of it foremost among all our inculcating, and the name of it largest
among all our inscribing, in so far that, over the doors of every school
of Art, I would have this one word, relieved out in deep letters of pure
gold,--Moderation.
FOOTNOTES
[29] It is to be carefully noted that when rude execution is
evidently not the result of imperfect feeling and desire (as in
these men above named, it is) but of thought; either impatient,
which there was necessity to note swiftly, or impetuous, which it
was well to note in mighty manner, as pre-eminently and in both
kinds the case with Tintoret, and often with Michael Angelo, and in
lower and more degraded modes with Rubens, and generally in the
sketches and first thoughts of great masters; there is received a
very noble pleasure, connected both with ideas of power (compare
again Part I. Sect. ii. Chap. I.) and with certain actions of the
imagination of which we shall speak presently. But this pleasure is
not received from the beauty of the work, for nothing can be
perfectly beautiful unless complete, but from its simplicity and
sufficiency to its immediate purpose, where the purpose is not of
beauty at all, as often in things rough-hewn, pre-eminently for
instance in the stones of the foundations of the Pitti and Strozzi
palaces, whose noble rudeness is to be opposed both to the useless
polish, and the barbarous rustications of modern times, (although
indeed this instance is not without exception to be received, for
the majesty of these rocky buildings depends also in some measure
upon the real beauty and finish of the natural curvilinear
fractures, opposed to the coarseness of human chiselling,) and
again, as it respects works of higher art, the pleasure of their
hasty or imperfect execution is not indicative of their beauty, but
of their majesty and fulness of thought and vastness of power. Shade
is only beautiful when it magnifies and sets forth the forms of fair
things, so negligence is only noble when it is, as Fuseli hath it,
"the shadow of energy." Which that it may be, secure the substance
and the shade will follow, but let the artist beware of stealing the
manner of giant intellects when he has not their intention, and of
assuming large modes of treatment when he has little thoughts to
treat. There is large difference between indolent impatience of
labor and intellectual impatience of delay, large difference between
leaving things unfinished because we have more to do, or because we
are satisfied with what we have done. Tintoret, who prayed hard, and
hardly obtained, that he might be permitted, the charge of his
colors only being borne, to paint a new built house from base to
battlement, was not one to shun labor, it is the pouring in upon him
of glorious thoughts in inexpressible multitude that his sweeping
hand follows so fast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account