, are not humanly attractive. They are on the +side of the Angels; have never been women evidently, and are far, far +away from the human type with tingling veins and heaving breath. Filippo +Lippi marked the border line between this type of Madonna, and the +advanced pattern produced by the series of great artists of the latter +part of the fifteenth century. But with Lionardo, Ghirlandaio, +Botticelli, and the rest, the Madonna was scarcely an ideal woman. +Living persons were commonly taken as models, and although the portraits +were no doubt "improved," they have little connection with the ideal +which the artists evidently had in mind. The very life which the artist +transfers to canvas in a portrait is destructive of the ideal, for it is +a particular life with evidence of particular emotions and passions from +which the Madonna should be free. + +A mighty barrier must be passed before a woman is translated on canvas +into the type of Madonna sought by the first Renaissance artists. She +must be a woman of the earth; a woman who has grown up amidst human +surroundings from infancy to girlhood, and from girlhood to womanhood; +with human aspirations and sympathies, and experience of joys and +trials: she must have all these, and as well have become a mother; and +yet with human beauty, her countenance must be such that by no stretch +of the imagination can the possibility of desire be suggested. This was +the problem, and certainly only a genius of the highest order could +arrive at a solution, for the task appears on the face of it to be +almost superhuman. But Raphael succeeded in accomplishing it, and his +achievement will stand for all time as one of the greatest epoch-making +events in history. Even Michelangelo, who created so many superb forms, +never succeeded with an ideal suitable for a Madonna.[39] + +It is clear that in reaching for his ideal, Raphael did not strive for +an expression relating to the spiritual. His purpose was to eliminate +from the features anything which might possibly be construed as +indicating earthly desires, and yet retain the highest conceivable human +beauty. With this double object contentment is a quality in expression +which is indispensable, and this Raphael was careful to give, sometimes +emphasizing it with a suggestion of happiness. It is not possible to go +further with an expression which is to generalize the highest human +physical and abstract qualities, while keeping the figure within the +range of apparent feasible realization in life. The result was ideal but +not exclusive. It is a universal type, and is suited to the Madonna +because there is nothing humanly higher within our comprehension; but it +has a further general import which is dealt with elsewhere. + +Although the aim achieved by Raphael must necessarily be the goal of all +artists in the representation of the Madonna, it is of course not +essential that he should be accepted as the only guide to her form. Her +features may vary indefinitely so long as the ideal is maintained, and +Raphael himself painted no two Madonnas with the same features. But +certain traditions must be observed, however much one may depart from +the actual circumstances of her life. The first is in respect of her +presumed age. In pictures dealing with her life soon after marriage, as +for instance, the Nativity and the Flight into Egypt, the Madonna is +invariably represented as many years older than she appears in +Annunciation subjects, though only a year or so actually passed between +the respective events. The reason for this is obvious. She must be shown +with the bloom of a matured woman. The highest form of nobility cannot +be disassociated from wisdom and experience, which could not be +indicated in the countenance of a girl in her teens. Innocence and +purity may be present, and a certain majesty even, but our conception of +the Madonna as a woman involves the triumph over known evils, the full +knowledge of right and wrong, and the consciousness of a supreme +position above the possibility of sin. Hence in all representations of +the Madonna at the Nativity and afterwards, she must be shown at an age +suggesting the fullest knowledge of good and evil. + +While, between the Annunciation and incidents occurring during the +infancy of Christ, many years must be presumed to have passed, from this +latter period on, the Madonna must be supposed to have aged very little, +if at all, right up to the Crucifixion. It is not often that we find her +included in a design illustrating the life of Christ between His infancy +and the Death Scene, a fact probably due to the age difficulty. In the +exceptions her face is often partly or wholly hidden. But in scenes of +the Crucifixion, where the Virgin is almost invariably introduced, +artists of all periods, with few exceptions, have been careful to avoid +suggesting the full presumed age. Commonly the age indicated is between +twenty-five and thirty years, but as the face is always pale, and often +somewhat drawn, her comparatively youthful appearance is not +conspicuous. Obviously under no circumstances should lines be present in +the features, for this would suggest a physical decay not in conformity +with Christian ideas.[40] Even in pictures relating to her death, which +is presumed to have occurred at an age between fifty and sixty years, +her face is shown with perfectly regular and smooth features, though an +extreme pallor may be painted. But from the point of view of art, the +Virgin must be regarded as an accessory in works relating to the +Crucifixion, for to throw her into prominence would result in dividing +the attention of the observer of the picture on first inspection, and so +lessening the art. In any case she must be painted with an expression of +grief, and hence an unalloyed ideal of transcendent beauty is out of the +question. + +The custom of representing the Madonna in costume and surroundings +indicating a higher social level than that in which she actually moved, +is now firmly established, and cannot be departed from without lowering +the ideal. A woman in a lowly position of life, who is compelled to bear +all the responsibilities of a home, with the care of a husband and +child, is seldom seen except in the performance of household duties. We +cannot see her without associating her in our minds with toil and +possible privation, and we naturally expect that the effect of these +will be indicated in her expression and general bearing. If away from +her home her costume would usually declare her position, while habits of +mind connected with her daily occupation commonly engender mannerisms in +air and gait which support the inference drawn from the character of her +attire. It would appear anomalous to paint a woman so situated with such +beauty of form and expression that she appears to have never experienced +earthly cares of any kind, much less the long repeated daily worries +consequent upon the charge of a poor household. Perfect beauty of form +being essential in the representation of the Madonna, she must be +painted amidst surroundings conformable with the supposition that she is +free from earthly responsibilities, and that her mind is entirely +occupied with the boundless joy and happiness arising from the +contemplation of the divine Mission of her Son.[41] + + [Illustration: PLATE 10 (See Page 139) + Raphael's Holy Family (Madrid), with the Face of Luini's + Salome Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +The difficulty in painting the Madonna is complicated when the Infant +Christ is introduced, because of the liability of the Child to interfere +with a fine presentation of her figure. A similar problem was met with +by the early Greeks, and doubtless they dealt with it in their paintings +as in their sculptures, a few of which, showing an adult holding a +child, have come down to us. These represent the child reduced in size +as far as possible, and carried at the side of the adult figure.[a] A +like system was followed by most of the Byzantine workers, and it is +very noticeable in some of the fine French sculpture of the thirteenth +century.[b] In the same period Giovanni Pisano in sculpture,[c] and +Cimabue in painting,[d] maintained the tradition in Italy, and in the +century following, Giotto,[e] Duccio,[f] Lorenzetto,[g] and others, +often adopted the plan. Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, the +relative importance attached to the Child in the group generally +increased, and by the end of it, the old practice had been almost +entirely abandoned. Meanwhile the artists had some hard problems to +meet. The first was as to the size of the Child. It appeared to be +generally agreed that an older Child should be represented than had been +the custom, though a few artists held back, notably Fra Angelico, while +in sculpture, Donatello maintained his habit of moulding the Child as +only a few weeks old. With an increased age of the Child, the difficulty +of securing repose for the group was enhanced, for it seemed to be +proper with a child past its infancy, that it should be pictured as +engaged in one of the charming simple actions common to childhood. These +questions were settled in different ways according to the genius and +temperament of the artists. A few of them, as Mantegna,[h] Lorenzo +Costa,[i] and Montagna,[j] gave the Child an age of two years or more, +and in some of their designs the figures seem to be of equal +significance, Mantegna and Montagna in several examples actually +standing the Child in the Virgin's lap with the heads touching each +other. + + [a] See the Olympian Hermes of Praxiteles, and Irene and Pluto after + Cephisodostus at Munich. + + [b] Groups in the Southern and Western porches of Amiens Cathedral. + + [c] Madonna and Child, Arena Chapel, Padua. + + [d] Groups at the Florence Academy and the Louvre. + + [e] Florence Academy. + + [f] National Gallery, London. + + [g] San Francisco, Assisi. + + [h] Madonna and Angels, at Milan, and other works. + + [i] Coronation of the Virgin, Bologna. + + [j] Enthronement of the Virgin, Brera, Milan. + +The plans usually adopted by the greatest masters, were, to present the +maximum repose with the Child sitting in the lap of the Virgin; or to +place Him apart from her, and engaged in some slight action; or to show +Him in the arms of the Virgin, either held at the side, or in front, +with the Virgin more or less in profile. In all of these schemes the +serene contemplation of the Holy Mother is practically undisturbed. In +his many groups of the Virgin and Child, and of the Holy Family, Raphael +only varied twice from these plans,[a] and in both the exceptions the +Child reclines across the lap of the Virgin, so that very little of her +figure is hidden. Titian has the Child standing by her side,[b] or held +away from her, and in one example the Virgin is placing Him in the hands +of St. Joseph.[c] Correggio, when away from the influence of Mantegna, +usually showed the Child held apart from the Mother, or placed on the +floor, or on a bench. It is a common device to show the Child on the +lap of the Virgin, but leaning over to take a flower or other object +offered Him,[d] and numerous artists allow Him to play around +separately.[e] In Holbein's fine group at Augsburg, the Child stands +between the Virgin and St. Anne, and another German painter shows Him +held up by the same personages, but clear from both of them.[f] Murillo +commonly stands the Child at the side of the Virgin, but in one picture +adopts the novel method of placing Him in the arms of St. Joseph.[g] + + [a] Madonna and Child, Bridgewater Coll., England; and same group with + St. John, Berlin. + + [b] Madonna of the Cherries, Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [c] Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Bridgwater Coll., England. + + [d] Filipino Lippi's Madonna and Angels, Corsini Palace, Florence. + + [e] Luca Signorelli's group at Munich, and Bonfiglio's at Perugia. + + [f] Hans Fries, National Museum, Nuremburg. + + [g] Holy Family, Petrograd. + +When the Child is shown distinctly apart from the Virgin, or leaning +away from her lap, great care is necessary in avoiding strength in the +action, otherwise it will draw attention away from the Virgin. A notable +example of this defect is in a picture by Parmigiano, where the Child +leans over and has his head brought close to that of a kneeling Saint +who is caressing Him, the effect being most disturbing.[a] Bramantino +shows the Child in an extraordinary attitude, for He holds His head +above His arms without any apparent reason, the action confusing the +design.[b] Many artists represent Him in the act of reaching out his +hand for flowers, without choosing for the moment of portrayal, an +instant of transition from one part of the action to another,[c] a point +rarely overlooked by the first masters.[d] Occasionally variety is +given in the introduction of nursery duties, as for instance, washing +the Child,[e] but these are inappropriate for reasons already indicated, +apart from the over strong action necessarily exhibited in such designs. +Nor should the Child have an unusual expression, as this will +immediately catch the eye of the observer. In one work Del Sarto +actually makes Him laugh,[f] and a modern artist gives Him an expression +of fear.[g] It is questionable whether Masaccio[h] and others (including +A. della Robbia and Rossellino in sculpture) did not go too far in +portraying the Child with a finger in its mouth, for although such an +incident is common with children, in this case it seems opposed to +propriety. Generally the first artists have striven to free the figure +of the Virgin as far as possible, and this is in conformity with first +principles, for it simplifies the view of the chief figure in the +composition. In all cases repose should be the keynote of the design. + + [a] Madonna and Child with Saints, Bologna Academy. + + [b] Virgin with a Turban, Brera, Milan. + + [c] As in B. da Bagnacavallo's Holy Family, Bologna; and Boltraffio's + Holy Family, Milan. + + [d] See Titian's Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, Uffizi Gallery. + + [e] Giulio Romano's Holy Family, Dresden. + + [f] Holy Family, Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [g] Uhde's The Three Magi, Magdeburg Museum. + + [h] Madonna enthroned, Sutton Coll., England. + +There are no general ideals in Christian art other than those mentioned. +The presumed occupants of the Celestial regions beyond these Personages, +are painted as the fancy of the artist may dictate, subject only to the +limitations of the accepted Christian doctrines. There are certain +conventions in respect of Angels and Saints, but they are by no means +strict; and for the Old Testament prophets, Michelangelo's work in the +Sistine Chapel is commonly taken as a guide. It is scarcely likely that +his examples will ever be exceeded in majestic beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EXPRESSION. PART III.--CLASSICAL IDEALS + + Ideals of the Greeks--Aphrodite--Hera--Demeter--Athena--Apollo-- + Diana--Neptune--Mars--Mercury--Bacchus--Vulcan--General classical + compositions. + + +What human being can appropriately describe the great ideals in art of +ancient Greece? Above us all they stand, seemingly as upon the pinnacle +of the universal mind, reflecting the collective human soul, and +exhibiting the concentrated essence of human nature. The best of men and +women of all ages is combined in these ideal heads, which look from an +endless past to an eternal future; which embody every passion and every +virtue; every religion and every philosophy; all wisdom and all +knowledge. They are ideal gods and goddesses, but are independent of +legends and history. They represent no mythological deities except in +name, and least of all do they assort with the deities of Homer and +Hesiod. In all other religions the ideals expressed in art fail entirely +to reach the height of the general conceptions, and are far below the +spiritual beings as depicted in the sacred books; but the Grecian ideals +as recorded in stone are so far beyond the legendary gods of the ancient +poets, that we are unable to pass from the stone to the literature +without an overwhelming feeling of astonishment at the contrast. It is +unfortunate that we are powerless to re-establish these ideals +definitely, for the originals have been mostly lost; nevertheless the +ancient copies, a few contemporary complete sculptures, and many +glorious fragments; as well as intimate descriptions and repeated +eulogies, often reaching to hyperbole, of eminent men, expressed over a +succession of centuries when the great works were still exposed to +view--all this assembled evidence indelibly stamps upon our minds the +nature of the ideals; gives us a clear impression of the most profound +conceptions that have emanated from the human brain. + +The people who accomplished these great monuments seem to have thought +only in terms of the universe. They did not seek for the embodiment of +goodness, nobility, and charity, perfection in which qualities we regard +as divine, but they aimed at a majesty which included all these things; +which comprehended nothing but the supreme in form and mind; and with an +all-reaching knowledge of the human race, stood outside of it, but +covered it with reflected glory, as the sun stands ever away from the +planets but illumines them all. The wonder is not that these ideals were +created in the minds of the Greeks, for there is no boundary to the +imagination, but that minds could be found to set them down in design, +and hands to mould and shape them in clay and stone; and that many minds +and hands could do these things in the same epoch. That these +sculptured forms have never been equalled is not wonderful; that they +never will be surpassed is as certain as that death is the penalty of +life. So firmly have they become grafted into the minds of men as things +unapproachable in beauty, that they have themselves been converted into +general ideals towards which all must climb who attempt to scale the +heights of art. The greatest artists known to us since the light of +Greek intelligence flickered away, have been content to study these +marble remains, and to cull from them a suggestion here, and an idea +there, with which to adorn their own creations. Indeed it is clear that +from the time of Niccolo Pisano, who leaped at one bound to celebrity +after studying the antique sculptures at Pisa, through Giotto to the +fifteenth and sixteenth century giants, there was hardly a great artist +who was not more or less dependent upon Grecian art for his skill, and +the most enduring of them all--Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, +Correggio--were the most deeply versed in the art.[42] + +Bellori affirmed that the Roman school, of which Raphael and +Michelangelo were the greatest masters, derived its principles from the +study of the statues and other works of the ancients.[a] This is not +strictly exact, but it is near the truth, and certain it is that +Michelangelo, the first sculptor known to the world since the Dark Age, +willingly bowed his head before the ancient triumphs of art presented to +his view. And yet he did not see the Parthenon sculptures and other +numerous works of the time of Phidias, with the many beautiful examples +of the next century which have been made available since his day. What +he would have said in the presence of the glories of the Parthenon, with +the Hermes of Praxiteles and the rest of the collection from Olympia, is +hard to conjecture, though it may well be suggested that they would have +prompted him to still higher work than any he accomplished. With these +stupendous ideals in front of us, it seems almost unnecessary to talk of +the principles of art. Their very perfection indicates that they were +built up on eternal principles, so that in fact and in theory they form +the surest guide for the sculptor and painter. + + [a] _Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architteti moderni._ + +But how is the painter to use these ancient gods and goddesses, for the +time has gone by to gather them together on the heights of Olympus, or +to associate them with human frailties? Surely he may leave aside the +fables of the poets, and try to portray the deities as the Grecian +populace saw them in their hearts--noble forms of adoration, or images +of terror, objects of curses veneered with prayer and of offerings +wrapped in fear. The artist has not now to be troubled with pangs of +dread, nor will his imagination be limited by sacerdotal scruples. The +rivalry of Praxiteles need not concern him, for there are wondrous +ideals yet to be wrought, which will be comprehended and loved even in +these days of hastening endeavour. But the painter must leave alone the +Zeus and the variation of this god in the pictured Christian Deity, for +the type is so firmly established in the minds of men that it would be +useless to depart from it. The other important Grecian deities with +which art is concerned may be shortly considered from the point of view +of the painter, though they are naturally of far more importance to the +sculptor because it is beyond the power of the painter to suggest an +illusion of divine form, since he must associate his figures with human +accessories.[43] + + +APHRODITE + +Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus, Spirit of Love, or by whatever name we call +her; the one eternal divinity recognized by all ages, all races; the +universal essence whose fragrance intoxicates every soul: the one queen +before whom all must bow: the one imperial autocrat sure of everlasting +rule--sure of the devoted allegiance of every living thing to the end of +time! Such is Aphrodite, for that is the name under which we seem to +love her best--the Aphrodite of the Greeks, without the vague terrifying +aspect of Astarte, or the more earthly qualities of the Roman Venus. Who +loves not the Aphrodite sprung from the foam of the sea; shading the sun +on the Cytheran isle with the light of her glory; casting an eternal +hallow over the groves of Cyprus; flooding the god-like mind of Greece +with her sparkling radiance? What conception of her beauty can rise high +enough when the grass in astonishment grows beneath her feet on desert +rocks; when lions and tigers gently purr as she passes, and the rose and +the myrtle throw out their scented blossoms to sweeten the air? Hera +and Athena leave the heavens to help man fight and kill: Aphrodite +descends to soothe despairing hearts, and kindle kindly flame in the +breast of the loveless. The spear and the shield with the crested helmet +she knows not, nor the fiery coursers accustomed to the din of strife. +Serenely she traverses space at the call of a lover's prayer, her car a +bower of celestial blooms. From the ends of the earth fly the sparrows +to draw it, till their myriads hide the sun, and mortals learn that the +time has come when their thoughts may turn to the spirit of love. + +This was the Aphrodite of Grecian legend and poetry, if we except Homer +and Hesiod. It is the type of the goddess whom Sappho implored, and must +be accepted as the general ideal of the Grecian worshippers who desired +divine mediation when troubled with pangs of the heart. But it was not +the type of Phidias and his school, for Phidias passed over Hesiod and +purified Homer, representing Aphrodite with the stately mien and lofty +bearing of a queen of heaven, daughter of the all-powerful Dione: +goddess of beauty and love certainly, but so far above the human +understanding of these terms that all efforts to associate her with +mundane ideas and aspirations must signally fail.[44] + +So far as we know it was Praxiteles who first attempted to realize in +stone the popular ideal of the goddess, and certainly the Cnidian +Aphrodite was better understood by the people of Greece as a type of +this ideal than any work that preceded it. We can attach to it in our +minds but very few of the Homeric and other legends surrounding the +history of the goddess, but we can well imagine that a deity who was the +subject of so much attention and so much prayer, could rest in the +hearts of the people only as one with every supreme earthly charm, +combined with a divine bearing and dignity. These qualities the +Aphrodite of Praxiteles appears to have possessed, though it lacked the +majesty and exclusiveness of the Parthenon gods.[45] + +Thus there was formed a type of beauty acceptable to the average human +mind as an unsurpassable representation of an ideal woman: to the +worshipper at the ancient shrines, a comprehensible goddess; to all +other men the personification of sublime beauty. The fifth century +goddess was left aside as beyond mortal reach, and from the time it left +the sculptor's hands to this day, the Cnidian Venus has been regarded as +a model for all that is true and beautiful in women. To the sculptor it +is an everlasting beacon; to all men a crowning glory of human +handiwork. And this notwithstanding that so far as we know, the original +figure has long been lost, and we have preserved little more than +records of its renown, a fair copy of it, and a single authentic example +of the other work of the sculptor. But if we had the actual Aphrodite +before us, it could not occupy a higher place in our minds than the +goddess which our imagination builds upon this framework. + +As in all cases where a supreme artist rises above his fellows and +creates works of which emulation appears hopeless, the period succeeding +the time of Praxiteles seems to mark a decline in the art of sculpture, +and though the decline was more apparent than real for about half a +century, there was naturally a depreciation in the representation of the +deities of whom the great man had fashioned masterpieces. This was so in +the case of Aphrodite. Whoever the sculptor it seemed impossible to +approach the Cnidian ideal, and the result was a series of variations +stamped with artificial devices as if to emphasize the departure. But +meanwhile the painter's art had developed upon much the same lines as +sculpture, and Apelles produced an Aphrodite, which, considering the +limitation of the painter, appears to have been almost, if not quite, as +marvellous as the stone model of Praxiteles. Nearly two thousand years +have passed since the painting was last known to exist, but its fame was +so great that the reverberations from the thunder of praise accorded it +have scarcely yet died away. No close description of the painting +remains, but from certain references to it by ancient authors we know +that it represented the sea-born goddess walking towards the shore to +make her first appearance on earth, holding in each hand a tress of hair +as if in the act of wringing out the water therein.[46] These are +practically all the written details we have of the famous Venus +Anadyomene, but we really know much more of it from the existence of +certain pre-Roman sculptures. All but one are broken, with parts +missing, but the exception, which dates from about the beginning of the +third century B.C., enables us to gain a good idea of the picture. The +figure represents the goddess with her lower limbs cut off close to the +hips; that is to say, it produces the whole of that part of the figure +in the picture of Apelles which is visible above the water.[a] Clearly a +subject in which Venus is shown to be walking in the sea, so foreign to +the art of the sculptor, could not have suggested itself independently +to a Grecian artist, nor would we expect to find one attempting a work +which necessitated amputation of the lower limbs, unless a very special +occasion warranted the design. The special occasion in this case was the +picture of Apelles, which was at the time renowned through the whole of +Greece as an extraordinary masterpiece, and with this work in their +minds the sculptured head and torso would appear quite appropriate to +those Greeks interested in the arts, that is to say, the entire citizen +population. + + [a] See Plate 4. + +These two works then, the Cnidian Venus and the Venus Anadyomene of +Apelles, constitute the models upon which the world relies for its +conceptions of the goddess of beauty. Both models depend more or less +upon the imagination for completion, but they are sufficiently definite +for the artist, who, of course, desires general rather than particular +ideas for his purpose. + + [Illustration: PLATE 11 (See page 139) + The Pursuit, by Fragonard (_Frick Collection_)] + +It must be confessed that the attempts to rival Apelles in the creation +of a Venus Anadyomene have not been very successful. Raphael painted a +small picture of the subject, introducing the figure of Time putting an +end to the power of the Titans.[a] Venus stands in the water with one +foot on a shell, while holding a tress of hair with her left hand. As +may be expected the execution is perfect, but the design is less +attractive than that of Apelles. The only important work of the +Renaissance directly based upon the Greek design, is from the hand of +Titian.[b] He represents the goddess walking out of the water, the +surface of which only reaches half way up the thighs, with the result +that considerably more action is indicated than is necessary. But the +great artist was evidently at a loss to know how to give the figure the +size of life or thereabouts, while indicating from the depth of water +that she had an appreciable distance to go before touching dry land. He +solved the problem by placing the line of the front leg to which the +water rises, at the bottom of the canvas, so that the picture suggests +an accident which has necessitated the cutting away of the lower portion +of the work. The master also varies the scheme of Apelles by crossing +the left hand over the breast. This inferior device was imitated by +Rubens, who, however, exhibits the goddess rising from the water amongst +a group of nymphs and tritons.[c] Modern artists in designs of the birth +of Venus, usually represent her as having reached the shore,[d] the best +work of this scheme being perhaps that of Cabanel who shows the goddess +lying at the water's edge and just awaking, suggesting a state of +unconsciousness while she floated on the waves.[e] Another exception is +by Thoma, who exhibits the goddess walking in only a few inches of +water, reminding one of the old Roman bronze workers who imitated the +form as painted by Apelles, but modelled the whole figure. + + [a] In the bathroom of Cardinal Bibiena, Vatican. There is a drawing + for the figure of the goddess at the Munich Gallery. + + [b] Bridgewater Coll., England. See Plate 5. + + [c] Birth of Venus, at Potsdam. + + [d] Notable examples are those of Ingres and Bouguereau. + + [e] At the Luxembourg, Paris. There are several replicas of this + picture. + +Repose being the first compulsory quality in the representation of +Aphrodite, it is not surprising to find that the greatest picture of the +goddess extant--the masterpiece of Giorgione--shows her asleep.[a] She +rests on a verdure couch in a landscape of which the signs indicate a +soft and tranquil atmosphere, with no suggestion to disturb the repose +or remove the illusion of life so strongly marked by the skilful +drawing. Only the calm sleeping beauty is there without appearance of +fatigue or recovery from it: no expression save of perfect dreamless +unconsciousness. The work is the nearest approach to a classical ideal +that exists in Venetian painting. Titian in his various pictures of +Venus reposing never reached the excellence of his master. In all, he +painted the goddess in a resting position, sometimes radiant and +brilliant, and invariably with a contented expression which precludes +sensual suggestions: still there is ever a distinctly earthy tone about +the figures. His Venuses in fact are pure portraits. He did not seek to +represent profound repose. His most important example is at the Uffizi +Gallery,[b] the design of which was taken from Giorgione's work. The +goddess is a figure of glowing beauty, but the pose indicates +consciousness of this fact and calls the model to mind. Perhaps the +surroundings tend to accentuate the drawback, for in this, as in most of +his other pictures of Venus, the artist has introduced Venetian +accessories of the period. Palma Vecchio also took Giorgione's work as a +guide for his reposing Venus, but he represents her fully awake with +Cupid present.[c] An exceptional work of the subject was designed by +Michelangelo, and painted by Pontormo[d] and others. It represents the +goddess reclining with Cupid at her head; but the form is entirely +opposed to all our conceptions of Venus, for she is seen as a broad +massive woman with a short neck, and a strongly formed head--a fit +companion for some of the figures in the Sistine Chapel. Proud dignity +and a certain majesty are suggested in the expression, but the figure is +without the grace and charm usually associated with the goddess. The +only other early Italian reposing Venus of interest is Botticelli's, +where he shows her in deep thought with two cupids by her side.[e] + + [a] Dresden Gallery. See Plate 6. Titian added a Cupid to this + picture, but the little god was subsequently painted out by + a restorer. (L. Venturi, _Giorgione e il Giorgionismo_, 1913.) + + [b] The sitter is supposed to have been the model also for La Bella + in the Uffizi, and the Woman in Fur at the Vienna Gallery. + + [c] Dresden Gallery. + + [d] Hampton Court Palace, England. + + [e] National Gallery, London. + +In the seventeenth century Venus was rarely represented reposing. +Nicholas Poussin has a fine picture on the subject, but unfortunately +for the repose a couple of cupids are in action beside the sleeping +goddess, while the heads of two satyrs are dimly seen.[a] In the +Sleeping Venus of Le Sueur, which was much praised in former times, +Cupid is present with a finger to his mouth to indicate silence, but +Vulcan is seen in an adjoining room wielding a heavy hammer, the +suggestion of repose being thus destroyed. No reposing Venus of +importance has since been produced, though a few French artists have +treated the subject in a light vein, notably Boucher in his Sleeping +Venus, and Fragonard in a delicate composition of Venus awakened by +Aurora. + + [a] Dresden Gallery. + +Venus cannot be represented as conscious of her beauty, or the design +would immediately suggest vanity. Consequently when shown looking into a +mirror, she should be engaged at her toilet, or at least the reflection +should be accidental. Titian painted the first great picture of the +goddess at her toilet, but this is just completed and her hands are at +rest.[a] The attitude would be extravagant were it not that any +suggestion of satisfaction is overcome by the artist making Cupid hold +the mirror, and giving Venus an expression of unconcern as she glances +at her reflection. The work suggested to Rubens a similar design, but he +shows the goddess dressing her hair, this being apparently the only +definite action which may be properly introduced into such a +composition.[b] Albani has a delightful picture in which Cupid compels +Venus to hold a mirror,[c] and some later artists have represented her +adorning her tresses with the aid of a water reflection. The only +notable _faux pas_ in a painting of this subject is in the Venus and +Cupid assigned to Velasquez, in which Venus lies on her side and looks +into a mirror held by Cupid at her feet.[d] There is no suggestion of +toilet or accident, and hence the attitude is quite inapplicable to a +goddess. + + [a] The Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [b] Hofmuseum, Vienna. + + [c] The Louvre. + + [d] National Gallery, London. + +It should be remembered that the province of Aphrodite is to infuse the +gentle warmth of love into the human race, and not to attract love to +herself. The rays are presumed to proceed from her only, for a mortal +having no divine powers would be incapable of reflecting them. Zeus was +required to bring about the adventure with Anchises. Hence a voluptuous +form should never be given to the goddess, and if an artist err at all +in the matter, it should be on the side of restraint lest the art be +affected by a suggestion of the sensuous. The surest means of preventing +this is to represent the goddess in an attitude of repose, with perfect +contentment as a feature in expression. If any action be indicated, it +must be light and purely accidental in its nature. To introduce an +action involving an apprehension of human failings tends to bring the +goddess down to the human level, and thus to destroy the ideal. The +Venus de' Medici is a superb sculpture of a woman, but an inferior +representation of Venus, for modesty is a human attribute arising from +purely artificial circumstances of life, its meaning varying with race +conditions and customs. To depict a goddess in an action suggestive of +modesty or other antidote to the coarser effects of natural instincts, +is therefore an anomaly. + + +HERA + +There is no fixed type in art of the ox-eyed sister and spouse of Zeus, +the Queen of Olympus, whose breast heaves ever high, and flaming, with +the rushing fire of jealousy; the Virgilian incarnation of bitter rage; +yet withal the symbol of eternal Earth, yearly renewing her fruitful +youth with the burning kiss of the sun. The sculptors of Greece saw in +her only the supreme Matron-Spouse, serenely pondering the march of time +beneath the awful sway of her lord. A mantle she wore, and a +high-throated tunic, as she looked into space from a square-wrought +throne; or she stood in her temple with flowing robe and diadem, +inscrutable, before the offerings of an adoring multitude. But +nevertheless she was not insensible to the radiance of Aphrodite. +Polyclitus did well to place a cuckoo on her sceptre, and who can forget +how the lotus and the hyacinth cushioned the ground on the heights of +Ida beneath a golden cloud, which held suspended around the glittering +couch a screen of sparkling dew? + +It is unfortunate that the painter is at a loss to deal with the +majestic scenes in great Juno's story. How is he to depict her flying in +the celestial chariot between heaven and earth, each leap of the fiery +coursers measuring the range of the eye from a lofty peak across the sea +to the endless haze? How can he paint her anointed with ambrosial oil +which is ever struggling for freedom to bathe the rolling earth in +fragrance? He may add a hundred tassels to her girdle; perhaps give her +the triple grace-showering eardrops, and even the dazzling sun-bright +veil; but the girdle of Aphrodite, which peeps from her bosom, will fail +to turn the brains of men, or pierce their hearts with rays of soft +desire. And the more dreadful side of Hera's history would equally +trouble the despairing artist, for dire anger and jealousy ill-become +the countenance of a goddess. The smouldering fire must never leap into +flame. Eyes may not flash, not the lips quiver, and the noble brow must +be free from fitful thought. + +So with Hera there is no middle course for the painter. He must +represent her alone, calm and passionless, unfathomable, with a sublime +disregard of earth; or else join with his predecessors and drag her down +to a mundane level in scenes of trivial fable. But there is room for +untold Heras of the higher type. + + +DEMETER + +Matron-Guardian of the yielding soil; heart-stricken wanderer over the +earth; mysterious silent Food-Mother whom all men love and the gods +revere; eternal life-preserver; fruitful, but passionless save where the +vision of Pluto looms, Iasus and Poseidon notwithstanding! Such was the +Demeter of the ancient Greeks till the hordes of Alexander mingled her +fame with the lustre from Isis and De. So the mourning _haute dame_ of +Olympus came nearer the seat of her care, nearer the dread home of her +daughter: passed from Homer to Theocritus; from the adoration of the +higher priesthood of Greece, to become merged in the Ceres of Rome, the +goddess beloved of the lowly, who received the first fruits of the field +amidst joyful measures of dance and song. But it is the _haute dame_ +that strikes our imagination--the staid and mystic Demeter of Eleusis, +and not the Ceres of the Roman lyric. The light-hearted Ceres, as a +beautiful woman in the prime of life, may be adorned with poppies and +wheat-ears, may stand serene and smiling as a symbol of harvest or the +goddess of a Latin temple; but paint her as one will, she will do little +more than serve to show how fallen are the idols--how immeasurable is +the descent from the stately Earth-Mother whose image would be stamped +on the brain of a Phidias. + +But where is the Phidian Demeter? Surely such a goddess, "deeply musing +in her hallowed shrine," was a theme for the carver of the immortal Zeus +and Athena! Perhaps those inscrutable headless "Fates" from the +Parthenon, so wonderful in noble grace that the conception of befitting +heads is beyond the reach of our minds, include the Earth-Mother and her +daughter! How easy it is to imagine the reclining figure as Persephone +leaning upon the mother who loved her so well! But we must be content +with what we have of Demeter in art, which is little more than a few +fifth century frieze reliefs, the figure from Cnidos attributed to +Scopas,[a] and some Damophon memories of Phidias. + + [a] See Plate 7. + +So the artist is free and untrammelled in respect of the representation +of the far-famed goddess. There is no definite type of her which has +fixed itself on the minds of men, though the legend and story weaved +about her name are beautiful and wonderful in a high degree. + + +ATHENA + +Though swathed in legend and surrounded with a hallow of Grecian +reverence, Athena is always cold. She may dim the sun with the radiance +of her armour; ride in a flaming car, and have Strength and Invisibility +for her allies; but she fights only on the side of the strong, and uses +the tactics of spies against her enemies. With the Gorgon's head on her +shield, and a helmet which will cover the soldiers of a hundred towns, +she yet whispers advice to Grecian heroes, and deflects a Trojan arrow +in its flight. Truly as Goddess of War she is somewhat difficult to +generalize. But she is also the divinity of the arts and sciences; +invents the pipe and the shuttle, and becomes the depository of all +industrial knowledge. Hence she embodies the triumphs of peace and +war--combines the extremes of human exertion. + +How Phidias overcame the task of representing the goddess is well known. +He generalized war and wisdom, and from his great work of the Parthenon +there can be little departure in respect of bearing and attitude, so +long as the province of war is symbolized in the design. The actual work +of the Greek master has disappeared, but from various records and +copies, it would appear that the Parthenon Athena was the loftiest +conception ever worked out in sculpture, if we except the Olympian Zeus. +Majestic grace and the unconscious power derived from supreme knowledge, +seem to have been the first qualities exhibited in the statue. In the +fourth century there was no great departure from the Phidian ideal, and +it is difficult to see how there could be much modification in the +direction of bringing the conception closer to earth, for the goddess +had no special presumed form which could be adapted by the artist to +popular ideas. A nude figure would be impossible because in this the +force and power implied in a hero of war could not be combined with +feminine attributes. The Greeks drew the line at observable muscular +developments, invariably clothing nearly the whole of the figure, but +they did not, and could not, free her general bearing from certain +masculine qualities. It is true that the costume of the goddess might be +modified, and Phidias himself represented her in one or two statues +without a helmet, an example followed by several artists of the +Renaissance,[a] but so long as the symbols of war are included in her +habit, she can be only of formal use to the painter. + + [a] See Piero di Cosimo's Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena,[47] and + Botticelli's Athena and the Centaur. + + +APOLLO + +Although in mythology Apollo is connected with everything on earth which +is useful or pleasing to mankind, in art custom has so confined his +representation in respect of both appearance and symbols, that a type +has been established from which it would be difficult to depart without +a suggestion of incongruity arising. This type is of a more purely +formal character than that of any other god, except perhaps Mercury, a +circumstance probably arising from the fact that the reputed hard nature +of Apollo fails to lend itself to sympathetic idealization. He does not +appear to have been a favourite subject with the greatest sculptors of +ancient times, for nearly all the innumerable statues of him which have +come down to us, are reproductions of two or three types which in +themselves vary but little. It is difficult to see how a really noble +ideal of such a god can be suggested. Stern and inflexible, with many +human vices but no weaknesses or gentle traits, and withal a model of +physical beauty without strength or apparent power--in fact an +emphasized feminine form: such is the Apollo of tradition and art. We +cannot wonder that the type was quickly fixed, the limitations to avoid +the abnormal being so well defined. + +The painter then has small scope with the figure of this god. He may +only slightly vary the accepted form, which admits of but a negative +expression. The best representation of Apollo in modern art is the one +by Raphael in the Parnassus fresco at the Vatican, though the beautiful +figure in the Marsyas work at the Louvre is very nearly as perfect.[48] +Raphael does not give to the god the rounded swellings of a female form, +but overcomes the difficulty by showing him as a young man of perfect +figure who has just reached maturity. The expression is entirely +general, but does not suggest a god-like power. + + +DIANA + +It would scarcely be natural to be sympathetic with Artemis. She seems +to be the feminine type of a cold flint-like nature, as Apollo is the +masculine, and one can well understand that mythology makes of them +brother and sister. Mistress of wild beasts and goddess of sudden death, +she was always worshipped from fear: her wrath had ever to be appeased; +she inspired neither affection nor respect. True, she wore the mantle of +Ililythia, but only to be dreaded, and even the attempt to throw a warm +halo over her by the theft of the Endymion story for her benefit, failed +to lift her reputation for the tireless satisfaction of a supernatural +spleen. Nevertheless for the painter Diana has always had a certain +attraction, because the legends connected with her offer opportunities +for the exercise of skill in the representation of the nude. But there +is an end of all things, and the bathing and hunting scenes have been +fairly exhausted. For the sculptor only is Artemis likely to live. +Bright colours are not the vehicle to represent the symbol of an idea +which is beyond, but not above, nature--a useless abstraction which +neither warms the heart nor elevates the soul. Callisto draws our +sympathy, and Niobe our tears: the goddess freezes our veins. + + +NEPTUNE + +Brother of Jupiter and Pluto; sire of Theseus, of Polyphemus, and of the +titanic lads who threatened to pile mountain on mountain in order to +destroy the home of the deities; the god whose footsteps tremble the +earth; who disputes with the sun; who uses floods and earthquakes for +weapons; who owns vast palaces in the caverns of the deep; for whom the +angry waves sink down beneath the shining sea, and ocean monsters play +around his lightning track across the waters: this is the divinity whom +the painter is accustomed to portray as a rough bearded man with +dishevelled hair and rugged features, holding a three-pronged fork, and +associating with dolphins, mermaids, and shells. But Neptune is not a +popular god. He does not appeal to the mind as a good-natured god like +Jupiter or Mercury, with many of the virtues and some of the failings of +mankind. His acts are mostly violent; he punishes but does not reward; +grows angry but is never kind. There is consequently no sympathetic +attitude towards him on the part of the artist, who would sooner paint +good than bad actions. Beyond his violent acts, the circumstances which +make up the history of the god, provide subjects more suitable for the +poet than the painter, who is practically confined to unimportant and +casual incidents which, with changes of accessories, would answer a +thousand scenes in mythological history. Neptune then may well disappear +from the purview of the painter, with the tritons and the seaweed +entourage. + + +MARS + +From the point of view of the painter, there is little to say about the +Grecian Ares. He has not a single good trait in legend or story, and we +know nothing of his presumed personal form beyond the military +externals. It is difficult to understand how such a god came to be +included among the deities of a civilized race. Of what service could be +prayer when it is addressed to a blatant, bloodstained, genius of the +brutal side of war, without feeling or pity, and apparently so wanting +in intelligence that he has to leave the direction of battles to a +goddess? One would think that Homer intended him as the god of bullies, +or he would not have made him roar like ten thousand men when struck +with a stone, nor would he have allowed him to be imprisoned by two +young demigods, and contemptuously wounded by a third. But who is +responsible for the association of such a wretched example of divinity +with the radiant Aphrodite, for surely it is only the cloak of Homer +that covers the story! Was it a painter who had sought in vain from the +poets a suggestion for a composition in which the god would at least +appear normal, or a cynical critic who wished to incite ridicule as well +as contempt for the divinity? In any case the painter must sigh in vain +for an inspiriting design with Ares as the leading figure: he cannot +harmonize love and terror. + +The Roman Mars has a slight advantage over Ares, for the name of Silvia +is sweetly-sounding, but she should be represented alone, as the star of +the wild Campagna, while yet it was forest-clad: the gleaming light +whose rays are to illumine the earth. Mars may disappear with the wolf, +but who can hide the glory of Rome? + + +MERCURY + +It is difficult to connect the Hermes of the poet with the tedious +expressionless figure commonly seen in painting, whose only costume is a +helmet, and whose invariable province is apparently to look on and do +nothing. For the sculptor he is a god; for the painter a symbol of +subordination. A Rubens may give him the pulse of life, but only the +sculptor can suggest the divinity. With the painter the winged helmet is +a bizarre ornament; the immortal sandals are shrunken to leather; the +caduceus is a thing of inertia which is ever in the way. But with the +sculptor all these things may be endowed with the quickening spirit of a +soaring mind, for does not Giovanni di Bologna show the lithesome god +speeding through space ahead of the wind, the feathery foot-wings +humming with delirium, the trembling air dividing hastily before the +wand? True, the painter may represent the divine herald on his way +through space, as when he conducts Psyche to Olympus, or leads the +shades of the suitors to Hades; but the accessories present must +surround him with an earthy framework, unless the design be confined to +a ceiling, and shut away from things mundane with architectural forms, +as in the plan of Raphael at the Farnese Villa, or to a fresco executed +in the manner of a Flaxman drawing. Beyond these artifices the artist +cannot go with propriety. + +Few and worn are the scenes in the history of the god in which he takes +a leading part. The head of Argus seems to be cut off, or awaiting +separation, in nearly every collection, sometimes with Juno on a cloud +deeply frowning with revengeful ire, occasionally with the peacock +expectant of its glorious fan, but always with the weak-looking helmeted +piper, passive and unconcerned as if fulfilling a daily task. A +Correggio may weave his golden fancy around a scene where Cupid learns +to strengthen his arrows with the rules of science and the wiles of art; +but let the painter beware of the infant Bacchus in the arms of the +messenger-god, lest a vision of the Olympian group arise and enfold his +work in a robe of charity. The schemes whereby the cradled thief +deceived the Pythian god are beyond the scope of the painter, though +there is a certain available range in the charming actions surrounding +the invention of the lyre. And if the designs relating to the +unfortunate Lara be properly consigned to oblivion, surely the +connection of Hermes with Pandora offers a field for the sprightly +imagination. But save where the god is a symbol of commerce or speed, +the helmet should be dispensed with, for it is hackneyed beyond +endurance. The modern painter is not bound by custom unless the +provision of beauty conflict with the lucidity of the design or the +reverence for universal sentiment. Let the winged heels suffice, for the +shadow of Persius will scarcely rise in protest. + + [Illustration: PLATE 12 (See page 145) + Greek Portraiture + Head of Plato Head of Euripides] + + +BACCHUS + +Centuries of bacchanalian festivities and revelries have nearly killed +Bacchus for the painter. Who can further interest himself in meaningless +processions, where the most prominent figure is a fat, drunken, +staggering man, supported by goat-hoofed monstrosities, and attended by +all the insignia of vinous royalty? Silenus is no more the loving nurse +of the infant god; the satyrs are no more the followers of a +reed-playing woodland deity; the nymphs have long forgotten the flowery +dales, the faithful trees that lived and died with them, the fairy +bowers where first Semele's offspring clapped his hands to the measure +of dance and pipe. Why should the dance be turned into a drunken revel? +Why should the artist remember the orgies of Rome, and forget the +Grecian pastoral fancies? What has become of Dionysus, inheritor of +Vishnu traditions, the many-named father of song, the leader of the +Muses, and the fire-born enemy of pirates? Nothing remains of him worth +remembering, save Ariadne the golden-haired, and she must in future be +left on the desert isle lest the pathos of her figure be disturbed by +the motley followers of her rescuer. + +It is passing strange that the artists of the Renaissance did not +attempt to lift Bacchus out of the ditch of ignominy into which he had +fallen. They seem to have taken their ideas from the recorded accounts +of the Roman rites and vine festivals, overlooking the Grecian +suggestions relating to Dionysus, and even the later restrained reliefs +picturing incidents in his history. In their art, however, as is +evidenced by Pompeian frescoes, the Romans often treated Bacchus in a +serious manner, associating him with higher interests than those +connected with festival orgies. It may be that the figure of the god +carved by Michelangelo[a] had something to do with the later coarse +representations of him, for it would have been impossible for artists +succeeding so great a sculptor, to ignore the types he created. But it +will be an eternal mystery how he came to design such a Bacchus. A +voluptuous semi-realistic god, opposed to everything else that was +conceived by the sculptor, and antagonistic to all that was known in +Greece, it can never be anything more than a sublime example of a purely +earthly figure. One stands amazed before the perfect modelling, but +aghast at the conception. It represents the most extraordinary +transition from the god-like man of the Greeks, to a man-like god, ever +seen in art. + + [a] In the Bargello, Florence. + +The painter then has little left to use of the conventional Bacchus and +his history, except the never-dying Ariadne, but there is nothing to +prevent him from reverting to the pastoral Dionysus, to the delightful +abodes of the nymphs his foster-mothers, where Pan played and the Muses +sang, while the never-tiring son of Maia breathed tales of love into +willing ears. + + +VULCAN + +The poet may continue to hold our fancy with volcanic fires and +cyclopean hammers, but on canvas Etna becomes a blacksmith's forge, and +the figure of a begrimed human toiler is given to the divinity +responsible for the golden handmaids, and the brazen bull whose breath +was scorching flame. There is rarely a painting of Vulcan without a +forge and leather bellows, with a smith who is stripped to the waist, +which earthly things necessarily kill all suggestions of celestial +interest, notwithstanding the presence of Venus, or the never-fading +bride of palsied Peleus. Occasionally we have the incident with Mars, +and strangely look for the invisible net, but not finding it we are +immediately called back to earth to ponder over the wiles of the ancient +legend gatherers. The art is lost behind the unreality. But why does not +the painter revert to the childhood of Vulcan, when he was hiding in the +glistening cavern beneath the roll of ocean, fashioning resplendent +eardrops for silver-footed Thetis? Here is scope for the imagination--to +indicate the fancies of the budding genius who was to carve the wondrous +shield, and adorn the heaven-domed halls of Olympus. Let Hephæstus +mature as he will for the poet: he should only bloom for the painter. + + +GENERAL CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS + +Scenes of adventure from the ancient poets in which the gods and +goddesses are concerned, appear to be rapidly becoming things of the +past for the painter. This is partly due to the circumstance that these +scenes have been so multiplied since the early days of the Renaissance, +that they are now positively fatiguing to both artists and the public; +but there is a deeper reason. If we try to number the paintings of +classical subjects by first-class artists which are enshrined in our +minds, we can count very few, and nearly all of these are single +figures, as a Venus, a Leda, a Psyche, or a Pandora. We do not call up a +Judgment of Paris, or a Diana and Actæon, or any other design where +divinities are mixed with mortals in earthly actions. The cause of this +seems to be that our minds naturally revolt against a glaring +incongruity. The imagination is unable to harmonize the qualities of a +god with the possession of human instincts and frailties, or strike a +balance between divine actions and human motives. We see these pictures +and admire the design and execution, but they leave us cold: we are +unable to kindle enthusiasm over patent unreality. The general +conclusion is that painters would be wise to avoid such compositions, +and confine their attention in classical work to single figures of +goddesses or heroines, leaving to the poet suggestion of miraculous +powers. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +EXPRESSION. PART IV.--GENERAL IDEALS + + Limitation of the painter with general ideals--Ideal heads + interchangeable in sacred and symbolical art--Ideal male human + countenances impossible for the painter. + + +In the arts of sculpture and painting, where it is necessary that the +beauty should be immediately recognized by the eye, it is obvious that a +general expression is superior to the particular. This is so because the +general covers universal experience and the particular does not. But in +the art of the painter there is a limit to the expression of general +beauty. Theoretically there is no beauty possible to the sculptor which +the painter cannot produce, but practically there is. A sculptor may +carve what we understand as a god-like figure--a glorious image +embodying all the highest qualities that may be conceived by man, +with a general expression covering supreme wisdom and every noble +attribute--such a figure as the greatest Grecian artist chiselled. This +figure would stand in front of us, isolated, serene in its glory, and we +should look and wonder, and a second or two would suffice to fill our +entire mind with the image. For it would be above the earth, above all +our surroundings. We could connect nothing on earth with it--neither +human beings, nor green fields, nor the seas, and certainly not human +habitations, and ways, and manners, and actions. A Phidian god can have +no setting. Everything on earth is too small, too insignificant to bear +it company. The reflection from the majesty of the design throws into +shadow our loftiest earthly conceptions. + +Let us suppose that a painter could be found who could execute such a +figure: how could he isolate it to the mind? He may not use accessories, +for these could not be separated by the eye, and the association with +earth which they would imply would destroy the illusion. But the figure +must have relief, and hence tones. A monochrome would not do, for the +frame or sides of the wall containing the picture would flatten it, and +suggest a painted imitation of a sculpture. We may imagine a colossal +figure painted on an immense wall whose bounds are hidden by the +concentration of all the available light on the figure. Even then the +colouring of the wall must be unseen. The figure must stand out as if +against infinite space, surrounded by ambient air, in majestic solitude, +pondering over the everlasting roll of life towards perfection. In this +way only could the painter match the sculptor, but the practical +difficulties are so enormous as to render the scheme to all intents and +purposes impossible. + +For the painter then there is a limit to expression. He cannot proceed +with his ideal higher than Praxiteles. His limit is the most supreme +form and expression conceivable by his imagination, which does not +exceed the apparent possibility of human experience. Apparent, because +an ideal must necessarily be actually above the possibility of +experience, but it may not appear to be so. For instance a Raphael +Madonna does not seem to represent a supernatural woman. There is no +single feature painted which cannot be matched in life, and hence it +would not occur to the observer that the expression is contrary to the +possibility of experience. But the expression cannot be met with in +life, for besides being entirely general, it excludes all phases due to +the emotions or passions. One cannot imagine a woman with the expression +of a Raphael Madonna having concern with any special human interest, and +least of all with feelings and failings arising from natural instincts. +Yet the expression covers every form of noble endeavour; every phase of +innocent pleasure; every degree of mental activity within the province +of woman. And herein lies the art--the exclusion of the bad in our +nature, with the exaltation of the good. + +Now it is obvious that if the expression be so general that no +particular quality can be identified therein, the countenance will serve +for the head of any personage painted in whose expression it is +desirable to indicate the possession of high attributes, without +suggesting a particular condition of mind. Thus, the head of a Raphael +Madonna would equally serve for the head of a Saint Cecilia or a Judith; +or, providing the age were suitable, for a heroine of the stamp of Joan +of Arc, so long as the character of her actual features were unknown. +Further it would be well adapted for a symbolical figure, as Prudence or +Truth. + +But a far wider significance than is thus indicated, is conveyed by the +necessity for generalizing expression in order to reach the painter's +ideal. It has already been noted that inasmuch as all men have the same +general idea of beauty--that they generally agree as to what is, or is +not, beautiful, it follows that there must be a common opinion as to +degrees of beauty, and so a universality of ideal; that is of course, +among people with similar experience of life, as for instance the white +races of the world.[49] Hence the ideals of all painters must be +similar. They must necessarily aim for the same generalization--exclude +or emphasize like. Manner or style, or national type may vary; purely +sensorial effects may differ as the minds of the painters have been +variously trained, but the combination of features and effects which +regulate the expression will be practically identical in every realized +ideal. Consequently, subject to changes in attitude or age, ideal heads +of all artists are interchangeable without incongruity resulting, +irrespective of the motive of the design, for the ideal countenance +indicated adapts itself to any character where no emotional or +passionate expression is required. The head of the figure representing +"Profane Love" in Titian's great picture, would serve to express +spiritual nobility in a Madonna,[a] and when a head in a Madonna by +Raphael is exchanged with that of the central figure in Fragonard's The +Pursuit,[b] there is no resulting suggestion of impropriety in either +picture.[c] Ideal countenances have sometimes been given to evil +characters, as in Luini's Salome,[d] and the head in this picture would +equally well serve for a Madonna.[e] + + [a] See Plate 9. + + [b] Frick Collection, New York.[50] + + [c] See Plate 8. + + [d] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [e] See Plate 10. + +An ideal head then will suggest any expression that the design in which +it is included seems to require, subject to the restrictions before +noted. In The Pursuit the face of the woman presumed to be fleeing from +her lover indicates some concern, and even a little fear,[a] but that +this is due to the surroundings in the work, is shown when the head is +substituted for another in a different picture, for the concern has +disappeared, and the expression becomes one which may properly represent +the highest attributes connected with the Madonna. + + [a] See Frontispiece and Plate 11. + +The limits within which the form and countenance of a woman may be +idealized, are prescribed by Raphael in his works. The presumed age must +be that when she reaches the full bloom of womanhood. Youth will not do +because it involves an expression denying experience, while physically a +girl cannot be supposed to have reached an age where her form has ceased +to progress towards perfection. Beauty of feature and form is the first +consideration of the artist, and hence his difficulty in fixing an +expression which shall be entirely free from the possibility of +suggesting desire. For this reason no model, or series of models, will +suffice the painter: he has always to bring his imagination to bear, as +Raphael admitted he had to do.[a] + + [a] "E di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene nella + mente." Letter to Castiglione. + +It is impossible to find a head of a woman, painted before the time of +Raphael, which fulfils the requirements of art as an ideal. The figures +are either too formal, or too distinctive in type, or are evidently +portraits, while in many of the greatest pictures of the fifteenth +century the artists had not yet learned how to put warm blood into their +Madonnas. Raphael, however, after taking up his sojourn at Florence, +became an object lesson for nearly every school, and ideal countenances +were produced by other masters, though no painter other than Raphael +succeeded with more than one or two. Nowadays the ever increasing hustle +in the struggle for existence, does not lend itself to deep study and +long contemplation on the part of painters, but hope springs eternal, +and surely the list of immortals is not yet closed. + +An ideal man of flesh and blood is not possible in the art of the +painter, for there is no general conception of male beauty below the +level of the god-like. Perfection of form can be given, but a supreme +expression in the face of a man implies deep wisdom, and this must +necessarily be associated with maturity when high sensorial beauty of +feature can scarcely be expected. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +EXPRESSION. PART V.--PORTRAITURE + + Limitations of the portrait painter--Generalizations--Emphasis + and addition of qualities--Practice of the ancient Greeks-- + Dignity--Importance of simplicity--Some of the great masters-- + Portraiture of women--The English masters--The quality of + grace--The necessity of repose. + + +While in the scale of the painter's art, portraiture ranks next to the +higher branches of historical work, yet it is some distance behind them, +for apart from the commonplace of scenic arrangement, the imagination of +the portrait painter cannot be carried further than the consideration of +added or eliminated details of form and expression in relation to a set +subject. But these details are very difficult, and so it comes about +that a good portrait involves a far greater proportion of mental labour +than the result appears on the surface to warrant. It is indirectly +consequent upon the complexity of his task that the work of the artist +who devotes practically his whole time to portraiture, often varies so +largely in quality. He paints some portraits which are generally +appreciated, but as time goes on he is overwhelmed with orders which he +cannot possibly fulfil without reducing the value of his work. He thus +acquires a habit of throwing his whole power into his work only when +the personage he represents is of public importance, or has a +countenance particularly amenable to his manner or style. It is +necessary that this fact should be borne in mind, otherwise erroneous +standards are likely to be set up when artists like Van Dyck, Reynolds, +or Romney, are referred to as examples. + +In a general sense nearly all painting where the human figure is +introduced, is portraiture, and it has been so since soon after the +middle of the fifteenth century, when artists commenced to use living +men and women for secondary or accessory figures in sacred pictures. The +increasing importance attached to the anatomy of the figure resulted in +the extensive use of models, and so in a measure portraiture rose to be +a leading feature in the work of the artist. The figures in the larger +compositions of every kind by the greater painters of the late fifteenth +and early sixteenth centuries, consist almost entirely of portraits of +friends and acquaintances of the artists, the exceptions being the +countenances of the Deity and Christ, which had to be modelled from +accepted types, and those of the later Saints the character of whose +features had been handed down by tradition. A few painters, as Raphael +and Correggio, idealized the Virgin away from suggestion of portraiture, +but others, as Del Sarto and Pontormo, even in this case took a wife or +other relative as a model. The practice was continued by many artists in +respect of central figures, till the end of the seventeenth century, +after which time the identity of the figures was, as a rule, purposely +lost. Nevertheless the figures, other than ideals, used in all good +compositions, must necessarily be portraits or adaptations thereof, for +only from life can superior representation of life be obtained. + +The first duty of the portraitist is to generalize the expression of his +subject. A face seen once will be thrown upon the mind only with the +particular expression observable at the moment of view. If seen a second +time we involuntarily combine the effects of the dual experience, and +the more often we see the countenance, the more closely will our mental +picture of it correspond with the general or average expression worn. It +is this average appearance that the portraitist tries to represent, +emphasizing of course whatever good qualities may be indicated. The +second most important task of the artist is to balance every part of the +picture, so that neither setting, nor colour, nor handling, is +strikingly noticeable. The portrait should appear at first glance as one +complete whole, in order that the mind of the observer be immediately +directed to the subject, and away from the artist or the manner of +execution. The painter is limited to the actual character and +physiognomy of the figure. He must make each feature harmonize with the +others, and add or subtract, hide or reveal, without changing the +general individuality, but he cannot do more. His scope is, therefore, +strictly limited. Very naturally some of the greatest portraitists have +rebelled at this limit. They appear to have painted with an eye to +posterity, rather than to satisfy their patrons and the people of the +time with an effective generalization of character and bearing. If we +compare the portraits executed by Titian with those representing certain +accessory figures in some important compositions of the great masters, +as for instance, the School of Athens of Raphael,[a] and the Death of +St. Francis of Ghirlandaio,[b] we find a marked difference. The latter +are obviously true portraits of living men, with little accentuated or +eliminated, just such portraits as Carlyle wanted from which to obtain +real instruction for his biographies. Titian painted no portraits of +this kind. He gives a lofty bearing to every person he portrays. His +figures seem to belong to a special race of men, endowed with rare +qualities of nobility and dignity, with little interest in the doings of +ordinary people. Yet we know that some of his characters lived in an +atmosphere of evil. We cannot really believe that the Aretino of +Titian[c] was Aretino the man, and we find it hard to imagine that +Philip II.,[d] or the Duke of Alba,[e] as Titian painted him, could grow +into the monster he proved to be. Nevertheless Titian was justified. It +is not the business of the artist to consider the historian: his art is +all that concerns him. Titian produced beautiful pictures which are +commonly recognized as great portrayals of character; whose character +matters not, though when we have data upon which to rest a judgment, we +find the lineaments in his works are fully sufficient for purposes of +identification. + + [a] At the Vatican. + + [b] Fresco at Santa Trinita, Florence. + + [c] Frick Collection, N. Y. + + [d] The Padro, Madrid, and elsewhere. + + [e] Huescar Coll., Madrid. + +While Titian went further than any other Renaissance painter in +ennobling his subjects, he did not approach the ancient Greeks in this +respect. Their sculptured busts and terms represent the highest +portraiture known to us. Many examples remain, mostly copies it is true, +but quite fifty of them are clearly faithful reproductions, made +apparently in the early days of Imperial Rome, and accord closely with +the few existing originals. The Grecian portraits differ from the Roman, +and all later painted or carved portraits in a most important +feature.[a] The latter aimed at what is still understood as the highest +level in portraiture. They endeavoured to give a general individualism +of mind and bearing, avoiding particular expression; in fact to +represent character. Since the Christian era commenced neither sculptor +nor painter has gone further than this, with very few exceptions in +Roman days when Grecian sculptors of the time imitated the practice of +the fourth and early third centuries. The earlier Greeks on the other +hand not only generalized portraits in an extreme degree, but, except in +the case of athletes, they altered the contour of the head and varied +the actual features of the subject, so that the possession of the higher +human attributes should be indicated as clearly as possible. They +invariably showed a large facial angle, placed the ears well close to +the head, sunk the eyes deep in their sockets, and ennobled the brows to +suggest majesty or profound thought. In fact the Grecian portrait heads +only differ from their sculptured gods in that particular countenances +are depicted, and consequently the expression in them does not appear to +be above the possibility of human experience. Apparently in Grecian +times, only men who had become celebrated in some way were represented +in stone, and hence the artist had features to depict which could be +semi-idealized without impropriety. Even Socrates, whose ugliness was +proverbial, was given a noble and dignified expression.[b] + + [a] See Plates 12 and 13. + + [b] See heads in the National Museums of Rome and Naples. + +That the painter is at liberty to follow the example of the Greeks, +there can be no question from the point of view of art, for his first +object is to produce a beautiful picture; but in portraiture, practical +and conventional considerations have to be met, with which other +branches of painting are not concerned. With rare exceptions the +portraits executed are of living persons, and extreme accentuation of +high qualities would be likely to result in a representation of the +sitter that would appear false to contemporary observers, though we +might well imagine that a work exhibiting this accentuation would seem +to be of high excellence in the judgment of future generations. There +must therefore be a line drawn in respect of added or accentuated +qualities, and the position of this line would naturally vary with the +celebrity of the subject and the power of the artist. Something definite +may, however, be said in regard to the emphasis of certain qualities of +form, and particularly of dignity, a feature that has occupied the +attention of some of the greatest masters. + + [Illustration: PLATE 13 (See page 145) + Roman Portraiture + Head of Vespasian + Head of Hadrian] + +The question arises, how far may the artist go in imitating the +manner of the stage with his portraits? On the theatrical stage +formalities are required with certain characters in order to emphasize +their position--to assist in the recognition of their standing or +relative significance in the drama, for it is of the first importance +that the audience should comprehend the meaning of the actions presented +as rapidly as possible. The actor must often exaggerate life habits of +pose and manner in order to heighten the contrast between two +characters, or to give special significance to the words. And the +elevation of the diction sometimes compels this exaggeration. In high +drama where the language used is above experience of ordinary life in +measure and force, there must be appropriate pose and action to +accompany it, and hence a height of dignity or even majesty may appear +perfectly proper on the stage, which would be ridiculous in surroundings +away from it. From the practice of certain painters it would seem that +they have looked upon portraiture as the transference of their subjects +to the public stage as it were, so that they might appear to occupy a +higher position in the drama of life than that to which they are +habituated. No harm can arise from this provided the portraitist does +not pass beyond the custom of the theatrical stage, where, whatever the +exaggeration, the representation appears, or should appear, appropriate +to the action; that is to say, where the exaggeration is not recognized +as such. Accentuation of high qualities of expression, or even +variations in certain physical features, such as the Greeks brought +about, would not appear exaggerations in a portrait, but where dignity +of form is added to such an extent that the observer immediately +recognizes it as untrue to experience, then the artist goes too far. +While this is so, we do not condemn Titian, Van Dyck, and the few other +portrait painters who emphasized the quality of dignity of form in past +times. The reason for this appears to be that the usual methods of +teaching history lead us to suppose that nobles and leaders of society +in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who were usually the +portrait subjects of the greater artists, commonly assumed a demeanour +and bearing far above our own experience. At the present day, when it is +a matter of universal knowledge that a formal dignified pose is very +rarely assumed by any one, such a bearing in a portrait would be +regarded as untrue. + +The portraitist may improve the expression of his subject, adding any +good quality within his power, and he may remove from the features or +figure any marked physical defect, because the portrait would still +appear to be correct; but if he add a strong dignified pose, then the +result would be something that is possibly, but improbably accurate, and +therefore inferior art. The quality of dignity should be expressed +rather in the countenance than in the pose, the bearing of the form +being produced as in life, for this lends assistance to the true +representation of character. A dignified expression may well be +appropriate to an awkward form whose personality would be +undistinguished by dignity of pose. + +Titian was the first great artist to give a pronounced dignity of form +to his subjects, and he never varied from the practice unless the +subject were exhibited in action,[a] or too old to be represented as an +upright figure.[b] Nor did he once exaggerate the pose so that arrogance +might be suggested. Though he squared the shoulders, he rarely threw +back the head to emphasize the bearing,[c] and only in one portrait is +the body slightly arched as the result of the pose.[d] In fact so +careful was the artist in avoiding over-emphasis, that there is a +tendency in two or three of his figures for the upper part of the body +to lean a little forward.[e] Obviously Titian gave this dignified +attitude to his portrait subjects of set purpose, as in his general +compositions there is no suggestion of it.[51] + + [a] Portrait of his daughter, Berlin Gallery, and of Jacopo di Strada + at Vienna. + + [b] Paul III. at Naples, and his own portrait at the Uffizi Gallery. + + [c] An exception is Charles V. at Mühlberg, Prado, Madrid. + + [d] Portrait of his daughter as a bride, at Dresden. + + [e] Notably in the portrait of the Duke of Ferrara, Pitti Palace. + +Velasquez no doubt acquired his habit of lending dignity to his +important subjects from the examples of Titian's portraits which came +under his view in Spain. Except in one notable instance where the +bearing is much over-emphasized,[a] he was equally successful with the +Italian master in the practice, though many of his characters are far +from lending him any natural assistance. In the case of a Court Dwarf, +however, the high dignity given to him by the painter seems to require +explanation.[b] + + [a] Count-Duke Olivares, Holford, Coll., London. + + [b] Don Antonio el Ingles, Prado. + +Before he went to Italy, Van Dyck followed the natural system of Rubens +in posing his portrait subjects, but at Genoa he painted under the spell +of Titian's memory, and thereafter during his whole life, he gave a +dignified bearing to his figures whenever this was not opposed to +individual traits. During his English period, when he undertook more +work than he could properly accomplish, he sometimes over-emphasized the +dignity of a figure by arching the body,[a] but as a rule he produced a +just balance of pose and setting, completing altogether a magnificent +series of portraits which remain the astonishment of the world. + + [a] Earl of Newport, Northbrook Coll., England; Earl of Bedford + Spencer Coll.; and Queen Henrietta (three-quarter length), + Windsor Castle. + +It is obviously the duty of the portraitist so to design his work that +the attention of the observer is concentrated upon the countenance of +the subject immediately he has grasped the whole composition, and it is +in the successful accomplishment of this object that the power of +Rembrandt lies. He rarely used accessories, and in only a few cases a +background of any kind. He avoided portraits where an elaborate setting +was required, as for instance full length standing figures, of which he +only painted two[a]; and in his many three-quarter length portraits, +there is seldom more than a table or chair to be seen apart from the +figure. With this simplicity of design, and with nearly all the +available light directed full upon the head of the subject, the eye of +the observer of the picture is necessarily centred instantaneously upon +the features. These are invariably cast into bold relief by perfect +management of the chiaroscuro, and the correspondence with life seems as +complete as it well can be. Rembrandt thus accomplishes the aim of every +great artist: he executes a faithful picture, and throws it on the mind +of the observer with the maximum of rapidity. Only artists of a high +order can successfully ignore a more or less elaborate setting for a +portrait, particularly if it be larger than bust size. Great care has to +be taken with such a setting lest the eye of the observer be attracted +by the pose of the figure and the general harmony of the work before +being directed to the countenance. If we take the general opinion of +known portraits, so far as it can be gauged, we find that the most +highly esteemed of them are: the Julius II. of Raphael, the Mona Lisa of +Lionardo, the Man with the Gloves by Titian, the Old Man with a Boy by +Ghirlandaio, and Innocent X. by Velasquez.[b] All of these except Mona +Lisa are remarkable for the simplicity of the setting, and in the +exception the formal landscape is altogether subordinated to the figure. +Raphael was the first artist who saw the value of avoiding accessories +in portraiture. His half-length portraits painted after his arrival in +Florence, are all free from them, and his Julius II. has only the chair +on which the Pope is seated. + + [a] Martin Day and Machteld van Doorn, both in Gustave Rothschild + Coll., Paris. + + [b] The first at the Pitti Palace, the last at the Doria Gallery, and + the others at the Louvre. + +Rembrandt further aided the concentration of attention on the +countenance of a sitter by the use of warm inconspicuous tones in the +clothing, which harmonize with all kinds of surroundings in which the +picture may be seen. The colours never specially attract the eye, and +the attire consequently forms so completely a part of the figure, that +after an inspection of the work one can rarely describe the costume. +This subordination of colour is of the highest importance in +portraiture, though it is not sufficiently practised nowadays. Velasquez +used quiet tones whenever possible, that is, when he was not painting +great personages, and Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck, followed the same +course in half-length portraits. None of these, however, seemed so +careful as Rembrandt in adapting the tones to the general character of +the figure, so that the impression left on the mind of the observer +should relate entirely to the personality. Rembrandt, in fact, aimed at +a representation of the man, and the man only; and he gave us a natural +human being of a commonly known type, with his virtues somewhat +emphasized, and his faults a little veiled. + +The extraordinary power of Velasquez as a portraitist was due to the +same general cause operating in the case of Rembrandt, namely, extreme +simplicity in design. Apart from those instances where royal or official +personages had to be represented in decorative attire, every portrait of +Velasquez is merely the impress of a personality. There are no +accessories; the clothing is subordinated to the last degree, and there +is nothing for the eye to grasp but a perfectly drawn set of features +thrown into strong relief by a method of chiaroscuro unsurpassed in +depth and accuracy. Thus, as in the case of Rembrandt, the portrait +fulfils the first law of art--the picture is thrown on the brain in the +least possible fraction of time. + +Velasquez was remarkable in a greater degree than any other artist, if +we except Hals, for his facility in execution. In his brush-work he +appeared to do the right thing at all times without hesitation, +achieving the most perfect balance as if by instinct. So far as we can +judge from those instances where his subjects were painted also by other +artists, his portraits are good likenesses, but he followed the best +practice in generalizing the countenance to the fullest extent. It is +unfortunate that his work was confined to so poor a variety of sitters. +Of his known portraits more than half represent Philip IV. or his +relatives; eight others are nobles of the time, and another half dozen +are dwarfs and buffoons, leaving only seventeen examples of the artist's +work amongst ordinary people. There never was a weaker royal family than +that of Philip IV., and it is really astonishing how Velasquez was able +to produce such excellent works of art by means of their portraits. With +his abnormal lips and weak face, the king himself must have been a most +difficult person to ennoble, yet the painter managed in three portraits +to give him a highly distinguished countenance and bearing, without in +any way suggesting exaggeration.[a] Of another weak man--Innocent +X.--Velasquez painted what Reynolds described as the greatest portrait +he saw in Rome; and it is truly one of the most amazing life +representations ever executed.[b] A reddish face peers out through a +blaze of warm surroundings and background; a face in full relief as if +cut out of apoplectic flesh--almost appalling in its verity. It is like +nothing else that Velasquez painted: it overpowers with its combined +strength and realism. But it is a picture to see occasionally, and +admire as a great imitation. If one lived with it, the colour would hurt +the eye, the unpleasant face would tire the mind. Such a face should not +be painted: it should be carved in stone, where truth may be given to +form without the protrusion of mortal decay. Bernini sculptured the +countenance, and gave the Pope a certain majesty which no painting could +present. As a life portrait the work of Velasquez is unrivalled, but as +a pure work of art, it is behind the three portraits of Philip IV. +already mentioned. A distinctly unhealthy face cannot be produced in +portraiture without injuring the art, for it is a variety of distortion. + + [a] The full example at the Prado; the Parma full length, in the Frick + Coll., N. Y.; and the three-quarter length portrait at the + Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [b] In the Doria Gallery, Rome. + +Velasquez was so naturally a portraitist that apart from his actual +portrait work, every figure composition he painted seems to consist +merely of the portraits of a group of persons. He took little pains to +connect the figures in a life action, often painting them with a look of +unconcern with the proceedings around them, as if specially posing for +the artist. In several of his works there are faces looking right out +of the picture, and it is evident that in these the artist had little +thought in his mind away from portrait presentation.[a] The Surrender of +Breda and Las Meninas,[b] regarded generally as his best compositions, +are admittedly portrait groupings, but the setting in each case is one +of action, and hence the faces looking out of the picture are a great +drawback, as they disrobe the illusion of a natural scene. That a man so +accurate in his drawing, so perfect in his chiaroscuro, and so skilful +in his brushwork, should yet be so conspicuously limited in imagination, +is a problem which art historians have yet to solve. + + [a] See The Breakfast, Hermitage; Christ in the House of Martha, + National Gallery, London; and The Drinkers, Prado. + + [b] Both at the Prado. + +Franz Hals was on a level with Velasquez in respect of facility in +execution, and like him seems to have been a born portraitist. His +brushwork was so rapid and decisive that in scarcely any of his designs +is there evidence of deliberation. He seems to have been able to take in +the essential features of a subject at a glance, and to transfer them to +canvas without preliminaries, producing an amazing countenance with the +least possible detail. Though some of his large groups are a little +stiff, this is rather through his want of capacity in invention than a +set purpose of exaggeration with a view to heightening the dignity of +pose, for it is obvious that Hals had little imagination, and knew +nothing of the boundless possibilities of his art in general +composition. He appears to have passed through life without concern for +his work beyond material results, being well convinced that the magic +of his execution would leave nothing further for the public to desire. +In the last forty years of his life he made no advance in his art except +in one respect, but the change was great, for it doubled the art value +of his portraits. He learned how to subordinate his colours; how to +modify his chiaroscuro in order to force the immediate attention of the +observer on the countenance of his subject.[52] Such an advance with +such an artist placed him in the rank of the immortals among the +portraitists. + +It will be seen that in the judgment of the greatest painters, +decoration in a portrait should be altogether subordinated to the +truthful representation of character, this practice being only varied +when the personage portrayed is of public importance, and the portrait +is required more or less as a monument. The rule is natural and +reasonable, being based upon the universal agreement that the +all-important part of a man comprehended by the vision is his +countenance. But the rule only strictly applies to a single figure +portrait, for when the painter goes beyond this, and executes a double +portrait or a multiple group, he restricts the scope of his art. Other +things being equal a double portrait is necessarily inferior art to a +single figure picture, since the dual objective complicates the +impression of the work on the brain, and the only remedy, or partial +remedy, for this drawback possessed by the painter is to introduce +accessories and arrange his group in a subject design. This plan results +in detracting from the force of the actual portraits, as it divides the +attention of the observer, but there is no help for it unless one is +content with the representation of the figures in a stiff and formal way +which extinguishes the pictorial effect of the work. + +The greatest artists have avoided dual or triple portrait works where +possible except in cases of gatherings of members of the same family, as +one of these groups may be regarded as a unity by the observer. +Nevertheless in his picture of Leo X., and the two younger Medici,[a] +Raphael was careful to subordinate the cardinals so that they should +appear little more than accessories in a painting of the Pope; an +example which was followed not quite so successfully by Titian in his +triple portrait of Paul III. with the two brothers Farnese.[b] A group +of two persons who are in some way associated with each other, though +unconnected in action, rarely looks out of place, as in the pictures of +father and son, or of two brothers, painted by Van Dyck, or in The +Ambassadors of Holbein,[c] but no painter has yet succeeded in producing +a first-class work of art out of a multiple portrait group when the +personages represented are unconnected with each other, either directly +in action, or indirectly through association derived from the title. The +picture of Rubens representing Lipsius and three others, would appear +much more stiff and formal than it is, without one of the two titles +given to it, notwithstanding the general excellence of the +composition.[d] When the figures introduced are very numerous, as in the +many groups of civic organizations painted by Hals, Ravesteyn, and +others, the compulsory formality seriously detracts from the æsthetic +value of the works, however superior they may be in execution, or +whatever the connection of the personages represented; and when we come +to such crowded paintings as Terburg's Signing the Peace of Münster,[e] +we obtain but little more than a record, though it be of absorbing +historical interest. + + [a] Pitti Palace, Florence. + + [b] Naples Museum. + + [c] National Gallery, London. + + [d] The Four Philosophers, or Lipsius and his Disciples, Pitti Palace. + + [e] National Gallery, London. + +It is observable that as a rule portraitists have been more successful +with delineations of men than of women. This is to be accounted for by +the necessity for subordinating the representation of character to the +art in the case of women unless they have passed the prime of life; +while with men the art is usually subordinated to the portrait, +character being sought independently of sensorial beauty. Strictly it is +the duty of the artist to make his portrait, whether of a man or a +woman, sensorially attractive, but here again in portraiture custom and +convention have to be considered with the rules of art. It is agreed +that with a woman sensorial beauty must be produced if that be possible, +even with the sacrifice of certain elements of character; but with a man +the portrait must be recognized by the acquaintances of the subject as +corresponding in most details with his life appearance. The future of +the portrait is out of the question for the time being. Nevertheless the +painter has certain advantages in dealing with the features of a man, +for the presence of lines in the brow, or other evidence of experience, +does not interfere with the nobility or dignity which may be added to +his general bearing; but what would be lines in the countenance of a man +would be wrinkles in that of a woman, because here they can scarcely be +neutralized by attitude and expression which imply strength of +character, without destroying what is best described as womanly charm, +which is a compulsory feature in every woman's portrait. With a man +therefore the portraitist considers character first and emphasizes +qualities of form within his power; while with a woman, during the +period of her bloom, beauty of form and feature must be the first care +of the artist, unconflicting qualities of character being emphasized or +added. + +All this was of course recognized by the great portraitists of the +Renaissance and the seventeenth century, but while most of them +endeavoured to enhance the sensorial beauty of their men subjects, +little attempt was made to add intellectual grace to the portrayals of +women. Antonio Moro[a] and Van Dyck, in their full length portraits of +women, sometimes succeeded in converting dignity of form into what we +understand as grandeur, which implies dignity of expression as well as +grace and dignity of form, but they were largely handicapped by the +dress fashions of their times. They had to deal with heavy formal +drapery which hung over the figures like elongated bells, and bid +defiance to freedom of pose. When fashions and customs had so changed as +to allow of definition being given to the figures, Van Dyck had been +dead for many years. Meanwhile Hals, Rembrandt, Velasquez, and hundreds +of lesser lights, were casting around their flowers of form and mind, +but all on the old plan, for it is difficult to find a portrait of a +woman painted during the century succeeding Van Dyck, where beauty of +feature is allied to nobility in expression. + + [a] Catilina of Portugal, and Maria of Austria, both at the Prado. + + [Illustration: PLATE 14 (See page 168) + Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Pompeian Fresco) + Supposed copy of a painting by Timanthes] + +The production of this combination awaited the maturity of Reynolds, who +with Gainsborough, broke into a new field in the portraiture of women. +Gainsborough took the grandeur of Van Dyck for his pattern, but improved +upon it by substituting simplicity for dignity and elaboration, which he +was able to manage without great difficulty, as he had a clear advantage +over the Flemish master in that the costumes in use in his time were +lighter in character, and permitted of the contour of form being +properly exhibited. This simple grace of form allied to grandeur in +bearing, naturally brings about an apparent modification in expression +in conformity with it, so long as there are no conflicting elements in +expression present, which Gainsborough was careful to avoid. Reynolds +went further than Gainsborough, for after the middle of his career he +directly added an expression of nobility to his portraits of women +whenever the features would admit of it, and so brought about the +highest type of feminine portraiture known in art. He was more nearly +allied to Titian than Van Dyck, and though in sheer force of sensorial +beauty he did not reach the level of the Venetian master, yet in pure +feminine portraiture, where high beauty of expression is combined with a +perfect generalization of the features, Reynolds is unsurpassed in +the history of painting, so far as we can judge from examples remaining +to us. For we must estimate an artist from his best work. Reynolds +painted forty or fifty portraits of women of the character indicated, +and a few of them, notably Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy,[a] and Mrs. +Billington as St. Cecilia,[b] are amongst the most luminous examples of +feminine portraiture in existence. There are many artists who equalled +Reynolds in the representation of men, but there are very few indeed who +even attempted to strike a just balance between sensorial and +intellectual effects in the countenance of a woman. + + [a] Westminster Coll., London. + + [b] New York Public Library. + +With such great leaders as Reynolds and Gainsborough, it might have been +hoped that the school they founded in portraiture would have taken a +long lease of life, but it rapidly died away, leaving very few indeed of +footsteps sunk deep in the sands of glory, save those of Raeburn, +Hoppner, Lawrence, and Romney. But between Reynolds and Romney there is +a wide gulf, for while the former sought for his beauty among the higher +gifts of nature, Romney, with rare exceptions, was content with a formal +expression allied to grace of pose. We may shortly consider this +graceful attitude for it seems to be often regarded as an all-sufficing +feature in the representation of women.[53] + +The charm of grace lies chiefly in movement, and a graceful attitude in +repose implies rest from graceful movement, but this attitude is +ephemeral in nature, for if prolonged it quickly becomes an artificial +pose. In art therefore, a graceful pose, whether exhibited in action or +at rest, must soon tire unless attractive expression be present to +deepen the impress of the work upon the mind of the observer. The +general æsthetic value of graceful form in a painted figure varies with +the scale to which the figure is drawn. With a heroic figure, grace is +of the smallest importance; in one of life size, as a portrait for +instance, the quality is of considerable assisting value; and as the +scale is diminished, so does the relative value of grace increase. This +is because details of expression can be less truthfully rendered in +small figures than in those of life size, while in miniature figures +certain high qualities of expression, as nobility, or a combined +expression of mind and form, as grandeur, can be scarcely indicated at +all, so that purely sensorial beauty, as that arising from grace of +pose, becomes of comparatively vast importance. This was well understood +in ancient times. The Grecian sculptured life-size figures are nearly +always graceful, but the grace arises naturally from perfection of form +and expression, and not from a specially added quality, a particular +grace of pose being always subordinated, if present at all. On the other +hand, in the smaller Grecian figures, such as those found at Tanagra and +in Asia Minor, anything in expression beyond regularity of features is +not attempted, but grace is always present, and it is entirely upon this +that the beauty of the figurines depends. We may presume from the +frescoes opened out at Pompeii, that the ancients were well aware of the +value and limitations of grace in art. In all these decorations where +the figures are of a general type, as fauns, bacchantes, nereids, +dancers, and so on, they are represented in motion, flying drapery being +skilfully used to provide illusion. Grace is the highest quality evident +in these forms, while the expression is invariably negative. For pure +wall decorations, which are observed in a casual way, a high quality of +grace such as these frescoes provide is all-sufficient, but as with the +Greeks, the Romans did not make grace a leading feature in serious art. + +With the great painters of the Renaissance, nobility, grandeur, and +general perfection of form and expression, though necessarily implying a +certain grace in demeanour, altogether dwarfed the feature of grace of +pose. In the seventeenth century, grace was subordinated to dignity of +form in the case of Van Dyck and Velasquez, and to actual life +experience with Rubens and Rembrandt. When either of these last two +added a quality of form to their figures, it was always dignity and not +grace. Murillo was the first Spanish painter to pay particular attention +to the grace of his figures, but he never gave it predominance. The +French masters of the period, Le Brun, Le Sueur, Poussin, Mignard, and +Rigaud, leaned too closely to classical traditions to permit of grace +playing a leading part in their designs, though some of slightly lesser +fame as Noel and Antoine Coypel, appeared to attribute considerable +value to the quality. It was during this century in Italy that grace +first appeared as a prominent feature in figure painting. In his +pastoral and classical scenes, Albani seems to have largely relied upon +it for his beauty, and Cignani, Andrea Sacchi, Sassoferrato, and others +followed in his footsteps in this respect, though up to the end of the +century no attempt was made in portraiture to sacrifice other features +to grace of pose. Rosalba then made her appearance as a portraitist, and +she was the first to rest the entire beauty of her work on sensorial +charm of feature and grace of pose. She developed a weakened school in +France which culminated with Nattier; and in England, Angelica +Kauffmann, and some miniature painters, notably Cosway and Humphrey, +took up her system for their life-size portraits, while many artists "in +small" as Cipriani and Bartolozzi, assisted in forming a cult of the +style. But of the greater British painters, only Romney gave high +importance to grace of pose in portraits of women. It is safer for an +artist to eschew grace of pose altogether than to sacrifice higher +qualities to it. A little added dignity is always preferable to a +graceful attitude in a portrait, because in nature it is not so +evanescent a feature. Grace is a good assisting quality, but an inferior +substitute. + +The greatest repose possible is necessary in a portrait, as a suggestion +of action tends to draw the attention of the observer to it, thus +impeding the impression of the whole upon his mind. The leading +portraitists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries never erred in +this matter, unless we except a single work by Titian--the portrait +group of Paul III. and the Cardinals Farnese, where the last named has +just arrived and is apparently in the act of bowing before completing +his final step; but even here it may be fairly argued that a moment of +rest between two parts of the final action is to be presumed. It was not +an uncommon practice of Van Dyck to pose a subject arrested in the act +of walking, or with one foot on the lowest step of a stairway as if +about to ascend; but in each of these instances the head is turned, and +it is obvious that the motion is temporarily stayed.[a] A similar pose +was sometimes adopted by British artists of the eighteenth century with +conspicuous success. If a portrait figure be painted in the act of +walking on level ground, the feet must be together even if the moment +represented be that between two steps in the action, because it is +contrary to all experience for a man to rest while so walking, with one +foot in front of the other. In a general composition the representation +of a man walking with the feet separated is permissible, because it is +part of a general action, and accessory in its nature, but in a portrait +the beginning and end of the action depicted are usually unknown, and +hence any action must be meaningless and disturbing to the observer.[b] + + [a] See Earl of Pembroke, Wilton Coll., Countess of Devonshire, + Chatsworth, and Philip le Roy, Wallace Coll., all in England. + + [b] See Chase's Master Roland, private Coll., N. Y.; and Manet's Boy + with a Sword, Met. Museum, N. Y. + +The French and English artists of the eighteenth century followed the +practice of their predecessors in avoiding the exhibition of movement in +their portraits, but occasionally they departed from the rule. In his +fine portrait of Mrs. Thomas Raikes, Romney shows the lady playing a +harpsichord, with the fingers apparently in motion; and in his group of +the Ladies Spencer, one of them is fingering a harp. The result in each +case is a stiff attitude which detracts from the beauty of the work. Van +Dyck managed such a design in a much better way, for in his portrait of +his wife with a cello, she holds the bow distinctly at rest.[a] Titian +also, when representing a man at an organ, shows his hands stayed, while +turning his head.[b] Reynolds moved aside once from the custom in +respect of action,[c] and Raeburn seems also to have erred only on a +single occasion.[d] + + [a] Munich Gallery. + + [b] Venus and the Organ Player, Prado. + + [c] Viscountess Crosbie, Tennant Coll., London. + + [d] Dr. Nathaniel Spens, Royal Co. of Archers, Edinburgh. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +EXPRESSION. PART VI--MISCELLANEOUS + + Grief--The smile--The open mouth--Contrasts--Representation of + death. + + +The painter has ever to be on his guard against over-emphasis of facial +expression. His first object is to present an immediately intelligible +composition, and this being accomplished, much has already been done +towards providing appropriate expressions for his characters. It has +been seen that attitude alone may appear to lend to a countenance +suitable expression which is not observed when the head of the figure is +considered separately; and while such a condition is not frequent, its +possibility indicates that the painter is warranted in relying more or +less upon the details of his action for conveying the state of mind of +the personages concerned therein. It is not the purpose here to deal +with the various forms of expression that may be of use to the painter, +nor indeed is it necessary. The work of Raphael alone leaves little to +be learned in respect of the expression of emotion so far as it may be +exhibited in a painting[54]; but there are a few matters in relation to +the subject which appear to require attention, judging from experience +of modern painting, and short notes upon them are here given. + + +GRIEF + +Intense grief is the most difficult expression to depict in the whole +art of painting, because in nature it usually results in distortion of +the features, which the artist must avoid at all cost. Of the thousands +of paintings of scenes relating to the Crucifixion, where the Virgin is +presumed to be in great agony at the foot of the Cross, very rarely has +an artist attempted to portray this agony in realistic manner.[a] He +generally substitutes for grief an expression of sorrow which is +produced without contraction of the features. This expression, which is +invariably accompanied with extreme pallor, does not prevent the +addition of a certain nobility to the countenance, and hence no +suggestion of insufficiency arises in the mind of the observer. But the +sublime expression which may be given to the Virgin would be out of +place in her attendants who are not infrequently made hideous through +attempts to represent them as overcome with grief. + + [a] A notable exception is Poussin's Descent from the Cross, + Hermitage. + +A method of avoiding the difficulty is to conceal the face of the +personage presumed to be suffering from grief. Timanthes is recorded by +Pliny as having painted a picture of the Sacrifice of Iphigenia in which +the head of Agamemnon was completely covered by his robe; and a picture +of the same subject in a Pompeian fresco represents the Grecian monarch +hiding his face with his right hand, while the left gathers up his +robe.[a] This invention was the subject of considerable discussion in +Europe in the eighteenth century, in which Reynolds, Falconet, Lessing, +and others took part. Reynolds said of the device that an artist might +use it once, but if he did so a second time, he would be justly +suspected of improperly evading difficulties. Falconet compared the +action of Timanthes to that of a poet who avoided expressing certain +sentiments on the ground that the action of his hero was above anything +that could be said[b]; while Lessing held that the grief which overcame +Agamemnon could only find expression in distortion, and hence the artist +was right in covering the face.[c] Unquestionably Lessing was justified, +for nothing more is demanded of the painter than to impress the +imagination of the observer with the intensity of the grief depicted, +and in this he succeeds. Obviously the poet is in a different position +from the painter because he can express deep grief easily enough without +suggesting distortion of the features. + + [a] See Plate 14[55]. + + [b] "Traduction des 34me, 35me, et 36me livres de Pline." + + [c] Laocoon. + +The artifice of Timanthes was practically unused during the Renaissance, +though Botticelli once conceals the face of a woman lamenting over the +body of Christ,[a] and Richardson quotes a drawing by Polidoro where the +Virgin hides her face in drapery in a lamentation scene. In Flanders at +a little earlier period, Roger van der Weyden used the device,[b] and +the Maître de Flémalle shows St. John turning his head away and holding +his hand to his face in a Crucifixion scene.[c] In the succeeding +centuries little was known of the practice, but quite lately it has come +into use again. Boecklin painted a Pietà in which the Virgin has thrown +herself over the dead body of Christ in an agony of grief, her whole +form being covered by a cloak. Feuerbach has a somewhat similar +arrangement, and in a picture of the Departure of Jason, he hides the +face of an attendant of Medea, a plan adopted in two or three frescoes +of the subject at Pompeii. Prud'hon, in a Crucifixion scene, hides the +face of the Magdalene in her hands, and Kaulbach in his Marguerite so +bends her head that her face is completely concealed from the observer. +Where the face cannot altogether be hidden owing to the character of the +design, it is sometimes thrown into so deep a shade that the features +are indistinguishable, this being an excellent device for symbolical +figures typifying great anguish.[d] + + [a] The Brera, Milan. + + [b] In a scene of The Eucharist, Antwerp. + + [c] Christ on the Cross, Berlin. + + [d] As in Hacker's Cry of Egypt. + +It is not a good plan in a tragic design merely to turn the head away to +indicate grief or sorrow, because in such a case the artist is unable to +differentiate between a person experiencing intense grief, and one who +turns his head from horror of the tragedy.[a] The scheme of half veiling +the face is not often successful, since the depth of emotion that would +be presumed from such an action may be more than counterbalanced by the +very limited feeling which can be indicated by the part of the face +remaining exposed. On account of a neutralizing effect of this kind, +Loefftz's fine picture of the Dead Christ at Munich is much weakened, +for there is no stronger expression on the part of the Virgin than +patient resignation. Sorrow may well be displayed by semi-concealment of +the features, because here the necessary expression may be produced by +the eyes alone.[b] In ancient art, to half conceal the face indicated +discretion, as in the case of a Pompeian fresco where a nurse of the +young Neptune, handing him over to a shepherd for education, has her +mouth and chin covered, the meaning of this being that she is acquainted +with the high birth of the boy, but must not reveal it. + + [a] See Gros's Timoleon of Corinth. + + [b] Leighton's Captive Andromache. + + +THE SMILE + +A pronounced smile in nature is always transitory, and hence should be +avoided when possible in a painting. The only smile that does not tire +is that which is so faint as to appear to be permanent in the +expression, and it has been the aim of many painters to produce this +smile. An examination of numerous pictures where a smile is expressed in +the countenance has convinced the writer that when either the eyes +alone, or the eyes and mouth together, are used to indicate a smile, it +is invariably over-pronounced as a suggestive permanent feature, and +that in every case of such permanence, success arises from work on the +mouth alone. + +The permanent smile was not studied in Europe till the Milanese school +was founded, and in this nearly every artist gave his attention to it, +following the example of Lionardo. This great master, who was well +acquainted with the principles of art, is not likely to have had in his +mind an evanescent expression when he experimented with the smile, and +one can hardly understand therefore why this feature is almost +invariably over-emphasized in his works. In his portrayal of women he +used both eyes and mouth to bring about the smile,[a] and more commonly +than not paid most attention to the eyes. Perhaps he had in view the +production of a permanent smile solely by means of the eyes, which play +so great a part in general expression. In nature it is physically +impossible for a smile to be produced without a faint variation in the +mouth line, while the lower eyelids may remain perfectly free from any +change in light and shade, even with a smile more pronounced than is +necessary for apparent permanence. In the Mona Lisa at Boston,[56] the +smile is very faintly indicated by the eyes, and most pronounced at the +mouth, while in the famous Paris picture, the eyes are chiefly +responsible for the smile, the mouth only slightly assisting.[57] Many +smiling faces were produced by others of the Milanese school, and as a +rule the mouth only was used, often with complete success, notably by +B. Luini,[b] Pedrini,[c] and Ferrari.[d] Raphael never used the eyes to +assist in producing a smile, except with the Child Christ,[e] and in all +cases where he exhibits a smile in a Madonna[f] or portrait,[g] it +appears definitely permanent. As a rule the great artists of the +Renaissance other than the disciples of Lionardo, rarely produced a +smile with the intention of suggesting a permanently happy expression, +and in the seventeenth century little attention was given to it. + + [a] An exception where the mouth only is used is a drawing for the + Madonna and Child with St. Anne, Burlington House, London. + + [b] Salome, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [c] Madonna and Child, Arezzo. + + [d] Madonna and Child, Brera, Milan. + + [e] Cowper Madonna, Panshanger, England. + + [f] See Casa Tempi Madonna, Munich; and Virgin with a Goldfinch, + Uffizi. + + [g] Portrait of a Young Man, Budapest; and the Fornarina, Barberini + Gallery, Florence. + +The great French portraitists of the eighteenth century frequently made +the smile a feature in expression, and a few of them, notably La Tour, +seldom produced a countenance without one. In most cases the smile is a +little too pronounced for permanence, but there are many examples of a +faint and delicate smile which may well suggest an habitual condition. +Rigaud's Louis XV. as a Boy is an instance,[a] though here the illusion +quickly passes when we bring to mind the other portraits of the monarch. +Nattier,[b] Boucher,[c] Dumont le Romain,[d] Perronneau,[e] Chardin, +Roslin, and others, sometimes succeeded, but the French master of the +smile was La Tour who executed quite a dozen examples which Lionardo +might have envied.[f] Of British artists Romney was the most adept in +producing a permanent smile,[g] but strange to say there is no instance +of one in his many portraits of Lady Hamilton, beyond her representation +as a bacchante.[h] Here the smile is far too pronounced for a plain +portrait, but a bacchante may reasonably be supposed to be ever engaged +in scenes of pleasure, and hence the feature does not seem to be out of +place. Reynolds commonly used both eyes and mouth in creating his +smiles,[i] but Raeburn was nearly equal to Romney in the number of his +felicitous smiles, while he seldom exceeded the minimum expression +required for permanence.[j] Gainsborough produced a few portraits of +women with a vague furtive smile, sweet and expressive beyond degree.[k] +They are invariably brought about by a faint curvature of the mouth +line. + + [a] At Versailles. + + [b] Madame Louise, at Versailles. + + [c] Portrait of a Young Woman, the Louvre. + + [d] Two examples in the group Madame Mercier and Family, Louvre. + + [e] Madame Olivier, Groult (formerly), Coll., Paris. + + [f] See Madame de la Popelinière and Mdlle. Carmago, both at Saint + Quentin Museum; and Madame Pompadour, Louvre. + + [g] See Mrs. Yates, Llangattock Coll.; William Booth, Lathom Coll.; + and Mrs. Tickle, A. de Rothschild (formerly) Coll., all England. + + [h] T. Chamberlayne Coll., England. + + [i] For exceptions see Hon. Lavinia Bingham, Spencer Coll., and Mrs. + Abington, Fife Coll., both England. + + [j] See Farmer's Wife, Mitchell Coll.; Mrs. Lauzun, National Gallery, + London; and Mrs. Balfour, Beith Coll., Scotland. + + [k] Lady Sheffield, Alice Rothschild Coll.; and Mrs. Leybourne, Popham + Coll. + + +THE OPEN MOUTH + +If there be one transient feature more than another which should be +avoided in a painting, and particularly in the principal figure, it is +a wide-open mouth. Necessarily, after a short acquaintance with a +picture containing such a feature, either the mouth appears to be kept +open by a wedge, or, as in the case of a laugh, the face is likely to +wear an abnormal expression approaching to idiocy, for it is altogether +contrary to experience of normal persons in real life, for a mouth to be +kept open longer than for an instant or two. Hence the first artists +have studiously refrained from exhibiting a wide-open mouth, or indeed +one that is open at all except to such an extent that the parted lips +appear a permanent condition. But a few great men have erred in the +matter. Thus, Mantegna shows the child Christ with the mouth widely open +in a half-vacant and half-startled expression, which is immediately +repelling.[a] Dosso Dossi has several pictures much injured by the +feature,[b] and in Ercole di Roberti's Concert, no less than three +mouths are wide open.[c] One of the figures in Velasquez's Three +Musicians opens his mouth far too widely,[d] while Hals has half a dozen +pictures with the defect.[e] A rare mistake was made by Carlo Dolci when +showing Christ with His mouth open wide in the act of utterance,[f] and +Mengs erred similarly in St. John Baptist Preaching.[g] In more modern +times the fault is seldom noticeable among artists of repute, though +occasionally a bad example occurs, as in Winslow Homer's All's Well.[h] +Even when an open mouth seems unavoidable, the effect is by no means +neutralized.[i] + + [a] Virgin and Child at Bergamo. + + [b] Notably A Muse Instructing a Court Poet, and Nymph and Satyr, + Pitti Palace. + + [c] National Gallery, London. + + [d] Berlin Gallery. + + [e] See Merry Company at Table, Met. Mus., N. Y., and similar + pictures. + + [f] Christ Blessing, a single figure picture. + + [g] Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [h] Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 15. + + [i] As in Dow's The Dentist, Schwerin Mus., and a similar work at the + Louvre. + +When the blemish is in an accessory figure, it is of lesser importance +as there it becomes an incidental circumstance on the mind of the +observer. Thus, in Reynolds's Infant Hercules, where Alcmena, on seeing +the child holding the snakes, opens her mouth with surprise and alarm, +the action of the central figure is so strong that the importance of the +others present is comparatively insignificant.[a] Nevertheless in a +Pompeian fresco of the same subject, care has been taken to close the +mouth of Alcmena. Where the design represents several persons singing, +it is well possible to indicate the action without showing the mouths +open, as in Raphael's St. Cecilia.[b] In a picture of a like subject, +with the Saint in the centre of a group of five singers, Domenichino +shows only the two outside figures with open mouths, and one of these is +in profile. There are several works where David is seen singing to the +accompaniment of a harp, but though his mouth is open, the figure is in +profile, and the lips are hidden by moustache and beard.[c] + + [a] Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [b] Bologna Museum. + + [c] For example, Rubens's David's Last Song, Frankfort Museum. + +It may be observed, however, that in certain cases artificial +conditions may render an open mouth in a picture of comparatively little +significance. A painted laugh for instance may only become objectionable +to the observer when the work is constantly before him; but when it is +in a picture gallery and he sees it but rarely, the lasting character of +the feature is not presented to his mind. The Laughing Cavalier of Franz +Hals, though violating the principle, does not appear in bad taste to +the average visitor to the Wallace Collection. In the case of +Rembrandt's portrait of himself with Saskia on his knee, where the +artist has his lips parted in the act of laughing, there is an +additional reason why the transient expression should not tire. Because +of the number of self-portraits he painted, the countenance of Rembrandt +is quite familiar to most picture gallery visitors, and to these the +laugh in the Dresden picture could not possibly pass as an habitual +expression. + + [Illustration: PLATE 15 (See page 176) + Winslow Homer's All's Well (_Boston Museum_)] + + +CONTRASTS + +Designs specially built up for the purpose of contrasting two or more +attributes or conditions are almost invariably uninteresting unless the +motive be hidden behind a definite action which appears to control the +scheme. This is because of the difficulty of otherwise connecting the +personages contrasted in a particular action of common understanding. A +design of Hercules and Omphale affords a superior contrast of strength +and beauty to a composition of Strength and Wisdom. In each case a +herculean figure and a lovely woman represent the respective qualities, +but in the first the figures are connected by expression and action, and +in the second no connection can be established. So in contrasting beauty +of mind with that of form, this is much better represented by such a +subject as Hippocrates and the Bride of Perdiccas than in the Venetian +manner of figures unconnected in the design. And in respect of +conditions, Frith's picture of Poverty and Wealth, where a carriage full +of fashionable women drives through a poor section of London, has little +more than a topographical interest, but in a subject such as The First +Visit of Croesus to Æsop, the contrast between poverty and wealth +would deeply strike the imagination. + +In contrasts of good and evil, vice and virtue, and similar subjects, it +is inferior art to represent the evil character by an ugly figure. As +elsewhere pointed out, deformity of any kind injures the æsthetic value +of a picture because it tends to neutralize the pleasurable feeling +derived from the beauty present. The poet may join physical deformity +with beauty because he can minimize the defect with words, but the +painter has no such recourse.[58] A deformed personage in a composition +is therefore to be deprecated unless as a necessary accessory in a +historical work, in which case he must be subordinated to the fullest +extent possible. The figure of Satan, of an exaggerated satyr type, has +often been introduced into subjects such as the Temptation of Christ, +though not by artists of the first rank.[a] Such pictures do not live as +high class works of art however they be painted. Correggio makes a +contrast of Vice and Virtue in two paintings,[b] representing Vice by a +man bound, but usually in the mature time of the Renaissance, Vice was +shown as a woman, either beautiful in features, or with her face partly +hidden, various accessories indicating her character. A notable +exception is Salviati's Justice where a hideous old woman takes the rôle +of Vice.[c] Even in cases where a witch has to be introduced, as in +representations of Samuel's Curse, it is not necessary to follow the +example of Salvator Rosa, and render her with deformed features, for +there are several excellent works where this defect is avoided.[d] + + [a] See examples by Ary Scheffer, Luxembourg; and H. Thoma, Burnitz + Coll. + + [b] Both at the Louvre. + + [c] The Bargello, Florence. + + [d] As in K. Meyer's picture. + +An effective design with the purpose of contrasting the ages of man is +not possible, firstly, because the number of ages represented must be +very limited, and, secondly, for the reason that the figures cannot be +connected together in a free and easy manner. Hence all such pictures +have been failures, though a few great artists have attempted the +subject. Titian tried it with two children, a young couple, and an old +man, assorting the personages casually in a landscape without attempting +to connect them together in action.[a] At about the same time Lotto +produced a contrast, also with three ages represented, namely, a boy, a +young man, and an elderly man.[b] These personages sit together as if +they had been photographed for the purpose, without a ray of +intelligence passing between them. But this is far better than Grien's +Three Ages,[c] for here the artist has strangely confused life and +death, exhibiting a grown maiden, a middle-aged woman, and a skin-coated +skeleton holding an hour-glass. The best design of the subject is Van +Dyck's Four Ages.[d] He shows a child asleep near a young woman who is +selling flowers to a soldier, and an old man is in the background. +There is thus a presumed connection between three of the personages, but +naturally the composition is somewhat stiff. The only other design worth +mentioning is by Boecklin, who also represents four ages.[e] Two +children play in the background of a landscape; a little farther back is +a young woman; then a cavalier on horseback; and finally on the top of +an arch an old man whom Death in the form of a skeleton is about to +strike. But here again there is no connection between the figures, the +consequent formality half destroying the æsthetic value of the work. +From these examples than which there is none better, it may be gauged +that it is hopeless to expect a good design from a subject where the +ages of man are contrasted. If represented at all, the ages should be +contrasted in separate pictures, as Lancret painted them. + + [a] Bridgewater Coll., England. + + [b] Pitti Palace, Florence. + + [c] The Prado, Madrid. + + [d] Vincenza Museum. + + [e] Vita somnium breve. + +The practice of presenting nude with clothed figures where the subject +does not absolutely compel it, is commonly supposed to be for the +purpose of contrast. This may have been the object in some cases, but +in very few is the interest in the contrast not outweighed by the +bizarre appearance of the work. As a rule in these pictures there is +nothing in the expressions or actions of the personages depicted to +suggest a reason for the absence of clothes from some of them, and so to +the average observer they form a "problem" class of painting. The first +important work of the kind executed was Sebastiano del Piombo's Concert, +in which the group consists of two nude women, one with a reed pipe, and +two men attired in Venetian costume, of whom one handles a guitar.[a] +The figures are very beautiful and the landscape is superb, but as one +cannot account for the nude figures in an open-air musical party, the +æsthetic value of the work is largely diminished. This painting has +suggested several designs to modern artists, the most notable being +Manet's Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, where a couple of nude women with two men +dressed in modern clothes are shown in a picnic on the grass. Not only +is the scheme inexplicable, but the invention is so extravagant as to +provoke the lowest of suggestions. In a composition of this kind only a +great artist can build up a harmonious design. + + [a] At the Louvre. Formerly attributed to Giorgione. + +Titian's picture known as Sacred and Profane Love,[a] where the figure +of a nude woman is opposed to one clothed, may really signify any of a +dozen ideas, but the artist probably had no other scheme in his mind +than to represent different types of beautiful women. Crowe and +Cavalcaselli's suggested title of L'Amour ingénu et l'Amour satisfait, +was certainly never conceived by Titian, nor is Burckhardt's proposal, +Love and Prudery, possible in view of the flowers in the hand of the +draped figure. In any case this picture is the greatest of its kind, for +the composition is so delicate and harmonious, and the art so perfect, +as to render its precise meaning a matter of little consideration. +Another picture of Sacred and Profane Love was painted by Grien.[b] He +shows a nude woman from whom Cupid has just drawn the drapery, and +another woman concealing her figure with loose drapery. The effect is +weak. The nude figures in the well-known Drinkers of Velasquez[c] are +undisturbing because they are not very prominent in the picture, but +their significance is not apparent. + + [a] Borghese Gallery, Rome. + + [b] Frankfort Museum. + + [c] The Prado, Madrid. + +No one has yet properly explained the meaning of the nude male figures +standing at ease in the background of Michelangelo's celebrated Holy +Family.[a] They are apparently pagan gods, and it is suggested that the +artist intended to signify the overthrow of the Grecian deities by the +coming of Christ. Such an explanation might be possible with another +painter, but it does not accord with our conception of the mind of +Michelangelo. A still greater puzzle is offered by Luca Signorelli who, +in the landscape background of the bust portrait of a man, shows two +nude men to the right of the portrait, and two attired women at the +left.[b] It is impossible to suggest any meaning of this extraordinary +invention. + + [a] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [b] Berlin Gallery. + + +THE REPRESENTATION OF DEATH + +Death is a subject inappropriate to the art of painting except where it +is dealt with symbolically or as an historical incident. Naturally in +either of these cases any realistic representation of death, or of +distortion connected therewith, should be studiously avoided. For while +many aspects of death may not be unpleasant to the senses, its actual +presence--the cold immobility; the pulseless soulless, decaying thing; +the appalling mirror of our own fate--these things are most unpleasant, +and hence should have no place in painting. In sculpture, represented in +a certain way, death is admissible, for in marble or bronze a body may +be carved indicating only the eternal composure of a beautiful form. +This is how the Greeks showed death, whether in the case of a warrior +fallen on the battlefield, or as the twin brother of Sleep. But the +painter is less fortunate: for him death is decay. + +The presence of so many scenes of death in the paintings of the past was +the result of accident. For a long while after the dawn of the +Renaissance, those controlling churches and other religious institutions +of the Christians were the chief and almost the only patrons of art, and +they required paintings as well for didactic purposes as for decoration. +For some time pictures often took the place of writing, where +comparatively few could read, in the inculcation of Christian doctrines +and history, and they were largely used as images before which people +could kneel in prayer. The most important facts bearing upon Christian +faith are concerned with death, and so there have been accumulated +thousands of paintings of scenes of the Crucifixion, the death-beds of +saints, instances of martyrdom, and so on. While these paintings have +been highly useful as tending to invite reverence for a sublime creed, +it would be injurious to suggest that generally they take a high place +in art. Some of them do, but the very large number of them which +indicate dying agony, or recent death with all its mortal changes, must +not be approved from a strict art point of view, for any beauty which +may be present apart from the subject is instantly neutralized by the +pain and horror arising from the invention. But it is evidently +unnecessary to produce such pictures, even in the case of the +Crucifixion, for there are ample works in existence to show that the +face and body of Christ can be so presented as to be free from +indications of physical suffering or decay. + +But if we are to protest against designs exhibiting forbidding aspects +of death in sacred works, what can we say of the pictures of executions, +massacres, plagues, and so on, which ever and again have been produced +since the middle of the nineteenth century? Deeds of heroism or +self-sacrifice on the battlefield where bodies of the fallen may be +outlined are well, but simple wholesale murders as presented by +Benjamin-Constant, Heim, and fifty others, where the motive does not +pretend to be anything else than massacre or other ghastly event, can +only live as examples of degraded art. There may be something said for +Verestchagin, who painted heaps of heads and skulls, and scattered +corpses, in order to show the evils of war, but if the arts are to be +used at all for such a purpose, the poet or orator would be much more +impressive because he could veil the hideous side of the subject with +pathos and imagery, and further differentiate between just and unjust +wars. The painter is powerless to do these things. He can only represent +the horrors of war by depicting horrible things which is entirely beyond +the province of his art. The purpose of art is to give pleasure, and if +the design descend below the line where displeasure begins, then the art +is no more. + +How easy it is for the æsthetic value of a picture to be lowered by the +representation of a corpse, is shown in three celebrated paintings--the +anatomical works of Rembrandt[a] and De Keyser.[b] Probably these works +were ordered to honour the surgeons or schools concerned, but the object +would have been better served by a composition such as Eakin's Dr. +Cross's Surgical Clinic.[c] Here the leading figure is also giving a +lesson to students, and practical demonstration is proceeding, but there +is no skeleton or corpse to damage the picture. Fromentin said that the +Tulp work left him very cold,[d] and although he endeavoured to find +technical ground for this, it is more than likely that the principal +reason lay in the involuntary mental disturbance brought about by the +corpse. Another fine design largely injured by corporeal evidence of +death is Ingres's Oedipus and the Sphinx,[e] where a foot rises out of +a hole in the rock near the Sphinx, the presumption of course being that +the body of a man who had failed with the riddle had lately been thrown +there. The invention is most deplorable in such a picture. + + [a] Lesson in Anatomy of Professor Tulp, and the fragment of a similar + work, both at The Hague. + + [b] Rijks Museum, Amsterdam. + + [c] Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. + + [d] Masters of Other Days. + + [e] At the Louvre. + +The use of a skeleton as a symbol of death in painting seems to have +been unusual during the Renaissance till towards the end of the +fifteenth century. The earliest artist of note in this period to adopt +it, was Jean Prevost who represented a man taking a letter from a +skeleton without seeing the messenger.[a] Then came Grien who painted +three works of the kind. In the first Death holds an hour-glass at the +back of a woman, and points to the position of the sand[b]; in the +second the bony figure has clutched a girl by the hair[c]; and the third +represents a skeleton apparently kissing a girl.[d] They are all hideous +works, and might well have acted as a warning to succeeding artists. +After Grien the use of a skeleton in design was practically confined to +the smaller German masters till the middle of the second half of the +sixteenth century, when it disappeared from serious work. From this time +on, for the next three centuries artists of repute rarely introduced a +skeleton into a painting, though it is to be found occasionally in +engravings. One might have supposed that the unsightly form had been +abandoned with the imps, evil spirits, and other crudities of past days, +but it was not to be. The search for novelties in recent times has only +resulted in the resuscitation of bygone eccentricities, and we must not +be surprised that the skeleton is amongst them. + + [a] Old Man and Death, Bruges. + + [b] Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [c] Girl and Death, Basle Museum. + + [d] Basle Museum. + +Modern artists have displayed considerable ingenuity in the use of the +skeleton, but the results have necessarily only succeeded in degrading +the art. Rethel figures a skeleton in the costume of a monk who is +ringing a bell at a dance.[a] Several of the dancers have fallen dead, +apparently from plague, and the whole scene is ghastly. Henneberg has a +Fortune allegory in which Death is about to seize a horseman who is +chasing a nude woman,[b] this design being a slight modification of a +variety of prints executed in the sixteenth century. Thoma uses a +skeleton in a most bizarre manner. He substitutes it for the serpent in +a picture of Adam and Eve,[c] and in another work associates it with +Cupid.[d] Two lovers are talking, and Death stands behind the woman +whose hat Cupid is lifting. A terrible picture with a political bearing +was painted by Uhde.[e] It represents a crowd of revolutionists rushing +towards a bridge, while a skeleton in modern costume waves a sword and +cheers them on. These instances suffice to indicate the difficulty in +the production of a fine work of art with so hideous a form as a +skeleton thrown into prominence. + + [a] Death at a Masked Ball. + + [b] Race for Fortune. + + [c] Sin and Death. + + [d] Cupid and Death. + + [e] Revenge. + +How simply one may avoid the introduction of a skeleton in a design +concerned with death, is shown by an example where three artists deal +with the same motive--Death, the Friend. The first composition shows an +old man sitting dead in a chair while a skeleton costumed as a monk, +tolls a bell[a]: in the second there is also an old man in a chair, but +an Angel with a scythe is substituted for the skeleton[b]: in the third +an Angel with huge folded wings forming an oval framework for her +figure, leans over the body of a child which has its face hidden.[c] The +second design is a vast improvement over the first, but the third is +incomparably the best of the three. It may be remarked that a scythe is +too trivial an emblem for the Angel of Death, for whom indeed an emblem +of any kind is only admissible when Death is represented as the result +of eternal justice, in which case a flaming sword is appropriate. + + [a] Woodcut by A. Rethel. + + [b] Lithograph by O. Redon. + + [c] Painting by G. F. Watts. + +Very rarely indeed can a good picture be made out of a funeral scene. +Such a scene attending the death of a great man may be fitly produced, +so long as the imagination can be used in the composition; that is to +say, if there are few or no records of the actual funeral[a]; but +paintings relating to the modern burial of unnamed persons are of little +value as works of art, for the imagination of the artist cannot extend +beyond unpleasant prosaic incidents of common acquaintance. The purpose +of the funeral scenes of Courbet[b] and Anne Ancher[c] has never been +explained; and the various interiors, each with a coffin and distracted +relatives of the dead, by Wiertz,[d] Dalsgaard,[e] and other modern +artists, are capable of bringing only misery instead of pleasure to the +observer. + + [a] As in Rubens's Funeral of Decius, Vienna. + + [b] The Burial at Ornans. + + [c] The Funeral. + + [d] The Orphans. + + [e] The Child's Coffin. + +But while funerals are unsuitable for the painter, interior scenes where +death has occurred and friends are watching the body, offer special +inducements to artists, because the perfect stillness of the living +persons represented may be properly assumed, and so the illusion of life +is little likely to be disturbed through the non-completion of an +indicated action. On this account these works appear very impressive +when well executed, and they may take high rank even when the artist is +limited in his scope by the conditions of an actual scene. Very little +is required however to destroy the illusion of continuity. In Kampf's +picture of the lying-in-state of William I.,[a] where many watchers are +shown who are presumed to be motionless, a boy in the middle distance in +the act of walking, is a most disturbing element. An example where an +illusion of continuity is perfectly maintained is Orchardson's Borgia, +where Cæsar Borgia stands in contemplation over the body of his poisoned +victim. The silence indicated appears practically as permanent as the +painted design, for any reasonable time spent by the observer in +examining the picture, is not likely to be longer than that during which +Cæsar may be presumed to have remained still at the actual occurrence. +Scenes of approaching death may be arranged to produce a similar +illusion, as for instance where those present are praying, or a single +figure is waiting for the life to pass from the sick person. + + [a] The Night of March 31, 1888, at Berlin. + + [Illustration: PLATE 16 (See page 190) + Hercules Contemplating Death, in Bronze, by Pollaiuolo + (_Frick Collection_)] + +Little attention has been paid in art to the expression of dying +persons. There are many pictures representing celebrated men and women +in their dying moments, but very few of them exhibit an expression of +noble resignation and fearlessness, qualities which are naturally +associated with a great man as his end draws near. No doubt the artist +is often limited in his invention by the actual circumstances of the +death scene, as in Copley's Death of Chatham,[a] for the statesman was +unconscious at the moment of representation. Other than this the best +known works of the kind relate to the death of Seneca,[b] Queen +Elizabeth,[c] and General Wolfe.[d] In the last instance only is there a +fine expression. How it was that Rubens missed his opportunity with +Seneca is hard to understand. The presence of a clerk taking down the +utterances of a philosopher as he bleeds to death, gives the design a +theatrical appearance, and removes any suggestion of unconcerned +resignation which might have arisen. One of the most powerful designs in +existence relating to approaching death, is a sculptured figure in +bronze of Hercules contemplating death.[e] The demi-god is +represented standing on an altar. His left foot is raised upon the skull +of an ox; his head is slightly bent, and the whole attitude suggests a +few moments of rest while he contemplates his coming fate. The +conception is as fine as the subject is rare. + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] By Rubens, at Munich. + + [c] By Delaroche, at the Louvre. + + [d] By Benjamin West, Westminster Coll., London. + + [e] By A. Pollaiuolo, Frick Coll., New York. See Plate 16[59]. + +The artist should glorify death if possible, but he can only do this +when the subject has a general application. Many painters have +introduced the Angel of Death into scenes where death has occurred, and +have thus converted them into work of pathos and beauty. Notable +examples of this are Watts's Death, the Friend, already referred to, and +H. Levy's Young Girl and Death, where the Angel gently clasps the body +of a girl whose face is hidden. One of the finest designs of the kind is +Lard's Glory Forgets not Obscure Heroes. On a battlefield, where all +else has gone, lies the body of a soldier over whom stoops a lovely +winged figure who raises the head of the hero, and seems to throw a halo +of glory over him.[a] In historical paintings the appearance of sleep is +often given to a dead body, as in Cogniet's Tintoretto Painting his Dead +Daughter, a pathetic picture, bringing to mind the story of Luca +Signorelli painting his dead son.[b] + + [a] The design for this picture was probably suggested by Longepied's + fine sculptured group of Immortality at the Louvre, the idea + of which was no doubt drawn from Canova's L'Amour et Psyche. + There are Tangara groups and fragments of larger works in + existence showing that the Greeks executed many designs of + a similar character. + + [b] See also Girodet's Burial of Atala, and Le Brun's Death of Cato. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LANDSCAPE + + Limitations of the landscape painter--Illusion of opening + distance--Illusion of motion in landscape--Moonlight + scenes--Transient conditions. + + +Considered as a separate branch of the painter's art, landscape is on a +comparatively low plane, because the principal signs with which it +deals, and the arrangement of them to form a view, may be varied +indefinitely without a sense of incongruity arising. Thus there can be +no ideal in the art; that is to say, no ideal can be conceived which is +general in its character. The artist can aspire to no definite goal: his +imagination is limited to the arrangement of things which are inanimate +and expressionless. He may produce sensorial, but not intellectual, +beauty. The nobler human attributes and passions, as wisdom, courage, +spiritual exaltation, patriotism, cannot be connected with landscape, +and so it is unable to produce in the mind the elevation of thought and +grandeur of sentiment which are the sweetest blossoms of the tree of +art.[60] + +Another drawback in landscape is the necessity for painting it on an +extraordinarily reduced scale. Because of this the highest qualities of +beauty in nature--grandeur and sublimity--can only with difficulty be +suggested on canvas, for actual magnitude is requisite for the +production of either of these qualities in any considerable degree. A +volcano in eruption has no force at all in a painting, a result which is +due, not so much to the inability of the painter to represent moving +smoke and fire, as to the impossibility of depicting their enormous +masses. The disability of the painter in respect of the representation +of magnitude is readily seen in the case of a cathedral interior. This +may or may not have the quality of grandeur, but a picture cannot +differentiate between one that has, and one that has not, because no +feeling of grandeur can arise in looking at a painted interior, the +element of actual space being absent. + +Seeing that an ideal in landscape is impossible, the landscape painter +cannot improve upon nature. In the case of the human figure the painter +may improve upon experience by collecting excellencies from different +models and putting them into one form, thus creating what would be +universally regarded as ideal physical beauty; and he may give to this +form an expression of spiritual nobility which is also beyond experience +because it would imply the absence of inferior qualities inseparable +from man in nature. Thus to the physical, he adds intellectual beauty. +Such a perfect form may be said to be an improvement upon nature, for it +is not only beyond experience, but is nature purified. But the landscape +painter cannot improve upon the signs which nature provides. He may vary +the parts of a tree as he will, but it would never be recognized as +beyond possible experience unless it were a monstrosity.[61] And even if +he could improve upon experience with his signs, this would help him but +little, for the beauty of a landscape depends upon the relation of the +signs to each other, and not upon the beauty of the separate signs which +vary in every work with the character of the design. In colour also the +painter cannot apply to his landscape an appropriate harmony which the +sun is incapable of giving. From all this it follows that the æsthetic +value of a landscape depends entirely upon its correspondence with +nature. + +A good landscape must necessarily be invented, because it is impossible +to reproduce the particular beauty of a natural scene.[62] This beauty +is due to a relation of parts of the view, infinite in number, to each +other, but what this relation is cannot be determined by the observer. +Further, whatever be the relation, the continuous changing light and +atmospheric effects bring about a constant variation in the character of +the beauty. It is possible for an actual view to suggest to the artist a +scheme for a beautiful landscape, but in this the precise relation of +the parts would have to be invented by the painter and fixed by +experiment. The principal features from a natural view may be taken out, +but not those which together bring about the beauty. There is no great +landscape in existence which was painted for the purpose of representing +a particular view. There have of course been scenes painted to order, +even by notable artists, but these only serve the purpose of record, or +as mementoes. The great view of The Hague, painted by Van Goyen under +instructions from the syndics of the town, is the feeblest of his works, +and the many pictures of the kind executed by British and German artists +of the eighteenth century have now only a topographical interest. +Constable painted numerous scenes to order, and there are something like +forty views of Salisbury Cathedral attributed to him, but only those in +which he could apply his own invention are of considerable æsthetic +value. A good artist rarely introduces into a painting even a small +sketch of a scene made from nature. Titian is known to have drawn +numerous sketches in particular localities, but not one has been +identified in his pictures. In nearly every painting of Nicholas Poussin +the Roman Campagna may be recognized, and here he must have made +thousands of sketches during the forty years he spent in the district, +yet the most patient examination has failed to identify a single spot in +his many beautiful views. So with Gaspar Poussin, who, unlike his famous +brother-in-law, occasionally set up his easel in the open air; and with +Claude who never left off sketching in his long life. The greatest +landscapes are those which are true to nature generally, but are untrue +in respect of any particular natural scene. + +Seeing that in landscape the production of sensorial beauty only is +within the power of the painter, and that the beauty is enhanced as +nature is the more closely imitated, it is obvious that for the work to +have a permanent interest, the scene depicted and the incidents therein +should be of common experience, otherwise the full recognition of the +beauty is likely to be retarded by the reasoning powers being +involuntarily set to work in the consideration of the exceptional +conditions. Naturally the term "common experience" has a varied +application. What is of common experience in scenery among people in a +temperate climate, is rare or unknown to those living under the burning +sun of Africa. The artist is fully aware of this, and in designing his +work he takes into account the experience of the people who are likely +to see his paintings. A view of a scene in the East, say in Palestine or +Siam, may be a beautiful work and be recognized as true because the +conditions depicted are commonly known to exist; it would further have +an informative value which would result in added pleasure; but among +people habituated to a temperate climate it would tire more quickly than +a scene of a kind to which they are daily accustomed. In the one case an +effort, however slight, is required to accommodate the view to +experience, and in the other the whole meaning of the scene is +instantaneously identified with its beauty. + +In nature there is always movement and sound. Even on those rare days +when the wind has ceased and the air seems still and dead, there is +motion with noise of some kind. A brook trickles by, insects buzz their +zigzag way, and shadows vary as the sun mounts or descends. But most +commonly there is a breeze to rustle the trees and shrubs, to ripple the +surface of the water, and to throw over the scene evidence of life in +its ever charming variety. The painter cannot reproduce these movements +and sounds. All he represents is silent and still as if nature had +suddenly suspended her work--stayed the tree as it bent to the breeze, +stopped the bird in the act of flight, fixed the water, and fastened the +shadows to the ground. What is there then to compensate the artist for +this limitation? Why, surely he can represent nature as she is at a +particular moment, over the hills and valleys, or across great plains, +with sunlight and atmosphere to mark the breadth and distance and so +produce an illusion of movement to delight the eyes of the observer with +bewitching surprise. For the eye as it involuntarily travels from the +foreground of the picture to the background, proceeds from sign to sign, +each decreasing in definition in conformity with the changes in nature, +till vague suggestions of form announce that far distance has been +reached. The effect is precisely that of the cinematograph, except that +the eye moves instead of the picture. The apparent movement corresponds +closely with the opening of distance in nature when one proceeds in a +fast moving vehicle along a road from which a considerable stretch of +country may be observed. Very rarely is the illusion so marked that the +apparent movement is identified to the senses. When it is so marked the +distance seems to come forward, but is instantaneously stayed before +consideration can be brought to bear upon it. Clearly if one specially +seek the illusion, it becomes impossible because search implies reason +and an examination slow out of all proportion with the rapidity of the +sensorial effect. Accident alone will bring about the illusion, for it +can only arise when the eye travels at a certain rate over the picture, +the minimum of which rate is indeterminable. + +It is evident that any landscape of fair size in which considerable +depth is indicated must necessarily produce an illusion of opening +distance if the varying signs are sufficiently numerous and properly +painted in accordance with the aerial perspective; and this illusion is +undoubtedly the key to the extraordinary beauty observed in the works of +the great masters of landscape since Claude unveiled the secrets of +distance painting. That the apparent movement is rarely actually defined +is immaterial, for it must be there and must act upon the eye, producing +an involuntary sensation which we interpret as pleasure arising from +admiration of the skill of the artist in giving us so good a +representation of distance in his imitation. + + [Illustration: PLATE 17 (See page xii) + Arcadian Landscape, by Claude Lorraine (_National Gallery, London_)] + +As will presently be seen there are other kinds of illusion of motion +which may be produced in landscape, but this illusion of opening +distance is the most important, and it should be produced wherever +distance is represented. In nature the effect of the unfolding of +distance is caused by a sequence of signs apparently diminishing in size +and clearness as the eye travels back, and a sequence of this kind +should be produced by the artist in his picture. It is not sufficient +that patches of colour of the tone and shape of sections of vegetation, +trees, varied soils, and so on, be given, for while these may indicate +distance as any perspective must do, yet an illusion cannot be +produced by such signs because they are not sufficiently numerous for +the eye to experience a cinematographic effect when passing over them. +It is not distance that gives the beauty, but an illusion of opening +distance, without which, and presuming the absence of any other +illusion, only simple harmonies of tone and inanimate forms are +possible. Moreover the patches of colour do not properly represent +nature either as she appears to the eye, or as she is understood from +experience. If one were to take a momentary glance at a view specially +to receive the general colour impression, he might conceivably retain on +his mind a collection of colour masses such as is often put forward as a +landscape, but natural scenes are not observed in this way, and the +artist has no right to imply that a view should be painted as it is +observed at an instantaneous glance. One cannot be supposed to keep his +eyes closed, except for a moment, when in front of nature, and he cannot +be in front of nature for more than a moment without involuntarily +recognizing thousands of signs. There must necessarily be a certain +clearness of the atmosphere for distance to be represented, and in the +minimum clearness, trees, bushes, rivulets, and buildings of every kind, +are well defined at least to the middle distance. These can and should +be painted, and there can be no object whatever in omitting them, except +the ignominious end of saving trouble. + +And it is necessary that the signs, whether shadow or substance, should +be completely painted as they appear to the eye in nature when observed +with average care by one inspecting a view for the purpose of drinking +in all its beauties, for this is how a painted landscape is usually +examined. There is no place in the painter's art for a suggestive sign +in the sense that it may suggest a required complete sign. A sign must +be painted as completely as possible in conformity with its appearance +as seen from the presumed point from which the artist sketched his view, +for the reason that its value as a sign depends upon the readiness with +which it is understood.[63] This is incontrovertible, otherwise the art +of painting would be an art of hieroglyphics. In poetry suggestion is of +great importance, and it may be so glowing as to present to the +imagination a higher form of beauty than can be painted; but the signs +of the painter cannot suggest beauty in this way, because the exercise +of the imagination in respect of them is limited by their form. A sign +painted less distinctly than as it is seen in nature is obviously +removed from its proper relative position, or else is untrue, and in +either case it must have a weakening effect upon the picture. + +The successful representation of aerial perspective depends upon the +careful and close gradation of tones in conformity with the varying +atmospheric density. This is difficult work because of the disabilities +arising from the reduction of the scene into miniature form, which +necessitates the omission of many tones and effects found in nature, +just as a portrait in miniature involves the exclusion of various +elements of expression in the human countenance. But fortunately in +landscape the variableness of nature greatly assists the artist. Only +rarely is the atmosphere of equal density over a considerable depth of +ground, and this fact enables the painter to simplify his work in +production of the illusion without appearing to depart from nature. Thus +he may deepen or contract his foreground within wide limits. The changes +in the appearance of the atmosphere in nature have to be greatly +concentrated in a painting, and as this concentration becomes more +difficult as distance is reached, it follows that the artist has a +better chance of success by making the foreground of his picture begin +some way in front of him, rather than near the spot where he is presumed +to stand when he executes his work. He may of course maintain some very +near ground while materially shortening his middle distance, but this +method must obviously lower the beauty of the painting as a distance +landscape, and make the execution vastly more difficult. Claude adopted +this plan sometimes, but it is seen in very few of his important works. +In his best time Turner was careful to set back his foreground, and to +refrain from restricting his middle ground. + +If a scene be taken from the middle distance only, as in many Barbizon +works, the labour is much simplified because neither the close +delineation of foliage, nor any considerable gradation of atmosphere is +required, but then the beauty resulting from either of these two +exercises is missing. It is equally impossible for such a scene to +indicate growth and life, or the charm of a changing view. Some modern +artists have a habit of blotting out the middle and far distance by the +introduction of a thick atmosphere but this is an abuse of the art, +because however true the aspect may be in the sense that a natural view +is sometimes obscured by the atmosphere, the beauty of the scene as a +whole is hidden, and the picture consists largely of an imitation of the +mist, where an illusion of movement is impossible. The painter should +imitate the more beautiful, and not the less beautiful aspects of +nature. Jupiter has been sometimes painted as an incident in a picture, +nearly wholly concealed by a cloud, but to exhibit a separate work of +the god so concealed, would only be regarded as an excuse for avoiding +exertion, however well the cloud may be painted; yet this would not be +more reprehensible than to hide the greater part of a view by a dense +atmosphere. + +With a clear atmosphere an illusion of opening distance may be secured +with the far distance and the greater part of the middle distance +unobservable, but in such a case a successful design is difficult to +accomplish owing to the limited number of signs available. Many signs, +as trees and houses, either darken or hide the view, while sunlight +effects on unobstructed ground, sufficiently definite to be used as +signs, could not be very numerous without appearing abnormal. The only +really first-class method of producing a satisfactory near-ground +illusion was invented by Hobbema in the later years of his life. This is +to use skilfully placed trees and other signs through which paths wind, +or appear to wind, and to throw in a strong sunlight from the back.[a] +The light enables far more signs to be used in depth than would +otherwise be possible, and so the eye has a comparatively long track to +follow. That the remarkable beauty of the pictures of Hobbema composed +in this way is almost entirely due to the illusion thus created, is +readily seen when they are compared with some of his other works, very +similar in all respects except that the light is thrown in from the +front or the side. Before placing his light at the back, the artist +tried the side plan in many pictures, and while this was a decided +improvement upon his earlier efforts to secure depth of near-ground +signs, it was naturally inferior to the latest scheme. Jacob Ruysdael +adopted the plan of Hobbema in two or three works with great effect.[b] + + [a] See Plate 18. + + [b] For example, The Marsh, Hermitage. + +When the middle distance is hidden by a rising foreground, an illusion +may be created by the far distance alone if this be of considerable +depth. Since the fifteenth century it has been a frequent practice to +conceal the middle distance, though mostly in pictures of figure +subjects.[64] The Dutch artists of the seventeenth century who painted +open-air scenes of human and animal life, as Paul Potter, Wouverman, and +Albert Cuyp, avoided the middle distance whenever possible, but often +managed to secure a fair illusion. In pure landscape the system is less +often practised, and never by great artists. + +The only means available to the painter of land views for creating an +illusion of motion, apart from that of opening distance, is by the +representation of flowing water so that a series of successive events in +the flow, each connected with, but varying in character from, the +preceding one, can be exhibited. Thus, a volume of water from a fall +proceeds rapidly over a flat surface to a ledge, and thence perhaps to +another ledge of a different depth, from which it passes over or round +irregular rocks and boulders, and thence over smaller stones or into a +stream, creating in its passage every kind of eddy and current.[a] Here +is a series of progressive natural actions in which the progression is +regular and continuous, while the separate actions cover such time and +space that they may be readily separated by the eye. If, therefore, the +whole series be properly represented, an illusion of motion will +result.[65] Obviously the canvas must be of considerable size, and the +breaks in the flow of water as varied in character and as numerous as +possible. Everdingen and Jacob Ruysdael seem to have been the first +artists to recognize the significance of this progression, but Ruysdael +far surpassed his master in the exhibition of it. He examined the +problem in all its variations, solved it in a hundred ways, and at his +death left little for succeeding painters to learn regarding it. Very +rarely, one meets with a landscape where the double illusion of motion +of water and opening distance is provided, and needless to say the +effect is superb.[b] + + [a] See Plate 19. + + [b] For examples see S. Bough's Borrowdale, and Thoma's View of + Laufenburg. + +Sea views occupy a position by themselves inasmuch as there is a fixed +horizontal distance for the artist. He cannot shorten this depth +without making his work look abnormal, and an effort to increase it by +presuming that the picture is painted from a considerable height above +the sea level, is seldom successful because the observer of the work +finds a difficulty in fitting in the novelty with his experience. Except +when depicting stormy weather, or showing a thick atmosphere, the +painter of a sea view has no trouble in obtaining absolute accuracy in +his linear perspective, but this is not sufficient, for if a variety of +trees, herbage, brooks, and so on, requires an illusion of movement, +then certainly does a sea view which has monotony for its keynote. The +motion of the waves in fine weather cannot be suggested on canvas +because it is continuous and equal. One wave displaces another and so +far as the eye can reach there is only a succession of similar waves. +Thus the motion appears unbroken, and from the canvas point of view the +waves must be motionless as the sand hillocks of a desert. Of course in +the actual view, the expanse, the "immeasurable stretch of ocean," is +impressive and to some extent weird, but nothing of this feeling is +induced by a painted miniature. With a bright sky and clear atmosphere +the painter of a sea view cannot well obtain an illusion of opening +distance by means of a multiplication of signs as on land, for the +introduction of many vessels would give the work a formal appearance, +but the problem can be satisfactorily solved by putting the sun in the +sky towards the setting, and using cloud shadows as signs. Aivasovsky, +one of the greatest marine painters of modern times, was very successful +with this class of work. His long shadows thrown at right angles to the +line of sight, carry back the distance till the horizon seems to be +further off than experience warrants, the illusion being perfect. An +illusion of opening distance may, however, be easily obtained in a sea +view when there is a haze covering, but not hiding, the horizon, by +introducing as signs, two or three vessels, the first in the middle +distance. + +Another method of giving a suggestion of motion, which may be used by +the sea painter, is in truthfully representing the appearance of the +water round a vessel passing through it. What is probably the finest +example of this work in existence is Jacob Ruysdael's The Rising +Storm.[a] The sea is shown close to a port, and half a dozen smacks and +small boats are being tossed about by choppy, breaking waves. In the +centre of the picture is a large smack over the weather bow of which a +huge foaming wave has broken, and part is spending its force on the lee +bow, from which the water gradually becomes quieter till at the stern of +the boat little more than a black concavity is seen. The progression of +wave movement is completely represented, and the effect is very +impressive. + + [a] Berlin Gallery. See Plate 20. + +The coast painter can produce an excellent illusion of motion from waves +breaking on a beach, for in nature this action is made up of a series of +different consecutive acts each of which is easily distinguishable to +the eye. The wave rises, bends over its top which becomes crested, and +splashes forward on the beach, to be converted into foam which races +onwards, breaking up as it goes till it reaches the watermark, then +rapidly falling back to be met by another wave. Here is a series of +consecutive incidents which can all be painted so as to deceive for a +moment with the idea of motion. The attempt to represent the action of +waves breaking against steep rocks is invariably a failure, because of +the great reduction of the apparent number of incidents forming the +consecutive series. In nature the eye is not quick enough to follow the +separate events, and so they cannot be distinguished in a painting. +Thomson's fine picture of Fast Castle is distinctly marred by a wide +irregular column of water shown splashing up against a rock. There is no +possibility here of representing a series of actions, and so an instant +suffices to fix the water on the rock. In another work by the same +artist there are waves breaking against precipitous rocks, but in this +case the water first passes over an expanse of low lying rocks, and a +sequence of actions is shown right up to the cliff, an excellent +illusion of movement being brought about.[a] + + [a] Dunluce Castle, which with Fast Castle, is in the Kingsborough + Collection, Scotland. + +Apart from those exhibiting an illusion of motion of some kind, the only +landscapes which have a permanent value, are near-ground scenes in which +conditions of atmosphere of common experience, as rain or storm are +faithfully rendered. In these works the signs must be numerous and +varied in character, for it is only in the multiplication of small +changes of form and tone that the natural effects of a particular +weather condition can be imitated. Jacob Ruysdael and Constable were +the greatest masters of this form of landscape, Crome and Boecklin +closely approaching them, but it is uncommon for a serious worker in +landscape to attempt a picture where distance is not recorded. The best +paintings of Constable present an illusion of opening distance, and when +Jacob Ruysdael painted near-ground only, it was nearly always a hilly +slope with water breaking over low rocks. + +Moonlight and twilight scenes are not good subjects for the painter of +landscape, because, shown as they must be in daylight, or with +artificial light, they become distinctly uninteresting after the first +impression of tonal harmony has passed away, owing to the unconscious +revolt of the mind against something with an unreal appearance.[66] This +is the chief reason why no scene has lived which depended for its beauty +entirely upon moonlight effects. It is about two hundred and fifty years +since Van der Neer died, and he still remains practically the only +moonlight painter known to us whose works seem of permanent interest. +But he did not rely altogether upon moonlight effects for his beauty, +for the representation of distance is the principal feature in all his +works. Further he commonly makes us acquainted with the human life and +habitations of his time, and in this way enhances our appreciation of +his pictures. Before Van der Neer, moonlight scenes were very rarely +executed, and only two or three of these have remained which are worthy +of serious consideration. The best of them is a view by Rubens, where +the light is comparatively strong, and practically the whole of the +beauty rests in the opening distance, which can hardly be surpassed in a +work of this kind.[a] + + [a] Landscape by Moonlight, Mond Collection, London. + +It is not necessary to deal with varieties of pure landscape other than +those mentioned. They are painted in their myriads, and form pleasant +tonal harmonies, or have local interest, but they do not live. As the +foliage in springtime they are fresh and welcome to the eye when they +first appear, but all too soon they fade and disappear from memory like +the leaves of the autumn. + +In landscape as in all other branches of painting, whatever is ephemeral +in nature, or of uncommon experience, should be avoided. Rare sun +effects and exceptional phases of atmosphere should not find their way +into pictures, while strokes of lightning and rainbows should only be +present when they are necessitated by the design, and then must be +subordinated as far as possible. Of all these things the most strongly +to be deprecated are strange sunlight effects, for they have the double +drawback for the painter, of rarity and evanescence in nature. A stroke +of lightning is not out of place where the conditions may be presumed to +be more or less permanent, as in the celebrated picture of Apelles, +where Alexander was represented in the character of Jupiter casting a +thunderbolt, and forks of lightning proceed from his hand; or where the +occurrence is essential in the composition, as in Gilbert's Slaying of +Job's Sheep.[a] So in Danby's The Sixth Seal Opened, the lightning is +quite appropriate, for all nature is disturbed. In Martin's Plague of +Hail, and The Destruction of Pharaoh, the first a night scene, and the +second a view darkened by dense black clouds, lightning is well used for +lighting purposes; and in Cot's The Storm,[b] where the background is +dark and no sky is visible, lightning is the only means possessed by the +artist of explaining that the fear expressed by the lovers in the +foreground, arises from the approaching storm. Great masters like +Giorgione,[c] Rubens,[d] Poussin,[e] used a stroke of lightning on rare +occasions, but took every care that it should not be conspicuous, or +interfere in any way with the first view of the picture. The lightning +is invariably placed in the far background, and no light is apparently +reflected from it. + + [a] The fire of God is fallen from Heaven, and hath burned up the + sheep and the servants. Job 1, 16. + + [b] Metropolitan Museum, N. Y. + + [c] Adrastus and Hypsipyle, Venice. + + [d] Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, Munich. + + [e] Jonah cast into the sea. + + [Illustration: PLATE 18 (See page 202) + Landscape, by Hobbema (_Metropolitan Museum, N. Y._)] + +A rainbow in nature has a life of appreciable duration, and so may be +appropriately used in landscape, but obviously it should be regarded as +a minor accessory except where it forms a necessary feature in the +design.[a] The great drawback in a prominent rainbow is that it forces +itself upon the attention of the observer to the detriment of the +picture as a whole, and if it be very conspicuous and crosses the middle +of the painted view, as in Turner's Arundel Castle, the picture appears +divided in two parts, and the possibility of an illusion of opening +distance is destroyed.[b] Almost as bad is the effect when a rainbow +cuts off a corner of a picture, for this suggests at first sight an +accidental interference with the work.[c] Of all artists Rubens seemed +to know best how to use a rainbow. He adopts three methods. The first +and best is to put the bow entirely in the sky[d]; the second to throw +it right into the background where part of it is dissolved in the +view[e]; and the third to indicate the bow in one part of the picture, +and overshadow it with a strong sunlight thrown in from another part.[f] +Any of these forms seems to answer well, but they practically exhaust +the possibilities in general design. A section of a rainbow may be shown +with one end of it on the ground, because this is observable in +nature[g]; but to cut off the top of the arch as if there were no room +for it on the canvas is obviously bad, for the two segments left appear +quite unnatural.[h] + + [a] As in Martin's I have Set My Bow in the Clouds. + + [b] In the Rivers of England series. + + [c] The Rainbow of Millet, and a similar work of Thoma. + + [d] Harvest Landscape, Munich Gallery. + + [e] Harvest Landscape, Wallace Collection, London. + + [f] Landscape with a Rainbow, Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [g] Rubens's Shipwreck of Æneas, Berlin Gallery. + + [h] A. P. Van de Venne's Soul Fishery, Amsterdam. + +The small rainbows sometimes seen at waterfalls are occasionally +introduced into paintings, but rarely with success because they tend to +interfere with the general view of the scene. Such views are necessarily +near ground, and so a bow must seriously injure the picture unless it be +placed at the side, as in Innes's fine work of Niagara Falls (the +example of 1884). + +The use of a rainbow as a track in classical pictures is sometimes +effective, though the landscape is largely sacrificed owing to the +compulsory great width and bright appearance of the bow, which must +indeed practically absorb the attention of the observer. The best known +picture of this kind is Schwind's Rainbow, which shows the beautiful +form of Iris wrapped in the sheen of the bow, and descending with great +speed, the idea being apparently taken from Virgil.[a] To use the top of +the rainbow for a walking track is bad, as the mind instinctively repels +the invention as opposed to reason.[b] + + [a] Æneid V., where Juno sends Iris to the Trojan fleet. + + [b] Thoma's Progress of the gods to Walhalla. + +But if fleeting natural phenomena become disturbing to the observer of a +picture, how much more objectionable are the quickly disappearing +effects of artificial devices, as the lights from explosions. In a +battle scene covering a wide area of ground, a small cloud of smoke here +and there is not out of place, because under natural conditions such a +cloud lasts for an appreciable time; but no good artist will indicate in +his work a flash from a gun, for this would immediately become stagy and +unreal to the observer. Nor can fireworks of the ordinary kind be +properly represented in a picture. The beauty of these fireworks lies in +the appearance out of nothing, as it were, of brilliant showers of +coloured lights, and their rapid disappearance, to be replaced by others +of different form and character, the movement and changes constituting +important elements in their appreciation. But the painter can only +indicate them by fixed points of light which necessarily appear +abnormal. Stationary points of light can have no resemblance whatever to +fireworks, and if the title of the picture forces the imagination to see +in them expiring sparks from a rocket, the impression can only last a +moment, and will be succeeded by a revolt in the mind against so glaring +an impossibility as a number of permanent sparks. The only painted +firework display that does not appear abnormal is a fountain of fire and +sparks which may be presumed to last for some time, and therefore would +not quickly tire the mind.[a] + + [a] See examples by La Touche, notably La Fête de Nuit, Salon, 1914. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +STILL-LIFE + + Its comparative difficulty--Its varieties--Its limitations. + + +Right through the degrees of the art of the painter till we reach +still-life, the difficulty in producing the art is in proportion to the +general beauty therein, but in the case of still-life the object is much +less readily gained than in simple landscape which is on a higher level +in painting. The causes of this apparent anomaly appear to be as +follows:--Firstly in miniature painting one does not expect such close +resemblance to nature as in still-life which usually represents things +in their natural size: secondly, in still-life the relative position of +the parts can never be such as to appear novel, whereas in landscape +their position is always more or less unexpected: thirdly, in still-life +the colours are practically fixed, for the painter cannot depart from +the limited variety of tints commonly connected with the objects +indicated, while in landscape the colouring may vary almost indefinitely +from sun effects without appearing to depart from nature. + +The beauty in still-life paintings may arise from several causes, +namely, the pleasure experienced from the excellence of the imitation; +the harmony of tones; the beauty of the things imitated; the association +of ideas; and the pleasure derived from the acquisition of knowledge. +Aristotle seemed to think this last one of the principal reasons for our +appreciation of the painter's work, though he agreed that the better the +imitation, the greater the pleasure to the observer. The argument +appears to apply particularly to the lower forms of life because in +nature they are not often closely examined. A cauliflower for instance +may be seen a thousand times by one who would not carefully note its +structure, but if he see an imitation of it painted by a good artist, +his astonishment at the excellence of the imitation might cause him to +observe the representation closely, and learn much about the vegetable +which he did not know before. In this way the information gained would +add to his pleasure. + +As in landscape, from the absence of abstract qualities from the things +represented, and since the position of the signs may be indefinitely +varied without a sense of incongruity resulting, there can be no ideal +in still-life, and so the painter cannot pass beyond experience without +achieving the abnormal. + +The painter of still-life has the choice of four kinds of imitation, +namely, the representation of products of nature which are in themselves +beautiful, as roses and fine plumaged birds; the imitation of products +of human industry which are in themselves beautiful, as sculptured plate +or fine porcelain; the representation of natural and manual products +which in themselves are neither beautiful nor displeasing, but interest +from association of ideas, as certain fruits, books, and musical +instruments; and the imitation of things which in themselves are not +pleasing to the sight, as dead game, kitchen utensils, and so on. +Obviously the artist may assort any two or more of these varieties in +the same picture. He may also associate them with life, but here he is +met with a grave difficulty which goes to the very root of art. If two +forms, not being merely accessories, are associated together in a +design, the lower form must necessarily be subordinated, otherwise the +mind of the observer will be disturbed by the apparent double objective. +A live dog or other animal in a still-life composition will immediately +attract the eye of the observer, drawing off his attention from the +inanimate objects represented, which will consequently thereafter lose +much of their interest. The presence of a man is still worse. Not only +is it natural and inevitable that a human being should take precedence +of whatever is inanimate in a work of art, but in the case of +still-life, where he is painted of natural size, he must necessarily +overshadow everything else in the picture. Further, his own +representation is much injured because the surroundings exercise a +disconcerting influence. Even with the human figures of such a work +executed by a painter of the first rank, they are quite +uninteresting.[a] + + [a] See still-life pictures at the Hague and Vienna Museums by + Van Dyck and Snyders. + +Beautiful products of nature such as brilliant flowers and butterflies, +cannot be imitated so well that the representations appear as beautiful +as the things themselves, and so are unsuited as entire subjects for +paintings, for we are usually well acquainted with these things, and +consciously or unconsciously recognize the inferiority of the imitation. +The greatest flower painters have therefore wisely refrained from +introducing into their works more than a few fine roses or similar +blooms. The presence of many less beautiful flowers in which the +imitation is, or appears to be, more pleasing than the natural forms, +neutralizes or overcomes the effect of the inferior imitation of the +more beautiful. In fact the extent to which natural products which are +necessarily more beautiful than the imitations, may be used in painting, +except as incidentals, is very limited. They cannot appropriately be +used at all on walls and curtains where they continually cross the +vision, for they would there quickly tire owing to the involuntary +dissatisfaction with the representation. The Japanese, whose whole art +of painting was for centuries concentrated upon light internal +decoration, rightly discard from this form of art all natural products +which are necessarily superior to the imitations, and confine their +attention to those signs which, while being actually more beautiful, +when closely seen, than the imitations, do not appear to be so in nature +where they are usually observed at some distance from the eye. Thus, +waterfowl of various kinds, small birds of the hedges, storks, herons, +branches of fruit blossoms, light trees and vegetation, are infinitely +preferable to the more beautiful products for purely decorative +purposes. A common pigeon with an added bright feather, is better on a +wall or screen than the most brilliant pheasant, for in the one case the +representation appears above ordinary experience, and in the other case, +below it. + +The decorative artist then is at liberty to enhance the beauty of his +signs, but not to take for them things which are commonly observed in +nature, and whose beauty he cannot equal. But there should be no wide +divergence between the natural beauty and the art, and nothing which in +itself is unpleasing is suitable for decoration. It may be introduced in +a hanging picture, because here a sense of beauty may be derived from +the excellence of the imitation, as in the case of a dead hare or a +basket of vegetables; but in pure decoration the effect is general and +not particular, and so the imitation yields no beauty apart from that of +the thing imitated. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SECONDARY ART + + Paintings of record--Scenes from the novel and written drama--From + the acted drama--Humorous subjects--Allegorical works. + + +When the invention of the painter is circumscribed by the requirements +of another art, whether a fine art or not, then his art ceases to be a +pure art and becomes an art of record, subordinate to the art by which +his work is circumscribed. This may be termed the Secondary Art of +painting. The art may be of importance outside the purposes of the fine +arts, and in certain cases may be productive of good pictures, but only +by way of accident: hence a work of secondary art never engages the +attention of a great artist unless he be specially called upon to +execute it. Hard and fast lines dividing the pure from the secondary art +cannot be laid down, as one often verges on the other, but there is a +general distinction between them which is easily comprehensible in the +separate branches of painting. + + [Illustration: PLATE 19 (See page 204) + Landscape, by Jacob Ruysdael (_National Gallery, London_)] + +Secondary art is not produced from incidents or characters taken from +sacred or mythological history, because here the general invention of +the painter is never circumscribed, for he is able to produce form and +expression above experience. In profane history the art is secondary +when the painter confines his invention to recorded details. Thus in a +picture of the Coronation of Charlemagne, the composition is entirely +invented by the artist, and so the work becomes one of pure art; but the +representation of the Coronation of Queen Victoria, where the artist +reproduces the scene as it actually occurred, is secondary art, for he +is precluded from the exercise of his imagination in the design, the end +of art being subordinated to that of record or history. Such a picture +is necessarily stiff and formal. Where the scene represents a number of +actions, as in a battle design, the artist is unable to record the +actual occurrence, though he may represent particular actions; +consequently he has large scope for his imagination, and may limit his +representation to those actions which together make a fine example of +pure art. But a battle scene where a particular event, as a meeting of +generals, has to be painted, immediately becomes secondary art, for then +the surrounding battle events would be accessory in their nature. It is +possible for simple historical works painted to order centuries ago to +appear now as of high art value, because we commonly connect a strict +formality with old pictures of the kind, whether executed from records +or invention. Thus Holbein's Henry VIII. presenting a Charter to the +Barber-Surgeons no doubt closely depicts the actual event, yet the +stiffness of the design does not seem out of place.[a] Nevertheless +it is a refreshing change from this picture to Richard III. offered +the Crown by London Merchants, which is a magnificent modern work of +pure invention.[b] + + [a] Barbers' Hall, London. + + [b] Royal Exchange, London. + +A scene from a story of actual life is necessarily secondary art, +because here the painter imitates what is already an imitation, and +cannot ascend above experience. He is confined to the invention of the +novelist, and is therefore subordinate to him. + +The written drama is available for the painter as a source for designs +only in cases of high tragedy, or mixed plays containing strong dramatic +events of tragic import. Seeing that the drama is itself an imitative +art, only such actions or characters can be used by the painter which +are above life experience, and it is only in tragedy that the dramatist +can exalt human attributes, and ennoble the passions above this +experience. Tragedy deals directly with the two great contrasting human +mysteries--life and death. From one to the other is the most awful and +sublime action within human knowledge, and consequently the motives and +sentiments relating to it may be carried to the loftiest reach of the +understanding. An exaggeration of ordinary life, where the combination +of perfected parts in form and expression is not possible, means only +the abnormal; while comedy, which imitates conditions inferior to +ordinary life, cannot be exaggerated except into distortion. High +tragedy therefore is the only section of the written drama that concerns +the painter. If he draw from any other work of the dramatist he only +produces secondary art, as when he draws from the novelist. The picture +may be interesting, but both interest and beauty will be fleeting. + +While the painter may use the written drama in certain cases, he can by +no means be concerned with the acted drama. It is useless to attempt to +produce a good picture by imitating an imitation accomplished by a +combined art, as the opera or drama. A painted scene from a play as it +is acted, is merely the execution of another man's design which in +itself is entirely circumscribed by conditions of action and speech +wholly foreign to the art of the painter. A picture of a particular +moment of action in a written play, as it is thrown upon the brain in +the course of reading, is interesting, firstly because our imagination +has wide limits of invention, and we naturally and instinctively adopt a +harmonious rendering of the scene so far as the writing will allow; and +secondly for the reason that we pass rapidly from impression to +impression, and so the whole significance of each picture, separately +and relatively, is conveyed to us. But a painting of an acted scene is +meaningless, for it can represent only one in a series of a thousand +moments of action which are all connected, and of which the +comprehension of any one is dependent upon our knowledge of the whole. +The painter has no scope. He simply copies a number of figures in a +fixed setting, and the result is necessarily inferior art to a copy of +the poorest original picture, since in this case the artist at least +copies the direct product of the imagination, while in the other he has +only before him a series of dummies who are imitating the product. The +sense of unreality arising from such a picture must instantly overpower +any harmony of colour or form that may be present. + +Where the portrait of an actor is painted in a stage rôle, the same +principle is involved, though the result is not so disastrous. We still +have the unreal, but it is painted and put forward as a living person. +The artist moreover has a little imaginative scope. He can choose a +moment of action best suited to his art, and may even vary the character +of the action, which is not possible where an acted scene is depicted. +But notwithstanding all the relative advantages, a Raphael could not +make a fine picture out of a man in character. He may largely overcome +the disabilities arising from the limitation to his invention; he may +introduce great effects of light and shade; may ennoble expression and +give grandeur to form; but he will never hide the sham--never conceal +the fact that he is representing an imitation of life. The actor on the +stage is one of a number of signs used by the dramatist. His identity +apart from the sign is lost, or presumed to be lost for the time being, +and so he is not a sham; but outside of the stage his use or meaning as +a sign does not exist. Hence the representation of this sign as a +subject of a painting is only a degree less incongruous than would be +the introduction of a painted figure as one of the characters of a stage +scene. + +It is an indication of the sure public instinct in matters of art +principles, that general opinion has always tacitly condemned paintings +of stage scenes and characters. They have not infrequently been +produced, and sometimes artists of high rank, as Reynolds and Lawrence, +have painted portraits of actors in stage rôles, but never has one met +with public appreciation as a work of art. Probably in most cases these +works were executed as mementoes rather than as works of art, for it is +scarcely possible to conceive a painter of the stamp of Reynolds, who +was so well acquainted with first principles, putting forward even a +portrait of Garrick in a stage rôle, as a serious work, notwithstanding +that he might well know that it was a masterpiece in respect of +execution. + +Humour is not a subject for the painter to deal with, for a humorous +picture cannot be comprehended without the assistance of another art. +Further, comedy is founded upon a sense of the ridiculous, which means +distortion of form or idea. Distortion of form would tend to destroy the +art if reproduced, and distortion of idea implies events in time which +are beyond the scope of the painter. If any humour were exhibited in the +representation of a single moment of action in a story, it would quickly +disappear, for a permanent joke is beyond the range of human +understanding. In poetry and fiction, humour may be appropriately +introduced, because here it is of a fugitive character, and may serve as +a possible relief of the mind, as a discordant note in music; but in a +painting, the moment of humour is fixed, and a fixed laugh suggests +mental disorder. + +Nor is there place in the art of the painter for works intending to +convey satire or irony, for such pictures also mean distortion. Moreover +they are merely substitutes for, or adjuncts to, the art of writing. +The object of caricature is to present an idea in a more direct and +rapid way than it can be expressed in writing, and not specially to +exhibit beauty, which is the purpose of the painter. Hogarth's many +caricatures are composed of superlative signs of writing, and not of any +fine art. Cartoons (as the word is commonly understood) are of the +nature of allegory, and may afford scope for the painter, but as they +necessarily refer to more or less fleeting conditions of a political or +social character, they cannot retain permanent interest. + +Allegorical paintings are secondary art when they endeavour to cover +more than a moment of time in a single design, or when the allegory is +merely a metaphor applying to action. The first variety is rarely seen +in modern works, but it was not very uncommon from the fifteenth to the +seventeenth century, though it was never produced by first-class +artists, and seldom indeed by those of the second rank. Quite a number +of works of this period, formerly supposed to have an allegorical +signification, are now properly identified as rarely represented +mythological legends, or historical incidents which have only lately +been unearthed,[a] and we may rest assured from internal evidence that +many others of the same kind will yet be newly interpreted. A good +design cannot be produced from an event in time because the figures in a +presumed action must be shown in repose,[b] or else the action appears +incongruous and opposed to experience, as when a goddess is overpowered +by a personage with the appearance of a human being.[c] In both cases +the figures must seem to be falsities. Designs of the first kind can +only be properly represented in a sequence of pictures, each indicating +a particular action, as in the Marie de' Medici series of Rubens; and +those of the second by commonly accepted figures of sacred or +mythological history or legend, as where St. Michael and the Dragon +typify Good overcoming Evil. + + [a] Examples are Lorenzo Costa's Cupid Crowning Isabella d'Este, + Giorgione's Adrastus and Hypsipyle, and Piero di Cosimo's + Marsyas picture. + + [b] Religion Succoured by Spain, the Prado, Madrid. + + [c] Lotto's Triumph of Chastity, Rospigliosi Gallery, Rome. + +It is scarcely necessary to do more than barely refer to the use of +metaphor by the painter when the representation of action is involved, +as for instance if he should produce a picture of a heaving ship in a +storm, to meet the metaphor "As a ship is tossed on a rough sea, so has +been the course of my life," though this kind of picture has been +occasionally executed, the artist forgetting that it is not the object +depicted that is compared, but the action--in the example quoted, the +tossing of the ship--which cannot be represented on canvas. Another form +of metaphor sometimes used by the painter is that where a comparison of +ideas is represented by physical proportions, as in Wiertz's Things of +the Present as seen by the Future, in which the things of the present +are indicated by liliputian figures on the hand of a woman of life size +who represents the future. Needless to say that such designs, of which +there are about a dozen in existence, can only suggest distortion, for +the smaller figures must appear too small, and the larger ones too +great; or if our experience with miniature imitations of the human +figure warrants us in regarding the smaller figures as reasonable, then +the larger ones must appear as giants of the Brobdingnagian order. + +The only form of metaphor which may be used by the painter is that +wherein a beautiful symbol typifies a high abstract quality. Metaphor +belongs properly to the arts of the poet and novelist who can indicate +the symbol and things symbolized in immediate succession, so that the +whole meaning is apparent. The painter can only represent the symbol, +and unless this is beautiful and its purport readily comprehended, his +sign is merely a hieroglyph--a sign of writing. Secondary art includes +symbolic painting when the symbol may represent either the symbol itself +or the thing symbolized, for such a condition involves a confusion of +ideas which tends to destroy the æsthetic effect of the work. The most +notable painting of this kind is Holman Hunt's The Scapegoat, where the +design shows only a goat in desert country. The scapegoat has ceased to +be an actuality for centuries, and the only meaning of the term as it is +now used applies to a man: hence, with the title the goat appears to be +a symbol of both a man and an animal, while without the title it is +merely the image of a goat without symbolism. But the conception of an +animal of any kind as a symbol is foreign to the art of the painter +whose symbol should always be beautiful, whatever the nature of the +representation. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +COLOUR + + +In itself colour has no virtues which are not governed by immutable +laws. These are apart from the exercise of human faculties, the +recognition of colour harmony being involuntary and entirely dependent +upon the condition of the optic nerves. Thus there can be no meaning in +colour apart from its application to form, and the extent to which it +may be properly used in the representation of form is necessarily bound +by our experience of nature. Other things being equal, the most perfect +painting is that wherein there is a just balance between the colour and +the form, that is to say, where the colour is not so vivid as to act +upon the sense nerves before the general beauty of the work is +appreciated, or so feeble or discordant that its want of natural truth +is immediately presented to the mind, thus disturbing the impression of +the design. + +As with metrical form in poetry, the importance of colour in painting +varies inversely with the character of the art. In the highest art, +where ideals are dealt with, colour is of the least importance. A +composition with ideal figures may be produced by drawing only, that is +to say, by the use of a single tone in outline and shading. The +addition of colour heightens the beauty of a composition of this kind, +not so much because of the new sensorial harmony acquired, as for the +reason that a painting in colours, corresponding better than a +colourless drawing with our experience of nature, assists in defining +the work and so reduces the fractional time necessary for the +recognition of the general beauty of the design, which is a matter of +importance. The comparatively small value of colour in the highest art +is demonstrated by experience. If we were to choose from paintings known +to us, those which general opinion regards as the very greatest works, +we should unquestionably name the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo +at the Vatican, and those of Correggio at Parma. These, with a few easel +pictures of Raphael, and perhaps a dozen other pictures by various +masters, are the only works of the painter's art to which the term +"sublime" may be properly applied. As with the great epic poems, they +are concerned entirely with ideals--with personages far above the level +of life, rising to the spiritual domain--or with human beings as they +would be if the highest conceptions of our imagination were possible of +realization. When we recall these splendid legacies of genius to our +minds, and ponder over the apparently limitless range of human vision +which they evidence, it is the designs that absorb us, and not the +colour--the forms and expression, and not the tints by which their +definition is assisted. We do not usually analyse the impression we +receive from these frescoes and pictures, but were we to do so, it +would be borne in upon our minds that while a Raphael, a Michelangelo, +or a Correggio, would be required to conceive and execute such +stupendous designs, many thousands of unknown patient workers could be +found to colour them efficiently. On the other hand if we remove the +colour from the greatest landscape known to us, we find that most of the +beauty of the work has disappeared, and that we have only a kind of +skeleton left, for the beauty of such a picture rests very largely upon +the aerial perspective, which is unobtainable without colour. + +That the appreciation of colour is relative to the character of the +design may be observed from common experience. We may see the Sistine +Madonna half a dozen times and then be unable to recall the colours when +bringing the picture to mind, so small an effect have they had upon us +as compared with that of the majesty and general beauty of the central +figure. So with many of Raphael's other pictures. It is a common thing +for one to call attention to the superb colouring of an easel picture by +Correggio, but how rarely does an observer notice the colouring of his +frescoes at Parma, which are his masterpieces? With some of the Venetian +artists, the colouring is often so brilliant, not to say startling, that +it seems to overpower the observer for a moment, and necessity compels +him to accustom himself to the tones before considering the design. The +colouring of Titian is not so strong, but it is always forcible; +nevertheless one seldom hears a comment upon the colours in his works, +the superior design and general beauty of the compositions far +outweighing the purely sensorial elements therein. Titian in fact +secured an approximately just balance between form and colour, while +with his great followers the colour usually exceeded in strength the +requirements of the design. In the time of Tintoretto and Veronese the +prestige and prosperity of Venice were rapidly declining, but we have +been so accustomed to associate with this city during the Renaissance, a +luxurious life with something of the character of an Eastern court, that +gorgeous colour of any kind does not seem out of place as one of its +products. But this special appropriateness has not the effect of +elevating the gay coloured voluptuous forms of the artists named, +observable in their classical and allegorical works, to a high level in +art. We cannot accommodate the forms to the ideas of the poets who +invented or described them, or to the attributes with which they were +commonly associated; and the colouring tends to bring them closer to +earth. While we feel bound to admire the colouring, we are equally +compelled to regret the particular application.[67] + +Speaking generally, when the design is good we remember the composition +irrespective of the colours, but when the beauty of the work depends +upon the colour harmony it fades from our memory as soon as our eyes +experience new colour combinations. The imagination may call up the +harmony again upon the mind, but the pleasure experienced from this +reflection must be very feeble indeed because the senses are not +directly affected thereby. It can have no more effect than a written +description of the harmony. + + [Illustration: PLATE 20 (See page 206) + The Storm, by Jacob Ruysdael (_Berlin Museum_)] + +The painter is at liberty to make what use he will of colour so long as +he provides a thing of beauty, but he must remember that the +appreciation of colour harmony is dependent not only upon the condition +of the optic nerves of the observer, but also upon his experience at the +time of observation. As to the first consideration little heed need be +taken, because rudimentarily the nerve structure is equal or nearly so, +in all persons, and while accident at birth may provide in some an +advanced condition which in others is only obtained by exercise, yet in +respect of colours, experience in complex harmony is gained +involuntarily in contact with every-day nature. Hence for the purpose of +the painter, all men may be considered alike in regard to the +recognition of colour harmony. But individual experience at the time of +observation of a painting varies largely,[68] a circumstance which is +not of importance in dealing with works of the higher art, but becomes +of great significance when considering the lower forms. No organ of the +body is so susceptible to fatigue as the eye, and a painting of the kind +known as a colour scheme may or may not be pleasing according as the +tone is a relief or otherwise to the sight. Sometimes a few seconds are +sufficient to fatigue the eye, as for instance when it is directed +towards a vivid maroon hanging, but let a landscape with a grey tone be +placed on the hanging and considerable pleasure will be involuntarily +experienced through the relief to the optic nerves. Remove the picture +to a grey wall, and it will instantly lose its charm, except such as +it may possess apart from the colour. + +As with particular tones, so with colours generally. People habituated +to conditions of nature where extremes of sun effects are uncommon, as +in the northern latitudes, may be temporarily pleased with schemes of +glowing colours on their walls, because these relieve the monotony of +daily experience, but they must necessarily quickly tire, as with all +exceptional conditions of life which are concerned with the senses only. +How soon one is fatigued with bright colours generally is obvious to any +visitor to a public gallery which is crowded with pictures. In an hour +or less the fatigue of his eyes becomes so extreme that his whole +nervous system is affected, and he loses energy of both mind and body. +But brilliant colors used sparingly with good designs may be a perpetual +source of pleasure. Place a fine work by Rubens or Paolo Veronese in a +living-room and it will attract attention every time one enters, for the +colouring will always be a change from the normal eye experience. One +turns to the picture involuntarily, and then the design is observed, and +so one passes from sensual to intellectual pleasure. This process is +repeated day by day, and the work never tires. Of course it is a +condition that the design is able to hold the attention, otherwise the +bright colours would serve little better purpose than if they defined a +geometrical pattern. + +Nowadays quite a number of paintings are produced in which unusual tones +are given to signs or shadows, but these are not to be taken seriously +by the earnest student. In the sunlight, amidst certain surroundings, +the arm of a woman may appear for some moments to have a bluish tone, +but the artist would be entirely wrong to paint a bluish arm. The +picture is to be seen under all lights, and if the tones be contrary to +general experience under any of these lights, then the work appears to +be a falsity, for the artist does not, and cannot, reproduce the +conditions which together bring about the exceptional colours. To the +normal eye under ordinary circumstances, the arm of a woman is of flesh +colour, and the artist is not at liberty to vary this tone. He has to +represent what appears to be true in general opinion, whether it be +really true or not under certain conditions. The dictum of Aristotle in +regard to poetry--that what appears probable, though in reality is +impossible, is better than what seems improbable but is really +possible--is equally true in painting. In fact it is of more importance +that this maxim should be remembered in painting than in poetry, because +the signs of the painter are permanent. A poet or novelist may refer to +a passing exceptional sun effect, for the impression on the mind of the +reader would probably be as transient as, or more transient than, the +effect itself, but with the painter the transient effect becomes fixed. +The blue arm is always blue, and in a very short time becomes a +disagreeable unreality. It may be claimed that the objectionable sun +effects are not really exceptional, though they are seldom noticed; but +for the purpose of art, what appears to be exceptional must be +definitely regarded as so, and for this reason discarded by the artist +who desires to paint a good picture. + +Generally then, the value of colour lies firstly in its correspondence +with nature, for upon this depends its harmony and the assistance it +lends to the recognition of the beauty in the whole composition. Beyond +this it may or may not have an ephemeral value according to local +conditions. In any case colour must ever be subordinated to design in a +picture, and this is what Poussin meant when he said that particular +attention to colour is an obstacle to the art student. + + + + +BOOK II + + + + +ILLUSIONS IN THE PAINTER'S ART + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The painter is occupied in a perpetual struggle to produce an illusion. +He does not directly aim for this, but except in the very highest art +where ideals are realized, the better the picture he paints, the greater +the illusion. The natural test of the value of his work is its +correspondence with nature, and the nearer it so corresponds, the more +complete the illusion. But the whole picture is never an illusion (we +leave out of consideration those instances where artificial devices are +used to conceal the surroundings of the actual painted surface), for the +frame and other material evidence inform us of the art. The illusion, +when it exists, is forced upon our minds from moment to moment as our +eyes travel over the work. It occurs to us perhaps that a face "lives," +that the drapery is true to life, that the tones are real, and so on, +and obviously these circumstances cannot impress us in this way unless +we are momentarily deceived. And it is a sign of good quality in the +work when we are so struck. This does not mean that the closer the +imitation, the better the picture: on the contrary it is rare to find a +good work of art produced by an exact imitator. The duty of the artist +is to generalize everything that can be generalized without departing +from the character of the thing represented. True there are degrees of +generalization which depend on the nature of the design, the size of the +work, the accessories, and other matters, but if a just balance of +generalization be secured throughout, then the imitation is better than +a closely detailed reproduction, because a work is always involuntarily +judged from general, and not from particular, experience. A portrait for +instance is a much better work of art if we can say of it "This is a +good portrait of a man," than if we are compelled to confine ourselves +to "This is a good portrait of Mr. Jones," even if the lineaments of the +particular countenance are better defined in the latter example than in +the former. The illusion would be stronger, for we are more intimately +acquainted with "a man" than with "Mr. Jones." And so with accessories. +An exceptionally fine rose or cabbage is never so good in a painting as +one of these articles which is of an average type, because with this the +illusion is more certain, for it is not likely to be disturbed with a +mental inquiry into the unusual article. + +The painter may produce his illusions then without sacrificing anything +in his art, and with the surety that good paintings necessarily result +in momentary illusions except when form or expression above life +experience are dealt with. + +The first and most important illusion in the art is that of relief, for +without this no other illusion can be produced. It is a general +condition applying to all work on a flat surface. The other illusions +that may be provided are: (a) of opening distance in landscape; (b) of +motion in natural actions, as in flowing water; (c) of human and animal +actions; (d) of suspension and motion in the air. The two first are +dealt with under "Landscape"; the others are now considered. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ILLUSION OF RELIEF + + +The greatest value in the illusion of relief lies in its assistance to +recognition, for with the forms rounded by shading and separated with +the appearance of relief which they have in nature, details of the work +are less likely to complicate the design to the eye, than if the flat +surface of the canvas be emphasized by the avoidance of relief. For the +eye has to be considered before the mind, and it is of immense +importance that the brain should have the least possible work to do in +assisting the eye to interpret a thing of art. It would appear then that +the minimum extent to which relief should be given in a painting is that +point below which the things painted do not seem to have their three +dimensions indicated. Beyond this the painter is at liberty to proceed +as he pleases. Some great artists, notably Lionardo, were inclined to +think that it is impossible to give too much relief to a figure, and +this may be so theoretically, but practically there is a line to be +drawn because life is limited, and after a certain point is reached, the +work of shading for relief is so tedious an operation, that half a +lifetime would be required to execute a picture of three or four +figures if the artist wished to produce the strongest illusion in his +power to give. A Russian artist of high merit who essayed the task, +spent an average time of five years in ceaseless toil on each figure he +completed, and even then frequently remarked that he had not given to +his figures the full relief he desired to exhibit. It is well known that +Lionardo gave long and close attention to this matter in his pictures, +and he produced some extraordinary examples of relief, of which the +finest is, perhaps, the Litta Madonna,[a] but one cannot help regretting +that he did not rest satisfied with a lower point of excellence in +respect of the illusion, so that he could spend more time in general +design. + + [a] At the Hermitage. See Plate 21. + +Apart from the relief given by shading in painting, there is an +important mechanical method of improving the illusion, though this can +only be occasionally adopted. The figures in any well painted picture +will appear to stand out in high relief if we lose sight of the frame +and other surroundings which distinctly inform us that the work is a +flat surface. This is why a painting invariably seems to improve if seen +through a tube of such diameter that the frame is excluded from the +vision. Advantage of this fact has been many times taken in the +exhibition of single pictures, when, by the exclusion of the frame, the +concealment of the edges of the work by curtain arrangements, and the +concentration of all the available light upon the canvas, such perfect +relief has been obtained that observers have been sometimes unable to +distinguish the art from the life. It was the effect of the +surroundings of a picture upon the sight, that led to a practice in +design resulting in the exclusion of these surroundings to some extent +when the eye is directed towards the centre of the work where the +principal figure is commonly stationed. This practice is to avoid +accessories as far as possible near the figure, and to provide +considerable open space above it, and also at the sides when the +composition allows, so that the observing eye has not of necessity to +range close to the frame of the picture. In a good design of this kind +the central figure or figures come out in strong relief, the attraction +of the work being consequently much enhanced. Obviously the painted +figures should be of life size, or nearly so, for the illusion of relief +to be strikingly marked, and the conditions necessarily prevent the +adoption of the scheme in a design of many figures. It is most +successful with a single figure, and has been carried out with two +figures, but never with more than two except in a few pictures of great +size. + + [Illustration: PLATE 21 (See page 240) + The Litta Madonna, by Lionardo da Vinci (_Hermitage_)] + +The number of artists who have taken advantage of this mechanical device +is not large, but it includes some of the first masters. The plan may be +used in both exterior and interior scenes. In the former the figures +must be thrown against the sky, and it is a distinct advantage if there +be no trees or other objects on either side of the figures, which also +stand out above the horizon, though this is immaterial if the figure be +set in a confined space, as an arch, or between the columns of a loggia, +and the foliage is not seen through this space. + +The most famous pictures where the scheme is used in exterior work are +amongst the finest portraits known to us, namely, Lionardo's Mona Lisa, +and Raphael's Maddalena Doni and Angelo Doni.[a] In 1504 or thereabouts, +Lionardo painted a portrait of Mona Lisa sitting in a loggia, the wall +of which reached to a third of the height of the canvas.[b] On the wall +at each side of the design is a column divided down the centre by the +edge of the canvas. There is a landscape setting, in which the middle +distance is hidden by rising ground, and only part of the head appears +above the horizon. In 1505 Raphael made a study from this picture in +which he retained the columns, but raised the wall, and threw the whole +head of the figure against the sky. He used this study for the portrait +of Maddalena Doni, but in this he still further improved the design by +removing the columns, and extending to the shoulders that part of the +figure above the horizon, the line of which divides the picture in equal +halves, instead of being drawn at two thirds of the height as in the +first Mona Lisa. When Lionardo executed the Louvre portrait of this +lady, he removed the columns, but slightly reduced the portion of the +head seen against the sky. Raphael's plan, which was also used in the +portrait of Angelo Doni, is obviously far superior to that in the Mona +Lisa design, for the relief is necessarily better marked. The scheme was +not new to Raphael at the time, except in portraiture, for it is +exhibited in three of his very early sacred works.[c] + + [a] The first at the Louvre, and the others at the Pitti Palace, + Florence. + + [b] This painting, or one corresponding to it, is in the Boston + Museum, U. S. A. See Note 56. + + [c] Saint Sebastian, at Bergamo; The Redeemer at Brescia; and The + Prophets and Sybils at Perugia. + +One of the best examples in existence of this method of securing relief +is Tintoretto's Presentation of the Virgin.[a] On the right of the +picture is a wide flight of stairs, curving round as they ascend. The +Virgin is moving up these steps in advance of some attendants, and the +curved stairway enables all the figures to stand out in fine relief +against the sky. If well managed some considerable space above the +figures is sufficient for the illusion even if the sides are partly +closed, as in Albertinelli's beautiful Salutation.[b] Where only a small +portion of the figure can be shown above the horizon, the use of a faint +far distance helps in the scheme of relief. Thus, in Marco Basaiti's +Christ on the Mount of Olives,[c] where Christ stands on the top of a +rock which hides the middle distance, His head only is above the +horizon, but the rest of the figure is thrown against a faint far +distance, the relief being excellent. A modification of this plan is +observable in Lionardo's Virgin and Child with St. Anne.[d] + + [a] Madonna del Orto, Venice. + + [b] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [c] Venice Academy. + + [d] The Louvre. + +So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, the first known +painting where a crucifix is thrown against the sky is by Antonella da +Messina.[a] The Cross is fixed in the foreground and extends to the top +of the picture, being cut half-way up and just below the feet of Christ +by the line of the horizon. The relief is very fine. This scheme was +imitated with more or less success but never quite so perfectly, till +Titian produced his magnificent Cross. Here the Crucifix is cast against +a sombre evening sky, with the Virgin and two imploring Saints at the +foot.[b] Rubens improved upon this design with several variations. In +one he hid the foot of the Cross, though the tops of buildings are seen +in the middle distance[c]; and in another, which is still finer, the +time of the scene is late evening, and dark vague outlines suggest a +landscape. But all these examples are cast into the shade by Van Dyck's +Antwerp picture, than which there is certainly no more impressive +painted Crucifixion in existence. In this the foot of the Cross is not +shown, nor is there any ground to be seen, and the figure stands out +against a dark forbidding sky, awful, but sublimely real, as if set in +boundless space for all eternity.[d] + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] Ancona Gallery. + + [c] Antwerp Museum. + + [d] This work was repeated several times with variations. See + Plate 22. + +There are many variations of the above designs, particularly among the +Works of Venetian artists, but those quoted may be regarded as typical. +How easy it is to hinder the illusion is seen in Sodoma's Sacrifice of +Abraham,[a] where both figures are set against the sky, but trees behind +them and at the side destroy the relief, though the foliage is by no +means thick. In Girolami da Libri's Madonna and Child with St. Anne, a +pomegranate tree interposes[b]; and a curtain falls at the back of a +group by Bernadino da Conti,[c] the illusion in both cases being +consequently robbed of its effect. + + [a] Pisa Cathedral. + + [b] National Gallery, London. + + [c] Poldo Pezzoli Museum, Milan. + +Some of the Dutch artists of the seventeenth century used a clear sky +for the purpose of enhancing the relief of their figures, but as these +are usually of a comparatively small size, the result is only partially +effective. Albert Cuyp and Philip Wouverman painted many pictures with +men and animals silhouetted above the horizon, and Paul Potter executed +a few of the kind, but of all Dutch painters, Jan Steen secured the best +relief with his Terrace Scene.[a] In more recent times the scheme has +seldom been adopted for the purpose of relief, but a few Scottish +painters practised it in the early nineteenth century. Simson followed +Cuyp's plan,[b] and Dyce in a sacred piece equalled the best of the old +masters in his manner of producing the illusion.[c] Grant also painted a +fine example.[d] Some portrait painters of the English school of the +eighteenth century used the scheme in a partial way, but they commonly +placed clouds behind the figures thrown against the sky, thus disturbing +the illusion. + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] National Gallery, Edinburgh. + + [c] St. John Leading the Virgin from the Tomb, National Gallery of + British Art, London. + + [d] The Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, Gilmour Collection, + Scotland. + +There is only one method of using this device for assisting in the +production of relief in interiors. This is to throw the figure against a +high wall which is undecorated or nearly so. The figure must be some +little distance in front of the wall, and it is observable that the best +effect is obtained when the light throughout the room is equal, but in +any case the wall should not have less light than the figure. Inasmuch +as the figure has to be of life size or nearly so, to produce the +desired result, a very large picture would be necessary for the +representation of a standing adult; hence the plan is not attempted with +a life-size figure, except with a sitting adult or a standing child. +Before this scheme was used for the human figure, that master of relief, +M. A. Caravaggio, adopted it for a simple still-life work.[a] A basket +of fruit on a plain table, with a high bare wall at the back--the canvas +now sombre and darkened, like the soul of the artist, but still +remarkable for the relief: this was the first application to interiors +of a plan which had been used in exteriors by some of the greatest +masters for more than a century. + + [a] Ambrogia Museum, Milan. + +So far as can be gathered from existing works, thirty or forty years +elapsed after the picture of Caravaggio was painted before the scheme +was brought into use for the human figure in interiors. In 1630, or +thereabouts, Velasquez produced his Christ at the Column.[a] Here the +wall is not actually high, but Christ is shown seated on the floor, and +hence there is ample wall space over which the eye may rove. It is +possible that the adoption of the plan in this instance was the result +of accident, but the very unusual pose of Christ hardly warrants the +suggestion. Velasquez painted no more pictures of the kind till a +quarter of a century later, when he produced Las Meninas. In this the +relief is excellent, but it would have been still better without the +picture on the wall, and the open door in the background, though the +figure seen on the steps through the doorway lends assistance to the +illusion. + + [a] The Prado, Madrid. + +Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, some followers of the +Neapolitan school used the plan occasionally, but the best existing +Italian works of the time where it is seen are from the hand of Evaristo +Baschenis, a Bergamese monk. He was an excellent painter of still-life, +and produced several pictures, each with a boy or a woman seated in the +middle of a room near a plain table on which rests a dish of fruit or a +gathering of various articles, while at the back there is a high bare +wall. In all of these works a fine relief is exhibited, though they are +now considerably marred by darkened shadows. A few years later the plan +was adopted by some Dutch artists, and later still in France and +Germany. Chardin, who in more ways than one seems to have been a French +Baschenis, used it in several pictures. In recent times since the study +of Velasquez has become a vogue, many artists have successfully followed +the plan, and one of the finest examples of it in existence--Lydia +Emmet's Patricia[a]--dates as late as 1915. + + [a] Exhibition of the National (American) Association of Portrait + Painters, N. Y., 1915. See Plate 23. + +There are several minor mechanical ways of enhancing relief, most of +them providing a setting which acts as a kind of inner frame to the +design, the object being to reduce the effect of the actual frame in +disturbing the illusion. Portrait painters of the Dutch, Flemish, and +English schools, have often placed half length figures in painted ovals +on canvas rectangles, and in the case of Hals he sometimes further +improved the illusion by extending a hand of the subject over the oval. +Hanneman used this oval in a most exceptional way. On a large canvas he +painted the bust portraits of Constantine Huygens and his six children, +each in a separate oval, the father being in the centre.[a] The scheme +is strangely effective, for the attention of the observer is +involuntarily confined to one portrait at a time. In genre pictures a +doorway may act as the inner frame, but this is only of material value +if the picture be of considerable size. The Dutch painters, notably +Gerard Dow, loved to paint figures leaning over window-sills, this +method usually enhancing the relief, because the eye is apt to be +confined for a time to the window-frame. Perhaps the best use of a +window for the purpose of relief is Rembrandt's Samson Menacing His +Father-in-law, where the old man's head and hands, of life size, are +seen protruding from a small window.[b] + + [a] Hague Gallery. + + [b] Berlin Gallery. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ILLUSION OF MOTION + + With human figures--With animals. + + +From the earliest times great sculptors, in producing a single figure in +action, have chosen for the representation a moment of rest between two +steps in the action, so that the character of these steps is instantly +recognized by the observer, whose imagination unconsciously carries +through the action. If every part of the figure is built up conformably +with the action, with due regard to the position from which the statue +is to be seen, an illusion of motion will follow, though this is +necessarily so rapid that the effect upon the observer is indirect: he +translates the impression into appreciation of the lifelike attitude of +the figure. Nearly all the ancient Greek sculptured figures known to us, +commencing with those of Myron, are characterized by this excellence in +design, and so with the best work of the Italian Renaissance. Modern +sculptors of repute have also endeavoured to provide the illusion, Rodin +in particular holding that it should be the aim of every sculptor.[69] + +The painter is in a different position from the sculptor because the +latter may design his figure with special reference to the position it +is to occupy, and so he can in a measure compel the observer to see it +in a particular way. Thus, the base of the statue may be some height +above the ground, in which case the observer must necessarily run his +eyes up the figure from the feet; or it may be seen first in a +three-quarter view so that the position of the limbs will apparently +change as the observer moves to the front. Such accidental circumstances +may be considered by the sculptor in his plan. The painter has no such +advantage, for his figure is the same from whichever point it is to be +seen, within reasonable limits; but he has compensation in the use of +tones and accessories of which the sculptor is deprived. That the +painter may provide an excellent illusion with a single figure in action +is evidenced by Raphael's superb St. Margaret, where the Saint is seen +stepping over the dragon.[a] Every part of her body, and every fold of +drapery is used in the expression of movement, the effect being so +perfect that we cannot disassociate the figure from the action.[70] + + [a] At the Louvre. See Plate 27. + +The painters of the first century of the Renaissance never properly +represented a figure in the act of walking, and there are few pictures +even of the fifteenth century where a serious attempt is made to choose +the best moment in which to exhibit such a figure. The first successful +essay in the task seems to have been in The Tribute Money of +Masaccio,[a] who indeed was fifty years ahead of his fellows in the +faithful representation of action. There was a jump of two decades or +so after Masaccio to the next good figure, which was that of an +attendant in Filipo Lippi's complex tondo at Florence.[b] This figure +must have caused considerable surprise at the time, for it was copied +into several works by subsequent artists, notably Domenico +Ghirlandaio,[c] and probably suggested the fine figure carrying a jar of +water on her head in Raphael's Fire at the Borgo.[d] But Raphael, who +mastered every problem in composition, solved this one so completely +that he left nothing for his successors to learn respecting it. Not only +are the limbs of his moving figures so perfectly arranged that we see +only action, but folds of the drapery used on the figures are sufficient +to indicate preceding movements,[e] and this is so even when the figures +are stationary, but the head, arms, or upper part of the body have +moved.[f] This extraordinary feature of Raphael's work will ever form a +subject of astonishment and admiration. + + [a] Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. + + [b] Madonna and Child with other scenes from her life, Uffizi, + Florence. + + [c] Birth of St. John Baptist, Santa Maria Novello, Florence. + + [d] Fresco at the Vatican. + + [e] See Deliverance of St. Peter, Flight of Lot and his Family, Moses + Striking the Rock, and others at the Vatican. + + [f] The Transfiguration, Vatican. + + [Illustration: PLATE 22 (See page 244) + Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck (_Antwerp Museum_)] + +The painter has a comparatively easy task in presenting an illusion with +several figures presumed to be moving, for he has only to comply with +two simple conditions. The first is that the particular step represented +in the act of progression of any individual should vary from the steps +of the persons immediately behind or in front of him; and secondly that +the actions of the different persons be connected with each other so far +as possible. With these conditions reasonably fulfilled, illusion of +motion necessarily follows. Naturally in such a mechanical matter, the +character of the invention depends upon the scale of the design. When +the moving figures are presumed to be comparatively near at hand, the +position of the limbs must be entirely presented, or the progression +will appear broken. The effective illusion presented in Burne-Jones's +Golden Staircase is due to his ingenuity in so arranging the numerous +figures descending the winding stairs, that all their feet are visible. +In the case of a crowd of figures of whom some are supposed to be moving +and others standing still, the visibility of the limbs is of less +importance than the connection of the various actions. In Menzel's +Market in Verona,[a] the illusion, which is remarkable, is entirely +produced by the skill in which innumerable instances of action are made +dependent upon others. An illusion is created in the same way though in +a lesser degree by Gustave Doré in several works.[b] When the motion +arises from the actions of the arms of a number of persons, it suffices +if the arms are in various positions, as in Menzel's Iron Mill, and +Cavalori's Woolworkers[c] where many men are using long tools; but if +the limbs are working together, an illusion is impossible. The beauty of +Guardi's great picture, Regatta on the Grand Canal, is much diminished +by the attitude of the gondoliers, who all hold their poles in the +same position. + + [a] Dresden Gallery. + + [b] See Samson Slaying the Philistines. + + [c] Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. + +Where many persons are moving together in the same direction, great care +has to be exercised in presenting the actions conformably with the rate +at which the movement is proceeding, for upon this of course depends the +angles of the bended knees, and the extent to which some of the feet may +be carried from the ground. In slow natural movements, as where a number +of men are dragging a heavy burden, it is rare to find an artist wrong +in his representation[a]; but in the case of numerous figures walking +irregularly, a true nearground design is uncommon, the painter usually +giving insufficient action, with the result that his figures present a +stagy appearance.[b] But a defect of this kind is not so serious as +where several men, not being in marching order, are moving in the same +direction with their feet in similar positions, and each with a foot off +the ground,[c] for this is only an aggravation of a case where the +picture shows but a single figure walking with one foot in the air. + + [a] For good examples see Benoit's Morning of July 14, 1789, + Poynter's Building the Treasure City, and Colton's Royal + Artillery Memorial (sculptured relief). + + [b] Dehodencq's Bohemians Returning from a Fête, Chaumont Museum. + + [c] As in Breton's Cry of Alarm. + +An illusion of motion may be given to a line of figures in the middle +distance of a landscape by simply winding the road along which they +pass[a]; but the angles of the turns must be large, for when they are +small, or when there is a distinct zigzag, the illusion is destroyed +through the lengthy operation of the eye in comprehending the whole +scene. + + [a] Diaz's Descent of the Bohemians. + +When many figures are moving close together, even if they be marching to +the same step, an illusion of movement may be given by the +representation of a flying figure proceeding in the same direction. This +scheme has been adopted in sculpture with high success, as in the Shaw +Memorial at Boston,[a] and the Marseillaise of Rude.[b] In painting, +several horizontal figures may be used, but they must be placed +irregularly to avoid the appearance of formality. Some modern French +artists are responsible for effective designs indicating the arrival of +spring by an overhead figure flying above young people moving through +flowery fields.[c] + + [a] By A. Saint-Gaudens. + + [b] Arc de Triomphe, Paris. + + [c] See Aman-Jean's decorative panels at the Sorbonne. + +A suggestion of motion may be obtained by exhibiting a number of persons +engaged in similar actions, but shown in a consecutive series of stages +thereof. This plan is admirably worked out by Watteau in his Embarkation +for Cythera.[a] A line of couples commences at the right of the picture, +proceeds towards the left, and then descends a slope to the place of +embarkation. The first couple are sitting and conversing, the next are +in the act of rising, and the third have just risen and are about to +follow the other couples already walking, the whole device being most +effective. A similar kind of illusion is caused by Rubens in his Diana +and Nymphs pursued by Satyrs.[b] On the extreme right of the picture +some of the figures are stationary; then come a few who are struggling, +and finally some running nymphs and satyrs, a perfect progression of +events being suggested. + + [a] In the Louvre, and repeated with variations at Berlin. + + [b] The Prado, Madrid. See Plate 27. + +Illusion of motion is more easily obtained with animals than with human +figures, providing they are fairly large, because of the greater number +of their feet and the consequent wider variation between the apparent +and the real movements. It is exceedingly difficult to produce a +suggestion of motion with a single animal represented in a natural +attitude, but the painter is only concerned with what appears to be +natural or probable, and not with what is actually so. We have only a +general idea of the action of a horse in nature from what we see, and +consequently in design this action must be generalized irrespective of +natural possibilities. Some artists combine parts of different actions +as exhibited in a series of photographs in order to represent a moment +of action as it is generalized to the eye, but this is only serviceable +where the presumed action of the animal is one of a series of similar +events, as in walking or trotting. It would not answer in the case of an +isolated action, as jumping or rearing, because such actions vary with +the circumstances surrounding them, as the height of the jump or the +cause of the rearing. In these events therefore the artist may +exaggerate to a great extent without appearing to present impossible +movements. In fact nearly all good pictures of one or two horses in +action are strong exaggerations of nature, but this hardly affects +their æsthetic worth because the action is not recognized as abnormal or +impossible. The finest painting of horses in action known to us, is +Regnault's Automedon with the Horses of Achilles,[a] where the animals +exhibit spirit and movement far above experience, but even if we did not +know that they are presumed to be immortal, we should only regard the +action as exceptional, for it does not appear to be impossible. + + [a] Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 28. + +There is ample scope for the presentation of an illusion with a number +of moving animals. All that is necessary is that they should be kept +fairly well together with their legs in various moving attitudes. This +illusion is perfectly managed by many of the French painters of battle +scenes in the nineteenth century, notably Horace Vernet,[a] Gros,[b] +Chartier,[c] Morot,[d] and Meissonier.[e] The action in the cavalry +charges of Morot and Chartier is amazingly true to life. Even three or +four animals will suffice for an illusion,[f] but this cannot be +provided with the smaller animals, as sheep or goats, because although a +series of progressive actions may be given to those outside animals in a +flock whose legs are visible to the spectator of the picture, the scale +to which they are painted is necessarily so small that the eye has an +entirely insufficient range for operating the illusion. Where several +horses are represented as moving at considerable speed, it is necessary +that some of their feet should touch the ground, otherwise the illusion +is destroyed, or else the animal may appear to be racing through the +air.[g] The effect is not so disturbing when all the feet of the moving +animals are on the ground,[h] or where they are hidden by herbage,[i] or +where all the animals are on their hind legs,[j] though in these +instances an illusion is almost impossible. + + [a] La Smalah at Versailles. + + [b] The Combat of Nazareth. + + [c] Jena, 1806, and Hanau, 1813. + + [d] Reichsoffen. + + [e] 1814. + + [f] Rosa Bonheur's Ploughing in Nivernois. + + [g] Fromentin's Couriers des Ooled Nayls, Luxembourg; Schreyer's The + Attack, N. Y. Public Library; and Gericault's Epsom, Louvre. + + [h] A. Brown's The Drove. + + [i] Uhde's Cavalry Soldiers Going into Action, Muffel Collection. + + [j] Snyder's Hunt, Munich Gallery. + +In cases where horses and men are crowded together, and are struggling +in confusion, it is only necessary in order to provide an illusion, that +no action should be entirely separated from the others. There was a fine +example of this work in a lost drawing or painting of Titian, of +Pharaoh's Host Overwhelmed in the Red Sea[a]; and many artists of the +Renaissance produced like illusions in pictures of the rape of the +Sabines. Where the movement is spread over a large area, and the scale +to which the animals are drawn is comparatively small, the various +groups engaged must obviously be connected together in a series. Franz +Adam arranges a scheme of this kind in a battle scene, using running +soldiers or hauled guns as links in the chain.[b] + + [a] An engraving on wood by A. Andreani is in existence. + + [b] A Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, Munich. + +An illusion of motion is sometimes assisted by the title of the picture. +A remarkable example of this is Robert's The Israelites Depart. Although +individual action cannot be distinguished owing to the scale of the +design, yet when one is acquainted with the title, the imagination is +instinctively set to work, and the enormous crowds packing the wide +streets seem to be streaming in one direction. Obviously for the title +to have this effect, the number of signs must be overwhelming, and there +must be no possibility of interpreting the picture in two ways; that is +to say, accessory signs must be used to indicate the direction in which +the crowd is moving.[71] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR + + With the assistance of drapery--Of clouds--Of winged + figures--Miscellaneous devices. + + +The representation of figures suspended in the air, or moving through +it, has never offered much trouble to painters, though necessarily +involving an apparent miracle. The very slightest pretended physical +assistance suffices for the illusion, and this help is usually rendered +in the shape of flying drapery, winged figures, clouds, or artificial +devices based upon the contact of two or more figures. The only +difficulty met with is in respect of an upward vertical movement. Here, +wings or clouds can scarcely be made to differentiate between a rising +and a falling movement, and flying drapery is of little service inasmuch +as a rush through the air would, if the feat were actually performed, +cause the drapery to cling to the figure. The surest remedy for the +disabilty is to support the figure directly by winged figures placed at +a considerable angle from the vertical, but this plan is only rarely +adopted by great masters because of the consequent complications in the +design of the group. Since flying drapery is commonly added to the +figure presumed to be ascending, and seeing that artists almost +invariably insist upon giving their ascending figures upright attitudes, +it is seldom that the movement is correctly expressed. Usually the +figure appears to be held immovably in suspension, but occasionally, +owing to the drapery arrangement, a descending movement is indicated.