HKB
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Often appears with: poetry and the poets · justice as a virtue · reason and the intellect · books, libraries, and learning · the passions and the emotions · custom and the manners of a people · the city and urban life · religious persecution and toleration · perception and the senses · history and the writing of history · fate, destiny, and necessity · education and the training of the young
Usually: argument (61) · detachment (49) · curiosity (34) · reflection (33) · censure (29) · wonder (19) · skepticism (17) · exhortation (15) · commentary or gloss (10) · praise (9)
“While he was thus employed to such good purpose, and while his friends in their intercourse with him constantly found a vigorous intellect and a lively imagination, it is melancholy to read in his private register, 'My mind is unsettled and my memory confused.” James Boswell, Boswell's Life of Johnson · observation
“Verily, I say unto you: good and evil which would be everlasting—it doth not exist!” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None · precept
“And this do I call IMMACULATE perception of all things: to want nothing else from them, but to be allowed to lie before them as a mirror with a hundred facets.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None · precept
“And just own to it! Little had ever taken place when thy noise and smoke passed away.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None · observation
“Wherever an object has a tendency to produce pleasure in the possessor, or in other words, is the proper cause of pleasure, it is sure to please the spectator, by a delicate sympathy with the possessor.” David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature · insight
“Sentiments must touch the heart, to make them controul our passions; But they need not extend beyond the imagination, to make them influence our taste.” David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature · insight
“It may, indeed, be pretended that the sentiment of approbation, which those qualities produce, besides its being inferior, is also somewhat different from that, which attends the other virtues.” David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature · observation
“He that sees before him to his third dinner,” says Johnson, “has a long prospect.” James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 · observation
“Such epochs are transient, but very brilliant: they are fertile without exuberance, and animated without confusion.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 2 · observation
“He hath been many years and now is about, about Gardenage; which will be a most noble and pleasant piece.” Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys · vivid
“Every spring as the river is breaking up the surrounding plains are set on fire, and the buffaloe tempted to cross the river in search of the fresh grass which immediately succeeds to the burning: on their way they are often insulated on a large cake or mass of ice, which floats down the river; the Indians now select the most favourable points for attack, and as the buffaloe approaches dart with astonishing agility across the trembling ice, sometimes pressing lightly a cake of not more than two feet square.” Meriwether Lewis, History of the Expedition under the Command of Capta · vivid
“Tell me, said Epictetus, think you not that some dogs are beautiful, and some horses, and so of the other animals?” Epictetus (trans. T. W. Rolleston), The Teaching of Epictetus · observation
Pepys visits Sir William Hickes at his estate, criticizes the neglected, decaying house and mean dinner, and notes only a fine portrait by Van Dyck as the pleasant exception.
out-done, was the crown of all our mirth. In this humour we sat till about ten at night, and so my Lord and his mistress home, and we to bed. 13th. My Lord Brouncker, Sir J. Minnes, and I took boat, and in my Lord's coach to Sir W. Hickes's, [Sir William Hickes, created a baronet 1619. Ob. 1680, aged 84. His country-seat was called Ruckholts, or Rookwood, at Layton, in Essex, where he entertained King Charles II.…
Pepys records displeasure at a foolish green riband, visits Deptford to see John Evelyn’s art and garden projects, then discusses contentious naval matters around Lord Sandwich and accusations involving Sir W. Pen.
one a green riband tied in our hats very foolishly; and methinks mighty disgracefully for my Lord to have his folly so open to all the world with this woman. 5th. By water to Deptford, and there made a visit to Mr. Evelyn, who, among other things, showed me most excellent painting in little; in distemper, Indian incke, water colours: graveing; and, above all, the whole secret of mezzo-tinto, and the manner of it, …
A biographical-literary appraisal contrasts Burke with Johnson, Goldsmith, and the Literary Club, arguing that Burke’s speaking style was oratorical and passionate, with occasional faults of ostentation and self-consciousness.
one of the highest types, he had other interests than those directly suggested by his office, and in one of these, at least, he affords an interesting and profitable study. To the student of literature Burke's name must always suggest that of Johnson and Goldsmith. It was eight years after Burke's first appearance as an author, that the famous Literary Club was formed. At first it was the intention to limit the club…
Tocqueville concludes that democratic literature often lacks order and perfection, valuing vehemence, boldness, wit, and astonishment over erudition, and he describes transitional epochs like 18th-century French literature.
they require rapid emotions, startling passages--truths or errors brilliant enough to rouse them up, and to plunge them at once, as if by violence, into the midst of a subject. Why should I say more? or who does not understand what is about to follow, before I have expressed it? Taken as a whole, literature in democratic ages can never present, as it does in the periods of aristocracy, an aspect of order, regularity…
Zarathustra describes a “sublime one” who knows ugly truths but lacks laughter and beauty, then insists beauty is hardest even for the powerful, urging condescension as gracious transformation.
