ART.

THE GREAT ARTISTIC WANT OF ENGLAND.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")

San,—Having had the good-fortune in my youth to hear the lectures and enjoy the conversation of Ottfried Milner on archeology, I early acquired a strong taste for one branch at least of that great science, viz., sculpture,—a taste which was sub- sequently strengthened by intimate association with Professor Welcker, who was my neighbour during my long residence in Ger- many, and whose splendid services in the promotion of the knowledge of ancient art are well known to English scholars. I had also the pleasure and advantage of hearing Professor Brunn's most inter- esting lectures on the statues of the Vatican and other galleries at Rome in 1862-3, and quite recently of visiting with him the Glyptothek at Munich, where he is now lecturing on archaeo- logy in the University, with so much honour to himself and advantage to his enthusiastic -pupils. On my return to this country, about two years ago, I hoped, with the greater amount of leisure now at my command, to devote myself more earnestly to my favourite pursuit; but I did not, I am sorry to say, find the same facilities for the prosecution of my studies as I had enjoyed in Germany, and I was obliged once more to go abroad, and to spend several months in Germany and Italy, to secure the advantages which, as I think, ought to be found at home. I have ventured to say thus much about myself, because I think that my own case must be that of many others, and because I wish to point out how it is that London, which possesses the finest collection of original Greek marbles in the world, is not, as it ought to be, the best place for the study of Greek art,—how it is that the way to the British Museum lies through Berlin, or Munich, or some other foreign town. Considering the great prominence which has for centuries been accorded in the curriculum of our Universities to the study of classical antiquity, it is very remarkable that so little attention has been paid to some of the most important and characteristic phases of Greek and Roman life. A man may leave Oxford or Cambridge with the reputation and fall consciousness of being a. finished classical scholar, who knows absolutely nothing of the most characteristic feature of the Greek mind,—ita love of art ; who is without the requisite knowledge to enable him to look with intelligent appreciation at the statues of the Vatican or the Louvre, or the still more valuable collection of marbles in his own British Museum.

The Greeks, of course, did all things that man can do, and did them better than any other people ; but if there is one thing, which they were called on to do more than any other by their nature, their climate, their religion, political constitution, and social habits, it was to develop the art-faculty in the human mind ; to cheer, and bless, and grace the world, by giving bodily form to the sublime and beautiful conceptions of their gifted intellects. It was not only that the Greeks had artists among them,—they were a nation of artists ; and in this respect they stand not merely above all other peoples, but apart and alone. Other nations, and more especially our own, have had poets. and historians, philosophers, statesmen, warriors, and patriots, who may vie with those of ancient Greece. But in art—perhaps in art generally, and at any rate in plastic art, of• which alone we have the means of judging—the rest of the world is " nowhere" in the race, makes no pretension to independent creative power, but in its highest efforts can do little more than laboriously imitate. Greece is the sole fountain of plastic art, in the real sense of the words, for the Romans only copied the com- positions of their masters with great technical skill, and the sculp- ture of the "Renaissance" was Greek art galvanised into feeble action.

What recognition, then, have we of these facts at our Univer- sities—our Universities, I say—which more than those of any other country are bound to cultivate the esthetic side of life ? the alumni of which have, in a greater measure than the youth of any other country, the means, the leisure, the previous classical training requisite to enable them to pluck the sweet flower of Grecian art. And yet how does the matter stand at present? Where is the German University so poor as not to have its teachers of archeology, its museum of casts,—abundant means, in short,'for. those who choose to employ them, of gaining an insight into the fairy-world of art-mythology and mythological art? Is there at Oxford or Cambridge, or any other university or college in the • kingdom, a competent and well-paid professor of archaeology, a complete scientifically arranged museum of casts, in which one of the most interesting studies in the world, that of the wonderful development of Greek art, may be pursued with every advantage ? Is there such a museum even in London,—and if not, why not ? I shall be reminded perhaps of the " Slade and Disney Profes- sorships of Fine Art," at Cambridge. But 1 feel sure that no Slade or Disney Professor would answer the question I have asked in the affirmative. For what man, however accomplished and laborious he might be, could undertake to lecture on the whole range of the Fine Arta? And were he to confine himself to sculpture, how could he perform his task with only the poor and incomplete collection of casts in the Fitzwilliam Museum at his disposal? The provision in the Cambridge Calendar that the Slade Professor "is. required to give annually not less than twelve lectures on the his- tory, theory, and practice of the Fine Arts," reads almost like a. combination-room jest.

