,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,art    ,,by   
,h4 ,,taine    ,,professor ,,of         
,,sthetics ,,and ,,of ,,the ,,history   
,,of ,,art ,,in ,,the  ,,cole ,,des     
,,beaux-,,arts1 ,,paris4    ,,translated
 ,,by    ,,john ,,durand    ,second     
,edition1 ,thoroughly ,revised by the   
,translator    ,,new ,,york    ,,holt   
,,williams    #ahgc                     
,,publishers' ,,note4      ,the now     
famous name of ,taine was first         
introduced to the ,american  public by  
the issue1 in #ahfe1 of a small imported
 edition of this  work4 ,that edition   
has long been out of print here and in  
,europe4 ,that  the book is now         
re-issued may be subject of special     
satisfaction to  those who already      
possess the ,author's ,ideal in ,art    
,art in the  ,netherlands and ,art in   
,greece as this work 7now published in a
  style uniform with others named7 is   
properly the forerunner of them  all2   
containing1 as it does1 the principles  
laid down in the ,author's  first course

 of lectures1 and constantly referred to
 in the later  courses which now form   
the books before alluded to4    ,in     
preparing this edition for the press1   
the translator1 by bringing  to bear the
 experience gained in the later works1  
has made it a great  improvement on the 
previous edition4          ,,preface    
,,to ,,the ,,first ,,edition4      ,the 
translation herewith presented to the   
reader consists of a course  of         
,lectures delivered during the winter of
 #ahfd1 before the ,students of  ,art of
 the cole des ,beaux ,arts at ,paris1 by
 ,h4 ,taine1 ,professeur  d',esthtique  
et d' ,histoire de l',art in that       
institution4    ,these lectures1 as a   
system of sthetics1 consist of an       
application of  the experimental method 
to art1 in the same manner as it is     
applied  to the sciences4 ,whatever     
utility the system possesses is due to  
this  principle4 ,the author undertakes 
to explain art by social influences  and
 other causes2 humanity at different    

times and places1 climate1  and other   
conditions1 furnish the facts on which  
the theory rests4 ,the  artistic        
development of any age or people is made
 intelligible through  a series of      
historical inductions terminating in a  
few inferential  laws1 constituting what
 the title of the book declares it to   
be--the  philosophy of art4    ,such a  
system seems to possess many advantages4
 ,among others1 it  tends to emancipate 
the student of art1 as well as the      
amateur1 from  metaphysical and         
visionary theories growing out of false 
theories and  traditional               
misconceptions2 he is not misled by an  
exclusive adherence  to particular      
schools1 masters1 or epochs4 ,it also   
tends to render  criticism less         
capricious1 and therefore less          
injurious2 dictating no  conventional   
standard of judgment1 it promotes a     
spirit of charity  towards all works4   
,as there is no attempt to do more than 
explain art  according to natural laws1 

the reader must judge whether1 like all 
systems assuming to bring order out of  
confusion1 this one fulfils its         
mission4    ,readers familiar with ,m4  
,taine's able and original work on      
,english  literature 7,histoire de la   
,littrature ,anglaise7 will recognize   
in the following pages the same theory  
applied to art as is therein  applied to
 literature4    ,j4 ,d4    ,,london1    
,november #i1 #ahfe4          ,,preface 
,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition4          
,since the publication of the first     
edition of the ,philosophy of ,art      
seven years ago1 in ,london1 its author 
has become deservedly popular1  and     
especially in this country4 ,his        
writings are sought for1 read and       
translated both in ,england and on the  
continent of ,europe1 and it would  be  
but refining gold to say aught in his   
praise4 ,like every man of  genius he   
has1 as time moves on1 improved in his  
order of thought and  in his wonderfully
 artistic style4 ,his latest work1 ,on  

,intelligence  ranks him as high among  
thinkers1 as his former works among men 
of  letters4    ,the present edition is 
a careful revision of the former one1   
and  amounts1 indeed1 to a new          
translation4 ,were either to be compared
  with the original1 no change of sense 
could probably be detected4 ,the        
present edition1 however1 being much    
more literal1 the translator  considers 
it an improvement1 and hopes that it    
will be found more  worthy of its gifted
 author1 the publishers1 his indulgent  
critics1 and  the public generally4     
,j4 ,d4    ,,south ,,orange1 ,n4 ,j4    
,january1 #ahgc4          ,,contents4   
,,part ,i4    ,,on ,,the ,,nature ,,of  
,,the ,,work ,,of ,,art4     ,i4        
,object of this ,study--,the ,method    
employed--,the search for ,aggregates on
  which the ,work of ,art depends4      
,first ,aggregate1 the ,entire          
,production of the ,artist--,second     
,aggregate1  the ,school to which he    
belongs2 examples1 ,shakespeare1        

,rubens4 ,third  ,aggregate1            
,contemporary ,society2 examples1       
,greece1 ,spain1 in the  ,sixteenth     
,century4    ,conditions determining    
appearance and character of ,works of   
,art2  examples1 ,greek ,tragedy1       
,gothic ,architecture1 ,dutch ,painting1
 ,french  ,tragedy--,comparison of      
,climate and ,natural ,productions with 
a ,moral  ,temperature1 and its         
effect--,application of this method to  
,italian ,art4    ,objects and method of
 sthetics--,opposition of the ,historic 
and  ,dogmatic                          
,methods--,laws--,sympathy for all      
,schools--,the ,analogy between         
sthetics and ,botany1 and between the   
,natural and the ,moral ,sciences #ai   
,,ii4    ,what is the ,object of        
,art--,the ,research ,experimental and  
not  ,ideal--,comparisons and           
,eliminations of ,works of ,art         
sufficient4    ,division of the ,arts   
into two groups--,on the one hand1      
,painting1  ,sculpture and ,poesy2 and1 

on the other1 ,architecture and ,music4 
,first group--,imitation apparently the 
end of ,art--,reasons for this  derived 
from ordinary experience1 and from the  
lives of great men2  ,michael ,angelo1  
,corneille--,reasons derived from the   
,history of ,art and  ,literature2      
,pompeii and ,ravenna--,classic ,style  
under ,louis ,,xiv41 and  ,academic     
,style under ,louis ,,xv #ci     ,,iii4 
,exact ,imitation not the end of        
,art--,illustrations derived from       
,casting1 ,photography1 and             
,stenography--,comparison between       
,denner  and ,van ,dyck--,certain ,arts 
purposely ,inexact--,comparison between 
,antique ,statues and ,draped ,figures  
in the ,churches of ,naples and         
,spain--,comparison between ,prose and  
,verse--,the ,two ,iphigenias of ,goethe
     ,,iv4    ,relationships of ,parts  
the true object of                      
,imitation--,illustrations  derived from
 ,drawing and ,literature 4 4 #eh       
,v4    ,a ,work of ,art not confined to 

,imitating ,relationships of            
,parts--,modification of the ,principle 
in the greatest ,schools2 ,michael      
,angelo1 ,rubens--,the ,medici          
,tomb--,the ',kermesse4'    ,definition 
of ,essential ,character3 ,examples of  
the ,lion and the  ,netherlands4        
,importance of ,essential ,character2   
,nature imperfectly expressing it1  ,art
 supplies her place--,flanders in the   
time of ,rubens1 and ,italy in  the time
 of ,raphael4    ,artistic              
,imagination--,spontaneous ,impressions1
 and their power of  ,transformation4   
,retrospect2 successive steps of the    
,method1 and ,definition of a ,work of  
,art #fb     ,,vi4    ,two ,parts in    
this ,definition--,how ,music and       
,architecture enter into                
it--,opposition of the first and second 
group of ,arts--,the first copies       
,organic and ,moral ,dependencies2 the  
second combines ,mathematical           
,dependencies4    ,mathematical         
,relationships perceived by the sense of

 sight--,different  classes of these    
,relationships--,principle of           
,architecture4    ,mathematical         
,relationships perceived by the sense of
 ,hearing--,different  classes of these 
,relationships--,principle of           
,music--,the second  ,principle of      
,music1 ,analogy of the ,sound and the  
,cry--,music1 on this  side1 enters into
 the first group of ,arts4    ,the      
definition given is applicable to all   
the ,arts #hc     ,,vii4    ,the ,value 
of ,art in ,human ,life--,selfish ,acts 
for the preservation  of the            
,individual--,social ,acts tending to   
preserve the  ,species--,disinterested  
,acts having for object the             
contemplation of  ,causes and           
,essentials--,two ways for attaining    
this end2 ,science and                  
,art--,advantages of ,art #hi    ,,part 
,,ii4    ,,production ,,of ,,the ,,work 
,,of ,,art4     ,i4    ,general ,law for
 the ,production of the ,work of        
,art--,first ,formula--,two  sorts of   

,proof1 one of ,experience1 and the     
other of ,reasoning #ie     ,,ii4       
,general ,exposition of the ,action of  
,social ,mediums--,the ,development  of 
the ,plant compared with the            
,development of ,human                  
,activity--,natural  ,selection #ig     
,,iii4    ,the ,action of a ,moral      
,temperature--,the ,influence of        
,melancholy and  ,cheerful ,states of   
,mind--,the ,artist is saddened by his  
personal share  of misfortune--,by the  
melancholy ideas of his                 
contemporaries--,by his  aptitude for   
defining the salient character of       
objects1 which here is  sadness--,he    
finds suggestions and enlightenment only
 in melancholy  subjects--,the ,public  
comprehends only melancholy subjects4   
,an inverse case1 state of prosperity   
and general joy--,intermediate  cases   
#aje     ,,iv4    ,real and ,historical 
cases--,four ,epochs1 and four leading  
,arts #aag     ,v4    ,greek            
,civilization and ,antique              

,sculpture--,comparison of ,greek       
manners  with those of                  
contemporaries--,the ,city--,the        
,citizen--,taste for ,war--,the         
,athlete-,spartan ,education--,the      
,gymnasium in other parts of ,greece4   
,conformity of ,customs with            
,ideas--,nudity--,olympic ,games--,the  
,gods  perfect ,human ,figures4         
,birth of ,sculpture2 ,statues of       
,athletes and of ,gods--,why ,statuary  
sufficed for the ,artist's              
,conceptions--,immense ,number of       
,statues #aai     ,,vi4    ,the         
,civilization of the ,middle ,ages1 and 
,gothic ,architecture4    ,decline of   
,antique ,society--,invasions of        
,barbarians--,feudal                    
,excesses--,universal ,misery4          
,distaste for ,life--,exalted           
,sensibility--,the ,passion of          
,love--,power of  the ,christian        
,religion44    ,birth of ,gothic        
,architecture--,the                     
,cathedral--,universality of ,gothic    

,architecture #ach     ,,vii4    ,french
 ,civilization in the ,seventeenth      
,century1 and ,classic ,tragedy4    ,the
 ,courtier--,ruling                     
,taste--,tragedy--,the ,aristocratic    
,sentiments of  ,society--,importation  
of ,french ,tragedy into other ,european
 ,countries #aed     ,,viii4            
,contemporary ,civilization and         
,music--,the ,french                    
,revolution--,effect of  ,civil         
,equality1 ,machinery1 and the ,comforts
 of ,existence--,decay of  ,traditional 
,authority4    ,the ,representative     
,man--,development of ,music--,its      
,origin in ,germany and  ,italy2 and its
 ,dependence on ,modern ,sentiments4    
,universality of ,music #afh     ,,ix4  
,the ,law of the ,production of ,works  
of ,art--,the ,four ,terms of the       
,series--,practical ,application of the 
,law to a ,study of all the ,arts and   
of every ,literature4 #ahj     ,x4      
,application of the ,law to the         
,present--,the ,social ,medium renewing 

itself constantly1 ,art renews          
itself--,hopes for the ,future #ahf     
,,on ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,the ,,work   
,,of ,,art4      ,,gentlemen3    ,in    
commencing this course of lectures ,i   
wish to ask you two things  of which ,i 
stand in great need3 in the first place1
 your attention2  afterwards1 and       
especially1 your kind indulgence4 ,the  
warmth of  your reception persuades me  
that you will favor me with both4 ,let  
me sincerely and earnestly thank you    
beforehand4 ,the subject with  which ,i 
intend to entertain you this year is the
 history of art1 and1  principally1 the 
history of painting in ,italy4 ,before  
entering on the  subject itself1 ,i     
desire to indicate to you its spirit and
 method4          ,i4      ,the         
principal point of this method consists 
in recognizing that a  work of art is   
not isolated1 and1 consequently1 that it
 is necessary  to study the conditions  
out of which it proceeds and by which it
 is  explained4    ,the first step is   

not difficult4 ,at first1 and evidently1
 a work of  art--a picture1 a tragedy1 a
 statue--belongs to a certain whole1    
that  is to say1 to the entire work of  
the artist producing it4 ,this is       
elementary4 ,it is well known that the  
different works of an artist  bear a    
family likeness1 like the children of   
one parent2 that is to  say1 they bear a
 certain resemblance to each other4 ,we 
know that every  artist has his own     
style1 a style recognized in all his    
productions4  ,if he is a painter1 he   
has his own coloring1 rich or           
impoverished2  his favorite types1 noble
 or ignoble2 his attitudes1 his mode of 
composition1 even his processes of      
execution2 his favorite pigments1       
tints1 models1 and manner of working4   
,if he is a writer1 he has his  own     
characters1 calm or passionate2 his own 
plots1 simple or complex2  his own      
dnouements1 comic or tragic1 his        
peculiarities of style1 his  pet        
periods1 and even his special           

vocabulary4 ,this is so true1 that a    
connoisseur1 if you place before him a  
work not signed by any prominent        
master1 is able to recognize1 to almost 
a certainty1 to what artist  this work  
belongs1 and1 if sufficiently           
experienced and delicate in his         
perceptions1 the period of the artist's 
life1 and the particular stage  of his  
development4    ,this is the first whole
 to which we must refer a work of art4  
,and here  is the second4 ,the artist   
himself1 considered in connection with  
his  productions1 is not isolated2 he   
also belongs to a whole1 one greater    
than himself1 comprising the school or  
family of artists of the time  and      
country to which he belongs4 ,for       
example1 around ,shakespeare1  who1 at  
the first glance1 seems to be a         
marvellous celestial gift  coming like  
an aerolite from heaven1 we find several
 dramatists of a  high order--,webster1 
,ford1 ,massinger1 ,marlowe1 ,ben       
,jonson1 ,beaumont  and ,fletcher--all  

of whom wrote in the same style and in  
the same  spirit as he did4 ,there are  
the same characters in their dramas as  
in ,shakespeare's1 the same violent and 
terrible characters1 the same  murderous
 and unforeseen occurrences1 the same   
sudden and frenzied  passions1 the same 
irregular1 capricious1 turgid1          
magnificent style1  the same exquisite  
poetic feeling for rural life and       
landscape1 and  the same delicate1      
tender1 affectionate ideals of woman4   
,in a similar way ,rubens is to be      
judged4 ,rubens apparently stands       
alone1 without either predecessor or    
successor4 ,on going to ,belgium1       
however1 and visiting the churches of   
,ghent1 ,brussels1 ,bruges1 or          
,antwerp1 you find a group of painters  
with genius resembling his4  ,first1    
there is ,crayer1 in his day considered 
a rival2 ,seghers1 ,van  ,oost1         
,everdingen1 ,van ,thulden1 ,quellin1   
,hondthorst1 and others1 with  whom you 
are familiar1 ,jordaens1 ,van ,dyck--all

 conceiving painting in  the same       
spirit1 and with many distinctive       
features1 all preserving a  family      
likeness4 ,like ,rubens1 these artists  
delighted in painting ruddy  and healthy
 flesh1 the rich and quivering          
palpitation of life1 the  fresh and     
sensuous pulp which is diffused so      
richly over the surface of  the living  
being1 the real1 and often brutal types1
 the transport and  abandonment of      
unfettered action1 the splendid lustrous
 and embroidered  draperies1 the varying
 hues of silk and purple1 and the       
display of  shifting and waving folds4  
,at the present day they seem to be     
obscured  by the glory of their great   
contemporary2 but it is not the less    
true  that to comprehend him it is      
necessary to study him amidst this      
cluster  of brilliants of which he is   
the brightest gem--this family of       
artists1  of which he is the most       
illustrious representative4    ,this    
being the second step1 there now remains

 the third4 ,this family  of artists is 
itself comprehended in another whole    
more vast1 which  is the world          
surrounding it1 and whose taste is      
similar4 ,the social  and intellectual  
condition is the same for the public as 
for artists2  they are not isolated men2
 it is their voice alone that we hear at
  this moment1 through the space of     
centuries1 but1 beneath this living     
voice which comes vibrating to us1 we   
distinguish a murmur1 and1 as it  were1 
a vast1 low sound1 the great infinite   
and varied voice of the  people1        
chanting in unison with them4 ,they have
 been great through this  harmony1 and  
it is very necessary that it should ever
 be so4 ,phidias  and ,ictinus1 the     
constructors of the ,parthenon and of   
the ,olympian  ,jupiter1 were1 like     
other ,athenians1 pagans and free       
citizens1 brought  up in the palstra1   
exercising and wrestling naked1 and     
accustomed  to deliberate and vote in   
the public assemblies2 possessing the   

same  habits1 the same interests1 the   
same ideas1 the same faith2 men of  the 
same race1 the same education1 the same 
language2 so that in all  the important 
acts of their life they are found in    
harmony with their  spectators4    ,this
 harmony becomes still more apparent if 
we consider an age nearer  our own4 ,for
 example1 take the great ,spanish epoch 
of the sixteenth  and a part of the     
seventeenth centuries1 in which lived   
the great  painters1 ,velasquez1        
,murillo1 ,zurbaran1 ,francisco de      
,herrera1 ,alonzo  ,cano1 and ,morales2 
and the great poets1 ,lope de ,vega1    
,calderon1  ,cervantes1 ,tirso de       
,molina1 ,don ,luis de ,leon1 ,guilhem  
de ,castro1  and so many others4 ,you   
know that at this time ,spain was       
entirely  monarchical and ,catholic2    
that she had over-come the ,turks at    
,lepanto2  that she planted her foot in 
,africa and maintained herself there2   
that  she combated the ,protestants in  
,germany1 pursued them in ,france and   

attacked them in ,england2 that she     
subdued and converted the idolaters  of 
the new world1 and chased away ,jews and
 ,moors from her own soil2  that she    
purged her own faith with autodafs and  
persecutions3 that  she lavished fleets 
and armies1 and the gold and silver of  
her ,american  possessions1 along with  
her most precious children1 the vital   
blood of  her own heart1 upon multiplied
 and boundless crusades1 so obstinately 
and so fanatically1 that at the end of a
 century and a half she fell  prostrate 
at the feet of ,europe1 but with such   
enthusiasm1 such a  burst of glory1 such
 national fervor1 that her subjects1    
enamored of  the monarchy in which their
 power was concentrated1 and with the   
cause  to which they devoted their      
lives1 felt no other desire than that of
  elevating religion and royalty by     
their obedience1 and of forming  around 
the ,church and the ,throne a choir of  
faithful1 militant1 and  adoring        
supporters4 ,in this monarchy of        

