Volume I Part 3 (2/2)

[32] _Archaeological Survey of India_, 3 vols 1871-73

[33] _Archaeologische Zeitung_, 1876, p 90 _Die Griechische Kunst in Indien_

[34] The Louvre has lately acquired some curious examples of this art

Traces of the saree in other parts of India Near the mouth of the Indus and upon the Malabar coast, the native sculptors and architects were able to obtain estion, more than one precious hint as to their technique, froht in the shi+ps of maritime traders It is even possible that Greek workmen may thus have been introduced into seaport towns, and there employed upon the decoration of palaces and temples However this may be it is incontestable that all the iion, whether stone-built or carved in the living rock, date from a period more recent than that of Alexander, and that most of them show details which imply acquaintance with Greek architectural forms and their imitation We are thus on all hands forced to this conclusion: that, in the do to India, hich she made acquaintance very late and at a period when she had no need to take lessons froive; that her arts were not developed till after her early relations with Greece, and it would even seem that her first stimulus was derived from the models which Greece put within her reach

Froo as far as China, or even as the Punjab, in order to explain the origin of Greek art

During the period hich we are concerned, China ht as well have been in the planet Saturn for all she had to do with the ancient world, and we need refer to her no more, except now and then perhaps for purposes of illustration We cannot treat India quite in the same fashi+on, because there were, as we have said, certain points of contact and reciprocal influences at work between her and the group of nations we are about to treat But as Greece borrowed nothing from India, at least in the matter of art, the little which we shall have to say of the products of the Hindoos will not be connected with our discussion of the origin of Greek art A curious though hardly an important episode in history, is seen in the reaction by which the Greek genius, when arrived at maturity, threw itself at the command of Alexander upon that East from which it had received its first lessons

None of those philosophical discussions to which Ottfried Muller and Stark thought it necessary to give so large a place will be found in our introduction; both of those authors devoted a long chapter to the definition of art and its principal manifestations Stark went so far as to discuss, with enuity, the definitions of art and of its essential foriven by previous writers We shall atte of the kind; we have not undertaken a work of criticism or aesthetic demonstration We wish to build up the history of ancient civilization through the study, description, and comparison of its plastic remains

Neither do we feel sure that, in such a question as this, definitions do not lead to confusion rather than to clearness When short, they are vague and obscure, and only acquire precision through distinctions and developenerally lead, on one hand or the other, either to objections or reservations _Omnis definitio in jure periculosa_, says an old maxim, which is certainly true in ed, to define terms which awake sufficiently clear and distinct ideas in all cultivated iven of the word _architecture_, and yet, e use it, every one knoe , each of these sounds has a precisefor those to whom our work is addressed, and we may say the same of certain other expressions, such as _industrial arts_, _decoration_, _style_, _historical painting_, _genre painting_, _landscape painting_, which will often be found in our pages We must refer those ant definitions of these phrases to the _Grammaire des Arts du Dessin_ of M Charles Blanc and kindred works It will suffice for us that these words should be taken in the ordinarywhich they bear in the conversation of cultivated e here and there froencies will become evident, and will be discussed and justified to the best of our ability as the work proceeds But on all occasions we shall do our best to avoid the abstract and pedantic tery which makes Ottfried Muller's first chapter so difficult to read

We have now declared the aim of our work and the route which we propose to follow In order to increase our chances of success, I have sought and obtained the collaboration of M Charles Chipiez, whose special knowledge is well calculated to neutralise ines et de la Forrecques_, arded, in 1877, one of the highest prizes of the Academie des Inscriptions, and in the Salons of 1878 and 1879 he confirhtsman and a learned theorist; his _Essais de Restoration d'un Tees de la Chaldee_, was much noticed and discussed by connoisseurs It would not be fitting, however, to praise it here Iobtained a help which I have found le-minded, more complete, than I had dared to hope for In all that has to do with architecture, I have not written a line until after consulting M Chipiez upon all technical points He has also taken an active part in the revision of the text of certain chapters As for the plates and illustrations in the text, we have together chosen the objects to be represented, and M Chipiez, as a professional htss It rened to our illustrations

VI

In the single edition of his great hich appeared during his own lifetime, Winckelmann inserted but a small number of illustrations, and those for ornament rather than for instruction One of his translators, M Huber, tells us that their execution gave great dissatisfaction to the author[35] In our days, on the other hand, those who undertake a work of this kind raving and typography, to insert nuures in their text, to which they offer an indispensable and animated commentary Without their help ht remain unnecessarily obscure and doubtful When forms are to be defined and coe spoken or written, can never suffice

