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forced. It frequently consists in the subjection of detail to the more im portant features of a subject, by sacrificing unessential particulars or incident to expression.* By its union with the dramatic in poetry and painting, they assume the rapidity of allusion possessed by the ode. This is exemplified in the olden painters (who were guided by this mode of combination, not probably from any defined understanding of its principle, but by a sense of its power, and from the freedom with which it was generally employed in these times), by the introduction of the various scenes of a transaction into the same composition -an instance of which occurs on the roof of the Cappella Sistina, in the picture of the expulsion from the garden, where also, Eve is seen offering the fruit to Adam. It is the predominance of this with the religious spi

rit, which has been styled the mystic, in the art of the revival. It is this which encircled the figure of the Holy Virgin with a quire of angels in the tablets of Rico, Cimabue, or Taffi, and which gave birth to those arrangements which bring together Divinity, angels, and saints, so often repeated from the times of these early names, down to those of Michael Angelo and Raphael. Among the many instances of the exemplification of this method in such arrangements-indeed all art of these times was a continual exhibition of it-the picture of the Madonna da Foligno (so called from its hav ing been painted for the town of that name) is a beautiful example; the most exquisite feature of which is, the introduction of a cherub stationed on the ground below, addressing the Virgin and the Infant who are above, and which might almost be considered to

M. Quatremere De Quincy, in his very able work on "the Nature, the End, and the Means of Imitation in the Fine Arts,”* has treated of a particular phase of this mode of imitative representation, under the name of generalization; and he seems at times almost to recognise it in its full extent; but, in his observations upon Shakspeare, he appears to have diverged altogether from an extended view of the subject, and finally to resolve his opinion in regard to it, into a certain limited standard, into a somewhat with which his use of the word ideal is synonymous. This he finds accords with the forms of the classic drama; but that it will not do so with the works of Shakspeare; hence the latter are considered defective. But Shakspeare's dramas are not the ideal of any particular features of nature, but embodiments of the idea (in its original and Platonic sense) of whatever the fiery light of his mind passed over, towards evolving the great purpose of his works-the expression of the dramatic; not merely in the mode or form of his productions, but as their peculiar end-their ultimate object. His dramas are much more essentially dramatic than those of the ancients; which were more the harmonious exposition of an incident or act, or of a sentiment, to which the expression of character was necessary, but to which it was always more or less subjected. Shakspeare is different from this. The distinctive essence of his dramatic works consists in the display of character perfectly unsubordinated. The incident only serves to evolve this, and is merely a field for its display; and, in accordance with this purpose, is brought into that total subjection, or regarded with that indifference, which has given rise to criticism in respect to the freedom with which scenes and characters are alternated. But such is only in obedience to his law. Caliban, Prospero, Miranda, Trinculo, and Stephano, appear in the same great work, brutish, powerful, loving, jesting, and drunken; each brought forward powerfully to display character, and each of whom must be regarded to be specific features of such, placed in contact with the purpose that should be recognised to be the law of the author-not the conformation to regularity in the production of a plot or story, nor the elucidation of any general sentiment-but force and truth in tracing the windings of the most varied source of imitation that art pursues, the dramatic, of which his works are the greatest and most complete expo nents. Of this they exhibit the idea, and, by occasionally sacrificing other purposes, which are in many instances necessarily connected (it is seldom endeavoured to blend them with this ultimate intention), to use the word in the signification of M. De Quincy in this they are ideal. Objections-general or theoretical-such as originated the discussions betwixt the Classicists and the Romanticists, can only be made to the works of Shakspeare, by the application of rules of judgment, that his intention can not be subjected to.

*Translated by J. C. Kent, 1837.

be a visible impersonation of lyric rapture, illustrating at once the senti. ment and the mode, of both of which the greater number of votive pictures are examples. Raphael followed this mode when he brought the mountain of the Transfiguration, and the strictly dramatic scene of the maniac together, which has been attempted to be accounted for in various unsatisfactory ways, but which, had it occurred in less distinct connexion with a subject that is otherwise treated in a manner so purely dramatic, would never have attracted notice, or have been referred generally to, what have often been considered, unaccountable anomalies connected with art, that it was impossible to understand.