And this secret spake Life herself unto me. “Behold,” said she, “I am that WHICH MUST EVER SURPASS ITSELF. To be sure, ye call it will to procreation, or impulse towards a goal, towards the higher, remoter, more manifold: but all that is one and the same secret. Rather would I succumb than disown this one thing; and verily, where there is succumbing and leaf-falling, lo, there doth Life sacrifice itself—for power! …
In the moon’s parable, Zarathustra attacks “sentimental dissemblers” who claim disinterested contemplation but secretly love the earthly with desire and shame, arguing that true beauty requires willing, creating, and even perishing.
XXXVII. IMMACULATE PERCEPTION. When yester-eve the moon arose, then did I fancy it about to bear a sun: so broad and teeming did it lie on the horizon. But it was a liar with its pregnancy; and sooner will I believe in the man in the moon than in the woman. To be sure, little of a man is he also, that timid night-reveller. Verily, with a bad conscience doth he stalk over the roofs. For he is covetous and jealous,…
Zarathustra expands his attack on poets as shallow, mixing water to seem deep, yet he also claims his own weariness points toward a future that will outgrow their vanity.
say that it is placed as a rock before the gate of the nether-world; but that through the volcano itself the narrow way leadeth downwards which conducteth to this gate. Now about the time that Zarathustra sojourned on the Happy Isles, it happened that a ship anchored at the isle on which standeth the smoking mountain, and the crew went ashore to shoot rabbits. About the noontide hour, however, when the captain and h…
The commentary links the Magician character to Wagner, recounting Nietzsche’s early fascination with Wagner, their eventual breakup, and portraying Wagner as loathed for theatricality, vanity, dissembling, and falseness.
The Magician is of course an artist, and Nietzsche’s intimate knowledge of perhaps the greatest artist of his age rendered the selection of Wagner, as the type in this discourse, almost inevitable. Most readers will be acquainted with the facts relating to Nietzsche’s and Wagner’s friendship and ultimate separation. As a boy and a youth Nietzsche had shown such a remarkable gift for music that it had been a question …
The expedition packs scientific and cultural specimens for the president, discusses how painting likely arose from human emotion, receives Mandan and Ricara visits, and leaves the fort with an expanded corps including officers, interpreters, and additional tribal allies.
Indian method of attacking the buffaloe on the ice--An enumeration of the presents sent to the president of the United States--The party are visited by a Ricara chief--They leave their encampment, and proceed on their journey--description of the Little Missouri--Some account of the Assiniboins--Their mode of burying the dead--Whiteearth river described--Great quantity of salt discovered …
It gives an elaborate description of the Shoshonee men’s otter-skin tippet collar with ermine rolls and pearl oyster shells, then describes their shirts, leggings, moccasins, and women’s dress and ornaments.
and in cold weather kept close by a girdle round the waist. This robe answers the purpose of a cloak during the day, and at night is their only covering. The tippet is the most elegant article of Indian dress we have ever seen. The neck or collar of it is a strip about four or five inches wide, cut from the back of the otter skin, the nose and eyes forming one extremity, and the tail another. This being dressed with…
A note surveys cloth history and design motifs: it links animal-pattern brocades to Benáres work called Shikárgáh, compares classical and Christian critiques of such adornment, and mentions later Kashmir examples.
says King Attalus invented the intertexture of cloth with gold; but the weaving of damasks of a variety of colours was perfected at Babylon, and thence they were called Babylonian. The brocades wrought with figures of animals in gold, of which Marco speaks, are still a *spécialité* at Benares, where they are known by the name of *Shikárgáh* or hunting-grounds, which is nearly a translation of the name *Thard-w…
For air at common pressure Faraday notes fine purple positive brushes, while rarefaction lengthens the ramifications and increases the purple light, sometimes with rose tint.
