New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-03-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
1,prrs,s ART THOUGHTS.
.pr TuoTGUTs BY JAMES JACKSON JARVEs' I'M
Nh mn s74 Hurd q Houghton.

-. ,I,so merits have been recognized by the Acad'
,py of Fine Arts in Florence, OF when nc Is al
honorary member has been favoraDiy known io'
,. vcors os an art critic through series of works
o,,it,ed Art Hints" Art Studies" The Art
Idea" The present volume processes TO give tue On
nericnces and observations Of an American amateur
in Europe and is in character less abstruse than 'o
volumes that preceded it, and were, TO some extent,
Introductory to it. The Art Thoughts, Is Designer
GO report the moro mature results OF study WIZ,
florence particularly to the introduction and spread
Of art in America. Portions of the chapters WIZ DC
recognized as having appeared in our own OF III
English magazines: but the larger part OF them Is
now printed for the first time. The ground traNerseu
j. very extensive. The. chapters nea' Oh inc i.is
ious characteristics of Pagan and OF CHRISTIAN All
tie Art and Religion of Etruria; Classical Art as
counored with Christian; Architecture; Art Lie ana
REELECTION in modern Italy; Art in Holland, Belgium
Snain. and Germany Art in England; Art IN Japan
and China: Painting in Frances Sculpture ana Aren't
lecture in France; Art in America; The Minor Arts'
ornament and decoration; Amateurshp; ana Art i'll
the future To treat satisfactorily topics so large
and so yarous would be to write an exhaustive essay
ON the philosophy and the history OF art. Mr.
.Iarves's uurposc contemplates something like this
if we may Judge by the questions he proposes to an
swer: What is the origin and scope of the art
idea7 What has il done for men, and what may 1t
still do9 What are ITS relations to nature science
and relipionP How are communities made better or
worse hylt9 To what extent is it indispensable TO
on individual happiness /" Very broad and complex
questions none of which, we are bound TO say are
sufficiently or even very intelligently answered
Mr. Jarycs is neither systematic thinker nor LUCID
writer lie takes his pen in hand before his thought
is well matured and feels his way as he goes along
The result is a somewhat Heterogeneous assortment
of materials which abundance of information and
wealth of suggestiveness land the author has both
make only the more confusing. lie IS no artist IN
language as one should be who writes on these deli
cate topics The uninstructed reader, for instance,
will not obtain very precise idea of Holman Hunt
Finding in the Temple by being told that 1T
inclines more to the picturesque historical on n
strictly realistic platform of art than to the pro-
foundly emotional We have not succeeded in find
ing precise definitions even where we had the most
right to lock for them The writer has not made
clear his view Of the function which art has 10 fulfill
III the community the very point his book Is written
10 illustrate. For example on page 10 we are told
that the first and final test of art is its capacity TO
make us happy" There is for it higher Office
than teaching noble rs that is. 1t was sent on earth
TO adOrn. charm, comfort, and rejoice human lie
Its vital purpose is that which inspires II 10 seek
beauty as means and aim" Elsewhere, as Onpage
S67, we read: "No art can be profoundly great,
beautifnl and good unless its aspirations Stmu-
lated by hopes and visions that have not their exact
counterpart and fruitOn in our earthly being Art
that ignores religion has no permanent. universal
value Now these two views are not inconsistent
with one another The first quotations may express
the lowest the second the highest function of Art.
But il is not exact say that the latter function IS
simply TO give men enjoyment; to that which pre-
sents the Ideal under forms of beauty belongs Il
nobler Office than that of pleasing
The book has at least one great merit il is earnest
MI Jarves if not philosopher, has earned title TO
respect as a cntc, not only by his extensive ac-
quantance with collections of art, his long study of
different schools his knowledge Of the pecularities
of many masters and his trained skill amateur,
but more than all this by the deep enthusiasm that
regards art as something To which money, time.
thought and feeling may well be cOnsecTated; as a
great human Interest," a calling for high and noble
kOuls lie writes in the spirit Of a missionary who
holds every interest secondary to the interests of
holy truth. Though apprecative of all beauty, he
loves none but the highest and approves none but
the best lie believes that noble art alone is adnira
be art lie has praise for aiectatiOn pretinesS,
no commentator for mere pigment work, and moth
ing but condemnation for productions that are shall
low, false artificial, pretentiOus, or meTctrciouS.
He Judges high regulations by high standards, and
nOuncinc summary Ncrdicts Oh royal offenders
against the divine laws of beauty Like Cromvells
soldiers he spares no idle decorations. though they
occupy inches in venerable houses Many q figure of
assured fame las TO feel the weight of his AK. In
Nicholas Poussin The French Raphael he fails 10
anything great original, or emphatic. either IN
thought, design, OF color The figures of Claude
Iorrain are III drawn their action spiriess and his
composition in general extremely forced and con-
ventiona' The Dusseldorf school lis pedantic,
formal, external, unmaginatve, and unesthetic IN
the ideal without any pure instinct Of color;
prone to common things and much given TO pictorial
rant" Cornelius and Kaulbach ARE ambitious
learned sincere and sEillful;' but their attempt to
recast the art OF the nineteenth century in the old
noulds. meets with about as much permanent sue
cess as a new order of Stytes mi ght expect" Sir
Joshua REYNOLDS. mot having power TO express all
he conceived CROPPED his life away in shortcomings
The coloring OF Leslie " is oiense 10 painting de-
tcient in harmony, unity, tone and meaning There
are hearty words, however. for Turner, Mlais llol-
man Hunt, Dante RoS-etti, and the new English
school of realists.
Coming TO modern French art Nh JarvcS hits hard
~ tender places TroyOnis materialistc,' but hon
Is, and hearty. lie depicts cattle TO the life and
ms animals are animals not like Rosa Bonheurs
akin painted effigies in fields ard atmosphere of
opaque paint Nohpdlcu" hei, Ivy VII 10 siC"t' HC
suggests life and movement; she cOunterfeits both"
AIRY Schefier is poet, but not painter" Horace
Vouet is "a clever artist, but not great. Delaroche
wOuld have been great painter had his talents for
coOrng been equal to his other merits. But his
color is heavy, positive, and SPECIFICS" Deacroix
treats colors Buonarotti did design. There rs
little beauty in it, less grace, no tenderness, no faith
but everywhere is creative uutirng intellect"
G(rome and MeissOnnier "are both realists the for
mer inclined to the sensual the latter, 50 far as he