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Show !)8 GENERAL REMARKS ON IOONOGRAPIIY. I.-GENERAL REMARKS ON ICONOGRAPITY. "IooNOORAl'UJA shttuns omnia gonoris, protomns, pioturas, musivnquo opcm dcscribit. linne soxcenti celebres opifices olim ~olu~runt.. Im~ginu.m amorc, inquit Plinius, jlagratte quoadam testes sunt et Alttcut 1llt 01ceroms, ed1to de hit volumine, et J[arrnts Varro benignissimo invento inurtis voluminum tuorum jUJcunditati, non nominibut tantum uptingentorum illustrium, ud et aliquo modo imaginibua, non pastus intercidere figuras, aut vetuttatem revi contra l10mir1es valere." (FAmuorus,Bibliographia Antiq., 1716, p. 124.) WnENEVER the metaphysical Germans speculate about the philosophy of history, they invariably draw a broad dis~~ncti?n .between tho pro,qressive r·aaes (Culturvolker) -to whom mankmd IS mdobted for civilir.a.tion, for the advancement of sciences, for all tho forms of political administration of society, and for the moral elcv~tion of tho soul,-and tho passive races, who scarcely possess any h1story of their own. All tho white and yellow, and a few brown and red nations, arc put down among the former; the majority of ~he Browns, the hunter-tribes of tho Reds, and all the Blacks, bemg classed among tho latter. But again, among the progressive races there is a very remarkable difference as regards their part in history. Tho Eo-yptians and Assyt·ians, tho Shemitic races of Phamicia, Palestine and Arabia, tho Persians, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, and lastly tho Teutonic and nco-Latin nations, whether pure or blended with one another and with Celtic clements, took in succession tho load of mankind; whilst tho pure Colts, the Sclavonians, tho Finnic, Turkoman, Tartar and Berber races, remained in the background. We need not say that, going one step farther, we find tho mixed populations of Groat Britain and of North America (commonly but wrongly called tho Anglo-Saxon race), and the equally mixed population of Franco, to claim to be at the head of the modern progressive races; scarcely to admit the equality of tho G erman proper; and to be fully convinced of their own superiority over Italians and Spaniards, Dutch and Scandinavians, Celts and Sclavoniaus, llungarians and Finns, rejecting altogether tho pretensions of Turks, Arabs, Persians and llindoos, to civilization. This scale of national inequality has evidently been construed with regard to tho political power, tho commercial spirit, the literary activity, and the application of the results of science to manufactural industry among tho cli:fferont raqcs. Consi.d red from the point of view of imitative Art,-of painting and sculpture, -the result will be some- GENERAL REMARKS ON ICONOGRAPHY. WlJat dHii rent: and whilst it is certain that art has never .flourished but among the progt·cssive races, we shall :find tbat nations to wh rn we m·. iuucbtcu for Rome of the mo t important dis ·ovori s, and to tlJO Jughos.t t~·uths revealed to mankind, arc altogether dcJieiont in at't,- as, fo.r m_stance, tho Shcrnitos without exception; that others, althongh WJCldmg the most extensive political power, such as tho H.omans of old, the Scandinavian Northmcn, the Ano·lo- axons the S ·lavoni · races, never attained a high dcvolopmcnt of painLi ng 'and sculpture, and wc~·c surpassed by the Greeks of yot·o, and by the I1aktns and Spamm·cls, the Germans and Dutch. J fistory tcaehes us that eminence in painting and sculpture is not tho result of citltoe high mental culture or political power, and that jt clo s not always accompany tho refinement and wealth of natio11s. vVo !incl. iLgt'owino· out of a peculiar disposition of some nations, prcdostiuod w> it wore Jo~ art; whilst othoe raceR, living under tho same so •ial, climatic, all(l politi nJ conditions, never rise arti.-tically to rcpt·osont the ontw:hrd wol'lcl in colors Ol' in pla tic forms. And again, amono- the arListical nations we meet with th most remarkable ditl:cwoucos in treating the sam subjects. Some stl'ivo for the most scrnpulous reproduction of nature, and cling to ihithful imitation; others at·o ct·cativo, embellishing whatever they touch: some show ad ep nndct·. tanding ~ nd love of natlll·o; others concentrate their power cxelusi vely on tho representation of tho human body: some excel by tho brilliancy and harmony of their coloring; others chal'm by tltoit· conoctnoss in plastical forms: but aU of them express thoie nationality, their p enliar relation to God, nature and mankind, throughout their works. Therefore, oven an inoxporicn od eye catches tho diftcroncc bctw en Eo-->:Ptian and Assyrian, Indian and Chinese, Greek anti Ett'LlRcan, Iutkm and Gorman, :French and panish, art: and tho artisticallyeducated student feels no difficulty in discriminating the minute di ti notions of schools, in each national art; and g nerally discovers any ati m pt at forging pictnros and statues. The in h rout and indelible nationality of every monument of art is, in fact, the only safcgnarci ao-ainst imposition; since it is just as impoH ihlo for Gibson o1·l)owers to scu lpture an antique statue, and for Sit· Charles Eastlake or Mr. Ingt·os to paint a Raphael (or oven a Cad Dolce, or any s cond-rato Italian pictur ), as it would have boon impos~:;ihlo for AHi.ori to write a play of Sltakcspca.re, and for any N w Englandel' to become eho author of a tragedy wlJich could paRs for tltc wol'k of Comoill c. till, to establish tho fact that art is always natioual and not cosmopolitan, w must pass in r view the gr· at attist.ic races ft·om the time of tho Egyptian pyramids down to our own days- a period of some :five thousand years. |