This view of Claude Monet’s art and the art of the so-called Impressionists is the very opposite of that entertained by many writers who have attributed to these painters careless rather than scientific methods.

If the principles laid down in this work are true, they become of vital importance. We will not think less of art, but we will be inspired by a new devotion to nature and the great laws which govern her. We will seek more diligently after the subtle harmonies and beauties in nature, those qualities which have been discovered by the great masters and translated with measurable success. We will go to nature with more intelligence and devotion, that we may there enjoy these things for ourselves at the source of all beauty. The student may lay aside all preconceived notions with reference to inspiration and creation, and address himself to his task as would any other workman. The result should be a more profound appreciation of all beauty and more joy in a world too often made commonplace by man.


References

Aristotle
p. 61William Angus Knight, “Philosophy of the Beautiful,” Part 1, p. 28.
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p. 52Enc. Brit. 9th Ed., Vol. 1, “Aesthetics.”
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p. 62-63The Contemporary Review, Vol. 43, June, 1883, pp. 821-822.
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p. 67-69Founder’s Day Book, Carnegie Institute, 1908, pp. 12-16.
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p. 17-18C. R. Leslie, R. A., “Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq., R. A.,” 1843, pp. 147-148.
p. 23-25C. R. Leslie, R. A., “Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq., R. A.,” 1843, p. 66.
p. 34C. J. Holmes, “Constable and His Influence on Landscape Painting,” 1902, p. 131.
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p. 25Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, “Six Portraits,” p. 160.
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p. 20-21Wm. Angus Knight, “Philosophy of the Beautiful,” Part 1, p. 48, and Moriz Thausing, “Albert Dürer, His Life and Works,” 1882, p. 319.
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p. 60-61J. Henri Fabre, “Bramble Bees and Others,” p. 42.
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p. 51-52James Anthony Froude, “England’s Forgotten Worthies,” pub. in “Short Studies on Great Subjects,” Vol. 1, First Series, 1894, p. 360.
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p. 58Jay Hambidge, “Dynamic Symmetry: The Greek Vase.”
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p. 64-65Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 78, August, 1896, p. 224.
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p. 13-15“The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” trans. by Kuno Francke and Wm. G. Howard, Vol. 7, pp. 112-113.
p. 15“Philosophy of Fine Art,” trans. by Bernard Bosanquet, p. 105.
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p. 22William Hogarth, “Anecdotes of William Hogarth,” 1833, p. 47.
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p. 37-39Author’s Notebook.
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p. 61-62Wm. Angus Knight, “Philosophy of the Beautiful,” Part 1, pp. 40-41 and page 19.
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p. 61Plato’s Republic, pub. in “Dialogues of Plato,” trans. by B. Jowett, Vol. 3, pp. 86-87, and Enc. Brit. 9th Ed., Vol. 1, “Aesthetics.”
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p. 22-23Henry William Beechy, “The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” Vol. 1, pp. 385 and 317, and G. Clausen, “Royal Academy Lectures on Painting,” p. 137.
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p. 46-47Auguste Rodin, “Art,” trans. from the French of Paul Gsell by Mrs. Romilly Fedden, pp. 30-33, and Literary Digest, June 4, 1910, p. 1127.
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p. 34Wm. Wordsworth, “Upon the Sight of a Beautiful Picture,” lines 12-14.

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