[a] +Without the assistance of winged figures, the illusion of ascension can +only be given when the figure is shown directed upwards at an angle of +at least fifteen or twenty degrees from the vertical. As a rule the +larger the angle, the more easy is the production of an illusion. With a +fairly large angle, and an appropriate arrangement of limbs and drapery, +heavy figures can be made to appear naturally ascending, as in Rubens's +Boreas and Orithyia, both voluptuous forms.[b] + + [a] As in Murillo's Ascension of Christ, Madrid Academy. + + [b] Venice Academy. + +Only a very few of the first artists have been able to give an illusion +of movement in the air by use of drapery alone, the device adopted by +Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel frescoes being perhaps the most +effective. He throws behind the moving figure of the Deity a large fold +of drapery, which assumes an oval or nearly round shape, the whole +acting as a concave framework for the Deity and attending Angels.[a] The +success of the plan arises of course from the apparent resistance to the +air offered by a large and compact surface. This form with more or less +marked modifications in the concavity was probably used by the ancient +Greeks in their paintings, as a nearly similar arrangement is found in a +sculptured figure which has come down to us, though in this case a +running movement is indicated.[b] It is also seen in some Pompeian +frescoes, where it is applied to figures moving through the air and on +the ground.[c] Raphael adopted the device occasionally,[d] but generally +varied it with excellent effect by flowing out from the waist a large +scarf-like fold to take a circular form above the head and shoulders of +the figure,[e] or by causing heavy drapery to flow out from the lower +part of the body.[f] No doubt in the case of Raphael, the extraordinary +grace of figure, and the perfect pose of the limbs, assist the illusion. +Tintoretto and other artists of the Renaissance used an oval drapery in +a similar way; while sometimes the figure is half hidden within it,[g] +and Le Sueur wrapped part of the figure in folds before forming the +oval.[h] There seems to be a simple virtue in any oval form connected +with figures presumed to be suspended in the air. It was quite common in +the early days of the Renaissance for the Deity or Virgin and Child to +be placed in a regular oval framework, sometimes supported by Angels or +cherubs, and the illusion was usually successful.[i] Rubens by way of +experiment went a little further in one picture, for he placed the +Virgin and Child in an oval picture frame supported by cherubs.[j] This +however does not seem so novel as some of Perugino's ovals which are +bordered with the heads of cherubs.[k] + + [a] See Plate 24. + + [b] The Son of Niobe, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.[72] + + [c] Herculanum et Pompei, vol. iv., by Roux Ainé. + + [d] Ceiling of the Hall of Heliodorus, Vatican. + + [e] Vatican frescoes God Separating Water and Earth, and God Appearing + to Isaac. + + [f] The Creation of the Sun and Moon. + + [g] Poussin's St. Francis Zavier, Louvre. + + [h] The Virgin appearing to St. Martin. + + [i] See the Assumption of Orcagna, and of Luca di Tome; Giunto + Pisano's Christ and the Virgin; and Mainardi's Madonna giving + her Girdle to St. Thomas. + + [j] Virgin and Child, Chiesa Nuovo, Rome. + + [k] Ascension of Christ, Perugia; Assumption, Florence Academy, and + others. + +Wings are seldom sufficient to suggest lightness in the air, because +they can scarcely be designed of the size and strength which we judge to +be proportionate to the presumed weight of the body, without making the +form appear abnormal, though there are instances in which partial +success has been achieved by using comparatively small figures and +giving them unusually large wings.[a] The use of more than a single pair +of wings is hardly permissible because of the apparent anomaly. Actually +one pair is not less incomprehensible from an anatomical point of view +than several pairs, but custom has driven from our minds any suggestion +of incongruity in respect of the representation of the common type of +Angel. Naturally when skilfully arranged, the more wings, the stronger +the illusion of flight, and if a habit of giving four wings to an Angel +were engendered, we should perhaps see nothing strange in them. Even six +wings have been given to Angels without making them appear +ungraceful.[b] + + [a] J. H. Witt's Bless the Lord. + + [b] Picart's The Burning Coal. + +When there is no assistance, as clouds or flowing drapery, lent to +Angels to promote the illusion of suspension, it is necessary to give +them an attitude which is nearly horizontal. Properly managed, a pair +of comparatively small wings may in this way appear to support a heavy +form.[a] Luini actually adds the weight of the body of St. Catherine to +three Angels, flying horizontally, who carry her to the tomb[b]; an +invention, strangely enough, followed by Kulmbach in Germany at about +the same time.[c] In both cases the illusion is excellent. Some of the +early Flemish and German masters, including Van Eyck[d] and Holbein,[e] +employed Angels in scenes with the Virgin to hold suspended behind her +seat, large falls of brocaded material, and it is curious to note that +the Angels themselves seem to be supported by the drapery. In order to +assist the suggestion of lightness, Perugino sometimes arched the lower +limbs of the Angels, adding a narrow tape scroll[f]; an addition +improved upon by Raphael who substituted for the scroll a loosened +girdle flying out from the waist.[g] + + [a] Rembrandt's The Angel quitting Tobias, Louvre. + + [b] The Brera, Milan. + + [c] St. Mary's, Krakan. + + [d] Virgin and Child at the Fountain, Antwerp. + + [e] Virgin and Child, Augsburg. + + [f] The Ascension, Borgo San Sepolcro, Perugia. + + [g] Creation of Woman, Castello Gallery; Prophets and Sybils, Perugia, + and others. + +The most frequently used form of support for figures in suspension are +irregular masses of clouds, upon which the figures sit or stand, and +occasionally are partly enfolded therein. Sometimes the cloud bank is +more or less shaped for the purpose of relief, or for variety in design. +Thus, Raphael makes part of the cloud a perfect footrest for the +Virgin,[a] and Palma Giovane does a similar thing for a figure of +Christ,[b] but in this case the illusion is hazarded as the seat is not +directly indicated. Ingres produces an excellent illusion by making the +footrest a small separate cloud,[c] which is a variation from the +practice of many painters of the Renaissance, who used a separate cloud +for each personage in the composition, or even with each foot as with +Carlo Crivelli.[d] In a fresco of the Evangelists at Florence, each of +them sits with his insignia on a foliated bank of clouds.[e] Perugino in +using a similar plan sometimes places the clouds at the bottom of the +picture, no part of the earth being seen, so that the illusion is +considerably enhanced.[f] At other times he shows Angels apparently +running through the air, with each front foot resting on a tiny cloud, +giving the impression that it is fastened there.[g] Durer extended this +plan by directly attaching a small cloud to each foot, the effect being +somewhat whimsical.[h] Titian was unsuccessful in the use of an isolated +cloud.[i] In a Resurrection scene Christ stands on a small thin cloud, +and holds a flag-pole, the lower end of which rests upon the cloud. +Obviously with such a design no suggestion of ascent can enter the mind. + + [a] Foligna Madonna, Vatican. + + [b] Christ in Judgment, Venice. + + [c] The Oath of Louis XIII. + + [d] Coronation of the Virgin, Milan. + + [e] Santa Maria. By an unknown artist of the Ghirlandaio school. + + [f] Christ's Rule. + + [g] Madonna and Child with Penitents, and others. + + [h] The Virgin with a Canary, Berlin. + + [i] Urbino Gallery. + + [Illustration: PLATE 23 (See page 247) + Patricia, by Lydia Emmet (_Private owner, N. Y._)] + +Some artists, as Luca Signorelli,[a] hide the lower part of the figure +behind clouds, but this method, while indicating suspension, cannot +provide an illusion of movement without an assisting device. Thus +Schonherr shows an Angel so concealed in a nearly horizontal position +with wings fully expanded, the effect being good.[b] When a figure is +suspended on clouds, very rarely indeed is repose emphasized by placing +it in a horizontal position, but Poussin once adopts the plan,[c] and +Guercino goes so far as to represent a reclining Angel resting her head +on her hand as if suffering from fatigue.[d] Perfect repose of the Deity +in an upright position on clouds is produced by Gustave Doré, who +reduces the size of the earth, above which He stands, to an +insignificant proportion, so that the imagination sends it moving round +below Him.[e] + + [a] Madonna and Child in Glory, Arezzo. + + [b] The Agony in the Garden. + + [c] Adam and Eve. + + [d] Martyrdom of St. Peter, Modena. + + [e] Creation of the Earth. + +Quite a number of artists represent the suspended figures standing on +the backs of cherubs or cupids, which in their turn are supported by +clouds, as for instance, R. Ghirlandaio,[a] Liberale di Verona,[b] and +Francesco da Cotignola.[c] Fra Bartolommeo places a single foot of the +Deity on a cherub who holds a banderole, the illusion being +excellent.[d] Domenichino adopts a most ingenious device in St. Paul's +Vision. He shows the Apostle being carried to Heaven by winged cherubs, +who appear to find the weight considerable, and to struggle under it. +There is little else to induce the illusion, which is complete.[e] A +similar scheme is successfully managed in Prud'hon's Abduction of +Psyche. Tassaert uses a like device, but in addition has a cherub +supporting each arm of the Virgin. Palma Vecchio makes the Virgin stand +on the outstretched wings of a cherub, but her robe blows upwards, +giving her the appearance of descending instead of ascending.[f] Rubens +has three alternatives in the use of cherubs. The figure sits on clouds +with feet resting on small globes sustained by cherubs[g]; or the +cherubs hold the dress and mantle of the Virgin; or they help to control +the clouds upon which she sits.[h] In some of his pictures of the +Immaculate Conception, Murillo also uses globes, but places the cherubs +on them instead of under. Francia has a picture in which cherubs hold up +clouds bearing the Virgin,[i] a device once used by Rembrandt.[j] Genga +shows the Deity kneeling upon the heads of cherubs, a scheme not +satisfactory.[k] Cherubs were used by Titian to hold up the Virgin and +clouds,[l] while Velasquez rested the robes on clouds, but used cherubs +to sustain the Holy Mother.[m] + + [a] The Madonna giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Prato. + + [b] The Magdalene and Saints. + + [c] Adoration of the Shepherds, Ravenna Academy. + + [d] The Deity with SS. Catherine and Magdalene. + + [e] Assumption of the Virgin. + + [f] Assumption of the Virgin, Venice. + + [g] The Deity and Christ, Weimar. + + [h] Assumption of the Virgin at Dusseldorf, Augsburg, Brussels, and + Vienna. + + [i] Madonna and Child in Glory, Berlin. + + [j] The Ascension, Munich. + + [k] The Magdalene and Saints, Milan. + + [l] Assumption of the Virgin, Venice. + + [m] Coronation of the Virgin, Madrid. + +The illusion is usually more complete when Angels are used instead of +cherubs for support, apparently because they may be presumed to have +greater strength, and the plan was adopted by some of the earlier +masters of the Renaissance. The simple design of Rubens in resting the +foot of Christ on the arm of a flying Angel is quite successful.[a] +Fontana places the Deity on clouds supported by Angels,[b] a method +adopted by Granacci, who however assists the illusion by adding two +Angels who are directly supporting the figure.[c] Peter Cornelius has +the Deity with His foot on a small globe which is held in position by +Angels.[d] A fine example of their use is shown by Gutherz. Two Angels +with large outstretched wings are bearing the body of a woman to Heaven. +She lies recumbent upon a lengthy hammock formed by the robes of the +Angels, the ends of the drapery being gathered up by the flying +cherubs.[e] The illusion is perfect. Rembrandt also has a beautiful +design in a Resurrection scene, for he shows the figure of Christ as a +shade whose hands are held by a flying Angel lifting Him to Heaven.[f] A +few artists, as Poussin[g] and Bouguereau,[h] use Angels to carry the +figure with no other assisting device, but if the body is recumbent it +is necessary that the Angels should be in a nearly upright position, +otherwise they will appear to be moving horizontally.[i] Rubens in an +Ascension uses the strange method of placing an Angel beneath Christ, +but without touching Him.[j] The drapery flies out at the back, so that +without some assistance he would appear to be descending; but the Angel +below, with her hands held up, seems to correct the position. Guido Reni +carries the Virgin up with Angels who support her beneath, and she seems +in fact to be standing on their shoulders.[k] In one instance Correggio +substitutes a smiling boy for an Angel, and he holds up a cloud on which +the Virgin sits.[l] There are many works where winged figures hold a +body in suspension, most of them providing excellent illusions. Among +the best is Lux's Sarpedon, where the body of the Trojan is held up for +Jupiter to kiss.[m] + + [a] Ascension of Christ, Vienna. + + [b] Vision of the Resurrection. + + [c] The Virgin giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Uffizi Gallery, + Florence. + + [d] Let there be Light. + + [e] "They shall bear thee up." + + [f] Munich Gallery. + + [g] Assumption of the Virgin, and Vision of St. Paul. + + [h] Assumption of the Virgin. + + [i] Bouguereau's Une Ame au Ciel. + + [j] The Academy, Venice. + + [k] Assumption of the Virgin, Munich. + + [l] Madonna and Child with Saints, Parma. + + [m] The Luxembourg. + +Even a simple banderole or scarf suffices to indicate movement in the +air if well arranged. Usually a flying cherub holds an end of the +banderole, and Ferri shows a wingless putto even, flying with no other +assistance.[a] Boucher creates an illusion by the bold device of +connecting two cupids with a narrow scarf blown out into a +semicircle[b]; and in another instance very narrow tape streamers +suffice.[c] + + [a] David plans a Temple. + + [b] Birth of Venus. + + [c] Altdorfer's Nativity at Berlin. + +The use of thick smoke for suspension purposes is nearly always +successful, because volumes of smoke in nature necessarily tend to move +upwards; but obviously this scheme can only be arranged when an altar is +possible. The plan is not uncommon in pictures relating to Cain and +Abel, and the Translation of Enoch. In one of the latter subject, Hoet +makes part of the smoke from an altar envelop the surrounding ground so +as to widen the volume, while Schnorr achieves the same end by curling +round the smoke as it ascends into the form of a large saucer upon which +the Deity sits,[a] a method slightly varied by Amiconi.[b] + + [a] God's Promise to Abraham. + + [b] God Appearing to Moses. + +Where a number of figures are connected together in a circular form in +the air, the double illusion of suspension and motion follows naturally, +provided their attitudes indicate a circular movement. An excellent +example of this is shown in a picture by Botticelli, where Angels dance +in the air over the hut of the Nativity.[a] The finest work of the kind +in existence is probably Schwind's Pleiads, in which the stars are +represented by a circle of beautiful nude women.[b] Extraordinary +activity is suggested by the perfect arrangement of the limbs and light +flowing drapery used. Bouguereau has a work of a similar kind, The Lost +Pleiad, but here the dancers are upright, and the circle is only +accessory to the title figure.[c] Watteau is fairly successful in giving +an illusion of suspension to cupids even with a half circle, though the +invention is somewhat formal.[d] + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] Denner Collection. See Plate 25. + + [c] Brooklyn Museum, New York. + + [d] The Berlin example of the Embarkation for Cythera. + +Some of the devices used to bring about an illusion are most ingenious. +Thus in his Bacchus and Ariadne,[a] Tintoretto actually applies a +disability of his art for the purpose. Venus is shown in a horizontal +position in the air, placing a crown of stars upon the head of Ariadne. +Bacchus is standing by, and the form of the goddess floats just at the +back of him, the lower side of her hip being on a level with the top of +his head. Seeing that the head is covered with a profusion of vine +leaves, it is impossible for the artist to indicate, or the observer to +recognize, that the goddess does not actually touch the head of Bacchus, +and she apparently balances herself upon his head while crowning +Ariadne, the artist having been careful to place the centre of gravity +of her figure over the apparent point of contact. A similar kind of +illusion is provided by Burne-Jones, whose Angel of the Annunciation is +upright in midair near the ground, but her feet seem to find support +on the branches of a shrub.[b] Rossetti, in the same subject, shows the +Angel with his feet wrapped in flames, the weight being thus apparently +removed. The design seems bizarre, perhaps because of the absence of an +expression of surprise which one would expect to see on the countenance +of the Virgin at so extraordinary a phenomenon.[73] Schwind also uses a +disability of his art for an illusion in his Phantom of the Forest.[c] +She moves near the ground away from the spectator with such rapidity +that her robe, a simple rectangular piece of drapery, has opened out +wide from the front, and hides her figure from the shoulders down, so +that from the point of view of the observer she may, or may not, be +touching the ground as she moves. + + [a] Ducal Palace, Venice. + + [b] Tate Gallery, London. + + [c] Schack Gallery, Munich. + +How slight the apparent support need be, is indicated in Bouguereau's +Aurora and Twilight. Each figure is represented by a nude woman holding +a light scarf, the first rapidly, and the second slowly, skimming the +surface of a stream of water with soft touches of the feet, and yet +there is no anomaly that strikes the mind. A still more daring device is +used by Battistello, though quite successfully. He places two wingless +putti in the air, but one holds up the other, and this action seems to +sustain them both.[a] Another amazing design is from the hand of A. P. +Roll, who shows a nude-man in the air clutching another, and apparently +struggling to pull him down, yet the action seems perfectly natural.[b] + + [a] Adoration of the Shepherds, San Martino, Naples. + + [b] Design for the Petit Palais, Paris. + + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES + + + +NOTE 1. PAGE 2 + +It is usual and proper to distinguish three kinds of beauty in painting, +namely, of colour, of form, and of expression. But form must be defined +by tones, and colour without form is meaningless: hence in the general +consideration of the painter's art, it is convenient to place form and +colour together as representing the sensorial element of beauty. +Nevertheless colour and form are not on the same plane in regard to +sense perception. Harmony of colour is distinguished involuntarily by +nerve sensations, but in the case of harmony of form there must be a +certain consideration before its æsthetic determination. The recognition +of this harmony commonly appears to be instantaneous, but still it is +delayed, the delay varying with the complexity of the signs, that is to +say, with the quality of the beauty. + + + +NOTE 2. PAGE 2 + +Benedetto Croce, the inventor of the latest serious æsthetic system, +talks of the "science of art," but he says[a]: + + Science--true science, is a science of the spirit--Philosophy. + Natural sciences spoken of apart from philosophy, are complexes + of knowledge, arbitrarily abstracted and fixed. + +It is perhaps needless to say that Croce's æsthetic system, like all the +others, collapses on a breath of inquiry. On the purely philosophical +side of it, further criticism is unnecessary, and its practical outcome +from the point of view of art is not far removed from the amazing +conclusions of Hegel. From the latter philosopher we learn that an idol +in the form of a stone pillar, or an animal set up by the primitive +races, is higher art than a drama by Shakespeare, or a portrait by +Titian, because it represents the Idea (Hegel's unintelligible +abstraction--see Note 5), while Croce tells us that "the art of savages +is not inferior, as art, to that of civilized peoples, provided it be +correlated to the impressions of the savages." Clearly if this be so, we +are not surprised to learn from Croce that Aristotle "failed to discern +the true nature of the æsthetic." Nevertheless, whatever be the outcome +of Croce's arguments, his system is at least more plausible than that of +either Hegel or Schopenhauer, for while these two invent highly +improbable abstractions upon which to base their systems, Croce only +gives new functions to an old and reasonable abstraction. + + [a] _Æsthetic_, Douglas Ainslie Translation, 1909. + + + +NOTE 3. PAGE 3 + +The writer does not mean to suggest that these systems are set up for +the purpose of being knocked down: he desires only to indicate surprise +that in new works dealing with the perception of beauty, it is +considered necessary to restate the old æsthetic theories and to point +out their drawbacks, albeit the fatal objections to them are so numerous +that there is always fresh ground available for destructive criticism. +The best of the recent works on the subject that have come under the +notice of the writer, is E. F. Carritt's review of the present position +in respect of æsthetic systems. Though profound, he is so comprehensive +that he leaves little or nothing of importance for succeeding critics to +say till the next system is put forward. Yet here is his conclusion[a]: + + If any point can be thought to have emerged from the foregoing + considerations, it is this: that in the history of æsthetics we + may discover a growing pressure of emphasis upon the doctrine that + all beauty is the expression of what may be generally called + emotion, and that all such expression is beautiful. + +This is all that an acute investigator can draw from the sum of the +æsthetic systems advanced. Now what does this mean? Let us turn to the +last page of Carritt's book and find the object of the search after a +satisfactory æsthetic system. It is, he says, "the desire to understand +goodness and beauty and their relations with each other or with +knowledge, as well as to practise or enjoy them." If we accept beauty as +the expression of emotion, how far have we progressed towards the +indicated goal? Not a step, for we have only agreed upon a new way of +stating an obvious condition which applies to the animal world as well +as to human beings. Beyond this there is nothing--not a glimpse of +sunshine from all the æsthetic systems laid down since the time of +Baumgarten. + +More than twenty years ago Leo Tolstoy pointed out the unintelligible +character of these systems, but no further light has been thrown upon +them. Nevertheless Tolstoy's own interpretation of the significance of +beauty cannot possibly meet with general approval. He disputes that art +is directly associated with beauty or pleasure, and finds in fact that +what we call the beautiful representation of nature is not necessarily +art, but that[b] + + Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one man + consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others + feelings he has lived through, and that other people are affected + by these feelings, and also experience them. + +This definition may mean almost anything, and particularly it may imply +pure imitation which Tolstoy condemns as outside of art. But it +certainly does not include many forms of what we call art, the author +specially condemning for instance, _Romeo and Juliet_, and declaring +that while _Faust_ is beautiful, "it cannot produce a really artistic +impression." The definition then seems to represent little more than a +quibble over terms. Tolstoy says that the beautiful representation of +nature is not art, but something else is. Very well then, all we have to +do is to find a new term for this representation of nature, and the +position remains as before except that the meaning of the term "art" has +been changed. + + [a] _The Theory of Beauty_, 1914. + + [b] _What is Art?_ Aylmer Maude Translation. + + + +NOTE 4. PAGE 8 + +The evolutionary principle has been applied to art by Herbert Spencer +and J. A. Symonds, but not in the sense in which it is used in +connection with the development of living organisms. Spencer traces a +progression from the simple to the complex in the application of the +arts, but not in the arts themselves[a]; and Symonds endeavours to prove +that each separate marked period of art shows a progression which is +common to all; that is, from immature variations to a high type, then +downwards through a lower form represented by romanticism or elegance, +to realism, and from this to hybrid forms.[b] Spencer's argument is +suggestive, but his conclusions have been mostly upset by archaeological +discoveries made since his great book was published. The illustrations +given by Symonds are highly illuminating, but they are very far from +postulating a general law of evolution operating in the production of +art. + + [a] _First Principles_. + + [b] Essay on _Evolutionary Principles_. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 24 (See page 260) + The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo (_Vatican_)] + + + +NOTE 5. PAGE 8 + +It seems necessary to mention Hegel's art periods, though one can only +do so with a feeling of regret that a man who achieved a high reputation +as a philosopher should have entered the province of art only to +misconstrue its purpose with fantastic propositions which have no +historical or other apparent foundation. He divides art history into +Symbolic, Classic, and Romantic periods respectively. To accomplish this +he invents or discovers a new abstraction which he calls the Idea, this +representing man's conception, not of God, but of His perfection--His +supreme qualities, so that in one sense the Idea may be called the +Absolute, in another the Spirit, and in another, Truth. These terms are +in fact interchangeable, and each may be a manifestation of another, or +of God. This Idea, he says, being perfect beauty, is the basic concept +of art. In archaic times man was unable to give expression to this +concept, so he represented it by symbols: hence the earliest art was +Symbolic art. In the time of the Greeks man had so advanced that he was +able to give higher expression to the Idea, and he embodied it in a +perfect human form. This is the Classic period, which Hegel indicates +continued till Christianity spread abroad, when Classic form, though +perfect as art, was found insufficient for the now desired still higher +expression of the Idea. This expression could not be put into stone, so +other arts than sculpture were used for it, namely, poetry, painting, +and music, which are placed together as Romantic art. This is as nearly +as possible a statement of the periods of Hegel in short compass. It is +impossible to interpret logically his arguments, nor is it necessary, +for his conclusions when tested in the light of experience, develop into +inexplicable paradoxes and contradictions which border on the +ridiculous. Needless to say, the acceptance of this division means the +annihilation of our ideas of the meaning of art, and the condemnation to +the limbo of forgetfulness of nearly all the artists whose memory is +honoured. + +The general interpretation of the terms "Classic Art" and "Romantic Art" +widely differs from that of Hegel, and varies with the arts. In the +literary arts the distinction is obvious, but the terms are used to +define both periods and classes; in architecture the Gothic period is +usually called the Romantic epoch; and in painting the terms have +reference to manner, the more formal manner being called Classic, and +the soft manner, Romantic; though it is commonly understood that +Romantic art is especially concerned with subjects associated with the +gentler side of life. But there is no general agreement. Some writers +assert that Giorgione was the first of the romanticists, others give the +palm to Watteau, a third section to Delacroix, and a fourth to the +Barbizon School. We must await a clear definition of "Romantic Art." + + + +NOTE 6. PAGE 8 + +It may be reasonably argued that the want of development of the plastic +arts in England during the literary revival, was largely due to +artificial restrictions. Fine paintings were ordered out of the churches +by Elizabeth, and many were destroyed; while, following the lead of the +court, there was little or no encouragement offered by the public to +artists except perhaps in portraiture. Flaxman truly said of the +destruction of works of art in this period, that the check to the +national art in England occurred at a time which offered the most +essential and extraordinary assistance to its progress. + + + +NOTE 7. PAGE 16 + +During the last half century or so, various writers of repute, including +Ruskin and Dean Farrar, have professed to find in the poorer works of +the Italian painters of the fourteenth century, and even in paintings of +Margaritone and others of the previous century, evidence of strong +religious emotion on the part of the artists. It is claimed that their +purpose in giving simple solemn faces to their Madonnas and Saints, was +"to tell the sacred story in all its beauty and simplicity"; that they +possessed a "powerful sincerity of emotion"; that they "delivered the +burning messages of prophecy with the stammering lips of infancy," and +so on. It is proper to say that there is nothing to support this view of +the early painters. We find no trace of any suggestions of the kind till +the last of these artists had been dead for about four hundred years, +while their lives, so far as we have any record, lend no warranty to the +statements. The painters of the fourteenth century took their art +seriously, but purely as a craft, and it was not uncommon with them to +combine two or three other crafts with that of painting. They designed +mostly sacred subjects for the simple reason that the art patrons of the +day seldom ordered anything else. In their private lives they associated +together, were generally agreeable companions, and not averse to an +occasional escapade. Moreover the time in which they lived was notable +for what we should call loose habits, and indeed from the thirteenth +century to the end of the fifteenth, religious observances and practices +were of a more hollow and formal character than they have ever been +since. + +The position occupied by these painters in the progression of art from +the crude Byzantine period upwards, corresponds with that of the Roman +painters of the third and fourth centuries in the progression downwards +to the Byzantine epoch, and there is no more reason for supposing that +the Italians were actuated by special emotions in their work, than that +the Romans were so moved. In both cases the character of the work, as +Reynolds put it in referring to the Italians, was the result of want of +knowledge. The countenances usually presented by both Roman and Italian +artists have a half sad, half resigned expression, because this was the +only kind of expression that could be given by an immature painter whose +ideal was restricted by the necessity of eliminating elements which +might indicate happiness. Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Duccio, and a few more, +were exceptions in that their art was infinitely superior to the average +of the century, but all from Giotto downwards, laboured as craftsmen +only. No doubt they often worked with enthusiasm, and in this way their +emotions may have been brought into play, but there is no possible means +of identifying in a picture the emotions which an artist may have +experienced while he was painting it. + +As to the sad expression referred to in these Italian works, it may be +observed that Edgar A. Poe held that the tone of the highest +manifestation of beauty is one of sadness. "Beauty of whatever kind," he +says, "in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul +to tears."[a] But Poe is clearly mistaken here. It is not the beauty of +the work that affects the emotions to tears, when they are so affected, +but the subject of the design exhibiting the beauty. A picture or poem +representing a sad subject may be very beautiful, but the sadness itself +would not assist the beauty, though it might increase the emotional +effect. The higher forms of beauty rarely draw our tears, but elicit our +admiration without direct thought of anything but the beauty. + +Who would weep when in front of the greatest marvels of Greek sculpture? + + [a] _The Philosophy of Composition._ + + + +NOTE 8. PAGE 21 + +It is commonly, but wrongfully, supposed that Rembrandt used his +broadest manner in painting commissioned portraits. The number of his +portraits known to exist is about 450, of which fifty-five are +representations of himself, and fifty-four of members of his household, +or relatives. There are, further, more than seventy studies of old men +and women, and thirty of younger men. The balance are commissioned +portraits or groups. This last section includes none at all of his +palette knife pictures, and not more than two or three which are +executed with his heaviest brushes. Generally his work broadened in his +later period, but up to the end of his life his more important works +were often painted in a comparatively fine manner, though the handling +was less careful and close.[a] The broadest style of the artist is +rarely exhibited except in his studies and family portraits. Further it +is extremely unlikely that a palette-knife picture would have been +accepted in Holland during Rembrandt's time as a serious work in +portraiture. + + [a] See among works dating after 1660, The Syndics of the Drapers, + Portrait of a Young Man, Wachtmeister Collection; Lady with + a Dog, Colmar Museum; and Portrait of a Young Man, late Beit + Collection. + + + +NOTE 9. PAGE 22 + +Darwin pointed out the permanent character of the changes in the nerves, +though he submitted another demonstration[a]: + + That some physical change is produced in the nerve cells or nerves + which are habitually used can hardly be doubted, for otherwise it + is impossible to understand how the tendency to certain acquired + movements is inherited. + + [a] _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals._ + + + +NOTE 10. PAGE 23 + +Reynolds evidently had little faith in original genius. Addressing Royal +Academy students, he said[a]: + + You must have no dependence on your own genius. If you have great + talents, industry will improve them; if you have but moderate + abilities, industry will supply the deficiency. Nothing is denied + to well-directed labour; nothing is to be obtained without it.... I + will venture to assert that assiduity unabated by difficulty, and a + disposition eagerly directed to the object of its pursuit, will + produce effects similar to those which some call the result of + natural powers. + +On another occasion Reynolds observed of Michelangelo[b]: + + He appears not to have had the least conception that his art was to + be acquired by any other means than great labour; and yet he of all + men that ever lived, might make the greatest pretensions to the + efficacy of native genius and inspiration. + +Gibbon said that Reynolds agreed with Dr. Johnson in denying all +original genius, any natural propensity of the mind to one art or +science rather than another.[c] Hogarth also agreed with Reynolds, for +he describes genius as "nothing but labour and diligence." + +Croce says that genius has a quantitative and not a qualitative +signification, but he offers no demonstration.[d] Evidently he is +mistaken, for the signification is both quantitative and qualitative. It +is true that what a Phidias, or a Raphael, or a Beethoven puts together +is a sum of small beauties, any one of which may be equalled by another +man, but he does more than represent a number of beauties, for he +combines these into a beautiful whole which is superior in quality and +cannot be estimated quantitatively. We may possibly call Darwin a genius +because of the large number of facts he ascertained, and the correct +inferences he drew from them, but we particularly apply the term to him +by reason of the general result of all these facts and inferences, this +result being qualitative and not quantitative. Croce probably took his +dictum from Schopenhauer, who, however, represented degrees of quality +as quantitative,[e] which is of course confusing the issue. + + [a] Reynolds's Second Discourse. + + [b] His Fifth Discourse. + + [c] Gibbon's _Memoirs of my Life and Writings_. + + [d] _Æsthetic._ + + [e] Essay on "Genius." + + + +NOTE 11. PAGE 32 + +It is often observed by advocates of "new" forms of art that the work of +many great artists has been variously valued at different periods--that +leaders of marked departures in art now honoured, were frequently more +or less ignored in their own time, while other artists who acquired a +great reputation when living, have been properly put into the background +by succeeding generations. For the first statement no solid ground can +be shown. In painting, the artists since the Dark Age who can be said to +have led departures of any importance, are Cimabue, Giotto, the Van +Eycks, Masaccio, Lionardo, Dürer, Giorgione, Raphael, Michelangelo, +Titian, Holbein, Claude, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Watteau, +Reynolds, and Fragonard. All of these had their high talents recognized +and thoroughly appreciated in their lifetime. In sculpture the +experience is the same, for there is no sculptor now honoured whose work +was not highly valued by his contemporaries. So with poetry, but before +the invention of printing and in the earlier days of this industry, +poetry of any kind was very slow in finding its way among the people. +What might seem nowadays to have been inappreciation of certain poets +was really want of knowledge of them. + +There is more truth in the assertion that many artists who had a high +reputation in their lifetime are now more or less disregarded, though +it does not follow from this that there has been a reversal of opinion +on the part of the public, or a variation in the acuteness of æsthetic +perception. Generally we find that these artists very properly held the +position they occupied in their time and country, and if they do not now +stand on exalted pedestals it is only because we compare them with men +of other periods and places, which their contemporary countrymen did +not do, at least for the purpose of establishing their permanent +position in art. Carlo Maratta for instance was celebrated in Italy as +the best painter of his country in his time, and even now we must so +regard him, but his contemporaries as with ourselves did not place him +on so high a level as his great predecessors of the sixteenth century, +and some of the seventeenth. A special reason why many of the +seventeenth century artists of Italy have fallen in public esteem may be +found in the fact that they excelled mostly in the production of +sensorial beauty, paying little attention to intellectual grace, and the +ripening of general intelligence as time goes on makes us more and more +sensitive to beauty of mind. + + + +NOTE 12. PAGE 34 + +There have been many definitions of "Impressionism" given, but they vary +considerably. Professor Clausen describes it as the work of a number of +artists whose interest is in recording effects of light, seeking to +express nature only and disregarding old conventions.[a] Mr. D. S. +MacColl says that an impressionist is[b] + + a painter who, out of the completed contacts of vision constructs + an image moulded upon his own interest in the thing seen, and not + on that of any imaginary schoolmaster. + +This definition is insufficient by itself, but the writer makes his +meaning clearer in the same article when he says: + + Impressionism is the art that surveys the field, and determines + which of the shapes and tones are of chief importance to the + interested eye, and expresses these and sacrifices the rest. + +According to C. Mauclair, an acknowledged authority on impressionism, +the impressionist holds: + + Light becomes the one subject of a picture. The interest of the + objects on which it shines is secondary. Painting thus understood + becomes an art of pure optics, a seeking for harmonies, a species + of natural poem, entirely distinct from expression, style, drawing, + which have formed the main endeavour of preceding painting. It is + almost necessary to invent a new word for this special art, which, + while remaining throughout pictural, approaches music in the same + degree as it departs from literature or psychology.[c] + +What can be said of so amazing a declaration? The arts of painting and +music do not, and cannot, have any connection with each other. They are +concerned with different senses and different signs, and by no stretch +of the imagination can they be combined. Seeing that musical terms when +used in respect of painting by modern critics are almost invariably made +to apply to colour harmonies, we may infer that a confusion of thought +arises in the minds of the writers from the similar physical means by +which colour and sound are conveyed to the senses concerned. But this +similarity has nothing to do with the appreciation of art. The æsthetic +value of a work is determined when it is conveyed to the mind, +irrespective of the means by which it is so conveyed. + +According to La Touche it was Fantin Latour who invented modern +impressionism. Braquemond relates that La Touche told him the following +story.[d] He (La Touche) was one day at the Louvre with Manet, when they +saw Latour copying Paolo Veronese's Marriage at Cana in a novel manner, +for instead of blending his colours in the usual way, he laid them on in +small touches of separate tones. The result was an unexpected brilliancy +("papillotage imprevu") which amazed but charmed the visitors. +Nevertheless when Manet left the Louvre with La Touche, he appeared +anything but satisfied with what he had seen, and pronounced it humbug. +But Latour's method evidently sunk into his mind, for a few days later +he commenced to use it himself. Thus, added La Touche, was modern +impressionism unchained. The date of this visit was not given by La +Touche, but 1874 was subsequently suggested. This account does not fit +in with the statement of MacColl that when Monet and Pissarro were in +London during the siege of Paris, the study of Turner's pictures gave +them the suggestion of these broken patches of colour.[e] If this be +true Monet must have antedated Manet in the application of isolated +tones. + +D. S. Eaton asserts that in the Salon of 1867, there was exhibited a +picture by Monet which was entitled Impressions,[f] and from this arose +the word "Impressionist"; but Phythian says that the word resulted from +Monet's "Impression, soleil levant," exhibited in 1874 at the Nadar +Gallery in Paris with other works from Le Société Anonyme des Artistes, +Peintres, Sculpteurs, et Graveurs. Phythian adds[g]: + + Thus, unwittingly led by one of the exhibitors, visitors to the + exhibition came to use the word "impressioniste," and within a few + days a contemptuously unfavourable notice of the exhibition + appeared in _Le Charivari_ under the heading "Exposition des + Impressionistes." It was not until the lapse of several years that + the name came into general use. The painters to whom it was applied + disowned it because it was used in a depreciatory sense. Eventually + however, unable to find a better one, they adopted it. + +Another origin of Impressionism is given by Muther. He says[h]: + + The name "Impressionists" dates from an exhibition in Paris which + was given at Nadar's in 1871. The catalogue contained a great deal + about impressions--for instance, "Impression de mon pot au feu," + "Impression d'un chat qui se promene." In his criticism Claretie + summed up the impressions, and spoke of the Salon des + Impressionistes. + +But the real origin of impressionism must be sought earlier than 1871, +for in 1865 Manet exhibited his Olympia in the Salon des Refusés. This +picture did not represent what was understood as impressionism ten years +later, but it led the way towards the establishment of the innovation, +in that it pretended that healthy ideas and noble designs were secondary +considerations in art. Certainly Manet could not descend lower than this +wretched picture, and in this sense his subsequent work was a distinct +advance. + + [a] Royal Academy Lectures. + + [b] Article on "Impressionism," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th + Edition. + + [c] _L'Impressionism, son histoire, son esthétique, ses maîtres._ + + [d] _Le Journal des Arts_, 1909. + + [e] Article on "Impressionism," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th + edition. + + [f] _Handbook of Modern French Painting._ + + [g] _Fifty Years of Modern Painting._ + + [h] _History of Modern Painting_, vol. iii. + + + +NOTE 13. PAGE 35 + +The reason given by impressionists for the juxtaposition of pure colours +is that the natural blend produced is more brilliant than the tone from +the mixed colours applied, but it is pointed out by Moreau-Vauthier that +the contrary is the case. He says[a]: + + We find in practice that the parent colours do not, with material + colours, produce the theoretical binaries. We get dark, dull + greens, oranges, and violets, that clash with the parent colours. + To make them harmonize we should be obliged to dim these material + colours, to transform them, and consequently to lose them partly. + + [a] _The Technique of Painting_, 1912. + + + +NOTE 14. PAGE 37 + +Cézanne and Van Gogh are not usually put forward as representative +impressionists, but it is impossible to differentiate logically between +the various "isms" of which impressionism is the mother, and to attempt +a serious argument upon them would be apt to reflect upon the common +sense of the reader. The sincere impressionist certainly produces a +thing of beauty, however ephemeral and lacking in high character the +beauty may be, but most of the productions of the other "isms" only +serve the purpose of degrading the artist and the art. + + + +NOTE 15. PAGE 40 + +This form of picture is by no means new, though except among the +inventors of sprezzatura, and the modern impressionists, it has always +been executed as a rough sketch for the purpose of settling harmonies +for serious work. Lomazzo relates that Aurelio, son of Bernadino Luini, +while visiting Titian, asked him how he managed to make his landscape +tones harmonize so well. For reply the great master showed Aurelio a +large sketch, the character of which could not be distinguished when it +was closely inspected, but on the observer stepping back, a landscape +appeared "as if it had suddenly been lit up by a ray of the sun."[a] +From Luini's surprise, and inasmuch as we have no record of similar work +before his time, it is reasonable to suppose that Titian was the first +great artist to use this form of sketch for experimental purposes. + + [a] _Trattato dell' Arte de la Pittura._ + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 25 (See page 269) + The Pleiads, by M. Schwind] + + + +NOTE 16. PAGE 40 + +The example of this picture at the Pitti Palace is specially noted +because it seems impossible that the duplicate in the Uffizi Gallery can +be by Raphael, for it has obvious defects, some of which have many times +been pointed out. The expression is vastly inferior to that in the Pitti +portrait, for instead of a calm, noble, benign countenance, we have a +half-worried senile face which is anything but pleasant. Raphael was the +last man to execute a portrait of a Pope without generalizing high +character in the features. It will be observed also that in the Uffizi +portrait, the left hand is stiff and cramped, and the drapery +ungracefully flowing, while both uprights of the chair are actually out +of drawing. There are other examples of the same picture in different +museums, but the Pitti work is far above these in every respect, and +seems the only one which can be properly attributed to the master. +Passavant affirms that some of the repetitions of the work were +certainly made in the studio of Raphael under his orders, and thinks +that the duplicates passed for originals even in his time.[a] + + [a] _Raphael d'Urbin_, vol. ii. + + + +NOTE 17. PAGE 41 + +To the knowledge of the writer, the only logical connection between the +work of Rembrandt and impressionism that has been suggested, is from the +pen of Professor Baldwin Brown, who remarks[a]: + + Rembrandt in his later work attended to the pictorial effect alone, + and practically annulled the objects by reducing them to pure tone + and colour. Things are not there at all, but only the semblance, or + effect, or impression of things. Breadth is in this way combined + with the most delicate variety, and a new form of painting, now + called "impressionism" has come into being. + +The professor is mistaken here. During the last fifteen years of his +life, apart from portraits, a few studies of heads, and some colour +experiments with carcases of meat, Rembrandt executed, so far as is +known, about three dozen pictures, and in all of these he effectually +prevents us from forming a general impression of the designs before +considering the more important details, by concentrating nearly all the +available light upon the countenances of the principal personages +represented; while in the management of the features, the whole purpose +of the chiaroscuro is for the purpose of obtaining relief. Moreover the +pictures are nearly all groups of personages in set subjects, and there +would be no meaning in the designs if the objects were "practically +annulled," for particular action and expression are necessary for their +comprehension. + +As to Velasquez there is no evidence tending to support the statement +that he was an impressionist. The first authority on the artist has +definitely pointed out that he never took up his brushes except for an +important and definite work: "he neither painted impressions nor +daubs."[b] + + [a] Article on "Painting," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + [b] _Velasquez_, by De Beruete, 1902. + + + +NOTE 18. PAGE 49 + +It will always be a matter of surprise that so much popularity was +secured by the light sketches of the Barbizon School, considering their +general insignificance from the point of view of art, and the +conspicuously artificial means adopted for their exploitation. Some of +the artists of this school, having accomplished many studio works of +merit, acquired the habit of painting in the open air. By this method +it is impossible to execute a comprehensive natural scene, and the +painters did not attempt the task, but they produced numberless sketchy +works of local scenes under particular atmospheric conditions. They +laboured honestly and conscientiously, and their sketches were put out +for what they were and nothing more. The paintings would probably have +retained their place as simple studies had not some commercial genius +conceived the idea of putting them into heavy, gorgeous, gilt frames. +With this embellishment they were successfully scattered round the +world, mostly in the newer portions, much to the general astonishment. +The _raison d'être_ of the frames puzzled many persons, though it was +frequently observed that the pictures do not look well unless surrounded +by ample gold leaf. Thus, C. J. Holmes, Director of the London National +Gallery, and an authority on impressionism, notes[a]: + + Barbizon pictures are almost invariably set in frames with an + undeniably vulgar look. Yet in such a rectangle of gilded + contortion a Corot or a Daubigny shows to perfection: place it in a + frame of more reticent design, and it becomes in a moment flat, + empty, and tame. + +The purpose of this frame is obvious. The eye is caught by the dazzling +glitter, and feels immediate relief when it rests upon the quiet grey +tone of the painting, the pleasurable sensation resulting therefrom +being mistaken for involuntary appreciation of the beauty of the work. + +As finished paintings these Barbizon sketches are novel, but as studies +they are not, for similar work has been executed for two or three +centuries, and particularly by the Dutch artists of the seventeenth +century. In every considerable collection of drawings such sketches may +be found, and there is scarcely a Barbizon painter whose work was not +anticipated by a Dutch master. One has only to examine the drawings in +the public art institutions of Europe by De Molyn, Blyhooft, Jan de +Bischop, Lambert Doomer, Berghem, Avercamp, and others, to find examples +which, if executed now, might easily be taken for works by the Barbizon +masters. + + [a] _Notes on the Science of Picture-Making._ + + + +NOTE 19. PAGE 52 + +In recent times attempts have been made to upset the dictum of Aristotle +as to the imitative character of the arts generally, exception being +taken in respect of music and architecture. The first objection as to +music arose with Schopenhauer, though he does not appear to have been +quite certain of his position. He stated that while the other arts +represent ideas, music does not, but being an art it must represent +something, and he suggested that this something is the "Will," the term +being used in the Schopenhauer philosophical sense, that is to say, +implying the active principle of the universe, not being God. This means +nothing at all from the point of view of art, and cannot even be +seriously considered. The most notable essay on the subject since +Schopenhauer is from the pen of Sidney Colvin who places music and +architecture in a non-imitative group by themselves, the former on the +principal ground that "it is like nothing else; it is no representation +or similitude of anything whatever"; while architecture, he says, +"appeals to our faculties for taking pleasure in non-imitative +combinations of stationary masses."[a] But what Aristotle meant is that +the arts are imitative in character, and not that they necessarily +attempt to produce works of similitude with nature, this being evident +from the fact that he pointed out that the higher works of art surpass +nature, and he divided poetry and painting into three sections, of +which the first is better than life, and the third inferior to it. + +The musician in producing his art proceeds in precisely the same way as +the poet or painter. He takes natural signs and rearranges them in a new +order, producing a combination which is not to be found complete in +nature, but every sign therein is natural and must necessarily be so. +The higher the flight of the poet, or musician, or painter, or sculptor, +the farther is the result from nature, but nevertheless the whole aim of +the musician, as of the poet, is to represent emotional effects or +natural phenomena beyond experience in life, as the great sculptor +represents form and expression, and the great poet besides these things, +every abstract quality, passion, and emotional effect, above this +experience; but he cannot do more; he cannot represent something outside +of nature, and so must imitate, that is, in the sense of representation. + +Darwin notes that even a perfect musical scale can be found in nature. +He says[b]: + + It is a remarkable fact that an ape, a species of the gibbon + family, produces an exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and + descending the scale by half tones. From this fact, and from the + analogy of other animals, I have been led to infer that the + progenitors of man probably uttered musical tones, and that + consequently, when the voice is used under any strong emotion, it + tends to assume, through the principle of association, a musical + character. + +It has been further demonstrated that the strength of the sensory +impressions from certain sounds is due to the structure of the ear, and +that generally a particular kind of sound produces a similar kind of +emotional effect in animals as in man. Obviously the musician is +powerless to do more than widen or deepen this effect. Colvin admits +that the musician sometimes directly imitates, as when he produces the +notes of birds or the sounds of natural forces, or when he represents +particular emotions; but he regards the former instances as hazardous +and exceptional, and indicates that a particular emotional harmony may +affect the hearers differently. True, but the hazard of the first +condition is the result of the limitations of the artist, and the second +condition is the consequence of the limitations of the art. The effect +of music being purely sensorial must vary with the emotional conditions +surrounding the hearer. The musician does what he can, but he is unable +to go so far as the poet and produce an emotional effect which will with +certainty be recognized by every person affected, at all times, as +having the same particular bearing. + +Taine separates music ("properly so called" as distinguished from +dramatic music) and architecture from the imitative arts, as they +"combine mathematical relationships so as to create works that do not +correspond with real objects."[c] Obviously the whole purpose of +dramatic music is to imitate the effects of the passions, but its +necessary inclusion amongst the imitative arts upsets the dictum of +Taine, for the emotional effects of one kind of music only differ from +those of another kind when they differ at all, in the character of the +natural emotional effects represented. + +In the case of the architect, seeing that his art is subordinated to +utility, his scheme, his measurements, and the character of his +materials, are largely or almost entirely governed by conditions outside +of his art, and consequently it is only possible for him to represent +nature to a limited extent. Rarely can he vaguely suggest a natural +aisle beneath the celestial dome, a rock-walled cave whose roof soars +into obscurity, or a fairy grotto backed by a beetling cliff. Sometimes +he may cause us to experience similar effects in kind to those we feel +when we recognize grandeur in nature, but usually he is compelled to +confine his beauty to harmonies produced by symmetrical designs of +straight lines and curves. But in his simplest as in his most complex +designs, he must follow nature as closely as possible. Purely ornamental +forms always appear more beautiful when the parts have a direct +mathematical relationship with each other than when they have not; that +is to say, when the parts appear to be naturally related. Thus, that a +cross appears to be less agreeable to the sight when the horizontal bar +is below the centre of the perpendicular than when it is above this +point, is due to what appears to be a want of balance because the form +is unobservable in nature. In trees the horizontal parts are usually +above the middle of the height of the observable trunk, and in the +exceptions nature gives the whole tree a conical or other shape, the +relative position of the horizontal parts being obscured in the general +form. + +As with parts of forms, so with the forms as wholes. Other things being +equal, that design is the best where the forms are directly proportioned +one with the other and with the whole, and this is because we are +accustomed to the order of design in nature where everything is balanced +by means of direct proportions and corresponding relations. The +architect therefore, like the musician or poet, must represent nature so +far as he can within the limits of his art, though his representation is +comparatively weak owing to the artificial restrictions imposed upon +him. + + [a] Article on "Fine Arts," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th Edition. + + [b] _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals._ + + [c] _On the Ideal in Art._ + + + +NOTE 20. PAGE 54 + +The dictum of Aristotle in reference to metre in poetry related only to +epic and dramatic verse, for what we understand as lyric poetry was +separated by the Greeks as song in which of course metre is compulsory. +It is doubtful whether a single definition can cover both epic poetry, +whose beauty lies almost wholly in the substance, and lyric verse where +the beauty rests chiefly in qualities of expression and musical form, +and in which indeed the substance may be altogether negligible. A +cursory examination of Watts-Dunton's definition of "Poetry," which is +admittedly the best put forward in recent times, shows its entire +inadequacy. "Absolute poetry," he says, "is the concrete and artistic +expression of the human mind in emotional and rhythmical language."[a] +This would exclude from the art some of the finest sacred verse, which, +though in the form of prose, has been recognized as poetry from time +immemorial. Metre is only one of the devices of the poet for +accomplishing his end---the presentation of beautiful pictures upon the +mind, but in high poetry there is a still more compulsory artifice which +is not included in Watts-Dunton's definition, and that is metaphor. In +the form of words the details of a picture can only be dealt with +successively, and not simultaneously, and without metaphor the poet +would sometimes be in the position of the painter who should present a +dozen different pictures each containing only one part of a composition, +and call upon the observer to put the pieces together in his mind. +Further the term "absolute" in the definition quoted has no +comprehensible meaning if it does not exclude a good deal of verse which +is commonly recognized as poetry, while, as is admitted by Watts-Dunton, +there is much accepted lyric verse without concrete expression. + +In high poetry as in high painting, the beauty appeals both to the +senses and the mind, and in each art the quality descends as the +sensorial overbalances the intellectual appeal, and the effect becomes +more ephemeral. In the very highest of the plastic arts, colour has +little value except in assisting definition; and in the very highest +poetry musical form has only an emphasizing value, for the sensorial +beauty arising from form in the one case, and form and action in the +other, entirely overpowers the harmonies of colour and tone +respectively. But colour without design is meaningless, so that it +cannot be applied in the fine arts apart from design: hence in painting, +colour presents no complication in respect of definition. On the other +hand music, with or without association with poetry, is equally an art +since in either case it imitates the effects of human emotions in a +beautiful way. Thus, where metre is present poetry is a combined art, +and seeing that metre may not be present, a definition of "Poetry" must +cover what may be in one case a pure, and in another, a compound art. + + [a] Article on "Poetry," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + + +NOTE 21. PAGE 55 + +There seems to be a tendency to overestimate the disparity between +translations of high poetry and the originals. The value of a +translation depends primarily upon the character of the thing +translated, since it is the form that is unreproducible in another +tongue, and not the substance. In epic and dramatic poetry where the +form is of secondary importance, a good literal translation may come +much nearer to the original than a translation of a lyric where the form +is usually of at least equal importance with the substance. We lose less +of Homer or Sophocles than of Sappho or Theocritus in translation. In +the case of epic poetry the higher its character, the closer to the +original appears the translation, because the form is of less relative +importance. More of Dante is lost than of Homer in literal translation, +but the difference narrows when the new versions are in metrical form, +for the use of metre in translation is necessarily more detrimental as +the substance of the original increases in power, and this relative +weakening is emphasized as the beauty of form in the translation is +raised. Pope is farther from Homer than Chapman, and Chapman than the +prose translations of Buckley and Lang. As we descend in the scale of +the art, so it becomes more difficult to reproduce the poet in +translation, and in most lyric poetry the beauty seems almost entirely +lost in another tongue from the original, though when the substance is +of weight, and the translator is himself a good poet, he sometimes gives +us a paraphrase with a high beauty of its own. Some modern poets seem to +eschew substance altogether. Much of the verse of esteemed French and +Belgian poets is quite meaningless in literal translation, the authors +relying for the effects entirely upon musical form and beauty of +expression. + + + +NOTE 22. PAGE 66 + +Lessing points out this remarkable picture of Homer as emphasizing the +beauty of Helen, observing: + + What could produce a more vivid idea of beauty than making old age + confess that it is well worth while the war which cost so much + blood, and so much treasure? + +Nevertheless the remark of the old men does not seem to mean so much as +the description of the sages and their reference to the goddesses. It is +difficult to imagine several wise men agreeing that the sanguinary war +of nine years was really excusable in view of Helen's beauty, and the +statement therefore is naturally received as a permissible overcolour. +Consequently the effect of the remark would be discounted, and unlikely +to be sufficient for the purpose of the poet. True, the Greeks seem to +have been childlike sometimes in their simplicity, but there is no +evidence that they were so wanting in a sense of proportion as to accept +literally this opinion of the elders. But when we observe the senility +of the elders, and the physical feebleness which has apparently rendered +them incapable of sensual pleasures, then indeed we must marvel at a +beauty which excites their emotions so powerfully as to bring the +goddesses to their minds.[a] + +In discussing the suitableness of this incident as a subject for a +painting, Lessing remarks that the passion felt by the old men was "a +momentary spark which their wisdom at once extinguished," but later on, +referring to the possibility that the veil worn by Helen when she passed +through the streets of Troy had not been removed when she was seen by +the elders, he points out[b]: + + When the elders displayed their admiration for her, it must not be + forgotten that they were not seeing her for the first time. Their + confession therefore did not necessarily arise from the present + momentary view of her, for they had doubtless often experienced + before the feelings which they now for the first time acknowledged. + +This is very true, but it only serves to deepen the impression of +Helen's beauty, for the element of surprise is removed from the minds of +the elders, the mere sight of her, veiled or unveiled, being sufficient +to recall the passionate thrills previously experienced. + + [a] See on this subject Quintilian, viii., 4. + + [b] _Laocoon_, Rönnfeldt translation. + + + +NOTE 23. PAGE 67 + +In nearly all the instances of sublimity quoted by Longinus there is +this particular merit of brevity---the picture is thrown upon the brain +immediately, without pause or anything whatever to complicate the +beauty. But the learned critic directs attention only to the magnificent +thoughts and the appropriate use of them, without pointing out the +extraordinary condensation of the language employed. Apart from the +instance from Genesis given, there is another of his examples in which +practically the whole beauty of the picture is produced by the rapidity +of its presentation. This is the exclamation of Hyperides when accused +of passing an illegal decree for the liberation of slaves--"It was not +an orator that made this decree, but the battle of Chæronea." Longinus +observes[a]: + + At the same time that he exhibits proof of his legal proceedings, + he intermixes an image of the battle, and by that stroke of art + quite passes the bounds of mere persuasion. + +But it was rather the manner in which the battle was introduced than the +fact of its introduction, that gave force to the argument. If instead of +confining himself to a short brilliant observation, Hyperides had +carefully traced cause and effect in the matter, he would still have +intermixed an image of the battle, but he would not then have produced a +work of art. + +Still finer instances of the use of brevity in expresssion by the orator +are to be found in the speeches of Demosthenes. For example in his +oration On the Crown he says: "Man is not born to his parents only, but +to his country." A whole volume on the meaning and virtue of patriotism +could not say more: hence the sublime art. The simple statement lights +a torch by which we examine every convulsion in history; presents a +moving picture in which we see the motives and aspirations guiding the +patriots of a hundred generations; sets an eternal seal of nobility upon +the love of man for his native country. And a few words suffice. The +same thought might be elaborated into a large volume, but the art would +fly with the brevity. + + [a] _On the Sublime_, XV., William Smith translation. + + + +NOTE 24. PAGE 68 + +There are many translations of the Ode to Anactoria, but the best of +them reflects only slightly the depth of passion in the original. The +version which most nearly represents the substance, while maintaining +the unhalting flow of language, is perhaps that of Ambrose Philips +(1675-1749), which runs thus:-- + + Blest as th' immortal gods is he, + The youth who fondly sits by thee, + And hears, and sees thee all the while + Softly speak, and sweetly smile. + + 'Twas this deprived my soul of rest, + And raised such tumults in my breast; + For while I gazed, in transport tost, + My breath was gone, my voice was lost. + + My bosom glowed; the subtle flame + Ran quick through all my vital frame; + O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung; + My ears with hollow murmurs rung. + + In dewy damps my limbs were chilled; + My blood with gentle horrors thrilled; + My feeble pulse forgot to play; + I fainted, sunk, and died away. + +The English reproductions of this ode in the Sapphic measure are not +very successful, the difficulty of course being due to the practical +impossibility of fulfilling the quantitative conditions of the strophe +without stilting the flow of language, or unduly varying the substance. +But it has been shown by Dr. Marion Miller in his translation of +Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, which is much higher in substance and +somewhat less condensed in expression than the Ode to Anactoria, that +with certain liberties in respect of quantities, a very beautiful +semblance of the Sapphic measure may be produced in English. His +translation of this hymn is unquestionably the best in our language, +though this is perhaps partly due to the fact that he is almost the only +translator who has adhered to the text in regard to the sex of the loved +person. To make the object of affection a man seems inappropriate to the +language employed in the verse. (It is proper to mention that a license +taken by Dr. Miller in his translation---where he renders the passage +relating to the sparrows, as "clouding with their pinions, Earth's wide +dominions"--suggested to the present writer the somewhat similar picture +to be found on Page 111.) + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 26 (See page 250) + St. Margaret, by Raphael (_Louvre_)] + + + +NOTE 25. PAGE 68 + +The gradual decadence of the great period of Grecian sculpture is well +marked by the successive variations of the Cnidian Aphrodite of +Praxiteles. The copy of this at the Vatican is no doubt a close +representation of the original, but later there was commenced a long +series of variations, all of them more or less complicating the design. +First a pillar was substituted for the vase, reaching nearly to the +armpits, and the left forearm rested upon it, while drapery fell down +the front, so that some exertion was required to separate the figure to +the eye. Then a dolphin was substituted for the pillar, the head of the +animal resting on the ground, and the body rising up straight with +the bent tail forming the support. Then for this was placed a dolphin +with its body corkscrew shaped, which was particularly weak as it tended +to deprive the figure of repose. After this, while the dolphin was +maintained, a cestus was sometimes added, and heavy drapery applied in +various folds. Finally the attitude of the figure was changed, that of +the Venus de' Medici being adopted, while the pillar or dolphin was +retained. Each alteration necessarily diminished the beauty of the +figure. + + + +NOTE 26. PAGE 69 + +Reynolds seems to have been disappointed with the frescoes of Raphael +when he first saw them, and this fact has been called in evidence by +some modern critics to support their contention that the art of the +great masters is really inferior to that wherein design is subordinated +to colour. But Reynolds very definitely admitted that his first +impression was wrong, for after studying the frescoes, he notes[a]: + + In a short time a new taste and a new perception began to dawn upon + me, and I was convinced that I had originally formed a false + opinion of the perfection of art, and that this great painter was + well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the admiration of + the world. + +Reynolds was quite a young man when he went to Rome, and his +appreciation of Raphael increased as his experience matured. More than +twenty years after the visit, he remarked that Raphael had "a greater +combination of the high qualities of the art than any other man,"[b] and +ten years later he affirmed that the Urbino artist stood foremost among +the first painters.[c] Reynolds supposed that his lack of appreciation +of the frescoes when he first saw them arose from want of immediate +comprehension of them: he was unaccustomed to works of such great power, +but it is to be observed that his inspection was a very short one, and +we may reasonably draw the conclusion that changing light conditions had +much to do with the effect the paintings left upon him at the time. When +one enters a room where the light differs materially in intensity or +quality from that experienced just previously, it is advisable to rest +quietly for a little while before examining works defined by colour, in +order that the eyes may become accustomed to the new light. + + [a] Reynolds's _Italian Note Book_. + + [b] His Fifth Discourse at the Royal Academy. + + [c] His Twelfth Discourse. + + + +NOTE 27. PAGE 73 + +That the judgment of the public upon a work of art is final seems to +have been recognized by all the ancient writers who dealt with the +matter, and that the Greeks generally held this view is evident from +many incidents, notably the reference to public judgment in the great +competition between Phidias and Alcamenes. During the Renaissance also +the opinion held good, and it is worth noting that the suggestion +sometimes made that Michelangelo did not conform to this view is +unsupported by evidence. Vasari relates the following anecdote[a]: + + He [Michelangelo] went to see a work of sculpture which was about + to be sent out because it was finished, and the sculptor was taking + much trouble to arrange the lights from the windows to the end that + it might show up well; whereupon Michelangelo said to him: "Do not + trouble yourself, the important thing will be the light of the + piazza"; meaning to infer that when works are in public places, the + people must judge whether they are good or bad. + +Lionardo went so far as to advise artists to hear any man's opinion on +his work, "for," he said, "we know very well that though a man may not +be a painter, he has a true conception of the form of another man."[b] +It is a common misconception with the general public, though not among +serious artists, that by reason of their profession artists are better +judges of works of art than other men. Obviously the recognition of +beauty in art is apart altogether from the means by which it is created, +and subject to the exceptions noted elsewhere, all men are alike able to +appreciate high beauty. Winckelmann even advised his readers against the +judgment of artists on the ground that they generally preferred what is +difficult to what is beautiful,[c] but experience with the great art +bodies in Europe who hold exhibitions does not support this view. It is +only the weaker artists who are liable to be prejudiced in such matters, +and when the judges are of high attainments in art, they almost +invariably make the same choice in competitions that would be made if +general opinion were solicited. But although artists cannot be better +judges of high-class works of art (as beautiful things) than other men +of equal intelligence, their training usually enables them to +distinguish obscure forms of beauty which would be unrecognized by the +general public, and in matters of colour to differentiate between +ephemeral and more or less permanent harmonies. Hence while the public +interests would not suffer from the introduction of the lay element in +judging high class sculpture and painting, it is obvious that the +consideration of works where the lower forms of beauty only are +produced, as in formal decoration, should be confined to the profession. + +In music alone of the arts, for reasons already given, special +cultivation is necessary for the judgment of the higher forms of beauty. + + [a] _Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti_, De Vere translation. + + [b] McCurdy's _Lionardo da Vinci's Note Books_. + + [c] _History of Ancient Art_, Part V., 6. + + + +NOTE 28. PAGE 74 + +It is commonly supposed that the vast multitude of men and women--the +toilers in the fields and factories, and their families, do not +appreciate great works of art; that rarely they take an interest in any +kind of art, and then only in simple representations of everyday +incidents. This is so apparently, but it is not strictly true. The great +bulk of working people grow up amidst surroundings where they do not +have an opportunity of seeing good works of art. They toil from morn to +eve during their whole life: their imaginations are almost entirely +confined to their means of livelihood, their daily routine of labour, +and their household duties. A "mute inglorious Milton" remains mute +because he wants the knowledge and experience around which his fancy may +roam, and a potential Raphael dies in obscurity from the enforced +rigidity of his imagination. But even so, notwithstanding that the +nervous activities and the imaginations of the poorer workers remain +undeveloped, they are still subservient to the irrevocable laws of +nature. Their faculties may be little changed from childhood in respect +of matters appertaining to the higher senses, but they still exist. So +it comes about that in all times since art has been practised, the +paintings and sculptures of the greater masters have been well +appreciated by the multitude when they could come into contact with +them. In modern times great works of art are seldom available to the +masses except in public galleries where their sense perception and minds +are quickly confused and fatigued--in fact rendered incapable of +legitimate use, but the trend of popular opinion is very decidedly +settled by the experience of those business houses which undertake the +reproduction of important works. There are many times the demand for +prints and cards of pictures belonging to the higher forms of art, as +for instance, sacred and historical subjects, and portraits, than for +interiors and landscapes, and so incessant is this demand for the better +works, that a painter desiring to copy one of the great Raphael or +Correggio Madonnas at Florence for reproduction, will usually have to +wait three or four years after entering his name, before his turn comes +to set up his easel. It is rather the want of intelligent contact with +them, than indifference to them, that is due the apparent lack of +interest in great works of art on the part of the labouring classes. + +There is a deal of truth in the incisive remarks of Leo Tolstoy when +dealing with this question. He says [a]: + + Art cannot be incomprehensible to the great masses only because it + is very good, as artists of our day are fond of telling us. Rather + we are bound to conclude that this art is unintelligible because it + is very bad art, or even is not art at all. So that the favourite + argument (naïvely accepted by the cultured crowd), that in order to + feel art one has first to understand it (which really means to + habituate oneself to it), is the truest indication that what we are + asked to understand by such a method, is either very bad art, + exclusive art, or is not art at all. + +One may observe however that, as a rule, it is only inferior artists who +complain of the want of public appreciation of great works of art. + + [a] _What is Art?_ Aylmer Maude translation, 1904. + + + +NOTE 29. PAGE 78 + +According to Lessing and Watts-Dunton, what the former calls the +dazzling antithesis of Simonides--"Poetry is speaking painting, and +painting dumb poetry"--has had a wide and deleterious effect upon art +criticism. Lessing, who wrote _Laocoon_ about 1761, said in his preface +in reference to this saying: + + It was one of those ideas held by Simonides, the truth of which is + so obvious that one feels compelled to overlook the indistinctness + and falsehood which accompany it.... But of late many critics, just + as though no difference existed, have drawn the crudest conclusions + one can imagine from this harmony of painting and poetry. + +Watts-Dunton, writing a few years ago, added to this[a]: + + It [the saying of Simonides] appears to have had upon modern + criticism as much influence since the publication of Lessing's + _Laocoon_ as it had before. + +Lessing points out that the Greeks confined the saying to the effect +produced by the two arts, and (evidently referring to Aristotle) did not +forget to inculcate that these arts differed from each other in the +things imitated and the manner of imitation. + +Since the business of both poetry and painting is to throw pictures on +the mind, the declaration of Simonides must be accepted, but it has no +particular meaning as applied either to criticism or the practice of the +arts. It is merely a fact of common knowledge put into the form of a +misleading _jeu d'esprit_, though one has a natural reluctance in so +describing a time-honoured saying. There is room for doubt whether it +really had the effect upon criticism that is alleged. Annibale Carracci +varied it slightly into a better form with "Poets paint with words, and +painters speak with the pencil," and it was certainly as well known in +his time as in the eighteenth century, yet we find no particular +evidence of weak art criticism either in the sixteenth or seventeenth +century. Moreover allegorical painting was not less common in these +centuries than in the century following; and while there was +unquestionably a spurt of descriptive poetry in the eighteenth, it is +difficult to trace a connection between this phenomenon and general +criticism based upon the dictum of Simonides. In regard to later times, +the statement of Watts-Dunton wants demonstration. + + [a] Article on "Poetry," _Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + + +NOTE 30. PAGE 79 + +A few distinguished poets have attempted to portray beauty of form by +description of features, but they have all been signally unsuccessful. +The best known essay of the kind is Ariosto's portrait of Araminta, +where he closely describes all details of her features and form, using +forty lines for the purpose; but put together the pieces as one will, it +is quite impossible to gain from them an idea of the beauty of her +countenance.[a] This is pointed out by Lessing. The very length of the +catalogue is apt to kill the beauty as one endeavours to dovetail the +separate elements. Perhaps the lines of Cornelius Gallus to Lydia form +the most perfect poetical delineation of a beautiful face known to us, +but as will be seen from the translation below, they are quite +insufficient to enable us to picture the beauty of the combined features +on our minds.[b] + + Lydia! girl of prettiest mien, + And fairest skin, that e'er were seen: + Lilies, cream, thy cheeks disclose; + The ruddy and the milky rose; + Smooth thy limbs as ivory shine, + Burnished from the Indic mine. + Oh, sweet girl! those ringlets spread + Long and loose, from all thy head; + Glistening like gold in yellow light + O'er thy falling shoulders white. + Show, sweet girl! thy starry eyes, + And black brows that arching rise: + Show, sweet girl! thy rose-bloom cheeks, + Which Tyre's vermillion scarlet streaks: + Drop those pouting lips to mine, + Those ripe, those coral lips of thine. + + [a] _Orlando Furioso_, C. VII. + + [b] C. A. Elton translation. + + + +NOTE 31. PAGE 80 + +If there be one example of descriptive poetry relating to landscape +which throws upon the mind a complete natural scene during the process +of reading, it is the beautiful chant of the Chorus in _Oedipus +Coloneus_. The perfection of form and majestic diction of this poetry +are remarkable, but the successful presentation of the picture on the +mind is largely due to the simple and direct language used, and the +astonishing brevity with which the many features of the scene are +described. Green dells, fields, plains, groves, rocks, flowers, fruit, +and rushing waters, are all brought in, and the few lines used do not +prevent the introduction of the Muses, the jovial Bacchus with the +nursing nymphs, and radiant Aphrodite. All modern poetry descriptive of +landscape entirely fails in presenting a comprehensive view. It is too +discursive--over descriptive, to permit of the mind collecting the +details together as one whole. Here is the best prose version of the +lines of Sophocles[a]: + + Thou hast come, O stranger, to the seats of this land, renowned for + the steed; to seats the fairest on earth, the chalky Colonus; where + the vocal nightingale, chief abounding, trills her plaintive note + in the green dells, tenanting the dark-hued ivy, and the leafy + grove of the god, untrodden, teeming with fruits, impervious to the + sun, and unshaken by the winds of every storm; where Bacchus the + reveller ever roams attending his divine nurses. And ever day by + day the narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, bursts into bloom + by heaven's dew, the ancient coronet of the mighty goddesses, and + the saffron with golden ray; nor do the sleepless founts of + Cephisus that wander through the fields fail, but every day it + rushes o'er the plains with its limpid wave, fertilizing the bosom + of the earth; nor have the choirs of the Muses loathed this clime; + nor Aphrodite too, of the golden reign. + + [a] Oxford translation. + + + +NOTE 32. PAGE 81 + +It is perhaps necessary to remind some readers that the term "invention" +is used in two senses in art, referring to the original idea or scheme, +or to the preparation of the design embodying the idea. In poetry and +fiction the term has the former significance; in painting and sculpture +the latter. The restriction in the use of the term in the last named +arts is compulsory. (See Chap. III., and Note 33.) + + + +NOTE 33. PAGE 81 + +Apparently Lessing did not observe that inasmuch as the painter cannot +present the beginning and end of an incident, he must necessarily take +his moment of action from the literary arts or from nature. The critic +notices that the painter does not invent the action he depicts, but +states that this is due to his indifference towards invention, developed +by the natural readiness of the public to dispense with the merit of +invention in his case. That is to say, the public expects the painter to +take his idea from the poet or from nature, and looks to him only for +correct design and execution: hence the painter is under no necessity to +invent his own scheme. + +It is curious that a reason of this kind for the practice of the painter +should be put forward by so keen a critic as Lessing, but it is not +altogether surprising when we remember the discussion as to whether +Virgil drew his representation of the Laocoon incident from the +celebrated sculptured group, or the sculptors adopted the device of the +poet. Lessing definitely settled the point in favour of the poet as the +author of the design, and since his time this decision has been +confirmed over and over again by practical evidence. But the conclusion +of Lessing seems obvious in the absence of any such evidence. As we +must exclude the possibility of both poet and sculptors taking the +design from the same original source, it is clear that the poet could +only have imitated the sculptors on the supposition that they had so +widely varied the legend as to necessitate a new beginning and end of +the story, these being provided by the poet. Consideration of such a +series of events is not permissible, as it would reflect upon the common +sense of the sculptors, and actually degrade the poet. + +Consequent upon the inability of the painter to originate a scheme for a +picture, the famous proposition of Lessing as to the relative importance +of invention and execution with the poet and painter, must fall to the +ground. The critic states that our admiration of Homer would be less if +we knew that he took certain of his work from pictures, and asks[a]: + + How does it happen that we withdraw none of our esteem from the + painter when he does no more than express the words of the poem in + forms and colours? + +He suggests as an answer to this: + + With the painter, execution appears to be more difficult than + invention: with the poet on the other hand the case seems to be + reversed, and his execution seems to be an easier achievement than + the invention. + +The word "invention" is to be taken here in the sense of plot or fable, +and not as the details of design invented by the painter for the purpose +of representing the action described by the poet. The premisses of +Lessing's argument therefore will not stand, for the painter cannot +originate a fable by means of a picture. And sequential to this of +course, the painter can be of no service to the poet. Homer could not +draw an original scheme from a painting. Nor may the poet take a detail +from the painter, for this has already been borrowed. A poet may vary a +detail in a legend because he can make the successive parts of his +relation fit in with the variation, but the painter can only deal with a +single moment of action, and if this does not correspond with an +accepted legend, then his design appears to be untrue. + +It may be said in regard to painting, that the relative difficulty of +the invention (the work of gathering and arranging the signs) and the +execution, varies with the character of the art. In the higher forms, as +sacred and historical work, the invention is the more difficult; in +ordinary scenes of life and labour the trouble involved in invention +would about equal that in execution; while in the lower forms, as +landscape and still-life, the execution is obviously the more difficult. +In the case of the poet, the idea or fable is the hardest part of his +work, but the relative difficulty of the arrangement of the parts, and +the execution, would naturally depend upon the general character of the +composition, and the form of the poem. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Phillimore translation. + + + +NOTE 34. PAGE 82 + +The works here referred to are those designed for the purpose of +achieving a political or social aim, or conveying instruction or moral +lessons. There are many examples of good art where advocacy of a social +or administrative reform is presented by way of incident or accessory, +though the art itself is never, and cannot be, assisted thereby. +"Didactic Art," if such a term may be appropriately used, is practically +a thing of the past, but judging from certain conventions the opinion +seems to be rather widely held that art should point a moral when +possible, and an opinion of Aristotle is not infrequently called in to +support this view. But when Aristotle connected morals with art, he +evidently did not mean to suggest that art should have a moral purpose, +but that it should have a moral tendency in not being morally harmful, +for art which is not morally harmful must necessarily be morally +beneficial. The general connection of the good with the beautiful in +ancient Greece seems to have merely implied that what is good is +beautiful, and what is beautiful is good, or should be good, and not +that goodness is a manifestation of beauty, or beauty of goodness. It +was admitted that the two things may not coincide. + + + +NOTE 35. PAGE 85 + +That landscape painting may be of considerable value in assisting +scientific exploration is instanced by an anecdote related to the writer +by a geological friend. Professor Jack, formerly Government Geologist of +Queensland, while travelling in that colony, having put up one night at +the house of a small squatter, noticed on the walls of the interior, a +number of colour drawings which had been painted by a son of the settler +from views in the neighbouring hills. One of these drawings showed a +reddish-brown tint running down the slope of a grey and nearly barren +hill. This caught the eye of the professor who asked the artist if the +colours roughly represented the natural conditions, and receiving an +affirmative reply, recommended the squatter to prospect the ground for +minerals. This was done with the result that profitable copper deposits +were found. It seems that in Australia many of the best mineral veins +are capped with iron, and run through schistose rocks traversed by +dioritic dykes. Professor Jack was well aware that the hills in the +district were formed of these rocks and dykes, and as the reddish-brown +streak indicated iron oxide, it occurred to him that the iron might be +the cap of a lode holding valuable minerals.[a] + + [a] This note is from _The Position of Landscape in Art_, by the + present author. + + + +NOTE 36. PAGE 87 + +Remarkable evidence of the universality of ideals, is afforded by the +galaxy of French sculptors who appeared in the thirteenth century. They +could have had no teachers beyond those responsible for the stiff and +formal works characterizing the merging of Norman with Gothic art; they +could have seen few of the fragments of ancient sculpture; and yet they +left behind them monuments which rival in noble beauty much of the work +produced in the greatest art period. How their art grew, and how it +withered; how such a brilliant bloom in the life of a nation should so +quickly fade, needs too detailed an argument to be ventured upon here, +if indeed a properly reasoned explanation can be given at all; but the +flower remains, as great a pride to mankind as it is a glory to France: +remains, though sadly drooping, for the petals of Rheims are gone. + +Now these Frenchmen were in much the same position as the early Greeks. +They were confronted with the task of making images of their objects of +worship for great temples. They had no more real knowledge of the +Personality of Christ, the Virgin, and most of the Saints than had the +Greeks of the Homeric gods and legendary heroes, and like the Grecian +sculptors they fully believed in the spiritual personages and religious +events with which they dealt. The Grecian and French artists therefore +started from the same line with similar general ideals, for the ancient +workers took no heed of Homer and Hesiod in respect of the failings of +their gods; and they both had only pure formalities in sculpture behind +them. And what was the result? The ideal divine head of the Christian +Frenchman is much the same as that of the Greeks in regard to form, and +only varies in expression with the character of the respective religious +conceptions. + +The French sculptors did not reach the sublime height of the Phidian +school, nor did they attempt the more human beauty typified by the +giants of the fourth century B.C.; but apart from these, and leaving +aside considerations of the nude with which they were little concerned, +they climbed to the highest level of the latter end of the fourth +century and the beginning of the third--the level attained by those +Grecian sculptors who more or less idealized portrait heads by adding +Phidian traits. And it would appear that in reaching towards their goal +they followed the same line of thought as the Greeks, and arrived at +similar conclusions in respect to every detail of the head and pose of +the figure. As a rule they gave to the faces of Christ and the Saints a +large facial angle, set the eyes in deeply and the ears close to the +head, and generally worked on parallel lines with the principal +sculptors of Peloponesia living sixteen hundred years before their time. +It is perhaps natural that they should make similar variations in the +proportions of the figures to provide for the different levels from +which they were to be seen, but it is curious that they should adopt the +practice followed by the Greeks in the representation of children in +arms, by minimizing to the last degree the figure of the Infant Christ +in the arms of the Madonna. They could not have more closely imitated +the Greeks in this respect had they had Grecian models in front of them. +No doubt they fixed the position of the Child at the side of the Virgin +in order that the line of her majestic form might not be broken, and +that her face might be revealed to observers below the level of the +statues, but that they should have made the Child so extremely small and +insignificant considering His relative importance compared with that of +the Grecian infant in arms, is remarkable. + + + +NOTE 37. PAGE 90 + +It is too early yet to fix definitely the position of Rodin in art. +There is much sifting of his works to be done, for of all artists with a +wide reputation, he was perhaps the most variable. Still he may be +called one of the greater artists, and so is amongst the rare exceptions +mentioned, for he executed one or two hideous figures, the most notable +being La Vieille Heaulmière.[a] This cannot properly be described as a +work of art because it is revolting to the senses: it is merely a +species of writing--a hieroglyph, and Rodin's own apology for it is a +direct condemnation, since a work of sculpture cannot be good if general +opinion does not approve of it. He says[b]: + + What matters solely to me is the opinion of people of taste, and I + have been delighted to gain their approbation for my La Vieille + Heaulmière. I am like the Roman singer who replied to the jeers of + the populace, _Equitibus Cano_. I sing only for the nobles; that is + to say for the connoisseurs. The vulgar readily imagine that what + they consider ugly is not a fit subject for the artist. They would + like to forbid us to represent what displeases and offends them in + nature. It is a great error on their part. What is commonly called + "ugliness" in nature can in art become full of great beauty. In the + domain of art we call ugly what is deformed, whatever is + unhealthy.... Ugly also is the soul of the vicious or criminal + man.... But let a great artist or writer make use of one or other + of these uglinesses, instantly it becomes transfigured: with a + touch of his fairy wand he has turned it into beauty: it is + alchemy: it is enchantment. + +Rodin then goes on to refer to the description of ugly objects by the +poets, in support of his argument that they may be represented by the +painter! It was his error in confusing the objects of the literary with +those of the plastic arts, that led him to carve La Vieille Heaulmière, +for he admitted that he wished to put into sculpture what Villon had put +into a poem. Professor Waldstein properly pointed out that, this being +so, the observer of the sculpture should be provided with a copy of the +poem when in front of the statue, adding[c]: + + and even then the work remains only the presentation of a female + figure deformed in every detail by the wear and tear of time, and + of a life ending in disease and nothing more. It is the worst form + of literary sculpture, of which we have had so much by artists who + represent the very opposite pole of the modern realists. + +Elsewhere the respective positions of the poet and painter (or sculptor) +in the representation of ugliness are dealt with, but it may be added +that in the case of La Vieille Heaulmière, Rodin does not render in +sculpture the poem of Villion, but only a part of it, for of course he +could not show the progression in the life of the courtesan, indicated +by the poet, which progression puts an entirely different complexion +upon the ugly figure of the poet compared with that of the sculptor. +Clearly Rodin was misled when he said that people of taste have given +their approbation to his appalling figure, for it has been condemned +among all classes, while its few defenders have failed to support their +opinions by reason or experience. + +We may note that at another time Rodin reflected upon the character of +the ancient Greek sculpture for the very reason upon which he bases his +claim for public approval of La Vieille Heaulmière. He says[d]: + + That was the fault of the Hellenic ideal. The beauty conceived by + the Greeks was the order dreamed of by intelligence, but it only + appealed to the cultivated mind, disdaining the humble. + +Here also is a confusion of ideas, for the intelligence cannot dream of +a special kind of beauty which would not be recognized by the humble, +unless it were so feeble as to be altogether below Greek conceptions. +The aim of the Greek sculptors was to appeal to all classes, and in this +they were eminently successful. + + [a] At the Luxembourg. + + [b] Gsell's _Art, by Auguste Rodin_. + + [c] _Greek Sculpture and Modern Art_, 1914. + + [d] Gsell's _Art, by Auguste Rodin_. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 27 (See page 254) + Diana and Nymphs, by Rubens (_Prado, Madrid_)] + + + +NOTE 38. PAGE 92 + +Ruskin considered the figure of Christ, known as Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens, +at Amiens Cathedral, the noblest ideal of Christ in existence,[a] and +Dean Farrar wrote of it: "Christ is represented as standing at the +central point of all history, and of all Revelation."[b] It is true that +the sculpture is a noble representation of Christ, but this is not +because it is a Christian ideal. In type it is purely Greek of the late +fourth or early third century B.C. The expression is general, exhibiting +the calm repose that the Greeks gave to a great philosopher. + + [a] _The Bible of Amiens._ See Plate 2. + + [b] _The Life of Christ as Represented in Art._ + + + +NOTE 39. PAGE 97 + +In the case of the Madonna, Michelangelo does not appear to produce an +ideal woman: he only gives an improved woman. His nearest approach to +the ideal is in his early Pieta at St. Peter's, but even here the Virgin +is only a less earthly prototype of his later figures. The Madonna in +the Holy Family at the Uffizi is much inferior, being merely a slightly +ennobled Italian peasant. The other Madonnas are far higher in character +and seem to suggest the antique, except that the more material +qualities of woman are always present. The Madonnas at the Bargello and +San Lorenzo are of the same general type as the figure in the Last +Judgment, the Night in the Medici Chapel, the Leda in the Bargello, and +the Venus in the sketch made for Pontormo. This being so, it may be +imagined when the Leda is called to mind, that it is hard to associate +the two Madonnas with Christian ideals. The figures are magnificent +works, but they are behind the Madonnas of Raphael from the point of +view of Christian conceptions. The expression is general, and all the +countenances except one, indicate unconcern with surroundings; not the +sublime unconcern of a Phidian god, which implies an apparent disregard +of particulars because they are necessarily understood with an +all-powerful comprehension of principles, but an unconcern which +suggests a want of deep interest in life. The exception is the San +Lorenzo Madonna, in which a certain calm resignation is the principal +feature in expression. Michelangelo was more successful with his men +than with his women. His painted prophets in the Sistine Chapel are as +sublime as his scenes from the Creation; and his Moses in St. Peter's is +rightly regarded as the first sculpture of the Renaissance. + + + +NOTE 40. PAGE 99 + +When the Pieta of Michelangelo (in St. Peter's, Rome) was first exposed, +some comment was made upon the comparatively youthful appearance of the +Virgin, and Condivi relates that he spoke to the sculptor on the +subject. In reply Michelangelo said[a]: + + Don't you know that chaste women preserve their beauty and youthful + character much longer than those who are not chaste? How youthful + then must appear the immaculate Virgin who cannot be supposed ever + to have had a vitiated thought. And this is only according to the + natural order of things: but why may not we suppose in this + particular case, that nature might be assisted by Divine + interposition, to demonstrate to the world the virginity and + perpetual purity of the Mother? This was not necessary in the Son, + nay, rather on the contrary, since Divine omnipotence was willing + to show that the Son of God would take upon Him, as he did, the + body of man, with all his earthly infirmities except that of sin. + Therefore it was not necessary for me to make the human subordinate + to the Divine character, but to consider it in the ordinary course + of nature under the actual existing circumstances. Hence you ought + not to wonder that from such a consideration, I should make the + most holy Virgin-Mother of God, in comparison with the Son, much + younger than would otherwise be required, and that I should have + represented the Son at His proper age. + + [a] Lanzi's _History of Painting in Italy_, Roscoe translation, + vol. i. + + + +NOTE 41. PAGE 100 + +A few modern painters have produced works in which the Holy Family are +pictured in lowly surroundings, but generally they appear to shock the +public sense of propriety. Many persons will remember the sensation +caused by Millais's The Carpenter's Shop, where Christ is shown as a boy +of about ten years of age in the workshop of St. Joseph, and Holman +Hunt's Shadow of the Cross. Later artists have been still more +realistic, notably Uhde, whose sacred scenes almost stagger one with +their modern suggestions, and Demont-Breton, whose Divine Apprentice +represents the Boy Christ sharpening a tool at a grindstone which is +turned by the Virgin. + + + +NOTE 42. PAGE 108 + +Unquestionably the rapid advance in Italian art in the fifteenth century +was largely due to the influence of the ancient Greek and Roman remains. +Indeed there are very few sculptors of the period who fail to show +evidence of studies in Greek forms and ornaments, while in painting +there are hundreds of figures which could scarcely have been designed in +the absence of antique models. True in some cases the artists do not +appear to have gone beyond the ancient literature, as with Masaccio who +must have had Homer in his mind when he painted his figures of Eve in +the Florence frescoes, and Piero di Cosimo, whose fanciful compositions +savour of the old legends wrapped up in fairy stories; but many painters +were steeped both in the art and literature of Greece and Rome, and made +good use of them. + +But the most direct evidence of the influence of Greek art upon Italian +artists of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, is to be found +in the splendid series of bronze statuettes of the period. In their +monumental figures the sculptors were more or less confined in their +designs by considerations of portraiture, conventional drapery and +symbols, and local requirements, and while they were greatly assisted by +Greek experience, yet only rarely were they strictly at liberty except +with ornaments and accessories. But in the small bronze figures their +fancy could roam at will, and they made good use of this freedom in +displaying their ready acceptance of the first principle in the design +of the human figure recognized by the Greeks--that the sculptor must +arrive at perfection of form if that be possible; that this perfection +is not to be found in any single form in life, and consequently the +artist must combine perfected parts into a harmonious whole, +independently of particular models. The agreement with this principle +was general, with scarcely an exception amongst the bronze figure +designers, and the result was that in the period say, from 1450 to 1525, +there was executed a series of bronzes fully representative of the +highest level which plastic art has reached since the greater days of +Greece. Right up to the time of the maturity of Michelangelo, nearly +every bronze figurine cast is purely Grecian in type, and every +ornament, and even every accessory which is not from its nature of +contemporary style, can be traced to Greece, either directly or through +Rome. + +Michelangelo brought about a change in accentuating the muscular +development of the body, and before the middle of the sixteenth century +most sculptors had come under his influence. This was unfortunate for he +alone seemed to be capable of harmoniously combining Greek lines with +muscular power. A few of his contemporaries, as Sansovino, Leone, +Cellini, learned how to join, with due restraint, his innovations with +modifications of the Greek torso, but generally the imitation of the +great Florentine initiated a decadence, as it was bound to do, for it +was accompanied with life modelling, and so meant a radical departure +from the Greek forms. Giovanni di Bologna alone among the later +sixteenth century sculptors, was strong enough to move in an independent +direction. He restrained the accentuation of the muscles, and lightened +the Greek type of torso, combining with these conditions an elegance in +design which has never since been surpassed. + +This then is the principal cause of the high æsthetic value of the +Renaissance bronzes: the human form exhibited by them is altogether more +beautiful than the form coming within the compass of life experience. +Then the details of work on the bronzes are immensely superior to those +of the general modern handiwork. For instance the chiselling of such men +as Riccio and Cellini, has never been equalled since their time, save +perhaps by Gouthière. And how poor, comparatively, are the present-day +castings! How carefully the old masters worked; how particular they were +with their clay; how skilfully they prepared their wax, and how slowly +and deliberately the mould! How many artists now would have the patience +to make such a mould? For the beautiful patinas on many of the +Renaissance bronzes, age is mostly responsible, though lacquers were +often used for the provision of artificial patinas, particularly after +the middle of the sixteenth century, the finest being found on some of +the works of Giovanni di Bologna. The tone of natural patina depends +largely upon the kind of oxidation to which the bronze has been +subjected, and it is no doubt often affected by the alloy used. Few +modern artists have given close attention to the alloys, while the +method of casting is now usually regarded as a detail of minor +importance. + +Seeing that the production of figurines accompanied every civilization +from the dawn of history to the collapse of the Roman Empire, it is +curious that the renaissance of sculpture after the Dark Age should have +progressed a long way before general attention was again turned to these +bronzes. There are a few figures of animals which seem to be Italian +work of the late trecento, but beyond these the small cast bronzes made +in Italy before the maturity of Ghiberti, were practically confined to +Madonnas and Saints, mostly gilt, made to fill Gothic niches, or adorn +the altars of churches and private chapels. Slender Saints they were as +a rule, but always elegant, with serene countenances and delicate +features; beautifully modelled as became the inheritors of the +traditions of the Pisanos. It was somewhere about the middle of the +fifteenth century that Italy commenced to make ungilt statuettes +suitable for household ornaments, and fully ten or fifteen years more +passed away before they were produced with any regularity. The earliest +of them of any importance appear to be a couple of Flagellators from the +design of Ghiberti. They are fine pieces of work, evidently from clay +models made for the scourging scene in one of the gates of the Florence +Baptistry--gates described by Michelangelo as worthy to fill the portals +of Paradise. These figures date about 1440. There is a Child Christ of a +few years later by Luca della Robbia; and two or three figures from +models of Donatello may be assigned to the neighbourhood of 1450. In the +next ten years were turned out some figures from remaining models of +Donatello which had been used for his work at Prato and Padua. + +So far the small bronzes made were from studies for larger works of +sculpture, but about this time intense interest began to be taken in the +remains of Greek and Roman art, and no doubt it was the increased +importance attached to the antique bronze figures, mostly household gods +of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, that first led the principal +Renaissance artists to turn their attention to similar work. From this +time on, for a century and a half, these bronze figures were regularly +made. The existing figurines may be broadly classified in four +divisions, namely, the Paduan and Florentine figures executed prior to +1525; those of the school of Michelangelo; those of the Venetian school +headed by Sansovino; and those of Giovanni di Bologna and his school. +Leaving out of consideration the small ornaments for inkstands, vases, +etc., the little animals, and the purely commercial imitations, chiefly +Venetian, made at the end of the sixteenth century, the total number of +Renaissance bronzes now known is roughly six thousand. Of these under a +hundred are from models for larger works by Ghiberti, Donatello, +Verrocchio, Lionardo, Michelangelo, and a few lesser lights; about two +thousand represent original designs specially prepared for bronze +production; some three thousand five hundred are duplicates of, or +slight variations from, these originals, executed by pupils or near +contemporaries of the masters; and the balance of four hundred or so, +are direct reproductions of, or variations from, antique sculptures. +Naturally all collectors aim for the first two sections, but the third +section contains many fine bronzes, often close to the originals, with +equally good patinas. They vary greatly, though they are all ascribed in +commerce to the artists responsible for the originals. + +The character of these variations is best seen in the case of Riccio, +the most prolific of the bronze workers of the Renaissance. He designed +and executed under forty small bronze figures and groups, besides some +large bronze works of high importance. Of his small pieces there are in +existence about a hundred duplicates made by his pupils and immediate +contemporaries, who also adapted into household ornaments, various +details from his larger works, bringing up the number of Riccios made +from his models during his lifetime, other than by himself, to about a +hundred and fifty. These are all bronzes of a high order. Then about an +equal number of both kinds of models were reproduced during the twenty +years following his death, all fairly good, but often slightly varied +from the originals; and finally there are Riccios copied by Venetian +craftsmen in the third quarter of the sixteenth century, sometimes +considerably varied, and occasionally with purely Venetian ornaments +added. These last mark the first distinct decadence in the small bronze +art of the period. Next to Riccio among the earlier sculptors, in the +number of bronzes designed, was his great contemporary, Antico, who +accomplished some thirty or so. He differed from Riccio in that while +the latter adhered to the Grecian practice in the design of details and +ornaments, but varied the modelling somewhat to bring it more in +conformity with the contemporary ideas of elegance, Antico kept strictly +to the Grecian modelling, but commonly varied the ancient designs. +There are few duplicates of Antico's work, made either during his +lifetime or after. As with Riccio, his imitators overcame the difficulty +of the chiselling by leaving it out, relying upon the wax to give close +enough resemblance to the originals. + +Of the other small bronze sculptors prior to the maturity of +Michelangelo, few executed more than half a score of figures. The best +known are the immediate successors of Donatello in the Paduan school, as +Bertoldo and Bellano, and the giants of the Florentine school, as +Filarete and A. Pollaiuolo. Bronzes by these artists are very rare, and +so are the duplicates of them made by pupils, though Bertoldo, who +reminds one strangely of Lysippus, had occasional imitators for the next +two centuries. These bronzes include many models which have not been +equalled by the greatest of later sculptors, and they will never be +matched until there arises a new school of sculptors resolved to imbibe +the truths which the Renaissance artists gleaned from the ancient +Greeks. + + + +NOTE 43. PAGE 110 + +The writer has used Greek and Roman names for these gods to some extent +indiscriminately, in accordance with the universal custom in art. +Nevertheless the practice is to be regretted as it tends to complicate +the general ideas of the Greek and Roman religions. Notwithstanding the +occasional direct association of some of their deities with human +personages by their poets, the Romans regarded their gods as purely +spiritual beings, having no special earthly habitation, or sex relations +with the human race, while their powers widely differed from those of +the respective Greek deities with whom they are commonly identified. +Authorities differ as to whether the gods were supposed to have +spiritual marital relations with each other.[a] In any case the whole +nature of their religion precluded the development amongst the Romans of +a separate sacred art. Their sculptured gods, which were taken from +Grecian models, were symbols rather than presumed types. + + [a] See J. G. Frazer's _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, 1914, vol. ii.; and W. + W. Fowler's _Religious Experience of the Roman People_, 1911. + + + +NOTE 44. PAGE 111 + +If we may judge from the headless figures of the goddesses, commonly +known as the Three Fates, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, there +seems to be little difference between the general lines of the feminine +torso represented by the Phidian ideal, and those of the Praxitelean +model. The Parthenon torsos are more massive proportionately, but the +object of both Phidias and Praxiteles was evidently to straighten the +outer lines of the torso as nearly as possible, making due allowance for +the varied natural swellings of their respective forms. It is obvious +that the use of attire gave Phidias (presuming the Parthenon figures +referred to were designed by him, as they probably were) a latitude in +varying the proportions of the torsos which he could not have exercised +in the case of nude forms. Unclothed, the figures would appear unwieldy, +and the graceful flowing lines resulting from the partly clinging +drapery could not be so completely presented with nude reclining or +semi-reclining figures. There are other features also which prevent the +nude representation of such massive forms. Thus, the breasts would +necessarily be out of proportion in size, and widely separated. These +conditions are common in fifth century and archaic figures, and do not +appear to be defects in forms of life size or less, but they would be +strikingly noticeable in super figures of the broad massive type with +Phidian lines. The addition of light drapery, however, converts the +apparent faults into virtues, for the artist is enabled therewith to +give new sweeping curves to the forms which conspicuously enhance the +general beauty of the figure. + +A still more amazing instance where the use of drapery allows the artist +to vary the recognized proportions of the feminine form to an extent +which would be impossible with nude figures, is the celebrated Ariadne +at the Vatican.[a] This beautiful work, which is of the Hellenistic +period, shows the daughter of Minos attired in a light flowing single +garment, and reclining on a couch, asleep. The upper part of her body +leans against the head of the couch, but the remainder is extended +nearly at full length. The extraordinary feature of the work is that the +length of the figure is altogether out of proportion with the head and +with the breadth of the torso, being much too great, and yet so +skilfully is the drapery arranged that this very defect becomes an +advantage, for it enables a lofty grace, almost approaching grandeur, to +be given to the figure, which would be impossible without the +exaggeration. By the excellent device of a closely arranged cross fold +of drapery passing round the middle of the figure, the artist apparently +shortens it, so that the eye of the observer is not held by its great +length. Only one other example of the supreme use of drapery in this way +seems to be known--a bronze sitting figure of Calliope,[b] which is of +the late Hellenistic period, and is obviously of the same school as the +Ariadne marble. + + [a] See Plate 29. + + [b] Dreicer Collection, New York. + + + +NOTE 45. PAGE 112 + +Praxiteles is known to have executed at least four other statues of +Aphrodite besides the Cnidian example, but this last is the only one as +to which we have fairly complete records, and of which copies have been +closely identified. It is also the most celebrated. We may therefore +accept the work as typical for comparative purposes. + + + +NOTE 46. PAGE 113 + +There has been much discussion as to whether Apelles showed the same +extent of figure as is represented in the sculpture, a common suggestion +being that he brought the surface of the water to the waist line; but it +is evident that the painting corresponded with the sculpture in this +particular. The artist had to represent the goddess walking towards the +shore. If he brought the water to the waist line he could not definitely +suggest movement, as a deflection of the shoulder line might mean that +the goddess was in an attitude of rest, corresponding to the pose of +nearly all the sculptured figures of the Praxitelean school. On the +other hand if he carried the water line down towards the knees, the +advance of the right leg would be most marked, and the effect disturbing +because of the loss of repose, a quality at all times valuable in a +painting of a single figure, and really necessary in the representation +of Venus. The artist very properly reduced the portion of the thighs +visible to the smallest fraction possible compatible with an expression +of movement, in order to give the figure the greatest repose attainable. +Under any circumstances there was nothing to gain by showing the water +reaching to the waist. + +Certain details of the picture by Apelles are to be obtained from +Grecian epigrams. Thus, one by Antipater of Sidon contains these +lines[a]: + + Venus, emerging from her parent sea, + Apelles' graphic skill does here portray: + She wrings her hair, while round the bright drops flee, + And presses from her locks the foamy spray. + +From this it would appear that the position of the goddess when painted +was presumed to be comparatively near the artist, otherwise the separate +drops of falling water would not have been observed. The last line in +the following epigram by Leonides of Tarentum indicates the ideal +character of the countenance, though evidence of this is scarcely +necessary[b]: + + As Venus from her mother's bosom rose + (Her beauty with the murmuring sea-foam glows), + Apelles caught and fixed each heavenly charm; + No picture, but the life, sincere and warm. + See how those finger tips those tresses wring! + See how those eyes a calm-like radiance fling! + + [a] Translated by Lord Neaves. + + [b] Translated by Lord Neaves. + + + +NOTE 47. PAGE 124 + +So far as the writer knows, Piero was the only artist of the Renaissance +who used this mythological story for a composition (his picture has +hitherto been called an allegory), a circumstance which is rather +singular considering the suitableness of the subject for the provision +of effective designs. The Greek sculptors in dealing with the legend +confined themselves to the moment when Athena threw down the pipes, +apparently for the reason that this instant gave an opportunity of +rendering Marsyas in a strong dramatic action. The famous statue of the +faun after Myron in Rome, is supposed to have formed part of a group +representing Athena and Marsyas immediately after the pipes were +dropped, and the design appears on still existing coins and vases of the +fifth and fourth centuries B.C. Piero takes a later moment, showing +Marsyas comfortably squatting in the foreground of a delightful fanciful +landscape, expressing boyish satisfaction with the prizes he is about to +try. He is properly shown as a satyr instead of in the faun form of the +sculptor. There appears to be no legitimate place in painting for a +faun, while a satyr may at times be appropriately introduced into a +pastoral composition. + + + +NOTE 48. PAGE 125 + +Controversy has raged around this picture for something like seventy +years. The work came to light before 1850 at a public auction sale when +it was attributed to Mantegna, with whom of course it had nothing to do. +Then it was pronounced a Raphael, but this was disputed by Passavant who +held that on account of the thin lower limbs of the figures, and the +minute way in which the landscape was painted, it could not be by +Raphael, but was of the school of Francia, or by Timoteo della Viti. +Morelli brought back the attribution to Raphael, and the work then came +into the possession of the Louvre. Subsequently Pinturicchio and +Perugino were alternately suggested as the painter, and to the latter +the picture was assigned by the Louvre authorities. All are agreed that +the date of the work is about 1502. It does not seem possible that +Perugino could have painted the picture, for the subject and invention +are entirely foreign to him, while the lithe active form of Apollo does +not consort with the least formal of his known figures. The landscape is +much in his manner, but so it is also in the style of Raphael's early +period, while the small buildings therein are closely finished as in +some of Raphael's other works of the time.[a] Perugino used similar +towers and buildings, but being a more experienced painter he did not so +finely elaborate the details. The suggestion relating to the school of +Francia was afterwards very properly withdrawn, and Pinturicchio must be +ruled out on account of the landscape, apart from the supple figure of +Apollo of which he was incapable. There remain then only Timoteo della +Viti and Raphael as the possible painters of the work. But it cannot +reasonably be suggested that Timoteo could have accomplished so perfect +a figure as the Apollo, and moreover so original a figure. It certainly +required an exceptionally bold mind to overcome the difficulty in +rendering the traditionally semi-feminine form of Apollo by representing +him as a young man just past his teens. Besides, the general delicacy of +the work is not in the style of Timoteo. Passavant's objection to the +limbs is overruled by the presence of similar limbs in the Mond +Crucifixion. It would seem then that Morelli was right in assigning the +beautiful little picture to the youthful period of the greatest of all +painters. + + [a] See Portrait of a young Man at Budapest, and the Terranuova Virgin + and Child at Berlin. + + + +NOTE 49. PAGE 138 + +The white races are here referred to merely by way of example, and there +is no intention to suggest that the more or less uncivilized peoples +have no perception of beauty. It is well known that both semi-civilized +and savage races differ from the whites in the matter of beauty, and the +fact has been partly responsible for several theories for explaining +æsthetic perception, notably that of association, laid down by Alison +and Jeffrey, but long since discarded. Seeing that there is no +difference in kind between the sense nerves of the whites and the +blacks, they must necessarily act in the same way. That the blacks +appreciate as beautiful forms which the whites disregard, seems to +arise partly from want of experience, partly from training, and partly +from neglect in the exercise of the sense nerves. Take for example an +inhabitant of Morocco where corpulency is commonly regarded as an +element of beauty in women. If none but Moroccan women are seen or +pictured, it is impossible for a higher form of beauty than is to be +found amongst them to be conceived, for the imagination cannot act +beyond experience. In cases where the Moroccan has had experience of +both white and black, it is certain that, other things being equal, the +white woman would be the more admired, for this is the general +experience among the black races, and is strikingly noticeable in +America with the descendants of African tribes. The appreciation of very +fat women can easily be understood on the ground of custom or training. +A youthful Moroccan may be firmly of opinion that corpulency is not an +element of beauty, but seeing that his older acquaintances hold a +contrary view, he may well form the conclusion that his judgment is +wrong, and so accept the decision of his more mature countrymen. It is +quite common among the whites for people to doubt their own æsthetic +perceptions when an inferior work of art is put forward as a thing of +beauty. The general want of appreciation of certain musical harmonies on +the part of uncivilized peoples is undoubtedly due to the neglect of the +sense nerves concerned, for these are not cultivated except to a small +extent involuntarily. The most ignorant and poor of the whites +unavoidably come into frequent contact with the simpler forms of art, +but the savage races see only the result of their own handiwork. The +uncivilized races can scarcely be expected to admire the higher reaches +of art wherein intellectual considerations enter, except for their +sensorial excellence. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 28 (See page 256) + Automedon and the Horse of Achilles, by Regnault (_Boston Museum_)] + + + +NOTE 50. PAGE 139 + +There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether Fragonard intended his +splendid series of the Frick collection to represent the subjects +usually assigned to them, namely, The Pursuit (or The Flight of Design, +a title given to the original sketch for the picture); The Rendezvous +(or The Surprise, or The Escalade); Souvenirs (or Confidences, or The +Reader); The Lover Crowned (or Before the Painter); and The Abandonment +(or The Reverie). It is suggested that the works have an allegorical +signification connected with art, and certainly three of them--the +first, second, and fourth--could be so interpreted. But magnificent +paintings of this kind are usually fitted for many allegorical +suggestions. Each picture represents an incident of common experience, +elaborated with beautiful figures in a perfect setting. This approaches +the summit of the painter's art, for no conception can be greater apart +from spiritual ideals. It is symbolism in its highest form--of universal +experience in which all are interested. The works are not to be taken as +a necessary sequence (the last of the series was painted twenty years +after the others), but the scheme of one or more of them has come within +the experience of every man and woman since the world began. + + + +NOTE 51. PAGE 149 + +Seeing that this precise dignified pose, coming so near the line of +exaggeration, but never crossing it, is present in all the authenticated +portraits of Titian, save those of very aged persons, we may reasonably +consider the pose an important factor in determining the validity of +certain portraits as to which a doubt has arisen. Thus in the case of +the Physician of Parma[a] (this title is admittedly wrong), which has +been variously given to Titian and Giorgione, the verdict must be in +favour of Titian, for the pose is certainly his, while it is unknown in +any work of Giorgione. On the other hand, the portrait of Catherine +Cornara,[b] commonly ascribed to Titian, but also attributed to +Giorgione,[c] cannot be by the former master; nor is the Portrait of a +Man (with his hand on a bust),[d] which seems to pair with the Cornara +portrait. The portrait known as An Old Man Asleep,[e] sometimes given to +Titian, clearly does not belong to him. + +It should be noted that the general confusion observable for many years +in the estimation of Giorgione's work arose from the attribution to him +of paintings executed in the comparatively broad manner of Titian, but +which this artist did not adopt till Giorgione had been dead for a +decade or more. The recent exhaustive critique of Lionelli Venturi[f] of +the earlier master has cleared the air, and we now know the range of his +work very positively. Giorgione was less fine in some of his paintings +than in others, for he paid more attention to chiaroscuro as he matured, +but there is no instance where he painted in the broader manner +occasionally exhibited by Titian. All the works in the style of The +Concert and The Three Ages are now known to be by other hands than those +of Giorgione, and it must be unfortunately admitted that not a single +painting by him exists either in England or America. + + [a] Vienna Gallery. + + [b] Cook Collection, London. + + [c] By Herbert Cook in _Giorgione_. + + [d] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [e] The Brera, Milan. + + [f] _Giorgione e il Giorgionismo_, 1913. + + + +Note 52. Page 156 + +Hals is another artist as to whom many misconceptions have arisen in +regard to his use of a very broad manner in his portraits. There is a +total of about 350 works attributed to him, of which some two thirds are +single portraits, and twenty are portrait groups. The balance includes +over thirty genre pictures, mostly with single figures, and fifty heads +of boys and girls generally shown in the act of laughing. It is in his +genre work that the broad manner is mostly observable, and only very +occasionally is it to be found in his portraits. In the more important +works of the artist, even during his later period, his manner is by no +means broad,[a] though it is not so fine as in his best years, say from +1635 to 1650. This estimate can however only be general, as his dated +paintings of different periods after 1630 often correspond so closely +that it is difficult to assign dates to the other pictures with +certainty. + +Perhaps the frequent attribution to Hals of works by his pupils and +imitators, has had something to do with the public estimation of the +breadth of his manner. This was often greatly exaggerated by his +followers, and many portraits are given to him which he could not +possibly have painted. In his important work on the artist, Dr. von Bode +points out that some of the duplicates of his pictures were apparently +executed by his pupils, but these are not separated in the book.[b] It +is a simple matter to divide the works painted by Hals from the studio +copies and the portraits of imitators. His brushwork and impasto were +quite exceptional. He had a firm direct stroke, never niggled or +scumbled, and his loading was restrained though very effective. Quite +naturally his pupils, however industrious and skilled, could not +closely imitate his remarkable freedom in handling. They were incapable +of firm decisive strokes throughout a portrait, and endeavoured to +overcome the loading difficulty by using brushes of a coarseness foreign +to the master when rendering light tones. Moreover Hals was nearly +perfect in drawing, and in this there are usually marked defects in the +studio copies. + + [a] See Stephanus Gereardts, Antwerp Museum; Isabella Coymans, + E. Rothschild Collection, Paris; Lady with a Fan, National + Gallery, London; and William van Heythuysen, Liechtenstein + Collection, Vienna. + + [b] _Frans Hals: his Life and Work_, 1914. + + + +NOTE 53. PAGE 161 + +The term "grace" as applied in art has so many significations that it is +difficult to deal with one of them without confusion. What is here +specially referred to is the grace of pose designed by the artist. The +object of the portrait painter is to pose his sitter so that the grace +indicated shall appear natural and habitual, a feature as important now +in the appearance of women as it was twenty-five centuries ago when +Sappho asked[a]: + + What country maiden charms thee, + However fair her face, + Who knows not how to gather + Her dress with artless grace? + +But the grace of pose never appears to be artless, after the first +inspection, unless there is something in the expression to hold the +mind. Without this appeal to the mind the portrait must soon tire, and +the pose become artificial and stiff, that is to say, in representations +of life size, for in miniature portraiture the countenance seldom or +never crosses the vision involuntarily. + +In the ancient Greek forms, Winckelmann distinguishes four kinds of +grace--lofty, pleasing, humble, and comic--but the grace exhibited by +sculptured forms necessarily depends upon the harmony of expression, +character of form, and pose. This should be the case with painted +portraits also, but drapery restrictions and accessories commonly compel +a limitation in the design of the artist. In three quarter and full +length portraits it is impossible to depart from the dress customary at +the period of execution, unless the sitter assume a classical character, +and this is only possible in comparatively few instances. In any case +the pose should always be subordinated to the expression. + + [a] Free translation (quoted by Wharton), the term "artless grace" + being implied but not expressed by Sappho. + + + +NOTE 54. PAGE 167 + +The remarkable range of Raphael in expression has been commented upon by +many critics, and practically all agree with Lanzi in his eloquent +summary[a]: + + There is not a movement of the soul, there is not a character of + passion known to the ancients and capable of being expressed in + art, that he (Raphael) has not caught, expressed, and varied in a + thousand different ways, and always within the bounds of + propriety.... His figures are passions personified; and love, hope, + fear, desire, anger, placability, humility, and pride, assume their + places by turns as the subject changes; and while the spectator + regards the countenances, the air, and the gestures of the figures, + he forgets that they are the work of art, and is surprised to find + his own feelings excited, and himself an actor in the scene before + him. + + [a] _History of Painting in Italy_, vol. i., Roscoe translation. + + + +NOTE 55. PAGE 169 + +This Pompeian fresco is supposed to be a copy of the picture of +Timanthes, but there is an ancient marble relief of the same subject at +Florence, the design of which is also said to have been taken from the +Grecian painter, though it differs considerably from the fresco. +Quintilian observes as to the work of Timanthes, that having rendered +Calchas sad, Ulysses still more sad, and Menelaus with the deepest +expression of grief possible in art, the painter could not properly +portray the countenance of Agamemnon, who as father of Iphigenia was +presumed to be the most deeply affected of all present, and so covered +his head, leaving the intensity of his suffering to be understood.[a] + + [a] _School of Oratory_, ii. + + + +NOTE 56. PAGE 172 + +The authenticity of the Boston example of Mona Lisa is still in dispute. +So far no serious objection to it has been brought forward, and there +are certain points in its favour, as the presence of the columns which +are reproduced in Raphael's sketch, and the bold brushwork of the +drapery where this can be distinguished. But there is another example of +the work in existence, and this fact, with the natural hesitation in +pronouncing definitely on so important a matter, will probably leave the +authenticity of the picture undecided for a long time. Meanwhile the +literature upon Mona Lisa is ever increasing, and some important facts +have been recently brought out. Amongst these is an announcement by A. +C. Coppier that the lady was not a Florentine, but a Neapolitan of the +Gheradini family, and that she was married in 1495, when eighteen years +of age.[a] She would therefore be twenty-seven years old in 1504 when +the picture which Raphael sketched is supposed to have been painted. But +the Mona Lisa in the Louvre was completed between 1515 and 1519; hence +there is much to ascertain as to the history of the work. + + [a] _Les Arts_, No. 145, 1914. + + + +NOTE 57. PAGE 172 + +The various suggestions that have been made as to the meaning of Mona +Lisa's smile, seem to have no other foundation than the fancies of +mystic minds. The smile has been called dangerous, sinister, ambiguous, +provocative, purposely enigmatic, significant of a loose woman, +expressive of sublime motherhood, reminiscent of Eastern intrigue, and +so on, the mildest criticism of this kind affirming that the smile will +ever remain an enigma. It is of course impossible for any meaning to be +put into a smile by the painter, other than that of pleasure. +Psychological suggestions are possible with the poet or novelist, but +not with the painter. If there be any enigma or mystery in a picture, +then the art is bad, for the work is incomprehensible, but there is no +problem to be solved in Mona Lisa's smile. It is not different from any +other smile except in degree, and of course in the quality appertaining +to the particular countenance. Lionardo, with his scientific turn of +mind, was not likely to attempt the impossible by trying to mix +psychology with paint. + + + +NOTE 58. PAGE 178 + +It is necessary to dissent from the conclusion of Lessing as to the +representation of ugliness by the poet. He says in referring to Homer's +portrayal of Thersites[a]: + + Why in the case of ugliness did he adopt a method from which he so + judiciously refrained in that of beauty? Does not a successive + enumeration of its compound parts diminish the effect of ugliness, + just as a similar enumeration of its parts destroys that of beauty? + Undoubtedly it does, but in this very fact lies Homer's + justification. For the very reason that ugliness in the poet's + description is reduced to a less repulsive appearance of bodily + imperfection, and in point of its effect ceases as it were to be + ugliness, the poet is enabled to make use of it. + +It is true that as he cannot present a particular form of beauty by +description, so the poet cannot describe an ugly countenance in such a +way that it may be pictured on the mind as a whole; but on the other +hand, as he can, by reference to its effect, or by imagery, present a +greater beauty than the painter can portray, so he may by similar means +suggest a more hideous form of ugliness. And apart from this, while a +detail in the description of a beautiful countenance is immaterial until +it is combined with other details, a detail of ugliness may in itself be +sufficient to render the countenance wholly repulsive to the reader. +Thus, if one said of a maid that her cheeks were a compound of the lily +and the rose, this would not necessarily imply that she was generally +beautiful; but if it were said of a man that he had a large bulbous +nose, we should consider him ugly whatever the character of his other +features. It was only necessary for Milton to refer to one or two +details of the figure of Sin, to throw upon our minds a form of +appalling ugliness.[b] + +A successive enumeration of its component parts, does not therefore +diminish the effect of ugliness, as Lessing claims, but increases it. On +the other hand a successive enumeration of the parts of beauty does not +destroy the beauty, but simply fails to represent it. + +The poet may use ugliness where the painter cannot, because his ugly +form does not dominate the scene, save for an instant or two, being +quickly subordinated by surrounding conditions of speech and action; +whereas the ugly figure of the painter is fixed for ever. Further, the +poet may surround his description of the ugly thing with beautiful +imagery and lofty sentiment, practically hiding the ugliness with a +cloak of beauty; but the painter can only depict the ugly thing as it +is, naked to the sight, without gloss or apology. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Ronnfeldt translation. + + [b] _Paradise Lost_, ii. + + + +NOTE 59. PAGE 190 + +It has been suggested that the foot of Hercules in this fine bronze was +placed upon the skull of an ox to indicate a successful hunt,[a] but +Hercules was a demigod, and so could not be connected in art with any +but a superhuman task or exploit. Moreover the only instance recorded in +mythological history where Hercules fought with an ox (unless the feat +of strength against the white bull of Augeas be called a fight), is that +of the Cretan bull, which was captured and not killed. There is no other +sculptured figure now known where a foot is placed on the skull of an +ox, but Pausanias records that he saw one in a temple of Apollo at +Patræ, the figure being that of the god himself.[b] Pausanias attributes +the motive of the design to Apollo's love of cattle. There is no doubt +about the significance of the Frick bronze. The skull of an ox, and +rams' heads are frequently found on ancient tombs, and acanthus leaves +were commonly used both in Greece and Rome as funereal signs, while the +base of the statuette, which is cast with the figure, is clearly +intended to represent an altar. It is noticeable that the form of +acanthus leaf used is Roman, suggesting that Pollaiuolo had access to +the reproductions of tomb inscriptions made to the order of Lorenzo de' +Medici. + +There is apparently no other existing design of a hero contemplating +death, but Lysippus carved several figures, now lost, of Hercules in a +sad or depressed mood. In the most celebrated of these, the demigod was +seated in a thoughtful attitude on a lion's skin, and it is possible +that this design was connected with the contemplation of death, because +it was produced in relief soon after the time of Lysippus, and later in +a Pompeian fresco, in both cases in the presence of Lichas, the bearer +of the poisoned garment. + + [a] Bode's Preface to the _Catalogue of the Morgan Bronzes_. + + [b] Pausanias, vii. + + + +NOTE 60. PAGE 192 + +The attempt of Ruskin to raise landscape to a high level in the art of +the painter[a] need scarcely be referred to here, so completely have his +arguments been refuted elsewhere. + +The authority of Alexander Humboldt has been sometimes quoted in support +of the assertion that landscape can appeal to the higher attributes, the +passage relied upon affirming that descriptive poetry and landscape +painting "are alike capable in a greater or lesser degree of combining +the visible and invisible in our contemplation of nature." But it is +clear from the whole references of the writer to these arts, that he +means nothing more by his statement than that a painting or descriptive +poem may, like an actual landscape, induce a feeling of wonder at the +powers of the original Cause of nature. The opinion of Humboldt upon the +position of landscape painting may be gathered from his definite +observation that it has "a more material origin and a more earthly +limitation than the art which deals with the human form."[b] + + [a] _Modern Painters_, vols i. and ii., and the preface to the second + edition of the work. + + [b] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. + + + +NOTE 61. PAGE 194 + +It is doubtful whether an artist can invent a form of tree which does +not exist in nature, without producing something of the character of a +monstrosity. From the point of view of dimensions, the two extreme forms +of trees used in painting, are represented in Raphael's Madonna with +the Goldfinch[a] as to the slender forms, and as to the giant trunks, in +two or three of Claude's pictures. The very beautiful trees of Raphael +have been often regarded as pure inventions, and Ruskin was actually +surprised that the artist did not delineate the "true form of the trees +and the true thickness of the boughs";[b] but as a matter of fact +precisely similar trees (a variety of ash) are to be found in the +valleys of the Apennines to this day. All the change that Raphael made +was to transport the trees from a sheltered spot to an open position. +Very similar trees are introduced in the same master's Apollo and +Marsyas.[c] Perugino was the first painter to use them, and in some of +his earlier works he made them of great height,[d] but he gradually +modified the form till he approached the perfect symmetry and delicacy +of Raphael's examples.[e] Marco Basaiti introduced them into at least +three of his pictures, and they are also to be found in works by Timoteo +della Viti and Francia.[f] Higher and equally slender trees have been +appropriately used by Antonio della Ceraiuolo,[g] and even by so late a +painter as Nicholas Poussin.[h] + + [a] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [b] _Modern Painters_, vol. iv. + + [c] The Louvre. + + [d] Baptism of Christ, Perugia; and The Crucifixion, Florence. + + [e] The Deposition, Pitti Palace. + + [f] Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, Munich. + + [g] The Crucifixion, Florence Academy. + + [h] Diana sleeps in the Forest, Prado, Madrid. + + + +NOTE 62. PAGE 194 + +In noting the fact that the great landscape artist invents his designs, +Byron observes that nature does not furnish him with the scenes that he +requires, and adds[a]: + + Nature is not lavish of her beauties; they are widely scattered, + and occasionally displayed, to be selected with care, and gathered + with difficulty. + +Had Byron been a painter, he would have known that the trouble of the +artist is due to the over, and not the under, supply of beauty by +nature. The artist sees the beauty, but cannot identify it with +particular signs, and so has to invent a scene himself, using nature +only for sketches or ideas. + + [a] _Art and Nature._ + + + +NOTE 63. PAGE 200 + +"The force of natural signs," says Lessing, "consists in their +resemblance to the things they represent."[a] In a criticism upon the +second part of _Faust_, G. H. Lewes writes[b]: + + The forms which are his (the artist's) materials, the symbols which + are his language, must in themselves have beauty and an interest + readily appreciable by those who do not understand the occult + meaning. Unless they have this they cease to be art: they become + hieroglyphs. Art is picture painting, not picture writing. + +While this is generally true, beauty in the lesser signs of the poet is +of greater importance than in those of the painter, because a painting +is looked upon direct as a whole, while a poem has to be comprehended in +its parts before it can be properly considered as a whole. + + [a] Laocoon. + + [b] _Life of Goethe_, 2d edition. + + + +NOTE 64. PAGE 203 + +Although those of the fifteenth-century artists who treated landscape +seriously did not thoroughly understand perspective, yet they were +seldom at a loss in representing distance, that is, in the clear +atmosphere which they invariably used. They were diffident in attempting +distance with unbroken level country, and till quite the end of the +century there is no instance where middle and far distance are shown +together, even with the assistance of hilly ground. The almost +invariable practice of the leading painters who made landscape a feature +in their works, was to introduce water leading back from the foreground, +so that breaks therein could be used to indicate distance. More or less +numerous jutting forks of low lying land were thrown into the stream +from either side, this plan being successfully adopted in Italy,[a] +Flanders,[b] and Germany.[c] + +Early in the sixteenth century much improvement was made in the use of +water for providing distance, and a few of the Venetian painters gave +some consideration to aerial perspective, but the most perfect example +of this perspective in the period is contained in an early work of +Raphael.[d] In the background is a lake extending into a gradually +deepening haze, and in this a boat is so skilfully placed as to increase +considerably the apparent distance to the horizon. This picture is a +distinct advance upon the Venetian distance work of the time.[e] Later +on in the century an artist rarely introduced water into a view +specially to assist in producing distance by means of boats, more +advanced methods being adopted. Titian used sunlight effects with +varying shadows,[f] or alternating clear and wooded ground.[g] These +plans, and the use of water with the addition of trees and low hills,[h] +constitute the chief devices to be found in the late sixteenth-century +Italian pictures. Some of the sun effects rendered for distance purposes +even before Titian's best time are quite effective, though formal.[i] + + [a] See Piero di Cosimo's Death of Procris, National Gallery, London, + and Mars and Cupid, Berlin. + + [b] Van Eyck's Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, and Bout's + Adoration of the Magi. + + [c] Lucas Moser's Voyage of the Saints (1431), Tiefenbroun, Germany. + + [d] Central panel in a triptych of the Crucifixion, Hermitage, + Petrograd. This picture has been sometimes attributed to + Perugino, but it is unquestionably from the hand of Raphael. + + [e] See Titian's Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, Antwerp. + + [f] Charles V. at Mühlberg, Madrid. + + [g] Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Padua; and others. + + [h] Bronzino's Venus and Cupid, Uffizi, Florence. + + [i] Schiavone's Jupiter and Io, Hermitage. + + + +NOTE 65. PAGE 204 + +Lessing apparently overlooked the possibilities of landscape painting in +his dictum as to progressive actions. He writes[a]: + + If painting on account of the signs and means of imitation which it + employs, and which can only be combined in space, must entirely + renounce time, then progressive actions cannot, in so far as they + are progressive, be included in the number of its subjects, but it + must content itself with coexistent actions, or with mere bodies, + which on account of their position cause an action to be suspected. + +It is true that a series of progressive human actions cannot be included +in one painting, but progressive natural actions can be so included when +the progression is regular and repeated and the actions are clearly +separated to the eye. Although the painter can only depict a moment of +time, he can show the whole progression, which is not the case in a +series of human actions, as in the example quoted by Lessing, of +Pandarus arranging his bow, opening his quiver, choosing an arrow, and +so on. + +Strange to say, De Quincey, in an explanatory note to Lessing's +observations, also overlooks the movement of water broken by rocks, +though he refers specially to landscape painting. He says[b]: + + In the succession of parts which make up appearance in nature, + either the parts simply repeat each other (as in the case of a man + walking, a river flowing, etc.), or they unfold themselves through + a cycle, in which each step effaces the preceding, as in the case + of a gun exploding, where the flash is swallowed up by the smoke + effaced by its own dispersion. + +But for the purpose of the painter, the action of water breaking over +ledges and boulders does not correspond with the case of a man walking +or a river flowing, because the series of events forming the progression +in the case of the water breaking, cover such time and space that the +events can be distinctly separated by the eye. Clearly also this action +should not be included in De Quincey's second category, because the +repetition is both regular and (to all intents and purposes) perpetual. +There should therefore be a third category to comprise those repeated +progressive acts in which the events can be so separated by the eye as +to be portrayed on canvas in the order of their progression, and in such +a way that the whole progression, and the meaning of it, are at once +apparent. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Phillimore translation. + + [b] Essay on "Lessing." + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 29 (See page 329) + Greek Sculpture of Ariadne (_Vatican_)] + + + +NOTE 66. PAGE 208 + +Professor Clausen relates that Whistler told him that his object in +painting nocturnes was to try and exhibit the "mystery and beauty of the +night." It is obvious that Whistler was here confusing psychological +with visual impressions. The depth of gloom, the apparently limitless +dark void which the eye cannot penetrate, mean mystery in a sense, +because we can never accustom ourselves to the suggestion of infinity +involved in something which is boundless to the senses. A sensation of +the sublime may consequently arise, and this means beauty in a +psychological sense. But we are considering art and not psychology. +Where nothing is distinguished, nothing can be painted, and if there be +sufficient light for objects to be determined, there can be no mystery +for the painter. If he be desirous of representing Night, he must follow +the example of Michelangelo and symbolize it. + +It is curious that since the death of Whistler, a picture entitled +Mysteries of the Night has been painted by another American artist--J. +H. Johnston. A figure of a beautiful nude woman is standing on a rocky +shore in a contemplative attitude, with the moonlight thrown upon her. +The design is excellent, but the realistic modelling of the figure +effectually kills any suggestion of mystery. + + + +NOTE 67. PAGE 231 + +Vasari mentions that Michelangelo, though admiring the colour and manner +of Titian regretted that the Venetian painters did not pay more +attention to drawing in their studies.[a] In quoting this, Reynolds +observed[b]: + + But if general censure was given to that school from the sight of a + picture by Titian, how much more heavily and more justly would the + censure fall on Paolo Veronese, and more especially on Tintoretto. + +Reynolds himself rightly excluded Titian when he condemned the later +Venetian painters of the Renaissance for their exaggeration of colour, +and no doubt Titian was also exempted by J. A. Symonds in his trenchant +criticism of the work of this school. When dealing with the decline of +Lesbian poetry after the brilliant period of Sappho, he wrote[c]: + + In this the Lesbian poets were not unlike the Provençal + troubadours, who made a literature of love, or the Venetian + painters, who based their art on the beauty of colour, the + voluptuous charms of the flesh. In each case the motive of + enthusiastic passion sufficed to produce a dazzling result. But as + soon as its freshness was exhausted there was nothing left for art + to live on, and mere decadence to sensuality ensued. + + [a] _Life of Titian_. + + [b] Reynolds's Fourth Discourse. + + [c] _Studies of the Greek Poets_, vol. i. + + + +NOTE 68. PAGE 232 + +Sir George Beaumont relates of Reynolds[a]: + + On his return from his second tour over Flanders and Holland, he + observed to me that the pictures of Rubens appeared much less + brilliant than they had done on his former inspection. He could not + for some time account for this little circumstance; but when he + recollected that when he first saw them he had his notebook in his + hand for the purpose of writing down short remarks, he perceived + what had occasioned their now making a less impression than they + had done formerly. By the eye passing immediately from the white + paper to the picture, the colours derived uncommon richness and + warmth; but for want of this foil they afterwards appeared + comparatively cold. + + [a] Cunningham's _Lives of the British Painters_. + + + +NOTE 69. PAGE 249 + +Rodin[a] observes that in giving movement to his personages, the artist + + represents the transition from one pose to another--he indicates + how insensibly the first glides into the second. In his work we + still see a part of what was, and we discover a part of what is to + be. + +Rodin points to Rude's fine statue of Marshal Ney, and practically says +that here the illusion is created by a series of progressive actions +indicated in the attitude: the legs remaining as they were when the +sword was about to be drawn, and the hand still holding the scabbard +away from the body, while the chest is being thrown out and the sword +held aloft. Thus the sculptor + + compels, so to speak, the spectator to follow the development of an + act in an individual. The eyes are forced to travel upwards from + the lower limbs to the raised arm, and as in so doing they find the + different parts of the figure represented at successive instants, + they have the illusion of beholding the movement performed. + +Rodin himself has followed a similar course with much success. The +ancient Greek sculptors, when representing a figure in action, +invariably chose a moment of rest between two progressive steps in the +action. The Discobolus and Marsyas of Myron, and particularly the +Atalanta in the Louvre, are fine examples. + + [a] _Art, by Auguste Rodin_, compiled by Paul Gsell, 1916. + + + +NOTE 70. PAGE 250 + +Mengs, in referring to the arrangement of the drapery in Raphael's +figures, says[a]: + + With him every fold has its proper cause; either in its own weight + or in the motion of the limbs. Sometimes the folds enable us to + tell what has preceded; herein too Raphael has endeavoured to find + significance. It can be seen by the position of the folds, whether + an arm or a leg has been moved forwards or backwards into the + attitude which it actually occupies; whether a limb has been, or is + being, moved from a contracted position into a straightened one, or + whether it was extended at first and is being contracted. + + [a] _The Works of Anton Raphael Mengs_, vol. ii., D'Azara translation. + + + +NOTE 71. PAGE 258 + +Besides assisting in providing an illusion, the title of a picture may +lend great additional interest to it. Thus in Millet's The Angelus the +associations called up by the title act most powerfully on the mind, and +one almost listens for the sound of the bell.[a] A work of a +similar character is Bonvin's Ave Maria, where the nuns of a convent are +answering the call[b]; and Horace Walker has a picture with the same +title, in which a boy who is driving cattle, stops in front of a +Crucifix by the wayside[c]. An excellent example of this added interest +is the title of Turner's great picture of the _Temeraire_,[d] as to +which R. Phillimore writes[e]: + + It is not difficult to imagine the picture of an old man-of-war + towed by a steam tug up a river. The execution of such a subject + may deserve great praise and give great satisfaction to the + beholder. But add to the representation the statement that it is + "The fighting Temeraire towed to her last berth, " and a series of + the most stirring events of our national history fills our + imagination. + + [a] The Louvre. + + [b] The Luxembourg. + + [c] Corcoran Gallery, Washington. + + [d] National Gallery, London. + + [e] Preface to translation of Lessing's _Laocoon_. + + + +NOTE 72. PAGE 261 + +There is an antique sculptured group in the Vatican in which a precisely +similar figure of the son of Niobe has his left hand on the shoulder of +his sister who has fallen to her knees from the effect of a wound, and +it is very reasonably suggested that the Florence figure originally +formed part of a like group. But the explanation of the act given by +Perry[a] and others, that the drapery was raised by the brother to +shield the girl, will scarcely hold good, as the folds are spread out at +the back, forming a concavity, whereas they would fall loosely if the +youth were resting. Apart from this, his legs are widely separated, and +in a running position. It may therefore be surmised that in the Vatican +group the artist intended to represent the precise moment when the +fleeing youth reached his sister. + + [a] _Greek and Roman Sculpture._ + + + +NOTE 73. PAGE 270 + +It is curious that among the countless pictures of the Annunciation, in +very few indeed has surprise been expressed in the countenance and +attitude of the Virgin, though it is impossible to imagine an incident +more properly calling for profound astonishment on the part of the +principal personage in a composition, even in the absence of startling +miraculous accessories such as that introduced by Rossetti. Probably the +reason for this is connected with the difficulty of expressing great +surprise unaccompanied with some other feeling, as pleasure, or sorrow, +or fear, but there does not seem to be any cause why an exalted joyful +excitement should not be exhibited. Mrs. Jameson thinks that the Virgin +should not appear startled, as She was "accustomed to the perpetual +ministry of Angels who daily and hourly attended on Her,"[a] but it is +questionable whether this can be properly assumed by the artist, and in +any case from the point of view of art, the action should correspond +with the nature of the event as it is generally understood. Of the few +masters who have indicated surprise in an Annunciation picture, +Tintoretto has gone the farthest. He shows the Virgin with Her lips +parted, and both hands held up, evidently with astonishment,[b] an +example followed by Paris Bordone.[c] Raphael in an early picture +represents Her holding up one hand, but the attitude might signify the +reception of an announcement of importance.[d] Perugino shows Her with +both hands raised, but otherwise She appears unconcerned.[e] A few other +artists, including Venusti and Foppa, and among modern men, Girodet, +adopt Raphael's method of composition. Rubens goes a step farther, and +represents the Virgin apparently standing back with surprise, though +this is only faintly suggested by the facial expression.[f] + + [a] _Legends of the Madonna._ + + [b] Scuolo di San Rocoo, Venice. + + [c] Sienna Gallery. + + [d] The Vatican. + + [e] Santa Maria Nouvo, Perugia. + + [f] Vienna Gallery. + + + + +INDEX OF SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, AND WORKS OF ART + + +NOTE.--The Schools to which the earlier Italian painters belonged are +given in brackets. + + +A + + Adam, Franz, 1815-1886, German + --Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, 257 + + Aivasovsky, I. K., 1817-1900, Russian, 205 + + Albani, Francesco, 1578-1660, Italian, 163 + --Toilet of Venus, 118 + + Albertinelli, Mariotto, 1467-1512, Italian [Florentine] + --The Salutation, 243 + + Alcamenes, fifth century B.C., Greek, 304 + + Altdorfer, A., 1480 (_c._)-1538, German + --The Nativity, 268 + + Aman, Jean, 1860-, French + --Sorbonne panels, 254 + + Ancher, Anna K., 1859-, Danish + --The Funeral, 189 + + Andreani, A., 1540-1623, Italian, 257 + + Angelico, Fra (Giovanni da Fiesole), 1387-1455, + Italian [Florentine], 17, 101 + + Antico (Pier Giacomo Ilario), worked late 15th and early 16th century, + Italian, 326 + + Antonella da Messina, 1421 (_c._)-1493, Italian [Venetian] + --Crucifixion, 243 + + Antonio del Ceraiolo, worked first half sixteenth century, + Italian [Florentine], 345 + + Apelles, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10, 44 + --Venus Anadyomene, 113, 330, Plate 4; + Alexander in the character of Jupiter, 209 + + Avercamp, Hendrick van, 1585-1663, Dutch, 292 + + +B + + Bartolommeo da Bagnacavallo (Bart. Ramenghi), 1484-1542, + Italian [Bolognese] + --Holy Family, 103 + + Bartolommeo, Fra (Baccio della Porta, or Bart. di Pagholo), 1475-1517, + Italian [Florentine] + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 265 + + Bartolozzi, Francesco, 1725-1815, Italian, 164 + + Basaiti, Marco, died after 1521, Italian [Venetian] + --The Dead Christ, 93; + Calling of the Children of Zebedee, 93; + Christ on the Mount of Olives, 243 + + Baschenis, Evaristo, 1617-1677, Italian, 247 + + Battistello (Giovanni Battista Caracciolo), 1580-1641, Italian, 17 + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 271 + + Bellano, Bartolommeo, 1430-1498, 327 + + Benjamin-Constant, J. J., 1845-1902, French, 184 + + Benoit-Levy, Jules, 1866-, French + --Morning of July 4, 1789, 253 + + Berghem, Nicholas (or Berchem), 1620-1683, Dutch, 47, 292 + + Bernadino da Conti, died 1525, Italian [Venetian] + --Virgin and Child, 245 + + Bernini, G. L., 1598-1669, Italian, 31, 33 + + Berritini, Pietro, 1596-1669, Italian, 31 + + Bertoldo di Giovanni, 1420 (_c._)-1491, Italian, 327 + + Bischop, C, 1630-1674, Dutch, 292 + + Blyhooft, Z., 1622 (_c._)-1698, Dutch, 292 + + Boecklin, A., 1827-1901, German, 208 + --Vita Somnium breve, 180; + Pietà, 170 + + Boltraffio, G. A., 1467-1516, Italian [Milanese] + --Virgin and Child, 103 + + Bonfiglio, Benedetto, 1420-1496 (_c._) Italian [Perugian] + --Virgin and Child, 103 + + Bonheur, Rosa, 1822-1899, French + --Ploughing in Nivernois, 256 + + Bordone, Paris, 1500-1570, Italian [Venetian] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Both, Andries, 1609-1644, Flemish, 47 + + Both, Jan, 1610 (_c._)-1652, Flemish, 47 + + Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filippi), 1444-1510, + Italian [Florentine] 96 + --Pietà, 169; + Nativity, 269; + Reposing Venus, 117; + Athena and the Centaur, 124 + + Boucher, François, 1704-1770, French + --Louvre Portrait, 173; + Sleeping Venus, 118; + Birth of Venus, 268 + + Bough, S., 1822-1878, British + --Borrowdale, 204 + + Bouguereau, A. W., 1825-1905, French + --Assumption of the Virgin, 267; + Une âme au Ciel, 267; + Birth of Venus, 115; + Aurora, 271; + Twilight, 271; + The Lost Pleiad, 269 + + Bouts, Dirk, 1400-1475, Flemish + --Adoration of the Magi, 347 + + Braquemond, J. F., 1833-, French, 285 + + Bramantino (Bartolommeo Suardi), 1468-(_c._) 1530, Italian [Milanese] + --Christ, 93; + Virgin and Child, 103 + + Breton, Jules, 1827-1906, French + --Cry of Alarm, 253 + + Breughel, Jan, 1569-1642, Flemish, 46 + + Breughel, Pieter, 1528-1569, Flemish, 90 + + Bril, Paul, 1554-1626, Flemish, 46 + + Bronzino (Angelo Allori), 1502-1572, Italian [Florentine] + --Venus and Cupid, 348 + + Brown, Arnesby, 1866-, British + --The Drove, 257 + + Burne-Jones, E. B., 1833-1898, British + --Annunciation, 270; + Golden Stairs, 252; + Dies Domini, 93 + + +C + + Cabanel, Aexandre, 1823-1889, French + --Venus Anadyomene, 115 + + Calamis, fifth century B.C., Greek, 9 + + Canaletto (Antonio Canale), 1697-1768, Italian, 47 + + Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822, Italian + --L'Amour et Psyche, 191 + + Cappelle, Jan van de, 1624(_c._)-1679, Dutch, 46 + + Carracci, Agostino, 1558-1601, Italian, 31 + + Carracci, Annibale, 1560-1609, Italian, 31 + + Carracci, Ludovico, 1555-1619, Italian, 31 + + Caravaggio, M. (Michelangelo Amerighi), 1569-1609, Italian, 17, 246 + + Cavalori, Mirabello, middle sixteenth century, Italian [Florentine] + --The Carpet Weavers, 252 + + Cellini, Benvenuto, 1500-1571, Italian, 17, 323 + + Cephisodostos, early fourth century B.C., Greek + --Irene and Pluto, 101 + + Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906, French, 37, 288 + + Chardin, J. S., 1699-1779, French, 173, 247 + + Chartier, H., 1870 (_c._)-, French + --Jena, 256; + Hanan, 256 + + Chase, W. M., 1849-1916, American + --Master Roland, 165 + + Cignani, Carlo, 1628-1719, Italian, 32, 164 + + Cimabue, Giovanni, 1240 (_c._)-1302, Italian [Florentine] 92, 95, 283 + --Virgin and Child, 101 + + Cipriani, G. B., 1727-1785, Italian, 164 + + Claude Lorraine (Claude Gelée), 1600-1682, + French, 17, 30, 47, 195, 198, 201, 283 + --Arcadian Landscape, Plate 17 + + Clausen, George, 1852-, British, 284, 349 + + Cogniet, L., 1794-1880, French. + --Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter, 191 + + Colton, W. R., 1867-, British + --Royal Artillery Memorial, 253 + + Constable, John, 1776-1837, British, 48, 195, 208 + + Copley, J. S., 1737-1815, American + --Death of Chatham, 190 + + Corenzio, Bellisario, 1588 (_c._)-1643, Greek, 17 + + Cornelius, Peter, 1783-1867, German + --Let there be Light, 267 + + Correggio (Antonio Allegri), 1494-1534, + Italian [Parma], 43, 69, 102, 108, 142 + --Vice, 179; + Virtue, 179; + Mercury instructing Cupid, 130; + Madonna and Child with Saints (Parma), 268; + Parma frescoes, 229 + + Costa, Lorenzo, 1460-1535, Italian [Ferrarese] + --Coronation of the Virgin, 102; + Cupid crowning Isabella d'Este, 225 + + Cosway, Richard, 1742-1821, British, 164 + + Cot, P. A., 1837-1883, French + --The Storm, 210 + + Courbet, G., 1819-1877, French + --Funeral at Ornans, 189 + + Coypel, Antoine, 1661-1742, French, 163 + + Coypel, Noel, 1628-1707, French, 163 + + Crivelli, Carlo, 1440 (_c._)-1496, Italian (Venetian) + --Coronation of the Virgin, 264 + + Crome, John, 1769-1821, British, 208 + + Cuyp, Albert, 1605-1691, Dutch, 203, 245 + + +D + + Dalsgaard, Christen, 1824-, Danish + --The Child's Coffin, 189 + + Damophon, second century B.C., Greek, 122 + + Danby, F., 1793-1861, British, 209 + + Dehodencq, E. A., 1822-1882, French + --Bohemians returning from a Fête, 253 + + Delacroix, E. V. E., 1798-1863, French, 278 + + Delaroche, Paul (Hippolyte Delaroche), 1797-1856, French + --Death of Queen Elizabeth, 190 + + Demont-Breton, V., 1859-, French + --The Divine Apprentice, 321 + + Diaz, N., 1807-1876, French + --Descent of the Bohemians, 253 + + Dolci, Carlo, 1616-1686, Italian + --Christ Blessing, 175 + + Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), 1581-1641, Italian, 19 + --St. Cecilia, 176; + St. Paul's Vision, 265 + + Donatello (Donate di Betto Bardi), 1385 (_c._)-1466, + Italian, 30, 101, 108, 325 + + Doomer, Lambert, 1647 (_c._)-1694, Dutch, 292 + + Doré, Gustave, 1832-1883, French + --Creation of the Earth, 265; + Samson Slaying the Philistines, 252 + + Dossi, Dosso, 1479-1552, Italian [Ferrarese] + --Muse instructing a Court Poet, 175; + Nymph and Satyr, 175 + + Dow, Gerard, 1613-1675, Dutch, 46, 248 + --The Dentist, 176 + + Duccio, Boninsegna di, 1260 (_c._)-1340, Italian [Siennese], 280 + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Dumont, Jacques (Le Romain), 1701-1781, French + --Madame Mercier and Family, 173 + + Dürer, Albrecht, 1474-1528, German, 45 + --The Virgin with a Canary, 264 + + Dyce, William, 1806-1864, British + --St. John leading the Virgin from the Tomb, 245 + + +E + + Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916, American + --Dr. Cross's Surgical Clinic, 185 + + Emmet, Lydia, 1866-, American + --Patricia, 247, Plate 23 + + Ercole di Roberti (E. di R. Grandi), 1470 (_c._)-1531, + Italian [Ferrarese] + --The Concert, 175 + + Everdingen, E. van, 1612-1675, Dutch, 204 + + +F + + Falconet, P. E., 1741-1791, French, 169 + + Ferrari, Gaudenzio, 1484-1549, Italian [Milanese] + --Madonna and Child, 173 + + Ferri C., 1634-1689, Italian + --David plans a Temple, 268 + + Feuerbach, A., 1828-1880, German + --Medea, 170 + + Filarete (Antonio Averlino), (_c._) 1399-1470, Italian, 327 + + Flaxman, John, 1755-1826, British, 130 + + Fontana, B. (G. B. Farinati), 1532-1592, Italian + --Vision of Resurrection, 267 + + Foppa, Vincenzo, 1427 (?)-1515, Italian [Milanese] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Fragonard, J. H., 1732-1806, French, 43, 283 + --The Pursuit, 139; + The Rendezvous, 335; + Souvenirs, 335; + The Lover Crowned, 335; + The Abandonment, 335; + Venus Awakened by Aurora, 118 + + Francesco da Cotignola (F. dei Zaganelli), worked early sixteenth + century, Italian [Parma] + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 265 + + Francia (Francesco Raibolini), 1450-1517, Italian [Bolognese], 332 + --Madonna and Child in Glory, 266; + Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, 345 + + Fries, Hans, (_c._) 1450-1520, German + --Virgin and Child with St. Anne, 103 + + Frith, W. P., 1819-1909, British + --Poverty and Wealth, 178 + + Fromentin, E., 1820-1886, French, 185 + --Couriers des Ooled Nayls, 257 + + +G + + Gaddi, Taddeo, 1300-1366, Italian [Florentine], 280 + + Gainsborough, T., 1727-1788, British, 160 + --Mrs. Leybourne, 174; + Lady Sheffield, 174 + + Genga, Girolamo, 1476-1551, Italian. + Magdalene with Saints, 266 + + Géricault, Jean Louis, 1791-1824, French + --Epsom, 257 + + Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 1381-1455, Italian, 324 + + Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494, Italian [Florentine], 30, 96 + --Old Man and Boy, 151; + Birth of St. John Baptist, 251; + Death of St. Francis, 144 + + Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo, 1483-1560, Italian [Florentine] + --Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 265 + + Gilbert, John, 1817-1897, British + --Slaying of Job's Sheep, 209 + + Giordano, Luca, 1632-1705, Italian, 32 + + Giorgio, Francesco di, 1439-1502, Italian [Siennese] + --Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, 93 + + Giorgione (Giorgio Barbarelli), 1477-1510, + Italian [Venetian], 278, 283, 336 + --Adrastus and Hysipyle, 210, 225; + The Sleeping Venus, 116 + + Giotto (Giotto di Bondone), 1267 (_c._)-1337, + Italian [Florentine], 95, 108, 280, 283 + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Giovanni di Bologna (Jean de Douai), 1524-1608, French or Flemish, 323 + --Mercury, 129 + + Girodet de Roncy, A. L., 1767-1842, French + --Burial of Atala, 191; + Annunciation, 355 + + Girolamo da Libri, 1472-1555, Italian [Venetian] + --Virgin and Child, 244 + + Gouthière, Pierre, 1740-1806, French, 323 + + Goyen, Jan van, 1596-1656, Dutch + --View of The Hague, 195 + + Granacci, Francesco, 1477-1544, Italian [Florentine] + --The Virgin giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 267 + + Grant, Francis, 1803-1878, British + --Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, 245 + + Greco, El (Dominico Theotocopuli), 1547 (_c._)-1614, Greek, 19 + + Grien, Hans Baldung, 1480-1545, German + --The Three Ages, 180; + Sacred and Profane Love, 182; + Pictures representing Death, 186 + + Gros, A. J., 1771-1835, French + --The Combat of Nazareth, 256; + Timoleon of Corinth, 170 + + Guardi, Francesco, 1712-1793, Italian + --Regatta on the Grand Canal, 252 + + Guercino (G. F. da Cento), 1590-1666, Italian + --Martyrdom of St. Peter, 265 + + Gutherz, C, 1844-1907, Swiss + --"They shall bear thee up," 267 + + +H + + Hacker, A., 1858-, British + --The Cry of Egypt, 170 + + Hals, Franz, 1580-1666, Dutch, 155, 248, 336 + --The Laughing Cavalier, 177; + Stephanus Gereardts, 337; + Isabella Coymans, 337; + Lady with a Fan, 337; + Willem van Heythuysen, 337; + Merry Company at Table, 175 + + Hanneman, Adrian, 1611-1680, Dutch + --Constantine Huygens and Children, 248 + + Heim, F. J., 1787-1865, French, 184 + + Henneberg, R. F., 1825-1876, German + --Race for Fortune, 187 + + Hobbema, M., 1638-1709, Dutch, 46, 49, 202 + --Landscape, Plate 18 + + Hoet, G., 1648-1733, Dutch + --Translation of Enoch, 269 + + Hogarth, W., 1697-1764, British, 225, 282 + + Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543, German, 283 + --The Barber Surgeons, 220; + Holy Family, 103; + The Ambassadors, 40, 157; + Virgin and Child, 263 + + Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910, American + --All's Well, 176, Plate 15 + + Hoppner, John, 1758-1810, British, 161 + + Humphrey, Ozias, 1742-1810, British, 164 + + Hunt, W. H., 1827-1910, British + --Shadow of the Cross, 321; + The Scapegoat, 227 + + +I + + Ingres, J. A. D., 1780-1867, French + --Oath of Louis XIII., 264; + [OE]dipus and the Sphinx, 186; + Birth of Venus, 115 + + Innes, George, 1825-1894, American + --Niagara Falls, 211 + + +J + + Johnstone, J. H., 1857-, American + --Mysteries of the Night, 350 + + +K + + Kampf, Arthur, 1864-, German + --Night of March 31, 1888, 189 + + Kauffmann, Maria Angelica, 1741-1807, German, 164 + + Kaulbach, W. von, 1805-1874, German + --Marguerite, 170 + + Keyser, Thomas de, 1596 (_c._)-1679, Dutch + --Lesson in Anatomy, 185 + + Kulmbach, Hans (Hans Suess), 1476 (_c._)-1522, German + --Entombment of St. Catherine, 263 + + +L + + Lancret, Nicolas, 1660-1743, French, 180 + + Lard, F. M., late nineteenth century, French + --Glory Forgets not Obscure Heroes, 191 + + La Touche, G., 1854-1913, French, 285 + --Firework pictures, 213 + + La Tour, Maurice Q., 1704-1788, French + --Madame de la Popelinière, 174; + Mdlle. Camargo, 174; + Madame de Pompadour, 174 + + Latour, I. H. Fantin, 1836-1904, French, 285 + + Lawrence, Thomas, 1769-1830, British, 161, 224 + + Le Brun, Charles, 1619-1690, French, 163 + --Death of Cato, 191 + + Leighton, F., 1830-1896, British + --Captive Andromache, 171 + + Leoni, Leone, died 1590, Italian, 323 + + Le Sueur, E., 1616-1655, French, 163 + --Venus reposing, 118; + The Virgin appearing to St. Martin, 261 + + Levy, H. L., 1840-1904, French + --Young Girl and Death, 191 + + Liberale di Verona, 1452-1519, Italian [Veronese] + --Magdalene with Saints, 265 + + Lionardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, + Italian [Milanese], 16, 18, 30, 96, 172, 283, 325 + --The Last Supper, 69, 93; + Mona Lisa (Paris), 151, 242, 341 + --(formerly Boston), 242, 340; + Litta Madonna, 240, Plate 21; + Virgin and Child with St. Anne, 172, 243 + + Lippi, Filippo, 1406-1469, Italian [Florentine], 96 + --Virgin and Child, 103, 251 + + Loefftz, L., 1845-, German + --The Dead Christ, 171 + + Longepied, L., 1849-1888, French + --Immortality, 191 + + Longhi, Pietro, 1702-1762, Italian, 31 + + Lorenzetto, P., first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese] + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Lotto, Lorenzo, 1480-1556, Italian [Venetian] + --Three Ages of Man, 179; + Triumph of Chastity, 226 + + Luca di Tome, first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese], 261 + + Luini, Aurelio (A. del Lupino), 1530-1593, Italian [Milanese], 288 + + Luini, Bernadino (B. del Lupino), 1475 (_c._)-1536, Italian [Milanese] + --Entombment of St. Catherine, 263; + Salome, 173 + + Lux, H. L., late nineteenth century, French + --Sarpedon, 268 + + Lysippus, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10 + --Hercules in depressed mood, 344 + + +M + + Mainardi, S., died about 1515, Italian [Florentine] + --Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 261 + + Maître de Flemelle (Robert Campin), 1375 (_c._)-1444, + French or Flemish, 93, 170 + + Manet, Edouard, 1832-1883, French, 286 + --Boy with a Sword, 165; + Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, 181; + Olympia, 287 + + Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506, Italian [Paduan] + --The Infant Christ, 102; + Virgin and Child, 175 + + Margaritone of Arezzo, 1216-1293, Italian [Tuscan], 279 + + Maratta, Carlo, 1625-1713, Italian, 33, 284 + + Martin, John, 1789-1854, British + --Plague of Hail, 210; + Destruction of Pharaoh, 210; + "I have Set My Bow in the Cloud," 210 + + Masaccio (Tommaso Guidi), 1402-1429, Italian [Florentine], 283, 322 + --The Madonna enthroned, 104; + Tribute Money, 250 + + Matisse, Henry, 1876-, French, 37 + + Matsys, Quentin, 1463 (_c._)-1530, Flemish, 93 + + Meissonier, J. L. E., 1815-1891, French + --1814, 256 + + Mengs, Anton R., 1728-1779, German, 352 + --St. John Baptist Preaching, 175 + + Menzel, A., 1815-1905, German + --Market Place in Verona, 252; + Iron Mill, 252 + + Meyer, K., 1618-1689, Swiss, 179 + + Michelangelo Buonarotti, 1475-1564, + Italian [Florentine, Roman], 10, 13, 16, 18, 19, 30, 43, 69, + 92, 229, 260, 233, 350 + --Holy Family (Florence), 182; + Last Judgment, 90, 93; + Reposing Venus, 117; + Leda, 320; + Night, 320; + San Lorenzo Madonna, 320; + Bargello Madonna, 320; + Pietà, 320; + Moses, 320; + Bacchus, 132; + St. Stephen, 93; + Creation of Adam, Plate 24 + + Mignard, Pierre, 1610-1695, French, 163 + + Millais, J. E., 1829-1896, British + --The Carpenter's Shop, 321 + + Millet, J. F., 1814-1875, French + --The Angelus, 352 + + Molyn, P., 1592(_c._)-1661, Dutch, 292 + + Monet, C. J., 1840-, French, 286 + + Montagna, B., 1450(_c._)-1523, Italian [Venetian] + --The Virgin Enthroned, 102 + + Moro, Antonio, 1512-1575, Flemish + --Catilina of Portugal, 159; + Maria of Austria, 159 + + Morot, A. N., 1850-, French + --Reichsoffen, 256 + + Moser, Lucas, first half fifteenth century, German + --Voyage of the Saints, 347 + + Murillo, B. E., 1618-1682, Spanish, 19, 163 + --Holy Family, 103; + Ascension of Christ, 260; + Immaculate Conception pictures, 266 + + Myron, fifth century B.C., Greek, 9, 249 + --Discobolus, 352; + Marsyas, 331, 352 + + +N + + Nattier, J. M., 1685-1766, French, 164 + --Madame Louise, 173 + + +O + + Orcagna (Andrea di Cione), 1308(_c._)-1370, Italian [Florentine] + --Assumption of the Virgin, 261 + + Orchardson, W. Q., 1835-1907, British + --The Borgia, 189 + + +P + + Palma Giovane (Jacopo Palma), 1544-1628, Italian [Venetian] + --Christ in Judgment, 264 + + Palma Vecchio (Jacopo Palma), 1480(_c._)-1528, Italian [Venetian] + --Reposing Venus, 117; + Assumption, 266 + + Parmigiano (Francesco Mazzuoli), 1504-1540, Italian [Parma] + --Madonna and Child with Saints, 103 + + Pedrini, Giovanni (Giampietrino), late fifteenth and early sixteenth + centuries, Italian [Milanese] + --Madonna, 173 + + Perronneau, J. B., 1715-1783, French + --Madame Olivier, 173 + + Perugino, Pietro (Pietro Vanucci), 1446-1524, + Italian [Umbrian], 17, 332 + --Christ's Rule, 264; + Deposition, 345; + Assumption of the Virgin, 262; + Ascension, 262, 263; + Baptism of Christ, 345; + Madonna with Child and Penitents, 264; + Annunciation, 354; + Crucifixion (Florence), 345 + + Phidias, fifth century B.C., Greek, 7, 10, 44, 57, 91, 108, 122, 328 + --Olympian Zeus, 68; + Parthenon Athena, 68, 123 + + Picart, B., 1673-1733, French + --The Burning Coal, 262 + + Piero di Cosimo (Piero Rosselli or Piero di Lorenzo), 1462-1521, + Italian [Florentine], 322 + --Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena, 124, 225, 331; + Death of Procris, 347; + Mars and Cupid, 347 + + Pinturicchio, B., 1454-1513, Italian [Umbrian], 332 + + Pisano, Giovanni, fourteenth century, Italian + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Pisano, Giunto, first half thirteenth century, Italian + --Christ and the Virgin, 261 + + Pisano, Niccolo, 1206 (_c._)-1278, Italian + --Infant Christ, 108 + + Pissarro, C., 1830-1903, French, 286 + + Polidoro da Caravaggio (Polidoro Caldara), died 1543, + Italian [Neapolitan], 169 + + Pollaiuolo, Antonio (A. di Jacopo Benci), 1429-1498, + Italian [Florentine], 327 + --Hercules contemplating death, 190, Plate 16, 343 + + Polyclitus, fifth century B.C., Greek + --Hera, 120 + + Polygnotus, fifth century B.C., Greek + --Frescoes from Homer, 69 + + Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), 1493-1558, Italian [Florentine], 142 + --Venus Reposing, 117 + + Potter, Paul, 1625-1654, Dutch, 203, 245 + + Poussin, Gaspar (Gaspar Dughet), 1613-1675, French, 195 + + Poussin, Nicholas, 1594-1665, French, 16, 30, 47, 163, 195 + --Jonah cast into the sea, 210; + Assumption of the Virgin, 267; + St. Francis Xavier, 261; + Vision of St. Paul, 267; + Venus Reposing, 117; + Adam and Eve, 265; + Diana Sleeps in the Forest, 345; + Descent from the Cross, 168 + + Poynter, E. J., 1836-, British + --Building the Treasure City, 253 + + Praxiteles, fourth century B.C., Greek, 7, 10, 13, 44, 136, 328 + --The Cnidian Aphrodite, 112, 329; + Hermes and the Infant Bacchus, 101, 109, 129 + + Prevost, Jean, died 1529, French + --Old Man and Death, 186 + + Prudhon, P. P. 1758-1823, French + --Crucifixion, 170; + Abduction of Psyche, 266 + + +R + + Raeburn, Henry, 1756-1823, British, 161 + --The Farmer's Wife, 174; + Mrs. Lauzun, 174; + Mrs. Balfour, 174; + Dr. N. Spens, 166 + + Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), 1473-1520, + Italian [Umbrian, Florentine, Roman], 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 28, + 43, 57, 69, 92, 108, 125, 137, 142, 167, 229, 283 + --God Appearing to Isaac, 261; + God Separating Water from Earth, 261; + Creation of the Sun and Moon, 261; + Transfiguration, 251; + Julius II., 40, 151, 289; + School of Athens, 144; + Parnassus, 125; + Prophets and Sybils, 243, 263; + Foligna Madonna, 263; + Creation of Woman, 263; + Maddalena Doni, 242; + Angelo Doni, 242; + Study from Mona Lisa, 242; + The Redeemer, 243; + Madonna and Child (Bridgewater), 102; + Madonna and Child with St. John (Berlin), 102; + Holy Family (Madrid), Deliverance of St. Peter, 251; + Fire at the Borgo, 251; + Flight of Lot and his Family, 251; + Crucifixion, 347; + Moses Striking the Rock, 251; + Saint Cecilia, 176; + Saint Sebastian, 243; + Venus Anadyomene, 113; + Christ Blessing, 93; + Casa Tempi Madonna, 173; + Cowper Madonna, 173; + Leo N. and the Cardinals Medici, 157; + Fornarina, 173; + Portrait of a Young Man, 173; + Mercury and Psyche, 129; + St. Margaret, 250, Plate 26; + Annunciation, 354; + Apollo and Marsyas, 125, 332, 345; + Virgin with a Goldfinch, 173, 345; + Sistine Madonna, 230 + + Ravestyn, Jan van, 1572-1657, Dutch, 158 + + Redon, O., died 1917, French + --Death, the Friend, 188 + + Regnault, H., 1843-1871, French + --Automedon and the Horses of Achilles, 256, Plate 28 + + Rembrandt van Ryn, H., 1606-1669, Dutch, 20, 21, 152, 160, 283, 289 + --Rembrandt and Saskia, 177; + Angel quitting Tobias, 263; + Lesson in Anatomy, 185; + Lady with a Dog, 281; + Ascension of Christ, 266, 267; + Night Watch, 21; + Syndics of the Drapers, 281; + Portrait Young Man (Beit Coll.), 281; + do. (Wachtmeister Coll.), 281; + Martin Day, 150; + Machteld von Doorn, 150; + Samson menacing his father-in-law, 248 + + Reni, Guido, 1575-1642, Italian + --Assumption of the Virgin, 268 + + Rethel, A., 1816-1859, German + --Death at a Masked Ball, 187; + Death the Friend, 188 + + Reynolds, Joshua, 1723-1792, British, 142, 154, 160, 224, 282, 350 + --The Infant Hercules, 176; + Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy, 161; + Mrs. Billington as Cecilia, 161; + Hon. Lavinia Bingham, 174; + Mrs. Abington, 174; + Viscountess Crosbie, 166 + + Riccio (Andrea Briosco), 1470-1532, Italian, 323, 326 + + Ribera, Giuseppe, 1593-1656, Italian, 17 + + Rigaud, H., 1659-1743, French, 163 + --Louis XV. as a boy, 173 + + Robbia, Luca della, 1400-1482, Italian, 325 + + Robbia, Andrea della 1435-1525, Italian, 104 + + Roberts, David, 1796-1864, British + --The Israelites depart, 257 + + Rodin, A., 1840-1917, French, 249, 351 + --La Vieille Heaulmière, 317 + + Roll, A. P., 1847-, French, 271 + + Romano, Giulio (G. Pippi), 1492-1546, Italian [Roman] + --Holy Family, 104 + + Romney, George, 1734-1802, British, 142, 161, 164 + --Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, 174; + William Booth, 174; + Mrs. Thomas Raikes, 165; + The Ladies Spencer, 166; + Mrs. Yates, 174; + Mrs. Tickle, 174 + + Rosa, Salvator, 1615-1673, Italian, 32 + --Samuel's Curse, 179 + + Rosalba (Rosalba Carriera), 1675-1757, Italian, 164 + + Roslin, A., 1718-1793, French, 173. + + Rossellino, Antonio, 1429-1479, Italian, 104 + + Rossetti, D. G., 1828-1882, British + --Annunciation, 270 + + Rubens, P. P., 1577-1640, Flemish, 16, 20, 30, 46, 152, 226, 283 + --Assumption of the Virgin (Dusseldorf), 266; + do. (Vienna), 266; + do. (Augsburg), 266; + do. (Brussels), 266; + Ascension (Vienna), 267; + do (Venice), 268; + Deity and Christ, 266; + Diana and Nymphs, 254, Plate 27; + Harvest Landscape (Munich), 211; + do. (Wallace Coll.), 211; + Virgin and Child (Rome), 262; + Birth of Venus, 115; + Landscape with a Rainbow, 211; + Shipwreck of Æneas, 211; + Annunciation (Vienna), 355; + Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, 210; + Funeral of Decius, 188; + Boreas and Oreithyia, 260; + Landscape by Moonlight, 209; + Toilet of Venus, 118; + Christ on the Cross, 244; + Death of Seneca, 190; + The Four Philosophers, 157; + David's Last Song, 176; + Marie de' Medici series, 226 + + Rude, François, 1794-1855, French + --Marshal Ney, 351; + Marseillaise, 254 + + Ruysdael, Jacob, 1628 (_c._)-1682, Dutch, 49, 203, 208 + --The Rising Storm, 206, Plate 20; + Landscape with flowing water, 204, Plate 19; + The Marsh, 203 + + +S + + Sacchi, Andrea, 1600-1661, Italian, 164 + + Saint-Bonvin, F., 1817-1887, French + --Ave Maria, 353 + + Saint-Gaudens, A., 1848-1907, American + --Shaw Memorial Relief, 254 + + Salviati, F. (Francesco de Rossi), 1510-1563, Italian [Florentine] + --Justice, 179 + + Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti), 1486-1570, Italian, 323 + + Sarto, Andrea del (Andrea Agnolo), 1488-1530, + Italian [Florentine], 142 + --Holy Family (Hermitage), 104 + + Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battisto Salvi), 1605-1685, Italian, 164 + + Scheffer, Ary, 1795-1858, Dutch + --Temptation of Christ, 178 + + Schiavone, Andrea, 1462-1522, Italian [Venetian] + --Jupiter and Io, 348 + + Schnorr, J. von K., 1794-1872, German + --God's Promise to Abraham, 269 + + Schongauer, Martin, (_c._) 1445-1491, German, 45 + + Schonherr, C., nineteenth century, German + --Agony in the Garden, 265 + + Schreyer, Adolf, 1828-1899, German + --The Attack, 257 + + Schwind, M., 1804-1871, Austrian + --The Pleiads, 269, Plate 25; + Rainbow, 212; + Phantom in the Forest, 270 + + Scopas, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10 + --Demeter, 122, Plate 7 + + Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani), 1485-1547, + Italian [Venetian] + --Concert, 181 + + Signorelli, Luca, 1440 (_c._)-1521, Italian [Umbrian], 191 + --Portrait of a Man, 182; + Madonna and Child, 103, 264 + + Simson, William, 1800-1847, British, 245 + + Snyders, Frans, 1579-1677, Flemish, 216, 257 + + Sodoma, Il, (Giovanni A. Bazzi), 1477-1549, Italian [Siamese] + --Sacrifice of Abraham, 244 + + Steen, Jan, 1629-1679, Dutch + --Terrace Scene, 245 + + +T + + Tassaert, O., 1800-1874, French, 17 + --Assumption of the Virgin, 266 + + Teniers, David, 1610-1690, Dutch, 90 + + Terburg (or Terborch), Gerard, 1617-1681, Dutch, 46 + --Peace of Munster, 158 + + Thoma, Hans, 1839-, German + --Temptation of Christ, 187; + Cupid and Death, 178; + Sin and Death, 187; + Progress of the gods to Walhalla, 212; + Rainbow, 211; + View of Laufenburg, 204 + + Thomson, John, 1778-1840, British + --Fast Castle, 207; + Dunluce Castle, 207 + + Tiepolo, G. B., 1692-1769, Italian, 31 + + Timanthes, fourth century B.C., Greek + --Sacrifice of Iphigenia, 168, Plate 14, 339 + + Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), 1518-1594, Italian [Venetian], 261 + --Bacchus and Ariadne, 270; + Annunciation, 354; + Presentation of the Virgin, 243 + + Titian (Titiano Vecelli), 1477-1576, + Italian [Venetian], 13, 40, 108, 148, 152, 283, 336, 350 + --Assumption of the Virgin, 266; + Sacred and Profane Love, 138, 181; + Resurrection, 264; + Madonna of the Cherries, 102; + Meeting of Joachim and Anna, 102; + Three Ages of Man, 179; + Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, 104, 348; + Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, 347; + Paul III. with the two Brothers Farnese, 157, 164; + Reposing Venus (Uffizi), 116; + Venus Anadyomene, 115; + Aretino, 144; + Man with the Gloves, 151; + Duke of Alba, 144; + portraits of Philip II., 144; + Charles V. at Mühlberg, 149, 347; + portraits of his Daughter, 149; + Duke of Ferrara, 149; + Physician of Parma, 336; + Toilet of Venus, 118; + Christ on the Cross, 244; + Pharaoh's Host overwhelmed, 257; + self-portrait, 149; + Venus and the Organ Player, 166 + + Turner, J. M. W., 1775-1851, British, 16, 17, 201 + --Arundel Castle, 210; + The _Temeraire_ towed to her last berth, 353 + + +U + + Uhde, Fritz von, 1848-, German, 321 + --Cavalry going into action, 257; + Revenge, 187; + The Three Magi, 104 + + +V + + Van der Neer, A., 1619-1683, Dutch, 208 + + Van de Velde, W., 1633-1707, Dutch, 46 + + Van der Venne, A. P., 1589-1661, Dutch + --The Soul Fishery, 211 + + Van der Weyden, Roger, 1400 (_c._)-1464, Flemish, 93, 170 + + Van Dyck, Anthony, 1599-1641, Flemish, 142, 148, 157, 216 + --Four Ages, 180; + Christ on the Cross, 244, Plate 22; + Earl of Pembroke, 165; + Earl of Bedford, 150; + Philip le Roy, 165; + Henrietta Maria (Windsor), 150; + portrait of his Wife, 166; + Earl of Newport, 150; + Countess of Devonshire, 165 + + Van Eyck, Jan, 1385 (_c._)-1441, Flemish, 283 + --Virgin and Child at the Fountain, 263; + Arnolfini and his Wife, 40; + Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, 347 + + Van Gogh, V., 1853-1890, Dutch, 37, 288 + + Velasquez, D. R. de Silva, 1599-1660, Spanish, 152 _et seq._, 283 + --Christ at the Column, 246; + Las Meninas, 155, 247; + Coronation of the Virgin, 266; + The Drinkers, 182; + The Three Musicians, 175; + The Breakfast, 155; + portraits of Philip IV., 153; + Olivares, 149; + Innocent X., 151; + Don Antonio el Ingles, 149; + Rokeby Venus, 119; + Surrender of Breda, 155; + Christ in the house of Martha, 155 + + Venusti, Marcello, died after 1579, Italian [Florentine] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Verestchagin, V., 1842-1904, Russian, 184 + + Vermeer, Jan (of Delft), 1632-1675, Dutch, 20 + + Vernet, E. J. Horace, 1789-1863, French + --La Smalah, 256 + + Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari), 1528-1588, + Italian [Venetian], 231, 286, 350 + + Verrocchio, Andrea del, 1435-1488, Italian, 325 + + Viti, Timoteo della, 1470-1523, Italian [Umbrian], 332, 345 + + +W + + Walker, Horatio, 1858-, American + --Ave Maria, 353 + + Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721, French, 278, 283 + --Embarkation for Cythera (Paris), 254; + do. (Berlin), 269 + + Watts, George F., 1817-1904, British + --Death, the Friend, 188, 191 + + West, Benjamin, 1738-1820, American + --Death of General Wolfe, 190 + + Whistler, J. A. McN., 1834-1903, American, 50, 349 + + Wiertz, A., 1806-1865, Belgian + --The Orphans, 189; + Things of the Past, 226 + + Wilson, Richard, 1714-1782, British, 48 + + Witt, J. H., 1840-1901, American + --Bless the Lord, 262 + + Wouverman, Philip, 1614-1670, Dutch, 203, 245 + + +Z + + Zurbaran, Francisco, 1598-1662, Spanish, 19 + + + + +GENERAL INDEX + + +A + + Actors in stage rôles, portraits of, 223 + + Aerial perspective, Claude the first master of, 47; + its importance, 198; + method of producing, 200 + + Æsthetic systems, all of them untenable, 3, 274; + Carritt on, 274; + of Hegel, 277; + of Croce, 273 + + Ages of man, pictures contrasting the, 179 + + Allegorical painting, when secondary art, 225 + + Angel of Death in art, instances of, 191; + symbol of, 188 + + Angels, representation of, in aerial suspension and flight, 262, 266 + + Animal painting, in action, 255; + ideals in, not possible, 56 + + Annunciation, The, indication of surprise in expression, 270, 354 + + Apelles, his Venus Anadyomene, 113, 330; + epigrams on, 331 + + Aphrodite (_see_ Venus) + + Apollo, his representation in art, 124 + + Architecture, its position in the Fine Arts, 53; + imitative character of, 53, 294; + unconcerned with ideals, 58; + produces sensorial beauty only, 64; + simplicity its keynote, 75; + standard of judgment in, 75; + S. Colvin on, 292 + + Ares (_see_ Mars) + + Aristotle, on imitation in art, 215, 292; + on metrical form in poetry, 54, 296; + his division of the painter's art, 62; + his connection of morals with art, 314 + + Art, definition of, 1; + its mimetic character, 52; + sensorial beauty, first aim of, 72; + must deal chiefly with types, 55; + independent of social and political conditions, 4; + of psychological impulses, 8, 14; + great periods of, 8; + suggested evolution in, 7; + "Classic" and "Romantic," 278; + relation of, to nature, 55; + popular appreciation of, 74; + Grecian, cause of its decline, 10; + Italian Renaissance of, cause of its decline, 11; + limitation of sculpture and painting in, 81; + Tolstoy's definition of, 275; + ideals in (_see_ The Ideal in Art) + + Artemis (_see_ Diana) + + Artists, training necessary for, 25; + cause of variation in work of, 20; + reputations of great, 283; + as judges of works of art, 305 + + Arts (_see_ Fine Arts) + + Assent, Law of General, 72 _et seq._ + + Associated Arts, the arts associated, 53; + first law of the, 60; + highest art in, recognized by general opinion, 77; + ideals in, 58; + cannot properly be used for moral or social purposes, 82; + their method of producing beauty, 78 _et seq._; + limitations of, 80 + + Athena, her representation in art, 123 + + Atmospheric effects, limitations in producing, 202; + exceptional phases, 202 + + +B + + Bacchus, his representation in art, 131 + + Barbizon School, anticipated by Dutch masters, 291; + sketches of the, of little importance, 290; + use of heavy gilt frames for works of the, 291 + + Beauty, definitions of, unsatisfactory, 2, 59; + alleged objectivity of, 2; + highest form of, 72; + unconnected with philosophy, 2; + first law of, in the Associated Arts, 60; + ideal, 86; + kinds of, in the arts, 4, 60, 273; + degrees of, in the arts generally, 60, in painting, 83; + sensorial (or emotional), 60, 72; + intellectual (or beauty of expression), 2, 273; + of form, 273; + of color, 228 _et seq._; + methods of producing, 78; + as the "expression of emotion," 275; + Longinus on the highest, 73; + standard of judgment of, in poetry, 77, + in sculpture, 77, + in painting, 77, + in architecture, 75, + in fiction, 77, + in landscape, 194, + in still-life, 214, + in secondary art, 219 _et seq._; + general agreement in respect of, 86 + + Bon Dieu d'Amiens, Ruskin on, 319; + Farrar on, 319; + corresponds with certain Greek art, 319, Plate 2 + + Brevity in expression, highest beauty in poetry, marked by, 65 + + Broad style of painting, cause of, with great artists, 21; + its limitations, 39; + advocacy of, by impressionists, 38; + as used by Rembrandt, 281; + by Hals, 336 + + Bronze statuettes of the Renaissance, 321 _et seq._ + + Byron on nature and art in respect of landscape, 345 + + +C + + Caricature, its place in art, 225 + + Carritt, E. F., on the result of æsthetic systems, 275 + + Cave men, their art, 5 + + Ceres (_see_ Demeter) + + Chaldean Art, Illustration of, Plate 1 + + Character of Artists, influence of, in their work, 16 + + Cherubs, use of, in assisting illusion of suspension in the air, 265 + + Christ, representation in art, 92; + the established ideal, 92; + Ruskin on the best ideal of, 319 + + Christian conception of the Deity, its effect in art, 88 + + "Classic Art," Hegel's definition, 277; + varied meanings of the term, 278 + + Claude Lorraine, the first great landscape painter, 47; + the cause of his success, 16; + Goethe on, 49; + the model for Turner, 49 + + Clausen, G., his definition of Impressionism, 284; + on Whistler's nocturnes, 349 + + Clouds, use of, in relation to air-suspended figures, 263 + + Coast views, illusion of motion in, 206 + + Color, beauty of, 228 _et seq._; + its relative importance, 228; + in landscape, 194; + juxtaposition of pure colors, 35, 287; + by Venetian artists, 231, 350; + exceptional color effects, 234; + its use by impressionists, 34 _et seq._ + + Colvin, S., claims music and architecture as non-imitative arts, 292 + + Comedy, its place in the painter's art, 224 + + Contentment, quality of expression in the Madonna, 97; + in Venus, 119 + + Contrast, its use in composition, 177; + of forms, 177; + of ages, 179; + of beauty and strength, 177; + of Good and Evil, 178; + of Poverty and Wealth, 178; + of Vice and Virtue, 178; + of nude and clothed figures, 180 + + Correggio, and the sublime, 229 + + Criticism, the new, 29 + + Croce, B., his æsthetic system, 273; + on genius, 282 + + +D + + Darwin, C., on the result of nerve exercise, 281; + on natural music, 293 + + Death, representation of, 183 _et seq._; + in the Crucifixion, 184; + typified by a skeleton, 186; + in massacres and executions, 184; + in interior scenes, 190; + funeral scenes, 188; + scenes of approaching, 190; + Angel of, 188 + + Decorative art, imitation in, 218 + + Deformity in art, 89 + + Deity, the, representation of, 92; + ideals of, 91 + + Demeter, representation of, 121, Plate 7 + + Demosthenes, example of his art, 300 + + De Quincey, T., on the representation of progressive actions, 348 + + Descriptive poetry, its limits, 79; + in the seventeenth century, 308; + example from Sophocles, 310, + from Cornelius Gallus, 309 + + Diana, representation of, 126 + + Dignity, in portraiture, 146; + practice of Titian, 148; + of Van Dyck, 148; + of Velasquez, 149 + + Dionysus (_see_ Bacchus) + + Drama, The, pictures from the written, 221; + from the acted, 222; + importance of tragedy in painting, 221 + + Drapery, with use of in sculpture, + proportions possible which are not feasible in nude figures, 328; + use of, in painting by Raphael, 251, 352; + for assisting illusions, 260 + + Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, + their limited imaginations, 19 + + +E + + Eaton, D. C., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Egyptian art, its early high development, 7, Plate 1 + + Emotional element in beauty (_see_ Beauty) + + Emotions, The, influence of, in the work of artists, 16; + expression of, in relation to beauty, 275 + + Evolution, not applicable to art generally, 7; + Spencer on, 276; + Symonds on, 276 + + Execution in painting, must be balanced with imagination, 18; + of Hals, 155; + of Lionardo, 18; + of Rembrandt, 19; + of Velasquez, 153 + + Expression, in ideals generally, 86; + in Christian ideals, 91 _et seq._; + in classical ideals, 106 _et seq._; + in portraiture, 141 _et seq._; + in the representation of grief, 168; + with the smile, 171; + the open mouth, 174; + in the exhibition of deformity, 89; + in scenes of death, 183; + of Raphael, 339; + of Rembrandt, 42; + of the fourteenth century Italian painters, 279; + of the thirteenth century French sculptors, 315; + in the literary arts, 65 _et seq._ + + +F + + Falconet, E., on the representation of grief, 169 + + Farrar, Dean, on the ideal of Christ, 319; + on the early Italian painters, 279 + + Fiction, as a fine art, 4, 52; + one of the Associated Arts, 53; + imitation in, 52; + forms of, 69; + basic and structural in character, 81; + standard of judgment in, 73; + in relation to sensorial beauty, 79; + unconcerned with ideals, 58 + (_see also_ Novel) + + Fine Arts, imitative in character, 52; + classified according to their signs, 53; + their methods of producing beauty, 78; + standards of judgment in the, 77 + + Fireworks, unsuitable for the painter, 212 + + Flight, representation of + (_see_ Illusion of suspension and motion in the air) + + Flowers, their representation in still-life, 216; + in decorative art, 217 + + Foreground in landscape, illusion of opening distance in, 202 + + Form, beauty of, 273; + ideal, 86 + + Frames of pictures, their use in Barbizon works, 291; + exclusion of, in artificial means to secure relief, 240 + + French sculptors of the thirteenth century, + their forms in the Greek manner, 315; + their representation of the Virgin and Child, 101, 315 + + Frescoes, necessarily divided into sections, 69; + Reynolds on Raphael's, 303 + + Funeral scenes in art, 188 + + +G + + General opinion, standard of judgment in all arts except music, 73, 77 + + Genius, how produced, 21 _et seq._; + Reynolds on, 282; + Johnson on, 282; + Hogarth on, 282 + + Geology, study of, may be assisted by landscape painting, 315 + + Gods, Mythological (_see_ Grecian, under their separate headings); + Roman, 328 + + Grace, inferior as a special quality in portraiture, 164; + as applied in Greece and Rome, 162; + in sixteenth century art, 163; + in seventeenth century art, 163; + in England in the eighteenth century, 164; + in France, 163; + kinds of, 338 + + Grandeur, highest quality of beauty in architecture, 75; + practically impossible in landscape, 193; + in portraiture, 160; + in Van Dyck's works, 160; + in Gainsborough's works, 160 + + Grecian art, cause of its decline, 10; + development of, compared with that of the Renaissance, 10 _et seq._ + + Grecian sculpture, its high place in art, 106; + ideals in, 88, 95; + representation of adults with children in, 100; + studied by the great masters of the Renaissance, 108; + in portraiture, 145 + + +H + + Hals, Franz, his facility, 155; + his limited imagination, 155; + his broad manner, 336; + the works of pupils attributed to him, 337 + + Hegel, G. W., his "periods" in art, 277 + + Hephæstus (_see_ Vulcan) + + Hera (_see_ Juno) + + Hercules, his representation as contemplating death, 190 + + Hermes (_see_ Mercury) + + Historical painting, its place in art, 83 + + Hogarth, W., on genius, 282 + + Holmes, C. J., on the framing of Barbizon pictures, 291 + + Homer, example of his art, 65 + + Hood, T., his moods and his work, 17 + + Horses, representation in action, 255 + + Human figure, principal sign in the Associated Arts, 53, 73; + produces highest form of beauty, 72; + general ideal of, 86; + Greek ideals, 106 + + Humboldt, A., on the position of landscape in art, 344 + + Humorous subjects, their place in the painter's art, 224 + + Hyperides, example of his art, 300 + + +I + + Ideal in art, The, only possible in respect of the human form, 57, 87; + inapplicable to form without expression, 86; + definition of, 86; + must be general, 86; + general agreement in respect of, 87; + can only be applied to excellence, 89; + limitation of, 56; + ideals of the Greeks, 89, 91, + of the early Italians, 94, + of the thirteenth century French sculptors, 315, + of the Deity, 88, 91, + of Christ, 92, 94, + of the Madonna, 95, + of Zeus, 88, + of the other Grecian deities, 89, + of Phidias, 10, + of Raphael, 97, 137, + of Praxiteles, 10, + in, of Michelangelo, 320; + general ideals, 135; + universality of, 138, 315; + ideal qualities, 89 + + Illusion of continuity, in death scenes, 189 + + Illusion of movement, in landscape, 197; + in sea views, 205; + in coast views, 206; + in sculpture, 249, 351; + in figure painting, 250 _et seq._; + in animal painting, 255 _et seq._; + may be suggested by title of work, 257 + + Illusion of opening distance, in distance landscape, 197; + in nearground work, 203; + in sea views, 205 + + Illusion of relief, its value in painting, 236; + mechanical methods of producing, 240 + + Illusion of suspension and motion in the air, with the assistance + of flowing drapery, 260; + of clouds, 263; + of cherubs, 265; + of Angels, 266; + of smoke, 268 + + Imagination, The, + influence of precocious, in the production of genius, 23; + must be balanced with skill in execution, 18; + of Lionardo, 18; + of the Dutch painters, 19; + of the Spanish painters, 19; + of Shakespeare, 23, 24 + + Imitation, the province of art, 52; + should be generalized, 237; + in landscape, 194, + in still-life, 214, + in decorative art, 218, + in architecture, 294, + in music, 293; + of other arts by the painter, 221 _et seq._; + Aristotle on, 215; + S. Colvin on, in respect of the fine arts, 292 + + Impressionism, definitions of, 25, 284 _et seq._; + its origin, 285 _et seq._; + its influence, 38; + its limitations, 35; + its defects, 34 _et seq._; + its effects, 51; + its correspondence with Sprezzatura, 32 + + Industry, the key to success in art, 24, 282 + + Inspiration in art, not recognized by great artists, 16; + actual instances of, unknown, 15; + suggested national, 9 _et seq._; + individual, 14 + + Interiors, pictures of, their place in art, 84 + + Invention in art, its relative importance, 54; + in poetry, 54; + in painting, 312; + Lessing on, in poetry and painting, 312; + in landscape, 193; + the term used in two senses, 311 + + Irony, works conveying, unsuitable for the painter, 224 + + Italy, Art of, decline of the Renaissance, 11 _et seq._; + in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 30 _et seq._; + Renaissance ideals, 12 + + +J + + Japanese, their practice in decoration, 217 + + Johnson, Dr., on genius, 282 + + Juno, representation of, by the painter, 120 + + Jupiter, Greek representation of, 88, 89; + ideal of, 89, 91; + by the painter, 109 + + +L + + Landscape painting, its place in art, 48, 84; + produces only sensorial beauty, 192; + Humboldt on, 344; + signs in, 199; + disadvantages of, 44; + limitations in, 192 _et seq._, 348; + varieties of, 49; + relative difficulty of execution in, 48; + compositions must be invented, 194; + illusion of motion in, 197 _et seq._; + precise imitation necessary in, 194; + as a useful art, 314; + early development of, 46, + in ancient Rome, 45, + in Italy, 47, + in Holland, 46, + in England and France, 48 + + Lanzi, A. L., on the range of Raphael in expression, 339 + + La Touche, G., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Latour, Fantin, and the origin of impressionism, 285 + + Laugh, a, when unobjectionable in painting, 177 + + Lessing, G., on progressive actions, 348; + on the relative importance of invention and execution, 312; + on the representation of grief, 169; + on descriptive poetry, 309; + on signs in art, 346; + on Homer and the beauty of Helen, 298; + on the Laocoon design, 311; + on the dictum of Simonides, 307; + on ugliness in poetry and painting, 341 + + Lewes, G. H., on the execution of signs in art, 346 + + Lightning, its use in landscape, 209; + must be subordinated, 209; + where used in painting by great masters, 210 + + Lionardo da Vinci, his imagination compared with his execution, 18; + his relief, 239; + on success in painting, 16; + his representation of Christ, 93 + + Literary arts, + the painter must take his action from them or from nature direct, 81 + (_see_ Poetry and The Novel). + + Literary movement in England in the sixteenth century, 278 + + Longinus, on the test of the sublime and beautiful, 73; + on certain examples of beauty in the literary arts, 300 + + Luini, A., On an "impressionist" landscape by Titian, 288 + + +M + + MacColl, D. S., on the origin of impressionism, 284 + + Madonna, The, her representation, + the test of art during the Renaissance, 12, + by Cimabue and Giotto, 95, + in Crucifixion scenes, 99; + her surroundings in art, 99, + her representation at different ages, 98, + Michelangelo on her presumed age, 320; + her presumed social condition, 100; + the ideal of the early Italian, 12, 95, + of Raphael, 97, + Michelangelo's portrayals of, 320; + limitations in the ideal of, 98 + + Madonna and Child, + representation of, by thirteenth century French sculptors, 101, 315; + in Italy, 101; + changes in grouping of, in the fifteenth century, 101; + practice of later artists, 102 _et seq._ + + Manner in painting, its limitations, 39; + the public indifferent to, 39; + of Rembrandt, 21; + of Hals, 336 + + Manet, E., his connection with the rise of impressionism, 287 + + Marine painting (_see_ Sea views) + + Mars, representation of, in painting, 128 + + Mauclair, C., on impressionism, 285 + + Mengs, A. R., on Raphael's treatment of drapery, 352 + + Mercury, his representation in painting, 129 + + Metaphor, with the poet, 65, 227, 296; + with the painter, 226 + + Michelangelo, and the sublime, 229; + his studies in Greek art, 108; + Reynolds on, 282; + his ideals of the Madonna, 320; + on her presumed age at the Crucifixion, 320; + on the cause of Raphael's success, 16; + on the public judgment of works of art, 304; + on the Venetian painters, 350 + + Miller, Marion M., his translation of Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, 302 + + Minerva (_see_ Athena) + + Modesty, quality in expression unsuitable to a goddess, 119 + + Mona Lisa, the Louvre example, 151, 172; + the Boston example, 172; + her reputed age in the picture, 240; + her smile, 341 + + Mood, influence of, in the work of artists, 17 + + Moonlight scenes, their place in art, 208 + + Morals, pictures illustrating, their place in art, 85 + + Moreau-Vautier, C., on the juxtaposition of pure colors, 287 + + Music, + highest beauty in, produced by complex combinations of signs, 73; + greatest works in, the least popular, 75; + ideals not possible in, 58; + cannot present intellectual beauty, 64; + standard of judgment in, 305; + cannot be connected with painting, 285; + its connection with poetry, 54, 76; + imitative character of, 53, 293; + claimed by Colvin as non-imitative, 292; + Darwin on natural, 293 + + Muther, R., on the origin of Impressionism, 287 + + Mystery in painting, indicates inferior art, 341 + + Mythological subjects, their place in painting, 83, 133 + + +N + + Nature, relation of, to art, 57; + and landscape, Byron on, 345 + + Near-ground painting in landscape, 202 + + Neptune, his representation in painting, 127 + + Nerves of the senses, + their advanced condition at birth cause of precocity in art, 21; + alike in all people, 86; + connection of genius with development of, 22; + physiological changes in, 22, 72; + Darwin on the, 281 + + Night, should be symbolized in painting, 350; + Whistler attempts to represent beauty of, 349 + + Nocturnes, origin of Whistler's, 349 + + Norwich school of painting, 48 + + Novel, the, compared with the short story, 70; + limit of, 71; + of little service to the painter, 221 (_see_ Fiction) + + Nude with clothed figures, contrasts of, 180 + + +O + + Objectivity of beauty, 2 + + Open Mouth, The, 174; + when not objectionable, 177 + + +P + + Painter, the, his requirements, 25 + + Painting, imitative character of, 52; + degrees of beauty in, 83; + compared with sculpture, 135; + its relation to poetry, 307; + general ideals in, 86 _et seq._; + classical ideals in, 106 _et seq._; + Christian ideals in, 91 _et seq._; + action cannot be originated in, 81; + great, marked by simplicity, 69; + standard of judgment in, 73; + general expression in, 167; + relation of invention to execution in, 312; + broad manner of, 39; + of divinities, 109; + of classical scenes, 133; + of humorous subjects, 224; + of contrasts, 177 _et seq._; + of scenes from fiction, 221, + from the written drama, 221, + from the acted drama, 222; + of portraits in character, 222; + of ugliness, 341; + deformity in, 178; + representation of death in, 183; + portrait, 141 _et seq._; + landscape, 192 _et seq._; + of moonlight scenes, 208; + of still-life, 214; + secondary art of, 85, 219; + metaphor in, 226; + color in, 228 _et seq._; + impressionist, 25; + of events in time, 219; + symbolical, 227; + Barbizon school of, 290; + quality of grace in, 161, + of contentment, 97, + of modesty in respect of goddesses, 119; + illusion of relief in, 239 _et seq._; + illusion of movement in, 249, + in animal action, 255, + of opening distance, 197, + of suspension in the air, 259, + in representation of progressive actions, 204, + of continuity, 189, + assisted by title, 257; + portraiture, 141 _et seq._ + + Pastoral occupations, pictures representing, 84 + + Periods of art, not attributable to national æsthetic stimulus, 8; + Hegel's, 277 + + Phidias, his exalted position in art, 10; + his ideals, 91 + + Philips, A., his translation of Sappho's Ode to Anactoria, 301 + + Philosophy, art not specially related to, 2 + + Pythian, F., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Poe, Edgar A., on sadness and beauty, 280 + + Poetry, the highest art, 81; + its imitative scope, 52; + not primarily a combined art, 55; + value of metrical form in, 54; + its association with music, 76; + its relation to painting, 307; + cannot depict sensorial beauty by description, 79; + descriptive, 309; + in relation to human beauty, 79, + to natural beauty, 79; + basic and structural in character, 81; + its range unlimited, 81; + ugliness in, 341; + standard of judgment in, 73, 76; + Watts-Dunton's definition of, 296; + translations of, 297 + + Pompeian Frescoes, 45, 162, 169, 170, 171, 261, 344 + + Popular appreciation of art, 73 _et seq._, 306; + Tolstoy on, 307 + + Portraiture, its position in art, 141; + variation in work of portraitists, 141; + generalization, 143; + added qualities in, 148; + quality of dignity in, 146; + quality of nobility in, 161; + action in, 164; + use of the smile in, 171; + of stage characters, 223; + in ancient Greece, 145, 162; + in ancient Rome, 145; + of women, 158; + of Raphael, 151; + of Titian, 148; + of Moro, 159; + of Van Dyck, 150; + of Rembrandt, 150; + of Velasquez, 149, 152; + of Hals, 155; + of Reynolds, 160; + of Gainsborough, 160; + of Romney, 161; + effects of fashion in, 159; + quality of grace in, 161; + limitations in, 141, 143; + decoration in, should be subordinated, 156; + multiple portraits, 156 + + Poseidon (_see_ Neptune) + + Praxiteles, his development of new ideals, 111; + his Cnidian Aphrodite, 111 + + Precocity in art, cause of, 22 + + Progressive actions, in figure subjects, 254; + in sea views, 204; + in coast scenes, 206; + in landscape, 203; + Lessing on, 348; + De Quincey on, 349 + + Psychological influence in art conceptions, alleged, 14 + + +Q + + Quintilian: on the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by Timanthes, 340 + + +R + + Rainbow, its use in landscape, 210 _et seq._ + + Raphael, and the sublime, 229; + his superiority the cause of the decline of the Renaissance, 11; + his achievement in the ideal Madonna, 12 _et seq._, 140; + the composition of his ideal, 97; + his range in expression, 167; + Lanzi on, 339; + his representation of movement, 250; + his portraiture, 151; + his drapery arrangements, 250; + his representation of suspension in the air, 261; + his study of ancient art, 108; + his fresco work, 69; + Michelangelo on, 16; + his trees, 345 + + Recognition, Law of, explanation of, 57; + examples of, 65 _et seq._; + music and architecture excluded from the, 64; + division of the arts in applying, 62 + + Relief (_see_ "Illusion of Relief") + + Rembrandt, his imagination compared with his execution, 20; + cause of variation in his work, 21; + his simplicity, 150; + his broad work, 289; + his use of color, 152; + his position in art, 44; + his representation of character, 42; + suggested as impressionist, 41, 290; + compared with the idealists, 43; + his palette-knife pictures, 281; + classification of his portraits, 281 + + Renaissance (_see_ Italy, Art of) + + Repose, in portraiture, 164; + in the representation of Venus, 116 + + Reynolds, Joshua, his high position in portraiture, 160; + on color, 350; + on the representation of grief, 169; + on the cause of excellence in painting, 282; + on genius in art, 282; + nobility in his portraits, 160; + as a painter of women, 161; + on the work of Raphael, 303; + on Michelangelo, 282; + on the early Italian painters, 280; + on the Venetian painters, 350; + his portraits of actors in character, 224; + his use of the smile, 174 + + Rodin, A., on the suggestion of movement in sculpture, 249, 351; + on ugliness in art, 317; + his La Vieille Heaulmière, 317; + on Greek ideals, 319 + + Romans, The ancient, had no separate sacred art, 328 + + "Romantic Art," its various meanings, 278; + Hegel's period of, 277 + + Romney, G., the quality of grace in his portraits, 161 + + Ruskin, J., on the trees of Raphael, 345; + on the ideal of Christ, 319; + on the position of landscape in art, 344; + on the Italian painters of the fourteenth century, 279 + + Ruysdael, Jacob, his painting of breaking water, 204, 206; + his near-ground work, 203 + + +S + + Sacred Art, offers highest scope for the artist, 63; + in Greece, 91; + in Italy, 12 + + Sadness, as a quality of beauty, 280 + + Saints, representation of, 104 + + Sappho, her Ode to Anactoria, and the cause of its beauty, 67; + translation of the Ode, 301; + her Hymn to Aphrodite, 302 + + Satan, representation of, 178 + + Satire, works conveying, unsuited to the painter, 224 + + Schopenhauer, on music as a non-imitative art, 292 + + Sculpture, its imitative scope, 52; + ideals in, 135; + compared with painting, 135; + importance of simplicity in, 68; + standard of judgment in, 73; + illusion of motion in, 249; + Rodin on the illusion, 351; + in ancient Greece, 106; + in Greek and Roman portraiture, 145; + thirteenth century French, 315 + + Sea views, illusion of opening distance in, 204; + progressive actions in, 206 + + Secondary Art, its nature, 85; + in historical work, 220; + in actions drawn from the novelist, 221; + from the written drama, 221; + from the acted drama, 222; + humorous pictures, 224; + in allegorical and symbolical painting, 225 _et seq._ + + Shakespeare, his imagination, 23; + example of his art, 66; + represents characters above experience, 61 + + Short story, the, its essentials, 70; + compared with the novel, 69 (_see also_ Fiction) + + Signs, of the fine arts, 56; + separation of the arts according to character of, 53; + the two classes of, in art, 56; + must be completely painted, 199; + Lewes on, 346; + Lessing on, 346; + suggestive, belong to the poet and not to the painter, 200 + + Simonides, on the relation of poetry to painting, 307 + + Simplicity, necessary in the higher forms of the Associated Arts, 71 + + Skeleton, as a symbol in art, 186 _et seq._ + + Smile, the, transitory, should be avoided in art, 171; + in Raphael's work, 173; + in Lionardo's, 172, 341; + of the Milanese artists generally, 172; + in portraiture, 173; + in French portraits, 174; + in British, 174 + + Smoke, use of, in illusions of air suspension, 268 + + Sophocles, example of descriptive poetry from, 310 + + Spencer, Herbert, on evolution in art, 276 + + Sporting pictures, their place in art, 85 + + Sprezzatura, origin of, in the seventeenth century, 30 _et seq._; + correspondence with impressionism, 32 + + Stage scenes, pictures of, 222 + + Still-life, its place in art, 85, 214; + beauty in, 214; + its varieties, 215; + in decoration, 218; + custom of the Japanese in, 217 + + Stories, pictures illustrating, their place in art, 85, 221; + painter of, subordinate to the writer, 221 + + Sublime, The, Longinus on, 73; + painters who have achieved, 229 + + Supreme Being, final ideal of human form can only apply to, 88 + + "Symbolic" period of painting, Hegel's, 277 + + Symbolical painting, when secondary art, 227 + + Symonds, J. A., on evolution in art, 271; + on the Venetian artists, 350 + + +T + + Taine, H., on music as a non-imitative art, 294 + + Tanagra figures, quality of grace in, 162 + + Temperament, influence of, on the work of artists, 16 + + Titian, as a portrait painter, 144; + the dignified pose in his figures, 148; + the pose a test of his portraiture, 335; + his impressionist landscape, 288; + his coloring, 231; + some doubtful attributions to, 336 + + Titles of pictures, may assist in providing illusion of motion, 257; + may add interest to a work, 352 + + Tolstoy, Leo, on the meaning of "art," 275; + on popular appreciation of art, 307 + + Tragedy, only section of drama which the painter may properly use, 221 + + Translations of poetry, varying values of, 297 + + Trees in art, the slender trees of Raphael, 345; + of other artists, 345 + + Turner, J. M. W., secret of his success, 16 + + Twilight scenes, their place in art, 208 + + Types, importance of, in nature and art, 55 + + +U + + Ugliness in art, may be used in poetry, but not in painting, 342; + Rodin on, 317; + Lessing on, 341; + Waldstein on, 318 + + Uncivilized races, their understanding of beauty, 333 + + +V + + Van Dyck, A., 30; + his portraiture, 150 + + Velasquez, his place in art, 44; + his simplicity in design, 152; + his limited imagination, 155; + his execution, 153; + compared with the idealists, 43; + his perfect balance, 43; + claimed as an impressionist, 41, 290 + + Venus, her representation in art, 110; + Anadyomene, 114 _et seq._; + reposing, 116; + at her toilet, 118; + of Phidias, 111; + of Praxiteles, 111 _et seq._; + of Apelles, 113; + of Raphael, 114; + of Michelangelo, 117; + de' Medici, 119; + of Titian, 115; + of other artists, 115 _et seq._ + + Verestchagin, V., his war pictures, 184 + + Vinci, Lionardo da (_see_ Lionardo) + + Virgin, The (_see_ Madonna, The) + + Virtue and Vice, pictures representing, 178 + + Vulcan, representation in painting, 132 + + +W + + Waldstein, C., on ugliness in sculpture, 318 + + Watts-Dunton, T., his definition of poetry, 296 + + Whistler, J. McN., his nocturnes, 349 + + Wings, use of, in suspended figures, 262 + + Women in portraiture, during the Renaissance, 159; + by Moro, 159; + by Van Dyck, 159; + by the eighteenth century British artists, 161; + Reynolds preeminent in painting of, 160 + + +Z + + Zeus (_see_ Jupiter) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES*** + + +******* This file should be named 36427-8.txt or 36427-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/2/36427 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Art Principles</p> +<p> With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter</p> +<p>Author: Ernest Govett</p> +<p>Release Date: June 14, 2011 [eBook #36427]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/artprincipleswit00goverich"> + http://www.archive.org/details/artprincipleswit00goverich</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"> +<img src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="413" height="640" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 768px;"> +<a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a> +<img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="768" height="949" alt="Frontispiece" title="Frontispiece" /> +<span class="caption">Detail from “The Pursuit” of Fragonard.<br /> +<small>(<i>Frick Collection</i>)</small></span> +</div> +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> + +<p> </p> +<h1>Art Principles</h1> +<h3>With Special Reference to Painting</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<h4>Together with Notes on the<br /> +Illusions Produced by the Painter</h4> + +<p> </p> + +<h4>By</h4> +<h2>Ernest Govett</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<h4><i>With Thirty-one Illustrations</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;"> +<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="189" height="193" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h4>G. P. Putnam's Sons<br /> +New York and London<br /> +<small>The Knickerbocker Press<br /> +1919</small></h4> +<p> </p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p> </p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1919<br /> +by<br /> +ERNEST GOVETT</span></h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>The Knickerbocker Press, New York</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>This book is put forward with much diffidence, +for I am well aware of its insufficiencies. My original +idea was to produce a work covering all the principles +of painting, but after many years spent in considering +the various recorded theories relating to æsthetic +problems, and in gathering materials to indicate +how the accepted principles have been applied, I +came to the conclusion that a single life is scarcely +long enough for the preparation of an exhaustive +treatise on the subject. Nevertheless, I planned a +work of much wider scope than the one now presented, +but various circumstances, and principally +the hindrance to research caused by the war, impelled +me to curtail my ambition. Time was fading, +and my purpose seemed to be growing very old. I +felt that if one has something to say, it is better to +say it incompletely than to run the risk of compulsory +silence. The book will be found little more than +a skeleton, and some of its sections, notably those +dealing with illusions in the art, contain only a few +suggestions and instances, but perhaps enough is +said to induce a measure of further inquiry into the +subject.</p> + +<p>That part of the work dealing with the fine arts +generally is the result of long consideration of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> +apparent contradictions involved in the numerous +suggested standards of art. In a little book on +<i>The Position of Landscape in Art</i> (published under +a nom de plume a few years ago), I threw out, as a +<i>ballon d'essai</i>, an idea of the proposition now elaborated +as the Law of General Assent, and I have been +encouraged to affirm this proposition more strongly +by the fact that its validity was not questioned in +any of the published criticism of the former work; +nor do I find reason to vary it after years of additional +deliberation. I have not before dealt with the other +propositions now put forward.</p> + +<p>The notes being voluminous I have relegated them +to the end of the book, leaving the feet of the text +pages for references only.</p> + +<p>Where foreign works quoted have been translated +into English, the English titles are recorded, and +foreign quotations are given in English, save in one +or two minor instances where the sense could not +be precisely rendered in translation.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'>E. G. </p> + +<p class="pblockquot"> +<span class="smcap">New York</span>, January, 1919.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Definitions of "Art" and "Beauty"—Æsthetic systems—The +earliest Art—Art periods—The Grecian and +Italian developments—National and individual "Inspiration"—Powers +of imagination and execution—Nature +of "Genius"—The Impressionist Movement—Sprezzatura—The +broad manner—Position in art of +Rembrandt and Velasquez—Position of Landscape in art.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#BOOK_I"><i>BOOK I</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>I.—<span class="smcap">Classification of the Fine Arts</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>The Arts imitative of Nature—Classified according to +the character of their signs—Relative value of form +in Poetry—Scope of the Arts in the production of beauty.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>II.—<span class="smcap">Law of Recognition in the Associated +Arts</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Explanation of the Law—Its application to Poetry—To +Sculpture—To Painting—To Fiction.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>III.—<span class="smcap">Law of General Assent</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated Arts.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>IV.—<span class="smcap">Limitations of the Associated Arts</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Production of beauty in the respective Arts—Their limitations.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>V.—<span class="smcap">Degrees of Beauty in the Painter's Art</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>VI.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 1.—The Ideal</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>VII.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 2.—Christian Ideals</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>The Deity—Christ—The Madonna—Madonna and Child.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>VIII.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 3.—Classical Ideals</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Ideals of the Greeks—Use of the ancient divinities by the Painter.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>IX.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 4.—General Ideals</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>X.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 5.—Portraiture</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Limitations of the Portrait Painter—Emphasis and +addition of qualities in portrait painting—Practice +of the ancient Greeks—Dignity—Importance of +Simplicity—Some of the great masters—Portraiture of +women—The English masters—The quality of Grace—The +necessity for Repose.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>XI.—<span class="smcap">Expression. Part 6.—Miscellaneous</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Grief—The Smile—The Open Mouth—Contrasts—Representation +of Death.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>XII.—<span class="smcap">Landscape</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Limitations of the Landscape Painter—Illusion of opening +distance—Illusion of motion in Landscape—Moonlight +scenes—Transient conditions.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>XIII.—<span class="smcap">Still-life</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>XIV.—<span class="smcap">Secondary Art</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Paintings of record—Scenes from the Novel—From the +written drama—From the acted drama—Humorous +subjects—Allegorical paintings.</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>XV.—<span class="smcap">Colour</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#BOOK_II"><i>BOOK II</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Introductory.—Illusion in the Painter's Art</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I.—<span class="smcap">Illusion of Relief</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>II.—<span class="smcap">Illusion of Motion with Men and +Animals</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>III.—<span class="smcap">Illusion of Suspension and Motion in +the Air</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Notes</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Index of Artists and Works of Art Mentioned +in this Book</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">General Index</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />LIST OF PLATES</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece.</a>—Detail from Fragonard's The +Pursuit (Frick Collection, New York).</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This work, which is one of the celebrated Grasse series of +panels, offers a very fine example of the use of an ideal +head in a romantic subject. (See <a href="#Page_139">Page 139</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 1.—The Earliest Great Sculptures</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(a). Head from a statue of Chefren, a king of the 4th +Egyptian Dynasty, about 3000 <small>B.C.</small> (Cairo Museum.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(b). Head from a fragmentary statuette of Babylonia, +dating about 2600 <small>B.C.</small> (Louvre: from Spearing's +"Childhood of Art.")</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>The first head is generally regarded as the finest example of +Egyptian art extant, and certainly there was nothing +executed in Egypt to equal it during the thirty centuries +following the 5th Dynasty. The Babylonian head is the +best work of Chaldean art known to us, though there are +some fine fragments remaining from the period of about a +thousand years later. It will be observed that the tendency +of the art in both examples is towards the aims +achieved by the Greeks. (See <a href="#Page_7">Page 7</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 2.—"Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens", in the +North Porch, Amiens Cathedral</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This figure by a French sculptor of the thirteenth century, +was considered by Ruskin to be the finest ideal +of Christ in existence. It is another example of the +universality of ideals, for the head from the front view +might well have been modelled from a Grecian work of +the late fourth or early third century <small>B.C.</small> (See <a href="#Page_319">Page 319</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 3.—After an Ancient Copy of the Cnidian +Venus of Praxiteles. (Vatican)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>It is commonly agreed that this is the finest model in +existence after the great work of Praxiteles, which +itself has long disappeared. The figure as it now +stands at the Vatican, has the right arm restored, and +the hand is made to hold up some metallic drapery +with which the legs are covered, the beauty of the form +being thus seriously weakened. (See <a href="#Page_111">Pages 111 <i>et seq.</i></a>)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 4.—Venus Anadyomene</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(a). Ancient Greek sculpture from the design of Venus +in the celebrated picture of Apelles. (Formerly +Chessa Collection, now in New York.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>The immense superiority of the sculpture over the painting +(Plate 5), from the point of view of pure art, is +visible at a glance. It is an indication of the far-reaching +scope of the sculptor when executing ideals. (See +<a href="#Page_113">Page 113</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 5.—Venus Anadyomene, from the Painting +by Titian. (Bridgewater Collection.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Compare with the Sculpture on Plate 4. +(See <a href="#Page_115">Page 115</a>)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 6.—Venus Reposing, by Giorgione. +(Dresden Gallery)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This is the finest reposing Venus in existence in painting. +It was the model for the representation of the goddess +in repose used by Titian, and many other artists who +came after him. (See <a href="#Page_116">Page 116</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 7.—Demeter</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(a). Head from the Cnidos marble figure of the fourth +century <small>B.C.</small>, attributed to Scopas. (British Museum.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(b). Small head in bronze of the third century <small>B.C.</small> +(Private Collection.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>In each of these heads the artist has been successful in +maintaining the ideal, while indicating a suggestion of +the sorrowful resignation with which Grecian legend has +enveloped the mind picture of Demeter. Nevertheless, +even this slight departure from the established rule tends +to lessen the art, though in a very small degree. (See +<a href="#Page_122">Page 122</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 8.—Raphael's Sistine Madonna (Dresden +Gallery), with the Face of the Central +Figure in Fragonard's The Pursuit +Substituted for that of the Virgin</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This and the two following plates show very clearly that +in striving for an ideal, artists must necessarily arrive at +the same general type. (See <a href="#Page_138">Pages 138 <i>et seq.</i></a>)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 9.—Raphael's Virgin of the Rose +(Madrid), with the Face of the Figure +Representing Profane Love in Titian's +Picture Substituted for that of the +Virgin</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 10.—Raphael's Holy Family (Madrid), +with the Face of Luini's Salome Substituted +for that of the Virgin</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 11.—The Pursuit, by Fragonard. (Frick +Collection, N. Y.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A detail from this picture forms the Frontispiece. It will +be observed that in the complete painting the central +figure apparently wears a startled expression, but that +this is entirely due to the surroundings and action, is +shown by the substitution of the face of the central +figure for that of the Virgin in the Sistine Madonna, +Plate 8. (See <a href="#Page_139">Page 139</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 12.—Portrait Heads of the Greek Type, +Fourth Century, b.c.</span> (See <a href="#Page_145">Page 145</a>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(a). Head of Plato. (Copenhagen Museum.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(b). Term of Euripides. (Naples Museum.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 13.—Portrait Heads of the Time of Imperial +Rome.</span> (See <a href="#Page_145">Page 145</a>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(a). Vespasian. (Naples Museum.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>(b). Hadrian. (Athens Museum.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 14.—Sacrifice of Iphigenia, from a +Pompeian Fresco. (Roux Ainé's Herculanum +et Pompei, Vol. III)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This work is presumed to be a copy of the celebrated +picture of Timanthes, in which the head of Agamemnon +was hidden because the artist could see no other way +of expressing extreme grief without distorting the +features. (See Pages <a href="#Page_168">168</a> and <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 15.—All's Well, by Winslow Homer. +(Boston Museum, U. S. A.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>An instance where the permanent beauty of a picture is +killed by an open mouth. After a few moments' inspection, +it will be observed that the mouth appears to be +kept open by a wedge. (See <a href="#Page_176">Page 176</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 16.—Hercules Contemplating Death, +by A. Pollaiuolo. (Frick Collection, +New York.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>The only known design of this nature which appears to +exist in any of the arts. (See Pages <a href="#Page_190">190</a> and <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 17.—Arcadian Landscape, by Claude +Lorraine. (National Gallery, London)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A fine illusion of opening distance created by the precise +rendering of the aerial perspective. The illusion is of +course unobservable in the reproduction owing to its +small size and the want of colour. (See <a href="#Page_198">Page 198</a>).</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 18.—Landscape, by Hobbema. (Met. +Museum, New York)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A fine example of Hobbema's work. A strong light is +thrown in from the back to enable the artist to multiply +his signs for the purpose of deepening the apparent +distance. (See <a href="#Page_202">Page 202</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 19.—Landscape, by Jacob Ruysdael, +(National Gallery, London)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Example of an illusion of movement in flowing water. +(See <a href="#Page_204">Page 204</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 20.—The Storm, by Jacob Ruysdael. +(Berlin Gallery)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Exhibiting an excellent illusion of motion, due to the +faithful representation of a series of consecutive movements +of water as the vessel passes through it. The +illusion is practically lost in the reproduction, but the +details of design may be observed. (See <a href="#Page_206">Page 206</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 21.—The Litta Madonna, by Lionardo +da Vinci. (Hermitage)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This is perhaps the best example known of an illusion of +relief secured by shading alone. (See <a href="#Page_240">Page 240</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 22.—Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck. +(Antwerp Museum)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A superb example of relief obtained by the exclusion of +accessories. Van Dyck took the idea from Rubens, +who borrowed it from Titian, this artist improving on +Antonella da Messina. The relief of course is not well +observed in the reproduction because of its miniature +form. The work is usually regarded as the finest of +its kind in existence. (See <a href="#Page_244">Page 244</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 23.—Patricia, by Lydia Emmet. (Private +Possession, N. Y.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A very excellent example of the plan of securing relief +described in Book II, Chap. I. Here also the relief +is not observed in the reproduction, but the original +is of life size and provides an illusion as nearly perfect +as possible. (See <a href="#Page_247">Page 247</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 24.—The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo. +(Vatican)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Instance of the use of an oval form of drapery to assist +in presenting an illusion of suspension in the air. +(See <a href="#Page_260">Page 260</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 25.—The Pleiads, by M. Schwind. (Denner +Collection.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>One of the finest examples of illusion of motion in the +air. (See <a href="#Page_269">Page 269</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 26.—St. Margaret, by Raphael. (Louvre)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>Perhaps the best example in existence of a painted human +figure in action. It will be seen that every part of the +body and every fold of the drapery are used to assist +in the expression of movement. (See <a href="#Page_250">Page 250</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 27.—Diana and Nymphs Pursued by Satyrs, +by Rubens. (Prado)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>A good example of an illusion of motion created by showing +a number of persons in different stages of a series +of consecutive actions. (See <a href="#Page_254">Page 254</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 28.—Automedon with the Horses of +Achilles, by H. Regnault. (Boston Museum, +U. S. A.)</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="subentry">The extraordinary spirit and action of these horses are +above the experience of life, but they do not appear to +be beyond the bounds of possibility. In any case the +action is perfectly appropriate here, as the animals are +presumed to be immortal. (See <a href="#Page_256">Page 256</a>.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td class='subentry'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Plate 29.—Marble Figure of Ariadne. (Vatican)</span> +</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='subentry'>This work, of the Hellenistic period, illustrates the possibility +of largely varying the regular proportions of the +human figure without injury to the art, by the skilful use +of drapery. (See <a href="#Page_329">Page 329</a>.)</td></tr> + +</table></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></p> +<h1>Art Principles</h1> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>In view of the many varied definitions of "Art" +which have been put forward in recent times, and +the equally diverse hypotheses advanced for the +solution of æsthetic problems relating to beauty, it +is necessary for one who discusses principles of art, +to state what he understands by the terms "Art" +and "Beauty."</p> + +<p>Though having a widely extended general meaning, +the term "Art" in common parlance applies to the +fine arts only, but the term "Arts" has reference as +well to certain industries which have utility for their +primary object. This work considers only the fine +arts, and when the writer uses the term "Art" or +"Arts" he refers to one or more of these arts, unless +a particular qualification is added. The definition +of "Art" as applied to the fine arts, upon which +he relies, is "The production of beauty for the purpose +of giving pleasure," or as it is more precisely +put, "The beautiful representation of nature for the +purpose of giving disinterested pleasure." This is, +broadly, the definition generally accepted, and is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +certainly the understanding of art which has guided +the hands of all the creators of those great works in +the various arts before which men have bowed as +triumphs of human skill.