These painters are a curious
study for the historian interested in the external forms of things.
study for the historian interested in the external forms of things.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v04 - Bes to Bro
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2041
WILLIAM BLAKE
(1757-1827)
OET-PAINTER, visionary, and super-mystic in almost all capaci-
ties, William Blake was born in London in 1757.
the second son of humble people-his father but a stock-
He was
Su
ing merchant. An "odd little boy," he was destined to be recog-
nized as "one of the most curious and abnormal personages of the
later eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries. " Allan Cunning-
ham describes him by saying that Blake at ten years of age was an
artist and at twelve a poet. He seems really to have shown in
childhood his double gift. But the boy's
education was rudimentary, his advantages
not even usual, it would seem. To the end
of his life, the mature man's works betray
a defective common-schooling, a lament-
able lack of higher intellectual training —
unless we suspect that the process would
have disciplined his mind, to the loss of
bizarre originality. Most of what Blake
learned he taught himself, and that at hap-
hazard. The mistiness and inexplicability
of his productions is part of such a pro-
cess, as well as of invincible temperament.
WILLIAM BLAKE
In 1767 Blake was studying drawing
with Mr. Pars, at the sometime famous Strand Academy, where he
was reckoned a diligent but egotistical pupil. At fourteen he be-
came apprenticed, for a livelihood,-afterward exchanged for the
painter's and illustrator's freer career,-to James Basire, an academic
but excellent engraver, whose manner is curiously traceable through
much of Blake's after work. Even in the formal atmosphere of the
Royal Academy's antique school, Blake remained an opinionated and
curiously "detached" scholar, with singular critical notions, with half-
expressed or very boldly expressed theories as to art, religion, and
most other things. In 1782 he married a young woman of equally
humble derivation, who could not even sign the marriage register.
He developed her character, educated her mind, and made her a
devoted and companionable wife, full of faith in him. Their curious
and retired ménage was as happy in a practical and mundane aspect
as could be hoped from even a normal one.
## p. 2042 (#236) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2042
(
In 1780 he began to exhibit, his first picture being The Death of
Earl Godwin. ' After exhibiting five others, however, ending with
'Jacob's Dream,' he withdrew altogether from public advertisement.
Several devoted patrons-especially Mr. Linnell, and a certain Mr.
Thomas Butts, who bought incessantly, anything and everything,-
seized upon all he drew and painted. In his literary undertakings
he was for the most part his own editor and printer and publisher.
His career in verse and prose began early. In 1783 came forth
the charming collection Poetical Sketches,' juvenile as the fancies of
his boyish days, but full of a sensitive appreciation of nature worthy
of a mature heart, and expressed with a diction often exquisite.
The volume was not really public nor published, but printed by the
kindly liberality of two friends, one of them Flaxman. In 1787,
"under the direction of the spirit of his dead brother," Robert, he
decided on publishing a new group of lyrics and fancies, Songs
of Innocence,' by engraving the text of the poems and its marginal
embellishments on copper-printing the pages in various tints, color-
ing or recoloring them by hand, and even binding them, with his
wife's assistance. The medium for mixing his tints, by the by, was
"revealed to him by Saint Joseph. "
With this volume-now a rarity for the bibliophile - began
Blake's system of giving his literary works and many of his ex-
traordinary artistic productions their form and being.
Like a poet-
printer of our own day, Mr. William Morris, Blake insisted that each
page of text, all his delicate illustrations, every cover even, should
pass through his own fingers, or through those of his careful and
submissive helpmeet. The expense of their paper was the chief one
to the light purse of the queerly assorted, thrifty pair.
<
In 1789 appeared another little volume of verses, Songs of Inno-
cence. ' This also was ushered into existence as a dual book of
pictures and of poetry. In 1794 came the Songs of Experience,'
completing that brief lyrical trio on which rests Blake's poetical
reputation and his claim on coming generations of sympathetic read-
ers. To these early and exquisite fruits of Blake's feeling succeeded
a little book For Children,' the mystic volume The Gates of
Paradise,' 'The Visions of the Daughters of Albion,' 'America, a
Prophecy,' Part First of his Book of Urizen,' and a collection of
designs without text, treated in the methods usual with him, besides
other labors with pencil and pen.
But the wonderful and disordered imagination of the artist and
poet now embodied itself in a strange group of writings for which
no parallel exists. To realize them, one must imagine the most
transcendent notions of Swedenborg mingled with the rant of a
superior kind of Mucklewrath. Such poems as 'The Book of Thel,'
## p. 2043 (#237) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2043
in spite of beautiful allegoric passages; 'The Gates of Paradise';
'Tiriel,' an extended narrative-fantasy in irregular unrhymed verses;
even the striking 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell,'-may be reckoned
as mere prologues to such productions as 'Jerusalem,' 'The Emana-
tion of the Giant Albion,' 'Milton,' and the "prophecies" embodied in
the completed Urizen,' the 'Europe,' 'Ahania,' and 'The Book of
Los. ' Such oracular works Blake put forth as dictated to him by
departed spirits of supreme influence and intellectuality, or by angelic
intelligences, quite apart from his own volition; indeed, only with his
"grateful obedience. » Such claims are not out of place in the
instance of one who "saw God"; who often "conversed familiarly
with Jesus Christ "; who "was" Socrates; who argued conclusions for
hours at a time with Moses, with Milton, with Dante, with the
Biblical prophets, with Voltaire; who could "see Satan" almost at
will-all in vivid conceptions that sprang up in his mind with such
force as to set seemingly substantial and even speaking beings before
him. In his assumption of the seer, Blake was not a charlatan: he
believed fully in his supernatural privileges. To him his modest
London lodging held great company, manifest in the spirit.
Blake's greater "prophetic" writings ended, he busied himself
with painting and illustration. He was incessant in industry; indeed,
his ordinary recreation at any time was only a change of work
from one design to another. So were wrought out the (incomplete)
series of plates for Young's 'Night Thoughts'; the drawings for Hay-
ley's 'Life of Cowper,' and for the same feeble author's 'Ballads on
Anecdotes relating to Animals'; the 'Dante' designs; the 'Job'
series of prints; a vast store of aquarelle and distemper paintings
and plates, and a whole gallery of "portraits» derived from sitters
of distinction in past universal history. These sitters, it is needless
to say, were wholly invisible to other eyes than Blake's. The sub-
jects vary from likenesses of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary to
those of Mahomet and Shakespeare. Sundry of the old masters,
Titian included, reviewed his efforts and guided his brush! Such
assertions do not ill accord with the description of his once seeing
a fairy's funeral, or that he first beheld God when four years old.
But all his fantasies did not destroy his faith in the fundamentals
of orthodoxy. He never ceased to be a believer in Christianity.
His convictions of a revealed religion were reiterated. While inces-
sant in asserting that he had a solemn message-spiritual to his day
and generation, he set aside nothing significant in the message of
the Scriptures. There is something touching in the anecdote of him
and his devoted Kate told by the portrait-painter Richmond. Him-
self discouraged with his imperfect work, Richmond one day visited
Blake and confessed his low mood. To his astonishment, Blake
## p. 2044 (#238) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2044
turned to his wife suddenly, and said, "It is just so with us, is it
not, for weeks together, when the visions forsake us! What do we
do then, Kate ? " "We kneel down and pray, Mr. Blake. "
So passed Blake's many years, between reality and dream, labors
and chimeras. The painter's life was not one of painful poverty.
He and his Kate needed little money; and the seer-husband's pencils
and burin, or the private kindness so constantly shown him, provided
daily bread. Despite the visions and inspirations and celestial phe-
nomena that filled his head, Blake withal was sane enough in every-
day concerns. He lived orderly, even if he thought chaos. Almost
his last strokes were on the hundred water-colors for the 'Divina
Commedia,' the 'Job' cycle, the Ancient of Days' drawing, or a
"frenzied sketch" of his wife which he made, exclaiming in begin-
ning it, "Stay! Keep as you are! You have ever been an angel to
me. I will draw you. " Natural decay and painful chronic ailments
increased. He seldom left his rooms in Fountain Court, Strand,
except in a visit to the Linnells, at Hampstead. He died gently in
1827, "singing of the things he saw in Heaven. " His grave, to-day
unknown, was a common one in Bunhill Fields Cemetery. Many
friends mourned him. With all his eccentricities and the extrava-
gances of his "visions" and "inspirations," he was loved. His ardor
of temperament was balanced by meekness, his aggressiveness by
true politeness. He was frank, abstemious, a lover of children,
who loved him,—devout in prayer, devoid of vice. Yet whenever
he was in contact with his fellow-men, he was one living and walk-
ing apart.
As an influence in literature he is less considerable than
in painting. In the latter art, a whole group of contemporary nota-
bles, intellectualists, and rhapsodists of greater or less individuality
have to do with him, among whom Dante Gabriel Rossetti was in
much his literary child, still more his child in art.
A brief and early 'Life' of Blake, prepared by his intimate
friend Allan Cunningham, appeared in 1829. In 1839, for the first
time, his works were really given to the public. Mr. Gilchrist's
invaluable biography and study appeared in 1863; revised and en-
larged in an edition of 1880. Mr. Swinburne's critical essay on him
is a notable aid to the student. The artist-poet's complete works
were edited by Mr. William Michael Rossetti in 1874, with a com-
plete and discriminating memoir. More recent contributions to Blake
literature are the Ellis and Yeats edition of his works, also with a
Memoir and an Interpretation; and Mr. Alfred J. Story's volume on
'The Life, Character, and Genius of William Blake. ' Some of the
rarest of his literary productions, as well as the scarcest among his
drawings, are owned in America, chiefly by two private collectors in
the Eastern States.
-
## p. 2045 (#239) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
Μ'
SONG
Y SILKS and fine array,
My smiles and languished air,
By love are driven away,
And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.
His face is fair as heaven
When springing buds unfold;
Oh, why to him was 't given,
Whose heart is wintry cold?
His breast is Love's all-worshiped tomb,
Where all Love's pilgrims come.
Bring me an axe and spade,
Bring me a winding-sheet;
When I my grave have made,
Let winds and tempests beat:
Then down I'll lie, as cold as clay:
True love doth never pass away.
L
SONG
OVE and harmony combine
And around our souls entwine,
While thy branches mix with mine
And our roots together join.
Joys upon our branches sit,
Chirping loud and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams beneath our feet,
Innocence and virtue meet.
Thou the golden fruit dost bear,
I am clad in flowers fair;
Thy sweet boughs perfume the air,
And the turtle buildeth there.
There she sits and feeds her young;
Sweet I hear her mournful song;
And thy lovely leaves among,
There is Love: I hear his tongue.
2045
## p. 2046 (#240) ###########################################
2046
WILLIAM BLAKE
There his charmed nest he doth lay,
There he sleeps the night away,
There he sports along the day,
And doth among our branches play.
