CHAPTER II. OF IDEAS OF POWER, AS THEY ARE DEPENDENT UPON EXECUTION. "I By the term "execution," I understand the right me $1. Meaning of chanical use of the means of art to produce a the term ex ecution." given end. All qualities of execution, properly so called, are influenced §3. The second, The second quality of execution is simplicity. or pretension of touch,-any exhibition of power or quickerely as such, above all, any attempt to render lines atat the expense of their meaning, is vice. hird The third is mystery. Nature is always mysterious and secret in the use of her means; and art is likest her when it is most inexplicable. That execution s the most incomprehensible, and which therefore defies n, (other qualities being supposed alike,) is the best. th, ve The fourth is inadequacy. The less sufficient. the means appear to the end, the greater (as has been already noticed) will be the sensation of fifth is decision: the appearance, that is, that whatdone, has been done fearlessly and at once; because this the impression that both the fact to be represented, and ns necessary to its representation, were perfectly known. The sixth is velocity. Not only is velocity, or the appearance of it, agreeable as decision is, it gives ideas of power and knowledge; but of two , as nearly as possible the same in other respects, the will invariably be the best. Truth being supposed present in the shape and direction of both, there will evenness, grace and variety, in the quick one than in v one. It will be more agreeable to the eye as a touch or d will possess more of the qualities of the lines of nature tion, uncertainty, and unity. ngeness nate leasure n. These six qualities are the only perfectly legitimate sources of pleasure in execution; but I might have added a seventh-strangeness, which in many productive of a pleasure not altogether mean or degradugh scarcely right. Supposing the other higher qualities cured, it adds in no small degree to our impression of st's knowledge, if the means used be such as we should ave thought of, or should have thought adapted to a y effect. Let us, for instance, compare the execution of I's head in the left hand lowest corner of the Adoration Magi, in the Museum at Antwerp, with that in Bergandscape, No. 132 in the Dulwich Gallery. Rubens first es horizontally over his canvas a thin grayish brown, transparent and even, very much the color of light wainscot; the horizontal strokes of the bristles being left so evident, that the whole might be taken for an imitation of wood, were it not for its transparency. On this ground the eye, nostril, and outline of the cheek are given with two or three rude, brown touches, (about three or four minutes' work in all,) though the head is colossal. The background is then laid in with thick, solid, warm white, actually projecting all round the head, leaving it in dark intaglio. Finally, five thin and scratchy strokes of very cold bluish white are struck for the high light on the forehead and nose, and the head is complete. Seen within a yard of the canvas, it looks actually transparent-a flimsy, meaningless, distant shadow; while the background looks solid, projecting and near. From the right distance, (ten or twelve yards off, whence alone the whole of the picture can be seen,) it is a complete, rich, substantial, and living realization of the projecting head of the animal; while the background falls far behind. Now there is no slight nor mean pleasure in perceiving such a result attained by means so strange. Berghem, on the other hand, a dark background is first laid in with exquisite delicacy and transparency, and on this the cow's head is actually modelled in luminous white, the separate locks of hair projecting from the canvas. No surprise, nor much pleasure of any kind, would be attendant on this execution, even were the result equally successful; and what little pleasure we had in it, vanishes, when on retiring from the picture, we find the head shining like a distant lantern, instead of substantial or near. Yet strangeness is not to be considered as a legitimate source of pleasure. That means which is most conducive to the end, should always be the most pleasurable; and that which is most conducive to the end, can be strange only to the ignorance of the spectator. This kind of pleasure is illegitimate, therefore, because it implies and requires, in those who feel it, ignorance of art. § 8. Yet even the legitimate sources By The legitimate sources of pleasure in execution of pleasure in ex- are therefore truth, simplicity, mystery, inadeconsistent with quacy, decision, and velocity. But of these, be it observed, some are so far inconsistent with others, that they cannot be united in high degrees. Mystery with inade ecution are in each other. Cut, for Te must s qualities o because on first three on the rest fred on th decided, w the act of the pictur leave the 19. And fon Dess for ideas power leads the adoption the lowest. are consist is always pa ties are sac rice. Berg execution power, vici of being sul is perhaps the tendenc relocity, c attract atte which is at I have h another legiti of execution w class of person legitimate an out, and have is often thoug ness, meaning inch broad; s are the great a powers and tri whatsoever to modern engrav fond ds to or instance; since to see that the means are inadequate, see what they are. Now the first three are the great s of execution, and the last three are the attractive ones, on them are chiefly attendant the ideas of power. By the ee the attention is withdrawn from the means and fixed esult by the last three, withdrawn from the result and the means. To see that execution is swift or that it is we must look away from its creation to observe it in of creating; we must think more of the pallet than of cure, but simplicity and mystery compel the mind to e means and fix itself on the conception. Hence the danger of too great fondness for those sensations eas of of power which are associated with the three last on of qualities of execution; for although it is most desirable that these should be present as far as they sistent with the others, and though their visible absence s painful and wrong, yet the moment the higher qualisacrificed to them in the least degree, we have a brilliant Berghem and Salvator Rosa are good instances of vicious. on dependent on too great fondness for sensations of vicious because intrusive and attractive in itself, instead subordinate to its results and forgotten in them. There ps no greater stumbling-block in the artist's way, than lency to sacrifice truth and simplicity to decision and ,* captivating qualities, easy of attainment, and sure to attention and praise, while the delicate degree of truth sat first sacrificed to them is so totally unappreciable by ive here noticed only noble vices, the sacrifices of one excellence to egitimate but inferior one. There are, on the other hand, qualities ion which are often sought for and praised, though scarcely by the ersons for whom I am writing, in which everything is sacrificed to te and contemptible sources of pleasure, and these are vice throughhave no redeeming quality nor excusing aim. Such is that which hought so desirable in the Drawing-master, under the title of boldining that no touch is ever to be made less than the tenth of an d; such, on the other hand, the softness and smoothness which reat attraction of Carlo Dolci, and such the exhibition of particular nd tricks of the hand and fingers, in total forgetfulness of any end er to be attained thereby, which is especially characteristic of engraving. Compare Sect. II. Chap. II. § 21. Note. the majority of spectators, so difficult of attainment to the artist, that it is no wonder that efforts so arduous and unrewarded should be abandoned. But if the temptation be § 10. Therefore perilous. once yielded to, its consequences are fatal; there is no pause in the fall. I could name a celebrated modern artist-once a man of the highest power and promise, who is a glaring instance of the peril of such a course. Misled by the undue popularity of his swift execution, he has sacrificed to it, first precision, and then truth, and her associate, beauty. What was first neglect of nature, has become contradiction of her; what was once imperfection, is now falsehood; and all that was meritorious in his manner, is becoming the worst, because the most attractive of vices; decision without a foundation, and swiftness without an end. tion. $11. Recapitula- Such are the principal modes in which the ideas of power may become a dangerous attraction to the artist-a false test to the critic. But in all cases where they lead us astray it will be found that the error is caused by our preferring victory over a small apparent difficulty to victory over a great, but concealed one; and so that we keep this distinction constantly in view, (whether with reference to execution or to any other quality of art,) between the sensation and the intellectual estimate of power, we shall always find the ideas of power a just and high source of pleasure in every kind and grade of art. It may made of ot , and th ince used t 11. Sublimity Sect upo the mind of any thing above it. the mind is templation greatness of ther word f f matter, s and there is its perfec 12 Burke's theer of the na of the suble incorrect, and why. nishes all with its con Tay points t which we ha it is not the the instincti deliberate m sublime in defy, that w Ste. There do we trace and to the 1 |