Art: Its Laws, and the Reason for Them: Collected, Considered and Arranged (2025)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Art: Its Laws, and the Reason for Them: Collected, Considered and Arranged

PREFACE.

THE design of the author of this volume is to render someassistance to those who desire to acquire a knowledge ofthe principles of taste as exhibited in the great productionsof ancient and modern Art.An acquaintance with those principles is now getting to beregarded as a necessary part of polite education; but a greathindrance to obtaining such knowledge has been the want ofa text-book in which those principles are concisely and intelligibly discussed, and illustrated by reference to particularexamples in the painting, sculpture, and architecture of thepast and the present.Attempts have been made to remedy this evil, but neverwith much success: first, because the authors of them had nopractical knowledge of art; and second, because, like mostcritics of these subjects, they gave a transcript merely of theemotions which works of art awakened in themselves, and notthe reasons why they were worthy of the admiration of thebeholder, or, at best, stating the rules of art, but whollyomitting the reasons for those rules, or that which constitutesthe Philosophy of Art."In the present volume the attempt has been made to discover those reasons in the wants or requirements of the humanconstitution; and, if success has attended the effort, all willviii PREFACE.have been accomplished in that direction that could havebeen reasonably expected, for human inquiry cannot be extended beyond it.Of course, the writer of this volume does not claim to havediscovered any new principle of Art, but simply to have broughtwithin the reach of the common intellect truths ordinarilyunobserved by the mass, ever availing himself of the betterknowledge of those who have written upon Art whenever hethought it could be appropriated to the most complete illustration of the subject. He has taken nothing, however, uponmere report, but only after a critical examination of the evidence to its truth and the exercise of his own judgment.There was ample room and demand for thought and originalityin thus attempting to popularize the great leading ideas ofArt, divesting them of technical obscurities, and renderingthem intelligible to others than practical artists.It will be seen that a much greater space has apparentlybeen given to painting than to sculpture and architecture; butit is only seemingly so, for, being the first to be discussed,principles are evolved equally affecting all the elegant arts,and a repetition was to be studiously avoided in a work of thisdescription; and, for the same reason, only those forms ofarchitecture have been considered that developed some newprinciple, or exhibited some new feature in good taste and ofpractical importance.The field of Art is of such boundless extent, and the topicsinviting consideration are so numerous and attractive, that ithas not been found easy to limit the discussion. A vast dealmore might have been said, with a great diminution of labor,but it would only have added to the size and cost of thevolume, without a corresponding advantage to the reader or thestudent. It is believed that sufficient has been given for aPREFACE. ixgeneral understanding of the subject, and that is all that wasintended by the author.Although in the course of these Essays nearly two hundredand fifty works of art in the three departments, painting,architecture, and sculpture, are brought to the notice of thereader, and many of them are subjected to a critical analysis,yet, in view of the easy access that the public now has totranscripts of most of them, through photographs and chromos,it has not been thought necessary that engravings of many ofthem should accompany the volume, the work having beenso prepared as to be intelligible without them. The few,however, that are given, with the exception of those relating toarchitecture, are from works of rare excellence but little knownto the mass; and although necessarily on a limited scale, toconform to the size of the volume, yet being from the burin ofJoseph Andrews, Esq. , one of the most distinguished of modernengravers, they cannot but present much of the extraordinarymerits of the great originals by Michael Angelo, Raphael,Titian, and Rembrandt.

CONTENTS.ESSAY I.PERSONAL BEAUTYPAGE. 1Its principles but little understood; reasons for this; many theories upon the subject; the theory to be maintained in the presentessay; Agassiz's theory of the origin of the human species; Darwin's theory; these theories examined; the Apollo Belvedere, Venusde Medici, and other Greek statues; writers on beauty divided intotwo classes, the essential difference between them, what is trueand what is false in each; utility (as vulgarly defined) not to beconsidered an element of beauty; beauty in architecture, on whatit is largely dependent; on what it is chiefly dependent in the human figure; essential quality of beauty and deformity; a standardof beauty; objections to, stated and refuted; where that standardis to be found; claims of the Apollo Belvedere and Venus de Medicito be considered that standard objected to; those objections examined; natural beauty and the highest type of ideal beauty the same;the phrase " perfect beauty " a general term; family and nationalresemblances a modification of it; the object aimed at by the Greeksculptors in the Apollo and the Venus; personal beauty divided bythe Greeks into two classes, examples of each; Greek beauty; SirJoshua Reynolds's theory in regard to it; that theory as simplifiedby Mr. Walker; synopsis of the preceding discussions; the elementsof beauty; " proportion, " the term explained, and the reasons whyit pleases stated; bad proportion, what it results from; proportionate measurement of the two sexes; " symmetry" defined and illustrated; " simplicity " as an element of beauty; " variety " as anelement of beauty; to what extent necessary in any composition;corrective employment of each; each the antidote of the other;the law that regulates their employment in its application to thehuman figure; lean, fat, and muscular, very young and very oldpersons, reasons why they can never be perfectly beautiful; periodxii CONTENTS.of life when the human form is in its greatest perfection; violentpassion, its effect on human beauty; the human form never or rarelyrepresented by the ancient Greeks as violently excited; the agreeableand the ferocious passions expressed by different lines; what linescharacterize the idiot, the bear, the hog, the toad, and all otherugly animals; the two sexes, which the most beautiful; the white,the red, and the black man compared in regard to beauty of color;the elements of beauty of color in the white reasons for the superior beauty of the white, as given by Sir Uvedale Price; the entirehuman family to be judged by the same law of beauty; the beautyof the modern Greeks not pre- eminent; to what portion of thehuman family is now assigned that superiority; to what they arechiefly indebted for it; why certain nations and classes are deficientin beauty; the point of beauty; a compromise, or “ the goldenmean "; all extremes imply defects; much personal beauty underadverse circumstances; reasons for it; relative value of natural andartificial causes in producing beauty; concluding remarks.ESSAY II.DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING .Number into which divided; correspondence between the highestclasses in painting and the highest classes in letters; grotesquepainting described and illustrated; landscape, number of divisionsof, and their names; first division, description of, and rank; seconddivision, description and example of; method pursued by mostartists in gathering materials for their ideal landscapes; historicallandscape, description and example of; figures in landscape generally a subordinate portion of the design; landscapes in which thefigures are the most important portion of the composition; for whatpurpose the landscape is introduced in such designs; great difficultyin combining landscape and figures; third division of landscape described and illustrated by example; portraiture; its high rankunder certain conditions; allegoric painting; parallel between andwritten allegory; examples of allegoric painting; difference betweenand symbolic painting; epic painting; epic poetry described, andwherein it differs from the drama and history; criticism on the Iliadby Fuseli; characteristics of epic painting same as those of epicpoetry; Michael Angelo's grand series of epic designs in the SistineChapel; the story told by it, as first read by Fuseli; Michael Angelo the inventor of epic painting; the title it obtained for itsauthor; dramatic painting; characteristics of, and wherein it differs25CONTENTS. xiiifrom epic and historic painting; example of dramatic painting; who most excelled in it, and the title he acquired by it;historic painting; portraiture sometimes historic; example of;pure historic painting described; what pictorial illustrations entitled to be called historical; to what class in letters delineationsof subordinate events in history correspond; combined historicand allegoric painting, example of; combined historic and dramatic painting, example of; the different effect upon the human mind, feelings, and sentiments produced by the differentclasses of painting; not many pure epic, dramatic, and historicpaintings; necessary to know the features of each to admire withdiscrimination and judge rightly of the merits of the higher productions of art.ESSAY IIIINVENTION ·Constituent portions of painting; their names and the rank ofinvention in art; examples of the highest exercise of it; underwhat heads to be considered; selection of a subject; importance ofhaving one; many paintings of great reputation have none; example of; what is required in every complete painting; many scenes,although well described, do not admit of pictorial delineation;what subjects most fitting for representation on canvas; sourcesfrom which subjects were generally selected by the early Italian masters; sources from whence modern art derives them; difference between the two sources, and what it indicates; the boundaries of art extended by the moderns; examples of paintings whosesubjects were not drawn from any foreign source, that is, not fromany written record; examples of paintings whose subjects as wellas the materials of the composition were invented or original; extent of the inventive faculty in art; examples of; centaurs andsatyrs, elves and fairies, wizards and witches, ghosts and hobgoblins,sylphs and naiads, mermaids, cherubs, angels, and demons; theDivine Being, representations of; examples of paintings whose subjects are not fully described, only hinted or briefly mentioned bysome writers; " Titania's Court, " by Allston; "Dinner at Page'sHouse, " by Leslie; point of time most fitting for representation;examples illustrating it; events of different periods not to be represented on the same canvas; notable example of offence against thislaw of art; " The Transfiguration. "44xiv CONTENTS.ESSAY IV.COMPOSITION .Like invention a purely mental operation; to be considered first,as to the manner of filling the canvas to render it agreeable to theeye without reference to the subject; second, to assist expression bypreserving a correspondence between the arrangement of the materials and the sentiment of the subject; influences that attach tocertain lines; comparison of Egyptian with Grecian sculptures inillustration thereof; superior beauty of the latter; what it resultsfrom; variety, its office and value in composition; characterizesevery part of it; must not be carried to excess; its corrective simplicity; the proportionate quantity of each in a composition regulated by the sentiment of the subject; this illustrated by twoancient Greek sculptures; the principles on which they were constructed both proper and natural: those principles explained andapplied to painting; paintings illustrative of a correspondence between the composition and sentiment of the subject; most of theMadonnas examples of; Madonnas and other paintings in whichthis rule is not observed; evils resulting therefrom; Evangelists byDomenichino compared with representations of the same subjects byMichael Angelo; in the works of Raphael a correspondence generally between the composition and the sentiment of the subject; twolost cartoons, " The Resurrection " and " The Ascension, " remarkable examples of; " The Marriage at Cana, " by Paul Veronese, a noless notable example of offence against this requirement; what PaulVeronese aimed at in that representation; how it would have beenrepresented by Da Vinci or Raphael.ESSAY V.DESIGN, OR DRAWINGThe third of the component parts of the art and the most important; to be, like composition, considered under two heads,appropriate and correct design; method generally pursued byartists in painting a picture; the use of the model, under whatcircumstances to be closely followed and when not; misuse of themodel; many examples illustrative of it from old Italian and modern art in both painting and sculpture; the evil resulting from suchmisuse in delineations of historical subjects; the proper use of themodel pointed out by Mr. Allston and illustrated in " La BelleJardinière " by Raphael; the object aimed at by Raphael in his rep-. 5462CONTENTS. XVresentation of " The Holy Family, " and by Da Vinci in " The LastSupper, " and how far they accomplished it; the painter of historyto be governed by the same laws as the writer of it; the proper useof the model, where the real actors in the scene cannot be procured,illustrated by what is required of the personators of the drama;what is said upon this subject applicable whether the historical factor only the sentiment of it is to be delineated; most historical paintings in one respect only a pretence; not conformable to the writtenrecord; the cause of this; rules deducible from what has been advanced applicable to many classes of painting.Correct design or drawing; the term defined; one of the greatestdifficulties in art; small advance in the knowledge of it until thefourteenth century; first improvement manifest in the works ofMasaccio and his contemporaries; brought to perfection by DaVinci, M. Angelo, and Raphael; Michael Angelo's style of design,objected to by some, objections refuted; Raphael's style of design,its peculiar characteristics; Titian's style of design; Correggio'sstyle; perfection in design in Greek sculptures; these the classicsin art; advantages resulting from the study of them; in what respects better than nature; totally neglected by the Dutch, Flemish, and Venetian schools; Poussin, his study of the antiquesculptures; David's style of design; Raphael and Allston.ESSAY VI.CHIARO-OSCURO . 75The term explained and its several offices pointed out; naturallight and darkness; their influence upon the feelings and sentiments;the same impressions result from the employment of light andshadow in art; the reasons for it; how the mind gets to be impressed with the ideas of solidity and concavity, squareness androundness, nearness, distance, and space in the natural world; howand why in art; general light and shadow as distinguished from aparticular light and shadow; the office and value of each illustratedby the two drawings of the same bunch of grapes; the value of ageneral light and shade still further illustrated by comparing thepainting of " The Woman accused in the Synagogue " with that of" The School of Athens, " the former by Rembrandt, the latter byRaphael; general light and shadow productive of great breadthand picturesque effect; can render attractive works deficient inevery other good quality of art; examples of, in the Flemish andDutch schools, and the later works of Danby and Martin, Englishxvi CONTENTS.painters; the light and shade under which objects in nature are commonly viewed not always the best for pictorial representation; theremay be a selection in this respect as in every other part of the art;truth of light and shade not always satisfactory; this illustrated bycomparing a view taken by a daguerreotype with an idealized viewby a competent artist; not always easy to obtain masses of lightand dark; violent contrasts of light and dark, their use in givingexpression, example of; the brightest light, its place in a composition; number of lights required and the degree of each.Correspondence between the lights and shades or lights and darksand the sentiment of the subject; this not always easy to be accomplished, every subject requiring a different treatment, one peculiarto itself; examples illustrating a correspondence, " The Nativity, "by Correggio, " The Ecce Homo " and " Appearance to the Shepherds, " by Rembrandt; the employment of a general light andshadow for effect and to give expression a comparatively moderninvention; first seen in the works of Da Vinci; Da Vinci called itsinventor; the employment of them perfected in the works of Correggio and Rembrandt; some powerful effects of, in the works ofMichael Angelo and Raphael, but not recognized by them as a principle of imitation; the chiaro-oscuro of Correggio and Rembrandtcompared; the chiaro- oscuro of the Venetian school; the differencein this respect as compared with that of the Lombard and Dutchschools; Rembrandt's attractive and repulsive qualities as an artist.ESSAY VII .COLOR .The most enchanting but, for the general purposes of imitation,the least essential, of the constituent portions of the art; its realrank and value stated; terms employed in discussions on this subject enumerated and explained; different influences attached to colors, the disposition of colors in accordance therewith; when thisarrangement may be departed from, as in the painting of " TheScourging of Christ " by Titian; aerial perspective defined, and itseffects in causing objects in a painting to appear to be near or remote; evil effects from neglecting aerial perspective; highest lightand deepest shadow, their effect on local color.Harmony of color; Mr. West's theory in regard to the mode ofproducing it; how produced by tone; how by reflection; howproduced by balance of colors; examples illustrating each mode;harmony more complete when all act unitedly; the great value88CONTENTS. xviiof harmony of colors; breadth of color; its basis and manner ofproducing breadth; of greater value when united to harmony;may exist without it; these points illustrated by several examples;the iris; " Bacchus and Ariadne " by Titian; continuity of color;what it consists in; its value in producing breadth and union.Correspondence between the colors of a picture and the sentiment; several examples illustrating it; evils resulting from theneglect of; a correspondence between the colors employed and thesentiment of the subject, illustrated by the analogies of languageand music; on what the power of language depends; tones; the language of nature; different tones or modulations of the voiceemployed to express different feelings, passions, and sentiments;Gardner's " Music of Nature "; three parts to the human voice,their names, place from whence they spring, and purpose; whatlanguage requires to be effective; why Mr. Burke failed in hisspeech on the trial of Warren Hastings; in music a correspondencebetween the tones employed and the sentiments of the subjects;the eye governed by the same laws as the ear; different colors affectthe eye and the feelings as do different tones in music; evil effectswhere a correspondence between them is neglected, in both paintingand music; Salvator Rosa, his manner in every constituent portionof the art.Certain popular errors in regard to what constitutes good coloring; first, too great relief; second, glare; third, high finish;the evils of each pointed out and illustrated by examples; Mr.Allston at the Royal Academy Exhibition; three styles in laying onthe colors; which to be preferred; Michael Angelo's, Raphael's,Titian's, and Correggio's style, with the styles of the other leadingmasters; Gilbert Stuart Newton, Esq.; his excellence as a colorist; Sir Joshua Reynolds attempts to discover the manner of Titian;why he did not find it; where he should have looked for it; conclusion in regard to it.ESSAY VIII.DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAELDA VINCI.The five great masters; favorable condition of the world atthe time of their appearance; Cimabue, Giotto, Masaccio, Signorelli, connecting link between the old style and the new; noartist more generally known to the public than Leonardo da Vinci;by what painting best known; his parentage, and early love of110xviii CONTENTS.art; birth, career, and death; his vast acquirements; foreshadowedalmost every improvement in art and science; prominent characteristics of; " The Battle of the Standard "; " The Last Supper 'extended the field of art, and added one important feature to itstechnical department; before his appearance art deficient in picturesque effect; imitated by his contemporaries and successors; ridiculed unjustly by the biographer of Michael Angelo; in what superior to Michael Angelo; in what excelled by him; connected painting with the science of anatomy and prepared the way for MichaelAngelo.MICHAEL ANGELO.His parentage, birth, and early education; his first instructor;his first patron; visit to Rome, and what he did there to establish his character as a great artist; his return to Florence, andemployment there; " Battle of Pisa "; statues of " Day andNight "; his second visit to Rome, for what purpose; JuliusII.; tomb of the Medici; statue of Moses; St. Peter's Church,origin of; Bramante; Michael Angelo invited by Julius II.to adorn the walls of the Sistine Chapel; the invitation accepted; his slight knowledge of painting when he commenced thetask; makes the drawings for, and endeavors to get them coloredby other artists; their failure to satisfy him; he accomplishes theentire series himself in twenty- two months, " The Last Judgment "not included; subjects of the series; few oil paintings by him; thefigure of Lazarus said to be the only one; easy to distinguish thetrue from the false; characteristics of his style; Michael Angelonot always understood; a cultivated taste necessary to appreciatehim fully; his peculiar style; what it resulted from; influence ofparticular lines; what Mr. Addison says upon the subject; theprophets " Jonah, " Moses, " Jeremiah "; impressions made byhis works different from those made by the works of Raphael; notto be judged from engravings; must be seen in the Sistine Chapel:the compliment paid him by Raphael.66RAPHAEL.His parentage, birth, and first teacher; not a forward scholar;his first visit to Florence; his return to Perugia; pictures therepainted by him, and the present possessors of them; his secondvisit to Florence; some of his best works then executed; subjects ofthe most celebrated; invited by Julius II. to visit Rome, to adorncertain rooms in the Vatican; accepts the task; names of the frescoes, and what the series illustrates; " The Transfiguration, " andother paintings; his early death; the impression that event madeCONTENTS. xixon Italy; his burial and the place of his interment; the name of hisbetrothed and the reason why he was never married; the number ofhis paintings and drawings; " The Transfiguration, " by whomcompleted; his rank as a painter; his department of art differentfrom that of Michael Angelo; therefore not to be compared together; each to be judged by different laws; each first in his owndepartment; in that, perhaps, never to be excelled; new field to besought by modern artists.TITIAN AND CORREGGIOESSAY IX .TITIAN.Simultaneous appearance of authors and artists distinguished fortheir parts and genius; as in Greece so in Italy, in the case of thegreat masters; the Venetian school, who most prominent in it; itsgreatest ornament Titian; his birth, and with whom he studied;the great honors paid him; his great age, industry, and great number of works executed by him; the most noted of his larger productions; the most attractive of his smaller; the kind of work on whichhe was generally employed; his ability as a draughtsman questionedby Michael Angelo; no certain grounds to doubt his ability as a designer; unsurpassed as a colorist; reduced to system what beforehad been practised at random; his particular improvements, andtheir vast importance and value to art; to fully comprehend themwe must know the previous and subsequent history of art; SirJoshua Reynolds's estimate of him; no original work of Titian inthe United States; Titian's illness and death.CORREGGIO.Less known of his birth, life, and death than of any other greatartist; improbable story of the cause of his death; somethingwondrous always related of men of genius; reasons for it; Correggio's birthplace; his first teacher; never visited Rome; had verylittle if any acquaintance with Michael Angelo, Da Vinci, Titian, orRaphael; his death and place of burial; the burial- places of theother four fathers of the art; the grandest of his performances atParma in the cathedral; the subjects of them; the most attractiveof his smaller productions; all his works, large and small, have thesame characteristics; enumeration of them; his peculiar characteristic, that on which rests his fame as an artist; the principle ofthat characteristic regulated every portion of his art; the merit of128XX CONTENTS.the invention to be divided between him and Da Vinci; the principle generally adopted; Reynolds a follower and imitator of him;both followers of nature; some defects attributed to Correggio'sstyle; only dust on a diamond; each of the five great masters superior in some great quality of art, but deficient in others; what eachexcelled in; the Bologna school under the Caracci attempted to'unite the better parts of each; reasons why they failed; how theymight have been successful; summary of the progress of art, andof the peculiar qualities of each of the five great founders.ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART .ESSAY XTHE NATURAL SCHOOL.English art under the presidency of Reynolds, West, and Lawrence; and French art of the school of David " under the empire ";no native painter of eminence in England previous to Hogarth;foreign painters of great merit in abundance; reasons for the inferiority of native talent; equally illustrate a similar condition of artin any other country; Hogarth's first appearance; Reynolds and hiscontemporaries, their great merit as a school; some notice of thePre- Raphaelite school; its claims to pre- eminence discussed andrefuted; Reynolds the nominal, Hogarth the real, founder of theEnglish school.HOGARTH.Difference of opinion in regard to Hogarth's merits; reasons thatgive rise to it; what we propose to do for him; what we firstclaim for him; the first to practise satirical painting; an inventorand a genius like Shakespeare, and like him to be judged by his ownlaw, and not by the law of the Italian masters, except as regardsthe mechanical part of the art; what Hogarth aimed at; what theItalian masters aimed at; no claim to be considered an historicalpainter in the common acceptation of the term; did not study theold masters; no necessity for doing it; commissioned by the Almighty to introduce a new branch of art; his success in doing it;the national painter of England, as Shakespeare was the nationalpoet; their fame equally to endure.WILKIE.The painter of " The Blind Fiddler, " " Duncan Gray, " "CutFinger, " " Letter of Introduction "; in some respects resembling137CONTENTS. xxiHogarth; attempt by John Burnett in his " Life of Reynolds " toelevate Wilkie at Hogarth's expense; rebuked by Blackwood for it;the reasons assigned by Burnett for Hogarth's supposed inferiority;those reasons considered and refuted; what Burnett says of Wilkie'sproductions equally applicable to the works of Hogarth; Hogarthlocal only in his costume; like Wilkie, general in the representationof character and the passions; his delineations find representativesin all times and in all nations; equally strike home to the feelings ofevery people; examples of this, and reasons for it; Wilkie's indebtedness to Hogarth; real difference between Wilkie and Hogarth;wherein both differed from the Dutch and Flemish painters; Hogarth a pioneer; discovered a new country; Wilkie a cultivator ofit; Hogarth composed a new air, Wilkie added variations.SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.His great popularity as a man as well as an artist; peculiar causesfor it; his lectures on art; does not hold a high rank as an historical painter; his best works in that department; those in which hefailed; his portrait of Mrs. Siddons as " The Tragic Muse "; whatLawrence said of it; Reynolds a great student of the works ofMichael Angelo; influence on his style; visits the Vatican; portraitpainting raised by him from the real to the ideal; represented themental as well as the physical characteristics of his sitter; portrayed many phases of the same passion and sentiment; examplesof; Lord Heathfield and Commodore Keppel; all the accessories ofhis portraits in keeping with the character represented; very successful in portraying the high- bred women of England; successfulin the painting of children; happy idea in regard to them; whereinit differed from the old practice; Reynolds's aim in a portrait different from that of ordinary painters; studies resemblance in the airand attitudes equally as in the features; his rank as compared withthat of Lawrence; in what each most excelled; his present fame asgreat now as when he was living; no greater portrait- painter sinceVan Dyck.SIR BENJAMIN WEST.Former high estimate of him, and present depression; his birth;place of nativity; visit to England, and election as President of theRoyal Academy; contemporary and rival of David, founder of theFrench school under Napoleon; West's great attachment to theUnited States; feelings of respect and veneration with which weundertake to discuss his merits as an artist; by what paintings bestknown in the United States; difficult for Americans to understandxxii CONTENTS.the present low estimate of him in Europe; his fall as remarkableas his elevation; what merits the transatlantic critics concede tohim; what are now considered to have been his defects; causes assigned for this great change of opinion; opinion of German criticsin regard to it; that opinion not well founded; real causes for itstated; some of them peculiar to a monarchical government; someof them personal; popularity or unpopularity no decisive proof ofmerit or demerit; West's great painting of " Christ healing theSick, " after his decease hung in the National Gallery by the side ofThe Raising of Lazarus " by Michael Angelo and Sebastiano delPiombo; the contrast fatal to his reputation as a delineator of scriptural subjects; his earlier efforts on unscriptural subjects had greatand acknowledged merit at the time they were painted; theirreputation now equally great; his scriptural delineations unsurpassed at the time by any contemporary effort in the same class onthe Continent; at present sunk in the public estimation below hisreal merits; destined one day to resume a position justly due himas a great artist; reason for this opinion.THE AFFECTED SCHOOL.The French School under the Empire.DAVID.The painter of the horrible; lived in troublous times, and caughthis inspirations from the surroundings; the court painter underNapoleon; by what works best known in the United States; therival and contemporary of West, and founder of the extravagantor affected school; this school not to be confounded with thatwhich preceded it, the school of Poussin, Le Sueur, Greuze, Claude,Joseph Vernet; that school founded on the principles of generalnature; certain principles of expression and attitude implantedin man at creation; those principles a guide to correct imitation; any exaggeration of them unnatural, untrue, and affected;French art of the school of David, a transcript of French manners of that period; it pleased the French people, but not generally other nations; reasons for this; Voltaire's remarks bearing upon this point; the great Italian painters worked on generalprinciples; had nothing local in their mode of representation; theancient Greeks the same; also Shakespeare, and all great dramatists, and therefore universally admired; portrait of child by VanDyck in which every one sees a resemblance to some child of theiracquaintance; reason for this its truth to nature; child's natureCONTENTS. xxiii66 the same everywhere in expression, attitude, gesture; nature sometimes obliterated by education; two paintings of " The Deluge "compared, one by Poussin, the other by Girodet; the first an example of the natural, the other of the affected school; description ofthe two designs by Mrs. Jameson; great artists in France under theEmpire contemporary with the David school not followers of hisstyle; Paul de la Roche and others, their works a proof of this; thepresent French school very distinguished; this country once delugedwith works from the school of David; their influence on the publictaste pernicious; still have some influence in our smaller schools ofinstruction; artists themselves shun them now as formerly, andstudy the Greek sculptures; they are the classics in art, and holdin art a place corresponding to that of the classics in letters; informing a correct taste in poetry, necessary to commence by reading the old English poets; in forming a correct taste in art, mustbegin by studying the old Greek and Italian masters; the evil resulting from the neglect of.ESSAY XI.SCULPTURE . . 163Carried to the utmost perfection by the Greeks; not known ifthey equally excelled in painting; whether they were inferior toor surpassed the Italian masters; other nations may at some timeor other excel them in another class, but not in the class of æstheticsculpture; the period of its greatest success; the name most prominent in the early history of the art; a long time before the artreached its greatest excellence; reasons for it; the chief occurrencesin the history of early Greece; what gave a beginning to the thirdgreat monarchy of the world; the destruction of the Persian armyunder Xerxes, its effect upon the Grecian character and particularlyon art and science; sculpture, its appearance at this auspicious period in the school of Phidias; the destruction of the city and citadel of Athens a fortunate circumstance for art; its connection withthe rebuilding of temples of superior beauty under the reign of Pericles and superintendence of Phidias; the founding of a library atAthens, and the works of Homer; the influence of these works onsculpture; Phidias the first to avail himself of the works of Homerin connection with sculpture and the gods of Greece; his contemporaries and fellow- workers in the great reform; the temple of Mi-'nerva and other buildings on the Acropolis; Phidias, Ictinus, andCallicrates; the part that each had in the work; Phidias's knowl-xxiv CONTENTS.edge of painting; its benefit to him as a sculptor; the particularimprovements made by him in sculpture; Phidias settled the formsof some of the gods, particularly of Jupiter and Minerva; all theforms of the other divinities in Homer settled by him and his successors, not only in the period of their adult perfection, but also intheir infancy and youth; the various statues of Bacchus, Apollo,Minerva, and other deities; the resemblance of the minor deitiesdependent on nearness of relationship to the father of the gods; corporeal excellence also dependent on divinity; as the character recedes from this it acquires more and more of the animal; examplesof this; the Greek artists acted upon natural and general laws; theirperfection in sculpture resulted from obedience to those laws and theforms of their mythology; the gods of Greece; wherein they differedfrom those of other idolatrous nations; in what distinguished frommortals; perfection in art only reached by degrees; illustrations ofthis from painting and architecture; same progressiveness in sculpture; Phidias and Michael Angelo the product of all previous art;united effort, the benefit of; what the Greek sculptors first aimed at;their second intent, and success in both; Apollo Belvedere and Venusde Medici; their superior beauty; the class of beings that next to thegods occupied the attention of the Greek sculptors; the third class,a class repulsive in themselves, but rendered attractive from the elegance with which they are executed; what we miss in Greek art;what they succeeded in; to whom it remains to fill up the gap;most of the original Greek sculptures lost; condition of those thatremain; description of the lost statues not always reliable; names,description, and characteristics of those introduced into this volume.ESSAY XII .GRECIAN ARCHITECTUREArchitecture; the first invented of the fine arts; the term " architect, " whence derived; divisions of architecture; civil architecture;the kind of buildings included in it; to what purposes architecturefirst appropriated; art divided into classes, the useful and the finearts; a distinction without a difference; evils arising from being so classified.Egyptian architecture; its characteristics incidentally pointedout.Grecian architecture; the several orders of; the term " order " defined; the several parts of which it consists stated; additional orders added by the Romans; the term employed to designate the five183CONTENTS. XXVorders as distinct from the Gothic and all other architectures; theparts of which an order is composed ranged under two heads, theessential and the subservient; the latter class the mouldings; theirnumber, names, description of, and how appropriated.The Doric order; time when invented; description of its constituent parts, and wherein it differs from the Roman Doric; the Ionicorder; its several portions described and wherein it differs from theRoman; the Corinthian order; description of, etc.; Sir RolandFriart's quaint description of the three orders; pediments andpedestals not necessarily included in the idea of an order; pedestaldescribed; certain fixed proportions for the several parts of an order; everything in Greek architecture regulated by a law or canon;this not conventional, but the result of repeated experiments untilthe right point was arrived at; forms of Grecian temples, andnames deduced therefrom; the Doric the national order, and firstof the three orders used in Greece; purpose for which it was appropriated; purposes to which the Corinthian order was appropriated;philosophical reasons for the appropriation; architecture, painting,and sculpture combined in the Doric temple; the first subservientto the two last; form of the Doric temple; exceptional temples ofthis order; the proportions of the Doric column only slightly variedbnce for centuries; in its greatest perfection in the Parthenon; thepediments of the Doric temple; to what use appropriated; thefrieze divided into metopes and triglyphs; advantages of the division; the cell, or sekos, or body of the temple, to what sculpturesappropriated; in Doric temples a place for every kind of sculpture;Doric mouldings; their simplicity; portions of them and of thefrieze painted; painting of marble not accordant with modernideas; the Greeks the better judges; the finest example of theDoric order; locality of the Parthenon; other buildings on theAcropolis; form of the Parthenon, and material of which constructed; exterior measurement of the cell; how the interior wasdivided and appropriated; sculptures of the pediment and frieze;how the Parthenon became dilapidated; facts in regard to its structure revealed by scientific investigation.Temples of the Ionic order; greater variety in the form of thanin the Doric; the most beautiful example of; size of the Ionictemples as compared with the Doric; the latter comparativelysmall; reasons for it.Temples of the Corinthian order; this the only order really invented by the Greeks; the other two adopted by them, but treatedwith a certain Grecian feeling; the finest specimen of this order;the Doric without painting and sculpture less beautiful than theCorinthian, but with them unsurpassed.xxvi CONTENTS.Grecian architecture characterized for grandeur, dignity, elegance,and beauty; causes whence arises the impression of; cannot be thoroughly understood without a knowledge of certain peculiarities connected with its history and practice; those peculiarities stated; inwhat respects Grecian architecture is inferior to the Egyptian andGothic, and in what respects it surpasses them and all other architecture, ancient or modern; the philosophical reasons for this given;the result.ESSAY XIII.ROMAN ARCHITECTURE . 206Roman architecture differs widely from the Greek; wherein itdiffers; ornamentation carried to excess; the arch brought intogeneral use, but not invented by them; had the greatest influenceon their style of architecture; the Roman Doric column, description of, and wherein it differs from the Greek; the Tuscan column,description of.The composite order, how made up; Sir Roland Friart's quaint description of it and the Tuscan; the Romans were further indebtedto the Greeks for the form of their temples; the first thing theyborrowed; the Corinthian order, well suited for their purposes;reasons why; the Doric order, also borrowed, but not made muchaccount of; reason why; the Ionic order, not adopted by the Romans until a very late period; also borrowed the peristyle form oftheir temples; no specimen of it now in Rome; something thatclaims to be; wherein it differs; the temples at Rome small indimensions; the largest specimens were in the provinces, particularly in Syria; Syria to Rome what Ionia was to Greece; temples atBaalbec; temples the most original and typical; the Pantheon;its characteristics; its external original form; how ruined; theGreeks and Romans both borrowed, but not in the same way; difference in that respect; difference in their religious and æstheticfeelings; Rome anciently adorned with buildings in their kindas wonderful as any in Greece; the Coliseum an example and type of the Roman style, contains all its beauties and all its defects; its ruins still wonderful; description of; wherein the stylewas defective; how it might have been improved; Roman architecture; what is most admired in it; in what way it was oftenspoiled; little invention in ancient Roman art; exception to this;to what it chiefly owes its interest; in ancient times all the treasures of the world poured into Rome; in modern times almost everything of traced out of her; the concluding scene of theold, of modern civilization.CONTENTS. xxviiESSAY XIV .GOTHIC ARCHITECTUREThe class of architecture the term was employed to designate;how the term came to be employed; many speculations concerningthe origin of Gothic architecture; all fanciful; the real origin; onlytwo original styles of architecture in the world; all other stylescontained in the two typical styles; what style Greek architectureis the type of; what Gothic architecture is the type of; Roman architecture the transition form between Greek and Gothic architecture; Greek and Gothic architecture directly the opposite ofeach other; the characteristics of each style given at length; fewchanges ever made in Greek architecture; Gothic constantly changing; three styles of; how designated; the Early English, theDecorated, and the Perpendicular; the time when they flourished;impossible to describe the details of the three styles; the great characteristic difference, in what it consists; the Early English,its particular characteristics; the Decorated style, its particularcharacteristics; general appearance of buildings of this style; whatparticularly distinguishes it; finest specimen of this style in England; the Perpendicular style; characteristics of; propriety of thename; what it consists in; the entire building marked by the samecharacteristic seen in the windows; another peculiarity the oppositeof the Perpendicular; peculiarity in the roofs; in the fifteenth century the Perpendicular the style for every kind of building; Gothicarchitecture in France; its transition from one form or style to another.Tudor style of architecture; to what style of Gothic architectureapplied; number of eras of; whence the Tudor style originated;its peculiar characteristics; a mixed style; cause of its introduction; by whom fostered. Elizabethan style of architecture; styleof the castles in England in the reign of Henry VIII.; how modifiedin the time of Elizabeth; the effect of the change. Louis the Fourteenth style of architecture; like the Elizabethan a mixed style;this illustrated by the Palace at Versailles; form of that structure;the Mansard roof; whence it derived its name; a beautiful invention. The Italian style; its peculiar characteristic; examples of;Farnese and Grand Duke palaces, by Michael Angelo at Florence.Modern architecture; no new principle invented by the moderns;they have made new combinations, often very beautiful and exhibiting great powers of invention; their greatest success in domesticarchitecture; in the public structures less successful; cause of thisnot so much in the architect as in his employees; not sufficient at212xxviii CONTENTS.tention paid by the moderns to the selection of a site; that pointchiefly considered by the Greeks, and hence much of the favorableimpression made by their architectural efforts; the effect of lightand shade on buildings not sufficiently considered, and hence greatdisappointment; not possible to overstate the evil resulting fromthe neglect of these requirements.CONCLUSION .Object aimed at in this volume; the design a good one, even thoughnot successfully accomplished; great ignorance of the principlesof art both in this country and in England; the advance of artin any country dependent not more on the artist than on the patron;the standard of the former regulated by the standard of the latter,the supply being in all cases governed by the demand; too littletime given both in England and in the United States to learning theelements of the arts; we commence to color before we can draw;more attention given to drawing and design in both France andGermany, but signs even there of coming neglect indicated by thefrequent use of the camera, and the attention given to imitationof stuffs rather than to acquiring a knowledge of the human formas acted upon by the mind and the affections; not so with the oldItalians, and hence their superiority in art representations; excellence in art always implies labor in the preparation for it; that laborproperly bestowed necessarily leads to favorable results; the moderns cannot repeat what they have done; they can apply the principles they have discovered to new combinations, and thus benefitthose who come after as they have been benefited by those whohave preceded them.TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE 227CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART TO WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE INTHIS VOLUME 232GENERAL INDEX 241DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS.THE ANGEL RAPHAEL, BY RAPHAEL.The original of the above-named illustration constitutes a portion of apainting now and for a long time in Madrid; but whether it belongs to theSpanish government or is the property of some fortunate individual, itdoubtless is one of the finest conceptions of a master whose leading characteristic is expression.Those who are familiar with Paradise Lost need not be reminded thatRaphael is the name of the angel selected by the Almighty to announce toAdam Satan's intention to deceive him. The description therein given ofthe person of this "favorite and most beautiful of the angelic host, " of hisdeparture from the gates of Heaven " on golden hinges turning, " hisdownward progress through the sky, passing between worlds on worlds,until at last he alights on the eastern cliffs of Paradise, is surpassed bynothing in the poem, and finds a parallel only in the work of the painter.Of course Raphael was not at all indebted to Milton for anything in hisdelineation, as the painter preceded the poet; but if Milton ever saw thepainting, it is not difficult to conceive that he may have derived somewhatof his inspiration from Raphael, as it is impossible for any one with apoetic turn of mind to contemplate even for a moment so divine a work,and not imbibe something of that sublime feeling that gave birth to theoriginal in the mind of its author.There was nothing in which the old Italian painters more excelled thanin their delineations of the heavenly messengers, and no human effort hasso contributed to keep up the idea of a connection between that world andthis. If there be such existences " around the throne, " and they are permitted to visit this earth, may it not be that for some kind and wise purpose one of these heavenly messengers revealed himself to the " rapt vision " of Raphael?THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.Thejoint production of Michael Angelo and Sebastiano del Piombo. The designby the former, the painting by the latter, excepting the figure of Lazarus,painted by Michael Angelo himself.This great work was executed for Julio de Medici, Bishop of Narbonne,afterwards Clement VII.; then became the property of the Duke of Or-XXX DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS.leans, at the sale of whose gallery in 1794 it was purchased by an Englishgentleman, Mr. Angerstein, and on his decease in 1824 it was bought bythe British government, and now forms the greatest attraction among themany valuable works of art in the National Gallery, London . Mr. Beckford, the author of Vathek, once offered Mr. Angerstein a hundred thousand dollars for it, but it was not accepted. We mention the fact, not asa measure of its value, for the price paid for a painting is not a criterion bywhich to estimate its merits, certainly not of one so unique as this.The original, although not of the same form, covers about as much canvas as " The Transfiguration, " by Raphael, in competition with which it issaid to have been painted. They both represent the same idea, namely," Christ as the Son of God and the Son of Man, " the executor of Divinepower and the reliever of human misery.Sir Charles Bell, the celebrated English surgeon and anatomist, at thetime it was placed in the above institution severely criticised the figure ofLazarus as not presenting any marks of previous illness, forgetting thatthis apparent condition of the body at the moment of restoration may havebeen regarded by the painter as a part of the miracle.When once viewing this painting, in company with a then classmate,and now perhaps the first of English sculptors, John Bell, I had my attention drawn by him to an appearance of greater vitality in that part ofthe figure of Lazarus nearest Christ. This may have been only a happyconceit on the part of my friend, for I cannot, after the lapse of forty years,say whether my own observation confirmed the statement.No one who has ever seen the painting can for a moment doubt that itis a great composition, and the figure of Lazarus a remarkable conception.Charles Lamb, in Elia, speaks of it as one " transcending which the worldhas nothing to show of the preternatural in the whole circle of art. " "Itseems, " continues Lamb, " a thing between two beings: a ghostly horrorof itself struggles with newly apprehended gratitude for second life bestowed; it cannot forget that it was a ghost; it has hardly felt that it hasa body; it has a story to tell from the world of spirits."This is the painting that finally destroyed Mr. West's great reputationas a successful delineator of scriptural subjects, when, after his decease,what was once considered his master effort in that department, " Christling the Sick, " was hung in the National Gallery by the side of thisproduction of Michael Angelo.HEAD FROM A PAINTING IN THE LOUVRE, BY TITIAN.ael excelled in the delineation of divine beauty, no one of thesurpassed Titian in the representation of that of earth. Andfforts of the kind we know of none that exceeds the beauty of tal pointing from which this was taken.DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxiThe ancient Greeks had their celestial and their earthly beauties, — thefirst of which found its representation in the " Venus Urania " by Phidias,the last in the " Venus de Medici " by Cleomenes. Whether the statue ofthe former is now in existence we know not; we have never seen even adrawing of it, and cannot therefore tell whether its celestial beauty wasin the general form of the figure, or the head, or the expression, or allunitedly. But by comparing this head with that of the Angel Raphael, orthe head of any of the best of the Madonnas, we can easily understand inwhat celestial beauty consisted in Christian art.Culture and refinement of thought and feeling may give beauty to a faceof almost any form, and spirituality may illumine it to a point of celestialbrightness; but the inner harmony will always receive an added beautywhen accompanied by an harmonious proportion of the outward form .The original of this illustration is said to be a portrait of Titian's wife..In the painting she is represented looking into a mirror held by the artist.If it be a true resemblance of her, with such a source of inspiration constantly before him we can readily understand how so many visions of beautycame to be mirrored forth by the great Venetian master from the reflectingcanvas.THE WOMAN ACCUSED IN THE Synagogue, by Rembrandt.The painting represented by this illustration belongs to the British government, and among the cabinet pictures in the National Gallery holds thesame high rank which " The Raising of Lazarus " does among the larger ones.It is the most characteristic work of an artist " around whose pencil floatedmystery and silence, and to whom all that was great, striking, and uncommon in the scenery of nature was familiar. " The magic power of chiarooscuro here exhibited is very wonderful, and finds its equal only in the"Del Notte, " or " Nativity, " by Correggio, in which composition all thelight emanates from the person of the infant Saviour, which is self-luminous like a glowworm. No other design with which we are acquaintedbetter represents the value of masses of light and shadow in givingbreadth and picturesque effect to a composition than does this great work of Rembrandt.TITIAN'S BUNCH OF GRAPES.So called from its being the model suggested by him for an effective management of light and dark in a painting. Although to the eye this is a veryhumble illustration , yet it involves a great principle, namely, that whichregards the employment of a general light and shadow to give beauty andeffect to an object or clusters of objects in addition to the particular lightand shade by which objects both in nature and art are made out to the eye,and without which nothing would be visible in the world about us. No. 1XXX DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS.leans, at the sale of whose gallery in 1794 it was purchased by an Englishgentleman, Mr. Angerstein, and on his decease in 1824 it was bought bythe British government, and now forms the greatest attraction among themany valuable works of art in the National Gallery, London. Mr. Beckford, the author of Vathek, once offered Mr. Angerstein a hundred thousand dollars for it, but it was not accepted . We mention the fact, not asa measure of its value, for the price paid for a painting is not a criterion bywhich to estimate its merits, certainly not of one so unique as this.The original, although not of the same form, covers about as much canvas as " The Transfiguration, " by Raphael, in competition with which it issaid to have been painted. They both represent the same idea, namely," Christ as the Son of God and the Son of Man, " the executor of Divinepower and the reliever of human misery.Sir Charles Bell, the celebrated English surgeon and anatomist, at thetime it was placed in the above institution severely criticised the figure ofLazarus as not presenting any marks of previous illness, forgetting thatthis apparent condition of the body at the moment of restoration may havebeen regarded by the painter as a part of the miracle.When once viewing this painting, in company with a then classmate,and now perhaps the first of English sculptors, John Bell, I had my attention drawn by him to an appearance of greater vitality in that part ofthe figure of Lazarus nearest Christ. This may have been only a happyconceit on the part of my friend, for I cannot, after the lapse of forty years,say whether my own observation confirmed the statement.No one who has ever seen the painting can for a moment doubt that itis a great composition, and the figure of Lazarus a remarkable conception .Charles Lamb, in Elia, speaks of it as one " transcending which the worldhas nothing to show of the preternatural in the whole circle of art. " "Itseems, " continues Lamb, " a thing between two beings: a ghostly horrorof itself struggles with newly apprehended gratitude for second life bestowed; it cannot forget that it was a ghost; it has hardly felt that it hasa body; it has a story to tell from the world of spirits. "This is the painting that finally destroyed Mas a successful delineator of scriptural subjectwhat was once considered his master effort ihealing the Sick, " was hung in the Nationamazing production of Michael Angelo.A HEAD FROM A PAINTING INIf Raphael excelled in the delineatiold masters surpassed Titian in the reof all his efforts of the kind we knowthe original painting from which tht's great reputationafter his decease,partment, " Christby the side of thiJOES CROFONON OF ATCLThe ancien free bu tar rattal efirst of which I trthe last t · Vem e be Vthe former DM Idrawingin the generamitedly. But byhe head of any of thewhat celestial beauty cCulture and refinemerof almost any form, anbrightness; but the inwhen accompanied byThe original of thisIn the painting she is reIf it be a true resemblanstantly before himwe carcame to be mirrored fortcanvas.THE WOMAN ACCUSEZThe painting representeernment, and among the camesame high rank which “TheIt is the most characteris: ---mystery and silence, and tomon in the scenery of natoscuro here exhibited is ver"Del Notte, " or "Nativity,emanates from the persoe a glowworm. Norepresents the value1 and picturesqueabrandt.callmenI'mmbegareffecanaretentofclumenobjectn nothingxxxii DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS.is an example of a drawing made only with the particular light andshadow, such as falls on each object in a cloudy day.No. 2 is an example of a drawing with a general light and shadow added, such as falls onobjects in a sunshiny day, or by candle or fire light, illuminating oneportion and leaving the other portion in comparative darkness. In boththe Rembrandt and in this drawing of the Bunch of Grapes the lights and shadows are in masses, but they result from different causes. In the Rembrandt the ordinary light is probably admitted through a window or windows, or some other opening, or it is a candle- light illumination . In eithercase the light is interrupted by some intervening objects, and the result iswhat we see, namely, large masses of light and shadow. In the Bunch ofGrapes the masses are produced as before stated. Of the two drawings ofthe Bunch of Grapes there can be no doubt which is the more picturesque,and they illustrate by comparison the value of a general light and shadowin a composition to give breadth and effect.THE SEVERAL ORDERS OF CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE.To understand at all the subject of Grecian and Roman architecture, itbecomes necessary for us to know not only the general form of the severalorders, but likewise to be acquainted with the essential and also with theless imposing parts of which those orders are composed, namely, themouldings. And a knowledge of the several forms of mouldings, theirspecial use, and the place which they are intended to occupy, will appearthe more necessary when we have found out that they are the great sourceof beauty in every architectural arrangement, and that without them anybuilding, however well proportioned, would be hald, monotonous, andshorn of a large portion of that which attracts, exercises, and satisfies thebeholder. Therefore the reader pursuing the subject of architecture shouldnot neglect acquiring a knowledge of the details of the orders.THE THREE STYLES OF GOTHIC WINDOWS.These windows by their different forms give a general idea of the difference of style that characterized the three eras of Gothic architecture:the Early English, which was bald, simple, and mean; the Decorated,which was varied and ornamental; and the Perpendicular, which changedthe curved and beautiful lines of the Decorated to straight and perpendicular lines, and to such a degree throughout the exterior and interior of theornamented portion of the entire building as to give an appropriatenessto the name for that style and era of Gothic architecture.ART:ITS LAWS, AND THE REASONS FOR THEM.AESSAY I.PERSONAL BEAUTY.MONG the many interesting topics that present themselves for consideration in the treatment of this vastsubject of Art, as taste always has beauty of some sort orother for its object, the attention is naturally first invited toan examination of its principles, and especially those of personal beauty, as we believe them to have been exhibited inthe primitive creation, as we see them developed in the livingworld around us, and as we find them embodied in some ofthe sculptured productions of ancient Greece.There is, perhaps, no subject of human contemplation moreinteresting in itself and more frequently the topic of conversation, and that exercises a greater influence over the actionsand affections of men, than that of personal beauty; and yetthere is none whose principles are so imperfectly comprehendedby the mass, and even by many of an otherwise refined andcultivated taste.This is the necessary result of three causes: first, that noone is born with a knowledge of them; second, that few makethem a subject of study; and third, that those who do, derive little or no assistance from writers upon this theme, - for,singular as it may be, it is none the less true, that no intelligible and generally accepted theory of beauty is now to be foundin any author, ancient or modern.12 PERSONAL BEAUTY.Some partial admeasurements of human beauty have indeedcome down to us incidentally from the ancient Greeks, and thefinest embodiment of them is to be found in some of theirsculptured relics; but no complete theory for our guide andenlightenment has been transmitted to us from that great andpolished people.Within the last one hundred and fifty years, commencing withHogarth and ending with Cousin, many essays have been writtenupon beauty; but it has been the fate of each to sway only fora while the public taste, and then to give place to another asunintelligible and unsatisfactory as that which preceded it .Whether the present essay will throw new light upon asubject so imperfectly comprehended and mysterious, we knownot; yet, as it has been prepared with a knowledge of previousdefects, and with the design of accepting whatever has beengenerally conceded to be true, and rejecting whatever is generally acknowledged to be false, we have some reasonable groundfor hoping to present, in a concise and intelligible form, somemore precise information than ordinarily obtains of the truenature and conditions, not only of that living beauty thateverywhere surrounds us, but likewise of that greater personalperfection that, at starting, we shall assume to have characterized the first created of the great human family; which, however, was subsequently more or less marred in their descendantsby over-indulgence of the passions and appetites, and thediseases and infirmities consequent thereon, which Nature atevery new birth endeavors but ever fails thoroughly to correct,but which in its complete restoration is now only to be foundin some of the ancient Greek sculptures, and particularly theApollo Belvedere and Venus de Medici, two well-known marble statues that competent judges of all civilized and politenations have for a long period agreed to regard as a standard orlaw of beauty for the entire human race, and that becausethey combine, beyond all other known forms, whether in natureor art, those physical perfections that once centred in thefather and mother of mankind. But whether the Greeks haveor have not in these forms reached the perfect beauty of thePERSONAL BEAUTY. 3primitive creation will not at all impair the correctness of thattheory of beauty to be presented in this essay. And so of allthe great works, whether in sculpture or painting or architecture, which, in the course of these essays, we shall employ toillustrate any principle of taste, it may be well enough here toremark, that, whether their merits or demerits may or may notjustify our criticisms in regard to them, the art principle theyare employed to explain will be no less true, and, as we trust,as well understood; the reasoning may be sound, even thoughthe example adduced to illustrate it be imperfect.-Our endeavor will be to show that in the Apollo and Venus deMedici― the figures chosen in this essay as standards of formthe Greek sculptors have reached the excellence of the primitivecreation. But whether we succeed or fail in establishing thatfact in regard to these particular examples, our argument maynot be in vain; for unless it be that the father and mother ofmankind were created physically perfect, that is, were modelsof the species, and that whatever claims to be regarded as astandard of form is a reproduction or faithful representation insome measurable material of the external form of those models, -it is to no purpose that we talk, as we constantly do, of personalbeauty, as there can be nothing to which to refer it , no law bywhich to judge of the degrees of it, in short, no foundation tobuild a theory on.-We are not ignorant that there are those, and among themthat great naturalist Agassiz, who incline to the belief that thegreat human family is not descended from a single pair or stock,but that man first appeared upon the earth in groups or numbers, simultaneously created, and geographically divided as atpresent; each group corresponding in its several characteristics of form, feature, disposition, temperament, color, etc. tothose of the several races or varieties of the human family nowupon the earth.This, if true, might at first thought seem fatal to one essentialportion of our theory, namely, that which makes the perfection.of a standard to consist in a strict conformity to the originalcreation, on account of the seeming impossibility, amid this4 PERSONAL BEAUTY.great variety, of finding the perfect type. But the objection isnot irremovable, inasmuch as there may have been not onlydegrees of excellence in the several groups, but also among theindividuals of the same group, and if so, there must necessarilyhave been one of each sex who possessed qualities of form thatexalted them above the others, and such would have an undoubted claim to be considered the most perfect type of thespecies, and those to which the standard should conform; inwhich view of the matter our theory would not be seriouslyaffected, even if the deductions of science were entitled to morecredence than the Scriptural record.There are those, again, who take a much humbler view ofman's primary condition; who maintain that he is only a betterdevelopment, an improved offshoot, of some inferior creation.This is the new progressive theory of Darwin. Now, as thistheory implies the utter impossibility of a standard, inasmuchas it does not admit of a point where perfection is reached, anddoes not in any way solve the mystery of creation, or at all account for the various phenomena connected therewith, and,besides, is so entirely at variance with the supposed completeness of the creation of some other animals, each division ofwhich has manifested no improvement that we are acquaintedwith since the day they were first planted upon the earth, andare still considered perfect, and, furthermore, so fixes, in thisview of the case, the stamp of inferiority upon that being whomreason and revelation and science and common sense have evertaught us to regard as the head of creation, that we shall makeno serious attempt to refute it , but simply say we do not believe it any more than we believe that the Greek or any othersculptors or painters have produced from the imagination formsor figures more beautiful than ever proceeded from the handsof the Almighty, as that would be to suppose that they knewbetter than the Almighty how man should be constructed, —whichis not only absurd, but discovers on the part of those whobelieve it an ignorance of the true character of ideal beauty, thehighest type of which, as will presently be demonstrated, canbe nothing more or less than the highest type of natural beauty,PERSONAL BEAUTY. 5it consisting simply in combining into one congenial mass thenow divided beauties of the human race, thus doing for manonly that which Cuvier and other naturalists have done forsome of the lower and lost orders of creation, namely, reconstructing the entire animal, guided by the structure of a singlebone, congeniality alone being the law or requirement.Besides the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de Medici, toillustrate this discourse, we shall have occasion, in the courseof it, to refer to other of the Grecian statues, the MinervaAthene, the Mercury, the Hunting Diana, the Hercules Farnese,and the Venus of Milo; and to what is said respecting them wemust invite the undivided attention, as, in order to get any correct idea of the true nature and conditions of living beauty, ofthat which everywhere surrounds us, it is just as necessary topenetrate the design of the ancient Greeks in these statues, asit was for Moses to smite the rock in the wilderness that thewaters might gush out.Of the many theories of beauty that have been given to theworld by modern writers, had it been consistent with the planof these discourses, it would have been pleasant to have examined the most important; but as time and space will notpermit, suffice it to state, that, dividing them all into twoclasses, the great fundamental difference between them is this,namely, that one portion regards beauty as an inherent independent quality of objects, something abiding and residing in themwhether we perceive and derive pleasure from it or not; whileanother portion considers it as a contingency, sometimes makingthe pleasure arising from the contemplation of an object themeasure of its excellence, and that pleasure, as in the theory ofMr. Alison, dependent on some associations awakened in themind of the beholder, or, as with Hogarth, the perception ofsome quality, as that of fitness, utility, and the like.Now it is very apparent that the theory that recognizes thefirst position, namely, the inherent quality of beauty, is right asfar as it goes, as it rests upon an unchanging foundation; and thatthe theory which rejects it is wrong, as it has no foundation atall, — the first finding its law or rule in an unalterable standard;6 PERSONAL BEAUTY.while the last, disclaiming all standard, receives as law the evervarying decisions of each changing imagination.-Now there can be no doubt whatever that the pleasure withwhich one contemplates any object esteemed beautiful isenhanced by the associations awakened in the mind of the beholder, as in viewing the Elgin marbles, for instance, to knowthat they were executed by that great sculptor Phidias, andonce made a portion of the frieze of the Parthenon; and noobjection can be raised to the position of Hogarth, that ouradmiration is increased by the perception of design or fitness inany object, or the adaptation of means to ends, -as the slim,light form of the greyhound, the hunting Diana, and the Mercury, for activity or fleetness, and the muscular structure of theHercules, the lion, the tiger, and the mastiff for strength; andthat admiration is still further increased by the observance ofutility in any object, as in the adaptation of an ornamentedfountain to the purposes of bathing, still it is to be maintainedthat neither association nor fitness nor utility make any portion of the beauty of an object, of that to which we apply theepithet "beautiful "; and especially is utility to be rejected fromamong the elements of beauty, however much our admirationmay be increased by the perception of it, or it follows, as anecessary consequence, that whatever enters into the composition of any object, beyond what is required to enable it to perform some necessary duty, is out of place, and consequently anexcrescence, a deformity, - which is so far from being true, thatthe highest beauty of objects will generally be found to residein the ornamental part, in that which was not absolutely required, and without which those useful duties (employing theterm " useful " in its vulgar acceptation) might have been as wellaccomplished. This is certainly true in architecture, as a plainrough post would as well support an entablature as a finishedornamented column. Nor is it otherwise in regard to the human structure, for an ill-formed eye or nose or mouth willperform all the offices required of them as well as when thosefeatures have all the outward forms of beauty. The truth is, theAuthor of our being, in the great work of creation, had sufficient―PERSONAL BEAUTY. 7in the storehouse of his abundance for ornament as well asfor use; he chose, therefore, not only to consult his beneficencein providing for the necessities of man, but likewise his fancy ingratifying his taste. Having implanted in man a love of thebeautiful, he then supplied the means of satisfying it, and thosemeans, as far as human beauty is concerned, may be stated, ingeneral terms, to consist in certain shapes, surfaces, or contours,proportions and colors, constituting by and of themselves positive, essential beauty, as a modification of such shapes or forms,surfaces or contours, proportions and colors, and the consequentpresence ofothers, constitutes essential, positive deformity, -a negative deficiency simply, but an absolute presence.The essential, inherent quality of beauty then, as thus stated,being accepted, we are next to inquire if there may not be somestandard to which to refer it, some rule to guide the judgmentin our estimate of the degrees of it, especially as it regards thehuman structure.- notThis question in regard to a standard of beauty for the humanform is necessarily involved in the more general one of a standard of taste. We shall consider it, however, no further than as ithas a bearing on a rule or law of beauty for the human structure, both male and female.We constantly talk of the beauty or deformity of this or thatindividual, and it is immediately assented to; but when onestandard of beauty for the human race is mentioned, objectionsare raised, on the ground that individuals and nations differ inregard to their estimate of what constitutes beauty, -one making it to consist in this structure and color, another in that; theChinese, for instance, finding it in the pinched-up foot, the sootyAfrican in the thick-formed lip, whilst the Caucasian, rejectingthese as deformities, seeks and thinks he finds it in something else.This is the argument generally employed by those who contend for the negative of this question; but it is of no avail ,for although a love for the beautiful is a part of our commonnature, this love may be improved like any other of our faculties,physical, intellectual, and moral. Indeed, taste, or a love for anddiscriminating appreciation of whatever is beautiful, is not only8 PERSONAL BEAUTY.progressive, but inductive; it is, in short, as has been well said,"the result of a series of experiments whose object is beauty";and this being so, our discernment and judgment of beauty willbe commensurate with our means of improvement. The uneducated rustic who has never travelled beyond his little village,and seen only such rude objects of art as the pedler unfolds atthe cottage door, is gratified and satisfied with less than his morefortunate townsman, who has seen the master efforts of thepencil and the chisel. The former is pleased, for they are thebest he has seen; but even he will smile at the primitive simplicity of his early taste, when, at some future period, with theadvantages of travel and observation, his eye ranges along theadornments of the walls of his ancient habitation; he judges comparatively, he has seen a better.It will thus be seen that diversity of opinion, in regard tobeauty, so far from being a matter for surprise, is the necessaryeffect of varied extent of knowledge, and can never be successfully employed as an argument against a standard of beauty forthe human race; and this being so, our next and third preliminary inquiry is as to where we shall find that standard, and,happily for our patience, there is no difficulty in this respect, aswe have only to turn to those universally admired relics ofGrecian grandeur, the Apollo Belvedere and Venus de Medici,not as arbitrary standards, but as standards whose claim to beregarded as models of beauty rests upon the common feelingsand sentiments of .men, tried and appealed to for centuriesthrough all civilized nations. Reason, however, it has beenjustly remarked by Mr. Blair, first established, and, as we shallpresently show, subsequently demonstrates, the principles onwhich the standard furnished by the Apollo and the Venusremains fixed and unchangeable.It may be objected to these statues that they are ideal figures,and therefore that it is perfectly ridiculous to set them up asmodels of beauty for the human form; but the reply to this is ,that although nothing like them as a whole has been found inthe great human family since our first parents, yet they are not,for that reason, the less natural.PERSONAL BEAUTY. 9There may be a seeming contradiction in the statement thatideal beauty in its highest type and signification is naturalbeauty; but as an examination of this position will unfold to usthe entire meaning and design of the old Greek sculpture, andconsequently the nature and conditions of living human beauty,let us briefly pursue it, and test its accuracy.-No one, we apprehend, will dispute the position that thepresent structure of the human race is imperfect, that no onecan be found whose physical conformation is not marked by oneor more defects; nor will it be doubted by any one, we imagine,that there must have been a brief period in man's history whenit was far otherwise, for it is not reasonable to suppose that imperfection existed in the physical constitution of the first createdpair, whatever may have been the inherent liability to change,deterioration, and disease. They were the last of the Almighty'sproductions, and, as the heads of creation , we have some suregrounds for believing them to have been that on which hisgreatest skill was expended. The great Architect of the universedoubtless made the body a fitting residence for its princely occupant, the soul. Man must have commenced aright, for it isdifficult to conceive, in any view of the matter, why it shouldhave been otherwise. But perfect beauty, as already stated, isnow no longer to be found in any human being. This soul ofours is the tenant only of a ruin, but it is the ruin of a Parthenon; and, although its fair proportions are destroyed, thematerial still exists, but scattered like the fragments of that sameParthenon, and, like them too, beautiful even in decay. Torepeat, the fragments of that beauty, once united in the firstcreation, although dispersed, now exist. On every side of usthere is more or less of them. This person may have one portion, and that another, but not the whole; for, to repeat, no onecan be found in whom these fragments of original beauty are notmixed up with deficiencies, excrescences, and deformities,necessary consequences of a diseased body. This may be mortifying to our pride, especially when we compare our conditionin this respect with that of other animals, but it is no less afact.-the10 PERSONAL BEAUTY.―Now, this imperfection in man's structure soon made itselfvisible to the Grecian sculptors. These, observing that Naturehad limited her efforts to parts, that is, had scattered amongthe many the beauties formerly united in one, were not willingto take their idea of beauty from a single individual, but fromseveral; and thus, instead of making a fac-simile of one, they extracted the fragments of beauty from many bodies, and, unitingthem into a congenial mass, were enabled to make out an abstract of form more perfect than one original, and — which mightseem a paradox ·more natural, as the result of such combinationwas the production of forms not disfigured by accident, distempered by disease, or modified by custom and local habits, andconsequently possessing more of that unmodified general structure that characterized the first creation . I repeat, general structure; for the phrase " perfect beauty " implies or expresses a general idea, neither Greek, Italian, English, French, nor Germanexclusively, for all national and individual peculiarities ofstructure, as such, are a deviation from or modification of the original type of general beauty, and consequently so far a deformity.When we spoke just now of man's early offence against thelaws of nature, and of the diseases and deformities consequentupon his over- indulgence of the passions and appetites, as amongthe prominent causes of his present deteriorated structure, andthat it found its complete restoration in the efforts of the Greeksculptors, we did not mean it to be inferred that they understood all this in the sense in which we comprehend it , but thatthe process of selection and congenial combination led to thisresult. Whatever may have been their supposition and intention, and whether they have or have not, in these or any otherfigures, reached the excellence and beauty of the first createdpair, it will at once be seen, that, although our models maybe imperfect, our theory remains sound, namely, that completeideal personal beauty, and consequently a standard of form, isnothing more than the reproducing in marble or some unchanging measurable material the structure given to man at creation,not in attempting to make anything more beautiful than he thenwas, but as he once existed, fresh from the hands of his Maker;PERSONAL BEAUTY. 11thus making the highest ideal and the highest natural beauty tobe precisely the same thing, and man, as we ordinarily beholdhim, the most unnatural of all created beings, and that " not tooverstep the modesty of nature is to follow in the footsteps ofthe most exalted art."There is one other objection besides that already noticed whichis very likely to be urged against the claims of the Apollo andthe Venus to be regarded as the standards of human form,namely, that they were reckoned among the gods of Greece.Those who advance it, however, forget that the divinities of thatpeople had a human origin, and that whoever attempted toportray them employed human materials.The aim of the sculptors in these statues was completebeauty of form, but of this they could have no higher conception than what was furnished by the scattered parts, amongwhich their acuteness discerning a consistency, guided by theirtaste and artistic skill, these they simply united into congenialforms, " bone to its fellow bone, " as the dry and scattered fragments came together in the vision of Ezekiel; governed in allthis by precisely the same law that, as stated in the commencement of this essay, governed Cuvier in the perfect reconstruction of the form of some lost animal, — the law of congruity, oragreement.--Besides the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de Medici, thereare other ideal forms among the Greek sculptures that in a certainsense are beautiful, as the Hunting Diana, the Minerva Athene,the Mercury, the Venus of Milo, etc.; but they have no claim tobe regarded as models or standards of complete human beauty,as their excellence is partial, sectional, characteristic, being thatonly of a class, the Diana and Mercury embodying the perfections of the fleet or agile, the Minerva those of the intellectual.These are extremes of their kind, and are styled characteristicbeauties; in which they differ from the Apollo and Venus, that,as already stated, have in their structure nothing of a partialcharacter, but are central figures, the medium or compromisebetween all extremes, and, being gathered from the entire humanfamily, are models of general beauty, as the others, being12 PERSONAL BEAUTY.gathered from a subdivision of it, are perfect examples of particular beauty, the beauty of a class.66In his admirable lectures on art, Sir Joshua Reynolds, towhom we are already much indebted, tells us that " the Apolloand the Venus are a combination of these several sectional beauties, a union of all the excellent qualities that these singly possess,just as Achilles, whom Homer intends to make a perfect man,is a compound of all his confederates; " or as John Milton, who,Macaulay tells us, was the greatest man of his age,was neitherPuritan, Cavalier, Roundhead, nor of any other single partyor persuasion, but made up of the noblest qualities of everyparty combined in harmonious union, from the camp and thecourt, from the conventicle and the Gothic cloister, from thegloomy and sepulchral circles of the Roundhead and the Christmas revels of the hospitable Cavaliers, his nature selecting anddrawing to itself whatever was great and good, while it rejectedall the base and pernicious ingredients by which those finer elements were defiled."--And that the Apollo and the Venus are, as Reynolds observes,a combination of all the excellent qualities that the other statues singly possess, we can readily believe, as "perfect beautyin any species must unite all the characters that are beautifulin that species. It cannot exist in one to the exclusion of therest; no one, either, must be predominant, that no one may bedeficient; " for wherever, as already shown, one quality —as ofactivity in the Mercury and Diana, and intellectuality in theMinerva - becomes so predominant as to merge or shut out therest, it renders such representation sectional, destroys its general character, the great element of perfect beauty.This idea of Reynolds has been taken up and much simplifiedby Walker in his very elaborate work on Beauty. He makesthree classes of sectional beauty, represented by the Venusof 'Milo, the Hunting Diana, and the Minerva Athene.beauty of the first he characterizes as vital, " because it embodiesall those qualities which best fit a woman to become the motherof her race; " that of the second as locomotive, " because it embodies all those qualities which favor activity of movement; "PERSONAL BEAUTY. 13and that of the third as intellectual, "because developing particularly the intellectual excellences of form and expression. ""Now," continues Mr. Walker, " though there can be no greatdegree of beauty where a combination of the three is not moreor less the case, yet a union of the three in the greatest possible degree is necessary to constitute perfect personal beauty "; andthis (as does Reynolds) he thinks exemplified in the ApolloBelvedere and the Venus de Medici, which, as already stated, havein them nothing that is characteristic, individual, or national.66It is true we daily hear these statues spoken of as Greek intheir structure, but it is only in the sense in which Mr. Humeallows to the British people a national character, namely, intheir having none, this very peculiarity alone entitling them tothe epithet; that is, " the British character was, " as he expressesit, a union of all the excellent qualities possessed separately bydifferent portions of the great human family, " which combinationrendered them, in his opinion, the most perfect people, morallyconsidered, on the globe. Whether his estimate was just ornot is another question. The idea is that of Macaulay in hisanalytical estimation of the character of John Milton, andequally illustrates the only manner possible of embodying supreme excellence, namely, by a combination of scattered elements into one congenial whole.These statues, therefore, are Greek in one sense, and not inanother, Greek, in that the qualities of general beauty wereoftener found in Greece than elsewhere; and not Greek, in thatthe qualities which gave such pre-eminent beauty to the Apolloand the Venus belong to man not as a Greek, but are the general characteristics of man universal.Our discussion thus far has established, as we believe, thefollowing positions: First, that beauty has a real, not an imaginary existence; that it is an inherent, essential quality ofobjects, something residing in them, independent of all otherconsiderations, whether of association or utility or fitness ordesign; for although such association, or the perception of utilityor fitness or design, may increase our admiration, they make nopart of that to which we apply the epithet " beautiful."14 PERSONAL BEAUTY.Second, that there may be a standard of beauty, notwithstanding a difference of opinion respecting it exists amongindividuals and nations, inasmuch as taste, or a just appreciation and estimate of beauty, is improvable, like any other of ourfaculties, intellectual, physical, and moral.Third, that this standard of beauty is furnished us in thoseancient Greek statues, the Apollo Belvedere and the Venusde Medici, because they combine all the physical beauties ofthe first created of the human race, which primitive creation weassumed to be necessarily perfect, and consequently that whatever claims to be a law or model for living beauty must in allparticulars resemble them, thus identifying the highest idealwith the highest natural beauty.Fourth, that the term " perfect beauty " expresses a generalidea, excluding all individual and national peculiarities of structure as modifications of this general primitive beauty, whichcomprehends, necessarily, all that is excellent in the species,and cannot exist in one excellent quality to the exclusion of therest, as, whenever that is the case, as in the Diana, where thelocomotive power or adaptation exceeds all other developments, andin the Minerva, where the intellectual are the most predominant,and in the Venus of Milo, where both the locomotive and the intellectual are subordinate to the vital developments, it destroysits general character, and renders it a sectional, partial beauty,the perfection of its class, as the Apollo and the Venus deMedici, combining the beauties or excellent qualities of thesethree classes in equal and highest degree, are types of perfectgeneral beauty, that is, of man universal.- --Well, having established, as we trust, these preliminary positions, we come next to speak of the elements of beauty, proportion, symmetry, simplicity, variety, and grace, of symmetry inthe disposition of the several limbs and features; proportionin their several lengths and breadths; simplicity and varietyin their contours or surfaces; and grace in their attitudes.PERSONAL BEAUTY. 15PROPORTION.Proportion has ever been considered the basis of beauty, asdisproportion of deformity. It is defined to be the relation ofthe whole to the parts, and of the parts to the whole. In formit is such an arrangement of the several portions of a figure asshall make that impression upon the eye that a just arrangementof notes in music does upon the ear. Proportion pleases byits appeal to our love of harmony, and harmony pleases usagreeably to a requirement or law of our nature.―In this view of the term- - namely, the relation of the whole tothe parts and of the parts to the whole - it will be perceivedthat there may be proportion in several kinds of figures, either fator slender, tall or short, as the several parts which go to makeup that figure are fat or slender, tall or short; so that when it issaid, as it presently will be, that neither of these can be perfectly beautiful, but only a medium or compromise of the two,the idea intended to be conveyed is not that they are entirelydeficient in personal attractions, because they may possess thecharm that arises from congeniality or congruity of parts fromtheir all being of one character, in which consists, doubtless,much of the beauty of the Diana, the Mercury, the greyhound,the dray and the race horse, the clipper-built schooner and the shipof burden. In each of these, if we may be allowed the expression, the parts are all of one mind; the notes are in unison, butthe air is not the most beautiful. This proportion of an individual in regard to himself, this correspondence of the severalparts of an object with the entire figure, is what the ancientGreeks called harmonic proportion.Bad proportion of the human figure consists in having afat body and a slim leg, or a thin face and a pug nose, or fatfingers and a lean arm; or it is such an arrangement of theseveral parts as shall produce the same effect upon the eye thata too sharp or too flat note in music does upon the ear.If any one should desire to know what the most perfect proportions for the human figure are, that is another question, andbest answered by referring to the Venus and the Apollo.16 PERSONAL BEAUTY.Among the ancient sculptors, the medium of measurementfor the human form was either the foot, the face, or the head.Taking the face for the measurement, the Apollo and Venusgive for their height about ten; or, making the head the measurement, the Apollo gives somewhat over seven, the Venus sevenand a half. This laying out of the figure into so many faces orheads or feet was called by the ancients numerical proportion.It is not necessary to continue further detailed statementslike these, as they may be found in almost any book on Art.We shall content ourselves with simply remarking that thelength of the several portions of the figure in the two sexes ispretty much the same, but that in their breadths they differ;the shoulders in the male being in all well-proportioned figuresbroader than the hips, and the reverse in the female; hence theform of the first tapers downwards, while that of the latter tapersupwards. The waist too, as compared with the shoulders, isnarrower in the male than in the female, from which it appearshow contrary to Nature's design those females proceed whothink they improve their beauty by contracting it.SYMMETRY.We have had no inconsiderable difficulty in giving a satisfactory definition of this second element of beauty, as it is frequently employed by writers as synonymous with proportion. Ithas probably the same meaning as uniformity; at least, we shallso consider it.It is symmetry that directs the placing of the arms in corresponding positions on either side of the body, the ears on eitherside of the head, the eyes on either side and at equal distancefrom the nose, as the windows, the eyes of the house, on eitherside of the door; the chimneys, the ears of the house, on eachnd, or in the middle, if but one. The destruction of one eye,-the loss of or cutting shorter one of the arms, or elevatinglittle one of the shoulders, would be destructive of symmetry.he destruction of the two eyes or both arms would not so imair it, although it would be fatal to proportion. The ox withPERSONAL BEAUTY. 17two horns, and the unicorn with one, are equally symmetrical;cut but an inch from one of the horns of the former, or removebut an inch from the centre the horn of the latter, and thesymmetry of the figure is destroyed. Symmetry always impartsa very great delight; it pleases by its appeal to our love of order, or balance of parts.SIMPLICITY.This, the third element of beauty, is the basis of purity,and always involves the idea of fewness of parts. It is simplicity that makes us admire the clear unwrinkled forehead,a smooth fair skin; that discards in dress a multiplicity of foldsand great variety of colors, as, in the hair, a multiplicity ofcurls; that renders agreeable the Eastern drapery, and givessuperiority to Grecian over Gothic architecture, when the latteris viewed near, and that makes the Gothic look better at a distance, when the detail is lost in the mass.In this element of beauty is to be found the great charm ofRaphael's productions, and in the want of it the disgust anduneasiness not unfrequently excited by those of French artistsof the David school, in the days of the Empire.Simplicity in morals means straightforwardness, directness,and is the opposite of cunning, chicanery, and intrigue; inmanners it is artlessness, and the opposite of affectation; inform, it is the opposite of a multiplicity of shapes or figures.Simplicity is a near neighbor to order or regularity, and consequently leads a very quiet existence. It pleases by its appeal toour love of repose.VARIETY.It may look a little like contradiction to place variety amongthe elements of beauty, after what has been said of simplicity.But it is to be remembered that although the eye and the mind,like the body, love quiet and repose, they likewise love exercise.The eye is as much offended with being fixed to a dead flatwall as the ear is displeased with one even continued note.It is variety that renders the rectangular line more beautiful 218 PERSONAL BEAUTY.and agreeable to the eye than one uniformly straight, thosecutting each other diagonally more so than the rectangular, theundulating more so than the diagonal, and the spiral more sothan the undulating or double curve, the latter constitutingthe line of beauty, the former that of grace.It is variety that gives a pleasing character to the perpendicular position of the nose as contrasted with the horizontallines of the eyes and the mouth; that makes the oval a betterform for the head than the round or the square, a slightly undulating outline of the surface of the body preferable to a deadflat; that renders a turning attitude and limbs, a slightlyaverted and gently reclined head, infinitely more beautiful thanone bolt upright."This variety, however, in the form, the surface, and the attitude of the body must not be carried to excess, any more thansimplicity, for the first would lead to intricacy, as the last tomonotony." What the proportionate degree of each in any formor composition should be, is a question to be answered whenwe come to speak of the constituent portions of painting anddirectly of sculpture, and to treat of the correspondence necessary to be preserved between the composition and the sentiment of the subject.That the foregoing remarks in regard to simplicity and varietyare not the mere suggestions of fancy, but have a practical application, and involve the soundest philosophy, may be easilydemonstrated by almost anything that is beautiful in natureand art, and particularly by that most enchanting of all objects,the human form.Observe the head, and see how beautifully Nature has guardedit from monotony by the hair and the eyebrows, which by theirroughness serve to relieve the softness, smoothness, and clearness of the skin; and then again the outlines of the entirefigure, which, though in its general surface soft and smooth,consists not wholly of abrupt angular lines nor of those whichare perfectly round, neither entirely of straight lines nor thosethat are curved, but of that happy combination of the two, thevaried and the simple, that, insensibly melting into each other,PERSONAL BEAUTY. 19" That flowing outline takeThat moves in wavy windings like the snake,Or lambent flame, which, ample, broad , and long,Relieved, not swelled, at once both light and strong,Glides through the graceful whole. "There is not an entirely straight line of any extension to befound on the surface of the figure of either the Apollo or theVenus; and hence we conclude that much of their beauty, asalso that of all handsome persons, results from the employmentand nice adjustment of a spirally undulating outline. And weare the more inclined to this belief, if it be true, as Mr. Burkeasserts, that "those objects are the most ugly that are the mostangular ": and that this is so as it regards the human form weare persuaded to believe, " for if its whole surface was coveredwith sharp projecting points, the eye and the mind would beharassed and distracted; if the whole surface was smooth andflat, there would be a want of animation.Neither the eyenor the mind is unexcited or distracted, but gently and agreeablyanimated, when running along the undulatory surfaces of theApollo and the Venus; therefore we conclude that this line isone of the principal causes of their beauty. "If this be, as it doubtless is, correct, it will be at once perceived that thin or lean persons cannot be perfectly beautiful,because there the muscles have no rilievo, the surfaces are tooflat; that would give the. half-starved apothecary in " Romeoand Juliet."Nor can fat persons be perfectly beautiful, because there themuscles are too round; that would give John Falstaff.Nor very muscular persons, because there the terminationsor insertions of the muscles are too abrupt; that would givethe Hercules or Samson.Nor can very young persons be perfectly beautiful, becausethere the muscles have not attained their completeness; norold persons, because they have lost it.can veryWhere then, and under what condition of life, shall we lookfor complete human beauty? Only at the precise period ofwomanhood or manhood. All before that is progressive; all afterthat is stationary for a while, perhaps, and then receding.20 PERSONAL BEAUTY.If time and space permitted, we could still further illustratethe value of this waving and spiral line in giving beauty, byshowing how Nature employs it in " her trees, her fruits, herflowers, and, more than all for its importance as an argument-in expressing the agreeable sentiments of our nature, whilstshe exhibits the ferocious and disgusting in angular lines."Violent passion angularizes the muscles, and consequently isfatal to beauty. The ancients, therefore, rarely exhibited thehuman form violently excited. It is true the " Gladiator isagitated, the Laocoön is convulsed, the Niobe is absorbed; "but these are rare exceptions, and it was not intended that tothem the world should look for complete human beauty.Apollo is only animated, the Venus simply is charmed."" The"The muscles that form a pleasing smile about the corners ofthe mouth have gentle windings, but lose them and theirbeauty in a broad laugh; they then take the form of a parenthesis. It is the absence of all these gently winding lines,this union of the varied and the simple, the straight and thecurved, that characterizes the face of the idiot, and marks, inthe most striking degree, those least beautiful of all animals, thehog, the bear, and that reptile, the toad. " "An ugly toad " isa common epithet, used sometimes to indicate a peculiar disposition, but improperly so, as it has relation simply to the form orstructure of the person.Although both the Apollo and the Venus are characterizedby a nice adjustment of this serpentine flowing outline, yet itis somewhat more gentle in the female, as suitable to her gentlernature and sex; while in the male the muscles are more articulated and angular, as becoming strength and manhood. Thisbeing the case, there can be no difficulty in saying which is themost beautiful. The female, undoubtedly. The form of themale, however, if it exhibit, as it ought, less delicacy and elegance, possesses the most grandeur. Hence woman, as observedby Lavater, " inspires more love; man, more admiration. "Our discussion thus far has had relation only to the form ofthe human creation. We have yet said nothing of the generalcomplexion, nor should we, if this essay was intended simply toPERSONAL BEAUTY. 21illustrate the beauty of the Greek statues. We have employedthem chiefly that through the principles which governed theirconstruction we might get a clearer idea than we otherwisecould of what constitutes perfect beauty in the living worldaround us. We purpose, however, only briefly to remark, that,as in a painting, when you pass beyond a single color, a combination in some way or other of the three primitives, red,yellow, and blue, is absolutely required to render a pictureagreeable, the employment of two alone not satisfying the eye;so also in every beautiful complexion is there required the samecombination. What shall be the proportionate degree of eachin any given form or character could not possibly be stated.We can only say that the union of the three in greater or lessintensity is found in the complexion of every beautiful personin health.Those who contend against a universal standard of beauty forthe human race would tell us, perhaps, that because the Mongolian and the Ethiopian prefer their own color, therefore thecomplexion of the black and the Indian is to be considered asbeautiful as that of the Caucasian or white race. It is not so,however, as has been ingeniously demonstrated in a very few wordsby Sir Uvedale Price in his admirable essay on the Picturesque."Light and color," says that excellent critic, " are the onlynatural pleasures of vision, but black is the privation of both.Variety, gradation, and combination of tints afford the greatestdelight to the eye, but black is absolute monotony." In thecomplexion of the black, then, and in almost as great a degreein the complexion of the red man, we see an inferiority, in oneview of the matter, to that of the white. We call the negro aman of color, " but improperly so, as that epithet may moreproperly be applied to the white race.66The same inferiority likewise attaches to the form of the black,as judged by our standard, and that we have a right so to judgewe doubt not; for though the perfection of our model — and, indeed, of any model consists in a complete conformation to theprimitive creation, and the negro and the red man had, as somemaintain, a distinct origin (which point it is not necessary for22PERSOSALBEAUTY.us now to discussy, and although as a Mongolian or an Ethiopian, bis perfection would coast in a complete conformationtothe structure that characterized the first created of his owndenomination, yet, when we come to consider his beauty as aman, as a memberofthegreat human family, then he necessarilycomes under the general law; and a comparison with the white,under that law, at once establishes his inferiority, both as it regurdsform and color, whatever may be his intellectual and moralequality.Our remarks thus far have been mostly of an abstract character, and had relation chiefly to the past. We will now, in conclusion, say afew words of the present.Among the varieties of the great human family now on theearth, none have a greater reputation for beauty than the CirCassians and Georgians, or, rather, the portion of the Georgiansinhabiting that part of the great Caucasian range called Kartoul or Imeritin, for there are several divisions of the Georgians.-Why the Greeks should have lost their general reputation forbeauty wo know not, for there are travellers who say that thesamo models that inspired Phidias and Apelles are still to befound in the Moren; that nothing can surpass the beauty of theGrook women that inhabit the islands, where the Greek blood isunpolluted by marriago with natives of other countries. Blumonbach, of a collection of one hundred and seventy crania ofdiflorent nations, found a Greek skull presenting the same facialangle as that of the Apollo (an angle of eighty- seven degrees),thus refuting the idea that the expansive forms of the best antique sculptures were purely imaginative.But, be that as it may, the Greeks have, from some cause orother, lost their ancient reputation for beauty. The palm is nowawarded bygeneral consent to the Circassians and the Georgians.The Circassians are described as having brown hair, hazel eyes,oval faces, thin straight noses, and elegant forms. The Georgians are spoken of as more beautiful in form, but inferior incomplexion. It is less fair, owing, no doubt, to the latter beingnatives ofa lower range of the Caucasian Mountains.Among the principal causes of the superior beauty of thesePERSONAL BEAUTY. 23tribes may be included the unfettered training of the children,the freedom of dress, and that exemption from care which attends a medium degree of refinement, and leaves the countenance with that expression of repose so characteristic of idealbeauty.Where there is a multiplicity of cares, there gets to be impressed upon the face a multiplicity of expressions, which destroys the breadth, and distracts the eye and mind of the spectator.Much, too, is owing to the medium nature of the climate.They are neither burnt up, like the negro, nor frozen to death,like the Esquimaux. Nature degenerates at the extremes.extremes lie on either side of the true and the perfect. Thus itis neither the Hercules nor the Mercury that is the most beautiful,but a medium or compromise of the two, the Apollo; neitherthe greyhound nor the mastiff, but the pointer; neither the leannor the fat, but the full made; neither the tall nor the short,but the medium-sized; neither the old nor the young, but themiddle-aged; neither the straight nor the round, but the undulating; or, to sum up the whole in two words, it is the justemilieu of the French, or the " golden mean " of the moralist,or something precisely between two extremes; and it is therewe find our standard of beauty for the human race, not simplythe beauty of form, color, and expression, but likewise of attitudeand movement, or, in other words, grace, so well defined as theartless balance of motion and repose, sprung from character,founded upon propriety, which neither falls short of nor oversteps the modesty of nature. "66But although a medium or temperate climate is favorable tothe production and preservation of beauty, there may be, andfrequently is, great beauty where the climate is adverse, becauseits evil influences may be counteracted or corrected by education; but the difference of the process is the difference betweeennatural and artificial causes. The physical condition of a manwho never has been ill must necessarily be more perfect thanthat of one who has been cured of a disease, or is obliged dailyto take medicine to ward off sickness.24 PERSONAL BEAUTY.Our own is not a temperate climate, and yet we have beautyhere in abundance, and should have more, did not utter subjection to fashion, a corrupt taste, and, above all, the continuedanxiety that arises from a false position, prevent it . Yet weeverywhere see great personal beauty, not that which is perfect,but still beauty; and if any are so unfortunate as not to perceiveit, may it not be that, like Milton, " they have become blindedwith the excess of light "?We here conclude what our limits permit us to devote tothe subject of personal beauty, natural and ideal. As the principles of all beauty are the same, our argument will have ageneral application, and can be employed to illustrate any objectthat demands it.Without aiming to give an exhaustive view of the principlesand philosophy of beauty, we yet hope that what has been said,imperfect as it may be, in view of the vastness of the theme, willbe sufficient inducement to the lover of nature and art further topursue the examination, always keeping in mind that it is notthe canon or the rule of any art or science that is alone worthyof investigation, but the reasons for those laws or canons. Theneglect to impart such knowledge characterizes in a great degreethe present, and must always constitute a great deficiency in anysystem of education.Pusing ofTuzow1.8Letast=NTil Ing ¥ནས་ ག བཀོད་་་མསའ ེམཀ་ཧཱུྃ 1.F InI4ར འགྱུར་94pries W W.:4 L atMic Ang Seb delPiombe.TheRaising ofPazarusJusAndrews.