</p> + +<p>There has been no satisfactory definition of +"Beauty," nor can the term be shortly interpreted +until there is a general agreement as to what it +covers. Much of the confusion arising from the +contradictory theories of æstheticists in respect of +the perception of beauty is apparently due to the +want of separate consideration of emotional beauty +and beauty of mind, that is to say, the beauty of +sensorial effects and beauty of expression respectively.<a name="Eanchor_1" id="Eanchor_1"></a><a href="#Enote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> +There are kinds of sensorial beauty which +depend for their perception upon immediately preceding +sensory experience, or particular coexistent +surroundings which are not necessarily permanent, +while in other cases a certain beauty may be recognized +and subsequently appear to vanish altogether. +From this it is obvious that any æsthetic system +based upon the existence of an objectivity of beauty +must fall to the ground. On the other hand, without +an objectivity there can be no system, because +in its absence a line of reasoning explaining cause +and effect in the perception of beauty, which is open +to demonstration, is naturally impossible. Nor may +we properly speak of a philosophy of art.<a name="Eanchor_2" id="Eanchor_2"></a><a href="#Enote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> We +may reasonably consider æsthetics a branch of psychology, +but the emotions arising from the recognition +of beauty vary only in degree and not in kind, +whether the beauty be seen in nature or art. Consequently +there can be no separate psychological en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>quiry +into the perception of beauty created by art +as distinguished from that observable in nature.</p> + +<p>It must be a natural attraction for the insoluble +mysteries of life that has induced so many philosophers +during the last two centuries to put forward +æsthetic systems. That no two of these systems +agree on important points, and that each and every +one has crumbled to dust from a touch of the wand +of experience administered by a hundred hands, are +well-known facts, yet still the systems continue to +be calmly presented as if they were valuable contributions +to knowledge. Each new critic in the domain +of philosophy carefully and gravely sets them +up, and then carefully and gravely knocks them +down.<a name="Eanchor_3" id="Eanchor_3"></a><a href="#Enote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> An excuse for the systems has been here +and there offered, that the explanations thereof +sometimes include valuable philosophical comments +or suggestions. This may be, but students cannot +reasonably be expected to sift out a few oats from +a bushel of husks, even if the supply be from the bin +of a Hegel or a Schopenhauer. Is it too much to +suggest that these phantom systems be finally consigned +to the grave of oblivion which has yawned +for them so long and so conspicuously? Bubbles +have certain measurements and may brilliantly glow, +but they are still bubbles. It is as impossible to +build up a system of philosophy upon the perception +of beauty, which depends entirely upon physical +and physiological laws, as to erect a system of ethics +on the law of gravitation, for a feasible connection +between superstructure and foundation cannot be +presented to the mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>We may further note that a proper apprehension +of standards of judgment in art cannot be obtained +unless the separate and relative æsthetic values of +the two forms of beauty are considered, because +the beauty of a work may appear greater at one time +than at another, according as it is more or less permanent +or fleeting, that is to say, according as the +balance of the sensorial and intellectual elements +therein is more or less uneven; or if the beauty +present be almost entirely emotional, according as +the observer may be affected by independent sensorial +conditions of time or place. Consequent upon these +considerations, an endeavour has been made in this +work to distinguish between the two forms of beauty +in the various arts, and the separate grades thereof.</p> + +<p>It will be noticed that the writer has adopted the +somewhat unusual course of including fiction among +the fine arts. Why this practice is not commonly +followed is hard to determine, but no definition of a +fine art has been or can be given which does not +cover fiction. In the definition here accepted, the +art is clearly included, for the primary object of +fiction is the beautiful representation of nature for +the purpose of giving disinterested pleasure.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Art is independent of conditions of peoples or +countries. Its germ is unconnected with civilization, +politics, religion, laws, manners, or morals. +It may appear like a brilliant flower where the mind +of man is an intellectual desert, or refuse to bloom +in the busiest hive of human energy. Its mother +is the imagination, and wherever this has room to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +expand, there art will grow, though the ground may +be nearly sterile, and the bud wither away from want +of nourishment. Every child is born a potential +artist, for he comes into the world with sensorial +nerves, and a brain which directs the imagination. +The primitive peoples made beautiful things long +before they could read or write, and the recognition +of harmony of form appears to have been one of the +first understandings in life after the primal instincts +of self-preservation and the continuation of the +species. Some of the sketches made by the cave men +of France are equal to anything of the kind produced +in a thousand years of certain ancient civilizations, +commencing countless centuries after the +very existence of the cave men had been forgotten; +and even if executed now, would be recognized +as indicating the possession of considerable talent +by the artists. The greatest poem ever written +was given birth in a country near which barbaric +hordes had recently devastated populous cities, and +wrecked a national fabric with which were interwoven +centuries of art and culture. That the author +of this poem had seen great works of art is certain, +or he could not have conceived the shield of Achilles, +but the laboured sculpture that had fired his imagination, +and the legends which had perhaps been the +seed of his masterpieces were doubtless buried with +his own records beneath the tramp of numberless +mercenaries. Fortunately here and there the human +voice could draw from memory's store, and so the +magic of Homer was whispered by the dying to the +living; but even his time and place are now only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +vaguely known, and he remains like the waratah on +the bleached pasture of some desert fringe—a solitary +blaze of scarlet where all else is drear and +desolate.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_1" id="Pl_1"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 1</span> +<img src="images/i_027.jpg" width="1024" height="686" alt="PLATE 1" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Head of Cephren, 4th Egyptian Dynasty <small>(<i>Cairo Museum</i>)</small> +Chaldean Head: About 2600 <small>B.C. (<i>Louvre</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_7">page 7</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Strong is the root of art, though frail the flower. +Stifled in sun-burnt ground ere it can welcome the +smile of light; fading with the first blast of air upon +its delicate shoots; shrivelling back to dust when +the buds are ready to break; or falling in the struggle +to spread its branches after its beautiful blossoms +have scattered their fragrance around: whatever +condition has brought it low, it ever fights again—ever +seeks to assure mankind that while it may +droop or disappear, its seed, its heart, its life, are +imperishable, and surely it will bloom again in all +its majesty. Sometimes with decades it has run a +fitful course; sometimes with centuries; sometimes +with millenniums. It has heralded every civilization, +but its breath is freedom, and it flourishes and sickens +only with liberty. Trace its course in the life +of every nation, and the track will be found parallel +with the line of freedom of thought. A solitary +plant may bloom unimpeded far from tyranny's +thrall, but the art and soul of a nation live, and throb, +and die, together.</p> + +<p>Egypt, Babylon, Crete, Greece, Rome, tell their +stories through deathless monuments, and all are +alike in that they demonstrate the dependence of +art expansion upon freedom of action and opinion. +An art rises, develops another and another, and +they proceed together on their way. Sooner or +later comes catastrophe in the shape of crushing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>tyranny which curbs the mind with slavery, or steel-bound +sacerdotal rules which say to the artist +"Thou shalt go no further," or annihilation of nation +and life. What imagination can picture the expansion +of art throughout the world had its flight been +free since the dawn of history? Greece reached the +sublime because its mind was unfettered, but twenty +or thirty centuries before Phidias, Egyptian art had +arrived at a loftier plane than that on which the +highest plastic art of Greece was standing but +a few decades before the Olympian Zeus uplifted +the souls of men, while whole civilizations with +their arts had lived and died, and were practically +forgotten.</p> + +<p>It is to be observed that while in its various isolated +developments, art has proceeded from the +immature to the mature, there has been no general +evolution, as in natural life, but on the other hand +there seems to be a limit to its progress. So far as +our imagination can divine, no higher reaches in art +are attainable than those already achieved. The +mind can conceive of nothing higher than the spiritual, +and this cannot be represented in art except by +means of form; while within the range of human +intelligence, no suggestion of spiritual form can rise +above the ideals of Phidias. Of the purely human +form, nothing greater than the work of Praxiteles +and Raphael can be pictured on our brains. There +may be poets who will rival Homer and Shakespeare, +but it is exceedingly doubtful. In any case we must +discard the law of evolution as applicable to the +arts, with the one exception of music, which, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +account of the special functioning of its signs, must +be put into a division by itself.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<p>But although there has been no general progression +in art parallel with the growth of the sciences +and civilization, there have been, as already indicated, +many separate epochs of art cultivation in +various countries, sometimes accompanied by the +production of immortal works, which epochs in +themselves seem to provide examples of restricted +evolution.<a name="Eanchor_4" id="Eanchor_4"></a><a href="#Enote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> It is desirable to refer to these art +periods, as they are commonly called, for the purpose +of removing, if possible, a not uncommon apprehension +that they are the result of special conditions +operating an æsthetic stimulus, and that similar or +related conditions must be present in any country if +the flame of art there is to burn high and brightly.<a name="Eanchor_5" id="Eanchor_5"></a><a href="#Enote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> +The well-defined periods vary largely both in character +and duration, the most important of them—the +Grecian development and the Italian Renaissance—covering +two or three centuries each, and +the others, as the French thirteenth century sculpture +expansion, the English literary revival in the +sixteenth century,<a name="Eanchor_6" id="Eanchor_6"></a><a href="#Enote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> and the Dutch development in +painting in the seventeenth, lasting only a few +decades. These latter periods can be dispensed +with at once because they were each concerned with +one art only, and therefore can scarcely have resulted +from a general æsthetic stimulus. But the +Grecian and Italian movements applied to all the +arts. They represented natural developments from +the crude to the advanced, of which all nations +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>produce examples, and were only exceptional in that +they reached higher levels in art than were attained +by other movements. But there is no evidence to +show that they were brought about by special circumstances +outside of the arts themselves. While +there were national crises preceding the one development, +there was no trouble of consequence to +herald the other, nor was there any parallel between +the conditions of the two peoples during the progress +of the movements. A short reference to each development +will show that its rise and decline were +the outcome of simple matter-of-fact conditions of +a more or less accidental nature, uninfluenced by +an æsthetic impulse in the sense of inspiration.</p> + +<p>The most common suggestion advanced to account +for the rise in Grecian art, is that it was due to the +exaltation of the Greek mind through the victories +of Marathon, Platæa, and Salamis. That a people +should be so trampled upon as were the Greeks; +that their cities should be razed, their country desolated, +and their commerce destroyed; that notwithstanding +all this they should refuse to give way +before enemies outnumbering them twenty, fifty, +or even a hundred to one; and that after all they +should crush these enemies, was no doubt a great +and heroic triumph, likely to exalt the nation and +feed the imagination of the people for a long time +to come; but that these victories were responsible +for the lofty eminence reached by the Greek artists, +cannot be maintained. From what we know of +Calamis, Myron, and others, it is clear that Grecian +art was already on its way to the summit reached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +by Phidias when Marathon and Salamis were fought, +though the victories of the Greek arms hastened the +development for the plain reason that they led to +an increased demand for works of art. And the +decline in Grecian art resulted purely and simply +from a lessened demand. Though this was the +reason for the general decay, there was a special +cause for the apparent weakening with the commencement +of the fourth century <small>B.C.</small> In the fifth century +Phidias climbed as high in the accomplishment +of ideals as the imagination could soar. He reached +the summit of human endeavour. Necessarily then, +unless another Phidias arose, whatever in art came +after him would appear to mark a decline. But it +is scarcely proper to put the case of Phidias forward +for comparative purposes. He carried the art of +sculpture higher than it is possible for the painter +to ascend, and so we should rather use the giants of +the fourth century—Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus, +Apelles—as the standards to be compared with the +foremost spirits of the Italian Renaissance—Raphael +and Michelangelo—for each of these groups achieved +the human ideal, though failing with the spiritual +ideal established by Phidias.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that all good art means +slow work—long thinking, much experiment, tedious +attention to detail in plan, and careful execution. +Meanwhile men have to live, even immortal artists, +and rarely indeed does one undertake a work of +importance on his own account. It is true that in +the greater days of Greece the best artists were almost +entirely employed by a State, or at least to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +execute works for public exhibition, and doubtless +the payment they received was quite a secondary +matter with them, but nevertheless few could practise +their art without remuneration. During the fifth +and fourth centuries great events were constantly +happening in Greece, and in consequence there were +numberless temples to build and adorn, groves to +decorate, men to honour, and monumental tombs to +erect. Innumerable statues of gods and goddesses +were wanted, and we must not forget the wholesale +destruction of Athenian and other temples and +sculptures during the Persian invasion. In fact for +a century and a half after Platæa, there was practically +an unlimited demand for works of art, and it +was only when the empire of Alexander began to +crumble away that conditions changed. While +Greece was weakening Rome was growing and her +lengthening shadows were approaching the walls of +Athens. Greece could build no more temples when +her people were becoming slaves of Rome; she could +order no more monuments when defeat was the +certain end of struggle. And so the decline was +brought about, not by want of artists, but through +the dearth of orders and the consequent neglect of +competition.</p> + +<p>In the case of the Italian Renaissance the decadence +was not due to the same cause. The art of +Greece declined gradually in respect of quantity +as well as quality, while in Italy after the decay in +quality set in, art was as nourishing as ever from +the point of view of demand. The change in the +character of the art was due entirely to Raphael's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +achievements. As with the early Greek, nearly the +whole of the early Italian art was concerned with +religion, though in this case there were very few +ideals. The numerous ancient gods of Greece and +Rome were long gone, to become only classical heroes +with the Italians, and their places were taken by +twenty or thirty personages from the New Testament. +Incidents from the Old Testament were +sometimes painted, but nearly all the greater work +dealt with the life of Christ and the Saints. The +painters of the first century of the Renaissance distributed +their attention fairly equally among these +personages, but as time went on and the art became +of a superior order, artists aimed at the highest development +of beauty that their imaginations could +conceive, and hence the severe beauty that might +be shown in a picture of Christ or a prominent Saint, +had commonly to give way to a more earthly perfection +of feature and form, which, suggesting an +ideal, could only be given to the figure of the Virgin. +And so the test of the power of an artist came to be +instinctively decided by his representation of the +Madonna. No doubt there were many persons +living in the fifteenth century who watched the +gradually increasing beauty of the Madonna as +depicted by the succession of great painters then +working, and wondered when and where the summit +would be reached—when an artist would appear +beyond whose work the imagination could not pass, +for there is a limit to human powers.</p> + +<p>The genius arose in Raphael, and when he produced +in the last ten or twelve years of his life,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +Madonna after Madonna, so far in advance of anything +that had hitherto been done, so great in beauty +as to leave his fellow artists lost in wonder, so lofty +in conception that the term "divine" was applied +to him in his lifetime, it was inevitable that a decadence +should set in, for so far as the intelligence +could see, whatever came after him must be inferior. +He did not ascend to the height of Phidias, for a +pure ideal of spiritual form is beyond the power of +the painter,<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> but as with Praxiteles he reached a +perfect human ideal, and so gained the supreme +pinnacle of his art. But while there was an inevitable +decadence after him, as after Praxiteles, it was, +as already indicated, only in the character of the +art, for in Italy artists generally were as busy for +a hundred years after Raphael, as during his time. +Michelangelo, Titian, and the other giants who were +working when Raphael died, kept up the renown of +the period for half a century or so, but it seemed impossible +for artists who came on the scene after +Raphael's death, to enter upon an entirely original +course. The whole of the new generation seemed +to cling to the models put forward by the great +Urbino painter, save some of the Venetians who had +a model of their own in Titian.</p> + +<p>Thus it is clear that the rise and decline of the +Grecian and Italian movements were due to well +ascertained causes which had nothing to do with a +national æsthetic impulse; nor is there evidence of +such an impulse connected with other art developments.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<p>The suggestion that a nation may be assisted in +its art by emotional or psychological influences +arising from patriotic exaltation, is only an extension +of an opinion commonly held, that the individual +artist is subject to similar influences, though +due to personal exaltation connected with his art. +It is as well to point out that there is only one way +to produce a work of art, and that is to combine the +exercise of the imagination with skill in execution. +The artist conceives an idea and puts it into form. +He does nothing more. He can rely upon no extraneous +influence. It is suggested that to bring about +a supreme accomplishment in art, the imagination +must be associated with something outside of our +power of control—some impulse which acts upon +the brain but is independent of it. This unmeasured +force or lever is usually known by the term "Inspiration." +It is supposed that this force comes to certain +persons when they have particular moods upon +them, and gives them a great idea which they may +use in a painting, a poem, or a musical composition. +The suggestion is attractive, but in the long range +of historical record there is no evidence that accident, +in the shape of inspiration or other psychological +lever, has been responsible in the slightest +degree for the production of a work of art. The +writer of a sublime poem, or the painter of a perfect +Madonna, uses the same kind of mental and material +labour as the man who chisels a lion's head on a +chair, or adds a filigree ornament to a bangle. The +difference is one of degree only. The poet or painter +is gifted with a vivid imagination which he has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +cultivated by study; and by diligence has acquired +superlative facility in execution, which he uses to +the best advantage. The work of the furniture +carver or jeweller does not require such high powers, +and he climbs only a few steps of the ladder whose +uppermost rungs have been scaled by the greater +artists.</p> + +<p>If in the course of the five and twenty centuries +during which works of high art have been produced, +some of them had been executed with the assistance +of a psychological impulse directed independently +of the will, there would certainly have been references +to the phenomenon by the artists concerned, +or the very numerous art historians, but without a +known exception, all the great artists who have left +any record of the cause of their success, or whose +views on the subject are to be gained by indirect +references, have attributed this success to hard +study, or manual industry, or both together. We +know little of the opinion of the ancient Greeks on +the matter, but the few anecdotes we have, indicate +that their artists were very practical men indeed, +and hardly likely to expect mysterious psychological +influences to help them in their work. So with the +Romans, and it is noticeable that the key to the +production of beauty in poetry, in the opinion of +Virgil and Horace, is careful preparation and unlimited +revision. This appears to be the view of +some modern poets, and if Dante, Shakespeare, and +Milton, had experienced visionary inspiration, we +should surely have heard of it. Fortunately some +of the most eminent painters of modern times have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +expressed themselves definitely upon the point. +Lionardo observed that the painter arrives at perfection +by manual operation; and Michelangelo +asserted that Raphael acquired his excellence by +study and application. Rubens praised his brushes, +by which he meant his acquired facility, as the +instruments of his fortune; and Nicholas Poussin +attributed his success to the fact that he neglected +nothing, referring of course to his studies. According +to his biographers, the triumphs of Claude were +due to his untiring industry, while Reynolds held +that nothing is denied to well directed labour. And +so with many others down to Turner, whose secret +according to Ruskin, was sincerity and toil.</p> + +<p>It would seem to be possible for an artist to work +himself into a condition of emotional excitement,<a name="Eanchor_7" id="Eanchor_7"></a><a href="#Enote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> +either involuntarily when a great thought comes to +him, or voluntarily when he seeks ideas wherewith +to execute a brilliant conception; and it is comprehensible +that when in this condition, which is practically +an extreme concentration of his mental energy +upon the purpose in hand, images or other æsthetic +suggestions suitable for his work may present themselves +to his mind. These he might regard as the +result of inspiration, but in reality they would be +the product of a trained imagination operating +under advantageous conditions.</p> + +<p>Nor can any rule be laid down that the character +or temperament of an artist influences his work, for +if instances can be given in support of such an assertion, +at least an equal number may be adduced +which directly oppose it. If we might approximately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +gauge the true characters of Fra Angelico and Michelangelo +from a study of their work, it is certain that +no imagination could conjure up the actual personalities +of Perugino and Cellini, from an examination +of the paintings of the one and the sculptures of the +other. What can be said on the subject when assassins +of the nature of Corenzio and Caravaggio +painted so many beautiful things, and evil-minded +men like Ribera and Battistello adorned great +churches with sacred compositions? If the work +of Claude appears to harmonize with his character, +that of Turner does not. "Friendless in youth: +loveless in manhood; hopeless in death." Such +was Turner according to Ruskin, but is there any +sign of this in his works? Not a trace. If any +conclusion as to his character and temperament +can be drawn from Turner's paintings, it is that he +was a gay, light-hearted thinker, with all the optimism +and high spirits that come from a delight in +beautiful things. The element of mood is unquestionably +of importance in the work of an artist, but +it is not uncommon to find the character of his +designs contrary to his mood. Poets, as in the case +of Hood, or painters as with Tassaert, may execute +the most lively pieces while in moods verging on +despair. With some men adversity quickens the +imagination with fancies; with others it benumbs +their faculties.</p> + +<p>The tendency of popular criticism to search for +psychological phenomena in paintings, apparently +arises largely from the difficulty in comprehending +how it is that certain artists of high repute vary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +their styles of painting after many years of good +work, and produce pictures without the striking +beauty characterizing their former efforts. Sometimes +when age is beginning to tell upon them, they +broaden their manner considerably, as with Rembrandt +and others of the seventeenth century, and +many recent artists of lesser fame. The critic, very +naturally perhaps, is chary of condemning work +from the hand of one who has given evidence of +consummate skill, and so seeks for hidden beauties +in lieu of those to which he has been accustomed. +A simple enquiry into the matter will show that +the change of style in these cases has a commonplace +natural cause.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 372px;"> +<a name="Pl_2" id="Pl_2"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 2</span> +<img src="images/i_041.jpg" width="372" height="1024" alt="PLATE 2" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens"<br /> +<small>(<i>Amiens Cathedral</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_319">page 319</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>To be in the front rank an artist must have acquired +a vast knowledge of the technique of his art, +and have a powerful imagination which has been +highly cultivated. But the qualifications must be +balanced. Commonly when this balance is not +present the deficiency is in the imagination, but +there are instances where, though the power of execution +is supreme, the imagination has so far exceeded +all bounds as to render this power of comparatively +small practical value. The most conspicuous example +of this want of balance is Lionardo, who accomplished +little though he was scarcely surpassed +in execution by Raphael or Michelangelo. His +imagination invariably ran beyond his execution; +his ideas were always above the works he completed +or partly finished: he saw in fact far beyond anything +he could accomplish, and so was never satisfied +with the result of his labour. At the same time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +he was filled with ideas in the sciences, and investigated +every branch of knowledge without bringing +his conclusions to fruition. During the latter part +of his life, Michelangelo showed a similar defect +in a lesser degree, for his unfinished works of the +period exceed in number those he completed. Naturally +such intellectual giants, whose imaginations +cannot be levelled with the highest ability in execution, +are few, but the lesser luminaries who fail, or +who constantly fail, in carrying out their conceptions, +are legion, though they may have absorbed +the limit of knowledge which they are capable of +acquiring in respect of execution. It is common +for a painter to turn out a few masterpieces and +nothing else of permanent value. This was the +case with numerous Italian artists of the seventeenth +century, and it is indeed a question whether there +is one of them, except perhaps Domenichino, whose +works have not a considerable range in æsthetic +value.</p> + +<p>There have been still more artists whose powers +of execution were far beyond the flights of their +imaginations. They include the whole of the seventeenth +century Dutch school with Rembrandt at +their head, and the whole of the Spanish school of +the same period, except El Greco, Zurbaran, and +Murillo. When an artist is in the first rank in respect +of execution, but is distinctly inferior in imaginative +scope, his work in all grades of his art, except the +highest, where ideals are possible, seems to have a +greater value than it really possesses because we +are insensibly cognizant that the accomplishment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +rises above the idea upon which it is founded. On +the other hand his work in the highest plane appears +to possess a lower value, because we are surprised that +ideals have not been attempted, and that the types +of the spiritual and classical personages represented +are of the same class of men and women as those +exhibited in works dealing with ordinary human +occupations or actions. This is why the sacred and +classical pictures of Rembrandt, Vermeer of Delft, +and the other leading Dutch artists, appear to be +below their portrait and genre work in power.</p> + +<p>The course of variation in the work of a great +painter follows the relative power of his imagination +and his execution. Where there is a fair balance +between the two, the work of the artist increases in +æsthetic value with his age and experience; but +when his facility in execution rises above the force +of his imagination, then his middle period is invariably +the best, his later work showing a gradual +depreciation in quality. The reason is obvious. +The surety of the hand and eye diminishes more +rapidly than the power of the mind, which in fact +is commonly enhanced with experience till old age +comes on. Great artists who rely mostly upon their +powers of execution, and exhibit limited fertility in +invention, such as Rembrandt, have often a manner +which is so interwoven with the effects they seek, +that they are seldom or never able to avail themselves +of the assistance of others in the lesser important +parts of their work. A man with the fertile +mind of a Rubens may gather around him a troupe +of artists nearly as good as himself in execution,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +who will carry out his designs completely save for +certain details. Thus he is not occupied with +laborious toil, and the decreasing accuracy of his +handiwork troubles him but little. On the other +hand a Rembrandt, whose merits lie chiefly in the +delicate manipulation of light effects and intricate +shades in expression, remains tied to his canvas. +He feels intensely the decreasing facility in the use +of his brush which necessarily accompanies his advancing +years, and his only recourse from a stoppage +of work is an alteration in manner involving a reduction +of labour and a lessened strain upon the eyesight. +With few exceptions the great masterpieces +of Rembrandt were produced in his middle period. +During the last ten or fifteen years of his life he +gradually increased his breadth of manner. He was +still magnificent in general expression, but the intimate +details which produced such glorious effects +in the great Amsterdam picture, and fifty or more of +his single portraits, could not be obtained with hog's +hair.<a name="Eanchor_8" id="Eanchor_8"></a><a href="#Enote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></p> + +<p>Disconnecting then the work of the artist with +inspiration or other psychological force, we may +now enquire what is mean by "Genius," "Natural +gift," or other term used to explain the power of +an artist to produce a great work? It would appear +that the answer is closely concerned with the +condition of the sensorial nerves at birth, and the +precocity or otherwise of the infantile imagination. +From the fact that we can cultivate the eye and ear +so as to recognize forms of harmony which we could +not before perceive, and seeing that the effect of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +this cultivation is permanent, it follows that exercise +must bring about direct changes in the nerves associated +with these organs, attuning them so to speak, +and enabling them to respond to newer harmonies +arising from increased complexity of the signs used.<a name="Eanchor_9" id="Eanchor_9"></a><a href="#Enote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> +It is matter of common knowledge that the structure +of the sensorial nerves varies largely in different +persons at birth, and when a boy at a very early +age shows precocious ability in music or drawing, +we may properly infer that the condition of his +optic or aural nerves is comparatively advanced, +that is to say, it is much less rudimentary than that +of the average person at the same age; in other +words accident has given him a nerve regularity +which can only be gained by the average boy after +long exercise. The precocious youth has not a +nerve structure superior in kind, but it is abnormally +developed, and so he is ahead of his confreres +in the matter of time, for under equal conditions of +study he is sooner able to arrive at a given degree +of skill.</p> + +<p>But early appreciation of complex harmony, and +skill in execution, are not enough to produce a great +artist, for there must be associated with these things +a powerful imagination. While the particular nerves +or vessels of the brain with which the imagination +is concerned have not been identified, we know by +analogy and experience that the exercise of the +imagination like that of any other function, is necessary +for its development, and according as we allow +it to remain in abeyance so we reduce its active +value. Clearly also, the seat of the imagination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +at birth is less rudimentary in some persons than +in others. From these facts it would appear that +when both the sensory nerve structure and the seat +of the imagination are advanced at birth, then we +have the basis upon which the precocious genius is +built up. With such conditions, patient toil and +deep study are alone necessary to produce a sublime +artist. Evidently it is extremely rare for the imagination +and nerve structure to be together so advanced +naturally, but commonly one is more than +rudimentary, and the deficiency in the other is +compensated for by study.<a name="Eanchor_10" id="Eanchor_10"></a><a href="#Enote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a></p> + +<p>Of course these observations are general, for there +arises the question, to what extent can the senses +and imagination be trained? We may well conceive +that there is a limit to the development of the sense +organs. There must come a period when the optic +or aural nerves can be attuned no further; and is the +limit equal in all persons? The probability is that +it is not. The physical character of the nerves +almost certainly varies in different persons, some +being able to appreciate more complex harmonies +than others, granted the limit of development. This +is a point which has to be considered, particularly +in the case of music wherein as a rule, the higher +the beauty the more complex the combinations of +signs. There is a parallel problem to solve in respect +of the imagination. We can well believe that there +was something abnormal in the imagination of +Shakespeare, beyond the probability that in his +case the physiological system controlling the seat +of the imagination was unusually advanced at birth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +It is quite certain that with such a man a given +training would result in a far greater advance in the +functioning capacity of the imagination, than in +the vast majority of persons who might commence +the training on apparently equal terms; and he would +be able to go further—to surpass the point which +might be the limit of development with most +persons.</p> + +<p>These questions are of the highest importance, +but they cannot be determined. We are acquainted +with certain facts relating to the general development +of the sense organs, and of the imagination; +and in regard to the former we know that there is +a limit within comprehensible bounds, but we see +only very dimly anything finite in the scope of the +imagination. With what other term than "limitless" +can we describe the imagination of a Shakespeare? +But in all cases, whatever the natural conditions +at birth, it is clear that hard work is the key +to success in art, and though some must work harder +than others to arrive at an equal result, it is satisfactory +to know that generally Carlyle was right +when he described "genius" as the transcendent +capacity for taking trouble, and we are not surprised +that Cicero should have come to the conclusion that +diligence is a virtue that seems to include all the +others.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the conclusions above defined (and +some to be later drawn), are not entirely in accord +with a large part of modern criticism based upon +what are commonly described as new and improved +forms of the painter's art, it is necessary to refer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +to these forms, which are generally comprehended +under what is known as Impressionism.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Alas, to +the frailty of man must we ascribe the spread of +this movement, which has destroyed so many bright +young intellects, and is at this moment leading +thousands of gentle spirits along the level path which +ends in despair. For the real road of art is steep, +and difficult, and long. Year upon year of patient +thought, patient observation, and patient toil, lie +ahead of every man who covets a crown of success +as a painter. He must seek to accumulate vast +stores of knowledge of the human form and its anatomy, +of nature in her prolific variety, of linear and +aerial perspective, of animals which move on land +or through the air, of the laws of colours and their +combinations. He must sound the depths of poetry, +and sculpture, and architecture; absorb the cream +of sacred and profane history; and with all these +things and many more, he must saturate his mind +with the practical details of his art. Every artist +whose work the world has learned to admire has +done his best to gain this knowledge, and certainly +no great design was ever produced by one whose +youth and early manhood were not worn with ardent +study. For knowledge and experience are the only +foundations upon which the imagination can build. +Every new conception is a rearrangement of known +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>signs, and the imagination is powerless to arrange +them appropriately without a thorough comprehension +of their character and significance.</p> + + +<p>This then is the programme of work which must +be adopted by any serious aspirant to fame in the +art of the painter, and it is perhaps not surprising +that the number of artists who survive the ordeal +is strictly limited. In any walk of life where years +of struggle are necessary for success, how small the +proportion of men who persevere to the end; who +present a steel wall to misfortune and despair, and +with an indomitable will, overcome care, and worry, +and fatigue, for year after year, till at last the clouds +disappear, and they are able to front the world with +an all-powerful shield of radiant knowledge! But +unfortunately in the painter's art it is difficult to +convince students of the necessity for long and +hard study, because there is no definite standard +for measuring success or failure which they can +grasp without long experience. In industries where +knowledge is applied to improvement in appliances, +or methods with definite ends, or to the realization +of projects having a fixed scope, failure is determined +by material results measured commonly by mathematical +processes of one kind or another. A man +produces a new alloy which he claims will fulfil a +certain purpose. It is tested by recognized means: +all concerned admit the validity of the test, and there +the matter ends. But in the arts, while the relative +value of the respective grades is equally capable of +demonstration, the test is of a different kind. Instead +of weights and measures which every man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +can apply, general experience must be brought in. +The individual may be right in his judgment, and +commonly is, but he is unable to measure the evidence +of his senses by material demonstration, and +as he has no means of judging whether his senses +are normal, except by comparison, he is liable to +doubt his own experience if it clash with that of +others. Thus, he may find but little beauty in a +given picture, and then may read or hear that the +work has a high æsthetic value, and without calling +to mind the fact that no evidence in the matter is +conclusive unless it be based on general experience, +he is liable to believe that his own perception is in +some way deficient.</p> + +<p>Thus in the arts, and particularly in painting, +there is ample scope for the spread of false principles. +Poetry has an advantage in that the intellect must +first be exercised before the simplest pictures are +thrown on the brain, so feeble or eccentric verse appeals +to very few persons, and seldom has a clientèle, +if one may use the word, outside of small coteries +of weak thinkers. It is difficult also in sculpture +to put forward poor works as of a high order, because +this art deals almost entirely with simple +human and animal forms in respect of which the +knowledge is universal, and so as signs they cannot +be varied except in the production of what would +be immediately recognized as monstrosities. But +in painting an immense variety in kind of beauty +may be produced, from a simple colour harmony +to the representation of ideal forms involving the +highest sensorial and intellectual reaches, and there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +is ample scope for the misrepresentation of æsthetic +effects—for the suggestion that a work yielding a +momentary appeal to the senses is superior to a +high form of permanent beauty.</p> + +<p>It is to the ease with which simple forms of ephemeral +beauty may be produced in painting that is +due the large number of artists who should never +have entered upon the profession. Nearly every +person of average intelligence is capable with a few +lessons of producing excellent imitations of natural +things in colour, as for instance, flowers, bits of +landscape, and so on, and great numbers of young +men and women, surprised at the facility with which +this work can be done, erroneously suppose that +nature has endowed them with special gifts, and so +take up the art of painting as a career. Hence for +every sculptor there are twenty painters. Now +these youthful aspirants usually start with determination +and hope, but although they know the +value of studious toil, they rarely comprehend that +this toil, long continued, is the only key to success. +Most of them seem under the impression that inspiration +will come to their assistance, and that +their genius will enable them to dispense with much +of the labour which others, less fortunate, must +undertake. They do not understand that all painters, +even a Raphael, must go through long years of +hard application.</p> + +<p>We need not be surprised that there should be +occasional eruptions in art circles tending to the +exaltation of the immature at the expense of the +superior, or even the sublime, for we have always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +with us the undiligent man of talent, and the "unrecognized +genius." But hitherto, movements of +the kind have not been serious, for with one exception +they are lost in oblivion, and the exception is +little more than a vague memory. That the present +movement should have lasted so long is not difficult +to understand when we remember the modern advantages +for the spread of new sensations—the +exhibitions, the unlimited advertising scope, and +above all the new criticism, with its extended vocabulary, +its original philosophy, and its boundless +discoveries as to the psychological and musical +qualities of paint. That history is silent as to previous +eruptions of the kind before the seventeenth +century is a matter of regret. It is unlikely that +the greatest of all art epochs experienced an impressionist +fever, for one cannot imagine the spread of +spurious principles within measurable distance of a +State (Thebes) which went so far as to prohibit the +representation of unbeautiful things. In respect of +poetry we know that the Greeks stood no nonsense, +for did not Zoilus suffer an ignominious death for +venturing upon childish criticism of Homer? In +Rome eccentric painters certainly found some means +to thrive, for where "Bohemian" poets gathered, +who neglected the barber and the bath, and pretended +an æsthetic exclusiveness, there surely would +painters of "isms" be found in variety. Naturally +in the early stages of the Renaissance, when patronage +of the arts was almost confined to the Church, +and so went hand in hand with learning, inferior +art stood small chance of recognition; and a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +later when Lorenzo gathered around him the intellectual +cream of Italy; when the pupils of Donatello +were spreading the light of his genius; when the +patrician beauties of Florence were posing for Ghirlandaio +and his brilliant confrères, and when the +minds of Lionardo and Michelangelo were blooming; +who would have dared to talk of the psychological +qualities of paint, or suggest the composition of a +fresco "symphony"?</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"> +<a name="Pl_3" id="Pl_3"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 3</span> +<img src="images/i_055.jpg" width="479" height="1024" alt="PLATE 3" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Ancient Copy of the Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles<br /> +<small>(<i>Vatican</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_111">page 111</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>But another century and more passed away. The +blaze of the Renaissance had gone down, but the embers +were kept alive, for Italy still seemed to vibrate +with a desire to paint. Simultaneously in Flanders, +in Holland, in France, and in England, private +citizens appeared to develop a sudden demand for +pictures, and quite naturally artists multiplied and +fed the flame. Outside of Italy the hustle and bustle +in the art world were novelties to the general public, +though pleasant ones withal, and for half a century +or more they delighted in the majestic designs of +Rubens and Van Dyck, the intimate scenes of the +Dutch artists, and the delicate landscapes of Claude +and Poussin and their followers, which were continually +finding their way from Rome. The simplicity +of the people protected the arts. They knew the +hard labour involved in the production of a picture; +the worries, the struggles, the joys of the painters; +and daily saw beautiful imitations of every-day life +in the shops and markets. They must have been +proud of them—insensibly proud of the value of +human endeavour. For them the sham and immature +had no place: there is not a single example of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>spurious art of the first three quarters of the seventeenth +century that has come down to us from Holland +or Flanders. But while the Dutch school was +at the height of its fame, a change was marking +Italian art conditions. The half score of academies +scattered through the country were still in a state +of activity, carrying on, as far as they could, the +traditions of the Renaissance: from all parts of +Europe students were still pouring in, endeavouring +to glean the secrets of the immortals; and there was +no apparent decrease in the demand for pictures +from the religious foundations and private buyers. +But the character of the art produced was rapidly +declining: the writing on the wall was being done +by the hand that wielded the brush. As a necessary +consequence the trader was called in and art began +to be commercialized. Worse still, fashions appeared, +guided by successive masters in the various +centres, often with an influence quite out of proportion +with their merits.</p> + +<p>By the middle of the century a general fall in +activity and enthusiasm was noticeable. The disciples +of the Roman school, largely through the +pernicious influence of Bernini, had nearly forgotten +the great lessons taught by the followers of Raphael, +and later by the three Carracci, and were fast descending +below mediocrity; the Florentine school included +half a dozen good painters, mostly students +of Berritini: Venice was falling into a stagnation +in which she remained till the appearance of Longhi +and Tiepolo and their brethren; Bologna was living +on the reputation of the Carracci, and had yet to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +recover with the aid of Cignani: Milan and Genoa +as separate schools had practically faded away; +and the Neapolitan school was relying on Salvator +Rosa, though Luca Giordano was growing into an +inexhaustible hive of invention. This was the condition +of Italian art, while political and other troubles +were further complicating the position of artists. +For most of them the time was gloomy and the future +dark. A few turned to landscape; others extended +the practice of copying the early masters for the +benefit of foreign capitals, while some sought for +novelty in still-life, or in the then newly practised +pastel work. But there was a considerable number +who would have none of these things; some of them +with talent but lacking industry, and others with +industry but void of imagination. What were these +to do at a time when at the best the outlook was +poor?</p> + +<p>An answer came to this question. A new taste +must be cultivated, and for an art that required less +study and trouble to produce than the sublime forms +with which the Renaissance culminated. So whispers +went round that Raphael was not really so great +a master as was supposed, and that with Michelangelo +he was out of date and did not comprehend +the real meaning of art—very similar conclusions +with which the modern impressionist movement was +heralded.<a name="Eanchor_11" id="Eanchor_11"></a><a href="#Enote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> The discovery was made in Rome, but +the news expanded to Florence and Naples, and +Venice, and behold the result—Sprezzatura, or to +use the modern word, Impressionism, that is to say, +the substitution of sketches for finished pictures,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +though this is not the definition usually given to it. +But fortunately for the art of the time the innovation +was chiefly confined to coteries. All that could +be said or done failed to convince the principal +patrons of the period that a half finished work is +so beautiful as a completed one, and so the novelties +rarely found entrance into great collections, nor were +they used to adorn the interiors of public buildings. +But a good many of them were executed though +they have long ceased to interest anybody. Now +and again one comes across an example in a sleepy +Italian village, or in the smaller shops of Rome or +Florence, but it is quickly put aside as a melancholy +memento of a disordered period of art when talented +painters had to struggle for fame, and the untalented +for bread.</p> + +<p>The cult of Sprezzatura faded to a glimmer before +the end of the seventeenth century. Bernini was +dead, and Carlo Maratta with a few others led the +way in re-establishing the health if not the brilliancy +and renown of Italian art. Nor did a recurrence of +the movement occur in the next century. During +this period there was comparatively little call for +art in Italy, and at the end of it, when political +disturbances made havoc with academies and artists, +the principal occupation of Italian painters with +talent was precisely that of their skilled brethren in +Holland and Flanders—the manufacture of "old" +masterpieces. It was reserved for the second half +of the nineteenth century for Sprezzatura to make +its reappearance, and this time Italy followed the +lead of France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>There are many methods and mannerisms which +go under the name of Impressionism, but they are +mostly suggestions in design or experiments in tones +which were formerly produced solely as studies to +assist artists in executing their complete works, or +else eccentricities which are obviously mere camouflage +for lack of skill.<a name="Eanchor_12" id="Eanchor_12"></a><a href="#Enote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Sometimes the sketches +are slightly amplified with more or less finished signs, +and now and then novelties are present in the shape +of startling colour effects; but in all cases the +impartial observer sees in the pictures only sensorial +beauty of a kind which is inevitably short lived, +while his understanding is oppressed with the thought, +firstly that the picture is probably the result of a +want of diligence on the part of the artist, and +secondly that its exhibition as a serious work is +somewhat of a reflection upon the intelligence of the +public.</p> + +<p>Obviously the fundamental basis of Impressionism +is weak and illogical, for in our conception of +nature it invites us to eliminate the understanding. +What the impressionist practically says is: "We +do not see solid form; we see only flat surface in +which objects are distinguished by colours. The +artist should reproduce these colours irrespective +of the nature of the objects." But the objects are +distinguished by our knowledge and experience, +and if we are to eliminate these in one art, why not +in another? Why trouble about carving in the +round when we only actually see in the human figure +a flat surface defined by colour? There is no scene +in nature such as the impressionist paints, nor can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +such a scene be thrown upon the mind of the painter +as a natural scene. Except in absolute deserts there +are no scenes without many signs which are clearly +defined to the eye, and which the artist can paint. +He cannot of course produce all the signs in a view, +but he can indicate sufficient of them to make a +beautiful picture apart from the tones, and there +can be no valid æsthetic reason for substituting for +these signs vague suggestions of colour infinitely +less definite than the signs as they appear in nature. +Nor is there any such atmosphere in nature as the +impressionist usually paints. We do not see blotched +outlines of human figures, but the outlines in nature, +except at a considerable distance, appear to us clear +and decisive though delicately shaded, and not as +seen through a veil of steam. Nor has any valid +reason been advanced for juxtaposing pure colours +instead of blending them before use.<a name="Eanchor_13" id="Eanchor_13"></a><a href="#Enote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Why should +the eye have to seek a particular distance from a +painting in order that the colours might naturally +blend, when the artist can himself blend them and +present a harmony which is observable at any reasonable +distance? We do not carve a statue with +blurred and broken edges, and then tell the observer +that the outlines will appear correct if he travel a +certain distance away before examining them.</p> + +<p>In giving nearly his whole attention to colour the +impressionist limits his art to the feeblest form, and +produces a quickly tiring, ephemeral thing, as if +unconscious of natural beauty. Sylvan glades and +fairy dales, where the brooks ripple pleasantly as +they moisten the roots of the violet, and gently lave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +the feet of the lark and the robin; where shady +trees bow welcome to the wanderer; where the +grassy carpet is sprinkled with flowers, and every +bush can tell of lovers' sighs! Does the impressionist +see these things? Offer him the sweetest beauties +of nature, and he shows you in return a shake of a +kaleidoscope. Mountain peaks towering one above +the other till their snowy crests sparkle the azure +sky; mighty rivers dividing the hills, crumbling the +granite cliffs, or thundering their course over impeding +rocks; cascades of flowing crystal falling into +seething seas of foam and mist; the angry ocean +convulsively defying human power with its heaving +walls and fearsome caverns! Nature in her grandest +form: sublime forces which kindle the spirit of man: +exhibit them to the impressionist, and he presents +to you a flat experiment in the juxtaposition of pure +colours! And the majesty of the human form, with +its glorious attributes; the noble woman and courageous +man; incidents of self-sacrifice; the realms of +spiritual beauty, and the great ideals which expand +the mind to the bounds of space and lift the soul to +Heaven! What of these? Ask the impressionist, +and he knows nothing of them. For his pencil they +are but relics of the past, like the bones of the men +who immortalized them in art.</p> + +<p>This is perhaps an overstatement of impressionism +as applied to the works of a large number of +artists, who although commonly sacrificing form to +colour, infuse more or less interest in the human poses +and actions which are nominally the subjects of +their pictures. But one can only deal generally with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +such a matter. The evil of Impressionism does not +lie in the presentation of colour harmonies as beautiful +things, for they are unquestionably pleasing, +though the beauty is purely sensorial and of an +ephemeral character. The mischief arises from the +declaration, overt or implied, that these harmonies +represent the higher reaches of the painter's art, +and that form or design therein is of secondary +importance. Let something false in thought or +activity be propagated in any domain where the +trader can make use of it, then surely will the evil +grow, each new weed being more rank than its predecessor. +Impressionism is not a spurious form of +art, but seeing that its spurious claims were widely +accepted, with substantial results, there soon appeared +innumerable other forms inferior to it. There +is no necessity to deal here with these forms, with +the crude experiments of Cézanne, the vagaries of +Van Gogh,<a name="Eanchor_14" id="Eanchor_14"></a><a href="#Enote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> the puerilities of Matisse, or the awful +sequence of "isms," commencing with "Post-Impressionism," +and ending in the lowest depths of +art degradation; but it is proper to point out that +so long as Impressionism puts forward its extravagant +pretensions, these corrupt forms will continue +to taint the realm of art to the detriment of both +artists and public.</p> + +<p>The significance of Impressionism is alleged by +its advocates to be of such considerable import that +in the public interest they should have brought +forward the most cogent arguments for its support. +But we have no such arguments, nor has any logical +reason been advanced to offset the obvious practical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +defects of the innovation, namely, that in the general +opinion the art is incomplete and decidedly inferior, +and that the leading critics of every country have +ignored or directly condemned it as an immature +form of art. Nevertheless, although there has +been no determined attempt to upset the basis of +art criticism as this basis has been understood for +more than twenty centuries; although the whole of +the arguments in support of the various forms of +Impressionism have failed to indicate any comprehensible +basis at all, but have dealt entirely with +vague sensorial theories, and psychological suggestions +which have no general meaning; although it +has never been remotely advanced that the beauty +produced by means of Impressionism is connected +with intellectual activity, as any high form of art +must necessarily be: notwithstanding all this, there +has been gradually growing up in the public mind, +a vague and uncertain signification of the comparative +forms of art, which tends to the general confusion +of thought amongst the public, and a chaos of +ideas in the minds of young artists.</p> + +<p>The root of these spreading branches of mysticism +is to be found in the insistent affirmation that the +broad manner of painting is necessary for the production +of great work, and that only those old masters +who used this manner are worthy of study. It is, +as if the advocates of the new departure declare, +"If we cannot demonstrate the superiority of our +work, we can at least affirm that our methods are +the best." Where a small minority is persistent in +advocating certain views, and the great majority<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +do not trouble about replying thereto, false principles +are likely to find considerable area for permeation +among the rising generation, who are easily impressed +with the appearance of undisputed authority. In +the matter we are discussing, the limited authority +is particularly likely to be recognized by the inexperienced +of those mostly concerned, that is to say, +young artists, because it sanctions a method of work +which reduces to a minimum the labour involved +in arriving at excellence by the regular channels.</p> + +<p>Now the artist is at liberty to use any method of +painting in producing his picture providing he presents +something beautiful. There is no special virtue +in a broad manner, a fine manner, or any other +manner, and the public, for whom the artist toils, is +not concerned with the point. It is as indifferent +to the kind of brushwork used by the painter, as to +the variety of chisel handled by the sculptor. The +observer of the picture judges it for its beauty, and +if it be well painted, then the character of the brushwork +is unconsidered. If, however, the brushwork +is so broad that the manner of painting protrudes +itself upon the observer at first sight, then the work +cannot be of a high class. All the paintings which +we recognize as great works of art are pictured upon +the brain as complete things immediately they are +brought within the compass of the eye, and to this +rule there is no exception. If, when encompassed +by the sight we find that a picture is so broadly +painted that we must move backwards to an unknown +point before the character of the work can be thoroughly +comprehended as a complete whole, then it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +is distinctly inferior as a work of art, because, being +incomprehensible on first inspection, it is necessarily +unbeautiful, and the act of converting it into a thing +of beauty, by means of a mechanical operation, +complicates the picture on the brain and so weakens +its æsthetic value.<a name="Eanchor_15" id="Eanchor_15"></a><a href="#Enote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> This is axiomatic. There +are proportions and propriety in all the arts, and +the good artist is quite aware of the lines to be +drawn in respect of the manner he adopts. Jan +Van Eyck's picture of Arnolfini and his Wife, +and Holbein's Ambassadors, both painted in the +fine manner, are equally great works of art with +Titian's portraits; and Raphael's portrait of Julius +II. (the Pitti Palace example),<a name="Eanchor_16" id="Eanchor_16"></a><a href="#Enote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> which is in a manner +midway between that of Holbein and Titian, is +superior to the work of all other portrait artists.</p> + +<p>But the most remarkable outcome of the spread +of Impressionism is not the extravagant use of the +broad manner, for vagaries of this sort will always +find support among immature minds and undiligent +hands, but the establishment of a species of cult +connected with certain old masters who are not in +the very first rank, and the attempted relegation to +the background of public opinion, of the few sublime +painters whose colossal genius and superiority are +recognized by well balanced minds wherever the +breath of man can open the door of his soul. It is +unnecessary to enter upon a long enquiry as to the +validity of these proceedings, but the new position +in which two great masters have been placed can +scarcely be ignored. These masters are Rembrandt +and Velasquez, who appear to have been set upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +the loftiest of pedestals in order that some of their +glory may be shed upon the new varieties of Sprezzatura. +It has been frequently said that these masters +were the first of impressionists, but the connection +between their work and Impressionism is hard to +find.<a name="Eanchor_17" id="Eanchor_17"></a><a href="#Enote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Not only is Rembrandt entirely distinct +in his manner from Velasquez; not only were they +both portrait painters primarily, while the great +bulk of impressionist work is landscape; but their +aims, their ideas, and the whole of their works are +as far removed from the new school as the poles are +asunder. The work of the two great painters deals +almost entirely with expression, that of the impressionists +with colour harmonies. In the one case +intellectual beauty is sought to accompany the +sensorial, in the other the production of beauty +which is not purely or almost entirely sensorial, is +not even pretended. While these differences are +obvious, and while no man of ordinary intelligence is +likely to be confused in his mind in respect of them, +the fact remains that the movement, which was +born with Impressionism some forty years ago, to +raise Rembrandt and Velasquez to an elevation in +art to which they are not entitled, has met with +much success amongst that considerable section of +the community which is interested in art and appreciates +its value, but suffers from the delusion that +special knowledge, which it has not acquired, is +necessary for the recognition of high æsthetic merit. +No definite propositions have been laid down in +support of the movement: there has been no line +of reasoning for the critic to handle, nor have the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +old standards been upset in the slightest degree: +the position has been brought about chiefly by a +continuous reiteration of vague assertions and +mystic declarations, and by the glamour arising +from the enormous prices paid by collectors for the +works of the masters named, consequent upon the +skilful commercial exploitation of this exaggerated +approbation.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 708px;"> +<a name="Pl_4" id="Pl_4"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 4</span> +<img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="708" height="1024" alt="PLATE 4" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Venus Anadyomene<br /> +<small>(<i>Sculpture after the painting of Apelles</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_113">page 113</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 708px;"> +<a name="Pl_5" id="Pl_5"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 5</span> +<img src="images/i_071.jpg" width="708" height="1024" alt="PLATE 5" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Venus Anadyomene<br /> +<small>(<i>The painting of Titian</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_115">page 115</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>Portraiture is necessarily on a lower scale of art +than historical painting (using this term in its +higher application), firstly because ideals are not +possible therein, and secondly in that the imagination +of the artist is very restricted. The greatest +portrait ever painted is immeasurably below a picture +where a beautiful ideal form, with ideal expression +is depicted; as far below in fact as the best +ancient sculptured busts were inferior to the gods +of Praxiteles. Neither Rembrandt nor Velasquez +was capable of idealization of form, and so neither +left behind him a single painted figure to take its +place as a type. Rembrandt was a master of human +expression, and in the representation of character +he was perhaps unsurpassed by any painter, but if +we analyze the feeling that is at the bottom of the +appreciation of his portraits, we find that it largely +consists of something apart from admiration of them +as things of beauty. There enters into consideration +recognition of the extraordinary genius of the +artist in presenting character in such a way that +the want of corporeal beauty seems to be unfelt. +Instead of observing that the expression in a countenance +harmonizes with the features, we involuntarily +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>notice that the features harmonize perfectly +with the expression, which seems in itself to be the +picture. Of course inasmuch as the expression +invariably appeals to the good side of our nature, +it means intellectual beauty, but as the depth of +any impression of this kind of beauty depends upon +the development of the mind, the admiration must, +except where the artist presents corporeal beauty, +be confined generally to the cultivated section of +the community. From the point of view of pure +art, his fame as a great painter can only rest upon +those of his pictures which are also appreciated for +the corporeal beauty exhibited.</p> + +<p>The extraordinary power of Velasquez lay in the +sure freedom of his execution, and in this he was equal +to Titian. He was besides a master of balance, and +so every portrait he painted is one complete whole, +and has exactly the effect that a portrait should +have—to direct the mind of the observer to the +subject, and away altogether from the painter. +But these high qualities as portrait painters do not +place Rembrandt and Velasquez on a level with +Raphael, and Michelangelo, and Correggio. Whatever +the individual opinion, it is impossible to move +aside from the long path of experience and the laws +dependent upon natural functions, and so long as +the world lasts, a work of ideal beauty, whether it +be a Madonna by Raphael, a Prophet by Michelangelo, +or a symbolical figure by Fragonard, will live +in general estimation, which is the only test of high +beauty, far above portraits from life and scenes of +every day labour, however they may be painted. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>The beauty of the one is eternal and exalting; and +of the other, sympathetic and more or less passive. +The appreciation of Raphael and Michelangelo is +universal, spontaneous, emphatic; of Rembrandt +and Velasquez, sometimes imperative, but usually +deliberative and cultivated. In fact it is only +amongst a section of cultivated people, that is to +say, a small percentage of the community, that Rembrandt +and Velasquez are given a status which is not, +and cannot be, accorded them if we adhere to the +natural and time-honoured standards of judgment +accepted by the first artists and philosophers known +to the world since art emerged from the prehistoric +shade. To place these artists above, or on a level +with, the Italian artists named, is to cast from their +pedestals Homer, Phidias, Praxiteles, Apelles, Shakespeare, +Dante, and every other admittedly sublime +genius in art of whom we have record.</p> + +<p>Another baneful result of Impressionism is the +attempt to raise landscape to a higher level in art +than that to which it is properly entitled. This is +perhaps a natural consequence of the elevation of +colour at the expense of form, for the movement is +based upon new methods of colouring, and the +significance of colour is vastly greater in landscape +than in any other branch of art. Elsewhere the +disabilities of the landscape painter are pointed out, +and it will be seen that fixed and unalterable restrictions +compel an extreme limitation to his work. It +is because of these restrictions that the very greatest +artists have refrained from paying close attention +to this branch of art as a separate department.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>From indirect records we may presume that +landscape painting was well understood in the days +of ancient Greece, but there is no evidence that it +then formed a separate branch of art. In Roman +times according to Pliny, landscape was used for +mural decoration. Of its character we can only +judge from the examples exposed during the excavations +at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which indicate +that the pictures had but a topographical interest, +or formed settings for the representation of industrial +pursuits or classical adventures. Certainly there +is no instance in Greek or Roman art recorded or +exhibited, of any landscape as we understand it, +that is, a work built up as a beautiful representation +of nature, to be instantly recognized by the observer +as a complete whole, as one sign in fact. The artists +of the Italian Renaissance did not paint landscapes +as separate pictures unless by way of study or experiment. +They evidently considered landscape signs +purely as accessories, and composed their natural +views with special reference to figure designs. Some +of them, particularly the leaders of the Venetian +School, occasionally painted pictures in which landscape +appears to play an important part, but in +these cases the landscape is really subsidiary, though +essential to the design; and the works cannot be +compared in any way with those of Claude and others +who often added figures to their landscapes in order +to comply with the wishes of their patrons. The +fifteenth century Flemish artists also dealt with +landscape purely as background, and so with Martin +Schongauer, Dürer, and other early German paint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>ers. +But all the great painters down to the decline +of the Renaissance, closely studied landscape, as is +evidenced by the numerous sketches still existing, +and the finished pictures remaining clearly indicate +that by the middle of the sixteenth century artists +had little or nothing to learn in landscape art, save +the management of complex aerial perspective.</p> + +<p>Since landscape painting was introduced as a +separate art towards the end of the sixteenth century, +it has only commanded general attention when +the higher art of the painter has appeared to decline. +In Flanders the spurt in landscape due to Paul Bril +was terminated with the last of the Breughels by +the overpowering splendour of Rubens in historical +work, and the attempts of even Rubens himself to +create a greater interest in landscape signally failed. +There were some good landscape painters in Holland +during the flourishing period of the Dutch +school, but it was only when Rembrandt, Dow, +Terburg, and the rest of the bright constellation of +figure painters had passed their zenith, or were +resting in quiet graves, that landscape painting +became in any way general. Then it was that +Hobbema, Jacob Ruysdael, and their numerous +followers, with coast painters like Van der Cappelle, +and sea painters as William van de Velde, turned +out the many fine works which are now so highly +prized.</p> + +<p>The Italians of the seventeenth century were too +close to Raphael, and Michelangelo, and Titian, +to permit of a landscape being generally received as +a great work of art, but there appeared at this time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +in Rome numerous foreigners from France, and +Flanders, and Holland, who were devoted to landscape, +and amongst them the greatest genius known +in the art—Claude Lorraine. He was the first to +put the sun in the sky on canvas for the purpose of +pure landscape; the first to master thoroughly the +intricate difficulties of aerial perspective; the first +to adorn the earth with fairy castles and dreamy +visions of nature, such as we might suppose to have +been common in the days of the Golden Age, ere +yet men fought for power, or toiled from morn to +eve for daily bread. With his magic wand he +skimmed the cream of natural beauty and spread +it over the Roman Campagna, transforming this +historic ground into a region of palaces, terraces, +cascades, and glorious foliage. At the same time +Nicholas Poussin was also using the Campagna for +the landscape settings of his classical compositions—such +perfect settings that it is impossible to imagine +the figures separated from their surroundings. +These two artists with their disciples, and many +Flemish and Dutch painters headed by Berghem +and the two Boths, formed a landscape colony of +considerable importance, but no Italian landscape +school was founded from it. In the next century +there was little pure landscape in Italy. Some fine +works of topographical, and a few of general interest +were produced by Canaletto and his followers, and +a kind of landscape school was maintained in Venice +for half a century or more, but elsewhere in Italy +the cultivation of landscape was spasmodic and +feeble.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>In England and France, landscape as a separate +art has only made considerable headway quite recently, +though there have been local schools, as the +Norwich and Barbizon, which followed particular +methods in design. Meanwhile England produced +some isolated giants in landscape, as Wilson, Gainsborough, +Turner, and Constable, Turner standing +out as the greatest painter of strong sun effects on +record. It will be seen that until the last generation +or so, in no country has landscape been admitted to +high rank as a separate art, universal opinion very +properly recognizing that the highest beauty in the +handiwork of man is to be found in the representation +of the human figure. Profound efforts of the +imagination are not required in landscape, for it +consists of a particular arrangement of inanimate +signs which have no direct influence upon the mind, +and cannot appeal to the higher faculties. There +is no scope therein for lofty conceptions, and consequently +the sensorial beauty exhibited must be +very high to have more than a quickly passing +effect upon the observer. This high beauty is most +difficult to obtain, and can only be reached by those +who have a supreme knowledge of the technique of +their art; who have made a long and close study +of natural signs and effects; and who are possessed +of uncommon patience and industry. We need not +be surprised that scarcely one out of every hundred +landscape painters executes a work which lasts a +generation, and not one out of a thousand secures a +permanent place on the roll of art. The man who +does not give his life from his youth up, to his work,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +concentrating his whole energy upon it, to the exclusion +of everything else, will paint only inferior landscapes. +The four greatest landscape painters known +to us are Claude and Turner in distance work, +and Hobbema and Jacob Ruysdael in near-ground. +Claude was labouring for twenty-five years before +he succeeded in accomplishing a single example of +those lovely fairy abodes so forcibly described by +Goethe as "absolute truth without a sign of reality." +Turner took more than twenty years to master the +secrets of Claude; Jacob Ruysdael spent a quarter +of a century in working out to perfection the representation +of flowing water, and Hobbema passed +through more than half of his long life before arriving +at his superlative scheme of increasing his available +distance by throwing in a powerful sunlight +from the back of his trees. And a long list of landscape +painters of lesser lustre might be given, who +went through from fifteen to thirty years of painstaking +labour before executing a single first-class +picture.</p> + +<p>Great landscapes of the pure variety are of two +kinds, and two kinds only. The highest are those +where an illusion of opening distance or other movement +is provided, and the second class are where +natural scenes of common experience, under common +conditions of atmosphere, are faithfully reproduced. +The lighter landscapes representing phases, +as the sketches of the Barbizon school,<a name="Eanchor_18" id="Eanchor_18"></a><a href="#Enote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> with the +moonlight scenes, and the thousand and one sentimental +colour harmonies unconcerned with human +motives, which are turned out with such painful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +regularity every month, serve their purpose as wall +decorations of the moment, but then die and fade +from memory like so many of the unfortunate artists +who drag their weary way to the grave in the vain +struggle for fame by means of them.</p> + +<p>No landscape of the phase class can be anything +more than a simple harmony of tone and design, +more ephemeral than the natural phase itself. The +quiet harmony is restful for the fatigued eye, and +every eye is fatigued every day; and because the +eye feels relieved in glancing at the picture, the +conclusion arises to the unthinking that it must be +a great work of art. Glowing eulogies were pronounced +upon Whistler's Nocturne, in the Metropolitan +Museum of New York, when it was first +placed there, but is there anything less like a work +of beauty than the dark meaningless patch as it is +now seen? And the same thing has happened with +a thousand other landscapes of the kind—first +presented to the tired eyes of business and professional +men, and then placed in collections to be +surrounded by permanently beautiful works. All +these phase pictures must quickly lose their beauty +in accordance with natural laws which cannot be +varied. Let it not be supposed that the writer +means to suggest that these simple works should +not be executed. They are surely better than no +decoration at all in the many homes for which really +fine pictures are unavailable, but it is entirely wrong +to endeavour to pervert the public judgment by +putting them forward as works of high art.</p> + +<p>And what of the struggling artists? Look around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +in every city and see the numbers of bright young +men and women wearing away the bloom of their +youth in vain endeavours to climb the heights of +art by the easy track of glowing colours! It is the +call of Fame they think, that leads them along, for +they know not the voice of the siren, and see not +the gaping precipice which is to shatter their dreams. +There is but one sure path to the top of the mountain, +but it is drab-coloured, and many are the slippery +crags. Few of the strongest spirits can climb it, +but all may try, and at least they may direct their +minds upwards, and keep ever in front of them a +vision of the great idealists wandering over the +summit through the eternal glow of the fires they +lit ere death consecrated their glory.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Chap. III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> See Chap. IX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> The varied interpretations of Impressionism are referred to elsewhere +(see page ). When using the term in this book without +qualification, the writer means thereby the subordination of design +to colour, which definition covers all the forms of the "new art" +without going beyond any of them.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a>BOOK I</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<h3>Classification of the fine arts</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">The arts imitative of nature—The arts classified according to the +character of their signs—Poetry not a compound art, primarily—The +extent to which the arts may improve upon nature.</p> + + +<p>Since art uses natural signs for the purpose of +representing nature, it is necessarily mimetic in +character.<a name="Eanchor_19" id="Eanchor_19"></a><a href="#Enote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a></p> + +<p>Poetry represents all that the other arts imitate, +and in addition, presumed divine actions. Specially +it imitates human and presumed spiritual actions, +with form and expression; expression directly, form +indirectly.</p> + +<p>Sculpture imitates human and presumed spiritual +form and expression; form directly, expression indirectly. +It also represents animal forms, and modifications +of natural forms in ornament.</p> + +<p>Painting imitates natural forms and products, and +specially human form and expression; form directly, +expression indirectly.</p> + +<p>Fiction imitates human actions, and form and +expression; expression directly, form indirectly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>Music imitates natural sounds and combines them +and specially represents human emotional effects.</p> + +<p>Architecture is the least imitative of the arts, its +freedom in the representation of nature being restricted +by the necessity of serving the end of utility. +It combines geometrical forms, and in the positions +and proportions of these, is compelled to represent +what we understand from experience of nature as +natural balance.</p> + +<p>The poet may give to a character sublime attributes +far above experience, or expand form as Homer +raises the stature of Strife to the heavens, but he +cannot provide attributes beyond experience in kind, +or any part of a form outside of nature. He may +combine or rearrange, and enlarge or diminish as he +will, and so may the painter, the sculptor, or musician, +but he is powerless to create signs unknown to +nature. It follows then, that he who imitates nature +in the most beautiful way, that is to say, he who +combines the signs of nature to form the most beautiful +whole, produces the greatest work of art.</p> + +<p>It would appear that upon the character of their +principal signs is dependent the relative position of +the arts in respect of the recognition of beauty +therein. Of the six fine arts, namely, Poetry, +Sculpture, Painting, Fiction, Music, and Architecture, +the first four, which hereafter in this work will +be known as the Associated Arts, have for their principal +sign the human figure, to which everything else +is subordinate; while in music the signs consist of +tones, and in architecture, of lines.</p> + +<p>All the other arts whose object is to give pleasure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +as the drama, dancing, etching, are either modifications +of one of the fine arts, or combinations of two +or more of them. In recent times it has been held +that poetry is a combined art, owing to the almost +invariable use of a simple form of music in its construction, +but it would appear that primarily poetry +is independent of metrical assistance. This was +clearly laid down by Aristotle, but modern definitions +of the art have usually included some reference +to metre.<a name="Eanchor_20" id="Eanchor_20"></a><a href="#Enote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> Now in our common experience two +things are observable in respect of poetry. The first +is, that when by way of admiration or criticism, we +discuss the works of those poets whom all the world +recognizes as the greatest known to us, we deal only +with the substance of what is said, and the manner +of saying it, without reference to the metrical form. +In the second place we observe that the higher the +poetry, the more simple is the metrical form with +which it is associated. The great epics, which necessarily +take first rank in poetry, have only metre, the +higher musical measures in which lyrics are set being +avoided. But as we descend in the scale of the +art, metrical form becomes of more importance, and +when simple subjects are dealt with, and a grand +style is inappropriate, the production would not be +called poetry unless in the form of verse.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_6" id="Pl_6"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 6</span> +<img src="images/i_085.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="PLATE 6" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Reposing Venus of Giorgione<br /> +<small>(<i>Dresden Gallery</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_116">page 116</a>)</p> +</div> + + + +<p>In epic and dramatic poetry, we call one poet +greater than another because of his superior invention +and beauty of expression, let the measure be +what it will. But the invention comes first, for only +high invention can be clothed with lofty expression. +The actions of deathless gods or god-like men; qualities +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>of goodness, nobility, courage, grandeur, so high +as to be above human reach: only these can form +the subject of language and sentiment soaring into +regions of the sublime, and indifferent to metrical +artifice. In the sacred books of all great religions we +may find the loftiest poetry without regular form, +and any prose translation of the Greek poets will +provide many examples,<a name="Eanchor_21" id="Eanchor_21"></a><a href="#Enote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> though often there is a +cadence—a rise and fall in the flow of words which is +more or less regular, and has the effect of emphasizing +the sentiment, and of throwing the images upon the +mind with directness and force. We must conclude +then that in poetry, while metrical form is generally +essential, it is not vital to the highest flights of the +poet, and so strictly, poetry is primarily a pure and +not a compound art.</p> + +<p>Seeing that art uses the signs of nature of which +man is at once a product and a tool, it must in its +progress follow the general course of nature. In her +development of life, nature is chiefly concerned in the +improvements of types for her own purposes, and +only uses the individual in so far as he can assist in +this end, while the natural instinct of the individual +is to conserve and improve his type. The art which +represents life is compelled to deal chiefly with types, +for it is only by the use of a type that the artist +can apply his imagination to the production of high +beauty, to whatever extent he may use the individual +to help him in this purpose, and it is instinctive in the +human being to maintain and improve the æsthetic +attraction of the species. The highest art, as the +highest work of nature, consists of the presentation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +of a perfected type. The artist therefore must consider +the species before the individual; the essential +before the accidental; the general before the particular.</p> + +<p>The living signs of nature with which art deals are +of two classes. In the one sign the position of parts +is the same throughout the species, and is fixed and +invariable, as in fully developed animals; in the other +the position is irregular, and variable within limits, +as in plants. In the latter case the position of parts +may be commonly varied indefinitely without a sense +of incongruity arising, as in a tree, and hence there +can be no conceivable general form or type upon +which art may build up perfected parts and proportions. +In respect of such a sign therefore, art cannot +improve, or appear to improve, upon nature, by +combining perfected parts into a more beautiful +whole than nature provides.</p> + +<p>In the case of a fully developed animal, where the +position of parts is fixed, a type may be conceived +which is superior in symmetry and harmony to any +individual of the species produced by nature, for the +imagination is restricted to an unchangeable form, +and has but to put together perfected parts and +proportions. But this conception can only be applied +in art to human beings, because in respect of other +animals, while no two are alike, the members of each +species, or each section of a species, seem to be alike, +or so closely alike in form and expression, that no +perfected type can be conceived which will appear +to be superior in general beauty to the normal individual +of the species, or section thereof, coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +within actual experience. Thus, the most perfect +conceivable racehorse painted on canvas, might in +reality be more perfect in form than any actual racehorse, +but to the observer of the picture it would not +appear to be of greater perfection or higher beauty +than racehorses that come, or may come, within +experience. The poet may describe the actions and +appearance of a courser in such a way as to suggest +that the animal has qualities far above experience, +but the form of the animal when thrown on the mind +of the reader, would still appear to be within the +bounds of experience.</p> + +<p>With the human being, in addition to the general +form there enters into consideration the countenance, +which is the all-important seat of beauty, is the +principal key to expression, and which, to the common +knowledge, differs in every person in character +and proportions. Nature never produces a perfect +form with a perfect countenance, and she actually +refuses to provide a countenance which is free from +elements connected with purely human instincts and +passions. But it is within the power of art to correct +the work of nature in these respects—to put together +perfect parts, and to provide a general expression +approaching our highest conceptions of human +majesty. Homer, Phidias, and Raphael have enabled +us to throw upon our minds images far above +any of actual experience.</p> + +<p>Apart from these ideal forms, nature cannot be +surpassed by art in the production of beauty, either +in respect of animate or inanimate signs, separately +or collectively, the latter because within the limita<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>tions +of art, there is no grouping or arrangement of +signs possible which would not appear to correspond +with what may be observed in nature, unless something +abnormal and less beautiful than any natural +combination be presented.</p> + +<p>Poetry, painting, and sculpture may be concerned +with ideals. In fiction an ideal is impossible because +the writer must treat of life as it is, or as it appears +to be, within the bounds of experience. In neither +music nor architecture is there a basic sign or combination +of signs upon which the imagination may +build up an ideal.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>LAW OF RECOGNITION IN THE ASSOCIATED ARTS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Explanation of the law—Its application to poetry—To sculpture—To +painting—To fiction.</p> + + +<p>While we are unable to explain, logically and +completely, our appreciation of what we understand +as beauty, experience has taught us that there are +certain phenomena connected with æsthetic perception +which are so regular and undeviating in their +application as to have all the force of law. The first +and most important of these phenomena relates to +the interval of time elapsing between the sense perception +of a thing of art, and the recognition by the +mind of the beauty therein.</p> + +<p>We know from common experience of the Associated +Arts that if one fails to appreciate a work +almost immediately after comprehending its nature +and purport, he arrives at the conclusion that there +is no beauty therein, or at least that the beauty is so +obscure as to be scarcely worth consideration. But +sometimes on further acquaintance with the work +the view of the observer may be changed, and he +may become aware of a certain beauty which he did +not before appreciate. We notice also that when the +beauty is comparatively high, it is more rapidly rec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>ognized +than when it is comparatively low. Continuing +the examination we arrive at what is evidently +an unalterable law, namely, that the higher +the æsthetic value in a particular sphere of art, the +more rapidly is the beauty therein recognized; that +is to say, given any two works, other things being +equal, that is the higher art the beauty in which is +the more quickly conveyed to the mind of the observer +after contact with it, and precisely to the +extent to which the reasoning powers are required +to be exercised in comprehending the work, so the +beauty therein is diminished. The law may be called +for convenience the Law of Recognition.</p> + +<p>But there are different kinds of beauty as well as +degrees. One kind may be more quickly recognized, +and yet make a weaker impression on the mind, a +condition which is due to the varying relations between +the sensorial and intellectual elements in the +works. We note that in all the Associated Arts, as +the works therein descend in æsthetic value, the +emotional element becomes more evident, and consequently +the impression received, less permanent. +But sensorial beauty is the first essential in a work of +art: hence while the direct appeal to the mind must +be made as strong as possible, this must not be done +at the expense of the emotional elements. We unconsciously +measure the emotional with the intellectual +effect, and if the former does not at least equal +the latter, we reject the work as inferior art. A +painted Madonna wanting in beauty of features is +instantly and properly condemned even if her figure +be enshrined within surroundings of saintly glories<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +which in themselves make a powerful appeal to the +mind. In fact the highest reaches in art were probably +originally suggested by the necessity of balancing +the one with the other form of beauty. The +highest intellectual considerations seem to rise far +above any emotional experiences connected with +ordinary life, and hence to enable these considerations +to enter the domain of art, the divine must be +introduced so that the artist may extend his imaginative +scope for the provision of emotional effects +commensurate, as far as possible, with the importance +of his appeal to the mind. Hence in all arts +which combine an intellectual with an emotional +appeal, the highest forms must ever be connected +with the spiritual.</p> + +<p>In other grades of these arts also, the artist has to +use special means to maintain a due balance between +the two kinds of beauty. Shakespeare could +not give men and women of every-day experience the +wisdom, the judgment, and the foresight necessary +for the presentation of the powerful pictures which +some of his characters throw upon the mind, so he +raises them above the level of life by according them +greater virtues and nobler passions than are to be +found in people of actual experience. The supreme +emotional effects he produces seem perfectly appropriate +therefore to the intellectual appeals. In the +next lower form of art, where the representation does +not go beyond life experience, the emotional appeal +is of still greater relative importance because the +appeal to the mind is rarely striking. The emotional +effect here may indeed be so overpowering that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +purely mental considerations are lost sight of, and +we observe that in all the greater works of art in the +division, whether of poetry, painting, sculpture, or +fiction, the intellectual appeal is vastly exceeded by +the emotional. When we reach the grade which +deals with subjects inferior to the average level of +human life, as the representation of animals, landscape, +humour, still-life, the sensorial effect must +be exceedingly strong relatively, otherwise the art +would scarcely be recognizable, the appeal to the +mind being necessarily weak.</p> + +<p>It is clearly compulsory then that the Associated +Arts, all of which may appeal to the mind as well as +to the senses, should be separated into divisions for +the purpose of applying the Law of Recognition, and +these divisions are obvious, for they are marked by +the strongest natural boundary lines. They are: 1. +The art which deals with divinities. 2. That which +exhibits beauty above life experience, but does not +reach the divine. 3. That which represents life. +4. That which produces representations inferior to +life. This separation corresponds with that applied +by Aristotle to poetry and painting, except that he +joined the two first sections into one, which he described +as better than life. But the division of the +great philosopher, while being sufficient for his purpose, +is hardly close enough for the full consideration +of the kinds of beauty, since it puts in the same class, +representations of the divinity and the superman—joins +Homer and Phidias with Praxiteles and Raphael. +In dealing with the divine the artist need place +no limit to his imagination in the presentation of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +picture, whereas with the superman he must circumscribe +his fancy within the limits of what may appear +to the senses to be possibly natural. It is true that +the poet may use the supernatural as distinguished +from the divine, to enable him to extend his imaginative +scope, and so give us beautiful pictures which +would be otherwise unpresentable. Shakespeare +makes us imagine Puck encircling the earth in forty +minutes, and Shelley shows us iron-winged beings +climbing the wind, but we immediately recognize +these pictures as figures of fancy, or as in the nature +of allegory, and they do not impress us so deeply as +the miraculous flight of a goddess of Homer, or an +assemblage of the satellites of Satan in the Hell of +Milton, for we involuntarily regard these events as +compatible with the religious faith of great nations, +and so as having a nearer apparent semblance of +truth. Sacred art therefore, being capable of providing +beauty of a much higher kind than any other +form, should be placed in a separate section for the +purpose of considering the law under discussion. +Only poetry among the arts is capable of appropriately +representing divine actions, and only sculpture +of producing a form so perfect as to bring a divinity +to mind. Hence these arts are alone concerned with +the Law of Recognition as applied to the first section +of the Associated Arts.</p> + +<p>The law applies to all the Associated Arts, and to +all sections of them, except the lowest form of painting—that +represented by harmony of colour without +appeal to the mind of any kind—but this form is so +weak and exceptional that it need hardly be con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>sidered +in the general proposition. Indeed we might +reasonably argue that it does not come within the +fine arts, as it is produced by a mechanical arrangement +of things with fixed and unalterable physical +properties.</p> + +<p>The law cannot apply to music and architecture, +for the effects of these are purely emotional, and so +directly vary with conditions of time and place respectively. +A work of architecture may seem more +beautiful in one place than in another; and a work of +music more or less beautiful according as it more or +less synchronizes with emotional conditions of human +activity surrounding the hearer at the time of the +performance.</p> + +<p>While this law is unvarying in the Associated Arts, +there are artificial restrictions which must be considered +in order that apparent deviations from it +may be understood. Special restrictions in relation +to the higher poetry and sculpture are mentioned +later on, but there is also an important general restriction. +The sense nerves and the imagination, like +all other functions, must be exercised in order that +normal healthy conditions may be retained; but a +large section of the people, by force of circumstances +or want of will, have neglected this exercise, and so +through disuse or misuse these functions are often in +a condition which is little more than rudimentary. +Hence such persons are practically debarred from +appreciation of many forms of art, and particularly +those wherein intellectual beauty is a marked feature. +In discussing the operation of this law amongst people +in general therefore, the writer must be understood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +to refer only to that section of the community whose +sense nerves and imaginations may be supposed to +be in a healthy, active condition.</p> + +<p>Experience with all the Associated Arts has clearly +demonstrated the validity of this law. The strength +of the devices used by the poet lies in simplifying the +presentation of his pictures. Metaphor is necessary +to the poet, for without it he would be powerless to +present pictures made up of a number of parts, but +he also uses it for the purpose of throwing simple +images upon the mind more rapidly, and consequently +more forcibly, than would be possible if direct means +were employed; and the beauty of the metaphor +appears the greater according as it more completely +fills in the picture which the poet is desirous of presenting. +When other artifices than metaphor or +simile are applied, the result only appears very beautiful +when the condensation of the language used is +extreme, and when there is no break in the delineation +of the action. A few supreme examples of +beauty derived from the principal devices of the poet +for presenting his pictures may be instanced, and it +will be found that in each case the power of the image +is directly due to the brevity of expression, the +simplicity of description and metaphor, or the unimpeded +representation of action.</p> + +<p>More than three thousand years have passed since +the period assigned to Helen of Troy, and yet each +generation of men and women as they learn of her, +have deeply sealed upon their minds the impression +that she was of surpassing beauty, almost beyond the +reach of human conception. We have practically no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +details of her appearance from Homer or Hesiod, +except that she was neat-ankled, white-armed, rich-haired, +and had the sparkling eyes of the Graces, but +already in the time of Hesiod her renown "spread +over the earth." What was it then that established +the eternal fame of her beauty? Simply a few words +of Homer indicating the startling effect of her appearance +before the elders of Troy. We are allowed to +infer that these dry, shrunken-formed sages, shrill-voiced +with age, became passionately disturbed by a +mere glance at her figure, and nervously agreed with +each other that little blame attached to the Greeks +and Trojans for suffering such long and severe hardships +on account of her, for only with the goddesses +could she be compared. How wondrous must be the +beauty when a glimpse of it suffices to hasten the +blood through shrivelled veins, and provoke tempestuous +currents to awake atrophied nerves! Without +the record of this incident, the vague notices of +Helen's appearance would be very far from sufficient +to account for the universal recognition of her marvellous +beauty.<a name="Eanchor_22" id="Eanchor_22"></a><a href="#Enote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_7" id="Pl_7"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 7</span> +<img src="images/i_099.jpg" width="1024" height="739" alt="PLATE 7" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Greek Sculpture, 4th Century <small>B.C.</small> Attributed to Scopas +Greek Bronze, 3d Century <small>B.C.</small><br /> +Heads of Demeter</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_122">page 122</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>One of the finest lines of Shakespeare is, "How +sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank." The +beauty of the line rests entirely upon the use of the +word "sleeps" to express something which could not +be otherwise said without the use of many words. +The moonbeam is apparently perfectly still, the +atmosphere calm, and there is nothing in the surroundings +to disturb the natural tranquillity, these +conditions inducing a feeling of softness and rest in +the observer. If it had been necessary to say all this, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>Shakespeare would certainly have omitted reference to +the moonlight, but his powerful imagination brings to +mind the word "sleeps" to express the conditions, and +we are overwhelmed with a beautiful picture suddenly +thrown on the brain as if by a brilliant flash of light.</p> + +<p>Among the many illustrations of the point which +may be found in the Bible, is the great passage, +"And God said, 'Let there be Light,' and there was +Light." This is described by Longinus as nobly +expressed, but he does not suggest any cause for its +æsthetic effect. It is true that nothing could be +finer, but the nobility of the expression is derived +from its brevity—from the extreme rapidity with +which so vast and potent an event as an act of creation +is pictured on the brain.<a name="Eanchor_23" id="Eanchor_23"></a><a href="#Enote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> A description of an +act of creation, although involving psychological +considerations of sublimity, is not necessarily so +beautiful in expression as to be a work of art.</p> + +<p>In the case of lyric poetry, brevity of expression, +though still of high importance, is not of so much +moment as in epic or dramatic verse, because the +substance is subordinated to beauty of expression +and musical form. Devices are used chiefly for +strengthening the sensorial element, the appeal to the +mind being in most cases secondary. Nevertheless +the lyric poet wastes no words. Take for example +Sappho's <i>Ode to Anactoria</i>. The substance of these +amazing lines is comparatively insignificant, being +merely the expression of emotion on the part of an +individual consequent upon disappointment, yet the +transcendent beauty of the poem has held enthralled +fourscore generations of men and women, and still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +the world gasps with astonishment at its perfection. +Obviously the beauty of the ode rests mainly on +qualities of form which cannot be reproduced in +translation, but the substance may be, and it will be +observed that the description of the action is unsurpassable. +The picture, the whole picture, and +nothing but the picture, is thrown on the mind +rapidly and directly; so rapidly that the movement +of the brush is scarcely discernible, and so simply +that not a thought is required for its elucidation. +With the chain of symptoms broken or less closely +connected, the passion indicated would be comparatively +feeble, whatever the force of the artifices in +rhythm and expression which Sappho knew so well +how to employ.<a name="Eanchor_24" id="Eanchor_24"></a><a href="#Enote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a></p> + +<p>As with poetry, so with the arts of sculpture and +painting: the greatest works result from simple +designs. All the sculptures which we recognize as +sublime or highly beautiful, consist of single figures, +or in very rare cases, groups of two or three, and +indeed it is difficult to hold in our minds a carved +group of several figures. The images of the Zeus and +Athena of Phidias, though we know little of them +except from literary records and inferior copies, are +far more brilliantly mirrored upon our minds than +the Parthenon reliefs. The importance of simplicity +is perhaps more readily seen in sculpture than in any +other art, for the slightest fault in design has an +immediate effect upon the mind of the observer. It +is noticeable that the decadence of a great art period +is usually first marked by complications in sculptured +figures.<a name="Eanchor_25" id="Eanchor_25"></a><a href="#Enote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>In painting, the pictures which we regard as great +are characterized by their simplicity, and the immediate +recognition of their purport. They are +either ideal figures, or groups where at least the +central figure is idealized and commonly known. +The work must be grasped at one glance for the +beauty to be of a high order. Hence in the case of +frescoes great artists have not attempted to make the +beauty of any part dependent upon the comprehension +of the whole. It is impossible for the eye to take +in at a single glance the whole of a large fresco painting, +and this explains why a fresco celebrated for its +beauty is often disappointing to one who sees it for +the first time, and endeavours to impress it on his +mind as a single picture by rapidly piecing together +the different parts.<a name="Eanchor_26" id="Eanchor_26"></a><a href="#Enote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> Polygnotus could well paint +forty scenes from Homer as mural decoration in one +hall, for they could only be examined and understood +as separate pictures; and the ceiling of Michelangelo +at the Vatican is so arranged that there is no necessity +for combining the parts in the mind. So with +the Parma frescoes of Correggio. Raphael had a +different task in his Vatican frescoes, but he accomplished +it by arranging his figures so that each separate +group is a beautiful picture; and Lionardo in +his great work at Milan divided the Apostles into +groups of three in order to minimize the consideration +necessary for the appreciation of so large a work.</p> + +<p>Fiction is divided into two sections, the novel and +the short story, and they are so distinct in character +that they must necessarily be considered separately +in the application of the law under discussion. Form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +is of high importance in both classes of the art, but +weighs more in the short story because here the +appeal to the mind is unavoidably restricted. The +novelist is capable of producing a higher beauty than +is within the range of the short-story writer. The +latter is limited in his delineation of character to the +circumstances surrounding a single experience, while +the novelist, in describing various experiences, may +add shade upon shade in expression and thus elevate +the characters and actions above the level possible +of attainment by means of a single incident. But +within his limit the short-story writer may provide +his beauty more easily than the novelist, because a +picture can be more readily freed from complications +when away from surroundings, than when it forms +one of a series of pictures which must have connecting +links. A good short story consists of a single incident +or experience in a life history. It is clearly cut, without +introduction, and void of a conclusion which is +not directly part of the incident. The subject is of +general interest; the language simple, of common use, +and free from mannerisms; while there are no accessories +beyond those essential for the comprehension +of the scheme. These conditions, which imply the +most extreme simplicity, are present in all the +greatest short stories known to us—the best works of +the author of the <i>Contes Nouvelles</i>, of Sacchetti, +Boccaccio, Margaret of Navarre, Hoffman, Poe, and +De Maupassant. The novel differs from the short +story in that it is a large section of a life with many +experiences, but the principles under which the two +varieties of fiction are built up, are precisely the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +Obviously the limit in length of a novel is that point +beyond which the writer cannot enhance the beauty +of character and action, while maintaining the unity +of design. This means the concentration of effort in +the direction of simplicity, facilitating the rapid reception +of the pictures presented by the writer upon +the mind of the reader.</p> + +<p>It is thus evident that the higher the beauty in +the Associated Arts, the simpler are the signs or sign +combinations which produce it; and hence the Law +of Recognition rests on a secure foundation, for the +simple must necessarily be recognized before the +complex.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>LAW OF GENERAL ASSENT</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated Arts.</p> + + +<p>The first aim of art is sensorial beauty, because +sensorial experience must precede the impression of +beauty upon the mind. The extent to which something +appears to be sensorially harmonious depends +upon the condition or character of the nerves conveying +the impression of it to the brain. We know +from experience that exercise of these nerves results +in the removal or partial removal of natural irregularities +therein, and enables a complex form of beauty +to be recognized which was not before perceived. +The vast majority of the people have not cultivated +their sense nerves except involuntarily, and consequently +can only recognize more or less simple beauty: +thus, as the sign combinations become more complicated, +so is diminished the number of persons +capable of appreciating the beauty thereof.</p> + +<p>The highest form of beauty conceivable to the +imagination is that of the human being, because here +corporeal and intellectual beauty may be combined. +This is universally admitted and has been so since +the first records of mental activity. The human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +figure must be regarded as a single sign since the +relation of its parts to each other is fixed and invariable; +and further it is the simplest, because of all +signs none is so quickly recognized by the rudimentary +understanding. In the Associated Arts therefore, +the highest beauty is to be found in the simplest +sign, and this is the one supremely important sign +in these arts, for without it only the lowest forms +may be produced.</p> + +<p>From all this we determine that the higher the +beauty in a work of the Associated Arts, the larger +is the number of persons capable of recognizing it; +so that if we say that something in these arts is +beautiful because it pleases, we imply that it is still +more beautiful if we say that it generally pleases, +and the highest of all standards of beauty is involved +in the interpretation of Longinus: "That is sublime +and beautiful which always pleases, and takes equally +with all sorts of men." Thus, in the Associated Arts, +the general opinion as to the æsthetic value of a work +of high art is both demonstration and law.<a name="Eanchor_27" id="Eanchor_27"></a><a href="#Enote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a></p> + +<p>In music the significance of the signs is inverted +compared with the progression in the Associated +Arts, for while in the latter the highest form of beauty +is produced by the simplest of single signs, in music +the higher forms are the result of complex combinations +of signs. The greatest musical compositions +consist of an immense variety of signs arranged in a +hitherto unknown order. Thus, while the immature +or uncultivated mind recognizes the higher forms of +beauty before the lower in the Associated Arts, it +first recognizes the lower forms in music. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Associated Arts therefore, cultivation results in the +further appreciation of the forms of art as they descend, +and in music as they ascend.</p> + +<p>In painting, the most uncultivated persons, even +those who have never exercised their organs of sight +except involuntarily, will always admire the higher +forms before the lower.<a name="Eanchor_28" id="Eanchor_28"></a><a href="#Enote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> They will more highly +appreciate a picture of a Madonna or other beautiful +woman than an interior where the scene is comparatively +complicated by the presence of several persons, +and they will prefer the interior to a landscape, and +a landscape to a still-life picture. So in sculpture. +Other things being equal, a figure of a man or woman +will be preferred to a group, and the group to an +animal or decorative ornament. An exception must +however be made in respect of the sublime reaches of +Grecian sculpture in the fifth and fourth centuries +<small>B.C.</small>, owing to an artificial restriction. There is very +little of this sculpture to be actually seen, nearly all +the more important works being known only from +records or variable copies. Considerable observation, +comparison, and study, are necessary before one can +gain a fair conception of the Grecian ideals, and so +they are practically lost to the bulk of the people.</p> + +<p>In fiction it is common knowledge that the greatest +works from the point of view of art are always the +most popular, as they are invariably the most simple +in construction and diction. In considering poetry +we must exclude the great epics, as those of Homer, +Virgil, Dante, and Milton, because where the actions +of supernatural persons are described, the sentiments +and language employed are so elevated in character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +and the images and literary references so numerous, +that a certain superior education is required before +the sense of the poems can be comprehended. Subject +to this artificial restriction, the rule holds entirely +good. Shakespeare is at once the greatest and +most popular of our poets: Shelley, Byron, and +Burns, are as far ahead of Tennyson and Browning +in popularity as they are in general beauty and +simplicity.</p> + +<p>In music on the other hand the lower forms are the +simplest and consequently the most popular. Songs, +dance measures, and ditties of various kinds, are +enjoyed by the mass of the people in preference to +Beethoven and Wagner, a certain cultivation of the +aural nerves being necessary for the appreciation of +the greater artists. The architect is under the necessity +of meeting the ends of utility, but subject to this +restriction it is obvious that simplicity must be the +keynote to his design, for the highest quality of +beauty in his power to produce is grandeur, and this +diminishes with an increase in the complexity of his +sign combinations. The combination of simplicity +with grandeur is the first form of beauty that would +be recognized by the immature eye, and consequently +in respect of the general test of art excellence, architecture +falls into line with the Associated Arts, and +not with music.</p> + +<p>From what has been said it will be understood how +it is that in the Associated Arts opinion as to the +æsthetic value of particular works begins to differ +as soon as we leave the recognized masterpieces of +the first rank, and why the divergence widens with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +every step downwards. As the character of the art is +lowered so is diminished the number of persons capable +of appreciating it. In painting and sculpture +this diminution is direct with the increased complexity +of the signs used, and indirect according as the +character of the signs weakens. In poetry the same +rule applies generally, but in the lower forms alliance +with the art of music may bring about a variation. +Only the very lowest forms of music may be used +with the higher forms of poetry because the poet must +have the minimum of restriction when dealing with +the character and actions of the personages who constitute +the principal signs in his work, but as the +art descends the musical form becomes of more importance, +and the substance more simple. Hence the +sensorial beauty of a lyric may be appreciated more +quickly than that of a poem which is, in substance, +of a much higher order, though the kind of beauty +recognized will differ in the two cases. But even in +the greatest lyric the musical form is comparatively +very simple, its beauty being recognized without +special cultivation of the aural nerves: thus, subject +to the division of poetry into its natural grades—the +two sections where substance and form respectively +predominate—the measure of its beauty is the extent +to which it is generally appreciated. None of the +other Associated Arts may be allied with a second +art without crippling it as a fine art, because of the +extraordinary limitations forced upon the artist by +the alliance; and hence in respect of sculpture, painting, +and fiction, there is no exception to the rule that +the beauty capable of being produced diminishes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +strictly with an increase in the complexity of the +signs used.</p> + +<p>These facts appear sufficiently to establish what +may be called the Law of General Assent in the +Associated Arts; that is to say, in the arts of poetry, +sculpture, painting, and fiction, the supreme test of +the æsthetic value of a work, is general opinion; and +a corollary of this is that the smaller the number of +persons to whom a work of one of these arts appeals, +the weaker is the art therein.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>LIMITATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">The production of beauty in the respective arts—How they differ +in scope.</p> + + +<p>The Associated Arts have all the same method +of producing beauty: they throw pictures on the +brain.<a name="Eanchor_29" id="Eanchor_29"></a><a href="#Enote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Sensorial or intellectual beauty, or both +together, may be exhibited, but in the arts of the +painter and sculptor the picture is transferred to the +brain through the optic nerves, and is necessarily +presented before the intellect can be brought to bear +upon the impression. The arts of the poet and the +story writer involve the presentation of a picture +representing the complete composition, and in addition +when the work is lengthy, of a series of pictures +each of which strengthens the relief of the general +design. The painter and sculptor each presents a +complete picture, the meaning of which is immediately +determined through the sense of sight, and the +extent of the beauty is bounded by what can be +recognized by this sense. All the signs necessary to +perfect the composition are simultaneously indicated, +the artist exhibiting at one blow a full description of +what makes up his thing of beauty. But the poet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +cannot so produce a picture because he presents the +parts successively and not simultaneously, and in the +most important of all the forms which he represents—that +of the human countenance—both beauty and +expression have to be defined, and the separate elements +are indescribable. Consequently, however, we +may combine the features of a countenance as described +by the poet, we cannot throw a picture of the +whole upon our minds. A particular form of beauty +must be presented to the eye before it can be mentally +pictured. The poet therefore does not attempt +to dovetail his picture of the human form with descriptive +details, but relies upon imagery, suggestion, +or other artifice, to indicate his meaning in the most +rapid way possible.<a name="Eanchor_30" id="Eanchor_30"></a><a href="#Enote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> The novelist is in the same +position as the poet in this respect, except that some +of the devices of the latter are denied him.</p> + +<p>But although the poet or novelist cannot put together +the parts in his description, he may in certain +cases present natural beauty to the mind, his scope +depending upon the nature of the parts and the extent +to which they depend upon each other for the +completion of the picture. Where the beauty of the +whole rests upon a combination of perfected parts of +form only, as in the case of a horse, then the poet is +able to present beauty of form notwithstanding that +the separate parts are in themselves not beautiful, +though the beauty would be that of the type and +not of the individual. The beauty of a horse depends +upon its possession of a collection of features which +have each a particular significance. If we are able to +recognize from a description that a horse has qualities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +of form and action indicating speed, high spirits, +proud bearing, and so on, and at the same time has a +harmonious symmetry in its general outline, a beautiful +animal is thrown on the mind without difficulty. +We readily picture the courser described by Shakespeare +in his <i>Venus and Adonis</i> as a beautiful horse, +but we should not be able to differentiate it from the +courser of Mazeppa. Where the parts of the thing +described are in themselves beautiful, then the poet +may successfully throw on the mind a series of pictures +of æsthetic interest. Thus, he may call to the +imagination parts of a landscape which are in themselves +beautiful scenes, as for instance a deep gorge +opening on to a lake, or a flowery valley, though the +parts could not be put together on the mind so that +the beauty of the whole may be presented.<a name="Eanchor_31" id="Eanchor_31"></a><a href="#Enote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a></p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 728px;"> +<a name="Pl_8" id="Pl_8"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 8</span> +<img src="images/i_115.jpg" width="728" height="1024" alt="PLATE 8" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Raphael's Sistine Madonna, with the Face of the Central Figure in Fragonard's +"The Pursuit" Substituted for that of the Virgin</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_139">page 139</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Summing up the limits of the Associated Arts in +the presentation of the two kinds of beauty, the poet +and the novelist can present general or particular +beauty of mind, and general sensorial beauty, but are +powerless with particular sensorial beauty; the sculptor +and painter may present general or particular +sensorial beauty, and general, but not particular, +beauty of mind. Particular sensorial beauty may be +suggested by the poet or novelist, by indicating its +emotional effect, or by symbols in the form of metaphor; +and particular intellectual beauty may be suggested +by the sculptor or painter by representing +the effect in expression of a particular action, or by +symbols in the form of human figures of beauty.</p> + + +<p>But while the poet cannot throw upon the brain a +particular form of human beauty, he may suggest a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>greater beauty than that which the painter or sculptor +can depict, and further produce emotional effects +relating to spiritual and human actions and passions +which are beyond the plastic arts: hence his art is +capable of the highest reaches. Next to him come +the sculptor and painter, for they may represent ideal +forms which must be excluded from fiction. Theoretically, +painting and sculpture are equal in respect of +the production of human beauty, for there is no form +designed by the one which may not be presented by +the other; but practically the painter cannot attain +to the height of the sculptor in the representation of +ideal beauty.<a name="FNanchor_A_4" id="FNanchor_A_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_4" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<p>The sculptor and painter are at a disadvantage +compared with the poet and novelist, for the limitation +of their arts compels them to confine their +imaginations to structural work. Each of the Associated +Arts consists nominally of three parts: (<i>a</i>) the +scheme, or idea, or fable; (<i>b</i>) the design or invention<a name="Eanchor_32" id="Eanchor_32"></a><a href="#Enote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a>; +(<i>c</i>) the execution. In a representation of action, the +painter or sculptor can only depict a particular moment +of it, neither the beginning nor the end being +visible. He must therefore choose an action of which +the beginning and end are known, for while either +may be suggested in a simple design, both cannot be +implied so that the whole story is obvious. He has +consequently to take his moment of action from a +fact or fable in one of the literary arts, or from actual +life experience.<a name="Eanchor_33" id="Eanchor_33"></a><a href="#Enote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> Where no particular action is +indicated, as in many pastoral and interior scenes +in painting, or ornamental figures in sculpture, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +conception and invention are one. Thus, the painter +or sculptor is confined to only two parts of his art, +the design and execution. While therefore the scope +of the poet and novelist is as unlimited as the sea of +human motives and passions, that of the painter and +sculptor is held within strictly marked bounds.</p> + +<p>All the Associated Arts are alike in that they cannot +be specially used for moral or social purposes +without suffering a marked deterioration. This is +because of the limitations imposed upon the artist. +His wings are clipped: his imagination is confined +within a narrow groove: he is converted from a +master to a slave. Hence no great work of one of +these arts has been produced where the conception +of the artist was bound by the necessity of pointing a +moral, or of conforming to some idea of utility.<a name="Eanchor_34" id="Eanchor_34"></a><a href="#Enote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_4" id="Footnote_A_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_4"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Chapter IX.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>DEGREES OF BEAUTY IN THE PAINTER'S ART</h3> + + +<p>The degrees of beauty which the art of the painter +can exhibit appear to be, in order of their value, as +follows:</p> + +<p>1. That which appeals to the senses with form, +and to the mind with expression, above the possibility +of life experience. This double beauty can +only be found in ideals, and the real cannot be associated +with it except as accessory. The highest art +of the painter is therefore confined to sacred, mythological, +and symbolical subjects.</p> + +<p>2. That which appeals to the senses through representation +of the human form, without, or with +only partial idealization, and to the mind through the +indication in expression of high abstract qualities. +This section comprises subjects of profane history, +and high class portraiture. It varies from the succeeding +section in that the artist may represent the +human being as he ought to be, or would be with the +higher physical and abstract qualities emphasized, or +in certain cases, with these qualities added.</p> + +<p>3. That which appeals to the senses through the +harmony of tone and design, and to the mind through +the representation of human action within the com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>pass +of life experience. This section comprises interiors +and exteriors relating to daily life and labour, +and portraiture which is merely accurate imitation of +features. It differs from the previous section in that +it represents the human being as he is, and not as he +ought to be.</p> + +<p>4. That which appeals to the senses through +harmony of colour and design, in respect of the imitation +and the things imitated, in addition to pleasing +because it excites admiration of the skill in imitation. +This section comprises landscape, flowers, fine +plumaged birds, and certain symmetrical animal +forms.</p> + +<p>5. That which appeals to the senses through +harmony of tone and design, and indirectly to the +mind through association of ideas connected with +the other arts; in addition to pleasing because of +the excellent imitation, and possibly because of the +beauty of the things imitated. This section comprises +paintings of things connected with the other +arts, and which are neither beautiful nor displeasing, +such as books and musical instruments; or which +are imitations of products of another art, as plate, +marble reliefs, or architectural forms.</p> + +<p>6. That which appeals to the senses through +harmony of tone and design, in addition to pleasing +because of the excellent imitation. This class of +beauty comprises paintings of objects which in themselves +are not beautiful, as vegetables, kitchen utensils, +and certain animals; or which are even repellent, +as dead animals.</p> + +<p>7. That which appeals to the senses through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +harmony of colour, the design having no beauty in +itself. This form of art, which is the lowest in the +scale of the painter, is only adapted for the simplest +formal decoration.</p> + +<p>The first three sections may produce both sensorial +and intellectual beauty; the others only sensorial. +Limited abstract qualities are associated with certain +animals in nature, but cannot be indicated in the +uncombined art of the painter.</p> + +<p>Beyond these sections, there are classes of pictures +which do not belong to the pure art of the painter, +namely, those executed for use and not for beauty<a name="Eanchor_35" id="Eanchor_35"></a><a href="#Enote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a>; +those painted to illustrate sports, or to record passing +events; certain allegorical paintings; and those works +which, while they cannot represent the ideal, require +the assistance of another art for their interpretation; +as for instance, incidents to illustrate particular +morals or stories; scenes from the drama other than +tragedy; portraits of persons in character; humorous +subjects, and so on. Such works, on account of the +restrictions imposed on the artist, can exhibit but +limited and fleeting beauty. Elsewhere they are +noticed under the heading of "Secondary Art."</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART I.—THE IDEAL</h3> + + +<p>The human being is the only sign in the arts capable +of idealization, because, while its parts are fixed +and invariable, it is the only sign as to which there is +a universal agreement in respect of the value of +abstract qualities connected with it. There can be +no ideal of the human form separately, because this +implies expression which results from abstract qualities. +Nor can there be an ideal combination of these +qualities, except a general expression covering all the +virtues and eliminating all the passions, which expression +cannot be disassociated from form. The +ideal human being is therefore a perfect generalization +of the highest conceivable qualities of form and +expression.</p> + +<p>Necessarily in matters of art, when we use the +term "Ideal," we mean a general ideal, that is to say, +an ideal that would be accepted as such by the general +body of men and women. From the fact that +the sensorial nerves in all persons are alike in form +and character, and that they act in the same way +under like conditions, it follows that there must be a +general agreement as to degrees of beauty, and thus a +common conception of the ideal human being. Ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>perience +has demonstrated this at all times, both in +respect of the general ideal we are now discussing, +and of particular ideals involving special types and +characters; and so invariable is this experience that +the progression towards similar ideals has all the +force of law.<a name="Eanchor_36" id="Eanchor_36"></a><a href="#Enote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> This general agreement is subject to +certain restrictions. The first is in regard to form +in which the imagination cannot proceed beyond +experience. The component parts of an ideal form +cannot include any which are higher in quality than +those which have come within the experience of the +person compounding the ideal. Secondly, in regard +to abstract qualities, the estimation of these depends +upon intelligence and education, and the accumulated +experience of these things, which we measure in +terms of degrees of civilization. Consequently, +different interpretations would be placed upon the +phrase "the highest conceivable qualities of form +and expression," by the various races of mankind. +According as the experience was greater, so would the +ideal form be higher in type; and as the civilization +was more advanced, so would the abstract qualities +exhibited be more perfect in character. But among +civilized peoples what is, within our understanding, +the ultimate form of the ideal, would not change in +respect of abstract qualities, and as to form would +only vary in comparatively insignificant details with +the width of experience.</p> + +<p>It is obvious that there can be only one general +ideal covering perfection of form and mind, and this +being beyond human experience, can only be associated +with a spiritual personage, and necessarily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +with the highest conceivable spiritual personage—the +Supreme Being. In its absolute perfection it +may be significant of the Supreme Being of any +religion of civilized peoples, but not of other spiritual +personages to whom such perfection may also be +attributed, because absolute power can only be implied +in one such personage. This power cannot be +indicated in an ideal expression, and hence there is +no alternative but to leave the one general ideal to +the Supreme Being.</p> + +<p>There are only two religions in which an ideal +human form has been used in art to typify the +Supreme Being, and these are the ancient Grecian +and the Christian; but the one general ideal referred +to has only been used by the Greeks. The Christian +conception of the Deity is far nobler than that which +the Greeks had of Zeus, but in art nothing greater +than the Grecian ideal has been executed. As a type +of an Almighty Power the best Christian representation +is distinctly inferior, and it must necessarily be +so because convention requires that a particular +feature of expression must be indicated therein which +is not compulsory in the Grecian ideal. Forgiveness +of sins is a cardinal principle in the Christian doctrine, +and consequently whatever the character of +expression given to the Deity, a certain gentleness +has to be exhibited which materially limits the comprehensive +nature of the expression. The Grecian +ideal, as sculptured, strictly denied any particular +characteristic, while covering every good quality, +and hence for the Christian it is not so suitable as +the accepted modification.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>Among the Greeks, ideal types of the gods and +goddesses other than Zeus varied considerably. +Those representations that have come down to us +are usually deviations from the Zeus type with certain +special characteristics, though often they can +only be distinguished from each other by symbols. +They are above human life and so cannot be appropriately +associated with human surroundings. Ideals +appertaining to Christianity are practically fixed by +convention, or are interchangeable with ideals in +allegorical and symbolical art.</p> + +<p>Art is not concerned with what are termed ideal +physical qualities because beauty is its first consideration. +A form with powerful limbs and muscles +may be generally accepted as an ideal form of +strength, but these very limbs and muscles would +detract from the beauty of the figure, and so separately +such a form would be inferior art.</p> + +<p>An ideal can only be applied to excellence. In +art, moral or physical deformity cannot be exaggerated +for the purpose of emphasis or contrast without +lessening the deformity or injuring the art. In +the work of the greater artists the former result +follows; in that of less skilful artists, the latter. +Homer could not deal with evil characters without +exciting a certain sympathy with them, thus diminishing +the deformity in the minds of his readers. +There is a measure of nobility about Shakespeare's +bad men, and Milton distinctly ennobled Satan in +portraying his evil powers and influence. In painting +and sculpture there is no place for hideous forms of +any description, for they either revolt the imagina<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>tion +and so neutralize the appreciation of the beautiful +figures present in the composition, or they verge +upon the ridiculous and disturb the mind with counteracting +influences. With rare exceptions the +greater artists have not failed to recognize this truth,<a name="Eanchor_37" id="Eanchor_37"></a><a href="#Enote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> +and in respect of the very greatest men, no really +hideous figure is to be found in any of their works, if +we except certain instances where the artist had to +comply with fixed rules and conditions, as for example +in Michelangelo's Last Judgment where evil beings +had perforce to be presented, and could only be +shown as deformities.</p> + +<p>Attempts to emphasize ugliness by artists of inferior +rank result in the fantastic or the ludicrous, +as in the representation of evil spirits on the old +Etruscan tombs, and the whimsical imps of the +Breughels and the younger Teniers.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART II.—CHRISTIAN IDEALS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">The Deity—Christ—The Madonna—The Madonna and Child.</p> + + +<p>In considering the scope for the exhibition of ideals +in art, it should be remembered that ideal types of +some of the principal personages in religious and +mythological history have been already fixed by +great artists, and it is impossible to depart from them +without producing what would appear to be abnormal +representations. Homer led the way with occasional +hints of the presumed physical appearance of +some of the leading deities of Greece, and except in +the case of Aphrodite the later Grecian sculptors +closely followed him. The Zeus of Homer as improved +by Phidias has been the model of this deity +in respect of form for nearly every succeeding sculptor +to this day, while it was also the model which +suggested the Christian Father as represented by the +first artists of the Renaissance, though, as already +indicated, the majestic dignity of the Phidian Zeus +was partly sacrificed by the Christian artists. Phidias +in fact created a type which, so far as human +foresight can judge, must ever guide the artistic +mind, whether portraying the mighty son of Kronos,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +or the God of the Christians. Only very rarely nowadays +is the Christian Deity pictured in art, and as +time goes on His introduction in human shape in a +painting will become still more rare in conformity +with changing religious ideas and practices; but now +and hereafter any artist who contemplates the representation, +must, voluntarily or involuntarily, turn +to the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo for his +guide.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 712px;"> +<a name="Pl_9" id="Pl_9"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 9</span> +<img src="images/i_129.jpg" width="712" height="1024" alt="PLATE 9" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Raphael's Virgin of the Rose with the Face of "Profane Love" in Titian's Picture +Substituted for that of the Virgin</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_138">page 138</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>There is no tradition upon which to base an actual +portrait of Christ. For the first four centuries <small>A.D.</small>, +when He was represented in art, it was usually by +means of symbols, or as a young man without beard, +but there are some Roman relics of the fifth century +remaining in which He is depicted much in the later +generally accepted type, with short beard and flowing +hair. During the long centuries of the Dark Age, +when religious art was practically confined to the +Byzantine Greeks, Christ was almost invariably +portrayed with a long face and emaciated features +and limbs, as the epitome of sadness and sorrow. +This expression was modified as the arts travelled to +the north and west of Europe, and gradually His +face began to assume more regularity and beauty. +Then came Cimabue to sow the seed of the Renaissance, +and with him the ideal of Christ was changed +to a perfect man of flesh and blood. A century or +more was occupied in establishing this ideal, but it +was so established, and has maintained its position +to this day.<a name="Eanchor_38" id="Eanchor_38"></a><a href="#Enote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a></p> + +<p>This ideal represents the Saviour as a man of about +thirty-three years—His age at the Crucifixion. He +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>wears flowing hair with a short beard and usually a +moustache. His face is rather long, often oval; the +features have a perfect regularity, and the expression +is commonly one of patient resignation. Naturally +His body must appear well nourished, otherwise +corporeal beauty cannot be expressed. This is the +type which has been used since the height of the +Renaissance, though there have been a few exceptional +representations. Thus, the face of Christ in +Lionardo's Last Supper at Milan is that of a beardless +young man of some twenty-five years<a name="FNanchor_A_5" id="FNanchor_A_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_5" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> and +Raphael in an early picture shows Him beardless, but +gives Him an age of about thirty.<a name="FNanchor_B_6" id="FNanchor_B_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_6" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> Some early +Flemish artists also rendered Him beardless at times, +notably the Maitre de Flémalle, Van der Weyden, and +Quentin Matsys. Michelangelo in his Last Judgment +represents the Saviour sitting in judgment as a robust, +stern, commanding figure, beardless, and with an +expression and bearing apparently serving the idea +of Justice.<a name="FNanchor_C_7" id="FNanchor_C_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_7" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Strange to say the artist gives a very +similar face to St. Stephen in the same series of +frescoes. A still more unusual representation is that +of Francisco di Giorgio, who gives Christ the appearance +of an Apollo,<a name="FNanchor_D_8" id="FNanchor_D_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_8" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> while Bramantino depicts His +face worn with heavy lines.<a name="FNanchor_E_9" id="FNanchor_E_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_9" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> In one picture Marco +Basaiti shows Him as a young man with long hair +but without beard, and in another with a thick beard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +without moustache.<a name="FNanchor_F_10" id="FNanchor_F_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_10" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> There was considerable variation +in the type among the Venetians of the sixteenth +century, but not in important features, and since then +very few artists indeed have ventured to depart from +the ideal above described. The only notable exception +in recent times is in a work by Burne-Jones who +represents Christ as a beardless youth, though indicating +the wound to St. Thomas.<a name="FNanchor_G_11" id="FNanchor_G_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_11" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> It is supposed +that the artist presumed that the Person of Christ +underwent a complete change after the Resurrection.</p> + + +<p>It is evident that the ideal Christ as established +by the Italians can scarcely be improved upon in art +within the prescribed limitations. Christ having +lived as an actual man, His representation must be +within the bounds of possible experience; and since +He died at the age of thirty-three, intellectual power +cannot be suggested in His countenance, for this in +life means an expression implying large experience +warranted only by mature age. The representation is +therefore confined to that of a man who, while exhibiting +a healthy regularity of form and feature, has +lost all sense of earthly pleasure. The beauty +achieved by this type is negative, the only marked +quality being a suggestion of sadness which, in painting, +is necessarily present in all expression where an +unconcern with human instincts and passions is depicted. +The Italians in their representation of Christ +were thus unable to reach the height of the Greek +divine portrayals. They were confined to earth, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +the Greek figures were symbols of spiritual forms +which were pure products of the imagination. +Giotto and his successors sought a physically perfect +man with all purely human features in expression +eliminated. The Greeks, even when representing +divinities below Zeus, generalized all human attributes, +excluding nothing but the exceptional. They +embodied in their forms, truths acknowledged by the +whole world; summed up human life to the contentment +of all men: there was nothing in their divinities +which would prevent their acceptance as spiritual +symbols in all religions of civilized peoples. To them +human instincts were sacred: all human passions +could be ennobled: everything in the natural progression +of life came within the purview, and under +the protection, of the gods. So the course of their +art was definite: there was never a difference as to +the goal, for it was universal.</p> + +<p>From the point of view of the development of art +the ideal Christ has been of little importance compared +with the ideal Madonna, though here also the +Italians aimed for a particular instead of a general +type. They wanted a living woman with the form +and features of a pulsating mother; a woman of +ordinary life in fact, but infinitely superior in physical +beauty, and endowed with the highest grace that +their imaginations could conceive and their hands +execute. This ideal seemed to germinate with Cimabue, +but an immense advance upon him was made +by Giotto who was unsurpassed in the representation +of the Holy Mother for more than a century. But +the ideal was yet purely formal and continued so till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +past the middle of the fifteenth century, both in +Italy and Flanders. Giotto was then excelled by +many artists, but the Madonnas they produced, +though often very beautiful, are not humanly attractive. +They are on the side of the Angels; have never +been women evidently, and are far, far away from +the human type with tingling veins and heaving +breath. Filippo Lippi marked the border line between +this type of Madonna, and the advanced +pattern produced by the series of great artists of the +latter part of the fifteenth century. But with Lionardo, +Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, and the rest, the +Madonna was scarcely an ideal woman. Living +persons were commonly taken as models, and although +the portraits were no doubt "improved," +they have little connection with the ideal which the +artists evidently had in mind. The very life which +the artist transfers to canvas in a portrait is destructive +of the ideal, for it is a particular life with evidence +of particular emotions and passions from which +the Madonna should be free.</p> + +<p>A mighty barrier must be passed before a woman +is translated on canvas into the type of Madonna +sought by the first Renaissance artists. She must +be a woman of the earth; a woman who has grown +up amidst human surroundings from infancy to girlhood, +and from girlhood to womanhood; with human +aspirations and sympathies, and experience of joys +and trials: she must have all these, and as well have +become a mother; and yet with human beauty, her +countenance must be such that by no stretch of the +imagination can the possibility of desire be suggested.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +This was the problem, and certainly only a genius of +the highest order could arrive at a solution, for the +task appears on the face of it to be almost superhuman. +But Raphael succeeded in accomplishing +it, and his achievement will stand for all time as one +of the greatest epoch-making events in history. +Even Michelangelo, who created so many superb +forms, never succeeded with an ideal suitable for a +Madonna.<a name="Eanchor_39" id="Eanchor_39"></a><a href="#Enote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a></p> + +<p>It is clear that in reaching for his ideal, Raphael +did not strive for an expression relating to the spiritual. +His purpose was to eliminate from the features +anything which might possibly be construed as indicating +earthly desires, and yet retain the highest +conceivable human beauty. With this double object +contentment is a quality in expression which is indispensable, +and this Raphael was careful to give, +sometimes emphasizing it with a suggestion of happiness. +It is not possible to go further with an expression +which is to generalize the highest human physical +and abstract qualities, while keeping the figure +within the range of apparent feasible realization in +life. The result was ideal but not exclusive. It is a +universal type, and is suited to the Madonna because +there is nothing humanly higher within our comprehension; +but it has a further general import which +is dealt with elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Although the aim achieved by Raphael must +necessarily be the goal of all artists in the representation +of the Madonna, it is of course not essential +that he should be accepted as the only guide to her +form. Her features may vary indefinitely so long as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +the ideal is maintained, and Raphael himself painted +no two Madonnas with the same features. But certain +traditions must be observed, however much one +may depart from the actual circumstances of her +life. The first is in respect of her presumed age. In +pictures dealing with her life soon after marriage, +as for instance, the Nativity and the Flight into +Egypt, the Madonna is invariably represented as +many years older than she appears in Annunciation +subjects, though only a year or so actually passed +between the respective events. The reason for this is +obvious. She must be shown with the bloom of a +matured woman. The highest form of nobility cannot +be disassociated from wisdom and experience, +which could not be indicated in the countenance of +a girl in her teens. Innocence and purity may be +present, and a certain majesty even, but our conception +of the Madonna as a woman involves the +triumph over known evils, the full knowledge of +right and wrong, and the consciousness of a supreme +position above the possibility of sin. Hence in all +representations of the Madonna at the Nativity and +afterwards, she must be shown at an age suggesting +the fullest knowledge of good and evil.</p> + +<p>While, between the Annunciation and incidents +occurring during the infancy of Christ, many years +must be presumed to have passed, from this latter +period on, the Madonna must be supposed to have +aged very little, if at all, right up to the Crucifixion. +It is not often that we find her included in a design +illustrating the life of Christ between His infancy and +the Death Scene, a fact probably due to the age<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +difficulty. In the exceptions her face is often partly +or wholly hidden. But in scenes of the Crucifixion, +where the Virgin is almost invariably introduced, +artists of all periods, with few exceptions, have been +careful to avoid suggesting the full presumed age. +Commonly the age indicated is between twenty-five +and thirty years, but as the face is always pale, and +often somewhat drawn, her comparatively youthful +appearance is not conspicuous. Obviously under no +circumstances should lines be present in the features, +for this would suggest a physical decay not in conformity +with Christian ideas.<a name="Eanchor_40" id="Eanchor_40"></a><a href="#Enote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> Even in pictures +relating to her death, which is presumed to have +occurred at an age between fifty and sixty years, her +face is shown with perfectly regular and smooth +features, though an extreme pallor may be painted. +But from the point of view of art, the Virgin must +be regarded as an accessory in works relating to +the Crucifixion, for to throw her into prominence +would result in dividing the attention of the observer +of the picture on first inspection, and so +lessening the art. In any case she must be painted +with an expression of grief, and hence an unalloyed +ideal of transcendent beauty is out of the +question.</p> + +<p>The custom of representing the Madonna in costume +and surroundings indicating a higher social +level than that in which she actually moved, is now +firmly established, and cannot be departed from +without lowering the ideal. A woman in a lowly +position of life, who is compelled to bear all the responsibilities +of a home, with the care of a husband<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +and child, is seldom seen except in the performance of +household duties. We cannot see her without associating +her in our minds with toil and possible privation, +and we naturally expect that the effect of these +will be indicated in her expression and general bearing. +If away from her home her costume would +usually declare her position, while habits of mind +connected with her daily occupation commonly engender +mannerisms in air and gait which support the +inference drawn from the character of her attire. It +would appear anomalous to paint a woman so situated +with such beauty of form and expression that +she appears to have never experienced earthly cares +of any kind, much less the long repeated daily worries +consequent upon the charge of a poor household. +Perfect beauty of form being essential in the representation +of the Madonna, she must be painted +amidst surroundings conformable with the supposition +that she is free from earthly responsibilities, +and that her mind is entirely occupied +with the boundless joy and happiness arising from +the contemplation of the divine Mission of her +Son.<a name="Eanchor_41" id="Eanchor_41"></a><a href="#Enote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a></p> + +<p>The difficulty in painting the Madonna is complicated +when the Infant Christ is introduced, because +of the liability of the Child to interfere with a +fine presentation of her figure. A similar problem +was met with by the early Greeks, and doubtless +they dealt with it in their paintings as in their sculptures, +a few of which, showing an adult holding a +child, have come down to us. These represent the +child reduced in size as far as possible, and carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +at the side of the adult figure.<a name="FNanchor_A_12" id="FNanchor_A_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_12" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> A like system was +followed by most of the Byzantine workers, and it is +very noticeable in some of the fine French sculpture +of the thirteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_B_13" id="FNanchor_B_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_13" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> In the same period +Giovanni Pisano in sculpture,<a name="FNanchor_C_14" id="FNanchor_C_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_14" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> and Cimabue in +painting,<a name="FNanchor_D_15" id="FNanchor_D_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_15" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> maintained the tradition in Italy, and +in the century following, Giotto,<a name="FNanchor_E_16" id="FNanchor_E_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_16" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> +Duccio,<a name="FNanchor_F_17" id="FNanchor_F_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_17" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> +Lorenzetto,<a name="FNanchor_G_18" id="FNanchor_G_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_18" class="fnanchor">[n]</a> +and others, often adopted the plan. Towards +the middle of the fifteenth century, the relative importance +attached to the Child in the group generally +increased, and by the end of it, the old practice +had been almost entirely abandoned. Meanwhile the +artists had some hard problems to meet. The first +was as to the size of the Child. It appeared to be +generally agreed that an older Child should be represented +than had been the custom, though a few +artists held back, notably Fra Angelico, while in +sculpture, Donatello maintained his habit of moulding +the Child as only a few weeks old. With an increased +age of the Child, the difficulty of securing +repose for the group was enhanced, for it seemed to be +proper with a child past its infancy, that it should be +pictured as engaged in one of the charming simple +actions common to childhood. These questions were +settled in different ways according to the genius and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +temperament of the artists. A few of them, as Mantegna,<a name="FNanchor_H_19" id="FNanchor_H_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_19" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> +Lorenzo Costa,<a name="FNanchor_I_20" id="FNanchor_I_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_20" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> +and Montagna,<a name="FNanchor_J_21" id="FNanchor_J_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_21" class="fnanchor">[q]</a> gave the +Child an age of two years or more, and in some of +their designs the figures seem to be of equal significance, +Mantegna and Montagna in several examples +actually standing the Child in the Virgin's lap with +the heads touching each other.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 701px;"> +<a name="Pl_10" id="Pl_10"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 10</span> +<img src="images/i_141.jpg" width="701" height="1024" alt="PLATE 10" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Raphael's Holy Family (Madrid), with the Face of Luini's Salome Substituted for +that of the Virgin</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_139">page 139</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The plans usually adopted by the greatest masters, +were, to present the maximum repose with the Child +sitting in the lap of the Virgin; or to place Him apart +from her, and engaged in some slight action; or to +show Him in the arms of the Virgin, either held at +the side, or in front, with the Virgin more or less in +profile. In all of these schemes the serene contemplation +of the Holy Mother is practically undisturbed. +In his many groups of the Virgin and Child, and of +the Holy Family, Raphael only varied twice from +these plans,<a name="FNanchor_A_22" id="FNanchor_A_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_22" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> and in both the exceptions the Child +reclines across the lap of the Virgin, so that very +little of her figure is hidden. Titian has the Child +standing by her side,<a name="FNanchor_B_23" id="FNanchor_B_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_23" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> or held away from her, and +in one example the Virgin is placing Him in the hands +of St. Joseph.<a name="FNanchor_C_24" id="FNanchor_C_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_24" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> Correggio, when away from the +influence of Mantegna, usually showed the Child +held apart from the Mother, or placed on the floor, +or on a bench. It is a common device to show the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>Child on the lap of the Virgin, but leaning over to +take a flower or other object offered Him,<a name="FNanchor_D_25" id="FNanchor_D_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_25" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> and numerous +artists allow Him to play around separately.<a name="FNanchor_E_26" id="FNanchor_E_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_26" class="fnanchor">[v]</a> +In Holbein's fine group at Augsburg, the Child stands +between the Virgin and St. Anne, and another German +painter shows Him held up by the same personages, +but clear from both of them.<a name="FNanchor_F_27" id="FNanchor_F_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_27" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> Murillo +commonly stands the Child at the side of the Virgin, +but in one picture adopts the novel method of placing +Him in the arms of St. Joseph.<a name="FNanchor_G_28" id="FNanchor_G_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_28" class="fnanchor">[x]</a></p> + +<p>When the Child is shown distinctly apart from the +Virgin, or leaning away from her lap, great care is +necessary in avoiding strength in the action, otherwise +it will draw attention away from the Virgin. A +notable example of this defect is in a picture by Parmigiano, +where the Child leans over and has his head +brought close to that of a kneeling Saint who is +caressing Him, the effect being most disturbing.<a name="FNanchor_A_29" id="FNanchor_A_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_29" class="fnanchor">[y]</a> +Bramantino shows the Child in an extraordinary +attitude, for He holds His head above His arms +without any apparent reason, the action confusing +the design.<a name="FNanchor_B_30" id="FNanchor_B_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_30" class="fnanchor">[z]</a> Many artists represent Him in the act +of reaching out his hand for flowers, without choosing +for the moment of portrayal, an instant of transition +from one part of the action to another,<a name="FNanchor_C_31" id="FNanchor_C_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_31" class="fnanchor">[aa]</a> a point +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>rarely overlooked by the first masters.<a name="FNanchor_D_32" id="FNanchor_D_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_32" class="fnanchor">[ab]</a> Occasionally +variety is given in the introduction of nursery +duties, as for instance, washing the Child,<a name="FNanchor_E_33" id="FNanchor_E_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_33" class="fnanchor">[ac]</a> but these +are inappropriate for reasons already indicated, apart +from the over strong action necessarily exhibited in +such designs. Nor should the Child have an unusual +expression, as this will immediately catch the eye of +the observer. In one work Del Sarto actually makes +Him laugh,<a name="FNanchor_F_34" id="FNanchor_F_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_34" class="fnanchor">[ad]</a> and a modern artist gives Him an +expression of fear.<a name="FNanchor_G_35" id="FNanchor_G_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_35" class="fnanchor">[ae]</a> It is questionable whether +Masaccio<a name="FNanchor_H_36" id="FNanchor_H_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_36" class="fnanchor">[af]</a> and others (including A. della Robbia +and Rossellino in sculpture) did not go too far in +portraying the Child with a finger in its mouth, for +although such an incident is common with children, +in this case it seems opposed to propriety. Generally +the first artists have striven to free the figure of the +Virgin as far as possible, and this is in conformity +with first principles, for it simplifies the view of the +chief figure in the composition. In all cases repose +should be the keynote of the design.</p> + +<p>There are no general ideals in Christian art other +than those mentioned. The presumed occupants of +the Celestial regions beyond these Personages, are +painted as the fancy of the artist may dictate, subject +only to the limitations of the accepted Christian +doctrines. There are certain conventions in respect +of Angels and Saints, but they are by no means strict; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>and for the Old Testament prophets, Michelangelo's +work in the Sistine Chapel is commonly taken as a +guide. It is scarcely likely that his examples will ever +be exceeded in majestic beauty.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_5" id="Footnote_A_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_5"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> And in the drawing for the picture at the Brera.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_6" id="Footnote_B_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_6"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Christ Blessing at the Brescia Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_7" id="Footnote_C_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_7"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> In the Sistine Chapel frescoes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_8" id="Footnote_D_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_8"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, Sienna +Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_9" id="Footnote_E_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_9"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Christ, Mayno Collection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_10" id="Footnote_F_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_10"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> The Dead Christ, and Calling of the Children of Zebedee, +Academy, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_11" id="Footnote_G_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_11"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Dies Domini.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_12" id="Footnote_A_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_12"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> See the Olympian Hermes of Praxiteles, and Irene and Pluto +after Cephisodostus at Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_13" id="Footnote_B_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_13"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> Groups in the Southern and Western porches of Amiens Cathedral.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_14" id="Footnote_C_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_14"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Madonna and Child, Arena Chapel, Padua.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_15" id="Footnote_D_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_15"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> Groups at the Florence Academy and the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_16" id="Footnote_E_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_16"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Florence Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_17" id="Footnote_F_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_17"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_18" id="Footnote_G_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_18"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> San Francisco, Assisi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_19" id="Footnote_H_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_19"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Madonna and Angels, at Milan, and other works.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_20" id="Footnote_I_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_20"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> Coronation of the Virgin, Bologna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_21" id="Footnote_J_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_21"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> Enthronement of the Virgin, Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_22" id="Footnote_A_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_22"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> Madonna and Child, Bridgewater Coll., England; and same +group with St. John, Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_23" id="Footnote_B_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_23"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> Madonna of the Cherries, Imperial Gallery, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_24" id="Footnote_C_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_24"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Bridgwater Coll., England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_25" id="Footnote_D_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_25"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> Filipino Lippi's Madonna and Angels, Corsini Palace, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_26" id="Footnote_E_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_26"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Luca Signorelli's group at Munich, and Bonfiglio's at Perugia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_27" id="Footnote_F_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_27"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> Hans Fries, National Museum, Nuremburg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_28" id="Footnote_G_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_28"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> Holy Family, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_29" id="Footnote_A_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_29"><span class="label">[y]</span></a> Madonna and Child with Saints, Bologna Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_30" id="Footnote_B_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_30"><span class="label">[z]</span></a> Virgin with a Turban, Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_31" id="Footnote_C_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_31"><span class="label">[aa]</span></a> As in B. da Bagnacavallo's Holy Family, Bologna; and Boltraffio's +Holy Family, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_32" id="Footnote_D_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_32"><span class="label">[ab]</span></a> See Titian's Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, Uffizi +Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_33" id="Footnote_E_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_33"><span class="label">[ac]</span></a> Giulio Romano's Holy Family, Dresden.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_34" id="Footnote_F_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_34"><span class="label">[ad]</span></a> Holy Family, Hermitage, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_35" id="Footnote_G_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_35"><span class="label">[ae]</span></a> Uhde's The Three Magi, Magdeburg Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_36" id="Footnote_H_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_36"><span class="label">[af]</span></a> Madonna enthroned, Sutton Coll., England.</p></div> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART III.—CLASSICAL IDEALS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Ideals of the Greeks—Aphrodite—Hera—Demeter—Athena—Apollo—Diana—Neptune—Mars—Mercury—Bacchus—Vulcan—General +classical compositions.</p> + + +<p>What human being can appropriately describe +the great ideals in art of ancient Greece? Above us +all they stand, seemingly as upon the pinnacle of the +universal mind, reflecting the collective human +soul, and exhibiting the concentrated essence of +human nature. The best of men and women of all +ages is combined in these ideal heads, which look +from an endless past to an eternal future; which +embody every passion and every virtue; every religion +and every philosophy; all wisdom and all +knowledge. They are ideal gods and goddesses, +but are independent of legends and history. They +represent no mythological deities except in name, +and least of all do they assort with the deities of +Homer and Hesiod. In all other religions the ideals +expressed in art fail entirely to reach the height of +the general conceptions, and are far below the spiritual +beings as depicted in the sacred books; but +the Grecian ideals as recorded in stone are so far +beyond the legendary gods of the ancient poets,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +that we are unable to pass from the stone to the +literature without an overwhelming feeling of astonishment +at the contrast. It is unfortunate that we +are powerless to re-establish these ideals definitely, +for the originals have been mostly lost; nevertheless +the ancient copies, a few contemporary complete +sculptures, and many glorious fragments; as well as +intimate descriptions and repeated eulogies, often +reaching to hyperbole, of eminent men, expressed +over a succession of centuries when the great works +were still exposed to view—all this assembled evidence +indelibly stamps upon our minds the nature +of the ideals; gives us a clear impression of the most +profound conceptions that have emanated from the +human brain.</p> + +<p>The people who accomplished these great monuments +seem to have thought only in terms of the +universe. They did not seek for the embodiment +of goodness, nobility, and charity, perfection in +which qualities we regard as divine, but they aimed +at a majesty which included all these things; which +comprehended nothing but the supreme in form and +mind; and with an all-reaching knowledge of the +human race, stood outside of it, but covered it with +reflected glory, as the sun stands ever away from +the planets but illumines them all. The wonder is +not that these ideals were created in the minds of +the Greeks, for there is no boundary to the imagination, +but that minds could be found to set them +down in design, and hands to mould and shape them +in clay and stone; and that many minds and hands +could do these things in the same epoch. That these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +sculptured forms have never been equalled is not +wonderful; that they never will be surpassed is as +certain as that death is the penalty of life. So +firmly have they become grafted into the minds of +men as things unapproachable in beauty, that they +have themselves been converted into general ideals +towards which all must climb who attempt to scale +the heights of art. The greatest artists known to +us since the light of Greek intelligence flickered +away, have been content to study these marble +remains, and to cull from them a suggestion here, +and an idea there, with which to adorn their own +creations. Indeed it is clear that from the time of +Niccolo Pisano, who leaped at one bound to celebrity +after studying the antique sculptures at Pisa, +through Giotto to the fifteenth and sixteenth century +giants, there was hardly a great artist who was not +more or less dependent upon Grecian art for his +skill, and the most enduring of them all—Donatello, +Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Correggio—were +the most deeply versed in the art.<a name="Eanchor_42" id="Eanchor_42"></a><a href="#Enote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a></p> + +<p>Bellori affirmed that the Roman school, of which +Raphael and Michelangelo were the greatest masters, +derived its principles from the study of the statues +and other works of the ancients.<a name="FNanchor_A_37" id="FNanchor_A_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_37" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> This is not strictly +exact, but it is near the truth, and certain it is that +Michelangelo, the first sculptor known to the world +since the Dark Age, willingly bowed his head before +the ancient triumphs of art presented to his view. +And yet he did not see the Parthenon sculptures +and other numerous works of the time of Phidias,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +with the many beautiful examples of the next century +which have been made available since his day. +What he would have said in the presence of the +glories of the Parthenon, with the Hermes of Praxiteles +and the rest of the collection from Olympia, +is hard to conjecture, though it may well be suggested +that they would have prompted him to still +higher work than any he accomplished. With these +stupendous ideals in front of us, it seems almost +unnecessary to talk of the principles of art. Their +very perfection indicates that they were built up +on eternal principles, so that in fact and in theory +they form the surest guide for the sculptor and +painter.</p> + +<p>But how is the painter to use these ancient gods +and goddesses, for the time has gone by to gather +them together on the heights of Olympus, or to +associate them with human frailties? Surely he +may leave aside the fables of the poets, and try to +portray the deities as the Grecian populace saw them +in their hearts—noble forms of adoration, or images +of terror, objects of curses veneered with prayer +and of offerings wrapped in fear. The artist has +not now to be troubled with pangs of dread, nor will +his imagination be limited by sacerdotal scruples. +The rivalry of Praxiteles need not concern him, for +there are wondrous ideals yet to be wrought, which +will be comprehended and loved even in these days +of hastening endeavour. But the painter must +leave alone the Zeus and the variation of this god +in the pictured Christian Deity, for the type is so +firmly established in the minds of men that it would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +be useless to depart from it. The other important +Grecian deities with which art is concerned may be +shortly considered from the point of view of the +painter, though they are naturally of far more importance +to the sculptor because it is beyond the +power of the painter to suggest an illusion of divine +form, since he must associate his figures with human +accessories.<a name="Eanchor_43" id="Eanchor_43"></a><a href="#Enote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a></p> + + +<h4><br />APHRODITE</h4> + +<p>Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus, Spirit of Love, or by +whatever name we call her; the one eternal divinity +recognized by all ages, all races; the universal essence +whose fragrance intoxicates every soul: the +one queen before whom all must bow: the one imperial +autocrat sure of everlasting rule—sure of the +devoted allegiance of every living thing to the end +of time! Such is Aphrodite, for that is the name +under which we seem to love her best—the Aphrodite +of the Greeks, without the vague terrifying +aspect of Astarte, or the more earthly qualities of +the Roman Venus. Who loves not the Aphrodite +sprung from the foam of the sea; shading the sun +on the Cytheran isle with the light of her glory; +casting an eternal hallow over the groves of Cyprus; +flooding the god-like mind of Greece with her sparkling +radiance? What conception of her beauty can +rise high enough when the grass in astonishment +grows beneath her feet on desert rocks; when lions +and tigers gently purr as she passes, and the rose +and the myrtle throw out their scented blossoms to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +sweeten the air? Hera and Athena leave the heavens +to help man fight and kill: Aphrodite descends +to soothe despairing hearts, and kindle kindly flame +in the breast of the loveless. The spear and the +shield with the crested helmet she knows not, nor +the fiery coursers accustomed to the din of strife. +Serenely she traverses space at the call of a lover's +prayer, her car a bower of celestial blooms. From +the ends of the earth fly the sparrows to draw it, +till their myriads hide the sun, and mortals learn +that the time has come when their thoughts may +turn to the spirit of love.</p> + +<p>This was the Aphrodite of Grecian legend and +poetry, if we except Homer and Hesiod. It is the +type of the goddess whom Sappho implored, and +must be accepted as the general ideal of the Grecian +worshippers who desired divine mediation when +troubled with pangs of the heart. But it was not +the type of Phidias and his school, for Phidias passed +over Hesiod and purified Homer, representing +Aphrodite with the stately mien and lofty bearing +of a queen of heaven, daughter of the all-powerful +Dione: goddess of beauty and love certainly, but +so far above the human understanding of these terms +that all efforts to associate her with mundane ideas +and aspirations must signally fail.<a name="Eanchor_44" id="Eanchor_44"></a><a href="#Enote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a></p> + +<p>So far as we know it was Praxiteles who first attempted +to realize in stone the popular ideal of the +goddess, and certainly the Cnidian Aphrodite was +better understood by the people of Greece as a type +of this ideal than any work that preceded it. We +can attach to it in our minds but very few of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +Homeric and other legends surrounding the history +of the goddess, but we can well imagine that a deity +who was the subject of so much attention and so +much prayer, could rest in the hearts of the people +only as one with every supreme earthly charm, +combined with a divine bearing and dignity. These +qualities the Aphrodite of Praxiteles appears to +have possessed, though it lacked the majesty and +exclusiveness of the Parthenon gods.<a name="Eanchor_45" id="Eanchor_45"></a><a href="#Enote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a></p> + +<p>Thus there was formed a type of beauty acceptable +to the average human mind as an unsurpassable +representation of an ideal woman: to the worshipper +at the ancient shrines, a comprehensible goddess; +to all other men the personification of sublime +beauty. The fifth century goddess was left aside +as beyond mortal reach, and from the time it left +the sculptor's hands to this day, the Cnidian Venus +has been regarded as a model for all that is true +and beautiful in women. To the sculptor it is an +everlasting beacon; to all men a crowning glory of +human handiwork. And this notwithstanding that +so far as we know, the original figure has long been +lost, and we have preserved little more than records +of its renown, a fair copy of it, and a single authentic +example of the other work of the sculptor. But if +we had the actual Aphrodite before us, it could not +occupy a higher place in our minds than the goddess +which our imagination builds upon this framework.</p> + +<p>As in all cases where a supreme artist rises above +his fellows and creates works of which emulation appears +hopeless, the period succeeding the time of +Praxiteles seems to mark a decline in the art of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +sculpture, and though the decline was more apparent +than real for about half a century, there was +naturally a depreciation in the representation of the +deities of whom the great man had fashioned masterpieces. +This was so in the case of Aphrodite. Whoever +the sculptor it seemed impossible to approach +the Cnidian ideal, and the result was a series of +variations stamped with artificial devices as if to +emphasize the departure. But meanwhile the painter's +art had developed upon much the same lines as +sculpture, and Apelles produced an Aphrodite, which, +considering the limitation of the painter, appears to +have been almost, if not quite, as marvellous as the +stone model of Praxiteles. Nearly two thousand +years have passed since the painting was last known +to exist, but its fame was so great that the reverberations +from the thunder of praise accorded it +have scarcely yet died away. No close description +of the painting remains, but from certain references +to it by ancient authors we know that it represented +the sea-born goddess walking towards the +shore to make her first appearance on earth, holding +in each hand a tress of hair as if in the act of wringing +out the water therein.<a name="Eanchor_46" id="Eanchor_46"></a><a href="#Enote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> These are practically +all the written details we have of the famous Venus +Anadyomene, but we really know much more of it +from the existence of certain pre-Roman sculptures. +All but one are broken, with parts missing, but the +exception, which dates from about the beginning of +the third century <small>B.C.</small>, enables us to gain a good idea +of the picture. The figure represents the goddess +with her lower limbs cut off close to the hips; that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +is to say, it produces the whole of that part of the +figure in the picture of Apelles which is visible above +the water.<a name="FNanchor_A_38" id="FNanchor_A_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_38" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> Clearly a subject in which Venus is +shown to be walking in the sea, so foreign to the +art of the sculptor, could not have suggested itself +independently to a Grecian artist, nor would we +expect to find one attempting a work which necessitated +amputation of the lower limbs, unless a very +special occasion warranted the design. The special +occasion in this case was the picture of Apelles, +which was at the time renowned through the whole +of Greece as an extraordinary masterpiece, and with +this work in their minds the sculptured head and +torso would appear quite appropriate to those +Greeks interested in the arts, that is to say, the +entire citizen population.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 656px;"> +<a name="Pl_11" id="Pl_11"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 11</span> +<img src="images/i_155.jpg" width="656" height="1024" alt="PLATE 11" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Pursuit, by Fragonard<br /> +<small>(<i>Frick Collection</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_139">page 139</a>)</p> +</div> + + + +<p>These two works then, the Cnidian Venus and +the Venus Anadyomene of Apelles, constitute the +models upon which the world relies for its conceptions +of the goddess of beauty. Both models +depend more or less upon the imagination for completion, +but they are sufficiently definite for the +artist, who, of course, desires general rather than +particular ideas for his purpose.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed that the attempts to rival +Apelles in the creation of a Venus Anadyomene have +not been very successful. Raphael painted a small +picture of the subject, introducing the figure of +Time putting an end to the power of the Titans.<a name="FNanchor_B_39" id="FNanchor_B_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_39" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> +Venus stands in the water with one foot on a shell, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>while holding a tress of hair with her left hand. As +may be expected the execution is perfect, but the +design is less attractive than that of Apelles. The +only important work of the Renaissance directly +based upon the Greek design, is from the hand of +Titian.<a name="FNanchor_C_40" id="FNanchor_C_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_40" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> He represents the goddess walking out +of the water, the surface of which only reaches half +way up the thighs, with the result that considerably +more action is indicated than is necessary. But +the great artist was evidently at a loss to know how +to give the figure the size of life or thereabouts, +while indicating from the depth of water that she +had an appreciable distance to go before touching +dry land. He solved the problem by placing the +line of the front leg to which the water rises, at the +bottom of the canvas, so that the picture suggests +an accident which has necessitated the cutting +away of the lower portion of the work. The master +also varies the scheme of Apelles by crossing the +left hand over the breast. This inferior device was +imitated by Rubens, who, however, exhibits the +goddess rising from the water amongst a group of +nymphs and tritons.<a name="FNanchor_D_41" id="FNanchor_D_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_41" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> Modern artists in designs of +the birth of Venus, usually represent her as having +reached the shore,<a name="FNanchor_E_42" id="FNanchor_E_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_42" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> the best work of this scheme +being perhaps that of Cabanel who shows the goddess +lying at the water's edge and just awaking, +suggesting a state of unconsciousness while she +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>floated on the waves.<a name="FNanchor_F_43" id="FNanchor_F_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_43" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> Another exception is by +Thoma, who exhibits the goddess walking in only +a few inches of water, reminding one of the old +Roman bronze workers who imitated the form +as painted by Apelles, but modelled the whole +figure.</p> + +<p>Repose being the first compulsory quality in the +representation of Aphrodite, it is not surprising to +find that the greatest picture of the goddess extant—the +masterpiece of Giorgione—shows her asleep.<a name="FNanchor_A_44" id="FNanchor_A_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_44" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> +She rests on a verdure couch in a landscape of which +the signs indicate a soft and tranquil atmosphere, +with no suggestion to disturb the repose or remove +the illusion of life so strongly marked by the skilful +drawing. Only the calm sleeping beauty is there +without appearance of fatigue or recovery from it: +no expression save of perfect dreamless unconsciousness. +The work is the nearest approach to a classical +ideal that exists in Venetian painting. Titian in +his various pictures of Venus reposing never reached +the excellence of his master. In all, he painted the +goddess in a resting position, sometimes radiant +and brilliant, and invariably with a contented expression +which precludes sensual suggestions: still +there is ever a distinctly earthy tone about the +figures. His Venuses in fact are pure portraits. +He did not seek to represent profound repose. His +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>most important example is at the Uffizi Gallery,<a name="FNanchor_B_45" id="FNanchor_B_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_45" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> +the design of which was taken from Giorgione's +work. The goddess is a figure of glowing beauty, +but the pose indicates consciousness of this fact and +calls the model to mind. Perhaps the surroundings +tend to accentuate the drawback, for in this, as in +most of his other pictures of Venus, the artist has +introduced Venetian accessories of the period. +Palma Vecchio also took Giorgione's work as a +guide for his reposing Venus, but he represents her +fully awake with Cupid present.<a name="FNanchor_C_46" id="FNanchor_C_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_46" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> An exceptional +work of the subject was designed by Michelangelo, +and painted by Pontormo<a name="FNanchor_D_47" id="FNanchor_D_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_47" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> and others. It represents +the goddess reclining with Cupid at her head; +but the form is entirely opposed to all our conceptions +of Venus, for she is seen as a broad massive woman +with a short neck, and a strongly formed head—a +fit companion for some of the figures in the Sistine +Chapel. Proud dignity and a certain majesty are +suggested in the expression, but the figure is without +the grace and charm usually associated with the +goddess. The only other early Italian reposing +Venus of interest is Botticelli's, where he shows her +in deep thought with two cupids by her side.<a name="FNanchor_E_48" id="FNanchor_E_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_48" class="fnanchor">[l]</a></p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century Venus was rarely +represented reposing. Nicholas Poussin has a fine +picture on the subject, but unfortunately for the +repose a couple of cupids are in action beside the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>sleeping goddess, while the heads of two satyrs are +dimly seen.<a name="FNanchor_A_49" id="FNanchor_A_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_49" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> In the Sleeping Venus of Le Sueur, +which was much praised in former times, Cupid is +present with a finger to his mouth to indicate silence, +but Vulcan is seen in an adjoining room wielding +a heavy hammer, the suggestion of repose being +thus destroyed. No reposing Venus of importance +has since been produced, though a few French artists +have treated the subject in a light vein, notably +Boucher in his Sleeping Venus, and Fragonard in a +delicate composition of Venus awakened by Aurora.</p> + +<p>Venus cannot be represented as conscious of her +beauty, or the design would immediately suggest +vanity. Consequently when shown looking into a +mirror, she should be engaged at her toilet, or at +least the reflection should be accidental. Titian +painted the first great picture of the goddess at her +toilet, but this is just completed and her hands are +at rest.<a name="FNanchor_B_50" id="FNanchor_B_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_50" class="fnanchor">[n]</a> The attitude would be extravagant were +it not that any suggestion of satisfaction is overcome +by the artist making Cupid hold the mirror, and +giving Venus an expression of unconcern as she +glances at her reflection. The work suggested to +Rubens a similar design, but he shows the goddess +dressing her hair, this being apparently the only +definite action which may be properly introduced +into such a composition.<a name="FNanchor_C_51" id="FNanchor_C_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_51" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> Albani has a delightful +picture in which Cupid compels Venus to hold a +mirror,<a name="FNanchor_D_52" id="FNanchor_D_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_52" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> and some later artists have represented +her adorning her tresses with the aid of a water +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>reflection. The only notable <i>faux pas</i> in a painting +of this subject is in the Venus and Cupid +assigned to Velasquez, in which Venus lies on her +side and looks into a mirror held by Cupid at her +feet.<a name="FNanchor_E_53" id="FNanchor_E_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_53" class="fnanchor">[q]</a> There is no suggestion of toilet or accident, +and hence the attitude is quite inapplicable to +a goddess.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered that the province of +Aphrodite is to infuse the gentle warmth of love into +the human race, and not to attract love to herself. +The rays are presumed to proceed from her only, +for a mortal having no divine powers would be incapable +of reflecting them. Zeus was required to +bring about the adventure with Anchises. Hence +a voluptuous form should never be given to the +goddess, and if an artist err at all in the matter, it +should be on the side of restraint lest the art be +affected by a suggestion of the sensuous. The +surest means of preventing this is to represent the +goddess in an attitude of repose, with perfect contentment +as a feature in expression. If any action +be indicated, it must be light and purely accidental +in its nature. To introduce an action involving an +apprehension of human failings tends to bring the +goddess down to the human level, and thus to destroy +the ideal. The Venus de' Medici is a superb sculpture +of a woman, but an inferior representation of +Venus, for modesty is a human attribute arising +from purely artificial circumstances of life, its meaning +varying with race conditions and customs. To +depict a goddess in an action suggestive of modesty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +or other antidote to the coarser effects of natural +instincts, is therefore an anomaly.</p> + + +<h4><br />HERA</h4> + +<p>There is no fixed type in art of the ox-eyed sister +and spouse of Zeus, the Queen of Olympus, whose +breast heaves ever high, and flaming, with the rushing +fire of jealousy; the Virgilian incarnation of bitter +rage; yet withal the symbol of eternal Earth, yearly +renewing her fruitful youth with the burning kiss +of the sun. The sculptors of Greece saw in her only +the supreme Matron-Spouse, serenely pondering +the march of time beneath the awful sway of her +lord. A mantle she wore, and a high-throated tunic, +as she looked into space from a square-wrought +throne; or she stood in her temple with flowing +robe and diadem, inscrutable, before the offerings +of an adoring multitude. But nevertheless she was +not insensible to the radiance of Aphrodite. Polyclitus +did well to place a cuckoo on her sceptre, and +who can forget how the lotus and the hyacinth cushioned +the ground on the heights of Ida beneath a +golden cloud, which held suspended around the +glittering couch a screen of sparkling dew?</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that the painter is at a loss to +deal with the majestic scenes in great Juno's story. +How is he to depict her flying in the celestial chariot +between heaven and earth, each leap of the fiery +coursers measuring the range of the eye from a lofty +peak across the sea to the endless haze? How can +he paint her anointed with ambrosial oil which is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +ever struggling for freedom to bathe the rolling +earth in fragrance? He may add a hundred tassels +to her girdle; perhaps give her the triple grace-showering +eardrops, and even the dazzling sun-bright +veil; but the girdle of Aphrodite, which peeps +from her bosom, will fail to turn the brains of men, +or pierce their hearts with rays of soft desire. And +the more dreadful side of Hera's history would +equally trouble the despairing artist, for dire anger +and jealousy ill-become the countenance of a goddess. +The smouldering fire must never leap into flame. +Eyes may not flash, not the lips quiver, and the +noble brow must be free from fitful thought.</p> + +<p>So with Hera there is no middle course for the +painter. He must represent her alone, calm and +passionless, unfathomable, with a sublime disregard +of earth; or else join with his predecessors and drag +her down to a mundane level in scenes of trivial +fable. But there is room for untold Heras of the +higher type.</p> + + +<h4><br />DEMETER</h4> + +<p>Matron-Guardian of the yielding soil; heart-stricken +wanderer over the earth; mysterious silent +Food-Mother whom all men love and the gods revere; +eternal life-preserver; fruitful, but passionless save +where the vision of Pluto looms, Iasus and Poseidon +notwithstanding! Such was the Demeter of the +ancient Greeks till the hordes of Alexander mingled +her fame with the lustre from Isis and De. So the +mourning <i>haute dame</i> of Olympus came nearer the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +seat of her care, nearer the dread home of her daughter: +passed from Homer to Theocritus; from the +adoration of the higher priesthood of Greece, to +become merged in the Ceres of Rome, the goddess +beloved of the lowly, who received the first fruits +of the field amidst joyful measures of dance and +song. But it is the <i>haute dame</i> that strikes our +imagination—the staid and mystic Demeter of +Eleusis, and not the Ceres of the Roman lyric. The +light-hearted Ceres, as a beautiful woman in the +prime of life, may be adorned with poppies and wheat-ears, +may stand serene and smiling as a symbol of +harvest or the goddess of a Latin temple; but paint +her as one will, she will do little more than serve +to show how fallen are the idols—how immeasurable +is the descent from the stately Earth-Mother whose +image would be stamped on the brain of a Phidias.</p> + +<p>But where is the Phidian Demeter? Surely such +a goddess, "deeply musing in her hallowed shrine," +was a theme for the carver of the immortal Zeus +and Athena! Perhaps those inscrutable headless +"Fates" from the Parthenon, so wonderful in noble +grace that the conception of befitting heads +is beyond the reach of our minds, include the +Earth-Mother and her daughter! How easy it is to +imagine the reclining figure as Persephone leaning +upon the mother who loved her so well! But we +must be content with what we have of Demeter in +art, which is little more than a few fifth century +frieze reliefs, the figure from Cnidos attributed to +Scopas,<a name="FNanchor_A_54" id="FNanchor_A_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_54" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> and some Damophon memories of Phidias.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>So the artist is free and untrammelled in respect +of the representation of the far-famed goddess. +There is no definite type of her which has fixed itself +on the minds of men, though the legend and story +weaved about her name are beautiful and wonderful +in a high degree.</p> + + +<h4><br />ATHENA</h4> + +<p>Though swathed in legend and surrounded with +a hallow of Grecian reverence, Athena is always +cold. She may dim the sun with the radiance of +her armour; ride in a flaming car, and have Strength +and Invisibility for her allies; but she fights only +on the side of the strong, and uses the tactics of +spies against her enemies. With the Gorgon's head +on her shield, and a helmet which will cover the +soldiers of a hundred towns, she yet whispers advice +to Grecian heroes, and deflects a Trojan arrow in +its flight. Truly as Goddess of War she is somewhat +difficult to generalize. But she is also the divinity +of the arts and sciences; invents the pipe and the +shuttle, and becomes the depository of all industrial +knowledge. Hence she embodies the triumphs of +peace and war—combines the extremes of human +exertion.</p> + +<p>How Phidias overcame the task of representing +the goddess is well known. He generalized war and +wisdom, and from his great work of the Parthenon +there can be little departure in respect of bearing +and attitude, so long as the province of war is symbolized +in the design. The actual work of the +Greek master has disappeared, but from various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +records and copies, it would appear that the Parthenon +Athena was the loftiest conception ever +worked out in sculpture, if we except the Olympian +Zeus. Majestic grace and the unconscious power +derived from supreme knowledge, seem to have +been the first qualities exhibited in the statue. In +the fourth century there was no great departure +from the Phidian ideal, and it is difficult to see how +there could be much modification in the direction +of bringing the conception closer to earth, for the +goddess had no special presumed form which could +be adapted by the artist to popular ideas. A nude +figure would be impossible because in this the force +and power implied in a hero of war could not be +combined with feminine attributes. The Greeks +drew the line at observable muscular developments, +invariably clothing nearly the whole of the figure, +but they did not, and could not, free her general +bearing from certain masculine qualities. It is +true that the costume of the goddess might be modified, +and Phidias himself represented her in one or +two statues without a helmet, an example followed +by several artists of the Renaissance,<a name="FNanchor_A_55" id="FNanchor_A_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_55" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> but so long +as the symbols of war are included in her habit, +she can be only of formal use to the painter.</p> + + +<h4><br />APOLLO</h4> + +<p>Although in mythology Apollo is connected with +everything on earth which is useful or pleasing to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>mankind, in art custom has so confined his representation +in respect of both appearance and symbols, +that a type has been established from which it would +be difficult to depart without a suggestion of incongruity +arising. This type is of a more purely formal +character than that of any other god, except perhaps +Mercury, a circumstance probably arising from the +fact that the reputed hard nature of Apollo fails to +lend itself to sympathetic idealization. He does +not appear to have been a favourite subject with the +greatest sculptors of ancient times, for nearly all +the innumerable statues of him which have come +down to us, are reproductions of two or three types +which in themselves vary but little. It is difficult +to see how a really noble ideal of such a god can be +suggested. Stern and inflexible, with many human +vices but no weaknesses or gentle traits, and withal +a model of physical beauty without strength or +apparent power—in fact an emphasized feminine +form: such is the Apollo of tradition and art. We +cannot wonder that the type was quickly fixed, the +limitations to avoid the abnormal being so well +defined.</p> + +<p>The painter then has small scope with the figure +of this god. He may only slightly vary the accepted +form, which admits of but a negative expression. +The best representation of Apollo in modern art +is the one by Raphael in the Parnassus fresco at the +Vatican, though the beautiful figure in the Marsyas +work at the Louvre is very nearly as perfect.<a name="Eanchor_48" id="Eanchor_48"></a><a href="#Enote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> +Raphael does not give to the god the rounded swellings +of a female form, but overcomes the difficulty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +by showing him as a young man of perfect figure +who has just reached maturity. The expression is +entirely general, but does not suggest a god-like +power.</p> + + +<h4><br />DIANA</h4> + +<p>It would scarcely be natural to be sympathetic +with Artemis. She seems to be the feminine type +of a cold flint-like nature, as Apollo is the masculine, +and one can well understand that mythology makes +of them brother and sister. Mistress of wild beasts +and goddess of sudden death, she was always worshipped +from fear: her wrath had ever to be appeased; +she inspired neither affection nor respect. True, +she wore the mantle of Ililythia, but only to be +dreaded, and even the attempt to throw a warm +halo over her by the theft of the Endymion story +for her benefit, failed to lift her reputation for the +tireless satisfaction of a supernatural spleen. Nevertheless +for the painter Diana has always had a +certain attraction, because the legends connected +with her offer opportunities for the exercise of skill +in the representation of the nude. But there is +an end of all things, and the bathing and hunting +scenes have been fairly exhausted. For the sculptor +only is Artemis likely to live. Bright colours are +not the vehicle to represent the symbol of an idea +which is beyond, but not above, nature—a useless +abstraction which neither warms the heart nor +elevates the soul. Callisto draws our sympathy, +and Niobe our tears: the goddess freezes our +veins.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<h4><br />NEPTUNE</h4> + +<p>Brother of Jupiter and Pluto; sire of Theseus, +of Polyphemus, and of the titanic lads who threatened +to pile mountain on mountain in order to destroy +the home of the deities; the god whose footsteps +tremble the earth; who disputes with the sun; who +uses floods and earthquakes for weapons; who owns +vast palaces in the caverns of the deep; for whom the +angry waves sink down beneath the shining sea, +and ocean monsters play around his lightning track +across the waters: this is the divinity whom the +painter is accustomed to portray as a rough bearded +man with dishevelled hair and rugged features, holding +a three-pronged fork, and associating with dolphins, +mermaids, and shells. But Neptune is not +a popular god. He does not appeal to the mind as +a good-natured god like Jupiter or Mercury, with +many of the virtues and some of the failings of mankind. +His acts are mostly violent; he punishes but +does not reward; grows angry but is never kind. +There is consequently no sympathetic attitude +towards him on the part of the artist, who would +sooner paint good than bad actions. Beyond his +violent acts, the circumstances which make up the +history of the god, provide subjects more suitable +for the poet than the painter, who is practically +confined to unimportant and casual incidents which, +with changes of accessories, would answer a thousand +scenes in mythological history. Neptune then may +well disappear from the purview of the painter, with +the tritons and the seaweed entourage.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<h4><br />MARS</h4> + +<p>From the point of view of the painter, there is +little to say about the Grecian Ares. He has not a +single good trait in legend or story, and we know +nothing of his presumed personal form beyond the +military externals. It is difficult to understand how +such a god came to be included among the deities +of a civilized race. Of what service could be prayer +when it is addressed to a blatant, bloodstained, +genius of the brutal side of war, without feeling or +pity, and apparently so wanting in intelligence that +he has to leave the direction of battles to a goddess? +One would think that Homer intended him as the +god of bullies, or he would not have made him roar +like ten thousand men when struck with a stone, +nor would he have allowed him to be imprisoned +by two young demigods, and contemptuously +wounded by a third. But who is responsible for +the association of such a wretched example of divinity +with the radiant Aphrodite, for surely it is +only the cloak of Homer that covers the story! +Was it a painter who had sought in vain from the +poets a suggestion for a composition in which the +god would at least appear normal, or a cynical critic +who wished to incite ridicule as well as contempt for +the divinity? In any case the painter must sigh +in vain for an inspiriting design with Ares as the +leading figure: he cannot harmonize love and terror.</p> + +<p>The Roman Mars has a slight advantage over +Ares, for the name of Silvia is sweetly-sounding, +but she should be represented alone, as the star of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>the wild Campagna, while yet it was forest-clad: +the gleaming light whose rays are to illumine the +earth. Mars may disappear with the wolf, but who +can hide the glory of Rome?</p> + + +<h4><br />MERCURY</h4> + +<p>It is difficult to connect the Hermes of the poet +with the tedious expressionless figure commonly +seen in painting, whose only costume is a helmet, +and whose invariable province is apparently to look +on and do nothing. For the sculptor he is a god; +for the painter a symbol of subordination. A Rubens +may give him the pulse of life, but only the +sculptor can suggest the divinity. With the painter +the winged helmet is a bizarre ornament; the immortal +sandals are shrunken to leather; the caduceus +is a thing of inertia which is ever in the way. But +with the sculptor all these things may be endowed +with the quickening spirit of a soaring mind, for +does not Giovanni di Bologna show the lithesome +god speeding through space ahead of the wind, the +feathery foot-wings humming with delirium, the +trembling air dividing hastily before the wand? +True, the painter may represent the divine herald +on his way through space, as when he conducts +Psyche to Olympus, or leads the shades of the suitors +to Hades; but the accessories present must +surround him with an earthy framework, unless the +design be confined to a ceiling, and shut away from +things mundane with architectural forms, as in the +plan of Raphael at the Farnese Villa, or to a fresco +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>executed in the manner of a Flaxman drawing. +Beyond these artifices the artist cannot go with +propriety.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 981px;"> +<a name="Pl_12" id="Pl_12"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 12</span> +<img src="images/i_173.jpg" width="981" height="768" alt="PLATE 12" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Greek Portraiture<br /> +Head of Plato + +Head of Euripides</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_145">page 145</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Few and worn are the scenes in the history of the +god in which he takes a leading part. The head of +Argus seems to be cut off, or awaiting separation, +in nearly every collection, sometimes with Juno on +a cloud deeply frowning with revengeful ire, occasionally +with the peacock expectant of its glorious +fan, but always with the weak-looking helmeted +piper, passive and unconcerned as if fulfilling a daily +task. A Correggio may weave his golden fancy +around a scene where Cupid learns to strengthen +his arrows with the rules of science and the wiles of +art; but let the painter beware of the infant Bacchus +in the arms of the messenger-god, lest a vision +of the Olympian group arise and enfold his work in +a robe of charity. The schemes whereby the cradled +thief deceived the Pythian god are beyond the scope +of the painter, though there is a certain available +range in the charming actions surrounding the invention +of the lyre. And if the designs relating to +the unfortunate Lara be properly consigned to oblivion, +surely the connection of Hermes with Pandora +offers a field for the sprightly imagination. But save +where the god is a symbol of commerce or speed, the +helmet should be dispensed with, for it is hackneyed +beyond endurance. The modern painter is not bound +by custom unless the provision of beauty conflict with +the lucidity of the design or the reverence for universal +sentiment. Let the winged heels suffice, for +the shadow of Persius will scarcely rise in protest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<h4><br />BACCHUS</h4> + +<p>Centuries of bacchanalian festivities and revelries +have nearly killed Bacchus for the painter. Who +can further interest himself in meaningless processions, +where the most prominent figure is a fat, +drunken, staggering man, supported by goat-hoofed +monstrosities, and attended by all the insignia of +vinous royalty? Silenus is no more the loving nurse +of the infant god; the satyrs are no more the followers +of a reed-playing woodland deity; the nymphs +have long forgotten the flowery dales, the faithful +trees that lived and died with them, the fairy bowers +where first Semele's offspring clapped his hands to +the measure of dance and pipe. Why should the +dance be turned into a drunken revel? Why should +the artist remember the orgies of Rome, and forget +the Grecian pastoral fancies? What has become of +Dionysus, inheritor of Vishnu traditions, the many-named +father of song, the leader of the Muses, and +the fire-born enemy of pirates? Nothing remains of +him worth remembering, save Ariadne the golden-haired, +and she must in future be left on the desert +isle lest the pathos of her figure be disturbed by the +motley followers of her rescuer.</p> + +<p>It is passing strange that the artists of the Renaissance +did not attempt to lift Bacchus out of the +ditch of ignominy into which he had fallen. They +seem to have taken their ideas from the recorded +accounts of the Roman rites and vine festivals, +overlooking the Grecian suggestions relating to +Dionysus, and even the later restrained reliefs pic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>turing +incidents in his history. In their art, however, +as is evidenced by Pompeian frescoes, the Romans +often treated Bacchus in a serious manner, associating +him with higher interests than those connected +with festival orgies. It may be that the figure of +the god carved by Michelangelo<a name="FNanchor_A_56" id="FNanchor_A_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_56" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> had something to +do with the later coarse representations of him, for +it would have been impossible for artists succeeding +so great a sculptor, to ignore the types he created. +But it will be an eternal mystery how he came to +design such a Bacchus. A voluptuous semi-realistic +god, opposed to everything else that was conceived +by the sculptor, and antagonistic to all that was +known in Greece, it can never be anything more +than a sublime example of a purely earthly figure. +One stands amazed before the perfect modelling, +but aghast at the conception. It represents the +most extraordinary transition from the god-like man +of the Greeks, to a man-like god, ever seen in art.</p> + +<p>The painter then has little left to use of the conventional +Bacchus and his history, except the never-dying +Ariadne, but there is nothing to prevent him +from reverting to the pastoral Dionysus, to the +delightful abodes of the nymphs his foster-mothers, +where Pan played and the Muses sang, while the +never-tiring son of Maia breathed tales of love into +willing ears.</p> + + +<h4><br />VULCAN</h4> + +<p>The poet may continue to hold our fancy with +volcanic fires and cyclopean hammers, but on canvas +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>Etna becomes a blacksmith's forge, and the figure +of a begrimed human toiler is given to the divinity +responsible for the golden handmaids, and the brazen +bull whose breath was scorching flame. There is +rarely a painting of Vulcan without a forge and +leather bellows, with a smith who is stripped to the +waist, which earthly things necessarily kill all suggestions +of celestial interest, notwithstanding the +presence of Venus, or the never-fading bride of +palsied Peleus. Occasionally we have the incident +with Mars, and strangely look for the invisible net, +but not finding it we are immediately called back to +earth to ponder over the wiles of the ancient legend +gatherers. The art is lost behind the unreality. +But why does not the painter revert to the childhood +of Vulcan, when he was hiding in the glistening +cavern beneath the roll of ocean, fashioning +resplendent eardrops for silver-footed Thetis? Here +is scope for the imagination—to indicate the fancies +of the budding genius who was to carve the wondrous +shield, and adorn the heaven-domed halls of Olympus. +Let Hephæstus mature as he will for the poet: +he should only bloom for the painter.</p> + + +<h4><br />GENERAL CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS</h4> + +<p>Scenes of adventure from the ancient poets in +which the gods and goddesses are concerned, appear +to be rapidly becoming things of the past for the +painter. This is partly due to the circumstance +that these scenes have been so multiplied since the +early days of the Renaissance, that they are now posi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>tively +fatiguing to both artists and the public; but +there is a deeper reason. If we try to number the +paintings of classical subjects by first-class artists +which are enshrined in our minds, we can count +very few, and nearly all of these are single figures, +as a Venus, a Leda, a Psyche, or a Pandora. We +do not call up a Judgment of Paris, or a Diana +and Actæon, or any other design where divinities +are mixed with mortals in earthly actions. The +cause of this seems to be that our minds naturally +revolt against a glaring incongruity. The imagination +is unable to harmonize the qualities of a god +with the possession of human instincts and frailties, +or strike a balance between divine actions and human +motives. We see these pictures and admire the +design and execution, but they leave us cold: we +are unable to kindle enthusiasm over patent unreality. +The general conclusion is that painters would +be wise to avoid such compositions, and confine their +attention in classical work to single figures of goddesses +or heroines, leaving to the poet suggestion of +miraculous powers.</p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_37" id="Footnote_A_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_37"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architteti moderni.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_38" id="Footnote_A_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_38"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> See Plate 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_39" id="Footnote_B_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_39"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> In the bathroom of Cardinal Bibiena, Vatican. There is a drawing +for the figure of the goddess at the Munich Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_40" id="Footnote_C_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_40"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Bridgewater Coll., England. See Plate 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_41" id="Footnote_D_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_41"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Birth of Venus, at Potsdam.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_42" id="Footnote_E_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_42"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Notable examples are those of Ingres and Bouguereau.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_43" id="Footnote_F_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_43"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> At the Luxembourg, Paris. There are several replicas of this +picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_44" id="Footnote_A_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_44"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> Dresden Gallery. See Plate 6. Titian added a Cupid to this +picture, but the little god was subsequently painted out by a restorer. +(L. Venturi, <i>Giorgione e il Giorgionismo</i>, 1913.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_45" id="Footnote_B_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_45"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> The sitter is supposed to have been the model also for La Bella +in the Uffizi, and the Woman in Fur at the Vienna Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_46" id="Footnote_C_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_46"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Dresden Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_47" id="Footnote_D_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_47"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> Hampton Court Palace, England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_48" id="Footnote_E_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_48"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_49" id="Footnote_A_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_49"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> Dresden Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_50" id="Footnote_B_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_50"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> The Hermitage, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_51" id="Footnote_C_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_51"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Hofmuseum, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_52" id="Footnote_D_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_52"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> The Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_53" id="Footnote_E_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_53"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_54" id="Footnote_A_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_54"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> See Plate 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_55" id="Footnote_A_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_55"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> See Piero di Cosimo's Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena,<a name="Eanchor_47" id="Eanchor_47"></a><a href="#Enote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> and +Botticelli's Athena and the Centaur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_56" id="Footnote_A_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_56"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> In the Bargello, Florence.</p></div> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART IV.—GENERAL IDEALS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Limitation of the painter with general ideals—Ideal heads interchangeable +in sacred and symbolical art—Ideal male human +countenances impossible for the painter.</p> + + +<p>In the arts of sculpture and painting, where it is +necessary that the beauty should be immediately +recognized by the eye, it is obvious that a general +expression is superior to the particular. This is so +because the general covers universal experience and +the particular does not. But in the art of the painter +there is a limit to the expression of general beauty. +Theoretically there is no beauty possible to the +sculptor which the painter cannot produce, but +practically there is. A sculptor may carve what we +understand as a god-like figure—a glorious image +embodying all the highest qualities that may be +conceived by man, with a general expression covering +supreme wisdom and every noble attribute—such a +figure as the greatest Grecian artist chiselled. This +figure would stand in front of us, isolated, serene in +its glory, and we should look and wonder, and a +second or two would suffice to fill our entire mind +with the image. For it would be above the earth, +above all our surroundings. We could connect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +nothing on earth with it—neither human beings, +nor green fields, nor the seas, and certainly not +human habitations, and ways, and manners, and +actions. A Phidian god can have no setting. Everything +on earth is too small, too insignificant to bear +it company. The reflection from the majesty of +the design throws into shadow our loftiest earthly +conceptions.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that a painter could be found who +could execute such a figure: how could he isolate +it to the mind? He may not use accessories, for +these could not be separated by the eye, and the +association with earth which they would imply +would destroy the illusion. But the figure must +have relief, and hence tones. A monochrome would +not do, for the frame or sides of the wall containing +the picture would flatten it, and suggest a painted +imitation of a sculpture. We may imagine a colossal +figure painted on an immense wall whose bounds +are hidden by the concentration of all the available +light on the figure. Even then the colouring of the +wall must be unseen. The figure must stand out as +if against infinite space, surrounded by ambient +air, in majestic solitude, pondering over the everlasting +roll of life towards perfection. In this way +only could the painter match the sculptor, but +the practical difficulties are so enormous as to +render the scheme to all intents and purposes +impossible.</p> + +<p>For the painter then there is a limit to expression. +He cannot proceed with his ideal higher than Praxiteles. +His limit is the most supreme form and ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>pression +conceivable by his imagination, which does +not exceed the apparent possibility of human experience. +Apparent, because an ideal must necessarily +be actually above the possibility of experience, but +it may not appear to be so. For instance a Raphael +Madonna does not seem to represent a supernatural +woman. There is no single feature painted which +cannot be matched in life, and hence it would not +occur to the observer that the expression is contrary +to the possibility of experience. But the expression +cannot be met with in life, for besides being entirely +general, it excludes all phases due to the emotions +or passions. One cannot imagine a woman with the +expression of a Raphael Madonna having concern +with any special human interest, and least of all +with feelings and failings arising from natural instincts. +Yet the expression covers every form of +noble endeavour; every phase of innocent pleasure; +every degree of mental activity within the province +of woman. And herein lies the art—the exclusion +of the bad in our nature, with the exaltation of the +good.</p> + +<p>Now it is obvious that if the expression be so general +that no particular quality can be identified therein, +the countenance will serve for the head of any +personage painted in whose expression it is desirable +to indicate the possession of high attributes, without +suggesting a particular condition of mind. Thus, +the head of a Raphael Madonna would equally +serve for the head of a Saint Cecilia or a Judith; +or, providing the age were suitable, for a heroine of +the stamp of Joan of Arc, so long as the character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +of her actual features were unknown. Further it +would be well adapted for a symbolical figure, as +Prudence or Truth.</p> + +<p>But a far wider significance than is thus indicated, +is conveyed by the necessity for generalizing expression +in order to reach the painter's ideal. It has +already been noted that inasmuch as all men have +the same general idea of beauty—that they generally +agree as to what is, or is not, beautiful, it follows +that there must be a common opinion as to degrees +of beauty, and so a universality of ideal; that is of +course, among people with similar experience of +life, as for instance the white races of the world.<a name="Eanchor_49" id="Eanchor_49"></a><a href="#Enote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> +Hence the ideals of all painters must be similar. They +must necessarily aim for the same generalization—exclude +or emphasize like. Manner or style, or +national type may vary; purely sensorial effects +may differ as the minds of the painters have been +variously trained, but the combination of features +and effects which regulate the expression will be +practically identical in every realized ideal. Consequently, +subject to changes in attitude or age, +ideal heads of all artists are interchangeable without +incongruity resulting, irrespective of the motive of +the design, for the ideal countenance indicated adapts +itself to any character where no emotional or passionate +expression is required. The head of the +figure representing "Profane Love" in Titian's great +picture, would serve to express spiritual nobility +in a Madonna,<a name="FNanchor_A_57" id="FNanchor_A_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_57" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> and when a head in a Madonna +by Raphael is exchanged with that of the central +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>figure in Fragonard's The Pursuit,<a name="FNanchor_B_58" id="FNanchor_B_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_58" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> there is no resulting +suggestion of impropriety in either picture.<a name="FNanchor_C_59" id="FNanchor_C_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_59" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> +Ideal countenances have sometimes been given to +evil characters, as in Luini's Salome,<a name="FNanchor_D_60" id="FNanchor_D_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_60" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> and the +head in this picture would equally well serve for a +Madonna.<a name="FNanchor_E_61" id="FNanchor_E_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_61" class="fnanchor">[e]</a></p> + +<p>An ideal head then will suggest any expression +that the design in which it is included seems to +require, subject to the restrictions before noted. In +The Pursuit the face of the woman presumed to +be fleeing from her lover indicates some concern, +and even a little fear,<a name="FNanchor_E_62" id="FNanchor_E_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_62" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> but that this is due to the +surroundings in the work, is shown when the head +is substituted for another in a different picture, for +the concern has disappeared, and the expression +becomes one which may properly represent the +highest attributes connected with the Madonna.</p> + +<p>The limits within which the form and countenance +of a woman may be idealized, are prescribed +by Raphael in his works. The presumed age must +be that when she reaches the full bloom of womanhood. +Youth will not do because it involves an +expression denying experience, while physically a +girl cannot be supposed to have reached an age +where her form has ceased to progress towards perfection. +Beauty of feature and form is the first +consideration of the artist, and hence his difficulty +in fixing an expression which shall be entirely free +from the possibility of suggesting desire. For this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>reason no model, or series of models, will suffice the +painter: he has always to bring his imagination to +bear, as Raphael admitted he had to do.<a name="FNanchor_A_63" id="FNanchor_A_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_63" class="fnanchor">[g]</a></p> + +<p>It is impossible to find a head of a woman, painted +before the time of Raphael, which fulfils the requirements +of art as an ideal. The figures are either too +formal, or too distinctive in type, or are evidently +portraits, while in many of the greatest pictures of +the fifteenth century the artists had not yet learned +how to put warm blood into their Madonnas. Raphael, +however, after taking up his sojourn at Florence, +became an object lesson for nearly every school, +and ideal countenances were produced by other +masters, though no painter other than Raphael +succeeded with more than one or two. Nowadays +the ever increasing hustle in the struggle for existence, +does not lend itself to deep study and long +contemplation on the part of painters, but hope +springs eternal, and surely the list of immortals +is not yet closed.</p> + +<p>An ideal man of flesh and blood is not possible +in the art of the painter, for there is no general conception +of male beauty below the level of the god-like. +Perfection of form can be given, but a supreme +expression in the face of a man implies deep wisdom, +and this must necessarily be associated with maturity +when high sensorial beauty of feature can scarcely +be expected.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_57" id="Footnote_A_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_57"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Plate 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_58" id="Footnote_B_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_58"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Frick Collection, New York.<a name="Eanchor_50" id="Eanchor_50"></a><a href="#Enote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_59" id="Footnote_C_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_59"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> See Plate 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_60" id="Footnote_D_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_60"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_61" id="Footnote_E_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_61"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> See Plate 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_62" id="Footnote_E_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_62"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> See Frontispiece and Plate 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_63" id="Footnote_A_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_63"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> "E di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene nella +mente." Letter to Castiglione.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART V.—PORTRAITURE</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Limitations of the portrait painter—Generalizations—Emphasis +and addition of qualities—Practice of the ancient Greeks—Dignity—Importance +of simplicity—Some of the great masters—Portraiture +of women—The English masters—The quality +of grace—The necessity of repose.</p> + + +<p>While in the scale of the painter's art, portraiture +ranks next to the higher branches of historical work, +yet it is some distance behind them, for apart from +the commonplace of scenic arrangement, the imagination +of the portrait painter cannot be carried further +than the consideration of added or eliminated details +of form and expression in relation to a set subject. +But these details are very difficult, and so it comes +about that a good portrait involves a far greater +proportion of mental labour than the result appears on +the surface to warrant. It is indirectly consequent +upon the complexity of his task that the work of the +artist who devotes practically his whole time to portraiture, +often varies so largely in quality. He paints +some portraits which are generally appreciated, but +as time goes on he is overwhelmed with orders which +he cannot possibly fulfil without reducing the value +of his work. He thus acquires a habit of throwing his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +whole power into his work only when the personage +he represents is of public importance, or has a countenance +particularly amenable to his manner or style. +It is necessary that this fact should be borne in mind, +otherwise erroneous standards are likely to be set up +when artists like Van Dyck, Reynolds, or Romney, +are referred to as examples.</p> + +<p>In a general sense nearly all painting where the +human figure is introduced, is portraiture, and it has +been so since soon after the middle of the fifteenth +century, when artists commenced to use living men +and women for secondary or accessory figures in +sacred pictures. The increasing importance attached +to the anatomy of the figure resulted in the extensive +use of models, and so in a measure portraiture rose +to be a leading feature in the work of the artist. The +figures in the larger compositions of every kind by +the greater painters of the late fifteenth and early +sixteenth centuries, consist almost entirely of portraits +of friends and acquaintances of the artists, the +exceptions being the countenances of the Deity and +Christ, which had to be modelled from accepted +types, and those of the later Saints the character of +whose features had been handed down by tradition. +A few painters, as Raphael and Correggio, idealized +the Virgin away from suggestion of portraiture, but +others, as Del Sarto and Pontormo, even in this case +took a wife or other relative as a model. The practice +was continued by many artists in respect of central +figures, till the end of the seventeenth century, +after which time the identity of the figures was, as a +rule, purposely lost. Nevertheless the figures, other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +than ideals, used in all good compositions, must +necessarily be portraits or adaptations thereof, for +only from life can superior representation of life be +obtained.