286 



AN AISTALYSIS OV THE 



mannerisms early appearing ; and persisting to a degree varying with the general 

 character of the people maintaining them. We have fonnd that primitive people 

 are realistic in their tendencies ; early art heing the pnrest so far as faithful- 

 ness to the model is concerned. We are informed by Dr. Brinton''' (who is speaking 

 of the construction of language), that " fidelity to form is everywhere the test of 

 excellence." This must be true of all systems dependent on the purity of types — 

 whether it be of word-roots or of life forms. It is especially noticeable that nations 

 just emerging from darkness into the light of civilization, when they have attained 

 sufficient mastery over their material to satisfactorily produce what they intend, that 

 their art is more vigorous and truthful than at any subsequent period.f 



But in time, the figures are distorted by conventionaHties, or encumbered with 

 the attributes of an ol)scure symbolism. They no longer reflect the grace of untram- 

 meled motion, but the formalities of national prejudice. In some phases of art, as for 

 example that seen in Egypt, it is said development was stunted by the enactment 

 of rigid laws. But no legal I'estrictions are needed to fix the customs of workmen. 

 They are a law unto themselves. It would have been a moi'e difficult task, we be- 

 lieve, to induce an Egyptian artist of the later dynasties to change his method by 

 force of law than to restrain him within the familiar limits which had been handed 

 down to him through many generations. 



(6.) Conditions favoring the Conventional. Griancing at the conditions which 

 appear to favor the conventional, we find, first, a rapid growth in the arts of design 

 without a corresponding development of the perceptive powers. I^umerous examples 

 of this fertile course of formalism are met with in Central America and in Budd- 

 histic India ; secondly, the acce]3tance of a given form as a symbol ; thirdly, deca- 

 dence in art : of the last mentioned Ave have two varieties, either an abrupt descent 

 from excellence incident to the influence of the schools, in which the style of the 

 master is lost in the mannerism of the disciple, or where art becomes tainted by the 

 whims of uncultured patrons; fourthly, the gratification of the sesthetic sense at the 

 expense of the form. This is easily derived from the preceding, and is either char- 

 acteristic of it or is indicative of its approach. 



(c.) The Fantastic. Thus when we see a sphinx delineated in the cincquecento 

 style (it is furnished, let us say, with an enormous tail volute, the basis of which is 

 the acanthus leaf and stem), we are convinced that the artist has deliberately 

 deserted his model for one of those " hazardous caprices sure to please." Equally 



* Myths of the New World. D. G. Brinton, M. D., New York, 18G8, 8. 



■)• Layard. Nineveh and its Remains, II, 223. The author makes the same application to Egyptian Art, p. £23. 



