The Complete Works

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CHAPTER I.— Of Gekbral Stbuctuke. PAOB

§ 1. First laws of the orj^anization of the earth, and their importance in art 25

§ 2. The slight attention ordinarily paid to them. Their careful study by modem artists 26

% 8. General structure of the earth. The hills are its notion,

the plains its rest 27

§ 4. Mountains come out from underneath the plains, and are

their support 28

g 5. Structure of the plains themselves. Their perfect level,

when deposited by quiet water 28

§ 6. Illustrated by Turner's Marengo 80

g 7. General divisions of formation resulting from this arrangement. Plan of investigation 80

CHAPTER II.— Op the Central Mountains

§ 1. Similar character of the central peaks in all parts of the

world 31

§ 2l Their arrangements in pyramids or wedges, divided by

vertical fissures 81

g 3. Causing groups of rock resembling an artichoke or rose 82

6 8TN0P8I8 OF CONTENTS.

% 4. The faithful statement of these facts by Turner in his

Alps at Daybreak 32

g 5. Vignette of the Andes and others 33

§ 6. Necessary distance, and consequent aerial cltect on all

such mountains 34

§ 7. Total want of any rendering of their phenomena in

ancient art 35

g 8. Character of the representations of Alps in the distances

of Claude 35

§ 9. Their total want of magnitude and aerial distance 36

§ 10. And violation of specific form 37

§ 11. Even in his best works 38

§ 12. Farther illustration of the distant character of mountain chains 38

§ 13. Their excessive appearance of transparency 39

g 14. Illustrated from the works of Turner and Stanfield.

The Borromean Islands of the latter 40

§ 15. Turner's Arona 40

g 10. Extreme distance of large objects always characterized

by very sharp outline 41

gl7. Want of this decision in Claude 43

§ 18. The perpetual rendering of it by Turner 43

§ 19. Effects of snow, how imperfectly studied 44

g 20. General principles of its forms on the Alps 46

^ 21. Average paintings of Switzerland. Its real spirit has

scarcely yet been caught 48

CHAPTER III.— Op the Inferior Mountainb

g 1. The inferior mountains are distinguished from the central by being divided into beds 49

§ 2. Farther division of these beds by joints 50

• § 3. And by lines of lamination 50

8 4. Variety and seeming uncertainty imder which these laws

are manifested 51

§ 5. The perfect expression of them in Turner's Lf>ch Coris-

kin 52

§ 6. Glencoe and other works 58

§ 7. Especially the Mount l^ebanon ^ . . 63

§ 8. Compared with the work of Sal vator 54

§ 9. And of Poussin 55

g 10. Effects of external influence on mountain form 56

8 11. The gentle convexity caused by aqueous erosion 57

g 13. And the effect of the action of torrents 58

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§ 18. The exceeding simplicity of contour caused by these influences 59

§ 14. And multiplicity of feature 60

§ 15. Both utterly neglected in ancient art 01

§ 16. The fidelity of treatment in Turner's Daphne and Leu-

cippus 61

§ 17. And in the Avalanche and Inundation 02

§ 18. The rarity among secondary hills of steep slopes or high

precipices 63

§ 19. And consequent expression of horizontal distance in their

ascent 63

§ 20. Full statement of all these facts in various works of

Turner, — Caudebec, etc 64

g 21. The use of considering geological truths 65

§ 22. Expression of retiring surface by Turner contrasted

with the work of Claude 66

§ 23. The same moderation of slope in the contours of his

higher hills 67

§ 24. The peculiar difficulty of investigating the more essential truths of hill outline 68

§ 25. Works of other modem artists. Clarkson Stanfield. . . 68 g 26. Importance of particular and individual truth in hill

drawin£^ 69

^ 27. Works of Copley Fielding. His hill feeling 70

§28. Works of J. D. Harding and others 71

CHAPTER IV.— Of the Foreground

§ 1. What rocks were the chief components of ancient landscape foreground 72

§ 2. Salvator's limestones. The real characters of the rock.

