§ 43, 44. 



IDEAL BEAUTY. 247 



ing to any knowledge of music, so the eye without instruc- 

 tion may remain for ever ignorant of the merit of true 

 pictorial art. This can only he the result of study and well- 

 directed experience ; and no one ever was imbued with a real 

 feeling for it until long and diligent attention had cidtivated 

 his natural taste. 



44. Indeed, the errors into which men of celebrity in their 

 day have fallen, while pronouncing an opinion on paintings, 

 afford a striking illustration of this fact ; and it was not till 

 lately that in England the general admiration extended far 

 beyond a Guido, a Carlo Dolce, a Gruercino, the Caracci, and 

 some others of the Eclectic school ; and the staple of our col- 

 lections consisted of Dutch masters, who copied from nature, 

 and not always those subjects most remarkable for refinement. 

 Even now, the generality of those who visit a gallery are far 

 more attracted by the compositions of naturalisti than by 

 those which represent a more elevated sentiment ; and scenes 

 from common life are general favourites. Such subjects are 

 easy of comprehension ; they put before us what we see daily, 

 and know to be truly represented ; and it requires little effort 

 of the mind or cultivation of the taste to feel their merit. 

 The appreciation of ideal beauty, and of elevated sentiment, 

 in the composition of a first-rate Italian master is a very 

 different acquirement; and while we may rejoice to find that 

 this is at length beginning to be acknowledged, and even to 

 be considered a necessary accomplishment for all who pretend 

 to judge of painting, it is only fair to admit that it is as yet 

 seldom possessed, and the rare exception to the usual cha- 

 racter of English taste. To the general public it is utterly 

 unknown; and this is the less to be wondered at, since in a 

 country like Spain, which has obtained eminence in sacred 

 and historical composition, her first artists never attained that 

 same perfection of elevated expression as the Italians; and 

 the Madonnas even of Murillo, with all their sweetness, are 



it i 



