ent men present there was one, however, who seemed somewhat
mortified that he had not the most elementary idea of art; and he asked
me if there was not some book in which its principles were presented in
a clear and brief form. I replied that no such book existed, and that on
leaving college I should have been only too happy to find such a work;
and thereupon determined to write one.

MORAL INFLUENCE OF ART

From 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving'

Painting purifies people by its mute eloquence. The philosopher writes
his thoughts for those who can think and read. The painter shows his
thought to all who have eyes to see. That hidden and naked virgin,
Truth, the artist finds without seeking. He throws a veil over her,
encourages her to please, proves to her that she is beautiful, and when
he has reproduced her image he makes us take her, and takes her himself,
for Beauty.

In communicating to us what has been seen and felt by others, the
painter gives new strength and compass to the soul. Who can say of how
many apparently fugitive impressions a man's morality is composed, and
upon what depends the gentleness of his manners, the correctness of his
habits, the elevation of his thoughts? If the painter represents acts of
cruelty or injustice, he inspires us with horror. The 'Unhappy Family'
of Proudhon moves the fibres of charity better than the homilies of a
preacher.... Examples of the sublime are rare in painting, as the
painter is compelled to imprison every idea in a form. It may happen,
nevertheless, that moved by thoughts to which he has given no form, the
artist strikes the soul as a thunderbolt would the ear. It is then by
virtue of the thought perceived, but not formulated, that the picture
becomes sublime.

POUSSIN'S 'SHEPHERDS OF ARCADIA'

From 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving'

In a wide, heavily wooded country, the sojourning-place of that
happiness sung by the poets, some peasants have discovered a tomb hidden
by a thicket of trees, and bearing this brief inscription: "Et in
Arcadia ego" (I too lived in Arcadia). These words, issuing from the
tomb, sadden their faces, and the smiles die upon their lips. A young
girl, carelessly leaning upon the shoulder of her lover, seems to
listen, mute and pensive, to this salutation from the dead. The thought
of death has also plunged into reverie a youth who leans over the tomb
with bowed head, while the oldest shepherd points out the inscripti