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not studied the forms of vegetable nature, I do not see why we should not prescribe to pupils, at least to those whom we believe capable of great things, the study of ancient and modern monuments, to observe the forms of organised beings, particularly those of the vegetable kingdom, in order that they may appreciate how nature varies in her creations without ceasing to be beautiful; finally, why we should not point out to them that it is only after being impressed with the object of a projected building, that they should give themselves up to attempts at producing all the effects they wish. to obtain, in order to fulfil all the conditions necessary to satisfy the principle of the suitability of the object with its destination.

CHAPTER X.

PRINCIPLE OF DISTINCT VIEW.

(933.) Ir is necessary for every work of art to satisfy the principle of distinct view, by which all the parts of a whole intended to be exhibited, should present themselves without confusion and in the simplest manner. In fact, the spectator always feels some want in those works which do not fulfil this condition. I will cite but one example, the view of the façade of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, facing which are found the Arc de Gaillon, and a column which, being placed in front of this arch, cuts it in two in the most disagreeable manner to the spectator who looks at the edifice.*

(934.) I have always considered the principle of distinct view as essential to all those arts which address the eye; it is in obedience to this that we make use of colour and of relief, that we are compelled to present but a small number

* This remark is not a criticism applicable to the architect of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, because we know that it was from the fear of its deteriorating one of the chefs-d'œuvre of the Renaissance that he was unwilling the Arc de Gaillon should be removed from the place it occupied at the period of its removal to the Musée des Petits-Augustins.

413 of objects to the sight, that the larger they are the less they should be laboured and the greater their parts should appear. It is, moreover, in conformity with this principle that we have recourse to the principles of symmetry and of repetition, and that, finally, harmony of ensemble is wanting whenever there is a confusion of parts.

(935.) In a well-organised mind there exists the closest relations between the co-ordination of parts which the artist renders visible, and the co-ordination of ideas upon any subject whatsoever.

SECTION IV.

OF THE DISPOSITION OF THE MIND OF THE SPECTATOR IN RESPECT TO THE JUDGMENT HE FORMS OF AN OBJECT OF ART WHICH ATTRACTS HIS EYE.

(936.) IT is not enough to have indicated the rules to be followed and the principles to be observed in the production of effects, and the judgment of them in relation to art; we must also speak of the disposition of the spectator for receiving the impression of those effects in a manner more or less intense; to take no notice of this disposition, would be to display ignorance of human nature, and of the utility of the examination which should be impartially pursued also in the judgment of the critic, who may exaggerate blame as well as praise.

Without examining the influence the passions exercise in opinions formed on works of art, I will say a few words upon a predisposition which may be remarked in a portion of the public, at least at certain epochs, and which has its source in man's vanity. Then I will point out the part which the association of certain ideas performs in the formation of opinions.

(937.) When a body of painters, called a school, has produced some chefs-d'œuvre, it frequently happens that a great number of mediocre works executed under the pretence of continuing them, far from being favourable, are injurious to a portion of the public, on account of the monotony resulting from an imitation, more or less servile, of form, colour, and of the subjects themselves. The public, under these circumstances, is ready to applaud every innovation that will excite emotions which it has not for some time found in contemporary painting; and it is then that, amongst the public, voices are raised against great works which have nothing in common with the tame imitations of them produced by mediocrity. Truly, there comes an epoch when innovation

losing the only advantage it possessed of presenting to the eye images differing from those which it had been a long time accustomed to see, the public returns to the chefsd'œuvre, and forgets all the feeble works composed in imitation of them by feeble pupils; and, we will add, that if works professing to be of the new school, and endowed with undeniable merit, should exist, they would, in the estimation of connoisseurs, take the places they ought to occupy, whilst those which had arrested attention by innovation only, disappear for ever.

(938.) Finally, I will notice the effect which certain associations of ideas may have on our opinions. For example, any one arriving at Versailles full of admiration for the age of Louis XIV., will repeople the gardens with all the great men that have frequented them, and, recurring in thought to the fêtes given by an elegant and polished_court, the admiration of Europe, will judge the work of Lenôtre more favourably than he who, without being, however, hostile to the grand siècle, sees nothing but a garden subordinated to a, palace. There is no doubt, moreover, that the Christian who associates in his mind the architectural form of the gothic church, the brilliancy of its coloured glass, and the religious ceremonies which, when yet a child, he has seen celebrated in it, will be in a disposition of mind to prefer the Cathedral of Cologne to St. Peter's at Rome, or, what amounts to the same, will be more disposed to admire the first of these monuments than a Roman would be, whose mind would be filled with ideas of religious ceremonies linked with the idea of the church of St. Peter's.

HISTORICAL REVIEW

OF

MY RESEARCHES,

AND

FINAL CONCLUSION OF THE WORK.

(939.) THE first opportunity I had of observing the influence of contrast in the juxtaposition of colours was offered me in 1825 by the Directors of the Gobelins. As I have before said (Author's Preface, p. ix.), they inquired of me why the black tints were deficient in vigour when employed for shadows in blue or violet draperies. I found the cause of this effect to lie in contrast; for having compared together two identical black patterns, one of which was placed on a white ground, and the other on a blue ground, I observed that the latter lost much of its intensity. It was after this experiment that I recollected having several times fancied. that there was a difference between two portions of the same skein, whenever one was contiguous to a colour different from that which joined the other portion. Having gone, as soon as I remembered this, to the warehouse for coloured wools in the Gobelins, I proved the fact upon red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet skeins, and I speedily comprehended the influence of black and white on the same colours.

(940.) The modifications arising from the juxtaposition of the preceding colours taken in couples being once defined, I sought for an explanation of the phenomenon in scientific works. Amongst the books recently published in France on this subject, the treatise by Haüy only, under the head of accidental colours, mentioned contrast. Not only did I read

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