On this page
- Departments (2)
-
Text (7)
-
734 Efff fLt&titV* [Saturda y _ ... _. ....
-
The Beautiful,.—Ideality is a strong gua...
-
^flrifnltn
-
We should do our utmost to encourage the...
-
THE PR2E-RAPIIAELITES. I find the town, ...
-
€\u %x\s.
-
«• CRITICISM. During the fortnight I hav...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Uookh On Or/It Taiu.I;. L,<:<:T.Ur«A On ...
portable volume . The peculiarity of this book is that it examines the curative properties of each of the spas , illustrating their several characteristics , thus affording the invalid something like a guide as to which spa he ought to select for his own case . Although addressed to medical students , the style is popular , and fits it for general reading . The Tinman Body and its Connection with Man illustrated by the Principal Organs . By James John Garth Wilkinson . Chapman and Hall .
This solid volume of Swedenborgian Physiology embraces elaborate chapters on the Brain , the Lungs , Assimilation and its organs , the Heart , the Skin , the Human Form , and Health . It gives popular descriptions of these organs in accordance with the most advanced physiological views ; but the utility and interest of the volume is somewhat restricted by the intermingling of Swedenborgian views , which only the adepts will adopt . The work is written with , great earnestness and some power . General History of the Christian Religion and Church . Translated from the German of Dr . Augustas Neander . By Joseph Torrcy . Vol . III . ( Bohn ' 3 Standard Library . ) H . G . Bohn .
The third volume of this elaborate history is not inferior in interest to the others . The relation of the Roman Emperors to the Christian Church is treated with great minuteness ; the chapters on Constantine and Julian being of the highest importance . The section on the Extension of Christianity beyond the limits of the Roman Empire is learnedly but heavilytreated ; while that on the history of the Constitution of the Church is excellent , precise , ample , satisfactory . As usual we have to express gratitude for the honesty with which Neander executes his great work ; there is no " scamping" in his workmanship , nor is there any unfairness in I 113 arguments . Great Exhibition , 1831 . Official , Descriptive , and Illustrated Catalogue . Part II . Machinery .
This splendid companion to our Crystal Palace will certainly be the book on the subject , being at once comprehensive and exhaustive . The second part contains classes V to X , and is devoted to the immense subject of machinery . The illustrations are profuse , and executed with extreme care . The let'er-press is precise , without being dry ; conveying all the needful information , without superfluous flourishing . The Characteristic Features of some of the Principal Systems of Socialism . Delivered at tlie llooms of the Society for Promoting Working Men ' s Associations . By Edward Vnnsittart . Neaie , Esq . J . Tunling .
A brief sketch of the Socialist systems of Fourier , > St . Simon , Owen , and Greaves , with criticisms , and indications of Christian Socialism . Clearly and popularly written , this exposition will serve as a good introduction to the study of the subject .
734 Efff Flt&Titv* [Saturda Y _ ... _. ....
734 Efff fLt & titV * [ Saturda y _ ... _ . .. . _ . _ ¦ !¦ Ill I" f ¦ ¦ ~ ¦¦ — ¦¦ - ' * - —
The Beautiful,.—Ideality Is A Strong Gua...
The Beautiful ,. —Ideality is a strong guardian of virtue ; lor they who have tasted its genuine pleasures , can never rest satisfied with those of mere souse . But it is possible , however , to cultivate the taste to such a decree , as to induce a fastidious refinement , when it becomes the inlet of more pain than pleasure . Nor is the worst of over-refinement the loss of selfish grutifu iition ; it is apt to interfere witli benevolence , t' > ; i \ oi'l the sight of inelegant distress , to shrink from tho contact of vulgar worth , nnd to le-. ul us to despise thosi : whose feeling of taste is less delicate and correct thim our own . If the beautiful : ind the useful lie
incompatible , the beautiful must p ; ive way , — us the means of tho existence and comfort of the masses must be provided before the elegancies which can only conduce to the pleasure of the few . SeltishncsH though refined is still but selfishness , smd refinement ought never to interfere with the means of doing good in the world as it at present exists . It is not desirable to appeal early to this feeling , or perliup . 4 even directly 10 cultivate it . 11 " the other faculties are well developed and properly cultivated , I his will attain sullieient strength of itself . The beautiful is tin ; clothiir' of the infinite , and in the
contemplation of the beautiful , and the ; love ; of perfection , not in churches , we seek our highest and 1 no . 1 t intimate : communion with ( Jod , and draw nearer and nearer to Jinn . The line arts—painting , sculpture , music , « H well as poetry—ought all to minister to ideality . The proper use of painting , for instance , ought to be to represent everything that is beautiful in the present , and to recall all that is worthy of remembrance in the past . To , ' ^ ive body to those spiritual pictures of ideal beauty and perfection which ideality forms — to give u faithful representation of the j'jieat . and good that have departed , and to put . vividly before us
those actions and scenes , those pa ' . 'CM from universal history which Imve 11 tendency to refine , to exult , and to enlarge the soul , — this is what , painting ou ;;; ht . to aim at . To paint , however perfectly , horses being hliod , ( her being hunted , the agony of poor aniniah in traps , bread and cheese , and lobsters , and fo . miing ale , is but Jin nbu' e and a perversion of one of the highest gifts and attainments , which . 1 more civilized a ^ e wilT repudiate . A pig-sty , however perfectly painted , still but recalls the idea of a pig-sty ; and if it . excites any feeling , it is one of regret that such wonderful art should be ho misapplied . —ttd \ icutionof ho FctdinijH , by Charles Jiroy ,
^Flrifnltn
^ flrifnltn
We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
The Pr2e-Rapiiaelites. I Find The Town, ...
