,library ,edition ,,the ,,complete ,,works ,,of ,,john ,,ruskin ,,the ,,eagle',s ,,nest ,,love',s ,,meinie ,,ariadne ,,florentina ,,val ,d',,arno ,,proserpina ,,national ,,library ,,association ,,new ,,york ,,chicago ,,ariadne ,,florentina4 ,,six ,,lectures ,,on ,,wood ,,and ,,metal ,,engraving ,,with ,,appendix4 ,,given ,,before ,,the ,,university ,,of ,,oxford1 ,,in ,,michaelmas ,,term1 #ahgb4 ,,contents4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,page ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,engraving #a ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,the ,,relation ,,of ,,engraving ,,to ,,other ,,arts ,,in ,,florence #bb ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,the ,,technics ,,of ,,wood ,,engraving #db ,,lecture ,,iv4 ,,the ,,technics ,,of ,,metal ,,engraving #fa ,,lecture ,v4 ,,design ,,in ,,the ,,german ,,schools ,,of ,,engraving 7,,holbein ,,and ,d,ue,r,e,r7 #ha ,,lecture ,,vi4 ,,design ,,in ,,the ,,florentine ,,schools ,,of ,,engraving 7,,sandro ,,botticelli7 #ajh ,,appendix4 ,,article ,i4 ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,present ,,state ,,of ,,engraving ,,in ,,england #adc ,,ii4 ,,detached ,,notes #aeg ,,list ,,of ,,plates ,facing ,page ,diagram #bg ,the ,last ,furrow 7,fig4 #b74 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut #dg ,the ,two ,preachers 7,fig4 #c74 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut #dh ,i4 ,things ,celestial and ,terrestrial1 as apparent to the ,english mind #ef ,,ii4 ,star of ,florence #fb ,,iii4 ,at evening from the top of ,fesole #gb ,,iv4 ,by the ,springs of ,parnassus #gg ,v4 ,heat considered as a ,mode of ,motion4 ,florentine ,natural ,philosophy #ib ,,vi4 ,fairness of the ,sea and ,air4 ,in ,venice and ,athens #ie ,the ,child's ,bedtime 7,fig4 #e74 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut #ajc ,he that hath ears to hear let him hear 7,fig4 #f74 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut #aje ,,vii4 ,for a time1 and times #acj ,,viii4 ,the ,nymph beloved of ,apollo 7,michael ,angelo7 #aca ,,ix4 ,in the ,woods of ,ida #acb ,x4 ,grass of the ,desert #ace ,,xi4 ,obediente ,domino voci hominis #ade ,,xii4 ,the ,coronation in the ,garden #aeh ,,ariadne ,,florentina4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,engraving4 #a4 ,the entrance on my duty for to-day begins the fourth year of my official work in ,oxford2 and ,i doubt not that some of my audience are asking themselves1 very doubtfully--at all events1 ,i ask myself1 very anxiously--what has been done4 ,for practical result1 ,i have not much to show4 ,i announced1 a fortnight since1 that ,i would meet1 the day before yesterday1 any gentleman who wished to attend this course for purposes of study4 ,my class1 so minded1 numbers four1 of whom three wish to be artists1 and ought not therefore1 by rights1 to be at ,oxford at all2 and the fourth is the last remaining unit of the class ,i had last year4 #b4 ,yet ,i neither in this reproach myself1 nor1 if ,i could1 would ,i reproach the students who are not here4 ,i do not reproach myself2 for it was impossible for me to attend properly to the schools and to write the grammar for them at the same time2 and ,i do not blame the absent students for not attending a school from which ,i have generally been absent myself4 ,in all this1 there is much to be mended1 but1 in true light1 nothing to be regretted4 ,i say1 ,i had to write my school grammar4 ,these three volumes of lectures under my hand1,a contain1 carefully set down1 the things ,i want you first to know4 ,none of my writings are done fluently2 the second volume of ,modern ,painters was all of it written twice--most of it1 four times1--over2 and these lectures have been written1 ,i don't know how many times4 ,you may think that this was done merely in an author's vanity1 not in a tutor's care4 ,to the vanity ,i plead guilty1--no man is more intensely vain than ,i am2 but my vanity is set on having it known of me that ,i am a good master1 not in having it said of me that ,i am a smooth author4 ,my vanity is never more wounded than in being called a fine writer1 meaning--that nobody need mind what ,i say4 #c4 ,well1 then1 besides this vanity1 ,i have some solicitude for your progress4 ,you may give me credit for it or not1 as you choose1 but it is sincere4 ,and that your advance may be safe1 ,i have taken the best pains ,i could in laying down laws for it4 ,in these three years ,i have got my grammar written1 and1 with the help of many friends1 all working instruments in good order2 and now we will try what we can do4 ,not that1 even now1 you are to depend on my presence with you in personal teaching4 ,i shall henceforward think of the lectures less1 of the schools more2 but my best work for the schools will often be by drawing in ,florence or in ,lancashire--not here4 #d4 ,i have already told you several times that the course through which ,i mean every student in these schools should pass1 is one which shall enable them to understand the elementary principles of the finest art4 ,it will necessarily be severe1 and seem to lead to no immediate result4 ,some of you will1 on the contrary1 wish to be taught what is immediately easy1 and gives prospect of a manifest success4 ,but suppose they should come to the ,professor of ,logic and ,rhetoric1 and tell him they want to be taught to preach like ,mr4 ,spurgeon1 or the ,bishop of ----4 ,he would say to them1--,i cannot1 and if ,i could ,i would not1 tell you how to preach like ,mr4 ,spurgeon1 or the ,bishop of ----4 ,your own character will form your style2 your own zeal will direct it2 your own obstinacy or ignorance may limit or exaggerate it2 but my business is to prevent1 as far as ,i can1 your having any particular style2 and to teach you the laws of all language1 and the essential power of your own4 ,in like manner1 this course1 which ,i propose to you in art1 will be calculated only to give you judgment and method in future study1 to establish to your conviction the laws of general art1 and to enable you to draw1 if not with genius1 at least with sense and propriety4 ,the course1 so far as it consists in practice1 will be defined in my ,instructions for the schools4 ,and the theory connected with that practice is set down in the three lectures at the end of the first course ,i delivered--those on ,line1 ,light1 and ,color4 ,you will have1 therefore1 to get this book1,b and it is the only one which you will need to have of your own1--the others are placed1 for reference1 where they will be accessible to you4 #e4 ,in the #acith paragraph it states the order of your practical study in these terms3-- ,i wish you to begin by getting command of line2--that is to say1 by learning to draw a steady line1 limiting with absolute correctness the form or space you intend it to limit2 to proceed by getting command over flat tints1 so that you may be able to fill the spaces you have inclosed evenly1 either with shade or color1 according to the school you adopt2 and1 finally1 to obtain the power of adding such fineness of drawing1 within the masses1 as shall express their undulation1 and their characters of form and texture4 ,and now1 since in your course of practice you are first required to attain the power of drawing lines accurately and delicately1 so in the course of theory1 or grammar1 ,i wish you first to learn the principles of linear design1 exemplified by the schools which 7,sec4 #acg7 you will find characterized as the ,schools of ,line4 #f4 ,if ,i had command of as much time as ,i should like to spend with you on this subject1 ,i would begin with the early forms of art which used the simplest linear elements of design4 ,but1 for general service and interest1 it will be better that ,i should sketch what has been accomplished by the greatest masters in that manner2 the rather that their work is more or less accessible to all1 and has developed into the vast industries of modern engraving1 one of the most powerful existing influences of education and sources of pleasure among civilized people4 ,and this investigation1 so far from interrupting1 will facilitate our examination of the history of the nobler arts4 ,you will see in the preface to my lectures on ,greek sculpture that ,i intend them to be followed by a course on architecture1 and that by one on ,florentine sculpture4 ,but the art of engraving is so manifestly1 at ,florence1 though not less essentially elsewhere1 a basis of style both in architecture and sculpture1 that it is absolutely necessary ,i should explain to you in what the skill of the engraver consists1 before ,i can define with accuracy that of more admired artists4 ,for engraving1 though not altogether in the method of which you see examples in the print-shops of the ,high ,street1 is1 indeed1 a prior art to that either of building or sculpture1 and is an inseparable part of both1 when they are rightly practiced4 #g4 ,and while we thus examine the scope of this first of the arts1 it will be necessary that we learn also the scope of mind of the early practicers of it1 and accordingly acquaint ourselves with the main events in the biography of the schools of ,florence4 ,to understand the temper and meaning of one great master is to lay the best1 if not the only1 foundation for the understanding of all2 and ,i shall therefore make it the leading aim of this course of lectures to remind you of what is known1 and direct you to what is knowable1 of the life and character of the greatest ,florentine master of engraving1 ,sandro ,botticelli2 and1 incidentally1 to give you some idea of the power of the greatest master of the ,german1 or any northern1 school1 ,hans ,holbein4 #h4 ,you must feel1 however1 that ,i am using the word engraving in a somewhat different1 and1 you may imagine1 a wider1 sense1 than that which you are accustomed to attach to it4 ,so far from being a wider sense1 it is in reality a more accurate and restricted one1 while yet it embraces every conceivable right application of the art4 ,and ,i wish1 in this first lecture1 to make entirely clear to you the proper meaning of the word1 and proper range of the art of1 engraving2 in my next following lecture1 to show you its place in ,italian schools1 and then1 in due order1 the place it ought to take in our own1 and in all schools4 #i4 ,first then1 to-day1 of the ,differentia1 or essential quality of ,engraving1 as distinguished from other arts4 ,what answer would you make to me1 if ,i asked casually what engraving was8 ,perhaps the readiest which would occur to you would be1 ,the translation of pictures into black and white by means admitting reduplication of impressions4 ,but if that be done by lithography1 we do not call it engraving1--whereas we speak contentedly and continually of seal engraving1 in which there is no question of black and white4 ,and1 as scholars1 you know that this customary mode of speaking is quite accurate2 and that engraving means1 primarily1 making a permanent cut or furrow in something4 ,the central syllable of the word has become a sorrowful one1 meaning the most permanent of furrows4 #aj4 ,but are you prepared absolutely to accept this limitation with respect to engraving as a pictorial art8 ,will you call nothing an engraving1 except a group of furrows or cavities cut in a hard substance8 ,what shall we say of mezzotint engraving1 for instance1 in which1 though indeed furrows and cavities are produced mechanically as a ground1 the artist's work is in effacing them8 ,and when we consider the power of engraving in representing pictures and multiplying them1 are we to recognize and admire no effects of light and shade except those which are visibly produced by dots or furrows8 ,i mean1 will the virtue of an engraving be in exhibiting these imperfect means of its effect1 or in concealing them8 #aa4 ,here1 for instance1 is the head of a soldier by ,duerer1--a mere gridiron of black lines4 ,would this be better or worse engraving if it were more like a photograph or lithograph1 and no lines seen8--suppose1 more like the head of ,mr4 ,santley1 now in all the music-shops1 and really quite deceptive in light and shade1 when seen from over the way8 ,do you think ,duerer's work would be better if it were more like that8 ,and would you have me1 therefore1 leaving the question of technical method of production altogether to the craftsman1 consider pictorial engraving simply as the production of a light-and-shade drawing1 by some method permitting its multiplication for the public8 #ab4 ,this1 you observe1 is a very practical question indeed4 ,for instance1 the illustrations of my own lectures on sculpture are equivalent to permanent photographs4 ,there can be little doubt that means will be discovered of thus producing perfect facsimiles of artists' drawings2 so that1 if no more than facsimile be required1 the old art of cutting furrows in metal may be considered as1 at this day1 virtually ended4 ,and1 indeed1 it is said that line engravers cannot any more get apprentices1 and that a pure steel or copper plate is not likely to be again produced1 when once the old living masters of the bright field shall have been all laid in their earth-furrows4 #ac4 ,suppose1 then1 that this come to pass2 and more than this1 suppose that wood engraving also be superseded1 and that instead of imperfect transcripts of drawings1 on wood-blocks or metal-plates1 photography enabled us to give1 quite cheaply1 and without limit to number1 facsimiles of the finished light-and-shade drawings of artists themselves4 ,another group of questions instantly offers itself1 on these new conditions2 namely1 ,what are the best means for a light-and-shade drawing--the pen1 or the pencil1 the charcoal1 or the flat wash8 ,that is to say1 the pen1 producing shade by black lines1 as old engraving did2 the pencil1 producing shade by gray lines1 variable in force2 the charcoal1 producing a smoky shadow with no lines in it1 or the washed tint1 producing a transparent shadow with no lines in it4 ,which of these methods is the best8--or have they1 each and all1 virtues to be separately studied1 and distinctively applied8 #ad4 ,see how curiously the questions multiply on us4 #ast1 ,is engraving to be only considered as cut work8 #b;d1 ,for present designs multipliable without cutting1 by the sunshine1 what methods or instruments of drawing will be best8 ,and now1 #c;dly1 before we can discuss these questions at all1 is there not another lying at the root of both1--namely1 what a light-and-shade drawing itself properly is1 and how it differs1 or should differ1 from a painting1 whether by mere deficiency1 or by some entirely distinct merit8 #ae4 ,for instance1 you know how confidently it is said1 in common talk about ,turner1 that his works are intelligible and beautiful when engraved1 though incomprehensible as paintings4 ,admitting this to be so1 do you suppose it is because the translation into light and shade is deficient in some qualities which the painting had1 or that it possesses some quality which the painting had not8 ,does it please more because it is deficient in the color which confused a feeble spectator1 and offended a dogmatic one1--or because it possesses a decision in its steady linear labor which interprets1 or corrects1 the swift penciling of the artist8 #af4 ,do you notice the two words ,i have just used1 ,decision1 and ,linear8--,decision1 again introducing the idea of cuts or divisions1 as opposed to gradations2 ,linear1 as opposed to massive or broad8 ,yet we use all these words at different times in praise1 while they evidently mark inconsistent qualities4 ,softness and decision1 breadth and delineation1 cannot co-exist in equal degrees4 ,there must surely therefore be a virtue in the engraving inconsistent with that of the painting1 and vice versa4 ,now1 be clear about these three questions which we have to-day to answer4 ,a4 ,is all engraving to be cut work8 ,b4 ,if it need not be cut work1 but only the reproduction of a drawing1 what methods of executing a light-and-shade drawing will be best8 ,c4 ,is the shaded drawing itself to be considered only as a deficient or imperfect painting1 or as a different thing from a painting1 having a virtue of its own1 belonging to black and white1 as opposed to color8 #ag4 ,i will give you the answers at once1 briefly1 and amplify them afterwards4 ,a4 ,all engraving must be cut work2--that is its differentia4 ,unless your effect be produced by cutting into some solid substance1 it is not engraving at all4 ,b4 ,the proper methods for light-and-shade drawing vary according to subject1 and the degree of completeness desired1--some of them having much in common with engraving1 and others with painting4 ,c4 ,the qualities of a light-and-shade drawing ought to be entirely different from those of a painting4 ,it is not a deficient or partial representation of a colored scene or picture1 but an entirely different reading of either4 ,so that much of what is intelligible in a painting ought to be unintelligible in a light-and-shade study1 and vice versa4 ,you have thus three arts1--engraving1 light-and-shade drawing1 and painting4 ,now ,i am not going to lecture1 in this course1 on painting1 nor on light-and-shade drawing1 but on engraving only4 ,but ,i must tell you something about light-and-shade drawing first2 or1 at least1 remind you of what ,i have before told4 #ah4 ,you see that the three elementary lectures in my first volume are on ,line1 ,light1 and ,color1--that is to say1 on the modes of art which produce linear designs1--which produce effects of light1--and which produce effects of color4 ,i must1 for the sake of new students1 briefly repeat the explanation of these4 ,here is an ,arabian vase1 in which the pleasure given to the eye is only by lines2--no effect of light1 or of color1 is attempted4 ,here is a moonlight by ,turner1 in which there are no lines at all1 and no colors at all4 ,the pleasure given to the eye is only by modes of light and shade1 or effects of light4 ,finally1 here is an early ,florentine painting1 in which there are no lines of importance1 and no effect of light whatever2 but all the pleasure given to the eye is in gayety and variety of color4 #ai4 ,i say1 the pleasure given to the eye4 ,the lines on this vase write something2 but the ornamentation produced by the beautiful writing is independent of its meaning4 ,so the moonlight is pleasant1 first1 as light2 and the figures1 first1 as color4 ,it is not the shape of the waves1 but the light on them2 not the expression of the figures1 but their color1 by which the ocular pleasure is to be given4 ,these three examples are violently marked ones2 but1 in preparing to draw any object1 you will find that1 practically1 you have to ask yourself1 ,shall ,i aim at the color of it1 the light of it1 or the lines of it8 ,you can't have all three2 you can't even have any two out of the three in equal strength4 ,the best art1 indeed1 comes so near nature as in a measure to unite all4 ,but the best is not1 and cannot be1 as good as nature2 and the mode of its deficiency is that it must lose some of the color1 some of the light1 or some of the delineation4 ,and in consequence1 there is one great school which says1 ,we will have the color1 and as much light and delineation as are consistent with it4 ,another which says1 ,we will have shade1 and as much color and delineation as are consistent with it4 ,the third1 ,we will have delineation1 and as much color and shade as are consistent with it4 #bj4 ,and though much of the two subordinate qualities may in each school be consistent with the leading one1 yet the schools are evermore separate3 as1 for instance1 in other matters1 one man says1 ,i will have my fee1 and as much honesty as is consistent with it2 another1 ,i will have my honesty1 and as much fee as is consistent with it4 ,though the man who will have his fee be subordinately honest1--though the man who will have his honor1 subordinately rich1 are they not evermore of diverse schools8 ,so you have1 in art1 the utterly separate provinces1 though in contact at their borders1 of ,the ,delineators2 ,the ,chiaroscurists2 and ,the ,colorists4 #ba4 ,the ,delineators are the men on whom ,i am going to give you this course of lectures4 ,they are essentially engravers1 an engraved line being the best means of delineation4 ,the ,chiaroscurists are essentially draughtsmen with chalk1 charcoal1 or single tints4 ,many of them paint1 but always with some effort and pain4 ,lionardo is the type of them2 but the entire ,dutch school consists of them1 laboriously painting1 without essential genius for color4 ,the ,colorists are the true painters2 and all the faultless 7as far1 that is to say1 as men's work can be so17 and consummate masters of art belong to them4 #bb4 ,the distinction between the colorist and chiaroscurist school is trenchant and absolute3 and may soon be shown you so that you will never forget it4 ,here is a ,florentine picture by one of the pupils of ,giotto1 of very good representative quality1 and which the ,university galleries are rich in possessing4 ,at the distance at which ,i hold it1 you see nothing but a checker-work of brilliant1 and1 as it happens1 even glaring colors4 ,if you come near1 you will find this patchwork resolve itself into a ,visitation1 and ,birth of ,st4 ,john2 but that ,st4 ,elizabeth's red dress1 and the ,virgin's blue and white one1 and the brown posts of the door1 and the blue spaces of the sky1 are painted in their own entirely pure colors1 each shaded with more powerful tints of itself1--pale blue with deep blue1 scarlet with crimson1 yellow with orange1 and green with richer green4 ,the whole is therefore as much a mosaic work of brilliant color as if it were made of bits of glass4 ,there is no effect of light attempted1 or so much as thought of3 you don't know even where the sun is3 nor have you the least notion what time of day it is4 ,the painter thinks you cannot be so superfluous as to want to know what time of day it is4 #bc4 ,here1 on the other hand1 is a ,dutch picture of good average quality1 also out of the ,university galleries4 ,it represents a group of cattle1 and a herdsman watching them4 ,and you see in an instant that the time is evening4 ,the sun is setting1 and there is warm light on the landscape1 the cattle1 and the standing figure4 ,nor does the picture in any conspicuous way seem devoid of color4 ,on the contrary1 the herdsman has a scarlet jacket1 which comes out rather brilliantly from the mass of shade round it2 and a person devoid of color faculty1 or ill taught1 might imagine the picture to be really a fine work of color4 ,but if you will come up close to it1 you will find that the herdsman has brown sleeves1 though he has a scarlet jacket2 and that the shadows of both are painted with precisely the same brown1 and in several places with continuous touches of the pencil4 ,it is only in the light that the scarlet is laid on4 ,this at once marks the picture as belonging to the lower or chiaroscurist school1 even if you had not before recognized it as such by its pretty rendering of sunset effect4 #bd4 ,you might at first think it a painting which showed greater skill than that of the school of ,giotto4 ,but the skill is not the primary question4 ,the power of imagination is the first thing to be asked about4 ,this ,italian work imagines1 and requires you to imagine also1 a ,st4 ,elizabeth and ,st4 ,mary1 to the best of your power4 ,but this ,dutch one only wishes you to imagine an effect of sunlight on cow-skin1 which is a far lower strain of the imaginative faculty4 ,also1 as you may see the effect of sunlight on cow-skin1 in reality1 any summer afternoon1 but cannot so frequently see a ,st4 ,elizabeth1 it is a far less useful strain of the imaginative faculty4 ,and1 generally speaking1 the ,dutch chiaroscurists are indeed persons without imagination at all1--who1 not being able to get any pleasure out of their thoughts1 try to get it out of their sensations2 note1 however1 also their technical connection with the ,greek school of shade1 7see my sixth inaugural lecture1 ,sec4 #aeh17 in which color was refused1 not for the sake of deception1 but of solemnity4 #be4 ,with these final motives you are not now concerned2 your present business is the quite easy one of knowing1 and noticing1 the universal distinction between the methods of treatment in which the aim is light1 and in which it is color2 and so to keep yourselves guarded from the danger of being misled by the1 often very ingenious1 talk of persons who have vivid color sensations without having learned to distinguish them from what else pleases them in pictures4 ,there is an interesting volume by ,professor ,taine on the ,dutch school1 containing a valuable historical analysis of the influences which formed it2 but full of the gravest errors1 resulting from the confusion in his mind between color and tone1 in consequence of which he imagines the ,dutch painters to be colorists4 #bf4 ,it is so important for you to be grounded securely in these first elements of pictorial treatment1 that ,i will be so far tedious as to show you one more instance of the relative intellectual value of the pure color and pure chiaroscuro school1 not in ,dutch and ,florentine1 but in ,english art4 ,here is a copy of one of the lost frescoes of our ,painted ,chamber of ,westminster2--fourteenth-century work1 entirely conceived in color1 and calculated for decorative effect4 ,there is no more light and shade in it than in a ,queen of ,hearts in a pack of cards2--all that the painter at first wants you to see is that the young lady has a white forehead1 and a golden crown1 and a fair neck1 and a violet robe1 and a crimson shield with golden leopards on it2 and that behind her is clear blue sky4 ,then1 farther1 he wants you to read her name1 ,debonnairete1 which1 when you have read1 he farther expects you to consider what it is to be debonnaire1 and to remember your ,chaucer's description of the virtue3-- ,she was not brown1 nor dun of hue1 ,but white as snowe1 fallen new1 ,with eyen glad1 and browes bent1 ,her hair down to her heeles went1 ,and she was simple1 as dove on tree1 ,full debonnair of heart was she4 #bg4 ,you see ,chaucer dwells on the color just as much as the painter does1 but the painter has also given her the ,english shield to bear1 meaning that good-humor1 or debonnairete1 cannot be maintained by self-indulgence2--only by fortitude4 ,farther note1 with ,chaucer1 the eyen glad1 and brows bent 7high-arched and calm71 the strong life1 7hair down to the heels17 and that her gladness is to be without subtlety1--that is to say1 without the slightest pleasure in any form of advantage-taking1 or any shrewd or mocking wit3 she was simple as dove on tree2 and you will find that the color-painting1 both in the fresco and in the poem1 is in the very highest degree didactic and intellectual2 and distinguished1 as being so1 from all inferior forms of art4 ,farther1 that it requires you yourself first to understand the nature of simplicity1 and to like simplicity in young ladies better than subtlety2 and to understand why the second of ,love's five kind arrows 7,beaute being the first7-- ,simplece ot nom1 la seconde ,qui maint homme parmi le monde ,et mainte dame fait amer4 ,nor must you leave the picture without observing that there is another reason for ,debonnairete's bearing the ,royal shield1--of all shields that1 rather than another4 ,de-bonne-aire meant originally out of a good eagle's nest1 the aire signifying the eagle's nest or eyrie especially1 because it is flat1 the ,latin area being the root of all4 ,and this coming out of a good nest is recognized as1 of all things1 needfulest to give the strength which enables people to be good-humored2 and thus you have debonnaire forming the third word of the group1 with gentle and kind1 all first signifying of good race4 ,you will gradually see1 as we go on1 more and more why ,i called my third volume of lectures ,eagle's ,nest2 for ,i am not fantastic in these titles1 as is often said2 but try shortly to mark my chief purpose in the book by them4 #bh4 ,now for comparison with this old art1 here is a modern engraving1 in which color is entirely ignored2 and light and shade alone are used to produce what is supposed to be a piece of impressive religious instruction4 ,but it is not a piece of religious instruction at all2--only a piece of religious sensation1 prepared for the sentimental pleasure of young ladies2 whom 7since ,i am honored to-day by the presence of many7 ,i will take the opportunity of warning against such forms of false theological satisfaction4 ,this engraving represents a young lady in a very long and1 though plain1 very becoming white dress1 tossed upon the waves of a terrifically stormy sea1 by which neither her hair nor her becoming dress is in the least wetted2 and saved from despair in that situation by closely embracing a very thick and solid stone ,cross4 ,by which far-sought and original metaphor young ladies are expected1 after some effort1 to understand the recourse they may have1 for support1 to the ,cross of ,christ1 in the midst of the troubles of this world4 #bi4 ,as those troubles are for the present1 in all probability1 limited to the occasional loss of their thimbles when they have not taken care to put them into their work-boxes1--the concern they feel at the unsympathizing gayety of their companions1--or perhaps the disappointment at not hearing a favorite clergyman preach1--7for ,i will not suppose the young ladies interested in this picture to be affected by any chagrin at the loss of an invitation to a ball1 or the like worldliness17--it seems to me the stress of such calamities might be represented1 in a picture1 by less appalling imagery4 ,and ,i can assure my fair little lady friends1--if ,i still have any1--that whatever a young girl's ordinary troubles or annoyances may be1 her true virtue is in shaking them off1 as a rose-leaf shakes off rain1 and remaining debonnaire and bright in spirits1 or even1 as the rose would be1 the brighter for the troubles2 and not at all in allowing herself to be either drifted or depressed to the point of requiring religious consolation4 ,but if any real and deep sorrow1 such as no metaphor can represent1 fall upon her1 does she suppose that the theological advice of this piece of modern art can be trusted8 ,if she will take the pains to think truly1 she will remember that ,christ ,himself never says anything about holding by ,his ,cross4 ,he speaks a good deal of bearing it2 but never for an instant of holding by it4 ,it is ,his ,hand1 not ,his ,cross1 which is to save either you1 or ,st4 ,peter1 when the waves are rough4 ,and the utterly reckless way in which modern religious teachers1 whether in art or literature1 abuse the metaphor somewhat briefly and violently leant on by ,st4 ,paul1 simply prevents your understanding the meaning of any word which ,christ ,himself speaks on this matter6 ,so you see this popular art of light and shade1 catching you by your mere thirst of sensation1 is not only undidactic1 but the reverse of didactic--deceptive and illusory4 #cj4 ,this popular art1 you hear me say1 scornfully2 and ,i have told you1 in some of my teaching in ,aratra ,pentelici1 that all great art must be popular4 ,yes1 but great art is popular1 as bread and water are to children fed by a father4 ,and vile art is popular1 as poisonous jelly is1 to children cheated by a confectioner4 ,and it is quite possible to make any kind of art popular on those last terms4 ,the color school may become just as poisonous as the colorless1 in the hands of fools1 or of rogues4 ,here is a book ,i bought only the other day1--one of the things got up cheap to catch the eyes of mothers at bookstalls1--,puss in ,boots1 illustrated2 a most definite work of the color school--red jackets and white paws and yellow coaches as distinct as ,giotto or ,raphael would have kept them4 ,but the thing is done by fools for money1 and becomes entirely monstrous and abominable4 ,here1 again1 is color art produced by fools for religion3 here is ,indian sacred painting1--a black god with a hundred arms1 with a green god on one side of him and a red god on the other2 still a most definite work of the color school4 ,giotto or ,raphael could not have made the black more resolutely black1 7though the whole color of the school of ,athens is kept in distinct separation from one black square in it71 nor the green more unquestionably green4 ,yet the whole is pestilent and loathsome4 #ca4 ,now but one point more1 and ,i have done with this subject for to-day4 ,you must not think that this manifest brilliancy and ,harlequin's-jacket character is essential in the color school4 ,the essential matter is only that everything should be of its own definite color3 it may be altogether sober and dark1 yet the distinctness of hue preserved with entire fidelity4 ,here1 for instance1 is a picture of ,hogarth's1--one of quite the most precious things we have in our galleries4 ,it represents a meeting of some learned society--gentlemen of the last century1 very gravely dressed1 but who1 nevertheless1 as gentlemen pleasantly did in that day1--you remember ,goldsmith's weakness on the point--wear coats of tints of dark red1 blue1 or violet4 ,there are some thirty gentlemen in the room1 and perhaps seven or eight different tints of subdued claret-color in their coats2 and yet every coat is kept so distinctly of its own proper claret-color1 that each gentleman's servant would know his master's4 ,yet the whole canvas is so gray and quiet1 that as ,i now hold it by this ,dutch landscape1 with the vermilion jacket1 you would fancy ,hogarth's had no color in it at all1 and that the ,dutchman was half-way to becoming a ,titian2 whereas ,hogarth's is a consummate piece of the most perfect colorist school1 which ,titian could not beat1 in its way2 and the ,dutchman could no more paint half an inch of it than he could summon a rainbow into the clouds4 #cb4 ,here then1 you see1 are1 altogether1 five works1 all of the absolutely pure color school3-- #a4 ,one1 ,indian1--,religious ,art2 #b4 ,one1 ,florentine1--,religious ,art2 #c4 ,one1 ,english1--from ,painted ,chamber1 ,westminster1--,ethic ,art2 #d4 ,one1 ,english1--,hogarth1--,naturalistic ,art2 #e4 ,one1 ,english1--to-day sold in the ,high ,street1--,caricaturist ,art4 ,and of these1 the ,florentine and old ,english are divine work1 ,god-inspired2 full1 indeed1 of faults and innocencies1 but divine1 as good children are4 ,then this by ,hogarth is entirely wise and right2 but worldly-wise1 not divine4 ,while the old ,indian1 and this1 with which we feed our children at this hour1 are entirely damnable art2--every bit of it done by the direct inspiration of the devil1--feeble1 ridiculous1--yet mortally poisonous to every noble quality in body and soul4 #cc4 ,i have now1 ,i hope1 guarded you sufficiently from the danger either of confusing the inferior school of chiaroscuro with that of color1 or of imagining that a work must necessarily be good1 on the sole ground of its belonging to the higher group4 ,i can now proceed securely to separate the third school1 that of ,delineation1 from both2 and to examine its special qualities4 ,it begins 7see ,inaugural ,lectures1 ,sec4 #acg7 in the primitive work of races insensible alike to shade and to color1 and nearly devoid of thought and of sentiment1 but gradually developing into both4 ,now as the design is primitive1 so are the means likely to be primitive4 ,a line is the simplest work of art you can produce4 ,what are the simplest means you can produce it with8 ,a ,cumberland lead-pencil is a work of art in itself1 quite a nineteenth-century machine4 ,pen and ink are complex and scholarly2 and even chalk or charcoal not always handy4 ,but the primitive line1 the first and last1 generally the best of lines1 is that which you have elementary faculty of at your fingers' ends1 and which kittens can draw as well as you--the scratch4 ,the first1 ,i say1 and the last of lines4 ,permanent exceedingly1--even in flesh1 or on mahogany tables1 often more permanent than we desire4 ,but when studiously and honorably made1 divinely permanent1 or delightfully--as on the venerable desks of our public schools1 most of them1 now1 specimens of wood engraving dear to the heart of ,england4 #cd4 ,engraving1 then1 is1 in brief terms1 the ,art of ,scratch4 ,it is essentially the cutting into a solid substance for the sake of making your ideas as permanent as possible1 graven with an iron pen in the ,rock forever4 ,permanence1 you observe1 is the object1 not multiplicability2--that is quite an accidental1 sometimes not even a desirable1 attribute of engraving4 ,duration of your work--fame1 and undeceived vision of all men1 on the pane of glass of the window on a wet day1 or on the pillars of the castle of ,chillon1 or on the walls of the pyramids2--a primitive art1--yet first and last with us4 ,since then engraving1 we say1 is essentially cutting into the surface of any solid2 as the primitive design is in lines or dots1 the primitive cutting of such design is a scratch or a hole2 and scratchable solids being essentially three--stone1 wood1 metal1--we shall have three great schools of engraving to investigate in each material4 #ce4 ,on tablet of stone1 on tablet of wood1 on tablet of steel1--the first giving the law to everything2 the second true ,athenian1 like ,athena's first statue in olive-wood1 making the law legible and homely2 and the third true ,vulcanian1 having the splendor and power of accomplished labor4 ,now of stone engraving1 which is joined inseparably with sculpture and architecture1 ,i am not going to speak at length in this course of lectures4 ,i shall speak only of wood and metal engraving4 ,but there is one circumstance in stone engraving which it is necessary to observe in connection with the other two branches of the art4 ,the great difficulty for a primitive engraver is to make his scratch deep enough to be visible4 ,visibility is quite as essential to your fame as permanence2 and if you have only your furrow to depend on1 the engraved tablet1 at certain times of day1 will be illegible1 and passed without notice4 ,but suppose you fill in your furrow with something black1 then it will be legible enough at once2 and if the black fall out or wash out1 still your furrow is there1 and may be filled again by anybody4 ,therefore1 the noble stone engravers1 using marble to receive their furrow1 fill that furrow with marble ink4 ,and you have an engraved plate to purpose2--with the whole sky for its margin6 ,look here--the front of the church of ,san ,michele of ,lucca1--white marble with green serpentine for ink2 or here1--the steps of the ,giant's ,stair1 with lead for ink2 or here1--the floor of the ,pisan ,duomo1 with porphyry for ink4 ,such cutting1 filled in with color or with black1 branches into all sorts of developments1--,florentine mosaic on the one hand1 niello on the other1 and infinite minor arts4 #cf4 ,yet we must not make this filling with color part of our definition of engraving4 ,to engrave is1 in final strictness1 to decorate a surface with furrows4 7,cameos1 in accuratest terms1 are minute sculptures1 not engravings47 ,a plowed field is the purest type of such art2 and is1 on hilly land1 an exquisite piece of decoration4 ,therefore it will follow that engraving distinguishes itself from ordinary drawing by greater need of muscular effort4 ,the quality of a pen drawing is to be produced easily1--deliberately1 always1,c but with a point that glides over the paper4 ,engraving1 on the contrary1 requires always force1 and its virtue is that of a line produced by pressure1 or by blows of a chisel4 ,it involves1 therefore1 always1 ideas of power and dexterity1 but also of restraint2 and the delight you take in it should involve the understanding of the difficulty the workman dealt with4 ,you perhaps doubt the extent to which this feeling justly extends1 7in the first volume of ,modern ,painters1 expressed under the head ,ideas of ,power47 ,but why is a large stone in any building grander than a small one8 ,simply because it was more difficult to raise it4 ,so1 also1 an engraved line is1 and ought to be1 recognized as more grand than a pen or pencil line1 because it was more difficult to execute it4 ,in this mosaic of ,lucca front you forgive much1 and admire much1 because you see it is all cut in stone4 ,so1 in wood and steel1 you ought to see that every line has been costly2 but observe1 costly of deliberative1 no less than athletic or executive power4 ,the main use of the restraint which makes the line difficult to draw1 is to give time and motive for deliberation in drawing it1 and to insure its being the best in your power4 #cg4 ,for1 as with deliberation1 so without repentance1 your engraved line must be4 ,it may1 indeed1 be burnished or beaten out again in metal1 or patched and botched in stone2 but always to disadvantage1 and at pains which must not be incurred often4 ,and there is a singular evidence in one of ,duerer's finest plates that1 in his time1 or at least in his manner of work1 it was not possible at all4 ,among the disputes as to the meaning of ,duerer's ,knight and ,death1 you will find it sometimes suggested1 or insisted1 that the horse's raised foot is going to fall into a snare4 ,what has been fancied a noose is only the former outline of the horse's foot and limb1 uneffaced4 ,the engraved line is therefore to be conclusive2 not experimental4 ,i have determined this1 says the engraver4 ,much excellent pen drawing is excellent in being tentative1--in being experimental4 ,indeterminate1 not through want of meaning1 but through fullness of it--halting wisely between two opinions--feeling cautiously after clearer opinions4 ,but your engraver has made up his opinion4 ,this is so1 and must forever be so1 he tells you4 ,a very proper thing for a thoughtful man to say2 a very improper and impertinent thing for a foolish one to say4 ,foolish engraving is consummately foolish work4 ,look1--all the world1--look for evermore1 says the foolish engraver2 see what a fool ,i have been6 ,how many lines ,i have laid for nothing6 ,how many lines upon lines1 with no precept1 much less superprecept6 #ch4 ,here1 then1 are two definite ethical characters in all engraved work4 ,it is ,athletic2 and it is ,resolute4 ,add one more2 that it is ,obedient2--in their infancy the nurse1 but in their youth the slave1 of the higher arts2 servile1 both in the mechanism and labor of it1 and in its function of interpreting the schools of painting as superior to itself4 ,and this relation to the higher arts we will study at the source of chief power in all the normal skill of ,christendom1 ,florence2 and chiefly1 as ,i said1 in the work of one ,florentine master1 ,sandro ,botticelli4 ,,footnotes3 ,a ,inaugural ,series1 ,aratra ,pentelici1 and ,eagle's ,nest4 ,b ,my inaugural series of seven lectures 7now published uniform in size with this edition4 #ahij74 ,c ,compare ,inaugural ,lectures1 ,sec4 #add4 ,,lecture ,,ii4 ,,the ,,relation ,,of ,,engraving ,,to ,,other ,,arts ,,in ,,florence4 #ci4 ,from what was laid before you in my last lecture1 you must now be aware that ,i do not mean1 by the word 'engraving1' merely the separate art of producing plates from which black pictures may be printed4 ,i mean1 by engraving1 the art of producing decoration on a surface by the touches of a chisel or a burin2 and ,i mean by its relation to other arts1 the subordinate service of this linear work1 in sculpture1 in metal work1 and in painting2 or in the representation and repetition of painting4 ,and first1 therefore1 ,i have to map out the broad relations of the arts of sculpture1 metal work1 and painting1 in ,florence1 among themselves1 during the period in which the art of engraving was distinctly connected with them4,d #dj4 ,you will find1 or may remember1 that in my lecture on ,michael ,angelo and ,tintoret ,i indicated the singular importance1 in the history of art1 of a space of forty years1 between #adhj1 and the year in which ,raphael died1 #aebj4 ,within that space of time the change was completed1 from the principles of ancient1 to those of existing1 art2--a manifold change1 not definable in brief terms1 but most clearly characterized1 and easily remembered1 as the change of conscientious and didactic art1 into that which proposes to itself no duty beyond technical skill1 and no object but the pleasure of the beholder4 ,of that momentous change itself ,i do not purpose to speak in the present course of lectures2 but my endeavor will be to lay before you a rough chart of the course of the arts in ,florence up to the time when it took place2 a chart indicating for you1 definitely1 the growth of conscience1 in work which is distinctively conscientious1 and the perfecting of expression and means of popular address1 in that which is distinctively didactic4 #da4 ,means of popular address1 observe1 which have become singularly important to us at this day4 ,nevertheless1 remember that the power of printing1 or reprinting1 black pictures1--practically contemporary with that of reprinting black letters1--modified the art of the draughtsman only as it modified that of the scribe4 ,beautiful and unique writing1 as beautiful and unique painting or engraving1 remain exactly what they were2 but other useful and reproductive methods of both have been superadded4 ,of these1 it is acutely said by ,dr4 ,alfred ,woltmann1,e-- ,a far more important part is played in the art-life of ,germany by the technical arts for the multiplying of works2 for ,germany1 while it was the land of book-printing1 is also the land of picture-printing4 ,indeed1 wood-engraving1 which preceded the invention of book-printing1 prepared the way for it1 and only left one step more necessary for it4 ,book-printing and picture-printing have both the same inner cause for their origin1 namely1 the impulse to make each mental gain a common blessing4 ,not merely princes and rich nobles were to have the privilege of adorning their private chapels and apartments with beautiful religious pictures2 the poorest man was also to have his delight in that which the artist had devised and produced4 ,it was not sufficient for him when it stood in the church as an altar-shrine1 visible to him and to the congregation from afar2 he desired to have it as his own1 to carry it about with him1 to bring it into his own home4 ,the grand importance of wood-engraving and copperplate is not sufficiently estimated in historical investigations4 ,they were not alone of use in the advance of art2 they form an epoch in the entire life of mind and culture4 ,the idea embodied and multiplied in pictures became like that embodied in the printed word1 the herald of every intellectual movement1 and conquered the world4 #db4 ,conquered the world8 ,the rest of the sentence is true1 but this1 hyperbolic1 and greatly false4 ,it should have been said that both painting and engraving have conquered much of the good in the world1 and1 hitherto1 little or none of the evil4 ,nor do ,i hold it usually an advantage to art1 in teaching1 that it should be common1 or constantly seen4 ,in becoming intelligibly and kindly beautiful1 while it remains solitary and unrivaled1 it has a greater power4 ,westminster ,abbey is more didactic to the ,english nation1 than a million of popular illustrated treatises on architecture4 ,nay1 even that it cannot be understood but with some difficulty1 and must be sought before it can be seen1 is no harm4 ,the noblest didactic art is1 as it were1 set on a hill1 and its disciples come to it4 ,the vilest destructive and corrosive art stands at the street corners1 crying1 ,turn in hither2 come1 eat of my bread1 and drink of my wine1 which ,i have mingled4 ,and ,dr4 ,woltmann has allowed himself too easily to fall into the common notion of ,liberalism1 that bad art1 disseminated1 is instructive1 and good art isolated1 not so4 ,the question is1 first1 ,i assure you1 whether what art you have got is good or bad4 ,if essentially bad1 the more you see of it1 the worse for you4 ,entirely popular art is all that is noble1 in the cathedral1 the council chamber1 and the market-place2 not the paltry colored print pinned on the wall of a private room4 #dc4 ,i despise the poor6--do ,i1 think you8 ,not so4 ,they only despise the poor who think them better off with police news1 and colored tracts of the story of ,joseph and ,potiphar's wife1 than they were with ,luini painting on their church walls1 and ,donatello carving the pillars of their market-places4 ,nevertheless1 the effort to be universally1 instead of locally1 didactic1 modified advantageously1 as you know1 and in a thousand ways varied1 the earlier art of engraving3 and the development of its popular power1 whether for good or evil1 came exactly--so fate appointed--at a time when the minds of the masses were agitated by the struggle which closed in the ,reformation in some countries1 and in the desperate refusal of ,reformation in others4,f ,the two greatest masters of engraving whose lives we are to study1 were1 both of them1 passionate reformers3 ,holbein no less than ,luther2 ,botticelli no less than ,savonarola4 #dd4 ,reformers1 ,i mean1 in the full and1 accurately1 the only1 sense4 ,not preachers of new doctrines2 but witnesses against the betrayal of the old ones1 which were on the lips of all men1 and in the lives of none4 ,nay1 the painters are indeed more pure reformers than the priests4 ,they rebuked the manifest vices of men1 while they realized whatever was loveliest in their faith4 ,priestly reform soon enraged itself into mere contest for personal opinions2 while1 without rage1 but in stern rebuke of all that was vile in conduct or thought1--in declaration of the always-received faiths of the ,christian ,church1 and in warning of the power of faith1 and death1,g over the petty designs of men1--,botticelli and ,holbein together fought foremost in the ranks of the ,reformation4 #de4 ,to-day ,i will endeavor to explain how they attained such rank4 ,then1 in the next two lectures1 the technics of both1--their way of speaking2 and in the last two1 what they had got to say4 ,first1 then1 we ask how they attained this rank2--who taught them what they were finally best to teach8 ,how far must every people--how far did this ,florentine people--teach its masters1 before they could teach it8 ,even in these days1 when every man is1 by hypothesis1 as good as another1 does not the question sound strange to you8 ,you recognize in the past1 as you think1 clearly1 that national advance takes place always under the guidance of masters1 or groups of masters1 possessed of what appears to be some new personal sensibility or gift of invention2 and we are apt to be reverent to these alone1 as if the nation itself had been unprogressive1 and suddenly awakened1 or converted1 by the genius of one man4 ,no idea can be more superficial4 ,every nation must teach its tutors1 and prepare itself to receive them2 but the fact on which our impression is founded--the rising1 apparently by chance1 of men whose singular gifts suddenly melt the multitude1 already at the point of fusion2 or suddenly form1 and inform1 the multitude which has gained coherence enough to be capable of formation1--enables us to measure and map the gain of national intellectual territory1 by tracing first the lifting of the mountain chains of its genius4 #df4 ,i have told you that we have nothing to do at present with the great transition from ancient to modern habits of thought which took place at the beginning of the sixteenth century4 ,i only want to go as far as that point2--where we shall find the old superstitious art represented finally by ,perugino1 and the modern scientific and anatomical art represented primarily by ,michael ,angelo4 ,and the epithet bestowed on ,perugino by ,michael ,angelo1 'goffo nell' arte1' dunce1 or blockhead1 in art1--being1 as far as my knowledge of history extends1 the most cruel1 the most false1 and the most foolish insult ever offered by one great man to another1--does you at least good service1 in showing how trenchant the separation is between the two orders of artists1,h--how exclusively we may follow out the history of all the 'goffi nell' arte1' and write our ,florentine ,dunciad1 and ,laus ,stultitiae1 in peace2 and never trench upon the thoughts or ways of these proud ones1 who showed their fathers' nakedness1 and snatched their masters' fame4 #dg4 ,the ,florentine dunces in art are a multitude2 but ,i only want you to know something about twenty of them4 ,twenty6--you think that a grievous number8 ,it may1 perhaps1 appease you a little to be told that when you really have learned a very little1 accurately1 about these twenty dunces1 there are only five more men among the artists of ,christendom whose works ,i shall ask you to examine while you are under my care4 ,that makes twenty-five altogether1--an exorbitant demand on your attention1 you still think8 ,and yet1 but a little while ago1 you were all agog to get me to go and look at ,mrs4 ,a's sketches1 and tell you what was to be thought about them2 and ,i've had the greatest difficulty to keep ,mrs4 ,b's photographs from being shown side by side with the ,raphael drawings in the ,university galleries4 ,and you will waste any quantity of time in looking at ,mrs4 ,a's sketches or ,mrs4 ,b's photographs2 and yet you look grave1 because1 out of nineteen centuries of ,european art-labor and thought1 ,i ask you to learn something seriously about the works of five-and-twenty men6 #dh4 ,it is hard upon you1 doubtless1 considering the quantity of time you must nowadays spend in trying which can hit balls farthest4 ,so ,i will put the task into the simplest form ,i can4 #abjj #acjj #adjj #abej #acej ,niccola ,pisano -------- ,arnolfo -------- ,cimabue ------ ,giovanni ,pisano ------- ,andrea ,pisano -------- ,giotto ------- ,orcagna ------- #adjj #aejj #afjj #adej #aeej ,quercia ------- ,brunelleschi -------- ,ghiberti -------- ,donatello --------- ,luca della ,robbia -------- ,filippo ,lippi ------ ,giovanni ,bellini ---------- ,mantegna -------- ,verrocchio ------ ,perugino --------- ,botticelli ------- ,luini ------- ,duerer ------ ,cima ---- ,carpaccio ---- ,correggio ----- ,holbein ----- ,tintoret --------- ,here are the names of the twenty-five men1,i and opposite each1 a line indicating the length of his life1 and the position of it in his century4 ,the diagram still1 however1 needs a few words of explanation4 ,very chiefly1 for those who know anything of my writings1 there is needed explanation of its not including the names of ,titian1 ,reynolds1 ,velasquez1 ,turner1 and other such men1 always reverently put before you at other times4 ,they are absent1 because ,i have no fear of your not looking at these4 ,all your lives through1 if you care about art1 you will be looking at them4 ,but while you are here at ,oxford1 ,i want to make you learn what you should know of these earlier1 many of them weaker1 men1 who yet1 for the very reason of their greater simplicity of power1 are better guides for you1 and of whom some will remain guides to all generations4 ,and1 as regards the subject of our present course1 ,i have a still more weighty reason2--,vandyke1 ,gainsborough1 ,titian1 ,reynolds1 ,velasquez1 and the rest1 are essentially portrait painters4 ,they give you the likeness of a man3 they have nothing to say either about his future life1 or his gods4 ',that is the look of him1' they say3 'here1 on earth1 we know no more4' #di4 ,but these1 whose names ,i have engraved1 have something to say--generally much1--either about the future life of man1 or about his gods4 ,they are therefore1 literally1 seers or prophets4 ,false prophets1 it may be1 or foolish ones2 of that you must judge2 but you must read before you can judge2 and read 7or hear7 them consistently2 for you don't know them till you have heard them out4 ,but with ,sir ,joshua1 or ,titian1 one portrait is as another3 it is here a pretty lady1 there a great lord2 but speechless1 all2--whereas1 with these twenty-five men1 each picture or statue is not merely another person of a pleasant society1 but another chapter of a ,sibylline book4 #ej4 ,for this reason1 then1 ,i do not want ,sir ,joshua or ,velasquez in my defined group2 and for my present purpose1 ,i can spare from it even four others3--namely1 three who have too special gifts1 and must each be separately studied--,correggio1 ,carpaccio1 ,tintoret2--and one who has no special gift1 but a balanced group of many--,cima4 ,this leaves twenty-one for classification1 of whom ,i will ask you to lay hold thus4 ,you must continually have felt the difficulty caused by the names of centuries not tallying with their years2--the year #abja being the first of the thirteenth century1 and so on4 ,i am always plagued by it myself1 much as ,i have to think and write with reference to chronology2 and ,i mean for the future1 in our art chronology1 to use as far as possible a different form of notation4 #ea4 ,in my diagram the vertical lines are the divisions of tens of years2 the thick black lines divide the centuries4 ,the horizontal lines1 then1 at a glance1 tell you the length and date of each artist's life4 ,in one or two instances ,i cannot find the date of birth2 in one or two more1 of death2 and the line indicates then only the ascertained,j period during which the artist worked4 ,and1 thus represented1 you see nearly all their lives run through the year of a new century2 so that if the lines representing them were needles1 and the black bars of the years #acjj1 #adjj1 #aejj were magnets1 ,i could take up nearly all the needles by lifting the bars4 #eb4 ,i will actually do this1 then1 in three other simple diagrams4 ,i place a rod for the year #acjj over the lines of life1 and ,i take up all it touches4 ,i have to drop ,niccola ,pisano1 but ,i catch five4 ,now1 with my rod of #adjj1 ,i have dropped ,orcagna indeed1 but ,i again catch five4 ,now1 with my rod of #aejj1 ,i indeed drop ,filippo ,lippi and ,verrocchio1 but ,i catch seven4 ,and here ,i have three pennons1 with the staves of the years #acjj1 #adjj1 and #aejj running through them1--holding the names of nearly all the men ,i want you to study in easily remembered groups of five1 five1 and seven4 ,and these three groups ,i shall hereafter call the #acjj group1 #adjj group1 and #aejj group4 #acjj4 #abdj-acjb ,cimabue ------ #abej-acba ,giovanni ,pisano ------- #abcb-acaj ,,arnolfo -------- #abgj-acde ,andrea ,pisano -------- #abgf-accf ,giotto ----- #adjj4 #acgd-adch ,quercia ------- #acha-adee ,ghiberti -------- #acgg-addf ,,brunelleschi ------- #achf-adfh ,donatello -------- #adjj-adha ,luca -------- #aejj4 #adca-aejf ,mantegna -------- #adeg-aeae ,botticelli ------ #adbf-aeaf ,bellini --------- #addf-aebd ,,perugino ------- #adgj-aece ,luini ------- #adga-aebg ,duerer ------ #adih-aedc ,holbein ---- #ec4 ,but why should four unfortunate masters be dropped out8 ,well1 ,i want to drop them out1 at any rate2 but not in disrespect4 ,in hope1 on the contrary1 to make you remember them very separately indeed2--for this following reason4 ,we are in the careless habit of speaking of men who form a great number of pupils1 and have a host of inferior satellites round them1 as masters of great schools4 ,but before you call a man a master1 you should ask1 ,are his pupils greater or less than himself8 ,if they are greater than himself1 he is a master indeed2--he has been a true teacher4 ,but if all his pupils are less than himself1 he may have been a great man1 but in all probability has been a bad master1 or no master4 ,now these men1 whom ,i have signally left out of my groups1 are true ,masters4 ,niccola ,pisano taught all ,italy2 but chiefly his own son1 who succeeded1 and in some things very much surpassed him4 ,orcagna taught all ,italy1 after him1 down to ,michael ,angelo4 ,and these two--,lippi1 the religious schools1 ,verrocchio1 the artist schools1 of their century4 ,lippi taught ,sandro ,botticelli2 and ,verrocchio taught ,lionardo da ,vinci1 ,lorenzo di ,credi1 and ,perugino4 ,have ,i not good reason to separate the masters of such pupils from the schools they created8 #ed4 ,but how is it that ,i can drop just the cards ,i want out of my pack8 ,well1 certainly ,i force and fit matters a little3 ,i leave some men out of my list whom ,i should like to have in it2--,benozzo ,gozzoli1 for instance1 and ,mino da ,fiesole2 but ,i can do without them1 and so can you also1 for the present4 ,i catch ,luca by a hair's-breadth only1 with my #adjj rod2 but on the whole1 with very little coaxing1 ,i get the groups in this memorable and quite literally 'handy' form4 ,for see1 ,i write my lists of five1 five1 and seven1 on bits of pasteboard2 ,i hinge my rods to these2 and you can brandish the school of #adjj in your left hand1 and of #aejj in your right1 like--railway signals2--and ,i wish all railway signals were as clear4 ,once learn1 thoroughly1 the groups in this artificially contracted form1 and you can refine and complete afterwards at your leisure4 #ee4 ,and thus actually flourishing my two pennons1 and getting my grip of the men1 in either hand1 ,i find a notable thing concerning my two flags4 ,the men whose names ,i hold in my left hand are all sculptors2 the men whose names ,i hold in my right are all painters4 ,you will infallibly suspect me of having chosen them thus on purpose4 ,no1 honor bright6--,i chose simply the greatest men1--those ,i wanted to talk to you about4 ,i arranged them by their dates2 ,i put them into three conclusive pennons2 and behold what follows6 #ef4 ,farther1 note this3 in the #acjj group1 four out of the five men are architects as well as sculptors and painters4 ,in the #adjj group1 there is one architect2 in the #aejj1 none4 ,and the meaning of that is1 that in #acjj the arts were all united1 and duly led by architecture2 in #adjj1 sculpture began to assume too separate a power to herself2 in #aejj1 painting arrogated all1 and1 at last1 betrayed all4 ,from which1 with much other collateral evidence1 you may justly conclude that the three arts ought to be practiced together1 and that they naturally are so4 ,i long since asserted that no man could be an architect who was not a sculptor4 ,as ,i learned more and more of my business1 ,i perceived also that no man could be a sculptor who was not an architect2--that is to say1 who had not knowledge enough1 and pleasure enough in structural law1 to be able to build1 on occasion1 better than a mere builder4 ,and so1 finally1 ,i now positively aver to you that nobody1 in the graphic arts1 can be quite rightly a master of anything1 who is not master of everything6 #eg4 ,the junction of the three arts in men's minds1 at the best times1 is shortly signified in these words of ,chaucer4 ,love's ,garden1 ,everidele ,enclosed was1 and walled well ,with high walls1 embatailled1 ,portrayed without1 and well entayled ,with many rich portraitures4 ,the ,french original is better still1 and gives four arts in unison3-- ,quant suis avant un pou ale ,et vy un vergier grant et le1 ,bien cloz de bon mur batillie ,pourtrait dehors1 et entaillie ,ou 7for au7 maintes riches escriptures4 ,read also carefully the description of the temples of ,mars and ,venus in the ,knight's ,tale4 ,contemporary ,french uses 'entaille' even of solid sculpture and of the living form2 and ,pygmalion1 as a perfect master1 professes wood carving1 ivory carving1 waxwork1 and iron-work1 no less than stone sculpture3-- ,pimalion1 uns entaillieres ,pourtraians en fuz,k et en pierres1 ,en mettaux1 en os1 et en cire1 ,et en toute autre matire4 #eh4 ,i made a little sketch1 when last in ,florence1 of a subject which will fix the idea of this unity of the arts in your minds4 ,at the base of the tower of ,giotto are two rows of hexagonal panels1 filled with bas-reliefs4 ,some of these are by unknown hands1--some by ,andrea ,pisano1 some by ,luca della ,robbia1 two by ,giotto himself2 of these ,i sketched the panel representing the art of ,painting4 ,you have in that bas-relief one of the foundation-stones of the most perfectly built tower in ,europe2 you have that stone carved by its architect's own hand2 you find1 further1 that this architect and sculptor was the greatest painter of his time1 and the friend of the greatest poet2 and you have represented by him a painter in his shop1--bottega1--as symbolic of the entire art of painting4 #ei4 ,in which representation1 please note how carefully ,giotto shows you the tabernacles or niches1 in which the paintings are to be placed4 ,not independent of their frames1 these panels of his1 you see6 ,have you ever considered1 in the early history of painting1 how important also is the history of the frame maker8 ,it is a matter1 ,i assure you1 needing your very best consideration4 ,for the frame was made before the picture4 ,the painted window is much1 but the aperture it fills was thought of before it4 ,the fresco by ,giotto is much1 but the vault it adorns was planned first4 ,who thought of these2--who built8 ,questions taking us far back before the birth of the shepherd boy of ,fesole--questions not to be answered by history of painting only1 still less of painting in ,italy only4 #fj4 ,and in pointing out to you this fact1 ,i may once for all prove to you the essential unity of the arts1 and show you how impossible it is to understand one without reference to another4 ,which ,i wish you to observe all the more closely1 that you may use1 without danger of being misled1 the data1 of unequaled value1 which have been collected by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 in the book which they have called a ,history of ,painting in ,italy1 but which is in fact only a dictionary of details relating to that history4 ,such a title is an absurdity on the face of it4 ,for1 first1 you can no more write the history of painting in ,italy than you can write the history of the south wind in ,italy4 ,the sirocco does indeed produce certain effects at ,genoa1 and others at ,rome2 but what would be the value of a treatise upon the winds1 which1 for the honor of any country1 assumed that every city of it had a native sirocco8 ,but1 further1--imagine what success would attend the meteorologist who should set himself to give an account of the south wind1 but take no notice of the north6 ,and1 finally1 suppose an attempt to give you an account of either wind1 but none of the seas1 or mountain passes1 by which they were nourished1 or directed4 #fa4 ,for instance1 ,i am in this course of lectures to give you an account of a single and minor branch of graphic art1--engraving4 ,but observe how many references to local circumstances it involves4 ,there are three materials for it1 we said2--stone1 wood1 and metal4 ,stone engraving is the art of countries possessing marble and gems2 wood engraving1 of countries overgrown with forest2 metal engraving1 of countries possessing treasures of silver and gold4 ,and the style of a stone engraver is formed on pillars and pyramids2 the style of a wood engraver under the eaves of larch cottages2 the style of a metal engraver in the treasuries of kings4 ,do you suppose ,i could rightly explain to you the value of a single touch on brass by ,finiguerra1 or on box by ,bewick1 unless ,i had grasp of the great laws of climate and country2 and could trace the inherited sirocco or tramontana of thought to which the souls and bodies of the men owed their existence8 #fb4 ,you see that in this flag of #acjj there is a dark strong line in the center1 against which you read the name of ,arnolfo4 ,in writing our ,florentine ,dunciad1 or ,history of ,fools1 can we possibly begin with a better day than ,all ,fools' ,day8 ,on ,all ,fools' ,day--the first1 if you like better so to call it1 of the month of opening1--in the year #acjj1 is signed the document making ,arnolfo a citizen of ,florence1 and in #acaj he dies1 chief master of the works of the cathedral there4 ,to this man1 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle give half a page1 out of three volumes of five hundred pages each4 ,but lower down in my flag1 7not put there because of any inferiority1 but by order of chronology17 you will see a name sufficiently familiar to you--that of ,giotto2 and to him1 our historians of painting in ,italy give some hundred pages1 under the impression1 stated by them at page #bdc of their volume1 that in his hands1 art in the ,peninsula became entitled for the first time to the name of ,italian4 #fc4 ,art became ,italian6 ,yes1 but what art8 ,your authors give a perspective--or what they call such1--of the upper church of ,assisi1 as if that were merely an accidental occurrence of blind walls for ,giotto to paint on6 ,but how came the upper church of ,assisi there8 ,how came it to be vaulted--to be aisled8 ,how came ,giotto to be asked to paint upon it8 ,the art that built it1 good or bad1 must have been an ,italian one1 before ,giotto4 ,he could not have painted on the air4 ,let us see how his panels were made for him4 #fd4 ,this ,captain--the center of our first group--,arnolfo1 has always hitherto been called ',arnolfo di ,lapo2'--,arnolfo the son of ,lapo4 ,modern investigators come down on us delightedly1 to tell us--,arnolfo was not the son of ,lapo4 ,in these days you will have half a dozen doctors1 writing each a long book1 and the sense of all will be1--,arnolfo wasn't the son of ,lapo4 ,much good may you get of that6 ,well1 you will find the fact to be1 there was a great ,northman builder1 a true son of ,thor1 who came down into ,italy in #abjj1 served the order of ,st4 ,francis there1 built ,assisi1 taught ,arnolfo how to build1 with ,thor's hammer1 and disappeared1 leaving his name uncertain--,jacopo--,lapo--nobody knows what4 ,arnolfo always recognizes this man as his true father1 who put the soul-life into him2 he is known to his ,florentines always as ,lapo's ,arnolfo4 ,that1 or some likeness of that1 is the vital fact4 ,you never can get at the literal limitation of living facts4 ,they disguise themselves by the very strength of their life3 get told again and again in different ways by all manner of people2--the literalness of them is turned topsy-turvy1 inside-out1 over and over again2--then the fools come and read them wrong side upwards1 or else1 say there never was a fact at all4 ,nothing delights a true blockhead so much as to prove a negative2--to show that everybody has been wrong4 ,fancy the delicious sensation1 to an empty-headed creature1 of fancying for a moment that he has emptied everybody else's head as well as his own6 nay1 that1 for once1 his own hollow bottle of a head has had the best of other bottles1 and has been first empty2--first to know--nothing4 #fe4 ,hold1 then1 steadily the first tradition about this ,arnolfo4 ,that his real father was called ,cambio matters to you not a straw4 ,that he never called himself ,cambio's ,arnolfo--that nobody else ever called him so1 down to ,vasari's time1 is an infinitely significant fact to you4 ,in my twenty-second letter in ,fors ,clavigera you will find some account of the noble habit of the ,italian artists to call themselves by their masters' names1 considering their master as their true father4 ,if not the name of the master1 they take that of their native place1 as having owed the character of their life to that4 ,they rarely take their own family name3 sometimes it is not even known1--when best known1 it is unfamiliar to us4 ,the great ,pisan artists1 for instance1 never bear any other name than 'the ,pisan2' among the other five-and-twenty names in my list1 not above six1 ,i think1 the two ,german1 with four ,italian1 are family names4 ,perugino1 7,peter of ,perugia17 ,luini1 7,bernard of ,luino17 ,quercia1 7,james of ,quercia17 ,correggio1 7,anthony of ,correggio17 are named from their native places4 ,nobody would have understood me if ,i had called ,giotto1 ',ambrose ,bondone2' or ,tintoret1 ,robusti2 or even ,raphael1 ,sanzio4 ,botticelli is named from his master2 ,ghiberti from his father-in-law2 and ,ghirlandajo from his work4 ,orcagna1 who did1 for a wonder1 name himself from his father1 ,andrea ,cione1 of ,florence1 has been always called ',angel' by everybody else2 while ,arnolfo1 who never named himself from his father1 is now like to be fathered against his will4 ,but1 ,i again beg of you1 keep to the old story4 ,for it represents1 however inaccurately in detail1 clearly in sum1 the fact1 that some great master of ,german ,gothic at this time came down into ,italy1 and changed the entire form of ,italian architecture by his touch4 ,so that while ,niccola and ,giovanni ,pisano are still virtually ,greek artists1 experimentally introducing ,gothic forms1 ,arnolfo and ,giotto adopt the entire ,gothic ideal of form1 and thenceforward use the pointed arch and steep gable as the limits of sculpture4 #ff4 ,hitherto ,i have been speaking of the relations of my twenty-five men to each other4 ,but now1 please note their relations altogether to the art before them4 ,these twenty-five include1 ,i say1 all the great masters of ,christian art4 ,before them1 the art was too savage to be ,christian2 afterwards1 too carnal to be ,christian4 ,too savage to be ,christian8 ,i will justify that assertion hereafter2 but you will find that the ,european art of #abjj includes all the most developed and characteristic conditions of the style in the north which you have probably been accustomed to think of as ,,norman1 and which you may always most conveniently call so2 and the most developed conditions of the style in the south1 which1 formed out of effete ,greek1 ,persian1 and ,roman tradition1 you may1 in like manner1 most conveniently express by the familiar word ,,byzantine4 ,whatever you call them1 they are in origin adverse in temper1 and remain so up to the year #abjj4 ,then an influence appears1 seemingly that of one man1 ,nicholas the ,pisan1 7our first ,,master1 observe17 and a new spirit adopts what is best in each1 and gives to what it adopts a new energy of its own2 namely1 this conscientious and didactic power which is the speciality of its progressive existence4 ,and just as the new-born and natural art of ,athens collects and reanimates ,pelasgian and ,egyptian tradition1 purifying their worship1 and perfecting their work1 into the living heathen faith of the world1 so this new-born and natural art of ,florence collects and animates the ,norman and ,byzantine tradition1 and forms out of the perfected worship and work of both1 the honest ,christian faith1 and vital craftsmanship1 of the world4 #fg4 ,get this first summary1 therefore1 well into your minds4 ,the word ',norman' ,i use roughly for ,north-savage2--roughly1 but advisedly4 ,i mean ,lombard1 ,scandinavian1 ,frankish2 everything north-savage that you can think of1 except ,saxon4 7,i have a reason for that exception2 never mind it just now47,l ,all north-savage ,i call ,,norman1 all south-savage ,i call ,,byzantine2 this latter including dead native ,greek primarily--then dead foreign ,greek1 in ,rome2--then ,arabian--,persian--,phoenician--,indian --all you can think of1 in art of hot countries1 up to this year #abjj1 ,i rank under the one term ,byzantine4 ,now all this cold art--,norman1 and all this hot art--,byzantine1 is virtually dead1 till #abjj4 ,it has no conscience1 no didactic power2,m it is devoid of both1 in the sense that dreams are4 ,then in the thirteenth century1 men wake as if they heard an alarum through the whole vault of heaven1 and true human life begins again1 and the cradle of this life is the ,val d',arno4 ,there the northern and southern nations meet2 there they lay down their enmities2 there they are first baptized unto ,john's baptism for the remission of sins2 there is born1 and thence exiled1--thought faithless1 for breaking the font of baptism to save a child from drowning1 in his 'bel ,san ,giovanni1'--the greatest of ,christian poets2 he who had pity even for the lost4 #fh4 ,now1 therefore1 my whole history of ,christian architecture and painting begins with this ,baptistery of ,florence1 and with its associated ,cathedral4 ,arnolfo brought the one into the form in which you now see it2 he laid the foundation of the other1 and that to purpose1 and he is therefore the ,,captain of our first school4 ,for this ,florentine ,baptistery,n is the great one of the world4 ,here is the center of ,christian knowledge and power4 ,and it is one piece of large engraving4 ,white substance1 cut into1 and filled with black1 and dark-green4 ,no more perfect work was afterwards done2 and ,i wish you to grasp the idea of this building clearly and irrevocably1--first1 in order 7as ,i told you in a previous lecture7 to quit yourselves thoroughly of the idea that ornament should be decorated construction2 and1 secondly1 as the noblest type of the intaglio ornamentation1 which developed itself into all minor application of black and white to engraving4 #fi4 ,that it should do so first at ,florence1 was the natural sequence1 and the just reward1 of the ancient skill of ,etruria in chased metal-work4 ,the effects produced in gold1 either by embossing or engraving1 were the direct means of giving interest to his surfaces at the command of the 'auri faber1' or orfevre3 and every conceivable artifice of studding1 chiseling1 and interlacing was exhausted by the artists in gold1 who were at the head of the metal-workers1 and from whom the ranks of the sculptors were reinforced4 ,the old ,french word 'orfroiz1' 7aurifrigia17 expresses essentially what we call 'frosted' work in gold2 that which resembles small dew or crystals of hoar-frost2 the 'frigia' coming from the ,latin frigus4 ,to chase1 or enchase1 is not properly said of the gold2 but of the jewel which it secures with hoops or ridges1 7,french1 enchasser,o74 ,then the armorer1 or cup and casket maker1 added to this kind of decoration that of flat inlaid enamel2 and the silver-worker1 finding that the raised filigree 7still a staple at ,genoa7 only attracted tarnish1 or got crushed1 early sought to decorate a surface which would bear external friction1 with labyrinths of safe incision4 #gj4 ,of the security of incision as a means of permanent decoration1 as opposed to ordinary carving1 here is a beautiful instance in the base of one of the external shafts of the ,cathedral of ,lucca2 thirteenth-century work1 which by this time1 had it been carved in relief1 would have been a shapeless remnant of indecipherable bosses4 ,but it is still as safe as if it had been cut yesterday1 because the smooth round mass of the pillar is entirely undisturbed2 into that1 furrows are cut with a chisel as much under command and as powerful as a burin4 ,the effect of the design is trusted entirely to the depth of these incisions--here dying out and expiring in the light of the marble1 there deepened1 by drill holes1 into as definitely a black line as if it were drawn with ink2 and describing the outline of the leafage with a delicacy of touch and of perception which no man will ever surpass1 and which very few have rivaled1 in the proudest days of design4 #ga4 ,this security1 in silver plates1 was completed by filling the furrows with the black paste which at once exhibited and preserved them4 ,the transition from that niello-work to modern engraving is one of no real moment3 my object is to make you understand the qualities which constitute the merit of the engraving1 whether charged with niello or ink4 ,and this ,i hope ultimately to accomplish by studying with you some of the works of the four men1 ,botticelli and ,mantegna in the south1 ,duerer and ,holbein in the north1 whose names ,i have put in our last flag1 above and beneath those of the three mighty painters1 ,perugino the captain1 ,bellini on one side--,luini on the other4 ,the four following lectures,p will contain data necessary for such study3 you must wait longer before ,i can place before you those by which ,i can justify what must greatly surprise some of my audience--my having given ,perugino the captain's place among the three painters4 #gb4 ,but ,i do so1 at least primarily1 because what is commonly thought affected in his design is indeed the true remains of the great architectural symmetry which was soon to be lost1 and which makes him the true follower of ,arnolfo and ,brunelleschi2 and because he is a sound craftsman and workman to the very heart's core4 ,a noble1 gracious1 and quiet laborer from youth to death1--never weary1 never impatient1 never untender1 never untrue4 ,not ,tintoret in power1 not ,raphael in flexibility1 not ,holbein in veracity1 not ,luini in love1--their gathered gifts he has1 in balanced and fruitful measure1 fit to be the guide1 and impulse1 and father of all4 ,,footnotes3 ,d ,compare ,aratra ,pentelici1 ,sec4 #aed4 ,e ,holbein and ,his ,time1 #dto1 ,bentley1 #ahgb1 7a very valuable book17 p4 #ag4 ,italics mine4 ,f ,see ,carlyle1 ,frederick1 ,book ,,iii41 chap4 viii4 ,g ,i believe ,i am taking too much trouble in writing these lectures4 ,this sentence1 ,sec4 #dd1 has cost me1 ,i suppose1 first and last1 about as many hours as there are lines in it2--and my choice of these two words1 faith and death1 as representatives of power1 will perhaps1 after all1 only puzzle the reader4 ,h ,he is said by ,vasari to have called ,francia the like4 ,francia is a child compared to ,perugino2 but a finished working-goldsmith and ornamental painter nevertheless2 and one of the very last men to be called 'goffo1' except by unparalleled insolence4 ,i ,the diagram used at the lecture is engraved on page #cj2 the reader had better draw it larger for himself1 as it had to be made inconveniently small for this size of leaf4 ,j ',ascertained1' scarcely any date ever is1 quite satisfactorily4 ,the diagram only represents what is practically and broadly true4 ,i may have to modify it greatly in detail4 ,k ,for fust1 log of wood1 erroneously 'fer' in the later printed editions4 ,compare the account of the works of ,art and ,nature1 towards the end of the ,romance of the ,rose4 ,l ,of course it would have been impossible to express in any accurate terms1 short enough for the compass of a lecture1 the conditions of opposition between the ,heptarchy and the ,northmen2--between the ,byzantine and ,roman2--and between the ,byzantine and ,arab1 which form minor1 but not less trenchant1 divisions of ,art-province1 for subsequent delineation4 ,if you can refer to my ,stones of ,venice1 see ,sec4 #bj of its first chapter4 ,m ,again much too broad a statement3 not to be qualified but by a length of explanation here impossible4 ,my lectures on ,architecture1 now in preparation 7,val d',arno71 will contain further detail4 ,n ,at the side of my page1 here1 ,i find the following memorandum1 which was expanded in the viva-voce lecture4 ,the reader must make what he can of it1 for ,i can't expand it here4 ,sense of ,italian ,church plan4 ,baptistery1 to make ,christians in2 house1 or dome1 for them to pray and be preached to in2 bell-tower1 to ring all over the town1 when they were either to pray together1 rejoice together1 or to be warned of danger4 ,harvey's picture of the ,covenanters1 with a shepherd on the outlook1 as a campanile4 ,o ,and 'chassis1' a window frame1 or tracery4 ,p ,this present lecture does not1 as at present published1 justify its title2 because ,i have not thought it necessary to write the viva-voce portions of it which amplified the #fith paragraph4 ,i will give the substance of them in better form elsewhere2 meantime the part of the lecture here given may be in its own way useful4 ,,lecture ,,iii4 ,,the ,,technics ,,of ,,wood ,,engraving4 #gc4 ,i am to-day to begin to tell you what it is necessary you should observe respecting methods of manual execution in the two great arts of engraving4 ,only to begin to tell you4 ,there need be no end of telling you such things1 if you care to hear them4 ,the theory of art is soon mastered2 but 'dal detto al fatto1 v'e gran tratto2' and as ,i have several times told you in former lectures1 every day shows me more and more the importance of the ,hand4 #gd4 ,of the hand as a ,servant1 observe1--not of the hand as a ,master4 ,for there are two great kinds of manual work3 one in which the hand is continually receiving and obeying orders2 the other in which it is acting independently1 or even giving orders of its own4 ,and the dependent and submissive hand is a noble hand2 but the independent or imperative hand is a vile one4 ,that is to say1 as long as the pen1 or chisel1 or other graphic instrument1 is moved under the direct influence of mental attention1 and obeys orders of the brain1 it is working nobly2--the moment it moves independently of them1 and performs some habitual dexterity of its own1 it is base4 #ge4 ,dexterity--,i say2--some 'right-handedness' of its own4 ,we might wisely keep that word for what the hand does at the mind's bidding2 and use an opposite word--sinisterity1--for what it does at its own4 ,for indeed we want such a word in speaking of modern art2 it is all full of sinisterity4 ,hands independent of brains2--the left hand1 by division of labor1 not knowing what the right does1--still less what it ought to do4 #gf4 ,turning1 then1 to our special subject4 ,all engraving1 ,i said1 is intaglio in the solid4 ,but the solid1 in wood engraving1 is a coarse substance1 easily cut2 and in metal1 a fine substance1 not easily4 ,therefore1 in general1 you may be prepared to accept ruder and more elementary work in one than the other2 and it will be the means of appeal to blunter minds4 ,you probably already know the difference between the actual methods of producing a printed impression from wood and metal2 but ,i may perhaps make the matter a little more clear4 ,in metal engraving1 you cut ditches1 fill them with ink1 and press your paper into them4 ,in wood engraving1 you leave ridges1 rub the tops of them with ink1 and stamp them on your paper4 ,the instrument with which the substance1 whether of the wood or steel1 is cut away1 is the same4 ,it is a solid plowshare1 which1 instead of throwing the earth aside1 throws it up and out1 producing at first a simple ravine1 or furrow1 in the wood or metal1 which you can widen by another cut1 