crusaders and inquisitors1  preserving  
the chivalric sentiments and sombre     
passions1 the ferocity1  intolerance1   
and mysticism of the middle ages1 the   
greatest artists  are the very men who  
possessed in the highest degree the     
faculties1  sentiments1 and passions of 
the public that surrounded them4 ,the   
most  celebrated poets--,lope de ,vega  
and ,calderon--were military            
adventurers1  volunteers in the ,armada1
 duellists and lovers1 as exalted and as
  mystic in love as the poets and ,don  
,quixotes of feudal times2 they were    
passionate ,catholics and so ardent     
that1 at the end of their lives1  one   
became a familiar of the ,inquisition1  
others became priests1 and  the most    
illustrious among them--the great ,lope 
de ,vega--fainted on  saying ,mass1 at  
the thought of the sacrifice and        
martyrdom of ,jesus4  ,everywhere may be
 found similar examples of the alliance1
 the intimate  harmony existing between 
an artist and his contemporaries2 and we

 may  rest assured that if we desire to 
comprehend the taste or the genius  of  
an artist1 the reasons leading him to   
choose a particular style of  painting  
or drama1 to prefer this or that        
character or coloring1 and to  represent
 particular sentiments1 we must seek for
 them in the social  and intellectual   
conditions of the community in the midst
 of which he  lived4    ,we have        
therefore to lay down this rule3 that1  
in order to comprehend  a work of art1  
an artist or a group of artists1 we must
 clearly  comprehend the general social 
and intellectual condition of the times 
to which they belong4 ,herein is to be  
found the final explanation2  herein    
resides the primitive cause determining 
all that follows it4  ,this truth1      
gentlemen1 is confirmed by experience4  
,in short1 if we pass  in review the    
principal epochs of the history of art1 
we find that  the arts appear and       
disappear along with certain            
accompanying social  and intellectual   

conditions4 ,for example1 the ,greek    
tragedy--that  of schylus1 ,sophocles1  
and ,euripides--appears at the time when
 the  ,greeks were victorious over the  
,persians2 at the heroic era of small   
republican cities1 at the moment of the 
great struggle by which  they acquired  
their independence and established their
 ascendency  in the civilized world2 and
 we see it disappearing along with this 
independence and this vigor when a      
degeneracy of character and the         
,macedonian conquest delivered ,greece  
over to strangers4 ,it is the  same with
 ,gothic architecture1 developing along 
with the definitive  establishment of   
feudalism in the semi-renaissance of the
 eleventh  century at the period when   
society1 delivered from brigands and    
,normans1 began to consolidate1 and     
disappearing at the period when  the    
military system of petty independent    
barons1 with the manners and  customs   
growing out of it vanished near the end 
of the fifteenth  century1 on the advent

 of modern monarchies4 ,it is the same  
with  ,dutch painting1 which flourished 
at the glorious period when1  through   
firmness and courage1 ,holland succeeded
 in freeing herself  from ,spanish rule1
 combated ,england with equal power1 and
 became  the richest1 freest1 most      
industrious1 and most prosperous state  
in  ,europe3 and we see it declining at 
the commencement of the eighteenth      
century1 when ,holland1 fallen into a   
secondary rank1 leaves the first  to    
,england1 reducing itself to a          
well-ordered1 safely administered1      
quiet1 commercial banking-house1 in     
which man1 an honest bourgeois1  could  
live at ease1 exempt from every great   
ambition and every grand  emotion4 ,it  
is the same1 finally1 with ,french      
tragedy appearing at  the period when a 
noble and well-regulated monarchy1 under
 ,louis  ,,xiv41 established the empire 
of decorum1 the life of the court1 the  
pomp and circumstance of society1 and   
the elegant domestic phases  of         

aristocracy2 disappearing when the      
social rule of nobles and the  manners  
of the antechamber were abolished by the
 ,revolution4    ,i would like to make  
you more sensible by a comparison of    
this effect  of the social and          
intellectual state on the ,fine ,arts4  
,suppose you  are leaving the land of   
the south for that of the north2 you    
perceive  on entering a certain zone a  
particular mode of cultivation and a    
particular species of plant3 first come 
the aloe and the orange2 a  little      
later1 the vine and the olive2 after    
these1 the oak and the  chestnut2 a     
little further on1 oats and the pine1   
and finally1 mosses  and lichens4 ,each 
zone has its own mode of cultivation and
 peculiar  vegetation2 both begin at the
 commencement1 and both finish at the   
end of the zone2 both are attached to   
it4 ,the zone is the condition  of their
 existence2 by its presence or its      
absence is determined  what shall appear
 and what shall disappear4 ,now1 what is

 this zone  but a certain temperature2  
in other words1 a certain degree of heat
  and moisture2 in short1 a certain     
number of governing circumstances       
analogous in its germ to that which we  
called a moment ago the social  and     
intellectual state8    ,just as there is
 a physical temperature1 which by its   
variations  determines the appearance of
 this or that species of plant1 so is   
there a moral temperature1 which by its 
variations determines the  appearance of
 this or that species of art4 ,and as we
 study the physical  temperature in     
order to comprehend the advent of this  
or that species  of plants1 whether     
maize or oats1 the orange or the pine1  
so is it  necessary to study the moral  
temperature in order to comprehend the  
advent of various phases of art1 whether
 pagan sculpture or realistic  painting1
 mystic architecture or classic         
literature1 voluptuous music  or ideal  
poetry4 ,the productions of the human   
mind1 like those of  animated nature1   

can only be explained by their milieu4  
,hence the study ,i intend to offer you 
this season1 of the history of  painting
 in ,italy4 ,i shall attempt to lay     
before your eyes the mystic  milieu1 in 
which appeared ,giotto and ,beato       
,angelico1 and to this end  ,i shall    
read passages from the poets and        
legendary writers1 containing  the ideas
 entertained by the men of those days   
concerning happiness1  misery1 love1    
faith1 paradise1 hell1 and all the great
 interests of  humanity4 ,we shall find 
documentary evidence in the poetry of   
,dante1  of ,guido ,cavalcanti1 of the  
,franciscans1 in the ,golden ,legend1 in
 the  ,imitation of ,jesus ,christ1 in  
the ,fioretti of ,st4 ,francis1 in the  
works of historians like ,dino          
,campagni1 and in that vast collection  
of chroniclers by ,muratori1 which so   
naively portray the jealousies  and     
disturbances of the small ,italian      
republics4 ,after this ,i shall  attempt
 to place before you in the same manner 

the pagan milieu  which a century and a 
half later produced ,leonardo da ,vinci1
 ,michael  ,angelo1 ,raphael and        
,titian1 and to this end ,i shall read1 
either from  the memoirs of             
contemporaries--,benvenuto ,cellini for 
instance--or from  the diverse          
chronicles kept daily in ,rome and in   
the principal ,italian  cities1 or from 
the despatches of ambassadors1 or1      
finally1 from the  descriptions of ftes1
 masquerades1 and civic receptions1     
which are  remarkable fragments1        
displaying the brutality1 sensuality1   
and vigor  of society1 as well as the   
lively poetic sentiment1 the love of the
  picturesque1 the great literary       
sentiment1 the decorative instincts1    
and the passion for external splendor   
which at that time are seen as  well    
among the people and the ignorant crowd 
as among the great and the  lettered4   
,suppose now1 gentlemen1 we should      
succeed in this undertaking1 and  that  
we should be able to mark clearly and   

precisely the various  intellectual     
conditions which have led to the birth  
of ,italian  painting--its development1 
its bloom1 its varieties and decline4   
,suppose the same undertaking successful
 with other countries1 and other  ages1 
and with the different branches of art1 
architecture1 sculpture1  painting1     
poetry1 and music4 ,suppose1 that       
through the effect of all  these        
discoveries1 we succeed in defining the 
nature1 and in marking  the conditions  
of existence of each art1 we shall then 
have a complete  explanation of the     
,fine ,arts1 and of all in general2 that
 is to say1 a  philosophy of the ,fine  
,arts--what is called an sthetic system4
 ,this  is what we aim at1 gentlemen1   
and nothing else4 ,ours is modern1 and  
differs from the ancient1 inasmuch as it
 is historic1 and not dogmatic2  that is
 to say1 it imposes no precepts1 but    
ascertains and verifies  laws4 ,ancient 
sthetics gave1 at first1 a definition of
 beauty1 and  declared1 for instance1   

that the beautiful is the expression of 
the  moral ideal1 or rather is the      
expression of the invisible1 or1 rather 
still1 is the expression of the human   
passions2 then starting hence1  as from 
an article of a code1 they absolved1    
condemned1 admonished1  and directed4   
,it is my good fortune not to have such 
a formidable  task to meet4 ,i do not   
wish to guide you--it would embarrass me
 too  much4 ,besides1 ,i say with all   
humility1 that1 as to precepts1 we have 
as yet found but two3 the first is to be
 born a genius1 an affair of  your      
parents1 and not mine2 and the second1  
which implies much labor  in order to   
master art1 which likewise does not     
depend on me1 but  on yourselves4 ,my   
sole duty is to offer you facts1 and    
show you how  these facts are produced4 
,the modern method1 which ,i strive to  
pursue1  and which is beginning to be   
introduced in all the moral sciences1   
consists in considering human           
productions1 and particularly works of  

art1 as facts and productions of which  
it is essential to mark the             
characteristics and seek the causes1 and
 nothing more4 ,thus understood1        
science neither pardons nor proscribes2 
it verifies and explains4 ,it  does not 
say to you1 despise ,dutch art because  
it is vulgar1 and prize  only ,italian  
art2 nor does it say to you despise     
,gothic art because  it is morbid1 and  
prize only ,greek art4 ,it leaves every 
one free to  follow their own           
predilections1 to prefer that which is  
germane to  one's temperament1 and to   
study with the greatest care that which 
best corresponds to the development of  
one's own mind4 ,science has  sympathies
 for all the forms of art1 and for all  
schools1 even for  those the most       
opposed to each other4 ,it accepts them 
as so many  manifestations of the human 
mind1 judging that the more numerous    
they  are1 and the more antithetical1   
the more they show the human mind in    
its innumerable and novel phases4 ,it is

 analogous to botany1 which  studies the
 orange1 the laurel1 the pine1 and the  
birch1 with equal  interest2 it is      
itself a species of botany1 applied not 
to plants1 but  to the works of man4 ,by
 virtue of this it keeps pace with the  
general  movement of the day1 which now 
affiliates the moral sciences with  the 
natural sciences1 and which1 giving to  
the first the principles1  precautions1 
and directions of the second1 gives to  
them the same  stability1 and assures   
them the same progress4          ,,ii4  
,i wish to apply at once this method to 
the first and principal  question by    
which a course of sthetics is opened    
out1 and which  is a definition of art4 
,what is art1 and in what does its      
nature  consist8 ,instead of            
establishing a formula1 ,i wish to      
familiarize you  with facts1 for facts  
exist here as elsewhere--positive facts 
open to  observation2 ,i mean works of  
art arranged by families in galleries   
and libraries1 like plants in an        

herbarium1 and animals in a museum4     
,analysis may be applied to the one as  
to the others2 a work of art  may be    
investigated generally1 as we           
investigate a plant or an animal        
generally4 ,there is no more need of    
discarding experience in the first  case
 than in the second2 the entire process 
consists in discovering1  by numerous   
comparisons and progressive             
eliminations1 traits common  to all     
works of art1 and1 at the same time1 the
 distinctive traits by  which works of  
art are separated from other productions
 of the human  intellect4    ,to this   
end we will1 among the five great arts  
of poetry1 sculpture1  painting1        
architecture1 and music1 set aside the  
last two1 of which  the explanation is  
more difficult1 and to which we will    
return  afterwards2 we shall at present 
consider only the three first4 ,all1 as 
you are aware1 possess a common         
character1 that of being more or less   
imitative arts4    ,at the first glance1

 it seems that this is their principal  
character1  and their object is         
imitation as exact as possible4 ,for it 
is plain  that a statue is meant to     
imitate accurately a really living man2 
that  a picture is intended to portray  
real persons in real attitudes1 the     
interior of a house and a landscape1    
such as nature presents4 ,it is no  less
 evident that a drama1 a romance1       
attempts to represent faithfully        
characters1 actions1 and actual speech1 
and to give as precise and as  accurate 
a picture of them as is possible4 ,when1
 accordingly1 the image  is inadequate  
or inexact1 we say to the sculptor1     
,this breast or this  limb is not well  
executed2 and to the painter1 ,the      
figures of your  background are too     
large--the coloring of your trees is    
faulty2 and we  say to the author1      
,never did man feel or think as you have
 imagined  him4    ,but there are other 
proofs1 still stronger1 and first1      
every-day  experience4 ,when we behold  

what takes place in the life of an      
artist1  we perceive that it is         
generally divided into two sections4    
,during  the first1 in the youth and    
maturity of his talent1 he sees things  
as  they are1 and studies them minutely 
and earnestly2 he fixes his eyes  on    
them2 he labors and worries to express  
them1 and he expresses them  with more  
than scrupulous fidelity4 ,arriving at a
 certain moment of  life1 he thinks he  
understands them thoroughly and         
discovers no more  novelty in them2 he  
casts aside the living model1 and with  
certain  prescribed rules which he has  
picked up in the course of his          
experience  he forms a drama or a       
romance1 a picture or a statue4 ,the    
first epoch  is that of natural feeling2
 the second that of mannerism and       
decline4  ,if we penetrate the lives of 
the greatest men1 we rarely fail to     
discover both4 ,in the life of ,michael 
,angelo1 the first period lasted  a long
 time1 a little less than sixty years2  

all the works belonging  to it disclose 
the sentiment of force and heroic       
grandeur4 ,the artist  is imbued with   
it2 he has no other thought4 ,his       
numerous dissections1  his countless    
drawings1 the unremitted analysis of his
 own heart1 his  study of the tragic    
passions and of their physical          
expression1 are  for him but the means  
of manifesting outwardly the militant   
energy  with which he is carried away4  
,this idea descends upon you from every 
corner of the great vault of the        
,sistine chapel4 ,enter the ,pauline    
chapel alongside of it1 and contemplate 
the works of his old age--the           
,conversion of ,st4 ,paul1 the          
,crucifixion of ,st4 ,peter2 consider   
even  the ,last ,judgment1 which he     
painted in his seventy-seventh year4    
,connoisseurs1 and those who are not1   
recognize at once that the two  frescoes
 are executed according to prescribed   
rules2 that the artist  possessed a     
certain number of forms1 which he used  

conventionally2  that he multiplied     
extraordinary attitudes1 and ingeniously
 contrived  foreshortenings2 that the   
lively invention1 naturalness1 the great
  transport of the heart1 the perfect   
truth peculiar to his first works1      
have1 at least in part1 disappeared from
 the abuse of technique and  the force  
of routine2 and that if he is still     
superior to others1 he is  greatly      
inferior to himself4    ,the same       
comment may be made on another          
life--that of our ,french  ,michael     
,angelo1 ,corneille4 ,in the first years
 of his life1 ,corneille  was likewise  
struck by the feeling of force1 and of  
moral heroism4  ,he found it around him 
in the vigorous passions bequeathed by  
the  religious wars to the new monarchy2
 in the daring acts of duellists2  in   
the proud feeling of honor which still  
carried away the devotees  of feudalism2
 in the bloody tragedies which the plots
 of princes and  the executions of      
,richelieu furnished as spectacles for  

the court2 and  he created personages   
like ,chimne and the ,cid4 like         
,polyeucte  and ,pauline1 like ,cornlie1
 ,sertorius1 milie1 and les ,horaces4   
,afterwards he produced ,pertharite1    
,attila1 and other feeble works1 in     
which the situations merge into the     
horrible1 and generous emotions  lose   
themselves in extravagance4 ,in this    
period the living models he  once       
contemplated no longer had a social     
setting2 at least he no longer  sought  
them1 he failed to renew his            
inspiration4 ,he was governed by        
prescribed rules due to the memory of   
processes which he had formerly  found  
in the heat of enthusiasm1 literary     
theories1 dissertations and             
distinctions on theatrical catastrophes 
and dramatic licenses4 ,he  copied and  
exaggerated himself2 learning1          
calculation and routine shut  out from  
him the direct and personal             
contemplation of powerful emotions  and 
of noble actions2 he no longer created1 

but manufactured4    ,it is not alone   
the history of this or that great man   
which proves to  us the necessity of    
imitating the living model1 and of      
keeping the eye  fixed on nature1 but   
rather the history of every great school
 of art4  ,every school 7,i believe     
without exception7 degenerates and      
falls1  simply through its neglect of   
exact imitation1 and its abandonment  of
 the living model4 ,you see it in       
painting1 in the fabricators of  muscles
 and exaggerated attitudes who succeeded
 ,michael ,angelo2 in  the sciolists of 
theatrical decorations and in the brawny
 rotundities  which have followed the   
great ,venetians2 and in the boudoir and
 alcove  painters which closed the      
,french school of art of the eighteenth 
century4 ,the same thing occurs in      
literature1 with the versifiers and     
rhetoricians of the ,latin decadence2   
with the sensual and declamatory        
playwrights closing the bright period of
 the ,english drama1 and  with the      

manufacturers of sonnets1 puns1         
witticisms1 and bombast of  the ,italian
 decline4 ,among these ,i will cite two 
striking examples4  ,the first is the   
decline of sculpture and painting in    
antiquity1  of which you obtain a vivid 
impression by visiting ,pompeii1 and    
afterwards ,ravenna4 ,at ,pompeii the   
painting and sculpture belong to  the   
first century of the present era2 at    
,ravenna the mosaics are of  the sixth  
century1 about the times of the ,emperor
 ,justinian4 ,in this  interval of five 
centuries art becomes irremediably      
corrupt1 and its  degeneracy is wholly  
due to the neglect of the living model4 
,in the  first century the pagan manners
 and tastes of the palestra still       
existed4 ,men wore their vestments loose
 and cast them off easily1  frequented  
the baths1 exercised in a state of      
nudity1 witnessed  the combats of the   
circus1 ever contemplating              
sympathetically and  intelligently the  
active movements of the living body4    