ESSAY II .DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.HAVING in the preceding Essay endeavored to present anthat is chieflyBut before weintelligible idea of the general principles of beauty, andof the principles of general beauty, we are in some degree prepared to enter upon the consideration of an artconcerned in the representation of it on canvas.proceed to speak of the constituent parts of Painting, we willdescribe the different classes into which it is divided; and weshall be the more particular in our analysis of some of the highest of these classes, because without a clear understanding ofthis part of our subject it is utterly impossible for any one tohave a correct idea of any of the fine arts.Painting is divided by the most judicious writers into fourteen different classes: The Epic, Dramatic, Historic, Allegoric,Portraiture, Landscape, Battle Pieces, Sea Views, Grotesque,Architecture, Animals and Birds, Still Life, Fruits and Flowers.Few persons recognize these distinctions, Historical Painting,Landscape, Portraiture, Battle Pieces, Sea Views, Animals andBirds, Fruits and Flowers, embracing, in their limited view, theentire range of subjects.This classification, however, is neither complete nor discriminative, as a slight analysis will show that the great productionsof Michael Angelo are no nearer allied to those of Raphael thanthe Paradise Lost of Milton is to the writings of Shakespeare,and that the grand designs of both Michael Angelo and Raphael,usually classed as historic, differ as much from pure historicdelineations as epic and dramatic writings do from the narrations of Hume or Bancroft; so, too, that rustic or pastoral landscape differs as much from that called classic and heroic, as the26 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.Eclogues of Virgil do from the Æneid or the Iliad, and delineations of familiar life from many other kinds of pictorial representations, as the ballad does from every other kind ofwritten composition. In fine, we shall discover, upon examination, that the same varieties exist in Painting as in letters, andit will be the business of this essay to point out those distinctions.As several of the classes are sufficiently denoted by theirnames, we will begin our analysis with a brief description ofGROTESQUE PAINTING.The definition given by the books to the word grotesque is"something distorted of figure, wildly formed, unnatural. "It is for this reason that the term is employed to designatesuch paintings as represent the nocturnal meetings of witches,incantations, sorceries, and the like.Of this class are Fuseli's pictures of " The Weird Sisters bubbling up from Earth, " Sir Joshua Reynolds's "Caldron scenein Macbeth, " Weir's " Santa Claus going down the Chimneytop, " Smirke's " Meeting between Falstaff and Mrs. Page andMrs. Ford at Herne's Oak, " but, above all, Teniers's " Witchcoming from Hell with a lap full of charms, " a class which,Dryden tells us, finds its resemblance in farce in poetry.LANDSCAPE PAINTING.This is the term used to designate such paintings as are thetranscript of a given spot, or a picturesque combination ofhomogeneous objects, or the scene of a phenomenon.The first of these divisions embraces what are commonlycalled Views, as the representation of a gentleman's country residence, or of some city, as New York, and even of the Falls ofNiagara.It needs hardly to be remarked that this, under ordinarycircumstances, is the most humble kind of landscape painting,little more than topography, without the merit of its mathemat-DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 27ical exactness; the only redeeming quality about it, to give itrank, value, and importance, resulting sometimes from thepoetic management of the sky, effective disposition of the lightsand shadow, and tone of color, qualities that depend more orless upon the invention and taste of the artist, and do not necessarily attach to the subject. This class is entirely distinct fromthe second division , or Ideal Landscape.―Ideal landscape is the term employed to designate a combination of congenial objects or scenery, selected and arranged tosuit the taste and fancy of the artist. Nicholas Poussin's landscapes are generally of this class, as also Claude's; and in moremodern times most of those by Allston, and some by Bierstadt,Church, and others of our American artists. The landscapepaintings by Turner, the great English artist, were more frequently the representations of some given spot, the idealismabout them resulting in the manner just described, namely, fromthe poetic management of the light and shadow, tone and color.The four well-known designs by Claude, representing the fourparts of the day, " Morning," " Noon," " Evening," and " Night,”are fine specimens of ideal or composed landscapes.Claude, like many or most other artists, ancient and modern,was accustomed in his rambles to transcribe into his sketchbook every picturesque object he met with, - trees, rocks,bridges, houses, castles, ruins, etc. , and in his study, from thesematerials, assisted by his imagination, to make up those beautifulcompositions that have given him the very highest position asa landscape painter, Mr. Ruskin's opinion to the contrary notwithstanding.This bringing together of separate parts of the material worldto make a congenial whole is but the method pursued by theancient sculptors in the composition of some of their mostbeautiful figures, as previously pointed out; and also by theirfigure- painters, as by Zeuxis in his picture of Helen, which, weare told, was modelled from seven of the handsomest females tobe found in all Greece; and sometimes by the poet, as by Byronin his admirable description of the shipwreck in Don Juan,which was drawn, as he himself tells us, " not from any single28 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.narration, but from well-authenticated facts of several shipwrecks."The terms, classic and heroic are sometimes employed to designate this kind of landscape, to distinguish it from that calledpastoral or rustic, the representation of uncultivated nature.Heroic as well as pastoral, however, be it remembered, and indeed every kind of landscape painting, like the ideal in sculpture, is intended to be a representation of nature.It is claimed for these compositions of Claude that they arehistorical landscapes, because he has introduced into each ofthem groups of figures representing some historical incident.In one of them —that called " Noon " —is the Holy Familyresting under the shadow of a tree on their journey into Egypt.In another is a group, Jacob watering his sheep at a fountainby the wayside. In another -that of Evening are Tobiasand the angel.-—In these paintings, although the several groups thus introduced give an historical feature to them, yet they are, as in mostrepresentations of the kind, a subordinate part of the composition, and are always out of place unless the kind of scenery andthe locality justify their introduction, which is not here thecase, the materials for the four compositions being gatheredin Italy. In that representing " Noon, " there is indeed a distant view of the great pyramids, but they are surrounded byItalian architectural ruins. The main design of Claude was tomake a landscape painting; the figures were an afterthought,and probably executed, as is often the case, by another artist.There is, however, a species of landscape painting in whichthe landscape is subordinate to the figures, as in Carlo Maratti'spainting of " Jacob at the Well, " and Guido's " Woman of Samaria." In this case the landscape is introduced either toexhibit as in the last - some scenic propriety, or as in theformer as a mere embellishment of the historic design.There is much difficulty always, in the combination of figureand landscape, in maintaining subordination and unity, yet preserving the interest of the respective parts; and in this mostartists fail, for either the landscape overwhelms the story, or theBDIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 29story discredits the landscape, or, the attention being equallydivided between the two, the interest of each is weakened, asis said to be the case with Gainsborough, often with Moreland,and still more frequently in the Dutch school. In Claude'srepresentations of the four parts of the day, some ofthe finestthings he ever executed, as far as the scenery, composition, andcoloring are concerned, - the two results just now indicated arevery apparent. The landscape overpowers the figures, and thefigures discredit the landscape.A specimen of the third division of landscape, namely, “thescene of a phenomenon, " is furnished in Danby's well-known design, " The Sun commanded to stand still by Joshua, " and alsoin that far superior production by Nicholas Poussin, " The Deluge," as it is called, but improperly so, as it is only a scenein the Deluge; for, although it represents the dreary waste ofdesolation, it is not the inundation of the world.-PORTRAITURE.Portraiture, in its most extended signification, means thepainted resemblance of any object. The term, however, is commonly employed to designate the exact representation uponcanvas of one of our own species.Contrary to the almost universal impression, this is a veryhigh class of painting, in which fewer have excelled than in anyother department of the art. It is true, almost any one witheyes and hands may, in the process of time, be taught to paintwhat may with many pass for a good likeness, for the process upto a certain point is merely mechanical; if this were all, wemight possibly agree even with those who have been led, by anignorance of its true character and power, to consider portraitpainting as hardly worthy of a man of genius. Resemblance isindeed wanted, but something more than that which is physical.It certainly is not to such that belongs the above compliment, but to that characteristic one, faithful and muchmore than faithful, by which, as Fuseli magnificently expressesit, " Silanion, in the face of Apollodorus, personified habitual30 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.indignation; Apelles, in Alexander, superhuman ambition; Raffaelle, in Julio Second, pontifical fierceness; Titian, in PauloThird, testy age with priestly subtlety, and in Machiavelli andCæsar Borgia the features of conspiracy and of treason. Thatportrait by which Rubens contrasted the physiognomy of philosophic and classic acuteness with that of genius, in the conversation piece of Grotius, Memmius, Lepsius, and himself; thatnice and delicate discrimination of Vandyck; that power ofReynolds, which substantiated humor in Sterne, tragedy in Siddons, comedy in Garrick, and mental and corporeal strife inJohnson, this is portraiture worthy the highest genius, andupon this basis it takes its place between history and thedrama. "-ALLEGORIC PAINTING.There are those who doubt if there can be any such thing asa truly allegoric painting, on account of the supposed confinedpowers of the art in the way of narration; a written allegory,to which allegoric painting should run parallel, implying anextended narration, a continuous metaphor, a metaphor being,as every school-boy knows, "a figure of speech or thought,founded upon a resemblance which one object bears to another,and which is made to stand for it. "-The objection, however, is not tenable; for although narrationis the greatest difficulty of painting, as description is of writing,if an allegory could not be represented in a single design itmight and has been done in a series, as in Cole's three wellknown paintings called " The Voyage of Life."There is no great difficulty, however, in accomplishing it evenin a single design, as illustrated in " The School of Athens, "one of the series of frescos in the Vatican, by Raphael, paintedby order ofJulius Second, and representing " the origin, progress,and final establishment of Church government "; in whichpicture " Raphael, designing to give an allegoric display of thesupport derived to religion from the wisdom of man, hasbrought together, in a room suitably decorated with statuesDIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 31of Apollo and Minerva, many persons of various times, countries,and conditions, and distinguished in their day and generationfor their knowledge and improvements, to represent the attainments of science in the various modes of philosophy." Pythagoras, Zoroaster, Archimedes, Alcibiades, Diogenes,Epictetus, Aristippus, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, andothers are there, variously and characteristically employed, —Aristotle, with his pupils, appearing to be listening to a discourse by Plato, the central figure and keystone of the whole,which, by the upward pointing of his finger, may be supposedto have relation to the doctrine of immortality, or the nature ofthe worship due Jehovah; the intended object of all which isto declare that human acquirements in the discovery of truthprepared the minds of men to receive the more perfect displayof it in the revelation of the Gospel. "The well-known painting by Schidoni, at Rome, so muchextolled by the Hon. George S. Hillard, one of the best ofAmerican critics on art, - in which the figure of a beautifulwoman, well clad and apparently well fed, to represent Abundance, and distributing alms to two lame, blind, and leanbeggars, to personify Suffering Want, and all to represent theabstract idea of Charity, is generally classed as allegoric. It is,however, simply symbolic, for it tells no continuous story, but,like the single figures of Justice, Prudence, Religion, Innocence,and others, by Raphael, among his frescos in the Vatican, represents only a single idea or quality. To this same class ofsymbolic paintings also belong the two fine figures of Day andNight, by Michael Angelo, on the tomb of the Medici, at Florence, although usually spoken of as allegoric.EPIC PAINTING.This is the highest class of art, and admits of no easy analysis.We are furnished by the books with several definitions of epicwriting, but none of them entirely satisfactory. That of Bossu,that " it is a discourse, invented by art, to form the manners ofmen by an allegory expressed in verse, " has been accepted by so32 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.sensible a writer as Mr. Pope, but rejected by Mr. Blair, whosays that it would as well suit some of Æsop's fables if theywere somewhat extended and put into verse, and then declaresthe plain account of an epic poem to be " the illustrating ofsome great and general idea in verse, and that its aim is to arouseadmiration and astonishment. " This we adopt as the best wecan find, as in the definition we discover the great characteristicdifference between epic and dramatic writing, " the tragedy ofwhich," says Mr. Blair, " has for its object compassion, and thecomedy of it ridicule. " The epic is further distinguished fromthe drama by the broad and liberal manner in which everythingis conducted, by its admitting no discrimination of character,nothing, in short, that is individually characteristic, other thanas that individual trait illustrates the leading idea of the poem,as exemplified in the parting scene between Hector and Andromache in the Iliad, a poem whose subject is " War, " - it beingthere admitted, not to exhibit a phase of the character of Hector and Andromache, but because such scenes constitute a feature in all warlike operations.-These are the leading characteristics of epic as distinguishedfrom dramatic writing, while " from historic writing it is sufficiently separated by its poetical form and the liberty of fiction itassumes, and from every form of composition by its generalstrain and spirit, for whether in action, description, or sentiment, in the epic all is dignified , sublime, and elevated. "-As already stated, we have found some difficulty in gatheringfrom the books a full and satisfactory definition of epic poetry;but the general correctness of the outline here given finds its confirmation in the admirable criticism on the Iliad by that late eminent Professor of the English Royal Academy, Fuseli, a writer towhom we are largely indebted in this classification of painting."Homer, " says Fuseli, " wishing to impress one forcible idea ofwar," for the epic always has for its object the illustratingof some vast idea, some great maxim, to which act (that is, history) and agent (that is, character, or the drama) are subordinate, - "Homer, wishing to impress one forcible idea of war, itsorigin, its progress, and its end, set to work innumerable engines---DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 33of various magnitudes, yet none but that uniformly tends toforce this and only this idea upon the mind. No character isdiscriminated but where discrimination discovers a new look ofwar; no passion is raised but what is blown up by the breath ofwar, and as soon absorbed in its universal blaze; as in a conflagration we see turrets and spires and temples illuminated onlyto propagate the horrors of destruction, so, through the stormypage of Homer, we see his heroes and his heroines only by thelight that blasts them. "-This is the epic poet; so also the epic painter, his aim beingequally to impress one general idea, is in like manner dignified,sublime, and elevated, —dealing only in generals, excluding detail,admitting no minute discrimination of character or introductionof varied pathos, not aiming to develop the man, to exhibit themovements ofthe heart, as that would be dramatic, -not strivingto present the portraiture of a fact, as that would be historic,but causing all to bend to one great and leading idea, the visible agents he employs are only the agents to force that ideairresistibly on the mind and fancy, as we see illustrated withalmost superhuman power in that sublime series of frescos byMichael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, representing Religion, or,in other words, the origin, progress, and final dispensation ofProvidence, as taught in the Sacred Records, - man, his emanation from God, the object of his veneration, his fall, andhis expulsion from God's immediate presence, his reconciliationthrough Christ, and his reunion with the Divine Being at thelast judgment.This great idea Michael Angelo attempted to convey and illustrate by a series of designs, twenty or more in number, andthese are the titles: " The Forming of the World from Chaos; ""The Creation of Adam "; "The Creation of Eve "; " The Eating of the Forbidden Fruit "; " The Expulsion from Paradise ";"The Deluge "; the scene between Noah and his sons; separate pictures of the prophets, sibyls, and patriarchs; “ The Brazen Serpent"; "Mordecai and Haman "; " Judith and Holofernes "; and, finally, " The Last Judgment. "Now although each and every one of these pictures consti- 334 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.tutes an independent whole, that is, is a complete design of itself,yet they regularly lead to each other, without intermediatechasms in the transitions, each preceding one preparing anddirecting the conduct of the next, and that of the following, andall conspiring to one great end.Fuseli was the first to discover the sublime intent of itsgreat author, and his masterly manner of reading it precludesall attempt at emendation; we therefore give it, word for word,in his own language."The veil of eternity is rent. Time, space, and matter teemin the creation of the elements and of earth."Life issues from God, and adoration from man, in the creationof Adam and his mate."Transgression of the precept at the tree of knowledge provesthe origin of evil, and of expulsion from the immediate intercourse with God."The economy of justice and grace commences in the revolutions of the Deluge, and the covenant made with Noah." The germs of social intercourse are traced in the subsequentscene between him and his sons." The awful synod of the prophets and sibyls are the heralds ofthe Redeemer, and the hosts of patriarchs are the pedigree ofthe Son of man."The brazen serpent and the fall of Haman, the giant subduedby the stripling David, and the conqueror subdued by femaleweakness in Judith, are types of his mysterious progress, tillJonah pronounces him immortal; and the magnificence of thelast judgment, by showing the Saviour in the judge of men,sums up the whole, and reunites the founder and the race. ”This is epic painting, as pure and perfect in all its parts asthe Iliad, Jerusalem Delivered, or Paradise Lost, and upon thismagnificent specimen rests the claim of Michael Angelo to be called "the Homer of the art. "DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 35DRAMATIC PAINTING.In our analysis of " the epic," we stated that the business ofboth the epic poet and epic painter was the illustrating of somegreat general idea, and that to this everything else was subordinate. The fact, that is history; passion, character, and agent,that is the drama.On the other hand, " the avowed object of both the dramaticwriter and painter is to exhibit character, to develop the passions, to lay open the heart, and to excite in every bosom corresponding emotions. Whatever, therefore, by reflected selflove, inspires us with hope, fear, pity, terror, love, or mirth, isthe legitimate sphere of both the dramatic poet and painter.”We might illustrate these characteristics by several examples,for the art is full of dramatic paintings; but for the present purpose suffice it to direct the attention to one of Raphael's frescos in the Vatican, called " La Incendio del Borgo, " or theburning of a quarter of Rome that borders on St. Peter's,of the extensive series of large paintings by that master, portraying " the origin, progress, and final establishment of Churchgovernment. "― one"The conflagration that gave rise to this design occurred towards the middle of the ninth century, under the pontificate ofLeo the Fourth. Its ravages even menaced the cathedral itself,but its progress was stayed by the benediction of the Pope, whoappeared with great magnificence in the pontifical lodge, agallery in the peristyle of the Vatican; " so says the historian ."Now, although the subject is derived from history, yet Raphael, in illustrating this event, has almost entirely sacrificedthat part of it to the effusion of the various passions roused bythe sudden terrors of a nocturnal conflagration, and instead ofdisplaying the effects of flame and smoke with all the attendantcircumstances, as they really did occur, " as most artists wouldhave done, "he has represented the affecting scenes that mightoccur upon a similar occasion anywhere, " at Rome or NewYork, Paris or Boston, in the village or the city. "For a franticmother endeavoring to save her helpless infants; a kind and36 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.affectionate son bearing from the rushing ruins an aged andpalsied father; a son of nature, intent only on his own safety,liberating a leap from the burning walls; and a prayer sentup by the thoughtful for heavenly protection, are actions aslikely to be performed in one place as another, " upon thebanks of the Thamesor the Mystic as upon those of the Tiber;.for human nature is the same everywhere now as a thousandyears ago, and will be the same a thousand years hence, and aslong as man continues upon this earth.Raphael's design being to portray the common events of anocturnal conflagration, rather than of this particular conflagration, or any prominent part the Pope performed in it, he hasnot cared to draw attention to him in any way, nor has he delineated the Italian physiognomy in preference to any other;and as for national costume, it is entirely disregarded.It is true he has introduced the Pope and his train into thecomposition; " but while the other incidents furnish patheticmotives that touch our hearts, " and that is the dramatic of thescene, "the Pontiff, the miracle, and the clergy, " and that is thehistory of it, are left unheeded in the distance. The fact hasbeen sunk in the passion. "This is the tragedy ofdramatic painting, we say the tragedy,for it has also its comedy, and the effect of such a representationupon the feelings, as compared with that of the epic, is as theeffect of the pathetic tones of the human voice contrasted withthe heavy rollings of " that deep and dreadful organ- pipe of nature, " the thunder, - the one melts, the other terrifies andastounds.-As Michael Angelo has ever been considered the father of epicpainting, so Raphael has ever been regarded as the father ofdramatic painting, and " La Incendio del Borgo " shows that hepossessed an intuition of the pure emanations of nature thatfully entitles him to be called " the Shakespeare of the art."DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 37HISTORIC PAINTING."Historic " is a term not unfrequently employed by those whoare imperfectly acquainted with the technicalities and philosophyof Art to designate almost anything that is neither landscape norportraiture; it may, however, with strict propriety be applied toboth one and the other. Portraiture in the hands of Titian,Reynolds, Stuart, and others, and landscape in the hands ofClaude, Poussin, and others, sometimes became historical.Specimens of historical landscape were referred to when describing that class of painting. A specimen of historic portraitureis furnished us in Reynolds's fine portrait of General Elliot, afterwards Lord Heathfield, the British commander at Gibraltarin the year when it was attacked by the combined French andSpanish forces, an event that has been well represented byCopley in a painting belonging to the Boston Atheneum.Now Reynolds's design in this painting was not simply togive a portrait of Mr. Elliot, but of General Elliot, not only that,but of the successful defender of Gibraltar upon that occasion.He has therefore represented him in his military costume,and holding in his hands a key, in symbolic allusion to the factof that citadel being the key to the Mediterranean. In the distance may be seen the two squadrons at the moment of battle,and behind him a cannon pointed downwards to show theloftiness of the fortress, - all which surroundings connect himwith that transaction, and thus make the representation a goodillustration of historic portraiture.But to define the class under consideration more particularly,it may be proper to state that the painter of pure history doesnot, like the dramatic painter, represent that which might be, butthat which was or is. He gives a " local habitation and aname," he fixes the moment of reality, he informs.Of this class of painting, familiar examples present themselvesin "The Death of Montgomery, " by Trumbull, " The Death ofWolfe," by West, " The Death of Chatham, " by Copley, and"Washington crossing the Delaware," by Sully.Although all of these have many defects, both in design and38 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.in composition and color, yet the attention is invited to that of" The Death of Chatham," as the artist has invested it with manyof those characteristics that distinguish this class of paintingfrom those already described, namely, the Epic and Dramatic.This composition represents a scene that occurred in theEnglish House of Lords, A. D. 1778, when the elder Pitt, LordChatham, left his sick-bed to be present on a motion of the Dukeof Richmond to address the King on the state of the nation.He had spoken once, was rising to speak the second time, but,faltering, sat down; attempted it once more, but again faltered,and fell into the arms of those near him.The object of the painter, therefore, being in this picture togive the idea of a member of the English House of Lords dying,surrounded by his associates, and that member " the immortalChatham," paralyzed, struck down in the midst of his parliamentary labors, -it may have been, by the thunders of his own eloquence, - it became him to invest the composition with all thereal modification of time, place, and circumstance that shoulddistinguish this moment of alarm and grief from all others.-Hehas not, therefore, dealt in generals (for that would be epic), butparticulars; has not brought together characters fittest to excitethe gradations of sympathy (for that would be dramatic); butwe there behold everything as it actually was, and actually occurred, an exact representation of the hall in which the eventtranspired, even of the tapestry that adorned its walls; we havetoo the very figure, face, and, perhaps, expression of Chatham,the physiognomic character of him and his compeers, and allstamped by the ceremonial and distinctive costume of the UpperHouse of the Parliament of Great Britain in the year 1778.Although this painting does not place Copley by the side ofthe old masters, yet it gives him a very respectable rank as anhistorical painter. It has about it one circumstance that showshim to have been a considerate, thoroughbred gentleman, namely,the manner of arranging the assembly around the hero of thepiece. Supposing that assembly desirous of preserving the lifeof Chatham, he has brought about him only as many of hisfriends as were absolutely necessary for his comfort, · -an arrange-DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 39ment that left a free passage for the circulation of air, so important to one supposed to be in the agonies of death; thusshowing not simply his own sense of propriety, but likewise thekind and dignified manners of thoroughbred people, — an ideathat never would have occurred to a vulgar artist .We stated just now that the painter of pure history presentsus with " the portraiture of a fact. " From this, however, it isnot to be inferred that every pictorial delineation of a past eventis entitled to be called an historical picture, though the subjectof it be derived from a printed record."The fact presented must be something momentous, important, and of general interest, treated in a grave and dignifiedmanner. ""Washington crossing the Delaware with his Troops, " bySully, is an historical painting; but the painting some time sinceon exhibition , representing Sergeant Smith's escape from theBritish, is not, although that event is recorded in the annals ofthe War of the Revolution.If paintings of this description be historical in any sense, theybelong to a very subordinate species, and hold the same rank bythe side of such great and important delineations as will readilyoccur to any one from both sacred and profane writings, as private memoirs do by the side of such works as Hume's Historyof England, Bancroft's History of the United States, or Motley'sHistory of the Dutch Republic.Such are some of the stricter outlines of those three highestbranches of art, epic, dramatic, and historic painting. But as"their near alliance admits not always a nice discrimination oftheir limits, as the mind and fancy of man consists upon thewhole of mixed principles, we seldom meet, either in letters or inart, with a human performance made up entirely of either epic,dramatic, or pure historic materials, combined as they areamong themselves, sometimes we find them calling in the aid ofallegory. "The well-known series of large designs belonging to theFrench government, and painted by Rubens, called " TheGallery of the Luxembourg, " representing some passages in the40 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.life of Mary de Medici, belong to the class of " combined historicand allegoric.""In one of them the artist has represented the royal maidenat the Poetic Fount surrounded by the Graces, and introducedby Minerva, the symbols of the education received by thatPrincess."-Another example presents itself in " The Finding of Moses" byPoussin, "in the personification of the genius of the river in thefigure of a water-god. "Of the historic and dramatic combined, a remarkable instancemay be found in what are commonly called " The Cartoons. "The word " cartoon" is a general term used to designate adrawing in charcoal or colors upon either paper or canvas,sometimes only an outline of a group or single figure, to betransferred to and finished upon the wall or ceiling or canvas.When, however, " The Cartoons " are spoken of, they alwaysmean a series of designs by Raphael, orginally twenty or morein number, but now by loss reduced to seven, and abouteighteen feet by twelve in size, painted upon canvas as modelsfor tapestry, by order of Leo the Tenth, and representing " TheOrigin, Economy, and Progress of the Christian Religion. "Seven of them are the property of the British government,and the subjects of them are: " Paul preaching "; " The Miraculous Draught "; "Christ giving the Keys to Peter "; "TheDeath of Ananias "; ' Elymas struck blind "; " The Sacrificeat Lystra "; and " Peter and John healing the Lame Man at theGate of the Temple."""As is well known, they rank among the highest efforts of art,and there are those who think there can scarcely be named abeauty or a mystery of which " The Cartoons " furnish not anexample. We have no space to devote to a further description ,nor is it necessary, as it can be found almost everywhere. Wehave only referred to them at all for the purpose of illustrating,by the first mentioned, the following class of art.DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 41COMBINED HISTORIC AND DRAMATIC PAINTING.The record tells us that while Paul was disputing in the- synagogue with the Jews and other devout persons at Athens,he was encountered by certain philosophers of the Epicureansand Stoics, who, being desirous to know more particularlyconcerning the new doctrine, had the Apostle brought to theAreopagus or Mars Hill.He has ascended the steps of a temple, and from his gesture and attitude may be supposed to be announcing, to the assembled people, Christ, the resurrection, and the unknown God.Now, at first sight, this composition might seem to possessall the requisites of a pure historical composition, that is, to bea correct representation of the fact set forth in the Scripturalrecord; but a slight examination will show important variations.In the first place, as it regards the person of Paul. Insteadof being portrayed, agreeably to the Apostle's own account ofhimself, of "an humble exterior, " the painter has invested himwith every circumstance that could give him importance.This is not objected to. We only state a fact; for Raphael,knowing that painting can express its meaning only throughthe medium of form, was perhaps compelled to give him anappearance corresponding to the dignity of his calling and hischaracter, otherwise he could not have satisfied the idea everyone forms of the personnel of Paul from his writings and hisrecord. This mode of representation, as far as it goes, takes thepainting out of the class of the purely historic.And then the assemblage itself, instead of being made upof such persons as might be supposed to have followed theEpicureans and the Stoics in their retreat from the marketplace, is not a promiscuous group, but a selected audience,each figure representing a sect or class of all the . different kinds of philosophy then in vogue at Athens. "TheCynic, the Stoic, the disciple of Plato, the disputants of theAcademy, the Sophists, are all there, characteristically delineated; the Jewish doctor, who has turned his back upon thespeaker and rejected the mission, with Damaris and Dionysius,42 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING.who announce by their impassioned looks and gestures their renunciation of idolatry and acceptance of the Christian faith. "In this mode ofrepresentation it will be seen that a broaderfield for Raphael's dramatic power was obtained than if hehad strictly followed the Scriptural record, and that " althoughthe fact therein set forth is not entirely lost sight of, it has beenmade in a great degree the medium through which to displaythe agent, his passion and character, or, in other words, theeffect produced upon a learned audience by a doctrine new andimportant."In " La Incendio del Borgo " the historical fact is entirelyabsorbed in the passion; here there is a union of the two, andthis composition presents as good an example, probably, ascould be found of " combined historic and dramatic painting."The different manner in which these several classes impressus is worthy of observation, as it may assist us in determiningthe class to which paintings belong, or at least enable us to detect their leading features.In viewing an historical composition like that of " The Deathof Chatham, " the sentiment chiefly aroused is that of curiosity.We look at the man; we examine his person and that of hiscompeers, their dress, the room, its adornments. Little feeling is awakened. But immediately the eye falls upon a dramatic representation like that of " La Incendio del Borgo," theheart is touched, the affections are excited; we bear a part ofthe burden of the son; we fly with the mother to the rescue ofher child; we hope, we fear, we experience, by turns, all theseveral passions there developed. Here the eye has little desireto be gratified, it looks not to the form, the costume, the place;but we feel, and we feel because a corresponding chord is struckinevery human bosom.In looking at such compositions as that of Paul, the feeling,as the design itself, is compound. At first we think of Paul, theAreopagus, the market-place; we examine the audience; weapproach the speaker, and as we gaze, the magic of his eloquencefalls upon the car; we listen, and as we hear, each, according tohis disposition, objects with the Cynic, becomes incredulous withDIFFERENT CLASSES OF PAINTING. 43Lthe Stoic, with the disciple of Plato is pleased with the beautyof the doctrine, accepts it with Damaris and Dionysius, or rejects it with the Jew.How different from all and each the epic! Here curiosity hasno wish to be gratified, the eye no desire to be satisfied. Man,his feelings, his sufferings, his character, his passions, makes noappeal to the human bosom. It is God, God's providence, whichalone we contemplate, which absorbs all our thoughts, and leavesus transfixed with wonder and amazement.HAESSAY III.INVENTION.AVING now considered, to the extent our limits willpermit, the principles of beauty, and described, as wetrust, intelligibly, the different classes of painting, we comenext briefly to examine the first of its constituent portions, invention, composition being the second, design third, chiarooscuro fourth, color fifth, and expression the sixth and last.Invention holds the first place, not only in the order of enumeration, but likewise in value and importance; for it is thatlofty quality of the human mind that unequivocally distinguishes the pioneer from the follower, the originator from theimitator and copyist.Pan, when he first tuned his pipe to music in the forest ofArcadia, and the Cretan maid, when she drew on the heavenlighted wall the likeness of her departing lover, were inventorsin the highest signification of the term, the chosen of theAlmighty to impart some new evidence of his benevolence toman.This is the loftiest effort of the inventive faculty. There is,however, a subordinate exercise of it , not that which is employed in the discovery or revelation of any new art or science,but in the extension of its limits as of painting by Hogarth-to the purposes of satire, or in the application of the principles of the art to illustrating in a novel and ingenious mannersome old or hitherto unattempted subject.This last is the ordinary business of the inventive faculty. Ofthe many topics that present themselves for consideration underthis general head, we shall confine our remarks to three only,namely, the selection of a subject within the scope of art, theINVENTION. 45sources whence an artist generally derives his theme, and thepoint of time most fitting for representation. And first of theselection of a subject.When an artist sits down before his easel, on which is suspended a piece of pure white canvas, if he would not throw awayhis time and materials, he should first be sure that he has a subject; for, strange as it may seem, there are a great many paintings otherwise well executed that have none. There are thosewho think one presents itself among " The Cartoons, " " The Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter " representing a numerous groupof grave and devout characters, in attitudes of anxious debateand eager curiosity, pressing forward to witness the behest of aperson who with one hand presents two massy keys to the foremost on his knees, and with the other hand points to a flock ofsheep grazing behind.Now the design of Raphael in this composition was, doubtless,not only to give the characteristic attitudes, forms, and expression of Christ and his disciples at the time he bade them gopreach the gospel to every nation, but that from the attendingcircumstances should be inferred the command itself, and thatits object was the propagation of the gospel under the generalsuperintendence of St. Peter as the great shepherd of souls,head of the church, and keeper of the fold upon earth, and itmay be, in addition, keeper of the gates of heaven.This, probably, was Raphael's design in this picture. Thequestion, then, to be answered is, whether he has accomplished it.Although the grouping in this composition is good, and thediversity of character well marked, yet, as it is impossible totrace the connection between those keys that Peter holds inhis hand and the pasturing herd, or to discover in the otherwise obtrusive allegory or symbol the real motives of the emotion that inspires the apostolic group, it has been pronouncedby that learned critic, painter, and professor, Fuseli, " a composition without a subject. " And the decision, if well founded,settles the character and the fate of a large portion of the paintings that hang upon our walls, or are seen in our exhibitionrooms,―-they tell no story; it is not enough that the artist46 INVENTION.tells one for them when, in the catalogue, he calls his picturethis, that, or the other, and the engraver indorses it all in decisiveblack letters, directly under the middle of the transcript.Every painting that is up to its theme should tell its ownstory without assistance, and impress the spectators as doesthe written description; this is the test of a well- constructedpicture.The difficulty here results not oftener from the inability of theartist than from the theme itself not being within the capabilities of the art; the picture presented to the mind's eye by thewritten description often deriving its effect and its interestfrom circumstances not actually present, from metaphor, frompassionate sentiment, which cannot be expressed on canvas, -as would be the case with the story of the girl who66 never told her love,But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,Feed on her damask cheek," etc.Now this, at first thought, is a very inviting subject for thepencil, and there have been frequent attempts to put the pictureon canvas, but it has always resulted in the portrayal simplyof a " consumptive, " whose fate may be well symbolized by thefalling leaves of a wounded, dying rose, and that is all one canget from it; her concealed love is still concealed, or is knownonly by reading the title of the painting in the catalogue. Whenone learns this from the book, or is kindly informed of it by theartist, the interest increases; but it does not result from anything in the painting. Unless one had such assistance at handhe never could discover what was intended by the delineation.Not so with " The Death of Chatham," "The Burning ofthe Borgo, " the Madonnas of Raphael; " Duncan Gray " and"The Rent-Day" by Wilkie, and others that must readily occurto any one acquainted with art. These are paintings whose subjects are within the capabilities of the art, that tell their ownstory without obliging one to resort to the catalogue, the artist,or the engraver's inscription; and they are generally interestingand intelligible, because they speak the voice of nature, the language ofthe heart.INVENTION. 47The topic that under the head of Invention next suggests itself relates to the sources whence the artist generally selectshis subject.Among the old Italian masters, the subjects of painting weregenerally taken either from history, popular tradition, heathenmythology, or the lives of the saints and martyrs; there arebut few derived from poetry, of works of the highest fameonly one, " The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, the hints forwhich were furnished by Dante's Inferno.In the present age, however, poetry furnishes by far thegreatest number of subjects, whilst the joys and sufferings ofthesaints and martyrs, since the powers of the Romish Church havebecome circumscribed and its means of patronage limited, havebeen almost entirely neglected.Heathen mythology, too, which fifty years since nearly monopolized the pencil of the artist, seems to have lost its hold onthe public taste; and whilst the Sacred Records have not beenentirely neglected, a very large number of modern artists havefound subjects for the canvas in the pages ofromance, the representation of the material universe, the animal creation, and theevents and imagery of common life. The pages of satire, too,have furnished their quota of subjects; and in the more directexposition of the follies of vice, fashion, and immorality haveafforded a fine offset and foil to the more agreeable display ofvirtuous conduct.It will thus be seen , that, while the boundaries of art havebeen extended, a very great change has taken place in regard tothe sources whence it derives its subjects, and consequentlythat a very great change has taken place in the public feelingsand taste, for the arts, like the stage, do but echo back thepublic voice.-Whether the change has been for the better we cannot tell.In the opinion of some, it indicates in the public less regard forreligion, and a greater readiness to lay bare to public inspectionand ridicule the vices and follies of society; but with it also isexhibited more sympathy with and a keener love for the beauties of nature, and a higher appreciation of the domestic virtues.48 INVENTION.We have considered thus far only the foreign sources whencean artist generally derives his subjects. Sometimes he choosesto be wholly original, and combine them from himself, as didAllston in his " Spanish Maid in Revery," " Fair Inez, " " TheRoman Lady"; Raphael, in most of his Madonnas, " The Schoolof Athens, " etc.; and Michael Angelo, in his so-called " Battle ofPisa," of which we shall speak hereafter.66In these compositions it is only the subject that is original,the naked idea only is invented; but in Fuseli's well-knowndesign of " The Nightmare, " representing a female recliningupon a bed with a squab fiend sitting upon her breast as shesleeps," not only is the subject original, but the fiend himself isa purely ideal figure, nothing like it, as a whole, being to befound in nature.In viewing such original compositions, we are almost inclinedto attribute to the artist the powers of creation, forgetting thatto create is to give existence to something that never before hadexistence in whole or in parts; and all pictorial representations,be they ever so original in their construction, are, at the best,only new combinations of old existences.Professor Agassiz, who examined this drawing of "The Nightmare," and another of a " Devil tormenting St. Anthony, " bySalvator Rosa, thought he detected in the head of the former themonkey with ass's ears, and in the head of the latter the hog,in the beak some ravenous bird, in the arms the skeleton wingsof the eagle, in the legs the bones of a man, and in the tailthe monkey. The original of all but the head of " The Nightmare " he could not determine with any exactness, but he hadno doubt of its being selected and combined from real existNor could it be otherwise, as Mr. Addison remarks inone ofhis papers in the Spectator. "We cannot," he says, "havea single image in the fancy that did not at first make its entrancethrough the sight; but we have the power of retaining, altering,and compounding those images into all the varieties of pictureand vision most agreeable to us. " The same idea has beenstrongly expressed and extended by Fuseli, when, in one of hisadmirable discourses, he says: "Man can only find out and bringences.INVENTION. 49-together into one body scattered parts, and thus compose a newform, one that, as a whole, did not before exist, that is, hecan invent (find out), but he cannot create.Creation impliesomnipotence, and belongs only to God. "This same method of uniting old and scattered materials toproduce new forms obtains likewise in the structure and pictorialrepresentation of centaurs and satyrs, elves and fairies, wizardsand witches, ghosts and hobgoblins, sylphs and naiads, mermaids, angels, and cherubs.All representations of angels are but refinements of ourown corruptible bodies, with the addition of dove's wings; soalso the cherubim.and seraphim of Scripture, save that from theformer the body is omitted, although we sometimes see thempainted with the entire figure.66All attempts to portray the Divine Being have resulted ingiving us nothing more than the venerable form of an aged man,"not because, " as remarked by Reynolds, we are said to havebeen created in his image, but because it is impossible to conceiveof any form more grand in nature." The Greek sculptors didnothing more for Jupiter, the father of gods, with a few symbolsadded. It is in the venerable form of an aged man that Raphaelhas portrayed the Almighty in his fresco in the Vatican of "Goddividing the Light from the Darkness, " and Michael Angelo inthat other greater production, " God creating Adam and Eve. ""The Cumean Sibyl " by this same master, in the SistineChapel, is but a better kind of witch; and, if resemblanceproves relationship, it has been the mother of all the pictorialdelineation of witches, down through Reynolds, Fuseli, andAllston to the present day, -a large-boned, sharp-featured, tall,thin, bent-over " old woman," just the form that Shakespearegave the skin- dried hags, as they sat mumbling over thecharmed pot in Macbeth, and in which, afterwards, Hecate andher infernal gang encountered Banquo and the Scottish kingupon the blasted heath.And that other creature of the imagination, the fairy,whether represented by the artist bathing in a dew-drop bysunshine, or reclining on a bed of flowers, or dancing on meadow450 INVENTION.-or woodland by moonlight, it is always as the diminutive of ourown species, the tiniest bit of mortality, it is true, but in formand feature exactly like ourselves, save the wing imaginationhas given it; and this is an addition from a real existence,a butterfly's wing, the precise manner in which Shakespearehas constructed the equipage of Queen Mab: —-" Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners' legs;The cover, ofthe wings of grasshoppers;The traces, of the smallest spider's web;The collars, of the moonshine's watery beams:The whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film:Her wagoner, a small gray-coated gnat,Her chariot an empty hazel-nut,Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,Time out of mind the fairies' coachmakers. "Besides the two classes of subjects now described, the derivedand invented, there is another between the two in which thesubject is neither wholly invented nor wholly derived, beingnowhere described, but only hinted at by the writer or referredto by the poet or historian, as that of " The Court of Titania,”a design by Allston, and " The Dinner at Page's House, " fromthe Merry Wives of Windsor, by Leslie, the first a composition (existing in outline only) representing a wild wood, in thecentre of which is a small lake, and on the border of this area dozen or more fairies hand in hand, dancing their fantasticrounds, whilst other fairies and infant fays are threading theirway in the most sportive manner through the beautiful foliage,until they are finally lost in almost imperceptible diminutiveness in the moonbeams above. On the right of the canvas arethree fullgrown fairies grouped as the Graces, and betweenthem and the dancers is Titania herself, reclining on a bankof flowers, and directly over her head two other fairies, theladies of the bedchamber we may suppose them to be, - fanning her gently with butterfly wings; directly behind the queen,and a little elevated, is the choir, a half-dozen fairies playingon musical instruments made of flower-stems, the bluebell serving for a trumpet.-Leslie's composition represents an antiquated room in Page'sINVENTION. 51house at Windsor, in which is a table extending nearly from oneend to the other (and of much the same form as that in “ TheMarriage at Cana, " by Paul Veronese) , covered with an abundanceof good things, and seated at the three sides, in characteristic attitudes, are all the personages that figure in the play, -Falstaff,Shallow, Slender, Sir Hugh Evans, Dr. Caius, Mr. Ford, Mr.Page, Anne Page, Nym, Pistol, and Bardolph; Anne Page pledging Slender in a glass of wine at one end of the table, whileFalstaff, at the other end, has apparently just wheeled his hugecarcass round to cast a glance at the two ladies, Mrs. Ford andMrs. Page, entering the room through an open doorway on theleft.Now nothing could be more beautiful than Allston's design,or more lifelike and natural than Leslie's, and one would be inclined, in looking at it, to believe, had the daguerreotype beenthen invented, that it was a transcript of an actual feast, madeby that instrument; and yet both of them are almost the product of the imagination of the artists, — the first scene being notat all described by the poet, but only hinted by him in thesimple declaration, " Titania holds her court to- night "; thesecond, where in the play Page says, " Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. We have a hot venison pasty to dinner. Ihope we shall drink down all unkindness."-The remaining topic under the head of Invention now to beconsidered relates to the point oftime most fitting for representation, and that, says Fuseli, should be " the middle moment,"a moment, that, like the two genii that attend upon MichaelAngelo's prophets and sibyls, looks back to the past and pointsforward to the future.-The meaning of this may be well illustrated by two paintingsof the same subject, " Judith and Holofernes," the one byAllori, of the old Italian school; and the other by Mr. West (notBenjamin), an artist of good ability, who pursued his professionduring many years in Europe, came to the United States, passedsome years in Boston, and died about ten years since.In Allori's painting (a three quarters' length) , Judith, with alarge grisly head in one hand, and a drawn sword in the other,.52 INVENTION.is represented standing and looking towards the spectator;the maid a little in the rear, her head appearing just over theshoulder of Judith. The face of Judith, and also her figure, arevery beautiful, and, with her gorgeous apparel, well fitted toattract and win the admiration of Holofernes.In West's composition, Judith, in rich attire, with dishevelledhair and blood-dripping sword, and the half-concealed head ofHolofernes, is seen rushing from beneath the half-raised curtainsof one tent; the maid appearing through an opening in anothertent, a watchful expectant of the murderous act. It will thusbe seen that the moment selected by the two artists for representation, and the manner of treating the subject, are entirelydifferent.In Allori's composition all is quiet and motionless. Thestorm has ceased its fury, and all has settled to a calm. Themoment of uncertainty has passed, and we see the result.In West's, all is tempestuous. The thunder-cloud, it is true,had passed, but the peal rolls fearfully over our head, and weknow not with certainty the extent of the destruction .In the one the drama is still going on, and all is activity andmovement; in the other the drama has closed , the curtain hasdropped, and the actors stand before it only to receive the approval of the audience. Mr. West, therefore, in point of time,has done better than Allori; but, as a work of art, his production, although very creditable, does not of course compare withthat of the old Italian master.Subjects like these are not fit for the pencil; for a delicatefemale with a blood-dripping sword in one hand and a grislyhead in the other presents nothing that is feminine, amiable, oragreeable, although in this case a remembrance of the Scripturerecord may throw around the event the halo of patriotism.But if the artist should select the middle mcment, the moment of uncertainty, for representation, so also is he requirednot to combine in the same composition events of two differentperiods, although it has been done by Raphael himself in apainting that has been called the greatest triumph in art, “ TheTransfiguration, " uniting the transfiguration of Christ on TaborINVENTION. 53with the presentation of the maniac boy for cure, an event thatdid not take place until after Christ's descent from the mount.The object Raphael had in view in thus doing was to represent the divine character of Christ, and at the same time toportray him as the reliever of human misery. He is thought tohave been successful, but it is an offence against chronology anda precedent hardly to be imitated, although he has, in one viewof the matter, connected the events and made them one by theuplifted hand of the Apostle in the centre of the lower group,who appears referring the father of the child, in an authoritative manner, for speedy and certain cure, to his Master on themountain, whose altitude at once connects him with all thatpasses below.ESSAY IV.COMPOSITION.OMPOSITION, or, as it is sometimes called, Disposition,COMPOthe second of the constituent parts of art, is, like invention, a purely mental operation, for until the assistance of design,or drawing, is obtained, nothing can be expressed upon canvas.We shall consider composition under two heads: first, as itoperates by picturesque arrangements to please the eye, and,second, as it gives expression to the story by preserving a correspondence between the materials employed and the sentimentof the subject, the requirement and intention being in all casesto make every part of composition an echo to the sense. Andfirst of the manner of so shaping and arranging the materials asto render the canvas agreeable without much reference to thesubject, for the first thing to be aimed at in painting is to make apicture.When discoursing on beauty, we took occasion to say that allthe varieties of objects, as far as their contours or surfaces areconcerned, emanate from a straight line and a curve, these being,either separate or combined, the boundaries of everything thathas form, but that a difference in the proportionate arrangementof straight lines and curves entitled such form or object to becharacterized as either ugly or beautiful.It was further stated that lines running in one direction wereacknowledged to be more beautiful than lines running in anotherdirection; that parallel lines were not felt to be so beautiful asrectangular; that these possessed less inherent beauty thandiagonal lines, and these less than the curved; that the doublecurve or line of beauty was more charming than the preceding,and the spiral or line of grace was more beautiful even than that.COMPOSITION. 55These remarks had reference to the inherent beauty of linesalone, apart from form, but in their spirit they are equallyapplicable to objects of which such lines are the boundaries; andthe truth of this is exhibited in the added beauty of a finished,well-proportioned column, as compared with that column whenan unformed log of wood.The early Egyptian statues had only the head finished, resting upon a square block, or, if the entire figure was accomplished, it was as upright and unvaried in its attitude, with itsarms pinioned to the sides and its legs parallel in position, asa soldier at his post; Egyptian art hardly got beyond this,and it was little better with early Greek sculpture. In process of time, however, when Nature began to assert her claim tofreedom, and her arms were unpinioned and her legs unfettered,and, to ease her position, this one a little advanced and thatone a little withdrawn, the head slightly averted and a little reclined, and the arms left to choose their place, the plastic andhitherto formless marble assumed the shape and imitated theactions of its creator man, and that so much more gracefullyand naturally as now to be imitated by its creator in return.What in the infancy of art was but an awkward lump of inertmatter is now in form a human being, and shows us, in contrastwith its early condition, how a change in the direction of a fewlines will impart to form a power to charm the eye through themedium ofthe picturesque, though it may but imperfectly impressthe understanding and the heart; and it exemplifies the difference between a form that is composed and one that is not, or, inother words, the meaning in art of the term " composition. "These remarks are made, it is true, in reference to a singleobject, but they equally apply to every object in a picture, separate or combined, a single figure or a group.And now, perhaps, it may be asked, whence proceeds thispower to charm? It is furnished by Shakespeare when, speaking of Cleopatra's power over Antony, he says,"Nor custom stale her infinite variety. "-It is the charming power of variety which directs that, in a com-56 COMPOSITION.position of any magnitude, there should be brought togetherpersons of different ages, sexes, conditions, and complexions, and,if the actors are many, that they shall be separated into groups,not so numerous as to confuse, nor so separated that the eyein passing from one to the other cannot comprehend the wholeat once, nor so resembling each other in form and size as to appear the result of art rather than of nature and accident.This variety, however, the chief element of beauty in composition, must be restricted, for, when carried to excess, it is aspernicious as too great simplicity. As the one leads to intricacy,and consequently perplexes and fatigues the eye; so the otherleads to monotony and fails to excite it, which is equally bad.There must be variety in every composition to constitute it apicture and to excite attention, and there must be simplicity forrepose. What the proportionate combination of variety andsimplicity in the attitudes, in the grouping, in the forms andquantities of the lights and darks, and likewise in the tones andkind of colors shall be, is a question that leads us next to a consideration of the second part of composition, namely, that whichregards giving expression to the story by preserving a correspondence between the materials employed and the sentiment ofthe subject, for every representation that has sentiment attached to it requires a treatment peculiarly its own in everyconstituent part of the art; all must be an echo to the sense,each requiring to be played as it were on a different key, as thesubject of it is exciting or quiet, gay or grave, intellectual orthe opposite. For the simplest exemplification of these requisites of correct composition, we have renewedly to refer to theancient Greek sculptures, in which a correspondence betweenthe disposition of the figure and the sentiment of the subjectwill always be found, the forms of virtue and of wisdombeing less varied than those of pleasure, Minerva's positionbeing perpendicular, and her drapery descending in long uninterrupted lines, while a thousand amorous curves embrace thelimbs of Flora and Venus, the plain, the simple, the dignified ,and the intellectual being the sentiment of the one; the light,the gay, and the sensual the sentiment of the other. In paint-COMPOSITION. 57ing, doubtless, this same idea was recognized and acted upon,for it is both proper and natural, and no law of nature escapedthe observation of the ancient Greeks.There are, we all know, established principles of expression inthe nature of man by which, unconscious of their influence, hisactions are controlled , both when alone and when in connectionwith others, according to the circumstances which surround himand engage his attention.When men act under circumstances of a tranquil nature, oras observant of a fact which does not excite to warm emotions,but rather produces serious and solemn sensations, we beholdthe sentiment appertaining to the scene display itself in theparallelisms of their positions and the simple and slight motionof their limbs; but if the circumstances under which they actare of a more animated character, and produce mirthful or joyous sensations, we see the sentiment appertaining to the scenedisplay itself in the more varied position of their bodies, aquicker motion of their limbs; and if the sentiment which animates them be of a very exciting and passionate character, themovements become more quick and the forms more angularized, the movements of the body thus seeming to mould it tothe form or nature of the inward emotion.It was in obedience to this principle that Raphael acted, whenin his cartoon of " The Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, " heemployed, as did the sculptor of " Minerva," the influence ofsimple forms to express and produce solemnity, the sentiment ofthe characters introduced, and the natural effects of that scene;and the same too in the " Ananias, " among the figures distributing and receiving alms, whilst, in obedience to this rule, hehas resorted to the adverse system of angular forms and abruptcontrasts to portray distress and convulsion in the dying man,and astonishment and dismay in the figures that immediatelysurround him.This, it would seem, must have been the ruling principle in thepainting of the Madonnas, with the exception of three very prominent examples, one by Rubens at Antwerp, another by PaulVeronese at Venice, and a third by Sir Joshua Reynolds some-58 COMPOSITION.-where in England, in which, by the employment of those variedand flowing lines so becoming gay subjects, and so characteristicof joyous and animating sensations, the artists have destroyedthe sentiment, the true basis of such paintings, and deprivedthem of the solemnity becoming such a subject, and consequently they do not raise in the spectator that feeling of spiritual repose which naturally results from the simpler arrangementof Raphael, Da Vinci, and Correggio.In " The Transfiguration " Raphael is thought to have lostsight of the principle in the great excitement and contrast amongthe group of the disciples, although it adds grandeur and simplicity to the upper part; and the same objection has been urgedagainst the violent contrasts of the Apostles' attitudes in " TheLast Supper," by Da Vinci, although they serve as a foil to thedignified attitude of the Saviour and the graceful position of thebeloved John.The same criticism has been applied to " The Evangelists " byDomenichino, whose angular forms appear the more exceptionablewhen comparedwith the simpler combinations of Michael Angelo,upon which the mind undisturbedly rests until the sentimentand impression intended is perfected; while in the contemplation of the former it finds no repose, and consequently derivesno satisfactory and sympathetic emotion.The works of no artist oftener exhibit a correspondence between the composition and the sentiment of the subject thanthose of Raphael, and this is nowhere more strikingly exemplified than in the two lost cartoons, " The Resurrection " and"The Ascension. " The tapestries worked after them, however,are still in existence, and are the property of the Romish government, although they never appear among the engravings of whatare known as "The Cartoons." We have referred to them hereto introduce the powerful description of them by Fuseli, andbecause, when set in opposition to each other, they illustrate oursubject, and show most distinctly the discriminating power ofRaphael in their contrasted composition; that of " The Resurrection " deriving its interest and its power from its convulsiverapidity, and " The Ascension" from its calmness of motion.COMPOSITION. 59"In " The Resurrection, ' the Hero, like a ball of fire, shoots upfrom the bursting cerements and scatters astonishment and dismay. What apprehension dared not suspect, what fancy couldnot dream of, no eye had ever beheld, and no tongue everuttered, now blazes before us. The passions dart in rays resistless from the centre, fear, terror, conviction, wrestle with dignity and courage in the centurion, convulse brutality, overwhelmviolence, enervate resistance, absorb incredulity in the guard.The whole is tempestuous. "-But " The Ascension," how different! " No longer with the rapidity of a conqueror, but with the calm serenity of triumphantpower, the Hero is borne up in splendor, and gradually vanishesfrom those who, by repeated visions, had been taught to expectwhatever was amazing. Silent and composed, with eyes morerapt in adoration than in wonder, they follow the glorious emanation, till, addressed by the white-robed messengers of theirdeparted King, they relapse to the feelings of men."-We trust that we are not misunderstood in regard to thispart of our theme, the maintaining a correspondence betweenthe composition and the sentiment of the subject. It is arequirement the importance of which cannot be overrated.There must be, as before stated, in every representation a certain variety to produce the picturesque, and through that , in thefirst place, to awaken attention . What shall be the degree ofit beyond this is what we have been endeavoring to demonstrate, and from the whole series of our observations results thisgeneral rule, namely, that grave, quiet, and solemn scenes require less of the varied than those which are joyous, mirthful,gay, or animated, and these last admit of fewer contrasts thanthose which are passionate, violent, and exciting, the sentiment always dictating and regulating the arrangements. Wherethis is the governing principle of the composition it will alwayshave the desired and full effect. Where it is neglected, it mayat first sight please the eye by its picturesqueness, but it willfail to satisfy the mind and adequately impress the heart.A remarkable instance of the total abandonment of the principle now under consideration is presented to us in that cele-60 COMPOSITION.brated painting by Paul Veronese, called " The Marriage atCana," now the property of the French government. The composition is a very large one, and how truly it justifies its titleyou will the better determine, when, to represent the humblenuptials of Cana, you see what? "at a table in an open courtyard in Venice, about one hundred and sixty individuals of allnations and of the highest rank in society, the grand seignior,the Emperor of France, Venetian princes and princesses, dukesand duchesses, lords and ladies, painters, poets, and musicians,and at the remotest part of the table, hardly visible, Christ,his mother, and a few of his disciples. " It is true that by searching you may find them out, but they are the last thing to bediscovered amid the grandeur of display and the ornamentationsof the feast.Now the artist may name the painting what he pleases, andthe ignorant and simple beholder may believe it, but if there beany truth in what was stated under the head of Invention,namely, that the true test of a well-composed picture is itsmaking the same impression on the mind of the spectator that ismade by the written description on the mind of the reader, thenthis otherwise amazing production is a prodigious failure, and itsname or title an insult to the common understanding; and itfails simply from the neglect of that principle of composition whichgives so much point and effect to the two paintings just described,"The Resurrection " and " The Ascension. " Had Raphael or DaVinci attempted a representation of this scene, they would haveaddressed themselves to the heart and mind as well as tothe eye, and their medium of reaching them would have been themiracle, and the expression of the emotions that would naturallyhave been awakened by the first supernatural evidence theSaviour had exhibited in support of the true nature of his mission. Christ would have been the most prominent personage inthe composition, and the miracle would have been known insome other way than by a servant's holding up the red skirt ofhis garment to show that the water he was pouring from onevessel into another was of that color.What Paul Veronese aimed at in this composition was splenCOMPOSITION. 61dor of effect, and to that end all propriety must be sacrificed.Raphael, or Da Vinci, or any true artist, would have sought it inanother direction, would have derived it rather from the glorythat encircled the head of the Saviour, certainly not caught it,as the Venetian did, from the gilded trappings on the dresses ofhis nobles.ESSAY V.DESIGN, OR DRAWING.ESIGN, or outline, is undoubtedly the foundation of the DESart of painting, for without contours it is impossible toobtain the true images of things or actions, just proportions,variety of form, energies, expression, animation, or sentiment.Color, apart from outline, is only an unmeaning glare. Design, however, is perfectly intelligible by itself, and a simpleoutline may convey ideas of size, form, distance, perspective, andgive the impression of rest or action, elegance or grandeur,apathy or feeling. Indeed, so omnipotent is design, that, withslight assistance from the imagination, unconsciously bestowed,it can complete a picture.Although design includes the drawing of the outlines of everyobject in a picture, we shall consider it only in its relation tothe human figure, and under two distinct heads, one of whichwe shall call correct and the other appropriate design, meaningby the first the drawing of the human figure with anatomicalexactness, and by the second, the drawing of the figure whenever it is introduced into a picture in its true physiognomiccharacter; and to this last, or appropriate design, we shall firstdirect our attention.Those who are acquainted with the practical part of the artneed not be told that when once a painter has conceived his subject, that is, formed in his mind an idea of a picture (which mental effort is called invention, the first of the component parts ofthe art), he generally makes a sketch of it, either in pencil or incolors, always small and imperfect. He then takes a canvas ofthe size he intends to make his painting, and, having assignedto each object its relative situation, attitude, etc. (called composiDESIGN, OR DRAWING. 63tion, the second of the component parts of the art) , he next, witha pencil or crayon, draws the outline of each object from a model;if a human figure, he designs or draws it from life, or from afigure prepared for that purpose. When the picture is a longtime in being done, the drapery is transferred to what is calleda lay-figure (a figure constructed of wood and cloth, and capableof being adjusted to any attitude) , and from that it is completed.This is the usual manner of most artists. If the subject inhand be a portrait, the model is copied very closely, not however to the extent required of his painter by Cromwell, withall the warts, pimples, freckles, excrescences, and other incidental peculiarities, " which make no part of the permanent characteristic form of the individual; but such portions only are delineated as constitute his permanent organization, and from whichhe is known, not only when near, but likewise at a distance.66If the subject on which the artist is engaged is an historicaldelineation, and the model be the real actor in the scene, as inthe painting of " The Death of Chatham," to the above extentthe painter is true to nature; but if the model is not the realactor, it serves the artist only for the anatomy, the particularlight and shade, and a hint, perhaps, at the color and expression.In no instance is the model for any of the figures in an historicaldelineation (save where it is the real actor in the scene) to becopied, although such was almost always the case with the Venetian, Dutch, and Flemish masters, with whom an historical painting is generally a portrait of themselves. Whether the scene islaid in Holland or Palestine; whether they portray a merry-making, a beer-shop, a pathetic incident in the life of the Saviour,or some other event from the Sacred Record, the actors, withfew exceptions, are their own countrymen, undisguised evenby appropriate costume.Now, this is all wrong; and as the practice likewise characterizes modern art, and many exemplifications of it are foundeverywhere, passing unnoticed, notwithstanding the enormousincorrectness of the thing, we shall devote to an examination,exposure, and condemnation of the practice more space than weusually devote to a single topic.64 DESIGN, OR DRAWING.There is a painting by Teniers called " The Rich Man andLazarus," the materials of which are a somewhat richly cladgentleman and his wife at dinner, attended by one white and oneblack servant, and these, as is the case in almost all Flemishpictures, are accompanied by a little Charles-the-First spaniel.In the door-way is a miserable-looking old fellow, hooted andpelted by some boys, whom an old woman, with an upliftedbroomstick, is endeavoring to drive away, while a hungrylooking dog is tenderly licking the sores, disgustingly displayed(after the fashion of the realistic school) on the naked limbs ofthe decrepit beggar.Now this painting, like all by that master, was doubtlesscharming to the eye for its truth to nature, but it is not true tohistory; for it is nothing more than just such a scene as mightbe witnessed, we suppose, any day, in the country of the artist,for not only are all the actors, except the African, Dutch in formand feature, but they are also clad in the costume of the country.The room and furniture are of that character, and, not to missthe locality, a landscape representing a scene in Holland ishanging on the walls. This therefore, we conclude, is neithera probable representation of an historic fact, nor does it illustrateappropriate design.In the National Gallery of England is a painting by Rembrandt, called " Christ Scourged, " and it doubtless is enchanting to the eye, for it is bythe creator of that magic combinationof color with chiaro-oscuro which was never before, and surelynever since attained; but the interest in it is almost annihilatedwhen we see represented as actors in the scene, not the ancientreviling, disbelieving Jew, but the tender and converted Dutchman. Well, it is a downright libel upon his countrymen, and thepainter has redeemed himself a little only by making these sameDutchmen the first humble worshippers at the manger in Bethlehem, but with as little appropriateness of design, for theseDutchmen were not the star-led shepherds of the Eastern plains.This same locality, likewise, obtained with Rubens, whogenerally took his figures fromthe people about him, as did mostof the Lombard and Venetian schools; but the latter, says Fuseli,DESIGN, OR DRAWING. 65were not so gross in this respect as Rubens, for they introducedVenetian gentlemen into their pictures, but he the boors of hisown district, and called them patriarchs and prophets.There are two well-known paintings of " The Finding of Moses ":the one by Paul Veronese, who always introduced and in avery elegant way his own countrymen into his pictures; andthe other by Poussin, a student of the antique, who ran intothe other extreme of over-idealizing.-In the first the different personages are all Italians, in thesecond they are all Greeks. Now, although those by Poussin arewell proportioned and anatomically perfect, and thus furnish anexample of correct design, yet they are not appropriately drawnany more than those by Veronese; for if the latter has erredby the introduction of commonplace Italian into his painting,instead of the Egyptian, the former has equally erred by theintroduction of Grecian form and feature; and however appropriate such figures might be in his classic and mythologicaldelineations, or in a dramatic display of passion and sentiment(that like " The Burning of the Borgo," or any other representation of a nocturnal conflagration, requires no locality),they are out of place in an historic Egyptian one.These pictures may truly represent the finding of a child insome bulrushes, but not of the child Moses as recorded in theScriptures.But this inappropriateness of design, this introduction ofportraiture where, under the circumstances of the case, thefigures should be in a degree ideal, as we shall presentlydemonstrate, is not confined to the old masters.There was exhibited in England in 1829, and in this countrysome years subsequent, a painting by Haydon, the English artist,called " The Entering of Christ into Jerusalem, " among thefigures in which composition were Voltaire, Hume, and otherreported infidels, but introduced with little propriety in therepresentation of an event that occurred nearly two thousandyears before they were born.It may have been that Haydon intended it as an allegoric delineation of the progress of Christianity in spite of infidel opposi- 566 DESIGN, OR DRAWING.tion. If so, the conceit was not a bad one, althougn it marredthe unity of the design. The mistake was in calling it "TheEntering of Christ into Jerusalem, " and exhibiting it as such, —although there were wonderful parts about it, as about all thepaintings already described, that make them worth seeing asworks of art.66 There was another painting, of still greater celebrity, exhibitedin the United States still later, ' Eating the ForbiddenFruit, " by Dubeuf, the Adam in which any one acquaintedwith national physiognomy would at once pronounce a Frenchman, and the Eve an Italian, even if he had not been told that shewas a good copy from a Venus by Titian, whose female figureswere seldom anything more than the fair, rich, melting beautiesof his own luxurious city; and yet that painting was vastlyadmired for portraying, with great probability of truth, the misdoings of our first parents, - with how much justice those cantell who believe that the father of mankind was not a native ofFrance, nor the mother of our race a Venetian flirt.Even West, with all his correctness ofdrawing, was accustomedto introduce among the personages in his Scriptural delineations his own daughters, and the old Jews he picked up in thestreets of London, unchanged in everything but costume,least important, perhaps, of all adaptations.-theNor is it in painting alone that we find this offence againstpropriety. The once celebrated group, by the Scotch sculptorTom, of " Tam O'Shanter, " and that of " Uncle Toby and theWidow Wadman, " at the time of their first exhibition , foundeda part of their claim to the public attention on the declared factsthat almost every one of the figures in those compositions orgroups were portraits of individuals living at the time they wereexecuted either in New York City or the highlands of Scotland; and how much the former resembled the personages ofBurns, or the bright-eyed lady of New York the widow with"something in my eye, Uncle Toby, " probably could be wellanswered by the sculptors, if they knew anything about it.Sir Joshua Reynolds says that John de Bologna, the celebrated sculptor, after he had finished the well-known group ofDESIGN, OR DRAWING. 67young men holding in their arms some young women, got hisfriends together to know what name he should give it; and ina true democratic manner it was decided, by something of amajority, to name it " The Rape of the Sabine Women "; andthis is the celebrated group which now stands in front of apalace in Florence, and is so much admired for its historicaltruthfulness by those who do not know that they are all transcripts of members of the artist's family, a fact which, when -known, is fatal to that supposition or belief.There can be no doubt at all that the foregoing subjects ofour criticism may be very valuable as works of art, as exhibitions of passion and sentiment, as dramatic representations offeelings and emotions that are universal, and may be as wellimaged forth in the personages of one age as another; thatwhich is especially objected to is their deficiency as representations of " historical facts, " their pretending to portray something .which they do not delineate.Now an artist is to be in some degree judged by his declaredintentions; and, thus judged, the foregoing productions do notmeet one of the least considered, but yet one of the most important, demands of art.-We might have multiplied illustrations to the same effect toan indefinite extent; for it is undeniable that very many ofthe productions both of the pencil and the chisel are, historicallyconsidered, downright impositions, in one important aspect ofthe matter, falsehoods; and if the several personages in suchcompositions could speak, they would confirm the statement." I am not a Jew, but a Dutchman, " would be the declarationof one; "not an Asiatic, but a Frenchman, " the response ofanother; " not an Egyptian, but a Greek, " the reply of a third;"not Cleopatra, but Miss West "; not Desdemona, but MissRoe "; not Portia, but Miss Doe "; " not Othello, but JimCrow "; " not Shylock, but an old London clothesman, ” and soon. These, and a thousand similar ones, would be the responsesof the much misrepresented canvas. But such compositions areto be treated like pirates who sail under false colors, - subjected to the right of search, and condemned without mercy.68 DESIGN, OR DRAWING.In condemning the guilty, however, let us not do injustice tothe innocent, for if there be numberless instances of inappropriateness of design, there are also many that are not open to thisobjection. The truth is sometimes told in historical delineations, even where the actors in the scene do not serve for themodel; and its full meaning and power was shown by Mr. Allstonone day, when, being asked if the well -known Jews' heads paintedby him and belonging to the Boston Athenæum were copiedfrom life to be introduced into his much misunderstood and stillunfinished painting of " Belshazzar's Feast, " " O no, " was hisreply, - " O no. Those are portraits of Polish Jews, and notthe Jews of the Babylonish period. They must first be idealized, made more to resemble the Hebrews of Asiatic origin. " Thepicture of them, slight as the required variation may have been,existed in his own mind, but it had been drawn there aftera minute examination of their physiognomic character. Theoriginal heads were regarded as starting-points, as models tobe submitted to the required modifications.The original of the Madonna called " La Jardinière," byRaphael, was a gardening girl near Rome, and several of hishis Madonnas were painted from his favorite Fornarina; butthey were not transcripts, copies, the model in its exact shapetransferred to the canvas, as was the custom with the Dutchand Venetians, but imitations of the model, or, in other words,its idealism.Had Raphael, however, simply copied the Fornarina or thegardening girl, and called her the mother of Christ, we, notknowing the circumstance, might have admired the paintingas a probable representation of the Virgin Mother, yet theimposition would have been no less real.But it may be said, that, whether it be an exact copy or portrait of the model or in some measure the product of the painter's imagination, in either case it may not at all resemble themother of Christ; for how, it may be asked, could Raphael orany other artist form a right conception of her personal appearance?The answer is not difficult, and in its spirit applies to allDESIGN, OR DRAWING 69historical delineations the actors in which cannot be procuredfor the model. The painter's object was to portray a probableresemblance of the Virgin Mother, as of Da Vinci, in " TheLast Supper," a probable delineation of the sacramental feast.It became Raphael, therefore, to present us with a figure whoseform and face should exhibit at least a Jewish, not an Italian ora Greek mother, and whose expression should indicate not onlythe maternal graces and affections common to the race, but alsosentiments peculiarly becoming to the mother of Christ.How far he has been successful in accomplishing all this isanother question; at any rate, we should expect to find thesequalifications or believe that they were exhibited in an ideal,rather than in a living person, and that an Italian; a supposition is certainly entitled to more confidence than an acknowledged falsehood.The head of the mother in the " Madonna della Seggiola " (theMadonna of the Chair), is not Jewish in its physiognomy, and is,as far as that goes, the most objectionable of any of Raphael'spaintings of her. It very much resembles that of the Venus deMedici. It certainly is Greek in its structure.There can be no doubt that an exact representation of Josephand his family would be the most truly historic delineation,and so also an exact transcript of " The Last Supper " or anyother recorded subject; and, of the many productions pretending to portray historical events, those must be the most correctand interesting that approach nearest the reality. It wouldseem to demand no argument to support this position . It isrequiring no more of the painter of history than of the writerof it, which surely is not unreasonable.But perhaps it will be said that the mass of historical paintings are intended only to present the sentiment of the scene,and not to be an actual transcript of all the circumstances thatcombine to make the real fact; the object being simply to adequately impress the imagination, as in any representation ofthe crucifixion, or the nativity, or the Madonna, and that sofar they are sufficient and historically true.Well, granting for the moment that this is the only aim of70 DESIGN, OR DRAWING.the painter, would not the sentiment be better exhibited andthe imagination more adequately impressed by a transcript ofthe reality, or a probable delineation of it, than where the representation carries internal evidence of something being substituted entirely different? Certainly. Therefore, acknowledgedportraiture, except of the original actors, is out of place, and notadmissible in the endeavor to portray only the sentiment of anhistoric subject, because it is fatal to the imagination, that is,it destroys the air of probability, and consequently the impression intended to be made upon the imagination.--- thatIt is with historical delineations, the actors in which have notbeen the painter's models, as with the drama. So long as theactor identifies himself with the character he personates,is, so long as we are possessed with the idea that it is Lear, orHamlet, or Desdemona, or Ophelia that is before us, and notGarrick, or Cook, or Siddons, or Kemble, or Booth, so long dowe feel the full force of the sentiments they utter; but just sofar as the actors themselves are visible, just so much less forcible is the impression made upon the imagination; and it is thepower thus to impress an audience that constitutes genius, andhas made the renown and glory of the great personators of thedrama.There is a greater difficulty in painting than in the drama inproducing a full impression, -that the former is deprived of themedium of language, the appeal being made to the mind onlythrough the eye. In dramatic exhibitions there is another medium, the ear.We have been thus particular on this part of our subject because of its importance to a clear comprehension of the intentand power of the art, and to guard the uninitiated from imposition, quackery, and pretence. The rule to be deduced fromthe whole is this: if the painting claim to be a pure historicdelineation, and the actors in the scene be of a particular nation or cast, or be characterized by particular physiognomy,figure, color, or any other permanent peculiarity, whether it isthe reality or only the sentiment of the scene that is to be deEneated, they must be so represented and with all the circum-DESIGN, OR DRAWING. 71stances that unequivocally distinguish that event from everyother; only when these requisites are complied with can itbe called an historical picture and the drawing appropriate.If it be a dramatic exhibition of passion, feeling, character,that is universal and requires no local delineation, as " TheBurning of the Borgo, " call it a dramatic painting; if an idealabstraction of mind, as the epic series of Michael Angelo, so letit be designated, and thus call things by their right names.Do not let us paint a portrait of Shakespeare and name it Sophocles or Euripides, or a Dutch family and call it the rich manand Lazarus, or a feast in Venice and call it the humblenuptials at Cana. If we cannot procure the original materialsfor the models of the different objects in our compositions, letus approach as near as possible to the reality by imaginingthem, and not substitute something that we know to be entirelydifferent, and thus be guilty of a fraud and a falsehood.A few words now of correct design, by which, as stated in thecommencement of this essay, is meant " the drawing of thehuman figure with anatomical exactness, " and in the adaptationof it to express appropriate action and gesture.The drawing of the human figure with anatomical exactnessand just proportions, and the adaptation of it to express appropriate actions and gestures, has been well called one of thegreatest difficulties of the art, and imperfect design one of thegreatest defects of modern draughtsmen; nor is there any promiseof an abatement of the defect, as artists of the present day arenot willing to encounter the labor of years that alone enabledsuch men as Michael Angelo, Raphael, and others to accomplish with facility that which but few can now do at all. Toomany, it is supposed, are willing to perform that by the camerawhich the best of the old masters could do as well or betterby the hand. When that instrument is the servant of the art,it may be made to render valuable assistance; but if it is tobe a substitute for brains and energy, the effect eventually mustbe to degrade the professor and destroy the art.There was but small advance made in this branch of studyuntil near the commencement of the fourteenth century, when72 DESIGN, OR DRAWING.the true style of drawing, attached to essential form, proportionate characteristic discrimination, and expressive propriety,was begun by Masaccio and his contemporaries, and finally completed by Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael. The Caracci and others simply continued it.Although Michael Angelo did not always adapt the characterto the subject, yet, for the characters he has chosen, his figuresas to the drawing are generally allowed to be executed withmore spirit, truth, and science than anything that has appearedsince the resurrection of art. The outlines of the muscles inmany of his figures are by some thought to be unnaturallyexaggerated. But it should be remembered that he did not intend, nor did the epic character of his subject require him, inhis delineations, to be limited by the boundaries of ordinaryexistences. His figures are very much expanded, it is true, yetthey are not huge like the elephant, but grand and majesticlike the lion and the tiger.Da Vinci's style of drawing is not so great as that of MichaelAngelo; yet it exhibits great truth, energy, and expression. Itis, however, much exaggerated at times, as in " The Last Supper,"some of the figures approaching, but never reaching, caricature.Although Raphael was not always great, like Michael Angelo,yet he was frequently so, and always excellent. In design,his characteristic quality was the expressive. The figure ofthe female carrying water in the " Incendio del Borgo " hasbeen considered wonderful for the expressive energy of the action,and his best-drawn naked figure the young man hanging fromthe wall in the same fresco, and the Prudence · in the Jurisprudence the most beautiful and correctly drawn of his femalefigures. For divine expression, that which looks beyond thepresent to the future, nothing has ever surpassed that whichcharacterizes the Angel Raphael, an engraving of which makesone of the illustrations of this volume.-Correggio's design has not been much criticised; there iscertainly great purity and beauty in most of his female characters, and in these and every other form a style peculiarly hisown, and always refined and attractive.DESIGN, OR DRAWING. 73Titian has the reputation of not being a good draughtsman,at least, that was the reported opinion of Michael Angelo, andhe may have thought so, comparing him with his own grandstyle in the Sistine Chapel. Perfection in this branch of the art,correct design, is oftener found in sculpture than in painting.It is to painting that we are to look for the most expressiverepresentations, but to sculpture the ancient Greek for themost correct and beautiful delineation, of the human form.-They are the classics in art, as the Greek and Latin writersare in letters; and as a pure and correct taste in writing isbest acquired by the study of the one, so a knowledge of correct design most certainly results from the study of the other.They are, therefore, in all academies of design, made the basisof artistic education.The ancient sculptures are better, on many accounts, thanordinary living models, for we there behold nature unadulterated by human institutions and undisguised by fashion.It is to the influence of these marbles, together with an intense study of practical anatomy, that we are to trace the superiority of Michael Angelo's and Raphael's designs. The Greeksin this were their masters.But although the ancient marbles, like the ancient writers,are to be studied for style, they are not, any more than the latter,to be copied, as they were by Poussin, in " The Finding ofMoses," and by the once celebrated David (the head of the Frenchschool under the Empire) and his followers in almost all of theirproductions, there being, however, this vast difference to benoted between Poussin's adoptions and theirs, namely, thatPoussin has given to his Grecian forms the expressions andattitudes of nature. David and his followers have ingraftedon them French peculiarities and grimaces.As previously stated, the old Venetian, Dutch, and Flemishmasters totally neglected to avail themselves of the study ofthe ancient sculptures to correct imperfect nature, but copiedthe men and women of their country as they found them; andthey, like Poussin, differed from the later French artists, in thatthey gave to their figures natural expressions and attitudes.74 DESIGN, OR DRAWING..Now neither the Venetians, the Dutch, the Flemings, Poussin,nor David and his followers were right. Poussin was in allsave his mythological delineations too ideal, the others notenough so; the true course lay between the ideality of theone and the actuality of the other, and it was understood byRaphael, when he invested " The Gardening Girl " and " TheFornarina " with so much divine beauty, and also by Allston,when he embodied that most charming of all his delineations,"The Beatrice " of Dante, and gave a visible form to his sublime conception of " The Prophet Jeremiah. ”ESSAY VI .CHIARO- OSCURO .HIARO-OSCURO is the technic term employed to desigCHTARnate the mysterious effects of light and dark in a picture.In the order of enumeration it is the fourth of the constituent parts of the art, and the second of its mechanical processes.If design, or drawing, is the giver of form, chiaro-oscuro isthe creator of space and body. By it entire figures are detached from the background, and made to recede and advanceaccording to their several situations and distances; nor only so,but by a certain required arrangement and proportioning of thelights and darks, the artist in this, as in composition and color,is enabled to give the most pleasing effect to the eye, assistthe sentiment, and impress the imagination.These are some of the offices of light and dark, or chiarooscuro, which we shall presently explain and illustrate; but as afitting introduction and key to the philosophy of chiaro-oscuroit becomes necessary to say a few words of the varied influencesof light and darkness in the natural world.In general terms, it is characteristic of light to exhilarate andof darkness to depress.There is a pensiveness comes over most of us with the shadesof evening, that deepens into melancholy" When Night, like to a widow in her weeds,Among the glimmering tapers silent sits ";but a buoyancy of spirits, a fulness of the heart, comes withthe light of the morning. In the one case it is analogous tothat feeling of desolation and despair we all experience"When the sear and yellow leaf Comes down in autumn ";76 CHIARO-OSCURO.in the other, to that emotion of hope and renewed life thatbrightens the face of universal nature" When Spring, in all her maiden pride,Comes forth to be the Summer's bride. "Nor is it without reason that we are thus affected by thesenatural phenomena; for while all that is gladsome and joyous innature is intimately associated with light, all that is grave, impressive, awful, mysterious, dreadful, and sublime is as intimately associated with darkness. Young in his Night Thoughtsimpressively calls it " the felt presence of the Deity. "Of the capability of shadow to impart a greater degree of horror to any subject of terror the poet has ever been conscious, aswhen " the sweet singer of Israel " with inexpressible sublimityspeaks of his final departure as a journey " through the valley ofthe shadow of death, " and again when, in portraying the awfulmajesty of Jehovah, he represents him as shrouded in cloudsand darkness, as having his way in the whirlwind, and dwelling in thick darkness.It would be easy to multiply illustrations to the same effectfrom both sacred and profane writings, for nowhere so often asin "the dark valley " has poetry gathered its beautiful, thoughsometimes deadly flowers; and we might say as much of the influences of light, but as they are of a character directly oppositeto that of darkness, they in a great measure explain themselves.It is true that the foregoing observations have an especialreference to the exhibitions of light and darkness with theirattendant influences in the natural world, yet they are equallyapplicable to and perfectly explain all the varied effects and mysterious influences of light and shadow in pictorial representations; for it is but a picture that the mind contemplates inboth instances, and in both equally made out by lights andshades and colors, in the one case reflected directly from thenatural object on the retina of the beholder; in the other, firston the retina of the artist, thence transferred to the canvas, andagain in the last remove reflected on the retina of the spectator, the artist's eye and the canvas simply acting the part ofa mirror.-CHIARO-OSCURO. 77Whence the mind gets to be impressed with the ideas ofform, nearness, distance, and space in the natural world isanother question. By many they are supposed to be intuitive. It is not so, however; they are the conclusions of experience. To a child, as to a man who was born blind and hasrecovered his sight, everything at first appears to be very near,and, like a picture painted on a window-pane, equally distant.As he grows older, however, he finds that some objects andparts of objects are in reality behind or beyond others. Thishe discovers himself, either by actual observation or measurement of some kind or by the observation and report ofothers. He further observes that near objects have different appearances from those that by experience he has foundto be remote; that the first have strong outlines, much detail, and decided shades and colors; that these diminish instrength, as the objects themselves in apparent size, in proportion as they recede or are distant from the eye, always converging to the point of sight. Having observed all these localphenomena, they soon get to be considered as so many marksor types set upon objects, and, being remembered, are referred toon future occasions; so that when he sees other objects presenting similar phenomena, he considers them to be occupying similar places, and to be equally near or distant, and consequentlyto exist in space. This is the manner in which we get to be impressed with the ideas of nearness, distance, and space in thenatural world. In view, therefore, of what has been said in regard to all objects, whether in nature or art, being presented tothe mind through the medium of lights and shadows, or lightand dark colors, as they are painted on the retina, it follows that,to have the like impressions of nearness, distance, and space result from the pictorial representation, the artist has only to imitate the appearances, marks, or types of the several objects innature.We have been thus particular upon this part of our subjectbecause of the wonder and surprise on the part of many personsthat painting should affect us as do objects and phenomena innature. The view thus taken is an important one, however78 CHIARO-OSCURO.trite it may appear, because it shows that the same laws regulate both.Our process thus far has reference, chiefly, if not entirely,to the particular light and dark or shade upon a picture, bywhich we have obtained truth of representation. A few wordsnow of the general light and shadow which spread in massesover many combined objects in a composition, as in sunlight or candle-light, where large single forms or groups of objects intervene to shut out the light and cast shadow on otherobjects. Few persons are aware how much the beauty andeffect of a painting or an engraving depend on the general lightand dark. We say the general light and dark in contradistinction to the particular light and shadow by which the several objects are rounded to the eye and relieved from the canvas, asmay be seen illustrated by the drawing of a " Bunch of Grapes "made in a cloudy day, compared with a drawing of the same, onthe same page, made when the sunlight fell brightly on one sideof it, leaving the other parts in deep shadow.In each case each particular grape is rounded to the sight byits own particular light and shadow. But a general light andshade, the one on one portion of the grapes and the other onanother portion, divide the entire surface of the bunch into twogreat masses of light and dark, and this massing gives what intechnic language is called breadth, one of the highest qualitiesof the art, and a principal element of the picturesque.There is a painting by Rembrandt in the National Gallery,in England, an engraving from which forms an illustration ofthis volume, " The Woman accused in the Synagogue, " whichsurprisingly illustrates the value of this principle in giving effectand breadth; this is more apparent when compared with thearrangement of the lights and darks in some of " The Cartoons,"particularly that of " Paul preaching," and also in " The Schoolof Athens," in which there is a want of expansiveness orbreadth, resulting from the absence of a general light andshadow.Breadth of general light and shadow in a picture is of so greatvalue that it not only unites and displays the beauties of design,CHIARO-OSCURO. 79•composition, and color to the greatest advantage, but can disguisetheir defects and render pleasing works deficient in almost everyother good quality of art.-What was it that once gave such charm to Martin's designsof " Belshazzar's Feast, " " The Departure of the Israelites fromEgypt, " " The Opening of the Sixth Seal, " " Pandemonium, "and " Satan addressing his Legions "? There was no correctness in the drawing, no truth in the perspective, no beautyin the coloring of the paintings or drawings from which theseimpressive engravings were taken, in short, little excellence,save a tasteful and feeling arrangement of the chiaro- oscuro,and especially of the general light and shadow. In the " Pandemonium " the archangel is scarcely visible amid the mysterious darkness and endless colonnades of his infernal palace.Engravings from these and other designs by Martin, and alsoby Danby, an imitator of him, at the time of their appearance,some twenty years since, were, notwithstanding their manydeficiencies in almost every other respect, among the mostpopular works that ever appeared in that department of art.But for a beautiful effect arising from a judicious arrangement of the general lights and darks, how many of the deservedly esteemed productions of the Dutch and Flemish schoolswould be thrown aside as intolerably disgusting! It mattersnot what the subject be; if the general light and shadow istastefully arranged, it becomes an agreeable object of contemplation, and produces that impression which entitles it to the nameof a picture. Nay, more; in order to produce the picturesque,it is not necessary that there should be any subject, mereblotches of light and dark accidentally thrown together beingfound to produce ideas affecting to the mind, imagination supplying the forms. So charming and powerful is this quality ofbreadth in chiaro- oscuro.But although black and white alone are thus effective, chiarooscuro is more beautiful still when united with and assisted bylight and dark colors.Pictures possessing breadth of the general light and dark orshade are not only very effective, but they likewise give great re-80 CHIARO-OSCURO.pose to the eye; whereas, where the lights and darks are in smallportions and much divided, the eye is disturbed and the mindrendered uneasy, especially if one is anxious to understand everyobject in a composition, as it is painful to the ear if we are anxious to hear what is said in company when many are talking atthe same time. Hence the reason why Gothic architecture, whenclosely viewed, is less pleasing than Grecian, and why such buildings as Westminster Abbey always appear more beautiful whenthe spectator is far enough removed from them to bring the detail into masses, so as to give what is termed the general effect.Hence, too, the reason why portraits make a more pleasingpicture when but few objects are introduced into the composition than when the person is covered with frills and ruffles, andthe background stuffed like a " curiosity shop. " Such an arrangement cuts up the lights and darks and destroys thebreadth.-.We know it may be asked if it is not enough that the artistcopy the light and shade under which objects are viewed at themoment of imitation; and we answer no, unless Nature presentsherself under favorable circumstances, which is not always thecase, and when she does not, the artist must correct her deficiencies, - for in this, as in every other part of the art, theremay be selection, as may be seen illustrated in the two drawings of the " Bunch of Grapes. " There may be such a light aswould give to them either of these appearances; but if an artistwas at liberty to select, there can be no doubt at all to whicharrangement he would give the preference, to that, certainly,with the general light and shadow.There were doubtless many other ways of managing the lightand shadow on Rembrandt's painting of " The Woman Accused, "but none, we apprehend, more pleasing to the eye, and so productive of breadth and that repose befitting so grave a subject.Again, it may be asked if it is not enough that the lightsand darks in a painting are true; our answer is in the negative, and its correctness is exemplified in " The School ofAthens, " one of Raphael's frescos in the Vatican, which paint-