I now come to the main object of this letter,—to advocate the- formation, with the least possible delay, of a comprehensive- gallery of casts from the most interesting and important statues. and reliefs to be found in the museums and private collections of England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Greece, Turkey, and other countries. This gallery should be supplemented by draw- ings and paintings from contemporary vases and graves, and it would then serve as an illustration of the history of plastic art in Greece and Rome, from its first efforts to freu, itself from the shackles of Egyptian and Asiatic influence, to its decomposition and decay in the putrescent pool of Roman corruption. I ask for a gallery such as Welcker first founded in the electoral palace at Bonn, in whose unadorned walls many a travelling Englishman has acquired his first notions of plastic art ; a gallery such as Berlin has long possessed in almost absolute perfection ; such as Bruno has nearly completed, amidst countless difficulties and dis- couragemeuts, at Munich ; such as M. Jeffroy, not contented with the Vatican, is forming for the French students at Rome ; such as M. Ravaison, the accomplished Director of the Louvre (not contented with the marbles of the Louvre, or the casts in the Ecole d'Art, chosen mainly for their beauty alone) is earnestly engaged in arranging in some twelve or fourteen magnificent rooms in Paris. "Inter arnra silent Musa," it is said, yet the Germans and French, in the fever of victory and the despair of defeat, have been doing what we, in a period of profoundest peace and un- exampled prosperity, have never thought of.

It may be said that we, too, have distinguished archaeologists, and an unrivalled collection of Greek marbles, and some beautiful casts from statues in foreign museums, and this is no doubt true. There is no more honoured name in the archaeological world than that of Mr. Newton, no one who has brought to light richer treasures of art. As in almost every department of human know- ledge, an Englishman holds one of the foremost places. But what opportunity has Mr. Newton, or his accomplished colleague, Mr Murray, in the engrossing duties of his laborious office, of widely diffusing his treasures of archaeological learning ; and what chance has the unprepared, unaided student of gaining any knowledge of art or its history from a visit to the British Museum alone ?

It must become evident, on the slightest consideration, that no one can either learn or teach the plastic art without frequent opportunities of seeing and even touching all the more important works which it has produced,—or rather, which have come down to us. Now no single gallery, not even the Vatican, is rich enough to furnish the teacher or the student with all he needs. Each of the famous museums of Europe has its advantages and defects, and a learner would spend his time more profitably among the casts at Berlin or Munich, than in any one of the rich store- houses of original marbles. And even thus I am understating the case, for even if he had the time and the means to visit every museum in Europe, he would still lack the necessary conditions for a complete investigation of his subject. To form the eye to a quick and accurate appreciation of the beauties and the subtleties of Greek art, to a nice perception of the characteristics of different periods, schools, and styles, it is necessary not only to see all the monuments that time has spared, but to see them together in the same gallery, and, if possible, in the same room ; for the subtler shades of difference fade almost instantaneously from the eye. The Vatican, so rich in Roman copies, is destitute of the finest remains of Greek art ; while London, which can boast of pos- sessing the marbles of the Parthenon, must look to Paris and Munich for the earlier reliefs of Asses and the pedimental group of the Temple of 2Egina, and to Florence, Rome, Naples, and Athens for other important links in the golden chain.

