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December 27, 1856.] THE LEADER. mQ
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ITtt^fnfirr^ ;^U*UWUt£* ——— '¦ ¦ ¦ • ¦
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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. . ' ¦ ¦ -+¦ ' .. - .. ¦ . The Lecture ...
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From, the ornamentation of Buildings to ...
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The Revue de JParis,£ov the loth inst., ...
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THE: EARLY FLEMISH PAINTERS. The Early F...
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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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December 27, 1856.] The Leader. Mq
December 27 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER . mQ
Ittt^Fnfirr^ ;^U*Uwut£* ——— '¦ ¦ ¦ • ¦
fitofart
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges ana police of literature . They ao not maie La wa-they interpret and try to enforce ttexxx . -EdinburghEevilwl
. . ' ¦ ¦ -+¦ ' .. - .. ¦ . The Lecture ...
. . ' ¦ ¦ -+ ¦ ' .. - .. ¦ . The Lecture delivered by Owen J 02 r . Es before the Royal Institute of British Architects on the 15 th inst . is now before us , and . we can well undei'stand the admiration its masterly exposition of the principles of ornamentation excited . The Lecture is an abstract from the magniBcent work just completed by him on The Grammar of Ornament , and . its object is to point out those principles which have m all ages guided the artists to success ; and not to propose any model for imitation . As he well says : — Ornament , with every people , precedes the development of every other form of Art . Architecture , on « of the earliest , adopts ornament , does not create it . As we find that to ornament is , with every people , one of the-first natural instincts ; so w « shall find , that iu . the exercise of this instinct they could not do otherwise than follow natural laws .
The ornament of a savage , being the result of a natural instinct , is necessarily always true to its purpose ; -whilst in much of the ornament of civilized nations , the first impulse which generated certain received forma being enfeebled by constant repetition , the ornament is oftentimes misapplied . And instead of first making the most convenient form , and adding beauty , all beauty is destroyed , because all fitness , by superadding ornament "to ill-contrived form . If we would return to a more healthy condition , we must « yen be as little children , or as savages : we must get rid of the acquired and artificial , and return to and develop our natural instincts . It has been his object to briug into immediate juxtaposition many forms of beauty which every style presents , arid , by so doing , Aid in arresting that unfortunate tendency of our time to be content -with copying , whilst the fashion lasts , the forms peculiar to any bygone age , without an endeavour to ascertain , generally completely ignoring , the peculiar circumstances which rendered aii ornament beautiful , because it was appropriate , and which , as expressive of other wants , when thus transplanted , as entirely fails .
Certain general canons are laid down and illustrated , e . g ., the canon of Beauty , which he defin es as resulting " from that repose which the mind feels when the eye , the ¦ ¦ inte llect , ' and the affections are satisfied from the absence of any waht ;" that of Decoration , " When an ornament is constructed falsely , appearing to give support which it does not , it fails to engender the feeling of repose by neglecting to satisfy the intellect , however muchits beauty and other charms may appeal to the eye and the affections . " Arid he adds : — If we examine the leaf of n plant or a tree , we shall find that , independently of the beauty .. of the general form , there is another beauty which arises from the exquisite way in which all the lines on the surface are distributed over its area .
However varied the general outline of the leaf , it -will be found to be arranged in masses , the areas of which always diminish in regular proportion . Up the centre of each mass is a main sap-feeder ; and as the object clearly is to distribute the sap to the extremities of the leaf in the readiest way , however varied the form , the main sap-feeders will divide the masses into proportionate areas . Every portion of these spaces is again subdivided in the same way ; with such perfection , that the skeleton of a dissected leaf presents the appearance of a series of graduated tints in which there is no break . Now we shall find in all decorative ornament of the best period that this natural law . has hcen instinctively obeyed , not only in the distribution of form on the individual ornament , but also m the general arrangement of a group , and we therefore venture to lay down as an axiom that , in the composition of ornament , —
The general forms should be first cared for ; these should be subdivided and ornamented by general linos ; the interstices may then be filled in with ornament , which may again be subdivided and enriched for closer inspection . We can only squeeze in one more passage : — All junctions of curved lines with curved , or of curved lines with straight , should bo tangential to each other . Nature is said to abhor a vacuum ; it may equally be said she abhors an angle . In tlio whole range of her vegetable productions it will be impossible to find a line butting on another line , every branch of a tree , every stem of a leaf , ever } ' vein upon the leaf , is always softened at the point of junction with another by a re-entering curve . This also is a natural law universally obeyed in the best periods of art , equally violated when art declines . It is always present in Greek ornament , often absent iu the ornament of Pompeii .
