When elucidating the purpose of painting, as we have here essayed to do, it isimperative to employ a distinction, one that has already been drawn by the ChurchFathers, in order to clarify the issue: they say that the work has one purpose [/In] andthe worker [operanle] who produces it another. And in accordance with this teaching,1 would likewise say that the painter has one purpose, and painting another. Thepurpose of the painter, considered simply as a craftsman, will be to acquire, by meansof this his art, wealth, fame or credit, to procure enjoyment, to perform a service foranother, or to labour for his own pastime or some such similar reason. The purpose ofpainting, ordinarily speaking, will thus be to depict, through imitation, the repre-sented object with all possible boldness and propriety. This is what some call the verysoul of painting because it endows the same with apparent life and treats beauty andthe manifold variety of colour and other embellishments merely as accessoriesthereto. Hence it was that Aristotle averred that in confronting two different paint-ings, the one adorned with beautiful colours but little resembling its object and theother executed in straightforward lines but very faithful to the truth, the former mustbe adjudged inferior in relation to the latter. And this is because the former presentsmerely accidental features, while the latter encompasses the fundamental characterand substance of the object and thus involves representing what is to be imitated
When elucidating the purpose of painting, as we have here essayed to do, it is<br>imperative to employ a distinction, one that has already been drawn by the Church<br>Fathers, in order to clarify the issue: they say that the work has one purpose [/In] and<br>the worker [operanle] who produces it another. And in accordance with this teaching,<br>1 would likewise say that the painter has one purpose, and painting another. The<br>purpose of the painter, considered simply as a craftsman, will be to acquire, by means<br>of this his art, wealth, fame or credit, to procure enjoyment, to perform a service for<br>another, or to labour for his own pastime or some such similar reason. The purpose of<br>painting, ordinarily speaking, will thus be to depict, through imitation, the repre-<br>sented object with all possible boldness and propriety. This is what some call the very<br>soul of painting because it endows the same with apparent life and treats beauty and<br>the manifold variety of colour and other embellishments merely as accessories<br>thereto. Hence it was that Aristotle averred that in confronting two different paint-<br>ings, the one adorned with beautiful colours but little resembling its object and the<br>other executed in straightforward lines but very faithful to the truth, the former must<br>be adjudged inferior in relation to the latter. And this is because the former presents<br>merely accidental features, while the latter encompasses the fundamental character<br>and substance of the object and thus involves representing what is to be imitated
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