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CHIARO- OSCURO. 81ing, from his neglecting to unite the assemblage of figures by acommanding mass and allowing expression to preponderate atthe expense of everything else, has in it little that is attractive to a mind unqualified to penetrate the design. To see thevalue of a selected and composed light and shade over a naturallight and shade, one has only to compare an impression takenby a camera with a painting of the same subject with a selectedor imagined light and shade.Although this massing of the lights and darks in a picture is sovery desirable, it is not always easy to obtain it. Hence we sometimes find artists resorting to curious means to accomplish andjustify it, as did Titian in his celebrated painting “ The Entombment," in which the light falls on a man in the front partof the composition, although the sun is setting in the rear;the painter supposing it reflected from a cloud in advance ofthe field of the picture.Others have imagined a dark cloud or some other objectoutside of the picture, and thus excused the introduction of ashadow.Of course this massing process does not destroy the individuallights and darks or shadows of objects, as may again be illustrated by the " Bunch of Grapes, " where each individual grapehas its own light and shade and reflection by which it is madeout and rounded to the eye, although the general light andshadow make of them but two large masses.If any one has sufficient imagination to suppose these grapesto be so many persons or other objects in a composition, he willat once comprehend the value that Titian attached to it as aguide for the arrangement and massing of the lights and darksof a more extended picture.As this massing to obtain breadth is not destructive of theparticular lights and shadows of objects, neither does it preclude contrasts and abrupt transitions of light and dark; for theseare required, like a strong note in music, to strike attention anddirect it to some particular point, as again illustrated in thedesign of “ The Woman Accused, " her accuser being clothed indeep black, though standing in a mass of light; and this ar682 CHIARO- OSCURO.rangement not only serves to separate her from the rest of thegroup, but likewise to give effect to the white of the other principal figures, Christ and the supposed adulteress. The operationof these contrasts is also to produce solidity and relief, and consequently to prevent insipidity and flatness.Although in this picture the strongest light falls on Christ andthe accused woman, the principal figures of the composition, yetit is not always necessary, any more than that the principalfigure should be in the centre of the composition; all that is required is, that attention should be drawn towards the principalfigure in some plausible manner. It is sometimes better to-have the principal light on one side, as in a painting by Correggio called " Christ's Agony in the Garden," for it affordsgreater space for breadth of shadow.If the frame of the picture be considered as a window, or thelimits of any other aperture, it is improper to sacrifice all theextremities to concentrated light on the middle ground, exceptin particular instances (as the " Del Notte, " or " Nativity, " byCorreggio); for thereby the picture becomes less than the canvas,and prevents the imagination from exercising its ingenuity uponsomething out of it .Whatever has a definite limit is reduced to reality, andall reality is fatal to the imagination. "The hand that warnedBelshazzar derived its horrifying influence from the want of abody."Although in the drawing of the " Bunch of Grapes " thereare but two great masses of light and dark, from this the conclusion is not to be drawn that such must be the usual unvaried-arrangement, for there may be several masses. Reynolds thinksthat there should be three of light, in which case they must betreated as parts of a whole, by making one the chief, and theothers subordinate, satellites, as it were, of the former; theyshould also be of different shapes, as different in power, for the reasons assigned when treating the subject of composition, namely,that equal quantities and equal shapes produce hesitation andperplexity in the spectator.Our remarks thus far have had relation chiefly to the em-CHIARO-OSCURO.883ployment of chiaro-oscuro to render the surface of the pictureagreeable, by dividing it into masses of light and dark, whetherproduced by light and shadow, by light and dark colors, or bythe two united. But the mind has claims as well as the eye,and this leads us next to consider the second part of our subject,namely, the employment of chiaro-oscuro to assist sentiment andgive expression, for this, like composition and color, should bean echo to the sense.-There is no very great difficulty in rendering the surface ofthe canvas merely agreeable to the eye, and much easier to imitate the common effects of objects around us, - that is, to givethem the appearance of nearness, distance, and relief, — becausethis portion of chiaro-oscuro is regulated by rules. But thatideal or poetic management of it which, by tone, by arrangement, and by regulated quantities, produces sensations within uslike those attendant on actual circumstances, of a nature graveor gay, dreadful or mysterious, awful or sublime, is attendedwith many difficulties, inasmuch as it admits of no very specificregulations; for every subject that conveys any particular sentiment requires a distinct, individual, and particular treatment,no two admitting of a similar arrangement in the lights andshadows any more than in the composition of their forms orfigures, or in the choice, disposition, and tone of colors.No rule of art is so little known to, or, if known, is so littleobserved by painters, as that which requires that the lights anddarks of a painting should be so arranged as to assist sentimentand be an echo to the sense; its observance always gives point.I know of no paintings in which this can be seen better illustrated than in the " Del Notte, " by Correggio, " The Appearanceto the Shepherds, " and the " Ecce Homo, " by Rembrandt.In the " Del Notte " or "The Nativity," as it is more generally called the entire light of the picture is the supernaturalillumination ofthe infant Saviour, from whom the light emanatesas from a glow-worm, strikes upwards upon the beautiful face ofthe Virgin Mother, the more rugged features of Joseph, thesurrounding shepherds, and the overhanging group of angels,and finally dies away, and is buried in the depths of the sur84 CHIARO-OSCURO.rounding shadows, " an arrangement," says Opie, "that maychallenge anything in the whole circle of art, both for the splendor of its effects and for its happy poetic appropriation to theperson of One born to dispel the clouds of ignorance and diffusethe light of truth over a world lying in darkness."In " The Appearance to the Shepherds " a mass of shadowruns through the canvas from right to left, and thus gives thenecessary breadth; above this is the principal mass of light,radiating from a centre, with a multitude of cherubs sportingin its beams. Out of this light an angel addresses the shepherds across a gulf of shadow, which shadow has a poetic allusion to the moral darkness which at the time of Christ's appearance hung over the world. The second light is in thelower part of the picture, not quietly brilliant, as is the upperlight, but irregularly dispersed, thus conveying the appearanceof terror and confusion among the flocks, which are representedas flying in all directions.In the " Ecce Homo " the Saviour is the centre of a group,in a quiet, broad mass of light. Pilate with the multitudestands also in a broad light; but it is intermingled, as in “ TheAppearance to the Shepherds," with strong darks, thereby producing the appearance of much brilliancy and much agitation.This is the composition of the lights and darks in the painting,and nothing could be more admirable, for thereby the quietcharacter of Christ is preserved, and his superiority maintainedby his forming the bright centre of one group; while Pilate,forming the apex of the other group (which group, be it remembered, is in a mass of broken light), rises like a pyramid fromthe tumultuous waves below.From these few examples it will be seen, that, althoughmasses of light and dark are always desirable in a picture, togive breadth and effect, yet, with regard to the proportionand shape of the masses, no rule can be given, other than thatresulting from the nature of the subject. Bearing in mind,however, the position with which we commenced this essay,namely, that it is characteristic of light to exhilarate and ofdarkness to depress, to render pensive, sober, thoughtful; thatCHIARO-OSCURO. 85cheefulness and animation are produced by a preponderance ofthe first, and seriousness by a preponderance of the last, and,furthermore, that light and dark soothe by breadth and gentlegradation, strike by contrast, and rouse by abrupt transition ,we are furnished with some general rule, and only a general rule,for the management of the chiaro-oscuro of a picture; for asthe subjects of painting are numerous, so also must the arrangement of the several constituent portions of the art differ.And now perhaps it may be inquired if there are not manyhighly esteemed pictures that have not this poetic adaptationof the lights and shadows, and the answer is in the affirmative;but then it may be asked, in return, if such delineations wouldnot have had more point, and been more complete, attractive,and effective with it.This poetic adaptation of light and shadow to give expression, and artificial arrangement of the masses to give breadthand effect, was but little, perhaps not at all, understood by anyof the Italian artists previous to Da Vinci. The first evidenceof it is to be found in his " Battle of the Standard, " and moreparticularly in " The Last Supper, " not as seen in the engravingof it, for the chiaro- oscuro of this picture is said to have beengreatly changed by the celebrated engraver, Raphael Morghen.Da Vinci was the first to perceive the value of concentratedlight. By surrounding it with dark, and blending the whole byimperceptible degrees, he gave a gentleness and a grace to theart which it never before possessed. This improvement, however, was little appreciated by his contemporaries.Some astonishing effects of chiaro-oscuro are to be found in afew of Michael Angelo's works, particularly in his frescos inthe Sistine Chapel. Wilkie and some other English artists,who examined them not many years ago very critically, discovered a brilliancy in the chiaro- oscuro of some portion ofthem which (as they thought) was not surpassed by anythingin Rembrandt; but this has not been copied by the engraver,on the supposition, as some imagine, that those portions havebecome more brilliant by accident. But this is " all in supposition. " That this improvement of Da Vinci was not regarded86 CHIARO-OSCURO.by Michael Angelo as a principle is inferred from the fact thatthe celebrated cartoon of " The Battle of Pisa " -his greatesteffort, out of the Sistine Chapel —exhibits little more thanindividual light and shade.-Although some of Raphael's productions exhibit a very skilfuldistribution of light and shadow, as " The Donation of the Keysto Peter, " " The Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison, " " TheOverthrow of Heliodorus, ” 66' The Defeat of Attila, " and " TheMass of Bolsena," the arrangement cannot, it is thought, bereferred to a principle of imitation, when he has not availedhimself of it in " La Incendio del Borgo," where it might havebeen displayed with wonderful effect.The true principles of chiaro-oscuro were better understoodbythe Venetians, but the broad effect of light and dark in theirpaintings was more frequently the result of an accordance andopposition of light and dark colors of the different objects, thanof any studied distribution of light and shade.The most perfect application of chiaro-oscuro was undoubtedlyby the head of the Lombard school, Correggio. It is thoughtthat he got the secret from Da Vinci, but he so extended theprinciple, that of chiaro-oscuro as it relates to a whole he is nowconsidered the inventor. All that is excellent in this quality ofart, since Correggio, dates from that master.From that great luminary, the light first emanating from DaVinci was, about the commencement of the sixteenth century,reflected upon the Flemish Rubens; which being thrown offfrom him upon his countrymen and other painters of Europe,finally became concentrated, as if passing through a lens, uponthat wonder in art, Rembrandt Van Ryn.By comparing the works of Correggio and Rembrandt, it willbe perceived, that, although none of the painters which ancientor modern art has produced have been so distinguished as theywere for beautiful and effective chiaro- oscuro, yet they in thisparticular, bear little resemblance to each other. And thisis the difference. In Correggio's productions the light is verymuch diffused, in Rembrandt's it is very much concentrated,- for which reason his paintings are the most brilliant and -CHIARO- OSCURO. 87astounding, but not the most pleasing, gratifying, or attractive.There is a refinement about Correggio's art, and a fascinationthat clusters around him as Correggio, that makes him regardedwith an admiration not bestowed on any other artist.Rembrandt excites no personal admiration, none of that affection with which we regard Raphael, none of that veneration andrespect which the world bestows on Michael Angelo. And yet,although he has been guilty of almost every offence against art,sacrificing all decorum, all propriety, all beauty, all truth, allregard to costume, all character, all grandeur, yet, by the richness of his coloring, and, above all, by the wonderful management of his chiaro-oscuro, he has produced works of such magical influence, and so gorgeous and overpowering in brilliancy,as almost to persuade us to believe that he painted with a pencil dipped in that " golden fountain poured from unnumberedurns " when, in the morning of creation, the Almighty dividedthe light from the darkness.THEESSAY VII.COLOR.HE mysteries of color will form the subject of the presentessay. This, although the most enchanting, is, for thegeneral purposes of imitation, the least essential of the component parts of painting; certainly less so than chiaro- oscuro anddesign, since it can effect nothing without them, while they ofthemselves can excite great emotion in the mind, as exemplifiedin outlines and shaded engravings.But while we are desirous to assign to color its proper position, let us carefully avoid underrating its value; for in addition"to its giving more the appearance of reality to the productionsof the pencil, generally imparting beauty, and in many casesincreasing expression, there are many things in a picture almostentirely dependent upon color for their representation, as precious stones and flowers. There is no other medium throughwhich the glow of health or the languor of sickness can be sowell expressed; and the same may be likewise said of the beauties of the atmosphere, the morning dawn, and the eveningsplendor; the tender freshness of spring, too, the fervid vivacityof summer, and the mellow abundance of autumn, can by no othermeans be so well conveyed to our perception as by color."It serves, too, in nature and art, to characterize the variousqualities, textures, and surfaces of bodies in all their varioussituations of light, shadow, and reflection; and as every passionand affection has its appropriate tint, as well as attitude andgesture, color lends its aid in disseminating and expressingthem, heightening joy, inflaming anger, deepening sadness, andadding coldness to the cheek of death. "Although, in considering the subject of Color, we do not deemCOLOR. 89it within our province to enter into a chemic disquisition uponthe materials used in the art, however useful such informationmight be to the practical student, yet, in order to a clear understanding of what we have to offer upon this interesting theme,it may be well ( even at the risk of repeating that which is generally learned in the schools) to explain a few of the termsusually employed in discussions of this subject; for every artand science has its technic appellations, and those usually employed in painting are primary and compound, positive andneutral, local and reflected, hot and cold colors, hue, tone, and tint,contrast and opposition.Hue, tone, and tint are sometimes used synonymously; theyhave, however, a distinct meaning. We shall therefore definehue as signifying the peculiar color which distinguishes one pigment from another, as red from blue, blue from yellow,through all their varieties and combinations.-The term tint we shall employ to signify the degree of thegradation of a color, from its extreme intensity to the faintest,rendered more and more faint by its admixture with white;and tone to signify the degree and color of the illumination ofthe light and shadow, as a yellow and light and gay tone bysunlight, and a gray and sombre tone by twilight; it is, in fact, thecolor of the atmosphere resting on and qualifying the color ofevery object in the picture.-By local color is meant the inherent hue of a color apartfrom any foreign influence, as reflection, refraction, excessivelight, or absorption of light by the atmosphere, all which havean effect to change or modify color.Modern philosophers differ much as to the number of colorsin the iris, or rainbow; there are, however, at least seven, —threeof which (red, blue, and yellow) are called primary, and the fourothers (orange, green, purple, and violet) are called compound.The primary being so called because they are entirely distinctfrom each other, and cannot be formed by any admixture; whilethe compound are so called because formed by a union of twoof the primitives in equal degree -in which they are distinguished from the negatives, which are compounded of the three90 COLOR.primitives in unequal degree, and, having no positiveness of hue,thence get their name. They have, however, more positivenessof color than when the three primitives are compounded in equaldegree, as then the product is black, or no color at all.Colors are sometimes characterized as hot and cold. The hotincluding the reds and yellows, with their blood-relations, the largefamily of the browns; the cold colors including the blues, theviolets, and the small family of the grays.Peculiar influences attach to colors, and this is a most important circumstance to be remembered, as it involves a vastdeal of the philosophy of this constituent portion of painting.The cold produce a softer influence upon the eye than hot colors,that is, excite it less. The predominance, therefore, of the coldcolors in subjects of a soft, tender, and pathetic character, and ofthe warm colors in representations of gay and animated scenes,is not only in accordance with the practice of the best masters,but is agreeable to and explains that important principle of artof which we are presently to speak, namely, that which requiresa correspondence to be preserved between the hues employed and thesentiment of the subject, making the colors an echo to the sense.But the warm colors not only excite the eye more powerfullythan the cool, they also come forward upon the canvas, as alsothe admixtures wherein they most prevail; whereas blue, andall those other cool colors which partake largely of it, as thegreens, grays, purples, and violets, seem to recede, and fall intothe ground of the picture, particularly the gray; and hence theimpropriety and adverseness to natural effect in employing coolcolors upon projecting objects in front, or warm upon those whichshould retire, because the former produce too little, and thelatter too much relief, and thus, in addition to the excitingpower ofthe one and the non-exciting power of the other, attractan undue attention.-This rule, however, is sometimes departed from for some particular purpose, as either to give importance to some particularfigure or to throw others into insignificance, as by Titian, inone of his best pictures, " The Scourging of Christ," now in theLouvre, in which he has covered the front figure (the guard) with-COLOR. 91―gray armor, leaving the red drapery of the Saviour, a rear figure,to act with full power and attract the eye, - Christ being a moreimportant personage than the guard, whom the compositionobliged him to place in front.But the effect of colors in causing objects to appear to recedeand advance may be seen operating more palpably in landscapepainting, where the masses of warm colors are almost alwaysplaced in the foreground, gradually diminishing, however, inpower and strength, and approximating more and more to thebluish hues, that is, the color of the atmosphere,-Bryant's water- fowl, they are lost in the gray distance." Thou art gone,The abyss of heaven hath swallowed up thy form. "until, likeasAnd this arrangement is not only agreeable to the natural effectof color, but is also in obedience to the laws of aerial perspective,which means the gradual weakening of the hues of colors ,linear perspective, of their magnitude, —just in proportion to theimpurity of the air and their removal from the eye, a dilutionthat becomes weaker and weaker from the several rays whichproceed from any object, and by which it is made visible to us,being more and more absorbed by or tinged with the interveningatmosphere.-It is chiefly by means of this dilution or diminishing ofthe strength of colors of objects that a painter can representthem at different distances on the canvas. The diminution oftheir magnitude alone, without this degradation to the colorof the atmosphere and indistinctness of outline and minuteparts, would not have the desired effect, that is, where weadvance beyond a mere outline, and employ color, or onlyshadow, even if the rear figures were made much less insize than the front figures in the same piece, as in MichaelAngelo and Sebastiano del Piombo's celebrated painting, " TheRaising of Lazarus, " in which (in the original) the groups seemto stand above, rather than beyond each other, the glaringopaque colors in which the more remote are represented givingto them not the appearance of men of full size, but of pygmiesor Liliputians, — which would not be the case if the colors had92 COLOR.been more diluted or transparent, inclining in proportion totheir distance more and more to the color of the atmosphere,agreeably to the laws of aerial perspective. This defect, however,is not apparent in the engraving, it being caused simply by toomuch positiveness of color, and not by the chiaro-oscuro.Much space and time might be given to a consideration ofthe effect of light upon color, but we shall confine ourselves tosimply stating, that, whatever the inherent or local color of anobject may be, whether yellow, blue, or red, in the brightestlight and deepest shadow they assimilate, each and all becoming in the highest light white, in the deepest shadow black;that is, in either case they have no color at all, white being thereceiver of color, and black the negation of it. In the demitint, or half light, all colors very much resemble each other, apositive difference between one color and another being to beseen only between the demi-tint and the highest light.Much of the above is trite enough certainly, but in anelementary treatise nothing should be taken as granted. Andyet it is believed no more has been said than was necessary foran easy understanding of what next we have to offer in regardto those qualities of good coloring called breadth, unity, and harmony, andthe correspondence to be maintained between the huesemployed and the sentiment of the subject. And first of harmony, for there is an accordance in colors as well as in sounds.There are those who think that harmony of colors dependsupon arrangement. Mr. Benjamin West had an idea that theone most satisfactory was to be found in the iris, and endeavored to establish a theory upon it, but without success, as theonly rational view of the matter is to regard the chromaticscale as you would the gamut in music, or letters or words inlanguage, as so many signs to be combined and varied in modesinnumerable.But while we do not assent to the arrangement of colors inthe iris as necessary to produce harmony, and the eye delightsin viewing colors separately, yet, if we go beyond one color, thethree primitives are required to produce an agreeable arrangement; two will not satisfy it, but there must be a yellow, red, andCOLOR. 93blue, either separate, or one separate and the other two combined, -as a yellow and a purple, a tint compounded of red and blue; ora red and a green, a compound of blue and yellow; or a blue andorange, a compound of yellow and red; and the reason for orphilosophy of it is to be found in the relation such a combination or arrangement bears to the prismatic colors in a ray oflight, light being a natural pleasure of vision.-There are those who make harmony to depend on tone andreflection, on tone, when the whole picture is wrought underthe same degree of illumination, as in a sunlight view tingeingall the colors with yellow, and when objects are illuminatedwithout sunshine, tingeing them with blue or gray, for the reason that the air interposed between the colors and the eye is, according to the circumstances, either yellow or blue, the effect ofwhich is to assimilate colors, and consequently assist in producing harmony.-By reflection harmony is produced, when the color of oneobject is thrown off upon the color of an object adjoining, andso throughout the picture, a method that was practised withmuch success by the old Dutch painters, as may be seen verystrikingly illustrated in a small picture by an unknown artist,called " A Market- Stall, " which, like a great many other compositions of that school, represents an interior, two windows, aman, a curtain, a table, a chair, two pitchers, and two cabbages,- the sum-total, often, of a Dutchman's imagination, exceptwhen he chooses to be very pathetic, and then he adds anonion.In this picture the light is admitted through a window onthe left, and, falling on a red curtain, is from that reflected witha reddish hue on to yellow pitcher No. 1 , and from that withan acquired yellow hue on to cabbage No. 1, and thence in amore modified form, with very little of the yellow tinge, but moreof the green, on to cabbage No. 2, and from that, with amore greenish tinge, is reflected on to pitcher No. 2, and thence,clambering up the chair and over the back of the Dutchman,passes with a faint yellow tint quietly out of the second window.This, although a very humble illustration, exemplifies most94 COLOR.forcibly the mode of producing harmony by reflection, and wemight add by refraction, for reflection takes place only wherethe object receiving the color is of a polished nature . Theeffect of this process is to produce a connection between thewarm and cold colors, and consequently a union throughout thecomposition.There are those who think that harmony results more or lessfrom a balance of light and dark colors, that is, from theirbeing so arranged and proportioned as to strength and magnitude that one part shall not appear to outweigh or overpowerthe other, making the composition unpoised, or not in keepingone part with the other.In the great painting by Paul Veronese in the Louvre, "TheMarriage at Cana, " as it is improperly called (a compositioncontaining over one hundred and sixty figures of life-size) , maybe seen the black head of a dog protruding itself through thebalustrade of a building near the courtyard where the marriage feast is being given. It is not very skilfully painted, andtherefore not very ornamental; but why did the painter put itthere? The answer is obvious, because it required some dárkobject in that part of the design to balance the dark masses inother parts of the picture. Let any one for a moment hide thehead with a light object, and the painting loses its position, theharmonious balance is destroyed, the feelings of the spectatorare disturbed, and that repose which results from a symmetricaldisposition of colors is wanting.Such are some of the modes by which harmony of colorsis produced in painting. Each is well enough as far as it goes,but complete harmony of color is the result only where they allunitedly operate.In the essay on Chiaro- Oscuro we discussed at some length thesubject of breadth, and stated that its basis was extension, expan;siveness, and that it was obtained by dividing into masses, oruniting into large bodies, the lights and darks of a picture; extension, or expansiveness, likewise is the basis of breadth of color,and is obtained by bringing together in separate but largemasses the warm and cold colors.COLOR. 95The effect of breadth in all instances is to give repose to theeye, whereas, when this massing or extension does not obtain,the eye and mind is disturbed and cannot grasp the picture, justas the ear is confounded when many are heard talking at onceon the same subject.When breadth prevails in a composition united to harmony ityields an additional delight. It may, however, exist in a picturewithout it, because the entire surface may be divided intomasses of warm and cold colors, without any assimilating orconnecting medium, as would be the case with the iris, werethe green to be withdrawn. Here there would be breadth produced by an extension of congenial colors, the red and yellow,(hot colors) being in a mass on one side of the green, and theblue, violet, and purple (cold colors) on the other side. Insert,however, between the two the green (a color compounded ofyellow, a warm color, and blue, a cold) , and the harmony is complete as far as union can effect it through a compromising medium.-The same would be the result in many landscapes, were notthe cold hues of the sky united with the warm tints of the foreground, either by an imperceptible adjunct composed of both,that is, bythe green of the middle ground, or by a transfer of aportion of the latter to the former, and a portion of the formerto the latter, as illustrated in one of Titian's best paintings,called " Bacchus and Ariadne," representing the god, as CharlesLamb has it, on his return from a sacrifice, with his reelingsatyr rout about him, encountering Ariadne, the beautiful andforsaken daughter of a Cretan king, pacing the solitary shore,in as much heart silence as when she awoke at break of day tocatch the forlorn last glance of the sail that bore away herTheseus."(6Reynolds, in his admirable criticism on this painting, says:" If we suppose two tints or bits of color omitted, namely,the red scarf of Ariadne in the upper and colder portion ofthe picture and a blue drapery on the shoulders of a nymphin the lower and warmer portion, it would leave the composition divided into two masses of color, -the one hot and the96 COLOR.other cold, --the warm portion comprehending the reds, yellows,and browns ofthe foreground, and the cold portion comprehendingthe blues, greens, and grays of the trees and sky; and this, as inthe rainbow with the green omitted, would be productive of greatbreadth, but it would be destructive of union, and consequentlyof harmony, for it leaves the cold and warm colors as entirelyunconnected as though they were separate designs on one canvas. To correct this and restore the union, Titian has carriedup the warm tints of the foreground into the sky, or cold portion of the picture, by means of the red scarf on the shouldersof Ariadne, and brought down the cold tints of the sky into theforeground by the blue mantle on the shoulders of the nymphin the lower or warm portion of the picture; and thus, by dividing the painting into masses of warm and cold colors, haspreserved the greatest breadth, by the opposition of warm andcold colors has increased their splendor, by exchanging thoseof one side for those of another, as just stated, has producedunion and harmony, and at the same time preserved thatvariety so characteristic of Nature's coloring. Nor is thisall; for by a faithful imitation of those reflections which oneobject throws off upon another in its immediate neighborhood,and by that balance of light and dark colors which gives poiseand symmetry, and that tone, produced by passing a thin transparent color over the entire surface (a process called glazing) ,assimilating and softening down the most opposite tints to"Tones so just, in such gradation thrown,Adopting Nature claims the work her own, "he has combined in one design all those excellent qualities uponwhich depends perfection in this part of art.Continuity is another feature of good coloring but rarely ifever noticed by writers, although it has great value in promoting harmony and union, besides being productive of greatbreadth; as when a particular color is found to vibrate, as itwere, along a chord, terminating in the gentle echo of suchcolor, a pure white, for instance, eventually finding repose ina deep black, or a pale yellow terminating in a deep brown;just as breadth, or expansiveness, or extension of composition andCOLOR.97form is obtained, as in one of the Cartoons, where the form ofthe dying Ananias is allied by resemblance to those on each sideof him, those in front being varied in degree until, as they becomedistant from him in the group, it is lost in the almost upright lines of the man and woman receiving alms; and againas breadth, or extension, of expression is obtained, in the sameCartoon, where the terror and alarm of the principal figure(Ananias) are communicated to the figure in its immediateneighborhood, and are continued to the figures nearest tothat, but with a numerically diminished force, until theyare finally lost on either side in utter ignorance and indifference.-There is no greater excellence in a picture than breadth, — infact, no painting has much value without it; for without breadthof form there can be no grandeur, without breadth of expressionno nobleness, without breadth of light and shadow no picturesqueeffect, and without breadth of color no repose.In discoursing of composition and chiaro-oscuro, it was statedthat these should be in accordance with, and co-operate to givevalue and advantage to, that expression which the subject oughtto impress on the mind of the spectator. If space permitted,we would recapitulate the substance of those remarks, but asit does not, it might help to a better understanding of whatfollows if reference were made to them by the reader; it wouldthen be seen, that, if the poetic arrangement there insistedupon was necessary and proper in those two constituent portions of the art, the same sensibility that can regulate the disposition of the forms and placing of the several objects in thecomposition, and the mode and degree of light and dark adaptedto the subject, whether gay, majestic, or melancholy, quiet oranimated, must also direct and govern in the choice of hue andcolor which predominate through those forms and darks andlights, without injuring the local tints peculiar to the situationand color of the several objects.But the propriety of adapting the color to the sentiment ofthe subject must, we apprehend, be very apparent; for it canrequire no argument to show how abhorrent it would be to our798 COLOR.feelings to see the terrors of " The Crucifixion " lost in themagnificent glitter of a triumphal show, or the pathetic sentiment of " The Last Supper " or the touching tenderness of " TheNativity" disturbed by the gaudy trappings and resplendentillumination of a Bacchanalian feast.To harmonize the tone and color of a picture with the sentiment is, doubtless, one of the most difficult, as it is one ofthe most important, parts of the art; but the power of colorin conveying sentiment has been illustrated in a variety ofexamples, from the murky sky that envelops " The Murder ofAbel, " by Titian, where all positive colors are kept out of thepicture, down to " The Tragic Muse," by Reynolds, where thepale and sad colors are illuminated only by the yellow glare ofthe lightning.This union of color with sentiment was again attained byPoussin in his picture of " The Deluge, " in which " by employing little brilliancy of tint, but rendering the whole with littlevariation of a sombre gray, - the true resemblance of a dark andhumid atmosphere, by which everything is rendered indistinctand colorless, he has not only presented a faithful, but alsoa poetic, conception of the subject; for the effect is not onlypathetic, solemn, simple, and grand, but Nature seems faint,half dissolved, and verging on annihilation. "The same correspondence between the sentiment and thesubject is sometimes to be seen in Rubens, as in his paintingof " The Fall of the Damned, " in which he has represented theabode of the blessed, in the upper part of the composition, inall the pearly tender tints of the morning, whilst the lowerpart, the abode of the wicked, is lighted up by the red glare ofthe fiery gulf, into which they are tumbling. But it was lostsight of in his otherwise great design, " The Descent from theCross "; for, although nothing can be more agreeable than theflow of line in that painting, its variety, its fulness, and itseffective unity, productive of one end, which renders it one ofthe masterpieces of the art, yet the richness of the effect uponthe eye absorbs too large a share of the attention due to thesolemn and overwhelming subject. A lower and lurid tone ofCOLOR. 99illumination, it is thought, might have overpowered this richflow of line and color, and strengthened its due influence uponthe mind.-Although the principal aim of the Venetian masters was to fillthe canvas agreeably, and the subject is often lost sight of in themedium, rather than assisted by it, and this is particularly thecase in the works of Tintoretto and Paul Veronese, —yet there isone picture by the former that is a remarkable exception to this,namely, " The Crucifixion," in which the ominous, terrific, andensanguined hue of the whole, the disastrous twilight, that indicates more than mortal suffering, electrifies the spectator atfirst glance, and is such an instance of the powerful applicationof color to expression as has never, it is thought, been equalled,except, perhaps, by Rembrandt, in the bloodless, heart- appallinghues spread over his " Belshazzar's Vision of the Handwritingon the Wall. "But it is not necessary, we apprehend, to multiply examplesto show that the colors of a picture should be in correspondencewith the sentiment of the subject, should be an echo to thesense; although it may not be uninteresting nor uninstructivebriefly to illustrate its propriety by the analogies of music andlanguage, for these, like painting, are imitative arts, and thelatter had its origin in the endeavor to express the names ofthings by sounds.We know that the force and perfection of language dependupon such words as immediately raise the ideas in the mind, andthose will more immediately have that effect where there isa correspondence between the sound of the word and the sentiment, as is well exemplified in the words lightning and thunder, -the one sharp and rapid, the other slow and sonorous, andagain where it is said in reference to the Almighty, ·"It is he who commandeth the waters,The glorious God who maketh the thunder. "It is not, however, to the words employed, that the entireinfluence of language is owing, but to the tones in which it isspoken; for we know there is, independent of words, a lan-100 COLOR.guage of nature, in which the passions are universally and instinctively uttered.We every moment observe the different modulations of thevoice, when the human soul makes use of language to expressits emotions and sentiments. "Joy is wont to speak in clearluminous sounds, agony bellows forth its accents from the inmost foldings of the heart, dismay utters quivering and inarticulate notes, the language of passion flows with an impetuoustide, steady contemplation modulates the terrors of its speech;each feeling expresses itself in a tone of voice distinct from thataccentuation arising from the syntax of language, we do notquarrel in the same tone in which we love."Gardner, in his admirable production called " The Music ofNature," tells us that the human voice, like music, has threeparts, the one called the voce de petto, or the voice of thebreast, the common voice, and the voce de testa, or voice of thehead. He points out the place in the human structure whencethese several voices proceed.-The de petto voice, he tells us, originates low down in thechest, about the region of the heart, the tones of which areof the instinctive nature, and are the most passionate; theyexpress the inmost feelings, and are termed the language ofthe heart because they spring from that region; the sensationsof pity, love, and regret are expressed in the petto voice . Nextabove this, he continues, stands or proceeds the common voice,and next to that the testa voice, or voice of the head, in whichhigher voice are expressed rage, joy, and exultation.Now, whoever would be effective in language, it is quite apparent, must adopt these tones, as did the preacher we somewhere read of, who, after painting in the alto the joys of theblessed, descended into the extreme depths of the petto to portray the horrors of the damned, after the fashion of Rubens inthe painting just now described, and doubtless the preacherwas effectual; while Mr. Burke is said, but, we think, contraryto the evidence, to have been cold and unimpressive in hiscelebrated speech at the trial of Warren Hastings, from hisphysical inability to employ the deeper tones to clothe the sublime images of his fancy.COLOR. 101The musical composer is perfectly aware of these characteristicpeculiarities of sound in the human voice, and he is successfulin moving the passions only as he imitates them, as he makesthe sound an echo to the sense.-―Now "the eye is governed by precisely the same rules as theear, gay tints, like gay sounds, animate; stern and deep-tonedtints, like warlike sounds and deep bass, rouse, determine, invigorate the eye; the bland soothe, the rosy charm, the gray andvernal melt like a sweet melody; and therefore the truly poeticpainter taking for his example that master of the terrible, Salvator Rosa, whose rocks, trees, skies, even to the manner ofhandling, have the same wild character that animates his ferociousbandits considers the nature of his subject, whether graveor gay, tender or ferocious, magnificent or melancholy, character and age, time and place, day or night, a prison or a palace;and consequently all portions of the art, form, composition,chiaro-oscuro, and color, are made to lend their joint assistance,not only to give ' a local habitation and a name, ' but likewiseto convey sentiment and enforce expression. "The field for this poetic adaptation is not equally great inall classes of subjects. There are very many objects of thepencil's imitation whose only charm is their naturalness, whichaddress themselves only to the eye, to the curiosity of thespectator, and these are to be gratified. Indeed, the sentimentin such cases cannot be assisted, because no sentiment exists tobe assisted; but wherever there is sentiment, the painter whounderstands his art selects such tones, hues, and degrees ofcolor as correspond to the sentiment and expression of hissubject; he makes the whole an echo to the sense.Wherever this is neglected, as was the case with some of themost celebrated, but not most correct, of the old masters, thepainting may please the eye by its gorgeousness and picturesqueeffect, but it will fail to exert its full and proper influence onthe mind and heart.We might easily have extended our remarks upon this asupon every other part of the art, and made a practical application of them to dress in its connection with character, age,102 COLOR.occupation, and many other things associated with our dailylife; but such connections and influences will probably suggestthemselves to the thoughtful without any labor on our part,and we therefore proceed next to notice some popular errors inregard to art.In strolling along a gallery, we have often had occasion toobserve that those paintings attract a great deal of admirationthat have great relief, that is, a statue-like appearance, or, in thelanguage of the vulgar, " look as though one might walk roundthem. "It was this quality, rather than an exhibition of correct sentiment and truthful historical delineation, which gave so muchcelebrity to Dubeuf's painting of what was called " Adam andEve, " exhibited in this country a few years since; and also toanother by the Frenchman David, "The Death of Abel, " uponexhibition also in this country some years previous.Now, although to the uninitiated there may be somethingin all this starting from the canvas, yet no extraordinary skillis required to accomplish it, nor any great merit after that,because no object in nature is to the eye perfectly detachedfrom all surrounding objects, but unites its outline more orless with everything around it, either by color, by light andshade, by reflection or refraction.A certain degree of relief is necessary to detach an object fromthe background, but when it has the appearance of being perfectly isolated, like a sculptured figure, it is unnatural, and destructive of that effect, breadth, and fulness of manner found inperfection in the works of Correggio, and which is produced bymeans directly opposite, by melting and occasionally losing aportion of the figures in the background, as on the shadowedside in shadows still darker, and on the light side by an extension of the light; whereas this peculiar kind of relief is obtainedby separating the figure from the ground, either by light,shadow, or color.You see none of this extraordinary isolation in the works ofgood colorists. It marked the infancy of the art, and is essentially Gothic. But if good colored pictures are not distin-COLOR. 103―–guished for relief, neither are they for glare. "Glare, or tawdriness, is always the first feature of an infant and savage state.This is the art of children, it is the art of the Aboriginesof our country, and was the taste almost to the time ofthe great masters. Gods and mothers of gods, apostles andmartyrs, attracted devotion according to the more or less gaudycoloring in which the artist arrayed them; even Julius II.wished Michael Angelo had added to the majesty of the Patriarchs by the use of gold and a precious stone called lapis lazuli."Now although fine feathers make fine birds, fine colors do notconstitute fine coloring. Indeed, in a good colored picture thereis very little positive color, that is, pure red, yellow, or blue, —but all is very much subdued to a degree of negativeness; andhence the reason why Allston's paintings never show to the bestadvantage when hung in galleries by the side of the glaringmodern productions. He once sent a picture to the EnglishRoyal Exhibition that had acquired great reputation in hisstudio, but, the " hanging committee " having assigned it aplace by the side of one of Sir William Beechey's highly colored paintings of officers on review-day, all merit seemed to havebeen taken out of it, and it faded away into sickly insipidity.Allston, however, was not ignorant of the disease it had contracted since it left his room, nor of the mode of cure; and asthe artists always are allowed a short time before the exhibitionopens to make any amendments that the neighboring picturessuggest, purchased a half-crown's worth of pure yellow, red, andblue, as brilliant as the sun at noonday, and, laying them onwith lavish liberality, soon brought it up to the requirement ofthe gaudy school, and it worked like magic upon a discriminating public; but when, after the exhibition, the painting wasreturned to his studio, it appeared to have contracted anotherdisease, which he, supposing that it might have been caused bythe poison of the paint he put on, at once washed off (it beingmixed only with water) , and it soon appeared well enough tohold companionship in the gallery of some English noblemanby the side of some of the good pictures of the old masters.Another defect in coloring to be noticed is that smooth tea-104 COLOR.1board painting, so much admired by the masses, and generallypassing under the name of high finish. This is the result oftoo great a blending of the colors, as glare is of their being usedin too raw a state. But this, instead of producing the effect ofsoftness, gives the appearance of ivory, or some other hard substance, highly polished .This It was astyle cannot be too severely reprobated.characteristic of the French school about thirty years since,and perhaps even much later. It characterized the first styleof Raphael. The copy in the Boston Athenæum, from thatmaster's painting called " La Jardinière, " is marked by this defect. It is never found in the works of good colorists. Insome of Rembrandt's best- colored pictures the paint may beseen projecting in small lumps beyond the general surface, butit is all right at the proper distance; he carried the practice toexcess, and is not a model for any one who has not his skill inhandling. The impasted manner of Correggio is a much moredesirable model, and the only way in which to secure brilliancy.In regard to no part of the art does there exist more mistaken notions than respecting the amount of detail required ina well- finished picture. In order to furnish correct informationon that point, it is proper to state that there are three stylesof coloring differing widely from each other, one where everyminute particular is faithfully drawn out on the canvas, as inthe case of the landscape painter who boasted that, like thePre-Raphaelite of the present day, he had imitated to precisionevery leaf, every pebble, every spire of grass, indeed, everyobject in nature, one by one; another, and the opposite of this,where only the broad effect is given, as in scenic, panoramicpainting, and the like; and a third style, intermediate, and acompromise of the two, where the detail is not entirely neglected, but only just so much expressed upon the canvas as isvisible at the distance at which we generally view an object.-The first of these modes of imitation - that which copies everyminute particular —discovers in those who practise it an ignorance of the true nature of the art, and is not entitled to admiration, because deception, at its ultimate pitch, is only theCOLOR. 105successful mimicry of absent objects, - which is more the province of sculpture than of painting, which does not pretend togive the image for the thing, but only those main characteristicsof form and color by which objects are generally known andrecognized, that is , not by giving simply the general resemblance in a manner as broad as in scenic painting, but by transferring to the canvas so many of the particulars, or details, asare presented to the eye at the usual distance at which weview an object."Although the foliage of trees, " says Reynolds, " is composedof individual leaves, as the hair of the head of individual spires,yet at a certain distance we see only the effects of these particulars, the masses, and not each leaf and spire itself; andwhoever in painting gives these masses, these general characteristics of form and color, will, in a few minutes, give a truer representation of trees or hair than a microscopic painter, likeGerard Dow, in so many months. It may be remarked, thatthe impression that is left on the mind, even of things mostfamiliar to us, is seldom more than the general effect, beyondwhich we do not look on recognizing such objects."Painting, it should be remembered, applies itself to theimagination, not to the curiosity; works not for the naturalist,but for the common observer of life and nature. The artist copiesthe picture that is painted on the retina, and not the objectitself, as the sculptor does; and many of the rays of lightwhich proceed or start from the object, and by which moremight be made visible, are absorbed before they reach the visualorgan. He transfers to his canvas only just so much of thepicture as is made out by the rays that reach the retina, andthat is sufficient for all the purposes of art; and this undoubtedlyis the true method of coloring, nor of coloring only, but of representation generally. "The great productions of Raphael and Michael Angelo arenot at all distinguished for luxury of coloring, or any verystriking effects of light and shadow. These remarks apply particularly to Michael Angelo, in whose paintings you find littlevariety of tint, or richness of hues, often little more than dead106 COLOR.coloring, a kind of reddish iron-gray, with just enough of theprimitives to characterize it as color; and it is thought thissimple style was best suited for the embodiment of his giganticconceptions, whose elements were grandeur and sublimity.Now the basis of grandeur is simplicity. Everything that isgrand in nature is stamped with it; you see it in color, in theking of the forest and the king of the air. The lion and theeagle have no variety of hide and plumage; variety is the element of beauty. "All ornament destroys grandeur, as all apparatus destroys terror. The seraglio trappings of Rubens, or thesoft enchanting tints of the Venetian masters, would have annihilated the prophets and sibyls and patriarchs of Michael Angelo. "One moment's reflection will show how at variance it would havebeen with the sentiment of their character and mission.Raphael's art admitted of more positive hues than that ofMichael Angelo, that of the latter was epic, of the formerdramatic. The reds, blues, and yellows are very positive inRaphael's pictures, and especially in his easel paintings, andtherefore they have not that harmony and union which resultsfrom their being more broken and transparent, although theystrike the mind more forcibly for this decision of color, - butthis, perhaps, is a fault, as they draw the attention from the subject almost as much as too great ornament; yet we would notsay of this master, as could justly be said of Paul Veronese, thatin his hands a Madonna was the least part of the subject.-But we do not mean to examine and analyze the style ofcoloring of the several great masters, nor is it necessary; for although " the manner of Louis Caracci has been much extolledfor its solemnity of hue, that sober twilight, the air of cloisteredmeditation, which makes it appropriate for the representation ofreligious subjects; and the aerial silvery lightness of Guido's tintsare said to be well suited for the portrayal of children, angels,and the like; the clearness and transparency of Correggio leavenothing to be desired in those particulars; and in the opinion ofsome nothing can surpass the gay magnificence of Rubens or thesplendid refulgence of Rembrandt; -yet these are partial excellences separately possessed, but all united in the unsurpassedCOLOR. 107productions of Titian." It is therefore to him that we must lookfor an exemplification of all the principles of good coloring thatwe have now been endeavoring to make intelligible.How Titian was enabled to apply these principles so muchbetter than others, how he handled his brush and caused tocome forth from beneath its magic touch those splendid effects,no one is able to explain, any more than he could why Liszt,using the same instrument, touching the same keys, and following the same laws of music, can produce tones and results somuch surpassing those of every other artist.Some years since, I was informed by that complete gentlemanand accomplished artist, the venerable Mr. Sully of Philadelphia,that, many years previous, a girl came up to London, professingto have found out Titian's mode of coloring, and many artists,among them Mr. West, paid the price of tuition , received theinstruction, and carried home the recipe in their pockets, butwith what benefit to themselves was never made manifest in theirafter productions. The woman was an impostor.In the year 1835, however, an artist died in England whosetalent as a colorist had not up to that time been surpassedby anything this side of the great Venetian. I think it wasin the year 1816 or 1819 that he left the United States toperfect himself in his chosen profession in the schools of Italy.Although quite young, he had been in the " Eternal City" buta few weeks, when Benvenuti, then President of the RomanAcademy of the Fine Arts, sought from him a knowledge of hispalette, so enamored was he with the beauty of his coloring. Unwilling to go through a long course of study in the drawingschools, he went to London, where his later and constant friends,Irving, Allston, and Leslie, had preceded him; the latter since1811 had been a hard student in the Royal Academy, and at thesame time successfully practising his art in its various departments. His first efforts were in portraiture, in which he hadmade much progress before he left the United States; butIrving, perceiving in him a rich vein of humor, suggested hisattempting the portrayal of " Falstaff in the Clothes- Basket," andhis success in painting it was so great that he acquired at once108 COLOR.a reputation which with each succeeding effort had so increased,that for several years, before disease had fastened upon his brain,a painting by Stuart Newton from Shakespeare, or Molière, orCervantes, or Goldsmith, found a readier sale, among the noblestpatrons of the art, than those of any other artist in England, andat prices exceeding those paid for paintings by other artistsin the same department, containing the same number offigures. No artist has yet appeared in England (except SirJoshua Reynolds and Sir Benjamin West) who has held a highersocial position than Mr. Newton; and no one that lived before orsince, as far as I know, has surpassed him in his department ofart, or could dispute his claim to be (up to the time of his decease) the best colorist that has appeared since the old masters.As a student with Mr. Newton during the years of my connection with the English Royal Academy, I speak of him notwithout knowledge; and I the more readily avail myself of theoccasion, as it affords an opportunity to connect the old art withthe new, and leads one to think that the hope of a restoration isnot so desperate as it appeared to Sir Joshua Reynolds, whenhe declared that there was not a man on earth that had theleast notion of coloring, and that all of us have equally to seekfor and find it out, as at present it was a lost art. That waswhat Reynolds then thought, and he did try to find it out,and is said to have scraped to destruction some fine paintings byTitian in pursuit of the lost treasure. Not that he absolutelyneeded it himself, for he had vast wealth of his own; but he didnot find it, and for the same reason that the frequent seekersfor it did not find the sunken treasure of the pirate Kidd, namely, that they had not discovered the place where it was buried.Instead of looking into the canvas, Reynolds should havelooked into the mind and soul of Titian.The Almighty sometimes repeats himself; that is, at remoteintervals and for special purposes re-creates the same great mind.Titian may have been a reproduction of Apelles. When, therefore, there shall have been a perfect reproduction of Titian (I saya perfect reproduction, for nature has sometimes been partiallysuccessful), the secret will have been once more revealed ofCOLOR. 109Titian's most perfect mode of coloring. Any one, however,who expects that a recipe can ever be furnished by whichan artist will be enabled to color like Titian may also expectthat one can be given by which to sculpture like Phidias,compose like Handel or Haydn, or write like Shakespeare.ESSAY VIII.DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL."A"T no period of the world's history, " says the historian,"has the human mind displayed more wonderful energies than during the last part of the fifteenth and the first halfof the sixteenth century; and in no field of intellectual exertionis this more apparent than in that of the Fine Arts, especiallypainting." As no prodigious development of moral and intellectual resources is independent of discoverable causes and successivestages of preparation, the traces of such preparatory steps arein this case to be found in the state of religion, of literature,of commerce, and of the active concerns of life."This was a period most fortunate for the art of painting,whether we regard the external advantages of the time, in theprogress of discovery and accessory knowledge, and in thecager patronage of the powerful and enlightened, or its internal, in the accumulated experience of many generations, whichleft instructive traces of its progress, the combination ofgenius with the purest taste, and the connection of a thoroughmastery over the resources of the art with a sobriety and temperance which forbade their abuse. "-It was at this period that those five great masters appearedwhose characteristic features and vast improvements will formthe subject of the present and following Essay, Leonardo daVinci, Michael Angelo Buonarroti, Raphael Sanzio d' Urbino, Tiziano Vecellio, and Antonio Allegri, commonly called Correggio.In the city of Florence at the commencement of the fourteenth century died Cimabue, commonly considered the fatherof modern painting. He was succeeded by the shepherd boy,DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.111Giotto, whose improved style became the model of the timeswhich ensued, till the appearance of Masaccio, who a hundredyears later carried the art far beyond the point it had previouslyattained.Masaccio's reputation remained in its turn without a rivaldown to the period of Leonardo da Vinci, whose exquisite worksappear as the connecting link between the old and the new andmore perfect style, -a style which reached its culminating pointin the productions of those great painters whose names we havementioned.Sir Joshua Reynolds, in classing the great masters of painting,places Giulio Romano next to Raphael and Michael Angelo,Michael Angelo first, for the grandeur and sublimity of his characters and his profound knowledge of design; Raphael second,for the judicious arrangement of his materials, and for the grace,dignity, and expression of his characters; and Giulio Romanothird, for possessing the true poetical genius of painting in ahigher degree than any other artist, and he may be entitled totake precedence of Titian and Correggio in that particular. Aswe are now to consider the merits of those who founded theart, not of those who followed in the footsteps of others andmerely applied the principles they discovered, we shall speak ofthem as entitled to the rank usually assigned them, and, following the order of enumeration, invite the attention first to abrief examination of the comparative merits and improvementsmade by Leonardo da Vinci; and as our object is the illustration of principles, we shall devote no more time to their personal history than is absolutely necessary to convey a distinctidea of their style and improvements.DA VINCI.No artist probably is better known to the public generallythan the painter of " The Last Supper," and that through thecelebrated engraving, originally got up in the best style of art,and since copied with greater industry and more extensivelycirculated than any other of the productions of the old masters,and yet, were we to ask any one to point out the painting that112 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.best illustrated the perfection of the art, I know not that weshould be directed to the principal attraction of the city ofMilan; but were we to require of any one to designate thepainting that had most powerfully impressed the feelings andgained the strongest hold of the affections of the entire Christianworld, we should undoubtedly be told that it was the delineationof the sacred feast by Leonardo da Vinci.Da Vinci was born in Florence in 1452. His biographer tellsus he was intended by his father for a merchant; his parents thusappropriating him in advance, as most parents now do, to a profession for which his son had then manifested, perhaps, no sympathy or aptness. He was wiser, however, than most fathers, forhe did not persist in thwarting nature's intentions; observing inhis son an irrepressible love for art, he placed him (very reluctantly, of course) under the instruction of Verrocchio, the inventorof linear perspective, a sculptor, and, with the versatility of theage, likewise a goldsmith and a painter.There is a great deal that is curious and interesting in thegeneral history of Da Vinci, given by his biographer; but as ourbusiness is to point out the influence he exerted upon the growthof art, suffice it to say that after practising his profession withslow but certain success in various cities of Italy, he visitedFrance by invitation of Francis I. , and died at Clou, May 2 ,1519, at the age of sixty- seven.It is generally conceded that Da Vinci was one of the mostremarkable personages whose name is recorded in history, aman of the most varied acquirements, and a proficient in all, —poet, painter, sculptor, musician, anatomist, architect, engineer,chemist, machinist, and man of science; he was not only considered one of the best of painters, but one of the most accomplished individuals of the age he lived in.It was this universality of talent that excited much of theridicule of Michael Angelo's biographer, who calls him " a Jackat all trades, and master at none. "Ridicule, however, is not argument, and the epithet was notjustly applied to one in whose mind was concentrated all thelearning of the centuries that preceded him, and who illuminedDA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 113the way, and pointed out the path to all the improvements inart and science that have been made by succeeding generations.Those who wish to know his position as a philosopher mayfind it admirably delineated by Mr. Hallam, in his " History ofthe Middle Ages. " Our purpose is to consider him as a painter,and, fortunately, in this respect works speak louder than words,and they show, in the opinion of competent judges, that the rankof Da Vinci is not only among the fathers, but among the founders, of the art; that he is to be considered not only as one whopreceded, but excelled , and whose excellence was well appreciatedby those who came after him. “ His chiaro-oscuro is to be tracedin the magic and force of Correggio and Giorgione; his delicateand accurate delineation of character, his color, and his sweetness of expression, reappear in Raphael; while in anatomicalknowledge and energetic expression he is the real precursor ofMichael Angelo. "99That he obtained power over the most complicated composition is evinced in his celebrated group of horsemen, in thecartoon of " The Battle of the Standard." "The Last Supperexhibited a propriety of expression and correctness of drawingat the time unapproached, and, if seen as originally finished ,probably unsurpassed.Da Vinci was inferior to Michael Angelo in grandeur, boldnessof conception, and drawing of the figure; but he was superior tohim in all the amiable parts of the art. Make the entire rangeof painting, and you will not easily find anything that in profoundness of feeling and sweetness of expression is superior to the delineation of Christ and the beloved disciple in " The Last Supper. "But the influence of this painter extends much farther thanthe sphere of individual example. Although Signorelli, his contemporary, by entering the world of imagination (in the firstpurely imaginative picture, " The Resurrection of the Dead "),had extended the field of art, Da Vinci added a novel and important feature to its technical department, the science of chiaro-oscuro in its most serious character, that which is selectedand composed to exhibit individual objects to advantage, bymassing the lights and shadows.-8114 DA VINGI, MICHAEL, ANGELO, AND RAPHAELThis arrangement was distinct from the mere natural lightand shade of objects, brought to perfection by Masaccio; itconsists principally in the selection of a concentrated light,and consequently a larger quantity of shade, such as is producedby hmplight, and the union of those shades with the ground ofrelief.Before the time of this artist, the figures had the appearance, generally, of being inlaid, or pasted on the background; thebackground being not unfrequently gilded, or of an entire lightblue or green color, without the slightest gradation or variationof fint, the figure telling equally strong on all parts of the canvas, in manner not unlike the drawings on our common playingeards, and consequently meagre to an extreme degree, and without breadth and picturesque effect.To remedy these defects, Da Vinci made the ground to partake more or less of the color of the principal objects, sometimes light in order to extend the light, and sometimes dark inorder to extend the dark, or shadow, with but few cutting outlines. This improvement, it is true, was upon a confined scale,but it was the basis of that extension, and consequent breadthoflight and dark, and effect, that gave it its ultimate perfectionin the works of Correggio and Rembrandt.If to these improvements in chiaro-oscuro made by Da Vincibe added the complete union he effected between painting andthe science of anatomy, and both with nature, it may justly besaid that he "prepared the way " for the coming greatness ofMichael Angelo.MICHAEL ANGELO.If we were so disposed, we could not dwell long upon the history of the early growth of this Colossus of the arts, for, as far ashis professional labors are concerned, “ he appears to have hadnone; his first efforts being fully as successful as those of hislater manhood. "As Michael Angelo, however, was born like other men, he hadan infancy, lived his allotted time, and died; but, unlike mostmen, his works do not follow him, for they live, and will foreverlive, in the influence they have had upon art and the minds andDA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 115imagination of men, beyond those of any artist that ever existed,not excepting even Raphael himself.Whether Michael Angelo was or was not a greater artist thanRaphael is another question, more properly to be considered inanother portion of this discourse. That he was more originaland a greater genius is conceded, and his influence is vast andoverpowering.He was born in Florence, of a noble family, March 6, 1474,twenty-three years after Da Vinci, nine before Raphael, six beforeTitian, and twenty before Correggio, thus making him the precursor of all the greatest ornaments of the art save Da Vinci, allof them living and at work during the same quarter of a century.His first instructor was Ghirlandaio, then somewhat eminent asa sculptor and a painter, and who added one important improvement to the art, namely, aerial perspective, as the master of DaVinci added linear perspective; so that the first tutor of each wasan inventor, a genius, in the loftiest signification of the term.The first patron of Michael Angelo and of all art was a merchant prince, who has exercised almost as much influence overthe art (although in a different way) as Michael Angelo himself, Lorenzo de Medici, the most distinguished noblemanamong the great families of Italy. He died, however, whenMichael Angelo was only twenty-two years of age, in 1496 .-On the death of his patron, Michael Angelo left Florence forRome, by invitation of the Cardinal St. Georgio, and while thereexecuted for the churches several statues, and among them " TheDead Christ, " which at once established his character as a sculptor. He remained in Rome at this time only about a year, whenhe returned to Florence and was for some time in the employ ofthe city, though he found time to design the cartoon, so famed,called " The Battle of Pisa, " representing groups of soldiersroused by the sound of a trumpet from their bathing in theriver Arno, and rushing to arms, —a work that, it is thought,has had more influence upon art in the right direction than allother productions united. It was in competition with this design that Da Vinci executed " The Battle of the Standard, "referred to in the notice of that artist. It was about this period,116 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.that he sculptured those magnificent statues called " Day "and " Night " upon the tomb of the Medici family, and of whichplaster casts, of the size of the originals, are to be seen in thestatue gallery of the Boston Athenæum.When Julius II. ascended the Papal chair, about the year1503, he invited Michael Angelo, then twenty-nine years of age,to the capital, to erect for him a tomb that should surpass insplendor anything that had hitherto been done by man. Thereare descriptions to be found in the books of the first magnificent conception of this monument, but we have not space togive it, as it was never finished according to the original design,for, instead of forty, it is now adorned with but seven statues,and only three of them by Michael Angelo; but cne of them,and that the centre figure, is the celebrated " Moses, " -a workof unsurpassed grandeur, and exhibiting almost as miraculousa power over the marble as that displayed by the prophet himself when he smote the rock in the wilderness, and the watersgushed forth.―While Michael Angelo was engaged on this gorgeous production, it was suggested to the Pope by San Gallo, an architect,that he had no building of corresponding grandeur to place itin. Accordingly the present structure of St. Peter's was resolved upon. Several plans were sent in, but Bramante provedthe successful competitor. His conceptions were, however, likethe first conceptions of the monument, too grand for execution.Had they been carried out, it would have required the contri-

