Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typ...os. Excerpt from book: SCULPTURE " Fkom a shapeless block of marble," says M. Guizot, " a Sculptor?possibly Scopas?brings into being that divine Apollo, whose beauty surpasses the beauty of any living thing. Thus, at the call of a man has a god come forth from a stone." Beautiful Art Keeping in view its masterpieces, let us endeavour to note a few of its principles. And first let it be said, that of all the Fine Arts Sculpture is the one most distinguished by Simplicity. Unlike Painting, it deals with Form alone,?unlike Music, it is perceived all at once. There are no accessories of scene, and but little plurality of figures. There stands the statue, a simple human figure, carved out of cold lustrous marble,?if nude, so much the better, with nothing but its colourless self to tell its story, and move the soul of the beholder with the emotion of the Beautiful What more requisite, then, thau that this art, so chained to simplicity, should of all others be the most fastidious ? It has little to work with ; therefore?is it not evident??that little should be first rate. It has no incidents to move us, like Painting,?no brilliant vicissitudes to charm with, like Music,?no associations of princely splendour to impress us, like Architecture. It has but one power?the power of pure simple Form, with which to dazzle and charm the human Sl.u ; and therefore it is pure Beauty of Form that it should seek after,?beauty of the highest kind, and beauty alone. All else must be subordinatd to this. No discord is allowable in Sculpture. It is expanded compositions (works covering much space or time) that demand such departures from normal beauty ; but a statue is a simple unit, which neither needs nor admits of relief, and which must be made thoroughly perfect in itself. Its beauty, therefore, must be symmetrical?...Detailed info »« Brief info