,their sculptors  and painters1         
surrounded by nude and half-nude forms1 
were capable of  reproducing them4      
,accordingly1 you will see on the walls 
of ,pompeii1  in the little oratories   
and in the inner courts1 beautiful      
dancing  females1 spirited1 supple young
 heroes1 with manly chests1 agile  feet1
 every posture and form of the body     
rendered with an ease and  accuracy to  
which the most elaborate study of the   
present day cannot  attain4 ,during the 
following five hundred years everything 
gradually  changes4 ,pagan manners1 the 
use of the palestra1 and the love of    
the nude1 disappear4 ,the body is no    
longer exposed1 but concealed  under    
complicated drapery1 and under a display
 of lace1 purple1 and  oriental         
magnificence4 ,people no longer esteem  
the wrestler and the  youthful          
gymnast1#a but the eunuch1 the scribe1  
the monk1 and the woman4  ,asceticism   
gains ground1 and with it a love for    
listless reverie1  hollow disputation1  

scribbling and wrangling4 ,the worn-out 
babblers  of the ,lower ,empire replace 
the valiant ,greek athletes and the     
hardy  combatants of ,rome4 ,by degrees 
the knowledge and study of the living   
model are interdicted4 ,people have     
discarded it4 ,their eyes rest only  on 
the works of ancient masters1 and they  
copy these4 ,soon copies  are only made 
of copies1 and again copies of these1 so
 that each  generation recedes a step   
from the original type4 ,the artist     
ceases to  have his own idea and his own
 feeling1 and becomes a copying machine4
  ,the ,fathers declare that he must    
invent nothing1 but must adhere to      
lineaments prescribed by tradition and  
sanctioned by authority4 ,this          
separation of the artist from the living
 model brings art to the  condition in  
which you see it at ,ravenna4 ,at the   
end of five centuries1  artists can only
 represent man in two ways--seated and  
standing2 other  attitudes are too      
difficult1 and are beyond their         

capacity4 ,hands and  feet appear rigid 
as if fractured1 the folds of drapery   
are wooden1  figures seem to be         
mannikins1 and heads are invaded by the 
eyes4 ,art is  like an invalid sinking  
under a mortal consumption2 it is       
languishing1  and about to expire4      
,in a different branch of art amongst   
ourselves1 and in a neighboring         
century1 we find again a similar        
decline1 and brought about by  similar  
causes4 ,in the age of ,louis ,,xiv41   
literature attained to a  perfect style1
 to a purity1 to a precision1 to a      
sobriety of which  we have no example2  
dramatic art1 especially1 created a     
language and  a style of versification  
deemed by all ,europe a masterpiece of  
the  human intellect4 ,this is due to   
the fact of writers finding their       
models around them and constantly       
observing them4 ,the language of  ,louis
 ,,xiv4 was perfect1 displaying a       
dignity1 eloquence1 and gravity  truly  
royal4 ,we know by the letters1         

despatches1 and memoirs of the  court   
personages of that time1 that an        
aristocratic tone1 sustained  elegance1 
propriety of terms1 dignified manners1  
and the art of correct  speaking1 were  
as common to courtiers as to monarch2 so
 that the writer  frequenting their     
society1 had but to draw on his memory  
and experience  in order to obtain the  
very best materials of his art4         
,footnote #a3 4          ,,iii4      ,is
 this true in every particular1 and must
 we conclude that absolutely  exact     
imitation is the end of art8    ,if this
 were so1 gentlemen1 absolutely exact   
imitation would produce  the finest     
works4 ,but1 in fact1 it is not so4 ,in 
sculpture1 for  instance1 casting is the
 process by which a faithful and minute 
impression of a model is obtained1 and  
certainly a good cast is not  equal to a
 good statue4 ,again1 and in another    
domain1 photography  is the art which   
completely reproduces with lines and    
tints on a  flat surface1 without       

possible mistake1 the forms and         
modelling of  the object imitated4      
,photography is undoubtedly a useful    
auxiliary  to painting1 and is sometimes
 tastefully employed by cultivated and  
intelligent men2 but after all1 no one  
thinks of comparing it with  painting4  
,and finally1 as a last illustration1 if
 it were true that  exact imitation is  
the supreme aim of art1 let me ask what 
would be the  best tragedy8 the best    
comedy8 the best drama8 ,a stenographic 
report  of a criminal trial1 every word 
of which is faithfully recorded4 ,it  is
 clear1 however1 that if we sometimes   
encounter in it flashes of  nature and  
occasional outbursts of sentiment1 these
 are but veins of  pure metal in a mass 
of worthless dross2 it may furnish a    
writer with  materials for his art1 but 
it does not constitute a work of art4   
,some may possibly say1 that            
photography1 casting1 and stenography   
are  mechanical processes1 and that we  
ought to leave mechanism out of the     

question1 and accordingly limit our     
comparisons to man's work4 ,let us1     
therefore1 select works by artists      
conspicuous for minute fidelity4  ,there
 is a canvas in the ,louvre by ,denner4 
,this artist worked  microscopically1   
taking four years to finish a portrait4 
,nothing in his  heads is               
overlooked--the finest lines and        
wrinkles1 the faintly mottled  surface  
of the cheeks1 the black specks         
scattered over the nose1 the  bluish    
flush of imperceptible veins meandering 
under the skin1 nor the  reflection of  
objects in the vicinity on the eye4 ,we 
are struck with  astonishment4 ,this    
head is a perfect illusion2 it seems to 
project  out of the frame4 ,such success
 and such patience are unparalleled4    
,substantially1 however1 a broad sketch 
by ,van ,dyck is a hundredfold  more    
powerful4 ,beside1 neither in painting  
nor in any other art are  prizes awarded
 to deceptions4    ,a second and        
stronger proof1 that exact imitation is 

not the end of  art1 is to be found in  
this fact1 that certain arts are        
purposely  inexact4 ,there is sculpture1
 for instance4 ,a statue is generally   
of one color1 either of bronze or of    
marble2 and again1 the eyes  are without
 eyeballs4 ,it is just this uniformity  
of tint1 and this  modification of moral
 expression1 which completes its beauty4
 ,examine  corresponding works1 in which
 imitation is pushed to extremity4 ,the 
churches of ,naples and ,spain contain  
draped statues1 colored2 saints in      
actual monastic garb1 with yellow earthy
 skins1 suitable to ascetics1  and      
bleeding hands and wounded sides        
characteristic of the martyred4         
,alongside of these appear madonnas1 in 
royal robes1 in festive dresses1  and in
 bright silks1 crowned with diadems1    
wearing precious necklaces1  brilliant  
ribbons1 and magnificent laces1 and with
 rosy complexions1  glittering eyes1 and
 eyeballs formed of carbuncles4 ,by this
 excess  of literal imitation1 the      

artist gives no pleasure1 but           
repugnance1  often disgust1 and         
sometimes horror4    ,it is the same in 
literature4 ,the best half of dramatic  
poetry1 every  classic ,greek and       
,french drama1 and the greater part of  
,spanish and  ,english dramas1 far from 
literally copying ordinary conversation1
  intentionally modify human speech4    
,each of these dramatic poets makes  his
 characters speak in verse1 casting     
their dialogue in rhythm1 and  often in 
rhyme4 ,is this modification prejudicial
 to the work8 ,far from  it4 ,one of the
 great works of the age1 the ,iphigenia 
of ,goethe1 which  was at first written 
in prose and afterwards re-written in   
verse1  affords abundant evidence of    
this4 ,it is beautiful in prose1 but in 
verse what a difference6 ,the           
modification of ordinary language1 in   
the  introduction of rhythm and metre1  
evidently gives to this work its        
incomparable accent1 that calm          
sublimity1 that broad1 sustained tragic 

tone1 which elevates the spirit above   
the low level of common life1 and       
brings before the eye the heroes of     
ancient days--that lost race of         
primitive souls--and1 among them1 the   
august virgin1 interpreter of the  gods1
 custodian of the laws1 and the         
benefactress of mankind1 in whom  is    
concentrated whatever is noble and good 
in human nature1 in order to  glorify   
our species and renew the inspiration of
 our hearts4          ,,iv4      ,it is 
essential1 then1 to closely imitate     
something in an object2  but not        
everything4 ,we have now to discover    
what imitation should  be applied to4   
,anticipating an answer to this1 ,i     
reply1 ,to the  relationships and mutual
 dependence of parts4 ,excuse this      
abstract  definition--,i will make my   
meaning clearer to you4    ,imagine     
yourselves before a living model1 man or
 woman1 with a pencil1  and a piece of  
paper twice the dimensions of your hand1
 on which to  copy it4 ,certainly1 you  

cannot be expected to reproduce the     
magnitude  of the limbs1 for your paper 
is too small2 nor can you be expected to
  reproduce their color1 for you have   
only black and white to work with4      
,what you have to do is to reproduce    
their relationships1 and first  the     
proportions1 that is to say1 the        
relationships of magnitude4 ,if  the    
head is of a certain length1 the body   
must be so many times longer  than the  
head1 the arm of a length equally       
dependent on that1 and  the leg the     
same2 and so on with the other members4 
,again1 you are  required to reproduce  
forms1 or the relationships of position3
 this or  that curve1 oval1 angle1 or   
sinuosity in the model must be repeated 
in the copy by a line of the same       
nature4 ,in short1 your object is to    
reproduce the aggregate of              
relationships1 by which the parts are   
linked  together1 and nothing else2 it  
is not the simple corporeal appearance  
that you have to give1 but the logic of 

the whole body4    ,suppose1 in like    
manner1 you are contemplating some      
actual character1  some scene in real   
life1 high or low1 and you are asked to 
furnish  a description of it4 ,to do    
this you have your eyes1 your ears1 your
  memory1 and1 perhaps1 a pencil1 to dot
 down five or six notes--no  great      
means1 but ample for your purpose4 ,what
 is expected of you is1  not to record  
every word and motion1 all the actions  
of the personage1  or of the fifteen or 
twenty persons that are figured before  
you1  but1 as before1 to note           
proportions1 connections1 and           
relationships2  you are expected1 in the
 first place1 to keep exactly the       
proportion  of the actions of the       
personage1 in other words1 to give      
prominence  to ambitious acts1 if he is 
ambitious1 to avaricious acts1 if he is 
avaricious1 and to violent acts1 if he  
is violent2 after this1 to  observe the 
reciprocal connection of these same     
acts2 that is to  say1 to provoke one   

reply by another1 to originate a        
resolution1 a  sentiment1 an idea by an 
idea1 a sentiment1 a preceding          
resolution1  and moreover by the actual 
condition of the personage2 in addition 
to  that1 still by the general character
 bestowed on him4 ,in short1 in  the    
literary effort1 as in the pictorial    
effort1 it is important to  transcribe1 
not the visible outlines of persons and 
events1 but the  aggregate of their     
relationships and interdependencies1    
that is to say1  their logic4    ,as a  
general rule1 therefore1 whatever       
interests us in a real  personage1 and  
which we entreat the artist to extract  
and render1 is  his outward or inward   
logic2 in other terms1 his structure1   
composition  and action4    ,we have    
here1 as you perceive1 corrected the    
first definition given2  it is not      
cancelled1 but purified4 ,we have       
discovered a more elevated  character   
for art1 which thus becomes             
intellectual1 and not mechanical4       

,v4      ,does this suffice us8 ,do we  
find works of art simply confined to a  
reproduction of the relationships of    
parts8 ,by no means1 for the  greatest  
schools are justly those in which actual
 relationships are  most modified4      
,consider1 for example1 the ,italian    
school in its  greatest artist1 ,michael
 ,angelo1 and1 in order to give         
precision to  our ideas1 let us recall  
his principal work1 the four marble     
statues  surmounting the tomb of the    
,medicis at ,florence4 ,those of you who
  have not seen the originals1 are at   
least familiar with copies of  them4 ,in
 the figures of these men1 and          
especially in the reclining  females1   
sleeping or waking1 the proportions of  
the parts are certainly  not the same as
 in real personages4 ,similar figures   
exist nowhere1  even in ,italy4 ,you    
will see there young1 handsome1         
well-dressed men1  peasants with bright 
eyes and a fierce expression1 academy   
models  with firm muscles and a proud   

bearing2 but neither in a village nor at
  festivities1 nor in the studios of    
,italy or elsewhere1 at the present     
time or in the sixteenth century1 does  
any real man or woman resemble  the     
indignant heroes and the colossal       
despairing virgins which this  great    
artist has placed before us in this     
funereal chapel4 ,michael  ,angelo found
 these types in his own genius and in   
his own heart4 ,in  order to create them
 it was necessary to have the soul of a 
recluse1  of a meditative man1 of a     
lover of justice2 the soul of an        
impassioned  and generous nature        
bewildered in the midst of enervated and
 corrupt  beings1 amidst treachery and  
oppression1 before the inevitable       
triumph of tyranny and injustice1 under 
the ruins of liberty and of             
nationality1 himself threatened with    
death1 feeling that if he lived  it was 
only by favor1 and perhaps only by a    
short respite1 incapable  of sycophancy 
and of submission1 taking refuge        

entirely in that  art by which1 in the  
silence of servitude1 his great heart   
and his  great despair still spoke4 ,he 
wrote on the pedestal of his sleeping   
statue--,sleep is sweet1 and yet more   
sweet is it to be of stone1 while  shame
 and misery last4 ,fortunate am ,i not  
to see--not to feel4 ,forbear  to arouse
 me6 ,ah6 speak low6    ,this is the    
sentiment which revealed to him such    
forms4 ,to express  it1 he has changed  
the ordinary proportions2 he has        
lengthened the  trunk and the limbs1    
twisted the torso upon the hips1        
hollowed out the  sockets of the eyes1  
furrowed the forehead with wrinkles     
similar to  the lion's frowning brow1   
raised mountains of muscles on the      
shoulder1  ridged the spine with        
tendons1 and so fastened the vertebras  
that it  resembles the links of an iron 
chain strained to their utmost tension  
and about to break4    ,let us consider1
 in like manner1 the ,flemish school2   
and in this  school the great ,fleming1 

,rubens1 and one of the most striking of
  his works1 the ,kermesse4 ,in this    
work1 no more than in those of  ,michael
 ,angelo1 will you find an imitation of 
ordinary proportions4  ,visit ,flanders1
 and observe the types of mankind about 
you1 even  at feastings and revellings1 
such as the ftes of ,gayant1 ,antwerp1  
and other places4 ,you will see         
comfortable-looking people eating  much 
and drinking more2 serenely smoking1    
cool1 phlegmatic bodies2  dull-looking1 
and with massive1 irregular features1   
strongly resembling  the figures of     
,teniers4 ,as to the splendid brutes of 
the ,kermesse1  you meet nothing like   
them6 ,rubens certainly found them      
elsewhere4  ,after the horrible         
religious wars1 this rich country of    
,flanders1  so long devastated1 finally 
attained peace and civil security4 ,the 
soil is so good1 and the people so      
prudent1 comfort and prosperity         
returned almost at once4 ,everybody     
enjoyed this new prosperity and         

abundance2 the contrast between the past
 and the present led to the  indulgence 
of rude and carnal instincts let loose  
like horses and  cattle after long      
privation in fresh1 green fields1       
abounding in the  richest pasture4      
,rubens himself was sensible of them2   
and the poetry  of gross1 sumptuous     
living1 of satisfied and redundant      
flesh1 of  brutal1 inordinate           
merry-making1 found a ready outlet in   
the shameless  sensualities and         
voluptuous ruddiness1 in the whiteness  
and freshness  of the nudities of which 
he was so prodigal4 ,in order to express
 all  this in the ,kermesse he has      
expanded the trunk1 enlarged the thighs1
  twisted the loins1 deepened the       
redness of the cheeks1 dishevelled  the 
hair1 kindled in the eyes a flame of    
savage1 unbridled desire1  unloosed the 
demons of disorder in the shape of      
shattered glasses1  overturned tables1  
holdings and kissings1 a perfect orgie1 
and the  most extraordinary culmination 

of human bestiality ever portrayed upon 
canvas4    ,these two examples show you 
that the artist1 in modifying the       
relationships of parts1 modifies them   
understandingly1 purposely1 in  such a  
way as to make apparent the essential   
character of the object1  and           
consequently its leading idea according 
to his conception of it4  ,this phrase1 
gentlemen1 requires attention2 this     
essential character  is what            
philosophers call the essence of things2
 and because of this  they say that it  
is the aim of art to manifest the       
essence of things4  ,we will not retain 
this term essence1 which is technical1  
but simply  state that it is the aim of 
art to manifest a predominant character1
  some salient principal quality1 some  
important point of view1 some  essential
 condition of being in the object4      
,we here approach the true definition of
 art1 and accordingly need to  be       
perfectly clear4 ,we must insist on and 
precisely define essential  character4  

,i would premise at once that it is a   
quality from which  all others1 or at   
least most other qualities1 are derived 
according to  definite affinities4      
,grant me again this abstract           
definition3 a few  illustrations will   
make it plain to you4    ,the essential 
character of a lion1 giving him his rank
 in the  classifications of natural     
history1 is that of a great flesh-eater2
  nearly all his traits1 whether        
physical or moral1 as ,i am about to    
prove to you1 are derived from this     
trait as their fountain-head4  ,first1  
there are physical traits3 his teeth    
move like shears2 he has  a jaw         
constructed to tear and to crush2 and   
necessarily1 for1 being  carnivorous1 he
 has to nourish himself with1 and prey  
upon1 living  game2 in order to         
manoeuvre this formidable instrument he 
requires  enormous muscles1 and for     
their insertion1 temporal sockets of    
proportionate size4 ,add to the feet    
other instruments1 the terrible         

contractile claws1 the quick step on the
 extremity of the toes1 a  terrible     
elasticity of the thighs acting like a  
powerful spring1 and  eyes that see best
 at night1 because night is the best    
hunting-time4 ,a  naturalist1 pointing  
to a lion's skeleton1 once said to me1  
,there is a  jaw mounted on four paws4  
,the moral points of the lion are       
likewise in harmony4 ,at first1  there  
is the sanguinary instinct--the craving 
for fresh flesh1 and a  repugnance for  
every other food2 next1 the strength and
 the nervous  excitement through which  
the lion concentrates an enormous amount
 of  force at the instant of attack and 
defence2 and on the other hand1 his     
somniferous habits1 the grave1 sombre   
inertia of moments of repose1  and the  
long yawnings after the excitement of   
the chase4 ,all these  traits are       
derived from his carnivorous character1 
and on this account  we call it his     
essential character4    ,let us now     
consider a more difficult case1 that of 

an entire country1  with its innumerable
 details of structure1 aspect1 and      
cultivation2  its plants1 animals1      
inhabitants1 and towns2 as1 for example1
 the ,low  ,countries4 ,the essential   
character of this region is its alluvial
  formation2 that1 is to say1 a         
formation due to vast quantifies of     
earth brought down by streams and       
deposited about their mouths4 ,from     
this single term spring an infinity of  
peculiarities1 summing up the  entire   
nature of the country1 not only its     
physical outlines1 what it  is in       
itself1 but again the intellectual1     
moral1 and physical qualities  of its   
inhabitants1 and of their works4 ,at    
first1 in the inanimate  world1 come its
 moist and fertile plains1 the necessary
 consequence  of numerous broad rivers  
and vast deposits of productive soil4   
,these  plains are always green1 because
 broad1 tranquil1 and sluggish streams1 
and the innumerable canals so easily    
constructed in soft1 flat ground1       

maintain perennial verdure4 ,you can    
readily imagine1 and on purely  rational
 principles1 the aspect of such a       
country--a dull1 rainy sky1  constantly 
streaked with showers1 and even on fine 
days veiled as if  by gauze with light  
vapory clouds rising from the wet       
surface1 forming  a transparent dome1 an
 airy tissue of delicate1 snowy fleeces1
 over  the broad verdant expanse        
stretching out of sight and rounded to  
the  distant horizon4 ,in the animated  
kingdom these numerous luxuriant        
pastures attract countless herds of     
cattle1 who recline tranquilly on  the  
grass1 or ruminate over their cud1 and  
dot the flat green sward  with          
innumerable spots of white1 yellow1 and 
black4 ,hence the rich  stores of milk  
and meat1 which1 added to the grains and
 vegetables  raised on this prolific    
soil1 furnish its inhabitants with cheap
 and  abundant supplies of food4 ,it    
might well be said that in this country 
water makes grass1 grass makes cattle1  

