DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9188#0063
The Lamps of Greek Art
47
from nature, however offensive to decency, however repugnant
to humanity. The whole artistic inheritance of the race from
the day when men began to climb out of barbarism is liable
to be thrown away by an age which has unbounded confidence
in its own wisdom.
I should, however, be sorry to stop at this point, for I might
leave on readers the impression that I am in favour of the
mere imitation of works of Greek art. That is by no means
my view. In the last century several sculptors, overpowered
by the charm of the antique, produced statues which closely
followed ancient patterns, such as the Hope and the Hebe of
Thorwaldsen, some of the statues of Rauch and Schadow, and
the tinted Venus of Gibson. Such works were necessarily
stillborn ; they had not in them any breath of the life of a new
age, any attempt to conform to changed conditions. Very
different was the following of the antique by Michelangelo.
He admired with enthusiasm such works of the Greek chisel
as he knew ; but he produced not dull and academic reflections
of them, but works of the most splendid originality and the
greatest charm. He imbibed not the letter but the spirit of
Greek art ; and even succeeded better than most artists in
combining that spirit with a breath of Christianity.
The parallel which I have drawn may be carried farther.
A reversion to the letter of the New Testament writers has
been often attempted by considerable religious leaders of our
time, especially Tolstoi and the Quakers. They have gone back
to the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount, and tried
literally to abide by them. But it has become apparent to
all but fanatics that such procedure would be fatal to civil
government and civilized life. It is the spirit not the letter
of the teaching of Jesus which is life-giving. In just the same
way an acceptance of the mere externals of Greek art would
not help us at all; but a revival of its spirit would be a great
inspiration to modern artists. The lamps of Greek art will
47
from nature, however offensive to decency, however repugnant
to humanity. The whole artistic inheritance of the race from
the day when men began to climb out of barbarism is liable
to be thrown away by an age which has unbounded confidence
in its own wisdom.
I should, however, be sorry to stop at this point, for I might
leave on readers the impression that I am in favour of the
mere imitation of works of Greek art. That is by no means
my view. In the last century several sculptors, overpowered
by the charm of the antique, produced statues which closely
followed ancient patterns, such as the Hope and the Hebe of
Thorwaldsen, some of the statues of Rauch and Schadow, and
the tinted Venus of Gibson. Such works were necessarily
stillborn ; they had not in them any breath of the life of a new
age, any attempt to conform to changed conditions. Very
different was the following of the antique by Michelangelo.
He admired with enthusiasm such works of the Greek chisel
as he knew ; but he produced not dull and academic reflections
of them, but works of the most splendid originality and the
greatest charm. He imbibed not the letter but the spirit of
Greek art ; and even succeeded better than most artists in
combining that spirit with a breath of Christianity.
The parallel which I have drawn may be carried farther.
A reversion to the letter of the New Testament writers has
been often attempted by considerable religious leaders of our
time, especially Tolstoi and the Quakers. They have gone back
to the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount, and tried
literally to abide by them. But it has become apparent to
all but fanatics that such procedure would be fatal to civil
government and civilized life. It is the spirit not the letter
of the teaching of Jesus which is life-giving. In just the same
way an acceptance of the mere externals of Greek art would
not help us at all; but a revival of its spirit would be a great
inspiration to modern artists. The lamps of Greek art will