O Society for Encouragement of Art! O King & Nobility of England! Where have you hid Fuseli’s Milton? Is Satan troubled at his Exposure?
To learn the Language of Art, “Copy for Ever” is My Rule.
The Bible says That Cultivated Life Existed First. Uncultivated Life comes afterwards from Satan’s Hirelings. Necessaries, Accomodations & Ornaments are the whole of Life. Satan took away Ornament First. Next he took away Accomodations, & Then he became Lord & Master of Necessaries.
Liberality! we want not Liberality. We want a Fair Price & Proportionate Value & a General Demand for Art.
Let not that Nation where Less than Nobility is the Reward, Pretend that Art is Encouraged by that Nation. Art is First in Intellectuals & Ought to be First in Nations.
Invention depends Altogether upon Execution or Organization; as that is right or wrong so is the Invention perfect or imperfect. Whoever is set to Undermine the Execution of Art is set to destroy Art. Michael Angelo’s Art depends on Michael Angelo’s Execution Altogether.
Men who have been Educated with Works of Venetian Artists under their Eyes cannot see Rafael unless they are born with Determinate Organs.
I am happy I cannot say that Rafael Ever was, from my Earliest Childhood, hidden from Me. I Saw & I Knew immediately the difference between Rafael & Rubens.
Some look to see the sweet Outlines
And beauteous Forms that Love does wear.
Some look to find out Patches, Paint,
Bracelets & Stays & Powder’d Hair.
A Lie! The Florid Style, such as the Venetian & the Flemish, Never Struck Me at Once nor At-All.
The Style that Strikes the Eye is the True Style, But A Fool’s Eye is Not to be a Criterion.
If he means that Copying Correctly is a hindrance, he is a Liar, for that is the only School to the Language of Art.
The Contradictions in Reynolds’s Discourses are Strong Presumptions that they are the Work of Several Hands, But this is no Proof that Reynolds did not Write them. The Man, Either Painter or Philosopher, who Learns or Acquires all he knows from Others, Must be full of Contradictions.
I was once looking over the Prints from Rafael & Michael Angelo in the Library of the Royal Academy. Moser came to me & said: “You should not Study these old Hard, Stiff & Dry, Unfinish’d Works of Art—Stay a little & I will shew you what you should Study.” He then went & took down Le Brun’s & Rubens’s Galleries. How I did secretly Rage! I also spoke my Mind....
I said to Moser, “These things that you call Finish’d are not Even Begun; how can they then be Finish’d? The Man who does not know The Beginning never can know the End of Art.”
A Lie! Working up Effect is more an operation of Indolence than the Making out of the Parts, as far as Greatest is more than Least. I speak here of Rembrandt’s & Rubens’s & Reynolds’s Effects. For Real Effect is Making out the Parts, & it is Nothing Else but That.
If Reynolds had Really admired Mich. Angelo, he never would have follow’d Rubens.
Such Men as Goldsmith ought not to have been Acquainted with such Men as Reynolds.
To Generalize is to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit. General Knowledges are those Knowledges that Idiots possess.
The Man who does not Labour more than the Hireling must be a poor Devil.
[To a footnote giving a quotation from Pope appropriate to “the ferocious and enslaved Republick of France”, ending with the lines:]
They led their wild desires to woods and caves
And thought that all but savages were slaves
When France got free, Europe, ‘twixt Fool & Knaves,
Were Savage first to France, & after—Slaves.
This Whole Book was Written to Serve Political Purposes.
When Sr Joshua Reynolds died
All Nature was degraded;
The King drop’d a tear into the Queen’s Ear
And all his Pictures Faded.
I consider Reynolds’s Discourses to the Royal Academy as the Simulations of the Hypocrite who smiles particularly where he means to Betray. His Praise of Rafael is like the Hysteric Smile of Revenge. His Softness & Candour, the hidden trap & the poisoned feast. He praises Michel Angelo for Qualities which Michel Angelo abhorr’d, & He blames Rafael for the only Qualities which Rafael Valued. Whether Reynolds knew what he was doing is nothing to me: the Mischief is just the same whether a Man does it Ignorantly or Knowingly. I always consider’d True Art & True Artists to be particularly Insulted & Degraded by the Reputation of these Discourses, As much as they were Degraded by the Reputation of Reynolds’s Paintings, & that Such Artists as Reynolds are at all times Hired by the Satans for the Depression of Art—A Pretence of Art, To destroy Art.
The Neglect of Fuseli’s Milton in a Country pretending to the Encouragement of Art is a Sufficient Apology for My Vigorous Indignation, if indeed the Neglect of My own Powers had not been. Ought not the Employers of Fools to be Execrated in future Ages? They Will and Shall! Foolish Men, your own real Greatness depends on your Encouragement of the Arts, & your Fall will depend on their Neglect & Depression. What you Fear is your true Interest. Leo X was advised not to Encourage the Arts; he was too Wise to take this Advice.
The Rich Men of England form themselves into a Society to Sell & Not to Buy Pictures. The Artist who does not throw his Contempt on such Trading Exhibitions, does not know either his own Interest or his Duty.
