38S 



PAINTING. 



mated the form, nor reproduce the original, breathing 

 with life. The case is similar with other objects of 

 the art. A plant, a flower, a tree, may be so copied 

 as to give the form accurately, and yet be destitute of 

 the appearance of life. To produce this, it is neces- 

 sary to have an eye for the soul of nature, to catch 

 its breathing spirit. Still more necessary is the 

 poetical spirit when the artist undertakes his noblest 

 work an historical painting. A Parnassus or School 

 of Athens by Raphael, a Last Judgment by Michel 

 Angelo, an Olympus by Cornelius, is a poem ; and 

 we see also the near relationship of poetry and paint- 

 ing from the circumstance of the two arts being so 

 ready to afford each other assistance. The painter 

 furnishes ornaments and illustrations to the works of 

 the poet, and the poet often interprets in verse the 

 beautiful productions of the painter. The great dif- 

 ference between them is that the painter can express 

 a state of things only during a single moment, whilst 

 the poet can unfold his scenes at pleasure ; but, on 

 the other hand, the painter can show much in a 

 moment, and therefore make a deep impression, 

 whilst the poet can give only word by word. Hence, 

 also, the effect of the representation of the drama is 

 so great, because it unites, as it were, poetry and 

 painting the ear and the eye both receive at once. 

 The art of painting is divided, according to its sub- 

 jects, into representations of man, of the lower ani- 

 mals, and of inanimate nature. The first are gene- 

 rally called historical paintings, even if their subject 

 is not taken from history, and include allegorical and 

 mythological, as well as real historical representa- 

 tions. Even battle pieces, scenes from common life, 

 and portraits, have been classed under historical 

 paintings. Historical painting is the noblest and 

 most comprehensive of all branches of the art, be- 

 cause it embraces man, the head of the visible crea- 

 tion man in all his relations. The historical pain- 

 ter, therefore, must study man in all his situations 

 and relations, from the anatomy of his figure and the 

 attitudes of the model to the most rapid and slightest 

 expression of feeling and the ebullitions of deep and 

 violent passion. He- must have technical skill, a 

 practised eye and hand, and must understand how to 

 group his skilfully exe'cuted parts so as to produce a 

 beautiful composition ; and all this is insufficient 

 without a poetic spirit, which can form a striking 

 conception of an historical event, or create imaginary 

 scenes of beauty. There is a remarkable passage in 

 the works of the famous composer Maria von Weber. 

 He speaks of the impression which a beautiful land- 

 scape makes upon him, a lovely or brilliant sunset, 

 &c. Every, thing, he says, presents itself to his soul 

 In a musical form, in concords and discords. What- 

 ever he perceives resolves itself into music, and thus 

 becomes truly impressive to his soul. This is the 

 case with every true artist. Speak of a noble idea to 

 a sculptor, and involuntarily it will crystallize in a 

 plastic form in his mind. Read a stirring passage of 

 history or an interesting poem to a painter, and the 

 whole will pass in pictures before his imagination. 

 According to the branch of the art which he parti- 

 cularly cultivates will be the effect of particular 

 passages. The comic painter will perceive the 

 comic traits in such passages just as the satirist invo- 

 luntarily seizes upon the contrasts and inconsistencies 

 of life. This must be, to a great degree, the effect 

 of natural constitution. No one can give himself this 

 power ; yet it must be cultivated, if the individual 

 aims at being truly an artist ; for, though a lively 

 imagination may easily embody interesting scenes in 

 visible forms, yet whoever has conversed with artists 

 has found how difficult it is for a young artist to pre- 

 sent upon canvas a picture which he had thought was 

 distinct in the highest degree in his mind. To ob- 



tain this skill requires long practice in drawing and 

 painting : the artist must have executed numerous 

 studies, be familiar with the folds of drapery and the 

 expression of feeling. But just as poets often ima- 

 gine that they compose when their minds only con- 

 nect unconsciously reminiscences of poems which 

 have made a deep impression upon them, so painters 

 too often believe they compose when they but rentier 

 what they have seen elsewhere. Originality of mind 

 is one of the first requisites of a painter. 



Landscape painting is not of so vast an extent as 

 historical painting, yet it requires much study and 

 great natural talent. If landscapes are not copies of 

 beautiful or favourite scenery, if the landscape pain- 

 ter composes, he wishes to convey his feelings ex r 

 pressively and harmoniously by means of natural 

 objects, whilst the historical painter is much more 

 objective ; i.e. he represents ideas and feelings not so 

 much with reference to their connexion with him- 

 self. The landscape painter generally, though not 

 always, indeed, aims more at the mere expression of 

 feeling; hence is more subjective. (See Objective) 

 The landscape may become allegorical and historical 

 (in the meaning of the term in the art of painting) 

 by being adorned with figures. Of the former the 

 works of the living landscape painter Frederic are 

 examples, and of the latter those of Claude Lorraine 

 and Poussin. But the landscape painter must be 

 careful not to disturb too much the effect of his land- 

 scapes by giving too great importance to the figures. 

 The chief study of the landscape painter is the vege- 

 table world, and none can make such use of the 

 whole world of colours as he. Yet air, water, rocks, 

 buildings, all require to be carefully studied by him. 

 Flower and fruit paintings, still life, and arabesques, 

 should be mentioned here. The first require, more 

 than any other kinds of painting, the imitation of 

 nature ; in fact, to paint fruits requires little else 

 than close copying, though even here, there would 

 be a difference between a naked copy of a fruit made 

 for a horticultural society and a fruit-piece painted as 

 such by a Van Huysum. There is, even in fruits, an 

 ideal beauty which must animate the painter, and the 

 elements of which he must extract from nature. 

 Arabesques are the wild creations of a rich imagina- 

 tion, and not unlike the unrestrained productions of 

 a poetical mind in the Arabian Nights ; and, with all 

 their wildness, they can show the genius of a true 

 artist, and ought to do so, if they claim to be con- 

 sidered works of art. How fanciful and lovely are 

 some arabesques, where flowers and leaves entangle 

 birds playing around human figures which end in 

 plants and fruits ! 



The third chief division is animal painting, more 

 circumscribed than either historical or landscape 

 painting, yet a valuable branch of the art, whose 

 highest aim is to represent with truth and life the 

 character of the different species of animals, so im- 

 portant an element of surrounding nature. In some 

 cases this branch approaches that of portrait paint- 

 ing ; and, as we have said that the latter requires the 

 power of reproducing not merely the bare forms of 

 the individual, but his life and character, so it is, in 

 some cases, with animals ; and the portraits of 

 favourite race-horses would poorly satisfy the con- 

 noisseur, did they not express the individual charac- 

 ter, not merely the bare form of the horse. Other 

 divisions of painting have reference to the technical 

 part of the art. The encaustic painting of the an- 

 cients (see Encaustics) is not now known, though 

 the modern encaustics approach near it. We should 

 mention also painting on enamel, on glass, on porce- 

 lain, mosaic painting (q. v.) &c. In regard to the 

 materials, there is painting in fresco, which belongs 

 to paintiiig in water colours, and miniature painting, 



