The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance: With An Index To Their WorksBerenson, Bernard
History
The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance: With An Index To Their Works
Berenson, Bernard
Art, Renaissance; Painters -- Italy -- Florence
What is the point at which ordinary pleasures pass over into the
specific pleasures derived from each one of the arts? Our judgment about
the merits of any given work of art depends to a large extent upon our
answer to this question. Those who have not yet differentiated the
specific pleasures of the art of painting from the pleasures they derive
from the art of literature, will be likely to fall into the error of
judging the picture by its dramatic presentation of a situation or its
rendering of character; will, in short, demand of the painting that it
shall be in the first place a good _illustration_. Those others who seek
in painting what is usually sought in music, the communication of a
pleasurable state of emotion, will prefer pictures which suggest
pleasant associations, nice people, refined amusements, agreeable
landscapes. In many cases this lack of clearness is of comparatively
slight importance, the given picture containing all these
pleasure-giving elements in addition to the qualities peculiar to the
art of painting. But in the case of the Florentines, the distinction is
of vital consequence, for they have been the artists in Europe who have
most resolutely set themselves to work upon the specific problems of the
art of figure-painting, and have neglected, more than any other school,
to call to their aid the secondary pleasures of association. With them
the issue is clear. If we wish to appreciate their merit, we are forced
to disregard the desire for pretty or agreeable types, dramatically
interpreted situations, and, in fact, "suggestiveness" of any kind.
Worse still, we must even forego our pleasure in colour, often a
genuinely artistic pleasure, for they never systematically exploited
this element, and in some of their best works the colour is actually
harsh and unpleasant. It was in fact upon form, and form alone, that the
great Florentine masters concentrated their efforts, and we are
consequently forced to the belief that, in their pictures at least, form
is the principal source of our aesthetic enjoyment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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