Its fractures, and obtuscness of angles 73

§ 3. Salvator's acute angles caused by the meeting of concave curves 74

§ 4. Peculiar distinctness of light and shade in the rocks of

nature 74

§ 5. Peculiar confusion of both in the rocks of Salvator. ... 75 g 6. And total want of any expression of hardness or brittle-

ness 75

§ 7. Instances in particular pictures 75

§ 8. Compared with the works of Stanfield 76

g 9. Their absolute opposition in every particular 77

§ 10. The rocks of J. D. Harding 77

g 11. Characters of loose earth and soil 79

PAGE

§ 12. Its exceeding grace and fulness of feature 79

§ 13. Thegroundof Teniers 80

J^ 14. Importance of these minor parts and points 80

§ 15. The observance of them is the real distinction between

the master and the novice 81

§ 16. The ground of Cuyp 82

§17. And of Claude 82

§ 18. The entire weakness and childishness of the latter. .... 83

§ 19. Compared with the work of Turner 88

§ 20. (General features of Turner's foreground 84

g 21. Geological structure of his rocks in the Fall of the Tees 84

§ 22. Their convex surfaces and fractured edges 85

§ 23. And perfect unity 85

§ 24. Various parts whose history is told us b}' the details of

the drawing 86

§ 25. Beautiful instance of an exception to general rules in the

Llanthony 87

§ 26. Turner's drawing of detached blocks of weathered stone 88

§ 27. And of complicated foreground 89

g 28. And of loose soil 90

g 29. The unison of all in the ideal foregrounds of the Academy pictures 90

g 30. And the great lesson to be received from all 91

SECTION V.

OF TRUTH OF WATER.

CHAPTER I.— Of Water, as Painted by the Ancients

g 1. Sketch of the functions and infinite agency of water. . . 92 g 2. The ease with which a common representation of it may

be given. The impossibility of a faithful one 93

g 3. Difficulty of properly dividing the subject 93

g 4. Inaccuracy of study of wat^r-effect among all painters. . 94

g 5. Difficulty of treating this part of the subject 96

g 6. General laws which regulate the phenomena of water.

First, the imperfection of its reflective surface 97

g 7. The inherent hue of water modifies dark reflections, and

does not affect bright ones 98

g 8. Water takes no shadow 99

g 9. Modification of dark reflections by shadow 101

g 10. Examples on the water of the Rhone 102

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g 11. Effect of ripple on distant water 104

§ 12. Elongation of reflections by moving water 104 v

§ 13. Effect of rippled water on horizontal and inclined

images 106

§ 14 To what extent reflection is visible from above 106

§ 15. Deflection of images on agitated water 107

§ 16. Necessity of watchfulness as well as of science. Licenses, how taken by great men 107

§ 17. Various licenses or errors in water-painting of Claude,

Cuyp, Vandevelde 109

§ia AndCanaletto Ill

§19. Why unpardonable 113

§20. The Dutch painters of sea. 114

§21. Ruysdael, Claude, and Salvator 116

§22. Nicholas Poussin 117

§ 28. Venetians and Florentines. Conclusion 118

CHAPTER II.— Of Wateb, ab Painted by the Moderns

§ 1. General power of the modems in painting quiet water.

