The life and writings of Henry Fuseli Volume II Part 6

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[72] The name of Agasias, the scholar or son of Dositheos, the Ephesian, occurs not in ancient record; and whether he be the Egesias of Quintilian or of Pliny, or these the same, cannot be ascertained; though the style of sculpture and the form of the letters in the inscription are not much at variance with the character which the former gives to the age and style of Calon and Egesias; "Signa--duriora et Tuscanicis proxima." The impropriety of calling this figure a gladiator has been shown by Winkelmann, and on his remark, that it probably exhibits the att.i.tude of a soldier, who signalized himself in some moment of danger, Lessing has founded a conjecture, that it is the figure of Chabrias, from the following pa.s.sage of Corn. Nepos: "Elucet maxime inventum ejus in prlio, quod apud Thebas fecit, c.u.m Boetiis subsidio venisset. Namque in eo victoriae fidente summo duce Agesilao, fugatis jam ab eo conduct.i.tiis catervis, reliquam phalangem loco vetuit cedere; obnixoque genu scuto, projectaque hasta, impetum excipere hostium docuit. Id novum Agesilaus intuens, progredi non est ausus, suosque jam incurrentes tuba revocavit. Hoc usque eo in Graecia fama celebratum est, ut illo statu Chabrias sibi statuam fieri voluerit, quae publice ei ab Atheniensibus in foro const.i.tuta est. Ex quo factum est, ut postea athletae, _caeterique artifices_ his statibus in statutis ponendis uterentur, in quibus victoriam essent adepti?"

On this pa.s.sage, simple and unperplexed, if we except the words "caeterique artifices," where something is evidently dropped or changed, there can, I trust, be but one opinion--that the manuvre of Chabrias was defensive, and consisted in giving the phalanx a stationary, and at the same time impenetrable posture, to check the progress of the enemy; a repulse, not a victory was obtained; the Thebans were content to maintain their ground, and not a word is said by the historian, of a pursuit, when Agesilaus, startled at the contrivance, called off his troops: but the warrior of Agasias rushes forward in an a.s.sailing att.i.tude, whilst with his head and s.h.i.+eld turned upwards he seems to guard himself from some attack above him. Lessing, aware of this, to make the pa.s.sage square with his conjecture, is reduced to a change of punctuation, and accordingly transposes the decisive comma after "scuto," to "genu," and reads "obnixo genu, scuto projectaque hasta,--docuit." This alone might warrant us to dismiss his conjecture as less solid than daring and acute.

The statue erected to Chabrias in the Athenian forum was probably of bra.s.s, for "statua" and "statuarius," in Pliny at least, will, I believe, always be found relative to figures and artists in metal; such were those which at an early period the Athenians dedicated to Harmodios and Aristogiton: from them the custom spread in every direction, and iconic figures in metal, began, says Pliny, to be the ornaments of every munic.i.p.al forum.

From another pa.s.sage in Nepos, I was once willing to find in our figure an Alcibiades in Phrygia, rus.h.i.+ng from the flames of the cottage fired to destroy him, and guarding himself against the javelins and arrows which the gang of Sysamithres and Bagoas showered on him at a distance.

"Ille," says the historian, "sonitu flammae excitatus, quod gladius ei erat subductus, familiaris sui subalare telum eripuit et--flammae vim transit. Quem, ut Barbari incendium effugisse viderunt, telis eminus missis, interfecerunt. Sic Alcibiades annos circiter quadraginta natus, diem obiit supremum."

Such is the age of our figure, and it is to be noticed that the right arm and hand, now armed with a lance, are modern; if it be objected, that the figure is iconic, and that the head of Alcibiades, cut off after his death, was carried to Pharnabazus, and his body burned by his mistress; it might be observed in reply, that busts and figures of Alcibiades must have been frequent in Greece, and that the expression found its source in the mind of Agasias. On this conjecture, however, I shall not insist: let us only observe that the character, forms and att.i.tude, might be turned to better use than what Poussin made of it. It might form an admirable Ulysses bestriding the deck of his s.h.i.+p to defend his companions from the descending fangs of Scylla, or rather, with indignation and anguish, seeing them already s.n.a.t.c.hed up and writhing in the mysterious gripe:

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Odyss. M. 238. seq.

