54 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



' You may say that such an error, since it is patent only to 

 the expert's eye (had it been more obvious, the Greek artist 

 would never have perpetrated it), is of no consequence to the 

 general effect of the statue, and that it is splitting hairs to dwell 

 upon it. The creative artist produces the form which he has 

 conceived without troubling about particulars, he is led on only 

 by the sense of ideal beauty which hovers before his brain and 

 eyes ; and with the same unconsciousness of details and their 

 causes, the connoisseur revels in the spectacle of living har- 

 mony afforded him in the work of the artist. Yet the artist's 

 genius lies in the mysterious power of forming an original 

 conception, and expressing it in a form that deliberate reflec- 

 tion subsequently acknowledges to be true and perfect. And 

 just as it is certain that the spectator will be elevated in 

 proportion with the splendour and fidelity of the artist's con- 

 formity to and interpretation of the ideal content of his work, 

 so surely will every failure in this respect detract from the 

 living beauty of the figure, even when the critic is unable to 

 say wherein the fault consists, and what has caused it. 



' It cannot be denied that the lack of anatomical knowledge 

 among the ancients is often perceptible as a defect in their 

 productions, however much their marvellous talent for the 

 representation of truth and beauty may have obviated its con- 

 sequences. Then again it must be remembered that the 

 ancients had far more abundant opportunity of observing 

 the human form than is possible in modern times, and that the 

 curriculum of the art-school has to supplement this want as far 

 as possible. The modern, who can only study the human 

 form in the model-room, or at best in a bathing establishment 

 (where indeed he seldom finds a wholly pleasing subject under 

 the one-sided and distorting conditions of our civilization), is at 

 a great disadvantage as compared with the ancients, and would 

 be on very unequal terms of competition if he were not 

 equipped with accessory instruction. He further has to reckon 

 with the factor that, for the same reason, the public know much 

 less of the human body. Anatomy can no more than any other 

 branch of study be a substitute for genius in the artist, whether 

 in regard to capacity for reproduction or to sense of beauty, 

 but it can set him forward on his way, and sharpen his powers 

 of observation. 



'The question of the benefit of anatomy to the artist may 

 therefore be reduced to this : What more can the knowledge 

 of the internal structure of the body give him than he has 

 acquired from the external study of it on the living model ? 

 In reply I would submit the following considerations : 



' i. It facilitates appreciation of the different forms of various 

 parts of the body in different postures, since these forms can 