cattle make cheese1 butter1  and meat2  
and all these1 with beer1 make the      
inhabitant4 ,indeed1 out  of this fat   
living1 and out of this physical        
organization saturated  with moisture1  
spring the phlegmatic temperament1 the  
regular habits1  the tranquil mind and  
nerves1 the capacity to take life easily
  and prudently1 unbroken contentment   
and love of well-being1 and1            
consequently1 the reign of cleanliness  
and the perfection of comfort4  ,these  
consequences extend so far as even to   
affect the aspect of towns4  ,in an     
alluvial country there is no stone2     
building material consists  of          
terra-cotta bricks1 and tiles4 ,rains   
being frequent and heavy1  roofs are    
very sloping1 and as dampness lasts a   
long time1 their fronts  are painted and
 varnished4 ,a ,flemish town1 therefore1
 is a net-work  of brown or red edifices
 always neat1 occasionally glittering   
and  with pointed gables2 here and there
 rises an old church constructed  of    

shingle or of rubble2 streets in the    
best of order run between two           
scrupulously clean lines of sidewalk4   
,in ,holland the sidewalks are laid  in 
brick1 frequently intermingled with     
coarse porcelain3 domestics may  be seen
 at an early hour in the morning on     
their knees cleaning them  off with     
cloths4 ,cast your eyes through the     
dazzling window-panes2  enter a         
club-room decked with green branches1   
with its floor powdered  with sand      
constantly renewed2 visit the taverns1  
brightly painted1  where rows of casks  
display their brown rotund sides1 and   
where the  rich yellow beer foams up out
 of glasses covered with quaint devices4
  ,in all these details of common life1 
in all these signs of inward            
contentment and enduring prosperity1 you
 detect the effects of the  great       
underlying characteristic which is      
stamped upon the climate and  the soil1 
upon the vegetable kingdom and the      
animal kingdom1 upon man  and his works1

 upon society and the individual4       
,through these innumerable effects1 you 
judge of the importance of this         
essential character4 ,it is this which  
art must bring forward into  proper     
light1 and if this task devolves upon   
art1 it is because nature  fails to     
accomplish it4 ,in nature1 this         
essential character is simply  dominant2
 it is the aim of art to render it      
predominant4 ,it moulds  real objects1  
but it does not mould them completely3  
its action is  restricted1 impeded by   
the intervention of other causes2 its   
impression  on objects bearing its stamp
 is not sufficiently strong to be       
clearly  visible4 ,man is sensible of   
this deficiency1 and to remove it he has
  invented art4    ,let us again take up
 ,rubens' ,kermesse4 ,these blooming    
merry wives1  these roystering          
drunkards1 these busts and visages of   
burly unbridled  brutes1 probably found 
counterparts in the carousals of the    
day4  ,over-nourished and exuberant     

nature aimed at producing such gross    
forms  and such coarse manners1 but she 
only half accomplished her task2 other  
causes intervened to stay this excess of
 a carnal jovial energy4 ,there  is1 at 
first1 poverty4 ,in the best of times1  
and in the best countries1  many people 
have not enough to eat1 and fasting1 at 
least partial  abstinence1 misery1 and  
bad air1 all the accompaniments of      
indigence1  diminish the development and
 boisterousness of native brutality4 ,a 
suffering man is not so strong1 and more
 sober4 ,religion1 law1 police          
regulations1 and habits due to steady   
labor1 operate in the same  direction2  
education does its part4 ,out of a      
hundred subjects who1  under favorable  
conditions1 might have furnished ,rubens
 with models1  only five or six1        
perhaps1 could be of any service to him4
 ,suppose now  that these five or six   
figures in the actual festivities which 
he might  have seen were lost in a crowd
 of people more or less indifferent and 

common2 consider again1 that at the     
moment they came under his eye  they    
exhibited neither the attitude1 the     
expression1 the gestures1  the          
abandonment1 the costume1 or the        
disorder requisite to make this  teeming
 excitement apparent4 ,through all these
 draw-backs nature called  art to its   
aid2 she could not clearly distinguish  
the character2 it was  necessary that   
the artist should supplement her4       
,thus is it with every superior work of 
art4 ,while ,raphael was painting  his  
,galatea1 he wrote that1 beautiful women
 being scarce1 he was  following a      
conception of his own4 ,this means that1
 looking at human  nature from a certain
 point of view1 its repose1 its         
felicity1 its  gracious and dignified   
sweetness1 he found no living model to  
express  it satisfactorily4 ,the peasant
 or laboring girl who posed for him1    
had hands deformed by work1 feet spoiled
 by their covering1 and eyes  disordered
 by shame1 or demoralized by her        

calling4 ,his ,fornarina has  drooping  
shoulders1 a meagre arm above the elbow1
 a hard and contracted  expression4#a   
,if he painted her in the ,farnesini    
,palace1 he completely  transformed her1
 developing a character in his painted  
figure of which  the real figure only   
contributed parts and suggestions4      
,thus the province of a work of art is  
to render the essential  character1 or1 
at least1 some capital quality1 the     
predominance of  which must be made as  
perceptible as possible4 ,in order to   
accomplish  this the artist must        
suppress whatever conceals it1 select   
whatever  manifests it1 correct every   
detail by which it is enfeebled1 and    
recast  those in which it is            
neutralized4    ,let us no longer       
consider works but artists1 that is to  
say1 the way in  which artists feel1    
invent1 and produce3 you will find it   
consistent  with the foregoing          
conception of the work of art4 ,there is
 one gift  indispensable to all artists2

 no study1 no degree of patience1       
supplies  its place2 if it is wanting in
 them they are nothing but copyists and 
mechanics4 ,in confronting objects the  
artist must experience original         
sensation2 the character of an object   
strikes him1 and the effect  of this    
sensation is a strong1 peculiar         
impression4 ,in other words1  when a man
 is born with talent his perceptions--or
 at least a certain  class of           
perceptions--are delicate and quick2 he 
naturally seizes and  distinguishes1    
with a sure and watchful tact1          
relationships and shades2  at one time  
the plaintive or heroic sense in a      
sequence of sounds1 at  another the     
listlessness or stateliness of an       
attitude1 and again the  richness or    
sobriety of two complimentary or        
contiguous colors4 ,through  this       
faculty he penetrates to the very heart 
of things1 and seems to be  more        
clear-sighted than other men4 ,this     
sensation1 moreover1 so keen  and so    

personal1 is not inactive--by a         
counter-stroke the whole nervous  and   
thinking machinery is affected by it4   
,man involuntarily expresses  his       
emotions2 the body makes signs1 its     
attitude becomes mimetic2  he is obliged
 to figure externally his conception of 
an object2  the voice seeks imitative   
inflections1 the tongue finds pictorial 
terms1 unforeseen forms1 a figurative1  
inventive1 exaggerated style4  ,under   
the force of the original impulse the   
active brain recasts  and transforms the
 object1 now to illumine and ennoble it1
 now to  distort and grotesquely pervert
 it2 in the free sketch1 as in the      
violent caricature1 you readily detect1 
with poetic temperaments1 the           
ascendency of involuntary impressions4  
,familiarize yourselves with the  great 
artists and great authors of your       
century2 study the sketches1  designs1  
diaries1 and correspondence of the old  
masters1 and you will  again everywhere 
find the same inward process4 ,we may   

adorn it with  beautiful names2 we may  
call it genius or inspiration1 which is 
right  and proper2 but if you wish to   
define it precisely you must always     
verify therein the vivid spontaneous    
sensation which groups together  the    
train of accessory ideas1 master1       
fashion1 metamorphose and employ  them  
in order to become manifest4    ,we have
 now arrived at a definition of a work  
of art4 ,let us1 for a  moment1 cast our
 eyes backward1 and review the road we  
have passed  over4 ,we have1 by degrees1
 arrived at a conception of art more and
 more  elevated1 and consequently more  
and more exact4 ,at first we thought    
that the object of art was to imitate   
sensible appearances4 ,then  separating 
material from intellectual imitation1 we
 found that what  it desired to         
reproduce in sensible appearances is the
 relationships  of parts4  ,finally1    
remarking that relationships are1 and   
ought to  be1 modified in order to      
obtain the highest results of art1 we   

proved  that if we study the            
relationships of parts it is to make    
predominant  an essential character4 ,no
 one of these definitions destroys its  
antecedent1 but each corrects and       
defines it4 ,we are consequently  able  
now to combine them1 and by             
subordinating the inferior to the       
superior1 thus to sum up the result of  
our labor3--,the end of a work  of art  
is to manifest some essential or salient
 character1 consequently  some important
 idea1 clearer and more completely than 
is attainable  from real objects4 ,art  
accomplishes this end by employing a    
group of  connected parts1 the          
relationships of which it systematically
 modifies4  ,in the three imitative arts
 of sculpture1 painting1 and poetry1    
these  groups correspond to real        
objects4      ,footnote #a3 ,see the two
 portraits of the ,fornarina1 in the    
,sciarra  and the ,borghese palaces4    
,,vi4      ,that established1 gentlemen1
 we see1 on examining the different     

parts of this definition1 that the first
 is essential and the second  accessory4
 ,an aggregate of connected parts is    
necessary in all art  which the artist  
may modify so as to portray character2  
but in every  art it is not necessary   
that this aggregate should correspond   
with  real objects2 it is sufficient    
that it exists4 ,if we therefore meet   
with aggregates of connected parts which
 are not imitations of real  objects1   
there will be arts which will not have  
imitation for their  point of view4     
,this is the case1 and it is thus that  
architecture and  music are born4 ,in   
short1 besides connections1 proportions1
 moral and  organic dependencies1 which 
the three imitative arts copy1 there are
  mathematical relationships which the  
two others1 imitating nothing1  combine4
    ,let us1 at first1 consider the     
mathematical relationships perceived by 
the sense of sight4 ,magnitudes sensible
 to the eye may form amongst  each other
 aggregates of parts connected by       

mathematical laws4 ,for  instance1 a    
piece of wood or stone may have         
geometrical form1 that of  a cube1 a    
cone1 a cylinder1 or a sphere1 which    
establishes regular  relationships of   
distance between the different points of
 its outline4  ,furthermore1 its        
dimensions may be quantities mutually   
related in  simple proportions which the
 eye can seize readily2 height1 may be  
two1 three1 or four times greater than  
thickness or breadth3 this  constitutes 
a second series of mathematical         
relationships4 ,finally1  many of these 
pieces of wood or stone may be placed   
symmetrically  on the top or by the side
 of each other1 according to distances  
and  angles mathematically combined4    
,architecture is established on this    
aggregate of connected parts4 ,an       
architect conceiving some dominant      
character1 either serenity1 simplicity1 
strength1 or elegance1 as  formerly in  
,greece or ,rome1 or the strange1 the   
varied1 the infinite1  the fantastic1 as

 in ,gothic times1 may select and       
combine connections1  proportions1      
dimensions1 forms1 and positions--in    
short1 the  relationships of materials1 
that is to say1 certain visible         
magnitudes  in such a way as to display 
the character aimed at4    ,by the side 
of magnitudes perceived by sight there  
are magnitudes  perceived by the        
hearing1--,i mean the velocities of     
sonorous  vibrations2 and these         
vibrations being magnitudes may also    
form  aggregates of parts connected by  
mathematical laws4 ,in the first place1 
as you are aware1 a musical sound is    
composed of continuous vibrations  of   
equal velocity1 and this equality       
already places between them  a          
mathematical relationship2 in the second
 place1 two sounds being  given1 the    
second may be composed of vibrations1   
two1 three1 or four  times the rapidity 
of the first2 accordingly1 there is     
between these  two sounds a mathematical
 relationship1 which is figured by      

placing  them at an equal distance from 
each other on the musical stave4 ,if1   
consequently1 instead of taking two1 we 
take a number of sounds1 and  place them
 at equal distances1--we form a scale1  
which scale is the  gamut1 all the      
sounds being thus bound together        
according to their  relative position on
 the gamut4 ,you can now establish these
 connections  either between successive 
or simultaneous sounds1 the first order 
of  sounds constituting melody1 and the 
second harmony4 ,this is music3 it  has 
two essential parts1 based1 like        
architecture1 on mathematical           
relationships1 which the artist is free 
to combine and modify4    ,music1       
however1 possesses a second property1   
and this new element gives  it a        
peculiar quality and no ordinary scope4 
,besides its mathematical  qualities1   
sound is analogous to the cry1 and by   
this title it directly  expresses with  
unrivalled precision1 delicacy and      
force1 suffering1  joy1 rage1           

indignation--all the agitations and     
emotions of an animated  sensitive      
being1 even to the most secret and most 
subtle gradations4  ,from this point of 
view it is similar to poetic            
declamation1 furnishing  a specific type
 of music1 called the music of          
expression1 like that of  ,gluck and the
 ,germans1 in opposition to the music of
 melody1 that of  ,rossini and the      
,italians4 ,let the composer's point of 
view be what it  may1 the two styles of 
music are nevertheless related to each  
other1  sounds always forming aggregates
 of parts linked together at once by    
their mathematical relationship and by  
the correspondence which they  have with
 the passions and the various internal  
states of the moral  being4 ,the        
musician1 therefore1 who conceives a    
certain salient1  important feature of  
things1 let it be sadness or joy1 tender
 love or  passionate rage1 any idea or  
sentiment whatever1 may freely select   
and  combine in such a way in these     

mathematical and moral relationships as 
to manifest the character which he has  
conceived4    ,all the arts are thus    
included in the definition above        
presented4 ,in  architecture and music1 
as in sculpture1 painting1 and poetry1  
it is  the object of a work of art to   
manifest some essential character1 and  
to employ as means of expression an     
aggregate of connected parts1 the       
relationship of which the artist        
combines and modifies4          ,,vii4  
,now that we know the nature of art1 we 
can comprehend its importance4          
,previously we were only sensible of its
 effect2 it was a matter of  instinct1  
and not of reason3 we were conscious of 
respecting and  esteeming art1 but were 
not qualified to account for our respect
 and  esteem4 ,our admiration for art   
can now be justified1 and we can mark   
its place in the order of life4    ,man1
 in many respects1 is an animal         
endeavoring to protect himself  against 
nature and against other men4 ,he is    

obliged to provide himself  with food1  
clothing1 and shelter1 and to defend    
himself against  climate1 want1 and     
disease4 ,to do this he tills the       
ground1 navigates  the sea1 and devotes 
himself to different industrial and     
commercial  pursuits4 ,furthermore1 he  
must perpetuate his species1 and secure 
himself against the violence of his     
fellow-men2 to this end1 he forms       
families and states1 and establishes    
magistracies1 functionaries1            
constitutions1 laws1 and armies4 ,after 
so many inventions and such  labor1 he  
is not yet emancipated from his original
 condition2 he is  still an animal1     
better fed and better protected than    
other animals2  he still thinks only of 
himself1 and of his kindred4 ,at this   
moment  a superior life dawns on        
him--that of contemplation1 by which he 
is led to interest himself in the       
creative and permanent causes on  which 
his own being and that of his fellows   
depend1 in the leading  and essential   

characters which rule each aggregate1   
and impress their  marks on the minutest
 details4 ,two ways are open to him for 
this  purpose4 ,the first is ,science1  
by which1 analyzing these causes and    
these fundamental laws1 he expresses    
them in abstract terms and precise      
formula2 the second is ,art1 by which he
 manifests these causes and  these      
fundamental laws no longer through arid 
definitions1 inaccessible  to the       
multitude1 and only intelligible to a   
favored few1 but in a  sensible way1    
appealing not alone to reason1 but also 
to the heart and  senses of the humblest
 individual4 ,art has this peculiarity1 
that it is  at once noble and popular1  
manifesting whatever is most exalted1   
and manifesting it to all4              
,,part ,,ii4    ,,on ,,the ,,production 
,,of ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,art4           
,i4    ,having investigated the nature  
of the work of art1 there now remains  a
 study of the law of its production4    
,this law1 in general terms1 may  be    

thus expressed3--,a work of art is      
determined by an aggregate which  is the
 general state of the mind and          
surrounding circumstances4 ,i  have     
stated this principle in the foregoing  
section1 and have now to  establish it4 
,this law rests on two kinds of proof3  
the one that of experience1 and  the    
other that of reason4 ,the former       
consists of an enumeration of the  many 
instances in which the law verifies     
itself4 ,some of these ,i have  already 
presented to you1 and others will soon  
follow4 ,one may assert1  moreover1 that
 no case is known to which the law is   
not applicable2 it  is strictly so to   
those hitherto examined1 and not merely 
in a general  way1 but in detail2 not   
only to the growth and extinction of    
great  schools1 but again to all the    
variations and oscillations to which    
art is subject4 ,the second order of    
proof consists in showing this          
dependence to be not only rigorous in   
point of fact1 but1 again1 that  it is  

so through necessity4 ,we will          
accordingly analyze what we have  called
 the general state of the mind and      
surrounding circumstances2  we shall    
seek1 according to the ordinary standard
 of human nature the  effects which a   
like state must produce on the public1  
on artists1 and  consequently on works  
of art4 ,hence we draw a forced         
connection and a  definite concordance1 
and we establish a necessary harmony    
which we had  observed as simply        
fortuitous4 ,the second proof           
demonstrates what the  first had        
averred4          ,,ii4    ,in order to 
make this harmony apparent let us resume
 a comparison  already of service to us1
 that between a plant and a work of art1
 and  note the circumstances in which a 
plant1 or a species of plant1 say  the  
orange1 may be developed and propagated 
in a certain soil4 ,let  us suppose all 
kinds of grain and seed borne by the    
wind and sown at  random2 on what       
conditions can those of the ,lorange    

germinate1 become  trees1 blossom1 yield
 fruit1 spread1 and cover the ground    
with a  numerous family8    ,many       
favorable circumstances are essential to
 this end4 ,and at first  the soil must 
be neither too light nor too meagre3    
otherwise1 the roots  lacking depth and 
grasp1 the tree would fall at the first 
gale of wind4  ,next1 the soil must not 
be too dry2 otherwise the tree will     
wither  where it stands deprived of the 
moisture of springs and streams4        
,moreover1 the climate must be warm2 or 
the tree1 which is delicate1  will      
freeze1 or at least droop1 and never put
 forth sprouts2 the summer  must be     
long1 in order that the fruit1 which is 
slow in ripening1 may  fully mature2 and
 the winter mild1 so that ,january      
frosts may not blast  or shrivel the    
oranges that remain green on its        
branches4 ,finally1  the soil must not  
be too favorable for other plants1 lest 
the tree1  left to itself1 might be     
stifled by the competition and          

