DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1183#0056
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 39
works are addressed to the feelings of all classes, or, as Lord Bacon says,
u come home to the business and bosoms of most men." The inventions
of Michael Angelo, on the other hand, elevate the feelings only of the
learned, while they appear extravagant and overcharged to the generality
of mankind; notwithstanding which, this is the spirit which ought to
influence the taste and genius of other artists, and which made Raffaelle
exclaim, that * he thanked God that he was born in the same age with
that great man19!" We need not go further than refer to his great work
are not so much disjoined from our own diminutive race of beings, though his ideas are chaste,
noble, and of great conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo's works have a strong, peculiar,
and marked character ; they seem to proceed from his own mind entirely, and that mind so rich
and abundant, that he never needed, or seemed to disdain to look about for foreign help. Raffaelle's
materials are generally borrowed, though the noble structure is his own. The excellency of this
extraordinary man lay in the propriety, beauty, and majesty of his characters, the judicious
contrivance of his composition, his correctness of drawing, purity of taste, and skilful accommo-
dation of other men's conceptions to his own purpose. Nobody excelled him in that judgement
with which he united to his own observations on nature the energy of Michael Angelo, and the
beauty and simplicity of the antique. To the question, therefore, ' Which ought to hold the first
rank, Raffaelle or Michael Angelo ?' it must be answered, that if it is to be given to him who
possessed a greater combination of the higher qualities of the art than any other man, there is no
doubt but Raffaelle is the first. But if, as Longinus thinks, the sublime, being the highest
excellence that human composition can attain to, abundantly compensates the absence of every
other beauty, and atones for all other deficiencies, then Michael Angelo demands the preference."
—Fifth Discourse.
19 " From time to time there arise upon the earth men who seem formed to become the centre
of an intellectual system of their own; they are invested, like the prophet of old, with a heavenly
mantle, and speak with the voice of inspiration. Those that appear after them are but attendants
in their train, seem born only to revolve about them, wanned by their heat and shining by their
reflected glory. Their works derive not their strength from momentary passions or local associa-
tions, but speak to feelings common to mankind, and reach the innermost movements of the soul,
and hence it is that they have an immortal spirit, which carries them safe through the wreck of
empires and the changes of opinion. Works like these are formed by no rule, but become a
model and rule to other men. Few, however, among us are permitted to show this high excellence.
Ordinary minds must be content to learn by rule, and every good system must have reference to
the many and not to the few."—Professor Sedgwick's Discourse on the Studies of the
University. ~
works are addressed to the feelings of all classes, or, as Lord Bacon says,
u come home to the business and bosoms of most men." The inventions
of Michael Angelo, on the other hand, elevate the feelings only of the
learned, while they appear extravagant and overcharged to the generality
of mankind; notwithstanding which, this is the spirit which ought to
influence the taste and genius of other artists, and which made Raffaelle
exclaim, that * he thanked God that he was born in the same age with
that great man19!" We need not go further than refer to his great work
are not so much disjoined from our own diminutive race of beings, though his ideas are chaste,
noble, and of great conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo's works have a strong, peculiar,
and marked character ; they seem to proceed from his own mind entirely, and that mind so rich
and abundant, that he never needed, or seemed to disdain to look about for foreign help. Raffaelle's
materials are generally borrowed, though the noble structure is his own. The excellency of this
extraordinary man lay in the propriety, beauty, and majesty of his characters, the judicious
contrivance of his composition, his correctness of drawing, purity of taste, and skilful accommo-
dation of other men's conceptions to his own purpose. Nobody excelled him in that judgement
with which he united to his own observations on nature the energy of Michael Angelo, and the
beauty and simplicity of the antique. To the question, therefore, ' Which ought to hold the first
rank, Raffaelle or Michael Angelo ?' it must be answered, that if it is to be given to him who
possessed a greater combination of the higher qualities of the art than any other man, there is no
doubt but Raffaelle is the first. But if, as Longinus thinks, the sublime, being the highest
excellence that human composition can attain to, abundantly compensates the absence of every
other beauty, and atones for all other deficiencies, then Michael Angelo demands the preference."
—Fifth Discourse.
19 " From time to time there arise upon the earth men who seem formed to become the centre
of an intellectual system of their own; they are invested, like the prophet of old, with a heavenly
mantle, and speak with the voice of inspiration. Those that appear after them are but attendants
in their train, seem born only to revolve about them, wanned by their heat and shining by their
reflected glory. Their works derive not their strength from momentary passions or local associa-
tions, but speak to feelings common to mankind, and reach the innermost movements of the soul,
and hence it is that they have an immortal spirit, which carries them safe through the wreck of
empires and the changes of opinion. Works like these are formed by no rule, but become a
model and rule to other men. Few, however, among us are permitted to show this high excellence.
Ordinary minds must be content to learn by rule, and every good system must have reference to
the many and not to the few."—Professor Sedgwick's Discourse on the Studies of the
University. ~