[73] Sebbene il divino Michel Agnolo fece la gran Cappella di Papa Julio, dappoi non arriv a questo segno mai alla meta, la sua virtu non aggiunse mai alla forza di quei primi studi. Vita di Benvenuto Cellini, p. 13.--Vasari, as appears from his own account, never himself saw the cartoon: he talks of an "infinity of combatants on horseback,"[74] of which there neither remains nor ever can have existed a trace, if the picture at Holkham be the work of Bastiano da St. Gallo. This he saw, for it was painted, at his own desire, by that master, from his small cartoon in 1542, and by means of Monsignor Jovio transmitted to Francis I. who highly esteemed it; from his collection it however disappeared, and no mention is made of it by the French writers for near two centuries. It was probably discovered at Paris, bought and carried to England by the late Lord Leicester. That Vasari, on inspecting the copy, should not have corrected the confused account he gives of the cartoon from hearsay, can be wondered at only by those who are unacquainted with his character as a writer. One solitary horse and a drummer on the imaginary background of the groups engraved by Agostino Venetiano, are all the cavalry remaining of Vasari's squadrons, and can as little belong to Michel Agnolo as the spot on which they are placed.

[74] The following are his own words: "Si vedeva dalle divine mani di Michelagnolo chi affrettare lo armarsi per dare ajuto a'compagni, altri affibbiarsi la corazza, e molti metter altre armi indosso, ed infiniti combattendo a cavallo cominciare la zuffa."

Vasari, Vita di M. A. B. p. 183. ed. Bottari.

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[76] Much has been said of the loss we have suffered in the marginal drawings which Michael Angelo drew in his Dante. Invention may have suffered in being deprived of them; they can, however, have been little more than hints of a size too minute to admit of much discrimination.

The true terrors of Dante depend as much upon the medium in which he shows, or gives us a glimpse of his figures, as on their form. The characteristic outlines of his fiends, Michael Angelo personified in the daemons of the Last Judgment, and invigorated the undisguised appet.i.te, ferocity or craft of the brute, by traits of human malignity, cruelty, or l.u.s.t. The Minos of Dante, in Messer Biagio da Cesena, and his Charon, have been recognized by all; but less the s.h.i.+vering wretch held over the barge by a hook, and evidently taken from the following pa.s.sage in the xxiid of the Inferno:--

Et Graffiacan, che gli era piu di contra Gli arroncigli l'impegolate chiome; E tra.s.se 'l su, che mi parve una lontra.

None has noticed as imitations of Dante in the xxivth book, the astonis.h.i.+ng groups in the Lunetta of the brazen serpent; none the various hints from the Inferno and Purgatorio scattered over the att.i.tudes and expressions of the figures rising from their graves. In the Lunetta of Haman, we owe the sublime conception of his figure to the subsequent pa.s.sage in the xviith c. of Purgatory:

Poi piobbe dentro al' alta phantasia Un Crucifisso, dispettoso e fiero Nella sua vista, e lo qual si moria.

The ba.s.so-relievo on the border of the second rock, in Purgatory, furnished the idea of the Annunziata, painted by Marcello Venusti from his design, in the sacristy of St. Giov. Lateran, by order of Tommaso de' Cavalieri, the select friend and favourite of Michael Angelo.

We are told that Michael Angelo represented the Ugolino of Dante, inclosed in the tower of Pisa: if he did, his own work is lost; but if, as some suppose, the ba.s.so-relievo of that subject by Pierino da Vinci be taken from his idea, notwithstanding the greater lat.i.tude, which the sculptor might claim, in divesting the figures of drapery and costume; he appears to me to have erred in the means employed to rouse our sympathy. A sullen but muscular character, with groups of muscular bodies and forms of strength, about him, with the allegoric figure of the Arno at their feet, and that of famine hovering over their heads, are not the fierce Gothic chief, deprived of revenge, brooding over despair in the stony cage; are not the exhausted agonies of a father, petrified by the helpless groans of an expiring family, offering their own bodies for his food, to prolong his life.

[77] Dixeris egregie, notum si callida verb.u.m Reddiderit junctura novum.----

Q. Horat. Flacci de A. P. v. 47.

[78] Matt. xvii. 5, 6. See Fiorillo, geschichte, &c. 104. seq.

[79] The vision on Tabor, as represented here, is the most characteristic produced by modern art. Whether we consider the action of the apostles overpowered by the divine effulgence, and divided between adoration and astonishment, or the forms of the prophets ascending like flame, and attracted by the lucid centre, or the majesty of Jesus himself, whose countenance is the only one we know expressive of his superhuman nature. That the unison of such powers should not, for once, have disarmed the burlesque of the French critic, rouses equal surprise and indignation.

FOURTH LECTURE.

INVENTION.

PART II.

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ARGUMENT.

Choice of subjects; divided into positive, negative, repulsive.--Observations on the Parerga, or Accessories of Invention.

FOURTH LECTURE.