</p> + +<p>The first duty of the portraitist is to generalize the +expression of his subject. A face seen once will be +thrown upon the mind only with the particular expression +observable at the moment of view. If seen +a second time we involuntarily combine the effects +of the dual experience, and the more often we see the +countenance, the more closely will our mental picture +of it correspond with the general or average expression +worn. It is this average appearance that the +portraitist tries to represent, emphasizing of course +whatever good qualities may be indicated. The +second most important task of the artist is to balance +every part of the picture, so that neither setting, nor +colour, nor handling, is strikingly noticeable. The +portrait should appear at first glance as one complete +whole, in order that the mind of the observer be +immediately directed to the subject, and away from +the artist or the manner of execution. The painter is +limited to the actual character and physiognomy of +the figure. He must make each feature harmonize +with the others, and add or subtract, hide or reveal, +without changing the general individuality, but he +cannot do more. His scope is, therefore, strictly +limited. Very naturally some of the greatest portraitists +have rebelled at this limit. They appear to +have painted with an eye to posterity, rather than to +satisfy their patrons and the people of the time with +an effective generalization of character and bearing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +If we compare the portraits executed by Titian with +those representing certain accessory figures in some +important compositions of the great masters, as for +instance, the School of Athens of Raphael,<a name="FNanchor_A_64" id="FNanchor_A_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_64" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> and the +Death of St. Francis of Ghirlandaio,<a name="FNanchor_B_65" id="FNanchor_B_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_65" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> we find a +marked difference. The latter are obviously true +portraits of living men, with little accentuated or +eliminated, just such portraits as Carlyle wanted +from which to obtain real instruction for his biographies. +Titian painted no portraits of this kind. He +gives a lofty bearing to every person he portrays. His +figures seem to belong to a special race of men, endowed +with rare qualities of nobility and dignity, +with little interest in the doings of ordinary people. +Yet we know that some of his characters lived in an +atmosphere of evil. We cannot really believe that +the Aretino of Titian<a name="FNanchor_C_66" id="FNanchor_C_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_66" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> was Aretino the man, and +we find it hard to imagine that Philip II.,<a name="FNanchor_D_67" id="FNanchor_D_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_67" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> or the +Duke of Alba,<a name="FNanchor_E_68" id="FNanchor_E_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_68" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> as Titian painted him, could grow +into the monster he proved to be. Nevertheless +Titian was justified. It is not the business of the +artist to consider the historian: his art is all that +concerns him. Titian produced beautiful pictures +which are commonly recognized as great portrayals +of character; whose character matters not, though +when we have data upon which to rest a judgment, +we find the lineaments in his works are fully sufficient +for purposes of identification.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>While Titian went further than any other Renaissance +painter in ennobling his subjects, he did not +approach the ancient Greeks in this respect. Their +sculptured busts and terms represent the highest +portraiture known to us. Many examples remain, +mostly copies it is true, but quite fifty of them are +clearly faithful reproductions, made apparently in +the early days of Imperial Rome, and accord closely +with the few existing originals. The Grecian portraits +differ from the Roman, and all later painted or +carved portraits in a most important feature.<a name="FNanchor_A_69" id="FNanchor_A_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_69" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> +The latter aimed at what is still understood as the highest +level in portraiture. They endeavoured to give a +general individualism of mind and bearing, avoiding +particular expression; in fact to represent character. +Since the Christian era commenced neither sculptor +nor painter has gone further than this, with very few +exceptions in Roman days when Grecian sculptors +of the time imitated the practice of the fourth and +early third centuries. The earlier Greeks on the +other hand not only generalized portraits in an +extreme degree, but, except in the case of athletes, +they altered the contour of the head and varied the +actual features of the subject, so that the possession +of the higher human attributes should be indicated +as clearly as possible. They invariably showed a +large facial angle, placed the ears well close to the +head, sunk the eyes deep in their sockets, and ennobled +the brows to suggest majesty or profound +thought. In fact the Grecian portrait heads only +differ from their sculptured gods in that particular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +countenances are depicted, and consequently the +expression in them does not appear to be above the +possibility of human experience. Apparently in +Grecian times, only men who had become celebrated +in some way were represented in stone, and hence +the artist had features to depict which could be +semi-idealized without impropriety. Even Socrates, +whose ugliness was proverbial, was given a noble and +dignified expression.<a name="FNanchor_B_70" id="FNanchor_B_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_70" class="fnanchor">[g]</a></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_13" id="Pl_13"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 13</span> +<img src="images/i_191.jpg" width="1024" height="752" alt="PLATE 13" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Roman Portraiture<br /> +Head of Vespasian +Head of Hadrian</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_145">page 145</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>That the painter is at liberty to follow the example +of the Greeks, there can be no question from the +point of view of art, for his first object is to produce +a beautiful picture; but in portraiture, practical and +conventional considerations have to be met, with +which other branches of painting are not concerned. +With rare exceptions the portraits executed are of +living persons, and extreme accentuation of high +qualities would be likely to result in a representation +of the sitter that would appear false to contemporary +observers, though we might well imagine that a work +exhibiting this accentuation would seem to be of +high excellence in the judgment of future generations. +There must therefore be a line drawn in respect of +added or accentuated qualities, and the position +of this line would naturally vary with the celebrity of +the subject and the power of the artist. Something +definite may, however, be said in regard to the emphasis +of certain qualities of form, and particularly +of dignity, a feature that has occupied the attention +of some of the greatest masters.</p> + + +<p>The question arises, how far may the artist go in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>imitating the manner of the stage with his portraits? +On the theatrical stage formalities are required with +certain characters in order to emphasize their position—to +assist in the recognition of their standing or +relative significance in the drama, for it is of the first +importance that the audience should comprehend the +meaning of the actions presented as rapidly as +possible. The actor must often exaggerate life +habits of pose and manner in order to heighten the +contrast between two characters, or to give special +significance to the words. And the elevation of the +diction sometimes compels this exaggeration. In +high drama where the language used is above +experience of ordinary life in measure and force, +there must be appropriate pose and action to accompany +it, and hence a height of dignity or even +majesty may appear perfectly proper on the stage, +which would be ridiculous in surroundings away +from it. From the practice of certain painters it +would seem that they have looked upon portraiture +as the transference of their subjects to the public +stage as it were, so that they might appear to occupy +a higher position in the drama of life than that to +which they are habituated. No harm can arise from +this provided the portraitist does not pass beyond +the custom of the theatrical stage, where, whatever +the exaggeration, the representation appears, or +should appear, appropriate to the action; that is to +say, where the exaggeration is not recognized as such. +Accentuation of high qualities of expression, or even +variations in certain physical features, such as the +Greeks brought about, would not appear exaggera<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>tions +in a portrait, but where dignity of form is added +to such an extent that the observer immediately +recognizes it as untrue to experience, then the artist +goes too far. While this is so, we do not condemn +Titian, Van Dyck, and the few other portrait painters +who emphasized the quality of dignity of form +in past times. The reason for this appears to be that +the usual methods of teaching history lead us to +suppose that nobles and leaders of society in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who were +usually the portrait subjects of the greater artists, +commonly assumed a demeanour and bearing far +above our own experience. At the present day, when +it is a matter of universal knowledge that a formal +dignified pose is very rarely assumed by any one, +such a bearing in a portrait would be regarded as +untrue.</p> + +<p>The portraitist may improve the expression of his +subject, adding any good quality within his power, +and he may remove from the features or figure any +marked physical defect, because the portrait would +still appear to be correct; but if he add a strong +dignified pose, then the result would be something +that is possibly, but improbably accurate, and therefore +inferior art. The quality of dignity should be +expressed rather in the countenance than in the pose, +the bearing of the form being produced as in life, +for this lends assistance to the true representation of +character. A dignified expression may well be appropriate +to an awkward form whose personality would +be undistinguished by dignity of pose.</p> + +<p>Titian was the first great artist to give a pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>nounced +dignity of form to his subjects, and he never +varied from the practice unless the subject were +exhibited in action,<a name="FNanchor_A_71" id="FNanchor_A_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_71" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> or too old to be represented as +an upright figure.<a name="FNanchor_B_72" id="FNanchor_B_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_72" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> Nor did he once exaggerate the +pose so that arrogance might be suggested. Though +he squared the shoulders, he rarely threw back the +head to emphasize the bearing,<a name="FNanchor_C_73" id="FNanchor_C_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_73" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> and only in one +portrait is the body slightly arched as the result of +the pose.<a name="FNanchor_D_74" id="FNanchor_D_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_74" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> In fact so careful was the artist in +avoiding over-emphasis, that there is a tendency in +two or three of his figures for the upper part of the +body to lean a little forward.<a name="FNanchor_E_75" id="FNanchor_E_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_75" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> Obviously Titian +gave this dignified attitude to his portrait subjects +of set purpose, as in his general compositions there +is no suggestion of it.<a name="Eanchor_51" id="Eanchor_51"></a><a href="#Enote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p> + +<p>Velasquez no doubt acquired his habit of lending +dignity to his important subjects from the examples +of Titian's portraits which came under his view in +Spain. Except in one notable instance where the +bearing is much over-emphasized,<a name="FNanchor_F_76" id="FNanchor_F_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_76" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> he was equally +successful with the Italian master in the practice, +though many of his characters are far from lending +him any natural assistance. In the case of a Court +Dwarf, however, the high dignity given to him by +the painter seems to require explanation.<a name="FNanchor_G_77" id="FNanchor_G_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_77" class="fnanchor">[n]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>Before he went to Italy, Van Dyck followed the +natural system of Rubens in posing his portrait subjects, +but at Genoa he painted under the spell of +Titian's memory, and thereafter during his whole life, +he gave a dignified bearing to his figures whenever +this was not opposed to individual traits. During +his English period, when he undertook more work +than he could properly accomplish, he sometimes +over-emphasized the dignity of a figure by arching +the body,<a name="FNanchor_A_78" id="FNanchor_A_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_78" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> but as a rule he produced a just balance +of pose and setting, completing altogether a magnificent +series of portraits which remain the astonishment +of the world.</p> + +<p>It is obviously the duty of the portraitist so to design +his work that the attention of the observer is +concentrated upon the countenance of the subject +immediately he has grasped the whole composition, +and it is in the successful accomplishment of this +object that the power of Rembrandt lies. He rarely +used accessories, and in only a few cases a background +of any kind. He avoided portraits where an elaborate +setting was required, as for instance full length +standing figures, of which he only painted two<a name="FNanchor_B_79" id="FNanchor_B_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_79" class="fnanchor">[p]</a>; +and in his many three-quarter length portraits, there +is seldom more than a table or chair to be seen apart +from the figure. With this simplicity of design, and +with nearly all the available light directed full upon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>the head of the subject, the eye of the observer of +the picture is necessarily centred instantaneously +upon the features. These are invariably cast into +bold relief by perfect management of the chiaroscuro, +and the correspondence with life seems as complete +as it well can be. Rembrandt thus accomplishes the +aim of every great artist: he executes a faithful +picture, and throws it on the mind of the observer +with the maximum of rapidity. Only artists of a +high order can successfully ignore a more or less +elaborate setting for a portrait, particularly if it be +larger than bust size. Great care has to be taken +with such a setting lest the eye of the observer be +attracted by the pose of the figure and the general +harmony of the work before being directed to the +countenance. If we take the general opinion of +known portraits, so far as it can be gauged, we find +that the most highly esteemed of them are: the Julius +II. of Raphael, the Mona Lisa of Lionardo, the Man +with the Gloves by Titian, the Old Man with a Boy +by Ghirlandaio, and Innocent X. by Velasquez.<a name="FNanchor_C_80" id="FNanchor_C_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_80" class="fnanchor">[q]</a> +All of these except Mona Lisa are remarkable for +the simplicity of the setting, and in the exception +the formal landscape is altogether subordinated to the +figure. Raphael was the first artist who saw the +value of avoiding accessories in portraiture. His +half-length portraits painted after his arrival in +Florence, are all free from them, and his Julius II. +has only the chair on which the Pope is seated.</p> + +<p>Rembrandt further aided the concentration of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>attention on the countenance of a sitter by the use +of warm inconspicuous tones in the clothing, which +harmonize with all kinds of surroundings in which the +picture may be seen. The colours never specially +attract the eye, and the attire consequently forms so +completely a part of the figure, that after an inspection +of the work one can rarely describe the costume. +This subordination of colour is of the highest importance +in portraiture, though it is not sufficiently +practised nowadays. Velasquez used quiet tones +whenever possible, that is, when he was not painting +great personages, and Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck, +followed the same course in half-length portraits. +None of these, however, seemed so careful as Rembrandt +in adapting the tones to the general character +of the figure, so that the impression left on the mind +of the observer should relate entirely to the personality. +Rembrandt, in fact, aimed at a representation +of the man, and the man only; and he gave us a +natural human being of a commonly known type, +with his virtues somewhat emphasized, and his faults +a little veiled.</p> + +<p>The extraordinary power of Velasquez as a portraitist +was due to the same general cause operating +in the case of Rembrandt, namely, extreme simplicity +in design. Apart from those instances where royal or +official personages had to be represented in decorative +attire, every portrait of Velasquez is merely the +impress of a personality. There are no accessories; +the clothing is subordinated to the last degree, and +there is nothing for the eye to grasp but a perfectly +drawn set of features thrown into strong relief by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +a method of chiaroscuro unsurpassed in depth and +accuracy. Thus, as in the case of Rembrandt, the +portrait fulfils the first law of art—the picture is +thrown on the brain in the least possible fraction of +time.</p> + +<p>Velasquez was remarkable in a greater degree than +any other artist, if we except Hals, for his facility in +execution. In his brush-work he appeared to do the +right thing at all times without hesitation, achieving +the most perfect balance as if by instinct. So far as +we can judge from those instances where his subjects +were painted also by other artists, his portraits are +good likenesses, but he followed the best practice in +generalizing the countenance to the fullest extent. +It is unfortunate that his work was confined to so +poor a variety of sitters. Of his known portraits +more than half represent Philip IV. or his relatives; +eight others are nobles of the time, and another half +dozen are dwarfs and buffoons, leaving only seventeen +examples of the artist's work amongst ordinary +people. There never was a weaker royal family than +that of Philip IV., and it is really astonishing how +Velasquez was able to produce such excellent works +of art by means of their portraits. With his abnormal +lips and weak face, the king himself must have +been a most difficult person to ennoble, yet the +painter managed in three portraits to give him a +highly distinguished countenance and bearing, without +in any way suggesting exaggeration.<a name="FNanchor_A_81" id="FNanchor_A_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_81" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> Of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>another weak man—Innocent X.—Velasquez painted +what Reynolds described as the greatest portrait he +saw in Rome; and it is truly one of the most amazing +life representations ever executed.<a name="FNanchor_B_82" id="FNanchor_B_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_82" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> A reddish face +peers out through a blaze of warm surroundings and +background; a face in full relief as if cut out of apoplectic +flesh—almost appalling in its verity. It is +like nothing else that Velasquez painted: it overpowers +with its combined strength and realism. But +it is a picture to see occasionally, and admire as a +great imitation. If one lived with it, the colour +would hurt the eye, the unpleasant face would tire the +mind. Such a face should not be painted: it should be +carved in stone, where truth may be given to form +without the protrusion of mortal decay. Bernini +sculptured the countenance, and gave the Pope a +certain majesty which no painting could present. +As a life portrait the work of Velasquez is unrivalled, +but as a pure work of art, it is behind the three portraits +of Philip IV. already mentioned. A distinctly +unhealthy face cannot be produced in portraiture +without injuring the art, for it is a variety of distortion.</p> + +<p>Velasquez was so naturally a portraitist that apart +from his actual portrait work, every figure composition +he painted seems to consist merely of the portraits +of a group of persons. He took little pains to +connect the figures in a life action, often painting +them with a look of unconcern with the proceedings +around them, as if specially posing for the artist. +In several of his works there are faces looking right +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>out of the picture, and it is evident that in these the +artist had little thought in his mind away from portrait +presentation.<a name="FNanchor_A_83" id="FNanchor_A_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_83" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> The Surrender of Breda and +Las Meninas,<a name="FNanchor_B_84" id="FNanchor_B_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_84" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> regarded generally as his best compositions, +are admittedly portrait groupings, but the +setting in each case is one of action, and hence the +faces looking out of the picture are a great drawback, +as they disrobe the illusion of a natural scene. That +a man so accurate in his drawing, so perfect in his +chiaroscuro, and so skilful in his brushwork, should +yet be so conspicuously limited in imagination, is a +problem which art historians have yet to solve.</p> + +<p>Franz Hals was on a level with Velasquez in respect +of facility in execution, and like him seems to +have been a born portraitist. His brushwork was so +rapid and decisive that in scarcely any of his designs +is there evidence of deliberation. He seems to have +been able to take in the essential features of a +subject at a glance, and to transfer them to canvas +without preliminaries, producing an amazing countenance +with the least possible detail. Though some of +his large groups are a little stiff, this is rather through +his want of capacity in invention than a set purpose +of exaggeration with a view to heightening the dignity +of pose, for it is obvious that Hals had little +imagination, and knew nothing of the boundless +possibilities of his art in general composition. He +appears to have passed through life without concern +for his work beyond material results, being well convinced +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>that the magic of his execution would leave +nothing further for the public to desire. In the last +forty years of his life he made no advance in his art +except in one respect, but the change was great, for +it doubled the art value of his portraits. He learned +how to subordinate his colours; how to modify his +chiaroscuro in order to force the immediate attention +of the observer on the countenance of his subject.<a name="Eanchor_52" id="Eanchor_52"></a><a href="#Enote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> +Such an advance with such an artist placed him in the +rank of the immortals among the portraitists.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that in the judgment of the greatest +painters, decoration in a portrait should be altogether +subordinated to the truthful representation of +character, this practice being only varied when the +personage portrayed is of public importance, and the +portrait is required more or less as a monument. The +rule is natural and reasonable, being based upon the +universal agreement that the all-important part of a +man comprehended by the vision is his countenance. +But the rule only strictly applies to a single figure +portrait, for when the painter goes beyond this, and +executes a double portrait or a multiple group, he +restricts the scope of his art. Other things being +equal a double portrait is necessarily inferior art to +a single figure picture, since the dual objective complicates +the impression of the work on the brain, and +the only remedy, or partial remedy, for this drawback +possessed by the painter is to introduce accessories +and arrange his group in a subject design. +This plan results in detracting from the force of the +actual portraits, as it divides the attention of the +observer, but there is no help for it unless one is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +content with the representation of the figures in a +stiff and formal way which extinguishes the pictorial +effect of the work.</p> + +<p>The greatest artists have avoided dual or triple +portrait works where possible except in cases of +gatherings of members of the same family, as one +of these groups may be regarded as a unity by the +observer. Nevertheless in his picture of Leo X., and +the two younger Medici,<a name="FNanchor_A_85" id="FNanchor_A_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_85" class="fnanchor">[v]</a> Raphael was careful to +subordinate the cardinals so that they should appear +little more than accessories in a painting of the Pope; +an example which was followed not quite so successfully +by Titian in his triple portrait of Paul III. with +the two brothers Farnese.<a name="FNanchor_B_86" id="FNanchor_B_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_86" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> A group of two persons +who are in some way associated with each other, +though unconnected in action, rarely looks out of +place, as in the pictures of father and son, or of two +brothers, painted by Van Dyck, or in The Ambassadors +of Holbein,<a name="FNanchor_C_87" id="FNanchor_C_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_87" class="fnanchor">[x]</a> but no painter has yet succeeded +in producing a first-class work of art out of a multiple +portrait group when the personages represented +are unconnected with each other, either directly in +action, or indirectly through association derived +from the title. The picture of Rubens representing +Lipsius and three others, would appear much more +stiff and formal than it is, without one of the two +titles given to it, notwithstanding the general excellence +of the composition.<a name="FNanchor_D_88" id="FNanchor_D_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_88" class="fnanchor">[y]</a> When the figures +introduced are very numerous, as in the many +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>groups of civic organizations painted by Hals, +Ravesteyn, and others, the compulsory formality +seriously detracts from the æsthetic value of the +works, however superior they may be in execution, +or whatever the connection of the personages represented; +and when we come to such crowded paintings +as Terburg's Signing the Peace of Münster,<a name="FNanchor_E_89" id="FNanchor_E_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_89" class="fnanchor">[z]</a> we +obtain but little more than a record, though it be +of absorbing historical interest.</p> + +<p>It is observable that as a rule portraitists have been +more successful with delineations of men than of +women. This is to be accounted for by the necessity +for subordinating the representation of character to +the art in the case of women unless they have passed +the prime of life; while with men the art is usually +subordinated to the portrait, character being sought +independently of sensorial beauty. Strictly it is the +duty of the artist to make his portrait, whether of +a man or a woman, sensorially attractive, but here +again in portraiture custom and convention have to +be considered with the rules of art. It is agreed +that with a woman sensorial beauty must be produced +if that be possible, even with the sacrifice of +certain elements of character; but with a man the +portrait must be recognized by the acquaintances of +the subject as corresponding in most details with his +life appearance. The future of the portrait is out of +the question for the time being. Nevertheless the +painter has certain advantages in dealing with +the features of a man, for the presence of lines in +the brow, or other evidence of experience, does not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>interfere with the nobility or dignity which may be +added to his general bearing; but what would be lines +in the countenance of a man would be wrinkles in +that of a woman, because here they can scarcely be +neutralized by attitude and expression which imply +strength of character, without destroying what is +best described as womanly charm, which is a compulsory +feature in every woman's portrait. With +a man therefore the portraitist considers character +first and emphasizes qualities of form within his +power; while with a woman, during the period of her +bloom, beauty of form and feature must be the first +care of the artist, unconflicting qualities of character +being emphasized or added.</p> + +<p>All this was of course recognized by the great portraitists +of the Renaissance and the seventeenth +century, but while most of them endeavoured to +enhance the sensorial beauty of their men subjects, +little attempt was made to add intellectual grace to +the portrayals of women. Antonio Moro<a name="FNanchor_A_90" id="FNanchor_A_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_90" class="fnanchor">[aa]</a> and Van +Dyck, in their full length portraits of women, sometimes +succeeded in converting dignity of form into +what we understand as grandeur, which implies +dignity of expression as well as grace and dignity of +form, but they were largely handicapped by the dress +fashions of their times. They had to deal with heavy +formal drapery which hung over the figures like +elongated bells, and bid defiance to freedom of pose. +When fashions and customs had so changed as to +allow of definition being given to the figures, Van +Dyck had been dead for many years. Meanwhile +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Hals, Rembrandt, Velasquez, and hundreds of lesser +lights, were casting around their flowers of form and +mind, but all on the old plan, for it is difficult to find +a portrait of a woman painted during the century +succeeding Van Dyck, where beauty of feature is +allied to nobility in expression.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 690px;"> +<a name="Pl_14" id="Pl_14"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 14</span> +<img src="images/i_207.jpg" width="690" height="1024" alt="PLATE 14" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Pompeian Fresco)<br /> +Supposed copy of a painting by Timanthes</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_168">page 168</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>The production of this combination awaited the +maturity of Reynolds, who with Gainsborough, +broke into a new field in the portraiture of women. +Gainsborough took the grandeur of Van Dyck for his +pattern, but improved upon it by substituting simplicity +for dignity and elaboration, which he was +able to manage without great difficulty, as he had a +clear advantage over the Flemish master in that the +costumes in use in his time were lighter in character, +and permitted of the contour of form being properly +exhibited. This simple grace of form allied to +grandeur in bearing, naturally brings about an +apparent modification in expression in conformity +with it, so long as there are no conflicting elements +in expression present, which Gainsborough was +careful to avoid. Reynolds went further than +Gainsborough, for after the middle of his career he +directly added an expression of nobility to his portraits +of women whenever the features would admit +of it, and so brought about the highest type of feminine +portraiture known in art. He was more nearly +allied to Titian than Van Dyck, and though in sheer +force of sensorial beauty he did not reach the level of +the Venetian master, yet in pure feminine portraiture, +where high beauty of expression is combined with a +perfect generalization of the features, Reynolds is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>unsurpassed in the history of painting, so far as we +can judge from examples remaining to us. For we +must estimate an artist from his best work. Reynolds +painted forty or fifty portraits of women of +the character indicated, and a few of them, notably +Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy,<a name="FNanchor_A_91" id="FNanchor_A_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_91" class="fnanchor">[ab]</a> and Mrs. Billington as +St. Cecilia,<a name="FNanchor_B_92" id="FNanchor_B_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_92" class="fnanchor">[ac]</a> are amongst the most luminous examples +of feminine portraiture in existence. There are +many artists who equalled Reynolds in the representation +of men, but there are very few indeed who +even attempted to strike a just balance between +sensorial and intellectual effects in the countenance +of a woman.</p> + +<p>With such great leaders as Reynolds and Gainsborough, +it might have been hoped that the school +they founded in portraiture would have taken a long +lease of life, but it rapidly died away, leaving very +few indeed of footsteps sunk deep in the sands of +glory, save those of Raeburn, Hoppner, Lawrence, +and Romney. But between Reynolds and Romney +there is a wide gulf, for while the former sought for +his beauty among the higher gifts of nature, Romney, +with rare exceptions, was content with a formal expression +allied to grace of pose. We may shortly +consider this graceful attitude for it seems to be often +regarded as an all-sufficing feature in the representation +of women.<a name="Eanchor_53" id="Eanchor_53"></a><a href="#Enote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a></p> + +<p>The charm of grace lies chiefly in movement, and a +graceful attitude in repose implies rest from graceful +movement, but this attitude is ephemeral in nature, +for if prolonged it quickly becomes an artificial pose. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>In art therefore, a graceful pose, whether exhibited +in action or at rest, must soon tire unless attractive +expression be present to deepen the impress of the +work upon the mind of the observer. The general +æsthetic value of graceful form in a painted figure +varies with the scale to which the figure is drawn. +With a heroic figure, grace is of the smallest importance; +in one of life size, as a portrait for instance, the +quality is of considerable assisting value; and as the +scale is diminished, so does the relative value of grace +increase. This is because details of expression can be +less truthfully rendered in small figures than in those +of life size, while in miniature figures certain high +qualities of expression, as nobility, or a combined +expression of mind and form, as grandeur, can be +scarcely indicated at all, so that purely sensorial +beauty, as that arising from grace of pose, becomes +of comparatively vast importance. This was well +understood in ancient times. The Grecian sculptured +life-size figures are nearly always graceful, but +the grace arises naturally from perfection of form and +expression, and not from a specially added quality, a +particular grace of pose being always subordinated, +if present at all. On the other hand, in the smaller +Grecian figures, such as those found at Tanagra and +in Asia Minor, anything in expression beyond regularity +of features is not attempted, but grace is +always present, and it is entirely upon this that the +beauty of the figurines depends. We may presume +from the frescoes opened out at Pompeii, that the +ancients were well aware of the value and limitations +of grace in art. In all these decorations where the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +figures are of a general type, as fauns, bacchantes, +nereids, dancers, and so on, they are represented in +motion, flying drapery being skilfully used to provide +illusion. Grace is the highest quality evident in these +forms, while the expression is invariably negative. +For pure wall decorations, which are observed in a +casual way, a high quality of grace such as these +frescoes provide is all-sufficient, but as with the +Greeks, the Romans did not make grace a leading +feature in serious art.</p> + +<p>With the great painters of the Renaissance, nobility, +grandeur, and general perfection of form and +expression, though necessarily implying a certain +grace in demeanour, altogether dwarfed the feature +of grace of pose. In the seventeenth century, grace +was subordinated to dignity of form in the case of +Van Dyck and Velasquez, and to actual life experience +with Rubens and Rembrandt. When either of +these last two added a quality of form to their +figures, it was always dignity and not grace. Murillo +was the first Spanish painter to pay particular attention +to the grace of his figures, but he never gave it +predominance. The French masters of the period, +Le Brun, Le Sueur, Poussin, Mignard, and Rigaud, +leaned too closely to classical traditions to permit of +grace playing a leading part in their designs, though +some of slightly lesser fame as Noel and Antoine +Coypel, appeared to attribute considerable value to +the quality. It was during this century in Italy that +grace first appeared as a prominent feature in figure +painting. In his pastoral and classical scenes, Albani +seems to have largely relied upon it for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +beauty, and Cignani, Andrea Sacchi, Sassoferrato, +and others followed in his footsteps in this respect, +though up to the end of the century no attempt was +made in portraiture to sacrifice other features to +grace of pose. Rosalba then made her appearance as +a portraitist, and she was the first to rest the entire +beauty of her work on sensorial charm of feature and +grace of pose. She developed a weakened school +in France which culminated with Nattier; and in +England, Angelica Kauffmann, and some miniature +painters, notably Cosway and Humphrey, took up +her system for their life-size portraits, while many +artists "in small" as Cipriani and Bartolozzi, assisted +in forming a cult of the style. But of the greater +British painters, only Romney gave high importance +to grace of pose in portraits of women. It is safer +for an artist to eschew grace of pose altogether than +to sacrifice higher qualities to it. A little added +dignity is always preferable to a graceful attitude in +a portrait, because in nature it is not so evanescent +a feature. Grace is a good assisting quality, but an +inferior substitute.</p> + +<p>The greatest repose possible is necessary in a portrait, +as a suggestion of action tends to draw the +attention of the observer to it, thus impeding the +impression of the whole upon his mind. The leading +portraitists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +never erred in this matter, unless we except a +single work by Titian—the portrait group of Paul +III. and the Cardinals Farnese, where the last named +has just arrived and is apparently in the act of bowing +before completing his final step; but even here it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +may be fairly argued that a moment of rest between +two parts of the final action is to be presumed. It +was not an uncommon practice of Van Dyck to pose +a subject arrested in the act of walking, or with one +foot on the lowest step of a stairway as if about to +ascend; but in each of these instances the head is +turned, and it is obvious that the motion is temporarily +stayed.<a name="FNanchor_A_93" id="FNanchor_A_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_93" class="fnanchor">[ad]</a> A similar pose was sometimes +adopted by British artists of the eighteenth century +with conspicuous success. If a portrait figure be +painted in the act of walking on level ground, the +feet must be together even if the moment represented +be that between two steps in the action, because it is +contrary to all experience for a man to rest while so +walking, with one foot in front of the other. In a +general composition the representation of a man walking +with the feet separated is permissible, because it +is part of a general action, and accessory in its nature, +but in a portrait the beginning and end of the action +depicted are usually unknown, and hence any action +must be meaningless and disturbing to the observer.<a name="FNanchor_B_94" id="FNanchor_B_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_94" class="fnanchor">[ae]</a></p> + +<p>The French and English artists of the eighteenth +century followed the practice of their predecessors in +avoiding the exhibition of movement in their portraits, +but occasionally they departed from the rule. +In his fine portrait of Mrs. Thomas Raikes, Romney +shows the lady playing a harpsichord, with the fingers +apparently in motion; and in his group of the Ladies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +Spencer, one of them is fingering a harp. The result +in each case is a stiff attitude which detracts from +the beauty of the work. Van Dyck managed such +a design in a much better way, for in his portrait of +his wife with a cello, she holds the bow distinctly at +rest.<a name="FNanchor_A_95" id="FNanchor_A_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_95" class="fnanchor">[af]</a> Titian also, when representing a man at an +organ, shows his hands stayed, while turning his +head.<a name="FNanchor_B_96" id="FNanchor_B_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_96" class="fnanchor">[ag]</a> Reynolds moved aside once from the custom +in respect of action,<a name="FNanchor_C_97" id="FNanchor_C_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_97" class="fnanchor">[ah]</a> and Raeburn seems also to have +erred only on a single occasion.<a name="FNanchor_D_98" id="FNanchor_D_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_98" class="fnanchor">[ai]</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_64" id="Footnote_A_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_64"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> At the Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_65" id="Footnote_B_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_65"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Fresco at Santa Trinita, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_66" id="Footnote_C_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_66"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Frick Collection, N. Y.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_67" id="Footnote_D_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_67"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> The Padro, Madrid, and elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_68" id="Footnote_E_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_68"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Huescar Coll., Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_69" id="Footnote_A_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_69"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> See Plates 12 and 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_70" id="Footnote_B_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_70"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> See heads in the National Museums of Rome and Naples.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_71" id="Footnote_A_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_71"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> Portrait of his daughter, Berlin Gallery, and of Jacopo di Strada +at Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_72" id="Footnote_B_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_72"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> Paul III. at Naples, and his own portrait at the Uffizi Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_73" id="Footnote_C_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_73"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> An exception is Charles V. at Mühlberg, Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_74" id="Footnote_D_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_74"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> Portrait of his daughter as a bride, at Dresden.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_75" id="Footnote_E_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_75"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Notably in the portrait of the Duke of Ferrara, Pitti Palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_76" id="Footnote_F_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_76"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> Count-Duke Olivares, Holford, Coll., London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_77" id="Footnote_G_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_77"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> Don Antonio el Ingles, Prado.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_78" id="Footnote_A_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_78"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Earl of Newport, Northbrook Coll., England; Earl of Bedford +Spencer Coll.; and Queen Henrietta (three-quarter length), Windsor +Castle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_79" id="Footnote_B_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_79"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> Martin Day and Machteld van Doorn, both in Gustave Rothschild +Coll., Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_80" id="Footnote_C_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_80"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> The first at the Pitti Palace, the last at the Doria Gallery, and +the others at the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_81" id="Footnote_A_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_81"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> The full example at the Prado; the Parma full length, in the +Frick Coll., N. Y.; and the three-quarter length portrait at the +Imperial Gallery, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_82" id="Footnote_B_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_82"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> In the Doria Gallery, Rome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_83" id="Footnote_A_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_83"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> See The Breakfast, Hermitage; Christ in the House of Martha, +National Gallery, London; and The Drinkers, Prado.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_84" id="Footnote_B_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_84"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> Both at the Prado.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_85" id="Footnote_A_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_85"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Pitti Palace, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_86" id="Footnote_B_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_86"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> Naples Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_87" id="Footnote_C_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_87"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_88" id="Footnote_D_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_88"><span class="label">[y]</span></a> The Four Philosophers, or Lipsius and his Disciples, Pitti Palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_89" id="Footnote_E_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_89"><span class="label">[z]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_90" id="Footnote_A_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_90"><span class="label">[aa]</span></a> Catilina of Portugal, and Maria of Austria, both at the Prado.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_91" id="Footnote_A_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_91"><span class="label">[ab]</span></a> Westminster Coll., London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_92" id="Footnote_B_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_92"><span class="label">[ac]</span></a> New York Public Library.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_93" id="Footnote_A_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_93"><span class="label">[ad]</span></a> See Earl of Pembroke, Wilton Coll., Countess of Devonshire, +Chatsworth, and Philip le Roy, Wallace Coll., all in England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_94" id="Footnote_B_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_94"><span class="label">[ae]</span></a> See Chase's Master Roland, private Coll., N. Y.; and Manet's +Boy with a Sword, Met. Museum, N. Y.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_95" id="Footnote_A_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_95"><span class="label">[af]</span></a> Munich Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_96" id="Footnote_B_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_96"><span class="label">[ag]</span></a> Venus and the Organ Player, Prado.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_97" id="Footnote_C_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_97"><span class="label">[ah]</span></a> Viscountess Crosbie, Tennant Coll., London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_98" id="Footnote_D_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_98"><span class="label">[ai]</span></a> Dr. Nathaniel Spens, Royal Co. of Archers, Edinburgh.</p></div> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>EXPRESSION. PART VI—MISCELLANEOUS</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Grief—The smile—The open mouth—Contrasts—Representation +of death.</p> + +<p>The painter has ever to be on his guard against +over-emphasis of facial expression. His first object +is to present an immediately intelligible composition, +and this being accomplished, much has already +been done towards providing appropriate expressions +for his characters. It has been seen that attitude +alone may appear to lend to a countenance suitable +expression which is not observed when the head of +the figure is considered separately; and while such +a condition is not frequent, its possibility indicates +that the painter is warranted in relying more or less +upon the details of his action for conveying the state +of mind of the personages concerned therein. It is +not the purpose here to deal with the various forms +of expression that may be of use to the painter, nor +indeed is it necessary. The work of Raphael alone +leaves little to be learned in respect of the expression +of emotion so far as it may be exhibited in a +painting<a name="Eanchor_54" id="Eanchor_54"></a><a href="#Enote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a>; but there are a few matters in relation +to the subject which appear to require attention,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +judging from experience of modern painting, and +short notes upon them are here given.</p> + + +<h4><br />GRIEF</h4> + +<p>Intense grief is the most difficult expression to +depict in the whole art of painting, because in nature +it usually results in distortion of the features, which +the artist must avoid at all cost. Of the thousands +of paintings of scenes relating to the Crucifixion, +where the Virgin is presumed to be in great agony +at the foot of the Cross, very rarely has an artist +attempted to portray this agony in realistic manner.<a name="FNanchor_A_99" id="FNanchor_A_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_99" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> +He generally substitutes for grief an expression of +sorrow which is produced without contraction of +the features. This expression, which is invariably +accompanied with extreme pallor, does not prevent +the addition of a certain nobility to the countenance, +and hence no suggestion of insufficiency arises +in the mind of the observer. But the sublime expression +which may be given to the Virgin would be +out of place in her attendants who are not infrequently +made hideous through attempts to represent +them as overcome with grief.</p> + + +<p>A method of avoiding the difficulty is to conceal +the face of the personage presumed to be suffering +from grief. Timanthes is recorded by Pliny as +having painted a picture of the Sacrifice of Iphigenia +in which the head of Agamemnon was completely +covered by his robe; and a picture of the same sub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>ject +in a Pompeian fresco represents the Grecian +monarch hiding his face with his right hand, while +the left gathers up his robe.<a name="FNanchor_A_100" id="FNanchor_A_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_100" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> This invention was +the subject of considerable discussion in Europe +in the eighteenth century, in which Reynolds, Falconet, +Lessing, and others took part. Reynolds said +of the device that an artist might use it once, but if +he did so a second time, he would be justly suspected +of improperly evading difficulties. Falconet compared +the action of Timanthes to that of a poet who +avoided expressing certain sentiments on the ground +that the action of his hero was above anything that +could be said<a name="FNanchor_B_101" id="FNanchor_B_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_101" class="fnanchor">[c]</a>; while Lessing held that the grief +which overcame Agamemnon could only find expression +in distortion, and hence the artist was right +in covering the face.<a name="FNanchor_C_102" id="FNanchor_C_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_102" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> Unquestionably Lessing was +justified, for nothing more is demanded of the painter +than to impress the imagination of the observer with +the intensity of the grief depicted, and in this he +succeeds. Obviously the poet is in a different position +from the painter because he can express deep +grief easily enough without suggesting distortion of +the features.</p> + +<p>The artifice of Timanthes was practically unused +during the Renaissance, though Botticelli once conceals +the face of a woman lamenting over the body +of Christ,<a name="FNanchor_A_103" id="FNanchor_A_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_103" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> and Richardson quotes a drawing by +Polidoro where the Virgin hides her face in drapery +in a lamentation scene. In Flanders at a little +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +earlier period, Roger van der Weyden used the device,<a name="FNanchor_B_104" id="FNanchor_B_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_104" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> +and the Maître de Flémalle shows St. John +turning his head away and holding his hand to his +face in a Crucifixion scene.<a name="FNanchor_C_105" id="FNanchor_C_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_105" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> In the succeeding +centuries little was known of the practice, but quite +lately it has come into use again. Boecklin painted +a Pietà in which the Virgin has thrown herself +over the dead body of Christ in an agony of grief, +her whole form being covered by a cloak. Feuerbach +has a somewhat similar arrangement, and in +a picture of the Departure of Jason, he hides the +face of an attendant of Medea, a plan adopted in +two or three frescoes of the subject at Pompeii. +Prud'hon, in a Crucifixion scene, hides the face of the +Magdalene in her hands, and Kaulbach in his Marguerite +so bends her head that her face is completely +concealed from the observer. Where the face cannot +altogether be hidden owing to the character of the +design, it is sometimes thrown into so deep a shade +that the features are indistinguishable, this being +an excellent device for symbolical figures typifying +great anguish.<a name="FNanchor_D_106" id="FNanchor_D_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_106" class="fnanchor">[h]</a></p> + +<p>It is not a good plan in a tragic design merely to +turn the head away to indicate grief or sorrow, because +in such a case the artist is unable to differentiate +between a person experiencing intense grief, +and one who turns his head from horror of the +tragedy.<a name="FNanchor_A_107" id="FNanchor_A_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_107" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> The scheme of half veiling the face is +not often successful, since the depth of emotion that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>would be presumed from such an action may be +more than counterbalanced by the very limited +feeling which can be indicated by the part of the +face remaining exposed. On account of a neutralizing +effect of this kind, Loefftz's fine picture of the +Dead Christ at Munich is much weakened, for there +is no stronger expression on the part of the Virgin +than patient resignation. Sorrow may well be displayed +by semi-concealment of the features, because +here the necessary expression may be produced by +the eyes alone.<a name="FNanchor_B_108" id="FNanchor_B_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_108" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> In ancient art, to half conceal the +face indicated discretion, as in the case of a Pompeian +fresco where a nurse of the young Neptune, +handing him over to a shepherd for education, has +her mouth and chin covered, the meaning of this +being that she is acquainted with the high birth of +the boy, but must not reveal it.</p> + + +<h4><br />THE SMILE</h4> + +<p>A pronounced smile in nature is always transitory, +and hence should be avoided when possible +in a painting. The only smile that does not tire +is that which is so faint as to appear to be permanent +in the expression, and it has been the aim +of many painters to produce this smile. An examination +of numerous pictures where a smile is +expressed in the countenance has convinced the +writer that when either the eyes alone, or the eyes +and mouth together, are used to indicate a smile, +it is invariably over-pronounced as a suggestive +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>permanent feature, and that in every case of such +permanence, success arises from work on the mouth +alone.</p> + +<p>The permanent smile was not studied in Europe +till the Milanese school was founded, and in this +nearly every artist gave his attention to it, following +the example of Lionardo. This great master, who +was well acquainted with the principles of art, is +not likely to have had in his mind an evanescent +expression when he experimented with the smile, +and one can hardly understand therefore why this +feature is almost invariably over-emphasized in his +works. In his portrayal of women he used both +eyes and mouth to bring about the smile,<a name="FNanchor_A_109" id="FNanchor_A_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_109" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> and more +commonly than not paid most attention to the eyes. +Perhaps he had in view the production of a permanent +smile solely by means of the eyes, which +play so great a part in general expression. In nature +it is physically impossible for a smile to be produced +without a faint variation in the mouth line, while +the lower eyelids may remain perfectly free from +any change in light and shade, even with a smile +more pronounced than is necessary for apparent +permanence. In the Mona Lisa at Boston,<a name="Eanchor_56" id="Eanchor_56"></a><a href="#Enote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> the +smile is very faintly indicated by the eyes, and most +pronounced at the mouth, while in the famous Paris +picture, the eyes are chiefly responsible for the smile, +the mouth only slightly assisting.<a name="Eanchor_57" id="Eanchor_57"></a><a href="#Enote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> Many smiling +faces were produced by others of the Milanese school, +and as a rule the mouth only was used, often with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +complete success, notably by B. Luini,<a name="FNanchor_B_110" id="FNanchor_B_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_110" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> +Pedrini,<a name="FNanchor_C_111" id="FNanchor_C_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_111" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> +and Ferrari.<a name="FNanchor_D_112" id="FNanchor_D_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_112" class="fnanchor">[n]</a> Raphael never used the eyes to assist +in producing a smile, except with the Child Christ,<a name="FNanchor_E_113" id="FNanchor_E_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_113" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> +and in all cases where he exhibits a smile in a Madonna<a name="FNanchor_F_114" id="FNanchor_F_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_114" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> +or portrait,<a name="FNanchor_G_115" id="FNanchor_G_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_115" class="fnanchor">[q]</a> it appears definitely permanent. +As a rule the great artists of the Renaissance other +than the disciples of Lionardo, rarely produced a +smile with the intention of suggesting a permanently +happy expression, and in the seventeenth +century little attention was given to it.</p> + +<p>The great French portraitists of the eighteenth +century frequently made the smile a feature in +expression, and a few of them, notably La Tour, +seldom produced a countenance without one. In +most cases the smile is a little too pronounced for +permanence, but there are many examples of a +faint and delicate smile which may well suggest an +habitual condition. Rigaud's Louis XV. as a Boy is +an instance,<a name="FNanchor_A_116" id="FNanchor_A_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_116" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> though here the illusion quickly passes +when we bring to mind the other portraits of the +monarch. Nattier,<a name="FNanchor_B_117" id="FNanchor_B_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_117" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> +Boucher,<a name="FNanchor_C_118" id="FNanchor_C_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_118" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> +Dumont le Romain,<a name="FNanchor_D_119" id="FNanchor_D_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_119" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> +Perronneau,<a name="FNanchor_E_120" id="FNanchor_E_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_120" class="fnanchor">[v]</a> Chardin, Roslin, and others, sometimes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>succeeded, but the French master of the smile was +La Tour who executed quite a dozen examples which +Lionardo might have envied.<a name="FNanchor_F_121" id="FNanchor_F_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_121" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> Of British artists +Romney was the most adept in producing a permanent +smile,<a name="FNanchor_G_122" id="FNanchor_G_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_122" class="fnanchor">[x]</a> but strange to say there is no instance +of one in his many portraits of Lady Hamilton, +beyond her representation as a bacchante.<a name="FNanchor_H_123" id="FNanchor_H_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_123" class="fnanchor">[y]</a> Here +the smile is far too pronounced for a plain portrait, +but a bacchante may reasonably be supposed to be +ever engaged in scenes of pleasure, and hence the +feature does not seem to be out of place. Reynolds +commonly used both eyes and mouth in creating +his smiles,<a name="FNanchor_I_124" id="FNanchor_I_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_124" class="fnanchor">[z]</a> but Raeburn was nearly equal to Romney +in the number of his felicitous smiles, while he +seldom exceeded the minimum expression required +for permanence.<a name="FNanchor_J_125" id="FNanchor_J_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_125" class="fnanchor">[aa]</a> Gainsborough produced a few +portraits of women with a vague furtive smile, sweet +and expressive beyond degree.<a name="FNanchor_K_126" id="FNanchor_K_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_126" class="fnanchor">[ab]</a> They are invariably +brought about by a faint curvature of the mouth line.</p> + + +<h4><br />THE OPEN MOUTH</h4> + +<p>If there be one transient feature more than another +which should be avoided in a painting, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>particularly in the principal figure, it is a wide-open +mouth. Necessarily, after a short acquaintance +with a picture containing such a feature, either the +mouth appears to be kept open by a wedge, or, as +in the case of a laugh, the face is likely to wear an +abnormal expression approaching to idiocy, for it is +altogether contrary to experience of normal persons +in real life, for a mouth to be kept open longer than +for an instant or two. Hence the first artists have +studiously refrained from exhibiting a wide-open +mouth, or indeed one that is open at all except to +such an extent that the parted lips appear a permanent +condition. But a few great men have erred +in the matter. Thus, Mantegna shows the child +Christ with the mouth widely open in a half-vacant +and half-startled expression, which is immediately +repelling.<a name="FNanchor_A_127" id="FNanchor_A_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_127" class="fnanchor">[ac]</a> Dosso Dossi has several pictures much +injured by the feature,<a name="FNanchor_B_128" id="FNanchor_B_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_128" class="fnanchor">[ad]</a> and in Ercole di Roberti's +Concert, no less than three mouths are wide open.<a name="FNanchor_C_129" id="FNanchor_C_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_129" class="fnanchor">[ae]</a> +One of the figures in Velasquez's Three Musicians +opens his mouth far too widely,<a name="FNanchor_D_130" id="FNanchor_D_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_130" class="fnanchor">[af]</a> while Hals has half +a dozen pictures with the defect.<a name="FNanchor_E_131" id="FNanchor_E_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_131" class="fnanchor">[ag]</a> A rare mistake +was made by Carlo Dolci when showing Christ with +His mouth open wide in the act of utterance,<a name="FNanchor_F_132" id="FNanchor_F_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_132" class="fnanchor">[ah]</a> and +Mengs erred similarly in St. John Baptist Preaching.<a name="FNanchor_G_133" id="FNanchor_G_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_133" class="fnanchor">[ai]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +In more modern times the fault is seldom noticeable +among artists of repute, though occasionally a bad +example occurs, as in Winslow Homer's All's Well.<a name="FNanchor_H_134" id="FNanchor_H_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_134" class="fnanchor">[aj]</a> +Even when an open mouth seems unavoidable, the +effect is by no means neutralized.<a name="FNanchor_I_135" id="FNanchor_I_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_135" class="fnanchor">[ak]</a></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 701px;"> +<a name="Pl_15" id="Pl_15"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 15</span> +<img src="images/i_225.jpg" width="701" height="1024" alt="PLATE 15" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Winslow Homer's All's Well<br /> +<small>(<i>Boston Museum</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_176">page 176</a>)</p> +</div> + + + +<p>When the blemish is in an accessory figure, it is of +lesser importance as there it becomes an incidental +circumstance on the mind of the observer. Thus, +in Reynolds's Infant Hercules, where Alcmena, +on seeing the child holding the snakes, opens her +mouth with surprise and alarm, the action of the +central figure is so strong that the importance of +the others present is comparatively insignificant.<a name="FNanchor_C_136" id="FNanchor_C_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_136" class="fnanchor">[al]</a> +Nevertheless in a Pompeian fresco of the same +subject, care has been taken to close the mouth +of Alcmena. Where the design represents several +persons singing, it is well possible to indicate the +action without showing the mouths open, as in +Raphael's St. Cecilia.<a name="FNanchor_D_137" id="FNanchor_D_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_137" class="fnanchor">[am]</a> In a picture of a like subject, +with the Saint in the centre of a group of five +singers, Domenichino shows only the two outside +figures with open mouths, and one of these is in +profile. There are several works where David is +seen singing to the accompaniment of a harp, but +though his mouth is open, the figure is in profile, +and the lips are hidden by moustache and beard.<a name="FNanchor_E_138" id="FNanchor_E_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_138" class="fnanchor">[an]</a></p> + +<p>It may be observed, however, that in certain cases +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +artificial conditions may render an open mouth in +a picture of comparatively little significance. A +painted laugh for instance may only become objectionable +to the observer when the work is constantly +before him; but when it is in a picture +gallery and he sees it but rarely, the lasting character +of the feature is not presented to his mind. The +Laughing Cavalier of Franz Hals, though violating +the principle, does not appear in bad taste to the +average visitor to the Wallace Collection. In the +case of Rembrandt's portrait of himself with Saskia +on his knee, where the artist has his lips parted in +the act of laughing, there is an additional reason why +the transient expression should not tire. Because +of the number of self-portraits he painted, the countenance +of Rembrandt is quite familiar to most +picture gallery visitors, and to these the laugh in +the Dresden picture could not possibly pass as an +habitual expression.</p> + + +<h4><br />CONTRASTS</h4> + +<p>Designs specially built up for the purpose of contrasting +two or more attributes or conditions are +almost invariably uninteresting unless the motive +be hidden behind a definite action which appears +to control the scheme. This is because of the +difficulty of otherwise connecting the personages +contrasted in a particular action of common +understanding. A design of Hercules and Omphale +affords a superior contrast of strength and beauty +to a composition of Strength and Wisdom. In each +case a herculean figure and a lovely woman represent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +the respective qualities, but in the first the figures +are connected by expression and action, and in the +second no connection can be established. So in +contrasting beauty of mind with that of form, this +is much better represented by such a subject as +Hippocrates and the Bride of Perdiccas than in the +Venetian manner of figures unconnected in the design. +And in respect of conditions, Frith's picture +of Poverty and Wealth, where a carriage full of +fashionable women drives through a poor section +of London, has little more than a topographical +interest, but in a subject such as The First Visit of +Crœsus to Æsop, the contrast between poverty and +wealth would deeply strike the imagination.</p> + +<p>In contrasts of good and evil, vice and virtue, and +similar subjects, it is inferior art to represent the +evil character by an ugly figure. As elsewhere +pointed out, deformity of any kind injures the æsthetic +value of a picture because it tends to neutralize +the pleasurable feeling derived from the beauty +present. The poet may join physical deformity +with beauty because he can minimize the defect +with words, but the painter has no such recourse.<a name="Eanchor_58" id="Eanchor_58"></a><a href="#Enote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> +A deformed personage in a composition is therefore +to be deprecated unless as a necessary accessory in +a historical work, in which case he must be subordinated +to the fullest extent possible. The figure of +Satan, of an exaggerated satyr type, has often been +introduced into subjects such as the Temptation +of Christ, though not by artists of the first rank.<a name="FNanchor_A_139" id="FNanchor_A_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_139" class="fnanchor">[ao]</a> +Such pictures do not live as high class works of art +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>however they be painted. Correggio makes a contrast +of Vice and Virtue in two paintings,<a name="FNanchor_B_140" id="FNanchor_B_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_140" class="fnanchor">[ap]</a> representing +Vice by a man bound, but usually in the +mature time of the Renaissance, Vice was shown as +a woman, either beautiful in features, or with her +face partly hidden, various accessories indicating +her character. A notable exception is Salviati's +Justice where a hideous old woman takes the rôle +of Vice.<a name="FNanchor_C_141" id="FNanchor_C_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_141" class="fnanchor">[aq]</a> Even in cases where a witch has to be +introduced, as in representations of Samuel's Curse, +it is not necessary to follow the example of Salvator +Rosa, and render her with deformed features, for +there are several excellent works where this defect +is avoided.<a name="FNanchor_D_142" id="FNanchor_D_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_142" class="fnanchor">[ar]</a></p> + +<p>An effective design with the purpose of contrasting +the ages of man is not possible, firstly, because the +number of ages represented must be very limited, +and, secondly, for the reason that the figures cannot +be connected together in a free and easy manner. +Hence all such pictures have been failures, though a +few great artists have attempted the subject. Titian +tried it with two children, a young couple, and an +old man, assorting the personages casually in a landscape +without attempting to connect them together +in action.<a name="FNanchor_A_143" id="FNanchor_A_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_143" class="fnanchor">[as]</a> At about the same time Lotto produced +a contrast, also with three ages represented, namely, +a boy, a young man, and an elderly man.<a name="FNanchor_B_144" id="FNanchor_B_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_144" class="fnanchor">[at]</a> These +personages sit together as if they had been photographed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>for the purpose, without a ray of intelligence +passing between them. But this is far better +than Grien's Three Ages,<a name="FNanchor_C_145" id="FNanchor_C_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_145" class="fnanchor">[au]</a> for here the artist has +strangely confused life and death, exhibiting a grown +maiden, a middle-aged woman, and a skin-coated +skeleton holding an hour-glass. The best design of +the subject is Van Dyck's Four Ages.<a name="FNanchor_D_146" id="FNanchor_D_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_146" class="fnanchor">[av]</a> He shows +a child asleep near a young woman who is selling +flowers to a soldier, and an old man is in the background. +There is thus a presumed connection between +three of the personages, but naturally the +composition is somewhat stiff. The only other design +worth mentioning is by Boecklin, who also +represents four ages.<a name="FNanchor_E_147" id="FNanchor_E_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_147" class="fnanchor">[aw]</a> Two children play in the +background of a landscape; a little farther back +is a young woman; then a cavalier on horseback; +and finally on the top of an arch an old man whom +Death in the form of a skeleton is about to strike. +But here again there is no connection between the +figures, the consequent formality half destroying the +æsthetic value of the work. From these examples +than which there is none better, it may be gauged +that it is hopeless to expect a good design from a +subject where the ages of man are contrasted. If +represented at all, the ages should be contrasted in +separate pictures, as Lancret painted them.</p> + +<p>The practice of presenting nude with clothed +figures where the subject does not absolutely compel +it, is commonly supposed to be for the purpose of +contrast. This may have been the object in some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>cases, but in very few is the interest in the contrast +not outweighed by the bizarre appearance of the +work. As a rule in these pictures there is nothing +in the expressions or actions of the personages depicted +to suggest a reason for the absence of clothes +from some of them, and so to the average observer +they form a "problem" class of painting. The first +important work of the kind executed was Sebastiano +del Piombo's Concert, in which the group consists +of two nude women, one with a reed pipe, and two +men attired in Venetian costume, of whom one +handles a guitar.<a name="FNanchor_A_148" id="FNanchor_A_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_148" class="fnanchor">[ax]</a> The figures are very beautiful +and the landscape is superb, but as one cannot +account for the nude figures in an open-air musical +party, the æsthetic value of the work is largely +diminished. This painting has suggested several +designs to modern artists, the most notable being +Manet's Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, where a couple of +nude women with two men dressed in modern clothes +are shown in a picnic on the grass. Not only is the +scheme inexplicable, but the invention is so extravagant +as to provoke the lowest of suggestions. +In a composition of this kind only a great artist +can build up a harmonious design.</p> + +<p>Titian's picture known as Sacred and Profane +Love,<a name="FNanchor_B_149" id="FNanchor_B_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_149" class="fnanchor">[ay]</a> where the figure of a nude woman is opposed +to one clothed, may really signify any of a dozen +ideas, but the artist probably had no other scheme +in his mind than to represent different types of +beautiful women. Crowe and Cavalcaselli's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>suggested title of L'Amour ingénu et l'Amour satisfait, +was certainly never conceived by Titian, nor is +Burckhardt's proposal, Love and Prudery, possible +in view of the flowers in the hand of the draped +figure. In any case this picture is the greatest of +its kind, for the composition is so delicate and harmonious, +and the art so perfect, as to render its +precise meaning a matter of little consideration. +Another picture of Sacred and Profane Love was +painted by Grien.<a name="FNanchor_C_150" id="FNanchor_C_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_150" class="fnanchor">[az]</a> He shows a nude woman from +whom Cupid has just drawn the drapery, and another +woman concealing her figure with loose drapery. +The effect is weak. The nude figures in the well-known +Drinkers of Velasquez<a name="FNanchor_D_151" id="FNanchor_D_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_151" class="fnanchor">[ba]</a> are undisturbing because +they are not very prominent in the picture, +but their significance is not apparent.</p> + +<p>No one has yet properly explained the meaning +of the nude male figures standing at ease in +the background of Michelangelo's celebrated Holy +Family.<a name="FNanchor_C_152" id="FNanchor_C_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_152" class="fnanchor">[bb]</a> They are apparently pagan gods, and it +is suggested that the artist intended to signify the +overthrow of the Grecian deities by the coming of +Christ. Such an explanation might be possible with +another painter, but it does not accord with our conception +of the mind of Michelangelo. A still greater +puzzle is offered by Luca Signorelli who, in the landscape +background of the bust portrait of a man, shows +two nude men to the right of the portrait, and two +attired women at the left.<a name="FNanchor_D_153" id="FNanchor_D_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_153" class="fnanchor">[bc]</a> It is impossible to suggest +any meaning of this extraordinary invention.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<h4><br />THE REPRESENTATION OF DEATH</h4> + +<p>Death is a subject inappropriate to the art of +painting except where it is dealt with symbolically +or as an historical incident. Naturally in either of +these cases any realistic representation of death, or +of distortion connected therewith, should be studiously +avoided. For while many aspects of death +may not be unpleasant to the senses, its actual presence—the +cold immobility; the pulseless soulless, +decaying thing; the appalling mirror of our own +fate—these things are most unpleasant, and hence +should have no place in painting. In sculpture, +represented in a certain way, death is admissible, +for in marble or bronze a body may be carved indicating +only the eternal composure of a beautiful +form. This is how the Greeks showed death, +whether in the case of a warrior fallen on the battlefield, +or as the twin brother of Sleep. But the +painter is less fortunate: for him death is decay.</p> + +<p>The presence of so many scenes of death in the +paintings of the past was the result of accident. For +a long while after the dawn of the Renaissance, those +controlling churches and other religious institutions +of the Christians were the chief and almost the only +patrons of art, and they required paintings as well +for didactic purposes as for decoration. For some +time pictures often took the place of writing, where +comparatively few could read, in the inculcation +of Christian doctrines and history, and they were +largely used as images before which people could +kneel in prayer. The most important facts bearing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +upon Christian faith are concerned with death, and +so there have been accumulated thousands of paintings +of scenes of the Crucifixion, the death-beds of +saints, instances of martyrdom, and so on. While +these paintings have been highly useful as tending +to invite reverence for a sublime creed, it would be +injurious to suggest that generally they take a high +place in art. Some of them do, but the very large +number of them which indicate dying agony, or +recent death with all its mortal changes, must not +be approved from a strict art point of view, for any +beauty which may be present apart from the subject +is instantly neutralized by the pain and horror +arising from the invention. But it is evidently +unnecessary to produce such pictures, even in the +case of the Crucifixion, for there are ample works in +existence to show that the face and body of Christ +can be so presented as to be free from indications +of physical suffering or decay.</p> + +<p>But if we are to protest against designs exhibiting +forbidding aspects of death in sacred works, what +can we say of the pictures of executions, massacres, +plagues, and so on, which ever and again have been +produced since the middle of the nineteenth century? +Deeds of heroism or self-sacrifice on the battlefield +where bodies of the fallen may be outlined are well, +but simple wholesale murders as presented by Benjamin-Constant, +Heim, and fifty others, where the +motive does not pretend to be anything else than +massacre or other ghastly event, can only live as +examples of degraded art. There may be something +said for Verestchagin, who painted heaps of heads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +and skulls, and scattered corpses, in order to show +the evils of war, but if the arts are to be used at all +for such a purpose, the poet or orator would be much +more impressive because he could veil the hideous +side of the subject with pathos and imagery, and +further differentiate between just and unjust wars. +The painter is powerless to do these things. He can +only represent the horrors of war by depicting horrible +things which is entirely beyond the province +of his art. The purpose of art is to give pleasure, +and if the design descend below the line where +displeasure begins, then the art is no more.</p> + +<p>How easy it is for the æsthetic value of a picture +to be lowered by the representation of a corpse, is +shown in three celebrated paintings—the anatomical +works of Rembrandt<a name="FNanchor_A_154" id="FNanchor_A_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_154" class="fnanchor">[bd]</a> +and De Keyser.<a name="FNanchor_B_155" id="FNanchor_B_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_155" class="fnanchor">[be]</a> Probably +these works were ordered to honour the surgeons or +schools concerned, but the object would have been +better served by a composition such as Eakin's +Dr. Cross's Surgical Clinic.<a name="FNanchor_C_156" id="FNanchor_C_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_156" class="fnanchor">[bf]</a> Here the leading figure +is also giving a lesson to students, and practical +demonstration is proceeding, but there is no skeleton +or corpse to damage the picture. Fromentin said +that the Tulp work left him very cold,<a name="FNanchor_D_157" id="FNanchor_D_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_157" class="fnanchor">[bg]</a> and although +he endeavoured to find technical ground for this, +it is more than likely that the principal reason +lay in the involuntary mental disturbance brought +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>about by the corpse. Another fine design largely +injured by corporeal evidence of death is Ingres's +Œdipus and the Sphinx,<a name="FNanchor_E_158" id="FNanchor_E_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_158" class="fnanchor">[bh]</a> where a foot rises out of +a hole in the rock near the Sphinx, the presumption +of course being that the body of a man who had +failed with the riddle had lately been thrown there. +The invention is most deplorable in such a picture.</p> + +<p>The use of a skeleton as a symbol of death in +painting seems to have been unusual during the +Renaissance till towards the end of the fifteenth +century. The earliest artist of note in this period +to adopt it, was Jean Prevost who represented a +man taking a letter from a skeleton without seeing +the messenger.<a name="FNanchor_B_159" id="FNanchor_B_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_159" class="fnanchor">[bi]</a> Then came Grien who painted +three works of the kind. In the first Death holds +an hour-glass at the back of a woman, and points +to the position of the sand<a name="FNanchor_C_160" id="FNanchor_C_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_160" class="fnanchor">[bj]</a>; in the second the +bony figure has clutched a girl by the hair<a name="FNanchor_D_161" id="FNanchor_D_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_161" class="fnanchor">[bk]</a>; and the +third represents a skeleton apparently kissing a girl.<a name="FNanchor_E_162" id="FNanchor_E_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_162" class="fnanchor">[bl]</a> +They are all hideous works, and might well have +acted as a warning to succeeding artists. After +Grien the use of a skeleton in design was practically +confined to the smaller German masters till the +middle of the second half of the sixteenth century, +when it disappeared from serious work. From this +time on, for the next three centuries artists of repute +rarely introduced a skeleton into a painting, though +it is to be found occasionally in engravings. One +might have supposed that the unsightly form had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>been abandoned with the imps, evil spirits, and other +crudities of past days, but it was not to be. The +search for novelties in recent times has only resulted +in the resuscitation of bygone eccentricities, and we +must not be surprised that the skeleton is amongst +them.</p> + +<p>Modern artists have displayed considerable ingenuity +in the use of the skeleton, but the results +have necessarily only succeeded in degrading the +art. Rethel figures a skeleton in the costume of a +monk who is ringing a bell at a dance.<a name="FNanchor_A_163" id="FNanchor_A_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_163" class="fnanchor">[bm]</a> Several of +the dancers have fallen dead, apparently from plague, +and the whole scene is ghastly. Henneberg has a +Fortune allegory in which Death is about to seize +a horseman who is chasing a nude woman,<a name="FNanchor_B_164" id="FNanchor_B_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_164" class="fnanchor">[bn]</a> this +design being a slight modification of a variety of +prints executed in the sixteenth century. Thoma +uses a skeleton in a most bizarre manner. He substitutes +it for the serpent in a picture of Adam and +Eve,<a name="FNanchor_C_165" id="FNanchor_C_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_165" class="fnanchor">[bo]</a> +and in another work associates it with Cupid.<a name="FNanchor_D_166" id="FNanchor_D_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_166" class="fnanchor">[bp]</a> +Two lovers are talking, and Death stands behind +the woman whose hat Cupid is lifting. A terrible +picture with a political bearing was painted by Uhde.<a name="FNanchor_E_167" id="FNanchor_E_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_167" class="fnanchor">[bq]</a> +It represents a crowd of revolutionists rushing towards +a bridge, while a skeleton in modern costume +waves a sword and cheers them on. These instances +suffice to indicate the difficulty in the production of +a fine work of art with so hideous a form as a skeleton +thrown into prominence.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>How simply one may avoid the introduction of a +skeleton in a design concerned with death, is shown +by an example where three artists deal with the same +motive—Death, the Friend. The first composition +shows an old man sitting dead in a chair while a +skeleton costumed as a monk, tolls a bell<a name="FNanchor_A_168" id="FNanchor_A_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_168" class="fnanchor">[br]</a>: in the +second there is also an old man in a chair, but an +Angel with a scythe is substituted for the skeleton<a name="FNanchor_B_169" id="FNanchor_B_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_169" class="fnanchor">[bs]</a>: +in the third an Angel with huge folded wings forming +an oval framework for her figure, leans over the +body of a child which has its face hidden.<a name="FNanchor_C_170" id="FNanchor_C_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_170" class="fnanchor">[bt]</a> The +second design is a vast improvement over the first, +but the third is incomparably the best of the three. +It may be remarked that a scythe is too trivial +an emblem for the Angel of Death, for whom +indeed an emblem of any kind is only admissible +when Death is represented as the result of +eternal justice, in which case a flaming sword is +appropriate.</p> + +<p>Very rarely indeed can a good picture be made out +of a funeral scene. Such a scene attending the death +of a great man may be fitly produced, so long as +the imagination can be used in the composition; +that is to say, if there are few or no records of the +actual funeral<a name="FNanchor_A_171" id="FNanchor_A_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_171" class="fnanchor">[bu]</a>; but paintings relating to the modern +burial of unnamed persons are of little value as works +of art, for the imagination of the artist cannot extend +beyond unpleasant prosaic incidents of common +acquaintance. The purpose of the funeral scenes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +of Courbet<a name="FNanchor_B_172" id="FNanchor_B_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_172" class="fnanchor">[bv]</a> +and Anne Ancher<a name="FNanchor_C_173" id="FNanchor_C_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_173" class="fnanchor">[bw]</a> +has never been explained; +and the various interiors, each with a coffin +and distracted relatives of the dead, by +Wiertz,<a name="FNanchor_D_174" id="FNanchor_D_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_174" class="fnanchor">[bx]</a> +Dalsgaard,<a name="FNanchor_E_175" id="FNanchor_E_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_175" class="fnanchor">[by]</a> +and other modern artists, are capable of bringing +only misery instead of pleasure to the observer.</p> + +<p>But while funerals are unsuitable for the painter, +interior scenes where death has occurred and friends +are watching the body, offer special inducements to +artists, because the perfect stillness of the living +persons represented may be properly assumed, and +so the illusion of life is little likely to be disturbed +through the non-completion of an indicated action. +On this account these works appear very impressive +when well executed, and they may take high rank +even when the artist is limited in his scope by the +conditions of an actual scene. Very little is required +however to destroy the illusion of continuity. In +Kampf's picture of the lying-in-state of William I.,<a name="FNanchor_E_176" id="FNanchor_E_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_176" class="fnanchor">[bz]</a> +where many watchers are shown who are presumed +to be motionless, a boy in the middle distance in the +act of walking, is a most disturbing element. An +example where an illusion of continuity is perfectly +maintained is Orchardson's Borgia, where Cæsar +Borgia stands in contemplation over the body of +his poisoned victim. The silence indicated appears +practically as permanent as the painted design, for +any reasonable time spent by the observer in examining +the picture, is not likely to be longer than +that during which Cæsar may be presumed to have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>remained still at the actual occurrence. Scenes of +approaching death may be arranged to produce a +similar illusion, as for instance where those present +are praying, or a single figure is waiting for the life +to pass from the sick person.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 581px;"> +<a name="Pl_16" id="Pl_16"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 16</span> +<img src="images/i_241.jpg" width="581" height="1024" alt="PLATE 16" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Hercules Contemplating Death, in Bronze, by Pollaiuolo<br /> +<small>(<i>Frick Collection</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_190">page 190</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Little attention has been paid in art to the expression +of dying persons. There are many pictures +representing celebrated men and women in their +dying moments, but very few of them exhibit an +expression of noble resignation and fearlessness, +qualities which are naturally associated with a great +man as his end draws near. No doubt the artist is +often limited in his invention by the actual circumstances +of the death scene, as in Copley's Death +of Chatham,<a name="FNanchor_A_177" id="FNanchor_A_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_177" class="fnanchor">[ca]</a> for the statesman was unconscious at +the moment of representation. Other than this the +best known works of the kind relate to the death +of Seneca,<a name="FNanchor_B_178" id="FNanchor_B_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_178" class="fnanchor">[cb]</a> Queen Elizabeth,<a name="FNanchor_C_179" id="FNanchor_C_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_179" class="fnanchor">[cc]</a> +and General Wolfe.<a name="FNanchor_D_180" id="FNanchor_D_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_180" class="fnanchor">[cd]</a> +In the last instance only is there a fine expression. +How it was that Rubens missed his opportunity +with Seneca is hard to understand. The presence +of a clerk taking down the utterances of a philosopher +as he bleeds to death, gives the design a theatrical +appearance, and removes any suggestion of unconcerned +resignation which might have arisen. One of +the most powerful designs in existence relating to +approaching death, is a sculptured figure in bronze +of Hercules contemplating death.<a name="FNanchor_E_181" id="FNanchor_E_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_181" class="fnanchor">[ce]</a> The demi-god +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>is represented standing on an altar. His left foot +is raised upon the skull of an ox; his head is slightly +bent, and the whole attitude suggests a few moments +of rest while he contemplates his coming fate. The +conception is as fine as the subject is rare.</p> + +<p>The artist should glorify death if possible, but he +can only do this when the subject has a general +application. Many painters have introduced the +Angel of Death into scenes where death has occurred, +and have thus converted them into work of pathos +and beauty. Notable examples of this are Watts's +Death, the Friend, already referred to, and H. Levy's +Young Girl and Death, where the Angel gently +clasps the body of a girl whose face is hidden. One +of the finest designs of the kind is Lard's Glory +Forgets not Obscure Heroes. On a battlefield, where +all else has gone, lies the body of a soldier over whom +stoops a lovely winged figure who raises the head of +the hero, and seems to throw a halo of glory over +him.<a name="FNanchor_A_182" id="FNanchor_A_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_182" class="fnanchor">[cf]</a> In historical paintings the appearance of +sleep is often given to a dead body, as in Cogniet's +Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter, a pathetic +picture, bringing to mind the story of Luca Signorelli +painting his dead son.<a name="FNanchor_B_183" id="FNanchor_B_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_183" class="fnanchor">[cg]</a></p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_99" id="Footnote_A_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_99"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> A notable exception is Poussin's Descent from the Cross, Hermitage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_100" id="Footnote_A_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_100"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> See Plate 14<a name="Eanchor_55" id="Eanchor_55"></a><a href="#Enote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_101" id="Footnote_B_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_101"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> "Traduction des 34me, 35me, et 36me livres de Pline."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_102" id="Footnote_C_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_102"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Laocoon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_103" id="Footnote_A_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_103"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> The Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_104" id="Footnote_B_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_104"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> In a scene of The Eucharist, Antwerp.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_105" id="Footnote_C_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_105"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Christ on the Cross, Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_106" id="Footnote_D_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_106"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> As in Hacker's Cry of Egypt.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_107" id="Footnote_A_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_107"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> See Gros's Timoleon of Corinth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_108" id="Footnote_B_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_108"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Leighton's Captive Andromache.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_109" id="Footnote_A_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_109"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> An exception where the mouth only is used is a drawing for the +Madonna and Child with St. Anne, Burlington House, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_110" id="Footnote_B_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_110"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Salome, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_111" id="Footnote_C_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_111"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> Madonna and Child, Arezzo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_112" id="Footnote_D_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_112"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> Madonna and Child, Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_113" id="Footnote_E_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_113"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Cowper Madonna, Panshanger, England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_114" id="Footnote_F_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_114"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> See Casa Tempi Madonna, Munich; and Virgin with a Goldfinch, +Uffizi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_115" id="Footnote_G_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_115"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> Portrait of a Young Man, Budapest; and the Fornarina, Barberini +Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_116" id="Footnote_A_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_116"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> At Versailles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_117" id="Footnote_B_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_117"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> Madame Louise, at Versailles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_118" id="Footnote_C_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_118"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> Portrait of a Young Woman, the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_119" id="Footnote_D_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_119"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> Two examples in the group Madame Mercier and Family, Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_120" id="Footnote_E_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_120"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Madame Olivier, Groult (formerly), Coll., Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_121" id="Footnote_F_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_121"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> See Madame de la Popelinière and Mdlle. Carmago, both at +Saint Quentin Museum; and Madame Pompadour, Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_122" id="Footnote_G_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_122"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> See Mrs. Yates, Llangattock Coll.; William Booth, Lathom Coll.; +and Mrs. Tickle, A. de Rothschild (formerly) Coll., all England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_123" id="Footnote_H_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_123"><span class="label">[y]</span></a> T. Chamberlayne Coll., England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_124" id="Footnote_I_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_124"><span class="label">[z]</span></a> For exceptions see Hon. Lavinia Bingham, Spencer Coll., and +Mrs. Abington, Fife Coll., both England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_125" id="Footnote_J_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_125"><span class="label">[aa]</span></a> See Farmer's Wife, Mitchell Coll.; Mrs. Lauzun, National Gallery, +London; and Mrs. Balfour, Beith Coll., Scotland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_126" id="Footnote_K_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_126"><span class="label">[ab]</span></a> Lady Sheffield, Alice Rothschild Coll.; and Mrs. Leybourne, +Popham Coll.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_127" id="Footnote_A_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_127"><span class="label">[ac]</span></a> Virgin and Child at Bergamo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_128" id="Footnote_B_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_128"><span class="label">[ad]</span></a> Notably A Muse Instructing a Court Poet, and Nymph and +Satyr, Pitti Palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_129" id="Footnote_C_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_129"><span class="label">[ae]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_130" id="Footnote_D_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_130"><span class="label">[af]</span></a> Berlin Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_131" id="Footnote_E_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_131"><span class="label">[ag]</span></a> See Merry Company at Table, Met. Mus., N. Y., and similar +pictures.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_132" id="Footnote_F_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_132"><span class="label">[ah]</span></a> Christ Blessing, a single figure picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_133" id="Footnote_G_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_133"><span class="label">[ai]</span></a> Hermitage, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_134" id="Footnote_H_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_134"><span class="label">[aj]</span></a> Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_135" id="Footnote_I_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_135"><span class="label">[ak]</span></a> As in Dow's The Dentist, Schwerin Mus., and a similar work at +the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_136" id="Footnote_C_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_136"><span class="label">[al]</span></a> Hermitage, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_137" id="Footnote_D_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_137"><span class="label">[am]</span></a> Bologna Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_138" id="Footnote_E_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_138"><span class="label">[an]</span></a> For example, Rubens's David's Last Song, Frankfort Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_139" id="Footnote_A_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_139"><span class="label">[ao]</span></a> See examples by Ary Scheffer, Luxembourg; and H. Thoma, +Burnitz Coll.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_140" id="Footnote_B_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_140"><span class="label">[ap]</span></a> Both at the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_141" id="Footnote_C_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_141"><span class="label">[aq]</span></a> The Bargello, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_142" id="Footnote_D_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_142"><span class="label">[ar]</span></a> As in K. Meyer's picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_143" id="Footnote_A_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_143"><span class="label">[as]</span></a> Bridgewater Coll., England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_144" id="Footnote_B_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_144"><span class="label">[at]</span></a> Pitti Palace, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_145" id="Footnote_C_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_145"><span class="label">[au]</span></a> The Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_146" id="Footnote_D_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_146"><span class="label">[av]</span></a> Vincenza Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_147" id="Footnote_E_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_147"><span class="label">[aw]</span></a> Vita somnium breve.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_148" id="Footnote_A_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_148"><span class="label">[ax]</span></a> At the Louvre. Formerly attributed to Giorgione.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_149" id="Footnote_B_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_149"><span class="label">[ay]</span></a> Borghese Gallery, Rome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_150" id="Footnote_C_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_150"><span class="label">[az]</span></a> Frankfort Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_151" id="Footnote_D_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_151"><span class="label">[ba]</span></a> The Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_152" id="Footnote_C_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_152"><span class="label">[bb]</span></a> Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_153" id="Footnote_D_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_153"><span class="label">[bc]</span></a> Berlin Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_154" id="Footnote_A_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_154"><span class="label">[bd]</span></a> Lesson in Anatomy of Professor Tulp, and the fragment of a +similar work, both at The Hague.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_155" id="Footnote_B_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_155"><span class="label">[be]</span></a> Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_156" id="Footnote_C_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_156"><span class="label">[bf]</span></a> Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_157" id="Footnote_D_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_157"><span class="label">[bg]</span></a> Masters of Other Days.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_158" id="Footnote_E_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_158"><span class="label">[bh]</span></a> At the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_159" id="Footnote_B_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_159"><span class="label">[bi]</span></a> Old Man and Death, Bruges.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_160" id="Footnote_C_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_160"><span class="label">[bj]</span></a> Imperial Gallery, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_161" id="Footnote_D_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_161"><span class="label">[bk]</span></a> Girl and Death, Basle Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_162" id="Footnote_E_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_162"><span class="label">[bl]</span></a> Basle Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_163" id="Footnote_A_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_163"><span class="label">[bm]</span></a> Death at a Masked Ball.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_164" id="Footnote_B_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_164"><span class="label">[bn]</span></a> Race for Fortune.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_165" id="Footnote_C_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_165"><span class="label">[bo]</span></a> Sin and Death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_166" id="Footnote_D_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_166"><span class="label">[bp]</span></a> Cupid and Death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_167" id="Footnote_E_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_167"><span class="label">[bq]</span></a> Revenge.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_168" id="Footnote_A_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_168"><span class="label">[br]</span></a> Woodcut by A. Rethel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_169" id="Footnote_B_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_169"><span class="label">[bs]</span></a> Lithograph by O. Redon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_170" id="Footnote_C_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_170"><span class="label">[bt]</span></a> Painting by G. F. Watts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_171" id="Footnote_A_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_171"><span class="label">[bu]</span></a> As in Rubens's Funeral of Decius, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_172" id="Footnote_B_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_172"><span class="label">[bv]</span></a> The Burial at Ornans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_173" id="Footnote_C_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_173"><span class="label">[bw]</span></a> The Funeral.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_174" id="Footnote_D_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_174"><span class="label">[bx]</span></a> The Orphans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_175" id="Footnote_E_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_175"><span class="label">[by]</span></a> The Child's Coffin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_176" id="Footnote_E_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_176"><span class="label">[bz]</span></a> The Night of March 31, 1888, at Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_177" id="Footnote_A_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_177"><span class="label">[ca]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_178" id="Footnote_B_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_178"><span class="label">[cb]</span></a> By Rubens, at Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_179" id="Footnote_C_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_179"><span class="label">[cc]</span></a> By Delaroche, at the Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_180" id="Footnote_D_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_180"><span class="label">[cd]</span></a> By Benjamin West, Westminster Coll., London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_181" id="Footnote_E_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_181"><span class="label">[ce]</span></a> By A. Pollaiuolo, Frick Coll., New York. See Plate 16<a name="Eanchor_59" id="Eanchor_59"></a><a href="#Enote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_182" id="Footnote_A_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_182"><span class="label">[cf]</span></a> The design for this picture was probably suggested by Longepied's +fine sculptured group of Immortality at the Louvre, the idea +of which was no doubt drawn from Canova's L'Amour et Psyche. +There are Tangara groups and fragments of larger works in existence +showing that the Greeks executed many designs of a similar +character.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_183" id="Footnote_B_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_183"><span class="label">[cg]</span></a> See also Girodet's Burial of Atala, and Le Brun's Death of Cato.</p></div> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>LANDSCAPE</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Limitations of the landscape painter—Illusion of opening distance—Illusion +of motion in landscape—Moonlight scenes—Transient +conditions.</p> + + +<p>Considered as a separate branch of the painter's +art, landscape is on a comparatively low plane, because +the principal signs with which it deals, and +the arrangement of them to form a view, may be +varied indefinitely without a sense of incongruity +arising. Thus there can be no ideal in the art; that +is to say, no ideal can be conceived which is general +in its character. The artist can aspire to no definite +goal: his imagination is limited to the arrangement +of things which are inanimate and expressionless. +He may produce sensorial, but not intellectual, +beauty. The nobler human attributes and passions, +as wisdom, courage, spiritual exaltation, patriotism, +cannot be connected with landscape, and so it is +unable to produce in the mind the elevation of +thought and grandeur of sentiment which are the +sweetest blossoms of the tree of art.<a name="Eanchor_60" id="Eanchor_60"></a><a href="#Enote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a></p> + +<p>Another drawback in landscape is the necessity +for painting it on an extraordinarily reduced scale. +Because of this the highest qualities of beauty in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +nature—grandeur and sublimity—can only with +difficulty be suggested on canvas, for actual magnitude +is requisite for the production of either of these +qualities in any considerable degree. A volcano in +eruption has no force at all in a painting, a result +which is due, not so much to the inability of the +painter to represent moving smoke and fire, as to +the impossibility of depicting their enormous masses. +The disability of the painter in respect of the representation +of magnitude is readily seen in the case of +a cathedral interior. This may or may not have the +quality of grandeur, but a picture cannot differentiate +between one that has, and one that has not, +because no feeling of grandeur can arise in looking +at a painted interior, the element of actual space +being absent.</p> + +<p>Seeing that an ideal in landscape is impossible, +the landscape painter cannot improve upon nature. +In the case of the human figure the painter may +improve upon experience by collecting excellencies +from different models and putting them into one +form, thus creating what would be universally regarded +as ideal physical beauty; and he may give +to this form an expression of spiritual nobility which +is also beyond experience because it would imply +the absence of inferior qualities inseparable from +man in nature. Thus to the physical, he adds intellectual +beauty. Such a perfect form may be said +to be an improvement upon nature, for it is not +only beyond experience, but is nature purified. But +the landscape painter cannot improve upon the signs +which nature provides. He may vary the parts of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +a tree as he will, but it would never be recognized +as beyond possible experience unless it were a monstrosity.<a name="Eanchor_61" id="Eanchor_61"></a><a href="#Enote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> +And even if he could improve upon +experience with his signs, this would help him but +little, for the beauty of a landscape depends upon the +relation of the signs to each other, and not upon the +beauty of the separate signs which vary in every +work with the character of the design. In colour also +the painter cannot apply to his landscape an appropriate +harmony which the sun is incapable of giving. +From all this it follows that the æsthetic value of a +landscape depends entirely upon its correspondence +with nature.</p> + +<p>A good landscape must necessarily be invented, +because it is impossible to reproduce the particular +beauty of a natural scene.<a name="Eanchor_62" id="Eanchor_62"></a><a href="#Enote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> This beauty is due to +a relation of parts of the view, infinite in number, to +each other, but what this relation is cannot be determined +by the observer. Further, whatever be the +relation, the continuous changing light and atmospheric +effects bring about a constant variation in +the character of the beauty. It is possible for an +actual view to suggest to the artist a scheme for a +beautiful landscape, but in this the precise relation +of the parts would have to be invented by the painter +and fixed by experiment. The principal features +from a natural view may be taken out, but not +those which together bring about the beauty. There +is no great landscape in existence which was painted +for the purpose of representing a particular view. +There have of course been scenes painted to order, +even by notable artists, but these only serve the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +purpose of record, or as mementoes. The great +view of The Hague, painted by Van Goyen under +instructions from the syndics of the town, is the +feeblest of his works, and the many pictures of +the kind executed by British and German artists of +the eighteenth century have now only a topographical +interest. Constable painted numerous scenes to +order, and there are something like forty views +of Salisbury Cathedral attributed to him, but only +those in which he could apply his own invention +are of considerable æsthetic value. A good artist +rarely introduces into a painting even a small sketch +of a scene made from nature. Titian is known to +have drawn numerous sketches in particular localities, +but not one has been identified in his pictures. +In nearly every painting of Nicholas Poussin the +Roman Campagna may be recognized, and here he +must have made thousands of sketches during the +forty years he spent in the district, yet the most +patient examination has failed to identify a single +spot in his many beautiful views. So with Gaspar +Poussin, who, unlike his famous brother-in-law, occasionally +set up his easel in the open air; and with +Claude who never left off sketching in his long life. +The greatest landscapes are those which are true +to nature generally, but are untrue in respect of +any particular natural scene.</p> + +<p>Seeing that in landscape the production of sensorial +beauty only is within the power of the painter, +and that the beauty is enhanced as nature is the +more closely imitated, it is obvious that for the work +to have a permanent interest, the scene depicted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +and the incidents therein should be of common +experience, otherwise the full recognition of the +beauty is likely to be retarded by the reasoning +powers being involuntarily set to work in the consideration +of the exceptional conditions. Naturally +the term "common experience" has a varied application. +What is of common experience in scenery +among people in a temperate climate, is rare or +unknown to those living under the burning sun of +Africa. The artist is fully aware of this, and in +designing his work he takes into account the experience +of the people who are likely to see his paintings. +A view of a scene in the East, say in Palestine or +Siam, may be a beautiful work and be recognized as +true because the conditions depicted are commonly +known to exist; it would further have an informative +value which would result in added pleasure; but +among people habituated to a temperate climate it +would tire more quickly than a scene of a kind to +which they are daily accustomed. In the one case +an effort, however slight, is required to accommodate +the view to experience, and in the other the whole +meaning of the scene is instantaneously identified +with its beauty.</p> + +<p>In nature there is always movement and sound. +Even on those rare days when the wind has ceased +and the air seems still and dead, there is motion +with noise of some kind. A brook trickles by, +insects buzz their zigzag way, and shadows vary as +the sun mounts or descends. But most commonly +there is a breeze to rustle the trees and shrubs, to +ripple the surface of the water, and to throw over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +the scene evidence of life in its ever charming variety. +The painter cannot reproduce these movements and +sounds. All he represents is silent and still as if +nature had suddenly suspended her work—stayed +the tree as it bent to the breeze, stopped the bird in +the act of flight, fixed the water, and fastened the +shadows to the ground. What is there then to compensate +the artist for this limitation? Why, surely +he can represent nature as she is at a particular +moment, over the hills and valleys, or across great +plains, with sunlight and atmosphere to mark the +breadth and distance and so produce an illusion of +movement to delight the eyes of the observer with +bewitching surprise. For the eye as it involuntarily +travels from the foreground of the picture to the +background, proceeds from sign to sign, each decreasing +in definition in conformity with the changes +in nature, till vague suggestions of form announce +that far distance has been reached. The effect is +precisely that of the cinematograph, except that the +eye moves instead of the picture. The apparent +movement corresponds closely with the opening of +distance in nature when one proceeds in a fast moving +vehicle along a road from which a considerable +stretch of country may be observed. Very rarely is +the illusion so marked that the apparent movement +is identified to the senses. When it is so marked the +distance seems to come forward, but is instantaneously +stayed before consideration can be brought to +bear upon it. Clearly if one specially seek the illusion, +it becomes impossible because search implies +reason and an examination slow out of all proportion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +with the rapidity of the sensorial effect. Accident +alone will bring about the illusion, for it can +only arise when the eye travels at a certain rate over +the picture, the minimum of which rate is indeterminable.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 987px;"> +<a name="Pl_17" id="Pl_17"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 17</span> +<img src="images/i_251.jpg" width="987" height="768" alt="PLATE 17" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Arcadian Landscape, by Claude Lorraine<br /> +<small>(<i>National Gallery, London</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_xii">page xii</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>It is evident that any landscape of fair size in +which considerable depth is indicated must necessarily +produce an illusion of opening distance if the +varying signs are sufficiently numerous and properly +painted in accordance with the aerial perspective; +and this illusion is undoubtedly the key to the +extraordinary beauty observed in the works of the +great masters of landscape since Claude unveiled +the secrets of distance painting. That the apparent +movement is rarely actually defined is immaterial, +for it must be there and must act upon the eye, producing +an involuntary sensation which we interpret +as pleasure arising from admiration of the skill of +the artist in giving us so good a representation of +distance in his imitation.</p> + +<p>As will presently be seen there are other kinds of +illusion of motion which may be produced in landscape, +but this illusion of opening distance is the most +important, and it should be produced wherever +distance is represented. In nature the effect of the +unfolding of distance is caused by a sequence of +signs apparently diminishing in size and clearness as +the eye travels back, and a sequence of this kind +should be produced by the artist in his picture. It +is not sufficient that patches of colour of the tone +and shape of sections of vegetation, trees, varied soils, +and so on, be given, for while these may indicate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>distance as any perspective must do, yet an illusion +cannot be produced by such signs because they are +not sufficiently numerous for the eye to experience a +cinematographic effect when passing over them. It +is not distance that gives the beauty, but an illusion +of opening distance, without which, and presuming +the absence of any other illusion, only simple harmonies +of tone and inanimate forms are possible. +Moreover the patches of colour do not properly represent +nature either as she appears to the eye, or as she +is understood from experience. If one were to take +a momentary glance at a view specially to receive the +general colour impression, he might conceivably retain +on his mind a collection of colour masses such +as is often put forward as a landscape, but natural +scenes are not observed in this way, and the artist +has no right to imply that a view should be painted +as it is observed at an instantaneous glance. One +cannot be supposed to keep his eyes closed, except for +a moment, when in front of nature, and he cannot be +in front of nature for more than a moment without +involuntarily recognizing thousands of signs. There +must necessarily be a certain clearness of the atmosphere +for distance to be represented, and in the +minimum clearness, trees, bushes, rivulets, and buildings +of every kind, are well defined at least to the +middle distance. These can and should be painted, +and there can be no object whatever in omitting +them, except the ignominious end of saving trouble.</p> + +<p>And it is necessary that the signs, whether shadow +or substance, should be completely painted as they +appear to the eye in nature when observed with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +average care by one inspecting a view for the purpose +of drinking in all its beauties, for this is how a painted +landscape is usually examined. There is no place in +the painter's art for a suggestive sign in the sense +that it may suggest a required complete sign. A sign +must be painted as completely as possible in conformity +with its appearance as seen from the presumed +point from which the artist sketched his view, +for the reason that its value as a sign depends upon +the readiness with which it is understood.<a name="Eanchor_63" id="Eanchor_63"></a><a href="#Enote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> This is +incontrovertible, otherwise the art of painting would +be an art of hieroglyphics. In poetry suggestion is +of great importance, and it may be so glowing as to +present to the imagination a higher form of beauty +than can be painted; but the signs of the painter +cannot suggest beauty in this way, because the exercise +of the imagination in respect of them is limited +by their form. A sign painted less distinctly than +as it is seen in nature is obviously removed from its +proper relative position, or else is untrue, and in +either case it must have a weakening effect upon the +picture.</p> + +<p>The successful representation of aerial perspective +depends upon the careful and close gradation of tones +in conformity with the varying atmospheric density. +This is difficult work because of the disabilities arising +from the reduction of the scene into miniature +form, which necessitates the omission of many tones +and effects found in nature, just as a portrait in +miniature involves the exclusion of various elements +of expression in the human countenance. But +fortunately in landscape the variableness of nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +greatly assists the artist. Only rarely is the atmosphere +of equal density over a considerable depth +of ground, and this fact enables the painter to simplify +his work in production of the illusion without +appearing to depart from nature. Thus he may +deepen or contract his foreground within wide limits. +The changes in the appearance of the atmosphere in +nature have to be greatly concentrated in a painting, +and as this concentration becomes more difficult as +distance is reached, it follows that the artist has a +better chance of success by making the foreground +of his picture begin some way in front of him, rather +than near the spot where he is presumed to stand +when he executes his work. He may of course +maintain some very near ground while materially +shortening his middle distance, but this method must +obviously lower the beauty of the painting as a distance +landscape, and make the execution vastly more +difficult. Claude adopted this plan sometimes, but it +is seen in very few of his important works. In his +best time Turner was careful to set back his foreground, +and to refrain from restricting his middle +ground.</p> + +<p>If a scene be taken from the middle distance only, +as in many Barbizon works, the labour is much simplified +because neither the close delineation of foliage, +nor any considerable gradation of atmosphere is required, +but then the beauty resulting from either of +these two exercises is missing. It is equally impossible +for such a scene to indicate growth and life, +or the charm of a changing view. Some modern +artists have a habit of blotting out the middle and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +far distance by the introduction of a thick atmosphere +but this is an abuse of the art, because however true +the aspect may be in the sense that a natural view +is sometimes obscured by the atmosphere, the beauty +of the scene as a whole is hidden, and the picture +consists largely of an imitation of the mist, where an +illusion of movement is impossible. The painter +should imitate the more beautiful, and not the less +beautiful aspects of nature. Jupiter has been sometimes +painted as an incident in a picture, nearly +wholly concealed by a cloud, but to exhibit a separate +work of the god so concealed, would only be regarded +as an excuse for avoiding exertion, however well the +cloud may be painted; yet this would not be more +reprehensible than to hide the greater part of a view +by a dense atmosphere.</p> + +<p>With a clear atmosphere an illusion of opening +distance may be secured with the far distance and the +greater part of the middle distance unobservable, but +in such a case a successful design is difficult to accomplish +owing to the limited number of signs available. +Many signs, as trees and houses, either darken +or hide the view, while sunlight effects on unobstructed +ground, sufficiently definite to be used as +signs, could not be very numerous without appearing +abnormal. The only really first-class method of +producing a satisfactory near-ground illusion was +invented by Hobbema in the later years of his life. +This is to use skilfully placed trees and other signs +through which paths wind, or appear to wind, and +to throw in a strong sunlight from the back.<a name="FNanchor_A_184" id="FNanchor_A_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_184" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>light enables far more signs to be used in depth +than would otherwise be possible, and so the eye has +a comparatively long track to follow. That the remarkable +beauty of the pictures of Hobbema composed +in this way is almost entirely due to the illusion +thus created, is readily seen when they are compared +with some of his other works, very similar in +all respects except that the light is thrown in from +the front or the side. Before placing his light at the +back, the artist tried the side plan in many pictures, +and while this was a decided improvement upon his +earlier efforts to secure depth of near-ground signs, +it was naturally inferior to the latest scheme. Jacob +Ruysdael adopted the plan of Hobbema in two or +three works with great effect.<a name="FNanchor_B_185" id="FNanchor_B_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_185" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + + +<p>When the middle distance is hidden by a rising +foreground, an illusion may be created by the far +distance alone if this be of considerable depth. Since +the fifteenth century it has been a frequent practice +to conceal the middle distance, though mostly in +pictures of figure subjects.<a name="Eanchor_64" id="Eanchor_64"></a><a href="#Enote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> The Dutch artists of +the seventeenth century who painted open-air scenes +of human and animal life, as Paul Potter, Wouverman, +and Albert Cuyp, avoided the middle distance +whenever possible, but often managed to secure a +fair illusion. In pure landscape the system is less +often practised, and never by great artists.</p> + +<p>The only means available to the painter of land +views for creating an illusion of motion, apart from +that of opening distance, is by the representation of +flowing water so that a series of successive events in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>the flow, each connected with, but varying in character +from, the preceding one, can be exhibited. +Thus, a volume of water from a fall proceeds rapidly +over a flat surface to a ledge, and thence perhaps to +another ledge of a different depth, from which it +passes over or round irregular rocks and boulders, +and thence over smaller stones or into a stream, +creating in its passage every kind of eddy and +current.<a name="FNanchor_A_186" id="FNanchor_A_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_186" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Here is a series of progressive natural +actions in which the progression is regular and +continuous, while the separate actions cover such +time and space that they may be readily separated +by the eye. If, therefore, the whole series be properly +represented, an illusion of motion will result.<a name="Eanchor_65" id="Eanchor_65"></a><a href="#Enote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> +Obviously the canvas must be of considerable size, +and the breaks in the flow of water as varied in +character and as numerous as possible. Everdingen +and Jacob Ruysdael seem to have been the first +artists to recognize the significance of this progression, +but Ruysdael far surpassed his master in the exhibition +of it. He examined the problem in all its variations, +solved it in a hundred ways, and at his death +left little for succeeding painters to learn regarding +it. Very rarely, one meets with a landscape where +the double illusion of motion of water and opening +distance is provided, and needless to say the effect +is superb.<a name="FNanchor_B_187" id="FNanchor_B_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_187" class="fnanchor">[d]</a></p> + +<p>Sea views occupy a position by themselves inasmuch +as there is a fixed horizontal distance for the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>artist. He cannot shorten this depth without making +his work look abnormal, and an effort to increase +it by presuming that the picture is painted from a +considerable height above the sea level, is seldom +successful because the observer of the work finds a +difficulty in fitting in the novelty with his experience. +Except when depicting stormy weather, or showing a +thick atmosphere, the painter of a sea view has no +trouble in obtaining absolute accuracy in his linear +perspective, but this is not sufficient, for if a variety +of trees, herbage, brooks, and so on, requires an illusion +of movement, then certainly does a sea view +which has monotony for its keynote. The motion of +the waves in fine weather cannot be suggested on canvas +because it is continuous and equal. One wave +displaces another and so far as the eye can reach there +is only a succession of similar waves. Thus the +motion appears unbroken, and from the canvas point +of view the waves must be motionless as the sand +hillocks of a desert. Of course in the actual view, +the expanse, the "immeasurable stretch of ocean," is +impressive and to some extent weird, but nothing of +this feeling is induced by a painted miniature. With +a bright sky and clear atmosphere the painter of a +sea view cannot well obtain an illusion of opening +distance by means of a multiplication of signs as on +land, for the introduction of many vessels would give +the work a formal appearance, but the problem can +be satisfactorily solved by putting the sun in the sky +towards the setting, and using cloud shadows as +signs. Aivasovsky, one of the greatest marine +painters of modern times, was very successful with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +this class of work. His long shadows thrown at +right angles to the line of sight, carry back the distance +till the horizon seems to be further off than +experience warrants, the illusion being perfect. An +illusion of opening distance may, however, be easily +obtained in a sea view when there is a haze covering, +but not hiding, the horizon, by introducing as signs, +two or three vessels, the first in the middle distance.</p> + +<p>Another method of giving a suggestion of motion, +which may be used by the sea painter, is in truthfully +representing the appearance of the water round +a vessel passing through it. What is probably the +finest example of this work in existence is Jacob +Ruysdael's The Rising Storm.<a name="FNanchor_A_188" id="FNanchor_A_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_188" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> The sea is shown +close to a port, and half a dozen smacks and small +boats are being tossed about by choppy, breaking +waves. In the centre of the picture is a large smack +over the weather bow of which a huge foaming wave +has broken, and part is spending its force on the lee +bow, from which the water gradually becomes quieter +till at the stern of the boat little more than a black +concavity is seen. The progression of wave movement +is completely represented, and the effect is very +impressive.</p> + +<p>The coast painter can produce an excellent illusion +of motion from waves breaking on a beach, for in +nature this action is made up of a series of different +consecutive acts each of which is easily distinguishable +to the eye. The wave rises, bends over its top +which becomes crested, and splashes forward on the +beach, to be converted into foam which races +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>onwards, breaking up as it goes till it reaches the watermark, +then rapidly falling back to be met by another +wave. Here is a series of consecutive incidents +which can all be painted so as to deceive for a moment +with the idea of motion. The attempt to +represent the action of waves breaking against steep +rocks is invariably a failure, because of the great +reduction of the apparent number of incidents forming +the consecutive series. In nature the eye is not +quick enough to follow the separate events, and so +they cannot be distinguished in a painting. Thomson's +fine picture of Fast Castle is distinctly marred +by a wide irregular column of water shown splashing +up against a rock. There is no possibility here of +representing a series of actions, and so an instant +suffices to fix the water on the rock. In another +work by the same artist there are waves breaking +against precipitous rocks, but in this case the water +first passes over an expanse of low lying rocks, and a +sequence of actions is shown right up to the cliff, +an excellent illusion of movement being brought +about.<a name="FNanchor_A_189" id="FNanchor_A_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_189" class="fnanchor">[f]</a></p> + +<p>Apart from those exhibiting an illusion of motion of +some kind, the only landscapes which have a permanent +value, are near-ground scenes in which conditions +of atmosphere of common experience, as rain or storm +are faithfully rendered. In these works the signs +must be numerous and varied in character, for it is +only in the multiplication of small changes of form +and tone that the natural effects of a particular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>weather condition can be imitated. Jacob Ruysdael +and Constable were the greatest masters of this form +of landscape, Crome and Boecklin closely approaching +them, but it is uncommon for a serious worker in +landscape to attempt a picture where distance is not +recorded. The best paintings of Constable present +an illusion of opening distance, and when Jacob Ruysdael +painted near-ground only, it was nearly always +a hilly slope with water breaking over low rocks.</p> + +<p>Moonlight and twilight scenes are not good subjects +for the painter of landscape, because, shown as +they must be in daylight, or with artificial light, +they become distinctly uninteresting after the first +impression of tonal harmony has passed away, owing +to the unconscious revolt of the mind against something +with an unreal appearance.<a name="Eanchor_66" id="Eanchor_66"></a><a href="#Enote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> This is the chief +reason why no scene has lived which depended for its +beauty entirely upon moonlight effects. It is about +two hundred and fifty years since Van der Neer +died, and he still remains practically the only +moonlight painter known to us whose works seem of +permanent interest. But he did not rely altogether +upon moonlight effects for his beauty, for the representation +of distance is the principal feature in all his +works. Further he commonly makes us acquainted +with the human life and habitations of his time, and +in this way enhances our appreciation of his pictures. +Before Van der Neer, moonlight scenes were very +rarely executed, and only two or three of these have +remained which are worthy of serious consideration. +The best of them is a view by Rubens, where the light +is comparatively strong, and practically the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +of the beauty rests in the opening distance, which can +hardly be surpassed in a work of this kind.<a name="FNanchor_A_190" id="FNanchor_A_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_190" class="fnanchor">[g]</a></p> + +<p>It is not necessary to deal with varieties of pure +landscape other than those mentioned. They are +painted in their myriads, and form pleasant tonal +harmonies, or have local interest, but they do not +live. As the foliage in springtime they are fresh and +welcome to the eye when they first appear, but all too +soon they fade and disappear from memory like the +leaves of the autumn.</p> + +<p>In landscape as in all other branches of painting, +whatever is ephemeral in nature, or of uncommon experience, +should be avoided. Rare sun effects and +exceptional phases of atmosphere should not find +their way into pictures, while strokes of lightning +and rainbows should only be present when they are +necessitated by the design, and then must be subordinated +as far as possible. Of all these things the +most strongly to be deprecated are strange sunlight +effects, for they have the double drawback for the +painter, of rarity and evanescence in nature. A +stroke of lightning is not out of place where the conditions +may be presumed to be more or less permanent, +as in the celebrated picture of Apelles, where +Alexander was represented in the character of Jupiter +casting a thunderbolt, and forks of lightning proceed +from his hand; or where the occurrence is essential +in the composition, as in Gilbert's Slaying of Job's +Sheep.<a name="FNanchor_A_191" id="FNanchor_A_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_191" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> So in Danby's The Sixth Seal Opened, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>lightning is quite appropriate, for all nature is disturbed. +In Martin's Plague of Hail, and The Destruction +of Pharaoh, the first a night scene, and the +second a view darkened by dense black clouds, lightning +is well used for lighting purposes; and in Cot's +The Storm,<a name="FNanchor_B_192" id="FNanchor_B_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_192" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> where the background is dark and no sky +is visible, lightning is the only means possessed by +the artist of explaining that the fear expressed by the +lovers in the foreground, arises from the approaching +storm. Great masters like Giorgione,<a name="FNanchor_C_193" id="FNanchor_C_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_193" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> +Rubens,<a name="FNanchor_D_194" id="FNanchor_D_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_194" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> +Poussin,<a name="FNanchor_E_195" id="FNanchor_E_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_195" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> used a stroke of lightning on rare occasions, +but took every care that it should not be conspicuous, +or interfere in any way with the first view of the +picture. The lightning is invariably placed in the +far background, and no light is apparently reflected +from it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1012px;"> +<a name="Pl_18" id="Pl_18"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 18</span> +<img src="images/i_265.jpg" width="1012" height="768" alt="PLATE 18" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Landscape, by Hobbema<br /> +<small>(<i>Metropolitan Museum, N. Y.</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_202">page 202</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>A rainbow in nature has a life of appreciable duration, +and so may be appropriately used in landscape, +but obviously it should be regarded as a minor +accessory except where it forms a necessary feature +in the design.<a name="FNanchor_A_196" id="FNanchor_A_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_196" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> The great drawback in a prominent +rainbow is that it forces itself upon the attention +of the observer to the detriment of the picture as a +whole, and if it be very conspicuous and crosses the +middle of the painted view, as in Turner's Arundel +Castle, the picture appears divided in two parts, and +the possibility of an illusion of opening distance is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_B_197" id="FNanchor_B_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_197" class="fnanchor">[n]</a> Almost as bad is the effect when a rainbow +cuts off a corner of a picture, for this suggests at +first sight an accidental interference with the work.<a name="FNanchor_C_198" id="FNanchor_C_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_198" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> +Of all artists Rubens seemed to know best how to use +a rainbow. He adopts three methods. The first +and best is to put the bow entirely in the sky<a name="FNanchor_D_199" id="FNanchor_D_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_199" class="fnanchor">[p]</a>; the +second to throw it right into the background where +part of it is dissolved in the view<a name="FNanchor_E_200" id="FNanchor_E_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_200" class="fnanchor">[q]</a>; and the third to +indicate the bow in one part of the picture, and overshadow +it with a strong sunlight thrown in from +another part.<a name="FNanchor_F_201" id="FNanchor_F_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_201" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> Any of these forms seems to answer +well, but they practically exhaust the possibilities +in general design. A section of a rainbow may be +shown with one end of it on the ground, because this +is observable in nature<a name="FNanchor_G_202" id="FNanchor_G_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_202" class="fnanchor">[s]</a>; but to cut off the top of the +arch as if there were no room for it on the canvas +is obviously bad, for the two segments left appear +quite unnatural.<a name="FNanchor_H_203" id="FNanchor_H_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_203" class="fnanchor">[t]</a></p> + +<p>The small rainbows sometimes seen at waterfalls +are occasionally introduced into paintings, but rarely +with success because they tend to interfere with the +general view of the scene. Such views are necessarily +near ground, and so a bow must seriously injure the +picture unless it be placed at the side, as in Innes's +fine work of Niagara Falls (the example of 1884).</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> +<p>The use of a rainbow as a track in classical pictures +is sometimes effective, though the landscape +is largely sacrificed owing to the compulsory great +width and bright appearance of the bow, which must +indeed practically absorb the attention of the observer. +The best known picture of this kind is +Schwind's Rainbow, which shows the beautiful form +of Iris wrapped in the sheen of the bow, and descending +with great speed, the idea being apparently taken +from Virgil.<a name="FNanchor_A_204" id="FNanchor_A_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_204" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> To use the top of the rainbow for a +walking track is bad, as the mind instinctively repels +the invention as opposed to reason.<a name="FNanchor_B_205" id="FNanchor_B_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_205" class="fnanchor">[v]</a></p> + +<p>But if fleeting natural phenomena become disturbing +to the observer of a picture, how much more +objectionable are the quickly disappearing effects of +artificial devices, as the lights from explosions. In a +battle scene covering a wide area of ground, a small +cloud of smoke here and there is not out of place, +because under natural conditions such a cloud lasts +for an appreciable time; but no good artist will indicate +in his work a flash from a gun, for this would +immediately become stagy and unreal to the observer. +Nor can fireworks of the ordinary kind be +properly represented in a picture. The beauty of +these fireworks lies in the appearance out of nothing, +as it were, of brilliant showers of coloured lights, and +their rapid disappearance, to be replaced by others +of different form and character, the movement and +changes constituting important elements in their +appreciation. But the painter can only indicate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>them by fixed points of light which necessarily +appear abnormal. Stationary points of light can +have no resemblance whatever to fireworks, and if +the title of the picture forces the imagination to see +in them expiring sparks from a rocket, the impression +can only last a moment, and will be succeeded by a +revolt in the mind against so glaring an impossibility +as a number of permanent sparks. The only +painted firework display that does not appear abnormal +is a fountain of fire and sparks which may be +presumed to last for some time, and therefore would +not quickly tire the mind.<a name="FNanchor_A_206" id="FNanchor_A_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_206" class="fnanchor">[w]</a></p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_184" id="Footnote_A_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_184"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Plate 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_185" id="Footnote_B_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_185"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> For example, The Marsh, Hermitage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_186" id="Footnote_A_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_186"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> See Plate 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_187" id="Footnote_B_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_187"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> For examples see S. Bough's Borrowdale, and Thoma's View of +Laufenburg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_188" id="Footnote_A_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_188"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Berlin Gallery. See Plate 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_189" id="Footnote_A_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_189"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Dunluce Castle, which with Fast Castle, is in the Kingsborough +Collection, Scotland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_190" id="Footnote_A_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_190"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Landscape by Moonlight, Mond Collection, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_191" id="Footnote_A_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_191"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> The fire of God is fallen from Heaven, and hath burned up the +sheep and the servants. Job 1, 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_192" id="Footnote_B_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_192"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> Metropolitan Museum, N. Y.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_193" id="Footnote_C_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_193"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Adrastus and Hypsipyle, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_194" id="Footnote_D_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_194"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_195" id="Footnote_E_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_195"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Jonah cast into the sea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_196" id="Footnote_A_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_196"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> As in Martin's I have Set My Bow in the Clouds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_197" id="Footnote_B_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_197"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> In the Rivers of England series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_198" id="Footnote_C_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_198"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> The Rainbow of Millet, and a similar work of Thoma.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_199" id="Footnote_D_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_199"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> Harvest Landscape, Munich Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_200" id="Footnote_E_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_200"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> Harvest Landscape, Wallace Collection, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_201" id="Footnote_F_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_201"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> Landscape with a Rainbow, Hermitage, Petrograd.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_202" id="Footnote_G_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_202"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> Rubens's Shipwreck of Æneas, Berlin Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_203" id="Footnote_H_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_203"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> A. P. Van de Venne's Soul Fishery, Amsterdam.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_204" id="Footnote_A_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_204"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> Æneid V., where Juno sends Iris to the Trojan fleet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_205" id="Footnote_B_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_205"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Thoma's Progress of the gods to Walhalla.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_206" id="Footnote_A_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_206"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> See examples by La Touche, notably La Fête de Nuit, Salon, 1914.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>STILL-LIFE</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Its comparative difficulty—Its varieties—Its limitations.</p> + + +<p>Right through the degrees of the art of the painter +till we reach still-life, the difficulty in producing the +art is in proportion to the general beauty therein, +but in the case of still-life the object is much less +readily gained than in simple landscape which is on +a higher level in painting. The causes of this apparent +anomaly appear to be as follows:—Firstly in +miniature painting one does not expect such close +resemblance to nature as in still-life which usually +represents things in their natural size: secondly, in +still-life the relative position of the parts can never be +such as to appear novel, whereas in landscape their +position is always more or less unexpected: thirdly, +in still-life the colours are practically fixed, for the +painter cannot depart from the limited variety of +tints commonly connected with the objects indicated, +while in landscape the colouring may vary almost +indefinitely from sun effects without appearing to +depart from nature.</p> + +<p>The beauty in still-life paintings may arise from +several causes, namely, the pleasure experienced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +from the excellence of the imitation; the harmony of +tones; the beauty of the things imitated; the association +of ideas; and the pleasure derived from the acquisition +of knowledge. Aristotle seemed to think +this last one of the principal reasons for our appreciation +of the painter's work, though he agreed that the +better the imitation, the greater the pleasure to the +observer. The argument appears to apply particularly +to the lower forms of life because in nature they +are not often closely examined. A cauliflower for +instance may be seen a thousand times by one who +would not carefully note its structure, but if he see +an imitation of it painted by a good artist, his astonishment +at the excellence of the imitation might +cause him to observe the representation closely, and +learn much about the vegetable which he did not +know before. In this way the information gained +would add to his pleasure.</p> + +<p>As in landscape, from the absence of abstract +qualities from the things represented, and since the +position of the signs may be indefinitely varied without +a sense of incongruity resulting, there can be +no ideal in still-life, and so the painter cannot pass +beyond experience without achieving the abnormal.</p> + +<p>The painter of still-life has the choice of four kinds +of imitation, namely, the representation of products +of nature which are in themselves beautiful, as roses +and fine plumaged birds; the imitation of products of +human industry which are in themselves beautiful, +as sculptured plate or fine porcelain; the representation +of natural and manual products which in themselves +are neither beautiful nor displeasing, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +interest from association of ideas, as certain fruits, +books, and musical instruments; and the imitation +of things which in themselves are not pleasing to the +sight, as dead game, kitchen utensils, and so on. +Obviously the artist may assort any two or more of +these varieties in the same picture. He may also +associate them with life, but here he is met with a +grave difficulty which goes to the very root of art. +If two forms, not being merely accessories, are +associated together in a design, the lower form +must necessarily be subordinated, otherwise the +mind of the observer will be disturbed by the apparent +double objective. A live dog or other animal +in a still-life composition will immediately attract +the eye of the observer, drawing off his attention from +the inanimate objects represented, which will consequently +thereafter lose much of their interest. The +presence of a man is still worse. Not only is it +natural and inevitable that a human being should +take precedence of whatever is inanimate in a work +of art, but in the case of still-life, where he is painted +of natural size, he must necessarily overshadow +everything else in the picture. Further, his own +representation is much injured because the surroundings +exercise a disconcerting influence. Even with +the human figures of such a work executed by a +painter of the first rank, they are quite uninteresting.<a name="FNanchor_A_207" id="FNanchor_A_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_207" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<p>Beautiful products of nature such as brilliant +flowers and butterflies, cannot be imitated so well +that the representations appear as beautiful as the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>things themselves, and so are unsuited as entire +subjects for paintings, for we are usually well acquainted +with these things, and consciously or unconsciously +recognize the inferiority of the imitation. +The greatest flower painters have therefore wisely +refrained from introducing into their works more than +a few fine roses or similar blooms. The presence of +many less beautiful flowers in which the imitation is, +or appears to be, more pleasing than the natural +forms, neutralizes or overcomes the effect of the +inferior imitation of the more beautiful. In fact +the extent to which natural products which are +necessarily more beautiful than the imitations, may +be used in painting, except as incidentals, is very +limited. They cannot appropriately be used at all +on walls and curtains where they continually cross +the vision, for they would there quickly tire owing +to the involuntary dissatisfaction with the representation. +The Japanese, whose whole art of painting +was for centuries concentrated upon light internal +decoration, rightly discard from this form of art +all natural products which are necessarily superior to +the imitations, and confine their attention to those +signs which, while being actually more beautiful, +when closely seen, than the imitations, do not appear +to be so in nature where they are usually observed +at some distance from the eye. Thus, waterfowl of +various kinds, small birds of the hedges, storks, +herons, branches of fruit blossoms, light trees and +vegetation, are infinitely preferable to the more +beautiful products for purely decorative purposes. +A common pigeon with an added bright feather, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +better on a wall or screen than the most brilliant +pheasant, for in the one case the representation +appears above ordinary experience, and in the other +case, below it.</p> + +<p>The decorative artist then is at liberty to enhance +the beauty of his signs, but not to take for them +things which are commonly observed in nature, and +whose beauty he cannot equal. But there should be +no wide divergence between the natural beauty and +the art, and nothing which in itself is unpleasing is +suitable for decoration. It may be introduced in a +hanging picture, because here a sense of beauty may +be derived from the excellence of the imitation, as in +the case of a dead hare or a basket of vegetables; but +in pure decoration the effect is general and not particular, +and so the imitation yields no beauty apart +from that of the thing imitated.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_207" id="Footnote_A_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_207"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See still-life pictures at the Hague and Vienna Museums by Van +Dyck and Snyders.</p></div> +</div> + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>SECONDARY ART</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">Paintings of record—Scenes from the novel and written drama—From +the acted drama—Humorous subjects—Allegorical works.</p> + + +<p>When the invention of the painter is circumscribed +by the requirements of another art, whether a fine +art or not, then his art ceases to be a pure art and +becomes an art of record, subordinate to the art by +which his work is circumscribed. This may be +termed the Secondary Art of painting. The art +may be of importance outside the purposes of the +fine arts, and in certain cases may be productive of +good pictures, but only by way of accident: hence a +work of secondary art never engages the attention of +a great artist unless he be specially called upon to +execute it. Hard and fast lines dividing the pure +from the secondary art cannot be laid down, as one +often verges on the other, but there is a general distinction +between them which is easily comprehensible +in the separate branches of +painting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 720px;"> +<a name="Pl_19" id="Pl_19"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 19</span> +<img src="images/i_277.jpg" width="720" height="1024" alt="PLATE 19" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Landscape, by Jacob Ruysdael<br /> +<small>(<i>National Gallery, London</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_204">page 204</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Secondary art is not produced from incidents or +characters taken from sacred or mythological history, +because here the general invention of the painter is +never circumscribed, for he is able to produce form +and expression above experience. In profane history +the art is secondary when the painter confines his +invention to recorded details. Thus in a picture of +the Coronation of Charlemagne, the composition is +entirely invented by the artist, and so the work +becomes one of pure art; but the representation of +the Coronation of Queen Victoria, where the artist +reproduces the scene as it actually occurred, is +secondary art, for he is precluded from the exercise +of his imagination in the design, the end of art being +subordinated to that of record or history. Such a +picture is necessarily stiff and formal. Where the +scene represents a number of actions, as in a battle +design, the artist is unable to record the actual occurrence, +though he may represent particular actions; +consequently he has large scope for his imagination, +and may limit his representation to those actions +which together make a fine example of pure art. +But a battle scene where a particular event, as a +meeting of generals, has to be painted, immediately +becomes secondary art, for then the surrounding +battle events would be accessory in their nature. It +is possible for simple historical works painted to order +centuries ago to appear now as of high art value, +because we commonly connect a strict formality +with old pictures of the kind, whether executed from +records or invention. Thus Holbein's Henry VIII. +presenting a Charter to the Barber-Surgeons no doubt +closely depicts the actual event, yet the stiffness of +the design does not seem out of place.<a name="FNanchor_A_208" id="FNanchor_A_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_208" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> Nevertheless +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>it is a refreshing change from this picture to Richard +III. offered the Crown by London Merchants, which +is a magnificent modern work of pure invention.<a name="FNanchor_B_209" id="FNanchor_B_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_209" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<p>A scene from a story of actual life is necessarily +secondary art, because here the painter imitates what +is already an imitation, and cannot ascend above +experience. He is confined to the invention of the +novelist, and is therefore subordinate to him.</p> + +<p>The written drama is available for the painter as a +source for designs only in cases of high tragedy, or +mixed plays containing strong dramatic events of +tragic import. Seeing that the drama is itself an +imitative art, only such actions or characters can be +used by the painter which are above life experience, +and it is only in tragedy that the dramatist can exalt +human attributes, and ennoble the passions above +this experience. Tragedy deals directly with the +two great contrasting human mysteries—life and +death. From one to the other is the most awful +and sublime action within human knowledge, and +consequently the motives and sentiments relating to +it may be carried to the loftiest reach of the understanding. +An exaggeration of ordinary life, where +the combination of perfected parts in form and expression +is not possible, means only the abnormal; +while comedy, which imitates conditions inferior to +ordinary life, cannot be exaggerated except into distortion. +High tragedy therefore is the only section +of the written drama that concerns the painter. If +he draw from any other work of the dramatist he +only produces secondary art, as when he draws from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>the novelist. The picture may be interesting, but +both interest and beauty will be fleeting.</p> + +<p>While the painter may use the written drama in +certain cases, he can by no means be concerned with +the acted drama. It is useless to attempt to produce +a good picture by imitating an imitation accomplished +by a combined art, as the opera or drama. +A painted scene from a play as it is acted, is merely +the execution of another man's design which in itself +is entirely circumscribed by conditions of action +and speech wholly foreign to the art of the painter. +A picture of a particular moment of action in a +written play, as it is thrown upon the brain in the +course of reading, is interesting, firstly because our +imagination has wide limits of invention, and we +naturally and instinctively adopt a harmonious +rendering of the scene so far as the writing will +allow; and secondly for the reason that we pass +rapidly from impression to impression, and so the +whole significance of each picture, separately and +relatively, is conveyed to us. But a painting of an +acted scene is meaningless, for it can represent only +one in a series of a thousand moments of action which +are all connected, and of which the comprehension +of any one is dependent upon our knowledge of +the whole. The painter has no scope. He simply +copies a number of figures in a fixed setting, and the +result is necessarily inferior art to a copy of the poorest +original picture, since in this case the artist at +least copies the direct product of the imagination, +while in the other he has only before him a series of +dummies who are imitating the product. The sense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +of unreality arising from such a picture must instantly +overpower any harmony of colour or form +that may be present.</p> + +<p>Where the portrait of an actor is painted in a stage +rôle, the same principle is involved, though the result +is not so disastrous. We still have the unreal, but +it is painted and put forward as a living person. +The artist moreover has a little imaginative scope. +He can choose a moment of action best suited to his +art, and may even vary the character of the action, +which is not possible where an acted scene is depicted. +But notwithstanding all the relative advantages, a +Raphael could not make a fine picture out of a man +in character. He may largely overcome the disabilities +arising from the limitation to his invention; +he may introduce great effects of light and shade; +may ennoble expression and give grandeur to form; +but he will never hide the sham—never conceal the +fact that he is representing an imitation of life. The +actor on the stage is one of a number of signs used +by the dramatist. His identity apart from the sign +is lost, or presumed to be lost for the time being, and +so he is not a sham; but outside of the stage his use +or meaning as a sign does not exist. Hence the +representation of this sign as a subject of a painting +is only a degree less incongruous than would be the +introduction of a painted figure as one of the characters +of a stage scene.</p> + +<p>It is an indication of the sure public instinct in +matters of art principles, that general opinion has +always tacitly condemned paintings of stage scenes +and characters. They have not infrequently been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +produced, and sometimes artists of high rank, as +Reynolds and Lawrence, have painted portraits of +actors in stage rôles, but never has one met with +public appreciation as a work of art. Probably in +most cases these works were executed as mementoes +rather than as works of art, for it is scarcely possible +to conceive a painter of the stamp of Reynolds, who +was so well acquainted with first principles, putting +forward even a portrait of Garrick in a stage rôle, as +a serious work, notwithstanding that he might well +know that it was a masterpiece in respect of execution.</p> + +<p>Humour is not a subject for the painter to deal with, +for a humorous picture cannot be comprehended +without the assistance of another art. Further, +comedy is founded upon a sense of the ridiculous, +which means distortion of form or idea. Distortion +of form would tend to destroy the art if reproduced, +and distortion of idea implies events in time which +are beyond the scope of the painter. If any humour +were exhibited in the representation of a single +moment of action in a story, it would quickly disappear, +for a permanent joke is beyond the range of +human understanding. In poetry and fiction, humour +may be appropriately introduced, because here +it is of a fugitive character, and may serve as a +possible relief of the mind, as a discordant note in +music; but in a painting, the moment of humour is +fixed, and a fixed laugh suggests mental disorder.</p> + +<p>Nor is there place in the art of the painter for +works intending to convey satire or irony, for such +pictures also mean distortion. Moreover they are +merely substitutes for, or adjuncts to, the art of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +writing. The object of caricature is to present an +idea in a more direct and rapid way than it can be +expressed in writing, and not specially to exhibit +beauty, which is the purpose of the painter. Hogarth's +many caricatures are composed of superlative +signs of writing, and not of any fine art. Cartoons +(as the word is commonly understood) are of the +nature of allegory, and may afford scope for the +painter, but as they necessarily refer to more or less +fleeting conditions of a political or social character, +they cannot retain permanent interest.</p> + +<p>Allegorical paintings are secondary art when they +endeavour to cover more than a moment of time +in a single design, or when the allegory is merely +a metaphor applying to action. The first variety is +rarely seen in modern works, but it was not very +uncommon from the fifteenth to the seventeenth +century, though it was never produced by first-class +artists, and seldom indeed by those of the second +rank. Quite a number of works of this period, formerly +supposed to have an allegorical signification, +are now properly identified as rarely represented +mythological legends, or historical incidents which +have only lately been unearthed,<a name="FNanchor_A_210" id="FNanchor_A_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_210" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> and we may rest +assured from internal evidence that many others +of the same kind will yet be newly interpreted. A +good design cannot be produced from an event in +time because the figures in a presumed action must +be shown in repose,<a name="FNanchor_B_211" id="FNanchor_B_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_211" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> or else the action appears +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>incongruous and opposed to experience, as when a +goddess is overpowered by a personage with the appearance +of a human being.<a name="FNanchor_C_212" id="FNanchor_C_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_212" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> In both cases the +figures must seem to be falsities. Designs of the +first kind can only be properly represented in a sequence +of pictures, each indicating a particular +action, as in the Marie de' Medici series of Rubens; +and those of the second by commonly accepted +figures of sacred or mythological history or legend, +as where St. Michael and the Dragon typify Good +overcoming Evil.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to do more than barely +refer to the use of metaphor by the painter when the +representation of action is involved, as for instance +if he should produce a picture of a heaving ship in a +storm, to meet the metaphor "As a ship is tossed on a +rough sea, so has been the course of my life," though +this kind of picture has been occasionally executed, +the artist forgetting that it is not the object depicted +that is compared, but the action—in the example +quoted, the tossing of the ship—which cannot be +represented on canvas. Another form of metaphor +sometimes used by the painter is that where a comparison +of ideas is represented by physical proportions, +as in Wiertz's Things of the Present as seen by +the Future, in which the things of the present are +indicated by liliputian figures on the hand of a woman +of life size who represents the future. Needless to +say that such designs, of which there are about a +dozen in existence, can only suggest distortion, for +the smaller figures must appear too small, and the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>larger ones too great; or if our experience with +miniature imitations of the human figure warrants +us in regarding the smaller figures as reasonable, then +the larger ones must appear as giants of the Brobdingnagian +order.</p> + +<p>The only form of metaphor which may be used by +the painter is that wherein a beautiful symbol typifies +a high abstract quality. Metaphor belongs +properly to the arts of the poet and novelist who can +indicate the symbol and things symbolized in immediate +succession, so that the whole meaning is +apparent. The painter can only represent the symbol, +and unless this is beautiful and its purport +readily comprehended, his sign is merely a hieroglyph—a +sign of writing. Secondary art includes symbolic +painting when the symbol may represent either +the symbol itself or the thing symbolized, for such a +condition involves a confusion of ideas which tends +to destroy the æsthetic effect of the work. The most +notable painting of this kind is Holman Hunt's +The Scapegoat, where the design shows only a goat +in desert country. The scapegoat has ceased to be an +actuality for centuries, and the only meaning of the +term as it is now used applies to a man: hence, with +the title the goat appears to be a symbol of both a man +and an animal, while without the title it is merely the +image of a goat without symbolism. But the conception +of an animal of any kind as a symbol is +foreign to the art of the painter whose symbol should +always be beautiful, whatever the nature of the +representation.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_208" id="Footnote_A_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_208"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Barbers' Hall, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_209" id="Footnote_B_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_209"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Royal Exchange, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_210" id="Footnote_A_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_210"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Examples are Lorenzo Costa's Cupid Crowning Isabella d'Este, +Giorgione's Adrastus and Hypsipyle, and Piero di Cosimo's Marsyas +picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_211" id="Footnote_B_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_211"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Religion Succoured by Spain, the Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_212" id="Footnote_C_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_212"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Lotto's Triumph of Chastity, Rospigliosi Gallery, Rome.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>COLOUR</h3> + + +<p>In itself colour has no virtues which are not +governed by immutable laws. These are apart +from the exercise of human faculties, the recognition +of colour harmony being involuntary and entirely +dependent upon the condition of the optic nerves. +Thus there can be no meaning in colour apart from +its application to form, and the extent to which it +may be properly used in the representation of form +is necessarily bound by our experience of nature. +Other things being equal, the most perfect painting +is that wherein there is a just balance between the +colour and the form, that is to say, where the colour +is not so vivid as to act upon the sense nerves before +the general beauty of the work is appreciated, or so +feeble or discordant that its want of natural truth +is immediately presented to the mind, thus disturbing +the impression of the design.</p> + +<p>As with metrical form in poetry, the importance +of colour in painting varies inversely with the character +of the art. In the highest art, where ideals +are dealt with, colour is of the least importance. A +composition with ideal figures may be produced by +drawing only, that is to say, by the use of a single<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +tone in outline and shading. The addition of colour +heightens the beauty of a composition of this kind, +not so much because of the new sensorial harmony +acquired, as for the reason that a painting in colours, +corresponding better than a colourless drawing with +our experience of nature, assists in defining the work +and so reduces the fractional time necessary for +the recognition of the general beauty of the design, +which is a matter of importance. The comparatively +small value of colour in the highest art is demonstrated +by experience. If we were to choose from +paintings known to us, those which general opinion +regards as the very greatest works, we should +unquestionably name the frescoes of Raphael and +Michelangelo at the Vatican, and those of Correggio +at Parma. These, with a few easel pictures +of Raphael, and perhaps a dozen other pictures +by various masters, are the only works of the +painter's art to which the term "sublime" may be +properly applied. As with the great epic poems, +they are concerned entirely with ideals—with personages +far above the level of life, rising to the +spiritual domain—or with human beings as they +would be if the highest conceptions of our imagination +were possible of realization. When we recall +these splendid legacies of genius to our minds, and +ponder over the apparently limitless range of human +vision which they evidence, it is the designs that +absorb us, and not the colour—the forms and expression, +and not the tints by which their definition +is assisted. We do not usually analyse the impression +we receive from these frescoes and pictures,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +but were we to do so, it would be borne in upon our +minds that while a Raphael, a Michelangelo, or a +Correggio, would be required to conceive and execute +such stupendous designs, many thousands of unknown +patient workers could be found to colour +them efficiently. On the other hand if we remove +the colour from the greatest landscape known to us, +we find that most of the beauty of the work has +disappeared, and that we have only a kind of skeleton +left, for the beauty of such a picture rests very +largely upon the aerial perspective, which is unobtainable +without colour.</p> + +<p>That the appreciation of colour is relative to the +character of the design may be observed from common +experience. We may see the Sistine Madonna +half a dozen times and then be unable to recall the +colours when bringing the picture to mind, so small +an effect have they had upon us as compared with +that of the majesty and general beauty of the central +figure. So with many of Raphael's other pictures. +It is a common thing for one to call attention to the +superb colouring of an easel picture by Correggio, +but how rarely does an observer notice the colouring +of his frescoes at Parma, which are his masterpieces? +With some of the Venetian artists, the colouring is +often so brilliant, not to say startling, that it seems +to overpower the observer for a moment, and necessity +compels him to accustom himself to the tones +before considering the design. The colouring of +Titian is not so strong, but it is always forcible; +nevertheless one seldom hears a comment upon the +colours in his works, the superior design and general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +beauty of the compositions far outweighing the purely +sensorial elements therein. Titian in fact secured +an approximately just balance between form and +colour, while with his great followers the colour +usually exceeded in strength the requirements of the +design. In the time of Tintoretto and Veronese +the prestige and prosperity of Venice were rapidly +declining, but we have been so accustomed to +associate with this city during the Renaissance, a +luxurious life with something of the character of an +Eastern court, that gorgeous colour of any kind does +not seem out of place as one of its products. But +this special appropriateness has not the effect of +elevating the gay coloured voluptuous forms of the +artists named, observable in their classical and allegorical +works, to a high level in art. We cannot accommodate +the forms to the ideas of the poets who +invented or described them, or to the attributes +with which they were commonly associated; and +the colouring tends to bring them closer to earth. +While we feel bound to admire the colouring, we +are equally compelled to regret the particular +application.<a name="Eanchor_67" id="Eanchor_67"></a><a href="#Enote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a></p> + +<p>Speaking generally, when the design is good we +remember the composition irrespective of the colours, +but when the beauty of the work depends upon +the colour harmony it fades from our memory as +soon as our eyes experience new colour combinations. +The imagination may call up the harmony again +upon the mind, but the pleasure experienced from +this reflection must be very feeble indeed because +the senses are not directly affected thereby. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +can have no more effect than a written description +of the harmony.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_20" id="Pl_20"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 20</span> +<img src="images/i_291.jpg" width="1024" height="758" alt="PLATE 20" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Storm, by Jacob Ruysdael<br /> +<small>(<i>Berlin Museum</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_206">page 206</a>)</p> +</div> + + + +<p>The painter is at liberty to make what use he will +of colour so long as he provides a thing of beauty, +but he must remember that the appreciation of colour +harmony is dependent not only upon the condition +of the optic nerves of the observer, but also upon +his experience at the time of observation. As to the +first consideration little heed need be taken, because +rudimentarily the nerve structure is equal or nearly +so, in all persons, and while accident at birth may +provide in some an advanced condition which in +others is only obtained by exercise, yet in respect +of colours, experience in complex harmony is gained +involuntarily in contact with every-day nature. +Hence for the purpose of the painter, all men may +be considered alike in regard to the recognition of +colour harmony. But individual experience at the +time of observation of a painting varies largely,<a name="Eanchor_68" id="Eanchor_68"></a><a href="#Enote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> +a circumstance which is not of importance in dealing +with works of the higher art, but becomes of great +significance when considering the lower forms. No +organ of the body is so susceptible to fatigue as the +eye, and a painting of the kind known as a colour +scheme may or may not be pleasing according as the +tone is a relief or otherwise to the sight. Sometimes +a few seconds are sufficient to fatigue the eye, as for +instance when it is directed towards a vivid maroon +hanging, but let a landscape with a grey tone be +placed on the hanging and considerable pleasure +will be involuntarily experienced through the relief +to the optic nerves. Remove the picture to a grey +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>wall, and it will instantly lose its charm, except such +as it may possess apart from the colour.</p> + +<p>As with particular tones, so with colours generally. +People habituated to conditions of nature where +extremes of sun effects are uncommon, as in the +northern latitudes, may be temporarily pleased with +schemes of glowing colours on their walls, because +these relieve the monotony of daily experience, but +they must necessarily quickly tire, as with all exceptional +conditions of life which are concerned with +the senses only. How soon one is fatigued with +bright colours generally is obvious to any visitor to a +public gallery which is crowded with pictures. In +an hour or less the fatigue of his eyes becomes so +extreme that his whole nervous system is affected, +and he loses energy of both mind and body. But +brilliant colors used sparingly with good designs may +be a perpetual source of pleasure. Place a fine work +by Rubens or Paolo Veronese in a living-room and it +will attract attention every time one enters, for the +colouring will always be a change from the normal +eye experience. One turns to the picture involuntarily, +and then the design is observed, and so one +passes from sensual to intellectual pleasure. This +process is repeated day by day, and the work never +tires. Of course it is a condition that the design +is able to hold the attention, otherwise the bright +colours would serve little better purpose than if they +defined a geometrical pattern.</p> + +<p>Nowadays quite a number of paintings are produced +in which unusual tones are given to signs or +shadows, but these are not to be taken seriously by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +the earnest student. In the sunlight, amidst certain +surroundings, the arm of a woman may appear for +some moments to have a bluish tone, but the artist +would be entirely wrong to paint a bluish arm. The +picture is to be seen under all lights, and if the tones +be contrary to general experience under any of these +lights, then the work appears to be a falsity, for the +artist does not, and cannot, reproduce the conditions +which together bring about the exceptional colours. +To the normal eye under ordinary circumstances, +the arm of a woman is of flesh colour, and the artist +is not at liberty to vary this tone. He has to represent +what appears to be true in general opinion, +whether it be really true or not under certain conditions. +The dictum of Aristotle in regard to poetry—that +what appears probable, though in reality is +impossible, is better than what seems improbable +but is really possible—is equally true in painting. +In fact it is of more importance that this maxim +should be remembered in painting than in poetry, +because the signs of the painter are permanent. A +poet or novelist may refer to a passing exceptional +sun effect, for the impression on the mind of the +reader would probably be as transient as, or more +transient than, the effect itself, but with the painter +the transient effect becomes fixed. The blue arm is +always blue, and in a very short time becomes a +disagreeable unreality. It may be claimed that the +objectionable sun effects are not really exceptional, +though they are seldom noticed; but for the purpose +of art, what appears to be exceptional must be +definitely regarded as so, and for this reason dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>carded +by the artist who desires to paint a good +picture.</p> + +<p>Generally then, the value of colour lies firstly in its +correspondence with nature, for upon this depends +its harmony and the assistance it lends to the recognition +of the beauty in the whole composition. +Beyond this it may or may not have an ephemeral +value according to local conditions. In any case +colour must ever be subordinated to design in a picture, +and this is what Poussin meant when he said +that particular attention to colour is an obstacle to +the art student.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a>BOOK II</h1> + + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2><br />ILLUSIONS IN THE PAINTER'S ART</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTORY</h3> + + +<p>The painter is occupied in a perpetual struggle to +produce an illusion. He does not directly aim for +this, but except in the very highest art where ideals +are realized, the better the picture he paints, the +greater the illusion. The natural test of the value +of his work is its correspondence with nature, and +the nearer it so corresponds, the more complete the +illusion. But the whole picture is never an illusion +(we leave out of consideration those instances where +artificial devices are used to conceal the surroundings +of the actual painted surface), for the frame and other +material evidence inform us of the art. The illusion, +when it exists, is forced upon our minds from moment +to moment as our eyes travel over the work. It +occurs to us perhaps that a face "lives," that the +drapery is true to life, that the tones are real, and so +on, and obviously these circumstances cannot impress +us in this way unless we are momentarily +deceived. And it is a sign of good quality in the +work when we are so struck. This does not mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +that the closer the imitation, the better the picture: +on the contrary it is rare to find a good work of art +produced by an exact imitator. The duty of the +artist is to generalize everything that can be generalized +without departing from the character of the +thing represented. True there are degrees of generalization +which depend on the nature of the design, +the size of the work, the accessories, and other +matters, but if a just balance of generalization be +secured throughout, then the imitation is better +than a closely detailed reproduction, because a work +is always involuntarily judged from general, and not +from particular, experience. A portrait for instance +is a much better work of art if we can say of it "This +is a good portrait of a man," than if we are compelled +to confine ourselves to "This is a good portrait of +Mr. Jones," even if the lineaments of the particular +countenance are better defined in the latter example +than in the former. The illusion would be stronger, +for we are more intimately acquainted with "a +man" than with "Mr. Jones." And so with accessories. +An exceptionally fine rose or cabbage is never +so good in a painting as one of these articles which is +of an average type, because with this the illusion is +more certain, for it is not likely to be disturbed with +a mental inquiry into the unusual article.</p> + +<p>The painter may produce his illusions then without +sacrificing anything in his art, and with the surety +that good paintings necessarily result in momentary +illusions except when form or expression above life +experience are dealt with.</p> + +<p>The first and most important illusion in the art is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +that of relief, for without this no other illusion can +be produced. It is a general condition applying to +all work on a flat surface. The other illusions that +may be provided are: (a) of opening distance in landscape; +(b) of motion in natural actions, as in flowing +water; (c) of human and animal actions; (d) +of suspension and motion in the air. The two first +are dealt with under "Landscape"; the others are +now considered.</p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>ILLUSION OF RELIEF</h3> + + +<p>The greatest value in the illusion of relief lies in +its assistance to recognition, for with the forms +rounded by shading and separated with the appearance +of relief which they have in nature, details of +the work are less likely to complicate the design to +the eye, than if the flat surface of the canvas be emphasized +by the avoidance of relief. For the eye +has to be considered before the mind, and it is of +immense importance that the brain should have the +least possible work to do in assisting the eye to +interpret a thing of art. It would appear then that +the minimum extent to which relief should be given +in a painting is that point below which the things +painted do not seem to have their three dimensions +indicated. Beyond this the painter is at liberty to +proceed as he pleases. Some great artists, notably +Lionardo, were inclined to think that it is impossible +to give too much relief to a figure, and this may be so +theoretically, but practically there is a line to be +drawn because life is limited, and after a certain +point is reached, the work of shading for relief is so +tedious an operation, that half a lifetime would be +required to execute a picture of three or four figures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +if the artist wished to produce the strongest illusion +in his power to give. A Russian artist of high merit +who essayed the task, spent an average time of five +years in ceaseless toil on each figure he completed, +and even then frequently remarked that he had not +given to his figures the full relief he desired to exhibit. +It is well known that Lionardo gave long and +close attention to this matter in his pictures, and +he produced some extraordinary examples of relief, +of which the finest is, perhaps, the Litta Madonna,<a name="FNanchor_A_213" id="FNanchor_A_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_213" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> +but one cannot help regretting that he did not rest +satisfied with a lower point of excellence in respect +of the illusion, so that he could spend more time in +general design.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 698px;"> +<a name="Pl_21" id="Pl_21"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 21</span> +<img src="images/i_301.jpg" width="698" height="1024" alt="PLATE 21" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Litta Madonna, by Lionardo da Vinci<br /> +<small>(<i>Hermitage</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_240">page 240</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Apart from the relief given by shading in painting, +there is an important mechanical method of improving +the illusion, though this can only be occasionally +adopted. The figures in any well painted +picture will appear to stand out in high relief if we +lose sight of the frame and other surroundings which +distinctly inform us that the work is a flat surface. +This is why a painting invariably seems to improve if +seen through a tube of such diameter that the frame +is excluded from the vision. Advantage of this fact +has been many times taken in the exhibition of +single pictures, when, by the exclusion of the frame, +the concealment of the edges of the work by curtain +arrangements, and the concentration of all the available +light upon the canvas, such perfect relief has +been obtained that observers have been sometimes +unable to distinguish the art from the life. It was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>the effect of the surroundings of a picture upon the +sight, that led to a practice in design resulting in the +exclusion of these surroundings to some extent when +the eye is directed towards the centre of the work +where the principal figure is commonly stationed. +This practice is to avoid accessories as far as possible +near the figure, and to provide considerable open +space above it, and also at the sides when the composition +allows, so that the observing eye has not of +necessity to range close to the frame of the picture. +In a good design of this kind the central figure or +figures come out in strong relief, the attraction of +the work being consequently much enhanced. Obviously +the painted figures should be of life size, or +nearly so, for the illusion of relief to be strikingly +marked, and the conditions necessarily prevent the +adoption of the scheme in a design of many figures. +It is most successful with a single figure, and has been +carried out with two figures, but never with more +than two except in a few pictures of great size.</p> + +<p>The number of artists who have taken advantage +of this mechanical device is not large, but it includes +some of the first masters. The plan may be used in +both exterior and interior scenes. In the former the +figures must be thrown against the sky, and it is a +distinct advantage if there be no trees or other +objects on either side of the figures, which also stand +out above the horizon, though this is immaterial +if the figure be set in a confined space, as an arch, or +between the columns of a loggia, and the foliage is +not seen through this space.</p> + +<p>The most famous pictures where the scheme is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +used in exterior work are amongst the finest portraits +known to us, namely, Lionardo's Mona Lisa, and +Raphael's Maddalena Doni and Angelo Doni.<a name="FNanchor_A_214" id="FNanchor_A_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_214" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> In +1504 or thereabouts, Lionardo painted a portrait of +Mona Lisa sitting in a loggia, the wall of which +reached to a third of the height of the canvas.<a name="FNanchor_B_215" id="FNanchor_B_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_215" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> +On the wall at each side of the design is a column +divided down the centre by the edge of the canvas. +There is a landscape setting, in which the middle +distance is hidden by rising ground, and only part +of the head appears above the horizon. In 1505 +Raphael made a study from this picture in which he +retained the columns, but raised the wall, and threw +the whole head of the figure against the sky. He +used this study for the portrait of Maddalena Doni, +but in this he still further improved the design by +removing the columns, and extending to the shoulders +that part of the figure above the horizon, the line of +which divides the picture in equal halves, instead +of being drawn at two thirds of the height as in +the first Mona Lisa. When Lionardo executed the +Louvre portrait of this lady, he removed the columns, +but slightly reduced the portion of the head seen +against the sky. Raphael's plan, which was also +used in the portrait of Angelo Doni, is obviously far +superior to that in the Mona Lisa design, for the +relief is necessarily better marked. The scheme was +not new to Raphael at the time, except in portraiture, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>for it is exhibited in three of his very early sacred +works.<a name="FNanchor_C_216" id="FNanchor_C_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_216" class="fnanchor">[d]</a></p> + + +<p>One of the best examples in existence of this method +of securing relief is Tintoretto's Presentation of the +Virgin.<a name="FNanchor_B_217" id="FNanchor_B_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_217" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> On the right of the picture is a wide flight +of stairs, curving round as they ascend. The Virgin +is moving up these steps in advance of some +attendants, and the curved stairway enables all the +figures to stand out in fine relief against the sky. +If well managed some considerable space above the +figures is sufficient for the illusion even if the sides +are partly closed, as in Albertinelli's beautiful +Salutation.<a name="FNanchor_C_218" id="FNanchor_C_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_218" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> Where only a small portion of the +figure can be shown above the horizon, the use of a +faint far distance helps in the scheme of relief. +Thus, in Marco Basaiti's Christ on the Mount of +Olives,<a name="FNanchor_D_219" id="FNanchor_D_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_219" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> where Christ stands on the top of a rock +which hides the middle distance, His head only is +above the horizon, but the rest of the figure is thrown +against a faint far distance, the relief being excellent. +A modification of this plan is observable in Lionardo's +Virgin and Child with St. Anne.<a name="FNanchor_E_220" id="FNanchor_E_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_220" class="fnanchor">[h]</a></p> + +<p>So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, the +first known painting where a crucifix is thrown +against the sky is by Antonella da Messina.<a name="FNanchor_A_221" id="FNanchor_A_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_221" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> The +Cross is fixed in the foreground and extends to the +top of the picture, being cut half-way up and just +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>below the feet of Christ by the line of the horizon. +The relief is very fine. This scheme was imitated +with more or less success but never quite so perfectly, +till Titian produced his magnificent Cross. Here the +Crucifix is cast against a sombre evening sky, with +the Virgin and two imploring Saints at the foot.<a name="FNanchor_B_222" id="FNanchor_B_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_222" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> +Rubens improved upon this design with several +variations. In one he hid the foot of the Cross, +though the tops of buildings are seen in the middle +distance<a name="FNanchor_C_223" id="FNanchor_C_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_223" class="fnanchor">[k]</a>; and in another, which is still finer, the +time of the scene is late evening, and dark vague outlines +suggest a landscape. But all these examples +are cast into the shade by Van Dyck's Antwerp +picture, than which there is certainly no more impressive +painted Crucifixion in existence. In this +the foot of the Cross is not shown, nor is there any +ground to be seen, and the figure stands out against +a dark forbidding sky, awful, but sublimely real, as +if set in boundless space for all eternity.<a name="FNanchor_D_224" id="FNanchor_D_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_224" class="fnanchor">[l]</a></p> + +<p>There are many variations of the above designs, +particularly among the Works of Venetian artists, +but those quoted may be regarded as typical. How +easy it is to hinder the illusion is seen in Sodoma's +Sacrifice of Abraham,<a name="FNanchor_D_225" id="FNanchor_D_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_225" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> where both figures are set +against the sky, but trees behind them and at the +side destroy the relief, though the foliage is by no +means thick. In Girolami da Libri's Madonna and +Child with St. Anne, a pomegranate tree interposes<a name="FNanchor_E_226" id="FNanchor_E_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_226" class="fnanchor">[n]</a>; +and a curtain falls at the back of a group by Bernadino +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>da Conti,<a name="FNanchor_F_227" id="FNanchor_F_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_227" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> the illusion in both cases being consequently +robbed of its effect.</p> + +<p>Some of the Dutch artists of the seventeenth century +used a clear sky for the purpose of enhancing +the relief of their figures, but as these are usually of +a comparatively small size, the result is only partially +effective. Albert Cuyp and Philip Wouverman +painted many pictures with men and animals +silhouetted above the horizon, and Paul Potter +executed a few of the kind, but of all Dutch painters, +Jan Steen secured the best relief with his Terrace +Scene.<a name="FNanchor_B_228" id="FNanchor_B_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_228" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> In more recent times the scheme has seldom +been adopted for the purpose of relief, but a few +Scottish painters practised it in the early nineteenth +century. Simson followed Cuyp's plan,<a name="FNanchor_C_229" id="FNanchor_C_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_229" class="fnanchor">[q]</a> and Dyce +in a sacred piece equalled the best of the old masters +in his manner of producing the illusion.<a name="FNanchor_D_230" id="FNanchor_D_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_230" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> Grant +also painted a fine example.<a name="FNanchor_E_231" id="FNanchor_E_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_231" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> Some portrait painters +of the English school of the eighteenth century used +the scheme in a partial way, but they commonly +placed clouds behind the figures thrown against the +sky, thus disturbing the illusion.</p> + +<p>There is only one method of using this device for +assisting in the production of relief in interiors. +This is to throw the figure against a high wall which +is undecorated or nearly so. The figure must be +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>some little distance in front of the wall, and it is +observable that the best effect is obtained when the +light throughout the room is equal, but in any case +the wall should not have less light than the figure. +Inasmuch as the figure has to be of life size or nearly +so, to produce the desired result, a very large picture +would be necessary for the representation of a +standing adult; hence the plan is not attempted with +a life-size figure, except with a sitting adult or a +standing child. Before this scheme was used for the +human figure, that master of relief, M. A. Caravaggio, +adopted it for a simple still-life work.<a name="FNanchor_A_232" id="FNanchor_A_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_232" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> A +basket of fruit on a plain table, with a high bare wall +at the back—the canvas now sombre and darkened, +like the soul of the artist, but still remarkable for the +relief: this was the first application to interiors of a +plan which had been used in exteriors by some of the +greatest masters for more than a century.</p> + +<p>So far as can be gathered from existing works, +thirty or forty years elapsed after the picture of +Caravaggio was painted before the scheme was +brought into use for the human figure in interiors. +In 1630, or thereabouts, Velasquez produced his +Christ at the Column.<a name="FNanchor_B_233" id="FNanchor_B_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_233" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> Here the wall is not actually +high, but Christ is shown seated on the floor, and +hence there is ample wall space over which the eye +may rove. It is possible that the adoption of the +plan in this instance was the result of accident, but +the very unusual pose of Christ hardly warrants the +suggestion. Velasquez painted no more pictures of +the kind till a quarter of a century later, when he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>produced Las Meninas. In this the relief is excellent, +but it would have been still better without the +picture on the wall, and the open door in the background, +though the figure seen on the steps through +the doorway lends assistance to the illusion.</p> + +<p>Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, +some followers of the Neapolitan school used the +plan occasionally, but the best existing Italian works +of the time where it is seen are from the hand of +Evaristo Baschenis, a Bergamese monk. He was an +excellent painter of still-life, and produced several +pictures, each with a boy or a woman seated in the +middle of a room near a plain table on which rests a +dish of fruit or a gathering of various articles, while +at the back there is a high bare wall. In all of these +works a fine relief is exhibited, though they are now +considerably marred by darkened shadows. A few +years later the plan was adopted by some Dutch +artists, and later still in France and Germany. +Chardin, who in more ways than one seems to have +been a French Baschenis, used it in several pictures. +In recent times since the study of Velasquez has +become a vogue, many artists have successfully +followed the plan, and one of the finest examples of +it in existence—Lydia Emmet's Patricia<a name="FNanchor_A_234" id="FNanchor_A_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_234" class="fnanchor">[v]</a>—dates as +late as 1915.</p> + +<p>There are several minor mechanical ways of enhancing +relief, most of them providing a setting which +acts as a kind of inner frame to the design, the object +being to reduce the effect of the actual frame in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>disturbing the illusion. Portrait painters of the +Dutch, Flemish, and English schools, have often +placed half length figures in painted ovals on canvas +rectangles, and in the case of Hals he sometimes +further improved the illusion by extending a hand +of the subject over the oval. Hanneman used this +oval in a most exceptional way. On a large canvas +he painted the bust portraits of Constantine Huygens +and his six children, each in a separate oval, +the father being in the centre.<a name="FNanchor_A_235" id="FNanchor_A_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_235" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> The scheme is +strangely effective, for the attention of the observer +is involuntarily confined to one portrait at a time. +In genre pictures a doorway may act as the inner +frame, but this is only of material value if the picture +be of considerable size. The Dutch painters, notably +Gerard Dow, loved to paint figures leaning over +window-sills, this method usually enhancing the +relief, because the eye is apt to be confined for a +time to the window-frame. Perhaps the best use of +a window for the purpose of relief is Rembrandt's +Samson Menacing His Father-in-law, where the +old man's head and hands, of life size, are seen protruding +from a small window.<a name="FNanchor_B_236" id="FNanchor_B_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_236" class="fnanchor">[x]</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_213" id="Footnote_A_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_213"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> At the Hermitage. See Plate 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_214" id="Footnote_A_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_214"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> The first at the Louvre, and the others at the Pitti Palace, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_215" id="Footnote_B_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_215"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> This painting, or one corresponding to it, is in the Boston +Museum, U. S. A. See Note 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_216" id="Footnote_C_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_216"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Saint Sebastian, at Bergamo; The Redeemer at Brescia; and The +Prophets and Sybils at Perugia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_217" id="Footnote_B_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_217"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Madonna del Orto, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_218" id="Footnote_C_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_218"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_219" id="Footnote_D_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_219"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Venice Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_220" id="Footnote_E_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_220"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> The Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_221" id="Footnote_A_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_221"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_222" id="Footnote_B_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_222"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Ancona Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_223" id="Footnote_C_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_223"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> Antwerp Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_224" id="Footnote_D_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_224"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> This work was repeated several times with variations. See +Plate 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_225" id="Footnote_D_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_225"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> Pisa Cathedral.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_226" id="Footnote_E_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_226"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_227" id="Footnote_F_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_227"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Poldo Pezzoli Museum, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_228" id="Footnote_B_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_228"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_229" id="Footnote_C_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_229"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> National Gallery, Edinburgh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_230" id="Footnote_D_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_230"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> St. John Leading the Virgin from the Tomb, National Gallery of +British Art, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_231" id="Footnote_E_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_231"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> The Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, Gilmour Collection, +Scotland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_232" id="Footnote_A_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_232"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> Ambrogia Museum, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_233" id="Footnote_B_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_233"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> The Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_234" id="Footnote_A_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_234"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Exhibition of the National (American) Association of Portrait +Painters, N. Y., 1915. See Plate 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_235" id="Footnote_A_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_235"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> Hague Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_236" id="Footnote_B_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_236"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> Berlin Gallery.</p></div> +</div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>ILLUSION OF MOTION</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">With human figures—With animals.</p> + + +<p>From the earliest times great sculptors, in producing +a single figure in action, have chosen for the +representation a moment of rest between two steps +in the action, so that the character of these steps is +instantly recognized by the observer, whose imagination +unconsciously carries through the action. If +every part of the figure is built up conformably with +the action, with due regard to the position from which +the statue is to be seen, an illusion of motion will +follow, though this is necessarily so rapid that the +effect upon the observer is indirect: he translates the +impression into appreciation of the lifelike attitude +of the figure. Nearly all the ancient Greek sculptured +figures known to us, commencing with those +of Myron, are characterized by this excellence in +design, and so with the best work of the Italian +Renaissance. Modern sculptors of repute have also +endeavoured to provide the illusion, Rodin in particular +holding that it should be the aim of every +sculptor.<a name="Eanchor_69" id="Eanchor_69"></a><a href="#Enote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a></p> + +<p>The painter is in a different position from the +sculptor because the latter may design his figure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +with special reference to the position it is to occupy, +and so he can in a measure compel the observer to +see it in a particular way. Thus, the base of the +statue may be some height above the ground, in +which case the observer must necessarily run his eyes +up the figure from the feet; or it may be seen first +in a three-quarter view so that the position of the +limbs will apparently change as the observer moves to +the front. Such accidental circumstances may be +considered by the sculptor in his plan. The painter +has no such advantage, for his figure is the same from +whichever point it is to be seen, within reasonable +limits; but he has compensation in the use of tones +and accessories of which the sculptor is deprived. +That the painter may provide an excellent illusion +with a single figure in action is evidenced by Raphael's +superb St. Margaret, where the Saint is seen +stepping over the dragon.<a name="FNanchor_A_237" id="FNanchor_A_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_237" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> Every part of her body, +and every fold of drapery is used in the expression +of movement, the effect being so perfect that we +cannot disassociate the figure from the action.<a name="Eanchor_70" id="Eanchor_70"></a><a href="#Enote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a></p> + + +<p>The painters of the first century of the Renaissance +never properly represented a figure in the act +of walking, and there are few pictures even of the +fifteenth century where a serious attempt is made to +choose the best moment in which to exhibit such a +figure. The first successful essay in the task seems +to have been in The Tribute Money of Masaccio,<a name="FNanchor_A_238" id="FNanchor_A_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_238" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> +who indeed was fifty years ahead of his fellows in +the faithful representation of action. There was a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>jump of two decades or so after Masaccio to the +next good figure, which was that of an attendant in +Filipo Lippi's complex tondo at Florence.<a name="FNanchor_B_239" id="FNanchor_B_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_239" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> This +figure must have caused considerable surprise at the +time, for it was copied into several works by subsequent +artists, notably Domenico Ghirlandaio,<a name="FNanchor_C_240" id="FNanchor_C_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_240" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> +and probably suggested the fine figure carrying a +jar of water on her head in Raphael's Fire at the +Borgo.<a name="FNanchor_D_241" id="FNanchor_D_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_241" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> But Raphael, who mastered every problem +in composition, solved this one so completely that he +left nothing for his successors to learn respecting it. +Not only are the limbs of his moving figures so perfectly +arranged that we see only action, but folds of +the drapery used on the figures are sufficient to indicate +preceding movements,<a name="FNanchor_E_242" id="FNanchor_E_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_242" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> and this is so even +when the figures are stationary, but the head, arms, +or upper part of the body have moved.<a name="FNanchor_F_243" id="FNanchor_F_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_243" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> This extraordinary +feature of Raphael's work will ever form +a subject of astonishment and admiration.</p> + + +<p>The painter has a comparatively easy task in presenting +an illusion with several figures presumed to +be moving, for he has only to comply with two simple +conditions. The first is that the particular step +represented in the act of progression of any individual +should vary from the steps of the persons immediately +behind or in front of him; and secondly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>that the actions of the different persons be connected +with each other so far as possible. With these +conditions reasonably fulfilled, illusion of motion +necessarily follows. Naturally in such a mechanical +matter, the character of the invention depends upon +the scale of the design. When the moving figures +are presumed to be comparatively near at hand, the +position of the limbs must be entirely presented, or +the progression will appear broken. The effective +illusion presented in Burne-Jones's Golden Staircase +is due to his ingenuity in so arranging the numerous +figures descending the winding stairs, that all their +feet are visible. In the case of a crowd of figures of +whom some are supposed to be moving and others +standing still, the visibility of the limbs is of less +importance than the connection of the various +actions. In Menzel's Market in Verona,<a name="FNanchor_A_244" id="FNanchor_A_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_244" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> the illusion, +which is remarkable, is entirely produced by +the skill in which innumerable instances of action are +made dependent upon others. An illusion is created +in the same way though in a lesser degree by Gustave +Doré in several works.<a name="FNanchor_B_245" id="FNanchor_B_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_245" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> When the motion +arises from the actions of the arms of a number of +persons, it suffices if the arms are in various positions, +as in Menzel's Iron Mill, and Cavalori's Woolworkers<a name="FNanchor_C_246" id="FNanchor_C_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_246" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> +where many men are using long tools; but if the +limbs are working together, an illusion is impossible. +The beauty of Guardi's great picture, Regatta on the +Grand Canal, is much diminished by the attitude of +the gondoliers, who all hold their poles in the same +position.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 624px;"> +<a name="Pl_22" id="Pl_22"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 22</span> +<img src="images/i_315.jpg" width="624" height="1024" alt="PLATE 22" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck<br /> +<small>(<i>Antwerp Museum</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_244">page 244</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>Where many persons are moving together in the +same direction, great care has to be exercised in presenting +the actions conformably with the rate at +which the movement is proceeding, for upon this of +course depends the angles of the bended knees, and +the extent to which some of the feet may be carried +from the ground. In slow natural movements, as +where a number of men are dragging a heavy burden, +it is rare to find an artist wrong in his representation<a name="FNanchor_A_247" id="FNanchor_A_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_247" class="fnanchor">[k]</a>; +but in the case of numerous figures walking irregularly, +a true nearground design is uncommon, the +painter usually giving insufficient action, with the +result that his figures present a stagy appearance.<a name="FNanchor_B_248" id="FNanchor_B_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_248" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> +But a defect of this kind is not so serious as where +several men, not being in marching order, are moving +in the same direction with their feet in similar positions, +and each with a foot off the ground,<a name="FNanchor_C_249" id="FNanchor_C_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_249" class="fnanchor">[m]</a> for this +is only an aggravation of a case where the picture +shows but a single figure walking with one foot in +the air.</p> + +<p>An illusion of motion may be given to a line of +figures in the middle distance of a landscape by +simply winding the road along which they pass<a name="FNanchor_D_250" id="FNanchor_D_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_250" class="fnanchor">[n]</a>; +but the angles of the turns must be large, for when +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>they are small, or when there is a distinct zigzag, +the illusion is destroyed through the lengthy operation +of the eye in comprehending the whole scene.</p> + +<p>When many figures are moving close together, +even if they be marching to the same step, an illusion +of movement may be given by the representation +of a flying figure proceeding in the same direction. +This scheme has been adopted in sculpture with +high success, as in the Shaw Memorial at Boston,<a name="FNanchor_A_251" id="FNanchor_A_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_251" class="fnanchor">[o]</a> +and the Marseillaise of Rude.<a name="FNanchor_B_252" id="FNanchor_B_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_252" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> In painting, several +horizontal figures may be used, but they must be +placed irregularly to avoid the appearance of formality. +Some modern French artists are responsible +for effective designs indicating the arrival of spring +by an overhead figure flying above young people +moving through flowery fields.<a name="FNanchor_C_253" id="FNanchor_C_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_253" class="fnanchor">[q]</a></p> + +<p>A suggestion of motion may be obtained by exhibiting +a number of persons engaged in similar actions, +but shown in a consecutive series of stages thereof. +This plan is admirably worked out by Watteau in his +Embarkation for Cythera.<a name="FNanchor_D_254" id="FNanchor_D_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_254" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> A line of couples commences +at the right of the picture, proceeds towards +the left, and then descends a slope to the place of +embarkation. The first couple are sitting and conversing, +the next are in the act of rising, and the +third have just risen and are about to follow the +other couples already walking, the whole device +being most effective. A similar kind of illusion is +caused by Rubens in his Diana and Nymphs pursued +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>by Satyrs.<a name="FNanchor_E_255" id="FNanchor_E_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_255" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> On the extreme right of the picture +some of the figures are stationary; then come a few +who are struggling, and finally some running nymphs +and satyrs, a perfect progression of events being +suggested.</p> + +<p>Illusion of motion is more easily obtained with +animals than with human figures, providing they +are fairly large, because of the greater number of +their feet and the consequent wider variation between +the apparent and the real movements. It is +exceedingly difficult to produce a suggestion of motion +with a single animal represented in a natural +attitude, but the painter is only concerned with what +appears to be natural or probable, and not with +what is actually so. We have only a general idea of +the action of a horse in nature from what we see, +and consequently in design this action must be +generalized irrespective of natural possibilities. Some +artists combine parts of different actions as exhibited +in a series of photographs in order to represent a +moment of action as it is generalized to the eye, but +this is only serviceable where the presumed action of +the animal is one of a series of similar events, as in +walking or trotting. It would not answer in the case +of an isolated action, as jumping or rearing, because +such actions vary with the circumstances surrounding +them, as the height of the jump or the cause of the +rearing. In these events therefore the artist may +exaggerate to a great extent without appearing to +present impossible movements. In fact nearly all +good pictures of one or two horses in action are strong +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>exaggerations of nature, but this hardly affects their +æsthetic worth because the action is not recognized +as abnormal or impossible. The finest painting of +horses in action known to us, is Regnault's Automedon +with the Horses of Achilles,<a name="FNanchor_A_256" id="FNanchor_A_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_256" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> where the animals +exhibit spirit and movement far above experience, +but even if we did not know that they are presumed +to be immortal, we should only regard the action as +exceptional, for it does not appear to be impossible.</p> + +<p>There is ample scope for the presentation of an +illusion with a number of moving animals. All that +is necessary is that they should be kept fairly well +together with their legs in various moving attitudes. +This illusion is perfectly managed by many of the +French painters of battle scenes in the nineteenth +century, notably Horace Vernet,<a name="FNanchor_B_257" id="FNanchor_B_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_257" class="fnanchor">[u]</a> +Gros,<a name="FNanchor_C_258" id="FNanchor_C_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_258" class="fnanchor">[v]</a> +Chartier,<a name="FNanchor_D_259" id="FNanchor_D_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_259" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> +Morot,<a name="FNanchor_E_260" id="FNanchor_E_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_260" class="fnanchor">[x]</a> and Meissonier.<a name="FNanchor_F_261" id="FNanchor_F_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_261" class="fnanchor">[y]</a> The action in the cavalry +charges of Morot and Chartier is amazingly true +to life. Even three or four animals will suffice for +an illusion,<a name="FNanchor_G_262" id="FNanchor_G_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_262" class="fnanchor">[z]</a> but this cannot be provided with the +smaller animals, as sheep or goats, because although +a series of progressive actions may be given to those +outside animals in a flock whose legs are visible to +the spectator of the picture, the scale to which they +are painted is necessarily so small that the eye has an +entirely insufficient range for operating the illusion. +Where several horses are represented as moving at +considerable speed, it is necessary that some of their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>feet should touch the ground, otherwise the illusion +is destroyed, or else the animal may appear to be +racing through the air.<a name="FNanchor_H_263" id="FNanchor_H_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_263" class="fnanchor">[aa]</a> The effect is not so disturbing +when all the feet of the moving animals are +on the ground,<a name="FNanchor_I_264" id="FNanchor_I_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_264" class="fnanchor">[ab]</a> or where they are hidden by herbage,<a name="FNanchor_J_265" id="FNanchor_J_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_265" class="fnanchor">[ac]</a> +or where all the animals are on their hind +legs,<a name="FNanchor_K_266" id="FNanchor_K_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_266" class="fnanchor">[ad]</a> though in these instances an illusion is almost +impossible.</p> + +<p>In cases where horses and men are crowded together, +and are struggling in confusion, it is only +necessary in order to provide an illusion, that no +action should be entirely separated from the others. +There was a fine example of this work in a lost drawing +or painting of Titian, of Pharaoh's Host Overwhelmed +in the Red Sea<a name="FNanchor_E_267" id="FNanchor_E_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_267" class="fnanchor">[ae]</a>; and many artists of the +Renaissance produced like illusions in pictures of the +rape of the Sabines. Where the movement is spread +over a large area, and the scale to which the animals +are drawn is comparatively small, the various groups +engaged must obviously be connected together in a +series. Franz Adam arranges a scheme of this kind +in a battle scene, using running soldiers or hauled +guns as links in the chain.<a name="FNanchor_F_268" id="FNanchor_F_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_268" class="fnanchor">[af]</a></p> + +<p>An illusion of motion is sometimes assisted by +the title of the picture. A remarkable example of +this is Robert's The Israelites Depart. Although +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>individual action cannot be distinguished owing to +the scale of the design, yet when one is acquainted +with the title, the imagination is instinctively set +to work, and the enormous crowds packing the wide +streets seem to be streaming in one direction. Obviously +for the title to have this effect, the number +of signs must be overwhelming, and there must be +no possibility of interpreting the picture in two ways; +that is to say, accessory signs must be used to indicate +the direction in which the crowd is moving.<a name="Eanchor_71" id="Eanchor_71"></a><a href="#Enote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_237" id="Footnote_A_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_237"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> At the Louvre. See Plate 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_238" id="Footnote_A_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_238"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_239" id="Footnote_B_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_239"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Madonna and Child with other scenes from her life, Uffizi, +Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_240" id="Footnote_C_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_240"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Birth of St. John Baptist, Santa Maria Novello, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_241" id="Footnote_D_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_241"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Fresco at the Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_242" id="Footnote_E_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_242"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> See Deliverance of St. Peter, Flight of Lot and his Family, Moses +Striking the Rock, and others at the Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_243" id="Footnote_F_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_243"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> The Transfiguration, Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_244" id="Footnote_A_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_244"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> Dresden Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_245" id="Footnote_B_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_245"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> See Samson Slaying the Philistines.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_246" id="Footnote_C_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_246"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_247" id="Footnote_A_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_247"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> For good examples see Benoit's Morning of July 14, 1789, +Poynter's Building the Treasure City, and Colton's Royal Artillery +Memorial (sculptured relief).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_248" id="Footnote_B_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_248"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Dehodencq's Bohemians Returning from a Fête, Chaumont +Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_249" id="Footnote_C_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_249"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> As in Breton's Cry of Alarm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_250" id="Footnote_D_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_250"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> Diaz's Descent of the Bohemians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_251" id="Footnote_A_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_251"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> By A. Saint-Gaudens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_252" id="Footnote_B_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_252"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> Arc de Triomphe, Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_253" id="Footnote_C_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_253"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> See Aman-Jean's decorative panels at the Sorbonne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_254" id="Footnote_D_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_254"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> In the Louvre, and repeated with variations at Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_255" id="Footnote_E_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_255"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> The Prado, Madrid. See Plate 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_256" id="Footnote_A_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_256"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_257" id="Footnote_B_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_257"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> La Smalah at Versailles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_258" id="Footnote_C_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_258"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> The Combat of Nazareth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_259" id="Footnote_D_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_259"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> Jena, 1806, and Hanau, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_260" id="Footnote_E_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_260"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> Reichsoffen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_261" id="Footnote_F_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_261"><span class="label">[y]</span></a> 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_262" id="Footnote_G_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_262"><span class="label">[z]</span></a> Rosa Bonheur's Ploughing in Nivernois.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_263" id="Footnote_H_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_263"><span class="label">[aa]</span></a> Fromentin's Couriers des Ooled Nayls, Luxembourg; Schreyer's +The Attack, N. Y. Public Library; and Gericault's Epsom, Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_264" id="Footnote_I_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_264"><span class="label">[ab]</span></a> A. Brown's The Drove.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_265" id="Footnote_J_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_265"><span class="label">[ac]</span></a> Uhde's Cavalry Soldiers Going into Action, Muffel Collection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_266" id="Footnote_K_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_266"><span class="label">[ad]</span></a> Snyder's Hunt, Munich Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_267" id="Footnote_E_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_267"><span class="label">[ae]</span></a> An engraving on wood by A. Andreani is in existence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_268" id="Footnote_F_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_268"><span class="label">[af]</span></a> A Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, Munich.</p></div> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR</h3> + +<p class="pblockquot">With the assistance of drapery—Of clouds—Of winged figures—Miscellaneous +devices.</p> + + +<p>The representation of figures suspended in the air, +or moving through it, has never offered much trouble +to painters, though necessarily involving an apparent +miracle. The very slightest pretended physical +assistance suffices for the illusion, and this help is +usually rendered in the shape of flying drapery, +winged figures, clouds, or artificial devices based +upon the contact of two or more figures. The only +difficulty met with is in respect of an upward vertical +movement. Here, wings or clouds can scarcely be +made to differentiate between a rising and a falling +movement, and flying drapery is of little service +inasmuch as a rush through the air would, if the feat +were actually performed, cause the drapery to cling +to the figure. The surest remedy for the disabilty is to +support the figure directly by winged figures placed at +a considerable angle from the vertical, but this plan is +only rarely adopted by great masters because of the +consequent complications in the design of the group. +Since flying drapery is commonly added to the figure +presumed to be ascending, and seeing that artists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +almost invariably insist upon giving their ascending +figures upright attitudes, it is seldom that the movement +is correctly expressed. Usually the figure +appears to be held immovably in suspension, but +occasionally, owing to the drapery arrangement, a +descending movement is indicated.