Chapter iii.
The masterpieces of painting were then all collected together at Rome,whose riches in this respect surpassed that of all the rest of theworld. There could exist only one disputable point as to the effectproduced by this collection, namely, whether the nature of the subjectschosen by the Italian artists, afford a scope for all the variety andall the originality of passion and character which painting can express?Oswald and Corinne were of contrary opinions in this respect; but this,like every other opposition of sentiment that existed between them, wasowing to the difference of nation, climate, and religion. Corinneaffirmed that the most favourable subjects for painting were religiousones[26]. She said that sculpture was a Pagan art, and painting aChristian one; and that in these arts were to be found, as in poetry,the distinguishing qualities of ancient and modern literature. Thepictures of Michael Angelo, the painter of the Bible, and of Raphael,the painter of the Gospel, suppose as much profound thought, as muchsensibility as are to be found in Shakespeare and Racine: sculpture canonly present a simple, energetic existence, whilst painting indicatesthe mysteries of reflection and resignation, and makes the immortal soulspeak through transient colours. Corinne maintained also that historicalor poetical facts were rarely picturesque. In order to comprehend suchsubjects, it would often be necessary to preserve the practice ofpainters of old, and write the speech of each personage in a ribbonproceeding out of the mouth. But religious subjects are instantlyunderstood by everybody, and attention is not removed from the pictureto guess what it represents.
Corinne was of opinion that the expression of modern painters was oftentheatrical, and that it bore the stamp of their age, in which was nolonger found, as in Andrea Mantegna, Perugino, and Leonardo da Vinci,the unity and simplicity which characterised the repose of the ancients;a repose to which is joined that profundity of sentiment which is thecharacteristic of Christianity. She admired the artless composition ofRaphael's pictures, especially those in his first manner. All thefigures are directed towards one principal object, without anycontrivance on the part of the artist to group them in various attitudesin order to produce a laboured effect. Corinne said that this sincerityin the arts of the imagination, as well as in every other, is the truecharacter of genius; and that studied efforts for fame are almostalways destructive of enthusiasm. She maintained that there was rhetoricin painting as well as in poetry, and that all those who could notembody character called every accessory ornament to their aid, unitingrich costumes and remarkable attitudes to the attraction of a brilliantsubject, whilst a single Virgin holding a child in her arms, anattentive old man in the Mass of Bolsena, a man leaning on his stick inthe School of Athens, or Saint Cecilia with her eyes lifted up toheaven, produced the deepest effect by the expression of the countenancealone. These natural beauties increase every day more and more in ourestimation; but on the contrary, in pictures done for effect, the firstglance is always the most striking.
Corinne added to these reflections an observation which strengthenedthem: which was, that the religious sentiments of the Greeks and Romans,and the disposition of their minds, being in every respect absolutelyforeign from ours, it is impossible for us to create according to theirconceptions, or to build upon their ground. They may be imitated by dintof study; but how can genius employ all its energies in a work wherememory and erudition are so necessary? It is not the same with subjectsthat belong to our own history and our own religion. Here the painterhimself may be inspired; he may feel what he paints, and paint what hehas seen. Life assists him to imagine life; but in transporting himselfto the regions of antiquity, his invention must be guided by books andstatues. To conclude, Corinne found that pictures from pious subjects,impart a comfort to the soul that nothing could replace; and that theysuppose a sacred enthusiasm in the artist which blends with genius,renovates, revives, and can alone support him against the injustice ofman and the bitterness of life.
Oswald received, in some respects, a different impression. In the firstplace, he was scandalized to see the Deity represented as he is byMichael Angelo, in human form and feature. It was his opinion thatthought dare not give Him shape and figure, and that hardly at the verybottom of the soul could be found an idea sufficiently intellectual,sufficiently ethereal to elevate it to the Supreme Being; as to subjectstaken from the Holy Scripture, it seemed to him that the expression andthe images left much to be desired. He thought, with Corinne, thatreligious meditation is the most intimate sentiment that man canexperience; and in this respect, it is that which furnishes the painterwith the deepest mysteries of physiognomy and expression; but asreligion represses every emotion which does not proceed immediately fromthe heart, the figures of the saints and martyrs cannot admit of muchvariety. The sentiment of humility, so noble in the face of heaven,weakens the energy of terrestrial passions and necessarily givesmonotony to most religious subjects. When Michael Angelo applied histerrible genius to those subjects, he almost changed their essence bygiving to his prophets a formidable expression of power more becoming aJupiter than a Saint. He, like Dante, often avails himself of the imagesof Paganism and blends the heathen mythology with the Christianreligion. One of the most admirable circumstances attending theestablishment of Christianity, is the lowly estate of the apostles whohave preached it, and the misery and debasement of the Jewish people, solong the depositaries of the promises that announced the coming ofChrist. This contrast between the littleness of the means and thegreatness of the result, is in a moral point of view, extremely fine;but in painting, which exhibits the means alone, Christian subjects mustbe less dazzling than those taken from the heroic and fabulous ages.Among the arts, music alone can be purely religious. Painting cannot beconfined to so abstract and vague an expression as that of sound. It istrue that the happy combination of colour, and of _chiaro-oscuro_produces, if it may be so expressed, a musical effect in painting; butas the latter represents life, it should express the passions in alltheir energy and diversity. Undoubtedly it is necessary to choose amonghistorical facts, those which are sufficiently known not to requirestudy in order to comprehend them; for the effect produced by paintingought to be immediate and rapid, like every other pleasure derived fromthe fine arts; but when historical facts are as popular as religioussubjects, they have the advantage over them of the variety of situationsand sentiments which they recall.
