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| Frontispiece.—Detail from Fragonard's The Pursuit (Frick Collection, New York). |
| This work, which is one of the celebrated Grasse series of panels, offers a very fine example of the use of an ideal head in a romantic subject. (See Page 139.) |
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| Plate 1.—The Earliest Great Sculptures | 6 |
| (a). Head from a statue of Chefren, a king of the 4th Egyptian Dynasty, about 3000 B.C. (Cairo Museum.) |
| (b). Head from a fragmentary statuette of Babylonia, dating about 2600 B.C. (Louvre: from Spearing's "Childhood of Art.") |
| The first head is generally regarded as the finest example of Egyptian art extant, and certainly there was nothing executed in Egypt to equal it during the thirty centuries following the 5th Dynasty. The Babylonian head is the best work of Chaldean art known to us, though there are some fine fragments remaining from the period of about a thousand years later. It will be observed that the tendency of the art in both examples is towards the aims achieved by the Greeks. (See Page 7.) |
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| Plate 2.—"Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens", in the North Porch, Amiens Cathedral | 18 |
| This figure by a French sculptor of the thirteenth century, was considered by Ruskin to be the finest ideal of Christ in existence. It is another example of the universality of ideals, for the head from the front view might well have been modelled from a Grecian work of the late fourth or early third century B.C. (See Page 319.) |
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| Plate 3.—After an Ancient Copy of the Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles. (Vatican) | 30 |
| It is commonly agreed that this is the finest model in existence after the great work of Praxiteles, which itself has long disappeared. The figure as it now stands at the Vatican, has the right arm restored, and the hand is made to hold up some metallic drapery with which the legs are covered, the beauty of the form being thus seriously weakened. (See Pages 111 et seq.) |
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| Plate 4.—Venus Anadyomene | 42 |
| (a). Ancient Greek sculpture from the design of Venus in the celebrated picture of Apelles. (Formerly Chessa Collection, now in New York.) |
| The immense superiority of the sculpture over the painting (Plate 5), from the point of view of pure art, is visible at a glance. It is an indication of the far-reaching scope of the sculptor when executing ideals. (See Page 113.) |
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| Plate 5.—Venus Anadyomene, from the Painting by Titian. (Bridgewater Collection.) | 42 |
| Compare with the Sculpture on Plate 4. (See Page 115) |
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| Plate 6.—Venus Reposing, by Giorgione. (Dresden Gallery) | 54 |
| This is the finest reposing Venus in existence in painting. It was the model for the representation of the goddess in repose used by Titian, and many other artists who came after him. (See Page 116.) |
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| Plate 7.—Demeter | 66 |
| (a). Head from the Cnidos marble figure of the fourth century B.C., attributed to Scopas. (British Museum.) |
| (b). Small head in bronze of the third century B.C. (Private Collection.) |
| In each of these heads the artist has been successful in maintaining the ideal, while indicating a suggestion of the sorrowful resignation with which Grecian legend has enveloped the mind picture of Demeter. Nevertheless, even this slight departure from the established rule tends to lessen the art, though in a very small degree. (See Page 122.) |
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| Plate 8.—Raphael's Sistine Madonna (Dresden Gallery), with the Face of the Central Figure in Fragonard's The Pursuit Substituted for that of the Virgin | 80 |
| This and the two following plates show very clearly that in striving for an ideal, artists must necessarily arrive at the same general type. (See Pages 138 et seq.) |
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| Plate 9.—Raphael's Virgin of the Rose (Madrid), with the Face of the Figure Representing Profane Love in Titian's Picture Substituted for that of the Virgin | 92 |
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| Plate 10.—Raphael's Holy Family (Madrid), with the Face of Luini's Salome Substituted for that of the Virgin | 102 |
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| Plate 11.—The Pursuit, by Fragonard. (Frick Collection, N. Y.) | 114 |
| A detail from this picture forms the Frontispiece. It will be observed that in the complete painting the central figure apparently wears a startled expression, but that this is entirely due to the surroundings and action, is shown by the substitution of the face of the central figure for that of the Virgin in the Sistine Madonna, Plate 8. (See Page 139.) |
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| Plate 12.—Portrait Heads of the Greek Type, Fourth Century, b.c. (See Page 145) | 130 |
| (a). Head of Plato. (Copenhagen Museum.) |
| (b). Term of Euripides. (Naples Museum.) |
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| Plate 13.—Portrait Heads of the Time of Imperial Rome. (See Page 145) | 146 |
