The

New

Mission of Art

JEAN DELVILLE (PORTRAIT).

Frontispiece.

10

VMAA

THE

NEW

MISSION OF ART

A STUDY OF IDEALISM

IN

ART

By Jean Del ville

"The

mission of Art in the world is so mighty

that it should be cherished with care and
encouraged to the utmost ot our power,
striving with all our being to keep it pure;
it would be a deed as great before God as
useful to man to lead Art back to the inexhaustible fount from which it ought never to
p.-f.g. lacuria.
have wandered."

"the harmonies of existence."

Translated by

FRANCIS COLMER,
with Introductorsr
Clifford

Baz and

London

"

NMAA/NPG'ilfBRARY

UtU 7

1989

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

'

Francis Griffiths
n Lane, Strand

^HK iGAMCELLED!

To
The Members of the
"ORPHEUS" ART-CIRCLE
this Translation is

dedicated

The Prayer
O God

of Light in

of a Magician

whom

all

worlds are one,

An atom from that fierce and fiery place

Wherein men stray, behold before Thy Pace

My

soul,

an eagle mounting

to the sun.

The blood-stained idols of an erring race,

The clouds of evil that men's hearts have done.
Roll on beneath me to that hour when none
That brought to birth no beauty shall win grace.

God,

Who

gazing on the perfect whole

Smiles at our loveliness of form or soul

As gradually the prisoned

self escapes,

Beyond all time, division, change, or death.

Thou art the immortal essence of all shapes

And

earth of Thine eternity a breath

JEAN DELVILLE
CLIFFORD BAX)

(Translated by

Contents
PAGE

THE PRAYER OF A MAGICIAN

JEAN DELVILLE, BY CLIFFORD BAX
.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

vii

xiii

ON "THE NEW
EDOUARD

MISSION OF art/' by

SCHURE

xix

PREFACE
I

II

xxxiii

THE OUTLOOK OF MODERN ART

THE NATURE OF IDEALISM

THREEFOLD HARMONY
.

THE
.

II

III

THE PRINCIPLE OF BEAUTY

27

IV

THE IMPORTANCE OF THEORY

36

THE MYSTERY OF FORM

48

VI

THE SPIRITUALISING OF ART

61

VII

THE ART OF THE FUTURE

74

VIII

THE RELATIONS OF CHURCH

STATE TO ART

APPENDIX TO C.
SACRED ART

. .

AND
86

A REVIVAL OF
THE BEURON SCHOOL

VIII
:

IO4

IX

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF ART

121

THE CREED AND THE CRITICS

I45

XI

IDEALISM IN ART: SOME MISTAKEN

NOTIONS

INDEX

163
183

List of Illustrations

(i)

Jean Delville (Portrait)

Frontispiece
FACING
PAGE

(2)

L'Ecole de Platon

(3)

L'Ange (Fern and Khnopff)

16

(4)

L'Homme Dieu

49

(5)

Les Soeurs d'Illusion

(6)

Promethee

(7)

The Virgin of

(J.

School)
(8)

(J.

Delville)

..

Delville)

(J.

64

Delville)
S.

L'Amour des Ames

97

Maur

(Beuron
..

..

(J.

Delville)

..112

145

JEAN DELVILLE

THE

AUTHOR

of

the following treatise

known by name

to very few
the book
yet
readers,
of his
reveals a personality so distinguished that
will

be

English

those hitherto unacquainted with M. Delville's

work may care

The few

to

know something

of

the

to whom he is already known

will be found among those who, possessing an

writer.

interest in the arts,

have lived a considerable

time in Brussels or in Glasgow. In the former,

because M. Del ville is an artist of renown in
his own country
in the latter, because about
eight years ago he was appointed to the chiefprofessorship in the Glasgow School of Art.
:

He worked

there

for

half-a-dozen years and

with such personal success that when he returned

and instituted the '' Atelier Delville"

number of his former pupils went oversea

to Brussels

a large

to follow him.

The world of art is hardly less variously

peopled than the wider world of politics and
affairs.
No painter, no writer, can ever please
all artists, and M. Delville, especially, by his
unflinching adherence to idealism, has encountered for many years much ridicule or abuse
from the supporters of other schools.
It is
unfortunate that so small a number of men
is capable of avoiding an extreme.
No sooner
is a certain style grown over-ripe than the
next generation, dismissing the entire school

Jean Delville

xiv

more markedly in the

Here in England at the

as misguided, errs yet

opposite direction.

moment we

read articles by

that Burne-Jones

men who

knew nothing

declare

of his art or

nothing of sublimity in the work

of Tennyson. In place of those formerly accepted
that there

is

and over-praised, they

exalt

some

trifling fellow

who, though deficient in a thousand ways, has

yet no trace of the particular weakness which
overcame the giant they would depose.
For reaction, useful as a corrective influence,
is nearly always excessive, and its devotees
quite readily mistake their own backwater for
the full main-stream of art.
Incapable of
improving upon the achievements of a bygone
school, they choose out themes and methods
which were most likely rejected as unworthy
by the painters they despise. The excessive
praise of Whistler is now subsiding, but in its
place has arisen the cult of those who consider
clear colour to be the brand-mark of the
commonplace, fair form the delight of an inferior
taste.
Nor do these bubble-movements lack
believers among those who are fearful lest they
should be stigmatised as unprogressive, for
most men critics or craftsmen are carried
along by the taste of their time, and few are
those who, standing aside from the immediate,
work on in the great traditions.
Of such is M. Delville. Faults he has, but
not the faults of our time. There is no affectation

xv

Jean Delville

catchpenny display
With him, the picture has again
of skill.
more importance than the painter.
of
become
For he is a poet, a thinker, a man who cares

in his

work

no

superficial,

greatly for the welfare of the world.

The eminent French poet who penned the

introductory note to this book has shown how
unavoidably a painter communicates his
" Weltanschauung " to his work, and every
phase of M. Delville's mind is thus reflected.
In early youth he was a materialist, and the
dusty paintings of that period which hang
from the walls of his studio would merit praise
from some of those who call themselves,
euphemistically,

''

rationalists.''

Indeed,

if

anyone should search the great studio he might

disinter
examples of many contemporary
methods. For even in the earliest of his studentdays M. Delville possessed a facility so astonishing that before he had been working at the
School of Art in Brussels for more than a week,
the professor set up his canvas as an objectlesson to the assembled students.

In after-

years the paintings he produced readily reflected

the rapid changes of his mind.

For he did not rest easy in materialism, and,

having experimented with spiritism, in spite
of the usual chicanery he discovered what he
considered overwhelming evidence of disincarnate existence.
The pictures which
accompany this phase are more terrible than

Jean Delville

xvi
beautiful

vast,

lurid,

and

During

awful.

a few years he followed the faint stars of

spiritism until they had brought him to
the limitless horizon of theosophy, and it
is to the inspiration of this world-old wisdom
that his latter and important work is due.
His adherence to that scheme of thought has
cost

him much,

Party, which

for in

Belgium the Ecclesiastical

dominant, regards theosophy

as a formidable menace, and has opposed him
is

But M. Delville was born a fighter,

and never flinches in his loyalty to a philosophy
which is strangely abused and misunderstood.
A keen student of contemporary science, an
eloquent and fiery speaker, one who writes
prose with vigour and verse with a rare beauty,
repeatedly.

he

is well able to defend his convictions with a

widely-cultured mind and with a range of ability
that compels respect.
Unfortunately, he shares with Rossetti a
dislike of exhibiting his work, but the annual
exhibitions at Brussels have occasional examples.
A stately picture, called *' L'cole de Platon "
was exhibited some years ago at Milan, where

won

the Gold Prize.

Most of M. Delville's
work is on a very large scale indeed, his
preliminary sketches are usually the size of
A vast composition,
most large pictures.
it

which

is

named

*'

L Homme-Dieu,''

sents a multitude of

and

men and women

repre-

surging

up, with gestures half exultant, half despairing.

Jean Delville

xvii

to the enaureoled Christ,

''

wall in his

would

ateher/'

occupies an entire

Yet he has said that he

again if he

like to re-paint it as large

could put

it

in a church.

At present

in his private studio, at Forest,

a country suburb of Brussels, he is preparing

a series of frescoes which are to decorate the

Perhaps the

walls of the Palais de Justice.

designs for this national

work are the most

and most complete examples of

which he has yet achieved, and

powerful

idealistic art
it

is

safe to predict that the Belgians of the

future

will

not

regret

the

choice

of

the

commissioners.

M. Delville was born in 1867

he never

studied his art except in the school at Brussels,

although when his student-days were over he

spent some two years in Rome a city which

he felt to be strangely familiar, thus offering a
theme for speculation to the believer in palingenesis.

His manner of

a mystic
in the list

life is

the vegetarian
of the enlightened

are those of the intellect.

simple, as befits

may number him

;

and

his pleasures

Often might a friend,

having walked through the little garden, come

into the house to find him absorbed in a brilliant
rendering of some Wagnerian masterpiece, or
studying with the firmest concentration some
recent work on evolution or biology. In these
days, when life is losing continually more and
more of its ancient dignity, when occultism,

AI

Jean Delville

xviii

above

all

else,

commercial,
it is

has fallen into the hands of

and vulgar persons,

unreligious,

an inspiration to receive the friendship of

like M. Delville, whose life is worthy of

man

his great religion,

who

retains not a little of

the grandeur which caused the occultists of old

time to be so greatly honoured, who realizes
the wonder of existence, the sublimity of the
universe, and the potential godhead of man.
Almost alone he is combatting, year after year,

the inane but popular painting of our time,

life and in some of the best
of the Belgian reviews that conception of art
which he formulates in the present work. It
is with deep interest that we who are his allies
will watch the reception given to it in England.
It is a book which proclaims, not a new and
unrelated art, but the necessity of applying
setting forth in daily

some

new

all

that

is

to the incomparable
a book which opposes
praised in the art of our

inspiration

traditions of the past

commonly

a book which we who are with him

can only regard as the work of a great man who
writes in a trivial and materialistic age.
period

C. B.

'*

Introductory Note to
The New Mission of Art

"

By Edouard Schure

THIS

is the book of a true young man

a book of courage and nobility, a sign
of light in times of darkness.
The work
of a thinker, artist, and one inspired, a testimony
to his knowledge, enthusiasm, and faith, it is
designed to be a work of initiation and
;

renovation.
It

is

not the

has been

made

time that the attempt

nowadays to deduce the laws
first

Beauty from esoteric teaching, that

from the eternal philosophy in the depths

of

is,

of

the soul, in order to cast the horoscope of contemporary art. But it is the first time that a
painter has done so, one, moreover, unattached
to any party, church, or school, with the delightful ingenuousness of a pure soul, a manly spirit,
and an upright conscience.
''
The Mission of Art,'' by Jean Del ville, is
an exposition of perfect Idealism according to
universal Theosophy. This requires explanation.
The nineteenth century began with that
great awakening in literature and art which it

has been agreed to term Romanticism. An

instinctive reaction against academic conventions, it was at once a return to nature, and
a sincere and splendid advance towards the
heights of the Ideal. It produced works of genius.

Introductory

XX

was not given to it to influence our civilisation by a work of fruitful education or definite
construction, because it was not built on firm
foundations. Romanticism was Idealism without
Idea. By that I do not mean to say that the
poets and creative artists of the first half of the
century, among whom are to be numbered

but

it

Chateaubriand,

Lamartine,

Vigny,

Ingres,

and Thodore Rousseau, were not

inspired in their great works by lofty ideas.
Delacroix,

merely affirm that they were not governed

and guided, in their general conception of Art,

by a clear and broad synthesis. Let me be
understood. Neither the poet or artist ought
to be professed philosophers, but they need, in
order to exercise their functions to their fullest
extent, to live in an atmosphere of organic
philosophy and a living religionunless they
are strong enough to create a philosophy and
religion for themselves, moulding to it through
strife and sorrow the children of their thought

as

is

the case with the few Titans, Lucifers,

and Prometheuses

of Art.

Romanticism had

neither this atmosphere nor these giant creators-

Without
its uncertainty and weakness.
a compass, without a rallying point, it was
soon disintegrated and driven out of its course.
In proportion as the influence of the Kantian
and Hegelian philosophy, by which indirectly
it was governed, began to wane, in proportion
as its place was taken by the Positivism of

Hence

Introductory

xxi

Auguste Comte and all his disciples, so Romanticism wavered and fell back in confusion before
the triumph of Naturalism and its mongrel
followers.

Whether the
he denies

it

artist

or not,

wish
all

art,

it

or no, whether

whatever

be, corresponds to a philosophy.

or consciously his
certain

way

method

is

of looking at nature

man. Naturalism

is

it

may

Instinctively

governed by a

and considering

the assertion of appearances,

the faith in instinct, in the fecundity of physical

pure and simple, as Zola declares with

such honest simplicity.
The naturalism in
favour at present exactly reflects the materiallife

teaching of philosophy.
Now, not only
has this naturalism deplorably narrowed the
horizon of thought, but, as Jean Delville justly
observes, '* it atrophies the ideal creative powers
in the artist's soul by snapping the links that
bind it to the spiritual world.'''' Nature,"
says the author of The Mission of Art again,
*'
is a mingling of enchantment and terror, of
ecstasy and awe. The monstrous intermingles
with the divine.
It is a wonderful chaos of
secret splendours."
The poet, as far as he is
at all worthy of the name, will ever return to
thought, which implies choice, to sentiment,
which presupposes a minimum of moral and
istic

But what

will the artist, sculptor,

or painter do, without

any other guide than

spiritual

life.

animal instinct or love of appearances

We

Introductory

xxii

have seen the results

we see them still.
''
They have blown up Parnassus/' says the
young artist initiate who has written this
book, '' and from the fragments of the sacred
hill they have begun to hew unsightly abor;

tions."
If

naturalism in art corresponds to material-

istic

pantheism in philosophy, impressionism,

its

bastard offspring, corresponds to absolute

scepticism and tosses between extremes like

a wreck drifting upon the

springs from a

sea.

dim perception

Impressionism

of the insufficiency

of naturalism as a source of inspiration.

It

throws itself into impression to escape from

the tyranny of appearances.
But, lacking
intellectual principles,

it

escapes

it

only to

fall

under the tyranny of sensation and extravagant

fancy. Sometimes it delights in a brutal realism
turning the painter into a photographer, and
causing the stage to become nothing more than
Sometimes it gets
a cinematograph of life.
lost in a vague mysticism without form and
without idea. Nay more, for hungering after
originality, wishing to shock the eye and twist
the nerves, it plunges finally into a perverse
pursuit of the Ugly.
Shakespeare, that

learned

occultist,

who

understood nature and the human soul so well,

beside whom our poor psychologists are but
ignorant apprentices, Shakespeare gives to the
diabolic powers that hover about mankind to

Introductory
urge

on to

it

weapon

is

xxiii

evil

a terrible weapon.

That

the aesthetic creed of the Ugly.

" Fair

is foul, and foul is fair,

Hover through the fog and filthy

air." *

So sing the witches in Macbeth dancing upon

the heath, where soon they will weave round
the hero a dark spell, which will cause the red
spectre of murder to rise in his soul.
''
Fair is Foul " This arcanum of witchcraft,
which is the black magic of evil, has been used
as a proverb by the whole school of amorphism
and debased and decadent aestheticism, which
makes a wrong and distorted application of it
I

without
understanding its baneful
effects.
Naturalism, realism, impressionism variations,
shades, perversions of the same evil absence

and ideal in the artist. By expelling

the ideal from art, the pretended naturalism
has misunderstood and profaned nature.
Because, considered on its magnificent entirety,
nature is an evolution towards Beauty as
humanity is an ascent towards the Ideal.
Only one ought to divine the inner meaning of
nature and humanity, and not servilely copy
Yes, Art
their appearance and deformity.
of principles

imitates Nature, but does so in order to complete

it.

And

that

is

how

it

happens that Nature,

and profaned by short-sighted careless

advocates of naturalism, has avenged herself
by causing them to mistake Ugliness for Beauty.

insulted

Macbeth

I. i.

Introductory

xxiv

Thanks to this confusion, the better of them

have become dangerous madmen, and the others
mischievous
art

has

fools.

lost

its

whelmed by the

we

And as a result contemporary

strength,

disorder

and become overand anarchy which

see.

But

in the midst of this witches'

of grotesque

and

Sabbath

droll apparitions, there arose,

some twenty years

ago, an idealist reaction of

which few people, even to-day, suspect the
influence and import. For, to estimate the force
of this undercurrent, it must be known whence
it comes. Jean Delville explains it very rightly,

and there is not the least exaggeration in the

following words as decided as they are carefully
''
weighed
The idealist truth is about to
conquer the modern world with a methodical
positive certainty, which nothing can resist,
since it is the luminous sign of the true evolution
of the spirit, the mediating power which must
re-establish the equilibrium between the past,
:

present,

and

future."

How has that movement been carried on in

the domain of the plastic arts ? To the honour
of art and artists it must be said that it was
through the painters that this glorious upward
tendency was first set on foot, and that simultaneously in England and France. Everyone is
now acquainted, through the remarkable book
of M. Robert de la Sizeranne, with the renaissance of Contemporary English Painting, of

Introductory

xxv

which the chief representatives are Rossetti,

Watts, Holman Hunt, Herkomer, Millais, and
At the same time two French
Burne-Jones.
painters of genius were assembUng a young
and fearless group around the banner of ideahst
art. I speak of Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave
Moreau. The former effected it by his broad
simphcity, persuasive steadfastness, and winning
gentleness
the latter with more pride and
peculiarity, but with a rare concentration and
intensity, appreciated only in one of the elect.
In spite of all national and individual differences,
there may be observed among all these French
;

and English painters a common

effort.

a search for
distinctive characteristics, of beauty through
harmonious composition, a profound aspiration towards poetry, and a worship of the ideal.
Criticism, which is not usually the halting
follower of genius, decided, after a hesitation
due to its dignity, to tread in the path of the
artists. Nevertheless art criticism, and I speak
of the better kind, has brought to light the
failings of philosophers and thinkers who ought
to shed light on the idealist renaissance, and
who contribute rather to obscure it.
We will take only two aesthetic writers, two
return to the severity of

line,

most celebrated and most talked of

Ruskin and Tolsto. In spite of their many
numerous merits, neither of them perceives the

of the

essential.

Introductory

xxvi

With

and its educais not a utiUtarian and vacillatRuskin who can point out to

his refined sense of art

tional mission,

it

ing eclectic like

us the future path of

of

art.

In spite of his religion

beauty he cannot do

comprehend

its

it, because he does not

sublime origin, its generation

through the Ideal and the Mother-Idea.

torch burns neither with sufficient

His

clearness

nor at a proper altitude.

Nor, indeed, is it the great and venerable
recluse of lasnaa Poliana who can guide us
in this direction.
Tolsto, in fact, admits no
other principle of art but the moral. He does
n,ot understand the essential value of Beauty,
the harmony of Idea and Form, that is to say,
the supreme principle of Art and its true power

Was

worth the trouble,

after writing great novels and powerful works
concerned with morality to stoop to deny
Sophocles, Beethoven, and Wagner, and to
reduce art to a sermon for the use of Russian
peasants ? And to think that there are Western
circles where these Boeotian fancies are received
like Holy Scripture
It is but another striking
of expansion.

it

in truth

our intellectual abasement, of the

futility of our art, and the poverty of our
criticism.
Inspiration cannot be commanded,
and genius is the most beautiful gift of God.

proof

of

and when it must. But

it can be prevented from coming by destroying
the hearths and temples of humanity, as it
It

comes when

it wills,

Introductory

xxvii

may

be attracted by preparing for it a cradle

and a refuge.
How, then, is the right way to be discovered ?
Which is the safe path ? Where lead those
fertile uplands whose pinnacles are bathed in
dazzling light ? Salvation will follow from two
things the first of which is concerned with
individuals, and the latter with our institutions
of public education
in the knowledge of how

and of a return to Principles. By these words I am far from summing

up the noble exposition of Jean Del ville, but
I shall at least have imprinted a motto on the
banner he unfolds and indicated the goal at
which he aims.
''
The artist needs,'' says this young painter,
convinced of the power of the Soul and the
Idea, *' more learning and sensibility he must
receive initiation.
He owes this to himself
in order to develop his intellectual and spiritual
being."
And later
people are only
*' The
truly great before God and before Art by reason
of the spirituality which emanates from their
works.
My hope is to see the point
of view of artists raised, and of seeing them
to discipline the Soul

definitely

engaged themselves in the evolution

of the human ideal, so that their individual

psychology, becoming more luminous, shall
glow more brightly in their works.''

So much
principles.

for
I said

discipline

let

us

come

to

above that Romanticism had

Introductory

xxviii

been Idealism without Idea, that

eternal

and universal

is,

without

The new Art

Principles.

be Idealism with Idea. That is to say, it

will proceed from the perfect science which is
itself
derived from complete knowledge of
Oneself, in a word from that Theosophy which
is such a transcendent Biology.
In opposition to the conventional and fossilising eclecticism of academies, to an animallike naturalism, to an ephemeral impressionism,
Jean Delville places Idealist Art entire and
absolute, which conforms to the two great
scientific laws of selection and synthesis.
He

will

cojidenses
(i.)

it

into three principles

Beauty [La Beaut spirituelle),

which requires lofty conception. Idea
Plastic Beauty [La Beaut plastique),
by which is meant the perfection of
forms with a character at once typical

Spiritual

(ii.)

and individual

Technical Beauty [La Beaut technique),

which is the realizing of the two
former in a perceptible form.
It is not enough to be acquainted with each
of these principles in its extent and depth, and
wishing to apply all three to a work of art. Its
hierarchy and genesis must likewise be known.
It must be grasped that the first among them
spiritual beauty
is
the essential, central,
and generating principle in particular. This
it is that engenders the second, as the second
(iii.)

Introductory

xxix

is from Idea, by way of

Sentiment and Sensation, that a work of art

engenders the third. It

arises in the artist's spirit.

On

the receptive

hearer, the intelHgent spectator, the contrary

produced.

effect is

to Sentiment,

he

will

He

will rise

from Sensation

and from that to the Idea, and

only attain the true aesthetic emotion

at their final point,

and Sensation

when he embraces Sentiment

in the primordial

and

final

unity

of the Idea. So that it is ever the Idea which

It
remains the generating point of Beauty.
engenders the Form which moulds Matter, as
the Spirit creates the Soul, and the Soul fashions
the Body.
It is because Materialism holds a

contrary view that

phically,

radically false, philoso-

it is

artistically,

and

socially

unsound.

What makes

every real work of art of interest

is that it reproduces the mystery of Creation
which operates in the Microcosm as in the
Macrocosm, in Man as in the Universe. It shows
us likewise the Involution of spirit within matter,
and the Evolution of matter in the direction
of spirit.

formulae.

But the
It is

artist

enough

has no need of these

for

him

to recognize

by

intuition and experience the hierarchy of

the generating Principles of Beauty.
For so
the great ones worked and ever will work.
To demonstrate the fecundity of these vital
principles

and

all

would necessitate a long development

the detail of technical applications to

and music, those symbolic and

architecture

XXX

Introductory

generalizing arts,

to sculpture,

poetry, those living

to their synthesis

and human

the drama.

painting,

arts,

and

and

finally

In fact to create

would be
necessary to return again to Number, at once
the source of Form and Harmony.
Jean Del ville wished only to give in this
book the higher principles of the plastic arts,
those which the painter and sculptor need to
illuminate their consciousness and put life
into their work.
He has done so as an artist
and philosopher. Some idealists, perhaps, will
not hold the same view with regard to certain
special points. For my part, while sharing his
philosophy, I should be less severe than he on
landscape-painting, and I should hesitate to
banish from art national colour, while wishing
a transcendent system of aesthetics

it

should be through inspiration as universal

But all without exception will
admire with me the Mother-Ideas which flash
with such brilliance throughout these pages,
and the mighty regenerating breath that
emanates from them. There is one admirable
passage upon '' the nude, which brings us face
to face with the enigma of life, which incorporates universal ideas, and reveals to us the
meaning of nature.'' Michael Angelo, Leonardo
de Vinci, and Raphael, would shake him by
both hands. There are others in the vein of
Juvenal upon '' the adultery of art with
materialism," upon '' aesthetes without aesthetics,

that

it

as

possible.

Introductory

xxxi

incompetent impostors, and sneering eclectics/' This

book seems written in a single burst, under an
impulse so prolonged and impervious that the
dandified

wild irresponsibles,

triflers,

author never even thought of dividing it into

I do not know what is most striking
in this work, at once so youthful and so mature,
so nervous and so powerful whether the artist's
chapters.*

soul,

enthralled

so

can be

felt

by

Beauty which

eternal

palpitating in every line, or the

which rises
and naturally towards divine principles,
or the proud courage of the young warrior of
spirit of the initiated philosopher,

so easily

the ideal,

who

flings

himself into the midst

and wounds,
with the flaming sword of speech and the shield
of faith. If we were timorous enough to recommend prudence to him, he would reply proudly
'*
The artist who is not conscious of a divine
power making his human power fruitful of
Beauty, and who, in the depths of his being,
does not feel the God of Love and Harmony
vibrate with which worlds and races of men
vibrate, the same is unworthy of civilisation."
Artists and poets, youthful believers in Life
and the Ideal, read this book. You will discover
of the combat, fearless of blows

therein

new paths

leading to the secret places

Beauty and torches to light your way. It

announces the dawn of an era
when Art will
be consecrated by Metaphysics and Initiation."
of

'*

This has been done in the present edition.

Introductory

xxxii

On

the one hand this breviary of Beauty

a plain synthesis of the whole evolutionary
process in aesthetics during the nineteenth

is

century. It represents its closing period. On

the other it brings before our eyes something
that seems like a white road, between a colon-

nade

from a huge pylon and

by propylaea towards the Temple of

of marble, leading

flanked

perfect Art

which,

let

us hope, will be that

of the twentieth century.

EDOUARD SCHUR,

Preface

THIS

book does not claim to be a

literary

.essay or a treatise of philosophical analysis.

It

not

does

aim,

so

as

many

others

have done, at giving a cut-and-dried recipe

a

masterpiece

by means

for

theory of
uniformity, but it desires to urge the unfettered
personality of the artist towards a higher
of

the

Comprehension of Art and a purer Conception

of Beauty.

In writing

it

I believe

that I have fulfilled

my plain and honest duty as an artist.

think that in an age, and in a country,
which materialism in art is still supreme this
book comes in good time, and will awaken the
I

in

conscience dulled

by various

true power of Art, that

is

pursuits to the

to say, its mission to

humanity.
Materialism is the artist's foe, because it
wastes or destroys in him the ideal and creative
powers of his being. The genius of art is not
to be reconciled to the ignoble attitude of
materialism.

The laws of life are not merely physical laws

they do not dwell in the instinct, but in the spirit,
whence they cause the being to be evolved.
The experimental proofs of the existence and
survival of the soul have been scientifically
,

established.

Modern esthetics ought not to neglect the

consequences of those proofs. It is indispensable
A2

Preface

xxxiv
that the artist should
sentiments,

know

emotions,

that ideas, figures,

sensations,

means simple movements

or mechanical vibrations.

of

are

by no

organic matter

He must

understand
the ideal part that his soul and his spirit play
in the divine mystery of Nature.
There has been much philosophising about
art.
For the most part, superficial writers on
aesthetics have only dealt vaguely with this
profound and difficult subject, which requires
something
beyond taste
and learning
initiation

And with respect to this I wish it to be

observed that the use in this book of the terms
spirit,

soul,

spiritual,

idea,

divine,

instinct,

etc.,

is

astral,

mental,

by no means the

an artificial or chance terminology.

These words signify conditions and faculties
result of

and I am
well acquainted with the part which these
unseen powers and conditions play in the
mysterious moulding of the aesthetic concept.
For more than ten years I have devoted precious
of

being,

of

perceptible

realities,

hours to the illuminating study of occult

psychology, not merely in a speculative, but

an experimental, direction. I am conscious

of the value and importance of these words.
in

This book, then, is not the result of fancy.

It is dedicated chiefly to the artists of Belgium,
above all to those who are young, since they
And I could say to
are nearer the future.

xxxv

Preface
them that

there

if

in a School, there

is
is

more art
also more

in

Nature than

art in the Ideal

than in Nature.

The

soul of a nation,

strength

and

grandeur,

capable at times of
is

nevertheless slow

in following the great evolutionary tendencies

human

The national materialism

still weighs too heavily upon it.
But a people
is only truly great before God and before Art
of the

in

spirit.

consideration

exhibited in

The

its

of

the spirituality which

is

works.

races which produce great artists are those

where not only physical beauty is met with,

but where beauty is found in the heart and
in the soul.

Unless
is,

am much

deceived, national soul

believe, superior to the national character

(temprament). At bottom of every race there

is something very pure, very bright, and very
strong.
But it still slumbers, as thought
stupefied by the fog of materialism which
surrounds it.
The age possesses good painters, good
sculptors. It has no great artists.

Why?
Because

powers, that is to say,

its vigorous capacity for painting and sculpture,
have not been put at the service of the Ideal,
Spirit,

its

artistic

and Beauty.

And, in saying that, observe that I am not

attempting to extol a literary or philosophical

Preface

xxxvi

which would be fooUsh and wrong. Long

ago artists like Chenavard and Wiertz showed
art,

the hollowness of their extravagant

as the decayed schools in which

art, as well

Form was no

longer a matter of importance.

dream
raised, and
I

of seeing the standpoint of artists

of seeing

them return once

the evolution of the

human

for all to

ideal, so that their

individual knowledge of the soul, becoming

luminous,
works.
fresh

may

may

more

glow with purer lustre in their

Has any one seriously reflected on the

and luxuriant blossoming of art, which

on the threshold of the twentieth

century, from the idealist mode of thought ?
That is the aim of my very humble effort to
originate,

awaken
making

latent faculties, so as to broaden,

it

more

by

spiritual, the basis of artistic

growth.

Perhaps

it

is

well that this ardent desire for

regeneration should come from a simple artist.

Perhaps, too and it is my own opinion

would have been more effectual if another

than I someone of more authority had
endeavoured to initiate this.
I have waited for that man.
He has not
come. I have endeavoured humbly to be that
man, since no one would raise his voice in the
name of pure Beauty.
Who, then, will venture to reproach me with
having been impatient in my desire for the Ideal
through Nature, and Beauty through Light ?
it

Preface

xxxvii

do not know what welcome will be given

book that pleads for Spirituality by

to this

artists or the general public.

But

venture to say, without pride and

my inferiority, that neither Ruskin,

conscious of

with his inconsistent and refined eclecticism,

nor Tolstoi, in spite of his good intentions,
rendered futile by such sad lack of aesthetic
culture, and not even Pladan,* so lucid in
his metaphysics, but whose idealism is too
or occasionally too lenient to
aristocratic,
antiquated conventions, have presented a clear
conception of Art as being evolved agreeably
to all the creative energies, both psychic and
natural, of the harmonies of existence.
If some narrow-minded critics, governed by
paltry prejudice, should declare that it is not
well for the artist to take up the pen, common
sense must ask them who then has the right
to impose limits on the way in which the
faculties should be manifested.

others

If

to

likewise,

some particular

confining

locality,

their

and

interest

disliking the

universal principle of Idealism, protest, in the

of what they call '' national art,'' what

name

matter
The Future will reply to them.

does

it

JEAN DELVILLE.
* Josephin Pladan, a novelist and writer on art. He is an idealist,
but broad-minded in his views. His chief works are "Le Vice Supreme "
" Comment on devient Mage," " Comment on devient Artiste," and the
tragedies " Babylon," " La Promthide," and " dipe et le Sphinx."
:

The
New^ Mission of Art

Wew

Ubc

/Ibission of

Hrt

The Outlook

of

Modern Art

Narrow View of Realism and Impres"

sionism Lack of Conscious Effort Genius is not " Unconscious
False notions of Art have obscured its Mission Absence of Beauty

Influence of Nature Study on Art

in

Modern

Art.

no age of humanity, at no period of the

IN history
of Art, have the works of Nature
been
better

more

loved,

appreciated,

studied,

seemingly,

felt,

by our

and
poets,

our men of science, and our artists. Certainly

they have exercised over modern minds, and
over the sensitivity of human beings, on the
whole, often a fruitful influence, from certain
points of view, but since we are so under the
spell of visible things, so confined in our perceptions to objects near at hand, we are forgetful
of

their

concealed,

mysterious,

and

divine

meaning.

Accustomed to the emotion of the moment,

which in this world seems to be enough, the
modern eye can no longer see the ideal signification of natural forms.

For the painter

and contemporary criticism

him in these narrow ideas

nothing more than a superficial

strongly encourages

creation
panorama

is

Impressionism,
the school of those who are weak and guided
by instinct, has proved that, as far as it is
of pleasurable sights.

The Outlook

concerned, Realism amounts to a few invariable

simple

tricks

the

of

palette

and

that

the

which it pretends to know

how to place on the canvas are confined to an
aimless and sorry display of fireworks, which
have only resulted in the negation of Form,
on which all images of Life must depend

moments

of eternity

The eye

upon

of the realist painter looks out

Nature to receive a mechanical impression, like

an animal he looks without seeing
His gaze
wanders over objects casually. Wherever there
is every beauty in Nature, he only sees a
:

pretext

for

optical

vibrations.

amorphous pantheism, steeping

kind

of

his intellectual

powers in the emotional unconsciousness of

instinct and confusing aesthetic emotion with
the animal, has made the artist a
that is to say, one whose
characteristics as an individual have become
that

of

haphazard being

that of a whole class. His vision is that of one

who looks on a thing for the first time his
like those of a
feelings are of the same kind
But the peculiar nature of the
dog or cat
artist, his power of selection, which ought to
;

enable him to see and feel differently to the

average man, are warped or destroyed by the
debasing pantheism of his intellectual degradation.

