1883.] on the Influence of AtJdetic Games ujpon Greek Art. 273 



living under different conditions, as to supersede the prevailing 

 canons ? and wliy should such an " ancient innovation " not die as a 

 passing fashion, but prevail and persist in its influence for centuries ? 



The reasons for this are not to be found in historical accident ; 

 but must be sought in the essential nature of Greek art itself, in those 

 elements inherent in the art which give it the power of persisting and 

 of retaining its validity for all ages and countries. 



Two words, the weight of which I cannot hope to convey in this 

 short address, contain in their combination the essential and dis- 

 tinctive characteristics of Greek art. It is the combination of Nature 

 and the Ideal. 



Greek art has persisted in its influence down to our time, because 

 the artist clung to nature and followed her as a kind mother, and 

 nature practically remains the same throughout all ages. Byzantine, 

 not to sj)eak of Egyptian and early Oriental, art have not done this. 

 The types of Byzantine art are conventional abstractions from nature ; 

 a work of Greek art, however ideal, is instinct with nature. 



But the persistent influence of Greek art is not wholly due to the 

 fact that it was natiu'alistic ; it is due above all to another qu.ility 

 of primary importance, namely, that it was ideal, that it idealised 

 nature. The ideal in art is the highest generalisation of form. In 

 Greek art it was the highest generalisation of the forms in nature. 

 The works of Greek art are therefore not dependent for aj)preciation 

 upon the individual spectator or one special mood of the individual, 

 but are valid for all sane men, all men of a certain physiological con- 

 stitution of their senses, surrounded by man and nature relatively the 

 same. The works of the early Flemish and German masters, and 

 even of some of the Kranachs and of Albert Diirer, are rej)lete with 

 nature, yet are often wanting in the ideal elements which raise the 

 artist above the individual model into the realms of the most perfect 

 ideal types. 



Neither Nature alone nor the Ideal alone can make art lasting in 

 its influence over different peoples and ages ; it is only in the com- 

 bination of the two, in nature idealised, that this persistent quality of 

 art can be found. Yet Greek art was not always characterised by 

 the combination of these two elements. 



We naturally incline to forget the early elementary stages of 

 things great and perfect. Nay, we are inclined to believe that they 

 never were humble and lowly, never grew from the smaller and lower 

 to the great and high. Thus the early childhood of Greek art is not 

 widely known. Still, there was a period when Greek art was not 

 possessed of nature. We may further generalise and say, that art 

 never is possessed of nature in its earliest stages. It has often 

 been stated that the origin of art is to be found in the imitative 

 instinct of man. This experience shows to be utterly untrue. It is 

 really to be found in man's active nature, in his creative instinct, 

 which often drives him to seek for what is opposed to nature as she 

 presents herself to him day by day, for rhyme as opposed to prose, for 



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