<a name="FNanchor_A_269" id="FNanchor_A_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_269" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> Without the +assistance of winged figures, the illusion of ascension +can only be given when the figure is shown directed +upwards at an angle of at least fifteen or twenty +degrees from the vertical. As a rule the larger the +angle, the more easy is the production of an illusion. +With a fairly large angle, and an appropriate arrangement +of limbs and drapery, heavy figures can be +made to appear naturally ascending, as in Rubens's +Boreas and Orithyia, both voluptuous forms.<a name="FNanchor_B_270" id="FNanchor_B_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_270" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + + +<p>Only a very few of the first artists have been able +to give an illusion of movement in the air by use of +drapery alone, the device adopted by Michelangelo +in the Sistine Chapel frescoes being perhaps the most +effective. He throws behind the moving figure of the +Deity a large fold of drapery, which assumes an oval +or nearly round shape, the whole acting as a concave +framework for the Deity and attending Angels.<a name="FNanchor_A_271" id="FNanchor_A_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_271" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> +The success of the plan arises of course from the +apparent resistance to the air offered by a large +and compact surface. This form with more or less +marked modifications in the concavity was probably +used by the ancient Greeks in their paintings, as a +nearly similar arrangement is found in a sculptured +figure which has come down to us, though in this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>case a running movement is indicated.<a name="FNanchor_B_272" id="FNanchor_B_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_272" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> +It is also seen in some Pompeian frescoes, where it is applied +to figures moving through the air and on the ground.<a name="FNanchor_C_273" id="FNanchor_C_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_273" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> +Raphael adopted the device occasionally,<a name="FNanchor_D_274" id="FNanchor_D_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_274" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> but generally +varied it with excellent effect by flowing out +from the waist a large scarf-like fold to take a circular +form above the head and shoulders of the figure,<a name="FNanchor_E_275" id="FNanchor_E_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_275" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> or +by causing heavy drapery to flow out from the lower +part of the body.<a name="FNanchor_F_276" id="FNanchor_F_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_276" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> No doubt in the case of Raphael, +the extraordinary grace of figure, and the perfect pose +of the limbs, assist the illusion. Tintoretto and other +artists of the Renaissance used an oval drapery in +a similar way; while sometimes the figure is half +hidden within it,<a name="FNanchor_G_277" id="FNanchor_G_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_277" class="fnanchor">[i]</a> and Le Sueur wrapped part of the +figure in folds before forming the oval.<a name="FNanchor_H_278" id="FNanchor_H_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_278" class="fnanchor">[j]</a> There seems +to be a simple virtue in any oval form connected with +figures presumed to be suspended in the air. It was +quite common in the early days of the Renaissance +for the Deity or Virgin and Child to be placed in a +regular oval framework, sometimes supported by +Angels or cherubs, and the illusion was usually successful.<a name="FNanchor_I_279" id="FNanchor_I_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_279" class="fnanchor">[k]</a> +Rubens by way of experiment went a little +further in one picture, for he placed the Virgin and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +Child in an oval picture frame supported by cherubs.<a name="FNanchor_J_280" id="FNanchor_J_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_280" class="fnanchor">[l]</a> +This however does not seem so novel as some of +Perugino's ovals which are bordered with the heads +of cherubs.<a name="FNanchor_K_281" id="FNanchor_K_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_281" class="fnanchor">[m]</a></p> + +<p>Wings are seldom sufficient to suggest lightness in +the air, because they can scarcely be designed of the +size and strength which we judge to be proportionate +to the presumed weight of the body, without making +the form appear abnormal, though there are instances +in which partial success has been achieved by using +comparatively small figures and giving them unusually +large wings.<a name="FNanchor_C_282" id="FNanchor_C_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_282" class="fnanchor">[n]</a> The use of more than a single +pair of wings is hardly permissible because of the +apparent anomaly. Actually one pair is not less +incomprehensible from an anatomical point of view +than several pairs, but custom has driven from our +minds any suggestion of incongruity in respect of +the representation of the common type of Angel. +Naturally when skilfully arranged, the more wings, +the stronger the illusion of flight, and if a habit of +giving four wings to an Angel were engendered, we +should perhaps see nothing strange in them. Even +six wings have been given to Angels without making +them appear ungraceful.<a name="FNanchor_D_283" id="FNanchor_D_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_283" class="fnanchor">[o]</a></p> + +<p>When there is no assistance, as clouds or flowing +drapery, lent to Angels to promote the illusion of +suspension, it is necessary to give them an attitude +which is nearly horizontal. Properly managed, a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>pair of comparatively small wings may in this way +appear to support a heavy form.<a name="FNanchor_A_284" id="FNanchor_A_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_284" class="fnanchor">[p]</a> Luini actually +adds the weight of the body of St. Catherine to three +Angels, flying horizontally, who carry her to the +tomb<a name="FNanchor_B_285" id="FNanchor_B_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_285" class="fnanchor">[q]</a>; an invention, strangely enough, followed by +Kulmbach in Germany at about the same time.<a name="FNanchor_C_286" id="FNanchor_C_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_286" class="fnanchor">[r]</a> In +both cases the illusion is excellent. Some of the +early Flemish and German masters, including Van +Eyck<a name="FNanchor_D_287" id="FNanchor_D_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_287" class="fnanchor">[s]</a> and Holbein,<a name="FNanchor_E_288" id="FNanchor_E_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_288" class="fnanchor">[t]</a> employed Angels in scenes with +the Virgin to hold suspended behind her seat, large +falls of brocaded material, and it is curious to note +that the Angels themselves seem to be supported +by the drapery. In order to assist the suggestion +of lightness, Perugino sometimes arched the lower +limbs of the Angels, adding a narrow tape scroll<a name="FNanchor_F_289" id="FNanchor_F_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_289" class="fnanchor">[u]</a>; +an addition improved upon by Raphael who substituted +for the scroll a loosened girdle flying out +from the waist.<a name="FNanchor_G_290" id="FNanchor_G_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_290" class="fnanchor">[v]</a></p> + +<p>The most frequently used form of support for +figures in suspension are irregular masses of clouds, +upon which the figures sit or stand, and occasionally +are partly enfolded therein. Sometimes the cloud +bank is more or less shaped for the purpose of relief, +or for variety in design. Thus, Raphael makes part +of the cloud a perfect footrest for the Virgin,<a name="FNanchor_A_291" id="FNanchor_A_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_291" class="fnanchor">[w]</a> and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>Palma Giovane does a similar thing for a figure of +Christ,<a name="FNanchor_B_292" id="FNanchor_B_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_292" class="fnanchor">[x]</a> but in this case the illusion is hazarded as +the seat is not directly indicated. Ingres produces +an excellent illusion by making the footrest a small +separate cloud,<a name="FNanchor_C_293" id="FNanchor_C_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_293" class="fnanchor">[y]</a> which is a variation from the practice +of many painters of the Renaissance, who used a +separate cloud for each personage in the composition, +or even with each foot as with Carlo Crivelli.<a name="FNanchor_D_294" id="FNanchor_D_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_294" class="fnanchor">[z]</a> +In a fresco of the Evangelists at Florence, each of +them sits with his insignia on a foliated bank of +clouds.<a name="FNanchor_E_295" id="FNanchor_E_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_295" class="fnanchor">[aa]</a> Perugino in using a similar plan sometimes +places the clouds at the bottom of the picture, no +part of the earth being seen, so that the illusion is +considerably enhanced.<a name="FNanchor_F_296" id="FNanchor_F_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_296" class="fnanchor">[ab]</a> At other times he shows +Angels apparently running through the air, with +each front foot resting on a tiny cloud, giving the +impression that it is fastened there.<a name="FNanchor_G_297" id="FNanchor_G_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_297" class="fnanchor">[ac]</a> Durer extended +this plan by directly attaching a small cloud +to each foot, the effect being somewhat whimsical.<a name="FNanchor_H_298" id="FNanchor_H_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_298" class="fnanchor">[ad]</a> +Titian was unsuccessful in the use of an isolated +cloud.<a name="FNanchor_I_299" id="FNanchor_I_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_299" class="fnanchor">[ae]</a> In a Resurrection scene Christ stands on a +small thin cloud, and holds a flag-pole, the lower end +of which rests upon the cloud. Obviously with such +a design no suggestion of ascent can enter the mind.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 611px;"> +<a name="Pl_23" id="Pl_23"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 23</span> +<img src="images/i_329.jpg" width="611" height="1024" alt="PLATE 23" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Patricia, by Lydia Emmet<br /> +<small>(<i>Private owner, N. Y.</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_247">page 247</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Some artists, as Luca Signorelli,<a name="FNanchor_A_300" id="FNanchor_A_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_300" class="fnanchor">[af]</a> hide the lower +part of the figure behind clouds, but this method, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>while indicating suspension, cannot provide an illusion +of movement without an assisting device. Thus +Schonherr shows an Angel so concealed in a nearly +horizontal position with wings fully expanded, the +effect being good.<a name="FNanchor_B_301" id="FNanchor_B_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_301" class="fnanchor">[ag]</a> When a figure is suspended on +clouds, very rarely indeed is repose emphasized by +placing it in a horizontal position, but Poussin once +adopts the plan,<a name="FNanchor_C_302" id="FNanchor_C_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_302" class="fnanchor">[ah]</a> and Guercino goes so far as to +represent a reclining Angel resting her head on her +hand as if suffering from fatigue.<a name="FNanchor_D_303" id="FNanchor_D_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_303" class="fnanchor">[ai]</a> Perfect repose +of the Deity in an upright position on clouds is produced +by Gustave Doré, who reduces the size of the +earth, above which He stands, to an insignificant +proportion, so that the imagination sends it moving +round below Him.<a name="FNanchor_E_304" id="FNanchor_E_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_304" class="fnanchor">[aj]</a></p> + +<p>Quite a number of artists represent the suspended +figures standing on the backs of cherubs or cupids, +which in their turn are supported by clouds, as +for instance, R. Ghirlandaio,<a name="FNanchor_A_305" id="FNanchor_A_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_305" class="fnanchor">[ak]</a> Liberale di Verona,<a name="FNanchor_B_306" id="FNanchor_B_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_306" class="fnanchor">[al]</a> +and Francesco da Cotignola.<a name="FNanchor_C_307" id="FNanchor_C_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_307" class="fnanchor">[am]</a> Fra Bartolommeo +places a single foot of the Deity on a cherub who +holds a banderole, the illusion being excellent.<a name="FNanchor_D_308" id="FNanchor_D_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_308" class="fnanchor">[an]</a> +Domenichino adopts a most ingenious device in +St. Paul's Vision. He shows the Apostle being +carried to Heaven by winged cherubs, who appear +to find the weight considerable, and to struggle +under it. There is little else to induce the illusion, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>which is complete.<a name="FNanchor_E_309" id="FNanchor_E_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_309" class="fnanchor">[ao]</a> A similar scheme is successfully +managed in Prud'hon's Abduction of Psyche. +Tassaert uses a like device, but in addition has a +cherub supporting each arm of the Virgin. Palma +Vecchio makes the Virgin stand on the outstretched +wings of a cherub, but her robe blows upwards, +giving her the appearance of descending instead of +ascending.<a name="FNanchor_F_310" id="FNanchor_F_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_310" class="fnanchor">[ap]</a> Rubens has three alternatives in the +use of cherubs. The figure sits on clouds with feet +resting on small globes sustained by cherubs<a name="FNanchor_G_311" id="FNanchor_G_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_311" class="fnanchor">[aq]</a>; or +the cherubs hold the dress and mantle of the Virgin; +or they help to control the clouds upon which she +sits.<a name="FNanchor_H_312" id="FNanchor_H_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_312" class="fnanchor">[ar]</a> In some of his pictures of the Immaculate +Conception, Murillo also uses globes, but places the +cherubs on them instead of under. Francia has a +picture in which cherubs hold up clouds bearing the +Virgin,<a name="FNanchor_I_313" id="FNanchor_I_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_313" class="fnanchor">[as]</a> a device once used by Rembrandt.<a name="FNanchor_J_314" id="FNanchor_J_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_314" class="fnanchor">[at]</a> Genga +shows the Deity kneeling upon the heads of cherubs, +a scheme not satisfactory.<a name="FNanchor_K_315" id="FNanchor_K_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_315" class="fnanchor">[au]</a> Cherubs were used by +Titian to hold up the Virgin and clouds,<a name="FNanchor_L_316" id="FNanchor_L_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_L_316" class="fnanchor">[av]</a> while +Velasquez rested the robes on clouds, but used cherubs +to sustain the Holy Mother.<a name="FNanchor_M_317" id="FNanchor_M_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_M_317" class="fnanchor">[aw]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>The illusion is usually more complete when Angels +are used instead of cherubs for support, apparently +because they may be presumed to have greater +strength, and the plan was adopted by some of the +earlier masters of the Renaissance. The simple design +of Rubens in resting the foot of Christ on the arm +of a flying Angel is quite successful.<a name="FNanchor_A_318" id="FNanchor_A_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_318" class="fnanchor">[ax]</a> Fontana places +the Deity on clouds supported by Angels,<a name="FNanchor_B_319" id="FNanchor_B_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_319" class="fnanchor">[ay]</a> a method +adopted by Granacci, who however assists the illusion +by adding two Angels who are directly supporting +the figure.<a name="FNanchor_C_320" id="FNanchor_C_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_320" class="fnanchor">[az]</a> Peter Cornelius has the Deity with +His foot on a small globe which is held in position +by Angels.<a name="FNanchor_D_321" id="FNanchor_D_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_321" class="fnanchor">[ba]</a> A fine example of their use is shown by +Gutherz. Two Angels with large outstretched wings +are bearing the body of a woman to Heaven. She +lies recumbent upon a lengthy hammock formed by +the robes of the Angels, the ends of the drapery +being gathered up by the flying cherubs.<a name="FNanchor_E_322" id="FNanchor_E_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_322" class="fnanchor">[bb]</a> The +illusion is perfect. Rembrandt also has a beautiful +design in a Resurrection scene, for he shows the +figure of Christ as a shade whose hands are held by a +flying Angel lifting Him to Heaven.<a name="FNanchor_F_323" id="FNanchor_F_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_323" class="fnanchor">[bc]</a> A few artists, +as Poussin<a name="FNanchor_G_324" id="FNanchor_G_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_324" class="fnanchor">[bd]</a> and Bouguereau,<a name="FNanchor_H_325" id="FNanchor_H_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_325" class="fnanchor">[be]</a> use Angels to carry +the figure with no other assisting device, but if +the body is recumbent it is necessary that the +Angels should be in a nearly upright position, otherwise +they will appear to be moving horizontally.<a name="FNanchor_I_326" id="FNanchor_I_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_326" class="fnanchor">[bf]</a> +Rubens in an Ascension uses the strange method +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>of placing an Angel beneath Christ, but without +touching Him.<a name="FNanchor_J_327" id="FNanchor_J_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_327" class="fnanchor">[bg]</a> The drapery flies out at the back, +so that without some assistance he would appear +to be descending; but the Angel below, with her +hands held up, seems to correct the position. Guido +Reni carries the Virgin up with Angels who support +her beneath, and she seems in fact to be standing +on their shoulders.<a name="FNanchor_K_328" id="FNanchor_K_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_328" class="fnanchor">[bh]</a> In one instance Correggio substitutes +a smiling boy for an Angel, and he holds up +a cloud on which the Virgin sits.<a name="FNanchor_L_329" id="FNanchor_L_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_L_329" class="fnanchor">[bi]</a> There are many +works where winged figures hold a body in suspension, +most of them providing excellent illusions. Among +the best is Lux's Sarpedon, where the body of the +Trojan is held up for Jupiter to kiss.<a name="FNanchor_M_330" id="FNanchor_M_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_M_330" class="fnanchor">[bj]</a></p> + +<p>Even a simple banderole or scarf suffices to indicate +movement in the air if well arranged. Usually +a flying cherub holds an end of the banderole, and +Ferri shows a wingless putto even, flying with no +other assistance.<a name="FNanchor_E_331" id="FNanchor_E_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_331" class="fnanchor">[bk]</a> Boucher creates an illusion by +the bold device of connecting two cupids with a +narrow scarf blown out into a semicircle<a name="FNanchor_F_332" id="FNanchor_F_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_332" class="fnanchor">[bl]</a>; and in +another instance very narrow tape streamers suffice.<a name="FNanchor_G_333" id="FNanchor_G_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_333" class="fnanchor">[bm]</a></p> + +<p>The use of thick smoke for suspension purposes is +nearly always successful, because volumes of smoke +in nature necessarily tend to move upwards; but +obviously this scheme can only be arranged when +an altar is possible. The plan is not uncommon in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>pictures relating to Cain and Abel, and the Translation +of Enoch. In one of the latter subject, Hoet +makes part of the smoke from an altar envelop the +surrounding ground so as to widen the volume, while +Schnorr achieves the same end by curling round the +smoke as it ascends into the form of a large saucer +upon which the Deity sits,<a name="FNanchor_A_334" id="FNanchor_A_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_334" class="fnanchor">[bn]</a> a method slightly varied +by Amiconi.<a name="FNanchor_B_335" id="FNanchor_B_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_335" class="fnanchor">[bo]</a></p> + +<p>Where a number of figures are connected together +in a circular form in the air, the double illusion of +suspension and motion follows naturally, provided +their attitudes indicate a circular movement. An +excellent example of this is shown in a picture by +Botticelli, where Angels dance in the air over the +hut of the Nativity.<a name="FNanchor_C_336" id="FNanchor_C_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_336" class="fnanchor">[bp]</a> The finest work of the kind +in existence is probably Schwind's Pleiads, in which +the stars are represented by a circle of beautiful +nude women.<a name="FNanchor_D_337" id="FNanchor_D_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_337" class="fnanchor">[bq]</a> Extraordinary activity is suggested +by the perfect arrangement of the limbs and light +flowing drapery used. Bouguereau has a work +of a similar kind, The Lost Pleiad, but here the +dancers are upright, and the circle is only accessory +to the title figure.<a name="FNanchor_E_338" id="FNanchor_E_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_338" class="fnanchor">[br]</a> Watteau is fairly successful +in giving an illusion of suspension to cupids even +with a half circle, though the invention is somewhat +formal.<a name="FNanchor_F_339" id="FNanchor_F_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_339" class="fnanchor">[bs]</a></p> + +<p>Some of the devices used to bring about an illusion +are most ingenious. Thus in his Bacchus and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +Ariadne,<a name="FNanchor_A_340" id="FNanchor_A_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_340" class="fnanchor">[bt]</a> Tintoretto actually applies a disability of +his art for the purpose. Venus is shown in a horizontal +position in the air, placing a crown of stars +upon the head of Ariadne. Bacchus is standing by, +and the form of the goddess floats just at the back +of him, the lower side of her hip being on a level with +the top of his head. Seeing that the head is covered +with a profusion of vine leaves, it is impossible for +the artist to indicate, or the observer to recognize, +that the goddess does not actually touch the head of +Bacchus, and she apparently balances herself upon +his head while crowning Ariadne, the artist having +been careful to place the centre of gravity of +her figure over the apparent point of contact. A +similar kind of illusion is provided by Burne-Jones, +whose Angel of the Annunciation is upright in midair +near the ground, but her feet seem to find support +on the branches of a shrub.<a name="FNanchor_B_341" id="FNanchor_B_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_341" class="fnanchor">[bu]</a> Rossetti, in the same +subject, shows the Angel with his feet wrapped in +flames, the weight being thus apparently removed. +The design seems bizarre, perhaps because of the +absence of an expression of surprise which one would +expect to see on the countenance of the Virgin at +so extraordinary a phenomenon.<a name="Eanchor_73" id="Eanchor_73"></a><a href="#Enote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> Schwind also +uses a disability of his art for an illusion in his Phantom +of the Forest.<a name="FNanchor_C_342" id="FNanchor_C_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_342" class="fnanchor">[bv]</a> She moves near the ground +away from the spectator with such rapidity that her +robe, a simple rectangular piece of drapery, has +opened out wide from the front, and hides her figure +from the shoulders down, so that from the point of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>view of the observer she may, or may not, be touching +the ground as she moves.</p> + +<p>How slight the apparent support need be, is indicated +in Bouguereau's Aurora and Twilight. Each +figure is represented by a nude woman holding a +light scarf, the first rapidly, and the second slowly, +skimming the surface of a stream of water with soft +touches of the feet, and yet there is no anomaly +that strikes the mind. A still more daring device is +used by Battistello, though quite successfully. He +places two wingless putti in the air, but one holds up +the other, and this action seems to sustain them both.<a name="FNanchor_A_343" id="FNanchor_A_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_343" class="fnanchor">[bw]</a> +Another amazing design is from the hand of A. P. +Roll, who shows a nude-man in the air clutching +another, and apparently struggling to pull him down, +yet the action seems perfectly natural.<a name="FNanchor_B_344" id="FNanchor_B_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_344" class="fnanchor">[bx]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></p> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_269" id="Footnote_A_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_269"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> As in Murillo's Ascension of Christ, Madrid Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_270" id="Footnote_B_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_270"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Venice Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_271" id="Footnote_A_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_271"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> See Plate 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_272" id="Footnote_B_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_272"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> The Son of Niobe, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.<a name="Eanchor_72" id="Eanchor_72"></a><a href="#Enote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_273" id="Footnote_C_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_273"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Herculanum et Pompei, vol. iv., by Roux Ainé.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_274" id="Footnote_D_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_274"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Ceiling of the Hall of Heliodorus, Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_275" id="Footnote_E_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_275"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Vatican frescoes God Separating Water and Earth, and God +Appearing to Isaac.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_276" id="Footnote_F_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_276"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> The Creation of the Sun and Moon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_277" id="Footnote_G_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_277"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> Poussin's St. Francis Zavier, Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_278" id="Footnote_H_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_278"><span class="label">[j]</span></a> The Virgin appearing to St. Martin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_279" id="Footnote_I_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_279"><span class="label">[k]</span></a> See the Assumption of Orcagna, and of Luca di Tome; Giunto +Pisano's Christ and the Virgin; and Mainardi's Madonna giving +her Girdle to St. Thomas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_280" id="Footnote_J_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_280"><span class="label">[l]</span></a> Virgin and Child, Chiesa Nuovo, Rome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_281" id="Footnote_K_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_281"><span class="label">[m]</span></a> Ascension of Christ, Perugia; Assumption, Florence Academy, +and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_282" id="Footnote_C_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_282"><span class="label">[n]</span></a> J. H. Witt's Bless the Lord.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_283" id="Footnote_D_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_283"><span class="label">[o]</span></a> Picart's The Burning Coal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_284" id="Footnote_A_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_284"><span class="label">[p]</span></a> Rembrandt's The Angel quitting Tobias, Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_285" id="Footnote_B_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_285"><span class="label">[q]</span></a> The Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_286" id="Footnote_C_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_286"><span class="label">[r]</span></a> St. Mary's, Krakan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_287" id="Footnote_D_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_287"><span class="label">[s]</span></a> Virgin and Child at the Fountain, Antwerp.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_288" id="Footnote_E_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_288"><span class="label">[t]</span></a> Virgin and Child, Augsburg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_289" id="Footnote_F_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_289"><span class="label">[u]</span></a> The Ascension, Borgo San Sepolcro, Perugia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_290" id="Footnote_G_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_290"><span class="label">[v]</span></a> Creation of Woman, Castello Gallery; Prophets and Sybils, +Perugia, and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_291" id="Footnote_A_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_291"><span class="label">[w]</span></a> Foligna Madonna, Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_292" id="Footnote_B_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_292"><span class="label">[x]</span></a> Christ in Judgment, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_293" id="Footnote_C_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_293"><span class="label">[y]</span></a> The Oath of Louis XIII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_294" id="Footnote_D_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_294"><span class="label">[z]</span></a> Coronation of the Virgin, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_295" id="Footnote_E_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_295"><span class="label">[aa]</span></a> Santa Maria. By an unknown artist of the Ghirlandaio school.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_296" id="Footnote_F_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_296"><span class="label">[ab]</span></a> Christ's Rule.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_297" id="Footnote_G_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_297"><span class="label">[ac]</span></a> Madonna and Child with Penitents, and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_298" id="Footnote_H_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_298"><span class="label">[ad]</span></a> The Virgin with a Canary, Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_299" id="Footnote_I_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_299"><span class="label">[ae]</span></a> Urbino Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_300" id="Footnote_A_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_300"><span class="label">[af]</span></a> Madonna and Child in Glory, Arezzo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_301" id="Footnote_B_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_301"><span class="label">[ag]</span></a> The Agony in the Garden.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_302" id="Footnote_C_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_302"><span class="label">[ah]</span></a> Adam and Eve.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_303" id="Footnote_D_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_303"><span class="label">[ai]</span></a> Martyrdom of St. Peter, Modena.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_304" id="Footnote_E_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_304"><span class="label">[aj]</span></a> Creation of the Earth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_305" id="Footnote_A_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_305"><span class="label">[ak]</span></a> The Madonna giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Prato.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_306" id="Footnote_B_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_306"><span class="label">[al]</span></a> The Magdalene and Saints.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_307" id="Footnote_C_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_307"><span class="label">[am]</span></a> Adoration of the Shepherds, Ravenna Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_308" id="Footnote_D_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_308"><span class="label">[an]</span></a> The Deity with SS. Catherine and Magdalene.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_309" id="Footnote_E_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_309"><span class="label">[ao]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_310" id="Footnote_F_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_310"><span class="label">[ap]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_311" id="Footnote_G_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_311"><span class="label">[aq]</span></a> The Deity and Christ, Weimar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_312" id="Footnote_H_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_312"><span class="label">[ar]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin at Dusseldorf, Augsburg, Brussels, +and Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_313" id="Footnote_I_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_313"><span class="label">[as]</span></a> Madonna and Child in Glory, Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_314" id="Footnote_J_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_314"><span class="label">[at]</span></a> The Ascension, Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_315" id="Footnote_K_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_315"><span class="label">[au]</span></a> The Magdalene and Saints, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_L_316" id="Footnote_L_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_L_316"><span class="label">[av]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_M_317" id="Footnote_M_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_M_317"><span class="label">[aw]</span></a> Coronation of the Virgin, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_318" id="Footnote_A_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_318"><span class="label">[ax]</span></a> Ascension of Christ, Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_319" id="Footnote_B_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_319"><span class="label">[ay]</span></a> Vision of the Resurrection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_320" id="Footnote_C_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_320"><span class="label">[az]</span></a> The Virgin giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Uffizi Gallery, +Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_321" id="Footnote_D_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_321"><span class="label">[ba]</span></a> Let there be Light.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_322" id="Footnote_E_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_322"><span class="label">[bb]</span></a> "They shall bear thee up."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_323" id="Footnote_F_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_323"><span class="label">[bc]</span></a> Munich Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_324" id="Footnote_G_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_324"><span class="label">[bd]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin, and Vision of St. Paul.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_325" id="Footnote_H_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_325"><span class="label">[be]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_326" id="Footnote_I_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_326"><span class="label">[bf]</span></a> Bouguereau's Une Ame au Ciel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_327" id="Footnote_J_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_327"><span class="label">[bg]</span></a> The Academy, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_328" id="Footnote_K_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_328"><span class="label">[bh]</span></a> Assumption of the Virgin, Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_L_329" id="Footnote_L_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_L_329"><span class="label">[bi]</span></a> Madonna and Child with Saints, Parma.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_M_330" id="Footnote_M_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_M_330"><span class="label">[bj]</span></a> The Luxembourg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_331" id="Footnote_E_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_331"><span class="label">[bk]</span></a> David plans a Temple.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_332" id="Footnote_F_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_332"><span class="label">[bl]</span></a> Birth of Venus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_333" id="Footnote_G_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_333"><span class="label">[bm]</span></a> Altdorfer's Nativity at Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_334" id="Footnote_A_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_334"><span class="label">[bn]</span></a> God's Promise to Abraham.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_335" id="Footnote_B_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_335"><span class="label">[bo]</span></a> God Appearing to Moses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_336" id="Footnote_C_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_336"><span class="label">[bp]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_337" id="Footnote_D_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_337"><span class="label">[bq]</span></a> Denner Collection. See Plate 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_338" id="Footnote_E_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_338"><span class="label">[br]</span></a> Brooklyn Museum, New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_339" id="Footnote_F_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_339"><span class="label">[bs]</span></a> The Berlin example of the Embarkation for Cythera.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_340" id="Footnote_A_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_340"><span class="label">[bt]</span></a> Ducal Palace, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_341" id="Footnote_B_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_341"><span class="label">[bu]</span></a> Tate Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_342" id="Footnote_C_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_342"><span class="label">[bv]</span></a> Schack Gallery, Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_343" id="Footnote_A_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_343"><span class="label">[bw]</span></a> Adoration of the Shepherds, San Martino, Naples.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_344" id="Footnote_B_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_344"><span class="label">[bx]</span></a> Design for the Petit Palais, Paris.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h2> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_1" id="Enote_1"></a><a href="#Eanchor_1">NOTE 1. PAGE 2</a></h4> + +<p>It is usual and proper to distinguish three kinds of +beauty in painting, namely, of colour, of form, and of +expression. But form must be defined by tones, and +colour without form is meaningless: hence in the general +consideration of the painter's art, it is convenient to +place form and colour together as representing the +sensorial element of beauty. Nevertheless colour and +form are not on the same plane in regard to sense perception. +Harmony of colour is distinguished involuntarily +by nerve sensations, but in the case of harmony +of form there must be a certain consideration before its +æsthetic determination. The recognition of this harmony +commonly appears to be instantaneous, but still +it is delayed, the delay varying with the complexity of +the signs, that is to say, with the quality of the beauty.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_2" id="Enote_2"></a><a href="#Eanchor_2">NOTE 2. PAGE 2</a></h4> + +<p>Benedetto Croce, the inventor of the latest serious +æsthetic system, talks of the "science of art," but he +says<a name="FNanchor_A_345" id="FNanchor_A_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_345" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Science—true science, is a science of the spirit—Philosophy. +Natural sciences spoken of apart from philosophy, are complexes +of knowledge, arbitrarily abstracted and fixed.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p class="noin">It is perhaps needless to say that Croce's æsthetic system, +like all the others, collapses on a breath of inquiry. +On the purely philosophical side of it, further criticism +is unnecessary, and its practical outcome from the point +of view of art is not far removed from the amazing conclusions +of Hegel. From the latter philosopher we learn +that an idol in the form of a stone pillar, or an animal +set up by the primitive races, is higher art than a drama +by Shakespeare, or a portrait by Titian, because it represents +the Idea (Hegel's unintelligible abstraction—see +Note 5), while Croce tells us that "the art of savages +is not inferior, as art, to that of civilized peoples, +provided it be correlated to the impressions of the +savages." Clearly if this be so, we are not surprised +to learn from Croce that Aristotle "failed to discern the +true nature of the æsthetic." Nevertheless, whatever +be the outcome of Croce's arguments, his system is at +least more plausible than that of either Hegel or Schopenhauer, +for while these two invent highly improbable +abstractions upon which to base their systems, Croce +only gives new functions to an old and reasonable +abstraction.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_345" id="Footnote_A_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_345"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Æsthetic</i>, Douglas Ainslie Translation, 1909.</p></div> + + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_3" id="Enote_3"></a><a href="#Eanchor_3">NOTE 3. PAGE 3</a></h4> + +<p>The writer does not mean to suggest that these systems +are set up for the purpose of being knocked down: +he desires only to indicate surprise that in new works dealing +with the perception of beauty, it is considered necessary +to restate the old æsthetic theories and to point out +their drawbacks, albeit the fatal objections to them are +so numerous that there is always fresh ground available +for destructive criticism. The best of the recent works +on the subject that have come under the notice of the +writer, is E. F. Carritt's review of the present position +in respect of æsthetic systems. Though profound, he is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +so comprehensive that he leaves little or nothing of +importance for succeeding critics to say till the next +system is put forward. Yet here is his conclusion<a name="FNanchor_A_346" id="FNanchor_A_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_346" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If any point can be thought to have emerged from the foregoing +considerations, it is this: that in the history of æsthetics +we may discover a growing pressure of emphasis upon the doctrine +that all beauty is the expression of what may be generally called +emotion, and that all such expression is beautiful.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">This is all that an acute investigator can draw from the +sum of the æsthetic systems advanced. Now what does +this mean? Let us turn to the last page of Carritt's +book and find the object of the search after a satisfactory +æsthetic system. It is, he says, "the desire to +understand goodness and beauty and their relations with +each other or with knowledge, as well as to practise or +enjoy them." If we accept beauty as the expression of +emotion, how far have we progressed towards the indicated +goal? Not a step, for we have only agreed upon +a new way of stating an obvious condition which applies +to the animal world as well as to human beings. Beyond +this there is nothing—not a glimpse of sunshine from all the +æsthetic systems laid down since the time of Baumgarten.</p> + +<p>More than twenty years ago Leo Tolstoy pointed out +the unintelligible character of these systems, but no +further light has been thrown upon them. Nevertheless +Tolstoy's own interpretation of the significance of +beauty cannot possibly meet with general approval. +He disputes that art is directly associated with beauty or +pleasure, and finds in fact that what we call the beautiful +representation of nature is not necessarily art, but that<a name="FNanchor_B_347" id="FNanchor_B_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_347" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one man consciously, +by means of certain external signs, hands on to others +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>feelings he has lived through, and that other people are affected +by these feelings, and also experience them.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">This definition may mean almost anything, and particularly +it may imply pure imitation which Tolstoy +condemns as outside of art. But it certainly does not +include many forms of what we call art, the author specially +condemning for instance, <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, and +declaring that while <i>Faust</i> is beautiful, "it cannot produce +a really artistic impression." The definition then +seems to represent little more than a quibble over terms. +Tolstoy says that the beautiful representation of nature +is not art, but something else is. Very well then, all we +have to do is to find a new term for this representation +of nature, and the position remains as before except +that the meaning of the term "art" has been changed.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_346" id="Footnote_A_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_346"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Theory of Beauty</i>, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_347" id="Footnote_B_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_347"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>What is Art?</i> Aylmer Maude Translation.</p></div> + +<p> </p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 933px;"> +<a name="Pl_24" id="Pl_24"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 24</span> +<img src="images/i_343.jpg" width="933" height="768" alt="PLATE 24" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo<br /> +<small>(<i>Vatican</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_260">page 260</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_4" id="Enote_4"></a><a href="#Eanchor_4">NOTE 4. PAGE 8</a></h4> + +<p>The evolutionary principle has been applied to art by +Herbert Spencer and J. A. Symonds, but not in the sense +in which it is used in connection with the development +of living organisms. Spencer traces a progression from +the simple to the complex in the application of the arts, +but not in the arts themselves<a name="FNanchor_A_348" id="FNanchor_A_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_348" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>; and Symonds endeavours +to prove that each separate marked period of art shows +a progression which is common to all; that is, from +immature variations to a high type, then downwards +through a lower form represented by romanticism or +elegance, to realism, and from this to hybrid forms.<a name="FNanchor_B_349" id="FNanchor_B_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_349" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> +Spencer's argument is suggestive, but his conclusions +have been mostly upset by archaeological discoveries +made since his great book was published. The illustrations +given by Symonds are highly illuminating, but +they are very far from postulating a general law of evolution +operating in the production of art.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_348" id="Footnote_A_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_348"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>First Principles</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_349" id="Footnote_B_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_349"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Essay on <i>Evolutionary Principles</i>.</p></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_5" id="Enote_5"></a><a href="#Eanchor_5">NOTE 5. PAGE 8</a></h4> + +<p>It seems necessary to mention Hegel's art periods, +though one can only do so with a feeling of regret that +a man who achieved a high reputation as a philosopher +should have entered the province of art only to misconstrue +its purpose with fantastic propositions which have +no historical or other apparent foundation. He divides +art history into Symbolic, Classic, and Romantic periods +respectively. To accomplish this he invents or discovers +a new abstraction which he calls the Idea, this representing +man's conception, not of God, but of His perfection—His +supreme qualities, so that in one sense the Idea +may be called the Absolute, in another the Spirit, and +in another, Truth. These terms are in fact interchangeable, +and each may be a manifestation of another, or of +God. This Idea, he says, being perfect beauty, is the +basic concept of art. In archaic times man was unable +to give expression to this concept, so he represented it by +symbols: hence the earliest art was Symbolic art. In +the time of the Greeks man had so advanced that he +was able to give higher expression to the Idea, and he embodied +it in a perfect human form. This is the Classic +period, which Hegel indicates continued till Christianity +spread abroad, when Classic form, though perfect as art, +was found insufficient for the now desired still higher +expression of the Idea. This expression could not be +put into stone, so other arts than sculpture were used for +it, namely, poetry, painting, and music, which are placed +together as Romantic art. This is as nearly as possible +a statement of the periods of Hegel in short compass. +It is impossible to interpret logically his arguments,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +nor is it necessary, for his conclusions when tested in the +light of experience, develop into inexplicable paradoxes +and contradictions which border on the ridiculous. +Needless to say, the acceptance of this division means +the annihilation of our ideas of the meaning of art, and +the condemnation to the limbo of forgetfulness of nearly +all the artists whose memory is honoured.</p> + +<p>The general interpretation of the terms "Classic Art" +and "Romantic Art" widely differs from that of Hegel, +and varies with the arts. In the literary arts the distinction +is obvious, but the terms are used to define both +periods and classes; in architecture the Gothic period is +usually called the Romantic epoch; and in painting the +terms have reference to manner, the more formal manner +being called Classic, and the soft manner, Romantic; +though it is commonly understood that Romantic art +is especially concerned with subjects associated with the +gentler side of life. But there is no general agreement. +Some writers assert that Giorgione was the first of the +romanticists, others give the palm to Watteau, a third +section to Delacroix, and a fourth to the Barbizon School. +We must await a clear definition of "Romantic Art."</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_6" id="Enote_6"></a><a href="#Eanchor_6">NOTE 6. PAGE 8</a></h4> + +<p>It may be reasonably argued that the want of development +of the plastic arts in England during the literary +revival, was largely due to artificial restrictions. Fine +paintings were ordered out of the churches by Elizabeth, +and many were destroyed; while, following the lead of +the court, there was little or no encouragement offered +by the public to artists except perhaps in portraiture. +Flaxman truly said of the destruction of works of art +in this period, that the check to the national art in England +occurred at a time which offered the most essential +and extraordinary assistance to its progress.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_7" id="Enote_7"></a><a href="#Eanchor_7">NOTE 7. PAGE 16</a></h4> + +<p>During the last half century or so, various writers of +repute, including Ruskin and Dean Farrar, have professed +to find in the poorer works of the Italian painters +of the fourteenth century, and even in paintings of +Margaritone and others of the previous century, evidence +of strong religious emotion on the part of the artists. It +is claimed that their purpose in giving simple solemn +faces to their Madonnas and Saints, was "to tell the +sacred story in all its beauty and simplicity"; that they +possessed a "powerful sincerity of emotion"; that they +"delivered the burning messages of prophecy with the +stammering lips of infancy," and so on. It is proper to +say that there is nothing to support this view of the early +painters. We find no trace of any suggestions of the +kind till the last of these artists had been dead for about +four hundred years, while their lives, so far as we have +any record, lend no warranty to the statements. The +painters of the fourteenth century took their art seriously, +but purely as a craft, and it was not uncommon with +them to combine two or three other crafts with that of +painting. They designed mostly sacred subjects for the +simple reason that the art patrons of the day seldom ordered +anything else. In their private lives they associated +together, were generally agreeable companions, +and not averse to an occasional escapade. Moreover +the time in which they lived was notable for what we +should call loose habits, and indeed from the thirteenth +century to the end of the fifteenth, religious observances +and practices were of a more hollow and formal character +than they have ever been since.</p> + +<p>The position occupied by these painters in the progression +of art from the crude Byzantine period upwards, +corresponds with that of the Roman painters of the third<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +and fourth centuries in the progression downwards to +the Byzantine epoch, and there is no more reason for +supposing that the Italians were actuated by special +emotions in their work, than that the Romans were so +moved. In both cases the character of the work, as +Reynolds put it in referring to the Italians, was the result +of want of knowledge. The countenances usually presented +by both Roman and Italian artists have a half +sad, half resigned expression, because this was the only +kind of expression that could be given by an immature +painter whose ideal was restricted by the necessity of +eliminating elements which might indicate happiness. +Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Duccio, and a few more, were +exceptions in that their art was infinitely superior to the +average of the century, but all from Giotto downwards, +laboured as craftsmen only. No doubt they often worked +with enthusiasm, and in this way their emotions may +have been brought into play, but there is no possible +means of identifying in a picture the emotions which an +artist may have experienced while he was painting it.</p> + +<p>As to the sad expression referred to in these Italian +works, it may be observed that Edgar A. Poe held that +the tone of the highest manifestation of beauty is one +of sadness. "Beauty of whatever kind," he says, "in +its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive +soul to tears."<a name="FNanchor_A_350" id="FNanchor_A_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_350" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> But Poe is clearly mistaken here. It +is not the beauty of the work that affects the emotions to +tears, when they are so affected, but the subject of the +design exhibiting the beauty. A picture or poem representing +a sad subject may be very beautiful, but the +sadness itself would not assist the beauty, though it +might increase the emotional effect. The higher forms +of beauty rarely draw our tears, but elicit our admiration +without direct thought of anything but the beauty. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +Who would weep when in front of the greatest marvels +of Greek sculpture?</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_350" id="Footnote_A_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_350"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Philosophy of Composition.</i></p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_8" id="Enote_8"></a><a href="#Eanchor_8">NOTE 8. PAGE 21</a></h4> + +<p>It is commonly, but wrongfully, supposed that Rembrandt +used his broadest manner in painting commissioned +portraits. The number of his portraits known to +exist is about 450, of which fifty-five are representations +of himself, and fifty-four of members of his household, or +relatives. There are, further, more than seventy studies +of old men and women, and thirty of younger men. The +balance are commissioned portraits or groups. This +last section includes none at all of his palette knife pictures, +and not more than two or three which are executed +with his heaviest brushes. Generally his work broadened +in his later period, but up to the end of his life his more +important works were often painted in a comparatively +fine manner, though the handling was less careful and +close.<a name="FNanchor_A_351" id="FNanchor_A_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_351" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> The broadest style of the artist is rarely exhibited +except in his studies and family portraits. Further +it is extremely unlikely that a palette-knife picture +would have been accepted in Holland during Rembrandt's +time as a serious work in portraiture.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_351" id="Footnote_A_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_351"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See among works dating after 1660, The Syndics of the Drapers, +Portrait of a Young Man, Wachtmeister Collection; Lady with a Dog, +Colmar Museum; and Portrait of a Young Man, late Beit Collection.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_9" id="Enote_9"></a><a href="#Eanchor_9">NOTE 9. PAGE 22</a></h4> + +<p>Darwin pointed out the permanent character of the +changes in the nerves, though he submitted another +demonstration<a name="FNanchor_B_352" id="FNanchor_B_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_352" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>That some physical change is produced in the nerve cells or +nerves which are habitually used can hardly be doubted, for +otherwise it is impossible to understand how the tendency to +certain acquired movements is inherited.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_352" id="Footnote_B_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_352"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.</i></p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_10" id="Enote_10"></a><a href="#Eanchor_10">NOTE 10. PAGE 23</a></h4> + +<p>Reynolds evidently had little faith in original genius. +Addressing Royal Academy students, he said<a name="FNanchor_A_353" id="FNanchor_A_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_353" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>You must have no dependence on your own genius. If you +have great talents, industry will improve them; if you have but +moderate abilities, industry will supply the deficiency. Nothing +is denied to well-directed labour; nothing is to be obtained without +it.... I will venture to assert that assiduity unabated by +difficulty, and a disposition eagerly directed to the object of its +pursuit, will produce effects similar to those which some call the +result of natural powers.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">On another occasion Reynolds observed of Michelangelo<a name="FNanchor_B_354" id="FNanchor_B_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_354" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>He appears not to have had the least conception that his art +was to be acquired by any other means than great labour; and +yet he of all men that ever lived, might make the greatest pretensions +to the efficacy of native genius and inspiration.</p></div> + +<p>Gibbon said that Reynolds agreed with Dr. Johnson +in denying all original genius, any natural propensity +of the mind to one art or science rather than another.<a name="FNanchor_C_355" id="FNanchor_C_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_355" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> +Hogarth also agreed with Reynolds, for he describes +genius as "nothing but labour and diligence."</p> + +<p>Croce says that genius has a quantitative and not a +qualitative signification, but he offers no demonstration.<a name="FNanchor_D_356" id="FNanchor_D_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_356" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> +Evidently he is mistaken, for the signification is both +quantitative and qualitative. It is true that what a +Phidias, or a Raphael, or a Beethoven puts together is a +sum of small beauties, any one of which may be equalled +by another man, but he does more than represent a number +of beauties, for he combines these into a beautiful +whole which is superior in quality and cannot be estimated +quantitatively. We may possibly call Darwin a +genius because of the large number of facts he ascertained, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>and the correct inferences he drew from them, but +we particularly apply the term to him by reason of the +general result of all these facts and inferences, this result +being qualitative and not quantitative. Croce probably +took his dictum from Schopenhauer, who, however, +represented degrees of quality as quantitative,<a name="FNanchor_E_357" id="FNanchor_E_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_357" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> which is +of course confusing the issue.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_353" id="Footnote_A_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_353"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Reynolds's Second Discourse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_354" id="Footnote_B_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_354"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> His Fifth Discourse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_355" id="Footnote_C_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_355"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Gibbon's <i>Memoirs of my Life and Writings</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_356" id="Footnote_D_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_356"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> <i>Æsthetic.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_357" id="Footnote_E_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_357"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Essay on "Genius."</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_11" id="Enote_11"></a><a href="#Eanchor_11">NOTE 11. PAGE 32</a></h4> + +<p>It is often observed by advocates of "new" forms of +art that the work of many great artists has been variously +valued at different periods—that leaders of marked +departures in art now honoured, were frequently more or +less ignored in their own time, while other artists who +acquired a great reputation when living, have been +properly put into the background by succeeding generations. +For the first statement no solid ground can be +shown. In painting, the artists since the Dark Age +who can be said to have led departures of any importance, +are Cimabue, Giotto, the Van Eycks, Masaccio, +Lionardo, Dürer, Giorgione, Raphael, Michelangelo, +Titian, Holbein, Claude, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, +Watteau, Reynolds, and Fragonard. All of these had +their high talents recognized and thoroughly appreciated +in their lifetime. In sculpture the experience is +the same, for there is no sculptor now honoured whose +work was not highly valued by his contemporaries. So +with poetry, but before the invention of printing and +in the earlier days of this industry, poetry of any kind +was very slow in finding its way among the people. +What might seem nowadays to have been inappreciation +of certain poets was really want of knowledge of them.</p> + +<p>There is more truth in the assertion that many artists +who had a high reputation in their lifetime are now +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>more or less disregarded, though it does not follow from +this that there has been a reversal of opinion on the part +of the public, or a variation in the acuteness of æsthetic +perception. Generally we find that these artists very +properly held the position they occupied in their time and +country, and if they do not now stand on exalted pedestals +it is only because we compare them with men of other +periods and places, which their contemporary countrymen +did not do, at least for the purpose of establishing +their permanent position in art. Carlo Maratta for +instance was celebrated in Italy as the best painter of +his country in his time, and even now we must so regard +him, but his contemporaries as with ourselves did not +place him on so high a level as his great predecessors +of the sixteenth century, and some of the seventeenth. +A special reason why many of the seventeenth century +artists of Italy have fallen in public esteem may be found +in the fact that they excelled mostly in the production +of sensorial beauty, paying little attention to intellectual +grace, and the ripening of general intelligence as time goes +on makes us more and more sensitive to beauty of mind.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_12" id="Enote_12"></a><a href="#Eanchor_12">NOTE 12. PAGE 34</a></h4> + +<p>There have been many definitions of "Impressionism" +given, but they vary considerably. Professor Clausen +describes it as the work of a number of artists whose +interest is in recording effects of light, seeking to express +nature only and disregarding old conventions.<a name="FNanchor_A_358" id="FNanchor_A_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_358" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> Mr. +D. S. MacColl says that an impressionist is<a name="FNanchor_B_359" id="FNanchor_B_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_359" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>a painter who, out of the completed contacts of vision constructs +an image moulded upon his own interest in the thing seen, and not +on that of any imaginary schoolmaster.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> +<p class="noin">This definition is insufficient by itself, but the writer +makes his meaning clearer in the same article when he +says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Impressionism is the art that surveys the field, and determines +which of the shapes and tones are of chief importance to the +interested eye, and expresses these and sacrifices the rest.</p></div> + +<p>According to C. Mauclair, an acknowledged authority +on impressionism, the impressionist holds:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Light becomes the one subject of a picture. The interest of the +objects on which it shines is secondary. Painting thus understood +becomes an art of pure optics, a seeking for harmonies, a +species of natural poem, entirely distinct from expression, style, +drawing, which have formed the main endeavour of preceding +painting. It is almost necessary to invent a new word for +this special art, which, while remaining throughout pictural, approaches +music in the same degree as it departs from literature +or psychology.<a name="FNanchor_A_360" id="FNanchor_A_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_360" class="fnanchor">[c]</a></p></div> + +<p class="noin">What can be said of so amazing a declaration? The +arts of painting and music do not, and cannot, have any +connection with each other. They are concerned with +different senses and different signs, and by no stretch of +the imagination can they be combined. Seeing that +musical terms when used in respect of painting by modern +critics are almost invariably made to apply to colour +harmonies, we may infer that a confusion of thought +arises in the minds of the writers from the similar physical +means by which colour and sound are conveyed to +the senses concerned. But this similarity has nothing +to do with the appreciation of art. The æsthetic value +of a work is determined when it is conveyed to the mind, +irrespective of the means by which it is so conveyed.</p> + +<p>According to La Touche it was Fantin Latour who +invented modern impressionism. Braquemond relates +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +that La Touche told him the following story.<a name="FNanchor_A_361" id="FNanchor_A_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_361" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> He (La +Touche) was one day at the Louvre with Manet, when +they saw Latour copying Paolo Veronese's Marriage at +Cana in a novel manner, for instead of blending his +colours in the usual way, he laid them on in small touches +of separate tones. The result was an unexpected brilliancy +("papillotage imprevu") which amazed but +charmed the visitors. Nevertheless when Manet left +the Louvre with La Touche, he appeared anything but +satisfied with what he had seen, and pronounced it humbug. +But Latour's method evidently sunk into his mind, +for a few days later he commenced to use it himself. Thus, +added La Touche, was modern impressionism unchained. +The date of this visit was not given by La Touche, but +1874 was subsequently suggested. This account does not +fit in with the statement of MacColl that when Monet and +Pissarro were in London during the siege of Paris, the study +of Turner's pictures gave them the suggestion of these +broken patches of colour.<a name="FNanchor_B_362" id="FNanchor_B_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_362" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> If this be true Monet must +have antedated Manet in the application of isolated tones.</p> + +<p>D. S. Eaton asserts that in the Salon of 1867, there was +exhibited a picture by Monet which was entitled Impressions,<a name="FNanchor_C_363" id="FNanchor_C_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_363" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> +and from this arose the word "Impressionist"; +but Phythian says that the word resulted +from Monet's "Impression, soleil levant," exhibited in +1874 at the Nadar Gallery in Paris with other works from +Le Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, +et Graveurs. Phythian adds<a name="FNanchor_D_364" id="FNanchor_D_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_364" class="fnanchor">[g]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Thus, unwittingly led by one of the exhibitors, visitors to the +exhibition came to use the word "impressioniste," and within a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>few days a contemptuously unfavourable notice of the exhibition +appeared in <i>Le Charivari</i> under the heading "Exposition des +Impressionistes." It was not until the lapse of several years that +the name came into general use. The painters to whom it was +applied disowned it because it was used in a depreciatory sense. +Eventually however, unable to find a better one, they adopted it.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Another origin of Impressionism is given by Muther. +He says<a name="FNanchor_A_365" id="FNanchor_A_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_365" class="fnanchor">[h]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The name "Impressionists" dates from an exhibition in Paris +which was given at Nadar's in 1871. The catalogue contained +a great deal about impressions—for instance, "Impression de mon +pot au feu," "Impression d'un chat qui se promene." In his criticism +Claretie summed up the impressions, and spoke of the Salon +des Impressionistes.</p></div> + +<p>But the real origin of impressionism must be sought +earlier than 1871, for in 1865 Manet exhibited his +Olympia in the Salon des Refusés. This picture did +not represent what was understood as impressionism ten +years later, but it led the way towards the establishment +of the innovation, in that it pretended that healthy ideas +and noble designs were secondary considerations in art. +Certainly Manet could not descend lower than this +wretched picture, and in this sense his subsequent work +was a distinct advance.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_358" id="Footnote_A_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_358"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Royal Academy Lectures.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_359" id="Footnote_B_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_359"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Article on "Impressionism," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th +Edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_360" id="Footnote_A_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_360"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> <i>L'Impressionism, son histoire, son esthétique, ses maîtres.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_361" id="Footnote_A_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_361"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> <i>Le Journal des Arts</i>, 1909.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_362" id="Footnote_B_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_362"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Article on "Impressionism," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th +edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_363" id="Footnote_C_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_363"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> <i>Handbook of Modern French Painting.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_364" id="Footnote_D_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_364"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> <i>Fifty Years of Modern Painting.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_365" id="Footnote_A_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_365"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> <i>History of Modern Painting</i>, vol. iii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_13" id="Enote_13"></a><a href="#Eanchor_13">NOTE 13. PAGE 35</a></h4> + +<p>The reason given by impressionists for the juxtaposition +of pure colours is that the natural blend produced +is more brilliant than the tone from the mixed colours +applied, but it is pointed out by Moreau-Vauthier that +the contrary is the case. He says<a name="FNanchor_B_366" id="FNanchor_B_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_366" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>We find in practice that the parent colours do not, with +material colours, produce the theoretical binaries. We get dark, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>dull greens, oranges, and violets, that clash with the parent colours. +To make them harmonize we should be obliged to dim these material +colours, to transform them, and consequently to lose them +partly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_366" id="Footnote_B_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_366"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Technique of Painting</i>, 1912.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 768px;"> +<a name="Pl_25" id="Pl_25"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 25</span> +<img src="images/i_357.jpg" width="768" height="898" alt="PLATE 25" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Pleiads, by M. Schwind</span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_269">page 269</a>)</p> +</div> + + + + +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_14" id="Enote_14"></a><a href="#Eanchor_14">NOTE 14. PAGE 37</a></h4> + +<p>Cézanne and Van Gogh are not usually put forward +as representative impressionists, but it is impossible to +differentiate logically between the various "isms" of +which impressionism is the mother, and to attempt a +serious argument upon them would be apt to reflect upon +the common sense of the reader. The sincere impressionist +certainly produces a thing of beauty, however +ephemeral and lacking in high character the beauty may +be, but most of the productions of the other "isms" +only serve the purpose of degrading the artist and the +art.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_15" id="Enote_15"></a><a href="#Eanchor_15">NOTE 15. PAGE 40</a></h4> + +<p>This form of picture is by no means new, though +except among the inventors of sprezzatura, and the modern +impressionists, it has always been executed as a +rough sketch for the purpose of settling harmonies for +serious work. Lomazzo relates that Aurelio, son of +Bernadino Luini, while visiting Titian, asked him how +he managed to make his landscape tones harmonize so +well. For reply the great master showed Aurelio a large +sketch, the character of which could not be distinguished +when it was closely inspected, but on the observer +stepping back, a landscape appeared "as if it had suddenly +been lit up by a ray of the sun."<a name="FNanchor_A_367" id="FNanchor_A_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_367" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> From Luini's +surprise, and inasmuch as we have no record of similar +work before his time, it is reasonable to suppose that +Titian was the first great artist to use this form of sketch +for experimental purposes.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_367" id="Footnote_A_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_367"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Trattato dell' Arte de la Pittura.</i></p></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_16" id="Enote_16"></a><a href="#Eanchor_16">NOTE 16. PAGE 40</a></h4> + +<p>The example of this picture at the Pitti Palace is +specially noted because it seems impossible that the +duplicate in the Uffizi Gallery can be by Raphael, for it +has obvious defects, some of which have many times +been pointed out. The expression is vastly inferior to +that in the Pitti portrait, for instead of a calm, noble, +benign countenance, we have a half-worried senile face +which is anything but pleasant. Raphael was the last +man to execute a portrait of a Pope without generalizing +high character in the features. It will be observed +also that in the Uffizi portrait, the left hand is +stiff and cramped, and the drapery ungracefully flowing, +while both uprights of the chair are actually out of +drawing. There are other examples of the same picture +in different museums, but the Pitti work is far above +these in every respect, and seems the only one which +can be properly attributed to the master. Passavant +affirms that some of the repetitions of the work were +certainly made in the studio of Raphael under his orders, +and thinks that the duplicates passed for originals even +in his time.<a name="FNanchor_A_368" id="FNanchor_A_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_368" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_368" id="Footnote_A_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_368"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Raphael d'Urbin</i>, vol. ii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_17" id="Enote_17"></a><a href="#Eanchor_17">NOTE 17. PAGE 41</a></h4> + +<p>To the knowledge of the writer, the only logical connection +between the work of Rembrandt and impressionism +that has been suggested, is from the pen of +Professor Baldwin Brown, who remarks<a name="FNanchor_B_369" id="FNanchor_B_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_369" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Rembrandt in his later work attended to the pictorial effect +alone, and practically annulled the objects by reducing them to +pure tone and colour. Things are not there at all, but only the +semblance, or effect, or impression of things. Breadth is in this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>way combined with the most delicate variety, and a new form of +painting, now called "impressionism" has come into being.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">The professor is mistaken here. During the last fifteen +years of his life, apart from portraits, a few studies of +heads, and some colour experiments with carcases of +meat, Rembrandt executed, so far as is known, about +three dozen pictures, and in all of these he effectually +prevents us from forming a general impression of the +designs before considering the more important details, +by concentrating nearly all the available light upon the +countenances of the principal personages represented; +while in the management of the features, the whole purpose +of the chiaroscuro is for the purpose of obtaining +relief. Moreover the pictures are nearly all groups of +personages in set subjects, and there would be no +meaning in the designs if the objects were "practically +annulled," for particular action and expression are necessary +for their comprehension.</p> + +<p>As to Velasquez there is no evidence tending to support +the statement that he was an impressionist. The first +authority on the artist has definitely pointed out that +he never took up his brushes except for an important +and definite work: "he neither painted impressions nor +daubs."<a name="FNanchor_A_370" id="FNanchor_A_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_370" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_369" id="Footnote_B_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_369"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Article on "Painting," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_370" id="Footnote_A_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_370"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Velasquez</i>, by De Beruete, 1902.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_18" id="Enote_18"></a><a href="#Eanchor_18">NOTE 18. PAGE 49</a></h4> + +<p>It will always be a matter of surprise that so much +popularity was secured by the light sketches of the +Barbizon School, considering their general insignificance +from the point of view of art, and the conspicuously +artificial means adopted for their exploitation. Some of +the artists of this school, having accomplished many +studio works of merit, acquired the habit of painting in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>the open air. By this method it is impossible to execute +a comprehensive natural scene, and the painters did not +attempt the task, but they produced numberless sketchy +works of local scenes under particular atmospheric conditions. +They laboured honestly and conscientiously, +and their sketches were put out for what they were and +nothing more. The paintings would probably have retained +their place as simple studies had not some commercial +genius conceived the idea of putting them into +heavy, gorgeous, gilt frames. With this embellishment +they were successfully scattered round the world, mostly +in the newer portions, much to the general astonishment. +The <i>raison d'être</i> of the frames puzzled many persons, +though it was frequently observed that the pictures do +not look well unless surrounded by ample gold leaf. +Thus, C. J. Holmes, Director of the London National +Gallery, and an authority on impressionism, notes<a name="FNanchor_A_371" id="FNanchor_A_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_371" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Barbizon pictures are almost invariably set in frames with an +undeniably vulgar look. Yet in such a rectangle of gilded contortion +a Corot or a Daubigny shows to perfection: place it in a +frame of more reticent design, and it becomes in a moment flat, +empty, and tame.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">The purpose of this frame is obvious. The eye is caught +by the dazzling glitter, and feels immediate relief when +it rests upon the quiet grey tone of the painting, the +pleasurable sensation resulting therefrom being mistaken +for involuntary appreciation of the beauty of the work.</p> + +<p>As finished paintings these Barbizon sketches are +novel, but as studies they are not, for similar work has +been executed for two or three centuries, and particularly +by the Dutch artists of the seventeenth century. In +every considerable collection of drawings such sketches +may be found, and there is scarcely a Barbizon painter +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>whose work was not anticipated by a Dutch master. +One has only to examine the drawings in the public art +institutions of Europe by De Molyn, Blyhooft, Jan +de Bischop, Lambert Doomer, Berghem, Avercamp, and +others, to find examples which, if executed now, might +easily be taken for works by the Barbizon masters.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_371" id="Footnote_A_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_371"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Notes on the Science of Picture-Making.</i></p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_19" id="Enote_19"></a><a href="#Eanchor_19">NOTE 19. PAGE 52</a></h4> + +<p>In recent times attempts have been made to upset the +dictum of Aristotle as to the imitative character of the +arts generally, exception being taken in respect of music +and architecture. The first objection as to music arose +with Schopenhauer, though he does not appear to have +been quite certain of his position. He stated that while +the other arts represent ideas, music does not, but being +an art it must represent something, and he suggested that +this something is the "Will," the term being used in the +Schopenhauer philosophical sense, that is to say, implying +the active principle of the universe, not being God. +This means nothing at all from the point of view of +art, and cannot even be seriously considered. The most +notable essay on the subject since Schopenhauer is from +the pen of Sidney Colvin who places music and architecture +in a non-imitative group by themselves, the +former on the principal ground that "it is like nothing +else; it is no representation or similitude of anything +whatever"; while architecture, he says, "appeals to our +faculties for taking pleasure in non-imitative combinations +of stationary masses."<a name="FNanchor_A_372" id="FNanchor_A_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_372" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> But what Aristotle +meant is that the arts are imitative in character, and not +that they necessarily attempt to produce works of similitude +with nature, this being evident from the fact that he +pointed out that the higher works of art surpass nature, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>and he divided poetry and painting into three sections, +of which the first is better than life, and the third inferior +to it.</p> + +<p>The musician in producing his art proceeds in precisely +the same way as the poet or painter. He takes natural +signs and rearranges them in a new order, producing a +combination which is not to be found complete in nature, +but every sign therein is natural and must necessarily +be so. The higher the flight of the poet, or musician, or +painter, or sculptor, the farther is the result from nature, +but nevertheless the whole aim of the musician, as of +the poet, is to represent emotional effects or natural phenomena +beyond experience in life, as the great sculptor +represents form and expression, and the great poet besides +these things, every abstract quality, passion, and +emotional effect, above this experience; but he cannot +do more; he cannot represent something outside of nature, +and so must imitate, that is, in the sense of representation.</p> + +<p>Darwin notes that even a perfect musical scale can be +found in nature. He says<a name="FNanchor_A_373" id="FNanchor_A_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_373" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is a remarkable fact that an ape, a species of the gibbon +family, produces an exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and +descending the scale by half tones. From this fact, and from +the analogy of other animals, I have been led to infer that the +progenitors of man probably uttered musical tones, and that consequently, +when the voice is used under any strong emotion, it +tends to assume, through the principle of association, a musical +character.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">It has been further demonstrated that the strength of the +sensory impressions from certain sounds is due to the +structure of the ear, and that generally a particular +kind of sound produces a similar kind of emotional +effect in animals as in man. Obviously the musician +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>is powerless to do more than widen or deepen this +effect. Colvin admits that the musician sometimes +directly imitates, as when he produces the notes of birds +or the sounds of natural forces, or when he represents +particular emotions; but he regards the former instances +as hazardous and exceptional, and indicates that a +particular emotional harmony may affect the hearers +differently. True, but the hazard of the first condition +is the result of the limitations of the artist, and the +second condition is the consequence of the limitations of +the art. The effect of music being purely sensorial must +vary with the emotional conditions surrounding the +hearer. The musician does what he can, but he is unable +to go so far as the poet and produce an emotional effect +which will with certainty be recognized by every person +affected, at all times, as having the same particular +bearing.</p> + +<p>Taine separates music ("properly so called" as distinguished +from dramatic music) and architecture from +the imitative arts, as they "combine mathematical +relationships so as to create works that do not correspond +with real objects."<a name="FNanchor_A_374" id="FNanchor_A_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_374" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Obviously the whole purpose of +dramatic music is to imitate the effects of the passions, +but its necessary inclusion amongst the imitative arts +upsets the dictum of Taine, for the emotional effects of +one kind of music only differ from those of another kind +when they differ at all, in the character of the natural +emotional effects represented.</p> + +<p>In the case of the architect, seeing that his art is +subordinated to utility, his scheme, his measurements, +and the character of his materials, are largely or almost +entirely governed by conditions outside of his art, and +consequently it is only possible for him to represent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>nature to a limited extent. Rarely can he vaguely suggest +a natural aisle beneath the celestial dome, a rock-walled +cave whose roof soars into obscurity, or a fairy +grotto backed by a beetling cliff. Sometimes he may +cause us to experience similar effects in kind to those +we feel when we recognize grandeur in nature, but +usually he is compelled to confine his beauty to harmonies +produced by symmetrical designs of straight lines +and curves. But in his simplest as in his most complex +designs, he must follow nature as closely as possible. +Purely ornamental forms always appear more beautiful +when the parts have a direct mathematical relationship +with each other than when they have not; that is to say, +when the parts appear to be naturally related. Thus, +that a cross appears to be less agreeable to the sight +when the horizontal bar is below the centre of the perpendicular +than when it is above this point, is due to +what appears to be a want of balance because the form +is unobservable in nature. In trees the horizontal parts +are usually above the middle of the height of the observable +trunk, and in the exceptions nature gives the +whole tree a conical or other shape, the relative position +of the horizontal parts being obscured in the general +form.</p> + +<p>As with parts of forms, so with the forms as wholes. +Other things being equal, that design is the best where the +forms are directly proportioned one with the other and +with the whole, and this is because we are accustomed +to the order of design in nature where everything is +balanced by means of direct proportions and corresponding +relations. The architect therefore, like the musician +or poet, must represent nature so far as he can within the +limits of his art, though his representation is comparatively +weak owing to the artificial restrictions imposed +upon him.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_372" id="Footnote_A_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_372"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Article on "Fine Arts," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th Edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_373" id="Footnote_A_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_373"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_374" id="Footnote_A_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_374"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> <i>On the Ideal in Art.</i></p></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_20" id="Enote_20"></a><a href="#Eanchor_20">NOTE 20. PAGE 54</a></h4> + +<p>The dictum of Aristotle in reference to metre in poetry +related only to epic and dramatic verse, for what we +understand as lyric poetry was separated by the Greeks +as song in which of course metre is compulsory. It is +doubtful whether a single definition can cover both epic +poetry, whose beauty lies almost wholly in the substance, +and lyric verse where the beauty rests chiefly in qualities +of expression and musical form, and in which indeed the +substance may be altogether negligible. A cursory examination +of Watts-Dunton's definition of "Poetry," +which is admittedly the best put forward in recent times, +shows its entire inadequacy. "Absolute poetry," he +says, "is the concrete and artistic expression of the human +mind in emotional and rhythmical language."<a name="FNanchor_A_375" id="FNanchor_A_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_375" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> This +would exclude from the art some of the finest sacred +verse, which, though in the form of prose, has been +recognized as poetry from time immemorial. Metre is +only one of the devices of the poet for accomplishing his +end—-the presentation of beautiful pictures upon the +mind, but in high poetry there is a still more compulsory +artifice which is not included in Watts-Dunton's definition, +and that is metaphor. In the form of words the +details of a picture can only be dealt with successively, +and not simultaneously, and without metaphor the +poet would sometimes be in the position of the painter +who should present a dozen different pictures each containing +only one part of a composition, and call upon +the observer to put the pieces together in his mind. +Further the term "absolute" in the definition quoted +has no comprehensible meaning if it does not exclude +a good deal of verse which is commonly recognized +as poetry, while, as is admitted by Watts-Dunton, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>there is much accepted lyric verse without concrete +expression.</p> + +<p>In high poetry as in high painting, the beauty appeals +both to the senses and the mind, and in each art the +quality descends as the sensorial overbalances the intellectual +appeal, and the effect becomes more ephemeral. +In the very highest of the plastic arts, colour has +little value except in assisting definition; and in the very +highest poetry musical form has only an emphasizing +value, for the sensorial beauty arising from form in the +one case, and form and action in the other, entirely overpowers +the harmonies of colour and tone respectively. +But colour without design is meaningless, so that it cannot +be applied in the fine arts apart from design: hence in +painting, colour presents no complication in respect of +definition. On the other hand music, with or without +association with poetry, is equally an art since in either +case it imitates the effects of human emotions in a +beautiful way. Thus, where metre is present poetry is a +combined art, and seeing that metre may not be present, +a definition of "Poetry" must cover what may be in one +case a pure, and in another, a compound art.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_375" id="Footnote_A_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_375"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Article on "Poetry," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th edition.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_21" id="Enote_21"></a><a href="#Eanchor_21">NOTE 21. PAGE 55</a></h4> + +<p>There seems to be a tendency to overestimate the +disparity between translations of high poetry and the +originals. The value of a translation depends primarily +upon the character of the thing translated, since it is the +form that is unreproducible in another tongue, and not +the substance. In epic and dramatic poetry where the +form is of secondary importance, a good literal translation +may come much nearer to the original than a +translation of a lyric where the form is usually of at least +equal importance with the substance. We lose less of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +Homer or Sophocles than of Sappho or Theocritus in +translation. In the case of epic poetry the higher its +character, the closer to the original appears the translation, +because the form is of less relative importance. +More of Dante is lost than of Homer in literal translation, +but the difference narrows when the new versions +are in metrical form, for the use of metre in translation is +necessarily more detrimental as the substance of the +original increases in power, and this relative weakening is +emphasized as the beauty of form in the translation is +raised. Pope is farther from Homer than Chapman, and +Chapman than the prose translations of Buckley and +Lang. As we descend in the scale of the art, so it becomes +more difficult to reproduce the poet in translation, +and in most lyric poetry the beauty seems almost entirely +lost in another tongue from the original, though when +the substance is of weight, and the translator is himself +a good poet, he sometimes gives us a paraphrase with +a high beauty of its own. Some modern poets seem to +eschew substance altogether. Much of the verse of +esteemed French and Belgian poets is quite meaningless +in literal translation, the authors relying for the effects +entirely upon musical form and beauty of expression.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_22" id="Enote_22"></a><a href="#Eanchor_22">NOTE 22. PAGE 66</a></h4> + +<p>Lessing points out this remarkable picture of Homer +as emphasizing the beauty of Helen, observing:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>What could produce a more vivid idea of beauty than making +old age confess that it is well worth while the war which cost so +much blood, and so much treasure?</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Nevertheless the remark of the old men does not seem to +mean so much as the description of the sages and their +reference to the goddesses. It is difficult to imagine +several wise men agreeing that the sanguinary war of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +nine years was really excusable in view of Helen's beauty, +and the statement therefore is naturally received as a +permissible overcolour. Consequently the effect of the +remark would be discounted, and unlikely to be sufficient +for the purpose of the poet. True, the Greeks seem to +have been childlike sometimes in their simplicity, but +there is no evidence that they were so wanting in a sense +of proportion as to accept literally this opinion of the +elders. But when we observe the senility of the elders, +and the physical feebleness which has apparently rendered +them incapable of sensual pleasures, then indeed +we must marvel at a beauty which excites their emotions +so powerfully as to bring the goddesses to their +minds.<a name="FNanchor_A_376" id="FNanchor_A_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_376" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<p>In discussing the suitableness of this incident as a subject +for a painting, Lessing remarks that the passion +felt by the old men was "a momentary spark which their +wisdom at once extinguished," but later on, referring to +the possibility that the veil worn by Helen when she +passed through the streets of Troy had not been removed +when she was seen by the elders, he points out<a name="FNanchor_B_377" id="FNanchor_B_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_377" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>When the elders displayed their admiration for her, it must +not be forgotten that they were not seeing her for the first time. +Their confession therefore did not necessarily arise from the present +momentary view of her, for they had doubtless often experienced +before the feelings which they now for the first time acknowledged.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">This is very true, but it only serves to deepen the impression +of Helen's beauty, for the element of surprise is removed +from the minds of the elders, the mere sight of +her, veiled or unveiled, being sufficient to recall the passionate +thrills previously experienced.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_376" id="Footnote_A_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_376"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See on this subject Quintilian, viii., 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_377" id="Footnote_B_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_377"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Laocoon</i>, Rönnfeldt translation.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_23" id="Enote_23"></a><a href="#Eanchor_23">NOTE 23. PAGE 67</a></h4> + +<p>In nearly all the instances of sublimity quoted by +Longinus there is this particular merit of brevity—-the +picture is thrown upon the brain immediately, without +pause or anything whatever to complicate the beauty. +But the learned critic directs attention only to the +magnificent thoughts and the appropriate use of them, +without pointing out the extraordinary condensation of +the language employed. Apart from the instance from +Genesis given, there is another of his examples in which +practically the whole beauty of the picture is produced +by the rapidity of its presentation. This is the exclamation +of Hyperides when accused of passing an illegal +decree for the liberation of slaves—"It was not an orator +that made this decree, but the battle of Chæronea." +Longinus observes<a name="FNanchor_A_378" id="FNanchor_A_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_378" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>At the same time that he exhibits proof of his legal proceedings, +he intermixes an image of the battle, and by that stroke of art +quite passes the bounds of mere persuasion.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">But it was rather the manner in which the battle was +introduced than the fact of its introduction, that gave +force to the argument. If instead of confining himself to +a short brilliant observation, Hyperides had carefully +traced cause and effect in the matter, he would still +have intermixed an image of the battle, but he would +not then have produced a work of art.</p> + +<p>Still finer instances of the use of brevity in expresssion +by the orator are to be found in the speeches of Demosthenes. +For example in his oration On the Crown he +says: "Man is not born to his parents only, but to his +country." A whole volume on the meaning and virtue +of patriotism could not say more: hence the sublime art. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>The simple statement lights a torch by which we examine +every convulsion in history; presents a moving picture +in which we see the motives and aspirations guiding the +patriots of a hundred generations; sets an eternal seal +of nobility upon the love of man for his native country. +And a few words suffice. The same thought might be +elaborated into a large volume, but the art would fly with +the brevity.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_378" id="Footnote_A_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_378"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>On the Sublime</i>, <span class="smcap">XV.</span>, William Smith translation.</p></div> + + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_24" id="Enote_24"></a><a href="#Eanchor_24">NOTE 24. PAGE 68</a></h4> + +<p>There are many translations of the Ode to Anactoria, +but the best of them reflects only slightly the depth of +passion in the original. The version which most nearly +represents the substance, while maintaining the unhalting +flow of language, is perhaps that of Ambrose Philips +(1675-1749), which runs thus:—-</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +Blest as th' immortal gods is he,<br /> +The youth who fondly sits by thee,<br /> +And hears, and sees thee all the while<br /> +Softly speak, and sweetly smile.<br /> +<br /> +'Twas this deprived my soul of rest,<br /> +And raised such tumults in my breast;<br /> +For while I gazed, in transport tost,<br /> +My breath was gone, my voice was lost.<br /> +<br /> +My bosom glowed; the subtle flame<br /> +Ran quick through all my vital frame;<br /> +O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung;<br /> +My ears with hollow murmurs rung.<br /> +<br /> +In dewy damps my limbs were chilled;<br /> +My blood with gentle horrors thrilled;<br /> +My feeble pulse forgot to play;<br /> +I fainted, sunk, and died away.<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>The English reproductions of this ode in the Sapphic +measure are not very successful, the difficulty of course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +being due to the practical impossibility of fulfilling the +quantitative conditions of the strophe without stilting +the flow of language, or unduly varying the substance. +But it has been shown by Dr. Marion Miller in his translation +of Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, which is much +higher in substance and somewhat less condensed in expression +than the Ode to Anactoria, that with certain liberties +in respect of quantities, a very beautiful semblance +of the Sapphic measure may be produced in English. +His translation of this hymn is unquestionably the best +in our language, though this is perhaps partly due to the +fact that he is almost the only translator who has adhered +to the text in regard to the sex of the loved person. To +make the object of affection a man seems inappropriate +to the language employed in the verse. (It is proper to +mention that a license taken by Dr. Miller in his translation—-where +he renders the passage relating to the +sparrows, as "clouding with their pinions, Earth's wide +dominions"—suggested to the present writer the somewhat +similar picture to be found on Page 111.)</p> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 596px;"> +<a name="Pl_26" id="Pl_26"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 26</span> +<img src="images/i_373.jpg" width="596" height="1024" alt="PLATE 26" title="" /> +<span class="caption">St. Margaret, by Raphael<br /> +<small>(<i>Louvre</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_250">page 250</a>)</p> +</div> + +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_25" id="Enote_25"></a><a href="#Eanchor_25">NOTE 25. PAGE 68</a></h4> + +<p>The gradual decadence of the great period of Grecian +sculpture is well marked by the successive variations of +the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles. The copy of this +at the Vatican is no doubt a close representation of the +original, but later there was commenced a long series of +variations, all of them more or less complicating the design. +First a pillar was substituted for the vase, reaching +nearly to the armpits, and the left forearm rested +upon it, while drapery fell down the front, so that some +exertion was required to separate the figure to the eye. +Then a dolphin was substituted for the pillar, the head of +the animal resting on the ground, and the body rising up +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>straight with the bent tail forming the support. Then +for this was placed a dolphin with its body corkscrew +shaped, which was particularly weak as it tended to +deprive the figure of repose. After this, while the dolphin +was maintained, a cestus was sometimes added, and +heavy drapery applied in various folds. Finally the +attitude of the figure was changed, that of the Venus de' +Medici being adopted, while the pillar or dolphin was +retained. Each alteration necessarily diminished the +beauty of the figure.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_26" id="Enote_26"></a><a href="#Eanchor_26">NOTE 26. PAGE 69</a></h4> + +<p>Reynolds seems to have been disappointed with the +frescoes of Raphael when he first saw them, and this +fact has been called in evidence by some modern critics +to support their contention that the art of the great +masters is really inferior to that wherein design is subordinated +to colour. But Reynolds very definitely admitted +that his first impression was wrong, for after +studying the frescoes, he notes<a name="FNanchor_A_379" id="FNanchor_A_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_379" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In a short time a new taste and a new perception began to +dawn upon me, and I was convinced that I had originally formed +a false opinion of the perfection of art, and that this great painter +was well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the admiration +of the world.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Reynolds was quite a young man when he went to Rome, +and his appreciation of Raphael increased as his experience +matured. More than twenty years after the visit, +he remarked that Raphael had "a greater combination of +the high qualities of the art than any other man,"<a name="FNanchor_B_380" id="FNanchor_B_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_380" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> and +ten years later he affirmed that the Urbino artist stood +foremost among the first painters.<a name="FNanchor_C_381" id="FNanchor_C_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_381" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Reynolds supposed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>that his lack of appreciation of the frescoes when he first +saw them arose from want of immediate comprehension +of them: he was unaccustomed to works of such great +power, but it is to be observed that his inspection was a +very short one, and we may reasonably draw the conclusion +that changing light conditions had much to do with +the effect the paintings left upon him at the time. When +one enters a room where the light differs materially in +intensity or quality from that experienced just previously, +it is advisable to rest quietly for a little while before +examining works defined by colour, in order that the +eyes may become accustomed to the new light.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_379" id="Footnote_A_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_379"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Reynolds's <i>Italian Note Book</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_380" id="Footnote_B_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_380"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> His Fifth Discourse at the Royal Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_381" id="Footnote_C_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_381"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> His Twelfth Discourse.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_27" id="Enote_27"></a><a href="#Eanchor_27">NOTE 27. PAGE 73</a></h4> + +<p>That the judgment of the public upon a work of art is +final seems to have been recognized by all the ancient +writers who dealt with the matter, and that the Greeks +generally held this view is evident from many incidents, +notably the reference to public judgment in the great +competition between Phidias and Alcamenes. During +the Renaissance also the opinion held good, and it is +worth noting that the suggestion sometimes made that +Michelangelo did not conform to this view is unsupported +by evidence. Vasari relates the following anecdote<a name="FNanchor_A_382" id="FNanchor_A_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_382" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>He [Michelangelo] went to see a work of sculpture which was +about to be sent out because it was finished, and the sculptor was +taking much trouble to arrange the lights from the windows to the +end that it might show up well; whereupon Michelangelo said to +him: "Do not trouble yourself, the important thing will be the light +of the piazza"; meaning to infer that when works are in public +places, the people must judge whether they are good or bad.</p></div> + +<p>Lionardo went so far as to advise artists to hear any +man's opinion on his work, "for," he said, "we know +very well that though a man may not be a painter, he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>has a true conception of the form of another man."<a name="FNanchor_A_383" id="FNanchor_A_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_383" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> +It is a common misconception with the general public, +though not among serious artists, that by reason of their +profession artists are better judges of works of art than +other men. Obviously the recognition of beauty in art +is apart altogether from the means by which it is created, +and subject to the exceptions noted elsewhere, all men +are alike able to appreciate high beauty. Winckelmann +even advised his readers against the judgment of artists +on the ground that they generally preferred what is +difficult to what is beautiful,<a name="FNanchor_B_384" id="FNanchor_B_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_384" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> but experience with the +great art bodies in Europe who hold exhibitions does not +support this view. It is only the weaker artists who are +liable to be prejudiced in such matters, and when the +judges are of high attainments in art, they almost +invariably make the same choice in competitions that +would be made if general opinion were solicited. But +although artists cannot be better judges of high-class +works of art (as beautiful things) than other men of equal +intelligence, their training usually enables them to +distinguish obscure forms of beauty which would be +unrecognized by the general public, and in matters of +colour to differentiate between ephemeral and more or +less permanent harmonies. Hence while the public +interests would not suffer from the introduction of +the lay element in judging high class sculpture and +painting, it is obvious that the consideration of works +where the lower forms of beauty only are produced, +as in formal decoration, should be confined to the +profession.</p> + +<p>In music alone of the arts, for reasons already given, +special cultivation is necessary for the judgment of the +higher forms of beauty.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_382" id="Footnote_A_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_382"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti</i>, De Vere translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_383" id="Footnote_A_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_383"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> McCurdy's <i>Lionardo da Vinci's Note Books</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_384" id="Footnote_B_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_384"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> <i>History of Ancient Art</i>, Part V., 6.</p></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_28" id="Enote_28"></a><a href="#Eanchor_28">NOTE 28. PAGE 74</a></h4> + +<p>It is commonly supposed that the vast multitude of +men and women—the toilers in the fields and factories, +and their families, do not appreciate great works of art; +that rarely they take an interest in any kind of art, and +then only in simple representations of everyday incidents. +This is so apparently, but it is not strictly true. +The great bulk of working people grow up amidst surroundings +where they do not have an opportunity of +seeing good works of art. They toil from morn to eve +during their whole life: their imaginations are almost +entirely confined to their means of livelihood, their +daily routine of labour, and their household duties. A +"mute inglorious Milton" remains mute because he +wants the knowledge and experience around which his +fancy may roam, and a potential Raphael dies in obscurity +from the enforced rigidity of his imagination. +But even so, notwithstanding that the nervous activities +and the imaginations of the poorer workers remain undeveloped, +they are still subservient to the irrevocable +laws of nature. Their faculties may be little changed +from childhood in respect of matters appertaining to the +higher senses, but they still exist. So it comes about that +in all times since art has been practised, the paintings +and sculptures of the greater masters have been well +appreciated by the multitude when they could come +into contact with them. In modern times great works +of art are seldom available to the masses except in public +galleries where their sense perception and minds are +quickly confused and fatigued—in fact rendered incapable +of legitimate use, but the trend of popular opinion +is very decidedly settled by the experience of those +business houses which undertake the reproduction of important +works. There are many times the demand for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +prints and cards of pictures belonging to the higher forms +of art, as for instance, sacred and historical subjects, and +portraits, than for interiors and landscapes, and so +incessant is this demand for the better works, that a +painter desiring to copy one of the great Raphael or +Correggio Madonnas at Florence for reproduction, will +usually have to wait three or four years after entering +his name, before his turn comes to set up his easel. It +is rather the want of intelligent contact with them, than +indifference to them, that is due the apparent lack of +interest in great works of art on the part of the labouring +classes.</p> + +<p>There is a deal of truth in the incisive remarks of Leo +Tolstoy when dealing with this question. He says <a name="FNanchor_A_385" id="FNanchor_A_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_385" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Art cannot be incomprehensible to the great masses only because +it is very good, as artists of our day are fond of telling us. +Rather we are bound to conclude that this art is unintelligible +because it is very bad art, or even is not art at all. So that the +favourite argument (naïvely accepted by the cultured crowd), +that in order to feel art one has first to understand it (which really +means to habituate oneself to it), is the truest indication that +what we are asked to understand by such a method, is either very +bad art, exclusive art, or is not art at all.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">One may observe however that, as a rule, it is only inferior +artists who complain of the want of public appreciation +of great works of art.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_385" id="Footnote_A_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_385"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>What is Art?</i> Aylmer Maude translation, 1904.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_29" id="Enote_29"></a><a href="#Eanchor_29">NOTE 29. PAGE 78</a></h4> + +<p>According to Lessing and Watts-Dunton, what the +former calls the dazzling antithesis of Simonides—"Poetry +is speaking painting, and painting dumb poetry"—has +had a wide and deleterious effect upon art criticism. +Lessing, who wrote <i>Laocoon</i> about 1761, said in his preface +in reference to this saying:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It was one of those ideas held by Simonides, the truth of which +is so obvious that one feels compelled to overlook the indistinctness +and falsehood which accompany it.... But of late many +critics, just as though no difference existed, have drawn the crudest +conclusions one can imagine from this harmony of painting and +poetry.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Watts-Dunton, writing a few years ago, added to this<a name="FNanchor_A_386" id="FNanchor_A_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_386" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It [the saying of Simonides] appears to have had upon modern +criticism as much influence since the publication of Lessing's +<i>Laocoon</i> as it had before.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Lessing points out that the Greeks confined the saying +to the effect produced by the two arts, and (evidently +referring to Aristotle) did not forget to inculcate that +these arts differed from each other in the things imitated +and the manner of imitation.</p> + +<p>Since the business of both poetry and painting is to +throw pictures on the mind, the declaration of Simonides +must be accepted, but it has no particular meaning as +applied either to criticism or the practice of the arts. It +is merely a fact of common knowledge put into the form +of a misleading <i>jeu d'esprit</i>, though one has a natural +reluctance in so describing a time-honoured saying. +There is room for doubt whether it really had the effect +upon criticism that is alleged. Annibale Carracci varied +it slightly into a better form with "Poets paint with +words, and painters speak with the pencil," and it was +certainly as well known in his time as in the eighteenth +century, yet we find no particular evidence of weak art +criticism either in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. +Moreover allegorical painting was not less common in +these centuries than in the century following; and while +there was unquestionably a spurt of descriptive poetry +in the eighteenth, it is difficult to trace a connection between +this phenomenon and general criticism based upon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>the dictum of Simonides. In regard to later times, the +statement of Watts-Dunton wants demonstration.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_386" id="Footnote_A_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_386"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Article on "Poetry," <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, 11th edition.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_30" id="Enote_30"></a><a href="#Eanchor_30">NOTE 30. PAGE 79</a></h4> + +<p>A few distinguished poets have attempted to portray +beauty of form by description of features, but they have +all been signally unsuccessful. The best known essay +of the kind is Ariosto's portrait of Araminta, where he +closely describes all details of her features and form, using +forty lines for the purpose; but put together the pieces +as one will, it is quite impossible to gain from them an +idea of the beauty of her countenance.<a name="FNanchor_A_387" id="FNanchor_A_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_387" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> This is pointed +out by Lessing. The very length of the catalogue is +apt to kill the beauty as one endeavours to dovetail the +separate elements. Perhaps the lines of Cornelius Gallus +to Lydia form the most perfect poetical delineation of a +beautiful face known to us, but as will be seen from the +translation below, they are quite insufficient to enable us +to picture the beauty of the combined features on our +minds.<a name="FNanchor_B_388" id="FNanchor_B_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_388" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +Lydia! girl of prettiest mien,<br /> +And fairest skin, that e'er were seen:<br /> +Lilies, cream, thy cheeks disclose;<br /> +The ruddy and the milky rose;<br /> +Smooth thy limbs as ivory shine,<br /> +Burnished from the Indic mine.<br /> +Oh, sweet girl! those ringlets spread<br /> +Long and loose, from all thy head;<br /> +Glistening like gold in yellow light<br /> +O'er thy falling shoulders white.<br /> +Show, sweet girl! thy starry eyes,<br /> +And black brows that arching rise:<br /> +Show, sweet girl! thy rose-bloom cheeks,<br /> +Which Tyre's vermillion scarlet streaks:<br /> +Drop those pouting lips to mine,<br /> +Those ripe, those coral lips of thine.<br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_387" id="Footnote_A_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_387"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Orlando Furioso</i>, C. VII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_388" id="Footnote_B_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_388"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> C. A. Elton translation.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_31" id="Enote_31"></a><a href="#Eanchor_31">NOTE 31. PAGE 80</a></h4> + +<p>If there be one example of descriptive poetry relating +to landscape which throws upon the mind a complete +natural scene during the process of reading, it is the +beautiful chant of the Chorus in <i>Œdipus Coloneus</i>. +The perfection of form and majestic diction of this poetry +are remarkable, but the successful presentation of the +picture on the mind is largely due to the simple and direct +language used, and the astonishing brevity with which +the many features of the scene are described. Green +dells, fields, plains, groves, rocks, flowers, fruit, and rushing +waters, are all brought in, and the few lines used do not +prevent the introduction of the Muses, the jovial Bacchus +with the nursing nymphs, and radiant Aphrodite. All +modern poetry descriptive of landscape entirely fails in +presenting a comprehensive view. It is too discursive—over +descriptive, to permit of the mind collecting the +details together as one whole. Here is the best prose +version of the lines of Sophocles<a name="FNanchor_A_389" id="FNanchor_A_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_389" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Thou hast come, O stranger, to the seats of this land, renowned +for the steed; to seats the fairest on earth, the chalky Colonus; +where the vocal nightingale, chief abounding, trills her plaintive +note in the green dells, tenanting the dark-hued ivy, and the +leafy grove of the god, untrodden, teeming with fruits, impervious +to the sun, and unshaken by the winds of every storm; where +Bacchus the reveller ever roams attending his divine nurses. +And ever day by day the narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, +bursts into bloom by heaven's dew, the ancient coronet of the +mighty goddesses, and the saffron with golden ray; nor do the +sleepless founts of Cephisus that wander through the fields fail, +but every day it rushes o'er the plains with its limpid wave, +fertilizing the bosom of the earth; nor have the choirs of the +Muses loathed this clime; nor Aphrodite too, of the golden reign.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_389" id="Footnote_A_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_389"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Oxford translation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p></div> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_32" id="Enote_32"></a><a href="#Eanchor_32">NOTE 32. PAGE 81</a></h4> + +<p>It is perhaps necessary to remind some readers that +the term "invention" is used in two senses in art, referring +to the original idea or scheme, or to the preparation +of the design embodying the idea. In poetry and fiction +the term has the former significance; in painting and +sculpture the latter. The restriction in the use of the +term in the last named arts is compulsory. (See Chap. +III., and Note 33.)</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_33" id="Enote_33"></a><a href="#Eanchor_33">NOTE 33. PAGE 81</a></h4> + +<p>Apparently Lessing did not observe that inasmuch as +the painter cannot present the beginning and end of an +incident, he must necessarily take his moment of action +from the literary arts or from nature. The critic notices +that the painter does not invent the action he depicts, +but states that this is due to his indifference towards +invention, developed by the natural readiness of the +public to dispense with the merit of invention in his +case. That is to say, the public expects the painter to +take his idea from the poet or from nature, and looks to +him only for correct design and execution: hence the +painter is under no necessity to invent his own scheme.</p> + +<p>It is curious that a reason of this kind for the practice +of the painter should be put forward by so keen a critic +as Lessing, but it is not altogether surprising when we +remember the discussion as to whether Virgil drew his +representation of the Laocoon incident from the celebrated +sculptured group, or the sculptors adopted the +device of the poet. Lessing definitely settled the point +in favour of the poet as the author of the design, and since +his time this decision has been confirmed over and over +again by practical evidence. But the conclusion of +Lessing seems obvious in the absence of any such evi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>dence. +As we must exclude the possibility of both poet +and sculptors taking the design from the same original +source, it is clear that the poet could only have imitated +the sculptors on the supposition that they had so widely +varied the legend as to necessitate a new beginning and +end of the story, these being provided by the poet. +Consideration of such a series of events is not permissible, +as it would reflect upon the common sense of the sculptors, +and actually degrade the poet.</p> + +<p>Consequent upon the inability of the painter to originate +a scheme for a picture, the famous proposition of +Lessing as to the relative importance of invention and +execution with the poet and painter, must fall to the +ground. The critic states that our admiration of Homer +would be less if we knew that he took certain of his work +from pictures, and asks<a name="FNanchor_A_390" id="FNanchor_A_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_390" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>How does it happen that we withdraw none of our esteem from +the painter when he does no more than express the words of the +poem in forms and colours?</p></div> + +<p class="noin">He suggests as an answer to this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>With the painter, execution appears to be more difficult than +invention: with the poet on the other hand the case seems to be +reversed, and his execution seems to be an easier achievement +than the invention.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">The word "invention" is to be taken here in the sense of +plot or fable, and not as the details of design invented +by the painter for the purpose of representing the action +described by the poet. The premisses of Lessing's argument +therefore will not stand, for the painter cannot +originate a fable by means of a picture. And sequential +to this of course, the painter can be of no service to the +poet. Homer could not draw an original scheme from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>a painting. Nor may the poet take a detail from the +painter, for this has already been borrowed. A poet may +vary a detail in a legend because he can make the successive +parts of his relation fit in with the variation, but +the painter can only deal with a single moment of action, +and if this does not correspond with an accepted legend, +then his design appears to be untrue.</p> + +<p>It may be said in regard to painting, that the relative +difficulty of the invention (the work of gathering and +arranging the signs) and the execution, varies with the +character of the art. In the higher forms, as sacred and +historical work, the invention is the more difficult; in +ordinary scenes of life and labour the trouble involved +in invention would about equal that in execution; while +in the lower forms, as landscape and still-life, the execution +is obviously the more difficult. In the case of the +poet, the idea or fable is the hardest part of his work, +but the relative difficulty of the arrangement of the +parts, and the execution, would naturally depend upon +the general character of the composition, and the form +of the poem.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_390" id="Footnote_A_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_390"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Laocoon</i>, Phillimore translation.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_34" id="Enote_34"></a><a href="#Eanchor_34">NOTE 34. PAGE 82</a></h4> + +<p>The works here referred to are those designed for the +purpose of achieving a political or social aim, or conveying +instruction or moral lessons. There are many +examples of good art where advocacy of a social or administrative +reform is presented by way of incident or +accessory, though the art itself is never, and cannot be, +assisted thereby. "Didactic Art," if such a term may +be appropriately used, is practically a thing of the past, +but judging from certain conventions the opinion seems +to be rather widely held that art should point a moral +when possible, and an opinion of Aristotle is not infre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>quently +called in to support this view. But when Aristotle +connected morals with art, he evidently did not +mean to suggest that art should have a moral purpose, +but that it should have a moral tendency in not being +morally harmful, for art which is not morally harmful +must necessarily be morally beneficial. The general +connection of the good with the beautiful in ancient +Greece seems to have merely implied that what is good +is beautiful, and what is beautiful is good, or should be +good, and not that goodness is a manifestation of beauty, +or beauty of goodness. It was admitted that the two +things may not coincide.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_35" id="Enote_35"></a><a href="#Eanchor_35">NOTE 35. PAGE 85</a></h4> + +<p>That landscape painting may be of considerable value +in assisting scientific exploration is instanced by an +anecdote related to the writer by a geological friend. +Professor Jack, formerly Government Geologist of +Queensland, while travelling in that colony, having put +up one night at the house of a small squatter, noticed on +the walls of the interior, a number of colour drawings +which had been painted by a son of the settler from views +in the neighbouring hills. One of these drawings showed +a reddish-brown tint running down the slope of a grey +and nearly barren hill. This caught the eye of the professor +who asked the artist if the colours roughly represented +the natural conditions, and receiving an affirmative +reply, recommended the squatter to prospect the ground +for minerals. This was done with the result that +profitable copper deposits were found. It seems that +in Australia many of the best mineral veins are capped +with iron, and run through schistose rocks traversed by +dioritic dykes. Professor Jack was well aware that the +hills in the district were formed of these rocks and dykes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +and as the reddish-brown streak indicated iron oxide, +it occurred to him that the iron might be the cap of a +lode holding valuable minerals.<a name="FNanchor_A_391" id="FNanchor_A_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_391" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_391" id="Footnote_A_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_391"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> This note is from <i>The Position of Landscape in Art</i>, by the present +author.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_36" id="Enote_36"></a><a href="#Eanchor_36">NOTE 36. PAGE 87</a></h4> + +<p>Remarkable evidence of the universality of ideals, is +afforded by the galaxy of French sculptors who appeared +in the thirteenth century. They could have had no +teachers beyond those responsible for the stiff and formal +works characterizing the merging of Norman with Gothic +art; they could have seen few of the fragments of ancient +sculpture; and yet they left behind them monuments +which rival in noble beauty much of the work produced +in the greatest art period. How their art grew, and how +it withered; how such a brilliant bloom in the life of a +nation should so quickly fade, needs too detailed an +argument to be ventured upon here, if indeed a properly +reasoned explanation can be given at all; but the flower +remains, as great a pride to mankind as it is a glory to +France: remains, though sadly drooping, for the petals +of Rheims are gone.</p> + +<p>Now these Frenchmen were in much the same position +as the early Greeks. They were confronted with the +task of making images of their objects of worship for +great temples. They had no more real knowledge of the +Personality of Christ, the Virgin, and most of the Saints +than had the Greeks of the Homeric gods and legendary +heroes, and like the Grecian sculptors they fully believed +in the spiritual personages and religious events with +which they dealt. The Grecian and French artists +therefore started from the same line with similar general +ideals, for the ancient workers took no heed of Homer +and Hesiod in respect of the failings of their gods; and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>they both had only pure formalities in sculpture behind +them. And what was the result? The ideal divine head +of the Christian Frenchman is much the same as that +of the Greeks in regard to form, and only varies in expression +with the character of the respective religious +conceptions.</p> + +<p>The French sculptors did not reach the sublime height +of the Phidian school, nor did they attempt the more +human beauty typified by the giants of the fourth +century <small>B.C.</small>; but apart from these, and leaving aside considerations +of the nude with which they were little concerned, +they climbed to the highest level of the latter end +of the fourth century and the beginning of the third—the +level attained by those Grecian sculptors who more or +less idealized portrait heads by adding Phidian traits. +And it would appear that in reaching towards their goal +they followed the same line of thought as the Greeks, and +arrived at similar conclusions in respect to every detail +of the head and pose of the figure. As a rule they gave +to the faces of Christ and the Saints a large facial angle, +set the eyes in deeply and the ears close to the head, +and generally worked on parallel lines with the principal +sculptors of Peloponesia living sixteen hundred years +before their time. It is perhaps natural that they should +make similar variations in the proportions of the figures +to provide for the different levels from which they were +to be seen, but it is curious that they should adopt the +practice followed by the Greeks in the representation of +children in arms, by minimizing to the last degree the +figure of the Infant Christ in the arms of the Madonna. +They could not have more closely imitated the Greeks +in this respect had they had Grecian models in front of +them. No doubt they fixed the position of the Child at +the side of the Virgin in order that the line of her majestic +form might not be broken, and that her face might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +be revealed to observers below the level of the statues, +but that they should have made the Child so extremely +small and insignificant considering His relative importance +compared with that of the Grecian infant in arms, +is remarkable.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_37" id="Enote_37"></a><a href="#Eanchor_37">NOTE 37. PAGE 90</a></h4> + +<p>It is too early yet to fix definitely the position of Rodin +in art. There is much sifting of his works to be done, +for of all artists with a wide reputation, he was perhaps +the most variable. Still he may be called one of the +greater artists, and so is amongst the rare exceptions +mentioned, for he executed one or two hideous figures, +the most notable being La Vieille Heaulmière.<a name="FNanchor_A_392" id="FNanchor_A_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_392" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> This +cannot properly be described as a work of art because it +is revolting to the senses: it is merely a species of writing—a +hieroglyph, and Rodin's own apology for it is a direct +condemnation, since a work of sculpture cannot be good +if general opinion does not approve of it. He says<a name="FNanchor_B_393" id="FNanchor_B_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_393" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>What matters solely to me is the opinion of people of taste, and +I have been delighted to gain their approbation for my La Vieille +Heaulmière. I am like the Roman singer who replied to the jeers +of the populace, <i>Equitibus Cano</i>. I sing only for the nobles; +that is to say for the connoisseurs. The vulgar readily imagine +that what they consider ugly is not a fit subject for the artist. +They would like to forbid us to represent what displeases and +offends them in nature. It is a great error on their part. What +is commonly called "ugliness" in nature can in art become full +of great beauty. In the domain of art we call ugly what is deformed, +whatever is unhealthy.... Ugly also is the soul of +the vicious or criminal man.... But let a great artist or +writer make use of one or other of these uglinesses, instantly it +becomes transfigured: with a touch of his fairy wand he has turned +it into beauty: it is alchemy: it is enchantment.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p> + +<p class="noin">Rodin then goes on to refer to the description of ugly +objects by the poets, in support of his argument that they +may be represented by the painter! It was his error in +confusing the objects of the literary with those of the +plastic arts, that led him to carve La Vieille Heaulmière, +for he admitted that he wished to put into sculpture +what Villon had put into a poem. Professor Waldstein +properly pointed out that, this being so, the observer of +the sculpture should be provided with a copy of the poem +when in front of the statue, adding<a name="FNanchor_A_394" id="FNanchor_A_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_394" class="fnanchor">[c]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin">and even then the work remains only the presentation of a female +figure deformed in every detail by the wear and tear of time, and +of a life ending in disease and nothing more. It is the worst form +of literary sculpture, of which we have had so much by artists who +represent the very opposite pole of the modern realists.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Elsewhere the respective positions of the poet and painter +(or sculptor) in the representation of ugliness are dealt +with, but it may be added that in the case of La Vieille +Heaulmière, Rodin does not render in sculpture the poem +of Villion, but only a part of it, for of course he could not +show the progression in the life of the courtesan, indicated +by the poet, which progression puts an entirely different +complexion upon the ugly figure of the poet compared +with that of the sculptor. Clearly Rodin was misled when +he said that people of taste have given their approbation +to his appalling figure, for it has been condemned among +all classes, while its few defenders have failed to support +their opinions by reason or experience.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1024px;"> +<a name="Pl_27" id="Pl_27"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 27</span> +<img src="images/i_391.jpg" width="1024" height="543" alt="PLATE 27" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Diana and Nymphs, by Rubens<br /> +<small>(<i>Prado, Madrid</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_254">page 254</a>)</p> +</div> + + +<p>We may note that at another time Rodin reflected +upon the character of the ancient Greek sculpture for +the very reason upon which he bases his claim for public +approval of La Vieille Heaulmière. He says<a name="FNanchor_B_395" id="FNanchor_B_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_395" class="fnanchor">[d]</a>:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>That was the fault of the Hellenic ideal. The beauty conceived +by the Greeks was the order dreamed of by intelligence, but it +only appealed to the cultivated mind, disdaining the humble.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Here also is a confusion of ideas, for the intelligence cannot +dream of a special kind of beauty which would not +be recognized by the humble, unless it were so feeble as +to be altogether below Greek conceptions. The aim of +the Greek sculptors was to appeal to all classes, and in +this they were eminently successful.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_392" id="Footnote_A_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_392"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> At the Luxembourg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_393" id="Footnote_B_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_393"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Gsell's <i>Art, by Auguste Rodin</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_394" id="Footnote_A_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_394"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> <i>Greek Sculpture and Modern Art</i>, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_395" id="Footnote_B_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_395"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Gsell's <i>Art, by Auguste Rodin</i>.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_38" id="Enote_38"></a><a href="#Eanchor_38">NOTE 38. PAGE 92</a></h4> + +<p>Ruskin considered the figure of Christ, known as Le +Bon Dieu d'Amiens, at Amiens Cathedral, the noblest +ideal of Christ in existence,<a name="FNanchor_A_396" id="FNanchor_A_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_396" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> and Dean Farrar wrote of +it: "Christ is represented as standing at the central point +of all history, and of all Revelation."<a name="FNanchor_B_397" id="FNanchor_B_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_397" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> It is true that the +sculpture is a noble representation of Christ, but this is +not because it is a Christian ideal. In type it is purely +Greek of the late fourth or early third century <small>B.C.</small> +The expression is general, exhibiting the calm repose that +the Greeks gave to a great philosopher.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_396" id="Footnote_A_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_396"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Bible of Amiens.</i> See Plate 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_397" id="Footnote_B_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_397"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>The Life of Christ as Represented in Art.</i></p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_39" id="Enote_39"></a><a href="#Eanchor_39">NOTE 39. PAGE 97</a></h4> + +<p>In the case of the Madonna, Michelangelo does not +appear to produce an ideal woman: he only gives an +improved woman. His nearest approach to the ideal is in +his early Pieta at St. Peter's, but even here the Virgin is +only a less earthly prototype of his later figures. The +Madonna in the Holy Family at the Uffizi is much inferior, +being merely a slightly ennobled Italian peasant. +The other Madonnas are far higher in character and seem +to suggest the antique, except that the more material +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>qualities of woman are always present. The Madonnas +at the Bargello and San Lorenzo are of the same general +type as the figure in the Last Judgment, the Night in the +Medici Chapel, the Leda in the Bargello, and the Venus +in the sketch made for Pontormo. This being so, it +may be imagined when the Leda is called to mind, that +it is hard to associate the two Madonnas with Christian +ideals. The figures are magnificent works, but they are +behind the Madonnas of Raphael from the point of view +of Christian conceptions. The expression is general, and +all the countenances except one, indicate unconcern with +surroundings; not the sublime unconcern of a Phidian +god, which implies an apparent disregard of particulars +because they are necessarily understood with an all-powerful +comprehension of principles, but an unconcern +which suggests a want of deep interest in life. The +exception is the San Lorenzo Madonna, in which a certain +calm resignation is the principal feature in expression. +Michelangelo was more successful with his men than +with his women. His painted prophets in the Sistine +Chapel are as sublime as his scenes from the Creation; +and his Moses in St. Peter's is rightly regarded as the +first sculpture of the Renaissance.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_40" id="Enote_40"></a><a href="#Eanchor_40">NOTE 40. PAGE 99</a></h4> + +<p>When the Pieta of Michelangelo (in St. Peter's, Rome) +was first exposed, some comment was made upon the +comparatively youthful appearance of the Virgin, and +Condivi relates that he spoke to the sculptor on the +subject. In reply Michelangelo said<a name="FNanchor_A_398" id="FNanchor_A_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_398" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Don't you know that chaste women preserve their beauty and +youthful character much longer than those who are not chaste? +How youthful then must appear the immaculate Virgin who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>cannot be supposed ever to have had a vitiated thought. And +this is only according to the natural order of things: but why +may not we suppose in this particular case, that nature might be +assisted by Divine interposition, to demonstrate to the world the +virginity and perpetual purity of the Mother? This was not +necessary in the Son, nay, rather on the contrary, since Divine +omnipotence was willing to show that the Son of God would take +upon Him, as he did, the body of man, with all his earthly infirmities +except that of sin. Therefore it was not necessary for me to +make the human subordinate to the Divine character, but to consider +it in the ordinary course of nature under the actual existing +circumstances. Hence you ought not to wonder that from such a +consideration, I should make the most holy Virgin-Mother of +God, in comparison with the Son, much younger than would otherwise +be required, and that I should have represented the Son at +His proper age.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_398" id="Footnote_A_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_398"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Lanzi's <i>History of Painting in Italy</i>, Roscoe translation, vol. i.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_41" id="Enote_41"></a><a href="#Eanchor_41">NOTE 41. PAGE 100</a></h4> + +<p>A few modern painters have produced works in which +the Holy Family are pictured in lowly surroundings, +but generally they appear to shock the public sense of +propriety. Many persons will remember the sensation +caused by Millais's The Carpenter's Shop, where Christ +is shown as a boy of about ten years of age in the workshop +of St. Joseph, and Holman Hunt's Shadow of the +Cross. Later artists have been still more realistic, +notably Uhde, whose sacred scenes almost stagger one +with their modern suggestions, and Demont-Breton, +whose Divine Apprentice represents the Boy Christ +sharpening a tool at a grindstone which is turned by the +Virgin.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_42" id="Enote_42"></a><a href="#Eanchor_42">NOTE 42. PAGE 108</a></h4> + +<p>Unquestionably the rapid advance in Italian art in the +fifteenth century was largely due to the influence of the +ancient Greek and Roman remains. Indeed there are +very few sculptors of the period who fail to show evi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>dence +of studies in Greek forms and ornaments, while in +painting there are hundreds of figures which could scarcely +have been designed in the absence of antique models. +True in some cases the artists do not appear to have +gone beyond the ancient literature, as with Masaccio +who must have had Homer in his mind when he painted +his figures of Eve in the Florence frescoes, and Piero di +Cosimo, whose fanciful compositions savour of the old +legends wrapped up in fairy stories; but many painters +were steeped both in the art and literature of Greece and +Rome, and made good use of them.</p> + +<p>But the most direct evidence of the influence of Greek +art upon Italian artists of the fifteenth and early sixteenth +centuries, is to be found in the splendid series of bronze +statuettes of the period. In their monumental figures +the sculptors were more or less confined in their designs +by considerations of portraiture, conventional drapery +and symbols, and local requirements, and while they were +greatly assisted by Greek experience, yet only rarely +were they strictly at liberty except with ornaments and +accessories. But in the small bronze figures their fancy +could roam at will, and they made good use of this freedom +in displaying their ready acceptance of the first +principle in the design of the human figure recognized +by the Greeks—that the sculptor must arrive at perfection +of form if that be possible; that this perfection is not +to be found in any single form in life, and consequently +the artist must combine perfected parts into a harmonious +whole, independently of particular models. The +agreement with this principle was general, with scarcely +an exception amongst the bronze figure designers, and +the result was that in the period say, from 1450 to 1525, +there was executed a series of bronzes fully representative +of the highest level which plastic art has reached +since the greater days of Greece. Right up to the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +of the maturity of Michelangelo, nearly every bronze +figurine cast is purely Grecian in type, and every ornament, +and even every accessory which is not from its +nature of contemporary style, can be traced to Greece, +either directly or through Rome.</p> + +<p>Michelangelo brought about a change in accentuating +the muscular development of the body, and before the +middle of the sixteenth century most sculptors had come +under his influence. This was unfortunate for he alone +seemed to be capable of harmoniously combining Greek +lines with muscular power. A few of his contemporaries, +as Sansovino, Leone, Cellini, learned how to join, with +due restraint, his innovations with modifications of the +Greek torso, but generally the imitation of the great +Florentine initiated a decadence, as it was bound to do, +for it was accompanied with life modelling, and so meant +a radical departure from the Greek forms. Giovanni di +Bologna alone among the later sixteenth century sculptors, +was strong enough to move in an independent direction. +He restrained the accentuation of the muscles, +and lightened the Greek type of torso, combining with +these conditions an elegance in design which has never +since been surpassed.</p> + +<p>This then is the principal cause of the high æsthetic +value of the Renaissance bronzes: the human form exhibited +by them is altogether more beautiful than the +form coming within the compass of life experience. +Then the details of work on the bronzes are immensely +superior to those of the general modern handiwork. +For instance the chiselling of such men as Riccio and +Cellini, has never been equalled since their time, save +perhaps by Gouthière. And how poor, comparatively, +are the present-day castings! How carefully the old +masters worked; how particular they were with their +clay; how skilfully they prepared their wax, and how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +slowly and deliberately the mould! How many artists +now would have the patience to make such a mould? +For the beautiful patinas on many of the Renaissance +bronzes, age is mostly responsible, though lacquers were +often used for the provision of artificial patinas, particularly +after the middle of the sixteenth century, the +finest being found on some of the works of Giovanni di +Bologna. The tone of natural patina depends largely +upon the kind of oxidation to which the bronze has been +subjected, and it is no doubt often affected by the alloy +used. Few modern artists have given close attention to +the alloys, while the method of casting is now usually +regarded as a detail of minor importance.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the production of figurines accompanied +every civilization from the dawn of history to the collapse +of the Roman Empire, it is curious that the renaissance +of sculpture after the Dark Age should have progressed +a long way before general attention was again turned to +these bronzes. There are a few figures of animals which +seem to be Italian work of the late trecento, but beyond +these the small cast bronzes made in Italy before +the maturity of Ghiberti, were practically confined to +Madonnas and Saints, mostly gilt, made to fill Gothic +niches, or adorn the altars of churches and private chapels. +Slender Saints they were as a rule, but always +elegant, with serene countenances and delicate features; +beautifully modelled as became the inheritors of the +traditions of the Pisanos. It was somewhere about the +middle of the fifteenth century that Italy commenced +to make ungilt statuettes suitable for household ornaments, +and fully ten or fifteen years more passed away +before they were produced with any regularity. The +earliest of them of any importance appear to be a couple +of Flagellators from the design of Ghiberti. They are +fine pieces of work, evidently from clay models made for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +the scourging scene in one of the gates of the Florence +Baptistry—gates described by Michelangelo as worthy +to fill the portals of Paradise. These figures date about +1440. There is a Child Christ of a few years later by +Luca della Robbia; and two or three figures from models +of Donatello may be assigned to the neighbourhood of +1450. In the next ten years were turned out some +figures from remaining models of Donatello which had +been used for his work at Prato and Padua.</p> + +<p>So far the small bronzes made were from studies for +larger works of sculpture, but about this time intense +interest began to be taken in the remains of Greek and +Roman art, and no doubt it was the increased importance +attached to the antique bronze figures, mostly household +gods of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, that first +led the principal Renaissance artists to turn their attention +to similar work. From this time on, for a century +and a half, these bronze figures were regularly made. +The existing figurines may be broadly classified in four +divisions, namely, the Paduan and Florentine figures +executed prior to 1525; those of the school of Michelangelo; +those of the Venetian school headed by Sansovino; +and those of Giovanni di Bologna and his school. Leaving +out of consideration the small ornaments for inkstands, +vases, etc., the little animals, and the purely +commercial imitations, chiefly Venetian, made at the +end of the sixteenth century, the total number of Renaissance +bronzes now known is roughly six thousand. Of +these under a hundred are from models for larger works +by Ghiberti, Donatello, Verrocchio, Lionardo, Michelangelo, +and a few lesser lights; about two thousand represent +original designs specially prepared for bronze +production; some three thousand five hundred are duplicates +of, or slight variations from, these originals, executed +by pupils or near contemporaries of the masters;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +and the balance of four hundred or so, are direct reproductions +of, or variations from, antique sculptures. +Naturally all collectors aim for the first two sections, +but the third section contains many fine bronzes, often +close to the originals, with equally good patinas. They +vary greatly, though they are all ascribed in commerce +to the artists responsible for the originals.</p> + +<p>The character of these variations is best seen in the +case of Riccio, the most prolific of the bronze workers +of the Renaissance. He designed and executed under +forty small bronze figures and groups, besides some large +bronze works of high importance. Of his small pieces +there are in existence about a hundred duplicates made +by his pupils and immediate contemporaries, who also +adapted into household ornaments, various details +from his larger works, bringing up the number of Riccios +made from his models during his lifetime, other than by +himself, to about a hundred and fifty. These are all +bronzes of a high order. Then about an equal number +of both kinds of models were reproduced during the +twenty years following his death, all fairly good, but often +slightly varied from the originals; and finally there are +Riccios copied by Venetian craftsmen in the third quarter +of the sixteenth century, sometimes considerably varied, +and occasionally with purely Venetian ornaments added. +These last mark the first distinct decadence in the small +bronze art of the period. Next to Riccio among the +earlier sculptors, in the number of bronzes designed, was +his great contemporary, Antico, who accomplished some +thirty or so. He differed from Riccio in that while the +latter adhered to the Grecian practice in the design of +details and ornaments, but varied the modelling somewhat +to bring it more in conformity with the contemporary +ideas of elegance, Antico kept strictly to the +Grecian modelling, but commonly varied the ancient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +designs. There are few duplicates of Antico's work, +made either during his lifetime or after. As with Riccio, +his imitators overcame the difficulty of the chiselling by +leaving it out, relying upon the wax to give close enough +resemblance to the originals.</p> + +<p>Of the other small bronze sculptors prior to the maturity +of Michelangelo, few executed more than half a +score of figures. The best known are the immediate successors +of Donatello in the Paduan school, as Bertoldo +and Bellano, and the giants of the Florentine school, as +Filarete and A. Pollaiuolo. Bronzes by these artists +are very rare, and so are the duplicates of them made +by pupils, though Bertoldo, who reminds one strangely +of Lysippus, had occasional imitators for the next two +centuries. These bronzes include many models which +have not been equalled by the greatest of later sculptors, +and they will never be matched until there arises a new +school of sculptors resolved to imbibe the truths which the +Renaissance artists gleaned from the ancient Greeks.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_43" id="Enote_43"></a><a href="#Eanchor_43">NOTE 43. PAGE 110</a></h4> + +<p>The writer has used Greek and Roman names for these +gods to some extent indiscriminately, in accordance with +the universal custom in art. Nevertheless the practice +is to be regretted as it tends to complicate the general +ideas of the Greek and Roman religions. Notwithstanding +the occasional direct association of some of +their deities with human personages by their poets, the +Romans regarded their gods as purely spiritual beings, +having no special earthly habitation, or sex relations +with the human race, while their powers widely differed +from those of the respective Greek deities with whom +they are commonly identified. Authorities differ as to +whether the gods were supposed to have spiritual marital<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +relations with each other.<a name="FNanchor_A_399" id="FNanchor_A_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_399" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> In any case the whole +nature of their religion precluded the development +amongst the Romans of a separate sacred art. Their +sculptured gods, which were taken from Grecian models, +were symbols rather than presumed types.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_399" id="Footnote_A_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_399"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See J. G. Frazer's <i>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</i>, 1914, vol. ii.; and W. W. +Fowler's <i>Religious Experience of the Roman People</i>, 1911.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_44" id="Enote_44"></a><a href="#Eanchor_44">NOTE 44. PAGE 111</a></h4> + +<p>If we may judge from the headless figures of the +goddesses, commonly known as the Three Fates, from the +east pediment of the Parthenon, there seems to be little +difference between the general lines of the feminine torso +represented by the Phidian ideal, and those of the +Praxitelean model. The Parthenon torsos are more +massive proportionately, but the object of both Phidias +and Praxiteles was evidently to straighten the outer +lines of the torso as nearly as possible, making due allowance +for the varied natural swellings of their respective +forms. It is obvious that the use of attire gave Phidias +(presuming the Parthenon figures referred to were designed +by him, as they probably were) a latitude in varying the +proportions of the torsos which he could not have exercised +in the case of nude forms. Unclothed, the figures +would appear unwieldy, and the graceful flowing lines +resulting from the partly clinging drapery could not be +so completely presented with nude reclining or semi-reclining +figures. There are other features also which +prevent the nude representation of such massive forms. +Thus, the breasts would necessarily be out of proportion +in size, and widely separated. These conditions are +common in fifth century and archaic figures, and do not +appear to be defects in forms of life size or less, but they +would be strikingly noticeable in super figures of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>broad massive type with Phidian lines. The addition +of light drapery, however, converts the apparent faults +into virtues, for the artist is enabled therewith to give +new sweeping curves to the forms which conspicuously +enhance the general beauty of the figure.</p> + +<p>A still more amazing instance where the use of drapery +allows the artist to vary the recognized proportions of the +feminine form to an extent which would be impossible +with nude figures, is the celebrated Ariadne at the +Vatican.<a name="FNanchor_A_400" id="FNanchor_A_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_400" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> This beautiful work, which is of the Hellenistic +period, shows the daughter of Minos attired in a light +flowing single garment, and reclining on a couch, asleep. +The upper part of her body leans against the head of the +couch, but the remainder is extended nearly at full +length. The extraordinary feature of the work is that +the length of the figure is altogether out of proportion +with the head and with the breadth of the torso, being +much too great, and yet so skilfully is the drapery +arranged that this very defect becomes an advantage, +for it enables a lofty grace, almost approaching grandeur, +to be given to the figure, which would be impossible without +the exaggeration. By the excellent device of a +closely arranged cross fold of drapery passing round the +middle of the figure, the artist apparently shortens it, +so that the eye of the observer is not held by its great +length. Only one other example of the supreme use of +drapery in this way seems to be known—a bronze sitting +figure of Calliope,<a name="FNanchor_B_401" id="FNanchor_B_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_401" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> which is of the late Hellenistic period, +and is obviously of the same school as the Ariadne marble.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_400" id="Footnote_A_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_400"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Plate 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_401" id="Footnote_B_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_401"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Dreicer Collection, New York.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_45" id="Enote_45"></a><a href="#Eanchor_45">NOTE 45. PAGE 112</a></h4> + +<p>Praxiteles is known to have executed at least four +other statues of Aphrodite besides the Cnidian example, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>but this last is the only one as to which we have fairly +complete records, and of which copies have been closely +identified. It is also the most celebrated. We may +therefore accept the work as typical for comparative +purposes.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_46" id="Enote_46"></a><a href="#Eanchor_46">NOTE 46. PAGE 113</a></h4> + +<p>There has been much discussion as to whether Apelles +showed the same extent of figure as is represented in the +sculpture, a common suggestion being that he brought +the surface of the water to the waist line; but it is evident +that the painting corresponded with the sculpture in this +particular. The artist had to represent the goddess +walking towards the shore. If he brought the water to +the waist line he could not definitely suggest movement, +as a deflection of the shoulder line might mean that the +goddess was in an attitude of rest, corresponding to the +pose of nearly all the sculptured figures of the Praxitelean +school. On the other hand if he carried the water line +down towards the knees, the advance of the right leg +would be most marked, and the effect disturbing because +of the loss of repose, a quality at all times valuable in a +painting of a single figure, and really necessary in the +representation of Venus. The artist very properly reduced +the portion of the thighs visible to the smallest +fraction possible compatible with an expression of movement, +in order to give the figure the greatest repose +attainable. Under any circumstances there was nothing +to gain by showing the water reaching to the waist.</p> + +<p>Certain details of the picture by Apelles are to be +obtained from Grecian epigrams. Thus, one by Antipater +of Sidon contains these lines<a name="FNanchor_A_402" id="FNanchor_A_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_402" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +Venus, emerging from her parent sea,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apelles' graphic skill does here portray:</span><br /> +She wrings her hair, while round the bright drops flee,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And presses from her locks the foamy spray.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="noin">From this it would appear that the position of the goddess +when painted was presumed to be comparatively +near the artist, otherwise the separate drops of falling +water would not have been observed. The last line in +the following epigram by Leonides of Tarentum indicates +the ideal character of the countenance, though evidence +of this is scarcely necessary<a name="FNanchor_A_403" id="FNanchor_A_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_403" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +As Venus from her mother's bosom rose<br /> +(Her beauty with the murmuring sea-foam glows),<br /> +Apelles caught and fixed each heavenly charm;<br /> +No picture, but the life, sincere and warm.<br /> +See how those finger tips those tresses wring!<br /> +See how those eyes a calm-like radiance fling!<br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_402" id="Footnote_A_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_402"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Translated by Lord Neaves.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_403" id="Footnote_A_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_403"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Translated by Lord Neaves.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_47" id="Enote_47"></a><a href="#Eanchor_47">NOTE 47. PAGE 124</a></h4> + +<p>So far as the writer knows, Piero was the only artist +of the Renaissance who used this mythological story for +a composition (his picture has hitherto been called an +allegory), a circumstance which is rather singular considering +the suitableness of the subject for the provision +of effective designs. The Greek sculptors in dealing +with the legend confined themselves to the moment when +Athena threw down the pipes, apparently for the reason +that this instant gave an opportunity of rendering Marsyas +in a strong dramatic action. The famous statue +of the faun after Myron in Rome, is supposed to have +formed part of a group representing Athena and Marsyas +immediately after the pipes were dropped, and the +design appears on still existing coins and vases of the +fifth and fourth centuries <small>B.C.</small> Piero takes a later moment, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>showing Marsyas comfortably squatting in the foreground +of a delightful fanciful landscape, expressing +boyish satisfaction with the prizes he is about to try. +He is properly shown as a satyr instead of in the faun +form of the sculptor. There appears to be no legitimate +place in painting for a faun, while a satyr may at times +be appropriately introduced into a pastoral composition.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_48" id="Enote_48"></a><a href="#Eanchor_48">NOTE 48. PAGE 125</a></h4> + +<p>Controversy has raged around this picture for something +like seventy years. The work came to light before +1850 at a public auction sale when it was attributed to +Mantegna, with whom of course it had nothing to do. +Then it was pronounced a Raphael, but this was disputed +by Passavant who held that on account of the thin lower +limbs of the figures, and the minute way in which the +landscape was painted, it could not be by Raphael, but +was of the school of Francia, or by Timoteo della Viti. +Morelli brought back the attribution to Raphael, and +the work then came into the possession of the Louvre. +Subsequently Pinturicchio and Perugino were alternately +suggested as the painter, and to the latter the +picture was assigned by the Louvre authorities. All +are agreed that the date of the work is about 1502. It +does not seem possible that Perugino could have painted +the picture, for the subject and invention are entirely +foreign to him, while the lithe active form of Apollo does +not consort with the least formal of his known figures. +The landscape is much in his manner, but so it is also +in the style of Raphael's early period, while the small +buildings therein are closely finished as in some of +Raphael's other works of the time.<a name="FNanchor_A_404" id="FNanchor_A_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_404" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> Perugino used +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>similar towers and buildings, but being a more experienced +painter he did not so finely elaborate the details. +The suggestion relating to the school of Francia was +afterwards very properly withdrawn, and Pinturicchio +must be ruled out on account of the landscape, apart +from the supple figure of Apollo of which he was incapable. +There remain then only Timoteo della Viti and +Raphael as the possible painters of the work. But it +cannot reasonably be suggested that Timoteo could have +accomplished so perfect a figure as the Apollo, and moreover +so original a figure. It certainly required an exceptionally +bold mind to overcome the difficulty in +rendering the traditionally semi-feminine form of Apollo +by representing him as a young man just past his teens. +Besides, the general delicacy of the work is not in the +style of Timoteo. Passavant's objection to the limbs is +overruled by the presence of similar limbs in the Mond +Crucifixion. It would seem then that Morelli was right +in assigning the beautiful little picture to the youthful +period of the greatest of all painters.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_404" id="Footnote_A_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_404"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Portrait of a young Man at Budapest, and the Terranuova +Virgin and Child at Berlin.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_49" id="Enote_49"></a><a href="#Eanchor_49">NOTE 49. PAGE 138</a></h4> + +<p>The white races are here referred to merely by way of +example, and there is no intention to suggest that the +more or less uncivilized peoples have no perception of +beauty. It is well known that both semi-civilized and +savage races differ from the whites in the matter of +beauty, and the fact has been partly responsible for +several theories for explaining æsthetic perception, notably +that of association, laid down by Alison and Jeffrey, +but long since discarded. Seeing that there is no difference +in kind between the sense nerves of the whites and +the blacks, they must necessarily act in the same way. +That the blacks appreciate as beautiful forms which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +whites disregard, seems to arise partly from want of +experience, partly from training, and partly from neglect +in the exercise of the sense nerves. Take for example an +inhabitant of Morocco where corpulency is commonly +regarded as an element of beauty in women. If none but +Moroccan women are seen or pictured, it is impossible +for a higher form of beauty than is to be found amongst +them to be conceived, for the imagination cannot act +beyond experience. In cases where the Moroccan has +had experience of both white and black, it is certain +that, other things being equal, the white woman would +be the more admired, for this is the general experience +among the black races, and is strikingly noticeable in +America with the descendants of African tribes. The +appreciation of very fat women can easily be understood +on the ground of custom or training. A youthful +Moroccan may be firmly of opinion that corpulency is +not an element of beauty, but seeing that his older acquaintances +hold a contrary view, he may well form the +conclusion that his judgment is wrong, and so accept +the decision of his more mature countrymen. It is +quite common among the whites for people to doubt +their own æsthetic perceptions when an inferior work of +art is put forward as a thing of beauty. The general +want of appreciation of certain musical harmonies on +the part of uncivilized peoples is undoubtedly due to the +neglect of the sense nerves concerned, for these are not +cultivated except to a small extent involuntarily. The +most ignorant and poor of the whites unavoidably come +into frequent contact with the simpler forms of art, +but the savage races see only the result of their own +handiwork. The uncivilized races can scarcely be expected +to admire the higher reaches of art wherein intellectual +considerations enter, except for their sensorial +excellence.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 768px;"> +<a name="Pl_28" id="Pl_28"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 28</span> +<img src="images/i_409.jpg" width="768" height="862" alt="PLATE 28" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Automedon and the Horse of Achilles, by Regnault<br /> +<small>(<i>Boston Museum</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_256">page 256</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + + +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_50" id="Enote_50"></a><a href="#Eanchor_50">NOTE 50. PAGE 139</a></h4> + +<p>There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether +Fragonard intended his splendid series of the Frick +collection to represent the subjects usually assigned to +them, namely, The Pursuit (or The Flight of Design, a +title given to the original sketch for the picture); The +Rendezvous (or The Surprise, or The Escalade); Souvenirs +(or Confidences, or The Reader); The Lover Crowned +(or Before the Painter); and The Abandonment (or +The Reverie). It is suggested that the works have an +allegorical signification connected with art, and certainly +three of them—the first, second, and fourth—could be so +interpreted. But magnificent paintings of this kind are +usually fitted for many allegorical suggestions. Each +picture represents an incident of common experience, +elaborated with beautiful figures in a perfect setting. +This approaches the summit of the painter's art, for no +conception can be greater apart from spiritual ideals. +It is symbolism in its highest form—of universal experience +in which all are interested. The works are not to +be taken as a necessary sequence (the last of the series +was painted twenty years after the others), but the +scheme of one or more of them has come within the +experience of every man and woman since the world +began.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_51" id="Enote_51"></a><a href="#Eanchor_51">NOTE 51. PAGE 149</a></h4> + +<p>Seeing that this precise dignified pose, coming so near +the line of exaggeration, but never crossing it, is present +in all the authenticated portraits of Titian, save those of +very aged persons, we may reasonably consider the pose +an important factor in determining the validity of certain +portraits as to which a doubt has arisen. Thus in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +case of the Physician of Parma<a name="FNanchor_A_405" id="FNanchor_A_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_405" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> (this title is admittedly +wrong), which has been variously given to Titian and +Giorgione, the verdict must be in favour of Titian, for +the pose is certainly his, while it is unknown in any work +of Giorgione. On the other hand, the portrait of Catherine +Cornara,<a name="FNanchor_B_406" id="FNanchor_B_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_406" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> commonly ascribed to Titian, but also +attributed to Giorgione,<a name="FNanchor_C_407" id="FNanchor_C_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_407" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> cannot be by the former master; +nor is the Portrait of a Man (with his hand on a bust),<a name="FNanchor_D_408" id="FNanchor_D_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_408" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> +which seems to pair with the Cornara portrait. The +portrait known as An Old Man Asleep,<a name="FNanchor_E_409" id="FNanchor_E_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_409" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> sometimes given +to Titian, clearly does not belong to him.</p> + +<p>It should be noted that the general confusion observable +for many years in the estimation of Giorgione's +work arose from the attribution to him of paintings executed +in the comparatively broad manner of Titian, +but which this artist did not adopt till Giorgione had +been dead for a decade or more. The recent exhaustive +critique of Lionelli Venturi<a name="FNanchor_F_410" id="FNanchor_F_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_410" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> of the earlier master has +cleared the air, and we now know the range of his work +very positively. Giorgione was less fine in some of his +paintings than in others, for he paid more attention to +chiaroscuro as he matured, but there is no instance where +he painted in the broader manner occasionally exhibited +by Titian. All the works in the style of The Concert +and The Three Ages are now known to be by other hands +than those of Giorgione, and it must be unfortunately +admitted that not a single painting by him exists either +in England or America.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_405" id="Footnote_A_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_405"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Vienna Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_406" id="Footnote_B_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_406"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Cook Collection, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_407" id="Footnote_C_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_407"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> By Herbert Cook in <i>Giorgione</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_408" id="Footnote_D_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_408"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_409" id="Footnote_E_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_409"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> The Brera, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_410" id="Footnote_F_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_410"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> <i>Giorgione e il Giorgionismo</i>, 1913.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_52" id="Enote_52"></a><a href="#Eanchor_52">NOTE 52. PAGE 156</a></h4> + +<p>Hals is another artist as to whom many misconceptions +have arisen in regard to his use of a very broad manner in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>his portraits. There is a total of about 350 works attributed +to him, of which some two thirds are single portraits, +and twenty are portrait groups. The balance +includes over thirty genre pictures, mostly with single +figures, and fifty heads of boys and girls generally shown +in the act of laughing. It is in his genre work that +the broad manner is mostly observable, and only very +occasionally is it to be found in his portraits. In the +more important works of the artist, even during his +later period, his manner is by no means broad,<a name="FNanchor_A_411" id="FNanchor_A_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_411" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> though +it is not so fine as in his best years, say from 1635 to 1650. +This estimate can however only be general, as his dated +paintings of different periods after 1630 often correspond +so closely that it is difficult to assign dates to the other +pictures with certainty.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the frequent attribution to Hals of works by +his pupils and imitators, has had something to do with +the public estimation of the breadth of his manner. This +was often greatly exaggerated by his followers, and +many portraits are given to him which he could not +possibly have painted. In his important work on the +artist, Dr. von Bode points out that some of the duplicates +of his pictures were apparently executed by his +pupils, but these are not separated in the book.<a name="FNanchor_B_412" id="FNanchor_B_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_412" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> It is a +simple matter to divide the works painted by Hals from +the studio copies and the portraits of imitators. His +brushwork and impasto were quite exceptional. He +had a firm direct stroke, never niggled or scumbled, and +his loading was restrained though very effective. Quite +naturally his pupils, however industrious and skilled, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>could not closely imitate his remarkable freedom in +handling. They were incapable of firm decisive strokes +throughout a portrait, and endeavoured to overcome +the loading difficulty by using brushes of a coarseness +foreign to the master when rendering light tones. Moreover +Hals was nearly perfect in drawing, and in this there +are usually marked defects in the studio copies.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_411" id="Footnote_A_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_411"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Stephanus Gereardts, Antwerp Museum; Isabella Coymans, +E. Rothschild Collection, Paris; Lady with a Fan, National Gallery, +London; and William van Heythuysen, Liechtenstein Collection, +Vienna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_412" id="Footnote_B_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_412"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Frans Hals: his Life and Work</i>, 1914.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_53" id="Enote_53"></a><a href="#Eanchor_53">NOTE 53. PAGE 161</a></h4> + +<p>The term "grace" as applied in art has so many significations +that it is difficult to deal with one of them without +confusion. What is here specially referred to is the +grace of pose designed by the artist. The object of the +portrait painter is to pose his sitter so that the grace +indicated shall appear natural and habitual, a feature +as important now in the appearance of women as it was +twenty-five centuries ago when Sappho asked<a name="FNanchor_A_413" id="FNanchor_A_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_413" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +What country maiden charms thee,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">However fair her face,</span><br /> +Who knows not how to gather<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her dress with artless grace?</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p>But the grace of pose never appears to be artless, after +the first inspection, unless there is something in the +expression to hold the mind. Without this appeal to the +mind the portrait must soon tire, and the pose become +artificial and stiff, that is to say, in representations of +life size, for in miniature portraiture the countenance +seldom or never crosses the vision involuntarily.</p> + +<p>In the ancient Greek forms, Winckelmann distinguishes +four kinds of grace—lofty, pleasing, humble, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>and comic—but the grace exhibited by sculptured +forms necessarily depends upon the harmony of expression, +character of form, and pose. This should be the +case with painted portraits also, but drapery restrictions +and accessories commonly compel a limitation in the +design of the artist. In three quarter and full length +portraits it is impossible to depart from the dress customary +at the period of execution, unless the sitter assume +a classical character, and this is only possible in comparatively +few instances. In any case the pose should +always be subordinated to the expression.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_413" id="Footnote_A_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_413"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Free translation (quoted by Wharton), the term "artless grace" +being implied but not expressed by Sappho.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_54" id="Enote_54"></a><a href="#Eanchor_54">NOTE 54. PAGE 167</a></h4> + +<p>The remarkable range of Raphael in expression has +been commented upon by many critics, and practically +all agree with Lanzi in his eloquent summary<a name="FNanchor_A_414" id="FNanchor_A_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_414" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>There is not a movement of the soul, there is not a character +of passion known to the ancients and capable of being expressed +in art, that he (Raphael) has not caught, expressed, and varied in a +thousand different ways, and always within the bounds of propriety.... +His figures are passions personified; and love, hope, +fear, desire, anger, placability, humility, and pride, assume their +places by turns as the subject changes; and while the spectator +regards the countenances, the air, and the gestures of the figures, +he forgets that they are the work of art, and is surprised to find +his own feelings excited, and himself an actor in the scene before +him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_414" id="Footnote_A_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_414"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>History of Painting in Italy</i>, vol. i., Roscoe translation.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_55" id="Enote_55"></a><a href="#Eanchor_55">NOTE 55. PAGE 169</a></h4> + +<p>This Pompeian fresco is supposed to be a copy of the +picture of Timanthes, but there is an ancient marble +relief of the same subject at Florence, the design of which +is also said to have been taken from the Grecian painter, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>though it differs considerably from the fresco. Quintilian +observes as to the work of Timanthes, that having +rendered Calchas sad, Ulysses still more sad, and Menelaus +with the deepest expression of grief possible in art, +the painter could not properly portray the countenance +of Agamemnon, who as father of Iphigenia was presumed +to be the most deeply affected of all present, and so +covered his head, leaving the intensity of his suffering +to be understood.<a name="FNanchor_A_415" id="FNanchor_A_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_415" class="fnanchor">[a]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_415" id="Footnote_A_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_415"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>School of Oratory</i>, ii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_56" id="Enote_56"></a><a href="#Eanchor_56">NOTE 56. PAGE 172</a></h4> + +<p>The authenticity of the Boston example of Mona +Lisa is still in dispute. So far no serious objection to it +has been brought forward, and there are certain points +in its favour, as the presence of the columns which are +reproduced in Raphael's sketch, and the bold brushwork +of the drapery where this can be distinguished. But +there is another example of the work in existence, and +this fact, with the natural hesitation in pronouncing +definitely on so important a matter, will probably leave +the authenticity of the picture undecided for a long time. +Meanwhile the literature upon Mona Lisa is ever increasing, +and some important facts have been recently +brought out. Amongst these is an announcement by +A. C. Coppier that the lady was not a Florentine, but a +Neapolitan of the Gheradini family, and that she was +married in 1495, when eighteen years of age.<a name="FNanchor_B_416" id="FNanchor_B_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_416" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> She would +therefore be twenty-seven years old in 1504 when the +picture which Raphael sketched is supposed to have been +painted. But the Mona Lisa in the Louvre was completed +between 1515 and 1519; hence there is much to +ascertain as to the history of the work.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_416" id="Footnote_B_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_416"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Les Arts</i>, No. 145, 1914.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p></div> + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_57" id="Enote_57"></a><a href="#Eanchor_57">NOTE 57. PAGE 172</a></h4> + +<p>The various suggestions that have been made as to +the meaning of Mona Lisa's smile, seem to have no other +foundation than the fancies of mystic minds. The smile +has been called dangerous, sinister, ambiguous, provocative, +purposely enigmatic, significant of a loose woman, +expressive of sublime motherhood, reminiscent of Eastern +intrigue, and so on, the mildest criticism of this kind +affirming that the smile will ever remain an enigma. It +is of course impossible for any meaning to be put into a +smile by the painter, other than that of pleasure. Psychological +suggestions are possible with the poet or +novelist, but not with the painter. If there be any +enigma or mystery in a picture, then the art is bad, for +the work is incomprehensible, but there is no problem +to be solved in Mona Lisa's smile. It is not different +from any other smile except in degree, and of course in +the quality appertaining to the particular countenance. +Lionardo, with his scientific turn of mind, was not likely +to attempt the impossible by trying to mix psychology +with paint.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_58" id="Enote_58"></a><a href="#Eanchor_58">NOTE 58. PAGE 178</a></h4> + +<p>It is necessary to dissent from the conclusion of Lessing +as to the representation of ugliness by the poet. He says +in referring to Homer's portrayal of Thersites<a name="FNanchor_A_417" id="FNanchor_A_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_417" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Why in the case of ugliness did he adopt a method from which +he so judiciously refrained in that of beauty? Does not a successive +enumeration of its compound parts diminish the effect of +ugliness, just as a similar enumeration of its parts destroys that of +beauty? Undoubtedly it does, but in this very fact lies Homer's +justification. For the very reason that ugliness in the poet's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +description is reduced to a less repulsive appearance of bodily imperfection, +and in point of its effect ceases as it were to be ugliness, +the poet is enabled to make use of it.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">It is true that as he cannot present a particular form of +beauty by description, so the poet cannot describe an +ugly countenance in such a way that it may be pictured +on the mind as a whole; but on the other hand, as he can, +by reference to its effect, or by imagery, present a greater +beauty than the painter can portray, so he may by similar +means suggest a more hideous form of ugliness. And +apart from this, while a detail in the description of a +beautiful countenance is immaterial until it is combined +with other details, a detail of ugliness may in itself be +sufficient to render the countenance wholly repulsive to +the reader. Thus, if one said of a maid that her cheeks +were a compound of the lily and the rose, this would not +necessarily imply that she was generally beautiful; but +if it were said of a man that he had a large bulbous nose, +we should consider him ugly whatever the character of +his other features. It was only necessary for Milton to +refer to one or two details of the figure of Sin, to throw +upon our minds a form of appalling ugliness.<a name="FNanchor_A_418" id="FNanchor_A_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_418" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<p>A successive enumeration of its component parts, does +not therefore diminish the effect of ugliness, as Lessing +claims, but increases it. On the other hand a successive +enumeration of the parts of beauty does not destroy the +beauty, but simply fails to represent it.</p> + +<p>The poet may use ugliness where the painter cannot, +because his ugly form does not dominate the scene, save +for an instant or two, being quickly subordinated by +surrounding conditions of speech and action; whereas +the ugly figure of the painter is fixed for ever. Further, +the poet may surround his description of the ugly thing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>with beautiful imagery and lofty sentiment, practically +hiding the ugliness with a cloak of beauty; but the +painter can only depict the ugly thing as it is, naked to +the sight, without gloss or apology.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_417" id="Footnote_A_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_417"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Laocoon</i>, Ronnfeldt translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_418" id="Footnote_A_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_418"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Paradise Lost</i>, ii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_59" id="Enote_59"></a><a href="#Eanchor_59">NOTE 59. PAGE 190</a></h4> + +<p>It has been suggested that the foot of Hercules in this +fine bronze was placed upon the skull of an ox to indicate +a successful hunt,<a name="FNanchor_A_419" id="FNanchor_A_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_419" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> but Hercules was a demigod, and so +could not be connected in art with any but a superhuman +task or exploit. Moreover the only instance recorded +in mythological history where Hercules fought with an +ox (unless the feat of strength against the white bull of +Augeas be called a fight), is that of the Cretan bull, which +was captured and not killed. There is no other sculptured +figure now known where a foot is placed on the +skull of an ox, but Pausanias records that he saw one +in a temple of Apollo at Patræ, the figure being that of +the god himself.<a name="FNanchor_B_420" id="FNanchor_B_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_420" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> Pausanias attributes the motive of +the design to Apollo's love of cattle. There is no doubt +about the significance of the Frick bronze. The skull of +an ox, and rams' heads are frequently found on ancient +tombs, and acanthus leaves were commonly used both in +Greece and Rome as funereal signs, while the base of the +statuette, which is cast with the figure, is clearly intended +to represent an altar. It is noticeable that the form of +acanthus leaf used is Roman, suggesting that Pollaiuolo +had access to the reproductions of tomb inscriptions made +to the order of Lorenzo de' Medici.</p> + +<p>There is apparently no other existing design of a hero +contemplating death, but Lysippus carved several figures, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>now lost, of Hercules in a sad or depressed mood. +In the most celebrated of these, the demigod was seated +in a thoughtful attitude on a lion's skin, and it is possible +that this design was connected with the contemplation +of death, because it was produced in relief soon after the +time of Lysippus, and later in a Pompeian fresco, in both +cases in the presence of Lichas, the bearer of the poisoned +garment.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_419" id="Footnote_A_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_419"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Bode's Preface to the <i>Catalogue of the Morgan Bronzes</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_420" id="Footnote_B_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_420"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Pausanias, vii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_60" id="Enote_60"></a><a href="#Eanchor_60">NOTE 60. PAGE 192</a></h4> + +<p>The attempt of Ruskin to raise landscape to a high +level in the art of the painter<a name="FNanchor_A_421" id="FNanchor_A_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_421" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> need scarcely be referred +to here, so completely have his arguments been refuted +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The authority of Alexander Humboldt has been sometimes +quoted in support of the assertion that landscape +can appeal to the higher attributes, the passage relied +upon affirming that descriptive poetry and landscape +painting "are alike capable in a greater or lesser degree of +combining the visible and invisible in our contemplation +of nature." But it is clear from the whole references of +the writer to these arts, that he means nothing more by +his statement than that a painting or descriptive poem +may, like an actual landscape, induce a feeling of wonder +at the powers of the original Cause of nature. The opinion +of Humboldt upon the position of landscape painting +may be gathered from his definite observation that it +has "a more material origin and a more earthly limitation +than the art which deals with the human form."<a name="FNanchor_B_422" id="FNanchor_B_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_422" class="fnanchor">[b]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_421" id="Footnote_A_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_421"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Modern Painters</i>, vols i. and ii., and the preface to the second +edition of the work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_422" id="Footnote_B_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_422"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Cosmos</i>, vol. ii.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_61" id="Enote_61"></a><a href="#Eanchor_61">NOTE 61. PAGE 194</a></h4> + +<p>It is doubtful whether an artist can invent a form of +tree which does not exist in nature, without producing +something of the character of a monstrosity. From the +point of view of dimensions, the two extreme forms of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>trees used in painting, are represented in Raphael's +Madonna with the Goldfinch<a name="FNanchor_A_423" id="FNanchor_A_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_423" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> as to the slender forms, and +as to the giant trunks, in two or three of Claude's pictures. +The very beautiful trees of Raphael have been +often regarded as pure inventions, and Ruskin was actually +surprised that the artist did not delineate the "true +form of the trees and the true thickness of the boughs";<a name="FNanchor_B_424" id="FNanchor_B_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_424" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> +but as a matter of fact precisely similar trees (a variety +of ash) are to be found in the valleys of the Apennines +to this day. All the change that Raphael made was to +transport the trees from a sheltered spot to an open +position. Very similar trees are introduced in the same +master's Apollo and Marsyas.<a name="FNanchor_C_425" id="FNanchor_C_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_425" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Perugino was the first +painter to use them, and in some of his earlier works he +made them of great height,<a name="FNanchor_D_426" id="FNanchor_D_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_426" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> but he gradually modified +the form till he approached the perfect symmetry and +delicacy of Raphael's examples.<a name="FNanchor_E_427" id="FNanchor_E_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_427" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> Marco Basaiti introduced +them into at least three of his pictures, and they +are also to be found in works by Timoteo della Viti and +Francia.<a name="FNanchor_F_428" id="FNanchor_F_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_428" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> Higher and equally slender trees have been +appropriately used by Antonio della Ceraiuolo,<a name="FNanchor_G_429" id="FNanchor_G_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_429" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> and even +by so late a painter as Nicholas Poussin.<a name="FNanchor_H_430" id="FNanchor_H_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_430" class="fnanchor">[h]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_423" id="Footnote_A_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_423"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_424" id="Footnote_B_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_424"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. iv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_425" id="Footnote_C_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_425"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> The Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_426" id="Footnote_D_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_426"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Baptism of Christ, Perugia; and The Crucifixion, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_427" id="Footnote_E_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_427"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> The Deposition, Pitti Palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_428" id="Footnote_F_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_428"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, Munich.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_429" id="Footnote_G_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_429"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> The Crucifixion, Florence Academy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_430" id="Footnote_H_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_430"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> Diana sleeps in the Forest, Prado, Madrid.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_62" id="Enote_62"></a><a href="#Eanchor_62">NOTE 62. PAGE 194</a></h4> + +<p>In noting the fact that the great landscape artist +invents his designs, Byron observes that nature does not +furnish him with the scenes that he requires, and adds<a name="FNanchor_I_431" id="FNanchor_I_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_431" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Nature is not lavish of her beauties; they are widely scattered, +and occasionally displayed, to be selected with care, and gathered +with difficulty.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Had Byron been a painter, he would have known that the +trouble of the artist is due to the over, and not the under, +supply of beauty by nature. The artist sees the beauty, +but cannot identify it with particular signs, and so has to +invent a scene himself, using nature only for sketches or +ideas.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_431" id="Footnote_I_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_431"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Art and Nature.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_63" id="Enote_63"></a><a href="#Eanchor_63">NOTE 63. PAGE 200</a></h4> + +<p>"The force of natural signs," says Lessing, "consists in +their resemblance to the things they represent."<a name="FNanchor_A_432" id="FNanchor_A_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_432" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> In a +criticism upon the second part of <i>Faust</i>, G. H. Lewes +writes<a name="FNanchor_B_433" id="FNanchor_B_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_433" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The forms which are his (the artist's) materials, the symbols +which are his language, must in themselves have beauty and an +interest readily appreciable by those who do not understand the +occult meaning. Unless they have this they cease to be art: they +become hieroglyphs. Art is picture painting, not picture writing.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">While this is generally true, beauty in the lesser signs of +the poet is of greater importance than in those of the +painter, because a painting is looked upon direct as a +whole, while a poem has to be comprehended in its parts +before it can be properly considered as a whole.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_432" id="Footnote_A_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_432"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Laocoon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_433" id="Footnote_B_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_433"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> <i>Life of Goethe</i>, 2d edition.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_64" id="Enote_64"></a><a href="#Eanchor_64">NOTE 64. PAGE 203</a></h4> + +<p>Although those of the fifteenth-century artists who +treated landscape seriously did not thoroughly understand +perspective, yet they were seldom at a loss in representing +distance, that is, in the clear atmosphere which +they invariably used. They were diffident in attempting +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>distance with unbroken level country, and till quite the +end of the century there is no instance where middle and +far distance are shown together, even with the assistance +of hilly ground. The almost invariable practice of the +leading painters who made landscape a feature in their +works, was to introduce water leading back from the +foreground, so that breaks therein could be used to +indicate distance. More or less numerous jutting forks +of low lying land were thrown into the stream from +either side, this plan being successfully adopted in Italy,<a name="FNanchor_A_434" id="FNanchor_A_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_434" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> +Flanders,<a name="FNanchor_B_435" id="FNanchor_B_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_435" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> and Germany.<a name="FNanchor_C_436" id="FNanchor_C_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_436" class="fnanchor">[c]</a></p> + +<p>Early in the sixteenth century much improvement +was made in the use of water for providing distance, and +a few of the Venetian painters gave some consideration +to aerial perspective, but the most perfect example of this +perspective in the period is contained in an early work of +Raphael.<a name="FNanchor_D_437" id="FNanchor_D_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_437" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> In the background is a lake extending into a +gradually deepening haze, and in this a boat is so skilfully +placed as to increase considerably the apparent +distance to the horizon. This picture is a distinct +advance upon the Venetian distance work of the time.<a name="FNanchor_E_438" id="FNanchor_E_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_438" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> +Later on in the century an artist rarely introduced water +into a view specially to assist in producing distance by +means of boats, more advanced methods being adopted. +Titian used sunlight effects with varying shadows,<a name="FNanchor_F_439" id="FNanchor_F_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_439" class="fnanchor">[f]</a> or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>alternating clear and wooded ground.<a name="FNanchor_G_440" id="FNanchor_G_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_440" class="fnanchor">[g]</a> These plans, and +the use of water with the addition of trees and low hills,<a name="FNanchor_H_441" id="FNanchor_H_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_441" class="fnanchor">[h]</a> +constitute the chief devices to be found in the late sixteenth-century +Italian pictures. Some of the sun effects +rendered for distance purposes even before Titian's best +time are quite effective, though formal.<a name="FNanchor_I_442" id="FNanchor_I_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_442" class="fnanchor">[i]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_434" id="Footnote_A_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_434"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> See Piero di Cosimo's Death of Procris, National Gallery, London, +and Mars and Cupid, Berlin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_435" id="Footnote_B_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_435"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Van Eyck's Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, and Bout's +Adoration of the Magi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_436" id="Footnote_C_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_436"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Lucas Moser's Voyage of the Saints (1431), Tiefenbroun, Germany.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_437" id="Footnote_D_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_437"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> Central panel in a triptych of the Crucifixion, Hermitage, Petrograd. +This picture has been sometimes attributed to Perugino, but +it is unquestionably from the hand of Raphael.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_438" id="Footnote_E_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_438"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> See Titian's Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, Antwerp.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_439" id="Footnote_F_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_439"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Charles V. at Mühlberg, Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_440" id="Footnote_G_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_440"><span class="label">[g]</span></a> Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Padua; and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_441" id="Footnote_H_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_441"><span class="label">[h]</span></a> Bronzino's Venus and Cupid, Uffizi, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_442" id="Footnote_I_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_442"><span class="label">[i]</span></a> Schiavone's Jupiter and Io, Hermitage.</p></div> + + + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 972px;"> +<a name="Pl_29" id="Pl_29"></a> +<span class="caption">PLATE 29</span> +<img src="images/i_425.jpg" width="972" height="768" alt="PLATE 29" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Greek Sculpture of Ariadne<br /> +<small>(<i>Vatican</i>)</small></span> +<p style='text-align: right'>(See <a href="#Page_329">page 329</a>)</p> +</div> + + + +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_65" id="Enote_65"></a><a href="#Eanchor_65">NOTE 65. PAGE 204</a></h4> + +<p>Lessing apparently overlooked the possibilities of +landscape painting in his dictum as to progressive actions. +He writes<a name="FNanchor_D_443" id="FNanchor_D_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_443" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If painting on account of the signs and means of imitation +which it employs, and which can only be combined in space, must +entirely renounce time, then progressive actions cannot, in so far as +they are progressive, be included in the number of its subjects, but +it must content itself with coexistent actions, or with mere bodies, +which on account of their position cause an action to be suspected.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">It is true that a series of progressive human actions cannot +be included in one painting, but progressive natural +actions can be so included when the progression is regular +and repeated and the actions are clearly separated to +the eye. Although the painter can only depict a moment +of time, he can show the whole progression, which is +not the case in a series of human actions, as in the example +quoted by Lessing, of Pandarus arranging his bow, opening +his quiver, choosing an arrow, and so on.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, De Quincey, in an explanatory note to +Lessing's observations, also overlooks the movement of +water broken by rocks, though he refers specially to landscape +painting. He says<a name="FNanchor_E_444" id="FNanchor_E_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_444" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the succession of parts which make up appearance in nature, +either the parts simply repeat each other (as in the case of a man +walking, a river flowing, etc.), or they unfold themselves through +a cycle, in which each step effaces the preceding, as in the case of a +gun exploding, where the flash is swallowed up by the smoke +effaced by its own dispersion.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">But for the purpose of the painter, the action of water +breaking over ledges and boulders does not correspond +with the case of a man walking or a river flowing, because +the series of events forming the progression in the case +of the water breaking, cover such time and space that the +events can be distinctly separated by the eye. Clearly +also this action should not be included in De Quincey's +second category, because the repetition is both regular +and (to all intents and purposes) perpetual. There +should therefore be a third category to comprise those +repeated progressive acts in which the events can be so +separated by the eye as to be portrayed on canvas in the +order of their progression, and in such a way that the +whole progression, and the meaning of it, are at once +apparent.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_443" id="Footnote_D_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_443"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Laocoon</i>, Phillimore translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_444" id="Footnote_E_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_444"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Essay on "Lessing."</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_66" id="Enote_66"></a><a href="#Eanchor_66">NOTE 66. PAGE 208</a></h4> + +<p>Professor Clausen relates that Whistler told him that +his object in painting nocturnes was to try and exhibit +the "mystery and beauty of the night." It is obvious +that Whistler was here confusing psychological with +visual impressions. The depth of gloom, the apparently +limitless dark void which the eye cannot penetrate, mean +mystery in a sense, because we can never accustom ourselves +to the suggestion of infinity involved in something +which is boundless to the senses. A sensation of the +sublime may consequently arise, and this means beauty +in a psychological sense. But we are considering art +and not psychology. Where nothing is distinguished, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>thing +can be painted, and if there be sufficient light for +objects to be determined, there can be no mystery for +the painter. If he be desirous of representing Night, he +must follow the example of Michelangelo and symbolize it.</p> + +<p>It is curious that since the death of Whistler, a picture +entitled Mysteries of the Night has been painted by +another American artist—J. H. Johnston. A figure of a +beautiful nude woman is standing on a rocky shore in a +contemplative attitude, with the moonlight thrown upon +her. The design is excellent, but the realistic modelling +of the figure effectually kills any suggestion of mystery.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_67" id="Enote_67"></a><a href="#Eanchor_67">NOTE 67. PAGE 231</a></h4> + +<p>Vasari mentions that Michelangelo, though admiring +the colour and manner of Titian regretted that the +Venetian painters did not pay more attention to drawing +in their studies.<a name="FNanchor_A_445" id="FNanchor_A_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_445" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> In quoting this, Reynolds observed<a name="FNanchor_B_446" id="FNanchor_B_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_446" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>But if general censure was given to that school from the sight +of a picture by Titian, how much more heavily and more justly +would the censure fall on Paolo Veronese, and more especially on +Tintoretto.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Reynolds himself rightly excluded Titian when he condemned +the later Venetian painters of the Renaissance +for their exaggeration of colour, and no doubt Titian was +also exempted by J. A. Symonds in his trenchant criticism +of the work of this school. When dealing with the +decline of Lesbian poetry after the brilliant period of +Sappho, he wrote<a name="FNanchor_C_447" id="FNanchor_C_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_447" class="fnanchor">[c]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In this the Lesbian poets were not unlike the Provençal +troubadours, who made a literature of love, or the Venetian painters, +who based their art on the beauty of colour, the voluptuous +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +charms of the flesh. In each case the motive of enthusiastic passion +sufficed to produce a dazzling result. But as soon as its freshness +was exhausted there was nothing left for art to live on, and +mere decadence to sensuality ensued.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_445" id="Footnote_A_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_445"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Life of Titian</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_446" id="Footnote_B_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_446"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Reynolds's Fourth Discourse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_447" id="Footnote_C_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_447"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> <i>Studies of the Greek Poets</i>, vol. i.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_68" id="Enote_68"></a><a href="#Eanchor_68">NOTE 68. PAGE 232</a></h4> + +<p>Sir George Beaumont relates of Reynolds<a name="FNanchor_A_448" id="FNanchor_A_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_448" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On his return from his second tour over Flanders and Holland, +he observed to me that the pictures of Rubens appeared much less +brilliant than they had done on his former inspection. He could +not for some time account for this little circumstance; but when +he recollected that when he first saw them he had his notebook +in his hand for the purpose of writing down short remarks, he +perceived what had occasioned their now making a less impression +than they had done formerly. By the eye passing immediately +from the white paper to the picture, the colours derived uncommon +richness and warmth; but for want of this foil they afterwards +appeared comparatively cold.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_448" id="Footnote_A_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_448"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> Cunningham's <i>Lives of the British Painters</i>.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_69" id="Enote_69"></a><a href="#Eanchor_69">NOTE 69. PAGE 249</a></h4> + +<p>Rodin<a name="FNanchor_B_449" id="FNanchor_B_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_449" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> observes that in giving movement to his personages, +the artist</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>represents the transition from one pose to another—he indicates +how insensibly the first glides into the second. In his work we +still see a part of what was, and we discover a part of what is to +be.</p></div> + +<p>Rodin points to Rude's fine statue of Marshal Ney, +and practically says that here the illusion is created by a +series of progressive actions indicated in the attitude: +the legs remaining as they were when the sword was +about to be drawn, and the hand still holding the scabbard +away from the body, while the chest is being +thrown out and the sword held aloft. Thus the sculptor</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>compels, so to speak, the spectator to follow the development of +an act in an individual. The eyes are forced to travel upwards +from the lower limbs to the raised arm, and as in so doing they +find the different parts of the figure represented at successive +instants, they have the illusion of beholding the movement +performed.</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Rodin himself has followed a similar course with much +success. The ancient Greek sculptors, when representing +a figure in action, invariably chose a moment of rest +between two progressive steps in the action. The +Discobolus and Marsyas of Myron, and particularly the +Atalanta in the Louvre, are fine examples.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_449" id="Footnote_B_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_449"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Art, by Auguste Rodin</i>, compiled by Paul Gsell, 1916.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_70" id="Enote_70"></a><a href="#Eanchor_70">NOTE 70. PAGE 250</a></h4> + +<p>Mengs, in referring to the arrangement of the drapery +in Raphael's figures, says<a name="FNanchor_A_450" id="FNanchor_A_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_450" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>With him every fold has its proper cause; either in its own +weight or in the motion of the limbs. Sometimes the folds enable +us to tell what has preceded; herein too Raphael has endeavoured +to find significance. It can be seen by the position of the +folds, whether an arm or a leg has been moved forwards or backwards +into the attitude which it actually occupies; whether a limb +has been, or is being, moved from a contracted position into a +straightened one, or whether it was extended at first and is being +contracted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_450" id="Footnote_A_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_450"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>The Works of Anton Raphael Mengs</i>, vol. ii., D'Azara translation.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_71" id="Enote_71"></a><a href="#Eanchor_71">NOTE 71. PAGE 258</a></h4> + +<p>Besides assisting in providing an illusion, the title of a +picture may lend great additional interest to it. Thus in +Millet's The Angelus the associations called up by the +title act most powerfully on the mind, and one almost +listens for the sound of the bell.<a name="FNanchor_B_451" id="FNanchor_B_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_451" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> A work of a similar +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +character is Bonvin's Ave Maria, where the nuns of a convent +are answering the call<a name="FNanchor_A_452" id="FNanchor_A_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_452" class="fnanchor">[b]</a>; and Horace Walker has a +picture with the same title, in which a boy who is driving +cattle, stops in front of a Crucifix by the wayside<a name="FNanchor_B_453" id="FNanchor_B_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_453" class="fnanchor">[c]</a>. An +excellent example of this added interest is the title of +Turner's great picture of the <i>Temeraire</i>,<a name="FNanchor_C_454" id="FNanchor_C_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_454" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> as to which +R. Phillimore writes<a name="FNanchor_D_455" id="FNanchor_D_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_455" class="fnanchor">[e]</a>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is not difficult to imagine the picture of an old man-of-war +towed by a steam tug up a river. The execution of such a subject +may deserve great praise and give great satisfaction to the beholder. +But add to the representation the statement that it is "The fighting +Temeraire towed to her last berth, " and a series of the most stirring +events of our national history fills our imagination.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_451" id="Footnote_B_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_451"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> The Louvre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_452" id="Footnote_A_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_452"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> The Luxembourg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_453" id="Footnote_B_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_453"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Corcoran Gallery, Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_454" id="Footnote_C_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_454"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> National Gallery, London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_455" id="Footnote_D_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_455"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Preface to translation of Lessing's <i>Laocoon</i>.</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_72" id="Enote_72"></a><a href="#Eanchor_72">NOTE 72. PAGE 261</a></h4> + +<p>There is an antique sculptured group in the Vatican in +which a precisely similar figure of the son of Niobe has +his left hand on the shoulder of his sister who has fallen +to her knees from the effect of a wound, and it is very +reasonably suggested that the Florence figure originally +formed part of a like group. But the explanation of the +act given by Perry<a name="FNanchor_E_456" id="FNanchor_E_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_456" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> and others, that the drapery was +raised by the brother to shield the girl, will scarcely hold +good, as the folds are spread out at the back, forming a +concavity, whereas they would fall loosely if the youth +were resting. Apart from this, his legs are widely separated, +and in a running position. It may therefore be +surmised that in the Vatican group the artist intended +to represent the precise moment when the fleeing youth +reached his sister.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_456" id="Footnote_E_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_456"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Greek and Roman Sculpture.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<h4><br /><a name="Enote_73" id="Enote_73"></a><a href="#Eanchor_73">NOTE 73. PAGE 270</a></h4> + +<p>It is curious that among the countless pictures of the +Annunciation, in very few indeed has surprise been +expressed in the countenance and attitude of the Virgin, +though it is impossible to imagine an incident more +properly calling for profound astonishment on the part +of the principal personage in a composition, even in the +absence of startling miraculous accessories such as that +introduced by Rossetti. Probably the reason for this is +connected with the difficulty of expressing great surprise +unaccompanied with some other feeling, as pleasure, or +sorrow, or fear, but there does not seem to be any cause +why an exalted joyful excitement should not be exhibited. +Mrs. Jameson thinks that the Virgin should not appear +startled, as She was "accustomed to the perpetual ministry +of Angels who daily and hourly attended on Her,"<a name="FNanchor_A_457" id="FNanchor_A_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_457" class="fnanchor">[a]</a> +but it is questionable whether this can be properly +assumed by the artist, and in any case from the point of +view of art, the action should correspond with the nature +of the event as it is generally understood. Of the few +masters who have indicated surprise in an Annunciation +picture, Tintoretto has gone the farthest. He shows +the Virgin with Her lips parted, and both hands held up, +evidently with astonishment,<a name="FNanchor_B_458" id="FNanchor_B_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_458" class="fnanchor">[b]</a> an example followed by +Paris Bordone.<a name="FNanchor_C_459" id="FNanchor_C_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_459" class="fnanchor">[c]</a> Raphael in an early picture represents +Her holding up one hand, but the attitude might signify +the reception of an announcement of importance.<a name="FNanchor_D_460" id="FNanchor_D_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_460" class="fnanchor">[d]</a> Perugino +shows Her with both hands raised, but otherwise +She appears unconcerned.<a name="FNanchor_E_461" id="FNanchor_E_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_461" class="fnanchor">[e]</a> A few other artists, +including Venusti and Foppa, and among modern men, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>Girodet, adopt Raphael's method of composition. Rubens +goes a step farther, and represents the Virgin apparently +standing back with surprise, though this is only +faintly suggested by the facial expression.<a name="FNanchor_F_462" id="FNanchor_F_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_462" class="fnanchor">[f]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_457" id="Footnote_A_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_457"><span class="label">[a]</span></a> <i>Legends of the Madonna.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_458" id="Footnote_B_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_458"><span class="label">[b]</span></a> Scuolo di San Rocoo, Venice.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_459" id="Footnote_C_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_459"><span class="label">[c]</span></a> Sienna Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_460" id="Footnote_D_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_460"><span class="label">[d]</span></a> The Vatican.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_461" id="Footnote_E_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_461"><span class="label">[e]</span></a> Santa Maria Nouvo, Perugia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_462" id="Footnote_F_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_462"><span class="label">[f]</span></a> Vienna Gallery.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> +<h2><br />INDEX OF SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, AND WORKS OF ART</h2> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The Schools to which the earlier Italian painters belonged +are given in brackets.</p> + + +<p class="noin"> +<b>A</b><br /> +<br /> +Adam, Franz, 1815-1886, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aivasovsky, I. K., 1817-1900, Russian, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Albani, Francesco, 1578-1660, Italian, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Toilet of Venus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Albertinelli, Mariotto, 1467-1512, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Salutation, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Alcamenes, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_304">304</a><br /> +<br /> +Altdorfer, A., 1480 (<i>c.</i>)-1538, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Nativity, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aman, Jean, 1860-, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sorbonne panels, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ancher, Anna K., 1859-, Danish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Funeral, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Andreani, A., 1540-1623, Italian, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Angelico, Fra (Giovanni da Fiesole), 1387-1455, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Antico (Pier Giacomo Ilario), worked late 15th and early 16th century, Italian, <a href="#Page_326">326</a><br /> +<br /> +Antonella da Messina, 1421 (<i>c.</i>)-1493, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Antonio del Ceraiolo, worked first half sixteenth century, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +Apelles, fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Pl_4">Plate 4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alexander in the character of Jupiter, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Avercamp, Hendrick van, 1585-1663, Dutch, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>B</b><br /> +<br /> +Bartolommeo da Bagnacavallo (Bart. Ramenghi), 1484-1542, Italian [Bolognese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bartolommeo, Fra (Baccio della Porta, or Bart. di Pagholo), 1475-1517, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adoration of the Shepherds, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bartolozzi, Francesco, 1725-1815, Italian, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Basaiti, Marco, died after 1521, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Dead Christ, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Calling of the Children of Zebedee, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ on the Mount of Olives, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baschenis, Evaristo, 1617-1677, Italian, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br /> +<br /> +Battistello (Giovanni Battista Caracciolo), 1580-1641, Italian, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adoration of the Shepherds, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bellano, Bartolommeo, 1430-1498, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +Benjamin-Constant, J. J., 1845-1902, French, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span><br /> +Benoit-Levy, Jules, 1866-, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morning of July 4, 1789, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Berghem, Nicholas (or Berchem), 1620-1683, Dutch, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Bernadino da Conti, died 1525, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bernini, G. L., 1598-1669, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Berritini, Pietro, 1596-1669, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Bertoldo di Giovanni, 1420 (<i>c.</i>)-1491, Italian, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +Bischop, C, 1630-1674, Dutch, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Blyhooft, Z., 1622 (<i>c.</i>)-1698, Dutch, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Boecklin, A., 1827-1901, German, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vita Somnium breve, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pietà, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Boltraffio, G. A., 1467-1516, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bonfiglio, Benedetto, 1420-1496 (<i>c.</i>) Italian [Perugian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bonheur, Rosa, 1822-1899, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ploughing in Nivernois, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bordone, Paris, 1500-1570, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Both, Andries, 1609-1644, Flemish, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Both, Jan, 1610 (<i>c.</i>)-1652, Flemish, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filippi), 1444-1510, Italian [Florentine] <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pietà, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nativity, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reposing Venus, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Athena and the Centaur, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Boucher, François, 1704-1770, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louvre Portrait, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sleeping Venus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth of Venus, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bough, S., 1822-1878, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Borrowdale, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bouguereau, A. W., 1825-1905, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Une âme au Ciel, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth of Venus, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aurora, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twilight, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Lost Pleiad, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bouts, Dirk, 1400-1475, Flemish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adoration of the Magi, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Braquemond, J. F., 1833-, French, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Bramantino (Bartolommeo Suardi), 1468-(<i>c.</i>) 1530, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Breton, Jules, 1827-1906, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cry of Alarm, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Breughel, Jan, 1569-1642, Flemish, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Breughel, Pieter, 1528-1569, Flemish, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Bril, Paul, 1554-1626, Flemish, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Bronzino (Angelo Allori), 1502-1572, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus and Cupid, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Arnesby, 1866-, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Drove, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Burne-Jones, E. B., 1833-1898, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Golden Stairs, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dies Domini, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>C</b><br /> +<br /> +Cabanel, Aexandre, 1823-1889, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Calamis, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Canaletto (Antonio Canale), 1697-1768, Italian, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">L'Amour et Psyche, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cappelle, Jan van de, 1624(<i>c.</i>)-1679, Dutch, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Carracci, Agostino, 1558-1601, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Carracci, Annibale, 1560-1609, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Carracci, Ludovico, 1555-1619, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Caravaggio, M. (Michelangelo Amerighi), 1569-1609, Italian, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span><br /> +Cavalori, Mirabello, middle sixteenth century, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Carpet Weavers, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cellini, Benvenuto, 1500-1571, Italian, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Cephisodostos, early fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Irene and Pluto, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906, French, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +Chardin, J. S., 1699-1779, French, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br /> +<br /> +Chartier, H., 1870 (<i>c.</i>)-, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jena, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hanan, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chase, W. M., 1849-1916, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Master Roland, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cignani, Carlo, 1628-1719, Italian, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Cimabue, Giovanni, 1240 (<i>c.</i>)-1302, Italian [Florentine] <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cipriani, G. B., 1727-1785, Italian, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Claude Lorraine (Claude Gelée), 1600-1682, French, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arcadian Landscape, <a href="#Pl_17">Plate 17</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clausen, George, 1852-, British, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a><br /> +<br /> +Cogniet, L., 1794-1880, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Colton, W. R., 1867-, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Royal Artillery Memorial, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Constable, John, 1776-1837, British, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Copley, J. S., 1737-1815, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Chatham, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Corenzio, Bellisario, 1588 (<i>c.