Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- On Art
- Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
- Open Letter on Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
- Explanation of Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture and Response to the Open Letter on These Thoughts
- More Mature Thoughts on the Imitation of the Ancients with Respect to Drawing and the Art of Sculpture
- Description of the Most Excellent Paintings in the Dresden Gallery
- Reflections on Art
- Recalling the Observation of Works of Art
- On Grace in Works of Art
- Description of the Torso in the Belvedere in Rome
- Treatise on the Capacity for Sensitivity to the Beautiful in Art and the Method of Teaching It
- On Architecture
- On Archaeology
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
from On Art
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- On Art
- Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
- Open Letter on Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
- Explanation of Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture and Response to the Open Letter on These Thoughts
- More Mature Thoughts on the Imitation of the Ancients with Respect to Drawing and the Art of Sculpture
- Description of the Most Excellent Paintings in the Dresden Gallery
- Reflections on Art
- Recalling the Observation of Works of Art
- On Grace in Works of Art
- Description of the Torso in the Belvedere in Rome
- Treatise on the Capacity for Sensitivity to the Beautiful in Art and the Method of Teaching It
- On Architecture
- On Archaeology
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
Summary
Vos examplaria Graeca Nocturna versate manu, versate diurnal.
—HoraceTo
His Most Serene Highness, the Great and Powerful
Prince and Master,
Lord
Friedrich August,
King of Poland, etc., and Elector
Of Saxony, etc.
Good taste, which is spreading more and more throughout the world, first started to develop in the climate of Greece. All the inventions of foreign peoples came to Greece only as the first seed, as it were, and acquired a different character and form in the country that Minerva, it is said, allocated as an abode for the Greeks, above all other countries, because of the temperate seasons she found there, and because it was a country that would bring forth wise men.
The taste with which this nation imbued its works has remained unique to it. It has rarely spread far from Greece without losing something, and in remote climatic regions it was only recognized late. It was without doubt completely foreign to northern climes at the time when the two arts of which the Greeks are the great teachers found few admirers: at the time when the most admirable works of Correggio were hung up in the royal stables in Stockholm as a covering for the windows.
And it has to be admitted that the really fortunate period was the reign of the great August, in which the arts were introduced into Saxony as a foreign colony.
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- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013