The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-09
TAINE ON ART.

terature. This prominence is not owing merely
o The fact of the great ability OF the writer, but
the circumstance OF his devoting his attention
topics of direct interest to people In this part
the world. HIS criticisms on English litera-
ure have been widely read, and repubshed
here; and their power and keen appreciation
have given the author a certain popularity
among thoughtful readers, which will insure
attention for such other OF his works as may be
introduced to our public.
Taine is the Professor of Hsthetics and Of the
History of Art in the Ecole des Beaux Arts at
Paris In that capacity he delivered, In 1864, a
series of lectures in which he undertook to ex-
PLAIN art by social influences and natural
causes the experience of humanity, climate
and other conditions Of similar nature fur
nlshing the facts on which his theory rests
These lectures have been translated by Mr.
John Durand, an American gentleman OF artistic
tastes, now residing in Paris, and published IN
book form by Ballliere Brothers of this city and
London-we might say this city and elsewhere,
Tor the Bailheres have establishments at Mel
bourne, Madrid and Paris, as well as in the
metropolises OF England and America We
understand that they intend issuing variety
OF tTanslations from the best French authors
of the present time, thus working a field of
literature which is by no me ans too familiar to
even weeducated American readers They
announce other works by Taine, and also trans.
lations from Janet, Laugel and Remusat
The present series OF lectures is entitled ''The
Philosophy Of Art,n and Is divided into two
parts, treating Of the Mature OF the work of
Art" and the Production Of the work Of
Art" Under these two heads are grouped
the chapters or lectures treating OF various de-
tails.
NJ. Tame starts by promising that a work of
art-a picture, a tragedy, or a statue-evidently
belongs to group composed of all the works of
the artist producing it. HO alludes to the family
likeness OF the works of any individual artist.
eve know" he says, 'that every artist has his
own style, style recognizable throughout his
productions. If he is a painter, he has his OVID
coloring, rich or impoverished; his fayorite con-
ceptlons, vulgar or refined; his attitudes, rules
of composition, and manner Of working. This
is so true that a cOnnoisSeur placed before
original work not signed by any prominent mas
ter, will be able to inform you with nearly abso
Lutte certainty by whom the work is executed,
and ii sufficiently experienced and delicate in
his perceptions, the period Of tae artists life
and the particular stage OF his development to
which the work belongs" He maintains that in
order to comprehend work OF art, or group
of artists, we must clearly comprehend the gen.
eral social and intellectual condition of the
times to which they belong. little further, he
expresses the more direct scope Of his present
lectures:-
II propose for you this season the history of
painting in Italy. l shall attempt to revive for
your contemplation the mystic mlIieu, in which
appeared Giotto and Beato Angelica, and to this
end | shall read passages from the poets and
legendary writer's, containing the ideas enter
tanned by the men of those days concerning
happiness, misery, love, faith, paradise, hell,
and all the great interests of humanity. We
shall find documentary evidence in the poetry OF
Dante, OF Guido Cavacanti, of the Francseans,
in the Golden Legend, in the Imitation of Jesus
Christ in the Fiorettl of st. Francis, in the
works Of historians like Dino Campagni, and in
that vast collection of chroniclers by Muratori,
which so naively portray the iealouses and dls-
turbances OF the small Italian republics. AT er
this shall attempt to place before you in the
same manner the pagan mtLieu, which century
and half later produced Leonardo da Vinci,
Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Titan, and to this
end SHALL read either ron the memoirs of
emporarles-Benvenuto Cellini for instance
or from the diverse chronicles kept daily in
Rome and in the principal Italian cities, or from
the dispatches OF ambassadors, or, finally from
the descriptions of fetes, masquerades, and civic
receptions, which are remarkable fragments,
displaying the brutality. sensualty, and vgor of
society. as well as the lively poetic sentiment
the love of the picturesque, the great literary
sentiment, the decorative instincts, and tho
passion for external splendor which charac-
terized the people of that epoch-the ignorant
multitude, as well as the great and the culti-
Vated."
We do not intend to critically review the
criticisms of NJ Faine, but merely to direct TO
them the attention of those of our readers in
terested In the aesthetics OF literature; and we
cannot do this better than by making few
brief extracts.
RUBENs AND RAPHAEL.
''Iet us, for illustration, take up Rubens,
'Kermesse.' These blooming merry wives and
superb drunkards-all of the busts and rubicund
visages of these riotous overed animals-pro-
badly had their .counterparts in the 'fatless
berance, might well aspire to produce such
gross forms and such coarse manners, but
she only half accom- plished her task; other
causes intervencd to stay this excess OF q carnal
joyous energy. There is poverty, for instance.
In the best oil times, and in the best countries,
many people fail to get sufficient food conse-
quently fasting, or at least partial abstinence,
misery, and bad air, all the Accomplishments
OF indulgence, ,loppose the development ana I'M
petuosity of innate brutality. A suffering man
is not SO strong, and he is more restrained. Re
ligion, law, police regulations, and habits due
to steady labor, operate in the same direction;
education also contributes its mite Out OF q
hundred of the creatures of that day, who under
favorable conditions might have furnished Ru.
bens with models, only Ave or six, perhaps,
could be of any service to HIM. Suppose now
that these five or six figures in the actual fetes
he witnessed were confused with others OF a
more or less ordinary and mediocre stamp and
again, that at the moment they came under his
eye II ey exhibited neither the attitude, the ex
preston, the gestures, the fury, the costume, OF
the disorder requisite to make this teeming eX
element apparent. All these insuficiences
indicate that nature is obliged to summon art tc
aid her; unable to mark the character of the
scene with sufficient dIstnctness, it is necessary
for the artist to take her place.
so 1t Is with every superior work OF art
While Raphael was painting his Galatea,' hC
wrote that, beautiful women being scarce, hC
was following out a c inception OF his own. Thi;
signifies that forming certain idea OF human
nature, composed OF ioyousness, serenity, and
noble dlgnIhed sweetness, he could obtain nc
living model satisfactorily meeting these require
ments. The peasant girl or the labOring gir
that posed for him, had hands deformed by
work, feet spoiled by their covering, anC
eyes dsordered by shame, or showing the effect
OF her degrading profession. In the portrait o.