In Greek art, also, this manner of imitation was no less predominant. It is exemplified in the group of the Laocoon, which is epic in sentiment; but the figures of which, in obedience to a modification of this method, are represented naked. The sculptures of the Parthenon strikingly exhibit it: their whole arrangement and expression are dictated by it. Those labours of Phidias (setting aside minute distinctions which may be made, in regard to the interpretation of particulars connected with their signification, which are now impossible to be recovered) must be considered to be a grand announcement, after the lyrical form, of the glory and power of Minerva of her city and its hero. They conform to this, as has been already observed, in respect to the votive pictures of Roman Catholic art, both in their sentiment and in their form, and probably were the most extended, harmonious, and complete example of such that has existed. Nor is the operation of this method of representation less observable in the ceremonies of the Christian church. It had obtained in the sacrificial observances and mysteries of the ancients. At one sweep it brought the representative period of the life of Christ within the yearly service of the Church of Rome, and frequently merges, within the space of a few hours, dramatic ceremonies which allude to or signify lengthened transactions. Its most distinctive exemplification in modern literature, and which does not recognise any ancient prototype, is exhibited in the metrical ballad, which it endows with much of its power and vivid effect.

In painting, unlimited scope was given to this lyric, or inspired, or enthusiastic mode of imitation, partly from its having been the form in which art was revived (in some measure the effect of ancient example, but more directly from the dependence that must be placed upon this, in what everin art endeavours to express sentiment or passion with warmth or power), and partly from the place which painting held in the general appreciation, and the objects towards which it was directed. Pictures were visible offerings up of the devotional spirit-of prayer or of praise-or enunciations of the doctrines of the Church. They were put forth not to be questioned or to be criticised, but to be believed in. They may be said to have been a portion of the apostolic exertions of the Church. Their dictates were not to be in any respect doubted, and the form in which they were delivered was always that which most directly and readily embraced the end desired. They were the manifestation of the mind of the painter operating outwardly, not to meet the dictates of others, but to dictate to them-they were met by implicit faith.

In the picture of the Last Judgment this mode influences its whole plan. It at once, from an extended scene, concentrates the whole into the expression of human sentiment and passion. It brings together, without the smallest attempt at particular or identical representation, those parts which picture heaven, earth, and hell; and opens the way throughout the whole work, for the operation of other modes adopted in the treatment of its subject, which depend upon causes less general and more immediately connected with the particular purposes to which it was devoted. These, however, in various instances, may almost be said to be merely modifications of this, the most extended and radical of those means by which the arts are endowed with powers similar to nature, in the production of forcible signification, and expression.

The most important of these more subordinate means, and the next peculiarity, or more properly law, in the method pursued in the picture which comes to be observed; will likewise be found to be common to Greek, and to Roman Catholic art. It may

be considered to result from the operation of the more extended mode just noticed, the general principle of which is to remove interruption, and cut the way direct to unobstructed and essential expression; and of which this, in particular instances, is only a modification; but in others, from the distinct character which it assumes, it must be considered to be an ultimate or original form of imitation. It was generally adopted, and is constantly exemplified in the ceremonies of the Church, and this probably in some measure became the cause of its being very widely received as a mode of painting in its connexion with religion, at the time of the revival of the arts. It consists in the substitution of a part to signify a whole: it places dependence upon a portion of a subject as a means of expressing the whole to its full extent; either by the intensity which may be thus arrived at, or by the power of association. Or, as in other instances, it consists in an almost arbitrary substitution of one object to express another. Thus music, in many of the Church ceremonies, was frequently the medium by which lengthened acts of its great drama were expressed. As instancing both these forms of this method: during the Easter festival, the Crucifixion is signified by darkening the lights of the Cappella Sistina, and by the sublime Miserere; and, after the Entombment has been expressed during another day of ceremony, by the host having been deposited in the Pauline chapel as the tomb (all exemplifying this mode of representa tion, in distinction from that of the purely dramatic, of which the scene of the Pope washing the feet of the pilgrims is an instance connected with the same festival), a peal of the bells of Rome, which before had been kept silent, on the morning of the third day, announces the Resurrection. The difference of this species of imitation from the purely allegoric is, that it is usually connected with parts which are literally representative of the subject, and that a sentiment is always expressed by means of the substitution which is made. It does not consist in the adoption of a mere symbol, sign, or letter; a thing which is akin to hieroglyphic writing, and which produces of itself no impression, and becomes, if much dependence is placed

upon it, subversive of the distinctive character and object of art; but the mind is operated upon in a manner that is analogous, or at least somewhat equivalent, by association or direct impression, to the sentiment or. the object from which the change has been made.