[35] _Histoire de l'Art_; Huber's preface to his translation, p xxxii

With well chosen phrases we ive renewed life to any i natural phenoinations will call up for a moment some landscape, picture, or statue which has formerly charmed thereat building, its design and its proportions, the slightest sketch will be of est and most minute descriptions So it will, if ish to uish one style froyptian, the archaic Greek style from that of the Phidian epoch or of the decadence, an Ionic column from the Erechtheum from one of the same order treated by a Roure from a Memphite bas-relief and that of one from Nineveh, what difference is there? A tenth of an inch ht difference in the sweep of a line in order to h and the knee If we placed three nude torsos side by side, one of the sixth century, another of the fifth century, and the third of the tin its true date to each, in accordance with the manner in which the skeleton was indicated under the flesh, and thethat the same model had served all three artists, it would show in the one case a lively sentiidity; in another a freer, larger, and our and firive by words a clear idea of what caused the difference Between the contour which satisfies us and that which does not there is hardly the difference of a hair; by leaning a little harder with the chisel the aspect of the one surface ht have been ali, by the fine chiselling of its gorgerin, by the elegant curve which unites the two volutes, and by the general delicacy of its ornauished above a Ron and richer in ornamentation: by the side of it a capital from the theatre of Marcellus or the Coliseum would look mean and poor

The whole history of art consists of the succession of subtle changes like these, and it would be impossible to convey thee or thethat can be done is to make one's res concerned But it is rarely that we find ourselves in such favourable conditions for teaching and explaining our ideas But, in default of the objects thees of them which can be obtained, and that we shall attehout the course of this history

We shall, then, give a large nuures, in which absolute accuracy and justice of proportion will be ai since, in collections of drawings from antique remains, they were all presented under one aspect, so far as the subtleties of style were concerned The hand of the engraver spread a technical uniformity over them all in which differences of school and date disappeared, just as the delicate carvings and coloured ornaave to each building an individuality of its oere reduced to dullbrush of the asher It seeh to clothe the monuments of the past in the style of his own day--and it required much less care than would have been needed for the successful expression of all the diversities of style in hisWe dehtsman who pretends to interpret a work of art the same devotion and the saed with the translation of a work of literature froet himself, so that we may say of him, as the Latin poet says of his _Proteus_:

”_Omnia transfore his style with every change of subject, to copy the gesture, the accent, and even the faults of his model; to be Chinese in China, Greek in Greece, and Tuscan when he takes us to Siena or Florence But we have indicated an ideal which is not often reached Every one of us has his preferences and natural affinities, every artist his own ht One will be conspicuous for his interpretation of the nobility and purity of the antique, another for his treathteenth century But the reat effect follows the praise which those who treat their ent respect are sure to obtain, and the blame to which they who are less conscientious expose themselves

Fidelity in interpretation is, in fact, the honesty of the draughtsht, his honour, and even his glory So far as we are concerned, we demand it from all those who are associated with us in this task; and, so far as existing methods will alloe shall see that we obtain it Unless our illustrations had thatit more comprehensible Our readers would search in vain for the features and characteristics to which we ht call their attention, and many of our remarks and theories would become difficult to understand We should be in the same position as an incompetent barrister who has made a bad choice of witnesses; witnesses hen in the box, prove either to know nothing or to know only facts which tell against the party who has called the our illustrations will be to place before our readers good reproductions of most of the objects which are discussed in our text We shall, of course, be unable to figure everything that is of interest, but we can at least ensure that those figures which we give shall each be interesting in some particular or another So far as possible, we shall select for illustration such objects as have not previously been reproduced, or have been ill reproduced, or have been figured in works which are difficult of access We shall sometimes, of course, find it necessary to reproduce so which is faive renewed interest to their beauties by displaying them under some fresh aspect and by increased care in the delineation of their forms Views in perspective, of which we shall s with reater truth and completeness than a mere plan, or a picturesque sketch of ruinous remains, or even than an elevation

Most of the more important perspectives and restorations due to the learned pencil of M Chipiez will be given in plates separate fronificant of the works in sculpture or painting to which we shall have to refer Some of these plates will be coloured But the s upon zinc and wood, which will not, we hope, fall short of their more elaborate coyptian dynasties and from fabled Chaldaea to imperial Rome, from the Pyramids and the Tower of Babel to the Coliseum, from the Statue of Chephren and the bas-reliefs of Shalmaneser III, to the busts of the Caesars, from the painted decorations of the tomb of Ti, and the enas of Pompeii, we shall review in due succession all the forreat nations of antiquity ive shape to their ideas, to satisfy their instincts for luxury and their taste for beauty, to lodge their Gods and their kings, and to transmit their own likenesses to posterity

We propose to trace and explain the origin of, and to describe, without aesthetic dissertations or excessive use of technical terms, those processes which imply the practice of art; the creation and descent of forreat, which they underwent in passing fro the Greeks, they arrived at the most happy and complete perfection which the world has seen We hope, too, by the judicious choice and careful execution of our figures, to give a fair idea of this course of development even to those artists who have neither time nor patience to follow our criticisms and descriptions