It would be a mistake to argu from the foregoing that in this article Tieck was not a realist, or at least strongly inclined toward realism in his practis. His realism was that of the yung enthusiast for whom each variation from the sense of his idol was a blasfemy, and he points out (page 24) that there can be none of that deception of the senses which is a part of the pictorial arts where "ich irgend eine auffallende Unnatürlichkeit entdecke; denn die Nachahmung der Natur ist der Zweck des Künstlers." Such strict imitation of nature is more to be expected, to be sure, in the work of the lesser lights, such as are the men who did the pictures for the "Gallery," than in the work of a real genius, and one is glad to overlook, in the works of the latter, those minor faults which almost entirely disappear in the face of a thousand beauties. So, says Tieck (page 14) "who would pass by the divine masterpieces of a Rafael and yet with weighty mien find fault with the bad coloring of a single garment?" There are clearly two kinds of artist. The one is the genius who may be carried too far by his enthusiasm, the other is the colder painter, who by his choice of subject, composition, correctness of drawing, and grace must make up for his lack of genius, and who can not hope to attain the emotional effects of his rival, but who must be content to arouse a cooler feeling, that is, the satisfaction of the spectator. In this series, where genius is excluded from the outset, Tieck expects a strict adherence to fact, to verisimilitude, and the correct interpretation of Shakspere must be insisted on.
In order that the soul may get an immediate enjoyment of the work of art, Tieck recommends (page 4) that the painter choose well-known subjects. He says: "The soul passes immediately to the enjoyment of the work of art and curiosity does not stand in the way of his enjoyment as in the case of obscure or unknown subjects. I am alredy prepared for the sentiment that the work of art is to arouse in me, and surrender myself all the more willingly to the illusion. If the subject of the picture is in itself beautiful and sublime, or if a great poet has furnisht the painter with the invention, the composition and the emotions, our enthusiasm is arousd, we giv our wonder and our delight to the painter."
The painter, then, is only an interpreter of the poet, whose purpose it is to seize the spirit of the poet, to portray those fine and spiritual ideas which only a related genius can grasp and make concrete by an appeal to the senses thru color-magic[20] the intangible creations of the poet's brain. He makes lasting what the reader gets but a fleeting glimpse of, and what even the actor can giv but little permanence (page 3).[21]
Whether or not Tieck was influenced by the prospectus to the set, indeed, whether he saw it or not, there is no way of knowing, but his statement that these pictures in their entirety will form a national gallery of historical paintings which will drive the scenes from Greek mythology out of England, is much like Boydell's own statement of purpose mentiond above. It is also an erly paralel to the Romantic insistence on a new mythology, a nativ mythology, rather than one drawn from foren sources which was a part of Friedrich Schlegel's canon.
The engravings as such are treated by Tieck under five different heds. These are: the mechanical technique, drawing with perspectiv and line, composition (which Tieck does not clearly differentiate from design), expression and choice of subject. These five heds comprize all the points in which the pictures are treated, but not each picture is treated from all five. The five giv, however, the full range of Tieck's ideas on the engravings. They show the things that attracted his attention, and where the influence of the Anzeigen is felt, they serv to show how different, after all, his own ideas were. Often the magazine does not tuch one or more points of the five.
Tieck's discussion of the technique of the engravings is, as may be expected, rather thin, and the frazes that he uses are stereotyped. Several of the plates praisd by him are quite without merit and such generalities as, "schön gestochen," "vorzüglich," "vortrefflich gut," are not very significant. Negativ praise like "nichts zu tadeln" or "die Ausführung verdient alles Lob" show that on technical points Tieck was judging very superficially and that his attention to the "Gallery" had been attracted by something else than the perfection of the plates.
These engravings are in the now old-fashiond stipple, tho parts of them are in line. At the time of writing, Tieck may not hav known the difference between line and stipple, tho in "Zerbino" a reference to the "pointed manner," used in a punning way, shows that by that time Tieck had become acquainted with it.[22] Nor does Tieck indicate in any way the "Gallery's" sparing use of the increasingly popular mezzotint. He makes no mention of the line manner of Flaxman, if he knew him. He does not see that the line engravings in the set are poorer all thru than the stipple prints, and that in some of the line plates the cutting is so deep and the execution so clumsy that the resulting plates are muddy and crude and are lacking in tone, grace, and even in exactness of execution.
In one or two places where satin is excellently reproduced, Tieck praises the texture of the fabrics. The large plate by Simon from the "Merry Wives" has a wonderful lace apron which a recent writer on engraving has cald one of the best examples of the stipple manner.[23] As Tieck refers to the other fabrics on the plate, which is one of those with duplicated subject and which in the Anzeigen seems only to hav been discust in the S form, it seems clear that Tieck also saw L here, as S is by no means so fine a plate; in fact L has the best fabrics in the series.
Of the twenty-four large plates discust by Tieck, there are only thirteen which receive technical criticisms and of these thirteen, three are lumpt together under one comment so that in all there are only ten separate technical criticisms. Of these, six occur in the first six plates and with the eighteenth plate, Kirk's scene from "Titus Andronicus," the criticism of the mechanical side ends with a weak, "sehr gut gestochen," showing that Tieck did not progress in his technical criticisms. His interest in the engravings as engravings waned as the essay proceeded: it never rose above an attention to textiles and, even there, Tieck did not see all the finer differentiations of velvet, chiffon and lace, tho the fine satins distinctly appeald to him. Perhaps as fair an example as any of his inexactness, is his praise of the plate from "As You Like It" in which Jacques lies watching the wounded deer (II, 1). This is one of the poorest of the plates and yet Tieck says, "Die Ausführung verdient alles Lob." Fittler's plate from "Winter's Tale" (IV, 2), while weak and without character, is not as bad either in actual cutting or in general managment, and yet Tieck condems it unmercifully. So, too, the bad plates by Middiman come in for no special condemnation from Tieck, tho Middiman is by far the worst engraver in the series, and is particularly bad after Hodges, the plates after whom Tieck saw.[24]
Drawing, as such, fares rather better than engraving, tho less than half the pictures are criticized from this standpoint. Colorless expressions like "Keine Fehler" and "Viele Fehler" are not wanting and in many cases where whole bodies are out of drawing or where individual parts are bad Tieck has nothing to say.