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THIS result is achieved not only by the marvelous contrivances of the present era, but by those ancient inventions, painting, sculpture, and writing. It is one object of the fine arts to enliven existing notions, and awake to new vigor ideas that already lie slumbering in the soul. The arts of painting and sculpture flourish to maturity only in the highest perfection of civilization. At such a period they lose their first character of simple utility, when it is their sole purpose to make thought seen, and contribute to the luxury of an age when wealth has emancipated a large class from the necessity of constant toil, and cultivated intellect and taste demand appropriate gratification. The artist is impelled to his labor, not only by that love of ideal beauty which exists in his mind, but also by the hope that fame will give him a reputation, brilliant as the hues of his own colors, and much more lasting. The desire of wealth may also mingle in his wishes without degrading the nobleness of his high aspirations. The encouragement necessary to stimulate his exertions is furnished only in a state of society when his works may be sought to adorn the mansions of wealth and the palaces of nobility; when mind is polished to derive keen pleasure from the perception of beauty in works of art; when taste is cultured to such delicacy as to appreciate inventive and imitative skill, to be improved by the view of its productions, and qualified thus to admire still more successful efforts of creative genius. Civilization ripens the luxury of art. The fine arts, however, are matured into the perfection which they ultimately attain, by the assiduous cultivation given to the germs of them which spring up in a rude state of society. The uncouth figures which the Indian makes upon a piece of bark with the point of his arrow, representing by the rough sketch some event that he wishes to narrate, merit greater notice than their intrinsic worth can claim. In executing his design he exercises the same faculties which work in the mind of Canova or Titian, as they pursue their labors on the marble or the canvas. His rude carving marks

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the embryo state of the arts. Their figures of life and beauty denote the arts in their expanded bloom. The progress made is like that of a plant transferred from the field or wood, to the hot-house or the garden, where that which was a humble blossom on a thorny shrub, becomes a rose with deepened color and more splendid form-the queen of flowers. The humble sketch of the savage is the first in that series of attempts which results in a finely wrought picture. He aims only to convey thought; there are ideas in his mind, which, by the materials that nature affords him, he seeks to transmit to the mind of another; and this is the primary design of almost every attempt that man makes at imitation. The thoughts and feelings that teem in his soul first find utterance in language, revealing themselves in speech to the mental world. He employs next the expressive language of signs, and soon, by mere marks of imitation, begins his alphabet of artificial expression. He rudely graves figures of men and things, and endeavors to make their position and arrangement tell the story of transpiring or past events. As the practice continues, changes creep in, arbitrary marks are introduced to widen the range of expression; and from this common origin may grow the arts of writing by pictures, by hieroglyphics, and by characters representing vocal sounds.

The arts of painting and sculpture never lose this primary design. Their germs sprang up simply for the utile of expressing thought. The skillful artist seeks the dulce of gratifying luxurious taste by investing thought with life and beauty. He creates an ideal form, and endeavors to transfer the beautiful conception laboring in his mind to the marble or the canvas. He must have as clear an apprehension of the idea he would develop, as the poet who would touch our sensibilities by his numbers, or the orator who would move us by his eloquence. The elegance with which thought and feeling are expressed constitute the attractive beauty of the piece. Thus there is a style in the fine arts as well as in writing. The colors on the canvas are but unmeaning stains, unless they breathe with thought: without expression the statue is but a marble block.

We may now view the peculiar advantages and proper sphere of each of these arts, and of writing, as the medium of thought. The most proper field of painting is to express the beautiful. The sensible objects which excite emotions of pleasure in the mind by their loveliness, are the subjects to warm the fancy and employ the art of the painter. The features of the human countenance, beaming with expression and intelligence, the graceful form, the symmetrical edifice, the landscape, may all be vividly represented to the mind on the breathing canvas. But painting, although most pleased to linger among the beautiful, does not confine itself here, but often attempts to delineate objects of sublimity and grandeur. The sky blackened by the tempest which is spreading desolation beneath, the forked lightning which plays among the sable drapery of the sky and reveals the rolling billows tossing the desparing mariners, have often been rivaled by the colors of the painter. Many of the passions which agitate the human breast he may depict in the countenance which comes from his hand, almost glowing

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