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SYMBOLISM IN. ART.* 



By J. A. Wheatley. 



( Read at Cocker mouth. ) 



The subject of Symbolism is one of absorbing interest ; it 

 enchains the attention of the student of History and Theology as 

 much as that of the artist, perhaps more, because in its primitive 

 forms, when it is most interesting and instructive, it has little, if 

 any claim to the title of Art at all; and even in its culminating 

 epochs, it is remarkable more for manipulative skill than artistic 

 genius, and appeals to the intellectual and imaginative faculties in 

 a manner very different from, and in a degree far inferior to, the 

 sublime conceptions of Greek and Roman Art. In what then 

 consists its great importance, its powerful interest, its mysterious 

 charm? To answer in some degree these questions is the object 

 of this lecture, and I will endeavour to deal with it in a loving and 

 reverent spirit. 



In the first place then, to trace the history of Symbolism, 

 we must go back to the very earliest authentic records of the 

 history of the human race. It pervades, almost absorbs, what we 

 know of the earliest historic races of man ; and would it not be 

 wonderful if it were otherwise ? Let us for a moment glance at 

 the faculty of man to which Symbolism first appeals — the sense 

 of Sight — the first of the gifts of the Almighty ; the first agency by 

 which the powers of the intellect are awakened ; through which his 

 mental faculties are called into being, and trained for good or ill. 

 Through the sense of sight the brain is reached, the heart is 

 touched, the imagination is aroused. Effects are instantaneously 

 * This Lecture was profusely illustrated, 

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