Diana and Nymphs, by Rubens
(Prado, Madrid)
(See [page 254])
We may note that at another time Rodin reflected upon the character of the ancient Greek sculpture for the very reason upon which he bases his claim for public approval of La Vieille Heaulmière. He says[d]:
That was the fault of the Hellenic ideal. The beauty conceived by the Greeks was the order dreamed of by intelligence, but it only appealed to the cultivated mind, disdaining the humble.
Here also is a confusion of ideas, for the intelligence cannot dream of a special kind of beauty which would not be recognized by the humble, unless it were so feeble as to be altogether below Greek conceptions. The aim of the Greek sculptors was to appeal to all classes, and in this they were eminently successful.
[a] At the Luxembourg.
[] Gsell's Art, by Auguste Rodin.