of mind,
and it embodies itself in material form. This material form, by virtue
of its qualities, has the power to delight our senses; the skill which
went into the fashioning of it, so far as we can recognize the
processes of execution, gives us pleasure; the harmony which the
work of art must manifest satisfies the mind and makes it possible
for us to link the emotion with our own experience.

These paths which a work of art traverses in its course from its
origin to its fulfillment I have tried to follow in their ramifications,
and I have tried to trace them to their issue in appreciation. Some
lovers of art may linger on the way and rest content with the
distance they have come, without pressing forward to the end. A
work of art is complex in its appeal; and it is possible to stop with
one or another of its elements. Thus we may receive the work
intellectually, recognizing its subject, and turning the artist's
emotion into our thought and translating it from his medium of color
and form or sound into our own medium of words. Here is a portrait
of Carlyle; and Carlyle we _know_ as an author and as a man. This
landscape is from the Palisades, where we have roamed in leisure
hours. Before us is a statue of Zeus, whom our classical reading has
made a reality to us. This symphony gathers about a day in the
country, suggesting an incident in our own experience of which we
have pleasant remembrances. Intellectually, also, we enjoy the
evidence of the artist's skill which the work exhibits. Or we may
pass beyond the simple exercise of the intellect, and with a
refinement of perception we may take a sensuous delight in the
qualities of the material in which the work is embodied. This portrait
is a subtle harmony of color and exquisite adjustment of line and
mass. The luminous night which enwraps the Palisades is a solemn
mighty chord. The white rhythm of this statue caresses the eye that
follows it. This symphony is an intricate and wonderful
wave-pattern upon a sea of billowing sound in which the listener immerses
himself voluptuously. The essential significance of a work of art is
not to be received apart from its form, but the form is more than
merely sensuous in its appeal. Finally, therefore, the color and the
composition of the portrait are but the point of meeting where we
touch in energizing contact a powerful personality. Our spirit goes
out into the night of these Palisades and dilates into immensity. This
statue