• butions of the world for their realization. They were modified,

and the work was proceeded with, and in the process of time,a period of many years, the whole was completed. The domewas the work of Michael Angelo, who also made other important additions and alterations; but we have not space to discriminate.While Bramante was engaged upon St. Peter's, and MichaelAngelo on the monument, the architect, becoming jealous of theadmiration bestowed by the Pope upon the sculptor, and instilling into the former the dread of building his own monument,suggested that the latter should be employed in painting theDA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 117walls of the Sistine Chapel, then just made ready for adornment. Julius adopted the suggestion, and a stage proper for thework was erected.-At this time Michael Angelo knew comparatively nothing offresco painting, or, indeed, of any kind of painting, although agreat draughtsman; having pursued drawing little further thanas indispensably connected with architecture and sculpture.The present business, therefore, was not one that he would haveselected. He set about the work, however, and, having completed the designs in a series of cartoons, he endeavored tohave these painted by artists brought from Florence. On trial,their labors proved entirely unsatisfactory, and he dismissedthem in almost utter hopelessness, and, shutting himself up inthe chapel with a resolution to depend in future entirely uponhis own individual powers, at length, after repeated difficulties,achieved with his own hand in twenty-two months the entirevault, the most adventurous undertaking in modern art, thewhole series embracing twenty or more large and magnificent designs, thus named: The Forming of the World from Chaos; theCreation of Adam; the Creation of Eve; the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit; the Expulsion from Paradise; the Deluge; Noahand his Sons; the Brazen Serpent; Mordecai and Haman;David and Goliath; Judith and Holofernes; separate figures ofthe prophets, the sibyls, and the patriarchs; to which was added,some years afterwards, the Last Judgment, -a fresco paintingfifty feet high and forty broad, and containing over three hundred figures larger than life, on which he was engaged ten years,more or less. After this, Michael Angelo was variously employed, sometimes as a painter, but generally as an architect andsculptor, to the advanced age of ninety, when, like a shock ofcorn fit for the reaper's sickle, this patriarch of the arts wasgathered to his fathers.The oil paintings of Michael Angelo are very few, that is, thosewhich were painted by him, for there were many that he designedwhich were colored by other artists, among them Daniel de Volterre's "Descent from the Cross," sometimes reckoned one of thethree best oil paintings ever executed; " The Transfiguration, "118 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.by Raphael, and " The Communion of St. Jerome, " by Domenichino, completing the number.There are those who say that he never painted more than onefigure in oil, that of Lazarus in the design that makes one ofour illustrations, considering fresco painting alone worthy of aman, but oil painting fit for old women.Many oil paintings are ascribed to Michael Angelo that areundoubtedly impositions. Those acquainted with his style caneasily detect the cheat; for whether in sculpture, architecture, orpainting, in oil or in fresco, the true works of this great artistare all characterized by a peculiar sublimity of conception, grandeur of form, breadth of manner, energy, and expression.These are the prominent features of his system, and the extentto which he has carried them is that which almost entirely separates him from every other artist.As these are terms that are not easily comprehended by everyone when applied to art, we will offer a few words in the way ofexplanation, although we are conscious of our inability satisfactorily to accomplish it."Sublimity of conception " is a phrase that requires less explanation than any of the terms employed to express MichaelAngelo's characteristics, as the same idea attaches to it as to sublimity in writing; and what that is all know who read the prophets' descriptions of the Almighty, and other similar passages inthe Sacred Record.As it was from this source that Michael Angelo generally derived his themes, and as they were always of the sublimest character, so rarely did he fail to render them in a manner corresponding to the elevated nature of his subject; and the evidenceof this is to be found in the fact that it rarely happens that onewhose tastes are highly cultivated can contemplate his best productions without experiencing that elevation of the mind andfeelings which comes over all of us when reading the finest portion of the Prophets, and especially their descriptions of theAlmighty.The truly sublime in letters is said to be Hebrew in its origin.The sublime in painting dates from Michael Angelo.DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 119And here perhaps it may be proper to remark, before proceeding to analyze the next characteristic of Michael Angelo's style,that it is not every one that is adequately affected by a view ofhis productions. Reynolds on his first visit to the Vatican failedto relish the finest works even of Raphael. However, after hav.ing contemplated them for a while, new tastes and new perceptions began to dawn upon him, and convinced him that he hadformed a false opinion of the perfection of his art, which mustbe corrected. If, then, it required the cultivation of his higherpowers to appreciate Raphael, who was a purely dramatic painter,how much more so is it demanded to comprehend the great epicseries of Michael Angelo? Most persons at first prefer Wordsworth to Milton (or the ballad to the epic poem), or ballad-singing to the great oratorios of Handel and Haydn; but that is noargument against the superiority of Milton or Handel. The lovefor the higher productions in the Fine Arts is, in some measure,an acquired taste.No one at first can make a successful drawing from the antiquestatues; he must, by looking and contemplation, have acquireda portion of that communicable warmth of feeling that createdthe original, and, when he has thus done, he can accomplishthat which was the object of his endeavor. So one, by familiarity with the higher works of art, or of poetry or music, becomes susceptible to those lofty feelings of our nature which arealone brought out by cultivation. There are those who are bornwith a larger portion of this higher nature, and there are thoseagain who have little of it and cannot acquire more, and sometimes lose what nature originally gave them by false educationand neglect. Michael Angelo was one of those who, like theprophets whom he delineated, had his inspiration from above, orhe never could have painted as they preached; and he was asmuch above common artists as they were above the Scribes, whomerely read as a daily duty what the prophets wrote by inspiration.-Grandeur of form was another characteristic of Michael Angelo's style, indeed, it was the necessary consequence of sublimity of conception; they are as intimately connected as propriety of thought and propriety of diction.120 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.In Michael Angelo, grandeur of form (but we do not, in speaking of this characteristic, confine our remarks to that only) wasthe result of an amplification of the boundaries or contours ofthe human form beyond what we ordinarily observe in nature,as in the " Jonah, " the " Moses," the " Jeremiah, " and some ofthe figures of " The Last Judgment. ”In their outlines it will be seen that the concave and the convex predominate. Those who lay great stress upon particularlines to convey particular sentiments tell us that there are nonewhich have a greater air about them; and hence the reason whyin architecture vaulted roofs make a large portion of those buildings, in all countries, which are designed for pomp and magnificence." The fancy, " says Mr. Addison, in the Spectator, " is infinitelymore struck with the view of the open air and skies when itpasses through an arch than when it comes through a square."There certainly can be nothing grander in art than the domeof some great temple, swelling up and with its outline spanningthe heavens like a rainbow; and the glorious circle itself is noless indebted to its figure for its magnificence than it is to itscolors for its beauty."The effect of this swell of line is to give fulness, greatness, tothe figure and the general forms of a composition; not the magnitude, not the hugeness, of the elephant, but the noble, liberalstructure of the lion and the tiger, animals that, although largeand muscular, are still graceful, but not elegant. The leopardis beautiful, elegant, but not grand; he wants that large andswelling outline that distinguishes the lion and the tiger. Hiscontours are too varied, and glide into each other too imperceptibly, for this greatness of manner that we have been describing,the principal characteristic of which is fewness of parts. Simplicity is the element of grandeur; variety, of beauty. The Doriccolumn is grand; the Corinthian more beautiful, more elegant.This grandeur of form in Michael Angelo's best productionswas not confined to a single figure, it characterized the entirecomposition; for whether it consisted of few or many objects,those objects act in masses, and the outlines of those masses,DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 121like the outlines of the single figures, are large and flowing; thusseeming to present us with the figure of the ocean, not when cutup into a thousand little surges, but when throwing up its mightybosom in large and mountain billows. Whoever has seen theocean after a storm at sea, when the wind has ceased, and theunder swell throws up its waters into three or four swelling billows, has seen grandeur of form in its utmost sublimity; grandeur of movement is the outline of that same sea in motion.66This majestic grandeur of form in Michael Angelo's designswas much assisted by the bold attitudes of his figures, as in"The Dream, " " Jonah, " 'Moses, " and some others; theirbosoms always swelling with some mighty sentiment, the passion found its development in an attitude or gesture of corresponding greatness.-In fact, it was utterly impossible for Michael Angelo to do anything in a small way. This was the necessary consequence ofthe epic character of his subject, which deals only in generalsand rejects the minute, or, if the minute is admitted, makes itbut the elements or parts of a whole; but the petite, or little,is never to be seen in the productions of this master, - all isliberal, expansive, and consequently his works are characterizedby great " breadth of manner. ”Energy -another of the characteristics of Michael Angelo'sstyle is the result of giving distinct character to the variousparts of the body; that is, although a unity of action reignsthrough the whole, yet each portion has its peculiar part welldefined or articulated. Where this is not the case, but the partsglide imperceptibly into each other, more beauty is acquired,and with it more tameness and languor. But character (that is ,the particular) and beauty were admitted into the compositionsof Michael Angelo only so far as they could be made subservientto grandeur.Such are some of the characteristics of Michael Angelo's style,however imperfectly presented; and the essence of the whole wasgiven by Fuseli, when, in as powerful an expression as ever camefrom the mouth of man, he said, " The hump of his dwarf wasimpressed with dignity, and the beggar arose from his hand thepatriarch of poverty."122 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.It has been objected to Michael Angelo that his figures arenot natural, or rather go beyond nature, which in a certainsense is true, in the common acceptation of the term; but theyare based upon nature, and no farther removed from the representations of the common objects of it than the most elevatedmusic of Handel, Haydn, or Beethoven, or any other of thegreat masters, is from the inartificial note of nature from whichit originates, or is an imitation of.Many of the conceptions of Michael Angelo seem to be a sortof intermediate creation between angels and men; and thoughthey do not actually represent the physical structure of thoseexistences they pretend to portray, as the prophets, sibyls, etc. ,yet they make an adequate and satisfactory impression upon theimagination, and thus accomplish the great end he had in view,-and they do this beyond the works, in this department, of anyother master. There are none that so raise our wonder and astonishment, although they do not excite our sympathies, likethe dramatic compositions of Da Vinci and Raphael.We never fall in love with the works of this master. We standbefore them, not with a feeling allied to that with which we viewthe rainbow, but more resembling that deeper, intenser, morefearful, and elevating sensation with which we behold the lightning, and listen to the groaning of the earthquake and the roaringof the thunder. Of course, but an imperfect idea can be formedof Michael Angelo's great style of design from mere description.To properly comprehend him, one must have seen the worksthemselves beneath the gloomy vaults of the Sistine Chapel;and those only who have had that privilege can fully appreciatethe compliment paid him by Raphael, when he thanked Godthat he had lived in the same age with and had seen the worksof Michael Angelo.RAPHAEL.No artist ever existed, perhaps, whose works have been regarded with such unqualified admiration as those of RaphaelSanzio d'Urbino.Raphael was born in Urbino, a small town in Italy, on GoodDA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 123Friday, April 6, 1483. His father was Giovanni or John Sanzio,a painter of some note in his day, but his works were not ofsufficient merit to secure him a place among the great artists ofthat period. It is, however, glory enough for one man to havebeen the parent of Raphael. Raphael was only eight years ofage when he lost his mother, but, his father marrying thesecond time, her place was well supplied by his step- mother,who loved and cherished him as if he had been her own son.At this time there was living in another small city, Perugia,a painter of some provincial celebrity, called Perugino, whomRaphael's father had selected as the first teacher of his son, butthe parent dying August 4, 1494, before the arrangement wascompleted, his wishes were carried into effect by his widow,assisted by her brother, in 1495, when Raphael was just twelveyears of age. Unlike Michael Angelo, but like Allston's hero,Monaldi, Raphael did not give any very early evidences of hisgenius. There were more promising boys in the school thanhe was, at starting; but he was quietly and surely laying thefirm and broad foundation of those solid acquirements thaterelong were to make him, like that same Monaldi, the delightand envy of his contemporaries and a model for his successors.He continued under the instruction of Perugino, we suppose,not more than five years; for at the age of seventeen we findhim acting as an assistant to Pinturicchio, a painter in the cityof Sienna, and, three years afterwards, a visitor in Florence,whither he had been drawn by the great fame of Da Vinci andMichael Angelo, - which was then, like a great circle upon thewater, spreading in every direction, and perhaps to examinethe sculptured relics of Grecian grandeur, that at the close ofthe fourteenth century had arisen from their burial-places todecorate the palaces of the nobles, and especially the princelyestablishment of Lorenzo de Medici. His visit to Florence atthis time was probably a short one, as in 1505 he was employed in executing large pictures for churches in Perugia, oneof which, an altar-piece, is now at Blenheim, England; asmaller one, of " John preaching in the Wilderness, ” in thepossession of Lord Lansdowne; and another, a miniature design,124 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.called " The Dream of the Young Knight," now in the possessionof Lady Sykes.When he had finished these and other works, he returned toFlorence, and remained there until 1508; during this periodhe painted some of the most exquisite of his cabinet works, as" La Belle Jardinière, " " The Lady and the Goldfinch," " TheMadonna under the Palm-Tree," the " St. Catherine in theNational Gallery, and several others, in all, about thirty.As yet Raphael had never visited Rome, but he had a friendat court, and a relation of some sort or other, in Bramante, thearchitect of St. Peter's. Bramante, knowing Raphael's manyexcellent qualities as an artist, recommended him to the thenPope, Julius II. , as well fitted to adorn certain halls in theVatican which Nicholas V. and Sextus IV. had left unfinished;and he did this, it is said, with the hope that one who wasexclusively a painter would exhibit a superiority over one whoseattention had been chiefly given to the sister art of sculpture,and who had, as just now stated, already excited anew thejealousy of Bramante by the successful manner in which hewas adorning the Sistine Chapel.-66The invitation being given by the Pope, it was accepted byRaphael, and at the age of twenty-five he commenced operations. The subject assigned him was "the establishment andmaintenance of church government "; and this he illustrated byeleven large frescos, Parnassus," "the School of Athens,""The Dispute on the Sacrament," "The Blood - Stained Wafer, ""The Deliverance of St. Peter, " " The Overthrow of Heliodorus, ""The Defeat of Attila, " " The Vision of Constantine, " " The Routof Maxentius, " " The Burning of the Borgo, " and " Constantinereceiving his Crown from the Sovereign Pontiff. ”The first chamber was devoted to the illustration of thosehigh intellectual pursuits which embrace, in some form or other,all intellectual culture, ―Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, Law, orJurisprudence.The second chamber (commenced in 1510) was devoted to theillustration of the power and glory of the Church, and hermiraculous deliverance from her secular enemies.DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.125Before this chamber was finished, Julius II. died, and wassucceeded by Leo X., and under his patronage was concludedthe great work commenced under Julius.In 1515 he commenced the third hall, and covered the sidesof it with representations of the great events in the lives ofLeo III. and Leo IV. , shadowing forth under their names theglory of his then patron, Leo X.The last of the chambers in the Vatican, the Hall of Constantine, was painted by Raphael's favorite pupil, Giulio Romano,and other of his scholars, from designs and cartoons by Raphaelhimself; but whether before or after his decease we cannotstate with any certainty.Although Raphael had this great national work on his hands,and other hardly less onerous and important duties to performas the architect of St. Peter's, an appointment he receivedfrom the Pope after the decease of Bramante, - he found timenot only to execute the above, but also to adorn the walls of theFarnesina, designed and painted " The Cartoons " —originallytwenty-five in number —and numerous pictures in oil , amongthem twelve full-length figures of the Apostles, many altar- pieces,and most of the many Madonnas that now enrich the best galleries in Europe; but above and beyond all else, he executedthat triumph of the art, " The Transfiguration, " the last bcquest of his genius to the arts, as he was seized with a fever,and, after a few days' illness, died on the anniversary of hisbirthday in 1520.Great was the grief of Italy. The Pope had sent daily to inquire for his health, and when told that the great painter was nomore, he burst out into lamentation for his own and the world'sloss . The body was laid in state, and over it was suspended" The Transfiguration, " yet unfinished. From his own housenear St. Peter's a multitude followed the bier, and his remainswere placed in the church of the Pantheon by the side of hisbetrothed, a daughter of Cardinal Bibbiena, his marriage withwhom was prevented by her early death.――As Raphael died on the anniversary of his birthday, he wasjust thirty-seven years of age, -"but a youth," as Saul said of126 DA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL.David, by the side of that patriarch and giant of the arts,Michael Angelo, who reached the advanced age of ninety years.Of the productions of Raphael, there remain, it is thought,about a thousand; but this number must include some of hislarger drawings, an amazing prolificness under any circumstances, but the less incredible when it is known, that, althoughhe designed the whole, in the painting of them he received theassistance of others."The Transfiguration," not entirely finished at the time of hisdecease, was completed by his favorite pupil, Giulio Romano;but, as already stated, it was exhibited to the public as it thenwas on the easel, beside the lifeless remains of its author; andwhat must have been the impression made by such an exhibition upon the tasteful and feeling population of Italy!It is generally conceded that no painter has done so much forthe higher excellences of the art, nor, in the principles on whichthey are founded, has placed improvement on principles so sureand unchanging, as Raphael in these works. We repeat, thehigher excellences of the art; for you look in vain in Raphaelfor harmonious and powerful coloring, nor is he to be imitatedfor a skilful arrangement of his chiaro-oscuro, nor in thebeauty of individual figures do we discover his chief excellence."His great pre-eminence is facility and propriety of invention,the most admirable skill in composition and grouping, and,above all, appropriateness of expression with great beauty andexpressiveness in the drapery.""There is always in the works of Raphael a uniform subordination of the means to the end, and a predominance of theintellectual over the sensual and the conventional. In short,we behold in him the ennobling expounder of human characterand emotions in their universal elements." The works ofphael, therefore, do not astonish us like those of MichaelJo, but they move us, and the power of moving (as heretoarticularly illustrated in " The Burning of the Borgo,"IV. ) is acquired directly from human sympathy.his statement of the characteristic features of Raphael'sit will be seen how widely different was the field heDA VINCI, MICHAEL ANGELO, AND RAPHAEL. 127-occupied from that of Michael Angelo, — the one being an epic,the other a dramatic painter; and that there would be no morepropriety in instituting a comparison between them, as is oftenattempted, than between Milton and Shakespeare, because theydo not come under the same law, Michael Angelo under a lawthat regulates a creative, Raphael under one that regulates animitative art. Which is the superior of the two arts is anotherquestion, and one that it is not necessary to decide; nor do wethink any one could be found to give a just and satisfactorydecision.It is claimed for Raphael, that, while others excel in someone quality of art, he has combined in his labors more of therequisites of perfection than any other artist. This is true,and it constitutes his superiority over those who were simplypainters; but it does not include Michael Angelo, for, protractedas his life was, it was divided among sculpture, painting, andarchitecture, and but a small portion of it was devoted topainting.Although there was, it is thought, a little jealousy betweenMichael Angelo and Raphael in their lifetime, or rather on thepart of the former, it is not worth while for the world to perpetuate the idea, for there was no occasion for it. There wasglory enough in the position they each occupied to satisfy anyhuman being, and it is not now apparent that art will everproduce their equals in the same departments. A new fieldmay be discovered, however, and new combinations formed; andthat is the great idea always to be kept in mind, or those whocome after will never rightly profit by the principles of excellence developed in the labors of those great men who havepreceded them.ITESSAY IX.TITIAN AND CORREGGIO.T is a remarkable circumstance, and one noted by early as wellas by later writers on the history of art, that authors andartists most distinguished for their parts and genius have usually appeared in considerable numbers at the same time. Thiswas strikingly so with regard to sculpture in Greece and painting in Italy. Thus, while in Rome and Florence design in thehands of Michael Angelo, and expression in those of Raphael,were receiving their perfection, and forming almost the exclusivesubjects of study, in Venice the seductions of coloring, in Lombardy the illusions of light and shadow, were adding unknownpomp and magic to the art.Of the great painters of the Venetian school whose nameshave come down to us, none stand higher on the records of artthan Antonio de Messina, who first introduced the use of oil;the two Bellini, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Sebastiano del Piombo, Schiavone, Bassano, Giorgione, and Titian.But of Venetian painting the great ornament is Titian, or,properly speaking, Tiziano Vecellio, whose name is synonymous.with the characteristics of this school,― - fine coloring.Titian was born at Cadore, a small town in Italy, in the year1480, twenty-nine years after Da Vinci, six after MichaelAngelo, three previous to Raphael, and fourteen previous toCorreggio.When only ten years of age he was placed by his parentsunder the instruction of the younger Bellini, from whom helearned little save the habit of accurate delineation, the elementsof his future style being derived from Giorgione, a fellow-student,-a style, however, first indicated, but with less amenity andsplendor, in the works of Da Vinci.

ERDAY IS.DAN ANDwere retsubjects of tbardy the lawra›pomp a 1 magic re tiof the great prtve come down tr of theDen stage 1iv. Antono d Mex pa, who fit.tvo Pei, Tusoretto, l'aiB ehe, Gor

ofby early as yfathers aHKhavers at the serv time. 7lorence .. **71 1:1 Raph .dering, he ing usI whose 1097t isris .June is rme cobam .in Italy.MICYom WLes Andrews.L.Amantedu Lition!ITisESSAY IX .TITIAN AND CORREGGIO.T is a remarkable circumstance, and one noted by early as wellas by later writers on the history of art, that authors andartists most distinguished for their parts and genius have usually appeared in considerable numbers at the same time. Thiswas strikingly so with regard to sculpture in Greece and painting in Italy. Thus, while in Rome and Florence design in thehands of Michael Angelo, and expression in those of Raphael,were receiving their perfection, and forming almost the exclusivesubjects of study, in Venice the seductions of coloring, in Lombardy the illusions of light and shadow, were adding unknownpomp and magic to the art.Of the great painters of the Venetian school whose nameshave come down to us, none stand higher on the records of artthan Antonio de Messina, who first introduced the use of oil;the two Bellini, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Sebastiano del Piombo, Schiavone, Bassano, Giorgione, and Titian.But of Venetian painting the great ornament is Titian, or,properly speaking, Tiziano Vecellio, whose name is synonymouswith the characteristics of this school, fine coloring.Titian was born at Cadore, a small town in Italy, in the year1480, twenty-nine years after Da Vinci, six after MichaelAngelo, three previous to Raphael, and fourteen previous toCorreggio.When only ten years of age he was placed by his parentsunder the instruction of the younger Bellini, from whom helearned little save the habit of accurate delineation, the elementsof his future style being derived from Giorgione, a fellow- student,-a style, however, first indicated, but with less amenity andsplendor, in the works of Da Vinci.

,, 3STAY EXCORREGGIO.e and one notd by carly as wellwtory of art, that wuthors andrear parts and genus have usuthe same time. Thistore in Greece and intལ་ སཪ+i Florence design in the1. in these of Raphael,firing altoost the exeinsyofary, in Vou cu tat seductions of coloring, in LeuJusions of light and shadow, were adding unknowmagie to the art.red painters of the Venetian school whose munese stand higher on the records of 'artwho first inredreed the use of oil;Parl Veronese, Sibistido dd PiGiorgione, and Tosa .the great ouanent is Titian, oncello, whose name is syr myrrossol, une coloring.small town in Italy, in the yearHi Da Vinci, six after Michae2phael, and fourteen pavions toof age he was plaed by his parentof the younger bell'ni from whbit of accurate delineation, the insnug derived from Caorcione, a fellow sinde aVest ingrated. But with less an cry andwork of La A newL'Amante du Fition?