B, 0.25 of an inch in diameter, was connected with a discharging train (292.) and perfectly uninsulated. The brass rods sustaining the balls were 0.2 of an inch in thickness. 1486. When the large ball was *positive* and inductric (1483.), negative sparks occurred until the interval was 0.49 of an inch; then mixed brush and spark between that and 0.51; and from 0.52 and upwards, negative brush alone. When the large b…
Hume compares moral beauty to natural beauty and taste, claiming that relations alone explain geometry and parts, but moral and aesthetic judgments depend on how the whole produces feelings in a spectator.
to those finer sensations. Till such a spectator appear, there is nothing but a figure of such particular dimensions and proportions: from his sentiments alone arise its elegance and beauty. Again; attend to Cicero, while he paints the crimes of a Verres or a Catiline. You must acknowledge that the moral turpitude results, in the same manner, from the contemplation of the whole, when presented to a being whose organ…
He describes how he tried to define the “fair” and “fit” using bodily examples, misread spiritual realities, and imagined evil as a substance instead of understanding it as lack or corruption.
solidity, had been wounded. And yet the "fair and fit," whereon I wrote to him, I dwelt on with pleasure, and surveyed it, and admired it, though none joined therein. But I saw not yet, whereon this weighty matter turned in Thy wisdom, O Thou Omnipotent, who only doest wonders; and my mind ranged through corporeal forms; and "fair," I defined and distinguished what is so in itself, and "fit," whose beauty is in corr…
Johnson praises Virgil’s first and tenth pastorals above the rest, quoting passages about Arcadian songs, love-driven distress, pastoral complaint, and the farm’s rural blessings to support his judgement.
mihi credere) tantum Alpinas, ah dura, nives, et frigora Rheni Me sine sola vides. Ah te ne frigora laedant! Ah tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas! Ec. x. 42. Here cooling fountains roll through flow'ry meads, Here woods, Lycoris, lift their verdant heads; Here could I wear my careless life away, And in thy arms insensibly decay. Instead of that, me frantick love detains, 'Mid foes, and dreadful darts…
A poem addressed to a “happy old man” contrasts simple country sustenance and restful rural life with fears of hardship, while Johnson’s editorial notes transition into a reflection on how artful fiction yields to truth.
levi somnum suadebit inire susurro. Hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras. Nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes, Nec gemere aeria cessabit turtur ab ulmo. Ec. i. 47. Happy old man! then still thy farms restored, Enough for thee, shall bless thy frugal board. What tho' rough stones the naked soil o'erspread, Or marshy bulrush rear its wat'ry head, No foreign food thy teeming ewes shall fear, No tou…
In essays-like moral reflection, Johnson notes that certain poetic themes—spring, night, groves, and comparisons of life to fleeting things—repeatedly charm readers, especially the maxim to use the present hour.
CATULLUS, Lib. v. El. v. When once the short-liv'd mortal dies, A night eternal seals his eyes. ADDISON. IT may have been observed by every reader, that there are certain topicks which never are exhausted. Of some images and sentiments the mind of man may be said to be enamoured; it meets them, however often they occur, with the same ardour which a lover feels at the sight of his mistress, and parts from them wit…
On Easter-day Johnson debates the aesthetics of sounds, then Boswell summarizes multiple later London conversations: criticism of Garrick’s book access, a flea anecdote, Johnson’s views on Scots and manuscripts, and his claim that climate does not determine happiness.
the evening of the next day I supped with Dr. Johnson, at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, in company with Mr. Langton and his brother-in-law, Lord Binning. I talked of the recent expulsion of six students from the University of Oxford, who were methodists and would not desist from publickly praying and exhorting. JOHNSON. 'Sir, that expulsion was extremely just and proper. What have they to do at an Univ…
Boswell records Johnson’s dinner conversations with Goldsmith and others, including debate over whether luxury degenerates English stature, discussion of shops from Charing Cross to Whitechapel, and talk of Garrick, imitation, and reading “through.”