</i>)-1643, Greek, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Cornelius, Peter, 1783-1867, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let there be Light, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Correggio (Antonio Allegri), 1494-1534, Italian [Parma], <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virtue, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mercury instructing Cupid, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child with Saints (Parma), <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parma frescoes, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Costa, Lorenzo, 1460-1535, Italian [Ferrarese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coronation of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cupid crowning Isabella d'Este, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cosway, Richard, 1742-1821, British, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Cot, P. A., 1837-1883, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Storm, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Courbet, G., 1819-1877, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Funeral at Ornans, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Coypel, Antoine, 1661-1742, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<br /> +Coypel, Noel, 1628-1707, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<br /> +Crivelli, Carlo, 1440 (<i>c.</i>)-1496, Italian (Venetian)<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coronation of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Crome, John, 1769-1821, British, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Cuyp, Albert, 1605-1691, Dutch, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>D</b><br /> +<br /> +Dalsgaard, Christen, 1824-, Danish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Child's Coffin, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Damophon, second century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Danby, F., 1793-1861, British, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +Dehodencq, E. A., 1822-1882, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bohemians returning from a Fête, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Delacroix, E. V. E., 1798-1863, French, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +Delaroche, Paul (Hippolyte Delaroche), 1797-1856, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Demont-Breton, V., 1859-, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Divine Apprentice, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Diaz, N., 1807-1876, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Descent of the Bohemians, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dolci, Carlo, 1616-1686, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ Blessing, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), 1581-1641, Italian, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Cecilia, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Paul's Vision, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Donatello (Donate di Betto Bardi), 1385 (<i>c.</i>)-1466, Italian, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span><br /> +Doomer, Lambert, 1647 (<i>c.</i>)-1694, Dutch, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Doré, Gustave, 1832-1883, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creation of the Earth, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samson Slaying the Philistines, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dossi, Dosso, 1479-1552, Italian [Ferrarese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Muse instructing a Court Poet, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nymph and Satyr, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dow, Gerard, 1613-1675, Dutch, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Dentist, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Duccio, Boninsegna di, 1260 (<i>c.</i>)-1340, Italian [Siennese], <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dumont, Jacques (Le Romain), 1701-1781, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Mercier and Family, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dürer, Albrecht, 1474-1528, German, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Virgin with a Canary, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dyce, William, 1806-1864, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. John leading the Virgin from the Tomb, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>E</b><br /> +<br /> +Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Cross's Surgical Clinic, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Emmet, Lydia, 1866-, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Patricia, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Pl_23">Plate 23</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ercole di Roberti (E. di R. Grandi), 1470 (<i>c.</i>)-1531, Italian [Ferrarese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Concert, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Everdingen, E. van, 1612-1675, Dutch, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>F</b><br /> +<br /> +Falconet, P. E., 1741-1791, French, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +Ferrari, Gaudenzio, 1484-1549, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ferri C., 1634-1689, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">David plans a Temple, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Feuerbach, A., 1828-1880, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medea, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Filarete (Antonio Averlino), (<i>c.</i>) 1399-1470, Italian, <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<br /> +Flaxman, John, 1755-1826, British, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Fontana, B. (G. B. Farinati), 1532-1592, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vision of Resurrection, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Foppa, Vincenzo, 1427 (?)-1515, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fragonard, J. H., 1732-1806, French, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Pursuit, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Rendezvous, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Souvenirs, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Lover Crowned, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Abandonment, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Awakened by Aurora, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Francesco da Cotignola (F. dei Zaganelli), worked early sixteenth century, Italian [Parma]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adoration of the Shepherds, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Francia (Francesco Raibolini), 1450-1517, Italian [Bolognese], <a href="#Page_332">332</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child in Glory, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fries, Hans, (<i>c.</i>) 1450-1520, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child with St. Anne, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frith, W. P., 1819-1909, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poverty and Wealth, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fromentin, E., 1820-1886, French, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Couriers des Ooled Nayls, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>G</b><br /> +<br /> +Gaddi, Taddeo, 1300-1366, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Gainsborough, T., 1727-1788, British, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Leybourne, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady Sheffield, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Genga, Girolamo, 1476-1551, Italian.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Magdalene with Saints, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Géricault, Jean Louis, 1791-1824, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Epsom, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 1381-1455, Italian, <a href="#Page_324">324</a><br /> +<br /> +Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Old Man and Boy, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth of St. John Baptist, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of St. Francis, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo, 1483-1560, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gilbert, John, 1817-1897, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slaying of Job's Sheep, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giordano, Luca, 1632-1705, Italian, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +<br /> +Giorgio, Francesco di, 1439-1502, Italian [Siennese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giorgione (Giorgio Barbarelli), 1477-1510, Italian [Venetian], <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adrastus and Hysipyle, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Sleeping Venus, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giotto (Giotto di Bondone), 1267 (<i>c.</i>)-1337, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giovanni di Bologna (Jean de Douai), 1524-1608, French or Flemish, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mercury, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Girodet de Roncy, A. L., 1767-1842, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burial of Atala, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Girolamo da Libri, 1472-1555, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gouthière, Pierre, 1740-1806, French, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Goyen, Jan van, 1596-1656, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">View of The Hague, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Granacci, Francesco, 1477-1544, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Virgin giving her girdle to St. Thomas, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grant, Francis, 1803-1878, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Greco, El (Dominico Theotocopuli), 1547 (<i>c.</i>)-1614, Greek, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Grien, Hans Baldung, 1480-1545, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Three Ages, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sacred and Profane Love, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pictures representing Death, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gros, A. J., 1771-1835, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Combat of Nazareth, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Timoleon of Corinth, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guardi, Francesco, 1712-1793, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Regatta on the Grand Canal, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guercino (G. F. da Cento), 1590-1666, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martyrdom of St. Peter, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gutherz, C, 1844-1907, Swiss<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"They shall bear thee up," <a href="#Page_267">267</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>H</b><br /> +<br /> +Hacker, A., 1858-, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Cry of Egypt, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hals, Franz, 1580-1666, Dutch, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Laughing Cavalier, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephanus Gereardts, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Isabella Coymans, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady with a Fan, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Willem van Heythuysen, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Merry Company at Table, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hanneman, Adrian, 1611-1680, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constantine Huygens and Children, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Heim, F. J., 1787-1865, French, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Henneberg, R. F., 1825-1876, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Race for Fortune, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hobbema, M., 1638-1709, Dutch, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape, <a href="#Pl_18">Plate 18</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoet, G., 1648-1733, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Translation of Enoch, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hogarth, W., 1697-1764, British, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543, German, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Barber Surgeons, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Ambassadors, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All's Well, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Pl_15">Plate 15</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoppner, John, 1758-1810, British, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Humphrey, Ozias, 1742-1810, British, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span><br /> +Hunt, W. H., 1827-1910, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shadow of the Cross, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Scapegoat, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>I</b><br /> +<br /> +Ingres, J. A. D., 1780-1867, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oath of Louis XIII., <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Œdipus and the Sphinx, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth of Venus, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Innes, George, 1825-1894, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Niagara Falls, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>J</b><br /> +<br /> +Johnstone, J. H., 1857-, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mysteries of the Night, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>K</b><br /> +<br /> +Kampf, Arthur, 1864-, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Night of March 31, 1888, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kauffmann, Maria Angelica, 1741-1807, German, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Kaulbach, W. von, 1805-1874, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marguerite, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Keyser, Thomas de, 1596 (<i>c.</i>)-1679, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lesson in Anatomy, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Kulmbach, Hans (Hans Suess), 1476 (<i>c.</i>)-1522, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Entombment of St. Catherine, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>L</b><br /> +<br /> +Lancret, Nicolas, 1660-1743, French, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +Lard, F. M., late nineteenth century, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glory Forgets not Obscure Heroes, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +La Touche, G., 1854-1913, French, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Firework pictures, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></span><br /> +<br /> +La Tour, Maurice Q., 1704-1788, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame de la Popelinière, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mdlle. Camargo, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame de Pompadour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Latour, I. H. Fantin, 1836-1904, French, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Lawrence, Thomas, 1769-1830, British, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Le Brun, Charles, 1619-1690, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Cato, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Leighton, F., 1830-1896, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captive Andromache, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Leoni, Leone, died 1590, Italian, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Le Sueur, E., 1616-1655, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus reposing, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Virgin appearing to St. Martin, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Levy, H. L., 1840-1904, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Young Girl and Death, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Liberale di Verona, 1452-1519, Italian [Veronese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Magdalene with Saints, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lionardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Italian [Milanese], <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Last Supper, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mona Lisa (Paris), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(formerly Boston), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Litta Madonna, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Pl_21">Plate 21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child with St. Anne, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lippi, Filippo, 1406-1469, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Loefftz, L., 1845-, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Dead Christ, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Longepied, L., 1849-1888, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Immortality, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Longhi, Pietro, 1702-1762, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorenzetto, P., first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lotto, Lorenzo, 1480-1556, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Three Ages of Man, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Triumph of Chastity, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Luca di Tome, first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese], <a href="#Page_261">261</a><br /> +<br /> +Luini, Aurelio (A. del Lupino), 1530-1593, Italian [Milanese], <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>Luini, Bernadino (B. del Lupino), 1475 (<i>c.</i>)-1536, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Entombment of St. Catherine, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Salome, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lux, H. L., late nineteenth century, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sarpedon, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lysippus, fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hercules in depressed mood, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>M</b><br /> +<br /> +Mainardi, S., died about 1515, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Maître de Flemelle (Robert Campin), 1375 (<i>c.</i>)-1444, French or Flemish, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Manet, Edouard, 1832-1883, French, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boy with a Sword, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olympia, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506, Italian [Paduan]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Infant Christ, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Margaritone of Arezzo, 1216-1293, Italian [Tuscan], <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Maratta, Carlo, 1625-1713, Italian, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Martin, John, 1789-1854, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plague of Hail, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Destruction of Pharaoh, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"I have Set My Bow in the Cloud," <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Masaccio (Tommaso Guidi), 1402-1429, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Madonna enthroned, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tribute Money, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Matisse, Henry, 1876-, French, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +Matsys, Quentin, 1463 (<i>c.</i>)-1530, Flemish, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Meissonier, J. L. E., 1815-1891, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1814, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mengs, Anton R., 1728-1779, German, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. John Baptist Preaching, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Menzel, A., 1815-1905, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Market Place in Verona, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Iron Mill, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Meyer, K., 1618-1689, Swiss, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +Michelangelo Buonarotti, 1475-1564, Italian [Florentine, Roman], <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family (Florence), <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Last Judgment, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reposing Venus, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leda, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Night, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Lorenzo Madonna, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bargello Madonna, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pietà, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moses, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bacchus, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Stephen, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creation of Adam, <a href="#Pl_24">Plate 24</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mignard, Pierre, 1610-1695, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<br /> +Millais, J. E., 1829-1896, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Carpenter's Shop, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Millet, J. F., 1814-1875, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Angelus, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Molyn, P., 1592(<i>c.</i>)-1661, Dutch, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Monet, C. J., 1840-, French, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Montagna, B., 1450(<i>c.</i>)-1523, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Virgin Enthroned, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Moro, Antonio, 1512-1575, Flemish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Catilina of Portugal, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maria of Austria, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Morot, A. N., 1850-, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reichsoffen, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Moser, Lucas, first half fifteenth century, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voyage of the Saints, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Murillo, B. E., 1618-1682, Spanish, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ascension of Christ, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Immaculate Conception pictures, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Myron, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discobolus, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marsyas, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>N</b><br /> +<br /> +Nattier, J. M., 1685-1766, French, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Louise, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<b>O</b><br /> +<br /> +Orcagna (Andrea di Cione), 1308(<i>c.</i>)-1370, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Orchardson, W. Q., 1835-1907, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Borgia, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>P</b><br /> +<br /> +Palma Giovane (Jacopo Palma), 1544-1628, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ in Judgment, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Palma Vecchio (Jacopo Palma), 1480(<i>c.</i>)-1528, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reposing Venus, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Parmigiano (Francesco Mazzuoli), 1504-1540, Italian [Parma]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child with Saints, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pedrini, Giovanni (Giampietrino), late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Italian [Milanese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Perronneau, J. B., 1715-1783, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Olivier, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Perugino, Pietro (Pietro Vanucci), 1446-1524, Italian [Umbrian], <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ's Rule, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deposition, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ascension, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baptism of Christ, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna with Child and Penitents, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crucifixion (Florence), <a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Phidias, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olympian Zeus, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parthenon Athena, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Picart, B., 1673-1733, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Burning Coal, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Piero di Cosimo (Piero Rosselli or Piero di Lorenzo), 1462-1521, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Procris, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mars and Cupid, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pinturicchio, B., 1454-1513, Italian [Umbrian], <a href="#Page_332">332</a><br /> +<br /> +Pisano, Giovanni, fourteenth century, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pisano, Giunto, first half thirteenth century, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ and the Virgin, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pisano, Niccolo, 1206 (<i>c.</i>)-1278, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Infant Christ, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pissarro, C., 1830-1903, French, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Polidoro da Caravaggio (Polidoro Caldara), died 1543, Italian [Neapolitan], <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +Pollaiuolo, Antonio (A. di Jacopo Benci), 1429-1498, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_327">327</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hercules contemplating death, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Pl_16">Plate 16</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Polyclitus, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hera, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Polygnotus, fifth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Frescoes from Homer, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), 1493-1558, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Reposing, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Potter, Paul, 1625-1654, Dutch, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +Poussin, Gaspar (Gaspar Dughet), 1613-1675, French, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Poussin, Nicholas, 1594-1665, French, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jonah cast into the sea, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Francis Xavier, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vision of St. Paul, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Reposing, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adam and Eve, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diana Sleeps in the Forest, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Descent from the Cross, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Poynter, E. J., 1836-, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Building the Treasure City, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Praxiteles, fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Cnidian Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hermes and the Infant Bacchus, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Prevost, Jean, died 1529, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Old Man and Death, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span><br /> +Prudhon, P. P. 1758-1823, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abduction of Psyche, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>R</b><br /> +<br /> +Raeburn, Henry, 1756-1823, British, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Farmer's Wife, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Lauzun, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Balfour, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. N. Spens, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), 1473-1520, Italian [Umbrian, Florentine, Roman], <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God Appearing to Isaac, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God Separating Water from Earth, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creation of the Sun and Moon, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Transfiguration, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Julius II., <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">School of Athens, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parnassus, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prophets and Sybils, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Foligna Madonna, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creation of Woman, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maddalena Doni, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angelo Doni, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Study from Mona Lisa, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Redeemer, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child (Bridgewater), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child with St. John (Berlin), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family (Madrid), Deliverance of St. Peter, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fire at the Borgo, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flight of Lot and his Family, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moses Striking the Rock, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saint Cecilia, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saint Sebastian, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ Blessing, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Casa Tempi Madonna, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cowper Madonna, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leo N. and the Cardinals Medici, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fornarina, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portrait of a Young Man, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mercury and Psyche, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Margaret, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Pl_26">Plate 26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apollo and Marsyas, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin with a Goldfinch, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sistine Madonna, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ravestyn, Jan van, 1572-1657, Dutch, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Redon, O., died 1917, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, the Friend, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Regnault, H., 1843-1871, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Automedon and the Horses of Achilles, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Pl_28">Plate 28</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rembrandt van Ryn, H., 1606-1669, Dutch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rembrandt and Saskia, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angel quitting Tobias, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lesson in Anatomy, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady with a Dog, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ascension of Christ, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Night Watch, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Syndics of the Drapers, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portrait Young Man (Beit Coll.), <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Wachtmeister Coll.), <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin Day, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Machteld von Doorn, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samson menacing his father-in-law, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reni, Guido, 1575-1642, Italian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rethel, A., 1816-1859, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death at a Masked Ball, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death the Friend, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reynolds, Joshua, 1723-1792, British, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Infant Hercules, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Billington as Cecilia, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hon. Lavinia Bingham, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Abington, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Viscountess Crosbie, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Riccio (Andrea Briosco), 1470-1532, Italian, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a><br /> +<br /> +Ribera, Giuseppe, 1593-1656, Italian, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Rigaud, H., 1659-1743, French, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis XV. as a boy, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Robbia, Luca della, 1400-1482, Italian, <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<br /> +Robbia, Andrea della 1435-1525, Italian, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Roberts, David, 1796-1864, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Israelites depart, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rodin, A., 1840-1917, French, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Vieille Heaulmière, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span><br /> +Roll, A. P., 1847-, French, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +<br /> +Romano, Giulio (G. Pippi), 1492-1546, Italian [Roman]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Romney, George, 1734-1802, British, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Booth, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Thomas Raikes, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Ladies Spencer, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Yates, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Tickle, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rosa, Salvator, 1615-1673, Italian, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel's Curse, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rosalba (Rosalba Carriera), 1675-1757, Italian, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Roslin, A., 1718-1793, French, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Rossellino, Antonio, 1429-1479, Italian, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Rossetti, D. G., 1828-1882, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rubens, P. P., 1577-1640, Flemish, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin (Dusseldorf), <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Vienna), <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Augsburg), <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Brussels), <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ascension (Vienna), <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do (Venice), <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deity and Christ, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diana and Nymphs, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Pl_27">Plate 27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harvest Landscape (Munich), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Wallace Coll.), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child (Rome), <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth of Venus, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape with a Rainbow, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shipwreck of Æneas, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation (Vienna), <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Funeral of Decius, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boreas and Oreithyia, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape by Moonlight, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Toilet of Venus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ on the Cross, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Seneca, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Four Philosophers, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">David's Last Song, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marie de' Medici series, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rude, François, 1794-1855, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marshal Ney, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marseillaise, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ruysdael, Jacob, 1628 (<i>c.</i>)-1682, Dutch, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Rising Storm, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Pl_20">Plate 20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape with flowing water, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Pl_19">Plate 19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Marsh, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>S</b><br /> +<br /> +Sacchi, Andrea, 1600-1661, Italian, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Saint-Bonvin, F., 1817-1887, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ave Maria, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Saint-Gaudens, A., 1848-1907, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shaw Memorial Relief, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Salviati, F. (Francesco de Rossi), 1510-1563, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Justice, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti), 1486-1570, Italian, <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Sarto, Andrea del (Andrea Agnolo), 1488-1530, Italian [Florentine], <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Family (Hermitage), <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battisto Salvi), 1605-1685, Italian, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<br /> +Scheffer, Ary, 1795-1858, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Temptation of Christ, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schiavone, Andrea, 1462-1522, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jupiter and Io, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schnorr, J. von K., 1794-1872, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God's Promise to Abraham, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schongauer, Martin, (<i>c.</i>) 1445-1491, German, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Schonherr, C., nineteenth century, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Agony in the Garden, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schreyer, Adolf, 1828-1899, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Attack, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schwind, M., 1804-1871, Austrian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Pleiads, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Pl_25">Plate 25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rainbow, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phantom in the Forest, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Scopas, fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Demeter, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Pl_7">Plate 7</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani), 1485-1547, Italian [Venetian]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Concert, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span><br /> +Signorelli, Luca, 1440 (<i>c.</i>)-1521, Italian [Umbrian], <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portrait of a Man, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna and Child, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Simson, William, 1800-1847, British, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +Snyders, Frans, 1579-1677, Flemish, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Sodoma, Il, (Giovanni A. Bazzi), 1477-1549, Italian [Siamese]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sacrifice of Abraham, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Steen, Jan, 1629-1679, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Terrace Scene, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>T</b><br /> +<br /> +Tassaert, O., 1800-1874, French, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Teniers, David, 1610-1690, Dutch, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Terburg (or Terborch), Gerard, 1617-1681, Dutch, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peace of Munster, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thoma, Hans, 1839-, German<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Temptation of Christ, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cupid and Death, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin and Death, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Progress of the gods to Walhalla, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rainbow, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">View of Laufenburg, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thomson, John, 1778-1840, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fast Castle, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dunluce Castle, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tiepolo, G. B., 1692-1769, Italian, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Timanthes, fourth century <small>B.C.</small>, Greek<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sacrifice of Iphigenia, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Pl_14">Plate 14</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), 1518-1594, Italian [Venetian], <a href="#Page_261">261</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bacchus and Ariadne, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presentation of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Titian (Titiano Vecelli), 1477-1576, Italian [Venetian], <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assumption of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sacred and Profane Love, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Resurrection, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna of the Cherries, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meeting of Joachim and Anna, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Three Ages of Man, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paul III. with the two Brothers Farnese, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reposing Venus (Uffizi), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aretino, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Man with the Gloves, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Duke of Alba, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits of Philip II., <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles V. at Mühlberg, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits of his Daughter, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Duke of Ferrara, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Physician of Parma, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Toilet of Venus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ on the Cross, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pharaoh's Host overwhelmed, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">self-portrait, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus and the Organ Player, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Turner, J. M. W., 1775-1851, British, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arundel Castle, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The <i>Temeraire</i> towed to her last berth, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>U</b><br /> +<br /> +Uhde, Fritz von, 1848-, German, <a href="#Page_321">321</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cavalry going into action, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revenge, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Three Magi, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>V</b><br /> +<br /> +Van der Neer, A., 1619-1683, Dutch, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Van de Velde, W., 1633-1707, Dutch, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Van der Venne, A. P., 1589-1661, Dutch<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Soul Fishery, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Van der Weyden, Roger, 1400 (<i>c.</i>)-1464, Flemish, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Van Dyck, Anthony, 1599-1641, Flemish, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Four Ages, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ on the Cross, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Pl_22">Plate 22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of Pembroke, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of Bedford, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philip le Roy, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henrietta Maria (Windsor), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait of his Wife, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of Newport, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Countess of Devonshire, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Van Eyck, Jan, 1385 (<i>c.</i>)-1441, Flemish, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virgin and Child at the Fountain, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arnolfini and his Wife, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Van Gogh, V., 1853-1890, Dutch, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +Velasquez, D. R. de Silva, 1599-1660, Spanish, <a href="#Page_152">152 <i>et seq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ at the Column, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Las Meninas, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coronation of the Virgin, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Drinkers, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Three Musicians, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Breakfast, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits of Philip IV., <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olivares, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Innocent X., <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Don Antonio el Ingles, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rokeby Venus, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surrender of Breda, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christ in the house of Martha, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Venusti, Marcello, died after 1579, Italian [Florentine]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annunciation, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Verestchagin, V., 1842-1904, Russian, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Vermeer, Jan (of Delft), 1632-1675, Dutch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Vernet, E. J. Horace, 1789-1863, French<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Smalah, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari), 1528-1588, Italian [Venetian], <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<br /> +Verrocchio, Andrea del, 1435-1488, Italian, <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<br /> +Viti, Timoteo della, 1470-1523, Italian [Umbrian], <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>W</b><br /> +<br /> +Walker, Horatio, 1858-, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ave Maria, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721, French, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Embarkation for Cythera (Paris), <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">do. (Berlin), <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Watts, George F., 1817-1904, British<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, the Friend, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +West, Benjamin, 1738-1820, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of General Wolfe, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Whistler, J. A. McN., 1834-1903, American, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a><br /> +<br /> +Wiertz, A., 1806-1865, Belgian<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Orphans, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Things of the Past, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, Richard, 1714-1782, British, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Witt, J. H., 1840-1901, American<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bless the Lord, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wouverman, Philip, 1614-1670, Dutch, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>Z</b><br /> +<br /> +Zurbaran, Francisco, 1598-1662, Spanish, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> +<h2><br /><a name="GENERAL_INDEX" id="GENERAL_INDEX"></a>GENERAL INDEX</h2> + + +<p class="sblockquot"> +<b>A</b><br /> +<br /> +Actors in stage rôles, portraits of, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Aerial perspective, Claude the first master of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its importance, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">method of producing, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Æsthetic systems, all of them untenable, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carritt on, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Hegel, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Croce, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ages of man, pictures contrasting the, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +Allegorical painting, when secondary art, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<br /> +Angel of Death in art, instances of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbol of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Angels, representation of, in aerial suspension and flight, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +<br /> +Animal painting, in action, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals in, not possible, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Annunciation, The, indication of surprise in expression, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br /> +<br /> +Apelles, his Venus Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epigrams on, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aphrodite (<i>see</i> Venus)<br /> +<br /> +Apollo, his representation in art, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br /> +<br /> +Architecture, its position in the Fine Arts, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitative character of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unconcerned with ideals, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">produces sensorial beauty only, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">simplicity its keynote, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">S. Colvin on, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ares (<i>see</i> Mars)<br /> +<br /> +Aristotle, on imitation in art, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on metrical form in poetry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his division of the painter's art, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his connection of morals with art, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Art, definition of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its mimetic character, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sensorial beauty, first aim of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must deal chiefly with types, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">independent of social and political conditions, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of psychological impulses, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great periods of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested evolution in, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Classic" and "Romantic," <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation of, to nature, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular appreciation of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grecian, cause of its decline, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian Renaissance of, cause of its decline, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitation of sculpture and painting in, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tolstoy's definition of, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals in (<i>see</i> The Ideal in Art)</span><br /> +<br /> +Artemis (<i>see</i> Diana)<br /> +<br /> +Artists, training necessary for, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause of variation in work of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reputations of great, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as judges of works of art, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Arts (<i>see</i> Fine Arts)<br /> +<br /> +Assent, Law of General, <a href="#Page_72">72 <i>et seq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Associated Arts, the arts associated, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first law of the, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">highest art in, recognized by general opinion, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals in, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cannot properly be used for moral or social purposes, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their method of producing beauty, <a href="#Page_78">78 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitations of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span><br /> +Athena, her representation in art, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Atmospheric effects, limitations in producing, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exceptional phases, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>B</b><br /> +<br /> +Bacchus, his representation in art, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Barbizon School, anticipated by Dutch masters, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketches of the, of little importance, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of heavy gilt frames for works of the, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Beauty, definitions of, unsatisfactory, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alleged objectivity of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">highest form of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unconnected with philosophy, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first law of, in the Associated Arts, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideal, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kinds of, in the arts, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degrees of, in the arts generally, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in painting, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sensorial (or emotional), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectual (or beauty of expression), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of form, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of color, <a href="#Page_228">228 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">methods of producing, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as the "expression of emotion," <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Longinus on the highest, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment of, in poetry, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in sculpture, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in painting, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in architecture, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in fiction, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in landscape, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in still-life, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in secondary art, <a href="#Page_219">219 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general agreement in respect of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bon Dieu d'Amiens, Ruskin on, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Farrar on, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">corresponds with certain Greek art, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Pl_2">Plate 2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brevity in expression, highest beauty in poetry, marked by, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Broad style of painting, cause of, with great artists, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its limitations, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocacy of, by impressionists, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as used by Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Hals, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bronze statuettes of the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_321">321 <i>et seq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Byron on nature and art in respect of landscape, <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>C</b><br /> +<br /> +Caricature, its place in art, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<br /> +Carritt, E. F., on the result of æsthetic systems, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Cave men, their art, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Ceres (<i>see</i> Demeter)<br /> +<br /> +Chaldean Art, Illustration of, <a href="#Pl_1">Plate 1</a><br /> +<br /> +Character of Artists, influence of, in their work, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +<br /> +Cherubs, use of, in assisting illusion of suspension in the air, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br /> +<br /> +Christ, representation in art, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the established ideal, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ruskin on the best ideal of, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Christian conception of the Deity, its effect in art, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +"Classic Art," Hegel's definition, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">varied meanings of the term, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Claude Lorraine, the first great landscape painter, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the cause of his success, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goethe on, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the model for Turner, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clausen, G., his definition of Impressionism, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Whistler's nocturnes, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clouds, use of, in relation to air-suspended figures, <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br /> +<br /> +Coast views, illusion of motion in, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Color, beauty of, <a href="#Page_228">228 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its relative importance, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in landscape, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">juxtaposition of pure colors, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Venetian artists, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exceptional color effects, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its use by impressionists, <a href="#Page_34">34 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Colvin, S., claims music and architecture as non-imitative arts, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Comedy, its place in the painter's art, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span><br /> +Contentment, quality of expression in the Madonna, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Venus, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Contrast, its use in composition, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of forms, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ages, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of beauty and strength, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Good and Evil, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Poverty and Wealth, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Vice and Virtue, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of nude and clothed figures, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Correggio, and the sublime, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> +<br /> +Criticism, the new, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Croce, B., his æsthetic system, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on genius, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>D</b><br /> +<br /> +Darwin, C., on the result of nerve exercise, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on natural music, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Death, representation of, <a href="#Page_183">183 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">typified by a skeleton, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in massacres and executions, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in interior scenes, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral scenes, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scenes of approaching, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angel of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Decorative art, imitation in, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +Deformity in art, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Deity, the, representation of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Demeter, representation of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Pl_7">Plate 7</a><br /> +<br /> +Demosthenes, example of his art, <a href="#Page_300">300</a><br /> +<br /> +De Quincey, T., on the representation of progressive actions, <a href="#Page_348">348</a><br /> +<br /> +Descriptive poetry, its limits, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the seventeenth century, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">example from Sophocles, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">from Cornelius Gallus, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Diana, representation of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Dignity, in portraiture, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practice of Titian, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Van Dyck, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Velasquez, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dionysus (<i>see</i> Bacchus)<br /> +<br /> +Drama, The, pictures from the written, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from the acted, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of tragedy in painting, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Drapery, with use of in sculpture, proportions possible which are not feasible in nude figures, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of, in painting by Raphael, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for assisting illusions, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, their limited imaginations, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>E</b><br /> +<br /> +Eaton, D. C., on the origin of impressionism, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Egyptian art, its early high development, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Pl_1">Plate 1</a><br /> +<br /> +Emotional element in beauty (<i>see</i> Beauty)<br /> +<br /> +Emotions, The, influence of, in the work of artists, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">expression of, in relation to beauty, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Evolution, not applicable to art generally, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spencer on, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Symonds on, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Execution in painting, must be balanced with imagination, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Hals, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Lionardo, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Velasquez, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Expression, in ideals generally, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Christian ideals, <a href="#Page_91">91 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in classical ideals, <a href="#Page_106">106 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in portraiture, <a href="#Page_141">141 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the representation of grief, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with the smile, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the open mouth, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the exhibition of deformity, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in scenes of death, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Raphael, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the fourteenth century Italian painters, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the thirteenth century French sculptors, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the literary arts, <a href="#Page_65">65 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>F</b><br /> +<br /> +Falconet, E., on the representation of grief, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span><br /> +Farrar, Dean, on the ideal of Christ, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the early Italian painters, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fiction, as a fine art, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the Associated Arts, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitation in, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">basic and structural in character, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in relation to sensorial beauty, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unconcerned with ideals, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>see also</i> Novel)</span><br /> +<br /> +Fine Arts, imitative in character, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">classified according to their signs, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their methods of producing beauty, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standards of judgment in the, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fireworks, unsuitable for the painter, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Flight, representation of (<i>see</i> Illusion of suspension and motion in the air)<br /> +<br /> +Flowers, their representation in still-life, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in decorative art, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Foreground in landscape, illusion of opening distance in, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Form, beauty of, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideal, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frames of pictures, their use in Barbizon works, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exclusion of, in artificial means to secure relief, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br /> +<br /> +French sculptors of the thirteenth century, their forms in the Greek manner, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their representation of the Virgin and Child, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frescoes, necessarily divided into sections, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reynolds on Raphael's, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Funeral scenes in art, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>G</b><br /> +<br /> +General opinion, standard of judgment in all arts except music, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Genius, how produced, <a href="#Page_21">21 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reynolds on, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Johnson on, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hogarth on, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Geology, study of, may be assisted by landscape painting, <a href="#Page_315">315</a><br /> +<br /> +Gods, Mythological (<i>see</i> Grecian, under their separate headings);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roman, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grace, inferior as a special quality in portraiture, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as applied in Greece and Rome, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in sixteenth century art, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in seventeenth century art, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in England in the eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in France, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kinds of, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grandeur, highest quality of beauty in architecture, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practically impossible in landscape, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in portraiture, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Van Dyck's works, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gainsborough's works, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grecian art, cause of its decline, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of, compared with that of the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_10">10 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grecian sculpture, its high place in art, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals in, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation of adults with children in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studied by the great masters of the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in portraiture, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>H</b><br /> +<br /> +Hals, Franz, his facility, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his limited imagination, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his broad manner, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the works of pupils attributed to him, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hegel, G. W., his "periods" in art, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Hephæstus (<i>see</i> Vulcan)<br /> +<br /> +Hera (<i>see</i> Juno)<br /> +<br /> +Hercules, his representation as contemplating death, <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br /> +<br /> +Hermes (<i>see</i> Mercury)<br /> +<br /> +Historical painting, its place in art, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Hogarth, W., on genius, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Holmes, C. J., on the framing of Barbizon pictures, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Homer, example of his art, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Hood, T., his moods and his work, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Horses, representation in action, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span><br /> +Human figure, principal sign in the Associated Arts, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">produces highest form of beauty, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general ideal of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greek ideals, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Humboldt, A., on the position of landscape in art, <a href="#Page_344">344</a><br /> +<br /> +Humorous subjects, their place in the painter's art, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Hyperides, example of his art, <a href="#Page_300">300</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>I</b><br /> +<br /> +Ideal in art, The, only possible in respect of the human form, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inapplicable to form without expression, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">definition of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be general, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general agreement in respect of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">can only be applied to excellence, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitation of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals of the Greeks, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the early Italians, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the thirteenth century French sculptors, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the Deity, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Christ, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the Madonna, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Zeus, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the other Grecian deities, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Phidias, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Raphael, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Praxiteles, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in, of Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general ideals, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universality of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideal qualities, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Illusion of continuity, in death scenes, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br /> +<br /> +Illusion of movement, in landscape, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in sea views, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in coast views, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in sculpture, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in figure painting, <a href="#Page_250">250 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in animal painting, <a href="#Page_255">255 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">may be suggested by title of work, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Illusion of opening distance, in distance landscape, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in nearground work, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in sea views, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Illusion of relief, its value in painting, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mechanical methods of producing, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Illusion of suspension and motion in the air, with the assistance of flowing drapery, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of clouds, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of cherubs, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Angels, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of smoke, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Imagination, The, influence of precocious, in the production of genius, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be balanced with skill in execution, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Lionardo, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Dutch painters, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Spanish painters, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Imitation, the province of art, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">should be generalized, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in landscape, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in still-life, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in decorative art, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in architecture, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in music, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of other arts by the painter, <a href="#Page_221">221 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aristotle on, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">S. Colvin on, in respect of the fine arts, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Impressionism, definitions of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its origin, <a href="#Page_285">285 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its limitations, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its defects, <a href="#Page_34">34 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its effects, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its correspondence with Sprezzatura, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Industry, the key to success in art, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Inspiration in art, not recognized by great artists, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">actual instances of, unknown, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested national, <a href="#Page_9">9 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">individual, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Interiors, pictures of, their place in art, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +<br /> +Invention in art, its relative importance, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in poetry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in painting, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lessing on, in poetry and painting, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in landscape, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the term used in two senses, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Irony, works conveying, unsuitable for the painter, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Italy, Art of, decline of the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_11">11 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, <a href="#Page_30">30 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Renaissance ideals, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<b>J</b><br /> +<br /> +Japanese, their practice in decoration, <a href="#Page_217">217</a><br /> +<br /> +Johnson, Dr., on genius, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Juno, representation of, by the painter, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Jupiter, Greek representation of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideal of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by the painter, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>L</b><br /> +<br /> +Landscape painting, its place in art, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">produces only sensorial beauty, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt on, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs in, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disadvantages of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitations in, <a href="#Page_192">192 <i>et seq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">varieties of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relative difficulty of execution in, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compositions must be invented, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illusion of motion in, <a href="#Page_197">197 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">precise imitation necessary in, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a useful art, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early development of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in ancient Rome, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Italy, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Holland, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in England and France, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lanzi, A. L., on the range of Raphael in expression, <a href="#Page_339">339</a><br /> +<br /> +La Touche, G., on the origin of impressionism, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Latour, Fantin, and the origin of impressionism, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Laugh, a, when unobjectionable in painting, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +Lessing, G., on progressive actions, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the relative importance of invention and execution, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the representation of grief, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on descriptive poetry, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on signs in art, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Homer and the beauty of Helen, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Laocoon design, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the dictum of Simonides, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on ugliness in poetry and painting, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lewes, G. H., on the execution of signs in art, <a href="#Page_346">346</a><br /> +<br /> +Lightning, its use in landscape, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be subordinated, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where used in painting by great masters, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lionardo da Vinci, his imagination compared with his execution, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relief, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on success in painting, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his representation of Christ, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Literary arts, the painter must take his action from them or from nature direct, <a href="#Page_81">81</a> (<i>see</i> Poetry and The Novel).<br /> +<br /> +Literary movement in England in the sixteenth century, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +Longinus, on the test of the sublime and beautiful, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on certain examples of beauty in the literary arts, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Luini, A., On an "impressionist" landscape by Titian, <a href="#Page_288">288</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>M</b><br /> +<br /> +MacColl, D. S., on the origin of impressionism, <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Madonna, The, her representation, the test of art during the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">by Cimabue and Giotto, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Crucifixion scenes, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her surroundings in art, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">her representation at different ages, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Michelangelo on her presumed age, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her presumed social condition, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the ideal of the early Italian, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of Raphael, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Michelangelo's portrayals of, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitations in the ideal of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Madonna and Child, representation of, by thirteenth century French sculptors, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Italy, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes in grouping of, in the fifteenth century, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practice of later artists, <a href="#Page_102">102 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Manner in painting, its limitations, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the public indifferent to, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Hals, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Manet, E., his connection with the rise of impressionism, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span><br /> +Marine painting (<i>see</i> Sea views)<br /> +<br /> +Mars, representation of, in painting, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +Mauclair, C., on impressionism, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Mengs, A. R., on Raphael's treatment of drapery, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br /> +<br /> +Mercury, his representation in painting, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Metaphor, with the poet, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with the painter, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Michelangelo, and the sublime, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his studies in Greek art, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reynolds on, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ideals of the Madonna, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on her presumed age at the Crucifixion, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the cause of Raphael's success, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the public judgment of works of art, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Venetian painters, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Miller, Marion M., his translation of Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_302">302</a><br /> +<br /> +Minerva (<i>see</i> Athena)<br /> +<br /> +Modesty, quality in expression unsuitable to a goddess, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Mona Lisa, the Louvre example, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Boston example, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her reputed age in the picture, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her smile, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mood, influence of, in the work of artists, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Moonlight scenes, their place in art, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Morals, pictures illustrating, their place in art, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Moreau-Vautier, C., on the juxtaposition of pure colors, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Music, highest beauty in, produced by complex combinations of signs, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">greatest works in, the least popular, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals not possible in, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cannot present intellectual beauty, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cannot be connected with painting, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its connection with poetry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitative character of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claimed by Colvin as non-imitative, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Darwin on natural, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Muther, R., on the origin of Impressionism, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Mystery in painting, indicates inferior art, <a href="#Page_341">341</a><br /> +<br /> +Mythological subjects, their place in painting, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>N</b><br /> +<br /> +Nature, relation of, to art, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and landscape, Byron on, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Near-ground painting in landscape, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Neptune, his representation in painting, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Nerves of the senses, their advanced condition at birth cause of precocity in art, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alike in all people, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection of genius with development of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physiological changes in, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Darwin on the, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Night, should be symbolized in painting, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whistler attempts to represent beauty of, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nocturnes, origin of Whistler's, <a href="#Page_349">349</a><br /> +<br /> +Norwich school of painting, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Novel, the, compared with the short story, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limit of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of little service to the painter, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> (<i>see</i> Fiction)</span><br /> +<br /> +Nude with clothed figures, contrasts of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>O</b><br /> +<br /> +Objectivity of beauty, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Open Mouth, The, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when not objectionable, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>P</b><br /> +<br /> +Painter, the, his requirements, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<br /> +Painting, imitative character of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degrees of beauty in, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with sculpture, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">its relation to poetry, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general ideals in, <a href="#Page_86">86 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">classical ideals in, <a href="#Page_106">106 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christian ideals in, <a href="#Page_91">91 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action cannot be originated in, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great, marked by simplicity, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general expression in, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation of invention to execution in, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">broad manner of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of divinities, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of classical scenes, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of humorous subjects, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of contrasts, <a href="#Page_177">177 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of scenes from fiction, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">from the written drama, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">from the acted drama, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of portraits in character, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of ugliness, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deformity in, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation of death in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_141">141 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">landscape, <a href="#Page_192">192 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of moonlight scenes, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of still-life, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secondary art of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">metaphor in, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">color in, <a href="#Page_228">228 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impressionist, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of events in time, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbolical, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barbizon school of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of grace in, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of contentment, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of modesty in respect of goddesses, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illusion of relief in, <a href="#Page_239">239 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illusion of movement in, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in animal action, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of opening distance, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of suspension in the air, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in representation of progressive actions, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of continuity, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">assisted by title, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraiture, <a href="#Page_141">141 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pastoral occupations, pictures representing, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +<br /> +Periods of art, not attributable to national æsthetic stimulus, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hegel's, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Phidias, his exalted position in art, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ideals, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Philips, A., his translation of Sappho's Ode to Anactoria, <a href="#Page_301">301</a><br /> +<br /> +Philosophy, art not specially related to, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Pythian, F., on the origin of impressionism, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Poe, Edgar A., on sadness and beauty, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Poetry, the highest art, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its imitative scope, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not primarily a combined art, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of metrical form in, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its association with music, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its relation to painting, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cannot depict sensorial beauty by description, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">descriptive, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in relation to human beauty, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">to natural beauty, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">basic and structural in character, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its range unlimited, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ugliness in, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watts-Dunton's definition of, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">translations of, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pompeian Frescoes, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a><br /> +<br /> +Popular appreciation of art, <a href="#Page_73">73 <i>et seq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tolstoy on, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Portraiture, its position in art, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variation in work of portraitists, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generalization, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">added qualities in, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of dignity in, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of nobility in, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action in, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of the smile in, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of stage characters, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in ancient Greece, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in ancient Rome, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of women, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Raphael, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Titian, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Moro, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Van Dyck, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Velasquez, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Hals, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Reynolds, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Gainsborough, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Romney, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of fashion in, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of grace in, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitations in, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decoration in, should be subordinated, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">multiple portraits, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Poseidon (<i>see</i> Neptune)<br /> +<br /> +Praxiteles, his development of new ideals, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his Cnidian Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Precocity in art, cause of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span><br /> +Progressive actions, in figure subjects, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in sea views, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in coast scenes, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in landscape, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lessing on, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Quincey on, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Psychological influence in art conceptions, alleged, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>Q</b><br /> +<br /> +Quintilian: on the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by Timanthes, <a href="#Page_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>R</b><br /> +<br /> +Rainbow, its use in landscape, <a href="#Page_210">210 <i>et seq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Raphael, and the sublime, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his superiority the cause of the decline of the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his achievement in the ideal Madonna, <a href="#Page_12">12 <i>et seq.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the composition of his ideal, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his range in expression, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lanzi on, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his representation of movement, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portraiture, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his drapery arrangements, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his representation of suspension in the air, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his study of ancient art, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fresco work, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Michelangelo on, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his trees, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Recognition, Law of, explanation of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">examples of, <a href="#Page_65">65 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music and architecture excluded from the, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of the arts in applying, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Relief (<i>see</i> "Illusion of Relief")<br /> +<br /> +Rembrandt, his imagination compared with his execution, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause of variation in his work, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his simplicity, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his broad work, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his use of color, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his position in art, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his representation of character, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested as impressionist, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with the idealists, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his palette-knife pictures, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">classification of his portraits, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Renaissance (<i>see</i> Italy, Art of)<br /> +<br /> +Repose, in portraiture, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the representation of Venus, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reynolds, Joshua, his high position in portraiture, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on color, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the representation of grief, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the cause of excellence in painting, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on genius in art, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nobility in his portraits, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a painter of women, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the work of Raphael, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the early Italian painters, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Venetian painters, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portraits of actors in character, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his use of the smile, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rodin, A., on the suggestion of movement in sculpture, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on ugliness in art, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his La Vieille Heaulmière, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Greek ideals, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Romans, The ancient, had no separate sacred art, <a href="#Page_328">328</a><br /> +<br /> +"Romantic Art," its various meanings, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hegel's period of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Romney, G., the quality of grace in his portraits, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruskin, J., on the trees of Raphael, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the ideal of Christ, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the position of landscape in art, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Italian painters of the fourteenth century, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ruysdael, Jacob, his painting of breaking water, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his near-ground work, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>S</b><br /> +<br /> +Sacred Art, offers highest scope for the artist, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Greece, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Italy, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sadness, as a quality of beauty, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Saints, representation of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Sappho, her Ode to Anactoria, and the cause of its beauty, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">translation of the Ode, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her Hymn to Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span><br /> +Satan, representation of, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Satire, works conveying, unsuited to the painter, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Schopenhauer, on music as a non-imitative art, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Sculpture, its imitative scope, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideals in, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with painting, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of simplicity in, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">standard of judgment in, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illusion of motion in, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rodin on the illusion, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in ancient Greece, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Greek and Roman portraiture, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thirteenth century French, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sea views, illusion of opening distance in, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">progressive actions in, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Secondary Art, its nature, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in historical work, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in actions drawn from the novelist, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from the written drama, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from the acted drama, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous pictures, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in allegorical and symbolical painting, <a href="#Page_225">225 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare, his imagination, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">example of his art, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represents characters above experience, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Short story, the, its essentials, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with the novel, <a href="#Page_69">69</a> (<i>see also</i> Fiction)</span><br /> +<br /> +Signs, of the fine arts, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">separation of the arts according to character of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the two classes of, in art, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must be completely painted, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lewes on, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lessing on, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestive, belong to the poet and not to the painter, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Simonides, on the relation of poetry to painting, <a href="#Page_307">307</a><br /> +<br /> +Simplicity, necessary in the higher forms of the Associated Arts, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Skeleton, as a symbol in art, <a href="#Page_186">186 <i>et seq.</i></a><br /> +<br /> +Smile, the, transitory, should be avoided in art, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Raphael's work, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lionardo's, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Milanese artists generally, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in portraiture, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in French portraits, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in British, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Smoke, use of, in illusions of air suspension, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +<br /> +Sophocles, example of descriptive poetry from, <a href="#Page_310">310</a><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Herbert, on evolution in art, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +<br /> +Sporting pictures, their place in art, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Sprezzatura, origin of, in the seventeenth century, <a href="#Page_30">30 <i>et seq.</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correspondence with impressionism, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stage scenes, pictures of, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Still-life, its place in art, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beauty in, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its varieties, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in decoration, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">custom of the Japanese in, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stories, pictures illustrating, their place in art, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">painter of, subordinate to the writer, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sublime, The, Longinus on, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">painters who have achieved, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Supreme Being, final ideal of human form can only apply to, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +"Symbolic" period of painting, Hegel's, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Symbolical painting, when secondary art, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Symonds, J. A., on evolution in art, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Venetian artists, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>T</b><br /> +<br /> +Taine, H., on music as a non-imitative art, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br /> +<br /> +Tanagra figures, quality of grace in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Temperament, influence of, on the work of artists, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +<br /> +Titian, as a portrait painter, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the dignified pose in his figures, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the pose a test of his portraiture, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his impressionist landscape, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his coloring, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">some doubtful attributions to, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span><br /> +Titles of pictures, may assist in providing illusion of motion, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">may add interest to a work, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tolstoy, Leo, on the meaning of "art," <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on popular appreciation of art, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tragedy, only section of drama which the painter may properly use, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Translations of poetry, varying values of, <a href="#Page_297">297</a><br /> +<br /> +Trees in art, the slender trees of Raphael, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of other artists, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Turner, J. M. W., secret of his success, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +<br /> +Twilight scenes, their place in art, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Types, importance of, in nature and art, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>U</b><br /> +<br /> +Ugliness in art, may be used in poetry, but not in painting, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rodin on, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lessing on, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waldstein on, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Uncivilized races, their understanding of beauty, <a href="#Page_333">333</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>V</b><br /> +<br /> +Van Dyck, A., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portraiture, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Velasquez, his place in art, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his simplicity in design, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his limited imagination, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his execution, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with the idealists, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his perfect balance, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claimed as an impressionist, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Venus, her representation in art, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anadyomene, <a href="#Page_114">114 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reposing, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at her toilet, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Phidias, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Praxiteles, <a href="#Page_111">111 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Apelles, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Raphael, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">de' Medici, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Titian, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of other artists, <a href="#Page_115">115 <i>et seq.</i></a></span><br /> +<br /> +Verestchagin, V., his war pictures, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Vinci, Lionardo da (<i>see</i> Lionardo)<br /> +<br /> +Virgin, The (<i>see</i> Madonna, The)<br /> +<br /> +Virtue and Vice, pictures representing, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Vulcan, representation in painting, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>W</b><br /> +<br /> +Waldstein, C., on ugliness in sculpture, <a href="#Page_318">318</a><br /> +<br /> +Watts-Dunton, T., his definition of poetry, <a href="#Page_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Whistler, J. McN., his nocturnes, <a href="#Page_349">349</a><br /> +<br /> +Wings, use of, in suspended figures, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<br /> +Women in portraiture, during the Renaissance, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Moro, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Van Dyck, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by the eighteenth century British artists, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reynolds preeminent in painting of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<b>Z</b><br /> +<br /> +Zeus (<i>see</i> Jupiter)<br /> +</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 36427-h.txt or 36427-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/2/36427">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/2/36427</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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100644 index 0000000..6a53403 --- /dev/null +++ b/36427.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13278 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Art Principles, by Ernest Govett + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Art Principles + With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter + + +Author: Ernest Govett + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2011 [eBook #36427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES*** + + +E-text prepared by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 36427-h.htm or 36427-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36427/36427-h/36427-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36427/36427-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/artprincipleswit00goverich + + + + + + [Illustration: Detail from "The Pursuit" of Fragonard. + (_Frick Collection_)] + + +ART PRINCIPLES + +With Special Reference to Painting +Together with Notes on the +Illusions Produced by the Painter + +by + +ERNEST GOVETT + +With Thirty-one Illustrations + + + + + + + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1919 + +Copyright, 1919 +by +Ernest Govett + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book is put forward with much diffidence, for I am well aware of +its insufficiencies. My original idea was to produce a work covering all +the principles of painting, but after many years spent in considering +the various recorded theories relating to aesthetic problems, and in +gathering materials to indicate how the accepted principles have been +applied, I came to the conclusion that a single life is scarcely long +enough for the preparation of an exhaustive treatise on the subject. +Nevertheless, I planned a work of much wider scope than the one now +presented, but various circumstances, and principally the hindrance to +research caused by the war, impelled me to curtail my ambition. Time was +fading, and my purpose seemed to be growing very old. I felt that if one +has something to say, it is better to say it incompletely than to run +the risk of compulsory silence. The book will be found little more than +a skeleton, and some of its sections, notably those dealing with +illusions in the art, contain only a few suggestions and instances, but +perhaps enough is said to induce a measure of further inquiry into the +subject. + +That part of the work dealing with the fine arts generally is the result +of long consideration of the apparent contradictions involved in the +numerous suggested standards of art. In a little book on _The Position +of Landscape in Art_ (published under a nom de plume a few years ago), +I threw out, as a _ballon d'essai_, an idea of the proposition now +elaborated as the Law of General Assent, and I have been encouraged to +affirm this proposition more strongly by the fact that its validity was +not questioned in any of the published criticism of the former work; nor +do I find reason to vary it after years of additional deliberation. +I have not before dealt with the other propositions now put forward. + +The notes being voluminous I have relegated them to the end of the book, +leaving the feet of the text pages for references only. + +Where foreign works quoted have been translated into English, the +English titles are recorded, and foreign quotations are given in +English, save in one or two minor instances where the sense could not +be precisely rendered in translation. + + E. G. + + NEW YORK, January, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION 1 + + Definitions of "Art" and "Beauty"--Aesthetic systems--The + earliest Art--Art periods--The Grecian and Italian + developments--National and individual "Inspiration"-- + Powers of imagination and execution--Nature of "Genius"-- + The Impressionist Movement--Sprezzatura--The broad manner-- + Position in art of Rembrandt and Velasquez--Position of + Landscape in art. + + + _BOOK I_ + + CHAPTER + + I.--CLASSIFICATION OF THE FINE ARTS 52 + + The Arts imitative of Nature--Classified according to + the character of their signs--Relative value of form in + Poetry--Scope of the Arts in the production of beauty. + + II.--LAW OF RECOGNITION IN THE ASSOCIATED ARTS 59 + + Explanation of the Law--Its application to Poetry--To + Sculpture--To Painting--To Fiction. + + III.--LAW OF GENERAL ASSENT 72 + + General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated + Arts. + + IV.--LIMITATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTS 78 + + Production of beauty in the respective Arts--Their + limitations. + + V.--DEGREES OF BEAUTY IN THE PAINTER'S ART 83 + + VI.--EXPRESSION. PART 1.--THE IDEAL 86 + + VII.--EXPRESSION. PART 2.--CHRISTIAN IDEALS 91 + + The Deity--Christ--The Madonna--Madonna and Child. + + VIII.--EXPRESSION. PART 3.--CLASSICAL IDEALS 106 + + Ideals of the Greeks--Use of the ancient divinities + by the Painter. + + IX.--EXPRESSION. PART 4.--GENERAL IDEALS 135 + + X.--EXPRESSION. PART 5.--PORTRAITURE 141 + + Limitations of the Portrait Painter--Emphasis and + addition of qualities in portrait painting--Practice + of the ancient Greeks--Dignity--Importance of + Simplicity--Some of the great masters--Portraiture + of women--The English masters--The quality of + Grace--The necessity for Repose. + + XI.--EXPRESSION. PART 6.--MISCELLANEOUS 167 + + Grief--The Smile--The Open Mouth--Contrasts-- + Representation of Death. + + XII.--LANDSCAPE 192 + + Limitations of the Landscape Painter--Illusion of + opening distance--Illusion of motion in Landscape-- + Moonlight scenes--Transient conditions. + + XIII.--STILL-LIFE 214 + + XIV.--SECONDARY ART 219 + + Paintings of record--Scenes from the Novel--From + the written drama--From the acted drama--Humorous + subjects--Allegorical paintings. + + XV.--COLOUR 228 + + + _BOOK II_ + + INTRODUCTORY.--ILLUSION IN THE PAINTER'S ART 236 + + CHAPTER + I.--ILLUSION OF RELIEF 239 + II.--ILLUSION OF MOTION WITH MEN AND ANIMALS 249 + III.--ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR 259 + + + NOTES 273 + + + INDEX OF ARTISTS AND WORKS OF ART MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK 357 + + + GENERAL INDEX 369 + + + + +LIST OF PLATES + + + PAGE + FRONTISPIECE.--DETAIL FROM FRAGONARD'S THE PURSUIT (FRICK + COLLECTION, NEW YORK). + + This work, which is one of the celebrated Grasse series of + panels, offers a very fine example of the use of an ideal head + in a romantic subject. (See Page 139.) + + PLATE 1.--THE EARLIEST GREAT SCULPTURES 6 + + (a). Head from a statue of Chefren, a king of the 4th Egyptian + Dynasty, about 3000 B.C. (Cairo Museum.) + + (b). Head from a fragmentary statuette of Babylonia, dating + about 2600 B.C. (Louvre: from Spearing's "Childhood of Art.") + + The first head is generally regarded as the finest example of + Egyptian art extant, and certainly there was nothing executed + in Egypt to equal it during the thirty centuries following the + 5th Dynasty. The Babylonian head is the best work of Chaldean + art known to us, though there are some fine fragments remaining + from the period of about a thousand years later. It will be + observed that the tendency of the art in both examples is + towards the aims achieved by the Greeks. (See Page 7.) + + PLATE 2.--"LE BON DIEU D'AMIENS", IN THE NORTH PORCH, AMIENS + CATHEDRAL 18 + + This figure by a French sculptor of the thirteenth century, + was considered by Ruskin to be the finest ideal of Christ in + existence. It is another example of the universality of ideals, + for the head from the front view might well have been modelled + from a Grecian work of the late fourth or early third century + B.C. (See Page 319.) + + PLATE 3.--AFTER AN ANCIENT COPY OF THE CNIDIAN VENUS OF PRAXITELES. + (VATICAN) 30 + + It is commonly agreed that this is the finest model in existence + after the great work of Praxiteles, which itself has long + disappeared. The figure as it now stands at the Vatican, has the + right arm restored, and the hand is made to hold up some metallic + drapery with which the legs are covered, the beauty of the form + being thus seriously weakened. (See Pages 111 _et seq._) + + PLATE 4.--VENUS ANADYOMENE 42 + + (a). Ancient Greek sculpture from the design of Venus in the + celebrated picture of Apelles. (Formerly Chessa Collection, now in + New York.) + + The immense superiority of the sculpture over the painting (Plate + 5), from the point of view of pure art, is visible at a glance. It + is an indication of the far-reaching scope of the sculptor when + executing ideals. (See Page 113.) + + PLATE 5.--VENUS ANADYOMENE, FROM THE PAINTING BY TITIAN. + (BRIDGEWATER COLLECTION.) Compare with the Sculpture on + Plate 4. (See Page 115) 42 + + PLATE 6.--VENUS REPOSING, BY GIORGIONE. (DRESDEN GALLERY) 54 + + This is the finest reposing Venus in existence in painting. It was + the model for the representation of the goddess in repose used by + Titian, and many other artists who came after him. (See Page 116.) + + PLATE 7.--DEMETER 66 + + (a). Head from the Cnidos marble figure of the fourth century B.C., + attributed to Scopas. (British Museum.) + + (b). Small head in bronze of the third century B.C. (Private + Collection.) + + In each of these heads the artist has been successful in maintaining + the ideal, while indicating a suggestion of the sorrowful + resignation with which Grecian legend has enveloped the mind picture + of Demeter. Nevertheless, even this slight departure from the + established rule tends to lessen the art, though in a very small + degree. (See Page 122.) + + PLATE 8.--RAPHAEL'S SISTINE MADONNA (DRESDEN GALLERY), WITH THE FACE + OF THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN FRAGONARD'S THE PURSUIT SUBSTITUTED FOR + THAT OF THE VIRGIN 80 + + This and the two following plates show very clearly that in striving + for an ideal, artists must necessarily arrive at the same general + type. (See Pages 138 _et seq._) + + PLATE 9.--RAPHAEL'S VIRGIN OF THE ROSE (MADRID), WITH THE FACE + OF THE FIGURE REPRESENTING PROFANE LOVE IN TITIAN'S PICTURE + SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF THE VIRGIN 92 + + PLATE 10.--RAPHAEL'S HOLY FAMILY (MADRID), WITH THE FACE OF LUINI'S + SALOME SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF THE VIRGIN 102 + + PLATE 11.--THE PURSUIT, BY FRAGONARD. (FRICK COLLECTION, N. Y.) 114 + + A detail from this picture forms the Frontispiece. It will be + observed that in the complete painting the central figure apparently + wears a startled expression, but that this is entirely due to the + surroundings and action, is shown by the substitution of the face of + the central figure for that of the Virgin in the Sistine Madonna, + Plate 8. (See Page 139.) + + PLATE 12.--PORTRAIT HEADS OF THE GREEK TYPE, FOURTH CENTURY, B.C. + (See Page 145) 130 + + (a). Head of Plato. (Copenhagen Museum.) (b). Term of Euripides. + (Naples Museum.) + + PLATE 13.--PORTRAIT HEADS OF THE TIME OF IMPERIAL ROME. (SEE PAGE + 145) 146 + + (a). Vespasian. (Naples Museum.) (b). Hadrian. (Athens Museum.) + + PLATE 14.--SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA, FROM A POMPEIAN FRESCO. (ROUX + AINE'S HERCULANUM ET POMPEI, VOL. III) 160 + + This work is presumed to be a copy of the celebrated picture of + Timanthes, in which the head of Agamemnon was hidden because the + artist could see no other way of expressing extreme grief without + distorting the features. (See Pages 168 and 339.) + + PLATE 15.--ALL'S WELL, BY WINSLOW HOMER. (BOSTON MUSEUM, U. S. A.) 176 + + An instance where the permanent beauty of a picture is killed by an + open mouth. After a few moments' inspection, it will be observed + that the mouth appears to be kept open by a wedge. (See Page 176.) + + PLATE 16.--HERCULES CONTEMPLATING DEATH, BY A. POLLAIUOLO. (FRICK + COLLECTION, NEW YORK.) 190 + + The only known design of this nature which appears to exist in any + of the arts. (See Pages 190 and 343.) + + PLATE 17.--ARCADIAN LANDSCAPE, BY CLAUDE LORRAINE. (NATIONAL + GALLERY, LONDON) 198 + + A fine illusion of opening distance created by the precise rendering + of the aerial perspective. The illusion is of course unobservable in + the reproduction owing to its small size and the want of colour. + (See Page 198). + + PLATE 18.--LANDSCAPE, BY HOBBEMA. (MET. MUSEUM, NEW YORK) 210 + + A fine example of Hobbema's work. A strong light is thrown in from + the back to enable the artist to multiply his signs for the purpose + of deepening the apparent distance. (See Page 202.) + + PLATE 19.--LANDSCAPE, BY JACOB RUYSDAEL, (NATIONAL GALLERY, + LONDON) 220 + + Example of an illusion of movement in flowing water. (See Page 204.) + + + PLATE 20.--THE STORM, BY JACOB RUYSDAEL. (BERLIN GALLERY) 232 + + Exhibiting an excellent illusion of motion, due to the faithful + representation of a series of consecutive movements of water as the + vessel passes through it. The illusion is practically lost in the + reproduction, but the details of design may be observed. (See Page + 206.) + + PLATE 21.--THE LITTA MADONNA, BY LIONARDO DA VINCI. (HERMITAGE) 240 + + This is perhaps the best example known of an illusion of relief + secured by shading alone. (See Page 240.) + + PLATE 22.--CHRIST ON THE CROSS, BY VAN DYCK. (ANTWERP MUSEUM) 252 + + A superb example of relief obtained by the exclusion of accessories. + Van Dyck took the idea from Rubens, who borrowed it from Titian, + this artist improving on Antonella da Messina. The relief of course + is not well observed in the reproduction because of its miniature + form. The work is usually regarded as the finest of its kind in + existence. (See Page 244.) + + PLATE 23.--PATRICIA, BY LYDIA EMMET. (PRIVATE POSSESSION, N. Y.) 264 + + A very excellent example of the plan of securing relief described + in Book II, Chap. I. Here also the relief is not observed in the + reproduction, but the original is of life size and provides an + illusion as nearly perfect as possible. (See Page 247.) + + PLATE 24.--THE CREATION OF ADAM, BY MICHELANGELO. (VATICAN) 276 + + Instance of the use of an oval form of drapery to assist in + presenting an illusion of suspension in the air. (See Page 260.) + + PLATE 25.--THE PLEIADS, BY M. SCHWIND. (DENNER COLLECTION.) 288 + + One of the finest examples of illusion of motion in the air. + (See Page 269.) + + PLATE 26.--ST. MARGARET, BY RAPHAEL. (LOUVRE) 302 + + Perhaps the best example in existence of a painted human figure in + action. It will be seen that every part of the body and every fold + of the drapery are used to assist in the expression of movement. + (See Page 250.) + + PLATE 27.--DIANA AND NYMPHS PURSUED BY SATYRS, BY RUBENS. (PRADO) 318 + + A good example of an illusion of motion created by showing a number + of persons in different stages of a series of consecutive actions. + (See Page 254.) + + PLATE 28.--AUTOMEDON WITH THE HORSES OF ACHILLES, BY H. REGNAULT. + (BOSTON MUSEUM, U. S. A.) 334 + + The extraordinary spirit and action of these horses are above the + experience of life, but they do not appear to be beyond the bounds + of possibility. In any case the action is perfectly appropriate + here, as the animals are presumed to be immortal. (See Page 256.) + + PLATE 29.--MARBLE FIGURE OF ARIADNE. (VATICAN) 348 + + This work, of the Hellenistic period, illustrates the possibility of + largely varying the regular proportions of the human figure without + injury to the art, by the skilful use of drapery. (See Page 329.) + + + + +Art Principles + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In view of the many varied definitions of "Art" which have been put +forward in recent times, and the equally diverse hypotheses advanced for +the solution of aesthetic problems relating to beauty, it is necessary +for one who discusses principles of art, to state what he understands by +the terms "Art" and "Beauty." + +Though having a widely extended general meaning, the term "Art" in +common parlance applies to the fine arts only, but the term "Arts" has +reference as well to certain industries which have utility for their +primary object. This work considers only the fine arts, and when the +writer uses the term "Art" or "Arts" he refers to one or more of these +arts, unless a particular qualification is added. The definition of +"Art" as applied to the fine arts, upon which he relies, is "The +production of beauty for the purpose of giving pleasure," or as it is +more precisely put, "The beautiful representation of nature for the +purpose of giving disinterested pleasure." This is, broadly, the +definition generally accepted, and is certainly the understanding of +art which has guided the hands of all the creators of those great works +in the various arts before which men have bowed as triumphs of human +skill. + +There has been no satisfactory definition of "Beauty," nor can the term +be shortly interpreted until there is a general agreement as to what it +covers. Much of the confusion arising from the contradictory theories of +aestheticists in respect of the perception of beauty is apparently due to +the want of separate consideration of emotional beauty and beauty of +mind, that is to say, the beauty of sensorial effects and beauty of +expression respectively.[1] There are kinds of sensorial beauty which +depend for their perception upon immediately preceding sensory +experience, or particular coexistent surroundings which are not +necessarily permanent, while in other cases a certain beauty may be +recognized and subsequently appear to vanish altogether. From this it is +obvious that any aesthetic system based upon the existence of an +objectivity of beauty must fall to the ground. On the other hand, +without an objectivity there can be no system, because in its absence a +line of reasoning explaining cause and effect in the perception of +beauty, which is open to demonstration, is naturally impossible. Nor may +we properly speak of a philosophy of art.[2] We may reasonably consider +aesthetics a branch of psychology, but the emotions arising from the +recognition of beauty vary only in degree and not in kind, whether the +beauty be seen in nature or art. Consequently there can be no separate +psychological enquiry into the perception of beauty created by art as +distinguished from that observable in nature. + +It must be a natural attraction for the insoluble mysteries of life that +has induced so many philosophers during the last two centuries to put +forward aesthetic systems. That no two of these systems agree on +important points, and that each and every one has crumbled to dust from +a touch of the wand of experience administered by a hundred hands, are +well-known facts, yet still the systems continue to be calmly presented +as if they were valuable contributions to knowledge. Each new critic in +the domain of philosophy carefully and gravely sets them up, and then +carefully and gravely knocks them down.[3] An excuse for the systems has +been here and there offered, that the explanations thereof sometimes +include valuable philosophical comments or suggestions. This may be, but +students cannot reasonably be expected to sift out a few oats from a +bushel of husks, even if the supply be from the bin of a Hegel or a +Schopenhauer. Is it too much to suggest that these phantom systems be +finally consigned to the grave of oblivion which has yawned for them so +long and so conspicuously? Bubbles have certain measurements and may +brilliantly glow, but they are still bubbles. It is as impossible to +build up a system of philosophy upon the perception of beauty, which +depends entirely upon physical and physiological laws, as to erect a +system of ethics on the law of gravitation, for a feasible connection +between superstructure and foundation cannot be presented to the mind. + +We may further note that a proper apprehension of standards of judgment +in art cannot be obtained unless the separate and relative aesthetic +values of the two forms of beauty are considered, because the beauty of +a work may appear greater at one time than at another, according as it +is more or less permanent or fleeting, that is to say, according as the +balance of the sensorial and intellectual elements therein is more or +less uneven; or if the beauty present be almost entirely emotional, +according as the observer may be affected by independent sensorial +conditions of time or place. Consequent upon these considerations, an +endeavour has been made in this work to distinguish between the two +forms of beauty in the various arts, and the separate grades thereof. + +It will be noticed that the writer has adopted the somewhat unusual +course of including fiction among the fine arts. Why this practice is +not commonly followed is hard to determine, but no definition of a fine +art has been or can be given which does not cover fiction. In the +definition here accepted, the art is clearly included, for the primary +object of fiction is the beautiful representation of nature for the +purpose of giving disinterested pleasure. + + * * * * * + +Art is independent of conditions of peoples or countries. Its germ is +unconnected with civilization, politics, religion, laws, manners, or +morals. It may appear like a brilliant flower where the mind of man is +an intellectual desert, or refuse to bloom in the busiest hive of human +energy. Its mother is the imagination, and wherever this has room to +expand, there art will grow, though the ground may be nearly sterile, +and the bud wither away from want of nourishment. Every child is born a +potential artist, for he comes into the world with sensorial nerves, and +a brain which directs the imagination. The primitive peoples made +beautiful things long before they could read or write, and the +recognition of harmony of form appears to have been one of the first +understandings in life after the primal instincts of self-preservation +and the continuation of the species. Some of the sketches made by the +cave men of France are equal to anything of the kind produced in a +thousand years of certain ancient civilizations, commencing countless +centuries after the very existence of the cave men had been forgotten; +and even if executed now, would be recognized as indicating the +possession of considerable talent by the artists. The greatest poem ever +written was given birth in a country near which barbaric hordes had +recently devastated populous cities, and wrecked a national fabric with +which were interwoven centuries of art and culture. That the author of +this poem had seen great works of art is certain, or he could not have +conceived the shield of Achilles, but the laboured sculpture that had +fired his imagination, and the legends which had perhaps been the seed +of his masterpieces were doubtless buried with his own records beneath +the tramp of numberless mercenaries. Fortunately here and there the +human voice could draw from memory's store, and so the magic of Homer +was whispered by the dying to the living; but even his time and place +are now only vaguely known, and he remains like the waratah on the +bleached pasture of some desert fringe--a solitary blaze of scarlet +where all else is drear and desolate. + +Strong is the root of art, though frail the flower. Stifled in sun-burnt +ground ere it can welcome the smile of light; fading with the first +blast of air upon its delicate shoots; shrivelling back to dust when the +buds are ready to break; or falling in the struggle to spread its +branches after its beautiful blossoms have scattered their fragrance +around: whatever condition has brought it low, it ever fights +again--ever seeks to assure mankind that while it may droop or +disappear, its seed, its heart, its life, are imperishable, and surely +it will bloom again in all its majesty. Sometimes with decades it has +run a fitful course; sometimes with centuries; sometimes with +millenniums. It has heralded every civilization, but its breath is +freedom, and it flourishes and sickens only with liberty. Trace its +course in the life of every nation, and the track will be found parallel +with the line of freedom of thought. A solitary plant may bloom +unimpeded far from tyranny's thrall, but the art and soul of a nation +live, and throb, and die, together. + + [Illustration: PLATE 1 (See page 7) + Head of Cephren, 4th Egyptian Dynasty (_Cairo Museum_) + Chaldean Head: About 2600 B.C. (_Louvre_)] + +Egypt, Babylon, Crete, Greece, Rome, tell their stories through +deathless monuments, and all are alike in that they demonstrate the +dependence of art expansion upon freedom of action and opinion. An art +rises, develops another and another, and they proceed together on their +way. Sooner or later comes catastrophe in the shape of crushing +tyranny which curbs the mind with slavery, or steel-bound sacerdotal +rules which say to the artist "Thou shalt go no further," or +annihilation of nation and life. What imagination can picture the +expansion of art throughout the world had its flight been free since the +dawn of history? Greece reached the sublime because its mind was +unfettered, but twenty or thirty centuries before Phidias, Egyptian art +had arrived at a loftier plane than that on which the highest plastic +art of Greece was standing but a few decades before the Olympian Zeus +uplifted the souls of men, while whole civilizations with their arts had +lived and died, and were practically forgotten. + +It is to be observed that while in its various isolated developments, +art has proceeded from the immature to the mature, there has been no +general evolution, as in natural life, but on the other hand there seems +to be a limit to its progress. So far as our imagination can divine, no +higher reaches in art are attainable than those already achieved. The +mind can conceive of nothing higher than the spiritual, and this cannot +be represented in art except by means of form; while within the range of +human intelligence, no suggestion of spiritual form can rise above the +ideals of Phidias. Of the purely human form, nothing greater than the +work of Praxiteles and Raphael can be pictured on our brains. There may +be poets who will rival Homer and Shakespeare, but it is exceedingly +doubtful. In any case we must discard the law of evolution as applicable +to the arts, with the one exception of music, which, on account of the +special functioning of its signs, must be put into a division by +itself.[a] + + [a] See Chap. III. + +But although there has been no general progression in art parallel with +the growth of the sciences and civilization, there have been, as already +indicated, many separate epochs of art cultivation in various countries, +sometimes accompanied by the production of immortal works, which epochs +in themselves seem to provide examples of restricted evolution.[4] It is +desirable to refer to these art periods, as they are commonly called, +for the purpose of removing, if possible, a not uncommon apprehension +that they are the result of special conditions operating an aesthetic +stimulus, and that similar or related conditions must be present in any +country if the flame of art there is to burn high and brightly.[5] The +well-defined periods vary largely both in character and duration, the +most important of them--the Grecian development and the Italian +Renaissance--covering two or three centuries each, and the others, as +the French thirteenth century sculpture expansion, the English literary +revival in the sixteenth century,[6] and the Dutch development in +painting in the seventeenth, lasting only a few decades. These latter +periods can be dispensed with at once because they were each concerned +with one art only, and therefore can scarcely have resulted from a +general aesthetic stimulus. But the Grecian and Italian movements applied +to all the arts. They represented natural developments from the crude to +the advanced, of which all nations produce examples, and were only +exceptional in that they reached higher levels in art than were attained +by other movements. But there is no evidence to show that they were +brought about by special circumstances outside of the arts themselves. +While there were national crises preceding the one development, there +was no trouble of consequence to herald the other, nor was there any +parallel between the conditions of the two peoples during the progress +of the movements. A short reference to each development will show that +its rise and decline were the outcome of simple matter-of-fact +conditions of a more or less accidental nature, uninfluenced by an +aesthetic impulse in the sense of inspiration. + +The most common suggestion advanced to account for the rise in Grecian +art, is that it was due to the exaltation of the Greek mind through the +victories of Marathon, Plataea, and Salamis. That a people should be so +trampled upon as were the Greeks; that their cities should be razed, +their country desolated, and their commerce destroyed; that +notwithstanding all this they should refuse to give way before enemies +outnumbering them twenty, fifty, or even a hundred to one; and that +after all they should crush these enemies, was no doubt a great and +heroic triumph, likely to exalt the nation and feed the imagination of +the people for a long time to come; but that these victories were +responsible for the lofty eminence reached by the Greek artists, cannot +be maintained. From what we know of Calamis, Myron, and others, it is +clear that Grecian art was already on its way to the summit reached by +Phidias when Marathon and Salamis were fought, though the victories of +the Greek arms hastened the development for the plain reason that they +led to an increased demand for works of art. And the decline in Grecian +art resulted purely and simply from a lessened demand. Though this was +the reason for the general decay, there was a special cause for the +apparent weakening with the commencement of the fourth century B.C. In +the fifth century Phidias climbed as high in the accomplishment of +ideals as the imagination could soar. He reached the summit of human +endeavour. Necessarily then, unless another Phidias arose, whatever in +art came after him would appear to mark a decline. But it is scarcely +proper to put the case of Phidias forward for comparative purposes. He +carried the art of sculpture higher than it is possible for the painter +to ascend, and so we should rather use the giants of the fourth +century--Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus, Apelles--as the standards to be +compared with the foremost spirits of the Italian Renaissance--Raphael +and Michelangelo--for each of these groups achieved the human ideal, +though failing with the spiritual ideal established by Phidias. + +It must be remembered that all good art means slow work--long thinking, +much experiment, tedious attention to detail in plan, and careful +execution. Meanwhile men have to live, even immortal artists, and rarely +indeed does one undertake a work of importance on his own account. It is +true that in the greater days of Greece the best artists were almost +entirely employed by a State, or at least to execute works for public +exhibition, and doubtless the payment they received was quite a +secondary matter with them, but nevertheless few could practise their +art without remuneration. During the fifth and fourth centuries great +events were constantly happening in Greece, and in consequence there +were numberless temples to build and adorn, groves to decorate, men to +honour, and monumental tombs to erect. Innumerable statues of gods and +goddesses were wanted, and we must not forget the wholesale destruction +of Athenian and other temples and sculptures during the Persian +invasion. In fact for a century and a half after Plataea, there was +practically an unlimited demand for works of art, and it was only when +the empire of Alexander began to crumble away that conditions changed. +While Greece was weakening Rome was growing and her lengthening shadows +were approaching the walls of Athens. Greece could build no more temples +when her people were becoming slaves of Rome; she could order no more +monuments when defeat was the certain end of struggle. And so the +decline was brought about, not by want of artists, but through the +dearth of orders and the consequent neglect of competition. + +In the case of the Italian Renaissance the decadence was not due to the +same cause. The art of Greece declined gradually in respect of quantity +as well as quality, while in Italy after the decay in quality set in, +art was as nourishing as ever from the point of view of demand. The +change in the character of the art was due entirely to Raphael's +achievements. As with the early Greek, nearly the whole of the early +Italian art was concerned with religion, though in this case there were +very few ideals. The numerous ancient gods of Greece and Rome were long +gone, to become only classical heroes with the Italians, and their +places were taken by twenty or thirty personages from the New Testament. +Incidents from the Old Testament were sometimes painted, but nearly all +the greater work dealt with the life of Christ and the Saints. The +painters of the first century of the Renaissance distributed their +attention fairly equally among these personages, but as time went on and +the art became of a superior order, artists aimed at the highest +development of beauty that their imaginations could conceive, and hence +the severe beauty that might be shown in a picture of Christ or a +prominent Saint, had commonly to give way to a more earthly perfection +of feature and form, which, suggesting an ideal, could only be given to +the figure of the Virgin. And so the test of the power of an artist came +to be instinctively decided by his representation of the Madonna. No +doubt there were many persons living in the fifteenth century who +watched the gradually increasing beauty of the Madonna as depicted by +the succession of great painters then working, and wondered when and +where the summit would be reached--when an artist would appear beyond +whose work the imagination could not pass, for there is a limit to human +powers. + +The genius arose in Raphael, and when he produced in the last ten or +twelve years of his life, Madonna after Madonna, so far in advance of +anything that had hitherto been done, so great in beauty as to leave his +fellow artists lost in wonder, so lofty in conception that the term +"divine" was applied to him in his lifetime, it was inevitable that a +decadence should set in, for so far as the intelligence could see, +whatever came after him must be inferior. He did not ascend to the +height of Phidias, for a pure ideal of spiritual form is beyond the +power of the painter,[b] but as with Praxiteles he reached a perfect +human ideal, and so gained the supreme pinnacle of his art. But while +there was an inevitable decadence after him, as after Praxiteles, it +was, as already indicated, only in the character of the art, for in +Italy artists generally were as busy for a hundred years after Raphael, +as during his time. Michelangelo, Titian, and the other giants who were +working when Raphael died, kept up the renown of the period for half a +century or so, but it seemed impossible for artists who came on the +scene after Raphael's death, to enter upon an entirely original course. +The whole of the new generation seemed to cling to the models put +forward by the great Urbino painter, save some of the Venetians who had +a model of their own in Titian. + + [b] See Chap. IX. + +Thus it is clear that the rise and decline of the Grecian and Italian +movements were due to well ascertained causes which had nothing to do +with a national aesthetic impulse; nor is there evidence of such an +impulse connected with other art developments. + +The suggestion that a nation may be assisted in its art by emotional or +psychological influences arising from patriotic exaltation, is only an +extension of an opinion commonly held, that the individual artist is +subject to similar influences, though due to personal exaltation +connected with his art. It is as well to point out that there is only +one way to produce a work of art, and that is to combine the exercise of +the imagination with skill in execution. The artist conceives an idea +and puts it into form. He does nothing more. He can rely upon no +extraneous influence. It is suggested that to bring about a supreme +accomplishment in art, the imagination must be associated with something +outside of our power of control--some impulse which acts upon the brain +but is independent of it. This unmeasured force or lever is usually +known by the term "Inspiration." It is supposed that this force comes to +certain persons when they have particular moods upon them, and gives +them a great idea which they may use in a painting, a poem, or a musical +composition. The suggestion is attractive, but in the long range of +historical record there is no evidence that accident, in the shape of +inspiration or other psychological lever, has been responsible in the +slightest degree for the production of a work of art. The writer of a +sublime poem, or the painter of a perfect Madonna, uses the same kind of +mental and material labour as the man who chisels a lion's head on a +chair, or adds a filigree ornament to a bangle. The difference is one of +degree only. The poet or painter is gifted with a vivid imagination +which he has cultivated by study; and by diligence has acquired +superlative facility in execution, which he uses to the best advantage. +The work of the furniture carver or jeweller does not require such high +powers, and he climbs only a few steps of the ladder whose uppermost +rungs have been scaled by the greater artists. + +If in the course of the five and twenty centuries during which works of +high art have been produced, some of them had been executed with the +assistance of a psychological impulse directed independently of the +will, there would certainly have been references to the phenomenon by +the artists concerned, or the very numerous art historians, but without +a known exception, all the great artists who have left any record of the +cause of their success, or whose views on the subject are to be gained +by indirect references, have attributed this success to hard study, or +manual industry, or both together. We know little of the opinion of the +ancient Greeks on the matter, but the few anecdotes we have, indicate +that their artists were very practical men indeed, and hardly likely to +expect mysterious psychological influences to help them in their work. +So with the Romans, and it is noticeable that the key to the production +of beauty in poetry, in the opinion of Virgil and Horace, is careful +preparation and unlimited revision. This appears to be the view of some +modern poets, and if Dante, Shakespeare, and Milton, had experienced +visionary inspiration, we should surely have heard of it. Fortunately +some of the most eminent painters of modern times have expressed +themselves definitely upon the point. Lionardo observed that the painter +arrives at perfection by manual operation; and Michelangelo asserted +that Raphael acquired his excellence by study and application. Rubens +praised his brushes, by which he meant his acquired facility, as the +instruments of his fortune; and Nicholas Poussin attributed his success +to the fact that he neglected nothing, referring of course to his +studies. According to his biographers, the triumphs of Claude were due +to his untiring industry, while Reynolds held that nothing is denied to +well directed labour. And so with many others down to Turner, whose +secret according to Ruskin, was sincerity and toil. + +It would seem to be possible for an artist to work himself into a +condition of emotional excitement,[7] either involuntarily when a great +thought comes to him, or voluntarily when he seeks ideas wherewith to +execute a brilliant conception; and it is comprehensible that when in +this condition, which is practically an extreme concentration of his +mental energy upon the purpose in hand, images or other aesthetic +suggestions suitable for his work may present themselves to his mind. +These he might regard as the result of inspiration, but in reality they +would be the product of a trained imagination operating under +advantageous conditions. + +Nor can any rule be laid down that the character or temperament of an +artist influences his work, for if instances can be given in support of +such an assertion, at least an equal number may be adduced which +directly oppose it. If we might approximately gauge the true characters +of Fra Angelico and Michelangelo from a study of their work, it is +certain that no imagination could conjure up the actual personalities of +Perugino and Cellini, from an examination of the paintings of the one +and the sculptures of the other. What can be said on the subject when +assassins of the nature of Corenzio and Caravaggio painted so many +beautiful things, and evil-minded men like Ribera and Battistello +adorned great churches with sacred compositions? If the work of Claude +appears to harmonize with his character, that of Turner does not. +"Friendless in youth: loveless in manhood; hopeless in death." Such was +Turner according to Ruskin, but is there any sign of this in his works? +Not a trace. If any conclusion as to his character and temperament can +be drawn from Turner's paintings, it is that he was a gay, light-hearted +thinker, with all the optimism and high spirits that come from a delight +in beautiful things. The element of mood is unquestionably of importance +in the work of an artist, but it is not uncommon to find the character +of his designs contrary to his mood. Poets, as in the case of Hood, or +painters as with Tassaert, may execute the most lively pieces while in +moods verging on despair. With some men adversity quickens the +imagination with fancies; with others it benumbs their faculties. + +The tendency of popular criticism to search for psychological phenomena +in paintings, apparently arises largely from the difficulty in +comprehending how it is that certain artists of high repute vary their +styles of painting after many years of good work, and produce pictures +without the striking beauty characterizing their former efforts. +Sometimes when age is beginning to tell upon them, they broaden their +manner considerably, as with Rembrandt and others of the seventeenth +century, and many recent artists of lesser fame. The critic, very +naturally perhaps, is chary of condemning work from the hand of one who +has given evidence of consummate skill, and so seeks for hidden beauties +in lieu of those to which he has been accustomed. A simple enquiry into +the matter will show that the change of style in these cases has a +commonplace natural cause. + + [Illustration: PLATE 2 (See page 319) + "Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens" (_Amiens Cathedral_)] + +To be in the front rank an artist must have acquired a vast knowledge of +the technique of his art, and have a powerful imagination which has been +highly cultivated. But the qualifications must be balanced. Commonly +when this balance is not present the deficiency is in the imagination, +but there are instances where, though the power of execution is supreme, +the imagination has so far exceeded all bounds as to render this power +of comparatively small practical value. The most conspicuous example of +this want of balance is Lionardo, who accomplished little though he was +scarcely surpassed in execution by Raphael or Michelangelo. His +imagination invariably ran beyond his execution; his ideas were always +above the works he completed or partly finished: he saw in fact far +beyond anything he could accomplish, and so was never satisfied with the +result of his labour. At the same time he was filled with ideas in +the sciences, and investigated every branch of knowledge without +bringing his conclusions to fruition. During the latter part of his +life, Michelangelo showed a similar defect in a lesser degree, for his +unfinished works of the period exceed in number those he completed. +Naturally such intellectual giants, whose imaginations cannot be +levelled with the highest ability in execution, are few, but the lesser +luminaries who fail, or who constantly fail, in carrying out their +conceptions, are legion, though they may have absorbed the limit of +knowledge which they are capable of acquiring in respect of execution. +It is common for a painter to turn out a few masterpieces and nothing +else of permanent value. This was the case with numerous Italian artists +of the seventeenth century, and it is indeed a question whether there is +one of them, except perhaps Domenichino, whose works have not a +considerable range in aesthetic value. + +There have been still more artists whose powers of execution were far +beyond the flights of their imaginations. They include the whole of the +seventeenth century Dutch school with Rembrandt at their head, and the +whole of the Spanish school of the same period, except El Greco, +Zurbaran, and Murillo. When an artist is in the first rank in respect of +execution, but is distinctly inferior in imaginative scope, his work in +all grades of his art, except the highest, where ideals are possible, +seems to have a greater value than it really possesses because we are +insensibly cognizant that the accomplishment rises above the idea upon +which it is founded. On the other hand his work in the highest plane +appears to possess a lower value, because we are surprised that ideals +have not been attempted, and that the types of the spiritual and +classical personages represented are of the same class of men and women +as those exhibited in works dealing with ordinary human occupations or +actions. This is why the sacred and classical pictures of Rembrandt, +Vermeer of Delft, and the other leading Dutch artists, appear to be +below their portrait and genre work in power. + +The course of variation in the work of a great painter follows the +relative power of his imagination and his execution. Where there is a +fair balance between the two, the work of the artist increases in +aesthetic value with his age and experience; but when his facility in +execution rises above the force of his imagination, then his middle +period is invariably the best, his later work showing a gradual +depreciation in quality. The reason is obvious. The surety of the hand +and eye diminishes more rapidly than the power of the mind, which in +fact is commonly enhanced with experience till old age comes on. Great +artists who rely mostly upon their powers of execution, and exhibit +limited fertility in invention, such as Rembrandt, have often a manner +which is so interwoven with the effects they seek, that they are seldom +or never able to avail themselves of the assistance of others in the +lesser important parts of their work. A man with the fertile mind of a +Rubens may gather around him a troupe of artists nearly as good as +himself in execution, who will carry out his designs completely save +for certain details. Thus he is not occupied with laborious toil, and +the decreasing accuracy of his handiwork troubles him but little. On the +other hand a Rembrandt, whose merits lie chiefly in the delicate +manipulation of light effects and intricate shades in expression, +remains tied to his canvas. He feels intensely the decreasing facility +in the use of his brush which necessarily accompanies his advancing +years, and his only recourse from a stoppage of work is an alteration in +manner involving a reduction of labour and a lessened strain upon the +eyesight. With few exceptions the great masterpieces of Rembrandt were +produced in his middle period. During the last ten or fifteen years of +his life he gradually increased his breadth of manner. He was still +magnificent in general expression, but the intimate details which +produced such glorious effects in the great Amsterdam picture, and fifty +or more of his single portraits, could not be obtained with hog's +hair.[8] + +Disconnecting then the work of the artist with inspiration or other +psychological force, we may now enquire what is mean by "Genius," +"Natural gift," or other term used to explain the power of an artist to +produce a great work? It would appear that the answer is closely +concerned with the condition of the sensorial nerves at birth, and the +precocity or otherwise of the infantile imagination. From the fact that +we can cultivate the eye and ear so as to recognize forms of harmony +which we could not before perceive, and seeing that the effect of this +cultivation is permanent, it follows that exercise must bring about +direct changes in the nerves associated with these organs, attuning them +so to speak, and enabling them to respond to newer harmonies arising +from increased complexity of the signs used.[9] It is matter of common +knowledge that the structure of the sensorial nerves varies largely in +different persons at birth, and when a boy at a very early age shows +precocious ability in music or drawing, we may properly infer that the +condition of his optic or aural nerves is comparatively advanced, that +is to say, it is much less rudimentary than that of the average person +at the same age; in other words accident has given him a nerve +regularity which can only be gained by the average boy after long +exercise. The precocious youth has not a nerve structure superior in +kind, but it is abnormally developed, and so he is ahead of his +confreres in the matter of time, for under equal conditions of study he +is sooner able to arrive at a given degree of skill. + +But early appreciation of complex harmony, and skill in execution, are +not enough to produce a great artist, for there must be associated with +these things a powerful imagination. While the particular nerves or +vessels of the brain with which the imagination is concerned have not +been identified, we know by analogy and experience that the exercise of +the imagination like that of any other function, is necessary for its +development, and according as we allow it to remain in abeyance so we +reduce its active value. Clearly also, the seat of the imagination at +birth is less rudimentary in some persons than in others. From these +facts it would appear that when both the sensory nerve structure and the +seat of the imagination are advanced at birth, then we have the basis +upon which the precocious genius is built up. With such conditions, +patient toil and deep study are alone necessary to produce a sublime +artist. Evidently it is extremely rare for the imagination and nerve +structure to be together so advanced naturally, but commonly one is more +than rudimentary, and the deficiency in the other is compensated for by +study.[10] + +Of course these observations are general, for there arises the question, +to what extent can the senses and imagination be trained? We may well +conceive that there is a limit to the development of the sense organs. +There must come a period when the optic or aural nerves can be attuned +no further; and is the limit equal in all persons? The probability is +that it is not. The physical character of the nerves almost certainly +varies in different persons, some being able to appreciate more complex +harmonies than others, granted the limit of development. This is a point +which has to be considered, particularly in the case of music wherein as +a rule, the higher the beauty the more complex the combinations of +signs. There is a parallel problem to solve in respect of the +imagination. We can well believe that there was something abnormal in +the imagination of Shakespeare, beyond the probability that in his case +the physiological system controlling the seat of the imagination was +unusually advanced at birth. It is quite certain that with such a man a +given training would result in a far greater advance in the functioning +capacity of the imagination, than in the vast majority of persons who +might commence the training on apparently equal terms; and he would be +able to go further--to surpass the point which might be the limit of +development with most persons. + +These questions are of the highest importance, but they cannot be +determined. We are acquainted with certain facts relating to the general +development of the sense organs, and of the imagination; and in regard +to the former we know that there is a limit within comprehensible +bounds, but we see only very dimly anything finite in the scope of the +imagination. With what other term than "limitless" can we describe the +imagination of a Shakespeare? But in all cases, whatever the natural +conditions at birth, it is clear that hard work is the key to success in +art, and though some must work harder than others to arrive at an equal +result, it is satisfactory to know that generally Carlyle was right when +he described "genius" as the transcendent capacity for taking trouble, +and we are not surprised that Cicero should have come to the conclusion +that diligence is a virtue that seems to include all the others. + +Seeing that the conclusions above defined (and some to be later drawn), +are not entirely in accord with a large part of modern criticism based +upon what are commonly described as new and improved forms of the +painter's art, it is necessary to refer to these forms, which are +generally comprehended under what is known as Impressionism.[c] Alas, to +the frailty of man must we ascribe the spread of this movement, which +has destroyed so many bright young intellects, and is at this moment +leading thousands of gentle spirits along the level path which ends in +despair. For the real road of art is steep, and difficult, and long. +Year upon year of patient thought, patient observation, and patient +toil, lie ahead of every man who covets a crown of success as a painter. +He must seek to accumulate vast stores of knowledge of the human form +and its anatomy, of nature in her prolific variety, of linear and aerial +perspective, of animals which move on land or through the air, of the +laws of colours and their combinations. He must sound the depths of +poetry, and sculpture, and architecture; absorb the cream of sacred and +profane history; and with all these things and many more, he must +saturate his mind with the practical details of his art. Every artist +whose work the world has learned to admire has done his best to gain +this knowledge, and certainly no great design was ever produced by one +whose youth and early manhood were not worn with ardent study. For +knowledge and experience are the only foundations upon which the +imagination can build. Every new conception is a rearrangement of known +signs, and the imagination is powerless to arrange them appropriately +without a thorough comprehension of their character and significance. + + [c] The varied interpretations of Impressionism are referred to + elsewhere (see page ). When using the term in this book + without qualification, the writer means thereby the subordination + of design to colour, which definition covers all the forms of the + "new art" without going beyond any of them. + +This then is the programme of work which must be adopted by any serious +aspirant to fame in the art of the painter, and it is perhaps not +surprising that the number of artists who survive the ordeal is strictly +limited. In any walk of life where years of struggle are necessary for +success, how small the proportion of men who persevere to the end; who +present a steel wall to misfortune and despair, and with an indomitable +will, overcome care, and worry, and fatigue, for year after year, till +at last the clouds disappear, and they are able to front the world with +an all-powerful shield of radiant knowledge! But unfortunately in the +painter's art it is difficult to convince students of the necessity for +long and hard study, because there is no definite standard for measuring +success or failure which they can grasp without long experience. In +industries where knowledge is applied to improvement in appliances, or +methods with definite ends, or to the realization of projects having a +fixed scope, failure is determined by material results measured commonly +by mathematical processes of one kind or another. A man produces a new +alloy which he claims will fulfil a certain purpose. It is tested by +recognized means: all concerned admit the validity of the test, and +there the matter ends. But in the arts, while the relative value of the +respective grades is equally capable of demonstration, the test is of a +different kind. Instead of weights and measures which every man can +apply, general experience must be brought in. The individual may be +right in his judgment, and commonly is, but he is unable to measure the +evidence of his senses by material demonstration, and as he has no means +of judging whether his senses are normal, except by comparison, he is +liable to doubt his own experience if it clash with that of others. +Thus, he may find but little beauty in a given picture, and then may +read or hear that the work has a high aesthetic value, and without +calling to mind the fact that no evidence in the matter is conclusive +unless it be based on general experience, he is liable to believe that +his own perception is in some way deficient. + +Thus in the arts, and particularly in painting, there is ample scope for +the spread of false principles. Poetry has an advantage in that the +intellect must first be exercised before the simplest pictures are +thrown on the brain, so feeble or eccentric verse appeals to very few +persons, and seldom has a clientele, if one may use the word, outside of +small coteries of weak thinkers. It is difficult also in sculpture to +put forward poor works as of a high order, because this art deals almost +entirely with simple human and animal forms in respect of which the +knowledge is universal, and so as signs they cannot be varied except in +the production of what would be immediately recognized as monstrosities. +But in painting an immense variety in kind of beauty may be produced, +from a simple colour harmony to the representation of ideal forms +involving the highest sensorial and intellectual reaches, and there is +ample scope for the misrepresentation of aesthetic effects--for the +suggestion that a work yielding a momentary appeal to the senses is +superior to a high form of permanent beauty. + +It is to the ease with which simple forms of ephemeral beauty may be +produced in painting that is due the large number of artists who should +never have entered upon the profession. Nearly every person of average +intelligence is capable with a few lessons of producing excellent +imitations of natural things in colour, as for instance, flowers, bits +of landscape, and so on, and great numbers of young men and women, +surprised at the facility with which this work can be done, erroneously +suppose that nature has endowed them with special gifts, and so take up +the art of painting as a career. Hence for every sculptor there are +twenty painters. Now these youthful aspirants usually start with +determination and hope, but although they know the value of studious +toil, they rarely comprehend that this toil, long continued, is the only +key to success. Most of them seem under the impression that inspiration +will come to their assistance, and that their genius will enable them to +dispense with much of the labour which others, less fortunate, must +undertake. They do not understand that all painters, even a Raphael, +must go through long years of hard application. + +We need not be surprised that there should be occasional eruptions in +art circles tending to the exaltation of the immature at the expense of +the superior, or even the sublime, for we have always with us the +undiligent man of talent, and the "unrecognized genius." But hitherto, +movements of the kind have not been serious, for with one exception they +are lost in oblivion, and the exception is little more than a vague +memory. That the present movement should have lasted so long is not +difficult to understand when we remember the modern advantages for the +spread of new sensations--the exhibitions, the unlimited advertising +scope, and above all the new criticism, with its extended vocabulary, +its original philosophy, and its boundless discoveries as to the +psychological and musical qualities of paint. That history is silent as +to previous eruptions of the kind before the seventeenth century is a +matter of regret. It is unlikely that the greatest of all art epochs +experienced an impressionist fever, for one cannot imagine the spread of +spurious principles within measurable distance of a State (Thebes) which +went so far as to prohibit the representation of unbeautiful things. In +respect of poetry we know that the Greeks stood no nonsense, for did not +Zoilus suffer an ignominious death for venturing upon childish criticism +of Homer? In Rome eccentric painters certainly found some means to +thrive, for where "Bohemian" poets gathered, who neglected the barber +and the bath, and pretended an aesthetic exclusiveness, there surely +would painters of "isms" be found in variety. Naturally in the early +stages of the Renaissance, when patronage of the arts was almost +confined to the Church, and so went hand in hand with learning, inferior +art stood small chance of recognition; and a little later when Lorenzo +gathered around him the intellectual cream of Italy; when the pupils of +Donatello were spreading the light of his genius; when the patrician +beauties of Florence were posing for Ghirlandaio and his brilliant +confreres, and when the minds of Lionardo and Michelangelo were +blooming; who would have dared to talk of the psychological qualities of +paint, or suggest the composition of a fresco "symphony"? + + [Illustration: PLATE 3 (See page 111) + Ancient Copy of the Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles (_Vatican_)] + +But another century and more passed away. The blaze of the Renaissance +had gone down, but the embers were kept alive, for Italy still seemed to +vibrate with a desire to paint. Simultaneously in Flanders, in Holland, +in France, and in England, private citizens appeared to develop a sudden +demand for pictures, and quite naturally artists multiplied and fed the +flame. Outside of Italy the hustle and bustle in the art world were +novelties to the general public, though pleasant ones withal, and for +half a century or more they delighted in the majestic designs of Rubens +and Van Dyck, the intimate scenes of the Dutch artists, and the delicate +landscapes of Claude and Poussin and their followers, which were +continually finding their way from Rome. The simplicity of the people +protected the arts. They knew the hard labour involved in the production +of a picture; the worries, the struggles, the joys of the painters; and +daily saw beautiful imitations of every-day life in the shops and +markets. They must have been proud of them--insensibly proud of the +value of human endeavour. For them the sham and immature had no place: +there is not a single example of spurious art of the first three +quarters of the seventeenth century that has come down to us from +Holland or Flanders. But while the Dutch school was at the height of its +fame, a change was marking Italian art conditions. The half score of +academies scattered through the country were still in a state of +activity, carrying on, as far as they could, the traditions of the +Renaissance: from all parts of Europe students were still pouring in, +endeavouring to glean the secrets of the immortals; and there was no +apparent decrease in the demand for pictures from the religious +foundations and private buyers. But the character of the art produced +was rapidly declining: the writing on the wall was being done by the +hand that wielded the brush. As a necessary consequence the trader was +called in and art began to be commercialized. Worse still, fashions +appeared, guided by successive masters in the various centres, often +with an influence quite out of proportion with their merits. + +By the middle of the century a general fall in activity and enthusiasm +was noticeable. The disciples of the Roman school, largely through the +pernicious influence of Bernini, had nearly forgotten the great lessons +taught by the followers of Raphael, and later by the three Carracci, and +were fast descending below mediocrity; the Florentine school included +half a dozen good painters, mostly students of Berritini: Venice was +falling into a stagnation in which she remained till the appearance of +Longhi and Tiepolo and their brethren; Bologna was living on the +reputation of the Carracci, and had yet to recover with the aid of +Cignani: Milan and Genoa as separate schools had practically faded away; +and the Neapolitan school was relying on Salvator Rosa, though Luca +Giordano was growing into an inexhaustible hive of invention. This was +the condition of Italian art, while political and other troubles were +further complicating the position of artists. For most of them the time +was gloomy and the future dark. A few turned to landscape; others +extended the practice of copying the early masters for the benefit of +foreign capitals, while some sought for novelty in still-life, or in the +then newly practised pastel work. But there was a considerable number +who would have none of these things; some of them with talent but +lacking industry, and others with industry but void of imagination. What +were these to do at a time when at the best the outlook was poor? + +An answer came to this question. A new taste must be cultivated, and for +an art that required less study and trouble to produce than the sublime +forms with which the Renaissance culminated. So whispers went round that +Raphael was not really so great a master as was supposed, and that with +Michelangelo he was out of date and did not comprehend the real meaning +of art--very similar conclusions with which the modern impressionist +movement was heralded.[11] The discovery was made in Rome, but the news +expanded to Florence and Naples, and Venice, and behold the +result--Sprezzatura, or to use the modern word, Impressionism, that is +to say, the substitution of sketches for finished pictures, though this +is not the definition usually given to it. But fortunately for the art +of the time the innovation was chiefly confined to coteries. All that +could be said or done failed to convince the principal patrons of the +period that a half finished work is so beautiful as a completed one, and +so the novelties rarely found entrance into great collections, nor were +they used to adorn the interiors of public buildings. But a good many of +them were executed though they have long ceased to interest anybody. Now +and again one comes across an example in a sleepy Italian village, or in +the smaller shops of Rome or Florence, but it is quickly put aside as a +melancholy memento of a disordered period of art when talented painters +had to struggle for fame, and the untalented for bread. + +The cult of Sprezzatura faded to a glimmer before the end of the +seventeenth century. Bernini was dead, and Carlo Maratta with a few +others led the way in re-establishing the health if not the brilliancy +and renown of Italian art. Nor did a recurrence of the movement occur in +the next century. During this period there was comparatively little call +for art in Italy, and at the end of it, when political disturbances made +havoc with academies and artists, the principal occupation of Italian +painters with talent was precisely that of their skilled brethren in +Holland and Flanders--the manufacture of "old" masterpieces. It was +reserved for the second half of the nineteenth century for Sprezzatura +to make its reappearance, and this time Italy followed the lead of +France. + +There are many methods and mannerisms which go under the name of +Impressionism, but they are mostly suggestions in design or experiments +in tones which were formerly produced solely as studies to assist +artists in executing their complete works, or else eccentricities which +are obviously mere camouflage for lack of skill.[12] Sometimes the +sketches are slightly amplified with more or less finished signs, and +now and then novelties are present in the shape of startling colour +effects; but in all cases the impartial observer sees in the pictures +only sensorial beauty of a kind which is inevitably short lived, while +his understanding is oppressed with the thought, firstly that the +picture is probably the result of a want of diligence on the part of the +artist, and secondly that its exhibition as a serious work is somewhat +of a reflection upon the intelligence of the public. + +Obviously the fundamental basis of Impressionism is weak and illogical, +for in our conception of nature it invites us to eliminate the +understanding. What the impressionist practically says is: "We do not +see solid form; we see only flat surface in which objects are +distinguished by colours. The artist should reproduce these colours +irrespective of the nature of the objects." But the objects are +distinguished by our knowledge and experience, and if we are to +eliminate these in one art, why not in another? Why trouble about +carving in the round when we only actually see in the human figure a +flat surface defined by colour? There is no scene in nature such as the +impressionist paints, nor can such a scene be thrown upon the mind of +the painter as a natural scene. Except in absolute deserts there are no +scenes without many signs which are clearly defined to the eye, and +which the artist can paint. He cannot of course produce all the signs in +a view, but he can indicate sufficient of them to make a beautiful +picture apart from the tones, and there can be no valid aesthetic reason +for substituting for these signs vague suggestions of colour infinitely +less definite than the signs as they appear in nature. Nor is there any +such atmosphere in nature as the impressionist usually paints. We do not +see blotched outlines of human figures, but the outlines in nature, +except at a considerable distance, appear to us clear and decisive +though delicately shaded, and not as seen through a veil of steam. Nor +has any valid reason been advanced for juxtaposing pure colours instead +of blending them before use.[13] Why should the eye have to seek a +particular distance from a painting in order that the colours might +naturally blend, when the artist can himself blend them and present a +harmony which is observable at any reasonable distance? We do not carve +a statue with blurred and broken edges, and then tell the observer that +the outlines will appear correct if he travel a certain distance away +before examining them. + +In giving nearly his whole attention to colour the impressionist limits +his art to the feeblest form, and produces a quickly tiring, ephemeral +thing, as if unconscious of natural beauty. Sylvan glades and fairy +dales, where the brooks ripple pleasantly as they moisten the roots of +the violet, and gently lave the feet of the lark and the robin; where +shady trees bow welcome to the wanderer; where the grassy carpet is +sprinkled with flowers, and every bush can tell of lovers' sighs! Does +the impressionist see these things? Offer him the sweetest beauties of +nature, and he shows you in return a shake of a kaleidoscope. Mountain +peaks towering one above the other till their snowy crests sparkle the +azure sky; mighty rivers dividing the hills, crumbling the granite +cliffs, or thundering their course over impeding rocks; cascades of +flowing crystal falling into seething seas of foam and mist; the angry +ocean convulsively defying human power with its heaving walls and +fearsome caverns! Nature in her grandest form: sublime forces which +kindle the spirit of man: exhibit them to the impressionist, and he +presents to you a flat experiment in the juxtaposition of pure colours! +And the majesty of the human form, with its glorious attributes; the +noble woman and courageous man; incidents of self-sacrifice; the realms +of spiritual beauty, and the great ideals which expand the mind to the +bounds of space and lift the soul to Heaven! What of these? Ask the +impressionist, and he knows nothing of them. For his pencil they are but +relics of the past, like the bones of the men who immortalized them in +art. + +This is perhaps an overstatement of impressionism as applied to the +works of a large number of artists, who although commonly sacrificing +form to colour, infuse more or less interest in the human poses and +actions which are nominally the subjects of their pictures. But one can +only deal generally with such a matter. The evil of Impressionism does +not lie in the presentation of colour harmonies as beautiful things, for +they are unquestionably pleasing, though the beauty is purely sensorial +and of an ephemeral character. The mischief arises from the declaration, +overt or implied, that these harmonies represent the higher reaches of +the painter's art, and that form or design therein is of secondary +importance. Let something false in thought or activity be propagated in +any domain where the trader can make use of it, then surely will the +evil grow, each new weed being more rank than its predecessor. +Impressionism is not a spurious form of art, but seeing that its +spurious claims were widely accepted, with substantial results, there +soon appeared innumerable other forms inferior to it. There is no +necessity to deal here with these forms, with the crude experiments of +Cezanne, the vagaries of Van Gogh,[14] the puerilities of Matisse, or +the awful sequence of "isms," commencing with "Post-Impressionism," and +ending in the lowest depths of art degradation; but it is proper to +point out that so long as Impressionism puts forward its extravagant +pretensions, these corrupt forms will continue to taint the realm of art +to the detriment of both artists and public. + +The significance of Impressionism is alleged by its advocates to be of +such considerable import that in the public interest they should have +brought forward the most cogent arguments for its support. But we have +no such arguments, nor has any logical reason been advanced to offset +the obvious practical defects of the innovation, namely, that in the +general opinion the art is incomplete and decidedly inferior, and that +the leading critics of every country have ignored or directly condemned +it as an immature form of art. Nevertheless, although there has been no +determined attempt to upset the basis of art criticism as this basis has +been understood for more than twenty centuries; although the whole of +the arguments in support of the various forms of Impressionism have +failed to indicate any comprehensible basis at all, but have dealt +entirely with vague sensorial theories, and psychological suggestions +which have no general meaning; although it has never been remotely +advanced that the beauty produced by means of Impressionism is connected +with intellectual activity, as any high form of art must necessarily be: +notwithstanding all this, there has been gradually growing up in the +public mind, a vague and uncertain signification of the comparative +forms of art, which tends to the general confusion of thought amongst +the public, and a chaos of ideas in the minds of young artists. + +The root of these spreading branches of mysticism is to be found in the +insistent affirmation that the broad manner of painting is necessary for +the production of great work, and that only those old masters who used +this manner are worthy of study. It is, as if the advocates of the new +departure declare, "If we cannot demonstrate the superiority of our +work, we can at least affirm that our methods are the best." Where a +small minority is persistent in advocating certain views, and the great +majority do not trouble about replying thereto, false principles are +likely to find considerable area for permeation among the rising +generation, who are easily impressed with the appearance of undisputed +authority. In the matter we are discussing, the limited authority is +particularly likely to be recognized by the inexperienced of those +mostly concerned, that is to say, young artists, because it sanctions a +method of work which reduces to a minimum the labour involved in +arriving at excellence by the regular channels. + +Now the artist is at liberty to use any method of painting in producing +his picture providing he presents something beautiful. There is no +special virtue in a broad manner, a fine manner, or any other manner, +and the public, for whom the artist toils, is not concerned with the +point. It is as indifferent to the kind of brushwork used by the +painter, as to the variety of chisel handled by the sculptor. The +observer of the picture judges it for its beauty, and if it be well +painted, then the character of the brushwork is unconsidered. If, +however, the brushwork is so broad that the manner of painting protrudes +itself upon the observer at first sight, then the work cannot be of a +high class. All the paintings which we recognize as great works of art +are pictured upon the brain as complete things immediately they are +brought within the compass of the eye, and to this rule there is no +exception. If, when encompassed by the sight we find that a picture is +so broadly painted that we must move backwards to an unknown point +before the character of the work can be thoroughly comprehended as a +complete whole, then it is distinctly inferior as a work of art, +because, being incomprehensible on first inspection, it is necessarily +unbeautiful, and the act of converting it into a thing of beauty, by +means of a mechanical operation, complicates the picture on the brain +and so weakens its aesthetic value.[15] This is axiomatic. There are +proportions and propriety in all the arts, and the good artist is quite +aware of the lines to be drawn in respect of the manner he adopts. Jan +Van Eyck's picture of Arnolfini and his Wife, and Holbein's Ambassadors, +both painted in the fine manner, are equally great works of art with +Titian's portraits; and Raphael's portrait of Julius II. (the Pitti +Palace example),[16] which is in a manner midway between that of Holbein +and Titian, is superior to the work of all other portrait artists. + +But the most remarkable outcome of the spread of Impressionism is not +the extravagant use of the broad manner, for vagaries of this sort will +always find support among immature minds and undiligent hands, but the +establishment of a species of cult connected with certain old masters +who are not in the very first rank, and the attempted relegation to the +background of public opinion, of the few sublime painters whose colossal +genius and superiority are recognized by well balanced minds wherever +the breath of man can open the door of his soul. It is unnecessary to +enter upon a long enquiry as to the validity of these proceedings, but +the new position in which two great masters have been placed can +scarcely be ignored. These masters are Rembrandt and Velasquez, who +appear to have been set upon the loftiest of pedestals in order that +some of their glory may be shed upon the new varieties of Sprezzatura. +It has been frequently said that these masters were the first of +impressionists, but the connection between their work and Impressionism +is hard to find.[17] Not only is Rembrandt entirely distinct in his +manner from Velasquez; not only were they both portrait painters +primarily, while the great bulk of impressionist work is landscape; but +their aims, their ideas, and the whole of their works are as far removed +from the new school as the poles are asunder. The work of the two great +painters deals almost entirely with expression, that of the +impressionists with colour harmonies. In the one case intellectual +beauty is sought to accompany the sensorial, in the other the production +of beauty which is not purely or almost entirely sensorial, is not even +pretended. While these differences are obvious, and while no man of +ordinary intelligence is likely to be confused in his mind in respect of +them, the fact remains that the movement, which was born with +Impressionism some forty years ago, to raise Rembrandt and Velasquez to +an elevation in art to which they are not entitled, has met with much +success amongst that considerable section of the community which is +interested in art and appreciates its value, but suffers from the +delusion that special knowledge, which it has not acquired, is necessary +for the recognition of high aesthetic merit. No definite propositions +have been laid down in support of the movement: there has been no line +of reasoning for the critic to handle, nor have the old standards been +upset in the slightest degree: the position has been brought about +chiefly by a continuous reiteration of vague assertions and mystic +declarations, and by the glamour arising from the enormous prices paid +by collectors for the works of the masters named, consequent upon the +skilful commercial exploitation of this exaggerated approbation. + + [Illustration: PLATE 4 (See Page 113) + Venus Anadyomene (_Sculpture after the painting of Apelles_)] + + [Illustration: PLATE 5 (See page 115) + Venus Anadyomene (_The painting of Titian_)] + +Portraiture is necessarily on a lower scale of art than historical +painting (using this term in its higher application), firstly because +ideals are not possible therein, and secondly in that the imagination of +the artist is very restricted. The greatest portrait ever painted is +immeasurably below a picture where a beautiful ideal form, with ideal +expression is depicted; as far below in fact as the best ancient +sculptured busts were inferior to the gods of Praxiteles. Neither +Rembrandt nor Velasquez was capable of idealization of form, and so +neither left behind him a single painted figure to take its place as a +type. Rembrandt was a master of human expression, and in the +representation of character he was perhaps unsurpassed by any painter, +but if we analyze the feeling that is at the bottom of the appreciation +of his portraits, we find that it largely consists of something apart +from admiration of them as things of beauty. There enters into +consideration recognition of the extraordinary genius of the artist in +presenting character in such a way that the want of corporeal beauty +seems to be unfelt. Instead of observing that the expression in a +countenance harmonizes with the features, we involuntarily notice +that the features harmonize perfectly with the expression, which seems +in itself to be the picture. Of course inasmuch as the expression +invariably appeals to the good side of our nature, it means intellectual +beauty, but as the depth of any impression of this kind of beauty +depends upon the development of the mind, the admiration must, except +where the artist presents corporeal beauty, be confined generally to the +cultivated section of the community. From the point of view of pure art, +his fame as a great painter can only rest upon those of his pictures +which are also appreciated for the corporeal beauty exhibited. + +The extraordinary power of Velasquez lay in the sure freedom of his +execution, and in this he was equal to Titian. He was besides a master +of balance, and so every portrait he painted is one complete whole, and +has exactly the effect that a portrait should have--to direct the mind +of the observer to the subject, and away altogether from the painter. +But these high qualities as portrait painters do not place Rembrandt and +Velasquez on a level with Raphael, and Michelangelo, and Correggio. +Whatever the individual opinion, it is impossible to move aside from the +long path of experience and the laws dependent upon natural functions, +and so long as the world lasts, a work of ideal beauty, whether it be a +Madonna by Raphael, a Prophet by Michelangelo, or a symbolical figure by +Fragonard, will live in general estimation, which is the only test of +high beauty, far above portraits from life and scenes of every day +labour, however they may be painted. The beauty of the one is eternal +and exalting; and of the other, sympathetic and more or less passive. +The appreciation of Raphael and Michelangelo is universal, spontaneous, +emphatic; of Rembrandt and Velasquez, sometimes imperative, but usually +deliberative and cultivated. In fact it is only amongst a section of +cultivated people, that is to say, a small percentage of the community, +that Rembrandt and Velasquez are given a status which is not, and cannot +be, accorded them if we adhere to the natural and time-honoured +standards of judgment accepted by the first artists and philosophers +known to the world since art emerged from the prehistoric shade. To +place these artists above, or on a level with, the Italian artists +named, is to cast from their pedestals Homer, Phidias, Praxiteles, +Apelles, Shakespeare, Dante, and every other admittedly sublime genius +in art of whom we have record. + +Another baneful result of Impressionism is the attempt to raise +landscape to a higher level in art than that to which it is properly +entitled. This is perhaps a natural consequence of the elevation of +colour at the expense of form, for the movement is based upon new +methods of colouring, and the significance of colour is vastly greater +in landscape than in any other branch of art. Elsewhere the disabilities +of the landscape painter are pointed out, and it will be seen that fixed +and unalterable restrictions compel an extreme limitation to his work. +It is because of these restrictions that the very greatest artists have +refrained from paying close attention to this branch of art as a +separate department. + +From indirect records we may presume that landscape painting was well +understood in the days of ancient Greece, but there is no evidence that +it then formed a separate branch of art. In Roman times according to +Pliny, landscape was used for mural decoration. Of its character we can +only judge from the examples exposed during the excavations at Pompeii +and Herculaneum, which indicate that the pictures had but a +topographical interest, or formed settings for the representation of +industrial pursuits or classical adventures. Certainly there is no +instance in Greek or Roman art recorded or exhibited, of any landscape +as we understand it, that is, a work built up as a beautiful +representation of nature, to be instantly recognized by the observer as +a complete whole, as one sign in fact. The artists of the Italian +Renaissance did not paint landscapes as separate pictures unless by way +of study or experiment. They evidently considered landscape signs purely +as accessories, and composed their natural views with special reference +to figure designs. Some of them, particularly the leaders of the +Venetian School, occasionally painted pictures in which landscape +appears to play an important part, but in these cases the landscape is +really subsidiary, though essential to the design; and the works cannot +be compared in any way with those of Claude and others who often added +figures to their landscapes in order to comply with the wishes of their +patrons. The fifteenth century Flemish artists also dealt with landscape +purely as background, and so with Martin Schongauer, Duerer, and other +early German painters. But all the great painters down to the decline +of the Renaissance, closely studied landscape, as is evidenced by the +numerous sketches still existing, and the finished pictures remaining +clearly indicate that by the middle of the sixteenth century artists had +little or nothing to learn in landscape art, save the management of +complex aerial perspective. + +Since landscape painting was introduced as a separate art towards the +end of the sixteenth century, it has only commanded general attention +when the higher art of the painter has appeared to decline. In Flanders +the spurt in landscape due to Paul Bril was terminated with the last of +the Breughels by the overpowering splendour of Rubens in historical +work, and the attempts of even Rubens himself to create a greater +interest in landscape signally failed. There were some good landscape +painters in Holland during the flourishing period of the Dutch school, +but it was only when Rembrandt, Dow, Terburg, and the rest of the bright +constellation of figure painters had passed their zenith, or were +resting in quiet graves, that landscape painting became in any way +general. Then it was that Hobbema, Jacob Ruysdael, and their numerous +followers, with coast painters like Van der Cappelle, and sea painters +as William van de Velde, turned out the many fine works which are now so +highly prized. + +The Italians of the seventeenth century were too close to Raphael, and +Michelangelo, and Titian, to permit of a landscape being generally +received as a great work of art, but there appeared at this time in +Rome numerous foreigners from France, and Flanders, and Holland, who +were devoted to landscape, and amongst them the greatest genius known in +the art--Claude Lorraine. He was the first to put the sun in the sky on +canvas for the purpose of pure landscape; the first to master thoroughly +the intricate difficulties of aerial perspective; the first to adorn the +earth with fairy castles and dreamy visions of nature, such as we might +suppose to have been common in the days of the Golden Age, ere yet men +fought for power, or toiled from morn to eve for daily bread. With his +magic wand he skimmed the cream of natural beauty and spread it over the +Roman Campagna, transforming this historic ground into a region of +palaces, terraces, cascades, and glorious foliage. At the same time +Nicholas Poussin was also using the Campagna for the landscape settings +of his classical compositions--such perfect settings that it is +impossible to imagine the figures separated from their surroundings. +These two artists with their disciples, and many Flemish and Dutch +painters headed by Berghem and the two Boths, formed a landscape colony +of considerable importance, but no Italian landscape school was founded +from it. In the next century there was little pure landscape in Italy. +Some fine works of topographical, and a few of general interest were +produced by Canaletto and his followers, and a kind of landscape school +was maintained in Venice for half a century or more, but elsewhere in +Italy the cultivation of landscape was spasmodic and feeble. + +In England and France, landscape as a separate art has only made +considerable headway quite recently, though there have been local +schools, as the Norwich and Barbizon, which followed particular methods +in design. Meanwhile England produced some isolated giants in landscape, +as Wilson, Gainsborough, Turner, and Constable, Turner standing out as +the greatest painter of strong sun effects on record. It will be seen +that until the last generation or so, in no country has landscape been +admitted to high rank as a separate art, universal opinion very properly +recognizing that the highest beauty in the handiwork of man is to be +found in the representation of the human figure. Profound efforts of the +imagination are not required in landscape, for it consists of a +particular arrangement of inanimate signs which have no direct influence +upon the mind, and cannot appeal to the higher faculties. There is no +scope therein for lofty conceptions, and consequently the sensorial +beauty exhibited must be very high to have more than a quickly passing +effect upon the observer. This high beauty is most difficult to obtain, +and can only be reached by those who have a supreme knowledge of the +technique of their art; who have made a long and close study of natural +signs and effects; and who are possessed of uncommon patience and +industry. We need not be surprised that scarcely one out of every +hundred landscape painters executes a work which lasts a generation, and +not one out of a thousand secures a permanent place on the roll of art. +The man who does not give his life from his youth up, to his work, +concentrating his whole energy upon it, to the exclusion of everything +else, will paint only inferior landscapes. The four greatest landscape +painters known to us are Claude and Turner in distance work, and Hobbema +and Jacob Ruysdael in near-ground. Claude was labouring for twenty-five +years before he succeeded in accomplishing a single example of those +lovely fairy abodes so forcibly described by Goethe as "absolute truth +without a sign of reality." Turner took more than twenty years to master +the secrets of Claude; Jacob Ruysdael spent a quarter of a century in +working out to perfection the representation of flowing water, and +Hobbema passed through more than half of his long life before arriving +at his superlative scheme of increasing his available distance by +throwing in a powerful sunlight from the back of his trees. And a long +list of landscape painters of lesser lustre might be given, who went +through from fifteen to thirty years of painstaking labour before +executing a single first-class picture. + +Great landscapes of the pure variety are of two kinds, and two kinds +only. The highest are those where an illusion of opening distance or +other movement is provided, and the second class are where natural +scenes of common experience, under common conditions of atmosphere, are +faithfully reproduced. The lighter landscapes representing phases, as +the sketches of the Barbizon school,[18] with the moonlight scenes, and +the thousand and one sentimental colour harmonies unconcerned with human +motives, which are turned out with such painful regularity every month, +serve their purpose as wall decorations of the moment, but then die and +fade from memory like so many of the unfortunate artists who drag their +weary way to the grave in the vain struggle for fame by means of them. + +No landscape of the phase class can be anything more than a simple +harmony of tone and design, more ephemeral than the natural phase +itself. The quiet harmony is restful for the fatigued eye, and every eye +is fatigued every day; and because the eye feels relieved in glancing at +the picture, the conclusion arises to the unthinking that it must be a +great work of art. Glowing eulogies were pronounced upon Whistler's +Nocturne, in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, when it was first +placed there, but is there anything less like a work of beauty than the +dark meaningless patch as it is now seen? And the same thing has +happened with a thousand other landscapes of the kind--first presented +to the tired eyes of business and professional men, and then placed in +collections to be surrounded by permanently beautiful works. All these +phase pictures must quickly lose their beauty in accordance with natural +laws which cannot be varied. Let it not be supposed that the writer +means to suggest that these simple works should not be executed. They +are surely better than no decoration at all in the many homes for which +really fine pictures are unavailable, but it is entirely wrong to +endeavour to pervert the public judgment by putting them forward as +works of high art. + +And what of the struggling artists? Look around in every city and see +the numbers of bright young men and women wearing away the bloom of +their youth in vain endeavours to climb the heights of art by the easy +track of glowing colours! It is the call of Fame they think, that leads +them along, for they know not the voice of the siren, and see not the +gaping precipice which is to shatter their dreams. There is but one sure +path to the top of the mountain, but it is drab-coloured, and many are +the slippery crags. Few of the strongest spirits can climb it, but all +may try, and at least they may direct their minds upwards, and keep ever +in front of them a vision of the great idealists wandering over the +summit through the eternal glow of the fires they lit ere death +consecrated their glory. + + + + +BOOK I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Classification of the fine arts + + The arts imitative of nature--The arts classified according to the + character of their signs--Poetry not a compound art, primarily--The + extent to which the arts may improve upon nature. + + +Since art uses natural signs for the purpose of representing nature, it +is necessarily mimetic in character.[19] + +Poetry represents all that the other arts imitate, and in addition, +presumed divine actions. Specially it imitates human and presumed +spiritual actions, with form and expression; expression directly, form +indirectly. + +Sculpture imitates human and presumed spiritual form and expression; +form directly, expression indirectly. It also represents animal forms, +and modifications of natural forms in ornament. + +Painting imitates natural forms and products, and specially human form +and expression; form directly, expression indirectly. + +Fiction imitates human actions, and form and expression; expression +directly, form indirectly. + +Music imitates natural sounds and combines them and specially represents +human emotional effects. + +Architecture is the least imitative of the arts, its freedom in the +representation of nature being restricted by the necessity of serving +the end of utility. It combines geometrical forms, and in the positions +and proportions of these, is compelled to represent what we understand +from experience of nature as natural balance. + +The poet may give to a character sublime attributes far above +experience, or expand form as Homer raises the stature of Strife to the +heavens, but he cannot provide attributes beyond experience in kind, or +any part of a form outside of nature. He may combine or rearrange, and +enlarge or diminish as he will, and so may the painter, the sculptor, or +musician, but he is powerless to create signs unknown to nature. It +follows then, that he who imitates nature in the most beautiful way, +that is to say, he who combines the signs of nature to form the most +beautiful whole, produces the greatest work of art. + +It would appear that upon the character of their principal signs is +dependent the relative position of the arts in respect of the +recognition of beauty therein. Of the six fine arts, namely, Poetry, +Sculpture, Painting, Fiction, Music, and Architecture, the first four, +which hereafter in this work will be known as the Associated Arts, have +for their principal sign the human figure, to which everything else is +subordinate; while in music the signs consist of tones, and in +architecture, of lines. + +All the other arts whose object is to give pleasure, as the drama, +dancing, etching, are either modifications of one of the fine arts, or +combinations of two or more of them. In recent times it has been held +that poetry is a combined art, owing to the almost invariable use of a +simple form of music in its construction, but it would appear that +primarily poetry is independent of metrical assistance. This was clearly +laid down by Aristotle, but modern definitions of the art have usually +included some reference to metre.[20] Now in our common experience two +things are observable in respect of poetry. The first is, that when by +way of admiration or criticism, we discuss the works of those poets whom +all the world recognizes as the greatest known to us, we deal only with +the substance of what is said, and the manner of saying it, without +reference to the metrical form. In the second place we observe that the +higher the poetry, the more simple is the metrical form with which it is +associated. The great epics, which necessarily take first rank in +poetry, have only metre, the higher musical measures in which lyrics are +set being avoided. But as we descend in the scale of the art, metrical +form becomes of more importance, and when simple subjects are dealt +with, and a grand style is inappropriate, the production would not be +called poetry unless in the form of verse. + + [Illustration: PLATE 6 (See page 116) + The Reposing Venus of Giorgione (_Dresden Gallery_)] + +In epic and dramatic poetry, we call one poet greater than another +because of his superior invention and beauty of expression, let the +measure be what it will. But the invention comes first, for only high +invention can be clothed with lofty expression. The actions of deathless +gods or god-like men; qualities of goodness, nobility, courage, +grandeur, so high as to be above human reach: only these can form the +subject of language and sentiment soaring into regions of the sublime, +and indifferent to metrical artifice. In the sacred books of all great +religions we may find the loftiest poetry without regular form, and any +prose translation of the Greek poets will provide many examples,[21] +though often there is a cadence--a rise and fall in the flow of words +which is more or less regular, and has the effect of emphasizing the +sentiment, and of throwing the images upon the mind with directness and +force. We must conclude then that in poetry, while metrical form is +generally essential, it is not vital to the highest flights of the poet, +and so strictly, poetry is primarily a pure and not a compound art. + +Seeing that art uses the signs of nature of which man is at once a +product and a tool, it must in its progress follow the general course of +nature. In her development of life, nature is chiefly concerned in the +improvements of types for her own purposes, and only uses the individual +in so far as he can assist in this end, while the natural instinct of +the individual is to conserve and improve his type. The art which +represents life is compelled to deal chiefly with types, for it is only +by the use of a type that the artist can apply his imagination to the +production of high beauty, to whatever extent he may use the individual +to help him in this purpose, and it is instinctive in the human being to +maintain and improve the aesthetic attraction of the species. The highest +art, as the highest work of nature, consists of the presentation of a +perfected type. The artist therefore must consider the species before +the individual; the essential before the accidental; the general before +the particular. + +The living signs of nature with which art deals are of two classes. In +the one sign the position of parts is the same throughout the species, +and is fixed and invariable, as in fully developed animals; in the other +the position is irregular, and variable within limits, as in plants. In +the latter case the position of parts may be commonly varied +indefinitely without a sense of incongruity arising, as in a tree, and +hence there can be no conceivable general form or type upon which art +may build up perfected parts and proportions. In respect of such a sign +therefore, art cannot improve, or appear to improve, upon nature, by +combining perfected parts into a more beautiful whole than nature +provides. + +In the case of a fully developed animal, where the position of parts is +fixed, a type may be conceived which is superior in symmetry and harmony +to any individual of the species produced by nature, for the imagination +is restricted to an unchangeable form, and has but to put together +perfected parts and proportions. But this conception can only be applied +in art to human beings, because in respect of other animals, while no +two are alike, the members of each species, or each section of a +species, seem to be alike, or so closely alike in form and expression, +that no perfected type can be conceived which will appear to be superior +in general beauty to the normal individual of the species, or section +thereof, coming within actual experience. Thus, the most perfect +conceivable racehorse painted on canvas, might in reality be more +perfect in form than any actual racehorse, but to the observer of the +picture it would not appear to be of greater perfection or higher beauty +than racehorses that come, or may come, within experience. The poet may +describe the actions and appearance of a courser in such a way as to +suggest that the animal has qualities far above experience, but the form +of the animal when thrown on the mind of the reader, would still appear +to be within the bounds of experience. + +With the human being, in addition to the general form there enters into +consideration the countenance, which is the all-important seat of +beauty, is the principal key to expression, and which, to the common +knowledge, differs in every person in character and proportions. Nature +never produces a perfect form with a perfect countenance, and she +actually refuses to provide a countenance which is free from elements +connected with purely human instincts and passions. But it is within the +power of art to correct the work of nature in these respects--to put +together perfect parts, and to provide a general expression approaching +our highest conceptions of human majesty. Homer, Phidias, and Raphael +have enabled us to throw upon our minds images far above any of actual +experience. + +Apart from these ideal forms, nature cannot be surpassed by art in the +production of beauty, either in respect of animate or inanimate signs, +separately or collectively, the latter because within the limitations +of art, there is no grouping or arrangement of signs possible which +would not appear to correspond with what may be observed in nature, +unless something abnormal and less beautiful than any natural +combination be presented. + +Poetry, painting, and sculpture may be concerned with ideals. In fiction +an ideal is impossible because the writer must treat of life as it is, +or as it appears to be, within the bounds of experience. In neither +music nor architecture is there a basic sign or combination of signs +upon which the imagination may build up an ideal. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LAW OF RECOGNITION IN THE ASSOCIATED ARTS + + Explanation of the law--Its application to poetry--To sculpture--To + painting--To fiction. + + +While we are unable to explain, logically and completely, our +appreciation of what we understand as beauty, experience has taught us +that there are certain phenomena connected with aesthetic perception +which are so regular and undeviating in their application as to have all +the force of law. The first and most important of these phenomena +relates to the interval of time elapsing between the sense perception of +a thing of art, and the recognition by the mind of the beauty therein. + +We know from common experience of the Associated Arts that if one fails +to appreciate a work almost immediately after comprehending its nature +and purport, he arrives at the conclusion that there is no beauty +therein, or at least that the beauty is so obscure as to be scarcely +worth consideration. But sometimes on further acquaintance with the work +the view of the observer may be changed, and he may become aware of a +certain beauty which he did not before appreciate. We notice also that +when the beauty is comparatively high, it is more rapidly recognized +than when it is comparatively low. Continuing the examination we arrive +at what is evidently an unalterable law, namely, that the higher the +aesthetic value in a particular sphere of art, the more rapidly is the +beauty therein recognized; that is to say, given any two works, other +things being equal, that is the higher art the beauty in which is the +more quickly conveyed to the mind of the observer after contact with it, +and precisely to the extent to which the reasoning powers are required +to be exercised in comprehending the work, so the beauty therein is +diminished. The law may be called for convenience the Law of +Recognition. + +But there are different kinds of beauty as well as degrees. One kind may +be more quickly recognized, and yet make a weaker impression on the +mind, a condition which is due to the varying relations between the +sensorial and intellectual elements in the works. We note that in all +the Associated Arts, as the works therein descend in aesthetic value, the +emotional element becomes more evident, and consequently the impression +received, less permanent. But sensorial beauty is the first essential in +a work of art: hence while the direct appeal to the mind must be made as +strong as possible, this must not be done at the expense of the +emotional elements. We unconsciously measure the emotional with the +intellectual effect, and if the former does not at least equal the +latter, we reject the work as inferior art. A painted Madonna wanting in +beauty of features is instantly and properly condemned even if her +figure be enshrined within surroundings of saintly glories which in +themselves make a powerful appeal to the mind. In fact the highest +reaches in art were probably originally suggested by the necessity of +balancing the one with the other form of beauty. The highest +intellectual considerations seem to rise far above any emotional +experiences connected with ordinary life, and hence to enable these +considerations to enter the domain of art, the divine must be introduced +so that the artist may extend his imaginative scope for the provision of +emotional effects commensurate, as far as possible, with the importance +of his appeal to the mind. Hence in all arts which combine an +intellectual with an emotional appeal, the highest forms must ever be +connected with the spiritual. + +In other grades of these arts also, the artist has to use special means +to maintain a due balance between the two kinds of beauty. Shakespeare +could not give men and women of every-day experience the wisdom, the +judgment, and the foresight necessary for the presentation of the +powerful pictures which some of his characters throw upon the mind, so +he raises them above the level of life by according them greater virtues +and nobler passions than are to be found in people of actual experience. +The supreme emotional effects he produces seem perfectly appropriate +therefore to the intellectual appeals. In the next lower form of art, +where the representation does not go beyond life experience, the +emotional appeal is of still greater relative importance because the +appeal to the mind is rarely striking. The emotional effect here may +indeed be so overpowering that the purely mental considerations are +lost sight of, and we observe that in all the greater works of art in +the division, whether of poetry, painting, sculpture, or fiction, the +intellectual appeal is vastly exceeded by the emotional. When we reach +the grade which deals with subjects inferior to the average level of +human life, as the representation of animals, landscape, humour, +still-life, the sensorial effect must be exceedingly strong relatively, +otherwise the art would scarcely be recognizable, the appeal to the mind +being necessarily weak. + +It is clearly compulsory then that the Associated Arts, all of which may +appeal to the mind as well as to the senses, should be separated into +divisions for the purpose of applying the Law of Recognition, and these +divisions are obvious, for they are marked by the strongest natural +boundary lines. They are: 1. The art which deals with divinities. 2. +That which exhibits beauty above life experience, but does not reach the +divine. 3. That which represents life. 4. That which produces +representations inferior to life. This separation corresponds with that +applied by Aristotle to poetry and painting, except that he joined the +two first sections into one, which he described as better than life. But +the division of the great philosopher, while being sufficient for his +purpose, is hardly close enough for the full consideration of the kinds +of beauty, since it puts in the same class, representations of the +divinity and the superman--joins Homer and Phidias with Praxiteles and +Raphael. In dealing with the divine the artist need place no limit to +his imagination in the presentation of his picture, whereas with the +superman he must circumscribe his fancy within the limits of what may +appear to the senses to be possibly natural. It is true that the poet +may use the supernatural as distinguished from the divine, to enable him +to extend his imaginative scope, and so give us beautiful pictures which +would be otherwise unpresentable. Shakespeare makes us imagine Puck +encircling the earth in forty minutes, and Shelley shows us iron-winged +beings climbing the wind, but we immediately recognize these pictures as +figures of fancy, or as in the nature of allegory, and they do not +impress us so deeply as the miraculous flight of a goddess of Homer, or +an assemblage of the satellites of Satan in the Hell of Milton, for we +involuntarily regard these events as compatible with the religious faith +of great nations, and so as having a nearer apparent semblance of truth. +Sacred art therefore, being capable of providing beauty of a much higher +kind than any other form, should be placed in a separate section for the +purpose of considering the law under discussion. Only poetry among the +arts is capable of appropriately representing divine actions, and only +sculpture of producing a form so perfect as to bring a divinity to mind. +Hence these arts are alone concerned with the Law of Recognition as +applied to the first section of the Associated Arts. + +The law applies to all the Associated Arts, and to all sections of them, +except the lowest form of painting--that represented by harmony of +colour without appeal to the mind of any kind--but this form is so weak +and exceptional that it need hardly be considered in the general +proposition. Indeed we might reasonably argue that it does not come +within the fine arts, as it is produced by a mechanical arrangement of +things with fixed and unalterable physical properties. + +The law cannot apply to music and architecture, for the effects of these +are purely emotional, and so directly vary with conditions of time and +place respectively. A work of architecture may seem more beautiful in +one place than in another; and a work of music more or less beautiful +according as it more or less synchronizes with emotional conditions of +human activity surrounding the hearer at the time of the performance. + +While this law is unvarying in the Associated Arts, there are artificial +restrictions which must be considered in order that apparent deviations +from it may be understood. Special restrictions in relation to the +higher poetry and sculpture are mentioned later on, but there is also an +important general restriction. The sense nerves and the imagination, +like all other functions, must be exercised in order that normal healthy +conditions may be retained; but a large section of the people, by force +of circumstances or want of will, have neglected this exercise, and so +through disuse or misuse these functions are often in a condition which +is little more than rudimentary. Hence such persons are practically +debarred from appreciation of many forms of art, and particularly those +wherein intellectual beauty is a marked feature. In discussing the +operation of this law amongst people in general therefore, the writer +must be understood to refer only to that section of the community whose +sense nerves and imaginations may be supposed to be in a healthy, active +condition. + +Experience with all the Associated Arts has clearly demonstrated the +validity of this law. The strength of the devices used by the poet lies +in simplifying the presentation of his pictures. Metaphor is necessary +to the poet, for without it he would be powerless to present pictures +made up of a number of parts, but he also uses it for the purpose of +throwing simple images upon the mind more rapidly, and consequently more +forcibly, than would be possible if direct means were employed; and the +beauty of the metaphor appears the greater according as it more +completely fills in the picture which the poet is desirous of +presenting. When other artifices than metaphor or simile are applied, +the result only appears very beautiful when the condensation of the +language used is extreme, and when there is no break in the delineation +of the action. A few supreme examples of beauty derived from the +principal devices of the poet for presenting his pictures may be +instanced, and it will be found that in each case the power of the image +is directly due to the brevity of expression, the simplicity of +description and metaphor, or the unimpeded representation of action. + +More than three thousand years have passed since the period assigned to +Helen of Troy, and yet each generation of men and women as they learn of +her, have deeply sealed upon their minds the impression that she was of +surpassing beauty, almost beyond the reach of human conception. We have +practically no details of her appearance from Homer or Hesiod, except +that she was neat-ankled, white-armed, rich-haired, and had the +sparkling eyes of the Graces, but already in the time of Hesiod her +renown "spread over the earth." What was it then that established the +eternal fame of her beauty? Simply a few words of Homer indicating the +startling effect of her appearance before the elders of Troy. We are +allowed to infer that these dry, shrunken-formed sages, shrill-voiced +with age, became passionately disturbed by a mere glance at her figure, +and nervously agreed with each other that little blame attached to the +Greeks and Trojans for suffering such long and severe hardships on +account of her, for only with the goddesses could she be compared. How +wondrous must be the beauty when a glimpse of it suffices to hasten the +blood through shrivelled veins, and provoke tempestuous currents to +awake atrophied nerves! Without the record of this incident, the vague +notices of Helen's appearance would be very far from sufficient to +account for the universal recognition of her marvellous beauty.[22] + + [Illustration: PLATE 7 (See page 122) + Greek Sculpture, 4th Century B.C. Attributed to Scopas + Greek Bronze, 3d Century B.C. + Heads of Demeter] + +One of the finest lines of Shakespeare is, "How sweet the moonlight +sleeps upon this bank." The beauty of the line rests entirely upon the +use of the word "sleeps" to express something which could not be +otherwise said without the use of many words. The moonbeam is apparently +perfectly still, the atmosphere calm, and there is nothing in the +surroundings to disturb the natural tranquillity, these conditions +inducing a feeling of softness and rest in the observer. If it had been +necessary to say all this, Shakespeare would certainly have omitted +reference to the moonlight, but his powerful imagination brings to mind +the word "sleeps" to express the conditions, and we are overwhelmed with +a beautiful picture suddenly thrown on the brain as if by a brilliant +flash of light. + +Among the many illustrations of the point which may be found in the +Bible, is the great passage, "And God said, 'Let there be Light,' and +there was Light." This is described by Longinus as nobly expressed, but +he does not suggest any cause for its aesthetic effect. It is true that +nothing could be finer, but the nobility of the expression is derived +from its brevity--from the extreme rapidity with which so vast and +potent an event as an act of creation is pictured on the brain.[23] A +description of an act of creation, although involving psychological +considerations of sublimity, is not necessarily so beautiful in +expression as to be a work of art. + +In the case of lyric poetry, brevity of expression, though still of high +importance, is not of so much moment as in epic or dramatic verse, +because the substance is subordinated to beauty of expression and +musical form. Devices are used chiefly for strengthening the sensorial +element, the appeal to the mind being in most cases secondary. +Nevertheless the lyric poet wastes no words. Take for example Sappho's +_Ode to Anactoria_. The substance of these amazing lines is +comparatively insignificant, being merely the expression of emotion on +the part of an individual consequent upon disappointment, yet the +transcendent beauty of the poem has held enthralled fourscore +generations of men and women, and still the world gasps with +astonishment at its perfection. Obviously the beauty of the ode rests +mainly on qualities of form which cannot be reproduced in translation, +but the substance may be, and it will be observed that the description +of the action is unsurpassable. The picture, the whole picture, and +nothing but the picture, is thrown on the mind rapidly and directly; so +rapidly that the movement of the brush is scarcely discernible, and so +simply that not a thought is required for its elucidation. With the +chain of symptoms broken or less closely connected, the passion +indicated would be comparatively feeble, whatever the force of the +artifices in rhythm and expression which Sappho knew so well how to +employ.[24] + +As with poetry, so with the arts of sculpture and painting: the greatest +works result from simple designs. All the sculptures which we recognize +as sublime or highly beautiful, consist of single figures, or in very +rare cases, groups of two or three, and indeed it is difficult to hold +in our minds a carved group of several figures. The images of the Zeus +and Athena of Phidias, though we know little of them except from +literary records and inferior copies, are far more brilliantly mirrored +upon our minds than the Parthenon reliefs. The importance of simplicity +is perhaps more readily seen in sculpture than in any other art, for the +slightest fault in design has an immediate effect upon the mind of the +observer. It is noticeable that the decadence of a great art period is +usually first marked by complications in sculptured figures.[25] + +In painting, the pictures which we regard as great are characterized by +their simplicity, and the immediate recognition of their purport. They +are either ideal figures, or groups where at least the central figure is +idealized and commonly known. The work must be grasped at one glance for +the beauty to be of a high order. Hence in the case of frescoes great +artists have not attempted to make the beauty of any part dependent upon +the comprehension of the whole. It is impossible for the eye to take in +at a single glance the whole of a large fresco painting, and this +explains why a fresco celebrated for its beauty is often disappointing +to one who sees it for the first time, and endeavours to impress it on +his mind as a single picture by rapidly piecing together the different +parts.[26] Polygnotus could well paint forty scenes from Homer as mural +decoration in one hall, for they could only be examined and understood +as separate pictures; and the ceiling of Michelangelo at the Vatican is +so arranged that there is no necessity for combining the parts in the +mind. So with the Parma frescoes of Correggio. Raphael had a different +task in his Vatican frescoes, but he accomplished it by arranging his +figures so that each separate group is a beautiful picture; and Lionardo +in his great work at Milan divided the Apostles into groups of three in +order to minimize the consideration necessary for the appreciation of so +large a work. + +Fiction is divided into two sections, the novel and the short story, and +they are so distinct in character that they must necessarily be +considered separately in the application of the law under discussion. +Form is of high importance in both classes of the art, but weighs more +in the short story because here the appeal to the mind is unavoidably +restricted. The novelist is capable of producing a higher beauty than is +within the range of the short-story writer. The latter is limited in his +delineation of character to the circumstances surrounding a single +experience, while the novelist, in describing various experiences, may +add shade upon shade in expression and thus elevate the characters and +actions above the level possible of attainment by means of a single +incident. But within his limit the short-story writer may provide his +beauty more easily than the novelist, because a picture can be more +readily freed from complications when away from surroundings, than when +it forms one of a series of pictures which must have connecting links. A +good short story consists of a single incident or experience in a life +history. It is clearly cut, without introduction, and void of a +conclusion which is not directly part of the incident. The subject is of +general interest; the language simple, of common use, and free from +mannerisms; while there are no accessories beyond those essential for +the comprehension of the scheme. These conditions, which imply the most +extreme simplicity, are present in all the greatest short stories known +to us--the best works of the author of the _Contes Nouvelles_, of +Sacchetti, Boccaccio, Margaret of Navarre, Hoffman, Poe, and De +Maupassant. The novel differs from the short story in that it is a large +section of a life with many experiences, but the principles under which +the two varieties of fiction are built up, are precisely the same. +Obviously the limit in length of a novel is that point beyond which the +writer cannot enhance the beauty of character and action, while +maintaining the unity of design. This means the concentration of effort +in the direction of simplicity, facilitating the rapid reception of the +pictures presented by the writer upon the mind of the reader. + +It is thus evident that the higher the beauty in the Associated Arts, +the simpler are the signs or sign combinations which produce it; and +hence the Law of Recognition rests on a secure foundation, for the +simple must necessarily be recognized before the complex. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LAW OF GENERAL ASSENT + + General opinion the test of beauty in the Associated Arts. + + +The first aim of art is sensorial beauty, because sensorial experience +must precede the impression of beauty upon the mind. The extent to which +something appears to be sensorially harmonious depends upon the +condition or character of the nerves conveying the impression of it to +the brain. We know from experience that exercise of these nerves results +in the removal or partial removal of natural irregularities therein, and +enables a complex form of beauty to be recognized which was not before +perceived. The vast majority of the people have not cultivated their +sense nerves except involuntarily, and consequently can only recognize +more or less simple beauty: thus, as the sign combinations become more +complicated, so is diminished the number of persons capable of +appreciating the beauty thereof. + +The highest form of beauty conceivable to the imagination is that of the +human being, because here corporeal and intellectual beauty may be +combined. This is universally admitted and has been so since the first +records of mental activity. The human figure must be regarded as a +single sign since the relation of its parts to each other is fixed and +invariable; and further it is the simplest, because of all signs none is +so quickly recognized by the rudimentary understanding. In the +Associated Arts therefore, the highest beauty is to be found in the +simplest sign, and this is the one supremely important sign in these +arts, for without it only the lowest forms may be produced. + +From all this we determine that the higher the beauty in a work of the +Associated Arts, the larger is the number of persons capable of +recognizing it; so that if we say that something in these arts is +beautiful because it pleases, we imply that it is still more beautiful +if we say that it generally pleases, and the highest of all standards of +beauty is involved in the interpretation of Longinus: "That is sublime +and beautiful which always pleases, and takes equally with all sorts of +men." Thus, in the Associated Arts, the general opinion as to the +aesthetic value of a work of high art is both demonstration and law.[27] + +In music the significance of the signs is inverted compared with the +progression in the Associated Arts, for while in the latter the highest +form of beauty is produced by the simplest of single signs, in music the +higher forms are the result of complex combinations of signs. The +greatest musical compositions consist of an immense variety of signs +arranged in a hitherto unknown order. Thus, while the immature or +uncultivated mind recognizes the higher forms of beauty before the lower +in the Associated Arts, it first recognizes the lower forms in music. In +the Associated Arts therefore, cultivation results in the further +appreciation of the forms of art as they descend, and in music as they +ascend. + +In painting, the most uncultivated persons, even those who have never +exercised their organs of sight except involuntarily, will always admire +the higher forms before the lower.[28] They will more highly appreciate +a picture of a Madonna or other beautiful woman than an interior where +the scene is comparatively complicated by the presence of several +persons, and they will prefer the interior to a landscape, and a +landscape to a still-life picture. So in sculpture. Other things being +equal, a figure of a man or woman will be preferred to a group, and the +group to an animal or decorative ornament. An exception must however be +made in respect of the sublime reaches of Grecian sculpture in the fifth +and fourth centuries B.C., owing to an artificial restriction. There is +very little of this sculpture to be actually seen, nearly all the more +important works being known only from records or variable copies. +Considerable observation, comparison, and study, are necessary before +one can gain a fair conception of the Grecian ideals, and so they are +practically lost to the bulk of the people. + +In fiction it is common knowledge that the greatest works from the point +of view of art are always the most popular, as they are invariably the +most simple in construction and diction. In considering poetry we must +exclude the great epics, as those of Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton, +because where the actions of supernatural persons are described, the +sentiments and language employed are so elevated in character, and the +images and literary references so numerous, that a certain superior +education is required before the sense of the poems can be comprehended. +Subject to this artificial restriction, the rule holds entirely good. +Shakespeare is at once the greatest and most popular of our poets: +Shelley, Byron, and Burns, are as far ahead of Tennyson and Browning in +popularity as they are in general beauty and simplicity. + +In music on the other hand the lower forms are the simplest and +consequently the most popular. Songs, dance measures, and ditties of +various kinds, are enjoyed by the mass of the people in preference to +Beethoven and Wagner, a certain cultivation of the aural nerves being +necessary for the appreciation of the greater artists. The architect is +under the necessity of meeting the ends of utility, but subject to this +restriction it is obvious that simplicity must be the keynote to his +design, for the highest quality of beauty in his power to produce is +grandeur, and this diminishes with an increase in the complexity of his +sign combinations. The combination of simplicity with grandeur is the +first form of beauty that would be recognized by the immature eye, and +consequently in respect of the general test of art excellence, +architecture falls into line with the Associated Arts, and not with +music. + +From what has been said it will be understood how it is that in the +Associated Arts opinion as to the aesthetic value of particular works +begins to differ as soon as we leave the recognized masterpieces of the +first rank, and why the divergence widens with every step downwards. As +the character of the art is lowered so is diminished the number of +persons capable of appreciating it. In painting and sculpture this +diminution is direct with the increased complexity of the signs used, +and indirect according as the character of the signs weakens. In poetry +the same rule applies generally, but in the lower forms alliance with +the art of music may bring about a variation. Only the very lowest forms +of music may be used with the higher forms of poetry because the poet +must have the minimum of restriction when dealing with the character and +actions of the personages who constitute the principal signs in his +work, but as the art descends the musical form becomes of more +importance, and the substance more simple. Hence the sensorial beauty of +a lyric may be appreciated more quickly than that of a poem which is, in +substance, of a much higher order, though the kind of beauty recognized +will differ in the two cases. But even in the greatest lyric the musical +form is comparatively very simple, its beauty being recognized without +special cultivation of the aural nerves: thus, subject to the division +of poetry into its natural grades--the two sections where substance and +form respectively predominate--the measure of its beauty is the extent +to which it is generally appreciated. None of the other Associated Arts +may be allied with a second art without crippling it as a fine art, +because of the extraordinary limitations forced upon the artist by the +alliance; and hence in respect of sculpture, painting, and fiction, +there is no exception to the rule that the beauty capable of being +produced diminishes strictly with an increase in the complexity of the +signs used. + +These facts appear sufficiently to establish what may be called the Law +of General Assent in the Associated Arts; that is to say, in the arts of +poetry, sculpture, painting, and fiction, the supreme test of the +aesthetic value of a work, is general opinion; and a corollary of this is +that the smaller the number of persons to whom a work of one of these +arts appeals, the weaker is the art therein. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +LIMITATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTS + + The production of beauty in the respective arts--How they differ + in scope. + + +The Associated Arts have all the same method of producing beauty: they +throw pictures on the brain.[29] Sensorial or intellectual beauty, or +both together, may be exhibited, but in the arts of the painter and +sculptor the picture is transferred to the brain through the optic +nerves, and is necessarily presented before the intellect can be brought +to bear upon the impression. The arts of the poet and the story writer +involve the presentation of a picture representing the complete +composition, and in addition when the work is lengthy, of a series of +pictures each of which strengthens the relief of the general design. The +painter and sculptor each presents a complete picture, the meaning of +which is immediately determined through the sense of sight, and the +extent of the beauty is bounded by what can be recognized by this sense. +All the signs necessary to perfect the composition are simultaneously +indicated, the artist exhibiting at one blow a full description of what +makes up his thing of beauty. But the poet cannot so produce a picture +because he presents the parts successively and not simultaneously, and +in the most important of all the forms which he represents--that of the +human countenance--both beauty and expression have to be defined, and +the separate elements are indescribable. Consequently, however, we may +combine the features of a countenance as described by the poet, we +cannot throw a picture of the whole upon our minds. A particular form of +beauty must be presented to the eye before it can be mentally pictured. +The poet therefore does not attempt to dovetail his picture of the human +form with descriptive details, but relies upon imagery, suggestion, or +other artifice, to indicate his meaning in the most rapid way +possible.[30] The novelist is in the same position as the poet in this +respect, except that some of the devices of the latter are denied him. + +But although the poet or novelist cannot put together the parts in his +description, he may in certain cases present natural beauty to the mind, +his scope depending upon the nature of the parts and the extent to which +they depend upon each other for the completion of the picture. Where the +beauty of the whole rests upon a combination of perfected parts of form +only, as in the case of a horse, then the poet is able to present beauty +of form notwithstanding that the separate parts are in themselves not +beautiful, though the beauty would be that of the type and not of the +individual. The beauty of a horse depends upon its possession of a +collection of features which have each a particular significance. If we +are able to recognize from a description that a horse has qualities of +form and action indicating speed, high spirits, proud bearing, and so +on, and at the same time has a harmonious symmetry in its general +outline, a beautiful animal is thrown on the mind without difficulty. We +readily picture the courser described by Shakespeare in his _Venus and +Adonis_ as a beautiful horse, but we should not be able to differentiate +it from the courser of Mazeppa. Where the parts of the thing described +are in themselves beautiful, then the poet may successfully throw on the +mind a series of pictures of aesthetic interest. Thus, he may call to the +imagination parts of a landscape which are in themselves beautiful +scenes, as for instance a deep gorge opening on to a lake, or a flowery +valley, though the parts could not be put together on the mind so that +the beauty of the whole may be presented.