It amounts to
saying, The only satisfactory works of art are those which exhibit
the very soul of the artist. To work for fame or self-display is a
failure, and to work for direct moral proselytizing is a failure; but
to paint that which your own perceptions and emotions urge you to
paint promises to be a success for yourself, and hence a benefit to
the mass of beholders. This was the core of the "Praeraphaelite"
creed; with the adjunct (which hardly came within the scope of
Rossetti's tale, and yet may be partly traced there) that the artist
cannot attain to adequate self-expression save through a stern study
and realization of natural appearances. And it may be said that to
this core of the Praeraphaelite creed Rossetti always adhered
throughout his life, greatly different though his later works are
from his earlier ones in the externals of artistic style. Most of
"Hand and Soul" was written on December 21, 1849, day and night,
chiefly in some five hours beginning after midnight. Three currents
of thought may be traced in this story: (1) A certain amount of
knowledge regarding the beginnings of Italian art, mingled with some
ignorance, voluntary or involuntary, of what was possible to be done
in the middle of the thirteenth century; (2) a highly ideal, yet
individual, general treatment of the narrative; and (3) a curious
aptitude at detailing figments as if they were facts.
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