The lakes of Fielding 120

§ 2. The calm rivers of De Wint, J. Holland, etc 121

§ 3. The character of bright and violent falling water .121

S 4. As given by Nesfleld .^122

§ 5. The admirable water-drawing of J. D. Harding 122

§ 6. His color ; and painting of sea 123

§ 7. The sea of Copley Fielding. Its exceeding grace and

rapidity 123

g 8. Its high aim at character 124

g 9. But deficiency in the requisite quality of grays 125

§ 10. Variety of the grays of nature 125

§11. Works of Stanfield. His perfect knowledge and power 126 § 12. But want of feeling. General sum of truth presented by

modern art 127

CHAPTER III.— Of Water, as Painted by Txtrner

§ 1. The difliculty of giving surface to smooth water 128

§ 2. Is dependent on the structure of the eye, and the focus

by which the reflected rays are perceived 128

g 3. Morbid clearness occasioned in painting of water by distinctness of reflections. 129

§ 4. How avoided by Turner 180

§ 5. All reflections on distant water are distinct 181

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S 6. The error of Vandevelde 133

§ 7. DifTerence in arrangement of parts between the reflected

object and its image 188

§ 8. Illustrated from the works of Turner 188

§ 9. The boldness and Judgment shown in the observance

of it 184

g 10. The texture of surface in Turner's painting of calm

water 185

§11. Its united qualities 136

§ 12. Relation of various circumstances of past agitation, etc. ,

by the most trifling incidents, as in the Cowcs 137

§ 18. In scenes on the Loire and Seine 188

g 14. Expression of contrary waves caused by recoil from

shore 189

§ 15. Various otlier instances. 140

§ 16. Turner*s painting of distant expanses of water. Culm,

interrupted by ripple 140

§ 17. And ripple, crossed by sunshine 140

§ 18. His drawing of distant rivers 142

§ 19. And of surface associated with mist 142

§ 20. His drawing of falling water, with peculiar expression

of weight 143

I 21. The abandonment and plunge of great cataracts. IIow g 22. DifTerence in the action of water, when continuous and

when interrupted. The interrupted stream fills the

hollows of its bed 145

§ 28. But the continuous stream takes the shape of its bed. . . 146

§ 24. Its exquisite curved lines 146

g 25. Turner's careful choice of the historical truth 147

§ 26. His exquisite drawing of the continuous torrent in the

Llanthony Abbey 148

§ 27. And of the interrupted torrent in the Mercury and Argus 148

§ 28. Various coses 149

§ 29. Sea-painting. Impossibility of tnily representing foam 150

§ 80. Character of shore-breakers, also inexpressible 151

§ 81. Their effect, how injured when seen from the shore. . . . 152

§ 82. Turner's expression of heavy rolling sea 153

§ 88. With peculiar expression of weight 154

g 84. Peculiar action of recoiling waves 155

§ 85. And of the stroke of a breaker on the shore. 155

§ 86. (General character of sea on a rocky coast given by Turner in the Land's End 156

8 37. Open seas of Turner's earlier times 157

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§88. Effect of sea after prolonged Btorm 159

§ 89. Turner's noblest work, the painting of the deep open sea

in the Slave Ship 161

§ 40. Its united excellences and perfection as a whole 162

SECTION TL

OP TRUTH OP VEGETATION— CONCLUSION.

CHAPTER L— Of Tbiith of Ybgbtation.

g 1. Preqoent occurrence of foliage In the works of the old

masters 168

g 2l Laws common to all forest trees. Their branches do not

taper, but only divide 164

§ 3. Appearance of tapering caused by frequent buds 164

§ 4 And care of nature to conceal the parallelism 165

g 5. The degree of tapering which may be represented as continuous 165

g 6. Thetreesof Gaspar Poussin 166

g 7. And of the Italian school generally, defy this law 166

g a The truth, as it is given by J. D. Harding 167

g 9. Boughs, in consequence of this law, mu9t diminish where they divide. Those of the old masters often

do not 168

g 10. Boughs must multiply as they diminish. Those of the

old masters do not 169

§ 11. Bough-drawing of Salvator 170

g 12. All these errors especially shown in Claude's sketches,

and concentrated in a work of G. Poussin's 172

g 13. Impossibility of the angles of boughs being taken out of

them by wind 172

gl4. Bough-drawing of Titian 173

g 15. Bough-drawing of Turner 175

g 16. Leafage. Its variety and symmetry 176

gl7. Perfect regularity of Poussin 177

g 18. Exceeding intricacy of nature's foliage 177

g 19. How contradicted by the tree-patterns of G. Poussin. . . 178

g 20. How followed by Creswick 179

g2t Perfect imity in nature's foliage 180

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PAO: §22. Total want of it in Both and Hobblma 18^