THE TWO SONGS
HEARD an Angel singing
When the day was springing:
"Mercy, pity, and peace,
Are the world's release. "
So he sang all day
Over the new-mown hay,
Till the sun went down,
And the haycocks looked brown.
I heard a devil curse
Over the heath and the furse:
«< Mercy could be no more
If there were nobody poor,
And pity no more could be
If all were happy as ye:
And mutual fear brings peace.
Misery's increase
Are mercy, pity, peace. "
At his curse the sun went down,
And the heavens gave a frown.
NIGHT
From 'Songs of Innocence >
THE
HE sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine,
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles in the night.
Farewell, green fields and happy groves
Where flocks have ta'en delight;
## p. 2047 (#241) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2047
Where lambs have nibbled, silent move
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.
They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are covered warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm;
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping,
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed.
When wolves and tigers howl for prey,
They pitying stand and weep;
Seeking to drive their thirst away,
And keep them from the sheep.
But if they rush dreadful,
The angels most heedful
Receive each wild spirit,
New worlds to inherit.
And there the lion's ruddy eyes
Shall flow with tears of gold;
And pitying the tender cries,
And walking round the fold,
Saying, "Wrath by His meekness,
And by His health, sickness,
Are driven away
From our immortal day.
"And now beside thee, bleating lamb,
I can lie down and sleep,
Or think on Him who bore thy name,
Graze after thee and weep.
For washed in life's river,
My bright mane forever
Shall shine like the gold,
As I guard o'er the fold. "
## p. 2048 (#242) ###########################################
2048
WILLIAM BLAKE
THE PIPER AND THE CHILD
Introduction to Songs of Innocence ›
PIPI
IPING down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:-
"Pipe a song about a lamb. »
So I piped with merry cheer.
"Piper, pipe that song again:"
So I piped; he wept to hear.
"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer:"
So I sang the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
«< Piper, sit thee down and write,
In a book that all may read. "-
So he vanished from my sight;
And I plucked a hollow reed;
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
―
HOLY THURSDAY
From Songs of Innocence>
TWA
WAS on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
Came children walking two and two, in red and blue and
green:
Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.
what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
## p. 2049 (#243) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2049
M
A CRADLE SONG
From 'Songs of Experience>
LEEP, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming in the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
S
Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.
As thy softest limbs I feel,
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek and o'er thy breast,
Where thy little heart doth rest.
Oh, the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart shall wake,
Then the dreadful light shall break.
THE LITTLE BLACK BOY
From Songs of Innocence >
Y MOTHER bore me in the Southern wild,
And I am black, but oh, my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissèd me,
And, pointing to the East, began to say:-
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives his light, and gives his heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love;
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
IV-129
## p. 2050 (#244) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
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"For when our souls have learned the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear his voice,
Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice. »»
Thus did my mother say, and kissèd me,
And thus I say to little English boy:
When I from black, and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.
THE TIGER
From Songs of Experience>
Τ
IGER! Tiger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Framed thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burned that fire within thine eyes?
On what wings dared he aspire?
What the hand dared seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
When thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand formed thy dread feet?
What the hammer, what the chain,
Knit thy strength and forged thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dared thy deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
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2051
CHARLES BLANC
(1813-1882)
W
E HAVE few personal details of Charles Blanc. We know that
he lived in a luminous world of form and thought, a life in
harmony with his work; we have books containing his con-
ception of art; we know that art was hi one absorbing passion: and
this should satisfy us, for it was his own opinion that all which does
not tend to illustrate an artist's conception of art is of but secondary
importance in his life.
Of Franco-Italian extraction, Charles Blanc was born in Castres,
France, on the 15th of November, 1813. When in 1830 he and his
brother Louis, youths of eighteen and nineteen, came to Paris, their
aged father, an ex-inspector of finance whose career had been ruined
by the fall of Napoleon, was dependent on them for support. Louis
soon procured work on a newspaper; but Charles, whose ambition
from his earliest years was to become a painter, spent his days in
the Louvre, or wandering about Paris looking in the old-print-shop
windows, and he thus learned much that he afterwards developed in
his works. As his brother's position improved, he was enabled to
study drawing with Delaroche and engraving with Calamatta.
masters gave him but little encouragement, however, and he soon
turned his thoughts to literature, his maiden effort being a descrip-
tion of the Brussels Salon of 1836 for his brother's paper.
Exquisite sensitiveness and responsiveness to beauty eminently
fitted Charles Blanc for the position of art critic, and gave a charm
to his earliest writings. He brought to his new task the technical
knowledge of an artist, and a penetrating critical insight which,
aided by study, ripened rapidly. The evidence of talent afforded by
his first art criticism induced Louis Blanc to confide to him suc-
cessively the editorship of several provincial papers. But Charles's
inclinations were toward the calm atmosphere of art; he was, and
ever remained, indifferent to politics, and looked upon the fiery,
active Louis with astonishment, even while catching his energy and
ambition. On his return to Paris he began a history of the 'French
Painters of the Nineteenth Century,' but one volume of which ap-
peared; and the 'Painters of All Schools,' completed in 1876. Very
little was then known of the lives of the painters. By illustrating
each biographical sketch with engravings of the artists' pictures,
Blanc met a long-felt want. As the work was intended for the
general reader, it was not overloaded with erudition: but numerous
## p. 2052 (#246) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2052
anecdotes, combined with vivacity of style, aroused interest in paint-
ing and created a public for the more purely technical works which
followed. Though assisted by others in this undertaking, Blanc him-
self planned the method of treatment, and wrote the history of the
Dutch and French schools; and the work justly retains his name.
The Socialists had taken a prominent part in the events of Feb-
ruary, 1848, which led to the overthrow of Louis Philippe; and they
yielded to the universal desire by appointing Charles Blanc Director
of Fine Arts - a position which he had prophesied to his friends
several years before that he would one day fill. When he assumed
office, the position of artists was critical; as, owing to social convul
sions, government and private orders had dwindled into insignificance.
Thanks to his energy, work was resumed on public monuments, and
the greater part of the sum of 900,000 francs, voted by the National
Assembly for the Champs de Mars festival, was devoted to work
which gave employment to a legion of decorative painters and sculp-
tors. After the Salon of 1848, as the government coffers were de-
pleted, he obtained 80,000 francs' worth of Sèvres porcelain from the
Minister of Commerce, to give as prizes. He combated a proposition
made by the Committee on Finance to suppress the Louvre studios
of molding; he opposed the motion to reduce the corps of professors
at the School of Fine Arts, and defended the School of Rome, threat-
ened with suppression.
While Director of Fine Arts, Blanc fought his first and only duel,
in defence of his brother, although he had never fired a pistol in his
life. During the political agitation of 1848, Louis was condemned by
the National Assembly, and fled to London. After his departure, he
was abused in very insulting language by one Lacombe, and Charles
called the latter to account. In the duel which followed, Lacombe
was hit, but the ball struck his pocket-book and glanced off, when
Méry, one of the seconds, exclaimed, "That was money well invested! "
and there the matter ended.
Another event, which occurred several years previous, has a cer-
tain psychological significance. One evening Charles Blanc was visit
ing a friend who resided a distance of one hundred and fifty miles
from Paris. In the midst of conversation, he suddenly grew pale and
exclaimed that he had received a shock, adding that something must
have happened to Louis. The next day his fears were confirmed by
the receipt of a letter, telling him that the latter had been knocked
down in the streets of Paris by a blow across the forehead. When
Dumas père heard of this coincidence, he utilized it in his 'Corsican
Brothers. '
Notwithstanding his fine record as an administrator and his en-
couragement of talent, Blanc was sacrificed to the spirit of reaction
## p. 2053 (#247) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2053
which set in about 1850. His removal displeased the entire art
world, so highly was he esteemed for his integrity, his progressive
ideas, and his unerring taste. On his return to private life he re-
sumed his 'History of the Painters. '. 'L'Euvres de Rembrandt'
(1853 to 1863), containing also a life of the artist, was illustrated by
the first photographic plates which ever appeared in a book.
The name 'Peintres des Fêtes Galantes' was derived by Blanc
from the title conferred on Watteau by the French Academy. Of
the artists therein mentioned, Watteau occupied the realm of poetry;
Lancret that of the conventional, the fashionable; Pater that of vul-
gar, jovial reality; Boucher, the most distinctively French of artists,
that of brilliancy, dash, and vivacity.
These painters are a curious
study for the historian interested in the external forms of things.
With the exception of Dupré, Blanc knew all the painters of
whom he writes in the 'Artistes de mon Temps' (Artists of My
Time). The work is therefore replete with personal recollections.
Here again the general interest is deepened by the warm interest
which the author takes in the men and events of the time. There
are many charming pages devoted to Félix Duban, Delacroix, and
Calamatta; to the contemporary medallions of David d'Angers; to
Henri Leys, Chenavard, and Troyon; to Corot, the lover of nature who
saw her through a veil of poetry; to Jules Dupré and Rousseau, who
saw the poetry innate in her. He introduces us to the caricaturists
Grandville and Gavarni; to Barye's lifelike animals. On reading the
lives of these men, one is struck by the fact that they produced
their masterpieces at about the age of twenty years.
The Treasures of Art in Manchester,' and 'From Paris to Vienna,’
were published in 1857. The latter contained curious information
about the sale of art works during the seventeenth century, with
the prices they brought, and is enlivened with short spirited sketches
of artists and amateurs. In 1867 Blanc became a member of the
Académie des Beaux Arts. The Treasures of Curiosity' is a cata-
logue of pictures and engravings sold between 1830 and the date of
the appearance of the book.
Devoted to purely artistic subjects, the Journal des Beaux Arts,
founded by Blanc, rendered great service to art by spreading a taste
for it among the cultivated classes. The Grammar of Painting and
Engraving' first appeared in this periodical. Though given up to
a consideration of technical subjects, the work abounds in poetic
touches and has great interest for the general reader. In 1875 it was
discussed in the French Academy, when its author competed for the
chair left vacant by the death of Vitel. He was not elected until
the following year, though his book met with great success, and led
to the revival of engraving in France.
## p. 2054 (#248) ###########################################
2054
CHARLES BLANC
When he began his studies for the life of Ingres, which appeared
in 1867, he found many letters of the artist, which enabled him to
follow the latter through the various phases of his life: to know the
changes of his temper, the inflexibility of his character; his emotions
day by day; his momentary discouragements, his great will-power;
the heroic efforts he made to reach the heights; his ideas on art, his
opinions of others as well as himself: and thanks to these docu-
ments, he was enabled to reproduce one of the most remarkable per-
sonalities, if not the most original one, of the French school.