| (a). Vespasian. (Naples Museum.) |
| (b). Hadrian. (Athens Museum.) |
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| Plate 14.—Sacrifice of Iphigenia, from a Pompeian Fresco. (Roux Ainé's Herculanum et Pompei, Vol. III) | 160 |
| This work is presumed to be a copy of the celebrated picture of Timanthes, in which the head of Agamemnon was hidden because the artist could see no other way of expressing extreme grief without distorting the features. (See Pages 168 and 339.) |
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| Plate 15.—All's Well, by Winslow Homer. (Boston Museum, U. S. A.) | 176 |
| An instance where the permanent beauty of a picture is killed by an open mouth. After a few moments' inspection, it will be observed that the mouth appears to be kept open by a wedge. (See Page 176.) |
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| Plate 16.—Hercules Contemplating Death, by A. Pollaiuolo. (Frick Collection, New York.) | 190 |
| The only known design of this nature which appears to exist in any of the arts. (See Pages 190 and 343.) |
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| Plate 17.—Arcadian Landscape, by Claude Lorraine. (National Gallery, London) | 198 |
| A fine illusion of opening distance created by the precise rendering of the aerial perspective. The illusion is of course unobservable in the reproduction owing to its small size and the want of colour. (See Page 198). |
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| Plate 18.—Landscape, by Hobbema. (Met. Museum, New York) | 210 |
| A fine example of Hobbema's work. A strong light is thrown in from the back to enable the artist to multiply his signs for the purpose of deepening the apparent distance. (See Page 202.) |
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| Plate 19.—Landscape, by Jacob Ruysdael, (National Gallery, London) | 220 |
| Example of an illusion of movement in flowing water. (See Page 204.) |
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| Plate 20.—The Storm, by Jacob Ruysdael. (Berlin Gallery) | 232 |
| Exhibiting an excellent illusion of motion, due to the faithful representation of a series of consecutive movements of water as the vessel passes through it. The illusion is practically lost in the reproduction, but the details of design may be observed. (See Page 206.) |
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| Plate 21.—The Litta Madonna, by Lionardo da Vinci. (Hermitage) | 240 |
| This is perhaps the best example known of an illusion of relief secured by shading alone. (See Page 240.) |
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| Plate 22.—Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck. (Antwerp Museum) | 252 |
| A superb example of relief obtained by the exclusion of accessories. Van Dyck took the idea from Rubens, who borrowed it from Titian, this artist improving on Antonella da Messina. The relief of course is not well observed in the reproduction because of its miniature form. The work is usually regarded as the finest of its kind in existence. (See Page 244.) |
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| Plate 23.—Patricia, by Lydia Emmet. (Private Possession, N. Y.) | 264 |
| A very excellent example of the plan of securing relief described in Book II, Chap. I. Here also the relief is not observed in the reproduction, but the original is of life size and provides an illusion as nearly perfect as possible. (See Page 247.) |
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| Plate 24.—The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo. (Vatican) | 276 |
| Instance of the use of an oval form of drapery to assist in presenting an illusion of suspension in the air. (See Page 260.) |
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| Plate 25.—The Pleiads, by M. Schwind. (Denner Collection.) | 288 |
| One of the finest examples of illusion of motion in the air. (See Page 269.) |
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| Plate 26.—St. Margaret, by Raphael. (Louvre) | 302 |
| Perhaps the best example in existence of a painted human figure in action. It will be seen that every part of the body and every fold of the drapery are used to assist in the expression of movement. (See Page 250.) |
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| Plate 27.—Diana and Nymphs Pursued by Satyrs, by Rubens. (Prado) | 318 |
| A good example of an illusion of motion created by showing a number of persons in different stages of a series of consecutive actions. (See Page 254.) |
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| Plate 28.—Automedon with the Horses of Achilles, by H. Regnault. (Boston Museum, U. S. A.) | 334 |
| The extraordinary spirit and action of these horses are above the experience of life, but they do not appear to be beyond the bounds of possibility. In any case the action is perfectly appropriate here, as the animals are presumed to be immortal. (See Page 256.) |
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| Plate 29.—Marble Figure of Ariadne. (Vatican) | 348 |
| This work, of the Hellenistic period, illustrates the possibility of largely varying the regular proportions of the human figure without injury to the art, by the skilful use of drapery. (See Page 329.) |