To

the realistic school Nature has ceased to

be a revelation. Even those who, in the name
of Isis, frantically wave the red flag of Life and

of

Modern Art

profaning

Realism, are, without suspecting

it,

Nature, ever so inscrutable and so

fertile

The Naturalism

of

insulting to Nature, has broken the

unite

it

bonds which

The

to the spiritual world.

love of Life, the Ideal, and God,

is

so

time,

present

the

threefold

so narrowed

modern artist, the love of

Beauty has so completely escaped his under-

in the soul of the

standing, that genius scarcely

now

illuminates

any work.

whose mission would be so noble

were capable of accomplishing has become
Criticism

it

if

it

the apologist for the lack of conscious effort.

*'

Genius is unconscious," it does not cease to

echo in the willing ears of mighty public opinion.
Vinci, that mighty mind,
Vinci, the most

and the most artistic of

learned men unconscious
^Eschylus, the
*'
Titanic conceiver of that Prometheus " in which
theoretical of artists,

he formulates the most conscious of symbols

unconscious
Newton, discovering the laws
of astronomy
unconscious
The ingenious
!

and

bewildering inventor of the astrological

clock of Strasburg Cathedral unconscious

Raphael, the graceful and sublime composer of

**
Bach,
The School of Athens " unconscious

the mathematician of harmony, Wagner, expounding his musical theories unconscious *

* Wagner's literary works, including " Oper iind Drama," " Ueber
das Dirigiren," " Das Judenthum in der Musik," were published at Leipzig
in 1871 in nine thick volumes.

The Outlook

6
Are

these sublime spirits,

who

could seize
a portion of the Universal Light, whence
streams the life of the whole, shedding its
radiance on the multitudes unable to perceive
*
it, unconscious ?
all

That

is

where the lack

must

lack of knowledge,

of idealism, or the

lead.

Genius in art, the ideal in

conceived as the penetration of

not being

art,

spirit into life,

natural and inevitable that

conception
and execution should
corrupted.
it

is

mighty

That

faculty,

which

aethestic

become

allows

the
the

philosopher to arrange his ideas, and

artist to use precision and a sense of form
in the creation of his images,

modern

chroniclers

is

and lovers

not, think our

of

cheap

art,

necessity to the craftsman.

painter has but to open his eyes, and the

miracle of a work of art will be evolved unconsciously
The Will, that mighty creative force
which is to be observed in all men of genius,
and developed in them more than in most
human beings, need not be brought into play.
Artists, you are only organisms which perform
!

their functions

You must be

since the petty critics declare

But Vinci has

satisfied

with that

it.

'*

Painting is the greatest

mental labour, since necessity compels the painter's
said

* " AU fine imaginative work is self-conscious and deliberate . ,

and self-consciousness and the critical spirit are one J' {Oscar Wilde.

^:

" Intentions," p. 100).

of

Modern Art

spirit to fuse itself with the very spirit of nature,

and become
art,

studying

it

object's visible to

Is not

interpreter

the

between nature and

to perceive the causes

which make

us and under what laws.''

this clear

and admirable exposition

art a theme for

of Vinci's attitude towards

ridicule to the petty critics,

who

at the present

time cumber the daily papers with their

digested

and

foolish opinions

And how few

shoulders

artists

will

when they read

ill-

not shrug their

this

by
Magi "

definition

The Adoration of the

and the subtle *' Gioconda " ?
Contemporary ideas of art, praised by dilettanti, and put into practice by the up-to-date
date student, have so overwhelmed the soul in
its chaos and so stifled the consciousness, that
it will take some time before the heart is again
opened to the stirring emotions of pure Beauty.
Acting in opposition to the fundamental
forces of their nature, yielding to the yoke
imposed by the false ideas of the day, artists,
for the most part, have lost their native qualities
and the moral strength which constitute the
the author of

''

essence of their individuality.

They

will fall

very short of their true destiny as artists,

because they have allowed themselves to come
under the spell of a baneful creed of art.
Thrown into this world '' by a decree of the
supreme powers," as Baudelaire
has said,
coming in order to create with their work a

The Outlook

for a work of art a

a perishable
representing an imperishable idea, an
immortal sentiment they have
sight of
Sign

sign,

is

sign

lost

the real reason of their existence, nay more,

their mission
!

They have indeed lost sight of themselves.

They do not know their real worth, not taking
into account the mystery of which they are the

amid society.
They have ended by believing it has been
dinned into them in every tongue
that the

living incarnations

heart which beats in their breast, the brain

which throbs in their temples, their hands, the
precious hands that create, that their whole

bound by the same condition

and the same faculties as those of the

being, in fact, are

of life

chimney-sweep or shoemaker.

The

has to some extent become a

creature of society. Sad to say, he is no longer
artist

an individual in the true psychological sense.

True individualism will be eclectic. To place
in one's library the

the side of

''

''

Divina Commedia

U Assommoir

''

is

''

by

to offer proof

of a deplorable weakness of character,

and to

admire equally the vulgar trash of an Ensor f

and the graceful forms of a Burne-Jones is to
compromise the lofty sentiment of Beauty and
Art by a criminal lack of good taste.
* Zola's novel, well

known

in its dramatised version as " Drink."

" Cercle des Vingt."

t J. Ensor, a Belgian painter, exhibitor at the
He is an eccentric painter, loving strange combinations of colour and
inconsequent fancies. He is represented in the Brussels Gallery by " The

Lampman."

of

Modern Art

It

is

from

9
preoccupation with feeHng

this

or perceiving hke the majority, the

mob, from

that, eager interest in the general, that those

execrable paradoxes have emanated which have

given
''

rise to

the phrase

The Democratising

''

The Socialising of Art,"

of Art."

low affinities, must

view
of art. We have
accompany this degraded
reached that stage. The exhibitions, open to
works defying every possible law, are with us
to prove that art, when it is not based on the
immutable principles of Beauty, can give birth
to ugly and senseless things, and bring the Art
of our divine Masters very low indeed.
The true ideal view of art, the only one
which Art needs to live for and evolve, has been
deserted to the advantage of the most foolish
They have made
abominations of realism.
Realism,

caricatures

by reason

instead

Under the pretext

of its

of

delineating

of colour

and

character.

lighting, there

has arisen Impressionism, that neurotic malady

eye, and in the name of
have begun to paint prison cells
in order to mingle what is horrible with what is

affecting

hand and

originality they

unusual.

Our

both those held every three

years and others, are flagrant examples of a
shameful degradation, if we may venture to
confess what is evident.
There is, too, the
inevitable result which must strike at the very
exhibitions,

roots of the existence, generally speaking, of

The Outlook

10

modern
is
is

art. The absence of idealism in a work

a blemish. Where there is no idealism, there
only something imperfect or meaningless,

and that
still-life,

is

why

pictures of interiors, flowers,

or landscape, will never be the subjects

of true art.*

* Brussels is the real centre of Art in Belgium. Excellent triennial

exhibitions are held at Ghent, and other towns, as Lige, Toumay, Namur,
Mons, and Spa, also have periodical exhibitions. The realism of the Belgian,

Baron Henri Leys (1815-1869), and that of the Frenchman, Courbet, had
a strong influence on modern Belgian art. Under that influence at Brussels
was foimded the " Free Society of Fine Arts " and the " Cercle des Vingt,"
which introduced into its exhibitions works by the greatest foreign artists,
however widely differing in aim and method, thus inculcating the principle
of " individuality in art."

II

The Nature

of Idealism

Threefold

the

Harmony

Idealism Spiritualises Art Influence on Consciousness of Spiritual VibraBeauty of Idea, Form, and
tions
Threefold base of Idealism
Execution Choice of Artist not restricted by Idealism Close study
Impressionism the Poetry of the
of Nature necessitated by it
He who has an Ideal not therefore an
Moment
Its Fallacy
Idealist
Principle of Selection in Nature Pure Beauty only found
Limitations
in the realm of the Ideal Materialism of Modem Art
of Landscape
Evolution of a Work of Art Sensation, Emotion,
Conception.

But the

IDEALISM

and

ART

are the

same

thing.

Ideal has been separated from

has been expelled from it

As idealism in philosophy is equilibrium in
ideas or the constant search for psychic perfecArt, nay,

it

tion, so idealism in art is its sublimation, the

introduction of Spirituality into Art.

The Idea, in the metaphysical
sense,

is

Force, the universal

or

and divine

occult
force

which moves worlds, and its movement is the

supreme rhythm whence springs the harmonious
working of Life.
Where there is no thought, there is no life,
no creation. The modern western world has
become unconscious of this tremendous power
of the Ideal, and Art inevitably has thus

become degraded.

This ignorance of the

of thought has, nevertheless,
obscured and diverted towards materialism all
modern judgment. Materialism does not know
how ideas and thoughts vibrate, and how these
creative

forces

The Nature

12

of Idealism

vibrations impinge on the consciousness of the

individual.

And

yet these vibrations, though invisible to

the greater part of mankind, are able to exercise

an astounding influence over the mentality of

human beings, and thus

assist in their evolution.

Before works of genius the

receives mental

are generated

and

by the

human

consciousness

spiritual vibrations,

which

force of the idea reflected.

The more elevated, pure, and sublime a work

is,
the more the inner being, coming into
contact with the ideal vibration emanated from
it, will be raised, purified, and made sublime.
The artist who is not ideal, that is to say, the
artist who does not know that every form must
be the result of an idea, and that every idea
must have its form, the artist, in short, who
does not know that Beauty is the luminous
conception of equilibrium in forms, will never
have any influence over the soul, because his
works will be really without thought, that is,
without life.

The Idea is the emotion of the Spirit as

Emotion is the reflex of the Soul.
But the emotions should be brought into
harmony. The artist, for instance, should not
feel

that nervous, physical, instinctive, vibration

produced by the lower nature. Those emotions

do not offer suflicient security to give assurance
of the emotional and impulsive higher part.
I have seen silly people moved to tears before

The Threefold Harmony

13

the most trifling things, and remain stoHd before

masterpieces or impressive sights.

an ecstasy before

artists fall into

I
''

have seen

pierrettes

"

by Willette,* or a pig more or less well painted,

and jest at the tremendous conceptions of a
Michael Angelo

We

see that emotion, in order to be real,

must come from above, and ought always to be

purely ideal.
will

It

emotion,

not be a coarse and unhealthy

like

impressionist,

that

displayed

by the

and amorphous

schools,

realist,

which

will influence the artist in the elaboration

his work.

It is against those

of

very schools, which

are destroying contemporary art,

and whose

victims are numberless, that the Idealist view

of art

is

attempting to bring about a reaction.

inharmonious,

It is against this unintellectual,

debased, and revolutionary art, in which the

elements of materialism are supreme, and where
the essential dignity of Art is roughly thrust
aside, that the Idealist is taking his stand and
asserting himself.

In opposition to this
ideal,

where

so lacking in the
barely conceals its

art,

eclecticism

shameless favouring of commonplace tendencies,

as incongruous as they are fruitless, where
empty fancy alone replaces the science of art,
the idealist tendency upholds the principles of
* Willette (b. 1857), a

white

artist.

An ideal

prominent French caricaturist and black and

delineator of the " risque " side of contemporary

life.


The Nature

14
selection

of Idealism

and construction, arranged on

basis of artistic perfection

Beauty
Beauty
Beauty

this

of Idea [La Beaut spirituelle).

of

Form

{La Beaut plastique).

Execution {La Beaut technique).

And all those who have not been able to penetrate the mystery of art, who do not perceive
its divine mission, and who do not understand
the sublime origin of Beauty, will argue in vain
of

against this truth.

We defy anyone who should attempt to refute

deny the value

which
comprehensive
unity of a work of art to demonstrate a theory
of art as overwhelming and as thorough in
which, as in ours, all theories should be contained
or a tendency so predominant and perfect which
should summarise, as ours does, all that is best
or

constitute,

in

our

of the three terms

eyes,

the

in all others.

We

do not hesitate to afhrm that anyone

who shall understand the exact import of our
proposition will be convinced that it formulates
what is the very essence of art, and that there
is no other by which the personality of the
artist can be evolved in a clearer way.
By Beauty of Idea (Beaut Spirituelle) is to
be understood a lofty conception of the subject,

means of artistic idealism.

Then follows the conception of beautiful, noble,
and great things. The choice of a high theme,
this of itself being a

so that the painter should not be over-careful

The Threefold Harmony

15

which should
never be the end, but the means. That is Idea
in the

mere

tricks of his brush,

in a work.

By

Beauty

meant the

Form (Beaut

of

plastique)

is

Form

striving after perfection of

the choice of the most beautiful, the purest,

and most expressive forms. To

reject as far as possible in one's work all that
does not aid in the harmony of line, and to
most

perfect,

accept nothing misshapen or ugly. Ugliness is

only permissible in art under synthetic or
symbolic forms. It appears as an accident of
nature, which can only be transferred into a
work in its finest aspects, when the typical

becomes merged

By

Beauty

in

what

is

individual

Execution (Beaut technique)

we mean the refinement of one's craft to such
a point that it does not predominate in the
work to the harm of the expression.
The
painter ought to make his brush a wonderful
instrument, in order to understand how best
to realise his conception
technical skill, being
the means, ought to be put at the service of
the two preceding terms in order to approach
Perfection. Every piece of handicraft that does
not realise any ideal is an inferior work, a dead
only the
work.
The process matters little
technical and personal quality of its application
is of importance.
of

Watts' pictures of "

of symbolic ugliness.

Mammon "

and " The Minotaur

" are

examples

The Nature

i6

of Idealism

have been reproached heedlessly

enough with being '' exclusive/' and with
wishing to impose certain subjects on the artist.
And we have protested each time that we
Idealists

conveniently could, declaring that selection

legitimate,

is

and conforms to the mysterious laws

of nature.

The
it

idealist theory of art

imposes no subject

leaves to the artist every liberty to create,

but urges him to work by a system to a

loftier

result.

The hierarchy of art is based on the hierarchy

of being. Every true evolution is a victory over
temperament and instinct.
The artist who
cannot master the fatal forces of his lower
so as to consciously
will

never

know

very soul of Art

The

bend them to

self,

his service,

the genius of Perfection, the

!

difference

which

lies

between

the

tendency and the ordinary schools is

based upon a truth drawn from the
splendid Mystery of Life, and the well-head of
the purest masterpieces, and that it adapts the
glorious examples of the Past to the evolutionary impulses of the Future, in order to
maintain I Art in the high spheres of human
idealism, whence it cannot descend without
Idealism should represent
falling into decay.
beauty in science, and science in beauty.
I know that most people absurdly think that
ideahsm in art is but an empty puff of pale
Idealist

that

it is

- *

l'ange (fernand khnopf.)

[To face page

l.

The Threefold Harmony

smoke
him to

veiling the artist's sight,

17

and causing

see Nature through the mist of a bookman's dreams in which the images of life are
fashioned, and that the idealist artist disdains
to go to eternal prolific Nature. We have often
said how false this supposition is, and how,
on the contrary, idealism demands that Nature
should be doubly studied, seeking to penetrate,
not only into its mere objective aspect, but also
into the mystic essence of its synthetic meaning.
The work of art in which there does not
vibrate a harmonious combination of all the
elements which constitute life and the ideal
will only be an elementary work.
What will
always cause the inferiority of landscape is that
it will only be able to translate impressions.
Now the poetry of Nature has other mysteries
than those which the realist landscape-painters
invariably show us, too limited as they are
in their scenes of country life, reduced to the
mere problem of natural light, whence has
sprung that modern puerile impressionism so
''
justly criticised by Chavannes *
The Impres:

sionists are the poets of the

Moment

[Potes de

Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) was the son of a mining engineer

He was bred to his father's profession, but after a visit to Italy
he determined to devote himself to art. He attached himself for a short
time to Scheffer, Delacroix, and Couture, but he was of the opinion that
he gained little from any of them. His early work was loudly decried by
the critics, but he found warm defenders in Thophile Gautier and Thodore
de Banville. In 1861 he produced a great impression with " Peace " and
" War," one of which was purchased for the museum at Amiens. These
pictures inaugurated a great series of decorative works which won for him
a imique position in French art. Chief among them were two emblematical
paintings at Marseilles, the " Ludus Pro Patria " at Amiens, " The Sacred
Grove " and " The Vision of the Antique " at Lyons, the series of " The
*

at Lyons.

The Nature

i8

of Idealism

V Ephmre). Observe that their ideal rests upon

a natural contradiction, and can never he absolutely
realised ; they pretend to fix the passing moment,
the fleeting aspect of things.

Now

things, in their

superficial aspect, are so changing that before

effect

has time

to

take place

it

an

has already ceased

to exist."

Why are some critics heard strangely

reproaching the ideaUst movement with a
pretended " exclusiveness," which protests with
good reason at the heart-breaking increase of
''
landscapes and their accessories
There are
as many ideals as there are artists,'' they cry,
with a logic which M. Prudhomme would
assuredly envy.
:

The
Evidently every artist has his ideal.
ideal of one will lie in painting a pan of roast
chestnuts, another in conscientiously painting
a litter of pigs, while another will elevate his
soul, as a man and an artist, towards an ideal
of beauty.
Then every artist, whether he is a
and " The Old Age of St. Genevive " in the
and the great hmicycle at the Sorbonne symbolical
of Science, Art, and Letters. In some respects his position among French
painters is somewhat analagous to that of the Pre-Raphaelites in England,
but he was without their romantic sentiment. His compositions were
profoundly influenced by his study of the antique, and aimed ot simplicity
of idea and dignity of design. He was distinguished especially from the
classical school which preceded him by the rich landscape setting in which
his figures were placed and his decorative treatment of natural objects.
The realist school charged him wth ignoring Nature he contended that
His works were mostly
it was from Nature that he drew his inspiration.
intended to decorate large buildings, and were conceived on a vast scale.
but Chavannes did not attempt
They are often spoken of as frescoes
fresco-painting, preferring to paint with oil on canvas which was afterwards
applied to the wall, his scheme of colour being subdued in order to harmonize with the architectural environment.
Life of St. Genevive "

Pantheon

at Paris,

The Threefold Harmony

19

student of nature or realism, is an idealist too

On this assumption, directly a painter covers a
bit of canvas with some tubes of paint, or a
!

lump of clay with his fingers,

they are justified in calling themselves idealists.
That is an argument which it is no use

sculptor moulds a

attempting to controvert. In the eyes of many

good people there is no question that Franois
Coppe is as much of a poet as Baudelaire
But few people suspect that nature is itself,
in principle, and in fact, very exclusive.
In
every rank of life, whether vegetable, animal,
or human, there is to be found a selective
!

hierarchy.

the bee
it

is

Observe, for instance,

how

in the choice of the flowers

O you

gets its spoil.

exclusive

from which

of the pantheistic-

you find fault with it for

No, because you know that it is seeking
a rare and precious substance which every
flower does not possess in the same degree.
Well, the idealist is something like a bee, who,

eclectic school, will

that

in

obedience to Nature's laws,

and

chooses

this

rejects that.

Puvis de Chavannes, who always uses the

lofty language of the Great Masters, has not
''
said in vain
Nature contains everything, hut
in a confused way. It must he formed of all that
:

is the result of

for

the

chance or accident, of

moment

inexpressive

that

all that is
is

to

say,

which does not tend to alter our thoughts.

In
a word, we may say that Art completes what

The Nature

20

of Idealism

Nature roughly outlines, and speaks the word

which the vastness of Nature is stammering/'
Baudelaire himself perceived this with
terrible clearness, when he said
''Although
the universal principle be one, Nature never
:

completes anything."
It passes
That fine thought is a truth.
judgment on the impressionist view of nature,
and supports artistic idealism.
Pure Beauty, pure Harmony, only dwell in

the world of the Ideal.

modern

critics, and even the

majority of artists, fail to understand is that
Art is the incarnation of the Idea, of the Word,
under the forms of Nature. It is because they
do not understand this definition that most

of

truth that

them

lose their

of the schools,

above
which

all

way

in the barren discussions

and that

artists

wallow in their

the

artistic

Belgians,

materialism

limits life to the objective world.

If Art,

speaking from the point of view of society,

does not aim at spiritualising the grossness of
popular ideas, it is right to ask what is its real
utility, or rather the reason for its existence.
What intellectual emotion can be aroused by
a pile of draperies, or a still-life subject,
whether they are '' flambs " or not ? How can
the mind feel elevated before fish or oysters,
a bulldog, or a donkey's head, soiled linen,
the patches on the trousers of a workman or
peasant, and what thoughts are likely to arise

The Threefold Harmony

more or

before a landscape

less well

painted

landscape, an element of decoration,

make
is

21
?

may

us dream for the moment, and dreaming

ever an inferior condition of the soul

We have always been amused at the

bourgeois

who surrounds

himself with landscapes to

view the country at his ease because he knows
it.
They are the favourite ornaments of good
dining-rooms.
From the sensational point of
view what comprises the charm of landscape in

Nature

is

the perpetual and elusive

movement

of light over objects.

The landscape,
realist

painter,

especially the landscape of the

is

the art of the uncultured

bourgeoisie.

In a landscape we do not get beyond the

fleeting and personal side of impression* Every
admirer of painted scenery is ever a possible
bourgeois, who only feels the wish to journey
in imagination to some nook of nature. I speak,
be it understood, of those invariable commonplace daubs of paint where the artist has merely
busied himself in imitating the particular
* Perhaps Landscape possesses an inner mystic significance wliich has
not yet been fully comprehended. The Irish poet, A.E., himself a painter
of imaginative landscape, says
"A great landscape is the expression of
a mood of the human mind as definitely as music or poetry is. The
artist is communicating his own emotions. There is some mystic significance in the colour he employs
and then the doorways are opened, and
we pass from sense into soul. We are looking into the soul when we look
at a Turner, Corot, or a Whistler.
No one can say how far,
Turner, in his search after light, had not journeyed into the lost Eden,
and he himself may have been there most surely at the last when his
pictures had become a blaze of incoherent light." (" On Art and Literature,'
:

'

1907).

The Nature

22

of Idealism

imperfections of some piece of scenery.

speaking,

am

landscape,

in

when

Strictly

favour of an imaginative
presents to

it

my

eyes the

enchantments of fairyland. The works of the

Englishman, Turner, are, in this connection,
a

magnificent

impression

revelation.

of

The

ineffaceable

landscapes

his

fantastic

glows in

my

soul,

but what

visionary

had

to confine his faculties to atmos-

still

a pity that this

I can picture to myself

with enthusiasm what a wonderful and potent
artist he would have been had he known how

pheric glories alone

to combine his visions of magical landscapes

with the power of figure composition
!

have said already, and I like to repeat

it, that Landscape is only possible and tolerable
in art so far as it serves as background to some
I

human

action.

are a proof of

The
what

scenic illusions of the stage

advance.
Never did landscape receive a higher poetic
significance than in the Elysian Fields in
Gliick's *' Orpheus," because never has it so
artistically fulfilled its part as a background.
In that case, landscape was what it ought
always to be the pictured space across which
the human form moves. A great lesson in art
is to be derived from this sublime scene. Gliick
shows himself there to be not only a great
I

musician, but also a great painter.

Landscape means background.

who

paints

The painter

a landscape under the pretence

The Threefold Harmony

23

merely practising his palette or by way of a

study will be doing right. He will be wrong every
time he exhibits this acrobatic feat of his brush.
Landscape, as far as pictures are concerned,
And,
is one of the illegitimate forms of Art.
In
further, it is the product of a decadence.
of

landscape entered the province of

fact,

at the time

when the

art

was

great Italian art

Gradually those less skilled

diminished the representation of the human

falling into decay.

form

their

in

increasing pictures

of

Nature,

and nowadays the incapable have allowed

it

It may be said that

a work of art strictly begins hy being a Sensation
a physical, inferior, realist state an Emotion
middle state in which the soul is moved,
a Conception
and sentiment awakened

to completely disappear.

What is
and spiritital state.
sensation then ? For the most part artists and
critics do not know what it is.
They say very
loftier,

ideal,

evasively, defining
is

''

it

in general terms, that it

the vibration of our whole being,''

knowing

either

how

without

or from where this vibra-

tion comes.

From

a physiological, as well as psychological,

point of view, sensation is that sensitive force
of which the nerve cells are the conducting
threads.
It is by Sensation that the sense
perceptions of the body are communicated to
the Consciousness. But by what are Life and
Will communicated to this Consciousness

The Nature

24

By

of Idealism

the centre of emotion in a being

heart.

the

Through the heart indeed we

feel

sensations of pleasure or grief, because pure

belonging to the state

of instinct, a pleasure or a grief being unconscious of or outside our will. In the emotional
centre, the heart, which draws its fluctuations
sensation

is

here

still

from these elements

shifting

and

of emotion.

sentiment,

of

we reach

allied to the soul,

By means
the

passions,

which are ever

life

of

hatred,

love,

Finally

we reach

that

the region of inspiration.

is,

the state

are manifested

it

etc.

the mental and spiritual state

Through that

are gained the perceptions of truth or false-

hood, beauty and ugliness, etc. A materialist

writer on art, Gabriel Sailles, has formulated
a great artistic truth without suspecting the
occult reality of what it conveys
''An image
:

is the

sensation spiritualised.''

It is sensation,

which, penetrating the higher kinds of vibrations, is transformed to such a degree that it

becomes perception.
then that there is accomplished what
is termed, with regard to a philosopher, the
association of ideas, and with regard to an
it is then that
artist, the formation of images
Sensation is transformed into Emotion, and
becomes, under the complicated action of the
spiritual forces set in motion, thought and will.
That is where creation begins, and the point
whence the work takes shape. The organ which
It is

The Threefold Harmony

25

serves for the psychic transmission of thought

Needless to say, these forces
is the brain.

perform their functions with the organs more

quickly than one can write about them. Without
attempting to explain here how the vibrations
of thought act on the matter of the brain, it
to say that the idea

is sufficient

transmitted

is

with the rapidity of lightning.

According
vibrations,
artist
is

by

hierarchy

the

to

the

work

is

connexion

connexion.
sensation

creative

and Form. The idea

the image is the
the form is the physical

Idea, Image,

the mental connexion

astral

of

evolved in the true

The physical corresponds with

the astral corresponds with emotion

the mental corresponds with inspiration.

The man who is an artist is then impelled,
impassioned, or inspired according to the centre
that is to
which acts on his consciousness
;

he is at different times under the low

domination of instinct, the body
under the

say,

intermediate influence of sentimental emotion,

and under the higher inspiration of spirit, the psychic being, the life of
intellect and will.
The work, considered for
the sake of analogy as a kind of being, will
have, as man has, a Body, Soul, and Spirit. It
will possess, then, three harmonious influences
forming its vital unity, namely, a plastic Form,
a pure Emotion or lofty Sentiment, and an
Idea. To be complete, proportionately to its

passion, the soul

The Nature

26
origin, a

work

of art should

of Idealism

show the twofold

action of involution through the Idea to the

Form, and evolution

Idea.

of the

Form towards

the

Ill

The
To

Principle of Beauty

must express Beauty Artistic Laws do not

the Artist's Personality The Artist dependent on
Beauty Beauty an Absolute Principle Necessity for studying the
Laws of Cosmic Ideas The Art of the Future an Art of lofty Emotion

attain Perfection, Art

interfere with

The Law Beauty the Law LifeLife Harmony,

BeautyThe Harmony of Sound and of FormThe
Harmony
NatureThe Mirror
Physical and Mental phases
the Divine

and Reason

of

of

is

is

of

Modern Ugliness

ON

of

Academic, Realistic, Amorphous.

no pretext can it be denied that the

end of Art is Perfection, which
is nothing more than Beauty expressed
by means and pure conceptions of everything
essential

ugly. This does not mean that Perfection will

be found under the limitations of an ideal
based upon an immutable formula and process.

The
be

first

condition of a

beautiful.

way

But

Beautiful in
will invariably reply
?

work

is

beautiful how,

that

and

it

shall

in

what

the eclectic school

that is, all those who

itself,
;

have only a poor comprehension of art, and

who do not know upon what mysterious and
sublime foundations the whole theory of art is
reared.
A work of art, to deserve that rare
term, must be beautiful in a threefold way, or
it will not be so at all.
I know that to demand
this requires an equilibrium and a harmony
in the creative powers of the artist very rarely

met with

in this age, taking into consideration

the material tendency of modern ways of

thought, and the weakness of artists in striving
One often hears it said
towards perfection.

by

superficial people,

and

have often seen

The

28
it

written too, that

development
say

There

schools.

one side

there

Now

another.

dangerous

is
is

to

creation.

artistic

spring

they,

is

personaHty

of

for

principles

it

Principle

conventions

the

for

lay

down

From

that,

and

{poncifs)

no absolute Ideal, shouts

no absolute Beauty, shouts

the

disastrous

error

the

of

conventional schools simply rests in wishing

that

principle

should

replace

the

artist's

which must inevitably result in

an absurd generalisation
that is, a '* poncif J'
What constitutes the absurdity and poverty
personality,

of true conventional art is the principle of

uniformity in composition and execution. But
to deny the laws of art on account of an error,
either of a special or general character, formulated by a school that has gone astray is to
fall into the same absurdity
There exists
!

Law

mother

of Art, as there exists a Universal

of all other laws.

Laws

To deny

Law,

the existence

nothing more or less than proving

oneself to be insane, or unconscious, which
comes almost to the same thing. Beauty has
absolute ideal, as mathematics has its
its
of

is

absolute number. Just as the mighty harmony

of the physical and moral world indicates

and reveals to us the evidence of an immutable

wisdom, of principles and eternal laws, and
of an infinitely active creative intelligence
forming the Absolute, so in the same way
Art has its absolute principle.

of

Beauty

29

Many eminent
are

still

modern
beauty
as

and philosophers, who

victims to the great illusion of our

materialistic individualism, believe that

depends

genius alone.
far

writers

on

the

individual

To them beauty

personality

makes

it

artistic

exists only so

manifest,

and

outside personality beauty has no existence.

They

declare

ideal

absolute beauty at

consequently that there is no

According to
all.

untoward theory, well designed to develop

the vanity of art and destroy the love of the
Beautiful, it is not the artist who depends on
Beauty, but Beauty which depends on the
this

And that is equivalent to saying that

does not depend on Life, but Life depends
on man, or that it is not Law that causes
phenomena, but that phenomena is the cause
As a mistaken idea of metaphysics,
of Law.
a mistaken idea of art criticism, we must deplore
all its manifold consequences.
It is not difficult to understand that if
there exists an absolute principle of universal
equilibrium by which the probelm of contradiction is solved, there exists also an absolute
principle of Beauty, which is beyond all imperfections. Beauty could not be the unconscious
consequence of the play of our fancy, whether
that of genius or not. The creative intelligence
of the artist is not set in motion by the mere
accident of the action of the brain, outside the

artist

man

ideal world.

The

30

The

artist,

in

Principle

order to evolve,

will

have

to extend the study of nature to the great laws

That knowledge will urge him

to penetrate the mystery and hidden meaning
of cosmic Ideas.

in the forms of the visible World.

He
of

will

have thereafter a clearer conception

In accordance with Truth, by the

Life.

light of esoteric Science,

the

clearly

splendours

he

will perceive

the

of

Divine,

more
the

splendours of the Universe, and the splendours

of Man
that is, eternal Harmony and Beauty.
The artist in his art, as the sage in his science,
must be in agreement with the harmony of
;

the world.

As matter is a unity, so Beauty is a unity,

though manifested by a different kind of vibration.
It is the duty of the artist to seek this
Beauty through the various degrees in which
appearance undergoes alteration.
The Art of the Future will inevitably be an
art of lofty emotion and lofty reason, or it will
be nothing at all. '' The artist of the future,''
its

says Peladan, '' will he he who shall consciously

have established an agreement between his psychic

and universal
with Life and the Ideal."
personality

The Law

of

science, in just

harmony

the Beautiful, which in

itself

comprises the whole evolution of art, is the

same, to use an analogy, as that which governs
Life.

World.

Pure Beauty

To

reflects the essence of the

anlayse Beauty

that

is,

to seek

Beauty

of

31

for its principles,

is

to endeavour to learn the

causes and laws of universal mystery.

Beauty
God,

sum

is

synonym

the

or, for

of Truth.

greater clearness, the Universal

of Essence, the eternal principle of that

which has, is, and will be, is manifested in Art by

the same laws as those by which He exhibits His
external aspect in Nature or the physical plane.

The idea of God corresponds to the idea of

supreme Harmony, which agrees with the idea
of Unity.

Life

is

Life

nor

creation,

neither unconscious in its

is

spontaneous

Harmony

Harmony

in
is

its

evolution.

Beauty

Concerning vision as much as hearing,

harmony does not belong exclusively to the
domains of music or sound.
As sounds are
produced by the vibrations of the air, colours
are produced by the vibrations of ether.
It
is impossible to put harmony and rhythm in an
exclusive
exists as

of

category.

much

in the

Rhythm, or harmony,
world of forms as in that

in
In music we hear harmony
we see harmony.
Universal Harmony, the divine law of Equili-

sound.

plastic art

brium, which is in beings and things, will be

perceived in different but analogical methods
of

idealism,

as

real,

alive,

and

perceptible,

works of a Pheidias or De Vinci, as in

those of a Beethoven or a Wagner.
For between the sound and form there is
a mystic communion that the study of magical

in the

The

32
incantations

especially

will

Principle
one

enable

to

perceive and understand.

The creative power of the World is expressed

by Form. The divine mirage of created life,
it

reveals to our spiritual

of art, for
in

Nature

lies in

Nature

is

not

art,

gaze

the mystery

but art

is

concealed

like a supernatural treasure.

Genius

seeing the glitter of this treasure through

the physical density of matter.

The

realist or impressionist artist is only

touch with the physical plane of Nature,
the lower objective plane.

in

The

idealist

artist,

generally speaking,

and

genius, in particular, are in touch with the

mental plane, the superior subjective plane.