In 1870 he was again made Director of Fine Arts. He introduced
several reforms in the organization of the Salon, and founded a 4,000-
franc prize. But the spirit of reaction could not forgive his political
antecedents; and in 1873, on the fall of Thiers, he was removed
before he could complete his plan for establishing a museum of cop-
ies to reproduce the masterpieces of painting. One well-deserved
satisfaction was granted him in 1878 by the creation of a chair of
Esthetics and Art History in the College of France, which he was
called by special decree to fill; and there he taught for three years.
The first part of the Grammar of the Decorative Arts' appeared
in 1881; the second part, dealing with interior decorations, in 1882.
The third part, The Decoration of Cities,' was not completed, owing
to his sudden death. Elected President of the French Academy in
1882, he did not enjoy this well-deserved honor long. A few weeks
before his death-which occurred on February 17th, 1882, from the
effects of an operation for cancer- he began a catalogue of the col-
lection presented by Thiers to the Louvre. This was the last work
of a pen wielded with unimpaired vigor to the end.
"The great artist," wrote Blanc, "is he who guides us into the
region of his own thoughts, into the palaces and fields of his own
imagination, and while there, speaks to us the language of the gods;"
and to none are these words more applicable than to himself. In the
world of thought he was a man of great originality, though neither
architect, painter, nor sculptor. He had all the artist nature from a
boy, and never lost the tender sensibility and naïf admiration for the
beautiful in nature and art which give such glow of enthusiasm to
his writings. His 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving' founded
the scientific method of criticism. In this work he brought his intel-
lectual qualifications and extensive reading to bear upon a subject
until then treated either by philosophical theorizers or eloquent essay-
ists. He has left one of the purest literary reputations in France.
He was above all an idealist, and made the World Beautiful more
accessible to us.
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CHARLES BLANC
2055
REMBRANDT
From The Dutch School of Painters >
R
EMBRANDT has taken great pains to transmit to us paintings
of his person, or at least of his face, from the time of his
youth up to that of shrunken old age. He was a man at
once robust and delicate. His broad and slightly rounded fore-
head presented a development that indicated a powerful imagina-
tion. His eyes were small, deep-set, bright, intelligent, and full
of fire. His hair, of a warm color bordering on red and curling
naturally, may possibly have indicated a Jewish extraction. His
head had great character, in spite of the plainness of his features;
a large flat nose, high cheek-bones, and a copper-colored com-
plexion imparted to his face a vulgarity which, however, was
relieved by the form of his mouth, the haughty outline of his
eyebrows, and the brilliancy of his eyes. Such was Rembrandt;
and the character of the figures he painted partakes of that of his
own person. That is to say, they have great expression, but are
not noble; they possess much pathos, while deficient in what is.
termed style.
An artist thus constituted could not but be exceedingly ori-
ginal, intelligent, and independent, though selfish and entirely
swayed by caprice. When he began to study nature, he entered
upon his task not with that good nature which is the distinctive
characteristic of so many of the Dutch painters, but with an
innate desire to stamp upon every object his own peculiarity,
supplementing imagination by an attentive observation of real
life. Of all the phenomena of nature, that which gave him most
trouble was light; the difficulty he most desired to conquer was
that of expression.
ALBERT DÜRER'S MELANCHOLIA>
From The Dutch School of Painters >
THE
HE love of the extravagant and fantastic observable in Dürer's
first pictures never abandoned him. He has probably ex
pressed the inspiration of his own soul in the figure of
Melancholy, who, seated on the sea-shore, seems trying to pene-
trate with her gaze into infinite space. For my part, I have this
picture always before me. How could it be possible to forget an
## p. 2056 (#250) ###########################################
2056
CHARLES BLANC
engraving of Dürer's, even though seen but once? I can see
her proud and noble head resting thoughtfully upon one hand,
her long hair falling in disheveled tresses upon her shoulders;
her folded wings emblematic of that impotent aspiration which
directs her gaze towards heaven; a book, closed and useless as
her wings, resting upon her knee. Nothing can be more gloomy,
more penetrating, than the expression of this figure. From the
peculiar folds of her dress, one would suppose she was enveloped
in iron draperies. Near her is a sun-dial with a bell which
marks the hours as they glide away. The sun is sinking beneath
the ocean, and darkness will soon envelop the earth. Above
hovers a strange-looking bat with spreading wings, and bearing a
pennon on which is written the word "Melancholia. »
All is symbolical in this composition, of which the sentiment
is sublime. Melancholy holds in her right hand a pair of com-
passes and a circle, the emblem of that eternity in which her
thoughts are lost. Various instruments appertaining to the arts
and sciences lie scattered around her; after having made use of
them, she has cast them aside and has fallen into a profound
revery. As typical of the mistrust which has crept into her
heart with avarice and doubt, a bunch of keys is suspended to
her girdle; above her is an hour-glass, the emblem of her transi-
tory existence. Nothing could be more admirable than the face
of Melancholy, both in the severe beauty of her features and the
depth of her gaze.
Neither the sentiment of melancholy nor the word which ex-
presses it had appeared in art before the time of Albert Dürer.
INGRES
From the Life of Ingres
SMALL
MALL of stature, square of figure, rough of manner, devoid of
distinction, Ingres's personality afforded a great contrast to
the refinement of his taste and the charm of his feminine
figures. I can hardly conceive how a man thus built could show
such delicacy in the choice of his subjects; how those short, thick
fingers could draw such lovely, graceful forms.
Ingres hated academic conventionality; he mingled the Floren-
tine and Greek schools; he sought the ideal not outside of reality
but in its very essence, in the reconciliation of style with nature.
## p. 2057 (#251) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2057
Color he considered of secondary importance; he not only sub-
ordinated it voluntarily to drawing, but he did not have a natural
gift for it. Ingres is the artist who has best expressed the volup-
tuousness not of flesh but of form; who has felt feminine beauty
most profoundly and chastely.
CALAMATTA'S STUDIO
From Contemporary Artists'
I
CAN still see Lamennais, with his worn-out coat, his round
back, his yellow, parchment-like face, his eyes sparkling be-
neath a forehead imprinted with genius, and resembling
somewhat Hoffmann's heroes. George Sand sometimes visited
us, and it seemed to me that her presence lighted up the whole
studio. She always spoke to me, for she knew that I was the
brother of a distinguished writer, and when she looked over my
plate I trembled like a leaf.
Thus our calm sedentary life was enlivened by an occasional
sunbeam; and when I was hard at work with my graver, my
mind was nourished by the minds of others. Giannone, the poet,
read his commentaries on Shakespeare to us, and Mercure always
had a witty retort in that faulty French which is so amusing in
an Italian mouth. Calamatta would listen in silence, his eyes
glued to his drawing of the 'Joconde,' at which he worked on
his good days.
BLANC'S DÉBUT AS ART CRITIC
From Contemporary Artists ›
IN
THOSE days things happened just as they do now; the criti-
cism is almost invariably the work of beginners. A youth
who has acquired a smattering of learning, who has caught
up the slang of the studios, and pretends to have a system or to
defend a paradox, is chosen to write an account of the Salon.
was that youth, that novice. And after all, how become a work-
man unless you work? how become expert if you do not study,
recognize your mistakes and repair them? Beneath our mistakes
truth lies hidden.
I
So I arrived at Brussels to exercise the trade of critic, and
found myself in the presence of two men who were then making
## p. 2058 (#252) ###########################################
2058
CHARLES BLANC
a brilliant début as painters: De Keyser and Henri Leys. I
hope I shall be forgiven if I reproduce my criticism of the
latter's 'Massacre of the Magistrates of Louvain. '
"Imagine to yourself a small public square, such as might have.
existed in Louvain in the fourteenth century; this square filled with
angry people demanding satisfaction for the death of their chief,
Gautier de Lendes, assassinated by the nobles; the approach to the
palace of justice crowded with men armed to the teeth; at the top
of the stairs the city magistrates on their way to execution, some as
calm as if about to administer justice, others bewailing that the peo-
ple know not what they do; peasants awaiting them at the foot of
the stairs, dagger in hand, a smile upon their lips; here and there
fainting women, dead bodies being stripped, dying men being tor-
tured, and an inextricable confusion of monks, burghers, soldiers,
children and horses. Then if you fancy this scene painted with the
warmth and impetuosity of a Tintoretto, or as Hugo would have
written it, you will have an idea of Leys's picture. It may not be
prudent to trust an enthusiastic criticism; but my opinion is shared
by every one. I may be rash in praising a young man whose wings
may melt in the sun; but when, as is the case with M. Leys, the
artist possesses exact knowledge of the times and manners, when he
has verve, dash, and deep feeling, he needs only to moderate ardor
by reflection, and to ripen inspiration by study, in order to become
great. "
One must admit that the above was not a bad beginning for
an apprentice-connoisseur, and that I was fortunate in praising
an unknown artist destined to make a great reputation.
There is something more real than reality in what passes in the
soul of a great artist!
Α
N
DELACROIX'S BARK OF DANTE›
From Contemporary Artists'
ADMIRABLE and altogether new quality is the weird har-
mony of color which makes the painting vibrate like a
drama; or in other words, that sombre harmony itself is
the foundation of the tragedy. Lyricism is expressed by mere
difference in tones, which, heightened by their contrasts and
softened by their analogy, become harmonious while clashing
with each other. A new poetry was born of the French school,
until then so sober of color, so little inclined to avail itself of
·
## p. 2059 (#253) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2059
the material resources of painting. And yet the expression thus
achieved by Delacroix appeals to the soul as much as to the eyes.
It is not merely optical beauty, but spiritual beauty of the high-
est order, that is produced by his superb coloring. In this picture
the young painter's genius was revealed unto himself. He then
knew that he had guessed the secret of an art which he was to
carry to a perfection undreamed of before, the orchestration of
color.
――
Delacroix was the hero of Romanticism. His life was one long
revolt in the name of color against drawing, of flesh against
marble, of freedom of attitude against traditionary precision. He
is an essentially modern genius inflamed by the poetry of Christ-
ianity, and he added tumultuous passions and feverish emotions
to the antique serenity of art.
In those days youth was entirely given up to noble aspira-
tions, to dreams of glory, to enthusiasm for beauty of expression
and feeling, to an ardent love of liberty. Men were indifferent
to stock quotations, but they rated spiritual values high. Mere
theories inspired passion; quarrels on the subject of style and
painting were common; men became enthusiastic over poetry
and beauty- the ideal!
GENESIS OF THE GRAMMAR›
Α'
T DINNER one day with the dignitaries of one of the largest
cities of France, conversation turned upon the arts. All of
the guests spoke of them, and well; but each intrenched
himself behind his own personal views, in virtue of the adage
"One cannot argue about tastes. " I protested in vain against
this false principle, saying that it was inadmissible, and that the
classic Brillat-Savarin would have been shocked at such blas-
phemy. Even his name had no weight, and the guests separated
gayly, after uttering heresies that made you shiver. Among the
eminent men present there was one, however, who seemed some-
what mortified that he had not the most elementary idea of art;
and he asked me if there was not some book in which its princi-
ples were presented in a clear and brief form. I replied that no
such book existed, and that on leaving college I should have been
only too happy to find such a work; and thereupon determined
to write one.