[31] + +Summing up the limits of the Associated Arts in the presentation of the +two kinds of beauty, the poet and the novelist can present general or +particular beauty of mind, and general sensorial beauty, but are +powerless with particular sensorial beauty; the sculptor and painter may +present general or particular sensorial beauty, and general, but not +particular, beauty of mind. Particular sensorial beauty may be suggested +by the poet or novelist, by indicating its emotional effect, or by +symbols in the form of metaphor; and particular intellectual beauty may +be suggested by the sculptor or painter by representing the effect in +expression of a particular action, or by symbols in the form of human +figures of beauty. + + [Illustration: PLATE 8 (See page 139) + Raphael's Sistine Madonna, with the Face of the Central Figure in + Fragonard's "The Pursuit" Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +But while the poet cannot throw upon the brain a particular form of +human beauty, he may suggest a greater beauty than that which the +painter or sculptor can depict, and further produce emotional effects +relating to spiritual and human actions and passions which are beyond +the plastic arts: hence his art is capable of the highest reaches. Next +to him come the sculptor and painter, for they may represent ideal forms +which must be excluded from fiction. Theoretically, painting and +sculpture are equal in respect of the production of human beauty, for +there is no form designed by the one which may not be presented by the +other; but practically the painter cannot attain to the height of the +sculptor in the representation of ideal beauty.[a] + + [a] See Chapter IX. + +The sculptor and painter are at a disadvantage compared with the poet +and novelist, for the limitation of their arts compels them to confine +their imaginations to structural work. Each of the Associated Arts +consists nominally of three parts: (_a_) the scheme, or idea, or fable; +(_b_) the design or invention[32]; (_c_) the execution. In a +representation of action, the painter or sculptor can only depict a +particular moment of it, neither the beginning nor the end being +visible. He must therefore choose an action of which the beginning and +end are known, for while either may be suggested in a simple design, +both cannot be implied so that the whole story is obvious. He has +consequently to take his moment of action from a fact or fable in one of +the literary arts, or from actual life experience.[33] Where no +particular action is indicated, as in many pastoral and interior scenes +in painting, or ornamental figures in sculpture, the conception and +invention are one. Thus, the painter or sculptor is confined to only two +parts of his art, the design and execution. While therefore the scope of +the poet and novelist is as unlimited as the sea of human motives and +passions, that of the painter and sculptor is held within strictly +marked bounds. + +All the Associated Arts are alike in that they cannot be specially used +for moral or social purposes without suffering a marked deterioration. +This is because of the limitations imposed upon the artist. His wings +are clipped: his imagination is confined within a narrow groove: he is +converted from a master to a slave. Hence no great work of one of these +arts has been produced where the conception of the artist was bound by +the necessity of pointing a moral, or of conforming to some idea of +utility.[34] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DEGREES OF BEAUTY IN THE PAINTER'S ART + + +The degrees of beauty which the art of the painter can exhibit appear to +be, in order of their value, as follows: + +1. That which appeals to the senses with form, and to the mind with +expression, above the possibility of life experience. This double beauty +can only be found in ideals, and the real cannot be associated with it +except as accessory. The highest art of the painter is therefore +confined to sacred, mythological, and symbolical subjects. + +2. That which appeals to the senses through representation of the human +form, without, or with only partial idealization, and to the mind +through the indication in expression of high abstract qualities. This +section comprises subjects of profane history, and high class +portraiture. It varies from the succeeding section in that the artist +may represent the human being as he ought to be, or would be with the +higher physical and abstract qualities emphasized, or in certain cases, +with these qualities added. + +3. That which appeals to the senses through the harmony of tone and +design, and to the mind through the representation of human action +within the compass of life experience. This section comprises interiors +and exteriors relating to daily life and labour, and portraiture which +is merely accurate imitation of features. It differs from the previous +section in that it represents the human being as he is, and not as he +ought to be. + +4. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of colour and +design, in respect of the imitation and the things imitated, in addition +to pleasing because it excites admiration of the skill in imitation. +This section comprises landscape, flowers, fine plumaged birds, and +certain symmetrical animal forms. + +5. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of tone and design, +and indirectly to the mind through association of ideas connected with +the other arts; in addition to pleasing because of the excellent +imitation, and possibly because of the beauty of the things imitated. +This section comprises paintings of things connected with the other +arts, and which are neither beautiful nor displeasing, such as books and +musical instruments; or which are imitations of products of another art, +as plate, marble reliefs, or architectural forms. + +6. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of tone and design, +in addition to pleasing because of the excellent imitation. This class +of beauty comprises paintings of objects which in themselves are not +beautiful, as vegetables, kitchen utensils, and certain animals; or +which are even repellent, as dead animals. + +7. That which appeals to the senses through harmony of colour, the +design having no beauty in itself. This form of art, which is the lowest +in the scale of the painter, is only adapted for the simplest formal +decoration. + +The first three sections may produce both sensorial and intellectual +beauty; the others only sensorial. Limited abstract qualities are +associated with certain animals in nature, but cannot be indicated in +the uncombined art of the painter. + +Beyond these sections, there are classes of pictures which do not belong +to the pure art of the painter, namely, those executed for use and not +for beauty[35]; those painted to illustrate sports, or to record passing +events; certain allegorical paintings; and those works which, while they +cannot represent the ideal, require the assistance of another art for +their interpretation; as for instance, incidents to illustrate +particular morals or stories; scenes from the drama other than tragedy; +portraits of persons in character; humorous subjects, and so on. Such +works, on account of the restrictions imposed on the artist, can exhibit +but limited and fleeting beauty. Elsewhere they are noticed under the +heading of "Secondary Art." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EXPRESSION. PART I.--THE IDEAL + + +The human being is the only sign in the arts capable of idealization, +because, while its parts are fixed and invariable, it is the only sign +as to which there is a universal agreement in respect of the value of +abstract qualities connected with it. There can be no ideal of the human +form separately, because this implies expression which results from +abstract qualities. Nor can there be an ideal combination of these +qualities, except a general expression covering all the virtues and +eliminating all the passions, which expression cannot be disassociated +from form. The ideal human being is therefore a perfect generalization +of the highest conceivable qualities of form and expression. + +Necessarily in matters of art, when we use the term "Ideal," we mean a +general ideal, that is to say, an ideal that would be accepted as such +by the general body of men and women. From the fact that the sensorial +nerves in all persons are alike in form and character, and that they act +in the same way under like conditions, it follows that there must be a +general agreement as to degrees of beauty, and thus a common conception +of the ideal human being. Experience has demonstrated this at all +times, both in respect of the general ideal we are now discussing, and +of particular ideals involving special types and characters; and so +invariable is this experience that the progression towards similar +ideals has all the force of law.[36] This general agreement is subject +to certain restrictions. The first is in regard to form in which the +imagination cannot proceed beyond experience. The component parts of an +ideal form cannot include any which are higher in quality than those +which have come within the experience of the person compounding the +ideal. Secondly, in regard to abstract qualities, the estimation of +these depends upon intelligence and education, and the accumulated +experience of these things, which we measure in terms of degrees of +civilization. Consequently, different interpretations would be placed +upon the phrase "the highest conceivable qualities of form and +expression," by the various races of mankind. According as the +experience was greater, so would the ideal form be higher in type; and +as the civilization was more advanced, so would the abstract qualities +exhibited be more perfect in character. But among civilized peoples what +is, within our understanding, the ultimate form of the ideal, would not +change in respect of abstract qualities, and as to form would only vary +in comparatively insignificant details with the width of experience. + +It is obvious that there can be only one general ideal covering +perfection of form and mind, and this being beyond human experience, can +only be associated with a spiritual personage, and necessarily with the +highest conceivable spiritual personage--the Supreme Being. In its +absolute perfection it may be significant of the Supreme Being of any +religion of civilized peoples, but not of other spiritual personages to +whom such perfection may also be attributed, because absolute power can +only be implied in one such personage. This power cannot be indicated in +an ideal expression, and hence there is no alternative but to leave the +one general ideal to the Supreme Being. + +There are only two religions in which an ideal human form has been used +in art to typify the Supreme Being, and these are the ancient Grecian +and the Christian; but the one general ideal referred to has only been +used by the Greeks. The Christian conception of the Deity is far nobler +than that which the Greeks had of Zeus, but in art nothing greater than +the Grecian ideal has been executed. As a type of an Almighty Power the +best Christian representation is distinctly inferior, and it must +necessarily be so because convention requires that a particular feature +of expression must be indicated therein which is not compulsory in the +Grecian ideal. Forgiveness of sins is a cardinal principle in the +Christian doctrine, and consequently whatever the character of +expression given to the Deity, a certain gentleness has to be exhibited +which materially limits the comprehensive nature of the expression. The +Grecian ideal, as sculptured, strictly denied any particular +characteristic, while covering every good quality, and hence for the +Christian it is not so suitable as the accepted modification. + +Among the Greeks, ideal types of the gods and goddesses other than +Zeus varied considerably. Those representations that have come down +to us are usually deviations from the Zeus type with certain special +characteristics, though often they can only be distinguished from +each other by symbols. They are above human life and so cannot be +appropriately associated with human surroundings. Ideals appertaining to +Christianity are practically fixed by convention, or are interchangeable +with ideals in allegorical and symbolical art. + +Art is not concerned with what are termed ideal physical qualities +because beauty is its first consideration. A form with powerful limbs +and muscles may be generally accepted as an ideal form of strength, but +these very limbs and muscles would detract from the beauty of the +figure, and so separately such a form would be inferior art. + +An ideal can only be applied to excellence. In art, moral or physical +deformity cannot be exaggerated for the purpose of emphasis or contrast +without lessening the deformity or injuring the art. In the work of the +greater artists the former result follows; in that of less skilful +artists, the latter. Homer could not deal with evil characters without +exciting a certain sympathy with them, thus diminishing the deformity in +the minds of his readers. There is a measure of nobility about +Shakespeare's bad men, and Milton distinctly ennobled Satan in +portraying his evil powers and influence. In painting and sculpture +there is no place for hideous forms of any description, for they either +revolt the imagination and so neutralize the appreciation of the +beautiful figures present in the composition, or they verge upon the +ridiculous and disturb the mind with counteracting influences. With rare +exceptions the greater artists have not failed to recognize this +truth,[37] and in respect of the very greatest men, no really hideous +figure is to be found in any of their works, if we except certain +instances where the artist had to comply with fixed rules and +conditions, as for example in Michelangelo's Last Judgment where evil +beings had perforce to be presented, and could only be shown as +deformities. + +Attempts to emphasize ugliness by artists of inferior rank result in the +fantastic or the ludicrous, as in the representation of evil spirits on +the old Etruscan tombs, and the whimsical imps of the Breughels and the +younger Teniers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +EXPRESSION. PART II.--CHRISTIAN IDEALS + + The Deity--Christ--The Madonna--The Madonna and Child. + + +In considering the scope for the exhibition of ideals in art, it should +be remembered that ideal types of some of the principal personages in +religious and mythological history have been already fixed by great +artists, and it is impossible to depart from them without producing what +would appear to be abnormal representations. Homer led the way with +occasional hints of the presumed physical appearance of some of the +leading deities of Greece, and except in the case of Aphrodite the later +Grecian sculptors closely followed him. The Zeus of Homer as improved by +Phidias has been the model of this deity in respect of form for nearly +every succeeding sculptor to this day, while it was also the model which +suggested the Christian Father as represented by the first artists of +the Renaissance, though, as already indicated, the majestic dignity of +the Phidian Zeus was partly sacrificed by the Christian artists. Phidias +in fact created a type which, so far as human foresight can judge, must +ever guide the artistic mind, whether portraying the mighty son of +Kronos, or the God of the Christians. Only very rarely nowadays is the +Christian Deity pictured in art, and as time goes on His introduction in +human shape in a painting will become still more rare in conformity with +changing religious ideas and practices; but now and hereafter any artist +who contemplates the representation, must, voluntarily or involuntarily, +turn to the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo for his guide. + +There is no tradition upon which to base an actual portrait of Christ. +For the first four centuries A.D., when He was represented in art, +it was usually by means of symbols, or as a young man without beard, but +there are some Roman relics of the fifth century remaining in which He +is depicted much in the later generally accepted type, with short beard +and flowing hair. During the long centuries of the Dark Age, when +religious art was practically confined to the Byzantine Greeks, Christ +was almost invariably portrayed with a long face and emaciated features +and limbs, as the epitome of sadness and sorrow. This expression was +modified as the arts travelled to the north and west of Europe, and +gradually His face began to assume more regularity and beauty. Then came +Cimabue to sow the seed of the Renaissance, and with him the ideal of +Christ was changed to a perfect man of flesh and blood. A century or +more was occupied in establishing this ideal, but it was so established, +and has maintained its position to this day.[38] + + [Illustration: PLATE 9 (See page 138) + Raphael's Virgin of the Rose with the Face of "Profane Love" in + Titian's Picture Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +This ideal represents the Saviour as a man of about thirty-three +years--His age at the Crucifixion. He wears flowing hair with a short +beard and usually a moustache. His face is rather long, often oval; the +features have a perfect regularity, and the expression is commonly one +of patient resignation. Naturally His body must appear well nourished, +otherwise corporeal beauty cannot be expressed. This is the type which +has been used since the height of the Renaissance, though there have +been a few exceptional representations. Thus, the face of Christ in +Lionardo's Last Supper at Milan is that of a beardless young man of some +twenty-five years[a] and Raphael in an early picture shows Him +beardless, but gives Him an age of about thirty.[b] Some early Flemish +artists also rendered Him beardless at times, notably the Maitre de +Flemalle, Van der Weyden, and Quentin Matsys. Michelangelo in his Last +Judgment represents the Saviour sitting in judgment as a robust, stern, +commanding figure, beardless, and with an expression and bearing +apparently serving the idea of Justice.[c] Strange to say the artist +gives a very similar face to St. Stephen in the same series of frescoes. +A still more unusual representation is that of Francisco di Giorgio, who +gives Christ the appearance of an Apollo,[d] while Bramantino depicts +His face worn with heavy lines.[e] In one picture Marco Basaiti shows +Him as a young man with long hair but without beard, and in another with +a thick beard without moustache.[f] There was considerable variation in +the type among the Venetians of the sixteenth century, but not in +important features, and since then very few artists indeed have ventured +to depart from the ideal above described. The only notable exception in +recent times is in a work by Burne-Jones who represents Christ as a +beardless youth, though indicating the wound to St. Thomas.[g] It is +supposed that the artist presumed that the Person of Christ underwent a +complete change after the Resurrection. + + [a] And in the drawing for the picture at the Brera. + + [b] Christ Blessing at the Brescia Gallery. + + [c] In the Sistine Chapel frescoes. + + [d] Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, Sienna + Academy. + + [e] Christ, Mayno Collection. + + [f] The Dead Christ, and Calling of the Children of Zebedee, Academy, + Venice. + + [g] Dies Domini. + +It is evident that the ideal Christ as established by the Italians can +scarcely be improved upon in art within the prescribed limitations. +Christ having lived as an actual man, His representation must be within +the bounds of possible experience; and since He died at the age of +thirty-three, intellectual power cannot be suggested in His countenance, +for this in life means an expression implying large experience warranted +only by mature age. The representation is therefore confined to that of +a man who, while exhibiting a healthy regularity of form and feature, +has lost all sense of earthly pleasure. The beauty achieved by this type +is negative, the only marked quality being a suggestion of sadness +which, in painting, is necessarily present in all expression where an +unconcern with human instincts and passions is depicted. The Italians in +their representation of Christ were thus unable to reach the height of +the Greek divine portrayals. They were confined to earth, while the +Greek figures were symbols of spiritual forms which were pure products +of the imagination. Giotto and his successors sought a physically +perfect man with all purely human features in expression eliminated. The +Greeks, even when representing divinities below Zeus, generalized all +human attributes, excluding nothing but the exceptional. They embodied +in their forms, truths acknowledged by the whole world; summed up human +life to the contentment of all men: there was nothing in their +divinities which would prevent their acceptance as spiritual symbols in +all religions of civilized peoples. To them human instincts were sacred: +all human passions could be ennobled: everything in the natural +progression of life came within the purview, and under the protection, +of the gods. So the course of their art was definite: there was never a +difference as to the goal, for it was universal. + +From the point of view of the development of art the ideal Christ has +been of little importance compared with the ideal Madonna, though here +also the Italians aimed for a particular instead of a general type. They +wanted a living woman with the form and features of a pulsating mother; +a woman of ordinary life in fact, but infinitely superior in physical +beauty, and endowed with the highest grace that their imaginations could +conceive and their hands execute. This ideal seemed to germinate with +Cimabue, but an immense advance upon him was made by Giotto who was +unsurpassed in the representation of the Holy Mother for more than a +century. But the ideal was yet purely formal and continued so till past +the middle of the fifteenth century, both in Italy and Flanders. Giotto +was then excelled by many artists, but the Madonnas they produced, +though often very beautiful, are not humanly attractive. They are on the +side of the Angels; have never been women evidently, and are far, far +away from the human type with tingling veins and heaving breath. Filippo +Lippi marked the border line between this type of Madonna, and the +advanced pattern produced by the series of great artists of the latter +part of the fifteenth century. But with Lionardo, Ghirlandaio, +Botticelli, and the rest, the Madonna was scarcely an ideal woman. +Living persons were commonly taken as models, and although the portraits +were no doubt "improved," they have little connection with the ideal +which the artists evidently had in mind. The very life which the artist +transfers to canvas in a portrait is destructive of the ideal, for it is +a particular life with evidence of particular emotions and passions from +which the Madonna should be free. + +A mighty barrier must be passed before a woman is translated on canvas +into the type of Madonna sought by the first Renaissance artists. She +must be a woman of the earth; a woman who has grown up amidst human +surroundings from infancy to girlhood, and from girlhood to womanhood; +with human aspirations and sympathies, and experience of joys and +trials: she must have all these, and as well have become a mother; and +yet with human beauty, her countenance must be such that by no stretch +of the imagination can the possibility of desire be suggested. This was +the problem, and certainly only a genius of the highest order could +arrive at a solution, for the task appears on the face of it to be +almost superhuman. But Raphael succeeded in accomplishing it, and his +achievement will stand for all time as one of the greatest epoch-making +events in history. Even Michelangelo, who created so many superb forms, +never succeeded with an ideal suitable for a Madonna.[39] + +It is clear that in reaching for his ideal, Raphael did not strive for +an expression relating to the spiritual. His purpose was to eliminate +from the features anything which might possibly be construed as +indicating earthly desires, and yet retain the highest conceivable human +beauty. With this double object contentment is a quality in expression +which is indispensable, and this Raphael was careful to give, sometimes +emphasizing it with a suggestion of happiness. It is not possible to go +further with an expression which is to generalize the highest human +physical and abstract qualities, while keeping the figure within the +range of apparent feasible realization in life. The result was ideal but +not exclusive. It is a universal type, and is suited to the Madonna +because there is nothing humanly higher within our comprehension; but it +has a further general import which is dealt with elsewhere. + +Although the aim achieved by Raphael must necessarily be the goal of all +artists in the representation of the Madonna, it is of course not +essential that he should be accepted as the only guide to her form. Her +features may vary indefinitely so long as the ideal is maintained, and +Raphael himself painted no two Madonnas with the same features. But +certain traditions must be observed, however much one may depart from +the actual circumstances of her life. The first is in respect of her +presumed age. In pictures dealing with her life soon after marriage, as +for instance, the Nativity and the Flight into Egypt, the Madonna is +invariably represented as many years older than she appears in +Annunciation subjects, though only a year or so actually passed between +the respective events. The reason for this is obvious. She must be shown +with the bloom of a matured woman. The highest form of nobility cannot +be disassociated from wisdom and experience, which could not be +indicated in the countenance of a girl in her teens. Innocence and +purity may be present, and a certain majesty even, but our conception of +the Madonna as a woman involves the triumph over known evils, the full +knowledge of right and wrong, and the consciousness of a supreme +position above the possibility of sin. Hence in all representations of +the Madonna at the Nativity and afterwards, she must be shown at an age +suggesting the fullest knowledge of good and evil. + +While, between the Annunciation and incidents occurring during the +infancy of Christ, many years must be presumed to have passed, from this +latter period on, the Madonna must be supposed to have aged very little, +if at all, right up to the Crucifixion. It is not often that we find her +included in a design illustrating the life of Christ between His infancy +and the Death Scene, a fact probably due to the age difficulty. In the +exceptions her face is often partly or wholly hidden. But in scenes of +the Crucifixion, where the Virgin is almost invariably introduced, +artists of all periods, with few exceptions, have been careful to avoid +suggesting the full presumed age. Commonly the age indicated is between +twenty-five and thirty years, but as the face is always pale, and often +somewhat drawn, her comparatively youthful appearance is not +conspicuous. Obviously under no circumstances should lines be present in +the features, for this would suggest a physical decay not in conformity +with Christian ideas.[40] Even in pictures relating to her death, which +is presumed to have occurred at an age between fifty and sixty years, +her face is shown with perfectly regular and smooth features, though an +extreme pallor may be painted. But from the point of view of art, the +Virgin must be regarded as an accessory in works relating to the +Crucifixion, for to throw her into prominence would result in dividing +the attention of the observer of the picture on first inspection, and so +lessening the art. In any case she must be painted with an expression of +grief, and hence an unalloyed ideal of transcendent beauty is out of the +question. + +The custom of representing the Madonna in costume and surroundings +indicating a higher social level than that in which she actually moved, +is now firmly established, and cannot be departed from without lowering +the ideal. A woman in a lowly position of life, who is compelled to bear +all the responsibilities of a home, with the care of a husband and +child, is seldom seen except in the performance of household duties. We +cannot see her without associating her in our minds with toil and +possible privation, and we naturally expect that the effect of these +will be indicated in her expression and general bearing. If away from +her home her costume would usually declare her position, while habits of +mind connected with her daily occupation commonly engender mannerisms in +air and gait which support the inference drawn from the character of her +attire. It would appear anomalous to paint a woman so situated with such +beauty of form and expression that she appears to have never experienced +earthly cares of any kind, much less the long repeated daily worries +consequent upon the charge of a poor household. Perfect beauty of form +being essential in the representation of the Madonna, she must be +painted amidst surroundings conformable with the supposition that she is +free from earthly responsibilities, and that her mind is entirely +occupied with the boundless joy and happiness arising from the +contemplation of the divine Mission of her Son.[41] + + [Illustration: PLATE 10 (See Page 139) + Raphael's Holy Family (Madrid), with the Face of Luini's + Salome Substituted for that of the Virgin] + +The difficulty in painting the Madonna is complicated when the Infant +Christ is introduced, because of the liability of the Child to interfere +with a fine presentation of her figure. A similar problem was met with +by the early Greeks, and doubtless they dealt with it in their paintings +as in their sculptures, a few of which, showing an adult holding a +child, have come down to us. These represent the child reduced in size +as far as possible, and carried at the side of the adult figure.[a] A +like system was followed by most of the Byzantine workers, and it is +very noticeable in some of the fine French sculpture of the thirteenth +century.[b] In the same period Giovanni Pisano in sculpture,[c] and +Cimabue in painting,[d] maintained the tradition in Italy, and in the +century following, Giotto,[e] Duccio,[f] Lorenzetto,[g] and others, +often adopted the plan. Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, the +relative importance attached to the Child in the group generally +increased, and by the end of it, the old practice had been almost +entirely abandoned. Meanwhile the artists had some hard problems to +meet. The first was as to the size of the Child. It appeared to be +generally agreed that an older Child should be represented than had been +the custom, though a few artists held back, notably Fra Angelico, while +in sculpture, Donatello maintained his habit of moulding the Child as +only a few weeks old. With an increased age of the Child, the difficulty +of securing repose for the group was enhanced, for it seemed to be +proper with a child past its infancy, that it should be pictured as +engaged in one of the charming simple actions common to childhood. These +questions were settled in different ways according to the genius and +temperament of the artists. A few of them, as Mantegna,[h] Lorenzo +Costa,[i] and Montagna,[j] gave the Child an age of two years or more, +and in some of their designs the figures seem to be of equal +significance, Mantegna and Montagna in several examples actually +standing the Child in the Virgin's lap with the heads touching each +other. + + [a] See the Olympian Hermes of Praxiteles, and Irene and Pluto after + Cephisodostus at Munich. + + [b] Groups in the Southern and Western porches of Amiens Cathedral. + + [c] Madonna and Child, Arena Chapel, Padua. + + [d] Groups at the Florence Academy and the Louvre. + + [e] Florence Academy. + + [f] National Gallery, London. + + [g] San Francisco, Assisi. + + [h] Madonna and Angels, at Milan, and other works. + + [i] Coronation of the Virgin, Bologna. + + [j] Enthronement of the Virgin, Brera, Milan. + +The plans usually adopted by the greatest masters, were, to present the +maximum repose with the Child sitting in the lap of the Virgin; or to +place Him apart from her, and engaged in some slight action; or to show +Him in the arms of the Virgin, either held at the side, or in front, +with the Virgin more or less in profile. In all of these schemes the +serene contemplation of the Holy Mother is practically undisturbed. In +his many groups of the Virgin and Child, and of the Holy Family, Raphael +only varied twice from these plans,[a] and in both the exceptions the +Child reclines across the lap of the Virgin, so that very little of her +figure is hidden. Titian has the Child standing by her side,[b] or held +away from her, and in one example the Virgin is placing Him in the hands +of St. Joseph.[c] Correggio, when away from the influence of Mantegna, +usually showed the Child held apart from the Mother, or placed on the +floor, or on a bench. It is a common device to show the Child on the +lap of the Virgin, but leaning over to take a flower or other object +offered Him,[d] and numerous artists allow Him to play around +separately.[e] In Holbein's fine group at Augsburg, the Child stands +between the Virgin and St. Anne, and another German painter shows Him +held up by the same personages, but clear from both of them.[f] Murillo +commonly stands the Child at the side of the Virgin, but in one picture +adopts the novel method of placing Him in the arms of St. Joseph.[g] + + [a] Madonna and Child, Bridgewater Coll., England; and same group with + St. John, Berlin. + + [b] Madonna of the Cherries, Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [c] Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Bridgwater Coll., England. + + [d] Filipino Lippi's Madonna and Angels, Corsini Palace, Florence. + + [e] Luca Signorelli's group at Munich, and Bonfiglio's at Perugia. + + [f] Hans Fries, National Museum, Nuremburg. + + [g] Holy Family, Petrograd. + +When the Child is shown distinctly apart from the Virgin, or leaning +away from her lap, great care is necessary in avoiding strength in the +action, otherwise it will draw attention away from the Virgin. A notable +example of this defect is in a picture by Parmigiano, where the Child +leans over and has his head brought close to that of a kneeling Saint +who is caressing Him, the effect being most disturbing.[a] Bramantino +shows the Child in an extraordinary attitude, for He holds His head +above His arms without any apparent reason, the action confusing the +design.[b] Many artists represent Him in the act of reaching out his +hand for flowers, without choosing for the moment of portrayal, an +instant of transition from one part of the action to another,[c] a point +rarely overlooked by the first masters.[d] Occasionally variety is +given in the introduction of nursery duties, as for instance, washing +the Child,[e] but these are inappropriate for reasons already indicated, +apart from the over strong action necessarily exhibited in such designs. +Nor should the Child have an unusual expression, as this will +immediately catch the eye of the observer. In one work Del Sarto +actually makes Him laugh,[f] and a modern artist gives Him an expression +of fear.[g] It is questionable whether Masaccio[h] and others (including +A. della Robbia and Rossellino in sculpture) did not go too far in +portraying the Child with a finger in its mouth, for although such an +incident is common with children, in this case it seems opposed to +propriety. Generally the first artists have striven to free the figure +of the Virgin as far as possible, and this is in conformity with first +principles, for it simplifies the view of the chief figure in the +composition. In all cases repose should be the keynote of the design. + + [a] Madonna and Child with Saints, Bologna Academy. + + [b] Virgin with a Turban, Brera, Milan. + + [c] As in B. da Bagnacavallo's Holy Family, Bologna; and Boltraffio's + Holy Family, Milan. + + [d] See Titian's Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, Uffizi Gallery. + + [e] Giulio Romano's Holy Family, Dresden. + + [f] Holy Family, Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [g] Uhde's The Three Magi, Magdeburg Museum. + + [h] Madonna enthroned, Sutton Coll., England. + +There are no general ideals in Christian art other than those mentioned. +The presumed occupants of the Celestial regions beyond these Personages, +are painted as the fancy of the artist may dictate, subject only to the +limitations of the accepted Christian doctrines. There are certain +conventions in respect of Angels and Saints, but they are by no means +strict; and for the Old Testament prophets, Michelangelo's work in the +Sistine Chapel is commonly taken as a guide. It is scarcely likely that +his examples will ever be exceeded in majestic beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EXPRESSION. PART III.--CLASSICAL IDEALS + + Ideals of the Greeks--Aphrodite--Hera--Demeter--Athena--Apollo-- + Diana--Neptune--Mars--Mercury--Bacchus--Vulcan--General classical + compositions. + + +What human being can appropriately describe the great ideals in art of +ancient Greece? Above us all they stand, seemingly as upon the pinnacle +of the universal mind, reflecting the collective human soul, and +exhibiting the concentrated essence of human nature. The best of men and +women of all ages is combined in these ideal heads, which look from an +endless past to an eternal future; which embody every passion and every +virtue; every religion and every philosophy; all wisdom and all +knowledge. They are ideal gods and goddesses, but are independent of +legends and history. They represent no mythological deities except in +name, and least of all do they assort with the deities of Homer and +Hesiod. In all other religions the ideals expressed in art fail entirely +to reach the height of the general conceptions, and are far below the +spiritual beings as depicted in the sacred books; but the Grecian ideals +as recorded in stone are so far beyond the legendary gods of the ancient +poets, that we are unable to pass from the stone to the literature +without an overwhelming feeling of astonishment at the contrast. It is +unfortunate that we are powerless to re-establish these ideals +definitely, for the originals have been mostly lost; nevertheless the +ancient copies, a few contemporary complete sculptures, and many +glorious fragments; as well as intimate descriptions and repeated +eulogies, often reaching to hyperbole, of eminent men, expressed over a +succession of centuries when the great works were still exposed to +view--all this assembled evidence indelibly stamps upon our minds the +nature of the ideals; gives us a clear impression of the most profound +conceptions that have emanated from the human brain. + +The people who accomplished these great monuments seem to have thought +only in terms of the universe. They did not seek for the embodiment of +goodness, nobility, and charity, perfection in which qualities we regard +as divine, but they aimed at a majesty which included all these things; +which comprehended nothing but the supreme in form and mind; and with an +all-reaching knowledge of the human race, stood outside of it, but +covered it with reflected glory, as the sun stands ever away from the +planets but illumines them all. The wonder is not that these ideals were +created in the minds of the Greeks, for there is no boundary to the +imagination, but that minds could be found to set them down in design, +and hands to mould and shape them in clay and stone; and that many minds +and hands could do these things in the same epoch. That these +sculptured forms have never been equalled is not wonderful; that they +never will be surpassed is as certain as that death is the penalty of +life. So firmly have they become grafted into the minds of men as things +unapproachable in beauty, that they have themselves been converted into +general ideals towards which all must climb who attempt to scale the +heights of art. The greatest artists known to us since the light of +Greek intelligence flickered away, have been content to study these +marble remains, and to cull from them a suggestion here, and an idea +there, with which to adorn their own creations. Indeed it is clear that +from the time of Niccolo Pisano, who leaped at one bound to celebrity +after studying the antique sculptures at Pisa, through Giotto to the +fifteenth and sixteenth century giants, there was hardly a great artist +who was not more or less dependent upon Grecian art for his skill, and +the most enduring of them all--Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, +Correggio--were the most deeply versed in the art.[42] + +Bellori affirmed that the Roman school, of which Raphael and +Michelangelo were the greatest masters, derived its principles from the +study of the statues and other works of the ancients.[a] This is not +strictly exact, but it is near the truth, and certain it is that +Michelangelo, the first sculptor known to the world since the Dark Age, +willingly bowed his head before the ancient triumphs of art presented to +his view. And yet he did not see the Parthenon sculptures and other +numerous works of the time of Phidias, with the many beautiful examples +of the next century which have been made available since his day. What +he would have said in the presence of the glories of the Parthenon, with +the Hermes of Praxiteles and the rest of the collection from Olympia, is +hard to conjecture, though it may well be suggested that they would have +prompted him to still higher work than any he accomplished. With these +stupendous ideals in front of us, it seems almost unnecessary to talk of +the principles of art. Their very perfection indicates that they were +built up on eternal principles, so that in fact and in theory they form +the surest guide for the sculptor and painter. + + [a] _Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architteti moderni._ + +But how is the painter to use these ancient gods and goddesses, for the +time has gone by to gather them together on the heights of Olympus, or +to associate them with human frailties? Surely he may leave aside the +fables of the poets, and try to portray the deities as the Grecian +populace saw them in their hearts--noble forms of adoration, or images +of terror, objects of curses veneered with prayer and of offerings +wrapped in fear. The artist has not now to be troubled with pangs of +dread, nor will his imagination be limited by sacerdotal scruples. The +rivalry of Praxiteles need not concern him, for there are wondrous +ideals yet to be wrought, which will be comprehended and loved even in +these days of hastening endeavour. But the painter must leave alone the +Zeus and the variation of this god in the pictured Christian Deity, for +the type is so firmly established in the minds of men that it would be +useless to depart from it. The other important Grecian deities with +which art is concerned may be shortly considered from the point of view +of the painter, though they are naturally of far more importance to the +sculptor because it is beyond the power of the painter to suggest an +illusion of divine form, since he must associate his figures with human +accessories.[43] + + +APHRODITE + +Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus, Spirit of Love, or by whatever name we call +her; the one eternal divinity recognized by all ages, all races; the +universal essence whose fragrance intoxicates every soul: the one queen +before whom all must bow: the one imperial autocrat sure of everlasting +rule--sure of the devoted allegiance of every living thing to the end of +time! Such is Aphrodite, for that is the name under which we seem to +love her best--the Aphrodite of the Greeks, without the vague terrifying +aspect of Astarte, or the more earthly qualities of the Roman Venus. Who +loves not the Aphrodite sprung from the foam of the sea; shading the sun +on the Cytheran isle with the light of her glory; casting an eternal +hallow over the groves of Cyprus; flooding the god-like mind of Greece +with her sparkling radiance? What conception of her beauty can rise high +enough when the grass in astonishment grows beneath her feet on desert +rocks; when lions and tigers gently purr as she passes, and the rose and +the myrtle throw out their scented blossoms to sweeten the air? Hera +and Athena leave the heavens to help man fight and kill: Aphrodite +descends to soothe despairing hearts, and kindle kindly flame in the +breast of the loveless. The spear and the shield with the crested helmet +she knows not, nor the fiery coursers accustomed to the din of strife. +Serenely she traverses space at the call of a lover's prayer, her car a +bower of celestial blooms. From the ends of the earth fly the sparrows +to draw it, till their myriads hide the sun, and mortals learn that the +time has come when their thoughts may turn to the spirit of love. + +This was the Aphrodite of Grecian legend and poetry, if we except Homer +and Hesiod. It is the type of the goddess whom Sappho implored, and must +be accepted as the general ideal of the Grecian worshippers who desired +divine mediation when troubled with pangs of the heart. But it was not +the type of Phidias and his school, for Phidias passed over Hesiod and +purified Homer, representing Aphrodite with the stately mien and lofty +bearing of a queen of heaven, daughter of the all-powerful Dione: +goddess of beauty and love certainly, but so far above the human +understanding of these terms that all efforts to associate her with +mundane ideas and aspirations must signally fail.[44] + +So far as we know it was Praxiteles who first attempted to realize in +stone the popular ideal of the goddess, and certainly the Cnidian +Aphrodite was better understood by the people of Greece as a type of +this ideal than any work that preceded it. We can attach to it in our +minds but very few of the Homeric and other legends surrounding the +history of the goddess, but we can well imagine that a deity who was the +subject of so much attention and so much prayer, could rest in the +hearts of the people only as one with every supreme earthly charm, +combined with a divine bearing and dignity. These qualities the +Aphrodite of Praxiteles appears to have possessed, though it lacked the +majesty and exclusiveness of the Parthenon gods.[45] + +Thus there was formed a type of beauty acceptable to the average human +mind as an unsurpassable representation of an ideal woman: to the +worshipper at the ancient shrines, a comprehensible goddess; to all +other men the personification of sublime beauty. The fifth century +goddess was left aside as beyond mortal reach, and from the time it left +the sculptor's hands to this day, the Cnidian Venus has been regarded as +a model for all that is true and beautiful in women. To the sculptor it +is an everlasting beacon; to all men a crowning glory of human +handiwork. And this notwithstanding that so far as we know, the original +figure has long been lost, and we have preserved little more than +records of its renown, a fair copy of it, and a single authentic example +of the other work of the sculptor. But if we had the actual Aphrodite +before us, it could not occupy a higher place in our minds than the +goddess which our imagination builds upon this framework. + +As in all cases where a supreme artist rises above his fellows and +creates works of which emulation appears hopeless, the period succeeding +the time of Praxiteles seems to mark a decline in the art of sculpture, +and though the decline was more apparent than real for about half a +century, there was naturally a depreciation in the representation of the +deities of whom the great man had fashioned masterpieces. This was so in +the case of Aphrodite. Whoever the sculptor it seemed impossible to +approach the Cnidian ideal, and the result was a series of variations +stamped with artificial devices as if to emphasize the departure. But +meanwhile the painter's art had developed upon much the same lines as +sculpture, and Apelles produced an Aphrodite, which, considering the +limitation of the painter, appears to have been almost, if not quite, as +marvellous as the stone model of Praxiteles. Nearly two thousand years +have passed since the painting was last known to exist, but its fame was +so great that the reverberations from the thunder of praise accorded it +have scarcely yet died away. No close description of the painting +remains, but from certain references to it by ancient authors we know +that it represented the sea-born goddess walking towards the shore to +make her first appearance on earth, holding in each hand a tress of hair +as if in the act of wringing out the water therein.[46] These are +practically all the written details we have of the famous Venus +Anadyomene, but we really know much more of it from the existence of +certain pre-Roman sculptures. All but one are broken, with parts +missing, but the exception, which dates from about the beginning of the +third century B.C., enables us to gain a good idea of the picture. The +figure represents the goddess with her lower limbs cut off close to the +hips; that is to say, it produces the whole of that part of the figure +in the picture of Apelles which is visible above the water.[a] Clearly a +subject in which Venus is shown to be walking in the sea, so foreign to +the art of the sculptor, could not have suggested itself independently +to a Grecian artist, nor would we expect to find one attempting a work +which necessitated amputation of the lower limbs, unless a very special +occasion warranted the design. The special occasion in this case was the +picture of Apelles, which was at the time renowned through the whole of +Greece as an extraordinary masterpiece, and with this work in their +minds the sculptured head and torso would appear quite appropriate to +those Greeks interested in the arts, that is to say, the entire citizen +population. + + [a] See Plate 4. + +These two works then, the Cnidian Venus and the Venus Anadyomene of +Apelles, constitute the models upon which the world relies for its +conceptions of the goddess of beauty. Both models depend more or less +upon the imagination for completion, but they are sufficiently definite +for the artist, who, of course, desires general rather than particular +ideas for his purpose. + + [Illustration: PLATE 11 (See page 139) + The Pursuit, by Fragonard (_Frick Collection_)] + +It must be confessed that the attempts to rival Apelles in the creation +of a Venus Anadyomene have not been very successful. Raphael painted a +small picture of the subject, introducing the figure of Time putting an +end to the power of the Titans.[a] Venus stands in the water with one +foot on a shell, while holding a tress of hair with her left hand. As +may be expected the execution is perfect, but the design is less +attractive than that of Apelles. The only important work of the +Renaissance directly based upon the Greek design, is from the hand of +Titian.[b] He represents the goddess walking out of the water, the +surface of which only reaches half way up the thighs, with the result +that considerably more action is indicated than is necessary. But the +great artist was evidently at a loss to know how to give the figure the +size of life or thereabouts, while indicating from the depth of water +that she had an appreciable distance to go before touching dry land. He +solved the problem by placing the line of the front leg to which the +water rises, at the bottom of the canvas, so that the picture suggests +an accident which has necessitated the cutting away of the lower portion +of the work. The master also varies the scheme of Apelles by crossing +the left hand over the breast. This inferior device was imitated by +Rubens, who, however, exhibits the goddess rising from the water amongst +a group of nymphs and tritons.[c] Modern artists in designs of the birth +of Venus, usually represent her as having reached the shore,[d] the best +work of this scheme being perhaps that of Cabanel who shows the goddess +lying at the water's edge and just awaking, suggesting a state of +unconsciousness while she floated on the waves.[e] Another exception is +by Thoma, who exhibits the goddess walking in only a few inches of +water, reminding one of the old Roman bronze workers who imitated the +form as painted by Apelles, but modelled the whole figure. + + [a] In the bathroom of Cardinal Bibiena, Vatican. There is a drawing + for the figure of the goddess at the Munich Gallery. + + [b] Bridgewater Coll., England. See Plate 5. + + [c] Birth of Venus, at Potsdam. + + [d] Notable examples are those of Ingres and Bouguereau. + + [e] At the Luxembourg, Paris. There are several replicas of this + picture. + +Repose being the first compulsory quality in the representation of +Aphrodite, it is not surprising to find that the greatest picture of the +goddess extant--the masterpiece of Giorgione--shows her asleep.[a] She +rests on a verdure couch in a landscape of which the signs indicate a +soft and tranquil atmosphere, with no suggestion to disturb the repose +or remove the illusion of life so strongly marked by the skilful +drawing. Only the calm sleeping beauty is there without appearance of +fatigue or recovery from it: no expression save of perfect dreamless +unconsciousness. The work is the nearest approach to a classical ideal +that exists in Venetian painting. Titian in his various pictures of +Venus reposing never reached the excellence of his master. In all, he +painted the goddess in a resting position, sometimes radiant and +brilliant, and invariably with a contented expression which precludes +sensual suggestions: still there is ever a distinctly earthy tone about +the figures. His Venuses in fact are pure portraits. He did not seek to +represent profound repose. His most important example is at the Uffizi +Gallery,[b] the design of which was taken from Giorgione's work. The +goddess is a figure of glowing beauty, but the pose indicates +consciousness of this fact and calls the model to mind. Perhaps the +surroundings tend to accentuate the drawback, for in this, as in most of +his other pictures of Venus, the artist has introduced Venetian +accessories of the period. Palma Vecchio also took Giorgione's work as a +guide for his reposing Venus, but he represents her fully awake with +Cupid present.[c] An exceptional work of the subject was designed by +Michelangelo, and painted by Pontormo[d] and others. It represents the +goddess reclining with Cupid at her head; but the form is entirely +opposed to all our conceptions of Venus, for she is seen as a broad +massive woman with a short neck, and a strongly formed head--a fit +companion for some of the figures in the Sistine Chapel. Proud dignity +and a certain majesty are suggested in the expression, but the figure is +without the grace and charm usually associated with the goddess. The +only other early Italian reposing Venus of interest is Botticelli's, +where he shows her in deep thought with two cupids by her side.[e] + + [a] Dresden Gallery. See Plate 6. Titian added a Cupid to this + picture, but the little god was subsequently painted out by + a restorer. (L. Venturi, _Giorgione e il Giorgionismo_, 1913.) + + [b] The sitter is supposed to have been the model also for La Bella + in the Uffizi, and the Woman in Fur at the Vienna Gallery. + + [c] Dresden Gallery. + + [d] Hampton Court Palace, England. + + [e] National Gallery, London. + +In the seventeenth century Venus was rarely represented reposing. +Nicholas Poussin has a fine picture on the subject, but unfortunately +for the repose a couple of cupids are in action beside the sleeping +goddess, while the heads of two satyrs are dimly seen.[a] In the +Sleeping Venus of Le Sueur, which was much praised in former times, +Cupid is present with a finger to his mouth to indicate silence, but +Vulcan is seen in an adjoining room wielding a heavy hammer, the +suggestion of repose being thus destroyed. No reposing Venus of +importance has since been produced, though a few French artists have +treated the subject in a light vein, notably Boucher in his Sleeping +Venus, and Fragonard in a delicate composition of Venus awakened by +Aurora. + + [a] Dresden Gallery. + +Venus cannot be represented as conscious of her beauty, or the design +would immediately suggest vanity. Consequently when shown looking into a +mirror, she should be engaged at her toilet, or at least the reflection +should be accidental. Titian painted the first great picture of the +goddess at her toilet, but this is just completed and her hands are at +rest.[a] The attitude would be extravagant were it not that any +suggestion of satisfaction is overcome by the artist making Cupid hold +the mirror, and giving Venus an expression of unconcern as she glances +at her reflection. The work suggested to Rubens a similar design, but he +shows the goddess dressing her hair, this being apparently the only +definite action which may be properly introduced into such a +composition.[b] Albani has a delightful picture in which Cupid compels +Venus to hold a mirror,[c] and some later artists have represented her +adorning her tresses with the aid of a water reflection. The only +notable _faux pas_ in a painting of this subject is in the Venus and +Cupid assigned to Velasquez, in which Venus lies on her side and looks +into a mirror held by Cupid at her feet.[d] There is no suggestion of +toilet or accident, and hence the attitude is quite inapplicable to a +goddess. + + [a] The Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [b] Hofmuseum, Vienna. + + [c] The Louvre. + + [d] National Gallery, London. + +It should be remembered that the province of Aphrodite is to infuse the +gentle warmth of love into the human race, and not to attract love to +herself. The rays are presumed to proceed from her only, for a mortal +having no divine powers would be incapable of reflecting them. Zeus was +required to bring about the adventure with Anchises. Hence a voluptuous +form should never be given to the goddess, and if an artist err at all +in the matter, it should be on the side of restraint lest the art be +affected by a suggestion of the sensuous. The surest means of preventing +this is to represent the goddess in an attitude of repose, with perfect +contentment as a feature in expression. If any action be indicated, it +must be light and purely accidental in its nature. To introduce an +action involving an apprehension of human failings tends to bring the +goddess down to the human level, and thus to destroy the ideal. The +Venus de' Medici is a superb sculpture of a woman, but an inferior +representation of Venus, for modesty is a human attribute arising from +purely artificial circumstances of life, its meaning varying with race +conditions and customs. To depict a goddess in an action suggestive of +modesty or other antidote to the coarser effects of natural instincts, +is therefore an anomaly. + + +HERA + +There is no fixed type in art of the ox-eyed sister and spouse of Zeus, +the Queen of Olympus, whose breast heaves ever high, and flaming, with +the rushing fire of jealousy; the Virgilian incarnation of bitter rage; +yet withal the symbol of eternal Earth, yearly renewing her fruitful +youth with the burning kiss of the sun. The sculptors of Greece saw in +her only the supreme Matron-Spouse, serenely pondering the march of time +beneath the awful sway of her lord. A mantle she wore, and a +high-throated tunic, as she looked into space from a square-wrought +throne; or she stood in her temple with flowing robe and diadem, +inscrutable, before the offerings of an adoring multitude. But +nevertheless she was not insensible to the radiance of Aphrodite. +Polyclitus did well to place a cuckoo on her sceptre, and who can forget +how the lotus and the hyacinth cushioned the ground on the heights of +Ida beneath a golden cloud, which held suspended around the glittering +couch a screen of sparkling dew? + +It is unfortunate that the painter is at a loss to deal with the +majestic scenes in great Juno's story. How is he to depict her flying in +the celestial chariot between heaven and earth, each leap of the fiery +coursers measuring the range of the eye from a lofty peak across the sea +to the endless haze? How can he paint her anointed with ambrosial oil +which is ever struggling for freedom to bathe the rolling earth in +fragrance? He may add a hundred tassels to her girdle; perhaps give her +the triple grace-showering eardrops, and even the dazzling sun-bright +veil; but the girdle of Aphrodite, which peeps from her bosom, will fail +to turn the brains of men, or pierce their hearts with rays of soft +desire. And the more dreadful side of Hera's history would equally +trouble the despairing artist, for dire anger and jealousy ill-become +the countenance of a goddess. The smouldering fire must never leap into +flame. Eyes may not flash, not the lips quiver, and the noble brow must +be free from fitful thought. + +So with Hera there is no middle course for the painter. He must +represent her alone, calm and passionless, unfathomable, with a sublime +disregard of earth; or else join with his predecessors and drag her down +to a mundane level in scenes of trivial fable. But there is room for +untold Heras of the higher type. + + +DEMETER + +Matron-Guardian of the yielding soil; heart-stricken wanderer over the +earth; mysterious silent Food-Mother whom all men love and the gods +revere; eternal life-preserver; fruitful, but passionless save where the +vision of Pluto looms, Iasus and Poseidon notwithstanding! Such was the +Demeter of the ancient Greeks till the hordes of Alexander mingled her +fame with the lustre from Isis and De. So the mourning _haute dame_ of +Olympus came nearer the seat of her care, nearer the dread home of her +daughter: passed from Homer to Theocritus; from the adoration of the +higher priesthood of Greece, to become merged in the Ceres of Rome, the +goddess beloved of the lowly, who received the first fruits of the field +amidst joyful measures of dance and song. But it is the _haute dame_ +that strikes our imagination--the staid and mystic Demeter of Eleusis, +and not the Ceres of the Roman lyric. The light-hearted Ceres, as a +beautiful woman in the prime of life, may be adorned with poppies and +wheat-ears, may stand serene and smiling as a symbol of harvest or the +goddess of a Latin temple; but paint her as one will, she will do little +more than serve to show how fallen are the idols--how immeasurable is +the descent from the stately Earth-Mother whose image would be stamped +on the brain of a Phidias. + +But where is the Phidian Demeter? Surely such a goddess, "deeply musing +in her hallowed shrine," was a theme for the carver of the immortal Zeus +and Athena! Perhaps those inscrutable headless "Fates" from the +Parthenon, so wonderful in noble grace that the conception of befitting +heads is beyond the reach of our minds, include the Earth-Mother and her +daughter! How easy it is to imagine the reclining figure as Persephone +leaning upon the mother who loved her so well! But we must be content +with what we have of Demeter in art, which is little more than a few +fifth century frieze reliefs, the figure from Cnidos attributed to +Scopas,[a] and some Damophon memories of Phidias. + + [a] See Plate 7. + +So the artist is free and untrammelled in respect of the representation +of the far-famed goddess. There is no definite type of her which has +fixed itself on the minds of men, though the legend and story weaved +about her name are beautiful and wonderful in a high degree. + + +ATHENA + +Though swathed in legend and surrounded with a hallow of Grecian +reverence, Athena is always cold. She may dim the sun with the radiance +of her armour; ride in a flaming car, and have Strength and Invisibility +for her allies; but she fights only on the side of the strong, and uses +the tactics of spies against her enemies. With the Gorgon's head on her +shield, and a helmet which will cover the soldiers of a hundred towns, +she yet whispers advice to Grecian heroes, and deflects a Trojan arrow +in its flight. Truly as Goddess of War she is somewhat difficult to +generalize. But she is also the divinity of the arts and sciences; +invents the pipe and the shuttle, and becomes the depository of all +industrial knowledge. Hence she embodies the triumphs of peace and +war--combines the extremes of human exertion. + +How Phidias overcame the task of representing the goddess is well known. +He generalized war and wisdom, and from his great work of the Parthenon +there can be little departure in respect of bearing and attitude, so +long as the province of war is symbolized in the design. The actual work +of the Greek master has disappeared, but from various records and +copies, it would appear that the Parthenon Athena was the loftiest +conception ever worked out in sculpture, if we except the Olympian Zeus. +Majestic grace and the unconscious power derived from supreme knowledge, +seem to have been the first qualities exhibited in the statue. In the +fourth century there was no great departure from the Phidian ideal, and +it is difficult to see how there could be much modification in the +direction of bringing the conception closer to earth, for the goddess +had no special presumed form which could be adapted by the artist to +popular ideas. A nude figure would be impossible because in this the +force and power implied in a hero of war could not be combined with +feminine attributes. The Greeks drew the line at observable muscular +developments, invariably clothing nearly the whole of the figure, but +they did not, and could not, free her general bearing from certain +masculine qualities. It is true that the costume of the goddess might be +modified, and Phidias himself represented her in one or two statues +without a helmet, an example followed by several artists of the +Renaissance,[a] but so long as the symbols of war are included in her +habit, she can be only of formal use to the painter. + + [a] See Piero di Cosimo's Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena,[47] and + Botticelli's Athena and the Centaur. + + +APOLLO + +Although in mythology Apollo is connected with everything on earth which +is useful or pleasing to mankind, in art custom has so confined his +representation in respect of both appearance and symbols, that a type +has been established from which it would be difficult to depart without +a suggestion of incongruity arising. This type is of a more purely +formal character than that of any other god, except perhaps Mercury, a +circumstance probably arising from the fact that the reputed hard nature +of Apollo fails to lend itself to sympathetic idealization. He does not +appear to have been a favourite subject with the greatest sculptors of +ancient times, for nearly all the innumerable statues of him which have +come down to us, are reproductions of two or three types which in +themselves vary but little. It is difficult to see how a really noble +ideal of such a god can be suggested. Stern and inflexible, with many +human vices but no weaknesses or gentle traits, and withal a model of +physical beauty without strength or apparent power--in fact an +emphasized feminine form: such is the Apollo of tradition and art. We +cannot wonder that the type was quickly fixed, the limitations to avoid +the abnormal being so well defined. + +The painter then has small scope with the figure of this god. He may +only slightly vary the accepted form, which admits of but a negative +expression. The best representation of Apollo in modern art is the one +by Raphael in the Parnassus fresco at the Vatican, though the beautiful +figure in the Marsyas work at the Louvre is very nearly as perfect.[48] +Raphael does not give to the god the rounded swellings of a female form, +but overcomes the difficulty by showing him as a young man of perfect +figure who has just reached maturity. The expression is entirely +general, but does not suggest a god-like power. + + +DIANA + +It would scarcely be natural to be sympathetic with Artemis. She seems +to be the feminine type of a cold flint-like nature, as Apollo is the +masculine, and one can well understand that mythology makes of them +brother and sister. Mistress of wild beasts and goddess of sudden death, +she was always worshipped from fear: her wrath had ever to be appeased; +she inspired neither affection nor respect. True, she wore the mantle of +Ililythia, but only to be dreaded, and even the attempt to throw a warm +halo over her by the theft of the Endymion story for her benefit, failed +to lift her reputation for the tireless satisfaction of a supernatural +spleen. Nevertheless for the painter Diana has always had a certain +attraction, because the legends connected with her offer opportunities +for the exercise of skill in the representation of the nude. But there +is an end of all things, and the bathing and hunting scenes have been +fairly exhausted. For the sculptor only is Artemis likely to live. +Bright colours are not the vehicle to represent the symbol of an idea +which is beyond, but not above, nature--a useless abstraction which +neither warms the heart nor elevates the soul. Callisto draws our +sympathy, and Niobe our tears: the goddess freezes our veins. + + +NEPTUNE + +Brother of Jupiter and Pluto; sire of Theseus, of Polyphemus, and of the +titanic lads who threatened to pile mountain on mountain in order to +destroy the home of the deities; the god whose footsteps tremble the +earth; who disputes with the sun; who uses floods and earthquakes for +weapons; who owns vast palaces in the caverns of the deep; for whom the +angry waves sink down beneath the shining sea, and ocean monsters play +around his lightning track across the waters: this is the divinity whom +the painter is accustomed to portray as a rough bearded man with +dishevelled hair and rugged features, holding a three-pronged fork, and +associating with dolphins, mermaids, and shells. But Neptune is not a +popular god. He does not appeal to the mind as a good-natured god like +Jupiter or Mercury, with many of the virtues and some of the failings of +mankind. His acts are mostly violent; he punishes but does not reward; +grows angry but is never kind. There is consequently no sympathetic +attitude towards him on the part of the artist, who would sooner paint +good than bad actions. Beyond his violent acts, the circumstances which +make up the history of the god, provide subjects more suitable for the +poet than the painter, who is practically confined to unimportant and +casual incidents which, with changes of accessories, would answer a +thousand scenes in mythological history. Neptune then may well disappear +from the purview of the painter, with the tritons and the seaweed +entourage. + + +MARS + +From the point of view of the painter, there is little to say about the +Grecian Ares. He has not a single good trait in legend or story, and we +know nothing of his presumed personal form beyond the military +externals. It is difficult to understand how such a god came to be +included among the deities of a civilized race. Of what service could be +prayer when it is addressed to a blatant, bloodstained, genius of the +brutal side of war, without feeling or pity, and apparently so wanting +in intelligence that he has to leave the direction of battles to a +goddess? One would think that Homer intended him as the god of bullies, +or he would not have made him roar like ten thousand men when struck +with a stone, nor would he have allowed him to be imprisoned by two +young demigods, and contemptuously wounded by a third. But who is +responsible for the association of such a wretched example of divinity +with the radiant Aphrodite, for surely it is only the cloak of Homer +that covers the story! Was it a painter who had sought in vain from the +poets a suggestion for a composition in which the god would at least +appear normal, or a cynical critic who wished to incite ridicule as well +as contempt for the divinity? In any case the painter must sigh in vain +for an inspiriting design with Ares as the leading figure: he cannot +harmonize love and terror. + +The Roman Mars has a slight advantage over Ares, for the name of Silvia +is sweetly-sounding, but she should be represented alone, as the star of +the wild Campagna, while yet it was forest-clad: the gleaming light +whose rays are to illumine the earth. Mars may disappear with the wolf, +but who can hide the glory of Rome? + + +MERCURY + +It is difficult to connect the Hermes of the poet with the tedious +expressionless figure commonly seen in painting, whose only costume is a +helmet, and whose invariable province is apparently to look on and do +nothing. For the sculptor he is a god; for the painter a symbol of +subordination. A Rubens may give him the pulse of life, but only the +sculptor can suggest the divinity. With the painter the winged helmet is +a bizarre ornament; the immortal sandals are shrunken to leather; the +caduceus is a thing of inertia which is ever in the way. But with the +sculptor all these things may be endowed with the quickening spirit of a +soaring mind, for does not Giovanni di Bologna show the lithesome god +speeding through space ahead of the wind, the feathery foot-wings +humming with delirium, the trembling air dividing hastily before the +wand? True, the painter may represent the divine herald on his way +through space, as when he conducts Psyche to Olympus, or leads the +shades of the suitors to Hades; but the accessories present must +surround him with an earthy framework, unless the design be confined to +a ceiling, and shut away from things mundane with architectural forms, +as in the plan of Raphael at the Farnese Villa, or to a fresco executed +in the manner of a Flaxman drawing. Beyond these artifices the artist +cannot go with propriety. + +Few and worn are the scenes in the history of the god in which he takes +a leading part. The head of Argus seems to be cut off, or awaiting +separation, in nearly every collection, sometimes with Juno on a cloud +deeply frowning with revengeful ire, occasionally with the peacock +expectant of its glorious fan, but always with the weak-looking helmeted +piper, passive and unconcerned as if fulfilling a daily task. A +Correggio may weave his golden fancy around a scene where Cupid learns +to strengthen his arrows with the rules of science and the wiles of art; +but let the painter beware of the infant Bacchus in the arms of the +messenger-god, lest a vision of the Olympian group arise and enfold his +work in a robe of charity. The schemes whereby the cradled thief +deceived the Pythian god are beyond the scope of the painter, though +there is a certain available range in the charming actions surrounding +the invention of the lyre. And if the designs relating to the +unfortunate Lara be properly consigned to oblivion, surely the +connection of Hermes with Pandora offers a field for the sprightly +imagination. But save where the god is a symbol of commerce or speed, +the helmet should be dispensed with, for it is hackneyed beyond +endurance. The modern painter is not bound by custom unless the +provision of beauty conflict with the lucidity of the design or the +reverence for universal sentiment. Let the winged heels suffice, for the +shadow of Persius will scarcely rise in protest. + + [Illustration: PLATE 12 (See page 145) + Greek Portraiture + Head of Plato Head of Euripides] + + +BACCHUS + +Centuries of bacchanalian festivities and revelries have nearly killed +Bacchus for the painter. Who can further interest himself in meaningless +processions, where the most prominent figure is a fat, drunken, +staggering man, supported by goat-hoofed monstrosities, and attended by +all the insignia of vinous royalty? Silenus is no more the loving nurse +of the infant god; the satyrs are no more the followers of a +reed-playing woodland deity; the nymphs have long forgotten the flowery +dales, the faithful trees that lived and died with them, the fairy +bowers where first Semele's offspring clapped his hands to the measure +of dance and pipe. Why should the dance be turned into a drunken revel? +Why should the artist remember the orgies of Rome, and forget the +Grecian pastoral fancies? What has become of Dionysus, inheritor of +Vishnu traditions, the many-named father of song, the leader of the +Muses, and the fire-born enemy of pirates? Nothing remains of him worth +remembering, save Ariadne the golden-haired, and she must in future be +left on the desert isle lest the pathos of her figure be disturbed by +the motley followers of her rescuer. + +It is passing strange that the artists of the Renaissance did not +attempt to lift Bacchus out of the ditch of ignominy into which he had +fallen. They seem to have taken their ideas from the recorded accounts +of the Roman rites and vine festivals, overlooking the Grecian +suggestions relating to Dionysus, and even the later restrained reliefs +picturing incidents in his history. In their art, however, as is +evidenced by Pompeian frescoes, the Romans often treated Bacchus in a +serious manner, associating him with higher interests than those +connected with festival orgies. It may be that the figure of the god +carved by Michelangelo[a] had something to do with the later coarse +representations of him, for it would have been impossible for artists +succeeding so great a sculptor, to ignore the types he created. But it +will be an eternal mystery how he came to design such a Bacchus. A +voluptuous semi-realistic god, opposed to everything else that was +conceived by the sculptor, and antagonistic to all that was known in +Greece, it can never be anything more than a sublime example of a purely +earthly figure. One stands amazed before the perfect modelling, but +aghast at the conception. It represents the most extraordinary +transition from the god-like man of the Greeks, to a man-like god, ever +seen in art. + + [a] In the Bargello, Florence. + +The painter then has little left to use of the conventional Bacchus and +his history, except the never-dying Ariadne, but there is nothing to +prevent him from reverting to the pastoral Dionysus, to the delightful +abodes of the nymphs his foster-mothers, where Pan played and the Muses +sang, while the never-tiring son of Maia breathed tales of love into +willing ears. + + +VULCAN + +The poet may continue to hold our fancy with volcanic fires and +cyclopean hammers, but on canvas Etna becomes a blacksmith's forge, and +the figure of a begrimed human toiler is given to the divinity +responsible for the golden handmaids, and the brazen bull whose breath +was scorching flame. There is rarely a painting of Vulcan without a +forge and leather bellows, with a smith who is stripped to the waist, +which earthly things necessarily kill all suggestions of celestial +interest, notwithstanding the presence of Venus, or the never-fading +bride of palsied Peleus. Occasionally we have the incident with Mars, +and strangely look for the invisible net, but not finding it we are +immediately called back to earth to ponder over the wiles of the ancient +legend gatherers. The art is lost behind the unreality. But why does not +the painter revert to the childhood of Vulcan, when he was hiding in the +glistening cavern beneath the roll of ocean, fashioning resplendent +eardrops for silver-footed Thetis? Here is scope for the imagination--to +indicate the fancies of the budding genius who was to carve the wondrous +shield, and adorn the heaven-domed halls of Olympus. Let Hephaestus +mature as he will for the poet: he should only bloom for the painter. + + +GENERAL CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS + +Scenes of adventure from the ancient poets in which the gods and +goddesses are concerned, appear to be rapidly becoming things of the +past for the painter. This is partly due to the circumstance that these +scenes have been so multiplied since the early days of the Renaissance, +that they are now positively fatiguing to both artists and the public; +but there is a deeper reason. If we try to number the paintings of +classical subjects by first-class artists which are enshrined in our +minds, we can count very few, and nearly all of these are single +figures, as a Venus, a Leda, a Psyche, or a Pandora. We do not call up a +Judgment of Paris, or a Diana and Actaeon, or any other design where +divinities are mixed with mortals in earthly actions. The cause of this +seems to be that our minds naturally revolt against a glaring +incongruity. The imagination is unable to harmonize the qualities of a +god with the possession of human instincts and frailties, or strike a +balance between divine actions and human motives. We see these pictures +and admire the design and execution, but they leave us cold: we are +unable to kindle enthusiasm over patent unreality. The general +conclusion is that painters would be wise to avoid such compositions, +and confine their attention in classical work to single figures of +goddesses or heroines, leaving to the poet suggestion of miraculous +powers. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +EXPRESSION. PART IV.--GENERAL IDEALS + + Limitation of the painter with general ideals--Ideal heads + interchangeable in sacred and symbolical art--Ideal male human + countenances impossible for the painter. + + +In the arts of sculpture and painting, where it is necessary that the +beauty should be immediately recognized by the eye, it is obvious that a +general expression is superior to the particular. This is so because the +general covers universal experience and the particular does not. But in +the art of the painter there is a limit to the expression of general +beauty. Theoretically there is no beauty possible to the sculptor which +the painter cannot produce, but practically there is. A sculptor may +carve what we understand as a god-like figure--a glorious image +embodying all the highest qualities that may be conceived by man, +with a general expression covering supreme wisdom and every noble +attribute--such a figure as the greatest Grecian artist chiselled. This +figure would stand in front of us, isolated, serene in its glory, and we +should look and wonder, and a second or two would suffice to fill our +entire mind with the image. For it would be above the earth, above all +our surroundings. We could connect nothing on earth with it--neither +human beings, nor green fields, nor the seas, and certainly not human +habitations, and ways, and manners, and actions. A Phidian god can have +no setting. Everything on earth is too small, too insignificant to bear +it company. The reflection from the majesty of the design throws into +shadow our loftiest earthly conceptions. + +Let us suppose that a painter could be found who could execute such a +figure: how could he isolate it to the mind? He may not use accessories, +for these could not be separated by the eye, and the association with +earth which they would imply would destroy the illusion. But the figure +must have relief, and hence tones. A monochrome would not do, for the +frame or sides of the wall containing the picture would flatten it, and +suggest a painted imitation of a sculpture. We may imagine a colossal +figure painted on an immense wall whose bounds are hidden by the +concentration of all the available light on the figure. Even then the +colouring of the wall must be unseen. The figure must stand out as if +against infinite space, surrounded by ambient air, in majestic solitude, +pondering over the everlasting roll of life towards perfection. In this +way only could the painter match the sculptor, but the practical +difficulties are so enormous as to render the scheme to all intents and +purposes impossible. + +For the painter then there is a limit to expression. He cannot proceed +with his ideal higher than Praxiteles. His limit is the most supreme +form and expression conceivable by his imagination, which does not +exceed the apparent possibility of human experience. Apparent, because +an ideal must necessarily be actually above the possibility of +experience, but it may not appear to be so. For instance a Raphael +Madonna does not seem to represent a supernatural woman. There is no +single feature painted which cannot be matched in life, and hence it +would not occur to the observer that the expression is contrary to the +possibility of experience. But the expression cannot be met with in +life, for besides being entirely general, it excludes all phases due to +the emotions or passions. One cannot imagine a woman with the expression +of a Raphael Madonna having concern with any special human interest, and +least of all with feelings and failings arising from natural instincts. +Yet the expression covers every form of noble endeavour; every phase of +innocent pleasure; every degree of mental activity within the province +of woman. And herein lies the art--the exclusion of the bad in our +nature, with the exaltation of the good. + +Now it is obvious that if the expression be so general that no +particular quality can be identified therein, the countenance will serve +for the head of any personage painted in whose expression it is +desirable to indicate the possession of high attributes, without +suggesting a particular condition of mind. Thus, the head of a Raphael +Madonna would equally serve for the head of a Saint Cecilia or a Judith; +or, providing the age were suitable, for a heroine of the stamp of Joan +of Arc, so long as the character of her actual features were unknown. +Further it would be well adapted for a symbolical figure, as Prudence or +Truth. + +But a far wider significance than is thus indicated, is conveyed by the +necessity for generalizing expression in order to reach the painter's +ideal. It has already been noted that inasmuch as all men have the same +general idea of beauty--that they generally agree as to what is, or is +not, beautiful, it follows that there must be a common opinion as to +degrees of beauty, and so a universality of ideal; that is of course, +among people with similar experience of life, as for instance the white +races of the world.[49] Hence the ideals of all painters must be +similar. They must necessarily aim for the same generalization--exclude +or emphasize like. Manner or style, or national type may vary; purely +sensorial effects may differ as the minds of the painters have been +variously trained, but the combination of features and effects which +regulate the expression will be practically identical in every realized +ideal. Consequently, subject to changes in attitude or age, ideal heads +of all artists are interchangeable without incongruity resulting, +irrespective of the motive of the design, for the ideal countenance +indicated adapts itself to any character where no emotional or +passionate expression is required. The head of the figure representing +"Profane Love" in Titian's great picture, would serve to express +spiritual nobility in a Madonna,[a] and when a head in a Madonna by +Raphael is exchanged with that of the central figure in Fragonard's The +Pursuit,[b] there is no resulting suggestion of impropriety in either +picture.[c] Ideal countenances have sometimes been given to evil +characters, as in Luini's Salome,[d] and the head in this picture would +equally well serve for a Madonna.[e] + + [a] See Plate 9. + + [b] Frick Collection, New York.[50] + + [c] See Plate 8. + + [d] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [e] See Plate 10. + +An ideal head then will suggest any expression that the design in which +it is included seems to require, subject to the restrictions before +noted. In The Pursuit the face of the woman presumed to be fleeing from +her lover indicates some concern, and even a little fear,[a] but that +this is due to the surroundings in the work, is shown when the head is +substituted for another in a different picture, for the concern has +disappeared, and the expression becomes one which may properly represent +the highest attributes connected with the Madonna. + + [a] See Frontispiece and Plate 11. + +The limits within which the form and countenance of a woman may be +idealized, are prescribed by Raphael in his works. The presumed age must +be that when she reaches the full bloom of womanhood. Youth will not do +because it involves an expression denying experience, while physically a +girl cannot be supposed to have reached an age where her form has ceased +to progress towards perfection. Beauty of feature and form is the first +consideration of the artist, and hence his difficulty in fixing an +expression which shall be entirely free from the possibility of +suggesting desire. For this reason no model, or series of models, will +suffice the painter: he has always to bring his imagination to bear, as +Raphael admitted he had to do.[a] + + [a] "E di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene nella + mente." Letter to Castiglione. + +It is impossible to find a head of a woman, painted before the time of +Raphael, which fulfils the requirements of art as an ideal. The figures +are either too formal, or too distinctive in type, or are evidently +portraits, while in many of the greatest pictures of the fifteenth +century the artists had not yet learned how to put warm blood into their +Madonnas. Raphael, however, after taking up his sojourn at Florence, +became an object lesson for nearly every school, and ideal countenances +were produced by other masters, though no painter other than Raphael +succeeded with more than one or two. Nowadays the ever increasing hustle +in the struggle for existence, does not lend itself to deep study and +long contemplation on the part of painters, but hope springs eternal, +and surely the list of immortals is not yet closed. + +An ideal man of flesh and blood is not possible in the art of the +painter, for there is no general conception of male beauty below the +level of the god-like. Perfection of form can be given, but a supreme +expression in the face of a man implies deep wisdom, and this must +necessarily be associated with maturity when high sensorial beauty of +feature can scarcely be expected. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +EXPRESSION. PART V.--PORTRAITURE + + Limitations of the portrait painter--Generalizations--Emphasis + and addition of qualities--Practice of the ancient Greeks-- + Dignity--Importance of simplicity--Some of the great masters-- + Portraiture of women--The English masters--The quality of + grace--The necessity of repose. + + +While in the scale of the painter's art, portraiture ranks next to the +higher branches of historical work, yet it is some distance behind them, +for apart from the commonplace of scenic arrangement, the imagination of +the portrait painter cannot be carried further than the consideration of +added or eliminated details of form and expression in relation to a set +subject. But these details are very difficult, and so it comes about +that a good portrait involves a far greater proportion of mental labour +than the result appears on the surface to warrant. It is indirectly +consequent upon the complexity of his task that the work of the artist +who devotes practically his whole time to portraiture, often varies so +largely in quality. He paints some portraits which are generally +appreciated, but as time goes on he is overwhelmed with orders which he +cannot possibly fulfil without reducing the value of his work. He thus +acquires a habit of throwing his whole power into his work only when +the personage he represents is of public importance, or has a +countenance particularly amenable to his manner or style. It is +necessary that this fact should be borne in mind, otherwise erroneous +standards are likely to be set up when artists like Van Dyck, Reynolds, +or Romney, are referred to as examples. + +In a general sense nearly all painting where the human figure is +introduced, is portraiture, and it has been so since soon after the +middle of the fifteenth century, when artists commenced to use living +men and women for secondary or accessory figures in sacred pictures. The +increasing importance attached to the anatomy of the figure resulted in +the extensive use of models, and so in a measure portraiture rose to be +a leading feature in the work of the artist. The figures in the larger +compositions of every kind by the greater painters of the late fifteenth +and early sixteenth centuries, consist almost entirely of portraits of +friends and acquaintances of the artists, the exceptions being the +countenances of the Deity and Christ, which had to be modelled from +accepted types, and those of the later Saints the character of whose +features had been handed down by tradition. A few painters, as Raphael +and Correggio, idealized the Virgin away from suggestion of portraiture, +but others, as Del Sarto and Pontormo, even in this case took a wife or +other relative as a model. The practice was continued by many artists in +respect of central figures, till the end of the seventeenth century, +after which time the identity of the figures was, as a rule, purposely +lost. Nevertheless the figures, other than ideals, used in all good +compositions, must necessarily be portraits or adaptations thereof, for +only from life can superior representation of life be obtained. + +The first duty of the portraitist is to generalize the expression of his +subject. A face seen once will be thrown upon the mind only with the +particular expression observable at the moment of view. If seen a second +time we involuntarily combine the effects of the dual experience, and +the more often we see the countenance, the more closely will our mental +picture of it correspond with the general or average expression worn. It +is this average appearance that the portraitist tries to represent, +emphasizing of course whatever good qualities may be indicated. The +second most important task of the artist is to balance every part of the +picture, so that neither setting, nor colour, nor handling, is +strikingly noticeable. The portrait should appear at first glance as one +complete whole, in order that the mind of the observer be immediately +directed to the subject, and away from the artist or the manner of +execution. The painter is limited to the actual character and +physiognomy of the figure. He must make each feature harmonize with the +others, and add or subtract, hide or reveal, without changing the +general individuality, but he cannot do more. His scope is, therefore, +strictly limited. Very naturally some of the greatest portraitists have +rebelled at this limit. They appear to have painted with an eye to +posterity, rather than to satisfy their patrons and the people of the +time with an effective generalization of character and bearing. If we +compare the portraits executed by Titian with those representing certain +accessory figures in some important compositions of the great masters, +as for instance, the School of Athens of Raphael,[a] and the Death of +St. Francis of Ghirlandaio,[b] we find a marked difference. The latter +are obviously true portraits of living men, with little accentuated or +eliminated, just such portraits as Carlyle wanted from which to obtain +real instruction for his biographies. Titian painted no portraits of +this kind. He gives a lofty bearing to every person he portrays. His +figures seem to belong to a special race of men, endowed with rare +qualities of nobility and dignity, with little interest in the doings of +ordinary people. Yet we know that some of his characters lived in an +atmosphere of evil. We cannot really believe that the Aretino of +Titian[c] was Aretino the man, and we find it hard to imagine that +Philip II.,[d] or the Duke of Alba,[e] as Titian painted him, could grow +into the monster he proved to be. Nevertheless Titian was justified. It +is not the business of the artist to consider the historian: his art is +all that concerns him. Titian produced beautiful pictures which are +commonly recognized as great portrayals of character; whose character +matters not, though when we have data upon which to rest a judgment, we +find the lineaments in his works are fully sufficient for purposes of +identification. + + [a] At the Vatican. + + [b] Fresco at Santa Trinita, Florence. + + [c] Frick Collection, N. Y. + + [d] The Padro, Madrid, and elsewhere. + + [e] Huescar Coll., Madrid. + +While Titian went further than any other Renaissance painter in +ennobling his subjects, he did not approach the ancient Greeks in this +respect. Their sculptured busts and terms represent the highest +portraiture known to us. Many examples remain, mostly copies it is true, +but quite fifty of them are clearly faithful reproductions, made +apparently in the early days of Imperial Rome, and accord closely with +the few existing originals. The Grecian portraits differ from the Roman, +and all later painted or carved portraits in a most important +feature.[a] The latter aimed at what is still understood as the highest +level in portraiture. They endeavoured to give a general individualism +of mind and bearing, avoiding particular expression; in fact to +represent character. Since the Christian era commenced neither sculptor +nor painter has gone further than this, with very few exceptions in +Roman days when Grecian sculptors of the time imitated the practice of +the fourth and early third centuries. The earlier Greeks on the other +hand not only generalized portraits in an extreme degree, but, except in +the case of athletes, they altered the contour of the head and varied +the actual features of the subject, so that the possession of the higher +human attributes should be indicated as clearly as possible. They +invariably showed a large facial angle, placed the ears well close to +the head, sunk the eyes deep in their sockets, and ennobled the brows to +suggest majesty or profound thought. In fact the Grecian portrait heads +only differ from their sculptured gods in that particular countenances +are depicted, and consequently the expression in them does not appear to +be above the possibility of human experience. Apparently in Grecian +times, only men who had become celebrated in some way were represented +in stone, and hence the artist had features to depict which could be +semi-idealized without impropriety. Even Socrates, whose ugliness was +proverbial, was given a noble and dignified expression.[b] + + [a] See Plates 12 and 13. + + [b] See heads in the National Museums of Rome and Naples. + +That the painter is at liberty to follow the example of the Greeks, +there can be no question from the point of view of art, for his first +object is to produce a beautiful picture; but in portraiture, practical +and conventional considerations have to be met, with which other +branches of painting are not concerned. With rare exceptions the +portraits executed are of living persons, and extreme accentuation of +high qualities would be likely to result in a representation of the +sitter that would appear false to contemporary observers, though we +might well imagine that a work exhibiting this accentuation would seem +to be of high excellence in the judgment of future generations. There +must therefore be a line drawn in respect of added or accentuated +qualities, and the position of this line would naturally vary with the +celebrity of the subject and the power of the artist. Something definite +may, however, be said in regard to the emphasis of certain qualities of +form, and particularly of dignity, a feature that has occupied the +attention of some of the greatest masters. + + [Illustration: PLATE 13 (See page 145) + Roman Portraiture + Head of Vespasian + Head of Hadrian] + +The question arises, how far may the artist go in imitating the +manner of the stage with his portraits? On the theatrical stage +formalities are required with certain characters in order to emphasize +their position--to assist in the recognition of their standing or +relative significance in the drama, for it is of the first importance +that the audience should comprehend the meaning of the actions presented +as rapidly as possible. The actor must often exaggerate life habits of +pose and manner in order to heighten the contrast between two +characters, or to give special significance to the words. And the +elevation of the diction sometimes compels this exaggeration. In high +drama where the language used is above experience of ordinary life in +measure and force, there must be appropriate pose and action to +accompany it, and hence a height of dignity or even majesty may appear +perfectly proper on the stage, which would be ridiculous in surroundings +away from it. From the practice of certain painters it would seem that +they have looked upon portraiture as the transference of their subjects +to the public stage as it were, so that they might appear to occupy a +higher position in the drama of life than that to which they are +habituated. No harm can arise from this provided the portraitist does +not pass beyond the custom of the theatrical stage, where, whatever the +exaggeration, the representation appears, or should appear, appropriate +to the action; that is to say, where the exaggeration is not recognized +as such. Accentuation of high qualities of expression, or even +variations in certain physical features, such as the Greeks brought +about, would not appear exaggerations in a portrait, but where dignity +of form is added to such an extent that the observer immediately +recognizes it as untrue to experience, then the artist goes too far. +While this is so, we do not condemn Titian, Van Dyck, and the few other +portrait painters who emphasized the quality of dignity of form in past +times. The reason for this appears to be that the usual methods of +teaching history lead us to suppose that nobles and leaders of society +in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who were usually the +portrait subjects of the greater artists, commonly assumed a demeanour +and bearing far above our own experience. At the present day, when it is +a matter of universal knowledge that a formal dignified pose is very +rarely assumed by any one, such a bearing in a portrait would be +regarded as untrue. + +The portraitist may improve the expression of his subject, adding any +good quality within his power, and he may remove from the features or +figure any marked physical defect, because the portrait would still +appear to be correct; but if he add a strong dignified pose, then the +result would be something that is possibly, but improbably accurate, and +therefore inferior art. The quality of dignity should be expressed +rather in the countenance than in the pose, the bearing of the form +being produced as in life, for this lends assistance to the true +representation of character. A dignified expression may well be +appropriate to an awkward form whose personality would be +undistinguished by dignity of pose. + +Titian was the first great artist to give a pronounced dignity of form +to his subjects, and he never varied from the practice unless the +subject were exhibited in action,[a] or too old to be represented as an +upright figure.[b] Nor did he once exaggerate the pose so that arrogance +might be suggested. Though he squared the shoulders, he rarely threw +back the head to emphasize the bearing,[c] and only in one portrait is +the body slightly arched as the result of the pose.[d] In fact so +careful was the artist in avoiding over-emphasis, that there is a +tendency in two or three of his figures for the upper part of the body +to lean a little forward.[e] Obviously Titian gave this dignified +attitude to his portrait subjects of set purpose, as in his general +compositions there is no suggestion of it.[51] + + [a] Portrait of his daughter, Berlin Gallery, and of Jacopo di Strada + at Vienna. + + [b] Paul III. at Naples, and his own portrait at the Uffizi Gallery. + + [c] An exception is Charles V. at Muehlberg, Prado, Madrid. + + [d] Portrait of his daughter as a bride, at Dresden. + + [e] Notably in the portrait of the Duke of Ferrara, Pitti Palace. + +Velasquez no doubt acquired his habit of lending dignity to his +important subjects from the examples of Titian's portraits which came +under his view in Spain. Except in one notable instance where the +bearing is much over-emphasized,[a] he was equally successful with the +Italian master in the practice, though many of his characters are far +from lending him any natural assistance. In the case of a Court Dwarf, +however, the high dignity given to him by the painter seems to require +explanation.[b] + + [a] Count-Duke Olivares, Holford, Coll., London. + + [b] Don Antonio el Ingles, Prado. + +Before he went to Italy, Van Dyck followed the natural system of Rubens +in posing his portrait subjects, but at Genoa he painted under the spell +of Titian's memory, and thereafter during his whole life, he gave a +dignified bearing to his figures whenever this was not opposed to +individual traits. During his English period, when he undertook more +work than he could properly accomplish, he sometimes over-emphasized the +dignity of a figure by arching the body,[a] but as a rule he produced a +just balance of pose and setting, completing altogether a magnificent +series of portraits which remain the astonishment of the world. + + [a] Earl of Newport, Northbrook Coll., England; Earl of Bedford + Spencer Coll.; and Queen Henrietta (three-quarter length), + Windsor Castle. + +It is obviously the duty of the portraitist so to design his work that +the attention of the observer is concentrated upon the countenance of +the subject immediately he has grasped the whole composition, and it is +in the successful accomplishment of this object that the power of +Rembrandt lies. He rarely used accessories, and in only a few cases a +background of any kind. He avoided portraits where an elaborate setting +was required, as for instance full length standing figures, of which he +only painted two[a]; and in his many three-quarter length portraits, +there is seldom more than a table or chair to be seen apart from the +figure. With this simplicity of design, and with nearly all the +available light directed full upon the head of the subject, the eye of +the observer of the picture is necessarily centred instantaneously upon +the features. These are invariably cast into bold relief by perfect +management of the chiaroscuro, and the correspondence with life seems as +complete as it well can be. Rembrandt thus accomplishes the aim of every +great artist: he executes a faithful picture, and throws it on the mind +of the observer with the maximum of rapidity. Only artists of a high +order can successfully ignore a more or less elaborate setting for a +portrait, particularly if it be larger than bust size. Great care has to +be taken with such a setting lest the eye of the observer be attracted +by the pose of the figure and the general harmony of the work before +being directed to the countenance. If we take the general opinion of +known portraits, so far as it can be gauged, we find that the most +highly esteemed of them are: the Julius II. of Raphael, the Mona Lisa of +Lionardo, the Man with the Gloves by Titian, the Old Man with a Boy by +Ghirlandaio, and Innocent X. by Velasquez.[b] All of these except Mona +Lisa are remarkable for the simplicity of the setting, and in the +exception the formal landscape is altogether subordinated to the figure. +Raphael was the first artist who saw the value of avoiding accessories +in portraiture. His half-length portraits painted after his arrival in +Florence, are all free from them, and his Julius II. has only the chair +on which the Pope is seated. + + [a] Martin Day and Machteld van Doorn, both in Gustave Rothschild + Coll., Paris. + + [b] The first at the Pitti Palace, the last at the Doria Gallery, and + the others at the Louvre. + +Rembrandt further aided the concentration of attention on the +countenance of a sitter by the use of warm inconspicuous tones in the +clothing, which harmonize with all kinds of surroundings in which the +picture may be seen. The colours never specially attract the eye, and +the attire consequently forms so completely a part of the figure, that +after an inspection of the work one can rarely describe the costume. +This subordination of colour is of the highest importance in +portraiture, though it is not sufficiently practised nowadays. Velasquez +used quiet tones whenever possible, that is, when he was not painting +great personages, and Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck, followed the same +course in half-length portraits. None of these, however, seemed so +careful as Rembrandt in adapting the tones to the general character of +the figure, so that the impression left on the mind of the observer +should relate entirely to the personality. Rembrandt, in fact, aimed at +a representation of the man, and the man only; and he gave us a natural +human being of a commonly known type, with his virtues somewhat +emphasized, and his faults a little veiled. + +The extraordinary power of Velasquez as a portraitist was due to the +same general cause operating in the case of Rembrandt, namely, extreme +simplicity in design. Apart from those instances where royal or official +personages had to be represented in decorative attire, every portrait of +Velasquez is merely the impress of a personality. There are no +accessories; the clothing is subordinated to the last degree, and there +is nothing for the eye to grasp but a perfectly drawn set of features +thrown into strong relief by a method of chiaroscuro unsurpassed in +depth and accuracy. Thus, as in the case of Rembrandt, the portrait +fulfils the first law of art--the picture is thrown on the brain in the +least possible fraction of time. + +Velasquez was remarkable in a greater degree than any other artist, if +we except Hals, for his facility in execution. In his brush-work he +appeared to do the right thing at all times without hesitation, +achieving the most perfect balance as if by instinct. So far as we can +judge from those instances where his subjects were painted also by other +artists, his portraits are good likenesses, but he followed the best +practice in generalizing the countenance to the fullest extent. It is +unfortunate that his work was confined to so poor a variety of sitters. +Of his known portraits more than half represent Philip IV. or his +relatives; eight others are nobles of the time, and another half dozen +are dwarfs and buffoons, leaving only seventeen examples of the artist's +work amongst ordinary people. There never was a weaker royal family than +that of Philip IV., and it is really astonishing how Velasquez was able +to produce such excellent works of art by means of their portraits. With +his abnormal lips and weak face, the king himself must have been a most +difficult person to ennoble, yet the painter managed in three portraits +to give him a highly distinguished countenance and bearing, without in +any way suggesting exaggeration.[a] Of another weak man--Innocent +X.--Velasquez painted what Reynolds described as the greatest portrait +he saw in Rome; and it is truly one of the most amazing life +representations ever executed.[b] A reddish face peers out through a +blaze of warm surroundings and background; a face in full relief as if +cut out of apoplectic flesh--almost appalling in its verity. It is like +nothing else that Velasquez painted: it overpowers with its combined +strength and realism. But it is a picture to see occasionally, and +admire as a great imitation. If one lived with it, the colour would hurt +the eye, the unpleasant face would tire the mind. Such a face should not +be painted: it should be carved in stone, where truth may be given to +form without the protrusion of mortal decay. Bernini sculptured the +countenance, and gave the Pope a certain majesty which no painting could +present. As a life portrait the work of Velasquez is unrivalled, but as +a pure work of art, it is behind the three portraits of Philip IV. +already mentioned. A distinctly unhealthy face cannot be produced in +portraiture without injuring the art, for it is a variety of distortion. + + [a] The full example at the Prado; the Parma full length, in the Frick + Coll., N. Y.; and the three-quarter length portrait at the + Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [b] In the Doria Gallery, Rome. + +Velasquez was so naturally a portraitist that apart from his actual +portrait work, every figure composition he painted seems to consist +merely of the portraits of a group of persons. He took little pains to +connect the figures in a life action, often painting them with a look of +unconcern with the proceedings around them, as if specially posing for +the artist. In several of his works there are faces looking right out +of the picture, and it is evident that in these the artist had little +thought in his mind away from portrait presentation.[a] The Surrender of +Breda and Las Meninas,[b] regarded generally as his best compositions, +are admittedly portrait groupings, but the setting in each case is one +of action, and hence the faces looking out of the picture are a great +drawback, as they disrobe the illusion of a natural scene. That a man so +accurate in his drawing, so perfect in his chiaroscuro, and so skilful +in his brushwork, should yet be so conspicuously limited in imagination, +is a problem which art historians have yet to solve. + + [a] See The Breakfast, Hermitage; Christ in the House of Martha, + National Gallery, London; and The Drinkers, Prado. + + [b] Both at the Prado. + +Franz Hals was on a level with Velasquez in respect of facility in +execution, and like him seems to have been a born portraitist. His +brushwork was so rapid and decisive that in scarcely any of his designs +is there evidence of deliberation. He seems to have been able to take in +the essential features of a subject at a glance, and to transfer them to +canvas without preliminaries, producing an amazing countenance with the +least possible detail. Though some of his large groups are a little +stiff, this is rather through his want of capacity in invention than a +set purpose of exaggeration with a view to heightening the dignity of +pose, for it is obvious that Hals had little imagination, and knew +nothing of the boundless possibilities of his art in general +composition. He appears to have passed through life without concern for +his work beyond material results, being well convinced that the magic +of his execution would leave nothing further for the public to desire. +In the last forty years of his life he made no advance in his art except +in one respect, but the change was great, for it doubled the art value +of his portraits. He learned how to subordinate his colours; how to +modify his chiaroscuro in order to force the immediate attention of the +observer on the countenance of his subject.[52] Such an advance with +such an artist placed him in the rank of the immortals among the +portraitists. + +It will be seen that in the judgment of the greatest painters, +decoration in a portrait should be altogether subordinated to the +truthful representation of character, this practice being only varied +when the personage portrayed is of public importance, and the portrait +is required more or less as a monument. The rule is natural and +reasonable, being based upon the universal agreement that the +all-important part of a man comprehended by the vision is his +countenance. But the rule only strictly applies to a single figure +portrait, for when the painter goes beyond this, and executes a double +portrait or a multiple group, he restricts the scope of his art. Other +things being equal a double portrait is necessarily inferior art to a +single figure picture, since the dual objective complicates the +impression of the work on the brain, and the only remedy, or partial +remedy, for this drawback possessed by the painter is to introduce +accessories and arrange his group in a subject design. This plan results +in detracting from the force of the actual portraits, as it divides the +attention of the observer, but there is no help for it unless one is +content with the representation of the figures in a stiff and formal way +which extinguishes the pictorial effect of the work. + +The greatest artists have avoided dual or triple portrait works where +possible except in cases of gatherings of members of the same family, as +one of these groups may be regarded as a unity by the observer. +Nevertheless in his picture of Leo X., and the two younger Medici,[a] +Raphael was careful to subordinate the cardinals so that they should +appear little more than accessories in a painting of the Pope; an +example which was followed not quite so successfully by Titian in his +triple portrait of Paul III. with the two brothers Farnese.[b] A group +of two persons who are in some way associated with each other, though +unconnected in action, rarely looks out of place, as in the pictures of +father and son, or of two brothers, painted by Van Dyck, or in The +Ambassadors of Holbein,[c] but no painter has yet succeeded in producing +a first-class work of art out of a multiple portrait group when the +personages represented are unconnected with each other, either directly +in action, or indirectly through association derived from the title. The +picture of Rubens representing Lipsius and three others, would appear +much more stiff and formal than it is, without one of the two titles +given to it, notwithstanding the general excellence of the +composition.[d] When the figures introduced are very numerous, as in the +many groups of civic organizations painted by Hals, Ravesteyn, and +others, the compulsory formality seriously detracts from the aesthetic +value of the works, however superior they may be in execution, or +whatever the connection of the personages represented; and when we come +to such crowded paintings as Terburg's Signing the Peace of Muenster,[e] +we obtain but little more than a record, though it be of absorbing +historical interest. + + [a] Pitti Palace, Florence. + + [b] Naples Museum. + + [c] National Gallery, London. + + [d] The Four Philosophers, or Lipsius and his Disciples, Pitti Palace. + + [e] National Gallery, London. + +It is observable that as a rule portraitists have been more successful +with delineations of men than of women. This is to be accounted for by +the necessity for subordinating the representation of character to the +art in the case of women unless they have passed the prime of life; +while with men the art is usually subordinated to the portrait, +character being sought independently of sensorial beauty. Strictly it is +the duty of the artist to make his portrait, whether of a man or a +woman, sensorially attractive, but here again in portraiture custom and +convention have to be considered with the rules of art. It is agreed +that with a woman sensorial beauty must be produced if that be possible, +even with the sacrifice of certain elements of character; but with a man +the portrait must be recognized by the acquaintances of the subject as +corresponding in most details with his life appearance. The future of +the portrait is out of the question for the time being. Nevertheless the +painter has certain advantages in dealing with the features of a man, +for the presence of lines in the brow, or other evidence of experience, +does not interfere with the nobility or dignity which may be added to +his general bearing; but what would be lines in the countenance of a man +would be wrinkles in that of a woman, because here they can scarcely be +neutralized by attitude and expression which imply strength of +character, without destroying what is best described as womanly charm, +which is a compulsory feature in every woman's portrait. With a man +therefore the portraitist considers character first and emphasizes +qualities of form within his power; while with a woman, during the +period of her bloom, beauty of form and feature must be the first care +of the artist, unconflicting qualities of character being emphasized or +added. + +All this was of course recognized by the great portraitists of the +Renaissance and the seventeenth century, but while most of them +endeavoured to enhance the sensorial beauty of their men subjects, +little attempt was made to add intellectual grace to the portrayals of +women. Antonio Moro[a] and Van Dyck, in their full length portraits of +women, sometimes succeeded in converting dignity of form into what we +understand as grandeur, which implies dignity of expression as well as +grace and dignity of form, but they were largely handicapped by the +dress fashions of their times. They had to deal with heavy formal +drapery which hung over the figures like elongated bells, and bid +defiance to freedom of pose. When fashions and customs had so changed as +to allow of definition being given to the figures, Van Dyck had been +dead for many years. Meanwhile Hals, Rembrandt, Velasquez, and hundreds +of lesser lights, were casting around their flowers of form and mind, +but all on the old plan, for it is difficult to find a portrait of a +woman painted during the century succeeding Van Dyck, where beauty of +feature is allied to nobility in expression. + + [a] Catilina of Portugal, and Maria of Austria, both at the Prado. + + [Illustration: PLATE 14 (See page 168) + Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Pompeian Fresco) + Supposed copy of a painting by Timanthes] + +The production of this combination awaited the maturity of Reynolds, who +with Gainsborough, broke into a new field in the portraiture of women. +Gainsborough took the grandeur of Van Dyck for his pattern, but improved +upon it by substituting simplicity for dignity and elaboration, which he +was able to manage without great difficulty, as he had a clear advantage +over the Flemish master in that the costumes in use in his time were +lighter in character, and permitted of the contour of form being +properly exhibited. This simple grace of form allied to grandeur in +bearing, naturally brings about an apparent modification in expression +in conformity with it, so long as there are no conflicting elements in +expression present, which Gainsborough was careful to avoid. Reynolds +went further than Gainsborough, for after the middle of his career he +directly added an expression of nobility to his portraits of women +whenever the features would admit of it, and so brought about the +highest type of feminine portraiture known in art. He was more nearly +allied to Titian than Van Dyck, and though in sheer force of sensorial +beauty he did not reach the level of the Venetian master, yet in pure +feminine portraiture, where high beauty of expression is combined with a +perfect generalization of the features, Reynolds is unsurpassed in +the history of painting, so far as we can judge from examples remaining +to us. For we must estimate an artist from his best work. Reynolds +painted forty or fifty portraits of women of the character indicated, +and a few of them, notably Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy,[a] and Mrs. +Billington as St. Cecilia,[b] are amongst the most luminous examples of +feminine portraiture in existence. There are many artists who equalled +Reynolds in the representation of men, but there are very few indeed who +even attempted to strike a just balance between sensorial and +intellectual effects in the countenance of a woman. + + [a] Westminster Coll., London. + + [b] New York Public Library. + +With such great leaders as Reynolds and Gainsborough, it might have been +hoped that the school they founded in portraiture would have taken a +long lease of life, but it rapidly died away, leaving very few indeed of +footsteps sunk deep in the sands of glory, save those of Raeburn, +Hoppner, Lawrence, and Romney. But between Reynolds and Romney there is +a wide gulf, for while the former sought for his beauty among the higher +gifts of nature, Romney, with rare exceptions, was content with a formal +expression allied to grace of pose. We may shortly consider this +graceful attitude for it seems to be often regarded as an all-sufficing +feature in the representation of women.[53] + +The charm of grace lies chiefly in movement, and a graceful attitude in +repose implies rest from graceful movement, but this attitude is +ephemeral in nature, for if prolonged it quickly becomes an artificial +pose. In art therefore, a graceful pose, whether exhibited in action or +at rest, must soon tire unless attractive expression be present to +deepen the impress of the work upon the mind of the observer. The +general aesthetic value of graceful form in a painted figure varies with +the scale to which the figure is drawn. With a heroic figure, grace is +of the smallest importance; in one of life size, as a portrait for +instance, the quality is of considerable assisting value; and as the +scale is diminished, so does the relative value of grace increase. This +is because details of expression can be less truthfully rendered in +small figures than in those of life size, while in miniature figures +certain high qualities of expression, as nobility, or a combined +expression of mind and form, as grandeur, can be scarcely indicated at +all, so that purely sensorial beauty, as that arising from grace of +pose, becomes of comparatively vast importance. This was well understood +in ancient times. The Grecian sculptured life-size figures are nearly +always graceful, but the grace arises naturally from perfection of form +and expression, and not from a specially added quality, a particular +grace of pose being always subordinated, if present at all. On the other +hand, in the smaller Grecian figures, such as those found at Tanagra and +in Asia Minor, anything in expression beyond regularity of features is +not attempted, but grace is always present, and it is entirely upon this +that the beauty of the figurines depends. We may presume from the +frescoes opened out at Pompeii, that the ancients were well aware of the +value and limitations of grace in art. In all these decorations where +the figures are of a general type, as fauns, bacchantes, nereids, +dancers, and so on, they are represented in motion, flying drapery being +skilfully used to provide illusion. Grace is the highest quality evident +in these forms, while the expression is invariably negative. For pure +wall decorations, which are observed in a casual way, a high quality of +grace such as these frescoes provide is all-sufficient, but as with the +Greeks, the Romans did not make grace a leading feature in serious art. + +With the great painters of the Renaissance, nobility, grandeur, and +general perfection of form and expression, though necessarily implying a +certain grace in demeanour, altogether dwarfed the feature of grace of +pose. In the seventeenth century, grace was subordinated to dignity of +form in the case of Van Dyck and Velasquez, and to actual life +experience with Rubens and Rembrandt. When either of these last two +added a quality of form to their figures, it was always dignity and not +grace. Murillo was the first Spanish painter to pay particular attention +to the grace of his figures, but he never gave it predominance. The +French masters of the period, Le Brun, Le Sueur, Poussin, Mignard, and +Rigaud, leaned too closely to classical traditions to permit of grace +playing a leading part in their designs, though some of slightly lesser +fame as Noel and Antoine Coypel, appeared to attribute considerable +value to the quality. It was during this century in Italy that grace +first appeared as a prominent feature in figure painting. In his +pastoral and classical scenes, Albani seems to have largely relied upon +it for his beauty, and Cignani, Andrea Sacchi, Sassoferrato, and others +followed in his footsteps in this respect, though up to the end of the +century no attempt was made in portraiture to sacrifice other features +to grace of pose. Rosalba then made her appearance as a portraitist, and +she was the first to rest the entire beauty of her work on sensorial +charm of feature and grace of pose. She developed a weakened school in +France which culminated with Nattier; and in England, Angelica +Kauffmann, and some miniature painters, notably Cosway and Humphrey, +took up her system for their life-size portraits, while many artists "in +small" as Cipriani and Bartolozzi, assisted in forming a cult of the +style. But of the greater British painters, only Romney gave high +importance to grace of pose in portraits of women. It is safer for an +artist to eschew grace of pose altogether than to sacrifice higher +qualities to it. A little added dignity is always preferable to a +graceful attitude in a portrait, because in nature it is not so +evanescent a feature. Grace is a good assisting quality, but an inferior +substitute. + +The greatest repose possible is necessary in a portrait, as a suggestion +of action tends to draw the attention of the observer to it, thus +impeding the impression of the whole upon his mind. The leading +portraitists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries never erred in +this matter, unless we except a single work by Titian--the portrait +group of Paul III. and the Cardinals Farnese, where the last named has +just arrived and is apparently in the act of bowing before completing +his final step; but even here it may be fairly argued that a moment of +rest between two parts of the final action is to be presumed. It was not +an uncommon practice of Van Dyck to pose a subject arrested in the act +of walking, or with one foot on the lowest step of a stairway as if +about to ascend; but in each of these instances the head is turned, and +it is obvious that the motion is temporarily stayed.[a] A similar pose +was sometimes adopted by British artists of the eighteenth century with +conspicuous success. If a portrait figure be painted in the act of +walking on level ground, the feet must be together even if the moment +represented be that between two steps in the action, because it is +contrary to all experience for a man to rest while so walking, with one +foot in front of the other. In a general composition the representation +of a man walking with the feet separated is permissible, because it is +part of a general action, and accessory in its nature, but in a portrait +the beginning and end of the action depicted are usually unknown, and +hence any action must be meaningless and disturbing to the observer.[b] + + [a] See Earl of Pembroke, Wilton Coll., Countess of Devonshire, + Chatsworth, and Philip le Roy, Wallace Coll., all in England. + + [b] See Chase's Master Roland, private Coll., N. Y.; and Manet's Boy + with a Sword, Met. Museum, N. Y. + +The French and English artists of the eighteenth century followed the +practice of their predecessors in avoiding the exhibition of movement in +their portraits, but occasionally they departed from the rule. In his +fine portrait of Mrs. Thomas Raikes, Romney shows the lady playing a +harpsichord, with the fingers apparently in motion; and in his group of +the Ladies Spencer, one of them is fingering a harp. The result in each +case is a stiff attitude which detracts from the beauty of the work. Van +Dyck managed such a design in a much better way, for in his portrait of +his wife with a cello, she holds the bow distinctly at rest.[a] Titian +also, when representing a man at an organ, shows his hands stayed, while +turning his head.[b] Reynolds moved aside once from the custom in +respect of action,[c] and Raeburn seems also to have erred only on a +single occasion.[d] + + [a] Munich Gallery. + + [b] Venus and the Organ Player, Prado. + + [c] Viscountess Crosbie, Tennant Coll., London. + + [d] Dr. Nathaniel Spens, Royal Co. of Archers, Edinburgh. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +EXPRESSION. PART VI--MISCELLANEOUS + + Grief--The smile--The open mouth--Contrasts--Representation of + death. + + +The painter has ever to be on his guard against over-emphasis of facial +expression. His first object is to present an immediately intelligible +composition, and this being accomplished, much has already been done +towards providing appropriate expressions for his characters. It has +been seen that attitude alone may appear to lend to a countenance +suitable expression which is not observed when the head of the figure is +considered separately; and while such a condition is not frequent, its +possibility indicates that the painter is warranted in relying more or +less upon the details of his action for conveying the state of mind of +the personages concerned therein. It is not the purpose here to deal +with the various forms of expression that may be of use to the painter, +nor indeed is it necessary. The work of Raphael alone leaves little to +be learned in respect of the expression of emotion so far as it may be +exhibited in a painting[54]; but there are a few matters in relation to +the subject which appear to require attention, judging from experience +of modern painting, and short notes upon them are here given. + + +GRIEF + +Intense grief is the most difficult expression to depict in the whole +art of painting, because in nature it usually results in distortion of +the features, which the artist must avoid at all cost. Of the thousands +of paintings of scenes relating to the Crucifixion, where the Virgin is +presumed to be in great agony at the foot of the Cross, very rarely has +an artist attempted to portray this agony in realistic manner.[a] He +generally substitutes for grief an expression of sorrow which is +produced without contraction of the features. This expression, which is +invariably accompanied with extreme pallor, does not prevent the +addition of a certain nobility to the countenance, and hence no +suggestion of insufficiency arises in the mind of the observer. But the +sublime expression which may be given to the Virgin would be out of +place in her attendants who are not infrequently made hideous through +attempts to represent them as overcome with grief. + + [a] A notable exception is Poussin's Descent from the Cross, + Hermitage. + +A method of avoiding the difficulty is to conceal the face of the +personage presumed to be suffering from grief. Timanthes is recorded by +Pliny as having painted a picture of the Sacrifice of Iphigenia in which +the head of Agamemnon was completely covered by his robe; and a picture +of the same subject in a Pompeian fresco represents the Grecian monarch +hiding his face with his right hand, while the left gathers up his +robe.[a] This invention was the subject of considerable discussion in +Europe in the eighteenth century, in which Reynolds, Falconet, Lessing, +and others took part. Reynolds said of the device that an artist might +use it once, but if he did so a second time, he would be justly +suspected of improperly evading difficulties. Falconet compared the +action of Timanthes to that of a poet who avoided expressing certain +sentiments on the ground that the action of his hero was above anything +that could be said[b]; while Lessing held that the grief which overcame +Agamemnon could only find expression in distortion, and hence the artist +was right in covering the face.[c] Unquestionably Lessing was justified, +for nothing more is demanded of the painter than to impress the +imagination of the observer with the intensity of the grief depicted, +and in this he succeeds. Obviously the poet is in a different position +from the painter because he can express deep grief easily enough without +suggesting distortion of the features. + + [a] See Plate 14[55]. + + [b] "Traduction des 34me, 35me, et 36me livres de Pline." + + [c] Laocoon. + +The artifice of Timanthes was practically unused during the Renaissance, +though Botticelli once conceals the face of a woman lamenting over the +body of Christ,[a] and Richardson quotes a drawing by Polidoro where the +Virgin hides her face in drapery in a lamentation scene. In Flanders at +a little earlier period, Roger van der Weyden used the device,[b] and +the Maitre de Flemalle shows St. John turning his head away and holding +his hand to his face in a Crucifixion scene.[c] In the succeeding +centuries little was known of the practice, but quite lately it has come +into use again. Boecklin painted a Pieta in which the Virgin has thrown +herself over the dead body of Christ in an agony of grief, her whole +form being covered by a cloak. Feuerbach has a somewhat similar +arrangement, and in a picture of the Departure of Jason, he hides the +face of an attendant of Medea, a plan adopted in two or three frescoes +of the subject at Pompeii. Prud'hon, in a Crucifixion scene, hides the +face of the Magdalene in her hands, and Kaulbach in his Marguerite so +bends her head that her face is completely concealed from the observer. +Where the face cannot altogether be hidden owing to the character of the +design, it is sometimes thrown into so deep a shade that the features +are indistinguishable, this being an excellent device for symbolical +figures typifying great anguish.[d] + + [a] The Brera, Milan. + + [b] In a scene of The Eucharist, Antwerp. + + [c] Christ on the Cross, Berlin. + + [d] As in Hacker's Cry of Egypt. + +It is not a good plan in a tragic design merely to turn the head away to +indicate grief or sorrow, because in such a case the artist is unable to +differentiate between a person experiencing intense grief, and one who +turns his head from horror of the tragedy.[a] The scheme of half veiling +the face is not often successful, since the depth of emotion that would +be presumed from such an action may be more than counterbalanced by the +very limited feeling which can be indicated by the part of the face +remaining exposed. On account of a neutralizing effect of this kind, +Loefftz's fine picture of the Dead Christ at Munich is much weakened, +for there is no stronger expression on the part of the Virgin than +patient resignation. Sorrow may well be displayed by semi-concealment of +the features, because here the necessary expression may be produced by +the eyes alone.[b] In ancient art, to half conceal the face indicated +discretion, as in the case of a Pompeian fresco where a nurse of the +young Neptune, handing him over to a shepherd for education, has her +mouth and chin covered, the meaning of this being that she is acquainted +with the high birth of the boy, but must not reveal it. + + [a] See Gros's Timoleon of Corinth. + + [b] Leighton's Captive Andromache. + + +THE SMILE + +A pronounced smile in nature is always transitory, and hence should be +avoided when possible in a painting. The only smile that does not tire +is that which is so faint as to appear to be permanent in the +expression, and it has been the aim of many painters to produce this +smile. An examination of numerous pictures where a smile is expressed in +the countenance has convinced the writer that when either the eyes +alone, or the eyes and mouth together, are used to indicate a smile, it +is invariably over-pronounced as a suggestive permanent feature, and +that in every case of such permanence, success arises from work on the +mouth alone. + +The permanent smile was not studied in Europe till the Milanese school +was founded, and in this nearly every artist gave his attention to it, +following the example of Lionardo. This great master, who was well +acquainted with the principles of art, is not likely to have had in his +mind an evanescent expression when he experimented with the smile, and +one can hardly understand therefore why this feature is almost +invariably over-emphasized in his works. In his portrayal of women he +used both eyes and mouth to bring about the smile,[a] and more commonly +than not paid most attention to the eyes. Perhaps he had in view the +production of a permanent smile solely by means of the eyes, which play +so great a part in general expression. In nature it is physically +impossible for a smile to be produced without a faint variation in the +mouth line, while the lower eyelids may remain perfectly free from any +change in light and shade, even with a smile more pronounced than is +necessary for apparent permanence. In the Mona Lisa at Boston,[56] the +smile is very faintly indicated by the eyes, and most pronounced at the +mouth, while in the famous Paris picture, the eyes are chiefly +responsible for the smile, the mouth only slightly assisting.[57] Many +smiling faces were produced by others of the Milanese school, and as a +rule the mouth only was used, often with complete success, notably by +B. Luini,[b] Pedrini,[c] and Ferrari.[d] Raphael never used the eyes to +assist in producing a smile, except with the Child Christ,[e] and in all +cases where he exhibits a smile in a Madonna[f] or portrait,[g] it +appears definitely permanent. As a rule the great artists of the +Renaissance other than the disciples of Lionardo, rarely produced a +smile with the intention of suggesting a permanently happy expression, +and in the seventeenth century little attention was given to it. + + [a] An exception where the mouth only is used is a drawing for the + Madonna and Child with St. Anne, Burlington House, London. + + [b] Salome, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [c] Madonna and Child, Arezzo. + + [d] Madonna and Child, Brera, Milan. + + [e] Cowper Madonna, Panshanger, England. + + [f] See Casa Tempi Madonna, Munich; and Virgin with a Goldfinch, + Uffizi. + + [g] Portrait of a Young Man, Budapest; and the Fornarina, Barberini + Gallery, Florence. + +The great French portraitists of the eighteenth century frequently made +the smile a feature in expression, and a few of them, notably La Tour, +seldom produced a countenance without one. In most cases the smile is a +little too pronounced for permanence, but there are many examples of a +faint and delicate smile which may well suggest an habitual condition. +Rigaud's Louis XV. as a Boy is an instance,[a] though here the illusion +quickly passes when we bring to mind the other portraits of the monarch. +Nattier,[b] Boucher,[c] Dumont le Romain,[d] Perronneau,[e] Chardin, +Roslin, and others, sometimes succeeded, but the French master of the +smile was La Tour who executed quite a dozen examples which Lionardo +might have envied.[f] Of British artists Romney was the most adept in +producing a permanent smile,[g] but strange to say there is no instance +of one in his many portraits of Lady Hamilton, beyond her representation +as a bacchante.[h] Here the smile is far too pronounced for a plain +portrait, but a bacchante may reasonably be supposed to be ever engaged +in scenes of pleasure, and hence the feature does not seem to be out of +place. Reynolds commonly used both eyes and mouth in creating his +smiles,[i] but Raeburn was nearly equal to Romney in the number of his +felicitous smiles, while he seldom exceeded the minimum expression +required for permanence.[j] Gainsborough produced a few portraits of +women with a vague furtive smile, sweet and expressive beyond degree.[k] +They are invariably brought about by a faint curvature of the mouth +line. + + [a] At Versailles. + + [b] Madame Louise, at Versailles. + + [c] Portrait of a Young Woman, the Louvre. + + [d] Two examples in the group Madame Mercier and Family, Louvre. + + [e] Madame Olivier, Groult (formerly), Coll., Paris. + + [f] See Madame de la Popeliniere and Mdlle. Carmago, both at Saint + Quentin Museum; and Madame Pompadour, Louvre. + + [g] See Mrs. Yates, Llangattock Coll.; William Booth, Lathom Coll.; + and Mrs. Tickle, A. de Rothschild (formerly) Coll., all England. + + [h] T. Chamberlayne Coll., England. + + [i] For exceptions see Hon. Lavinia Bingham, Spencer Coll., and Mrs. + Abington, Fife Coll., both England. + + [j] See Farmer's Wife, Mitchell Coll.; Mrs. Lauzun, National Gallery, + London; and Mrs. Balfour, Beith Coll., Scotland. + + [k] Lady Sheffield, Alice Rothschild Coll.; and Mrs. Leybourne, Popham + Coll. + + +THE OPEN MOUTH + +If there be one transient feature more than another which should be +avoided in a painting, and particularly in the principal figure, it is +a wide-open mouth. Necessarily, after a short acquaintance with a +picture containing such a feature, either the mouth appears to be kept +open by a wedge, or, as in the case of a laugh, the face is likely to +wear an abnormal expression approaching to idiocy, for it is altogether +contrary to experience of normal persons in real life, for a mouth to be +kept open longer than for an instant or two. Hence the first artists +have studiously refrained from exhibiting a wide-open mouth, or indeed +one that is open at all except to such an extent that the parted lips +appear a permanent condition. But a few great men have erred in the +matter. Thus, Mantegna shows the child Christ with the mouth widely open +in a half-vacant and half-startled expression, which is immediately +repelling.[a] Dosso Dossi has several pictures much injured by the +feature,[b] and in Ercole di Roberti's Concert, no less than three +mouths are wide open.[c] One of the figures in Velasquez's Three +Musicians opens his mouth far too widely,[d] while Hals has half a dozen +pictures with the defect.[e] A rare mistake was made by Carlo Dolci when +showing Christ with His mouth open wide in the act of utterance,[f] and +Mengs erred similarly in St. John Baptist Preaching.[g] In more modern +times the fault is seldom noticeable among artists of repute, though +occasionally a bad example occurs, as in Winslow Homer's All's Well.[h] +Even when an open mouth seems unavoidable, the effect is by no means +neutralized.[i] + + [a] Virgin and Child at Bergamo. + + [b] Notably A Muse Instructing a Court Poet, and Nymph and Satyr, + Pitti Palace. + + [c] National Gallery, London. + + [d] Berlin Gallery. + + [e] See Merry Company at Table, Met. Mus., N. Y., and similar + pictures. + + [f] Christ Blessing, a single figure picture. + + [g] Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [h] Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 15. + + [i] As in Dow's The Dentist, Schwerin Mus., and a similar work at the + Louvre. + +When the blemish is in an accessory figure, it is of lesser importance +as there it becomes an incidental circumstance on the mind of the +observer. Thus, in Reynolds's Infant Hercules, where Alcmena, on seeing +the child holding the snakes, opens her mouth with surprise and alarm, +the action of the central figure is so strong that the importance of the +others present is comparatively insignificant.[a] Nevertheless in a +Pompeian fresco of the same subject, care has been taken to close the +mouth of Alcmena. Where the design represents several persons singing, +it is well possible to indicate the action without showing the mouths +open, as in Raphael's St. Cecilia.[b] In a picture of a like subject, +with the Saint in the centre of a group of five singers, Domenichino +shows only the two outside figures with open mouths, and one of these is +in profile. There are several works where David is seen singing to the +accompaniment of a harp, but though his mouth is open, the figure is in +profile, and the lips are hidden by moustache and beard.[c] + + [a] Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [b] Bologna Museum. + + [c] For example, Rubens's David's Last Song, Frankfort Museum. + +It may be observed, however, that in certain cases artificial +conditions may render an open mouth in a picture of comparatively little +significance. A painted laugh for instance may only become objectionable +to the observer when the work is constantly before him; but when it is +in a picture gallery and he sees it but rarely, the lasting character of +the feature is not presented to his mind. The Laughing Cavalier of Franz +Hals, though violating the principle, does not appear in bad taste to +the average visitor to the Wallace Collection. In the case of +Rembrandt's portrait of himself with Saskia on his knee, where the +artist has his lips parted in the act of laughing, there is an +additional reason why the transient expression should not tire. Because +of the number of self-portraits he painted, the countenance of Rembrandt +is quite familiar to most picture gallery visitors, and to these the +laugh in the Dresden picture could not possibly pass as an habitual +expression. + + [Illustration: PLATE 15 (See page 176) + Winslow Homer's All's Well (_Boston Museum_)] + + +CONTRASTS + +Designs specially built up for the purpose of contrasting two or more +attributes or conditions are almost invariably uninteresting unless the +motive be hidden behind a definite action which appears to control the +scheme. This is because of the difficulty of otherwise connecting the +personages contrasted in a particular action of common understanding. A +design of Hercules and Omphale affords a superior contrast of strength +and beauty to a composition of Strength and Wisdom. In each case a +herculean figure and a lovely woman represent the respective qualities, +but in the first the figures are connected by expression and action, and +in the second no connection can be established. So in contrasting beauty +of mind with that of form, this is much better represented by such a +subject as Hippocrates and the Bride of Perdiccas than in the Venetian +manner of figures unconnected in the design. And in respect of +conditions, Frith's picture of Poverty and Wealth, where a carriage full +of fashionable women drives through a poor section of London, has little +more than a topographical interest, but in a subject such as The First +Visit of Croesus to Aesop, the contrast between poverty and wealth +would deeply strike the imagination. + +In contrasts of good and evil, vice and virtue, and similar subjects, it +is inferior art to represent the evil character by an ugly figure. As +elsewhere pointed out, deformity of any kind injures the aesthetic value +of a picture because it tends to neutralize the pleasurable feeling +derived from the beauty present. The poet may join physical deformity +with beauty because he can minimize the defect with words, but the +painter has no such recourse.[58] A deformed personage in a composition +is therefore to be deprecated unless as a necessary accessory in a +historical work, in which case he must be subordinated to the fullest +extent possible. The figure of Satan, of an exaggerated satyr type, has +often been introduced into subjects such as the Temptation of Christ, +though not by artists of the first rank.[a] Such pictures do not live as +high class works of art however they be painted. Correggio makes a +contrast of Vice and Virtue in two paintings,[b] representing Vice by a +man bound, but usually in the mature time of the Renaissance, Vice was +shown as a woman, either beautiful in features, or with her face partly +hidden, various accessories indicating her character. A notable +exception is Salviati's Justice where a hideous old woman takes the role +of Vice.[c] Even in cases where a witch has to be introduced, as in +representations of Samuel's Curse, it is not necessary to follow the +example of Salvator Rosa, and render her with deformed features, for +there are several excellent works where this defect is avoided.[d] + + [a] See examples by Ary Scheffer, Luxembourg; and H. Thoma, Burnitz + Coll. + + [b] Both at the Louvre. + + [c] The Bargello, Florence. + + [d] As in K. Meyer's picture. + +An effective design with the purpose of contrasting the ages of man is +not possible, firstly, because the number of ages represented must be +very limited, and, secondly, for the reason that the figures cannot be +connected together in a free and easy manner. Hence all such pictures +have been failures, though a few great artists have attempted the +subject. Titian tried it with two children, a young couple, and an old +man, assorting the personages casually in a landscape without attempting +to connect them together in action.[a] At about the same time Lotto +produced a contrast, also with three ages represented, namely, a boy, a +young man, and an elderly man.[b] These personages sit together as if +they had been photographed for the purpose, without a ray of +intelligence passing between them. But this is far better than Grien's +Three Ages,[c] for here the artist has strangely confused life and +death, exhibiting a grown maiden, a middle-aged woman, and a skin-coated +skeleton holding an hour-glass. The best design of the subject is Van +Dyck's Four Ages.[d] He shows a child asleep near a young woman who is +selling flowers to a soldier, and an old man is in the background. +There is thus a presumed connection between three of the personages, but +naturally the composition is somewhat stiff. The only other design worth +mentioning is by Boecklin, who also represents four ages.[e] Two +children play in the background of a landscape; a little farther back is +a young woman; then a cavalier on horseback; and finally on the top of +an arch an old man whom Death in the form of a skeleton is about to +strike. But here again there is no connection between the figures, the +consequent formality half destroying the aesthetic value of the work. +From these examples than which there is none better, it may be gauged +that it is hopeless to expect a good design from a subject where the +ages of man are contrasted. If represented at all, the ages should be +contrasted in separate pictures, as Lancret painted them. + + [a] Bridgewater Coll., England. + + [b] Pitti Palace, Florence. + + [c] The Prado, Madrid. + + [d] Vincenza Museum. + + [e] Vita somnium breve. + +The practice of presenting nude with clothed figures where the subject +does not absolutely compel it, is commonly supposed to be for the +purpose of contrast. This may have been the object in some cases, but +in very few is the interest in the contrast not outweighed by the +bizarre appearance of the work. As a rule in these pictures there is +nothing in the expressions or actions of the personages depicted to +suggest a reason for the absence of clothes from some of them, and so to +the average observer they form a "problem" class of painting. The first +important work of the kind executed was Sebastiano del Piombo's Concert, +in which the group consists of two nude women, one with a reed pipe, and +two men attired in Venetian costume, of whom one handles a guitar.[a] +The figures are very beautiful and the landscape is superb, but as one +cannot account for the nude figures in an open-air musical party, the +aesthetic value of the work is largely diminished. This painting has +suggested several designs to modern artists, the most notable being +Manet's Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, where a couple of nude women with two men +dressed in modern clothes are shown in a picnic on the grass. Not only +is the scheme inexplicable, but the invention is so extravagant as to +provoke the lowest of suggestions. In a composition of this kind only a +great artist can build up a harmonious design. + + [a] At the Louvre. Formerly attributed to Giorgione. + +Titian's picture known as Sacred and Profane Love,[a] where the figure +of a nude woman is opposed to one clothed, may really signify any of a +dozen ideas, but the artist probably had no other scheme in his mind +than to represent different types of beautiful women. Crowe and +Cavalcaselli's suggested title of L'Amour ingenu et l'Amour satisfait, +was certainly never conceived by Titian, nor is Burckhardt's proposal, +Love and Prudery, possible in view of the flowers in the hand of the +draped figure. In any case this picture is the greatest of its kind, for +the composition is so delicate and harmonious, and the art so perfect, +as to render its precise meaning a matter of little consideration. +Another picture of Sacred and Profane Love was painted by Grien.[b] He +shows a nude woman from whom Cupid has just drawn the drapery, and +another woman concealing her figure with loose drapery. The effect is +weak. The nude figures in the well-known Drinkers of Velasquez[c] are +undisturbing because they are not very prominent in the picture, but +their significance is not apparent. + + [a] Borghese Gallery, Rome. + + [b] Frankfort Museum. + + [c] The Prado, Madrid. + +No one has yet properly explained the meaning of the nude male figures +standing at ease in the background of Michelangelo's celebrated Holy +Family.[a] They are apparently pagan gods, and it is suggested that the +artist intended to signify the overthrow of the Grecian deities by the +coming of Christ. Such an explanation might be possible with another +painter, but it does not accord with our conception of the mind of +Michelangelo. A still greater puzzle is offered by Luca Signorelli who, +in the landscape background of the bust portrait of a man, shows two +nude men to the right of the portrait, and two attired women at the +left.[b] It is impossible to suggest any meaning of this extraordinary +invention. + + [a] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [b] Berlin Gallery. + + +THE REPRESENTATION OF DEATH + +Death is a subject inappropriate to the art of painting except where it +is dealt with symbolically or as an historical incident. Naturally in +either of these cases any realistic representation of death, or of +distortion connected therewith, should be studiously avoided. For while +many aspects of death may not be unpleasant to the senses, its actual +presence--the cold immobility; the pulseless soulless, decaying thing; +the appalling mirror of our own fate--these things are most unpleasant, +and hence should have no place in painting. In sculpture, represented in +a certain way, death is admissible, for in marble or bronze a body may +be carved indicating only the eternal composure of a beautiful form. +This is how the Greeks showed death, whether in the case of a warrior +fallen on the battlefield, or as the twin brother of Sleep. But the +painter is less fortunate: for him death is decay. + +The presence of so many scenes of death in the paintings of the past was +the result of accident. For a long while after the dawn of the +Renaissance, those controlling churches and other religious institutions +of the Christians were the chief and almost the only patrons of art, and +they required paintings as well for didactic purposes as for decoration. +For some time pictures often took the place of writing, where +comparatively few could read, in the inculcation of Christian doctrines +and history, and they were largely used as images before which people +could kneel in prayer. The most important facts bearing upon Christian +faith are concerned with death, and so there have been accumulated +thousands of paintings of scenes of the Crucifixion, the death-beds of +saints, instances of martyrdom, and so on. While these paintings have +been highly useful as tending to invite reverence for a sublime creed, +it would be injurious to suggest that generally they take a high place +in art. Some of them do, but the very large number of them which +indicate dying agony, or recent death with all its mortal changes, must +not be approved from a strict art point of view, for any beauty which +may be present apart from the subject is instantly neutralized by the +pain and horror arising from the invention. But it is evidently +unnecessary to produce such pictures, even in the case of the +Crucifixion, for there are ample works in existence to show that the +face and body of Christ can be so presented as to be free from +indications of physical suffering or decay. + +But if we are to protest against designs exhibiting forbidding aspects +of death in sacred works, what can we say of the pictures of executions, +massacres, plagues, and so on, which ever and again have been produced +since the middle of the nineteenth century? Deeds of heroism or +self-sacrifice on the battlefield where bodies of the fallen may be +outlined are well, but simple wholesale murders as presented by +Benjamin-Constant, Heim, and fifty others, where the motive does not +pretend to be anything else than massacre or other ghastly event, can +only live as examples of degraded art. There may be something said for +Verestchagin, who painted heaps of heads and skulls, and scattered +corpses, in order to show the evils of war, but if the arts are to be +used at all for such a purpose, the poet or orator would be much more +impressive because he could veil the hideous side of the subject with +pathos and imagery, and further differentiate between just and unjust +wars. The painter is powerless to do these things. He can only represent +the horrors of war by depicting horrible things which is entirely beyond +the province of his art. The purpose of art is to give pleasure, and if +the design descend below the line where displeasure begins, then the art +is no more. + +How easy it is for the aesthetic value of a picture to be lowered by the +representation of a corpse, is shown in three celebrated paintings--the +anatomical works of Rembrandt[a] and De Keyser.[b] Probably these works +were ordered to honour the surgeons or schools concerned, but the object +would have been better served by a composition such as Eakin's Dr. +Cross's Surgical Clinic.[c] Here the leading figure is also giving a +lesson to students, and practical demonstration is proceeding, but there +is no skeleton or corpse to damage the picture. Fromentin said that the +Tulp work left him very cold,[d] and although he endeavoured to find +technical ground for this, it is more than likely that the principal +reason lay in the involuntary mental disturbance brought about by the +corpse. Another fine design largely injured by corporeal evidence of +death is Ingres's Oedipus and the Sphinx,[e] where a foot rises out of +a hole in the rock near the Sphinx, the presumption of course being that +the body of a man who had failed with the riddle had lately been thrown +there. The invention is most deplorable in such a picture. + + [a] Lesson in Anatomy of Professor Tulp, and the fragment of a similar + work, both at The Hague. + + [b] Rijks Museum, Amsterdam. + + [c] Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. + + [d] Masters of Other Days. + + [e] At the Louvre. + +The use of a skeleton as a symbol of death in painting seems to have +been unusual during the Renaissance till towards the end of the +fifteenth century. The earliest artist of note in this period to adopt +it, was Jean Prevost who represented a man taking a letter from a +skeleton without seeing the messenger.[a] Then came Grien who painted +three works of the kind. In the first Death holds an hour-glass at the +back of a woman, and points to the position of the sand[b]; in the +second the bony figure has clutched a girl by the hair[c]; and the third +represents a skeleton apparently kissing a girl.[d] They are all hideous +works, and might well have acted as a warning to succeeding artists. +After Grien the use of a skeleton in design was practically confined to +the smaller German masters till the middle of the second half of the +sixteenth century, when it disappeared from serious work. From this time +on, for the next three centuries artists of repute rarely introduced a +skeleton into a painting, though it is to be found occasionally in +engravings. One might have supposed that the unsightly form had been +abandoned with the imps, evil spirits, and other crudities of past days, +but it was not to be. The search for novelties in recent times has only +resulted in the resuscitation of bygone eccentricities, and we must not +be surprised that the skeleton is amongst them. + + [a] Old Man and Death, Bruges. + + [b] Imperial Gallery, Vienna. + + [c] Girl and Death, Basle Museum. + + [d] Basle Museum. + +Modern artists have displayed considerable ingenuity in the use of the +skeleton, but the results have necessarily only succeeded in degrading +the art. Rethel figures a skeleton in the costume of a monk who is +ringing a bell at a dance.[a] Several of the dancers have fallen dead, +apparently from plague, and the whole scene is ghastly. Henneberg has a +Fortune allegory in which Death is about to seize a horseman who is +chasing a nude woman,[b] this design being a slight modification of a +variety of prints executed in the sixteenth century. Thoma uses a +skeleton in a most bizarre manner. He substitutes it for the serpent in +a picture of Adam and Eve,[c] and in another work associates it with +Cupid.[d] Two lovers are talking, and Death stands behind the woman +whose hat Cupid is lifting. A terrible picture with a political bearing +was painted by Uhde.[e] It represents a crowd of revolutionists rushing +towards a bridge, while a skeleton in modern costume waves a sword and +cheers them on. These instances suffice to indicate the difficulty in +the production of a fine work of art with so hideous a form as a +skeleton thrown into prominence. + + [a] Death at a Masked Ball. + + [b] Race for Fortune. + + [c] Sin and Death. + + [d] Cupid and Death. + + [e] Revenge. + +How simply one may avoid the introduction of a skeleton in a design +concerned with death, is shown by an example where three artists deal +with the same motive--Death, the Friend. The first composition shows an +old man sitting dead in a chair while a skeleton costumed as a monk, +tolls a bell[a]: in the second there is also an old man in a chair, but +an Angel with a scythe is substituted for the skeleton[b]: in the third +an Angel with huge folded wings forming an oval framework for her +figure, leans over the body of a child which has its face hidden.[c] The +second design is a vast improvement over the first, but the third is +incomparably the best of the three. It may be remarked that a scythe is +too trivial an emblem for the Angel of Death, for whom indeed an emblem +of any kind is only admissible when Death is represented as the result +of eternal justice, in which case a flaming sword is appropriate. + + [a] Woodcut by A. Rethel. + + [b] Lithograph by O. Redon. + + [c] Painting by G. F. Watts. + +Very rarely indeed can a good picture be made out of a funeral scene. +Such a scene attending the death of a great man may be fitly produced, +so long as the imagination can be used in the composition; that is to +say, if there are few or no records of the actual funeral[a]; but +paintings relating to the modern burial of unnamed persons are of little +value as works of art, for the imagination of the artist cannot extend +beyond unpleasant prosaic incidents of common acquaintance. The purpose +of the funeral scenes of Courbet[b] and Anne Ancher[c] has never been +explained; and the various interiors, each with a coffin and distracted +relatives of the dead, by Wiertz,[d] Dalsgaard,[e] and other modern +artists, are capable of bringing only misery instead of pleasure to the +observer. + + [a] As in Rubens's Funeral of Decius, Vienna. + + [b] The Burial at Ornans. + + [c] The Funeral. + + [d] The Orphans. + + [e] The Child's Coffin. + +But while funerals are unsuitable for the painter, interior scenes where +death has occurred and friends are watching the body, offer special +inducements to artists, because the perfect stillness of the living +persons represented may be properly assumed, and so the illusion of life +is little likely to be disturbed through the non-completion of an +indicated action. On this account these works appear very impressive +when well executed, and they may take high rank even when the artist is +limited in his scope by the conditions of an actual scene. Very little +is required however to destroy the illusion of continuity. In Kampf's +picture of the lying-in-state of William I.,[a] where many watchers are +shown who are presumed to be motionless, a boy in the middle distance in +the act of walking, is a most disturbing element. An example where an +illusion of continuity is perfectly maintained is Orchardson's Borgia, +where Caesar Borgia stands in contemplation over the body of his poisoned +victim. The silence indicated appears practically as permanent as the +painted design, for any reasonable time spent by the observer in +examining the picture, is not likely to be longer than that during which +Caesar may be presumed to have remained still at the actual occurrence. +Scenes of approaching death may be arranged to produce a similar +illusion, as for instance where those present are praying, or a single +figure is waiting for the life to pass from the sick person. + + [a] The Night of March 31, 1888, at Berlin. + + [Illustration: PLATE 16 (See page 190) + Hercules Contemplating Death, in Bronze, by Pollaiuolo + (_Frick Collection_)] + +Little attention has been paid in art to the expression of dying +persons. There are many pictures representing celebrated men and women +in their dying moments, but very few of them exhibit an expression of +noble resignation and fearlessness, qualities which are naturally +associated with a great man as his end draws near. No doubt the artist +is often limited in his invention by the actual circumstances of the +death scene, as in Copley's Death of Chatham,[a] for the statesman was +unconscious at the moment of representation. Other than this the best +known works of the kind relate to the death of Seneca,[b] Queen +Elizabeth,[c] and General Wolfe.[d] In the last instance only is there a +fine expression. How it was that Rubens missed his opportunity with +Seneca is hard to understand. The presence of a clerk taking down the +utterances of a philosopher as he bleeds to death, gives the design a +theatrical appearance, and removes any suggestion of unconcerned +resignation which might have arisen. One of the most powerful designs in +existence relating to approaching death, is a sculptured figure in +bronze of Hercules contemplating death.[e] The demi-god is +represented standing on an altar. His left foot is raised upon the skull +of an ox; his head is slightly bent, and the whole attitude suggests a +few moments of rest while he contemplates his coming fate. The +conception is as fine as the subject is rare. + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] By Rubens, at Munich. + + [c] By Delaroche, at the Louvre. + + [d] By Benjamin West, Westminster Coll., London. + + [e] By A. Pollaiuolo, Frick Coll., New York. See Plate 16[59]. + +The artist should glorify death if possible, but he can only do this +when the subject has a general application. Many painters have +introduced the Angel of Death into scenes where death has occurred, and +have thus converted them into work of pathos and beauty. Notable +examples of this are Watts's Death, the Friend, already referred to, and +H. Levy's Young Girl and Death, where the Angel gently clasps the body +of a girl whose face is hidden. One of the finest designs of the kind is +Lard's Glory Forgets not Obscure Heroes. On a battlefield, where all +else has gone, lies the body of a soldier over whom stoops a lovely +winged figure who raises the head of the hero, and seems to throw a halo +of glory over him.[a] In historical paintings the appearance of sleep is +often given to a dead body, as in Cogniet's Tintoretto Painting his Dead +Daughter, a pathetic picture, bringing to mind the story of Luca +Signorelli painting his dead son.[b] + + [a] The design for this picture was probably suggested by Longepied's + fine sculptured group of Immortality at the Louvre, the idea + of which was no doubt drawn from Canova's L'Amour et Psyche. + There are Tangara groups and fragments of larger works in + existence showing that the Greeks executed many designs of + a similar character. + + [b] See also Girodet's Burial of Atala, and Le Brun's Death of Cato. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LANDSCAPE + + Limitations of the landscape painter--Illusion of opening + distance--Illusion of motion in landscape--Moonlight + scenes--Transient conditions. + + +Considered as a separate branch of the painter's art, landscape is on a +comparatively low plane, because the principal signs with which it +deals, and the arrangement of them to form a view, may be varied +indefinitely without a sense of incongruity arising. Thus there can be +no ideal in the art; that is to say, no ideal can be conceived which is +general in its character. The artist can aspire to no definite goal: his +imagination is limited to the arrangement of things which are inanimate +and expressionless. He may produce sensorial, but not intellectual, +beauty. The nobler human attributes and passions, as wisdom, courage, +spiritual exaltation, patriotism, cannot be connected with landscape, +and so it is unable to produce in the mind the elevation of thought and +grandeur of sentiment which are the sweetest blossoms of the tree of +art.[60] + +Another drawback in landscape is the necessity for painting it on an +extraordinarily reduced scale. Because of this the highest qualities of +beauty in nature--grandeur and sublimity--can only with difficulty be +suggested on canvas, for actual magnitude is requisite for the +production of either of these qualities in any considerable degree. A +volcano in eruption has no force at all in a painting, a result which is +due, not so much to the inability of the painter to represent moving +smoke and fire, as to the impossibility of depicting their enormous +masses. The disability of the painter in respect of the representation +of magnitude is readily seen in the case of a cathedral interior. This +may or may not have the quality of grandeur, but a picture cannot +differentiate between one that has, and one that has not, because no +feeling of grandeur can arise in looking at a painted interior, the +element of actual space being absent. + +Seeing that an ideal in landscape is impossible, the landscape painter +cannot improve upon nature. In the case of the human figure the painter +may improve upon experience by collecting excellencies from different +models and putting them into one form, thus creating what would be +universally regarded as ideal physical beauty; and he may give to this +form an expression of spiritual nobility which is also beyond experience +because it would imply the absence of inferior qualities inseparable +from man in nature. Thus to the physical, he adds intellectual beauty. +Such a perfect form may be said to be an improvement upon nature, for it +is not only beyond experience, but is nature purified. But the landscape +painter cannot improve upon the signs which nature provides. He may vary +the parts of a tree as he will, but it would never be recognized as +beyond possible experience unless it were a monstrosity.[61] And even if +he could improve upon experience with his signs, this would help him but +little, for the beauty of a landscape depends upon the relation of the +signs to each other, and not upon the beauty of the separate signs which +vary in every work with the character of the design. In colour also the +painter cannot apply to his landscape an appropriate harmony which the +sun is incapable of giving. From all this it follows that the aesthetic +value of a landscape depends entirely upon its correspondence with +nature. + +A good landscape must necessarily be invented, because it is impossible +to reproduce the particular beauty of a natural scene.[62] This beauty +is due to a relation of parts of the view, infinite in number, to each +other, but what this relation is cannot be determined by the observer. +Further, whatever be the relation, the continuous changing light and +atmospheric effects bring about a constant variation in the character of +the beauty. It is possible for an actual view to suggest to the artist a +scheme for a beautiful landscape, but in this the precise relation of +the parts would have to be invented by the painter and fixed by +experiment. The principal features from a natural view may be taken out, +but not those which together bring about the beauty. There is no great +landscape in existence which was painted for the purpose of representing +a particular view. There have of course been scenes painted to order, +even by notable artists, but these only serve the purpose of record, or +as mementoes. The great view of The Hague, painted by Van Goyen under +instructions from the syndics of the town, is the feeblest of his works, +and the many pictures of the kind executed by British and German artists +of the eighteenth century have now only a topographical interest. +Constable painted numerous scenes to order, and there are something like +forty views of Salisbury Cathedral attributed to him, but only those in +which he could apply his own invention are of considerable aesthetic +value. A good artist rarely introduces into a painting even a small +sketch of a scene made from nature. Titian is known to have drawn +numerous sketches in particular localities, but not one has been +identified in his pictures. In nearly every painting of Nicholas Poussin +the Roman Campagna may be recognized, and here he must have made +thousands of sketches during the forty years he spent in the district, +yet the most patient examination has failed to identify a single spot in +his many beautiful views. So with Gaspar Poussin, who, unlike his famous +brother-in-law, occasionally set up his easel in the open air; and with +Claude who never left off sketching in his long life. The greatest +landscapes are those which are true to nature generally, but are untrue +in respect of any particular natural scene. + +Seeing that in landscape the production of sensorial beauty only is +within the power of the painter, and that the beauty is enhanced as +nature is the more closely imitated, it is obvious that for the work to +have a permanent interest, the scene depicted and the incidents therein +should be of common experience, otherwise the full recognition of the +beauty is likely to be retarded by the reasoning powers being +involuntarily set to work in the consideration of the exceptional +conditions. Naturally the term "common experience" has a varied +application. What is of common experience in scenery among people in a +temperate climate, is rare or unknown to those living under the burning +sun of Africa. The artist is fully aware of this, and in designing his +work he takes into account the experience of the people who are likely +to see his paintings. A view of a scene in the East, say in Palestine or +Siam, may be a beautiful work and be recognized as true because the +conditions depicted are commonly known to exist; it would further have +an informative value which would result in added pleasure; but among +people habituated to a temperate climate it would tire more quickly than +a scene of a kind to which they are daily accustomed. In the one case an +effort, however slight, is required to accommodate the view to +experience, and in the other the whole meaning of the scene is +instantaneously identified with its beauty. + +In nature there is always movement and sound. Even on those rare days +when the wind has ceased and the air seems still and dead, there is +motion with noise of some kind. A brook trickles by, insects buzz their +zigzag way, and shadows vary as the sun mounts or descends. But most +commonly there is a breeze to rustle the trees and shrubs, to ripple the +surface of the water, and to throw over the scene evidence of life in +its ever charming variety. The painter cannot reproduce these movements +and sounds. All he represents is silent and still as if nature had +suddenly suspended her work--stayed the tree as it bent to the breeze, +stopped the bird in the act of flight, fixed the water, and fastened the +shadows to the ground. What is there then to compensate the artist for +this limitation? Why, surely he can represent nature as she is at a +particular moment, over the hills and valleys, or across great plains, +with sunlight and atmosphere to mark the breadth and distance and so +produce an illusion of movement to delight the eyes of the observer with +bewitching surprise. For the eye as it involuntarily travels from the +foreground of the picture to the background, proceeds from sign to sign, +each decreasing in definition in conformity with the changes in nature, +till vague suggestions of form announce that far distance has been +reached. The effect is precisely that of the cinematograph, except that +the eye moves instead of the picture. The apparent movement corresponds +closely with the opening of distance in nature when one proceeds in a +fast moving vehicle along a road from which a considerable stretch of +country may be observed. Very rarely is the illusion so marked that the +apparent movement is identified to the senses. When it is so marked the +distance seems to come forward, but is instantaneously stayed before +consideration can be brought to bear upon it. Clearly if one specially +seek the illusion, it becomes impossible because search implies reason +and an examination slow out of all proportion with the rapidity of the +sensorial effect. Accident alone will bring about the illusion, for it +can only arise when the eye travels at a certain rate over the picture, +the minimum of which rate is indeterminable. + +It is evident that any landscape of fair size in which considerable +depth is indicated must necessarily produce an illusion of opening +distance if the varying signs are sufficiently numerous and properly +painted in accordance with the aerial perspective; and this illusion is +undoubtedly the key to the extraordinary beauty observed in the works of +the great masters of landscape since Claude unveiled the secrets of +distance painting. That the apparent movement is rarely actually defined +is immaterial, for it must be there and must act upon the eye, producing +an involuntary sensation which we interpret as pleasure arising from +admiration of the skill of the artist in giving us so good a +representation of distance in his imitation. + + [Illustration: PLATE 17 (See page xii) + Arcadian Landscape, by Claude Lorraine (_National Gallery, London_)] + +As will presently be seen there are other kinds of illusion of motion +which may be produced in landscape, but this illusion of opening +distance is the most important, and it should be produced wherever +distance is represented. In nature the effect of the unfolding of +distance is caused by a sequence of signs apparently diminishing in size +and clearness as the eye travels back, and a sequence of this kind +should be produced by the artist in his picture. It is not sufficient +that patches of colour of the tone and shape of sections of vegetation, +trees, varied soils, and so on, be given, for while these may indicate +distance as any perspective must do, yet an illusion cannot be +produced by such signs because they are not sufficiently numerous for +the eye to experience a cinematographic effect when passing over them. +It is not distance that gives the beauty, but an illusion of opening +distance, without which, and presuming the absence of any other +illusion, only simple harmonies of tone and inanimate forms are +possible. Moreover the patches of colour do not properly represent +nature either as she appears to the eye, or as she is understood from +experience. If one were to take a momentary glance at a view specially +to receive the general colour impression, he might conceivably retain on +his mind a collection of colour masses such as is often put forward as a +landscape, but natural scenes are not observed in this way, and the +artist has no right to imply that a view should be painted as it is +observed at an instantaneous glance. One cannot be supposed to keep his +eyes closed, except for a moment, when in front of nature, and he cannot +be in front of nature for more than a moment without involuntarily +recognizing thousands of signs. There must necessarily be a certain +clearness of the atmosphere for distance to be represented, and in the +minimum clearness, trees, bushes, rivulets, and buildings of every kind, +are well defined at least to the middle distance. These can and should +be painted, and there can be no object whatever in omitting them, except +the ignominious end of saving trouble. + +And it is necessary that the signs, whether shadow or substance, should +be completely painted as they appear to the eye in nature when observed +with average care by one inspecting a view for the purpose of drinking +in all its beauties, for this is how a painted landscape is usually +examined. There is no place in the painter's art for a suggestive sign +in the sense that it may suggest a required complete sign. A sign must +be painted as completely as possible in conformity with its appearance +as seen from the presumed point from which the artist sketched his view, +for the reason that its value as a sign depends upon the readiness with +which it is understood.[63] This is incontrovertible, otherwise the art +of painting would be an art of hieroglyphics. In poetry suggestion is of +great importance, and it may be so glowing as to present to the +imagination a higher form of beauty than can be painted; but the signs +of the painter cannot suggest beauty in this way, because the exercise +of the imagination in respect of them is limited by their form. A sign +painted less distinctly than as it is seen in nature is obviously +removed from its proper relative position, or else is untrue, and in +either case it must have a weakening effect upon the picture. + +The successful representation of aerial perspective depends upon the +careful and close gradation of tones in conformity with the varying +atmospheric density. This is difficult work because of the disabilities +arising from the reduction of the scene into miniature form, which +necessitates the omission of many tones and effects found in nature, +just as a portrait in miniature involves the exclusion of various +elements of expression in the human countenance. But fortunately in +landscape the variableness of nature greatly assists the artist. Only +rarely is the atmosphere of equal density over a considerable depth of +ground, and this fact enables the painter to simplify his work in +production of the illusion without appearing to depart from nature. Thus +he may deepen or contract his foreground within wide limits. The changes +in the appearance of the atmosphere in nature have to be greatly +concentrated in a painting, and as this concentration becomes more +difficult as distance is reached, it follows that the artist has a +better chance of success by making the foreground of his picture begin +some way in front of him, rather than near the spot where he is presumed +to stand when he executes his work. He may of course maintain some very +near ground while materially shortening his middle distance, but this +method must obviously lower the beauty of the painting as a distance +landscape, and make the execution vastly more difficult. Claude adopted +this plan sometimes, but it is seen in very few of his important works. +In his best time Turner was careful to set back his foreground, and to +refrain from restricting his middle ground. + +If a scene be taken from the middle distance only, as in many Barbizon +works, the labour is much simplified because neither the close +delineation of foliage, nor any considerable gradation of atmosphere is +required, but then the beauty resulting from either of these two +exercises is missing. It is equally impossible for such a scene to +indicate growth and life, or the charm of a changing view. Some modern +artists have a habit of blotting out the middle and far distance by the +introduction of a thick atmosphere but this is an abuse of the art, +because however true the aspect may be in the sense that a natural view +is sometimes obscured by the atmosphere, the beauty of the scene as a +whole is hidden, and the picture consists largely of an imitation of the +mist, where an illusion of movement is impossible. The painter should +imitate the more beautiful, and not the less beautiful aspects of +nature. Jupiter has been sometimes painted as an incident in a picture, +nearly wholly concealed by a cloud, but to exhibit a separate work of +the god so concealed, would only be regarded as an excuse for avoiding +exertion, however well the cloud may be painted; yet this would not be +more reprehensible than to hide the greater part of a view by a dense +atmosphere. + +With a clear atmosphere an illusion of opening distance may be secured +with the far distance and the greater part of the middle distance +unobservable, but in such a case a successful design is difficult to +accomplish owing to the limited number of signs available. Many signs, +as trees and houses, either darken or hide the view, while sunlight +effects on unobstructed ground, sufficiently definite to be used as +signs, could not be very numerous without appearing abnormal. The only +really first-class method of producing a satisfactory near-ground +illusion was invented by Hobbema in the later years of his life. This is +to use skilfully placed trees and other signs through which paths wind, +or appear to wind, and to throw in a strong sunlight from the back.[a] +The light enables far more signs to be used in depth than would +otherwise be possible, and so the eye has a comparatively long track to +follow. That the remarkable beauty of the pictures of Hobbema composed +in this way is almost entirely due to the illusion thus created, is +readily seen when they are compared with some of his other works, very +similar in all respects except that the light is thrown in from the +front or the side. Before placing his light at the back, the artist +tried the side plan in many pictures, and while this was a decided +improvement upon his earlier efforts to secure depth of near-ground +signs, it was naturally inferior to the latest scheme. Jacob Ruysdael +adopted the plan of Hobbema in two or three works with great effect.[b] + + [a] See Plate 18. + + [b] For example, The Marsh, Hermitage. + +When the middle distance is hidden by a rising foreground, an illusion +may be created by the far distance alone if this be of considerable +depth. Since the fifteenth century it has been a frequent practice to +conceal the middle distance, though mostly in pictures of figure +subjects.[64] The Dutch artists of the seventeenth century who painted +open-air scenes of human and animal life, as Paul Potter, Wouverman, and +Albert Cuyp, avoided the middle distance whenever possible, but often +managed to secure a fair illusion. In pure landscape the system is less +often practised, and never by great artists. + +The only means available to the painter of land views for creating an +illusion of motion, apart from that of opening distance, is by the +representation of flowing water so that a series of successive events in +the flow, each connected with, but varying in character from, the +preceding one, can be exhibited. Thus, a volume of water from a fall +proceeds rapidly over a flat surface to a ledge, and thence perhaps to +another ledge of a different depth, from which it passes over or round +irregular rocks and boulders, and thence over smaller stones or into a +stream, creating in its passage every kind of eddy and current.[a] Here +is a series of progressive natural actions in which the progression is +regular and continuous, while the separate actions cover such time and +space that they may be readily separated by the eye. If, therefore, the +whole series be properly represented, an illusion of motion will +result.[65] Obviously the canvas must be of considerable size, and the +breaks in the flow of water as varied in character and as numerous as +possible. Everdingen and Jacob Ruysdael seem to have been the first +artists to recognize the significance of this progression, but Ruysdael +far surpassed his master in the exhibition of it. He examined the +problem in all its variations, solved it in a hundred ways, and at his +death left little for succeeding painters to learn regarding it. Very +rarely, one meets with a landscape where the double illusion of motion +of water and opening distance is provided, and needless to say the +effect is superb.[b] + + [a] See Plate 19. + + [b] For examples see S. Bough's Borrowdale, and Thoma's View of + Laufenburg. + +Sea views occupy a position by themselves inasmuch as there is a fixed +horizontal distance for the artist. He cannot shorten this depth +without making his work look abnormal, and an effort to increase it by +presuming that the picture is painted from a considerable height above +the sea level, is seldom successful because the observer of the work +finds a difficulty in fitting in the novelty with his experience. Except +when depicting stormy weather, or showing a thick atmosphere, the +painter of a sea view has no trouble in obtaining absolute accuracy in +his linear perspective, but this is not sufficient, for if a variety of +trees, herbage, brooks, and so on, requires an illusion of movement, +then certainly does a sea view which has monotony for its keynote. The +motion of the waves in fine weather cannot be suggested on canvas +because it is continuous and equal. One wave displaces another and so +far as the eye can reach there is only a succession of similar waves. +Thus the motion appears unbroken, and from the canvas point of view the +waves must be motionless as the sand hillocks of a desert. Of course in +the actual view, the expanse, the "immeasurable stretch of ocean," is +impressive and to some extent weird, but nothing of this feeling is +induced by a painted miniature. With a bright sky and clear atmosphere +the painter of a sea view cannot well obtain an illusion of opening +distance by means of a multiplication of signs as on land, for the +introduction of many vessels would give the work a formal appearance, +but the problem can be satisfactorily solved by putting the sun in the +sky towards the setting, and using cloud shadows as signs. Aivasovsky, +one of the greatest marine painters of modern times, was very successful +with this class of work. His long shadows thrown at right angles to the +line of sight, carry back the distance till the horizon seems to be +further off than experience warrants, the illusion being perfect. An +illusion of opening distance may, however, be easily obtained in a sea +view when there is a haze covering, but not hiding, the horizon, by +introducing as signs, two or three vessels, the first in the middle +distance. + +Another method of giving a suggestion of motion, which may be used by +the sea painter, is in truthfully representing the appearance of the +water round a vessel passing through it. What is probably the finest +example of this work in existence is Jacob Ruysdael's The Rising +Storm.[a] The sea is shown close to a port, and half a dozen smacks and +small boats are being tossed about by choppy, breaking waves. In the +centre of the picture is a large smack over the weather bow of which a +huge foaming wave has broken, and part is spending its force on the lee +bow, from which the water gradually becomes quieter till at the stern of +the boat little more than a black concavity is seen. The progression of +wave movement is completely represented, and the effect is very +impressive. + + [a] Berlin Gallery. See Plate 20. + +The coast painter can produce an excellent illusion of motion from waves +breaking on a beach, for in nature this action is made up of a series of +different consecutive acts each of which is easily distinguishable to +the eye. The wave rises, bends over its top which becomes crested, and +splashes forward on the beach, to be converted into foam which races +onwards, breaking up as it goes till it reaches the watermark, then +rapidly falling back to be met by another wave. Here is a series of +consecutive incidents which can all be painted so as to deceive for a +moment with the idea of motion. The attempt to represent the action of +waves breaking against steep rocks is invariably a failure, because of +the great reduction of the apparent number of incidents forming the +consecutive series. In nature the eye is not quick enough to follow the +separate events, and so they cannot be distinguished in a painting. +Thomson's fine picture of Fast Castle is distinctly marred by a wide +irregular column of water shown splashing up against a rock. There is no +possibility here of representing a series of actions, and so an instant +suffices to fix the water on the rock. In another work by the same +artist there are waves breaking against precipitous rocks, but in this +case the water first passes over an expanse of low lying rocks, and a +sequence of actions is shown right up to the cliff, an excellent +illusion of movement being brought about.[a] + + [a] Dunluce Castle, which with Fast Castle, is in the Kingsborough + Collection, Scotland. + +Apart from those exhibiting an illusion of motion of some kind, the only +landscapes which have a permanent value, are near-ground scenes in which +conditions of atmosphere of common experience, as rain or storm are +faithfully rendered. In these works the signs must be numerous and +varied in character, for it is only in the multiplication of small +changes of form and tone that the natural effects of a particular +weather condition can be imitated. Jacob Ruysdael and Constable were +the greatest masters of this form of landscape, Crome and Boecklin +closely approaching them, but it is uncommon for a serious worker in +landscape to attempt a picture where distance is not recorded. The best +paintings of Constable present an illusion of opening distance, and when +Jacob Ruysdael painted near-ground only, it was nearly always a hilly +slope with water breaking over low rocks. + +Moonlight and twilight scenes are not good subjects for the painter of +landscape, because, shown as they must be in daylight, or with +artificial light, they become distinctly uninteresting after the first +impression of tonal harmony has passed away, owing to the unconscious +revolt of the mind against something with an unreal appearance.[66] This +is the chief reason why no scene has lived which depended for its beauty +entirely upon moonlight effects. It is about two hundred and fifty years +since Van der Neer died, and he still remains practically the only +moonlight painter known to us whose works seem of permanent interest. +But he did not rely altogether upon moonlight effects for his beauty, +for the representation of distance is the principal feature in all his +works. Further he commonly makes us acquainted with the human life and +habitations of his time, and in this way enhances our appreciation of +his pictures. Before Van der Neer, moonlight scenes were very rarely +executed, and only two or three of these have remained which are worthy +of serious consideration. The best of them is a view by Rubens, where +the light is comparatively strong, and practically the whole of the +beauty rests in the opening distance, which can hardly be surpassed in a +work of this kind.[a] + + [a] Landscape by Moonlight, Mond Collection, London. + +It is not necessary to deal with varieties of pure landscape other than +those mentioned. They are painted in their myriads, and form pleasant +tonal harmonies, or have local interest, but they do not live. As the +foliage in springtime they are fresh and welcome to the eye when they +first appear, but all too soon they fade and disappear from memory like +the leaves of the autumn. + +In landscape as in all other branches of painting, whatever is ephemeral +in nature, or of uncommon experience, should be avoided. Rare sun +effects and exceptional phases of atmosphere should not find their way +into pictures, while strokes of lightning and rainbows should only be +present when they are necessitated by the design, and then must be +subordinated as far as possible. Of all these things the most strongly +to be deprecated are strange sunlight effects, for they have the double +drawback for the painter, of rarity and evanescence in nature. A stroke +of lightning is not out of place where the conditions may be presumed to +be more or less permanent, as in the celebrated picture of Apelles, +where Alexander was represented in the character of Jupiter casting a +thunderbolt, and forks of lightning proceed from his hand; or where the +occurrence is essential in the composition, as in Gilbert's Slaying of +Job's Sheep.[a] So in Danby's The Sixth Seal Opened, the lightning is +quite appropriate, for all nature is disturbed. In Martin's Plague of +Hail, and The Destruction of Pharaoh, the first a night scene, and the +second a view darkened by dense black clouds, lightning is well used for +lighting purposes; and in Cot's The Storm,[b] where the background is +dark and no sky is visible, lightning is the only means possessed by the +artist of explaining that the fear expressed by the lovers in the +foreground, arises from the approaching storm. Great masters like +Giorgione,[c] Rubens,[d] Poussin,[e] used a stroke of lightning on rare +occasions, but took every care that it should not be conspicuous, or +interfere in any way with the first view of the picture. The lightning +is invariably placed in the far background, and no light is apparently +reflected from it. + + [a] The fire of God is fallen from Heaven, and hath burned up the + sheep and the servants. Job 1, 16. + + [b] Metropolitan Museum, N. Y. + + [c] Adrastus and Hypsipyle, Venice. + + [d] Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, Munich. + + [e] Jonah cast into the sea. + + [Illustration: PLATE 18 (See page 202) + Landscape, by Hobbema (_Metropolitan Museum, N. Y._)] + +A rainbow in nature has a life of appreciable duration, and so may be +appropriately used in landscape, but obviously it should be regarded as +a minor accessory except where it forms a necessary feature in the +design.[a] The great drawback in a prominent rainbow is that it forces +itself upon the attention of the observer to the detriment of the +picture as a whole, and if it be very conspicuous and crosses the middle +of the painted view, as in Turner's Arundel Castle, the picture appears +divided in two parts, and the possibility of an illusion of opening +distance is destroyed.[b] Almost as bad is the effect when a rainbow +cuts off a corner of a picture, for this suggests at first sight an +accidental interference with the work.[c] Of all artists Rubens seemed +to know best how to use a rainbow. He adopts three methods. The first +and best is to put the bow entirely in the sky[d]; the second to throw +it right into the background where part of it is dissolved in the +view[e]; and the third to indicate the bow in one part of the picture, +and overshadow it with a strong sunlight thrown in from another part.[f] +Any of these forms seems to answer well, but they practically exhaust +the possibilities in general design. A section of a rainbow may be shown +with one end of it on the ground, because this is observable in +nature[g]; but to cut off the top of the arch as if there were no room +for it on the canvas is obviously bad, for the two segments left appear +quite unnatural.[h] + + [a] As in Martin's I have Set My Bow in the Clouds. + + [b] In the Rivers of England series. + + [c] The Rainbow of Millet, and a similar work of Thoma. + + [d] Harvest Landscape, Munich Gallery. + + [e] Harvest Landscape, Wallace Collection, London. + + [f] Landscape with a Rainbow, Hermitage, Petrograd. + + [g] Rubens's Shipwreck of Aeneas, Berlin Gallery. + + [h] A. P. Van de Venne's Soul Fishery, Amsterdam. + +The small rainbows sometimes seen at waterfalls are occasionally +introduced into paintings, but rarely with success because they tend to +interfere with the general view of the scene. Such views are necessarily +near ground, and so a bow must seriously injure the picture unless it be +placed at the side, as in Innes's fine work of Niagara Falls (the +example of 1884). + +The use of a rainbow as a track in classical pictures is sometimes +effective, though the landscape is largely sacrificed owing to the +compulsory great width and bright appearance of the bow, which must +indeed practically absorb the attention of the observer. The best known +picture of this kind is Schwind's Rainbow, which shows the beautiful +form of Iris wrapped in the sheen of the bow, and descending with great +speed, the idea being apparently taken from Virgil.[a] To use the top of +the rainbow for a walking track is bad, as the mind instinctively repels +the invention as opposed to reason.[b] + + [a] Aeneid V., where Juno sends Iris to the Trojan fleet. + + [b] Thoma's Progress of the gods to Walhalla. + +But if fleeting natural phenomena become disturbing to the observer of a +picture, how much more objectionable are the quickly disappearing +effects of artificial devices, as the lights from explosions. In a +battle scene covering a wide area of ground, a small cloud of smoke here +and there is not out of place, because under natural conditions such a +cloud lasts for an appreciable time; but no good artist will indicate in +his work a flash from a gun, for this would immediately become stagy and +unreal to the observer. Nor can fireworks of the ordinary kind be +properly represented in a picture. The beauty of these fireworks lies in +the appearance out of nothing, as it were, of brilliant showers of +coloured lights, and their rapid disappearance, to be replaced by others +of different form and character, the movement and changes constituting +important elements in their appreciation. But the painter can only +indicate them by fixed points of light which necessarily appear +abnormal. Stationary points of light can have no resemblance whatever to +fireworks, and if the title of the picture forces the imagination to see +in them expiring sparks from a rocket, the impression can only last a +moment, and will be succeeded by a revolt in the mind against so glaring +an impossibility as a number of permanent sparks. The only painted +firework display that does not appear abnormal is a fountain of fire and +sparks which may be presumed to last for some time, and therefore would +not quickly tire the mind.[a] + + [a] See examples by La Touche, notably La Fete de Nuit, Salon, 1914. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +STILL-LIFE + + Its comparative difficulty--Its varieties--Its limitations. + + +Right through the degrees of the art of the painter till we reach +still-life, the difficulty in producing the art is in proportion to the +general beauty therein, but in the case of still-life the object is much +less readily gained than in simple landscape which is on a higher level +in painting. The causes of this apparent anomaly appear to be as +follows:--Firstly in miniature painting one does not expect such close +resemblance to nature as in still-life which usually represents things +in their natural size: secondly, in still-life the relative position of +the parts can never be such as to appear novel, whereas in landscape +their position is always more or less unexpected: thirdly, in still-life +the colours are practically fixed, for the painter cannot depart from +the limited variety of tints commonly connected with the objects +indicated, while in landscape the colouring may vary almost indefinitely +from sun effects without appearing to depart from nature. + +The beauty in still-life paintings may arise from several causes, +namely, the pleasure experienced from the excellence of the imitation; +the harmony of tones; the beauty of the things imitated; the association +of ideas; and the pleasure derived from the acquisition of knowledge. +Aristotle seemed to think this last one of the principal reasons for our +appreciation of the painter's work, though he agreed that the better the +imitation, the greater the pleasure to the observer. The argument +appears to apply particularly to the lower forms of life because in +nature they are not often closely examined. A cauliflower for instance +may be seen a thousand times by one who would not carefully note its +structure, but if he see an imitation of it painted by a good artist, +his astonishment at the excellence of the imitation might cause him to +observe the representation closely, and learn much about the vegetable +which he did not know before. In this way the information gained would +add to his pleasure. + +As in landscape, from the absence of abstract qualities from the things +represented, and since the position of the signs may be indefinitely +varied without a sense of incongruity resulting, there can be no ideal +in still-life, and so the painter cannot pass beyond experience without +achieving the abnormal. + +The painter of still-life has the choice of four kinds of imitation, +namely, the representation of products of nature which are in themselves +beautiful, as roses and fine plumaged birds; the imitation of products +of human industry which are in themselves beautiful, as sculptured plate +or fine porcelain; the representation of natural and manual products +which in themselves are neither beautiful nor displeasing, but interest +from association of ideas, as certain fruits, books, and musical +instruments; and the imitation of things which in themselves are not +pleasing to the sight, as dead game, kitchen utensils, and so on. +Obviously the artist may assort any two or more of these varieties in +the same picture. He may also associate them with life, but here he is +met with a grave difficulty which goes to the very root of art. If two +forms, not being merely accessories, are associated together in a +design, the lower form must necessarily be subordinated, otherwise the +mind of the observer will be disturbed by the apparent double objective. +A live dog or other animal in a still-life composition will immediately +attract the eye of the observer, drawing off his attention from the +inanimate objects represented, which will consequently thereafter lose +much of their interest. The presence of a man is still worse. Not only +is it natural and inevitable that a human being should take precedence +of whatever is inanimate in a work of art, but in the case of +still-life, where he is painted of natural size, he must necessarily +overshadow everything else in the picture. Further, his own +representation is much injured because the surroundings exercise a +disconcerting influence. Even with the human figures of such a work +executed by a painter of the first rank, they are quite +uninteresting.[a] + + [a] See still-life pictures at the Hague and Vienna Museums by + Van Dyck and Snyders. + +Beautiful products of nature such as brilliant flowers and butterflies, +cannot be imitated so well that the representations appear as beautiful +as the things themselves, and so are unsuited as entire subjects for +paintings, for we are usually well acquainted with these things, and +consciously or unconsciously recognize the inferiority of the imitation. +The greatest flower painters have therefore wisely refrained from +introducing into their works more than a few fine roses or similar +blooms. The presence of many less beautiful flowers in which the +imitation is, or appears to be, more pleasing than the natural forms, +neutralizes or overcomes the effect of the inferior imitation of the +more beautiful. In fact the extent to which natural products which are +necessarily more beautiful than the imitations, may be used in painting, +except as incidentals, is very limited. They cannot appropriately be +used at all on walls and curtains where they continually cross the +vision, for they would there quickly tire owing to the involuntary +dissatisfaction with the representation. The Japanese, whose whole art +of painting was for centuries concentrated upon light internal +decoration, rightly discard from this form of art all natural products +which are necessarily superior to the imitations, and confine their +attention to those signs which, while being actually more beautiful, +when closely seen, than the imitations, do not appear to be so in nature +where they are usually observed at some distance from the eye. Thus, +waterfowl of various kinds, small birds of the hedges, storks, herons, +branches of fruit blossoms, light trees and vegetation, are infinitely +preferable to the more beautiful products for purely decorative +purposes. A common pigeon with an added bright feather, is better on a +wall or screen than the most brilliant pheasant, for in the one case the +representation appears above ordinary experience, and in the other case, +below it. + +The decorative artist then is at liberty to enhance the beauty of his +signs, but not to take for them things which are commonly observed in +nature, and whose beauty he cannot equal. But there should be no wide +divergence between the natural beauty and the art, and nothing which in +itself is unpleasing is suitable for decoration. It may be introduced in +a hanging picture, because here a sense of beauty may be derived from +the excellence of the imitation, as in the case of a dead hare or a +basket of vegetables; but in pure decoration the effect is general and +not particular, and so the imitation yields no beauty apart from that of +the thing imitated. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SECONDARY ART + + Paintings of record--Scenes from the novel and written drama--From + the acted drama--Humorous subjects--Allegorical works. + + +When the invention of the painter is circumscribed by the requirements +of another art, whether a fine art or not, then his art ceases to be a +pure art and becomes an art of record, subordinate to the art by which +his work is circumscribed. This may be termed the Secondary Art of +painting. The art may be of importance outside the purposes of the fine +arts, and in certain cases may be productive of good pictures, but only +by way of accident: hence a work of secondary art never engages the +attention of a great artist unless he be specially called upon to +execute it. Hard and fast lines dividing the pure from the secondary art +cannot be laid down, as one often verges on the other, but there is a +general distinction between them which is easily comprehensible in the +separate branches of painting. + + [Illustration: PLATE 19 (See page 204) + Landscape, by Jacob Ruysdael (_National Gallery, London_)] + +Secondary art is not produced from incidents or characters taken from +sacred or mythological history, because here the general invention of +the painter is never circumscribed, for he is able to produce form and +expression above experience. In profane history the art is secondary +when the painter confines his invention to recorded details. Thus in a +picture of the Coronation of Charlemagne, the composition is entirely +invented by the artist, and so the work becomes one of pure art; but the +representation of the Coronation of Queen Victoria, where the artist +reproduces the scene as it actually occurred, is secondary art, for he +is precluded from the exercise of his imagination in the design, the end +of art being subordinated to that of record or history. Such a picture +is necessarily stiff and formal. Where the scene represents a number of +actions, as in a battle design, the artist is unable to record the +actual occurrence, though he may represent particular actions; +consequently he has large scope for his imagination, and may limit his +representation to those actions which together make a fine example of +pure art. But a battle scene where a particular event, as a meeting of +generals, has to be painted, immediately becomes secondary art, for then +the surrounding battle events would be accessory in their nature. It is +possible for simple historical works painted to order centuries ago to +appear now as of high art value, because we commonly connect a strict +formality with old pictures of the kind, whether executed from records +or invention. Thus Holbein's Henry VIII. presenting a Charter to the +Barber-Surgeons no doubt closely depicts the actual event, yet the +stiffness of the design does not seem out of place.[a] Nevertheless +it is a refreshing change from this picture to Richard III. offered +the Crown by London Merchants, which is a magnificent modern work of +pure invention.[b] + + [a] Barbers' Hall, London. + + [b] Royal Exchange, London. + +A scene from a story of actual life is necessarily secondary art, +because here the painter imitates what is already an imitation, and +cannot ascend above experience. He is confined to the invention of the +novelist, and is therefore subordinate to him. + +The written drama is available for the painter as a source for designs +only in cases of high tragedy, or mixed plays containing strong dramatic +events of tragic import. Seeing that the drama is itself an imitative +art, only such actions or characters can be used by the painter which +are above life experience, and it is only in tragedy that the dramatist +can exalt human attributes, and ennoble the passions above this +experience. Tragedy deals directly with the two great contrasting human +mysteries--life and death. From one to the other is the most awful and +sublime action within human knowledge, and consequently the motives and +sentiments relating to it may be carried to the loftiest reach of the +understanding. An exaggeration of ordinary life, where the combination +of perfected parts in form and expression is not possible, means only +the abnormal; while comedy, which imitates conditions inferior to +ordinary life, cannot be exaggerated except into distortion. High +tragedy therefore is the only section of the written drama that concerns +the painter. If he draw from any other work of the dramatist he only +produces secondary art, as when he draws from the novelist. The picture +may be interesting, but both interest and beauty will be fleeting. + +While the painter may use the written drama in certain cases, he can by +no means be concerned with the acted drama. It is useless to attempt to +produce a good picture by imitating an imitation accomplished by a +combined art, as the opera or drama. A painted scene from a play as it +is acted, is merely the execution of another man's design which in +itself is entirely circumscribed by conditions of action and speech +wholly foreign to the art of the painter. A picture of a particular +moment of action in a written play, as it is thrown upon the brain in +the course of reading, is interesting, firstly because our imagination +has wide limits of invention, and we naturally and instinctively adopt a +harmonious rendering of the scene so far as the writing will allow; and +secondly for the reason that we pass rapidly from impression to +impression, and so the whole significance of each picture, separately +and relatively, is conveyed to us. But a painting of an acted scene is +meaningless, for it can represent only one in a series of a thousand +moments of action which are all connected, and of which the +comprehension of any one is dependent upon our knowledge of the whole. +The painter has no scope. He simply copies a number of figures in a +fixed setting, and the result is necessarily inferior art to a copy of +the poorest original picture, since in this case the artist at least +copies the direct product of the imagination, while in the other he has +only before him a series of dummies who are imitating the product. The +sense of unreality arising from such a picture must instantly overpower +any harmony of colour or form that may be present. + +Where the portrait of an actor is painted in a stage role, the same +principle is involved, though the result is not so disastrous. We still +have the unreal, but it is painted and put forward as a living person. +The artist moreover has a little imaginative scope. He can choose a +moment of action best suited to his art, and may even vary the character +of the action, which is not possible where an acted scene is depicted. +But notwithstanding all the relative advantages, a Raphael could not +make a fine picture out of a man in character. He may largely overcome +the disabilities arising from the limitation to his invention; he may +introduce great effects of light and shade; may ennoble expression and +give grandeur to form; but he will never hide the sham--never conceal +the fact that he is representing an imitation of life. The actor on the +stage is one of a number of signs used by the dramatist. His identity +apart from the sign is lost, or presumed to be lost for the time being, +and so he is not a sham; but outside of the stage his use or meaning as +a sign does not exist. Hence the representation of this sign as a +subject of a painting is only a degree less incongruous than would be +the introduction of a painted figure as one of the characters of a stage +scene. + +It is an indication of the sure public instinct in matters of art +principles, that general opinion has always tacitly condemned paintings +of stage scenes and characters. They have not infrequently been +produced, and sometimes artists of high rank, as Reynolds and Lawrence, +have painted portraits of actors in stage roles, but never has one met +with public appreciation as a work of art. Probably in most cases these +works were executed as mementoes rather than as works of art, for it is +scarcely possible to conceive a painter of the stamp of Reynolds, who +was so well acquainted with first principles, putting forward even a +portrait of Garrick in a stage role, as a serious work, notwithstanding +that he might well know that it was a masterpiece in respect of +execution. + +Humour is not a subject for the painter to deal with, for a humorous +picture cannot be comprehended without the assistance of another art. +Further, comedy is founded upon a sense of the ridiculous, which means +distortion of form or idea. Distortion of form would tend to destroy the +art if reproduced, and distortion of idea implies events in time which +are beyond the scope of the painter. If any humour were exhibited in the +representation of a single moment of action in a story, it would quickly +disappear, for a permanent joke is beyond the range of human +understanding. In poetry and fiction, humour may be appropriately +introduced, because here it is of a fugitive character, and may serve as +a possible relief of the mind, as a discordant note in music; but in a +painting, the moment of humour is fixed, and a fixed laugh suggests +mental disorder. + +Nor is there place in the art of the painter for works intending to +convey satire or irony, for such pictures also mean distortion. Moreover +they are merely substitutes for, or adjuncts to, the art of writing. +The object of caricature is to present an idea in a more direct and +rapid way than it can be expressed in writing, and not specially to +exhibit beauty, which is the purpose of the painter. Hogarth's many +caricatures are composed of superlative signs of writing, and not of any +fine art. Cartoons (as the word is commonly understood) are of the +nature of allegory, and may afford scope for the painter, but as they +necessarily refer to more or less fleeting conditions of a political or +social character, they cannot retain permanent interest. + +Allegorical paintings are secondary art when they endeavour to cover +more than a moment of time in a single design, or when the allegory is +merely a metaphor applying to action. The first variety is rarely seen +in modern works, but it was not very uncommon from the fifteenth to the +seventeenth century, though it was never produced by first-class +artists, and seldom indeed by those of the second rank. Quite a number +of works of this period, formerly supposed to have an allegorical +signification, are now properly identified as rarely represented +mythological legends, or historical incidents which have only lately +been unearthed,[a] and we may rest assured from internal evidence that +many others of the same kind will yet be newly interpreted. A good +design cannot be produced from an event in time because the figures in a +presumed action must be shown in repose,[b] or else the action appears +incongruous and opposed to experience, as when a goddess is overpowered +by a personage with the appearance of a human being.[c] In both cases +the figures must seem to be falsities. Designs of the first kind can +only be properly represented in a sequence of pictures, each indicating +a particular action, as in the Marie de' Medici series of Rubens; and +those of the second by commonly accepted figures of sacred or +mythological history or legend, as where St. Michael and the Dragon +typify Good overcoming Evil. + + [a] Examples are Lorenzo Costa's Cupid Crowning Isabella d'Este, + Giorgione's Adrastus and Hypsipyle, and Piero di Cosimo's + Marsyas picture. + + [b] Religion Succoured by Spain, the Prado, Madrid. + + [c] Lotto's Triumph of Chastity, Rospigliosi Gallery, Rome. + +It is scarcely necessary to do more than barely refer to the use of +metaphor by the painter when the representation of action is involved, +as for instance if he should produce a picture of a heaving ship in a +storm, to meet the metaphor "As a ship is tossed on a rough sea, so has +been the course of my life," though this kind of picture has been +occasionally executed, the artist forgetting that it is not the object +depicted that is compared, but the action--in the example quoted, the +tossing of the ship--which cannot be represented on canvas. Another form +of metaphor sometimes used by the painter is that where a comparison of +ideas is represented by physical proportions, as in Wiertz's Things of +the Present as seen by the Future, in which the things of the present +are indicated by liliputian figures on the hand of a woman of life size +who represents the future. Needless to say that such designs, of which +there are about a dozen in existence, can only suggest distortion, for +the smaller figures must appear too small, and the larger ones too +great; or if our experience with miniature imitations of the human +figure warrants us in regarding the smaller figures as reasonable, then +the larger ones must appear as giants of the Brobdingnagian order. + +The only form of metaphor which may be used by the painter is that +wherein a beautiful symbol typifies a high abstract quality. Metaphor +belongs properly to the arts of the poet and novelist who can indicate +the symbol and things symbolized in immediate succession, so that the +whole meaning is apparent. The painter can only represent the symbol, +and unless this is beautiful and its purport readily comprehended, his +sign is merely a hieroglyph--a sign of writing. Secondary art includes +symbolic painting when the symbol may represent either the symbol itself +or the thing symbolized, for such a condition involves a confusion of +ideas which tends to destroy the aesthetic effect of the work. The most +notable painting of this kind is Holman Hunt's The Scapegoat, where the +design shows only a goat in desert country. The scapegoat has ceased to +be an actuality for centuries, and the only meaning of the term as it is +now used applies to a man: hence, with the title the goat appears to be +a symbol of both a man and an animal, while without the title it is +merely the image of a goat without symbolism. But the conception of an +animal of any kind as a symbol is foreign to the art of the painter +whose symbol should always be beautiful, whatever the nature of the +representation. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +COLOUR + + +In itself colour has no virtues which are not governed by immutable +laws. These are apart from the exercise of human faculties, the +recognition of colour harmony being involuntary and entirely dependent +upon the condition of the optic nerves. Thus there can be no meaning in +colour apart from its application to form, and the extent to which it +may be properly used in the representation of form is necessarily bound +by our experience of nature. Other things being equal, the most perfect +painting is that wherein there is a just balance between the colour and +the form, that is to say, where the colour is not so vivid as to act +upon the sense nerves before the general beauty of the work is +appreciated, or so feeble or discordant that its want of natural truth +is immediately presented to the mind, thus disturbing the impression of +the design. + +As with metrical form in poetry, the importance of colour in painting +varies inversely with the character of the art. In the highest art, +where ideals are dealt with, colour is of the least importance. A +composition with ideal figures may be produced by drawing only, that is +to say, by the use of a single tone in outline and shading. The +addition of colour heightens the beauty of a composition of this kind, +not so much because of the new sensorial harmony acquired, as for the +reason that a painting in colours, corresponding better than a +colourless drawing with our experience of nature, assists in defining +the work and so reduces the fractional time necessary for the +recognition of the general beauty of the design, which is a matter of +importance. The comparatively small value of colour in the highest art +is demonstrated by experience. If we were to choose from paintings known +to us, those which general opinion regards as the very greatest works, +we should unquestionably name the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo +at the Vatican, and those of Correggio at Parma. These, with a few easel +pictures of Raphael, and perhaps a dozen other pictures by various +masters, are the only works of the painter's art to which the term +"sublime" may be properly applied. As with the great epic poems, they +are concerned entirely with ideals--with personages far above the level +of life, rising to the spiritual domain--or with human beings as they +would be if the highest conceptions of our imagination were possible of +realization. When we recall these splendid legacies of genius to our +minds, and ponder over the apparently limitless range of human vision +which they evidence, it is the designs that absorb us, and not the +colour--the forms and expression, and not the tints by which their +definition is assisted. We do not usually analyse the impression we +receive from these frescoes and pictures, but were we to do so, it +would be borne in upon our minds that while a Raphael, a Michelangelo, +or a Correggio, would be required to conceive and execute such +stupendous designs, many thousands of unknown patient workers could be +found to colour them efficiently. On the other hand if we remove the +colour from the greatest landscape known to us, we find that most of the +beauty of the work has disappeared, and that we have only a kind of +skeleton left, for the beauty of such a picture rests very largely upon +the aerial perspective, which is unobtainable without colour. + +That the appreciation of colour is relative to the character of the +design may be observed from common experience. We may see the Sistine +Madonna half a dozen times and then be unable to recall the colours when +bringing the picture to mind, so small an effect have they had upon us +as compared with that of the majesty and general beauty of the central +figure. So with many of Raphael's other pictures. It is a common thing +for one to call attention to the superb colouring of an easel picture by +Correggio, but how rarely does an observer notice the colouring of his +frescoes at Parma, which are his masterpieces? With some of the Venetian +artists, the colouring is often so brilliant, not to say startling, that +it seems to overpower the observer for a moment, and necessity compels +him to accustom himself to the tones before considering the design. The +colouring of Titian is not so strong, but it is always forcible; +nevertheless one seldom hears a comment upon the colours in his works, +the superior design and general beauty of the compositions far +outweighing the purely sensorial elements therein. Titian in fact +secured an approximately just balance between form and colour, while +with his great followers the colour usually exceeded in strength the +requirements of the design. In the time of Tintoretto and Veronese the +prestige and prosperity of Venice were rapidly declining, but we have +been so accustomed to associate with this city during the Renaissance, a +luxurious life with something of the character of an Eastern court, that +gorgeous colour of any kind does not seem out of place as one of its +products. But this special appropriateness has not the effect of +elevating the gay coloured voluptuous forms of the artists named, +observable in their classical and allegorical works, to a high level in +art. We cannot accommodate the forms to the ideas of the poets who +invented or described them, or to the attributes with which they were +commonly associated; and the colouring tends to bring them closer to +earth. While we feel bound to admire the colouring, we are equally +compelled to regret the particular application.[67] + +Speaking generally, when the design is good we remember the composition +irrespective of the colours, but when the beauty of the work depends +upon the colour harmony it fades from our memory as soon as our eyes +experience new colour combinations. The imagination may call up the +harmony again upon the mind, but the pleasure experienced from this +reflection must be very feeble indeed because the senses are not +directly affected thereby. It can have no more effect than a written +description of the harmony. + + [Illustration: PLATE 20 (See page 206) + The Storm, by Jacob Ruysdael (_Berlin Museum_)] + +The painter is at liberty to make what use he will of colour so long as +he provides a thing of beauty, but he must remember that the +appreciation of colour harmony is dependent not only upon the condition +of the optic nerves of the observer, but also upon his experience at the +time of observation. As to the first consideration little heed need be +taken, because rudimentarily the nerve structure is equal or nearly so, +in all persons, and while accident at birth may provide in some an +advanced condition which in others is only obtained by exercise, yet in +respect of colours, experience in complex harmony is gained +involuntarily in contact with every-day nature. Hence for the purpose of +the painter, all men may be considered alike in regard to the +recognition of colour harmony. But individual experience at the time of +observation of a painting varies largely,[68] a circumstance which is +not of importance in dealing with works of the higher art, but becomes +of great significance when considering the lower forms. No organ of the +body is so susceptible to fatigue as the eye, and a painting of the kind +known as a colour scheme may or may not be pleasing according as the +tone is a relief or otherwise to the sight. Sometimes a few seconds are +sufficient to fatigue the eye, as for instance when it is directed +towards a vivid maroon hanging, but let a landscape with a grey tone be +placed on the hanging and considerable pleasure will be involuntarily +experienced through the relief to the optic nerves. Remove the picture +to a grey wall, and it will instantly lose its charm, except such as +it may possess apart from the colour. + +As with particular tones, so with colours generally. People habituated +to conditions of nature where extremes of sun effects are uncommon, as +in the northern latitudes, may be temporarily pleased with schemes of +glowing colours on their walls, because these relieve the monotony of +daily experience, but they must necessarily quickly tire, as with all +exceptional conditions of life which are concerned with the senses only. +How soon one is fatigued with bright colours generally is obvious to any +visitor to a public gallery which is crowded with pictures. In an hour +or less the fatigue of his eyes becomes so extreme that his whole +nervous system is affected, and he loses energy of both mind and body. +But brilliant colors used sparingly with good designs may be a perpetual +source of pleasure. Place a fine work by Rubens or Paolo Veronese in a +living-room and it will attract attention every time one enters, for the +colouring will always be a change from the normal eye experience. One +turns to the picture involuntarily, and then the design is observed, and +so one passes from sensual to intellectual pleasure. This process is +repeated day by day, and the work never tires. Of course it is a +condition that the design is able to hold the attention, otherwise the +bright colours would serve little better purpose than if they defined a +geometrical pattern. + +Nowadays quite a number of paintings are produced in which unusual tones +are given to signs or shadows, but these are not to be taken seriously +by the earnest student. In the sunlight, amidst certain surroundings, +the arm of a woman may appear for some moments to have a bluish tone, +but the artist would be entirely wrong to paint a bluish arm. The +picture is to be seen under all lights, and if the tones be contrary to +general experience under any of these lights, then the work appears to +be a falsity, for the artist does not, and cannot, reproduce the +conditions which together bring about the exceptional colours. To the +normal eye under ordinary circumstances, the arm of a woman is of flesh +colour, and the artist is not at liberty to vary this tone. He has to +represent what appears to be true in general opinion, whether it be +really true or not under certain conditions. The dictum of Aristotle in +regard to poetry--that what appears probable, though in reality is +impossible, is better than what seems improbable but is really +possible--is equally true in painting. In fact it is of more importance +that this maxim should be remembered in painting than in poetry, because +the signs of the painter are permanent. A poet or novelist may refer to +a passing exceptional sun effect, for the impression on the mind of the +reader would probably be as transient as, or more transient than, the +effect itself, but with the painter the transient effect becomes fixed. +The blue arm is always blue, and in a very short time becomes a +disagreeable unreality. It may be claimed that the objectionable sun +effects are not really exceptional, though they are seldom noticed; but +for the purpose of art, what appears to be exceptional must be +definitely regarded as so, and for this reason discarded by the artist +who desires to paint a good picture. + +Generally then, the value of colour lies firstly in its correspondence +with nature, for upon this depends its harmony and the assistance it +lends to the recognition of the beauty in the whole composition. Beyond +this it may or may not have an ephemeral value according to local +conditions. In any case colour must ever be subordinated to design in a +picture, and this is what Poussin meant when he said that particular +attention to colour is an obstacle to the art student. + + + + +BOOK II + + + + +ILLUSIONS IN THE PAINTER'S ART + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The painter is occupied in a perpetual struggle to produce an illusion. +He does not directly aim for this, but except in the very highest art +where ideals are realized, the better the picture he paints, the greater +the illusion. The natural test of the value of his work is its +correspondence with nature, and the nearer it so corresponds, the more +complete the illusion. But the whole picture is never an illusion (we +leave out of consideration those instances where artificial devices are +used to conceal the surroundings of the actual painted surface), for the +frame and other material evidence inform us of the art. The illusion, +when it exists, is forced upon our minds from moment to moment as our +eyes travel over the work. It occurs to us perhaps that a face "lives," +that the drapery is true to life, that the tones are real, and so on, +and obviously these circumstances cannot impress us in this way unless +we are momentarily deceived. And it is a sign of good quality in the +work when we are so struck. This does not mean that the closer the +imitation, the better the picture: on the contrary it is rare to find a +good work of art produced by an exact imitator. The duty of the artist +is to generalize everything that can be generalized without departing +from the character of the thing represented. True there are degrees of +generalization which depend on the nature of the design, the size of the +work, the accessories, and other matters, but if a just balance of +generalization be secured throughout, then the imitation is better than +a closely detailed reproduction, because a work is always involuntarily +judged from general, and not from particular, experience. A portrait for +instance is a much better work of art if we can say of it "This is a +good portrait of a man," than if we are compelled to confine ourselves +to "This is a good portrait of Mr. Jones," even if the lineaments of the +particular countenance are better defined in the latter example than in +the former. The illusion would be stronger, for we are more intimately +acquainted with "a man" than with "Mr. Jones." And so with accessories. +An exceptionally fine rose or cabbage is never so good in a painting as +one of these articles which is of an average type, because with this the +illusion is more certain, for it is not likely to be disturbed with a +mental inquiry into the unusual article. + +The painter may produce his illusions then without sacrificing anything +in his art, and with the surety that good paintings necessarily result +in momentary illusions except when form or expression above life +experience are dealt with. + +The first and most important illusion in the art is that of relief, for +without this no other illusion can be produced. It is a general +condition applying to all work on a flat surface. The other illusions +that may be provided are: (a) of opening distance in landscape; (b) of +motion in natural actions, as in flowing water; (c) of human and animal +actions; (d) of suspension and motion in the air. The two first are +dealt with under "Landscape"; the others are now considered. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ILLUSION OF RELIEF + + +The greatest value in the illusion of relief lies in its assistance to +recognition, for with the forms rounded by shading and separated with +the appearance of relief which they have in nature, details of the work +are less likely to complicate the design to the eye, than if the flat +surface of the canvas be emphasized by the avoidance of relief. For the +eye has to be considered before the mind, and it is of immense +importance that the brain should have the least possible work to do in +assisting the eye to interpret a thing of art. It would appear then that +the minimum extent to which relief should be given in a painting is that +point below which the things painted do not seem to have their three +dimensions indicated. Beyond this the painter is at liberty to proceed +as he pleases. Some great artists, notably Lionardo, were inclined to +think that it is impossible to give too much relief to a figure, and +this may be so theoretically, but practically there is a line to be +drawn because life is limited, and after a certain point is reached, the +work of shading for relief is so tedious an operation, that half a +lifetime would be required to execute a picture of three or four +figures if the artist wished to produce the strongest illusion in his +power to give. A Russian artist of high merit who essayed the task, +spent an average time of five years in ceaseless toil on each figure he +completed, and even then frequently remarked that he had not given to +his figures the full relief he desired to exhibit. It is well known that +Lionardo gave long and close attention to this matter in his pictures, +and he produced some extraordinary examples of relief, of which the +finest is, perhaps, the Litta Madonna,[a] but one cannot help regretting +that he did not rest satisfied with a lower point of excellence in +respect of the illusion, so that he could spend more time in general +design. + + [a] At the Hermitage. See Plate 21. + +Apart from the relief given by shading in painting, there is an +important mechanical method of improving the illusion, though this can +only be occasionally adopted. The figures in any well painted picture +will appear to stand out in high relief if we lose sight of the frame +and other surroundings which distinctly inform us that the work is a +flat surface. This is why a painting invariably seems to improve if seen +through a tube of such diameter that the frame is excluded from the +vision. Advantage of this fact has been many times taken in the +exhibition of single pictures, when, by the exclusion of the frame, the +concealment of the edges of the work by curtain arrangements, and the +concentration of all the available light upon the canvas, such perfect +relief has been obtained that observers have been sometimes unable to +distinguish the art from the life. It was the effect of the +surroundings of a picture upon the sight, that led to a practice in +design resulting in the exclusion of these surroundings to some extent +when the eye is directed towards the centre of the work where the +principal figure is commonly stationed. This practice is to avoid +accessories as far as possible near the figure, and to provide +considerable open space above it, and also at the sides when the +composition allows, so that the observing eye has not of necessity to +range close to the frame of the picture. In a good design of this kind +the central figure or figures come out in strong relief, the attraction +of the work being consequently much enhanced. Obviously the painted +figures should be of life size, or nearly so, for the illusion of relief +to be strikingly marked, and the conditions necessarily prevent the +adoption of the scheme in a design of many figures. It is most +successful with a single figure, and has been carried out with two +figures, but never with more than two except in a few pictures of great +size. + + [Illustration: PLATE 21 (See page 240) + The Litta Madonna, by Lionardo da Vinci (_Hermitage_)] + +The number of artists who have taken advantage of this mechanical device +is not large, but it includes some of the first masters. The plan may be +used in both exterior and interior scenes. In the former the figures +must be thrown against the sky, and it is a distinct advantage if there +be no trees or other objects on either side of the figures, which also +stand out above the horizon, though this is immaterial if the figure be +set in a confined space, as an arch, or between the columns of a loggia, +and the foliage is not seen through this space. + +The most famous pictures where the scheme is used in exterior work are +amongst the finest portraits known to us, namely, Lionardo's Mona Lisa, +and Raphael's Maddalena Doni and Angelo Doni.[a] In 1504 or thereabouts, +Lionardo painted a portrait of Mona Lisa sitting in a loggia, the wall +of which reached to a third of the height of the canvas.[b] On the wall +at each side of the design is a column divided down the centre by the +edge of the canvas. There is a landscape setting, in which the middle +distance is hidden by rising ground, and only part of the head appears +above the horizon. In 1505 Raphael made a study from this picture in +which he retained the columns, but raised the wall, and threw the whole +head of the figure against the sky. He used this study for the portrait +of Maddalena Doni, but in this he still further improved the design by +removing the columns, and extending to the shoulders that part of the +figure above the horizon, the line of which divides the picture in equal +halves, instead of being drawn at two thirds of the height as in the +first Mona Lisa. When Lionardo executed the Louvre portrait of this +lady, he removed the columns, but slightly reduced the portion of the +head seen against the sky. Raphael's plan, which was also used in the +portrait of Angelo Doni, is obviously far superior to that in the Mona +Lisa design, for the relief is necessarily better marked. The scheme was +not new to Raphael at the time, except in portraiture, for it is +exhibited in three of his very early sacred works.[c] + + [a] The first at the Louvre, and the others at the Pitti Palace, + Florence. + + [b] This painting, or one corresponding to it, is in the Boston + Museum, U. S. A. See Note 56. + + [c] Saint Sebastian, at Bergamo; The Redeemer at Brescia; and The + Prophets and Sybils at Perugia. + +One of the best examples in existence of this method of securing relief +is Tintoretto's Presentation of the Virgin.[a] On the right of the +picture is a wide flight of stairs, curving round as they ascend. The +Virgin is moving up these steps in advance of some attendants, and the +curved stairway enables all the figures to stand out in fine relief +against the sky. If well managed some considerable space above the +figures is sufficient for the illusion even if the sides are partly +closed, as in Albertinelli's beautiful Salutation.[b] Where only a small +portion of the figure can be shown above the horizon, the use of a faint +far distance helps in the scheme of relief. Thus, in Marco Basaiti's +Christ on the Mount of Olives,[c] where Christ stands on the top of a +rock which hides the middle distance, His head only is above the +horizon, but the rest of the figure is thrown against a faint far +distance, the relief being excellent. A modification of this plan is +observable in Lionardo's Virgin and Child with St. Anne.[d] + + [a] Madonna del Orto, Venice. + + [b] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [c] Venice Academy. + + [d] The Louvre. + +So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, the first known +painting where a crucifix is thrown against the sky is by Antonella da +Messina.[a] The Cross is fixed in the foreground and extends to the top +of the picture, being cut half-way up and just below the feet of Christ +by the line of the horizon. The relief is very fine. This scheme was +imitated with more or less success but never quite so perfectly, till +Titian produced his magnificent Cross. Here the Crucifix is cast against +a sombre evening sky, with the Virgin and two imploring Saints at the +foot.[b] Rubens improved upon this design with several variations. In +one he hid the foot of the Cross, though the tops of buildings are seen +in the middle distance[c]; and in another, which is still finer, the +time of the scene is late evening, and dark vague outlines suggest a +landscape. But all these examples are cast into the shade by Van Dyck's +Antwerp picture, than which there is certainly no more impressive +painted Crucifixion in existence. In this the foot of the Cross is not +shown, nor is there any ground to be seen, and the figure stands out +against a dark forbidding sky, awful, but sublimely real, as if set in +boundless space for all eternity.