When Nations grow Old, The Arts grow Cold
And Commerce settles on every Tree,
And the Poor & the Old can live upon Gold,
For all are Born Poor, Aged Sixty three.
Reynolds’s Opinion was that Genius May be Taught & that all Pretence to Inspiration is a Lie & a Deceit, to say the least of it. For if it is a Deceit, the whole Bible is Madness. This Opinion originates in the Greeks’ calling the Muses Daughters of Memory.
The Enquiry in England is not whether a Man has Talents & Genius, But whether he is Passive & Polite & a Virtuous Ass & obedient to Noblemen’s Opinions in Art & Science. If he is, he is a Good Man. If Not, he must be Starved.
Minute Discrimination is Not Accidental. All Sublimity is founded on Minute Discrimination.
I do not believe that Rafael taught Mich. Angelo, or that Mich. Angelo taught Rafael, any more than I believe that the Rose teaches the Lilly how to grow, or the Apple tree teaches the Pear tree how to bear Fruit. I do not believe the tales of Anecdote writers when they militate against Individual Character.
Imitation is Criticism.
Are we to understand him to mean that Facility in Composing is a Frivolous pursuit? A Facility in Composing is the Greatest Power of Art, & Belongs to None but the Greatest Artists, the Most Minutely Discriminating & Determinate.
Mechanical Excellence is the Only Vehicle of Genius.
Execution is the Chariot of Genius.
The Lives of Painters say that Rafael Died of Dissipation. Idleness is one Thing & Dissipation Another. He who has Nothing to Dissipate Cannot Dissipate; the Weak Man may be Virtuous Enough, but will Never be an Artist.
Painters are noted for being Dissipated & Wild.
The Labour’d Works of Journeymen employ’d by Correggio, Titian, Veronese & all the Venetians, ought not to be shewn to the Young Artist as the Works of original Conception any more than the Engravings of Strange, Bartolozzi, or Wollett. They are Works of Manual Labour.
After having been a Fool, a Student is to amass a Stock of Ideas, &, knowing himself to be a Fool, he is to assume the Right to put other Men’s Ideas into his Foolery.
Instead of Following One Great Master he is to follow a Great Many Fools.
Contemptible Mocks!
Reynolds Depreciates the Efforts of Inventive Genius. Trifling Conceits are better than Colouring without any meaning at all.
No one can ever Design till he has learn’d the Language of Art by making many Finish’d Copies both of Nature & Art & of whatever comes in his way from Earliest Childhood. The diffe
rence between a bad Artist & a Good One Is: the Bad Artist Seems to copy a Great deal. The Good one Really does Copy a Great deal.
Nonsense! Every Eye sees differently. As the Eye, Such the Object.
General Principles Again! Unless you Consult Particulars you Cannot even Know or See Mich. Ango. or Rafael or any Thing Else.
But as mere enthusiasm will carry you but a little way ...
Meer Enthusiasm is the All in All! Bacon’s Philosophy has Ruin’d England. Bacon is only Epicurus over again.
The Man who asserts that there is no such Thing as Softness in Art, & that every thing in Art is Definite & Determinate, has not been told this by Practise, but by Inspiration & Vision, because Vision is Determinate & Perfect, & he Copies That without Fatigue, Every thing being Definite & determinate. Softness is Produced alone by Comparative Strength & Weakness in the Marking out of the Forms. I say These Principles could never be found out by the Study of Nature with Con—, or Innate, Science.
A work of Genius is a Work “Not to be obtain’d by the Invocation of Memory & her Syren Daughters, but by Devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can enrich with all utterance & knowledge & sends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his Altar to touch & purify the lips of whom he pleases.” MILTON.
The following Discourse is particularly Interesting to Block heads, as it endeavours to prove That there is No such thing as Inspiration & that any Man of a plain Understanding may by Thieving from Others become a Mich. Angelo.
Without Minute Neatness of Execution The Sublime cannot Exist! Grandeur of Ideas is founded on Precision of Ideas.
Enthusiastic Admiration is the first Principle of Knowledge & its last. Now he begins to Degrade, to Deny & to Mock.
The Man who on Examining his own Mind finds nothing of Inspiration ought not to dare to be an Artist, & he is a Fool & a Cunning Knave suited to the Purposes of Evil Demons.
The Man who never in his Mind & Thoughts travel’d to Heaven Is No Artist.
Artists who are above a plain Understanding are Mock’d & Destroy’d by this President of Fools.
It is Evident that Reynolds Wish’d none but Fools to be in the Arts & in order to this, he calls all others Vague Enthusiasts or Madmen.
What has Reasoning to do with the Art of Painting?
Singular & Particular Detail is the Foundation of the Sublime.
Knowledge of Ideal Beauty is Not to be Acquired. It is Bom with us. Innate Ideas are in Every Man, Bom with him; they are truly Himself. The Man who says that we have No Innate Ideas must be a Fool & Knave, Having No Con-Science or Innate Science.
One Central Form composed of all other Forms being Granted, it does not therefore follow that all other Forms are Deformity.