That is why artists of genius are seers, that

there are exceptions, and that mere craftsmen
are innumerable
!

The
The

ideal

is

in us,

and we are

in the ideal.

spirit seeks or guesses at the spirit of

Nature, which is the secret beauty of things,
the essential image beneath the image of substance, the subjective form under the objective
form, the unseen in the seen.
Human thought, reflecting God and Nature,
is evolved in a similar way to this.
Natural
selection, which affects both the vegetable and
animal planes, is concerned likewise with
humanity or the plane of the ideal.
Occult cosmogony teaches that the physical
universe is the materialisation of the fluid

of

Beauty

33

In fact

universe.

all

forms of Nature pre-exist

in a fluid state before existing in a state of

The great cosmic problem,

natural phenomena (phnomnisme

objective matter.

as

far

as

naturant)

is

explanation,

concerned,

can

and as long

have

no

as positive

refuses to recognise this elementary

and

other
science
experi-

mental truth, it will not unravel the secrets

of matter, which, with such childish pride, it
thinks that it has defined
The creative powers which are manifested
in Nature are not limited to the laws of physical
activity alone, based upon the illusory relation
of our five organic senses.
But we may henceforth declare, in spite of
!

the blind protest of narrow minds, that

we

Reality

is

Beauty, of which

it

call

no more Truth than

what
it

is

only contains the mysterious

and divine germs.

The origin of the Beautiful is the origin of
Creation, and the origin of Creation is God
Beauty is the daughter of the Absolute. It is
its most harmonious plastic emanation.
It
is the soul of Form, the reflection of the Essence
!

in the Substance.

It

is

the truth of Essence

in the falsity of Matter, since, as a lucid philoso-

pher has put

it,

external forms

exist,

but are

not.

He who

through the real forms can see the

combination of the three powers, the three
states, the three mysterious equilibriums, he

The

Principle

and the

secret of its

34
alone will understand

power

of

Art

life

he alone

aesthetic growth,

will

understand the

Like

Art, like Life, has its origin in God.

science,

of

Art reveals God.

Beauty

is

the Mirror

God.

Every work that does not cause God to be

an abortion, the lees of all that is imperfect,
the ashes of empty technique, a labour false
and useless. Whether it be expressed through
Evil or Good, through sin or prayer. Beauty
must be either the sullied mirror or the open
felt is

which

stainless sky, o'er

is

wafted the terrible

and sublime thrills of the Divine.

But how degrading to modern

art

is

the

who abuse form

clumsy abominatheir endeavours to be archaic, and their

impertinence of inferior artists

in every possible
tions,

way

in their

feeble imitations of early times

still

only stammer

when

art could

which

stamped on

all

the

strange grimaces of elementary expression,

all

It is in Ugliness,

is

dark forms of animalism, the pitiable imprint

of some embryonic mystery, that degenerate
imaginations, artists who have gone astray,
and degraded minds, take refuge.
For the conventional ugliness of academies
they have substituted the ugliness of realism
and finally the ugliness of amorphousness.
A barren infatuation, induced by the bad
taste, or the errors of a few idle aesthetics or

of

Beauty

35

artists, lacking balance, has brought about a

return to the dark days of art by degrading the

human
of

form, and thus confusing the expression

moral beauty with

its

most

pitiful elements.

This grotesque retrogressive idealism, which

the negation of art and its evolutionary
impulse, results in corrupting the artist's
personality or making him return to his childis

hood.

IV
The Importance

of

Theory

Animal Perception
Colour a Medium of Expression, not an EndObjections
to
Theory in order to conceive " The
Theory Need
Universal " Every Genius
the Beautiful
a TheoristWhat
Methods The Poetry
Shortcomings of Academic and
Things and the Poetry of Ideas The Salvation of ^Esthetics

Harmony

of the Natural, the

Human and

the Divine

of Colour

Idealist

for

is

is

of

Scientific

The

Artist

must follow the Living Tradition, not the Dead.

WORK

of idealism, then,

that in which

is

Words of Life are brought

the
Natural,
harmony
the
Divine. To reach that degree of

the three great

into

Human,

the

artistic merit
which is not attained at the first
attempt, I am quite convinced
there must
be found in the work the purest idea within the
scope of the mind, the most beautiful form in
the whole range of things that have shape,
and the most perfect technique in the execution.
Without idea, the work fails in its intellectual
mission
without form, it fails in its mission
towards^ nature without technique, it fails to
reach perfection. No wise critic, no thoughtful
lover of art, no intelligent artist, will gainsay
with any show of reason this tendency of idealism,
which is pre-eminent over every other formula
of the schools, because it is that of Art as a
and nothing will
whole, of almighty Art
!

prevail against
time.
is

The

it

either

now

true character of

or at

any future

a work

of idealism

to be found in the equilibrium which governs

its

production

idea, form,

that

is,

in preventing either the

or technique from

predominating

to the detriment of one or other of the three

The Importance

of

Theory

37

essential terms
but that they should always
be balanced as far as possible agreeably in
;

I think
proportion to their respective value.
it may be of use to cite examples with regard
to this. Wiertz,* a man of impulsive imagination
[imaginatif impulsif), that is, almost insane
according to pathology, has confusedly expressed

his often

commonplace ideas

in chaotic forms,

and with a deplorable technique. With Wiertz

the imagination in

its

degree Jof instinct held

sway

to the point of vertigo, and for form

allowed him only the ugliness of his fantastic
and extravagant Homeric battles.
As an example of a different kind, I will
mention De Braeckeleer,t a man of small
* Antoine Wiertz (1806-1865) occupies a unique place in the history

Owing to his dislike for parting with his paintings, he long

known outside his own country, and, though possessed
of strong individuality, left behind him no followers. He early came under
the spell of Rubens, and the great aim of his life was to rival the works
of that master. His genius was of such an eccentric natvure that his work
was curiously uneven. Always fantastic and extravagant, he was often
dominated by a great and noble impulse, as in his huge canvases, " The
Greeks and Trojans contending for the body of Patroclus," " The Triumph
of Christ," " The Revolt of Hell," and " The Last Cannon," but at other
times he descended to what was meretricious and sensational. Some of
his work, as " Hunger, Madness, and Crime," " Buried Alive," " The
Thoughts of a Severed Head," are the productions of a morbid and neurotic
fancy.
Not content with oil as a medium for painting large canvases
he set to work to discover a medium for himself. He eventually painted
most of his works in a lustreless medium, which he termed " peinture
mate,'' very coarse in quality, and looking at a distance like a rude tapestry.
of Belgian art.

remained

little

He

endured considerable poverty, but, with the exception of portraits,

refused to paint for money. " Keep your gold," on one occasion he said,
" it is the murderer of art." His works are all gathered, as in his lifetime,
under one roof in the " Muse Wiertz " at Brussels.
t H. de Braeckeleer, a Belgian painter, a pupil of Leys, the leader of
His subjects are mostly interiors painted in warm
the Realist School.
He is represented in the Brussels gallery by "
golden tones.

Geographer," " The Interior of a Farm," and "

Shop."

The Importance

38

who only

bordering on degeneracy,

intellect

knew how

to look at things with the eye of an

animal

power

of the optic nerves rendered

that

less active

is,

according to the receptive

by the work

of digestion.

in its ruminating state, could paint,

the finest of colourists,

its

an extraordinary visual
arity

explains

why

more or
If

it

a cow,

would be

retina then possessing

sensibility.

This peculi-

the realist painters

excel in colour are generally great eaters

drinkers

and

of

who
and

And

limited intelligence.

with respect to this I invite my brother painters

make a little experiment, which will not fail

to

to edify them While fasting, or nearly so,

paint some object, solely from an objective
point of view, and then repaint the same object
during the process of digestion, after a heavy
meal.
Compare the two studies with regard
to their colour, and tell me if that done under
the influence of digestion will not be richer and
:

more glowing than the other

It must be understood that what
!

from

this particular condition will

results

be in propor-

The
power of the retina.
not a colourist will not any the
more possess the gift of colour, but his eye,
tion to the optic

painter

who

influenced

is

more or

less

by organic

action,

by

that portion of vital force which circulates in

the organ, conveyed by the blood globules and
induced by the process of digestion, will be
better enabled to seize the appearance of colour.

of

Theory

I allow

39

myself to

make

this observation,

upon a theory, which, although

based

of a physiolo-

gical nature, proves clearly that colour

as far

understood by the realists,

is not
by any means
a faculty depending on the artist's genius.
This disconcerting theory proves likewise that
colour must never be the painter's end, but his
at least as

spottists,

means

is

it

and

dottists

of expression,

and

it is

this that Dela-

but intellectual, colourist, has

so forcibly demonstrated in his works and
croix,* a great,

expatiated upon in his writings.

Ever new
theories, those will thoughtlessly cry who seem
not to have observed that man cannot open his
mouth or take up his pen without theorising
In science, theory is often derived from
natural phenomena, but it may be said that
!

in art phenomena
emanates from theory.
The unknown sublime creator of the Venus of
Milo, to reach that degree of beauty, had to

theorise as much, I presume, as the ingenious

mechanician Edison had to do in order to
produce his phonograph.
Laws and principles exist everywhere in
Nature. The law or the principle is not by any
*

Eugne Delacroix (1798-1863) was one of the leaders of the French

and romantic school. He refused on principle to go to Italy

historical

the old masters, either in spirit or manner, should impair his originality
He appears to have been one of the first modern
painters to concern himself scientifically with the reactions of complementary colours, for he is said to have made observations on them as early
as 1825, anticipating the complete exposition of Chevreul. He had quantities
of little wafers of each colour, with which he tried colour effects. He was
thus the forerunner of " pointillisme."
lest

and self-dependence.

The Importance

40

means synonymous with the formula. Life is

the expression of law.
Without law there is
no life. The genius is not he who discovers
the formula but the law.

and narrows the

limits

Whilst the formula

field of artistic creation,

the law enlarges, broadens, throws light

it.

The formula

the law

is

infinite is

is

upon

the barrier which closes

the infinite which opens.

And

the

not disorder or chaos, but the geometry

mental compass of genius

measures the relations of God with the world.
A theory is good or bad according to the
source whence it originates.
If, for example,
it emanates from antiquated artists,
frozen
beneath the icy breath of an academic clique,
then, and only then, it is dead before it is born.
Thence assuredly nothing ideal or living can
come But if the theory is formed in the name
of an evolutionary intellectual impulse, in the
full sunlight of a clear and powerful vision, why
be suspicious of it and treat it with contempt ?
The stock phrases habitually used as objections
''
Does
to the idealist theory in particular are
of ideas wherein the

the nightingale theorise ? "

''

Has a

bird a theory

with regard to the construction of its nest?'*

" Do bees theorise ? " And in this way puerilities

without it being seen that to

establish, a comparison between the mechanical
function of the animal and the creative faculty
of man is utter folly. What should we say of
a musician who warbled for ever two or three
are piled up,

of

Theory

4^

were under the

brightest of moons in springtime ? We will not
press it. But in what way may it be answered ?
identical

notes,

although

it

Has the Treatise on Painting," by De Vinci,

who laid down theories even with regard to
''

technical rules,
glorious

master

prevented the works of that

from shedding their lustre

through the ages ?

Has theory aged him ?
No.
It makes him grow ever younger, and
future generations will only bow lower to

him

fruitful and expansive theory does not

pretend to do more than to instil into art
an evolutionary process, and to offer to the
artist's comprehension an orientation favourable

Theory
which pretended to give talent or genius to
those who had it not would be merely foolish.
Now, idealism, as much as theory, is an orientation
an ascending orientation
Plato, whom many read, but few understand,
has said clearly that the duty of the soul is
to conceive '' The Universal." Now, to conceive
the universal, it is necessary to understand
to the development of his latent powers.

the law, the principle.

common

But the simpleness

of

philosophy, and the lack of familiarity

modern mind with the terminology of

metaphysics, has caused many critics and artists,
confusing the law with the formula or the
principle with the system, to fall into an
absurd passion at an imaginary obstacle.

in the

The Importance

42

The mark

of genius

is

the knowledge of

how

and ho/ to apply them to its

and
whatever
it
produces.
Pythagoras must seem terribly dull to those
to find laws

inspirations

who

never

will

understand his

theory

of

Numbers, a theory on which mathematics and

geometry have been built.
Was not Wagner,
that
tremendous innovator, a passionate
theorist ? And so were Goethe and Baudelaire.
Was there a more learned theorist than Leonardo
de Vinci ? Does not the anarchist, so particularly vehement in his denial of everything,
the ardent foe of every principle, of every law,
enunciate theories in order to compass the means
of destruction

Whether speaking

affirmatively or negatively, theories

be advanced
it, is

to

deny

or writing,

must

still

eclecticism, or to defend

to continue to theorise.

In

fact,

theory,

and

inferior

minds are ever scared by

this aversion to everything theore-

one of the sad symptoms of our time.

through this that modern times have,

tical is

It

is

become so painfully certain that

powerless to discover the Truth or the
Absolute, a certainty which produces that
noticed
by
vague
stupidity,
intellectual
unfortunately,

man

is

Wronski,* the colossal esoteric mathematician,

the unrecognised and little known author of
* Hoene de Wronski in 1811 announced a general method of solving
equations, giving formulag without demonstration. In 1817 the Academy
of Sciences of Lisbon offered a prize for the demonstration of Wronski's
all

formulae.

It

was given

for the refutation of them.

of

Theory

43

The Reformation of Human Knowledge.'' In

the province of contemporary fine art for the
most part this intellectual stupidity is undeniable.
It is owing to it that they have
''

come

to consider as superfluous Style, Propor-

tion,

Idea,

and

that aids in the search of

think of the Greek

all

When we

ideal beauty.

through a real initiation, before

realising works of such imperishable beauty,
we are right in believing that theory can bring
about the purification of aesthetics. Compare
the artists of old with their theories with those
''
Admire
of the present day who have none
''
the beautiful
is a formula of eclecticism which
is far too vague.
The tradesman will fall into
an ecstasy before the most ridiculous productions
under the pretence that he admires everything
artists passing

beautiful

to discern

The
what

essential thing
is

is

beautiful from

to

know how

what

is

not,

Nature as in the Work. These are the very

rudiments of aesthetics. They cannot be avoided,
unless one would remain in a condition of
mediocrity in which the understanding is
warped.
Between the retina and the spirit there is
the same difference as there is between looking
and seeing. Painters like Seurat and Signac,*
in

and Signac are prominent Impressionists and

method. The former is said to have been
the first to carry into practice the systematic decomposition of colour by
this method, which consists in the intimate juxtaposition of dots of colour.
With regard to their theory see an article by Signac, " D'Eugne Delacroix
au N o-Impressionisme.'" (Revue Blanche, 1898).
* Both Seurat
exponents of the "

(d.

1890)

pointilliste "

The Importance

44

remain
The impressionist creed has proved

in spite of their analytical qualities, will

ineffective.

so far that

from

when

the painter's eye

is

and the

disconnected

he will
only be, however rational his process, a barren
craftsman and not an artist.
The scientific
his soul, his spirit,

Ideal,

have forsaken Beauty as much as

those who paint academically.
Both are the
slaves of method, and remain without inspira-

painters

tion,

without

The
borrow
ism,
life

is

ideal.

characteristic of
their theories

modern

schools which

from pantheistic material-

that they only seek the poetry of Things,

only being apparent to them through the

senses or

its

external aspect, whilst idealism

tends to perfection by the search and assertion

The idealists affirm
of the poetry of Ideas.
the power of Life, but, having a fuller consciousness, they have a deeper, more perfect,
holier, purer, and more divine conception of
Life.

To be impatient
is

at the spiritualising of art

to be wanting in clearness of thought.

For

the lover of art, the artist and the philosopher,

see a little further than their noses,
the elevation of the Notion can rescue Art
from the degenerating influence of materialism.

who can

duty of every initiate, of every real

lover of art, of every undoubted artist, to work
It is the

for the Salvation

condition

of

this

of esthetics.
Salvation,''

''As a first
says Pladan,

of
**

Theory

those

who

45

excel

in technique

and

the rule of cesthetics,

infallible in technique ;
fulfil their great

The duty

must recognise
must he

the idealists

otherwise they will not

mission as the saviours of

light.''

of present artists will be for the time

not to give themselves up to false traditions,

nor too much to the Realism that surrounds
them, in order that they may reach a point of
equilibrium with regard to technique, form,

and
If

idea.

masterpieces seem to have an air of relation-

them

ship about

how

it is

because the masters knew

to subordinate their Personality to the unify-

ing light of the true Tradition that

;

is,

the whole

The artist who

same time possessed of high sensibility
and high discernment, and goes to Italy, is
of the great laws of aesthetics.

is

at the

better enabled to understand the influence of

tradition,

which keeps the

artist's

conception

in the higher spheres without allowing

him

to

descend to the commonplace or to individual

without his personality suffering
by its free expansion. There is a dead and a
living tradition. The dead is that which, annimediocrity,

hilating in the

work the

substitutes for

it

the uninspired smooth applica-

tion of school formula

is

in eternal accord

in general

creative personal force,

the living

is

that which

with the evolution of art

and with the evolution

of personality

^schylus, Sophocles, Pheidias,

Michael Angelo, Raphael, De Vinci, in the same

in particular,

The Importance

46

way

as Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau,*

Burne-Jones, Watts, f and Wagner are of the

tradition
while Bandinelh, Lebrun,
Canova,
Chenavard,
Navez,
Bouguereau,

living

Gallait,J

The

and

first

many

so

others, are of the dead.

are the great classics, the second are

governed by conventions.
are those

who

The

great classics

are greatly inspired

the con-

ventional are those whom inspiration has forsaken.

Among human beings, endowed with
* Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) (French), endeavoured in every way
to foster Idealism in Art. He regarded his duties as a professor in the
" Ecole des Beaux Arts " as a real apostleship.
He endeavoured, by
assimilating the traditions of the past, to create for himself a new tongue

which to give utterance to the deepest emotions of the soul. He revived

myths and rejuvenated old symbols to represent under their imagery
the moral struggles of humanity.
He bequeathed his house, containing
about 8,000 of his works, to the State.
If anyone
t " He believes in a great priesthood of arts
suggested that before a man ventured to paint pictures or to daub with
plaster he should be initiated with some awful rites in some vast
and crowded national temple, should swear to work worthily before some
tremendous altar or over some symbolic flame, Millais would have laughed
heartily at the idea, and Leighton also. But it would not seem either
absurd or unreasonable to Watts." G. K. Chesterton on *' Watts.'''
in

old

historical subjects(1487-1595), Florentine School;

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), French School; historical and religious
subjects. Mme. Lebrun (1755-1842), French School
portraits, landscape,
and history. Anotonio Canova (1757-1882), sculptor. A. W. Bouguereau
(b. 1825), French School
subjects taken from the antique and invested
with a certain modern sentimentality.
Gallait (1810-1887), Belgian;
mainly historical subjects of a sentimental character. He was for a long
t Bandinelli

time the leader of public taste in Brussels. Thophile Gautier v.TOte of him
" M. Gallait has all the gifts that may be acquired by taste, judgment, and
determination. His art is that of a man of tact, of a skilled painter happy
in his dramatic treatment, but superficial." P. J Chenavard, French School
(b. 1808), a pupil of Ingres. A typical painter of the conventional school of
the early part of the nineteenth century. His art was not without elevation
of thought, but very weak in the rendering of it. He had ideas, but his
method of expressing them was frigid and uninspired. F. J Navez (b. 1787),
Belgian, pupil of David, and painted absurd compositions in the style of
his master. He was, however, an excellent portrait painter, there being a
strong analogy between his work and that of Raeburn.
:

of

Theory

intelligence

and

ideal forces, there

weighs,

and

47
will set
is

a fatality

and measures

acts.

Genius

is

in

their

motion by their
which calculates,
thoughts,

words,

the individuality in which

most perfectly harmonised the Ego and the

and tradition.
The creative intelligence of the artist cannot
be separated from the ideal world.
are

Universal, personality,

V
The Mystery
Art Evolved from Line the Essence
Physical

Aid

of

World

Cult

of

Form

of

Form

of

Form the Mystery the

High State
Form Intervention of the
Beauty Style should be neither

Form

of

indicative of

Music in Comprehension

of

of Civilisation
Spirit

necessary for the Comprehension of

Academic nor Anarchical, but in Harmony with the Artist's Soul
" The Beautiful is the Ugly "
Misconception with regard to the
Phrase Greek Ideals Need for Initiation Productions of Genius
not Spontaneous Moral Significance of Nudity It Reveals the true
sense of Nature Is the Alpha and Omega of esthetics
Art can be
regenerated by a study of the Nude It evokes Humanity and the

whole Beauty

of Life.

ARTLinebegan

with Design, with Line, and

is the very essence of Form.
It
is important, I think, often to remember
this at a time hke ours when works most lacking
in form pass as archetypes of schools called
''
Free." | The decadence of Art can be seen
in

the carelessness

ignorant of design,

or

incapability of

and

if

artists

nowadays the Ugly

has taken the place of the Beautiful in the arts,

it is, we may be certain, because the abstract
and vital sense of Form has been lost. Is not
Line the basis of all Architecture, of all Sculpture ?
In the works of Nature Line is the
signature of God. Line, let us never forget, is
the symbolical expression of the mysterious
which exist between Spirit and
relations
Line or Form is the mystery of the
Matter.
physical world, the mystery of Art, the mystery
of Beauty.

It is only

the maturity

when

civilisations reach

of their intellectual

power that

" Socit Libre " was founded in 1868, the " Libre Esthtique,"
t The
a continuation of the Twenty Club, in 1894.

l'homme dieu

(j.

delville).
[To face page

49.

The Mystery
the cult of

of

Form

Form

is

49

developed and spread,

because the comprehension of Form always

necessitates in a people, if not a complete
education, a high state of mental development.

great

and sublime mystery

links the Idea

with the Form.

It may be said that if music, considered as
social magnetism, helps towards solidarity of
life

in rising civilisations,

as

weU

as in their

it is still nothing more

than a marvellous means of preparing the race,
the people, for an sesthetic comprehension of
Form. Music is the method of expression which

intellectual refinement,

best corresponds to the unconscious sensibility

of the crowd, but Form, less vague and further
separated from the inferior condition where the
impression is received through the nerves, will
ever remain in a select sphere corresponding
best with the clear perceptions of the few.*
The great Goethe has said *' The sotd co7iveys
into a design a portion of its essential being, and
the most profound secrets of creation are precisely
those which, with regard to its basis, rest ttpon
And has not Goethe also
design and form.''
'*
the most moral of things
said that design is
requiring skill?''
If I recall the fine phrase
of that sublime spirit it is in order that the
capital importance which men of the greatest
:

* With regard to the subject of Music, see Pater's Essay on Giorgione

WTitten on the text that " all art constantly aspires to the condition of
music." Design may be compared with music when form and colour are

combined

in arbitrary decoration.

The Mystery

50

genius attach to the plastic arts

stood,

and

proves that

it

if

may

be under-

the plastic arts

do not instantaneously act upon the crowd,

because the crowd, devoid of consciousness
and culture, is psychologically incapable of

it is

raising itself sufficiently to

is

It

difficult.

Sculpture,

express

is

comprehend what

obvious that Architecture,

and Painting, the three

Form

arts

in its different aesthetic

which

aspects,

and from which emanate such a wealth of

idealism

that

they

always

necessitate

the

immediate intervention of the spirit in order

to be understood, ought to cause the soul of
the artist to be elated. The grandeur of their
calling ought especially also to make them

how

necessary it is that they should

have a lofty conception of their mission, what
strength they should put into their studies,
extending them even to Science and Philosophy,

appreciate

so as not to stoop to the compromises which

mark

the decadence by which modern art is

being overwhelmed.
The great error of the academic schools,
whence came such painters as Chenavard,
David,* and Lebrun, was in imposing a style

which was invariable and

fitted to ever}^ condi-

tion of plastic art to the detriment of individual

* Jacques Louis David (French, 1748-1825) was the leader of the
" I wish that my works may
French Classical School. He used to say
have so completely an antique character that if it were possible for an
Athenian to return to life they might appear to him to be the production
It has been said of his works that they are " coloured
of a Greek painter."
:

statuary."

Form

of

51

Certainly a

genius.

work without

style is

yet

a work on the border of realisation, but when

it is in a certain style (style), it should be so
in accordance with the personal condition of

the

soul

and

spirit,

and with the pecuHar

character of the conception

itself.

then elevated to something that

Style

is

idealises

the most difficult mode of aesthetic expression

to realise, but the most noble. Many dabblers
in Art have been influenced to such an extent

by conventional
advocates

such

and have become

amorphism and lack of

faulty ideas,
of

form, as to declare style a thing to be despised

and old-fashioned, crying in every tone that Art

should be anarchical, without science, principles,

or rules, and that, after all, the first attempts
that were made, whether in painting or sculpture

however formless or

ugly, were as

much

art

La
Anne !

Samothrace,^ the Ilissus, or the Saint

Realism and impressionism shouted
victory, because the leaders of these baneful
schools threw wide the doors of the Sanctuary
to give admittance to the barbarians of the
brush and chisel. It became the home of the
incapable and inferior, of vagabonds and
as

mountebanks, and such

opportunity, adapted to

it

by the
pushing and

profiting

as,

their

avaricious natures.
*

The well-known Nik,

Louvre.

and part

or statue of Victory, from Samothrace in the

A wonderful study of a figure in rapid motion The head and arms

of the

wings are

Poliorketes, b.c. 306.

now

wanting.

It

was

set

up by Demetrius

The Mystery

52

The Beautiful is the Ugly I This foolishness

has triumphed over Art. It has led to a false
view of aesthetics, the misdirection of talents,
and the corruption of the understanding. Since
it has come into fashion we have seen the
modern studios producing all the most disheartening and repulsive work that the errors
of a decaying art give birth to. The artist, in
order to conform to the instinct of his age, has

had

to seek the accidents of Nature, in order to

free himself from " old formulae " and seem

which

original in the eyes of the multitude,

as foolish as
this
the

it

moment

is

full

of

is

admiration, and to

as convinced as the

artist

that

Taine, a clear and

!
" True,
has cried in vain

beautiful is the ugly

keen-sighted

critic,

the ugly is beautiful, hut the beautiful is much

more beautiful ! " He was too clear and too

simple.

One

expressed

and

irony.

of the ancients could not

have

better, with more justice

Parnassus rather has been blown

himself

up, and from the dbris of the sacred mountain

they have set themselves to hew grotesque
abortions.

O Athens, if thou couldst see in what depths

the artists of the present age have caused the
Sacred Form to wallow, of which thou wert
the sublime parent, and ye, mountains of
marble, who wait till ye are quarried to serve
some time or other as materia), for works
revolting in their baseness and ugliness, ye

of

Form

53

would tremble with shame and anger under

the Hellenic glory of your bright azure skies
!

Greece,

radiant with

thine

ideals,

who

body with calm

couldst combine perfection of

understanding, render divine the joyous and

harmonious beauty of youth, and perceive

through the splendour of form the mystery of
rhythm and abstruse meaning of gesture,
who didst know how to regulate Life and the
Ideal, weigh Spirit and Matter, make repose
god-like and movement sublime, who couldst
balance in such proportions

human

all

parts of the

form, from head to toe, and

made man

strong as a soldier of Pericles, and fair as a

disciple of Plato "
thou,
Greece, towards
**

whom

thou
couldst behold the terrible phantasmagoria of
our unbridled exponents of art, thou wouldst
genius in ecstacy turns

its

gaze,

if

we had returned to a state of

primitive barbarism and consider that Art in

believe that

world had come to an end

In an age characterised by a harmony
between the occult sciences and the arts,
ancient Greece formed the aesthetic conception
of the ideal man.
A divine perfection of the
human form was attained. That genius for
beauty was the result of the teaching revealed
this

esoteric doctrine of the temples, when

the Magi initiated artists into the Mysteries.
The Magi knew that the influence on society
of Beauty, which is a real element of happiness

by the

The Mystery

54

and

virtue, consists in elevating the soul of the

multitude by awaking in it an eternal sense of

The happiest peoples have the most

harmony.

beautiful art.

Goethe was right to say

of the

Greeks that they had made of life a most

It was through their power of

beautiful dream.

vision that the veil before the

before

the

young

artists,

Unseen

fell

aside

philosophers,

and

And

then they could see in the fluid

and transparent splendour of the Universal
poets.

Soul the archetypal forms of the pure Idea

evolving and the living perfect images of the

The world of spirit and intelligence,

where the beings of Love and Light lead an
existence truly divine, was revealed to them.
And from that supreme contemplation of the
invisible and immortal life the artist seers
returned dazzled and illuminated for ever.
In their serene and ineffaceable ecstacy they
Spirit.

had received the great

secret of Beauty.

had
Form, that pure and

Pheidias possessed that secret

seen into the Light of

subtle element

of

he, too,

the essence of

Life,

that

And
inexhaustible Well of ideas and forms.
with this reflection of the Divine in the angelic
intelligence of the Eternal Masculine

and Eternal

Feminine he infused beauty into

his sublime

marvels, as Pericles by its means shed splendour

on the State and Sophocles on the Theatre.
It was thus, through the vision of the initiate
into the living realms of Immortality, the bright

of

Form

55

regions of glorified spirits where the real being

becomes

apparent,

freed

from

the

many-

impurities of the physical body, that material

image of moral ugliness and psychic imperfection, thus, I say, that Plato discovered the

wonderful formula of the aesthetic creed

''
Beauty is the splendour of Trtdh."
It is thus that everyone who has been
:

and all those who have

have proved that Nature

inspired, every genius,

received initiation,
is

not truly such as

glance

that

it is

it

appears at the

so only in its

most

first

objective,

most imperfect, aspect, and that when considered from a material point of view it is
debased,

in

the sense that

it

is

the negative

the universal Spirit.

For physical
the most obscure term of the involution of Spirit, and the harmonies of matter,
on which are founded the physical laws, are
only confusing illusions compared with the

pole

of

Nature

more

We

is

perfect harmonies of the Spirit.

must not look upon the Venus

of Milo

as a spontaneous creation, the result of fancy,

any more than the lyre of Orpheus, which is

the musical adaptation of the sacred Septenary
taught by the Egyptian priests. The ages of
strength and beauty are at the same time
those of Intelligence and

The divine

perfection

Wisdom.
of

Form

in

ancient

make us observe more clearly

that in the works nowadays which are based on
Greece ought to

The Mystery

56

nature all that is of importance is the problem

of primordial forms and the divine genesis of
infinite perfection.

They knew, those

old sages, that Beauty

eternal, imperishable,

by which the
to

human

and that

it is

the agency

light of the ideal is transmitted

beings,

and which, by the ugliness

of vice or evil, they continually obscure.

that

why

is

is

And

they suffered the sublime reflection

the divine principle to glow through the

of

human

form.

Through

their secret learning

they knew that the law of beauty and form

is the soul which, by a rational process, and
in proportion to its stage of evolution, creates

the bodily form which manifests

The

it.

creative forces of nature, like the creative

forces of the spirit, tend directly to Beauty.

The

imperfections

the

of

individual

contrive continually to lead astray

alone

and corrupt

the normal evolution of these creative forces

in their universal striving towards Beauty.

The nude alone brings us

the enigma of

life.

face to face with

Real nudity in a work

of art inculcates also a teaching of high morality.

What

does

it

matter

if,

as

its

adversaries

prudishly declare, it does not conform to

the social conventions of modern daily life
The nude will not the less remain one of the
purest mediums of Beauty, and great artists
!

will

not the

value.

less

perceive

its

ideal

and

positive

of

Form

57

It is childish to think that trousers, aprons,

blouses, shoes,

and dresses are

fit

subjects for

and capable of elevating the soul. Clothes

and modern clothes in particular,
merely show the ceaseless insane caprices of
fashion, changing from day to day, incongruous,
grotesque, ridiculous, since clothes have become
art

generally,

the

enemy

of the natural shape of the

human

body, instead of being a covering which should

preserve its harmony and rhythm.
It is by the nude alone that the artist can
express the essential character of life, the
impersonal ideas, universal beliefs, and general
sentiments of humanity.
The nude, I must
And
repeat, reveals the true sense of nature.
nature has never been so reverenced and
studied as in the art of Greece. It appears there
in its double manifestation of the real and ideal,
in the reality of its ideal character.
In it we
ever observe the clearly defined tendency of
harmony, style, and proportion to meet, through
the constant study and aesthetic observation
of nature, in an ideal type, which does not
mean a settled type (type convenu), as is too
often wrongly supposed. Artists in those days
studied the natural and spiritual laws of Beauty
as now we study the laws of the so-called exact
sciences.

To them

art

was not a conventional and

systematic rule, but the reason of aesthetics

consisted, in their eyes, in the positive and

The Mystery

58

abstract study of Beauty, that force at once

natural and ideal, and which, whatever sceptics

one of the great problems ol spirit.

is the noblest ornament.
The mide is the alpha and omega of aesthetics.
think,

is

The human body

All

the

science

possessed

by the

artist

is

summarized in it. It is fitted to express the most

subtle and most profound emotions of the soul.
It is furthermore by the study of the nude
that the fine arts when falling into decay
are regenerated.
in fact, are

The

great revivals of art,

due to the study of the nude. Without

the least wishing to depreciate the value of the

Byzantine and Gothic periods, whose symbols

of expression were based upon the religious
theme of good and evil, and whose sombre
splendour was well calculated to arouse emotion,
it may be said that they had lost the sense of
the harmony of Beauty, because they rejected
the nude. Certainly Cimabue, Giotto, Orcagna,
and, above all, the gentle visionary Fra Angelico,
remain great in their Christian mysticism, but
they did not comprehend they could not do
so, dominated as they were by the Spirit of
the time that bodily beauty is not incompatible with that of the soul. It is only with
Michael
Botticelli, Leonardo de Vinci, and
Angelo, that is, with the renewed study of form,
that the nude reappeared in its great plastic
and spiritual significance, and the Renaissance
was developed in the full glory of its idealism.

of

Form

59

The nude has the high quahty

of

synthetic, universal.