or extend by successive cuts4 ,this 7,fig4 #a7 is the general shape of the solid plowshare3 but it is of course made sharper or blunter at pleasure4 ,the furrow produced is at first the wedge-shaped or cuneiform ravine1 already so much dwelt upon in my lectures on ,greek sculpture4 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #a #gg4 ,since1 then1 in wood printing1 you print from the surface left solid2 and1 in metal printing1 from the hollows cut into it1 it follows that if you put few touches on wood1 you draw1 as on a slate1 with white lines1 leaving a quantity of black2 but if you put few touches on metal1 you draw with black lines1 leaving a quantity of white4 ,now the eye is not in the least offended by quantity of white1 but is1 or ought to be1 greatly saddened and offended by quantity of black4 ,hence it follows that you must never put little work on wood4 ,you must not sketch upon it4 ,you may sketch on metal as much as you please4 #gh4 ,paradox1 you will say1 as usual4 ,are not all our journals1--and the best of them1 ,punch1 par excellence1--full of the most brilliantly swift and slight sketches1 engraved on wood2 while line-engravings take ten years to produce1 and cost ten guineas each when they are done8 ,yes1 that is so2 but observe1 in the first place1 what appears to you a sketch on wood is not so at all1 but a most laborious and careful imitation of a sketch on paper2 whereas when you see what appears to be a sketch on metal1 it is one4 ,and in the second place1 so far as the popular fashion is contrary to this natural method1--so far as we do in reality try to produce effects of sketching in wood1 and of finish in metal1--our work is wrong4 ,those apparently careless and free sketches on the wood ought to have been stern and deliberate2 those exquisitely toned and finished engravings on metal ought to have looked1 instead1 like free ink sketches on white paper4 ,that is the theorem which ,i propose to you for consideration1 and which1 in the two branches of its assertion1 ,i hope to prove to you2 the first part of it1 7that wood-cutting should be careful17 in this present lecture2 the second1 7that metal-cutting should be1 at least in a far greater degree than it is now1 slight1 and free17 in the following one4 #gi4 ,next1 observe the distinction in respect of thickness1 no less than number1 of lines which may properly be used in the two methods4 ,in metal engraving1 it is easier to lay a fine line than a thick one2 and however fine the line may be1 it lasts2--but in wood engraving it requires extreme precision and skill to leave a thin dark line1 and when left1 it will be quickly beaten down by a careless printer4 ,therefore1 the virtue of wood engraving is to exhibit the qualities and power of thick lines2 and of metal engraving1 to exhibit the qualities and power of thin ones4 ,all thin dark lines1 therefore1 in wood1 broadly speaking1 are to be used only in case of necessity2 and thick lines1 on metal1 only in case of necessity4 #hj4 ,though1 however1 thin dark lines cannot easily be produced in wood1 thin light ones may be struck in an instant4 ,nevertheless1 even thin light ones must not be used1 except with extreme caution4 ,for observe1 they are equally useless as outline1 and for expression of mass4 ,you know how far from exemplary or delightful your boy's first quite voluntary exercises in white line drawing on your slate were8 ,you could1 indeed1 draw a goblin satisfactorily in such method2--a round ,o1 with arms and legs to it1 and a scratch under two dots in the middle1 would answer the purpose2 but if you wanted to draw a pretty face1 you took pencil or pen1 and paper--not your slate4 ,now1 that instinctive feeling that a white outline is wrong1 is deeply founded4 ,for ,nature herself draws with diffused light1 and concentrated dark2--never1 except in storm or twilight1 with diffused dark1 and concentrated light2 and the thing we all like best to see drawn--the human face--cannot be drawn with white touches1 but by extreme labor4 ,for the pupil and iris of the eye1 the eyebrow1 the nostril1 and the lip are all set in dark on pale ground4 ,you can't draw a white eyebrow1 a white pupil of the eye1 a white nostril1 and a white mouth1 on a dark ground4 ,try it1 and see what a specter you get4 ,but the same number of dark touches1 skillfully applied1 will give the idea of a beautiful face4 ,and what is true of the subtlest subject you have to represent1 is equally true of inferior ones4 ,nothing lovely can be quickly represented by white touches4 ,you must hew out1 if your means are so restricted1 the form by sheer labor2 and that both cunning and dextrous4 ,the ,florentine masters1 and ,duerer1 often practice the achievement1 and there are many drawings by the ,lippis1 ,mantegna1 and other leading ,italian draughtsmen1 completed to great perfection with the white line2 but only for the sake of severest study1 nor is their work imitable by inferior men4 ,and such studies1 however accomplished1 always mark a disposition to regard chiaroscuro too much1 and local color too little4 ,we conclude1 then1 that we must never trust1 in wood1 to our power of outline with white2 and our general laws1 thus far determined1 will be--thick lines in wood2 thin ones in metal2 complete drawing on wood2 sketches1 if we choose1 on metal4 #ha4 ,but why1 in wood1 lines at all8 ,why not cut out white spaces1 and use the chisel as if its incisions were so much white paint8 ,many fine pieces of wood-cutting are indeed executed on this principle4 ,bewick does nearly all his foliage so2 and continually paints the light plumes of his birds with single touches of his chisel1 as if he were laying on white4 ,but this is not the finest method of wood-cutting4 ,it implies the idea of a system of light and shade in which the shadow is totally black4 ,now1 no light and shade can be good1 much less pleasant1 in which all the shade is stark black4 ,therefore the finest wood-cutting ignores light and shade1 and expresses only form1 and dark local color4 ,and it is convenient1 for simplicity's sake1 to anticipate what ,i should otherwise defer telling you until next lecture1 that fine metal engraving1 like fine wood-cutting1 ignores light and shade2 and that1 in a word1 all good engraving whatsoever does so4 #hb4 ,i hope that my saying so will make you eager to interrupt me4 ',what6 ,rembrandt's etchings1 and ,lupton's mezzotints1 and ,le ,keux's line-work1--do you mean to tell us that these ignore light and shade8' ,i never said that mezzotint ignored light and shade1 or ought to do so4 ,mezzotint is properly to be considered as chiaroscuro drawing on metal4 ,but ,i do mean to tell you that both ,rembrandt's etchings1 and ,le ,keux's finished line-work1 are misapplied labor1 in so far as they regard chiaroscuro2 and that consummate engraving never uses it as a primal element of pleasure4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,last ,,furrow4 7,fig4 #b7 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut4 #hc4 ,we have now got our principles so far defined that ,i can proceed to illustration of them by example4 ,here are facsimiles1 very marvelous ones1,q of two of the best wood engravings ever produced by art1--two subjects in ,holbein's ,dance of ,death4 ,you will probably like best that ,i should at once proceed to verify my last and most startling statement1 that fine engraving disdained chiaroscuro4 ,this vignette 7,fig4 #b7 represents a sunset in the open mountainous fields of southern ,germany4 ,and ,holbein is so entirely careless about the light and shade1 which a ,dutchman would first have thought of1 as resulting from the sunset1 that1 as he works1 he forgets altogether where his light comes from4 ,here1 actually1 the shadow of the figure is cast from the side1 right across the picture1 while the sun is in front4 ,and there is not the slightest attempt to indicate gradation of light in the sky1 darkness in the forest1 or any other positive element of chiaroscuro4 ,this is not because ,holbein cannot give chiaroscuro if he chooses4 ,he is twenty times a stronger master of it than ,rembrandt2 but he1 therefore1 knows exactly when and how to use it2 and that wood engraving is not the proper means for it4 ,the quantity of it which is needful for his story1 and will not1 by any sensational violence1 either divert1 or vulgarly enforce1 the attention1 he will give2 and that with an unrivaled subtlety4 ,therefore ,i must ask you for a moment or two to quit the subject of technics1 and look what these two woodcuts mean4 #hd4 ,the one ,i have first shown you is of a plowman plowing at evening4 ,it is ,holbein's object1 here1 to express the diffused and intense light of a golden summer sunset1 so far as is consistent with grander purposes4 ,a modern ,french or ,english chiaroscurist would have covered his sky with fleecy clouds1 and relieved the plowman's hat and his horses against it in strong black1 and put sparkling touches on the furrows and grass4 ,holbein scornfully casts all such tricks aside2 and draws the whole scene in pure white1 with simple outlines4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,two ,,preachers4 7,fig4 #c7 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut4 #he4 ,and yet1 when ,i put it beside this second vignette1 7,fig4 #c17 which is of a preacher preaching in a feebly lighted church1 you will feel that the diffused warmth of the one subject1 and diffused twilight in the other1 are complete2 and they will finally be to you more impressive than if they had been wrought out with every superficial means of effect1 on each block4 ,for it is as a symbol1 not as a scenic effect1 that in each case the chiaroscuro is given4 ,holbein1 ,i said1 is at the head of the painter-reformers1 and his ,dance of ,death is the most energetic and telling of all the forms given1 in this epoch1 to the ,rationalist spirit of reform1 preaching the new ,gospel of ,death1--,it is no matter whether you are priest or layman1 what you believe1 or what you do3 here is the end4 ,you shall see1 in the course of our inquiry1 that ,botticelli1 in like manner1 represents the ,faithful and ,catholic temper of reform4 #hf4 ,the teaching of ,holbein is therefore always melancholy1--for the most part purely rational2 and entirely furious in its indignation against all who1 either by actual injustice in this life1 or by what he holds to be false promise of another1 destroy the good1 or the energy1 of the few days which man has to live4 ,against the rich1 the luxurious1 the ,pharisee1 the false lawyer1 the priest1 and the unjust judge1 ,holbein uses his fiercest mockery2 but he is never himself unjust2 never caricatures or equivocates2 gives the facts as he knows them1 with explanatory symbols1 few and clear4 #hg4 ,among the powers which he hates1 the pathetic and ingenious preaching of untruth is one of the chief2 and it is curious to find his biographer1 knowing this1 and reasoning1 as ,german critics nearly always do1 from acquired knowledge1 not perception1 imagine instantly that he sees hypocrisy in the face of ,holbein's preacher4 ,how skillfully1 says ,dr4 ,woltmann1 is the preacher propounding his doctrines2 how thoroughly is his hypocrisy expressed in the features of his countenance1 and in the gestures of his hands4 ,but look at the cut yourself1 candidly4 ,i challenge you to find the slightest trace of hypocrisy in either feature or gesture4 ,holbein knew better4 ,it is not the hypocrite who has power in the pulpit4 ,it is the sincere preacher of untruth who does mischief there4 ,the hypocrite's place of power is in trade1 or in general society2 none but the sincere ever get fatal influence in the pulpit4 ,this man is a refined gentleman--ascetic1 earnest1 thoughtful1 and kind4 ,he scarcely uses the vantage even of his pulpit1--comes aside out of it1 as an eager man would1 pleading2 he is intent on being understood--is understood2 his congregation are delighted--you might hear a pin drop among them3 one is asleep indeed1 who cannot see him1 7being under the pulpit17 and asleep just because the teacher is as gentle as he is earnest1 and speaks quietly4 #hh4 ,how are we to know1 then1 that he speaks in vain8 ,first1 because among all his hearers you will not find one shrewd face4 ,they are all either simple or stupid people3 there is one nice woman in front of all1 7else ,holbein's representation had been caricature17 but she is not a shrewd one4 ,secondly1 by the light and shade4 ,the church is not in extreme darkness--far from that2 a gray twilight is over everything1 but the sun is totally shut out of it2--not a ray comes in even at the window--that is darker than the walls1 or vault4 ,lastly1 and chiefly1 by the mocking expression of ,death4 ,mocking1 but not angry4 ,the man has been preaching what he thought true4 ,death laughs at him1 but is not indignant with him4 ,death comes quietly3 ,i am going to be preacher now2 here is your own hour-glass1 ready for me4 ,you have spoken many words in your day4 ,but of the things which you have spoken1 this is the sum1--your death-warrant1 signed and sealed4 ,there's your text for to-day4 #hi4 ,of this other picture1 the meaning is more plain1 and far more beautiful4 ,the husbandman is old and gaunt1 and has passed his days1 not in speaking1 but pressing the iron into the ground4 ,and the payment for his life's work is1 that he is clothed in rags1 and his feet are bare on the clods2 and he has no hat--but the brim of a hat only1 and his long1 unkempt gray hair comes through4 ,but all the air is full of warmth and of peace2 and1 beyond his village church1 there is1 at last1 light indeed4 ,his horses lag in the furrow1 and his own limbs totter and fail3 but one comes to help him4 ',it is a long field1' says ,death2 'but we'll get to the end of it to-day1--you and ,i4' #ij4 ,and now that we know the meaning1 we are able to discuss the technical qualities farther4 ,both of these engravings1 you will find1 are executed with blunt lines2 but more than that1 they are executed with quiet lines1 entirely steady4 ,now1 here ,i have in my hand a lively woodcut of the present day--a good average type of the modern style of wood-cutting1 which you will all recognize4,r ,the shade in this is drawn on the wood1 7not cut1 but drawn1 observe17 at the rate of at least ten lines in a second3 ,holbein's1 at the rate of about one line in three seconds4,s #ia4 ,now there are two different matters to be considered with respect to these two opposed methods of execution4 ,the first1 that the rapid work1 though easy to the artist1 is very difficult to the wood-cutter2 so that it implies instantly a separation between the two crafts1 and that your wood-cutter has ceased to be a draughtsman4 ,i shall return to this point4 ,i wish to insist on the other first2 namely1 the effect of the more deliberate method on the drawing itself4 #ib4 ,when the hand moves at the rate of ten lines in a second1 it is indeed under the government of the muscles of the wrist and shoulder2 but it cannot possibly be under the complete government of the brains4 ,i am able to do this zigzag line evenly1 because ,i have got the use of the hand from practice2 and the faster it is done1 the evener it will be4 ,but ,i have no mental authority over every line ,i thus lay3 chance regulates them4 ,whereas1 when ,i draw at the rate of two or three seconds to each line1 my hand disobeys the muscles a little--the mechanical accuracy is not so great2 nay1 there ceases to be any appearance of dexterity at all4 ,but there is1 in reality1 more manual skill required in the slow work than in the swift1--and all the while the hand is thoroughly under the orders of the brains4 ,holbein deliberately resolves1 for every line1 as it goes along1 that it shall be so thick1 so far from the next1--that it shall begin here1 and stop there4 ,and he is deliberately assigning the utmost quantity of meaning to it1 that a line will carry4 #ic4 ,it is not fair1 however1 to compare common work of one age with the best of another4 ,here is a woodcut of ,tenniel's1 which ,i think contains as high qualities as it is possible to find in modern art4,t ,i hold it as beyond others fine1 because there is not the slightest caricature in it4 ,no face1 no attitude1 is pushed beyond the degree of natural humor they would have possessed in life2 and in precision of momentary expression1 the drawing is equal to the art of any time1 and shows power which would1 if regulated1 be quite adequate to producing an immortal work4 #id4 ,why1 then1 is it not immortal8 ,you yourselves1 in compliance with whose demand it was done1 forgot it the next week4 ,it will become historically interesting2 but no man of true knowledge and feeling will ever keep this in his cabinet of treasure1 as he does these woodcuts of ,holbein's4 ,the reason is that this is base coin1--alloyed gold4 ,there is gold in it1 but also a quantity of brass and lead--willfully added--to make it fit for the public4 ,holbein's is beaten gold1 seven times tried in the fire4 ,of which commonplace but useful metaphor the meaning here is1 first1 that to catch the vulgar eye a quantity of1--so-called1--light and shade is added by ,tenniel4 ,it is effective to an ignorant eye1 and is ingeniously disposed2 but it is entirely conventional and false1 unendurable by any person who knows what chiaroscuro is4 ,secondly1 for one line that ,holbein lays1 ,tenniel has a dozen4 ,there are1 for instance1 a hundred and fifty-seven lines in ,sir ,peter ,teazle's wig1 without counting dots and slight cross-hatching2--but the entire face and flowing hair of ,holbein's preacher are done with forty-five lines1 all told4 #ie4 ,now observe what a different state of mind the two artists must be in on such conditions2--one1 never in a hurry1 never doing anything that he knows is wrong2 never doing a line badly that he can do better2 and appealing only to the feelings of sensitive persons1 and the judgment of attentive ones4 ,that is ,holbein's habit of soul4 ,what is the habit of soul of every modern engraver8 ,always in a hurry2 everywhere doing things which he knows to be wrong--7,tenniel knows his light and shade to be wrong as well as ,i do7--continually doing things badly which he was able to do better2 and appealing exclusively to the feelings of the dull1 and the judgment of the inattentive4 ,do you suppose that is not enough to make the difference between mortal and immortal art1--the original genius being supposed alike in both8,u #if4 ,thus far of the state of the artist himself4 ,i pass1 next to the relation between him and his subordinate1 the wood-cutter4 ,the modern artist requires him to cut a hundred and fifty-seven lines in the wig only1--the old artist requires him to cut forty-five for the face1 and long hair1 altogether4 ,the actual proportion is roughly1 and on the average1 about one to twenty of cost in manual labor1 ancient to modern1--the twentieth part of the mechanical labor1 to produce an immortal instead of a perishable work1--the twentieth part of the labor2 and--which is the greatest difference of all--that twentieth part1 at once less mechanically difficult1 and more mentally pleasant4 ,mr4 ,otley1 in his general ,history of ,engraving1 says1 ,the greatest difficulty in wood engraving occurs in clearing out the minute quadrangular lights2 and in any modern woodcut you will see that where the lines of the drawing cross each other to produce shade1 the white interstices are cut out so neatly that there is no appearance of any jag or break in the lines2 they look exactly as if they had been drawn with a pen4 ,it is chiefly difficult to cut the pieces clearly out when the lines cross at right angles2 easier when they form oblique or diamond-shaped interstices2 but in any case some half-dozen cuts1 and in square crossings as many as twenty1 are required to clear one interstice4 ,therefore if ,i carelessly draw six strokes with my pen across other six1 ,i produce twenty-five interstices1 each of which will need at least six1 perhaps twenty1 careful touches of the burin to clear out4--,say ten for an average2 and ,i demand two hundred and fifty exquisitely precise touches from my engraver1 to render ten careless ones of mine4 #ig4 ,now ,i take up ,punch1 at his best4 ,the whole of the left side of ,john ,bull's waistcoat--the shadow on his knee-breeches and great-coat--the whole of the ,lord ,chancellor's gown1 and of ,john ,bull's and ,sir ,peter ,teazle's complexions1 are worked with finished precision of cross-hatching4 ,these have indeed some purpose in their texture2 but in the most wanton and gratuitous way1 the wall below the window is cross-hatched too1 and that not with a double1 but a treble line 7,fig4 #d74 ,there are about thirty of these columns1 with thirty-five interstices each3 approximately1 #a1jej--;certainly not fewer--interstices to be deliberately cut clear1 to get that two inches square of shadow4 ,now calculate--or think enough to feel the impossibility of calculating--the number of woodcuts used daily for our popular prints1 and how many men are night and day cutting #a1jej square holes to the square inch1 as the occupation of their manly life4 ,and ,mrs4 ,beecher ,stowe and the ,north ,americans fancy they have abolished slavery6 ,illustration3 ,,fig4 #d4 #ih4 ,the workman cannot have even the consolation of pride2 for his task1 even in its finest accomplishment1 is not really difficult1--only tedious4 ,when you have once got into the practice1 it is as easy as lying4 ,to cut regular holes ,,without a purpose is easy enough2 but to cut irregular holes ,,with a purpose1 that is difficult1 forever2--no tricks of tool or trade will give you power to do that4 ,the supposed difficulty--the thing which1 at all events1 it takes time to learn1 is to cut the interstices neat1 and each like the other4 ,but is there any reason1 do you suppose1 for their being neat1 and each like the other8 ,so far from it1 they would be twenty times prettier if they were irregular1 and each different from the other4 ,and an old wood-cutter1 instead of taking pride in cutting these interstices smooth and alike1 resolutely cuts them rough and irregular2 taking care1 at the same time1 never to have any more than are wanted1 this being only one part of the general system of intelligent manipulation1 which made so good an artist of the engraver that it is impossible to say of any standard old woodcut1 whether the draughtsman engraved it himself or not4 ,i should imagine1 from the character and subtlety of the touch1 that every line of the ,dance of ,death had been engraved by ,holbein2 we know it was not1 and that there can be no certainty given by even the finest pieces of wood execution of anything more than perfect harmony between the designer and workman4 ,and consider how much this harmony demands in the latter4 ,not that the modern engraver is unintelligent in applying his mechanical skill3 very often he greatly improves the drawing2 but we never could mistake his hand for ,holbein's4 #ii4 ,the true merit1 then1 of wood execution1 as regards this matter of cross-hatching1 is first that there be no more crossing than necessary2 secondly1 that all the interstices be various1 and rough4 ,you may look through the entire series of the ,dance of ,death without finding any cross-hatching whatever1 except in a few unimportant bits of background1 so rude as to need scarcely more than one touch to each interstice4 ,albert ,duerer crosses more definitely2 but yet1 in any fold of his drapery1 every white spot differs in size from every other1 and the arrangement of the whole is delightful1 by the kind of variety which the spots on a leopard have4 ,on the other hand1 where either expression or form can be rendered by the shape of the lights and darks1 the old engraver becomes as careful as in an ordinary ground he is careless4 ,the endeavor1 with your own hand1 and common pen and ink1 to copy a small piece of either of the two ,holbein woodcuts 7,figures #b and #c7 will prove this to you better than any words4 #ajj4 ,i said that1 had ,tenniel been rightly trained1 there might have been the making of a ,holbein1 or nearly a ,holbein1 in him4 ,i do not know2 but ,i can turn from his work to that of a man who was not trained at all1 and who was1 without training1 ,holbein's equal4 ,equal1 in the sense that this brown stone1 in my left hand1 is the equal1 though not the likeness1 of that in my right4 ,they are both of the same true and pure crystal2 but the one is brown with iron1 and never touched by forming hand2 the other has never been in rough companionship1 and has been exquisitely polished4 ,so with these two men4 ,the one was the companion of ,erasmus and ,sir ,thomas ,more4 ,his father was so good an artist that you cannot always tell their drawings asunder4 ,but the other was a farmer's son2 and learned his trade in the back shops of ,newcastle4 ,yet the first book ,i asked you to get was his biography2 and in this frame are set together a drawing by ,hans ,holbein1 and one by ,thomas ,bewick4 ,i know which is most scholarly2 but ,i do not know which is best4 #aja4 ,it is much to say for the self-taught ,englishman2--yet do not congratulate yourselves on his simplicity4 ,i told you1 a little while since1 that the ,english nobles had left the history of birds to be written1 and their spots to be drawn1 by a printer's lad2--but ,i did not tell you their farther loss in the fact that this printer's lad could have written their own histories1 and drawn their own spots1 if they had let him4 ,but they had no history to be written2 and were too closely maculate to be portrayed2--white ground in most places altogether obscured4 ,had there been ,mores and ,henrys to draw1 ,bewick could have drawn them2 and would have found his function4 ,as it was1 the nobles of his day left him to draw the frogs1 and pigs1 and sparrows--of his day1 which seemed to him1 in his solitude1 the best types of its ,nobility4 ,no sight or thought of beautiful things was ever granted him2--no heroic creature1 goddess-born--how much less any native ,deity--ever shone upon him4 ,to his utterly ,english mind1 the straw of the sty1 and its tenantry1 were abiding truth2--the cloud of ,olympus1 and its tenantry1 a child's dream4 ,he could draw a pig1 but not an ,aphrodite4 #ajb4 ,the three pieces of woodcut from his ,fables 7the two lower ones enlarged7 in the opposite plate1 show his utmost strength and utmost rudeness4 ,i must endeavor to make you thoroughly understand both3--the magnificent artistic power1 the flawless virtue1 veracity1 tenderness1--the infinite humor of the man2 and yet the difference between ,england and ,florence1 in the use they make of such gifts in their children4 ,for the moment1 however1 ,i confine myself to the examination of technical points2 and we must follow our former conclusions a little further4 ,illustration3 ,i4 ,things ,celestial and ,terrestrial1 as apparent to the ,english ,mind4 #ajc4 ,because our lines in wood must be thick1 it becomes an extreme virtue in wood engraving to economize lines1--not merely1 as in all other art1 to save time and power1 but because1 our lines being necessarily blunt1 we must make up our minds to do with fewer1 by many1 than are in the object4 ,but is this necessarily a disadvantage8 ,absolutely1 an immense disadvantage1--a woodcut never can be so beautiful or good a thing as a painting1 or line engraving4 ,but in its own separate and useful way1 an excellent thing1 because1 practiced rightly1 it exercises in the artist1 and summons in you1 the habit of abstraction2 that is to say1 of deciding what are the essential points in the things you see1 and seizing these2 a habit entirely necessary to strong humanity2 and so natural to all humanity1 that it leads1 in its indolent and undisciplined states1 to all the vulgar amateur's liking of sketches better than pictures4 ,the sketch seems to put the thing for him into a concentrated and exciting form4 #ajd4 ,observe1 therefore1 to guard you from this error1 that a bad sketch is good for nothing2 and that nobody can make a good sketch unless they generally are trying to finish with extreme care4 ,but the abstraction of the essential particulars in his subject by a line-master1 has a peculiar didactic value4 ,for painting1 when it is complete1 leaves it much to your own judgment what to look at2 and1 if you are a fool1 you look at the wrong thing2--but in a fine woodcut1 the master says to you1 ,you shall look at this1 or at nothing4 #aje4 ,for example1 here is a little tailpiece of ,bewick's1 to the fable of the ,frogs and the ,stork4,v ,he is1 as ,i told you1 as stout a reformer as ,holbein1,w or ,botticelli1 or ,luther1 or ,savonarola2 and1 as an impartial reformer1 hits right and left1 at lower or upper classes1 if he sees them wrong4 ,most frequently1 he strikes at vice1 without reference to class2 but in this vignette he strikes definitely at the degradation of the viler popular mind which is incapable of being governed1 because it cannot understand the nobleness of kingship4 ,he has written--better than written1 engraved1 sure to suffer no slip of type--his legend under the drawing2 so that we know his meaning3 ,set them up with a king1 indeed6 #ajf4 ,there is an audience of seven frogs1 listening to a speaker1 or croaker1 in the middle2 and ,bewick has set himself to show in all1 but especially in the speaker1 essential frogginess of mind--the marsh temper4 ,he could not have done it half so well in painting as he has done by the abstraction of wood-outline4 ,the characteristic of a manly mind1 or body1 is to be gentle in temper1 and firm in constitution2 the contrary essence of a froggy mind and body is to be angular in temper1 and flabby in constitution4 ,i have enlarged ,bewick's orator-frog for you1 ,plate ,i4 c41 and ,i think you will feel that he is entirely expressed in those essential particulars4 ,this being perfectly good wood-cutting1 notice especially its deliberation4 ,no scrawling or scratching1 or cross-hatching1 or 'free' work of any sort4 ,most deliberate laying down of solid lines and dots1 of which you cannot change one4 ,the real difficulty of wood engraving is to cut every one of these black lines or spaces of the exactly right shape1 and not at all to cross-hatch them cleanly4 #ajg4 ,next1 examine the technical treatment of the pig1 above4 ,i have purposely chosen this as an example of a white object on dark ground1 and the frog as a dark object on light ground1 to explain to you what ,i mean by saying that fine engraving regards local color1 but not light and shade4 ,you see both frog and pig are absolutely without light and shade4 ,the frog1 indeed1 casts a shadow2 but his hind leg is as white as his throat4 ,in the pig you don't even know which way the light falls4 ,but you know at once that the pig is white1 and the frog brown or green4 #ajh4 ,there are1 however1 two pieces of chiaroscuro implied in the treatment of the pig4 ,it is assumed that his curly tail would be light against the background--dark against his own rump4 ,this little piece of heraldic quartering is absolutely necessary to solidify him4 ,he would have been a white ghost of a pig1 flat on the background1 but for that alternative tail1 and the bits of dark behind the ears4 ,secondly3 ,where the shade is necessary to suggest the position of his ribs1 it is given with graphic and chosen points of dark1 as few as possible2 not for the sake of the shade at all1 but of the skin and bone4 #aji4 ,that1 then1 being the law of refused chiaroscuro1 observe further the method of outline4 ,we said that we were to have thick lines in wood1 if possible4 ,look what thickness of black outline ,bewick has left under our pig's chin1 and above his nose4 ,but that is not a line at all1 you think8 ,no2--a modern engraver would have made it one1 and prided himself on getting it fine4 ,bewick leaves it actually thicker than the snout1 but puts all his ingenuity of touch to vary the forms1 and break the extremities of his white cuts1 so that the eye may be refreshed and relieved by new forms at every turn4 ,the group of white touches filling the space between snout and ears might be a wreath of fine-weather clouds1 so studiously are they grouped and broken4 ,and nowhere1 you see1 does a single black line cross another4 ,look back to ,figure #d1 page #ed1 and you will know1 henceforward1 the difference between good and bad wood-cutting4 #aaj4 ,we have also1 in the lower woodcut1 a notable instance of ,bewick's power of abstraction4 ,you will observe that one of the chief characters of this frog1 which makes him humorous1--next to his vain endeavor to get some firmness into his fore feet1--is his obstinately angular hump-back4 ,and you must feel1 when you see it so marked1 how important a general character of a frog it is to have a hump-back1--not at the shoulders1 but the loins4 #aaa4 ,here1 then1 is a case in which you will see the exact function that anatomy should take in art4 ,all the most scientific anatomy in the world would never have taught ,bewick1 much less you1 how to draw a frog4 ,but when once you have drawn him1 or looked at him1 so as to know his points1 it then becomes entirely interesting to find out why he has a hump-back4 ,so ,i went myself yesterday to ,professor ,rolleston for a little anatomy1 just as ,i should have gone to ,professor ,phillips for a little geology2 and the ,professor brought me a fine little active frog2 and we put him on the table1 and made him jump all over it1 and then the ,professor brought in a charming ,squelette of a frog1 and showed me that he needed a projecting bone from his rump1 as a bird needs it from its breast1--the one to attach the strong muscles of the hind legs1 as the other to attach those of the fore legs or wings4 ,so that the entire leaping power of the frog is in his hump-back1 as the flying power of the bird is in its breast-bone4 ,and thus this ,frog ,parliament is most literally a ,rump ,parliament--everything depending on the hind legs1 and nothing on the brains2 which makes it wonderfully like some other ,parliaments we know of nowadays1 with ,mr4 ,ayrton and ,mr4 ,lowe for their aesthetic and acquisitive eyes1 and a rump of ,railway ,directors4 #aab4 ,now1 to conclude1 for want of time only--,i have but touched on the beginning of my subject1--understand clearly and finally this simple principle of all art1 that the best is that which realizes absolutely1 if possible4 ,here is a viper by ,carpaccio3 you are afraid to go near it4 ,here is an arm-chair by ,carpaccio3 you who came in late1 and are standing1 to my regret1 would like to sit down in it4 ,this is consummate art2 but you can only have that with consummate means1 and exquisitely trained and hereditary mental power4 ,with inferior means1 and average mental power1 you must be content to give a rude abstraction2 but if rude abstraction is to be made1 think what a difference there must be between a wise man's and a fool's2 and consider what heavy responsibility lies upon you in your youth1 to determine1 among realities1 by what you will be delighted1 and1 among imaginations1 by whose you will be led4 ,,footnotes3 ,q ,by ,mr4 ,burgess4 ,the toil and skill necessary to produce a facsimile of this degree of precision will only be recognized by the reader who has had considerable experience of actual work4 ,r ,the ordinary title-page of ,punch4 ,s ,in the lecture-room1 the relative rates of execution were shown2 ,i arrive at this estimate by timing the completion of two small pieces of shade in the two methods4 ,t ,john ,bull1 as ,sir ,oliver ,surface1 with ,sir ,peter ,teazle and ,joseph ,surface4 ,it appeared in ,punch1 early in #ahfc4 ,u ,in preparing these passages for the press1 ,i feel perpetual need of qualifications and limitations1 for it is impossible to surpass the humor1 or precision of expressional touch1 in the really golden parts of ,tenniel's works2 and they may be immortal1 as representing what is best in their day4 ,v ,from ,bewick's ,a,esop's ,fables4 ,w ,see ante1 ,sec4 #dc4 ,,lecture ,,iv4 ,,the ,,technics ,,of ,,metal ,,engraving4 #aac4 ,we are to-day to examine the proper methods for the technical management of the most perfect of the arms of precision possessed by the artist4 ,for you will at once understand that a line cut by a finely-pointed instrument upon the smooth surface of metal is susceptible of the utmost fineness that can be given to the definite work of the human hand4 ,in drawing with pen upon paper1 the surface of the paper is slightly rough2 necessarily1 two points touch it instead of one1 and the liquid flows from them more or less irregularly1 whatever the draughtsman's skill4 ,but you cut a metallic surface with one edge only2 the furrow drawn by a skater on the surface of ice is like it on a large scale4 ,your surface is polished1 and your line may be wholly faultless1 if your hand is4 #aad4 ,and because1 in such material1 effects may be produced which no penmanship could rival1 most people1 ,i fancy1 think that a steel plate half engraves itself2 that the workman has no trouble with it1 compared to that of a pen draughtsman4 ,to test your feeling in this matter accurately1 here is a manuscript book written with pen and ink1 and illustrated with flourishes and vignettes4 ,you will all1 ,i think1 be disposed1 on examining it1 to exclaim1 ,how wonderful6 and even to doubt the possibility of every page in the book being completed in the same manner4 ,again1 here are three of my own drawings1 executed with the pen1 and ,indian ink1 when ,i was fifteen4 ,they are copies from large lithographs by ,prout2 and ,i imagine that most of my pupils would think me very tyrannical if ,i requested them to do anything of the kind themselves4 ,and yet1 when you see in the shop windows a line engraving like this1,x or this1,x either of which contains1 alone1 as much work as fifty pages of the manuscript book1 or fifty such drawings as mine1 you look upon its effect as quite a matter of course1--you never say 'how wonderful' that is1 nor consider how you would like to have to live1 by producing anything of the same kind yourselves4 ,illustration3 ,,ii4 ,the ,star of ,,florence4 #aae4 ,yet you cannot suppose it is in reality easier to draw a line with a cutting point1 not seeing the effect at all1 or1 if any effect1 seeing a gleam of light instead of darkness1 than to draw your black line at once on the white paper8 ,you cannot really think,y that there is something complacent1 sympathetic1 and helpful in the nature of steel2 so that while a pen-and-ink sketch may always be considered an achievement proving cleverness in the sketcher1 a sketch on steel comes out by mere favor of the indulgent metal2 or that the plate is woven like a piece of pattern silk1 and the pattern is developed by pasteboard cards punched full of holes8 ,not so4 ,look close at this engraving1 or take a smaller and simpler one1 ,turner's ,mercury and ,argus1--imagine it to be a drawing in pen and ink1 and yourself required similarly to produce its parallel6 ,true1 the steel point has the one advantage of not blotting1 but it has tenfold or twentyfold disadvantage1 in that you cannot slur1 nor efface1 except in a very resolute and laborious way1 nor play with it1 nor even see what you are doing with it at the moment1 far less the effect that is to be4 ,you must feel what you are doing with it1 and know precisely what you have got to do2 how deep1 how broad1 how far apart your lines must be1 etc4 and etc41 7a couple of lines of etceteras would not be enough to imply all you must know74 ,but suppose the plate were only a pen drawing3 take your pen--your finest--and just try to copy the leaves that entangle the head of ,io1 and her head itself2 remembering always that the kind of work required here is mere child's play compared to that of fine figure engraving4 ,nevertheless1 take a small magnifying glass to this--count the dots and lines that gradate the nostrils and the edges of the facial bone2 notice how the light is left on the top of the head by the stopping1 at its outline1 of the coarse touches which form the shadows under the leaves2 examine it well1 and then--,i humbly ask of you--try to do a piece of it yourself6 ,you clever sketcher--you young lady or gentleman of genius--you eye-glassed dilettante--you current writer of criticism royally plural1--,i beseech you1--do it yourself2 do the merely etched outline yourself1 if no more4 ,look you1--you hold your etching needle this way1 as you would a pencil1 nearly2 and then1--you scratch with it6 it is as easy as lying4 ,or if you think that too difficult1 take an easier piece2--take either of the light sprays of foliage that rise against the fortress on the right1 pass your lens over them--look how their fine outline is first drawn1 leaf by leaf2 then how the distant rock is put in between1 with broken lines1 mostly stopping before they touch the leaf-outline2 and again1 ,i pray you1 do it yourself1--if not on that scale1 on a larger4 ,go on into the hollows of the distant rock1--traverse its thickets1--number its towers2--count how many lines there are in a laurel bush--in an arch--in a casement2 some hundred and fifty1 or two hundred1 deliberately drawn lines1 you will find1 in every square quarter of an inch2--say three thousand to the inch1--each1 with skillful intent1 put in its place6 and then consider what the ordinary sketcher's work must appear1 to the men who have been trained to this6 #aaf4 ,but might not more have been done by three thousand lines to a square inch8 you will perhaps ask4 ,well1 possibly4 ,it may be with lines as with soldiers3 three hundred1 knowing their work thoroughly1 may be stronger than three thousand less sure of their aim4 ,we shall have to press close home this question about numbers and purpose presently2--it is not the question now4 ,suppose certain results required1--atmospheric effects1 surface textures1 transparencies of shade1 confusions of light1--then1 more could not be done with less4 ,there are engravings of this modern school1 of which1 with respect to their particular aim1 it may be said1 most truly1 they cannot be better done4 ,here is one just finished1--or1 at least1 finished to the eyes of ordinary mortals1 though its fastidious master means to retouch it2--a quite pure line engraving1 by ,mr4 ,charles ,henry ,jeens2 7in calling it pure line1 ,i mean that there are no mixtures of mezzotint or any mechanical tooling1 but all is steady hand-work17 from a picture by ,mr4 ,armytage1 which1 without possessing any of the highest claims to admiration1 is yet free from the vulgar vices which disgrace most of our popular religious art2 and is so sweet in the fancy of it as to deserve1 better than many works of higher power1 the pains of the engraver to make it a common possession4 ,it is meant to help us to imagine the evening of the day when the father and mother of ,christ had been seeking ,him through ,jerusalem3 they have come to a well where women are drawing water2 ,st4 ,joseph passes on1--but the tired ,madonna1 leaning on the well's margin1 asks