The revival of etching, which has been the most remarkable phenomenon in the artistic history of our own time, has been common to England and France, but more vigorously pursued by Frenchmen. This is due to the great superabundance of young unemployed painters in France who are happy to turn to anything that does not compel them to abandon art. It is the peculiarity of etching that men are better trained for it by the education of a painter than by the hard manual discipline of the engraver. Line engraving has now died out in England. In France it still maintains a feeble and precarious existence by the encouragement of the State (through the Chalcographie du Louvre) and a society of lovers of art who are trying to keep it alive.
Photographic Processes.
All the photographic processes for the reproduction of works of art have been carried to perfection sooner in France than in England, and France always keeps the lead. Photography, itself, is due to efforts made by Niepce for the production of engraved plates.
Literature in the two Countries.
Carlyle.
John Mill.
Ruskin.
Matthew Arnold.
Barbarians, Philistines, and Populace.
Literature is probably more influential in England than in France, because the English read so much more. A great proportion of the reading done in both countries is, however, only rest, or an escape from surrounding reality, so that it does little for the true success of authors, which is the dissemination of ideas. I do not know the name of any English author who has exercised so much direct power as either Rousseau or Voltaire. That of Carlyle is thought to have been considerable, because his personal energy was of the imperative order; but the English world does not follow his teaching. He was hostile to the fine arts, and they are more appreciated than ever; he condemned fiction, and novels were never more diligently read; he preferred despotism to popular government, and we see the rise of the English democracy; he was without scientific ideas, and science is penetrating all the departments of thought and action. The influence of John Mill is said to be great amongst thinking men in the English lower classes; but it is purely rational, and can awaken no enthusiasm beyond the disinterested love of truth. Mr. Ruskin’s influence on art has been powerful in praise, but feeble in condemnation. He did much for the fame of Turner, but little or nothing against Constable and Claude; and notwithstanding his open hostility to etching, that art is now better appreciated than ever. Contemporary artists go on their own paths without deference to critical advice. A more interesting and important subject is Mr. Ruskin’s influence on working men. He appeals more to the feelings than Spencer or Mill, and is welcome to many wanderers in search of a moral authority and master. They like the strength of faith in the master himself, which is ready to carry theory into practice, even when the theory is ruinous. Matthew Arnold, though a poet, was more rational, cooler, less fitted for popular leadership. His influence was directly felt by cultivated readers only; but it will have consequences not always traceable to the source. I think he erred in taking certain things to be specially English which are only English forms of something to be found elsewhere. The best criticism of this mistake in Arnold was made by Herbert Spencer with reference to nonconformity.[88] And Arnold’s celebrated division of the English into Barbarians, Philistines, and Populace, though it throws a light upon the nation, has the defect of making it seem an English peculiarity to be so divided, whereas you find the same characteristics in the three great and very distinct French classes. The French aristocracy is more ignorant than the English, the French bourgeoisie more narrow in its concentration of thought upon money matters, and the populace less easily led and influenced by the possessors of wealth and culture.