Contents
| Argument | Page [1] |
| The Artist and His Purpose | [5] |
| Ancient Conceptions of Art | [13] |
| Evidence of Painters and Sculptors | [19] |
| Opinions of Philosophers and Writers | [48] |
| Symmetry | [57] |
| Conclusion | [67] |
Authorities Quoted
| PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS | |
| Kuo Hsi | 11th Century |
| Leonardo da Vinci | 1452-1519 |
| Albrecht Dürer | 1471-1528 |
| Michelangelo Buonarotti | 1475-1564 |
| William Hogarth | 1697-1764 |
| Sir Joshua Reynolds | 1723-1792 |
| Gilbert Stuart | 1755-1828 |
| Sir Thomas Lawrence | 1769-1830 |
| John Constable | 1776-1837 |
| Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot | 1796-1875 |
| Jean François Millet | 1814-1875 |
| James Abbott McNeill Whistler | 1834-1903 |
| John La Farge | 1835-1910 |
| Winslow Homer | 1836-1910 |
| Anton Mauve | 1838-1888 |
| Auguste Rodin | 1840-1915 |
| Abbott Handerson Thayer | 1849-1921 |
| Henry Ward Ranger | 1858-1916 |
| Giovanni Segantini | 1858-1899 |
| WRITERS AND PHILOSOPHERS | |
| Socrates | 470-399 B. C. |
| Plato | 427-347 B. C. |
| Aristotle | 384-322 B. C. |
| Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz | 1646-1716 |
| Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten | 1714-1762 |
| Immanuel Kant | 1724-1804 |
| Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | 1770-1831 |
| Arthur Schopenhauer | 1788-1860 |
| John Stuart Blackie | 1809-1895 |
| James Anthony Froude | 1818-1894 |
| Jean Henri Fabre | 1823-1915 |
| Hippolyte Adolphe Taine | 1828-1893 |
| William Angus Knight | 1836-1916 |
| Lord James Bryce | 1838-1922 |
| Lafcadio Hearn | 1850-1904 |
| Maurice Maeterlinck | 1862- |
| Sei-ichi Taki | |
Introduction
In his very convincing and lucid treatise on the fundamental principles of art, John W. Beatty gives us a most absorbing theme to follow—the relation of art to nature, as expressed in their own words by artists themselves, of different times and creeds; with, too, the opinions of philosophers and men of letters.
Himself a well-known painter, Mr. Beatty has been for almost thirty years the enlightened Director of Fine Arts of the Carnegie Institute, where, alone in our whole country, are held annually International Exhibitions of Art. Much of his life has thus been spent in intimate association with the very best painters and sculptors of our generation, and his and their opinions and observations are here to be read with much pleasure and profit by every one interested in art.