Aestheticism in Art. William Hogarth

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      The words in this quotation, “It is also an infinite variety of parts”, seem at first to have some meaning in them, but it is entirely destroyed by the rest of the paragraph, and all the other pages are filled, according to custom, with descriptions of pictures.

      Now, as everyone has a right to conjecture what this discovery of the ancients might be, it will be my business to show it was a key to the thorough knowledge of variety both in form and movement. Shakespeare, who had the deepest penetration into nature, has summed up all the charms of beauty in two words, ‘infinite variety’; where, speaking of Cleopatra’s power over Anthony, he says, “Nor custom stale / Her infinite variety” (Act 2, Scene 3). It has been ever observed that the ancients made their doctrines mysterious to the vulgar, and kept them secret from those who were not of their particular sects and societies by means of symbols and hieroglyphics. Lomazzo says: “The Grecians, in imitation of antiquity, searched out the truly renowned proportion wherein the exact perfection of most exquisite beauty and sweetness appeared; dedicating the fame in a triangular glass unto Venus the goddess of divine beauty, from whence all the beauty of inferior things is derived.” (chap. 29, book. 1). If we suppose this passage to be authentic, may we not also imagine it probable that the symbol in the triangular glass might be similar to the line Michelangelo recommended? Thus especially, if it can be proved, that the triangular form of the glass and the serpentine line itself are the two most expressive figures that can be thought of to signify not only beauty and grace, but the whole order of form.

      There is a circumstance in the account Pliny gives of Apelles’ visit to Protogenes, which strengthens this supposition. I hope I may have leave to repeat the story. Apelles, having heard of the fame of Protogenes, went to Rhodes to pay him a visit. However, upon not finding him at home, Apelles asked for a board on which he drew a line, thus telling the maid servant that the line would signify to her master who had been to see him. We are not clearly told what sort of a line it was that could so particularly signify one of the first of his profession: if it was only a stroke (though as fine as a hair, as Pliny seems to think) it could not possibly, by any means, denote the abilities of a great painter. However, if we suppose it to be a line of some extraordinary quality, such as the serpentine line will appear to be, Apelles could not have left a more satisfactory signature of the compliment he had paid him. Protogenes, upon coming home, took the hint and drew a finer or rather more expressive line within it, to show Apelles, if he came again, that he understood his meaning. Apelles, soon returning, was well pleased with the answer Protogenes had left for him, by which he was convinced that fame had done him justice, and so correcting the line again, perhaps, by making it more precisely elegant, he took his leave. The story thus may be reconciled to common sense, which, as it has been generally received could never be understood but as a ridiculous tale.

      Let us add to this that there is scarce an Egyptian, Greek, or Roman deity that does not have a twisted serpent, cornucopia, or some other symbol winding in this manner to accompany it. The two small heads over the bust of the Hercules, of the goddess Isis, one crowned with a globe between two horns, the other with a lily, are of this kind. Harpocrates, the god of silence, is still more remarkably so, having a large twisted horn growing out of the side of his head, a cornucopia in his hand, and another at his feet, with his finger placed on his lips indicating secrecy. It is equally remarkable that the deities of barbarous and gothic nations never had, even to this day, any of these elegant forms of their own.

      Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio, Assumption of the Virgin, 1526–1530. Fresco, 1093 cm × 1195 cm. Parma Cathedral, Parma.

      Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio, Saint John’s Vision in Patmos, c. 1520–1522. Fresco, 969 cm × 889 cm. San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma.

      Jean-Marc Nattier, Marie Leszczinska, Queen of France, 1748. Oil on canvas, 139 × 107.1 cm. Musée national du château de Versailles, Versailles.

      How absolutely void of these turns are the pagodas of China, and what a mean taste runs through most of their attempts at painting and sculpture, despite finishing with such excessive neatness! The whole nation in these matters seems to have but one eye; this mischief naturally follows from the prejudices they imbibe by copying one another’s works, which the ancients seem seldom to have done.

      Upon the whole, it is evident that the ancients studied these arts very differently from the moderns. Lomazzo seems to be partly aware of this based on the division of his work: “There is a two-fold proceeding in all arts and sciences: the one is called the order of nature, and the other of teaching. Nature proceeds ordinarily, beginning with the imperfect, as the particulars, and ending with the perfect, as the universals. Now, if in searching out the nature of things, our understanding shall proceed after that order, by which they are brought forth by nature, undoubtedly, it will be the most absolute and ready method that can be imagined. For we begin to know things by their first and immediate principles, etc. and this is not only my opinion, but Aristotle’s also;” yet, mistaking Aristotle’s meaning and clearly deviating from his advice, he afterwards says, “all which if we could comprehend within our understanding, we should be most wise; however, it is impossible and after giving some dark reasons as to why he thinks so, he tells you he resolves to follow СКАЧАТЬ