Fine Arts.

Fine Arts .

THE FOUR SISTERS : Or , SOUK JN ' OTKS OX THE RELATioxsinr or THE FIXE Aais . The following is a copy of a lecture delivered on the 6 th inst . by Mr . John Ball , the sculptor , at the South Kensington Museum : — AA e are all apt to embody our thoughts in illustrations Avhich are

familiar to us . The traveller speaks of the "journey of life ; " the sailor frames his hopes in Avishing you a fair wind and a sure haven . Thus also is the artist ready to clothe his thoughts in those illustrations Avith Avhich his imagination is peopled . AVith the sculptor hardly a passage occurs in poetry but calls ivp in his mind figures and groups to symbolise the sentiment . Thus , in considering the relation of the fine arts , he is apt to regard it as a real relationship—he sees before him a group of sisters . The sisterhood

of the Muses is as old as l'arnassus . It is thus we have been accustomed to view architecture , painting , and sculpture ; but I submit there is yet another sister which' Ave may well introduce into the group , may be of lesser stature , but still a sister . 1 mean the Muse of Ornament or Decoration . ' In regarding , indeed , the subject of the relationship of the line arts , 1 do not conceive wc can do so justly without this introduction

of the fourth sister , and that more on an equality than we , in this country , are wont to do ; and if at first sight this may appear some-Avhat of an innovation , yet I trust it Avill not be set down as a presumptuous one . It is , in truth , I fancy , but a piece of justice , for decoration , as an ait , is not imfreqiiently slighted , even by those who may most miss tho completeness only to be gained by her presence . In duly considering the department of decoration it presents

itself in a twofold shape . First , as that union of fanciful natural and conventional forms and objects and colours , more addressed to ¦ p lease the eye than to convey any striking sentiment , and which is subsidiary to architecture , painting , and sculpture ; and , secondly , that large decorative quality , without Avhich nothing can be quite good in painting and sculpture , and assuredly not in architecture . -yieAved in the former of these aspects , the Decorative Huso seems somewhat of a handmaid to her statelier sisters . In the latter she seems almost their superior , binding them together in a union which forms their greatest strength .

Thus , then , in regarding in our mind's eye the sisterhood of the fine arts , we imagine a classic group of three maidens , stately and beautiful , in attitudes of noble grace , and yet bound together by a younger sister with a wreath of flowers , like a Psyche entwining a group of draped Graces . Like a younger sister and of lesser stature , she seems to tend them alternately ; assisting now one , now the other , but none the less binding is the festoon ivith which she ¦ unites them because it is one of flowers .

To-repeat , Decoration Avhen viewed by herself is not so lofty as either Painting , Sculpture , or Architecture . She is comparatively a child , fanciful , erratic , chasing butterflies , blowing bubbles , doing many things which her elder sisters would scarcely stoop to do , and ivcrald'hardly be forgiven if they attempted . She makes all sorts of capricious combinations out of the different kingdoms of nature , waves oft' figures into scrolls and foliages ; and plays with colours like a kaleidoscope . But , in another point of view , she is the bond

of union of the whole family . In this aspect she is at least as lofty as . any member of it—because without an appreciation of decoration In its highest sense , architecture , painting , and sculpture cannot be truly combined . It is thus that the playful yet powerful Muse of Decoration appears in her highest phase . It was thus she appeared ¦ in the Parthenon , and iu the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel . It is Avith this preamble that I introduce a few notes on the / relationship of the Fine Arts—on their famillikeness and

iny dividual diversities , which I have been invited to read to-night . 'These will be found more to invite attention than to attempt to dogmatise , which is very far indeed from my desire . We must all see that the line arts address ns through our ¦ sympathies . Some , however , are more direct in this than others . Of those are painting and sculp ture , of the human form , for they . represent our own race . Pope's well-known adage applies to this stud . and painting and sculture of the human form will always

y ; p possess a more direct appeal to our feelings than any other branch Of the fine arts . AA'e may remark this in a building . No matter how admirable its structure and decoration , yet if it possess also paintings and sculpture of equal excellence , it is to them that the general eye will j Je attracted ; especially to the paintings which , in their art , leave nothing to be supplied by the imagination . For this reason painting is ever the more immediatelv attractive of all

