Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

The

Restored Assyrian Architecture At Sydenham Exhibits This Style Of    Art

Carried To Greater Perfection--The Persons And Things Represented,

Though Still Barbarously Coloured, Are Carved Out With More Truth And In

Greater Detail: And In The   Winged Lions And Bulls Used For The   Angles Of

Gateways, We May See A Considerable Advance Towards A Completely

Sculptured Figure; Which, Nevertheless, Is Still Coloured, And Still

Forms Part Of    The   Building. But While In Assyria The   Production Of    A

Statue Proper Seems To Have Been Little, If At All, Attempted, We May

Trace In Egyptian Art The   Gradual Separation Of    The   Sculptured Figure

From The   Wall. A Walk Through The   Collection In The   British Museum Will

Clearly Show This; While It Will At The   Same Time Afford An Opportunity

Of Observing The   Evident Traces Which The   Independent Statues Bear Of

Their Derivation From Bas-Relief: Seeing That Nearly All Of    Them Not

Only Display That Union Of    The   Limbs With The   Body Which Is The

Characteristic Of    Bas-Relief, But Have The   Back Of    The   Statue United

From Head To Foot With A Block Which Stands In Place Of    The   Original

Wall. Greece Repeated The   Leading Stages Of    This Progress. As In Egypt

And Assyria, These Twin Arts Were At First United With Each Other And

With Their Parent, Architecture, And Were The   Aids Of    Religion And

Government. On The   Friezes Of    Greek Temples, We See Coloured Bas-Reliefs

Representing Sacrifices, Battles, Processions, Games--All In Some Sort

Religious. On The   Pediments We See Painted Sculptures More Or Less

United With The   Tympanum, And Having For Subjects The   Triumphs Of    Gods

Or Heroes. Even When We Come To Statues That Are Definitely Separated

From The   Buildings To Which They Pertain, We Still Find Them Coloured;

And Only In The   Later Periods Of    Greek Civilisation Does The

Differentiation Of    Sculpture From Painting Appear To Have Become

Complete.

 

 

 

In Christian Art We May Clearly Trace A Parallel Re-Genesis. All Early

Paintings And Sculptures Throughout Europe Were Religious In

Subject--Represented Christs, Crucifixions, Virgins, Holy Families,

Apostles, Saints. They Formed Integral Parts Of    Church Architecture, And

Were Among The   Means Of    Exciting Worship; As In Roman Catholic Countries

They Still Are. Moreover, The   Early Sculptures Of    Christ On The   Cross,

Of Virgins, Of    Saints, Were Coloured: And It Needs But To Call To Mind

The Painted Madonnas And Crucifixes Still Abundant In Continental

Churches And Highways, To Perceive The   Significant Fact That Painting

And Sculpture Continue In Closest Connection With Each Other Where They

Continue In Closest Connection With Their Parent. Even When Christian

Sculpture Was Pretty Clearly Differentiated From Painting, It Was Still

Religious And Governmental In Its Subjects--Was Used For Tombs In

Churches And Statues Of    Kings: While, At The   Same Time, Painting, Where

Not Purely Ecclesiastical, Was Applied To The   Decoration Of    Palaces, And

Besides Representing Royal Personages, Was Almost Wholly Devoted To

Sacred Legends. Only In Quite Recent Times Have Painting And Sculpture

Become Entirely Secular Arts. Only Within These Few Centuries Has

Painting Been Divided Into Historical, Landscape, Marine, Architectural,

Genre, Animal, Still-Life, Etc., And Sculpture Grown Heterogeneous In

Respect Of    The   Variety Of    Real And Ideal Subjects With Which It Occupies

Itself.

 

 

 

Strange As It Seems Then, We Find It No Less True, That All Forms Of

Written Language, Of    Painting, And Of    Sculpture, Have A Common Root In

The Politico-Religious Decorations Of    Ancient Temples And Palaces.

Little Resemblance As They Now Have, The   Bust That Stands On The

Console, The   Landscape That Hangs Against The   Wall, And The   Copy Of    The

_Times_ Lying Upon The   Table, Are Remotely Akin; Not Only In Nature, But

By Extraction. The   Brazen Face Of    The   Knocker Which The   Postman Has Just

Lifted, Is Related Not Only To The   Woodcuts Of    The   _Illustrated London

News_ Which He Is Delivering, But To The   Characters Of    The   _Billet-Doux_

Which Accompanies It. Between The   Painted Window, The   Prayer-Book On

Which Its Light Falls, And The   Adjacent Monument, There Is

Consanguinity. The   Effigies On Our Coins, The   Signs Over Shops, The

Figures That Fill Every Ledger, The   Coats Of    Arms Outside The   Carriage

Panel, And The   Placards Inside The   Omnibus, Are, In Common With Dolls,

Blue-Books, Paper-Hangings, Lineally Descended From The   Rude

Sculpture-Paintings In Which The   Egyptians Represented The   Triumphs And

Worship Of    Their God-Kings. Perhaps No Example Can Be Given Which More

Vividly Illustrates The   Multiplicity And Heterogeneity Of    The   Products

That In Course Of    Time May Arise By Successive Differentiations From A

Common Stock.