Lord Nelville thought also, that scenes of tragedy and the most movingpoetical fictions, ought to claim a preference in painting, in orderthat all the pleasures of the imagination and of the soul might beunited. Corinne combated this opinion, fascinating as it was. She wasconvinced that the encroachment of one art upon another was mutuallyinjurious. Sculpture loses the advantages which are peculiar to it whenit aspires to represent a group of figures as in painting; painting whenit wishes to attain dramatic expression. The arts are limited in theirmeans, though boundless in their effects. Genius seeks not to combatthat which is in the essence of things; on the contrary, its superiorityconsists in discovering it.--"As for you, my dear Oswald," said Corinne,"you do not love the arts in themselves, but only on account of theirrelation with mind and feeling. You are only sensible to that whichrepresents the sorrows of the heart. Music and poetry agree with thisdisposition; whilst the arts which speak to the eyes, though theirsignification be ideal, only please and interest us when the soul istranquil and the imagination entirely free; nor do we require, in orderto relish them, that gaiety which society inspires, but only theserenity which beautiful weather and a fine climate diffuse over themind. We must be capable of feeling the universal harmony of nature inthose arts which represent external objects; this is impossible when thesoul is troubled, that harmony having been destroyed in us bycalamity."--"I know not," replied Oswald, "whether my taste in the finearts be confined to that alone which can recall the sufferings of thesoul; but I know, at least, that I cannot endure the representation ofphysical pain. My strongest objection," continued he, "against Christiansubjects in painting, is the painful sensations excited in me
by theimage of blood, wounds, and torture, notwithstanding the victims mayhave been animated by the noblest enthusiasm. Philoctetus is perhaps theonly tragical subject in which bodily ills can be admitted. But with howmany poetical circumstances are his cruel pangs surrounded? They havebeen caused by the arrows of Hercules. They will be healed by the son ofAEsculapius. In short, the wound is almost confounded with the moralresentment produced in him who is struck, and cannot excite anyimpression of disgust. But the figure of the boy possessed with a devil,in Raphael's superb picture of the Transfiguration, is a disagreeableimage, and in no way possesses the dignity of the fine arts. They mustdiscover to us the charm of grief, as well as the melancholy ofprosperity; it is the ideal part of human destiny which they shouldrepresent in each particular circumstance. Nothing torments theimagination more than bloody wounds and nervous convulsions. It isimpossible in such pictures not to seek, and at the same time dread, tofind the exactness of the imitation. What pleasure can we receive fromthat art which only consists in such an imitation; it is more horrible,or less beautiful than nature herself, the moment it only aspires toresemble her."
"You are right, my lord," said Corinne, "to wish that Christian subjectswere divested of painful images; they do not require them. But confess,however, that genius, and the genius of the soul, can triumph over everything. Behold that picture of the Communion of St Jerome, byDomenichino. The body of the dying saint is livid and gaunt: death hasseized upon it; but in that look is eternal life, and every earthlymisery seems produced here only to disappear before the pure lustre of areligious sentiment. However, dear Oswald," continued Corinne, "though Iam not of your opinion in everything, I will shew you that even indiffering from one another there is some analogy of sentiment betweenus. I have endeavoured to accomplish what you desire, in the gallery ofpictures which has been furnished me by those artists who were of myacquaintance, among which are some designs of my own sketching. You willthere see the defects and the advantages of those subjects which youprefer. This gallery is at my country seat at Tivoli. The weather isfine enough to visit it.--Shall we go thither to-morrow?" As she awaitedOswald's consent, he said to her: "My love, have you any doubt of myanswer? Have I in this world, any other pleasure, any other thought,besides you? And is not my life, too free perhaps from any occupation,as from every interest, solely taken up with the happiness of seeing andhearing you?"
FOOTNOTE:
[26] In a journal entitled _Europe_, are to be found observations fullof information on subjects relating to painting: from this journal Ihave extracted many of these reflections, which have just been read; MrFrederic Schlegel is the author of it, and this writer, as well as theGerman thinkers in general, is an inexhaustible mine.