TITIAN AND CORREGGIO. 129We do not propose to follow Titian along the course of hisprotracted career, as there is scarcely a city in Italy that hasnot some public edifice ornamented with the labors of his pencil,as there was scarcely a monarch of his time from whom hehad not received more pressing invitations and personal homagethan ever fell to the lot of any single private individual. Kings,popes, and emperors were his daily associates; these he paintedby scores, and princes by hundreds. The number of portraitsof noble and ignoble personages whose heads he transferred tocanvas would exceed all belief, did we not know that he livedto be nearly one hundred years old, and during ninety years ofthat period hardly ceased for a day to labor with his pencil.In other departments of painting Titian was almost as prolific as in portraiture. Indeed, his historical efforts are sonumerous as to excite universal astonishment, and the more soas there is no evidence, that, like Raphael, Rubens, and otherdistinguished artists, he received any foreign assistance.Those of his larger productions that have given him great celebrity, perhaps the greatest, are "The Assumption of the Virgin,"in the Academy at Venice, and " The Martyrdom of Peter, " —the former of which, in the opinion of some critics, " embodiesvarious excellences, such as have never been combined in anysingle performance, save by Titian himself"; while the latter isspoken of in terms that to repeat would have the appearanceof hyperbole.Among his smaller productions, the most voluptuously attractive are the "Danaë" and the "Venus "; the most beautifulportrait is that of his wife looking into a mirror held by Titianstanding behind her, -a painting belonging to the French government, the same that makes our fourth illustration.In comparing Titian with the great artists of the Roman andFlorentine schools, it has been usual to describe him as thepainter of physical nature, while to them has been assignedthe loftier and exclusive praise of depicting the mind and thepassions.The works on which Titian was employed, appertaining topublic edifices and the pomp of courts, were chiefly of a class 9130 TITIAN AND CORREGGIO.in which splendid effect is the chief requisite; but, if all thatis told us be true, it can hardly be said that the painter of"The Assumption " and " The Martyrdom " was unable to copewith sublimity and pathos. Neither in the drawing of the figurenor in the design, in which respect his capacity has been especiallyarraigned, is there, in the opinion of many, the imperfection.that is alleged against him; and, as an evidence of this, theypoint you to his many representations of female beauty, as theDanaë, the Venus, and others. But this may be said to provenothing more than that he was a skilful draughtsman, not agreat one; for "the first implies only a faithful copy of themodel, but the second an ability to correct it by an idealstandard, and his subject might have embodied all the beauties of form and feature to be found in those two pictures. "Michael Angelo, when he viewed his Danaë, is reported tohave qualified in this particu'ar his praise of this master.But little stress, however, should be laid on this, for he mayhave been judging by his own ideal standard, which, howeverappropriate to his own style of art and the immense scale ofthe Sistine Chapel, was by no means a just medium for theforms of real life, nor adapted to the representation of beauty.But, be this as it may, on one point there exists no difference of opinion, namely, in regard to Titian's merit as a colorist;for the united verdict of all time and of all countries has pronounced his excellence in this respect unsurpassed, notwithstanding the vast developments made since his time in thechemistry of colors and general science, and the advantagesresulting to his successors from his example and his principles, for " Titian reduced to a system what before had beenpractised at random and without rule. "--Titian was the first to unite breadth and softness to theproper degree of finish, and also the first to express the negative nature of shade, and the effect of extreme shadow andthe highest light in assimilating colors, that is, whateverthe local inherent hue of objects, whether red, yellow, or blue,rendering them all equally black in the deepest shade, and allequally white in the brightest light, or in both instances color-TITIAN AND CORREGGIO. 131less. Before this, all objects in a painting, whether of a red,blue, or yellow hue, were in the deepest shadow rendered onlyof a darker red or blue or yellow, and more faintly so in thehighest light, which was an error, as extreme light equally withextreme shadow is the annihilator of color. This was a mostimportant principle, and a chief source, as heretofore mentioned, of union and harmony in his system of coloring.Titian first taught " by contrast and opposition of warm andcold colors to give splendor and expression to particular portions of a picture, and by their balance, diffusion, and echo topoise the whole. His eye, as musical as his ear, first abstractedthat color acts, affects, delights, like sound; that all actors whoenter upon the scene, all stages of humanity, all ages and conditions, all passions and affections, have their characteristic colorand shades of difference. "It is to Titian, also, that the art is indebted for that generalizing process of expressing the image and character of objects by a few bold strokes of the pencil, instead of attempting to produce the same effect by laboriously working out the detail; the manner of which, and the great advantages resultingtherefrom, we explained and fully illustrated in the essay onColor.The foregoing were the great improvements in the art ofcoloring introduced by the inventive genius of Titian. Tofully comprehend how admirably he illustrated all this inpractice, one must have seen something better by that master than can be discovered on this side of the Atlantic; forwe doubt if a truly great and original painting by Titian everfound its way to the United States. There are not many to befound even in England. Sir Joshua Reynolds once told hispupil, Northcote, that he would be willing to ruin himself topossess a really fine painting by the great Venetian. No European would think of parting willingly with one; and certainly a change of ownership at any time would form an erain the history of art.Titian died of the plague, at the advanced age of ninety-nine,in 1576; Giorgione, his fellow-student, sixty-five years previous.132 TITIAN AND CORREGGIO.We mention them together, because, at the time of Giorgione'sdeath, their paths tended in the same direction.CORREGGIO.Of the remaining pupils of the Venetian school, especiallyTintoretto and one or two others, we should, had we space,and did it accord with our plan, have said something; wepass them by, however, to notice a greater benefactor to thearts than either, Correggio, Antonio Allegri, the inventor ofthe third grand requisite to make manifest the power of theart, harmony of light and shadow.Until within a few years, less has been known of the birth,fortunes, and death of Correggio than of any other distinguishedpainter whose name is recorded in history.It is generally stated that he lived neglected, received littlefor his paintings, and at last died of the burden of sixty crownsin copper, which, being obliged to carry it a distance of twelvemiles in the hot sun, so overpowered and heated him, that hefell into a fever and died a few days afterwards.How anyone could seriously have made such a statement it is difficultto conceive, for it carries a falsehood on the face of it, as sixtycrowns in copper would weigh nearly two hundred pounds American; and, besides, it is inconsistent with the fact, that, from thetime he was twenty- five years of age, his employment constantlyincreased, and from the nature of the works he was engaged onit is quite evident that he was considered the best painter inLombardy; and, besides, he is reported to have married a ladyof fortune.There is no great peculiarity in this romance about Correggio's death. Authors seem to think it necessary to state something approaching the miraculous, but oftener the ridiculous,about men of genius; it is the powder that the magician throwsinto the box to make the egg come out a rabbit.Correggio was born in a small town in Italy, called Correggio,about the year 1494, twenty years after Michael Angelo, elevenafter Raphael, fourteen after Titian, and forty-two after DaVinci. His father was a merchant; his first teacher was hisTITIAN AND CORREGGIO. 133uncle, Lorenzo.-The greater portion of Correggio's life waspassed at Parma. He never visited the immortal city, it issaid, which is hardly credible; he was a mere provincial;was entirely ignorant, it is stated, but probably not correctly,of Michael Angelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, indeed, of everything but nature, to which he paid the last sad debt, March 6,1534, O. S. , fourteen years after Raphael's decease, at the earlyage of forty-one. He died of a malignant fever; Raphael, aswe have seen, also of a fever; Titian, of the plague; MichaelAngelo, of old age; Da Vinci, in a manner not stated.The burial-place of Da Vinci is not precisely known; probablyit is in Clou, France. Titian, although dying of an infectiousdisease, was, by a special decree of the Senate, buried in thechurch of Santa Maria, in Venice. Michael Angelo reposes atFlorence, Raphael in St. Peter's, and all that was mortal ofCorreggio has long since mouldered away beneath a Franciscanconvent in Parma, but the noblest efforts of his immortal pencil still survive him in the frescos that adorn the two noblecupolas of the cathedral church of his native city. These arethe most important works of Correggio in fresco. The subjectof one is "The Assumption of the Virgin. " The number ofhis oil paintings is quite as astonishing as that of Raphael's,as he is said to have had no assistance. And among them thatbeautiful personification of silence, meditation, and repose, " TheReading Magdalen, " at Dresden; "Del Notte," also there; the"Ecce Homo," at London; and " The Marriage of St. Catherine, "in the Louvre, at Paris, have attracted universal admiration.We have not space to particularly describe his frescos, noris it necessary, as we shall notice some of his lesser productions;and all of them, equally with his frescos, possess the sameclearness and relief, the same depth, sweetness, and purity ofcolor, the same freedom of pencil, the same grace, beauty, andexquisite management of light and shadow, the same breadthand inexpressible harmony, -a harmony, however, be it remembered, growing out of a uniting and blending principleof light and shade, and entirely distinct from that harmony,dependent upon the balance and opposition of colors, whichfound its origin and triumph in the school of Venice.-134 TITIAN AND CORREGGIO.We do not deem it necessary to enter into an analysis of allthe qualities of Correggio's art, for he holds several of them incommon with other painters, the only difference between himand others in these respects being in the superior manner inwhich he displays them. We shall dwell rather upon thosewhich at the time particularly distinguished him from otherartists, and upon which, in a large degree, rests his greatfame; and, first, of his admirable management of light andshadow, which consisted simply in extending a large light, andmaking it lose itself insensibly in the dark shadowings whichhe placed out of the masses, as in " Del Notte,” " The Magdalen," and others which will readily occur to those who areacquainted with the works of this master.As the whole virtue of this principle is extension and gradation, it is plain enough that the principal light need not alwaysemanate from the centre, as in " Del Notte "; it may proceedfrom the side, as in " Christ's Agony in the Garden, " or fromboth sides, or from the horizon, upwards or downwards, provided the principle of graduated diminution be observed."The same feeling for gradation in the mutable effects oflight and shade displays itself in the rapid perspective diminution of his figures, as in ' Del Notte, ' or ' The Nativity,' wherethe shepherds in the foreground are quite gigantic comparedwith the more remote, which method adds greatly in giving proximity and distance and creating space. So in hisforms every gradation from absolute hardness and sharpnessto almost imperceptible outline is observable; and of everything else the presiding principle is graduated extension, andunder its influence he has artfully connected the fiercest extremes of light and shadow, harmonized the most intenseopposition of colors, and combined the greatest possible effectwith the sweetest and softest repose, and that without ourbeing able to perceive whence proceeds so much pleasure tothe sight."It is to be remarked that the dark side of the several objectsin Correggio's paintings is not relieved, as is frequently the case,by a light background, but by one still darker,-a methodTITIAN AND CORREGGIO. 135often followed by Rembrandt, and also by Reynolds, who mentions it as giving a rich effect. The merit of this invention,however, is to be divided between Correggio and Da Vinci.We have not space to point out the defects of Correggio, for,although always splendid, he is said to be sometimes incorrect;but it is only a little dust upon the diamond, and hardly dimsits light. It would have been useful, perhaps, to have saidsomething of the Venetian style of coloring, as contrasted withthat of the Roman and Florentine schools; for it is to be observed that " each has a manner peculiar to itself in some oneor other of the different branches of the art, each excellingin that in which the others are deficient, —the Florentine indesign, the Roman in expression and character, the Venetian incoloring, and the Lombard in light and shadow. "Whether the excellences of the several schools can ever besuccessfully united into one is still an open question. Theattempt was once made by the Caracci in what was called theeclectic or second Bologna school. The idea was a good one,but the match was broken off, not so much by reason of anyknown unsuitableness in the parties as for want of power in thepriest to consummate the union, or, if he had the power, he didnot properly employ it.The separation of pictorial excellence into departments hadbeen occasioned by partial views of nature. Had the Bolognesemasters taken nature as the connecting and vivifying principle,instead of seeking to effect the combination by means of rulesof art, it is thought by some that they might have been eminently successful.But the consideration of this question would require an entireessay, and, besides, the occasion does not demand a decision, aswe set out with the design simply of examining and analyzingthe characteristics of the founders of the four principal schools,and thus to furnish a history of the progressive growth of artfrom its infancy to manhood."Begun by Cimabue, strengthened by Giotto, confirmed byMasaccio, still further advanced by Signorelli, we have at lastseen it receiving its ultimate perfection at the hands of MichaelAngelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, and Titian. "136TITIANAND CORREGGIO.The first rendered it sublime, the three next characteristically expressive, and the last voluptuously seductive.With the Venetian, painting was a lady arrayed for the nuptials; with the Roman and the Lombard, it was the personification of all the sweet affections andgraces of humanity; withthe Florentine, it was that mysterious agency " that, standingthe boundary line between the perfect and the good, thehuman and divine, was found not unworthy to hold intercoursewith the Deity, and to be the medium of the communication ofhis will and benevolence to man. "uponThe marble is sometimes said to breathe, and the canvas tospeak. If the canvas really possessed that power, while withTitian it would address us as a lover, and with Raphael andCorreggio speak to us like a saint, with Michael Angelo itwould talk to us like a god.ESSAY X.ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.THE present essay will be devoted to an examination of the merits of some of the most distinguished deceased Englishand French painters, in order to develop the principles oftwo schools, that, from the time of Reynolds until within thelast quarter of a century, have given no evidence of possessing anything in common; indeed, they differ as widely in theselection, conception, and execution of the subjects of their pencil, as it is possible to conceive of the members of one and thesame art.―Had our limits permitted, it would have been pleasant tohave said something more than we have incidentally of thepupils and immediate successors of the founders of the art,of Giulio Romano, " the poetic Romano, the scientific Volterra,the sweet and gracious Parmegiano, the extravagant and terrible Tibaldi, the modest and tender Domenichino, the artificialCarlo Dolce, the benign and graceful Guido, the agreeable andplayful Albini, the bold but incorrect Lanfranco, the strong butungraceful Caravaggio, the learned and tender Caracci, the original and terrific Rosa "; we repeat, it would have been a pleasant task to have considered at length the merits of these greatpainters; but we pass them by, together with Dürer, Teniers,Rubens, in short, almost the entire old German, Dutch, Flemish,and Spanish masters, to speak of those who, though their inferiors in many important particulars, yet are deserving especialconsideration in this volume, inasmuch as a discussion of theirmerits will afford an opportunity of giving a contrasted view ofthe principles of two schools so entirely differing in every important particular as to justify us in designating one as the―138 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.natural, the other as the affected school; and we will commencewith the natural, or the English school. But first we havea few remarks to make in reply to the oft-repeated inquiry,why England, a nation as far advanced in all the essentials ofcivilization as any on the Continent, had, until the coming ofHogarth in 1725, produced no painter who really merited attention, who possessed talent for original composition, or skill torender his conceptions permanent. And we are the more persuaded briefly to pursue this examination because the causes towhich this tardy development was owing are general in theirnature, and equally illustrate a similar condition of things inany other country.We do not mean it to be understood that there were nopainters in England during all this early period, for there wasHolbein, so famous in the reign of Henry VIII.; and SirPeter Lely, who figured in his light, lascivious, though gracefuland unmeaning manner, in the reign of Charles II.; and SirGodfrey Kneller, Lely's rival, and, as some think, over-estimated successor; and Rubens, the prolific Rubens; and theelegant and refined Van Dyck, who painted and immortalizedthe nobles of England, and adorned and enriched the palacesof Charles I. But these were all foreign, not native artists.- -True it is, also, that contemporary with these exotics wereseveral Englishmen who used the brush and the pencil, for nonation at all civilized is at any time without art of some kind,painters, too, celebrated in their day and generation, but whosegreatest glory now is not to have been quite as bad as theirfellow- laborers; but they all went for nothing on the appearance of Hogarth, whose mighty genius, as compared with allthat had preceded him, was as the sun to a meteor, a meteorthat with a partial and momentary illumination passes alongthe horizon, explodes, and is gone forever.Various causes have been assigned for this condition of things.Some have sought a solution in the climate of England, andthis probably would weigh greatly with Bunsen; but, howeverplausible such a supposition might have appeared up to a certainperiod, yet it is hardly justified by the present condition of artENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 139ofin England, and its degraded condition in those countries oncemost distinguished for their advancement in it. Byron saysGreece,"Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild;Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fields,Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled,And still his honeyed wealth Hymettus yields;There the blithe bee his fragrant fortress builds,The freeborn wanderer of thy mountain air;Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds,Still in his beam Mendeli's marbles glare,Art, glory, freedom, fail, but nature still is fair. "We know that the climate of Italy is the same now as in thedays of Leo and Julius, and yet, as compared with the past,how poor is she in modern masters of the art!This matter of climate as affecting mental development is avery common argument, and, with other physical causes, is doubtless entitled to consideration; but much more importance, weapprehend, is sometimes attached than justly belongs to it. Abetter reason than this, and one that finds corroboration in thehistory of Grecian and Italian art, is supplied by Eames, whenhe tells us that in the time of Henry VII. , when painting wasrendering Italy the most renowned country on earth, "theredid not exist in England, as in Italy in the poetry of Dantebefore the appearance of Michael Angelo and Raphael, and inGreece in the poetry of Homer before the appearance of Phidiasand Apelles, any standard of characteristic originality; for, withthe exception of Surrey, no poet of genius had appeared in England, and poetry must, nay, always does, precede painting. Noris this an accidental circumstance. The labors of the poet area creative preparation for the sister art; for by their rapid andwide-spread circulation they soften the sensibilities, arouse theimagination, give to taste an existence and a feeling of its object,and awaken the mind to a sense of its intellectual wants. Theworks of poetry also constitute a common chronicle, whether offiction or of reality, whose events are dear to, and quickly recognizable by all. Fancy thus obtains a lore of its own, whoselegends delight by repetition, and whose imagery animates thecanvas and the marble. "140 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.The English mind then, we may conclude, had not been sufficiently matured, the fancy and the imagination sufficientlywarmed, for the pencil's work. But this state of things was notalways to continue; Spenser, and a greater than he, had come.For a long period, however, the great English poets were butlimitedly read; they were not, like Homer and Dante, themorning and evening hymn of the people. The war madeby the Reformers and Puritans against the Romish Churchhad a counteracting influence on art, and, at a later period,"the profound speculations of Locke and the amazing demonstrations of Newton were by no means favorable to painting.The sublime mysteries unveiled by the genius of Newton gavean especial bias to men's minds, and caused his own age toview with indifference, as light and valueless, pursuits whichseemed to administer only to the amenities of life, or to hangonly as graceful ornaments on society. "But amid all this Apollo had not sung unheard. Slowly, itis true, but surely, he had been piping his way into the English heart. The great English poets were in time more extensively read and appreciated. The great English essayists, withAddison at their head, had not written in vain. The time hadat last arrived when English artistic talent, at the touch of thepencil of Hogarth, was to rise from its slumbers, like Aurorafrom the ocean, and illumine the canvas with all the tints ofthe morning.Hogarth first attracted public attention about the year 1725.Reynolds appeared about twenty-five years subsequently. Contemporary with Reynolds were West and Barry in the historicaldepartment, Opie in history and portraiture, and Wilson andGainsborough in landscape. These early artists, with Moreland, Beechy, Bird, and Wright a little later, with Lawrence,Wilkie, Turner, Newton, Leslie, Jackson, Stanfield, Collins ofmore recent date, and others, familiar to the world, now living, form a constellation of genius whose works, with all theirimperfections, have not, until within a brief period, been equalledby anything this side of the Caracci, save by those masterly productions of the earlier French artists, Claude, Poussin, Greuze,ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 141and Watteau on the opposite side of the channel, and by Allston,and two or three others perhaps, on this side of the Atlantic.A great deal of eulogium has of late years been bestowedupon the Germans, and, no doubt, so far as they worked uponthe principles of the fathers of the art, they deserved it. Butwe are also continually hearing the praises of a school of artfounded by them, called the Pre-Raphaelite, a branch of whichexists in this country, and another and a much larger one inEngland.As the King of Prussia, at the time of its birth, on the occasion of laying the corner- stone of an academy of art, went so faras to congratulate his audience and the world on the successfuldiscovery of, or rather return to, the only true principles ofpainting, it is to be presumed that he did not think muchof Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, or Correggio, theirassociates and successors.Whether the King of Prussia was or was not a judge of art,and the new school did or did not deserve the compliment, wethink hardly admits of discussion; for if it be, as reported, thatthe charms of color and the magic of chiaro-oscuro are entirely rejected from the compositions of this school, the main reliance beingon minute finish of each particular, however insignificant, and inthe more important designs upon drawing and expression, theproposed object being to restore, as they express it, the simplicity and severity of the masters that immediately precededthose who have generally been considered the founders of modern art, viz. , Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, andCorreggio, then we think they have robbed the art of its ornaments, of a large portion of that which makes it desirable andattractive, and that even under the fostering care of suchpowerful supporters as Ruskin it is not destined to endure;for, however well the dry, simple, and severe style of those earlypainters, Cimabue and Giotto, may suit the illustrating of suchsubjects as they generally attempted, — religion in its sufferingcharacters, - it is not fitted for the portrayal of those scenes offamiliar life and daily occurrence on which the painters of thepresent day most frequently employ their pencil. If the Pre--142 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.Raphaelite painter of Germany and England is merely going torepeat what has been done before, then we think his effort willbe attended with small success; for the modern artist has notthat deep, intense, and holy enthusiasm to nerve his handwhich inspired the pencil of those early painters.Such persons need to be reminded that the art addressesitself to the eye through the medium of the picturesque, aswell as to the mind and the affections through the mediumof expression; and that expression is assisted and only made perfect by the illusions of color and light and dark, or chiaro-oscuro,and that he is but a draughtsman, not a painter, who does notrely upon those constituent parts of the art as well as upondesign, composition, and expression.The first business of a painter is to make a picture to pleasethe eye; the second, to satisfy the mind; but the element ofthe beautiful or the picturesque is, to a certain extent, variety.How far this variety shall be modified by simplicity or severity- that is, what shall be the degree of the picturesque in anysubject of the pencil's imitation -must depend entirely, as before demonstrated, upon the nature of the subject, whethergrave or gay, joyful or pathetic, playful or dignified, tender orsevere, each requiring an entirely different treatment in everyconstituent portion of the art.This is one of the governing ideas in art; but where it is forgotten or rejected, and dogmatism has said that every object ofthe pencil's imitation shall be characterized by the severity anddryness of Cimabue and Giotto, the inevitable consequence mustbe either to limit the subjects for painting to a single class, or amannerism as unsatisfactory as it is untrue and unnatural.There may be some misunderstanding, on our part, in regardto these German innovations. If its intention was only to infuseinto modern art more energy and vigor, to expunge from thecanvas, as unworthy so divine an art as that of painting, thatwretched, flimsy sentimentality that, in its most diluted form,finds its way to the public eye through the medium of drawingroom scrap-books and souvenirs, why, well; but if the inferencefrom it is that all changes made by Da Vinci, Michael Angelo,ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 143Raphael, Titian, and Correggio were only additions, not improvements, false, meretricious, and unnatural, then we think theyhave chosen a road that, the farther they travel in it, will leadthem still farther from excellence.There is one branch of art in which the earlier paintersfind in our own day few competitors or rivals, namely, frescopainting.No legitimate attempts after the fashion of the old mastershave, that I know of, been made in the United States. Wallpainting on a hard surface is common, but not on the green orfresh plaster, in order that the color may be incorporated anddry with the plaster. It may be otherwise in Europe, but thatis not important to our present discussion, as it is only regarding the execution of cabinet pictures in oil as a vehicle for colorsthat we are now to consider the painters of England; amongthem none have held a higher position, and are better knownto the public by the numerous engravings from their works,than Hogarth, Reynolds, West, Lawrence, and Wilkie. It isto these distinguished artists, as the exponents of the naturalschool, that the attention is now invited.HOGARTH.Of no English painter has so much been written as of Hogarth, and there is none of whose merits there exists so greata difference of opinion, even among those who claim to be considered competent judges, for the reason that no one has beenestimated on principles so entirely opposite. We shall endeavorto dig him out of this chaos of criticism and place him in histrue position. At the outset, we claim for him the merit ofbeing the first native artist who proved practically that thereexisted in English history subjects, and in England talent, forother painting than portraiture; and, second, that he was agenius, for he found out a new branch of art, as before Hogarth there had been nothing in his style in any country onearth.This being the case, it is evident that in settling Hogarth's144 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.position we are not to judge him by the same law which we dothose who follow in the wake of the Italian masters, except inthe technic part of the art, for thereby we commit the sameerror which the French critics do in judging Shakespeare byAristotle's rules of the drama; both Hogarth and Shakespearewere new creations, and brought their own law with them."They were a law unto themselves. "Whoever has seen Hogarth's paintings, and not the engravingsonly, and is familiar with the best of the works of the old masters, needs not to be told that in his coloring and chiaro-oscuroHogarth bears no comparison with the Italians, and in thedrawing of the figure differs widely from them, "not becausehe paints low, but every-day life. His aim, however, was notto depict the sublimity of form, like them, nor the idealities ofform, like the Greeks, but to hold the mirror up to nature, toshow vice its own features, man his own image. " His mannerof doing this was generally through the medium of satire, andof his success in this there can be but one opinion.Of Hogarth's success as an historical painter, in the commonacceptation of the term, we cannot speak with any great confidence, as his efforts in this department are very limited; butan examination of his “ Garrick as Richard III . , " and that othercomposition, " Paul before Felix, " — although the latter hasglaring defects, constrains us to acknowledge, that, had hechosen to exercise this talent to any extent, he might havetaken a stand, as an historical painter, in advance of any otherpainter that has appeared in England."But one swallow does not make a summer," as the proverbhas it; therefore it is best to rest Hogarth's fame on his successas a painter of satire , on his finding out a pleasant and amusingway of improving the heart.Save in one or two instances and " Paul before Felix " isone of them Hogarth gives little evidence of having studiedthe works of the old masters. He is said to have been of theopinion that such a course led to inferiority, and cramped thegenius; but in this, as a general rule, he was doubtless mistaken, although the sentiment was right as regards himself.ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 145God saw that man required something new in art, and hemade Hogarth the instrument to supply the deficiency. Hogarth would have been spoiled by education.There was, onhis part, no need for a master; he was born one.He was oneof those rare geniuses that Nature sends into the world finished.It is not often that she attempts it, but when she does she succeeds to perfection.In this respect Hogarth resembles Shakespeare, and the former is as much the national painter as the latter was thenational poet of Great Britain; and of both it may be justlysaid, in the words of Garrick,-'Their matchless works, of fame secure,Shall live, their country's pride and boast,As long as Nature shall endure,And only in her wreck be lost. "WILKIE.The artist most resembling Hogarth was Wilkie, the painterof "The Blind Fiddler," " Letter of Introduction, " " Rent-Day,"" Cut Finger, " " Duncan Gray, " and others well known to thepublic. We should not have noticed him at all, eminent as hewas, but for an attempt made some years ago by John Burnett,in his " Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds," to elevate Wilkie at theexpense of Hogarth; and the reason why we should have passedhim by is, that he was not, like Hogarth, the discoverer of anew branch of art, nor do his works develop any principle notexhibited in those of the old masters; we use him simply asaffording the best medium through which to reach the characteristic features of the style of Hogarth. Burnett has beenseverely rebuked for his injustice by a writer in Blackwood'sMagazine, and justly so, for in point of genius there can be nocomparison between them.The superiority insisted upon by Burnett consists, as he says,in Wilkie's pictures being a general exhibition of manners, whileHogarth's are only isolated, local representations, — Hogarth displaying the singularities, Wilkie the leading actions and feelings,of life; or, in other words, that Hogarth portrayed only the10146 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.changeable events of his own time, Wilkie such manners asdepend upon standing relations and general passions, which arecoextensive with the race.This is what Burnett says of Hogarth, and his opinion is onlyone more added to the opinion of those who have not been ableto comprehend the genius of this master.Now, that Wilkie's pictures are the delineations of universalnature, of feelings and manners that are not limited to timeand place, must certainly be granted; for his " Rent-Day,"" Blind Fiddler," " Letter of Introduction, " " Cut Finger," " Duncan Gray," etc. , are the representations of such scenes all theworld over, we mean as far as the subject and the expressionof the passions, feelings, and sentiments are concerned, for oppressive landlords, repulsive aristocrats, cut fingers, and gentlewooers are not particularly English. They are to be found inevery country and at all times; and the feelings they exciteare the same in the breast of one person as another.-And so with Hogarth's productions. His " Marriage à laMode," "Rake's Progress, " " Industry and Idleness, " and manyothers, are delineations of scenes and feelings not peculiar tohis own age or country; for mercenary marriages, marriages fora settlement, industrious and lazy apprentices, and profligateyoung men are to be found in all climes and at all periods.And it must continue to be so as long as there are mercenaryparents, obstinate daughters, dissipated sons, and thoughtless aswell as prudent clerks; and such will always be the case untilhuman nature ceases to be swayed by other than proper motivesand wholesome influences.Hogarth is of time and place —that is, local -only in hiscostume. It is this which has so egregiously misled the critics.They have looked at the binding of the book, rather than toits contents; to the clothes the man wears, rather than to hisactions and character. The passions that Hogarth delineatesand his mode of expressing them are coeval with the humanrace; and hence the difference, as we shall by and by pointout, between Hogarth and the French painters of the school ofDavid.ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 147To repeat, the passions, feelings, sentiments, etc. , that Hogarth delineates, and his manner of expressing them, are notlocal, and the evidence of this is to be found in the fact thathis paintings awaken sympathy in the bosom of every spectatornot only of the English spectator, but of every other country;and this being so, it follows that in his art he is natural, and,because natural not local, but universal, although his costume,being local, has hindered the general perception of this truth.The real difference between Wilkie and Hogarth we apprehendto be this: " The latter is less ideal than the former. There isalso more refinement, more delicacy, in Wilkie than in Hogarth,less breadth of humor, more tenderness, though not a greaterdepth of feeling."They resemble each other in that, generally, they paintedcommon, not vulgar life, in which respect they both differed fromthe Dutch and Flemish masters; but a more striking difference,particularly between Wilkie and the Dutch and Flemish masters,is the entire deficiency of that delightful sentiment that the English artist has so successfully spread over his most lowly scenes."Take almost any of his productions, his "Duncan Gray, " forexample, and place it by any effort of the Dutch and Flemings,and you will at once understand the great excellence of Wilkieand the justice of this criticism.-There are other distinguishing characteristics of this greatpainter, but we have not time to notice them; and, althoughthey show still further his superiority to the Flemings andDutch, they leave no doubt whatever of the inferiority of hisgenius to that of Hogarth, or of his indebtedness to that master; for, after all that can be said of him, he did but exploreand richly cultivate a country of which Hogarth was the discoverer. He may have travelled farther into the interior in afiner carriage and in better company; but Hogarth pointed outto him the way, and furnished him with a portion of the meanswith which to perform the journey.It is not often that the pioneer in any invention, discovery,or improvement gets his full share of the glory. Fuseli hasfinely said of Columbus that he was the father, as it were, of148 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.this continent, but Amerigo Vespucci gave it its name; andyet Columbus, when by physical and astronomic calculationshe concluded to the existence of land in an opposite hemisphere, was, in fact, the author or cause of all the discoveriesmade by subsequent navigators.So we may say of Hogarth's art, no matter what improvements may have been ingrafted upon it by others, they mustall date their origin from that master. They did but givevariations to an air originally composed by Hogarth.SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.It is not our intention to say much of this distinguishedpainter and accomplished gentleman. The necessity for it issuperseded by his general notoriety, a notoriety for whichhe is scarcely less indebted to Johnson, Goldsmith, and othermembers of the great literary club of that period, than to hisdiscourses, which, although sometimes rendered obscure to thegeneral scholar by the technicalities of the art, are upon thewhole so admirably written as to engage, not the attention ofartists only, but likewise that of the public at large, to such adegree that " there can hardly be found an individual whoclaims any acquaintance with general literature who has notin his library, or has at least read, the Lectures of Sir JoshuaReynolds. "Notwithstanding Hogarth was Reynolds's predecessor bynearlya quarter of a century, he is not considered to be the founderof the English school. That merit, we think, improperly attaches to Reynolds. It is generally conceded that as an historical painter Reynolds does not rank high. His “ Ugolino,"the Italian count who with his children perished of hunger ina dungeon, has been considered a failure. His " Holy Family "has little more than the charm of novelty. In his " CardinalBeaufort " he reached a high degree of excellence. His "Banished Lord, " a copy of which is owned by the Boston Athenæum, is universally acknowledged to be a splendid effort, fora single figure; his master effort, however, in this department,ENGLISH. AND FRENCH ART. 149is Mrs. Siddons as " The Tragic Muse, " which (if so large a composition, with its symbolic accompaniment, is to be regardedas a portrait) Lawrence has pronounced the finest in existence.There are those who think they can trace in it something of themanner of Michael Angelo in his sibyls and prophets; norwould this be at all surprising, as from the period of his firstvisit to Rome, before he arrived at manhood, he was a constantand studious admirer of that great master. It is stated inBlackwood's Magazine, that when Wilkie, Phillips, Hilton, andCooke, English painters, visited the Sistine Chapel in 1825, theywere struck by the resemblance, in heads and figures, groupsand hues of color, to many of Michael Angelo's pictures, butthat they were the more especially impressed by the similarity of the "high aim and the power of expressing the deepthoughts of the inward man, " that now gives to Reynolds's workstheir greatest value. It was mainly through the principles acquired in the Vatican that he restored a degraded departmentof painting to its former splendor. It was in the Vatican thathe imbibed the general greatness of his style; it was there thathe obtained his power of investing his figures with innate dignity and grace; it was there that he learned to rise in the representation of mental qualities to the height of the real, or to soarinto the regions of the ideal. One who is familiar with hisworks cannot have failed to observe how numerous are themental states he has depicted, which no other artist had attempted, and the different phases of the same passion and sentiment. This is well illustrated by his portrait of the braveCommodore Keppel, in comparison with that of the no lessbrave General Eliott ( Lord Heathfield). The Commodore hadbeen shipwrecked when he was but twenty-one years of age.The painter has represented him walking quickly along theshore, and, as he points with one hand to an object out of thepicture, he is evidently delivering with rapid energy some pressing order required by the emergency.The accessories are in keeping with the incident, a rockycoast, a stormy sea, and tempestuous clouds. The hero is depicted with the elasticity of youth; his countenance teems with150 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.fire, and his face and actions are alike indicative ofthe impetuousurgency demanded by a sudden crisis.Lord Heathfield was past sixty when the siege of Gibraltarcommenced, and it lasted four years. He stands upon a rock,holding the key of the fortress, with the chain attached to thekey twice twisted round his hand. The calm courage of age,the lasting power of endurance, the fixed purpose never to yield,are here exchanged for juvenile spirit and impulsive ardor. Theiron grasp of the hand, the commanding carriage of the head, theresolute confidence of the eyes, the dogged determination of themouth, all bespeak his self- possessed defiance and unchangeable tenacity. No two phases of heroism could be more appropriate and more distinct. It was never excelled even byVelasquez.And then his representations of the high-bred women of England, so stately, graceful, and elegant; such variety in theirattitudes, always indicating delicacy and refinement; and theirexpression, always sufficiently characteristic for individuality, butstill with that breadth that attaches to general beauty. Amongthe vast variety of expression in his female heads, the most frequent is some form of pensive tenderness. They are steepedin exquisite poetry, and possess the same enchanting union oftruth and loveliness which charm us in the creation of thepoet."Reynolds, " says Leslie, "never appears more in his glory thanin his paintings of children. In spite of the host of affectionsthat gather round the young, this singularly winning and picturesque stage of life had been almost overlooked by precedingmasters. The painters of religious subjects represented childrenas seraphic beings, and the painters of portraits represented themwith the formal air which they wore when they sat for theirpictures. The happy idea occurred to Reynolds of representingthem as they are seen in their daily doings. He presents them tous in their games, their pursuits, their glee and their gravity, theirarchness and their artlessness, their spirit and their shyness; theseriousness with which they engage in their little occupations,and the sweet and holy innocence, are all embodied with unri-ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 151valled felicity. No one ever surpassed him in his love for children, and here is the secret of his success."Nor did his hand lose its cunning in passing from the softest graces of women and children to the attributes of men. Hismale heads abound with masculine vigor, and are discriminatedby the strongest traits of individuality.”The aim of most portrait-painters is confined to external likeness; but likeness of feature was the least achievement of Reynolds. His was the deeper and nobler aim, the personificationof character.Reynolds was peculiarly happy in the attitudes of his figures.They have the never-failing accompaniment of grace and dignity,and they are always in unison with the expression of the countenance. His figures are quite as much portraits as his faces,and the attitudes are always characteristic of the originals.His choicest productions have always the beauty of extreme simplicity. These are qualities that have been rarely if ever foundunited in any other artist in this department of painting, andthey render him the greatest portrait-painter that has yet appeared in England since Van Dyck, and a perfect model for imitation.The greatest portrait-painter that has appeared in England,and perhaps in any country, since Sir Joshua Reynolds, wasSir Thomas Lawrence. The question is often asked, How doeshe compare with Sir Joshua Reynolds? and it is not difficult toanswer it. On the whole, he is much his inferior. In the representation of females he comes well up to Reynolds, and in hisdelineation of children he is very successful; but in his portraits of men he falls far below him. His female portraits havea very fashionable and graceful air about them, and his maleportraits are exceedingly genteel, but they want that dignifiedand lofty air of conscious superiority that characterizes the portraits of Reynolds.One of Reynolds's greatest excellences was his color, in whichparticular Lawrence was not distinguished. The coloring ofLawrence has much brilliancy, but it is that of silver. Reynolds's brilliancy was that of gold. By the side of the great152 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.1painters of the Venetian school, the coloring of Lawrence is coldand faded; if it shines at all, it is only as a star at midday.Reynolds, by the side of the old masters, shines as a star atnight, but it is one of the second magnitude. It was sufficiently resplendent, however, to make him " the observed ofall observers " in his lifetime; it certainly has not missed thebackward and upward gaze of posterity.BENJAMIN WEST.We come next, in the continuation of the subject of modernart, to speak of two painters who forty years ago held a position in the public estimation but little inferior to that of MichaelAngelo and Raphael, and who in these latter days exercised inEngland and France a much greater influence upon art, butwhether justly or not will the better appear at the close of ourexamination. They have both almost passed from memory, andone hears as little of their once great fame as if they had neverexisted. We refer to Sir Benjamin West and the French painter,David.West was born of Quaker parents in Philadelphia, and leftthis country when a boy, some time before or at the close ofthe Revolution, to pursue his studies as an artist in Europe,and subsequently, in the reign of George III. , became Presidentof the Royal English Academy, after the retirement of Reynolds;he died about the year 1820, and was succeeded by Sir ThomasLawrence. David was for many years President of the FrenchAcademy of Art under Napoleon, and died at Brussels in 1825.He was exiled from his native land by a decree of the Bourbonsafter their restoration , having been one of the Assembly thatcondemned and executed Louis XVI.There was one feature in Mr. West's character that ought toendear him to the people of the United States, namely, that,although a resident for sixty years of another country, the beloved of the king and the adored of the people, he never " forgot Jerusalem "; but it could not have been otherwise with onewhose private character was so pure and beautiful and aboveENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 153reproach; and, besides, there was something so venerable andapostolic in his personal appearance that we approach him witha feeling of reverence and respect not unlike that with whichwe should enter some ancient, half-ruined cathedral, thoughsimply to study its proportions, and not for the purposes ofdevotion.It is not our present business, however, to speak of his manyprivate virtues, but to take his dimensions as an artist that oncestood in public opinion, on both sides of the Atlantic, at thevery head of his profession, but whose depression has for someyears past been at a point almost corresponding to his formerelevation, thus furnishing a striking evidence of the ficklenessand apparent cruelty of that fortune which but too often takesits victim to the Capitol, that it may the more convenientlydash him from the Tarpeian rock.66That West should have thus fallen in public estimationappears very remarkable to the few living Americans whoremember him as the author of those once celebrated pictures, Death upon the Pale Horse, " "Christ before Pilate,""Christ healing the Sick, " -paintings that were among thewonders of our childhood; but so it is, and if any irrefutableevidence were wanting to support the assertion, it is suppliedby the fact, in addition to the long-continued unbroken silencerespecting him, that at the sale of his paintings in the year1830, not long after his decease, at his gallery in London, thepicture of " Death upon the Pale Horse," for which in his lifetime he refused fifty thousand dollars, - and the admissionmoney to see which, when on exhibition, exceeded that sum,was bid in by the family for about eight thousand dollars, andafterwards sold to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for asum far below it. There were but few of his pictures disposedof at the London sale, and at sums proportionally limited.attended the sale, and speak from our own knowledge.WeFrom this remark it must not be inferred that such was theintrinsic value of his paintings, for it is generally conceded bygood judges that Mr. West is as much underrated now as hewas overrated in his lifetime. We only mention it as a fact,154 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.and one not very creditable to the discernment of the Britishpeople; for it was only a few years previous that he was thoughtto have wrested the palm even from the old masters themselves,and the honor paid him by both sovereign and people was equalto this appreciation of his abilities. But public opinion, as already stated, has long since changed in England, and Mr. West,although admitted to have exhibited eminent ability in many ofhis earlier and unscriptural subjects, is now thought to have attempted more than he could accomplish in what were once considered his finest efforts .The composition is allowed to have been good; the drawingof the figures correct, and without that statue-like appearanceso universal in the French school of David of that period. Thisthe transatlantic critics concede to West; but then, again, theyurge, that, to animate this framework, to inspire these mouldsof form and emblems of intelligence with action and sentiment,the touch of that genius, to whose final aim external sciencefurnishes the bare instrument, is wanting. The representation,they acknowledge, is chaste, but it is too often, they say, a representation. There wants the informing mind, which gives toart its truest, only mastery over the human spirit . Resolvethe whole into detail, examine every figure, asking for whatpurpose it has been introduced and what aid it gives the story,and one then, it is contended, not only feels, but sees, the deficiency.Mr. West's coloring is also considered to have been very defective; of this he was himself little conscious, but, whatever injustice may have been done him in other respects, allmust concede that he was not a colorist after the manner ofTitian.It is rarely that a man of eminent ability is estimated at hisproper value during his lifetime, but we know of no greater revolution of opinion than has taken place in regard to Mr. West.There have been frequent attempts to account for this change.A German critic fancied that what were once considered his bestefforts were attractive to Englishmen because the subjects ofthem were taken from the Bible; but an English critic, in reply,ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 155says that it was not so much because they were taken from theBible, as that the subjects of most of them came home to thefeelings of Englishmen.Now this may in a measure account for their popularity atthe time, even supposing that there were some prominent defects in their mechanical execution, but, if it was a completesolution of the question, that influence ought still to continue to operate; as it does not, we must seek a solutionelsewhere, and we think it is to be found in the influence thatalways attaches, in monarchical governments, to the opinions ofthe king in matters of taste, and, in this instance, to the overvalue placed upon Mr. West's efforts by his munificent patron,George III. , who not only had the highest appreciation of himas an artist, but also a very strong personal attachment to himas a man.Now whether George III. was or was not a judge of art,whether he was or was not right in his estimate, does not atall affect the question; it was enough that he thought favorably of Mr. West. These opinions were as a matter of duty andpolicy caught up by the nobles, as a matter of imitation wereechoed back by the people, and so continued without any diminution or variation until the government came under the control of George IV. , and he countermanded the orders for numerous paintings which West had been commissioned by George III.to execute, when public opinion immediately changed, and West'spopularity descended to the horizon more rapidly than it hadascended to the zenith.West's popularity, therefore, at one time, and his unpopularity now, are not to be regarded as any proof of either merit ordemerit.West's popularity in this country at the time may be partially accounted for by his American origin, and our willingnessto receive then, as correct in matters of taste, any opinions thathad been indorsed on the other side of the Atlantic. And itwas some slight gratification to our pride to know that a nativeborn American was President of the Royal Academy, as it implied, whether justly or not, the inferiority of native English156 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.artists; and this very circumstance of West's American origindoubtless had a great influence upon George IV. , for he had adeep-seated hatred of everything connected with a democraticgovernment, and consequently an indirect influence on thepublic.The present low estimate of Mr. West's once popular productions, however, is not confined to England, but has longsince found support in the opinion of competent German critics.We therefore apprehend that a better reason for it is to befound in the circumstance that it was not until after the fallof Napoleon, and Italy was thrown open to British travellers,that West was brought in such direct comparison with the oldmasters, a comparison that was the more direct, when, afterMr. West's decease, two of his grandest paintings, " Christ healing the Sick " and " The Last Supper, " were hung in the NationalGallery by the side of Michael Angelo's amazing production,"The Raising of Lazarus, " and other old paintings of acknowledged merit.-This was a severe test, and it must be confessed, even bythose most partial to Mr. West, that the comparison establisheshis inferiority past all dispute. We speak from our own observation.West's inferiority, as compared with modern art, is not somuch insisted on. It was the opinion of Lawrence, that, withfew exceptions, the claims of the beautiful and the eminentpermitted to the pencil of Reynolds, West's scriptural productions are not only superior to any previous essays of Englishart in this department, but surpass contemporary effort onthe Continent.