§23. How rendered by Turner 18

§ 24. The near leafage of Claude. His middle distances are

good 18

§ 25. Universal termination of trees in symmetrical curves. . . IS § 26. Altogether unobserved by the old masters. Always

§ 27. Foliage painting on the Continent 18*

§ 2a Foliage of J. D. Harding. Its deficiencies 18i

§ 29. His brilliancy of execution too manifest 18<

§ 80. His bough-drawing and choice of form 18'

§ 81. Local color, how far expressible in black and white, and

with what advantage 181

§ 32. Opposition between great manner and great knowledge 181

§ 83. Foliage of Cox, Fielding, and Cattermole 10(

§ 84. Hunt and Creswick. Green, how to be rendered expressive of light and offensive if otherwise 19:

§ 85. Conclusion. Works of J. Linnell and S. Palmer 19:

CHAPTER II.— Genebal Rehabks bespectinq the Tritth OP Turner.

§ 1. No necessity of entering into discussion of architectural

truth 19<

§ 2. Extreme difficulty of illustrating or explaining the

highest truth 19^

§ 8. The pontive rank of Turner is in no degree shown in the

foregoing pages, but only his relative rank 19j

§ 4. The exceeding refinement of his tnith 19<

§ 5. There is nothing in his works which can be enjoyed

without knowledge 19<

§ 6. And nothing which knowledge will not enable us to enjoy m

§ 7. His former rank and progress 19'

§ 8. Standing of his present works. Their mystery is the

consequence of their fulness 19i

CHAPTER IIL — Conclusion.— Modern Art and Modern Criticism.

§ 1. The entire prominence liitherto given to the works of one artist caused only by our not being able to take cognizance of chamcter 19S

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§ 2. The feelings of different artists are incapable of full comparison 200

g 3. But the fldeliCy and truth of each are capable of real

comparison 200

g 4. Especially because they are equally manifested in the

treatment of all subjects 201

g 5. No man draws one thing well, if he can draw nothing

else 201

g 6. General conclusions to be derived from our past investigation 202

g 7. Truth, a standard of all excellence 203

g 8. 3Iodern criticism. Changef ulness of public taste 203

g 9. Yet associated with a certain degree of judgment 204

glO. Duty of the press 204

g IL Qualifications necessary for discharging it 204

g 12. Gkneral incapability of modern critics 205

g 13. And inconsistency with themselves 205

g 14. How the press may really advance the cause of art 206

g 15. Morbid fondness at the present day for unfinished works 206

g 16. By which the public defraud themselves 207

g 17. And in pandering to which, artists ruin themselves. . . . 207

g 18. Necessity of finishing works of art perfectly 208

g 19. Sketches not suflSciently encouraged 209

g 20. Brilliancy of execution or efforts at invention not to be

tolerated in young artists 209

g 21. The duty and after privileges of all students 210

g 22. Necessity among our greater artists of more singleness

of aim 210

§ 23. What should be their general aim 212

g 34. Duty of the press with respect to the works of Turner.. 214

14 BTNOPaia OF CONTENTS.

PART m.

OF IDEAS OF BEAUTY.

SECTION L

OP THE THEORETIC FACULTY.

CHAPTER L— Of the Rank and Relations of the Theoretic Pacultt.

