"All arts having the same general end, which is to please, and addressing themselves to the same faculties through the medium of the senses, it follows that their rules and principles must have as great affinity as the different materials and the different organs or vehicles by which they pass to the mind, will permit them to retain."
— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Thomas Davies
Date
December 10, 1776; 1777
Metaphor
"All arts having the same general end, which is to please, and addressing themselves to the same faculties through the medium of the senses, it follows that their rules and principles must have as great affinity as the different materials and the different organs or vehicles by which they pass to the mind, will permit them to retain."
Metaphor in Context
All arts having the same general end, which is to please, and addressing themselves to the same faculties through the medium of the senses, it follows that their rules and principles must have as great affinity as the different materials and the different organs or vehicles by which they pass to the mind, will permit them to retain.
We may therefore conclude, that the real substance, as it may be called, of what goes under the name of taste, is fixed and established in the nature of things; that there are certain and regular causes by which the imagination and passions of men are affected; and that the knowledge of these causes is acquired by a laborious and diligent investigation of nature, and by the same flow progress as wisdom or knowledge of every kind, however instantaneous its operations may appear when thus acquired.
(pp. 29-30)
We may therefore conclude, that the real substance, as it may be called, of what goes under the name of taste, is fixed and established in the nature of things; that there are certain and regular causes by which the imagination and passions of men are affected; and that the knowledge of these causes is acquired by a laborious and diligent investigation of nature, and by the same flow progress as wisdom or knowledge of every kind, however instantaneous its operations may appear when thus acquired.
(pp. 29-30)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
From 1769 to 1772 Reynolds' lectures were delivered annually, with each discourse published shortly after its delivery. After 1772, the lectures were delivered biennially. The first seven discourses were collected and published together in 1778. In 1797, the first collected edition of all fifteen appeared, with a second edition issued in 1798. See the ODNB.
Text from A Discourse Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of the Prizes, Dec. the 10, 1776. By the President. (London: Printed for Thomas Davies, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
See also Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President (London: T. Cadell, 1778). <Link to Google Books>
Also reading at PGDP.
Text from A Discourse Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of the Prizes, Dec. the 10, 1776. By the President. (London: Printed for Thomas Davies, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
See also Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President (London: T. Cadell, 1778). <Link to Google Books>
Also reading at PGDP.
Date of Entry
07/25/2013