-West's earlier efforts were upon unscriptural themes, and inthese no one disputes his great excellence. "The Death ofWolfe," "The Battle of La Hogue, " " The Death of the Stag,""The Institution of the Garter," " The Calypso," and " TheReturn of Regulus, " were pronounced admirable productions.at the time they were painted, and are as highly and universally appreciated now; but still Mr. West is not, as formerly,in the public mind as a great artist.ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 157Taking, however, into view all the circumstances of the case,the low state of historical painting when he first attracted public attention, and the undisputed excellence of his earlier essays,such, even, as were on scriptural themes, and the superiority ofthe latter as compared with modern productions in the samedepartment, we cannot but be impressed with the convictionand assurance that amid the smouldering ashes of his oncegreat fame there lingers a spark that shall kindle anew, andalthough it may not again burn with its original splendor, itshall glow with sufficient brilliancy to light him onward in thepathway to glory.DAVID.The contemporary of West, on the other side of the Channel,was David, the Frenchman, the regicide, the revolutionist, theartist who may be said to have painted with blood; for of allhis delineations, from that of the " bloody, bold, and desperateMarat " to the " murder of the gentle Abel," there is scarcely asingle one that does not seem to be literally overflowing withthe crimson current of life. They called him " the painter tothe Emperor of France "; rather should he have been called"painter to the King of Terrors. "We do not deem it necessary to preface the remarks that weshall make on this artist with any notice, however brief, of thecondition, early or late, of the arts in France; nor shall we evenenumerate his productions. He is sufficiently known in thiscountry - to the older portion of it- by common report, andby two paintings exhibited in the United States some yearssince, namely, " The Coronation of Napoleon, " and " Cain meditating the Death of Abel, " - the one a true historical delineationof that memorable transaction, the other more French thanAsiatic in the style of meditating a murder. We only mention David at all, because he was the immediate rival and contemporary of West, and the once popular founder of a schoolof art, that, by its affected and theatrical attitudes, its forced,unnatural, and exaggerated mode of expressing the passions,feelings, sentiments, and affections of our nature, did, notwith158 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.standing the acknowledged genius of its head, almost as muchto hinder the formation of a pure taste in art as French ideason certain subjects and French dancing have done to corruptpure sentiment.- -French art, subsequent to the time of Poussin, Claude, Greuze,Joseph Vernet, and their contemporaries, up to within a verylimited period, was false, untrue, meretricious, resulting fromthe neglect or abandonment of nature, not French but universalnature, by which is meant the permanent, general principleswhich God stamped on man at creation, and which constitutethe original elements of his being. We repeat, the original elements of our being, and by that we intend not only the passions and affections, sentiments and feelings, that belong to usas men, but also the mode or manner of manifesting them; for,when the Almighty planted these in the human constitution,he also gave us a certain mode of expressing them, to everyinward emotion an outward corresponding action, gesture, andattitude; and whoever, in real life or in art, would expresshimself effectively and with propriety, or which is the samething - naturally, must do it agreeably to those original principles, for every variation from this manner is a modificationof nature and a defect, just as all national and family resemblances are a departure from and modification of the lines ofbeauty or that general form which God gave man at creation.Now French art, until within a limited period, with few exceptions, and those very remarkable, exhibited an abandonment ofthis universality or naturalness of expression, was a transcriptof French character and manner, and so faithfully copied in theschool of David, that, when we viewed one of their pictorialdelineations, we saw, if not what a native of that countrywould have done, yet the manner in which it would havebeen performed by a Frenchman, and not the manner inwhich a member of the great human family ought to have performed it. Whether it was Greek, Jew, or Arabian, German or Italian, African or Asiatic, that was the subject oftheir pencil, he became transformed, in manner, attitude, andgesture, by a single dash, into a legitimate Frenchman; but inENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 159everything a Frenchman of that period " overstepped the modesty of nature, tore a passion to rags, to very tatters "; consequently, everything in a French picture coming from thatschool was ultra, extravagant, and entitled it to be calledthe unnatural school, or school of affectation.These extravagances of attitude, gesture, and expressionpleased the French because they were a transcript of Frenchmanners, of what they from familiarity with false modes hadgot to regard as natural; but they did not equally strike hometo the feelings of others. Voltaire has said that " a nation mayhave a poetry and a music pleasing to themselves alone and yetgood, but in painting, although their genius may be peculiar, itcan be genuine only as it is prized by all the world, " —which undoubtedly is correct; but it will be prized by all the world onlyas it is universal, and it will be universal only as it is natural,and it will be natural only as it divests itself of everythingpurely local; for the highest art is not to delineate the manFrench, or the man Greek, but the man natural, the manuniversal.It is the representation of these permanent general principlesof expression which characterizes the works of the great Italianmasters, and which is found in such perfection in Grecian art.In short, it is the great leading principle on which all the worksof genius are conducted. It particularly distinguishes all truepoets; it marks every page of Shakespeare. His Iago is not anItalian, his Othello a Moor, his Lear an Englishman, or hisHamlet a Dane, they are citizens of the world, the mouthpieces only of universal feelings, of universal sentiments.There is in the Louvre a portrait, by Van Dyck, of a motherand her child; in the latter almost every one thinks he discovers some resemblance to a child of his acquaintance. Howis this? It is an exact resemblance of a beautiful English girl.Whence, then, this discovered resemblance? Simply because itis true to nature, both in its attitude and expression; unaffected, universal childhood is there; of this she is the truerepresentative; and it is in every other child, until it is drivenout by the dancing-master and a false education.160 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.In our discourse on the different classes of painting, whendescribing the different kinds of landscape, we directed attention to a picture by Poussin, an early French painter, representing a scene in the Deluge. The original may be seen in theLouvre, among the works of the old masters.In another part of the hall may be seen a painting on thesame subject by Girodet, a distinguished pupil of the Davidschool.Poussin's design represents " a wild, mountainous country,which the ever-rising waters have nearly covered. The arkis seen floating afar off, and a solitary flash of lightning, showndimly through the thick rain, breaks across the lurid clouds inthe distance." Among the dull, bleak rocks in front a monstrous serpentwinds its way slowly up, to avoid the growing waves. Thesky lowers upon the earth, the earth looks heavily back tothe sky; all is wild, silent , and solemn, one awful gloom andmighty desolation. " This is Poussin.Girodet's composition represents " a man, with his father uponhis back, certainly in not the most picturesque attitude, -who, whilst with one hand he clasps the breaking branch of atree, with the other pulls his wife, with a baby in her arms, upafter him rather unceremoniously. The wife seems to suffersome inconvenience from a young gentleman, who, having losthis good manners, and being mortally averse to drowning, hasgot his mother fast hold by the hair, by which he almost pullsher head off her shoulders." The whole family certainly arenot very comfortably situated, except the two extremes of life ,the old gentleman and the baby, who, being simply passengers,care very little about it.This is indeed horrible; but it is a fair specimen of thelabored and over-charged compositions of the art of that period. But what a striking contrast does it present to thegrandeur and repose that characterize the work of Poussin,and likewise the grand and dignified simplicity of the oldmasters! This painting received the ten-thousand-franc premium, in competition with several others, at one of the exhi-ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART. 161bitions under the Empire, and it proves conclusively that theview herein given of the art of that period is no exaggeration.We know that even when this exaggerated style was mostpopular, there were, as already stated, individual exceptionsto these remarks in the works of De la Roche, Scheffer, and afew others. Scheffer, however, it should be stated, was nota Frenchman, but a German. We know he is claimed forFrance because he painted there; but upon that principle Francemust give up Poussin and Claude; and Sweden, Thorwaldsen;and America, Powers and Greenough and Crawford and Newton.De la Roche, certainly, in his painting of " Cromwell lookinginto the Coffin of Charles I., " and more especially in that bettercomposition, "The Marquis of Strafford led out to Execution,"gave evidence of having broken from the school of David aseffectually as did Cimabue and Giotto and Masaccio from theGothic barbarities of those who preceded them.France had a great deal to be proud of in her earlier painters.The classic Poussin, the chaste Le Sueur (the French Raphael),the pathetic Greuze, the playful Watteau, and the " StormKing, " Joseph Vernet, were a constellation of genius neversurpassed in England; and, happily for art, their influencehas been again revived, and their example imitated by suchartists as Couture, Fleury, De la Croix, Troyon, Millet, Dias,and Rosa Bonheur, all of them now more or less eminent inone or another department of the art. And yet the old schoolof David is not without some admirers. Go into the Louvreeven now, and you will find artists copying Vouet, Girodet,Girard, to the neglect of the better productions of the oldItalian school.There was a time when this country was deluged withengravings from productions of this school. They stared atus from the windows of the print-shops, they leaped upon usfrom our portfolios, they screamed to us from our centre-tables,and they were the admired models of the young ladies andyoung gentlemen at our drawing-schools; and it is hardly better now. The professional artist knows the error of this, andhe seeks a model and a guide in the ancient sculptures; but it11162 ENGLISH AND FRENCH ART.-is different in many drawing-schools, and for the reason thatthe attempt would find little or no encouragement, —thereforeyou rarely see laid before the scholar for study and imitationanything from the works of the old sculptors and painters; asfor the principles of taste, there are many teachers among uswho are yet to learn that any have been discovered, and that,guided by those principles, the old masters were enabled to dothat by which the world has been made wiser and better.We commence wrong, and hence the false estimation of artamong us.It is the same with a love for painting or sculpture or architecture that it is with a love for poetry; and as he who beginshis poetic reading with "the delightful pages of Thomson,which reflect the images of that nature their author so warmlyloved; of Cowper, who heard everywhere the loud hosannassent from all God's works; of Milton, who soared beyond thebounds of space and time with the express design of justifyingthe ways of God to man, " as he who thus begins his poeticreading will have acquired a taste which will not easily descendto vitiate itself with whatever is mean in composition and polluting in tendency; so he who begins his acquaintance withart with the time-hallowed and choicest productions of itsmost venerated professors cannot fail " to lay also the foundation of that purity of taste which leads directly to purity ofmanners, by freeing the mind from appetite, and conductingthe thoughts through successive stages of excellence till thatcontemplation of universal rectitude, begun by taste, shall, as itis exalted and refined, conclude in virtue. "THERESSAY XI .SCULPTURE.HERE are none of the fine arts which the Greeks made soexclusively their own, or brought to such perfection, assculpture.In painting they may or may not have been in some respectsinferior to the Italians, as our means of forming a decisiveopinion on this point are insufficient; but in sculpture theystill retain a pre-eminence which no nation can pretend to dispute, and which, in its peculiar line, probably can never besurpassed. Other nations may, at some period or other, havea class of sculpture equal to and even surpassing that of theGreeks, but it can hardly be in that class of sculpture whichthe Greeks practised and brought to such perfection during thehundred and sixty years that elapsed from the time of Periclesto the death of Alexander the Great, three hundred and thirtyyears before Christ.The history of early Grecian sculpture is so involved inobscurity that it is hardly worth while to spend our time intrying to learn its condition, or in seeking to know who mostexcelled in it. We read of one Dædalus as surpassing all whopreceded him; but even he, if such a one ever existed, couldhave been great only in comparison with his less excellent contemporaries, for it was not until several centuries subsequentto him that sculpture succeeded in obtaining even a tolerablelikeness of the human form.The chief reported occurrences in the history of early Greecewere the Argonautic Expedition, the war of Thebes, and thetaking of Troy. How much of this was poetic fiction, and howmuch was fact, it is not possible to tell; nor do we get into the164 SCULPTURE.region of certainty until at a much later period, when the battles of Marathon and Salamis struck the first decided blow atPersian power, and gave a beginning to the Grecian, or thirdgreat monarchy of the world.An event of so much importance, by changing fortune andtransferring power in so large a portion of the civilized part ofmankind, raised the character of the Greeks; and their heroicardor, increased by success, soon sought additional distinctionby every great and praiseworthy exertion of body and mind inarts and in arms."The accumulated wisdom of ages and the discoveries inscience were taught by their philosophers; their temples andpublic buildings were raised with a magnificence unknownbefore, and decorated with all the powers of art. Eschylus,Euripides, and Sophocles ennobled the minds of the people bytheir dramatic poetry; the exercises which formed the body toexertion and beauty and the mind to fortitude and patriotismwere universally practised, cultivated, and honored. In thisgeneral spirit of enterprise and improvement, sculpture appearedin the school of Phidias with a beauty and perfection whichsurpassed all former efforts. " When we read, also, that contemporary with the dramatic poets were the philosophersSocrates, Plato, and Anaxagoras, and the statesmen and warriors Pericles, Miltiades, Themistocles, Cimon, and Xenophon,it must be confessed that no period in the world's history couldhave been more favorable in its moral and political circumstances, and in the emulation of rare talent, to produce thedisplay and encourage the growth of genius.The city and the citadel of Athens had been burned by thearmy of Xerxes. This, in one aspect of the matter, was afortunate circumstance; for the Greeks, nevertheless, beingconquerors, it eventuated in the raising of more stately edificesin the place of those destroyed, and the employment of Phidiasto superintend and decorate the temple of Minerva and otherpublic works on the Acropolis of Athens."A few years before the birth of Phidias, Hipparchus hadformed a public library for the Athenians, in which were placedSCULPTURE. 165the works of Homer, which he had collected and arranged. Asthey were more complete they became more popular. Socratesemployed their language in moral discourses, and Plato inimages and reasonings to embody and convey the theologies ofOrpheus and Pythagoras. Their poets formed tragedies fromthe Iliad and the Thebais. Homer supplied subjects for thepainter and the sculptor, and his descriptions fixed the personsand attributes ofthe gods."Phidias was the first sculptor to avail himself of the advantages of the times. He entered heart and hand into the reformation; and his improvements soon reached the climax ofperfection in that wonder of art, the Jupiter of Elis, and thathardly less remarkable production, the Minerva Athene, theprotectress and patroness of the capital of Greece.The emulators of Phidias were Alcamenes, Critias, andNestocles, and, twenty years afterwards, Agelades, Caflon, Polycletus, Phradmon, Gorgias, Lacon, Myron, Scopas, and Parelius,some of whom, doubtless, were fellow-workers with Phidias inthe adornment of the temples of Minerva and Theseus. Thechief builders were Ictinus and Callicrates, but the presidingand controlling power of the whole was Phidias. His superiorgenius as a sculptor, in addition to his knowledge of painting,"gave a grandeur to his compositions, a grace to his groups,and softness to flesh, and a flow to drapery, unknown to hispredecessors, the character of whose figures was stiff ratherthan dignified, their forms meagre and turgid, the folds of thedrapery parallel and poor, resembling geometrical lines, ratherthan simple but ever-varying forms of nature. Minerva, whobefore had been rendered elderly and harsh, was by him renderedyoung and beautiful, yet severe; and Jupiter, who by previoussculptors had been rendered simply venerable, was by him rendered sublime and awful as when, according to Homer, his nodshook the poles, yet benignant and mild as when first he smiledon his beloved daughter Venus. " That is, Phidias did rightlywhat his predecessors had done wrongly. The historic recordis brief, but it embodies a great idea, and all that is necessaryto illustrate the difference between true and false art.166 SCULPTURE.Phidias not only determined the forms of these divinities,from which no sculptor or painter afterwards presumed todeviate, but the countenance, figures, and attributes of all theother divinities of Homer were settled by him and his successors, whose laws became immutable, and were willingly submitted to both by artists and people.It is to be noted in this connection that the character of thefather of the gods being determined settled the scale of gradation for his progeny, those near him being rendered more sublime, those more removed less perfect, and, further, that astrong family resemblance is preserved between Jupiter andhis progeny. This is particularly observable in the Apollo,Bacchus, and Mercury. It is also to be remarked, that in theGreek system corporeal excellence attends upon divinity, and asthe character recedes from this the form partakes more of theanimal. Satyrs, the lowest order in the train of Bacchus, bearstrong resemblances to different quadrupeds; the figure andface partake of the ape, the ram, and the goat.There are, doubtless, other features in the Greek system thatit would be interesting to notice, but the above will suffice toshow the solid basis upon which it was founded; in everythingwhich the Greeks attempted in art they acted in accordancewith natural and general laws, and therein lies the secret of theuniversal and enduring admiration that has been bestowed uponall their productions. How they were enabled so successfullyto apply those laws and reach the perfection they attained insculpture is a question the solution of which is to be soughtfor and found " in the forms of their mythology, consisting ofgods bearing the forms of men and women, without any otherattributes than those possessed by human beings, yet greaterand more beautiful than mortals. ""Other idolatrous nations have distinguished their gods frommen by a thousand vulgar expedients, the Egyptians, by astrange symbolism; the Hindoos, by adding heads, limbs, andarms without number; and others by the size and preciousmaterials of which their images were made. But the prideor vanity of the Greeks would not allow their gods any attri-SCULPTURE. 167butes they did not themselves possess; and consequently theyever remained distinguished from mortals but by their greatness, their beauty, and their immortality. When, therefore, itfell to the sculptor to portray them, he had only to concentrateevery human perfection and every human beauty until theimage was too perfect for a mortal and became a god."Completeness, however, in their representations was notreached at once; but artist after artist advanced step bystep towards the great ideal, and added beauty to beautyuntil the images became what we see them.The rapid career of Phidias might seem to contradict thisprogressive theory; but it is to be borne in mind that at thetime of his appearance sculpture was not a new art any morethan was painting in Italy on the appearance of Da Vinci,Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, and Correggio, nor was theperfection reached in Greek sculpture greater or more immediate than that exhibited in Italian art. There doubtless hadbeen many prior fruitless attempts by the Greeks to portraythe father of the gods, as there had been by the Italians to portray the Madonna and the prophets; but no one previous tothe coming of Phidias, Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael,had been found fully to grasp the great conception. Nor wouldthey have succeded but for the vain attempts made by thosegreat though inferior artists who preceded them. Phidias, DaVinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael were the product of all previous efforts, as they were in greater or less degree the authorsof all subsequent success. And there is nothing peculiar inthis; it has characterized the advance of every art and everyscience since the creation of man.Par-"The first object of the Grecian sculptors was to representperfectly the human form. This they attained with a degree ofperfection that even now astonishes us; nothing more perfectthan the anatomical development of the figures ofthenon can well be conceived of, for not only every joint andevery muscle is perfectly imitated, but their motions and actionsare indicated so distinctly that we can almost predicate what thenext position would be, were it suddenly endued with life. "168 SCULPTURE."This, however, was not with the Greeks the end of art, butsubordinate to a second and more important one, namely, torefine the human form into that of a god, " not by copying exactly any single individual, however perfect, as the productwould have been a mere mortal, but by gathering into onecongenial mass scattered beauties of the human race, and thusproducing forms superior to any one original, and constituting,as already stated, according to their ideas, something divine. Itis true that according to our ideas they failed . But we mustjudge them by their own light; and even if we deny the divinity of their figures, we must admit that in the attempt they produced the noblest corporeal representations of mortals the worldhas yet seen; for the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de Medicistill stand without a rival in modern art. Their greatest andperhaps only want is the highest class of expression .But the Greeks possessed another class of beings, scarcely lessbeautiful than the gods themselves, whose acts and figures it wasthe peculiar province of the sculptor to embody, "all thoseGod-like, God-descended heroes over whom their earliest bardshad spread their veil of poetry, and thus separated them fromthe ordinary race of men. "And still another class, which claimed to a great extent theattention of the Greek sculptors, and which deserves a brief notice in this connection, were the gorgons, the hydras, the harpies,the minotaurs, and centaurs, perfect absurdities in themselves,and blots on pure art; "but the elegance with which they areexecuted, the idea they express, and the animation and powerwith which the sculptor has endowed them, has sufficed toredeem what otherwise would be revolting. "It is not our intention, however, to give an entire catalogueof Greek conceptions, nor would our limits permit us, even ifwe wow so inclined; for "the whole universe was filled by thatimagive people with congenial beings described by poets,substantiated by philosophers, and represented with the glowof life by sculptors and painters."It is well known to the student of art history that many ofvery best productions have perished, and all we know ofSCULPTURE. 169them is derived from coins; and that most of those whichnow excite our admiration and wonder are at best but copies,much mutilated when discovered, and but imperfectly restoredby the moderns.It is true we have descriptions by ancient historians of thelost statues; but no written description can convey an adequateidea of a work of art like that of the Jupiter Olympus or Minerva Athene, especially where the impression made upon thespectator arises in a great degree from magnitude and color, aswas the case, doubtless, with the above-named statues. Still,many have to rely upon the historian and the draughtsman formuch of their knowledge of the great works of art, at least untilthey can see the works themselves; and therefore, necessarilyavailing ourselves of this mode of instruction, we will nowbriefly pass in review such of the great works of the Greeksculptors as have been seen and described by the contemporaryhistorian, or have been providentially preserved in greater orless perfection to the present period; and we will commenceour remarks with a description by Pausanias of what is generally considered the greatest production in this department ofthe art.THE JUPITER OLYMPUS.The height of this statue was sixty feet. It was not ofmarble or bronze, but of ivory, enriched with golden ornamentsand precious stones. The father of the gods is representedseated on his throne, his left hand holding a sceptre, his righthand a Victory of ivory and gold, with a crown and fillet,his head crowned with olive, and his pallium or mantle decorated with birds, beasts, and flowers. At the four corners ofthe throne were dancing Victorys, each supported by a sphinxtearing a Theban youth. At the back of the throne, above hishead, were on one side the three hours or seasons, and on theother the three graces.On the bar between the legs of the throne and the panelsand spaces between the panels were represented many stories,"The Destruction of Niobe's Children, " " The Labors of170 SCULPTURE.OnHercules, " "The Delivery of Prometheus,"" " The Garden of theHesperides, " with different adventures of the heroic ages.the base was the battle of Theseus with the Amazons; on thepedestal an assembly of the gods, the sun and moon in theircars, and the birth of Venus.This great work of Phidias, which raised his fame above thatof all the sculptors of antiquity, has numerous imitations stillexisting in marble and bronze, and on coins of Alexander theGreat and his successors; also on Domitian's medals in largebrass.MINERVA ATHENE.Within the Parthenon stood the far-famed statue of Minerva,also by Phidias. It was, like the Jupiter, of ivory and gold, andthirty-nine feet in height. In her right hand was a Victory sixfeet high; the left hand rested on a shield. The goddess wasclothed in a tunic reaching to her feet; her helmet was adornedwith horses and griffins; on the round side of the shield wasthe fight with the Amazons; on the concave side, the battle ofthe gods and giants; on her sandals, the contest of the lapithaand centaurs; on the base was the birth of Pandora in the presence of thirty divinities. Memorials of this statue are preservedon Athenian coins, of which there are engravings in the vignettesof Stuart's "Athens."These two statues, -the Jupiter Olympus and the MinervaAthene, although generally considered the greatest works ofthe best age of the arts, were not the most beautiful, for superiority in that respect attaches to the Apollo Belvedere andVenus de Medici. The drapery forbade it in the Minerva;the apparent age of the father of the gods rendered it impossible in the Jupiter. In the latter the Homeric divinity was personified with a beauty of majesty beyond which human intellect did not extend; the former, the type of Divine wisdomboth to the philosopher and the common votary, manifestedthe attractions of youth united to the expression of severevirtue.Several other statues of great excellence are mentioned amongSCULPTURE. 171the works of Phidias, particularly a Venus placed in the forumof Octavia; two Minervas, one named Callimorphas from thebeauty of her form. Another statue by him was an Amazoncalled Euknemin from her beautiful leg.BELLEROPHON ABOUT TO MOUNT PEGASUS.This group, which stands opposite the Papal palace, on MonteCavallo at Rome, is thought to be the work also of Phidias, fromits resemblance in the attitude of the hero, as well as that of thehorse, to a bas-relief on the Parthenon. The name of Phidias isinscribed on the pedestal.THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON.The two pediments of the temple of Minerva were each eightyfeet long, filled with compositions of entire groups and statuesfrom eight to nine feet high. The subject of the western pediment related to the birth of Minerva, or, rather, her introductionto the gods. The eastern pediment had the contention of Neptune and Minerva for the patronage of Athens.Forty-three metopes on the frieze had combats of the lapithæand centaurs, and a frieze of three hundred and eighty feetround the wall of the temple under the portico was decoratedwith the procession of the Grecian States in honor of Minerva,in chariots and on horseback, leading animals for sacrifice, bearing offerings, and presenting the sacred veil in presence of godssitting upon thrones to witness the solemn ceremony.It is not to be supposed that many of these were the immediate work of Phidias; but it is certain that the whole was doneunder his direction, and to him we probably owe the composition, style, and character of the sculpture, in addition to muchassistance in drawing, modelling, choice of the nude and draperies, as well as occasional execution of the parts in marble.The so-called Elgin marbles once made a portion of the sculptures of the Parthenon. They were purchased of Lord Elgin,at great cost, by the British government, and placed in theBritish Museum, London. The Marquis Nantuel had a drawing172 SCULPTURE.made of the western pediment of the Parthenon when all thestatues but one were in their places, and the whole was sufficiently entire for the composition to be perfectly understood.-THE COLOSSUS OF THE SUN.This statue is allowed by Pliny the elder to have excitedmore astonishment than all the other colossal statues he hasmentioned on account of its height, which was one hundredand five feet, exceeding by forty-five feet the Jupiter ofPhidias, and by thirty feet any known Egyptian statue. Itwas the work of Chares, a Lindian, the disciple of Lysippus.The statue was thrown down by an earthquake, after standingfifty- six years. Twelve years were employed in the executionof it, at a cost of three hundred talents (about three hundredthousand dollars). It was at the mouth, or entrance, of a harbor in the island of Rhodes.APOLLO BELVEDERE.-This well-known statue took its name from the so-called garden in Rome in which it was first placed by Cardinal Rovera,afterwards Julius II. , shortly after it was discovered - towardsthe end of the fifteenth century -the hands were suppliedby a pupil of Michael Angelo. The sculptor intended to represent in this statue the God of Day at the moment he had ridthe earth of the monster Python, the monstrous serpent sent,as the legend has it, to ravage the plains of Phocis after thedeluge of Deucalion. The fatal arrow has flown, and the frameof Apollo yet trembles with the high-strained exertion, thehand which held the bow is yet at its full extent, the forehead is illuminated with the exultation of success. Hints arenot wanting in ancient monuments and authors which lead usto believe that the archetype of this statue was by Phidias.Maximus Tyrius describes a statue by Phidias very similarto this, but more in motion. Others believe it to be the Apolloof Calamis, mentioned both by Pliny and Pausanias. Only onesmall antique repetition of this statue has been found.SCULPTURE. 173VENUS DE MEDICI.The sculptor has represented her on the shore of the islandof Cytherea at the moment of rising from the sea. The dolphinand shell point out her origin. The two boys, Eros and Homeros, are not of the troops of Cupids, of which Venus is considered the mother, but the deities of Love and Desire, whopresided over her birth, and afterwards attended her steps.The style of sculpture seems to have been later than Alexanderthe Great, and the idea of this statue appears to have its originfrom the Venus of Cnidus. It is not known with certainty whenit was discovered; but it is said to have been found in the forumof Octavia. So much a favorite was this statue with the Greeksand Romans, that nearly a hundred repetitions of it have beennoticed by travellers. It is supposed to have been the work ofCleomenes, the Athenian, the son of Apollodorus, and was forsome years previous to 1680 in the garden of the Medici, whenit was transferred to Florence. Plato distinguishes the celestialfrom the earthly Venus, and Pliny mentions a statue by Phidiasof Venus Urania, or the Heavenly Venus. The Venus de Mediciwas of the earthly class.JUNO.The statue of the Queen of Heaven has a sublime beautyabout it; but still it is not remarkable for beauty, as compared with the Venus de Medici and the Venus of Cnidos, andsome other of the Greek sculptures. It was in a very imperfectcondition when discovered. The head does not belong to it,and the arms are a modern restoration. The author of it isnot authenticated. It is now in the Museum of the Capitol.Height, nine feet six inches.CUPID AND PSYCHE.This group is an allegoric representation of the Soul tormented by Love. It is finely conceived, but poorly executed.It is a copy from the work of some great sculptor. The origi-174 SCULPTURE.nal probably was not executed before the reign of Augustus,when the Pythagorean philosophy was revived, from which thesubject was taken. Height, three feet four inches.HERMAPHRODITUS.An attempt was made in this figure to represent an utterimpossibility, namely, the union in one body of the two sexes.It is artfully managed, however, and as far as the flow of lineand the purity, delicacy, and elegance of the form are concerned, is one of the best works of antiquity. As Pliny mentionsa composition similar to this by Polycletus, the present sculpture was probably by that master. In heathen mythology Hermaphroditus is called the offspring of Mercury and Venus, andthe name is a compound of two Greek words: Hermes, Mercury,and Aphrodita, Venus. Length, four feet eleven and a halfinches.CERES ELEUSINE.The Attic Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and the EgyptianIsis were the same divinities. This is a very pleasing figure.The head is said to bear a strong resemblance to Julia, thedaughter of Augustus. If so, it must have been comparativelya late production, or the head is not that of the original statue.Height, five feet six inches.FLORA.This fine statue was found in the ruins of Adrian's villa, atTivoli, in 1741. Height, five feet six inches.FAUN REPOSING.Pans and satyrs, fauns and bacchantes, were the attendantsof Bacchus. The first two had the figures of beautiful youthswith pointed ears; the last two have the lower limbs of thegoat. The more aged were denominated Silenuses. The reposing faun was supposed to be the famous one of Praxiteles in theMuseum of the Capitol. Height, four feet four inches.

TITIAN'S MODEL FOR LIGHT AND SHADE.SCULPTURE. 175LAOCOON.Laocoön, a priest of Apollo and the son of Antenor, havingurged the Trojans to destroy the wooden horse, Minerva, inrevenge, caused two serpents to emerge from the sea anddestroy him and his two sons as they were about to performa sacrifice. Laocoon is represented seated upon an altar. Themild, melancholy, imploring looks of the father, the anguish ofone of the sons and the despair of the other, are representedwith surpassing skill. It was once supposed to have beenwrought from a single block; but it is a combination of sixdifferent pieces. It was the work of Agesander, Polydorus, andAthenodorus, of Rhodes, in the reign of Alexander. Found inthe baths of Titus in 1506. Purchased by Julius II. and placedin the Vatican. Height, six feet six inches.THE DYING GLADIATOR.The sculptured figure that has usually passed under thatname, in which might be seen how much of life remained,and which has been rendered doubly interesting by the noblelines of Byron, is, according to Winckelmann, a dying heraldor hero; if so, the lines lose the largest portion of theirinterest, for it arose from the apparent truthfulness of thedescription; and that Winckelmann's judgment is well foundedis rendered probable from the fact that the gladiatorial show wasa purely Roman institution, and nothing of the kind would havebeen for a moment tolerated by, nor would an artist have daredto exhibit such a subject to, the refined and polished peopleof Greece. If, however, it be the representation of a DyingGladiator, it must have been executed after Greece was reducedto a Roman province, and consequently belongs to a very lateperiod of the art, and truthfulness of delineation must be itsonly redeeming quality, for such a subject must to a reflectiveand sensitive mind be very offensive.176 SCULPTURE.ARIADNE.This reclining figure has sometimes passed for Cleopatra, butit doubtless is a representation of Ariadne on the morning shewas abandoned by her faithless lover on the island of Naxos,and before she awoke " to catch the last sad glance of the sailthat bore away her Theseus. " There is great beauty in thefolds and adaptation of the drapery of this reclining statue.Length, six feet eleven inches; height, four feet nine inches.LYCIAN OR YOUNG APOLLO.―This beautiful statue took its name from the Greek wordLuche, light. It is in repose (not reclining) , a positiongenerally chosen by the old Greek sculptors, who usuallyavoided all violent action for fear of giving too much prominence to the muscles by contraction. The Greek sculptorsposterior to Alexander copied the earlier attitudes and characters, thinking if they could render the forms more noble andpure, they should excel their predecessors. Height, seven feet.DISCOBULUS IN REPOSE.Throwing the quoit was one of the five gymnastic exercisesof the Olympian games. This is a copy of the statue of thename executed by Naucydes, and is universally admired for itsform and momentary balance. It is in the Museum of Paris,France. Height, five feet seven inches.DISCOBULUS IN ACTION.-This figure is finely rendered in every part, but its attitude isforced, and consequently unnatural, a condition not often metwith in the older works of Greece. It is ascertained from anantique gem to have been the production of Myron, and this isstill further confirmed by the description of Quintilian. Itis now in the Museum of the Vatican. An ancient copy ofthis figure is in the British Museum.inches.Height, five feet tenSCULPTURE. 177VENUS OF CNIDUS AND VENUS OF COS.The former of these statues was in existence in Cnidus duringthe reign of the Emperor Arcadius, about four hundred yearsafter Christ. It is now known only from description, and froma representation on a medal of Caracalla and Plautilla in theimperial cabinet of France. The two were by Praxiteles, whoexcelled in the highest graces of youth and beauty, and whosefame is as great now as it was when it was the fashion toencounter the perils of the ocean to see the famous statue ofVenus in the island of Cnidus. The historian relates that thesculptor having made two statues of Venus, one without, theother with drapery, the Coans preferred the clothed figure onaccount of its severe modesty, the same price being set uponeach. The citizens of Cnidus took the rejected figure, andafterwards refused it to King Nicomedes, who would have forgiven them an immense debt in return; but they were resolvedto suffer anything rather than part with this statue. Thetemple in which it was placed was entirely open, because everyview was equally admirable. It is this statue which is said tohave been the prototype, or, rather, to have suggested the firstidea of the Venus de Medici; or it may be the repetition ofanother Venus, also the work of this artist, mentioned byPliny. On the reverse of the Empress Lucilla's medals is aclothed Venus, with an apple in her right hand, which, from thegrace of the attitude, and its resemblance to several antiquemarble statues, is likely to be the clothed Venus chosen by theCoans.DORYPHORUS; OR, THE LANCE-BEARER.This statue was called the rule by artists, and from it theystudied the forms, outline, and lineaments of the human figure.It was by Polycletus of Sicyon, the scholar of Agelades, whowas also celebrated for his Diadumenus, or youth binding afillet round his head, which was valued at one hundred talents,or one hundred thousand dollars.12178 SCULPTURE.HERCULES AND TELAPHUS.This statue probably was intended to be a representation ofHercules and Ajax, the infant son of Telamon, inasmuch asHercules is reported to have been present at the birth of Ajax,and to have raised him in his arms towards the skies and commended him to Jupiter, and, to render him invulnerable, wrappedhim in the skin of the Numean lion. The head of Hercules isvery fine, but the child is a modern interpolation.HEAD OF JUPITER.The mask of this fragment alone is antique, and was discovered towards the close of the seventeenth century. It isin the Museum of the Vatican. Height, one foot one and ahalf inches.VENUS OF THE CAPITOL.This statue, like that of the Venus de Medici, was imitatedfrom, or rather the idea of it was suggested by, the Venus ofCnidus. It is by some confidently pronounced to be a copyfrom one of the three Venuses enumerated by Pliny among theworks of Praxiteles. Although it is more dignified, it is a lessinsinuating beauty than the Venus de Medici. It is in theMuseum of the Capitol, Rome.VENUS APHRODITA.This statue was very celebrated. It was by Alcamenes, butthe last touches were given to it by Phidias.NIOBE.The group of Niobe and her children, by Scopas, is an exampleof heroic! in maturer age. The sentiment intended to bernal affection. Niobe exposes her own life tofrom threatened destruction by the thunderThe statues of the children all partake ofportsh}SCULPTURE. 179the same heroic beauty, mixed with the passions of apprehension, dismay, or death.SACRIFICATOR.The drapery of this figure is wonderfully fine, but the headdoes not belong to the statue.RICHELIEU BACCHUS.Apollo and Bacchus were the two statues in which both poetsand sculptors sought to unite all the beauties of the humanform. The latter combined the utmost earthly perfection andsymmetry; the Apollo, in addition, something of the divine.The Bacchus has more softness; the Apollo, more energy. Richcurls, falling in profusion about the neck and shoulders, characterize the head of this son of Jove. The statue was in a greatlyimpaired condition when discovered.The hands, the lower part of the arms, the right leg, anda portion of the left foot, are restorations. It is now in the Gallery of the Louvre. Height, six feet four inches.THE HUNTING DIANA.This figure of Diana is more active and light than either thatof Juno, or Minerva, or any other of the goddesses. Its chiefcharacteristic is elasticity, and its form appears most appropriately and admirably adapted, like that of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, for quickness of movement. It has been inFrance since the reign of Henry IV. , and for a long time in theGallery of Versailles. Height, six feet six and a half inches.CUPID BENDING HIS BOW.This is a copy of a statue by Praxiteles. The original waspresented by the courtesan Phryne to her native city, Thespia. Height, four feet one inch.180 SCULPTURE.THE MUSES.The nine muses, by Philiscus of Rhodes, - Calliope, Clio,Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia,and Urania, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, are mentioned by Pliny, as are also the muses brought by Fulvius Nobilior to Rome. It is not known to which of these series thosein the pope's Museum belong. There may have been a portionfrom each series. Of these, Melpomene is remarkable for grandeur, Thalia for the beauty of early youth and modesty, Euterpefor regal grace, and Calliope and Clio for Doric simplicity andmental occupation in bodily rest.THE BARBERINI FAUN.This statue is remarkable for the elastic form of muscleand tendon proper to the mountainous and sylvan habits ofthe race.DIANA DISCHARGING AN ARROW.This beautiful and interesting statue has long been the property of the French government. It has been considered bysome learned judges to resemble the Apollo Belvedere in countenance and general character to a degree that may warrant anopinion that they are both the production of one sculptor.MENANDER AND POSIDIPPUS.These two statues are the portraits of the comic poets ofthose names. They were originally in the theatre of Athens.HERCULES FARNESE.This well-known statue was evidently one of the first favoritesof antiquity, from its frequent repetitions on bronze and marble,on gems and on coins. It is worthy of remark, that some statuesof Hercules, in the same attitude of repose with that surnamedSCULPTURE. 181Farnese, but of much earlier date, have the proportions of common men, and that a series of them may be found in the various collections, gradually increasing to the terrific strength ofGlycon's statue. The head of this formidable hero bears aresemblance to his father Jupiter. The anatomical detail inthe body and limbs is more distinct than in any other work ofantiquity.THE GRACES.The above is the name applied to a group of three figures inancient sculpture, representing three youthful sisters embracingone another. The Greek and Latin names of these goddesses,Charites and Gratiæ, which signify the exercise of kind affections or the charities of life, are well represented in this group.The character and action of these goddesses have given theepithet " graceful " to easy, undulating motion. They werealways clothed until after the time of Socrates.THE BOXERS.This group, and the statue called the Fighting Gladiator,but in reality the Lesser Ajax, exhibit the greatest musculardisplay in violent action; although not pleasing subjects tocontemplate, yet an anatomical consideration of these figureswill teach us the cause of each particular form, and convince ushow rationally and justly the ancients copied nature.SOPHOCLES AND DEMOSTHENES.These two noble statues the one of the greatest dramaticpoet, the other of the greatest orator of Greece - have ever beenranked among the very finest efforts of human genius; and hadnothing else descended to us from that polished people, wecould not have hesitated for a moment to believe that humanpower had reached its culminating point in the grandest andmost difficult of the elegant arts.182 SCULPTURE.!The above includes only a small portion of the great productions of the ancient Greeks in this department of the art.When we see it stated by the historian that three thousandstatues were once carried off from Rhodes alone by the plundering Romans, it is very evident that the catalogue might beenlarged to an almost indefinite extent. With the revolutionsof empire and the changes that are constantly occurringon the earth's surface most of them have been hidden fromhuman vision; but, like a great many seeming evils, this waspermitted for an ultimate benefit. Their apparent destructionwas their sure preservation. They were buried that they mightrise again. Fresh excavations are constantly revealing somelost form, not only to excite anew our admiration of Greciansuperiority, but likewise to refine and improve the taste of theages that should come after.None, however, of the more recent discoveries exhibit anyprinciple of art not before revealed in the great productionsso long known to the public. Those principles, like the laws ofnature, are few and simple. Many or most of them have tosome extent been considered in the course of these essays, andespecially in that relating to natural and ideal beauty; thereader is referred to what is there advanced upon this subject.Ever bearing in mind what the ancient sculptors aimed at, hewill better comprehend what they accomplished.IFESSAY XII.GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.F it be, as the proverb has it, that "Necessity is the motherof Invention, " then, as shelter is the first necessity of man,of the Fine Arts that make their appeal to the mind throughthe eye and the ear, architecture may reasonably be supposedto have been the " first-born "; sculpture, the second; painting,the third; music, the fourth; and poetry the last. But,although architecture may have been the eldest of the FineArts, yet certain it is, that, as no edifice could have attained thebeauty of proportion and richness of ornament without the aidof sculpture, and as the practice of these necessarily involvesa knowledge of drawing, the interval between the invention ofarchitecture, painting, and sculpture must have been very brief,barely sufficient to settle the question of birthright. To whatperiod in the history of man we may date back their origin, noone has yet been able to discover; but as the Almighty at creation implanted in the human bosom a love of the beautiful, andhuman nature has been always the same, and all the Fine Artsequally appeal to that sentiment, man must soon after hisbirth have found out a way to gratify those feelings by inventions that have always been to him a source of enjoyment andimprovement. They all may be enjoyed, to a certain extent, bythe most uncultivated taste; but they all require a knowledgeof their system, and a mind informed of the principles on whichthey depend for beauty for their highest appreciation.As we read in the books, the term " architect " is derivedfrom the Greek name of its professor, Architecton, chief builder.So that when architecture is spoken of without a qualifyingadjective, the designing and building of edifices, such as pal-184 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.aces, mansions, theatres, churches, courts, bridges, etc., is intended; and it is called civil, to distinguish it from naval andmilitary architecture, the former of which concerns the structureof ships, the latter the building of fortifications and the like.Although every description of building may have the termapplied to it, it is by common consent restricted to such edificesas display symmetrical arrangement in the general design, andfitting proportions in its parts, with a certain degree of ornament, varying in character and quantity with the character ofthe building, or the uses to which it is to be appropriated.Notwithstanding the art of building originated with the necessities of man, there is no reason to believe that the dispositions of architecture, as above defined, were first employed fordomestic purposes. For the science of architecture we are undoubtedly indebted to man's devotional feelings and tendencies.What we understand by the term can be alone deduced from themode he adopted in arranging and constructing edifices forworship. It certainly is in the temples of pagan nations thatwe find the most complete illustration of all those principles ofbeauty that characterize this department of the Fine Arts. Wecall them the fine arts, although we might with greater propriety have said the useful arts, for, although it is usual tomake two classes of art, and to characterize one as the fine, theother as the useful, yet it is a distinction, in one aspect of thematter, without a difference, as that which administers to thegratification of the taste can hardly be regarded as less usefuland necessary than that which administers to the wants of thebody; an appetite or desire in the one case and the otherwere implanted in the human constitution, and both equallyrequire gratification and nourishment.-In no way is man so much imposed upon as by names, andthe characterization now referred to has been the means ofretarding, to an incalculable degree, the encouragement, and consequently the progress, of art.There can be no possible objection to the prefix " fine " asimplying a superior degree of delicacy and elegance; the evilresults from its being employed in contradistinction to " useful, "GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 185a term that in the connection is regarded as the synonyme ofbeneficial, necessary, something imperatively and speciallydemanded by the necessities of man's physical existence, whilethe former term with the mass of mankind implies, if notsomething superfluous, yet not absolutely necessary for thefull enjoyment of life, — which is so far from being true, that mancannot attain to his full stature and ultimate refinement withoutthe civilizing influence of the Fine Arts." Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artesEmollit mores, nec sinit esse feros,"is as true now, as when first uttered, two thousand years ago,by the graceful and elegant Horace.In the view that we are now to take of architecture, as thatof Egypt takes precedence, chronologically considered, of allknown forms, and to that ancient country the world is indebtedfor the elements of all those arts and sciences a knowledgeof which constitutes the essential difference between a civilizedand a savage state, it might seem hardly decorous to pass it byin silence; and yet, as Egyptian architecture is comparativelyof little value at the present day as an object of imitation,notwithstanding the impressive grandeur of its style as exhibited in the colossal dimensions of some of their ancienttemples, a style well suited by its massive proportions totypify the greatness, as by its solidity the immutability, andby its continuity of outline and repetition of parts to illustratethe eternity, of their Deity, thus constituting their temple theembodiment of their religion, we will proceed without furtherpreface to the consideration of architecture as it existed in acountry where ideal art first took a systematic form, andestablished principles thenceforth to be recognized wherevercivilization should plant itself, " - principles that can never bechanged bytime, nor rendered obsolete by fashion, - principles,the full appreciation of which must always be regarded in any oneas a test of correct and matured taste in this department of art.As gathered from the historic record, the progress of improvement in Grecian architecture occupied a period of three186 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.centuries, from the age of Solon and Pythagoras, about sixhundred years before Christ, when the temples of Jupiter atOlympia and at Ephesus were begun, to the time when,under the administration of Pericles, the ornamental style ofGrecian architecture attained its utmost beauty and perfectionin the temple of Minerva in the Acropolis of Athens, - builtafter the model of that of Jupiter at Olympia, and finallyconcluding this first period with the completion of the templeof Diana at Ephesus, in the time of Alexander, two hundredand twenty years from its commencement.--All the great examples of Grecian architecture of which weshall have occasion to speak in this essay are included underthree orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, so named afterthe places where they originated, or, rather, where they aresaid to have originated, as there exists some uncertainty inthis respect. The above, with the two orders subsequentlyadded by the Romans, the Tuscan and Composite, constitutewhat is called classic, as distinguished from the Gothic and allother architectures.The term " order, " in classic architecture, is employed todesignate an entire column or pillar, with the entablature.The column being that portion which supports, and the entablature the superstructure which lies directly upon it.The column is divided into three parts: the base, the shaft,and the capital; the base being the lower part of it, thecapital the head, and the intermediate portion the shaft.The entablature is also divided into three parts: the architrave, the portion immediately above the columns, lying horizontally upon and uniting them; the frieze, the central space; andthe cornice, the upper projecting mouldings, forming the cap ofthe entablature.These unitedly constitute an order in architecture, so thatwhen it is said of a building that it is of this or that order, themeaning is that the columns and entablature which go to makea portion of the structure are, as the case may be, either Doric,Ionic, or Corinthian.Although each order is distinguished from the others by

