The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-07 00:00:00

MAY 7, 1853. countered successfully in the United States, by the simple agency of a heavy direct tax on un cleared land ; and if the Australian colonies have, as Lord Grey says, resisted the introduc tion of any such system of taxing, that is simply because the inconvenience which it is intended to remedy has never been experienced. Besides, it is something for the colonial treasury not to lie out of the purchase money of these lands for a longer period than neces sary. And the suspicion. even though it be suspicion merely, that the Colonial-office is trying to interfere on behalf of the capitalist as against the working man, by preventing the latter from gratifying his natural desire to possess land, cannot but tell most unfavour ably. Indeed on this point the unanimous opinion of the colonists ought to be conclusive. Similar reasonings apply to the question of imperial and local rights over Crown lands. Lord Grey contends in favour of the home Government, on the ground that Parliament is less likely to be swayed by personal or class influences such as may sway a Colonial Legislature. The argument is valid so far as it goes; but, it' admitted, strikes at the root of all colonial independence. It was used, in fitet, against the establishment of the principle of responsible government. Lord Grey la bours to prove, by means of examples twhetlwr fairly or unfairly cited we have no means of judging—the colonists would probably tell a different story), that the animus of a local assembly is generally to show gross partiality to one part of a colony at the expense of another, and that local jealousies prevail to an extent su ffi cient to neutralise all projects of national advantage. But, if this be so, Austra lian settlers are unfit to he trusted with legis lative power on other subjects besides that of Crown hinds, which is manifestly a re dnetin ad ablatrdans. Lord Grey's strongest argument, though but slightly touched upon. is founded on the analogy of the United States—Con gress, he says, reserving to itself the same powers which he arrogates for Parliament. though in both eases the Provincial Legisla tures remonstrate and complain. But in truth the whole discussion on this subject brings forth in strong relief the ,somewhat arbitrary tendencies of the writer—a phase of character in which we admire him less than in any other. 1. Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds, (Fe.— London : H. 0. Bohn. 2. The Fine Artx. Ily Guizot. Bosworth. Ma. BOHN'S neat and portable edition of Sir Joshua Reynolds' works is a valuable addition to the cheap literature of the country. No critic is better entitled to speak with authority than Sir Joshua. uniting as he did a refined and cultivated taste with a thorough practical knowledge of his art—the most popular painter of his day, and one whose works in crease in price as their extrinsic value diminishes. As a writer, though not free from some of the prejudices of his age, he was sound, com prehensive, and intelligible : his judgments were the result of much study and observa tion, and were neither warped by affectation nor tainted with presumption. We own it is with much satisfaction that we turn from the 'esthetic rhapsodies and German mysticisms so muck in fashion to the rational opinions and easy periods of Sir Joshua. Both artists and their critics we think have some times mistaken obscurity in expression 10- depth of reflection. and have confounded a new fangled phraseology with the discovery of a new principle. There seems also to be a prevalent idea that excellence in art is to he obtained rather by encouraging an enthusiastic state of mind which is called " faith," than by careful study and long practice. Nay, to such a height have some of these fantastical devotees ar rived (for it is remarkable that the greatest sticklers for the efficacy of " faith " in the fine arts are to be found among Protestants). that, despairing of the desired amount of inspira tion in the calm and reasoning religion in which they were educated. they have actually pro fessed themselves Roman Catholics in the hope that the saints and martyrs of that church would infuse the inspiration which London: THE PRESS. their natural genius does not supply. It would not be difficult to show, did the eiTor merit a serious refutation. that the most en thusiastieally religious people have often been the most devoid of skill and art ; anti we re gret 10 record it that some of the greatest artists. those to whose works a tender and reverential character particularly belongs. have frequently been careless in their religious (hit ies and dissolute in their livet4. Whatever tends to reline the taste and cul tivate the understanding. with the as:sistotkee of native genius and deep study. will un doubtedly assist in forming the artist ; but it'. neglecting these aids. he trusts, through crazy mysticism, which he calls faiith,'' to find a road to exeellence, he will pea the disappointment which too frequently attendm better-chosen short cuts to the temple ot Fame. _ _ We have yet heard of no artist who has pro fessed himself a believer in Jupiter in the ex pectation of rivalling Phidias. but we think. should he ever accept for gospel every table in Tooke's "Pantheon." he would not be nearer his object than the devout renegade who swallows all the contents of Newman 's Hagiology " will by that miraculous proof of faith become a Haltingly. _ _ _ In the attempt to dignify the ultimate 01044 of art. the immediate purpose of the artist has been far too much kept out of view. It' it is his mission "to refine, to inst•uet and ele vate, the instrument by which it is to be ef fected, and therefore the first nun of the artist. is to please : ifart fails in this particular it can succeed in no other. We do lint Meath that the artist should choose subjects only that are sooth ing and agreeable. but that he should convey at once to our minds the idea he intended to suggest. that he should explain his story so as to reach our feelings, that he should pot , tray nature so as to satisfy us with the fidelity of his representations. We cannot expect that he should speak with equal power to all minds alike ; but we think, it' a work of art, whether picture or statue, is beyond the com prehension of a well-educated person of ordi nary observation, the fault is