Outlines of the History of Art Vol. 2 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Outlines of the History of Art Vol. 2 of 2<br><br>Thence it came about that the soul desiring to take its living personal part in the objects to be represented began to contemplate religious subjects no longer for their piety alone but as much on account of the purely artistic motives which they offered to the eye as for the sake of the deeply human truth and beauty which the heart recognized in them. Works of art were now produced to satisfy a strong instinct of the soul a personal love for the beauitful and the sublime and no longer simply to meet the needs of a church. N o wonder then if these creations laid claim to acceptance for their own sake proclaiming as they did what is eternal in every human breast not in compliance with a command of the Church but urged by that inner voice and so standing as equal revelations of the divine. On the other hand however Art held fast to the traditional subject matter and so retained an important advantage. She continued to be understood by the people at large and was not limited as in later times to that narrow circle of culture on the heights of society in whose refined and icy atmosphere her freedom is in danger of being stifled. And besides she was relieved of the strain of continually seeking after some new subject and could devote her unbroken fresh ness to the theme already presented and spend her whole force upon its artistic formation. In a word she remained true to a circle of ideal conceptions - an inestimable advantage at a time when such powerful attractions toward the material and toward cosmic realities existed. Hence the realism of this epoch went to extremes only in exceptional cases; rather as in the golden age of Grecian art it brought about a compromise in which an harmonious union of the ideal subject with a form true to nature was effected.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.