EXPRESSION. PART IV.--GENERAL IDEALS
Limitation of the painter with general ideals--Ideal heads
interchangeable in sacred and symbolical art--Ideal male human
countenances impossible for the painter.
In the arts of sculpture and painting, where it is necessary that the
beauty should be immediately recognized by the eye, it is obvious that a
general expression is superior to the particular. This is so because the
general covers universal experience and the particular does not. But in
the art of the painter there is a limit to the expression of general
beauty. Theoretically there is no beauty possible to the sculptor which
the painter cannot produce, but practically there is. A sculptor may
carve what we understand as a god-like figure--a glorious image
embodying all the highest qualities that may be conceived by man,
with a general expression covering supreme wisdom and every noble
attribute--such a figure as the greatest Grecian artist chiselled. This
figure would stand in front of us, isolated, serene in its glory, and we
should look and wonder, and a second or two would suffice to fill our
entire mind with the image. For it would be above the earth, above all
our surroundings. We could connect nothing on earth with it--neither
human beings, nor green fields, nor the seas, and certainly not human
habitations, and ways, and manners, and actions. A Phidian god can have
no setting. Everything on earth is too small, too insignificant to bear
it company. The reflection from the majesty of the design throws into
shadow our loftiest earthly conceptions.
Let us suppose that a painter could be found who could execute such a
figure: how could he isolate it to the mind? He may not use accessories,
for these could not be separated by the eye, and the association with
earth which they would imply would destroy the illusion. But the figure
must have relief, and hence tones. A monochrome would not do, for the
frame or sides of the wall containing the picture would flatten it, and
suggest a painted imitation of a sculpture. We may imagine a colossal
figure painted on an immense wall whose bounds are hidden by the
concentration of all the available light on the figure. Even then the
colouring of the wall must be unseen. The figure must stand out as if
against infinite space, surrounded by ambient air, in majestic solitude,
pondering over the everlasting roll of life towards perfection. In this
way only could the painter match the sculptor, but the practical
difficulties are so enormous as to render the scheme to all intents and
purposes impossible.
For the painter then there is a limit to expression. He cannot proceed
with his ideal higher than Praxiteles. His limit is the most supreme
form and expression conceivable by his imagination, which does not
exceed the apparent possibility of human experience. Apparent, because
an ideal must necessarily be actually above the possibility of
experience, but it may not appear to be so. For instance a Raphael
Madonna does not seem to represent a supernatural woman. There is no
single feature painted which cannot be matched in life, and hence it
would not occur to the observer that the expression is contrary to the
possibility of experience. But the expression cannot be met with in
life, for besides being entirely general, it excludes all phases due to
the emotions or passions. One cannot imagine a woman with the expression
of a Raphael Madonna having concern with any special human interest, and
least of all with feelings and failings arising from natural instincts.
Yet the expression covers every form of noble endeavour; every phase of
innocent pleasure; every degree of mental activity within the province
of woman. And herein lies the art--the exclusion of the bad in our
nature, with the exaltation of the good.
Now it is obvious that if the expression be so general that no
particular quality can be identified therein, the countenance will serve
for the head of any personage painted in whose expression it is
desirable to indicate the possession of high attributes, without
suggesting a particular condition of mind. Thus, the head of a Raphael
Madonna would equally serve for the head of a Saint Cecilia or a Judith;
or, providing the age were suitable, for a heroine of the stamp of Joan
of Arc, so long as the character of her actual features were unknown.
Further it would be well adapted for a symbolical figure, as Prudence or
Truth.
But a far wider significance than is thus indicated, is conveyed by the
necessity for generalizing expression in order to reach the painter's
ideal. It has already been noted that inasmuch as all men have the same
general idea of beauty--that they generally agree as to what is, or is
not, beautiful, it follows that there must be a common opinion as to
degrees of beauty, and so a universality of ideal; that is of course,
among people with similar experience of life, as for instance the white
races of the world.[49] Hence the ideals of all painters must be
similar. They must necessarily aim for the same generalization--exclude
or emphasize like. Manner or style, or national type may vary; purely
sensorial effects may differ as the minds of the painters have been
variously trained, but the combination of features and effects which
regulate the expression will be practically identical in every realized
ideal. Consequently, subject to changes in attitude or age, ideal heads
of all artists are interchangeable without incongruity resulting,
irrespective of the motive of the design, for the ideal countenance
indicated adapts itself to any character where no emotional or
passionate expression is required. The head of the figure representing
"Profane Love" in Titian's great picture, would serve to express
spiritual nobility in a Madonna,[a] and when a head in a Madonna by
Raphael is exchanged with that of the central figure in Fragonard's The
Pursuit,[b] there is no resulting suggestion of impropriety in either
picture.[c] Ideal countenances have sometimes been given to evil
characters, as in Luini's Salome,[d] and the head in this picture would
equally well serve for a Madonna.[e]
[a] See Plate 9.
[b] Frick Collection, New York.[50]
[c] See Plate 8.
[d] Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
[e] See Plate 10.
An ideal head then will suggest any expression that the design in which
it is included seems to require, subject to the restrictions before
noted. In The Pursuit the face of the woman presumed to be fleeing from
her lover indicates some concern, and even a little fear,[a] but that
this is due to the surroundings in the work, is shown when the head is
substituted for another in a different picture, for the concern has
disappeared, and the expression becomes one which may properly represent
the highest attributes connected with the Madonna.
[a] See Frontispiece and Plate 11.
The limits within which the form and countenance of a woman may be
idealized, are prescribed by Raphael in his works. The presumed age must
be that when she reaches the full bloom of womanhood. Youth will not do
because it involves an expression denying experience, while physically a
girl cannot be supposed to have reached an age where her form has ceased
to progress towards perfection. Beauty of feature and form is the first
consideration of the artist, and hence his difficulty in fixing an
expression which shall be entirely free from the possibility of
suggesting desire. For this reason no model, or series of models, will
suffice the painter: he has always to bring his imagination to bear, as
Raphael admitted he had to do.[a]
[a] "E di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene nella
mente." Letter to Castiglione.
It is impossible to find a head of a woman, painted before the time of
Raphael, which fulfils the requirements of art as an ideal. The figures
are either too formal, or too distinctive in type, or are evidently
portraits, while in many of the greatest pictures of the fifteenth
century the artists had not yet learned how to put warm blood into their
Madonnas. Raphael, however, after taking up his sojourn at Florence,
became an object lesson for nearly every school, and ideal countenances
were produced by other masters, though no painter other than Raphael
succeeded with more than one or two. Nowadays the ever increasing hustle
in the struggle for existence, does not lend itself to deep study and
long contemplation on the part of painters, but hope springs eternal,
and surely the list of immortals is not yet closed.
An ideal man of flesh and blood is not possible in the art of the
painter, for there is no general conception of male beauty below the
level of the god-like. Perfection of form can be given, but a supreme
expression in the face of a man implies deep wisdom, and this must
necessarily be associated with maturity when high sensorial beauty of
feature can scarcely be expected.