in the artist him self ; and, whatever merit the ingenuity of the advanced critic may discover in the details, as at whole the production must be considered defective. We suppose that the deepest study MI artist eould bestow would teach him but to clothe loftier and truer conceptions, in truer and more beautiful forms: should his study not lead to this result, it would but prove his method false or his judgment deficient. We need not seriously embamtss ourselves with the hypot h esis that first-rate art may address itself to a barbarous age : such a ease has never existed, though perhaps ninny a young student in the pangs of disappointment fondly flatters himself it is his own. Let not the student indulge the delusive belief that his genius is beyond the eomprehension of his contemporaries : nothing is more hopeless than the expectation of it posthumous fame which is denied by the living generation. Those artists who have held the longest pos session Of the world's favour au•o those who have enjoyed the greatest share of popularity during their lives. In the infaney of art. while mechanical dexterity was in progress, each popular artist was surpassed in manual skill by his immediate successor; but poste rity has been just, and each has been restored to that niche in the temple of fame to which his genius entitled him, and from which he had been temporarily displaced. D a nte tells us that the eontempmltt•ten of Cinutbue imagined he had reaehed the summit of an unap proachable fame. but that his sveee.:;.,or (iiotto had already supplanted him in pub lic favour ; and he admits at least its a poetical possibility that even in the existing ; generation a higher genius might tu•ise to push the popular favourite from his stool. A very few years aceomplished the prophecy, yet Giotto keeps the reputation to which his genius entitles him, freed from the exagge ration of contemporary flattery. lie may be considered indeed the founder of the modern school of painting : if he wits surpassed in t'acility of execution by his suecessoors, his spirit animated their design. lie wits the precursor of Masaceio, the real inspirer of I 1 ■ M Betidelle, when he had abandoned the stitland uninspired manner 44 Pentgino. These artists worked only for churches and convents, and generally on walls. in distemper or in frown ; therefore, to judge of their merits, a visit to Tuscany is neeessam. and the dubious speei• mom which find their way to this eountry would ghe u Very inadequate 1111prfte1011 their toower. When the arts revived after the short Mite%) which fidlowed the &mutat of the Hunrnu empire. the church was the only patron of ant the palace even of the monarch Wen it rude fertresti winch ittlillitted little cuthellilt ment, the church was the only repository secure from the depredation of the spoiler. Hence that preference fur sacred subjects which some modern waiters have attributed to the painters of the day its a matter of religious principle ; but this exelusive reproduetion of religious subjects by no means excluded the admiration of classic antiquity. From till. earliest days in every &pertinent of art. the eluvial but ignsontut artist of the tits . % attempted as chow an imitation of the a mti q ut; model as hand" could achiet e : hence in architecture that clumsy adaptat 101 l to the classic orders which with efitelestiOhmen 1' 1 hats passed lire an original style, and is 1111 l untitled Byzantine. Lombard, Nornet and Saxon. stecinsling to the traditions 14 the reel& amongst WllOlll it 11104 been developed. Mere wits an inclination aiming the artist- of the middle ages to attach au exaggerated no portance to the few and insignifieauat 11 1 mains of antiquity which they possum/led. Th.. Pisani formed their style upon the Romito sarcophagus in the Campo Santo at Pisa, which contains the body of the Countess Beatrice, the mother of the fatuous Countess Matilda. 'Mese deservedly admired sculptors (theta. were four of the seine family) founded is school of imitators and followers ; hence those hifpfed senators and Roman matrons who figure as Christian saints and virgins, sod whose dress omit attributes have become Nue• gieol in the Itomish Church. A visit to the shrines at Ravenna will enable the most car less observer to trace the transition front clash to mediteval art, the metamorphosis of the temple and the basilica into the Chris tian ehureh—the death of ancient art, the pro gress of its corruption, and its subsequent resuscitation. A lively writer of the present day has com pered fhe eclipse of the arts in Italy to the twilight of the arctic mummer, where the night hardly doses on the opening dawn. The ge nius of the lireekm, which had been but feebly engntfted on the Roman sto c k, and which had expired amidst the enervated civilisation of the Byzantine empire, was revived in the four teenth and fifteenth century in Italy, while designs were produced in eyery department in* art which the Romans perhaps IleVer and which the Greeks themselves would hanU have disdained. The rise of art was wonder fully nipitl, and the taste for it universally diffused : never had patrons been more nil moons or more munificent—art seemed to enter into the habits, alm o st into the necessities, oftvery-day life. When art is thus spontaneous it as needless to inquire whether it is or is not fostered by the establishment of aetidenties. Mach time has, we think, been wasted on this diseussion. The benefit to be derived from them depends of course upon their manage ment ; but in these days, and in this country. we think them indispensable: and to discard them, as hits sometimes been proposed. %% halal. we think. be its hopeless 104 to l'eNtort , tlis• iu yalid to health 1) dismissing his nurse and physician. The sneee,,,,,p. and rollenguem of the great fathers of mister,' nit Ihtflitelle' Titian. and Michel Angelo . are supposed to have carried the various branches of the tine arts isente of them excelled in all) to a pitch beyond which farther progress' was impossible. An age of imitation and earelemnepot followed, and at each suceesshe period the distance from the great prototypes seemed widening. &Me napes course course appeared advisable, and the pupil was reeommended to commence his studies with P . • • an imitation of the earlier models. It is with . p the view, no doubt, of carrying out this sugge*:` tion that we owe the crude attempt* al the • 1