infringement  of a more vigorous        
vegetation4 ,when all these conditions  
concur1 the  little orange will grow1   
become mature1 and produce others again 
to  reproduce themselves4 ,storms will  
undoubtedly occur1 stones fall1 and     
browsing goats will destroy certain     
plants2 but on the whole1 in spite  of  
accidents which kill individuals1 the   
species will be propagated1  cover the  
ground1 and in a few years display a    
nourishing grove of  orange trees4 ,all 
this is to be seen in the admirably     
sheltered gorges  of ,southern ,italy1  
in the environs of ,sorrento and ,amain1
 on the  shores of the gulfs1 and in the
 small1 watered valleys1 freshened by   
streams descending from the mountains1  
and caressed by the beneficent  breezes 
of the sea4 ,this concourse of          
circumstances was necessary in  order to
 produce those beautiful round tops1    
those lustrous domes of a  bright deep  
green1 those innumerable golden apples1 
and that exquisite  fragrant vegetation 

which1 in mid-winter1 makes this coast  
the richest  and loveliest of gardens4  
,let us now reflect on the manner in    
which things moved in this example4  ,we
 have just observed the effect of       
circumstances and of physical           
temperature4 ,strictly speaking1 these  
have not produced the orange2  the seeds
 were given1 and these alone contained  
the vital force4 ,the  circumstances    
described1 however1 were necessary in   
order that the  plant might flourish and
 be propagated2 had these failed1 the   
plant  likewise would have failed4      
,accordingly1 let the temperature be    
different1 and the species of plant     
will be different4 ,suppose conditions  
entirely opposite to those just         
mentioned2 take the summit of a mountain
 swept by violent winds1 with a  thin   
scanty soil1 a cold climate1 a short    
summer1 and snow during the  winter2 not
 only will the orange not thrive here1  
but the greater part  of other trees    
will perish4 ,of all the seeds scattered

 haphazard by the  wind only one will   
survive1 and you will see but one       
species to endure  and be propagated1   
the only one adapted to these severe    
conditions2 the  fir and the pine will  
cover the lonely crags1 the abrupt      
precipices1  and long1 rocky ridges1    
with their stiff colonnades of tall     
trunks and  vast mantles of sombre      
green1 and there1 as in the ,vosges1 in 
,scotland  and in ,norway1 you may      
travel league after league1 under silent
 arches1  on a carpet of crisp leaves1  
among gnarled roots obstinately clinging
  to the rocks1 the domain of the       
patient energetic plant which alone     
subsists under the incessant attacks of 
gales1 and the hoar-frosts of  long     
winters4    ,we may accordingly regard  
temperature and physical circumstances  
as making a choice amongst various      
species of trees1 all owing a  certain  
species to subsist and propagate1 to the
 exclusion1 more or  less complete1 of  
all others4 ,physical temperature acts  

by elimination  and suppression1 in     
other words1 by natural selection4 ,such
 is the  great law by which we now      
explain the origin and structure of     
diverse  existing organisms--a law as   
applicable to moral as to physical      
conditions1 to history as well as to    
botany and zoology1 to genius and  to   
character1 as well as to plant and to   
animal4    ,in short1 there is a moral  
temperature1 consisting of the general  
state of minds and manners1 which acts  
in the same way as the other4  ,properly
 speaking1 this temperature does not    
produce artists2 talent  and genius are 
gifts like seeds2 what ,i mean to say   
is1 that the same  country at different 
epochs probably contains about the same 
number  of men of talent1 and of men of 
mediocrity4 ,we know1 in fact1 through  
statistics1 that in two successive      
generations nearly the same number  of  
men are found of the requisite stature  
for the conscription and the  same      
number of men too small for soldiers4   

,in all probability1 it is  with minds  
as with bodies4 ,nature is a sower of   
men1 and putting her  hand constantly in
 the same sack1 distributes nearly the  
same quantity1  the same quality1 the   
same proportion of seed4 ,but in these  
handfuls  of seed which she scatters as 
she strides over time and space1 not all
  germinate4 ,a certain moral           
temperature is necessary to develop     
certain  talents2 if this is wanting1   
these prove abortive4 ,consequently1 as 
the temperature changes1 so will the    
species of talent change2 if it  becomes
 reversed1 talent will become reversed1 
and1 in general1 we may  conceive moral 
temperature as making a selection among 
different  species of talent1 allowing  
only this or that species to develope1  
to  the exclusion more or less complete 
of others4 ,it is through some such     
mechanism that you see developed in     
schools at certain times and in  certain
 countries the sentiment of the ideal1  
that of the real1 that  of drawing and  

that of color4 ,there is a prevailing   
tendency which  constitutes the spirit  
of the age4 ,talent seeking to force an 
outlet  in another direction1 finds it  
closed2 and the force of the public     
mind and surrounding habits repress and 
lead it astray1 by imposing on  it a    
fixed growth4          ,,iii4    ,the   
foregoing comparison may serve you as a 
general indication2 let us  now enter   
into details1 and study the action of   
the moral temperature  on works of art4 
,for the sake of greater clearness we   
will take a very simple case1  that of a
 certain mental condition1 in which     
melancholy predominates4  ,this         
supposition is not arbitrary1 for such a
 condition has frequently  occurred in  
the life of humanity3 five or six       
centuries of decadence1  depopulation1  
foreign invasion1 famine1 pests1 and    
aggravated misery1  are amply sufficient
 to produce it4 ,asia experienced such a
 state of  things in the sixth century  
before ,christ1 and ,europe in the      

period of  the first ten centuries of   
our own era4 ,in times like these men   
lose  both courage and hope1 and regard 
life as a burden4    ,let as contemplate
 the effect of such a mental condition1 
together with  the circumstances which  
engender it1 on the artists of an epoch 
like  this4 ,we admit that nearly the   
same number of melancholy and joyous    
temperaments1 as well as a mixture of   
both1 are met in this as at other       
times2 how and in what sense does the   
prevailing situation effect their       
transformation8    ,it must be borne in 
mind that the misfortunes that afflict  
the public  also afflict the artist2 he 
is one of the flock1 and he suffers as  
the rest suffer4 ,for example1 if       
invasions of barbarians occur1 and      
pests1 famines1 and calamities of all   
sorts prolonged for centuries and       
spread over the entire country2 not only
 one1 but countless miracles1  would be 
necessary to save him harmless in the   
general inundation4 ,on  the contrary1  

it is probable1 and even certain1 that  
he will have his  share of public       
misfortune2 that he will be ruined1     
beaten1 wounded1  and led into captivity
 like others2 that his wife1 children1  
relatives  and friends will share the   
common fate1 and that he will suffer and
 be  subject to fears on their account1 
as well as on his own4 ,during this     
long-continued flood of personal misery 
he will1 if he is gay1 become  less gay1
 and1 if melancholy1 still more         
melancholy4 ,this is the first  effect  
of his social medium4    ,on the other  
hand1 if the artist is raised among     
melancholy companions1  the ideas he    
receives in infancy1 with those acquired
 afterwards1  are melancholy4 ,the      
dominant religion1 accommodating itself 
to the  lugubrious order of things1     
teaches him that the earth is a place   
of exile1 the world a prison-house1 life
 an evil1 and that all that  concerns   
him is to deserve to get out of it4     
,philosophy1 forming its  morality      

according to the lamentable spectacle of
 man's degeneracy1  proves to him that  
it would have been better for him not to
 have  been born ,ordinary conversation 
teems with only mournful events1  the   
invasion of a province1 the destruction 
of some monument1 the  oppression of the
 weak1 and civil wars among the strong4 
,daily  observation reveals to him only 
images of discouragement and grief1     
beggars1 and cases of starvation1 a     
bridge left to decay1 abandoned1        
crumbling houses1 fields going to waste1
 and the black walls of  dwellings      
ravaged by fire4 ,all these impressions 
sink deep in his mind  from the first   
year of his life to the last1           
incessantly aggravating  whatever       
melancholy sentiment arises out of his  
own misfortunes4    ,they aggravate him 
so much the more proportionately to the 
intensity  of his artistic feeling4     
,what makes him an artist is the        
practice of  imitating the essential    
character of things1 the salient points 

of  objects2 other men only see         
portions1 while he sees the whole and   
the  spirit of them4 ,and as in this    
case the salient characteristic is      
melancholy1 he accordingly perceives    
nothing else4 ,moreover1 through  this  
excess of imagination and this instinct 
of exaggeration peculiar  to artists1 he
 amplifies and expands it to the utmost2
 he becomes  impregnated with it1 and   
charges his work with it1 so that he    
commonly  sees and paints things in much
 darker colors than would be employed by
  his contemporaries4    ,it must be    
added also that he finds them of great  
assistance to  him in his work4 ,you    
know that a man who paints or writes    
remains  not alone face to face with his
 canvas or his writing-desk4 ,on the    
contrary1 he goes out and talks to      
people and looks about him2 he  listens 
to the hints of his friends or rivals1  
and seeks suggestions  in books and from
 surrounding works of art4 ,an idea     
resembles a  seed3 if the seed requires1

 in order to germinate1 develope and    
bloom1 the nourishment which water1 air1
 sun and soil afford it1 the  idea1 in  
order to complete and shape itself into 
form1 requires to be  supplemented and  
aided by other minds4 ,accordingly1 in  
these epochs  of melancholy1 what sort  
of suggestions are other minds capable  
of  furnishing8 ,only melancholy ones1  
for only on this side do men labor4  ,as
 their experience provides them only    
with painful sensations and  sentiments1
 they can only note the shades of       
difference1 and record  discoveries made
 on the path of suffering3 the heart is 
the only field  of observation1 and if  
this is filled with sorrow1 sorrow is   
all  that men contemplate4 ,they are1   
therefore1 conscious only of grief1     
dejection1 chagrin and despair4 ,if the 
artist demands instruction of  them this
 is all the return they can make4 ,to   
seek in them any idea  or any           
information on the different kinds or   
different expressions of  joy would be  

labor lost2 they can only furnish what  
they possess4 ,for  this reason let him 
attempt to portray happiness1           
cheerfulness1 or  gayety1 and he stands 
alone1 deprived of all support1 left to 
his own  resources1 and which in an     
isolated man amounts to nothing4 ,his   
labor  will likewise be stamped with    
mediocrity4 ,on the other hand1 when he 
would paint melancholy sentiments his   
century would come to his aid4  ,he     
finds materials prepared for him by     
preceding schools2 he finds a           
ready-made art1 consisting of known     
processes and a beaten track4 ,a  church
 ceremony1 a piece of furniture1 a      
conversation1 suggests to him  a form1 a
 color1 a phrase1 or a character still  
unknown to him2 his  work1 to which     
millions of unknown co-laborers have    
contributed1 is  all the more beautiful1
 because1 in addition to his own labor  
and his  own genius1 it embodies the    
labor and genius of surrounding society1
  and of generations that have gone     

before it4    ,there is still another   
reason1 and the strongest of all1 which 
draws  him to melancholy subjects2 it is
 that his work1 once exposed to the     
public eye1 finds appreciation only as  
it expresses melancholy ideas4  ,men1   
indeed1 can only comprehend sentiments  
analogous to those they  have themselves
 experienced4 ,other sentiments1 no     
matter how powerfully  expressed1 do not
 affect them2 the look with their eyes1 
but the heart  is dormant and directly  
their eyes are averted4 ,imagine a man  
losing  his fortune1 country1 children1 
health and liberty1 one manacled in  a  
dungeon for twenty years1 like ,pellico 
or ,andryane1 whose spirit  by degrees  
is changed and broken1 and who becomes  
melancholy and a  mystic1 and whose     
discouragement is incurable2 such a man 
entertains  a horror of cheerful music1 
and has no disposition to read          
,rabelais2  if you place him before the 
merry brutes of ,rubens1 he will turn   
aside  and place himself before the     

canvases of ,rembrandt2 he will enjoy   
only  the music of ,chopin and the      
poetry of ,lamartine or ,heine4 ,the    
same  thing happens to the public and to
 individuals2 their taste depends  on   
their situation2 their sadness gives    
them a taste for melancholy  works2     
cheerful productions are accordingly    
repudiated1 and the artist  is censured 
or neglected4 ,now an artist composes   
mostly in order to  obtain appreciation 
and applause2 this is his ruling        
passion4 ,hence1  therefore1 betides    
other causes1 his ruling passion1 added 
to the  pressure of public opinion1     
leads him1 pushes him1 and constantly   
brings him back to the expression of    
melancholy1 and barring the ways  to him
 which would lead him to the portrayal  
of gayety and happiness4    ,through    
this series of obstacles every passage  
would be closed for  works of art       
manifesting joy4 ,if an artist overcomes
 one obstacle1  he is arrested by       
others4 ,if he meets with joyous natures

 he will  be saddened by their personal 
misfortunes4 ,education and current     
conversation fill their minds with      
gloomy ideas4 ,the artists' faculties   
by which they detach and amplify the    
leading traits of objects1 will  find   
for their exercise none but melancholy  
ones4 ,the experience and  labor of     
others provide them with suggestions and
 are co-operative only  in melancholy   
subjects4 ,finally1 the earnest and     
decisive will of the  public allows them
 to produce only melancholy subjects4   
,consequently1  the class of artists and
 their works suitable for the expression
 of  gayety and joyousness disappear1 or
 end by becoming reduced to almost      
nothing4    ,consider1 now1 the opposite
 case1 that of a general condition of   
cheerfulness4 ,that occurs in           
renaissance epochs1 when order1 wealth1 
population1 comfort1 prosperity1 and    
useful and beautiful discoveries  are   
constantly increasing4 ,by reversing its
 terms the analysis we have  just made  

is applicable word for word2 the same   
process of reasoning  proves that the   
works of art of such a period will all1 
more or less1  express a joyous         
character4    ,consider1 now1 an        
intermediary case1 that is to say1 a    
commingling of  this or that phase of   
joy or sadness1 which is the ordinary   
condition  of things4 ,by a proper      
modification of terras1 the analysis is 
equally  pertinent2 the same reasoning  
demonstrates that works of art express  
corresponding combinations1 and a       
corresponding species of joy and        
melancholy4    ,let us conclude1        
therefore1 that in every simple or      
complex state1 the  social medium1 that 
is to say1 the general state of mind and
 manners1  determines the species of    
works of art in suffering only those    
which  are in harmony with it1 and in   
suppressing other species1 through a    
series of obstacles interposed1 and a   
series of attacks renewed1 at  every    
step of their development4              

,,iv4      ,let us now leave supposed   
cases1 simplified to give clearness to  
the exposition1 and take up real ones4  
,you will see in glancing at  the most  
important of a historical series1 a     
verification of the  law4 ,i will select
 four which are the four great cycles of
 ,european  civilization--,greek and    
,roman antiquity1 the feudal and        
,christian  middle ages1 the            
well-regulated aristocratic monarchies  
of the  seventeenth century1 and the    
industrial democracies of the present   
day1  directed by the sciences4 ,each of
 these periods has its own art1 or  some
 department of art peculiar to it1      
either sculpture1 architecture1  the    
drama or music1 or some determined phase
 of each of these  great arts2 in every 
case a distinct1 singularly rich and    
complete  vegetation1 which1 in its     
leading features1 reflects the principal
  traits of the art and the nation4 ,let
 us1 accordingly1 consider turn  the    
different soils1 and we shall that all  

produce different flowers4          ,v4 
,about three thousand years ago there   
appeared on the shores and islands  of  
the gean ,sea a remarkably handsome1    
intelligent race1 viewing life  in quite
 a new way4 ,it did not allow itself to 
be absorbed by a great  religious       
conception like the ,hindoos and        
,egyptians1 nor by a great  social      
organization like the ,assyrians and    
,persians1 nor by great  industrial and 
commercial usages after the fashion of  
the ,phoenicians  and ,carthagenians4   
,instead of a theocracy and a hierarchy 
of caste1 and  instead of a monarchy and
 a hierarchy of functionaries and of    
great  trading and commercial           
establishments1 the men of that race had
 an  invention of their own called the  
city1 which city1 in sending forth      
branches1 gave birth to others of the   
same description4 ,one of these1        
,miletus1 produced three hundred towns1 
and colonized the entire coast  of the  
,black ,sea4 ,others did the same1 the  

,mediterranean ,sea being  encircled    
with a garland of flourishing cities1   
extending from ,cyrene  to ,marseilles1 
along the gulfs and promontories of     
,spain1 ,italy1  ,greece1 ,asia ,minor  
and ,africa4    ,what was the life of   
this city8#a ,a citizen performed but   
little  manual labor2 he was generally  
supported by his subjects and           
tributaries1 and always served by       
slaves4 ,the poorest man in the place   
had one to keep house for him4 ,athens  
counted four for each citizen2  and     
lesser cities1 like gina and ,corinth1  
possessed from four to five  hundred    
thousand4 ,servants1 of course1         
abounded4 ,the citizen1 however1  needed
 but little help4 ,like all the         
finely-built races of the south1  he was
 abstemious1 a meal consisting of three 
or four olives1 a bit of  garlic1 and   
the head of a fish4#b ,his wardrobe     
consisted of sandals1  a small shirt1   
and a large mantle1 like that of a      
shepherd4 ,his house  was a narrow1     

frail1 ill-constructed tenement1 into   
which robbers  could penetrate by       
piercing the walls1#c and which he only 
used for  sleeping2 a bed and two or    
three beautiful vases were the principal
  articles of furniture4 ,the citizen   
had few wants1 and he passed the day  in
 the open air4    ,how did he dispose of
 his leisure8 ,serving neither king nor 
priest1  he was1 as far as he was       
concerned1 free and sovereign in the    
city4  ,he elected his own pontiffs and 
magistrates1 and he himself1 in  turn1  
could be elected to sacerdotal and other
 offices2 whether  blacksmith or        
currier1 he judged the most important   
political cases  in the tribunals1 and  
decided the gravest of affairs of state 
in the  assemblies2 his occupation      
consisted1 substantially1 of public     
business  and war4 ,to be a politician  
and a soldier was a part of his duty2   
other  pursuits were of little          
importance to him2 the attention of a   
free man1  in his opinion1 ought to be  

applied to these two employments4 ,and  
he  was right1 for1 at that time1 human 
life was not protected as it is in      
ours2 human societies had not acquired  
the stability which they now  have4     
,most of these cities1 built and        
scattered along the ,mediterranean      
shores1 were surrounded by barbarians   
eager to prey upon them2 the  citizen   
was obliged to be under arms1 like the  
,european of the present  day in ,japan 
and in ,new ,zealand2 if not1 ,gauls1   
,libyans1 ,samitites  and ,bithynians   
would soon have pitched their camps amid
 the ruins  of battered walls and       
devastated temples4 ,besides all this1  
these  cities were inimical to each     
other4 ,the rights of war were          
atrocious2  a vanquished city was often 
devoted to destruction2 a wealthy noted 
man might any day see his dwelling in   
ashes1 his property pillaged1  his wife 
and daughters sold to recruit places of 
prostitution2 he  himself1 and his sons1
 enslaved1 would be buried in mines1 or 

compelled  by the lash to turn a mill4  
,with such perils before him it is      
natural  for a man to be interested in  
affairs of state1 and be qualified for  
battle3 he has to become a politician   
under penalty of death4 ,ambition1      
however1 and love of glory are equal    
stimulants4 ,every city aspired to      
reduce or humble every other city1 to   
acquire vassals1 to conquer or to  make 
profitable the persons of others4#d ,the
 citizen passed his life  in the public 
thoroughfares1 discussing the best means
 for preserving  and aggrandizing his   
city1 canvassing its alliances1         
treaties1 laws and  constitution2 now   
listening to orators1 and again acting  
as one himself  up to the very moment of
 going aboard his vessel in order to    
wage war  in ,thrace or in ,egypt1      
against other ,greeks1 against the      
barbarians1 or  against the ,great      
,king4    ,to reach this point1 they had
 systematized a peculiar discipline4 ,as
  there were no industrial facilities in

 those days1 the machinery of  war was  
unknown4 ,war was a combat between man  
and man2 consequently1  the essential   
thing to insure victory was not to      
transform soldiers  into marshalled     
automatons1 as in our day1 but to render
 each soldier  the most resistant1 the  
strongest1 and the most agile body      
possible2  in short1 a highly-tempered  
gladiator1 capable of the utmost        
physical  endurance4    ,to this end1   
,sparta which1 about the eighth century1
 gave the example  and the impulse to   
all ,greece1 had a very complicated and 
no less  efficacious military system4   
,she herself was a camp without walls1  
situated1 like our camps in ,kabyle1    
amidst enemies and a conquered  people1 
wholly military1 and devoted to attack  
and self-defence4 ,in  order to have a  
perfect military1 it was necessary to   
have a splendid  race2 it was managed as
 in stock-breeding4 ,all deformed       
children were  deprived of life4 ,the   
law1 moreover1 prescribed the age for   

marriage  and selected the most suitable
 time and circumstances for proper      
breeding4 ,an old man happening to have 
a young wife was obliged to give  her   
over to a young man in order to have a  
good healthy offspring4 ,a  middle-aged 
man having a friend whose beauty and    
character he admired1  might give him   
the use of his wife4#e ,after having    
constituted the  race1 they shaped the  
individual4 ,young men were enrolled1   
drilled1  and accustomed to live in     
common like a troop of children4 ,they  
were  divided into two rival bands1 who 
inspected each other1 and fought        
together with their feet and their      
fists4 ,they slept in the open  air1    
bathed in the cool waters of the        
,eurotas1 went marauding1 ate           
sparingly1 fast and badly1 rested on    
beds of rushes1 drank nothing but       
water1 and endured every inclemency of  
climate4 ,young girls exercised  in the 
same manner1 and the matured were       
restricted to almost the same  routine4 

