OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 35 



modern art through recognising the illimitable, the 

 Infinite ; he further explained the difference by referring 

 to his own experience. He was, according to his own 

 confession, so much occupied, during the earlier phases 

 of his poetic creations, with a desire to represent the 

 ideal, to embody a higher meaning in poetical form and 

 language, that he was blind to the na/iveU or immediate- 

 ness both of Shakespeare and Homer, in whose works 

 we meet with a living creation behind which the person- 

 ality of the author disappears, remaining unknown and 

 unapproachable, and which are intelligible and impressive 

 without explanation. Goethe had already pointed to the 

 peculiar character of Gothic art and to that of Albrecht 

 Diirer, as exhibiting the aspirations and workmanship 

 of the artist. Many of the works of more modern 

 artists, notably of the French and Dutch schools, would 

 also suggest to the student and thinker the existence 

 of works of art of high technical merit which do not 

 come, or which come only slightly, into the region of 

 the Beautiful. 



Out of these various discussions which were carried 

 on in a lively and stimulating manner in Schiller's 

 periodical, ' The Hours,' 1 the distinction between the 



1 This "Monthly" was started self in the second edition of his 

 by Schiller in the year 1794. It ; work, ' Eeligion within the Limits 

 followed upon an earlier serial, | of mere Reason. ' Schiller had read 



' Thalia.' Between them they con- 

 tain Schiller's two most important 

 and mature sesthetical essays : the 

 first (in the 'Thalia,' 1793) was 

 entitled " Anmuth und Wurde," and 

 testifies to the strong influence 

 which Kant's philosophy had upon 

 Schiller's conceptions of Art and 



Kant's work with the greatest in- 

 terest, but had revolted against 

 Kant's doctrine of the " radical evil 

 inherent in human nature, " though 

 he admitted that Kant's arguments 

 were unanswerable. His own Essay 

 on " Grace and Dignity " gave him 

 an opportunity to oppose Kant's 



the Beautiful. It drew after it an | rigorism. In this controversy with 

 appreciative reference by Kant him- Kant two expressions have become 



