New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-19
HAMERTON'S "MAN IN ART"
A NEW BOOK on AN OLD THEME.

tom Profusely Illustrated. Quarto: pp. XVII 344.
Macmillan & Company. New ork. 1s02.
Man in art, as in al LIS creations ana IN the
phenomena of the visible world tand for that
matter Of the invisible to which he bears relation,
4, the first and last interest of man. Else how
could Mr. Uamerton extract thought, as he docs
in this latest production Of his practlscd pch'
MAN in Art" from representations OF man rang
ing from the Egyptian sculpture of scVen hundr'u
years before Christ TO the English portralture OF
Yesterday? lie does il by process OF analysis
which traces 10 their most important source 'iie
point of view, innumerabe details IN the u'"'~
ment of man by painters and sculptors IL VIII
be slrmiscd that this book is historical ana tcchh-
cal only in order to eMcidate general prlhclpis
The illustrations are many and perfectly repro
duced but they have been chosen from all schools
and simply TO point the authors dlsqulSl''o"'
md tbe work Is a crushing answer 10 the re-
viewer mentioned in preliminary chapter On ''c
plates as having described Mr.. Iiamcrton az
. hound hand and foot by Illustrations sup
plied by publishers" This is glorihcd picture
book with an accompaniment by an author en-
cace1 for the occasion 1t is an Independent en-
nrcssion of Mr. IIamertons views on man IN art
Those views are independent in nee senses unah
one Mr. Hamerton regrets that lie cannot 40 "s
so many others have tried TO do, speak OF beauty
10 something positive" he does not heSl'a'e' now
ever to offer one of the strangcst ideas OF beauty
il has been our privilege TO meet "eii-
known philosophy is that which conc@lVcs 'he
world "a having no existence save in orr con-
kciousness az the beautiful dream OF myriauS Oh
beinrs countless numbers of whom we arc left
20 assume can happily dream the same uhi"g'
Mr.. Hamertons scheme of beauty is not very
much unlil;e This Drawing a parallel from the
scientific explanation of color as a cerebral as
turbance caused by a certain number OF Vlpra-
thine that are somehow communicated. by very
dercate apparatus to the BRAIN and observing
that there are mo unhcard sounds and there Is
no unseen color, because the vibrations eA'cf"1'
10 us are neither sound nor color IN themselves,
and those internal vibrations that we cail SCUM"
and color cannot be produced without the heceS-
sary living apparatus (which calls up a curious
picture of the primeval world as coorleSs anu
noiscless until man came along TO invent 'hoS ai-
iectivesl he SAYS: What we mean by a pcau'l-
full object is an object that has the power oil pro-
ducinC in US a sensation that we cal' beauty ~
tba+ II il is mpotcnt to produce the sensation II
Is not called beautiful, and indeed, II - not pcdu-
tifnl in reality" He goes on to make tie deduc-
t;on from this that IAN object. without any
s+ructural change NAV he beautiful al one time,
+bcn cease to be So and afterward become oeau-
tifnI acain And then follows the astounding
abatement that the case has actually occurred
IN the history of antique sculpture, which was
beautiful when first made, which ceased 10 NC
beautiful that IS became mpotent to produce tAc
sensation of beauty in the time OF the Ohrl'-
tian iconoclasts which became beautiful again
with the new Paganism of the Rcnascence ana
has continued, with some variations, TO DC so.
A nerfcctly Logical application of this l1"a woWo
he 10 lead file Of diettanti and blockheads past
.be Venue de Milo and assert that she ceased 10
he beautiful when the latter looked at her. but
40. sbo shone forth with splcndor for the elect.
"If nobody had the peculiar kind OF nervous
CONSTITUENCIES that is affected by Gothic archi-
lecture" says Mr. Hamerton, then Raphael,
who said Gothic architecture was not beautiful
",vould he absolutely right" And, in regard to
tho beauty of poetry, we told that 1t con-
ssts not ONLY in the choice of language ana
the music of poetic numbers. but also In It's
mower of recalling various pleasures to the I'm
aeination, so that all those passages OF poetry
which refer to the pleasures of love are unmean-
inc for readers who are incapable of sexual at
taclment," and "even the poetical celebration OF
minor pleasures, such a. those Of sailing ana the
chase, is not beautiful for those who do not en-
10Y boating or the saddle All OF which, WIN
much more relating to music and personal love
lincss exhibits the confusion of ideas
which will sometimes ensuc when writer at
tempts 10 give an idea of what beauty Is. Mr.
Hamerton takes similarly eccentric stand in
discussing the influence of Roman Catholicism
on religious art an influence which he condemns
as "distinctlv unfavOrable to the improvement
OF art. because il is undiscerning and II 1t -
favorable at ali: IT is chiefly 10 the production
of quantity" By the influence Of the Church Of
Rome on art, then, we are 10 understand her
power behind movement of aesthetic industry.
Was this what Matthew Arnold meant when he
referred 10 the return of the scholar 20 the Roman
Church, in spite of her tendency TO burn him
Did he mean that the Sovereign Pontifl, through
his agents all over CEristendom n willing
payraster? II is more likely that he had in
mind the infinite inspiration Of church whose
mast is one OF the most tremendous pagcants Of
civilization, ard whose present is still mine
CT literary and artistic material th1t draws In"
ina ci,lative mind In a sense, tie Roman Church
disseminatcs bad art to-day where il brought
good art 10 the front in the time Of julius;
lat Roma- Catholicism is 10 more responsible
for the cheap engravings Of the Passion We see
so much nowadays than il for the actual
commissioning of the frcscOs in the Vatican; tlr
Latter are due to the taste of one man in
lectinc another to do the work. By virtue Of
its history, its lcGordS. its ritual it's decorative"
beauty the influence of the Roman Church could
not well he, except in details now and then, any
thinc but favorable upon art and il is certainly
almost al0re among the churches in the very
Characteristic Mr.. IIamerton admits that of Civ
ing the artist space 20 adorn.
We find Mr. IIamerton more instructive when
he discusses early RELIGIOUS art, when he treats
the material luxury in medieval religious art.
tie quality called holiness" the archaic element,
the incOmpatiblity between realism and religion
(which il further glanced at in chapter on re-
lsious art from life, the principle underlying
Raphacfs great Biblical compositions, and th1o
which governed Rembrandt in his designs from
sacred literature. Raphael being in perfect sym
patty with the court in which II" lived, painted
nnisodcs in the lycs Of tie apostles in style 70