Previous Page Close Next Page

fol. 26r    [fol. 25v, NG letter] 'Of Ideas of Truth … Beauty and Relation' (Pt II, Sn I, Ch I)  (3.134)
'Truth not easily Discerned'  (Pt II, Sn I, Ch II)  (3.143)
      
      
      
     wholly independent of our moral nature .  <To> {In} attain {ing} the second
     end . the moral attributes of man . and all his imaginative
     powers . are brought into exercise .   According to the* variety of
     these . infinite as it is in human nature . is the variety of manner
 5   & feeling in painters . according to the perfection and nobility
     of th<e>is<e> -  is their undivided excellence .
     Again .  With the power of representing natural objects truthfully
     may be united great perception of their material. beauty - {&} great
     delicacy & taste in the choice & arrangement of them.  while yet
10   <all their individual or relative>  . all is done merely with reference
     to the ^ {pleasure of the} eye -  and to certain consistent desires and aversions  . which
     are part of our {animal} nature . independent of our moral being . <and
     on which distinct rules may be founded        On these lower
     passions are based <al> nearly all of what are commonly called
15   the rules of art> .  Thus arises a kind of upholstery in art .
     by which the picture is fitted up with no small degree of
     thought - care and taste  .  and in which one artist excels another
     as much as in any other department of art .  but which is nevertheless
     wholly independent of any possession of <imagine> {the} higher mental
20   powers in the artist . or any appeal to them in the spectator .
     Certain technical dispositions of colour & shadow. are followed out
     <wit> again and again  , and certain arrangements of objects and habits
      

Previous Page Close Next Page

MW