1.)
If Painting and Sculpture delight us like other works of ingenuity,
merely from the difficulties they surmount; like an 'egg in a
bottle,' a tree made out of stone, or a face made of pigment; and the
pleasure we receive, is our wonder at the achievement; then, to such
as so believe, this treatise is not written. But if, as the writer
conceives, works of Fine Art delight us by the interest the objects
they depict excite in the beholder, just as those objects in nature
would excite his interest; if by any association of ideas in the one
case, by the same in the other, without reference to the
representations being other than the objects they represent:--then,
to such as so believe, the following upon 'SUBJECT' is addressed.
Whilst, at the same time, it is not disallowed that a subsequent
pleasure may and does result, upon reflecting that the objects
contemplated were the work of human ingenuity.
Now the subject to be treated, is the 'subject' of Painter and
Sculptor; what ought to be the nature of that 'subject,' how far that
subject may be drawn from past or present time with advantage, how
far the subject may tend to confer upon its embodiment the title,
'High Art,' how far the subject may tend to confer upon its
embodiment the title 'Low Art;' what is 'High Art,' what is 'Low
Art'?
To begin then (at the end) with 'High Art.
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