wistfully of the women if they have seen such and such a child astray4 ,now will you just look for a while into the lines by which the expression of the weary and anxious face is rendered2 see how unerring they are1--how calm and clear2 and think how many questions have to be determined in drawing the most minute portion of any one1--its curve1--its thickness1--its distance from the next1--its own preparation for ending1 invisibly1 where it ends4 ,think what the precision must be in these that trace the edge of the lip1 and make it look quivering with disappointment1 or in these which have made the eyelash heavy with restrained tears4 #aag4 ,or if1 as must be the case with many of my audience1 it is impossible for you to conceive the difficulties here overcome1 look merely at the draperies1 and other varied substances represented in the plate2 see how silk1 and linen1 and stone1 and pottery1 and flesh1 are all separated in texture1 and gradated in light1 by the most subtle artifices and appliances of line1--of which artifices1 and the nature of the mechanical labor throughout1 ,i must endeavor to give you to-day a more distinct conception than you are in the habit of forming4 ,but as ,i shall have to blame some of these methods in their general result1 and ,i do not wish any word of general blame to be associated with this most excellent and careful plate by ,mr4 ,jeens1 ,i will pass1 for special examination1 to one already in your reference series1 which for the rest exhibits more various treatment in its combined landscape1 background1 and figures2 the ,belle ,jardiniere of ,raphael1 drawn and engraved by the ,baron ,desnoyers4 ,you see1 in the first place1 that the ground1 stones1 and other coarse surfaces are distinguished from the flesh and draperies by broken and wriggled lines4 ,those broken lines cannot be executed with the burin1 they are etched in the early states of the plate1 and are a modern artifice1 never used by old engravers2 partly because the older men were not masters of the art of etching1 but chiefly because even those who were acquainted with it would not employ lines of this nature4 ,they have been developed by the importance of landscape in modern engraving1 and have produced some valuable results in small plates1 especially of architecture4 ,but they are entirely erroneous in principle1 for the surface of stones and leaves is not broken or jagged in this manner1 but consists of mossy1 or blooming1 or otherwise organic texture1 which cannot be represented by these coarse lines2 their general consequence has therefore been to withdraw the mind of the observer from all beautiful and tender characters in foreground1 and eventually to destroy the very school of landscape engraving which gave birth to them4 ,considered1 however1 as a means of relieving more delicate textures1 they are in some degree legitimate1 being1 in fact1 a kind of chasing or jagging one part of the plate surface in order to throw out the delicate tints from the rough field4 ,but the same effect was produced with less pains1 and far more entertainment to the eye1 by the older engravers1 who employed purely ornamental variations of line2 thus in ,plate ,,iv41 opposite ,sec4 #acg1 the drapery is sufficiently distinguished from the grass by the treatment of the latter as an ornamental arabesque4 ,the grain of wood is elaborately engraved by ,marc ,antonio1 with the same purpose1 in the plate given in your ,standard ,series4 #aah4 ,next1 however1 you observe what difference of texture and force exists between the smooth1 continuous lines themselves1 which are all really engraved4 ,you must take some pains to understand the nature of this operation4 ,the line is first cut lightly through its whole course1 by absolute decision and steadiness of hand1 which you may endeavor to imitate if you like1 in its simplest phase1 by drawing a circle with your compass-pen2 and then1 grasping your penholder so that you can push the point like a plow1 describing other circles inside or outside of it1 in exact parallelism with the mathematical line1 and at exactly equal distances4 ,to approach1 or depart1 with your point at finely gradated intervals1 may be your next exercise1 if you find the first unexpectedly easy4 #aai4 ,when the line is thus described in its proper course1 it is plowed deeper1 where depth is needed1 by a second cut of the burin1 first on one side1 then on the other1 the cut being given with gradated force so as to take away most steel where the line is to be darkest4 ,every line of gradated depth in the plate has to be thus cut eight or ten times over at least1 with retouchings to smooth and clear all in the close4 ,jason has to plow his field ten-furrow deep1 with his fiery oxen well in hand1 all the while4 ,when the essential lines are thus produced in their several directions1 those which have been drawn across each other1 so as to give depth of shade1 or richness of texture1 have to be farther enriched by dots in the interstices2 else there would be a painful appearance of network everywhere2 and these dots require each four or five jags to produce them2 and each of these jags must be done with what artists and engravers alike call 'feeling1'--the sensibility1 that is1 of a hand completely under mental government4 ,so wrought1 the dots look soft1 and like touches of paint2 but mechanically dug in1 they are vulgar and hard4 #abj4 ,now1 observe1 that1 for every piece of shadow throughout the work1 the engraver has to decide with what quantity and kind of line he will produce it4 ,exactly the same quantity of black1 and therefore the same depth of tint in general effect1 may be given with six thick lines2 or with twelve1 of half their thickness2 or with eighteen1 of a third of the thickness4 ,the second six1 second twelve1 or second eighteen1 may cross the first six1 first twelve1 or first eighteen1 or go between them2 and they may cross at any angle4 ,and then the third six may be put between the first six1 or between the second six1 or across both1 and at any angle4 ,in the network thus produced1 any kind of dots may be put in the severally shaped interstices4 ,and for any of the series of superadded lines1 dots1 of equivalent value in shade1 may be substituted4 7,some engravings are wrought in dots altogether47 ,choice infinite1 with multiplication of infinity1 is1 at all events1 to be made1 for every minute space1 from one side of the plate to the other4 #aba4 ,the excellence of a beautiful engraving is primarily in the use of these resources to exhibit the qualities of the original picture1 with delight to the eye in the method of translation2 and the language of engraving1 when once you begin to understand it1 is1 in these respects1 so fertile1 so ingenious1 so ineffably subtle and severe in its grammar1 that you may quite easily make it the subject of your life's investigation1 as you would the scholarship of a lovely literature4 ,but in doing this1 you would withdraw1 and necessarily withdraw1 your attention from the higher qualities of art1 precisely as a grammarian1 who is that1 and nothing more1 loses command of the matter and substance of thought4 ,and the exquisitely mysterious mechanisms of the engraver's method have1 in fact1 thus entangled the intelligence of the careful draughtsmen of ,europe2 so that since the final perfection of this translator's power1 all the men of finest patience and finest hand have stayed content with it2--the subtlest draughtsmanship has perished from the canvas1,z and sought more popular praise in this labyrinth of disciplined language1 and more or less dulled or degraded thought4 ,and1 in sum1 ,i know no cause more direct or fatal1 in the destruction of the great schools of ,european art1 than the perfectness of modern line engraving4 #abb4 ,this great and profoundly to be regretted influence ,i will prove and illustrate to you on another occasion4 ,my object to-day is to explain the perfectness of the art itself2 and above all to request you1 if you will not look at pictures instead of photographs1 at least not to allow the cheap merits of the chemical operation to withdraw your interest from the splendid human labor of the engraver4 ,here is a little vignette from ,stothard1 for instance1 in ,rogers' poems1 to the lines1 ,soared in the swing1 half pleased and half afraid1 ',neath sister elms1 that waved their summer shade4 ,you would think1 would you not8 7and rightly17 that of all difficult things to express with crossed black lines and dots1 the face of a young girl must be the most difficult4 ,yet here you have the face of a bright girl1 radiant in light1 transparent1 mysterious1 almost breathing1--her dark hair involved in delicate wreath and shade1 her eyes full of joy and sweet playfulness1--and all this done by the exquisite order and gradation of a very few lines1 which1 if you will examine them through a lens1 you find dividing and checkering the lip1 and cheek1 and chin1 so strongly that you would have fancied they could only produce the effect of a grim iron mask4 ,but the intelligences of order and form guide them into beauty1 and inflame them with delicatest life4 #abc4 ,and do you see the size of this head8 ,about as large as the bud of a forget-me-not6 ,can you imagine the fineness of the little pressures of the hand on the steel1 in that space1 which at the edge of the almost invisible lip1 fashioned its less or more of smile8 ,my chemical friends1 if you wish ever to know anything rightly concerning the arts1 ,i very urgently advise you to throw all your vials and washes down the gutter-trap2 and if you will ascribe1 as you think it so clever to do1 in your modern creeds1 all virtue to the sun1 use that virtue through your own heads and fingers1 and apply your solar energies to draw a skillful line or two1 for once or twice in your life4 ,you may learn more by trying to engrave1 like ,goodall1 the tip of an ear1 or the curl of a lock of hair1 than by photographing the entire population of the ,united ,states of ,america1--black1 white1 and neutral-tint4 ,and one word1 by the way1 touching the complaints ,i hear at my having set you to so fine work that it hurts your eyes4 ,you have noticed that all great sculptors--and most of the great painters of ,florence--began by being goldsmiths4 ,why do you think the goldsmith's apprenticeship is so fruitful8 ,primarily1 because it forces the boy to do small work1 and mind what he is about4 ,do you suppose ,michael ,angelo learned his business by dashing or hitting at it8 ,he laid the foundation of all his after power by doing precisely what ,i am requiring my own pupils to do1--copying ,german engravings in facsimile6 ,and for your eyes--you all sit up at night till you haven't got any eyes worth speaking of4 ,go to bed at half-past nine1 and get up at four1 and you'll see something out of them1 in time4 #abd4 ,nevertheless1 whatever admiration you may be brought to feel1 and with justice1 for this lovely workmanship1--the more distinctly you comprehend its merits1 the more distinctly also will the question rise in your mind1 ,how is it that a performance so marvelous has yet taken no rank in the records of art of any permanent or acknowledged kind8 ,how is it that these vignettes from ,stothard and ,turner1,,aa like the woodcuts from ,tenniel1 scarcely make the name of the engraver known2 and that they never are found side by side with this older and apparently ruder art1 in the cabinets of men of real judgment8 ,the reason is precisely the same as in the case of the ,tenniel woodcut4 ,this modern line engraving is alloyed gold4 ,rich in capacity1 astonishing in attainment1 it nevertheless admits willful fault1 and misses what it ought first to have attained4 ,it is therefore1 to a certain measure1 vile in its perfection2 while the older work is noble even in its failure1 and classic no less in what it deliberately refuses1 than in what it rationally and rightly prefers and performs4 #abe4 ,here1 for instance1 ,i have enlarged the head of one of ,duerer's ,madonnas for you out of one of his most careful plates4,,ab ,you think it very ugly4 ,well1 so it is4 ,don't be afraid to think so1 nor to say so4 ,frightfully ugly2 vulgar also4 ,it is the head1 simply1 of a fat ,dutch girl1 with all the pleasantness left out4 ,there is not the least doubt about that4 ,don't let anybody force ,albert ,duerer down your throats2 nor make you expect pretty things from him4 ,stothard's young girl in the swing1 or ,sir ,joshua's ,age of ,innocence1 is in quite angelic sphere of another world1 compared to this black domain of poor1 laborious ,albert4 ,we are not talking of female beauty1 so please you1 just now1 gentlemen1 but of engraving4 ,and the merit1 the classical1 indefeasible1 immortal merit of this head of a ,dutch girl with all the beauty left out1 is in the fact that every line of it1 as engraving1 is as good as can be2--good1 not with the mechanical dexterity of a watch-maker1 but with the intellectual effort and sensitiveness of an artist who knows precisely what can be done1 and ought to be attempted1 with his assigned materials4 ,he works easily1 fearlessly1 flexibly2 the dots are not all measured in distance2 the lines not all mathematically parallel or divergent4 ,he has even missed his mark at the mouth in one place1 and leaves the mistake1 frankly4 ,but there are no petrified mistakes2 nor is the eye so accustomed to the look of the mechanical furrow as to accept it for final excellence4 ,the engraving is full of the painter's higher power and wider perception2 it is classically perfect1 because duly subordinate1 and presenting for your applause only the virtues proper to its own sphere4 ,among these1 ,i must now reiterate1 the first of all is the decorative arrangement of lines4 #abf4 ,you all know what a pretty thing a damask tablecloth is1 and how a pattern is brought out by threads running one way in one space1 and across in another4 ,so1 in lace1 a certain delightfulness is given by the texture of meshed lines4 ,similarly1 on any surface of metal1 the object of the engraver is1 or ought to be1 to cover it with lovely lines1 forming a lace-work1 and including a variety of spaces1 delicious to the eye4 ,and this is his business1 primarily2 before any other matter can be thought of1 his work must be ornamental4 ,you know ,i told you a sculptor's business is first to cover a surface with pleasant bosses1 whether they mean anything or not2 so an engraver's is to cover it with pleasant lines1 whether they mean anything or not4 ,that they should mean something1 and a good deal of something1 is indeed desirable afterwards2 but first we must be ornamental4 #abg4 ,now if you will compare ,plate ,,ii4 at the beginning of this lecture1 which is a characteristic example of good ,florentine engraving1 and represents the ,planet and power of ,aphrodite1 with the ,aphrodite of ,bewick in the upper division of ,plate ,i41 you will at once understand the difference between a primarily ornamental1 and a primarily realistic1 style4 ,the first requirement in the ,florentine work1 is that it shall be a lovely arrangement of lines2 a pretty thing upon a page4 ,bewick has a secondary notion of making his vignette a pretty thing upon a page4 ,but he is overpowered by his vigorous veracity1 and bent first on giving you his idea of ,venus4 ,quite right1 he would have been1 mind you1 if he had been carving a statue of her on ,mount ,eryx2 but not when he was engraving a vignette to ,a,esop's fables4 ,to engrave well is to ornament a surface well1 not to create a realistic impression4 ,i beg your pardon for my repetitions2 but the point at issue is the root of the whole business1 and ,i must get it well asserted1 and variously4 ,let me pass to a more important example4 #abh4 ,three years ago1 in the rough first arrangement of the copies in the ,educational ,series1 ,i put an outline of the top of ,apollo's scepter1 which1 in the catalogue1 was said to be probably by ,baccio ,bandini of ,florence1 for your first real exercise2 it remains so1 the olive being put first only for its mythological rank4 ,the series of engravings to which the plate from which that exercise is copied belongs1 are part of a number1 executed chiefly1 ,i think1 from early designs of ,sandro ,botticelli1 and some in great part by his hand4 ,he and his assistant1 ,baccio1 worked together2 and in such harmony1 that ,bandini probably often does what ,sandro wants1 better than ,sandro could have done it himself2 and1 on the other hand1 there is no design of ,bandini's over which ,sandro does not seem to have had influence4 ,and wishing now to show you three examples of the finest work of the old1 the renaissance1 and the modern schools1--of the old1 ,i will take ,baccio ,bandini's ,astrologia1 ,plate ,,iii41 opposite4 ,of the renaissance1 ,duerer's ,adam and ,eve4 ,and of the modern1 this head of the daughter of ,herodias1 engraved from ,luini by ,beaugrand1 which is as affectionately and sincerely wrought1 though in the modern manner1 as any plate of the old schools4 ,illustration3 ,,iii4 ,at ev'ning from the top of ,fesole4 #abi4 ,now observe the progress of the feeling for light and shade in the three examples4 ,the first is nearly all white paper2 you think of the outline as the constructive element throughout4 ,the second is a vigorous piece of white and black--not of light and shade1--for all the high lights are equally white1 whether of flesh1 or leaves1 or goat's hair4 ,the third is complete in chiaroscuro1 as far as engraving can be4 ,now the dignity and virtue of the plates is in the exactly inverse ratio of their fullness in chiaroscuro4 ,bandini's is excellent work1 and of the very highest school4 ,duerer's entirely accomplished work1 but of an inferior school4 ,and ,beaugrand's1 excellent work1 but of a vulgar and non-classical school4 ,and these relations of the schools are to be determined by the quality in the lines2 we shall find that in proportion as the light and shade is neglected1 the lines are studied2 that those of ,bandini are perfect2 of ,duerer perfect1 only with a lower perfection2 but of ,beaugrand1 entirely faultful4 #acj4 ,i have just explained to you that in modern engraving the lines are cut in clean furrow1 widened1 it may be1 by successive cuts2 but1 whether it be fine or thick1 retaining always1 when printed1 the aspect of a continuous line drawn with the pen1 and entirely black throughout its whole course4 ,now we may increase the delicacy of this line to any extent by simply printing it in gray color instead of black4 ,i obtained some very beautiful results of this kind in the later volumes of ',modern ,painters1' with ,mr4 ,armytage's help1 by using subdued purple tints2 but1 in any case1 the line thus engraved must be monotonous in its character1 and cannot be expressive of the finest qualities of form4 ,accordingly1 the old ,florentine workmen constructed the line itself1 in important places1 of successive minute touches1 so that it became a chain of delicate links which could be opened or closed at pleasure4,,ac ,if you will examine through a lens the outline of the face of this ,astrology1 you will find it is traced with an exquisite series of minute touches1 susceptible of accentuation or change absolutely at the engraver's pleasure2 and1 in result1 corresponding to the finest conditions of a pencil line drawing by a consummate master4 ,in the fine plates of this period1 you have thus the united powers of the pen and pencil1 and both absolutely secure and multipliable4 #aca4 ,i am a little proud of having independently discovered1 and had the patience to carry out1 this ,florentine method of execution for myself1 when ,i was a boy of thirteen4 ,my good drawing-master had given me some copies calculated to teach me freedom of hand2 the touches were rapid and vigorous1--many of them in mechanically regular zigzags1 far beyond any capacity of mine to imitate in the bold way in which they were done4 ,but ,i was resolved to have them1 somehow2 and actually facsimiled a considerable portion of the drawing in the ,florentine manner1 with the finest point ,i could cut to my pencil1 taking a quarter of an hour to forge out the likeness of one return in the zigzag which my master carried down through twenty returns in two seconds2 and so successfully1 that he did not detect my artifice till ,i showed it him1--on which he forbade me ever to do the like again4 ,and it was only thirty years afterwards that ,i found ,i had been quite right after all1 and working like ,baccio ,bandini6 ,but the patience which carried me through that early effort1 served me well through all the thirty years1 and enabled me to analyze1 and in a measure imitate1 the method of work employed by every master2 so that1 whether you believe me or not at first1 you will find what ,i tell you of their superiority1 or inferiority1 to be true4 #acb4 ,when lines are studied with this degree of care1 you may be sure the master will leave room enough for you to see them and enjoy them1 and not use any at random4 ,all the finest engravers1 therefore1 leave much white paper1 and use their entire power on the outlines4 #acc4 ,next to them come the men of the ,renaissance schools1 headed by ,duerer1 who1 less careful of the beauty and refinement of the line1 delight in its vigor1 accuracy1 and complexity4 ,and the essential difference between these men and the moderns is that these central masters cut their line for the most part with a single furrow1 giving it depth by force of hand or wrist1 and retouching1 not in the furrow itself1 but with others beside it4,,ad ,such work can only be done well on copper1 and it can display all faculty of hand or wrist1 precision of eye1 and accuracy of knowledge1 which a human creature can possess4 ,but the dotted or hatched line is not used in this central style1 and the higher conditions of beauty never thought of4 ,in the ,astrology of ,bandini1--and remember that the ,astrologia of the ,florentine meant what we mean by ,astronomy1 and much more1--he wishes you first to look at the face3 the lip half open1 faltering in wonder2 the amazed1 intense1 dreaming gaze2 the pure dignity of forehead1 undisturbed by terrestrial thought4 ,none of these things could be so much as attempted in ,duerer's method2 he can engrave flowing hair1 skin of animals1 bark of trees1 wreathings of metal-work1 with the free hand2 also1 with labored chiaroscuro1 or with sturdy line1 he can reach expressions of sadness1 or gloom1 or pain1 or soldierly strength1--but pure beauty1--never4 #acd4 ,lastly1 you have the ,modern school1 deepening its lines in successive cuts4 ,the instant consequence of the introduction of this method is the restriction of curvature2 you cannot follow a complex curve again with precision through its furrow4 ,if you are a dextrous plowman1 you can drive your plow any number of times along the simple curve4 ,but you cannot repeat again exactly the motions which cut a variable one4,,ae ,you may retouch it1 energize it1 and deepen it in parts1 but you cannot cut it all through again equally4 ,and the retouching and energizing in parts is a living and intellectual process2 but the cutting all through1 equally1 a mechanical one4 ,the difference is exactly such as that between the dexterity of turning out two similar moldings from a lathe1 and carving them with the free hand1 like a ,pisan sculptor4 ,and although splendid intellect1 and subtlest sensibility1 have been spent on the production of some modern plates1 the mechanical element introduced by their manner of execution always overpowers both2 nor can any plate of consummate value ever be produced in the modern method4 #ace4 ,nevertheless1 in landscape1 there are two examples in your ,reference series1 of insuperable skill and extreme beauty3 ,miller's plate1 before instanced1 of the ,grand ,canal1 ,venice2 and ,e4 ,goodall's of the upper fall of the ,tees4 ,the men who engraved these plates might have been exquisite artists2 but their patience and enthusiasm were held captive in the false system of lines1 and we lost the painters2 while the engravings1 wonderful as they are1 are neither of them worth a ,turner etching1 scratched in ten minutes with the point of an old fork2 and the common types of such elaborate engraving are none of them worth a single frog1 pig1 or puppy1 out of the corner of a ,bewick vignette4 #acf4 ,and now1 ,i think1 you cannot fail to understand clearly what you are to look for in engraving1 as a separate art from that of painting4 ,turn back to the ',astrologia' as a perfect type of the purest school4 ,she is gazing at stars1 and crowned with them4 ,but the stars are black instead of shining6 ,you cannot have a more decisive and absolute proof that you must not look in engraving for chiaroscuro4 ,nevertheless1 her body is half in shade1 and her left foot2 and she casts a shadow1 and there is a bar of shade behind her4 ,all these are merely so much acceptance of shade as may relieve the forms1 and give value to the linear portions4 ,the face1 though turned from the light1 is shadowless4 ,again4 ,every lock of the hair is designed and set in its place with the subtlest care1 but there is no luster attempted1--no texture1--no mystery4 ,the plumes of the wings are set studiously in their places1--they1 also1 lusterless4 ,that even their filaments are not drawn1 and that the broad curve embracing them ignores the anatomy of a bird's wing1 are conditions of design1 not execution4 ,of these in a future lecture4,,af ,illustration3 ,,iv4 ,by the ,springs of ,,parnassus4 #acg4 ,the ',poesia1' ,plate ,,iv41 opposite1 is a still more severe1 though not so generic1 an example2 its decorative foreground reducing it almost to the rank of goldsmith's ornamentation4 ,i need scarcely point out to you that the flowing water shows neither luster nor reflection2 but notice that the observer's attention is supposed to be so close to every dark touch of the graver that he will see the minute dark spots which indicate the sprinkled shower falling from the vase into the pool4 #ach4 ,this habit of strict and calm attention1 constant in the artist1 and expected in the observer1 makes all the difference between the art of ,intellect1 and of mere sensation4 ,for every detail of this plate has a meaning1 if you care to understand it4 ,this is ,poetry1 sitting by the fountain of ,castalia1 which flows first out of a formal urn1 to show that it is not artless2 but the rocks of ,parnassus are behind1 and on the top of them--only one tree1 like a mushroom with a thick stalk4 ,you at first are inclined to say1 ,how very absurd1 to put only one tree on ,parnassus6 but this one tree is the ,immortal ,plane ,tree1 planted by ,agamemnon1 and at once connects our ,poesia with the ,iliad4 ,then1 this is the hem of the robe of ,poetry1--this is the divine vegetation which springs up under her feet1--this is the heaven and earth united by her power1--this is the fountain of ,castalia flowing out afresh among the grass1--and these are the drops with which1 out of a pitcher1 ,poetry is nourishing the fountain of ,castalia4 ,all which you may find out if you happen to know anything about ,castalia1 or about poetry2 and pleasantly think more upon1 for yourself4 ,but the poor dunces1 ,sandro and ,baccio1 feeling themselves but 'goffi nell' arte1' have no hope of telling you all this1 except suggestively4 ,they can't engrave grass of ,parnassus1 nor sweet springs so as to look like water2 but they can make a pretty damasked surface with ornamental leaves1 and flowing lines1 and so leave you something to think of--if you will4 #aci4 ',but a great many people won't1 and a great many more can't2 and surely the finished engravings are much more delightful1 and the only means we have of giving any idea of finished pictures1 out of our reach4' ,yes1 all that is true2 and when we examine the effects of line engraving upon taste in recent art1 we will discuss these matters2 for the present1 let us be content with knowing what the best work is1 and why it is so4 ,although1 however1 ,i do not now press further my cavils at the triumph of modern line engraving1 ,i must assign to you1 in few words1 the reason of its recent decline4 ,engravers complain that photography and cheap wood-cutting have ended their finer craft4 ,no complaint can be less grounded4 ,they themselves destroyed their own craft1 by vulgarizing it4 ,content in their beautiful mechanism1 they ceased to learn1 and to feel1 as artists2 they put themselves under the order of publishers and print-sellers2 they worked indiscriminately from whatever was put into their hands1--from ,bartlett as willingly as from ,turner1 and from ,mulready as carefully as from ,raphael4 ,they filled the windows of print-sellers1 the pages of gift books1 with elaborate rubbish1 and piteous abortions of delicate industry4 ,they worked cheap1 and cheaper1--smoothly1 and more smoothly1--they got armies of assistants1 and surrounded themselves with schools of mechanical tricksters1 learning their stale tricks with blundering avidity4 ,they had fallen--before the days of photography--into providers of frontispieces for housekeepers' pocket-books4 ,i do not know if photography itself1 their redoubted enemy1 has even now ousted them from that last refuge4 #adj4 ,such the fault of the engraver1--very pardonable2 scarcely avoidable1--however fatal4 ,fault mainly of humility4 ,but what has your fault been1 gentlemen8 what the patrons' fault1 who have permitted so wide waste of admirable labor1 so pathetic a uselessness of obedient genius8 ,it was yours to have directed1 yours to have raised and rejoiced in1 the skill1 the modesty1 the patience of this entirely gentle and industrious race2--copyists with their heart4 ,the common painter-copyists who encumber our ,european galleries with their easels and pots1 are1 almost without exception1 persons too stupid to be painters1 and too lazy to be engravers4 ,the real copyists--the men who can put their soul into another's work--are employed at home1 in their narrow rooms1 striving to make their good work profitable to all men4 ,and in their submission to the public taste they are truly national servants as much as ,prime ,ministers are4 ,they fulfill the demand of the nation2 what1 as a people1 you wish to have for possession in art1 these men are ready to give you4 ,and what have you hitherto asked of them8--,ramsgate ,sands1 and ,dolly ,vardens1 and the ,paddington ,station1--these1 ,i think1 are typical of your chief demands2 the cartoons of ,raphael--which you don't care to see themselves2 and1 by way of a flight into the empyrean1 the ,madonna di ,san ,sisto4 ,and literally1 there are hundreds of cities and villages in ,italy in which roof and wall are blazoned with the noblest divinity and philosophy ever imagined by men2 and of all this treasure1 ,i can1 as far as ,i know1 give you not one example1 in line engraving1 by an ,english hand6 ,well1 you are in the main matter right in this4 ,you want essentially ,ramsgate ,sands and the ,paddington ,station1 because there you can see yourselves4 ,make yourselves1 then1 worthy to be seen forever1 and let ,english engraving become noble as the record of ,english loveliness and honor4 ,,footnotes3 ,x ,miller's large plate of the ,grand ,canal1 ,venice1 after ,turner2 and ,goodall's1 of ,tivoli1 after ,turner4 ,the other examples referred to are left in the ,university ,galleries4 ,y ,this paragraph was not read at the lecture1 time not allowing3--it is part of what ,i wrote on engraving some years ago1 in the papers for the ,art ,journal1 called the ,cestus of ,aglaia4 7,refer now to ,on the ,old ,road47 ,z ,an effort has lately been made in ,france1 by ,meissonier1 ,gerome1 and their school1 to recover it1 with marvelous collateral skill of engravers4 ,the etching of ,gerome's ,louis ,,xiv4 and ,moliere is one of the completest pieces of skillful mechanism ever put on metal4 ,,aa ,i must again qualify the too sweeping statement of the text4 ,i think1 as time passes1 some of these nineteenth century line engravings will become monumental4 ,the first vignette of the garden1 with the cut hedges and fountain1 for instance1 in ,rogers' poems1 is so consummate in its use of every possible artifice of delicate line1 7note the look of tremulous atmosphere got by the undulatory etched lines on the pavement1 and the broken masses1 worked with dots1 of the fountain foam17 that ,i think it cannot but1 with some of its companions1 survive the refuse of its school1 and become classic4 ,i find in like manner1 even with all their faults and weaknesses1 the vignettes to ,heyne's ,virgil to be real art-possessions4 ,,ab ,plate ,,xi41 in the ,appendix1 taken from the engraving of the ,virgin sitting in the fenced garden1 with two angels crowning her4 ,,ac ,the method was first developed in engraving designs on silver--numbers of lines being executed with dots by the punch1 for variety's sake4 ,for niello1 and printing1 a transverse cut was substituted for the blow4 ,the entire style is connected with the later ,roman and ,byzantine method of drawing lines with the drill hole1 in marble4 ,see above1 ,lecture ,,ii41 ,section #gj4 ,,ad ,this most important and distinctive character was pointed out to me by ,mr4 ,burgess4 ,,ae ,this point will be further examined and explained in the ,appendix4 ,,af ,see ,appendix1 ,article ,i4 ,,lecture ,v4 ,,design ,,in ,,the ,,german ,,schools ,,of ,,engraving4 #ada4 ,by reference to the close of the preface to ',eagle's ,nest1' you will see1 gentlemen1 that ,i meant these lectures1 from the first1 rather to lead you to the study of the characters of two great men1 than to interest you in the processes of a secondary form of art4 ,as ,i draw my materials into the limited form necessary for the hour1 ,i find my divided purpose doubly failing2 and would fain rather use my time to-day in supplying the defects of my last lecture1 than in opening the greater subject1 which ,i must treat with still more lamentable inadequacy4 ,nevertheless1 you must not think it is for want of time that ,i omit reference to other celebrated engravers1 and insist on the special power of these two only4 ,many not inconsiderable reputations are founded merely on the curiosity of collectors of prints1 or on partial skill in the management of processes2 others1 though resting on more secure bases1 are still of no importance to you in the general history of art2 whereas you will find the work of ,holbein and ,botticelli determining for you1 without need of any farther range1 the principal questions of moment in the relation of the ,northern and ,southern schools of design4 ,nay1 a wider method of inquiry would only render your comparison less accurate in result4 ,it is only in ,holbein's majestic range of capacity1 and only in the particular phase of ,teutonic life which his art adorned1 that the problem can be dealt with on fair terms4 ,we ,northerns can advance no fairly comparable antagonist to the artists of the ,south1 except at that one moment1 and in that one man4 ,rubens cannot for an instant be matched with ,tintoret1 nor ,memling with ,lippi2 while ,reynolds only rivals ,titian in what he learned from him4 ,but in ,holbein and ,botticelli we have two men trained independently1 equal in power of intellect1 similar in material and mode of work1 contemporary in age1 correspondent in disposition4 ,the relation between them is strictly typical of the constant aspects to each other of the ,northern and ,southern schools4 #adb4 ,their point of closest contact is in the art of engraving1 and this art is developed entirely as the servant of the great passions which perturbed or polluted ,europe in the fifteenth century4 ,the impulses which it obeys are all new2 and it obeys them with its own nascent plasticity of temper4 ,painting and sculpture are only modified by them2 but engraving is educated4 ,these passions are in the main three2 namely1 #a4 ,the thirst for classical literature1 and the forms of proud and false taste which arose out of it1 in the position it had assumed as the enemy of ,christianity4 #b4 ,the pride of science1 enforcing 7in the particular domain of ,art7 accuracy of perspective1 shade1 and anatomy1 never before dreamed of4 #c4 ,the sense of error and iniquity in the theological teaching of the ,christian ,church1 felt by the highest intellects of the time1 and necessarily rendering the formerly submissive religious art impossible4 ,to-day1 then1 our task is to examine the peculiar characters of the ,design of the ,northern ,schools of ,engraving1 as affected by these great influences4 #adc4 ,i have not often1 however1 used the word 'design1' and must clearly define the sense in which ,i now use it4 ,it is vaguely used in common art-parlance2 often as if it meant merely the drawing of a picture1 as distinct from its color2 and in other still more inaccurate ways4 ,the accurate and proper sense1 underlying all these1 ,i must endeavor to make clear to you4 ',design' properly signifies that power in any art-work which has a purpose other than of imitation1 and which is 'designed1' composed1 or separated to that end4 ,it implies the rejection of some things1 and the insistence upon others1 with a given object4,,ag ,let us take progressive instances4 ,here is a group of prettily dressed peasant children1 charmingly painted by a very able modern artist--not absolutely without design1 for he really wishes to show you how pretty peasant children can be1 7and1 in so far1 is wiser and kinder than ,murillo1 who likes to show how ugly they can be72 also1 his group is agreeably arranged1 and its component children carefully chosen4 ,nevertheless1 any summer's day1 near any country village1 you may come upon twenty groups in an hour as pretty as this2 and may see--if you have eyes--children in them twenty times prettier than these4 ,a photograph1 if it could render them perfectly1 and in color1 would far excel the charm of this painting2 for in it1 good and clever as it is1 there is nothing supernatural1 and much that is subnatural4 #add4 ,beside this group of1 in every sense of the word1 'artless' little country girls1 ,i will now set one--in the best sense of the word--'artful' little country girl1--a sketch by ,gainsborough4 ,you never saw her like before4 ,never will again1 now that ,gainsborough is dead4 ,no photography1--no science1--no industry1 will touch or reach for an instant this super-naturalness4 ,you will look vainly through the summer fields for such a child4 ,nor up the lawn1 nor by the wood1 is she4 ,whence do you think this marvelous charm has come8 ,alas6 if we knew1 would not we all be ,gainsboroughs8 ,this only you may practically ascertain1 as surely as that a flower will die if you cut its root away1 that you cannot alter a single touch in ,gainsborough's work without injury to the whole4 ,half a dozen spots1 more or less1 in the printed gowns of these other children whom ,i first showed you1 will not make the smallest difference to them2 nor a lock or two more or less in their hair1 nor a dimple or two more or less in their cheeks4 ,but if you alter one wave of the hair of ,gainsborough's girl1 the child is gone4 ,yet the art is so subtle1 that ,i do not expect you to believe this4 ,it looks so instinctive1 so easy1 so 'chanceux1'--the ,french word is better than ours4 ,yes1 and in their more accurate sense1 also1 ',il a de la chance4' ,a stronger ,designer than he was with him4 ,he could not tell you himself how the thing was done4 #ade4 ,i proceed to take a more definite instance--this ,greek head of the ,lacinian ,juno4 ,the design or appointing of the forms now entirely prevails over the resemblance to ,nature4 ,no real hair could ever be drifted into these wild lines1 which mean the wrath of the ,adriatic winds round the ,cape of ,storms4 ,and yet1 whether this be uglier or prettier than ,gainsborough's child--7and you know already what ,i think about it1 that no ,greek goddess was ever half so pretty as an ,english girl1 of pure clay and temper17--uglier or prettier1 it is more dignified and impressive4 ,it at least belongs to the domain of a lordlier1 more majestic1 more guiding and ordaining art4 #adf4 ,i will go back another five hundred years1 and place an ,egyptian beside the ,greek divinity4 ,the resemblance to ,nature is now all but lost1 the ruling law has become all4 ,the lines are reduced to an easily counted number1 and their arrangement is little more than a decorative sequence of pleasant curves cut in porphyry1--in the upper part of their contour following the outline of a woman's face in profile1 over-crested by that of a hawk1 on a kind of pedestal4 ,but that the sign-engraver meant by his hawk1 ,immortality1 and by her pedestal1 the ,house or ,tavern of ,truth1 is of little importance now to the passing traveler1 not yet preparing to take the sarcophagus for his place of rest4 #adg4 ,how many questions are suggested to us by these transitions6 ,is beauty contrary to law1 and grace attainable only through license8 ,what we gain in language1 shall we lose in thought8 and in what we add of labor1 more and more forget its ends8 ,not so4 ,look at this piece of ,sandro's work1 the ,libyan ,sibyl4,,ah ,it is as ordered and normal as the ,egyptian's--as graceful and facile as ,gainsborough's4 ,it retains the majesty of old religion2 it is invested with the joy of newly awakened childhood4 ,mind1 ,i do not expect you--do not wish you--to enjoy ,botticelli's dark engraving as much as ,gainsborough's aerial sketch2 for due comparison of the men1 painting should be put beside painting4 ,but there is enough even in this copy of the ,florentine plate to show you the junction of the two powers in it--of prophecy1 and delight4 #adh4 ,will these two powers1 do you suppose1 be united in the same manner in the contemporary ,northern art8 ,that ,northern school is my subject to-day2 and yet ,i give you1 as type of the intermediate condition between ,egypt and ,england--not ,holbein1 but ,botticelli4 ,i am obliged to do this2 because in the ,southern art1 the religious temper remains unconquered by the doctrines of the ,reformation4 ,botticelli was--what ,luther wished to be1 but could not be--a reformer still believing in the ,church3 his mind is at peace2 and his art1 therefore1 can pursue the delight of beauty1 and yet remain prophetic4 ,but it was far otherwise in ,germany4 ,there the ,reformation of manners became the destruction of faith2 and art therefore1 not a prophecy1 but a protest4 ,it is the chief work of the greatest ,protestant who ever lived1,,ai which ,i ask you to study with me to-day4 #adi4 ,i said that the power of engraving had developed itself during the introduction of three new--7practically and vitally new1 that is to say7--elements1 into the minds of men3 elements which briefly may be expressed thus3 #a4 ,classicism1 and ,literary ,science4 #b4 ,medicine1 and ,physical ,science4,,aj #c4 ,reformation1 and ,religious ,science4 ,and first of ,classicism4 ,you feel1 do not you1 in this typical work of ,gainsborough's1 that his subject as well as his picture is 