BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 69 



. nstead of manifesting themselves in those more complete 

 and perfect forms of existence where the matter and spirit 

 are ahnost in perfect harmony, appear to struggle for the 

 full expression of their character with the material form, 

 and to express it only with difficulty at last. What is 

 achieved with harmony, grace, dignity, almost with appa- 

 rent repose, by existences whose type is the Beautiful, is 

 done only with violence and disturbed action by the former. 

 This kind of manifestation in nature we call the Pictures- 

 que. 



More concisely, the Beautiful is nature or art obeying 

 the universal laws of perfect existence (i. e. Beauty), 

 easily, freely, harmoniously, and without the display of 

 power. The Picturesque is nature or art obeying the same 

 laws rudely, violently, irregularly, and often displaying 

 power only. 



Hence we find all Beautiful forms characterized by curved 

 and flowing lines — lines expressive of infinity,* of grace, 

 and willing obedience : and all Picturesque forms character 

 ized by irregular and broken lines — lines expressive of vio- 

 lence, abrupt action, and partial disobedience, a strug- 

 gling of the idea with the substance or the condition of its 

 being. The Beautiful is an idea of beauty calmly and har- 

 moniously expressed ; the Picturesque an idea of beauty or 

 power strongly and irregularly expressed. As an example 

 of the Beautiful in other arts we refer to the Apollo of the 

 Vatican ; as an example of the Picturesque, to the Laocoon 

 or the Dying Gladiator. In nature we would place before 



* Hogarth called the curve the line of beauty, and all artists have felt instinct- 

 vely its power, but Mr. Ruskin (in Modem Painters) was, we beheve, the 

 first to suggest the cause of that power — that it expresses in its varying ten- 

 dencies, the infinite. 



