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August 25, 1855. J THE LEADER. 823
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THE PICTURE GALLERIES OF EUROPE. Les Miu...
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M. FORGUES ON THE CARICATURISTS OF ENGLA...
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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.
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Aristotle On The Vital Principle. Aristo...
,- / •„//„ there was propriety in using one term to express both in a « £ * 5 way forLife is always psychial , tliongh not always intelligent ; that f rm of Lite which wo specifically designate as Intelligence , Aristotle did notdesiffnate as drt >* i / , but as-wwr ; yet , inasmuch as Intelligence rises from the psychial nature , the Mind , conceived in its entirety , was properly called P % fl ' mast quit such discursive talk , however , to inform the reader more nrecisely about the work which has led us to be thus discursive . It is a Jurious monument of ancient science , painful to read otherwise than historioalhi—unless we take it as a perpetual example of the Method which , in such inquiries , satisfied the hig hest intellects of that day . Some few of its general notions are still accreditedand some imply the marvellous sagacity of the old
, Stajrvrite ; but the bulk of the treatise is made up of the barrenest metaphysics md scientific errors long exploded . The metaphysics and the errors have their interest to the historical student ; but to any one not thus to be interested , the work offers no attraction . We cannot too highly praise I > r . Collier ' s translation . He has not contented himself with producing an admirable version , he has enriched the work with copious notes and has prefixed to each chapter an analysis of the contents , which both facilitates study and reference .
August 25, 1855. J The Leader. 823
August 25 , 1855 . J THE LEADER . 823
The Picture Galleries Of Europe. Les Miu...
THE PICTURE GALLERIES OF EUROPE . Les Miusees a" Europe . By Louis Viardot . Five Volumes . " m Paris : Maison . These five volumes by M . Viardot form a singularly useful work . They contain notices of everything that an enlig htened lover of the Arts travelling through Europe could wish to admire or remember . To supply their place it would be necessary to bring together hundreds of catalogues in various languages , and to append thereto all the appreciations which careful comparison , critical power , and the possession of historical data on the filiation and the development of the various Schools of Art in all countries have enabled a studious and judicious man like M . Viardot to present us with . We have here , for the first time , be it remarked , in an agreeable and useful form , something like the Universal History of Art . That such a void
remained to be filled , seems surprising . All nations , it is true , have had their historians , either local , and embracing onl y a particular period , or general , and embracing the whole duration of their artistic school —as in Italy , for example , where Vasari leads on his readers to the epoch that immediately followed the disappearance of the great individualities of Italian Art to the close successors and actual disciples of Michael Angelo , Raphael , and Titian ; and where , on the other hand , Lanzi embraces the whole series of schools up to the beginning of this century . But the Universal History of Art has not yet been given , and could not , until now , be attempted . Ignorance too great has reigned , and too great partiality , with too many narrow systems . Endeavour could have but led to failure . Besides , in a matter ¦ wherein the eye and the memory are so much concerned , it would have been difficult to obtain the sanction , the confidence , the conscientious approval of the public . The number of persons interested in works of Art , and who
arc at the same time able to travel , is limited indeed . It increases every day , but as yet there is no great public opinion—either in France , for which M . Viardot writes , or in England—before which an appeal may be made from arbitrary private taste and eccentric doctrines . Until a comparatively recent date , moreover , many important series of works were almost entirely unknown , for the great European museums contained thereof but very insufficient and disconnected specimens . This is true especially of the Spanish School , which M . Viardot in many special essays , previous to tins elaborate work , has much contributed to render generally known . Some
eminent productions of grerft masters—of Kibera , ot Alunllo , ot \ elasquez —were familiar to all ; but the beginnings , the progress , the general character of the school , have only lately been elucidated . Yet surely if a hunted number of capital manifestations are worth knowing , they will stimulate really inquiring minds to study the sources from which they flow , the medium they traverse , the points whither they tend . This is a question often left out of sig ht . Knowledge of the most beautiful things in Art and Literature is incomp lete so long as our attention is concentrated on them alone . We can appreciate the height of a mountain only by penetrating the depths of the valleys round its base and allowing our gaze to travel slowly up its slopes . The Egyptian Pyramids are . never understood in their vastness until we have not only compared them with the columnar palms that wave along the feet of their rock y pedestal like nettles below a fortress wall , but have wandered through the interminable quarries
from which they have been hewn . Shukspeare rises in stature when we have traced him back to Middleton , and Dante when we have perused snatches of his Provencal predecessors . In Art this is more particularly true ; for its exercise is wedded irrevocably to manual processes , which become perfected by practice , and are transmitted by industry to genius , by patience to inspiration . To judge of Raphael without having seen the works of Perugino is almost an impertinence ; ami Luca Signorelli is . sacrificed unjustly it' wo estimate Michael Angelo without , reference ti > his name . There is a olass of minds , however , which is offended nt this fair distribution of praise and notice . It affects prido and disdain in order to appear great ; and sucks to raise itself by selecting certain select names as the representatives of an ago and people . Kindred minds are irresistibly attracted by sympathy , says the Cominonplaco-book . And observe : those systematic and contemptuous historians , if we watch their ways well , in describing a great man whom thoy admire arid think they understand , generally substitute their own portrait for tho original , invest it with their own features , and grace it with their own beauties . Criticism \ s Homethinsr different from this . And such errors are
best avoided by the inquisitive and assiduous man whoso object it is to understand tho real value and ideas , the different and multiple characteristics of whole generations of Workmen , competing one with tho other , treading tiuch volume forma n Hnpnrnto work , Hold Hoparutoly . Ono is devoted to tho MiiBouniH of Paris , another to thoao of Italy , a third to Spain , ft fourth to Germany , a fifth to Hnglaml , Bolgium , Holland , and ^ ttussin . A sixth in promised ou tho French provinces .
