320 ARIADNE FLORENTINE 



and it can display all faculty of hand or wrist, precision of 

 eye, and accuracy, of knowledge, which a human creature can 

 possess. But the dotted or hatched line is not used in this 

 central style, and the higher conditions of beauty never 

 thought of. 



In the Astrology of Bandini, and remember that the As- 

 trologia of the Florentine meant what we mean by Astronomy, 

 and much more, he wishes you first to look at the face : the 

 lip half open, faltering in wonder ; the amazed, intense, 

 dreaming gaze ; the pure dignity of forehead, undisturbed by 

 terrestrial thought None of these things could be so much 

 as attempted in Durer's method ; he can engrave flowing hair, 

 skin of animals, bark of trees, wreathings of metal-work, with 

 the free hand ; also, with laboured chiaroscuro, or with sturdy 

 line, he can reach expressions of sadness, or gloom, or pain, 

 or soldierly strength, but pure beauty, never. 



134. Lastly, you have the Modern school, deepening its 

 lines in successive cuts. The instant consequence of the in- 

 troduction of this method is the restriction of curvature ; you 

 cannot follow a complex curve again with precision through 

 its furrow. If you are a dextrous ploughman, you can drive 

 your plough any number of times along the simple curve. 

 But you cannot repeat again exactly the motions which cut a 

 variable one.* You may retouch it, energize it, and deepen 

 it in parts, but you cannot cut it all through again equally. 

 And the retouching and energizing in parts is a living and in- 

 tellectual process ; but the cutting all through, equally, a me- 

 chanical one. The difference is exactly such as that between 

 the dexterity of turning out two similar mouldings from a 

 lathe, and carving them with the free hand, like a Pisan sculp- 

 tor. And although splendid intellect, and subtlest sensibility, 

 have been spent on the production of some modern plates, the 

 mechanical element introduced by their manner of execution 

 always overpowers both ; nor can any plate of consummate value 

 ever be produced in the modern method. 



135. Nevertheless, in landscape, there are two examples in 

 your Reference series, of insuperable skill and extreme beauty : 



* This point will be further examined and explained in the Appendix. 