THE PR 2 E-RAPIIAELITES . I find the town , or the artistic section of it , divided in controversy about the Prce-Raphaelites ; that new school which piques itself on painting as men did before our great masters brought the art of design to its maturity . It is as if a new school of astronomers chose to go back to the Pree-Newtonian day , as , indeed , I have known them do at Borne ; or English poets preferred the Prse-Shakesperian sera , with the crude arrangement , bad metre , and bad grammar of Chaucer . The main idea of the school seems to be , that because early cirtists strive to realize nature , Ihey must be greater than later students , who strive to realize
art—as much greater as Nature is than Art . They forget that " art" is a mere expression for certain ascertained rules to carry out the Artists' endeavours ; rules that have been brought to something like completeness by the endeavours of the early artists , who , like the early workmen at the Temple , did not live to know the complete edifice . The more of real Art there is , the more Nature .
These Pne-Raphaelites are what painters call " naturalisti "—naturalists , professing to copy nature exactly , ' because they copy individual traits and blemishes . Nay , to prove that they have no aBSthetical pride , they prefer as models individuals who are not beautiful—who are uncomely , awkward , emaciated , feeble , and sickly , with ill-developed features . This is a Cockney idea of nature ; it is an idea suggested by the habitual sight of models whose frames have been stunted , whose countenances have been distorted and deformed , under the influence of crowded streets , bad drainage , and pauper wages . There is no reason to suppose that the human company in Noah ' s Ark
was drafted from an English workhouse . Historical evidence bears the other way . There is little reason to set up the forms of pauper humanity as those of nature . Why should you fix upon any individual as the type or model , especially if his form is marked by blemishes peculiar to himself ? Why lay your hand on John Smith or Tom Wilkinson , and say " this nature . " Mr . Wilkinson is not " nature , " even in your own limited and gross sense . Let us get out of the back streets of London or Paris , out of the confined mountains of the Savoy Alps , or the swamps of Michiganlet us go wherever the elements are untainted , wherever human limbs and energies have free
play , and we shall find a different type of humanity from that f or which you monopolize the name of " nature . " Preferring harsh forms , the Pnc-Raphaelifes naturally prefer harsh actions ; the one mistake follows the other . But it could only exist in the truly civic view of nature . Wherever you find the forms healthily developed , the limbs in freedom , and the feelings unconstrained , or vivacious in themselves and direct in their expression , you will lind the action animated , but not ungraceful . If Millais had followed the Red Indian in his peculiarly unconstrained walk , where every movement
is vigorous , curved , and cat-like in its noiseless grace ; if he had been familiar with the scantily clothed Italiant , peasant ., unrest rained by braces and not addicted to affectations—for the Italian is the most , natural of human beings ; if he had watched the . sailor springing from sp-ir to spar , 01 dropping from rope to rope , in fair weather and foul , fostering a prosperous speed or confronting mortal peril with conquering hardihood ; if he had been familiar with Mich sights , he would cease to associate the idea of nature with knves tied together , olbows pinioned to the . sides , . sickly features , scraggy limbs , uncouth gestures , or angular action .