To the student of art-history one of the most important and instructive departments of such a collection as I propose to form would be that in which the types of the Gods, as treated and developed by different schools and in successive periods, were placed side by side. Here, for example, we might trace the gradual change effected in the representation of the " white-armed" spouse of Jove, without essential altera- tion of type or loss of identity, from the archaic bust in the Villa Ludovisi, which still smacks strongly of the wooden idol which it succeeded, through the grand majestic Juno Girgenti in the British Museum and the Juno Farnese at Naples, to the "Juno Ludoviat" par excellence, before which Goethe said his morning prayer, and in which the goddess and the woman are so subtly and exquisitely blended ; and again, in descending scale from the "Juno Ludovisi" to No. 15 (in the same villa), in which the woman, still majestic, prevails ; and then to the well-known and lovely Juno Pentini of the Vatican, who is almost a divine coquette. To descend from heaven to earth, from gods to heroes, what reader, however superficial, of ancient history would not rejoice in the opportunity of comparing the busts of the heroes and worthies of Greece and Rome,—Sophoeles and Euripides, Demosthenes

and 2Eschines, Pericles and Alexander, Hannibal and Scipio, and of seeing side by side the types of Greek and Roman, Gaul and Persian?

As the very finest remains of plastic art which we possess were executed in the service of architecture, and in accordance with architectural laws, our gallery should contain casts of those portions of Greek temples which were considered best adapted for decoration,—as the pediments, the Doric metopes, and Ionic friezes ; and also specimens of altars, temple furniture, candela- bras, vases, and sacred utensils of all kinds, which Greek art has endowed with its own ineffable grace.

Such a collection, besides being essential to the artist and the student of art, could not fail to exercise a most beneficial in- fluence on the taste of our artisans and the public at large. Of course the " practical men " and the pessimists will deny this, and tell us that few people in England know or care anything about real art, and still fewer about sculpture. " We are a practical people, with a great deal of soap to boil."

" Exeudent alii [Italians, French, Germans] spirantia menial; sera Credo equidem,—vivos lucent de marmore vultns."

But, after all, there is no real reason for supposing that we are less endowed with aesthetic feeling or a capacity for art than other nations. The fact is that this feeling and this capacity have been carefully fostered by the Governments of other countries, while it is only within the last thirty years that any encouragement from above has been given to the study of art in England. The very same things were said with respect to music some forty years ago, and yet what a happy change has been effected of late years in the character of our concerts, and in the manner in which they are appreciated and supported ! And with regard to art in general, let him who thinks that the English people have no in- clination or talent for it go down to Kensington ; or to Lam- beth, and see what Mr. Sparks and Mr. Doulton have done with small means, among very humble people. No one will now maintain that the noble exertions of Prince Albert to raise the national taste have proved altogether unavailing, and yet his proposals were met, in the first instance, with indifference, pro- phecies of failure, and even ridicule. The present age is not with- out indications of a growing taste for art, though it has hitherto so often been misdirected to ridiculous objects. Amid the general darkness and ignorance, we see at least the desire for instruction and clearer light, and we ought not to put up the shutters against the first feeble ray of dawn because it is not yet noonday. At all events, give us the means of intellectual and aesthetic enjoyment. At present no one can study the history of plastic art in England, however much he may wish to do so.

I would fain believe that if proper measures be taken, the day may come when Oxford students will study and cherish the statues of their colleges, instead of burning them ; when members of London clubs, imbued with the beauty of Greek art, will go forth as righteous iconoclasts to throw down the trowsered, elephant-legged marble monsters which disfigure our finest halls, our squares, and streets ; when fashion and art—now opposing terms—will approach one another within hailing distance ; when our women will dress according to the principles of taste and beauty, and not according to the ugly dreams of some French harlot or man-milliner, who at one time blows them up in iron- bound balloons, and at another ties them up like mummies ; when our maidens will dress their hair like the Venus de Medici or Sappho, and not like Julia Soaemias.—I am, Sir, &c.,

WALTER C. PERRY.