DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73059#0017
CHAPTER XXIX.
Collecting Prints as a Hobby, and as a
Profitable Hobby.
A?BDI^G
11 at least to his life.
But to attain this felicitous result it needs that he should be in love with the thing he
pursues, and not merely with the pursuit. Coventry Patmore tells us that the lover is
not happy whose pleasure is " not in the lady, but the chase ;" and so with a hobby.
The art, and not merely the art-collecting, or the " taste," must be cared for.
a hobby is the best exercise in the world. The man who
has a passion is a boy in spirits, and thereby adds ten years
"Some demon whispered, ' Visto, have a taste,'"
and Pope tells us how dismal were the ultimate results to Visto. The true hobby is a
sincere, spontaneous, and unmistakable thing. It may often take strange forms—for
the collecting instinct in mankind is as strong as it is various ; but undoubtedly, the higher
and more really beautiful are the objects in view, the more rational and lasting will be the
collector's delight in his possessions. It is of course possible to have a keen passion for
very absurd things, to nourish a sincere mania for china dogs, or for fiddles, or for cocked
hats ; but in these cases the collector can hardly enjoy much of that sympathy and emu-
lation which give zest to his pursuit in less eccentric cases. Now, in art there is no
question of personal caprice, the value of art treasures being absolute, not arbitrary; and
undoubtedly the pleasure of the dilettante is higher for that reason. He has the satis-
faction of knowing that he is not indulging in a mere phantasy. It must be pleasanter
to study the points of a good picture than to gloat over an unique postage stamp.
It is scarcely necessary to say that art collecting must perforce mean generally the
collecting of objects of reproductive art. To collect pictures must always be the luxury of
I the
VOL. II.
B
Collecting Prints as a Hobby, and as a
Profitable Hobby.
A?BDI^G
11 at least to his life.
But to attain this felicitous result it needs that he should be in love with the thing he
pursues, and not merely with the pursuit. Coventry Patmore tells us that the lover is
not happy whose pleasure is " not in the lady, but the chase ;" and so with a hobby.
The art, and not merely the art-collecting, or the " taste," must be cared for.
a hobby is the best exercise in the world. The man who
has a passion is a boy in spirits, and thereby adds ten years
"Some demon whispered, ' Visto, have a taste,'"
and Pope tells us how dismal were the ultimate results to Visto. The true hobby is a
sincere, spontaneous, and unmistakable thing. It may often take strange forms—for
the collecting instinct in mankind is as strong as it is various ; but undoubtedly, the higher
and more really beautiful are the objects in view, the more rational and lasting will be the
collector's delight in his possessions. It is of course possible to have a keen passion for
very absurd things, to nourish a sincere mania for china dogs, or for fiddles, or for cocked
hats ; but in these cases the collector can hardly enjoy much of that sympathy and emu-
lation which give zest to his pursuit in less eccentric cases. Now, in art there is no
question of personal caprice, the value of art treasures being absolute, not arbitrary; and
undoubtedly the pleasure of the dilettante is higher for that reason. He has the satis-
faction of knowing that he is not indulging in a mere phantasy. It must be pleasanter
to study the points of a good picture than to gloat over an unique postage stamp.
It is scarcely necessary to say that art collecting must perforce mean generally the
collecting of objects of reproductive art. To collect pictures must always be the luxury of
I the
VOL. II.
B