'artless' in a lovely sense2--nay1 not only artless1 but ignorant1 and unscientific1 in a beautiful way8 ,you would be afterwards remorseful1 ,i think1 and angry with yourself--seeing the effect produced on her face--if you were to ask this little lady to spell a very long word8 ,also1 if you wished to know how many times the sevens go in forty-nine1 you would perhaps wisely address yourself elsewhere4 ,on the other hand1 you do not doubt that this lady,,ak knows very well how many times the sevens go in forty-nine1 and is more ,mistress of ,arts than any of us are ,masters of them4 #aej4 ,you have then1 in the one case1 a beautiful simplicity1 and a blameless ignorance2 in the other1 a beautiful artfulness1 and a wisdom which you do not dread1--or1 at least1 even though dreading1 love4 ,but you know also that we may remain in a hateful and culpable ignorance2 and1 as ,i fear too many of us in competitive effort feel1 become possessed of a hateful knowledge4 ,ignorance1 therefore1 is not evil absolutely2 but1 innocent1 may be lovable4 ,knowledge also is not good absolutely2 but1 guilty1 may be hateful4 ,so1 therefore1 when ,i now repeat my former statement1 that the first main opposition between the ,northern and ,southern schools is in the simplicity of the one1 and the scholarship of the other1 that statement may imply sometimes the superiority of the ,north1 and sometimes of the ,south4 ,you may have a heavenly simplicity opposed to a hellish 7that is to say1 a lustful and arrogant7 scholarship2 or you may have a barbarous and presumptuous ignorance opposed to a divine and disciplined wisdom4 ,ignorance opposed to learning in both cases2 but evil to good1 as the case may be4 #aea4 ,for instance3 the last time ,i was standing before ,raphael's arabesques in the ,loggias of the ,vatican1 ,i wrote down in my pocket-book the description1 or1 more modestly speaking1 the inventory1 of the small portion of that infinite wilderness of sensual fantasy which happened to be opposite me4 ,it consisted of a woman's face1 with serpents for hair1 and a virgin's breasts1 with stumps for arms1 ending in blue butterflies' wings1 the whole changing at the waist into a goat's body1 which ended below in an obelisk upside-down1 to the apex at the bottom of which were appended1 by graceful chains1 an altar1 and two bunches of grapes4 ,now you know in a moment1 by a glance at this 'design'--beautifully struck with free hand1 and richly gradated in color1--that the master was familiar with a vast range of art and literature3 that he knew all about ,egyptian sphinxes1 and ,greek ,gorgons2 about ,egyptian obelisks1 and ,hebrew altars2 about ,hermes1 and ,venus1 and ,bacchus1 and satyrs1 and goats1 and grapes4 ,you know also--or ought to know1 in an instant1--that all this learning has done him no good2 that he had better have known nothing than any of these things1 since they were to be used by him only to such purpose2 and that his delight in armless breasts1 legless trunks1 and obelisks upside-down1 has been the last effort of his expiring sensation1 in the grasp of corrupt and altogether victorious ,death4 ,and you have thus1 in ,gainsborough as compared with ,raphael1 a sweet1 sacred1 and living simplicity1 set against an impure1 profane1 and paralyzed knowledge4 #aeb4 ,but1 next1 let us consider the reverse conditions4 ,let us take instance of contrast between faultful and treacherous ignorance1 and divinely pure and fruitful knowledge4 ,in the place of honor at the end of one of the rooms of your ,royal ,academy--years ago--stood a picture by an ,english ,academician1 announced as a representation of ,moses sustained by ,aaron and ,hur1 during the discomfiture of ,amalek4 ,in the entire range of the ,pentateuch1 there is no other scene 7in which the visible agents are mortal only7 requiring so much knowledge and thought to reach even a distant approximation to the probabilities of the fact4 ,one saw in a moment that the painter was both powerful and simple1 after a sort2 that he had really sought for a vital conception1 and had originally and earnestly read his text1 and formed his conception4 ,and one saw also in a moment that he had chanced upon this subject1 in reading or hearing his ,bible1 as he might have chanced on a dramatic scene accidentally in the street4 ,that he knew nothing of the character of ,moses1--nothing of his law1--nothing of the character of ,aaron1 nor of the nature of a priesthood1--nothing of the meaning of the event which he was endeavoring to represent1 of the temper in which it would have been transacted by its agents1 or of its relations to modern life4 #aec4 ,on the contrary1 in the fresco of the earlier scenes in the life of ,moses1 by ,sandro ,botticelli1 you know--not 'in a moment1' for the knowledge of knowledge cannot be so obtained2 but in proportion to the discretion of your own reading1 and to the care you give to the picture1 you may know1--that here is a sacredly guided and guarded learning2 here a ,master indeed1 at whose feet you may sit safely1 who can teach you1 better than in words1 the significance of both ,moses' law and ,aaron's ministry2 and not only these1 but1 if he chose1 could add to this an exposition as complete of the highest philosophies both of the ,greek nation1 and of his own2 and could as easily have painted1 had it been asked of him1 ,draco1 or ,numa1 or ,justinian1 as the herdsman of ,jethro4 #aed4 ,it is rarely that we can point to an opposition between faultful1 because insolent1 ignorance1 and virtuous1 because gracious1 knowledge1 so direct1 and in so parallel elements1 as in this instance4 ,in general1 the analysis is much more complex4 ,it is intensely difficult to indicate the mischief of involuntary and modest ignorance1 calamitous only in a measure2 fruitful in its lower field1 yet sorrowfully condemned to that lower field--not by sin1 but fate4 ,when first ,i introduced you to ,bewick1 we closed our too partial estimate of his entirely magnificent powers with one sorrowful concession--he could draw a pig1 but not a ,venus4 ,eminently he could so1 because--which is still more sorrowfully to be conceded--he liked the pig best4 ,i have put now in your educational series a whole galaxy of pigs by him2 but1 hunting all the fables through1 ,i find only one ,venus1 and ,i think you will all admit that she is an unsatisfactory ,venus4,,al ,there is honest simplicity here2 but you regret it2 you miss something that you find in ,holbein1 much more in ,botticelli4 ,you see in a moment that this man knows nothing of ,sphinxes1 or ,muses1 or ,graces1 or ,aphrodites2 and1 besides1 that1 knowing nothing1 he would have no liking for them even if he saw them2 but much prefers the style of a well-to-do ,english housekeeper with corkscrew curls1 and a portly person4 #aee4 ,you miss something1 ,i said1 in ,bewick which you find in ,holbein4 ,but do you suppose ,holbein himself1 or any other ,northern painter1 could wholly quit himself of the like accusations8 ,i told you1 in the second of these lectures1 that the ,northern temper1 refined from savageness1 and the ,southern1 redeemed from decay1 met1 in ,florence4 ,holbein and ,botticelli are the purest types of the two races4 ,holbein is a civilized boor2 ,botticelli a reanimate ,greek4 ,holbein was polished by companionship with scholars and kings1 but remains always a burgher of ,augsburg in essential nature4 ,bewick and he are alike in temper2 only the one is untaught1 the other perfectly taught4 ,but ,botticelli needs no teaching4 ,he is1 by his birth1 scholar and gentleman to the heart's core4 ,christianity itself can only inspire him1 not refine him4 ,he is as tried gold chased by the jeweler1--the roughest part of him is the outside4 ,now how differently must the newly recovered scholastic learning tell upon these two men4 ,it is all out of ,holbein's way2 foreign to his nature1 useless at the best1 probably cumbrous4 ,but ,botticelli receives it as a child in later years recovers the forgotten dearness of a nursery tale2 and is more himself1 and again and again himself1 as he breathes the air of ,greece1 and hears1 in his own ,italy1 the lost voice of the ,sibyl murmur again by the ,avernus ,lake4 #aef4 ,it is not1 as we have seen1 every one of the ,southern race who can thus receive it4 ,but it graces them all2 is at once a part of their being2 destroys them1 if it is to destroy1 the more utterly because it so enters into their natures4 ,it destroys ,raphael2 but it graces him1 and is a part of him4 ,it all but destroys ,mantegna2 but it graces him4 ,and it does not hurt ,holbein1 just because it does not grace him--never is for an instant a part of him4 ,it is with ,raphael as with some charming young girl who has a new and beautifully made dress brought to her1 which entirely becomes her1--so much1 that in a little while1 thinking of nothing else1 she becomes it2 and is only the decoration of her dress4 ,but with ,holbein it is as if you brought the same dress to a stout farmer's daughter who was going to dine at the ,hall2 and begged her to put it on that she might not discredit the company4 ,she puts it on to please you2 looks entirely ridiculous in it1 but is not spoiled by it1--remains herself1 in spite of it4 #aeg4 ,you probably have never noticed the extreme awkwardness of ,holbein in wearing this new dress2 you would the less do so because his own people think him all the finer for it1 as the farmer's wife would probably think her daughter4 ,dr4 ,woltmann1 for instance1 is enthusiastic in praise of the splendid architecture in the background of his ,annunciation4 ,a fine mess it must have made in the minds of simple ,german maidens1 in their notion of the ,virgin at home6 ,i cannot show you this ,annunciation2 but ,i have under my hand one of ,holbein's ,bible cuts1 of the deepest seriousness and import--his illustration of the ,canticles1 showing the ,church as the bride of ,christ4 ,illustration ,you could not find a subject requiring more tenderness1 purity1 or dignity of treatment4 ,in this maid1 symbolizing the ,church1 you ask for the most passionate humility1 the most angelic beauty3 ,behold1 thou art fair1 my dove4 ,now here is ,holbein's ideal of that fairness2 here is his ,church as the ,bride4 ,i am sorry to associate this figure in your minds1 even for a moment1 with the passages it is supposed to illustrate2 but the lesson is too important to be omitted4 ,remember1 ,holbein represents the temper of ,northern ,reformation4 ,he has all the nobleness of that temper1 but also all its baseness4 ,he represents1 indeed1 the revolt of ,german truth against ,italian lies2 but he represents also the revolt of ,german animalism against ,hebrew imagination4 ,this figure of ,holbein's is half-way from ,solomon's mystic bride1 to ,rembrandt's wife1 sitting on his knee while he drinks4 ,but the key of the question is not in this4 ,florentine animalism has at this time1 also1 enough to say for itself4 ,but ,florentine animalism1 at this time1 feels the joy of a gentleman1 not of a churl4 ,and a ,florentine1 whatever he does1--be it virtuous or sinful1 chaste or lascivious1 severe or extravagant1--does it with a grace4 #aeh4 ,you think1 perhaps1 that ,holbein's ,solomon's bride is so ungraceful chiefly because she is overdressed1 and has too many feathers and jewels4 ,no2 a ,florentine would have put any quantity of feathers and jewels on her1 and yet never lost her grace4 ,you shall see him do it1 and that to a fantastic degree1 for ,i have an example under my hand4 ,look back1 first1 to ,bewick's ,venus 7,lecture ,,iii474 ,you can't accuse her of being overdressed4 ,she complies with every received modern principle of taste4 ,sir ,joshua's precept that drapery should be drapery1 and nothing more1 is observed more strictly even by ,bewick than by ,michael ,angelo4 ,if the absence of decoration could exalt the beauty of his ,venus1 here had been her perfection4 ,now look back to ,plate ,,ii4 7,lecture ,,iv471 by ,sandro2 ,venus in her planet1 the ruling star of ,florence4 ,anything more grotesque in conception1 more unrestrained in fancy of ornament1 you cannot find1 even in the final days of the ,renaissance4 ,yet ,venus holds her divinity through all2 she will become majestic to you as you gaze2 and there is not a line of her chariot wheels1 of her buskins1 or of her throne1 which you may not see was engraved by a gentleman4 ,illustration3 ,v4 ,heat considered as a ,mode of ,motion4 ,florentine ,natural ,philosophy4 #aei4 ,again1 ,plate ,v41 opposite1 is a facsimile of another engraving of the same series--the ,sun in ,leo4 ,it is even more extravagant in accessories than the ,venus4 ,you see the ,sun's epaulets before you see the sun2 the spiral scrolls of his chariot1 and the black twisted rays of it1 might1 so far as types of form only are considered1 be a design for some modern court-dress star1 to be made in diamonds4 ,and yet all this wild ornamentation is1 if you will examine it1 more purely ,greek in spirit than the ,apollo ,belvedere4 ,you know ,i have told you1 again and again1 that the soul of ,greece is her veracity2 that what to other nations were fables and symbolisms1 to her became living facts--living gods4 ,the fall of ,greece was instant when her gods again became fables4 ,the ,apollo ,belvedere is the work of a sculptor to whom ,apollonism is merely an elegant idea on which to exhibit his own skill4 ,he does not himself feel for an instant that the handsome man in the unintelligible attitude1,,am with drapery hung over his left arm1 as it would be hung to dry over a clothes-line1 is the ,power of the ,sun4 ,but the ,florentine believes in ,apollo with his whole mind1 and is trying to explain his strength in every touch4 ,for instance2 ,i said just now1 ,you see the sun's epaulets before the sun4 ,well1 don't you1 usually1 as it rises8 ,do you not continually mistake a luminous cloud for it1 or wonder where it is1 behind one8 ,again1 the face of the ,apollo ,belvedere is agitated by anxiety1 passion1 and pride4 ,is the sun's likely to be so1 rising on the evil and the good8 ,this ,prince sits crowned and calm3 look at the quiet fingers of the hand holding the scepter1--at the restraint of the reins merely by a depression of the wrist4 #afj4 ,you have to look carefully for those fingers holding the scepter1 because the hand--which a great anatomist would have made so exclusively interesting--is here confused with the ornamentation of the arm of the chariot on which it rests4 ,but look what the ornamentation is2--fruit and leaves1 abundant1 in the mouth of a cornucopia4 ,a quite vulgar and meaningless ornament in ordinary renaissance work4 ,is it so here1 think you8 ,are not the leaves and fruits of earth in the ,sun's hand8,,an ,you thought1 perhaps1 when ,i spoke just now of the action of the right hand1 that less than a depression of the wrist would stop horses such as those4 ,you fancy ,botticelli drew them so1 because he had never seen a horse2 or because1 able to draw fingers1 he could not draw hoofs6 ,how fine it would be to have1 instead1 a prancing four-in-hand1 in the style of ,piccadilly on the ,derby-day1 or at least horses like the real ,greek horses of the ,parthenon6 ,yes2 and if they had had real ground to trot on1 the ,florentine would have shown you he knew how they should trot4 ,but these have to make their way up the hill-side of other lands4 ,look to the example in your standard series1 ,hermes ,eriophoros4 ,you will find his motion among clouds represented precisely in this laboring1 failing1 half-kneeling attitude of limb4 ,these forms1 toiling up through the rippled sands of heaven1 are--not horses2--they are clouds themselves1 like horses1 but only a little like4 ,look how their hoofs lose themselves1 buried in the ripples of cloud2 it makes one think of the quicksands of ,morecambe ,bay4 ,and their tails--what extraordinary tufts of tails1 ending in points6 ,yes2 but do you not see1 nearly joining with them1 what is not a horse tail at all2 but a flame of fire1 kindled at ,apollo's knee8 ,all the rest of the radiance about him shoots from him4 ,but this is rendered up to him4 ,as the fruits of the earth are in one of his hands1 its fire is in the other4 ,and all the warmth1 as well as all the light of it1 are his4 ,we had a little natural philosophy1 gentlemen1 as well as theology1 in ,florence1 once upon a time4 #afa4 ,natural philosophy1 and also natural art1 for in this the ,greek reanimate was a nobler creature than the ,greek who had died4 ,his art had a wider force and warmer glow4 ,i have told you that the first ,greeks were distinguished from the barbarians by their simple humanity2 the second ,greeks--these ,florentine ,greeks reanimate--are human more strongly1 more deeply1 leaping from the ,byzantine death at the call of ,christ1 ,loose him1 and let him go4 ,and there is upon them at once the joy of resurrection1 and the solemnity of the grave4 ,illustration3 ,,vi4 ,fairness of the ,sea and ,air4 ,in ,,venice and ,,athens4 #afb4 ,of this resurrection of the ,greek1 and the form of the tomb he had been buried in those four days1 ,i have to give you some account in the last lecture4 ,i will only to-day show you an illustration of it which brings us back to our immediate question as to the reasons why ,northern art could not accept classicism4 ,when1 in the closing lecture of ,aratra ,pentelici1,,ao ,i compared ,florentine with ,greek work1 it was to point out to you the eager passions of the first as opposed to the formal legalism and proprieties of the other4 ,greek work1 ,i told you1 while truthful1 was also restrained1 and never but under majesty of law2 while ,gothic work was true1 in the perfect law of ,liberty or ,franchise4 ,and now ,i give you in facsimile 7,plate ,,vi47 the two ,aphrodites thus compared--the ,aphrodite ,thalassia of the ,tyrrhene seas1 and the ,aphrodite ,urania of the ,greek skies4 ,you may not at first like the ,tuscan best2 and why she is the best1 though both are noble1 again ,i must defer explaining to next lecture4 ,but now turn back to ,bewick's ,venus1 and compare her with the ,tuscan ,venus of the ,stars1 7,plate ,,ii472 and then here1 in ,plate ,,vi41 with the ,tuscan ,venus of the ,seas1 and the ,greek ,venus of the ,sky4 ,why is the ,english one vulgar8 ,what is it1 in the three others1 which makes them1 if not beautiful1 at least refined8--every one of them 'designed' and drawn1 indisputably1 by a gentleman8 ,i never have been so puzzled by any subject of analysis as1 for these ten years1 ,i have been by this4 ,every answer ,i give1 however plausible it seems at first1 fails in some way1 or in some cases4 ,but there is the point for you1 more definitely put1 ,i think1 than in any of my former books2--at present1 for want of time1 ,i must leave it to your own thoughts4 #afc4 ,,ii4 ,the second influence under which engraving developed itself1 ,i said1 was that of medicine and the physical sciences4 ,gentlemen1 the most audacious1 and the most valuable1 statement which ,i have yet made to you on the subject of practical art1 in these rooms1 is that of the evil resulting from the study of anatomy4 ,it is a statement so audacious1 that not only for some time ,i dared not make it to you1 but for ten years1 at least1 ,i dared not make it to myself4 ,i saw1 indeed1 that whoever studied anatomy was in a measure injured by it2 but ,i kept attributing the mischief to secondary causes4 ,it can't be this drink itself that poisons them1 ,i said always4 ,this drink is medicinal and strengthening3 ,i see that it kills them1 but it must be because they drink it cold when they have been hot1 or they take something else with it that changes it into poison4 ,the drink itself must be good4 ,well1 gentlemen1 ,i found out the drink itself to be poison at last1 by the breaking of my choicest ,venice glass4 ,i could not make out what it was that had killed ,tintoret1 and laid it long to the charge of chiaroscuro4 ,it was only after my thorough study of his ,paradise1 in #ahgj1 that ,i gave up this idea1 finding the chiaroscuro1 which ,i had thought exaggerated1 was1 in all original and undarkened passages1 beautiful and most precious4 ,and then at last ,i got hold of the true clue3 ,il disegno di ,michel ,agnolo4 ,and the moment ,i had dared to accuse that1 it explained everything2 and ,i saw that the betraying demons of ,italian art1 led on by ,michael ,angelo1 had been1 not pleasure1 but knowledge2 not indolence1 but ambition2 and not love1 but horror4 #afd4 ,but when first ,i ventured to tell you this1 ,i did not know1 myself1 the fact of all most conclusive for its confirmation4 ,it will take me a little while to put it before you in its total force1 and ,i must first ask your attention to a minor point4 ,in one of the smaller rooms of the ,munich ,gallery is ,holbein's painting of ,st4 ,margaret and ,st4 ,elizabeth of ,hungary1--standard of his early religious work4 ,here is a photograph from the ,st4 ,elizabeth2 and1 in the same frame1 a ,french lithograph of it4 ,i consider it one of the most important pieces of comparison ,i have arranged for you1 showing you at a glance the difference between true and false sentiment4 ,of that difference1 generally1 we cannot speak to-day1 but one special result of it you are to observe2--the omission1 in the ,french drawing1 of ,holbein's daring representation of disease1 which is one of the vital honors of the picture4 ,quite one of the chief strengths of ,st4 ,elizabeth1 in the ,roman ,catholic view1 was in the courage of her dealing with disease1 chiefly leprosy4 ,now observe1 ,i say ,roman ,catholic view1 very earnestly just now2 ,i am not at all sure that it is so in a ,catholic view--that is to say1 in an eternally ,christian and ,divine view4 ,and this doubt1 very nearly now a certainty1 only came clearly into my mind the other day after many and many a year's meditation on it4 ,i had read with great reverence all the beautiful stories about ,christ's appearing as a leper1 and the like2 and had often pitied and rebuked myself alternately for my intense dislike and horror of disease4 ,i am writing at this moment within fifty yards of the grave of ,st4 ,francis1 and the story of the likeness of his feelings to mine had a little comforted me1 and the tradition of his conquest of them again humiliated me2 and ,i was thinking very gravely of this1 and of the parallel instance of ,bishop ,hugo of ,lincoln1 always desiring to do service to the dead1 as opposed to my own unmitigated and ,louis-,quinze-like horror of funerals2--when by chance1 in the cathedral of ,palermo1 a new light was thrown for me on the whole matter4 #afe4 ,i was drawing the tomb of ,frederick ,,ii41 which is shut off by a grating from the body of the church2 and ,i had1 in general1 quite an unusual degree of quiet and comfort at my work4 ,but sometimes it was paralyzed by the unconscious interference of one of the men employed in some minor domestic services about the church4 ,when he had nothing to do1 he used to come and seat himself near my grating1 not to look at my work1 7the poor wretch had no eyes1 to speak of17 nor in any way meaning to be troublesome2 but there was his habitual seat4 ,his nose had been carried off by the most loathsome of diseases2 there were two vivid circles of scarlet round his eyes2 and as he sat1 he announced his presence every quarter of a minute 7if otherwise ,i could have forgotten it7 by a peculiarly disgusting1 loud1 and long expectoration4 ,on the second or third day1 just ,i had forced myself into some forgetfulness of him1 and was hard at my work1 ,i was startled from it again by the bursting out of a loud and cheerful conversation close to me2 and on looking round1 saw a lively young fledgling of a priest1 seventeen or eighteen years old1 in the most eager and spirited chat with the man in the chair4 ,he talked1 laughed1 and spat1 himself1 companionably1 in the merriest way1 for a quarter of an hour2 evidently without feeling the slightest disgust1 or being made serious for an instant1 by the aspect of the destroyed creature before him4 #aff4 ,his own face was simply that of the ordinary vulgar type of thoughtless young ,italians1 rather beneath than above the usual standard2 and ,i was certain1 as ,i watched him1 that he was not at all my superior1 but very much my inferior1 in the coolness with which he beheld what was to me so dreadful4 ,i was positive that he could look this man in the face1 precisely because he could not look1 discerningly1 at any beautiful or noble thing2 and that the reason ,i dared not1 was because ,i had1 spiritually1 as much better eyes than the priest1 as1 bodily1 than his companion4 ,having got so much of clear evidence given me on the matter1 it was driven home for me a week later1 as ,i landed on the quay of ,naples4 ,almost the first thing that presented itself to me was the sign of a traveling theatrical company1 displaying the principal scene of the drama to be enacted on their classical stage4 ,fresh from the theater of ,taormina1 ,i was curious to see the subject of the ,neapolitan popular drama4 ,it was the capture1 by the police1 of a man and his wife who lived by boiling children4 ,one section of the police was coming in1 armed to the teeth1 through the passage2 another section of the police1 armed to the teeth1 and with high feathers in its caps1 was coming up through a trap-door4 ,in fine dramatic unconsciousness to the last moment1 like the clown in a pantomime1 the child-boiler was represented as still industriously chopping up a child1 pieces of which1 ready for the pot1 lay here and there on the table in the middle of the picture4 ,the child-boiler's wife1 however1 just as she was taking the top off the pot to put the meat in1 had caught a glimpse of the foremost policeman1 and stopped1 as much in rage as in consternation4 #afg4 ,now it is precisely the same feeling1 or want of feeling1 in the lower ,italian 7nor always in the lower classes only7 which makes him demand the kind of subject for his secular drama2 and the ,crucifixion and ,pieta for his religious drama4 ,the only part of ,christianity he can enjoy is its horror2 and even the saint and saintess are not always denying themselves severely1 either by the contemplation of torture1 or the companionship with disease4 ,nevertheless1 we must be cautious1 on the other hand1 to allow full value to the endurance1 by tender and delicate persons1 of what is really loathsome or distressful to them in the service of others2 and ,i think this picture of ,holbein's indicative of the exact balance and rightness of his own mind in this matter1 and therefore of his power to conceive a true saint also4 ,he had to represent ,st4 ,catherine's chief effort2--he paints her ministering to the sick1 and1 among them1 is a leper2 and finding it thus his duty to paint leprosy1 he courageously himself studies it from the life4 ,not to insist on its horror2 but to assert it1 to the needful point of fact1 which he does with medical accuracy4 ,now here is just a case in which science1 in a subordinate degree1 is really required for a spiritual and moral purpose4 ,and you find ,holbein does not shrink from it even in this extreme case in which it is most painful4 #afh4 ,if1 therefore1 you do find him in other cases not using it1 you may be sure he knew it to be unnecessary4 ,now it may be disputable whether in order to draw a living ,madonna1 one needs to know how many ribs she has2 but it would have seemed indisputable that in order to draw a skeleton1 one must know how many ribs it has4 ,holbein is par excellence the draughtsman of skeletons4 ,his painted ,dance of ,death was1 and his engraved ,dance of ,death is1 principal of such things1 without any comparison or denial4 ,he draws skeleton after skeleton1 in every possible gesture2 but never so much as counts their ribs6 ,he neither knows nor cares how many ribs a skeleton has4 ,there are always enough to rattle4 ,monstrous1 you think1 in impudence1--,holbein for his carelessness1 and ,i for defending him6 ,nay1 ,i triumph in him2 nothing has ever more pleased me than this grand negligence4 ,nobody wants to know how many ribs a skeleton has1 any more than how many bars a gridiron has1 so long as the one can breathe1 and the other broil2 and still less1 when the breath and the fire are both out4 #afi4 ,but is it only of the bones1 think you1 that ,holbein is careless8,,ap ,nay1 incredible though it may seem to you1--but1 to me1 explanatory at once of much of his excellence1--he did not know anatomy at all6 ,i told you in my ,preface1,,aq already quoted1 ,holbein studies the face first1 the body secondarily2 but ,i had no idea1 myself1 how completely he had refused the venomous science of his day4 ,i showed you a dead ,christ of his1 long ago4 ,can you match it with your academy drawings1 think you8 ,and yet he did not1 and would not1 know anatomy4 ,he would not2 but ,duerer would1 and did3--went hotly into it--wrote books upon it1 and upon 'proportions of the human body1' etc41 etc41 and all your modern recipes for painting flesh4 ,how did his studies prosper his art8 ,people are always talking of his ,knight and ,death1 and his ,melancholia1 as if those were his principal works4 ,they are his characteristic ones1 and show what he might have been without his anatomy2 but they were mere by-play compared to his ,greater ,fortune1 and ,adam and ,eve4 ,look at these4 ,here is his full energy displayed2 here are both male and female forms drawn with perfect knowledge of their bones and muscles1 and modes of action and digestion1--and ,i hope you are pleased4 ,but it is not anatomy only that ,master ,albert studies4 ,he has a taste for optics also2 and knows all about refraction and reflection4 ,what with his knowledge of the skull inside1 and the vitreous lens outside1 if any man in the world is to draw an eye1 here's the man to do it1 surely6 ,with a hand which can give lessons to ,john ,bellini1 and a care which would fain do all so that it can't be done better1 and acquaintance with every crack in the cranium1 and every humor in the lens1--if we can't draw an eye1 we should just like to know who can6 thinks ,albert4 ,so having to engrave the portrait of ,melanchthon1 instead of looking at ,melanchthon as ignorant ,holbein would have been obliged to do1--wise ,albert looks at the room window2 and finds it has four cross-bars in it1 and knows scientifically that the light on ,melanchthon's eye must be a reflection of the window with its four bars--and engraves it so1 accordingly2 and who shall dare to say1 now1 it isn't like ,melanchthon8 ,unfortunately1 however1 it isn't1 nor like any other person in his senses2 but like a madman looking at somebody who disputes his hobby4 ,while in this drawing of ,holbein's1 where a dim gray shadow leaves a mere crumb of white paper1--accidentally it seems1 for all the fine scientific reflection1--behold1 it is an eye indeed1 and of a noble creature4 #agj4 ,what is the reason8 do you ask me2 and is all the common teaching about generalization of details true1 then8 ,no2 not a syllable of it is true4 ,holbein is right1 not because he draws more generally1 but more truly1 than ,duerer4 ,duerer draws what he knows is there2 but ,holbein1 only what he sees4 ,and1 as ,i have told you often before1 the really scientific artist is he who not only asserts bravely what he does see1 but confesses honestly what he does not4 ,you must not draw all the hairs in an eyelash2 not because it is sublime to generalize them1 but because it is impossible to see them4 ,how many hairs there are1 a sign painter or anatomist may count2 but how few of them you can see1 it is only the utmost masters1 ,carpaccio1 ,tintoret1 ,reynolds1 and ,velasquez1 who count1 or know4 #aga4 ,such was the effect1 then1 of his science upon ,duerer's ideal of beauty1 and skill in portraiture4 ,what effect had it on the temper and quantity of his work1 as compared with poor ignorant ,holbein's6 ,you have only three portraits1 by ,duerer1 of the great men of his time1 and those bad ones2 while he toils his soul out to draw the hoofs of satyrs1 the bristles of swine1 and the distorted aspects of base women and vicious men4 ,what1 on the contrary1 has ignorant ,holbein done for you8 ,shakespeare and he divide between them1 by word and look1 the ,story of ,england under ,henry and ,elizabeth4 #agb4 ,of the effect of science on the art of ,mantegna and ,marc ,antonio1 7far more deadly than on ,duerer's17 ,i must tell you in a future lecture2--the effect of it on their minds1 ,i must partly refer to now1 in passing to the third head of my general statement--the influence of new ,theology4 ,for ,duerer and ,mantegna1 chiefly because of their science1 forfeited their place1 not only as painters of men1 but as servants of ,god4 ,neither of them has left one completely noble or completely didactic picture2 while ,holbein and ,botticelli1 in consummate pieces of art1 led the way before the eyes of all men1 to the purification of their ,church and land4 #agc4 ,,iii4 ,but the need of reformation presented itself to these two men last named on entirely different terms4 ,to ,holbein1 when the word of the ,catholic ,church proved false1 and its deeds bloody2 when he saw it selling permission of sin in his native ,augsburg1 and strewing the ashes of its enemies on the pure ,alpine waters of ,constance1 what refuge was there for him in more ancient religion8 ,shall he worship ,thor again1 and mourn over the death of ,balder8 ,he reads ,nature in her desolate and narrow truth1 and she teaches him the ,triumph of ,death4 ,but1 for ,botticelli1 the grand gods are old1 are immortal4 ,the priests may have taught falsely the story of the ,virgin2--did they not also lie1 in the name of ,artemis1 at ,ephesus2--in the name of ,aphrodite1 at ,cyprus8--but shall1 therefore1 ,chastity or ,love be dead1 or the full moon paler over ,arno8 ,saints of ,heaven and ,gods of ,earth6--shall these perish because vain men speak evil of them6 ,let us speak good forever1 and grave1 as on the rock1 for ages to come1 the glory of ,beauty1 and the triumph of ,faith4 #agd4 ,holbein had bitterer task4 ,of old1 the one duty of the painter had been to exhibit the virtues of this life1 and hopes of the life to come4 ,holbein had to show the vices of this life1 and to obscure the hope of the future4 ,yes1 we walk through the valley of the shadow of death1 and fear all evil1 for ,thou art not with us1 and ,thy rod and ,thy staff comfort us not4 ,he does not choose this task4 ,it is thrust upon him1--just as fatally as the burial of the dead is in a plague-struck city4 ,these are the things he sees1 and must speak4 ,he will not become a better artist thereby2 no drawing of supreme beauty1 or beautiful things1 will be possible to him4 ,yet we cannot say he ought to have done anything else1 nor can we praise him specially in doing this4 ,it is his fate2 the fate of all the bravest in that day4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,child',s ,,bedtime4 7,fig4 #e7 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut4 #age4 ,for instance1 there is no scene about which a shallow and feeble painter would have been more sure to adopt the commonplaces of the creed of his time than the death of a child1--chiefly1 and most of all1 the death of a country child1--a little thing fresh from the cottage and the field4 ,surely for such an one1 angels will wait by its sick bed1 and rejoice as they bear its soul away2 and over its shroud flowers will be strewn1 and the birds will sing by its grave4 ,so your common sentimentalist would think1 and paint4 ,holbein sees the facts1 as they verily are1 up to the point when vision ceases4 ,he speaks1 then1 no more4 ,the country laborer's cottage--the rain coming through its roof1 the clay crumbling from its partitions1 the fire lighted with a few chips and sticks on a raised piece of the mud floor1--such dais as can be contrived1 for use1 not for honor4 ,the damp wood sputters2 the smoke1 stopped by the roof1 though the rain is not1 coils round again1 and down4 ,but the mother can warm the child's supper of bread and milk so--holding the pan by the long handle2 and on mud floor though it be1 they are happy1--she1 and her child1 and its brother1--if only they could be left so4 ,they shall not be left so3 the young thing must leave them--will never need milk warmed for it any more4 ,it would fain stay1--sees no angels--feels only an icy grip on its hand1 and that it cannot stay4 ,those who loved it shriek and tear their hair in vain1 amazed in grief4 ',oh1 little one1 must you lie out in the fields then1 not even under this poor torn roof of thy mother's to-night8' ,illustration3 ,,he ,,that ,,hath ,,ears ,,to ,,hear1 ,,let ,,him ,,hear4 7,fig4 #f7 ,facsimile from ,holbein's woodcut4 #agf4 ,again3 there was not in the old creed any subject more definitely and constantly insisted on than the death of a miser4 ,he had been happy1 the old preachers thought1 till then3 but his hour has come2 and the black covetousness of hell is awake and watching2 the sharp harpy claws will clutch his soul out of his mouth1 and scatter his treasure for others4 ,so the commonplace preacher and painter taught4 ,not so ,holbein4 ,the devil want to snatch his soul1 indeed6 ,nay1 he never had a soul1 but of the devil's giving4 ,his misery to begin on his death-bed6 ,nay1 he had never an unmiserable hour of life4 ,the fiend is with him now1--a paltry1 abortive fiend1 with no breath even to blow hot with4 ,he supplies the hell-blast with a machine4 ,it is winter1 and the rich man has his furred cloak and cap1 thick and heavy2 the beggar1 bare-headed to beseech him1 skin and rags hanging about him together1 touches his shoulder1 but all in vain2 there is other business in hand4 ,more haggard than the beggar himself1 wasted and palsied1 the rich man counts with his fingers the gain of the years to come4 ,but of those years1 infinite that are to be1 ,holbein says nothing4 ',i know not2 ,i see not4 ,this only ,i see1 on this very winter's day1 the low pale stumbling-block at your feet1 the altogether by you unseen and forgotten ,death4 ,you shall not pass him by on the other side2 here is a fasting figure in skin and bone1 at last1 that will stop you2 and for all the hidden treasures of earth1 here is your spade3 dig now1 and find them4' #agg4 ,i have said that ,holbein was condemned to teach these things4 ,he was not happy in teaching them1 nor thanked for teaching them4 ,nor was ,botticelli for his lovelier teaching4 ,but they both could do no otherwise4 ,they lived in truth and steadfastness2 and with both1 in their marvelous design1 veracity is the beginning of invention1 and love its end4 ,i have but time to show you1 in conclusion1 how this affectionate self-forgetfulness protects ,holbein from the chief calamity of the ,german temper1 vanity1 which is at the root of all ,duerer's weakness4 ,here is a photograph of ,holbein's portrait of ,erasmus1 and a fine proof of ,duerer's4 ,in ,holbein's1 the face leads everything2 and the most lovely qualities of the face lead in that4 ,the cloak and cap are perfectly painted1 just because you look at them neither more nor less than you would have looked at the cloak in reality4 ,you don't say1 ',how brilliantly they are touched1' as you would with ,rembrandt2 nor ',how gracefully they are neglected1' as you would with ,gainsborough2 nor ',how exquisitely they are shaded1' as you would with ,lionardo2 nor ',how grandly they are composed1' as you would with ,titian4 ,you say only1 ',erasmus is surely there2 and what a pleasant sight6' ,you don't think of ,holbein at all4 ,he has not even put in the minutest letter ,h1 that ,i can see1 to remind you of him4 ,drops his ,h's1 ,i regret to say1 often enough4 ',my hand should be enough for you2 what matters my name8' ,but now1 look at ,duerer's4 ,the very first thing you see1 and at any distance1 is this great square tablet with ,the image of ,erasmus1 drawn from the life by ,albert ,duerer1 #aebf1 and a great straddling ,a4,d4 besides4 ,then you see a cloak1 and a table1 and a pot1 with flowers in it1 and a heap of books with all their leaves and all their clasps1 and all the little bits of leather gummed in to mark the places2 and last of all you see ,erasmus's face2 and when you do see it1 the most of it is wrinkles4 ,all egotism and insanity1 this1 gentlemen4 ,hard words to use2 but not too hard to define the faults which rendered so much of ,duerer's great genius abortive1 and to this day paralyze1 among the details of a lifeless and ambitious precision1 the student1 no less than the artist1 of ,german blood4 ,for too many an ,erasmus1 too many a ,duerer1 among them1 the world is all cloak and clasp1 instead of face or book2 and the first object of their lives is to engrave their initials4 #agh4 ,for us1 in ,england1 not even so much is at present to be hoped2 and yet1 singularly enough1 it is more our modesty1 unwisely submissive1 than our vanity1 which has destroyed our ,english school of engraving4 ,at the bottom of the pretty line engravings which used to represent1 characteristically1 our ,english skill1 one saw always two inscriptions4 ,at the left-hand corner1 ,drawn by--so-and-so2 at the right-hand corner1 ,engraved by--so-and-so4 ,only under the worst and cheapest plates--for the ,stationers' ,almanack1 or the like--one saw sometimes1 ,drawn and engraved by--so-and-so1 which meant nothing more than that the publisher would not go to the expense of an artist1 and that the engraver haggled through as he could4 7,one fortunate exception1 gentlemen1 you have in the old drawings for your ,oxford ,almanack1 though the publishers1 ,i have no doubt1 even in that case1 employed the cheapest artist they could find4,,ar7 ,but in general1 no engraver thought himself able to draw2 and no artist thought it his business to engrave4 #agi4 ,but the fact that this and the following lecture are on the subject of design in engraving1 implies of course that in the work we have to examine1 it was often the engraver himself who designed1 and as often the artist who engraved4 ,and you will observe that the only engravings which bear imperishable value are1 indeed1 in this kind4 ,it is true that1 in wood-cutting1 both ,duerer and ,holbein1 as in our own days ,leech and ,tenniel1 have workmen under them who can do all they want4 ,but in metal cutting it is not so4 ,for1 as ,i have told you1 in metal cutting1 ultimate perfection of ,line has to be reached2 and it can be reached by none but a master's hand2 nor by his1 unless in the very moment and act of designing4 ,never1 unless under the vivid first force of imagination and intellect1 can the ,line have its full value4 ,and for this high reason1 gentlemen1 that paradox which perhaps seemed to you so daring1 is nevertheless deeply and finally true1 that while a woodcut may be laboriously finished1 a grand engraving on metal must be comparatively incomplete4 ,for it must be done1 throughout1 with the full fire of temper in it1 visibly governing its lines1 as the wind does the fibers of cloud4 #ahj4 ,the value