AnoLlier universal law which may be recognized in every work of nature , and which should be observed in every assemblage of forms , as well as in each simple ornament , is , ( lint whenever wo recognize perfect harmony in any composition , it will bo found that the straight , the inclined , and the curved , are properly balanced and contrasted . "When any of these forms are wanting , the eye is as much disturbed by an unsatisfied want as when , looking on any composition of colours , any pile of the three primaries is absent . In all the geometrical patterns of the Egyptians and all the Mohammcdun races this is ' especially cared for , as well as by the Greek and by the Gothic architects in all their structures . It is daily nnd hourly neglected in modern times . It is one of the . most serious faults in the decorations of the interiors of houses , nnd absolutely fatal in articles of costume , where lines arc constantly running in one direction uncorrcetod , and as constantly tending to destroy the reposo of tlie forms which they arc designed to decorate nnd develop .
From, The Ornamentation Of Buildings To ...
From , the ornamentation of Buildings to that of Books is but a stop . How enormously the tendency to ornament books has increased of late years , everyone knows ; just as the drama is overdone with scenery and ' getting up , ' literature is overdone with engravings ; in both cases Ibe appeal is made to ouv lower faculties instead of to ouv higher faculties ; in both eases a good thing is nnido injurious to a better . \ Ve admit the charm of scenic splendour and of illustrated books , but we think both constantly misapplied . A work of high literal uru sntt'evs greatly from the intrusion of illustrations . Yet there aro works in which illustrations do really illustrate—in which they are aids to tho cleaver uniler . standing of the text . All scientific , arclircologicol , or descriptive works belong to this class . A portrait of . un Albanian , a Hottentot , or a Greek , conveys more accurate conceptions than
own touches , his own . felicities ; no engraver comes between him and his work , to alter , and often to spoil it ; no stubborn material , like wood , refuses to render the delicate .. effects he has produced : whatever he can do , be finds reproduced in the engraving . 2 ndly , The astonishing cheapness of production , and the rapidity with which copies can be multiplied . These two cardinal points will , we have no doubt , secure Signor Devincenzi extensive employment , touching , as they do , both Art and Commerce in their tenderest points . The specimens we have seen of this Electrography are of such marvellous delicacy and felicity , that we venture to suggest to all publishers contemplating the issue of illustrated works that they should at least examine this new process , and save themselves some hundreds of pounds . ,
any description ; a representation of an animal , an apparatus , « r a building will greatly facilitate the reader's conception of what the author means ; but when Brown forces his bad drawing on us for Juliet , or Mugqeeidgb represents Macbeth , when Smith illustrates Mimon , and Tomioms is ' "bound up with Tennyson , engravings are eyesores . So much of general protest . Granted , however , that illustrations are valuable , and considering , moreover , that the present expense of illustrations makes them infrequent in precisely those departments when they would be most valuable , we cannot but regard Signor Devincenzi ' s discovery of Electrography as a great boon . By it these two immense advantages are obtained : —1 st , That the artist ' s own drawing is engravedhis
The Revue De Jparis,£Ov The Loth Inst., ...
