Second Example.

A. Isolated.-A human figure may be represented isolated by the painter or the sculptor. The isolation may be absolute, or the figure may be, as in an historical picture, associated with other figures, or it may also be made a portion of a sculptural group.

B. Part of an Association.-A human figure making part of an association has no longer individuality, so to speak; it has no name, it becomes part of an aggregation of individuals resembling each other, but which, when the artist has been desirous of avoiding monotony, are not identical.

Such are the soldiers who form a platoon in a picture representing a review or a battle; if the identity is not in the figures, it exists in the uniforms.

Such are the statues which decorate the porch of a gothic church; as we have before remarked (431.), these should not be judged like a Greek statue, but as a whole constituting an architectonic ornament.

Such, moreover, are human figures sculptured in bas relief which do not form a picture, but serve as ornament in the decoration of an edifice.

(896.) 2ND CONDITION: IN MOTION.

A body produces very different impressions on us, according as we see it in repose or in motion. It seems as if the arrow which cleaves the air, the bird which flies, invited us to action.

What difference is there not between the view of a calm lake and that of a river? The particles of water incessantly renewed in a spot on which our eyes are fixed, produce in us ideas of succession which are not awakened by the sight of still water. To the child, the animal in repose sleeps; and if, after having touched it, no sign of motion is perceived, the child pronounces it dead.

Military evolutions, bodily exercises, and dancing, which present to us the human figure in motion, exhibit it in a condition very different from that when it is seen in repose. When the condition of the human figure in motion is offered to our view, we have to distinguish between the case in

which it is isolated, and that in which it is associated with other figures of its species.

A. Isolated. The ballet-master presents to us a dancer, isolated, or grouped with one or two others, that is to say, in conditions corresponding to the human figure which the painter and the sculptor represent to us absolutely isolated, or taking part in an action and so making part of a group.

B. Part of an Association.-Finally, we see in an assemblage of dancers, in the manœuvres of a battalion, and the evolutions of the line, co-ordinate movements in which the individuals disappear, so to speak, to show themselves as parts of a whole.

(897.) I have entered into these details in order that the extreme difference may be laid hold of which should exist between an object or an individual that the artist presents to us isolated, or making part of an aggregation of objects or of individuals which are more or less analogous to that object or to that individual.

Thus, the gardener should so employ his art that every plant intended to be seen in a state of isolation be large and beautiful, that it receives the light equally on every part; while the specimen of the same species which is to form part of an association composed of specimens similar or co-general, or even of specimens belonging to different genera, should be led by the underwood in such a manner as to connect it with this group. It should not then be judged as if it ought to have the same aspect as the isolated specimen.

Thus, the painter and the sculptor, making a portrait or a statue, or grouping human figures, will give a particular physiognomy to each individual so that it can be named, if it has a name, and that one may know, if it forms part of a picture, that such a passion excites it, or that such a sentiment animates it; whilst in human figures that are associated there will not be so much difference between the individuals. If there are many distinct associations, it is amongst these associations that the differences will be sought to be established; hence criticism ought not to judge the isolated individual in the same manner as the associated individual, in the sense we have given to that expression. Consequently

human figures assorted for ornamenting works of architecture will not be judged as the Apollo, or the Laocoön, &c.

Thus, the ballet-master will establish a distinction between the dancers who are intended to fix the attention, and those who form part of a group, because in the first case the attention should be concentrated only on one or more individuals.

CHAPTER I.

PRINCIPLE OF VOLUME.

(898.) Ir has long been said, that in nature nothing is absolutely small, nothing is absolutely large; but whenever we see a new object, we are led to compare it with that which we know to be analogous to it; and it is then, if its size or volume markedly exceeds that of the object with which we compare it, volume becomes a property which strikes us in proportion to that difference. Of two statues or two busts representing the same model, but differing in size, the largest, though of equal merit, will strike us more than the other. But we must not omit to remark, that if we are accustomed for a certain time to see only statues and busts which both surpass the human proportions, then the influence of volume loses its force; and moreover, it may happen that, after having seen many of these works, constructed so to speak on the same colossal scale, and having less merit than the work which struck us at first, we should be disposed to recur to figures life size.

(899.) But if the volume of an object has undoubted influence in striking spectators forcibly, we must never forget the inconveniences that result from exaggerating a single object which ought to be associated with others; for in this case the exaggeration may have the serious objection of lessening these latter, and thus breaking the harmony they would otherwise possess.

SHINOLEA

• OXFORD.

MUSEUM

CHAPTER II.

PRINCIPLE OF FORM.

(900.) FORM strikes us at the same time as size in objects which we look at ; and the influence it exercises on our judgment is well known. The artist should always endeavour to present an object under that form which is most appropriate to the effect he wishes to produce, and criticism should distinguish between the cases in which the object is isolated, and those in which it is associated.

(901.) Certain objects of art being only intended to address the eye, form is their most essential quality; such are triumphal arches, obelisks, columns, or pyramids, erected either as memorials, or to ornament a city, public place, &c. Other objects, on the contrary, having a special destination, their form becomes an accessory, or at least it is not the only essential part. It is from this point of view that we must consider edifices, such as palaces, churches, museums, theatres, &c., in order to ascertain if the architect has attained the end which he proposed to himself.

(902.) We have remarked elsewhere (856.) the influence an agreeable form may have in the judgment we exercise upon objects whose colours have no affinity with an association suited to their reciprocal embellishment.

CHAPTER III.

PRINCIPLE OF STABILITY.

(903.) WHENEVER any object is to be presented to the eye in a state of immobility or repose, we like to see it in a position of perfect stability, for we are affected by a dis

agreeable, and even painful impression, if we imagine that a slight effort would suffice to upset it; thence follows the necessity of submitting the pose of the figures of a picture, or of a statue, and of architectural monuments, to the principle of equilibrium. The leaning of the tower of Pisa (il campanile torto), and of the two towers of Bologna (degli asinelli and de garisendi), is not an effect of art, but rather the result of the sinking of the soil, which has been greater on the one side than on the other. The remarks which Condamine has made in his Travels in Italy (p. 13), in relation to the first of these two towers, it seems to me, carry conviction to every mind.

(904.) A case which has always appeared to me very suitable to show the inconvenience resulting from not observing the principle of stability, is the bad effect of a house built upon a small plane inclining towards a valley or a plain which it commands as an eminence; for a house so placed seems wanting in stability, and that the least effort would push it from the top to the bottom of the inclined plane. To remedy this evil, it is generally only necessary to elevate the earth in such a manner that the edifice stands on a horizontal plane, which should be extended as far as possible towards the valley.

CHAPTER IV.

PRINCIPLE OF COLOUR.

(905.) COLOUR is seen at the same time as form. It imparts a more agreeable aspect to a smooth body, augments the relief, rendering the parts of a whole more distinct than they would be without it, and efficaciously concurs in increasing the beautiful effects of symmetry, and of connecting the affinities of the parts with the whole, &c.

Taste for colour has led to colouring drawings, to the composition of pictures, to colouring statues, monuments, to dyeing stuffs, &c.

To enter into these details would be a needless repetition,