FILLET.FILLET.OVOLO.CAVETTO.CYMA RECTA.CORONA.FILLET.FRIEZE.TENIA.UPPER FACIA.LOWER FACIA.ARCHITRAVE.ABACUS.OVOLO.FILLET.NECK.ASTRAGAL.FILLET.APOPHYGES.APOPHYGES.TORUS.PLINTH.TUSCAN ORDER.FILLET.GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 187-characteristics peculiarly its own, and each dictates a style offinish and proportions for the building peculiar to itself, yet theterm " order," in classic architecture, regards only theportico, anddoes not necessarily include the pediment, that triangular portion of the front which is above the entablature, and formedby the slope of the two parts of the roof, as some temples arecomplete without a roof.-The parts of which an order is composed are divided intothose which are essential and those which are subordinate, orsubservient. The essential are those already described as constituting the column and entablature. The subordinate are themouldings and details into which those parts are divided.These mouldings are eight in number in regard to form, but lessor more in regard to appropriation, and thus named: reglet, orlistel, torus, astragal, ovolo, cavetto, talon, cyma recta, cymareversa, or ogee, fillet, scotia, cymatium, or bandelet, andcorona.The reglet is a small flat moulding, forming the upper portionof the cornice. The listel is the same, but called listel whenforming the upper moulding of a capital, an architrave, orvolute. The torus is a large semicircular moulding, like thesemi-diameter of a rope. The astragal is a small torus, like abead. The ovolo is an exact quarter round convex moulding.The cavetto is a quarter round concave moulding. Thecyma recta is a cavetto and ovolo united. The cyma reversais an ovolo and cavetto united. The ovalo forming thelower portion of the cyma recta, but the upper portion of thecyma reversa, making the well-known moulding called ogee. Thetalon is a quarter round convex moulding. The fillet is a smalllist-like moulding. The scotia is a hollow moulding. Thecymatium, or bandelet, is a square-sided or plain moulding,forming the upper member of the architrave. The corona is theprojecting face of the cornice. As it is impossible by anywritten description to convey any correct idea of these mouldings, and the place they fill in the ornamental part of architecture is so important, the reader is referred to the drawingsof the several orders among the illustrations.188 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.The mouldings have appointed places indicated or determinedby their character. Thus, the cyma and cavetto, being ofweak contour, are only used for the covering of other parts,while the ovolo and talon, from their peculiar form, seem intended to support other important mouldings or members.The torus and astragal, bearing a resemblance to a rope, appearcalculated to bind and fortify the parts to which they areapplied; the use of the fillet and scotia is to separate onemoulding from another, and give variety to the general form.The ovolo and talon are mostly placed above the level of theeye; when placed below, they are applied only as crowningmembers. The place of the scotia is below the level of theeye.When the fillet is very wide, and used under the cyma of thecornice, it is called a corona; if under a corona, it is called aband. Of the two geometrical figures, the circle and ellipse,the Greeks preferred the latter, or some other conic sections ,for the profile of their mouldings.There are other subordinate portions of a column and entablature than those now described, the consideration of which moreproperly comes within the description next to be given of theseveral orders; and, first, ofTHE DORIC ORDER.Of the three orders of architecture among the Greeks, theDoric is the oldest and simplest. The shaft of the column hastwenty flutings, which are separated by a sharp edge, and notby a vertical fillet, as in the other orders, and they are less thana semicircle in depth. The capital consists of only two parts;the upper section is a square flat tile, called, as that section isin all orders, the abacus. Beneath the abacus is the moulding, called ovolo, under that a few small fillets, and about thewidth of the ovolo below it, encircling the column, is a deepcut channel. This order in Grecian architecture has nobase; and its column has never exceeded seven diameters inheight.GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 189In this order that portion of the entablature called the architrave is surmounted with a plain fillet, called the tenia.The frieze, the section next to the architrave, is ornamentedby flat projections, with three channels cut in each, calledtriglyphs. The spaces between the triglyphs are called metopes,and in the best examples are always sculptured in low relief.Under the triglyphs, and below the tenia of the architrave, areplaced small drops, or guttæ. Along the top of the frieze runsa broad fillet, called the capital of the triglyphs. The soffit, orunder part of the cornice (the section of the entablature abovethe frieze), has broad and shallow blocks worked on it, calledmutules, one of which is placed over each metope and eachtriglyph; on the under surface are several rows of gutta, ordrops.In the Roman Doric, the shaft is usually seven diametersin height, and generally has a base, sometimes the Attic, andsometimes that which is peculiar to the order, consisting of aplinth (the square lower division) , a torus, and an astragalabove it. The capital has a small moulding round the top ofthe abacus, and the ovolo is in section a quarter circle, and is notquirked or turned over on top, as in the Greek Doric. Underthe ovolo are two or three small fillets, and below them acolorino, or neck, and not the deep-cut channel, as in the firstnamed order. According to the Roman method, the triglyphsat the angles or corners of the building are placed over the centre of the column, and at a distance from the angles; in theGrecian method, they are brought well up to the corner. Inthe former method the metopes are an exact square; sometimes the mutules are omitted, and a row of dentils is workedunder the cornice.THE IONIC ORDER.The most distinguishing feature of this order is the capital,which is ornamented with four spiral projections, called volutes.In the Greek examples they are arranged to exhibit a flat face,on two sides of the capital; in the Roman, they spring out of190 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.the mouldings under the angles or corners of the abacus, so asto render the four faces of the capital uniform, the sides of theabacus being worked hollow like the Corinthian. The principalmoulding is an ovolo, and is almost invariably carved; sometimesother enrichments are introduced upon the capital, and sometimes there is a colorino, or neck, below the ovolo, ornamentedwith leaves and flowers.The shaft of the column in this order varies from about eightand a quarter to nine and a half diameters in height; it issometimes plain, and sometimes fluted with twenty-four flutings,separated from each other by small fillets.The bases used in this order are principally varieties of theAttic. Sometimes the base consists of two scotia (hollowmouldings), separated by small fillets and beads, above which isa large and prominent torus (a large round moulding), commonly used in this part of the column.The members of the entablature in the Ionic order aresometimes perfectly plain, and sometimes ornamented richly,especially the bed mouldings of the cornice, which are frequentlycut with a row of dentils, or small square blocks.THE CORINTHIAN ORDER.The lightest and most ornamental of the three orders is theCorinthian. As of the Ionic, so of the Corinthian, the capital isthe great distinction.The entire column, including the base, half a diameter inheight, and the capital, a whole or more than a diameter,measures about ten diameters, and is always fluted .The capital consists of a cluster of small mouldings at thebottom, an astragal, fillet, and apophyges; then, above that, abell and horned abacus. The bell is set round with two rowsof leaves, eight in each row, and a third row of leaves supportseight small open volutes, four of which are under the four hornsor corners of the abacus, and the other four are under thecentral recessed part of the abacus, and have over them aflower and other ornament. These volutes spring out of smallGRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 191twisted husks, placed between the leaves of the second row,which are called caulicoles. The abacus consists of an ovolo,fillet, and cavetto, like the modern Ionic.The base belonging to this order resembles the Attic, with twoscotia, or hollow mouldings between the tori (large roundmouldings), separated by two astragals (small round mouldings) .The entablature of the Corinthian order is frequently veryhighly enriched; the flat surface, as well as the mouldings,being sculptured with a great variety of very delicate ornaments.The architrave is generally formed into two or three faces orfacia. In the Ionic there is but one flat, unbroken face; thefrieze in the best examples is flat. In the Doric it is divided intotriglyphs and metopes; the frieze is also sometimes united tothe upper fillet of the architrave by an apophyge, or small curvature at the top. The cornice has both modillions (brackets)and dentils (small blocks).Of the three orders of Grecian architecture, the Doric is thegravest that has been received into civil use. When the threeorders are employed in the same structure, and in differentstories, its rank is the lowest (next to the foundation) , as beingmore massive than the others, and consequently more able tosupport. Roland Friart, a noted French architect and authorof the first part of the seventeenth century, quaintly says of it,"He is best known by his place when he is in company, and bythe peculiar ornament of his frieze when alone. ""The Ionic order," continues Friart, " represents a kind offeminine slenderness, not like a light housewife, but in decentdressing hath much of the matron. He is best known by histrimmings, for the body of this column is always channelled likea plaited gown; the capital dressed on each side, not much unlike woman's hair, in a spiral wreathing, which they call Ionianvolute, the cornice indented, and the frieze sometimes swellinglike a pillow. These are his best characteristics. ""The Corinthian," he further says, " is a column lasciviouslydecked like a courtesan, and therefore much participating ofthe place where it was first born, Corinth being withoutcontroversy the wantonest place in the world. The frieze is192 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.adorned with all sorts of figures and various compartments atpleasure. His place is one degree above the Ionic, which, in thecourse of the arrangement, stands directly above the Doric. Thecapital is cut into the most beautiful leaf that nature dothyield, the acanthus. As the principal characteristic of the Doricis solidity, his are delicacy and variety."Columns sometimes rest on a kind of second base called apedestal. A pedestal, however, is not necessarily an appendageto an order, any more than is a pediment.-Like a column, it has three parts, the plinth, the die, and thecornice, the plinth being the lower part, and corresponding tothe base; the die, the middle portion, and corresponding to theshaft; and the cornice, the upper portion, corresponding to thecapital of a column.Everything in Greek architecture was regulated by a law orcanon. We have already stated that there were certain fixedproportions between the height of a column and its diameter.There was also a certain fixed proportion between the severalparts of a column, so much of the entire column being allottedto the base, so much to the shaft, and so much to the capital.These proportions, it is true, varied in the different orders, butwere always the same in the same order.There was also a certain fixed proportion between the heightof the column and the height of the entablature; the latter,as a general thing, being one fourth of the height of the former.And then again, in all orders except the Doric, the entablaturebeing divided into ten parts, three are given to the architrave,three to the frieze, and four to the cornice. In the Doric, thewhole height of the entablature being divided into eight parts,two only were given to the architrave, three to the frieze, andthree to the cornice.There were also certain predetermined proportions for apedestal, the entire height being one third of that of thecolumn; this is divided into nine parts, six of which are given tothe die or shaft, two to the base, and one to the cornice, and soon with the several parts of the entire edifice. There was nohap-hazard about anything the Greeks did in any of the FineDORIC ORDER. IONIC ORDER.

CORINTHIAN ORDER. COMPOSITE ORDER.

GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 193Arts. They had a law by which they worked with the precisionof a straight line, and that was the line of truth.Some might be disposed to call this conventional; but it isto be remembered that the law by which their architects workedwas not an arbitrary one, did not precede the requirement, butwas deduced from certain facts of harmony.The Greeks from repeated experiments found that the bringing together of certain proportional forms and arranging themin certain relative positions gave pleasure to the eye and themind, and hence concluded that they were the right forms inthe right places, and that they could not be added to, or thereverse, without producing uneasiness in the eye and the mind;and thus they established a canon of taste and beauty, theobservance of which led to favorable and the same results.Having thus described, and, as we trust, rendered intelligible,the several orders of architecture, our next endeavor will be togive some correct idea of the forms of Grecian temples, showthe fitness of some for special purposes, and illustrate theseveral orders by examples.The forms of Greek temples generally were oblong, and consisted of a body or cell, with a portico at one or both ends supporting a pediment. Often they were entirely surrounded by acolonnade, sometimes by a double one; occasionally they werecircular, and of this class there were only two kinds, --the monopteral, which was merely an open cell of columns, supportingan entablature or roof; and the perepteral, which had a circularcell surrounded by a colonnade.Of the oblong temples there were several varieties, the simplest of which was called in antis.This consisted of a plain cell, the side walls of which projectedat the front end of the building, and were terminated with flatcolumns, or pilasters, in the opening between which were twocolumns supporting an entablature and pediment.The prostylos temple had a portico of four columns standingin front. The amphiprostylos had a portico of this last kindat each end.13194 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.The perepteral temple had a portico of six columns at eachend, and a colonnade of eleven columns on each side detached,the columns at each angle being included in both computations.The pseudo- perepteral was like the perepteral, but havingthe breadth of the cell increased, so that the side walls becameincorporated with the columns of the lateral colonnades.The dipteral had porticos of eight columns on the fronts orends, and a double colonnade at the sides, the outer one consisting of sixteen columns, counting those at each angle.The pseudo-dipteral was precisely the same as the dipteral,with the inner range of columns omitted throughout.Some large temples had their roofs left open at the top, andwhen so constructed were called hypætral.Temples were also classified according to the number of columns in the front porticos. The tetrastyle had four columns;the hexastyle six; the octostyle eight; the decastyle ten.The width of the spaces between the columns varied; and theporticos were designated, according to the greater or less distance, ærostyle, diastyle, eustyle, systyle, and pyreiostyle.TEMPLES OF THE DORIC ORDER.Of the three orders of architecture, the national was the Doric.This was never used for domestic purposes, but was appropriated for the temples of the gods and some of their accessories.The structures not of a religious character are either Ionic orCorinthian, or a union of these with some of the features of theDoric; and in all Greece and the Grecian colonies, except Ionia,there are very few examples of a religious character that are notof the Doric order, and none which are of the Corinthian.――The probable cause of this appropriation of the Doric to religious purposes was its extreme simplicity, simplicity beingthe element of grandeur; as the appropriation of the Corinthianand the Ionic to less grave purposes derived a fitness from presenting a greater variety of forms, variety being the elementof beauty, not of grandeur.GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 195The forms of the Doric temple were neither various nor complex. The fact is that the architecture of this temple wasonly a frame or groundwork for the display of the higher artsof sculpture and painting; the introduction, therefore, of anynovelty that might attract attention or interfere with the preeminence they wished to assign to the more important arts wascarefully avoided. It was in consequence of this feeling thatthe plan of almost all their Doric temples may be said to be thesame, with only such variations as were requisite in consequenceof increased size.The smallest was that of a cell (the body of the temple),with a small porch, as already described, of two pillars in antis,between two small piers, at the termination of the walls of thecell.The second form consisted of a duplication of thisone by placing two such temples back to back.very simpleThe third was formed by surrounding this by a peristyleor colonnade which contained six columns at each end and twicethe number on the sides, the columns (as was always the case)at the angles or corners being included in both, making unitedlyonly thirty-four columns.The fourth form of the Doric temple was the octostyle, ofwhich only two examples are known, one being the Parthenonat Athens.There are, besides these, two or three exceptional temples ofthis order, such as the famous one of Ceres at Eleusis, and ofJupiter at Agrigentum.As little variety of invention as there is displayed in the formof the Doric temple, still less was there in the order itself, whichremained nearly the same from the time of its first introductiontill the latest period, the only change being a gradual attenuation of proportion and increase of height, so regular as to forman almost certain indication of the age of the building.the Parthenon, however, we have an example where the exactand perfect proportion seems to have been attained betweenconstructive stability (as in Egyptian architecture) and æstheticelegance; and as every detail there is executed with the utmost" In196 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.mathematical precision, and all the curves are almost perfectlydrawn conic sections of the highest order, the building by general consent combines more technic and æsthetic merit than anyother of its size in existence.""Perfect, however, as the Doric order is, as an architecturalmode of expression, this is not its principal aim or greatestmerit; and, to judge of it fairly, it must be considered in reference to its capabilities of displaying and giving effect to thepainting and sculpture which were its invariable accompaniments, and formed a most essential part of the order in itsintegrity."In every Doric temple the two pediments were occupied bytwo groups of sculpture, which really were its two most important external features; and, besides this, the happy divisionof the frieze into square metopes, by the introduction of triglyphs, enabled the artist to group the figures (in bas-relief oneach metope) into any number of separate pictures withoutforcing him to continue his subject all around the temple, orto invent some one convenient mode of separating one group orsubject from another, while the external wall of the cell, as atAthens, or the internal one, as at Phigalia, enabled him tointroduce any length of continuous sculpture that might bethought necessary."Single statues were provided for in the cell, so that therewas no mode of sculpture that did not find a place where it wasfelt to be wanted for the completion of the design. At the sametime all the mouldings of the order were so simple in form andoutline that they required painting for their relief; and theymust have been such as were best suited to display the eleganceof such polychromatic decorations to advantage. " The paintingof the mouldings by the Greeks has sometimes been doubted.But it is now generally conceded that they painted not onlytheir mouldings, but also a portion of the frieze, and always thebackground of their bas-reliefs; and, if the temple was of anycoarser material than marble, it was plastered over and entirelycolored. If of marble, with the exceptions mentioned above, itwas left white. The frieze of the Parthenon was painted.GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 197The painting of marble does not agree with our ideas of a correct taste. The Greeks, however, admired the effect; and as wecannot judge of it from actual observation ourselves, and theyexhibited such good taste in everything else connected with art,it is safe, we think, to let them decide for us, and abide by theirverdict."As portrayed in our books, and imitated, or, rather, notimitated, by our architects, the Doric order is cold and meaningless; but used as the Greeks used it, it is the greatest triumphmaterial art has ever achieved." The reader hardly needs to betold that the finest specimen of this order is the Parthenon, ortemple of Minerva, the virgin patroness of the city of Athens.There were other temples in Greece, with a reputationapproaching that of the Parthenon, as that at Delphi, and alsothat at Tegiæ. These, however, have entirely perished, andof the great one at Olympia only the foundation can be traced;but the Parthenon remains, and with as brilliant a reputationnow as it had in the days of its founders; shorn of some of itsbeauties, it is true, but still the finest specimen of architecturethe world has yet witnessed.A temple so renowned requires more than a passing notice.We will, therefore, present to the reader the best description wecan find of it, gathered from the works of President Felton ofHarvard University, and other reliable writers.It stands with two other buildings, the one called thePropylæum, the other the Erectheum, on the lofty rock of theAcropolis, the upper town or citadel of the ancient city ofAthens. It was built by Ictinus and Callicrates, under thesuperintendence of Phidias, in the reign of Pericles, about2,250 years ago, or the latter part of the fifth century beforeChrist.The Parthenon was an octostyle temple, that is, one havingeight columns on each end, and sixteen on each side, and calleda peristyle; it was built of Pentelic marble; it stands on abase approached by three steps, each twenty-one inches high,and about twenty-four inches wide. Its breadth, on the upperstep, is one hundred and one feet; its length, two hundred and198 GRECIAN ARCHITECTUERtwentyeight feet; its height, from the upper step of the styJolate, or what we call steps, is fifty-nine feet.The length of the sekos, or body of the building, is onehundred and ninety- three feet; and its breadth, seventy-onefeet, not including fractions; the space between the peristyleand the wall is nine feet on the sides, and eleven on the frontsor two ends.The interior is divided by a transverse wall into two unequalportions: the eastern being the naios proper, an apartment forthe statue of Minerva, ninety feet in length, the western portionbeing commonly used as the treasury of the city, forty- threefeet long,Within the naios was a range of ten Doric columns on eachside, and three on the west end, forming three sides of aquadrangle; above them an architrave supported an upperrange of columns, forming a kind of gallery. Fourteen feetdistant from the western columns is the pavement of Peiriacstone, on which the great chryselephantine statue of Athenewas placed, thirty- eight feet in height. Besides the internaldecorations, the outside of the temple was ornamented withthree classes of sculpture.1. The sculpture of the pediments were independent statuesresting on the deep cornice. The subject of those on the eastern pediment was the birth of Athene; of those on the western,the contest between Poseidon and Athene for the possession ofAttion. 2. The groups on the metopes, ninety-two in number,represented combats of Hercules and Theseus, of the centaursand amazons, and perhaps some figures of the Persian war.Those groups were executed in high-relief. 3. The frieze roundthe upper border of the cella of the Parthenon contained anexhibition of the Panathenaic procession. All these sculptureswere in the highest style of the art, executed either by Phidiashimself or under his immediate direction. Most of these werein place in 1676, and drawings of the figures on the pedimentswere made by a French artist in 1674. The interior of thetemple was thrown down in 1787, by the explosion of a bombin a Turkish powder magazine. The front columns of theGRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 199peristyle escaped; but eight of the columns on the north side,and six of those on the south, were overthrown. Moresini, inendeavoring to remove some of the figures on the pediments,broke them, and otherwise did great injury. At the beginningof the present century Lord Elgin dismantled a considerablepart of the Parthenon of the remaining sculptures, which formthe most precious treasures of the British Museum at the present"The pathetic beauty of the decay of the Parthenon, "says Felton, from whose admirable lectures the foregoing reliabledescription is taken, " is indescribable. The impression itmakes is that of a solemn and wondrous harmony. Its aspectis simple, but scientific investigation has not yet exhausted itsbeauties and refinements. "moment."The investigations of scientific men," continues PresidentFelton, " reveal these facts in regard to the structure of theParthenon, namely, that the lines, which in ordinary architectureare straight, in the Doric temples at Athens are delicate curves.The edges of the steps and the lines of the entablatures areconvex curves, lying in vertical planes, and nearly parallel; andthe curves are conic sections, the middle of the stylobate risingseveral inches above the extremities. The external lines of thecolumns are curved also, forming a hyperbolic entasis. Theaxes of the columns incline inwards, so that opposite pairs, ifproduced sufficiently far, would meet. The spaces of the intercolumniations and the size of the capitals and columns varyslightly according to their position. From the usual point ofview these variations and curves are not perceptible; but theyproduce by the combination the effect of perfect harmony andregularity. "TEMPLES OF THE IONIC ORDER.In Ionic temples there is more variety in the plan than inthat of the Doric form, and almost always more of æstheticbeauty. The temple of Theseus, situated on a knoll betweenthe Acropolis and the Peræus, about twenty miles from Athens,was a complete embodiment of the Ionic order.200 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.A more unique and yet as beautiful example of this orderin Greece is the temple of Minerva Polias, as an English author,Mr. Ferguson, calls it; or, as it is called by President Felton,the Erectheum. Like the Parthenon, it was situated on theAcropolis of Athens. The form of this singular structure wasoblong, with a portico of six Ionic columns at the east end,a kind of transept at the west, a portico of four columns on thenorth, and a portico of caryatides standing on a basement eightfeet high on the south. At the western end there is a basement on which there are four Ionic columns only half detachedfrom the wall, and supporting a pediment.The great temple at Tegia was of the Ionic order, and alsothat at Ephesus, which, according to Pausanias, surpassed anytemple which the Greeks ever erected there or anywhere else.The extreme length of the Parthenon was only two hundredand twenty-eight feet; that of the temple of Ephesus four hundred and twenty-five. The breadth of the Parthenon was onehundred and twenty-one feet; of the temple of Ephesus twohundred and twenty, with one hundred and twenty-seven columns, each sixty feet high; whereas the Parthenon countedonly forty-six columns in all, thirty-five feet high. So that thecapacity of the former was four times as great as that of thelatter, -a magnitude that a temple of the Doric order couldnot be extended to without appearing huge, or, if not so, atleast very unfit for the exhibition of sculpture and painting.TEMPLES OF THE CORINTHIAN ORDER.Of the three orders used by the Greeks, the Corinthian isthought to be the most original. Their claim to have inventedalso the Doric and Ionic is not so well founded, as pillars verymuch like the Doric are said now to exist in Middle Egyptand Nubia, cut out of rock, long before they were used bythe Greeks; among the ruins at Persepolis there are columnswith Ionic features; at Roustan an architrave with a dentalcornice very similar to the Ionic; and at Pasargardæ a basealmost identical with that of the Ionic pillars at Samos. SoGRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 201that whatever merit attaches to having invented the two first ofthe Grecian orders it belongs not to the natives of that favoredcountry; and although she has but one child (the Corinthian)left her whose parentage is undisputed, it is an offspring ofwhich she may well be proud, and it is fortunate that thethree progenies unite in such perfect harmony.The Greeks, it is said, invented the Corinthian order at atime when, owing to the decline of pure art, they were nolonger capable of executing the Doric, with its sculpture andpainting, and when they were tired of the Ionic; and, if we dispense with sculpture and painting, there is no doubt this is themost beautiful and elegant of the Grecian orders.One of the most beautiful specimens of this order is themonument, as it is called, of Lysecrates at Athens; anotheris that of the temple of Jupiter towards Mount Hymettus, andstill others at Athens, all differing most essentially from oneanother, but all displaying that elegance and taste which theGreeks threw into everything they did.-"The Corinthian order, as used by the Greeks, was a meredecoration, and never considered worthy to be employed ontemples or buildings of the highest importance; and never onany building in all Greece was it displayed in such proportionsor designed with such care as would justify a comparison withthe great national Doric or Ionic order of that age. The Co-· rinthian order in itself is probably a more beautiful one thanthe Doric; and, if executed with equal purity and taste, a Corinthian portico or temple is a more perfect and elegant workthan a Doric, provided neither of them have sculpture or painting to aid in their general effect. But no one could for a moment hesitate between the two in their completeness, and thatthe portico of the Parthenon, as finished in the age of Pericles,was in every respect infinitely superior to any Corinthian porticoever erected in ancient days, or can even now be conceived ofby the most exuberant imagination. But the merit of supremeexcellence, as compared with every other work in this department, attaches not simply to the portico, but to the entirebuilding, as the world has ever acknowledged. " And thus, leav-212kg haspins than abuita ofno session, let us sert briefyyrsta bie qe these are the presents of moderz.dequash, ad eaney made upon the ere andthemind when viewngethe toutes d weens Great But that weHaythe more radyran and better expretend these musesAMITARTear it to bear in mind that while otherwina prutse writer apart from the other ama theGreeks, in the Dore venţa male a tix of the three, but2300tacerza pollutila onnected with their historyand affuting the practise of them; and the first and moststriking ofthese was the general contempt of size, as a mode ofexpression, by which to impress the beholder.Their largest temples were the Parthenon and the templeof Jupiter at Olympia. These, however, were very small compared with those at Ephesus and Agrigentum, but they weresufficiently large for the effect required to save them frominsignificance, placed as the Greeks always placed them onthe highest spot available, so that their situation alone gavethem an elevation which the building had not in itself; and itmust not beforgotten that they were only surrounded by low,flat roofed, one-storied dwellings, so that the same buildingswhich would be low and mean in a modern city were lofty andimposing in ancient Greece.The second peculiarity to be noticed is the little inventionshowed by the Greeks in the form of their temples. " In itself,no formcan be more commonplace or less artistic than that ofa rectangle twice the length of its width. They adopted it,however, in spite of its inherent frigidity and want of expression,because an unbroken colonnade will always appear very muchlarger than one in which the continuity is interrupted, andany break or variety would have required a very considerableextension to have insured the same apparent size; and at thesame time the frequent columns, and consequent intercolumniations, wore calculated to give the greatest apparent height withthe least possible dimensions, and thus accomplished what waswanted without the vulgarity of immense masses, and withouttaking their sculpture and painting too far from the eye, or con-GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 203trasting it with such masses as would have made it look diminutive unless executed on a scale that would have been not onlyinconvenient, but in some cases almost impossible. "- wasThis want, or rather absence, of invention further exhibitsitself in the immutability of their architecture; for, if weobserve it during the period of its greatest activity, we findthat " all that was effected during three centuries, from the timeof Cypselus to that of Alexander the Great, if the inventionof the Corinthian order does not fall within that period,to elongate slightly a column (the Doric) borrowed from theEgyptians, and generally to improve the form of the mouldings,so as to make them nearly perfect mathematical forms, insteadof others traced merely by the eye, and to improve the masonwork and construction to a considerable extent. " We state thismerely as a fact, not as evidence of deficiency. The Greekswere satisfied with the general form of the members inventedin the infancy of the art because they had truth for their basis,truth that required only a little more refinement in the modeof expressing it to render it complete. Their fancy was alwayscontrolled by their judgment.-There can be no doubt whatever that "in the power of invention and variety Greek architecture falls below the Gothic,in boldness of effect it must yield to the Egyptian; æsthetically,however, it has merits they cannot boast of, and the combinedimpression of elegance, dignity, beauty, and grandeur it conveyshas never been equalled by anything that has yet been done inthis department of art."To investigate philosophically all the sources of such impressions would require a space much larger than could be affordedin a work of this description. Yet we cannot omit mentioninga few of the most obvious; and first and foremost among theseis the extreme simplicity of the general form and arrangementof the subject, a simplicity that characterizes Egyptianequally with Grecian architecture, and is the principal elementof grandeur in both. Both styles are characterized by linesstraight and uninterrupted throughout the whole length."They are the lines which bound the simplest of all forms, the-204 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.parallelogram and the pyramid. Where the general form hasno continuous commanding outline there is always a deficiencyof grandeur. " This is exemplified in Roman as compared withGrecian architecture, —the principal element of the former beingvariety. There is a sound philosophical reason for this, withwhich the Greeks doubtless were acquainted. They knew thatcertain influences attach to certain lines, as to certain tonesin music and certain colors in painting; that straight lines excitethe eye and the mind less than the varied; and hence theprevalence of simple and straight lines in structures for religious and devotional purposes, where the sentiment intendedto be created is that of gravity, solemnity, and repose, thesame idea that governed them, as before stated, in their sculptures.-" The sculptures on the pediment and frieze of the Parthenondid not interrupt the simplicity of the general form. In fact,they were absolutely required to relieve the structure frommonotony and baldness, and thus added to its beauty withoutimpairing its dignity and grandeur. Had the Parthenon been ofany other order than the Doric, it would have been ruined bywhat in that case would have been carrying to excess thevariety which properly characterizes the Corinthian and Composite orders."____The second source of the impression made by Grecian architecture that we shall briefly notice is the just proportion of thewhole to the parts and of the parts to the whole, - the severalportions being so adjusted as to magnitude that one should notappear to overpower the other. It has been remarked of theportico of the London University that it is of itself of unequalled magnificence and beauty, and of the cupola behind itthat it is of elegant form, yet that the latter is much too largefor the former, and seems to crush it, which would not be thecase were they proportioned to each other.-A third source is the wondrous concord that exists betweenone part of Grecian architecture and another, all co-operatingand combining to express the same idea, unity amid variety,the product of which is harmony, a harmony that has relation,-GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 205not only to proportion and magnitude, but likewise to disposition and decoration.Still another source of the favorable impression made byGrecian architecture not by architecture only, but likewise bysculpture is that furnished by C. C. Perkins, Esq. , in his verylearned and deeply interesting work on " Tuscan Art," namely,"the intimate relation of parts where," as he admirably expresses it , " each is the corollary and indispensable complementof the other; when, the key-note being given, everything is inunison with it, " as, for example, in sculpture, " if the eyes arebroad and placid, the same character pervades the mouth, thenose, the chin, and the forehead, influences the shape of theskull and arrangement of the hair, and so throughout the entirestatue."-There are doubtless other causes than those now mentionedfor the impressions made on the mind and the eye of personsof culture and taste when contemplating any of the great productions of the ancient Greeks in this department of the Arts,but we have not space for the consideration of them. Nor,perhaps, is it necessary, writing, as we do, not for the practicalartist, but for the general student. We therefore here closeour discussion of this very interesting portion of our subject,trusting that the brief view now presented will be of someassistance in enabling one to discern, appreciate, and enjoywhatever is worthy of admiration in the most wonderful formof architecture yet invented by man.ITESSAY XIII.ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.can hardly be necessary for us to state that between Romanand Greek architecture there exists a wide difference, andthat difference stamps it generally as inferior. The Romans wereprompted to give up the Greek in its purity, not because theydiscovered in it any defect, but chiefly to gratify a meretricioustaste. One great variation is " in the ornamentation or enrichments, which in design and execution are bolder and more frequent, and sometimes carried to a vicious extent. The longuninterrupted entablature, which gave so much grandeur toGreek architecture, is in many cases broken over the columns;the pediments, also, and consequently the roofs, are steeper.The arch, too, which was unknown to the Greeks, although notoriginal with the Romans, was brought into general use, andgreatly affected the character of their architecture . At first itwas subordinate to the column and entablature, but soon cameto be regarded as a more important principle, and was adopted asa leading feature." The Romans claim to have added, as alreadystated, two more orders to the three invented by the Greeks,the Tuscan and Composite. By the moderns, however, theyare not recognized other than as variations of the Doric andCorinthian.In the early stage of Greek architecture, the Doric columnwas short, varying from four and a half to six and a halfdiameters in height, but soon got extended to seven. TheTuscan column has never been more or less than seven timesthe diameter of the lower part of the shaft in height. Theentablature is always simple, and without any enrichments, — soplain, indeed, as to be repulsive, rather than attractive. TheROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 207capital has a square abacus, with small projecting fillets on theupper edge; under the abacus is an ovolo and fillets, with aneck below; the base consists of a square plinth and a largetorus; the shaft of the column is never fluted . The Greek Doricis sometimes fluted, as in the columns of the Parthenon.66The Composite order is made up of the Ionic grafted uponthe Corinthian, and retains the same general character, with theexception of the capital, in which the Ionic volutes and echini aresubstituted for the Corinthian caulicoles and scrolls. Sir RolandFriart, the early French author whose quaint description of thethree Grecian orders we adopted, characterizes the Tuscan as аplain, massy rural pillar, resembling some sturdy, well-limbedlaborer, homely clad "; and of the Composite order he says that"his name is a brief of his nature, being nothing but a medley,a mass of precedent ornaments, making a new kind by stealth;and though the most richly tricked, yet the poorest in this,that he is a borrower of all his beauties. To know him will beeasy, by the very mixture of his ornaments and clothing. " Noone can think our author too severe upon what has ever appearedan unnecessary invention, if invention it can be called. Itis not easy to conceive that the same taste which could bepleased with the Tuscan plainness — or, rather, baldnesscould also have admired the meretricious Composite.The Romans were indebted to the Greeks, not only for theirpillars, but likewise for their porticos, the rectangular form ofsome of their temples, and the circular form of others; theyadopted the arch from the Dorians.The Corinthian order was one of the first things that theRomans borrowed from the Greeks; and it was well suited totheir purposes. "Its richness well supplied what they wanted:its pillars could be longer or shorter, as they pleased; could beplaced at any convenient distance, having no triglyphs to hamperthem; could be adapted to round as well as square buildings,placed at angles or used in interiors with equal facility. Theplan, too, of the Corinthian, required little thought, and theexecution of the order still less. It had no spirals, like theGothic, no sculpture, no paintings, like the Doric; and soon -208 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.became a favorite with the Romans. " There are those whothink the Roman Corinthian an improvement on the Grecian;and the example of it, in the temple of Jupiter Status, has beenpronounced the most perfect thing in architecture which Romehas produced.Although the Doric order of the Greeks was not adapted to theRomans they adopted it to a certain extent, but degraded it byattenuation. Without their manipulation, however, it wouldhave amounted to very little; for they had no painting andno sculpture with which to adorn it. It was the frame withoutthe picture, the setting without the jewel.The Ionic order they did not attempt till a very late period.It never was an order either of the Dorians or the Etruscans;and there is no evidence that any specimen of it existed in Italyanterior to Roman greatness.The Romans, when borrowing their orders from the Greeks,adopted the peristyle form of their temples. There is not,however, in Rome, a single instance of a peristyle temple.Generally it is a mere cell, with an attached portico . Sometimes the portico is continued in three-quarter columns attachedto the side of the cell, and occasionally the colonnade is carriedround the sides; but then the length of the side ranges is littlemore than that of the front, and consequently the elegant proportion of the Greek colonnade, gained by the contrasted length,is lost. There is one temple in Rome that has been restored byarchitects as a perfect peristyle, three hundred and sixty-two byone hundred and seventy-seven feet; but there is no reliance tobe placed on the truth of the restoration, as no single base of acolumn has been found in place.Besides this very doubtful one, all the temples of Rome areof insignificant dimensions, — that of Jupiter Status being onlyone hundred and forty by ninety-two feet; Jupiter Tonans,eighty-five by sixty-seven; Mars Ultor, one hundred and twelveby one hundred and twenty; and all the others much less thanthese much-vaunted specimens. She was surpassed in thisrespect by her provinces. In Syria, which in the time ofthe Cæsars was to Rome what Ionia was to Greece, her――ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 209richest and most architectural province,-there are found remains of temples that throw those of the Capitol into theshade. At Baalbec there are the remains of two peristyletemples, that when complete, with their courts and accompaniments, must have been unmatched by anything in the Romanworld.Of all the temples of the Romans, the Pantheon, if it was atemple, is conceded to have been by far the most typical andoriginal, and as regards the interior unmatched in the ancientworld for invention. "There is a simplicity about its proportions, the height being equal to the width, lighted by onecircular opening in the roof, which, joined to its large dimensions,gave it a character of grandeur which redeems that clumsinessin detail which would spoil a work less grand and simple inconception. "The external form of the Pantheon is not beautiful. Toimprove the original design, a portico beautiful in itself wasadded; but this, although Etruscan in arrangement, like thebuilding itself, being Greek in detail, is so incongruous thatit has destroyed any beauty that each possessed separately. Infact, not one line or one detail in the portico agrees with anything in the circular part of the temple; but it is crushed byits mass, while the crude mass of the circular part is broughtout and made obtrusive by the more ornate forms of thtportico.This was not the art of the Greeks. With them all wassymmetrical and harmonious. Both borrowed and united; butthe difference between the two was this, that "the Greeksselected congenial materials; the Romans frequently incongruous,and never could conceal the joint. "Neither the religious nor the artistic feelings of the Romansinduced them to erect temples as magnificent as those ofEgypt, or as beautiful as those of Greece; and yet their capitalwas adorned with buildings in their kind as wonderful as anythe world has seen, and not less characteristic of the passionsand habits of the people; and foremost among them stands theColiseum, "the type of the Roman style, containing all its14210 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.beauties and all its defects. In size and splendor it is worthyof the Roman Empire, and its purpose rendered it a favoriteand principal building in that great city in the days of itsglory; and its ruins even now are as great as the Roman nameand Roman greatness, though few buildings are by competentjudges considered to be more tasteless in design or more faulty in detail.""Constructively the building consists of a series of Etruscanarches enclosed in a network of Grecian pillars, with entablatures utterly inappropriate and used merely as decorations,and totally distinct from the construction. The external formfollowed that of the arena, which was by no means unfavorable to architectural effect; had the decorations, pillars, andpilasters been omitted, and merely the bold arches risen tierabove tier, and the whole been crowned with a cornice proportioned to the height of the whole edifice, it might havebeen a far nobler building. Its materials have built half ofthe palaces of Rome; its principles are the foundation of themodern school of Italian architecture, and half the palacefaçades of modern Italy are mere variations of the incongruousarchitecture of its exterior. "What is most admired in all Roman buildings is the massand the constructive magnificence. In those which moredirectly belong to architecture, it is not only stated, but bycompetent judges conceded, that the effect is oftener spoiled thanaided by the introduction of incongruous ornament, the juxtaposition of inappropriate parts, and the junction of stylesdirectly opposed to each other, the natural result of copyingand borrowing blindfold instead of inventing. In Greece wecontemplate a work of art with the unmitigated satisfaction wederive from studying a work of nature. " In Rome, however,there is no one building of Roman invention, and no work ofsculpture even, save the statues of some of their great men (inwhich little invention was demanded), on which we can dwellwith unqualified delight, in which some improvement cannot besuggested; in short, none the half of whose beauties are notderived from the hallowing touch of time, and that halo whichROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 211association has spread around what otherwise would not attract,and might, perhaps, often disgust. "All this is doubtless true, but still it is impossible to overrate the treasures there accumulated, for " hers was the vastreservoir into which was poured all that belonged to precedingnations, and the furnace in which all the amalgam of differentmetals was melted, and Europe has since been fashioning to heruse. There is nothing in more ancient times which may notbe traced into Rome; nothing in more modern times that maynot be traced out of her. She is the concluding scene of anold, the opening one of modern civilization . She broughttogether en masse all the arts of the ancient world; and aftermixing them together, she delivered them to us to make whatuse we could of them. " How far, and in what way, succeedinggenerations have been benefited by the legacy it does not fallwithin our province to inquire; our endeavor has been to illustrate the principles, not simply to furnish a history, of art.ESSAY XIV.GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.OTHIC is the term employed to designate a class of archialarge portion of Northern Europe, from the latter part of thetwelfth century until the revival of the classic orders (theGreek and Roman) in the sixteenth.How the term came to be applied to a style of architectureso beautiful in the mass, so delicate and graceful in all itsdetails, and so promotive of a truly religious feeling and sentiment, we are unable to discover. It is said to have been appliedat first by way of reproach by some bigoted admirer of theclassic orders; but, in view of its inappropriateness, it is difficultto conceive why the admirers of this style should have acceptedand continued to use it.The origin of Gothic architecture has given rise to many veryingenious speculations. There are those who maintain that thestyle has been copied directly from nature; that the pointedarches and groins of the vaults were imitated from the overarching branches of trees, and that the stems, or trunks, of theavenue were the originals of the pillars of the Gothic aisles.Others have maintained that the invention of the pointed archwas a mere accident, arising from this form having been observedin the interlacing of the circular arches of the Norman arcade.It has also been stated that the style was imported from theEast, and that the medieval architects had little to do with it.More careful study, however, has dispelled these fanciful ideas,and settled the origin and progress of Gothic architecture onhistorical as well as on internal evidence.To trace Gothic architecture up to its primary elements, weGOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 213should have to go far back in the world's history. As we haveneither space nor inclination for an extended and detailed examination of this matter, suffice it briefly to remark, that itsorigin may be traced by slow degrees from the corruptions introduced by the Romans into Grecian architecture, and especiallyfrom the prevailing use of the arch.Some maintain that there are only two styles of architectureof which we have any knowledge, namely, Greek and Gothic;that these are the two typical styles, and that in them are contained all the elements of which the rest are composed.This is, no doubt, to some extent true, just as it is also truethat all things in nature are derived from a few primaryelements. But as there are many varieties in nature, so thereare many developments of the two typical forms of architecture,- all of which deserve to be classed as styles.-Greek architecture is the type of the trabeated style, that is ,the style whose principal feature is the straight lintel. Gothicis the type of the arcuated style, that is, the style in which thevoids are spanned by arches. Of these typical forms there aremany varieties.-Roman architecture, with its Greek form of decoration andGothic form of construction, — that is, having its exteriorornamented with columns crowned by straight architraves andcornices, and its interior constructed with arches and vaults,was a transition form between them.-In principles and essential characteristics, then, Gothic architecture is the very opposite of Grecian, and also of the Roman,as far as regards the exterior of the latter.As distinguished from both Grecian and Roman, the leadingcharacteristic of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch, as seenin the windows and doorways, sometimes very acute, at othertimes more obtuse.The pillars are made up generally of a cluster of smallercolumns, variously combined, and of different thickness; inwhich they differ from the Greek and Roman column, which isonly a single shaft.In the Gothic, the mouldings, cornices, and capitals are214 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.totally different from the classical, or Greek and Roman, but sovarious and complicated as to defy description, and to be rendered intelligible only by inspection or by very expensive draw-.ings.―Entablatures, which form so important a part in Greek andRoman architecture, entirely disappear in the Gothic, as theuniversal tendency is to the predominance and prolongation ofvertical lines, for instance, in the interior, by continuing theshafts in the mouldings of the arch; and on the exterior, by thespires, and by employing buttresses with strong projection, whichshoot upwards through the cornice and the parapets, and terminate in pinnacles.On the other hand, in Grecian and Roman architecture thetendency is to the predominance and prolongation of horizontallines.In the Gothic, the pitch of the roof is very acute, in correspondence with the lancet form of the windows and doors; inthe Greek, very obtuse, - more so than in the Roman.In the Gothic, the openings are the greatest part of thewalls, and the other part is subordinate. In the Greek andRoman, the reverse is the case.In the Gothic, the elements of building are all slender,detached, repeated, and multiplied; they assume forms implying flexion and ramification. In the Grecian and Roman theyare larger, fewer, and compact, implying solidity, fixedness,durability, and support.Grecian architecture is characterized by simplicity; Gothic,byvariety. The former appears to most advantage when viewednear; the latter when viewed at a distance, and the detail islost in the mass.There is more fixedness in classic than in Gothic architecture; many of the general forms and features of the latterwere continually undergoing important changes in Europe,which resulted in three different styles differently designated indifferent countries.In Great Britain the first style was called the Early English;the second, the Decorated; the third and last, the Perpendicular.GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 215In France, this style received the name of the flamboyant,from the flame- like waving of its tracery.The Early English, the first of the pointed styles, succeededthe Norman towards the end of the twelfth century, and gradually merged into the Decorated at the end of the thirteenth,and this into the Perpendicular during the latter part of thefourteenth century; the whole being superseded by the renewed classic about the middle of the sixteenth century.-It would be out of place in a work like this to attempt togive a description of all the details of these several styles, asthey could not be understood by any one without an extendedand very expensive series of drawings and diagrams, — andcertainly not remembered, however well described, and besides they each have in common the same general characteristic,pointed out in our parallel between classic and Gothic architecture. The framework is the same; the difference is the variation only of certain parts. Suffice it, therefore, to say, that the distinctive mark that divides one style from another is to be foundchiefly in the windows, -as may be seen in our illustration, —not in the general form or outline of the window, so much asin the size and the interior arrangement, and likewise in theamount and nature of the ornament scattered over the entirebuilding.THE EARLY ENGLISH.The windows of this style are long and narrow and without ornament; simplicity being its chief characteristic, particularly of the early stages of it. The windows of this style areeither single or in combination of two, three, five, or seven,the space between them being very small; occasionally they aresurmounted by a large arch embracing the whole group, and thespace between the arch and the tops of the windows is oftenpierced, in the later stages of the style, with what are termedtrefoils or quatrefoils, an aperture in the form of three orfour leaves united, thus forming the commencement oftracery.-216 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.THE DECORATED STYLE.This style exhibits the most perfect development of Gothicarchitecture. The Early English was not sufficiently matured,and the Perpendicular marked its decline. The term employedto designate this style suggests its character as differing fromthe Early English. It is distinguished by its large windows,divided by mullions (small shafts running from the side tothe bottom, or base, of the arch), and tracery either of flowing lines or forming circles and other geometrical figures.The rose circular window belongs to this style, and the squareheaded window is very common. The doorways are also largeand richly ornamented. A few of the doorways are double, butthis is not common in England. A weather-moulding, or dripstone, is generally used over the heads of windows and niches inthis style, the ends of which are supported on corbel- heads, orbosses of foliage.The pillars in this style were either clustered shafts ormoulded, and the capitals were sometimes enriched with foliage.The groined roofs of this style are distinguished from theEarly English by an additional number of ribs, and by thefoliage on the bosses, copied from nature, vine, maple, andoak leaves, and the acorn.In this style there are found sculptured human figures, remarkable for the ease and chasteness of the attitudes, and thefree and graceful folds of the draperies. It is said that fewfigures can surpass in simplicity and beauty the effigy of QueenEllinor in Westminster Abbey.The general appearance of decorated buildings is at oncesimple and magnificent, simple from the small number ofparts, and magnificent from the size of the windows and theeasy flow of the lines of tracery. In the interior of the buildingthere is great breadth, ornament is nowhere spared, and the roofing, from the increased richness of the groining, becomes an objectof attention; but amid all this richness, ornament, and varietythere is a simplicity which is pleasing. Were it not so, therewould be no breadth. York Cathedral is one of the finestWINDOWSCharacterizingthe three Styles ofGothic Architecture.AMM W ALL ANWPERPENDICULAR.EARLY ENGLISH. DECORATED.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 217examples of the Decorated style. This style was first introduced in the time of Edward I., and was in general use in thetime of Edward III.THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.The broad distinction of this style, as seen in the drawing,lies in the form of the tracery in the head of the windows. Itis no longer filled with the graceful flowing lines of the decoratedtracery, but their place is supplied by the rigid lines of the.mullions, which are carried through the architrave mouldings.The spaces between being frequently divided and subdivided bysimilar perpendicular lines, so that perpendicularity is so clearlythe characteristic of these windows that no other word couldhave been found which would at once so well express the predominating feature.The same characteristic prevails throughout the building,the whole flat surface being covered with panelling in whichthe perpendicular line clearly predominates.Another peculiarity of this style is the constant use oftransoms (a bar crossing the mullions of the window at rightangles), and in large windows they are occasionally repeatedseveral times. Still another characteristic is the square arrangement of the mouldings over the lancet-formed doorways,creating a spandrel on each side above the arch, usually ornamented with tracery, foliage, and a shield.The roofs of this style are often made ornamental, and havethe whole of the framing exposed to view. Many of them areof high pitch, and have a very magnificent effect, the spaces between the timbers in the interior being filled with tracery, andthe beams arched and moulded in various ways, and sometimespendants, figures of angels, and other carvings, are introduced.—In the fifteenth century the Perpendicular was the style forevery kind of building, churches, houses, castles, barns, andcottages; many of the Universities at Oxford are of this styleof architecture.In France, and particularly in Normandy, Gothic architecture218 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.was developed by nearly the same steps as in England; but inother parts of the continent it passed more rapidly into theDecorated style, without undergoing any very clearly markedintermediate changeTUDOR STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE."Tudor" is the term employed sometimes to designate thelater Perpendicular style, and the mixed style which sprang upon the decline of pure Gothic.As in the Gothic proper, so in the history of the process ofthis style there were three eras: the Tudor proper of the timeof Henry VII.; the perfected Tudor of the reign of HenryVIII.; and that called Elizabethan, after the English queen ofthat name, because prevalent in her reign.The Tudor style, however, did not originate with the familyof that name, but with the Duke of Burgundy, who first introduced it into France and the Netherlands about the year 1450,and which, spreading into England, was adopted by the Tudorfamily, and took their name.This style was characterized by large halls with elevatedceilings, and exterior breadth and elevation of the generaldesign to harmonize with them. It had small octagonal towerscapped with cupolas in the shape of a bulb or mitred crown,underneath which was a fringe of rich crockets. Between thesetowers there arose tall turrets, finished pinnacle spires, tippedwith golden vanes, a feature of the pointed Gothic; andadded to these arrangements was that useful and charmingaddition so universally adopted in our day, the bay-window.In 1509, in the reign of Henry VIII. , the gateway, so important a feature in castellated architecture, became lofty, andwas crowned with the broad, semi-elliptical, obtuse-pointed arch.The greater breath and height given to the doorways requireda corresponding height and breadth of windows, to relievewhich they were divided by transoms (cross-bars) , while a miniature battlement was added to the exterior. As an additionalornament to the summit of the wall, the chimneys were clusteredGOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 219and raised to the height of the towers, with an embattledcornice; and a notched parapet, still a favorite as a cornice, wasadded to the entire line of the wall.The third era of the style began when, after the reignof Henry VIII. , the prejudice which had excluded Italianartists began to die out. Early in this period the Dutchpainter Holbein came to England. His Italian associationsand culture led him to throw his influence in favor of classicand against Gothic architecture. Being only a painter, thatinfluence was not great; still it gave a tendency to the publictaste in that direction, which tendency was increased by thereturn about this time from Italy of an English architect, InigoJones, who, having brought home from that country, the veryyear of its publication, Palladio's new treatise on Architecture,contributed largely, till his death in 1562, to foster the taste forthat mingled Grecian, Roman, Gothic, and Tudor style whichprevailed in England from about the middle of the fifteenth tonear the close of the sixteenth century, and which afterwardsreceived the name ofTHE ELIZABETHAN STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE.Since Henry VIII.'s time, as we have seen, the castlesnewly erected had been furnished with halls, surmounted withlofty ceilings, with high-pitched rafters of unpainted oak andchestnut, supported by brackets; at the upper end some largehexagonal bay-windows reached from the floor to the ceilings,and opened into the court below, while on the sides of the hallwere large galleries lined with oak, having their walls adornedwith carved tablets, scrolls, and escutcheons, and crowned withwide cornices ornamented with oak carvings in high-relief, andinterspersed with grotesque figures. These crude and grotesquefigures were modified in the Elizabethan style by the introduction of classic forms, and by the change of curved and scrollpanels into the straight and angular forms of rectangles andtriangles, thus giving a mongrel aspect to the whole that failsto satisfy the admirers either of the Gothic or the classic.220 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.ItLOUIS THE FOURTEENTH STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE.This, like the Elizabethan, is a mixed style of architecture,and is best illustrated in the now existing Palace at Versailles.may also, like that, be regarded as a transition to the classic.It introduced a basement with circular arches and squarepilasters, while the main story above had Roman porticos, withGrecian triangular and Roman circular pediments and alsoRoman corridors. To these decided Roman features, with richIonic and Corinthian columns, was added the scroll-work of theTudor, sometimes also the pinnacles of the Gothic; and aboveall, as a crowning feature, the roof of double slope, calledMansard after a French architect of that name, the inventor,whose graceful curves are now so frequently repeated in ourstructures both public and private.While these changes were going on in Western Europe, Italyretained the features of the Roman arcade style, specimens ofwhich may be seen in the Palace of the Grand Duke atFlorence, and the Farnese Palace at Rome, chiefly the work of Michael Angelo. Had it fallen within the limits of our plan,it would have been interesting to have briefly examined thearchitectural works of Italy of that period, and especially thoseconnected with the name of one so renowned as Michael Angelo.Nor would it have afforded us less pleasure to have added something to our very limited view of Gothic architecture in relationto its peculiar adaptedness for religious, educational, and private, and consequently its inappropriateness for commercialpurposes; but we must leave the discussion of that subject toothers, and close this essay with a few remarks on4MODERN ARCHITECTURE.And those not in disparagement of it, for although it developsno new principle, it has made and is constantly making newcombinations, often very beautiful, exhibiting great powers ofinvention and the highest æsthetic taste. Especially is this tobe remarked of our domestic architecture, as contrasted withwhich all that we know upon the subject will not permit us forGOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 221a moment to suppose that what the ancients did in this department will bear any comparison; and in support of this opinionwe have only to point to the many palatial residences everywhereto be seen in both town and country, to say nothing of themagnificent stores and warehouses constantly erected in ourlarge cities.In our public buildings we have not always been successful.Not unfrequently are they marked by incongruity and incompleteness; or, if the plans of the architects are good, they arenot unfrequently ruined by an injudicious selection of thesite the building is to occupy, a point, we fear, but too littleconsidered in modern architectural arrangements; or, if notlost sight of by the architect, yet entirely neglected, or thoughtof no importance whatever, by his employer.―Old Mr. West (Sir Benjamin West) used to say that after hehad done what color and the brush could do for his painting, itwas not finished until he could find a proper place and light inwhich to exhibit it.A building may appear ever so perfect on paper, yet, if it isnot so located as to present to the eye during some part of theday, and at the usual distance at which we view it, the samelines and lights and shadows as those on the architectural plan,disappointment in a greater or less degree must follow, for wedo not get that which we promised ourselves.The selection of a site for their public edifices was a pointmost studiously considered by the Greeks; and the height ofthe surrounding buildings rarely, if ever, exceeded a singlestory. There can be no doubt that much of the admirationwith which their great works were viewed was owing to thejudicious manner in which they were located.In modern times we sometimes hear of a State House orsome great public building erected " in exact imitation of theParthenon. " The Parthenon was the crowning glory of a loftyhill, like all the public edifices of ancient Greece, overtoppingall its surroundings. Its twin brother - that which was toastonish the world by the towering majesty of its form and thebeauty of its proportions occupies a small low lot in a narrow-222 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.and confined street of a city, its background being, perhaps,a seven-storied grocery, and the nearest view of the horizonobtained by a look up the chimney. "The Legislative Committee on Buildings " (to whom such things are generally intrusted) were doubtless delighted when it was completed, andastonished at their imagined success; but the architect was disappointed, and all persons of taste, as they passed, laughed,and why? It was the eagle, near neighbor to the sun, " comedown to be companion to the goose.16A gentleman of means and taste has somewhere seen abeautiful dwelling-house, and designs to have one erected"exactly like it . ” He gets a drawing and building- plan of thesame from a competent architect, but says nothing of the formof the ground on which it is to be located, whether on a hill orin a valley, in the city or the country; nor could he, for he hascome to no decision regarding it. The building, howeyer, goesup somewhere, but it does not realize the beauty of theoriginal, and why? It is either placed too high or too low,too far off or too near the eye, and the general contour, oroutline, is very different from that of the elevation by thearchitect; or it does not face the same point of the compassthat the original did, that looking to the south, this to the' north, — and, as a necessary consequence, the lights and shadowswhich brought out and gave so much breadth, beauty, andeffect to the cornices and projecting ornaments of the first arewanting in the last, and the whole is flat, unmeaning, andinsipid.-These mistakes in architectural arrangements are constantlyoccurring, and as they are frequent causes of disappointmentthey cannot be overstated. With a little foresight the evilmight be avoided. To know the true nature of a disease isthe first step towards the cure of it. To fully appreciate andenjoy all that is worthy of admiration in art, one should notonly be acquainted with the sources of its beauties, but likewiseknow the causes of its real and apparent defects.CONCLUSION.INN accordance with what was stated in our Preface, we haveendeavored in the preceding pages to bring within the reachof the common intellect a general knowledge of those principlesof truth and beauty which lie at the foundation of all the elegantarts.. Of the imperfect manner in which our task has been performed we certainly are not unconscious. Of the value of awork, however, in which the contemplated design shall havebeen successfully carried out, we apprehend there can be butlittle difference of opinion, in view of the little knowledge thereis in this country, and, we may add, in England also, of what isrequired to constitute a great work of art, and that, too, not onlyamong the uneducated classes, but likewise among those ofgreater culture and refinement; and the evidence of it is to befound in the high prices paid for, and the high encomiums sofrequently lavished, both by people and press, upon productions of inferior merit, whilst those possessing far higher, thoughless obtrusive qualities, attract no purchasers, and excite but littleattention. So impressed have some of the friends of art in England been with this melancholy truth, that a society has beenformed there, whose business it is to diffuse information, andguide the public judgment to a right estimate, and consequentreward of true merit.It has been justly said that the advance of art in any countrydepends not more upon the artist himself than upon those whopatronize him. "If the patron have not a high enlightenedstandard, the artist will have a low one, the demand regulatingthe supply in this as in other business transactions. If thehigher and more wealthy classes are enlightened on these sub-224 CONCLUSION.Pjects, the tone and feeling of those who practise the arts will beraised to an incalculable extent; if the reverse of this, they willbe lowered. Had Pericles or Leo X. not been familiar withthe processes and exigencies of art, the arts of their respective ages would never have risen to the elevation that marksthem. "It is not alone among the patrons of art and the communityat large, however, that we are to seek for a drawback on itsadvance; another, no less powerful, presents itself in the wantof education, thorough and profound, of the artist himself, andespecially in that constituent portion of the art called drawing,or design, in its relation to the human figure; and it is much tobe feared that the increasing appropriation of the daguerreotypeto the purpose by artists has much diminished the chances ofimprovement in this respect.It has always been the case, both in this country and in England, that sufficient attention has not been given to learning theelementary parts of the arts. We begin to color before wecan draw; the consequence of which is, that there are comparatively few English or American artists who can delineate theentire human form correctly, even when in repose, certainly notwhen acted upon by the affections and passions. There are, ofcourse, striking exceptions to this, but the remark, as a generalthing, is correct. ' Hence the multiplicity of a class of paintings where gradations and contrasts of color and light andshade produce picturesque effects that attract and please,and, exhibiting more feeling than thought, find appreciativeadmirers."66France and Germany have hitherto produced good draughtsmen; but we much fear that even in those countries there aretokens of coming degeneracy, for whoever critically examinestheir best and most intricate compositions will find that they arefrequently but colored photographs, camera transcripts, in whichthe hand has as little to do as the head, and the heart less,the anatomy of furniture and dress giving evidence of thatintense study which the great masters of the past bestowedupon the anatomy of the human form, the passions, the mindCONCLUSION. 225and expression. We have recently heard it stated, but we donot vouch for its correctness, that even Messonier, one of themost popular, as he certainly in his department is one of thebest, ofthe many good French artists, has employed the cameraas an assistant in his labors, and hence the wonderful effects insome of his productions. This, if true, does not detract fromthe intrinsic merits of his designs, but it does from the reputedability of the author. And, on the other hand, we hear thatanother French artist, Doré, still more remarkable as a designerthan Messonier (whatever may be his merits as a colorist) , is assuccessful with the knife of the surgeon as with the crayon of thedraughtsman, having been for a long period a devoted studentand practitioner at the dissecting-table.If this be so, our admiration lessens as we look upon theefforts of the first; but it increases, and with it our respect, aswe gaze upon the productions of the last.With what feelings of contempt would the Angelos and theRaphaels of the past age have looked upon the machine drawings of the present; and with what humiliation must thoseartists who appropriate them as a labor-saving process lookupon themselves when they think of the vast erudition of thefathers and great masters of the art, many of whom were themost learned men of the day, with the most profound knowledge, not only of everything pertaining to their own profession,but of almost every other outside of their art; they were thegreat men of their age, - men who would have stood foremost inany situation they were called upon to fill, or any professionthey chose to follow, or any art they were disposed to practise,men who did not grope their way in the dark, tremblingly anddoubtfully, but who went on confidently, saw the end fromthe beginning, and followed the best and only road by which toreach it, that road which every true artist must now followif he would elevate himself and his profession to the position towhich both art and artist are justly entitled.--Excellence in art always implies labor in the preparation forit; and if that labor is bestowed rightly, there is no reason whywe, with increased knowledge on the part of both artist and15226 CONCLUSION.people, looking back to the already developed principles oftruth, and applying those truths to new combinations, may not,in due time, inspired by the spirit of our free institutions,succeed in imparting a " fresh progressive vitality to the artswhich shall clothe the land with a beauty that shall surpass allwhich has gone before, and furnish means for improvement tothe ages that shall succeed us. ”TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE.ARCHITRAVE. - The lowest division of the entablature, in classic architecture, resting immediately on the abacus, or upper section of the capital.ASTRAGAL. - A small semicircular moulding or bead, sometimes calleda roundel.BARGEBOARD or VERGEBOARD.the roof extends over the wall.-Aboard generally used on gables, whereBRACKET. - A support for shelves, busts, etc. , placed against a wall.BUTTRESS. A projection running from , the ground to the roof, on theoutside of a building, to give additional strength to the wall.―CANOPY. - An ornamental projection over a door in Gothic architecture.CARYATIDES. - A name given to human figures employed, instead ofcolumns, to support an entablature, as in the Erectheum at Athens.CAVETTO. A concave moulding of one quarter of a circle.CEILING. -The under side of the roof of a room.CINCTURE. The fillet or band at each end of a shaft of a classical column, which is placed next to the apophyge.COPING. -the weather.The covering course of a wall, generally sloping to throw offCORBEL. - A term peculiar to Gothic architecture, denoting a projectingstone or timber to support a superincumbent weight.CRYPT. A cell under a church.CYMA. An undulating moulding, of which there are two kinds, onecalled cyma recta, the other cyma reversa, generally known as the ogee.DADO. -- The body of a pedestal, or the square block between the base moulding and the cornice.DENTILS. -Small square blocks resembling teeth, used in Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite cornices.DIASTYLE. A term employed to designate a temple where the distancebetween the columns is equal to three diameters of the shaft.DORMER WINDOW. - A window with a gable on a sloping roof.228 TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE.DRIPSTONE. - A water-table to conduct off the rain and prevent its running down the outer walls.ENTABLATURE. The superstructure that lies horizontally on the columns in classic architecture, and is divided into three parts, the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.-EUSTYLE. A term employed to designate a temple where the columnsare set two and a quarter diameters apart.FAÇADE.― A French term for the exterior front of a building.FAN- TRACERY. - Vaulting in late " perpendicular work " in which allthe ribs, which rise from the springing of the vault, have the same curveand diverge equally in every direction.FILLET.FINIAL.or pediments.A small moulding, in the form of a band.The bunch of foliage which terminates pinnacles, canopies,FLAMBOYANT STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE.- - A style which takes itsname from the flame- like waving of its tracery, prevalent in France andcontemporary with the " perpendicular style " in England.FOIL-ARCH. An arch formed of a series of small arches. -FOLIATION. - -A series of small arches, covered by a large arch spanningthe whole.FRIEZE. - The middle division of an entablature, always plain in theTuscan order; in the Doric it has slight flat projections at intervals, inwhich are cut three flutes, called triglyphs; the intervals between thetriglyphs are called metopes, which are enriched with figures or foliage.GABLE. - A term sometimes employed to designate the entire end of awall in building, when the upper portion corresponds to the form of theroof; but properly it only applies to that section of it above the cornice.The term is not used in classic architecture, as the ends of roofs whenmade in this way are called pediments.GLYPH. - - The perpendicular fluting in the Doric frieze.HOOD- MOULDINGS. -Dripstones.IMPOST. – The point of junction between an arch and its piers.INTERCOLUMNIATION. --The distance between two columns.KEYSTONE. The central stone at the top of an arch.LINTEL. - A piece of timber or stone placed horizontally over a doorway or window, or other opening through a wall, to support a superincumbent wall.LOGGIA. A covered space, the sides of which are opened to the air.METOPES. -The space between the triglyphs, on the frieze of the Doric order.TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE. 229MODILLION. -A projecting bracket, under the corona of the Corinthianand Composite, and sometimes of the Ionic order.MOULDINGS. — A general term applied to all varieties of outline or contour of the subordinate parts or features of a building, such as cornices,capitals, bases, door or window jambs. The regular mouldings in classicarchitecture are the fillet, or list; the astragal, or bead; the cyma recta(a round and a hollow undulating moulding); the cyma reversa ( the samemoulding reversed) , or ogee; the cavetto, or hollow; the ovolo, or quarterround; the scotia (a hollow moulding); the torus, a half round.MULLION. In Gothic architecture the slender pier or shaft that formsthe division between the lights of windows.MUTULE. A slightly projecting block worked under the corona of theDoric cornice, in the same situation as the modillions in the Corinthianand Composite orders, usually having a small number of guttæ, or drops,worked on the under side.NECK-MOULDING. - The ring- like moulding that separates the capitalfrom the shaft.OCTOSTYLE. -- A term employed to designate a temple having eightcolumns in front.ORIEL. - In Gothic architecture a term anciently applied to a littleroom at the upper end of the great hall, where stood a square or round table.At the present day it designates a recess and large bay-window, by whichit is characterized, and which either rests upon the ground or is supportedby a corbel or bracket.PEDESTAL. -- A substructure sometimes placed under columns, in classicarchitecture, and consisting of a base, the dado, die, or shaft, and a corniceon which rests the column.PEDIMENT. The triangular termination in classic architecture at theends of buildings, or that portion formed by the pitch of the roof abovetheentablature. Anciently it was called the tympanum. It corresponds tothe gable in Gothic architecture. The term is also applied to smallgables, and triangular decorations over doors, windows, and niches.PENDANT. A hanging ornament much used in ceilings and roofs inGothic architecture.PENTHOUSE. —An open shed or covering over a door, window, or flightof steps, to protect it from the weather.PERISTYLE. A court, square, or cloister in classic architecture, with acolonnade around it; also the colonnade itself.PIAZZA. —An open area or square surrounded with buildings.PIER.bridge.--A wall between two windows; the two legs of an arch, as in a230 TERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE.PILASTER. -A slightly elevated or raised column attached to the wallsof a building, generally square, but sometimes round, forming the segment of a circle.PILLAR. - Same as column, but now generally applied to medievalarchitecture, and some other styles, while column, since the revival ofclassic architecture, is wholly appropriated to the latter.PINNACLE. - In medieval architecture any small structure that risesabove the roof of a building, or that caps a buttress.PLINTH. -A square member, which forms the lower portion of thebase of a column; also the plain projecting face at the bottom of a wall.PORTICO. In its modern acceptation, a range of columns forming aporch in front of a building; that in front is called the pronaos, by somewriters, to distinguish it from that at the opposite end.PROPYLEUM.ing.-A portico, court, or vestibule before the gates of a buildPSEUDO-DIPTERAL. -A term employed to designate a temple havingcolumns all around, but with those at the sides attached to the walls.PTERONIA. ―- The space between the walls of the cell or body of thetemple and the columns of the peristyle.QUADRANGLE.cloister.--A square or court surrounded by buildings, as in aQUATREFOIL. A term applied to a small opening of any shape, whichis feathered with four leaves or flowers.QUOINS. The external angle of a building.RELIEF. —Projection given to carved work which, when high, is calledalto- rilievo; when low, bas- rilievo.RESPOND. - - In medieval architecture, a half pillar or pier, attached toa wall, to support an arch.ROSE-WINDOW. A circular window.RUSTIC WORK. This term is applied to designate that portion ofmasonry where the walls are worked with grooves or channels, sometimesin the form of a square block.SECTION. -The representation of a building cut in two vertically, to show the interior.SPAN OF AN ARCH. -The breadth of the opening.SPANDREL. - A triangular space included between the arch of a doorway and a rectangle formed by an outer moulding over it .SPLAY. The expansion given to windows and doorways by slantingthe sides.SQUINT. An opening through the wall of a church, in an obliqueTERMS USED IN ARCHITECTURE. 231direction, to enable persons in the transepts to see the elevation of the host.SUBBASE.TRACERY.TRANSEPT.choir.--The upper moulding, or cornice of a pedestal.- The working of the top part of windows into several forms.--The cross portion of a cathedral between the nave andTRANSOM. A horizontal mullion or cross- bar of a window.TREFOIL. An ornamental feathering or foliation in the tops of windows, in Gothic architecture, in which the space between the cusps represents the form of a three- lobed leaf.TRIGLYPH. --A slight square elevation in the Doric frieze, between themetopes, with three flutings.TUDOR- FLOWER. ―- A flower placed upright on its stalks, in perpendicular Gothic work, as crest, or ornamental finishing on a cornice.- TURRET. A small tower or large pinnacle, often placed at the anglesof buildings to increase their strength.TYMPANUM..-The triangular space between the horizontal and slopingcornices on the front of a pediment; also used to designate the space between the door and the arch over it.VAULT. -An arched ceiling; when vaults intersect each other at rightangles, it is called groining.- VIGNETTE. A running ornament, consisting of leaves and tendrils,frequently used in Gothic architecture on hollow mouldings and casements.VOLUTE. A spiral scroll, forming a characteristic of the Ionic capital,also used in the Corinthian and composite orders.WATER- TABLE. -A horizontal set- off in a wall sloped at the top tothrow off the water from the exterior of the building.CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ARTTO WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE IN THIS VOLUME.The Last Judgment.MICHAEL ANGELO.FRESCOS.Forming of the World from Chaos.Creation of Adam.Creation of Eve.Eating of the Forbidden Fruit.Expulsion from Paradise.Raising of Lazarus.The Dream of Human Life.The Deluge.Scene between Noah and his Sons.The Brazen Serpent.Mordecai and Haman.Judith and Holofernes.The Sibyls and Prophets.OIL PAINTINGS.The Battle of Pisa.RAPHAEL.FRESCOS.School of Athens.Blood- Stained Wafer.Overthrow of Heliodorus.Vision of Constantine.Burning of the Borgo.Dispute on the Sacrament.Transfiguration.Madonna de la Seggiola.La belle Jardinière.Defeat of Attila.Rout of Maxentius.Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison.Constantine receiving the Crownfrom the Pope.OIL PAINTINGS.Madonna del Sisto.Angel Raphael.Julius II.PAINTED IN DISTEMPER.Donation of the Keys to St. Peter.Death of Ananias.Miraculous Draught.Sacrifice at Lystra.Elymas struck Blind.The Beautiful Gate.The Resurrection.The Ascension.Paul at Athens.CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART. 233CORREGGIO.FRESCOS.Assumption of the Virgin.OIL PAINTINGS.Del Notte (the Nativity) .Reclining, or Reading, Magdalen.Ecce Homo.Christ's Agony the Garden.Marriage of St. Catherine.TITIAN.The Entombment.Christ Scourged.Venus.Danaë.Bacchus and Ariadne.OIL PAINTINGS.Cæsar Borgia.Machiavelli.Paulo III.Peter Martyr.Bunch of Grapes.DA VINCI.OIL PAINTINGS.Last Supper.Battle of the Standard .Marriage at Cana.Finding of Moses.Head of Judas.Mona Lisa.PAUL VERONESE.OIL PAINTINGS.Madonna.REMBRANDT.OIL PAINTINGS.Woman accused in the Synagogue.Christ Scourged.Crucifixion.Nativity.Appearance to the Shepherds.ANNABILE CARACCI.OIL PAINTING.The Resurrection.TINTORETTO.OIL PAINTING.The Crucifixion.234 CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART.Rebecca at the Well.Descent from the Cross.CARLO MARATTI.Fall of the Condemned.Gallery of the Luxembourg.OIL PAINTINGS.Madonna and Cherubs.RUBENS.OIL PAINTINGS.Grotius, Memmius, Lepsius, and Rubens.NICHOLAS POUSSIN.OIL PAINTINGS.The Deluge.The Finding of Moses.SCHIDONI.OIL PAINTING.Charity.SALVATOR ROSA.OIL PAINTINGS.The Devil tormenting St. Antony.Morning.Noon.Evening.Rich Man and Lazarus.Interior of an Inn. Smokers.Landscape, with Banditti.CLAUDE.OIL PAINTINGS.Night.Rustic Landscape.TENIERS.OIL PAINTINGS.Witch coming from Hell with aLapful of Charms.VAN DYCK.OIL PAINTING.A Child.CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART. 235GREUZE.OIL PAINTING.Cottage Girl.HOGARTH.Marriage à la Mode.Rake's Progress.Industry and Idleness.OIL PAINTINGS.Paul before Felix.Garrick as Richard III.SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.Caldron Scene in Macbeth.Mrs. Siddons, as Tragic Muse.Banished Lord.OIL PAINTINGS.General Eliott (Lord Heathfield) .Calypso.Dr. Johnson.Commodore Keppel.Sterne.Female Portraits.SIR BENJAMIN WEST.Death upon the Pale Horse.Christ healing the Sick.Death of the Stag.Battle of La Hogue.Death of Chatham.Battle of the Sabines.Coronation of Napoleon.OIL PAINTINGS.The Institution of the Garter.Return of Regulus.Death of Wolfe.Christ before Pilate.The Last Supper.COPLEY.OIL PAINTING.Sortie from Gibraltar.DAVID.OIL PAINTINGS.Assassination of Marat by CharlotteCorday.Cain meditating the Death of Abel.FUSELI.OIL PAINTING.The Nightmare.236 CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART.Battle of Bunker's Hill.TRUMBULL.OIL PAINTING.Death of Montgomery.SULLY.OIL PAINTING.Washington crossing the Delaware.DE LA ROCHE.OIL PAINTINGS.Cromwell looking into the Coffin of Marquis of Stafford led out to ExeCharles I. cution.GILBERT STUART NEWTON.Lear, Kent, and Cordelia.McHeath in Prison.Falstaff in the Clothes- Basket.Duncan Gray.Rent- Day.Blind Fiddler.Pandemonium.Belshazzar's Feast.OIL PAINTINGS.TheVicar of Wakefield and Daughter.Shylock and Jessica.Petrarch and Laura.WILKIE.OIL PAINTINGS.Letter of Introduction.Cut Finger.MARTIN.OIL PAINTINGS.Satan addressing his Legions.Departure of the Israelites.LESLIE.OIL PAINTINGS.The Feast at Ford's House (Merry Mary Queen of Scots refusing the Wives of Windsor).Titania's Court.Roman Lady.Crown.ALLSTON.OIL PAINTINGS.Prophet Jeremiah.Jews' Heads.CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART. 237DANBY.OIL PAINTING.Opening of the Sixth Seal.HAYDON.OIL PAINTING.Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem.DUBEUF.OIL PAINTING.Adam and Eve.View of New York.GIRODET.OIL PAINTING.The Deluge.BARTLETT.WATER- COLORED SKETCHES.View of a Gentleman's Country Seat.CHURCH.OIL PAINTING.View of Niagara Falls.BIERSTADT.OIL PAINTING.Views in California.Parthenon.Erectheum.Temple of Jupiter Tonans.Temple of Jupiter Status.Temple of Ephesus.Coliseum .ARCHITECTURE.Pantheon.St. Peters.St. Paul.Obelisk.Pyramid.Monument of Lysecrates.238 CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART.Westminster Abbey.Greek Orders of Architecture.Moses.Day.Jupiter Olympus .Roman Orders of Architecture.Gothic Windows.MODERN SCULPTURE.MICHAEL ANGELO.Night.Dead Christ.BALL HUGHES.Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman.THOM.Tam O'Shanter.ANTIQUE SCULPTURE.Minerva AtheneBellerephon and PegasusThe Sculptures of the ParthenonThe Colossus of the SunApollo Belvedere .Venus de Medici .Juno .Cupid and PsycheHermaphroditus Ceres Eleusine .Flora . .Reposing FaunLaocoön .Phidias.Phidias.Phidias.Phidias •{andOthers.Chares.Uncertain.Cleomenes.Unknown.Unknown.Polycletus.Unknown.Unknown.Praxiteles.Agesander.Polydorus.Athenodorus.Unknown.Unknown.Unknown.Naucydes.Dying Gladiator Ariadne .Lycian or Young ApolloDiscobulus in ReposeDiscobulus in ActionVenus of CnidusVenus of CosMyron.Praxiteles.Praxiteles.CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF ART. 239Doryphorus, or Lance- Bearer ·Hercules and TelaphusMask of JupiterPolycletus.Unknown.Phidias.Venus of the Capitol Praxiteles..Venus Aphrodita ."Niobe and her Children .Sacrificator .Richelieu BacchusThe Hunting DianaCupid bending his BowThe Muses .Diana discharging an ArrowThe Barberini FaunMenanderAlcamenes.Scopas.Unknown.Unknown.Unknown.Praxiteles.Unknown.Probably by Cleomenus.Unknown.Unknown.Posidippus Unknown.•Hercules FarneseVenus of MiloThe Graces .The Boxers .SophoclesDemosthenesGlycon.Unknown.Unknown.Unknown.Unknown.Unknown.