[d] + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] Ancona Gallery. + + [c] Antwerp Museum. + + [d] This work was repeated several times with variations. See + Plate 22. + +There are many variations of the above designs, particularly among the +Works of Venetian artists, but those quoted may be regarded as typical. +How easy it is to hinder the illusion is seen in Sodoma's Sacrifice of +Abraham,[a] where both figures are set against the sky, but trees behind +them and at the side destroy the relief, though the foliage is by no +means thick. In Girolami da Libri's Madonna and Child with St. Anne, a +pomegranate tree interposes[b]; and a curtain falls at the back of a +group by Bernadino da Conti,[c] the illusion in both cases being +consequently robbed of its effect. + + [a] Pisa Cathedral. + + [b] National Gallery, London. + + [c] Poldo Pezzoli Museum, Milan. + +Some of the Dutch artists of the seventeenth century used a clear sky +for the purpose of enhancing the relief of their figures, but as these +are usually of a comparatively small size, the result is only partially +effective. Albert Cuyp and Philip Wouverman painted many pictures with +men and animals silhouetted above the horizon, and Paul Potter executed +a few of the kind, but of all Dutch painters, Jan Steen secured the best +relief with his Terrace Scene.[a] In more recent times the scheme has +seldom been adopted for the purpose of relief, but a few Scottish +painters practised it in the early nineteenth century. Simson followed +Cuyp's plan,[b] and Dyce in a sacred piece equalled the best of the old +masters in his manner of producing the illusion.[c] Grant also painted a +fine example.[d] Some portrait painters of the English school of the +eighteenth century used the scheme in a partial way, but they commonly +placed clouds behind the figures thrown against the sky, thus disturbing +the illusion. + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] National Gallery, Edinburgh. + + [c] St. John Leading the Virgin from the Tomb, National Gallery of + British Art, London. + + [d] The Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, Gilmour Collection, + Scotland. + +There is only one method of using this device for assisting in the +production of relief in interiors. This is to throw the figure against a +high wall which is undecorated or nearly so. The figure must be some +little distance in front of the wall, and it is observable that the best +effect is obtained when the light throughout the room is equal, but in +any case the wall should not have less light than the figure. Inasmuch +as the figure has to be of life size or nearly so, to produce the +desired result, a very large picture would be necessary for the +representation of a standing adult; hence the plan is not attempted with +a life-size figure, except with a sitting adult or a standing child. +Before this scheme was used for the human figure, that master of relief, +M. A. Caravaggio, adopted it for a simple still-life work.[a] A basket +of fruit on a plain table, with a high bare wall at the back--the canvas +now sombre and darkened, like the soul of the artist, but still +remarkable for the relief: this was the first application to interiors +of a plan which had been used in exteriors by some of the greatest +masters for more than a century. + + [a] Ambrogia Museum, Milan. + +So far as can be gathered from existing works, thirty or forty years +elapsed after the picture of Caravaggio was painted before the scheme +was brought into use for the human figure in interiors. In 1630, or +thereabouts, Velasquez produced his Christ at the Column.[a] Here the +wall is not actually high, but Christ is shown seated on the floor, and +hence there is ample wall space over which the eye may rove. It is +possible that the adoption of the plan in this instance was the result +of accident, but the very unusual pose of Christ hardly warrants the +suggestion. Velasquez painted no more pictures of the kind till a +quarter of a century later, when he produced Las Meninas. In this the +relief is excellent, but it would have been still better without the +picture on the wall, and the open door in the background, though the +figure seen on the steps through the doorway lends assistance to the +illusion. + + [a] The Prado, Madrid. + +Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, some followers of the +Neapolitan school used the plan occasionally, but the best existing +Italian works of the time where it is seen are from the hand of Evaristo +Baschenis, a Bergamese monk. He was an excellent painter of still-life, +and produced several pictures, each with a boy or a woman seated in the +middle of a room near a plain table on which rests a dish of fruit or a +gathering of various articles, while at the back there is a high bare +wall. In all of these works a fine relief is exhibited, though they are +now considerably marred by darkened shadows. A few years later the plan +was adopted by some Dutch artists, and later still in France and +Germany. Chardin, who in more ways than one seems to have been a French +Baschenis, used it in several pictures. In recent times since the study +of Velasquez has become a vogue, many artists have successfully followed +the plan, and one of the finest examples of it in existence--Lydia +Emmet's Patricia[a]--dates as late as 1915. + + [a] Exhibition of the National (American) Association of Portrait + Painters, N. Y., 1915. See Plate 23. + +There are several minor mechanical ways of enhancing relief, most of +them providing a setting which acts as a kind of inner frame to the +design, the object being to reduce the effect of the actual frame in +disturbing the illusion. Portrait painters of the Dutch, Flemish, and +English schools, have often placed half length figures in painted ovals +on canvas rectangles, and in the case of Hals he sometimes further +improved the illusion by extending a hand of the subject over the oval. +Hanneman used this oval in a most exceptional way. On a large canvas he +painted the bust portraits of Constantine Huygens and his six children, +each in a separate oval, the father being in the centre.[a] The scheme +is strangely effective, for the attention of the observer is +involuntarily confined to one portrait at a time. In genre pictures a +doorway may act as the inner frame, but this is only of material value +if the picture be of considerable size. The Dutch painters, notably +Gerard Dow, loved to paint figures leaning over window-sills, this +method usually enhancing the relief, because the eye is apt to be +confined for a time to the window-frame. Perhaps the best use of a +window for the purpose of relief is Rembrandt's Samson Menacing His +Father-in-law, where the old man's head and hands, of life size, are +seen protruding from a small window.[b] + + [a] Hague Gallery. + + [b] Berlin Gallery. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ILLUSION OF MOTION + + With human figures--With animals. + + +From the earliest times great sculptors, in producing a single figure in +action, have chosen for the representation a moment of rest between two +steps in the action, so that the character of these steps is instantly +recognized by the observer, whose imagination unconsciously carries +through the action. If every part of the figure is built up conformably +with the action, with due regard to the position from which the statue +is to be seen, an illusion of motion will follow, though this is +necessarily so rapid that the effect upon the observer is indirect: he +translates the impression into appreciation of the lifelike attitude of +the figure. Nearly all the ancient Greek sculptured figures known to us, +commencing with those of Myron, are characterized by this excellence in +design, and so with the best work of the Italian Renaissance. Modern +sculptors of repute have also endeavoured to provide the illusion, Rodin +in particular holding that it should be the aim of every sculptor.[69] + +The painter is in a different position from the sculptor because the +latter may design his figure with special reference to the position it +is to occupy, and so he can in a measure compel the observer to see it +in a particular way. Thus, the base of the statue may be some height +above the ground, in which case the observer must necessarily run his +eyes up the figure from the feet; or it may be seen first in a +three-quarter view so that the position of the limbs will apparently +change as the observer moves to the front. Such accidental circumstances +may be considered by the sculptor in his plan. The painter has no such +advantage, for his figure is the same from whichever point it is to be +seen, within reasonable limits; but he has compensation in the use of +tones and accessories of which the sculptor is deprived. That the +painter may provide an excellent illusion with a single figure in action +is evidenced by Raphael's superb St. Margaret, where the Saint is seen +stepping over the dragon.[a] Every part of her body, and every fold of +drapery is used in the expression of movement, the effect being so +perfect that we cannot disassociate the figure from the action.[70] + + [a] At the Louvre. See Plate 27. + +The painters of the first century of the Renaissance never properly +represented a figure in the act of walking, and there are few pictures +even of the fifteenth century where a serious attempt is made to choose +the best moment in which to exhibit such a figure. The first successful +essay in the task seems to have been in The Tribute Money of +Masaccio,[a] who indeed was fifty years ahead of his fellows in the +faithful representation of action. There was a jump of two decades or +so after Masaccio to the next good figure, which was that of an +attendant in Filipo Lippi's complex tondo at Florence.[b] This figure +must have caused considerable surprise at the time, for it was copied +into several works by subsequent artists, notably Domenico +Ghirlandaio,[c] and probably suggested the fine figure carrying a jar of +water on her head in Raphael's Fire at the Borgo.[d] But Raphael, who +mastered every problem in composition, solved this one so completely +that he left nothing for his successors to learn respecting it. Not only +are the limbs of his moving figures so perfectly arranged that we see +only action, but folds of the drapery used on the figures are sufficient +to indicate preceding movements,[e] and this is so even when the figures +are stationary, but the head, arms, or upper part of the body have +moved.[f] This extraordinary feature of Raphael's work will ever form a +subject of astonishment and admiration. + + [a] Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. + + [b] Madonna and Child with other scenes from her life, Uffizi, + Florence. + + [c] Birth of St. John Baptist, Santa Maria Novello, Florence. + + [d] Fresco at the Vatican. + + [e] See Deliverance of St. Peter, Flight of Lot and his Family, Moses + Striking the Rock, and others at the Vatican. + + [f] The Transfiguration, Vatican. + + [Illustration: PLATE 22 (See page 244) + Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck (_Antwerp Museum_)] + +The painter has a comparatively easy task in presenting an illusion with +several figures presumed to be moving, for he has only to comply with +two simple conditions. The first is that the particular step represented +in the act of progression of any individual should vary from the steps +of the persons immediately behind or in front of him; and secondly that +the actions of the different persons be connected with each other so far +as possible. With these conditions reasonably fulfilled, illusion of +motion necessarily follows. Naturally in such a mechanical matter, the +character of the invention depends upon the scale of the design. When +the moving figures are presumed to be comparatively near at hand, the +position of the limbs must be entirely presented, or the progression +will appear broken. The effective illusion presented in Burne-Jones's +Golden Staircase is due to his ingenuity in so arranging the numerous +figures descending the winding stairs, that all their feet are visible. +In the case of a crowd of figures of whom some are supposed to be moving +and others standing still, the visibility of the limbs is of less +importance than the connection of the various actions. In Menzel's +Market in Verona,[a] the illusion, which is remarkable, is entirely +produced by the skill in which innumerable instances of action are made +dependent upon others. An illusion is created in the same way though in +a lesser degree by Gustave Dore in several works.[b] When the motion +arises from the actions of the arms of a number of persons, it suffices +if the arms are in various positions, as in Menzel's Iron Mill, and +Cavalori's Woolworkers[c] where many men are using long tools; but if +the limbs are working together, an illusion is impossible. The beauty of +Guardi's great picture, Regatta on the Grand Canal, is much diminished +by the attitude of the gondoliers, who all hold their poles in the +same position. + + [a] Dresden Gallery. + + [b] See Samson Slaying the Philistines. + + [c] Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. + +Where many persons are moving together in the same direction, great care +has to be exercised in presenting the actions conformably with the rate +at which the movement is proceeding, for upon this of course depends the +angles of the bended knees, and the extent to which some of the feet may +be carried from the ground. In slow natural movements, as where a number +of men are dragging a heavy burden, it is rare to find an artist wrong +in his representation[a]; but in the case of numerous figures walking +irregularly, a true nearground design is uncommon, the painter usually +giving insufficient action, with the result that his figures present a +stagy appearance.[b] But a defect of this kind is not so serious as +where several men, not being in marching order, are moving in the same +direction with their feet in similar positions, and each with a foot off +the ground,[c] for this is only an aggravation of a case where the +picture shows but a single figure walking with one foot in the air. + + [a] For good examples see Benoit's Morning of July 14, 1789, + Poynter's Building the Treasure City, and Colton's Royal + Artillery Memorial (sculptured relief). + + [b] Dehodencq's Bohemians Returning from a Fete, Chaumont Museum. + + [c] As in Breton's Cry of Alarm. + +An illusion of motion may be given to a line of figures in the middle +distance of a landscape by simply winding the road along which they +pass[a]; but the angles of the turns must be large, for when they are +small, or when there is a distinct zigzag, the illusion is destroyed +through the lengthy operation of the eye in comprehending the whole +scene. + + [a] Diaz's Descent of the Bohemians. + +When many figures are moving close together, even if they be marching to +the same step, an illusion of movement may be given by the +representation of a flying figure proceeding in the same direction. This +scheme has been adopted in sculpture with high success, as in the Shaw +Memorial at Boston,[a] and the Marseillaise of Rude.[b] In painting, +several horizontal figures may be used, but they must be placed +irregularly to avoid the appearance of formality. Some modern French +artists are responsible for effective designs indicating the arrival of +spring by an overhead figure flying above young people moving through +flowery fields.[c] + + [a] By A. Saint-Gaudens. + + [b] Arc de Triomphe, Paris. + + [c] See Aman-Jean's decorative panels at the Sorbonne. + +A suggestion of motion may be obtained by exhibiting a number of persons +engaged in similar actions, but shown in a consecutive series of stages +thereof. This plan is admirably worked out by Watteau in his Embarkation +for Cythera.[a] A line of couples commences at the right of the picture, +proceeds towards the left, and then descends a slope to the place of +embarkation. The first couple are sitting and conversing, the next are +in the act of rising, and the third have just risen and are about to +follow the other couples already walking, the whole device being most +effective. A similar kind of illusion is caused by Rubens in his Diana +and Nymphs pursued by Satyrs.[b] On the extreme right of the picture +some of the figures are stationary; then come a few who are struggling, +and finally some running nymphs and satyrs, a perfect progression of +events being suggested. + + [a] In the Louvre, and repeated with variations at Berlin. + + [b] The Prado, Madrid. See Plate 27. + +Illusion of motion is more easily obtained with animals than with human +figures, providing they are fairly large, because of the greater number +of their feet and the consequent wider variation between the apparent +and the real movements. It is exceedingly difficult to produce a +suggestion of motion with a single animal represented in a natural +attitude, but the painter is only concerned with what appears to be +natural or probable, and not with what is actually so. We have only a +general idea of the action of a horse in nature from what we see, and +consequently in design this action must be generalized irrespective of +natural possibilities. Some artists combine parts of different actions +as exhibited in a series of photographs in order to represent a moment +of action as it is generalized to the eye, but this is only serviceable +where the presumed action of the animal is one of a series of similar +events, as in walking or trotting. It would not answer in the case of an +isolated action, as jumping or rearing, because such actions vary with +the circumstances surrounding them, as the height of the jump or the +cause of the rearing. In these events therefore the artist may +exaggerate to a great extent without appearing to present impossible +movements. In fact nearly all good pictures of one or two horses in +action are strong exaggerations of nature, but this hardly affects +their aesthetic worth because the action is not recognized as abnormal or +impossible. The finest painting of horses in action known to us, is +Regnault's Automedon with the Horses of Achilles,[a] where the animals +exhibit spirit and movement far above experience, but even if we did not +know that they are presumed to be immortal, we should only regard the +action as exceptional, for it does not appear to be impossible. + + [a] Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 28. + +There is ample scope for the presentation of an illusion with a number +of moving animals. All that is necessary is that they should be kept +fairly well together with their legs in various moving attitudes. This +illusion is perfectly managed by many of the French painters of battle +scenes in the nineteenth century, notably Horace Vernet,[a] Gros,[b] +Chartier,[c] Morot,[d] and Meissonier.[e] The action in the cavalry +charges of Morot and Chartier is amazingly true to life. Even three or +four animals will suffice for an illusion,[f] but this cannot be +provided with the smaller animals, as sheep or goats, because although a +series of progressive actions may be given to those outside animals in a +flock whose legs are visible to the spectator of the picture, the scale +to which they are painted is necessarily so small that the eye has an +entirely insufficient range for operating the illusion. Where several +horses are represented as moving at considerable speed, it is necessary +that some of their feet should touch the ground, otherwise the illusion +is destroyed, or else the animal may appear to be racing through the +air.[g] The effect is not so disturbing when all the feet of the moving +animals are on the ground,[h] or where they are hidden by herbage,[i] or +where all the animals are on their hind legs,[j] though in these +instances an illusion is almost impossible. + + [a] La Smalah at Versailles. + + [b] The Combat of Nazareth. + + [c] Jena, 1806, and Hanau, 1813. + + [d] Reichsoffen. + + [e] 1814. + + [f] Rosa Bonheur's Ploughing in Nivernois. + + [g] Fromentin's Couriers des Ooled Nayls, Luxembourg; Schreyer's The + Attack, N. Y. Public Library; and Gericault's Epsom, Louvre. + + [h] A. Brown's The Drove. + + [i] Uhde's Cavalry Soldiers Going into Action, Muffel Collection. + + [j] Snyder's Hunt, Munich Gallery. + +In cases where horses and men are crowded together, and are struggling +in confusion, it is only necessary in order to provide an illusion, that +no action should be entirely separated from the others. There was a fine +example of this work in a lost drawing or painting of Titian, of +Pharaoh's Host Overwhelmed in the Red Sea[a]; and many artists of the +Renaissance produced like illusions in pictures of the rape of the +Sabines. Where the movement is spread over a large area, and the scale +to which the animals are drawn is comparatively small, the various +groups engaged must obviously be connected together in a series. Franz +Adam arranges a scheme of this kind in a battle scene, using running +soldiers or hauled guns as links in the chain.[b] + + [a] An engraving on wood by A. Andreani is in existence. + + [b] A Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, Munich. + +An illusion of motion is sometimes assisted by the title of the picture. +A remarkable example of this is Robert's The Israelites Depart. Although +individual action cannot be distinguished owing to the scale of the +design, yet when one is acquainted with the title, the imagination is +instinctively set to work, and the enormous crowds packing the wide +streets seem to be streaming in one direction. Obviously for the title +to have this effect, the number of signs must be overwhelming, and there +must be no possibility of interpreting the picture in two ways; that is +to say, accessory signs must be used to indicate the direction in which +the crowd is moving.[71] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR + + With the assistance of drapery--Of clouds--Of winged + figures--Miscellaneous devices. + + +The representation of figures suspended in the air, or moving through +it, has never offered much trouble to painters, though necessarily +involving an apparent miracle. The very slightest pretended physical +assistance suffices for the illusion, and this help is usually rendered +in the shape of flying drapery, winged figures, clouds, or artificial +devices based upon the contact of two or more figures. The only +difficulty met with is in respect of an upward vertical movement. Here, +wings or clouds can scarcely be made to differentiate between a rising +and a falling movement, and flying drapery is of little service inasmuch +as a rush through the air would, if the feat were actually performed, +cause the drapery to cling to the figure. The surest remedy for the +disabilty is to support the figure directly by winged figures placed at +a considerable angle from the vertical, but this plan is only rarely +adopted by great masters because of the consequent complications in the +design of the group. Since flying drapery is commonly added to the +figure presumed to be ascending, and seeing that artists almost +invariably insist upon giving their ascending figures upright attitudes, +it is seldom that the movement is correctly expressed. Usually the +figure appears to be held immovably in suspension, but occasionally, +owing to the drapery arrangement, a descending movement is indicated.[a] +Without the assistance of winged figures, the illusion of ascension can +only be given when the figure is shown directed upwards at an angle of +at least fifteen or twenty degrees from the vertical. As a rule the +larger the angle, the more easy is the production of an illusion. With a +fairly large angle, and an appropriate arrangement of limbs and drapery, +heavy figures can be made to appear naturally ascending, as in Rubens's +Boreas and Orithyia, both voluptuous forms.[b] + + [a] As in Murillo's Ascension of Christ, Madrid Academy. + + [b] Venice Academy. + +Only a very few of the first artists have been able to give an illusion +of movement in the air by use of drapery alone, the device adopted by +Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel frescoes being perhaps the most +effective. He throws behind the moving figure of the Deity a large fold +of drapery, which assumes an oval or nearly round shape, the whole +acting as a concave framework for the Deity and attending Angels.[a] The +success of the plan arises of course from the apparent resistance to the +air offered by a large and compact surface. This form with more or less +marked modifications in the concavity was probably used by the ancient +Greeks in their paintings, as a nearly similar arrangement is found in a +sculptured figure which has come down to us, though in this case a +running movement is indicated.[b] It is also seen in some Pompeian +frescoes, where it is applied to figures moving through the air and on +the ground.[c] Raphael adopted the device occasionally,[d] but generally +varied it with excellent effect by flowing out from the waist a large +scarf-like fold to take a circular form above the head and shoulders of +the figure,[e] or by causing heavy drapery to flow out from the lower +part of the body.[f] No doubt in the case of Raphael, the extraordinary +grace of figure, and the perfect pose of the limbs, assist the illusion. +Tintoretto and other artists of the Renaissance used an oval drapery in +a similar way; while sometimes the figure is half hidden within it,[g] +and Le Sueur wrapped part of the figure in folds before forming the +oval.[h] There seems to be a simple virtue in any oval form connected +with figures presumed to be suspended in the air. It was quite common in +the early days of the Renaissance for the Deity or Virgin and Child to +be placed in a regular oval framework, sometimes supported by Angels or +cherubs, and the illusion was usually successful.[i] Rubens by way of +experiment went a little further in one picture, for he placed the +Virgin and Child in an oval picture frame supported by cherubs.[j] This +however does not seem so novel as some of Perugino's ovals which are +bordered with the heads of cherubs.[k] + + [a] See Plate 24. + + [b] The Son of Niobe, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.[72] + + [c] Herculanum et Pompei, vol. iv., by Roux Aine. + + [d] Ceiling of the Hall of Heliodorus, Vatican. + + [e] Vatican frescoes God Separating Water and Earth, and God Appearing + to Isaac. + + [f] The Creation of the Sun and Moon. + + [g] Poussin's St. Francis Zavier, Louvre. + + [h] The Virgin appearing to St. Martin. + + [i] See the Assumption of Orcagna, and of Luca di Tome; Giunto + Pisano's Christ and the Virgin; and Mainardi's Madonna giving + her Girdle to St. Thomas. + + [j] Virgin and Child, Chiesa Nuovo, Rome. + + [k] Ascension of Christ, Perugia; Assumption, Florence Academy, and + others. + +Wings are seldom sufficient to suggest lightness in the air, because +they can scarcely be designed of the size and strength which we judge to +be proportionate to the presumed weight of the body, without making the +form appear abnormal, though there are instances in which partial +success has been achieved by using comparatively small figures and +giving them unusually large wings.[a] The use of more than a single pair +of wings is hardly permissible because of the apparent anomaly. Actually +one pair is not less incomprehensible from an anatomical point of view +than several pairs, but custom has driven from our minds any suggestion +of incongruity in respect of the representation of the common type of +Angel. Naturally when skilfully arranged, the more wings, the stronger +the illusion of flight, and if a habit of giving four wings to an Angel +were engendered, we should perhaps see nothing strange in them. Even six +wings have been given to Angels without making them appear +ungraceful.[b] + + [a] J. H. Witt's Bless the Lord. + + [b] Picart's The Burning Coal. + +When there is no assistance, as clouds or flowing drapery, lent to +Angels to promote the illusion of suspension, it is necessary to give +them an attitude which is nearly horizontal. Properly managed, a pair +of comparatively small wings may in this way appear to support a heavy +form.[a] Luini actually adds the weight of the body of St. Catherine to +three Angels, flying horizontally, who carry her to the tomb[b]; an +invention, strangely enough, followed by Kulmbach in Germany at about +the same time.[c] In both cases the illusion is excellent. Some of the +early Flemish and German masters, including Van Eyck[d] and Holbein,[e] +employed Angels in scenes with the Virgin to hold suspended behind her +seat, large falls of brocaded material, and it is curious to note that +the Angels themselves seem to be supported by the drapery. In order to +assist the suggestion of lightness, Perugino sometimes arched the lower +limbs of the Angels, adding a narrow tape scroll[f]; an addition +improved upon by Raphael who substituted for the scroll a loosened +girdle flying out from the waist.[g] + + [a] Rembrandt's The Angel quitting Tobias, Louvre. + + [b] The Brera, Milan. + + [c] St. Mary's, Krakan. + + [d] Virgin and Child at the Fountain, Antwerp. + + [e] Virgin and Child, Augsburg. + + [f] The Ascension, Borgo San Sepolcro, Perugia. + + [g] Creation of Woman, Castello Gallery; Prophets and Sybils, Perugia, + and others. + +The most frequently used form of support for figures in suspension are +irregular masses of clouds, upon which the figures sit or stand, and +occasionally are partly enfolded therein. Sometimes the cloud bank is +more or less shaped for the purpose of relief, or for variety in design. +Thus, Raphael makes part of the cloud a perfect footrest for the +Virgin,[a] and Palma Giovane does a similar thing for a figure of +Christ,[b] but in this case the illusion is hazarded as the seat is not +directly indicated. Ingres produces an excellent illusion by making the +footrest a small separate cloud,[c] which is a variation from the +practice of many painters of the Renaissance, who used a separate cloud +for each personage in the composition, or even with each foot as with +Carlo Crivelli.[d] In a fresco of the Evangelists at Florence, each of +them sits with his insignia on a foliated bank of clouds.[e] Perugino in +using a similar plan sometimes places the clouds at the bottom of the +picture, no part of the earth being seen, so that the illusion is +considerably enhanced.[f] At other times he shows Angels apparently +running through the air, with each front foot resting on a tiny cloud, +giving the impression that it is fastened there.[g] Durer extended this +plan by directly attaching a small cloud to each foot, the effect being +somewhat whimsical.[h] Titian was unsuccessful in the use of an isolated +cloud.[i] In a Resurrection scene Christ stands on a small thin cloud, +and holds a flag-pole, the lower end of which rests upon the cloud. +Obviously with such a design no suggestion of ascent can enter the mind. + + [a] Foligna Madonna, Vatican. + + [b] Christ in Judgment, Venice. + + [c] The Oath of Louis XIII. + + [d] Coronation of the Virgin, Milan. + + [e] Santa Maria. By an unknown artist of the Ghirlandaio school. + + [f] Christ's Rule. + + [g] Madonna and Child with Penitents, and others. + + [h] The Virgin with a Canary, Berlin. + + [i] Urbino Gallery. + + [Illustration: PLATE 23 (See page 247) + Patricia, by Lydia Emmet (_Private owner, N. Y._)] + +Some artists, as Luca Signorelli,[a] hide the lower part of the figure +behind clouds, but this method, while indicating suspension, cannot +provide an illusion of movement without an assisting device. Thus +Schonherr shows an Angel so concealed in a nearly horizontal position +with wings fully expanded, the effect being good.[b] When a figure is +suspended on clouds, very rarely indeed is repose emphasized by placing +it in a horizontal position, but Poussin once adopts the plan,[c] and +Guercino goes so far as to represent a reclining Angel resting her head +on her hand as if suffering from fatigue.[d] Perfect repose of the Deity +in an upright position on clouds is produced by Gustave Dore, who +reduces the size of the earth, above which He stands, to an +insignificant proportion, so that the imagination sends it moving round +below Him.[e] + + [a] Madonna and Child in Glory, Arezzo. + + [b] The Agony in the Garden. + + [c] Adam and Eve. + + [d] Martyrdom of St. Peter, Modena. + + [e] Creation of the Earth. + +Quite a number of artists represent the suspended figures standing on +the backs of cherubs or cupids, which in their turn are supported by +clouds, as for instance, R. Ghirlandaio,[a] Liberale di Verona,[b] and +Francesco da Cotignola.[c] Fra Bartolommeo places a single foot of the +Deity on a cherub who holds a banderole, the illusion being +excellent.[d] Domenichino adopts a most ingenious device in St. Paul's +Vision. He shows the Apostle being carried to Heaven by winged cherubs, +who appear to find the weight considerable, and to struggle under it. +There is little else to induce the illusion, which is complete.[e] A +similar scheme is successfully managed in Prud'hon's Abduction of +Psyche. Tassaert uses a like device, but in addition has a cherub +supporting each arm of the Virgin. Palma Vecchio makes the Virgin stand +on the outstretched wings of a cherub, but her robe blows upwards, +giving her the appearance of descending instead of ascending.[f] Rubens +has three alternatives in the use of cherubs. The figure sits on clouds +with feet resting on small globes sustained by cherubs[g]; or the +cherubs hold the dress and mantle of the Virgin; or they help to control +the clouds upon which she sits.[h] In some of his pictures of the +Immaculate Conception, Murillo also uses globes, but places the cherubs +on them instead of under. Francia has a picture in which cherubs hold up +clouds bearing the Virgin,[i] a device once used by Rembrandt.[j] Genga +shows the Deity kneeling upon the heads of cherubs, a scheme not +satisfactory.[k] Cherubs were used by Titian to hold up the Virgin and +clouds,[l] while Velasquez rested the robes on clouds, but used cherubs +to sustain the Holy Mother.[m] + + [a] The Madonna giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Prato. + + [b] The Magdalene and Saints. + + [c] Adoration of the Shepherds, Ravenna Academy. + + [d] The Deity with SS. Catherine and Magdalene. + + [e] Assumption of the Virgin. + + [f] Assumption of the Virgin, Venice. + + [g] The Deity and Christ, Weimar. + + [h] Assumption of the Virgin at Dusseldorf, Augsburg, Brussels, and + Vienna. + + [i] Madonna and Child in Glory, Berlin. + + [j] The Ascension, Munich. + + [k] The Magdalene and Saints, Milan. + + [l] Assumption of the Virgin, Venice. + + [m] Coronation of the Virgin, Madrid. + +The illusion is usually more complete when Angels are used instead of +cherubs for support, apparently because they may be presumed to have +greater strength, and the plan was adopted by some of the earlier +masters of the Renaissance. The simple design of Rubens in resting the +foot of Christ on the arm of a flying Angel is quite successful.[a] +Fontana places the Deity on clouds supported by Angels,[b] a method +adopted by Granacci, who however assists the illusion by adding two +Angels who are directly supporting the figure.[c] Peter Cornelius has +the Deity with His foot on a small globe which is held in position by +Angels.[d] A fine example of their use is shown by Gutherz. Two Angels +with large outstretched wings are bearing the body of a woman to Heaven. +She lies recumbent upon a lengthy hammock formed by the robes of the +Angels, the ends of the drapery being gathered up by the flying +cherubs.[e] The illusion is perfect. Rembrandt also has a beautiful +design in a Resurrection scene, for he shows the figure of Christ as a +shade whose hands are held by a flying Angel lifting Him to Heaven.[f] A +few artists, as Poussin[g] and Bouguereau,[h] use Angels to carry the +figure with no other assisting device, but if the body is recumbent it +is necessary that the Angels should be in a nearly upright position, +otherwise they will appear to be moving horizontally.[i] Rubens in an +Ascension uses the strange method of placing an Angel beneath Christ, +but without touching Him.[j] The drapery flies out at the back, so that +without some assistance he would appear to be descending; but the Angel +below, with her hands held up, seems to correct the position. Guido Reni +carries the Virgin up with Angels who support her beneath, and she seems +in fact to be standing on their shoulders.[k] In one instance Correggio +substitutes a smiling boy for an Angel, and he holds up a cloud on which +the Virgin sits.[l] There are many works where winged figures hold a +body in suspension, most of them providing excellent illusions. Among +the best is Lux's Sarpedon, where the body of the Trojan is held up for +Jupiter to kiss.[m] + + [a] Ascension of Christ, Vienna. + + [b] Vision of the Resurrection. + + [c] The Virgin giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Uffizi Gallery, + Florence. + + [d] Let there be Light. + + [e] "They shall bear thee up." + + [f] Munich Gallery. + + [g] Assumption of the Virgin, and Vision of St. Paul. + + [h] Assumption of the Virgin. + + [i] Bouguereau's Une Ame au Ciel. + + [j] The Academy, Venice. + + [k] Assumption of the Virgin, Munich. + + [l] Madonna and Child with Saints, Parma. + + [m] The Luxembourg. + +Even a simple banderole or scarf suffices to indicate movement in the +air if well arranged. Usually a flying cherub holds an end of the +banderole, and Ferri shows a wingless putto even, flying with no other +assistance.[a] Boucher creates an illusion by the bold device of +connecting two cupids with a narrow scarf blown out into a +semicircle[b]; and in another instance very narrow tape streamers +suffice.[c] + + [a] David plans a Temple. + + [b] Birth of Venus. + + [c] Altdorfer's Nativity at Berlin. + +The use of thick smoke for suspension purposes is nearly always +successful, because volumes of smoke in nature necessarily tend to move +upwards; but obviously this scheme can only be arranged when an altar is +possible. The plan is not uncommon in pictures relating to Cain and +Abel, and the Translation of Enoch. In one of the latter subject, Hoet +makes part of the smoke from an altar envelop the surrounding ground so +as to widen the volume, while Schnorr achieves the same end by curling +round the smoke as it ascends into the form of a large saucer upon which +the Deity sits,[a] a method slightly varied by Amiconi.[b] + + [a] God's Promise to Abraham. + + [b] God Appearing to Moses. + +Where a number of figures are connected together in a circular form in +the air, the double illusion of suspension and motion follows naturally, +provided their attitudes indicate a circular movement. An excellent +example of this is shown in a picture by Botticelli, where Angels dance +in the air over the hut of the Nativity.[a] The finest work of the kind +in existence is probably Schwind's Pleiads, in which the stars are +represented by a circle of beautiful nude women.[b] Extraordinary +activity is suggested by the perfect arrangement of the limbs and light +flowing drapery used. Bouguereau has a work of a similar kind, The Lost +Pleiad, but here the dancers are upright, and the circle is only +accessory to the title figure.[c] Watteau is fairly successful in giving +an illusion of suspension to cupids even with a half circle, though the +invention is somewhat formal.[d] + + [a] National Gallery, London. + + [b] Denner Collection. See Plate 25. + + [c] Brooklyn Museum, New York. + + [d] The Berlin example of the Embarkation for Cythera. + +Some of the devices used to bring about an illusion are most ingenious. +Thus in his Bacchus and Ariadne,[a] Tintoretto actually applies a +disability of his art for the purpose. Venus is shown in a horizontal +position in the air, placing a crown of stars upon the head of Ariadne. +Bacchus is standing by, and the form of the goddess floats just at the +back of him, the lower side of her hip being on a level with the top of +his head. Seeing that the head is covered with a profusion of vine +leaves, it is impossible for the artist to indicate, or the observer to +recognize, that the goddess does not actually touch the head of Bacchus, +and she apparently balances herself upon his head while crowning +Ariadne, the artist having been careful to place the centre of gravity +of her figure over the apparent point of contact. A similar kind of +illusion is provided by Burne-Jones, whose Angel of the Annunciation is +upright in midair near the ground, but her feet seem to find support +on the branches of a shrub.[b] Rossetti, in the same subject, shows the +Angel with his feet wrapped in flames, the weight being thus apparently +removed. The design seems bizarre, perhaps because of the absence of an +expression of surprise which one would expect to see on the countenance +of the Virgin at so extraordinary a phenomenon.[73] Schwind also uses a +disability of his art for an illusion in his Phantom of the Forest.[c] +She moves near the ground away from the spectator with such rapidity +that her robe, a simple rectangular piece of drapery, has opened out +wide from the front, and hides her figure from the shoulders down, so +that from the point of view of the observer she may, or may not, be +touching the ground as she moves. + + [a] Ducal Palace, Venice. + + [b] Tate Gallery, London. + + [c] Schack Gallery, Munich. + +How slight the apparent support need be, is indicated in Bouguereau's +Aurora and Twilight. Each figure is represented by a nude woman holding +a light scarf, the first rapidly, and the second slowly, skimming the +surface of a stream of water with soft touches of the feet, and yet +there is no anomaly that strikes the mind. A still more daring device is +used by Battistello, though quite successfully. He places two wingless +putti in the air, but one holds up the other, and this action seems to +sustain them both.[a] Another amazing design is from the hand of A. P. +Roll, who shows a nude-man in the air clutching another, and apparently +struggling to pull him down, yet the action seems perfectly natural.[b] + + [a] Adoration of the Shepherds, San Martino, Naples. + + [b] Design for the Petit Palais, Paris. + + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES + + + +NOTE 1. PAGE 2 + +It is usual and proper to distinguish three kinds of beauty in painting, +namely, of colour, of form, and of expression. But form must be defined +by tones, and colour without form is meaningless: hence in the general +consideration of the painter's art, it is convenient to place form and +colour together as representing the sensorial element of beauty. +Nevertheless colour and form are not on the same plane in regard to +sense perception. Harmony of colour is distinguished involuntarily by +nerve sensations, but in the case of harmony of form there must be a +certain consideration before its aesthetic determination. The recognition +of this harmony commonly appears to be instantaneous, but still it is +delayed, the delay varying with the complexity of the signs, that is to +say, with the quality of the beauty. + + + +NOTE 2. PAGE 2 + +Benedetto Croce, the inventor of the latest serious aesthetic system, +talks of the "science of art," but he says[a]: + + Science--true science, is a science of the spirit--Philosophy. + Natural sciences spoken of apart from philosophy, are complexes + of knowledge, arbitrarily abstracted and fixed. + +It is perhaps needless to say that Croce's aesthetic system, like all the +others, collapses on a breath of inquiry. On the purely philosophical +side of it, further criticism is unnecessary, and its practical outcome +from the point of view of art is not far removed from the amazing +conclusions of Hegel. From the latter philosopher we learn that an idol +in the form of a stone pillar, or an animal set up by the primitive +races, is higher art than a drama by Shakespeare, or a portrait by +Titian, because it represents the Idea (Hegel's unintelligible +abstraction--see Note 5), while Croce tells us that "the art of savages +is not inferior, as art, to that of civilized peoples, provided it be +correlated to the impressions of the savages." Clearly if this be so, we +are not surprised to learn from Croce that Aristotle "failed to discern +the true nature of the aesthetic." Nevertheless, whatever be the outcome +of Croce's arguments, his system is at least more plausible than that of +either Hegel or Schopenhauer, for while these two invent highly +improbable abstractions upon which to base their systems, Croce only +gives new functions to an old and reasonable abstraction. + + [a] _Aesthetic_, Douglas Ainslie Translation, 1909. + + + +NOTE 3. PAGE 3 + +The writer does not mean to suggest that these systems are set up for +the purpose of being knocked down: he desires only to indicate surprise +that in new works dealing with the perception of beauty, it is +considered necessary to restate the old aesthetic theories and to point +out their drawbacks, albeit the fatal objections to them are so numerous +that there is always fresh ground available for destructive criticism. +The best of the recent works on the subject that have come under the +notice of the writer, is E. F. Carritt's review of the present position +in respect of aesthetic systems. Though profound, he is so comprehensive +that he leaves little or nothing of importance for succeeding critics to +say till the next system is put forward. Yet here is his conclusion[a]: + + If any point can be thought to have emerged from the foregoing + considerations, it is this: that in the history of aesthetics we + may discover a growing pressure of emphasis upon the doctrine that + all beauty is the expression of what may be generally called + emotion, and that all such expression is beautiful. + +This is all that an acute investigator can draw from the sum of the +aesthetic systems advanced. Now what does this mean? Let us turn to the +last page of Carritt's book and find the object of the search after a +satisfactory aesthetic system. It is, he says, "the desire to understand +goodness and beauty and their relations with each other or with +knowledge, as well as to practise or enjoy them." If we accept beauty as +the expression of emotion, how far have we progressed towards the +indicated goal? Not a step, for we have only agreed upon a new way of +stating an obvious condition which applies to the animal world as well +as to human beings. Beyond this there is nothing--not a glimpse of +sunshine from all the aesthetic systems laid down since the time of +Baumgarten. + +More than twenty years ago Leo Tolstoy pointed out the unintelligible +character of these systems, but no further light has been thrown upon +them. Nevertheless Tolstoy's own interpretation of the significance of +beauty cannot possibly meet with general approval. He disputes that art +is directly associated with beauty or pleasure, and finds in fact that +what we call the beautiful representation of nature is not necessarily +art, but that[b] + + Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one man + consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others + feelings he has lived through, and that other people are affected + by these feelings, and also experience them. + +This definition may mean almost anything, and particularly it may imply +pure imitation which Tolstoy condemns as outside of art. But it +certainly does not include many forms of what we call art, the author +specially condemning for instance, _Romeo and Juliet_, and declaring +that while _Faust_ is beautiful, "it cannot produce a really artistic +impression." The definition then seems to represent little more than a +quibble over terms. Tolstoy says that the beautiful representation of +nature is not art, but something else is. Very well then, all we have to +do is to find a new term for this representation of nature, and the +position remains as before except that the meaning of the term "art" has +been changed. + + [a] _The Theory of Beauty_, 1914. + + [b] _What is Art?_ Aylmer Maude Translation. + + + +NOTE 4. PAGE 8 + +The evolutionary principle has been applied to art by Herbert Spencer +and J. A. Symonds, but not in the sense in which it is used in +connection with the development of living organisms. Spencer traces a +progression from the simple to the complex in the application of the +arts, but not in the arts themselves[a]; and Symonds endeavours to prove +that each separate marked period of art shows a progression which is +common to all; that is, from immature variations to a high type, then +downwards through a lower form represented by romanticism or elegance, +to realism, and from this to hybrid forms.[b] Spencer's argument is +suggestive, but his conclusions have been mostly upset by archaeological +discoveries made since his great book was published. The illustrations +given by Symonds are highly illuminating, but they are very far from +postulating a general law of evolution operating in the production of +art. + + [a] _First Principles_. + + [b] Essay on _Evolutionary Principles_. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 24 (See page 260) + The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo (_Vatican_)] + + + +NOTE 5. PAGE 8 + +It seems necessary to mention Hegel's art periods, though one can only +do so with a feeling of regret that a man who achieved a high reputation +as a philosopher should have entered the province of art only to +misconstrue its purpose with fantastic propositions which have no +historical or other apparent foundation. He divides art history into +Symbolic, Classic, and Romantic periods respectively. To accomplish this +he invents or discovers a new abstraction which he calls the Idea, this +representing man's conception, not of God, but of His perfection--His +supreme qualities, so that in one sense the Idea may be called the +Absolute, in another the Spirit, and in another, Truth. These terms are +in fact interchangeable, and each may be a manifestation of another, or +of God. This Idea, he says, being perfect beauty, is the basic concept +of art. In archaic times man was unable to give expression to this +concept, so he represented it by symbols: hence the earliest art was +Symbolic art. In the time of the Greeks man had so advanced that he was +able to give higher expression to the Idea, and he embodied it in a +perfect human form. This is the Classic period, which Hegel indicates +continued till Christianity spread abroad, when Classic form, though +perfect as art, was found insufficient for the now desired still higher +expression of the Idea. This expression could not be put into stone, so +other arts than sculpture were used for it, namely, poetry, painting, +and music, which are placed together as Romantic art. This is as nearly +as possible a statement of the periods of Hegel in short compass. It is +impossible to interpret logically his arguments, nor is it necessary, +for his conclusions when tested in the light of experience, develop into +inexplicable paradoxes and contradictions which border on the +ridiculous. Needless to say, the acceptance of this division means the +annihilation of our ideas of the meaning of art, and the condemnation to +the limbo of forgetfulness of nearly all the artists whose memory is +honoured. + +The general interpretation of the terms "Classic Art" and "Romantic Art" +widely differs from that of Hegel, and varies with the arts. In the +literary arts the distinction is obvious, but the terms are used to +define both periods and classes; in architecture the Gothic period is +usually called the Romantic epoch; and in painting the terms have +reference to manner, the more formal manner being called Classic, and +the soft manner, Romantic; though it is commonly understood that +Romantic art is especially concerned with subjects associated with the +gentler side of life. But there is no general agreement. Some writers +assert that Giorgione was the first of the romanticists, others give the +palm to Watteau, a third section to Delacroix, and a fourth to the +Barbizon School. We must await a clear definition of "Romantic Art." + + + +NOTE 6. PAGE 8 + +It may be reasonably argued that the want of development of the plastic +arts in England during the literary revival, was largely due to +artificial restrictions. Fine paintings were ordered out of the churches +by Elizabeth, and many were destroyed; while, following the lead of the +court, there was little or no encouragement offered by the public to +artists except perhaps in portraiture. Flaxman truly said of the +destruction of works of art in this period, that the check to the +national art in England occurred at a time which offered the most +essential and extraordinary assistance to its progress. + + + +NOTE 7. PAGE 16 + +During the last half century or so, various writers of repute, including +Ruskin and Dean Farrar, have professed to find in the poorer works of +the Italian painters of the fourteenth century, and even in paintings of +Margaritone and others of the previous century, evidence of strong +religious emotion on the part of the artists. It is claimed that their +purpose in giving simple solemn faces to their Madonnas and Saints, was +"to tell the sacred story in all its beauty and simplicity"; that they +possessed a "powerful sincerity of emotion"; that they "delivered the +burning messages of prophecy with the stammering lips of infancy," and +so on. It is proper to say that there is nothing to support this view of +the early painters. We find no trace of any suggestions of the kind till +the last of these artists had been dead for about four hundred years, +while their lives, so far as we have any record, lend no warranty to the +statements. The painters of the fourteenth century took their art +seriously, but purely as a craft, and it was not uncommon with them to +combine two or three other crafts with that of painting. They designed +mostly sacred subjects for the simple reason that the art patrons of the +day seldom ordered anything else. In their private lives they associated +together, were generally agreeable companions, and not averse to an +occasional escapade. Moreover the time in which they lived was notable +for what we should call loose habits, and indeed from the thirteenth +century to the end of the fifteenth, religious observances and practices +were of a more hollow and formal character than they have ever been +since. + +The position occupied by these painters in the progression of art from +the crude Byzantine period upwards, corresponds with that of the Roman +painters of the third and fourth centuries in the progression downwards +to the Byzantine epoch, and there is no more reason for supposing that +the Italians were actuated by special emotions in their work, than that +the Romans were so moved. In both cases the character of the work, as +Reynolds put it in referring to the Italians, was the result of want of +knowledge. The countenances usually presented by both Roman and Italian +artists have a half sad, half resigned expression, because this was the +only kind of expression that could be given by an immature painter whose +ideal was restricted by the necessity of eliminating elements which +might indicate happiness. Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Duccio, and a few more, +were exceptions in that their art was infinitely superior to the average +of the century, but all from Giotto downwards, laboured as craftsmen +only. No doubt they often worked with enthusiasm, and in this way their +emotions may have been brought into play, but there is no possible means +of identifying in a picture the emotions which an artist may have +experienced while he was painting it. + +As to the sad expression referred to in these Italian works, it may be +observed that Edgar A. Poe held that the tone of the highest +manifestation of beauty is one of sadness. "Beauty of whatever kind," he +says, "in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul +to tears."[a] But Poe is clearly mistaken here. It is not the beauty of +the work that affects the emotions to tears, when they are so affected, +but the subject of the design exhibiting the beauty. A picture or poem +representing a sad subject may be very beautiful, but the sadness itself +would not assist the beauty, though it might increase the emotional +effect. The higher forms of beauty rarely draw our tears, but elicit our +admiration without direct thought of anything but the beauty. + +Who would weep when in front of the greatest marvels of Greek sculpture? + + [a] _The Philosophy of Composition._ + + + +NOTE 8. PAGE 21 + +It is commonly, but wrongfully, supposed that Rembrandt used his +broadest manner in painting commissioned portraits. The number of his +portraits known to exist is about 450, of which fifty-five are +representations of himself, and fifty-four of members of his household, +or relatives. There are, further, more than seventy studies of old men +and women, and thirty of younger men. The balance are commissioned +portraits or groups. This last section includes none at all of his +palette knife pictures, and not more than two or three which are +executed with his heaviest brushes. Generally his work broadened in his +later period, but up to the end of his life his more important works +were often painted in a comparatively fine manner, though the handling +was less careful and close.[a] The broadest style of the artist is +rarely exhibited except in his studies and family portraits. Further it +is extremely unlikely that a palette-knife picture would have been +accepted in Holland during Rembrandt's time as a serious work in +portraiture. + + [a] See among works dating after 1660, The Syndics of the Drapers, + Portrait of a Young Man, Wachtmeister Collection; Lady with + a Dog, Colmar Museum; and Portrait of a Young Man, late Beit + Collection. + + + +NOTE 9. PAGE 22 + +Darwin pointed out the permanent character of the changes in the nerves, +though he submitted another demonstration[a]: + + That some physical change is produced in the nerve cells or nerves + which are habitually used can hardly be doubted, for otherwise it + is impossible to understand how the tendency to certain acquired + movements is inherited. + + [a] _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals._ + + + +NOTE 10. PAGE 23 + +Reynolds evidently had little faith in original genius. Addressing Royal +Academy students, he said[a]: + + You must have no dependence on your own genius. If you have great + talents, industry will improve them; if you have but moderate + abilities, industry will supply the deficiency. Nothing is denied + to well-directed labour; nothing is to be obtained without it.... I + will venture to assert that assiduity unabated by difficulty, and a + disposition eagerly directed to the object of its pursuit, will + produce effects similar to those which some call the result of + natural powers. + +On another occasion Reynolds observed of Michelangelo[b]: + + He appears not to have had the least conception that his art was to + be acquired by any other means than great labour; and yet he of all + men that ever lived, might make the greatest pretensions to the + efficacy of native genius and inspiration. + +Gibbon said that Reynolds agreed with Dr. Johnson in denying all +original genius, any natural propensity of the mind to one art or +science rather than another.[c] Hogarth also agreed with Reynolds, for +he describes genius as "nothing but labour and diligence." + +Croce says that genius has a quantitative and not a qualitative +signification, but he offers no demonstration.[d] Evidently he is +mistaken, for the signification is both quantitative and qualitative. It +is true that what a Phidias, or a Raphael, or a Beethoven puts together +is a sum of small beauties, any one of which may be equalled by another +man, but he does more than represent a number of beauties, for he +combines these into a beautiful whole which is superior in quality and +cannot be estimated quantitatively. We may possibly call Darwin a genius +because of the large number of facts he ascertained, and the correct +inferences he drew from them, but we particularly apply the term to him +by reason of the general result of all these facts and inferences, this +result being qualitative and not quantitative. Croce probably took his +dictum from Schopenhauer, who, however, represented degrees of quality +as quantitative,[e] which is of course confusing the issue. + + [a] Reynolds's Second Discourse. + + [b] His Fifth Discourse. + + [c] Gibbon's _Memoirs of my Life and Writings_. + + [d] _Aesthetic._ + + [e] Essay on "Genius." + + + +NOTE 11. PAGE 32 + +It is often observed by advocates of "new" forms of art that the work of +many great artists has been variously valued at different periods--that +leaders of marked departures in art now honoured, were frequently more +or less ignored in their own time, while other artists who acquired a +great reputation when living, have been properly put into the background +by succeeding generations. For the first statement no solid ground can +be shown. In painting, the artists since the Dark Age who can be said to +have led departures of any importance, are Cimabue, Giotto, the Van +Eycks, Masaccio, Lionardo, Duerer, Giorgione, Raphael, Michelangelo, +Titian, Holbein, Claude, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Watteau, +Reynolds, and Fragonard. All of these had their high talents recognized +and thoroughly appreciated in their lifetime. In sculpture the +experience is the same, for there is no sculptor now honoured whose work +was not highly valued by his contemporaries. So with poetry, but before +the invention of printing and in the earlier days of this industry, +poetry of any kind was very slow in finding its way among the people. +What might seem nowadays to have been inappreciation of certain poets +was really want of knowledge of them. + +There is more truth in the assertion that many artists who had a high +reputation in their lifetime are now more or less disregarded, though +it does not follow from this that there has been a reversal of opinion +on the part of the public, or a variation in the acuteness of aesthetic +perception. Generally we find that these artists very properly held the +position they occupied in their time and country, and if they do not now +stand on exalted pedestals it is only because we compare them with men +of other periods and places, which their contemporary countrymen did +not do, at least for the purpose of establishing their permanent +position in art. Carlo Maratta for instance was celebrated in Italy as +the best painter of his country in his time, and even now we must so +regard him, but his contemporaries as with ourselves did not place him +on so high a level as his great predecessors of the sixteenth century, +and some of the seventeenth. A special reason why many of the +seventeenth century artists of Italy have fallen in public esteem may be +found in the fact that they excelled mostly in the production of +sensorial beauty, paying little attention to intellectual grace, and the +ripening of general intelligence as time goes on makes us more and more +sensitive to beauty of mind. + + + +NOTE 12. PAGE 34 + +There have been many definitions of "Impressionism" given, but they vary +considerably. Professor Clausen describes it as the work of a number of +artists whose interest is in recording effects of light, seeking to +express nature only and disregarding old conventions.[a] Mr. D. S. +MacColl says that an impressionist is[b] + + a painter who, out of the completed contacts of vision constructs + an image moulded upon his own interest in the thing seen, and not + on that of any imaginary schoolmaster. + +This definition is insufficient by itself, but the writer makes his +meaning clearer in the same article when he says: + + Impressionism is the art that surveys the field, and determines + which of the shapes and tones are of chief importance to the + interested eye, and expresses these and sacrifices the rest. + +According to C. Mauclair, an acknowledged authority on impressionism, +the impressionist holds: + + Light becomes the one subject of a picture. The interest of the + objects on which it shines is secondary. Painting thus understood + becomes an art of pure optics, a seeking for harmonies, a species + of natural poem, entirely distinct from expression, style, drawing, + which have formed the main endeavour of preceding painting. It is + almost necessary to invent a new word for this special art, which, + while remaining throughout pictural, approaches music in the same + degree as it departs from literature or psychology.[c] + +What can be said of so amazing a declaration? The arts of painting and +music do not, and cannot, have any connection with each other. They are +concerned with different senses and different signs, and by no stretch +of the imagination can they be combined. Seeing that musical terms when +used in respect of painting by modern critics are almost invariably made +to apply to colour harmonies, we may infer that a confusion of thought +arises in the minds of the writers from the similar physical means by +which colour and sound are conveyed to the senses concerned. But this +similarity has nothing to do with the appreciation of art. The aesthetic +value of a work is determined when it is conveyed to the mind, +irrespective of the means by which it is so conveyed. + +According to La Touche it was Fantin Latour who invented modern +impressionism. Braquemond relates that La Touche told him the following +story.[d] He (La Touche) was one day at the Louvre with Manet, when they +saw Latour copying Paolo Veronese's Marriage at Cana in a novel manner, +for instead of blending his colours in the usual way, he laid them on in +small touches of separate tones. The result was an unexpected brilliancy +("papillotage imprevu") which amazed but charmed the visitors. +Nevertheless when Manet left the Louvre with La Touche, he appeared +anything but satisfied with what he had seen, and pronounced it humbug. +But Latour's method evidently sunk into his mind, for a few days later +he commenced to use it himself. Thus, added La Touche, was modern +impressionism unchained. The date of this visit was not given by La +Touche, but 1874 was subsequently suggested. This account does not fit +in with the statement of MacColl that when Monet and Pissarro were in +London during the siege of Paris, the study of Turner's pictures gave +them the suggestion of these broken patches of colour.[e] If this be +true Monet must have antedated Manet in the application of isolated +tones. + +D. S. Eaton asserts that in the Salon of 1867, there was exhibited a +picture by Monet which was entitled Impressions,[f] and from this arose +the word "Impressionist"; but Phythian says that the word resulted from +Monet's "Impression, soleil levant," exhibited in 1874 at the Nadar +Gallery in Paris with other works from Le Societe Anonyme des Artistes, +Peintres, Sculpteurs, et Graveurs. Phythian adds[g]: + + Thus, unwittingly led by one of the exhibitors, visitors to the + exhibition came to use the word "impressioniste," and within a few + days a contemptuously unfavourable notice of the exhibition + appeared in _Le Charivari_ under the heading "Exposition des + Impressionistes." It was not until the lapse of several years that + the name came into general use. The painters to whom it was applied + disowned it because it was used in a depreciatory sense. Eventually + however, unable to find a better one, they adopted it. + +Another origin of Impressionism is given by Muther. He says[h]: + + The name "Impressionists" dates from an exhibition in Paris which + was given at Nadar's in 1871. The catalogue contained a great deal + about impressions--for instance, "Impression de mon pot au feu," + "Impression d'un chat qui se promene." In his criticism Claretie + summed up the impressions, and spoke of the Salon des + Impressionistes. + +But the real origin of impressionism must be sought earlier than 1871, +for in 1865 Manet exhibited his Olympia in the Salon des Refuses. This +picture did not represent what was understood as impressionism ten years +later, but it led the way towards the establishment of the innovation, +in that it pretended that healthy ideas and noble designs were secondary +considerations in art. Certainly Manet could not descend lower than this +wretched picture, and in this sense his subsequent work was a distinct +advance. + + [a] Royal Academy Lectures. + + [b] Article on "Impressionism," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th + Edition. + + [c] _L'Impressionism, son histoire, son esthetique, ses maitres._ + + [d] _Le Journal des Arts_, 1909. + + [e] Article on "Impressionism," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th + edition. + + [f] _Handbook of Modern French Painting._ + + [g] _Fifty Years of Modern Painting._ + + [h] _History of Modern Painting_, vol. iii. + + + +NOTE 13. PAGE 35 + +The reason given by impressionists for the juxtaposition of pure colours +is that the natural blend produced is more brilliant than the tone from +the mixed colours applied, but it is pointed out by Moreau-Vauthier that +the contrary is the case. He says[a]: + + We find in practice that the parent colours do not, with material + colours, produce the theoretical binaries. We get dark, dull + greens, oranges, and violets, that clash with the parent colours. + To make them harmonize we should be obliged to dim these material + colours, to transform them, and consequently to lose them partly. + + [a] _The Technique of Painting_, 1912. + + + +NOTE 14. PAGE 37 + +Cezanne and Van Gogh are not usually put forward as representative +impressionists, but it is impossible to differentiate logically between +the various "isms" of which impressionism is the mother, and to attempt +a serious argument upon them would be apt to reflect upon the common +sense of the reader. The sincere impressionist certainly produces a +thing of beauty, however ephemeral and lacking in high character the +beauty may be, but most of the productions of the other "isms" only +serve the purpose of degrading the artist and the art. + + + +NOTE 15. PAGE 40 + +This form of picture is by no means new, though except among the +inventors of sprezzatura, and the modern impressionists, it has always +been executed as a rough sketch for the purpose of settling harmonies +for serious work. Lomazzo relates that Aurelio, son of Bernadino Luini, +while visiting Titian, asked him how he managed to make his landscape +tones harmonize so well. For reply the great master showed Aurelio a +large sketch, the character of which could not be distinguished when it +was closely inspected, but on the observer stepping back, a landscape +appeared "as if it had suddenly been lit up by a ray of the sun."[a] +From Luini's surprise, and inasmuch as we have no record of similar work +before his time, it is reasonable to suppose that Titian was the first +great artist to use this form of sketch for experimental purposes. + + [a] _Trattato dell' Arte de la Pittura._ + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 25 (See page 269) + The Pleiads, by M. Schwind] + + + +NOTE 16. PAGE 40 + +The example of this picture at the Pitti Palace is specially noted +because it seems impossible that the duplicate in the Uffizi Gallery can +be by Raphael, for it has obvious defects, some of which have many times +been pointed out. The expression is vastly inferior to that in the Pitti +portrait, for instead of a calm, noble, benign countenance, we have a +half-worried senile face which is anything but pleasant. Raphael was the +last man to execute a portrait of a Pope without generalizing high +character in the features. It will be observed also that in the Uffizi +portrait, the left hand is stiff and cramped, and the drapery +ungracefully flowing, while both uprights of the chair are actually out +of drawing. There are other examples of the same picture in different +museums, but the Pitti work is far above these in every respect, and +seems the only one which can be properly attributed to the master. +Passavant affirms that some of the repetitions of the work were +certainly made in the studio of Raphael under his orders, and thinks +that the duplicates passed for originals even in his time.[a] + + [a] _Raphael d'Urbin_, vol. ii. + + + +NOTE 17. PAGE 41 + +To the knowledge of the writer, the only logical connection between the +work of Rembrandt and impressionism that has been suggested, is from the +pen of Professor Baldwin Brown, who remarks[a]: + + Rembrandt in his later work attended to the pictorial effect alone, + and practically annulled the objects by reducing them to pure tone + and colour. Things are not there at all, but only the semblance, or + effect, or impression of things. Breadth is in this way combined + with the most delicate variety, and a new form of painting, now + called "impressionism" has come into being. + +The professor is mistaken here. During the last fifteen years of his +life, apart from portraits, a few studies of heads, and some colour +experiments with carcases of meat, Rembrandt executed, so far as is +known, about three dozen pictures, and in all of these he effectually +prevents us from forming a general impression of the designs before +considering the more important details, by concentrating nearly all the +available light upon the countenances of the principal personages +represented; while in the management of the features, the whole purpose +of the chiaroscuro is for the purpose of obtaining relief. Moreover the +pictures are nearly all groups of personages in set subjects, and there +would be no meaning in the designs if the objects were "practically +annulled," for particular action and expression are necessary for their +comprehension. + +As to Velasquez there is no evidence tending to support the statement +that he was an impressionist. The first authority on the artist has +definitely pointed out that he never took up his brushes except for an +important and definite work: "he neither painted impressions nor +daubs."[b] + + [a] Article on "Painting," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + [b] _Velasquez_, by De Beruete, 1902. + + + +NOTE 18. PAGE 49 + +It will always be a matter of surprise that so much popularity was +secured by the light sketches of the Barbizon School, considering their +general insignificance from the point of view of art, and the +conspicuously artificial means adopted for their exploitation. Some of +the artists of this school, having accomplished many studio works of +merit, acquired the habit of painting in the open air. By this method +it is impossible to execute a comprehensive natural scene, and the +painters did not attempt the task, but they produced numberless sketchy +works of local scenes under particular atmospheric conditions. They +laboured honestly and conscientiously, and their sketches were put out +for what they were and nothing more. The paintings would probably have +retained their place as simple studies had not some commercial genius +conceived the idea of putting them into heavy, gorgeous, gilt frames. +With this embellishment they were successfully scattered round the +world, mostly in the newer portions, much to the general astonishment. +The _raison d'etre_ of the frames puzzled many persons, though it was +frequently observed that the pictures do not look well unless surrounded +by ample gold leaf. Thus, C. J. Holmes, Director of the London National +Gallery, and an authority on impressionism, notes[a]: + + Barbizon pictures are almost invariably set in frames with an + undeniably vulgar look. Yet in such a rectangle of gilded + contortion a Corot or a Daubigny shows to perfection: place it in a + frame of more reticent design, and it becomes in a moment flat, + empty, and tame. + +The purpose of this frame is obvious. The eye is caught by the dazzling +glitter, and feels immediate relief when it rests upon the quiet grey +tone of the painting, the pleasurable sensation resulting therefrom +being mistaken for involuntary appreciation of the beauty of the work. + +As finished paintings these Barbizon sketches are novel, but as studies +they are not, for similar work has been executed for two or three +centuries, and particularly by the Dutch artists of the seventeenth +century. In every considerable collection of drawings such sketches may +be found, and there is scarcely a Barbizon painter whose work was not +anticipated by a Dutch master. One has only to examine the drawings in +the public art institutions of Europe by De Molyn, Blyhooft, Jan de +Bischop, Lambert Doomer, Berghem, Avercamp, and others, to find examples +which, if executed now, might easily be taken for works by the Barbizon +masters. + + [a] _Notes on the Science of Picture-Making._ + + + +NOTE 19. PAGE 52 + +In recent times attempts have been made to upset the dictum of Aristotle +as to the imitative character of the arts generally, exception being +taken in respect of music and architecture. The first objection as to +music arose with Schopenhauer, though he does not appear to have been +quite certain of his position. He stated that while the other arts +represent ideas, music does not, but being an art it must represent +something, and he suggested that this something is the "Will," the term +being used in the Schopenhauer philosophical sense, that is to say, +implying the active principle of the universe, not being God. This means +nothing at all from the point of view of art, and cannot even be +seriously considered. The most notable essay on the subject since +Schopenhauer is from the pen of Sidney Colvin who places music and +architecture in a non-imitative group by themselves, the former on the +principal ground that "it is like nothing else; it is no representation +or similitude of anything whatever"; while architecture, he says, +"appeals to our faculties for taking pleasure in non-imitative +combinations of stationary masses."[a] But what Aristotle meant is that +the arts are imitative in character, and not that they necessarily +attempt to produce works of similitude with nature, this being evident +from the fact that he pointed out that the higher works of art surpass +nature, and he divided poetry and painting into three sections, of +which the first is better than life, and the third inferior to it. + +The musician in producing his art proceeds in precisely the same way as +the poet or painter. He takes natural signs and rearranges them in a new +order, producing a combination which is not to be found complete in +nature, but every sign therein is natural and must necessarily be so. +The higher the flight of the poet, or musician, or painter, or sculptor, +the farther is the result from nature, but nevertheless the whole aim of +the musician, as of the poet, is to represent emotional effects or +natural phenomena beyond experience in life, as the great sculptor +represents form and expression, and the great poet besides these things, +every abstract quality, passion, and emotional effect, above this +experience; but he cannot do more; he cannot represent something outside +of nature, and so must imitate, that is, in the sense of representation. + +Darwin notes that even a perfect musical scale can be found in nature. +He says[b]: + + It is a remarkable fact that an ape, a species of the gibbon + family, produces an exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and + descending the scale by half tones. From this fact, and from the + analogy of other animals, I have been led to infer that the + progenitors of man probably uttered musical tones, and that + consequently, when the voice is used under any strong emotion, it + tends to assume, through the principle of association, a musical + character. + +It has been further demonstrated that the strength of the sensory +impressions from certain sounds is due to the structure of the ear, and +that generally a particular kind of sound produces a similar kind of +emotional effect in animals as in man. Obviously the musician is +powerless to do more than widen or deepen this effect. Colvin admits +that the musician sometimes directly imitates, as when he produces the +notes of birds or the sounds of natural forces, or when he represents +particular emotions; but he regards the former instances as hazardous +and exceptional, and indicates that a particular emotional harmony may +affect the hearers differently. True, but the hazard of the first +condition is the result of the limitations of the artist, and the second +condition is the consequence of the limitations of the art. The effect +of music being purely sensorial must vary with the emotional conditions +surrounding the hearer. The musician does what he can, but he is unable +to go so far as the poet and produce an emotional effect which will with +certainty be recognized by every person affected, at all times, as +having the same particular bearing. + +Taine separates music ("properly so called" as distinguished from +dramatic music) and architecture from the imitative arts, as they +"combine mathematical relationships so as to create works that do not +correspond with real objects."[c] Obviously the whole purpose of +dramatic music is to imitate the effects of the passions, but its +necessary inclusion amongst the imitative arts upsets the dictum of +Taine, for the emotional effects of one kind of music only differ from +those of another kind when they differ at all, in the character of the +natural emotional effects represented. + +In the case of the architect, seeing that his art is subordinated to +utility, his scheme, his measurements, and the character of his +materials, are largely or almost entirely governed by conditions outside +of his art, and consequently it is only possible for him to represent +nature to a limited extent. Rarely can he vaguely suggest a natural +aisle beneath the celestial dome, a rock-walled cave whose roof soars +into obscurity, or a fairy grotto backed by a beetling cliff. Sometimes +he may cause us to experience similar effects in kind to those we feel +when we recognize grandeur in nature, but usually he is compelled to +confine his beauty to harmonies produced by symmetrical designs of +straight lines and curves. But in his simplest as in his most complex +designs, he must follow nature as closely as possible. Purely ornamental +forms always appear more beautiful when the parts have a direct +mathematical relationship with each other than when they have not; that +is to say, when the parts appear to be naturally related. Thus, that a +cross appears to be less agreeable to the sight when the horizontal bar +is below the centre of the perpendicular than when it is above this +point, is due to what appears to be a want of balance because the form +is unobservable in nature. In trees the horizontal parts are usually +above the middle of the height of the observable trunk, and in the +exceptions nature gives the whole tree a conical or other shape, the +relative position of the horizontal parts being obscured in the general +form. + +As with parts of forms, so with the forms as wholes. Other things being +equal, that design is the best where the forms are directly proportioned +one with the other and with the whole, and this is because we are +accustomed to the order of design in nature where everything is balanced +by means of direct proportions and corresponding relations. The +architect therefore, like the musician or poet, must represent nature so +far as he can within the limits of his art, though his representation is +comparatively weak owing to the artificial restrictions imposed upon +him. + + [a] Article on "Fine Arts," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th Edition. + + [b] _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals._ + + [c] _On the Ideal in Art._ + + + +NOTE 20. PAGE 54 + +The dictum of Aristotle in reference to metre in poetry related only to +epic and dramatic verse, for what we understand as lyric poetry was +separated by the Greeks as song in which of course metre is compulsory. +It is doubtful whether a single definition can cover both epic poetry, +whose beauty lies almost wholly in the substance, and lyric verse where +the beauty rests chiefly in qualities of expression and musical form, +and in which indeed the substance may be altogether negligible. A +cursory examination of Watts-Dunton's definition of "Poetry," which is +admittedly the best put forward in recent times, shows its entire +inadequacy. "Absolute poetry," he says, "is the concrete and artistic +expression of the human mind in emotional and rhythmical language."[a] +This would exclude from the art some of the finest sacred verse, which, +though in the form of prose, has been recognized as poetry from time +immemorial. Metre is only one of the devices of the poet for +accomplishing his end---the presentation of beautiful pictures upon the +mind, but in high poetry there is a still more compulsory artifice which +is not included in Watts-Dunton's definition, and that is metaphor. In +the form of words the details of a picture can only be dealt with +successively, and not simultaneously, and without metaphor the poet +would sometimes be in the position of the painter who should present a +dozen different pictures each containing only one part of a composition, +and call upon the observer to put the pieces together in his mind. +Further the term "absolute" in the definition quoted has no +comprehensible meaning if it does not exclude a good deal of verse which +is commonly recognized as poetry, while, as is admitted by Watts-Dunton, +there is much accepted lyric verse without concrete expression. + +In high poetry as in high painting, the beauty appeals both to the +senses and the mind, and in each art the quality descends as the +sensorial overbalances the intellectual appeal, and the effect becomes +more ephemeral. In the very highest of the plastic arts, colour has +little value except in assisting definition; and in the very highest +poetry musical form has only an emphasizing value, for the sensorial +beauty arising from form in the one case, and form and action in the +other, entirely overpowers the harmonies of colour and tone +respectively. But colour without design is meaningless, so that it +cannot be applied in the fine arts apart from design: hence in painting, +colour presents no complication in respect of definition. On the other +hand music, with or without association with poetry, is equally an art +since in either case it imitates the effects of human emotions in a +beautiful way. Thus, where metre is present poetry is a combined art, +and seeing that metre may not be present, a definition of "Poetry" must +cover what may be in one case a pure, and in another, a compound art. + + [a] Article on "Poetry," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + + +NOTE 21. PAGE 55 + +There seems to be a tendency to overestimate the disparity between +translations of high poetry and the originals. The value of a +translation depends primarily upon the character of the thing +translated, since it is the form that is unreproducible in another +tongue, and not the substance. In epic and dramatic poetry where the +form is of secondary importance, a good literal translation may come +much nearer to the original than a translation of a lyric where the form +is usually of at least equal importance with the substance. We lose less +of Homer or Sophocles than of Sappho or Theocritus in translation. In +the case of epic poetry the higher its character, the closer to the +original appears the translation, because the form is of less relative +importance. More of Dante is lost than of Homer in literal translation, +but the difference narrows when the new versions are in metrical form, +for the use of metre in translation is necessarily more detrimental as +the substance of the original increases in power, and this relative +weakening is emphasized as the beauty of form in the translation is +raised. Pope is farther from Homer than Chapman, and Chapman than the +prose translations of Buckley and Lang. As we descend in the scale of +the art, so it becomes more difficult to reproduce the poet in +translation, and in most lyric poetry the beauty seems almost entirely +lost in another tongue from the original, though when the substance is +of weight, and the translator is himself a good poet, he sometimes gives +us a paraphrase with a high beauty of its own. Some modern poets seem to +eschew substance altogether. Much of the verse of esteemed French and +Belgian poets is quite meaningless in literal translation, the authors +relying for the effects entirely upon musical form and beauty of +expression. + + + +NOTE 22. PAGE 66 + +Lessing points out this remarkable picture of Homer as emphasizing the +beauty of Helen, observing: + + What could produce a more vivid idea of beauty than making old age + confess that it is well worth while the war which cost so much + blood, and so much treasure? + +Nevertheless the remark of the old men does not seem to mean so much as +the description of the sages and their reference to the goddesses. It is +difficult to imagine several wise men agreeing that the sanguinary war +of nine years was really excusable in view of Helen's beauty, and the +statement therefore is naturally received as a permissible overcolour. +Consequently the effect of the remark would be discounted, and unlikely +to be sufficient for the purpose of the poet. True, the Greeks seem to +have been childlike sometimes in their simplicity, but there is no +evidence that they were so wanting in a sense of proportion as to accept +literally this opinion of the elders. But when we observe the senility +of the elders, and the physical feebleness which has apparently rendered +them incapable of sensual pleasures, then indeed we must marvel at a +beauty which excites their emotions so powerfully as to bring the +goddesses to their minds.[a] + +In discussing the suitableness of this incident as a subject for a +painting, Lessing remarks that the passion felt by the old men was "a +momentary spark which their wisdom at once extinguished," but later on, +referring to the possibility that the veil worn by Helen when she passed +through the streets of Troy had not been removed when she was seen by +the elders, he points out[b]: + + When the elders displayed their admiration for her, it must not be + forgotten that they were not seeing her for the first time. Their + confession therefore did not necessarily arise from the present + momentary view of her, for they had doubtless often experienced + before the feelings which they now for the first time acknowledged. + +This is very true, but it only serves to deepen the impression of +Helen's beauty, for the element of surprise is removed from the minds of +the elders, the mere sight of her, veiled or unveiled, being sufficient +to recall the passionate thrills previously experienced. + + [a] See on this subject Quintilian, viii., 4. + + [b] _Laocoon_, Roennfeldt translation. + + + +NOTE 23. PAGE 67 + +In nearly all the instances of sublimity quoted by Longinus there is +this particular merit of brevity---the picture is thrown upon the brain +immediately, without pause or anything whatever to complicate the +beauty. But the learned critic directs attention only to the magnificent +thoughts and the appropriate use of them, without pointing out the +extraordinary condensation of the language employed. Apart from the +instance from Genesis given, there is another of his examples in which +practically the whole beauty of the picture is produced by the rapidity +of its presentation. This is the exclamation of Hyperides when accused +of passing an illegal decree for the liberation of slaves--"It was not +an orator that made this decree, but the battle of Chaeronea." Longinus +observes[a]: + + At the same time that he exhibits proof of his legal proceedings, + he intermixes an image of the battle, and by that stroke of art + quite passes the bounds of mere persuasion. + +But it was rather the manner in which the battle was introduced than the +fact of its introduction, that gave force to the argument. If instead of +confining himself to a short brilliant observation, Hyperides had +carefully traced cause and effect in the matter, he would still have +intermixed an image of the battle, but he would not then have produced a +work of art. + +Still finer instances of the use of brevity in expresssion by the orator +are to be found in the speeches of Demosthenes. For example in his +oration On the Crown he says: "Man is not born to his parents only, but +to his country." A whole volume on the meaning and virtue of patriotism +could not say more: hence the sublime art. The simple statement lights +a torch by which we examine every convulsion in history; presents a +moving picture in which we see the motives and aspirations guiding the +patriots of a hundred generations; sets an eternal seal of nobility upon +the love of man for his native country. And a few words suffice. The +same thought might be elaborated into a large volume, but the art would +fly with the brevity. + + [a] _On the Sublime_, XV., William Smith translation. + + + +NOTE 24. PAGE 68 + +There are many translations of the Ode to Anactoria, but the best of +them reflects only slightly the depth of passion in the original. The +version which most nearly represents the substance, while maintaining +the unhalting flow of language, is perhaps that of Ambrose Philips +(1675-1749), which runs thus:-- + + Blest as th' immortal gods is he, + The youth who fondly sits by thee, + And hears, and sees thee all the while + Softly speak, and sweetly smile. + + 'Twas this deprived my soul of rest, + And raised such tumults in my breast; + For while I gazed, in transport tost, + My breath was gone, my voice was lost. + + My bosom glowed; the subtle flame + Ran quick through all my vital frame; + O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung; + My ears with hollow murmurs rung. + + In dewy damps my limbs were chilled; + My blood with gentle horrors thrilled; + My feeble pulse forgot to play; + I fainted, sunk, and died away. + +The English reproductions of this ode in the Sapphic measure are not +very successful, the difficulty of course being due to the practical +impossibility of fulfilling the quantitative conditions of the strophe +without stilting the flow of language, or unduly varying the substance. +But it has been shown by Dr. Marion Miller in his translation of +Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, which is much higher in substance and +somewhat less condensed in expression than the Ode to Anactoria, that +with certain liberties in respect of quantities, a very beautiful +semblance of the Sapphic measure may be produced in English. His +translation of this hymn is unquestionably the best in our language, +though this is perhaps partly due to the fact that he is almost the only +translator who has adhered to the text in regard to the sex of the loved +person. To make the object of affection a man seems inappropriate to the +language employed in the verse. (It is proper to mention that a license +taken by Dr. Miller in his translation---where he renders the passage +relating to the sparrows, as "clouding with their pinions, Earth's wide +dominions"--suggested to the present writer the somewhat similar picture +to be found on Page 111.) + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 26 (See page 250) + St. Margaret, by Raphael (_Louvre_)] + + + +NOTE 25. PAGE 68 + +The gradual decadence of the great period of Grecian sculpture is well +marked by the successive variations of the Cnidian Aphrodite of +Praxiteles. The copy of this at the Vatican is no doubt a close +representation of the original, but later there was commenced a long +series of variations, all of them more or less complicating the design. +First a pillar was substituted for the vase, reaching nearly to the +armpits, and the left forearm rested upon it, while drapery fell down +the front, so that some exertion was required to separate the figure to +the eye. Then a dolphin was substituted for the pillar, the head of the +animal resting on the ground, and the body rising up straight with +the bent tail forming the support. Then for this was placed a dolphin +with its body corkscrew shaped, which was particularly weak as it tended +to deprive the figure of repose. After this, while the dolphin was +maintained, a cestus was sometimes added, and heavy drapery applied in +various folds. Finally the attitude of the figure was changed, that of +the Venus de' Medici being adopted, while the pillar or dolphin was +retained. Each alteration necessarily diminished the beauty of the +figure. + + + +NOTE 26. PAGE 69 + +Reynolds seems to have been disappointed with the frescoes of Raphael +when he first saw them, and this fact has been called in evidence by +some modern critics to support their contention that the art of the +great masters is really inferior to that wherein design is subordinated +to colour. But Reynolds very definitely admitted that his first +impression was wrong, for after studying the frescoes, he notes[a]: + + In a short time a new taste and a new perception began to dawn upon + me, and I was convinced that I had originally formed a false + opinion of the perfection of art, and that this great painter was + well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the admiration of + the world. + +Reynolds was quite a young man when he went to Rome, and his +appreciation of Raphael increased as his experience matured. More than +twenty years after the visit, he remarked that Raphael had "a greater +combination of the high qualities of the art than any other man,"[b] and +ten years later he affirmed that the Urbino artist stood foremost among +the first painters.[c] Reynolds supposed that his lack of appreciation +of the frescoes when he first saw them arose from want of immediate +comprehension of them: he was unaccustomed to works of such great power, +but it is to be observed that his inspection was a very short one, and +we may reasonably draw the conclusion that changing light conditions had +much to do with the effect the paintings left upon him at the time. When +one enters a room where the light differs materially in intensity or +quality from that experienced just previously, it is advisable to rest +quietly for a little while before examining works defined by colour, in +order that the eyes may become accustomed to the new light. + + [a] Reynolds's _Italian Note Book_. + + [b] His Fifth Discourse at the Royal Academy. + + [c] His Twelfth Discourse. + + + +NOTE 27. PAGE 73 + +That the judgment of the public upon a work of art is final seems to +have been recognized by all the ancient writers who dealt with the +matter, and that the Greeks generally held this view is evident from +many incidents, notably the reference to public judgment in the great +competition between Phidias and Alcamenes. During the Renaissance also +the opinion held good, and it is worth noting that the suggestion +sometimes made that Michelangelo did not conform to this view is +unsupported by evidence. Vasari relates the following anecdote[a]: + + He [Michelangelo] went to see a work of sculpture which was about + to be sent out because it was finished, and the sculptor was taking + much trouble to arrange the lights from the windows to the end that + it might show up well; whereupon Michelangelo said to him: "Do not + trouble yourself, the important thing will be the light of the + piazza"; meaning to infer that when works are in public places, the + people must judge whether they are good or bad. + +Lionardo went so far as to advise artists to hear any man's opinion on +his work, "for," he said, "we know very well that though a man may not +be a painter, he has a true conception of the form of another man."[b] +It is a common misconception with the general public, though not among +serious artists, that by reason of their profession artists are better +judges of works of art than other men. Obviously the recognition of +beauty in art is apart altogether from the means by which it is created, +and subject to the exceptions noted elsewhere, all men are alike able to +appreciate high beauty. Winckelmann even advised his readers against the +judgment of artists on the ground that they generally preferred what is +difficult to what is beautiful,[c] but experience with the great art +bodies in Europe who hold exhibitions does not support this view. It is +only the weaker artists who are liable to be prejudiced in such matters, +and when the judges are of high attainments in art, they almost +invariably make the same choice in competitions that would be made if +general opinion were solicited. But although artists cannot be better +judges of high-class works of art (as beautiful things) than other men +of equal intelligence, their training usually enables them to +distinguish obscure forms of beauty which would be unrecognized by the +general public, and in matters of colour to differentiate between +ephemeral and more or less permanent harmonies. Hence while the public +interests would not suffer from the introduction of the lay element in +judging high class sculpture and painting, it is obvious that the +consideration of works where the lower forms of beauty only are +produced, as in formal decoration, should be confined to the profession. + +In music alone of the arts, for reasons already given, special +cultivation is necessary for the judgment of the higher forms of beauty. + + [a] _Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti_, De Vere translation. + + [b] McCurdy's _Lionardo da Vinci's Note Books_. + + [c] _History of Ancient Art_, Part V., 6. + + + +NOTE 28. PAGE 74 + +It is commonly supposed that the vast multitude of men and women--the +toilers in the fields and factories, and their families, do not +appreciate great works of art; that rarely they take an interest in any +kind of art, and then only in simple representations of everyday +incidents. This is so apparently, but it is not strictly true. The great +bulk of working people grow up amidst surroundings where they do not +have an opportunity of seeing good works of art. They toil from morn to +eve during their whole life: their imaginations are almost entirely +confined to their means of livelihood, their daily routine of labour, +and their household duties. A "mute inglorious Milton" remains mute +because he wants the knowledge and experience around which his fancy may +roam, and a potential Raphael dies in obscurity from the enforced +rigidity of his imagination. But even so, notwithstanding that the +nervous activities and the imaginations of the poorer workers remain +undeveloped, they are still subservient to the irrevocable laws of +nature. Their faculties may be little changed from childhood in respect +of matters appertaining to the higher senses, but they still exist. So +it comes about that in all times since art has been practised, the +paintings and sculptures of the greater masters have been well +appreciated by the multitude when they could come into contact with +them. In modern times great works of art are seldom available to the +masses except in public galleries where their sense perception and minds +are quickly confused and fatigued--in fact rendered incapable of +legitimate use, but the trend of popular opinion is very decidedly +settled by the experience of those business houses which undertake the +reproduction of important works. There are many times the demand for +prints and cards of pictures belonging to the higher forms of art, as +for instance, sacred and historical subjects, and portraits, than for +interiors and landscapes, and so incessant is this demand for the better +works, that a painter desiring to copy one of the great Raphael or +Correggio Madonnas at Florence for reproduction, will usually have to +wait three or four years after entering his name, before his turn comes +to set up his easel. It is rather the want of intelligent contact with +them, than indifference to them, that is due the apparent lack of +interest in great works of art on the part of the labouring classes. + +There is a deal of truth in the incisive remarks of Leo Tolstoy when +dealing with this question. He says [a]: + + Art cannot be incomprehensible to the great masses only because it + is very good, as artists of our day are fond of telling us. Rather + we are bound to conclude that this art is unintelligible because it + is very bad art, or even is not art at all. So that the favourite + argument (naively accepted by the cultured crowd), that in order to + feel art one has first to understand it (which really means to + habituate oneself to it), is the truest indication that what we are + asked to understand by such a method, is either very bad art, + exclusive art, or is not art at all. + +One may observe however that, as a rule, it is only inferior artists who +complain of the want of public appreciation of great works of art. + + [a] _What is Art?_ Aylmer Maude translation, 1904. + + + +NOTE 29. PAGE 78 + +According to Lessing and Watts-Dunton, what the former calls the +dazzling antithesis of Simonides--"Poetry is speaking painting, and +painting dumb poetry"--has had a wide and deleterious effect upon art +criticism. Lessing, who wrote _Laocoon_ about 1761, said in his preface +in reference to this saying: + + It was one of those ideas held by Simonides, the truth of which is + so obvious that one feels compelled to overlook the indistinctness + and falsehood which accompany it.... But of late many critics, just + as though no difference existed, have drawn the crudest conclusions + one can imagine from this harmony of painting and poetry. + +Watts-Dunton, writing a few years ago, added to this[a]: + + It [the saying of Simonides] appears to have had upon modern + criticism as much influence since the publication of Lessing's + _Laocoon_ as it had before. + +Lessing points out that the Greeks confined the saying to the effect +produced by the two arts, and (evidently referring to Aristotle) did not +forget to inculcate that these arts differed from each other in the +things imitated and the manner of imitation. + +Since the business of both poetry and painting is to throw pictures on +the mind, the declaration of Simonides must be accepted, but it has no +particular meaning as applied either to criticism or the practice of the +arts. It is merely a fact of common knowledge put into the form of a +misleading _jeu d'esprit_, though one has a natural reluctance in so +describing a time-honoured saying. There is room for doubt whether it +really had the effect upon criticism that is alleged. Annibale Carracci +varied it slightly into a better form with "Poets paint with words, and +painters speak with the pencil," and it was certainly as well known in +his time as in the eighteenth century, yet we find no particular +evidence of weak art criticism either in the sixteenth or seventeenth +century. Moreover allegorical painting was not less common in these +centuries than in the century following; and while there was +unquestionably a spurt of descriptive poetry in the eighteenth, it is +difficult to trace a connection between this phenomenon and general +criticism based upon the dictum of Simonides. In regard to later times, +the statement of Watts-Dunton wants demonstration. + + [a] Article on "Poetry," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th edition. + + + +NOTE 30. PAGE 79 + +A few distinguished poets have attempted to portray beauty of form by +description of features, but they have all been signally unsuccessful. +The best known essay of the kind is Ariosto's portrait of Araminta, +where he closely describes all details of her features and form, using +forty lines for the purpose; but put together the pieces as one will, it +is quite impossible to gain from them an idea of the beauty of her +countenance.[a] This is pointed out by Lessing. The very length of the +catalogue is apt to kill the beauty as one endeavours to dovetail the +separate elements. Perhaps the lines of Cornelius Gallus to Lydia form +the most perfect poetical delineation of a beautiful face known to us, +but as will be seen from the translation below, they are quite +insufficient to enable us to picture the beauty of the combined features +on our minds.[b] + + Lydia! girl of prettiest mien, + And fairest skin, that e'er were seen: + Lilies, cream, thy cheeks disclose; + The ruddy and the milky rose; + Smooth thy limbs as ivory shine, + Burnished from the Indic mine. + Oh, sweet girl! those ringlets spread + Long and loose, from all thy head; + Glistening like gold in yellow light + O'er thy falling shoulders white. + Show, sweet girl! thy starry eyes, + And black brows that arching rise: + Show, sweet girl! thy rose-bloom cheeks, + Which Tyre's vermillion scarlet streaks: + Drop those pouting lips to mine, + Those ripe, those coral lips of thine. + + [a] _Orlando Furioso_, C. VII. + + [b] C. A. Elton translation. + + + +NOTE 31. PAGE 80 + +If there be one example of descriptive poetry relating to landscape +which throws upon the mind a complete natural scene during the process +of reading, it is the beautiful chant of the Chorus in _Oedipus +Coloneus_. The perfection of form and majestic diction of this poetry +are remarkable, but the successful presentation of the picture on the +mind is largely due to the simple and direct language used, and the +astonishing brevity with which the many features of the scene are +described. Green dells, fields, plains, groves, rocks, flowers, fruit, +and rushing waters, are all brought in, and the few lines used do not +prevent the introduction of the Muses, the jovial Bacchus with the +nursing nymphs, and radiant Aphrodite. All modern poetry descriptive of +landscape entirely fails in presenting a comprehensive view. It is too +discursive--over descriptive, to permit of the mind collecting the +details together as one whole. Here is the best prose version of the +lines of Sophocles[a]: + + Thou hast come, O stranger, to the seats of this land, renowned for + the steed; to seats the fairest on earth, the chalky Colonus; where + the vocal nightingale, chief abounding, trills her plaintive note + in the green dells, tenanting the dark-hued ivy, and the leafy + grove of the god, untrodden, teeming with fruits, impervious to the + sun, and unshaken by the winds of every storm; where Bacchus the + reveller ever roams attending his divine nurses. And ever day by + day the narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, bursts into bloom + by heaven's dew, the ancient coronet of the mighty goddesses, and + the saffron with golden ray; nor do the sleepless founts of + Cephisus that wander through the fields fail, but every day it + rushes o'er the plains with its limpid wave, fertilizing the bosom + of the earth; nor have the choirs of the Muses loathed this clime; + nor Aphrodite too, of the golden reign. + + [a] Oxford translation. + + + +NOTE 32. PAGE 81 + +It is perhaps necessary to remind some readers that the term "invention" +is used in two senses in art, referring to the original idea or scheme, +or to the preparation of the design embodying the idea. In poetry and +fiction the term has the former significance; in painting and sculpture +the latter. The restriction in the use of the term in the last named +arts is compulsory. (See Chap. III., and Note 33.) + + + +NOTE 33. PAGE 81 + +Apparently Lessing did not observe that inasmuch as the painter cannot +present the beginning and end of an incident, he must necessarily take +his moment of action from the literary arts or from nature. The critic +notices that the painter does not invent the action he depicts, but +states that this is due to his indifference towards invention, developed +by the natural readiness of the public to dispense with the merit of +invention in his case. That is to say, the public expects the painter to +take his idea from the poet or from nature, and looks to him only for +correct design and execution: hence the painter is under no necessity to +invent his own scheme. + +It is curious that a reason of this kind for the practice of the painter +should be put forward by so keen a critic as Lessing, but it is not +altogether surprising when we remember the discussion as to whether +Virgil drew his representation of the Laocoon incident from the +celebrated sculptured group, or the sculptors adopted the device of the +poet. Lessing definitely settled the point in favour of the poet as the +author of the design, and since his time this decision has been +confirmed over and over again by practical evidence. But the conclusion +of Lessing seems obvious in the absence of any such evidence. As we +must exclude the possibility of both poet and sculptors taking the +design from the same original source, it is clear that the poet could +only have imitated the sculptors on the supposition that they had so +widely varied the legend as to necessitate a new beginning and end of +the story, these being provided by the poet. Consideration of such a +series of events is not permissible, as it would reflect upon the common +sense of the sculptors, and actually degrade the poet. + +Consequent upon the inability of the painter to originate a scheme for a +picture, the famous proposition of Lessing as to the relative importance +of invention and execution with the poet and painter, must fall to the +ground. The critic states that our admiration of Homer would be less if +we knew that he took certain of his work from pictures, and asks[a]: + + How does it happen that we withdraw none of our esteem from the + painter when he does no more than express the words of the poem in + forms and colours? + +He suggests as an answer to this: + + With the painter, execution appears to be more difficult than + invention: with the poet on the other hand the case seems to be + reversed, and his execution seems to be an easier achievement than + the invention. + +The word "invention" is to be taken here in the sense of plot or fable, +and not as the details of design invented by the painter for the purpose +of representing the action described by the poet. The premisses of +Lessing's argument therefore will not stand, for the painter cannot +originate a fable by means of a picture. And sequential to this of +course, the painter can be of no service to the poet. Homer could not +draw an original scheme from a painting. Nor may the poet take a detail +from the painter, for this has already been borrowed. A poet may vary a +detail in a legend because he can make the successive parts of his +relation fit in with the variation, but the painter can only deal with a +single moment of action, and if this does not correspond with an +accepted legend, then his design appears to be untrue. + +It may be said in regard to painting, that the relative difficulty of +the invention (the work of gathering and arranging the signs) and the +execution, varies with the character of the art. In the higher forms, as +sacred and historical work, the invention is the more difficult; in +ordinary scenes of life and labour the trouble involved in invention +would about equal that in execution; while in the lower forms, as +landscape and still-life, the execution is obviously the more difficult. +In the case of the poet, the idea or fable is the hardest part of his +work, but the relative difficulty of the arrangement of the parts, and +the execution, would naturally depend upon the general character of the +composition, and the form of the poem. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Phillimore translation. + + + +NOTE 34. PAGE 82 + +The works here referred to are those designed for the purpose of +achieving a political or social aim, or conveying instruction or moral +lessons. There are many examples of good art where advocacy of a social +or administrative reform is presented by way of incident or accessory, +though the art itself is never, and cannot be, assisted thereby. +"Didactic Art," if such a term may be appropriately used, is practically +a thing of the past, but judging from certain conventions the opinion +seems to be rather widely held that art should point a moral when +possible, and an opinion of Aristotle is not infrequently called in to +support this view. But when Aristotle connected morals with art, he +evidently did not mean to suggest that art should have a moral purpose, +but that it should have a moral tendency in not being morally harmful, +for art which is not morally harmful must necessarily be morally +beneficial. The general connection of the good with the beautiful in +ancient Greece seems to have merely implied that what is good is +beautiful, and what is beautiful is good, or should be good, and not +that goodness is a manifestation of beauty, or beauty of goodness. It +was admitted that the two things may not coincide. + + + +NOTE 35. PAGE 85 + +That landscape painting may be of considerable value in assisting +scientific exploration is instanced by an anecdote related to the writer +by a geological friend. Professor Jack, formerly Government Geologist of +Queensland, while travelling in that colony, having put up one night at +the house of a small squatter, noticed on the walls of the interior, a +number of colour drawings which had been painted by a son of the settler +from views in the neighbouring hills. One of these drawings showed a +reddish-brown tint running down the slope of a grey and nearly barren +hill. This caught the eye of the professor who asked the artist if the +colours roughly represented the natural conditions, and receiving an +affirmative reply, recommended the squatter to prospect the ground for +minerals. This was done with the result that profitable copper deposits +were found. It seems that in Australia many of the best mineral veins +are capped with iron, and run through schistose rocks traversed by +dioritic dykes. Professor Jack was well aware that the hills in the +district were formed of these rocks and dykes, and as the reddish-brown +streak indicated iron oxide, it occurred to him that the iron might be +the cap of a lode holding valuable minerals.[a] + + [a] This note is from _The Position of Landscape in Art_, by the + present author. + + + +NOTE 36. PAGE 87 + +Remarkable evidence of the universality of ideals, is afforded by the +galaxy of French sculptors who appeared in the thirteenth century. They +could have had no teachers beyond those responsible for the stiff and +formal works characterizing the merging of Norman with Gothic art; they +could have seen few of the fragments of ancient sculpture; and yet they +left behind them monuments which rival in noble beauty much of the work +produced in the greatest art period. How their art grew, and how it +withered; how such a brilliant bloom in the life of a nation should so +quickly fade, needs too detailed an argument to be ventured upon here, +if indeed a properly reasoned explanation can be given at all; but the +flower remains, as great a pride to mankind as it is a glory to France: +remains, though sadly drooping, for the petals of Rheims are gone. + +Now these Frenchmen were in much the same position as the early Greeks. +They were confronted with the task of making images of their objects of +worship for great temples. They had no more real knowledge of the +Personality of Christ, the Virgin, and most of the Saints than had the +Greeks of the Homeric gods and legendary heroes, and like the Grecian +sculptors they fully believed in the spiritual personages and religious +events with which they dealt. The Grecian and French artists therefore +started from the same line with similar general ideals, for the ancient +workers took no heed of Homer and Hesiod in respect of the failings of +their gods; and they both had only pure formalities in sculpture behind +them. And what was the result? The ideal divine head of the Christian +Frenchman is much the same as that of the Greeks in regard to form, and +only varies in expression with the character of the respective religious +conceptions. + +The French sculptors did not reach the sublime height of the Phidian +school, nor did they attempt the more human beauty typified by the +giants of the fourth century B.C.; but apart from these, and leaving +aside considerations of the nude with which they were little concerned, +they climbed to the highest level of the latter end of the fourth +century and the beginning of the third--the level attained by those +Grecian sculptors who more or less idealized portrait heads by adding +Phidian traits. And it would appear that in reaching towards their goal +they followed the same line of thought as the Greeks, and arrived at +similar conclusions in respect to every detail of the head and pose of +the figure. As a rule they gave to the faces of Christ and the Saints a +large facial angle, set the eyes in deeply and the ears close to the +head, and generally worked on parallel lines with the principal +sculptors of Peloponesia living sixteen hundred years before their time. +It is perhaps natural that they should make similar variations in the +proportions of the figures to provide for the different levels from +which they were to be seen, but it is curious that they should adopt the +practice followed by the Greeks in the representation of children in +arms, by minimizing to the last degree the figure of the Infant Christ +in the arms of the Madonna. They could not have more closely imitated +the Greeks in this respect had they had Grecian models in front of them. +No doubt they fixed the position of the Child at the side of the Virgin +in order that the line of her majestic form might not be broken, and +that her face might be revealed to observers below the level of the +statues, but that they should have made the Child so extremely small and +insignificant considering His relative importance compared with that of +the Grecian infant in arms, is remarkable. + + + +NOTE 37. PAGE 90 + +It is too early yet to fix definitely the position of Rodin in art. +There is much sifting of his works to be done, for of all artists with a +wide reputation, he was perhaps the most variable. Still he may be +called one of the greater artists, and so is amongst the rare exceptions +mentioned, for he executed one or two hideous figures, the most notable +being La Vieille Heaulmiere.[a] This cannot properly be described as a +work of art because it is revolting to the senses: it is merely a +species of writing--a hieroglyph, and Rodin's own apology for it is a +direct condemnation, since a work of sculpture cannot be good if general +opinion does not approve of it. He says[b]: + + What matters solely to me is the opinion of people of taste, and I + have been delighted to gain their approbation for my La Vieille + Heaulmiere. I am like the Roman singer who replied to the jeers of + the populace, _Equitibus Cano_. I sing only for the nobles; that is + to say for the connoisseurs. The vulgar readily imagine that what + they consider ugly is not a fit subject for the artist. They would + like to forbid us to represent what displeases and offends them in + nature. It is a great error on their part. What is commonly called + "ugliness" in nature can in art become full of great beauty. In the + domain of art we call ugly what is deformed, whatever is + unhealthy.... Ugly also is the soul of the vicious or criminal + man.... But let a great artist or writer make use of one or other + of these uglinesses, instantly it becomes transfigured: with a + touch of his fairy wand he has turned it into beauty: it is + alchemy: it is enchantment. + +Rodin then goes on to refer to the description of ugly objects by the +poets, in support of his argument that they may be represented by the +painter! It was his error in confusing the objects of the literary with +those of the plastic arts, that led him to carve La Vieille Heaulmiere, +for he admitted that he wished to put into sculpture what Villon had put +into a poem. Professor Waldstein properly pointed out that, this being +so, the observer of the sculpture should be provided with a copy of the +poem when in front of the statue, adding[c]: + + and even then the work remains only the presentation of a female + figure deformed in every detail by the wear and tear of time, and + of a life ending in disease and nothing more. It is the worst form + of literary sculpture, of which we have had so much by artists who + represent the very opposite pole of the modern realists. + +Elsewhere the respective positions of the poet and painter (or sculptor) +in the representation of ugliness are dealt with, but it may be added +that in the case of La Vieille Heaulmiere, Rodin does not render in +sculpture the poem of Villion, but only a part of it, for of course he +could not show the progression in the life of the courtesan, indicated +by the poet, which progression puts an entirely different complexion +upon the ugly figure of the poet compared with that of the sculptor. +Clearly Rodin was misled when he said that people of taste have given +their approbation to his appalling figure, for it has been condemned +among all classes, while its few defenders have failed to support their +opinions by reason or experience. + +We may note that at another time Rodin reflected upon the character of +the ancient Greek sculpture for the very reason upon which he bases his +claim for public approval of La Vieille Heaulmiere. He says[d]: + + That was the fault of the Hellenic ideal. The beauty conceived by + the Greeks was the order dreamed of by intelligence, but it only + appealed to the cultivated mind, disdaining the humble. + +Here also is a confusion of ideas, for the intelligence cannot dream of +a special kind of beauty which would not be recognized by the humble, +unless it were so feeble as to be altogether below Greek conceptions. +The aim of the Greek sculptors was to appeal to all classes, and in this +they were eminently successful. + + [a] At the Luxembourg. + + [b] Gsell's _Art, by Auguste Rodin_. + + [c] _Greek Sculpture and Modern Art_, 1914. + + [d] Gsell's _Art, by Auguste Rodin_. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 27 (See page 254) + Diana and Nymphs, by Rubens (_Prado, Madrid_)] + + + +NOTE 38. PAGE 92 + +Ruskin considered the figure of Christ, known as Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens, +at Amiens Cathedral, the noblest ideal of Christ in existence,[a] and +Dean Farrar wrote of it: "Christ is represented as standing at the +central point of all history, and of all Revelation."[b] It is true that +the sculpture is a noble representation of Christ, but this is not +because it is a Christian ideal. In type it is purely Greek of the late +fourth or early third century B.C. The expression is general, exhibiting +the calm repose that the Greeks gave to a great philosopher. + + [a] _The Bible of Amiens._ See Plate 2. + + [b] _The Life of Christ as Represented in Art._ + + + +NOTE 39. PAGE 97 + +In the case of the Madonna, Michelangelo does not appear to produce an +ideal woman: he only gives an improved woman. His nearest approach to +the ideal is in his early Pieta at St. Peter's, but even here the Virgin +is only a less earthly prototype of his later figures. The Madonna in +the Holy Family at the Uffizi is much inferior, being merely a slightly +ennobled Italian peasant. The other Madonnas are far higher in character +and seem to suggest the antique, except that the more material +qualities of woman are always present. The Madonnas at the Bargello and +San Lorenzo are of the same general type as the figure in the Last +Judgment, the Night in the Medici Chapel, the Leda in the Bargello, and +the Venus in the sketch made for Pontormo. This being so, it may be +imagined when the Leda is called to mind, that it is hard to associate +the two Madonnas with Christian ideals. The figures are magnificent +works, but they are behind the Madonnas of Raphael from the point of +view of Christian conceptions. The expression is general, and all the +countenances except one, indicate unconcern with surroundings; not the +sublime unconcern of a Phidian god, which implies an apparent disregard +of particulars because they are necessarily understood with an +all-powerful comprehension of principles, but an unconcern which +suggests a want of deep interest in life. The exception is the San +Lorenzo Madonna, in which a certain calm resignation is the principal +feature in expression. Michelangelo was more successful with his men +than with his women. His painted prophets in the Sistine Chapel are as +sublime as his scenes from the Creation; and his Moses in St. Peter's is +rightly regarded as the first sculpture of the Renaissance. + + + +NOTE 40. PAGE 99 + +When the Pieta of Michelangelo (in St. Peter's, Rome) was first exposed, +some comment was made upon the comparatively youthful appearance of the +Virgin, and Condivi relates that he spoke to the sculptor on the +subject. In reply Michelangelo said[a]: + + Don't you know that chaste women preserve their beauty and youthful + character much longer than those who are not chaste? How youthful + then must appear the immaculate Virgin who cannot be supposed ever + to have had a vitiated thought. And this is only according to the + natural order of things: but why may not we suppose in this + particular case, that nature might be assisted by Divine + interposition, to demonstrate to the world the virginity and + perpetual purity of the Mother? This was not necessary in the Son, + nay, rather on the contrary, since Divine omnipotence was willing + to show that the Son of God would take upon Him, as he did, the + body of man, with all his earthly infirmities except that of sin. + Therefore it was not necessary for me to make the human subordinate + to the Divine character, but to consider it in the ordinary course + of nature under the actual existing circumstances. Hence you ought + not to wonder that from such a consideration, I should make the + most holy Virgin-Mother of God, in comparison with the Son, much + younger than would otherwise be required, and that I should have + represented the Son at His proper age. + + [a] Lanzi's _History of Painting in Italy_, Roscoe translation, + vol. i. + + + +NOTE 41. PAGE 100 + +A few modern painters have produced works in which the Holy Family are +pictured in lowly surroundings, but generally they appear to shock the +public sense of propriety. Many persons will remember the sensation +caused by Millais's The Carpenter's Shop, where Christ is shown as a boy +of about ten years of age in the workshop of St. Joseph, and Holman +Hunt's Shadow of the Cross. Later artists have been still more +realistic, notably Uhde, whose sacred scenes almost stagger one with +their modern suggestions, and Demont-Breton, whose Divine Apprentice +represents the Boy Christ sharpening a tool at a grindstone which is +turned by the Virgin. + + + +NOTE 42. PAGE 108 + +Unquestionably the rapid advance in Italian art in the fifteenth century +was largely due to the influence of the ancient Greek and Roman remains. +Indeed there are very few sculptors of the period who fail to show +evidence of studies in Greek forms and ornaments, while in painting +there are hundreds of figures which could scarcely have been designed in +the absence of antique models. True in some cases the artists do not +appear to have gone beyond the ancient literature, as with Masaccio who +must have had Homer in his mind when he painted his figures of Eve in +the Florence frescoes, and Piero di Cosimo, whose fanciful compositions +savour of the old legends wrapped up in fairy stories; but many painters +were steeped both in the art and literature of Greece and Rome, and made +good use of them. + +But the most direct evidence of the influence of Greek art upon Italian +artists of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, is to be found +in the splendid series of bronze statuettes of the period. In their +monumental figures the sculptors were more or less confined in their +designs by considerations of portraiture, conventional drapery and +symbols, and local requirements, and while they were greatly assisted by +Greek experience, yet only rarely were they strictly at liberty except +with ornaments and accessories. But in the small bronze figures their +fancy could roam at will, and they made good use of this freedom in +displaying their ready acceptance of the first principle in the design +of the human figure recognized by the Greeks--that the sculptor must +arrive at perfection of form if that be possible; that this perfection +is not to be found in any single form in life, and consequently the +artist must combine perfected parts into a harmonious whole, +independently of particular models. The agreement with this principle +was general, with scarcely an exception amongst the bronze figure +designers, and the result was that in the period say, from 1450 to 1525, +there was executed a series of bronzes fully representative of the +highest level which plastic art has reached since the greater days of +Greece. Right up to the time of the maturity of Michelangelo, nearly +every bronze figurine cast is purely Grecian in type, and every +ornament, and even every accessory which is not from its nature of +contemporary style, can be traced to Greece, either directly or through +Rome. + +Michelangelo brought about a change in accentuating the muscular +development of the body, and before the middle of the sixteenth century +most sculptors had come under his influence. This was unfortunate for he +alone seemed to be capable of harmoniously combining Greek lines with +muscular power. A few of his contemporaries, as Sansovino, Leone, +Cellini, learned how to join, with due restraint, his innovations with +modifications of the Greek torso, but generally the imitation of the +great Florentine initiated a decadence, as it was bound to do, for it +was accompanied with life modelling, and so meant a radical departure +from the Greek forms. Giovanni di Bologna alone among the later +sixteenth century sculptors, was strong enough to move in an independent +direction. He restrained the accentuation of the muscles, and lightened +the Greek type of torso, combining with these conditions an elegance in +design which has never since been surpassed. + +This then is the principal cause of the high aesthetic value of the +Renaissance bronzes: the human form exhibited by them is altogether more +beautiful than the form coming within the compass of life experience. +Then the details of work on the bronzes are immensely superior to those +of the general modern handiwork. For instance the chiselling of such men +as Riccio and Cellini, has never been equalled since their time, save +perhaps by Gouthiere. And how poor, comparatively, are the present-day +castings! How carefully the old masters worked; how particular they were +with their clay; how skilfully they prepared their wax, and how slowly +and deliberately the mould! How many artists now would have the patience +to make such a mould? For the beautiful patinas on many of the +Renaissance bronzes, age is mostly responsible, though lacquers were +often used for the provision of artificial patinas, particularly after +the middle of the sixteenth century, the finest being found on some of +the works of Giovanni di Bologna. The tone of natural patina depends +largely upon the kind of oxidation to which the bronze has been +subjected, and it is no doubt often affected by the alloy used. Few +modern artists have given close attention to the alloys, while the +method of casting is now usually regarded as a detail of minor +importance. + +Seeing that the production of figurines accompanied every civilization +from the dawn of history to the collapse of the Roman Empire, it is +curious that the renaissance of sculpture after the Dark Age should have +progressed a long way before general attention was again turned to these +bronzes. There are a few figures of animals which seem to be Italian +work of the late trecento, but beyond these the small cast bronzes made +in Italy before the maturity of Ghiberti, were practically confined to +Madonnas and Saints, mostly gilt, made to fill Gothic niches, or adorn +the altars of churches and private chapels. Slender Saints they were as +a rule, but always elegant, with serene countenances and delicate +features; beautifully modelled as became the inheritors of the +traditions of the Pisanos. It was somewhere about the middle of the +fifteenth century that Italy commenced to make ungilt statuettes +suitable for household ornaments, and fully ten or fifteen years more +passed away before they were produced with any regularity. The earliest +of them of any importance appear to be a couple of Flagellators from the +design of Ghiberti. They are fine pieces of work, evidently from clay +models made for the scourging scene in one of the gates of the Florence +Baptistry--gates described by Michelangelo as worthy to fill the portals +of Paradise. These figures date about 1440. There is a Child Christ of a +few years later by Luca della Robbia; and two or three figures from +models of Donatello may be assigned to the neighbourhood of 1450. In the +next ten years were turned out some figures from remaining models of +Donatello which had been used for his work at Prato and Padua. + +So far the small bronzes made were from studies for larger works of +sculpture, but about this time intense interest began to be taken in the +remains of Greek and Roman art, and no doubt it was the increased +importance attached to the antique bronze figures, mostly household gods +of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, that first led the principal +Renaissance artists to turn their attention to similar work. From this +time on, for a century and a half, these bronze figures were regularly +made. The existing figurines may be broadly classified in four +divisions, namely, the Paduan and Florentine figures executed prior to +1525; those of the school of Michelangelo; those of the Venetian school +headed by Sansovino; and those of Giovanni di Bologna and his school. +Leaving out of consideration the small ornaments for inkstands, vases, +etc., the little animals, and the purely commercial imitations, chiefly +Venetian, made at the end of the sixteenth century, the total number of +Renaissance bronzes now known is roughly six thousand. Of these under a +hundred are from models for larger works by Ghiberti, Donatello, +Verrocchio, Lionardo, Michelangelo, and a few lesser lights; about two +thousand represent original designs specially prepared for bronze +production; some three thousand five hundred are duplicates of, or +slight variations from, these originals, executed by pupils or near +contemporaries of the masters; and the balance of four hundred or so, +are direct reproductions of, or variations from, antique sculptures. +Naturally all collectors aim for the first two sections, but the third +section contains many fine bronzes, often close to the originals, with +equally good patinas. They vary greatly, though they are all ascribed in +commerce to the artists responsible for the originals. + +The character of these variations is best seen in the case of Riccio, +the most prolific of the bronze workers of the Renaissance. He designed +and executed under forty small bronze figures and groups, besides some +large bronze works of high importance. Of his small pieces there are in +existence about a hundred duplicates made by his pupils and immediate +contemporaries, who also adapted into household ornaments, various +details from his larger works, bringing up the number of Riccios made +from his models during his lifetime, other than by himself, to about a +hundred and fifty. These are all bronzes of a high order. Then about an +equal number of both kinds of models were reproduced during the twenty +years following his death, all fairly good, but often slightly varied +from the originals; and finally there are Riccios copied by Venetian +craftsmen in the third quarter of the sixteenth century, sometimes +considerably varied, and occasionally with purely Venetian ornaments +added. These last mark the first distinct decadence in the small bronze +art of the period. Next to Riccio among the earlier sculptors, in the +number of bronzes designed, was his great contemporary, Antico, who +accomplished some thirty or so. He differed from Riccio in that while +the latter adhered to the Grecian practice in the design of details and +ornaments, but varied the modelling somewhat to bring it more in +conformity with the contemporary ideas of elegance, Antico kept strictly +to the Grecian modelling, but commonly varied the ancient designs. +There are few duplicates of Antico's work, made either during his +lifetime or after. As with Riccio, his imitators overcame the difficulty +of the chiselling by leaving it out, relying upon the wax to give close +enough resemblance to the originals. + +Of the other small bronze sculptors prior to the maturity of +Michelangelo, few executed more than half a score of figures. The best +known are the immediate successors of Donatello in the Paduan school, as +Bertoldo and Bellano, and the giants of the Florentine school, as +Filarete and A. Pollaiuolo. Bronzes by these artists are very rare, and +so are the duplicates of them made by pupils, though Bertoldo, who +reminds one strangely of Lysippus, had occasional imitators for the next +two centuries. These bronzes include many models which have not been +equalled by the greatest of later sculptors, and they will never be +matched until there arises a new school of sculptors resolved to imbibe +the truths which the Renaissance artists gleaned from the ancient +Greeks. + + + +NOTE 43. PAGE 110 + +The writer has used Greek and Roman names for these gods to some extent +indiscriminately, in accordance with the universal custom in art. +Nevertheless the practice is to be regretted as it tends to complicate +the general ideas of the Greek and Roman religions. Notwithstanding the +occasional direct association of some of their deities with human +personages by their poets, the Romans regarded their gods as purely +spiritual beings, having no special earthly habitation, or sex relations +with the human race, while their powers widely differed from those of +the respective Greek deities with whom they are commonly identified. +Authorities differ as to whether the gods were supposed to have +spiritual marital relations with each other.[a] In any case the whole +nature of their religion precluded the development amongst the Romans of +a separate sacred art. Their sculptured gods, which were taken from +Grecian models, were symbols rather than presumed types. + + [a] See J. G. Frazer's _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, 1914, vol. ii.; and W. + W. Fowler's _Religious Experience of the Roman People_, 1911. + + + +NOTE 44. PAGE 111 + +If we may judge from the headless figures of the goddesses, commonly +known as the Three Fates, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, there +seems to be little difference between the general lines of the feminine +torso represented by the Phidian ideal, and those of the Praxitelean +model. The Parthenon torsos are more massive proportionately, but the +object of both Phidias and Praxiteles was evidently to straighten the +outer lines of the torso as nearly as possible, making due allowance for +the varied natural swellings of their respective forms. It is obvious +that the use of attire gave Phidias (presuming the Parthenon figures +referred to were designed by him, as they probably were) a latitude in +varying the proportions of the torsos which he could not have exercised +in the case of nude forms. Unclothed, the figures would appear unwieldy, +and the graceful flowing lines resulting from the partly clinging +drapery could not be so completely presented with nude reclining or +semi-reclining figures. There are other features also which prevent the +nude representation of such massive forms. Thus, the breasts would +necessarily be out of proportion in size, and widely separated. These +conditions are common in fifth century and archaic figures, and do not +appear to be defects in forms of life size or less, but they would be +strikingly noticeable in super figures of the broad massive type with +Phidian lines. The addition of light drapery, however, converts the +apparent faults into virtues, for the artist is enabled therewith to +give new sweeping curves to the forms which conspicuously enhance the +general beauty of the figure. + +A still more amazing instance where the use of drapery allows the artist +to vary the recognized proportions of the feminine form to an extent +which would be impossible with nude figures, is the celebrated Ariadne +at the Vatican.[a] This beautiful work, which is of the Hellenistic +period, shows the daughter of Minos attired in a light flowing single +garment, and reclining on a couch, asleep. The upper part of her body +leans against the head of the couch, but the remainder is extended +nearly at full length. The extraordinary feature of the work is that the +length of the figure is altogether out of proportion with the head and +with the breadth of the torso, being much too great, and yet so +skilfully is the drapery arranged that this very defect becomes an +advantage, for it enables a lofty grace, almost approaching grandeur, to +be given to the figure, which would be impossible without the +exaggeration. By the excellent device of a closely arranged cross fold +of drapery passing round the middle of the figure, the artist apparently +shortens it, so that the eye of the observer is not held by its great +length. Only one other example of the supreme use of drapery in this way +seems to be known--a bronze sitting figure of Calliope,[b] which is of +the late Hellenistic period, and is obviously of the same school as the +Ariadne marble. + + [a] See Plate 29. + + [b] Dreicer Collection, New York. + + + +NOTE 45. PAGE 112 + +Praxiteles is known to have executed at least four other statues of +Aphrodite besides the Cnidian example, but this last is the only one as +to which we have fairly complete records, and of which copies have been +closely identified. It is also the most celebrated. We may therefore +accept the work as typical for comparative purposes. + + + +NOTE 46. PAGE 113 + +There has been much discussion as to whether Apelles showed the same +extent of figure as is represented in the sculpture, a common suggestion +being that he brought the surface of the water to the waist line; but it +is evident that the painting corresponded with the sculpture in this +particular. The artist had to represent the goddess walking towards the +shore. If he brought the water to the waist line he could not definitely +suggest movement, as a deflection of the shoulder line might mean that +the goddess was in an attitude of rest, corresponding to the pose of +nearly all the sculptured figures of the Praxitelean school. On the +other hand if he carried the water line down towards the knees, the +advance of the right leg would be most marked, and the effect disturbing +because of the loss of repose, a quality at all times valuable in a +painting of a single figure, and really necessary in the representation +of Venus. The artist very properly reduced the portion of the thighs +visible to the smallest fraction possible compatible with an expression +of movement, in order to give the figure the greatest repose attainable. +Under any circumstances there was nothing to gain by showing the water +reaching to the waist. + +Certain details of the picture by Apelles are to be obtained from +Grecian epigrams. Thus, one by Antipater of Sidon contains these +lines[a]: + + Venus, emerging from her parent sea, + Apelles' graphic skill does here portray: + She wrings her hair, while round the bright drops flee, + And presses from her locks the foamy spray. + +From this it would appear that the position of the goddess when painted +was presumed to be comparatively near the artist, otherwise the separate +drops of falling water would not have been observed. The last line in +the following epigram by Leonides of Tarentum indicates the ideal +character of the countenance, though evidence of this is scarcely +necessary[b]: + + As Venus from her mother's bosom rose + (Her beauty with the murmuring sea-foam glows), + Apelles caught and fixed each heavenly charm; + No picture, but the life, sincere and warm. + See how those finger tips those tresses wring! + See how those eyes a calm-like radiance fling! + + [a] Translated by Lord Neaves. + + [b] Translated by Lord Neaves. + + + +NOTE 47. PAGE 124 + +So far as the writer knows, Piero was the only artist of the Renaissance +who used this mythological story for a composition (his picture has +hitherto been called an allegory), a circumstance which is rather +singular considering the suitableness of the subject for the provision +of effective designs. The Greek sculptors in dealing with the legend +confined themselves to the moment when Athena threw down the pipes, +apparently for the reason that this instant gave an opportunity of +rendering Marsyas in a strong dramatic action. The famous statue of the +faun after Myron in Rome, is supposed to have formed part of a group +representing Athena and Marsyas immediately after the pipes were +dropped, and the design appears on still existing coins and vases of the +fifth and fourth centuries B.C. Piero takes a later moment, showing +Marsyas comfortably squatting in the foreground of a delightful fanciful +landscape, expressing boyish satisfaction with the prizes he is about to +try. He is properly shown as a satyr instead of in the faun form of the +sculptor. There appears to be no legitimate place in painting for a +faun, while a satyr may at times be appropriately introduced into a +pastoral composition. + + + +NOTE 48. PAGE 125 + +Controversy has raged around this picture for something like seventy +years. The work came to light before 1850 at a public auction sale when +it was attributed to Mantegna, with whom of course it had nothing to do. +Then it was pronounced a Raphael, but this was disputed by Passavant who +held that on account of the thin lower limbs of the figures, and the +minute way in which the landscape was painted, it could not be by +Raphael, but was of the school of Francia, or by Timoteo della Viti. +Morelli brought back the attribution to Raphael, and the work then came +into the possession of the Louvre. Subsequently Pinturicchio and +Perugino were alternately suggested as the painter, and to the latter +the picture was assigned by the Louvre authorities. All are agreed that +the date of the work is about 1502. It does not seem possible that +Perugino could have painted the picture, for the subject and invention +are entirely foreign to him, while the lithe active form of Apollo does +not consort with the least formal of his known figures. The landscape is +much in his manner, but so it is also in the style of Raphael's early +period, while the small buildings therein are closely finished as in +some of Raphael's other works of the time.[a] Perugino used similar +towers and buildings, but being a more experienced painter he did not so +finely elaborate the details. The suggestion relating to the school of +Francia was afterwards very properly withdrawn, and Pinturicchio must be +ruled out on account of the landscape, apart from the supple figure of +Apollo of which he was incapable. There remain then only Timoteo della +Viti and Raphael as the possible painters of the work. But it cannot +reasonably be suggested that Timoteo could have accomplished so perfect +a figure as the Apollo, and moreover so original a figure. It certainly +required an exceptionally bold mind to overcome the difficulty in +rendering the traditionally semi-feminine form of Apollo by representing +him as a young man just past his teens. Besides, the general delicacy of +the work is not in the style of Timoteo. Passavant's objection to the +limbs is overruled by the presence of similar limbs in the Mond +Crucifixion. It would seem then that Morelli was right in assigning the +beautiful little picture to the youthful period of the greatest of all +painters. + + [a] See Portrait of a young Man at Budapest, and the Terranuova Virgin + and Child at Berlin. + + + +NOTE 49. PAGE 138 + +The white races are here referred to merely by way of example, and there +is no intention to suggest that the more or less uncivilized peoples +have no perception of beauty. It is well known that both semi-civilized +and savage races differ from the whites in the matter of beauty, and the +fact has been partly responsible for several theories for explaining +aesthetic perception, notably that of association, laid down by Alison +and Jeffrey, but long since discarded. Seeing that there is no +difference in kind between the sense nerves of the whites and the +blacks, they must necessarily act in the same way. That the blacks +appreciate as beautiful forms which the whites disregard, seems to +arise partly from want of experience, partly from training, and partly +from neglect in the exercise of the sense nerves. Take for example an +inhabitant of Morocco where corpulency is commonly regarded as an +element of beauty in women. If none but Moroccan women are seen or +pictured, it is impossible for a higher form of beauty than is to be +found amongst them to be conceived, for the imagination cannot act +beyond experience. In cases where the Moroccan has had experience of +both white and black, it is certain that, other things being equal, the +white woman would be the more admired, for this is the general +experience among the black races, and is strikingly noticeable in +America with the descendants of African tribes. The appreciation of very +fat women can easily be understood on the ground of custom or training. +A youthful Moroccan may be firmly of opinion that corpulency is not an +element of beauty, but seeing that his older acquaintances hold a +contrary view, he may well form the conclusion that his judgment is +wrong, and so accept the decision of his more mature countrymen. It is +quite common among the whites for people to doubt their own aesthetic +perceptions when an inferior work of art is put forward as a thing of +beauty. The general want of appreciation of certain musical harmonies on +the part of uncivilized peoples is undoubtedly due to the neglect of the +sense nerves concerned, for these are not cultivated except to a small +extent involuntarily. The most ignorant and poor of the whites +unavoidably come into frequent contact with the simpler forms of art, +but the savage races see only the result of their own handiwork. The +uncivilized races can scarcely be expected to admire the higher reaches +of art wherein intellectual considerations enter, except for their +sensorial excellence. + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 28 (See page 256) + Automedon and the Horse of Achilles, by Regnault (_Boston Museum_)] + + + +NOTE 50. PAGE 139 + +There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether Fragonard intended his +splendid series of the Frick collection to represent the subjects +usually assigned to them, namely, The Pursuit (or The Flight of Design, +a title given to the original sketch for the picture); The Rendezvous +(or The Surprise, or The Escalade); Souvenirs (or Confidences, or The +Reader); The Lover Crowned (or Before the Painter); and The Abandonment +(or The Reverie). It is suggested that the works have an allegorical +signification connected with art, and certainly three of them--the +first, second, and fourth--could be so interpreted. But magnificent +paintings of this kind are usually fitted for many allegorical +suggestions. Each picture represents an incident of common experience, +elaborated with beautiful figures in a perfect setting. This approaches +the summit of the painter's art, for no conception can be greater apart +from spiritual ideals. It is symbolism in its highest form--of universal +experience in which all are interested. The works are not to be taken as +a necessary sequence (the last of the series was painted twenty years +after the others), but the scheme of one or more of them has come within +the experience of every man and woman since the world began. + + + +NOTE 51. PAGE 149 + +Seeing that this precise dignified pose, coming so near the line of +exaggeration, but never crossing it, is present in all the authenticated +portraits of Titian, save those of very aged persons, we may reasonably +consider the pose an important factor in determining the validity of +certain portraits as to which a doubt has arisen. Thus in the case of +the Physician of Parma[a] (this title is admittedly wrong), which has +been variously given to Titian and Giorgione, the verdict must be in +favour of Titian, for the pose is certainly his, while it is unknown in +any work of Giorgione. On the other hand, the portrait of Catherine +Cornara,[b] commonly ascribed to Titian, but also attributed to +Giorgione,[c] cannot be by the former master; nor is the Portrait of a +Man (with his hand on a bust),[d] which seems to pair with the Cornara +portrait. The portrait known as An Old Man Asleep,[e] sometimes given to +Titian, clearly does not belong to him. + +It should be noted that the general confusion observable for many years +in the estimation of Giorgione's work arose from the attribution to him +of paintings executed in the comparatively broad manner of Titian, but +which this artist did not adopt till Giorgione had been dead for a +decade or more. The recent exhaustive critique of Lionelli Venturi[f] of +the earlier master has cleared the air, and we now know the range of his +work very positively. Giorgione was less fine in some of his paintings +than in others, for he paid more attention to chiaroscuro as he matured, +but there is no instance where he painted in the broader manner +occasionally exhibited by Titian. All the works in the style of The +Concert and The Three Ages are now known to be by other hands than those +of Giorgione, and it must be unfortunately admitted that not a single +painting by him exists either in England or America. + + [a] Vienna Gallery. + + [b] Cook Collection, London. + + [c] By Herbert Cook in _Giorgione_. + + [d] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [e] The Brera, Milan. + + [f] _Giorgione e il Giorgionismo_, 1913. + + + +Note 52. Page 156 + +Hals is another artist as to whom many misconceptions have arisen in +regard to his use of a very broad manner in his portraits. There is a +total of about 350 works attributed to him, of which some two thirds are +single portraits, and twenty are portrait groups. The balance includes +over thirty genre pictures, mostly with single figures, and fifty heads +of boys and girls generally shown in the act of laughing. It is in his +genre work that the broad manner is mostly observable, and only very +occasionally is it to be found in his portraits. In the more important +works of the artist, even during his later period, his manner is by no +means broad,[a] though it is not so fine as in his best years, say from +1635 to 1650. This estimate can however only be general, as his dated +paintings of different periods after 1630 often correspond so closely +that it is difficult to assign dates to the other pictures with +certainty. + +Perhaps the frequent attribution to Hals of works by his pupils and +imitators, has had something to do with the public estimation of the +breadth of his manner. This was often greatly exaggerated by his +followers, and many portraits are given to him which he could not +possibly have painted. In his important work on the artist, Dr. von Bode +points out that some of the duplicates of his pictures were apparently +executed by his pupils, but these are not separated in the book.[b] It +is a simple matter to divide the works painted by Hals from the studio +copies and the portraits of imitators. His brushwork and impasto were +quite exceptional. He had a firm direct stroke, never niggled or +scumbled, and his loading was restrained though very effective. Quite +naturally his pupils, however industrious and skilled, could not +closely imitate his remarkable freedom in handling. They were incapable +of firm decisive strokes throughout a portrait, and endeavoured to +overcome the loading difficulty by using brushes of a coarseness foreign +to the master when rendering light tones. Moreover Hals was nearly +perfect in drawing, and in this there are usually marked defects in the +studio copies. + + [a] See Stephanus Gereardts, Antwerp Museum; Isabella Coymans, + E. Rothschild Collection, Paris; Lady with a Fan, National + Gallery, London; and William van Heythuysen, Liechtenstein + Collection, Vienna. + + [b] _Frans Hals: his Life and Work_, 1914. + + + +NOTE 53. PAGE 161 + +The term "grace" as applied in art has so many significations that it is +difficult to deal with one of them without confusion. What is here +specially referred to is the grace of pose designed by the artist. The +object of the portrait painter is to pose his sitter so that the grace +indicated shall appear natural and habitual, a feature as important now +in the appearance of women as it was twenty-five centuries ago when +Sappho asked[a]: + + What country maiden charms thee, + However fair her face, + Who knows not how to gather + Her dress with artless grace? + +But the grace of pose never appears to be artless, after the first +inspection, unless there is something in the expression to hold the +mind. Without this appeal to the mind the portrait must soon tire, and +the pose become artificial and stiff, that is to say, in representations +of life size, for in miniature portraiture the countenance seldom or +never crosses the vision involuntarily. + +In the ancient Greek forms, Winckelmann distinguishes four kinds of +grace--lofty, pleasing, humble, and comic--but the grace exhibited by +sculptured forms necessarily depends upon the harmony of expression, +character of form, and pose. This should be the case with painted +portraits also, but drapery restrictions and accessories commonly compel +a limitation in the design of the artist. In three quarter and full +length portraits it is impossible to depart from the dress customary at +the period of execution, unless the sitter assume a classical character, +and this is only possible in comparatively few instances. In any case +the pose should always be subordinated to the expression. + + [a] Free translation (quoted by Wharton), the term "artless grace" + being implied but not expressed by Sappho. + + + +NOTE 54. PAGE 167 + +The remarkable range of Raphael in expression has been commented upon by +many critics, and practically all agree with Lanzi in his eloquent +summary[a]: + + There is not a movement of the soul, there is not a character of + passion known to the ancients and capable of being expressed in + art, that he (Raphael) has not caught, expressed, and varied in a + thousand different ways, and always within the bounds of + propriety.... His figures are passions personified; and love, hope, + fear, desire, anger, placability, humility, and pride, assume their + places by turns as the subject changes; and while the spectator + regards the countenances, the air, and the gestures of the figures, + he forgets that they are the work of art, and is surprised to find + his own feelings excited, and himself an actor in the scene before + him. + + [a] _History of Painting in Italy_, vol. i., Roscoe translation. + + + +NOTE 55. PAGE 169 + +This Pompeian fresco is supposed to be a copy of the picture of +Timanthes, but there is an ancient marble relief of the same subject at +Florence, the design of which is also said to have been taken from the +Grecian painter, though it differs considerably from the fresco. +Quintilian observes as to the work of Timanthes, that having rendered +Calchas sad, Ulysses still more sad, and Menelaus with the deepest +expression of grief possible in art, the painter could not properly +portray the countenance of Agamemnon, who as father of Iphigenia was +presumed to be the most deeply affected of all present, and so covered +his head, leaving the intensity of his suffering to be understood.[a] + + [a] _School of Oratory_, ii. + + + +NOTE 56. PAGE 172 + +The authenticity of the Boston example of Mona Lisa is still in dispute. +So far no serious objection to it has been brought forward, and there +are certain points in its favour, as the presence of the columns which +are reproduced in Raphael's sketch, and the bold brushwork of the +drapery where this can be distinguished. But there is another example of +the work in existence, and this fact, with the natural hesitation in +pronouncing definitely on so important a matter, will probably leave the +authenticity of the picture undecided for a long time. Meanwhile the +literature upon Mona Lisa is ever increasing, and some important facts +have been recently brought out. Amongst these is an announcement by A. +C. Coppier that the lady was not a Florentine, but a Neapolitan of the +Gheradini family, and that she was married in 1495, when eighteen years +of age.[a] She would therefore be twenty-seven years old in 1504 when +the picture which Raphael sketched is supposed to have been painted. But +the Mona Lisa in the Louvre was completed between 1515 and 1519; hence +there is much to ascertain as to the history of the work. + + [a] _Les Arts_, No. 145, 1914. + + + +NOTE 57. PAGE 172 + +The various suggestions that have been made as to the meaning of Mona +Lisa's smile, seem to have no other foundation than the fancies of +mystic minds. The smile has been called dangerous, sinister, ambiguous, +provocative, purposely enigmatic, significant of a loose woman, +expressive of sublime motherhood, reminiscent of Eastern intrigue, and +so on, the mildest criticism of this kind affirming that the smile will +ever remain an enigma. It is of course impossible for any meaning to be +put into a smile by the painter, other than that of pleasure. +Psychological suggestions are possible with the poet or novelist, but +not with the painter. If there be any enigma or mystery in a picture, +then the art is bad, for the work is incomprehensible, but there is no +problem to be solved in Mona Lisa's smile. It is not different from any +other smile except in degree, and of course in the quality appertaining +to the particular countenance. Lionardo, with his scientific turn of +mind, was not likely to attempt the impossible by trying to mix +psychology with paint. + + + +NOTE 58. PAGE 178 + +It is necessary to dissent from the conclusion of Lessing as to the +representation of ugliness by the poet. He says in referring to Homer's +portrayal of Thersites[a]: + + Why in the case of ugliness did he adopt a method from which he so + judiciously refrained in that of beauty? Does not a successive + enumeration of its compound parts diminish the effect of ugliness, + just as a similar enumeration of its parts destroys that of beauty? + Undoubtedly it does, but in this very fact lies Homer's + justification. For the very reason that ugliness in the poet's + description is reduced to a less repulsive appearance of bodily + imperfection, and in point of its effect ceases as it were to be + ugliness, the poet is enabled to make use of it. + +It is true that as he cannot present a particular form of beauty by +description, so the poet cannot describe an ugly countenance in such a +way that it may be pictured on the mind as a whole; but on the other +hand, as he can, by reference to its effect, or by imagery, present a +greater beauty than the painter can portray, so he may by similar means +suggest a more hideous form of ugliness. And apart from this, while a +detail in the description of a beautiful countenance is immaterial until +it is combined with other details, a detail of ugliness may in itself be +sufficient to render the countenance wholly repulsive to the reader. +Thus, if one said of a maid that her cheeks were a compound of the lily +and the rose, this would not necessarily imply that she was generally +beautiful; but if it were said of a man that he had a large bulbous +nose, we should consider him ugly whatever the character of his other +features. It was only necessary for Milton to refer to one or two +details of the figure of Sin, to throw upon our minds a form of +appalling ugliness.[b] + +A successive enumeration of its component parts, does not therefore +diminish the effect of ugliness, as Lessing claims, but increases it. On +the other hand a successive enumeration of the parts of beauty does not +destroy the beauty, but simply fails to represent it. + +The poet may use ugliness where the painter cannot, because his ugly +form does not dominate the scene, save for an instant or two, being +quickly subordinated by surrounding conditions of speech and action; +whereas the ugly figure of the painter is fixed for ever. Further, the +poet may surround his description of the ugly thing with beautiful +imagery and lofty sentiment, practically hiding the ugliness with a +cloak of beauty; but the painter can only depict the ugly thing as it +is, naked to the sight, without gloss or apology. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Ronnfeldt translation. + + [b] _Paradise Lost_, ii. + + + +NOTE 59. PAGE 190 + +It has been suggested that the foot of Hercules in this fine bronze was +placed upon the skull of an ox to indicate a successful hunt,[a] but +Hercules was a demigod, and so could not be connected in art with any +but a superhuman task or exploit. Moreover the only instance recorded in +mythological history where Hercules fought with an ox (unless the feat +of strength against the white bull of Augeas be called a fight), is that +of the Cretan bull, which was captured and not killed. There is no other +sculptured figure now known where a foot is placed on the skull of an +ox, but Pausanias records that he saw one in a temple of Apollo at +Patrae, the figure being that of the god himself.[b] Pausanias attributes +the motive of the design to Apollo's love of cattle. There is no doubt +about the significance of the Frick bronze. The skull of an ox, and +rams' heads are frequently found on ancient tombs, and acanthus leaves +were commonly used both in Greece and Rome as funereal signs, while the +base of the statuette, which is cast with the figure, is clearly +intended to represent an altar. It is noticeable that the form of +acanthus leaf used is Roman, suggesting that Pollaiuolo had access to +the reproductions of tomb inscriptions made to the order of Lorenzo de' +Medici. + +There is apparently no other existing design of a hero contemplating +death, but Lysippus carved several figures, now lost, of Hercules in a +sad or depressed mood. In the most celebrated of these, the demigod was +seated in a thoughtful attitude on a lion's skin, and it is possible +that this design was connected with the contemplation of death, because +it was produced in relief soon after the time of Lysippus, and later in +a Pompeian fresco, in both cases in the presence of Lichas, the bearer +of the poisoned garment. + + [a] Bode's Preface to the _Catalogue of the Morgan Bronzes_. + + [b] Pausanias, vii. + + + +NOTE 60. PAGE 192 + +The attempt of Ruskin to raise landscape to a high level in the art of +the painter[a] need scarcely be referred to here, so completely have his +arguments been refuted elsewhere. + +The authority of Alexander Humboldt has been sometimes quoted in support +of the assertion that landscape can appeal to the higher attributes, the +passage relied upon affirming that descriptive poetry and landscape +painting "are alike capable in a greater or lesser degree of combining +the visible and invisible in our contemplation of nature." But it is +clear from the whole references of the writer to these arts, that he +means nothing more by his statement than that a painting or descriptive +poem may, like an actual landscape, induce a feeling of wonder at the +powers of the original Cause of nature. The opinion of Humboldt upon the +position of landscape painting may be gathered from his definite +observation that it has "a more material origin and a more earthly +limitation than the art which deals with the human form."[b] + + [a] _Modern Painters_, vols i. and ii., and the preface to the second + edition of the work. + + [b] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. + + + +NOTE 61. PAGE 194 + +It is doubtful whether an artist can invent a form of tree which does +not exist in nature, without producing something of the character of a +monstrosity. From the point of view of dimensions, the two extreme forms +of trees used in painting, are represented in Raphael's Madonna with +the Goldfinch[a] as to the slender forms, and as to the giant trunks, in +two or three of Claude's pictures. The very beautiful trees of Raphael +have been often regarded as pure inventions, and Ruskin was actually +surprised that the artist did not delineate the "true form of the trees +and the true thickness of the boughs";[b] but as a matter of fact +precisely similar trees (a variety of ash) are to be found in the +valleys of the Apennines to this day. All the change that Raphael made +was to transport the trees from a sheltered spot to an open position. +Very similar trees are introduced in the same master's Apollo and +Marsyas.[c] Perugino was the first painter to use them, and in some of +his earlier works he made them of great height,[d] but he gradually +modified the form till he approached the perfect symmetry and delicacy +of Raphael's examples.[e] Marco Basaiti introduced them into at least +three of his pictures, and they are also to be found in works by Timoteo +della Viti and Francia.[f] Higher and equally slender trees have been +appropriately used by Antonio della Ceraiuolo,[g] and even by so late a +painter as Nicholas Poussin.[h] + + [a] Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + + [b] _Modern Painters_, vol. iv. + + [c] The Louvre. + + [d] Baptism of Christ, Perugia; and The Crucifixion, Florence. + + [e] The Deposition, Pitti Palace. + + [f] Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, Munich. + + [g] The Crucifixion, Florence Academy. + + [h] Diana sleeps in the Forest, Prado, Madrid. + + + +NOTE 62. PAGE 194 + +In noting the fact that the great landscape artist invents his designs, +Byron observes that nature does not furnish him with the scenes that he +requires, and adds[a]: + + Nature is not lavish of her beauties; they are widely scattered, + and occasionally displayed, to be selected with care, and gathered + with difficulty. + +Had Byron been a painter, he would have known that the trouble of the +artist is due to the over, and not the under, supply of beauty by +nature. The artist sees the beauty, but cannot identify it with +particular signs, and so has to invent a scene himself, using nature +only for sketches or ideas. + + [a] _Art and Nature._ + + + +NOTE 63. PAGE 200 + +"The force of natural signs," says Lessing, "consists in their +resemblance to the things they represent."[a] In a criticism upon the +second part of _Faust_, G. H. Lewes writes[b]: + + The forms which are his (the artist's) materials, the symbols which + are his language, must in themselves have beauty and an interest + readily appreciable by those who do not understand the occult + meaning. Unless they have this they cease to be art: they become + hieroglyphs. Art is picture painting, not picture writing. + +While this is generally true, beauty in the lesser signs of the poet is +of greater importance than in those of the painter, because a painting +is looked upon direct as a whole, while a poem has to be comprehended in +its parts before it can be properly considered as a whole. + + [a] Laocoon. + + [b] _Life of Goethe_, 2d edition. + + + +NOTE 64. PAGE 203 + +Although those of the fifteenth-century artists who treated landscape +seriously did not thoroughly understand perspective, yet they were +seldom at a loss in representing distance, that is, in the clear +atmosphere which they invariably used. They were diffident in attempting +distance with unbroken level country, and till quite the end of the +century there is no instance where middle and far distance are shown +together, even with the assistance of hilly ground. The almost +invariable practice of the leading painters who made landscape a feature +in their works, was to introduce water leading back from the foreground, +so that breaks therein could be used to indicate distance. More or less +numerous jutting forks of low lying land were thrown into the stream +from either side, this plan being successfully adopted in Italy,[a] +Flanders,[b] and Germany.[c] + +Early in the sixteenth century much improvement was made in the use of +water for providing distance, and a few of the Venetian painters gave +some consideration to aerial perspective, but the most perfect example +of this perspective in the period is contained in an early work of +Raphael.[d] In the background is a lake extending into a gradually +deepening haze, and in this a boat is so skilfully placed as to increase +considerably the apparent distance to the horizon. This picture is a +distinct advance upon the Venetian distance work of the time.[e] Later +on in the century an artist rarely introduced water into a view +specially to assist in producing distance by means of boats, more +advanced methods being adopted. Titian used sunlight effects with +varying shadows,[f] or alternating clear and wooded ground.[g] These +plans, and the use of water with the addition of trees and low hills,[h] +constitute the chief devices to be found in the late sixteenth-century +Italian pictures. Some of the sun effects rendered for distance purposes +even before Titian's best time are quite effective, though formal.[i] + + [a] See Piero di Cosimo's Death of Procris, National Gallery, London, + and Mars and Cupid, Berlin. + + [b] Van Eyck's Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, and Bout's + Adoration of the Magi. + + [c] Lucas Moser's Voyage of the Saints (1431), Tiefenbroun, Germany. + + [d] Central panel in a triptych of the Crucifixion, Hermitage, + Petrograd. This picture has been sometimes attributed to + Perugino, but it is unquestionably from the hand of Raphael. + + [e] See Titian's Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, Antwerp. + + [f] Charles V. at Muehlberg, Madrid. + + [g] Meeting of Joachim and Anna, Padua; and others. + + [h] Bronzino's Venus and Cupid, Uffizi, Florence. + + [i] Schiavone's Jupiter and Io, Hermitage. + + + +NOTE 65. PAGE 204 + +Lessing apparently overlooked the possibilities of landscape painting in +his dictum as to progressive actions. He writes[a]: + + If painting on account of the signs and means of imitation which it + employs, and which can only be combined in space, must entirely + renounce time, then progressive actions cannot, in so far as they + are progressive, be included in the number of its subjects, but it + must content itself with coexistent actions, or with mere bodies, + which on account of their position cause an action to be suspected. + +It is true that a series of progressive human actions cannot be included +in one painting, but progressive natural actions can be so included when +the progression is regular and repeated and the actions are clearly +separated to the eye. Although the painter can only depict a moment of +time, he can show the whole progression, which is not the case in a +series of human actions, as in the example quoted by Lessing, of +Pandarus arranging his bow, opening his quiver, choosing an arrow, and +so on. + +Strange to say, De Quincey, in an explanatory note to Lessing's +observations, also overlooks the movement of water broken by rocks, +though he refers specially to landscape painting. He says[b]: + + In the succession of parts which make up appearance in nature, + either the parts simply repeat each other (as in the case of a man + walking, a river flowing, etc.), or they unfold themselves through + a cycle, in which each step effaces the preceding, as in the case + of a gun exploding, where the flash is swallowed up by the smoke + effaced by its own dispersion. + +But for the purpose of the painter, the action of water breaking over +ledges and boulders does not correspond with the case of a man walking +or a river flowing, because the series of events forming the progression +in the case of the water breaking, cover such time and space that the +events can be distinctly separated by the eye. Clearly also this action +should not be included in De Quincey's second category, because the +repetition is both regular and (to all intents and purposes) perpetual. +There should therefore be a third category to comprise those repeated +progressive acts in which the events can be so separated by the eye as +to be portrayed on canvas in the order of their progression, and in such +a way that the whole progression, and the meaning of it, are at once +apparent. + + [a] _Laocoon_, Phillimore translation. + + [b] Essay on "Lessing." + + + + [Illustration: PLATE 29 (See page 329) + Greek Sculpture of Ariadne (_Vatican_)] + + + +NOTE 66. PAGE 208 + +Professor Clausen relates that Whistler told him that his object in +painting nocturnes was to try and exhibit the "mystery and beauty of the +night." It is obvious that Whistler was here confusing psychological +with visual impressions. The depth of gloom, the apparently limitless +dark void which the eye cannot penetrate, mean mystery in a sense, +because we can never accustom ourselves to the suggestion of infinity +involved in something which is boundless to the senses. A sensation of +the sublime may consequently arise, and this means beauty in a +psychological sense. But we are considering art and not psychology. +Where nothing is distinguished, nothing can be painted, and if there be +sufficient light for objects to be determined, there can be no mystery +for the painter. If he be desirous of representing Night, he must follow +the example of Michelangelo and symbolize it. + +It is curious that since the death of Whistler, a picture entitled +Mysteries of the Night has been painted by another American artist--J. +H. Johnston. A figure of a beautiful nude woman is standing on a rocky +shore in a contemplative attitude, with the moonlight thrown upon her. +The design is excellent, but the realistic modelling of the figure +effectually kills any suggestion of mystery. + + + +NOTE 67. PAGE 231 + +Vasari mentions that Michelangelo, though admiring the colour and manner +of Titian regretted that the Venetian painters did not pay more +attention to drawing in their studies.[a] In quoting this, Reynolds +observed[b]: + + But if general censure was given to that school from the sight of a + picture by Titian, how much more heavily and more justly would the + censure fall on Paolo Veronese, and more especially on Tintoretto. + +Reynolds himself rightly excluded Titian when he condemned the later +Venetian painters of the Renaissance for their exaggeration of colour, +and no doubt Titian was also exempted by J. A. Symonds in his trenchant +criticism of the work of this school. When dealing with the decline of +Lesbian poetry after the brilliant period of Sappho, he wrote[c]: + + In this the Lesbian poets were not unlike the Provencal + troubadours, who made a literature of love, or the Venetian + painters, who based their art on the beauty of colour, the + voluptuous charms of the flesh. In each case the motive of + enthusiastic passion sufficed to produce a dazzling result. But as + soon as its freshness was exhausted there was nothing left for art + to live on, and mere decadence to sensuality ensued. + + [a] _Life of Titian_. + + [b] Reynolds's Fourth Discourse. + + [c] _Studies of the Greek Poets_, vol. i. + + + +NOTE 68. PAGE 232 + +Sir George Beaumont relates of Reynolds[a]: + + On his return from his second tour over Flanders and Holland, he + observed to me that the pictures of Rubens appeared much less + brilliant than they had done on his former inspection. He could not + for some time account for this little circumstance; but when he + recollected that when he first saw them he had his notebook in his + hand for the purpose of writing down short remarks, he perceived + what had occasioned their now making a less impression than they + had done formerly. By the eye passing immediately from the white + paper to the picture, the colours derived uncommon richness and + warmth; but for want of this foil they afterwards appeared + comparatively cold. + + [a] Cunningham's _Lives of the British Painters_. + + + +NOTE 69. PAGE 249 + +Rodin[a] observes that in giving movement to his personages, the artist + + represents the transition from one pose to another--he indicates + how insensibly the first glides into the second. In his work we + still see a part of what was, and we discover a part of what is to + be. + +Rodin points to Rude's fine statue of Marshal Ney, and practically says +that here the illusion is created by a series of progressive actions +indicated in the attitude: the legs remaining as they were when the +sword was about to be drawn, and the hand still holding the scabbard +away from the body, while the chest is being thrown out and the sword +held aloft. Thus the sculptor + + compels, so to speak, the spectator to follow the development of an + act in an individual. The eyes are forced to travel upwards from + the lower limbs to the raised arm, and as in so doing they find the + different parts of the figure represented at successive instants, + they have the illusion of beholding the movement performed. + +Rodin himself has followed a similar course with much success. The +ancient Greek sculptors, when representing a figure in action, +invariably chose a moment of rest between two progressive steps in the +action. The Discobolus and Marsyas of Myron, and particularly the +Atalanta in the Louvre, are fine examples. + + [a] _Art, by Auguste Rodin_, compiled by Paul Gsell, 1916. + + + +NOTE 70. PAGE 250 + +Mengs, in referring to the arrangement of the drapery in Raphael's +figures, says[a]: + + With him every fold has its proper cause; either in its own weight + or in the motion of the limbs. Sometimes the folds enable us to + tell what has preceded; herein too Raphael has endeavoured to find + significance. It can be seen by the position of the folds, whether + an arm or a leg has been moved forwards or backwards into the + attitude which it actually occupies; whether a limb has been, or is + being, moved from a contracted position into a straightened one, or + whether it was extended at first and is being contracted. + + [a] _The Works of Anton Raphael Mengs_, vol. ii., D'Azara translation. + + + +NOTE 71. PAGE 258 + +Besides assisting in providing an illusion, the title of a picture may +lend great additional interest to it. Thus in Millet's The Angelus the +associations called up by the title act most powerfully on the mind, and +one almost listens for the sound of the bell.[a] A work of a +similar character is Bonvin's Ave Maria, where the nuns of a convent are +answering the call[b]; and Horace Walker has a picture with the same +title, in which a boy who is driving cattle, stops in front of a +Crucifix by the wayside[c]. An excellent example of this added interest +is the title of Turner's great picture of the _Temeraire_,[d] as to +which R. Phillimore writes[e]: + + It is not difficult to imagine the picture of an old man-of-war + towed by a steam tug up a river. The execution of such a subject + may deserve great praise and give great satisfaction to the + beholder. But add to the representation the statement that it is + "The fighting Temeraire towed to her last berth, " and a series of + the most stirring events of our national history fills our + imagination. + + [a] The Louvre. + + [b] The Luxembourg. + + [c] Corcoran Gallery, Washington. + + [d] National Gallery, London. + + [e] Preface to translation of Lessing's _Laocoon_. + + + +NOTE 72. PAGE 261 + +There is an antique sculptured group in the Vatican in which a precisely +similar figure of the son of Niobe has his left hand on the shoulder of +his sister who has fallen to her knees from the effect of a wound, and +it is very reasonably suggested that the Florence figure originally +formed part of a like group. But the explanation of the act given by +Perry[a] and others, that the drapery was raised by the brother to +shield the girl, will scarcely hold good, as the folds are spread out at +the back, forming a concavity, whereas they would fall loosely if the +youth were resting. Apart from this, his legs are widely separated, and +in a running position. It may therefore be surmised that in the Vatican +group the artist intended to represent the precise moment when the +fleeing youth reached his sister. + + [a] _Greek and Roman Sculpture._ + + + +NOTE 73. PAGE 270 + +It is curious that among the countless pictures of the Annunciation, in +very few indeed has surprise been expressed in the countenance and +attitude of the Virgin, though it is impossible to imagine an incident +more properly calling for profound astonishment on the part of the +principal personage in a composition, even in the absence of startling +miraculous accessories such as that introduced by Rossetti. Probably the +reason for this is connected with the difficulty of expressing great +surprise unaccompanied with some other feeling, as pleasure, or sorrow, +or fear, but there does not seem to be any cause why an exalted joyful +excitement should not be exhibited. Mrs. Jameson thinks that the Virgin +should not appear startled, as She was "accustomed to the perpetual +ministry of Angels who daily and hourly attended on Her,"[a] but it is +questionable whether this can be properly assumed by the artist, and in +any case from the point of view of art, the action should correspond +with the nature of the event as it is generally understood. Of the few +masters who have indicated surprise in an Annunciation picture, +Tintoretto has gone the farthest. He shows the Virgin with Her lips +parted, and both hands held up, evidently with astonishment,[b] an +example followed by Paris Bordone.[c] Raphael in an early picture +represents Her holding up one hand, but the attitude might signify the +reception of an announcement of importance.[d] Perugino shows Her with +both hands raised, but otherwise She appears unconcerned.[e] A few other +artists, including Venusti and Foppa, and among modern men, Girodet, +adopt Raphael's method of composition. Rubens goes a step farther, and +represents the Virgin apparently standing back with surprise, though +this is only faintly suggested by the facial expression.[f] + + [a] _Legends of the Madonna._ + + [b] Scuolo di San Rocoo, Venice. + + [c] Sienna Gallery. + + [d] The Vatican. + + [e] Santa Maria Nouvo, Perugia. + + [f] Vienna Gallery. + + + + +INDEX OF SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, AND WORKS OF ART + + +NOTE.--The Schools to which the earlier Italian painters belonged are +given in brackets. + + +A + + Adam, Franz, 1815-1886, German + --Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, 257 + + Aivasovsky, I. K., 1817-1900, Russian, 205 + + Albani, Francesco, 1578-1660, Italian, 163 + --Toilet of Venus, 118 + + Albertinelli, Mariotto, 1467-1512, Italian [Florentine] + --The Salutation, 243 + + Alcamenes, fifth century B.C., Greek, 304 + + Altdorfer, A., 1480 (_c._)-1538, German + --The Nativity, 268 + + Aman, Jean, 1860-, French + --Sorbonne panels, 254 + + Ancher, Anna K., 1859-, Danish + --The Funeral, 189 + + Andreani, A., 1540-1623, Italian, 257 + + Angelico, Fra (Giovanni da Fiesole), 1387-1455, + Italian [Florentine], 17, 101 + + Antico (Pier Giacomo Ilario), worked late 15th and early 16th century, + Italian, 326 + + Antonella da Messina, 1421 (_c._)-1493, Italian [Venetian] + --Crucifixion, 243 + + Antonio del Ceraiolo, worked first half sixteenth century, + Italian [Florentine], 345 + + Apelles, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10, 44 + --Venus Anadyomene, 113, 330, Plate 4; + Alexander in the character of Jupiter, 209 + + Avercamp, Hendrick van, 1585-1663, Dutch, 292 + + +B + + Bartolommeo da Bagnacavallo (Bart. Ramenghi), 1484-1542, + Italian [Bolognese] + --Holy Family, 103 + + Bartolommeo, Fra (Baccio della Porta, or Bart. di Pagholo), 1475-1517, + Italian [Florentine] + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 265 + + Bartolozzi, Francesco, 1725-1815, Italian, 164 + + Basaiti, Marco, died after 1521, Italian [Venetian] + --The Dead Christ, 93; + Calling of the Children of Zebedee, 93; + Christ on the Mount of Olives, 243 + + Baschenis, Evaristo, 1617-1677, Italian, 247 + + Battistello (Giovanni Battista Caracciolo), 1580-1641, Italian, 17 + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 271 + + Bellano, Bartolommeo, 1430-1498, 327 + + Benjamin-Constant, J. J., 1845-1902, French, 184 + + Benoit-Levy, Jules, 1866-, French + --Morning of July 4, 1789, 253 + + Berghem, Nicholas (or Berchem), 1620-1683, Dutch, 47, 292 + + Bernadino da Conti, died 1525, Italian [Venetian] + --Virgin and Child, 245 + + Bernini, G. L., 1598-1669, Italian, 31, 33 + + Berritini, Pietro, 1596-1669, Italian, 31 + + Bertoldo di Giovanni, 1420 (_c._)-1491, Italian, 327 + + Bischop, C, 1630-1674, Dutch, 292 + + Blyhooft, Z., 1622 (_c._)-1698, Dutch, 292 + + Boecklin, A., 1827-1901, German, 208 + --Vita Somnium breve, 180; + Pieta, 170 + + Boltraffio, G. A., 1467-1516, Italian [Milanese] + --Virgin and Child, 103 + + Bonfiglio, Benedetto, 1420-1496 (_c._) Italian [Perugian] + --Virgin and Child, 103 + + Bonheur, Rosa, 1822-1899, French + --Ploughing in Nivernois, 256 + + Bordone, Paris, 1500-1570, Italian [Venetian] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Both, Andries, 1609-1644, Flemish, 47 + + Both, Jan, 1610 (_c._)-1652, Flemish, 47 + + Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filippi), 1444-1510, + Italian [Florentine] 96 + --Pieta, 169; + Nativity, 269; + Reposing Venus, 117; + Athena and the Centaur, 124 + + Boucher, Francois, 1704-1770, French + --Louvre Portrait, 173; + Sleeping Venus, 118; + Birth of Venus, 268 + + Bough, S., 1822-1878, British + --Borrowdale, 204 + + Bouguereau, A. W., 1825-1905, French + --Assumption of the Virgin, 267; + Une ame au Ciel, 267; + Birth of Venus, 115; + Aurora, 271; + Twilight, 271; + The Lost Pleiad, 269 + + Bouts, Dirk, 1400-1475, Flemish + --Adoration of the Magi, 347 + + Braquemond, J. F., 1833-, French, 285 + + Bramantino (Bartolommeo Suardi), 1468-(_c._) 1530, Italian [Milanese] + --Christ, 93; + Virgin and Child, 103 + + Breton, Jules, 1827-1906, French + --Cry of Alarm, 253 + + Breughel, Jan, 1569-1642, Flemish, 46 + + Breughel, Pieter, 1528-1569, Flemish, 90 + + Bril, Paul, 1554-1626, Flemish, 46 + + Bronzino (Angelo Allori), 1502-1572, Italian [Florentine] + --Venus and Cupid, 348 + + Brown, Arnesby, 1866-, British + --The Drove, 257 + + Burne-Jones, E. B., 1833-1898, British + --Annunciation, 270; + Golden Stairs, 252; + Dies Domini, 93 + + +C + + Cabanel, Aexandre, 1823-1889, French + --Venus Anadyomene, 115 + + Calamis, fifth century B.C., Greek, 9 + + Canaletto (Antonio Canale), 1697-1768, Italian, 47 + + Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822, Italian + --L'Amour et Psyche, 191 + + Cappelle, Jan van de, 1624(_c._)-1679, Dutch, 46 + + Carracci, Agostino, 1558-1601, Italian, 31 + + Carracci, Annibale, 1560-1609, Italian, 31 + + Carracci, Ludovico, 1555-1619, Italian, 31 + + Caravaggio, M. (Michelangelo Amerighi), 1569-1609, Italian, 17, 246 + + Cavalori, Mirabello, middle sixteenth century, Italian [Florentine] + --The Carpet Weavers, 252 + + Cellini, Benvenuto, 1500-1571, Italian, 17, 323 + + Cephisodostos, early fourth century B.C., Greek + --Irene and Pluto, 101 + + Cezanne, Paul, 1839-1906, French, 37, 288 + + Chardin, J. S., 1699-1779, French, 173, 247 + + Chartier, H., 1870 (_c._)-, French + --Jena, 256; + Hanan, 256 + + Chase, W. M., 1849-1916, American + --Master Roland, 165 + + Cignani, Carlo, 1628-1719, Italian, 32, 164 + + Cimabue, Giovanni, 1240 (_c._)-1302, Italian [Florentine] 92, 95, 283 + --Virgin and Child, 101 + + Cipriani, G. B., 1727-1785, Italian, 164 + + Claude Lorraine (Claude Gelee), 1600-1682, + French, 17, 30, 47, 195, 198, 201, 283 + --Arcadian Landscape, Plate 17 + + Clausen, George, 1852-, British, 284, 349 + + Cogniet, L., 1794-1880, French. + --Tintoretto Painting his Dead Daughter, 191 + + Colton, W. R., 1867-, British + --Royal Artillery Memorial, 253 + + Constable, John, 1776-1837, British, 48, 195, 208 + + Copley, J. S., 1737-1815, American + --Death of Chatham, 190 + + Corenzio, Bellisario, 1588 (_c._)-1643, Greek, 17 + + Cornelius, Peter, 1783-1867, German + --Let there be Light, 267 + + Correggio (Antonio Allegri), 1494-1534, + Italian [Parma], 43, 69, 102, 108, 142 + --Vice, 179; + Virtue, 179; + Mercury instructing Cupid, 130; + Madonna and Child with Saints (Parma), 268; + Parma frescoes, 229 + + Costa, Lorenzo, 1460-1535, Italian [Ferrarese] + --Coronation of the Virgin, 102; + Cupid crowning Isabella d'Este, 225 + + Cosway, Richard, 1742-1821, British, 164 + + Cot, P. A., 1837-1883, French + --The Storm, 210 + + Courbet, G., 1819-1877, French + --Funeral at Ornans, 189 + + Coypel, Antoine, 1661-1742, French, 163 + + Coypel, Noel, 1628-1707, French, 163 + + Crivelli, Carlo, 1440 (_c._)-1496, Italian (Venetian) + --Coronation of the Virgin, 264 + + Crome, John, 1769-1821, British, 208 + + Cuyp, Albert, 1605-1691, Dutch, 203, 245 + + +D + + Dalsgaard, Christen, 1824-, Danish + --The Child's Coffin, 189 + + Damophon, second century B.C., Greek, 122 + + Danby, F., 1793-1861, British, 209 + + Dehodencq, E. A., 1822-1882, French + --Bohemians returning from a Fete, 253 + + Delacroix, E. V. E., 1798-1863, French, 278 + + Delaroche, Paul (Hippolyte Delaroche), 1797-1856, French + --Death of Queen Elizabeth, 190 + + Demont-Breton, V., 1859-, French + --The Divine Apprentice, 321 + + Diaz, N., 1807-1876, French + --Descent of the Bohemians, 253 + + Dolci, Carlo, 1616-1686, Italian + --Christ Blessing, 175 + + Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), 1581-1641, Italian, 19 + --St. Cecilia, 176; + St. Paul's Vision, 265 + + Donatello (Donate di Betto Bardi), 1385 (_c._)-1466, + Italian, 30, 101, 108, 325 + + Doomer, Lambert, 1647 (_c._)-1694, Dutch, 292 + + Dore, Gustave, 1832-1883, French + --Creation of the Earth, 265; + Samson Slaying the Philistines, 252 + + Dossi, Dosso, 1479-1552, Italian [Ferrarese] + --Muse instructing a Court Poet, 175; + Nymph and Satyr, 175 + + Dow, Gerard, 1613-1675, Dutch, 46, 248 + --The Dentist, 176 + + Duccio, Boninsegna di, 1260 (_c._)-1340, Italian [Siennese], 280 + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Dumont, Jacques (Le Romain), 1701-1781, French + --Madame Mercier and Family, 173 + + Duerer, Albrecht, 1474-1528, German, 45 + --The Virgin with a Canary, 264 + + Dyce, William, 1806-1864, British + --St. John leading the Virgin from the Tomb, 245 + + +E + + Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916, American + --Dr. Cross's Surgical Clinic, 185 + + Emmet, Lydia, 1866-, American + --Patricia, 247, Plate 23 + + Ercole di Roberti (E. di R. Grandi), 1470 (_c._)-1531, + Italian [Ferrarese] + --The Concert, 175 + + Everdingen, E. van, 1612-1675, Dutch, 204 + + +F + + Falconet, P. E., 1741-1791, French, 169 + + Ferrari, Gaudenzio, 1484-1549, Italian [Milanese] + --Madonna and Child, 173 + + Ferri C., 1634-1689, Italian + --David plans a Temple, 268 + + Feuerbach, A., 1828-1880, German + --Medea, 170 + + Filarete (Antonio Averlino), (_c._) 1399-1470, Italian, 327 + + Flaxman, John, 1755-1826, British, 130 + + Fontana, B. (G. B. Farinati), 1532-1592, Italian + --Vision of Resurrection, 267 + + Foppa, Vincenzo, 1427 (?)-1515, Italian [Milanese] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Fragonard, J. H., 1732-1806, French, 43, 283 + --The Pursuit, 139; + The Rendezvous, 335; + Souvenirs, 335; + The Lover Crowned, 335; + The Abandonment, 335; + Venus Awakened by Aurora, 118 + + Francesco da Cotignola (F. dei Zaganelli), worked early sixteenth + century, Italian [Parma] + --Adoration of the Shepherds, 265 + + Francia (Francesco Raibolini), 1450-1517, Italian [Bolognese], 332 + --Madonna and Child in Glory, 266; + Madonna and Child in a Rose Garden, 345 + + Fries, Hans, (_c._) 1450-1520, German + --Virgin and Child with St. Anne, 103 + + Frith, W. P., 1819-1909, British + --Poverty and Wealth, 178 + + Fromentin, E., 1820-1886, French, 185 + --Couriers des Ooled Nayls, 257 + + +G + + Gaddi, Taddeo, 1300-1366, Italian [Florentine], 280 + + Gainsborough, T., 1727-1788, British, 160 + --Mrs. Leybourne, 174; + Lady Sheffield, 174 + + Genga, Girolamo, 1476-1551, Italian. + Magdalene with Saints, 266 + + Gericault, Jean Louis, 1791-1824, French + --Epsom, 257 + + Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 1381-1455, Italian, 324 + + Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494, Italian [Florentine], 30, 96 + --Old Man and Boy, 151; + Birth of St. John Baptist, 251; + Death of St. Francis, 144 + + Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo, 1483-1560, Italian [Florentine] + --Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 265 + + Gilbert, John, 1817-1897, British + --Slaying of Job's Sheep, 209 + + Giordano, Luca, 1632-1705, Italian, 32 + + Giorgio, Francesco di, 1439-1502, Italian [Siennese] + --Christ bereft of His clothes before the Crucifixion, 93 + + Giorgione (Giorgio Barbarelli), 1477-1510, + Italian [Venetian], 278, 283, 336 + --Adrastus and Hysipyle, 210, 225; + The Sleeping Venus, 116 + + Giotto (Giotto di Bondone), 1267 (_c._)-1337, + Italian [Florentine], 95, 108, 280, 283 + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Giovanni di Bologna (Jean de Douai), 1524-1608, French or Flemish, 323 + --Mercury, 129 + + Girodet de Roncy, A. L., 1767-1842, French + --Burial of Atala, 191; + Annunciation, 355 + + Girolamo da Libri, 1472-1555, Italian [Venetian] + --Virgin and Child, 244 + + Gouthiere, Pierre, 1740-1806, French, 323 + + Goyen, Jan van, 1596-1656, Dutch + --View of The Hague, 195 + + Granacci, Francesco, 1477-1544, Italian [Florentine] + --The Virgin giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 267 + + Grant, Francis, 1803-1878, British + --Countess of Chesterfield and Mrs. Anson, 245 + + Greco, El (Dominico Theotocopuli), 1547 (_c._)-1614, Greek, 19 + + Grien, Hans Baldung, 1480-1545, German + --The Three Ages, 180; + Sacred and Profane Love, 182; + Pictures representing Death, 186 + + Gros, A. J., 1771-1835, French + --The Combat of Nazareth, 256; + Timoleon of Corinth, 170 + + Guardi, Francesco, 1712-1793, Italian + --Regatta on the Grand Canal, 252 + + Guercino (G. F. da Cento), 1590-1666, Italian + --Martyrdom of St. Peter, 265 + + Gutherz, C, 1844-1907, Swiss + --"They shall bear thee up," 267 + + +H + + Hacker, A., 1858-, British + --The Cry of Egypt, 170 + + Hals, Franz, 1580-1666, Dutch, 155, 248, 336 + --The Laughing Cavalier, 177; + Stephanus Gereardts, 337; + Isabella Coymans, 337; + Lady with a Fan, 337; + Willem van Heythuysen, 337; + Merry Company at Table, 175 + + Hanneman, Adrian, 1611-1680, Dutch + --Constantine Huygens and Children, 248 + + Heim, F. J., 1787-1865, French, 184 + + Henneberg, R. F., 1825-1876, German + --Race for Fortune, 187 + + Hobbema, M., 1638-1709, Dutch, 46, 49, 202 + --Landscape, Plate 18 + + Hoet, G., 1648-1733, Dutch + --Translation of Enoch, 269 + + Hogarth, W., 1697-1764, British, 225, 282 + + Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543, German, 283 + --The Barber Surgeons, 220; + Holy Family, 103; + The Ambassadors, 40, 157; + Virgin and Child, 263 + + Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910, American + --All's Well, 176, Plate 15 + + Hoppner, John, 1758-1810, British, 161 + + Humphrey, Ozias, 1742-1810, British, 164 + + Hunt, W. H., 1827-1910, British + --Shadow of the Cross, 321; + The Scapegoat, 227 + + +I + + Ingres, J. A. D., 1780-1867, French + --Oath of Louis XIII., 264; + [OE]dipus and the Sphinx, 186; + Birth of Venus, 115 + + Innes, George, 1825-1894, American + --Niagara Falls, 211 + + +J + + Johnstone, J. H., 1857-, American + --Mysteries of the Night, 350 + + +K + + Kampf, Arthur, 1864-, German + --Night of March 31, 1888, 189 + + Kauffmann, Maria Angelica, 1741-1807, German, 164 + + Kaulbach, W. von, 1805-1874, German + --Marguerite, 170 + + Keyser, Thomas de, 1596 (_c._)-1679, Dutch + --Lesson in Anatomy, 185 + + Kulmbach, Hans (Hans Suess), 1476 (_c._)-1522, German + --Entombment of St. Catherine, 263 + + +L + + Lancret, Nicolas, 1660-1743, French, 180 + + Lard, F. M., late nineteenth century, French + --Glory Forgets not Obscure Heroes, 191 + + La Touche, G., 1854-1913, French, 285 + --Firework pictures, 213 + + La Tour, Maurice Q., 1704-1788, French + --Madame de la Popeliniere, 174; + Mdlle. Camargo, 174; + Madame de Pompadour, 174 + + Latour, I. H. Fantin, 1836-1904, French, 285 + + Lawrence, Thomas, 1769-1830, British, 161, 224 + + Le Brun, Charles, 1619-1690, French, 163 + --Death of Cato, 191 + + Leighton, F., 1830-1896, British + --Captive Andromache, 171 + + Leoni, Leone, died 1590, Italian, 323 + + Le Sueur, E., 1616-1655, French, 163 + --Venus reposing, 118; + The Virgin appearing to St. Martin, 261 + + Levy, H. L., 1840-1904, French + --Young Girl and Death, 191 + + Liberale di Verona, 1452-1519, Italian [Veronese] + --Magdalene with Saints, 265 + + Lionardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, + Italian [Milanese], 16, 18, 30, 96, 172, 283, 325 + --The Last Supper, 69, 93; + Mona Lisa (Paris), 151, 242, 341 + --(formerly Boston), 242, 340; + Litta Madonna, 240, Plate 21; + Virgin and Child with St. Anne, 172, 243 + + Lippi, Filippo, 1406-1469, Italian [Florentine], 96 + --Virgin and Child, 103, 251 + + Loefftz, L., 1845-, German + --The Dead Christ, 171 + + Longepied, L., 1849-1888, French + --Immortality, 191 + + Longhi, Pietro, 1702-1762, Italian, 31 + + Lorenzetto, P., first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese] + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Lotto, Lorenzo, 1480-1556, Italian [Venetian] + --Three Ages of Man, 179; + Triumph of Chastity, 226 + + Luca di Tome, first half fourteenth century, Italian [Siennese], 261 + + Luini, Aurelio (A. del Lupino), 1530-1593, Italian [Milanese], 288 + + Luini, Bernadino (B. del Lupino), 1475 (_c._)-1536, Italian [Milanese] + --Entombment of St. Catherine, 263; + Salome, 173 + + Lux, H. L., late nineteenth century, French + --Sarpedon, 268 + + Lysippus, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10 + --Hercules in depressed mood, 344 + + +M + + Mainardi, S., died about 1515, Italian [Florentine] + --Madonna giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 261 + + Maitre de Flemelle (Robert Campin), 1375 (_c._)-1444, + French or Flemish, 93, 170 + + Manet, Edouard, 1832-1883, French, 286 + --Boy with a Sword, 165; + Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, 181; + Olympia, 287 + + Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506, Italian [Paduan] + --The Infant Christ, 102; + Virgin and Child, 175 + + Margaritone of Arezzo, 1216-1293, Italian [Tuscan], 279 + + Maratta, Carlo, 1625-1713, Italian, 33, 284 + + Martin, John, 1789-1854, British + --Plague of Hail, 210; + Destruction of Pharaoh, 210; + "I have Set My Bow in the Cloud," 210 + + Masaccio (Tommaso Guidi), 1402-1429, Italian [Florentine], 283, 322 + --The Madonna enthroned, 104; + Tribute Money, 250 + + Matisse, Henry, 1876-, French, 37 + + Matsys, Quentin, 1463 (_c._)-1530, Flemish, 93 + + Meissonier, J. L. E., 1815-1891, French + --1814, 256 + + Mengs, Anton R., 1728-1779, German, 352 + --St. John Baptist Preaching, 175 + + Menzel, A., 1815-1905, German + --Market Place in Verona, 252; + Iron Mill, 252 + + Meyer, K., 1618-1689, Swiss, 179 + + Michelangelo Buonarotti, 1475-1564, + Italian [Florentine, Roman], 10, 13, 16, 18, 19, 30, 43, 69, + 92, 229, 260, 233, 350 + --Holy Family (Florence), 182; + Last Judgment, 90, 93; + Reposing Venus, 117; + Leda, 320; + Night, 320; + San Lorenzo Madonna, 320; + Bargello Madonna, 320; + Pieta, 320; + Moses, 320; + Bacchus, 132; + St. Stephen, 93; + Creation of Adam, Plate 24 + + Mignard, Pierre, 1610-1695, French, 163 + + Millais, J. E., 1829-1896, British + --The Carpenter's Shop, 321 + + Millet, J. F., 1814-1875, French + --The Angelus, 352 + + Molyn, P., 1592(_c._)-1661, Dutch, 292 + + Monet, C. J., 1840-, French, 286 + + Montagna, B., 1450(_c._)-1523, Italian [Venetian] + --The Virgin Enthroned, 102 + + Moro, Antonio, 1512-1575, Flemish + --Catilina of Portugal, 159; + Maria of Austria, 159 + + Morot, A. N., 1850-, French + --Reichsoffen, 256 + + Moser, Lucas, first half fifteenth century, German + --Voyage of the Saints, 347 + + Murillo, B. E., 1618-1682, Spanish, 19, 163 + --Holy Family, 103; + Ascension of Christ, 260; + Immaculate Conception pictures, 266 + + Myron, fifth century B.C., Greek, 9, 249 + --Discobolus, 352; + Marsyas, 331, 352 + + +N + + Nattier, J. M., 1685-1766, French, 164 + --Madame Louise, 173 + + +O + + Orcagna (Andrea di Cione), 1308(_c._)-1370, Italian [Florentine] + --Assumption of the Virgin, 261 + + Orchardson, W. Q., 1835-1907, British + --The Borgia, 189 + + +P + + Palma Giovane (Jacopo Palma), 1544-1628, Italian [Venetian] + --Christ in Judgment, 264 + + Palma Vecchio (Jacopo Palma), 1480(_c._)-1528, Italian [Venetian] + --Reposing Venus, 117; + Assumption, 266 + + Parmigiano (Francesco Mazzuoli), 1504-1540, Italian [Parma] + --Madonna and Child with Saints, 103 + + Pedrini, Giovanni (Giampietrino), late fifteenth and early sixteenth + centuries, Italian [Milanese] + --Madonna, 173 + + Perronneau, J. B., 1715-1783, French + --Madame Olivier, 173 + + Perugino, Pietro (Pietro Vanucci), 1446-1524, + Italian [Umbrian], 17, 332 + --Christ's Rule, 264; + Deposition, 345; + Assumption of the Virgin, 262; + Ascension, 262, 263; + Baptism of Christ, 345; + Madonna with Child and Penitents, 264; + Annunciation, 354; + Crucifixion (Florence), 345 + + Phidias, fifth century B.C., Greek, 7, 10, 44, 57, 91, 108, 122, 328 + --Olympian Zeus, 68; + Parthenon Athena, 68, 123 + + Picart, B., 1673-1733, French + --The Burning Coal, 262 + + Piero di Cosimo (Piero Rosselli or Piero di Lorenzo), 1462-1521, + Italian [Florentine], 322 + --Marsyas and the Pipes of Athena, 124, 225, 331; + Death of Procris, 347; + Mars and Cupid, 347 + + Pinturicchio, B., 1454-1513, Italian [Umbrian], 332 + + Pisano, Giovanni, fourteenth century, Italian + --Madonna and Child, 101 + + Pisano, Giunto, first half thirteenth century, Italian + --Christ and the Virgin, 261 + + Pisano, Niccolo, 1206 (_c._)-1278, Italian + --Infant Christ, 108 + + Pissarro, C., 1830-1903, French, 286 + + Polidoro da Caravaggio (Polidoro Caldara), died 1543, + Italian [Neapolitan], 169 + + Pollaiuolo, Antonio (A. di Jacopo Benci), 1429-1498, + Italian [Florentine], 327 + --Hercules contemplating death, 190, Plate 16, 343 + + Polyclitus, fifth century B.C., Greek + --Hera, 120 + + Polygnotus, fifth century B.C., Greek + --Frescoes from Homer, 69 + + Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), 1493-1558, Italian [Florentine], 142 + --Venus Reposing, 117 + + Potter, Paul, 1625-1654, Dutch, 203, 245 + + Poussin, Gaspar (Gaspar Dughet), 1613-1675, French, 195 + + Poussin, Nicholas, 1594-1665, French, 16, 30, 47, 163, 195 + --Jonah cast into the sea, 210; + Assumption of the Virgin, 267; + St. Francis Xavier, 261; + Vision of St. Paul, 267; + Venus Reposing, 117; + Adam and Eve, 265; + Diana Sleeps in the Forest, 345; + Descent from the Cross, 168 + + Poynter, E. J., 1836-, British + --Building the Treasure City, 253 + + Praxiteles, fourth century B.C., Greek, 7, 10, 13, 44, 136, 328 + --The Cnidian Aphrodite, 112, 329; + Hermes and the Infant Bacchus, 101, 109, 129 + + Prevost, Jean, died 1529, French + --Old Man and Death, 186 + + Prudhon, P. P. 1758-1823, French + --Crucifixion, 170; + Abduction of Psyche, 266 + + +R + + Raeburn, Henry, 1756-1823, British, 161 + --The Farmer's Wife, 174; + Mrs. Lauzun, 174; + Mrs. Balfour, 174; + Dr. N. Spens, 166 + + Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), 1473-1520, + Italian [Umbrian, Florentine, Roman], 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 28, + 43, 57, 69, 92, 108, 125, 137, 142, 167, 229, 283 + --God Appearing to Isaac, 261; + God Separating Water from Earth, 261; + Creation of the Sun and Moon, 261; + Transfiguration, 251; + Julius II., 40, 151, 289; + School of Athens, 144; + Parnassus, 125; + Prophets and Sybils, 243, 263; + Foligna Madonna, 263; + Creation of Woman, 263; + Maddalena Doni, 242; + Angelo Doni, 242; + Study from Mona Lisa, 242; + The Redeemer, 243; + Madonna and Child (Bridgewater), 102; + Madonna and Child with St. John (Berlin), 102; + Holy Family (Madrid), Deliverance of St. Peter, 251; + Fire at the Borgo, 251; + Flight of Lot and his Family, 251; + Crucifixion, 347; + Moses Striking the Rock, 251; + Saint Cecilia, 176; + Saint Sebastian, 243; + Venus Anadyomene, 113; + Christ Blessing, 93; + Casa Tempi Madonna, 173; + Cowper Madonna, 173; + Leo N. and the Cardinals Medici, 157; + Fornarina, 173; + Portrait of a Young Man, 173; + Mercury and Psyche, 129; + St. Margaret, 250, Plate 26; + Annunciation, 354; + Apollo and Marsyas, 125, 332, 345; + Virgin with a Goldfinch, 173, 345; + Sistine Madonna, 230 + + Ravestyn, Jan van, 1572-1657, Dutch, 158 + + Redon, O., died 1917, French + --Death, the Friend, 188 + + Regnault, H., 1843-1871, French + --Automedon and the Horses of Achilles, 256, Plate 28 + + Rembrandt van Ryn, H., 1606-1669, Dutch, 20, 21, 152, 160, 283, 289 + --Rembrandt and Saskia, 177; + Angel quitting Tobias, 263; + Lesson in Anatomy, 185; + Lady with a Dog, 281; + Ascension of Christ, 266, 267; + Night Watch, 21; + Syndics of the Drapers, 281; + Portrait Young Man (Beit Coll.), 281; + do. (Wachtmeister Coll.), 281; + Martin Day, 150; + Machteld von Doorn, 150; + Samson menacing his father-in-law, 248 + + Reni, Guido, 1575-1642, Italian + --Assumption of the Virgin, 268 + + Rethel, A., 1816-1859, German + --Death at a Masked Ball, 187; + Death the Friend, 188 + + Reynolds, Joshua, 1723-1792, British, 142, 154, 160, 224, 282, 350 + --The Infant Hercules, 176; + Mrs. Siddons as Tragedy, 161; + Mrs. Billington as Cecilia, 161; + Hon. Lavinia Bingham, 174; + Mrs. Abington, 174; + Viscountess Crosbie, 166 + + Riccio (Andrea Briosco), 1470-1532, Italian, 323, 326 + + Ribera, Giuseppe, 1593-1656, Italian, 17 + + Rigaud, H., 1659-1743, French, 163 + --Louis XV. as a boy, 173 + + Robbia, Luca della, 1400-1482, Italian, 325 + + Robbia, Andrea della 1435-1525, Italian, 104 + + Roberts, David, 1796-1864, British + --The Israelites depart, 257 + + Rodin, A., 1840-1917, French, 249, 351 + --La Vieille Heaulmiere, 317 + + Roll, A. P., 1847-, French, 271 + + Romano, Giulio (G. Pippi), 1492-1546, Italian [Roman] + --Holy Family, 104 + + Romney, George, 1734-1802, British, 142, 161, 164 + --Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, 174; + William Booth, 174; + Mrs. Thomas Raikes, 165; + The Ladies Spencer, 166; + Mrs. Yates, 174; + Mrs. Tickle, 174 + + Rosa, Salvator, 1615-1673, Italian, 32 + --Samuel's Curse, 179 + + Rosalba (Rosalba Carriera), 1675-1757, Italian, 164 + + Roslin, A., 1718-1793, French, 173. + + Rossellino, Antonio, 1429-1479, Italian, 104 + + Rossetti, D. G., 1828-1882, British + --Annunciation, 270 + + Rubens, P. P., 1577-1640, Flemish, 16, 20, 30, 46, 152, 226, 283 + --Assumption of the Virgin (Dusseldorf), 266; + do. (Vienna), 266; + do. (Augsburg), 266; + do. (Brussels), 266; + Ascension (Vienna), 267; + do (Venice), 268; + Deity and Christ, 266; + Diana and Nymphs, 254, Plate 27; + Harvest Landscape (Munich), 211; + do. (Wallace Coll.), 211; + Virgin and Child (Rome), 262; + Birth of Venus, 115; + Landscape with a Rainbow, 211; + Shipwreck of Aeneas, 211; + Annunciation (Vienna), 355; + Landscape with Baucis and Philemon, 210; + Funeral of Decius, 188; + Boreas and Oreithyia, 260; + Landscape by Moonlight, 209; + Toilet of Venus, 118; + Christ on the Cross, 244; + Death of Seneca, 190; + The Four Philosophers, 157; + David's Last Song, 176; + Marie de' Medici series, 226 + + Rude, Francois, 1794-1855, French + --Marshal Ney, 351; + Marseillaise, 254 + + Ruysdael, Jacob, 1628 (_c._)-1682, Dutch, 49, 203, 208 + --The Rising Storm, 206, Plate 20; + Landscape with flowing water, 204, Plate 19; + The Marsh, 203 + + +S + + Sacchi, Andrea, 1600-1661, Italian, 164 + + Saint-Bonvin, F., 1817-1887, French + --Ave Maria, 353 + + Saint-Gaudens, A., 1848-1907, American + --Shaw Memorial Relief, 254 + + Salviati, F. (Francesco de Rossi), 1510-1563, Italian [Florentine] + --Justice, 179 + + Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti), 1486-1570, Italian, 323 + + Sarto, Andrea del (Andrea Agnolo), 1488-1530, + Italian [Florentine], 142 + --Holy Family (Hermitage), 104 + + Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battisto Salvi), 1605-1685, Italian, 164 + + Scheffer, Ary, 1795-1858, Dutch + --Temptation of Christ, 178 + + Schiavone, Andrea, 1462-1522, Italian [Venetian] + --Jupiter and Io, 348 + + Schnorr, J. von K., 1794-1872, German + --God's Promise to Abraham, 269 + + Schongauer, Martin, (_c._) 1445-1491, German, 45 + + Schonherr, C., nineteenth century, German + --Agony in the Garden, 265 + + Schreyer, Adolf, 1828-1899, German + --The Attack, 257 + + Schwind, M., 1804-1871, Austrian + --The Pleiads, 269, Plate 25; + Rainbow, 212; + Phantom in the Forest, 270 + + Scopas, fourth century B.C., Greek, 10 + --Demeter, 122, Plate 7 + + Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani), 1485-1547, + Italian [Venetian] + --Concert, 181 + + Signorelli, Luca, 1440 (_c._)-1521, Italian [Umbrian], 191 + --Portrait of a Man, 182; + Madonna and Child, 103, 264 + + Simson, William, 1800-1847, British, 245 + + Snyders, Frans, 1579-1677, Flemish, 216, 257 + + Sodoma, Il, (Giovanni A. Bazzi), 1477-1549, Italian [Siamese] + --Sacrifice of Abraham, 244 + + Steen, Jan, 1629-1679, Dutch + --Terrace Scene, 245 + + +T + + Tassaert, O., 1800-1874, French, 17 + --Assumption of the Virgin, 266 + + Teniers, David, 1610-1690, Dutch, 90 + + Terburg (or Terborch), Gerard, 1617-1681, Dutch, 46 + --Peace of Munster, 158 + + Thoma, Hans, 1839-, German + --Temptation of Christ, 187; + Cupid and Death, 178; + Sin and Death, 187; + Progress of the gods to Walhalla, 212; + Rainbow, 211; + View of Laufenburg, 204 + + Thomson, John, 1778-1840, British + --Fast Castle, 207; + Dunluce Castle, 207 + + Tiepolo, G. B., 1692-1769, Italian, 31 + + Timanthes, fourth century B.C., Greek + --Sacrifice of Iphigenia, 168, Plate 14, 339 + + Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), 1518-1594, Italian [Venetian], 261 + --Bacchus and Ariadne, 270; + Annunciation, 354; + Presentation of the Virgin, 243 + + Titian (Titiano Vecelli), 1477-1576, + Italian [Venetian], 13, 40, 108, 148, 152, 283, 336, 350 + --Assumption of the Virgin, 266; + Sacred and Profane Love, 138, 181; + Resurrection, 264; + Madonna of the Cherries, 102; + Meeting of Joachim and Anna, 102; + Three Ages of Man, 179; + Madonna with SS. Anthony and John, 104, 348; + Jacopo Pesaro presented to St. Peter, 347; + Paul III. with the two Brothers Farnese, 157, 164; + Reposing Venus (Uffizi), 116; + Venus Anadyomene, 115; + Aretino, 144; + Man with the Gloves, 151; + Duke of Alba, 144; + portraits of Philip II., 144; + Charles V. at Muehlberg, 149, 347; + portraits of his Daughter, 149; + Duke of Ferrara, 149; + Physician of Parma, 336; + Toilet of Venus, 118; + Christ on the Cross, 244; + Pharaoh's Host overwhelmed, 257; + self-portrait, 149; + Venus and the Organ Player, 166 + + Turner, J. M. W., 1775-1851, British, 16, 17, 201 + --Arundel Castle, 210; + The _Temeraire_ towed to her last berth, 353 + + +U + + Uhde, Fritz von, 1848-, German, 321 + --Cavalry going into action, 257; + Revenge, 187; + The Three Magi, 104 + + +V + + Van der Neer, A., 1619-1683, Dutch, 208 + + Van de Velde, W., 1633-1707, Dutch, 46 + + Van der Venne, A. P., 1589-1661, Dutch + --The Soul Fishery, 211 + + Van der Weyden, Roger, 1400 (_c._)-1464, Flemish, 93, 170 + + Van Dyck, Anthony, 1599-1641, Flemish, 142, 148, 157, 216 + --Four Ages, 180; + Christ on the Cross, 244, Plate 22; + Earl of Pembroke, 165; + Earl of Bedford, 150; + Philip le Roy, 165; + Henrietta Maria (Windsor), 150; + portrait of his Wife, 166; + Earl of Newport, 150; + Countess of Devonshire, 165 + + Van Eyck, Jan, 1385 (_c._)-1441, Flemish, 283 + --Virgin and Child at the Fountain, 263; + Arnolfini and his Wife, 40; + Chancellor Rollin before the Virgin, 347 + + Van Gogh, V., 1853-1890, Dutch, 37, 288 + + Velasquez, D. R. de Silva, 1599-1660, Spanish, 152 _et seq._, 283 + --Christ at the Column, 246; + Las Meninas, 155, 247; + Coronation of the Virgin, 266; + The Drinkers, 182; + The Three Musicians, 175; + The Breakfast, 155; + portraits of Philip IV., 153; + Olivares, 149; + Innocent X., 151; + Don Antonio el Ingles, 149; + Rokeby Venus, 119; + Surrender of Breda, 155; + Christ in the house of Martha, 155 + + Venusti, Marcello, died after 1579, Italian [Florentine] + --Annunciation, 354 + + Verestchagin, V., 1842-1904, Russian, 184 + + Vermeer, Jan (of Delft), 1632-1675, Dutch, 20 + + Vernet, E. J. Horace, 1789-1863, French + --La Smalah, 256 + + Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari), 1528-1588, + Italian [Venetian], 231, 286, 350 + + Verrocchio, Andrea del, 1435-1488, Italian, 325 + + Viti, Timoteo della, 1470-1523, Italian [Umbrian], 332, 345 + + +W + + Walker, Horatio, 1858-, American + --Ave Maria, 353 + + Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721, French, 278, 283 + --Embarkation for Cythera (Paris), 254; + do. (Berlin), 269 + + Watts, George F., 1817-1904, British + --Death, the Friend, 188, 191 + + West, Benjamin, 1738-1820, American + --Death of General Wolfe, 190 + + Whistler, J. A. McN., 1834-1903, American, 50, 349 + + Wiertz, A., 1806-1865, Belgian + --The Orphans, 189; + Things of the Past, 226 + + Wilson, Richard, 1714-1782, British, 48 + + Witt, J. H., 1840-1901, American + --Bless the Lord, 262 + + Wouverman, Philip, 1614-1670, Dutch, 203, 245 + + +Z + + Zurbaran, Francisco, 1598-1662, Spanish, 19 + + + + +GENERAL INDEX + + +A + + Actors in stage roles, portraits of, 223 + + Aerial perspective, Claude the first master of, 47; + its importance, 198; + method of producing, 200 + + Aesthetic systems, all of them untenable, 3, 274; + Carritt on, 274; + of Hegel, 277; + of Croce, 273 + + Ages of man, pictures contrasting the, 179 + + Allegorical painting, when secondary art, 225 + + Angel of Death in art, instances of, 191; + symbol of, 188 + + Angels, representation of, in aerial suspension and flight, 262, 266 + + Animal painting, in action, 255; + ideals in, not possible, 56 + + Annunciation, The, indication of surprise in expression, 270, 354 + + Apelles, his Venus Anadyomene, 113, 330; + epigrams on, 331 + + Aphrodite (_see_ Venus) + + Apollo, his representation in art, 124 + + Architecture, its position in the Fine Arts, 53; + imitative character of, 53, 294; + unconcerned with ideals, 58; + produces sensorial beauty only, 64; + simplicity its keynote, 75; + standard of judgment in, 75; + S. Colvin on, 292 + + Ares (_see_ Mars) + + Aristotle, on imitation in art, 215, 292; + on metrical form in poetry, 54, 296; + his division of the painter's art, 62; + his connection of morals with art, 314 + + Art, definition of, 1; + its mimetic character, 52; + sensorial beauty, first aim of, 72; + must deal chiefly with types, 55; + independent of social and political conditions, 4; + of psychological impulses, 8, 14; + great periods of, 8; + suggested evolution in, 7; + "Classic" and "Romantic," 278; + relation of, to nature, 55; + popular appreciation of, 74; + Grecian, cause of its decline, 10; + Italian Renaissance of, cause of its decline, 11; + limitation of sculpture and painting in, 81; + Tolstoy's definition of, 275; + ideals in (_see_ The Ideal in Art) + + Artemis (_see_ Diana) + + Artists, training necessary for, 25; + cause of variation in work of, 20; + reputations of great, 283; + as judges of works of art, 305 + + Arts (_see_ Fine Arts) + + Assent, Law of General, 72 _et seq._ + + Associated Arts, the arts associated, 53; + first law of the, 60; + highest art in, recognized by general opinion, 77; + ideals in, 58; + cannot properly be used for moral or social purposes, 82; + their method of producing beauty, 78 _et seq._; + limitations of, 80 + + Athena, her representation in art, 123 + + Atmospheric effects, limitations in producing, 202; + exceptional phases, 202 + + +B + + Bacchus, his representation in art, 131 + + Barbizon School, anticipated by Dutch masters, 291; + sketches of the, of little importance, 290; + use of heavy gilt frames for works of the, 291 + + Beauty, definitions of, unsatisfactory, 2, 59; + alleged objectivity of, 2; + highest form of, 72; + unconnected with philosophy, 2; + first law of, in the Associated Arts, 60; + ideal, 86; + kinds of, in the arts, 4, 60, 273; + degrees of, in the arts generally, 60, in painting, 83; + sensorial (or emotional), 60, 72; + intellectual (or beauty of expression), 2, 273; + of form, 273; + of color, 228 _et seq._; + methods of producing, 78; + as the "expression of emotion," 275; + Longinus on the highest, 73; + standard of judgment of, in poetry, 77, + in sculpture, 77, + in painting, 77, + in architecture, 75, + in fiction, 77, + in landscape, 194, + in still-life, 214, + in secondary art, 219 _et seq._; + general agreement in respect of, 86 + + Bon Dieu d'Amiens, Ruskin on, 319; + Farrar on, 319; + corresponds with certain Greek art, 319, Plate 2 + + Brevity in expression, highest beauty in poetry, marked by, 65 + + Broad style of painting, cause of, with great artists, 21; + its limitations, 39; + advocacy of, by impressionists, 38; + as used by Rembrandt, 281; + by Hals, 336 + + Bronze statuettes of the Renaissance, 321 _et seq._ + + Byron on nature and art in respect of landscape, 345 + + +C + + Caricature, its place in art, 225 + + Carritt, E. F., on the result of aesthetic systems, 275 + + Cave men, their art, 5 + + Ceres (_see_ Demeter) + + Chaldean Art, Illustration of, Plate 1 + + Character of Artists, influence of, in their work, 16 + + Cherubs, use of, in assisting illusion of suspension in the air, 265 + + Christ, representation in art, 92; + the established ideal, 92; + Ruskin on the best ideal of, 319 + + Christian conception of the Deity, its effect in art, 88 + + "Classic Art," Hegel's definition, 277; + varied meanings of the term, 278 + + Claude Lorraine, the first great landscape painter, 47; + the cause of his success, 16; + Goethe on, 49; + the model for Turner, 49 + + Clausen, G., his definition of Impressionism, 284; + on Whistler's nocturnes, 349 + + Clouds, use of, in relation to air-suspended figures, 263 + + Coast views, illusion of motion in, 206 + + Color, beauty of, 228 _et seq._; + its relative importance, 228; + in landscape, 194; + juxtaposition of pure colors, 35, 287; + by Venetian artists, 231, 350; + exceptional color effects, 234; + its use by impressionists, 34 _et seq._ + + Colvin, S., claims music and architecture as non-imitative arts, 292 + + Comedy, its place in the painter's art, 224 + + Contentment, quality of expression in the Madonna, 97; + in Venus, 119 + + Contrast, its use in composition, 177; + of forms, 177; + of ages, 179; + of beauty and strength, 177; + of Good and Evil, 178; + of Poverty and Wealth, 178; + of Vice and Virtue, 178; + of nude and clothed figures, 180 + + Correggio, and the sublime, 229 + + Criticism, the new, 29 + + Croce, B., his aesthetic system, 273; + on genius, 282 + + +D + + Darwin, C., on the result of nerve exercise, 281; + on natural music, 293 + + Death, representation of, 183 _et seq._; + in the Crucifixion, 184; + typified by a skeleton, 186; + in massacres and executions, 184; + in interior scenes, 190; + funeral scenes, 188; + scenes of approaching, 190; + Angel of, 188 + + Decorative art, imitation in, 218 + + Deformity in art, 89 + + Deity, the, representation of, 92; + ideals of, 91 + + Demeter, representation of, 121, Plate 7 + + Demosthenes, example of his art, 300 + + De Quincey, T., on the representation of progressive actions, 348 + + Descriptive poetry, its limits, 79; + in the seventeenth century, 308; + example from Sophocles, 310, + from Cornelius Gallus, 309 + + Diana, representation of, 126 + + Dignity, in portraiture, 146; + practice of Titian, 148; + of Van Dyck, 148; + of Velasquez, 149 + + Dionysus (_see_ Bacchus) + + Drama, The, pictures from the written, 221; + from the acted, 222; + importance of tragedy in painting, 221 + + Drapery, with use of in sculpture, + proportions possible which are not feasible in nude figures, 328; + use of, in painting by Raphael, 251, 352; + for assisting illusions, 260 + + Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, + their limited imaginations, 19 + + +E + + Eaton, D. C., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Egyptian art, its early high development, 7, Plate 1 + + Emotional element in beauty (_see_ Beauty) + + Emotions, The, influence of, in the work of artists, 16; + expression of, in relation to beauty, 275 + + Evolution, not applicable to art generally, 7; + Spencer on, 276; + Symonds on, 276 + + Execution in painting, must be balanced with imagination, 18; + of Hals, 155; + of Lionardo, 18; + of Rembrandt, 19; + of Velasquez, 153 + + Expression, in ideals generally, 86; + in Christian ideals, 91 _et seq._; + in classical ideals, 106 _et seq._; + in portraiture, 141 _et seq._; + in the representation of grief, 168; + with the smile, 171; + the open mouth, 174; + in the exhibition of deformity, 89; + in scenes of death, 183; + of Raphael, 339; + of Rembrandt, 42; + of the fourteenth century Italian painters, 279; + of the thirteenth century French sculptors, 315; + in the literary arts, 65 _et seq._ + + +F + + Falconet, E., on the representation of grief, 169 + + Farrar, Dean, on the ideal of Christ, 319; + on the early Italian painters, 279 + + Fiction, as a fine art, 4, 52; + one of the Associated Arts, 53; + imitation in, 52; + forms of, 69; + basic and structural in character, 81; + standard of judgment in, 73; + in relation to sensorial beauty, 79; + unconcerned with ideals, 58 + (_see also_ Novel) + + Fine Arts, imitative in character, 52; + classified according to their signs, 53; + their methods of producing beauty, 78; + standards of judgment in the, 77 + + Fireworks, unsuitable for the painter, 212 + + Flight, representation of + (_see_ Illusion of suspension and motion in the air) + + Flowers, their representation in still-life, 216; + in decorative art, 217 + + Foreground in landscape, illusion of opening distance in, 202 + + Form, beauty of, 273; + ideal, 86 + + Frames of pictures, their use in Barbizon works, 291; + exclusion of, in artificial means to secure relief, 240 + + French sculptors of the thirteenth century, + their forms in the Greek manner, 315; + their representation of the Virgin and Child, 101, 315 + + Frescoes, necessarily divided into sections, 69; + Reynolds on Raphael's, 303 + + Funeral scenes in art, 188 + + +G + + General opinion, standard of judgment in all arts except music, 73, 77 + + Genius, how produced, 21 _et seq._; + Reynolds on, 282; + Johnson on, 282; + Hogarth on, 282 + + Geology, study of, may be assisted by landscape painting, 315 + + Gods, Mythological (_see_ Grecian, under their separate headings); + Roman, 328 + + Grace, inferior as a special quality in portraiture, 164; + as applied in Greece and Rome, 162; + in sixteenth century art, 163; + in seventeenth century art, 163; + in England in the eighteenth century, 164; + in France, 163; + kinds of, 338 + + Grandeur, highest quality of beauty in architecture, 75; + practically impossible in landscape, 193; + in portraiture, 160; + in Van Dyck's works, 160; + in Gainsborough's works, 160 + + Grecian art, cause of its decline, 10; + development of, compared with that of the Renaissance, 10 _et seq._ + + Grecian sculpture, its high place in art, 106; + ideals in, 88, 95; + representation of adults with children in, 100; + studied by the great masters of the Renaissance, 108; + in portraiture, 145 + + +H + + Hals, Franz, his facility, 155; + his limited imagination, 155; + his broad manner, 336; + the works of pupils attributed to him, 337 + + Hegel, G. W., his "periods" in art, 277 + + Hephaestus (_see_ Vulcan) + + Hera (_see_ Juno) + + Hercules, his representation as contemplating death, 190 + + Hermes (_see_ Mercury) + + Historical painting, its place in art, 83 + + Hogarth, W., on genius, 282 + + Holmes, C. J., on the framing of Barbizon pictures, 291 + + Homer, example of his art, 65 + + Hood, T., his moods and his work, 17 + + Horses, representation in action, 255 + + Human figure, principal sign in the Associated Arts, 53, 73; + produces highest form of beauty, 72; + general ideal of, 86; + Greek ideals, 106 + + Humboldt, A., on the position of landscape in art, 344 + + Humorous subjects, their place in the painter's art, 224 + + Hyperides, example of his art, 300 + + +I + + Ideal in art, The, only possible in respect of the human form, 57, 87; + inapplicable to form without expression, 86; + definition of, 86; + must be general, 86; + general agreement in respect of, 87; + can only be applied to excellence, 89; + limitation of, 56; + ideals of the Greeks, 89, 91, + of the early Italians, 94, + of the thirteenth century French sculptors, 315, + of the Deity, 88, 91, + of Christ, 92, 94, + of the Madonna, 95, + of Zeus, 88, + of the other Grecian deities, 89, + of Phidias, 10, + of Raphael, 97, 137, + of Praxiteles, 10, + in, of Michelangelo, 320; + general ideals, 135; + universality of, 138, 315; + ideal qualities, 89 + + Illusion of continuity, in death scenes, 189 + + Illusion of movement, in landscape, 197; + in sea views, 205; + in coast views, 206; + in sculpture, 249, 351; + in figure painting, 250 _et seq._; + in animal painting, 255 _et seq._; + may be suggested by title of work, 257 + + Illusion of opening distance, in distance landscape, 197; + in nearground work, 203; + in sea views, 205 + + Illusion of relief, its value in painting, 236; + mechanical methods of producing, 240 + + Illusion of suspension and motion in the air, with the assistance + of flowing drapery, 260; + of clouds, 263; + of cherubs, 265; + of Angels, 266; + of smoke, 268 + + Imagination, The, + influence of precocious, in the production of genius, 23; + must be balanced with skill in execution, 18; + of Lionardo, 18; + of the Dutch painters, 19; + of the Spanish painters, 19; + of Shakespeare, 23, 24 + + Imitation, the province of art, 52; + should be generalized, 237; + in landscape, 194, + in still-life, 214, + in decorative art, 218, + in architecture, 294, + in music, 293; + of other arts by the painter, 221 _et seq._; + Aristotle on, 215; + S. Colvin on, in respect of the fine arts, 292 + + Impressionism, definitions of, 25, 284 _et seq._; + its origin, 285 _et seq._; + its influence, 38; + its limitations, 35; + its defects, 34 _et seq._; + its effects, 51; + its correspondence with Sprezzatura, 32 + + Industry, the key to success in art, 24, 282 + + Inspiration in art, not recognized by great artists, 16; + actual instances of, unknown, 15; + suggested national, 9 _et seq._; + individual, 14 + + Interiors, pictures of, their place in art, 84 + + Invention in art, its relative importance, 54; + in poetry, 54; + in painting, 312; + Lessing on, in poetry and painting, 312; + in landscape, 193; + the term used in two senses, 311 + + Irony, works conveying, unsuitable for the painter, 224 + + Italy, Art of, decline of the Renaissance, 11 _et seq._; + in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 30 _et seq._; + Renaissance ideals, 12 + + +J + + Japanese, their practice in decoration, 217 + + Johnson, Dr., on genius, 282 + + Juno, representation of, by the painter, 120 + + Jupiter, Greek representation of, 88, 89; + ideal of, 89, 91; + by the painter, 109 + + +L + + Landscape painting, its place in art, 48, 84; + produces only sensorial beauty, 192; + Humboldt on, 344; + signs in, 199; + disadvantages of, 44; + limitations in, 192 _et seq._, 348; + varieties of, 49; + relative difficulty of execution in, 48; + compositions must be invented, 194; + illusion of motion in, 197 _et seq._; + precise imitation necessary in, 194; + as a useful art, 314; + early development of, 46, + in ancient Rome, 45, + in Italy, 47, + in Holland, 46, + in England and France, 48 + + Lanzi, A. L., on the range of Raphael in expression, 339 + + La Touche, G., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Latour, Fantin, and the origin of impressionism, 285 + + Laugh, a, when unobjectionable in painting, 177 + + Lessing, G., on progressive actions, 348; + on the relative importance of invention and execution, 312; + on the representation of grief, 169; + on descriptive poetry, 309; + on signs in art, 346; + on Homer and the beauty of Helen, 298; + on the Laocoon design, 311; + on the dictum of Simonides, 307; + on ugliness in poetry and painting, 341 + + Lewes, G. H., on the execution of signs in art, 346 + + Lightning, its use in landscape, 209; + must be subordinated, 209; + where used in painting by great masters, 210 + + Lionardo da Vinci, his imagination compared with his execution, 18; + his relief, 239; + on success in painting, 16; + his representation of Christ, 93 + + Literary arts, + the painter must take his action from them or from nature direct, 81 + (_see_ Poetry and The Novel). + + Literary movement in England in the sixteenth century, 278 + + Longinus, on the test of the sublime and beautiful, 73; + on certain examples of beauty in the literary arts, 300 + + Luini, A., On an "impressionist" landscape by Titian, 288 + + +M + + MacColl, D. S., on the origin of impressionism, 284 + + Madonna, The, her representation, + the test of art during the Renaissance, 12, + by Cimabue and Giotto, 95, + in Crucifixion scenes, 99; + her surroundings in art, 99, + her representation at different ages, 98, + Michelangelo on her presumed age, 320; + her presumed social condition, 100; + the ideal of the early Italian, 12, 95, + of Raphael, 97, + Michelangelo's portrayals of, 320; + limitations in the ideal of, 98 + + Madonna and Child, + representation of, by thirteenth century French sculptors, 101, 315; + in Italy, 101; + changes in grouping of, in the fifteenth century, 101; + practice of later artists, 102 _et seq._ + + Manner in painting, its limitations, 39; + the public indifferent to, 39; + of Rembrandt, 21; + of Hals, 336 + + Manet, E., his connection with the rise of impressionism, 287 + + Marine painting (_see_ Sea views) + + Mars, representation of, in painting, 128 + + Mauclair, C., on impressionism, 285 + + Mengs, A. R., on Raphael's treatment of drapery, 352 + + Mercury, his representation in painting, 129 + + Metaphor, with the poet, 65, 227, 296; + with the painter, 226 + + Michelangelo, and the sublime, 229; + his studies in Greek art, 108; + Reynolds on, 282; + his ideals of the Madonna, 320; + on her presumed age at the Crucifixion, 320; + on the cause of Raphael's success, 16; + on the public judgment of works of art, 304; + on the Venetian painters, 350 + + Miller, Marion M., his translation of Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite, 302 + + Minerva (_see_ Athena) + + Modesty, quality in expression unsuitable to a goddess, 119 + + Mona Lisa, the Louvre example, 151, 172; + the Boston example, 172; + her reputed age in the picture, 240; + her smile, 341 + + Mood, influence of, in the work of artists, 17 + + Moonlight scenes, their place in art, 208 + + Morals, pictures illustrating, their place in art, 85 + + Moreau-Vautier, C., on the juxtaposition of pure colors, 287 + + Music, + highest beauty in, produced by complex combinations of signs, 73; + greatest works in, the least popular, 75; + ideals not possible in, 58; + cannot present intellectual beauty, 64; + standard of judgment in, 305; + cannot be connected with painting, 285; + its connection with poetry, 54, 76; + imitative character of, 53, 293; + claimed by Colvin as non-imitative, 292; + Darwin on natural, 293 + + Muther, R., on the origin of Impressionism, 287 + + Mystery in painting, indicates inferior art, 341 + + Mythological subjects, their place in painting, 83, 133 + + +N + + Nature, relation of, to art, 57; + and landscape, Byron on, 345 + + Near-ground painting in landscape, 202 + + Neptune, his representation in painting, 127 + + Nerves of the senses, + their advanced condition at birth cause of precocity in art, 21; + alike in all people, 86; + connection of genius with development of, 22; + physiological changes in, 22, 72; + Darwin on the, 281 + + Night, should be symbolized in painting, 350; + Whistler attempts to represent beauty of, 349 + + Nocturnes, origin of Whistler's, 349 + + Norwich school of painting, 48 + + Novel, the, compared with the short story, 70; + limit of, 71; + of little service to the painter, 221 (_see_ Fiction) + + Nude with clothed figures, contrasts of, 180 + + +O + + Objectivity of beauty, 2 + + Open Mouth, The, 174; + when not objectionable, 177 + + +P + + Painter, the, his requirements, 25 + + Painting, imitative character of, 52; + degrees of beauty in, 83; + compared with sculpture, 135; + its relation to poetry, 307; + general ideals in, 86 _et seq._; + classical ideals in, 106 _et seq._; + Christian ideals in, 91 _et seq._; + action cannot be originated in, 81; + great, marked by simplicity, 69; + standard of judgment in, 73; + general expression in, 167; + relation of invention to execution in, 312; + broad manner of, 39; + of divinities, 109; + of classical scenes, 133; + of humorous subjects, 224; + of contrasts, 177 _et seq._; + of scenes from fiction, 221, + from the written drama, 221, + from the acted drama, 222; + of portraits in character, 222; + of ugliness, 341; + deformity in, 178; + representation of death in, 183; + portrait, 141 _et seq._; + landscape, 192 _et seq._; + of moonlight scenes, 208; + of still-life, 214; + secondary art of, 85, 219; + metaphor in, 226; + color in, 228 _et seq._; + impressionist, 25; + of events in time, 219; + symbolical, 227; + Barbizon school of, 290; + quality of grace in, 161, + of contentment, 97, + of modesty in respect of goddesses, 119; + illusion of relief in, 239 _et seq._; + illusion of movement in, 249, + in animal action, 255, + of opening distance, 197, + of suspension in the air, 259, + in representation of progressive actions, 204, + of continuity, 189, + assisted by title, 257; + portraiture, 141 _et seq._ + + Pastoral occupations, pictures representing, 84 + + Periods of art, not attributable to national aesthetic stimulus, 8; + Hegel's, 277 + + Phidias, his exalted position in art, 10; + his ideals, 91 + + Philips, A., his translation of Sappho's Ode to Anactoria, 301 + + Philosophy, art not specially related to, 2 + + Pythian, F., on the origin of impressionism, 286 + + Poe, Edgar A., on sadness and beauty, 280 + + Poetry, the highest art, 81; + its imitative scope, 52; + not primarily a combined art, 55; + value of metrical form in, 54; + its association with music, 76; + its relation to painting, 307; + cannot depict sensorial beauty by description, 79; + descriptive, 309; + in relation to human beauty, 79, + to natural beauty, 79; + basic and structural in character, 81; + its range unlimited, 81; + ugliness in, 341; + standard of judgment in, 73, 76; + Watts-Dunton's definition of, 296; + translations of, 297 + + Pompeian Frescoes, 45, 162, 169, 170, 171, 261, 344 + + Popular appreciation of art, 73 _et seq._, 306; + Tolstoy on, 307 + + Portraiture, its position in art, 141; + variation in work of portraitists, 141; + generalization, 143; + added qualities in, 148; + quality of dignity in, 146; + quality of nobility in, 161; + action in, 164; + use of the smile in, 171; + of stage characters, 223; + in ancient Greece, 145, 162; + in ancient Rome, 145; + of women, 158; + of Raphael, 151; + of Titian, 148; + of Moro, 159; + of Van Dyck, 150; + of Rembrandt, 150; + of Velasquez, 149, 152; + of Hals, 155; + of Reynolds, 160; + of Gainsborough, 160; + of Romney, 161; + effects of fashion in, 159; + quality of grace in, 161; + limitations in, 141, 143; + decoration in, should be subordinated, 156; + multiple portraits, 156 + + Poseidon (_see_ Neptune) + + Praxiteles, his development of new ideals, 111; + his Cnidian Aphrodite, 111 + + Precocity in art, cause of, 22 + + Progressive actions, in figure subjects, 254; + in sea views, 204; + in coast scenes, 206; + in landscape, 203; + Lessing on, 348; + De Quincey on, 349 + + Psychological influence in art conceptions, alleged, 14 + + +Q + + Quintilian: on the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by Timanthes, 340 + + +R + + Rainbow, its use in landscape, 210 _et seq._ + + Raphael, and the sublime, 229; + his superiority the cause of the decline of the Renaissance, 11; + his achievement in the ideal Madonna, 12 _et seq._, 140; + the composition of his ideal, 97; + his range in expression, 167; + Lanzi on, 339; + his representation of movement, 250; + his portraiture, 151; + his drapery arrangements, 250; + his representation of suspension in the air, 261; + his study of ancient art, 108; + his fresco work, 69; + Michelangelo on, 16; + his trees, 345 + + Recognition, Law of, explanation of, 57; + examples of, 65 _et seq._; + music and architecture excluded from the, 64; + division of the arts in applying, 62 + + Relief (_see_ "Illusion of Relief") + + Rembrandt, his imagination compared with his execution, 20; + cause of variation in his work, 21; + his simplicity, 150; + his broad work, 289; + his use of color, 152; + his position in art, 44; + his representation of character, 42; + suggested as impressionist, 41, 290; + compared with the idealists, 43; + his palette-knife pictures, 281; + classification of his portraits, 281 + + Renaissance (_see_ Italy, Art of) + + Repose, in portraiture, 164; + in the representation of Venus, 116 + + Reynolds, Joshua, his high position in portraiture, 160; + on color, 350; + on the representation of grief, 169; + on the cause of excellence in painting, 282; + on genius in art, 282; + nobility in his portraits, 160; + as a painter of women, 161; + on the work of Raphael, 303; + on Michelangelo, 282; + on the early Italian painters, 280; + on the Venetian painters, 350; + his portraits of actors in character, 224; + his use of the smile, 174 + + Rodin, A., on the suggestion of movement in sculpture, 249, 351; + on ugliness in art, 317; + his La Vieille Heaulmiere, 317; + on Greek ideals, 319 + + Romans, The ancient, had no separate sacred art, 328 + + "Romantic Art," its various meanings, 278; + Hegel's period of, 277 + + Romney, G., the quality of grace in his portraits, 161 + + Ruskin, J., on the trees of Raphael, 345; + on the ideal of Christ, 319; + on the position of landscape in art, 344; + on the Italian painters of the fourteenth century, 279 + + Ruysdael, Jacob, his painting of breaking water, 204, 206; + his near-ground work, 203 + + +S + + Sacred Art, offers highest scope for the artist, 63; + in Greece, 91; + in Italy, 12 + + Sadness, as a quality of beauty, 280 + + Saints, representation of, 104 + + Sappho, her Ode to Anactoria, and the cause of its beauty, 67; + translation of the Ode, 301; + her Hymn to Aphrodite, 302 + + Satan, representation of, 178 + + Satire, works conveying, unsuited to the painter, 224 + + Schopenhauer, on music as a non-imitative art, 292 + + Sculpture, its imitative scope, 52; + ideals in, 135; + compared with painting, 135; + importance of simplicity in, 68; + standard of judgment in, 73; + illusion of motion in, 249; + Rodin on the illusion, 351; + in ancient Greece, 106; + in Greek and Roman portraiture, 145; + thirteenth century French, 315 + + Sea views, illusion of opening distance in, 204; + progressive actions in, 206 + + Secondary Art, its nature, 85; + in historical work, 220; + in actions drawn from the novelist, 221; + from the written drama, 221; + from the acted drama, 222; + humorous pictures, 224; + in allegorical and symbolical painting, 225 _et seq._ + + Shakespeare, his imagination, 23; + example of his art, 66; + represents characters above experience, 61 + + Short story, the, its essentials, 70; + compared with the novel, 69 (_see also_ Fiction) + + Signs, of the fine arts, 56; + separation of the arts according to character of, 53; + the two classes of, in art, 56; + must be completely painted, 199; + Lewes on, 346; + Lessing on, 346; + suggestive, belong to the poet and not to the painter, 200 + + Simonides, on the relation of poetry to painting, 307 + + Simplicity, necessary in the higher forms of the Associated Arts, 71 + + Skeleton, as a symbol in art, 186 _et seq._ + + Smile, the, transitory, should be avoided in art, 171; + in Raphael's work, 173; + in Lionardo's, 172, 341; + of the Milanese artists generally, 172; + in portraiture, 173; + in French portraits, 174; + in British, 174 + + Smoke, use of, in illusions of air suspension, 268 + + Sophocles, example of descriptive poetry from, 310 + + Spencer, Herbert, on evolution in art, 276 + + Sporting pictures, their place in art, 85 + + Sprezzatura, origin of, in the seventeenth century, 30 _et seq._; + correspondence with impressionism, 32 + + Stage scenes, pictures of, 222 + + Still-life, its place in art, 85, 214; + beauty in, 214; + its varieties, 215; + in decoration, 218; + custom of the Japanese in, 217 + + Stories, pictures illustrating, their place in art, 85, 221; + painter of, subordinate to the writer, 221 + + Sublime, The, Longinus on, 73; + painters who have achieved, 229 + + Supreme Being, final ideal of human form can only apply to, 88 + + "Symbolic" period of painting, Hegel's, 277 + + Symbolical painting, when secondary art, 227 + + Symonds, J. A., on evolution in art, 271; + on the Venetian artists, 350 + + +T + + Taine, H., on music as a non-imitative art, 294 + + Tanagra figures, quality of grace in, 162 + + Temperament, influence of, on the work of artists, 16 + + Titian, as a portrait painter, 144; + the dignified pose in his figures, 148; + the pose a test of his portraiture, 335; + his impressionist landscape, 288; + his coloring, 231; + some doubtful attributions to, 336 + + Titles of pictures, may assist in providing illusion of motion, 257; + may add interest to a work, 352 + + Tolstoy, Leo, on the meaning of "art," 275; + on popular appreciation of art, 307 + + Tragedy, only section of drama which the painter may properly use, 221 + + Translations of poetry, varying values of, 297 + + Trees in art, the slender trees of Raphael, 345; + of other artists, 345 + + Turner, J. M. W., secret of his success, 16 + + Twilight scenes, their place in art, 208 + + Types, importance of, in nature and art, 55 + + +U + + Ugliness in art, may be used in poetry, but not in painting, 342; + Rodin on, 317; + Lessing on, 341; + Waldstein on, 318 + + Uncivilized races, their understanding of beauty, 333 + + +V + + Van Dyck, A., 30; + his portraiture, 150 + + Velasquez, his place in art, 44; + his simplicity in design, 152; + his limited imagination, 155; + his execution, 153; + compared with the idealists, 43; + his perfect balance, 43; + claimed as an impressionist, 41, 290 + + Venus, her representation in art, 110; + Anadyomene, 114 _et seq._; + reposing, 116; + at her toilet, 118; + of Phidias, 111; + of Praxiteles, 111 _et seq._; + of Apelles, 113; + of Raphael, 114; + of Michelangelo, 117; + de' Medici, 119; + of Titian, 115; + of other artists, 115 _et seq._ + + Verestchagin, V., his war pictures, 184 + + Vinci, Lionardo da (_see_ Lionardo) + + Virgin, The (_see_ Madonna, The) + + Virtue and Vice, pictures representing, 178 + + Vulcan, representation in painting, 132 + + +W + + Waldstein, C., on ugliness in sculpture, 318 + + Watts-Dunton, T., his definition of poetry, 296 + + Whistler, J. McN., his nocturnes, 349 + + Wings, use of, in suspended figures, 262 + + Women in portraiture, during the Renaissance, 159; + by Moro, 159; + by Van Dyck, 159; + by the eighteenth century British artists, 161; + Reynolds preeminent in painting of, 160 + + +Z + + Zeus (_see_ Jupiter) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ART PRINCIPLES*** + + +******* This file should be named 36427.txt or 36427.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/2/36427 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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