Its representation

the unity of beings

that

is

being

evokes

to say, all earthly

and form a living being.

from the heart
The nude
the crowd of ideas of social and psychic harmony,
destroying thus the instinct for separation and
differentiation which divides men. By evoking
Man it evokes Humanity, and the whole beauty
of Life, not life as we moderns understand it,
so neurotic, feverish, and filled with unhealthy
excitement, but the great universal life, which
makes fruitful the spirit and the earth, makes
both the stars and the soul glow with light,
causes space to vibrate, which palpitates in
the substance as in the essence, which rules
and moves the universe, beings, and things,
mortals or immortals, in the infinite rhythm
and mystery of Eternity, the divine macrocosm
and human microcosm, from which the universal
Beauty is ever shed and reflected, woven of
Love, Wisdom, and Light.
And when the artist has become conscious
of this Beauty, when it has appeared to him in
its unfading and divine splendour,
he will

souls

are united

can, therefore, drive

understand its mission. He will learn, in fact,

that this beauty which he seeks in the body, in
forms, is the same as that which is manifested
in sentiments and ideas, and that his duty as an
artist will be to make it glow in its purest
form, as the spark is struck from an unseen

The Mystery

6o

pebble, through the degradation

of

Form

and grossness

which it has been imprisoned. And then

a mass of imperfections, reahsms, and
short-hved ugHness, he will build a purer art.
He will save art from the frenzy of anarchy
and the petrification of academies. He will be
in

upon

of those

who

of equilibruim

return to the point

!

in the name

the

point

of indestructible

and radiant Beauty, which the fooHsh and

incapable have grievously profaned, in the
goodness knows, of what wretched
For the
or antiquated convention.
artist who is not conscious of a divine force
making his human powers fruitful with Beauty,
and who, in the depth of his being, does not

name,

instinct

of Love and Harmony move

which sways worlds and men,
is unworthy to belong to civilisation.
His
works will be abortions. His talent, if he has
any, will be wasted.

perceive the

God

in the breath

VI

The

Spiritualising of Art

Signs of a New Age The Science of the Ideal The Spiritualising of

Realism based
Science and Art Disregard of Form in Modern Art
on a Philosophic Error Distinction between the Dreamer and the
Idealist
Music in Beauty of Form Need for Spirituality in the

Art

Comprehension
result from sensation alone
" the Reflex of Creation " The Beautiful in Art superior to the Beau-

Artist

cannot

The

Individual Ideal leads up to the ideal The

when inspired by the Spirit The Beautiful is
not one Form, but a harmony of Forms It is Truth made manifest
in the Form by the Idea
The duty of the Artist to reveal Beauty to
Mankind Art a Divine Force.
tiful in

Nature

Artist an Alchemist

forget that
LETnewtheagemodernbeginning, not
that the Idea
artist

is

a
is

returning to the earth, and that a purer,

fairer, race is about to inhabit the world
Day by day the end of materiahsm is being
achieved.
Science is forcibly being evolved
!

and transformed before the revelations of the

other world. The psychic sciences are arrayed
against the physical sciences, and set the occult
proof against that of materialism. The occult
sciences, the lofty teaching of theosophy, and
experimental spiritualism, are setting out to
conquer the future and, on the threshold of a
new age, are about to establish the Science of
the Ideal
that is, the synthesis of science,
;

religion,

and philosophy.

Above the overthrow

of

fatally crushing to the soul

materialism,

and

so

already
soars, in the redeeming light, the mysterious
transformation of thought. If truth, scientifically, is the harmony of facts, then spiritual
spirit,

The

62

Spiritualising

proving the Immortality of the Soul,

harmony spontaneously to form truth,
which already rises to confront negation.
facts,

into

fall

With

this

goes on, side

spiritualising

by

side with

of
it,

of Art.

Just as materialism

abortion

of

Science,

there

the spiritualising
is

modern philosophy,

a monstrous
so

realism,

is in aesthetics an actual
anomaly, a case of flagrant degeneration in

its

poisonous outcome,

the fine arts.

We may seek in vain for an
extenuating circumstance which would excuse
the schools of realism or naturalism by considering them as an inevitable and healthy
reaction against the slavishness of the conventional school, the old-fashioned dealer in recipes

and

There can never be any excuse

whatever be the school that praises
or produces it. Ugliness cannot be the object
''

poncifs.''

for ugliness,

of the fine arts.

Nowhere

in the history of the epochs of art,

that is, in those of civilisation, can one find

such a sheer fall into the shallows of the trivial
and commonplace as that brought about by the
contemporary school of realism.
If the better work of a few great spirits
had not been able to resist the many evils of
its corrupted state, it might be said, without
fearing to exaggerate too much, that Art to-day

seemed to have quitted the sphere of Form.

They have
replaced creative genius by
sculptors without ability to conceive, soulless.

of Art

63

without the power of abstraction, often even

without intelligence, who make sculpture riot
in niarble and bronze in every species of debased

Form, either taking a cast from nature, or feebly

and foolishly making a rough suggestion of it

a kind of wild nightmare in

One

plaster.

stupidly endeavour to

reproduce
the superficial imperfections of the skin, while
another tries to give his sculpture the shapeless
appearance of kneaded mud.
With respect to those painters, without
idealism, and without idea, whose whole art
is contained in a tube of colour, and whose
complete lack of sense is barely concealed by
the clever trickery of touch, who only look in
a work of art for the reproduction of object
for object, and thing for thing, their eyes only
observe the phenomena of atmosphere. They
will

are tubes of colour which are emptied mechani-

on the canvas.
These colourists, lacking the conception of
form and the perception of the ideal image,
have brought about a reaction in art. Their
cally

painting rests upon their digestion, and their

consideration of colour only rests upon the
part played by the eye, indifferent as they are
to everything appertaining to the spirit. The
nude, when, with sensual brush, they profane

becomes fleshly.
Beneath their eyes and
fingers, animalism is transfused into everything. These are the traders in '' bits." Neither

it,

The

64

Spiritualising

kind seek for Beauty, but only for things

material, whether they be misshapen, commonplace, or vulgar. Taking it as a whole, the
realist and impressionist period will be held
as that which pauperised and prostituted the
fine arts.

Since Proudhon,* a celebrated sociologist,

but as commonplace in his views on art as he
is
mistaken in his philosophy, and who

formulates a gross error in a piece of stupid

''
sophistry
Since all things are equal, there
is nothing
ugly ! "
artists and critics have
considered the back of a nude female to be
equal in beauty to De Vinci's *' Head of Saint
:

Anne.''

Realism, the very negation of art, springs

a philosophic mistake confusing Life
with Substance.
It perishes when that error

from
is

But new artists have arisen,

and art by means of
know that the spirit
form, form into matter, and that

swept away.

to renovate philosophy
idealism.
These men

descends into
without form matter expresses nothingness
that is, something which has no reality. They
know, in accordance with truth, that matter
is the extreme limit to which the spirit of
Beauty can be reflected, and that it is in
physical substance that it appears to our eyes
;

under

its

most shadowy and

elusive aspect.

* Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), French writer on Socialism

of opinion in the Revolution of 1848. Author of the famous
paradox, " La Proprit, c'est le vol."

and leader

of Art

65

This idealist conception of art, in order to

avoid confusion, can be made still more precise.
Art, contrary to the simple notion of some
people, does not waver between the real and
''
the dream/' but between the real and the
ideal. The difference which lies between " the

dream " and the ideal may perhaps be expressed

" The dream is the unconscious and
thus
:

instinctive feeling of confused aspirations

ideal

is

the

the ordered aspiration of the harmonious

will/'
is neither the slave of the real
the dream/' Art is that balancing force

Art, then,

or

*'

which brings the rational into harmony with

the spiritual, emotion with reason, and the
natural with the supernatural.
Nature is
a medley of enchantment and terror, of
ecstasy and awe. The monstrous is mingled
with the divine. It is an astounding chaos of
hidden glories.
Man is the Genius, the conscious and receptive intelligence of mental, spiritual vibrations,

who from

material elements will extract the

pure essence, the typical form, the initial idea.
In the same way as the musician of genius
translates the harmonies of invisible space
into natural sounds, the painter, the sculptor,

can translate the harmony of typical forms

which are in the invisible plastic light, living
prisms of divine beauties, in which are refracted
the splendours of the universal soul.

The

66

Do we know,
of Form does
actually,

Spiritualising

indeed, whether the

not

musical

correspond
vibration

to,

Harmony
or

rendered

is

not

objec-

Music is to be found in beauty of

form as mathematics in clearness of thought.
But before the sublime faculty of inner sight
tive

making the
is gained, the artist must
become spiritual himself. Then will inspiration
alone consist in making the idea enter into the
form, and realisation in giving form to the idea.
One does not become an idealist by the study
or imitation of the art of bygone masters, but
by idealising, spiritualising, one's psychic being.
is

attained, before the

power

of

material spiritual

Before

understanding or attaining to the

purification of form, the artist ought to endeavour to purify his soul. The beauty of a work
does not depend merely on objective talent or
technical gift, but also on the psychic beauty
which emanates from its creator. An impure
soul, a base and evil heart, a perverted intellect,
a narrow mind, cannot belong to such as
Pheidias, Angelico, De Vinci, Michael Angelo,
Beethoven, Bach, or Wagner, since Beauty
the divine aspect of the human Soul, and
the human Soul is God within God.

is

Art

Man.
will,

is

the

memory

of

the divinity within

The work rises to perfection when the

that divine energy of thought, gains the

* Science has

proved that waves of sound

so as to give rise to infinite variety of form.

affect material objects,

of Art

67

victory over the lower nature which

by instinct.
now by the

The
selfish

guided
caUing, so degraded

artist's

and eager

is

desire to satisfy

personal vanity, could be

raised even to the

rank of apostleship if artists were fully conscious
of the grandeur of Art.
Let us never forget, if we wish to avoid a
common mistake, that Sensation of itself can
never conceive a work of true art. Sensation
is not creative thought.
The poetry of images,
the sense of forms and colours, the life of
things, in short, are found in Spirit, but not in

what

properly called Sensation.

The vital
vibration of Sensation acts evidently on intelis

lectual or psychic centres,

but the result of

that sensation will ever be in proportion to

the capacity and power of our ideality. Two

persons of equal nervous sensibility, but differing

brought before the

same impressive sight, will not express their
sensations with the same degree of power.

in their spiritual nature,

if

Without spirit nature does not

man.
As looking does not mean
feeling does not

for

seeing,

so

mean comprehension.

Now, comprehension,
''

exist

as

someone has

loftily

expressed it,
is the reflex of creation."
It is the sum of our ideal conceptions which
enables nature to be felt or expressed with more
or less power.
If in the creation of a work it were Sensation
that alone could perceive and judge as well

The

68
as the sight (which

is false,

Spiritualising

on another ground,

not the organ that approves or

passes judgment), what should we think of
since

it

is

Beethoven, who lost the sense of hearing, the

very organ of musical sensation, and to whom
the world of sound was henceforth closed ?

from the moment

Beethoven
grew and developed with an extraordinary
intensity.
He composed the ninth symphony,
his most complex work both with regard to

But we know

that, starting

of his deafness, the musical genius of

orchestration and conception

Let the physiologist who believes in automatic

its

action reply

He

cannot.

But those who understand the mysteries of

psychic njan know that what constituted the
potential ideal of the musician, in short his real
inner being, did not need the physical sensation
of music for the purpose of expression or

creation

in

the

conditions

in

which

it

was

placed.

We

be observed, endeavouring
to prove the uselessness of Sensation, but to
show that Sensation, instead of being the
beginning and end of a work of art, is only a
means towards it.
The Beautiful in Art, compared with the
beautiful in nature, is superior to it. Art and
Imitation are as wide apart as the poles.
One of the fundamental characteristics of Art
is that it is the manifestation of mental emotion.
are not,

it

will

of Art

69

The language
servitude.

power

of Imitation

Art

belongs

of expression,

tion or impression.

is

the language of

essentially

to

the

and not

to that of imita-

By

we do not mean

this

to say that the artist should withhold himself

from the contemplation and study of Nature,

which affords art the profusion of its materials I
The artist seeks and finds throughout nature
the

universal

essence.

potentialities

Every true

artist

the

of

creative

should have his

own

personal ideal, but he must never be unmindful,

unless he would stultify himself,

that above

enthroned the ideal, more perfect

and more absolute than his own, towarde
which he ever moves, as he adapts the creativs

his ideal is

effort of his

great

artists

own
are

personality to

those

intuition of these laws.

who have

laws.

The

logical

They do not

despise

when they are logical

they make
them. But the inferior artist is the slave

theories

use of

its

of theory.

work ought naturally

many

sensations,

many

to be the fruit of

impressions,

many

elements are to be
by a superior force,
by a law or theory derived from that law,
otherwise the work will be artificial, confused,
and perishable. Yes, all things serve as material
for great work, provided that the Spirit is there
which governs and co-ordinates all things.
The artist is a kind of alchemist. Art is a
thoughts, but all these
co-ordinated, regulated

The

70
species

of

occult

Spiritualising

chemistry.

Lead can be

turned into gold, but the laws which bring about

this wonderful transmutation must be understood.
Just as the magician by the radiation
of his will brings under his sway the wanderings

and formless forces of astral space, so the artist,

guided by his genius, brings into order the
imperfect images of life by infusing into them
the system of his thought.

The

Beautiful, a Platonic mystic has said,

harmony of forms.
Between the creative wisdom of nature and
the form created by nature there is a vast
is

not one special form, hut the

difference.

The

Beautiful, considered in its ideal sense,

not an illusion.
Beauty is Truth made
manifest in the Form by the Idea.
When
the artist draws beauty from ugliness, purity
from impurity, perfection from imperfection,
order from disorder, he reveals Truth, the
Divine, to humanity. The Beautiful, the True,
the Good agree one with the other.
The glory of Art is to know how to make
the eyes of profane humanity perceive these
three sublime harmonies.
The ordinary man,
we must repeat, by himself only observes
what is immediately perceptible through his
senses.
He, therefore, sees Nature under her
ugliest aspect. It is the mission of Art to make
him perceive the Beauty that lies behind things.
And this Beauty is not a fiction it exists,
is

of Art
it is real.

and

71
It is

illusion, but an essential

which escapes the superficial

not an

invisible reality

glance of the crowd.

Let the artist and poet, whom a regrettable

misunderstanding keeps aloof from the soul
of mankind, which happily is intuitive and
devoid of prejudice, communicate to it the
ideal, the divine sense, of this Beauty, in order
that it should likewise turn from the Universal
Ugliness, of which it is the unconscious and
pardonable abettor
And for that communion
to take place there is no need to specially
produce a '' social art,'' than it is necessary
to create a '' select art " (art d'lite).
Art
must not be the slave of doctrinal speculation,
or descend to the level and inclinations of a
particular class.
Art must have a universal
meaning. The artist is he who, through the
thousand forms of universal life, seeks out the
supreme expression of Beauty for those who,
whether poor or wealthy, know how to perceive
!

and understand

it

in his work.

In the heart of every individual slumbers

an artist, a poet, which we must know how to

awaken.
A spring of beauty and wisdom is
ever ready to rise up from the depths of his
being.
Man is never absolutely incomplete.
If his dormant faculties often prevent him from
opening the eyes of his soul to the artistic
raptures of the world and art, it is the kindly
duty of the artist, the chosen person in whose

The

72
soul beauty

before

is

Spiritualising

ever alive, to open

them

pure

ideas

them and pass

under

harmonious

images.

The simple man is nearer to beauty than

But if hght, sound, colour, form,
and idea are not understood by him in their
harmonious sense, and natural and ideal
he thinks.

relation, the

sentiment of unity, the

life

of all

beauty, escapes him.

Now,

it is

by means

of

Art that the aesthetic

perceptions are developed.

are

not

Academic

made

And human

beings

by the conventional
which only sees in the work

artistic

school,

the object of an

arrangement of the
figure, its subjects being posturers, nor by the
Realist-Impressionist school, which considers
that work should be devoted to the imitation
of nature.
One shows us body without soul,
the other things without idea.
The art of the idealist creates things of beauty
which are possible, and whose inner life radiates
from their action, form, and colour.
The idealist conception alone, emanating from
the artist free to create a world of beauty
artificial

moulded to his ideal, thought, and emotion,

can communicate to mankind, by making it
capable of perceiving it, that divine power
which binds together things, souls, and spirits
of the visible and invisible world, and enables
creative Wisdom, which is
it to perceive the
the Ideal.

of Art

73

Art is by no means a vain whim of man,

Art is
due to the accident of selfish pride.
one of the great forces that God has implanted
It is our imperfections, our
our want of light, which too often,
degrade Art to our own level, our own

in 'the creature.
instincts,
alas,

and darkness.
Without any wish to be

ugliness, errors,

with
Tolstoi's creed of art, so poor and uncouth in
too many ways, I am bound to admire and
approve of this noble phrase of the venerable
apostle of Russia
"Art is not an enjoyment,
a pleasure, an amusement : art is a mighty
It is a vital organ of humanity which
thing.
identified

conveys the conceptions of reason into the domain

of sentiment.''

VII

The Art

of the Future

Struggle between Spiritualism and Materialism Future of Art dependent

on that of Science, Religion, and Philosophy Art will cease to be
" National "
Influence of Idealism on Modern Thought Art consecrated by Metaphysics
Reconciliation between Science and

Religion The Mission of Art to cause what is Comprehensible to be

Perceived Influence of Art on Society Art apparently doomed by
Modern Positivism The Coiurse of Art parallel to that of Science
The Artist should show that his Work results from a High Ideal
The Art of the Future will be based on the Triple Formula of Ideahsm
Impressionism lacking in real esthetic Emotion Need of a clearly
defined view of ^Esthetics The Art of the Future will be that of
Universal Love and Brotherhood Art is intended to purify Mankind.

WHAT

an enthralling problem, how conducive to thought and able to stimulate

the artistic intellect, is the endeavour
learn
to
what Art will be to-morrow, what its
ruling influence will be, and from what unknown
springs it will draw the magic life of future
visions

Many

critics,

such as think, philo-

and lovers of art, uneasy about the

future, and not perceiving any regular solution,
have been, and still are, haunted by the dissophers,

quieting wish to

know

the destiny of Art, or

at least to conceive a logical view^of its process
of evolution.

Owing

to its spiritual essence Art

is

seen

to be so closely joined to the psychic condition

mankind that it is necessary to begin with

studying and understanding throughout its
of

evolutionary growth the mysterious motive

power of ideas, and to determine the degrees
in which ideas are projected into the intellectual
jealms of our times. Now the age in which we

The Art
live,

which

of the Future
will shortly

revolving centuries

redemption

in

mark

the

75

upon the

dial of the

the hour of a universal

province

of

thought,

is

hampered by two mighty currents of hostile

mode of thought, Materialism and Spiritualism,
both of which impetuously roll their waves
towards the future ocean of the Human Spirit,
in which each assumes that it will be the
positive element of truth.
Which of these forces will overcome the other
in its triumphant struggle ?
Before we can know what the Art of to-morrow
will be, we must ascertain what Science, Religion, and Philosophy will be in the future.
The revival of civilisations is in reality a
problem the solution of which is to be found
in the occult or supernatural depths of existence.
The present troubled period which precedes
the advent of the Spirit in this world, whose
reign will transform the human soul by directing
its vital and intellectual forces towards clearer
perceptions,

is

characteristic.

Just as nations will sweep away their natural

boundaries, and all moral and intellectual
barriers, so art will break free from nationality.
Art must not flourish merely as an ornamental
adjunct to one centre. If certain schools show
that they depend on natural surroundings and
a science of nature restricted and peculiar to
themselves, is there any reason to think that

the artist cannot and ought not to see and feel

The Art

76

of

otherwise than through the eyes and senses

of

fellow-countrymen as a body

his

painters

who

?
The
must inevitably depend

lack vision

on one sky, one earth, one climate, one atmosThey represent, indeed, what is

phere, one type.

''

called

national

''

narrow

this

And for the evolution

know nothing worse than

art.

of personal talent I
feeling

of nationality.

For the

environment (thorie du milieu)

advocated by official art patronage has become
a political principle, which requires the national
stamp, as in matters of buying and selling. Its
"
advocates and such as desire '' nationalism
in art fear too much a loss of originality, as
though real originality did not essentially dwell
theory

of

in the creative personality of the artist, in the

ideal individual quality

Great

artists

and

all

part, instead of being

and

great men, for the most

bound by the prejudices

limitations of the environment in which

they

may

be placed, prove superior to it,

separating themselves from it, and passing beyond it in the full display of their emancipated
personality, give free scope to the aspirations
of

an

of all

ideal

more

in

harmony with the dreams

mankind.

In the act of creation, the man, the artist,

the thinker, ought to vibrate in sympathy with
and on behalf of humanity, and not according
to the mode of thought of the place in which

he happens to be.

the Future

77

What is termed

" national genius

''

or

''

generic

''

(gnie de Tspce) is too often only

the lamentable affection that a race exhibits
The underlying spirit
towards its instincts.

genius

power in itself, without

needing to magnify drawbacks and build
What is the relative
principles upon them.
worth of native environment compared with
infinity of soul ? Did Holland give Rembrandt
his magic vision ? Did Germany create Wagner's
of the race has sufficient

*'

Parsifal'?

And if

the sky, the soil, the climate,

art of Pheidias, Michael

gave birth to
Angelo and De Vinci, how is it that Greece and
Italy, whose sky and soil, atmosphere and climate,
have not changed, do not produce works of equal
value ?
Art belongs rather to the realm of
ideas than to physical divisions of the Earth.
Those who are accustomed to watch with
spiritual eyes the events of the world see that
a Spiritual Force of a providential kind now
soars above the plane of human intellect, and
that its occult beams pierce the troubled depths
of men's hearts, penetrating them with a faint
but salutary light.
Yes, we bear within us, in the dark depths
of our conscience, the supernatural germs of
a new humanity which will have grasped the
mystery of life or its immediate relations to
the Other World.
For the truths of idealism, there is no reason
to disguise it, have begun to conquer the world
the

The Art

78
of

of

modern thought with a methodical and

positive
since

sureness,

it is

which nothing can

resist,

the bright sign of the true evolution

through the Spirit, the mediating power which

must readjust the balance between the past,
present, and future.
Art, which has hitherto been hampered by
the contrary methods in which materialism
encouragement, kept in the lower
sphere of a degraded spiritual state and within
national boundaries. Art will assume proporgives

it

tions of

which few have

little

suspicion

Art has received the consecration of Metaalready bears within it the new life
the renaissance of the Ideal. This will be its

physics.

It

fruit.

necessary to state precisely the particular

redeeming character of the present movement
It is

of idealism in art

and

of Idealism generally.

It is necessary to clearly

and concisely explain

the civilising mission of Art, the destiny of light

which guides the artist and summarises, by

the very nature of its glow, the ideal world
which humanity bears in its heart. It is likewise
necessary to remark on the moral effect which
a work of art produces upon people, upon the
crowd, the moral influence of Art, more conducive of health and peace than that of Politics.

Reason

and Understanding will reign in

Passions and sentiments will be

every sphere.

synthetically balanced.

Rationalism, shorn of

its

the Future

79

strength, will be definitely overthrown

triumph

of

Science,

conscious

revealed, but as yet unintelligible

of

by the

mysteries

and unfamiliar.

Science and Religion ought to be reconciled,

to be the complements of one another and
remain indissoluble. This reconciliation must
necessarily take place. It will be the supreme
action of the rule of the Spirit.
The absurd
and harmful antagonism between Science and
Religion has already begun to grow weaker.
Man does not know anything of himself.
The powers or forces which constitute his
individuality have not been created by him
but he can, by the purifying influence of his
;

will or subservience to his passions,

strengthen or destroy these forces.

The man

of

genius,

he who

is

either

essentially

higher power, an
occult force, act in and through him.
Now the same law takes effect in the universal
as in the individual. We have tried to indicate
this law in order that the sceptical reader may, by
means of his logical intuition, understand the possibility of mystery or the action of the universal
Spirit in mankind in the present and in the future.
creative,

We

is

inspired.

said just

now

knowing what
we must find out

that, before

the Art of to-morrow will be,

what Science and Philosophy will be, because
Art is the element which, most immediately

and

in a

way

that has most social influence,

reflects their essential character.

The Mission

The Art

8o
of Art

is

to cause

what

of

comprehensible to be
In that Ues the whole of aesthetics.

perceived.

is

Art is not a fantasy of the human imagination,

nor the caprice of a few idlers
it is an extraordinary effort of the divine faculties of man.
Art is a sublime necessity which is brought
about and developed in accordance with the
;

progress of civilisation. It is neither above or

it
below other manifestations of the spirit
results from them and completes them.
Through the infinite veil, behind which the
unseen work of the Great Unknown is carried
on, Beauty sheds its light, quivering with the
divine radiance, the wondrous effect of the
mystic harmony of essence and substance, of
which works of art are the objective suggestions,
in proportion to the mental capacity of the
artist, inspired to receive them.
It is sufficient
:

to

reflect

for

moment upon

the

strange

phenomenon

of the artistic vocation to become

assured that Art has a definite reason for its
being, and that it consequently plays an
important part in idealising society.
Certain short-sighted thinkers, ever advancing
hypotheses, and whose pessimism is only the
sad result of their ignorance of everything

which concerns the secrets of life, have assumed

the doom of Art to be at hand, bewildered as
they are in the midst of the present confusion
of so

To

many

schools of such opposite teaching.

their purblind gaze, this confusion, evident

the Future
but momentary,
spirit of

8i
is

a sure sign that the positivist

the age cannot be reconciled to the

aesthetic imagination

They have never dreamt

of asking themselves

age

would

if

the age

the

coming

really be positivist or spiritualist,

and if the Science of the future would be the

same as that of to-day
That is where, there alone, and nowhere else,
!

the very roots of the problem are to be found,

and whence conclusions may be drawn. Art

we use the word in its widest sense pursues
a parallel and like direction to that of Science.

Often, indeed, they clasp hands.

Art has been sufficiently degraded by Theory,

being said to be idle, and aesthetics to be merely
instinctive

and fortuitous

The petty

temperament "

theorists

about
praise the art of idle
daubers who load their palettes with the matter
derived from their impure instincts and the
disorder due to their natural imperfections.
Critics and artists have gone arm in arm by
the path strewn with the debaucheries of
their '' temperament,'' confident that they were
marching along the highway of Art
Although we do not wish to insist that
each painter and sculptor, before setting about
a masterpiece, should write his little treatise
on aesthetics, it is at least necessary that he
should show that his work is the result neither
of mere calculation nor of chance, but the ideal,
emotional, conscious outpouring of his soul.
''

The Art

82

of

his thought, raised to the level of a subject,

inspired

by some noble thought. Betwixt the

and death his Work alone remains

artist's life

below.

And this work,

to be

worthy

name,
instinct and
of its

must not be the outcome of his

fancy, but the supreme effort of his soul,
through his will and love, towards Beaut}^
It is

not necessary that the

artist's instinct or

method should be observable

his

his

whole consciousness alone

aspiration

perfection.

concentrated

in his
;

that

on an

work, but
is

to say,

ideal

of

not more noble for the artist

Is it

to exhibit in his work, not merely his selfish

and vain

''

but his honest love

For through this Love alone

personality/'

for the Beautiful

the divine ray of genius is made manifest.

Yes, .the artist, if he would gaze into the
divine brightness of Absolute Beauty, must
crystallize the immortal principle of his being.
At once intuitive and sensitive, through the
mysterious faculties which are the very condilife, he can then attain
which otherwise there exists
but a vague and painful longing, and from
w^hich the external life, that depending on the
senses alone, is far away.

tion of his creative

perfection,

for

But the time has come when the Fine Arts,

regenerated through Synthesis and penetrating
into the boundless regions of the Other World,
will at last become '' the incorporation of the
Idea, the Word, in Forms of Nature."

the Future
The

triple

83

formula

Beauty

of Idea,

Beauty

Form, and Beauty of Execution which forms

the fundamental principle of idealist art, and
over which vague criticism will never prevail,
It will be
will not have been uttered in vain.
the basis of the Art of the future.
Idealism, in art, in philosophy, and even
in politics, is the mighty and everlasting
movement towards the Better. We venture to
prophesy that the artistic creed of the future,
far from deteriorating, carefully preserved from
all that is romantic or academic, from naturalism
and impressionism, will no longer be the product
of the spontaneous instinct
of superficial
temperaments. It will become the harmonious
of

concentration of the individual artistic faculties

and creative powers towards a complete art,

a harmony of form and intellect, worthy of

human beings that have undergone a moral

and

spiritual evolution.

conception of Beauty and Life

ought to form in the artist's soul side by si^e
with a healthier and clearer manifestation of
higher

Emotion and

Idea.

Impressionism,

which

is

only

neurotic

realism or naturalism, has not been able to

inspire art with the real aesthetic emotion.
instinct,
sentiment, the spontaneous,
the fleeting, the immediate, the instantaneous,
the ail-but, the relative, those are the only
themes of art which it has introduced into its

Fact,

The Art

84
process.

It

of

the school of Objectivity and

is

Separating the Ideal from Nature,

Illusion.

and Thought from

barren.

false

Life, this school

has become

conception of Nature, a false

conception of Life, a false conception of Art

such

is

the

sum

of the realist, naturalist,

and

impressionist views of art.

Believing

mental

emotion,

ideal

emotion,

modern painters
communion with Nature,

to be of no use, the majority of

instead of getting into

have distorted

Much

it

(dnature).

talent has been frittered

for want of a
and a mental

clearly defined

away and

view of

lost

aesthetics

Many, finding themselves possessed of real technical powers, have

only been able to utilise them in the representation of trivial and inferior things. The fact has
inspiration.

been too often ignored that just as the universal

and cosmic laws are the primordial conditions
of the whole natural, moral, and psychic
evolution of mankind, so in art the law of the
Beautiful
all

is

idealism.

the condition of

all

perfection, of

Artists at present, diverted

from

their natural powers, unconscious of their

natural strength, contemptuous or afraid of

pure idealism,

do not know how to adjust

nervous sensitivity, the psychological condition

of the modern race, to a lofty artistic expression.
Let us henceforward strive to facilitate the
natural evolution of Art by proclaiming the

power

of the Ideal.

the Future

85

Without wishing to encroach on the province

of sociology,

we may

affirm,

with our gaze

on the progress towards the Best

fixed

Meilleur-Devenir),

that

the

society

of

(le

the

whose clear shadow can already be seen

on the broad luminous horizon of the new age,
will possess an art where universal Love and
human Brotherhood, the relations of Nature
future,

to the Absolute, of the Invisible to the Visible,

be the subjects that

new-born ingenuity of the

of Matter to Spirit, will

will

occupy the

Artist.

Artistic

a higher

upon
whence everything distorted or

creation will proceed wholly

level,

debased will be logically banished, since the

form will then be adequate to the thought.
The immediate Mission of Art is to purify
man. Deprive art of this mission, and there
remains to it only a barren imagery, able only
to interest the puerile soul of

some

idle virtuoso

or the commercial instinct of dealers,

in the wares of art something
their sordid lust for gold.

which

who

may

find

satisfy

VIII

The Relations

of

Church and

State to Art
(i)

No

" Christian Art " the product of Religious

in Uninspired Art
Materialism Modern
ReUgion prohibits Initiation into Sacred
ThingsTransmission of the Universal Wisdom
ability
to
achieve the Unity of ReligionsThe Fundamental
of ChristianityWisdom of East and West derived from a Common Source
Key to the Secret Doctrine withheld by, and Beauty discountenanced by, the Church Indissolubility of Art and Religion

utility

Its

Spirit

" Christian Art " debased as long as

its

Source of Inspiration

is

corrupt.

**

can enlighten the human

It must never be made a
pretext for diversion or an easy method

RT,

-inL

like Science,

consciousness/'

of securing pleasure,
senses,

that

to the

empty

is

and when

to say,

when

appeals to the
limits sensation

it

it

objects of grosser

life,

without

raising the spirit to the vision of the higher

life,

when, in short, art does not remind the

human

soul of the inner

and divine aspirations

and Light, then it is better

stamp it out, since it is then the cause of
a great and deplorable loss of energy both to
the individual and the community. Art which
has no thought, which does not purity, and
which, in a word, does not raise the soul above
the vain shows of earth is an art which has no
of Love, Charity,

to

utility.

It

may

satisfy the limited understanding of

the inferior, it

may

satisfy the sordid personal

vanity of artists without ideal, whose

name

Church, State and Art

is

legion,

but such an art

will

87
never lead towards

the true goal of Art.

It dwells outside the artistic consciousness

and among the

different kinds of perverted or

decayed art there

is

one we must remark upon.

which even

It concerns that religious materialism

now we still
We know

venture to call '' Christian Art."

that the part played by the con-

temporary Church has been pitiable, not to

say culpable. Modern Religion, whose orthodox
and realistic mysticism has caused a material
conception of the Gospel Mystery, is seen to
be contradictory to the pure Christian ideal,
since it has cast out of its bosom esoteric
initiation into sacred things
its very basis.
It is the Initiation of the Universal Wisdom,
which is, nevertheless, ever alive and never can
be destroyed, for though rejected by the creeds
of fanaticism and hide-bound orthodoxy, in
order to assure the maintenance of the prerogatives of the Church, it finds a noble asylum
in the enlightened communion of rare spirits,
whose Christianity is that of Christ, the divine
initiator of immortal theosophies.
This it is
which is destined to bring about profound
changes in the social and religious order of the
This, too, is the same mystic and
world.

scientific

doctrine,

in

which Diotim

(that

Diotim, a Greek priestess of Mantinea, is mentioned by Plato in

the " Banquet." She is said to have influenced Socrates in his theories
with regard to Love and Beauty.

