it without question
of resistance to force; and the third, that of giving form or position
which will make it capable of such resistance. All the fine arts are
embraced under these three divisions. Do not think that it is only a
logical or scientific affectation to mass them together in this manner;
it is, on the contrary, of the first practical importance to understand
that the painter's faculty, or masterhood over color, being as subtle as
a musician's over sound, must be looked to for the government of every
operation in which color is employed; and that, in the same manner, the
appliance of any art whatsoever to minor objects cannot be right, unless
under the direction of a true master of that art. Under the present
system, you keep your Academician occupied only in producing tinted
pieces of canvas to be shown in frames, and smooth pieces of marble to
be placed in niches; while you expect your builder or constructor to
design colored patterns in stone and brick, and your china-ware merchant
to keep a separate body of workwomen who can paint china, but nothing
else. By this division of labor, you ruin all the arts at once. The work
of the Academician becomes mean and effeminate, because he is not used
to treat color on a grand scale and in rough materials; and your
manufactures become base, because no well-educated person sets hand to
them. And therefore it is necessary to understand, not merely as a
logical statement, but as a practical necessity, that wherever beautiful
color is to be arranged, you need a Master of Painting; and wherever
noble form is to be given, a Master of Sculpture; and wherever complex
mechanical force is to be resisted; a Master of Architecture.

7. But over this triple division there must rule another yet more
important. Any of these three arts may be either imitative of natural
objects or limited to useful appliance. You may either paint a picture
that represents a scene, or your street door, to keep it from rotting;
you may mold a statue, or a plate; build the resemblance of a cluster
of lotus stalks, or only a square pier. Generally speaking, Painting
and Sculpture will be imitative, and Architecture merely useful; but
there is a great deal of Sculpture--as this crystal ball,[6] for
instance, which is not imitative, and a great deal of architecture
which, to some extent, is so, as the so-called foils of Gothic
apertures; and for many other reasons you will find it necessary to keep
disti