¦
1
¦
## p. 2060 (#254) ###########################################
2060
CHARLES BLANC
MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
The philos-
AINTING purifies people by its mute eloquence.
opher writes his thoughts for those who can think and read.
The painter shows his thought to all who have eyes to see.
That hidden and naked virgin, Truth, the artist finds without
seeking. He throws a veil over her, encourages her to please,
proves to her that she is beautiful, and when he has reproduced
her image he makes us take her, and takes her himself, for
Beauty.
In communicating to us what has been seen and felt by
others, the painter gives new strength and compass to the soul.
Who can say of how many apparently fugitive impressions a
man's morality is composed, and upon what depends the gentle-
ness of his manners, the correctness of his habits, the elevation
of his thoughts? If the painter represents acts of cruelty or
injustice, he inspires us with horror. The Unhappy Family'
of Proudhon moves the fibres of charity better than the homilies
of a preacher.
Examples of the sublime are rare in
painting, as the painter is compelled to imprison every idea in
a form.
It may happen, nevertheless, that moved by thoughts
to which he has given no form, the artist strikes the soul as a
thunderbolt would the ear. It is then by virtue of the thought
perceived, but not formulated, that the picture becomes sublime.
POUSSIN'S (SHEPHERDS OF ARCADIA ›
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving >
IN
N A wide, heavily wooded country, the sojourning-place of that
happiness sung by the poets, some peasants have discovered
a tomb hidden by a thicket of trees, and bearing this brief
inscription: "Et in Arcadia ego" (I too lived in Arcadia). These
words, issuing from the tomb, sadden their faces, and the smiles.
die upon their lips. A young girl, carelessly leaning upon the
shoulder of her lover, seems to listen, mute and pensive, to this
salutation from the dead. The thought of death has also plunged
into reverie a youth who leans over the tomb with bowed head,
while the oldest shepherd points out the inscription he has just
discovered. The landscape that completes this quiet picture
## p. 2061 (#255) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2061
shows reddened leaves upon arid rocks; hillocks that melt in the
vague horizon, and in the distance, something ill-defined that
resembles the sea. The sublime in this painting is that which
we cannot see; it is the thought that hovers over it, the unex-
pected emotion that fills the soul of the spectator, transported
suddenly beyond the tomb into the infinite unknown.
LANDSCAPE
From 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
THE
HE poetry of the fields and forests is inseparable from truth.
But the painter must idealize this truth by making it
express some sentiment; faithfulness of imitation alone
would not suffice. The artist, master of reality, enlightens it
with his eyes, transfigures it according to his heart, and makes
it utter what is not in it- sentiment; and that which it neither
possesses nor understands-thought.
STYLE
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
D
RAWING is a work of the mind; every drawing is the expres-
sion of a thought or sentiment, and is charged with show-
ing us something superior to the apparent truth when
that reveals neither sentiment nor thought. But what is this
superior truth? It is sometimes the character of the object
drawn, sometimes the character of the designer, and in high art
is what we call style.
The artist sees in the creations of nature what he himself
carries in the depth of his soul, tints them with the colors of his
imagination, lends them the witchery of his genius. The tem-
perament of the artist modifies the character of objects, and even
that of living figures. But this power of taking possession is the
appanage of great hearts, of great artists, of those whom we
call masters, who, instead of being the slaves of reality, domi-
nate it. These have a style; their imitators have only a manner.
Aside from the style peculiar to every great master, there is
in art something still superior and impersonal, which is style
proper. Style is truth aggrandized, simplified, freed from all
insignificant details, restored to its original essence, its typical
----
## p. 2062 (#256) ###########################################
2062
CHARLES BLANC
aspect. This "style" par excellence, in which instead of recogniz
ing the soul of an artist we feel the breath of the universal
soul, was realized in the Greek sculpture of the time of Pericles.
THE LAW OF PROPORTION IN ARCHITECTURE
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
M^
AN, from the fact that he is the only intelligent being in
creation, desires to show his intelligence in his works.
In order to do so he makes them resemble himself in a
measure, by impressing upon them the characteristic of his intel-
ligence, which is logic, and that of his body, which is proportion.
Architecture employs inorganic matter alone-stone, marble,
brick, iron, wood, when the sap has been dried out of it and it
ceases to be an organic substance; and yet, under the hand of
the architect, this inert matter expresses sentiments and feelings.
By subjecting it to the laws of order, symmetry, and proportion,
in a manner which appeals to the eye, he lends them a semblance
of life and an organism conceived after his own image. By this
artificial proportion, inert matter is raised to the dignity of the
animal kingdom; it is rendered eloquent and capable of express-
ing the soul of the artist, and often that of a race.
But human monuments have still another point in common
with the body. Order, symmetry, and proportion are needed
rigorously only on the exterior. Within, general beauty no longer
dominates, but individual life. If we look at the interior of the
human body we find no symmetry, no arrangement but that
demanded by the function of the organs. The brain, it is true,
has two symmetrical lobes, because the brain is destined to a life
of relation, to the life of intelligence. But in their individual
functions the life of the internal organs presents another aspect.
The stomach is a shapeless bag; the heart is a single muscle
which is not even placed in the centre; the left lung is longer
and narrower than the right; the spleen is a ganglion placed on
the left side without any corresponding organ; but all this mech-
anism, which scientists consider wonderful in its irregularity, is
hidden beneath a layer of similar members which repeat each
other and correspond at equal distances from a central line, and
constitute symmetry in animals, beauty in man. Similar in this
respect to the human body, architectural monuments have a double
life and a double aspect.
## p. 2063 (#257) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2063
On the exterior, it is meet that they should be regular, sym-
metrical but symmetrical from left to right like man, not from
top to bottom nor from face to back. Their resemblance to man
is further shown by openings, which are as the eyes and ears of
the persons who inhabit them; their entrance occupies the centre
of the edifice, as the mouth is placed on the central line of the
face; they have rounded or angular forms according as they have
been built to express strength, a virile idea, or grace, a feminine
one; lastly, they have proportion, for there is a harmonious rela-
tion between their apparent members, and a mutual dependence
which subordinates the variety of the parts to the unity of the
whole, and which constitutes the necessary conditions of the
beautiful in art.
The interior is not subjected to the necessity for duplicate
members, to regularity of façade, nor to unity of appearance.
Thus when the artist who has designed the monument performs
its autopsy, so to say, we see, as in the human body, unequal
dimensions, irregular shapes, disparities which resemble disorder
to the eye, but which constitute the individuality of the edifice.
Within reigns relative beauty, free, with fixed rule; without
reigns a necessary beauty subjected to its own laws.
-
In man, character is the soul's expression. In architecture,
character is the moral physiognomy of a building. As a portrait
without character is but a vain shadow of the person repre-
sented, so a monument which does not appeal to the intelligence,
which evokes no thought, is merely a pile of stones, a body with-
out a soul. The soul of architecture is the thought it expresses.
Character tends towards beauty in man as well as in his
works. If we glance at human society, we see faces which
appear to be nothing more than a sketch. Parsimonious nature
has given them only sufficient life to move in a narrow circle;
they are mere individuals; they represent nothing but them-
selves. However, in the midst of the crowd, some men are
noticeable for an abundance of vitality, whom favorable events
have developed along their natural tendencies: they impersonate
many individuals in one; their unity is equal to numbers; for
good or evil, they have a character. In proportion as an indi-
viduality becomes more enriched, more pronounced, it attains
character; in proportion as character loses its roughness it be-
comes beauty. This is also true of architecture.
## p. 2064 (#258) ###########################################
2064
STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER
(1782-1848)
MONG the men nearest to the heart of the Danish people is
Steen Steensen Blicher, who was born in 1782 on the border
of the Jutland heath with which his name is so inseparably
linked. The descendant of a line of country parsons, he was des-
tined like them to the ministry, and while awaiting his appointment
he supported his family by teaching and by farming.
When after years of hardship he finally obtained a parish on the
Jutland heath, the salary was too small to support his large family.
It was only during the very last years of his life that he was freed
from harassing cares by the generosity of three friends, who, grate-
ful for his literary work, paid off his debts.
While he was in college at Copenhagen he heard the lectures of
the Norwegian Henrik Steffens, an interpreter of the German philo-
sophic and romantic school. Steffens aroused a reaction against the
formalism of the eighteenth century, and introduced romanticism
into the North by his powerful influence over men like Oehlen-
schläger, Grundtvig, and Mynster in Denmark, and Ling and the
"Phosphorists" in Sweden. Through these lectures Blicher became
much interested in the Ossianic poems, of which he made an excel-
lent Danish translation.
The poems and dramas with which he followed this work were
of no great importance. It was not until he began to look into the
old Danish traditions that he found his true sphere. The study of
these quaint and simple legends led him to write those national
peasant stories which he began to publish in 1826. They are not
only the best of their kind in Danish, but they bear favorable com-
parison with the same kind of work in other literatures. They are
not written as a study of social problems, or of any philosophy of
life or moods of nature as they are reflected in human existence;
they are merely a reproduction of what the country parson's own
eyes beheld-the comedy and tragedy of the commonplace. What
a less sensitive observer might have passed in silence- the brown
heath, the breakers of the North Sea, the simple heart and life of
the peasant-revealed to him the poesy, now merry, now sad, which
he renders with so much art and so delicate a sympathy. Behind
the believer in romanticism stands the lover of nature and of hu-
manity.
## p. 2065 (#259) ###########################################
STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER
2065
Among his works the best known are 'E Bindstouw' (The Knit-
ting-room), a collection of stories and poems, full of humor, simple
and naïve, told by the peasants themselves in their own homely Jut-
land dialect. These, as well as some of his later poems, especially
'Sneklokken' (The Snowbell), and Trækfuglene' (Birds of Passage),
possess a clear, true, and national lyric quality.
Dying in 1848, Blicher was buried in Jutland, near the heath on
which he spent whole days and nights of happy solitude.
On one
side of the stone above his grave is engraved a golden plover, on the
other a pair of heath-larks, and around the foot a garland of heather,
in memory of that intimate life with nature which, through his own
great love for it, he endeared to all his readers.
A PICTURE
From the 'Poems>
LAY on my heathery hills alone;
The storm-winds rushed o'er me in turbulence loud;
My head rested lone on the gray moorland stone;
My eyes wandered skyward from cloud unto cloud.
There wandered my eyes, but my thoughts onward passed,
Far beyond cloud-track or tempest's career;
At times I hummed songs, and the desolate waste
Was the first the sad chimes of my spirit to hear.
Gloomy and gray are the moorlands where rest
My fathers, yet there doth the wild heather bloom,
And amid the old cairns the lark buildeth her nest,
And sings in the desert, o'er hill-top and tomb.