In conformity with this mede, the various groups of the picture must be held to signify the numberless “multitudes of all tongues and kindreds" assembled to judgment. They must be regarded (and every part of the picture) as having to a certain extent, an ulterior reference. To exemplify this: the descent of the seven deadly sins into hell, in one sense, must be considered to typify all transgression. But this is not to be obtrusively taken into consideration; nor in this instance can it: their dreadful expression is sufficient to fill the mind. They are the only groups expressive of the fall of the damned. They are all brought together in figures of the same size, and dreadful is the toil of those representatives of the condemned, driven, falling, and dragged downwards, in the anticipation of eternal misery. Their concentrated horror, anguish, and despair, leave the mind no retreat. It is wound into the sense of their agonized suffering with a mighty strength, from which remorse must shrink in confused identity. The separate groups of the blessed ascending, or helped up to the presence of the Judge-the dead rising from out the earth-and hell with the damnedmust all be considered to be brought under this method of treatment.

These modes of signification or representation which have been noticed, and which may be considered peculiarities, in distinction from what is generally exemplified in modern art; are the most important in their effects on the picture, and are most prominently observable. Others less extended in their nature, but which were very prevalent in the painting of that time, and of which the exemplification in the picture is limited to particular instances; present different conventional forms or processes of augmenting or of illustrating a subject, which the principles of the more universal methods which have been considered, tended in some instances to originate and to render general.

By a species of episode, the cross,

and the pillar of the flagellation, with the sponge, &c., in allusion to the sufferings and death of Christ, from which result his deputed power as Judge of the world, are introduced; borne by numerous figures. The Holy Virgin being brought into the scene, is also, by a somewhat similar process dictated by the religious character of the work, in obedience to the high rank which she holds in the hierarchy of the Church of Rome. The martyrs presenting their claims to heaven, by producing the instruments of their torture (which certainly serve a more useful purpose to the spectator than they possibly can to an omniscient Judge), is in compliance with a mode of characterising-a pictorial adjective, general to painting; but which, after this obtrusive manner, was one of the arbitrary features of the art of this period.

The introduction of the boat of Charon is a direct imitation of Dante (which various of the punishments of the damned also are), authorized and supported, as also in the instance of the poet, by the influence which was exerted by the works of the ancients. Michael Angelo had before associated heathen mythos with Christian belief, by the introduction of the sibyls of the ancient oracles, along with the Jewish prophets, on the vault of the Cappella Sistina, from the supposition that they had predicted the coming of Christ; and, to his imagination, the step was easy, and characteristic of the intellectual processes of the times, to the introduction of any other feature of Greek fable. Or, possibly, it might be the result of a direct intention to connect Christianity with the fate of man in general,-to embrace the ancients in the general Judgment. If such was the intention, it may however be hoped, that hell is not the only place where such an allusion might have been introduced.

The blessed dragged to heaven by the physical might of angels, who contend with demons for their possession -the passion and coarseness of the character of Christ, and the expression of the Madonna at his side-Charon battering the damned spirits with his oar* Saint Bartholomew with his own skin in his hand-the human

character of the angels, and the grotesque animal demons; are among instances of a literal obviousness of thought and expression that were common to the time, and which extend to a considerable degree throughout the work; the causes of which may be found in the general state of intellectual culture already adverted But these features are connected with the expression of the work, rather than with its plan.

to.

Such are the modes or forms adopted in the construction of the picture. They obviously and necessarily declare the treatment of the whole to be poetic; of which the sentiments that are pursued, discriminate the class.

Having thus so far taken into consideration, what may be deemed to have been the general causes that operated towards the formation of the particular character of the genius of Michael Angelo; and what must be regarded as being the manner after which it is made visible in the picture of the Last Judgment: the question is now arrived at-wherein consists the individual and characterising exhibition of his genius, as developed in that work?