remember, for you cannot judge at first what is good or bad; and write immediately while the impression is fresh, for it will not be the same a week afterwards.' I again solicited him to communicate to me the particulars of his early life. He said, 'You shall have them all for two-pence. I hope you shall know a great deal more of me before you write my Life.' He mentioned to me this day many circumstances, which I w…
The editor urges first-time readers to use early pre-Crokerian editions, praising the work’s charm and Boswell’s stylistic balance while arguing that Johnson would have approved of Clarendon Press typographic care.
let him preserve his comprehension of the dialogue and his interest in the fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased let him attempt exactness and read the commentators[43].' So too let him who reads the *Life of Johnson* for the first time read it in one of the *Pre-Crokerian* editions. They are numerous and good. With his attention undiverted by notes he will rapidly pass through one of the most charmin…
Johnson argues that Thomas Gray is not a first-rate poet, criticizing the obscurity and abrupt plunge of his famous ode, and compares it to an old Scots song about Johnny Armstrong.
[Page 405: The differences of Christians. Ætat 54.] I acknowledged, that though educated very strictly in the principles of religion, I had for some time been misled into a certain degree of infidelity; but that I was come now to a better way of thinking, and was fully satisfied of the truth of the Christian revelation, though I was not clear as to every point considered to be orthodox. Being at all times a curious …
Johnson praises Dr. Joseph Warton’s book on Pope’s genius, comments that Warton’s delay reflects disappointment in winning over public opinion, and then assesses Sir James Macdonald’s character and manners.
[Page 448: Levelling up. A.D. 1763.] He again insisted on the duty of maintaining subordination of rank. 'Sir, I would no more deprive a nobleman of his respect, than of his money. I consider myself as acting a part in the great system of society, and I do to others as I would have them to do to me. I would behave to a nobleman as I should expect he would behave to me, were I a nobleman and he Sam. Johnson. Sir, the…
Hume uses examples from domestic architecture, farming fertility, and painting to argue that beauty and attractiveness often come from utility and the spectator’s sympathy with the owner’s imagined satisfaction.
for that purpose, to which they are destined. But this is an advantage, that concerns only the owner, nor is there any thing but sympathy, which can interest the spectator. It is evident, that nothing renders a field more agreeable than its fertility, and that scarce any advantages of ornament or situation will be able to equal this beauty. It is the same case with particular trees and plants, as with the field on w…
Hume develops his theory of sympathy, claiming that seeing others’ passions’ causes or effects makes us feel them, which explains beauty in usefulness and moral esteem in social benefit.
morals, and of that love or hatred, which arises from mental qualities, we must take the matter pretty deep, and compare some principles, which have been already examined and explained. We may begin with considering a-new the nature and force of sympathy. The minds of all men are similar in their feelings and operations; nor can any one be actuated by any affection, of which all others are not, in some degree, susce…
Hume explains how sympathy can produce moral taste without requiring us to sacrifice self-interest, using examples of clumsy buildings, seeming vs real danger, and rival emotions that the imagination can distinguish.
render the discourse harsh and disagreeable. It is a similar case, where any real quality is, by accidental circumstances, rendered impotent, and is deprived of its natural influence on society. Upon these principles we may easily remove any contradiction, which may appear to be betwixt the extensive sympathy, on which our sentiments of virtue depend, and that limited generosity which I have frequently observed to b…
Hume challenges the usual ethical divide between natural abilities and moral virtues, claiming they are both mental qualities that produce pleasure, love, and esteem, even if the sentiments differ (esteem vs love).
SECT. IV OF NATURAL ABILITIES No distinction is more usual in all systems of ethics, than that betwixt natural abilities and moral virtues; where the former are placed on the same footing with bodily endowments, and are supposed to have no merit or moral worth annexed to them. Whoever considers the matter accurately, will find, that a dispute upon this head would be merely a dispute of words, and that though these q…
In further reflections, Hume explains how sympathy makes bodily and sexual advantages appealing, offers examples of beauty as signs of strength and health, and ties fortune and power to esteem through the pleasures and advantages they generate.
enjoyment themselves, and can only be affected by means of their sympathy with one, that has a commerce of love with him. This instance is singular, and merits our attention. Another source of the pleasure we receive from considering bodily advantages, is their utility to the person himself, who is possessed of them. It is certain, that a considerable part of the beauty of men, as well as of other animals, consists …
He continues that our feelings about fortune are flexible: different causes can yield similar approbation (like beauty via appearance or utility), and different objects can feel different even when the underlying source—sympathy and utility—is the same.