From Howitt's 'Literature of Northern Europe.
2041
WILLIAM BLAKE
(1757-1827)
OET-PAINTER, visionary, and super-mystic in almost all capaci-
ties, William Blake was born in London in 1757.
the second son of humble people-his father but a stock-
He was
Su
ing merchant. An "odd little boy," he was destined to be recog-
nized as "one of the most curious and abnormal personages of the
later eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries. " Allan Cunning-
ham describes him by saying that Blake at ten years of age was an
artist and at twelve a poet. He seems really to have shown in
childhood his double gift. But the boy's
education was rudimentary, his advantages
not even usual, it would seem. To the end
of his life, the mature man's works betray
a defective common-schooling, a lament-
able lack of higher intellectual training —
unless we suspect that the process would
have disciplined his mind, to the loss of
bizarre originality. Most of what Blake
learned he taught himself, and that at hap-
hazard. The mistiness and inexplicability
of his productions is part of such a pro-
cess, as well as of invincible temperament.
WILLIAM BLAKE
In 1767 Blake was studying drawing
with Mr. Pars, at the sometime famous Strand Academy, where he
was reckoned a diligent but egotistical pupil. At fourteen he be-
came apprenticed, for a livelihood,-afterward exchanged for the
painter's and illustrator's freer career,-to James Basire, an academic
but excellent engraver, whose manner is curiously traceable through
much of Blake's after work. Even in the formal atmosphere of the
Royal Academy's antique school, Blake remained an opinionated and
curiously "detached" scholar, with singular critical notions, with half-
expressed or very boldly expressed theories as to art, religion, and
most other things. In 1782 he married a young woman of equally
humble derivation, who could not even sign the marriage register.
He developed her character, educated her mind, and made her a
devoted and companionable wife, full of faith in him. Their curious
and retired ménage was as happy in a practical and mundane aspect
as could be hoped from even a normal one.
## p. 2042 (#236) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2042
(
In 1780 he began to exhibit, his first picture being The Death of
Earl Godwin. ' After exhibiting five others, however, ending with
'Jacob's Dream,' he withdrew altogether from public advertisement.
Several devoted patrons-especially Mr. Linnell, and a certain Mr.
Thomas Butts, who bought incessantly, anything and everything,-
seized upon all he drew and painted. In his literary undertakings
he was for the most part his own editor and printer and publisher.
His career in verse and prose began early. In 1783 came forth
the charming collection Poetical Sketches,' juvenile as the fancies of
his boyish days, but full of a sensitive appreciation of nature worthy
of a mature heart, and expressed with a diction often exquisite.
The volume was not really public nor published, but printed by the
kindly liberality of two friends, one of them Flaxman. In 1787,
"under the direction of the spirit of his dead brother," Robert, he
decided on publishing a new group of lyrics and fancies, Songs
of Innocence,' by engraving the text of the poems and its marginal
embellishments on copper-printing the pages in various tints, color-
ing or recoloring them by hand, and even binding them, with his
wife's assistance. The medium for mixing his tints, by the by, was
"revealed to him by Saint Joseph. "
With this volume-now a rarity for the bibliophile - began
Blake's system of giving his literary works and many of his ex-
traordinary artistic productions their form and being.
Like a poet-
printer of our own day, Mr. William Morris, Blake insisted that each
page of text, all his delicate illustrations, every cover even, should
pass through his own fingers, or through those of his careful and
submissive helpmeet. The expense of their paper was the chief one
to the light purse of the queerly assorted, thrifty pair.
<
In 1789 appeared another little volume of verses, Songs of Inno-
cence. ' This also was ushered into existence as a dual book of
pictures and of poetry. In 1794 came the Songs of Experience,'
completing that brief lyrical trio on which rests Blake's poetical
reputation and his claim on coming generations of sympathetic read-
ers. To these early and exquisite fruits of Blake's feeling succeeded
a little book For Children,' the mystic volume The Gates of
Paradise,' 'The Visions of the Daughters of Albion,' 'America, a
Prophecy,' Part First of his Book of Urizen,' and a collection of
designs without text, treated in the methods usual with him, besides
other labors with pencil and pen.
But the wonderful and disordered imagination of the artist and
poet now embodied itself in a strange group of writings for which
no parallel exists. To realize them, one must imagine the most
transcendent notions of Swedenborg mingled with the rant of a
superior kind of Mucklewrath. Such poems as 'The Book of Thel,'
## p. 2043 (#237) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2043
in spite of beautiful allegoric passages; 'The Gates of Paradise';
'Tiriel,' an extended narrative-fantasy in irregular unrhymed verses;
even the striking 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell,'-may be reckoned
as mere prologues to such productions as 'Jerusalem,' 'The Emana-
tion of the Giant Albion,' 'Milton,' and the "prophecies" embodied in
the completed Urizen,' the 'Europe,' 'Ahania,' and 'The Book of
Los. ' Such oracular works Blake put forth as dictated to him by
departed spirits of supreme influence and intellectuality, or by angelic
intelligences, quite apart from his own volition; indeed, only with his
"grateful obedience. » Such claims are not out of place in the
instance of one who "saw God"; who often "conversed familiarly
with Jesus Christ "; who "was" Socrates; who argued conclusions for
hours at a time with Moses, with Milton, with Dante, with the
Biblical prophets, with Voltaire; who could "see Satan" almost at
will-all in vivid conceptions that sprang up in his mind with such
force as to set seemingly substantial and even speaking beings before
him. In his assumption of the seer, Blake was not a charlatan: he
believed fully in his supernatural privileges. To him his modest
London lodging held great company, manifest in the spirit.
Blake's greater "prophetic" writings ended, he busied himself
with painting and illustration. He was incessant in industry; indeed,
his ordinary recreation at any time was only a change of work
from one design to another. So were wrought out the (incomplete)
series of plates for Young's 'Night Thoughts'; the drawings for Hay-
ley's 'Life of Cowper,' and for the same feeble author's 'Ballads on
Anecdotes relating to Animals'; the 'Dante' designs; the 'Job'
series of prints; a vast store of aquarelle and distemper paintings
and plates, and a whole gallery of "portraits» derived from sitters
of distinction in past universal history. These sitters, it is needless
to say, were wholly invisible to other eyes than Blake's. The sub-
jects vary from likenesses of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary to
those of Mahomet and Shakespeare. Sundry of the old masters,
Titian included, reviewed his efforts and guided his brush! Such
assertions do not ill accord with the description of his once seeing
a fairy's funeral, or that he first beheld God when four years old.
But all his fantasies did not destroy his faith in the fundamentals
of orthodoxy. He never ceased to be a believer in Christianity.
His convictions of a revealed religion were reiterated. While inces-
sant in asserting that he had a solemn message-spiritual to his day
and generation, he set aside nothing significant in the message of
the Scriptures. There is something touching in the anecdote of him
and his devoted Kate told by the portrait-painter Richmond. Him-
self discouraged with his imperfect work, Richmond one day visited
Blake and confessed his low mood. To his astonishment, Blake
## p. 2044 (#238) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2044
turned to his wife suddenly, and said, "It is just so with us, is it
not, for weeks together, when the visions forsake us! What do we
do then, Kate ? " "We kneel down and pray, Mr. Blake. "
So passed Blake's many years, between reality and dream, labors
and chimeras. The painter's life was not one of painful poverty.
He and his Kate needed little money; and the seer-husband's pencils
and burin, or the private kindness so constantly shown him, provided
daily bread. Despite the visions and inspirations and celestial phe-
nomena that filled his head, Blake withal was sane enough in every-
day concerns. He lived orderly, even if he thought chaos. Almost
his last strokes were on the hundred water-colors for the 'Divina
Commedia,' the 'Job' cycle, the Ancient of Days' drawing, or a
"frenzied sketch" of his wife which he made, exclaiming in begin-
ning it, "Stay! Keep as you are! You have ever been an angel to
me. I will draw you. " Natural decay and painful chronic ailments
increased. He seldom left his rooms in Fountain Court, Strand,
except in a visit to the Linnells, at Hampstead. He died gently in
1827, "singing of the things he saw in Heaven. " His grave, to-day
unknown, was a common one in Bunhill Fields Cemetery. Many
friends mourned him. With all his eccentricities and the extrava-
gances of his "visions" and "inspirations," he was loved. His ardor
of temperament was balanced by meekness, his aggressiveness by
true politeness. He was frank, abstemious, a lover of children,
who loved him,—devout in prayer, devoid of vice. Yet whenever
he was in contact with his fellow-men, he was one living and walk-
ing apart.
As an influence in literature he is less considerable than
in painting. In the latter art, a whole group of contemporary nota-
bles, intellectualists, and rhapsodists of greater or less individuality
have to do with him, among whom Dante Gabriel Rossetti was in
much his literary child, still more his child in art.
A brief and early 'Life' of Blake, prepared by his intimate
friend Allan Cunningham, appeared in 1829. In 1839, for the first
time, his works were really given to the public. Mr. Gilchrist's
invaluable biography and study appeared in 1863; revised and en-
larged in an edition of 1880. Mr. Swinburne's critical essay on him
is a notable aid to the student. The artist-poet's complete works
were edited by Mr. William Michael Rossetti in 1874, with a com-
plete and discriminating memoir. More recent contributions to Blake
literature are the Ellis and Yeats edition of his works, also with a
Memoir and an Interpretation; and Mr. Alfred J. Story's volume on
'The Life, Character, and Genius of William Blake. ' Some of the
rarest of his literary productions, as well as the scarcest among his
drawings, are owned in America, chiefly by two private collectors in
the Eastern States.
-
## p. 2045 (#239) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
Μ'
SONG
Y SILKS and fine array,
My smiles and languished air,
By love are driven away,
And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.
His face is fair as heaven
When springing buds unfold;
Oh, why to him was 't given,
Whose heart is wintry cold?
His breast is Love's all-worshiped tomb,
Where all Love's pilgrims come.
Bring me an axe and spade,
Bring me a winding-sheet;
When I my grave have made,
Let winds and tempests beat:
Then down I'll lie, as cold as clay:
True love doth never pass away.
L
SONG
OVE and harmony combine
And around our souls entwine,
While thy branches mix with mine
And our roots together join.
Joys upon our branches sit,
Chirping loud and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams beneath our feet,
Innocence and virtue meet.
Thou the golden fruit dost bear,
I am clad in flowers fair;
Thy sweet boughs perfume the air,
And the turtle buildeth there.
There she sits and feeds her young;
Sweet I hear her mournful song;
And thy lovely leaves among,
There is Love: I hear his tongue.
2045
## p. 2046 (#240) ###########################################
2046
WILLIAM BLAKE
There his charmed nest he doth lay,
There he sleeps the night away,
There he sports along the day,
And doth among our branches play.
