Jan. 1, 1886.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



93 



tlu' ai-tist begins at the beginning, and leads ns with 

 him step by step to the end. 



Tlie highest aim in Art is to represent Nature 

 perfectly. 



For instance, if a painter will make a picture repre- 

 senting a storm in a forest he must first of all feel the 

 grandeur and beauty of the scene, and the wonder of 

 the workings of the elements of Nature, and then he 

 must so exactly paint every detail of this scene that we 

 seem even to see the swaying of the branches of the 

 frees, feel the wind, kc. : in fact every line of drawing, 

 and every tone of colour must be so jierfectly in accord- 

 ance and harmony that we forget we are onlj' looking at 

 a picture and feel as though we are in reality witnessing 

 the scene. 



The composer of music to illustrate this same subject 

 must likewise feel the grandeur, beauty, and wonder of 

 it ; but then it is within his power to first describe this 

 forest in repose, then step by step he brings on the 

 .storm ; makes us hear the thunder in the distance, then 

 it comes nearer and ne:irer, we feel the wind grow 

 stronger and stronger, the lightning breaks suddenly upon 

 us, and after holding us in the midst of the gi-eat storm, 

 he may, if he pleases, illustrate the ceasing of it, and 

 leave us at last in that delightful calm and freshness 

 which always follows the storm, with all the beauties of 

 nature in sweet repose. I have allowed myself to give 

 this small illustration simply to show how similar is the 

 work of the painter and composer ; for it is in this 

 manner that every subject — be it historic, romantic, prac- 

 tical, or sentimental, must be treated. 



The composer of mu.sic conceives his .subject, and then 

 executes it by the many variations, modulations, and 

 harmony of tones ; while the painter must, in the same 

 artistic manner, execute by the perfect lines of drawinaf, 

 r.nd the delicate and exact tones, modulation, and harmony 

 uf colovir. 



And so, to repeat what I have quoted at the head of 

 this article, " Art is a mirror in which time and the 

 world are reflected.'' As we hear of the time when it 

 was not known that different tones could be put together 

 r.nd make harmony, so we hear of the time when the old 

 Greeks were delighted with the idea and success of one 

 Saurias, in drawing the line of the shadow of a horse 

 standing in the sun ; and then later, when Kore, of 

 Corinth, drew the line of the shadow of her lover upon 

 the wall, and it afterwards occurred to her father, who 

 was a potter, to copy the drawing upon one of his pots. 



Thus began the first illustrations in pictures, and from 

 those quaint old drawings on vases, pots, ifec, we learn of 

 the character, customs, and ideas of the people of that 

 time, and so on up to the present day we find in pictures, 

 as in music, to a great extent, the history of the world 

 and its people. 



A portrait-painter has the most difticiilt and greatest 

 work of all ; for as the highest aim of art. is to perfectly 

 represent natu^-e, and man has been created as the noblest 

 ; nd most perfect of all things, then the highest degree 

 in art has been attained when we see a perfect porti-ait 

 of any person. But we often see a painted representa- 

 tion of a person where the .shape of each feature 

 may be drawn very faii'ly ; the shape of the head, nose, 

 and mouth may be well represented, and the exact colour 

 uf the hair and eyes, but if all this appears flat and cold 

 upon the canvas, with no soul or warmth of life in it, can 

 it be called arf! No ; there must be life and soul in it ; 

 it must bs plastic — must stand out before us in a natural, 

 life-like manner ; we must feel the softness and warmth 

 of the flesh, must see the soul lighting the eyes, and the 



expression of eyes and mouth must portray the character 

 of the person. There must be soul in it ! Soul must 

 speak to soul — the picture niust speak to us ! 



There are at the present day amongst the Germans 

 fcome excellent painters, i^nd it will probably interest the 

 readers of Knowledge to see in luxotype print some 

 copits of some of the best and latest pictures of these 

 artists. 



In Gabriel Max's pictures we will have a very inte- 

 resting study, for he has in the first place a profound 

 conception of things, and places them before us in a most 

 artistic and lifelike manner. There are not very many 

 painters of the present day that can equal him in his 

 delicate and natural representation of flesh ; and his 

 figures are so plastic, and he possesses such an extra- 

 ordinary talent for making one see and feel the relation 

 of one thing to another. 



With the editor's permission Knowledc.e will give with 

 my next article on pictures a luxotype of one of Max's 

 pictiires. 



Miinchen, Decemher, IS85. 



THE DIGNITY OF SCIENCE, 

 By Richard A. Proctor. 



% CURIOUS question has been raised re- 

 specting the dignity of science in the 

 pages of Nature and by the editor of 

 Nature. The profane may be apt to 

 think that not dignity so much as — 

 perhaps — a different quality, is involved : 

 for the idea underlying the theory of 

 scientific dignity which Mr. Lockyer has advanced would 

 appear to be that, — Your man of science ought to be 

 incapable of anything so degrading as ivork, but to beg he 

 should be by no means ashamed. The discussion, if 

 such it can be called, ai-ose as follows ; — 



Professor Odling, in a singularly able address delivered 

 to the Institute of Chemistry, had dealt in a manly way 

 with the necessity under which most men labour of 

 earning a livelihood, — of moinfaining themselves and 

 their families. He had said — but I had better quote his 

 own words : — 



" The best of all endowments for research is unques- 

 tionably that with which the searcher, relying on his own 

 energies, succeeds in endowing himself. The work to 

 which our natures are repugnant, not less than the work 

 which entrances us and hardly makes itself felt as work 

 at all, has to be done. In some degree or other, we have 

 most of us to obtain our own livelihood ; and harsh as 

 may seem the requirement, it will, I suppose, be con- 

 ceded that the necessity put upon the mass of mankind 

 of having to earn their daily bread is an arrangement of 

 Providence which has on the whole worked fairly well ; 

 and further, that the various arrangements hitherto tried 

 for exempting certain classes of men from the necessity 

 of having to earn their daily bread, in order that they 

 might give themselves up to the higher spiritual or in- 

 tellectual life, have scarcely, to say the least of them, 

 worked quite so sa,tisfactorily as they were intended to. 

 All of us are, without doubt, qualified for higher things 

 than the mere earning of our daily bread ; but the dis- 

 cipline of having to earn our daily bread is, in more ways 

 than one, a very wholesome discipline for the mass of 

 us, and even for the best of us. It may here and there 

 press hardly on particular natures, but it i^ rarely an 

 impediment to the achievement of the highest things 



