MOTIVES OF THE ARTIST 297 



point of view of the many, unless they are repro- Book iv 

 duced and multiplied by adequate mechanical 

 processes. Now, though it is quite conceivable 

 that a painter might paint a Madonna solely 

 because the realisation of his own ideas delighted 

 him, it is hardly to be expected that other men will 

 rack their brains to devise blocks, presses, and pre- 

 parations by which copies of it may be made and 

 multiplied, solely for the pleasure of reproducing 

 ideas which are not their own. It must further be 

 added that delight in creation for its own sake can 

 be attributed as a sufficient motive to the highest 

 class of artists only. As for the men whose artistic and artistic 

 powers are true, but qualify them only for decorative than the 

 not for creative work the men, for example, who jJjJ^JJi^, the 

 design beautiful stuffs and furniture though the desireof 



_ Y pecuniary 



exercise of their power may be doubtless itself a reward ; 

 pleasure to them, they are certainly as a class not 

 given to exercising them without the expectation of 

 some proportionate pecuniary reward. Indeed, in 

 exact proportion as artistic creation assimilates itself 

 to the processes by which wealth in general is pro- 

 duced, the mere pleasure of the work itself ceases to 

 be a sufficient motive for it. 



Next, with regard to the pursuit of speculative whilst scientific 



i 11 111- i -11 discoveries, 



knowledge, though this, and more especially pure though made 

 scientific discovery, may form the basis of all pro- fhTdesire for* 1 

 ductive effort, it is very far from being a form 

 productive effort itself. It has, on the contrary, no 

 necessary connection with it. It does not even the men who 



apply them 



belong t;o the region in which such effort operates, desire wealth. 