The imitation of Nature, as it presents itself in s.p.a.ce and figure, being the real sphere of plastic Invention, it follows, that whatever can occupy a place and be circ.u.mscribed by lines, characterised by form, substantiated by colour and light and shade, without provoking incredulity, shocking our conception by absurdity, averting our eye by loathsomeness or horror, is strictly within its province: but though all Nature seem to teem with objects of imitation, the "Choice" of subjects is a point of great importance to the Artist; the conception, the progress, the finish, and the success of his work depend upon it. An apt and advantageous subject rouses and elevates Invention, invigorates, promotes, and adds delight to labour; whilst a dull or repulsive one breeds obstacles at every step, dejects and wearies--the Artist loses his labour, the spectator his expectation.

The first demand on every work of art is that it const.i.tute one whole, that it fully p.r.o.nounce its own meaning, that it tell itself; it ought to be independent; the essential part of its subject ought to be comprehended and understood without collateral a.s.sistance, without borrowing its commentary from the historian or the poet; for as we are soon wearied with a poem whose fable and motives reach us only by the borrowed light of annexed notes, so we turn our eye discontented from a picture or a statue whose meaning depends on the charity of a Cicerone, or must be fetched from a book.

As the condition that each work of art should fully and essentially tell its own tale, undoubtedly narrows the quant.i.ty of admissible objects, singly taken, to remedy this, to enlarge the range of subjects, Invention has contrived by a Cyclus or series to tell the most important moments of a long story, its beginning, its middle, and its end: for though some of these may not, in themselves, admit of distinct discrimination, they may receive and impart light by connection.

Of him who undertakes thus to personify a tale, the first demand is, that his Invention dwell on the firm basis of the story, on its most important and significant moments, or its princ.i.p.al actors. Next, as the nature of the art which is confined to the apparition of single moments forces him to leap many intermediate ones, he cannot be said to have invented with propriety, if he neglect imperceptibly to fill the chasm occasioned by their omission; and, finally, that he shall not interrupt or lose the leading thread of his plan in quest of episodes, in the display of subordinate or advent.i.tious beauties. On the observation of these rules depends the perspicuity of his work, the interest we take in it, and, consequently, all that can be gained by the adoption of a historic series.

When form, colour, with conception and execution, are deducted from a work, its subject, the unwrought stuff only, the naked materials remain, and these we divide into three cla.s.ses.

The first are positive, advantageous, commensurate with and adapted for the art. The whole of the work lies prepared in their germ, and spontaneously meets the rearing hand of the Artist.

The second cla.s.s, composed of subjects negative and uninteresting in themselves, depends entirely on the manner of treating; such subjects owe what they can be to the genius of the Artist.

The repulsive, the subjects which cannot p.r.o.nounce their own meaning, const.i.tute the third cla.s.s. On them genius and talent are equally wasted, because the heart has no medium to render them intelligible.

Taste and execution may recommend them to our eye, but never can make them generally impressive, or stamp them with perspicuity.

To begin with advantageous subjects, immediately above the scenes of vulgar life, of animals, and common landscape, the simple representation of actions purely human, appears to be as nearly related to the art as to ourselves; their effect is immediate; they want no explanation; from them, therefore, we begin our scale. The next step leads us to pure historic subjects, singly or in a series; beyond these the delineation of character, or, properly speaking, the drama, invites; immediately above this we place the epic with its mythologic, allegoric, and symbolic branches.

On these four branches of Invention, as I have treated diffusely in the lecture published on this subject, and since successively in these prelections, I shall not at present circ.u.mstantially dwell, but as succinctly as possible remind you only of their specific difference and elements.

The first cla.s.s, which, without much boldness of metaphor, may be said to draw its substance immediately from the lap of Nature, to be as elemental as her emotions, and the pa.s.sions by which she sways us, finds its echo in all hearts, and imparts its charm to every eye; from the mutual caresses of maternal affection and infant simplicity, the whispers of love or eruptions of jealousy and revenge, to the terrors of life, struggling with danger, or grappling with death. The Madonnas of Raphael; the Ugolino, the Paolo and Frances of Dante; the Conflagration of the Borgo; the Niobe protecting her daughter; Haemon piercing his own breast, with Antigone hanging dead from his arm,[80] owe the sympathies they call forth to their a.s.similating power, and not to the names they bear: without names, without reference to time and place, they would impress with equal energy, because they find their counterpart in every breast, and speak the language of mankind. Such were the Phantasiae of the ancients, which modern art, by indiscriminate laxity of application, in what is called Fancy-Pictures, has more debased than imitated. A mother's and a lover's kiss acquire their value from the lips they press, and suffering deformity mingles disgust with pity.