hitherto attached to ,rembrandt's etchings1 and others imitating them1 depends on a true instinct in the public mind for this virtue of line4 ,but etching is an indolent and blundering method at the best2 and ,i do not doubt that you will one day be grateful for the severe disciplines of drawing required in these schools1 in that they will have enabled you to know what a line may be1 driven by a master's chisel on silver or marble1 following1 and fostering as it follows1 the instantaneous strength of his determined thought4 ,,footnotes3 ,,ag ,if you paint a bottle only to amuse the spectator by showing him how like a painting may be to a bottle1 you cannot be considered1 in art-philosophy1 as a designer4 ,but if you paint the cork flying out of the bottle1 and the contents arriving in an arch at the mouth of a recipient glass1 you are so far forth a designer or signer2 probably meaning to express certain ultimate facts respecting1 say1 the hospitable disposition of the landlord of the house2 but at all events representing the bottle and glass in a designed1 and not merely natural1 manner4 ,not merely natural--nay1 in some sense non-natural1 or supernatural4 ,and all great artists show both this fantastic condition of mind in their work1 and show that it has arisen out of a communicative or didactic purpose4 ,they are the ,signpainters of ,god4 ,i have added this note to the lecture in copying my memoranda of it here at ,assisi1 ,june #ith1 being about to begin work in the ,tavern1 or ,tabernaculum1 of the ,lower ,church1 with its variously significant four great 'signs4' ,,ah ,plate ,x41 ,lecture ,,vi4 ,,ai ,i do not mean the greatest teacher of reformed faith2 but the greatest protestant against faith unreformed4 ,,aj ,it has become the permitted fashion among modern mathematicians1 chemists1 and apothecaries1 to call themselves 'scientific men1' as opposed to theologians1 poets1 and artists4 ,they know their sphere to be a separate one2 but their ridiculous notion of its being a peculiarly scientific one ought not to be allowed in our ,universities4 ,there is a science of ,morals1 a science of ,history1 a science of ,grammar1 a science of ,music1 and a science of ,painting2 and all these are quite beyond comparison higher fields for human intellect1 and require accuracies of intenser observation1 than either chemistry1 electricity1 or geology4 ,,ak ,the ,cumaean ,sibyl1 ,plate ,,vii41 ,lecture ,,vi4 ,,al ,lecture ,,iii41 ,sec4 #aja4 ,,am ,i read somewhere1 lately1 a new and very ingenious theory about the attitude of the ,apollo ,belvedere1 proving1 to the author's satisfaction1 that the received notion about watching the arrow was all a mistake4 ,the paper proved1 at all events1 one thing--namely1 the statement in the text4 ,for an attitude which has been always hitherto taken to mean one thing1 and is plausibly asserted now to mean another1 must be in itself unintelligible4 ,,an ,it may be asked1 why not corn also8 ,because that belongs to ,ceres1 who is equally one of the great gods4 ,,ao ,aratra ,pentelici1 ,sec4 #aha4 ,,ap ,or inventive6 ,see ,woltmann1 p4 #bfg4 ,the shinbone1 or the lower part of the arm1 exhibits only one bone1 while the upper arm and thigh are often allowed the luxury of two6 ,,aq ,see ante1 ,sec4 #ada4 ,the preface is that to ,the ,eagle's ,nest4 ,,ar ,the drawings were made by ,turner1 and are now among the chief treasures of the ,oxford ,galleries4 ,i ought to add some notice of ,hogarth to this lecture in the ,appendix2 but fear ,i shall have no time3 besides1 though ,i have profound respect for ,hogarth1 as1 in literature1 ,i have for ,fielding1 ,i can't criticise them1 because ,i know nothing of their subjects4 ,,lecture ,,vi4 ,,design ,,in ,,the ,,florentine ,,schools ,,of ,,engraving4 #aha4 ,in the first of these lectures1 ,i stated to you their subject1 as the investigation of the engraved work of a group of men1 to whom engraving1 as a means of popular address1 was above all precious1 because their art was distinctively didactic4 ,some of my hearers must be aware that1 of late years1 the assertion that art should be didactic has been clamorously and violently derided by the countless crowd of artists who have nothing to represent1 and of writers who have nothing to say2 and that the contrary assertion--that art consists only in pretty colors and fine words1--is accepted1 readily enough1 by a public which rarely pauses to look at a picture with attention1 or read a sentence with understanding4 #ahb4 ,gentlemen1 believe me1 there never was any great advancing art yet1 nor can be1 without didactic purpose4 ,the leaders of the strong schools are1 and must be always1 either teachers of theology1 or preachers of the moral law4 ,i need not tell you that it was as teachers of theology on the walls of the ,vatican that the masters with whose names you are most familiar obtained their perpetual fame4 ,but however great their fame1 you have not practically1 ,i imagine1 ever been materially assisted in your preparation for the schools either of philosophy or divinity by ,raphael's ',school of ,athens1' by ,raphael's ',theology1'--or by ,michael ,angelo's ',judgment4' ,my task1 to-day1 is to set before you some part of the design of the first ,master of the works in the ,sistine ,chapel2 and ,i believe that1 from his teaching1 you will1 even in the hour which ,i ask you now to give1 learn what may be of true use to you in all your future labor1 whether in ,oxford or elsewhere4 #ahc4 ,you have doubtless1 in the course of these lectures1 been occasionally surprised by my speaking of ,holbein and ,sandro ,botticelli1 as ,reformers1 in the same tone of respect1 and with the same implied assertion of their intellectual power and agency1 with which it is usual to speak of ,luther and ,savonarola4 ,you have been accustomed1 indeed1 to hear painting and sculpture spoken of as supporting or enforcing ,church doctrine2 but never as reforming or chastising it4 ,whether ,protestant or ,roman ,catholic1 you have admitted what in the one case you held to be the abuse of painting in the furtherance of idolatry1--in the other1 its amiable and exalting ministry to the feebleness of faith4 ,but neither has recognized1--the ,protestant his ally1--or the ,catholic his enemy1 in the far more earnest work of the great painters of the fifteenth century4 ,the ,protestant was1 in most cases1 too vulgar to understand the aid offered to him by painting2 and in all cases too terrified to believe in it4 ,he drove the gift-bringing ,greek with imprecations from his sectarian fortress1 or received him within it only on the condition that he should speak no word of religion there4 #ahd4 ,on the other hand1 the ,catholic1 in most cases too indolent to read1 and1 in all1 too proud to dread1 the rebuke of the reforming painters1 confused them with the crowd of his old flatterers1 and little noticed their altered language or their graver brow4 ,in a little while1 finding they had ceased to be amusing1 he effaced their works1 not as dangerous1 but as dull2 and recognized only thenceforward1 as art1 the innocuous bombast of ,michael ,angelo1 and fluent efflorescence of ,bernini4 ,but when you become more intimately and impartially acquainted with the history of the ,reformation1 you will find that1 as surely and earnestly as ,memling and ,giotto strove in the north and south to set forth and exalt the ,catholic faith1 so surely and earnestly did ,holbein and ,botticelli strive1 in the north1 to chastise1 and1 in the south1 to revive it4 ,in what manner1 ,i will try to-day briefly to show you4 #ahe4 ,i name these two men as the reforming leaders3 there were many1 rank and file1 who worked in alliance with ,holbein2 with ,botticelli1 two great ones1 ,lippi and ,perugino4 ,but both of these had so much pleasure in their own pictorial faculty1 that they strove to keep quiet1 and out of harm's way1--involuntarily manifesting themselves sometimes1 however2 and not in the wisest manner4 ,lippi's running away with a novice was not likely to be understood as a step in ,church reformation correspondent to ,luther's marriage4,,as ,nor have ,protestant divines1 even to this day1 recognized the real meaning of the reports of ,perugino's 'infidelity4' ,botticelli1 the pupil of the one1 and the companion of the other1 held the truths they taught him through sorrow as well as joy2 and he is the greatest of the reformers1 because he preached without blame2 though the least known1 because he died without victory4 ,i had hoped to be able to lay before you some better biography of him than the traditions of ,vasari1 of which ,i gave a short abstract some time back in ,fors ,clavigera 7,letter ,,xxii472 but as yet ,i have only added internal evidence to the popular story1 the more important points of which ,i must review briefly4 ,it will not waste your time if ,i read1--instead of merely giving you reference to1--the passages on which ,i must comment4 #ahf4 ,his father1 ,mariano ,filipepi1 a ,florentine citizen1 brought him up with care1 and caused him to be instructed in all such things as are usually taught to children before they choose a calling4 ,but although the boy readily acquired whatever he wished to learn1 yet was he constantly discontented2 neither would he take any pleasure in reading1 writing1 or accounts1 insomuch that the father1 disturbed by the eccentric habits of his son1 turned him over in despair to a gossip of his1 called ,botticello1 who was a goldsmith1 and considered a very competent master of his art1 to the intent that the boy might learn the same4 ,he took no pleasure in reading1 writing1 nor accounts6 ,you will find the same thing recorded of ,cimabue2 but it is more curious when stated of a man whom ,i cite to you as typically a gentleman and a scholar4 ,but remember1 in those days1 though there were not so many entirely correct books issued by the ,religious ,tract ,society for boys to read1 there were a great many more pretty things in the world for boys to see4 ,the ,val d',arno was ,pater-noster ,row to purpose2 their ,father's ,row1 with books of ,his writing on the mountain shelves4 ,and the lad takes to looking at things1 and thinking about them1 instead of reading about them1--which ,i commend to you also1 as much the more scholarly practice of the two4 ,to the end1 though he knows all about the celestial hierarchies1 he is not strong in his letters1 nor in his dialect4 ,i asked ,mr4 ,tyrwhitt to help me through with a bit of his ,italian the other day4 ,mr4 ,tyrwhitt could only help me by suggesting that it was ,botticelli for so-and-so4 ,and one of the minor reasons which induced me so boldly to attribute these sibyls to him1 instead of ,bandini1 is that the lettering is so ill done4 ,the engraver would assuredly have had his lettering all right1--or at least neat4 ,botticelli blunders through it1 scratches impatiently out when he goes wrong3 and as ,i told you there's no repentance in the engraver's trade1 leaves all the blunders visible4 #ahg4 ,i may add one fact bearing on this question lately communicated to me4,,at ,in the autumn of #ahgb ,i possessed myself of an ,italian book of pen drawings1 some1 ,i have no doubt1 by ,mantegna in his youth1 others by ,sandro himself4 ,in examining these1 ,i was continually struck by the comparatively feeble and blundering way in which the titles were written1 while all the rest of the handling was really superb2 and still more surprised when1 on the sleeves and hem of the robe of one of the principal figures of women1 7,helena rapita da ,paris17 ,i found what seemed to be meant for inscriptions1 intricately embroidered2 which nevertheless1 though beautifully drawn1 ,i could not read4 ,in copying ,botticelli's ,zipporah this spring1 ,i found the border of her robe wrought with characters of the same kind1 which a young painter1 working with me1 who already knows the minor secrets of ,italian art better than ,i1,,au assures me are letters1--and letters of a language hitherto undeciphered4 #ahh4 ,there was at that time a close connection and almost constant intercourse between the goldsmiths and the painters1 wherefore ,sandro1 who possessed considerable ingenuity1 and was strongly disposed to the arts of design1 became enamored of painting1 and resolved to devote himself entirely to that vocation4 ,he acknowledged his purpose at once to his father2 and the latter1 who knew the force of his inclination1 took him accordingly to the ,carmelite monk1 ,fra ,filippo1 who was a most excellent painter of that time1 with whom he placed him to study the art1 as ,sandro himself had desired4 ,devoting himself thereupon entirely to the vocation he had chosen1 ,sandro so closely followed the directions1 and imitated the manner1 of his master1 that ,fra ,filippo conceived a great love for him1 and instructed him so effectually1 that ,sandro rapidly attained to such a degree in art as none would have predicted for him4 ,i have before pointed out to you the importance of training by the goldsmith4 ,sandro got more good of it1 however1 than any of the other painters so educated1--being enabled by it to use gold for light to color1 in a glowing harmony never reached with equal perfection1 and rarely attempted1 in the later schools4 ,to the last1 his paintings are partly treated as work in niello2 and he names himself1 in perpetual gratitude1 from this first artisan master4 ,nevertheless1 the fortunate fellow finds1 at the right moment1 another1 even more to his mind1 and is obedient to him through his youth1 as to the other through his childhood4 ,and this master loves him2 and instructs him 'so effectually1'--in grinding colors1 do you suppose1 only2 or in laying of lines only2 or in anything more than these8 #ahi4 ,i will tell you what ,lippi must have taught any boy whom he loved4 ,first1 humility1 and to live in joy and peace1 injuring no man--if such innocence might be4 ,nothing is so manifest in every face by him1 as its gentleness and rest4 ,secondly1 to finish his work perfectly1 and in such temper that the angels might say of it--not he himself--',iste perfecit opus4' ,do you remember what ,i told you in the ,eagle's ,nest 7,sec4 #ec71 that true humility was in hoping that angels might sometimes admire our work2 not in hoping that we should ever be able to admire theirs8 ,thirdly1--a little thing it seems1 but was a great one1--love of flowers4 ,no one draws such lilies or such daisies as ,lippi4 ,botticelli beat him afterwards in roses1 but never in lilies4 ,fourthly1 due honor for classical tradition4 ,lippi is the only religious painter who dresses ,john ,baptist in the camelskin1 as the ,greeks dressed ,heracles in the lion's--over the head4 ,lastly1 and chiefly of all1--,le ,pere ,hyacinthe taught his pupil certain views about the doctrine of the ,church1 which the boy thought of more deeply than his tutor1 and that by a great deal2 and ,master ,sandro presently got himself into such question for painting heresy1 that if he had been as hot-headed as he was true-hearted1 he would soon have come to bad end by the tar-barrel4 ,but he is so sweet and so modest1 that nobody is frightened2 so clever1 that everybody is pleased3 and at last1 actually the ,pope sends for him to paint his own private chapel1--where the first thing my young gentleman does1 mind you1 is to paint the devil in a monk's dress1 tempting ,christ6 ,the sauciest thing1 out and out1 done in the history of the ,reformation1 it seems to me2 yet so wisely done1 and with such true respect otherwise shown for what was sacred in the ,church1 that the ,pope didn't mind3 and all went on as merrily as marriage bells4 #aij4 ,i have anticipated1 however1 in telling you this1 the proper course of his biography1 to which ,i now return4 ,while still a youth he painted the figure of ,fortitude1 among those pictures of the ,virtues which ,antonio and ,pietro ,pollaiuolo were executing in the ,mercatanzia1 or ,tribunal of ,commerce1 in ,florence4 ,in ,santo ,spirito1 a church of the same city1 he painted a picture for the chapel of the ,bardi family3 this work he executed with great diligence1 and finished it very successfully1 depicting certain olive and palm trees therein with extraordinary care4 ,it is by a beautiful chance that the first work of his1 specified by his ,italian biographer1 should be the ,fortitude4,,av ,note also what is said of his tree drawing4 ,having1 in consequence of this work1 obtained much credit and reputation1 ,sandro was appointed by the ,guild of ,porta ,santa ,maria to paint a picture in ,san ,marco1 the subject of which is the ,coronation of ,our ,lady1 who is surrounded by a choir of angels--the whole extremely well designed1 and finished by the artist with infinite care4 ,he executed various works in the ,medici ,palace for the elder ,lorenzo1 more particularly a figure of ,pallas on a shield wreathed with vine branches1 whence flames are proceeding3 this he painted of the size of life4 ,a ,san ,sebastiano was also among the most remarkable of the works executed for ,lorenzo4 ,in the church of ,santa ,maria ,maggiore1 in ,florence1 is a ,pieta1 with small figures1 by this master3 this is a very beautiful work4 ,for different houses in various parts of the city ,sandro painted many pictures of a round form1 with numerous figures of women undraped4 ,of these there are still two examples at ,castello1 a villa of the ,duke ,cosimo1--one representing the birth of ,venus1 who is borne to earth by the ,loves and ,zephyrs2 the second also presenting the figure of ,venus crowned with flowers by the ,graces3 she is here intended to denote the ,spring1 and the allegory is expressed by the painter with extraordinary grace4 ,our young ,reformer enters1 it seems1 on a very miscellaneous course of study2 the ,coronation of ,our ,lady2 ,st4 ,sebastian2 ,pallas in vine-leaves2 and ,venus1--without fig-leaves4 ,not wholly ,calvinistic1 ,fra ,filippo's teaching seems to have been6 ,all the better for the boy--being such a boy as he was3 but ,i cannot in this lecture enter farther into my reasons for saying so4 #aia4 ,vasari1 however1 has shot far ahead in telling us of this picture of the ,spring1 which is one of ,botticelli's completest works4 ,long before he was able to paint ,greek nymphs1 he had done his best in idealism of greater spirits2 and1 while yet quite a youth1 painted1 at ,castello1 the ,assumption of ,our ,lady1 with the patriarchs1 the prophets1 the apostles1 the evangelists1 the martyrs1 the confessors1 the doctors1 the virgins1 and the hierarchies6 ,imagine this subject proposed to a young1 7or even old7 ,british ,artist1 for his next appeal to public sensation at the ,academy6 ,but do you suppose that the young ,british artist is wiser and more civilized than ,lippi's scholar1 because his only idea of a patriarch is of a man with a long beard2 of a doctor1 the ,m4,d4 with the brass plate over the way2 and of a virgin1 ,miss ---- of the ---- theater8 ,not that even ,sandro was able1 according to ,vasari's report1 to conduct the entire design himself4 ,the proposer of the subject assisted him2 and they made some modifications in the theology1 which brought them both into trouble--so early did ,sandro's innovating work begin1 into which subjects our gossiping friend waives unnecessary inquiry1 as follows4 ,but although this picture is exceedingly beautiful1 and ought to have put envy to shame1 yet there were found certain malevolent and censorious persons who1 not being able to affix any other blame to the work1 declared that ,matteo and ,sandro had erred gravely in that matter1 and had fallen into grievous heresy4 ,now1 whether this be true or not1 let none expect the judgment of that question from me3 it shall suffice me to note that the figures executed by ,sandro in that work are entirely worthy of praise2 and that the pains he took in depicting those circles of the heavens must have been very great1 to say nothing of the angels mingled with the other figures1 or of the various foreshortenings1 all which are designed in a very good manner4 ,about this time ,sandro received a commission to paint a small picture with figures three parts of a braccio high1--the subject an ,adoration of the ,magi4 ,it is indeed a most admirable work2 the composition1 the design1 and the coloring are so beautiful that every artist who examines it is astonished2 and1 at the time1 it obtained so great a name in ,florence1 and other places1 for the master1 that ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv4 having erected the chapel built by him in his palace at ,rome1 and desiring to have it adorned with paintings1 commanded that ,sandro ,botticelli should be appointed ,superintendent of the work4 #aib4 ,vasari's words1 about this time1 are evidently wrong4 ,it must have been many and many a day after he painted ,matteo's picture that he took such high standing in ,florence as to receive the mastership of the works in the ,pope's chapel at ,rome4 ,of his position and doings there1 ,i will tell you presently2 meantime1 let us complete the story of his life4 ,by these works ,botticelli obtained great honor and reputation among the many competitors who were laboring with him1 whether ,florentines or natives of other cities1 and received from the ,pope a considerable sum of money2 but this he consumed and squandered totally1 during his residence in ,rome1 where he lived without due care1 as was his habit4 #aic4 ,well1 but one would have liked to hear how he squandered his money1 and whether he was without care--of other things than money4 ,it is just possible1 ,master ,vasari1 that ,botticelli may have laid out his money at higher interest than you know of2 meantime1 he is advancing in life and thought1 and becoming less and less comprehensible to his biographer4 ,and at length1 having got rid1 somehow1 of the money he received from the ,pope2 and finished the work he had to do1 and uncovered it1--free in conscience1 and empty in purse1 he returned to ,florence1 where1 being a sophistical person1 he made a comment on a part of ,dante1 and drew the ,inferno1 and put it in engraving1 in which he consumed much time2 and not working for this reason1 brought infinite disorder into his affairs4 #aid4 ,unpaid work1 this engraving of ,dante1 you perceive1--consuming much time also1 and not appearing to ,vasari to be work at all4 ,it is but a short sentence1 gentlemen1--this1 in the old edition of ,vasari1 and obscurely worded1--a very foolish person's contemptuous report of a thing to him totally incomprehensible4 ,but the thing itself is out-and-out the most important fact in the history of the religious art of ,italy4 ,i can show you its significance in not many more words than have served to record it4 ,botticelli had been painting in ,rome2 and had expressly chosen to represent there1--being ,master of ,works1 in the presence of the ,defender of the ,faith1--the foundation of the ,mosaic law2 to his mind the ,eternal ,law of ,god1--that law of which modern ,evangelicals sing perpetually their own original psalm1 ,oh1 how hate ,i ,thy law6 it is my abomination all the day4 ,returning to ,florence1 he reads ,dante's vision of the ,hell created by its violation4 ,he knows that the pictures he has painted in ,rome cannot be understood by the people2 they are exclusively for the best trained scholars in the ,church4 ,dante1 on the other hand1 can only be read in manuscript2 but the people could and would understand his lessons1 if they were pictured in accessible and enduring form4 ,he throws all his own lauded work aside1--all for which he is most honored1 and in which his now matured and magnificent skill is as easy to him as singing to a perfect musician4 ,and he sets himself to a servile and despised labor1--his friends mocking him1 his resources failing him1 infinite 'disorder' getting into his affairs--of this world4 #aie4 ,never such another thing happened in ,italy any more4 ,botticelli engraved her ,pilgrim's ,progress for her1 putting himself in prison to do it4 ,she would not read it when done4 ,raphael and ,marc ,antonio were the theologians for her money4 ,pretty ,madonnas1 and satyrs with abundance of tail1--let our pilgrim's progress be in these directions1 if you please4 ,botticelli's own pilgrimage1 however1 was now to be accomplished triumphantly1 with such crowning blessings as ,heaven might grant to him4 ,in spite of his friends and his disordered affairs1 he went his own obstinate way2 and found another man's words worth engraving as well as ,dante's2 not without perpetuating1 also1 what he deemed worthy of his own4 #aif4 ,what would that be1 think you8 ,his chosen works before the ,pope in ,rome8--his admired ,madonnas in ,florence8--his choirs of angels and thickets of flowers8 ,some few of these yes1 as you shall presently see2 but the best attempt of this kind from his hand is the ,triumph of ,faith1 by ,fra ,girolamo ,savonarola1 of ,ferrara1 of whose sect our artist was so zealous a partisan that he totally abandoned painting1 and not having any other means of living1 he fell into very great difficulties4 ,but his attachment to the party he had adopted increased2 he became what was then called a ,piagnone1 or ,mourner1 and abandoned all labor2 insomuch that1 finding himself at length become old1 being also very poor1 he must have died of hunger had he not been supported by ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 for whom he had worked at the small hospital of ,volterra and other places1 who assisted him while he lived1 as did other friends and admirers of his talents4 #aig4 ,in such dignity and independence--having employed his talents not wholly at the orders of the dealer--died1 a poor bedesman of ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 the ,president of that high academy of art in ,rome1 whose ,academicians were ,perugino1 ,ghirlandajo1 ,angelico1 and ,signorelli2 and whose students1 ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael4 ',a worthless1 ill-conducted fellow on the whole1' thinks ,vasari1 'with a crazy fancy for scratching on copper4' ,well1 here are some of the scratches for you to see2 only1 first1 ,i must ask you seriously for a few moments to consider what the two powers were1 which1 with this iron pen of his1 he has set himself to reprove4 #aih4 ,two great forms of authority reigned over the entire civilized world1 confessedly1 and by name1 in the ,middle ,ages4 ,they reign over it still1 and must forever1 though at present very far from confessed2 and1 in most places1 ragingly denied4 ,the first power is that of the ,teacher1 or true ,father2 the ,father 'in ,god4' ,it may be--happy the children to whom it is--the actual father also2 and whose parents have been their tutors4 ,but1 for the most part1 it will be some one else who teaches them1 and molds their minds and brain4 ,all such teaching1 when true1 being from above1 and coming down from the ,father of ,lights1 with whom is no variableness1 neither shadow of turning1 is properly that of the holy ,catholic ',greek3 ekklesia1' council1 church1 or papacy1 of many fathers in ,god1 not of one4 ,eternally powerful and divine2 reverenced of all humble and lowly scholars1 in ,jewry1 in ,greece1 in ,rome1 in ,gaul1 in ,england1 and beyond sea1 from ,arctic zone to zone4 ,the second authority is the power of ,national ,law1 enforcing justice in conduct by due reward and punishment4 ,power vested necessarily in magistrates capable of administering it with mercy and equity2 whose authority1 be it of many or few1 is again divine1 as proceeding from the ,king of kings1 and was acknowledged1 throughout civilized ,christendom1 as the power of the ,holy ,empire1 or ,holy ,roman ,empire1 because first throned in ,rome2 but it is forever also acknowledged1 namelessly1 or by name1 by all loyal1 obedient1 just1 and humble hearts1 which truly desire that1 whether for them or against them1 the eternal equities and dooms of ,heaven should be pronounced and executed2 and as the wisdom or word of their ,father should be taught1 so the will of their ,father should be done1 on earth1 as it is in heaven4 #aii4 ,you all here know what contention1 first1 and then what corruption and dishonor1 had paralyzed these two powers before the days of which we now speak4 ,reproof1 and either reform or rebellion1 became necessary everywhere4 ,the northern ,reformers1 ,holbein1 and ,luther1 and ,henry1 and ,cromwell1 set themselves to their task rudely1 and1 it might seem1 carried it through4 ,the southern ,reformers1 ,dante1 and ,savonarola1 and ,botticelli1 set hand to their task reverently1 and1 it seemed1 did not by any means carry it through4 ,but the end is not yet4 #bjj4 ,now ,i shall endeavor to-day to set before you the art of ,botticelli1 especially as exhibiting the modesty of great imagination trained in reverence1 which characterized the southern ,reformers2 and as opposed to the immodesty of narrow imagination1 trained in self-trust1 which characterized the northern ,reformers4 ',the modesty of great imagination2' that is to say1 of the power which conceives all things in true relation1 and not only as they affect ourselves4 ,i can show you this most definitely by taking one example of the modern1 and unschooled temper1 in ,bewick2,,aw and setting it beside ,botticelli's treatment of the same subject of thought1--namely1 the meaning of war1 and the reforms necessary in the carrying on of war4 #bja4 ,both the men are entirely at one in their purpose4 ,they yearn for peace and justice to rule over the earth1 instead of the sword2 but see how differently they will say what is in their hearts to the people they address4 ,to ,bewick1 war was more an absurdity than it was a horror3 he had not seen battle-fields1 still less had he read of them1 in ancient days4 ,he cared nothing about heroes1--,greek1 ,roman1 or ,norman4 ,what he knew1 and saw clearly1 was that ,farmer ,hodge's boy went out of the village one holiday afternoon1 a fine young fellow1 rather drunk1 with a colored ribbon in his hat2 and came back1 ten years afterwards1 with one leg1 one eye1 an old red coat1 and a tobacco-pipe in the pocket of it4 ,that is what he has got to say1 mainly4 ,so1 for the pathetic side of the business1 he draws you two old soldiers meeting as bricklayers' laborers2 and for the absurd side of it1 he draws a stone1 sloping sideways with age1 in a bare field1 on which you can just read1 out of a long inscription1 the words glorious victory2 but no one is there to read them1--only a jackass1 who uses the stone to scratch himself against4 #bjb4 ,now compare with this ,botticelli's reproof of war4 ,he had seen it1 and often2 and between noble persons2--knew the temper in which the noblest knights went out to it2--knew the strength1 the patience1 the glory1 and the grief of it4 ,he would fain see his ,florence in peace2 and yet he knows that the wisest of her citizens are her bravest soldiers4 ,so he seeks for the ideal of a soldier1 and for the greatest glory of war1 that in the presence of these he may speak reverently1 what he must speak4 ,he does not go to ,greece for his hero4 ,he is not sure that even her patriotic wars were always right4 ,but1 by his religious faith1 he cannot doubt the nobleness of the soldier who put the children of ,israel in possession of their promised land1 and to whom the sign of the consent of heaven was given by its pausing light in the valley of ,ajalon4 ,must then setting sun and risen moon stay1 he thinks1 only to look upon slaughter8 ,may no soldier of ,christ bid them stay otherwise than so8 ,he draws ,joshua1 but quitting his hold of the sword3 its hilt rests on his bent knee2 and he kneels before the sun1 not commands it2 and this is his prayer3-- ,oh1 ,king of kings1 and ,lord of lords1 who alone rulest always in eternity1 and who correctest all our wanderings1--,giver of melody to the choir of the angels1 listen ,thou a little to our bitter grief1 and come and rule us1 oh ,thou highest ,king1 with ,thy love which is so sweet6 ,is not that a little better1 and a little wiser1 than ,bewick's jackass8 ,is it not also better1 and wiser1 than the sneer of modern science8 ',what great men are we6--we1 forsooth1 can make almanacs1 and know that the earth turns round4 ,joshua indeed6 ,let us have no more talk of the old-clothes-man4' ,all ,bewick's simplicity is in that2 but none of ,bewick's understanding4 #bjc4 ,i pass to the attack made by ,botticelli upon the guilt of wealth4 ,so ,i had at first written2 but ,i should rather have written1 the appeal made by him against the cruelty of wealth1 then first attaining the power it has maintained to this day4 ,the practice of receiving interest had been confined1 until this fifteenth century1 with contempt and malediction1 to the profession1 so styled1 of usurers1 or to the ,jews4 ,the merchants of ,augsburg introduced it as a convenient and pleasant practice among ,christians also2 and insisted that it was decorous and proper even among respectable merchants4 ,in the view of the ,christian ,church of their day1 they might more reasonably have set themselves to defend adultery4,,ax ,however1 they appointed ,dr4 ,john ,eck1 of ,ingoldstadt1 to hold debates in all possible universities1 at their expense1 on the allowing of interest2 and as these ,augsburgers had in ,venice their special mart1 ,fondaco1 called of the ,germans1 their new notions came into direct collision with old ,venetian ones1 and were much hindered by them1 and all the more1 because1 in opposition to ,dr4 ,john ,eck1 there was preaching on the other side of the ,alps4 ,the ,franciscans1 poor themselves1 preached mercy to the poor3 one of them1 ,brother ,marco of ,san ,gallo1 planned the ',mount of ,pity' for their defense1 and the merchants of ,venice set up the first in the world1 against the ,german ,fondaco4 ,the dispute burned far on towards our own times4 ,you perhaps have heard before of one ,antonio1 a merchant of ,venice1 who persistently retained the then obsolete practice of lending money gratis1 and of the peril it brought him into with the usurers4 ,but you perhaps did not before know why it was the flesh1 or heart of flesh1 in him1 that they so hated4 #bjd4 ,against this newly risen demon of authorized usury1 ,holbein and ,botticelli went out to war together4 ,holbein1 as we have partly seen in his designs for the ,dance of ,death1 struck with all his soldier's strength4,,ay ,botticelli uses neither satire nor reproach4 ,he turns altogether away from the criminals2 appeals only to heaven for defense against them4 ,he engraves the design which1 of all his work1 must have cost him hardest toil in its execution1--the ,virgin praying to her ,son in heaven for pity upon the poor3 ,for these are also my children4,,az ,underneath1 are the seven works of ,mercy2 and in the midst of them1 the building of the ,mount of ,pity3 in the distance lies ,italy1 mapped in cape and bay1 with the cities which had founded mounts of pity1--,venice in the distance1 chief4 ,little seen1 but engraved with the master's loveliest care1 in the background there is a group of two small figures--the ,franciscan brother kneeling1 and an angel of ,victory crowning him4 #bje4 ,i call it an angel of ,victory1 observe1 with assurance2 although there is no legend claiming victory1 or distinguishing this angel from any other of those which adorn with crowns of flowers the nameless crowds of the blessed4 ,for ,botticelli has other ways of speaking than by written legends4 ,i know by a glance at this angel that he has taken the action of it from a ,greek coin2 and ,i know also that he had not1 in his own exuberant fancy1 the least need to copy the action of any figure whatever4 ,so ,i understand1 as well as if he spoke to me1 that he expects me1 if ,i am an educated gentleman1 to recognize this particular action as a ,greek angel's2 and to know that it is a temporal victory which it crowns4 #bjf4 ,and now farther1 observe1 that this classical learning of ,botticelli's1 received by him1 as ,i told you1 as a native element of his being1 gives not only greater dignity and gentleness1 but far wider range1 to his thoughts of ,reformation4 ,as he asks for pity from the cruel ,jew to the poor ,gentile1 so he asks for pity from the proud ,christian to the untaught ,gentile4 ,nay1 for more than pity1 for fellowship1 and acknowledgment of equality before ,god4 ,the learned men of his age in general brought back the ,greek mythology as anti-,christian4 ,but ,botticelli and ,perugino1 as pre-,christian2 nor only as pre-,christian1 but as the foundation of ,christianity4 ,but chiefly ,botticelli1 with perfect grasp of the ,mosaic and classic theology1 thought over and seized the harmonies of both2 and he it was who gave the conception of that great choir of the prophets and sibyls1 of which ,michael ,angelo1 more or less ignorantly borrowing it in the ,sistine ,chapel1 in great part lost the meaning1 while he magnified the aspect4 #bjg4 ,for1 indeed1 all ,christian and heathen mythology had alike become to ,michael ,angelo only a vehicle for the display of his own powers of drawing limbs and trunks3 and having resolved1 and made the world of his day believe1 that all the glory of design lay in variety of difficult attitude1 he flings the naked bodies about his ceiling with an upholsterer's ingenuity of appliance to the corners they could fit1 but with total absence of any legible meaning4 ,nor do ,i suppose that one person in a million1 even of those who have some acquaintance with the earlier masters1 takes patience in the ,sistine ,chapel to conceive the original design4 ,but ,botticelli's mastership of the works evidently was given to him as a theologian1 even more than as a painter2 and the moment when he came to ,rome to receive it1 you may hold for the crisis of the ,reformation in ,italy4 ,the main effort to save her priesthood was about to be made by her wisest ,reformer1--face to face with the head of her ,church1--not in contest with him1 but in the humblest subjection to him2 and in adornment of his own chapel for his own delight1 and more than delight1 if it might be4 #bjh4 ,sandro brings to work1 not under him1 but with him1 the three other strongest and worthiest men he knows1 ,perugino1 ,ghirlandajo1 and ,luca ,signorelli4 ,there is evidently entire fellowship in thought between ,botticelli and ,perugino4 ,they two together plan the whole2 and ,botticelli1 though the master1 yields to ,perugino the principal place1 the end of the chapter1 on which is to be the ,assumption of the ,virgin4 ,it was ,perugino's favorite subject1 done with his central strength2 assuredly the crowning work of his life1 and of lovely ,christian art in ,europe4 ,michael ,angelo painted it out1 and drew devils and dead bodies all over the wall instead4 ,but there remains to us1 happily1 the series of subjects designed by ,botticelli to lead up to this lost one4 #bji4 ,he came1 ,i said1 not to attack1 but to restore the ,papal authority4 ,to show the power of inherited honor1 and universal claim of divine law1 in the ,jewish and ,christian ,church1--the law delivered first by ,moses2 then1 in final grace and truth1 by ,christ4 ,he designed twelve great pictures1 each containing some twenty figures the size of life1 and groups of smaller ones scarcely to be counted4 ,twelve pictures1--six to illustrate the giving of the law by ,moses2 and six1 the ratification and completion of it by ,christ4 ,event by event1 the jurisprudence of each dispensation is traced from dawn to close in this correspondence4 #a4 ,covenant of ,circumcision4 #b4 ,entrance on his ,ministry by ,moses4 #c4 ,moses by the ,red ,sea4 #d4 ,delivery of ,law on ,sinai4 #e4 ,destruction of ,korah4 #f4 ,death of ,moses4 #g4 ,covenant of ,baptism4 #h4 ,entrance on ,his ,ministry by ,christ4 #i4 ,peter and ,andrew by the ,sea of ,galilee4 #aj4 ,sermon on ,mount4 #aa4 ,giving ,keys to ,st4 ,peter4 #ab4 ,last ,supper4 ,of these pictures1 ,sandro painted three himself1 ,perugino three1 and the ,assumption2 ,ghirlandajo one1 ,signorelli one1 and ,rosselli four4,,ba ,i believe that ,sandro intended to take the roof also1 and had sketched out the main succession of its design2 and that the prophets and sibyls which he meant to paint1 he drew first small1 and engraved his drawings afterwards1 that some part of the work might be1 at all events1 thus communicable to the world outside of the ,vatican4 #baj4 ,it is not often that ,i tell you my beliefs2 but ,i am forced here1 for there are no dates to found more on4 ,is it not wonderful that among all the infinite mass of fools' thoughts about the majestic works of ,michael ,angelo in the ,sistine ,chapel1 no slightly more rational person has ever asked what the chapel was first meant to be like1 and how it was to be roofed8 ,nor can ,i assume myself1 still less you1 that all these prophets and sibyls are ,botticelli's4 ,of many there are two engravings1 with variations3 some are inferior in parts1 many altogether4 ,he signed none2 never put grand tablets with ',s4 ,b4' into his skies2 had other letters than those to engrave1 and no time to spare4 ,i have chosen out of the series three of the sibyls1 which have1 ,i think1 clear internal evidence of being his2 and these you shall compare with ,michael ,angelo's4 ,but first ,i must put you in mind what the sibyls were4 #baa4 ,as the prophets represent the voice of ,god in man1 the sibyls represent the voice of ,god in nature4 ,they are properly all forms of one sibyl1 ,greek3 ,dios ,boule1 the counsel of ,god2 and the chief one1 at least in the ,roman mind1 was the ,sibyl of ,cumae4 ,from the traditions of her1 the ,romans1 and we through them1 received whatever lessons the myth1 or fact1 of sibyl power has given to mortals4 ,how much have you received1 or may you yet receive1 think you1 of that teaching8 ,i call it the myth1 or fact2 but remember that1 as a myth1 it is a fact4 ,this story has concentrated whatever good there is in the imagination or visionary powers in women1 inspired by nature only4 ,the traditions of witch and gypsy are partly its offshoots4 ,you despise both1 perhaps4 ,but can you1 though in utmost pride of your supreme modern wisdom1 suppose that the character--say1 even of so poor and far-fallen a sibyl as ,meg ,merrilies--is only the coinage of ,scott's brain2 or that1 even being no more1 it is valueless8 ,admit the figure of the ,cumaean ,sibyl1 in like manner1 to be the coinage only of ,virgil's brain4 ,as such1 it1 and the words it speaks1 are yet facts in which we may find use1 if we are reverent to them4 ,to me1 personally1 7,i must take your indulgence for a moment to speak wholly of myself17 they have been of the truest service--quite material and indisputable4 ,i am writing on ,st4 ,john's ,day1 in the monastery of ,assisi2 and ,i had no idea whatever1 when ,i sat down to my work this morning1 of saying any word of what ,i am now going to tell you4 ,i meant only to expand and explain a little what ,i said in my lecture about the ,florentine engraving4 ,but it seems to me now that ,i had better tell you what the ,cumaean ,sibyl has actually done for me4 #bab4 ,in #ahga1 