88

The Relations

extraordinary

woman

in

of

the

of

Church

ancient

world,

the history of mystic philosophy coming

earlier

than the pure victim of

S.

the

Cyril,

beautiful Hypatia), secretly initiated Socrates,

a doctrine which

is

found, as though trans-

mitted by initiation, in the poet of the Divine

Comedy, Dante, seventeen centuries after the
great Egyptian initiates revealed it to the
philosophers of Greece.

In the history of philosophic teaching, the

Universal Wisdom is that which shines with the
purest

radiance.

mitted

Successive

and western

eastern

generations

initiators

have

of

trans-

through alternating periods of light

to modern times, and it is to-day
to be found in two powerful bodies of doctrine,
*'
Martinism " and the Theosophical Society,
the first representing the western tradition, the
second coming from India, through the august
and immemorial initiation of Brahminism, but
both perfectty united in their teaching.
Whatever the orthodox may think, it is
through this that the great principle of the
Unity of ReHgion will be established in the
world, because it is precisely in the realisation
of that principle that the divine elements of
the universal brotherhood are found, which
holds humanity as an actual Living Being:
it

and darkness

that|is,

are
this

and
Humanity.

that individuals, peoples,

members
esoteric

of one

body

Wisdom

is

nothing

else

races,

And
than

and State

to Art

89

philosophic Gnosticism, revealed according to

the need of the age for the spirits of truth and

love, which, in the heart of the unseen,

over the destiny of the

gratitude

is

to

slip

literature,

back and

Our

due to the
of
on earth, and whose mission

shed their light upon

religion,

race.

intelligence

also

light incarnated
is

human

watch

fall

and

art,

human

science,

each time they

into materialism.

Rama, Krishna, Moses, Hermes, Orpheus,

Plato, Manu, and our Master

Pythagoras,

Jesus Christ, the early fathers of the Church,

St.

Clement

of Alexandria,

St.

Irenaeus, St.

John and the Apostles, were the most brilliant

and powerful teachers of the Science of the
divine mysteries. The pure mystic Christology
of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Hindoos, Persians,

and Greeks, who were cognizant before the

coming of Christ of the Symbol of the Cross,
proves, indeed, that this Universal

Wisdom

or

Ancient Wisdom, as it is usually called, is a

revealed science, whose unity is clearly to be
seen beneath the apparent divergences, due to
adaptations to place and period, of great
religions based on an esoteric teaching.
We must not then sever, as obscure and
subtle theologians have done, the Christian
teaching from this Science of the Soul, the
science of sciences, the true Science of the
Ideal, nor consider it from a sectarian point
of view in the light of a heresy, at the risk

The Relations

90
of

the

displacing

axis

of

of

Church

civilisation

or

causing the spiritual evolution of beings to go

astray.

Gnosticism or
indeed, the
Christianity.

Universal

Wisdom

pure and fundamental

All Christian theories,

or Protestant, have sprung from

or partly mutilated.
St.

ing

it

is

it,

really,

spirit

of

Catholic

corrupted

Pantaenus,* Athenagoras, Origen, knowto have come from the temples of Thebes,

Memphis, and Sas, inculcated its lofty teachThe works of Abbot Trithemius,f Saint

ing.

Denys the Areopagite, St. Thomas Aquinas,

the admirable Ruysbroeck,J St. Angela of
Foligno, and St. Francis of Assisi, are impregnated with it. St. Augustine, one of the classic
'*
What is now
Christian writers, has said
termed the Christian religion existed in ancient
times, nor has it ceased to exist from the beginning
:

* Pantaenus

was head of the catechetical school at Alexandria (180and the teacher of Clement of Alexandria and Origen. He is
said to have originally been a Stoic, and was sent as a missionary to
" India " or Yemen. His commentaries on various books of Scripture are

202

A.D.),

lost.

t
celsus.

the
of

John Trithemius, Abbot

He

first

is

of

Spanheim, taught chemistry to Para-

the author of tracts on the "

elixir vitae,"

the " PoUgraphta,''

important work on cryptography (1500), and the " Chronicon"

Spanheim (1506).
t John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381), the father

of mysticism in the
Netherlands. His doctrines were rather practical than speculative. He is
chiefly occupied with the raeans whereby the " unto tnystica " is to be
attained, whereas Eckhardt, who greatly influenced him, dwells on the
imion as an ever-present fact. He lived in seclusion with his little community at Vauvert, and died as first prior of the Convent at Grnendael.
He has been confused with William of Rubruk, a Franciscan Friar, who
WTote a narrative of Asiatic travel in the thirteenth century.

and
of the

upon

State to Art

91

human

race to the days

*
earth."

In short, primitive
theology,

is

this

Christ

mysticism, that

say, such as existed before

contains the

when

came
is

to

modern orthodox

universal philosophy, which

Christian

truths,

and which

is

furthermore the primordial spiritual substance

of the cults of East and West.
'*
Between the *' Imitation of Jesus Christ
and the '' Bhagav ad-Git a " there only exist
The form and
differences of terminology.
the essentials are the same.
imagery change
The
It is the same Word of spiritual life.
Christian and Hindoo adepts, through their
profound enlightenment, found in it the one
source. The Brahmin of India and the Christian
of Europe, in spite of time and space, vibrate
as one soul with the harmony of the universal
Truth.
By what right does the pride of the
Catholic Church wish to shatter the spiritual
harmony of two worlds ? By whose authority ?
In the name of whom ? In the name of what ?
In the name of Christ ? Christ is not called
Christ is called Love and Light.
the Pope.
The Spirit of God, the universal Word, sheds
In this lies the
its light on all humanity.
disagreement between the secret doctrine and
;

* St. Augustine wrote a treatise on the Beautiful now lost in

which he appears to have reproduced Platonic ideas under a Christian guise.
He taught that Unity is the form of all Beauty (" omnis porro pulchritudinis forma unitas est ").
Infinite goodness, truth, and beauty are the
attributes of the Deity, and communicated by Him to all things.

The

92

Catholic dogma, for

the East as Christ

is

Relations of Church
Buddha

is

the Christ of

the Buddha of the West.

The present Church, veihng

it

in obscurity,

admit this truth, which, when the

day comes for purity to be preferred to power,
it must end by embracing.
It has driven again
refuses to

into the darkness the light of divine knowledge.

The

light will

consume

in its

it

unquenchable

flame.

This

vibrating with Love and knowalready growing larger, not in order to

light,

ledge, is

dogmas, but to vivify them, to

them, to render them more translucid, and, out of the black petrified mass which
they have become, to make a glorious diamond
of dazzling psychic light, able to bring about a
destroy

illuminate

new

rebirth of the

Jesus
w^ho

is

human

race.

Christ, the founder of Christianity,

but a new revelation of the divine

Wisdom,

of the Science of Mysteries, said of

the disputants of the Pharisaical priesthood

''
Woe u7ito ye who have grasped the key of
knowledge and, not having penetrated into its
sanctuary yourselves, have yet closed it unto
:

others.'''^

The narrowness and poverty

of

ignorant

understand the
meaning of the ritual of the Roman Church, the
continual Popish transformations in the performance of the Mass, falsifyings, errors of all
devotion,

the

inability

*S.

Luke

to

xi.

52.

and State
kinds,

to Art

have made

93

religion,

both in practice and

understanding, not the reahsation of the great

ideal of universahty through

Love and

Science,

but the pohtical organisation of a materiahsed

faith.

In the darkness of

Roman orthodoxy

divine

and

Christianity has long gasped for breath,

the polic}^ of the Papacy has been to take

away

much needed

the keys in order to keep the

truth closely locked up.

Now

same

which has banished

the sacred knowledge, has ended by reprobating
this

religion,

Beauty.
munificent and productive patronage
Church has
forsworn any interest in it. Since then religious
art has day by day deteriorated. The imagery
Since

its

of art during the Renaissance, the

of

contemporary Christianity

it is

sion
*'

possible to conceive.
of

nothingness in

Christian art "

It is
art.

is

as trivial as

a perfect expres-

The

artists

of

have debased religious inspiraand most puerile elements

tion with the grossest

of bigotry.

It is the reign of absolute

common-

place insipidit}^

The

the Church no longer comprehends the Ideal, and Christian art has become
spirit of

one of its shames. It borders on sacrilege. Its

degradation is complete.
The religious spirit is now incapable of conceiving Beauty. It lies in the bondage of obsolete
conventions and realism of an inferior kind.

Church, State and Art

94

The scandalised hypocrisy which the Church

cast upon the nude is the very origin of its
artistic decay.
It was bound to come to this
impoverished state.
The veiUng of spiritual
truth was bound to lead to the veiling of the
most sacred of forms
the human form
The cramping of the psychic faculties naturally
!

brought

about

inspiration.

the

annihilation

of

religious

Distortion of religion gave birth

to ugliness in art.

Religions have the art they

deserve.

Art and Religion are indissoluble. The Princes

of the modern Church should never forget it.
Instead of allowing Christian temples to be
profaned by the banal monstrosities and
hideous eye-sores of the School of St. Luc, that
manufactory^ of sacrilege, the high dignitaries
would be better fulfilling their spiritual duty
b}^ entrusting the Sacred Images to the genius
of inspired artists.

can be seen that the conception of '' religious " or '' Christian " art cannot be revived
from its ashes, if its source of inspiration is
corrupted by the dogmatic and conventional
conceptions of the contemporary Church.
Religious art will be replaced in the future by
It

the tmiversal idealist Art, the sign of a

spirituality.

new

The Relations

of Church
State to Art

and

(ii)
state neglect of Art

Modern Rulers lacking in the

" aesthetic sense "

Art Patronage in the Nineteenth Century Changed character of

Royalty The Reign of Mediocrity Degradation of the Artist
Renaissance Passion for Art Monarchs and Republics culpable
alike Art neither an Aristocracy nor Democracy.

BUTalone whonot
it

and

the princes of the Church

deliver art over to inferiority

is

ugliness.

in this respect have

Modern Kings

likewise

proved themselves unworthy.

have deformed the

If the princes of Religion

aesthetics of religion, the princes of the State,

at the

same

time, have forsaken the worship

Seeing no longer that the

artist, like the thinker and man of science, is
the glory of a nation, they have in a petty and
commercial spirit left Art to take care of itself.
Modern kings are not true kings. The disciples
of Prudhomme, their dynastic principles seeming
to aim at the perpetuation of a reign of intellectual mediocrity, they never raise the eye of
of the Beautiful.

the spirit beyond decorous financial speculaWhen a

or trivial diplomatic jugglery.
prince lowers the nobility of his soul to the
stagnant level of commercialism, he falls from
his giddy height and no longer deserves the
tion,

prestige

due to his

race.

The

genealogical

houses has long lost its sap,

and on its dry branches grows only withered
fruit.
Oligarchs are irremediably tainted with
ties of the ruling

The Relations

96
the

symptoms

first

of decay

of

Church

the venerable

mottoes on their escutcheons are Uke the mocking voices of a dead past, when they claimed the
right to rule the world.

blood

brow with such

of

heroic

leaving
temples.

pride,

For,

are found

fit

idealism,

wrinkles

moral, these

in a

Alas, the bright blue

Royalty that

of

terribly

is

upon

the physical

if

two

is

principles of

among our

discoloured,
their

sunken

the image of the

human

illustrious

vitality

degenerates

degree almost approaching zero.

enough to look

their

for the purest jewels

age

of

mantled

once

for a little

upon

It

is

their effigies,

to see very clearly the darkness that enveloped

their brainless skulls

them thought

and

soulless bodies.

With

no longer what it should be,

that is to say, the undying passion for knowledge or meditation
the soul is no longer
is

that inexhaustible well-head of splendid enthusiasm.

Absorbed selfishly in its own powers,
participating no longer in the mystic poetry
of universal

life,

ing refined,

is

the intellect, instead of becomdulled,

loses that sixth sense,

and becomes incapable of

thrill, of which the aesthetic,

the aesthetic sense,

feeling that ideal

the great lovers of art, are so proud. And then

inevitably follows the destruction of that
intellectual Paradise where the bright flowers
of a pure taste flourish.

The individual races which are debased,

kept in subjection, thrown back on themselves

PROMETHEE

(j.

DELVILLE).
[To fact t)ase

q-j.

and State
like

to Art

97

sickly plants, that

can no longer erect

themselves in the light which has caused them

to,

spring from the

high

human

arise directly

soil,

become

insensible to

inspirations, particularly such as

through special impulses, as Art

does.

When the French Revolution traced with

bloody fingers the prophetic symbol of the
emancipation of the people, and in the terrors
of its lightning the Mene-Tekel-Phares of the
aristocracy blazed out, the ferocious activity
of its thousand guillotines seems to have
exhausted for ever the blood of the fallen

All the glory, character, and wit

that past generations had bequeathed to them
seems to have perished in the revolutionary

theocracy.

storm of '93. Indeed from that time no monarch

has known how to rise to anything extraOffspring
ordinary either in act or thought.
of Italy, the land of masterpieces, Napoleon
preserved in his dark conqueror's soul one of
those great lights which enabled him to hold
the art work of his time in respect
a bright
constellation of artists arose from the Napoleonic
era.
But after that, for anything Hke royal
encouragement in matters of art, there was
nothing, until France was plunged in the
decadence of that curious empire, when Bona;

obsessed by the majestic phantom of

the old imperial eagle, did not dare to neglect

parte,

artists altogether,

and bestowed on them the

The Relations

98

of

foolish patronage of a sensualist,

better able

to appreciate obscenity than a real

art.

In

fact, after

it

work

of the nineteenth cen-

seems that the only prince who appre-

was Ludwig
King of that

ciated his artistic mission

Bavaria,

of

vainly going through the

commonplace sovereigns
tury,

Church

''

the

only true

which Kings were

of

such

Verlaine justly remarked.

little

II.

of

age in

account,''

as

Without the lavish

aid of that warm-hearted enthusiast, that quick

imagination, Wagner, poor, abused, unknown,

misunderstood, would never have realised the

Without
cycle of his mighty conceptions.
Ludwig II. the temple of Bayreuth would not
have come into being, and the genius of Wagner
would never have reached its fulfilment, crushed
by the enmity of his contemporaries which is
the great disgrace of that time
And that is all.
''
"
After the glorious
madness of the Bavarian
1

no royal personage has given new lustre

and diamonds upon his inspired
brow. Constitutional kings no longer know how
Complete stupefaction seems to
to be heroes.
have absolutely destroyed in them all sentiments of dignity or glory.
They have not
even the excuse of gilded misery, and keep
prince,

to the gold

their magnificence for the hideous official

ceremonial in which they are pleased to exhibit
In this, indeed,
their growing unpopularity.
they are true to their part of government

puppets, for the modern king does not

make

and State
laws

acts.

to

Art

99

he no longer
he submits, he proposes
His duties are automatic, humiliating,
;

abstract,

ineffective

it

sovereignty in

is

The purple

most absurd form!

its

changed to

is

a frock-coat, the sceptre to a walking-stick,

and the crown

In such royal guise

to a top-hat.

M. Prudhomme easily takes

and can at

flesh,

his ease use his civil list profitably in

commercial

enterprises, without at all needing to interest

himself in spiritual matters.

marvel

if it

were otherwise

category of moral destiny.

It
it

would be a

belongs to the

A king whose govern-

ment is in the hands of lawyers, manufacturers

and the monied classes, whose interests are
mainly centred in common political intrigue,
must, if he wishes to dwell in peace, become
mediocrity to some extent.
A constitutional
king huge irony of modern greatness is an
ill-rewarded slave seated upon a gilded chair.

The

chief

puppet

by

of

some ministers who are

from the lower depths

bound to deny
himself the slightest initiative, he acts according
to the whim of those who pull the wires. His
whole interest in art is represented by a Ministry
of Fine Arts, whose business it is to acquire at a
huge price the wildest freaks of worthless art, and
leave true artists with their works and projects
to perish of hunger.
Indeed it is an understood thing that the artist who cannot leave
his high probity and outspoken independence
recruited

election

of the ambitious bourgeoisie,

The

loo

Relations of Church

behind in his studio, to knock hke a beggar

at the side door of the government office, will
never receive any official recognition unless

maybe

at the point of death, or, long after that

has taken place, on his tombstone.

The part

Maecenas played by modern

potentates is lamentable and worthless, and
when we see in the terrible jumble of the
triennial exhibitions the mark put upon their
acquisitions, it is hard to know whether to
of

laugh or weep.

These Boeotians of high rank, the costly

ornaments of inglorious kingdom or empire,
are it can be easily proved beggars who

cling to the trappings of state like

to his gold,

and

Harpagon

an incurable
that bears any

seriously profess

everything
resemblance to art.
This deplorable poverty
of intellect, and degenerate spirit, is the effect

scepticism

of

the

minds

for

contaminated by speculations on
Rothschild has come to

money market.

dominate their thought, their palaces, and

their whole being. They are the strange votaries
of the Golden Calf, around which whirls in a
demoniac frenzy, in our times of universal
pauperism, the Saturnalia of capitalism. Ah
the princes of the Renaissance we bow low
to them took part in commerce too, and
sometimes even descended to make raids on
the Bank, but the money, in the hands of these
cultured enthusiasts, was made the means of
!

and State

their

realising

their

to Art

loi

artistic

aims.

They utiHsed

diplomacy and trade in aid of their eager

passion for the Beautiful, and commerce and

manufacture never rendered their great souls

incapable of noble deed or thought.
A prince's
revenue was the true public treasury, from
which all those who pursued science or art
drew what they needed for their labours.
The Borghese, Urbans, and Medici, Popes
and Emperors, Kings, Dukes, and Nobles,
were the great admirers of human genius, whose
palaces were turned into Temples in which
artists

of

rank

whom

Before the sovereignty of

to put off the sovereignty
this pure-blooded aristocracy, with

officiated.

Art, they
**

knew how

action "

was

''

the sister of dreaming,''

placed the aristocracy of thought above their

own.

The

princes of those days, full of that magnifi-

cent pride from which spring noble passions

and great races, dwelt amid the luxury of art,
liberal, easy of access, with imperial splendour,

with the light, and if

they could rise from their splendid sepulchres
would not admit the bourgeois monarchs of
the present day even among their condottieri
or train of menials. Can there be found among
the awful tribunal of those who sway the sceptre
in these latter days one man who, like Julius II.,
''
is capable of uttering such a cry as this
/
would drain my blood and cut short my years

like eagles intoxicated

The Relations

I02
to give

them

to

Michael Angela

mere admiration,

was divine

it

**

of

Church

It

love.

was not
Genius,

days of splendid image-worshippers,

fired the spirit, heart, and soul, as to-day Money
pollutes, and renders them base and servile.
On all sides the sacred flame was fanned whence
sprung immortal works, and the great ones of
the earth suffered the impetuous breath of
human thought to sweep intoxicatingly through

in these

their

palaces.

thrill

of

aesthetic

ecstasy

animated monarchs and wondering peoples.

It was the Reign of the Beautiful.
Now it is
the Reign of Mediocrity.
In the palaces of the world the kings shine,

and

intrigue in secret, with that dangerously

growing concourse of social murmurings, their

empty bulk alone acting as a threat.
And
how sad it is, amid this evolutionary progress,
these increasing social complications, this growing passion for art, this intellectual impulse,
which is slowly and painfully, but very surely,
making headway among the people, these new
forces which are about to rule the world, to
see in complete contrast the supineness of kings,

narrow outlook, the spell

and their weak rule ending
in moral wretchedness, complete and final!
He will not here play the demagogue desiring
the end of one rgime in order that an inept
*'
Proudhon and his
social art " may prevail.
great paradox have long been overwhelmed

their littleness, their

of their prestige,

and State

to Art

103

later judgments of those who have a

purer comprehension of art
that is to say,
those who straitly affirm that art is neither
an aristocracy nor democracy, but that it is
Art, that mighty emotion for the Beautiful
under its manifold variety of form, attainable
by all those who know how to love it. And not
more than a barren Monarchy could we excuse
a Republic that allowed men like D'Aurevilly *

by the

and

Villiers-de-l'Isle

Adam t

to die in destitu-

while its mighty commerce showered

wealth on political quackery and buffoonery.
But are Art and State ever to remain at
opposite poles, the absolute antithesis of one
another, and will future assembhes and lawmakers, like those of to-day, and like our modern
Kings, be invertebrate and empty-headed
bourgeois, whose pitiable shades will never
move across the stage of history, without
exciting the derision of peoples and artists ?
tion,

Barbey d'Aurevilly was a novelist of great power and originality,

work being marked by genius of a rare kind. He wrote " Les Diaboliques," " Les Prophtes," " Le Chevalier Des Touches."
He died in
poverty about 1895. See an article on him by Edmvmd Gosse in " The
Pageant" (1897).
t Count Villiers de LTsle Adam (183a-1889), French poet and dramaInaugurator of the Symbolist movement. " La Rvolte " appeared
tist.
" Contes Cruels," a volume of short stories, in 1880
in 1870
and his
last play, " Axel," was published after his death in 1890.
A romantic
idealist, he had considerable influence on younger French writers.
all his

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER

VIII

Revival of Sacred Art The

Beuron School

THE

unexpected spectacle, amid the

decadence of modern Christian Art, of
a reHgious artistic revival comes as a

and pleasure to all those who deplore

the way in which Catholic sanctuaries are
profaned by imagery of the most puerile kind.
For a long time, we know, religious art had
surprise

become commonplace and absolutely lacking

in artistic feeling.
And it must be confessed
that

the contemptuous

epithet

bondieuseries

which has been commonly applied to the

and inappropriate decoration of
tasteless
modern churches was well deserved.
The
unanimous outcry of all those that have preserved the sense of beauty in face of the treason
against art committed by such as profane the
profession which has been so blindly entrusted
with the decoration of our sacred buildings
did not seem able, in spite of its vehemence,
to bring to life again within the Church anything
of the beauty of former days.
The artistic
instinct of religion seemed indeed to have
utterly perished, and so flagrant was its poverty
of conception that it might have been thought
that religious feeling would never again recover
its proper expression.
In this degeneration of sacred art can there
not be perceived, as we do not hesitate to affirm,

A Revival of

Sacred Art

105

a proof of the weakening of the mystic senti-

ment, an impoverishment of spiritual life.

The counterblow given to it by the evolution
of modern ideas, the growth of naturalism,
the manifold theories of the emancipation of
the

individual

in

art,

the

incoherence

and

which prevail in contemporary

thought, have they not all contributed to
relegate to the shades of a past which has
become embarrassing and of no further use
the glories and immortal example given to
uncertainty

generations

might well
with great

by the Primitives ? Mystic art, it

be thought, had lost connection
tradition, and the ugliness of the

a barbarous age,
triumphantly displayed its vandalism in the
Catholic shrines.
There was reason then to
regret, in the name of outraged Beauty, the
pure and solemn splendour of an artistic past
inspired by an almighty faith.
Certainly we
must take into account the bad taste and
iconoclastic tendencies of the seventeenth,
eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries when
seeking the causes which brought about the
decadence of sacred Art
but, however that
may be, there is reason to deplore the influence,
present

day,

like

that

of

Yet
an art which should not be under

direct or indirect, of naturalistic theories.

if

there

is

the influence of wholly imitative principles it

surely sacred art, whose aim is not to repro-

is

duce perceptible objects, but rather to inspire

A Revival of

io6

Sacred Art

the soul with piety and devotion.

Sacred art

own, beyond the conin the mystery and

perfection of its symbols, in moral grandeur,
and the exaltation of the mystic drama. And
this region is so essentially sacred, that a
French writer whose name is a synonym for
dwells in a region of

tingencies of the

its

moment,

M. Anatole France, speaks of it

"
''
Noces corinthiennes
in these terms
''I deal in this drama with
serious and delicate matters
of matters of
religion.
I have redreamt the dream of the
faith of ages
I have given myself up to the
illusion of living beliefs.
It would have been
too wanting in the sense of harmony to treat
what is pious with impunity. I have a sincere
scepticism.

in the preface to his

:

respect for sacred things.

No

J'

deny that the harmonious region

ought to have a solemn,
hieratic, and ideal art, an art filled with peace
and holiness in which form and colour are
one

will

of mystic apotheoses

subordinated to the profound requirements

of the liturgy, to the plastic exigencies of dogma.
Now, instead of compositions adequate to the

theme we see the

Church compromised by deliberate outrages on Beauty.
If the standard of faith is to be judged by the
degree of artistic inspiration shown by the
Church to-day, mysticism, it must be confessed,
intellectual loftiness of their

devotional

Christianity

has fallen into decay.

of

the

In setting this result

The Beuron School

down
much

107

to external influences alone, those appear

blamed who have submitted to

and prejudicial a way. Religion,
speaking in an aesthetic sense, must not allow
itself to be controlled by the ever-changing
play of schools and theories.
From a strictly religious and liturgical point
of view, there is no artistic evolution possible
in the fundamental and essential principles of
Christian art, which are order and splendour.
it

to be

in so passive

The character of liturgical art has been determined by the Primitives. It was only necessary
to continue them by traditional principles.
The type of mystic beauty having been formulated by that tradition, I mean the aesthetic
and technical principles of religious decorative
art, the Church had only to perpetuate them
on the great lines laid down by them, since
nothing prevented their being adapted to the
present day.

because the Primitives have been

the purity and splendour of their
example despised, the mysterious power that
links together Art and Religion misunderstood,
that the source of inspiration has become
defiled. Cimabue, Giotto, Orcagna, Fra Angelico
are the eponyms of Christian Art. They are the
It

is

deserted,

immaculate source of Christian aesthetic inspiration, because they reflect, in true proportion,
the pure intermingling of the tradition of GraecoLatin art, inherent in the very origin of the

A Revival of

io8
religion

the

of

west

Sacred Art

Christianity.

Outside

that tradition Christian Art cannot but lose

beauty,

its

grandeur, and

fatally into the

its

mission,

its

and sink

most deplorable exhibition

of

perverted taste.

Sacred Art has no point of contact with the

formless and fanciful productions of the profane
schools.

It is

wholly concerned with expressing

to the senses what, from a mystic point of view,

appears to be absolute and eternal, the bases

of the

whole

spirit of synthesis, the

of all aesthetic unity.

It

foundations

demands nothing from

because it proceeds from a

and universal condition of the soul
springing from the emotional breath of the senthe

individual

collective

timental life. Just as Esoterics possesses a visionary Metaphysics whose theories are based on the
direct vision of invisible verities, so Religion

has

its

aesthetic creed consisting of principles

by the

psychic nature of
religious experiences.
Mystic beauty is necessarily superior to natural beauty because it
created

superior

expresses at the same time the perfection of

moral beauty. That is why liturgie splendour

never found in a purely realistic composition.

is a divine and not a human art.
Unity is
its
end.
Hierarchy and hieratism are the
only possible means of expression because it
should express, not merely the manifestations
of individual life, but above all the magnificence of the Christian Virtue equally with the

is

It

The Beuron School

109

adoration of its followers. Sanctity, the highest

degree of inward evolution, the pinnacle of
mojal beauty, needs a plastic representation
arising from a clear and simple harmony, which
abhors " movement which displaces line." Order,
in what is geometrically ideal and visibly
harmonious,
the
constitutes
indispensable
decorative element in works of sacred art.
Ruskin said very rightly in '' The Seven
Lamps of Architecture " : '' Symmetry is not
an abstract quality.''
Indeed symmetry is
a natural law whose manifestation is to be
found in all forms visible or invisible in the

universe.
results

The beauty

of

from that symmetry.

perceptible

forms

It is the signature

Now, since the

the search for order and the
divine, is it surprising that sacred art, in its
monumental and decorative expression, should
endeavour to draw nearer to the plastic essence
of nature by the geometric laws of Beauty ?
This, judging by the works they have already
achieved, has been perfectly understood by

of the divine order in nature.

object of religion

is

of the Beuron School,"^

no exaggeration to say that they have

the monastic artists

and

it is

restored to the great art of religious decoration

*

The community

of

Beuron was founded

at

Beuron in Germany, by

the Arch- Abb Naure Wolter (died in 1890). The Beuron School was created
by the R. P. Desire Lenz with the object of reviving sacred art by the
idealist view of aesthetics. The Sctiool has already produced quite remarkable works, notably
The Chapel of St. Maur, near Sigmaringen the
decoration of the Church^of the Holy Vigrin, at Stuttgart, in the Abbey of
;

Emmaiis, near Prague

Cassino, near Naples.

and

in the

Convent of

St.

Benot, on

Monte

A Revival of

no
its

Sacred Art

proper form and rediscovered the source of

which the Church seemed to have lost all trace.

of their frescoes and bas-reliefs
bears remarkable testimony to the high sense
of decorative treatment which guides them
equally with the pure comprehension of form
which inspires them in their superb impulse of
Their aim can be perceived in their
revival.
works, which is to realise the great principle

The reproduction

of religious art

by uniting the

love of

rhythm

which characterises Greek aesthetics with the

sentimental harmonies of the Christian drama.
Pheidias and Fra Angelico should be the chief
Owing to the
universality of its principles Idealism is ever to
be met with, because Beauty partakes of Unity.
Whether Pagan or Christian, great art is always
religious. Idealism necessarily produces beauty,
inspiration of their idealism.

because it is the very expression of great art.

In proof of this I mention the Virgin (Vierge
hiratique) which adorns the portal of that
wonderful chapel of St. Maur, reared by the
Beuron School on the rocks of the Danube
valley, and which has been well compared
a wholly relative comparison, be it understood,

but grounded rightly on the perfect

harmony

of its architectural proportions

decorative

Parthenon.

treatment

to

little

and

Christian

All the austere artistic effort of

the Beuron School seems to be summarised in

this wonderful and mysterious image, beautiful

The Beuron School

with the irresistible beauty of a perfect thing.

It is only a knowledge of the geometry of
aesthetics, the knowledge of exact proportion,
measurement, and number, of which Plato
speaks, which could have realised such perfection in the agreement of the whole and its
parts.

The example which the monk

artists of

is great
Beuron give there to contemporary
and significant.
From the simple linear ornament to the

art

composition of the fresco, everything in this

noble work is eloquent of harmony and beauty.

pure splendour of simplicity, the condition of perfect equilibrium between matter

It is the

and

spirit

which the

artist

his respect for a wise

has reached, due to

tradition

and a

lofty

That tradition, we repeat, is the only

one suited to the decoration of sacred buildings,
and, if it does not wish to degenerate still
emotion.

further,

modern

impregnated with

sacred
it.

art

By

must

following

become
it,

the

Benedictine artists who know how to apply

it with proper taste and intelligence will return
to the primitive cradle of the art displayed in
the catacombs, which owed its freshness precisely to the agreement between the tradition
of the ancients and the Christian ideal.
Out
of the spiritualism of those two tendencies
there should arise a new form of art in which
beauty of form would be conjoined with nobility
of sentiment.

A Revival of

112

Sacred Art

The Virgin of the Chapel of St. Maur agrees

with the liturgie representation of the Early
Church, which holds her at the same time to
be seated on the throne of divine Wisdom.
Such as the artist has painted her, with so sure
and such proper feeling for mural
treatment, would she have appeared in the
a taste,

sacred presentment of the Virgin

say, according to the Scriptures
of order is in

Me

that

is

to

The beauty

for all eternity.

This Virgin especially, as well as the head

of Christ, represent indeed the aesthetic ideal

which governs sacred art, and we know few

works that are superior or equal to them. In
our eyes they are worthy of being classed with
the noblest expressions of Beauty and Perfection which sought to fix the ideal type in which
should be manifested the union between the
essence of what is human and what is divine.
It is only by proportion, purity of design, and
beauty of line that these ideal types can express
For Line, as
in art their dogmatic grandeur.
Pladan says, is the immutable theology of Form.
All sacred art aims immediately at the decorative

objectivity

of

the

divine

character

of

The Benedictine painter bases himself

upon that beauty, and seeks the eternal type
Beauty.

Ugliness is incompatible
in the human form.
with the ideal of perfection which Christianity
Besides, if history is to be believed,
sets up.
the saints, both men and women, were, speaking

THE VIRGIN OF

S,

MAUK (bEURON

SCHOOL).
{To face, page

112.

The Beuron School

113

Do

not nearly
all the lives of the Saints remark on the admiration felt by their judges and butchers when they
generally, physically beautiful.

beheld the beauty of the martyrs ?

Christianity cannot remain insensible to the
beauty of human perfection. This is what the
Christian artists of the
stand,

and that

is

Beuron School under-

why, we are glad to think,

setting a good

they are endeavouring, by

example, to bring about a

what

is

commonplace and

in

reaction against

bad

taste,

and,

in a word, against the clerical ugliness of sacred

images which have become the terrors of the

For it must be confessed that it
sanctuary.
is the clerical conception of religious sentiment
that has brought about the profane treatment
of modern sacred art.
So that it is with a
real feeling of friendship

and

artistic brother-

hood that artists welcome the endeavour of the

Beuron School to bring about a revival. The
place which the religious sense occupies in
modern civilisation is still sufficiently prominent,
it must be allowed, for it to endeavour to express
itself in a form of art worthy at least of the
powerful current of spirituality which Christian
thought has sent throughout the West. In the
hands of the artists of Beuron the decoration of
the churches will be raised to the high level
of the moral unity of the Christian life, which
of necessity must produce in art line and colour,
as well as technical unity, which alone allow

A Revival of

114

Sacred Art

the harmonious treatment of the vast decorative

schemes requisite for the architectural breadth
of edifices consecrated to the rehgion of a people.
If

the historical evolution of art

we

are

decorative
really

is

met with the undeniable

an

sense that
fitted for

painting,
essentially
it

is,

properly
Christian

considered,
fact

that

speaking,
art,

in

of all plastic arts, the

is

the

most

the external display of sentiments

and ideas. Is it surprising then that in the very

bosom of religion there should be again exhibited
an artistic impulse under its most legitimate
form ? We have grown accustomed nowadays
to consider sacred art as definitely dead, and
to look upon every attempt to revive it as an
anachronism.
As defenders of Beauty under
whatever form it may be expressed, it is our
duty to welcome, on occasion, every endeavour
that is made towards Beauty.
That endeavour, none can doubt who have
seen their works, has been successfully accomplished by the Beuron School. It corresponds,
moreover, to a general tendency of art at the
Whilst contemporary art is
present day.
struggling at this

moment

of the schools that rely

and

to shake off the errors

on instinct and imitation

endeavouring to rise to the conception

of general ideas through the form of that
great decorative art, of which Puvis de
Cha vannes was the forerunner in France, these
is

solitary

monks

are likewise striving laboriously

The Beuron School

115

in the silence of their monasteries to give a

new

by means of
and one with a new meaning.

birth to their rehgious ideal

a nobler form of art

Knowing what element of beauty their original
resources could supply, and the method of
expression allowed to them by Hellenic and
Byzantine traditions of sacred art, the Beuron
School has managed to evolve a sustained style,
full of grace and dignity, suitable to the religious
life of our times and worthy of modern inspiration.