on each other ' s heels , crowding towards the goal , and leading at length the genius of a people towards its highest and most special manifestations . What right have we to forget the army that fought and fell , some with glory , and some obscurely but not without merit , between Giotto and Raphael ? M . Viardot , in all his publfcations on Art , and especially in this most useful one , belongs essentially to the judicious , modest , laborious , and really instructive school . Without falling into the error of wearisome minuteness , avoiding petty works and insignificant facts , he examines with scrupulous and leisurely attention whatever seems likely to bring out the character of a school both in its origins and its complete developments . His book teaches
much without declamation and without partiality ; and , like all good books , whilst imparting instruction it provokes the reader to seek for more ! Whilst glancing through it we feel the wandering impulse revive strongly within us . We think of our hat-box and our portmanteau ; and also , alas ! of our banker ' s account . What a "joy for ever" to undertake the vast journey , or succession of journeys , which has enabled this universal narrator —this firm critic—to gather so many facts and receive so much enjoyment ! M . Viardot will make many a traveller ; and the museums of Europe will surely see their visitors augment . 2 ? ot without great profit to Art . No city , however rich its collections , can afford more than a very incomplete idea of the numerous schools and innumerable artists who have laboured in
the field-he has so well described . M . "VTardot ' s plan is to describe the contents of each gallery separatelyselecting the chief works not according to the order of the catalogues , but according to the divisions of schools and chronological succession . His work therefore , as we have said , becomes almost an Universal History of Art , and as such an indispensable companion to the stay-at-home student as well as to the traveller . Were we to examine it in detail , we should be compelled to criticise various assertions and dissent from , many opinions . This is a matter of course . But it is better to notice how on the whole so vast a series of statements has been brought together so successfully . From St . Petersburg to Madrid , from Rome to London , from Paris to Vienna , all the important public galleries , and many private ones , are here analysed and introduced to legitimate-curiosity . The last published volume is chiefly
devoted to the Louvre—recently described from a different point of view by Air . Bayle St . John . In this case , the writer found the paintings at least already arranged pretty nearly in the order he is inclined to assign to them ; for , whilst his other works were in progress , the French Museum was placed by the Republic under the direction of M . Jeanron , who took advantage of the momentary paralysis of routine to effect the principal reforms necessary . Perhaps the least successful section of the whole work is the account of our National Gallery , in approaching which something like prejudice or aversion seems to chill the usual enthusiasm—always kept within due bounds—of the accomplished critic . We may notice also an act of great courage in the decided attack on that great usurped reputation of Cornelius , the German Epic Dauber . But details , as we have hinted , must be avoided . Space forbids the minute discussions that would be necessary . We have said enough to introduce this admirable Cicerone to those who are not yet acquainted with him .
M. Forgues On The Caricaturists Of Engla...
M . FORGUES ON THE CARICATURISTS OF ENGLAND . La Caricature en Angleterre . Par E . D . Forgues . Paris : Simon Dautreville et C - The opinions of intelligent Frenchmen on English subjects possess , at the present time , a special value for persons of all classes in this country . With that conviction , we have already inserted in this journal some examples of French criticism on the display of English Art at Paris ; and we now propose in the same spirit to introduce to the notice of our readers—as another specimen of the critical literature of Fiance which has a national interest for us —a sketch of the history of Caricature in England by an able and conscientious French writer . M Forties will excuse us , we feel sure , if we confess that the thing which most astonished us on first glancing through his pamphlet , was its
extraordinary correctness . While cutting the leaves we found every page studded with English proper names and English book-titles , interspersed with quotations from English poetry , and references to English slang . Our first hasty impression on observing this , was that the principal critical duties we should have to perform in noticing La Caricature en Angleterre would consist in correcting mistakes in spelling , and in decip hering inconceivable hieroglyphics wherever our British mother-tongue made its appearance in the course of tho pamphlet . We remembered a long line of celebrated modern French authors , who could bo quite correct as to names and local customs while writing of Germans or Italians , but who became elaborately incorrect the moment they began to write of English names and English customs We remembered ( to take only illustrious examples ) that the nearest approach so famous a dramatist as M . Scribe could make to a nationally comic name for ft funny English nobleman ( in Fra Z ><« j > o / o ) was " Lord Rochbourff" — that the typo of an Englishwoman , as exhibited by Trots
Balzac and Dumas ( in Le Lys dans la Yallee and Les Mousquetaires ) was a furious , ravaging , revengeful , Amazonian devil in a riding habit—tho most unconventional and free-thinking being that could be picked out of tho ranks of women of all nations ! We remembered that so short a time back even as the period of the Exhibition in Hyde l ' ark , our French visitors published in newspapers and little books certain accounts of their sojourn in England , in which our names , localities , virtues , vices , ami national liiibits m jren ° crail were exhibited in such an extraordinary masquerade o "'» sPrl »^ and misrepresentations , that if any ono of those » snid nenrsp « P « J « ^ < £ books had been called -Strictures On Society In lunbuetoo ; Includ . „ £ Back-handed Hit At The Political Economy 01 Crini- <^; r £ w ^^^ never have suspected the author of misleading us b j * ; •'' « ^ _ . ever having ventured himself on En-lush ground . Wi h » ££ £ { , umdc and many others that wo might ^^ on-ot tho nu ^^^^^ ^ by the most renowned French authors and tho mo * t ^ ^ ^ ^ vellers , when writing of our countrypeop le or sec » fc *> . , d o M . it is not so very wonderful t »« t w ^ Tat bTwrk ' "fe say our " fin * Forgues nn injustice on our first g lance at ha * oik . j
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081855/page/19/
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