Lectures on the true, the beautiful, and the good

Front matter

Class jUlJl _

Book 'VZlL^

LECTURES

Contents

Author's Preface Page vii

Translator's Preface xv

Discourse Pronounced at the Opening of the Course. — Philo-

Part Second.— The Beautiful

Lecture VI. — The Beautiful in the Mind of Man . . . .133

The method that must govern researches on the beautiful and art is, as in the investigation of the true, to commence by psychology. Faculties of the soul that unite in the perception of the beautiful. — The senses give only the agreeable ; reason alone gives the idea of the beautiful. — Refutation of empiricism, that confounds the agreeable and the beautiful. — Pre-eminence of reason. — Sentiment of the beautiful; different from sensation and desire. — Distinction between the sentiment of the beautiful and that of the sublime. — Imagination. — Influence of sentiment on imagination. — Influence of imagination on sentiment. —Theory of taste.

Lecture VII. — The Beautiful in Objects 154

Refutation of different theories on the nature of the beautiful : the beauti' ful cannot be reduced to what is useful. — Nor to convenience. — Nor to proportion. — Essential characters of the beautiful. — Different kinds of

CONTENTS. XXI

beauties. The beautiful and the sublime. Physical beauty. Intellectual beauty. Moral beauty. — Ideal beauty : it is especially moral beauty. — God, the first principle of the beautiful. — Theor- of Plato.

Lecture VIII. — On Art Page 170

Genius : — its attribute is creative power. — Refutation of the opinion that art is the imitation of nature. — M. Emeric David, and M. Quatremere de Quincy. — Refutation of the theory of illusion. That dramatic art has not solely for its end to excite the passions of terror and pity. — Nor even directly the moral and religious sentiment. — The proper and direct object of art is to produce the idea and the sentiment of the beautiful ; this idea and this sentiment purify and elevate the soul by the affinity between the beautiful and the good, and by the relation of ideal beauty to its principle, which is God. — True mission of art.

Lecture TX. — The Different Arts 184

Expression is the general law of art. — Division of arts. — Distinction between liberal arts and trades. — Eloquence itself, philosophy, and history do not make a part of the fine arts. — That the arts gain nothing by encroaching upon each other, and usurping each other's means and processes. — Classification of the arts : — its true principle is expression. — Comparison of arts with each other. — Poetry the first of arts.

Lecture X. — French Art in the Seventeenth Century . . . 200

Expression not only serves to appreciate the different arts, but the different schools of art. Example : — French art in the seventeenth century. French poetry : — Corneille. Racine. Moliere. La Fontaine. Boileau. — Painting : — Lesueur. Poussin. Le Lorrain. Champagne. — Engraving. — Sculpture : — Sarrazin. The Anguiers. Girardon. Pujet. — Le Notre. — Architecture.