 

 

 

Before Passing To Other Classes Of    Facts, It Should Be Observed That The

Evolution Of    The   Homogeneous Into The   Heterogeneous Is Displayed Not

Only In The   Separation Of    Painting And Sculpture From Architecture And

From Each Other, And In The   Greater Variety Of    Subjects They Embody, But

It Is Further Shown In The   Structure Of    Each Work. A Modern Picture Or

Statue Is Of    Far More Heterogeneous Nature Than An Ancient One. An

Egyptian Sculpture-Fresco Represents All Its Figures As On One

Plane--That Is, At The   Same Distance From The   Eye; And So Is Less

Heterogeneous Than A Painting That Represents Them As At Various

Distances From The   Eye. It Exhibits All Objects As Exposed To The   Same

Degree Of    Light; And So Is Less Heterogeneous Than A Painting Which

Exhibits Different Objects And Different Parts Of    Each Object As In

Different Degrees Of    Light. It Uses Scarcely Any But The   Primary

Colours, And These In Their Full Intensity; And So Is Less Heterogeneous

Than A Painting Which, Introducing The   Primary Colours But Sparingly,

Employs An Endless Variety Of    Intermediate Tints, Each Of    Heterogeneous

Composition, And Differing From The   Rest Not Only In Quality But In

Intensity. Moreover, We See In These Earliest Works A Great Uniformity

Of Conception. The   Same Arrangement Of    Figures Is Perpetually

Reproduced--The Same Actions, Attitudes, Faces, Dresses. In Egypt The

Modes Of    Representation Were So Fixed That It Was Sacrilege To Introduce

A Novelty; And Indeed It Could Have Been Only In Consequence Of    A Fixed

Mode Of    Representation That A System Of    Hieroglyphics Became Possible.

The Assyrian Bas-Reliefs Display Parallel Characters. Deities, Kings,

Attendants, Winged Figures And Animals, Are Severally Depicted In Like

Positions, Holding Like Implements, Doing Like Things, And With Like

Part 2 Chapter 1 (Progress Its Law And Cause) Pg 70

Expression Or Non-Expression Of    Face. If A Palm-Grove Is Introduced, All

The Trees Are Of    The   Same Height, Have The   Same Number Of    Leaves, And

Are Equidistant. When Water Is Imitated, Each Wave Is A Counterpart Of

The Rest; And The   Fish, Almost Always Of    One Kind, Are Evenly

Distributed Over The   Surface. The   Beards Of    The   Kings, The   Gods, And The

Winged Figures, Are Every Where Similar: As Are The   Names Of    The   Lions,

And Equally So Those Of    The   Horses. Hair Is Represented Throughout By

One Form Of    Curl. The   King's Beard Is Quite Architecturally Built Up Of

Compound Tiers Of    Uniform Curls, Alternating With Twisted Tiers Placed

In A Transverse Direction, And Arranged With Perfect Regularity; And The

Terminal Tufts Of    The   Bulls' Tails Are Represented In Exactly The   Same

Manner. Without Tracing Out Analogous Facts In Early Christian Art, In

Which, Though Less Striking, They Are Still Visible, The   Advance In

Heterogeneity Will Be Sufficiently Manifest On Remembering That In The

Pictures Of    Our Own Day The   Composition Is Endlessly Varied; The

Attitudes, Faces, Expressions, Unlike; The   Subordinate Objects Different

In Size, Form, Position, Texture; And More Or Less Of    Contrast Even In

The Smallest Details. Or, If We Compare An Egyptian Statue, Seated Bolt

Upright On A Block With Hands On Knees, Fingers Outspread And Parallel,

Eyes Looking Straight Forward, And The   Two Sides Perfectly Symmetrical

In Every Particular, With A Statue Of    The   Advanced Greek Or The   Modern

School, Which Is Asymmetrical In Respect Of    The   Position Of    The   Head,

The Body, The   Limbs, The   Arrangement Of    The   Hair, Dress, Appendages, And

In Its Relations To Neighbouring Objects, We Shall See The   Change From

The Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous Clearly Manifested.

 

 

 

In The   Co-Ordinate Origin And Gradual Differentiation Of    Poetry, Music

And Dancing, We Have Another Series Of    Illustrations. Rhythm In Speech,

Rhythm In Sound, And Rhythm In Motion, Were In The   Beginning Parts Of

The Same Thing, And Have Only In Process Of    Time Become Separate Things.