GENERAL INDEX.A.Addison , remarks by, on the inventive power of man, 48; reflections by, on the forms of the arch, the dome, and the rain- bow, 120.Aerial Perspective , definition of, 91; its op- eration in causing objects in a painting to appear near or remote, 92; evils resulting from the neglect of, 92.Agassiz, his theory of the creation of man,3, 4.Alison, his theory of beauty, 5, 6.Allegoric Painting, description and example of, 30.Allegoric and Historic Painting, example and description of, 39, 40.Allston, Washington, Court of Titania,"by, 50, 51; remarks by, on his study of a" Jew's Head," 68; his paintings of " The Prophet Jeremiah " and " Dante's Bea- trice ," 74; anecdote of, in connection with the English Royal Academy Exhibition , 103.Amazon, statue of, 171.Andrews, Joseph, engravings by, in this volume; his rank as a plate engraver, ix.Andrew, John, wood engraver; architec- tural engravings by, in this volume.Angels, composition of in Art, 49.Angel Raphael, engraving of, by Raphael,description of, xxix .Apollo Belvedere and Venus de Medici, statues of, 172, 173; use to be made of them in theory of personal beauty, 2, 3; the ac- cepted standard of form and reasons why so regarded, 2, 8; objection to their being so regarded , 8, 9, 10; in a certain sense ideal yet natural , 8; types of general beauty, 11; Reynolds's theory in regard to their beauty, 12; Walker's theory , 12, 13;what much of their beauty results from,19, 20; proportions of, 16; comparative beauty of, 20.Apollo, the Lycian statue of, 176.Architecture, introductory remarks on, 183;the term defined , and class of buildings to which applied , 183; Egyptian architecture ,185; Grecian , from page 185 to 206; Ro- man, from 206 to 212; Gothic, from page 212 to 218; Tudor, Elizabethan , and Louis the Fourteenthstyles , from page 218 to 220;modern architecture, 220, 221, 222.Ariadne, statue of, 176.Arts, division of, into useful and fine, 184;evils resulting therefrom , 185.Ascension , the cartoon of the, by Raphael, 59.Athens, The School of painting by Ra- phael in the Vatican , 30; its deficiency in general light and shadow, 80.Athens, the Acropolis of, 197, 198, 199.B.Barberini Faun, statue of, 180.Beauty, Personal, essay on , from page 1 to 25; its principles little understood and reasons why, 1; theory of, to be presented in this essay , 2; various theories of the origin of man, 4; various theories of beau- ty, 5; writers on , divided into classes and the essential difference between them, 5;the essential quality of beauty and deform- ity, 7; a standard of beauty, 7, 8; argu- ments for and against one, 8, 9; claim of the Apollo Belvedere and Venus de Medici to be considered standards , 8; objections to such claim made and answered , 8 , 9, 10;what the sculptors aimed at in those stat- ues , 11; beauty divided into classes, and types of each , 11, 12 national and family peculiarities of structure, 10; Reynolds's theory of ideal beauty, 12; Walker's sim- plification of that theory, 12, 13; synopsis of points considered in first portion of essay on beauty , 13, 14; elements of beauty, 14; proportion, 15, 16; symmetry,16, 17; simplicity, 17; variety , 18 , 19:line of beauty, 18; persons who cannot be perfectly beautiful, 19; at what age the most beautiful , 19; violent passion de- structive to beauty , 20; lines that char- acterize beauty and deformity , 20; the most beautiful sex, 20; a good complex- ion , 20 , 21; comparative beauty of the white and black races , 21; portion of the human family most distinguished for beauty, and the reasons for it , 22, 23;great beauty sometimes under adverse cir cumstances, 23, 24; difference between natural and artificial causes affecting beauty, 24.Bell, Sir Charles , surgeon and anatomist,his criticism on the figure of Lazarus , in the painting of" The Raising of Lazarus,"which forms one of the illustrations of this volume, xxx.16242 GENERAL INDEX.Bell, John, the great English sculptor,his remarks on the figure of Lazarus, xxx.Bellerophon and Pegasus, group of, 171 .Borgo, The Burning ofthe, an illustration of dramatic painting, 35, 36.Boxers, group of, 181 .Bramante, first architect of St. Peters , 116;his advice to the Pope to employ Michael Angelo to adorn the Sistine Chapel , 116.Breadth, as an element of the picturesque,78 why it is always agreeable, 80; should characterize all the constituent parts of the arts , 97; one of the characteristics of Michael Angelo's style , 121; also of Rem- brandt's, 78 , and Correggio's, 134.Buonarotti, Michael Angelo , from page 114 to 122. His native city, birth, parentage,first teacher and first patron , 115; his first visit to Rome and employment there , 115 ,116; his great cartoon of " The Battle of Pisa " and its influence on art, 115; his return to Florence, and employment by the city , 115, 116; his second visit to Rome and the object of it , 116; builds the dome of St. Peters , 116; paints the Sistine Chapel, 116 , 117; his ignorance, at that time, of painting, 117; paints but few pic- tures in oil , 117; the prominent features of his system, 118; what is required for afull appreciation of him, 119 analysis of the features of his system, 118 , 119 , 120 ,121; his system of design objected to and those objections considered , 122; impres- sions made by his works, 122.Burial-places of the five great masters , 133.Burke, Edmund, reported reason for his fail- ing to impress the House of Commons on the trial of Warren Hastings , 100; his re- marks on lines characteristic of idiocy ,19, 20.Byron, Lord, stanza by, on Greece, 139;lines by, on the Dying Gladiator , 175.C.Caracci, The, found the second Bologna or eclectic school, 135 Cartoons, The. The term defined , 40; what paintings the term " the cartoons " desig- nates, and by whom and for what purpose painted , 40; their numbers, subjects , and great excellence , 40 .Catalogue of paintings criticised or simply referred to in this volume, also of works of sculpture and architecture , 232.Ceres Eleusine, statue of, described , 174 Chatham , Lord. The painting of " thedeath of," by Copley, an illustration of historical painting , 37 , 38, 39.Chiaro- Oscuro, essay on, from page 75 to 87;the term defined , and its uses pointed out, 75; the influences of light and dark- ness both in the natural world and the world of art, 75 , 76; how the mind gets to be impressed with the ideas of near- ness , distance, and space , in both nature and art , 77 particular light and shadow ,78; general light and shadow, and their value in producing breadth and pictu- resque effect, 78; paintings illustrating the value of a general light and shade, 78,79; not always best to represent objectswith the lights and shades under which we view them, 80; nor enough that the lights and shadows in a painting are true, 80, 81; a selected light and shade, its superiority, 81 , curious means sometimes adopted to justify it , 81; a general light and shadow not destructive of the par- ticular light and shadow of objects , 81;nor does it reject contrasts , 81; place for the highest and principal light in a paint- ing, 82; comparative size and number of lights and their relation to each other , 82;correspondence between the chiaro-oscuro and the sentiment of the subject , and ex- amples of, 83 , 84; difficult to adjust a se- lected light and shadow, 83; an invented or selected light and shadow a compara- tively new invention , 85; by whom first employed for breadth and picturesque ef- fect , 85; by whom extended , 86; Michael Angelo's and Raphael's chiaro-oscuro, 85 ,86; Correggio's and Rembrandt's chiaro- oscuro compared, 86; remarkable effects of it in the works of the latter , 87.Christ scourged, painting by Titian , artful arrangement of the colors in , 90, 91.Cimabue, one of the early painters and founders of the art, 135.Circassians, remarkable for beauty, and reasons for it , 22, 23.Coliseum , its architectural features , a type of the Roman style, 209.Colossus of the Sun , statue of the , 172.Color, essay on, from page 88 to 110;its rank and importance as a constitu- ent portion of painting, 88; terms em- ployed in discourses on, 89 , 90; peculiar influences of different colors , 90; the dis- position of them as regulated by those influences, 90; exceptional employment of them , 90 , 91; evil arising from a neg- lect of the law of influences , 91; as affected by the highest light and deepest shadow, 92; harmony of colors , how pro- duced , 92 , 93 , 94; breadth of color, how produced , 94 , 95, 96; great value of breadth,95, 96, 97; continuity of, 96, 97; corre- spondence between the hues employed and the sentiment of the subject , 97 , 98, 99;analogy between language , music, and color , 99 , 100; the eye governed by the same law as the ear, 101; evils resulting from neglect of a correspondence between color and the sentiment of the subject ,101 popularerrors in regard to what con.stitutes good coloring , 102; too great re- lief, 102; glare , its cause and defects , 103;high finish , mistaken notions regarding it ,104, 105 , 106 three different modes of coloring, 104; the best method , 105; the different styles of the five great masters ,105, 106, 107; Newton as a colorist , 107 ,108; why Reynolds failed to discover Titian's mode of coloring , 108 , 109; where it is to be found , 110.Columbus discovers America, but does not give it a name , 147 , 148.Complexion, color of the most beautiful,21; why the white race is more beautiful than the black and red , 21.Composite Order, description of, 206, 207;Friart's remarks on, 207.GENERAL INDEX. 243Composition, essay on, from page 54 to 61;the term defined and illustrated , 54, 55 under what heads to be considered, 54;the first object aimed at in a composi.tion , 54; inherent beauty of lines , 54;every portion of a composition more or less characterized by variety , 55; this variety to be restricted and regulated by the sentiment of the subject, 56; exam.ples illustrating this in the old Greek sculptures , 56; established principles of expression in man affecting composi- tion , 57; these natural principles recog- nized in the works of Raphael, 57; ex- amples where those principles are neglected and evils resulting therefrom , 58; the two lost cartoons, " The Resurrection " and " The Ascension," remarkable examples of a correspondence between the composition of the picture and the sentiment of the subject, 58, 59; " The Marriage at Cana,"by Paul Veronese, a striking exception to it , 59, 60; how Raphael and Da Vinci would have treated it, 60.Compromise, the point of excellence , where found, 23.Conclusion , from page 223 to 226.Congruity, the laws of, 11 , 15.Constituent Portions of Painting, their num- ber and names , 44.Copley, his painting of " The Death of Chatham," 37, 38; his high rank as apainter and thorough-bred gentleman,38, 39.Corinthian Order, description of, 190, 191;by whom invented , 200; compared with the Doric , 201.Correggio, from page 132 to 136; but little known of his early history , 132; his life where chiefly passed , 132, 133; his igno- rance of contemporary painters of emi- nence, 133; his birth, marriage, death,and place of burial , 133; characteristics of his style, 134, 135; what he did for the growth of art , 134; in what his superiority consists , 134; compared with Rembrandt,86, 87.Cupid bending his Bow , statue of, 179.Cupid and Psyche , group of, 173.D.Danae, painting of, by Titian , 129.Danby, English painter, an imitator in some respects of Martin , but much his superior, 79.Darwin, his theory of the creation of man, 4.David, head of the affected school of painting under the Empire, from page 157 to 162; by what paintings once known in the United States , 157; exaggerated char- acter of his compositions, 158; their evil effect on taste , 158; whence this exagger- ated style originated , 158; certain estab- lished modes of expression implanted in man at creation , 158; these always to be imitated in art , 158; not imitated by the school of David , 158; reasons why the art of that school pleased the French, 159;the object ofhigh art , 159; the permanentgeneral principles of expression always characterized the great Italian masters ,and also the sculptors of ancient Greece,as also all works of genius, 159; portrait ofa child in the Louvre by Van Dyck, 150;also in the Louvre , two paintings of " The Deluge," one by Poussin , the other by Girodet, 160; these paintings compared by Mrs. Jameson , 160; painters of this period who did not follow in the track of David, 161; early French painters of emi- nence, 161; the United States once deluged with paintings from the school of David,161; evils resulting therefrom, 162; the benefit of studying the old Italian masters,also the sculptures of ancient Greece,162 .Da Vinci, Leonardo, from page 110 to 114;favorable condition of the world at the time of his appearance, 110; best known by his painting of " The Last Supper," his birth, parentage, and first teacher, 112;one of the fathers and founders of the art,113; pointed out the way to most of the subsequent improvements in science and art , 113; his skill as a designer, 113; com- pared with Michael Angelo , 113; indebted- ness to him of some of the great masters ,113; the first to employ a general light and shade , 113; state of the art before this invention, 113; prepares the way for the coming of Michael Angelo, 114; his death and place of burial , 133.Decorated Style of Gothic Architecture,wherein it differs from the Early Eng- lish and Perpendicular styles , 216. 217 .Dadalus, early Greek sculptor of celebrity ,163.Delphi, the temple of, 197.Del Piombo, Sebastiano, paints Michael Angelo's great design of " The Raising of Lazarus, 91 , 92.Demosthenes, statue of, 181 .Design , essay on, from page 62 to 74; val- ue of design as compared with other con- stituent portions of painting, 62 , course usually pursued by artists in construct- ing a picture, 62, 63; to be considered under two heads, 62; what is required in a good portrait, 63; use and misuse of the model, 63; examples illustrating the misuse of it , from ancient and mod- ern art , 63, 64, 65, 66, 67; evils resulting from such misuse , 67; the proper use of the model pointed out by Mr. Allston ,68; also exemplified in works of Raphael,68, 69; object aimed at by Raphael in the representation of " The Madonna," and by Da Vinci in " The Last Supper, " and how far they accomplished it, 69; painters of history governed by the same laws that govern the writers of it , 69; parallel be- tween historical and dramatic representa- tions , 70; the argument equally valid ,whether it be the portraiture of a fact, or only the sentiment of a transaction or event that is intended to be represented ,70; rules deducible from the argument applicable to every class of painting , 70,71; correct design one of the greatest dif- ficulties of the art, 71; small advance in,until the fourteenth century, 72; Ma-244 GENERAL INDEX.saccio's design , 72; by whom correct design was begun and by whom brought to per- fection , 72; Michael Angelo's design , 72;Raphael's design, 72; Da Vinci's design,72; Titian's design, 73; Correggio's design,72; perfection of design where found, 73;advantages arising from studying the Grecian sculptures , 73; the study of them neglected by the Dutch, Flemish, and Venetian masters, 73; much studied by Poussin, 73; Raphael's " Gardening Girl ";Allston's " Beatrice " and " Prophet Jere- miah," 74.Devil, painting of the, by Salvator Rosa;Agassiz's remarks on the composition of, 48 .Diana, The Hunting, statue of, 179.Different Classes of Painting, from page 25 to 43; the names of, 25; the corre- spondence between, and the same classes in literature, 26; manner in which the different classes affect the spectator, 42,43.Discobulus, statue of, 176. 66 Domenichino, The Evangelists " by, com- pared with those by M. Angelo, 58.Donation of the Keys to St. Peter, cartoon of, by Raphael, 45; a painting without asubject, 45.Doric Order, constituent portions of it , 188 ,189; wherein the Grecian Doric differs from the Roman , 189; the national order,194; forms of Doric temples , 195; union of the three arts, 195; comparison be- tween, and Corinthian order, 201; the uses to which Doric temples were appropri- ated , and the reasons for such appropria- tion , 194; the finest specimen of this order in Greece , 197.Doryphorus; or, the Lance- Bearer, statue of,177.Dramatic Painting defined and illustrated ,35, 36; its universality , 36; makes its ap- peal to human feelings and sentiments ,36; its effect upon the spectator, 36; who most excelled in it and the title it gave him . 36.Dubeuf, " Adam and Eve " painted by, 66.Dutch Painters, their style of design and misuse of the model, 63, 64; on what the beauty of their paintings is largely depend- ent, 79.Dying Gladiator , statue of, 175.E,Early English Style of Gothic Architecture ,215.Egyptian Architecture, characteristics of,185; its grandeur , to what owing , 203, 204.Elements of Beauty, from page 14 to page 18.Elizabethan Style of Gothic Architecture de- scribed , and wherein it differs from the Tudor style, 219.Eliott, General ( Lord Heathfield ) , portrait of, 37; contrasted with portrait of Com- modore Keppel , 149 , 150.Emerson, Hon. George B. , his letter of rec- ommendation, iEnglish School of Painting, essay on, from page 137 to 157; the natural school, reason why so designated , 137: few native artists in England prior to Hogarth, 138;reasons for it, 139 , 140; Hogarth's first ap- pearance , 140; contemporaries of Hogarth,140; Pre-Raphaelite school , its character- istics, claim to excellence and its defects,141 , 142, 143. See Hogarth, Wilkie, Rey- nolds, West.Epic Painting, parallel between , and Epic poetry, 33; example of, in the Sistine Chapel, 33; the story told by that great series of epic designs , as read by Fuseli ,34; by whom invented, and the title it gave the inventor, 34.Epic Poetry, characteristics of, 31; illus- trated by the Iliad , 32, 33.Erectheum , temple on the Acropolis of Athens , 197.Expression , lines characteristic of the most beautiful, 18 , 19, 20; lines characteristic ofevil passions and deformity , 20.Eye governed by the same laws as the ear , 101 .F.Fairies, description of, 50 , 51; " Titania's Court," painting by Allston, 51 .Falstaff , Sir John, reasons why not consid- ered handsome, 19.Faun Reposing, 174.Fitness not an element of beauty, 6; in- creases our admiration , but forms no part of that to which we apply the epithet " beautiful ," 6.Flemish Painters, to what much of the beauty of their paintings is owing, 79;their neglect of appropriate design , or wrong use of the model, 64; compared with Hogarth and Wilkie, 147.Flora, statue of, 174.Form, what is required to constitute a stand- ard of, 2; the Apollo Belvedere and Ve- nus de Medici so considered , 2; standard of, 7, 8; arguments in favor of a standard,8; what ancient Greek statues regarded as standards , 8.French Art , from page 157 to 162. See David.French Gothic, its peculiar characteristic as distinguished from English Gothic, 220;the Mansard roof, 220.Fresco Painting, description of, 143; but little practised at present, 143.Friart, Sir Roland, his quaint description of the several orders of architecture , 191 ,192 , 207.Fuseli, Professor of Painting, at the Eng- lish Royal Academy, under West, 29; his remarks on portraiture, 30; description of allegoric painting , 30 , 31; his description and illustration of epic painting, 32, 33;his reading of the story told by Michael Angelo's series of epic designs in the Sis- tine Chapel, 33, 34; his painting of " The Nightmare," 48, 49.G.Gannett, Rev. George, letter from, recom- mending this volume, ii.General Light and Shadow , by whom first employed for picturesque effect, 85; ex-GENERAL INDEX. 245amples illustrative of its great value, 79,80, 81.Girodet, French painter of the David school,160; his picture of The Deluge " com- pared with the painting of" The Deluge "by Poussin, 160.Girl " who never told her love ," reasons why it is not a subject for pictorial repre- sentation , 46.Glare not a characteristic of good coloring,103; the evils resulting therefrom , 104 Gothic Architecture , from page 212 to 220;engraving of windows illustrating the dif ferent styles of described , xxxii; whence it got its name, 212; one of the two typical styles, 213 , parallel between, and classic architecture, 213, 214; Early English style of, 215; Decorated style , 216; Perpendicu- lar style , 217; Tudor style, 218; Elizabe- than style , 219; Louis the Fourteenth style, 220.Grace, line of, 18; definition of, 23.Graces, group of, 181.Grapes, engraving of, described , xxxi; Ti- tian's model for light and shadow, 78 , 80,81 , 82.Grecian Sculpture , from page 163 to 183;perfection of, 163; chief events affecting it,163, 164; favorable condition of things at the time of Phidias's appearance , 165;contemporaries of Phidias , 165; the form of the gods determined by Phidias , 166;those forms influenced by the Grecian my- thology, 166; completeness not reached at once, 167; the first object aimed at in Grecian sculpture, 167; the second object aimed at, 168; other classes of beings be- sides the human and divine to be repre- sented , 168; obliged to rely upon history for our knowledge of most of their sculp- tured creations , 169.Greece , important events in the early his- tory of, 163 .Grotesque Painting described and illus- trated, 26.H.Handel and Haydn, a cultivated taste ne- cessary for a full appreciation of their pro- ductions , 119.Harmony of Colors, various methods in producing it, 92; Mr. West's theory of,92; as affected by reflection and refraction ,93, 94.Heathfield, Lord. See Eliott.Hercules Farnese, statue of, described , 180.Hercules and Ajax, group of, 178.Hermaphroditus, statue of, 174.High Finish, as generally understood, agreat defect in coloring, 104.Hillard, Hon. George S. , letter of recom- mendation from , i; his high rank as acritic on art , 31.Hipparchus founds a public library at Ath- ens, and collects and places therein the works of Homer, 164, 165 Historical Painting, illustrated by paint- ing of " The Death of Chatham," 37, 38;paintings entitled to be called " historical,"39 Historic and Allegoric Painting described and illustrated , 39, 40.| Historic and Dramatic Painting described and illustrated , 40, 41 , 42.Historical Landscape described and illus .trated , 28.Historical Portraiture described and illus.trated , 39.Hogarth, his first appearance, 140; different opinions respecting his merits as an artist,143 , what is claimed for him over other English painters, 143; invents a new branch ofart , 143 , a genius in the highest signification of the term, 143; what he aimed at and what he accomplished , 144;not successful as an historical painter , 144;his paintings of " Garrick, as Richard III., and Paul before Felix," 144; not to be judged by the same law as the Italian masters, 144; wherein he differed from the Italian painters , 144; the national painter of Great Britain , 145; like Wilkie,not local in his delineations , 146; reason why not local, 147; superior to Wilkie,147; in what they both differed from the Dutch and Flemish masters , and in what they resembled each other, 147; in what they were superior to the Dutch and Flemings, 147; Hogarth superior to Wilkie,147; Wilkie's indebtedness to him, 148 .Holbein, his appearance in England, 219;his influence on the Tudor style of archi- tecture, 219 Holofernes, painting of " the death of," by Allori, 51; painting of the same subject by William West, 51; parallel between ,and in some respects superiority of the latter, 51 , 52.I.Iliad, criticism on, by Fuseli, 32, 33; the hero of, and what the author designed him to be, 12; its influence on heathen my- thology and its sculptured representations ,165; studied by Phidias , also by the dramatists and philosophers of Greece ,165.Invention, essay on, from page 44 to 54; its rank, 44; examples of the highest exercise of it , 44; importance of having a subject for painting, 45; a painting without asubject, 45; what is required in every complete work of art , 46 , sources from which the old Italian painters derived their subjects, 47; sources whence the moderns derive theirs , 47; agreat change,and what it indicates , 47; paintings whose subjects are not derived from a written record, but invented , 48; paintings in which both subject and forms are invented or original , 48; new combinations of old materials , 48; Mr. Addison's remarks on the inventive faculty in art , 48; pictorial representations of angels , God , sibyls ,fairies , and witches , 49 , paintings whose subjects are not invented or derived, but only hinted by an author, 50, 51; point of time most fitting for representation, and examples illustrating it , 51 , 52; events of different periods not to be represented on the same canvas, 52, 53 , a notable offence against this requirement, 53 , " The Trans- figuration ," 53.246 GENERAL INDEX.Ionic Order, constituent portions of, de.scribed, 189 , 190 , most noted temples of this order, 199 , 200: quaint description of,by Sir Roland Friart, 191 .J.Jameson, Mrs., her humorous description of the two paintings of " The Deluge, " 160 .Juno, statue of, 173 , inferior to the Venus de Medici , 173 .Jupiter, Mask of, 178.Jupiter Olympus , the form of, determined byPhidias, 165 , what Greek divinities most resemble him, 166; description of, 169, 170.K.Keppel, Commodore, portrait of, compared with the portrait of Lord Heathfield, both by Reynolds, 149, 150.L.La Belle Jardinière, Madonna so called , by Raphael, 68, 74.Lamb, Charles, his remarks on the figure of Lazarus, xxx; remarks by, on Titian's " Bacchus and Ariadne," 95.Language, when most perfect, 99; analogy between, and color , 99; different tones employed to express different passions and sentiments, 100; three divisions of the human voice , 100.Landscape, different classes of, 26; first class the transcript of a given spot or view, 26; second class , ideal or classic landscape , 27; method pursued by artists in gathering materials for, 27, 28; histori- cal landscapes , 28; landscapes in which the figures are the least important part of the composition , 28; landscapes in which the figures are the most important part,28 difficulty in combining landscape and figures , 29; third class of landscape, 29.Laocoon and his Sons, group of, described ,175.Lazarus, the painting of " the death of,"described , xxix; defective coloring of, 91 .Leslie, Charles R. , professor of the Royal English Academy; his painting of " The Dinner at Ford's House," 50 , 51; the friend of Irving, Allston , and Newton, 107;quoted , 150.Light and Shadow. See Chiaro- Oscuro.Linear Perspective defined, 91.Lines, influence of, 204.Lothrop, Rev. Dr. , letter from, recommend- ing this volume, ii.Louvre, paintings in, 159 , 160.M.Macaulay, English essayist, quoted , 12.Madonnas, principles on which painted ,57; examples illustrating the rule , and examples in which it was neglected , and the evils resulting therefrom , 58; what Raphael aimed at in the representation of the Madonna, 68, 69.Marriage at Cana, by whom painted, and description of, 60; object aimed at by thepainter of, and in what respect a splendid failure, 61.Martin , English painter, what his paint- ings were remarkable for, and in what re- spects deficient , 79.Masaccio, a great painter for the age he lived in , 135.Menander, statue of, 180.Michael Angelo . See Buonarotti.Milo, Venus of, a representation of vital beauty, 11, 12.Milton, analysis of his character by Ma caulay, 12.Minerva Athene, statue of, 170.Model, use and misuse of the. See Design.Modern Architecture , some remarks on , 220.Moses, statue of, by Michael Angelo, 5, 121.Mouldings, their great value in giving beauty, 6; their number, names, descrip- tion of, and appropriation in classic archi- tecture, 187 , 188.Muses, group of, 186.Music, analogy between, and color , 99;Gardner's Music of Nature," 100; gov- erned by the same laws as painting, 101.Mythology, Grecian, wherein it differed from that of other heathen nations , and its effects upon sculpture , 166.N.Napoleon, painting in France in the reign of. See David.Newton, G. Stuart, his great merits as apainter, and his death, 107 , 108.Nightmare, painting by Fuseli , its original- ity , 48.Niobe and her Children , group of, 178.0.Old Masters, characteristics of some of the most distinguished , 137; benefit in study- ing them, 162 .Orders of Architecture, descriptions ofengrav- ings of, xxxii; Grecian described , 188 to 192; Roman, 206, 207.P.Painting, essays on, from page 25 to 163.Pan , inventor of music, 44 Pantheon, Roman temple, description of, 209 Paradise Lost , quoted from, xxix.Parthenon, Grecian temple, 197, 198, 221;sculptures of, 198; its present condition,199; comparative size of, 200 Passions, natural mode of expressing them ,57 , 158; violent, fatal to human beauty,20; lines characteristic of, 20; lines that characterize the expression of the gentler passions and affections , 20.Peabody, Rev. Dr. Andrew P., recommenda- tory letter from, i .Pericles, adorner of Athens , 186; patron of Phidias, 197; his intimate acquaintance with and fine taste in art , 224.Perkins, C. C. , his work on Tuscan Art, 205.Phidias, his first appearance, 164 , fixes the forms of the Greek divinities , 165; hisGENERAL INDEX. 247indebtedness to Homer, 165; contempora- ries of and fellow- workers, 165; sculptures by, 169, 170, 171 , 198.Picture, the first object in painting to make one, 142.Picturesque, a quality or element of the beautiful, 55, 142.Poets, the early English, importance of the study of, 162.Portico of the Parthenon, its great beauty,201; of the London University, 204; of the Pantheon, 209 Portraiture , its rank in painting, and exam- ples of the highest class of, 29, 30; his- torical portraiture , 37, 38; Reynolds's por- traits, 149, 150, 151.Posidippus, statue of, 180.Poussin, Nicholas, his painting of "The Deluge," 29, 160," his style of design, 65,73, 74.Pre- Raphaelite, modern school of painting,104, 141 , 142 , 143.Proportion an element of beauty, 14; good proportion, 15; difference of, in the two sexes , 16.Propylæum, temple of, 197.R.Raphael, from page 122 to 127; his par- entage, birth, and early education , 122;his first visit to Florence , employment there and return to Perugia , 123; some of his best paintings where found , 123, 124;his second visit to Florence, and for what purpose, 124; his first visit to Rome, 124;paintings by, in the Vatican, and subjects of them, 124, 125; appointed architect of St. Peters, 125; The Transfiguration ,"125; his death and burial , 125 , 126; the number of his productions, 126; compared with Michael Angelo, 126, 127; in what superior to all other artists, 126, 127; im- pression made by his works on the spec- tator, 36, 122, 126; his style of design , 72,74; his chiaro-oscuro, 86.Relief, attractive to the young and ignorant,but not a good quality in art, 102.Rembrandt, his misuse of the model, 64;his painting of " The Woman accused in the Synagogue," 78 , 80, 81; his " Ecce Homo, " " Appearance to the Shep- herds, " 84; comparison between, and Correggio , 86, 87; his chiaro-oscuro, 87; awonderful genius , 87; his " Belshazzar's Feast , " 99.Resurrection, cartoon of the, by Raphael,58, 59.Reynolds, Sir Joshua, from page 148 to 152; not very successful as an historical painter, 148; his portraits of Mrs. Siddons ,Lord Heathfield, and Commodore Keppel ,149; parallel between , 149 , 150; his great success in painting females and children,150, 151; his coloring, 151; comparison between, and Sir Thomas Lawrence , 151;his remarks on color , 103, 104, 105; his en- deavor to find out Titian's mode of color- ing, 109.Richelieu Bacchus , statue of, 179.Roman Architecture , from page 206 to 211;Tuscan and Composite orders; wherein it differs from Greek architecture , 206; in- troduction of the arch, 206 , its indebted- ness to Greek architecture , 207 , 208; the Romans borrowed , but could not adapt,209; Roman temples, 208 , 209; Pantheon and Coliseum , 209, 210; little invention in, 210; wherein it differs from Grecian architecture in its effect on the spectator,210.Romano, Giulio , his rank as an artist, 11;his principal characteristic , 137; finishes " The Transfiguration, " after the decease of Raphael, 126.Rome, Ancient , the conclusion of the old civilization and the commencement of the new, 211.Romeo and Juliet, apothecary in , 19.Rubens, his misuse of the model in his historic designs, 64; his " Descent from the Cross " and Fall of the Damned ," 98 .S.Sacrificator, statue of, 179.Salvator Rosa, his thorough manner of treating a subject , 101.Samson, some remarks on his structure ,19 .Schools of Art, the four principal , 135.Sculpture, from page 163 to 182; as affect- ed by certain events in the early history of Greece, 164; as influenced by the my- thology of Greece, 166 , principles that governed the Greek sculptors , and what they aimed at, 167 , 168; progressive ad- vance in, towards perfection , 167; sub- jects of Greek sculptures , 168; great num- ber of Grecian statues , 182; small number of those that have come down to theShakespeare portrayed man in general , 159.present period , 182.Simplicity one of the elements of beauty,14, 15: the basis of grandeur, 106.Sistine Chapel, frescoes in, by Michael An- gelo , 33.Sully, Thomas, his high rank as a painter Sophocles, statue of, 181.and a gentleman , 107; anecdote by, of Sir Benjamin West, 107.Symmetry an element of beauty, and why it gives pleasure , 16 , 17.T.Temple ofEphesus , description of, 200.Theseus , temple of, 199.Tintoretto, " The Crucifixion "wonderful effect , 99.by,itsTitian, from page 128 to 132; his birth , na- tive city , and first teacher , 128; from whom he derived some hints for his style of coloring, 129 , the universal homage paid him, 129; the great number of his productions, and names of some of the most celebrated , 129; character of the works painted by him, 130; Michael An- gelo's opinion of his design, 130; his prin- cipal characteristics , 130; what he did to advance the art , 130 , 131; his great age and death, 131; burial , 133.248 GENERAL INDEX.Titian's wife, head of, an illustration , de- scribed , xxx.Tone, definition of the term , 89; how produced , 93 .Transfiguration , The , last work by Raphael,52: an alleged defect in the composition of, 53.Tudor Style of Architecture, principal fea- tures of, 118, 119.U.Useful Arts, as contrasted with thosecalled 66 Fine ," 184.Utility not an element of beauty , and rea- sons why, 6; our admiration increased by it, but it constitutes no portion of that to which we apply the epithet " beautiful, " 6.V.Van Dyck, his visit to England, and high rank as a portrait- painter, 138; examples illustrative of it , 30, 159.Variety, an element of the beautiful, 17;the degree of it in any composition by what regulated , 18; characterizes certain forms in art, 20.Vatican , frescos in, by Michael Angelo,33, 36, 117.Venetian Painters, some of the most dis- tinguished among them, 128; their misuse of the model, 73; their chiaro-oscuro, 86;their neglect generally of a correspondence between and the sentiment of the subject,99; one remarkable exception , 99.Venus Aphrodita, statue of, 178.Venus ofthe Capitol , 178.Venus of Cnidus, 177.Venus of Cos, 177.Venus ofthe Forum.Venus de Medici, 178.Veronese, Paul, his painting of " The Mar- riage at Cana, " 60 , 128.W.West, Sir Benjamin, his vast popularity at one period , 152; much depressed now in public estimation , 152; his parentage , and native city , 152; President of the English Royal Academy, and contemporary of David, 152; reason why he should be admired in the United States , 152; by what paintings known in the United States, 153; his merits and demerits , 153;reasons why overrated at one time, and now underrated as an artist , 154 , 155 , 156;Lawrence's opinion of his scriptural efforts ,as compared with productions of a similar character in modern art, 156; the high character of his efforts on unscriptural themes, The Death of Wolfe " The Battle of La Hogue, " " The Death of the Stag, " " The Institution of the Garter,""The Calypso ," "The Return of Regulus ,'156; in view ofall the circumstances , hopes that he will some time or other be more ap- preciated as a great artist , 15766West, William , his painting of the death of Holofernes, 51 , 52.Wilkie, Sir David. See Hogarth, and first part of essay on English Art.Woman and her Accuser, The description of the engraving of, xxxi.THE END.Cambridge: Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.