it convey to us any satisfaction. We commonly consider ourselves as we appear in the eyes of others, and sympathize with the advantageous sentiments they entertain with regard to us. How far the advantages of fortune produce esteem and approbation from the same principles, we may satisfy ourselves by reflecting on our precedent reasoning on that subject. We have observed, that our approbation of those, who are posse…
He proposes that the lasting effect of writing depends on sincerity, depth, and intrinsic weight rather than hype; he likens cultural judgment to an “angelic” court and contrasts fleeting fame with enduring classics like Homer and Moses.
not therefore affirmed. It must affirm itself, or no forms of logic or of oath can give it evidence. The sentence must also contain its own apology for being spoken. The effect of any writing on the public mind is mathematically measurable by its depth of thought. How much water does it draw? If it awaken you to think, if it lift you from your feet with the great voice of eloquence, then the effect is to be wide, sl…
Emerson continues by explaining how love expands nature and courage, and he argues that beauty’s charm is elusive and incomprehensible, guiding the soul toward the divine rather than mere bodily satisfaction.
flowers ciphers and the air was coined into song; when all business seemed an impertinence, and all the men and women running to and fro in the streets, mere pictures. The passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant. Nature grows conscious. Every bird on the boughs of the tree sings now to his heart and soul. The notes are almost articulate. The clouds have faces as he looks o…
Emerson argues that true prudence requires reforming how humans relate to nature, laments the rarity of beauty, health, and genius, and critiques sensuality masked as talent or genius.
where to find them. Let them discriminate between what they remember and what they dreamed, call a spade a spade, give us facts, and honor their own senses with trust. But what man shall dare tax another with imprudence? Who is prudent? The men we call greatest are least in this kingdom. There is a certain fatal dislocation in our relation to nature, distorting our modes of living and making every law our enemy, whi…
In “Art,” Emerson claims the soul progresses by creating ever-fairer wholes, especially through fine arts that select spirit over imitation; art forms new from old, bears the Genius of the Hour, and attains value as history.
ART Because the soul is progressive, it never quite repeats itself, but in every act attempts the production of a new and fairer whole. This appears in works both of the useful and the fine arts, if we employ the popular distinction of works according to their aim either at use or beauty. Thus in our fine arts, not imitation but creation is the aim. In landscapes the painter should give the suggestion of a fairer cr…
He says art educates perception of beauty by detachment—isolating traits so contemplation becomes possible—and compares artists and orators to powers that fix a moment; excellence in separate works finally shows that “excellence of all things is one.”
has herein its highest value, *as history;* as a stroke drawn in the portrait of that fate, perfect and beautiful, according to whose ordinations all beings advance to their beatitude? Thus, historically viewed, it has been the office of art to educate the perception of beauty. We are immersed in beauty, but our eyes have no clear vision. It needs, by the exhibition of single traits, to assist and lead the dormant t…
Emerson compares painting and sculpture to eye-training and gymnastics, rejects material distractions (“oil and easels… marble and chisels”), and argues that true art restores us to simple, religious states of mind and universal moral language.
any direction. But I also learn that what astonished and fascinated me in the first work astonished me in the second work also; that excellence of all things is one. The office of painting and sculpture seems to be merely initial. The best pictures can easily tell us their last secret. The best pictures are rude draughts of a few of the miraculous dots and lines and dyes which make up the ever-changing “landscape wi…
He emphasizes moral nature as the true test and best critic of art, critiques the tourist who forgets inner origins while studying technique at the Vatican, and argues artists must let necessity and life conditions shape their symbols sincerely.
of his clay. Away with your nonsense of oil and easels, of marble and chisels; except to open your eyes to the masteries of eternal art, they are hypocritical rubbish. The reference of all production at last to an aboriginal Power explains the traits common to all works of the highest art,—that they are universally intelligible; that they restore to us the simplest states of mind, and are religious. Since what skill…
Emerson recounts early expectations of Italian painting as exotic surprises, but in Rome (and Naples) finds familiar truth “you and me,” urges that pictures domesticate rather than dazzle, and praises Raphael’s Transfiguration for simplicity that touches the heart.