,the rigor of this antique discipline   
was undoubtedly less1 or  was mitigated1
 in other cities2 nevertheless1 with    
these mitigations1  the same road       
conducted to the same end4 ,young people
 passed the  greater part of the day in 
the gymnasia1 wrestling1 jumping1       
boxing1  racing1 pitching quoits2       
fortifying and rendering supple their   
naked  muscles4 ,it was their aim to    
produce strong1 robust bodies1 the most 
beautiful and the nimblest possible1 and
 no system of education ever  succeeded 
better in obtaining them4#f    ,these   
peculiar customs of the ,greeks gave    
birth to peculiar ideas4  ,in their eyes
 the ideal man was not the man of       
thought1 or a man of  delicate          
sensibility1 but the naked man1 the man 
of a fine stock and  growth1            
well-proportioned1 active and           
accomplished in all physical  exercises4
 ,this mode of thinking was manifested  
by a variety of traits4  ,in the first  
place1 whilst the ,carians and the      

,lydians around them1 and  their        
barbarian neighbors generally1 were     
ashamed to appear naked1 they  stripped 
without embarrassment in order to       
wrestle and run races4#g  ,the young    
girls of ,sparta were in the habit of   
exercising almost  naked4 ,you will     
perceive that gymnastic exercises had   
suppressed1 or  at least transformed1   
modesty4 ,in the second place1 the great
 national  festivals of the ,greeks1 the
 ,olympian1 ,pythian1 and ,nemean games1
  consisted of a display and triumph of 
the naked figure4 ,the youth of  the    
first families resorted to these from   
all parts of ,greece1 and  from the     
remotest ,grecian colonies4 ,they1      
prepared themselves for them  a long    
time beforehand by special training and 
the severest labor1  and there1 under   
the eyes and applause of the whole      
nation1 stripped  of their clothing1    
they wrestled1 boxed1 pitched quoits1   
and raced  on foot or in the chariot4   
,victories of this class1 which we of   

the  present day leave to a ,hercules in
 a circus1 they regarded as of the      
first importance4 ,the victorious       
athlete in the foot-race gave his  name 
to the ,olympiad2 his praises were      
chanted by the greatest poets2  ,pindar1
 the most illustrious lyric poet of     
antiquity1 sang only of  chariot races4 
,on returning to his native city the    
victorious athlete  was received in     
triumph1 and his strength and agility   
became the pride  of the place4 ,one of 
these1 ,milo of ,crotona1 who was       
invincible at  wrestling1 was chosen    
general1 and led his fellow-citizens to 
battle1  clad in a lion's skin and armed
 with a club like ,hercules1 to whom he 
was compared4 ,it is related that a     
certain ,diagoras saw his two sons      
crowned on the same day1 and was carried
 around by them in triumph  before the  
assembled multitude4 ,deeming a like    
happiness too great for  one mortal1 the
 people cried out to him4 ,die1         
,diagoras1 for thou  canst not now      

become a god6 ,diagoras1 suffocated with
 emotion1 did  indeed expire in the arms
 of his children4 ,in his eyes1 as in   
the eyes  of all ,greece1 to see his    
sons possessing the most vigorous fists 
and  the nimblest legs was the height of
 terrestrial bliss4 ,whether this  be   
truth or legend1 such a judgment proves 
the excessive degree of  admiration     
entertained by the ,greeks for the      
perfection of the human  form4    ,on   
this account they were not afraid to    
expose it before the gods on  solemn    
occasions4 ,they had a formal system of 
attitudes and actions1  called          
orchestrique1 which regulated and taught
 them beautiful  postures of the sacred 
dances4 ,after the battle of ,salamis   
the tragic  poet ,sophocles1 then       
fifteen years old1 and celebrated for   
his beauty1  stripped himself of his    
clothing in order to dance and chant the
 pan  before the trophy4 ,one hundred   
years later1 ,alexander1 on passing     
through ,asia ,minor to contend with    

,darius1 cast aside his garments1  along
 with his companions1 for the purpose of
 honoring the tomb of  ,achilles with   
races4 ,but the ,greeks went still      
further2 they considered  the perfection
 of the human form as attesting         
divinity4 ,in a town in  ,sicily a young
 man of extraordinary beauty was        
worshipped1 and after  death1 altars    
were erected in his honor4#h ,in ,homer1
 which is the  ,grecian ,bible1 you will
 find everywhere that the gods had a    
human body  which the flesh-lance could 
pierce1 flowing red blood1 instincts1   
passions and pleasures similar in every 
respect to our own1 and to such  an     
extent that heroes become the lovers of 
goddesses1 and gods beget  children of  
mortal mothers4 ,between ,olympus and   
the earth there is no  abyss2 they      
descend from1 and we ascend to1 it2 if  
they surpass us1  it is because they are
 exempt from death1 because their wounds
 heal  quicker1 and they are stronger1  
handsomer and happier than we4 ,in other

  respects1 they eat1 drink and quarrel 
as we do1 all enjoying the same  senses1
 and employing the same corporeal       
functions4 ,greece has so well  worked  
out its model of the beautiful human    
animal that it has made its  idol of it1
 and glorifies it on earth1 by making a 
divinity of it in  heaven4    ,out of   
this conception statuary is born1 and we
 can mark every  moment of its growth4  
,on the one hand1 an athlete1 once      
crowned1 was  entitled to a statue2     
crowned a third time1 he was awarded an 
iconical  statue--that is to say1 an    
effigy bearing his portrait4 ,on the    
other  hand1 the gods being only human  
forms1 more serene and more perfect     
than others1 it was natural to represent
 them by statues4 ,for that  purpose    
there is no need of a forced dogma4 ,the
 marble or bronze effigy  is not an     
allegory1 but an exact image2 it does   
not give to the god  muscles1 bones1 and
 a heavy covering which it has not2 it  
represents  the reclothing of flesh     

which covers it1 and the living form    
which is  its substance4 ,it suffices1  
in order to be a truthful portrait1 that
 it  should be the most beautiful1 and  
reproduce the immortal calm by which    
the god is exalted above mortals4       
,the statue is now blocked out--is the  
sculptor qualified to produce  it8      
,dwell a moment on his preparation4 ,men
 in those days studied the  body naked  
and in action1 in the baths1 in the     
gymnasia1 in the sacred  dances and at  
the public games2 they observed and     
preferred such forms  and such attitudes
 as denoted vigor1 health1 and activity2
 they  labored with all their might to  
impress on it these forms and to shape  
it to these attitudes4 ,for three or    
four hundred years they were thus       
correcting1 purifying1 developing their 
idea of physical beauty4 ,it is  not    
surprising that they finally discovered 
the ideal type of the human  form4 ,we  
of the present day that are familiar    
with it owe our knowledge  of it to     

them4 ,when ,nicholas of ,pisa and other
 early sculptors at  the end of the     
,gothic period abandoned the meagre1    
bony1 and ugly  forms of hieratic       
tradition1 it was because they took an  
example from  ,greek bas-reliefs1       
preserved or exhumed2 and if to-day1    
forgetting  our distorted and defective 
bodies1 as plebeians or thinkers1 we    
wish  to find again some type of the    
perfect form1 it is in these statues1   
monuments of a noble1 unoccupied1       
gymnastic life1 that we must seek our   
instruction4    ,not only the form of it
 is perfect1 but again1 which is unique1
 it  suffices for the thought of the    
artist4 ,the ,greeks1 having assigned   
to the body a dignity of its own1 were  
not tempted1 like the moderns1  to      
subordinate it to the head4 ,a chest    
breathing healthily1 a trunk  solidly   
resting on the thighs1 a nervous supple 
leg impelling the  body forward with    
ease2 they did not occupy themselves    
solely with  the breadth of a thoughtful

 forehead1 with the frown of an         
irritated  brow1 or the turn of a       
sarcastic lip4 ,they could limit        
themselves to  the conditions of perfect
 statuary1 which leaves the eye without 
an  iris1 and the head without          
expression2 which prefers quiet         
personages1  or those occupied by       
insignificant action2 which commonly    
employs  only a uniform tint1 either of 
marble or cf bronze2 which leaves the   
picturesque to painting1 and abandons   
dramatic interest to literature2  which1
 confined to1 but ennobled by1 the      
nature of its materials  and its limited
 domain1 avoids the representation of   
details1 of  physiognomy1 of the        
casualties of human agitation1 in order 
to detach  the pure and abstract form1  
and thus illuminate the sanctuaries with
  motionless1 peaceful1 august effigies 
in which human nature recognized  its   
heroes and its gods4    ,statuary1      
accordingly1 is the central art of      
,greece2 other arts are  related to it1 

accompany it1 or imitate it4 ,no other  
art has so well  expressed the national 
life2 no other was so cultivated or so  
popular4  ,in the hundred small temples 
around ,delphi1 in which the treasures  
of  the cities were kept1 a whole world 
of marble1 gold1 silver1 brass1  and    
bronze1 twenty different bronzes1 and of
 all tints1 thousands of  glorified dead
 in irregular groups1 seated and        
standing1 radiated the  veritable       
subjects of the god of light4#i ,when   
,rome1 at a later day1  despoiled the   
,greek world of its treasures1 this vast
 city possessed a  population of statues
 almost equal to that of its living     
inhabitants4  ,at the present time1     
after so many centuries and such        
devastation1 it  is estimated that more 
than sixty thousand statues have been   
discovered  at ,rome and in its         
surrounding ,campagna4 ,a like harvest  
of sculpture  has never been seen1 such 
a prodigious abundance of flowers1--a   
display  of flowers so perfect1 a growth

 so natural1 so continuous and varied4  
,you have just seen the cause of it1 in 
digging up the earth layer by  layer1   
and in observing that all the           
foundations of the human soil1          
institutions1 manners1 ideas1 have      
contributed to sustain it4              
,footnote #a3 ,grote1 ,history of       
,greece--,boeckh1 ,political ,economy of
  the ,athenians--,wullon1 ,slavery in  
,antiquity4    ,footnote #b3 ,the ,frogs
 of ,aristophanes2 the ,cock of ,lucian4
    ,footnote #c3 ,their proper name was
 wall-piercers4    ,footnote #d3        
,thucydides1 ,book ,i4 ,see the divers  
expeditions of the  ,athenians between  
the peace of ,cimon and the             
,peloponnesian war4    ,footnote #e3    
,xenophon4 ,the ,lacedemonian ,republic1
 passim4     ,footnote #f3 ,the         
,dialogues of ,plato4 ,the ,clouds of   
,aristophanes4    ,footnote #g3 ,the    
,lacedemonians adopted this custom about
 the #adth  ,olympiad4--,plato4         
,footnote #h3 ,herodotus4    ,footnote  

#i3 ,michelet4          ,,vi4      ,this
 military organization common to all the
 cities of antiquity  at length had its 
effect1--a sad effect4 ,war being the   
natural  condition of things1 the weak  
were over-powered by the strong1 and1   
more than once1 one might have seen     
formed states of considerable  magnitude
 under the control or tyranny of a      
victorious or dominant  city4 ,finally  
one arose1 ,rome1 which1 possessing     
greater energy1  patience1 and skill1   
more capable of subordination and       
command1 of  consecutive views and      
practical calculations1 attained1 after 
seven  hundred years of effort1 in      
incorporating under her dominion the    
entire basin of the ,mediterranean and  
many great outlying countries4  ,to gain
 this point she submitted to military   
discipline1 and1 like a  fruit springing
 from its germ1 a military despotism was
 the issue4  ,thus was the ,empire      
formed4 ,towards the first century of   
our era1 the  world1 organized under a  

regular monarchy1 seemed at last to have
  attained to order and tranquillity4   
,it issued only in a decline4 ,in  the  
horrible destruction of conquest cities 
perished by hundreds and  men by        
millions4 ,during an entire century the 
conquerors themselves  massacred each   
other1 and the civilized world having   
lost its free  men1 lost the half of its
 inhabitants4#a ,citizens1 converted    
into  subjects1 and no longer pursuing  
noble ends1 abandoned themselves to     
indolence and luxury1 refused to marry  
and to have children4 ,machinery  being 
unknown1 and the hand the only          
instrument of labor1 the slaves1  whose 
lot it was to provide for the pleasures1
 pomp1 and refinements  of society1     
disappeared under a burden too heavy for
 them to bear4  ,at the expiration of   
four hundred years the enervated1       
depopulated  empire had not sufficient  
men or energy to repel the barbarians4  
,the  barbarous wave entered1 sweeping  
away the dykes2 after the first1 a      

second1 then a third1 and so on for a   
period of five hundred years4  ,the     
evils they inflicted cannot be          
described3 people exterminated1         
monuments destroyed1 fields devastated1 
and cities burnt2 industry1  the fine   
arts1 and the sciences mutilated1       
degraded1 forgotten2 fear1  ignorance1  
and brutality spread everywhere and     
established4 ,they were  complete       
savages1 similar to the ,hurons and     
,iroquois suddenly encamped  in the     
midst of a cultivated and thinking world
 like ours4 ,imagine a  herd of wild    
bulls let loose amid the furniture and  
decorations of a  palace1 and after this
 another herd1 so that the ruins left by
 the  first perished under the hoofs of 
the second1 and1 scarcely installed  in 
disorder1 each troop of brutes had to   
arouse itself in order to  battle with  
its horns a bellowing1 insatiable troop 
of invaders4 ,when  at last1 in the     
tenth century1 the last horde had made  
its lair and  glutted itself1 men seemed

 to be in no better condition4 ,the     
barbarian  chiefs becoming feudal       
barons1 fought amongst themselves1      
pillaging  peasants and burning their   
crops1 robbing the merchants1 and       
wantonly  robbing and maltreating their 
miserable serfs4 ,the land remained     
waste1  and provisions became scarce4   
,in the eleventh century forty out of   
seventy years were years of famine4 ,a  
monk1 ,raoul ,glaber1 relates that  it  
got to be common to eat human flesh2 a  
butcher was burnt alive for  exposing it
 for sale in his stall4 ,add to this    
universal poverty and  filth1 and a     
total neglect of the simplest of        
hygienic principles1 and  you can well  
understand how leprosy1 pests1 and      
epidemics1 becoming  acclimated1 raged  
as if upon their native soil4 ,people   
degenerated  to the condition of the    
anthropophagi of ,new ,zealand1 to the  
ignoble  brutality of the ,papuans and  
,caledonians1 to the lowest depths of   
the  human cesspool1 seeing that        

reminiscences of the past trenched on   
the  misery of the present1 and since   
some thinking heads1 still reading  the 
ancient language felt in a confused way 
the immensity of the fall1  the whole   
depth of the abyss into which the human 
species had been  engulphed for a       
thousand years4    ,you may divine the  
sentiments which such a condition of    
things1 so  extreme and so lasting1     
implanted in people's breasts4 ,at first
 there  was weakness1 disgust of life1  
and the deepest melancholy2 the  world1 
said a writer of that day1 is nothing   
but an abyss of vice and  immodesty4    
,life seemed a foretaste of hell4 ,many 
withdrew from it1  and not alone the    
poor1 the feeble1 and women1 but        
sovereign lords1  and even kings2 such  
as possessed delicate and noble natures 
preferred  the tranquillity and monotony
 of the cloister4 ,on the approach of   
the  year one thousand a general belief 
in the extinction of the world          
prevailed1 and many1 seized with fright1

 made over their property  to churches  
and convents4 ,on the other hand1 and   
coupled with this  terror and           
despondency1 there arose an             
extraordinary degree of nervous         
exaltation4 ,when men are very miserable
 they become excitable1 like  invalids  
and prisoners2 their sensibility        
increases1 and acquires a  feminine     
delicacy2 their heart is filled with    
caprices1 agitations  and despondency1  
excesses and effusions from which they  
are free in a  healthy state4 ,they     
depart from moderate sentiments which   
alone can  maintain continuous masculine
 action4 ,they indulge in re very1 burst
  into tears1 sink down on their knees1 
become incapable of providing for       
themselves1 imagine infinite sweet and  
tender transports1 yearning to  diffuse 
the excessive refinements and enthusiasm
 of their over-wrought  intemperate     
imaginations2 in short1 they are prone  
to love4 ,hence1 we  see them developed 
with an enormous exaggeration1 a passion

 unknown  to the stern and virile souls 
of antiquity1 namely1 the chivalric     
mystic love of the middle ages4 ,the    
calm rational love of wedlock was       
subordinated to the ecstatic and unruly 
love encountered outside of  wedlock4   
,its subtleties were carefully defined  
and embodied in the  maxims of tribunals
 presided over by ladies4 ,it was       
decreed there  that love could not exist
 between spouses1 and that love could   
refuse nothing to love4#b ,woman was no 
longer considered as flesh  and blood   
like man1 but was converted into a      
divinity2 man was only  too well        
compensated in the privilege of adoring3
 and serving her4  ,human love was      
regarded as a celestial sentiment       
leading to divine  love and confounded  
with it4 ,poets transformed their       
mistresses into  supernatural virtue1   
and implored them to guide them through 
the  empyrean to the tabernacle of ,god4
 ,you can easily appreciate the hold    
the ,christian faith derived from such  