PAOK

§ 1. With what care the subject is to be approached 218

§ 2. And of what importance considered. 219

§ 8. The doubtful force of the term " utility " 221

§ 4. Its proper sense 221

g 6. How falsely applied In these times 222

§ 6. The evil consequences of such interpretation. How

connected with national power 222

8 7. How to be averted 223

§ 8. Division of the pursuits of men into subservient and

objective 227

I 9. Their relative dignities 228

§ 10. How reversed through erring notions of the contemplative and imaginative faculties 228

§ 11. Object of the present section 229

CHAPTER II.— Of the Theobbtic Pacultt ab concerned with Pleasures of Sense.

§ 1. Explanation of the term " theoretic " 281

§ 2. Of the differences of rank in pleasures of sense 281

§ 3. Use of the terms Temperate and Intemperate 232

§ 4. Right use of the term ''intemperate " 233

g 6. Grounds of inferiority in the pleasures which are subjects of intemperance 284

g 6. Evidence of higher rank in pleasures of sight and hearing 235

§ 7. How the lower pleasures may be elevated in rank 286

§ 8. Ideas of beauty how essentially moral 237

g 9. How degraded by heartless reception 288

g la How exalted by affection 288

SYNOPSIS OF OONTENTB. 16

CHAPTER III.— Op AccuracV Aim Inaccuracy in Impreb-

8ION8 OF SeNBB.

PAGE

§ 1. By what test is the health of the perceptive faculty to

be determined? 240

§ 2. And in what sense may the terms Right and Wrong be

attached to its conclusions? 241

§ 3. What power we have over Impressions of sense 242

§ 4. Depends on acuteness of attention 243

^ 5. Ultimate conclusions universal 243

g 6. What duty is attached to this power over impressions

of sense. 244

§ 7. How rewarded 245

g 8. Especially with respect to ideas of beauty 245

§ 9. Errors induced by the power of habit 246

g 10. The necessity of submission in early stages of judgment 246

§ 11. The large scope of matured Judgment 247

g 12. How distinguishable from false taste 248

g 13. The danger of a spirit of choice 249

g 14. And criminality 249

g 15. How certain conclusions respecting beauty are by reason demonstrable 205

gl6. With what liabilities to error 251

§17. The term "beauty" how limitable in the outset.

Divided into typical and vital 252

CHAPTER IV.— Of False Opinions held concerning Beauty

§ 1. Of the false opinion that truth is beauty, and vice

versa 253

§ 2. Of the false opinion that beauty is usefulness. Compare Chap. xii. § 5 254

g 3. Of the false opinion that beauty results from custom.

Compare Chap. vi. g 1 254

g 4. The twofold operation of custom. It deadens sensation,

but confirms affection 255

§ 5. But never either creates or destroys the essence of beauty 255

g 6. Instances. 256

g 7. Of the false opinion that beauty depends on the association of ideas. 257

g 8. Association. Is, Ist, rational. It is of no efficiency as

a cause of beauty 257

g 9. ABsociation accidental. The extent of its influence. ... 258

16 STNOPaia OF CONTENTS.

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§10. The dignity of its function 35»

§ 11. How it is connected with impressions of beauty 260

§ 12. And what caution it renders necessary in the examination of them 261

CHAPTER v.— Of Typical Beauty :— First, of Infinity, or TUK Type of Divine Incomprehensibility.

§ 1. Impossibility of adequately treating the subject 268

g 2. With what simplicity of feeling to be approached 268

g 8. The child instinct respecting space 265

§ 4. Continued in after life 265

§ 6. Whereto this instinct is traceable 266

g 6. Infinity how necessary in art 267

§ 7. Conditions of its necessity 268

§ 8. And connected analogies 268

§ 9. How the dignity of treatment is proportioned to the expression of infinity 269

§ 10. Examples among the Southern schools 270

§ 1 1. Among the Venetians 271

§ 12. Among the painters of landscape 271

g 13. Other modes in which the power of infinity is felt 272

g 14. The beauty of curvature 273

g 15. How constant in external nature 273

gl6. The beauty of gradation 274

g 17. How found in Nature 274

g 18. How necessary in Art 275

g 19. Infinity not rightly implied by vastness 276