An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of our Ideas of Beauty, etc. by Frances Reynolds
page 11 of 53 (20%)
page 11 of 53 (20%)
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mistakes. The Dedication remained unchanged, but the geometrical
illustration was now placed facing the beginning of Chapter I. The _Enquiry_ was written in what is now recognized as one of the most exciting periods in the history of aesthetics, the late eighteenth century being a crucial point in the gradual shift from absolute classical standards to the relative approaches of the next age. Most of the important thinkers of the day--Hume, Burke, Lord Kames, Adam Smith, among others--were thinking deeply about the problem of taste. And if Miss Reynolds' essay is not one of the most perceptive of the discussions, it is at least one of the liveliest. In brief, the _Enquiry_ is what one might expect from an intelligent amateur, from one not a professional writer, yet one who has given much thought to the problems of aesthetics. Of course, many of the ideas are derivative, with echoes of the "moral sense" of Hutcheson, the "line of grace" of Hogarth, and the terrible sublime of Burke. The three divisions of the essay--the development of a mental system, the origin of our ideas of Beauty, and the analysis of taste--follow the customary pattern of eighteenth-century discussions. Yet the piece is no slavish refurbishing of old phrases. It is packed with fresh arguments and novel suggestions. If these are not always completely coherent or logical, they do represent original thinking. Twentieth-century readers may be astonished by some of the ideas: witness the claim that Negroes could never arrive at true taste, because their eyes were so accustomed to objects diametrically opposite to taste. As a further example of Miss Reynolds' occasionally muddled thinking there is the development of her initial assumption. While the groundwork of man is perfection, this perfection has been |
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