has endured the constraints and seeming of a city poverty, will serve as well as any other condition as the symbol of a thought which pours itself indifferently through all. I remember when in my younger days I had heard of the wonders of Italian painting, I fancied the great pictures would be great strangers; some surprising combination of color and form; a foreign wonder, barbaric pearl and gold, like the spontoon…
He ends by saying the arts as practiced are only “initial,” yet their real value lies in showing signs of power and continual striving; mature art must connect with conscience, uplift the poor, and create new artists through total human energy.
heart is touched by genius. It was not painted for them, it was painted for you; for such as had eyes capable of being touched by simplicity and lofty emotions. Yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, we must end with a frank confession, that the arts, as we know them, are but initial. Our best praise is given to what they aimed and promised, not to the actual result. He has conceived meanly of the…
Emerson argues that particular arts age and die, especially sculpture, which can become toy-like or false when it ceases to live in present activity; he contrasts fixed forms (oratorios, statues) with flowing life, extempore performance, and living character.
every side, awakening in the beholder the same sense of universal relation and power which the work evinced in the artist, and its highest effect is to make new artists. Already History is old enough to witness the old age and disappearance of particular arts. The art of sculpture is long ago perished to any real effect. It was originally a useful art, a mode of writing, a savage’s record of gratitude or devotion, a…
Emerson argues that art and beauty should not be separated from nature and use, claiming modern culture treats people as undignified paupers and pushes art toward compensation rather than creation.
every attitude and action. A beautiful woman is a picture which drives all beholders nobly mad. Life may be lyric or epic, as well as a poem or a romance. A true announcement of the law of creation, if a man were found worthy to declare it, would carry art up into the kingdom of nature, and destroy its separate and contrasted existence. The fountains of invention and beauty in modern society are all but dried up. A …
He continues by saying art that divides itself from life starts from a failure to see nature’s beauty, and he urges beauty to return to useful arts—from eating to new technologies like railroads and science.
construction; an effeminate, prudent, sickly beauty, which is not beauty, is all that can be formed; for the hand can never execute any thing higher than the character can inspire. The art that thus separates is itself first separated. Art must not be a superficial talent, but must begin farther back in man. Now men do not see nature to be beautiful, and they go to make a statue which shall be. They abhor men as tas…
The narrator gives the statue description of Venus: she floats in the sea, is naked from the navel down with green waves, holds a citole, wears a rose garland, and has Cupid with wings and a bow above her.
these folk so caught were in her las* *snare Till they for woe full often said, Alas! Suffice these ensamples one or two, Although I could reckon a thousand mo’. The statue of Venus, glorious to see Was naked floating in the large sea, And from the navel down all cover’d was With waves green, and bright as any glass. A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she, And on her head, full seemly for to see, A rose garland f…
Cellini says his artistic work continues while an artists’ club disperses, and he improves upon Turkish-engraved, gold-filled iron poniards by using deeper, wider steel grooves and different foliage patterns.
XXXI IT would take too long to describe in detail all the many and divers pieces of work which I executed for a great variety of men. At present I need only say that I devoted myself with sustained diligence and industry to acquiring mastery in the several branches of art which I enumerated a short while back. And so I went on labouring incessantly at all of them; but since no opportunity has presented itself as yet…
Rhythm and harmony should mirror the words and the soul’s temper, so good education aims at true simplicity of character; music training trains youths to recognize artistic and natural beauty and moral error.
which all the harmonies are composed; that is an observation which I have made. But of what sort of lives they are severally the imitations I am unable to say. Then, I said, we must take Damon into our counsels; and he will tell us what rhythms are expressive of meanness, or insolence, or fury, or other unworthiness, and what are to be reserved for the expression of opposite feelings. And I think that I have an ind…
A poem in Greek and English frames “the Garden” as an ideal place to cultivate nature, followed by Evelyn’s verse on garden delight, health, and God’s wisdom reflected through plants and art.