sentiments4 ,disgust for the  world1 a  
tendency to ecstacy1 habitual despair   
and infinite craving  for tender        
sympathy1 naturally impelled men to a   
doctrine representing  the earth as a   
vale of tears1 the present life a period
 of trial1  rapturous union with the    
,divinity as supreme happiness1 and the 
love  of ,god as the first of duties4   
,morbid or trembling sensibility found  
its support in the infinitude of terror 
and of hope1 in pictures of  flaming    
pits and eternal perdition1 and in      
conceptions of a radiant  paradise and  
of ineffable bliss4 ,thus supported1    
,christianity ruled all  souls1 inspired
 art1 and gave employment to artists4   
,society1 says a  contemporary1 divested
 itself of its old rags in order to     
clothe its  churches in robes of        
whiteness4 ,gothic architecture         
accordingly made  its appearance4       
,let us observe the growth of the new   
,gothic edifice4 ,in opposition to  the 
religions of antiquity1 which were all  

local1 belonging to castes  or to       
families1 ,christianity is a universal  
religion which appeals  to the          
multitude1 and summons all men to       
salvation4 ,it was necessary            
accordingly for this new edifice to be  
very large and capable of  containing   
the entire population of any one city or
 district--the  women1 the children1 the
 serfs1 the artisans1 and the poor as   
well as  the nobles and sovereigns4 ,the
 small cella which contains the statue  
of the ,greek god1 and the portico where
 the procession of free citizens  was   
displayed1 were not sufficient for this 
immense crowd4 ,an enormous  vault was  
required1 lofty naves multiplied and    
crossed by others1 and  measureless     
arches and colossal columns2 generations
 of workmen flocked  in crowds for      
centuries to labor here for the         
salvation of their souls1  displacing   
mountains before the monument could be  
completed4    ,the men who enter here   
have sorrowing souls1 and the ideas they

 come  in quest of are mournful4 ,they  
meditate on this miserable life1 so     
troubled and confined by such an abyss1 
on hell and its punishments1  endless1  
measureless and unintermittent1 on the  
sufferings and passion  of ,christ      
crucified1 and those of persecuted and  
tortured saints and  martyrs4 ,listening
 to such religious teaching1 and under  
the burden of  their own fears1 they    
could ill accommodate themselves to the 
simple  beauty and joyous effect of pure
 light2 the clear and healthy light  of 
day is accordingly excluded2 the        
interior of the edifice remains  subject
 to cold and lugubrious shadow2 light   
only comes in transformed  by stained   
glass into purple and crimson tints1    
into the splendors of  topaz and        
amethyst1 into the mystic gleams of     
precious stones1 into  strange          
illuminations1 seeming to afford        
glimpses of paradise4    ,delicate      
over-excited imaginations like these are
 not content with  simple architectural 

forms4 ,and first1 form in itself is not
 sufficient  to interest them4 ,it must 
be a symbol of and designate some august
  mystery4 ,the edifice with its        
transverse naves represents the cross   
on which ,christ died2 its circular     
window with its brilliant petals        
figures the rose of eternity1 the leaves
 of which are redeemed souls2  all the  
dimensions of its parts correspond to   
sacred numbers4 ,again1  these forms in 
their richness1 strangeness1 boldness1  
delicacy and  immensity1 harmonize with 
the intemperance and curiosity of a     
morbid  fancy4 ,vivid                   
sensations--manifold1 changing1 bizarre 
and extreme--are  necessary to such     
souls4 ,they reject the column1 the     
horizontal and  transverse beams1 the   
round arch1 in short1 the solid         
construction1  balanced proportions1 and
 beautiful simplicity of antique        
architecture2  they do not sympathize   
with those noble creations that seem to 
have  been born without pain and to last

 without effort1 which attain to  beauty
 the same time as to life1 and the      
finished excellence of which  needs     
neither addition nor ornament4    ,they 
adopt for type1 not the plain           
half-circle of the arcade1 or  the      
simple angle formed by the column and   
the architrave1 but the  complicated    
union of two curves intersected by each 
other1 forming the  ogive4 ,they aspire 
to the gigantic1 covering square acres  
of ground  with piles of stone1 binding 
pillars together in monstrous columns1  
suspending galleries in the air1        
elevating arches to the skies1 and      
stage upon stage of belfry until their  
spires are lost in the clouds4  ,they   
exaggerate the delicacy of forms2 they  
surround doors with  series of          
statuettes1 and festoon the sides with  
trefoils1 gables and  gargoyles2 they   
interlace the tortuous tracery of       
mullions with the  motley hues of       
stained glass2 the choir seems to be    
embroidered with  lace1 while tombs1    

altars1 stalls and towers are covered   
with mazes of  slender columns and      
fringes of leaves and statues4 ,it seems
 as if they  wished to attain at once   
infinite grandeur and infinite          
littleness1  seeking to overwhelm the   
mind on either side1 on the one hand    
with  the vastness of a mass1 and on the
 other with a prodigious quantity  of   
details4 ,their object was evidently to 
produce an extraordinary  sensation2    
they aimed to dazzle and bewilder4      
,proportionately1 therefore1 to the     
development of this style of            
architecture1 it becomes more and more  
paradoxical4 ,in the fourteenth  and    
fifteenth centuries1 the age of the     
flamboyant ,gothic of ,strasburg1       
,milan1 ,york1 ,nuremburg1 and the      
,church of ,brou1 solidity seems to     
have been wholly abandoned for ornament4
 ,at one time it bristles with  a       
profusion of multiplied and superposed  
pinnacles2 at another its  exterior is  
draped with a lacework of mouldings4    

,walls are hollowed  out1 and almost    
wholly absorbed by windows2 they lack   
strength1 and  without the buttresses   
raised against them the structure would 
fall2  ever disintegrating1 it is       
necessary to establish colonies of      
masons  about them constantly to repair 
their constant decay4 ,this embroidered 
stonework1 more and more frail as it    
ascends the spire1 cannot sustain       
itself2 it has to be fastened to a      
skeleton of iron1 and as iron rusts1    
the blacksmith is summoned to contribute
 his share towards propping up  this    
unstable1 delusive magnificence4 ,in the
 interior the decoration is  so         
exuberant and complex1 the groinings so 
richly display their thorny  and tangled
 vegetation1 and the stalls1 pulpit1 and
 railings1 swarm  with such intricate1  
tortuous1 fantastic arabesques1 that the
 church  no longer seems to be a sacred 
monument1 but a rare example of the     
jewellers art4 ,it is a vast structure  
of variegated glass1 a gigantic  piece  

of filigree work1 a festive decoration  
as elaborated as that of  a queen or a  
bride2 it is the adornment of a nervous1
 over-excited  woman1 similar to the    
extravagant costumes of the day1 whose  
delicate  and morbid poesy denotes by   
its excess the singular sentiments1 the 
feverish1 violent1 and impotent         
aspiration peculiar to an age of        
knights and monks4    ,for this         
architecture1 which has lasted four     
centuries1 is not confined  to one      
country or to one description of        
edifice2 it is spread over  all ,europe1
 from ,scotland to ,sicily1 and is      
employed in all civil and  religious and
 public and private monuments4 ,not only
 do cathedrals and  chapels bear its    
imprint1 but fortresses1 palaces1       
costumes1 dwellings1  furniture1 and    
equipments4 ,its universality1          
accordingly1 expresses  and attests the 
great moral crisis1 at once morbid and  
sublime1 which1  during the whole of the
 middle ages1 exalted1 and at the same  

time  disordered1 the human intellect4  
,footnote #a3 ,rome1 thirty years ,b4   
,c1 by ,victor ,durny4    ,footnote #b3 
,andre le ,chapelain4          ,,vii    
,human institutions1 like living bodies1
 are made and unmade by their  own      
forces2 and their health passes away or 
their cure is effected  by the sole     
effect of their nature and their        
situation4 ,among these  feudal chiefs  
who ruled and plundered men in the      
middle-ages one was  found in each      
country1 stronger1 more politic1 and    
better placed than  others1 who         
constituted himself conservator of      
public order2 sustained  by public      
sentiment1 he by degrees weakened and   
subdued1 subordinated  and rallied the  
others1 and1 organizing a systematic    
obedient  administration1 became under  
the name of king the head of the nation4
  ,towards the fifteenth century1 the   
barons1 formerly his equals1 were  only 
his officers1 and towards the           
seventeenth century they were simply    

his courtiers4    ,note the significance
 of this term4 ,a courtier is a member  
of the  king's court2 that is to say1 a 
person charged with some function or    
domestic duty in the palace--either     
chamberlain1 equerry1 or gentleman  of  
the antechamber--receiving a salary1 and
 addressing his master with  all the    
deference and ceremonial obsequiousness 
proper to such an  employment4 ,but this
 person is not a valet1 as in oriental  
monarchies1  for his ancestor1 the      
grandfather of his grandfather1 was the 
equal1  the companion1 the peer of the  
king2 and on this account he himself    
belongs to a privileged class1 that of  
noblemen4 ,he does not serve  his prince
 solely through personal interest2 his  
devotion to him is a  point of honor4   
,the prince in his turn never neglects  
to treat him with  consideration4 ,louis
 ,,xiv4 threw his cane out of the window
 in order not  to be tempted to strike  
,lauzun1 who had offended him4 ,the     
courtier is  honored by his master1 and 

regarded as one of his society4 ,he     
lives in  familiarity with him1 dances  
at his balls1 dines at his table1 rides 
in the same carriage1 sits in the same  
chairs1 and frequents the same  salon4  
,from such a basis court life arose2    
first in ,italy and ,spain1             
subsequently in ,france1 and afterwards 
in ,england1 in ,germany1 and in  the   
north of ,europe4 ,france was its       
centre1 and ,louis ,,xiv4 gave to it    
its principal clat4    ,let us study the
 effect of this new state of things on  
minds and  characters4 ,the kings salon 
is the first in the country1 and is     
frequented by the most select society2  
the most admired personage1  therefore1 
the accomplished man whom everybody     
accepts for a model1 is  the nobleman   
enjoying familiarity with his sovereign4
 ,this nobleman  entertains generous    
sentiments2 he believes himself of a    
superior  race1 and he says to himself1 
noblesse oblige4 ,he is more sensitive  
than other men on the point of honor1   

and freely risks his life at the        
slightest insult4 ,under ,louis ,,xiii4 
four thousand noblemen were killed  in  
duels4 ,contempt of danger1 in the eyes 
of this nobleman1 is the  first         
obligation of a soul nobly born4 ,the   
dandy1 the worldling1 so  choice of his 
ribbons1 so careful of his perruque1 is 
ready to encamp  in ,flanders mud1 and  
expose himself to bullets for hours     
together at  ,neerwinden4 ,when         
,luxembourg announces that he is about  
to give battle1  ,versailles is         
deserted2 all these young perfumed      
gallants hasten off  to the army as if  
they were going to a ball4 ,finally1 and
 through a  remnant of the spirit of    
ancient feudalism1 our nobleman regards 
the  monarch as his natural legitimate  
chief3 he knows he is bound to him1  as 
the vassal formerly was to his suzerain1
 and at need will give  him his blood1  
his property1 and his life4 ,under      
,louis ,,xyi4 noblemen  voluntarily     
placed themselves at the king's         

disposal1 and on the #ajth  of ,august  
many were slain in his behalf4    ,but  
they are nevertheless courtiers1 that is
 to say1 men of the world1  and in this 
respect perfectly polite4 ,the ,king    
himself sets them an  example4 ,louis   
,,xiv4 even doffed his hat to a         
chambermaid1 and the  ,memoirs of ,st4  
,simon mention a duke who saluted so    
frequently that he  was obliged to cross
 the courts of ,versailles bareheaded4  
,the courtier1  for the same reason1 is 
accomplished in all that appertains to  
good  breed-ins2 language never fails   
him in difficult circumstances2 he  is a
 diplomat1 master of himself1 an adept  
in the art of disguising1  concealing1  
flattering and managing others1 never   
giving offence1 and  often pleasing4    
,all these qualifications and these     
sentiments proceed  from an aristocratic
 spirit refined by the usages of        
society2 they  attain to perfection in  
this court and in this century4 ,anybody
 of  the present time disposed to admire

 the choice flowers of this lost  and   
delicate species need not look for them 
in our equalized1 rude  and mixed       
society1 but must turn to the elegant1  
formal1 monumental  parterres in which  
they formerly flourished4    ,you can   
imagine that people so constituted must 
have chosen pleasures  appropriate to   
their character4 ,their taste1 indeed1  
like their  persons1 was noble2 for they
 were not only noble by birth1 but also 
through their sentiments2 and correct   
because they were educated to  practise 
and respect what was becoming to them4  
,it was this taste  which1 in the       
seventeenth century1 fashioned all their
 works of  art--the serious1 elevated1  
severe productions of ,poussin and      
,lesueur1  the grave1 pompous1 elaborate
 architecture of ,mansart and ,perrault1
  and the stately symmetrical gardens of
 ,le,notre4 ,you will find its  traces  
in the furniture1 costumes1 house       
decoration1 and carriages of  the       
engravings and paintings of ,perelle1   

,sebastian ,leclerc1 ,eigaud1           
,nanteuil1 and many others4 ,versailles1
 with its groups of well-bred  gods1 its
 symmetrical alleys1 its my theological 
water-works1 its  large artificial      
basins1 its trimmed and pruned trees    
modelled into  architectural designs1 is
 a masterpiece in this direction2 all   
its  edifices and parterres1 everything 
belonging to it1 was constructed  for   
men solicitous about their dignity1 and 
strict observers of the  recognized     
standard of social propriety4 ,but the  
imprint is still  more visible in the   
literature of the epoch4 ,never in      
,france or in  ,europe has the art of   
fine writing been carried to such       
perfection4  ,the greatest of ,french   
authors1 as you are aware1 belong to    
this  epoch--,bossuet1 ,pascal1 ,la     
,fontaine1 ,molire1 ,corneille1 ,racine1
 ,la  ,rochefoucauld1 ,madame de ,svign1
 ,boileau1 ,la ,bruyre1 ,bourdalone1 and
  others4 ,great men not only wrote     
well1 but almost everybody2 ,courier    

asserted that a chambermaid of those    
days knew more about style than  a      
modern academy4 ,in fact1 a good style  
at that time pervaded the  air1 people  
unconsciously inhaling it2 it prevailed 
in correspondence  and in conversation2 
the court taught it2 it entered into the
 ways of  people of the world4 ,the man 
who aimed to be polished and correct in 
deportment1 got to be so likewise in the
 attributes of language and  of style4  
,among so many branches of literature   
there is one1 tragedy1  which reached a 
singular degree of perfection1 and which
 more than  all the rest furnishes at   
that time the most striking example of  
the  concordance which links together   
man and his works1 manners and the      
arts4    ,the general features of this  
tragedy first claim attention2 they are 
all calculated to please noblemen and   
members of the court4 ,the poet  does   
not fail in the blandishment1 of truth1 
which by its nature is  often crude2 he 
allows no murders on the stage2 he      

disguises brutality  and repudiates     
violence1 such as blows1 butcheries1    
yells1 and groans1  everything that     
might offend the senses of a spectator  
accustomed to  moderation and the       
elegancies of the salon4 ,for the same  
reason he  excludes disorder1 never     
abandoning himself to the caprices of   
fancy  and imagination like             
,shakespeare2 his plan is regular1 he   
admits no  unforeseen incidents1 no     
romantic poesy4 ,he elaborates his      
scenes1  explains entrances1 graduates  
the interest of his piece1 prepares  the
 way for sudden turns of fortune1 and   
skilfully anticipates and  directs      
dnouements4 ,finally1 he diffuses       
throughout the dialogue1  like a uniform
 brilliant varnish1 a studied           
versification composed  of the choicest 
terms and the most harmonious rhymes4   
,if we seek the  costume of this drama  
in the engravings of the time we find   
heroes  and princesses appearing in     
furbelows1 embroideries1 bootees1 swords

  and plumes--a dress1 in short1 ,greek 
in name1 but ,french in taste and       
fashion2 such as the king1 the dauphin1 
and the princesses paraded in1  to the  
music of violins1 at the court          
performances of ballets4    ,note1      
moreover1 that all his personages are   
courtiers1 kings and  queens1 princes   
and princesses of royal blood1          
ambassadors1 ministers1  officers of the
 guard1 menins1#a dependants and        
confidants4 ,the  associates of princes 
are not here1 as in ancient ,greek      
tragedy1  slaves of the palace and      
nurses born under their master's roof1  
but  ladies-in-waiting1 equerries1 and  
gentlemen of the antechamber1  charged  
with certain duties in the royal        
household2 we readily detect  this in   
their conversational ability1 in their  
skill in flattery1 in  their perfect    
education1 in their exquisite           
deportment1 and in their  monarchical   
sentiments as subjects and vassals4     
,their masters1 like  themselves1 are   

,french noblemen of the seventeenth     
century1 proud  and courteous1 heroic in
 ,corneille and noble in ,racine2 they  
are  gallants with the ladies1 faithful 
to their name and race1 capable of      
sacrificing their dearest interests and 
strongest affections to their  honor1   
and incapable of uttering a word or an  
act which the most rigid  courtesy would
 not authorize4 ,iphigenia1 in ,racine1 
delivered up by her  father to her      
executioners1 does not regret life1     
weeping like a girl1  as in ,euripides1 
but thinks it her duty to obey her      
father and her king  without a murmur1  
and to die without shedding a tear1     
because she is a  princess4 ,achilles1  
who in ,homer stamps1 still unappeased1 
on the body  of the dying ,hector1      
feeling like a lion or wolf1 as if he   
would eat  the raw flesh of his         
vanquished antagonist1 is1 in ,racine1 a
 ,prince of  ,cond1 at once brilliant   
and seductive1 passionate concerning    
honor1  devoted to the fair1 impetuous1 

it is true1 and irritable1 but with  the
 reserved vivacity of a young officer   
who1 even when most excited1  maintains 
good breeding and never stoops to       
brutality4 ,all these  characters are   
models of polite address1 and show a    
knowledge of the  world never at fault4 
,head1 in ,racine1 the first dialogue of
 ,oreste  and ,pyrrhus1 and the whole of
 the part of ,acomat and of ,ulysse2    
nowhere is greater tact or oratorical   
dexterity apparent2 nowhere  more       
ingenious compliments and flatteries1   
exordiums so well poised1  such a quick 
revelation1 such an ingenious           
adjustment1 such a delicate  insinuation
 of appropriate motives4 ,the wildest   
and most impetuous  lovers--,hippolyte1 
,britannicus1 ,pyrrhus1 ,oreste1 and    
,xiphars  --are accomplished cavaliers  
who turn a madrigal and bow with the    
utmost deference4 ,however violent their
 passions may be1 ,hermione1            
,andromaqne1 ,boxane1 and ,brnice1      
preserve the tone of the best  society4 

