At the head of these greater Arts, the Fine Arts properly so called, — Poetry, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture — at the head of each of these stand great names with which we are all familiar; of their minds and work we know something, and that some- thing is usually the basis of our knowledge of these Arts themselves. Our admiration of the music of Handel, and Bach, and Beethoven, grows deeper as our theoretical under- standing and practical experience of the Art of Music increases; the more we learn about the nature and powers of language, and the larger our experience of life, the more we appreciate and admire Shakespeare, and Dante, and Goethe; and with inquiry into a study of the nature and history of the Arts, joined with as much practical knowledge of them as may be possible, we shall enter the more fully into the minds and works of the Great Masters of Sculpture and Painting — Phidias and Michael Angelo, Leonardo and Raphael and Titian, — so that they may be something more to us than merely great names, and their high reputation may be justified to us. So, too, is there much to be learned and enjoyed in the marvels of the architecture of all ages — that the Greek, the Romanesque, the Gothic, shall be more than barren names; and following in the train of these great men and periods of Fine Art come a crowd of lesser arts, such as the art of the potter, the carver in wood, in stone, in ivory, of the metal worker, the weaver, the embroiderer, and many others — arts which lend beauty of form, and pattern, and color, to the common things of life, — each of which has laws and a character of its own to be studied, in accordance with which Beauty is fitly joined with Use; the one furthering rather than interfering with the functions of the other. All this opens a very large prospect. But everything must have a beginning; and it is this little beginning that I want to make in the minds of those for whom it has not already been made — a little gate into that field, that vast kingdom of Art, which contains within it things small and great, and of infinite diversity, from the pattern of the door-knob to the sculptures of the Parthenon. " Happy is he," says Goethe, "who, at an early age, knows what Art is;" but it is never too late to learn. "All Art," says Mr. Ruskin, "worthy the name, is energy, neither of the human body alone, nor of the human soul alone, but of both united, one guiding the other: good craftsmanship and work of the fingers, joined with good emotion and work of the heart." 14 HOME DISSERTATIONS. In Mr. Ruskin's " Two Paths " I find a principle laid down that I am convinced is perfectly sound, and easy of application in these matters. " The true forms of conventional ornament consist in the bestowal of as much beauty on the object as shall be consistent with the Material, its Place, and its Office." Every object, then, that we admit into our houses should be able to sustain with credit the following inquiries : Does it appear to be made of the Material of which it really is, or ought to be made ? Is it appropriate to the Place for which it is intended ? Does it declare its use or Office, and seem fit for it ?

AI-modernized reading of the original text

At the head of these greater Arts, the Fine Arts properly so called, — Poetry, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture — at the head of each of these stand great names with which we are all familiar; of their minds and work we know something, and that something is usually the basis of our knowledge of these Arts themselves. Our admiration of the music of Handel, and Bach, and Beethoven, grows deeper as our theoretical understanding and practical experience of the Art of Music increases; the more we learn about the nature and powers of language, and the larger our experience of life, the more we appreciate and admire Shakespeare, and Dante, and Goethe; and with inquiry into a study of the nature and history of the Arts, joined with as much practical knowledge of them as may be possible, we shall enter the more fully into the minds and works of the Great Masters of Sculpture and Painting — Phidias and Michael Angelo, Leonardo and Raphael and Titian, — so that they may be something more to us than merely great names, and their high reputation may be justified to us. So, too, is there much to be learned and enjoyed in the marvels of the architecture of all ages — that the Greek, the Romanesque, the Gothic, shall be more than barren names; and following in the train of these great men and periods of Fine Art come a crowd of lesser arts, such as the art of the potter, the carver in wood, in stone, in ivory, of the metal worker, the weaver, the embroiderer, and many others — arts which lend beauty of form, and pattern, and color, to the common things of life, — each of which has laws and a character of its own to be studied, in accordance with which Beauty is fitly joined with Use; the one furthering rather than interfering with the functions of the other. All this opens a very large prospect. But everything must have a beginning; and it is this little beginning that I want to make in the minds of those for whom it has not already been made — a little gate into that field, that vast kingdom of Art, which contains within it things small and great, and of infinite diversity, from the pattern of the door-knob to the sculptures of the Parthenon. " Happy is he," says Goethe, "who, at an early age, knows what Art is;" but it is never too late to learn. "All Art," says Mr. Ruskin, "worthy the name, is energy, neither of the human body alone, nor of the human soul alone, but of both united, one guiding the other: good craftsmanship and work of the fingers, joined with good emotion and work of the heart." In Mr. Ruskin's " Two Paths " I find a principle laid down that I am convinced is perfectly sound, and easy of application in these matters. " The true forms of conventional ornament consist in the bestowal of as much beauty on the object as shall be consistent with the Material, its Place, and its Office." Every object, then, that we admit into our houses should be able to sustain with credit the following inquiries : Does it appear to be made of the Material of which it really is, or ought to be made ? Is it appropriate to the Place for which it is intended ? Does it declare its use or Office, and seem fit for it ?

Home dissertations