be aroused by the actual view of Nature.-To begin with, I would broadly state that the first requirement of a poem is that in relation to its subject it shall depict Nature, make it clear to our apprehension, and arouse such emotions within us as might be aroused by the actual view of Nature. (By Nature I mean, let it be premised, the whole sum of things, material and spiritual, visible and invisible, with which man is acquainted, including himself and his fellow-men). I would broadly say that, in my opinion, a poem is to some extent proved to have merit when it fulfils those requirements; and that in so far as it fails to fulfil those requirements it is to that extent worthless, and probably less than worthless.

6. Historic view of this subject in relation to painting and sculpture-the story of Zeuxis and Parrhasius.-In the first place, let us note what has generally been thought and accepted on this subject. Going back to the old days, take the legend in relation to painting and sculpture, of the contest between the painters Zeuxis and Parrhasius. In this competition the picture of Zeuxis represented a bunch of grapes, and the story goes that it was so naturally—that is, so realisticallypainted that, on the picture being placed in the open air, the birds flew at it and began to peck the fruit. Elated and confident of success by so flattering a proof of his merit, the artist went off to see the work of his rival, when, entering the studio and seeing what he took to be a curtain drawn over it, he called upon him to withdraw the hanging, when, behold! what he took to be a real curtain turned out to be only a painted one.1 Zeuxis had merely deceived the birds,

1 This kind of power would, I suppose, be called "deceptive imitation," and deals with truths which, according to Ruskin, "are not only few, but of the very lowest order."—' Modern

whereas Parrhasius had deceived Zeuxis. Accordingly there was nothing for it but that the palm should be yielded to Parrhasius. Now though this story must be but a fable, it seems to show that Antiquity required of artists that they should be about as graphic in their works as Nature herself. In any case, it clearly suggests that the Greeks took realistic achievement to be a high merit in works of Art.

7. Homer's view of artistic excellence. Here is Homer's view of artistic excellence. Thetis has gone to Vulcan to ask him to forge arms for her son Achilles, to replace those which had been lost by Patroclus. Arrived at the divine smithy, she finds Vulcan, who is thus attended :

66

"Beside the King of fire two golden forms

Majestic moved and served him in the place

Of handmaids; young they seemed, and seemed alive;

and so forth.1 Those golden forms were Vulcan's handiwork. They were so well designed and executed that they seemed to be alive and young. From this it would appear that, in the opinion of Homer, the divinest of art was that which "seemed alive "-that which was completely realistic. So in the account of the shield which Vulcan forged for Achilles. He thus describes one of the battle scenes depicted upon it :

66

"There discord rages; there tumult and the face
Of ruthless Destiny. She now a chief

Painters,' Vol. i. pp. 24, 26, 27, 78, 81. He actually declares that pictures which imitate to deceive are never true; that deceptive chiaroscuro is the lowest of all truths."-Ib., pp. 77-79. "Aerial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of colouring, &c., assisted by greater pitch of shadow, and requires only that objects be detached from each other by degrees of intensity in proportion to their distance."-Ib., p. 150.

1 Cowper's Homer, 'Iliad,' Bk. xviii. 667-674.

Seized, newly wounded, and now captive held
Another yet unhurt, and now a third

Dragged breathless through the battle by his feet;
And all her garb was dappled thick with blood,
Like living men they traversed and they strove ;

and so on. When the Myrmidons of Achilles beheld the shield, "a tremor shook" them; none dared look on it, but all fled." 1 In Homer's eyes the mighty worth of Vulcan's Art lay in its truth to life. He is ruled by the same convictions in his descriptions of the various scenes represented on the wondrous shield. The ploughed field, for example, appeared like "a glebe new-turned"; the oxen seemed "to low in gold." All through, in fact, it is quite obvious that Homer took the perfection of Art to lie in representing things to the life.

8. The view of Dante.-This was also Dante's view of the matter. In ascending the mountain of Purgatory he records that he

66 discovered that the bank around
Whose proud uprising all ascent denied,
Was marble white; and so exactly wrought
With quaintest sculpture, that not there alone
Had Polycletus but e'en Nature's self
Been shamed." 2

He declares that the Angel of the Annunciation which he saw sculptured in that marble rock,

Again

"before us seemed

In a sweet act so sculptured to the life,
He looked no silent image. One had sworn
He had said 'Hail'!"

"There in the self-same marble were engraved
The cart and kine drawing the sacred ark,
That from unbidden office awes mankind.
Before it came much people, and the whole
Parted in seven quires. One sense cried ‘Nay!'
Another, 'Yes, they sing.' Like doubt arose
Betwixt the eye and ear from the curled flame
Of incense breathing up the well-wrought toil."

1 'Iliad,' Bk. xix. 16-17.

2 "Purgatory," c. x. (Cary).

Once more, Virgil directs Dante's attention to the imagery worked upon the ground which they are traversing, and the following is Dante's reflection upon it :

"What master of the pencil or the style

Had traced the shades and lines that might have made
The subtlest workman wonder? Dead, the dead;

The living seemed alive: with clearer view

His eye beheld not who beheld the truth

Than mine what I did tread on, while I went
Low bending." 1

So that there appears to be no doubt whatever as to what were Dante's views as to what constituted the utmost perfection in Art-namely, that it implied absolute truth to life.

9. Ruskin on the subject.-Commenting on this passage, Ruskin says: Dante has here clearly no other idea of the highest art than that it should bring back, as a mirror or vision, the aspect of things past or absent. The scenes of which he speaks are, on the pavement, for ever represented by angelic power, so that the souls which traverse this circle of the rock may see them as if the years of the world had been rolled back, and they again stood beside the actors in the moment of action. Nor do I think that Dante's authority is absolutely necessary to compel us to admit that such art as this might, indeed, be the highest possible. Whatever delight we may have been in the habit of taking in pictures, if it were to be truly offered to us to remove at our will the canvas from the frame, and in lieu of it to behold fixed for ever the image of some of those mighty scenes which it has been our way to make mere themes for the artist's fancy; if, for instance, we could again behold the Magdalene receiving her pardon at Christ's feet, or the disciples sitting with Him

1 "Purgatory," c. xii.

at the table of Emmaus; and this not feebly nor fancifully, but as if some silver mirror that had leaned against the wall of the chamber had been miraculously commanded to retain for ever the colours that had flashed upon it for an instant, would we not part with our picture-Titian's or Veronese's though it might be?"1 In other words, supposing that you could have, say, a life-size photograph perfectly reproducing the perfect form, colour, tone, and chiaroscura of some fine scene in Nature, or of the figures, features, and actions of the actors in some great historic episode, what would be the esthetic effect and value of it? Indubitably, I should surmise that such a reproduction would be of the very highest value; and, indeed, that if we had the power of conjuring up visions of that kind at will, it would go far to supersede the call for pictorial art. But as no one possesses such power, it remains to the artist to make good the deficiency by depicting the scene or the episode which has engaged his fancy, and through whatever medium he may select, as veraciously, graphically, and impressively as he can. To the artist and the poet I would say: See as vividly as you can, and present your vision to us as vividly as you can.

10. A suggested solution of the differences between the Realist and the Impressionist.-This account of the matter, it seems to me, offers a solution of the differences between the Realist and the Impressionist. To be impressive, a work must be pervaded by realism; whilst, on the other hand, the proof of its realism will lie in the fact that it is truly impressive. If it is not impressive there will be a failure in realism; if there be a failure in realism, the work, to the judicious at least, will not be impressive. To the judicious a work will 1 'Modern Painters, Vol. iii. p. 21. See also pp. 22-3 (1897).