In these days when religious beliefs themselves,

governed by the law which determines the evolution of the conscience and profiting by the

modern

acquisitions of

learning,

have assumed

a more philosophic and scientific guise than

belonged to those of the Middle Ages, which

were too exclusively devotional and ascetic,
there is wanted a treatment of sacred subjects

which

should

be

better

informed,

better

balanced, free from the crudities of the Gothic

and in which mystic emotion should

be under the control of the laws of knowledge,
wisdom and reason. Formerly the works produced in the monastic studios were executed
stiffly and mechanically according to the conperiod,

ventions and style peculiar to

The

the

different

was completely controlled

and fettered by the rigid and narrow applicaOrders.

artist

tion of the principle of the division of work.

The manual

of

the liturgie artist, the

monk

A Revival of

ii6

Sacred Art

Theophilus, was the unchangeable and uniform

creed of art, conforming to the expression of

the ascetic vision of the age, impregnated with

the violent reaction on which the new Christian
faith was founded against the physical beauty

paganism.
The Beuron School does not
it necessary to continue to propagate
that early error, which in the course of time
brought about the debasement of form, and
caused sacred art to lose the sense of harmony
and proportion. And if it has chosen to return
to the purely Greek and Byzantine sources of
Christian Art, it is to properly apply the decorative beauty of tradition to the symbohcal
of

consider

exigencies of the liturgy, confident that Hellenism, owing to the rationalism of its artistic
principles,will preserve their art

from becoming

commonplace and ugly, by restoring it

and elevation of style. Moreover,
works of Pheidias, Polycleitos,
the
were not
Zeuxis, Apelles, and Lysippus, the prototypes
which served as guides to the early Christian
to grandeur

And has not the tradition of the

artists ?
technique of decoration been borrowed from
The genius of Greece is
the ancient world ?
always being encountered at the basis of
religious art.

magnificent example is presented to us by

of Flandrin * which so affords so
the
frieze

Jean Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) was, like Chavannes, a native

him also, is famous chiefly for his monumental decorative paintings. His early difl&culties were removed by his taking, in 1832,
of Lyons, and, like

The Beuron School

117

harmonious a decoration to the Church of St.

Vincent de Paul at Paris. Does not this masterpiece, one of the most important works of
modern art, unfortunately too little known,
and which criticism has not appreciated at its
proper value, owe the wonderful arrangement
of its line

and

perfect decorative unity pre-

pure Hellenism with

the gentle austerity of Christian sentiment ?
And since we have naturally come to speak
of the masterly work of Flandrin, may we be
allowed to take advantage of it to offer here
a friendly warning to the Beuron School ?
In all art, the danger to be avoided is convencisely to the fusion of its

tion

that

formulae,
it

is

is

to say, the frigid application of

which

results in a

''

poncif.''

In a word,

inevitably death to personal inspiration

or emotion,

owing to the absence

of

direct

contact with forms of nature. To speak frankly,

there is an omission which weighs upon modern
Christian art with all the weight of the prejudice
which gave it birth it is the absolute proscription of the study of the nude, the observation
:

of the

human body, God's masterpiece in nature

the Grand Prix de Rome, and he soon acquired a reputation by several

important works mostly of religious subjects. In 1838 he was commissioned
to decorate the Chiirch of St. Sverin at Paris, and from that time onward
he was continually engaged in similar work. His chief works are at St.
Germain-des-Prs, at Paris, in the Church of St. Paul at Nimes, in that of
St. Vincent de Paul at Paris, and in the Church of Amay at Lyons. Regarding painting as the vehicle of the expression of spiritual sentiment, Flandrin
perhaps paid too little regard to the technical qualities of his art. His work
is austere and cold, and though it is customary to compare him with
Fra Angelico, his creations lack the joy and purity of the early master.
He died of small-pox at Rome.

ii8
It

Revival of Sacred Art

has always been a great mistake to suppose

that the representation of ideas in art takes

no account of the study of hving forms. The

two unshakeable bases of aesthetics are Nature
and the Ideal. The attempt to follow the laws
of ideal beauty, without giving heed also to the
laws of natural beauty, results in a

and

''

pastiche."

The

traditional

''

''

poncif

methods and

formulae requisite for the technical application

of a difficult art

ought to be put at the service

of the creative instinct

tion.

To

and individual

inspira-

continually endeavour to conciliate

the experience of tradition with the renewal

of creative power is not only the duty, but the
right, of every true artist devoted to great art.

However right and proper the decorative treatment may be to express a general idea, nothing
must suffer individual inspiration to be suppressed.
If,
therefore, the Beuron School,
while remaining faithful to the principles of
a legitimate tradition, desires to carry out
successfully its attempt to give a

sacred

art, it

must not embody

rigid a formula.

able to

It will

new

life

to

its ideal in too

then be the better

harmony with the inviolable

change, and not remain stationary in

work

in

laws of
a too exclusive imitation of the past, and so
adapt its art with due balance and proportion
to the changes of the spiritual sentiment of
religion.

Egyptian

sacerdotal

as

it

was,

art,

itself,

liturgie

and

underwent changes

in

The Beuron School

the

expression

sesthetic

to degenerate
tects, painters,

119
of

ideas.

It

began

from the moment that its archiand sculptors began to servilely

copy, without infusing

them with the inner

life

which renews external appearances, the scale

and proportions which had been bequeathed

by a powerful
The artists

sacerdotal tradition.
of

the

Beuron School,

while

basing the form of the figure on the impersonal

nature of the Greek cult of rhythm as well as

Byzantine sacerdotalism, significant on their
part of a true sense of beauty, should aim more
Thus, the
at individualising their heads.
irresistible beauty of symmetry, one of the
essential elements of harmony, will be rendered
more complete by the irresistible charm of the
expression of type.

That

is,

too,

what

all

the

great masters of sacred art, Giotto, Cimabue,

Fra Angelico, etc., were accustomed to do.

Without forgetting that the treatment of sacred
subjects depends on the formula so clearly
''
enunciated by Denys the Areopagite
When
we how down in worship to an Image, we how
down to the prototype represented by that Image,"
the religious painter is right in seeking among
the forms of natural life for an ideal prototype.
Certainly we are somewhat inclined to take the
Benedictine artists of Beuron severely to task
for being rather too anxious to emulate the
Greek monks of Mount Athos, and regret that
:

the Guide

to

Sacred Art by Giorgos Marcos, a

120

A Revival

of Sacred Art

Byzantine monk, should serve as their textit is not the less true that remarkable
works have issued from the monastic studios
of Beuron, and that from this time forward
sacred art of a more or less renovated kind is

book. But

actually existing.

The

ecclesiastical authorities

have been shown how churches ought to he

decorated, of which they have been strangely
ignorant for so long, to the disgrace of the
dignity of their worship and the dignity of art.

IX
*

The

Social Influence of Art

" Of all social forces which have power to

assist in the uplifting of a people, there is none

perhaps of greater importance than Art."

Annie Besant.

the Secret of the Universe and the State Art reveals Harmony
of Social Intelligence marked by creation of an Image
Perception of Beauty inseparable from Mentality Evolution of Art
corresponds with Social Progress Superficial view of esthetics
Social Energy aims at Perfect Harmony Social Problems solved by
the Cult of Beauty esthetic Sense the great force of true Spiritual
than
Life Beauty perceived through the Imagination, rather
through the Senses Inferior Artists afraid of Great Art Great Art
does not Imitate, but conquers, Matter Art must illumine Society,
not reflect it New Era in Belgian Art Beauty and Utility not In-

Harmony

Birth

compatible The Artist represents Public Thought The Mission

of Art is to represent Ideas
Ideas of Past Ages reflected in their
Monuments esthetics a Social Benefit.

AN

illustrious

disciple

influential friend

of

Plato,

moreover

and an

of Pheidias,

the great law-giver Pericles, on one

occasion at Athens allowed this wise and profound saying to fall from his lips, which seems
the living echo of the Pythagorean doctrine
:

*'

Touch not

the hases of

Music

you would

touch the very foundations of the State.''

In these words Pericles formulated the social
principle of Art, the essence of which

that

is,

is

Harmony,

Beauty.

The statesman and the artist in him reminded

Greece that what constitutes one of the first
elements of the moral and intellectual harmony
of a civilisation

is

the feeling for the Beautiful,

* This chapter is from a paper by M. Del ville, entitled "

Social de l'Art," contributed to " La Belgique," April, 1907.

Le Principe

The

122

more

or,

clearly,

the

Social Influence
action

direct

of

that

wonderful feeling upon the soul in the formation of

human

societies.

Order and harmony, no one can reasonably

deny, are very prominent social virtues. The
universe only exists by harmony, and the
important formula, '' order from chaos,'' is
one of the most formidable affirmations of the

Harmony

divinity of

of the world.

things,

if it is

in the primordial genesis

If harmony is the essence of

the great balancing force which

and

vibrates at the core of worlds

of the smallest

atom,

if it is,

in

in the core

one word,

the

ought, therefore, to be
the essence and secret of the State likewise.

secret of the universe, it

Now,

Art which makes man most directly

of
the fundamental existence of

it is

sensible

harmony, that universal harmony before which

modern materialism
its

is

forced finally to

stammer

admiration in despair.

The

social principle of art

may

already be

traced from the earliest ages of humanity, in

the dark periods when the nascent civilisations
scarcely emerge from the night of time.
The
mast undeniable document, the most positive
proof of the advent of intelligence in primitive
man, and of the aesthetic element which enters
into his composition, the very sign of the evi-

dence of the mental light in the

* See, for

animal,*

what more especially deals with the esoteric teaching of

" The Mystery of Evolution,'' by

evolution or human genealogy

Jean Delville, Lamertin, Brussels.

human

human

of Art

123

do we not find in this fact, revealed by geology

and anthropology, that the appearance of social
intelligence among mankind dates from that
wonderful moment when he learnt how to carry
his feeling for the beautiful into an image,
derived from the forms of the life around him ?
Yes, it was indeed by tracing on the raw
material, the outline of a living or inanimate
object, the memory of whose beauty he desired
to perpetuate and which had made its impression

upon

his

intelligence,

that

prehistoric

man, at the dawn of the human race, revealed

the social and intellectual principle of Art.
Now, it has been remarked by the great
Huxley, that in all the
no animal has endeavoured to reproduce an image of aught that
surrounded him. Art is unknown to animals.
Art, then, is, indeed, the undeniable sign of
intelligence and wit in man.
As soon as man
could think, he was an artist.
English

biologist,

numerous kinds

of species

Just as primitive man expressed his ideas

by means of imagery, so in the world of imagery
people become conscious of ideas.
The feeling for the beautiful is inseparable
from the mental conscience. One of the characteristics of the psychology of the child, one
which marks an important stage in the development of his intelligence, is the growing interest
that he takes in the image.
There again we
have a proof that the aesthetic idea cannot be

The

124

Social Influence

separated from the mental evolution of man,

and that art plays a vital part in human life.
The evolution of the aesthetic sense always
corresponds to increased social consciousness,

The whole history of

works hand in hand with
human progress. Wherever in the world the
germs of civilisation have been found, those
germs have been manifested under one of the
to refined sensibility.

shows us how

art

forms of

it

art.

The domain

of aesthetics constitutes a social

factor of a truly harmonious psychic influence.

Imagination is a real power in man. Without

imagination man can create nothing and invent
nothing.

The
Art

are not derived from

artistic faculties

instinct,

but,

on the contrary,

from

one of the proper activities of the

is

spirit.

Spirit.

That manifestation of human Intelligence which

is termed artistic genius is not, then, an artificial
product, a fantasy, a superfluity which has
but a relative and distant connection with the
ethical development of society. Artistic genius
is inherent in the phenomena of life, as beauty
is

inherent in the manifestation of the universe.

It is

because they forget that Art

force, the roots of

the origins of the

men

to-day,

a civilising

which are deeply buried in

soul, that most states-

human

and such

as represent the popular

power, adopt generally a

view

is

of aesthetics.

mean and

superficial

of Art

125

Likewise, because they have forgotten the

essence of aesthetics

and the mission

of art in

the world, the majority of artists to-day put

their talents at the service of inferior emotions

and ugliness.
Of what use,

then, are the schools of Fine

which the beauty of Form is taught,

life ceases to be impregnated with
this beautv and if artists themselves turn their
talents in the direction of the ugly and commonArts, in

if

social

place

Of what use are museums, if they are crowded

with works in which bad taste predominates,
and from which the artist's intelligence is
absent ?
A great English writer on aesthetics and
socialism, John Ruskin, spoke truly when he
''
wrote
The ugly must be fought even to the
and, after being banished from its own
life,
dreams, must be expelled from reality."
Indeed, aesthetic ideas could always be
applied to social ideas.
Writers on socialism
ought at the same time to be cognisant of
art, if they wish to become perfect organisers
:

of

human

life.

The beautiful is inseparable from social life.

The search for social happiness of necessity
causes beauty to flourish.

Wretched and barbarous peoples, we know,

have no art. The social harmony is not complete

it

is

not possible,

may

say, without

The

126

Social Influence

the manifestation of art, which

and joy

Why

is

that

Beautiful

The

the flower

Because the Beautiful

Good

intimately allied with the

is

is

because the

the visible form of universal Love.

and moral world are the same

social

Art has

thing.

is

of the world.

its

share in both.

Thus an immense
the statesman,

on
on socialism, and

responsibility weighs

the writer

same time the artist.

one side, when the powers of the state
do not encourage the most elevated expression
of art, they do harm to one of the vital forces
at the

On

on the other side, when artists

with representing something
and trivial, they compromise art, and

of the spirit

are

satisfied

inferior

fail in their ideal

and

social duty.

This idea of sthetic duty from a

point of view must seem paradoxical.

social

However, it is easy to understand that this

duty is based upon the social principle of art
itself, and that the social principle of beauty
assumes a powerful aspect when we know how
to disengage it from the depths of the activities
in which it is hidden under the accumulation
of external appearances.
If in society

we take account

of the collective

effort in the differing manifestation of intellec-

tual energy,

The

we

are struck

by

this

man, fulfils
duty by fighting against Disease.

doctor, though a professional

his social

of Art

127

The statesman

by

fulfils his

fighting against

Misery.

Jhe

lawyer, or the magistrate, fights against

Injustice.

The advocate does

his

duty by fighting for

the Right.

The duty

Savant

of the

is

to fight against

Ignorance.

Add

together these sensible energies, which

really constitute, not

but

harmonizing

ignorance,

mere lucrative

professions,

activities,

fighting

against

disease,

injustice,

against

misery,

the discordant elements that disturb social

all

harmony, working, that

towards the realization of a maximum of Beauty in the world,

and you will see that the end and function
of

all

human

effort,

professional activity,

sum

is

is,

all

to

social

energy,

realise the

all

greatest

Moral
harmony, of beauty.
and aesthetic Beauty complete one

possible

Beauty

of

another.

Beauty is the culminating phenomenon among

phenomena of life, since it contains in

the immanence and the infinitude of
Perfection, the end of the whole cosmic and

the

itself

human

Evolution.

from this point of view, it becomes

easy indeed to understand the value of the
social principle of Beauty and of Art, which
seems at the same time to be a principle of
evolution and perfection.

Looked

at

The

128

To
that

desire that the world should be beautiful,

life

fine arts

on

Social Influence

should be beautiful, to wish that the

should shed their calm inspiring lustre

society, is to desire the

then,

If,

which
persons

Good

of

humanity.

the splendid and barren fortunes

the

are

could

disgrace

of

be utilised in

wealthy
producing the

certain

greatest social Beauty, could advance, that

is,

the living Art of a people, an immense stride

would be made in human progress.

It was a subtle philosopher and very observant
*'
psychologist who said :
Perhaps the cult of
beautiful things is the surest guide to the solution

And, indeed, from the

of social problems.''
contemplation of beautiful things spring joy
and happiness.
They that show admiration
are good. Great artists, in spite of their vicissi-

have had happy lives.

Wherever a man, or a people, have nothing
to admire, they grow blas and become boorish.
tudes,

So, then,

tion

is

we may say that

among

to be included

aesthetic

admira-

the catalogue of

social remedies.

Every time that a man finds himself face to

face with a great work of art, he seems to grow
a kind of inner light renders his
more receptive, he experiences
the delightful and disturbing sensation of being
enriched with intelligence, goodness, and love.
This is because the very nature of aesthetic
emotion does not constitute merely a pleasure,
in stature,

consciousness

of Art

129

but the elevation

of

life,

morally and spiritually.

Unconsciously, the vibration of the feeling of

admiration has awakened in him one of the
of his inner being,

spiritual principles

for it

not on the senses alone that the sentiment

of beauty depends, but it is the spirit that

is

Harmony, and vibrates in

agreement with them
This, I am aware, will seem somewhat
romantic to such as have a materialistic and

perceives Beauty,

physiological view of art, completely ignoring

the occult psychology of man, since

their incurable

characterises the

ignorance of
art

from

expect

is

just

occultism which

esthtes du protoplasme/'

''

To most people
only

it

means

art

an

sensuality.

They

agreeable

visual

sensation, in the physical sense of the word.

And when,
work

how

in

themselves, they feel

despite

their heart all the

which some

in

mystery appertaining to a
artist of genius

has

known

power of
the spirit, they turn a deaf ear to that supreme
revelation which art breathes on their blunted
to render visible the mysterious

consciousness.

So

many modem

psychologists

endeavour

unsuccessfully to define the nature of aesthetic

emotion because their arguments are based

upon purely physical data. The result has been
a veritable materialisation of art, and artists,
imbued with baneful theories, think that they
do well to appeal only to the incoherence of

The

I30

This phase, fortunately,

their lower nature.

is

drawing to a

Social Influence

close.

In spite of everything,

is becoming more elevated

and new aspirations are appearing. Psychologists and philosophers are beginning to declare

the conception of art

that

''

the cesthetic sense is the great force of true

spiritual

Truly, art

life.''

is

the working of

on matter.
The harmonies of nature correspond to the
harmonies of existence.
Art is the expression of mysterious affinities.
spirit

If

it

is

true that the plastic arts display

to us material beauties
it

truer

is

still

from

derived

that

the

by means
the

contemplation

beauties affects the soul, the

than

the

sense

is

senses

of the senses,

aesthetic

spirit,

of

these

much more

The

themselves.

pleasure

aesthetic

an inner faculty of man, a faculty

which permits him to feel again in the presence

of material beauty psychic and non-material
impressions.

The

man
And

object of art, then,

rather to cause

to perceive the essential reality of things.

the immateriality of things can be only

perceived and understood

principle of intelligence
If,

is

and

by the immaterial
spirit.

as certain critics of art

still

imagine, the

sense of beauty depended merely on physical

sensation, the coarsest and most sensual natures
would be the greatest artists and surest
critics.

of Art
Now,

131
it

is

the contrary

not
is

the case.

those persons, in

to

difficult

whom

Are

recognize

that

not, moreover,

imagination as a rule

has power over the senses for Imagination is

a superior faculty to the senses those that show
themselves most ready, not only in their perception of the manifold
beautiful,

Since

by

and subtle aspects

but likewise in creating

averred that the artist

it is

his art,

and that

influence on the

his art has

human

of the

it ?
is

improved

an elevating

soul, is it not, therefore,

indispensable to endeavour unceasingly to raise

the level of Art, and should not artists strive
to reach a higher level of sensibility

The

artist,

instead of seeking an easy success

the mere mechanical production of works

almost identical and in which the creative

in

activities

of

distinguished,

the spirit are no longer to be

would do better both as an artist

and man of intelligence in attempting to bring

about the proper evolution of his art.
True artists are not those who paint or
produce sculpture to gratify an instinctive
pleasure in sculpture or painting. True artists,
whether they be painters, sculptors, architects,
or musicians, are those who have discovered
how to construct for themselves an ideal of
Beauty with the spiritual energies of their
being and the natural forces of life. Like the
mystics, who, by dint of the ideal they looked
to, ended by discovering in themselves '' that

The

132

Social Influence

wonderful power of transformation by which

himself become that which he worships/'

man

so true artists reflect in their works the ideal

which they have placed before them.

Most artists have a vulgar and flippant
view of art. Their psychology exactly reflects
the middle-class ideas to which, with a compromising facility, they complaisantly adapt
themselves. Those are rare who have the courage
to sacrifice their artistic egoism on the altar
of art to resume it in the hey-day of success.
Mediocre artists, like the vulgar, instinctively
avoid great art because they find that it needs
too

much

They

unselfishness.

as a fool

are afraid of

afraid in the presence of a

is

it

man

of genius.

How many

artists are there

the social and

and who
*'

human import

say,

who understand

of their vocation,

as Schiller so neatly put

it

Beauty should he brought forward as a necessary

condition of

mankind

''

many men who paint pictures,

and many who produce sculpture, whose hands
There are

are not illumined

Art,

by the

great pure light of

whose souls remain unexalted by the

love of Beauty-

not rather by employing ideal themes

raised above inferior and commonplace contingencies that artists will exert a much
wider influence on the moral life of the
people ?
Is it

of Art

133

Michelet said truly

is

a type of social

" The birth of genius

The soul

birth.

of

genius, that visibly divine soul, since

like God, is the inner state

modelled the outer

it

of

creates

on which should be

in order that

state,

man

it

should

be divine likewise."

Nothing

will

prevent

art

from

generally

playing in society more and more the part of

an educational

force, conscious of its mission.

The time has come to infuse society with

the ideal, and the beautiful. Society nowa-days tends to depend too much upon instinct.
art,

It is

saturated with materialism, sensualism,

and commercialism.
Modern art has been used too much as a
pretext for all the impure and neurotic ugliness
of the times.
The prevalence of uninspired
realistic and imitative productions
whether
impressionist or not
of

is

the disturbing result

what was otherwise a salutary reaction

against the old academic formulae.

Too many mediocre

take advantage
of the confused ideas of the day, and the conception of art, with its splendid plastic and ideologic
possibilities, is seriously compromised thereby.
*'
Modernism/' instead of being a broadening,
a more complete expansion of all the artistic
faculties in the domain of universal beauty,
has really become a levelling and narrowing
influence.
Naturalism, that great artistic
calamity, does not understand Nature.
It
artists

The

134

Social Influence

has only imitated ugly and material things.

Those who still claim acquaintance with her,
and those a little ashamed of her who hide
under the mask of impressionism, are wanting

They do not

in clairvoyance.

see indeed that

pictural ideology, the great decorative and

mental

beyond any academic

a wholly modern art, and which

idealism,

servitude,

is

monu-

is

even ought to be considered as the synthetic

and social art of the future. The symbol of

modern times is thought, as the sign of future
times will be

spirit.

All evolution of

human

contend with the effort being made

to free mankind from the inert fatality of
matter. The only true glory of this world is
the knowledge that, by victory over matter,
we draw nearer to wisdom, truth, and beauty.
Matter has no real existence beyond the opporactivities

tunity

it

attraction

affords us of struggling against its

and

Every chef

illusion.

d' uvre

not an imitation of, but a victory over,

matter. This is not a paradox. It is the key
to the whole of creation, to all evolution.
It
is, too, the very sense of Art, the vital element
of which should be Thought in its manifold and
varied plastic expression.
Rodin, the most modern of artists, is the most
thoughtful (le plus penseur) And as he is the most
thoughtful, so he has the greatest plastic powerl
Thought, therefore, whatever certain flippant
sensualists and unthinking academicians may
is

of Art

135

from being incompatible with the

exigencies of the visual plasticity of art, is, on
the contrary, its true vital and creative element.
Has the profound thought of De Vinci
On
Never.
paralysed his technical power ?
say,

the

far

contrary,

plastic

perfection

exhibited

is

works of the great Florentine with a

magic greater as his thought is more subtle
and profound. It is not true, therefore, that
realism alone brings about Realisation.
How long is it that the artist has been dullSince realism has forsouled and ignorant ?
bidden him to have a brain and imagination.
in the

But times

are changed.

In face of an aestheticism lacking health and

vigour, without aim, without ideal, which has

too long kept its place merely to satisfy the fads

''
at feud with the bourof a snobbish '' lite
geoisie, it is consoling to know that ideas of

becoming broader.

art are

at

scornful
''

once

of

libre-esthtisme,"

asserting

its

of

human

creative

the

A new

generation,

fiamingtisme "

and

those two aspects of art

so devoid of greatness
direction

''

great

and beauty,

is

daily

turned in the
symbols of life and

desires

ideas.

To narrowly and

'*

selfishly foster one's own

"
personality
in the hothouses of '' esthti-

comanie,'' or wallow brutishly in the sensual

sloth of a national antiquated tradition,

can be

less likely to

what

produce a Beauty possessed

The

136

Social Influence

of power!
The true Moderns are not those
who, with a shameless perversity, are pleased
with contemporary things through degraded
notions of art.
The true Moderns are those
who, understanding in short the plastic value
of Ideas, know that art ought to illumine the
soul of society instead of being content with
reflecting it.
True aesthetic culture, really

modern

art,

lies

in

And

that.

that

is

the

renaissance of great Art.

Very

significant

symptoms

of artistic intellec-

have triumphantly appeared on all sides

England, Germany, France, Belgium, and
Holland.
With regard to what more particularly
concerns our country,* whose growing intellectual evolution is daily tending to widen the
artistic horizon, it may be said that what
Chauvinistic criticism still calls '' Flemish
tuality

in

Painting''

is

becoming more and more an

obvious anachronism.
What constitutes the
glory of the painting of the past, the traditional
splendours of the early Flemings and the
period of Rubens, is
continued wretchedly
enough in the guise of a realism that lacks its
"
grandeur. If the so-called '' Flemish Painting
is

still

carried on in a dull, lifeless

certain landscape, animal,

wanting in soul and

way by

and genre painters

no less

intelligence, it is

true that, in spite of old-fashioned prejudices,

*

Belgium.

of

Art

137

the artistic genius of the Belgian race has for

some time assumed a new aspect and more

elevated expression.

no way accidental or
foreign to the temperament of the race. It is,
on the contrary, a national phenomenon, which
This tendency

is

manifesting

is

itself

in

naturally, because Belgium,

freed at last from the grip of historical domina-

which drained her personal vigour,

again becoming conscious of her strength,
tions

is

of

her true regenerated personality as a race.

Belgian Art

is

about to take

flight

immense and

anew

to

fund
of imagination and idealism so stored with
pictorial genius, choked and paralysed, and for
so long under the incubus of an easy-going feeble
psychology, will when the time comes emerge
with an impetus which will cause surprise.
Sculpture, which has not had to submit, as
has been the case with painting, to the tyranny
of the '' Flemish " tradition, has already proved
that the Belgian view of art can rise to the
most sublime and powerful creations.
It is
the same with literature, which likewise not
having to drag with it the paralysing weight
of a Flemish tradition, has leapt, with splendid
loftier sphere.

All the

and powerful strokes

of the

rich

wings, into the

world of ideas.
istic

Painting, the most characterexpression of the Belgian soul, its native

about to improve in its turn. And it will

be surprising to behold how wealthy are the
gift, is

The

138

Social Influence

resources of pictorial genius,

attempting to

realise

more ideal.*
The themes

of

when

it is

definitely

something broader and

plastic

renewed under the form

representation
of great

are

decorative

and painting, adapting even the ancient

myths to its living ideas, again assumes its
monumental and social function.
Camille Mauclair, in his remarkable study on
The Symbolic Painting of the Future/' has
likewise eloquently claimed the supreme rights
of art with regard to imagination and ideology,
art,

''

showing

new elements of beauty that

and modern thought bring to the

all

social life

the

realization of great art.

And, indeed, new and splendid harmonies

of colour and line can be created by the symbolisation of modern ideas and be applied to the
necessities of artistic ornamentation.

Art

is

in accord

with the exigencies of

ages
nations are

and

all

all nations, and all ages and all

capable of expressing themselves in their art.
Incompatibility only exists in the personal
powerlessness of adapting one and the other.
Narrow utilitarians have stupidly rejected
the beauty of the useful, as if those two elements
of social activity were incompatible likewise.
Now they are inseparable for what impartially
;

* This, too, is what one of our most learned writers on art, M. FierensGevaert, has been at pains to show, with rare eloquence and enlightened
enthusiasm, in his recent course of lectures on ''Art in the Nineteenth
Century : its Expression in Belgium."

of Art

139

must inevitably

contributes to utility

realise

the beautiful.

from a more perfect conception even

and a purer conception of beauty that
more harmonious groupings of mankind will
be formed and states become beautified.
Just as art must be re-established in the heart,
brain, soul of artists and all men, so also must
the social principle of art be recognised likewise.
It is

of utility

Artists, like poets, are only useful to

so far as they cause

by

their Art

humanity

the highest

thoughts, the highest sentiments, the highest

aspirations, to be

In

the

forces,

more

hierarchy

easily perceived.

of

the

higher

national

the Artist, like the Savant, represents

(la Pense publique)

public Thought

The multitude, whatever some may

moved by

say, is

great things, because the emotions

of the multitude are

pure and healthy.

It is

enough to display before it things beautiful

and sublime, to cause the multitude, without
proper comprehension analytically speaking, to
be touched by them. It is clear that there exists
a popular ''instinct," but I am much more
certain that this anonymous force which is
so termed is by no means an absolutely obscure

and blind

and that the soul of the multiby the inner light of intuition.
What a mysterious and profound faculty
indeed is this immense intuition of a people
force,

tude

is

How

strangely analogous

illumined

it is

to genius

The

140

The

multitude

Social Influence

understands

genius,

and

genius understands the multitude. Between that

and that individual cona mighty affinity.

collective consciousness

sciousness there exists

The

link

which binds together the soul

genius and the soul of the multitude

divine perception of the Beautiful.

of

is

the

It is

Art

in its social manifestation.

truth too easily overlooked

is

that the

all the arts consists in the representation of Ideas.

mission of

Metaphysics '' those who at present

represent '* panhotisme '' will scornfully reply.
No one, however, who is at all conscious of
'^

aesthetic

phenomena

will

deny that the repre-

sentative arts, such as Architecture, Painting,

Sculpture,

show us the hidden

imprisoned in

travail of Ideas,

conception of
art. Now, there is no better example for a people
than that in which is shown objectively the
influence of the artistic creation which civilised
man has at his disposal. Humanity knows

how

to

the

materialist

derive from this example of beauty

clearly springing from matter considerable

moral energy, because the dignity of the human
being is measured, not only by the quality of
his actions, but also by the degree of creative
force of which he feels himself capable.
The mystery of art is felt by the multitude
in the same degree as creative power emanates
from the production of the artist.

of Art
It

face

in

is

that

an

141
the realisation of beauty

of

profound

the

feehng

for

Construction,

human

intellectual faculty inherent in the

type,

is

Man

revealed and confirmed.

in the widest,

and the

sense,

evidences

of

most

ideal,

arts generally are the external

his

innate

planet offers us the spectacle of

changing in

among

its

and

construction

The whole

powers.

creative

and creator
and most aesthetic

essentially a constructor

is

surface

human

of

the

creation

sense of the beautiful.

Even

the ruins of extinct civilisations there

an everlasting enchantment,
amid the chaos of time-worn stones, the genius
of the creative power of beauty, an undying

still

lingers,

flower of

like

human

intelligence.

The Ideas incarnated

in beautiful

forms do

we find the essence of

again in the material vestiges of the Past.

not, then, perish, since

them

Truly, therefore, the mission of

all

the arts

consists in the representation of Ideas.

Popular art, then, is again concerned with

one of the most harmonious activities of life,

and

beautifying of
human states offers men a magnificent opportunity of exhibiting, in visible splendour and
since

the

construction

harmony, the essential Ideas which govern the

construction and divine creation of worlds.
Ancient India, Chaldea, Egypt,
Persia,
Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Middle Ages,
the Renaissance, are perpetuated in the

memory

The

142
of

modern

left

us of

Social Influence
what they have

peoples, thanks to

public art, art in

art,

its social

mani-

festation.

The beauty and grandeur

aspects

the

of

of those

which we

soul,

call

mighty
ancient

civilisations, is still displayed in their remains.