The Revue de JParis , £ ov the loth inst ., among other papers , contains one of great interest to many of our readers on . " Slavery among Christian ^ Nations . " The writer undertakes to refute the current assertion that Christianity abolished slavery . Admitting that the spirit of Christian charity is opposed to slavery , and , therefore , must have aided in its abolition whenever that has taken place , Be refutes the assertion that Christianity condemned slavery in principle , or that it ever abolished slavery . We cannot follow his argument , which moves through many pages of citation from the Gospels arid the Fathers , and reviews the whole course of modern history , but we indicate the existence of the essay to such of our readers as may be interested in the subject . ;
The: Early Flemish Painters. The Early F...
THE : EARLY FLEMISH PAINTERS . The Early Flemish Painters ' : ¦ Notices of their Lives and Works . By J . A . Crowe and G . B . Cavaleaselle . ; John Murray . Theke are few persons familiar with paintings who have not felt their interest aroused in the Van Eycks , Memling , and others of the early Flemish school 5 although it is true that no school of art has flourished about which so little is known as that of Bruges . u We know more , of the painted wonders of Assyria and Egypt , " say the authors of the work now under notice , '' than we do of the works of the Van Eycks . " Nor is there any means of satisfactorily removing this ignorance . In Italy , palaces and churches tell the history of painting ; in Germany , we may , by a little perseverance , follow the course of art from the earliest days ; but the Netherlands contain no su & westigia : the few Flemish works which still exist are scattered far and wide ; nor do public records preserve indications sufficient to satisfy the inwrite of the Flemish schoolsand to full account
qinrer . To a history , give a of its great painters , is therefore one of the desiderata in the history of art . Messrs . Crowe and Caviilcaselle have made an attempt to do this in the volume before us , a volume which displays the erudition and patient carefulness of a German treatise , but which also unhappily displays the lifelessness too often noticed in German treatises . The praise of diligence will be unstintingly awarded them ; and diligence was indispensable in such a task . But having collected these notes , there was another task awaiting them , namely , the reduction of the notes into a work ; and in this latter task they iave ' fallen very short of even modei'ate demands . Their work is heavily and ungrammatically written . The biographies are without spirit ; the criticisms vague and wearisome . The consequence of this imperfect literature is , that their work , although valuable to all persons curious about this chapter of the History of Painting , will be of little interest to the general public . ed
Another defect must be noticed . The book is liberally illustrat , with copies of the most celebrated paintings , and these ULustrationa form an important clement in the attractiveness of such a work ; but grateful as the reader will be for such aids to a correct understanding of the school of arb in question , he will notice with some ' disappointment that the faces of the various figures represented are not in the least what tho painter drew ; they aro modernized , and sometimes look as if they had been copied from a Keepsake , or Christmas Book . This infidelity on the part of tho draughtsman throws a certain doubt over the fidelity with which the attitudes and draperies aro copied . When will men learn that truth is everywhere preferable to ' idealization ?' To tho student , however , this book is , as we said , a valuable mass of notes , if not an admirable whole . From its livelier details we will select the following for our reader ' s interest . It gives us the idea Louis XI . had of what would be a proper portrait of his royal self , and may be contrasted with Cromwell ' s celebrated injunctions to Lcly—threatening- tho painter with forfeiture of his reward if he omitted a single wart on the face of his
sitter : —• . There is no improbability in supporting tlmt Louis XI . sent to Belgium for tho painter . Ilia desire for a good production was evidenced on moro than ono occasion . In Mt > 8 , ' . journeying to Pcroium , he stopped for an hour at Noyon io visit the cathedral . There he saw a very ancient picture of tlio crowning of Cliarlcmngno , so old and venerable- that he expressed a desire to have a copy of it , and lie requested that ho might have " ung iiourtruict do ce pourtraict . " Tho canons , but too anxious to do his pleasure , acceded to his wish , and record tho act as follows : " Anno 1-1 C 8 , canitulo facto , die ultima Augusli , decluretur per operarios convocandos oxponsa pro imagine Ciii-oli Miigni oolloeanila in Cnpclla Hanctii Eligli , retro chorum in frontc ccelesiiu , et describatum in pnpyrum pro cstandendo domino regi ( Ludovico undecimo ) ut ipso
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27121856/page/15/
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