The Two Paths | Page 7

Review
for yourselves the history of art, and you will find this to be a manifest
certainty, that no great school ever yet existed which had not for primal
aim the representation of some natural fact as truly as possible. There
have only yet appeared in the world three schools of perfect
art--schools, that is to say, that did their work as well as it seems
possible to do it. These are the Athenian, [Footnote: See below, the
farther notice of the real spirit of Greek work, in the address at
Bradford.] Florentine, and Venetian. The Athenian proposed to itself
the perfect representation of the form of the human body. It strove to do
that as well as it could; it did that as well as it can be done; and all its
greatness was founded upon and involved in that single and honest
effort. The Florentine school proposed to itself the perfect expression of
human emotion--the showing of the effects of passion in the human
face and gesture. I call this the Florentine school, because, whether you
take Raphael for the culminating master of expressional art in Italy, or

Leonardo, or Michael Angelo, you will find that the whole energy of
the national effort which produced those masters had its root in
Florence; not at Urbino or Milan. I say, then, this Florentine or leading
Italian school proposed to itself human expression for its aim in natural
truth; it strove to do that as well as it could--did it as well as it can be
done--and all its greatness is rooted in that single and honest effort.
Thirdly, the Venetian school propose the representation of the effect of
colour and shade on all things; chiefly on the human form. It tried to do
that as well as it could--did it as well as it can be done--and all its
greatness is founded on that single and honest effort.
Pray, do not leave this room without a perfectly clear holding of these
three ideas. You may try them, and toss them about afterwards, as
much as you like, to see if they'll bear shaking; but do let me put them
well and plainly into your possession. Attach them to three works of art
which you all have either seen or continually heard of. There's the
(so-called) "Theseus" of the Elgin marbles. That represents the whole
end and aim of the Athenian school--the natural form of the human
body. All their conventional architecture--their graceful shaping and
painting of pottery--whatsoever other art they practised--was dependent
for its greatness on this sheet-anchor of central aim: true shape of living
man. Then take, for your type of the Italian school, Raphael's "Disputa
del Sacramento;" that will be an accepted type by everybody, and will
involve no possibly questionable points: the Germans will admit it; the
English academicians will admit it; and the English purists and
pre-Raphaelites will admit it. Well, there you have the truth of human
expression proposed as an aim. That is the way people look when they
feel this or that--when they have this or that other mental character: are
they devotional, thoughtful, affectionate, indignant, or inspired? are
they prophets, saints, priests, or kings? then--whatsoever is truly
thoughtful, affectionate, prophetic, priestly, kingly--that the Florentine
school tried to discern, and show; that they have discerned and shown;
and all their greatness is first fastened in their aim at this central
truth--the open expression of the living human soul. Lastly, take
Veronese's "Marriage in Cana" in the Louvre. There you have the most
perfect representation possible of colour, and light, and shade, as they
affect the external aspect of the human form, and its immediate
accessories, architecture, furniture, and dress. This external aspect of

noblest nature was the first aim of the Venetians, and all their greatness
depended on their resolution to achieve, and their patience in achieving
it.
Here, then, are the three greatest schools of the former world
exemplified for you in three well-known works. The Phidian "Theseus"
represents the Greek school pursuing truth of form; the "Disputa" of
Raphael, the Florentine school pursuing truth of mental expression; the
"Marriage in Cana," the Venetian school pursuing truth of colour and
light. But do not suppose that the law which I am stating to you--the
great law of art-life--can only be seen in these, the most powerful of all
art schools. It is just as manifest in each and every school that ever has
had life in it at all. Wheresoever the search after truth begins, there life
begins; wheresoever that search ceases, there life ceases. As long as a
school of art holds any chain of natural facts, trying to discover more of
them and express them better daily, it may play hither and thither as it
likes on this side of the