Art, indeed,

enters into the very

civilisation, into its civil

and

religious

life

of a

life,

with

the energy and pantheistic beauty of a natural

The

and thought of a people is

impressed on its monuments, from the soul of
the Ancient East, so full of splendour and
force.

soul

metaphysics, as exhibited in her colossal

palaces and temples, to the Christian and
devotional soul of the West, transfused in the

sombre majesty
monuments.
It
is

of

its

religious

and

civil

seems that a mysterious and splendid force

urging great

ever

peoples to stamp

the

wealth of their intelligence and activities on

a form of beauty.
In all great cities there spring from the
earth, as though by a kind of lasting artistic
miracle, gorgeous and massive edifices, which
sum up the splendour of an epoch, the visible
aspect of

Who

its

Ideas.

will

one

psychology of the

day

tell

monument

us

the

profound

Who will tell us the secret of that creative power

need of Beauty in human
ever apparent in the inexhaustible

of Art, that innate

societies,

of Art

143

imagination of the

artist,

the artisan, and

who

will be able to transform the need into a Fairy,

the Fairy of ^Esthetics

The

artist

and

artisan,

exercising

upon

matter the inventive impulse of their imagination, and at the same time making it conform
to the necessities of space and time, are only
making the human Idea manifest itself in
forms.

Beauty, indeed,

is

a higher social need.

All substances, gold, silver, stone, silk, paint,

wood, marble, iron, etc., which receive the

double impress, mental and manual, of the
esthetic Will, are used to gratify this social
need of Beauty.
Every excavation made in the vast empire
of buried ruins brings to light, to the growing
wonder of modern peoples, the glorious example
of human effort towards the Beautiful, thus
bearing witness that art is an activity of
man's spirit that cannot be checked and cannot
be exhausted. Whatever may be the particular
character of race or age, whatever may be
its standard of social evolution, the constructive
and artistic genius of humanity shows itself.
That original genius can be seen as well
in the primitive decayed lake-dwellings as in
the splendour of the architecture of Babylon.

The same innate power in man is revealed

by the obscure and patient pile-builders of the
lake cities as by the Assyrians who hewed,

The

144

Social Influence of Art

Chaldean quarries,
monoUthic marble blocks.
the

in

To

their

build, to adorn, to decorate,

tremendous

what won-

drous powers of human intelligence

Thus the phenomenon of aesthetics, continually to be seen in the private and public
life of societies, far from causing the public
powers and States of the present and future
to be indifferent, ought to be hailed as a social
benefit and as one of the noblest aspects of
I

human

activity.

Can

they

take

of the existence of

into

account

the

utility

a body like that of the

International Institute of Public Art ? "^

Can
they answer its appeal by helping not to increase
the

ugliness

which threatens

modern

life,

by

waiting for Beauty to spring up everywhere,

and

for

Harmony

a State Religion

to

become something

like

* It will not be out of place here to recall that the" International

Institute of Public Art " has been founded in Brussels by a Belgian artist,
M. Eugne Broerman, to whom belongs the honour of having been able

to get together, as a protest against the degradation of Public Beauty, an

whose aim is to

influential group of leading international personalities,

struggle against the indifference and ignorance of the powers that be in

matters appertaining to social aesthetics. By a vmanimous vote passed at

the last Congress of Public Art at Liege, in 1903, an important international illustrated review of public art has been set on foot at Brussels,
and will shortly appear, sumptuously produced and ably edited.

p^'

**#%

'%'

L^AMOUK DES AxMES

(j.

DELVILLE).
\ToJacepage

145.

X
The Creed and

the Critics

Analogy between works of Genius The Atavism of Tradition Personality

of the Artist unhampered by Tradition The Artist not a Creator,
but a Discoverer Art creates the Artist Great Thinkers and Great
Ignorance of Modem Criticism
Artists obey the same Laws
Destruction of the Harmonising Social Influence of Art Corrupt
Art indicative of Corrupt Morality Idealism the Continuation of
" Naturism "
Art an Emotion and an Instinct No Definite Style

Style

by Idealism

the Signature of the Individual, the

Impress of the Soul, the Real Presence of Beauty Bond between
Indestructibility
Science and Art Danger of " Art for Art's Sake "
prescribed

of Beauty.

A
is

TRUTH,

that

many

despise, because they

artists

foolishly

do not understand,

or pretend to be ignorant of, since it

easier to create '' novelty " than '' heautyj'

is

the

fruitful

influence

golden chain spoken of

of

Tradition,

by Homer, the

that

Initiate,

which creates a bond between men of genius,

though of a dissimilar nature, here below,
though as far apart as the poles, and separated
by centuries, as Wagner and ^schylus for
example.
Who has not been struck by the mysterious
analogy between immortal works of genius ?

The

between masterpieces suggests

remarkable influence of heredity.
The
different phases of evolution, which alone
classifies them and which contributed to bring
them forth, has never been able to destroy
this relationship, which I am willing to call the
atavism of tradition.
But this Tradition, if
relationship

the

The Creed and

146
I

may

further insist

upon

it,

does not extinguish

individuaUty, does not restrict personal evolu-

not a Procrustean bed which the

personality is forcibly made to fit.
Instead
of being the revenge of age on all that is young
and vigorous, Tradition is the result of experition.

It is

sum

ence, the
is

knowledge

of centuries of

it

the same eternal truth soaring on high, the

cyclic unity

motion

of

All

the

hension
said!

round which revolves the perpetual

human

comprehended

is the reflex of creation,"

or knew

reality

genius.

masters

and

this abyss

art,

''

as Villiers has

of the abyss that lies

and that the

with his thought

artist
if

compre-

between

must leap

he wishes his

work to he. Beauty has no being where nature

and spirit are not linked in the harmony which
governs their seeming contrast.
Yes, in a work the harmony of the senses
and thought should be perfect. The artist who
does not know how to find in himself the intermediate manifestation between his instinct and
his consciousness will never completely attain
to a masterpiece.
And this is as precise as the mathematical
sanctity of numbers
just as the expansion
of a principle in substance produces life, the
expression of an idea in form produces beauty.
they
Neither the artist nor inventor create
:

discover or re-discover pre-existing laws, inde-

pendently

of

their

intellectual

power,

but

the Critics

147

which they explain or manifest according to

the receptive value of their personality.

.There exist somewhere, around

us,

without

or within us, in the depths of the unseen world,

spheres where are formed the eternal images

and which the artist

from Mystery by the magic power

reflected in our intellects,

or poet filch
of

their

imagination,

that mysterious divine

must be known in order to be

with the harmony of the World.
''
The Artist does not create Art, but he
throws into confusion its divine harmony in
society when Art does not make the artist.
Now, for Art to make the Artist the Science of
Art must exist, and this last plays the part of
faculty which

in tune

a religion or synthesis of sciences."

Clear logic and plain truth like this statement
by Saint Yves d'Alveydre * no one would
venture to deny without danger of going astray
Furthermore, these words are of greater value
!

when we

consider that they come neither from

a professional critic nor unreliable virtuoso.
Far from being an impostor, he who said it
was one of those rare transcendental beings
who have nestled against the bosom of the
Sphinx to hear the heart of mystery beat the

better.

When such a man speaks it is because he

has something to say, and the words he utters
* St.

Yves d'Alveydre, an eminent writer on esoteric philosophy,

An important work by him is " La Mission des Juifs."

lately dead.

The Creed and

148

always shed light which indeed never happens

when the growing swarms of aesthetics try to
debase the dignity of Art to their mean comprehension and low bourgeois taste.
;

The broad paraphrase

of Saint Yves, there

no doubt, is intended to appeal to the

weakened understanding of contemporary
artists and critics.
Both, stained with the
mire of a confused and barren system of art,
is

they take the trouble to

gain some insight from it, and

can, nevertheless,

if

think about it,

be thus again enabled to tread the

fair

avenues

that wind around the vast and splendid gardens

of Art.

These few lines, indeed, extracted from a

weighty work on esoteric sociology and full
of learned philosophy, and which it would be
well if some of our smart wTiters would use as
their daily paper or keep at their bedside,
solve nearly the whole problem of esthetics.
I
its

know

that some will argue in the face of

clear masterly logic, being convinced before-

hand that

it

is

in

no way necessary to try

to settle this problem,

and that

it is

better to

go on instinctively daubing canvases which are

of the least possible utility to the

Others,

as

dull,

will

call

in

human

race.

question

the

an esoteric in matters of art,

artist need not receive
laws from anybody, after the manner of
Nature, which, it may be said parenthetically.

competence

of

and argue that the

the Critics
reverently

fulfils

149
the laws prescribed

by God!

may

be observed, nevertheless, that the ideas

of great thinkers agree with those of great
artists.
This is because, consciously or intuitively, they are filled with the same light,
and their genius, though different in character,
tends towards the same goal.
Do not the '' Organon '' and the Parthenon,
It

using different methods of expression, lay

down

the same sovereign laws for science and beauty

Do

not the Sistine Chapel and the

Divine

Commedia utter the same word

of the other world

of the immensity
Are not Plato and Raphael

same thing? And does

not the same ideal influence glow in Wagner's
essentially saying the

Parsifal
"
ence ?

But

if

and Lacuria's

''

Harmonies

of Exist-

there exists such an obvious identity

of thought between men of genius, of the same

power but differing in their method of expression,
can we doubt that the same luminous breath
the Divine Breath wafts, to the mystic
and absolute goal of perfection and beauty,
the creative spirit of the most precious of beings
the thinkers and artists
The reason is because, above the whirlwind
and chaos of error, the sacred Ideal which they
venerate guides them and holds before the

eye of the soul the sacred torch of Tradition,

them in their progress towards
Truth.

in order to light

The Creed and

150

And

above all in our time of civilised

barbarism and intellectual darkness, in which
the

it

is

anarchical

negation

of

principles

is

shining

we can more easily see

path traced by the bright elect of

human

ideal

supreme,

that

so

the
the

on the dawn-tinged sky of the

ages. If I insist so much on the perfect analogy
between the various views that great men have
of all that has reference to the essential mission
of aesthetics,

it is

warn the reader

in order to

against that inevitable puerile objection which

always employed by the dull-witted, and

which claims that a philosopher, whether an
is

ought not to intrude into the

initiate or not,
*'

business

''

of Art

all that is settled, one way or another,

the trivial criticism of the papers. And woe
to the artist who does not side with their
views
Woe to him who dares to make a wry

To-day

by

face at the fine dish of artistic hash which

is

daily prepared
They will know how to make
him swallow all the venom of their backbiting
and the poison of their malice
!

Indeed, the legion of critics I say legion

because the number of petty critics is equivalent
to the incalculable number of failures forms
its judgment, not on the artistic principles of
the great masters, nor on those of great thinkers,
but are content like sheep to follow stupidly
that polluted stream of chance or caprice known
These trivial critics, and with
as the vogue.

the Critics

151

them, the whole brainless company of impostors,

are in fact ignorant of the Goal

and the Mission

of Art.

Ignorant of the sublime raison

them the mysterious Law

that

d'tre

Beauty as
their guide, instead of seeking the Truth they
only indulge in idle claptrap. Should a work
or line of thought come under their notice
conveying any suggestion of a higher life,
or whose form or conception possesses an ideal
gives

significance,

and they

it

of

will escape their dull stolid

minds,

will prefer the stupid ugliness of

some

painting in which, amid tricks of the palette

and vulgarity of conception, no idealism is

apparent

With the

soul

hermetically closed

to

the

sacred things of Beauty, and urged by some

morbid instinct or other towards the ugly
and commonplace, these critics, whose paltry
opinions exercise such a dangerous influence

on the public mind, never hesitate to decry

the idealist creed with its synthesis and universality,

proclaiming as

plastic form, that

is

it

does the ideal of

to say, of abstract beauty,

and able to regenerate

Art, in order to extol

the creed of individualism, naturalism, and
nationalism, which are calculated to bring about
the absolute degradation of Art.
Between the productions of idealism, carried

out by a hand at once cunning and sensitive,

and where country, place, time, race, and

The Creed and

152

things are lost sight of that they may be found

again in the universal significance of their
characterisation, under the living idealism of

and the productions of realism and

impressionism in which all the essential aesthetic
qualities are wanting, so as to leave room for
a clever and speedy process, delicacy of touch,
and sparkle {flamingatisme) of colour, the minor
critics, with their narrow views, are in no doubt
which to acclaim
Between Rembrandt,* that arch-magician
(Kabbaliste) of painting, whom some simple
synthesis,

folk still rate as a realist, who transfigured

beings and things under the magic influence of
his inner sight, and Hals, that merry rascal,
the painter of revellers and swash-bucklers,
that wonderfully skilful delineator of nothingness, the buyers of art

choice

And

do not hesitate in their

under the remarkable excuse that

a painter ought to paint that they prefer the
It is true that these
craftsman to the artist
gentlemen have never asked themselves on
what ground Raphael is an inferior painter to
Jordaens,t or Vandyck, a greater painter than
it is

De

Vinci.

We

ideas on this

are inclined to think that their

head would be extremely

Until they can explain

to drag Art
*

and

artist

this,

down

Rembrandt (1607-1669), Dutch

diverting.

they will continue

to their

own

level.

Franz Hals (1584-1666), Flemish,

t Jacob Jordaens (1594-1678), Flemish painter, pupil of

religious and mythical subjects.

Rubens

i53

the Critics

For these are they who cause the confusion in

esthetics
aesthetics which marks our age.
without

harmony,

noisy

instinct,

wild

quacks,

sneering

idle

daubers,

artists,

genteel

aesthetics,

and

irresponsibles,
eclectics,

wretched
foolish

of
of

incompetent

amateur judges,
wrongheaded
these form the

failures,

critics

mass

heterogeneous

foes

upholders

triflers,

demagogues,

which

the

represents

miserable idea of art at the present day.

have already said above, and

again, that we may form a

repeat

it

here

judgment
with regard to the intellectual and moral
standard of a people, a race, or an age, from
its art.

How

will the future

clear

judge us

Alas,

to look at the mournful display at our triennial

shows, those great official fairs, to see the

majority of our private drawing-rooms, those
shows on a small scale, where we are free
to exhibit the marvels of painting in all the
confusion arising from a spurious *' individualism '' in art, to behold the general stupor and
complete lack of power which most works
exhibit, it is not difficult to form an opinion,
with a sorrowful glance, of the condition of
soul and spirit in this age of materialism.
In fact there is no longer thought, style, or
technique

No Beauty

or execution

the

artist,

We

but that

to create Art.

either in idea, or form,

see that Art

it is

And

no longer creates

the artist

who

wishes

in the judicious phrase

The Creed and

154
of Saint
artist

is

harmony
make the

Yves d'Alveydre,
throwing
of

into

it is

clear that " the

confusion

Art in society

the

divine

when Art does not

**

artist !

Art withers and dies when the idea of Perfection, which is the condition of our psychic
life and even of that of our works, is absent.
Every time that Art falls into decay and becomes
puerile, it is because the part played by the
artistic genius of a race or age undergoes a
change simultaneously with the corruption of
its moral genius. Now
and so much the worse
for those who do not perceive it
we are
passing through such a period of depression.
Like all that deviates from
It was inevitable.
the mighty impulse towards harmony, from
that living love of unfading and fertile Beauty,

that rebels against that universal movement

which forms the flux and reflux of eternal
and divine laws bearing within themselves the
elements of durable creations, all that runs
all

counter to order, which is the consciousness

of the world and our being. Modern Art,
degraded by its illicit intercourse with materialism, bears within it the seeds of death.
There have been men, crabbed theorists,
who, unconscious of the errors of an incomplete
and materialistic philosophy, have proclaimed
the absolute freedom of instinct, denying
principles, theories, laws, denying, in short,
Rightly aiming at a reaction
the science of Art
!

i55

the Critics
against
training,

barren conventions of academic

but overstepping in their ardour

the

the limits of legitimate reaction, it followed

that these men, though in a different way,
The impressionist
fell into the same mistake.
school, which at the present is supreme, excel-

may

be in intention, since it
has managed to clean the mud from the palette,
has confined the practice of art to degrading
trivialities by restricting the powers of the
Born with the taint of realism, these
artist.
good people assume that a picture should take
the place of a mirror, and should repeat natural
objects with the most absolute fidelity. That

lent

is

though

it

the business of the inferior.

and museums of modern art

afford a painful commentary on this subject,
and one is as much overcome with nausea by
Exhibitions

the shameless perpetrations of men like Ensor,

Monet,* Seurat, and Gauguin, who, under the
pretence of freedom in art, with the silly
approbation of ignoramuses, frame the most
shocking studio daubs, as by the photographic
''
clichs " of Meissonnier and Van Beers j
The disgust has become so symptomatic and
so general that a reaction has arisen among
!

Claude Monet and Gauguin, both French Impressionist painters.

(b. 1840) may be termed the leader and founder of the school, since
its name is said to have been derived from a landscape of his entitled " An
Impression." His work is solely landscape.
*

Monet

t Meissonnier (1815-91), French, historical and military subjects,

mostly on small scale and of elaborate finish. Van Beers, Belgian, delineator
of feminine coquetry.

The Creed and

156

new

literary

centres.

Ill-distinguished

from

Naturalism/' and with its feet still clogged

with the mire out of which Zola moulded
material for his novels, '' Naturism 'Ms a
''

logical evolution, of

which

''

ideahsm "

is

the

central continuation or culminating point.

In

mystic pantheism, in the limbs of which

the
naturists '' seem still plunged, it is easy
this

''

movement towards complete Idealism. One of them

to recognise the beginnings of a definite

has
'*

already

harmony,''

proclaimed
of

''

the

proportion."

necessity

The

of

divine

sense of natural objects corresponds with the

aesthetic sense of most people, in spite of the
gross prejudice in which they still persist, of
thinking that it is necessary to know how to
incarnate the national aspirations of a people
in order that art should become '' heroic,''
or be the synthetic expression of life.
It is idealist art,

limitations,

above

all,

that soars above

that truly realises

life

in

all

its

be seen
however,
This definition,
in the individual.
must not be confused with the allegorical
expression of the idea.
If form withouc idea
is of small value in art, idea without form is
not worth much more. The artist is he who
produces depth of feeling, and knows how to
transmit this feeling into the domain of the
one is impossible without the other.
will
First there is the state of passive emotional
fulness, since it enables the Universal to

the Critics
receptivity,

and then that

art.

in

The

From

of active intellectual

two functions
harmony springs the work of idealist

conceptivity.

working

157

these

artist allows the

powerful instincts

which move the natural world to sink into his

heart, and absorbs into his soul the powerful
ideas which move the spiritual world. The work
of art is at once an emotion and an instinct.
Separated, or allowed to run riot, these two
divine movements become, one of them amorphous, the other conventional.
Someone has
said that Art is Nature continuing her work
in the Spirit. We might reverse the definition
and say Art is the Spirit continuing its work
:

Inspiration is not, as some pretend,

the dazzled bewilderment of the Spirit, but the
supreme moment of the harmonious concen-

in Nature.

the emotional and intellectual

which constitutes Will. And Genius
Analyze the best
is nothing more than this
masterpieces and, if they are only the product
of a spontaneous instinct, you will observe
this mistake or untruth which underlies contemporary psychology.
Superficial critics have thought, either through

tration

of

faculties,

simplicity, or puerile malice, that idealist art

pretended to lay down the inviolable formula

and deliberate tyranny of an impersonal style.
We must protest with all our strength against
this way of misrepresenting our intentions,
and denying again the existence of a definite

The Creed and

158
style.

If

idealism assumes the need of style,

as being one of the

art

may

mean

to

means by which a work

attain perfection,

it

of

does not therefore

impose any particular

style,

which

fall into the trap set by

the schools that the wings of the artist may

would be to absurdly
be clipped.

Style is the signature of the individual, the

impress of the soul, the spirit. It always indicates
the dominating quality of the artist perceptible
beneath the plastic writing of form. It indicates
what degree of psychic elevation the personality
that manifests it has reached. But since style
is the absolute reflection of a condition of soul
or spirit, it is to the artist's advantage to seek

the moral and intellectual perfection of his ego.^

If style is the same as the man, then the

more a man rises, the more elevated will his

style become
Now, idealism invokes style,
because it knows that it is the real presence of
!

beauty in form.
There can be no beauty
without style no style without beautye
Style is, moreover, the synthetising element
which is the product of the science of aesthetics,

and that science

is

consists, as far as the artist

concerned, in considering the laws of concep-

tion with regard to the laws of

of art, possessed

not destroy

life,

by

all

life.

The

science

the great masters, does

but illuminates

it.

Science has

* The Ego is not understood here in the narrow egotistical sense that
Maurice Barrs wrongly gives to it.

i59

the Critics

even paralysed the creative idealism

of the artist.
Of this Leonardo de Vinci and
Goethe are striking proofs. The study of the
laws of the universe, far from checking the
never

exercise of the aesthetic faculties, affords

a wider

field

in

Behind the birth

their

search

for

them

the ideal.

of worlds shines the secret

light of the spiritual universe.

All

men

of genius

have known it. To great minds there is no chaos

everything is linked together and perfect.
Pheidias was a true philosopher familiar with
deep metaphysical problems.
He is in some
;

ways the Plato

of sculpture.

The

great artists

of the Italian Renaissance assiduously studied

the Platonic philosophy, and the splendour of

Medicean palaces was enhanced by their learned

converse.

How

can the study of the laws of natural

Has the
aesthetic emotion ?
mathematical investigation of universal motion
prevented De Vinci, *' the man of all ideas and
all emotions,'' as Arsne Houssaye terms him,
from reproducing the movements of the human
soul ? Science is the matrix of the Ideal

phenomena check

Shakespeare, there is little doubt, was

acquainted with magic science, and escaped
being burnt as a sorcerer. The great tragedian
possessed, indeed, the secrets of the Kabbala,
the most wonderful of human knowledge.
Taine on one occasion used a fine phrase
'*
The relationship which links art to science is
:

The Creed and

i6o

an honour

to

both;

it

furnish beauty with

to

for

the

upon

former

truth."

to

rest

is

a glory for the

and

chief supports,

its
its

latter

noblest

constructions

In fact the analogy of relationship

exists in perfection

between Art, Science, and

ReHgion.

By

speaking in this

way

do not mean to

confuse them, which would be utter nonsense,

but I dare to affirm, without fear of contradiction, that artistic intelligence should not
be the exclusive mechanical belonging of a
single profession, and that artists who are only
*'
painters '' never rise above the common level
of fools.

an

Art

is

not a trade

the artist

is

not

artisan.

Has not even the insane Chardin,* the very

type of a painter of subordinate details, been
''
forced to admit
When I paint a violin or
a saucepan, I am still only a professional painter,
but when I paint a face, then only am I an
:

artist."

Into the difficult task of realising beauty

there passes unceasingly the breath of the living
spirit, which ever gains new strength wheresoever it finds it. The theory of art for art's sake,
beautiful in itself, necessary in itself, and
defensible whenever unskilled popular writers
attack it to the gain of speculations which are
outside the province of aesthetics, can never be
* Jean Baptiste Chardin (1701-1779), French genre painter
scenes of a domestic character, allegorical subjects, and fruit.

painted

the Critics
considered

i6i

and may become a

absolute

as

danger. Rigorously applied it lowers art to the

mechanical technique of narrow conceptions.
The artist must be universal. If he confines

power to a piece of cleverness, or

a landscape, he weakens his personality, and

his creative

is

usually likely to degenerate.

We will close with

that hypocritical admission

which some artists, and some inferior critics,

make, which pretends that the facial expression

monkey is as proper for artistic treatment

as the mask of Olympian Jove
Be it observed
that idealist art is a synonym for Beauty
of a

In the sphere of conceptions Beauty is the

reflection of the divine world, and
every work unilluminated by it will be dead

immediate

and

null.

And what we

affirm will last as long as our

strength allows us to cry aloud to all the deaf

and all the blind who hear without listening,
and look without seeing
!

There
towards

is
it

nothing true but Beauty.

is

substance of
it,

to

its

laws of

light.

to believe in its existence,

come

To

strive

to project oneself into the very

into closer

To

believe in

its

reality,

is

communion with the wisdom

of the world.

Like Truth, Beauty causes the divine principle

which slumbers in the depths of our imperfect
nature to again become quick within us. To
manifest it is the most eager, pacific, and earnest

The Creed and the

i62

Critics

In the same way as prayer,

the energies of the spirit and heart

delight of the soul.

it

causes

all

to vibrate.

war may pass over the world

with its trail of horror, and Beauty will not
perish. For it can no more be destroyed than

The demon

of

the stars, from which it borrows its resplendent

harmony.
And though the red rain of barbarism fall
upon the abodes of mortality, there will ever
blossom anew, in the sunrise of a loving dawn,
the great dream of Order and new-born Beauty
I

x
Idealism in Art Some Mistaken
Notions
:

Ignorance of Materialism Form the Sister of Number Physical Ugliness

expressive of Moral Ugliness
Ugliness advocated mider the pretext
of Emotion
Harmony the Highest Emotion Separation of pure
from impure by agency of the Spirit Instinct due to the obscuring
of Spirit
Ugliness the Animal Sign of Instinct Distinction between
Nature and Matter Idealist Artists close students of Nature ^The
Artist must strive towards the Harmony of the Individual
Beauty
is Unity in Variety
Idealism confused with Conventionalism
Idealism does not pretend to regulate Inspiration It demands
moral beauty It rescues the Artistic Temperament from Materialism
It is not antagonistic to the Physical Universe
^The Domain of
Ugliness limited, that of Beauty infinite Idealism developes Style
and Personality alike " Style is the Soul " Importance of Choice of
Subject Synthetic Natiire of Idealism Idealist Genius " super-

conscious'*

were not the divine impress

IF ofBEAUTY
the spirit upon matter, and
our
if

senses were not the instruments

by which

the soul works this transformation, perceptible

only to our thought, how should we explain
in a rational way the astounding prestige of
aesthetic

work

magic

of

Art

Whence could a

power

of enchantment,
ideal
of
divine principle
from
the
source
the
if not
which illumines the depths of the human being,
and if the heart of Mystery did not actually
beat in the bosom of Art ?
Considered in its metaphysical sense Beauty
is one of the manifestations of the Absolute
Being.
Emanating from the harmonious
of art derive its

radiance of the divine plane,

it

traverses the

intellectual plane in order to further irradiate

Idealism in Art

i64

the plane of nature, where

the darkness of matter.

it

quenched

is

Matter, in

itself,

neither proper form or beauty, but

it

is

in

has
the

passive primordial element, in which the beauty

of the spirit, traversing another element, the
astral element,

The great
theory

is

is

reflected

and made

external.

error of the realist or materialist

due to

absolute ignorance of what,

its

in theosophical language,

is

ray of the Image of God in

called the generating

Man

traversing the

three principles of Being,

I

know

that

many

strong-minded people, in

calm and self-satisfied contempt of the

Other World, who meet lofty mysteries with
idle negation, and who, nevertheless, at the
decisive moment of death, brought face to face
with the nothingness in which they have made
their

themselves

know

believe,

tremble

and

despair,

them this theosophical phrase

only contains words void of sense and reality ?
But the mystery the evidence of its occult
that for

genuineness can be obtained which creates

and generates forms in Nature and Being, which
organises them in accordance with the laws of
order, proportion, and harmony the Word
*'
the exemplary form of created things,'' as
St. Thomas says, '' determining and formulating
Form, that Form which renders the world in*'
telligible
has it been understood, has it even
been suspected by such as gaze at and listen
to Life through the mists of instinct alone ?

Some Mistaken Notions

165

Did they ever guess that Harmony is the Soul

and that all honour to aesthetic

existsthat

of the World,

reasoning
of

it

Form

is

the sister

Number ?

However, just as the root of the soul is to

be found in the centre of Nature, so Form has
its root in Number, since Number is the fundamental law of all created things.
Hugo, whose genius, when not dominated
by the light and shade of his Romanticism,
sometimes rose to metaphysical heights, saw
*'
this clearly
The Infinite is an exactitude.
The profound word Number is the basis of human
:

thought

signifies

is,

it

our intelligence elemental

to

harmony as

is revealed to

well as mathematics.

Art by Rhythm, which

it

Number

is the heart-

beat of the Infinite.''

Is

it,

as

some

superficial thinkers believe it

to be, speculative, superannuated,

No.
All

It is eternal

Form

is

and vain

the union of Essence with Sub-

All Form is Thought.

The world of
In the
becomes the world of forms.
imposing symbolism of forms expressing realities
in which the Word- Image is the secret inter-

stance.

ideas

pretation of the language of Beauty, the

work

of creation appears like a permanent transmission of Rhythm to Form

that is to say,
the production of living forms in the realms
;

of nature, or, better

still.

Rhythm

state inscribed in a material form.

in its true

Idealism in Art:

i66

Form

is

explanatory.

There

of meanings.

It is the great revealer

is

always an agreement

between Form and Expression.

Each

thing,

each being, has an exact form corresponding

with what it is destined for, or according to its

The destiny

degree of evolution.

of

mankind

measured out O wonder of the ignorant!

because it is governed by the laws of number.
The physiognomist and astrologer, more positive
than is supposed, know it, and, better still,
prove it.
No, nothing indubitably will transmit the
is

rhythm

of a statue

by Pheidias

into the

body

of a gorilla. No ignoble idea, no trivial sentiment, could be expressed by a form that had
good rhythm. Physical ugliness always represents moral ugliness.
Numbers, Ideas, Forms, that is the analogical
The Bible
mystery of the whole of creation
why not quote it since it utters what is
!

*'
says
God
true ?
weight and measure.''
:

ordered

And

all

things

by

the whole of nature,

from the atom to the universe, is a demonstration of this. One of the immortal masters of

modern hermetics has proclaimed, moreover,

that these beautiful words are also just, and that
the wonders of the natural world are a symbolic
system of mercies and glories. They are not

chance

definitions.

The hazy-minded advocates of impressionism,

vague-minded and vague-sighted, would profit

Some Mistaken Notions

167

by knowing that the generation

numbers

of

is

analogous to the association of ideas with the

Face to face with Hfe

they would have a worthier and surer artistic

production of forms.
consciousness.

to

no doubt

But they

prefer

it

is

easier,

which is continued afar into the infinite and above into

the world beyond further than they suspect;
this life which vibrates, not with passing
moods, but with the tremendous thrills of the
Invisible this life about which they speak with
such literary ostentation and of which they do
not know the occult principles which generate
this life which they debase, I say, through
it
know
not what vague or superficial instinct,
I
disparage this

life

which, sadly enough, procures for them their

emotions.
Their artistic creed has
confined the influence of emotion to things

fleeting

which are obscure, formless, crude, and wanting

harmony. They thus propagate the mysticism
of Ugliness under the pretext of Emotion.
Now, there is no loftier emotion than that

in

of

Harmony.

And Harmony, whether we

has been,

is,

and

will ever be.

like it or not,

Proportion and

Equilibrium.
Harmony is Perfection. When
there is no Perfection, there cannot truly be
Genius. Genius does not proceed from instinct,
but from the Spirit.
There is no inspiring
force in instinct, the Spirit alone inspires. That
The
is why all great works of art are willed.

Idealism in Art

i68

makes use of the will. Contrary to instinct,

the ideal function of the Spirit is to separate
Spirit

the pure from the impure, and this wonderful

creative function, instead of attacking individual

instead of leading to loss of per-

initiative,

sonality,

gives

conscious of

Woe

to

the

artist

power more

itself.

to the artist

who has never found

it

necessary to meditate upon the mystery of

his art

Woe

to him, for he will never see the

glorious blossoming of the

human

from the chaotic darkness of

never
''

know

ideal arising

instinct,

the splendours of the true

and
life

will
!

He who

has never wateied with his tears

the bread that he eats, he who, with anguished
heart, has not through long sleepless nights
remained seated in sorrow on his bed, such
"
a one will never know you, Heavenly Powers !
once exclaimed Goethe.
All instinctive emotions are due to the
clouding of the Spirit.
All Ugliness is the animal sign of Instinct.

who make ugliness their favourite theme

are dominated by instinct, and have lost the
memory of the divine ray in the soul. They
Artists

from a particular
kind of madness or a particular kind of
perversity. Every time that one makes a con-

suffer,

cession
is

for

the most part,

towards,

or

tolerates,

ugliness,

is misshapen,
entered into with the lower regions

to say, whatever lacks form, or

a bond

is

that

Some Mistaken Notions

169

of the astral plane, wherein lurk the forms of

lower beings and inorganic things, and where

the phantasmagoria of elementals ever streams

What makes one

despair

is

the ignorance

when conby the mental phenomenon of Art.

many know that the Mission of Art is

that the artist and critic display

fronted

How

a mission of Light

''Art," protests the seer Zanoni, in the great

Rosicrucian novel of Bulwer Lytton, '' profane

not thus that glorious word.
What nature is to
God, art should he to man ; a sublime, beneficent,
fertile, and inspired creation.
That wretch may
he a painter, hut an artist never ! And for you,

who

aspire to he a painter, has not that art, whose

you would hasten, its magic power ?

Ought you not, after a prolonged study of beauty
in the past, to he able to grasp new and ideal
forms of beauty in the future ? Do you not see
progress

that for the poet as for the painter great art seeks
the true
treat

and abhors

the real ?

Ought one not

to

nature as a master, and not follow it like

? Has not art, which is truly noble and

a slave

great, the future

What

is

and

the past for its province ?

a picture, then, but the concrete representa-

tion of the invisible ?

''Are you discontented with the world ? This

world was never made for genius, which must,
to exist, create another for itself.
By two outlets
we escape from the petty passions and terrible
calamities of earth

both

lead us to heaven

and

Idealism in Art

170

Art

But art
makes
discoveries, art creates
Astronomy which
numbers the stars cannot add an atom to the
rescue us from hell

more divine than

is

science.
.

universe

and

Science.

Science

a universe by a poet can be evolved

from an atom. The chemist, with his substances

can cure the infirmities of the human body ; the
painter, the sculptor, can give to the

divine

and

human form

eternal youth which sickness cannot

destroy or the ages wither.''