,mithridate1 ,phdre1 and ,athalie1 when 
expiring1 express  themselves in correct
 periods1 for a prince has to be a      
prince to the  last1 and die in due     
form4 ,this drama might be called a     
perfect picture  of the fashionable     
world4 ,like ,gothic architecture1 it   
represents a  positive complete side of 
the human mind1 and this is why1 like   
that1  it has become so universal4 ,it  
has been imported into1 or imitated by1 
along with its accompanying taste1      
literature1 and manners1 every court  of
 ,europe--in ,england1 after the        
restoration of the ,stuarts2 in ,spain1 
on the advent of the ,bourbons2 and in  
,italy1 ,germany1 and ,russia1 in  the  
eighteenth century4 ,we are warranted in
 saying that at this epoch  ,france was 
the educator of ,europe2 she was the    
source from which was  derived all that 
was elegant and agreeable1 whatever was 
proper in  style1 delicate in ideas1 and
 perfect in the art of social           
intercourse4  ,if a savage ,muscovite1 a

 dull ,german1 a stolid ,englishman1 or 
any  other uncivilized or half-civilized
 man of the ,north quit his brandy1     
pipe1 and furs1 his feudal or hunting or
 rural life1 it was to ,french  salons  
and to ,french books he betook himself1 
in order to acquire the  arts of        
politeness1 urbanity1 and conversation4 
,footnote #a3 ,foster-brother1          
school-companion1 or other intimate of  
this class4          ,,viii4      ,this 
brilliant society did not last2 it was  
its own development  which caused its   
dissolution4 ,the government being      
absolute1 ended  in becoming negligent  
and tyrannical2 and1 besides this1 the  
king  bestowed the best offices and the 
greatest favor only on such of the      
nobles of his court as enjoyed his      
intimacy4 ,this appeared unjust to  the 
bourgeoisie and to the people1 who1     
having greatly increased  in numbers1   
wealth and intelligence1 felt their     
power augment in  proportion to the     
growth of their discontent4 ,the ,french

 ,revolution was  accordingly their     
work2 and after ten years of trial they 
established  a system of democracy and  
equality1 in which1 according to a fixed
  order of promotion1 all civil         
employments were ordinarily accessible  
to everybody4 ,the wars of the empire   
and the contagion of example  gradually 
spread this system beyond the frontiers 
of ,france1 and  whatever may be local  
differences and temporary delays1 it is 
now  evident that the tendency of the   
whole of ,europe is to imitate it4 ,the 
new construction of society1 coupled    
with the invention of industrial        
machinery1 and the great abatement of   
rudeness in manners and customs1  has   
changed the condition as well as the    
character of man4 ,henceforth1  man is  
exempt from arbitrary measures1 and is  
protected by a good  police4 ,however   
lowly born1 all careers are open to him2
 an enormous  increase of useful        
articles1 places within reach of the    
poorest1  conveniences and pleasures of 

which1 two centuries ago1 the rich were 
entirely ignorant4 ,again1 the rigor of 
authority is mitigated1 both  in society
 and in the family2 a father is now the 
companion of his  children1 and the     
citizen has become the equal of the     
noble4 ,human  life1 in short1 displays 
a lesser degree of misery1 and a lighter
  degree of oppression4    ,but1 as a   
counterpart of this1 ,ave see ambition  
and cupidity spreading  their wings4    
,accustomed to comfort and luxuries1 and
 obtaining here and  there glimpses of  
happiness1 man begins to regard         
happiness and comfort  as his due4 ,the 
more he obtains1 the more exacting he   
becomes1 and the  more his pretensions  
exceed his acquisitions4 ,the practical 
sciences  also having made great        
progress1 and instruction being         
diffused1  liberated thought abandons   
itself to all daring enterprises2 hence 
it  happens that men1 relinquishing the 
traditions which formerly regulated     
their beliefs1 deem themselves capable1 

through intellect alone1 of  attaining  
to the highest truths4 ,questions of    
every kind are mooted1  moral1 political
 and religious2 men seek knowledge by   
groping their  way in every direction4  
,for fifty years past we behold this    
strange  conflict of systems and sects1 
each tendering us new creeds and perfect
  theories of happiness4    ,such a     
state of things has a wonderful effect  
on minds and ideas4  ,the representative
 man1 that is to say1 the character who 
occupies  the stage1 and to whom the    
spectators award the most interest and  
sympathy1 is the melancholy1 ambitious  
dreamer--,ren1 ,faust1 ,werther  and    
,manfred--a yearning heart1 restless1   
wandering and incurably  miserable4 ,and
 he is miserable for two reasons4 ,in   
the first place he  is over-sensitive1  
too easily affected by the lesser evils 
of life2 he  has too great a craving for
 delicate and blissful sensations2 he is
  too much accustomed to comfort2 he has
 not had the semi-feudal and            

semi-rustic education of our ancestors2 
he has not been roughly handled  by his 
father1 whipped at college1 obliged to  
maintain respectful  silence in the     
presence of great personages1 and had   
his mental growth  retarded by domestic 
discipline2 he has not been compelled1  
as in  ancient times1 to use his own arm
 and sword to protect himself1 to       
travel on horseback1 and to sleep in    
disagreeable lodgings4 ,in the soft     
atmosphere of modern comfort and of     
sedentary habits1 he has become         
delicate1 nervous1 excitable1 and less  
capable of accommodating himself  to the
 course of life which always exacts     
effort and imposes trouble4    ,on the  
other hand1 he is skeptical4 ,society   
and religion both being  disturbed--in  
the midst of a ple-mle of doctrines and 
an irruption  of new theories--his      
precocious judgment1 too rapidly        
instructed1  and too soon unbridled1    
precipitates him early and blindly off  
the  beaten track made smooth for his   

fathers by habit1 and which they  have  
trodden1 led on by tradition and        
governed by authority4 ,all the         
barriers which served as guides to minds
 having fallen1 he rushes  forward into 
the vast1 confusing field which is      
opened out before his  eyes2 impelled by
 almost superhuman ambition and         
curiosity he darts off  in the pursuit  
of absolute truth and infinite          
happiness4 ,neither love1  glory1       
knowledge nor power1 as we find these in
 this world1 can satisfy  him2 the      
intemperance of his desires1 irritated  
by the incompleteness  of his conquests 
and by the nothingness of his           
enjoyments1 leaves  him prostrate amid  
the ruins of his own nature1 without his
 jaded1  enfeebled1 impotent imagination
 being able to represent to him the     
beyond which he covets1 and the unknown 
what which he has not4  ,this evil has  
been styled the great malady of the age4
 ,forty years  ago it was in full force1
 and under the apparent frigidity or    

gloomy  impassibility of the positive   
mind of the present day it still        
subsists4    ,i have not the time to    
show you the innumerable effects of a   
like state  of mind on works of art4    
,you may trace them in the great        
development of  the lyrical1 sentimental
 and philosophical poetry of ,france1   
,germany  and ,england2 again1 in the   
corruption and enrichment of language   
and  in the invention of new classes and
 of new characters in literature2  in   
the style and sentiments of all the     
great modern writers1 from              
,chateaubriand to ,balzac1 from ,goethe 
to ,heine1 from ,cowper to ,byron1  and 
from ,alfieri to ,leopardi4 ,you will   
find analogous symptoms in the  arts of 
design if you observe their feverish1   
tortured and painfully  archeological   
style1 their aim at dramatic effect1    
psychological  expression1 and local    
fidelity2 if you observe the confusion  
which has  befogged the schools and     
injured their processes2 if you pay     

attention  to the countless gifted minds
 who1 shaken by new emotions1 have      
opened  out new ways2 if you analyze the
 profound sympathy for scenery which    
has given birth to a complete and       
original landscape art4 ,but there  is  
another art1 ,music1 which has suddenly 
reached an extraordinary  development4  
,this development is one of the salient 
characteristics of  our epoch1 and the  
dependence of this on the modern mind1  
the ties by  which they are connected1  
,i shall endeavor to point out to you4  
,this art was born1 and necessarily1 in 
two countries where people  sing        
naturally1 ,italy and ,germany4 ,it was 
gestating for a century and  a half in  
,italy1 from ,palestrina to ,pergolese1 
as formerly painting  from ,giotto to   
,massaccio1 discovering processes and   
feeling its  way in order to acquire its
 resources4 ,at the commencement of the 
eighteenth century it suddenly burst    
forth1 with ,scarlatti1 ,marcello  and  
,handel4 ,this is a most remarkable     

epoch4 ,painting at this time  ceased to
 nourish in ,italy1 and in the midst of 
political stagnation1  voluptuous1      
effeminate customs prevailed1 furnishing
 an assembly of  sigisbs1 ,lindors and  
amorous ladies for the roulades and     
tender  sentimental scenes of the opera4
 ,grave1 ponderous ,germany1 at that    
time  the latest in acquiring           
self-consciousness1 now succeeds in     
displaying  the severity and grandeur of
 its religious sentiment1 its profound  
knowledge1 and its vague melancholy     
instincts in the sacred music of        
,sebastian ,bach1 anticipating the      
evangelical epic of ,klopstock4 ,tn the 
old and in the new nation the reign and 
expression of sentiment is  beginning4  
,between the two1 half-,germanic and    
half-,italian1 is ,austria1             
conciliating the two spirits1 producing 
,haydn1 ,gluck and ,mozart4 ,music  now 
becomes cosmopolite and universal on the
 confines of that great  mental         
convulsion of souls styled the ,french  

,revolution1 as formerly  painting under
 the impulse of the great intellectual  
revival known  under the name of the    
,renaissance4 ,we need not be astonished
 at the  appearance of this new art1 for
 it corresponds to the appearance of a  
new genius--that of the ruling1 morbid1 
restless1 ardent character ,i  have     
attempted to portray for you4 ,it is to 
this spirit that ,beethoven1            
,mendelssohn and ,weber formerly        
addressed themselves1 and to which      
,meyerbeer1 ,berlioz and ,verdi are now 
striving to accommodate themselves4     
,music is the organ of this over-refined
 excessive sensibility and  vague       
boundless aspiration2 it is expressly   
designed for this service1  and no art  
so well performs its task4 ,and this is 
so because1 on the  one hand1 music is  
founded on a more or less remote        
imitation of a cry  which is the        
natural1 spontaneous1 complete          
expression of passion1 and  which1      
affecting us through a corporeal        

stimulus1 instantly arouses  involuntary
 sympathy1 so that the tremulous        
delicacy of every nervous  being finds  
in it its impulse1 its echo1 and its    
ministrant4 ,on the  other hand1 founded
 on relationships of sounds which       
represent no  living form1 and which1   
especially in instrumental music1 seem  
to be  the reveries of an incorporeal   
soul1 it is better adapted than any     
other art to express floating thoughts1 
formless dreams1 objectless  limitless  
desires1 the grandiose and dolorous     
mazes of a troubled heart  which aspires
 to all and is attached to nothing4     
,this is why1 along  with the           
discontent1 the agitations1 and the     
hopes of modern democracy1  music has   
left its natal countries and diffused   
itself over all ,europe2  and why you   
see at the present time the most        
complicated symphonies  attracting      
crowds in ,france1 where1 thus far1 the 
national music has  been reduced to the 
song and the melodies of the            

,vaudeville4          ,,ix4      ,the   
foregoing illustrations1 gentlemen1 seem
 to me sufficient to  establish the law 
governing the character and creation of 
works of  art4 ,and not only do they    
establish it1 but they accurately define
  it4 ,in the beginning of this section 
,i stated that the work of art  is      
determined by an aggregate which is the 
general state of the mind  and          
surrounding manners4 ,we may now advance
 another step1 and note  precisely in   
their order each link of the chain1     
connecting together  cause and effect4  
,in the various illustrations we have   
considered1 you have remarked  first1 a 
general situation1 in other words1 a    
certain universal  condition of good or 
evil1 one of servitude or of liberty1 a 
state of  wealth or of poverty1 a       
particular form of society1 a certain   
species  of religious faith2 in ,greece1
 the free martial city1 with its slaves2
  in the middle ages1 feudal oppression1
 invasion and brigandage1 and  an       

exalted phase of ,christianity2 the     
court life of the seventeenth  century2 
the industrial and studied democracy of 
the nineteenth1 guided  by the sciences2
 in short1 a group of circumstances     
controlling man1  and to which he is    
compelled to resign himself4    ,this   
situation developes in man corresponding
 needs1 distinct  aptitudes and special 
sentiments--physical activity1 a        
tendency  to revery2 here rudeness1 and 
there refinement2 at one time a martial 
instinct1 at another conversational     
talent1 at another a love of  pleasure1 
and a thousand other complex and varied 
peculiarities4 ,in  ,greece we see      
physical perfection and a balance of    
faculties which no  manual or cerebral  
excess of life deranges2 in the middle  
ages1 the  intemperance of over-excited 
imaginations and the delicacy of        
feminine  sensibility2 in the           
seventeenth century1 the polish and     
good-breeding  of society and the       
dignity of aristocratic salons2 and in  

modern  times1 the grandeur of unchained
 ambitions and the morbidity of         
unsatisfied yearnings4    ,now1 this    
group of sentiments1 aptitudes and      
needs1 constitutes1 when  concentrated  
in one person and powerfully displayed  
by him1 the  representative man1 that is
 to say1 a model character to whom his  
contemporaries award all their          
admiration and all their sympathy2      
there is1 for instance1 in ,greece1 the 
naked youth1 of a fine race and         
accomplished in all bodily exercise2 in 
the middle ages1 the ecstatic  monk and 
the amorous knight2 in the seventeenth  
century1 the perfect  courtier2 and in  
our days1 the melancholy insatiable     
,faust or ,werther4    ,moreover1 as    
this personage is the most captivating1 
the most important  and the most        
conspicuous of all1 it is he whom       
artists present to the  public1 now     
concentrated in an ideal personage1 when
 their art1 like  painting1 sculpture1  
the drama1 the romance or the epic1 is  

imitative2  now1 dispersed in its       
elements1 as in architecture and in     
music1  where art excites emotions      
without incarnating them4 ,all their    
labor1  therefore1 may be summed up as  
follows3 they either represent this     
character1 or address themselves to it2 
the symphonies of ,beethoven  and the   
storied windows of cathedrals are       
addressed to it2 and it  is represented 
in the ,niobe group of antiquity and in 
the ,agamemnon  and ,achilles of        
,racine4 ,all art1 therefore1 depends on
 it1 since the  whole of art is applied 
only to conform to1 or to express it4   
,a general situation1 provoking         
tendencies and special faculties2  a    
representative man1 embodying these     
predominant tendencies and  faculties2  
sounds1 forms1 colors1 or language      
giving this character  sensuous form1 or
 which comport with the tendencies and  
faculties  comprising it1 such are the  
four terms of the series2 the first     
carries  with it the second1 the second 

the third1 and the third the fourth1  so
 that the slightest variation of either 
involves a corresponding  variation in  
those that follow1 and reveals a        
corresponding variation  in those that  
precede it1 permitting abstract         
reasoning in either  direction in an    
ascending or descending scale of        
progression4#a ,as far  as ,i am capable
 of judging1 this formula embraces      
everything4 ,if1 now1  we insert between
 these diverse terms the accessory      
causes occurring  to modify their       
effects2 if1 in order to explain the    
sentiments of  an epoch1 we add an      
examination of race to that of the      
social medium2  if1 in order to explain 
the works of art of any age1 we         
consider1  besides the prevailing       
tendencies of that age1 the particular  
period of  the art1 and the particular  
sentiments of each artist1 we shall then
  derive from the law not only the great
 revolutions and general forms  of man's
 imagination1 but1 again1 the           

differences between national  schools1  
the incessant variations of various     
styles1 and the original                
characteristics of the works of every   
great master4 ,thus followed out1  such 
an explanation will be complete1 since  
it furnishes at once the  general traits
 of each school1 and the distinctive    
traits which1 in  this school1          
characterize individuals4 ,we are about 
to enter upon this  study in relation to
 ,italian art2 it is a long and         
difficult task1 and  ,i have need of    
your attention in order to pursue it to 
the end4      ,footnote #a3 ,this law   
may be applied to the study of all      
literatures  and to every art4 ,the     
student may begin with the fourth term1 
proceeding from this to the first1      
strictly adhering to the order of  the  
series4          ,x4      ,before       
proceeding further1 gentlemen1 there is 
a practical and personal  conclusion due
 to our researches1 and which is        
applicable to the  present order of     

things4    ,you have observed that each 
situation produces a certain state of   
mind followed by a corresponding class  
of works of art4 ,this is why  every new
 situation must produce a new state of  
mind1 and consequently  a new class of  
works2 and therefore why the social     
medium of the  present day1 now in the  
course1 of formation1 ought to produce  
its own  works like the social mediums  
that have gone before it4 ,this is not  
a simple supposition based on the       
current of desire and of hope2 it  is   
the result of a law resting on the      
authority of experience and on  the     
testimony of history4 ,from the moment a
 law is established it is  good for all 
time2 the connections of things in the  
present1 accompany  connections of      
things in the past and in the future4   
,accordingly1  it need not be said in   
these days that art is exhausted4 ,it is
 true  that certain schools no longer   
exist and can no longer be revived2     
that certain arts languish1 and that the

 future upon which we are  entering does
 not promise to furnish the aliment that
 these require4  ,but art itself1 which 
is the faculty of perceiving and        
expressing the  leading character of    
objects1 is as enduring as the          
civilization of  which it is the best   
and earliest fruit4 ,what its forms will
 be1 and  which of the five great arts  
will provide the ,a'ehicle of expression
  of future sentiment1 we are not called
 upon to decide we have the  right to   
affirm that new forms will arise1 and an
 appropriate mould  be found in which to
 cast them4 ,we have only to open our   
eyes to see  a change going on in the   
condition of men1 and consequently in   
their  minds1 so profound1 so universal1
 and so rapid that no other century  has
 witnessed the like of it4 ,the three   
causes that have formed the  modern mind
 continue to operate with increasing    
efficacy4 ,you are  all aware that      
discoveries in the positive sciences are
 multiplying  daily2 that geology1      

organic chemistry1 history1 entire      
branches of  physics and zoology1 are   
contemporary productions2 that the      
growth of  experience is infinite1 and  
the applications of discovery unlimited2
  that means of communication and       
transport1 cultivation1 trade1          
mechanical contrivances1 all the        
elements of human power1 are yearly     
spreading and concentrating beyond all  
expectation4 ,none of you are  ignorant 
that the political machine works        
smoother in the same sense2  that       
communities1 becoming more rational and 
humane1 are watchful of  internal order1
 protecting talent1 aiding the feeble   
and the poor2  in short1 that           
everywhere1 and in every way1 man is    
cultivating his  intellectual faculties 
and ameliorating his social condition4  
,we cannot  accordingly deny that men's 
habits1 ideas and condition transform   
themselves1 nor reject this consequence1
 that such renewal of minds and  things 
brings along with it a renewal of art4  

,the first period of this  evolution    
gave rise to the glorious ,french school
 of #ahcj2 it remains  for us to witness
 the second--the field which is open to 
your ambition  and your labor4 ,on its  
very threshold1 you have a right to     
augur well  of your century and of      
yourselves2 for the patient study we    
have  just terminated shows you that to 
produce beautiful works1 the sole       
condition necessary is that which the   
great ,goethe indicated3 ,fill  your    
mind and heart1 however large1 with     
ideas and sentiments of your  age1 and  
work will follow4      ,,the ,,end4