We have to consider Art as a world of itself, created out of Nature by the hand of the
artist-workman. Art has been called the " flowering of man's moral nature," — it is a
natural growth out of, and beyond mere material necessities; to it we owe everything in
the whole range of human productions which appeal to the sense of beauty, and the
thoughts awakened in us by beauty. The artistic sense by which we appreciate these
things may be counted as a sixth sense; it may be possessed in a greater or less degree by
the individual, but it exists in every one, and may be developed by training and cultiva-
tion like the other senses.
As I said that to understand the real nature of Art is to possess ourselves of the
various pleasures it is capable of giving.
For I must premise that the end and aim of Art, and therefore the cultivation of the
Artistic sense, is to give pleasure in the common things of life by giving to them beauty
of form, pattern, color; and next, pleasure of a still higher order by translating and trans-
forming the things of Nature into the beauty of picture, statue, or building.
It is the sort of pleasure that is in all elevated things, and it appeals to the purest and
most intellectual side of our nature; there can be no degradation, no intemperance in the
cultivation, the indulgence of the Artistic sense. The pleasure it subserves lies at the
root, and is the inspiration of music and poetry, as well as of painting, and sculpture, and
architecture. It is Beauty that is sought for in all these; Beauty is the source of the
pleasure we find in them, and without Beauty, any manifestation of these great aits is nothing
worth. We ask of a musical composition, not only that it shall be in strict accordance
i
ART AT HOME. 13
with technical rules, but also that it shall enchant us with the beauty of its melody or the
sublimity of its form; we ask not only that a poem shall be written in faultless language
and rhythm, but it shall appeal with higher beauty to the mind and the heart: so it would
not be enough for a picture to be designed according to the strictest laws of composition
and perspective, or for a statue to obey every rule of anatomy, or for a building to have
every proportional and geometric perfection — there must be a soul of beauty and sub-
limity in the picture, the statue, the building, as well as in the musical composition and
the poem; and then by them we shall be made to feel the highest pleasure of which our
nature is capable — a pleasure which nourishes the intellect in delighting the senses, and
through them, the heart.
Page 8
Presented as published in 1891. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
We have to consider Art as a world of itself, created out of Nature by the hand of the artist-workman. Art has been called the " flowering of man's moral nature," — it is a natural growth out of, and beyond mere material necessities; to it we owe everything in the whole range of human productions which appeal to the sense of beauty, and the thoughts awakened in us by beauty. The artistic sense by which we appreciate these things may be counted as a sixth sense; it may be possessed in a greater or less degree by the individual, but it exists in every one, and may be developed by training and cultivation like the other senses.
As I said before, to understand the real nature of Art is to possess ourselves of the various pleasures it is capable of giving.
For I must premise that the end and aim of Art, and therefore the cultivation of the Artistic sense, is to give pleasure in the common things of life by giving to them beauty of form, pattern, color; and next, pleasure of a still higher order by translating and transforming the things of Nature into the beauty of picture, statue, or building.
It is the sort of pleasure that is in all elevated things, and it appeals to the purest and most intellectual side of our nature; there can be no degradation, no intemperance in the cultivation, the indulgence of the Artistic sense. The pleasure it subserves lies at the root, and is the inspiration of music and poetry, as well as of painting, and sculpture, and architecture. It is Beauty that is sought for in all these; Beauty is the source of the pleasure we find in them, and without Beauty, any manifestation of these great arts is nothing worth. We ask of a musical composition, not only that it shall be in strict accordance
with technical rules, but also that it shall enchant us with the beauty of its melody or the sublimity of its form; we ask not only that a poem shall be written in faultless language and rhythm, but it shall appeal with higher beauty to the mind and the heart: so it would not be enough for a picture to be designed according to the strictest laws of composition and perspective, or for a statue to obey every rule of anatomy, or for a building to have every proportional and geometric perfection — there must be a soul of beauty and sublimity in the picture, the statue, the building, as well as in the musical composition and the poem; and then by them we shall be made to feel the highest pleasure of which our nature is capable — a pleasure which nourishes the intellect in delighting the senses, and through them, the heart.