Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

A E T S.
Arts. parts into a whole, and in giving their combined and varied
action : abstract truth or ideal perfection does not consist in
rejecting the peculiarities of form, but in rejecting all those
which are not consistent with the character intended to be
given, and in following up the same general idea of softness,
voluptuousness, strength, activity, or any combination of
these, through every ramification of the frame. But these
modifications of form or expression can only be learnt from
nature, and therefore the perfection of art must always be
sought in nature. The ideal properly applies as much to the
idea of ugliness, weakness, folly, meanness, vice, as of beauty,
strength, wisdom, magnanimity, or virtue. The antique
heads of fauns and satyrs, of Pan or Silenus, are quite as
ideal as those of the Apollo or Bacchus; and Hogarth ad¬
hered to an idea of humour in his faces, as Raphael did to
an idea of sentiment. But Raphael found the character of
sentiment in nature as much as Plogarth did that of humour,
otherwise neither of them would have given one or the other
with such perfect truth, purity, force, and keeping. Sir
Joshua Reynolds ideal, as consisting in a mere negation of
individuality, bears just the same relation to real beauty or
grandeur as caricature does to true comic character*
. Writers on art have long been in the habit of complain¬
ing that the English are hitherto without any painter of seri¬
ous historical subjects, who can be placed in the first rank
of genius; that although many of the pictures of modern
artists have shown a capacity for correct and happy delinea¬
tion of actual objects and domestic incidents, only inferior to
the masterpieces of the Dutch School—and in landscape
1 urner and others have depicted the effects of air and of
powerful relief in objects in a way which was never sur¬
passed ; yet in the highest walk of art—in giving the move¬
ments of the finer or loftier passions of the mind, this coun¬
try has not produced a single painter who has made even a
faint approach to the excellence of the great Italian paint¬
ers and the pictures of Barry, Northcote, West, Fuseli,
and Haydon have been instanced in proof of this assertion.
But such complaints are most unjustly made: for how
should works be expected of a class and quality for which
there is neither demand, encouragement, sympathy, nor ap¬
preciation ? Though it be undoubtedly true that the province
of art as well as of literature is to lead and instruct the pub¬
lic mind, yet it is not less certain that both are acted on by,
and reflect the feelings, tastes, and habits of, the people ;
and though for a long time various causes combined to
check the progress of art in Britain, since the establishment
of the English school its artists have not only energetically
kept pace with, but often greatly aided in advancing, the
spirit of the age.
When we consider the deplorable state of art when the
English school was founded, we cannot admire too much the
energy of the movement, and the success with which it
was crowned. 1 he eighteenth century was the period in
history when art was most debased. All of art that re*
mained to the world was the mannered and tawdry school
of Louis XI V., then almost in a state of imbecility; and
about the middle of the century when the English school
was founded, there was no corresponding movement else¬
where, and bad taste had to be opposed in every direction.
Ihe modern French school dates from the end of last cen-
tury, and at first it was anything but successful. A poli¬
tical bias inclined art to the same walk that literature had
taken, namely, the classic, which emanated from the ancient
republican states ; and as sculpture is the chief expositor of
that kind of art, paintingwas made entirely sculpturesque, and
its powers and capabilities were confined within limits and
forced m a direction at variance with its proper functions.
Wlthm the last thirty years, however, the French school has
made great advances, and is now in a flourishing condition.
1 he modern school of Germany was not founded till the
eginning of this century. It arose under most favourable
circumstances; for peace had been established in Europe,
and the nations required repose after a long and ruinous
war, which, however, had dispersed the treasures of art in
the various royal galleries, shown the public the value and im¬
portance attached to such works, and made their study more
generally available. All these movements have combined
to improve and elevate taste generally, and in this country in
particular, abounding as it does in wealth and energy, they
have been eagerly taken advantage of; so that the British
school is rapidly attaining the high position that will fit it in
every way to respond to the requirements of the greatest and
wealthiest nation in the world.
It is now above a hundred years since Hogarth painted
his March to Finchley. At that period art had fallen low in¬
deed the glorious schools of Italy and Germany had long
passed away, as also had what is styled the revival in Bo^
logna, an attempt that has in general been estimated too
favourably, as it did more to injure art than to revive it
the lights of the Spanish, the Flemish, and the Dutch
schools were extinguished, and all that remained was the
baneful example of the French school of Louis XIV., and
even it was in decadence. In Germany, French art as well
as French literature alone prevailed, and in England a na¬
tional school was scarcely hoped for. When Hogarth pro¬
duced those wonderful works which so powerfully embody
English character, he adopted, to a certain extent, in tech¬
nical treatment, the style of Watteau, the painter, however,
of whom France has most reason to boast as a genuine na¬
tional artist. Thornhill was executing huge sprawling al¬
legories in emulation of De la Fosse and other French
painters, portrait painting was chiefly in the hands of fo¬
reigners, and landscape painting was almost unknown. Thus
we find art everywhere paralyzed at the time when Ho¬
garth and Reynolds arose to revive it—the productions of
the former exceeding in humour every previous effort in art,
the portraits of the latter ranking with those of Velasquez’
Vandyck, and Rembrandt, while the works of their contem¬
poraries, Wilson, Gainsborough, Bacon, &c., are deservedly
held in high esteem. T here is one striking peculiarity in
# English school it has not like others commenced
timidly, risen to a certain point, and then fallen. No greater
works have been produced in the English school than those
of its founders Hogarth and Reynolds, in their peculiar
walks. It has not, however, declined since the days of
Reynolds ; on the contrary, it has risen much higher. The
explanation seems to be this, that the English school was
the last that arose in Europe, having been instituted only
in the middle of the eighteenth century, and the general re¬
vival of art over the greater part of Europe took place before
there was any perceptible decadence in Britain. Though that
revival therefore affected in the most striking manner the
schools of France and Germany, where art was either in utter
decay or had long passed away, and was therefore loudly
called for and eagerly welcomed, the movement in England
is to be viewed less in the light of a revival, than merely as
aiding in bringing forth a rich harvest of increased motives
and facilities of improvement, for the further sustenance and
gradual development and increase of a healthy and vigorous
system.. Thus, for example, though we have not had a por¬
trait painter superior to Reynolds, yet, admirable though
that great painter s works are, increased knowledge has
produced an appreciation of art that demands, and doubt-
ess will soon call forth, a higher and purer style, uniting to
the force of Reynolds more careful drawing, greater indi¬
viduality of expression, and higher finish. And though Ho¬
garth has never been excelled for broad humour, still the
Distraining for Rent—Reading the Will—The Penny
Wedding, and The Chelsea Pensioners of Wilkie, are higher
works than any of Hogarth’s, as they combine a greater
number of the qualities essential to a complete work of art,
and the expression is brought out with greater delicacy and