TRANSLATED, FROM THE GERMAN OF KUGLER, BY A LADY.

EDITED, WITH NOTES,

BY SIR CHARLES L. EASTLAKE, F.R.S.,

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

THIRD EDITION.

WITH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS,

FROM THE WORKS OF THE OLD MASTERS, DRAWN ON WOOD, BY GEORGE SCHARF, JUN.

IN TWO PARTS.-PART I.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1855.

750

KD⋅44242

HARVARE
UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,

AND CHARING CROSS.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.'

THE first edition of the Handbook of the History of Painting, from the Age of Constantine to the Present Time,' appeared in 1837. The ten years that have since elapsed have changed, in many respects, not only the opinions of the author, but the standard of knowledge respecting art and its history generally.

At the time to which we refer, we were standing, though almost unconsciously so, at the close of a period which may be said to have commenced with that work exercising so important an influence on the minds of artists, and known by the title of 'Herzen's Ergiessungen eines Kunstliebenden Klosterbruder's.' Our schools

1 Berlin, 1847.

2

2 ['Heart-outpourings of an Art-loving Monk.' This little volume-the work chiefly of Wackenroder, a young painter, with some additions by Ludwig Tieck-was first published in 1797. In the following year (the year of Wackenroder's death) appeared the Phantasien über die Kunst,' by the same authors. The effusions of Wackenroder in both works were republished by Tieck in 1814 under the latter title; the contributions of the friend and editor being, out of respect to the memory of the painter, then omitted. Some writers, for example Raczynski, in his 'Histoire de l'Art Moderne en Allemagne,' deny the exclusive influence of literature in producing the change which took place in the taste of the Germans early in the present century, and trace that change to remoter causes as well as to then recent political events. (See, on this subject, some observations by the Editor of this Handbook "on the origin of the modern German School of Fresco-painting" in his Contributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts.') Granting, however, that the writers of Germany had great influence on the revolution in art referred to, it still appears rather bold on the part of the author of the present work to date such a change from a single book. Besides the Phantasien über die Kunst,' already noticed, the Essays of Friederich Schlegel in the periodical called the Europa;' the celebrated art novel, Franz Sternbald's Wanderungen,' by L. Tieck; Goethe's 'Reise am Rhein, Main und Neckar;' and numerous other publications, criticisms, works of fiction, travels, and historical researches, imbued with the same spirit, tended more or less to confirm the then national predilection. The epithet "romantic," employed by the author, is to be understood as opposed to "classical," and designates the art of the middle ages uninfluenced by the imitation of the antique. A few of the early champions of this direction in art still survive and are true to their first profession, while those of the present German painters who have abjured such extreme views have unconsciously profited by the severer educa tion which they owed to the example of their predecessors.-ED.]

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of painting embodying that tendency of art to which the denomination of "romantic" has been given, were celebrating their last triumphs. A general poetic interest, and the valuable results of a wide-spread dilettanteism, had disclosed to us the rich world of art belonging to the middle ages. The researches of critical knowledge had begun to elucidate the history of those ages, and Rumohr's 'Italienische Forschungen,' though the immediate result of the prevailing tendency, had gone far beyond it.

The views and inquiries thus entered into during this "romantic" period were found no longer to assimilate with older systems such, for example, as those contained in Lanzi's History of Italian Painting.' The want of a general survey of art was felt, in which the claims of an earlier period should have their due weight. My 'Handbook of the History of Painting' was planned to supply this deficiency. It consisted of materials gathered together partly for my own information, and partly as notes for public lectures. Several tours, and one especially to Italy, undertaken shortly before, had enabled me to give to these materials, for the greater part, the freshness of personal observation. The work, I may now confess, was compiled and published with haste: the indulgence of the public, the general demand for such a book, and perhaps that freshness to which I have alluded, contributed to my impunity. It was as quickly approved as it had been compiled. In France large portions of it were translated and made use of in the literature of the day without any acknowledgment of the source whence they were taken. In England there appeared a translation enriched with notes, the first part of which, containing the Italian schools of painting, was edited by Mr. Eastlake.

Meanwhile, further critical researches regarding art were actively prosecuted, and various works and contributions assisted to swell the materials, especially as regards the history of the darker ages of painting, in the most satisfactory manner. Gradually also the state of general opinion was undergoing a great change. The more the sources of knowledge and judgment enlarged, the more it became apparent that the modes of conception peculiar to the romantic period had confined our views within too limited a space, and that even so late as ten years previously such views had partaken too much of that contracting influence. That which had been looked upon as the highest was now gradually being estimated according to its real relative value, and much which had been condemned as worthless was admitted to take its distinctive and sometimes very considerable rank. The over zeal with which the one tendency had been advocated, and the coldness with which the

other had been dismissed, now gradually gave way before the increase of knowledge.

As far as possible, I had myself endeavoured to assist this development. My Handbook of the History of Art' was founded on those more enlarged views to which the general spirit of investigation and observation had given rise.

Meanwhile the second edition of the History of Painting,' which we now present to the public, had been long required, and those portions of my general 'Handbook of Art' which bore upon it had been, in some measure, a preparation for the work; nor had I, in other respects, neglected to collect necessary materials. Circumstances, however, made it impossible for me to undertake their compilation myself. It was necessary to commit them to other hands, and, after many vain attempts, I at length succeeded in finding a substitute in the present remodeller of this workwhom I could entrust the task with perfect confidence, and who, while long and intimately acquainted with my modes of thought and sources of knowledge, himself brought to it a large share of valuable information.

-one to

In conclusion, therefore, I can only express the wish that this book in its present altered form may be found suitable to the altered demands of the period, and that it may be received with the same indulgence that has hitherto been accorded to the works of the author.

Berlin, 1st May, 1847.

F. KUGLER.

As fellow-labourer in this second edition, I may be allowed to add a few words to the above. In spite of my earnest endeavours to suit my style to that of the first edition, I have not always been successful. For this I must beg the indulgence of the reader: he may, perhaps, with greater justice, arraign me for the unequal proportion in which I have enlarged the present volume allotting to the ancient mosaics, to Byzantine art, and to the commencement of modern Italian art, more additional space than to some other even more important parts. The expedience, however, of such circumstantiality of description was not to be determined merely by the artistic value of the subject, nor by the amount of specimens belonging to each period. It was our part rather to

[Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, Stuttgart, 1842; a distinct work from the Handbuch der Geschichte der Malerei.-ED.]