THE TWO SONGS
HEARD an Angel singing
When the day was springing:
"Mercy, pity, and peace,
Are the world's release. "
So he sang all day
Over the new-mown hay,
Till the sun went down,
And the haycocks looked brown.
I heard a devil curse
Over the heath and the furse:
«< Mercy could be no more
If there were nobody poor,
And pity no more could be
If all were happy as ye:
And mutual fear brings peace.
Misery's increase
Are mercy, pity, peace. "
At his curse the sun went down,
And the heavens gave a frown.
NIGHT
From 'Songs of Innocence >
THE
HE sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine,
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles in the night.
Farewell, green fields and happy groves
Where flocks have ta'en delight;
## p. 2047 (#241) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2047
Where lambs have nibbled, silent move
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.
They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are covered warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm;
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping,
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed.
When wolves and tigers howl for prey,
They pitying stand and weep;
Seeking to drive their thirst away,
And keep them from the sheep.
But if they rush dreadful,
The angels most heedful
Receive each wild spirit,
New worlds to inherit.
And there the lion's ruddy eyes
Shall flow with tears of gold;
And pitying the tender cries,
And walking round the fold,
Saying, "Wrath by His meekness,
And by His health, sickness,
Are driven away
From our immortal day.
"And now beside thee, bleating lamb,
I can lie down and sleep,
Or think on Him who bore thy name,
Graze after thee and weep.
For washed in life's river,
My bright mane forever
Shall shine like the gold,
As I guard o'er the fold. "
## p. 2048 (#242) ###########################################
2048
WILLIAM BLAKE
THE PIPER AND THE CHILD
Introduction to Songs of Innocence ›
PIPI
IPING down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:-
"Pipe a song about a lamb. »
So I piped with merry cheer.
"Piper, pipe that song again:"
So I piped; he wept to hear.
"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer:"
So I sang the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
«< Piper, sit thee down and write,
In a book that all may read. "-
So he vanished from my sight;
And I plucked a hollow reed;
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
―
HOLY THURSDAY
From Songs of Innocence>
TWA
WAS on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
Came children walking two and two, in red and blue and
green:
Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.
what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
## p. 2049 (#243) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2049
M
A CRADLE SONG
From 'Songs of Experience>
LEEP, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming in the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
S
Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.
As thy softest limbs I feel,
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek and o'er thy breast,
Where thy little heart doth rest.
Oh, the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart shall wake,
Then the dreadful light shall break.
THE LITTLE BLACK BOY
From Songs of Innocence >
Y MOTHER bore me in the Southern wild,
And I am black, but oh, my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissèd me,
And, pointing to the East, began to say:-
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives his light, and gives his heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love;
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
IV-129
## p. 2050 (#244) ###########################################
WILLIAM BLAKE
2050
"For when our souls have learned the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear his voice,
Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice. »»
Thus did my mother say, and kissèd me,
And thus I say to little English boy:
When I from black, and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.
THE TIGER
From Songs of Experience>
Τ
IGER! Tiger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Framed thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burned that fire within thine eyes?
On what wings dared he aspire?
What the hand dared seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
When thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand formed thy dread feet?
What the hammer, what the chain,
Knit thy strength and forged thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dared thy deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
## p. 2051 (#245) ###########################################
2051
CHARLES BLANC
(1813-1882)
W
E HAVE few personal details of Charles Blanc. We know that
he lived in a luminous world of form and thought, a life in
harmony with his work; we have books containing his con-
ception of art; we know that art was hi one absorbing passion: and
this should satisfy us, for it was his own opinion that all which does
not tend to illustrate an artist's conception of art is of but secondary
importance in his life.
Of Franco-Italian extraction, Charles Blanc was born in Castres,
France, on the 15th of November, 1813. When in 1830 he and his
brother Louis, youths of eighteen and nineteen, came to Paris, their
aged father, an ex-inspector of finance whose career had been ruined
by the fall of Napoleon, was dependent on them for support. Louis
soon procured work on a newspaper; but Charles, whose ambition
from his earliest years was to become a painter, spent his days in
the Louvre, or wandering about Paris looking in the old-print-shop
windows, and he thus learned much that he afterwards developed in
his works. As his brother's position improved, he was enabled to
study drawing with Delaroche and engraving with Calamatta.
masters gave him but little encouragement, however, and he soon
turned his thoughts to literature, his maiden effort being a descrip-
tion of the Brussels Salon of 1836 for his brother's paper.
Exquisite sensitiveness and responsiveness to beauty eminently
fitted Charles Blanc for the position of art critic, and gave a charm
to his earliest writings. He brought to his new task the technical
knowledge of an artist, and a penetrating critical insight which,
aided by study, ripened rapidly. The evidence of talent afforded by
his first art criticism induced Louis Blanc to confide to him suc-
cessively the editorship of several provincial papers. But Charles's
inclinations were toward the calm atmosphere of art; he was, and
ever remained, indifferent to politics, and looked upon the fiery,
active Louis with astonishment, even while catching his energy and
ambition. On his return to Paris he began a history of the 'French
Painters of the Nineteenth Century,' but one volume of which ap-
peared; and the 'Painters of All Schools,' completed in 1876. Very
little was then known of the lives of the painters. By illustrating
each biographical sketch with engravings of the artists' pictures,
Blanc met a long-felt want. As the work was intended for the
general reader, it was not overloaded with erudition: but numerous
## p. 2052 (#246) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2052
anecdotes, combined with vivacity of style, aroused interest in paint-
ing and created a public for the more purely technical works which
followed. Though assisted by others in this undertaking, Blanc him-
self planned the method of treatment, and wrote the history of the
Dutch and French schools; and the work justly retains his name.
The Socialists had taken a prominent part in the events of Feb-
ruary, 1848, which led to the overthrow of Louis Philippe; and they
yielded to the universal desire by appointing Charles Blanc Director
of Fine Arts - a position which he had prophesied to his friends
several years before that he would one day fill. When he assumed
office, the position of artists was critical; as, owing to social convul
sions, government and private orders had dwindled into insignificance.
Thanks to his energy, work was resumed on public monuments, and
the greater part of the sum of 900,000 francs, voted by the National
Assembly for the Champs de Mars festival, was devoted to work
which gave employment to a legion of decorative painters and sculp-
tors. After the Salon of 1848, as the government coffers were de-
pleted, he obtained 80,000 francs' worth of Sèvres porcelain from the
Minister of Commerce, to give as prizes. He combated a proposition
made by the Committee on Finance to suppress the Louvre studios
of molding; he opposed the motion to reduce the corps of professors
at the School of Fine Arts, and defended the School of Rome, threat-
ened with suppression.
While Director of Fine Arts, Blanc fought his first and only duel,
in defence of his brother, although he had never fired a pistol in his
life. During the political agitation of 1848, Louis was condemned by
the National Assembly, and fled to London. After his departure, he
was abused in very insulting language by one Lacombe, and Charles
called the latter to account. In the duel which followed, Lacombe
was hit, but the ball struck his pocket-book and glanced off, when
Méry, one of the seconds, exclaimed, "That was money well invested! "
and there the matter ended.
Another event, which occurred several years previous, has a cer-
tain psychological significance. One evening Charles Blanc was visit
ing a friend who resided a distance of one hundred and fifty miles
from Paris. In the midst of conversation, he suddenly grew pale and
exclaimed that he had received a shock, adding that something must
have happened to Louis. The next day his fears were confirmed by
the receipt of a letter, telling him that the latter had been knocked
down in the streets of Paris by a blow across the forehead. When
Dumas père heard of this coincidence, he utilized it in his 'Corsican
Brothers. '
Notwithstanding his fine record as an administrator and his en-
couragement of talent, Blanc was sacrificed to the spirit of reaction
## p. 2053 (#247) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2053
which set in about 1850. His removal displeased the entire art
world, so highly was he esteemed for his integrity, his progressive
ideas, and his unerring taste. On his return to private life he re-
sumed his 'History of the Painters. '. 'L'Euvres de Rembrandt'
(1853 to 1863), containing also a life of the artist, was illustrated by
the first photographic plates which ever appeared in a book.
The name 'Peintres des Fêtes Galantes' was derived by Blanc
from the title conferred on Watteau by the French Academy. Of
the artists therein mentioned, Watteau occupied the realm of poetry;
Lancret that of the conventional, the fashionable; Pater that of vul-
gar, jovial reality; Boucher, the most distinctively French of artists,
that of brilliancy, dash, and vivacity.
These painters are a curious
study for the historian interested in the external forms of things.
With the exception of Dupré, Blanc knew all the painters of
whom he writes in the 'Artistes de mon Temps' (Artists of My
Time). The work is therefore replete with personal recollections.
Here again the general interest is deepened by the warm interest
which the author takes in the men and events of the time. There
are many charming pages devoted to Félix Duban, Delacroix, and
Calamatta; to the contemporary medallions of David d'Angers; to
Henri Leys, Chenavard, and Troyon; to Corot, the lover of nature who
saw her through a veil of poetry; to Jules Dupré and Rousseau, who
saw the poetry innate in her. He introduces us to the caricaturists
Grandville and Gavarni; to Barye's lifelike animals. On reading the
lives of these men, one is struck by the fact that they produced
their masterpieces at about the age of twenty years.
The Treasures of Art in Manchester,' and 'From Paris to Vienna,’
were published in 1857. The latter contained curious information
about the sale of art works during the seventeenth century, with
the prices they brought, and is enlivened with short spirited sketches
of artists and amateurs. In 1867 Blanc became a member of the
Académie des Beaux Arts. The Treasures of Curiosity' is a cata-
logue of pictures and engravings sold between 1830 and the date of
the appearance of the book.
Devoted to purely artistic subjects, the Journal des Beaux Arts,
founded by Blanc, rendered great service to art by spreading a taste
for it among the cultivated classes. The Grammar of Painting and
Engraving' first appeared in this periodical. Though given up to
a consideration of technical subjects, the work abounds in poetic
touches and has great interest for the general reader. In 1875 it was
discussed in the French Academy, when its author competed for the
chair left vacant by the death of Vitel. He was not elected until
the following year, though his book met with great success, and led
to the revival of engraving in France.
## p. 2054 (#248) ###########################################
2054
CHARLES BLANC
When he began his studies for the life of Ingres, which appeared
in 1867, he found many letters of the artist, which enabled him to
follow the latter through the various phases of his life: to know the
changes of his temper, the inflexibility of his character; his emotions
day by day; his momentary discouragements, his great will-power;
the heroic efforts he made to reach the heights; his ideas on art, his
opinions of others as well as himself: and thanks to these docu-
ments, he was enabled to reproduce one of the most remarkable per-
sonalities, if not the most original one, of the French school.