the arts . Sculpture is more abstract . AA ' e may see the effect of this in any exhibition of the fine arts iu any country . Paintings form the first attraction ; sculpture conies next ; then the architecture ; then the decorations . It is for sympathy that we all work . "No one , " says Dr . Johnson , " would write a book if he knew its leaves were at once to be scattered on the ocean j" and who would elaborate a picture , or with many a studied stroke hew the statue from the block , if

the moment of completion Avere to bo the signal of their destruction ? In all our art Avorks Ave seek for sympathy . This is the hope , the dream , the prize of our efforts . No marvel , therefore , that this shows itself in the aim and direction of our higher art works , Ailiich use the form of man for their language . The landscape which puts before us the associations of our childhood and the varied scenery of the changing seasons , the pictured flower , which seems to breathe : the perfume of its original , the

imaged storm or calm of ocean , and the characteristics of animal life , of dog-3 and horses , man ' s humble but nseful companions , are not excluded , but [ rather invited and Avelcomed . by this view oi sympathy , under such attributes , however , as are most adapted to interest us . Still , on the other hand , the mode in which we appreciate these leads up again to the recognition of the highest efforts of the fine arts—those which represent our own kind , not only in its grosser contours , but in" that expression which breathes the

essence of our more spiritual nature . Thus is it in its movement amid the variety of surrounding nature , that the sympathetic key of art is at once responded to . It is the note starting from the human lips , which , ringing out

amid the swell of instrumental music , thrills us more than all the billowy sounds beside . It is the voice in the storm that Ave catch with breathless interest , the footstep in the sand on which our gaze is riveted—the human form which steps out amid the Avorks of creation and calls them all by name ! It is in this respect that the arts of painting and sculpture possess their superior force . It is in their power in the direct representation of our kind that resides the immediate hold they have

on our interest and sympathy . Nor can any form of mere architecture or decoration attract so at once , as the record of features Avhich beam with intelligence , or the form Avhich is the possessor and agent of that intelligence . In this walk of human representation these arts are directly of man and speak to man , face to face . AA'itli them , in this respect , architecture and decoration can by no means compete—which deal with parts of nature , animate or inanimate , which have less hold on our feelings , and thus , of the

four arts , undoubtedly , painting and sculp ture possess the more direct and shorter roads to our sympathy . It Avould thus seem , by this argument , that the pre-eminence rests with painting and sculpture over the other two arts . Like , however , the gold and silver shield of the disputants , the truth also has its two sides , each polished like a mirror and reflecting many things each Avay . Among these we Avill turn at least to one which Ave see on the other side . AV'hile we have [ bus favourably regarded

may painting and sculpture , let us not omit to remember that , immediately as they speak to our mental sympathies , yet they are of no actual direct corporeal use . AVe could live without painting and sculpture , but civilised man cannot live without architecture o £ some sort . And let us not underrate this consideration . The whole

revolution in philosophy which v e are so proud to attribute in great part to our great countryman 1 ' rancis Bacon , Lord Yerulain , was based upon making the study useful , and of direct service to man , and assuredly the arts are not above science . Architecture is an indispensable art—it is so directly useful . Painting and sculpture may be—architecture must be . AA'ben the abuses of heathen worship , with their sculptured and painted goods , were banished before the liht of the Gospelthe fine arts then partook

g , , justly perhaps , of the odium of the service of which they had been so long the handmaids . Painting and sculpture were awhile in disgrace anil lost the world ' s sympathy . Architecture , like her sisters , had pandered to Pagan Avorship , and had built its temples forages . Put she Avas not overwhelmed by this obloquy like her sisters . She was too strong to go down before it . The world could not do without herand her survived almost without an

, power interval . One of her finest styles , indeed , arose even amid the morning twilight ages—that of Byzantium—that of our own early church . Architecture was continuous , and moreover , after the lapse of some centuries , held out a helping hand to her sisters . She led theni out of their captivity where , like the daughters of Israel , in Babylon , they had hung up their harps and mourned '; after a whileinterceded Avith the world for their forgivenessavid by the

, , degrees restored them to their high places . And she had the power to do this because in her nature she is' essential to us , and the world cannot do without her . Herein lies a great force and stability in her , on which a number of other forces are founded . We must have structures , and even as early records show , Ave must have them of various kinds . They should fulfil each purpose fitly ;