1 suspect that , this propensity for the specially ill-formed is brought about , by no natural impulse ; but . by a mistaken , a perverse , a Niipcrartilicial dislike to "the Ideal . " There has been much abuse of thai , same Ideal , much foolish talk about , it . : sonu ; ol the ; most , judicious teachers do not , seem to me to explain its nature distinctly or accurately . It . is generally represented as an imaginary model , created by the . eclectic" assemblage of excellences ; but . thai , is not . a due explanation cither in fact , or theory . The Ideal is approached by tin ; opposite process . By incessantly and faithfully copying- from Nature in its individual specimens , hut . learning to cast , ofl " from each the crrora uud . bleinishey peculiar to itself
the student gradually approaches to his own Ideal ; which is the average of his experiences , errors ex . cepted . " The Ideal" is no more than a vague expression for the whole knowl e dge of form acquired by the artist , in all its varieties , with such mastery that he is able to discriminate between that which is essential to the race , or even to the perfect development and action of any variety , and that which is a fault or blemish of the individual .
What is the practical use of the Ideal to Art ? I will explain that by a familiar illustration . Nothing is more common than to observe that plainness of countenance is repulsive to us at first ; but that we grow used to it , and learn to value the expression of the mind within . We learn to understand that which at first is unintelligible ; , though , as we afterwards find , it pleases us when we understand it . The features are the instruments for expressing the feelings ; when they approach to the typical form , their play is to us a language intelligible , and it pleases us from the first . In proportion as they depart from the typical form , they not only speak a dialect which
is alien-to us , but one which conveys positively false impressions . By familiarity we learn to translate that dialect ; aided in doing so , however , by the auxiliary interpretation of the voice , the actions , and the direct avowals . Now , the artis is limited to the single medium of superficial form ; if he select a kind of form removed from the type , he chooses an utterance which is a strange dialect , and one for which we are without the auxiliary interpretations : we have but slight opportunity of getting used to pictured plainness . In proportion as he seeks the typical form , the expression becomes direct , intelligible , forcible . This is the use of the Ideal .
Millais—for , without disparagement to the others , to speak of the Prae-Raphael school is to speak preeminently of him—has chosen to go through that course in his own person , which has been traversed by the great body of artists—a laborious course of empyrical tentatives among mistakes and crudities . But I will in another article point out the special application of the principles to his latest pictures . They are full of power and
beauty ; they show a growing appreciation of truth , a growing power over materkiLs ; and unless the choice 01 a grotesque style is suggested by an instinctive desire to conceal some deficient sense of symmetry , Millai § wvill advance from the nonage of Art to its maturity . I am inclined to think him the most promising apprentice that the English school has yet seen . T . H .
€\U %X\S.
€ \ u % x \ s .
«• Criticism. During The Fortnight I Hav...
«• CRITICISM . During the fortnight I have been separated from my " gentle reader " the subject of Criticism has frequently solicited my thoughts . Unable to criticise , 1 meditated on Criticism . And first , is Criticism a lawful occupation ? St . Jerome in his tribulations over the Vulgate , which had cost him labours so immense , and had been met with criticisms so exasperating , exclaimed , " I lad T been 11 milker of baskets no one , woiihl liavn
troubled me ! " It in very true ; the maker of baskets courts 110 " bubble reputation , " and is sheltered in obscurity . Yet even he , perchance , has to bear the Criticism of severe housewives ; but the insult is private , because the transaction is private ; if Ik ; aspire to a nobler glory he must endure a more public ignominy ; soliciting the " gentlo voices " of a multitude , he must be prepared for rotten eggs . St . Jerome himself , Vulgate in hand , could not , escape inexorable Criticism , and I think he was weak to complain of it . None of us escape if ; . What is half our conversation but Criticism of our friends ? Criticism more or Icsh elaborate and
ofliciul is the shadow which accompaniuH publicity . In spoken talk , or printed talk , opinions will find utterance . When a man sets up to instruct or amuse us , and for that instruction or ainuNcment ( ieinundH our money us well as our applause ; , it in clearly a lawful thing in any or all of uh to express our opinion , be that opinion acorn . Consider tho presumption implied in publicity ! A man assembles nu audience , occupies their time , lightens their exchequer , under the express condition of repro-Hcntiug Othello Htorm-tost on the ncaof paHwion , or Figaro , the restless factotum delta citta—and ol ko representing it that the high ecHlaciuH of Art ahall iill tho Kpectator ' a bouI . That i « the implied stipu-
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1851, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02081851/page/18/
-