In 1870 he was again made Director of Fine Arts. He introduced
several reforms in the organization of the Salon, and founded a 4,000-
franc prize. But the spirit of reaction could not forgive his political
antecedents; and in 1873, on the fall of Thiers, he was removed
before he could complete his plan for establishing a museum of cop-
ies to reproduce the masterpieces of painting. One well-deserved
satisfaction was granted him in 1878 by the creation of a chair of
Esthetics and Art History in the College of France, which he was
called by special decree to fill; and there he taught for three years.
The first part of the Grammar of the Decorative Arts' appeared
in 1881; the second part, dealing with interior decorations, in 1882.
The third part, The Decoration of Cities,' was not completed, owing
to his sudden death. Elected President of the French Academy in
1882, he did not enjoy this well-deserved honor long. A few weeks
before his death-which occurred on February 17th, 1882, from the
effects of an operation for cancer- he began a catalogue of the col-
lection presented by Thiers to the Louvre. This was the last work
of a pen wielded with unimpaired vigor to the end.
"The great artist," wrote Blanc, "is he who guides us into the
region of his own thoughts, into the palaces and fields of his own
imagination, and while there, speaks to us the language of the gods;"
and to none are these words more applicable than to himself. In the
world of thought he was a man of great originality, though neither
architect, painter, nor sculptor. He had all the artist nature from a
boy, and never lost the tender sensibility and naïf admiration for the
beautiful in nature and art which give such glow of enthusiasm to
his writings. His 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving' founded
the scientific method of criticism. In this work he brought his intel-
lectual qualifications and extensive reading to bear upon a subject
until then treated either by philosophical theorizers or eloquent essay-
ists. He has left one of the purest literary reputations in France.
He was above all an idealist, and made the World Beautiful more
accessible to us.
## p. 2055 (#249) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2055
REMBRANDT
From The Dutch School of Painters >
R
EMBRANDT has taken great pains to transmit to us paintings
of his person, or at least of his face, from the time of his
youth up to that of shrunken old age. He was a man at
once robust and delicate. His broad and slightly rounded fore-
head presented a development that indicated a powerful imagina-
tion. His eyes were small, deep-set, bright, intelligent, and full
of fire. His hair, of a warm color bordering on red and curling
naturally, may possibly have indicated a Jewish extraction. His
head had great character, in spite of the plainness of his features;
a large flat nose, high cheek-bones, and a copper-colored com-
plexion imparted to his face a vulgarity which, however, was
relieved by the form of his mouth, the haughty outline of his
eyebrows, and the brilliancy of his eyes. Such was Rembrandt;
and the character of the figures he painted partakes of that of his
own person. That is to say, they have great expression, but are
not noble; they possess much pathos, while deficient in what is.
termed style.
An artist thus constituted could not but be exceedingly ori-
ginal, intelligent, and independent, though selfish and entirely
swayed by caprice. When he began to study nature, he entered
upon his task not with that good nature which is the distinctive
characteristic of so many of the Dutch painters, but with an
innate desire to stamp upon every object his own peculiarity,
supplementing imagination by an attentive observation of real
life. Of all the phenomena of nature, that which gave him most
trouble was light; the difficulty he most desired to conquer was
that of expression.
ALBERT DÜRER'S MELANCHOLIA>
From The Dutch School of Painters >
THE
HE love of the extravagant and fantastic observable in Dürer's
first pictures never abandoned him. He has probably ex
pressed the inspiration of his own soul in the figure of
Melancholy, who, seated on the sea-shore, seems trying to pene-
trate with her gaze into infinite space. For my part, I have this
picture always before me. How could it be possible to forget an
## p. 2056 (#250) ###########################################
2056
CHARLES BLANC
engraving of Dürer's, even though seen but once? I can see
her proud and noble head resting thoughtfully upon one hand,
her long hair falling in disheveled tresses upon her shoulders;
her folded wings emblematic of that impotent aspiration which
directs her gaze towards heaven; a book, closed and useless as
her wings, resting upon her knee. Nothing can be more gloomy,
more penetrating, than the expression of this figure. From the
peculiar folds of her dress, one would suppose she was enveloped
in iron draperies. Near her is a sun-dial with a bell which
marks the hours as they glide away. The sun is sinking beneath
the ocean, and darkness will soon envelop the earth. Above
hovers a strange-looking bat with spreading wings, and bearing a
pennon on which is written the word "Melancholia. »
All is symbolical in this composition, of which the sentiment
is sublime. Melancholy holds in her right hand a pair of com-
passes and a circle, the emblem of that eternity in which her
thoughts are lost. Various instruments appertaining to the arts
and sciences lie scattered around her; after having made use of
them, she has cast them aside and has fallen into a profound
revery. As typical of the mistrust which has crept into her
heart with avarice and doubt, a bunch of keys is suspended to
her girdle; above her is an hour-glass, the emblem of her transi-
tory existence. Nothing could be more admirable than the face
of Melancholy, both in the severe beauty of her features and the
depth of her gaze.
Neither the sentiment of melancholy nor the word which ex-
presses it had appeared in art before the time of Albert Dürer.
INGRES
From the Life of Ingres
SMALL
MALL of stature, square of figure, rough of manner, devoid of
distinction, Ingres's personality afforded a great contrast to
the refinement of his taste and the charm of his feminine
figures. I can hardly conceive how a man thus built could show
such delicacy in the choice of his subjects; how those short, thick
fingers could draw such lovely, graceful forms.
Ingres hated academic conventionality; he mingled the Floren-
tine and Greek schools; he sought the ideal not outside of reality
but in its very essence, in the reconciliation of style with nature.
## p. 2057 (#251) ###########################################
CHARLES BLANC
2057
Color he considered of secondary importance; he not only sub-
ordinated it voluntarily to drawing, but he did not have a natural
gift for it. Ingres is the artist who has best expressed the volup-
tuousness not of flesh but of form; who has felt feminine beauty
most profoundly and chastely.
CALAMATTA'S STUDIO
From Contemporary Artists'
I
CAN still see Lamennais, with his worn-out coat, his round
back, his yellow, parchment-like face, his eyes sparkling be-
neath a forehead imprinted with genius, and resembling
somewhat Hoffmann's heroes. George Sand sometimes visited
us, and it seemed to me that her presence lighted up the whole
studio. She always spoke to me, for she knew that I was the
brother of a distinguished writer, and when she looked over my
plate I trembled like a leaf.
Thus our calm sedentary life was enlivened by an occasional
sunbeam; and when I was hard at work with my graver, my
mind was nourished by the minds of others. Giannone, the poet,
read his commentaries on Shakespeare to us, and Mercure always
had a witty retort in that faulty French which is so amusing in
an Italian mouth. Calamatta would listen in silence, his eyes
glued to his drawing of the 'Joconde,' at which he worked on
his good days.
BLANC'S DÉBUT AS ART CRITIC
From Contemporary Artists ›
IN
THOSE days things happened just as they do now; the criti-
cism is almost invariably the work of beginners. A youth
who has acquired a smattering of learning, who has caught
up the slang of the studios, and pretends to have a system or to
defend a paradox, is chosen to write an account of the Salon.
was that youth, that novice. And after all, how become a work-
man unless you work? how become expert if you do not study,
recognize your mistakes and repair them? Beneath our mistakes
truth lies hidden.
I
So I arrived at Brussels to exercise the trade of critic, and
found myself in the presence of two men who were then making
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CHARLES BLANC
a brilliant début as painters: De Keyser and Henri Leys. I
hope I shall be forgiven if I reproduce my criticism of the
latter's 'Massacre of the Magistrates of Louvain. '
"Imagine to yourself a small public square, such as might have.
existed in Louvain in the fourteenth century; this square filled with
angry people demanding satisfaction for the death of their chief,
Gautier de Lendes, assassinated by the nobles; the approach to the
palace of justice crowded with men armed to the teeth; at the top
of the stairs the city magistrates on their way to execution, some as
calm as if about to administer justice, others bewailing that the peo-
ple know not what they do; peasants awaiting them at the foot of
the stairs, dagger in hand, a smile upon their lips; here and there
fainting women, dead bodies being stripped, dying men being tor-
tured, and an inextricable confusion of monks, burghers, soldiers,
children and horses. Then if you fancy this scene painted with the
warmth and impetuosity of a Tintoretto, or as Hugo would have
written it, you will have an idea of Leys's picture. It may not be
prudent to trust an enthusiastic criticism; but my opinion is shared
by every one. I may be rash in praising a young man whose wings
may melt in the sun; but when, as is the case with M. Leys, the
artist possesses exact knowledge of the times and manners, when he
has verve, dash, and deep feeling, he needs only to moderate ardor
by reflection, and to ripen inspiration by study, in order to become
great. "
One must admit that the above was not a bad beginning for
an apprentice-connoisseur, and that I was fortunate in praising
an unknown artist destined to make a great reputation.
There is something more real than reality in what passes in the
soul of a great artist!
Α
N
DELACROIX'S BARK OF DANTE›
From Contemporary Artists'
ADMIRABLE and altogether new quality is the weird har-
mony of color which makes the painting vibrate like a
drama; or in other words, that sombre harmony itself is
the foundation of the tragedy. Lyricism is expressed by mere
difference in tones, which, heightened by their contrasts and
softened by their analogy, become harmonious while clashing
with each other. A new poetry was born of the French school,
until then so sober of color, so little inclined to avail itself of
·
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CHARLES BLANC
2059
the material resources of painting. And yet the expression thus
achieved by Delacroix appeals to the soul as much as to the eyes.
It is not merely optical beauty, but spiritual beauty of the high-
est order, that is produced by his superb coloring. In this picture
the young painter's genius was revealed unto himself. He then
knew that he had guessed the secret of an art which he was to
carry to a perfection undreamed of before, the orchestration of
color.
――
Delacroix was the hero of Romanticism. His life was one long
revolt in the name of color against drawing, of flesh against
marble, of freedom of attitude against traditionary precision. He
is an essentially modern genius inflamed by the poetry of Christ-
ianity, and he added tumultuous passions and feverish emotions
to the antique serenity of art.
In those days youth was entirely given up to noble aspira-
tions, to dreams of glory, to enthusiasm for beauty of expression
and feeling, to an ardent love of liberty. Men were indifferent
to stock quotations, but they rated spiritual values high. Mere
theories inspired passion; quarrels on the subject of style and
painting were common; men became enthusiastic over poetry
and beauty- the ideal!
GENESIS OF THE GRAMMAR›
Α'
T DINNER one day with the dignitaries of one of the largest
cities of France, conversation turned upon the arts. All of
the guests spoke of them, and well; but each intrenched
himself behind his own personal views, in virtue of the adage
"One cannot argue about tastes. " I protested in vain against
this false principle, saying that it was inadmissible, and that the
classic Brillat-Savarin would have been shocked at such blas-
phemy. Even his name had no weight, and the guests separated
gayly, after uttering heresies that made you shiver. Among the
eminent men present there was one, however, who seemed some-
what mortified that he had not the most elementary idea of art;
and he asked me if there was not some book in which its princi-
ples were presented in a clear and brief form. I replied that no
such book existed, and that on leaving college I should have been
only too happy to find such a work; and thereupon determined
to write one.