All Forms are Perfect in the Poet’s Mind, but these are not Abstracted nor compounded from Nature, but are from Imagination.
The Great Bacon—he is Call’d: I call him the Little Bacon—says that Every thing must be done by Experiment; his first principle is Unbelief, and yet here he says that Art must be produc’d Without such Method. He is Like Sr Joshua, full of Self-Contradiction & Knavery.
What is General Nature? is there Such a Thing? what is General Knowledge? is there such a Thing? Strictly Speaking All Knowledge is Particular.
The Symmetry of Deformity is a Pretty Foolery. Can any Man who Thinks Talk so? Leanness or Fatness is not Deformity, but Reynolds thought Character Itself Extravagance & Deformity. Age & Youth are not Classes, but Properties of Each Class; so are Leanness & Fatness.
Generalizing in Every thing, the Man would soon be a Fool, but a Cunning Fool.
What does this mean, “Would have been” one of the first Painters of his Age? Albert Durer Is, Not would have been. Besides, let them look at Gothic Figures & Gothic Buildings & not talk of Dark Ages or of any Age. Ages are all Equal. But Genius is Always Above The Age.
He is for Determinate & yet for Indeterminate.
Distinct General Form Cannot Exist. Distinctness is Particular, Not General.
... Bacon’s Philosophy makes both Statesmen & Artists Fools & Knaves.
The Two Following Discourses [iv & v] are Particularly Calculated for the Setting Ignorant & Vulgar Artists as Models of Execution in Art. Let him who will, follow such advice. I will not. I know that The Man’s Execution is as his Conception & No better.
All but Names of Persons & Places is Invention both in Poetry & Painting.
Sacrifice the Parts, What becomes of the Whole?
To produce an Effect of True Light & Shadow is Necessary to the Ornamental Style, which altogether depends on Distinctness of Form. The Venetian ought not to be call’d the Ornamental Style.
The Language of Painters cannot be allow’d them if Reynolds says right at p. 97; he there says that the Venetian Will Not Correspond with the Great Style. The Greek Gems are in the Same Style as the Greek Statues.
Reynolds contradicts what he says continually. He makes little Concessions that he may take Great Advantages.
Venetian Attention is to a Contempt & Neglect of Form Itself & to the Destruction of all Form or Outline Purposely & Intentionally.
On the Venetian Painter
He makes the Lame to walk we all agree, But then he strives to blind those who can see.
Mich. Ang. knew & despised all that Titian could do.
If the Venetian’s Outline was Right, his Shadows would destroy it & deform its appearance.
A Pair of Stays to mend the Shape
Of crooked, Humpy Woman
Put on, 0 Venus! now thou art
Quite a Venetian Roman.
Titian, as well as the other Venetians, so far from Senatorial Dignity appears to me to give always the Characters of Vulgar Stupidity.
Why should Titian & The Venetians be Named in a discourse on Art? Such Idiots are not Artists.
Venetian, all thy Colouring is no more
Than Boulster’d Plasters on a Crooked Whore.
Broken Colours & Broken Lines & Broken Masses are Equally Subversive of the Sublime.
Well Said Enough!
How can that be call’d the Ornamental Style of which Gross Vulgarity forms the Principal Excellence?
A History Painter Paints The Hero, & not Man in General, but most minutely in Particular.
Of what consequence is it to the Arts what a Portrait Painter does?
There is No Such a Thing as A Composite Style.
Genius has no Error; it is Ignorance that is Error.
All Equivocation & Self-Contradiction!
Gainsborough told a Gentleman of Rank & Fortune that the Worst Painters always chose the Grandest Subjects. I desired the Gentleman to Set Gainsborough about one of Rafael’s Grandest Subjects, Namely Christ delivering the Keys to St. Peter, & he would find that in Gainsborough’s hands it would be a Vulgar Subject of Poor Fishermen & a Journeyman Carpenter.
The following Discourse is written with the same End in View that Gainsborough had in making the Above assertion, Namely To Represent Vulgar Artists as the Models of Executive Merit.
Passion & Expression is Beauty Itself. The Face that is Incapable of Passion & Expression is deformity Itself. Let it be Painted & Patch’d & Praised & Advertised for Ever, it will only be admired by Fools.
If Reynolds could not see variety of Character in Rafael, Others Can.
Reynolds cannot bear Expression.
Fresco Painting is the Most Minute. Fresco Painting is Like Miniature Painting; a Wall is a Large Ivory.
The Man who can say that Rafael knew not the smaller beauties of the Art ought to be contemn’d, & I accordingly hold Reynolds in Contempt ...
Rafael did as he Pleased. He who does not admire Rafael’s Execution does not Even see Rafael.
According to Reynolds Mich. Angelo was worse still & knew Nothing at all about Art as an object of Imitation. Can any Man be such a fool as to believe that Rafael & Michael Angelo were Incapable of the meer Language of Art & That Such Idiots as Rubens, Correggio & Titian knew how to Execute w
hat they could not Think or Invent?
Damned Fool!
The Great Style is always Novel or New in all its Operations.
Original & Characteristical are the Two Grand Merits of the Great Style.
The Portable William Blake Page 43