{ciii:2} *De origine formarum.* {civ:1} *De Wotton in agro Surriensi.* {civ:2} *Consule librum Auctoris de Architectura.* ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΙΑΝ. Ὑμνήσω φρονίμοιο πατρὸς μελέεσσιν ἐπαίνους, ὑμνήσω ἐπέεσσιν ἀριστεύοντα γεωργῶν· οὐρανίην ταναῆς ἀρετὴν δρυὸς αὐτὸς ἔγραψεν, καὶ ποταπῶν γενεὴν δένδρων κατὰ δάσκιον ὕλην. ἀθανάτων κύδιστος ἔη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς, ἔσχεν δὴ δένδροιο φίλαις πραπί…
Young continues through the glen of the downs to Powerscourt, describing mountain ridges, the layout and siting of the house, and a visit to the waterfall and park with its amphitheatre of wood and rock.
to the sea, one upon a great mountain, and a third upon a part of the lawn. It is well placed, and forms upon the whole a most agreeable retreat. July 17. Took my leave of General Cunninghame, and went through the glen of the downs in my way to Powerscourt. The glen is a pass between two vast ridges of mountains covered with wood, which have a very noble effect. The vale is no wider than to admit the road, a smal…
On September 27 Young walks in Mr. Herbert’s grounds at Mucruss, tours Oroch’s Hill, praises views of mountains like Tomys, Glena, Turk, and Mangerton, and gives a detailed aesthetic and literary account of Mucruss Abbey’s ruin and yew tree.
the like would be in vain; for this reason I shall give the mere journal of the remarks I made on the spot, in the order I viewed the lake. September 27. Walked into Mr. Herbert's beautiful grounds, to Oroch's Hill, in the lawn that he has cleared from that profusion of stones which lie under the wall; the scene which this point commands is truly delicious; the house is on the edge of the lawn, by a wood which cove…
On September 29 Young continues by visiting Colonel Huffy’s monument, boating around Ross and Innisfallen, and offers a long aesthetic and practical critique of Innisfallen’s “dress,” especially its unmanaged lawns and grazing.
September 29. Rode after breakfast to Mangerton Cascade and Drumarourk Hill, from which the view of Mucruss is uncommonly pleasing. Pass the other hill, the view of which I described the 27th, and went to Colonel Huffy's monument, from whence the scene is different from the rest; the foreground is a gentle hill, intersected by hedges, forming several small lawns. There are some scattered trees and houses, with Mucr…
Young argues that great, commanding scenes should not be “dressed,” but that Innisfallen needs cleanliness and drainage; he criticizes grazing and overgrowth, praises its potential under Lord Kenmare, and concludes with comparisons and a return by boat around Ross and Innisfallen.
rocks, and lawn, are characteristic, and have a beauty in the assemblage from mere disposition. I must, however, observe that this delicious retreat is not kept as one could wish. Scenes that are great and commanding, from magnitude or wildness, should never be dressed; the rugged, and even the horrible, may add to the effect upon the mind: but in such as Innisfallen, a degree of dress, that is, cleanliness, is even…
Young details the ascent/row near Tomys and Glena to O’Sullivan’s Cascade, estimating its height at about seventy feet, comparing the woods of Glena and Tomys, and concludes with a note about the second day’s return to Mucruss.
is exceedingly pretty; it is a semicircular one, and in the centre there is a projecting knoll of wood within a bay; this is uncommon, and has an agreeable effect. The near approach to Tomys exhibits a sweep of wood, so great in extent, and so rich in foliage, that no person can see without admiring it. The mountainous part above is soon excluded by the approach; wood alone is seen, and that in such a noble range a…
Josephus describes Ptolemy’s gold table for the temple: its dimensions, design, jewels, fruit and vine motifs, and the intent that it match Jerusalem’s sacred use while exceeding it in craftsmanship and splendor.
the value of a hundred talents. And if thou wilt send to us, to let us know what thou wouldst have further, thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me." 6. When this epistle of the king was brought to Eleazar, he wrote an answer to it with all the respect possible: "Eleazar the high priest to king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe, 6 and thy children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we rec…
He explains Hegelian “art religion”: art uses sensuous immediacy to express spiritual truth, rejects imitation of nature’s externality, and argues art risks polytheism and depends on the artist’s made form.
