Lanterna Rally

Author: Catholic University of Ireland

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-03

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 9781440068881

Excerpt from The Atlantis: A Register of Literature and Science Thus there is the old question: Is the notion of the Picturesque ancient, or only modem? In other words: Is the term the representative of a principle which must always have been acknowledged, as being based on some ultimate and immutable fact of the human mind; or, like the words, which, to use the saying of a philosophical writer, "have their star," is it but the name and symbol of an idea, which runs its course, which has had its ascertainable origin, its gradual evolution, its historical rise and culmination in the intellectual sky? There is the question, again, of the bearing of the Picturesque on the theory of the fine arts: Does it touch upon poetry? Does it concern architecture? Or, again, is it "classic," or "romantic," or both? And does it tend to maintain or to destroy, when duly examined, the specious but deceptive (as we believe) and indefinite theory thence named? We might go on, it is possible, to suggest other intellectual problems similar to these, with each of which it might conceivably have points of connection; but we have said enough, as it is, to show the suggestiveness of our subject. We begin then by taking for granted, what in fact we have already implied in our first words, that the Picturesque is comprehended under the beautiful, and is one form of it. What then is the Beautiful? Here there is no answer forthcoming which can be called authoritative. The professed treatises on the subject can hardly be said, any of them, to be held in high estimation; and as in general they are neither deep nor accurate, it would be a waste of time to discuss what we cannot acquiesce in. Hence we are thrown in some measure, for the determination of this preliminary point, on our own resources; and in the execution of this task, so far as is necessary for the inquiry before us, we hope not to be shallow whilst we attempt to be comprehensive. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.