2 THE FINE ARTS. 
eyes ; and his art is, to see regularly and beautifully. To creation, or the 
power of seeing, must be joined as a subordinate one the power of repre- 
senting the form in a material, that of execution. 
That which is represented, the mental conception, whose expression is 
what properly constitutes an artistic form, we call a work of art. It is an 
idea of a particular sort which at the same time is combined with a powerful 
and lively feeling of the soul; so that sometimes both idea and feeling are 
united in a spiritual condition, while at others the idea becomes more 
prominent, although in the adoption of the form properly so called the 
feeling always predominates. 
By the laws of art we mean nothing more than the conditions under 
which the faculty of feeling of the human soul can be excited to beneficial 
action by means of external impressions; and they determine the artistic 
form, in accordance with the demands of the feelings. But first of all the 
artistic form must possess a general regularity, which results from the 
observance of mathematical relations or of organic forms of life, and insti- 
tutes the limits within which the artistic forms move. This, for instance, in 
statuary, is the relation borne by the organic fundamental forms to the 
particular plastic figure. 
After regularity, beauty is the next requisite of the artistic form in refer- 
ence to the feelings; and we call beautiful those forms which cause the 
soul to feel in a manner which is truly beneficial and salutary, and entirely 
suited to its nature; in other words, which make it vibrate naturally. The 
highest beauty stands in opposition to the endeavor to represent something 
peculiar; wherefore Winckelmann says, that perfect beauty must be as void 
of peculiarity as the purest water. 
The two extreme points in the chain of sensations are the sublime and 
the pleasing. The former requires of the soul an energy raised to its utmost 
limits; while the latter, without any stirring up of its powers, draws the 
soul of itself into a circle of salutary sensations. Moreover every work of | 
art must possess a unity to which everything in it bears reference, and by 
virtue of which its various parts are so held together, that the one as it were 
demands and renders necessary the other. | 
The divisions of art are founded on the nature of the form under which its 
representations are produced. All forms that possess a certain regularity 
are adapted to the purposes of art, particularly mathematical forms, on 
which the nature of bodies and of their systems depends, and organic forms, 
in which life on our earth attains to a wider and higher development. The 
more obscure and undeveloped the idea to be embodied in a work of art, 
the better adapted for the purpose are mathematical forms; but the clearer 
the idea, the more recourse is had to the forms of organized nature for its 
expression. 
Every form presupposes magnitude, and it is in the nature of this magni- 
tude that each several art originates. Ifthe magnitude be one of time, we 
then have music and eloquence; for tone is ever a magnitude of time. To 
these arts, taken in a wide sense, belong also Orchestrics or the art of danc- 
ing, which to time adds space, and to the extent of the motion the manner 
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