partly in consequence of chagrin at the ,revolution in ,paris1 and partly in great personal sorrow1 ,i was struck by acute inflammatory illness at ,matlock1 and reduced to a state of extreme weakness2 lying at one time unconscious for some hours1 those about me having no hope of my life4 ,i have no doubt that the immediate cause of the illness was simply1 eating when ,i was not hungry2 so that modern science would acknowledge nothing in the whole business but an extreme and very dangerous form of indigestion2 and entirely deny any interference of the ,cumaean ,sibyl in the matter4 ,i once heard a sermon by ,dr4 ,guthrie1 in ,edinburgh1 upon the wickedness of fasting4 ,it was very eloquent and ingenious1 and finely explained the superiority of the ,scotch ,free ,church to the benighted ,catholic ,church1 in that the ,free ,church saw no merit in fasting4 ,and there was no mention1 from beginning to end of the sermon1 of even the existence of such texts as ,daniel i4 #ab1 or ,matthew vi4 #af4 ,without the smallest merit1 ,i admit1 in fasting1 ,i was nevertheless reduced at ,matlock to a state very near starvation2 and could not rise from my pillow1 without being lifted1 for some days4 ,and in the first clearly pronounced stage of recovery1 when the perfect powers of spirit had returned1 while the body was still as weak as it well could be1 ,i had three dreams1 which made a great impression on me2 for in ordinary health my dreams are supremely ridiculous1 if not unpleasant2 and in ordinary conditions of illness1 very ugly1 and always without the slightest meaning4 ,but these dreams were all distinct and impressive1 and had much meaning1 if ,i chose to take it4 #bac4 ,the first,,bb was of a ,venetian fisherman1 who wanted me to follow him down into some water which ,i thought was too deep2 but he called me on1 saying he had something to show me2 so ,i followed him2 and presently1 through an opening1 as if in the arsenal wall1 he showed me the bronze horses of ,st4 ,mark's1 and said1 ',see1 the horses are putting on their harness4' ,the second was of a preparation at ,rome1 in ,st4 ,peter's1 7or a vast hall as large as ,st4 ,peter's17 for the exhibition of a religious drama4 ,part of the play was to be a scene in which demons were to appear in the sky2 and the stage servants were arranging gray fictitious clouds1 and painted fiends1 for it1 under the direction of the priests4 ,there was a woman dressed in black1 standing at the corner of the stage watching them1 having a likeness in her face to one of my own dead friends2 and ,i knew somehow that she was not that friend1 but a spirit2 and she made me understand1 without speaking1 that ,i was to watch1 for the play would turn out other than the priests expected4 ,and ,i waited2 and when the scene came on1 the clouds became real clouds1 and the fiends real fiends1 agitating them in slow quivering1 wild and terrible1 over the heads of the people and priests4 ,i recollected distinctly1 however1 when ,i woke1 only the figure of the black woman mocking the people1 and of one priest in an agony of terror1 with the sweat pouring from his brow1 but violently scolding one of the stage servants for having failed in some ceremony1 the omission of which1 he thought1 had given the devils their power4 ,the third dream was the most interesting and personal4 ,some one came to me to ask me to help in the deliverance of a company of ,italian prisoners who were to be ransomed for money4 ,i said ,i had no money4 ,they answered1 ,yes1 ,i had some that belonged to me as a brother of ,st4 ,francis1 if ,i would give it up4 ,i said ,i did not know even that ,i was a brother of ,st4 ,francis2 but ,i thought to myself1 that perhaps the ,franciscans of ,fesole1 whom ,i had helped to make hay in their field in #ahde1 had adopted me for one2 only ,i didn't see how the consequence of that would be my having any money4 ,however1 ,i said they were welcome to whatever ,i had2 and then ,i heard the voice of an ,italian woman singing2 and ,i have never heard such divine singing before nor since2--the sounds absolutely strong and real1 and the melody altogether lovely4 ,if ,i could have written it6 ,but ,i could not even remember it when ,i woke1--only how beautiful it was4 #bad4 ,now these three dreams have1 every one of them1 been of much use to me since2 or so far as they have failed to be useful1 it has been my own fault1 and not theirs2 but the chief use of them at the time was to give me courage and confidence in myself1 both in bodily distress1 of which ,i had still not a little to bear2 and worse1 much mental anxiety about matters supremely interesting to me1 which were turning out ill4 ,and through all such trouble--which came upon me as ,i was recovering1 as if it meant to throw me back into the grave1--,i held out and recovered1 repeating always to myself1 or rather having always murmured in my ears1 at every new trial1 one ,latin line1 ,tu ne cede malis1 sed contra fortior ito4 ,now ,i had got this line out of the tablet in the engraving of ,raphael's vision1 and had forgotten where it came from4 ,and ,i thought ,i knew my sixth book of ,virgil so well1 that ,i never looked at it again while ,i was giving these lectures at ,oxford1 and it was only here at ,assisi1 the other day1 wanting to look more accurately at the first scene by the lake ,avernus1 that ,i found ,i had been saved by the words of the ,cumaean ,sibyl4 #bae4 ,quam tua te ,fortuna sinet1 the completion of the sentence1 has yet more and continual teaching in it for me now2 as it has for all men4 ,her opening words1 which have become hackneyed1 and lost all present power through vulgar use of them1 contain yet one of the most immortal truths ever yet spoken for mankind2 and they will never lose their power of help for noble persons4 ,but observe1 both in that lesson1 ,facilis descensus ,averni1 etc42 and in the still more precious1 because universal1 one on which the strength of ,rome was founded1--the burning of the books1--the ,sibyl speaks only as the voice of ,nature1 and of her laws2--not as a divine helper1 prevailing over death2 but as a mortal teacher warning us against it1 and strengthening us for our mortal time2 but not for eternity4 ,of which lesson her own history is a part1 and her habitation by the ,avernus lake4 ,she desires immortality1 fondly and vainly1 as we do ourselves4 ,she receives1 from the love of her refused lover1 ,apollo1 not immortality1 but length of life2--her years to be as the grains of dust in her hand4 ,and even this she finds was a false desire2 and her wise and holy desire at last is--to die4 ,she wastes away2 becomes a shade only1 and a voice4 ,the ,nations ask her1 ,what wouldst thou8 ,she answers1 ,peace2 only let my last words be true4 ,l'ultimo mie parlar sie verace4 ,illustration3 ,,vii4 ,for a time1 and times4 #baf4 ,therefore1 if anything is to be conceived1 rightly1 and chiefly1 in the form of the ,cumaean ,sibyl1 it must be of fading virginal beauty1 of enduring patience1 of far-looking into futurity4 ,for after my death there shall yet return1 she says1 another virgin4 ,jam redit et virgo2--redeunt ,saturnia regna1 ,ultima ,cumaei venit jam carminis aetas4 ,here then is ,botticelli's ,cumaean ,sibyl4 ,she is armed1 for she is the prophetess of ,roman fortitude2--but her faded breast scarcely raises the corselet2 her hair floats1 not falls1 in waves like the currents of a river1--the sign of enduring life2 the light is full on her forehead3 she looks into the distance as in a dream4 ,it is impossible for art to gather together more beautifully or intensely every image which can express her true power1 or lead us to understand her lesson4 ,illustration3 ,,viii4 ,the ,nymph beloved of ,apollo4 7,,michael ,,angelo47 #bag4 ,now you do not1 ,i am well assured1 know one of ,michael ,angelo's sibyls from another3 unless perhaps the ,delphian1 whom of course he makes as beautiful as he can4 ,but of this especially ,italian prophetess1 one would have thought he might1 at least in some way1 have shown that he knew the history1 even if he did not understand it4 ,she might have had more than one book1 at all events1 to burn4 ,she might have had a stray leaf or two fallen at her feet4 ,he could not indeed have painted her only as a voice2 but his anatomical knowledge need not have hindered him from painting her virginal youth1 or her wasting and watching age1 or her inspired hope of a holier future4 #bah4 ,opposite1--fortunately1 photograph from the figure itself1 so that you can suspect me of no exaggeration1--is ,michael ,angelo's ,cumaean ,sibyl1 wasting away4 ,it is by a grotesque and most strange chance that he should have made the figure of this ,sibyl1 of all others in the chapel1 the most fleshly and gross1 even proceeding to the monstrous license of showing the nipples of the breast as if the dress were molded over them like plaster4 ,thus he paints the poor nymph beloved of ,apollo1--the clearest and queenliest in prophecy and command of all the sibyls1--as an ugly crone1 with the arms of ,goliath1 poring down upon a single book4 #bai4 ,there is one point of fine detail1 however1 in ,botticelli's ,cumaean ,sibyl1 and in the next ,i am going to show you1 to explain which ,i must go back for a little while to the question of the direct relation of the ,italian painters to the ,greek4 ,i don't like repeating in one lecture what ,i have said in another2 but to save you the trouble of reference1 must remind you of what ,i stated in my fourth lecture on ,greek birds1 when we were examining the adoption of the plume crests in armor1 that the crest signifies command2 but the diadem1 obedience2 and that every crown is primarily a diadem4 ,it is the thing that binds1 before it is the thing that honors4 ,now all the great schools dwell on this symbolism4 ,the long flowing hair is the symbol of life1 and the ,greek3 diadema of the law restraining it4 ,royalty1 or kingliness1 over life1 restraining and glorifying4 ,in the extremity of restraint--in death1 whether noble1 as of death to ,earth1 or ignoble1 as of death to ,heaven1 the ,greek3 diadema is fastened with the mort-cloth3 ,bound hand and foot with grave-clothes1 and the face bound about with the napkin4 #bbj4 ,now look back to the first ,greek head ,i ever showed you1 used as the type of archaic sculpture in ,aratra ,pentelici1 and then look at the crown in ,botticelli's ,astrologia4 ,it is absolutely the ,greek form1--even to the peculiar oval of the forehead2 while the diadem--the governing law--is set with appointed stars--to rule the destiny and thought4 ,then return to the ,cumaean ,sibyl4 ,she1 as we have seen1 is the symbol of enduring life--almost immortal4 ,the diadem is withdrawn from the forehead--reduced to a narrow fillet--here1 and the hair thrown free4 ,illustration3 ,,ix4 ,in the woods of ,ida4 #bba4 ,from the ,cumaean ,sibyl's diadem1 traced only by points1 turn to that of the ,hellespontic1 7,plate #i1 opposite74 ,i do not know why ,botticelli chose her for the spirit of prophecy in old age2 but he has made this the most interesting plate of the series in the definiteness of its connection with the work from ,dante1 which becomes his own prophecy in old age4 ,the fantastic yet solemn treatment of the gnarled wood occurs1 as far as ,i know1 in no other engravings but this1 and the illustrations to ,dante2 and ,i am content to leave it1 with little comment1 for the reader's quiet study1 as showing the exuberance of imagination which other men at this time in ,italy allowed to waste itself in idle arabesque1 restrained by ,botticelli to his most earnest purposes2 and giving the withered tree-trunks1 hewn for the rude throne of the aged prophetess1 the same harmony with her fading spirit which the rose has with youth1 or the laurel with victory4 ,also in its weird characters1 you have the best example ,i can show you of the orders of decorative design which are especially expressible by engraving1 and which belong to a group of art instincts scarcely now to be understood1 much less recovered1 7the influence of modern naturalistic imitation being too strong to be conquered7--the instincts1 namely1 for the arrangement of pure line1 in labyrinthine intricacy1 through which the grace of order may give continual clue4 ,the entire body of ornamental design1 connected with writing1 in the ,middle ,ages seems as if it were a sensible symbol1 to the eye and brain1 of the methods of error and recovery1 the minglings of crooked with straight1 and perverse with progressive1 which constitute the great problem of human morals and fate2 and when ,i chose the title for the collected series of these lectures1 ,i hoped to have justified it by careful analysis of the methods of labyrinthine ornament1 which1 made sacred by ,theseian traditions1,,bc and beginning1 in imitation of physical truth1 with the spiral waves of the waters of ,babylon as the ,assyrian carved them1 entangled in their returns the eyes of men1 on ,greek vase and ,christian manuscript--till they closed in the arabesques which sprang round the last luxury of ,venice and ,rome4 ,but the labyrinth of life itself1 and its more and more interwoven occupation1 become too manifold1 and too difficult for me2 and of the time wasted in the blind lanes of it1 perhaps that spent in analysis or recommendation of the art to which men's present conduct makes them insensible1 has been chiefly cast away4 ,on the walls of the little room where ,i finally revise this lecture1,,bd hangs an old silken sampler of great-grandame's work3 representing the domestic life of ,abraham3 chiefly the stories of ,isaac and ,ishmael4 ,sarah at her tent-door1 watching1 with folded arms1 the dismissal of ,hagar3 above1 in a wilderness full of fruit trees1 birds1 and butterflies1 little ,ishmael lying at the root of a tree1 and the spent bottle under another2 ,hagar in prayer1 and the angel appearing to her out of a wreathed line of gloomily undulating clouds1 which1 with a dark-rayed sun in the midst1 surmount the entire composition in two arches1 out of which descend shafts of 7,i suppose7 beneficent rain2 leaving1 however1 room1 in the corner opposite to ,ishmael's angel1 for ,isaac's1 who stays ,abraham in the sacrifice2 the ram in the thicket1 the squirrel in the plum tree above him1 and the grapes1 pears1 apples1 roses1 and daisies of the foreground1 being all wrought with involution of such ingenious needlework as may well rank1 in the patience1 the natural skill1 and the innocent pleasure of it1 with the truest works of ,florentine engraving4 ,nay2 the actual tradition of many of the forms of ancient art is in many places evident1--as1 for instance1 in the spiral summits of the flames of the wood on the altar1 which are like a group of first-springing fern4 ,on the wall opposite is a smaller composition1 representing ,justice with her balance and sword1 standing between the sun and moon1 with a background of pinks1 borage1 and corn-cockle3 a third is only a cluster of tulips and iris1 with two ,byzantine peacocks2 but the spirits of ,penelope and ,ariadne reign vivid in all the work--and the richness of pleasurable fancy is as great still1 in these silken labors1 as in the marble arches and golden roof of the cathedral of ,monreale4 ,but what is the use of explaining or analyzing it8 ,such work as this means the patience and simplicity of all feminine life2 and can be produced1 among us at least1 no more4 ,gothic tracery itself1 another of the instinctive labyrinthine intricacies of old1 though analyzed to its last section1 has become now the symbol only of a foolish ecclesiastical sect1 retained for their shibboleth1 joyless and powerless for all good4 ,the very labyrinth of the grass and flowers of our fields1 though dissected to its last leaf1 is yet bitten bare1 or trampled to slime1 by the ,minotaur of our lust2 and for the traceried spire of the poplar by the brook1 we possess but the four-square furnace tower1 to mingle its smoke with heaven's thunder-clouds4,,be ,we will look yet at one sampler more of the engraved work1 done in the happy time when flowers were pure1 youth simple1 and imagination gay1--,botticelli's ,libyan ,sibyl4 ,glance back first to the ,hellespontic1 noting the close fillet1 and the cloth bound below the face1 and then you will be prepared to understand the last ,i shall show you1 and the loveliest of the southern ,pythonesses4 ,illustration3 ,x4 ,grass of the ,desert4 #bbb4 ,a less deep thinker than ,botticelli would have made her parched with thirst1 and burnt with heat4 ,but the voice of ,god1 through nature1 to the ,arab or the ,moor1 is not in the thirst1 but in the fountain--not in the desert1 but in the grass of it4 ,and this ,libyan ,sibyl is the spirit of wild grass and flowers1 springing in desolate places4 ,you see1 her diadem is a wreath of them2 but the blossoms of it are not fastening enough for her hair1 though it is not long yet--7she is only in reality a ,florentine girl of fourteen or fifteen7--so the little darling knots it under her ears1 and then makes herself a necklace of it4 ,but though flowing hair and flowers are wild and pretty1 ,botticelli had not1 in these only1 got the power of ,spring marked to his mind4 ,any girl might wear flowers2 but few1 for ornament1 would be likely to wear grass4 ,so the ,sibyl shall have grass in her diadem2 not merely interwoven and bending1 but springing and strong4 ,you thought it ugly and grotesque at first1 did not you8 ,it was made so1 because precisely what ,botticelli wanted you to look at4 ,but that's not all4 ,this conical cap of hers1 with one bead at the top1--considering how fond the ,florentines are of graceful head-dresses1 this seems a strange one for a young girl4 ,but1 exactly as ,i know the angel of ,victory to be ,greek1 at his ,mount of ,pity1 so ,i know this head-dress to be taken from a ,greek coin1 and to be meant for a ,greek symbol4 ,it is the ,petasus of ,hermes--the mist of morning over the dew4 ,lastly1 what will the ,libyan ,sibyl say to you8 ,the letters are large on her tablet4 ,her message is the oracle from the temple of the ,dew3 ,the dew of thy birth is as the womb of the morning4--,ecce venientem diem1 et latentia aperientem1 tenebit gremio gentium regina4 #bbc4 ,why the daybreak came not then1 nor yet has come1 but only a deeper darkness2 and why there is now neither queen nor king of nations1 but every man doing that which is right in his own eyes1 ,i would fain go on1 partly to tell you1 and partly to meditate with you3 but it is not our work for to-day4 ,the issue of the ,reformation which these great painters1 the scholars of ,dante1 began1 we may follow1 farther1 in the study to which ,i propose to lead you1 of the lives of ,cimabue and ,giotto1 and the relation of their work at ,assisi to the chapel and chambers of the ,vatican4 #bbd4 ,to-day let me finish what ,i have to tell you of the style of southern engraving4 ,what sudden bathos in the sentence1 you think6 ,so contemptible the question of style1 then1 in painting1 though not in literature8 ,you study the 'style' of ,homer2 the style1 perhaps1 of ,isaiah2 the style of ,horace1 and of ,massillon4 ,is it so vain to study the style of ,botticelli8 ,in all cases1 it is equally vain1 if you think of their style first4 ,but know their purpose1 and then1 their way of speaking is worth thinking of4 ,these apparently unfinished and certainly unfilled outlines of the ,florentine1--clumsy work1 as ,vasari thought them1--as ,mr4 ,otley and most of our ,english amateurs still think them1--are these good or bad engraving8 ,you may ask now1 comprehending their motive1 with some hope of answering or being answered rightly4 ,and the answer is1 ,they are the finest gravers' work ever done yet by human hand4 ,you may teach1 by process of discipline and of years1 any youth of good artistic capacity to engrave a plate in the modern manner2 but only the noblest passion1 and the tenderest patience1 will ever engrave one line like these of ,sandro ,botticelli4 #bbe4 ,passion1 and patience6 ,nay1 even these you may have to-day in ,england1 and yet both be in vain4 ,only a few years ago1 in one of our northern iron-foundries1 a workman of intense power and natural art-faculty set himself to learn engraving2--made his own tools2 gave all the spare hours of his laborious life to learn their use2 learnt it2 and engraved a plate which1 in manipulation1 no professional engraver would be ashamed of4 ,he engraved his blast furnace1 and the casting of a beam of a steam engine4 ,this1 to him1 was the power of ,god1--it was his life4 ,no greater earnestness was ever given by man to promulgate a ,gospel4 ,nevertheless1 the engraving is absolutely worthless4 ,the blast furnace is not the power of ,god2 and the life of the strong spirit was as much consumed in the flames of it1 as ever driven slave's by the burden and heat of the day4 ,how cruel to say so1 if he yet lives1 you think6 ,no1 my friends2 the cruelty will be in you1 and the guilt1 if1 having been brought here to learn that ,god is your ,light1 you yet leave the blast furnace to be the only light of ,england4 #bbf4 ,it has been1 as ,i said in the note above 7,sec4 #bjj71 with extreme pain that ,i have hitherto limited my notice of our own great engraver and moralist1 to the points in which the disadvantages of ,english art-teaching made him inferior to his trained ,florentine rival4 ,but1 that these disadvantages were powerless to arrest or ignobly depress him2--that however failing in grace and scholarship1 he should never fail in truth or vitality2 and that the precision of his unerring hand,,bf--his inevitable eye--and his rightly judging heart--should place him in the first rank of the great artists not of ,england only1 but of all the world and of all time3--that this was possible to him1 was simply because he lived a country life4 ,bewick himself1 ,botticelli himself1 ,apelles himself1 and twenty times ,apelles1 condemned to slavery in the hell-fire of the iron furnace1 could have done--,,nothing4 ,absolute paralysis of all high human faculty must result from labor near fire4 ,the poor engraver of the piston-rod had faculties--not like ,bewick's1 for if he had had those1 he never would have endured the degradation2 but assuredly1 7,i know this by his work17 faculties high enough to have made him one of the most accomplished figure painters of his age4 ,and they are scorched out of him1 as the sap from the grass in the oven3 while on his ,northumberland hill-sides1 ,bewick grew into as stately life as their strongest pine4 #bbg4 ,and therefore1 in words of his1 telling consummate and unchanging truth concerning the life1 honor1 and happiness of ,england1 and bearing directly on the points of difference between class and class which ,i have not dwelt on without need1 ,i will bring these lectures to a close4 ,i have always1 through life1 been of opinion that there is no business of any kind that can be compared to that of a man who farms his own land4 ,it appears to me that every earthly pleasure1 with health1 is within his reach4 ,but numbers of these men 7the old statesmen7 were grossly ignorant1 and in exact proportion to that ignorance they were sure to be offensively proud4 ,this led them to attempt appearing above their station1 which hastened them on to their ruin2 but1 indeed1 this disposition and this kind of conduct invariably leads to such results4 ,there were many of these lairds on ,tyneside2 as well as many who held their lands on the tenure of 'suit and service1' and were nearly on the same level as the lairds4 ,some of the latter lost their lands 7not fairly1 ,i think7 in a way they could not help2 many of the former1 by their misdirected pride and folly1 were driven into towns1 to slide away into nothingness1 and to sink into oblivion1 while their 'ha' houses' 7halls71 that ought to have remained in their families from generation to generation1 have moldered away4 ,i have always felt extremely grieved to see the ancient mansions of many of the country gentlemen1 from somewhat similar causes1 meet with a similar fate4 ,the gentry should1 in an especial manner1 prove by their conduct that they are guarded against showing any symptom of foolish pride2 at the same time that they soar above every meanness1 and that their conduct is guided by truth1 integrity1 and patriotism4 ,if they wish the people to partake with them in these good qualities1 they must set them the example1 without which no real respect can ever be paid to them4 ,gentlemen ought never to forget the respectable station they hold in society1 and that they are the natural guardians of public morals and may with propriety be considered as the head and the heart of the country1 while 'a bold peasantry' are1 in truth1 the arms1 the sinews1 and the strength of the same2 but when these last are degraded1 they soon become dispirited and mean1 and often dishonest and useless4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this singular and worthy man,,bg was perhaps the most invaluable acquaintance and friend ,i ever met with4 ,his moral lectures and advice to me formed a most important succedaneum to those imparted by my parents4 ,his wise remarks1 his detestation of vice1 his industry1 and his temperance1 crowned with a most lively and cheerful disposition1 altogether made him appear to me as one of the best of characters4 ,in his workshop ,i often spent my winter evenings4 ,this was also the case with a number of young men who might be considered as his pupils2 many of whom1 ,i have no doubt1 he directed into the paths of truth and integrity1 and who revered his memory through life4 ,he rose early to work1 lay down when he felt weary1 and rose again when refreshed4 ,his diet was of the simplest kind2 and he ate when hungry1 and drank when dry1 without paying regard to meal-times4 ,by steadily pursuing this mode of life he was enabled to accumulate sums of money--from ten to thirty pounds4 ,this enabled him to get books1 of an entertaining and moral tendency1 printed and circulated at a cheap rate4 ,his great object was1 by every possible means1 to promote honorable feelings in the minds of youth1 and to prepare them for becoming good members of society4 ,i have often discovered that he did not overlook ingenious mechanics1 whose misfortunes--perhaps mismanagement--had led them to a lodging in ,newgate4 ,to these he directed his compassionate eye1 and for the deserving 7in his estimation71 he paid their debt1 and set them at liberty4 ,he felt hurt at seeing the hands of an ingenious man tied up in prison1 where they were of no use either to himself or to the community4 ,this worthy man had been educated for a priest2 but he would say to me1 ',of a trouth1 ,thomas1 ,i did not like their ways4' ,so he gave up the thoughts of being a priest1 and bent his way from ,aberdeen to ,edinburgh1 where he engaged himself to ,allan ,ramsay1 the poet1 then a bookseller at the latter place1 in whose service he was both shopman and bookbinder4 ,from ,edinburgh he came to ,newcastle4 ,gilbert had had a liberal education bestowed upon him4 ,he had read a great deal1 and had reflected upon what he had read4 ,this1 with his retentive memory1 enabled him to be a pleasant and communicative companion4 ,i lived in habits of intimacy with him to the end of his life2 and1 when he died1 ,i1 with others of his friends1 attended his remains to the grave at the ,ballast ,hills4 ,and what graving on the sacred cliffs of ,egypt ever honored them1 as that grass-dimmed furrow does the mounds of our ,northern land8 ,,footnotes3 ,,as ,the world was not then ready for ,le ,pere ,hyacinthe2--but the real gist of the matter is that ,lippi did1 openly and bravely1 what the highest prelates in the ,church did basely and in secret2 also he loved1 where they only lusted2 and he has been proclaimed therefore by them--and too foolishly believed by us--to have been a shameful person4 ,of his true life1 and the colors given to it1 we will try to learn something tenable1 before we end our work in ,florence4 ,,at ,i insert supplementary notes1 when of importance1 in the text of the lecture1 for the convenience of the general reader4 ,,au ,mr4 ,charles ,f4 ,murray4 ,,av ,some notice of this picture is given at the beginning of my third ,morning in ,florence1 ',before the ,soldan4' ,,aw ,i am bitterly sorry for the pain which my partial references to the man whom of all ,english artists whose histories ,i have read1 ,i most esteem1 have given to one remaining member of his family4 ,i hope my meaning may be better understood after she has seen the close of this lecture4 ,,ax ,read ,ezekiel xviii4 ,,ay ,see also the account by ,dr4 ,woltmann of the picture of the ,triumph of ,riches4 ',holbein and his ,time1' p4 #ceb4 ,,az ,these words are engraved in the plate1 as spoken by the ,virgin4 ,,ba ,cosimo ,rosselli1 especially chosen by the ,pope for his gay coloring4 ,,bb ,i am not certain of their order at this distance of time4 ,,bc ,callimachus1 ',delos1' #cjd1 etc4 ,,bd ,in the ,old ,king's ,arms ,hotel1 ,lancaster4 ,,be ,a manufacturer wrote to me the other day1 ,we don't want to make smoke6 ,who said they did8--a hired murderer does not want to commit murder1 but does it for sufficient motive4 7,even our shipowners don't want to drown their sailors2 they will only do it for sufficient motive47 ,if the dirty creatures did want to make smoke1 there would be more excuse for them3 and that they are not clever enough to consume it1 is no praise to them4 ,a man who can't help his hiccough leaves the room3 why do they not leave the ,england they pollute8 ,,bf ,i know no drawing so subtle as ,bewick's1 since the fifteenth century1 except ,holbein's and ,turner's4 ,i have been greatly surprised lately by the exquisite water-color work in some of ,stothard's smaller vignettes2 but he cannot set the line like ,turner or ,bewick4 ,,bg ,gilbert ,gray1 bookbinder4 ,i have to correct the inaccurate--and very harmfully inaccurate1 expression which ,i used of ,bewick1 in ,love's ,meinie 7,sec4 #c71 'a printer's lad at ,newcastle4' ,his first master was a goldsmith and engraver1 else he could never have been an artist4 ,i am very heartily glad to make this correction1 which establishes another link of relation between ,bewick and ,botticelli2 but my error was partly caused by the impression which the above description of his most invaluable friend made on me1 when ,i first read it4 ,much else that ,i meant to correct1 or promised to explain1 in this lecture1 must be deferred to the ,appendix2 the superiority of the ,tuscan to the ,greek ,aphrodite ,i may perhaps1 even at last1 leave the reader to admit or deny as he pleases1 having more important matters of debate on hand4 ,but as ,i mean only to play with ,proserpina during the spring1 ,i will here briefly anticipate a statement ,i mean in the ,appendix to enforce1 namely1 of the extreme value of colored copies by hand1 of paintings whose excellence greatly consists in color1 as auxiliary to engravings of them4 ,the prices now given without hesitation for nearly worthless original drawings by fifth-rate artists1 would obtain for the misguided buyers1 in something like a proportion of ten to one1 most precious copies of drawings which can only be represented at all in engraving by entire alteration of their treatment1 and abandonment of their finest purposes4 ,i feel this so strongly that ,i have given my best attention1 during upwards of ten years1 to train a copyist to perfect fidelity in rendering the work of ,turner2 and having now succeeded in enabling him to produce facsimiles so close as to look like replicas1 facsimiles which ,i must sign with my own name and his1 in the very work of them1 to prevent their being sold for real ,turner vignettes1 ,i can obtain no custom for him1 and am obliged to leave him to make his bread by any power of captivation his original sketches may possess in the eyes of a public which maintains a nation of copyists in ,rome1 but is content with black and white renderings of great ,english art2 though there is scarcely one cultivated ,english gentleman or lady who has not been twenty times in the ,vatican1 for once that they have been in the ,national ,gallery4 ,,notes4 #bbh4 ,i4 ,the following letter1 from one of my most faithful readers1 corrects an important piece of misinterpretation in the text4 ,the waving of the reins must be only in sign of the fluctuation of heat round the ,sun's own chariot3-- ,spring ,field1 ,ambleside1 ,february #aa1 #ahge4 ,dear ,mr4 ,ruskin1--,your fifth lecture on ,engraving ,i have to hand4 ,sandro intended those wavy lines meeting under the ,sun's right,,bh hand1 7,plate ,v47 primarily1 no doubt1 to represent the four ends of the four reins dangling from the ,sun's hand4 ,the flames and rays are seen to continue to radiate from the platform of the chariot between and beyond these ends of the reins1 and over the knee4 ,he may have wanted to acknowledge that the warmth of the earth was ,apollo's1 by making these ends of the reins spread out separately and wave1 and thereby inclose a form like a flame4 ,but ,i cannot think it4 ,believe me1 ,ever yours truly1 ,,chas4 ,,wm4 ,,smith4 ,,ii4 ,i meant to keep labyrinthine matters for my ,appendix2 but the following most useful by-words from ,mr4 ,tyrwhitt had better be read at once3-- ,in the matter of ,cretan ,labyrinth1 as connected by ,virgil with the ,ludus ,trojae1 or equestrian game of winding and turning1 continued in ,england from twelfth century2 and having for last relic the maze,,bi called ',troy ,town1' at ,troy ,farm1 near ,somerton1 ,oxfordshire1 which itself resembles the circular labyrinth on a coin of ,cnossus in ,fors ,clavigera4 7,letter #bc1 p4 #ab47 ,the connecting quotation from ,virg41 ,a,en41 ,v4 #ehh1 is as follows3 ',ut quondam ,creta fertur ,labyrinthus in alta ,parietibus textum caecis iter1 ancipitemque ,mille viis habuisse dolum1 qua signa sequendi ,falleret indeprensus et inremeabilis error4 ,haud alio ,teucruen nati vestigia cursu ,impediunt1 texuntque fagas et proelia ludo1 ,delphinum similes4' ,labyrinth of ,ariadne1 as cut on the ,downs by shepherds from time immemorial1-- ,shakespeare1 ',midsummer ,night's ,dream1' ,act ii41 sc4 #b3 ,oberon4 ,the nine-men's morris,,bj is filled up with mud2 ,and the quaint mazes in the wanton green ,by lack of tread are undistinguishable4 ,the following passage1 ',merchant of ,venice1' ,act iii41 sc4 #b1 confuses 7to all appearance7 the ,athenian tribute to ,crete1 with the story of ,hesione3 and may point to general confusion in the ,elizabethan mind about the myths3 ,portia4 444 with much more love ,than young ,alcides1 when he did reduce ,the virgin-tribute paid by howling ,troy ,to the sea monster4,,bk ,theseus is the ,attic ,hercules1 however2 and ,troy may have been a sort of house of call for mythical monsters1 in the view of midland shepherds4 ,,footnotes3 ,,bh ,would not the design have looked better1 to us1 on the plate than on the print8 ,on the plate1 the reins would be in the left hand2 and the whole movement be from the left to the right8 ,the two different forms that the radiance takes would symbolize respectively heat and light1 would they not8 ,,bi ,strutt1 pp4 #ig-h1 ed4 #ahja4 ,,bj ,explained as a game still played by the shepherds1 cowkeepers1 etc41 in the midland counties4 ,,bk ,see ,iliad1 #bj1 #ade4 ,illustration3 ,,xi4 ,obediente ,domino voci hominis4 ,,appendix4 ,,article ,i4 ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,present ,,state ,,of ,,engraving ,,in ,,england4 #bbi4 ,i have long deferred the completion of this book1 because ,i had hoped to find time to show1 in some fullness1 the grounds for my conviction that engraving1 and the study of it1 since the development of the modern finished school1 have been ruinous to ,european knowledge of art4 ,but ,i am more and more busied in what ,i believe to be better work1 and can only with extreme brevity state here the conclusions of many years' thought4 ,these1 in several important particulars1 have been curiously enforced on me by the carelessness shown by the picture dealers about the copies from ,turner which it has cost ,mr4 ,ward and me,,bl fifteen years of study together to enable ourselves to make4 ,they are only copies1 say they1--nobody will look at them4 #bcj4 ,it never seems to occur even to the most intelligent persons that an engraving also is 'only a copy1' and a copy done with refusal of color1 and with disadvantage of means in rendering shade4 ,but just because this utterly inferior copy can be reduplicated1 and introduces a different kind of skill1 in another material1 people are content to lose all the composition1 and all the charm1 of the original1--so far as these depend on the chief gift of a painter1--color2 while they are gradually misled into attributing to the painter himself qualities impertinently added by the engraver to make his plate popular3 and1 which is far worse1 they are as gradually and subtly prevented from looking1 in the original1 for the qualities which engraving could never render4 ,further1 it continually happens that the very best color-compositions engrave worst2 for they often extend colors over great spaces at equal pitch1 and the green is as dark as the red1 and the blue as the brown2 so that the engraver can only distinguish them by lines in different directions1 and his plate becomes a vague and dead mass of neutral tint2 but a bad and forced piece of color1 or a piece of work of the ,bolognese school1 which is everywhere black in the shadows1 and colorless in the lights1 will engrave with great ease1 and appear spirited and forcible4 ,hence engravers1 as a rule1 are interested in reproducing the work of the worst schools of painting4 ,also1 the idea that the merit of an engraving consisted in light and shade1 has prevented the modern masters from even attempting to render works dependent mainly on outline and expression2 like the early frescoes1 which should indeed have been the objects of their most attentive and continual skill3 for outline and expression are entirely within the scope of engraving2 and the scripture histories of an aisle of a cloister might have been engraved1 to perfection1 with little more pains than are given by ordinary workmen to round a limb by ,correggio1 or imitate the texture of a dress by ,sir ,joshua1--and both1 at last1 inadequately4 #bca4 ,i will not lose more time in asserting or lamenting the mischief arising out of the existing system3 but will rapidly state what the public should now ask for4 #a4 ,exquisitely careful engraved outlines of all remaining frescoes of the thirteenth1 fourteenth1 and fifteenth centuries in ,italy1 with so much pale tinting as may be explanatory of their main masses2 and with the local darks and local lights brilliantly relieved4 ,the ,arundel ,society have published some meritorious plates of this kind from ,angelico1--not1 however1 paying respect enough to the local colors1 but conventionalizing the whole too much into outline4 #b4 ,finished small plates for book illustration4 ,the cheap wood-cutting and etching of popular illustrated books have been endlessly mischievous to public taste3 they first obtained their power in a general reaction of the public mind from the insipidity of the lower school of line engraving1 brought on it by servile persistence in hack work for ignorant publishers4 ,the last dregs of it may still be seen in the sentimental landscapes engraved for cheap ladies' pocket-books4 ,but the woodcut can never1 educationally1 take the place of serene and accomplished line engraving2 and the training of young artists in whom the gift of delineation prevails over their sense of color1 to the production of scholarly1 but small plates1 with their utmost honor of skill1 would give a hitherto unconceived dignity to the character and range of our popular literature4 #c4 ,vigorous mezzotints from pictures of the great masters1 which originally present noble contrasts of light and shade4 ,many ,venetian works are magnificent in this character4 #d4 ,original design by painters themselves1 decisively engraved in few lines--7not etched72 and with such insistence by dotted work on the main contours as we have seen in the examples given from ,italian engraving4 #e4 ,on the other hand1 the men whose quiet patience and exquisite manual dexterity are at present employed in producing large and costly plates1 such as that of the ,belle ,jardiniere de ,florence1 by ,m4 ,boucher ,desnoyers1 should be entirely released from their servile toil1 and employed exclusively in producing colored copies1 or light drawings1 from the original work4 ,the same number of hours of labor1 applied with the like conscientious skill1 would multiply precious likenesses of the real picture1 full of subtle veracities which no steel line could approach1 and conveying1 to thousands1 true knowledge and unaffected enjoyment of painting2 while the finished plate lies uncared for in the portfolio of the virtuoso1 serving only1 so far as it is seen in the printseller's window by the people1 to make them think that sacred painting must always be dull1 and unnatural4 #bcb4 ,i have named the above engraving1 because1 for persons wishing to study the present qualities and methods of line-work1 it is a pleasant and sufficient possession1 uniting every variety of texture with great serenity of unforced effect1 and exhibiting every possible artifice and achievement in the distribution of even and rugged1 or of close and open line2 artifices for which1--while ,i must yet once more and emphatically repeat that they are illegitimate1 and could not be practiced in a revived school of classic art1--,i would fain secure the reader's reverent admiration1 under the conditions exacted by the school to which they belong4 ,let him endeavor1 with the finest point of pen or pencil he can obtain1 to imitate the profile of this ,madonna in its relief against the gray background of the water surface2 let him examine1 through a good lens1 the way in which the lines of the background are ended in a lance-point as they approach it2 the exact equality of depth of shade being restored by inserted dots1 which prepare for the transition to the manner of shade adopted in the flesh3 then let him endeavor to trace with his own hand some of the curved lines at the edge of the eyelid1 or in the rounding of the lip2 or if these be too impossible1 even a few of the quiet undulations which gradate the folds of the hood behind the hair2 and he will1 ,i trust1 begin to comprehend the range of delightful work which would be within the reach of such an artist1 employed with more tractable material on more extended subject4 #bcc4 ,if1 indeed1 the present system were capable of influencing the mass of the people1 and enforcing among them the subtle attention necessary to appreciate it1 something might be pleaded in defense of its severity4 ,but all these plates are entirely above the means of the lower middle classes1 and perhaps not one reader in a hundred can possess himself1 for the study ,i ask of him1 even of the plate to which ,i have just