In order to penetrate

it,

then, in the

mighty

Nature must appear as other

Nature is a spirit, the spirit
of the Universe, of which matter and the
elements compose the body. Nature can feel,
and is capable of suffering and sorrow, whilst
matter cannot feel. We can, and we ought, in
aesthetics as in philosophy, to distinguish Nature
from the Real.
interests of Art,

than matter.

know

many

not accept this distinction, which they will hold to be too subtle,
but I must warn them that for the simple
illusion of the senses it is not enough to deny
this truth of cosmogony, that the universal
plastic force, which shapes the visible \7orld,
is independent of the physical forces of matter,
that lowest degree of the involution of the Spirit.
The notion of the Real and the Spiritual, we
may now clearly say, has been perverted, on
the one side by a petrifying positivism, and
on the other by an inconsistent spiritualism.
I

that

will

Some Mistaken Notions

171

Art has been governed by two contradictory

influences at the same time. Hence the chaos
reahsm which deals with
at ,the present time
:

and impressionism which concerns

with symbolism, in which Beauty is

allegory,
itself

misconceived,

rejected

or

monious

relations

unknown to
With the
looks

of

life

because

and the

the
ideal

harare

it.

idealist

and the

artist it

that

spirit

sees.

is

the eye that

If it is

the eye,

the most wonderful and translucent of organs,

which establishes a connection between the

external world and himself, it is the spirit
which reveals light and form to his consciousness.
Can it be said, finally, that idealism, as some
opinionated people of weak understanding
suggest, is mistaken in its views of life ? There
are, indeed, no greater lovers of Nature than
the idealist artists, since they see her under
her twofold aspect, the most trivial spectacle
of the physical world becoming for them a
world of ideas.
Material images, real forms,
fill
not only their eyes but their intelligence
too.
They not only see in Nature the matter
of created things
they perceive what is
The
expressed in forms, namely, Intelligence.
elements of which the external world is composed are used by the idealist to recreate and
rediscover an ideal world in his thought. The
ideal he knows to be the logical vision of his
thought towards harmony. Beauty.
Certain
;

Idealism in Art

172
writers,

sesthetic

and

philosophising

upon

art

in

manner, declare
harmony to be a proposition and beauty an
illusion. To make a distinction between harmony
and beauty is a fundamental mistake. There
is no beauty without harmony, no harmony
without beauty. Instead of being an illusion,
an abstraction. Beauty is the very realising of
a

fanciful

impulsive

the Ideal.

As Love is characterised by Charity, so

Spirit,
Beauty is characterised by Spirit.
holding the balance between Will and Intelligence, is inseparable from Beauty. The genius
of Art is expressed by the genius of Nature,
which, by virtue of the principles of evolution
and selection which governs it, ever tends
towards Beauty.
It is the genius of Nature
which the artist ought to seek behind the
His soul
confused appearance of the real.
should enter into communion with it, if he
to

man

For the

ideal is nearer
Unfortunately he
to seek it, and since he does

wishes to find the ideal.

than he thinks.

does not know how

not find it he denies its existence.
We are
thus led to conclude that the weaknesses of a
work are due to weaknesses of thought, to
something lacking in the soul, to an infirmity
of a real or psychic nature.
There exists, in
fact, in the sensibility of one and the other
flagrant discords.
And it is usually in the
name of these native or accidental, psychic

Some Mistaken Notions

physiological,

or

critics

and

artists

discords,

173

that impressionist

reprobate the fundamental

laws of aesthetics. This undoubtedly gives rise

to that deplorable individualism in art which
is at bottom merely the idle indulgence which
mediocre and unskilful artists allow themselves.
It is usually overlooked that the Ego of each

individuality,

as

the

esoteric

physiognomy

clearly indicates, has different aspects, either

Man, in
fact, has, so to speak, four temperaments. There
are these four moral psychological contradictions which it is his business to harmonise
and balance one against the other. In every
contradictory

man
a

there

is

lymphatic,

or

complementary.

manifested, in different degrees,

sanguine, nervous, and bilious

temperament, and

it

is

only

when

these four

different sides of his individuality are

brought

harmony that the man becomes

and evolved. Lack of balance is due

into

abnormal preponderance

perfect
to the

one of these aspects

what makes a man's

of

over the others. This is

nature objective, subjective, passive, or active.
The harmony of the individual is the psychological end towards which the artist should strive.
There is no other individualism.
All great artists know that Art, without
belonging to analytical science, without being
bound by conventional rules or barren precepts,
contains a science whose laws are naturally
fixed by the supreme logic of beauty.
They

Idealism in Art

174

know

also that beauty, in order to

be different

according to the idiosyncrasy of the masters,

governed by a mysterious unity,

which centralises things similar, and which is
not the

is

its

greatness and strength, realising a sovereign

formula
I

to

less

say
the

Unity
again

caprices

in Variety.

that
of

to

give

individual

up

aesthetics

sensibility,

to

over to the idle fancies of the incompetent, to all kinds of degenerate influences,
constitutes the great mistake of contemporary
deliver

it

eclecticism.

Many have attempted

to oppose the idealist

tendency with arguments as vain as ridiculous.

Some coolly wish to confuse it with the conventional school.
People may be found who
at the very name of idealism give a melancholy
shrug of the shoulders and assume quaint airs
of repulsion. They say without believing it!
that the name conceals a superannuated
assembly of Buddhist priests laying down
automatically with square and compass inviolable rules and calmly drawing up a table of
recipes for the use of wise artists
something
like the chrestomathy of the perfect scholar!
They have argued against this wide and liberal
Consetendency without understanding it.
quently their argument is practically nothing
more than a clumsy tissue of prejudices.
We are forced to cry aloud, with all the
strength of our lungs, that the idealist creed

Some Mistaken Notions

175

dogmatism, is
not a doctrine to induce narrowness
on the
contrary, it affords an impetus to the artist's
personaUty, which remains unfettered, completely unfettered, as far as it can be before the
imposing logic of art, which contains a science
of harmonies in which reason is mingled with
of art, in spite of its apparent

emotion, and in which law amplifies sensation.

It

is

wholly the development of personality

in the direction of loftier conceptions, of per-

sonality which perceives more clearly the

great possibilities of art.
It brings the artist
back, not to preconceived forms, not to decaying

academic

ideas,

but to the ideal and eternal

Just as science makes clear

to us that general laws govern the relations

principle of art.

between

man and

the elements, so idealist art,

correctly defined, proves that there are laws
governing the relations of nature to art. It is
about these laws that personality with its ideas,
sentiments,

and

sensations,

performs

its

evolutions.

The sign of great art is Beauty. The sign

of Beauty is Harmony. The sign of Harmony
Unity.
In concentrating in his spirit and will his
manifold various vital sensations, which should
be, not confused or fanciful, but vigorous,
clear, and distinct, the artist will be enabled
to perceive aesthetic unity, without which there
is

is

no perfection

possible.

Idealism in Art

176

Unity

is

beautiful.

and

one of the great secrets of the

Unity is the very soul of style,

since style

expression,

is

personality in

its

the more personality

most subtle
evolved,

is

morally and spiritually, the more enlightened

will the artist

Does

become through the idea

mean

this

that idealism

thought

sacrificing everything to

be absurd.

It refuses

of unity.

consists

in

That would

nothing to the senses.

It devotes them to higher ends by rendering

them more subtle.
Between sensation and
temperament is placed notion.

no way subordinates the subject to

the painting, or the painting to the subject.
Neither does it place style above idea. It does
not pretend to regulate inspiration. It enriches
in

It

and

power by

union
with the absolute.
Idealism rejects none of
the artistic faculties. It harmonises and welds
them together. It aims at concentrating and
complementing faculties tending in diverse
fortifies

it,

directions.

revealing

its

desires

the

It

divine word, of the

human

its

synthesis

of

the

word, of nature's

word.
Idealism lays

down a hard and fast condiMoral Beauty. It rejects the black magic
of art, which consists in spiritualising what
is evil.
It has an educational and general
socialising influence, quite apart from any
It knows
particular scheme of socialism.
tion

nought,

for

instance,

of

aristocracies

or

Some Mistaken Notions

177

immense
vitahty of its ideal growth. If the artist would
become conscious of that, his personality must
He must likewise
be purified and elevated.
know how to bring his life into harmony with
natural and occult bond which links the sense
to the soul, and soul to the spirit.
The duty of modern idealism will be to rescue
the artistic temperament from the fatal scourge
democracies.

It sees

humanity

in the

materiaUsm, to save personality from the

dangers inherent in the worship of uncomprehended matter, to lead it away from the degrading appeal of the ugly, in order to guide it,
definitely, to the pure regions of an art which
proclaims a spirituality about to be made
manifest.
It can do it, it must do it, without
needing to have recourse to the imaginings of
morbid dreams, to superficiality, and aU the
wretched unnatural creations of diseased minds
of

and the baneful stupefying

disgrace and misery of art

What

is

the

artist,

of the intellect, the

!

whether he be
if he be

then,

painter, sculptor, poet, or musician,

not the

man who

seeks to recover the traces

of that invisible world of

harmony and beauty,

that spiritual world whence his struggling soul

has preserved, throughout its period of gloom

and intuition, a reflected radiance
that is to
say, the ideal and divine attraction.
;

From

this progress of art

transcendental heights must

and the

it

artist to

then be assumed

Idealism in Art

178

that idealism recoils in disdain from physical

nature ? Certainly not. Idealism attracts life,
all life,

to

itself,

by

spiritualising

it,

by

pro-

form and colour on the splendours

of the spiritual world, of which the artist
possesses the inner interpretation. Between the
material passiveness of the object, and the
jecting its

lively suggestion of sensation, the idealist allows

the harmonising energy of conception to move

within him. The principle of his work does not

has been falsely thought, in a

cold delineation of the abstract from which
consist,

as

it

emotion is excluded. Idealist art must not then

be libelled by having the mystico-burlesque
nightmares of certain incompetent painters
attributed to it, such as revive the rudimentary
deformities of early times, and fall back
miserably into an amorphous and incoherent
past, in which protoplasm is confused with
larva

The obvious end

of idealist art

is

the purifica-

tion of art.

The modern art movement,

voyage to the bright horizons

if

of

it

would

the ideal,

must struggle against the continual encroachments of the ugly, no matter beneath what mark
this

is

critical

whether beneath the hypopretence of symbolism, characterisation,

hidden

impressionism or realism, those inferior methods

of expression by which those who dally with it
are led astray.

Some Mistaken Notions

179

has not been sufficiently observed that

the domain of ughness is confined to narrow
limits, whilst that of pure beauty is infinite.
It

The former holds

and
breathe an impure atmosphere, and
tics of

art captive

Art then

darkness.

falls

forces
is

it

to

the aethe-

a prey to the

lower influences of the astral world, which act

upon the ready imagination of the artist unconscious of the phenomena. The other renders
active

all

the

latent

influences.

Into the

peers,

may

if

powers of the higher

now unclouded imagination

so express

it,

the third eye,

world become
spiritualised
Must it be ever repeated that beauty depends no more on sensibility than on a cunning ordering of accepted

which receives the

.

reflection of a

rules.

does not lay down a particular

style.
It developes the personal style side
by side with the development of personality.
''
It has been said
it
Style is the Man "
''
should have been
Style is the Soul.'' Style
is the imprint of the soul coming in contact

Idealism

with Essence and Substance. Through the soul

the spirit descends to matter
matter ascends
to the spirit through the soul.
If I insist on the mediating influence of the
soul, it is because it is a folly to wish to bring
spirit and matter into immediate connection.
That is why Idealism does not aim at the
awful sublimity of an ideology without emotion
;

Idealism in Art

i8o

and does not demand the extinction

of

emo-

tional forces.

What

proclaims and realises is the individuality of the artist seeking synthetically a

it

supreme accord with plastic harmony, moral

harmony, and intellectual harmony
Can beauty be reasonably detached from
the idea expressed in the work, and is the choice
of '' subject," which is ever in relation to the
personal worth of the artist, an additional
and needless preoccupation, and one that may
be neglected ?
The theory of ''no matter
"
what
It
borders dangerously on depravity.
enfeebles the artist. It lessens the importance
!

of his function.

It falsifies his aim.

It strangles

and brings the fertile and idealising

principle within him to a standstill.
The
species of eclectico
sceptic pantheism which
especially where it
finds beauty everywhere
on the ground that beauty in art is
is not
on an equal footing with and in no way different

his thought

to beauty in nature, results in degrading art

much

theory of originality,
that intrusive originality under cover of which
are produced such absurd and grotesque

as

the

opposite

abortions.

Let us pass on.

We know

neither one or the other have

conceived a harmonious notion of
nature and art, nor have they known how to
understand the mutual relationship between

hitherto

Some Mistaken Notions

the real and the ideal image.

i8i

That

is

precisely

the synthetising power of idealism in art

possesses the sense of universal

the sense of

divine harmony.

has the desire too

that

it

harmony and
It knows
it

before there can be

the desire of creating the wing of a seraph,

must be abihty to draw the wing of a

swallow. Nature and the ideal are not in opposition. Truth and beauty are not irreconcilable.
Logically the two are different, but they are
linked by extraordinary points of resemblance.
there

Those who remain the slaves

of instinct will

never guess the secret that these similarities

reveal. Someone has well said: '' Idealism soars
aloft to a complete synthesis." Has it not reached
those heights when art can be illumined by the
magic and stupendous magnificence of Beauty ?
It is here, indeed, that the artist learns

how

to realise the law of infinite relationship, the

philosophy of line and of colour, their universal

significance, the inner meaning of gesture,
the power of ideas and of form, the motion of
the body and of the soul, the connection between
the visible and invisible, the communion of
beings and things, and the sublime mathematics
of eternal harmonies.
Here finally the regenerated artist discovers
a power of aesthetic expression proportioned to
the sublimity of his aspirations and thoughts.
Here finally the whole glorious life of art is
unrolled in its majesty.
^^

Idealism in Art

i82

The time has arrived when genius will no

longer be unconscious.
The genius of the
idealist will, we boldly prophesy, be superconscious.

And what
An abstract
orthodoxy

will

this

super consciousness be

sensibility

An

intellectual

psychic pedantry ?
Will it
involve closed eyes, systematically closed, to
the bright blossoms of life, or mean that the
heart and senses should become atrophied,
voluntarily atrophied, when confronted with
the enormous and ineffable palpitation of the
?

world ?
No, it will be nothing so insane. But it will
be the knowledge that life is not limited to the
senses and that it is extended into the splendours and forces of the Invisible, where it will
be purified in the inevitable Ideal.
And that will be in the work

INDEX
A.E. on landscape painting, note, 21
Academic School present Body
without Soul, 72
" Adoration of the Magi, The" (De

Pladan on Salvation

of, 44
need of a clearly defined view,
84
Alexandrian School, 90
Ancient Wisdom, The, see Universal

Wisdom

by Metaphysics, 78

course
parallel to that of Science, 81
threatened by Positivism, 80 ;
its mission to cause what is
comprehensible to be perceived,
80
to purify mankind, 85 ;
indissolubly bound to Religion,
94
neglected by the State, 95
patronage of in France, 97
in
Bavaria, 98
patronage of at
the Renaissance, 100, 101
neither aristocratic or democratic,
;

its

dividuality by, 8

the revealer

Beauty to mankind, 72
imimportance of his environment,
77
should show that his work
of

not the result of chance, 81 ;

distortion of Nature by modem
artists, 84
degradation of by
the State, 99
mysticism of the
Primitive, 107
social responsi-

is

bility

of,

126

inferior

artists

afraid of great art, 132

the
representative of Public Opinion,
139
a discoverer not creator,
146
created by Art, 147 great
artists and great thinkers akin,
149
must strive towards the
Harmony of the Individual, 173
;

Athenagoras, 90
Athos, Mt., the monks

of,

119

103
its influence on Societj^
121-144
the revealer of Harmony to Mankind, 122
unknown to animals, 123 superficial views of statesmen as to,
124
evolution of correspondent
;

Social

progress,

124

the

working of Spirit upon Matter,

130
must overcome Matter,
not imitate it,
134
must
illumine and not reflect Society,
136
its mission to represent
;

Ideas, 141

147
153

Artist,
Initiation
necessary to,
xxvii., xxxiv. ;
lack of great
artists at present time, xxxv. ;
high calling of, 7
loss of in-

Apelles, 116
Art,
completes
Nature,
xxiii. :
influence of Nature study on, 3 ;
aspires to
In Belgium, note, 10
a species
condition of Music, 49
of occult chemistry,
70 ;
a
Divine Force, 73
a vital organ
of Humanity, 73 ; consecrated

to

imperfect without Beauty,

theory, 160

Vinci), 7
iEschylus, 5, 45, 145
^Esthetics,

25

27 ; at once an emotion and an

instinct, 157
" Art for Art's Sake," fallacy of

;
;

creates the Artist,

modem

degradation

when corrupt

of,

significant of

a corrupt morality, 154

its
mission a mission of light, 169
Art of the Future, Pladan on, 30
dependent on future of Science,
Religion and Philosophy, 75;
to be based on the triple formulae
of Idealism, 83
Art, work of, must represent an
Idea, 8
has Body, Soul, Spirit,
;

Bach,

5,

66

Bandinelli, note, 46
Banville, Thodore de, 17
Barrs, Maurice, 158
Baudelaire, on the Artist, 7, 19 ;
on the limitations of Nature,

20,42
Bavaria,

art, patronage in by Ludwig II., 98

Bayreuth, Wagner's theatre at, 98
"Beautiful, The, is the Ugly":
fallacy of the dictum, 52
Beauty Spiritual, Plastic, Technical,
xxviii.
of
in
absence
:

modern

Art, 8
acter of 14, 27

threefold charabsolute printhe synonym of

;

ciple of, 29
Truth and Harmony, 30
;

the

reflection of the Essence in the

Substance, 33 ; Beauty in Art

superior to Beauty in Nature,

68
the harmony of Forms, 70 ;
discountenanced by the Church,
93
resulting from the Symmetry of Nature, 109
perception of inseparable from Mentality,
124
its influence on
Social problems, 128
perceived
;

Index

i84
through the Imagination rather
than through the Senses, 130 ;
a necessary condition of mankind, 132 not incompatible with
utility, 138
A Society to protest
against degradation of Public
Beauty, 144
ignorance of art
critics as to, 151
necessary to
;

ail

subjects

for artistic treatindestructibility of,

ment, 161
162
is Unity in Variety, 174 ;
its domain infinite, 179
Beers, Van, note, 155
Beethoven, 31, 66
his deafness
and ninth symphony, 68
Belgian Art, new era in, 136, 137 ;
note, 10
Besant, Annie, quoted, 121
Beuron School, The, a revival of
religious Art, 109
foundation
of, note, 109
study of Greek and
a
Christian tradition by, 110
;

reaction

ecclesiastical
against
ugliness, 113
influence of Byzantine and Gothic Art on, 116
Bhagavad-Git, 91
;

56
Bouguereau, A. W., note, 46
Braeckeleer, De, note, 37

Botticelli,

Brahminism

in

harmony

with

Christianity, 91

note,

Brahmanism, 91
Church, The, hostile to Initiation,
87; early Fathers of, 89, 90;
Key to Secret Doctrine withheld by, 93
Beauty discountenanced by, 93
Cimabue, 58, 107, 119
Colour, not dependent on the genius
of the artist, 39
theory of
Delacroix as to, 39
Colour-sense, possessed by animals,
38 influence of digestion on, 38
Comprehension, the reflex of Creation, 67
Conception, the Ideal and Spiritual
;

stage,

23

Consciousness of Genius, 5
Consciousness, influence of spiritual
vibration on, 11
Coppe, 19
Corot, 21
Courbet, 10
Couture, 17
Criticism, modem, ignorant of Law
exalts craftsof Beauty, 151
man above the artist, 152
;

Broerman, Eugene, 144

Brussels, Art Societies at, note, 10
Buddha, the Christ of the East, 92
Bulwer Lytton, his " Zanoni "
quoted, 169
Bume- Jones, xiv,, xxv., 8, 46
Byzantine Art, 58
influence on
the Beuron School, 116

Canova,

108; Order indispensable

109
Ugliness incompatible
with, 112
opposed to the nude,
117
Christian mystics, 89, 90
Christianity,
in
harmony with
106,

to,

46

" Cercle des Vingt," 10, 48

Chardin, note, 160
Chavannes, Puvis de, xxv.
chief
works of, note, 17
his criticism
of Impressionism, 18
on Art and
Nature, 19, 46, 114
Chenavard, xxxvi.
note, 46, 50
Chesterton, G. K., on Watts, 46
Chevreul, his theory anticipated by
;

Dante, an

initiate,

88

D'Aurevilly, Barbey, destitution of,

his works, note, 103
David, J. L., his love of the antique, note, 50
his theories,

Delacroix,

the fore-

runner of " pointillisme," note, 39

" Democratising of Art, The," 9
Design, the foundation of art, 48
compared with Music, 49
Diotim, 87
" Divina Commedia, The," 8, 88, 149
;

Delacroix, note, 39
Choice of subject, importance of,
Delacroix, 181
Christ, the Buddha of the West, 92
Christian Art, the product of religious materialism, 87
to be
;

replaced by Universal Idealist

Art, 94
revival of by Beuron
School, 104-120
not to be dependent on imitative principles,
105; should be hieratic and ideal.
;

ECKHARDT, 90
Edison, 39

Emotion, the middle stage of a

work of Art, 23
Ensor,

J,,

vulgarity

of, note, 8,

155

" Fair is Foul," xxiii.

Fierens-Gevaert, lectures on 19th
century Art, 188
Flandrin Hippolyte, his works, note,
116, 117
" Flemish Painting," an anachronism, 136
Form, Beauty of, 15 ; expressive
of creative power of the world.

Index
32

i8^

connection with the

the product of sound
the union of Essence
waves, 66
with Substance, 165
the sister
of Number, 165
;

its

Idea, 49

Fra Angelico, 58, 66, 107, 110, 119

France, Art patronage in, 97
France, Anatole, 100

not exclusive

19

mony of the Natiural,

and the Divine, 36

is the harthe Human,

not to be

confused with " dreaming," 65

influence on modem thought, 78 ;

the continuation of Natmrism,
156 does not insist on a definite
;

158

confused with Condoes not

176
demands " moral beauty," 176 ;
rescues the artist from materialism, 178 not antagonistic to the
physical
Universe,
178
its
synthetic natvure, 181; its " superconsciousness," 182
" Ilissus, The," 51
Image, An, is Sensation spiritualised, 24
the invention of, the
style,

ventionalism, 174
regulate Inspiration,
;

Gallait,
Gauguin,

notg,
note,

46
155

Gautier, Thophile, 17 ;
opinion
of GaUait, 46
Genius, its productions not spontaneous, 55
Michelet on, 133 ;
;

men

145
Germany, Beuron School in, 109
" Gioconda" 7
Giorgos Marcos, 119
Giotto, 58, 107, 119
Gliick, 22
Gnosticism akin to Universal Wisdom, 88 the fundamental spirit
of Christianity, 90
Goethe, 42
on Form and Design,
49
on the Greeks, 54
quoted,
168
58
Gothic Art,
Greek Idealism, 53, 57
" Guide to Sacred Art, The,'' 119
analogy between

of,

Hals, Franz, note, 152

" Harmonies of Existence,

The,''

149

Harmony, the essence

of the social
influence of Art, 121
the secret
of the Universe and the State,

dawn

of social intelligence,

123

" Imitation of Jesus Christ, The'^

91
Impressionism,
corresponds
to
scepticism, xxii.
a pursuit of
the Ugly, xxii.
results in the
negation of Form, 4
a neurotic
malady, 9
the Poetry of the
Moment its fallacy, 18 lacking
in real aesthetic emotion, 83
Initiation, necessary for the artist,
xxvii., xxxiv. ; of Greek artists,
;

54
" International Institute of Public
Art, The," 144

121
the highest Emotion, 167
Herkomer, xxv.
Hermes, 89
Holman Hunt, xxv.
Homer, an initiate, 145
Houssaye, Arsne, 159
Hugo, Victor, on Nmnber, 165
Huxley, Prof., 123
;

II.
his
admiration
Michael Angelo, 101

Julius,

of,

14

with Form, 49

Monuments, 142, 143

Ideal, The Science of
all

Lacuria, 149
Landscape-painting, xxx.
only
translates impressions, 17, 21
A.E. on, note, 21
an element of
decoration, 21
a background,
;

Ideas of past ages reflected in their

superior to

of

connection

Kings, modern, lacking in " aesthetic sense," 96

inglorious character of, 99, 100
Krishna, 89

Hypatia, 88
Idea, Beauty

Jesus Christ, 89, 92

Jordaens, note, 152

the, 61
individual ideals,
;

69

22

an

illegitimate

form

of

Art, 23

Threefold

Idealism,

nature

of,

xxviii.
present in every true
of Art, 10 ; means the spiritualising of Art, 11
a synonym
for Art, 11 ;
reaction against
;

work

Realism and Impressionism, 13 ;

Threefold
principle
of,
14
Artist unfettered by, 16
demands study of Nature, 17, 171 ;
;

" L'Assommoir," 8
Lebrun, note, 46, 50
" L'Ecole de Platon," xvi.
Lenz, R. P. Dsir, founder of the
Beuron School, 109
Leys, Baron Henry, influence on
Belgian Art, 10
" L' Homme-Dieu," xvi.
" Libre Esthtique," 48

Index

i86
Life confused with Substance, 64
Line, the essence of Form, 48 the
;

immutable theology

Ludwig
of

II.

of

Form, 112

of Bavaria, patronage

Wagner, 98

Lysippus, 116

Navez,

46

note,

Newton, Sir Isaac, 5

Nik, statue of, from Samothrace,
51
" Noces corinthiennes," 100
Nude, The, its moral significance,
56
expresses the true sense of
Nature, 57
the Alpha and
Omega of .^Esthetics, 58
its
study can regenerate Art, 58
neglected by the Primitives, 58 ;
studied by artists of Renaissance, 58
its synthetic quality,
59
it evokes Humanity, 59
made fleshly by Realism, 63
study of, opposed by Christian
Art, 117
;

" Macbeth " quoted, xxiii.

Magi, The, their initiation of the
artist, 53
" Mammon,'' 15
Manu, 89
Martinism, 88
Materialism, erroneous view of
future overthrow of,
Art, xxix.
61
its struggle with Spiritualism, 75
Mauclair, Camille, 138
Meissonier, noU, 155
Memphis, 98
Michael Angelo, xxx., 13, 45, 58,
66, 77
Michelet, on Genius, 133
note, 46
Millais, Sir J. E., xxv.
" Minotaur, The," 15
Mission of Art, The, a mission of
Light, 169
Monet, Claude, founder of Impressionist School, note, 155
his
Moreau, Gustave, xxv., 46
aims and work, note, 46
Moses, 89
Music, its aid in the aesthetic comprehension of Form, 49
the
basis of social harmony, 121
Musical vibration, correspondent to
harmony of Form, 06
" Mystery of Evolution, The,'' by
Jean Delville, 122
Mysticism, Christian, 89, 90
;

Napoleon

I.,

his

patronage

of

Art, 97

Napoleon

patronge of Art, 98
Art, xxx.; xxxvii.
doomed in the future, 75, 76
Naturalism, atrophies the creative
powers of the artist, xxi.
corresponds to materialistic panthedebasing influence on
ism, xxii.
Art, 5
*

III.,

National "

Nature,
an evolution
towards
Beauty, xxiii. principle of selecPuvis
Chavannes
tion in, 19
de
and Baudelaire on Incompleteness of, 19
a medley of enchantment and terror, 65
to be distinguished from the Real, 170
evolution
Naturism,
an
from
Naturalism towards Idealism,

Occultism

of

Rembrandt,

of Shakespeare, 159
Orcagna, 58, 107
" Orfeo," scenic poetry
" Organon, The," 149
Origen, 90
Orpheus, 89
the Ijrre of, 55

of,

152

22

Palais de Justice, Brussels,

Paracelsus, 90
" Parsifal," 77, 149
Parthenon, The, 149
Pater, W., 49

xvii,

Pladan, Josephin, character of

his Idealism, note, xxxvii. ; on
the Art of the Future, 30
on
the Salvation of .-Esthetics, 45;
;

on Line,

lli2

Pericles, 53, 54, 121

Pheidias, 31, 45, 54, 66, 77, 110,
116, 121, 159, 166
Plato, 53, 55, 87, 89, 111, 121, 149
" Poets of the Moment," the Im-

pressionists, 18
Polycleitos, 116

Primitive

artists,

eponyms

of Chris-

tian Art, 113

" Promethus Vinctus," 5

Proudhon, his sophism on the Ugly,

his famous paradox, note,
64
64, 102
Pythagoras, 42, 89
;

156

Rama, 89
Raphael, xxx., 5, 45, 152
Real, The, to be distinguished from
the Natural, 170
Realism, its ignorance of the
Divinity in Man, 164
Realist- Impressionist School present Things without Idea, 72

Index

187

" Reformation
ledge,

Human Know-

of

his lost treatise on the Beautiful,

note, 91
St. Clement of Alexandria, 89
St. Denys the Areopagite, 90 ; on

The" 42

Religion, future reconciliation with

Science, 79
Rembrandt, 77 the Kabbaliste of
painting, note, 152
Renaissance passion for Art, 100-2
Rhythm of Form, 31

Image-worship, 119

St. Francis of Assisi, 90

St. Irenaeus, 89
St. Luc, School of, 94
St. Maur, Chapel of, 110
St. Pantaenus, note, 90

Rodin, 134
Romanticism, an advance towards
Idealism,

xix.

out Idea, xix.

xx,

synthesis,

Thomas Aquinas, 90 quoted,

164
Vincent de Paul, Church of,
Frieze at, 117
St. Yves d'Alveydre, on Art and
the Artist, note, 147
quoted, 154
State, The, neglect of Art by, 95
Strasburg Cathedral, astrological
clock at, 5
Style, an idealising quality, 51

Idealism withlacking in a clear

St.

overthrown by

St.

Naturalism and Positivism, xxi.

Rosicrucian romance of " Zanoni,''
169

Rossetti, xvi.

Rubens, 136
Ruskin, John, his failure to perceive the essential in Art, xxv.,

XXX vii.

on Symmetry, 109

on

no

the Ugly, 125

Ruysbroeck, John, father of Flemish

mysticism,

note,

style

demanded by

90

138

see Christian Art

90
" Samothrace, La,'' note, 51
Scheffer, 17
Schiller on Beauty, 132
" School of Athens, The," 5

Symmetry, a natural

Sais,

law, 109

on the Ugly and the

on the relationBeautiful, 52
ship of Art and Science, 159

Taine,

Science, future reconciliation with

Religion, 79
the matrix of the
;

Ideal, 159
Sailles, Gabriel, quoted, 24

Technique, Beauty of, 15

" Temperament," theories as

Temperament

and Sentiment steps

relatowards the Idea, xxix.
the
tion to Consciousness, 23

Sensation,

stage in work of Art, 23

only a means towards a work of
art,

definite

Idealism, 158
the signatiire of
the individual, 158
" Style is the Soul," 179
S5nnibolic painting of the Future,

Sacred Art,

first

68

Impressionist method of,

note, 43, 155
Seven Lamps of Architecture,
The," 109
Shakespeare, occultism of, xxii.,
159
Signac, Impressionist theory of, 43
Sistine Chapel, 149
Sizeranne, Robert de la, xxi v.
Social Art, no necessity for, 71
" Sociahsing of Art, The," 9
Socit Libre," 10, 48
Society, influence of Art on, 80
Socrates initiated by Diotim, 88
Sophocles, 45, 54
Seurat,
*'

Spiritualising of Science, 62
St. Angela of Foligno, 90
" St. Anne " (De Vinci), 51, 64
St. Augustine, affirms Christianity
to have existed before Christ, 90
:

of

Man

to,

fourfold,

81

173

Thebes, 90
Theophilus, the monk, his manual

on Art, 116
necessity for, 39 ; idle
able to purify
objections to, 40
Art, 43
The, 88
Society,
Theosophical
Tolsto, concerned only with the
morality of Art, xxvi., xxxvii,
conception of Art, 73
Tradition, the Living and the Dead,
45 Artists of, 45, 46 subordination of personality to, 45 ; inthe atavism of,
fluence of, 145
personality of artist un145
fettered by, 146

Theory,

Trithemius,
note,

Turner,

Abbot

of

Spanheim,

90
J.

M. W., A.E. on,

note,

21

his limitations, 22

Type, Importance

of,

119

Ugliness, symbolic, examples of,

Academic and Realist,
note, 15
34
non-existence of according
Ruskin on.
to Proudhon, 64
;

Index

i88
125
physical ugliness expressive of moral ugliness, 166
propagated under the pretext of
Emotion, 167
the animal sign
of Instinct, 168
its domain
limited, 179
Universal, The, Plato on, 41
Universal Brotherhood, influence
on future Art. 85
Universal Wisaom, The, able to
achieve the unity of Religion,
88 its transmission to modern
times, 88
akin to Gnosticism,
89
the fundamental spirit of
Christianity, 90
;

Utility, lacking in uninspired Art,

86

Vandyck, 152
Venus

of Milo, 39,

55

Leonardo de, xxx., 5

his " Treatise on
dictum of, 31

Vinci,

Painting," 41, 45, 58, 66, 77,

135, 152, 159
" Virgin of St. Maur, The," 110,

112

Wagner, Richard,
46, 66, 77 ; aided
98, 145, 149

II.,

belief in
Watts, G. F., XXV., 15
Priesthood of Art, 46
Whistler, xiv., 21
ugliness exWiertz, A., xxxvi.
chief
hibited in his works, 37
works and method, note, 37
Wilde, Oscar, quoted, 6
Willette, his " Pierrettes," note, 13
Wronski, Hoene de, his mathemati;

cal formulae, note,

Ludwig II., 98
Adam, Coimt, his

note, 5, 31, 42,

by Ludwig

42

Verlaine, opinion of
Villiers

de L'Isle

writings and influence, note, 103

quoted, 146

" Zanoni," quotation from, 169

Zeuxis, 116
Zola, on Naturalism, xxi., 8, 156