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Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
  
  
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III. THE RENAISSANCE

The classical idea of art and the traditional classifi-
cations of the arts were retained in the Renaissance.
The philosopher Ramus, as well as the lexicographer
Goclenius, repeated Galen's definition of art verbatim.
Benedetto Varchi, a major authority on classification
of the arts, in his Della Maggioranza delle arti (1549),
divided the arts, as did the Sophists, into those which
are produced by necessity, for utility, and for enter-
tainment (per necessità, per utilità e per dilettazione);
like Galen, into liberali e volgari; like Quintilian, into
theoretical and practical (fattive e attive); like Seneca,
into entertaining, jocose, and instructing youth (ludicre,
giocose e puerili
); like Plato, into those which make
use of nature and those which do not; like Cicero, into
major (architettoniche) and minor (subalternate) arts.

However, the status of architecture, sculpture,
painting, music, and poetry changed greatly: these arts
were now so much more appreciated than other arts,
that to single them out conceptually became a matter
of course. In order to achieve this, it was necessary
to realize not only what separates the arts from handi-
crafts and from sciences, but also what binds them
together. This became a major achievement of the
Renaissance: it was not a proper classification, but a
preparatory operation, the integration of fine arts. It
had to be carried out on several conceptual levels.

1. First, general ideas of particular arts had to be
formed. Neither a general idea nor a general term of
sculpture existed at the beginning of the Renaissance.
The term “sculpture” had a narrower meaning, it
meant only sculpture in wood. To denote those, whom
we call “sculptors,” Poliziano had to use five terms;
statuarii, caelatores, sculptores, fictores, and encausti,
meaning those who used, respectively, stone, metal,
wood, clay, and wax. After 1500 the term “sculptor”
already embraced all five of them. A similar integration
occurred in painting and architecture.

2. A general idea of plastic art was also lacking. In
antiquity and the Middle Ages architecture was con-
sidered rather a mechanical and utilitarian art and
seemed to be unrelated to sculpture and painting. In
the sixteenth century it was first noticed that all three
of them are similarly based on drawing (disegno): G.
Vasari as well as V. Danti started to consider them as
one group and called them the arti del disegno (“arts
of drawing”).

3. A further integration was necessary to classify
“arts of drawing” together with music and poetry. A
general idea which would embrace all of them did not
exist. The integration began in the fifteenth century,
but it took time before the result was satisfactory. The
affinity of those arts seemed certain, but the principle
that would include all of them and exclude the crafts
was lacking; since the Quattrocento diverse principles
were suggested to fill this gap.

Ingenious Arts. The Florentine humanist of the
fifteenth century, C. G. Manetti, suggested calling them
ingenious arts because they are produced by the spirit
(ingenium) and for the spirit. This suggestion did not,
however, add very much to the traditional opposition
of liberal and mechanical arts.

Musical Arts. Marsilio Ficino, the leader of the
Florentine Academy, wrote: “It is music that inspires
the works of all creators; orators, poets, painters,
sculptors, architects.” He continued to call those arts


460

liberal arts, though in accordance with his idea the
proper name would have been “musical arts.” His idea
was never published but only expressed in letters and
therefore it never won a more general recognition.

Noble Arts. G. P. Capriano in his De vera poetica
(1555) singled out the same group of arts, but applied
a different principle; their nobility. They are “noble
arts,” he said, as they are the object of our noblest
senses and because their products are durable.

Commemorative Arts. L. Castelvetro in his Poetica
d'Aristotele vulgarizzata
(1570) contrasted crafts with
arts on a different basis. While crafts produce useful
and necessary objects, the function of painting, sculp-
ture, and poetry is to keep things in human memory.

Metaphorical Arts. On the other hand E. Tesauro,
in Cannochiale Aristotelico (1655) tried to convince his
readers that metaphorical speech, parlare figurato,
constitutes the essence of these arts and distinguishes
them from crafts. This was a point of view peculiar
to the manneristic trend in aesthetics of the seven-
teenth century.

Figurative Arts. Some theoreticians of the seven-
teenth century supposed that the peculiarity of this
group of arts consists rather in their figurative, pictorial
character, since even poetry is ut pictura. Especially
C. F. Menestrier in his Philosophie des images (1682),
stressed that all these arts—poetry not less than paint-
ing and sculpture—travaillent en images (“work in
images”).

Fine Arts. The idea that such arts as poetry, painting,
and music are distinguished by beauty was very seldom
uttered before the eighteenth century (e.g., in the
sixteenth century by Francesco de Hollanda, who
called them boas artes). As the traditional idea of
beauty was very broad, successful works of industry
and handicraft were also called beautiful. However,
the narrower meaning of the work permitted one to
separate poetry, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and
architecture as a peculiar group of beaux arts, “fine
arts.” This is often believed to be an achievement of
the eighteenth century. But as early as 1675 the out-
standing French architect F. Blondel, in his Cours
d'architecture
said that what these arts, called by earlier
writers “noble,” “commemorative,” “metaphorical,”
etc., have in common is harmony.

Although harmony meant certainly the same as
beauty, Blondel failed to call those arts beautiful. On
the other hand, C. Batteux in his Beaux arts réduits
à un seul principe
(1747), used this term and included
it in the title of his book. This was conclusive; the
principle of beauty and the name “fine arts” were now
generally adopted (though Batteux himself saw the
common link of those arts not so much in their concern
with beauty, as in the fact that their purpose is pleasure
and their method is imitation). However, a proper
name came to be as important as a proper concept
for the progress of aesthetic theory.

Elegant and Agreeable Arts. A few years earlier
different names were proposed for beautiful arts. In
1744 G. B. Vico suggested “agreeable arts” and in the
same year J. Harris recommended “elegant arts.”

However, Batteux's terminology has prevailed. The
“system of fine arts” was established, embracing poetry,
music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, and archi-
tecture. Since the fifteenth century it had seemed cer-
tain that these arts formed a peculiar group of arts.
However, it took centuries before what unites this
group and what separates it from crafts and science
was made clear (see P. O. Kristeller [1951-52]). Para-
doxically Batteux contributed to the acceptance of the
“System of the arts” although his own system was
different: he divided arts (in the broad, old sense) into
mechanical arts, fine arts, and intermediate arts (archi-
tecture and oratory).