referred4 ,what1 in the stead of such1 he can and does possess1 let him consider1--and1 if possible1 just after examining the noble qualities of this conscientious engraving4 #bcd4 ,take up1 for an average specimen of modern illustrated works1 the volume of ,dickens's ',master ,humphrey's ,clock1' containing ',barnaby ,rudge4' ,you have in that book an entirely profitless and monstrous story1 in which the principal characters are a coxcomb1 an idiot1 a madman1 a savage blackguard1 a foolish tavern-keeper1 a mean old maid1 and a conceited apprentice1--mixed up with a certain quantity of ordinary operatic pastoral stuff1 about a pretty ,dolly in ribbons1 a lover with a wooden leg1 and an heroic locksmith4 ,for these latter1 the only elements of good1 or life1 in the filthy mass of the story1,,bm observe that the author must filch the wreck of those old times of which we fiercely and frantically destroy every living vestige1 whenever it is possible4 ,you cannot have your ,dolly ,varden brought up behind the counter of a railway station2 nor your jolly locksmith trained at a ,birmingham brass-foundry4 ,and of these materials1 observe that you can only have the ugly ones illustrated4 ,the cheap popular art cannot draw for you beauty1 sense1 or honesty2 and for ,dolly ,varden1 or the locksmith1 you will look through the vignettes in vain4 ,but every species of distorted folly and vice1--the idiot1 the blackguard1 the coxcomb1 the paltry fool1 the degraded woman1--are pictured for your honorable pleasure in every page1 with clumsy caricature1 struggling to render its dullness tolerable by insisting on defect1--if perchance a penny or two more may be coined out of the ,cockney reader's itch for loathsomeness4 #bce4 ,or take up1 for instance of higher effort1 the ',cornhill ,magazine' for this month1 ,july1 #ahgf4 ,it has a vignette of ,venice for an illuminated letter4 ,that is what your decorative art has become1 by help of ,kensington6 ,the letter to be produced is a ,t4 ,there is a gondola in the front of the design1 with the canopy slipped back to the stern like a saddle over a horse's tail4 ,there is another in the middle distance1 all gone to seed at the prow1 with its gondolier emaciated into an oar1 at the stern2 then there is a ,church of the ,salute1 and a ,ducal ,palace1--in which ,i beg you to observe all the felicity and dexterity of modern cheap engraving2 finally1 over the ,ducal ,palace there is something1 ,i know not in the least what meant for1 like an umbrella dropping out of a balloon1 which is the ornamental letter ,t4 ,opposite this ornamental design1 there is an engraving of two young ladies and a parasol1 between two trunks of trees4 ,the white face and black feet of the principal young lady1 being the points of the design1 are done with as much care1--not with as much dexterity1--as an ordinary sketch of ,du ,maurier's in ,punch4 ,the young lady's dress1 the next attraction1 is done in cheap white and black cutting1 with considerably less skill than that of any ordinary tailor's or milliner's shop-book pattern drawing4 ,for the other young lady1 and the landscape1 take your magnifying glass1 and look at the hacked wood that forms the entire shaded surface--one mass of idiotic scrabble1 without the remotest attempt to express a single leaf1 flower1 or clod of earth4 ,it is such landscape as the public sees out of its railroad window at sixty miles of it in the hour--and good enough for such a public4 #bcf4 ,then turn to the last--the poetical plate1 p4 #abb3 ,lifts her--lays her down with care4 ,look at the gentleman with a spade1 promoting the advance1 over a hillock of hay1 of the reposing figure in the black-sided tub4 ,take your magnifying glass to that1 and look what a dainty female arm and hand your modern scientific and anatomical schools of art have provided you with6 ,look at the tender horizontal flux of the sea round the promontory point above4 ,look at the tender engraving of the linear light on the divine horizon1 above the ravenous sea-gull4 ,here is ,development and ,progress for you1 from the days of ,perugino's horizon1 and ,dante's daybreaks6 ,truly1 here it seems ,si che le bianche e le vermiglie guance ,per troppa etate divenivan rance4 #bcg4 ,i have chosen no gross or mean instances of modern work4 ,it is one of the saddest points connected with the matter that the designer of this last plate is a person of consummate art faculty1 but bound to the wheel of the modern ,juggernaut1 and broken on it4 ,these woodcuts1 for ',barnaby ,rudge' and the ',cornhill ,magazine1' are favorably representative of the entire illustrative art industry of the modern press1--industry enslaved to the ghastly service of catching the last gleams in the glued eyes of the daily more bestial ,english mob1--railroad born and bred1 which drags itself about the black world it has withered under its breath1 in one eternal grind and shriek1--gobbling1--staring1--chattering 1--giggling1--trampling out every vestige of national honor and domestic peace1 wherever it sets the staggering hoof of it2 incapable of reading1 of hearing1 of thinking1 of looking1--capable only of greed for money1 lust for food1 pride of dress1 and the prurient itch of momentary curiosity for the politics last announced by the newsmonger1 and the religion last rolled by the chemist into electuary for the dead4 #bch4 ,in the miserably competitive labor of finding new stimulus for the appetite--daily more gross--of this tyrannous mob1 we may count as lost1 beyond any hope1 the artists who are dull1 docile1 or distressed enough to submit to its demands2 and we may count the dull and the distressed by myriads2--and among the docile1 many of the best intellects we possess4 ,the few who have sense and strength to assert their own place and supremacy1 are driven into discouraged disease by their isolation1 like ,turner and ,blake2 the one abandoning the design of his ',liber ,studiorum' after imperfectly and sadly1 against total public neglect1 carrying it forward to what it is1--monumental1 nevertheless1 in landscape engraving2 the other producing1 with one only majestic series of designs from the book of ,job1 nothing for his life's work but coarsely iridescent sketches of enigmatic dream4 #bci4 ,and1 for total result of our ,english engraving industry during the last hundred and fifty years1 ,i find that practically at this moment ,i cannot get a single piece of true1 sweet1 and comprehensible art1 to place for instruction in any children's school6 ,i can get1 for ten pounds apiece1 well-engraved portraits of ,sir ,joshua's beauties showing graceful limbs through flowery draperies2 ,i can get--dirt-cheap--any quantity of ,dutch flats1 ditches1 and hedges1 enlivened by cows chewing the cud1 and dogs behaving indecently2 ,i can get heaps upon heaps of temples1 and forums1 and altars1 arranged as for academical competition1 round seaports1 with curled-up ships that only touch the water with the middle of their bottoms4 ,i can get1 at the price of lumber1 any quantity of ,british squires flourishing whips and falling over hurdles2 and1 in suburban shops1 a dolorous variety of widowed mothers nursing babies in a high light with the ,bible on a table1 and baby's shoes on a chair4 ,also1 of cheap prints1 painted red and blue1 of ,christ blessing little children1 of ,joseph and his brethren1 the infant ,samuel1 or ,daniel in the lions' den1 the supply is ample enough to make every child in these islands think of the ,bible as a somewhat dull story-book1 allowed on ,sunday2--but of trained1 wise1 and worthy art1 applied to gentle purposes of instruction1 no single example can be found in the shops of the ,british printseller or bookseller4 ,and after every dilettante tongue in ,european society has filled drawing-room and academy alike with idle clatter concerning the divinity of ,raphael and ,michael ,angelo1 for these last hundred years1 ,i cannot at this instant1 for the first school which ,i have some power of organizing under ,st4 ,george's laws1 get a good print of ,raphael's ,madonna of the tribune1 or an ordinarily intelligible view of the side and dome of ,st4 ,peter's6 #bdj4 ,and there are simply no words for the mixed absurdity and wickedness of the present popular demand for art1 as shown by its supply in our thoroughfares4 ,abroad1 in the shops of the ,rue de ,rivoli1 brightest and most central of ,parisian streets1 the putrescent remnant of what was once ,catholicism promotes its poor gilded pedlars' ware of nativity and crucifixion into such honorable corners as it can find among the more costly and studious illuminations of the brothel3 and although1 in ,pall ,mall1 and the ,strand1 the large-margined ,landseer1--,stanfield1--or ,turner-proofs1 in a few stately windows1 still represent1 uncared-for by the people1 or inaccessible to them1 the power of an ,english school now wholly perished1--these are too surely superseded1 in the windows that stop the crowd1 by the thrilling attraction with which ,dore1 ,gerome1 and ,tadema have invested the gambling table1 the dueling ground1 and the arena2 or by the more material and almost tangible truth with which the apothecary-artist stereographs the stripped actress1 and the railway mound4 #bda4 ,under these conditions1 as ,i have now repeatedly asserted1 no professorship1 nor school1 of art can be of the least use to the general public4 ,no race can understand a visionary landscape1 which blasts its real mountains into ruin1 and blackens its river-beds with foam of poison4 ,nor is it of the least use to exhibit ideal ,diana at ,kensington1 while substantial ,phryne may be worshiped in the ,strand4 ,the only recovery of our art-power possible1--nay1 when once we know the full meaning of it1 the only one desirable1--must result from the purification of the nation's heart1 and chastisement of its life3 utterly hopeless now1 for our adult population1 or in our large cities1 and their neighborhood4 ,but1 so far as any of the sacred influence of former design can be brought to bear on the minds of the young1 and so far as1 in rural districts1 the first elements of scholarly education can be made pure1 the foundation of a new dynasty of thought may be slowly laid4 ,i was strangely impressed by the effect produced in a provincial seaport school for children1 chiefly of fishermen's families1 by the gift of a little colored drawing of a single figure from the ,paradise of ,angelico in the ,accademia of ,florence4 ,the drawing was wretched enough1 seen beside the original2 ,i had only bought it from the poor ,italian copyist for charity3 but1 to the children1 it was like an actual glimpse of heaven2 they rejoiced in it with pure joy1 and their mistress thanked me for it more than if ,i had sent her a whole library of good books4 ,of such copies1 the grace-giving industry of young girls1 now worse than lost in the spurious charities of the bazaar1 or selfish ornamentations of the drawing-room1 might1 in a year's time1 provide enough for every dame-school in ,england2 and a year's honest work of the engravers employed on our base novels1 might represent to our advanced students every frescoed legend of philosophy and morality extant in ,christendom4 #bdb4 ,for my own part1 ,i have no purpose1 in what remains to me of opportunity1 either at ,oxford or elsewhere1 to address any farther course of instruction towards the development of existing schools4 ,after seeing the stream of the ,teviot as black as ink1 and a putrid carcass of a sheep lying in the dry channel of the ,jed1 under ,jedburgh ,abbey1 7the entire strength of the summer stream being taken away to supply a single mill17 ,i know1 finally1 what value the ,british mind sets on the 'beauties of nature1' and shall attempt no farther the excitement of its enthusiasm in that direction4 ,i shall indeed endeavor to carry out1 with ,mr4 ,ward's help1 my twenty years' held purpose of making the real character of ,turner's work known1 to the persons who1 formerly interested by the engravings from him1 imagined half the merit was of the engraver's giving4 ,but ,i know perfectly that to the general people1 trained in the midst of the ugliest objects that vice can design1 in houses1 mills1 and machinery1 all beautiful form and color is as invisible as the seventh heaven4 ,it is not a question of appreciation at all2 the thing is physically invisible to them1 as human speech is inaudible during a steam whistle4 #bdc4 ,and ,i shall also use all the strength ,i have to convince those1 among our artists of the second order1 who are wise and modest enough not to think themselves the matches of ,turner or ,michael ,angelo1 that in the present state of art they only waste their powers in endeavoring to produce original pictures of human form or passion4 ,modern aristocratic life is too vulgar1 and modern peasant life too unhappy1 to furnish subjects of noble study2 while1 even were it otherwise1 the multiplication of designs by painters of second-rate power is no more desirable than the writing of music by inferior composers4 ,they may1 with far greater personal happiness1 and incalculably greater advantage to others1 devote themselves to the affectionate and sensitive copying of the works of men of just renown4 ,the dignity of this self-sacrifice would soon be acknowledged with sincere respect2 for copies produced by men working with such motive would differ no less from the common trade-article of the galleries than the rendering of music by an enthusiastic and highly trained executant differs from the grinding of a street organ4 ,and the change in the tone of public feeling1 produced by familiarity with such work1 would soon be no less great than in their musical enjoyment1 if having been accustomed only to hear black ,christys1 blind fiddlers1 and hoarse beggars scrape or howl about their streets1 they were permitted daily audience of faithful and gentle orchestral rendering of the work of the highest classical masters4 #bdd4 ,i have not1 until very lately1 rightly appreciated the results of the labor of the ,arundel ,society in this direction4 ,although1 from the beginning1 ,i have been honored in being a member of its council1 my action has been hitherto rather of check than help1 because ,i thought more of the differences between our copies and the great originals1 than of their unquestionable superiority to anything the public could otherwise obtain4 ,i was practically convinced of their extreme value only this last winter1 by staying at the house of a friend in which the ,arundel engravings were the principal decoration2 and where ,i learned more of ,masaccio from the ,arundel copy of the contest with ,simon ,magus1 than in the ,brancacci chapel itself2 for the daily companionship with the engraving taught me subtleties in its composition which had escaped me in the multitudinous interest of visits to the actual fresco4 ,but the work of the ,society has been sorely hindered hitherto1 because it has had at command only the skill of copyists trained in foreign schools of color1 and accustomed to meet no more accurate requisitions than those of the fashionable traveler4 ,i have always hoped for1 and trust at last to obtain1 co-operation with our too mildly laborious copyists1 of ,english artists possessing more brilliant color faculty2 and the permission of our subscribers to secure for them the great ruins of the noble past1 undesecrated by the trim1 but treacherous1 plastering of modern emendation4 #bde4 ,finally1 ,i hope to direct some of the antiquarian energy often to be found remaining1 even when love of the picturesque has passed away1 to encourage the accurate delineation and engraving of historical monuments1 as a direct function of our schools of art4 ,all that ,i have generally to suggest on this matter has been already stated with sufficient clearness in the first of my inaugural lectures at ,oxford3 and my forthcoming ',elements of ,drawing',,bn will contain all the directions ,i can give in writing as to methods of work for such purpose4 ,the publication of these has been hindered1 for at least a year1 by the abuses introduced by the modern cheap modes of printing engravings4 ,i find the men won't use any ink but what pleases them2 nor print but with what pressure pleases them2 and if ,i can get the foreman to attend to the business1 and choose the ink right1 the men change it the moment he leaves the room1 and threaten to throw up the job when they are detected4 ,all this1 ,i have long known well1 is a matter of course1 in the outcome of modern principles of trade2 but it has rendered it hitherto impossible for me to produce illustrations1 which have been ready1 as far as my work or that of my own assistants is concerned1 for a year and a half4 ,any one interested in hearing of our progress--or arrest1 may write to my ,turner copyist1 ,mr4 ,ward3,,bo and1 in the meantime1 they can help my designs for art education best by making these ,turner copies more generally known2 and by determining1 when they travel1 to spend what sums they have at their disposal1 not in fady photography1 but in the encouragement of any good water-color and pencil draughtsmen whom they find employed in the galleries of ,europe4 ,,article ,,ii4 ,,detached ,,notes4 ,i4 ,on the series of ,sibyl engravings attributed to ,botticelli4 #bdf4 ,since ,i wrote the earlier lectures in this volume1 ,i have been made more doubtful on several points which were embarrassing enough before1 by seeing some better 7so-called7 impressions of my favorite plates containing light and shade which did not improve them4 ,i do not choose to waste time or space in discussion1 till ,i know more of the matter2 and that more ,i must leave to my good friend ,mr4 ,reid of the ,british ,museum to find out for me2 for ,i have no time to take up the subject myself1 but ,i give1 for frontispiece to this ,appendix1 the engraving of ,joshua referred to in the text1 which however beautiful in thought1 is an example of the inferior execution and more elaborate shade which puzzle me4 ,but whatever is said in the previous pages of the plates chosen for example1 by whomsoever done1 is absolutely trustworthy4 ,thoroughly fine they are1 in their existing state1 and exemplary to all persons and times4 ,and of the rest1 in fitting place ,i hope to give complete--or at least satisfactory account4 ,,ii4 ,on the three excellent engravers representative of the first1 middle1 and late schools4 ,illustration3 ,,xii4 ,the ,coronation in the ,garden4 #bdg4 ,i have given opposite a photograph1 slightly reduced from the ,duerer ,madonna1 alluded to often in the text1 as an example of his best conception of womanhood4 ,it is very curious that ,duerer1 the least able of all great artists to represent womanhood1 should of late have been a very principal object of feminine admiration4 ,the last thing a woman should do is to write about art4 ,they never see anything in pictures but what they are told1 7or resolve to see out of contradiction17--or the particular things that fall in with their own feelings4 ,i saw a curious piece of enthusiastic writing by an ,edinburgh lady1 the other day1 on the photographs ,i had taken from the tower of ,giotto4 ,she did not care a straw what ,giotto had meant by them1 declared she felt it her duty only to announce what they were to her2 and wrote two pages on the bas-relief of ,heracles and ,antaeus--assuming it to be the death of ,abel4 #bdh4 ,it is not1 however1 by women only that ,duerer has been over-praised4 ,he stands so alone in his own field1 that the people who care much for him generally lose the power of enjoying anything else rightly2 and are continually attributing to the force of his imagination quaintnesses which are merely part of the general mannerism of his day4 ,the following notes upon him1 in relation to two other excellent engravers1 were written shortly for extempore expansion in lecturing4 ,i give them1 with the others in this terminal article1 mainly for use to myself in future reference2 but also as more or less suggestive to the reader1 if he has taken up the subject seriously1 and worth1 therefore1 a few pages of this closing sheet4 #bdi4 ,the men ,i have named as representative of all the good ones composing their school1 are alike resolved their engraving shall be lovely4 ,but ,botticelli1 the ancient1 wants1 with as little engraving1 as much ,sibyl as possible4 ,duerer1 the central1 wants1 with as much engraving as possible1 anything of ,sibyl that may chance to be picked up with it4 ,beaugrand1 the modern1 wants1 as much ,sibyl as possible1 and as much engraving too4 #bej4 ,i repeat--for ,i want to get this clear to you--,botticelli wants1 with as little engraving1 as much ,sibyl as possible4 ,for his head is full of ,sibyls1 and his heart4 ,he can't draw them fast enough3 one comes1 and another and another2 and all1 gracious and wonderful and good1 to be engraved forever1 if only he had a thousand hands and lives4 ,he scratches down one1 with no haste1 with no fault1 divinely careful1 scrupulous1 patient1 but with as few lines as possible4 ',another ,sibyl--let me draw another1 for heaven's sake1 before she has burnt all her books1 and vanished4' ,duerer is exactly ,botticelli's opposite4 ,he is a workman1 to the heart1 and will do his work magnificently4 ',no matter what ,i do it on1 so that my craft be honorably shown4 ,anything will do2 a ,sibyl1 a skull1 a ,madonna and ,christ1 a hat and feather1 an ,adam1 an ,eve1 a cock1 a sparrow1 a lion with two tails1 a pig with five legs1--anything will do for me4 ,but see if ,i don't show you what engraving is1 be my subject what it may6' #bea4 ,thirdly3 ,beaugrand1 ,i said1 wants as much ,sibyl as possible1 and as much engraving4 ,he is essentially a copyist1 and has no ideas of his own1 but deep reverence and love for the work of others4 ,he will give his life to represent another man's thought4 ,he will do his best with every spot and line1--exhibit to you1 if you will only look1 the most exquisite completion of obedient skill2 but will be content1 if you will not look1 to pass his neglected years in fruitful peace1 and count every day well spent that has given softness to a shadow1 or light to a smile4 ,,iii4 ,on ,duerer's landscape1 with reference to the sentence on p4 #aja3 ,i hope you are pleased4 #beb4 ,i spoke just now only of the ill-shaped body of this figure of ,fortune1 or ,pleasure4 ,beneath her feet is an elaborate landscape4 ,it is all drawn out of ,duerer's head2--he would look at bones or tendons carefully1 or at the leaf details of foreground2--but at the breadth and loveliness of real landscape1 never4 ,he has tried to give you a bird's-eye view of ,germany2 rocks1 and woods1 and clouds1 and brooks1 and the pebbles in their beds1 and mills1 and cottages1 and fences1 and what not2 but it is all a feverish dream1 ghastly and strange1 a monotone of diseased imagination4 ,and here is a little bit of the world he would not look at--of the great river of his land1 with a single cluster of its reeds1 and two boats1 and an island with a village1 and the way for the eternal waters opened between the rounded hills4,,bp ,it is just what you may see any day1 anywhere1--innocent1 seemingly artless2 but the artlessness of ,turner is like the face of ,gainsborough's village girl1 and a joy forever4 ,,iv4 ,on the study of anatomy4 #bec4 ,the virtual beginner of artistic anatomy in ,italy was a man called ',the ,poulterer'--from his grandfather's trade2 ',pollajuolo1' a man of immense power1 but on whom the curse of the ,italian mind in this age,,bq was set at its deepest4 ,any form of passionate excess has terrific effects on body and soul1 in nations as in men2 and when this excess is in rage1 and rage against your brother1 and rage accomplished in habitual deeds of blood1--do you think ,nature will forget to set the seal of her indignation upon the forehead8 ,i told you that the great division of spirit between the northern and southern races had been reconciled in the ,val d',arno4 ,the ,font of ,florence1 and the ,font of ,pisa1 were as the very springs of the life of the ,christianity which had gone forth to teach all nations1 baptizing them in the name of the ,prince of ,peace4 ,yet these two brother cities were to each other--,i do not say as ,abel and ,cain1 but as ,eteocles and ,polynices1 and the words of ,a,eschylus are now fulfilled in them to the uttermost4 ,the ,arno baptizes their dead bodies3--their native valley between its mountains is to them as the furrow of a grave2--and so much of their land they have1 as is sepulcher4 ,nay1 not of ,florence and ,pisa only was this true3 ,venice and ,genoa died in death-grapple2 and eight cities of ,lombardy divided between them the joy of leveling ,milan to her lowest stone4 ,nay1 not merely in city against city1 but in street against street1 and house against house1 the fury of the ,theban dragon flamed ceaselessly1 and with the same excuse upon men's lips4 ,the sign of the shield of ,polynices1 ,justice bringing back the exile1 was to them all1 in turn1 the portent of death3 and their history1 in the sum of it and substance1 is as of the servants of ,joab and ,abner by the pool of ,gibeon4 ,they caught every one his fellow by the head1 and thrust his sword in his fellow's side2 so they fell down together3 wherefore that place was called 'the field of the strong men4' #bed4 ,now it is not possible for ,christian men to live thus1 except under a fever of insanity4 ,i have before1 in my lectures on ,prudence and ,insolence in art1 deliberately asserted to you the logical accuracy of the term 'demoniacal possession',,br--the being in the power or possession of a betraying spirit2 and the definite sign of such insanity is delight in witnessing pain1 usually accompanied by an instinct that gloats over or plays with physical uncleanness or disease1 and always by a morbid egotism4 ,it is not to be recognized for demoniacal power so much by its viciousness1 as its paltriness1--the taking pleasure in minute1 contemptible1 and loathsome things4,,bs ,now1 in the middle of the gallery of the ,brera at ,milan1 there is an elaborate study of a dead ,christ1 entirely characteristic of early fifteenth century ,italian madman's work4 ,it is called--and was presented to the people as--a ,christ2 but it is only an anatomical study of a vulgar and ghastly dead body1 with the soles of the feet set straight at the spectator1 and the rest foreshortened4 ,it is either ,castagno's or ,mantegna's1--in my mind1 set down to ,castagno2 but ,i have not looked at the picture for years1 and am not sure at this moment4 ,it does not matter a straw which3 it is exactly characteristic of the madness in which all of them--,pollajuolo1 ,castagno1 ,mantegna1 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 and ,michael ,angelo1 polluted their work with the science of the sepulcher1,,bt and degraded it with presumptuous and paltry technical skill4 ,foreshorten your ,christ1 and paint ,him1 if you can1 half putrefied1--that is the scientific art of the ,renaissance4 #bee4 ,it is impossible1 however1 in so vast a subject to distinguish always the beginner of things from the establisher4 ,to the poulterer's son1 ,pollajuolo1 remains the eternal shame of first making insane contest the only subject of art2 but the two establishers of anatomy were ,lionardo and ,michael ,angelo4 ,you hear of ,lionardo chiefly because of his ,last ,supper1 but ,italy did not hear of him for that4 ,this was not what brought her to worship ,lionardo--but the ,battle of the ,standard4 ,v4 ,fragments on ,holbein and others4 #bef4 ,of ,holbein's ,st4 ,elizabeth1 remember1 she is not a perfect ,saint ,elizabeth1 by any means4 ,she is an honest and sweet ,german lady1--the best he could see2 he could do no better2--and so ,i come back to my old story1--no man can do better than he sees3 if he can reach the nature round him1 it is well2 he may fall short of it2 he cannot rise above it2 the best1 in this kind1 are but shadows4 99 99 99 99 99 ,yet that intense veracity of ,holbein is indeed the strength and glory of all the northern schools4 ,they exist only in being true4 ,their work among men is the definition of what is1 and the abiding by it4 ,they cannot dream of what is not4 ,they make fools of themselves if they try4 ,think how feeble even ,shakspere is when he tries his hand at a ,goddess2--women1 beautiful and womanly1 as many as you choose2 but who cares what his ,minerva or ,juno says1 in the masque of the ,tempest8 ,and for the painters--when ,sir ,joshua tries for a ,madonna1 or ,vandyke for a ,diana--they can't even paint6 they become total simpletons4 ,look at ,rubens' mythologies in the ,louvre1 or at modern ,french heroics1 or ,german pietisms6 ,why1 all--,cornelius1 ,hesse1 ,overbeck1 and ,david--put together1 are not worth one ,de ,hooghe of an old woman with a broom sweeping a back-kitchen4 ,the one thing we northerns can do is to find out what is fact1 and insist on it3 mean fact it may be1 or noble--but fact always1 or we die4 #beg4 ,yet the intensest form of northern realization can be matched in the south1 when the southerns choose4 ,there are two pieces of animal drawing in the ,sistine ,chapel unrivaled for literal veracity4 ,the sheep at the well in front of ,zipporah2 and afterwards1 when she is going away1 leading her children1 her eldest boy1 like every one else1 has taken his chief treasure with him1 and this treasure is his pet dog4 ,it is a little sharp-nosed white fox-terrier1 full of fire and life2 but not strong enough for a long walk4 ,so little ,gershom1 whose name was the stranger because his father had been a stranger in a strange land1--little ,gershom carries his white terrier under his arm1 lying on the top of a large bundle to make it comfortable4 ,the doggie puts its sharp nose and bright eyes out1 above his hand1 with a little roguish gleam sideways in them1 which means1--if ,i can read rightly a dog's expression1--that he has been barking at ,moses all the morning and has nearly put him out of temper3--and without any doubt1 ,i can assert to you that there is not any other such piece of animal painting in the world1--so brief1 intense1 vivid1 and absolutely balanced in truth3 as tenderly drawn as if it had been a saint1 yet as humorously as ,landseer's ,lord ,chancellor poodle4 #beh4 ,oppose to-- ,holbein's ,veracity--,botticelli's ,fantasy4 ,shade ,color4 ,despair ,faith4 ,grossness ,purity4 ,true ,fantasy4 ,botticelli's ,tree in ,hellespontic ,sibyl4 ,not a real tree at all--yet founded on intensest perception of beautiful reality4 ,so the swan of ,clio1 as opposed to ,duerer's cock1 or to ,turner's swan4 ,the ,italian power of abstraction into one mythologic personage--,holbein's death is only literal4 ,he has to split his death into thirty different deaths2 and each is but a skeleton4 ,but ,orcagna's death is one--the power of death itself4 ,there may thus be as much breadth in thought1 as in execution4 99 99 99 99 99 #bei4 ,what then1 we have to ask1 is a man conscious of in what he sees8 ,for instance1 in all ,cruikshank's etchings--however slight the outline--there is an intense consciousness of light and shade1 and of local color1 as a part of light and shade2 but none of color itself4 ,he was wholly incapable of coloring2 and perhaps this very deficiency enabled him to give graphic harmony to engraving4 99 99 99 99 99 ,bewick--snow-pieces1 etc4 ,gray predominant2 perfect sense of color1 coming out in patterns of birds2--yet so uncultivated1 that he engraves the brown birds better than pheasant or peacock6 ,for quite perfect consciousness of color makes engraving impossible1 and you have instead--,correggio4 ,,vi4 ,final notes on light and shade4 #bfj4 ,you will find in the #achth and #adgth paragraphs of my ,inaugural lectures1 statements which1 if you were reading the book by yourselves1 would strike you probably as each of them difficult1 and in some degree inconsistent1--namely1 that the school of color has exquisite character and sentiment2 but is childish1 cheerful1 and fantastic2 while the school of shade is deficient in character and sentiment2 but supreme in intellect and veracity4 ,the way by light and shade1 ,i say1 is taken by men of the highest powers of thought and most earnest desire for truth4 ,the school of shade1 ,i say1 is deficient in character and sentiment4 ,compare any of ,duerer's ,madonnas with any of ,angelico's4 ,yet you may discern in the ,apocalypse engravings that ,duerer's mind was seeking for truths1 and dealing with questions1 which no more could have occurred to ,angelico's mind than to that of a two-years-old baby4 #bfa4 ,the two schools unite in various degrees2 but are always distinguishably generic1 the two headmost masters representing each being ,tintoret and ,perugino4 ,the one1 deficient in sentiment1 and continually offending us by the want of it1 but full of intellectual power and suggestion4 ,the other1 repeating ideas with so little reflection that he gets blamed for doing the same thing over again1 7,vasari72 but exquisite in sentiment and the conditions of taste which it forms1 so as to become the master of it to ,raphael and to all succeeding him2 and remaining such a type of sentiment1 too delicate to be felt by the latter practical mind of ,dutch-bred ,england1 that ,goldsmith makes the admiration of him the test of absurd connoisseurship4 ,but yet1 with under-current of intellect1 which gets him accused of free-thinking1 and therefore with under-current of entirely exquisite chiaroscuro4 ,light and shade1 then1 imply the understanding of things--,color1 the imagination and the sentiment of them4 #bfb4 ,in ,turner's distinctive work1 color is scarcely acknowledged unless under influence of sunshine4 ,the sunshine is his treasure2 his lividest gloom contains it2 his grayest twilight regrets it1 and remembers4 ,blue is always a blue shadow2 brown or gold1 always light2--nothing is cheerful but sunshine2 wherever the sun is not1 there is melancholy or evil4 ,apollo is ,god2 and all forms of death and sorrow exist in opposition to him4 ,but in ,perugino's distinctive work1--and therefore ,i have given him the captain's place over all1--there is simply no darkness1 no wrong4 ,every color is lovely1 and every space is light4 ,the world1 the universe1 is divine3 all sadness is a part of harmony2 and all gloom1 a part of peace4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,footnotes3 ,,bl ,see note to the close of this article1 p4 #aef4 ,,bm ,the raven1 however1 like all ,dickens's animals1 is perfect3 and ,i am the more angry with the rest because ,i have every now and then to open the book to look for him4 ,,bn ,laws of ,fesole4 ,,bo #b1 ,church ,terrace1 ,richmond1 ,surrey4 ,,note4--,i have hitherto permitted ,mr4 ,ward to copy any ,turner drawing he was asked to do2 but1 finding there is a run upon the vignettes of ,loch ,lomond and ,derwent1 ,i have forbidden him to do more of them for the present1 lest his work should get the least mechanical4 ,the admirable drawings of ,venice1 by my good assistant1 ,mr4 ,bunney1 resident there1 will become of more value to their purchasers every year1 as the buildings from which they are made are destroyed4 ,i was but just in time1 working with him at ,verona1 to catch record of ,fra ,giocondo's work in the smaller square2 the most beautiful ,renaissance design in ,north ,italy4 ,,bp ,the engraving of ,turner's ,scene on the ,rhine 7near ,bingen87 with boats on the right1 and reedy foreground on the left2 the opening between its mountain banks in central distance4 ,it is exquisitely engraved1 the plate being of the size of the drawing1 about ten inches by six1 and finished with extreme care and feeling4 ,,bq ,see the horrible picture of ,st4 ,sebastian by him in our own ,national ,gallery4 ,,br ,see ,the ,eagle's ,nest1 ,sec4 #gi4 ,,bs ,as in the muscles of the legs and effort in stretching bows1 of the executioners1 in the picture just referred to4 ,,bt ,observe1 ,i entirely distinguish the study of anatomy--i4e41 of intense bone and muscle--from study of the nude1 as the ,greeks practiced it4 ,this for an entirely great painter is absolutely necessary2 but yet ,i believe1 in the case of ,botticelli1 it was nobly restricted4 ,the following note by ,mr4 ,tyrwhitt contains1 ,i think1 the probable truth3-- ,the facts relating to ,sandro ,botticelli's models1 or rather to his favorite model 7as it appears to me71 are but few2 and it is greatly to be regretted that his pictures are seldom dated2--if it were certain in what order they appeared1 what follows here might approach moral certainty4 ,there is no doubt that he had great personal regard for ,fra ,filippo1 up to that painter's death in #adfi1 ,sandro being then twenty-two years old4 ,he may probably have got only good from him2 anyhow he would get a strong turn for ,realism1--i4e4 the treatment of sacred and all other subjects in a realistic manner4 ,he is described in ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle from ,filippino ,lippi's ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter1 as a sullen and sensual man1 with beetle brows1 large fleshy mouth1 etc41 etc4 ,probably he was a strong man1 and intense in physical and intellectual habit4 ,this man1 then1 begins to paint in his strength1 with conviction--rather happy and innocent than not--that it is right to paint any beautiful thing1 and best to paint the most beautiful1--say in #adgj1 at twenty-three years of age4 ,the allegorical ,spring and the ,graces1 and the ,aphrodite now in the ,ufficii1 were painted for ,cosmo1 and seem to be taken by ,vasari and others as early1 or early-central1 works in his life3 also the portrait of ,simonetta ,vespucei#a4 ,he is known to have painted much in early life for the ,vespucei and the ,medici2--and this daughter of the former house seems to have been inamorata or mistress of ,giuliano de' ,medici1 murdered by the ,pazzi in #adgh4 ,now it seems agreed by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,pater1 etc41 7and ,i am quite sure of it myself as to the pictures mentioned7--first1 that the same slender and long-throated model appears in ,spring1 the ,aphrodite1 ,calumny1 and other works4#b ,secondly1 that she was ,simonetta1 the original of the ,pitti portrait4 ,now ,i think she must have been induced to let ,sandro draw from her whole person undraped1 more or less2 and that he must have done so as such a man probably would1 in strict honor as to deed1 word1 and definite thought1 but under occasional accesses of passion of which he said nothing1 and which in all probability and by grace of ,god refined down to nil1 or nearly so1 as he got accustomed to look in honor at so beautiful a thing4 7,he may have left off the undraped after her death47 ,first1 her figure is absolutely fine ,gothic2 ,i don't think any antique is so slender4 ,secondly1 she has the sad1 passionate1 and exquisite ,lombard mouth4 ,thirdly1 her limbs shrink together1 and she seems not quite to have 'liked it' or been an accustomed model4 ,fourthly1 there is tradition1 giving her name to all those forms4 ,her lover ,giuliano was murdered in #adgh1 and ,savonarola hanged and burnt in #adih4 ,now1 can her distress1 and ,savonarola's preaching1 between them1 have taken1 in few years1 all the carnality out of ,sandro1 supposing him to have come already1 by seventy-eight1 to that state in which the sight of her delighted him1 without provoking ulterior feelings8 ,all decent men accustomed to draw from the nude tell us they get to that4 ,sandro's ,dante is dated as published in #adhb4 ,he may have been saddening by that time1 and weary of beauty1 pure or mixed2--though he went on painting ,madonnas1 ,i fancy4 7,can ,simonetta be traced in any of them8 ,i think not4 ,the ,sistine paintings extend from #adha to #adhd1 however4 ,i cannot help thinking ,zipporah is impressed with her47 ,after ,savonarola's death1 ,sandro must have lost heart1 and gone into ,dante altogether4 ,most ways in literature and art lead to ,dante2 and this question about the nude and the purity of ,botticelli is no exception to the rule4 ,now in the ,purgatorio1 ,lust is the last sin of which we are to be made pure1 and it has to be burnt out of us2 being itself as searching as fire1 as smoldering1 devouring1 and all that4 ,corruptio3 optimi pessima2 and it is the most searching and lasting of evils1 because it really is a corruption attendant on true ,love1 which is eternal--whatever the word means4 ,that this is so1 seems to me to demonstrate the truth of the ,fall of ,man from the condition of moral very-goodness in ,god's sight4 ,and ,i think that ,dante connected the purifying pains of his intermediate state with actual sufferings in this life1 working out repentance1--in himself and others4 ,and the 'torment' of this passion1 to the repentant or resisting1 or purity-seeking soul is decidedly like the pain of physical burning4 ,further1 its casuistry is impracticable2 because the more you stir the said 'fire' the stronger hold it takes4 ,therefore1 men and women are rightly secret about it1 and detailed confessions unadvisable4 ,much talk about 'hypocrisy' in this matter is quite wrong and unjust4 ,then1 its connection with female beauty1 as a cause of love between man and woman1 seems to me to be the inextricable nodus of the ,fall1 the here inseparable mixture of good and evil1 till soul and body are parted4 ,for the sense of seen ,beauty is the awakening of ,love1 at whatever distance from any kind of return or sympathy--as with a rose1 or what not4 ,sandro may be the man who has gone nearest to the right separation of ,delight from ,desire3 supposing that he began with religion and a straight conscience2 saw lovingly the error of ,fra ,filippo's way2 saw with intense distant love the error of ,simonetta's2 and reflected on ,florence and its way1 and drew nearer and nearer to ,savonarola1 being yet too big a man for asceticism2 and finally wearied of all things and sunk into poverty and peace4 #a ,pitti1 ,stanza di ,prometeo1 #cdh4 #b ,i think ,zipporah may be a remembrance of her4 ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ,,transcribers' ,,notes ,general3 ,corrections to punctuation have not been individually documented ,list of ,plates3 ,fac-simile standardised to ,facsimile 7#c occurrences7 ,list of ,plates1 ,illustration ,,iii3 ,fesole standardised to ,fesole ,list of ,plates3 ,obedienta corrected to ,obediente ,pages #aj1 #ca1 #aje3 ,leonardo standardised to ,lionardo ,pages #bf1 #gh3 nell' arte as in original ,page #bg3 ,diagram has been split into two parts as it was too wide to display ,page #bg3 ,durer standardised to ,duerer 7in diagram7 ,page #df3 line work standardised to line-work 7first occurrence7 ,page #dg1 #ea1 #ed1 #gj1 #aea3 wood-cuts standardised to woodcuts ,page #ej1 #ea1 #ec1 #ef1 #eg1 #ei1 #gj1 #ajg1 #adg3 wood-cut standardised to woodcut ,page #gf3 dexterous standardised to dextrous ,page #ajc3 ,holbein had bitterer task4 as in the original ,page #aab3 beame corrected to became ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------