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CHAPTER XVII. 



ART CRITICISM. 



Art teaches the physiologist; all men can study expression 

 Bulwer's opinion All expression of feeling is by nerve- 

 muscular action Importance of such studies Expression of 

 mental states Hand and face specially indicative of the 

 mind Venus de' Medici, the nervous hand Diana, the ener- 

 getic hand Composition Etruscan drawing Cain at Pitti 

 Gallery, the hand in fright The Dying Gladiator Writings 

 of Camper ; his descriptions of expression Antony Raphael 

 Mengs Study of nerve-muscular action Weakness should 

 not be expressed in place of beauty The free hand The 

 object of figure composition in art Fixed and mobile expres- 

 sion Principles of analysis. 



As I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to art 

 for many suggestions as to modes of expression 

 and the principles involved therein, I may perhaps 

 be excused from the charge of rashness if I, though 

 not an artist, venture to suggest some principles 

 for the guidance of art representations of the emo- 

 tions and other general conditions in man. The 

 principles by the aid of which it is proposed to 

 criticize art works, are those described in chaps, 

 v. and ix. Ancient art has recorded indelibly in 

 sculpture and on pottery the modes of expression 



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