¦
1
¦
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CHARLES BLANC
MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
The philos-
AINTING purifies people by its mute eloquence.
opher writes his thoughts for those who can think and read.
The painter shows his thought to all who have eyes to see.
That hidden and naked virgin, Truth, the artist finds without
seeking. He throws a veil over her, encourages her to please,
proves to her that she is beautiful, and when he has reproduced
her image he makes us take her, and takes her himself, for
Beauty.
In communicating to us what has been seen and felt by
others, the painter gives new strength and compass to the soul.
Who can say of how many apparently fugitive impressions a
man's morality is composed, and upon what depends the gentle-
ness of his manners, the correctness of his habits, the elevation
of his thoughts? If the painter represents acts of cruelty or
injustice, he inspires us with horror. The Unhappy Family'
of Proudhon moves the fibres of charity better than the homilies
of a preacher.
Examples of the sublime are rare in
painting, as the painter is compelled to imprison every idea in
a form.
It may happen, nevertheless, that moved by thoughts
to which he has given no form, the artist strikes the soul as a
thunderbolt would the ear. It is then by virtue of the thought
perceived, but not formulated, that the picture becomes sublime.
POUSSIN'S (SHEPHERDS OF ARCADIA ›
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving >
IN
N A wide, heavily wooded country, the sojourning-place of that
happiness sung by the poets, some peasants have discovered
a tomb hidden by a thicket of trees, and bearing this brief
inscription: "Et in Arcadia ego" (I too lived in Arcadia). These
words, issuing from the tomb, sadden their faces, and the smiles.
die upon their lips. A young girl, carelessly leaning upon the
shoulder of her lover, seems to listen, mute and pensive, to this
salutation from the dead. The thought of death has also plunged
into reverie a youth who leans over the tomb with bowed head,
while the oldest shepherd points out the inscription he has just
discovered. The landscape that completes this quiet picture
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CHARLES BLANC
2061
shows reddened leaves upon arid rocks; hillocks that melt in the
vague horizon, and in the distance, something ill-defined that
resembles the sea. The sublime in this painting is that which
we cannot see; it is the thought that hovers over it, the unex-
pected emotion that fills the soul of the spectator, transported
suddenly beyond the tomb into the infinite unknown.
LANDSCAPE
From 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
THE
HE poetry of the fields and forests is inseparable from truth.
But the painter must idealize this truth by making it
express some sentiment; faithfulness of imitation alone
would not suffice. The artist, master of reality, enlightens it
with his eyes, transfigures it according to his heart, and makes
it utter what is not in it- sentiment; and that which it neither
possesses nor understands-thought.
STYLE
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
D
RAWING is a work of the mind; every drawing is the expres-
sion of a thought or sentiment, and is charged with show-
ing us something superior to the apparent truth when
that reveals neither sentiment nor thought. But what is this
superior truth? It is sometimes the character of the object
drawn, sometimes the character of the designer, and in high art
is what we call style.
The artist sees in the creations of nature what he himself
carries in the depth of his soul, tints them with the colors of his
imagination, lends them the witchery of his genius. The tem-
perament of the artist modifies the character of objects, and even
that of living figures. But this power of taking possession is the
appanage of great hearts, of great artists, of those whom we
call masters, who, instead of being the slaves of reality, domi-
nate it. These have a style; their imitators have only a manner.
Aside from the style peculiar to every great master, there is
in art something still superior and impersonal, which is style
proper. Style is truth aggrandized, simplified, freed from all
insignificant details, restored to its original essence, its typical
----
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CHARLES BLANC
aspect. This "style" par excellence, in which instead of recogniz
ing the soul of an artist we feel the breath of the universal
soul, was realized in the Greek sculpture of the time of Pericles.
THE LAW OF PROPORTION IN ARCHITECTURE
From Grammar of Painting and Engraving'
M^
AN, from the fact that he is the only intelligent being in
creation, desires to show his intelligence in his works.
In order to do so he makes them resemble himself in a
measure, by impressing upon them the characteristic of his intel-
ligence, which is logic, and that of his body, which is proportion.
Architecture employs inorganic matter alone-stone, marble,
brick, iron, wood, when the sap has been dried out of it and it
ceases to be an organic substance; and yet, under the hand of
the architect, this inert matter expresses sentiments and feelings.
By subjecting it to the laws of order, symmetry, and proportion,
in a manner which appeals to the eye, he lends them a semblance
of life and an organism conceived after his own image. By this
artificial proportion, inert matter is raised to the dignity of the
animal kingdom; it is rendered eloquent and capable of express-
ing the soul of the artist, and often that of a race.
But human monuments have still another point in common
with the body. Order, symmetry, and proportion are needed
rigorously only on the exterior. Within, general beauty no longer
dominates, but individual life. If we look at the interior of the
human body we find no symmetry, no arrangement but that
demanded by the function of the organs. The brain, it is true,
has two symmetrical lobes, because the brain is destined to a life
of relation, to the life of intelligence. But in their individual
functions the life of the internal organs presents another aspect.
The stomach is a shapeless bag; the heart is a single muscle
which is not even placed in the centre; the left lung is longer
and narrower than the right; the spleen is a ganglion placed on
the left side without any corresponding organ; but all this mech-
anism, which scientists consider wonderful in its irregularity, is
hidden beneath a layer of similar members which repeat each
other and correspond at equal distances from a central line, and
constitute symmetry in animals, beauty in man. Similar in this
respect to the human body, architectural monuments have a double
life and a double aspect.
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CHARLES BLANC
2063
On the exterior, it is meet that they should be regular, sym-
metrical but symmetrical from left to right like man, not from
top to bottom nor from face to back. Their resemblance to man
is further shown by openings, which are as the eyes and ears of
the persons who inhabit them; their entrance occupies the centre
of the edifice, as the mouth is placed on the central line of the
face; they have rounded or angular forms according as they have
been built to express strength, a virile idea, or grace, a feminine
one; lastly, they have proportion, for there is a harmonious rela-
tion between their apparent members, and a mutual dependence
which subordinates the variety of the parts to the unity of the
whole, and which constitutes the necessary conditions of the
beautiful in art.
The interior is not subjected to the necessity for duplicate
members, to regularity of façade, nor to unity of appearance.
Thus when the artist who has designed the monument performs
its autopsy, so to say, we see, as in the human body, unequal
dimensions, irregular shapes, disparities which resemble disorder
to the eye, but which constitute the individuality of the edifice.
Within reigns relative beauty, free, with fixed rule; without
reigns a necessary beauty subjected to its own laws.
-
In man, character is the soul's expression. In architecture,
character is the moral physiognomy of a building. As a portrait
without character is but a vain shadow of the person repre-
sented, so a monument which does not appeal to the intelligence,
which evokes no thought, is merely a pile of stones, a body with-
out a soul. The soul of architecture is the thought it expresses.
Character tends towards beauty in man as well as in his
works. If we glance at human society, we see faces which
appear to be nothing more than a sketch. Parsimonious nature
has given them only sufficient life to move in a narrow circle;
they are mere individuals; they represent nothing but them-
selves. However, in the midst of the crowd, some men are
noticeable for an abundance of vitality, whom favorable events
have developed along their natural tendencies: they impersonate
many individuals in one; their unity is equal to numbers; for
good or evil, they have a character. In proportion as an indi-
viduality becomes more enriched, more pronounced, it attains
character; in proportion as character loses its roughness it be-
comes beauty. This is also true of architecture.
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2064
STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER
(1782-1848)
MONG the men nearest to the heart of the Danish people is
Steen Steensen Blicher, who was born in 1782 on the border
of the Jutland heath with which his name is so inseparably
linked. The descendant of a line of country parsons, he was des-
tined like them to the ministry, and while awaiting his appointment
he supported his family by teaching and by farming.
When after years of hardship he finally obtained a parish on the
Jutland heath, the salary was too small to support his large family.
It was only during the very last years of his life that he was freed
from harassing cares by the generosity of three friends, who, grate-
ful for his literary work, paid off his debts.
While he was in college at Copenhagen he heard the lectures of
the Norwegian Henrik Steffens, an interpreter of the German philo-
sophic and romantic school. Steffens aroused a reaction against the
formalism of the eighteenth century, and introduced romanticism
into the North by his powerful influence over men like Oehlen-
schläger, Grundtvig, and Mynster in Denmark, and Ling and the
"Phosphorists" in Sweden. Through these lectures Blicher became
much interested in the Ossianic poems, of which he made an excel-
lent Danish translation.
The poems and dramas with which he followed this work were
of no great importance. It was not until he began to look into the
old Danish traditions that he found his true sphere. The study of
these quaint and simple legends led him to write those national
peasant stories which he began to publish in 1826. They are not
only the best of their kind in Danish, but they bear favorable com-
parison with the same kind of work in other literatures. They are
not written as a study of social problems, or of any philosophy of
life or moods of nature as they are reflected in human existence;
they are merely a reproduction of what the country parson's own
eyes beheld-the comedy and tragedy of the commonplace. What
a less sensitive observer might have passed in silence- the brown
heath, the breakers of the North Sea, the simple heart and life of
the peasant-revealed to him the poesy, now merry, now sad, which
he renders with so much art and so delicate a sympathy. Behind
the believer in romanticism stands the lover of nature and of hu-
manity.
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STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER
2065
Among his works the best known are 'E Bindstouw' (The Knit-
ting-room), a collection of stories and poems, full of humor, simple
and naïve, told by the peasants themselves in their own homely Jut-
land dialect. These, as well as some of his later poems, especially
'Sneklokken' (The Snowbell), and Trækfuglene' (Birds of Passage),
possess a clear, true, and national lyric quality.
Dying in 1848, Blicher was buried in Jutland, near the heath on
which he spent whole days and nights of happy solitude.
On one
side of the stone above his grave is engraved a golden plover, on the
other a pair of heath-larks, and around the foot a garland of heather,
in memory of that intimate life with nature which, through his own
great love for it, he endeared to all his readers.
A PICTURE
From the 'Poems>
LAY on my heathery hills alone;
The storm-winds rushed o'er me in turbulence loud;
My head rested lone on the gray moorland stone;
My eyes wandered skyward from cloud unto cloud.
There wandered my eyes, but my thoughts onward passed,
Far beyond cloud-track or tempest's career;
At times I hummed songs, and the desolate waste
Was the first the sad chimes of my spirit to hear.
Gloomy and gray are the moorlands where rest
My fathers, yet there doth the wild heather bloom,
And amid the old cairns the lark buildeth her nest,
And sings in the desert, o'er hill-top and tomb.
From Howitt's 'Literature of Northern Europe.