Among Various Existing Barbarous Tribes We Find Them Still United. The

Dances Of    Savages Are Accompanied By Some Kind Of    Monotonous Chant, The

Clapping Of    Hands, The   Striking Of    Rude Instruments: There Are Measured

Movements, Measured Words, And Measured Tones; And The   Whole Ceremony,

Usually Having Reference To War Or Sacrifice, Is Of    Governmental

Character. In The   Early Records Of    The   Historic Races We Similarly Find

These Three Forms Of    Metrical Action United In Religious Festivals. In

The Hebrew Writings We Read That The   Triumphal Ode Composed By Moses On

The Defeat Of    The   Egyptians, Was Sung To An Accompaniment Of    Dancing And

Timbrels. The   Israelites Danced And Sung "At The   Inauguration Of    The

Golden Calf. And As It Is Generally Agreed That This Representation Of

The Deity Was Borrowed From The   Mysteries Of    Apis, It Is Probable That

The Dancing Was Copied From That Of    The   Egyptians On Those Occasions."

There Was An Annual Dance In Shiloh On The   Sacred Festival; And David

Danced Before The   Ark. Again, In Greece The   Like Relation Is Everywhere

Seen; The   Original Type Being There, As Probably In Other Cases, A

Simultaneous Chanting And Mimetic Representation Of    The   Life And

Adventures Of    The   God. The   Spartan Dances Were Accompanied By Hymns And

Songs; And In General The   Greeks Had "No Festivals Or Religious

Assemblies But What Were Accompanied With Songs And Dances"--Both Of

Them Being Forms Of    Worship Used Before Altars. Among The   Romans, Too,

There Were Sacred Dances: The   Salian And Lupercalian Being Named As Of

That Kind. And Even In Christian Countries, As At Limoges, In

Comparatively Recent Times, The   People Have Danced In The   Choir In

Honour Of    A Saint. The   Incipient Separation Of    These Once United Arts

From Each Other And From Religion, Was Early Visible In Greece. Probably

Diverging From Dances Partly Religious, Partly Warlike, As The

Corybantian, Came The   War Dances Proper, Of    Which There Were Various

Kinds; And From These Resulted Secular Dances. Meanwhile Music And

Poetry, Though Still United, Came To Have An Existence Separate From

Dancing. The   Aboriginal Greek Poems, Religious In Subject, Were Not

Recited, But Chanted; And Though At First The   Chant Of    The   Poet Was

Accompanied By The   Dance Of    The   Chorus, It Ultimately Grew Into

Independence. Later Still, When The   Poem Had Been Differentiated Into

Epic And Lyric--When It Became The   Custom To Sing The   Lyric And Recite

The Epic--Poetry Proper Was Born. As During The   Same Period Musical

Instruments Were Being Multiplied, We May Presume That Music Came To

Have An Existence Apart From Words. And Both Of    Them Were Beginning To

Assume Other Forms Besides The   Religious. Facts Having Like Implications

Might Be Cited From The   Histories Of    Later Times And People: As The

Practices Of    Our Own Early Minstrels, Who Sang To The   Harp Heroic

Narratives Versified By Themselves To Music Of    Their Own Composition:

Thus Uniting The   Now Separate Offices Of    Poet, Composer, Vocalist, And

Instrumentalist. But, Without Further Illustration, The   Common Origin

And Gradual Differentiation Of    Dancing, Poetry, And Music Will Be

Sufficiently Manifest.

 

 

 

The Advance From The   Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous Is Displayed Not

Only In The   Separation Of    These Arts From Each Other And From Religion,

But Also In The   Multiplied Differentiations Which Each Of    Them

Afterwards Undergoes. Not To Dwell Upon The   Numberless Kinds Of    Dancing

That Have, In Course Of    Time, Come Into Use; And Not To Occupy Space In

Detaining The   Progress Of    Poetry, As Seen In The   Development Of    The

Various Forms Of    Metre, Of    Rhyme, And Of    General Organisation; Let Us

Confine Our Attention To Music As A Type Of    The   Group. As Argued By Dr.

Burney, And As Implied By The   Customs Of    Still Extant Barbarous Races,

The First Musical Instruments Were, Without Doubt, Percussive--Sticks,

Calabashes, Tom-Toms--And Were Used Simply To Mark The   Time Of    The

Dance; And In This Constant Repetition Of    The   Same Sound, We See Music

In Its Most Homogeneous Form.

 

 

 

The Egyptians Had A Lyre With Three Strings. The   Early Lyre Of    The

Greeks Had Four, Constituting Their Tetrachord. In Course Of    Some

Centuries Lyres Of    Seven And