Distinct from the mere enunciation the subject, and from particular modes of imitation, and objects immediately intended to be embraced; the grand features of the work, in which its stability is based, and which must bear it above whatever may be the conventional atmosphere of any age, are the nature and strength of its expression, and the character of its style.

In expression, the sentiments that it enforces, are founded in the common nature of man. The sublime—and, in its highest sense, the beautiful-the merely human-the demoniac-the mental and the physical,-expressed in the powerful exhibition of those universal movers of the human breast, hope and fear, are made visible. It is the great epic of expectation and dread-picturing their birth and their consummation in bliss or in misery. To the enforcement of " this high ar gument," is the fresco of the Sistine Chapel devoted. In this it endures, and of this it must, in many respects, remain the greatest example in art.

* "Batte col remo qualunque si adagia.”—DANTE.

Time must sweep away its lines and its colours; but he alone can be its destroyer. Succeeding ages have produced, and will continue to produce, different characteristics, and to furnish new subjects for art, but the grandeur and strength of Michael Angelo cannot be impaired-it is founded in the expression of the generic nature of man. Of this, the picture of the Judgment, absorbed and centred what had already been advanced towards, or expressed in art; and, in this respect, remains the great monument of moral painting in distinction from that which originates, and has its end in the pursuit of local peculiarities, and in the gratification of individual or tempo. rary taste. In both, there may be exerted that power in which genius consists, but, in the one instance, it is isolated from any great or general purpose, and becomes dependent upon partial intentions and upon antiquarian study, and may be buried amidst obsolete, and particular facts; in the other, it is wide and extended, and as endurable as the human race.

In style, the picture of the Cappella Sistina, presents a most marked and distinct character. All excellence in art-that varied and disputed point, which appears (but only appears) to vary with the view which is taken of it, may be found to centre in the perception or apprehension, and power of impressing the idea of whatever is its subject. In this virtually consists the truly great in art; and, by an extended application of the principle, may probably be found to embrace excellence or power in whatever human exertion endeavours after. In this ability exists, and from this imperfection diverges. In the wide and varied field of art, which in painting alone, extends

from the transcription of the meanest inanimate object to the visible embodiment of Deity; it is this which endows its labours with vitality.* On this ground may be said to meet, though in each instance varied in their ultimate worth-the maternal holiness of the Madonnas of Raphael

the substance of the human body, and its coverings by Titian-its tear and wear by Caravaggio-the odour, laughter, and grossness of Dutch dwellings, by Teniers and Ostade-the stare of an ox by Paul Potter, or a Flemish sky by Cuyp. It is the possession of this power, which constitutes the wide distinction betwixt the productive, and the passive or simply recognitive, mind. Its exemplifications possess an effect akin to that of natural objects-it does not present a transcript or reiteration of its subject, but operates with a new and distinct impression;-its efforts present additions to experience.†

Of this power, the style of Michael Angelo is an eminent example. In those instances of such that the works of most others present, their labours are referable to a material or visible type; but of this, there was no such standard for the painter of Deity, Prophetic or oracular inspiration, and of mystic indistinctness; of man face to face with his Judge, endowed with or doomed to an eternal existence, either in happiness or in misery. His type was mental, and to such must his labours conform; and, from their conformation to this, they are, in many respects, placed at a remote distance from the humble sympathies of those whose ideas are regulated by an immediate reference to sense. By such a species of apprehension their significance can never be perceived. To

It is necessary here to keep in view the distinction which has been referred to in a former note, as existing between the signification of the term ideal, and that of the idea. The idea is ultimate; the ideal is the result of comparison: it is a term that has been used to express qualities which are the result of a process of abstraction carried forward, I should say, in a particular direction, with the view of, to a certain extent, subjecting the idea of one thing to that of another :-the mistaken application and misunderstanding of which principle, has given rise to, at times, absurd discussion regarding it. The term also has been most licentiously used; the mere abuse of which, may, in some instances, have given rise to a species of mental desert, which has misled practice in art.

The colour, for example, of the Crucifixion by Tintoretto, or the expression of a Spanish face by Velasques, display what has never been met, and what is not the result of any process of generalization. The one is an invention-the other an individuality; but in both that is perceived which appears to be thoroughly co-relative with its subject-that, in short, which the mind seems to be fitted to recognise as part of its constituted_relations.

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