*sign* of the Idea, is so transfigured by the informing spirit in order to express the Idea, that the figure shows it and it alone:—the shape or form of *Beauty*. § 557. The sensuous externality attaching to the beautiful,—the _form of immediacy* as such,—at the same time *qualifies* what it *embodies_: and the God (of art) has with his spirituality at the same time the stamp upon him of a natural medium or natural …
Hegel distinguishes classical, sublime, and symbolic art: reconciliation first feels complete in subjective self-consciousness, but symbolic art wrestles with an Idea not yet found as free spirit, like a restless effort toward an abstract God.
with technical cleverness and mechanical externalities. The work of art therefore is just as much a work due to free option, and the artist is the master of the God. § 561. In work so inspired the reconciliation appears so obvious in its initial stage that it is without more ado accomplished in the subjective self-consciousness, which is thus self-confident and of good cheer, without the depth and without the sense …
He explains how religions relate to art and argues that beauty belongs to religions where spirit is free but not yet absolute; symbolic art is tasteless because its theme fails to freely transmute nature into spiritual meaning.
actuality constitute one systematic totality, that one spirit creates and informs them, is a truth on which follows the further truth that the history of religions coincides with the world-history. As regards the close connexion of art with the various religions it may be specially noted that *beautiful* art can only belong to those religions in which the spiritual principle, though concrete and intrinsically free, …
Thoreau contrasts primitive life as a temporary sojourn with modern settled living that makes men tools of their tools, claiming that art and refinement mainly make low comfort harder to escape.
ride on earth in an ox cart with a free circulation, than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe a *malaria* all the way. The very simplicity and nakedness of man’s life in the primitive ages imply this advantage at least, that they left him still but a sojourner in nature. When he was refreshed with food and sleep he contemplated his journey again. He dwelt, as it were, in a tent in this wo…
He criticizes ornamental, externally styled architecture and argues true beauty arises from a dwelling’s internal necessities and the character of its occupant, not decorative “cornices.”
it finally serve? No doubt another *may* also think for me; but it is not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my thinking for myself. True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. All very well perhaps fro…
Vasari describes the sculpture case: sculptors claim nobility through antiquity, durable materials (marble/bronze), a broader related arts portfolio, fewer but stronger craftsmen, and superior truth to multiple viewpoints.
sculpture and painting; there being advanced, on one side and on the other, many arguments whereof many, if not all, are worthy to be heard and discussed by their craftsmen. I say, then, that the sculptors, as being endowed, perchance by nature and by the exercise of their art, with a better habit of body, with more blood, and with more energy, and being thereby more hardy and more fiery than the painters, in seekin…
Vasari then presents painters’ reply, arguing that if sculpture claims biblical precedence it is shared with painting and related “plastice,” and he says both sides’ arguments vary by tradition and balance imperfectly.
their hands, has this advantage over the sculptor's chisels, that it not only heals, as did the iron of the spear of Achilles, but leaves its wounds without a scar. To these things the painters, answering not without disdain, say, in the first place, that if the sculptors wish to discuss the matter on the ground of the Scriptures the chief nobility is their own, and that the sculptors deceive themselves very grievou…
Vasari reports painters arguing that painting is nobler than sculpture because it spans many arts and intellectual skills, while sculptors’ lesser numbers and prices come from material scarcity and patron avarice, not superiority.
nobility as they wish it, in one place they lose and in the other they do not win, as may be seen more clearly in the Preface to the Lives. After this, in comparison with the arts related and subordinate to sculpture, they say that they have many more than the sculptors, because painting embraces the invention of history, the most difficult art of foreshortening, all the branches of architecture needful for the maki…
The painters’ case continues by claiming true difficulty lies in the mind, making painting’s intellectual demands—especially perspective and complex figure drawing—greater than sculpture’s, with sculpture mainly using proportional tools.
by means of wedges, levers, and hammers must be more noble than sculpture, that of the blacksmith must surpass the goldsmith's, and that of masonry must be superior to architecture. They say, next, that the true difficulties lie rather in the mind than in the body, wherefore those things that from their nature call for more study and knowledge are more noble and excellent than those that avail themselves rather of s…
They argue painters surpass sculptors in representing emotion, motion, and future events through color and physiognomy, while sculpture can only convey changes via physical movement and limited aspects of form.
anyone who judges by the eye knows how useful and necessary it is for the true imitation of nature, whereunto the closer a man approaches the more perfect he is. After this they add that whereas sculpture, taking away bit by bit, at one and the same time gives depth to and acquires relief for those things that have solidity by their own nature, and makes use of touch and sight, the painters, in two distinct actions,…